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Puerto Rico still stumbles in the dark a month after ‘Maria’

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – One man climbs 24 flights of stairs several times a day alongside dormant elevators. Street vendors hawk plastic washboards for $20. And families outstretch their han...

Spain set to strip Catalonia of powers over independence bid

BARCELONA, Spain – The crisis over Catalonia’s quest for independence escalated Thursday, as Spain’s central government prepared the unprecedented step of stripping the wealthy region of som...

Senate backs GOP budget in step forward for tax revamp

WASHINGTON – Republicans on Thursday muscled a $4 trillion budget through the Senate in a major step forward for President Donald Trump’s ambitious promise of “massive tax cuts and reform.” ...

Taliban attacks kill 58, nearly wipe out Afghan army camp

KABUL, Afghanistan – The Taliban have killed at least 58 Afghan security forces in a wave of attacks across the country overnight, including an assault that nearly wiped out an army camp in ...

Backyard chicken trend causes spike in infections, 1 fatal

DES MOINES, Iowa – Luke Gabriele was a healthy 14-year-old football player in Pennsylvania when he began to feel soreness in his chest that grew increasingly painful. After his breathing bec...

California fires cause $1B in damage, burn 7,000 buildings

SAN FRANCISCO – The wildfires that have devastated Northern California this month caused at least $1 billion in damage to insured property, officials said Thursday, as authorities increased ...

Some flowers create blue halo to say hello to foraging bees

NEW YORK – Some flowers have found a nifty way to get the blues. They create a blue halo, apparently to attract the bees they need for pollination, scientists reported Wednesday. ...

Utah man will be tried on murder charge in girl’s suicide

SALT LAKE CITY – A judge has ruled an 18-year-old Utah man accused of encouraging a teen friend to hang herself and filming it because he was fascinated with death should stand trial on a mu...

Al-Qaida set to gain as Islamic State disintegrates

BEIRUT – Over several nights in September, some 10,000 men, women and children fled areas under Islamic State control, hurrying through fields in northern Syria and risking fire from governm...

Ultra-personal therapy: Gene tumor boards guide cancer care

SAN DIEGO – Doctors were just guessing a decade ago when they gave Alison Cairnes’ husband a new drug they hoped would shrink his lung tumors. Now she takes it, but the choice was no guesswo...

House, Senate intel committees receive briefing from Google

WASHINGTON – Google has briefed the House and Senate intelligence committees ahead of two Nov. 1 hearings that will examine Russian efforts to influence U.S. elections through social media. ...

Harry Potter exhibit marks 20th anniversary of first book

LONDON – Harry Potter fans owe a debt of gratitude to Alice Newton. Alice was 8 years old when her father, a Bloomsbury Publishing executive, brought home a new manuscript for her...