WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden says the Sept. 11 attacks “cannot explain” why U.S. forces should remain in Afghanistan 20 years later and that “it is time for American troops to come home” from the country's longest war.

Big business has ratcheted up its objections to proposals that would make it harder to vote, with several hundred companies and executives signing a new statement opposing “any discriminatory legislation."

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.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A blistering internal report by the U.S. Capitol Police describes a multitude of missteps that left the force unprepared for the Jan. 6 insurrection — riot shields that shattered upon impact, expired weapons that couldn’t be used, inadequate training and an intelligence div…

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The judge at Derek Chauvin’s murder trial Wednesday turned down a defense request to acquit the former officer in George Floyd's death.

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) — 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 rollout.

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent (AP) — Leaders of volcano-wracked St. Vincent said Tuesday that water is running short as heavy ash contaminates supplies, and they estimated that the eastern Caribbean island will need hundreds of millions of dollars to recover from the eruption of La Soufriere.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Top Federal Reserve policymakers on Tuesday underscored their concern that Black and Hispanic people are sharply underrepresented in the economics field, which lessens the perspectives that economists can bring to key policy issues.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Women seeking an abortion pill will not be required to visit a doctor's office or clinic during the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. health officials said Tuesday in the latest reversal in an ongoing legal battle over the medication.

LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II has returned to royal duties, four days after the death of her husband, Prince Philip, as preparations stepped up for his ceremonial funeral on the weekend.

Mike Elliott is among many who celebrated his election as mayor of Brooklyn Center as the beginning of a new era, marking the first time one of Minnesota's most racially diverse places would be led by a person of color. Elliott, a Black man who had emigrated from Liberia as a child, was almo…

The tiny red hearts that appear under Instagram photos of kids, kittens and sandwiches can be a source of stress for many users, an insidious way of measuring self worth and popularity.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden's first address to a joint session of Congress will look like no other in recent memory.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Treasury Department has created a new office to supervise the disbursement of the billions of dollars in relief money authorized by Congress to combat the coronavirus-related recession. Officials said Wednesday that the goal is to streamline the process and ensure that …

U.S. health officials are weighing next steps as they investigate a handful of unusual blood clots in people who received Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine — a one-dose shot that many countries were eagerly awaiting to help speed virus protection.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Wednesday began to undo a Trump-era ban on clinics referring women for abortions, a policy directive that drove Planned Parenthood from the federal family planning program and created new complications for women trying to get birth control.

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.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — President Joe Biden faces an uphill battle as he tries to revive a push for more state laws that would allow authorities to temporarily disarm people who are considered a danger to themselves or others.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes are adding to their record highs in early Wednesday trading after big banks kicked off a highly anticipated earnings reporting season with profits that thundered past Wall Street’s expectations.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that Gov. Tony Evers' administration does not have the authority to issue capacity limits on bars, restaurants and other businesses without the Legislature's approval, a ruling that comes two weeks after the conservative-con…

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. He was 82.

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Desperate to jumpstart Europe's sluggish vaccination program, leaders from across the continent scrambled Wednesday in the wake of an unexpected delay in the rollout of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 shots amid reports of very rare blood clots.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran's president on Wednesday called his country's decision to dramatically increase its uranium enrichment after saboteurs attacked a nuclear site “an answer to your evilness,” saying Israel hoped to derail ongoing talks aimed at reviving Tehran's tattered…

GRAND ISLE, La. (AP) — The Coast Guard kept searching for 12 people missing off the coast of Louisiana on Wednesday, hours after six other crew members were pulled from rough seas following the capsizing of their commercial platform vessel during a “microburst” of bad weather.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jill Biden had a “common medical procedure” on Wednesday, came through it “well” and was expected to resume her normal schedule, the White House said.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday he got his second COVID-19 vaccine shot, three weeks after getting the first dose.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Former Republican Gov. Pat McCrory on Wednesday announced he'll run for the U.S. Senate in North Carolina, shaking up the calculus in the expanding field to succeed retiring Sen. Richard Burr with the entrance of a veteran of statewide politics.

Colton Underwood, the former football tight end who found fame on "The Bachelor” has revealed that he is gay.

BAKER, La. (AP) — Members of a Louisiana State University fraternity chipped in more than $50,000 to pay off the mortgage of a woman who fed them when they were students.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Legal marijuana is coming to New York and hemp farmer Samir Mahadin sees it as a potential lifeline.

BRUSSELS (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden’s top national security aides were consulting with NATO on Wednesday to coordinate the alliance’s withdrawal from Afghanistan with the planned pullout of American troops by the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The attorney for the former Minneapolis police officer on trial in George Floyd ’s death revisited the disputed concept of excited delirium Tuesday in an effort to show that the force Derek Chauvin used was objectively reasonable given Floyd's resistance.

LIBERTY, Missouri (AP) — Sikhs across the United States are holding toned-down Vaisakhi celebrations this week, joining people of other faiths in observing major holidays cautiously this spring as COVID-19 keeps an uneven hold on the country.

CLEVELAND (AP) — Indians manager Terry Francona called racist social media messages sent to first baseman Yu Chang “stupid and ignorant” and said they have no place in baseball or “anywhere.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — One Black mother said she nearly died after her son was born following an earlier miscarriage and a stillbirth. Another Black mother said that she wasn't told about the dangers of her particular pregnancy complication in women like herself and that it led to the loss of her…

NEW YORK (AP) — People have been stuck at home for a year due to COVID-19 restrictions, with movie theaters closed, concert venues closed, restaurants closed, sports attendance restricted — yet television viewing is down?

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Nearly three years after five people at the Capital Gazette newspaper were killed, a Maryland judge discussed plans Tuesday for holding the second part of the shooter's trial under COVID-19 court protocols.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The “prime suspect” was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of murder in the 25-year-old disappearance of California college student Kristin Smart.

BRUSSELS (AP) — President Joe Biden urged Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to “de-escalate tensions" following a Russian military buildup on Ukraine's border in their second tense call of Biden's young presidency.

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.

WASHINGTON (AP) — On one end of Pennsylvania Avenue, he mourned with the family of a fallen police officer. On the other, he pledged to help end the epidemic of Black men being killed by police.

A rare, rogue immune response is the main suspect as authorities investigate highly unusual blood clots following use of two similar COVID-19 vaccines from Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca.

Boeing orders picked up in March, fueled by a major deal with Southwest Airlines that helped to offset another round of cancellations for its 737 Max airliner.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Tropicana Las Vegas Hotel and Casino, a Sin City namesake, is being sold to a new entrant among Las Vegas Boulevard resort owners.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government's budget deficit surged to an all-time high of $1.7 trillion for the first six months of this budget year, nearly double the previous record, as another round of economic-support checks added billions of dollars to spending last month.

While most Americans have weathered the pandemic financially, about 38 million say they are worse off now than before the outbreak began in the U.S.