California orders people to wear masks in most indoor spaces
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California will require people to wear masks in most indoor settings and outdoors when distancing isn't possible under a statewid...
Billie Eilish gets 3-year restraining order for trespasser
LOS ANGELES — A judge has extended to three years a restraining order taken out by Billie Eilish against a man who repeatedly appeared at her Los Ange...
Paris protesters cloak colonial-era statue with black cloth
PARIS — French anti-racism activists draped a black cloth over the statue of a colonial commander in central Paris on Thursday, prompting three arrest...
Senate confirms McConnell ally to top federal appeals court
WASHINGTON — A divided Senate has approved the nomination of a 38-year-old judge and ally of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to serve on a top ...
India seeks eased tensions with China after Himalayas clash
NEW DELHI — India said Thursday it was using diplomatic channels with China to de-escalate a military standoff in a remote Himalayan border region whe...
AP-NORC poll: Trump adds to divisions in an unhappy country
WASHINGTON — Americans are deeply unhappy about the state of their country — and a majority think President Donald Trump is exacerbating tensions in a...
US has hit agreed troop-cut target of 8,600 in Afghanistan
WASHINGTON — The United States has reduced its troop presence in Afghanistan to 8,600, fulfilling its obligation as part of a February deal with the T...
Calls for Romania’s president to reject gender studies ban
BUCHAREST, Romania — Dozens of protesters gathered Thursday in Romania's capital to express their opposition to a law banning the teaching of gender s...
UK’s recession ‘less bad’ than feared, Bank of England
LONDON — The Bank of England unveiled another big stimulus package for the U.K. economy as it tries to limit the scale of the coronavirus recession, w...
Persistently high layoffs suggest a slow US economic rebound
WASHINGTON — Three months after the viral outbreak shut down businesses across the country, U.S. employers are still shedding jobs at a heavy rate, a ...
Florida Sen. Rubio introduces NIL bill to push NCAA changes
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio introduced a bill Thursday that would protect the NCAA from being challenged in court if the association changes its rules to...
Review: String quartet with Yo-Yo Ma wows again on 2nd album
Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile, "Not Our First Goat Rodeo” (Sony Music Masterworks)
Denying marriage claim, justices OK James Brown’s dying wish
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Godfather of Soul's dying wish to help educate needy children is a big step closer to being fulfilled, now that South Carolina's ...
NATO to probe France-Turkey Med naval incident
BRUSSELS — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that the military alliance would investigate an incident between Turkish warships and...
Proof of life: Photos emerge of stolen Van Gogh painting
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — A Dutch art sleuth has received “proof-of-life” photos of a Vincent van Gogh painting stolen in late March from a Dutch museu...
Trump global media chief faces GOP backlash over firings
WASHINGTON — The new chief of U.S.-funded global media is facing a conservative backlash over his decision to fire the heads of two international broa...
Top challenger in Belarusian presidential race detained
Belarusian authorities on Thursday detained the former head of a Russia-owned commercial bank who has emerged as the top challenger to Belarus’ author...
Court: Chicago can preserve old records of police complaints
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The Illinois Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Chicago can keep all records of complaints against police officers that are more th...
US mortgage rates fall; 30-year at all-time low of 3.13%
WASHINGTON — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates fell this week as the benchmark 30-year home loan reached a new all-time low.
Pandemic gives businesses lessons in survival, innovation
NEW YORK — When the coronavirus outbreak forced Sean Giovanni to shut down his recording studio in for two months, he dropped off mobile equipment at ...
European Central Bank hands out 1.3 trillion euros in loans
FRANKFURT, Germany — The European Central Bank has handed out 1.31 trillion euros ($1.46 trillion) in long-term, ultra-cheap credit to hundreds of ban...
Review: Very hip, very haunted house in ‘Should Have Left’
C'mon. Everyone knows that when you rent a vacation house online, you read the reviews first.
Jason Mraz to give earnings from new album to social justice
NEW YORK — Jason Mraz has a new album coming out and he wants everyone to buy it and love it. But he's not going to make a penny on it.
Macron marks appeal that gave birth to French Resistance
LONDON — French President Emmanuel Macron marked Gen. Charles De Gaulle’s famed World War II appeal to resist the Nazis on Thursday in a special cerem...
Review: Oumou Sangaré‘s ‘Acoustic’ shows passion, commitment
Oumou Sangaré, “Acoustic” (No Format!)
Deputies kill half-brother of black man found hanged in park
ROSAMOND, Calif. — The half-brother of a black man found hanged in a California park was killed in a gunbattle with Los Angeles County sheriff's deput...
Jean Kennedy Smith dies at 92; last surviving sibling of JFK
Jean Kennedy Smith, who was the last surviving sibling of President John F. Kennedy and who as a U.S. ambassador played a key role in the peace proces...
Official: German slaughterhouse virus outbreak untenable
BERLIN — Germany's agriculture minister said Thursday that conditions at a slaughterhouse where hundreds of workers tested positive for COVID-19 were ...
Emeritus Pope Benedict in Germany to be with ailing brother
VATICAN CITY — Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI traveled to his native Germany Thursday to be by his brother's sickbed, the Vatican said Thursday.
Hong Kong Disneyland reopens, consumers using less cash
The outbreak of the coronavirus has dealt a shock to the global economy with unprecedented speed. Following are developments Thursday related to the n...