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WASHINGTON (AP) — The leaders of Russia and China put aside their raw-worded disputes with U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday long enough to pledge international cooperation on cutting climate-wrecking coal and petroleum emissions in a livestreamed summit showcasing America's return to the fight against global warming.
Full Coverage: Climate
WASHINGTON (AP) — COVID-19 hospitalizations among older Americans have plunged more than 70% since the start of the year, and deaths among them appear to have tumbled as well, dramatic evidence the vaccination campaign is working.
Now the trick is to get more of the nation's younger people to roll up their sleeves.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A group of Senate Republicans on Thursday unveiled a public works proposal with a much smaller price tag and a narrower definition of infrastructure than what President Joe Biden has proposed, highlighting the stark differences between the two sides that will be difficult to bridge in the coming months.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Daunte Wright, the young Black man shot by an officer during a traffic stop in suburban Minneapolis, was not “just some kid with an air freshener,” but a “prince” whose life ended too soon at the hands of police, the Rev. Al Sharpton said Thursday during an emotional funeral.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A decades-long movement to reshape the American political map took a further step Thursday as the House of Representatives approved a bill to make the nation's capital the 51st state.
Approval came by a 216-208 vote along strict party lines. Republicans oppose the idea given that the new state would be overwhelmingly Democratic — and the proposal faces a far tougher road in the Senate, where even full Democratic support isn't guaranteed.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The U.S. military has begun shipping equipment and winding down contracts with local service providers ahead of the May 1 start of the final phase of its military pullout from Afghanistan, a U.S. Defense Department official said Thursday.
The pullout under U.S. President Joe Biden marks the end of America's longest war after a 20-year military engagement. Currently, some 2,500 U.S. soldiers and about 7,000 allied forces are still in Afghanistan.
SAN LORENZO, Panama (AP) — Biologist Claudio Monteza pushed through thick vegetation to install a camera near a Panamanian highway in a dense tropical rainforest. Securing the device to a tree just off the forest floor, he checked its field of vision.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Derek Chauvin is already locked away in Minnesota's only maximum-security prison, held in a single cell for his own safety. But it will be two months before the former Minneapolis police officer learns his sentence for George Floyd’s death.
PHOENIX (AP) — Two death-row prisoners have asked the Arizona Supreme Court to hold off on scheduling litigation over warrants that would trigger the state’s first executions in almost seven years.
In court filings Tuesday, lawyers for Clarence Dixon and Frank Atwood said the pandemic has made it hard for them to prepare defenses for their clients due to a ban on visits inside state prisons over the last year.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a bill that would help combat the rise of hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, a bipartisan denunciation of such violence during the coronavirus pandemic and a modest step toward legislating in a chamber where most of President Joe Biden's agenda has stalled.
WATCH: For nurse, transplant scars badge of COVID ordeal
HONOLULU (AP) — A crew returned from the northernmost islands in the Hawaiian archipelago this week with a boatload of marine plastic and abandoned fishing nets that threaten to entangle endangered Hawaiian monk seals and other animals on the uninhabited beaches stretching more than 1,300 miles north of Honolulu.
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TORONTO (AP) — Canada on Thursday said it would ban all flights from India and Pakistan for 30 days due to the growing wave of COVID-19 cases in that region.
Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said the ban would start late Thursday, speaking hours after India reported a global record of more than 314,000 new infections in the previous 24-hours.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police clashed with Palestinians outside Jerusalem's Old City on Thursday and manned barricades to prevent hundreds of Jewish extremists from marching to the area.
Tensions are even higher than normal in the city, which is home to holy sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims and has long been a flashpoint for Israeli-Palestinian violence.
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PHOENIX (AP) — Republicans who control the Arizona Legislature on Thursday approved a sweeping anti-abortion bill that bans the procedure if the woman is seeking it solely because a fetus has a genetic abnormality such as Down syndrome.
Doctors who perform an abortion solely because the child has a survivable genetic issue can face felony charges. The proposal also contains a raft of other provisions sought by abortion opponents.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — In Sierra Teller Ornelas’ family, those who could spin a good tale earned a seat at her grandmom’s expansive dining table, with lesser voices banished to the living room.
“There was the feeling of holding court that was really big in my family,” said Teller Ornelas, who happily recalled another of the perks: “If I was in trouble and I could say something funny, I would get in less trouble.”
MADRID (AP) — The man leading the Polisario Front in its fight for independence of Western Sahara is hospitalized in Spain for treatment of COVID-19, officials from Spain and the group said Thursday.
Brahim Ghali, 73, heads the Algeria-backed pro-independence movement representing the local Sahrawi population that has periodically fought Moroccan forces for control of the territory in western Africa.
JUNEAU, Alaska — Organizers say a four-day dance and cultural event billed as the largest gathering of Alaska Natives in the southeast region of the largest state will return next year as an in-person event after widespread immunizations.
The Sealaska Heritage Institute says the Celebration event celebrating Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures will be held in Juneau from June 8-11, 2022. It was held virtually in 2020, and another event planned for this past January was scrapped.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Talk about a no-brainer!
A typographical error in a betting line on a Cleveland Browns-Kansas City Chiefs game in January led to a $10,500 windfall for nine eagle-eyed bettors.
The error was revealed last week by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, which fined BetMGM.com $500 for failing to properly display the odds on a betting market.
DOUGLAS, Wyo. (AP) — The stakes were clear to the two dozen police officers who gathered for a workshop with an ambitious and increasingly urgent mission — recalibrating the way police interact with the public in America.
The class took place the same week as jury selection for the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis officer who was convicted Tuesday of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the death of George Floyd.
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More than 100 new Boeing 737 Max jetliners remain grounded by problems with an electrical issue in some components, and airlines are waiting for Boeing to come up with a plan for repairing the planes.
The Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday that it has notified other aviation regulators and airlines that it is working with Boeing “to fully identify and address” a problem with electrical grounding in a backup power-control unit.
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Four former youth detention center workers charged with sexual assault made initial court appearances in New Hampshire on Thursday, including a man accused of abusing a girl multiple times in a candy storage closet at a second state-run facility.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A California man imprisoned for 15 years in the death of his month-old son is free after prosecutors and a judge agreed that the scientific research underlying what was once called “shaken baby syndrome” has changed significantly in recent years.
Clifton Jones, 45, was released this month from Soledad State Prison after a judge agreed to resentence him to a lesser offense.
“The mistake that was made was finally put right,” Jones told The Associated Press.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Afghanistan’s military “will certainly collapse” without some continued American support once all U.S. troops are withdrawn, the top U.S. general for the Middle East told Congress Thursday. Gen. Frank McKenzie also said he was very concerned about the Afghan government’s ability to protect the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The biggest winemaker in the U.S. wants to open an East Coast bottling and distribution center in South Carolina, investing $400 million and hiring up to 500 people. But its request for open tasting rooms where the public can sample wines has some lawmakers and small businesses crying sour grapes.
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Anthony Pettis could have kept fighting in UFC or considered other mixed martial arts promotions where the potential of a championship fight might be years down the road -- if it developed at all.
Pettis instead became the latest former MMA champion to sign with Professional Fighters League, which competes in a seasonlong format that includes playoffs and championship fights. Oh, and for the champion of each weight class -- a $1 million prize.
NEW YORK (AP) — At least 22.8 million Americans watched on television this week as former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Housing and Urban Development is withdrawing a Trump-era policy that would have allowed taxpayer-funded homeless shelters to deny access to transgender people.
The move is partially symbolic; the proposed policy never truly took hold on the ground and was still being hotly debated last fall when former President Donald Trump lost his bid for reelection.
GENEVA (AP) — Athletes who make political or social justice protests at the Tokyo Olympics were promised legal support Thursday by a global union and an activist group in Germany.
The pledges came one day after the International Olympic Committee confirmed its long-standing ban on “demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda” on the field of play, medal podiums or official ceremonies.
LONDON (AP) — Les McKeown, the former lead singer of the 1970s Scottish pop sensation Bay City Rollers, has died suddenly at the age of 65, his family said Thursday.
A statement from his family posted on social media said: “It is with profound sadness that we announce the death of our beloved husband and father Leslie Richard McKeown.” The Scottish singer died at home on Tuesday, it added.
NEW YORK (AP) — Julius Randle had 40 points and 10 rebounds to lead New York to a 137-127 overtime victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night, the Knicks' NBA-best eighth straight win.
Randle’s driving layup with eight seconds left in regulation gave New York a 122-119 lead, but Bogdan Bogdanovic hit a 3-pointer with 6.2 seconds left to send the game into overtime.
The Knicks scored the first 10 points of the extra session.