AP National News

By PETER SMITH Associated Press President Joe Biden and the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians discussed ways to fight climate change, end the coronavirus pandemic and the importance of religious freedom during an Oval Office session Monday. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew met separately with Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken not long after being

By EILEEN NG and JIM GOMEZ Associated Press KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Southeast Asian leaders have begun a virtual summit that Myanmar skipped in protest after its top general was shut out. The exclusion of Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing was the harshest rebuke by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations since the military ousted Myanmar’s civilian

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A U.N. human rights investigator says Iran executed over 250 people, including at least four child offenders, in 2020 and so far this year has carried out 230 executions that included nine women and one child who was executed in secret. Javaid Rehman told the

By LISA MASCARO, DARLENE SUPERVILLE and ALAN FRAM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democrats’ idea for a new billionaires’ tax to help pay for President Joe Biden’s social services and climate change plan is quickly running into criticism. Some Democratic lawmakers view it as too cumbersome and prefer the original plan of simply raising

LOS ANGELES (AP) — In an effort to ease congestion at the nation’s busiest port complex, officials say they will start fining shipping companies whose cargo containers linger for too long at marine terminals. The twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach say arriving containers scheduled to be moved by trucks will be allowed

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s prime minister says the country is set to reduce emissions by 35% below 2005 levels by 2030. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Tuesday he would not commit at the U.N. climate conference in Scotland next month to increasing the country’s current 2030 target of

By COLLEEN LONG, RACHEL LA CORTE and ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican secretary of state who challenged former President Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud in 2020 is the front-runner for a job heading the Biden administration’s effort to protect future elections. Kim Wyman has led elections in Washington state

By SOPHIA TAREEN Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — A judge has denied a request from Chicago to extend an order barring the president of the police union from making public statements encouraging members to disobey the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Earlier this month, Cook County Judge Cecilia Horan granted the city’s request for a temporary

By SARAH RANKIN Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A former spokesperson for Liberty University is suing the evangelical Virginia school after being fired. Scott Lamb alleges in the lawsuit that his termination came in retaliation for voicing concerns that sexual misconduct accusations were mishandled. Lamb filed the suit Monday. He said in an interview

By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Across Northern California, crews worked to clear streets of toppled trees and branches and to clean gutters clogged by debris carried by rainwater from a massive storm that caused flooding and rock slides, and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands. Sacramento set a one-day

By ZEKE MILLER and MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol has “deferred” its requests for several dozen pages of Trump administration records at the White House’s urging. But President Joe Biden has again rejected the former president’s invocation of executive privilege

By PETER SMITH Associated Press The spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, met Monday evening with President Joe Biden. Bartholomew resumed a busy American visit after an overnight hospital stay upon feeling unwell following his flight. His meeting with Biden followed meetings with the Turkish ambassador and U.S. Secretary of State Antony

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The judge who oversaw the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin said Monday that he will make the names of the 15 jurors and alternates who sat in the courtroom public next week. Judge Peter Cahill’s order says he will make the list of jurors public on Nov. 1.

By ZEKE MILLER and MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol has “deferred” its requests for several dozen pages of Trump administration records at the White House’s urging. But President Joe Biden has again rejected the former president’s invocation of executive privilege

By SOPHIA TAREEN Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — A judge is expected to issue a ruling soon about whether to extend an order barring the president of the Chicago police union from making public statements encouraging members to disobey the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Earlier this month, Cook County Judge Cecilia Horan granted the city’s

By KAREN MATTHEWS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A judicial inquiry has begun into the death of Eric Garner. Garner’s dying cry of “I can’t breathe” as he was restrained by New York City police officers became a slogan of the Black Lives Matter movement. Advocates including Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, sought the inquiry

MIAMI (AP) — A South Florida man has been convicted of posting bomb-making instructions on the internet for people who he believed were Islamic terrorists. Court records show that 29-year-old Samuel Baptiste pleaded guilty Friday in Miami federal court to attempting to provide material support to terrorists. He faces up to 15 years in prison.

By MORGAN LEE, CEDAR ATTANASIO and HILLEL ITALIE Associated Press SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The assistant director who handed Alec Baldwin the gun that killed a cinematographer last week had been fired from a previous job after a gun went off on a set and wounded a member of the film crew. That’s according

By SEAN MURPHY The Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma Supreme Court has blocked three anti-abortion laws that were scheduled to take effect Nov. 1. In a 5-3 ruling on Monday, the court granted a temporary injunction that keeps the laws from taking effect. Abortion rights groups say the three laws would have