Month: June 2024

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer sentiment fell in June for the third straight month as Americans took a dimmer view of their own finances and worried about persistent inflation. The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index, released Friday in a preliminary version, dropped to 65.6 this month from a

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — OpenAI has appointed a former top U.S. cyberwarrior and intelligence official to its board of directors, saying he will help protect the ChatGPT maker from “increasingly sophisticated bad actors.” Retired Army Gen. Paul Nakasone was the commander of U.S. Cyber Command and the director of the National Security Agency before stepping

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday struck down a Trump-era ban on bump stocks, the rapid-fire gun accessories used in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, in a ruling that threw firearms back into the nation’s political spotlight. The high court’s conservative majority found that the

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE, COLLEEN LONG and NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press BORGO EGNAZIA, Italy (AP) — President Joe Biden and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have spoke privately on various matters but apparently not on abortion. The issue had emerged as an unexpected friction point among the democracies gathered in Italy for the Group of Seven

CLINTON, N.Y. (AP) — Police say two men have died after falling into a manure tanker in upstate New York. The fatal episode happened Thursday morning at Champion Farm in the central New York town of Clinton. Police say one of the men tried to retrieve a piece of equipment that had fallen into the

By DORANY PINEDA and TERRY CHEA Associated Press PIXLEY, Calif. (AP) — The stench of cow feces, urine and ammonia forces residents to keep windows and doors closed in parts of California’s farming country. Some people constantly run air purifiers at home to counter the smell and, they say, fight off air-related ailments. “We have

By PAN PYLAS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The U.K. general election campaign has now passed the halfway mark. The main political parties finally have published their plans for government should they win on July 4. Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and main opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer tussled over tax. Starmer is predicted

By BARBARA SURK and NICOLAS GARRIGA Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Leaders of France’s new leftist alliance have warned that the far right is “at the door of power.” Allied in a coalition known as the New Popular Front, they outlined their plan to prevent the surging far right from taking power at upcoming national

By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer RIVERWOODS, Ill. (AP) — The ground had seemed to undulate at night, alive with bugs. Crawling cicada nymphs, striving to get higher after 17 years underground, marched en masse toward and up trees, pausing to shed their skin and emerge as adults. And then the fun began. Cicada chaos

BY SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer WHEATON, Ill. (AP) — The most noticeable part of the cicada invasion blanketing the central United States is the sound — an eerie, amazingly loud song that gets in a person’s ears and won’t let much else in. “It’s beautiful chaos,” said Rebecca Schmidt, a U.S. Department of Agriculture

By GIADA ZAMPANO Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — Before flying to Italy’s southern Puglia region to meet world leaders at the Group of Seven summit, Pope Francis hosted a very different audience at the Vatican celebrating the importance of humor. The pontiff welcomed more than 100 comedians from 15 nations, including U.S. celebrities Whoopi

By LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO defense ministers have approved a plan to provide reliable long-term security aid and military training for Ukraine. Recent delays in Western deliveries of arms and ammunition have helped invading Russian forces to seize the initiative. So far, Kyiv’s Western backers have concentrated their efforts through the

By JAMES POLLARD Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — In early May, Florida A&M University announced a stunning $237 million gift from a 30-year-old donor who cast himself as Texas’ “youngest African American industrial hemp producer.” The donation, which would have been the largest-ever private gift to a historically Black college or university, was announced

By NAPAT KONGSAWAD Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Buddhist monks in Thailand have blessed twin baby elephants, one male and the other female, a week after their rare birth came close to being a tragedy. Their mother, Chamchuri, gave birth to the pair on the night of June 7 at a camp in Thailand’s ancient

By JAMES POLLARD Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — It would have been the largest-ever private gift to a historically Black college or university. $237 million — far beyond the recipient’s endowment. The money was promised by a 30-year-old who had recounted his rise from a childhood in foster care to becoming, as he put

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) — Authorities say a woman died after being struck by a police truck on a South Carolina beach. Lance Cpl. Lena Butler of the South Carolina Highway Patrol says a pickup truck was headed north in the Myrtle Beach area just after 1 p.m. Thursday when it hit the beachgoer, who

By LEAH ASKARINAM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — House Freedom Caucus chair Bob Good faces a challenge from another Republican in the 5th Congressional District in Virginia. If Good loses Tuesday, he would be the first House incumbent to go down to a primary challenge this year, with the exception of one race in which two

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The World Bank has approved a $2.25 billion loan for Nigeria to shore up revenue and back economic reforms that have contributed to the worst cost-of-living crisis in many years for Africa’s most populous country. The bank said late Thursday that the loan will help bolster

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Sweden’s Foreign Ministry says officials have summoned the Iraqi chargé d’affaires to protest against death sentences handed down to Swedes in Iraq. Swedish media reported in recent days that two Swedes have been sentenced to death in Iraq after being convicted of killing a member of criminal gang there. On Friday,

By GRAHAM LEE BREWER Associated Press A report published this week by a Native American-led nonprofit examines in detail the dispossession of $1.7 trillion worth of Indigenous homelands in Colorado by the state and the U.S. and the more than $546 million the state has reaped in mineral extraction from them. The report, shared first

By MAYA SWEEDLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Voters will decide almost 60 contested primaries for the U.S. House of Representatives and both chambers of the Oklahoma state legislature. The race to watch Tuesday is the Republican primary in the state’s 4th Congressional District, where 10-term incumbent Tom Cole has drawn a deep-pocketed challenger self-funding