AP National News

By AMY FORLITI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murder in the death of George Floyd pleaded not guilty Thursday to violating the civil rights of a teenager in a separate case that involved a restraint similar to the one used on Floyd. Derek Chauvin was convicted earlier this

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia has canceled a contract with France for conventional submarines and instead will build nuclear-powered submarines using U.S. technology because of changing strategic conditions in the region, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Thursday. President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday a new U.S. security alliance with Australia

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The four people on SpaceX’s first private flight are fairly ordinary, down-to-Earth types brought together by chance. They’ll circle Earth for three days at an unusually high altitude — on their own without a professional escort — before splashing down off the Florida coast.

BEIJING (AP) — An earthquake destroyed houses, killed at least three people and injured dozens Thursday in southwest China’s Sichuan province. Rescue work was underway following the magnitude-6.0 earthquake. It struck at 4:33 a.m. at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles) in Luxian, a county in the city of Luzhou, the official Xinhua News

By ROB GILLIES Associated Press TORONTO (AP) — The leader of the Canadian province of Alberta is apologizing for his handling of the pandemic and now says he’s now reluctantly introducing a vaccine passport and imposing a mandatory work from home order two months after lifting nearly all restrictions. Alberta is declaring a public health

By ALEXANDRA JAFFE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House offered Wednesday to connect Nicki Minaj with one of the Biden administration’s doctors to address her questions about the COVID-19 vaccine, after the Trinidadian-born rapper’s erroneous tweet alleging the vaccine causes impotence went viral. The White House said that they’ve offered such calls with

HAVANA, Cuba (AP) — The draft of a new family code for Cuba released Wednesday proposes allowing same-sex couples to marry and adopt as well as giving children greater participation in decisions that affect them. The preliminary draft, which must be approved by Cuba’s parliament then go to a grassroots plebiscite, comes almost three years

MIAMI (AP) — A federal judge declined Wednesday to block a ban imposed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to prevent mandating masks for Florida school students amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. Judge K. Michael Moore in Miami denied a request by parents of disabled children for a preliminary injunction against an executive order that DeSantis

By MARK THIESSEN Associated Press ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska on Wednesday reported its highest number of new COVID-19 cases, a day after the state’s largest hospital announced it had entered crisis protocol and started rationing care. There were 1,068 new cases of COVID-19, with case counts 13% higher than last week. State officials said

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — A California county has paid $11 million to a man who spent two decades in prison after being wrongly convicted of murdering his girlfriend in 1998. The Riverside Press-Enterprise reported Tuesday that the payment settles a federal lawsuit filed by Horace Roberts accusing Riverside County and its sheriff’s department of manufacturing

By BABA AHMED and KRISTA LARSON Associated Press BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — France’s president announced the death of Islamic State in the Greater Sahara’s leader late Wednesday, calling Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi’s killing “a major success” for the French military after more than eight years fighting extremists in the Sahel. French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted

By KIM TONG-HYUNG and HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Thursday it successfully launched ballistic missiles from a train for the first time and was continuing to bolster its defenses, after the two Koreas test-fired missiles hours apart in dueling displays of military might. Wednesday’s launches underscored a return

By ANDREW DeMILLO Associated Press LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed the Little Rock police chief’s lawsuit against the local police union and several current and former officers. U.S. District Judge Jay Moody on Wednesday dismissed Chief Keith Humphrey’s lawsuit, which accused the officers and the union of conspiring to force

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is considering requiring vaccinations against COVID-19 and contact tracing of international visitors after the U.S. revamps current broad restrictions that bar many foreigners from traveling to the U.S., a top White House adviser said Wednesday. Jeffrey Zients, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said that because of the recent

By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Authorities say a U.S. citizen living in Mexico who claimed ties to the Sinaloa cartel faces a 17-count indictment related to a drug trafficking operation between Mexico and Alaska. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Alaska says Miguel Baez Guevara was arrested by Mexican immigration authorities in

By KATHLEEN RONAYNE and NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Few Democrats were surprised to see Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom swat down a Republican-driven recall campaign in bright-blue California. But they were pleased with how he did it. By making the race into a referendum on former President Donald Trump and his supporters’

By SARA CLINE Associated Press/Report for America PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The City Council in Portland, Oregon, has scrapped a plan to boycott Texas businesses because of a new law that prohibits most abortions there, deciding Wednesday to instead set aside $200,000 to fund reproductive care. The liberal Pacific Northwest city made headlines earlier this

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — World leaders will have to be vaccinated against the coronavirus to speak at the U.N. General Assembly’s big meeting next week, the assembly leader and New York City officials have said, prompting swift objections from at least one nation. With the diplomatic world’s premier event being

The Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert was for years known primarily for rising from political obscurity in rural Illinois to spending eight years in the nation’s third-highest office. Then came a federal indictment in a hush-money case centered on sex abuse allegations. Hastert, then 74, pleaded guilty and was

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis said Wednesday he didn’t understand why people refuse to take COVID-19 vaccines, saying “humanity has a history of friendship with vaccines,” and that serene discussion about the shots was necessary to help them. “Even in the College of Cardinals, there are some