NEW YORK – New York City will reopen its school system to in-person learning, and increase the number of days a week many children attend class, even as the coronavirus pandemic intensifies in the city, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday.

The comment came on an otherwise menial day during the middle of the Mariners’ 2018 spring training.  

MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin finished a recount of its presidential results on Sunday, confirming Democrat Joe Biden’s victory over President Donald Trump in the key battleground state. Trump vowed to challenge the outcome in court even before the recount concluded.

ORLANDO, Florida – One system in the Atlantic Ocean with potential to form into a tropical or subtropical depression or storm was under close watch by the National Hurricane Center on Sunday, as the end of hurricane season grew closer.

A mysterious silver monolith that was placed in the Utah desert has disappeared less than 10 days after it was spotted by wildlife biologists performing a helicopter survey of bighorn sheep, federal officials and witnesses said.

BUDAPEST, Hungary – After facing strong condemnation, a Hungarian commissioner on Sunday begrudgingly retracted an article comparing American-Hungarian billionaire and philanthropist George Soros, a staunch critic of Hungary’s government, to Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.

The nation's top infectious disease expert said Sunday that the U.S. may see “surge upon a surge” of the coronavirus over the coming weeks, and he does not expect current recommendations around social distancing to be relaxed before Christmas.

GHAZNI, Afghanistan – At least 34 people were killed on Sunday in two separate suicide bombings in Afghanistan that targeted a military base and a provincial chief, officials said.

David Prowse, the British weightlifter-turned-actor who was the body, though not the voice, of arch-villain Darth Vader in the original “Star Wars” trilogy, has died. He was 85. Prowse died in a London hospital Saturday after a short illness, his agent Thomas Bowington said. Born in Bristol, southwest England, in 1935, Prowse was a three-time British weightlifting champ.

SANTA FE, N.M. – Faulting inaction in Washington, governors and state lawmakers are racing to get pandemic relief to small-business owners, the unemployed, renters and others whose livelihoods have been upended by the widening coronavirus outbreak.

Denver Broncos quarterbacks Drew Lock, his backup and former Shadle Park standout Brett Rypien and practice squad member Blake Bortles were pulled off the practice field Saturday and sent home over concerns about their contact with QB Jeff Driskel, who is infected with COVID-19, a person with knowledge of the situation told the Associated Press.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. may be weeks away from getting its first coronavirus vaccine approved for adults, but many parents and doctors wonder when children will be able to benefit from the protection it offers.

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran’s supreme leader on Saturday demanded the “definitive punishment” of those behind the killing of a scientist who led Tehran’s disbanded military nuclear program, as the Islamic Republic blamed Israel for a slaying that has raised fears of reignited tensions across the Middle East.

HAVANA – A group of Cuban artists and intellectuals say they won an unusual government vow of greater tolerance for independent art on Saturday after a demonstration in front of the Culture Ministry.

NAIROBI, Kenya – Ethiopia’s military has gained “full control” of the capital of the defiant Tigray region, the army announced Saturday.

ROME – Pope Francis raised 13 new cardinals to the highest rank in the Catholic hierarchy Saturday and immediately warned them not to use their titles for corrupt, personal gain, presiding over a ceremony marked from beginning to end by the coronavirus pandemic.