AP-National

By SAM MEDNICK and JEAN FERNAND KOENA Associated Press BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — Sexual assaults and other cases of gender-based violence are rising in Central African Republic. The alleged attackers include everyone from Wagner mercenaries to bandits to United Nations peacekeepers. Reasons include ongoing conflict in one of the world’s most volatile countries,

By PATRICIA SIMON and RICARDO GARCIA VILANOVA Associated Press METCHE CAMP, Chad (AP) — The war in Sudan began a year ago. Here in a camp for tens of thousands of people who have fled into neighboring Chad, the anniversary is marked by near starvation. Many people here fled the fighting in Sudan’s vast western

By ERIKA KINETZ Associated Press ASTANA, Kazakhstan (AP) — If the choice was death or a bullet to the leg, Yevgeny would take the bullet. A decorated hero of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Yevgeny told his friend and fellow soldier to please aim carefully and avoid bone. The tourniquets were ready. The pain that followed

By ERIKA KINETZ Associated Press ASTANA, Kazakhstan (AP) — If the choice was death or a bullet to the leg, Yevgeny would take the bullet. A decorated hero of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Yevgeny told his friend and fellow soldier to please aim carefully and avoid bone. The tourniquets were ready. The pain that followed

By DÉBORA REY and ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina’s highest criminal court has reported a new development in the elusive quest for justice in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center headquarters, the deadliest attack in the country’s history. It concluded Thursday that Iran had planned the attack and

By STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson is negotiating with the White House as he prepares for the treacherous task of advancing wartime funding for Ukraine and Israel through the House. House Republican Leader Steve Scalise says Johnson has been talking with White House officials about a package that would

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Of the 1.4 million adults who live in Manhattan, a dozen are soon to become the first Americans to sit in judgment of a former president charged with a crime. Jury selection is set to start Monday in former President Donald Trump’s hush money case —

LOS ANGELES (AP) — State regulators have decided Los Angeles County’s troubled juvenile detention facilities, on the verge of shutting down over safety issues and other problems, can remain open. The Board of State and Community Corrections voted Thursday to lift its “unsuitable” designation for Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar and Central Juvenile

By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Twenty years ago this month, photos of abused prisoners and smiling U.S. soldiers guarding them at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison were released, shocking the world. Now, three survivors of Abu Ghraib will finally get their day in U.S. court against the military contractor they hold responsible

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — O.J. Simpson died without having paid the lion’s share of the $33.5 million judgment a civil jury awarded to the families of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. The panel found Simpson liable in a wrongful death lawsuit in 1997. Now,

By JESSE BEDAYN Associated Press/Report for America DENVER (AP) — On a brisk day at a restaurant outside Chicago, Deb Robertson sat with her teenage grandson to talk about her death. She’ll probably miss his high school graduation. Death doesn’t frighten her much. The 65-year-old didn’t cry when she learned two months ago that the

By MAKIYA SEMINERA Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is cementing economic links and cultural amity with North Carolina by visiting the Tar Heel state after a few days in Washington focused on global security issues. Kishida toured Japanese companies in the Greensboro area Friday before a historic luncheon at

By JESSE BEDAYN Associated Press/Report for America DENVER (AP) — On a brisk day at a restaurant outside Chicago, Deb Robertson sat with her teenage grandson to talk about her death. She’ll probably miss his high school graduation. She declined the extended warranty on her car. Sometimes she wonders who will be at her funeral.

By SHARON JOHNSON Associated Press STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. (AP) — In a large, empty parking lot outside Atlanta, one car slowly careened around parking spaces. From the passenger seat, driving instructor Nancy Gobran peered over large sunglasses at her student, a 30-year-old Syrian refugee woman who was driving for one of the first times in

By STEVE PEOPLES and JONATHAN J. COOPER Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — A stunning abortion ruling this week has supercharged Arizona’s role in the looming fall election. Suddenly, emboldened national Democrats are pouring new resources into the state as Republicans scramble to navigate the evolving political landscape while confronting nagging internal divisions. Arizona, a Sunbelt

By SEUNG MIN KIM and AMELIA THOMSON-DEVEAUX Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A new poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that more than half of U.S. adults think Joe Biden’s presidency has hurt the country on cost of living and immigration. Meanwhile, nearly half think Donald Trump’s presidency hurt the country

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press ABOARD THE USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (AP) — A U.S. carrier strike group led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt held a three-day joint exercise with its allies Japan and South Korea, as U.S. President Joe Biden pledged an ironclad defense commitment to leaders from Japan and the Philippines at the White

COALINGA, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say Paul Flores, the convicted killer of college student Kristin Smart, has been stabbed at a California prison, the second time he has been attacked by a fellow inmate in the past year. Corrections officials say staff witnessed the stabbing shortly before 3:30 p.m. Wednesday in the recreation yard at

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A top Chinese official visiting North Korea has talked with his counterpart in Pyongyang about how to boost their nations’ cooperation. Zhao Leji is chairman of China’s National People’s Congress and considered the No. 3 official in the ruling Communist Party. Zhao arrived in North Korea on Thursday for the