AP-National

By DARREN SANDS Associated Press No woman had ever preached the keynote sermon at the Joint National Baptist Convention, a gathering of four historically Black Baptist denominations representing millions of people. That changed in January when the Rev. Gina Stewart took the convention stage in Memphis, Tennessee, — the Southern city home to Christ Missionary

By JAMES POLLARD Associated Press More workplaces are bolstering their volunteer programs, especially as employee demands grow for socially responsible employers and engagement. Nearly three in five companies surveyed by the Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals reported increased opportunities for group volunteering last year. With National Volunteer Week in the rearview mirror, coworkers buoyed by

By JAMES POLLARD Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Employees increasingly find that robust workplace volunteer programs meet their desires for in-person connections, professional growth and altruistically inclined employers — career objectives that might be missing in conventional corporate atmospheres. The surge in interest coming out of the pandemic-era shutdowns that forced many Americans to

By ABBY SEWELL Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné arrived in Lebanon on Sunday as part of diplomatic attempts to broker a de-escalation in the conflict on the Lebanon-Israel border. Séjourné met with United Nations peacekeeping forces in south Lebanon and with Lebanon’s parliament speaker, army chief, foreign minister and caretaker

By BILL BARROW Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — As Donald Trump campaigns for a return to the White House, he often reaches back more than 40 years and seven administrations to belittle President Joe Biden by comparing him to 99-year-old Jimmy Carter. Most recently, Trump used his first campaign stop after the start of his

By ABDULRAHMAN ZEYAD and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA Associated Press BAGHDAD (AP) — Human rights groups and diplomats criticized a law that was quietly passed by the Iraqi parliament over the weekend that would impose heavy prison sentences on gay and transgender people. U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement that the law passed

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Morgan Freeman spoke the words, but pretty much everyone who took the stage at the presentation of the AFI Life Achievement Award agreed: “ Nicole Kidman. She makes movies better.” The line came in a video parody of Kidman’s AMC Theatres “we make movies better”

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani police say armed gunmen have kidnapped a senior judge in Pakistan’s restive northwest. Police say around 15 men on motorbikes intercepted the judge’s vehicle as he was travelling toward Dera Ismail Khan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Saturday evening. The assailants set the car on fire before fleeing with

BEIJING (AP) — Aerial photos posted by Chinese state media show wide devastation in part of the southern city of Guangzhou after a tornado swept through the day before, killing five people, injuring dozens others and damaging more than 140 buildings. As businesses and residents began cleaning debris Sunday, the images showed block upon block

By SUSIE BLANN Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s troops have been forced to make a tactical retreat from three villages in the embattled east, the country’s army chief said Sunday, warning of a worsening battlefield situation as Ukrainian forces wait for much-needed arms from a huge U.S. aid package to reach combat zones.

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel, will move its operations to the city-state’s second, sprawling airfield in its southern desert reaches “within the next 10 years” in a project worth nearly $35 billion. The announcement Sunday by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum marks the latest chapter

By TIA GOLDENBERG, JON GAMBRELL and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The White House on Sunday said U.S. President Joe Biden had again spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as pressure builds on Israel and Hamas to reach a deal that would free some Israeli hostages and bring a cease-fire

By CAROLYN THOMPSON and MARGERY BECK Associated Press Protests are roiling college campuses nationwide as schools with graduation ceremonies next month face demands they cut financial ties to Israel because of the Israel-Hamas war. Many campuses were largely quiet over the weekend but protesters on both sides of the issue shouted and shoved each other

By ADIL JAWAD and RIAZAT BUTT Associated Press HINGLAJ, Pakistan (AP) — The ascent of steep mud volcanoes marks the start of Hindu pilgrims’ religious rituals in southwestern Pakistan. They climb hundreds of stairs or clamber over rocks to reach the summit, tossing coconuts and rose petals into the shallow crater while seeking divine permission

By FRANK BAJAK Associated Press LIMA, Peru (AP) — At age 75, one of Latin America’s most storied journalists had been looking forward to weaving into books the fragmented threads of more than four decades of investigative reporting that exposed high-level abuse of power in Peru and abroad. In an illustrious career, Gustavo Gorriti has

By FARAI MUTSAKA, OMAR FARUK and DESMOND TIRO Associated Press HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — From ancient fertilizer methods in Zimbabwe to new greenhouse technology in Somalia, farmers across the heavily agriculture-reliant African continent are looking to the past and future to respond to climate change. Africa, with the world’s youngest population, faces the worst effects

By SOPHENG CHEANG Associated Press CHBAR MON, Cambodia (AP) — A funeral was held Sunday for 20 soldiers who died at an army base in southwestern Cambodia in a huge explosion of stored munitions that also wounded several others and damaged nearby houses. There has been no public explanation of what caused the Saturday afternoon

By CLAUDIA LAUER Associated Press PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Police departments across the United States are reporting an increase in their ranks for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 killing of George Floyd, which led to a historic exodus of officers, a survey shows. More sworn officers were hired in 2023 than

By GRAHAM LEE BREWER Associated Press OKMULGEE, Okla. (AP) — Wild onions are among the first foods to grow at the tail end of winter in the South, and generations of Indigenous people place the alliums at the center of an annual communal event. From February through May, there’s a wild onion dinner every Saturday

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER Associated Press JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii (AP) — Richelle Dietz is a mother of two and wife of a U.S. Navy chief petty officer living on a Hawaii military base who often thinks about water. The family has been using bottled water for drinking, cooking and brushing teeth ever since