AP National News

By YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Belarusian authorities have abolished mask mandates, less than two weeks after their introduction for the first time in the pandemic and a day after the country registered a record number of new coronavirus infections. Doctors expressed horror. The decision came after Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Robert Caro has been writing history for much of his adult life. Now Caro himself is being celebrated. The New-York Historical Society has established a permanent exhibit dedicated to him. Caro won two Pulitzer Prizes and many other honors for his epic biography of Robert

MOSCOW (AP) — Falling scaffolding has broken off one of the “teeth” on the top of the Kremlin wall, prompting Russian authorities to seal off Red Square. The scaffolding was being used to repair a section of the wall near Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin’s tomb on Red Square but a gust of wind brought it

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Fox News Media is entering another rough-and-tumble world — the weather. The company will launch the Fox Weather service on Monday. Fox expects that the free streaming service and app will be used most frequently by people on their mobile devices. The move comes at

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A prosecutor says a Minneapolis police officer has been charged with manslaughter and vehicular homicide in a fatal crash in July that occurred while the officer was pursuing a stolen vehicle. Authorities say Officer Brian Cummings was driving nearly 80 mph in Minneapolis with his siren and

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — The Russian Embassy in Tirana says the bodies of four Russian tourists who were found dead at a beach resort in western Albania last week have been flown home. Albanian police said the four — a married couple, their daughter and son-in-law — were found dead in a hotel sauna in

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. budget deficit totaled $2.77 trillion for 2021, the second highest on record but an improvement from the all-time high of $3.13 trillion in 2020. The deficits in both years reflected trillions of dollars in government spending to counteract the devastating effects of a global

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration, in its final pitch to block Texas’ ban on most abortions, is warning the Supreme Court that none of its decisions would be safe if it allows the state law to remain in force. The high court is weighing the administration’s request to put

By LISA MASCARO, DARLENE SUPERVILLE and ALAN FRAM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and Congress’ top two Democrats are strategizing on how to wrap up their giant domestic legislation. Biden had breakfast at the White House with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer joined the discussion

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, CASEY SMITH and LARRY FENN Associated Press/Report for America INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Earlier this year, an insistent cry arose from business leaders and Republican governors: Cut off a $300-a-week federal supplement for unemployed Americans. Many people, they argued, would then come off the sidelines and take the millions of jobs that employers

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo’s president says she has ordered the expulsion of two Russian diplomats for allegedly “endangering national security.” President Vjosa Osmani said in a statement Friday that she had asked her country’s foreign ministry “to declare two officials of the Liaison Office of the Russian Federation in Kosovo ‘persona non grata.’” She

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Bosnia’s Serb police have held an “anti-terrorist” drill just outside the capital Sarajevo, in a move seen by many as another provocation by the country’s separatist leadership. The exercise was held in the ski resort at Mt. Jahorina, the general area from where the Bosnian Serb military relentlessly shelled and sniped

By DAMIAN J. TROISE AP Business Writer Stocks edged higher in morning trading on Wall Street Friday and are on track for their third straight week of gains. The S&P 500, which notched a record high a day earlier, rose 0.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4% and the Nasdaq fell 0.3%. Every major

By ADAM BEAM Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Northern California is finally getting drenched this week. But experts say the rain won’t be enough to end the drought plaguing the western United States. California’s climate is hotter and drier now and that means the rain and snow that does fall is likely to evaporate

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel on Friday declared six prominent Palestinian human rights groups to be terrorist organizations, saying they were secretly linked to a left-wing militant movement. It was not immediately clear what the distinction would mean for the groups, most of which also protest rights violations by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority. Both Israel and

By BABAR DOGAR Associated Press LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Thousands of Islamists have launched their “long march” from the eastern city of Lahore toward Pakistan’s capital to demand the release of their leader, who has been detained since last year. Saad Rizvi, the head of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Labiak Pakistan party, was arrested last year amid

By LISA MASCARO, DARLENE SUPERVILLE and ALAN FRAM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and Congress’ top two Democrats were strategizing Friday morning to discuss how to give fresh impetus to their giant domestic legislation. Biden was having breakfast at the White House with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck

By AARON MORRISON Associated Press A bust of Black Panther Party co-founder Huey Percy Newton is scheduled to be unveiled in Oakland, California, on Sunday, the first permanent public art piece honoring the party in the city of its founding. Newton remains a divisive figure. Many people still dismiss him as the leader of a

By KAREN MATTHEWS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Millionaire real estate scion Robert Durst has been charged in suburban New York City with the death of his former wife, Kathie Durst, who vanished in 1982. A state police investigator filed a criminal complaint Tuesday at a town court in Lewisboro, New York, that accuses

STOWE, Vt. (AP) — In an obituary published Oct. 21, 2021, about Eleonore “Lorli” von Trapp Campbell, The Associated Press erroneously reported an element of her family relationship. She was a half-sibling to the children depicted in “The Sound of Music,” not a stepsibling.