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 Thursday 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

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 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 AP Congressional Correspondent WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson has a survived an attempt by far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to remove him from office. Democrats came to the Republican speaker’s rescue, providing the votes needed late Wednesday to keep Johnson on the job. But Donald Trump’s role cannot be overstated —

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 on Thursday 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 fighting in Ukraine and blasting the West for fueling conflicts around the world. Even though few veterans of what Russia calls the Great

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

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 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