AP-National

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Brenda Edwards considers the four bedroom ranch-style house where she has lived for 20 years her forever home. It’s where the 70-year-old retired nurse and her 79-year-old husband want to stay as their mobility becomes more limited. So she hired an interior designer for $20,000

By RAHIM FAIEZ Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — Flash floods from unusually heavy seasonal rains in Afghanistan have killed more than 300 people and destroyed over 1,000 houses, the U.N. food agency said Saturday. The World Food Program said it was distributing fortified biscuits to the survivors of one of the many floods that hit

By TOM ODULA Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Winnie Makinda says she is facing the worst crisis and lowest moment of her life because of the Kenyan government’s response to floods that devastated her poor community in the capital of Nairobi. The floods and mudslides swept away people and inundated homes, killing at least

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press MALMO, Sweden (AP) — Swiss singer Nemo won the 68th Eurovision Song Contest early Sunday with “The Code,” an operatic pop-rap ode to the singer’s journey toward embracing a nongender identity. Switzerland’s contestant beat Croatian rocker Baby Lasagna to the title by winning the most points from a combination of

By WAFAA SHURAFA, SAM MEDNICK and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel ordered new evacuations in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah on Saturday, forcing tens of thousands more people to leave as it prepared to expand its military operation deeper into what is considered Gaza’s last refuge, in defiance of growing

By JAMES BROOKS Associated Press COPENHAGEN (AP) — Ever since humans have journeyed to space, their meals there have proved to be, well, nothing to write home about. But that could change after a Michelin-starred chef teamed up with the Florida-based startup Space Perspective to take fine-dining to our upper atmosphere in late 2025. Six

By ANNA FURMAN Associated Press Over the past two decades, Gee’s Bend quilts have captured the public’s imagination with their kaleidoscopic colors and their daring geometric patterns. The groundbreaking art practice was cultivated by direct descendants of slaves in rural Alabama who have faced oppression, geographic isolation and intense material constraints. As of this year,

By TED SHAFFREY Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — It’s probably the last place a mom wants to spend Mother’s Day with her kids. But a family visiting space at New York City’s notorious Rikers Island jail complex is a little more kid-friendly after a colorful redesign by the Children’s Museum of Manhattan. The jail

By JEFF McMURRAY Associated Press As cars and trucks get smarter and more connected, the humble lights that have controlled the flow of traffic for more than a century could also be on the cusp of a major transformation. Researchers are exploring ways to use features in modern cars, such as GPS, to make traffic

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — To the casual viewer, competing at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show might look pretty simple: Get a dog. Groom it. Pose it. Lead it around a ring. But there’s a lot more involved in reaching the pinnacle of U.S. canine events, now in its 148th

By KEVIN FREKING Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — For Mike Johnson it was effectively a Day 1 priority. It’s well past time, the newly elected House speaker said in October, to establish a bipartisan commission to tackle the federal government’s growing $34.6 trillion in debt. “The consequences if we don’t act now are unbearable,” he

By KIM CHANDLER and TOM KRISHER Associated Press TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — After 20 years at the Mercedes-Benz factory in Alabama, Brett Garrard said he is “not falling for the lies anymore” and will vote for a union. The company has repeatedly promised to improve pay and conditions, but Garrard said those promises have not

By ALMA SOLÍS Associated Press PANAMA CITY (AP) — Panama is on the verge of a dramatic change to its immigration policy that could reverberate from the dense Darien jungle to the U.S. border. President-elect José Raúl Mulino says he will shut down a migration route used by more than 500,000 people last year. Until

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The alleged sexual encounter at the center of Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial got a graphic airing in court this past week as porn actor Stormy Daniels shared her account before a rapt jury. Daniels’ testimony about her time with Trump was by far the most

By STEVE PEOPLES, MIKE CATALINI and MEG KINNARD Associated Press WILDWOOD, N.J. (AP) — Donald Trump is blaming President Joe Biden for the criminal charges he’s facing as the presumptive nominees prepare to face off in the November election and called his New York hush money case “a Biden show trial.” Blasting the Democratic president

By MAURICIO SAVARESE and ELÉONORE HUGHES Associated Press ELDORADO DO SUL, Brazil (AP) — More heavy rain has started coming down in Brazil’s already flooded Rio Grande do Sul state. Many of those remaining on Saturday are poor people with limited ability to move to less dangerous areas. Brazil’s national meteorology institute says that nearly

By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — Former President Donald Trump’s youngest son, Barron Trump, won’t be serving as a Florida delegate to the Republican National Convention after all. The office of his mother, Melania Trump, said Friday that, “While Barron is honored to have been chosen as a delegate by the Florida

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s ruling party presidential candidate slipped up during a campaign speech Friday and said President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was motivated by “personal ambition,” but later acknowledged the phrase could have been misinterpreted. The phrase is used in Mexico to describe a desire for personal economic gain. Former Mexico City Mayor

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. government is dedicating $60 million over the next few years to projects along the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico and West Texas to make the river more resilient in the face of climate change and growing demands. The funding announced Friday by

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised another test firing of a new multiple rocket launch system the country plans to deploy to its forces starting this year as it bolsters its lineup of weapons targeting South Korean population centers. State media said Friday’s test

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Somalia is asking the United Nations to terminate its political mission in the country, which has been assisting the government to bring peace and stability in the face of attacks by the al-Qaida-linked extremist group al-Shabab. In a letter to the Security Council and Secretary-General

By AUDREY McAVOY Associated Press PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) — The families of five Hawaii men who served in a unit of Japanese-language linguists during World War II received posthumous Purple Heart medals on behalf of their loved ones on Friday, nearly eight decades after the soldiers died in a plane crash in the final

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — Honolulu has agreed to approve or deny applications to carry guns in public within four months of submission in response to a lawsuit by residents who complained of delays of up to a year. The federal lawsuit filed in March alleged that making applicants wait so

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A statue of the late Rev. Billy Graham set to stand inside the U.S. Capitol to represent North Carolina will be unveiled next week in a ceremony. House Speaker Mike Johnson, other congressional members and the family of the Charlotte-born evangelist are expected to attend unveiling of the 7-foot (2.1-meter) tall

By PHILIP MARCELO Associated Press EAST MEADOW, N.Y. (AP) — A New York judge has struck down a Long Island county’s order banning female transgender athletes after a local women’s roller derby league challenged it. Judge Francis Ricigliano ruled Friday that Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman didn’t have the authority to issue his February executive

By The Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sam Rubin, a beloved entertainment anchor and reporter for KTLA in Los Angeles who was on a first-name basis with Hollywood’s top stars, has died. He was 64. The station announced that he died unexpectedly on Friday. No cause was released. Rubin joined the station’s morning news

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Gov. Mike Dunleavy has issued a state disaster declaration for southwest Alaska communities that have experienced flooding due to the spring breakup of river ice and snowmelt. The Anchorage Daily News reports that water surrounded some homes in low-lying areas of the regional hub of Bethel, while much of Kwethluk was

By KIM CHANDLER Associated Press FAIRHOPE, Ala. (AP) — Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has told attendees at a judicial conference that he and his wife have faced “nastiness and lies” over the last several years. He also decried Washington, D.C., as a “hideous place.” Thomas was the closing speaker at the 11th Circuit Judicial

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer Sean “Diddy” Combs is asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that he and two other men raped a 17-year-old girl in a New York recording studio in 2003. The federal court filing Friday is the latest piece of pushback against a series of lawsuits and a criminal

By JEFF AMY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s Republican Party has removed one of its officers after a judge found he voted illegally nine times after moving to the state. Party Chairman Josh McKoon says the state Republican Committee voted 146-24 on Friday to remove Brian K. Pritchard. Georgia is among states where supporters