AP National News

The U.S. Department of Treasury says the second monthly child tax credit payment has begun to be disbursed. More than $15 billion will be paid out to families of about 61 million children. The first round of the payment went out in July. The payments stem from the Child Tax Credit from the $1.9 trillion

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Russia has reported a new daily record for COVID-19 fatalities. The Russian government’s coronavirus task force on Friday reported 22,277 new confirmed cases and 815 deaths, the highest daily toll of the pandemic. Meanwhile, Moscow’s Health Department says deaths of all causes in the capital increased 60%

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minneapolis police will no longer stop motorists for minor traffic violations, such as expired tabs or an air freshener hanging from the mirror. Police Chief Medaria Arrandondo in an internal memo says the change comes after examining how officers can better utilize time and resources. Critics have long said low-level traffic stops

By MARK GILLISPIE Associated Press CLEVELAND (AP) — A judge in Columbus has frozen $8 million in assets of a former Ohio utility regulator and current target of an FBI investigation to preserve the assets for future collection. The freeze issued Thursday came at the request of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who says it

By MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS Associated Press NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus’ environment minister says the disappearance of rural communities in combination with climate change could make wildfires — like those seen in many Mediterranean countries this summer — more frequent in the future. Costas Kadis said that, as more people continue to abandon villages, land that

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — John Durham, the federal prosecutor tapped to investigate the origins of the Russia investigation, has been presenting evidence before a grand jury as part of his probe. That’s according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press on Friday. The development is

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge is refusing landlords’ request to put the Biden administration’s new eviction moratorium on hold, though she ruled that the freeze is illegal. U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich says her “hands are tied” by an appellate ruling from the last time courts considered the evictions

By FARAI MUTSAKA Associated Press LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) — As electoral officials in Zambia counted ballots a day after tense voting, President Edgar Lungu has deployed more troops in some restive parts of the country following two election-day killings. Lungu had deployed the military in selected hotspots ahead of the polls following pre-election violence between

RUTLEDGE, Tenn. (AP) — Officials say a 29-year-old Tennessee man who rode on a school bus and walked into a high school with students has been charged with trespassing. News outlets cited an arrest report from the Grainger County Sheriff’s Department in reporting that a deputy was called to Grainger County High School on Tuesday

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A right-wing Danish lawmaker who was considered a rising star within the anti-immigration Danish People’s Party has been found guilty Friday of misusing European Union funds worth $15,667. A court in Lyngby gave Morten Messerschmidt a six-month suspended sentence for making false statements about holding an EU conference in 2015 in

By KRISHAN FRANCIS Associated Press COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s Catholic Church says 25 people charged this week in connection with the 2019 Easter Sunday bomb attacks that killed 269 people could be “smaller fish,” and accused the government of still not taking steps to identify the true conspirators. The head of the

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Midnight on Sunday is the deadline for consumers to take advantage of a special “Obamacare” sign up period, courtesy of President Joe Biden. Not only did Biden reopen the HealthCare.gov marketplace because of the pandemic, but his COVID relief law is providing bigger subsidies that can significantly

KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — Authorities say a Wisconsin woman accidentally shot a friend while using the laser sight on a handgun to play with a cat. A criminal complaint charging the 19-year-old woman with negligent use of a weapon says she was visiting a Kenosha apartment Tuesday afternoon where a 21-year-old man had brought a

By VANESSA GERA Associated Press WARSAW, Poland (AP) — An executive with Discovery Inc. says the U.S.-owned company will fight hard to keep control of a television network it owns in Poland, a $3 billion investment that is threatened by a new media bill that passed in parliament this week. The bill would ban any

By The Associated Press The Latest developments on Afghanistan, where a weeklong Taliban blitz has taken large swaths of territory just weeks ahead of the final pullout of all American and NATO troops from the war-torn country: ___ UNITED NATIONS — Security Council members are considering a proposed statement that would urge an immediate end

BANGKOK (AP) — Police in Thailand’s capital have fired rubber bullets and tear gas to stop hundreds of protesters who were attempting to march to the prime minister’s residence to demand he resign over his handling of the country’s coronavirus crisis. It was the third anti-government protest in Bangkok this week blocked by police with

By MIKE SILVERMAN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Marian Anderson broke barriers throughout her career, from her 1939 Easter Sunday performance on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to her 1955 performance at the Metropolitan Opera, both of which struck blows against segregation. Her voice, described as a once-in-a-hundred year phenomenon, is getting new

BERLIN (AP) — No job is too small for Hamburg police. Officers in the German city found themselves having to perform CPR on a Chihuahua last week. The incident happened after a distraught girl came rushing into a police station saying her pet had stopped breathing after she accidentally dropped it. After checking its vitals,

By ALAN FRAM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is facing a fresh hurdle to passing President Joe Biden’s multitrillion-dollar domestic policy aspirations. Nine moderate House Democrats are threatening to derail a budget blueprint crucial to opening the door to much of that spending. They’ve written a letter to the California Democrat

By MARK GILLISPIE and TOM KRISHER Associated Press CANTON, Ohio (AP) — Hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe, is viewed, along with electric vehicles, as one way to slow the environmentally destructive impact of the planet’s 1.2 billion vehicles, most of which burn gasoline and diesel fuel. Manufacturers of large trucks and commercial