AP National News

By HUIZHONG WU Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A U.S. senator has arrived in Taiwan, in the second visit by members of Congress since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip earlier this month sharply raised tensions with China. U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn, a Republican from Tennessee, landed in Taipei after visiting the Solomon Islands and

By LAURA UNGAR AP Science Writer Scientists have created “synthetic” mouse embryos from stem cells without a dad’s sperm or a mom’s egg or womb. The lab-created embryos mirror a natural mouse embryo up to 8 ½ days after fertilization, containing the same structures, including one like a beating heart. In the near term, researchers

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A pipeline operator says it has reached a settlement with Southern California tourism companies, fishermen and other businesses that sued after a crude oil spill last year. Amplify Energy says in a statement Thursday that claims have been settled in the class-action lawsuit filed by businesses affected by the October

By ED WHITE Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — The Michigan appeals court has issued a major ruling affecting long-term victims of car crashes. The court says changes in auto insurance law can’t be applied retroactively to people who were severely injured before summer 2019. It’s a victory for people who are still recovering and their

GENEVA (AP) — World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has made a passionate appeal for his embattled home region of Tigray in Ethiopia. He said Thursday that he has relatives he cannot communicate with or send money to amid a blockade by government forces. They were some of the most personal comments among many

By FRANK JORDANS and HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press NIKOPOL, Ukraine (AP) — The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the middle of the fighting in Ukraine was temporarily cut off from the electrical grid because of fire damage. That caused a blackout in the region and heightened fears of a catastrophe in a country haunted by

By PHILIP MARCELO Associated Press Providence’s mayor has proposed spending $10 million in federal coronavirus pandemic aid on financial literacy and homeownership, workforce training, small business development and other programs recently recommended by the city’s reparations commission. Mayor Jorge Elorza’s spending plan was released Thursday and calls for creating a legal defense fund for residents

By ANDREW DeMILLO Associated Press LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A federal appeals court has agreed with a judge’s ruling preventing the state from enforcing a ban on transgender children receiving gender affirming medical care. A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling temporarily blocking the state from enforcing

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press McALESTER, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma has executed a man for a 1997 killing despite a recommendation from the state’s Pardon and Parole Board that his life be spared. Fifty-year-old James Coddington received a lethal injection on Thursday at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He was pronounced dead at 10:16

By MICHAEL GOLDBERG and EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS Associated Press JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Law enforcement officers in central Mississippi carried toddlers out of a flooded day care center after storms dumped rain that caused creeks to overflow. The Rankin County Sheriff’s Department posted video on Facebook of deputies walking through brown, knee-deep water Wednesday to

By FRANK JORDANS and HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press NIKOPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainians are once again anxious about the fate of a nuclear power plant in a land that was home to the world’s worst atomic accident in 1986 at Chernobyl — and alarm only increased Thursday when the plant operator said the facility has

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — An illness that has sickened dogs in northern Michigan, killing some of them, was found to be canine parvovirus, a common ailment the affected dogs were not fully vaccinated against, state officials said. The ailing dogs displayed clinical signs suggesting they had parvovirus but had “consistently” tested negative at veterinary clinics

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A concrete obelisk with Soviet stars at the top that was the centerpiece of a monument commemorating the Red Army’s victory over Nazi Germany has been taken down in Latvia’s capital. The nearly 80-meter (260-foot) column had stood like a high-rise in the landscape of downtown Riga. A leading Latvian media

A Russian court has ordered the release of a former mayor of the country’s fourth-largest city from custody pending an investigation and trial on charges of criticizing Russia’s military operation in Ukraine. Yevgeny Roizman, 59, who served as the mayor of Yekaterinburg in from 2013 to 2018, was allowed to walk free Thursday. But he

PARIS (AP) — EU lawmakers have a new, post-Brexit reason to be annoyed with Britain: British sewage overflows seeping into the English Channel and North Sea. Heavy rainfall after weeks of dry weather overwhelmed parts of Britain’s sewage system last week, causing untreated wastewater to be discharged into rivers and seas. The problem is a

By INNA VARENYTSIA Associated Press CHAPLYNE, Ukraine (AP) — The death toll from a Russian rocket attack on a train station and the surrounding area on Ukraine’s Independence Day climbed to 25, including at least two children, Ukrainian authorities said Thursday. Russia said it targeted a military train and claimed to have killed more than

MOLINE ACRES, Mo. (AP) — Authorities say a police officer in suburban St. Louis was charged after he hit and killed another officer while chasing a suspect. The St. Louis County prosecuting attorney announced Wednesday that Brian Rayford, of Florissant, faces a first-degree involuntary manslaughter charge in the December 2020 death of Sgt. Herschel Turner,

By COLLIN BINKLEY, SEUNG MIN KIM and CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 40 million Americans could see their student loan debt reduced — and in many cases eliminated — under the long-awaited forgiveness plan President Joe Biden announced Wednesday, a historic but politically divisive move in the run-up to the midterm

By EMILY ROSE Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says it has filed terror charges against a senior member of the Islamic Jihad militant group. The militant leader’s arrest in the occupied West Bank helped spark three days of heavy fighting in Gaza earlier this month. Islamic Jihad had demanded that Israel release

By KAT STAFFORD Associated Press The Movement for Black Lives is launching a new climate change initiative Thursday, uniting more than 200 Black environmental leaders and organizations nationwide who have pledged to identify equitable climate solutions centering on Black Americans. Thursday’s announcement, first shared with The Associated Press, said The Black Hive initiative builds on