AP National News

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Qatari citizens have voted for the first time in elections for an advisory council. It’s a long-delayed step that aims to give people in the autocratic sheikhdom slightly more say over how they’re ruled. The “experiment,” as Qatari officials have described the vote, comes as the 2022 World Cup casts a

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The head of the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees says that his organization is facing an “existential” budget crisis and appealing for urgent funding of $120 million to keep essential education, healthcare and other services running. Philippe Lazzarini was speaking Friday when he said it

By JIM GOMEZ and JOEAL CALUPITAN Associated Press MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte says he is backing out of an announced plan to run for vice president in next year’s elections and will retire from politics after his term ends. That decision clears the way for his daughter politician to take a

BEIJING (AP) — A former Chinese justice minister has become a target of President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign. The Communist Party’s discipline commission announced Saturday that former Justice Minister and Vice Minister of Public Security Fu Zhenghua is under investigation for severe violations of party discipline and law. It did not provide details. It’s unclear

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for killing a member of Pakistan’s minority Sikh community earlier in the week in the northwestern city of Peshawar. An IS statement issued late Friday described Satnam Singh, 45, as “polytheist” and said he was shot dead by IS members. Pakistani officials have denied any

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An Abu Dhabi air ambulance flown by the emirate’s police has crashed, killing four people. The Abu Dhabi police gave no details Saturday on the location or cause of the crash. Police said the dead included two pilots, a civilian doctor and a nurse. Abu Dhabi is the capital

By DARIA LITVINOVA Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — When Russians discuss the coronavirus, the talk often turns to “antitela.” That’s the Russian word for antibodies. Tests to detect the proteins produced by the body to fight infection are cheap, widely available and actively marketed in Russia. But Western health experts say the antibody tests are

By ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Dubai’s Expo 2020 has acknowledged that five workers had been killed on site during construction of the massive world’s fair, revealing for the first time overall statistics for worker fatalities. Expo previously acknowledged that its 200,000 laborers who built the site worked some 240

By JONATHAN MATTISE and TRAVIS LOLLER Associated Press WAVERLY, Tenn. (AP) — A hundred years ago, the massive rural Tennessee flood that killed 20 people could have been chalked up to a fluke of nature. But experts say climate change is making the type of flood-producing rainfall that inundated Waverly last month more common. The

By PAUL J. WEBER Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A federal judge is deciding whether to block the nation’s most restrictive abortion law, which has banned most abortions in Texas since early September and sent women racing hundreds of miles to get care outside the state. The Biden administration on Friday urged U.S. District

By TAMMY WEBBER and HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH Associated Press The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 has surpassed 700,000. It’s a grim and frustrating milestone as the nation confronts a surge in infections and deaths driven by the delta variant and the refusal of millions of Americans to get vaccinated. The last 100,000 deaths were recorded in

By LISA MASCARO and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has pledged on Capitol Hill to “get it done” as Democrats strain to rescue a scaled back version of his $3.5 trillion government overhaul and salvage a related public works bill. But it’s not getting done soon: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

By BRIAN SLODYSKO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Oregon congressional candidate and hero soldier Alek Skarlatos formed a nonprofit to advocate for veterans after he lost his 2020 race. The group has done little to advance that cause since then. But it has helped get the Republican’s bid for a 2022 rematch with longtime Democratic

By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ and ADAM BEAM Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California will become the first U.S. state to require COVID-19 vaccinations for children to attend public and private schools in person under a mandate that could effect millions of students. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday announced that the coronavirus shot will be

By DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer American Airlines, Alaska Airlines and JetBlue will require employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. That’s happening as the Biden administration steps up pressure on airlines to adopt vaccine mandates. A key White House adviser talked about the matter with the CEOs of American, Delta and Southwest, according to people

HOUSTON (AP) — Authorities say a former student of a Houston public charter school shot and wounded the campus principal before quickly surrendering to police. The shooting happened at about 11:45 a.m. Friday at YES Prep Southwest Secondary, a charter school that serves students in sixth through 12th grades. Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said

CHICAGO (AP) — An Illinois State Police trooper has died after being shot on the Dan Ryan Expressway on Chicago’s South Side. A spokeswoman for the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office said the trooper was pronounced dead Friday afternoon at the University of Chicago Medical Center and an autopsy will be conducted. Illinois State Police

By LISA MASCARO and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has pledged on Capitol Hill to “get it done” as Democrats strain to rescue a scaled back version of his $3.5 trillion government overhaul and salvage a related public works bill. But it’s not getting done soon: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

By AMY FORLITI and CARLA K. JOHNSON Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The United States has reached its latest heartbreaking pandemic milestone, eclipsing 700,000 deaths from COVID-19 just as the surge from the delta variant is starting to slow down and give overwhelmed hospitals some relief. It took 3 ½ months for the U.S. to