Family gatherings
Hidilyn Diaz of Philippines celebrates on the podium after winning the gold medal in the women's 55kg weightlifting event, at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Monday, July 26, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Family reunion awaits Philippines' 1st Olympic champion

By James Ellingworth Jul. 26, 2021 11:18 PM EDT

FILE - In this Jan. 25, 2019, file photo, Australia's head coach Graham Arnold, right, looks at Australia's defender Ryan Grant during the AFC Asian Cup quarterfinal soccer match between United Arab Emirates and Australia at Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. After 18 months without a game, the gathering of Australian players in Dubai ahead of next month's World Cup qualifiers feels like a family reunion for head coach Graham Arnold.(AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)
After 18 months, Socceroos assemble for World Cup qualifiers

By John Pye May. 25, 2021 03:33 AM EDT

Workmen in Casablanca, Morocco, Tuesday, April 6, 2021. Moroccan authorities have announced the discovery of a new local variant of the coronavirus and extended an overnight curfew as infections rise again. (AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar)
Morocco imposes Ramadan curfew, despite vaccine success

By Tarik El Barakah Apr. 07, 2021 01:32 PM EDT

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men and children burn leavened items in final preparation for the Passover holiday in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish town of Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, March 26, 2021. Jews are forbidden to eat leavened foodstuffs during the Passover holiday that celebrates the biblical story of the Israelites' escape from slavery and exodus from Egypt. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Israelis gather for Passover, celebrating freedom from virus

By Ilan Ben Zion Mar. 27, 2021 02:43 AM EDT

FILE - In this Wednesday, March 20, 2019 file photo, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, center, arrives to a European People's Party's meeting at the European Parliament in Brussels. Hungary's governing party pulled out of its conservative group in the European Union's legislature on Wednesday, March 3, 2021, following years of conflict over the rule of law and European values. In a letter Wednesday to Manfred Weber, chairman of the EPP Group in the European Parliament, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced Fidesz's decision to leave the group. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)
Hungary pulls its ruling party out of EU's conservatives

By Justin Spike Mar. 03, 2021 08:45 AM EST

FILE — In this Feb. 14, 2020 file photo, florists prepare bouquets as people wait in a long line to enter the New York City Marriage Bureau, on Valentine's Day. New York City restaurants will be able to reopen for indoor dining at one-quarter capacity by Valentine's Day and big weddings can return statewide in March if infection rates continue to drop, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday, Jan. 29, 2021. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
NY mandates dance 'zones,' distancing when weddings resume

Feb. 27, 2021 01:33 PM EST

Love During Lockdown: Louisianians fell in love in many ways

By Victoria Dodge, Lafayette Daily Advertiser Feb. 20, 2021 12:01 AM EST
LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) — Despite guidelines involving distance, minimal interaction with others and keeping a close inner circle these past 11 months, love has...

A man and a child put on their face mask to help curb the spread of the coronavirus after taken a souvenir photo near a Year of the Ox statue on display at the capital city's popular shopping mall during the first day of the Lunar New Year in Beijing, Friday, Feb. 12, 2021. Festivities for the holiday, normally East Asia's busiest tourism season, are muted after China, Vietnam, Taiwan and other governments tightened travel curbs and urged the public to avoid big gatherings following renewed virus outbreaks. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
China holiday train travel down nearly 70% amid restrictions

Feb. 12, 2021 10:58 PM EST

Tourists party on a yacht in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021. Since becoming one of the world's first destinations to open up for tourism, Dubai has promoted itself as the ideal pandemic vacation spot. With peak tourism season in full swing, coronavirus infections are surging to unprecedented heights, with daily case counts nearly tripling in the past month, but in the face of a growing economic crisis, the city won't lock down and can't afford to stand still. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)
Denmark suspends Dubai flights amid doubts over virus tests

By Jan M. Olsen Jan. 22, 2021 09:04 AM EST

Utah Jazz's Derrick Favors (15) defens Brooklyn Nets' Kyrie Irving (11) during the second half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
NBA fines Irving $50,000 for health, safety violations

By Brian Mahoney Jan. 15, 2021 11:31 AM EST

Registered nurse Merri Lynn Anderson talks to her patient with a curtain drawn between them to give the patient privacy in a COVID-19 unit at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021. California health authorities reported Thursday a record two-day total of 1,042 coronavirus deaths as many hospitals strain under unprecedented caseloads. The state's hospitals are trying to prepare for the possibility that they may have to ration care for lack of staff and beds — and hoping they don't have to make that choice. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
U.S. tops 4,000 daily deaths from coronavirus for 1st time

By Eugene Garcia, Lisa Marie Pane And Thalia Beaty Jan. 08, 2021 11:23 AM EST

Dr. Lynn Ridgeway, a pulmonologist, pulls up his sleeve as he receives one of the first Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines given to front line workers at Helen Keller Hospital on Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020, in Sheffield, Ala. [Dan Busey /The TimesDaily via AP)
Alabama death toll from COVID-10 climbs above 4,670

Dec. 24, 2020 01:26 PM EST

Minnesota head coach Richard Pitino signals to his team as they play North Dakota in an NCAA college basketball game Friday, Dec. 4, 2020, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)
Isolation play: College teams fend off holiday loneliness

By Dave Campbell Dec. 24, 2020 12:22 PM EST

Madame Geltzenlichter Raymonde receives a visit from her son and his wife at a nursing home in Kaysesberg, eastern France, Monday Dec. 21, 2020. France is springing elderly residents from care homes for the holiday season. The aim is to alleviate some of the mental suffering and solitude of the coronavirus pandemic by letting care-home residents spend time with family members over Christmas and New Year's. But the 20-day window of opportunity is creating a dilemma for some families. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
In France, a pandemic dilemma over holiday rights for elders

By John Leicester Dec. 23, 2020 04:28 AM EST

State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs, center, stresses the need for Mississippi's residents to receive the COVID vaccination when offered, as Mississippi State Medical Association executive director Dr. Claude Brunson, left, and Dr. Timothy Quinn, owner of Quinn Health Care, listen, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020, in Ridgeland, Miss. Physicians and officers with the Mississippi State Medical Association received the first round of COVID vaccinations, in a effort to encourage residents to get vaccinated. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
Mississippi governor expands mask mandate to most counties

By Leah Willingham Dec. 22, 2020 01:57 PM EST

A man wearing a Santa Claus costume checks his mobile phone as he waits to pose for pictures at a mall in Rome, Friday, Dec. 18, 2020. The health ministry reported another 18,236 confirmed cases Thursday, in line with recent days. The government is weighing whether to impose a tighter lockdown over Christmas to prevent gatherings and the ensuing surge in new cases. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Italy imposes partial lockdown for Christmas holiday

By Colleen Barry Dec. 18, 2020 05:02 PM EST

Bob Schwartz, the director of marketing of the Trapp Family Lodge poses outside the lodge on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020 in Stowe, Vt. Quarantine rules imposed in an attempt to stop the spread of novel coronavirus are affecting business during the normally busy holiday season. He says the rules are frustrating but be understands the need for them. He's looking forward to a time when the pandemic is over. (AP Photo/Wilson Ring)
Winter travel raises more fears of viral spread

By David Koenig And Dee-Ann Durbin Dec. 18, 2020 06:00 AM EST

FILE - In this Dec.12 2020 file photo, people wait by a carousel set up for Christmas while the Paris town hall gets green lightings to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the international pact aimed at curbing global warming. The French Prime Minister has suggested that parents concerned about the welfare of vulnerable relatives take their kids out of school from Thursday, to begin a eight-day period of protective confinement before Christmas family gatherings. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly, File)
French PM suggests that kids be taken out of school early

Dec. 15, 2020 07:46 AM EST

FILE - In this Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2020, file photo, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine looks on during a news conference at Toledo Express Airport in Swanton, Ohio. On Thursday, Dec. 3, 2020, DeWine announced that Ohio will receive close to 100,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine by mid-December. The brief but promising details provided the first look at what vaccine distribution will look like in the state as the number of cases, deaths and hospitalizations continue to rise at staggering rates. (J.D. Pooley/Sentinel-Tribune via AP, File)
Ohio governor extends overnight curfew into new year

By Andrew Welsh-Huggins And John Seewer Dec. 10, 2020 04:18 PM EST

Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal, left, and Rabbi Segal Shmoel, second from left, inspect a giant Hanukkah Menorah, set up by the Jewish Chabad Educational Center ahead of the Jewish Hanukkah holiday, at the Pariser Platz in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
US Jews plan smaller Hanukkah celebrations amid virus

By Elana Schor And Luis Andres Henao Dec. 10, 2020 12:27 PM EST