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By FRANCESCO SPORTELLI Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — Scaffolding in a niche of the Vatican Museums’ Round Hall conceal from view the work of restorers who are removing centuries of grime from the largest known bronze statue of the ancient world: the gilded Hercules Mastai Righetti. For more than 150 years, the four-meter-tall (13-foot-tall)

By GREG BEACHAM AP Sports Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Six months and a day after the Los Angeles Lakers fell to 2-10 to start the regular season, they emphatically eliminated the defending NBA champions to reach the Western Conference finals. Although the Lakers’ transformation has become increasingly incredible over the past several weeks, the

By HALLIE GOLDEN Associated Press For four hours, Raymond V. Buelna, a cultural leader for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, sat on a metal bench in a concrete holding space at the U.S.-Mexico border, separated from the two people he was taking to an Easter ceremony on tribal land in Arizona and wondering when they might

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Democratic Minnesota senators held firm despite only a one-vote majority Friday to pass gun control legislation strongly supported by the governor that would align the battleground state with others nationally that have taken steps to keep guns out of the hands of people in crisis

By DAVID HAMILTON AP Business Reporter SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — On Friday, Elon Musk announced that NBC Universal’s Linda Yaccarino will serve as the new CEO of Twitter. Yaccarino is a longtime advertising executive credited with integrating and digitizing ad sales at NBCU. Her challenge now will be to woo back advertisers that have fled

By MAE ANDERSON Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — For decades, a giant, inflatable rat with beady eyes, sharp teeth and a pustule-covered belly has loomed over union protests, drawing attention to various labor disputes. As New York City deals with an influx of actual rats, Scabby the Rat has become that rare thing, like

By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM and GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s Democratic governor plans to veto legislation that would ban nearly all abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy. Abortion-rights activists are expected to gather on a plaza near the governor’s office and the Legislative Building Saturday morning as Gov. Roy Cooper

By LISA MASCARO AP Congressional Correspondent WASHINGTON (AP) — One outcome is clear as Washington reaches for a budget deal to end the debt ceiling standoff: The ambitious COVID era of government spending — to cope with the pandemic and rebuild in its aftermath — is giving way to a new fiscal focus on tailored

By MUNIR AHMED Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan has left a high court in Islamabad after it granted him broad protection from arrest in multiple legal cases. Friday’s ruling is a victory for the former prime minister in his standoff with the government that sparked days of rioting by

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer NIIGATA, Japan (AP) — The Group of Seven’s top financial leaders say they are united in their support for Ukraine and determination to enforce sanctions against Russia for its aggression. The finance ministers and central bank chiefs ended three days of talks in Niigata, Japan, with a pledge to