AP National News

By BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Coronavirus cases are surging to the worst levels of the pandemic in a rebel stronghold in Syria. That’s a particularly devastating development in a region where scores of hospitals have been bombed and that doctors and nurses have fled in droves during a decade of war. The

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese real estate developer that is struggling to avoid defaulting on billions of dollars of debt says it will make an interest payment due this week to bondholders in China. It gave no sign of plans to pay on a separate bond abroad. Meanwhile, the

By MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday sued his estranged niece and The New York Times over a bombshell 2018 story about his family’s wealth and tax practices that was based on confidential documents she provided to the newspaper’s reporters. Trump’s lawsuit, filed in state court

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California judge has ordered the last person seen with Kristin Smart before she vanished from a college campus 25 years ago on the Central Coast to stand trial for murder. San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Craig van Rooyen said Wednesday there was probable cause

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Racism, climate change and the world’s worsening divisions will take center stage at the U.N. meeting of world leaders, a day after Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the world was “on the edge of an abyss.” For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began,

By JONATHAN J. COOPER Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — A Republican official in Arizona resigned Tuesday from the board overseeing Maricopa County after a recording emerged of him criticizing his GOP colleagues in a meeting with activists demanding an audit of the 2020 election. During the meeting recorded surreptitiously last March, Supervisor Steve Chucri suggested

By ROBERT JABLON Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Willie Garson, who played Stanford Blatch on TV’s “Sex and the City” and its movie sequels, has died at the age of 57. His son, Nathen Garson, announced his death on Tuesday but didn’t provide details. Garson portrayed Blatch, a talent agent and the best male

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Officials say an 87-year-old woman found dead inside a freezer in the garage of her Southern California home was a retired homicide detective with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Authorities on Tuesday identified her as Miriam E. Travis. She retired as a detective sergeant in 1990 after 27 years with

By ELLIOT SPAGAT, MARIA VERZA, JUAN A. LOZANO and SARAH BLAKE MORGAN Associated Press DEL RIO, Texas (AP) — U.S. officials say many of the thousands of Haitian migrants camped in the small Texas border town of Del Rio are being released in the United States with notices to appear in immigration court or to

By ALEXANDRA JAFFE, COLLEEN LONG and BEN FOX Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Border Patrol agents tied to images showing aggressive tactics on Haitian immigrants have been placed on administrative duties pending an investigation. The secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, says in a tweet that further action will come depending

By LISA MASCARO and KEVIN FREKING Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Calling fellow Democrats to the White House, President Joe Biden is pushing in person for them to hasten work on his “build back better” agenda. Biden and congressional Democrats are laboring to bridge party divisions that threaten his big proposals. In hours of back-to-back

By ZEKE MILLER Associated Press President Joe Biden says the U.S. is doubling its purchase of Pfizer’s COVID-19 shots to share with the world. At a virtual “vaccine summit” on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Biden embraced a goal of vaccinating 70% of the global population within the next year. Biden encouraged well-off

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A sports association official says seven female taekwondo athletes who fled Taliban-controlled Afghanistan have resettled in Melbourne. Australian Taekwondo’s chief executive Heather Garriock said the women are completing quarantine this week. Garriock said former Australia national soccer team captain and humanitarian advocate Craig Foster worked with the Australian government, Australian Taekwondo

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer The Asian Development Bank has lowered its outlook for economic growth in developing Asia to reflect renewed coronavirus outbreaks as variants spread, prompting governments to restore or keep in place their pandemic precautions. It expects 7.1% growth in 2021, falling to 5.4% in 2022. The earlier forecast was for

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s government says its health minister has tested positive for the coronavirus in New York after Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro spoke at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday. The government statement Tuesday night says Marcelo Queiroga is in good health and will remain in isolation in the United States. The minister

By HOLLY MEYER Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) — A top Southern Baptist Convention committee agreed Tuesday to fund a third-party investigation into its handling of sexual abuse allegations. But the Executive Committee held off on waiving its attorney-client privilege for the probe. The Executive Committee allocated $1.6 million for Guidepost Solutions. It is the

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A magnitude 5.9 earthquake has caused slight damage in suburban Melbourne in an unusually powerful temblor for Australia. The quake hit about (80 miles northeast of Australia’s second-most populous city near the town of Mansfield. Minor structural damage to chimneys, facades and older buildings was reported around the Melbourne metropolitan area.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The popular mayor of the Philippine capital says he will run for president in next year’s elections, the latest aspirant in what is expected to be a crowded race to succeed the controversial Rodrigo Duterte. Manila Mayor Isko Moreno was a child scavenger before becoming an actor then entering politics. He

By ANDREW DALTON AP ENTERTAINMENT WRITER LOS ANGELES (AP) — The projectors are rolling. The ruby slippers are on. The shark is hanging and waiting. After many delays including two pandemic postponements, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is finally set to open in Los Angeles next week. Tom Hanks, who is a museum trustee,

PASCAGOULA, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi sheriff’s department says it has identified the remains of a woman found nearly 44 years ago. Investigators believe Clara Birdlong was a victim of Samuel Little, the most prolific serial killer in U.S. history. Hunters found the remains in 1977 in Escatawpa in coastal Jackson County. Officers had referred