Month: June 2023

By KIMBERLEE KRUESI and JONATHAN MATTISE Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Republican lawmakers and Gov. Bill Lee have approved hundreds of laws in Tennessee this year. Many of the statutes take effect Saturday, including measures on health care for transgender children, police accountability and school safety. Notably, the first proposal introduced by lawmakers is

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mixed Friday in Asia after China reported slower factory activity in June due to weaker consumer spending and export demand. Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul declined while Sydney, Shanghai and Bangkok advanced. U.S. futures were little changed and oil prices ticked higher. Adding to

By SAMYA KULLAB Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The ambush had been postponed three times before Ukrainian commanders decided one recent night that conditions were finally right. Cloaked in darkness, a battalion of Kyiv’s 129th brigade pressed ahead, advancing stealthily on unsuspecting Russian soldiers. By the time the Russians situated along the front line

By COLLIN BINKLEY AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has sent shockwaves through higher education with a landmark decision that struck down affirmative action and left colleges across the nation searching for new ways to promote student diversity. Leaders of scores of universities said Thursday that they were disappointed by what they

By JEFF AMY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia is offering a new bargain to some adults without health insurance beginning Saturday: Go to work or school and the state will cover you. But advocates decry the plan, which will insure far fewer people than a full expansion of the state-federal Medicaid program. They say

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The head of the U.N. children’s agency says close to half of Haiti’s people need humanitarian aid. That is an estimated 5.2 million people, including 3 million children. UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell also said Thursday that thousands of young Haitians face “staggering levels” of

By LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders have broken off migration talks after Poland and Hungary blocked progress. The two countries are fighting back after being outvoted by the majority on a major asylum reform decision earlier this month. Leaders left EU headquarters overnight with no results but a determination to

By ALI SWENSON Associated Press PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the main rivals for the Republican presidential nomination, are scheduled to speak Friday at the annual gathering of Moms for Liberty, a two-year-old group that has fiercely opposed instruction related to race and gender identity in the nation’s

By ANITA SNOW Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — Heat waves like the one that engulfed parts of parts of the South and Midwest and killed more than a dozen people are becoming more common, and experts say the extreme weather events, which claim more lives than hurricanes and tornados, will likely increase in the future.

By DAVID SHARP Associated Press COLUMBIA FALLS, Maine (AP) — Lobster boat engines rumble to life, lumberjacks trudge into the woods and farmers tend wild blueberries just like they have for generations here at the nation’s northeastern tip, where the vast wilderness and ocean meet in one of the last places on the East Coast

By YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — In Japan, a nation reputed for loyalty to companies and lifetime employment, people who job-hop are often viewed as quitters. And that’s considered shameful. Enter “taishoku daiko,” or “job-leaving agents.” Dozens of such services have sprung up in the last several years to help people who simply

By ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ Associated Press HAVANA (AP) — Elián González has the same big, expressive eyes he did 23 years ago when an international custody battle transformed him into the face of the long-strained relations between Cuba and the United States. Now 29, González is stepping into Cuban politics. He recently entered his country’s congress

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump’s claims that absolute presidential immunity and free speech rights shield him from the defamation claims of a New York columnist were rejected Thursday by a federal judge. The writer, E. Jean Carroll, can continue to press claims that Trump owes her at