AP-National

By BASSEM MROUE and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Thousands of fighters from Iran-backed groups in the Middle East are ready to come to Lebanon to join with the militant Hezbollah group in its battle with Israel if the simmering conflict escalates into a full-blown war, officials with Iran-backed factions and analysts say.

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A China-backed pipeline that would make Niger an oil-exporting country is being threatened by an internal security crisis and a diplomatic dispute with neighoring Benin, both as a result of last year’s coup that toppled the West African nation’s democratic government. The 1,930-kilometer (1,200-mile) pipeline runs

By KIMBERLEE KRUESI, CHRISTINE FERNANDO and LEAH WILLINGHAM Associated Press CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Tucked inside the West Virginia Statehouse is a copy of a petition to lawmakers with a simple request: Let the voters decide whether to reinstate legal access to abortion. The request has been ignored by the Republican lawmakers who have supermajority

By TAIWO ADEBAYO and DAN AKPOYI Associated Press AYETORO, Nigeria (AP) — The coastal Nigerian community of Ayetoro has been nicknamed “Happy City,” founded decades ago as a Christian utopia. But now its residents can do little against the rising sea. Buildings have sunk into the Atlantic Ocean, an increasingly common image along the West

By MEGAN JANETSKY Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — Janette Navarro’s 1996 Volkswagen Beetle roars as it barrels up a steep hill overlooking concrete houses stacked like boxes on the outskirts of Mexico City. She presses her foot on the pedal, passes a lime green Beetle like hers, then one marked with red and yellow,

By The Associated Press Behind the smiles, the balloons and the red-carpet pageantry of President Vladimir Putin’s visit to North Korea last week, a strong signal came through: In the spiraling confrontation with the U.S. and its allies over Ukraine, the Russian leader is willing to challenge Western interests like never before. The pact that

By JOHN O’CONNOR AP Political Writer SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Some 175 years after the U.S. government stole land from the chief of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation while he was away visiting relatives, Illinois may soon return it to the tribe. Nothing ever changed the 1829 treaty that Chief Shab-eh-nay signed with the U.S.

By CARLOS VALDEZ and ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Protesters streamed into Bolivia’s capital, throats hoarse from chanting and feet blistered from a week of walking along the national highway. The throngs of street vendors in the South American country’s vast informal work force ended their nearly 100-kilometer (60-mile) march from

By YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Onigiri is a ball of rice with something inside, similar to how two slices of bread with something in between makes a sandwich. In the same way that just about every American has made and eaten a sandwich, so too have most Japanese eaten onigiri. A Tokyo

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Officials in Philadelphia say a police officer has been shot in the neck and is in critical condition. Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel says the 31-year-old officer was struck in neck Saturday night after he and his partner stopped a car with four people inside. An officer saw a person with a

By YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — The word “onigiri” became part of the Oxford English Dictionary this year, proof that the humble sticky-rice ball and mainstay of Japanese food has entered the global lexicon. The rice balls are stuffed with a variety of fillings and typically wrapped in seaweed. It’s an everyday dish

By SUDHIN THANAWALA Associated Press Callie Weems was reveling in her new role as a mom in the months before a gunman in Arkansas fatally shot her at a grocery store. Her daughter Ivy, now 10 months old, was a constant source of entertainment and wonder, Weems’ mother, Helen Browning, 53, said in a phone

CROMWELL, Conn. (AP) — Two people have been taken to the hospital after lightning struck a tree near a PGA Tour event in Connecticut. The strike happened near a home that is just north of the fifth green at TPC River Highlands. The course is hosting the Travelers Championship this week. Cromwell police started getting

Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — A jury has awarded more than $13 million to an ultramarathon athlete who was injured in a fall on a Seattle sidewalk in 2021. The Seattle Times reports that a King County jury found the city of Seattle and the owners of an apartment building responsible for the amount. Lesley

By ED WHITE Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — The Michigan Supreme Court will consider whether to ban automatic life prison sentences for people who were 19 or 20 years old when they were involved in a major crime. The court took a significant step in 2022 when it said mandatory no-parole sentences for 18-year-olds violated

COLOGNE, Germany (AP) — Euro 2024 is becoming a very regal affair after the king and queen of Belgium became the latest royals to attend the soccer tournament in Germany. King Philippe and Queen Mathilde were in the crowd for Belgium’s group game against Romania on Saturday in Cologne. On Thursday, it was the future

By DAN GELSTON AP Sports Writer LOUDON, N.H. (AP) — NASCAR driver Daniel Suarez took an oath this week and became a United States citizen. Suarez was one of 48 citizens representing 28 countries sworn in at the field office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in Charlotte, North Carolina. Suarez won the second-tier Xfinity

RUIDOSO, N.M. (AP) — Federal authorities offered a reward for information about those responsible for igniting a pair of New Mexico wildfires that killed two people and destroyed hundreds of homes in the past week. The FBI on Saturday offered up to $10,000 for information in connection with the South Fork Fire and Salt Fire

By ADAM BEAM Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Democrats in California have agreed to delay a minimum wage increase for about 426,000 health care workers to help balance the budget. Health care workers were supposed to see a raise on July 1. Now their pay will increase on Oct. 15 if state revenues in

LONDON (AP) — Emperor Naruhito of Japan and his wife Empress Masako have arrived in the U.K. ahead of their long-awaited official state visit. The trip had originally been scheduled for 2020 before the coronavirus pandemic delayed those plans. The smiling couple, who landed late afternoon Saturday at London’s Stansted Airport, will spend seven days