AP National News

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s daily coronavirus infections have soared to their highest level so far this year as authorities have struggled to control a surge in new cases amid a slow pace in vaccinations and few restrictions in place. The daily coronavirus death toll topped 900 for a second straight

By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Counties in the San Francisco Bay Area will start easing their requirements for people to wear masks inside many public spaces. A group of eight counties in the region said Thursday that the rules will be dropped when overall vaccination rates are above 80% and

By DÁNICA COTO Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A senior U.S. official says the number of U.S.-bound Haitian migrants temporarily stuck in northern Colombia has risen to about 20,000. That echoes reports this week from a local human rights organization. The official, who briefed reporters on condition he not be named, said

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer Noomi Rapace flew into Iceland to film “Lamb” on a Sunday and on Monday morning, she was literally delivering baby lambs on camera. It was an appropriately intense and bizarre start for what is certainly an intense and bizarre film in which a childless couple, María (Rapace) and Ingvar

By KATHY McCORMACK Associated Press CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire’s attorney general says a civil rights complaint has been filed against a woman accused of telling a Black child who accidentally broke her son’s toy that she would “kneel on his neck” and calling him a racial slur. Attorney General John Formella said in

By JOSEF FEDERMAN Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — A ruling by a local Israeli court in favor of a Jewish man who prayed quietly at a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site has angered Muslim authorities, who say it violates the fragile arrangement governing the compound. The Al-Aqsa mosque compound is the third holiest site in Islam

By AMY TAXIN Associated Press HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP) — More than five days after an offshore pipeline ruptured off the Southern California coast, there’s still no confirmation of exactly how much oil has spilled into the ocean. The company operating the affected oil platforms has said publicly that no more than 126,000 gallons leaked.

By KARIN LAUB Associated Press AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Jordan’s foreign minister has pushed back against a report that the country’s monarch went out of his way to hide the purchase of more than a dozen luxury homes worth over $106 million. The foreign minister told The Associated Press on Thursday that there was “nothing

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s center-left Social Democratic Party and two smaller parties say they will deepen their talks next week on forming a new government. If the negotiations among the Social Democrats, the pro-business Free Democrats and and the environmentalist Greens are successful, it would push outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Union bloc into opposition after

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — When the U.S. government issues the September jobs report on Friday, the spotlight will fall not only on how many people were hired last month. A second question will command attention, too: Are more people finally starting to look for work? To an extent that has

By DENG MACHOL Associated Press JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — South Sudan has ordered the freezing of bank accounts of five members of a coalition of activists calling for political change. The People’s Coalition for Civil Action has called for President Salva Kiir and his rival deputy Riek Machar to step down, accusing them of

By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press ABOARD GEO BARENTS (AP) — The U.N. migration agency says fighting over the key Yemeni city of Marib last month displaced around 10,000 people. Clashes have escalated as the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels intensified their push to take the provincial capital from the internationally recognized government. The International Organization for Migration

By ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel has ceremonially opened its gleaming pavilion at the world’s fair in Dubai. Thursday’s event comes over a year after Israel and the United Arab Emirates normalized ties and amid a pandemic that has disrupted much of the tourist and cultural exchanges promised by

By GARY GERARD HAMILTON Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Meek Mill is back with his fifth solo studio album, “Expensive Pain.” This latest project from the Philadelphia rapper is his first full-length record since the 2018 Grammy-nominated “Championships,” which came out seven months after his release from prison. The 18-track “Expensive Pain” project features

By KEVIN FREKING, ALAN FRAM and ALEXANDRA JAFFE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate leaders have announced an agreement to extend the government’s borrowing authority into December, temporarily averting an unprecedented default that experts say would have decimated the economy. The first crucial vote is set for Thursday night. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer made

By MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The governors of four northeastern states are agreeing to share information about firearms purchases to help detect and investigate straw buyers and other gun crimes. Governors in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania signed an agreement Thursday to exchange gun crime data for use only

By JAY REEVES Associated Press PELHAM, Ala. (AP) — The death toll from flash floods caused by torrential rains in Alabama has risen to four. Forecasters say as much as 13 inches of rain from a slow-moving front covered roads, trapping people in cars and homes. All four of the deaths occurred when water swept

By KEITH RIDLER Associated Press BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Mainstream Idaho Republicans concerned about a takeover by the surging far-right wing of the party are asking Democrats, Independents or other affiliated voters to register as Republicans to vote in the party’s May primary. Republicans closed their primary a decade ago, and the already deep-red state

MOSCOW (AP) — A Moscow court has ruled to enforce the collection of fines from Facebook for breaching Russian laws on illegal content. Officials said Thursday that the Tagansky District Court ordered bailiffs to collect 26 million rubles (over $361,000) following Facebook’s failure to pay the fines. Russian state communications watchdog Roskomnadzor has asked Russian

By LAURAN NEERGAARD AP Medical Writer The U.S. is gearing up in case of a bad flu season on top of the continuing COVID-19 crisis. Health officials urged Americans Thursday to get vaccinated against both the flu and coronavirus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends a yearly flu vaccination for just about everyone