AP National News

CAIRO, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia sheriff says jury selection in a death penalty trial has been delayed while an attorney gets tested for the coronavirus. Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said proceedings that began last week in the murder trial of Donnie Russell Rowe were halted Thursday while a prosecutor awaits results of a

By MARÍA VERZA Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — Susana Dueñas could hardly believe the news: Mexico’s Supreme Court had decided that abortion could not be considered a crime. The ruling came too late for the 38-year-old woman who had spent six and a half years in prison on that charge after what she says

By STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota lawmakers are being asked to call a special session to consider impeaching the attorney general for his conduct in a car crash that killed a pedestrian last year. In a joint statement released Thursday, the House Speaker, House Republican leader and House Democratic

By ALEXANDRA JAFFE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 shattered Americans’ sense of security and ushered in an era of nebulous threats, hidden enemies and a seemingly never-ending war on terror. And for then-Sen. Joe Biden they marked a new phase of his public life. The chairman of the Senate

By DON BABWIN Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — Government and airline officials are celebrating the conclusion of a 16-year, $6 billion project to untangle the jumble of runways at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. During a Thursday ceremony at the airport, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the O’Hare Modernization Project, which mostly involved extending existing runways

By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Business Writer McDonald’s will begin selling a vegan burger in the United Kingdom and Ireland this month. The McPlant burger, which was developed with Beyond Meat, features a plant-based patty on a vegan sesame bun with vegan cheese and vegan sauce. Both the patty and the cheese are made with pea

By JILL BLEED and JAMIE STENGLE Associated Press DALLAS (AP) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has said someone seeking an abortion has “at least six weeks” to terminate the pregnancy under the state’s new abortion law. But that’s not how pregnancy works. The Texas law bans abortions once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity, which

By JOSHUA GOODMAN and ARITZ PARRA Associated Press Writers MADRID (AP) — Police in Madrid have arrested in a hideout apartment a former Venezuelan spymaster on U.S. narcotics charges more than a year after he defied a Spanish extradition order and disappeared. Gen. Hugo Carvajal, who for over a decade was Hugo Chavez’s eyes and

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — A man who threatened to kill a member of Congress from Maryland over Republicans’ baseless claims of a rigged presidential election has been sentenced to serve eight consecutive weekends in jail. He will also serve six months of home confinement. U.S. District Judge Richard Bennett

MOSCOW (AP) — The presidents of Russia and Belarus say they have made significant progress on integrating their countries’ economies, including forming common energy and financial markets. The moves would bolster Belarus as it faces Western sanctions imposed in response to political repression and its forced diversion of an airliner carrying a prominent opposition journalist.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Firefighters are working to quash new fires ignited by lightning after thunderstorms with mostly small but welcome amounts of rain rumbled across drought-stricken Northern California, where forests have been burning for weeks. Firefighters were diverted from the huge Caldor Fire south of Lake Tahoe to fight multiple overnight lightning fires throughout

By REBECCA BOONE Associated Press BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Roughly 11,000 kids in Coeur d’Alene were getting ready for their first day of school when Idaho public health officials announced this week that northern hospitals were so crowded with coronavirus patients that they would be allowed to ration health care. Coeur d’Alene School District spokesman

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida woman convicted of helping mastermind the killing of her husband more than two decades ago has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after a previous life sentence was tossed on appeal. The Tallahassee Democrat reports that a Leon County circuit judge handed down the sentence Thursday for Denise

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — The Nigerian army says its troops have arrested a high-profile member of the Boko Haram extremist group in northern Borno State, where the rebels’ 12-year insurgency is concentrated. An army spokesman said Thursday that troops also raided two locations where improvised explosive devices materials were made.

By TOM HAYS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A former radio station intern says R&B singer R. Kelly kept her locked in a darkened room for days before sexually assaulting her while she was unconscious in 2003. The woman recounted the episode for the first time in public on Thursday at Kelly’s New York

HAVANA (AP) — The Roman Catholic archbishop of Boston has met Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel at a time of tense relations between the U.S. and Cuba. Cuban state media published images of the meeting with Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley, but gave no details on what had been discussed. A battery of senior Cuban officials attended,

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS Associated Press JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Six Black farmworkers in Mississippi say their former employer has brought white laborers from South Africa to do the same jobs type of jobs they were doing, but for more pay. They say in a lawsuit that Pitts Farm Partnership has been violating federal law

By KATHLEEN RONAYNE Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — President Joe Biden is set to campaign for California Gov. Gavin Newsom in the final days of a recall campaign. Biden will join the Democratic governor in the Southern California city of Long Beach on Monday. Voting ends Tuesday. Biden is the latest in a string

WASHINGTON (AP) — Average long-term mortgage rates were marginally higher this week as the recovering economy appeared stalled against the backdrop of a wave of new delta variant coronavirus cases. They remained under 3%. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac says the average rate for a 30-year mortgage edged up to 2.88% from 2.87% last week. The

By MICHAEL BALSAMO and PAUL WEBER Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Justice Department is suing Texas over a new state law that bans most abortions, arguing that it was enacted “in open defiance of the Constitution.” The lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal court in Texas, asks a federal judge to declare that the