AP National News

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH and CAROLYN THOMPSON Associated Press MISSION, Kan. (AP) — School board races have become the new front in a culture war raging across the nation as resentments over COVID-19 restrictions and anti-racism curriculum reach a boiling point. On Tuesday, voters weigh in on dozens of races that have been dominated by debates

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Global shares are mixed amid cautious trading ahead of a meeting of the Federal Reserve. Benchmarks rose in Paris and Frankfurt but were mostly lower in Asia. Chair Jerome Powell has signaled the Fed will announce after its policy meeting Wednesday that it will start paring

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban say an explosion in Afghanistan’s capital has targeted civilians in front of a military hospital. Taliban deputy spokesman Bilal Karimi told The Associated Press Tuesday that there was no immediate confirmation on casualties. Sounds of two explosions have been heard in the 10th District of Kabul and residents of

By PAN PYLAS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Soaring oil and gas prices tied to the global economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic helped bolster third-quarter profits at British oil giant BP. The company said Tuesday that its underlying replacement cost profits — the industry standard — jumped to $3.3 billion in the three months

By FRANK JORDANS and JILL LAWLESS Associated Press GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — More than 100 countries are pledging to end deforestation, which scientists say is a major driver of climate change. Britain hailed the commitment as the first big achievement of the United Nations climate conference in Glasgow. But campaigners say they need to see

By MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press The 2020 U.S. census missed an estimated 1.6 million people, but given hurdles posed by the pandemic and natural disasters, the undercount was smaller than expected. That’s according to an analysis by a think tank. The analysis released Tuesday by the Urban Institute estimates there was a 0.5% undercount. If

By NICOLAS GARRIGA Associated Press GRANVILLE, France (AP) — French trawler owners in Normandy have reacted with confusion and consternation after President Emmanuel Macron has extended a deadline by two days amid a post-Brexit fishing spat with Britain. The U.K. had until Tuesday to license more French vessels to fish in U.K. waters or face

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — The mayors of Seattle and Freetown in Sierra Leone greeted each other like long lost sisters on a train hurtling toward Glasgow. They have been bonded by years of Zoom calls and collaboration in the fight against climate change. They lead cities on different sides of

By LUIS ANDRES HENAO and JESSIE WARDARSKI Associated Press POINTE-AUX-CHENES, Louisiana (AP) — Faith leaders and activists across the world are increasingly joining the fight against climate change driven by a moral imperative to preserve creation for future generations. Christian pastors have joined forces with Native American tribes to protect their hurricane-prone coastal lands as

By CARA ANNA Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The findings of the only human rights investigation allowed in Ethiopia’s blockaded Tigray region are being released Wednesday. They come a year after war began there. But people with knowledge of the probe say it has been limited by authorities who recently expelled a U.N. staffer

By RONALD BLUM AP Baseball Writer HOUSTON (AP) — Late innings means late nights in the World Series, with many fans struggling to stay awake as the Braves and Astros play baseball’s most important games of the year. The first five Series games averaged 3 hours, 41 minutes, up from 3:37 for the Los Angeles

By MALAK HARB Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Last year’s pandemic style saw people put on pajamas and their hair up in a bun. But 2021 is more about mascara and lip liners. And makeup sales in the multi-billion-dollar Mideast market are beginning to improve. For women in the region, particularly in

By CHRISTINA LARSON and EMILY WANG FUJIYAMA Associated Press JIAOZUO, China (AP) — China is the largest contributor to global warming, but meanwhile, China’s people are already suffering the brunt of climate change. Historic floods that destroyed farms this summer in the country’s agricultural heartland are a preview of the kind of extreme conditions the

By ROBERT JABLON and DONALD THOMPSON Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Top drug manufacturers have won a round in a California lawsuit that blamed them for the opioid crisis and sought billions of dollars to cover the costs of dealing with it. A judge in Orange County made a tentative ruling Monday that said

By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY and ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Voters began casting ballots across the U.S. early Tuesday in the first wave of elections to test new Republican restrictions on the ballot and give elections officials a chance to counter a year’s worth of misinformation about voting security. Officials said demonstrating secure,

By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is launching a wide-ranging plan to reduce methane emissions, targeting a potent greenhouse gas that contributes significantly to global warming. Methane packs a stronger short-term climate punch than even carbon dioxide. The plan was being announced as President Joe Biden wraps up a two-day

By JOSH BOAK, ELLEN KNICKMEYER AND ZEKE MILLER Associated Press GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — President Joe Biden is seeking to whip up climate change-fighting efforts abroad at a time when his own climate legislation at home is again in limbo. Biden is attending a U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, for a second and final

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal judge says Kobe Bryant’s widow won’t have to undergo psychiatric testing in her lawsuit over graphic photos of the helicopter crash that killed the basketball star, her 13-year-old daughter and seven others. The judge made the ruling Monday in Los Angeles. Kobe and the others died in January 2020

By JEFF AMY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s secretary of state says Donald Trump was threatening him when he asked him to “find” enough votes to overturn his loss in Georgia. Republican Brad Raffensperger writes about the call in his new book, “Integrity Counts,” which goes on sale Tuesday. Georgia’s top election official also