For the second straight year, the world heads into a new La Niña weather event. This would tend to dry out parts of an already parched and fiery American West and boost an already busy Atlantic hurricane season.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection moved aggressively against close Trump adviser Steve Bannon on Thursday, swiftly scheduling a vote to recommend criminal contempt charges against the former White House aide after he defied a subpoena.

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP) — The amount of crude oil spilled in an offshore pipeline leak in Southern California is believed to be close to 25,000 gallons, or only about one-fifth of what officials initially feared, a Coast Guard official said Thursday.

U.S. health advisers said Thursday that some Americans who received Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine at least six months ago should get a half-dose booster to rev up protection against the coronavirus.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — New York real estate heir Robert Durst was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without chance of parole for the murder of his best friend more that two decades ago.

LONDON (AP) — British Conservative lawmaker David Amess was stabbed to death on Friday during a routine meeting with constituents at a church in eastern England, an attack that united the U.K.'s fractious politicians in shock and sorrow. A 25-year-old man was arrested at the scene.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health advisers on Friday tackled who should get boosters of Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot COVID-19 vaccine and when — and whether using a competing brand for the second dose might provide better protection.

NEW YORK (AP) — Goldman Sachs' profits jumped 60% in the third quarter, as the deal-making bonanza that dominated financial markets this summer brought in hundreds of millions of dollars in fee revenue for the investment bank.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A man who was shot in the arm by Kyle Rittenhouse during a protest last year against police brutality in Wisconsin has filed a federal lawsuit alleging police enabled the violence by allowing an armed militia to have free run of the streets during the demonstration.

KONGSBERG, Norway (AP) — Residents of a Norwegian town with a proud legacy of producing coins, weapons and silver grappled Friday with the horrible knowledge that someone living in their community used a bow and arrow to attack people doing their grocery shopping or other evening activities …

NEW YORK (AP) — Americans continued to spend at a solid clip in September even while facing sticker shock in grocery aisles, car lots and restaurants as snarled global supply chains slow the flow of goods.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The number of people in Puerto Rico who identified as “white” in the most recent census plummeted almost 80%, sparking a conversation about identity on an island breaking away from a past where race was not tracked and seldom debated in public.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Suicide bombers attacked a Shiite mosque packed with worshippers attending Friday prayers in southern Afghanistan, killing at least 37 people and wounding more than 70, according to a hospital official and a witness.

MOSCOW (AP) — A forthcoming flight to space by a Japanese billionaire will allow the public to have a closer look at life on board the orbiting outpost, the president of Space Adventures, a company that organized the flight, said Friday.

BERLIN (AP) — Three German parties announced Friday that they aim to open formal coalition talks, moving a big step closer to a new government that would send outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right bloc into opposition. The prospective partners said they have a major opportunity to…

PARIS (AP) — French schools on Friday were paying tribute to a teacher beheaded by a radical Islamist last year after he showed caricatures of the prophet of Islam to his class.

ROME (AP) — Protests erupted in Italy as one of the most stringent anti-coronavirus measures in Europe went into effect Friday, requiring all workers, from magistrates to maids, to show a health pass to get into their place of employment.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The Brexit brawl kicked into high gear Friday on sticking points over Northern Ireland and French fishing, coming almost a year after a deal on a free trade agreement was supposed to have officially sealed the separation between the European Union and the United Kingdom.

LONDON (AP) — British health officials said Friday that 43,000 people may have been wrongly told they don’t have the coronavirus because of problems at a private laboratory.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's daily tolls of coronavirus infections and deaths surged to another record on Friday, a quickly mounting figure that has put a severe strain on the country's health care system.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia's Republican candidate for governor said Thursday that it was “weird and wrong” for attendees at a recent right-wing election rally to recite the Pledge of Allegiance to a flag said to have been flown at a rally just before the Capitol riot in January.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Massive wildfires are making it harder for some California homeowners to get property insurance, pitting the state's insurance commissioner against the industry in an escalating conflict that will likely stretch into 2022's statewide elections.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Reproductive rights supporters have filed an appeal asking the Oklahoma Supreme Court to put three anti-abortion laws on hold, including restrictions on medication-induced abortions.

WASHINGTON (AP) — First lady Jill Biden is set to campaign Friday for Democrats in governors' races in Virginia and New Jersey, her most overt foray into politics since arriving at the White House nine months ago.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta discussed financial transparency during their White House meeting Thursday, as the East African leader faces scrutiny over revelations that he and his family stashed millions of dollars in hidden offshore accounts.

Microsoft is shutting down its main LinkedIn service in China later this year as Beijing tightens its internet rules.

DALLAS (AP) — A Boeing pilot involved in testing the 737 Max jetliner was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury on charges of deceiving safety regulators who were evaluating the plane, which was later involved in two deadly crashes.