This photo gallery, curated by photo editor Beatrice Larco, highlights some of the most compelling images worldwide published by The Associated Press in the past week. Follow AP visual journalism: AP photography: https://apnews.com/photography Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apnews 34 words

People across the northern Caribbean tried to salvage waterlogged belongings, assess damage to their homes and find food and water as they dug out from the destruction of Hurricane Melissa. Melissa slammed Jamaica on Tuesday as a catastrophic Category 5…

Judges around the world are seeing error-riddled legal briefs that were generated with the help of artificial intelligence. A data scientist and lawyer has catalogued at least 490 filings in the past six months that contained false or misleading information from AI responses. His database is a cautionary tale for people learning to use AI tools at work. With many employers wanting workers to employ the technology, it's not just the legal profession that needs to be aware of the possible foibles. Legal and workplace experts suggest treating AI as an assistant whose work needs to be checked. They say users also need to be aware of privacy concerns.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says China has agreed to purchase 25 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans annually as part of an agreement reached by its leaders. He said Thursday that China will start by purchasing 12 million metric tons of soybeans from the U.S. between now and January. On Fox Business Network, the secretary said the agreement lasts for three years.

The United States is experiencing a shortage of pennies after President Trump decided to stop their production earlier this year. Merchants across the country are struggling to provide exact change, and banks are rationing their remaining supply. Some retailers are even offering promotions to encourage customers to bring in pennies. The shortage began in late summer and is worsening as the holiday season approaches. While the government aims to save money by discontinuing the penny, the abrupt decision has left retailers and banks without guidance. A bill in Congress, the Common Cents Act, seeks to address some of the issues.

The International Space Station is marking 25 years of nonstop human presence in orbit. Nearly 300 people have lived aboard the scientific outpost. The visitors are mostly professional astronauts, but also the occasional space tourist and movie director. With only five years left at the complex, NASA is counting on private companies to launch their own orbiting stations with an even bigger and wider clientele. NASA is paying SpaceX nearly $1 billion to boot the space station from orbit in early 2031. The station's first full-time residents — one American and two Russians — opened the hatch in 2000.

A Senate hearing for President Donald Trump’s surgeon general pick, Dr. Casey Means, has been postponed because she went into labor. The news from a Senate health committee spokesperson Thursday morning comes just hours before Means was set to appear virtually before the committee for her confirmation hearing. Means, a Stanford-educated physician and wellness influencer, was expected to present her vision for tackling chronic disease by addressing root causes, aligning with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s agenda.

The Grand Egyptian Museum is finally nearing its grand opening after two decades of anticipation. The museum, located just outside Cairo, is set to open on Saturday. It highlights ancient Egyptian civilization and aims to boost tourism, a crucial source of foreign currency for Egypt. The $1 billion facility will be the world’s largest museum dedicated to a single civilization, featuring over 50,000 artifacts. The museum has faced multiple delays, with construction beginning in 2005 and interruptions due to political instability. Officials hope the museum will revitalize tourism and attract millions of visitors annually.

A new AP-NORC poll finds that only 12% of U.S. adults support the current system of daylight saving time, which has people in most states changing the clocks twice a year, while 47% are opposed and 40% are neutral. Around the country, the clocks will go back one hour at 2 a.m. Sunday to mark the return to standard time and more daylight in the mornings. If forced to choose, most Americans would prefer to keep that extra hour of daylight in the evening. Permanent daylight saving time would be unpopular with a significant chunk of people, though, the survey found — particularly those who prefer mornings.

Researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute are developing tiny drones inspired by bats for search and rescue missions. The aerial robots use echolocation, like bats, to navigate in dark and challenging conditions. Assistant professor Nitin Sanket and his team aim to create small, affordable, and energy-efficient drones that can operate where and when current drones can't. While drones are becoming more common in search and rescue, Sanket and researchers elsewhere want to move beyond the manually operated individual robots being used today. They're exploring how to create autonomous drones that can be deployed in swarms.

Erika Kirk, the widow of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, has sparked a conversation about forgiveness after forgiving the man accused of assassinating her husband. Her words have inspired others, like actor Tim Allen, who forgave the drunken driver responsible for his father's death. In Michigan, a Latter-day Saints congregation forgave a gunman who killed four people. While some see hope in these acts, others remain skeptical. Religious leaders emphasize forgiveness as a process, not a one-time event. At the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, where a mass shooting in 2018 claimed 11 worshippers' lives, forgiveness has been a complex topic as the community continues its journey toward healing.

President Donald Trump has appeared to suggest on social media that the U.S. resume testing nuclear weapons for the first time in three decades. There was no indication that the U.S. would start detonating warheads, but the president offered few details about what seemed to be a significant shift in U.S. policy. He made the announcement on  social media minutes before he met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday in South Korea. The U.S. military already regularly tests its missiles that are capable of delivering a warhead, but it has not detonated the weapons since 1992 because of a test ban.

President Donald Trump has suggested the U.S. will restart nuclear weapons testing, a move that upends decades of American policy. This comes as China, Russia and North Korea expand their arsenals of atomic weaponry and missiles. Trump made the comments on Truth Social before meeting with China’s Xi Jinping, saying he ordered the Defense Department to begin testing immediately. However, the Energy Department and the National Nuclear Security Administration oversee America’s nuclear arsenal. The U.S. last conducted a nuclear test in 1992, and restarting tests raises significant questions about how that would happen.

A handful of states rolled out plans to use their own funds to provide benefits as the SNAP federal food aid program runs dry. The Trump administration says the federal government won’t fund the program for low-income households in November because of the prolonged federal shutdown. That could leave about 1 in 8 Americans scrambling to pay for food. Both Democratic and Republican governors are launching programs in states including Delaware, Louisiana, New Mexico and Vermont. The federal government says they won’t be reimbursed. It’s also not clear how quickly the benefits can reach recipients. Louisiana’s effort excludes “able bodied” adults who aren’t caring for children.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said he had an “amazing” meeting with China's top leader Xi Jinping that produced very important decisions. Trump met with Xi on the sidelines of a Pacific Rim summit in South Korea, where the two leaders agreed to dial back some of their trade measures and work to resolve others. The meeting's agenda appears not to have touched on some perennial problems such as tensions over the self-governed island of Taiwan. But Trump said China had agreed to buy large quantities of American farm products and to ensure steady supplies of rare earths elements used in many industries. No formal agreement was signed, suggesting more remains to be done.