LOS ANGELES — Infections, hospitalizations and deaths related to COVID-19 have continued to decline in Los Angeles County.

It’s a far cry from last fall, when residents faced a new wave of coronavirus cases that led to a huge winter surge. Despite the improvements, which officials have largely pegged to vaccination rates, an imminent death ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Even though Minneapolis removed barricades from the protest zone at E. 38th Street and Chicago Avenue, George Floyd Square remains a gathering place that attracts weekend crowds of the curious.

The Rev. Curtis Farrar of Worldwide Outreach for Christ, the church opposite the spot where George Floyd was murdered in May 2020, wants...Read more

Crews were hoping a shift in the weather would help them get the upper hand against several wildfires burning in Northern California and the southern Sierra. But forecasters warned Saturday the window of opportunity could be short-lived, as a cooling trend was expected to be followed by warmer temperatures and dry winds.

The Fawn fire north of ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — Hurricane Sam strengthened to a major Category 4 storm Saturday morning while Teresa is now a post-tropical cyclone, the National Hurricane Center said.

Sam, the seventh hurricane of the season, now has maximum sustained winds of 150 mph and higher gusts and is moving west-northwest at 10 mph, according to the NHC’s 5 p.m. ...Read more

Iceland is holding an election with the pandemic largely behind it but its voters faced with a reality check.

The travel restrictions with COVID-19 have laid bare just how much the sparsely-populated island got hooked on tourism, while there is little consensus on whether climate change presents a challenge or an opportunity.

This country in...Read more

DETROIT — A small, winged pest some people even think is pretty is getting a lot of attention online, as agriculture and natural resource experts warn that it can do considerable damage to grapes and, once established, is difficult to kill.

Lycorma delicatula — better known as the dreaded spotted lanternfly — made its way from Asia to the...Read more

Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry reaffirmed a request for “mutual legal assistance” to investigate the murder of President Jovenel Moise.

In prerecorded remarks to the UN General Assembly, Henry emphasized that finding all those responsible for the assassination was a “top priority” of his government.

“This is a transnational ...Read more

MIAMI — The number of Haitian migrants stopped at sea by the U.S. Coast Guard zoomed past 1,000 for this fiscal year after two interceptions of 260 migrants returned to Haiti Friday, the agency announced.

For the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, 2020 and will end Thursday, the Coast Guard says, crews have intercepted 1,119 Haitian migrants. ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — Like the many gun safety bills that have come before it, the one just signed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom is borne from tragedy.

In 2019, John T. Earnest, a then-19-year-old Rancho Penasquitos college student, opened fire on a Poway synagogue using a rifle he bought at a Grantville gun shop.

He did so under a narrow provision ...Read more

A school bus driver was fatally stabbed in front of students after picking them up from a Washington state elementary school Friday afternoon, authorities said.

The alleged killer, who is now in custody, got on the bus near Longfellow Elementary in the city of Pasco around 3 p.m. and launched the knife attack as multiple children watched in ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — The top-line trends are widely known, visible in political campaigns, video programming and store shelves: People of Hispanic heritage are growing in total number and as a share of the U.S. population.

This decades-old progression is affirmed again in a much-anticipated annual survey from the Pew Research Center that coincides ...Read more

China gave a hero’s welcome to Huawei Technologies Co.’s executive Meng Wanzhou as she touched down three years after her arrest in Canada, while two Canadians freed by Beijing returned to their homeland with less fanfare.

“I am finally home after over 1,000 days of suffering,” Meng, wearing a red dress, said tearfully to the cheering ...Read more

ANDERSON, Calif. — Firefighters faced off against the fast-moving Fawn fire as it edged closer to Shasta Lake on Saturday, hoping to take advantage of lighter winds and cooler temperatures expected to last through the weekend.

The fire broke out Wednesday afternoon in a rocky quarry area near Bear Mountain Road and has charred 7,544 acres in ...Read more

The U.S. met one of China’s key demands to improve relations with the release of a top Huawei Technologies Co. executive, paving the way for better ties at the cost of appearing to reward Beijing for what critics have called “hostage diplomacy.”

Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer, flew to China from Vancouver after reaching...Read more

NEW YORK — Funeral services for Gabby Petito will be held Sunday afternoon on Long Island, closing another chapter in a mysterious case that has sparked nationwide attention and a massive manhunt for her fiancé.

The visitation, which will be open to the public, is set to take place at Moloney’s Funeral Home in Holbrook from noon to 5 p.m.,...Read more