AP National News

By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega holds a commanding lead in preliminary results from Sunday’s election against a field of little known challengers. Ortega’smost potent would-be rivals remain jailed. A victory would give Ortega his fourth consecutive five-year term as president. His government has grown increasingly heavy-handed since

By DAMIAN J. TROISE and STAN CHOE AP Business Writers NEW YORK (AP) — Stock indexes are hovering around their record levels in afternoon trading on Wall Street Monday. The S&P 500 was 0.2% higher, as of 3 p.m. Eastern time, after earlier drifting between a small loss and gain. It’s on pace to set

By GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press The Biden administration wants the multiple challenges to its workplace COVID-19 vaccination rule consolidated in a single federal court and has asked for a decision by early next week. The U.S. Department of Justice said in court filings Monday that one of the federal circuit courts should be chosen at

By JESSICA GRESKO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is struggling with whether to allow a lawsuit by Muslim men claiming religious bias by the FBI to go forward. The government has said doing so could reveal national security secrets. The case involves three men from Southern California. They filed a class action

By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA and VANESSA GERA WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Hundreds if not thousands of migrants have sought to storm the border from Belarus into Poland, cutting razor wire fences and using branches to try and climb over them. The siege on Monday escalated a crisis along the European Union’s eastern border that has been

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — Some Southern California prosecutors are stepping up charges against those who sell deadly, fentanyl-laced illegal drugs. The Orange County Register reports that District Attorney Todd Spitzer plans to issue an admonishment in plea deals warning that a dealer found to be involved in another fentanyl sale that results in death

By RUSS BYNUM Associated Press BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — Jurors in a Georgia courtroom have been shown graphic crime scene photos of the gunshot wounds that killed Ahmaud Arbery. Glynn County police Sgt. Sheila Ramos testified about her photos Monday, the second day of the trial of three white men who chased and shot Arbery,

By DENISE LAVOIE AP Legal Affairs Writer CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — A woman who was pushed to safety as a car slammed into counterprotesters at a 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville has recounted a scene of “complete terror.” Marissa Blair testified Monday in the third week of a civil trial of a lawsuit that

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and Egypt are putting a brave face on strains in their relationship as domestic Egyptian developments and regional crises test long-standing ties between the countries. With Egypt’s human rights record posing a significant irritant amid concern over flashpoint situations in both Egypt and

DAMSCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria’s military says Israel has carried out airstrikes on central and western provinces wounding two soldiers and causing material damage. The military said Israeli warplanes fired the missiles while flying over neighboring Lebanon on Monday night. It added that Syrian air defenses shot down most of the Israeli missiles without elaborating.

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Four astronauts in orbit since spring are on their way back to Earth. Their SpaceX capsule undocked from the International Space Station on Monday afternoon. That sets the crew up for a late night splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico just off the Florida

By MUNIR AHMED Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani authorities have announced a month-long cease-fire with a key militant group behind numerous attacks on security forces and civilians over the last 14 years. A government spokesperson says the Taliban government in Afghanistan helped facilitate the cease-fire between the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan and

By RANDALL CHASE and MIKE CATALINI Associated Press Authorities have released the identities of the eight people who died after fans at the Astroworld music festival thronged toward the stage during a performance by rapper Travis Scott. They included a boy as young as 14, and the oldest was 27. Most were from Texas, though

By MARGARET STAFFORD Associated Press KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas City man who has been jailed for more than 40 years for a triple murder is adamantly and repeatedly denying having anything to do with the crime. Kevin Strickland testified during a long-sought evidentiary hearing that could lead to his freedom, which he

POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Officials say a Brightline commuter train hit a car carrying a woman and her grandchild on the higher-speed line’s first day back in operation since the coronavirus pandemic began. The crash happened Monday morning in Pompano Beach. Fire rescue officials told news outlets that the 71-year-old woman suffered some broken

By MICHAEL TARM, SCOTT BAUER and AMY FORLITI Associated Press KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — A protester and volunteer medic wounded on the streets of Kenosha by Kyle Rittenhouse says he was unintentionally pointing his own gun at the rifle-toting Rittenhouse when the young man shot him in the arm. Gaige Grosskreutz, the third and final

By ERIC TUCKER and ALAN SUDERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Two suspected criminal hackers have been charged in the United States in connection with a wave of ransomware attacks. That includes one that led to the temporary shutdown of the world’s largest meat processor and another that snarled businesses around the globe on the

By GRANT SCHULTE Associated Press WILBER, Neb. (AP) — A woman convicted of murder for her role in the death and dismemberment of a Nebraska hardware store clerk has been sentenced to life in prison, avoiding the prospect of being the first woman in state history to be sentenced to death. A three-judge panel deadlocked

By CHRISTOPHER WEBER and STEFANIE DAZIO Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — People going to shopping malls, theaters, gyms or nail salons in Los Angeles must now verify that they are vaccinated against COVID-19. The mandate that took effect Monday requires proof of shots for everyone entering a wide variety of businesses. Mayor Eric Garcetti,