LOS ANGELES — Souleyman Adam Bourma was 17 when he sought refuge in the sprawling Goz Amer refugee camp in eastern Chad, home to more than 250,000 Darfuris who have fled war in their homeland.

For half his life Bourma, once a farmer, has known no life beyond the camp’s boundaries — and had little reason to believe he ever would. Then he ...Read more

CHICAGO — Weeks before the official start of the winter season, Great Lakes surface temperatures are still trending above average, following summer and fall evenings that didn’t cool down — a feature of climate change in Illinois.

“What was kind of jarring was the consistency of the warmer-than-normal conditions,” said state ...Read more

A day after declaring a state of emergency for New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul is ordering nursing homes and adult-care facilities to make boosters available to all residents after hospitalizations across the state jumped 20% in the past week.

The governor on Saturday reported 2,696 people in hospitals because of the virus, up from 2,249 a week ...Read more

TACOMA, Wash. — The search for the shooter who terrorized Tacoma Mall shoppers Friday night entered its second day Saturday as a victim recovered in a local hospital.

Tacoma police spokesman officer Gary Wurges offered no new information on the search for the suspect who allegedly shot one person. Police did not provide a description of the ...Read more

DAYTON, Ohio — The city of Dayton has received approval to tear down a property that was briefly home to the Wright Brothers’ first bike shop, then was used by the Gem City Ice Cream Co. for decades.

City officials and some neighbors say the property at 1005 W. Third St. in the Wright Dunbar business district is a longtime eyesore that is ...Read more

SAO PAULO, Brazil — The governor of Brazil’s richest and most populous state was picked by the Brazilian Social Democracy Party as its candidate for next year’s election challenging President Jair Bolsonaro.

Joao Doria, governor of Sao Paulo, was declared the winner of Saturday’s primaries for the party known as PSDB, according to Bruno...Read more

ATLANTA — A 5-year-old girl was shot and killed when a gun discharged at a South Fulton apartment complex Thursday night.

Detectives from the South Fulton Police Department are now investigating the incident, which occurred about 7 p.m. Thanksgiving at the Garden of Camp Creek Apartments.

Police confirmed reports identifying the victim as ...Read more

Burkina Faso protest movements vowed to maintain their demands for President Roch Marc Christian Kabore to step down after police fired teargas to disperse a rally on Saturday.

Protesters gathered near the Place de la Nation in the center of the capital, Ouagadougou, to call for Kabore’s departure, and for French troops to leave the country. ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Days after the head of Twin Cities-based Best Buy warned analysts that the retailer was seeing an uptick in crime, numerous shoplifters apparently working in tandem Friday night rushed two metro area Best Buy stores, grabbing high-priced items before fleeing.

Both crimes occurred shortly after 8 p.m. on one of the busiest ...Read more

MIAMI — A stowaway passenger hid in the landing gear of an American Airlines flight for more than two hours as it traveled from Guatemala to Miami Saturday morning.

The 26-year-old man was apprehended at Miami International Airport when he tried to hide in the landing gear compartment of the flight, Customs and Border Protection said. He was ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — For almost a year since COVID-19 vaccines first became available, many leading health authorities have urged wealthy nations and vaccine manufacturing companies to prioritize inoculating people in poorer Southern Hemisphere nations to help prevent troublesome new variants from emerging.

Since then, vaccines have become readily ...Read more

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced new measures to combat the spread of the omicron coronavirus variant, which he said can spread rapidly and affect those who are double vaccinated.

The announcement of travel restrictions and the return of mask requirements in retail stores and on public transport came hours after his government ...Read more

The U.K. confirmed the presence of the omicron COVID-19 variant in people with a connection to travel in southern Africa, prompting Prime Minister Boris Johnson to announce a series of measures to combat its spread as multiple cases surfaced across Europe.

The U.K.’s announcement Saturday of two infections came as officials across Europe ...Read more

Travel bans and other snap defenses that countries threw up against omicron, the new COVID-19 variant, are buying time for scientists to answer key questions that could prevent another wave of deaths.

Labs in Europe, the U.S. and Africa are preparing for tests to see how the new variant is likely to behave in people who’ve been vaccinated or...Read more

The U.K. confirmed the omicron COVID-19 variant in people with a connection to travel in southern Africa, as Germany and Italy identified suspected cases in recent travelers.

The U.K.’s announcement of two cases came as officials across Europe braced for the new variant to surface, days after it was first identified. Belgium, Hong Kong and ...Read more

The omicron variant, a new strain of COVID-19 triggering panic worldwide, could already be in the United States.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Saturday that while there is no indication the mutated virus has made its way over from South Africa, where it was initially detected ...Read more

Afghanistan’s Acting Prime Minister Mullah Mohammad Hassan said his interim administration has inherited a sinking economy and called on the global community to assist the country in preventing a further crisis as inflation spirals.

The former U.S.-backed government of Ashraf Ghani was corrupt and damaged the country’s economic situation, ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — A man shot at The Streets at Southpoint mall in Durham Friday remains in critical condition as of Saturday afternoon, according to Durham police.

Two others who were shot, another adult male and a 10-year-old, sustained non-life-threatening injuries, Durham police said in a news release.

In addition to the three people who ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Public health officials have been struggling to persuade eligible Americans to get their COVID-19 booster shots. New research could help them make the case that the extra dose will provide substantially more protection — even if they’ve also recovered from a coronavirus infection.

A small study that’s among the first to ...Read more

BRUNSWICK, Ga. — For Wanda Cooper-Jones, the quest for justice after her son’s death was an arduous journey.

When Ahmaud Arbery was killed in February of last year, local authorities looked the other way. Despite having the cellphone video of the 25-year-old being chased down by three white men and shot in the road, Glynn County police did ...Read more