Trump faces global resistance to US plan to cut WHO funding
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump faced international resistance Thursday to his plan to cut U.S. payments to the World Health Organization over its...
‘E.T.,’ ‘Bugsy’ cinematographer Allen Daviau dies at 77
LOS ANGELES — Cinematographer Allen Daviau, who shot three of Steven Spielberg’s films including “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,” has died. A representat...
Layoffs and pay cuts are now striking more white collar jobs
WASHINGTON — First, it was bars, restaurants, hotels. And clothing stores, movie theaters, entertainment venues. And countless small businesses, from ...
Backup of bodies overwhelms nursing home amid outbreak
An extraordinary number of coronavirus-related deaths appears to have overwhelmed a nursing home in northern New Jersey where police found 18 bodies i...
US Open tennis COVID-19 decision by June; no fans ‘unlikely’
A decision on whether to postpone or cancel the U.S. Open because of the coronavirus pandemic is expected by June, the U.S. Tennis Association’s new C...
Nurses push back on pressure to work without right equipment
Nurse Mike Gulick was meticulous about not bringing the coronavirus home to his wife and their 2-year-old daughter. He’d stop at a hotel after work ju...
EPA guts rule credited with cleaning up coal-plant toxic air
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Thursday gutted an Obama-era rule that compelled the country's coal plants to cut back emissions of mercury a...
Study: Warming makes US West megadrought worst in modern age
KENSINGTON, Maryland — A two-decade-long dry spell that has parched much of the western United States is turning into one of the deepest megadroughts ...
Brian Dennehy, Tony-winning stage, screen actor, dies at 81
NEW YORK — Brian Dennehy, the burly actor who started in films as a macho heavy and later in his career won plaudits for his stage work in plays by Wi...
No baseball or beaches: Virus upends usual California summer
LOS ANGELES — In these dark times, clouded by fears of an enemy we can’t see and sheltered in homes we're itching to leave, it's reassuring to know th...
New information adds to questions about Russia probe dossier
WASHINGTON — Newly released material raises the possibility that Russian disinformation made its way into a dossier of opposition research that the FB...
Tribes press judge to halt US-Canada pipeline as work starts
BILLINGS, Mont. — American Indian tribes and environmental groups are pressuring a federal judge to shut down work on the disputed Keystone XL pipelin...
UK government extends virus lockdown by at least 3 weeks
LONDON — The British government announced Thursday that a nationwide lockdown imposed to slow the spread of the new coronavirus will remain in place f...
Burrow to the rescue? Lowly Bengals look for next leader
CINCINNATI — In 2003, everything was in place for the Bengals to take a quarterback with the first overall draft pick.
VIRUS DIARY: In pandemic, a forlorn dog finds new purpose
BERKELEY, Calif. — “This feels like a good time to get another dog to help us get over the loss of Surfer,” the Professor announced in her FM radio-re...
Pandemic provokes spike in demand for food pantries in US
FRANKLIN, Tenn. — Brooklyn Dotson needed food. Her first unemployment check had yet to arrive after she was let go by the warehouse where she used to ...
US long-term mortgage rates hover near low; 30-year at 3.31%
WASHINGTON — U.S. long-term mortgage rates hovered near all-time lows for the third straight week amid fresh signs of severe damage to the economy and...
Poland lawmakers defer final vote on divisive abortion bill
WARSAW, Poland — Polish lawmakers on Thursday postponed a final decision on a controversial proposal to impose a near-total ban on abortion in the pre...
Amid pandemic, debate rages in Mexico: is beer essential?
MEXICO CITY — Perhaps one of the most heated debates in Mexico during the pandemic — after disagreements about personal protective equipment and testi...
Leading in pandemic becomes part of audition for Biden’s VP
CHICAGO — California Sen. Kamala Harris is raising money for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden while speaking out about the dispro...
Oil and gas giant Shell targets ‘net zero’ emissions by 2050
BERLIN — Energy company Royal Dutch Shell told investors Thursday that it aims to stop adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere by 2050, a move that ...
Reopening could require thousands more public health workers
SEATTLE — Before Washington state lifts its stay-at-home order, public health workers in Seattle’s King County want to be ready to douse any new spark...
Tokyo Olympics could cut ‘extras’ in face of soaring costs
TOKYO — Tokyo Olympic organizers and the IOC said Thursday they will cut some of the extras out of next year’s postponed games, an attempt to limit wh...
Belgian bluebells are too beautiful to see during pandemic
HALLE, Belgium — When nature is at its brightest this year, it needs to be hidden from sight.
Veteran’s garden walk raises $16M for UK health service
LONDON — A 99-year-old World War II veteran has completed his quest to walk 100 laps of his garden in eastern England and raised almost 13 million pou...
Israeli president asks parliament to choose prime minister
JERUSALEM — Israel’s president Thursday asked the Knesset to choose a new prime minister, giving parliament three weeks to agree upon a leader or plun...
Some leaders use pandemic to sharpen tools against critics
BANGKOK — Health concerns were on artist Danai Ussama’s mind when he returned to Thailand last month from a trip to Spain. He noticed that he and his ...
With price high, Thais with dwindling incomes sell off gold
Bangkok — With gold prices rising to a seven-year high, many Thais have been flocking to gold shops to trade in their necklaces, bracelets, rings and ...
High-level North Korean defector wins South parliament seat
SEOUL, South Korea — A former senior North Korean diplomat won a constituency seat in South Korea’s parliamentary elections, the first such achievemen...
Coronavirus could erode global fight against other diseases
NEW DELHI — Lavina D’Souza hasn’t been able to collect her government-supplied anti-HIV medication since the abrupt lockdown of India's 1.3 billion pe...