By GARY D. ROBERTSON and DENISE LAVOIE Associated Press
ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina sheriff says the deputy who shot and killed a man while serving a search warrant has been put on leave pending an investigation. Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten II did not identify the deputy who fired the shot Wednesday. He told a news conference that the deputy was wearing a body camera that was on at the time. The State Bureau of Investigation is taking over the inquiry of the case and will turn over its results to District Attorney Andrew Womble’s office. Womble says he won’t make any decisions about possible charges until the investigation is complete. He says he’s looking for “accurate answers and not fast answers.”

By MICHAEL R. SISAK and JAKE BLEIBERG Associated Press
Law enforcement leaders say the conviction of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin for George Floyd’s death is a step toward restoring trust in the criminal justice system and repairing relations with communities. Police chiefs’ willingness to speak out about the case is a major departure from years past, when even the highest levels would close rank around an officer following an on-duty killing. But police leaders and activists alike caution that one case won’t end systemic racism or stamp out excessive force in departments nationwide. At Chauvin’s trial, jurors heard witnesses describe how the white officer pinned his knee to Floyd’s neck as the Black man cried, “I can’t breathe.”

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER and AAMER MADHANI Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — China and Russia have joined the United States in pledging big emissions cuts at a global climate summit convened by President Joe Biden. The U.S. opened Thursday’s summit, which is being held virtually by livestream because of the pandemic, with an ambitious pledge to cut by at least one-half the climate-wrecking coal and petroleum fumes that America is pumping out. He is hoping the commitment, along with similar ones from allies, will spur China and others to move faster on their own climate efforts. The summit marks the U.S. return to international emissions-cutting efforts after four years of withdrawal under President Donald Trump. Biden calls it “a moment of peril but a moment of opportunity.”

By KATHY GANNON Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A U.S. defense department official says the U.S. military has begun shipping equipment and winding down contracts with local service providers ahead of the May 1 start of the final phase of its military pullout from Afghanistan. The pullout marks the end of America’s longest war, after a 20-year military engagement. Currently, some 2,500 U.S. soldiers and about 7,000 allied forces are still in Afghanistan. In February, the U.S. military began closing its smaller bases. Packing accelerated after the mid-April announcement by the Biden administration that the final phase would begin May 1 and be completed before Sept. 11.

By ASHRAF KHALIL Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Proponents of statehood for Washington, D.C., face a milestone moment in their decades-long movement to reshape the American political map. The House will vote Thursday on legislation that would create the new state of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth, with one representative and two senators. A tiny sliver of land including the White House, the U.S. Capitol and the National Mall would remain as a federal district. The measure is expected to pass easily in the House and be sent to the Senate, where the real fight awaits in the evenly divided chamber.