News

By JIM GOMEZ Associated Press MANILA, Philippines (AP) — World Health Organization officials in the Western Pacific say border closures adopted by some countries may buy time to deal with the new omicron coronavirus variant. However, they say measures put in place and experience gained in dealing with the delta variant should remain the foundation

By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press RESERVE, La. (AP) — EPA Administrator Michael Regan says a recently completed “Journey to Justice” tour from Mississippi to Texas enabled him to put “faces and names with this term that we call environmental justice.″ The five-day tour in mid-November highlighted low-income, mostly minority communities adversely affected by industrial pollution.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia has detected its first case of the new omicron strain of the coronavirus in a foreign student who returned to the country last month after visiting her family in South Africa. Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin says the 19-year-old female transited in Singapore and arrived in Malaysia on Nov. 19.

By AARON MORRISON, HELEN WIEFFERING and NOREEN NASIR Associated Press The nation’s military academies provide a key pipeline into the leadership of the armed services and, for the better part of the last decade, they have welcomed more racially diverse students each year. But beyond blanket anti-discrimination policies, these federally funded institutions volunteer little about

By AARON MORRISON, HELEN WIEFFERING and NOREEN NASIR Associated Press The nation’s military academies provide a key pipeline into the leadership of the armed services and, for the better part of the last decade, they have welcomed more racially diverse students each year. But beyond blanket anti-discrimination policies, these federally funded institutions volunteer little about

By HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — As the conservative-leaning Supreme Court this week signaled that it may dramatically limit abortion rights, polling suggests Americans want Roe v. Wade to remain law, but have nuanced attitudes on the circumstances under which abortion should be allowed. In 2020, AP VoteCast showed 69% of voters in

By ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — For months, President Joe Biden has taken it on the chin from Republicans over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The Democratic president’s efforts to confront COVID-19 have long attracted a litany of fiery statements, legal challenges and more than a few barbs from his predecessor. But

By STEVE KARNOWSKI and AMY FORLITI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A mostly white jury is nearly set for the trial of a suburban Minneapolis police officer charged in Daunte Wright’s shooting death. Twelve panelists have been seated, with just two more needed to serve as alternates ahead of next Wednesday’s opening statements. Former Brooklyn

By MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS Associated Press NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Pope Francis is planning to meet with the leader of Cyprus’ Greek Orthodox Church with the aim of further mending an ideological and political rift between the Catholic West and the Orthodox East. Francis and Archbishop Chrysostomos II are set to meet Friday, the second day

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation is surging. Supply chains are snarled. And yet economists predict that America’s employers delivered another month of solid job growth in November on the strength of steady consumer spending. Beneath the headline figures on hiring and unemployment, though, lurks a potentially even more consequential question:

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s opposition leader says the nation would set a more ambitious target of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 43% by the end of the decade if the government changes at elections early next year. Center-left Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese on Friday set climate policy