AP National News

By CLAY BAILEY Associated Press MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The Memphis Grizzlies broke the NBA record for margin of victory, beating the Oklahoma City Thunder 152-79. The 73-point margin easily topped the previous mark, which was Cleveland’s 68-point win over Miami. The Cavaliers topped the Heat 148-80 on Dec. 17, 1991. Memphis used 12 players

By HUIZHONG WU Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The head of the most populous province in the Solomon Islands says the country would likely switch diplomatic ties back to Taiwan if the prime minister is ousted from his post following next week’s no-confidence vote, after looting and violent protests shook the capital city last

By AUDREY McAVOY Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — Hundreds of military families living near Pearl Harbor have complained of stomach pain, nausea and other health ailments after the Navy’s water system became contaminated by petroleum. The problems are afflicting one of the most important Navy bases in the world, which is home to submarines, ships

By LISA MASCARO AP Congressional Correspondent WASHINGTON (AP) — During his confirmation to the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh assured Sen. Susan Collins a woman’s right to an abortion was “settled law.” But his comments during this week’s landmark Supreme Court hearing over a Mississippi abortion case sounded a different note. Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The head of a U.N. team investigating atrocities in Iraq says Islamic State extremists committed crimes against humanity and war crimes at a prison in Mosul in June 2014 where at least 1,000 predominantly Shiite Muslim prisoners were systematically killed. Christian Ritscher told the U.N.

By JIM GOMEZ Associated Press MANILA, Philippines (AP) — World Health Organization officials in the Western Pacific say border closures adopted by some countries may buy time to deal with the new omicron coronavirus variant. However, they say measures put in place and experience gained in dealing with the delta variant should remain the foundation

By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press RESERVE, La. (AP) — EPA Administrator Michael Regan says a recently completed “Journey to Justice” tour from Mississippi to Texas enabled him to put “faces and names with this term that we call environmental justice.″ The five-day tour in mid-November highlighted low-income, mostly minority communities adversely affected by industrial pollution.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia has detected its first case of the new omicron strain of the coronavirus in a foreign student who returned to the country last month after visiting her family in South Africa. Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin says the 19-year-old female transited in Singapore and arrived in Malaysia on Nov. 19.

By AARON MORRISON, HELEN WIEFFERING and NOREEN NASIR Associated Press The nation’s military academies provide a key pipeline into the leadership of the armed services and, for the better part of the last decade, they have welcomed more racially diverse students each year. But beyond blanket anti-discrimination policies, these federally funded institutions volunteer little about

By AARON MORRISON, HELEN WIEFFERING and NOREEN NASIR Associated Press The nation’s military academies provide a key pipeline into the leadership of the armed services and, for the better part of the last decade, they have welcomed more racially diverse students each year. But beyond blanket anti-discrimination policies, these federally funded institutions volunteer little about

By HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — As the conservative-leaning Supreme Court this week signaled that it may dramatically limit abortion rights, polling suggests Americans want Roe v. Wade to remain law, but have nuanced attitudes on the circumstances under which abortion should be allowed. In 2020, AP VoteCast showed 69% of voters in

By ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — For months, President Joe Biden has taken it on the chin from Republicans over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The Democratic president’s efforts to confront COVID-19 have long attracted a litany of fiery statements, legal challenges and more than a few barbs from his predecessor. But

By STEVE KARNOWSKI and AMY FORLITI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A mostly white jury is nearly set for the trial of a suburban Minneapolis police officer charged in Daunte Wright’s shooting death. Twelve panelists have been seated, with just two more needed to serve as alternates ahead of next Wednesday’s opening statements. Former Brooklyn

By MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS Associated Press NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Pope Francis is planning to meet with the leader of Cyprus’ Greek Orthodox Church with the aim of further mending an ideological and political rift between the Catholic West and the Orthodox East. Francis and Archbishop Chrysostomos II are set to meet Friday, the second day

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation is surging. Supply chains are snarled. And yet economists predict that America’s employers delivered another month of solid job growth in November on the strength of steady consumer spending. Beneath the headline figures on hiring and unemployment, though, lurks a potentially even more consequential question:

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s opposition leader says the nation would set a more ambitious target of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 43% by the end of the decade if the government changes at elections early next year. Center-left Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese on Friday set climate policy

By KEN MORITSUGU Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — China and the United States are tussling over President Joe Biden’s upcoming democracy summit, which the ruling Communist Party sees as a challenge to its authoritarian ways. A senior Chinese official told the foreign media in Beijing on Thursday that the summit divides countries and points fingers

By COREY WILLIAMS and ED WHITE Associated Press OXFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — The superintendent of a Michigan school district says no discipline was necessary for a teen who was summoned to the office a few hours before four students were fatally shot. Tim Throne also acknowledged that Ethan Crumbley’s parents were at Oxford High

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer Stocks are trading mixed in Asia after a broad rally on Wall Street as investors keep an eye on the spread of the new coronavirus variant and measures governments are taking to restrain it. Hong Kong slipped more than 1% while Tokyo edged lower. Shanghai and Seoul were higher

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea is tightening recently relaxed restrictions on social gatherings as it grapples with its worst wave of the virus since the start of the pandemic. Starting next week, private social gatherings of seven or more people will be banned in the densely populated capital