AP National News

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — A Hawaii couple accused of killing their 6-year-old adoptive daughter a month before reporting her missing has pleaded not guilty to murder. A grand jury previously indicted Isaac and Lehua Kalua on murder and other charges. During a court hearing Monday, they pleaded not guilty via

By DÁNICA COTO Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The Caribbean island of Barbados is preparing to wave goodbye to Queen Elizabeth II as head of state as it cuts ties with its colonial past and becomes a republic for the first time in history. Monday’s preparations come a month after the Parliament

By LARRY NEUMEISTER and TOM HAYS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A prosecutor says Ghislaine Maxwell and the late Jeffrey Epstein were partners in crime in the sexual abuse of teenage girls. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Pomerantz told the New York jury in opening statements Monday at Maxwell’s sex trafficking trial that she is

By LOLITA C. BALDOR and ROBERT BURNS Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has rejected a request by Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt that his state’s National Guard be exempt from a Pentagon requirement that all military members be vaccinated against COVID-19. In a letter to Stitt obtained by The Associated Press, Austin

By MARLON GONZALEZ Associated Press TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Xiomara Castro de Zelaya, the wife of ousted former president Mel Zelaya, has taken a commanding lead in Honduras’ elections, capping a 12-year effort. If preliminary vote tallies are confirmed, Castro de Zelaya would become the Central American country’s first female president. Her victory would also

By KELLI KENNEDY and CODY JACKSON Associated Press MIAMI BEACH (AP) — As the tourism industry bounces back from COVID-19, Miami is one of the top search destinations on several travel websites. Florida tourism has been buoyed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ pro-business, anti-mask restrictions. That has allowed one of the state’s main economic engines

By TIA GOLDENBERG Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — The Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am says politics don’t dictate his actions, with pressure from pro-Palestinian activists unable to deter him from performing in Israel and maintaining ties to the country’s high-tech scene. A Palestinian-led movement has for years urged artists to boycott Israel over its treatment of

By JAMEY KEATEN, RAF CASERT and MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization says the global risk from the omicron variant of the coronavirus is “very high” based on early evidence. The United Nations health agency also says omicron could lead to surges with “severe consequences.” The assessment in a technical

PARIS (AP) — France’s interior minister says France will double the number of officers in charge of fighting smugglers after 27 people died last week trying to cross the Channel to get Britain in an overcrowded smuggling boat. Speaking Monday after a defense council meeting, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the anti-smuggling office will be

By ALBERT AJI Associated Press DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria has hosted the first international basketball tournament on its soil in at least two decades, bringing an Asia region World Cup qualifying game to a packed stadium in the capital Damascus. The game Monday with Kazakhstan, which Syria lost 81-71, saw the national team play

By MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection will vote Wednesday to hold Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official, in contempt of Congress. The panel is seeking charges against a defiant witness for a second time after holding former White House aide Steve Bannon

By KIYOKO METZLER Associated Press VIENNA (AP) — Negotiators in Vienna have resumed talks over reviving Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, with the United States taking part at arm’s length as in previous rounds since the Trump administration pulled out of the accord three years ago. Hopes of quick progress were muted after

QUINCY, Mass. (AP) — Sea turtle strandings on Cape Cod are picking up after a slow start to the season. New England Aquarium experts said Monday they have so far cared for almost 120 turtles at the Quincy turtle hospital. They have mostly been Kemp’s ridley turtles, but there have also been a few green

By DAVID A. LIEB Associated Press JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A federal judge has blocked President Joe Biden’s administration from enforcing a coronavirus vaccine mandate on health care workers in 10 states that had brought the first legal challenge against the requirement. The preliminary injunction issued Monday applies to Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri,

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Regional authorities in Portugal’s Madeira Islands have expanded a protected marine area to create what they said is the largest fully protected marine reserve in the North Atlantic. The reserve spans 12 nautical miles around the Selvagens Islands, a small archipelago located midway between the Madeira Islands and Spain’s Canary Islands,

By MICHAEL R. SISAK and MARINA VILLENEUVE Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Transcripts released Monday shed new light on CNN anchor Chris Cuomo’s behind-the-scenes role advising his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in the face of sexual harassment allegations that forced him from office. Chris Cuomo told investigators he spoke regularly with

BESSEMER, Ala. (AP) — Authorities say a former University of Alabama track star and Olympian was killed in a shootout with another man. AL.com reports that the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office on Monday identified Emmit King and Willie Albert Wells as the two men who died after exchanging gunfire in Bessemer on Sunday. The 62-year-old

By ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is urging Americans to get vaccinated, including booster shots, as he seeks to quell concerns over the newly identified coronavirus variant named omicron. But he said Monday he won’t be seeking any severe business or other widespread lockdown. The new variant is “a cause

By JACQUES BILLEAUD Associated Press An actor charged with storming the Capitol as a member of the Oath Keepers nearly talked his way into remaining in jail after his former attorney told a judge that the actor was challenging the court’s jurisdiction. A prosecutor said he hadn’t planned on seeking pretrial detention for James Beeks

CAIRO (AP) — A leading Egyptian human rights activist has been convicted of insulting a judicial election commission and fined about $640. Monday’s ruling marked the latest episode in the government’s ongoing crackdown on dissent. The prosecution of the activist, Hossam Bahgat, has drawn international condemnation, including by the U.S. State Department. The large-scale jailing