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By TAMEEM AKHGAR and JOSEPH KRAUSS Associated Press Salgy Baran got the highest score in all of Afghanistan on her university entrance exams this year, but she has no answers for what comes next. The 18-year-old graduate wants to stay in the country and become a doctor. But as with so many other Afghans, those

ANAMOSA, Iowa (AP) — An inmate who confessed in court to using a hammer to kill a nurse and correctional officer during an escape attempt at an Iowa prison has been sentenced to life in prison. Thomas Woodard Jr. was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty earlier this month to two counts of first-degree murder, as

AARON MORRISON Associated Press In the nation’s capital on Saturday, multiracial coalitions of civil, human and labor rights leaders are convening rallies and marches to urge passage of federal voter protections that have been eroded since the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Satellite marches and rallies are planned for dozens of other cities, including Atlanta,

LONDON (AP) — A Scottish court has dismissed extradition proceedings against a Catalan politician sought by Spain over Catalonia’s failed independence bid. Clara Ponsati was accused of sedition over her role as education minister in Catalonia’s unsuccessful 2017 effort to secede after a referendum that was not sanctioned by the Spanish government. She’s a former

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Blue Origin has launched artwork painted on a capsule and a moon-landing navigation experiment for NASA into space. Thursday’s brief flight from West Texas comes a month after Blue Origin sent founder Jeff Bezos on the company’s first passenger flight. No one was on

By CARLA K. JOHNSON and NICKY FORSTER Associated Press The U.S. is projected to see nearly 100,000 more COVID-19 deaths between now and Dec. 1. That’s the prediction from the nation’s most closely watched forecasting model. But health experts say that toll could be cut in half if nearly everyone wore a mask in public

By SOPHIA TAREEN Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois will require all educators from kindergarten through college and health care workers to get COVID-19 vaccines or submit to weekly testing. Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Thursday also announced a fresh statewide mandate on wearing masks indoors in response to a spike in cases, particularly in southern

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer James McAvoy and Sharon Horgan didn’t know one another before this year. But the two actors got very familiar very quickly thanks to the new film “Together,” a cutting examination of a failing relationship only held together by their 10-year-old son over a year in the pandemic. Armed with

By ED WHITE Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — A woman fed up with how a Michigan city tracked parking violations has won a major decision from a federal appeals court. Alison Taylor says Saginaw violated the U.S. Constitution by chalking her car tires and gathering information without a search warrant. The appeals court agreed, saying