AP-National

By RAF CASERT Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — It seemed like a throwaway line by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, yet it encapsulated what is at stake for many in this week’s European Union parliamentary elections — What to do with the hard right? And should it be trusted? The top EU leader

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The leader of the United Arab Emirates has met with an official in the Taliban government still wanted by the United States on an up-to $10 million bounty over his involvement in an attack that killed an American citizen and other assaults. Sheikh Mohammed

By GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press Major Republican campaign funders are investing millions in Missouri’s GOP attorney general primary. Big money groups with connections to key Republican campaign financier Leonard Leo are backing Will Scharf, a lawyer for Donald Trump who is trying to oust sitting AG Andrew Bailey, also a Republican. Both take conservative positions.

By BEN FINLEY Associated Press NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Political observers have already placed their bets on U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, predicting the Democrat will win his third term in November. But Republicans vying for a chance to unseat him say they smell political blood with President Joe Biden on the ticket. Biden won Virginia

By MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans have blocked legislation designed to protect women’s access to contraception. They argued Wednesday that the bill was just a political stunt as Democrats mount an election-year effort to put GOP senators on the record on reproductive rights issues. The test vote came as the

By JOCELYN GECKER AP Education Writer WESTPORT, Conn. (AP) — Kate Bulkeley’s pledge to stay off social media in high school worked at first. She watched the benefits pile up: She was getting excellent grades. She read lots of books. The family had lively conversations around the dinner table and gathered for movie nights on

By JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina is trading its all-male state Supreme court for an all-white one. The General Assembly picks almost all state judges. On Wednesday, lawmakers voted 152-0 to elevate Court of Appeals Judge Letitia Verdin to the state’s highest court. The white woman will take the seat

By JILL COLVIN, STEPHEN GROVES and ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden tried to address a major liability for his reelection campaign by taking executive action to significantly restrict asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. But it’s unclear whether his efforts will be enough to change the minds of voters who

The Associated Press It’s dangerous. It’s addictive. Get off your phone. Kids constantly hear about the downsides of social media from the adults in their lives, often in the form of dire warnings and commands. But these adults did not grow up with social media themselves. They didn’t get a phone handed to them as

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI, ISABEL DeBRE and DANICA KIRKA Associated Press In a community center in East London, about 20 men gathered for their regular lunch meeting, sipping coffee and tea from mismatched mugs and engaging in an increasingly popular pastime in the world’s democracies: Complaining about their government. They feel estranged from the country’s leadership

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI, ISABEL DeBRE and DANICA KIRKA Associated Press In a community center in East London, about 20 men gathered for their regular lunch meeting, sipping coffee and tea from mismatched mugs and engaging in an increasingly popular pastime in the world’s democracies: Complaining about their government. They feel estranged from the country’s leadership

By JACK JEFFERY and JALAL BWAITEL Associated Press NUR SHAMS REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank (AP) — An Israeli army raid in April set off a near three-day gunbattle with Palestinian militants. By the time it was over, homes had been blasted to rubble and many residents had fled. The raid wasn’t in Gaza, where Israel

By SAM MEDNICK Associated Press JERUSALEM, Israel (AP) — An independent group of experts warned Tuesday that it’s possible that famine is underway in northern Gaza but that the war between Israel and Hamas and restrictions on humanitarian access have impeded the data collection to prove it. “It is possible, if not likely,” the group

By LISA BAUMANN Associated Press BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) — Asylum-seekers mainly from Angola, Congo and Venezuela have set up an encampment in a Seattle suburb. The Seattle Times reports the asylum-seekers moved to the site next to an empty motel in Kent on Saturday. The motel is owned by King County and was used as

By MIKE CATALINI Associated Press TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Democratic Rep. Andy Kim and Republican Curtis Bashaw have won their New Jersey U.S. Senate primaries for the seat currently held by embattled Sen. Bob Menendez. Kim is a three-term congressman who launched his campaign after federal corruption charges against Menendez were announced last year. Bashaw

By ROBERT YOON and MAYA SWEEDLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Associated Press has declared U.S. Rep. Rob Menendez the winner of the Democratic primary for New Jersey’s 8th Congressional District based on the incumbent’s lead throughout the district in initial vote results. He defeated Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla and real estate executive Kyle

NEW YORK (AP) — Former Manhattan prosecutor Linda Fairstein and Netflix announced Tuesday they’ve settled the defamation lawsuit she filed four years ago over her portrayal in the streaming service’s miniseries about the five Black and Latino teenagers known as the now-exonerated Central Park Five. Fairstein had argued that the 2019 four-part series “When They

By ALI SWENSON Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Republicans who view Donald Trump’s felony conviction by a Manhattan jury as politically motivated are calling on GOP prosecutors to start charging Democrats with crimes. Candidates, officeholders and members of the former president’s family are amplifying the message since Trump’s conviction on 34 charges in his

By JOHN HANNA Associated Press TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Top Kansas legislators have intensified efforts to woo the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs by offering to let the professional football franchise shape a plan for using state bonds to finance a new stadium in Kansas. State House Speaker Dan Hawkins and Senate President Ty

By GENE JOHNSON Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — A new Washington state parental rights law derided by critics as a “forced outing” measure will be allowed to take effect this week. A court commissioner on Tuesday declined to issue an emergency order temporarily blocking it. King County Superior Court Commissioner Mark Hillman said during a

NEW YORK (AP) — Columbia University has agreed to take additional steps to make its students feel secure on campus. It is part of a settlement reached Tuesday with a Jewish student who had sought a court order requiring the Ivy League school provide safe access to the campus. Called a “first-of-its-kind agreement to protect

By JEFF AMY and SHARON JOHNSON Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — City of Atlanta officials say workers finished repairs on a ruptured water main on Tuesday. They say water problems in the city are coming to an end after five days. Officials say they are gradually increasing pressure in the system, predicting normal water pressure

By DIDI TANG Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Members of the U.S. Congress say the ruling Chinese Communist Party that sent in tanks against peaceful student protesters 35 years ago in the heart of Beijing is as ruthless and suppressive today as it was in 1989. It’s a stark warning as lawmakers commemorated the anniversary

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — An investigator has provided a New York jury a riveting account of an evening in Washington, D.C., in 2019 when an FBI surveillance team came across Sen. Bob Menendez and his girlfriend at a fancy Washington restaurant. Investigator Terrie Williams-Thompson told the jury on Tuesday at

SAGINAW TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Animal control officers in Michigan are struggling to capture an elusive peacock that has been on the loose for at least two days. Mlive.com reports that a student discovered the peacock on Monday as he was driving to Valley Lutheran High School in Saginaw County. The bird fled into the

By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A new agreement between Alaska’s capital city and major cruise lines seeks to cap the daily number of cruise ship passengers arriving in Juneau starting in 2026. But a critic of the cruise industry says the planned limits do not do enough to address residents’ concerns

CAMP HILL, Pa. (AP) — A young black bear took a dive from a tree Tuesday, landing in a giant tarp held aloft by a group of wildlife, public safety and rescue officials who tranquilized it after it roamed into a suburban Pennsylvania neighborhood. The bruin showed up around lunchtime in a residential area of

By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer The rate Earth is warming hit an all-time high in 2023 with 92% of last year’s surprising record-shattering heat caused by humans, top scientists calculated. The group of 57 scientists from around the world used United Nations-approved methods to examine what’s behind last year’s deadly burst of heat. They

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Student editors at the Columbia Law Review say they were pressured by the journal’s board of directors to halt publication of an academic article written by a Palestinian human rights lawyer that accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza and upholding an apartheid regime. When the

By CAROLYN THOMPSON Associated Press New York lawmakers on Tuesday said they were finalizing legislation that would allow parents to block their children from getting social media posts curated by a platform’s algorithm, a move to rein in feeds that critics argue keep young users glued to their screens. Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney