More countries are shifting toward a return to normal and learning to live with the virus. Safe, effective vaccines have been developed and there's better understanding of how to treat people sickened by the virus.

Two years after the pandemic began, questions remain about the coronavirus. But experts know a lot more about how to keep it under control.

Pressure is building on the Biden administration to begin unwinding sanctions on Venezuela after President Nicolas Maduro freed two American prisoners and promised to resume negotiations with his opponents.

Maduro's goodwill gesture came during a weekend trip to Caracas by senior White House and State Department officials that caught off guard Maduro's friends and foes alike.

German fashion brand Hugo Boss and U.S. hotel chain Hilton are the latest brands to pause their Russian businesses over the Ukraine invasion.

Hugo Boss said Thursday that it has temporarily closed its stores and suspended its own retail and e-commerce business activities in Russia. The company said it will give all affected employees “financial and operational support.”

Lionel Messi stood frozen, stunned in the Santiago Bernabéu.

His right hand was on his hip. His left hand was holding his head. His eyes were closed.

An airstrike on a hospital in the port city of Mariupol killed three people, including a child, the city council said Thursday, as Russian forces intensified their siege of Ukrainian cities.

The attack in the southern port city wounded women waiting to give birth and doctors and buried children in the rubble. Bombs also fell on two hospitals in another city west of the capital.

The foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine have begun meeting at a Turkish Mediterranean resort for the first high-level talks between the two countries since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The meeting between Russia's Sergey Lavrov and Dmotry Kuleba of Ukraine is taking place on the sidelines of a diplomacy forum near the city of Antalya on Thursday. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu is also participating in the meeting.

Two Americans imprisoned in Japan for helping former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn avoid trial and escape to Lebanon are hoping to serve the rest of their time in the U.S.

The Boston-based attorney for Michael Taylor and his son Peter Taylor, Paul Kelly, said Thursday that the elder man was suffering from serious back pain and frostbite.

The hissing of a water hose spraying the ground reverberates around the walls of the dimly lit Empire Cinema in Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli. From the floor of a paint-chipped room that was once a ticket office, a man sorts through rusty bolts and screws, while in the adjacent foyer, a woman sweeps dust off a mirror.

The person leading the restoration efforts is 35-year-old actor and director Kassem Istanbouli, known for his theater work throughout Lebanon.

A new book by the million-selling children's author and visual artist Oliver Jeffers is a blend of art and science and adventure.

Jeffers' "Meanwhile Back on Earth" will be published Oct. 4, according to Philomel Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers. The book was inspired by an art installation called "Our Place in Space," a sculpture trail and scale model of the solar system the Irish author worked on with the astrophysicist Professor Stephen Smartt among others. It opens in the United Kingdom this spring.

Paris Saint-Germain expects Kylian Mbappé to play against Real Madrid in the second leg of the round of 16 of the Champions League on Wednesday, while the Spanish powerhouse still waits on whether Toni Kroos will recover in time to make it to the decisive match.

Mbappé had been listed as doubtful after hurting his left foot in training on Monday, but he practiced normally with the rest of the squad in the team's last training session on Tuesday.