AP National News

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Robert Durst has testified he would lie to get out of trouble and had lied during sworn testimony in the past, but said he told the truth during five days of testimony at his murder trial. The comments Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court threw

By ROBERT BURNS, ELLEN KNICKMEYER and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan says the Taliban have agreed to allow safe passage for civilians trying to leave Afghanistan. Sullivan says a timetable for completing the evacuation of Americans, Afghan allies and others has yet to be worked

By ROBERT BURNS AP National Security Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Built and trained at a two-decade cost of $83 billion, Afghan security forces collapsed so quickly and completely — in some cases without a shot fired — that the ultimate beneficiary of the American investment turns out to be the Taliban. They have grabbed not

By TERENCE CHEA Associated Press FIREBAUGH, Calif. (AP) — A deepening drought threatens California’s $6 billion almond industry, which produces about 80% of the world’s almonds. As water becomes scarce and expensive, some growers have stopped irrigating their orchards and plan to tear them out years earlier than planned. After decades of expansion in California’s

By MARK STEVENSON and EVENS SANON Associated Press LES CAYES, Haiti (AP) — Officials in Haiti have raised the death toll from a powerful weekend earthquake to more than 1,900. The Civil Protection Agency announced the numbers on Tuesday, when strong winds and rains dealt by Tropical Storm Grace forced a temporary halt in rescue

By ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. experts are expected to recommend COVID-19 vaccine boosters for all Americans, regardless of age, eight months after they received their second dose of the shot. The goal is to ensure lasting protection against the coronavirus as the delta variant spreads across the country. That’s according to

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer NEW YORK (AP) — CNN’s Chris Cuomo has told viewers that he “tried to do the right thing” when balancing his role as a journalist and brother to outgoing New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who announced his resignation following allegations of sexual harassment. Chris Cuomo returned to the air

By BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI Associated Press COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — When a 51-year-old tutor suffered a heart attack in Sri Lanka’s capital, his friends and family were faced with a difficult problem. The father of three tested positive for COVID-19, which meant he’d need to go to a special ICU for virus patients. All of

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) — Authorities say the suspect in the fatal shooting of a sheriff’s deputy in southwestern Michigan had been involved in a car chase with another law enforcement agency earlier that day. Michigan State Police on Monday identified the man who was later shot and killed by deputies as 35-year-old Kyle Goidosik of

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico will begin routinely collecting demographic data about sexual orientation and gender identity during government surveys under an executive order signed by Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. The order on Monday responds to growing concerns that basic demographic information about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender populations is being left

By KEN RITTER and SAM METZ Associated Press LAS VEGAS (AP) — Large events like concerts and football games in one of the nation’s entertainment capitals will be able to exempt themselves from mask rules if they require guests to show proof of vaccination. Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak announced Monday that large venues that hold

By ADAM BEAM Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The leader of the California Assembly has ordered all of its employees to receive the coronavirus vaccine. Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon announced the new policy on Monday. Gov. Gavin Newsom last month ordered all state workers to either be vaccinated or submit to weekly testing. But

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer NEW YORK (AP) — News organizations are juggling safety concerns with the demands of a rapidly-changing story on the ground in Afghanistan. The Taliban’s swift takeover of the country has left some journalists and those who worked with them worried about reprisals. The Committee to Protect Journalists is dealing

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Prosecutors have asked a judge to reject a request by media outlets to unseal the names of the jurors who convicted ex-Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin of murder in the death of George Floyd.  Judge Peter Cahill had ordered earlier that the jurors’ identities be kept secret

DALLAS (AP) — A murder suspect has been released from jail after his trial was postponed when Dallas police revealed they had lost a massive amount of criminal data. The Dallas Morning News reports a masked Jonathan Pitts wore an ankle monitor Monday as he walked from the Frank Crowley Courts Building adjoining Dallas County’s

By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — A new report shows fewer than one-third of voters who cast ballots in last year’s U.S. presidential election did so at a polling place on Election Day as the coronavirus pandemic led states to greatly expand mail-in balloting and early voting. While mail voting has been

By KEVIN McGILL Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — President Joe Biden’s administration is appealing a federal judge’s order that blocked Biden’s suspension of new oil and gas leases on federal land and waters. A Louisiana-based federal judge issued the ruling in June, siding with Louisiana’s attorney general and officials in 12 other states. Those

VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) — The Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office says the fatal shooting of Kevin Peterson Jr., a Black man killed by Clark County deputies in southwestern Washington during a drug sting, was “justified and lawful.” The Oregonian/OregonLive reports Clark County Prosecuting Attorney Tony Golik had asked Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney Mary Robnett to

By SOPHIA EPPOLITO Associated Press/Report for America SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah reptile center employee is recovering after an alligator yanked her into its enclosure during a presentation, and a visitor leapt in after her and helped free her from its jaws. Video taken by a guest shows an unidentified handler at Scales

By JIM MORRIS Associated Press VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Lawyers for a senior executive for Chinese communications giant Huawei Technologies have argued at an extradition hearing in Canada that there is no evidence she made any misrepresentations that resulted in a bank suffering a loss. Meng Wanzhou was arrested at the Vancouver airport in