News

LONDON (AP) — The UK Health Security Agency says the omicron variant of COVID-19 is spreading rapidly throughout Britain and is likely to become the dominant form of the disease across the country by the middle of this month. The agency says in a technical briefing that omicron is more easily transmissible than other variants.

By KHADIJA KOTHIA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Families of four young gay men slain by a sex predator have demanded that the Metropolitan Police be held to account after an inquest concluded that bungled investigations into the slayings probably cost lives. Relatives of the victims called for the police watchdog to reopen its case

By BRYAN ANDERSON Associated Press/Report for America RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory and ex-Rep. Mark Walker are urging U.S. Rep. Ted Budd to agree to participate in a U.S. Senate debate. Budd’s campaign says it considers any conversations premature and “foolish” since candidate filing was recently suspended. The state Supreme

Denver finally saw its first snowfall of the season on Friday, shattering an 87-year-old record for the latest first snow. It wasn’t much: The official measurement at Denver International Airport was just three-tenths of an inch. Jim Kalina is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Boulder. He says the Denver metro region is

By ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writer Stocks are higher on Wall Street in afternoon trading Friday as investors weigh the latest government reading on consumer prices, which shows inflation is at a four-decade high. The S&P 500 was up 0.7% after briefly shedding most of an early gain. The benchmark index has now recovered most

By TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — Earlier this week, reports surfaced that Tesla allows drivers to play video games on dashboard touch screens while vehicles are moving. Now Mercedes-Benz has issued a U.S. recall for a simliar issue. The German automaker said in documents posted Friday by U.S. regulators that the issue

CAIRO (AP) — A Sudanese medical group says renewed tribal clashes between Arabs and non-Arabs in Sudan’s Darfur region this week have killed at least 33 more people. The statement, released on Thursday, says that fighting in the the town of Jebel Moon and the adjacent Tanjeki village in West Darfur province also left at

DAMARISCOTTA, Maine (AP) — Humans aren’t the only species packing on extra pounds during the pandemic. Some squirrels are letting themselves go, too. One portly critter in Damariscotta doesn’t scamper or scoot. It lumbers and waddles after supplementing nature’s bounty by helping himself to seeds that fall to the ground from bird feeders. Wildlife biologist

By WILL WEISSERT and COLLEEN LONG Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Bob Dole has been honored at a funeral service at Washington National Cathedral as top leaders from both parties gathered to display the kind of bipartisanship now rare in modern government. Dole’s flag-draped casket was carried in by a military honor guard as the

By RENÉE RODEN Religion News Service In a Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York Wednesday, Cardinal Timothy Dolan gave a formal sendoff to the 17 boxes filled with evidence attesting to Catholic radical Dorothy Day’s cause for sainthood. The more than 50,000 pages of newspaper articles, diary entries and other documents — even