As the coronavirus pandemic paralyzed most nonemergency medical practices this spring, the dialysis business, vital to the survival of patients with kidney disease, rolled ahead and in some cases grew.

Yet when the Trump administration sent billions in federal relief funds to medical organizations, at least $259 million went to dialysis ...Read more

MOSCOW -- Protests broke out on Monday evening in the center of Minsk, after a wave of arrests throughout Belarus following the landslide victory of incumbent Alexander Lukashenko in an election many say was rigged.

Early official results show Lukashenko heading for about 80% of the vote, although the outcome was rejected by his main rival.

...Read more

After the relaxation of some restrictions in July, Havana went back into lockdown on Monday, after more than 200 coronavirus cases were reported in the last two weeks.

In the capital, public transportation has been suspended starting Monday. The Cuban government closed beaches, parks, restaurants, bars and other businesses. Access to Havana is ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is closing in on an announcement of a running mate as early as midweek, having completed interviewing all the top candidates, people familiar with the planning said Monday.

Biden is now deliberating about his choice, the people said. While Biden's staff is preparing for an imminent rollout...Read more

Seattle agrees not to use crowd weapons against media, legal observers, medics at protests

SEATTLE -- The city of Seattle has agreed that a court order should bar police from targeting journalists, legal observers and medics with crowd weapons.

The city also has agreed that the order should bar police from using the declaration of a riot as ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- The State Department inspector general's office exonerated Secretary of State Michael Pompeo for his emergency certification to bypass congressional opposition in approving the sale of more than $8 billion in weapons to the Middle East last year, according to a department official.

The Pompeo deputy briefed reporters on condition ...Read more

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghan President Ashraf Ghani signed a decree for the controversial release of 400 Taliban fighters to kick-start Afghan peace talks, a statement by the presidential palace said on Monday.

Their release was considered the most important hurdle to overcome before peace talks, a precondition set by the militant Taliban.

The...Read more

WASHINGTON -- A federal judge Monday ordered the unsealing and release of correspondences from attorneys for celebrity lawyer Alan Dershowitz and Victoria's Secret founder Leslie Wexner in a defamation case that is likely to reveal more about the secretive life of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ruled ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- Diplomats from several Latin American and European countries are trying to delay next month's vote on President Donald Trump's nominee to lead a key international development bank, hoping to push the decision into next year, when a new U.S. president could be in office.

Trump broke norms by nominating a U.S. citizen from his ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Responding to one of California's biggest setbacks since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday said his administration has fixed a public health computer database failure that distorted test results across the state and raised doubts about actions taken to stem the spread of coronavirus.

...Read more

As coronavirus cases swelled across the Sun Belt, hot-spot states including Texas and Arizona sought help from veterinary labs and mental-health clinics for testing capacity, but kept running into a shortage of materials, according to documents released Monday.

Several state public-health departments laid out plans to pour money into new staff ...Read more

Next time you order a Big Mac, Whopper or Sweetgreen salad, consider this: The wrappers and containers your food comes in have been found to contain toxic chemicals that can contaminate your drinking water, harm wildlife and make you sick.

PFAS are chemicals used in apparel, carpeting, furniture and food packaging designed to keep materials ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump said the Secret Service shot a "suspect" outside the White House on Monday, although it wasn't clear if the individual was seeking to attack the president.

The incident forced Trump to abruptly cut off his own news conference, although he later returned.

"It was outside of the White House. Somebody was ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Six people were killed in homicides Saturday and Sunday in Kansas City, marking the deadliest weekend in a year already on pace to see a record number of slayings.

The violence that plagued various parts of the city for a 26-hour period ranged from an accidental shooting to domestic violence to disputes settled by gunfire. ...Read more

ATLANTA -- Georgia voters will soon be able to go online to order an absentee ballot for the November presidential election, according to a rule the State Election Board approved Monday.

The board voted unanimously to create the absentee ballot application website, which is planned to go live by the end of this month.

The website will help ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- That $400 a week in additional COVID-19 unemployment benefits President Donald Trump announced Saturday? Cash-strapped states have an easy out to provide only $300.

The memorandum that Trump signed Saturday announcing a new "lost wages" program to replace the now lapsed $600 weekly federal pandemic supplement said states would be ...Read more