NEW YORK (AP) - A New York woman is challenging the longstanding rules of Miss America and Miss World that disqualify mothers from their beauty pageants.

NEW YORK (AP) - It’s a practice that’s about as American as apple pie - accusing immigrant and minority communities of engaging in bizarre or disgusting behaviors when it comes to what and how they eat and drink, a kind of shorthand for saying they don’t belong.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Young women are more liberal than they have been in decades, according to a Gallup analysis of more than 20 years of polling data.

Becoming a parent is life changing. Raymond Antrobus' third poetry collection, "Signs, Music,” captures this transformation as he conveys his own transition into fatherhood.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - Rio de Janeiro's main beaches bustle with commotion on sunny weekends. But activity ground to a near standstill on one stretch of sand. People held up their phones to record athletic feats they'd never before witnessed, or even imagined.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) - Historical document appraiser and collector Seth Kaller spreads a broad sheet of paper across a desk. It’s in good enough condition that he can handle it, carefully, with clean, bare hands. There are just a few creases and tiny discolorations, even though it’s just a few weeks shy of 237 years old and has spent who knows how long inside a filing cabinet in North Carolina.

BEIJING (AP) - The Chinese government is no longer allowing foreigners to adopt its children, a spokesperson said Thursday.