The White House says President Joe Biden is being briefed daily on developments in Jerusalem and Gaza, and has directed his team to engage intensively with senior Israeli and Palestinian officials as well as leaders throughout the Middle East. Press secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday that Biden's team is communicating a clear and consistent message in support of de escalation. ``That is our primary focus,'' she said, adding that Biden supports Israel's ``legitimate right to defend itself and its people'' and at the same time condemns ongoing ``rocket attacks by Hamas and other terrorist grou

A man in Austria has been convicted of intentionally infecting his ex-wife with the coronavirus by coughing at her. A spokesman for the Linz regional court said Tuesday that the 63-year-old was given a nine-month sentence, suspended for three years. Judges had convicted the man Monday of attempted serious bodily harm for giving the victim COVID-19 while they were still living in the same house pending the finalization of their divorce last November. The defendant had coughed at the 70-year-old woman after learning that he had tested positive for COVID-19. He was also convicted of threatening

Colorado authorities are investigating why a gunman opened fire at a weekend birthday party, killing his girlfriend and five other adults inside a house trailer before killing himself. Police say the shooting happened just after midnight on Sunday in Colorado Springs. The Colorado Spings Gazette reported that oficers arrived at a home trailer to find six people dead and a man with serious injuries who died later at a hospital. Police say the suspected shooter was the boyfriend of a female victim at the party attended by friends, family and children. He walked inside and opened fire before sho

Mali's Ministry of Health says a Malian woman has given birth to nine babies after only expecting seven. It appeared to be the first time on record that a woman gave birth to nine surviving babies at once. The 25-year-old mother gave birth by cesarean section on Tuesday in Morocco. Mali's health minister confirmed that the five girls, four boys and the mother are all doing well. Associated Press reporters saw the babies in incubators in the neonatal ward, some wiggling their hands and feet. The Guinness Book of World Records said in an email to The AP that its current record for most living b

A farmer in Belgium could face criminal charges if he doesn't put a stone back in its original place. A farmer in Belgium accidentally re-drew the country's border with France. France and Belgium realized their border had been moved after a local history buff who went for a walk in the woods discovered one of the stones marking the limit had been moved about two metres. It turns out a local farmer moved the stone inside French territory.Reportedly he was annoyed it was in his tractor's path.

The White House says it is making plans to share up to 60 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. But press secretary Jen Psaki says none of the doses are currently ready, and will be doled out based on need when they are. Psaki says the U.S. is waiting for approval from the Food and Drug Administration to share 10 million doses ``in the coming weeks.'' The remaining 50 million doses are still in production and likely won't be subject to approval until May and June. Psaki says the White House, its COVID-19 advisers and the State Department will be assessing a range of reques

Daunte Wright was remembered at his funeral Thursday as a dedicated father whose life was ended too soon at the hands of police. Civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton delivered a thundering eulogy, promising that Black people will never ``shut up and suffer,'' and that changes to federal law are coming. Wright was shot by police during a traffic stop in suburban Minneapolis during the murder trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin for killing George Floyd. He was convicted two days ago. Hundreds of people packed into Shiloh Temple International Ministries to remember the 2

Police say a powerful bomb has exploded in the parking area of a luxury hotel in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, killing at least four people and wounding at least nine others. It was unclear who was behind the bombing Wednesday at Serena Hotel. Police said rescuers transported the victims to nearby hospitals. Footage on Pakistan news channels showed burning cars. Southwestern Baluchistan province is the scene of a long-running insurgency by secessionist groups like the Baluchistan Liberation Front and the Baluchistan Liberation Army. They have for decades staged attacks to press t

More than 3,000 National Guard soldiers, along with police officers, sheriffs deputies and other law enforcement personnel have flooded Minneapolis in the wake of a verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former police officer charged with murder in the death last year of George Floyd. The jury on Tuesday found Chauvin guilty on all charges: second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. But in the city that has come to epitomize America's debate over police killings, there remain places where Minneapolis can feel almost like a police state. Concret