BRUSSELS (AP) — At its start, America's war in Afghanistan was about retribution for 9/11. Then it was about shoring up a weak government and its weak army so that Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida could never again threaten the United States. Now it's about over. With bin Laden long since dead and ...

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A friend of George Floyd who was with him the night he died won't testify at the trial of the former Minneapolis police officer charged in his death, the judge overseeing the case ruled Wednesday. Derek Chauvin's defense attorney wanted to call Morries Hall to testify in ...

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Wednesday there are lessons to be drawn from the COVID-19 pandemic — from a greater sense of shared responsibility to the outsized role social media plays in a crisis. The first-term Democrat, who intends to run for reelection in 2023 ...

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (AP) — A California woman suspected of killing her three children pleaded not guilty Wednesday to carjacking during an alleged escape. Liliana Carrillo, 30, entered pleas in a Kern County courtroom to four felony counts of carjacking, attempted carjacking and auto theft. ...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Hundreds of farmers who rely on a massive irrigation project that spans the Oregon-California border learned Wednesday they will get a tiny fraction of the water they need amid the worst drought in decades, as federal regulators attempt to balance the needs of ...

CHICAGO (AP) — Body camera footage of a Chicago police officer fatally shooting a 13-year-old boy last month will be released Thursday, the board that reviews such shootings said. The Civilian Office of Police Accountability, or COPA, said in a news release Wednesday that among the materials ...

Daunte Wright became a father while he was still a teenager, and seemed to relish the role of a doting young dad, his family and friends said. A family photo shows a beaming Wright holding his son, Daunte Jr., at his first birthday party. Another shows Wright, wearing a COVID-19 face mask and ...

When one of the nation's top health officials this week suggested states dealing with a spring spike of coronavirus cases should "shut things down," the remark landed with a thud. Even Democratic governors and lawmakers who supported tough stay-at-home orders and business closures to stem ...

Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine will remain in limbo for a while longer after government health advisers declared Wednesday that they need more evidence to decide if a handful of unusual blood clots were linked to the shot — and if so, how big the risk really is. The reports are ...

NEW YORK (AP) — Bernie Madoff, the financier who pleaded guilty to orchestrating a massive Ponzi scheme, died in a federal prison early Wednesday, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. Madoff died at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, apparently from ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden's COVID-19 vaccination campaign hit a snag Tuesday when federal regulators recommended a "pause" in administering Johnson & Johnson shots. But the White House portrayed the action as important validation of his measured approach throughout the ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will address a joint session of Congress for the first time on April 28. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi extended the invite to Biden on Tuesday, "to share your vision for addressing the challenges and opportunities of this historic moment." The ...

When the U.S. government enacted a ban on evictions, it did so through an unlikely agency: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC has said the policy, first enacted in September and recently extended through the end of June, helps stop the spread of the coronavirus by limiting ...

CHICAGO (AP) — Now that prosecutors have wrapped up their case against a former Minneapolis police officer in George Floyd's death, Derek Chauvin and his legal team must make a decision about whether he'll testify. Doing so could help humanize Chauvin to jurors who haven't heard from him ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The effects of the coronavirus pandemic are expected to contribute over the next year to "humanitarian and economic crises, political unrest, and geopolitical competition," according to a new intelligence report that also warns about the threats from foreign adversaries and ...

President Joe Biden on Tuesday said he would pick the president of the American Statistical Association to lead the U.S. Census Bureau as it works toward releasing data from the 2020 census that will be used for redrawing congressional and legislative districts. If confirmed, Robert Santos, ...

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Sixteen other states are backing Alabama's challenge to a statistical method the U.S. Census Bureau is using for the first time to protect the privacy of people who participated in the 2020 census, the nation's once-a-decade head count that determines political power and ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Florida's two Republican senators are steering clear of voicing support for Rep. Matt Gaetz, branding sex trafficking accusations against him serious but calling it premature to say what should happen to their fellow Floridian and GOP lawmaker. The remarks by Sens. Marco ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on America that were coordinated from that country, several U.S. officials said Tuesday. The decision defies a May 1 deadline for full withdrawal ...

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Jay Copan doesn't hide his disregard for the modern Republican Party. A solid Republican voter for the past four decades, the 69-year-old quickly regretted casting his 2016 ballot for Donald Trump. When Trump was up for reelection last year, Copan appeared on roadside ...