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In this image made from aerial video shows numerous stranded whales along the coastline Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020, near the remote west coast town of Strahan on the island state of Tasmania, Australia. More pilot whales were found stranded on an Australian coast Wednesday, raising the estimated total to almost 500 in the largest mass stranding ever recorded in the country. (Australian Broadcast Corporation via AP)

Nearly 500 pilot whales stranded in Australia; 380 dead

Sep. 23, 2020 3:31 AM EDT

HOBART, Australia (AP) — More pilot whales were found stranded in Australia on Wednesday, raising the estimated total to nearly 500, including 380 that have died, in the largest mass stranding ever recorded in the country. Authorities had already been working to rescue survivors among an estimated 270...

Today in History

Sep. 23, 2020 12:00 AM EDT

Today in History Today is Wednesday, Sept. 23, the 267th day of 2020. There are 99 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Sept. 23, 1952, Sen. Richard M. Nixon, R-Calif., salvaged his vice-presidential nomination by appearing on television from Los Angeles to refute allegations of...

FILE - In this May 28, 2020, file photo, a woman passes a fence outside Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery adorned with tributes to victims of COVID-19 in New York. The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus topped 200,000 Tuesday, Sept. 22, a figure unimaginable eight months ago when the scourge first reached the world’s richest nation with its sparkling laboratories, top-flight scientists and towering stockpiles of medicines and emergency supplies. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

'Unfathomable': US death toll from coronavirus hits 200,000

Sep. 22, 2020 9:16 PM EDT

The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus topped 200,000 Tuesday, by far the highest in the world, hitting the once-unimaginable threshold six weeks before an election that is certain to be a referendum in part on President Donald Trump's handling of the crisis. “It is completely unfathomable that...

FILE - In this March 9, 2020, file photo, Tesla and SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition in Washington. Tesla is expected to announce a breakthrough in electric vehicle battery chemistry on Tuesday Sept. 22 that could bring down the cost of the vehicles and increase their range and durability. At an event called “battery day,” Musk likely will show off the new technology, which could increase the traveling range per charge and durability of its batteries.(AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Tesla CEO Elon Musk's next big bet rides on better batteries

Sep. 22, 2020 8:51 PM EDT

SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — Tesla is working on new battery technology that CEO Elon Musk says will enable the company within the next three years to make sleeker, more affordable cars that can travel dramatically longer distances on a single charge. But the battery breakthroughs that Musk unveiled Tuesday at...

A Russian medical worker adminsters a shot of Russia's experimental Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020. Russian health authorities have launched advanced trials of the vaccine among 40,000 volunteers, a randomized, placebo-controlled study. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr)

What a gift: Russia offers UN staff free virus vaccines

Sep. 22, 2020 5:32 PM EDT

MOSCOW (AP) — What do you do when Vladimir Putin offers you Russia’s new coronavirus vaccine, for free? United Nations staff in New York and around the world are now facing that choice, after the Russian president offered Tuesday to provide them the Sputnik-V vaccine in a speech to this...

The Mayflower II, a replica of the original Mayflower ship that brought the Pilgrims to America 400 year ago, is docked in Plymouth, Mass., days after returning home following extensive renovations, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2020. A disease outbreak that wiped out large numbers of the Native inhabitants of what is now New England gave the Pilgrims a beachhead in the

Some see irony in virus' impact on Mayflower commemoration

Sep. 22, 2020 3:52 PM EDT

The year 2020 was supposed to be a big one for the Pilgrims. Dozens of events — from art exhibits and festivals to lectures and a maritime regatta featuring the Mayflower II, a full-scale replica refitted over the past three years at a cost of more than $11 million — were planned to mark the 400th...

FILE - In this Monday Dec. 10, 2018 file photo, guests attend the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony in Oslo Town Hall, Oslo. Dr. Denis Mukwege from Congo and Nadia Murad from Iraq will jointly receive the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict. The award ceremony for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize, traditionally held at the Oslo city hall on Dec. 10, will instead be held in scaled-down form at the city’s university because of the coronavirus outbreak. (Berit Roald/NTB Scanpix via AP, File)

Virus scales down December Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony

Sep. 22, 2020 9:58 AM EDT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The award ceremony for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize, traditionally held at the Oslo city hall on Dec. 10, will instead be held in scaled-down form at the city’s university because of the coronavirus outbreak. “It is a strange and challenging year in many ways. We...

Members of a rescue crew stand with a whale on a sand bar near Strahan, Australia, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020. Around one third of an estimated 270 pilot whales that became stranded on Australia's island state of Tasmania had died as rescuers managed to return 25 to the sea in an ongoing operation. (Brodie Weeding/Pool Photo via AP)

Australian rescuers save 25 of 270 stranded whales so far

Sep. 22, 2020 5:15 AM EDT

HOBART, Australia (AP) — Around one third of an estimated 270 pilot whales that became stranded on Australia’s island state of Tasmania have died, with rescuers managing to return 25 to the sea in an ongoing operation, officials said Tuesday. The whales were discovered Monday on a beach and two sand...

AP Illustration/Peter Hamlin;

Does the coronavirus spread easily among children?

Sep. 22, 2020 3:07 AM EDT

Does the coronavirus spread easily among children? It appears the virus can spread among children and teens, but how easily may vary by age. Research is still underway, but children under age 10 seem to be less likely than older kids to transmit the virus to other children and adults. Children generally...

A child takes a pencil during a class conducted by Veena Gupta on a sidewalk in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020. Veena Gupta and her husband are conducting free classes for underprivileged children on a sidewalk in New Delhi. As most schools in India remain shut since late March when the country imposed a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19, many switched to digital learning and taking classes online. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Indian couple run street-side classes for poor students

Sep. 21, 2020 8:30 PM EDT

NEW DELHI (AP) — On a quiet road in India's capital, tucked away on a wide, red-bricked sidewalk, kids set adrift by the country's COVID-19 lockdown are being tutored. The children, ages 4 to 14, carry book bags more than 2 kilometers (a mile) from their thatched-roof huts on the banks of the Yamuna River...

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