WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House doctor said Saturday night that President Donald Trump is no longer at risk of transmitting the coronavirus, a diagnosis that comes as the president prepares to resume campaign rallies and other activities. In a memo released by the White House, Navy Cmdr. Dr. Sean Conley said Trump meets the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for safely discontinuing isolation and that by "currently recognized standards'" he is no longer consid

AP -- World shares were mostly lower on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump ordered a stop to talks on another round of aid for the economy.  US futures were up slightly after dropping on Trump's announcement the day before. Markets were down slightly in Germany, France and Japan but closed higher in Hong Kong. Hours after his tweets about ending the stimulus talks, Trump appeared to edge back a bit, calling on Congress to send him a "Stand Alone Bill for Stimulus Checks ($1,20

BETHESDA (AP) -- President Donald Trump staged a dramatic return to the White House Monday night after leaving the military hospital where he was receiving an unprecedented level of care for COVID-19. He immediately ignited a new controversy by declaring that despite his illness the nation should not fear the virus that has killed more than 210,000 Americans -- and then he entered the White House without a protective mask. Trump's message alarmed infectious disease experts and suggested th

SEATTLE (AP) -- Amazon has introduced new palm reading technology in a pair of Seattle stores and sees broader uses in places like stadiums and offices. Customers at the stores near Amazon's campus in Washington can flash a palm for entry and to buy goods. The company chose palm recognition, according to Dilip Kumar, vice president of Physical Retail & Technology, because it's more private than other biometric technology, and a person would be required to purposefully flash a palm at the

President Donald Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes the year he ran for president and in his first year in the White House, according to a report Sunday in The New York Times. Trump, who has fiercely guarded his tax filings and is the only president in modern times not to make them public, paid no federal income taxes in 10 of the past 15 years. The details of the tax filings complicate Trump's description of himself as a shrewd and patriotic businessman, revealing instead a series o

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court on Saturday, capping a dramatic reshaping of the federal judiciary that will resonate for a generation and that he hopes will provide a needed boost to his reelection effort. Barrett, a former clerk to the late Justice Antonin Scalia, said she was "truly humbled" by the nomination and quickly aligned herself with Scalia's conservative approach to the law, saying his "judicial philosop

TOKYO (AP) -- New Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed in talks Friday to work closely together by holding high-level meetings including summits, but did not discuss the possibility of a visit by Xi to Japan. "I told (Xi) that the stability of Japan-China relations is crucial, not only for the two countries but also for the region and for international society," Suga told reporters after their phone conversation.  His talks with

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Kept apart by a devastating pandemic and dispersed across the globe, world leaders convened electronically Tuesday for an unprecedented high-level meeting, where the UN chief exhorted them to unite and tackle the era's towering problems: the coronavirus, the "economic calamity" it unleashed and the risk of a new Cold War between the United States and China. As Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened the first virtual "general debate" of the UN Gener

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The UN's first virtual meeting of world leaders was set to start Tuesday with pre-recorded speeches from some of the planet's biggest powers, kept at home by the coronavirus pandemic that will likely be a dominant theme at their video gathering this year. Among those expected to speak Tuesday are US President Donald Trump and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, whose countries have reported the highest and second-highest coronavirus death tolls, respectively. Also on dec

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Saturday promised to put forth a female nominee in the coming week to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, pushing the Republican-controlled Senate to consider the pick without delay. Taking the stage at a North Carolina rally to chants of "Fill that seat," the president said he would nominate his selection despite Democrats' objections. And, after conducting what he joked was a "very sci

CALIFORNIA (AP) -- Apple introduced a cheaper version of its smartwatch, its latest attempt to broaden the appeal of its trend-setting products while many consumers are forced to scrimp during the coronavirus pandemic. The scaled-down Apple Watch follows on the heels of a budget iPhone the company released five months ago as the economy cratered and unemployment rates rose above the levels reached during the Great Recession more than a decade ago. Apple also took the wraps off a new high-end

TOKYO (AP) -- Yoshihide Suga was elected as the new head of Japan's ruling party on Monday, virtually guaranteeing him parliamentary election as the country's next prime minister. Suga received 377 votes in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party election to pick a successor to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who announced last month that he would resign due to health problems. The other two contenders received a combined 157 votes -- former Foreign minister Fumio Kishida got 89 and former Defense Mini

General Motors formed its second major electric vehicle partnership in less than a week, this time a $2 billion deal with startup Nikola. GM will take an 11 percent ownership stake in the Phoenix company and will engineer and build Nikola's Badger hydrogen fuel cell and electric pickup truck. The Badger is expected to be in production by the end of 2022. GM also will help with cost reductions for Nikola's other vehicles including heavy trucks, and the company will use GM's battery system and

Swedish staff have left the country's embassy in North Korea but the diplomatic mission in Pyongyang remains open and is being staffed by local employees, officials said Tuesday. "The main reason is that we have temporarily relocated our diplomats who are either on holiday or are part of a (scheduled) rotation," Foreign Ministry spokesman Anton Dahlquist said. "Let me stress that we maintain our diplomatic relations with North Korea." But Dahlquist added that "the situ

LONDON (AP) -- The Rolling Stones are threatening President Donald Trump with legal action for using their songs at his rallies despite cease-and-desist directives. The Stones said in a statement Sunday that their legal team is working with music rights organization BMI to stop use of their material in Trump‘s reelection campaign. "The BMI have notified the Trump campaign on behalf of the Stones that the unauthorized use of their songs will constitute a breach of its licensing

NEW YORK (AP)  -- There will be protest, and rainbow flags and performances -- it is LGBTQ Pride, after all. But what is normally an outpouring on the streets of New York City is going to look a little different this year, thanks to social distancing rules required by the coronavirus. With the city‘s massive Pride parade canceled, the performances Sunday will be virtual, the flags will be flying in emptier than normal spaces, and the protesters will be masked. The disruption

NEW YORK (AP) -- Protests erupting across the nation over the past week -- and law enforcement's response to them -- are threatening to upend efforts by health officials to track and contain the spread of coronavirus  just as those efforts were finally getting underway. Health experts need newly infected people to remember and recount everyone they've interacted with over several days in order to alert others who may have been exposed, and prevent them from spreading the disease fur

ROME (AP) -- The first day of June saw coronavirus restrictions ease from Asia to Europe on Monday, even as US protests against police brutality sparked fears of new outbreaks. The Colosseum opened its ancient doors in Rome, ferries restarted in Bangladesh, golfers played in Greece, students returned in Britain and Dutch bars and restaurants were free to welcome hungry, thirsty patrons. Countries around the Mediterranean Sea began tentatively to kickoff a summer season in which tourists c

ORLANDO (AP) -- Walt Disney World plans to reopen its restaurant and entertainment area later this month, though the theme parks and hotels will remain closed. Disney Springs vice president Matt Simon posted Thursday on the official Disney Parks Blog that the area will reopen May 20 with enhanced safety measures to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Those measures include increased cleaning procedures, the use of appropriate face coverings by both cast members and guests, limited-co

ATLANTA (AP) -- As the global death toll from the coronavirus surpassed 200,000 on Saturday, countries took cautious steps toward easing some lockdowns, while fears of infection made even some pandemic-wounded businesses reluctant to reopen. The states of Georgia, Oklahoma and Alaska started loosening restrictions on businesses despite warnings from experts that such steps might be coming too soon. Some owners said they weren’t yet ready to reopen or were doing so only on a limited basis