AP-National

By MEGAN JANETSKY Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — The head of Mexico’s commission leading the search for tens of thousands who have disappeared over past decades of violence has stepped down as the government increasingly comes under criticism of trying to undermine the true numbers of the missing. Escalating cartel violence has left thousands

By KAREN MATTHEWS Associated Press A judge has ordered new trials for two men convicted of murdering a woman in 1993 inside her home near Buffalo. Brian Scott Lorenz and James Pugh have always maintained their innocence. The judge ruled Wednesday that the men deserve another trial because of a new DNA analysis and because

By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Three studies show smoke from Canadian wildfires led to a spike in people with asthma visiting emergency rooms in the United States. A doctor in New Jersey says there was a flood of calls from asthmatics during the heaviest days of smoke that shrouded the

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee says he will push to either end or extend the timeline of a legal clause that requires annual approval for the sale of U.S.-made weapons to Cyprus. New Jersey Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez told a gathering of Cypriot diaspora in the capital

By SARAH RANKIN Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia’s attorney general says Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s new model policies for the treatment of transgender students are in line with federal and state nondiscrimination laws and school boards must follow their guidance. Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares issued the advisory opinion Thursday. It comes as

By MARC LEVY Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democrats in Pennsylvania are talking up abortion rights as they try to protect their state Supreme Court majority in the presidential battleground. Pennsylvania Democratic Party chair Sharif Street says Republicans made it an issue when they chose to strip away a woman’s right to choose. The

By STEVE PEOPLES AP National Political Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The eight Republican presidential candidates on the debate stage were asked to raise their hands if they believed human behavior is causing climate change. Not a single hand went up. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis shut down the question and attacked the “corporate media.” Echoing

By SUDHIN THANAWALA and KATE BRUMBACK Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Roads between the Atlanta airport and the Fulton County Jail were blocked off as former President Donald Trump arrived in a motorcade to turn himself in on charges related to his efforts to remain in power after his 2020 election loss. This gave the

By CHRISTINA LARSON AP Science Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists say the loss of ice around Antarctica is hurting the survival of emperor penguin chicks. Emperor penguins hatch their eggs and raise their chicks on the ice that forms around the continent each winter and melts in the summer months. The researchers reported Thursday that

By ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate climbed further above 7% this week to its highest level since 2001, another blow to prospective homebuyers grappling with rising home prices and a stubbornly low supply of properties on the market. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that

By The Associated Press When Yevgeny Prigozhin launched his armed rebellion that challenged the Kremlin, Western officials predicted Russian President Vladimir Putin would seek vengeance against the mercenary leader. Two months to the day after the action that Putin labeled a “stab in the back” and “treason,” those forecasts seem to have come true, in

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — “San Francisco Sounds: A Place in Time” is a two-part documentary on MGM+ that concludes Sunday. It explores the rise and fall of that city’s progressive cultural experiment, including a soundtrack by Janis Joplin, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Sly and the Family Stone and Steve

By ABDULRAHMAN ZEYAD and SALAR SALIM Associated Press IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — A Turkish airstrike in northern Iraq has killed three members of an outlawed Kurdish insurgent group. Thursday’s attack came as Ankara’s top diplomat was visiting the city of Irbil, the seat of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish government. Turkish military actions against members of the

KINGSTREE, S.C. (AP) — A longtime friend of convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh has pleaded guilty to helping the disgraced attorney steal millions of dollars of insurance settlements from the sons of Murdaugh’s dead housekeeper. Cory Fleming wasn’t immediately sentenced after his guilty plea Wednesday in a South Carolina courtroom. The 54-year-old former attorney got a

By SUSIE BLANN Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine is marking its second Independence Day since Russia’s full-scale invasion. Officials are vowing to keep up their fight to drive out the Kremlin’s forces, and local people have been remembering their fallen loved ones. The national holiday Thursday coincided with the war’s 18-month milestone, giving

By MIKE HOUSEHOLDER and SAMANTHA HENDRICKSON Associated Press ROMULUS, Mich. (AP) — Heavy rains across the United States have flooded an Ohio highway where people were rescued from their cars, closed a busy airport terminal outside Detroit for a few hours and covered the Las Vegas Strip with water. Officials say parts of southeast Michigan

By JIM MUSTIAN and JOSHUA GOODMAN Associated Press FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — In a secluded stairwell at CIA headquarters last year, officer trainee Ashkan Bayatpour came up behind a colleague, wrapped a scarf around her neck and plainly spoke as he tried to kiss her on the mouth. “There are many uses for this,” the

LONDON (AP) — A London judge says life support treatment can be stopped for a brain-damaged English pastor in a coma. Justice Anthony Hayden says it would be “burdensome and futile” to continue kidney dialysis. The Pentecostal minister’s family had appealed a decision by a Manchester area health authority to end his care, arguing that

By HARM VENHUIZEN Associated Press/Report for America MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s top elections official says she won’t testify at a Senate committee hearing on her reappointment next week. Meagan Wolfe’s decision relies on a letter from Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul saying that lawmakers don’t have the authority to force a vote on firing

By ASHOK SHARMA Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian space officials say that a lunar rover has descended down a ramp from the lander of India’s spacecraft that has made its much celebrated touch-down near the moon’s south pole. The state-run Indian Space Research Organization says the Chandrayan-3 Rover is moving and operating well,