ARIANE BELLAMAR

Nearly a dozen lawsuits in Illinois accuse gun-maker Smith & Wesson of illegally targeting young men at risk of violence with ads for firearms.

Yeshiva University has abruptly suspended student club activity in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier this week that ordered the school to recognize for now an LGBTQ student group.

A record heat wave put California in a fossil fuel conundrum: The state has had to rely more heavily on natural gas to produce electricity and avoid power outages while Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration moves toward ending the use of oil and gas.

A project that aims to increase access for disabled people to Jerusalem's Western Wall has turned into an extensive archaeological excavation into the city's history.

New York’s recreational marijuana market is beginning to sprout, literally.

Sean “Diddy” Combs spoke about his own dream like the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. while accepting the highest honor at the BET Awards.

Phil Mickelson has returned to golf after four months out of public view and is facing severe scrutiny because of where he’s playing and who is paying him.

Doja Cat could make the BET Awards her world later this month.

Robert Jones Jr.‘s historical novel “The Prophets” and Anthony Veasna So’s posthumous debut story collection “Afterparties” are among the winners of the 34th annual Triangle Awards, given for outstanding LGBTQ literature.

California is advancing an innovative new way to deter illegal weapons, spurred by a mass shooting near the state Capitol.

This week’s new entertainment releases include albums from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Thomas Rhett, a look back at Whitney Houston's life and legacy and the musical comedy “Better Nate Than Ever.”.

The Academy Awards have always loved a comeback story.

What's going to win best picture at the 94th Academy Awards.

CNN announced that its CNN+ streaming service will start operating on March 29.

The Yeshiva University men's basketball team has ended an unforgettable era.

The harsh sanctions imposed on Russia and the resulting crash of the ruble have the Kremlin scrambling to keep the country’s economy running.

U.S. and European officials are holding one key financial sanction against Russia in reserve.

Jane Campion’s gothic western “The Power of the Dog” leads all nominees for this year's Oscars, where streaming services more than ever before swept over Hollywood’s top honors.

Israeli lawmakers are calling for a parliamentary inquiry into the police’s alleged use of sophisticated spyware on protesters and other citizens.

A Massachusetts church that supports immigrants fleeing their countries for their sexual orientation has opened a new home for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender asylum seekers.

The documentary “Flee” uses animation to tell the true tale of a refugee's journey from Afghanistan to Denmark, vividly rendering a kind of story usually only filtered through blunter mediums like journalism and traditional documentary.

This week’s new entertainment releases include a double album from Alicia Keys and a posthumous one from Juice Wrld, Sandra Bullock playing an ex-con in the Netflix film “The Unforgivable” and Will Smith testing himself in a wildlife documentary series.

At the makeshift camps near Calais and Dunkirk, migrants are digging in, waiting for their chance to make a dash across the English Channel despite the deaths of at least 27 people this week when their boat sank a few miles (kilometers) from the French coast.

Despite noises, flashing lights and video clips, the casino floor of today is not all that different than the casino floor of 60 or 70 years ago.

It's premiere time for the film academy's long-awaited museum.

For the first time, Joe Biden will hold the rank of commander in chief as he marks the anniversary of the nation’s worst terror attack.

The aftermath of the 2020 election put an intense spotlight on voting machines as supporters of former President Donald Trump claimed victory was stolen from him.

The Tokyo Games are shaping up as a watershed for LGBTQ Olympians.

Georgia’s secretary of state says his office is reviewing the handling of paperwork related to ballot drop boxes in the state’s most populous county during last year’s election.

This week’s new entertainment releases include new music from Liz Phair, Lloyd Banks and Joe Walsh.

A federal court has upheld a Florida city’s decision to issue nearly $30,000 in code violation fines to a homeowner whose lawn was overgrown.

Former President Donald Trump insists he’s enjoying his life off Twitter.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial has resumed, with a key witness painting a picture of an image-obsessed Israeli leader forcing a prominent news site to flatter his family and smear his opponents.

Biden's meticulous approach to the presidency is intended to serve as a stark departure from the chaos of his predecessor, Donald Trump. Two Democratic senators, Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, condemned the lack of diversity in Biden's Cabinet. AdDuckworth said she raised her concerns with the White House on Tuesday and she and Hirono threatened to withhold their votes on nominations until the administration addressed the matter. Just before news of the Colorado shooting, White House aides leaked preliminary word about their next priority, a potentially $3 billion package with money for developing roads, hospitals, schools and green energy systems. But for that program, like other legislative priorities, the White House faces tough prospects for any Republican support and would be forced to proceed along a party-line vote.

FILE - Actress Cynthia Erivo poses for a portrait during the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto on Sept. 10, 2019. Erivo portrays Aretha Franklin in the National Geographic miniseries Genius: Aretha. (Photo by Arthur Mola/Invision/AP, File)NEW YORK – “The Color Purple” turned into Grammy, Tony and Emmy gold for Cynthia Erivo. The performer’s brilliant performance in the Broadway revival won her the 2016 Tony for best actress in a musical. “I guess I didn’t expect to be this close this soon,” Erivo told The Associated Press of her almost-EGOT status.

It announced that the licenses of five local media outlets — Mizzima, DVB, Khit Thit Media, Myanmar Now and 7Day News — have been canceled. We call on those security forces to withdraw and allow people to go home safely,” said the U.S. Embassy's statement. On Monday night, security forces chased crowds, harassed residents watching from windows, and fired stun grenades. AdGuterres also called the occupation of a number of public hospitals in Myanmar by security forces “completely unacceptable,” the U.N. spokesman said. Security forces shot and killed two people in northern Myanmar during the day, local media reported.

In this image from video, House impeachment manager Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., prepares to speak during the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021. (Senate Television via AP)NEW YORK – During a gripping 13 minutes at the start of Donald Trump's second impeachment trial Tuesday, television's biggest networks aired footage of the U.S. Capitol siege with unusually explicit language. The tape, compiled from several sources by the House impeachment managers, offered a chronological view of the former president's statements on Jan. 6 and the actions by a mob of his supporters as they broke into the Capitol. But if the video was aired on delay, that would put the network out of sync when impeachment managers resumed speaking live. AdHe understands why the impeachment managers used it, since it was important to make the jurors see, feel and experience what happened.

The votes also suggest that Washington Republicans are unable, or unwilling, to purge far-right radicals from their party, despite some GOP leaders' best wishes. And whether Washington Republicans like it or not, those who think like Greene make up a significant portion of the party's base. AdGiddy Democrats celebrated the obvious perils of their rivals' political dilemma, particularly after all but 11 House Republicans voted to defend Greene's committee assignments on Thursday. AdBut it was the House Republicans' refusal to distance themselves from Greene that threatened to haunt the party for the foreseeable future. Republican strategist and former White House aide Ari Fleischer was among the optimists.

He added that Biden in many ways is ”the perfect president for the moment, because he is not hyperbolic, he’s not a bomb thrower, he’s surrounded himself with policy wonks who already have all these plans. I think what we are going to hear him talk about is ‘Here’s where we are, here’s what we have to get done.' I think that’s going to go a long way just to making people feel better." His speechwriting team is led by longtime Biden collaborator Vinay Reddy. “There really is no parallel to what Biden faces.”___Associated Press writer Alexandra Jaffe contributed reporting.

Trump still has supporters, especially among the many rank-and-file Republican voters and conservative activists beyond Washington. That makes Trump the first outgoing president since Andrew Johnson 152 years ago to skip the swearing-in of his successor. Meanwhile, there is no clear path for the Republican Party without Trump. “We need a Republican Party,” Biden said, noting that he spoke with Republican Sen. Mitt Romney, a leading Trump critic. Doug Deason, a Texas-based donor who served on the Trump campaign's finance committee, said this week's events have done nothing to shake his confidence in the Republican president.

Trump still has supporters, especially among the many rank-and-file Republican voters and conservative activists beyond Washington. That makes Trump the first outgoing president since Andrew Johnson 152 years ago to skip the swearing-in of his successor. In the hours after this week's riot, 147 Republicans in Congress still voted to reject Biden's victory, including eight senators. “We need a Republican Party,” Biden said, noting that he spoke with Republican Sen. Mitt Romney, a leading Trump critic. Doug Deason, a Texas-based donor who served on the Trump campaign's finance committee, said this week's events have done nothing to shake his confidence in the Republican president.

As a resurgence of the pandemic in the fall looked set to overwhelm Portuguese care homes, the government mobilized all the resources it could. Some of the home’s residents, suddenly confined to their rooms or their floor, were bewildered and chafed at restrictions, even trying to take the elevator and escape confinement. The soldiers’ mission: fan out across the country to visit hundreds of nursing homes and help shore up their defenses against the pandemic. On top of that, nursing home staff in Portugal commonly work in several different care homes and travel between them on public transport. They have already been to more than half of the targeted 2,770 care homes.

President Donald Trump speaks during an "Operation Warp Speed Vaccine Summit" on the White House complex, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has been highlighting lots of really big numbers this week: New highs for the stock market. It was part of a fundraising pitch tied to Senate races in Georgia and to Trump’s unsupported claims that Democrats are trying to “steal” the presidential election he lost. But Trump's three-minute internet address hailing the vaccine made no mention of the toll the virus has taken. It's not just Trump who is fazed by how best to acknowledge the toll of the virus.

President Donald Trump speaks during an "Operation Warp Speed Vaccine Summit" on the White House complex, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has been highlighting lots of really big numbers this week: New highs for the stock market. It was part of a fundraising pitch tied to Senate races in Georgia and to Trump’s unsupported claims that Democrats are trying to “steal” the presidential election he lost. But Trump's three-minute internet address hailing the vaccine made no mention of the toll the virus has taken. It's not just Trump who is fazed by how best to acknowledge the toll of the virus.

(AP Photo)LOS ANGELES – Yes, 2020 may seem like a complete fail with all the constant bad news and tragic moments. It’s been filled with gloom and doom(scrolling), but some celebrities and those inspired by them have tried to brighten a bleak year. He reassigned his 10 seamstresses in New York to produce thousands daily for health care workers on the frontlines. The singer and husband Emilio Estefan's restaurant Estefan Kitchen served up homemade meals for health care workers in Miami. The challenge coordinated offers by celebrities and athletes to raise funds to feed those in need during the pandemic.

WASHINGTON – Donald Trump, who defied political gravity with his extraordinary rise from reality star and businessman to the presidency, has fallen back to earth. “When Donald Trump loses there will never be a peaceful transition to power,” said Trump’s longtime lawyer and fixer-turned-critic Michael Cohen. And Trump squandered it,” he said, arguing that Trump would likely be seen as “an insurgent figure,” even though 25% of the American public “will always see Donald Trump as their Rambo and John Wayne figure combined." Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., has become a particular favorite with the president’s loyal supporters on the campaign trail, meaning the Trump name could endure. Many of Trump’s supporters see his influence continuing.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump's wild and unsupported claims of voter fraud have emerged as a high-stakes Republican loyalty test that illustrates the tug of war likely to define the future of the GOP whether he wins or loses the presidency. Larry Hogan, a second-term Republican who has not ruled out a 2024 White House bid. ... We've always been a noisy democracy.”Yet history suggests that Trump's rhetoric and actions go well beyond the normal trappings of democracy. With polls showing him lagging, Trump raised questions about the integrity of the voting system for much of the year. Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, a staunch Trump ally, highlighted the obvious downside of Trump's questions about the integrity of the voting process.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump's wild and unsupported claims of voter fraud have emerged as a high-stakes Republican loyalty test that illustrates the tug of war likely to define the future of the GOP whether he wins or loses the presidency. Larry Hogan, a second-term Republican who has not ruled out a 2024 White House bid. ... We've always been a noisy democracy.”Yet history suggests that Trump's rhetoric and actions go well beyond the normal trappings of democracy. With polls showing him lagging, Trump raised questions about the integrity of the voting system for much of the year. Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, a staunch Trump ally, highlighted the obvious downside of Trump's questions about the integrity of the voting process.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump stood before a crowd in a state that had once been firmly in his grasp. That moment Wednesday in Iowa, a state Trump won comfortably four years ago but is now seen as competitive, underscored a fundamental challenge facing his reelection campaign: It’s not 2016. The president’s attempts to recycle attacks he used on Hillary Clinton that year have so far failed to effectively damage Democrat Joe Biden. “The president’s message is clear: he has accomplished more for America in 47 months than Joe Biden has in 47 years,” said Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh. “This boils down to a choice between a political outsider who has shaken up Washington and a failed career politician.”The Trump campaign believes it has a viable, if narrow path to victory.

This year's campaign, other Republicans worry, may instead resemble 1980 or 2008: a close race until, at the end, it decidedly wasn’t. Reviewing data afterward, campaign aides worried as they started to see Trump’s support begin to slip. Trump’s campaign worries that it is losing support among suburban voters, women and older voters. The Democrat on Monday will make a trip to Ohio for his general election campaign, another state Trump won convincingly in 2016. Trump’s campaign believes the hearings could change the political narrative away from the virus and draw attention to Biden’s refusal to say whether he would expand or “pack” the Supreme Court.