AP National News

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Britney Spears’ independence day may have arrived. At a hearing in Los Angeles Friday, a judge will decide whether to terminate the conservatorship that has controlled the pop superstar’s life and money for nearly 14 years. With no significant opposition, it appears likely Judge Brenda

By DAMIAN J. TROISE AP Business Writer Stocks closed higher on Wall Street on Friday, but still marked their first weekly loss in six weeks. Technology and communications companies led the modest gains. The S&P 500 rose 0.7%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5% and the Nasdaq rose 1%. Johnson & Johnson gained ground

By The Associated Press This week’s new entertainment releases include a much-anticipated album from Adele, a documentary about Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction during the 2004 Super Bowl half-time show and Will Smith playing father and tennis guru to Venus and Serena Williams. Lin-Manuel Miranda makes his feature film directorial debut with “Tick, Tick… Boom!,” an

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — A biological sister of a 6-year-old Hawaii girl reported missing by their adoptive parents told police that they forced her to keep it a secret that Isabella Kalua was inside a dog cage with duct tape on her mouth and nose and not breathing. That’s according

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — White House press secretary Jen Psaki has resumed daily press briefings after she was diagnosed with COVID-19 in late October. She returned to the briefing room on Friday after observing a 10-day quarantine period and testing negative for COVID-19. She had skipped traveling to Europe with the

By CURT ANDERSON Associated Press CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) — Amy Carmichael lives more than 4,000 miles from the Florida aquarium that housed Winter, the “Dolphin Tale” movie star with a prosthetic tail who died this week at age 16. But Carmichael, who has successfully fought leukemia much of her life, felt a strong bond with

By JONATHAN J. COOPER Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — Friends and relatives remembered former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods as a funny and talented public servant who made friends from all walks of life and relentlessly pursued justice. Woods was a longtime Republican loyalist who changed his registration to Democratic in 2018 because of his

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council has extended the mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping force in Central African Republic. But Russia and the West have clashed over Russia’s military presence in the conflict-wracked nation. Friday’s vote on the French-drafted resolution was 13-0, with Russia and China abstaining.

By COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press DENVER (AP) — A detective says one of three teens accused of setting a house fire in Denver that killed five immigrants from Senegal last year admitted to starting the fire and targeting the house because he believed the people who stole his cell phone in a recent robbery lived

By ALICIA RANCILIO Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Taylor Swift’s short film to celebrate “Red (Taylor’s Version)” has Swiftie sleuths digging deeper into the expanded lyrics. “All Too Well: The Short Film,” premiering online Friday evening, has fans reveling in the juicy details of a break-up from the pop star’s past. Swift says fans

By MIKE CATALINI Associated Press RARITAN, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Republican Jack Ciattarelli says he spoke to Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy and conceded the election, but adds he plans to run again in four years. Ciattarelli said Friday at a news conference in his hometown of Raritan that he called Murphy earlier in the

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Russia has sent paratroopers to Belarus, in a show of support for its ally amid the tensions over an influx of migrants on the Belarus-Poland border, but two of the Russian soldiers were killed in a parachute accident. The Russian Defense Ministry said that as part of

HAMPTON TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — State police say a man who traveled to space with William Shatner last month was killed along with another person when a small plane crashed in northern New Jersey. One-time space tourist Glen de Vries, of New York City, and Thomas Fischer, of Hopatcong, were aboard the plane that went

By SCOTT BAUER, MICHAEL TARM and AMY FORLITI Associated Press KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — The jury that will decide Kyle Rittenhouse’s fate will be allowed to consider some lesser charges if they opt to acquit him on some of the original counts prosecutors brought. After fierce debate between prosecutors and attorneys for the 18-year-old Illinois

By SARAH EL DEEB Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — A U.N. envoy says Lebanon is a failing state that has also failed its people, leaving them struggling with converging crises that have impoverished the population and eroded trust in authorities. Olivier De Schutter, the U.N. special rapporteur on poverty, sounded the alarm in an interview

By FRANK JORDANS, ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL and SETH BORENSTEIN Associated Press GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Going into overtime, negotiators at U.N. climate talks in Glasgow are still trying to find common ground on phasing out coal, when nations need to update their emission-cutting pledges and, especially, on money. Talks are at a “bit of a stalemate,”

NESKOWIN, Ore. (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard has used two helicopters to rescue about 50 people from rising waters at an RV park on the Oregon Coast Friday as heavy rains in the Pacific Northwest prompted warnings of floods and landslides. The Coast Guard said on Twitter that “evacuation efforts were ongoing” from the

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER, ANNIRUDDHA GHOSAL and SETH BORENSTEIN Associated Press GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — In the frantic last hours of U.N. climate talks in Scotland, a senior diplomat from Luxembourg sprinted down a hallway inside the summit venue. He whooshed by clutching a sheaf of papers, only to vanish inside an office. The final stretch

By EDDIE PELLS AP National Writer DENVER (AP) — Making an Olympic team is hard enough. This winter, those who earn their spots on the U.S. squad will find it takes even more work to get to Beijing. Among the slow trickle of information coming out of China in advance of next February’s Olympics was