AP National News

AMSTERDAM (AP) — The European Medicines Agency says it has received a request from Merck to authorize its coronavirus antiviral, the first pill shown to treat COVID-19. In a statement Tuesday, the EU drug regulator said it had started evaluating molnupiravir, made by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, and that a decision could be made within

By EVA VERGARA Associated Press SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — The lower house of Chile’s Congress has approved a measure to legalize marriage and adoption by same-sex couples, moving it close to final adoption. It had already passed the Senate and now awaits only final modifications related to the rights of same-sex couples. President Sebastián Piñera

By RUSS BYNUM Associated Press BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — A jury now has the case after a 13-day trial of three white men charged with murder and other crimes in the death of Ahmaud Arbery. The jury got the case on Tuesday after final closing arguments from the prosecutor and instructions from a judge. Prosecutor

By SCOTT BAUER and TAMMY WEBBER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Friends and families of the roughly 60 people hit by an SUV that sped through a Christmas parade in a suburban Milwaukee downtown say some suffered life-threatening injuries. Many of those injured were children, one of whom died Tuesday. An account for 8-year-old

By MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit seeking to block a major U.S. sugar manufacturer from acquiring its rival. The department contends that the deal would harm competition and consumers. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in federal court in Delaware. It comes about eight months after U.S.

By VANESSA GERA Associated Press BOHONIKI, Poland (AP) — A Polish imam recited prayers over the tiny white casket of an unborn Iraqi boy — the latest life claimed as thousands of migrants from the Middle East have tried to slip into the European Union and found their path cut off by soldiers in the

By SCOTT BAUER and TAMMY WEBBER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Friends and families of the roughly 50 people hit by an SUV that sped through a Christmas parade in a suburban Milwaukee downtown say they suffered life-threatening injuries, with some clinging to life. Many of those injured were children. An account set up

By CARA ANNA Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A United States envoy says he sees “massive progress” in talks with Ethiopia’s warring sides toward a cease-fire, but he fears it will be outpaced by “alarming” military developments in the yearlong war in Africa’s second-most populous country. Jeffrey Feltman spoke to reporters after his latest

By ERIKA KINETZ Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — Daniel Hsu is a U.S. citizen who spent four years trapped in China. Chinese authorities had blocked him from leaving, though he hadn’t committed any crime. Just before last week’s meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Hsu got word that he would

By JUSTIN SPIKE Associated Press BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The leaders of three Central European countries on Tuesday expressed their support for Poland in an ongoing migration crisis on its eastern border with Belarus. Following talks in Budapest, the prime ministers of Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia all urged the European Union to provide

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Police and media reports in Serbia say that a series of explosions have ripped through a munitions factory on the outskirts of Belgrade. At least two workers have been killed and 16 others were injured. State RTS television said Tuesday the first explosion took place around 2 p.m. at a munitions

By JOSH BOAK and COLLEEN LONG Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is ordering a record 50 million barrels of oil released from America’s strategic reserve to help bring down energy costs. He said Tuesday he is acting in coordination with other major energy consuming nations, including China, India, and the United Kingdom.

By RONALD BLUM Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Matthew Aucoin’s “Eurydice” opens at the Metropolitan Opera on Tuesday night in the first of seven performances running through Dec. 16. Based on Sarah Ruhl’s 2003 play, with a libretto by Ruhl, the opera gives a contemporary take on the Orpheus myth from a woman’s point

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — An air quality monitoring outfit says Lahore has become the world’s third most polluted city as increasing smog has engulfed Pakistan’s cultural capital. The bad air has sickened hundreds with respiratory and other illnesses. Lahore ranked third behind Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, and Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar on the pollution index.

By KATE BRUMBACK Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Jurors in the trial of the three men charged in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery must decide whether one or all of them is guilty of murder. A conviction could send them to prison for life. Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael grabbed guns and pursued

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles police say a group of thieves smashed windows at department store at a luxury mall. The latest incident in a trend of smash-and-grab crimes targeted a Nordstrom store late Monday at The Grove retail and entertainment complex late Monday. Officers pursued an SUV involved in the crime and the

By DAMIAN J. TROISE AP Business Writer Stocks wobbled in choppy trading on Wall Street Tuesday as gains from banks and energy companies countered losses from communications and technology companies. The S&P 500 fell 0.2%, The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1% and the Nasdaq slipped 1%. Prices for crude oil and wholesale gasoline rose

CAIRO (AP) — Yemen’s rebels say a Saudi-led coalition airstrike has gutted a plastics factory in the rebel-held capital of Sanaa, the latest attack amid an escalation in fighting in recent weeks. The early Tuesday strike hit a factory owned by a Syrian national and situated near a hospital in the south of the city,