AP National News

By RUSS BYNUM Associated Press SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia judge has ruled that Ahmaud Arbery’s mental health records can’t be used as trial evidence by the men who chased and killed him. The decision Friday by Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley further limits defense attorneys’ efforts to portray Arbery as an aggressive young

HOUSTON (AP) — Authorities say a former student of a Houston charter school shot and wounded a school employee on campus before quickly surrendering to police. The shooting happened at about 11:45 a.m. Friday at YES Prep Southwest Secondary, a charter school that serves students in sixth through 12th grades. Houston Police Chief Troy Finner

By MATTHEW PERRONE AP Health Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Drugmaker Merck says its experimental COVID-19 pill reduced hospitalizations and deaths by half in people recently infected with the coronavirus. That is potentially a leap forward in the global fight against the pandemic. The company said Friday it will soon ask health officials in the U.S.

By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer U.S stocks are on the rebound Friday, led by companies that would benefit the most from a healthier economy, as Wall Street claws back some of its sharp losses from earlier in the week. The S&P 500 was 1.1% higher in afternoon trading. Merck helped pace the market and

By KAREN MATTHEWS and JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — An environmental lawyer who waged a years-long campaign against Chevron over pollution in Ecuador has been sentenced to six months in jail for violating a federal judge’s orders. U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska said Friday that Steven Donziger’s commitment to his Ecuadorian

By AMY FORLITI and CARLA K. JOHNSON Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A decline in COVID-19 cases across the United States over the past several weeks has given overwhelmed hospitals some relief. But administrators are bracing for yet another possible surge as cold weather drives people indoors. Health experts say the fourth wave of the

By CHRISTINA LARSON AP Science Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Letters from the last queen of France to her rumored lover contain redacted phrases that scientists have been able to read by studying the composition of different inks. The letters between Marie Antoinette and Swedish count Axel von Fersen were exchanged between June 1791 and August

By SOPHIKO MEGRELIDZE Associated Press TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — The prime minister of Georgia says former President Mikheil Saakashvili has been arrested after he had returned to the country. The announcement Friday by Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili came hours after Saakashvili posted on Facebook that he was back in Georgia ahead of of national municipal

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York health officials have revoked the medical license of a doctor with the cult-like group NXIVM who branded 17 women with the initials of the group’s leader, Keith Raniere. A health department hearing committee sustained multiple of counts of professional misconduct against Danielle Roberts, who belonged to a secret women’s

By EVENS SANON Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A top U.S. official has apologized for how Haitian migrants were treated along the U.S.-Mexico border, saying it’s not how border officials or the Department of Homeland Security behave. The comments Friday from Juan Gonzalez, the U.S. National Security Council’s senior director for the Western Hemisphere,

By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — Libyan officials say security forces have rounded up and detained at least 500 African migrants, including women and children, in a town in western Libya. The Interior Ministry says the arrests are part of a crackdown on illegal migration in the town of Gargaresh. However, the ministry

HOUSTON (AP) — Police in Houston said Friday that one person was in custody after reports of a shooting at a school. YES Prep Southwest Secondary said on Facebook that someone opened fire inside the school but that no students were hurt. Authorities have not said whether any adults were hurt. The shooting was reported

By TARIK EL-BARAKAH Associated Presss RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Millions of Moroccan students have returned to school for in-person classes after a prolonged summer vacation. The government had planned to reopen schools back in September but postponed the start date amid virus concerns. Morocco has the highest vaccinate rate in Africa and infections are now

By PAUL J. WEBER Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Biden administration urged a federal judge to block the nation’s most restrictive abortion law, which has banned most abortions in Texas since early September. U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman did not say when he would rule following a nearly three-hour hearing Friday in Austin.

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Police in Britain’s capital are desperately trying to regain the trust of women after revelations about how a serving officer used his position to abduct, rape and murder a young woman, taking the unprecedented step of advising women and girls how to protect themselves during interactions with

HOUSTON (AP) — Police in Houston say one person is in custody after reports of a shooting at a school. Few details were immediately released, including whether anyone was injured. Houston police say officers responded to the report at about 11:45 a.m. Friday. Police did not name the school nor did they provide any further

By TOM KRISHER, JONATHAN MATTISE and BRUCE SCHREINER Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Ford’s blockbuster announcement this week that it would build four vast new factories in Kentucky and Tennessee by 2025 and hire nearly 11,000 workers raised a big unanswered question: Just how good will those jobs be? No one — not Ford,

MADRID (AP) — A humanitarian aid group that monitors the plight of migrants making dangerous sea voyages to Spain says that 57 people have died trying to reach the Canary Islands from Morocco on a boat. Helena Maleno, founder of nongovernmental organization Walking Borders, tweeted that those on the boat who died Thursday were 28

By DAVE COLLINS Associated Press A Texas judge has found Infowars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones liable for damages in three defamation lawsuits related to his claims that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax. Judge Maya Guerra Gamble in Austin entered default judgments against Jones and other defendants this week for

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico wants to declare lithium a “strategic mineral” and reserve any future exploration and mining for the government. The changes are contained in a bill that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador sent to congress. The bill also changes the Constitution to give the government control over electricity production and distribution. The