AP-National

By MOLLY QUELL Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — South Africa has urged the United Nations’ top court to order a cease-fire in Gaza during hearings over emergency measures to halt Israel’s military operation in the enclave’s southern city of Rafah. It was the third time the International Court of Justice held hearings on

By JIM GOMEZ Associated Press MANILA, Philippines (AP) — More than 100 Filipino activists on wooden boats have decided not to sail closer to a fiercely disputed shoal in the South China Sea to avoid a confrontation with dozens of Chinese coast guard and suspected militia ships guarding the area. Organizers say they will distribute

HONOLULU (AP) — Savannah Gankiewicz of Hawaii has been crowned Miss USA 2023, more than a week after the previous titleholder resigned for mental health reasons. Gankiewicz is a model who leads a female empowerment nonprofit organization. She was the first runner-up in the pageant last September. She will hold the title until August when

By PATRICK WHITTLE and DAVID SHARP Associated Press AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Police have said repeatedly since Maine’s deadliest shooting that officers thought the gunman’s family had been taking his weapons away. The family of Robert Card challenged that claim Thursday in testimony to an investigative committee. The gunman’s sister-in-law suggested that law enforcement officers

By MOLLY QUELL and RAF CASERT Associated Press THE HAGUE (AP) — Anti-Islam firebrand Geert Wilders and three other party leaders have agreed on a coalition deal that veers the Netherlands toward the hard right. It caps a half year of tumultuous negotiations, though it’s still unclear who will become prime minister. The “Hope, courage

By PHILIP MARCELO Associated Press EAST MEADOW, N.Y. (AP) — A towering stadium boasting 34,000 seats and a precisely trimmed field of soft Kentucky bluegrass is rising in a suburban New York park that will host one of the world’s top cricket tournaments next month. But on a recent Saturday morning, on the other side

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Like a political convention held amidst an intra-party rift, Thursday night’s PEN America gala was a call for unity, dialogue and a renewed sense of mission at a time when PEN’s priorities have been called into question. “Our assembly is disassembling,” PEN America CEO Suzanne

NEW YORK (AP) — ESPN’s broadcast of the Connecticut Sun’s game against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever had the highest viewership for a WNBA game on the network. The Sun’s 92-71 win over the Fever in Clark’s WNBA debut on the league’s opening night on Tuesday drew an average of 2.1 million viewers on

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH Associated Press TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The lesson on diversity started slowly in a first-grade classroom in Topeka, where schools were at the center of a case that struck down segregated education. “I like broccoli. Do you like broccoli?” Marie Carter, a Black school library worker, asked broccoli-hating librarian Amy Gugelman, who

By TARA COPP and CLAUDIA LAUER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — In 2020, the top enlisted leader of the Air Force went public with his fear of waking up to the news that a Black airman had been killed by a white police officer. Then four years later, a Florida deputy shot and killed Senior

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH Associated Press TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The lesson on diversity started slowly in a first-grade classroom in Topeka, where schools were at the center of the case that struck down segregated education. “I like broccoli. Do you like broccoli?” Marie Carter, a Black school library worker, asked broccoli-hating librarian Amy Gugelman, who

By REGINA GARCIA CANO Associated Press SABANA DE MENDOZA, Venezuela (AP) — At an intersection packed in four directions, rally-goers scream and light up cellphones in the evening as Venezuelan opposition figure María Corina Machado climbs onto a flatbed truck like a presidential candidate. She has been barred from the July 28 election. Still, she

By BILL BARROW and MATT BROWN Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — President Joe Biden will have his most direct engagement with college students since the start of the Israel-Hamas war when he speaks at Morehouse College’s commencement. Morehouse is a center of Black politics and culture. It’s located in Atlanta, the largest city in a

VENTURA, Calif. (AP) — A judge has decided that a Southern California college professor will stand trial for involuntary manslaughter and battery in the death of a Jewish counter-protester during demonstrations over the Israel-Hamas war last year. Superior Court Judge Ryan Wright judge declared Wednesday that there’s enough evidence to try Loay Abdelfattah Alnaji. He’s

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer It was Lainey Wilson ’s night, in many ways. She took home female artist of the year and the top prize of entertainer of the year at the 2024 Academy of Country Music Awards. “I’ve been in Nashville for 13 years doing this,” Wilson started her speech. “Everybody in

By MICHAEL R. SISAK, JENNIFER PELTZ, JAKE OFFENHARTZ and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s lawyers accused the star prosecution witness in his hush money trial of lying to jurors, portraying Trump fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen on Thursday as a serial fabulist who is bent on seeing the presumptive Republican presidential

By The Associated Press Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to China underlines an increasingly close partnership between the two allies. China, led by President Xi Jinping, has offered robust diplomatic support to Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine. It also has emerged as a top export market for Russian oil and gas, helping to fill

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Japan has reported that its economy contracted at an annual rate of 2% in the first quarter of the year, as spending and exports declined. The Cabinet Office said Thursday that on a quarter-to-quarter basis, the preliminary seasonally adjusted gross domestic product, or GDP, a measure

By TSVANGIRAYI MUKWAZHI Associated Press KASAMA, Zambia (AP) — Every morning, Bridget Chanda places her prosthetic legs beside her bed, pulls on her stockings and pushes the remains of her limbs into the prosthetics as best she can. After six years they no longer fit, and it’s painful to stand or walk for too long,

By AUDREY McAVOY Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — A University of Hawaii study examining the health effects of last year’s deadly wildfires on Maui has found that up to 74% of participants may have difficulty breathing and otherwise have poor respiratory health. It found almost half showed signs of compromised lung function. Researchers gathered the

By PAUL NEWBERRY AP Sports Writer It’s not a rock. It’s the Athens Rock Lobsters. Ah-ah-ah-ah! The minor-league hockey team that will begin play next season in the home of the University of Georgia paid homage to the city’s rich musical heritage by choosing a nickname associated with one of its most famous bands. The

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer CANNES, France (AP) — Francis Ford Coppola on Thursday will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival a film on which he has risked everything, one that’s arriving clouded by rumors of production turmoil. Sound familiar? On Thursday, Coppola’s self-financed opus “Megalopolis” will make its much-awaited premiere. Other films are

By MAKIYA SEMINERA Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Republican lawmakers in North Carolina are pushing forward with their plan to repeal a pandemic-era law that allowed the wearing of masks in public for health reasons, a move spurred in part by demonstrations against the war in Gaza that have included masked protesters camped out

By ELÉONORE HUGHES Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s biggest pop star, Anitta, has released a music video depicting rituals of the Afro-Brazilian faith Candomble, sparking controversy in a country where religious intolerance is all too common. Her track — pointedly named “Accept” — has been viewed over a million times on YouTube

By BEN FINLEY Associated Press The Dali container ship experienced a near perfect storm of calamities before it struck Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge in March. But a report released Tuesday by federal investigators leaves many questions unanswered. The National Transportation Safety Board described four power failures on the ship in roughly 10 hours. Two

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Sudanese people “are trapped in an inferno of brutal violence” with famine, disease and fighting “closing in” and no end in sight, the top U.N. humanitarian official in the war-torn country says. Clementine Nkweta-Salami told a U.N. press conference Wednesday that “horrific atrocities are

FRANKLIN, Tennessee (AP) — Local Tennessee officials say three people are dead after a small plane crashed on Wednesday in Williamson County. Williamson County Chief Deputy Mark Elrod told reporters that the plane had left Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and was headed to Louisville, Kentucky, but crashed in Tennessee near Leiper’s Fork around noon local time.

By FREIDA FRISARO Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A bus carrying people to work in a watermelon field in central Florida was sideswiped by a suspected drunk driver and overturned in a field, killing eight of them and injuring up to 40 others. The man accused of causing Tuesday morning’s crash appeared before

By HANNAH FINGERHUT and GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press A new abortion clinic will open in southeast Kansas this fall, bolstering the state’s role as a regional hub for reproductive health services whose neighbors have severely restricted access since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains announced Tuesday

By RANDALL CHASE Associated Press DOVER, Del. (AP) — A federal judge says Delaware’s vanity license plate program is unconstitutional because it allows for viewpoint discrimination by officials in deciding whether to approve applications. Tuesday’s ruling came in a lawsuit filed by a breast cancer survivor whose license plate was recalled in 2021 because it