MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Rows of businesses stood shuttered inside a sprawling complex of Somali businesses on a recent afternoon. Karmel Mall in south Minneapolis contains more than a hundred small businesses in suites offering everything from clothing and food to insurance and accounting services. On Thursday, the noisy hallways inside lay quiet, save for occasional chatter between neighboring vendors. The smell of fried food still wafted from the bakeries, the central heating hummed and the of...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Thom Tillis isn't holding back during his final year in Washington. “I'm sick of stupid,” the two-term Republican from North Carolina said from the Senate floor recently as he derided President Donald Trump's advisers for stoking a potential U. S. military takeover in Greenland. It was just one of several moments during the opening weeks of 2026 when Tillis, who isn't seeking reelection, seemed unconstrained by the anxieties that weigh down many of his GOP who are...

PESCADERO, Calif. (AP) — Every winter about 10,000 elephant seals make their way to California's Año Nuevo State Park to fight, mate and give birth. The spectacle runs from mid-December through March, drawing wildlife watchers eager for a glimpse of the largest seals on the planet. During what park docent Laura Stern called “pupping season,” bull seals — some reaching up to 16 feet (4. 9 meters) in length and weighing up to 2. 5 tons — engage in bloody battles for breeding access to...