AP-National

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Emperor Naruhito says he is delighted to finally be able to visit Britain after the trip was delayed by several years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He says he looks forward to rekindling his friendship with the British royal family and exploring Oxford, where he studied

PARIS (AP) — French authorities say two adolescent boys have been given preliminary charges of raping a 12-year-old girl and religion-motivated violence. Lawyer and Jewish leader Elie Korchia said that the girl is Jewish and that Palestine was mentioned during the attack. The regional prosecutor’s office said three boys, aged 12 and 13, were detained

By JOSH DUBOW AP Sports Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Long after “The Catch” and his 660 home runs, and the daring sprints around the bases with his hat falling off, Willie Mays could still command a room like no other. Mays was a frequent visitor to the downtown ballpark in San Francisco at 24

By KAITLYN HUAMANI Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — In “Fancy Dance,” Lily Gladstone stars as Jax, who is searching for her missing sister and caring for her young niece. In an interview with The Associated Press, Gladstone notes the story is close to home, saying “You would be very hard pressed to find any

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr. AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Swizz Beatz and Timbaland are bringing the “Verzuz” series back with a new major platform for viewers to watch musicians face off in a song-against-song battle. The legendary producers announced Wednesday that Verzuz cemented an exclusive partnership for independent distribution with X, the site

By LEANNE ITALIE AP Lifestyles Writer NEW YORK (AP) — There’s a new twist on the guestbook at a wedding or other event. With audio guestbooks, you use old-fashioned phones to capture recorded messages for the bride and groom. Couples who have embraced them say guests had a ball returning to the phones again and

By ALBERT STUMM Associated Press It’s been years since scientists established that the Mediterranean diet really is good for you. But nutrition experts say you can improve your health anywhere by mimicking at least one aspect of the diet — eat whatever fruits and vegetables are in season. That injects more variety into your diet

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Annie Baker has been hailed as one of the preeminent voices of her generation, but the movies have long lingered in her mind and in her work. Now, Baker, 43, has made her first film: “Janet Planet,” a mother-daughter tale set

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Two climate protesters who sprayed orange paint on the ancient Stonehenge monument in southern England were arrested Wednesday after two bystanders appeared to intervene and stop them. The latest act by Just Stop Oil was quickly condemned by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as a “disgraceful act of

By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer LISLE, Illinois (AP) — With their bulging red eyes and their alien-like mating sound, periodical cicadas can seem scary and weird enough. But some of them really are sex-crazed zombies on speed, hijacked by a super-sized fungus. West Virginia University mycology professor Matt Kasson, his 9-year-old son Oliver, and

By JOHN PYE AP Sports Writer She heard her No. 10 being called, tapped hands with a teammate who was leaving the field, and ran into position for Brazil, a smile on her face. She made a quick sign of the cross, rubbed her hands and held them up with fingers splayed to receive the

By DARREN SANDS Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — It was the middle of the night in the summer of 2021 when I finally found the missing piece of my family history. My great-great-great-great grandfather Hewlett Sands, born into slavery in Oyster Bay, New York in 1820, was one of the more than 200,000 names listed

By ADITHI RAMAKRISHNAN AP Science Writer DALLAS (AP) — Summer kicks off in the Northern Hemisphere with the summer solstice on Thursday. The Earth spins on a tilt as it revolves around the sun. A summer solstice occurs for Earth’s upper half when the Northern Hemisphere is angled most closely toward the sun. The summer

By NICOLAS GARRIGA and ELISE MORTON Associated Press VILLEPINTE, France (AP) — The far-right leader angling to become France’s prime minister after the country’s upcoming parliamentary election has backtracked on the party’s previous promise to pull out of NATO’s strategic military command. National Rally President Jordan Bardella said Wednesday that “France mustn’t leave NATO’s military

By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Hundreds of people died during this year’s Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia as the faithful faced intense high temperatures at Islamic holy sites in the desert kingdom, officials said Wednesday as people tried to claim their loved ones’ bodies. Saudi Arabia has not commented on

By MARC LEVY Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Abortion rights have found an unlikely champion in swing state Pennsylvania. Sen. Bob Casey will appear on November’s ballot and is attacking Republican challenger David McCormick over opposing abortion rights. That’s quite a reframing for Casey, who once called himself a “pro-life Democrat.” Casey’s father was

By DEREK GATOPOULOS Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A senior prosecutor in Ukraine says authorities have created a national registry to document cases of sexual violence allegedly committed by Russian forces. Viktoriia Litvinova, the country’s deputy prosecutor general, told The Associated Press that the registry was created out of a pilot project that has

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Scores of Greek firefighters and water-bombing aircraft have tamed a large wildfire on the fringes of Athens that forced authorities to evacuate two nearby settlements. Summer wildfires also plagued Greece’s Mediterranean neighbor Turkey, where two villages were evacuated but no injuries were reported. The Greek fire service said the blaze near

By JAN M. OLSEN Associated Press COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Norway’s government says it has tightened controls over adoptions from abroad but will allow the practice to continue as it conducts an investigation into the legality and ethics of past adoptions. The move on Tuesday to keep allowing international adoptions for now contradicted Norway’s top

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Cyril Ramaphosa has been sworn in for a second term as South Africa’s president in a ceremony in the administrative capital, Pretoria. Ramaphosa is now set to appoint a Cabinet in a new coalition government after his African National Congress party lost its parliamentary majority in an