AP-National

By MAURICIO SAVARESE Associated Press PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (AP) — Vanderson Chaves has faced many challenges in more than a decade as a Paralympic fencer but none as fearsome as the massive floods in Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul state. The waters washed away his equipment, dozens of medals, his passport and might have even

By HYUNG-JIN KIM and KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s president has dismissed calls for independent investigations into allegations involving his wife and top officials. President Yoon Suk Yeol’s move drew strong rebukes from his rivals Thurday. After suffering a heavy loss in the recent April 10 parliamentary elections, Yoon

By JOSH FUNK AP Business Writer Norfolk Southern’s CEO will be under more pressure to improve profits after the railroad’s shareholders voted to elect three of the board members an activist investor nominated. But he won’t be fired right away. Ancora Holdings had nominated seven directors as part of a bid to take control of

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Former Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has been sentenced to a year in prison for interfering in a criminal investigation while leading the government of his South Pacific island nation. The Fiji Times newspaper reported Bainimarama was sentenced Thursday and the suspended police commissioner received a

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Gunmen have killed seven barbers in a home in a volatile province in southwestern Pakistan. Police and a government official say the killings occurred early Thursday in Baluchistan province. The barbers were from Punjab province and lived and worked together. Police are investigating who was behind the attack. Separatists often target

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Thursday claimed responsibility for two missile attacks in the Gulf of Aden on two Panama-flagged container ships that caused no damage. Meanwhile, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader again threatened that Tehran could build a nuclear weapon if it chose to pursue atomic

By RAF CASERT Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union marks its annual Europe Day on Thursday. But instead of the humdrum celebrations, all eyes are on the EU elections in a month’s time. They portend a steep rise of the extreme right and a possible move away from the bloc’s global trendsetting climate

By ZEN SOO AP Business Writer HONG KONG (AP) — China reported Thursday that its exports and imports returned to growth in April, suggesting that demand is improving despite an uneven economic recovery. Customs data showed that exports grew 1.5% in April compared to a year earlier after falling 7.5% in March, the first contraction

BEIJING (AP) — A crash between a truck and a passenger van on a highway in northwestern China’s Ningxia region has killed nine people. State media said two others were injured in the crash early Thursday outside the city of Qingtongxia. They were in stable condition at a hospital. An official said the driver of

By PAN PYLAS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England is expected to maintain interest rates at a 16-year high of 5.25% Thursday, but a cut wouldn’t be a huge surprise as inflation falls from multi-decade highs. The consensus in financial markets is that a majority of the bank’s nine-member Monetary Policy Committee

By KRISTIN M. HALL and GEORGE WALKER IV Associated Press COLUMBIA, Tenn. (AP) — Dangerous storms crashed over parts of the South on Thursday even as the region cleaned up from earlier severe weather that spawned tornadoes, killed at least three people, and gravely injured a boy who was swept into a storm drain as

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — This December marks the centennial of Rod Serling, the late host and writer of the classic TV series “The Twilight Zone.” A newly published story by Serling is the latest to draw upon his traumatizing World War II service, for which he received a Bronze

By SYLVIE CORBET Associated Press MARSEILLE, France (AP) — Joyful crowds gathered along the streets of France’s southern port of Marseille on Thursday to see torchbearers carrying the Olympic flame through the city’s most emblematic sites, a day after it arrived on a majestic three-mast ship for a welcoming ceremony. It was the first leg

By LISA MASCARO and KEVIN FREKING Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Hard-line Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene tried and failed in a brazen push to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson, but the resounding rejection by Republicans and Democrats tired of the turmoil does not guarantee an end to the GOP chaos. One of Donald Trump’s biggest

By DAVID RISING Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Six months into an offensive against Myanmar ’s military government, opposition forces have made massive gains, but civilian casualties are rising sharply as regime troops increasingly turn toward scorched-earth tactics in the Southeast Asian country’s bitter civil war. There is pressure on all fronts from powerful militias

By CEDAR ATTANASIO Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Fellow former hostages, family and coworkers celebrated the life of journalist and philanthropist Terry Anderson Wednesday, remembering a man who helped others while struggling to heal himself. The news writer became a news subject when he was taken hostage in Lebanon by members of an Islamic

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia wrapped itself in patriotic pageantry for Victory Day, as President Vladimir Putin celebrated the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II by hailing his forces in Ukraine and blasting the West for fueling conflicts around the world. Putin has turned the holiday into a pillar of his nearly quarter-century in

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican crossed a key milestone Thursday in the runup to its 2025 Jubilee with the promulgation of the official decree establishing the Holy Year. It’s a once-every-quarter-century event that is expected to bring some 32 million pilgrims to Rome and has already brought months of

By ADAM BEAM Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California regulators have voted to change how some power companies calculate their customers’ bills. The state’s public utilities commission on Thursday approved a proposal that would add a new monthly charge to most people’s electric bills. For many, it will be a charge of $24.15. For

MOSCOW (AP) — Armenia’s prime minister has talked with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow as tensions are spiraling between the estranged allies. Putin hosted Nikol Pashinyan for talks following a summit of the Eurasian Economic Union, a Moscow-dominated economic alliance they both attended earlier in the day. In brief remarks at the start of

By MICHAEL R. SISAK, JAKE OFFENHARTZ, JENNIFER PELTZ and COLLEEN LONG Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s defense attorney on Thursday accused Stormy Daniels of slowly altering the details of an alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Trump, trying to convince jurors that a key prosecution witness in the former president’s hush money criminal

By AMY TAXIN Associated Press A battle is underway in California between a unit of the Wonderful Co. and United Farm Workers over how a group of workers organized under a recently-enacted labor law. Since the law took effect, four groups of farm workers have filed to unionize including the workers at Wonderful Nurseries in

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia has struck a new security deal with Tuvalu after critics complained that a previous pact created an Australian veto power over any other agreement the tiny South Pacific island nation pursued with a third country, such as China. Tuvalu Prime Minister Feleti Teo and Australian

By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — Former President Donald Trump’s youngest son, Barron Trump, has been chosen to serve as a Florida delegate to the Republican National Convention. The Republican Party of Florida said he will serve as one of 41 at-large delegates from Florida to the national gathering. Barron Trump has

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China’s military is accusing the U.S. of playing up for maximum political effect its warship’s passage through the Taiwan Strait. The guided-missile destroyer USS Halsey passed through the waterway between mainland China and Taiwan on Wednesday, less than two weeks before the island’s new president takes

By DÁNICA COTO Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A transitional council tasked with choosing new leaders for Haiti is changing the way it operates in a move that is surprising many as gang violence consumes the country. Two members who were not authorized to publicly share the changes because they had not yet been

By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Hockey Writer Ownership of the NHL’s team in Utah has given fans 20 choices to vote on for the franchise’s new name, according to a survey sent out Wednesday by Smith Entertainment Group. Owner Ryan Smith has told The Associated Press the team will have a name starting with Utah. The

By MARC LEVY Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania election officials say the rate of mail-in ballots rejected for technicalities saw a significant drop in last month’s primary election. That is after state officials tried anew to help voters avoid mistakes that might get their ballots thrown out. Pennsylvania’s top election official, Secretary of

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Lithuania has defended the decision not to allow Russian and Belarusian observers to monitor its upcoming presidential election, accusing both countries of spearheading campaigns that “pose a threat to our national security.” The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe — which includes Lithuania, Russia and Belarus — usually sends multinational

MAYSOON KHAN Associated Press/Report for America ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York City’s watchdog agency says it has launched a probe into allegations that the New York City Police Department has improperly used its official social media accounts to target public officials and private citizens. The city’s Department of Investigation confirmed the probe in a