NEW YORK (AP) — Before a late night rehearsal in December, Terrence Floyd couldn’t remember the last time he squatted on a drum throne, sticks in hand and ready to perform.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Judiciary Committee voted Monday to advance the nomination of Merrick Garland, President Joe Biden’s nominee for attorney general.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden plans a virtual meeting Monday with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador — a chance for the pair to talk more fully about migration, confronting the coronavirus and cooperating on economic and national security issues.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — With the U.S. vaccination drive picking up speed and a third formula on the way, states eager to reopen for business are easing coronavirus restrictions despite warnings from health experts that the outbreak is far from over and that moving too quickly could prolong …

LONDON (AP) — British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Monday that he understood the “conundrum” faced by developing countries as they wait for vital supplies of coronavirus vaccine.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats considered reshaping parts of the House-passed COVID-19 relief bill on Monday, as party leaders hoping to salvage a minimum wage increase abandoned one proposal aimed at pressuring big companies to boost workers' pay.

GENEVA (AP) — A senior World Health Organization official said Monday it was “premature” and “unrealistic” to think the pandemic might be stopped by the end of the year, but that the recent arrival of effective vaccines could at least help dramatically reduce hospitalizations and death.

CHICAGO (AP) — Thousands of Chicago Public Schools students returned to school on Monday morning, the second — and largest — wave of students to go back to classrooms after almost a year of remote learning due to the coronavirus pandemic.

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — Populist President Nayib Bukele appeared Monday to have won control of El Salvador’s unicameral congress, ending a two-year standoff with legislators of the old parties that have dominated politics in the Central American country since the end of the 1980-199…

MOSCOW (AP) — Two top U.N. human rights experts urged an international probe into the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and called Monday for his immediate release from prison.

ATLANTA (AP) — After Georgia's attorney general refused to reassign two high-profile cases involving allegations of excessive force against Atlanta police officers, including the killing of Rayshard Brooks, the district attorney is asking the court to decide who should handle the prosecutions.

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Hard-hit Slovakia has signed a deal to acquire 2 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine.

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Political tensions in Armenia heightened Monday, with supporters of the embattled prime minister and the opposition each holding massive rallies at separate sites in the capital.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — It’s cute, cuddled, red-haired, and critically endangered — and the second Sumatran orangutan born in two years at the zoo in New Orleans.

CAIRO (AP) — The United Nations on Monday launched an appeal for countries to fund its response to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, where more than six years of war has created the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.

Stocks are rising across the board on Wall Street as traders welcomed a move lower in long-term interest rates in the bond market. Investors were also watching Washington as a big economic stimulus bill moved to the Senate.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s public schools could get $6.6 billion from the state Legislature if they return to in-person instruction by the end of March, according to a new agreement announced Monday between Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state’s legislative leaders.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. manufacturing expanded in February at the fastest pace three years with the arrival of a surge in new orders.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — About 300 student activists rallied in Bangladesh’s capital on Monday to denounce the death in prison of a writer and commentator who was arrested last year on charges of violating a sweeping digital security law that critics say chokes freedom of expression.

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Police in Myanmar’s biggest city fired tear gas Monday at defiant crowds who returned to the streets to protest last month's coup, despite reports that security forces had killed at least 18 people a day earlier.

BOSTON (AP) — An American father and son wanted by Japan for aiding former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn escape from the country in a box were handed over to Japanese custody Monday, ending their months-long battle to stay in the U.S.

PARIS (AP) — In an industrial neighborhood on the outskirts of Bangladesh’s largest city lies a factory with gleaming new equipment imported from Germany, its immaculate hallways lined with hermetically sealed rooms. It is operating at just a quarter of its capacity.

Breaking from a tradition of being led by former contestants, the Scripps National Spelling Bee has hired a nonprofit leader with no history in the competition as its executive director, signaling a new era for the nearly century-old showcase for the top spellers in the English language.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The next mayor of St. Louis will face the same overwhelming challenge that has haunted the current mayor and many of her predecessors: Violent crime is rampant and efforts to address it have failed.

The largest and oldest power cooperative in Texas is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing last month's winter storm that left millions without power.

PARIS (AP) — A Paris court found French former President Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of corruption and influence peddling on Monday and sentenced him to a year in prison. He can ask to serve that time at home and also plans to appeal.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China is lagging in its coronavirus vaccination rollout because it has the disease largely under control, but plans to inoculate 40% of its population by June, Chinese health experts said Monday.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany's Social Democrats, traditionally the country's main center-left party, on Monday unveiled an election program that seeks higher taxes for top earners and a higher minimum wage while also emphasizing climate protection.

LONDON (AP) — Prince Philip was transferred Monday to a specialized London heart hospital to undergo testing and observation for a pre-existing heart condition as he continues to be treated for an unspecified infection, Buckingham Palace said.

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — Ivory Coast has begun giving shots to inoculate against COVID-19 with vaccines delivered last week by the global COVAX initiative, which was created to ensure that low- and middle-income countries have fair access to doses.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Rita Fentress was worried she might get lost as she traveled down the unfamiliar forested, one-lane road in rural Tennessee in search of a coronavirus vaccine. Then the trees cleared and the Hickman County Agricultural Pavilion appeared.

LONDON (AP) — Online review platform Trustpilot said Monday it plans to sell shares in London, in a stock offering that helps shore up the city's status as a financial hub and destination for tech companies after Brexit.

GENEVA (AP) — Tens of thousands of civilians in Syria were “arbitrarily detained" in enforced disappearances during the country's 10-year conflict, a U.N. commission said in a report released Monday. The fate of many remains unknown to this day.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide whether it is unconstitutional to exclude people living in Puerto Rico from Supplemental Social Security Income.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — On the morning of Feb. 10, a cyclist chugged his way up the curves of Rio de Janeiro’s most popular sport cycling road. A familiar scent wafted in the air.

SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — Spending on U.S. construction projects rose 1.7% in January as new home building continues to lift the sector.

DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government is investigating complaints of engine compartment fires in nearly 1.9 million Toyota RAV4 small SUVs.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Police in Sri Lanka said Monday they have arrested two people in connection with the death of a 9-year-old girl who was repeatedly beaten during a ritual they believed would drive away an evil spirit.