DETROIT — An Oxford High School teacher alerted a counselor to disturbing behavior by Ethan Crumbley hours before Tuesday's mass shooting.

It was the second time in as many days that a teacher had expressed worry.

School leaders were concerned enough to call his parents to the school, where they demanded that he get counseling and asked that...Read more

As fears of another global surge of COVID-19 cases send jitters through global markets, spur a new round of travel bans and cause Americans to rethink their holiday plans, scientists studying the omicron variant are getting the first hints of what’s in store for the months to come.

The new variant’s mutations suggest that it is likely to ...Read more

WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had a testy exchange over Ukraine at a dinner with dozens of their colleagues this week, according to people familiar with the discussions.

The verbal tension erupted as the U.S. and its European allies seek ways — including possible sanctions —...Read more

ZURICH — Even before the shock emergence of the omicron variant, Europe’s coronavirus battle was on shaky ground.

Cases surging at a record pace, hospitalizations and deaths on the rise — it’s setting up to be a nightmare winter for the continent yet again. The omicron mutation has added an extra layer of uncertainty, but the continent�...Read more

French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday announced a joint initiative with Saudi Arabia aimed at solving a diplomatic row between several Persian Gulf states and Lebanon.

Macron told reporters in Jeddah that he and the kingdom’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, had called Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati together “...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Crews of burglars publicly smashing their way into Los Angeles’ most exclusive stores. Robbers following their victims, including a star of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” and a BET host, to their residences. And this week, the fatal shooting of 81-year-old Jacqueline Avant, an admired philanthropist and wife of ...Read more

DETROIT — The parents of the teen accused in the Oxford High School shooting were given a combined $1 million bond during their arraignments Saturday amid the judge's concerns about flight risk.

The names of the four Oxford High School students killed Tuesday — Tate Myre, Madisyn Baldwin, Hana St. Juliana and Justin Shilling — were read ...Read more

CHICAGO — Not long after they allegedly pretended to beat up actor Jussie Smollett in January 2019, two Chicago brothers took off for their ancestral home of Nigeria, where they were going to audition for a show called “Big Brother Naija.”

The brothers, aspiring actors Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, never got the roles. But they wound ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has vowed to replace lead pipes to ensure every American has access to clean drinking water, but policy experts say the billions of dollars he has committed may fall short of that goal.

The new infrastructure law steers $15 billion to lead service line replacement, the largest federal investment in the issue ...Read more

MIAMI — Florida reported 1,983 COVID-19 cases and one new death on Thursday, according to Friday’s report to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based on Miami Herald calculations of CDC data.

In all, Florida has recorded at least 3,697,624 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 61,631 deaths. In the past seven days, on average, the state...Read more

ST. PAUL, Minn. — St. Paul was left reeling Friday, a day after a man was stabbed to death in the capital city's record 35th homicide of the year.

The killing, which started over a parking dispute on the 1700 block of East 7th Street on the East Side, left leaders with more questions than answers as St. Paul tries to combat an increase in ...Read more

OXFORD, Mich. — The strength of Oxford wasn’t just a hashtag Friday night. Of course, it never was.

It was a people, who in the dark, cold evening flooded the village streets by the thousands young and old, bundled up to honor the community’s stolen members and reclaim a home now known in infamy by those who’d never heard of it before ...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A District of Columbia appellate court panel late Friday dealt another blow to the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s efforts to control online sports betting in Florida and ruled that the tribe has not shown that it will be irreparably harmed if it is forced to halt its sports book operation while it appeals a lower court ...Read more

With a mammoth military deal already in his pocket, President Emmanuel Macron ends his Gulf tour in Saudi Arabia Saturday where he’ll seek to raise France’s standing as a serious player in global affairs despite criticism over the kingdom’s human rights record.

Macron, who faces a tough election fight in April, is the first major Western ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark’s scheduled return on Saturday for questioning before a House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was postponed Friday because of “a medical condition,” the panel announced.

After refusing to answer questions during an earlier appearance on Nov. 5 ...Read more

DETROIT — A teacher at Oxford High School was so disturbed by what she saw on Ethan Crumbley's desk the day the teen is accused of going on a killing spree in school, she took out her cellphone and snapped a photo as evidence to show school leaders.

According to authorities, on a piece of paper in front of Crumbley, the teacher saw the words:...Read more

CHICAGO — It was a jaw-dropping moment in an already dramatic trial: An attorney for Jussie Smollett said in court that, just moments before, the judge presiding over the case had lunged at her while attorneys huddled in a sidebar.

“Judge, you physically moved towards me,” Tamara Walker told Cook County Judge James Linn during the trial ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — In the darkness of an early morning this week, thieves bent a metal grate shielding a basement window, slipping into the Kensington Catholic school through basement bathrooms. A U-Haul truck waited outside.

Over four hours early Tuesday, the thieves ripped out copper and metal pipes and even urinals and sinks, breaking the main...Read more

PONTIAC, Mich. — Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald revealed Friday that the parents of the suspected Oxford High School shooter were aware their son had access to an unsecured weapon in their home, knew he'd been caught searching the internet for ammunition and that, the morning of the shooting, a teacher found a graphic picture the ...Read more