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A prospective juror who once lived in the neighborhood where George Floyd was arrested told the attorney for an ex-officer charged in Floyd’s death that he had a personal reason for wanting to serve on the jury. He says he often wonders why police aren't held accountable in the deaths of Black men, so “maybe I'll be in the room to know why.” But the man, referred to only as Juror No. 76, wasn't chosen for the panel because Derek Chauvin's defense attorney used one of his strikes to keep him off.  It was an illustration of how difficult it can be for people who say they have personal experience with police misconduct to make it onto juries that hold them accountable.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Without opposition, the Senate confirmed veteran diplomat William Burns as CIA director on Thursday, giving him control of the nation's premier spy agency as the U.S. government confronts threats from China, Russia, Iran and elsewhere. The approval,…

PARIS (AP) — The French government backed off Thursday from ordering a tough lockdown for Paris and several other regions despite an increasingly alarming situation at hospitals with a rise in the numbers of COVID-19 patients. Instead, the prime minister…

The NFL will nearly double its media revenue to more than $10 billion a season with new rights agreements announced Thursday, including a deal with Amazon Prime Video that gives the streaming service exclusive rights to “Thursday Night Football” beginning in 2022. The league took in $5.9 billion a year in its current contracts. Amazon has partnered with the league to stream Thursday night games since 2017, but it will take over the entire package from Fox. Games will continue to air on CBS, Fox, NBC and ESPN, while ABC will have a limited schedule of games as well as returning to the Super Bowl rotation (two games) for the first time since the 2005 season.

Police say “nothing is off the table” in their investigation of the deadly shootings at two Atlanta massage parlors, including whether the slayings were a hate crime. Those attacks and a third one near the suburban town of Woodstock killed eight people. The shootings prompted President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to change their plans for a previously scheduled trip to Atlanta. The pair postponed a political event in favor of meeting Friday with Asian American community leaders. A 21-year-old white man, Robert Aaron Long, is charged with murder in the killings. Six of the victims were women of Asian descent.

President Joe Biden is dispatching Sen. Chris Coons to Ethiopia to meet with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to express the administration’s “grave concerns” about the growing humanitarian crisis and human rights abuses in the Tigray region and the risk of broader instability in the Horn of Africa. National security adviser Jake Sullivan says Coons will also discuss the situation with African Union leaders. Coons, a Democrat, will be heading to Ethiopia as a long-running conflict in the Tigray intensifies and the Biden administration steps up pressure on Ahmed to withdraw troops from the northern region amid growing reports of war crimes.

COLOGNE, Germany (AP) — A report commissioned by Germany’s Cologne archdiocese on church officials’ handling of past cases of sexual abuse found 75 cases in which high-ranking officials neglected their duties. The findings on Thursday prompted the archbishop of Hamburg…

Kevin Harvick returns to Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend celebrating the 20th anniversary of his first Cup win. That victory in 2001 came in just his third Cup start and during the whirlwind that followed the death of Dale Earnhardt. Harvick was moved into Earnhardt's seat to keep the car on track and the Atlanta victory was an emotional boost for the reeling team. His memories of that day are jumbled and Harvick has said that he wishes he recognized the significance of the win 20 years ago. 

National scoring leader Max Abmas at Oral Roberts headlines a group of players at mid-major programs capable of shaking up the NCAA Tournament bracket. Abmas is averaging 24 points per game for the Golden Eagles in the program's first NCAA appearance since 2008. They face Ohio State in the first round of the tournament. The list includes guards like UNC Greensboro's Isaiah Miller and UC Santa Barbara's JaQuori McLaughlin. There are also big men poised to make an impact in Utah State 7-footer Neemias Queta and Morehead State freshman Johni Broome.

ROME (AP) — Italy inaugurated a living monument to its COVID-19 dead Thursday as it marked the anniversary of one of the most haunting moments of the pandemic: when Bergamo’s death toll reached such heights that an army convoy had…

It’s showtime! AMC Theatres says it will have 98% of its U.S. movie theaters open on Friday as a bunch of theaters reopen in California. Even more theaters are expected to open by March 26. AMC said that California is expected to open 52 of its 54 locations by Monday. The company is preparing to resume operations at the rest of its California locations once the proper local approvals are in place. AMC’s announcement is welcomed by movie fans not only because more of them will get to return to AMC’s reclining seats and stadium style format, but because it means the company has hopefully put the worst behind it. 

The U.S. Justice Department’s to-do list is always intense. And now two very different legal controversies -- insurrection cases and tribal lands disputes -- are threatening to swamp a department already flooded with pandemic-delayed cases. Together, the unprecedented investigation into the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection and court decisions giving the federal government jurisdiction over crimes on Native American lands have put enormous pressure on the Justice Department. It's created an immediate challenge for new Attorney General Merrick Garland. And defendants could be waiting a long time - some of them behind bars - for their day in court. 

A four-story, 50-ton marble tablet engraved with the text of the First Amendment will find a new home in Philadelphia now that the Newseum in Washington has closed. The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia will erect the tablet in an atrium overlooking Independence Hall. That's where both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were adopted. It’s a gift from the Freedom Forum, and a dedication ceremony is planned for later this year. The Freedom Forum was the creator of the Newseum. The Newseum was sold to Johns Hopkins University and closed in 2019. 

The Senate has confirmed California Attorney General Xavier Becerra as President Joe Biden's health secretary. Becerra fills a key position in the administration’s coronavirus response and its ambitious push to lower drug costs, expand insurance coverage, and eliminate racial disparities in medical care. Thursday's largely party-line vote was 50-49. The 63-year-old Becerra is the first Latino to head the Health and Human Services Department. The core components of the $1.4 trillion department are the boots on the ground of the coronavirus response, from the Food and Drug Administration's review of vaccines to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's guidance for reopening schools. He'll also be the point man on Biden’s sweeping health care agenda.

Airlines and others in the travel industry are throwing their support behind so-called vaccine passports to boost pandemic-depressed travel, and authorities in Europe could embrace the idea quickly enough for the peak summer vacation season. Technology companies and travel-related trade…

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — As Bosnia faces soaring coronavirus infections, pressure has grown on hospitals in the capital of Sarajevo that have struggled with rising numbers of COVID-19 patients. The Abdulah Nakas General Hospital in Sarajevo on Thursday morning had…

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The process of forming a new Dutch governing coalition began Thursday, a day after Prime Minister Mark Rutte's conservative party powered to a fourth consecutive victory in a vote held during a nationwide lockdown and…