AP National News

By MARI YAMAGUCHI and FOSTER KLUG Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Scotland has reported six new cases of the omicron variant as Japan announces it will suspend entry of all foreign visitors, joining an increasing number of countries that are tightening their borders as fear spreads of yet another extension of pandemic suffering. Japan, which

By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN and MARLON GONZÁLEZ Associated Press TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Leftist opposition candidate Xiomara Castro is holding a commanding lead as Hondurans appear poised to remove the conservative National Party after 12 years of continuous rule. Castro declared herself the winner despite orders from the National Electoral Council to political parties to await

By JUSTIN SPIKE, PAUL WISEMAN and VANESSA GERA Associated Press BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — From appliance stores in the United States to food markets in Hungary and gas stations in Poland, rising consumer prices are putting a pinch on households and businesses worldwide. As economies recover from pandemic lockdowns, increased consumer demand, high energy costs

By RIAZ KHAN Associated Press PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani authorities say a mob has burned a police station and four police posts in the northwest overnight as officers detained a mentally unstable man accused of blasphemy. Police said Monday the demonstrators wanted to lynch the man on charges that he desecrated the Quran, Islam’s

By NICK PERRY Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The emergence of the omicron variant isn’t changing New Zealand’s plans to ease restrictions in Auckland and move the nation into a new, more open phase of its pandemic response. Bars, restaurants and gyms in Auckland can reopen from late Thursday, ending a coronavirus lockdown

By SYAWALLUDIN ZAIN Associated Press JOHOR BAHRU, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysians working in Singapore are holding joyful reunions with their loved ones after returning to their homeland following the partial reopening of a land border that has been shuttered for nearly two years due to the pandemic. Buses ferried fully vaccinated passengers on Monday across

By AMANDA SEITZ and WILL WEISSERT Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — This month’s elections may have offered a preview of the Spanish-language misinformation that could pose a growing threat to Democrats. The party is already anxious about its standing with Latino voters after losing some ground with them last year. After Democrat Phil Murphy won

By LEANNE ITALIE Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — It’s an omnipresent truth: Merriam-Webster has declared vaccine its 2021 word of the year. Peter Sokolowski, editor at large for the dictionary company, tells The Associated Press that lookups for the word vaccine increased 601% over 2020. Even more telling, searches on the Merriam-Webster website increased

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian authorities have announced a third case of the omicron COVID-19 variant as government leaders reconsider plans to relax border restrictions this week. The Northern Territory health minister says a South African man who flew from Johannesburg to the northern Australian city of Darwin last week

By DON BABWIN Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — The trial of actor Jussie Smollett will boil down to the question of whether the jury believes the actor’s version of what he says was a racist and homophobic attack or that told by two brothers who say they helped the actor fake the attack. Abimbola and

By MARI YAMAGUCHI and FOSTER KLUG Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — As cases of a new coronavirus variant are confirmed around the world, Japan has announced it will suspend entry of all foreign visitors, joining an increasing number of countries that are tightening their borders as fear spreads of yet another extension of pandemic suffering.

By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN Associated Press TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Leftist opposition candidate Xiomara Castro has claimed victory in Honduras’ presidential election, setting up a showdown with the National Party which says its candidate has won a vote that could end the conservative party’s 12 years in power. “We win! We win!” Honduras’ former first lady

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Lawmakers from all three Baltic states have met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in a sign of further cooperation between European Union nations and Taiwan. It is the first joint visit to Taiwan by members of parliament from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Tsai on Monday welcomed the lawmakers, who are attending

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Nissan is investing 2 trillion yen, or nearly $18 billion, over the next five years and developing a cheaper, more powerful battery to boost its electric vehicle lineup. The Japanese automaker’s chief executive, Makoto Uchida, said 15 new electric vehicles will be available by fiscal 2030.

By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN Associated Press TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Honduras’ dominant political parties have both declared their candidates victorious in presidential elections despite electoral officials’ orders, while at some polling sites voters remained in line as crowds tussled over when to cut off voting. From their official accounts, the conservative National Party and leftist Liberty

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Actor Matthew McConaughey isn’t running for Texas governor after months of publicly flirting with the idea of becoming the latest celebrity candidate. The 52-year-old Academy Award winner said in a video posted Sunday night that political leadership was not a route he was choosing to take “at this moment.” He said

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper claims in a lawsuit against the Defense Department that material is being improperly withheld from his use as he seeks to publish an “unvarnished and candid memoir” of his time in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet. The lawsuit was filed Sunday in U.S. District Court in Washington. The

GLEN BURNIE, Md. (AP) — Police in Maryland’s Anne Arundel County say that an officer fatally shot a knife-wielding man and later found a woman who was dead inside the same home. Police said the incident in Glen Burnie began Sunday afternoon with a phone call to police. A woman said that she and a

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Authorities in northern Mexico say a drug gang was behind a shooting attack outside a city hall that killed a feminist activist and a bodyguard. The attacker also died in the shooting outside the city hall in Guaymas, in the northern border state of Sonora. The state prosecutor said Sunday that