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By BOBBY CAINA CALVAN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The annual New Year’s Eve ball drop in New York City’s Times Square will come just as the year prior began, with the pandemic clouding an already uncertain future. The city said it would limit the number of people Friday to about 15,000 in-person spectators.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Two people have been shot and wounded following an apparent altercation at the Mall of America, sending New Year’s Eve shoppers scrambling for safety and placing the Minneapolis mall on temporary lockdown. Bloomington Police Department officials say the shooting happened about 4:30 p.m. Friday. One man suffered a gunshot wound to the

By SYLVIA HUI Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Scientists and medical chiefs who have led Britain’s response to the pandemic have been awarded knighthoods in the country’s annual New Year Honors List, which recognized the achievements of hundreds of people from James Bond star Daniel Craig to teenage tennis star Emma Raducanu. Queen Elizabeth II

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to further bolster his military capability, maintain draconian anti-virus measures and push hard to improve the economy during a speech at a key political conference this week. A state media report on Saturday on Kim’s speech during

W.G. RAMIREZ Associated Press HENDERSON (AP) — Josh Jacobs couldn’t have produced the best game of his three-year-old career for a better time. With Las Vegas spiraling downward into what’s become an annual late-season collapse, Jacobs turned in a career-best tying 129 yards on 27 attempts to lead the Raiders to a 17-13 win over

By YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Emperor Naruhito is offering prayers for those who died during the pandemic, taking to video for the second straight year for his New Year’s greeting. Before the pandemic, the imperial palace in central Tokyo would open at the start of each year to cheering, flag-waving crowds.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The enormous pedestal where the Robert E. Lee monument in Virginia’s capital resided for over 130 years until September has been fully removed and hauled away. WRIC-TV reported that every piece of the pedestal where the bronze statue stood over Monument Avenue in Richmond was gone from its site at a

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Two people have been shot and wounded following an apparent altercation at the Mall of America, sending New Year’s Eve shoppers scrambling for safety and placing the Minneapolis mall on temporary lockdown. Bloomington Police Department officials say the shooting happened about 4:30 p.m. Friday. One man suffered a gunshot wound to the

By STEPHEN HAWKINS AP Sports Writer ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Top-ranked Alabama is headed to another national championship game. Brian Robinson ran for a career-high 204 yards, Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young threw three touchdowns and the defending Crimson Tide beat Cincinnati 27-6 in the CFP semifinal Cotton Bowl. The Bearcats had been undefeated and

NAPLES, Fla. (AP) — Body camera footage released by authorities showed a man screaming in pain and pleading for help just before a sheriff’s deputy shot a Malayan tiger that had grabbed the man’s arm at a Florida zoo. The Collier County Sheriff’s Office says the man was seriously injured Wednesday evening when he entered