AP National News

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says crowds will once again fill Times Square this New Year’s Eve. The mayor said Tuesday that proof of COVID-19 vaccination required for revelers who want to watch the ball drop in person. De Blasio said the celebration will come back “full strength the

By LARRY NEUMEISTER and TOM HAYS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Prospective jurors got their first glimpse of a British socialite charged with helping Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse girls and women when a judge began questioning them individually. Wearing a black suit, Ghislaine Maxwell hugged her lawyers when she entered the courtroom Tuesday and

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A 45-year-old male river hippopotamus named Otis and nicknamed the smiling hippo has died at the San Diego Zoo. The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance announced Monday that Otis had been under care for degenerative joint and spinal disease. A decision to euthanize him was made last weekend when his condition

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla (AP) — A Florida teacher hospitalized with COVID-19 has died after her husband unsuccessfully sued to force doctors to treat her with ivermectin, a drug popular among some skeptics of accepted coronavirus treatments despite a lack of studies proving its effectiveness. Tamara Drock’s husband told the Palm Beach Post that she

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart raised its outlook for the year after another surprisingly strong quarter as the largest retailer in the world flexed its scale to deal with rising costs and a snarled global supply chain. Walmart rerouted goods to less congested ports, even chartered its own vessels,

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — A chastened British government has admitted that it was wrong to try to block a lawmaker’s suspension for breaching ethics rules. Leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg said Tuesday it was “a mistake” to try to force an overhaul of Parliament’s standards process rather than

By RUSS BYNUM Associated Press BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) —  Ahmaud Arbery’s autopsy photos are being shown to jurors at the murder trial of three white men who chased the Black man down before he was fatally shot in their neighborhood last year. Prosecutors have called Dr. Edmund Donoghue, who examined Arbery’s body at the Georgia

By BRIAN SLODYSKO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Longtime California Rep. Jackie Speier is the latest congressional Democrat to announce their retirement from Congress ahead of the 2022 midterm election cycle. The seven-term congresswoman from the San Francisco Bay Area said in a video message Tuesday that after nearly 40 years in public office at

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — The prime minister of Portugal has warned that the latest coronavirus surge across Europe compels his government to consider precautionary measures. Prime Minister António Costa has convened a Friday meeting of health experts to assess what measures may be required. After that, he plans to meet with the leaders of opposition

By SCOTT BAUER and MICHAEL TARM Associated Press KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — Kyle Rittenhouse played a direct role in deciding, albeit randomly, who will be the final 12 jurors that will decide his innocence or guilt in the murder trial over his killing two protesters and injuring a third last summer. At the direction of

By MICHAEL TARM, AMY FORLITI and TAMMY WEBBER Associated Press KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — The jury has begun deliberating at Kyle Rittenhouse’s murder trial after two weeks of testimony in which they were given starkly different portrayals of his actions the night he shot three men on the streets of Kenosha. Prosecutors say Rittenhouse was

By JARI TANNER Associated Press HELSINKI (AP) — The Estonian and Swedish accident investigation boards say a research expedition earlier this year to the wreck of a ferry that sank into the Baltic Sea over 27 years ago hasn’t provided new evidence contradicting the official accident investigation report. In one of Europe’s deadliest peacetime maritime

LONDON (AP) — A British court has found a former official in Muammar Gadhafi’s government “jointly liable” for the fatal 1984 shooting of a police officer outside the Libyan Embassy in London. Constable Yvonne Fletcher was killed when men armed with submachine guns fired from the embassy’s windows on protesters gathered outside the building. A

By MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is demanding Attorney General Merrick Garland immediately fire the director of the beleaguered federal Bureau of Prisons. Sen. Dick Durbin’s demand on Tuesday comes two days after an Associated Press investigation detailing serious misconduct involving correctional officers. More than 100

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Netherlands has recorded its highest weekly number of positive coronavirus tests as lawmakers discuss legislation to tighten the use of the country’s COVID pass. The country’s public health institute reported Tuesday that positive tests rose by 44% over the last seven days. Hospital admissions for COVID-19 patients rose 12%

CLEVELAND (AP) — Cities and counties in the U.S. that want to hold pharmacies accountable for the opioid crisis are closely watching a federal trial that’s coming to a close. Two counties in Ohio have sued CVS, Walgreens and Walmart. The counties say the companies failed to follow government guidelines to make sure pain pills

By TED SHAFFREY and BOBBY CAINA CALVAN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — American journalist Danny Fenster, who spent nearly six months in jail in military-ruled Myanmar, has arrived in the United States. Fenster was sentenced last week to 11 years of hard labor. He was handed over Monday to former U.S. diplomat Bill Richardson,

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — Lazio is sponsoring a soccer friendly between the Vatican and a team from the World Roma Federation. It’s Lazio’s latest effort to promote tolerance amid further episodes of racism and fascism from its fanbase. Captain Ciro Immobile will referee Sunday’s match at Lazio’s Formello training center.

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Stocks are opening slightly higher on Wall Street Tuesday led by gains in the consumer discretionary sector. Home Depot is leading the S&P 500 gainers after the hardware chain’s sales continued to surge last quarter in a hot housing market. New data also showed Americans sharply