AP-National

By SIMINA MISTREANU Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A bipartisan U.S. congressional delegation has pledged continued support for Taiwan, days after Congress approved $300 million in military aid for the self-governed island that’s claimed by China. The Chinese government regards Taiwan as a breakaway province to be brought under its control, by force if

By FRANCIS KOKUTSE and JESSSICA DONATI Associated Press ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — Shoppers may get a bitter surprise in their Easter baskets this year. Chocolate eggs and bunnies are more expensive than ever as changing climate patterns eat into global cocoa supplies and the earnings of farmers in Africa. Cocoa is the main ingredient in

By KEN MORITSUGU Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — Chinese smart consumer electronics maker Xiaomi is joining China’s booming but crowded market for electric cars with a sporty high-tech sedan. The tech company began accepting orders in China on Thursday night. Founder Lei Jun wrapped up a presentation on the car by announcing the much-awaited price

By COLLEEN BARRY Associated Press FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — Michelangelo’s David has been a towering figure in Italian culture since its completion in 1504. But in the current era of the quick buck, curators worry the marble statue’s religious and political significance is being diminished by the thousands of refrigerator magnets and other souvenirs sold

By EMMA BURROWS Associated Press For Evan Gershkovich, the dozen appearances in Moscow’s courts over the past year have fallen into a pattern. Guards take the American journalist from the notorious Lefortovo Prison in a van for the short drive to the courthouse. He’s led in handcuffs to a defendants’ cage in front of a

By SUZAN FRASER Associated Press ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — With local elections across Turkey days away, legal experts are coaching thousands of volunteer election monitors on the rules they’ll need to watch for fraud and ensure a fair vote. The vote Sunday will determine who controls offices across Turkey, from major municipalities to tiny districts

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — As Yemen’s Houthi rebels continue to target ships in a Mideast waterway, satellite pictures analyzed by The Associated Press show what appears to be a new airstrip being built at an entrance to that crucial maritime route. No country has publicly claimed the construction taking

NEW DELHI (AP) — Ukraine’s foreign minister has arrived in New Delhi for a two-day visit to boost bilateral ties between the two countries. Dmytro Kuleba will meet with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Friday. His visit comes a week after Indian leader Narendra Modi spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President

By JESSE BEDAYN Associated Press/Report for America DENVER (AP) — A Colorado Republican panel has made a surprising decision, choosing a former mayor, Greg Lopez, to be U.S. Rep. Ken Buck’s likely replacement until the November general election, a saving grace for Rep. Lauren Boebert’s bid for another term in Congress. Lopez will run as

By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN, ELLIOT SPAGAT and VALERIE GONZALEZ Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — An immigration crackdown in Mexico has hit Venezuelans especially hard. The development highlights how much the U.S. depends on Mexico to control migration. It’s a top issue for voters as President Joe Biden seeks reelection. Large numbers of Venezuelans are still

SYDNEY (AP) — Taylor Swift’s father will not be charged over a paparazzi photographer’s claim that Scott Swift assaulted him on the Sydney waterfront hours after the pop star’s Australian tour ended last month. Photographer Ben McDonald had alleged that one of Swift’s security guards forced an umbrella into his face and camera and that

By CAROLYN THOMPSON Associated Press CLEVELAND (AP) — Seventh-grade student Henry Cohen bounced side to side in time to the Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun” playing in teacher Nancy Morris’ classroom, swinging his arms open and closed across the planets pictured on his T-shirt. Henry and other classmates at Cleveland’s Riverside School were on their

By KEN SWEET and LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for a cryptocurrency fraud that a prosecutor has described as one of the biggest financial frauds in U.S. history. Federal Judge Lewis A. Kaplan imposed the sentence Thursday in a packed

By WAFAA SHURAFA and KAREEM CHEHAYEB Associated Press DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza (AP) — An international team of doctors visiting a hospital in central Gaza was prepared for the worst. But the gruesome impact Israel’s war against Hamas is having on Palestinian children still left them stunned. One toddler died from a brain injury caused by

By KATE BRUMBACK Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — The charges against Donald Trump in the Georgia election interference case seek to criminalize political speech and advocacy conduct that the First Amendment protects, a lawyer for the former president said Thursday as he argued that the indictment should be dismissed. The hearing before Fulton County Superior

By NICK PERRY Associated Press Here’s what to know about the cargo ship that crashed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing it to collapse and leaving six construction workers presumed dead. If stood upright, the Dali would reach almost to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris or about two-thirds of the way

By MICHELLE L. PRICE and PHILIP MARCELO Associated Press MASSAPEQUA PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Donald Trump attended Thursday’s wake of a New York City police officer gunned down in the line of duty and called for “law and order,” as part of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s attempt to show a contrast with President Joe

By COLLEEN LONG and CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and some big names from the entertainment world have delivered a rousing New York embrace of President Joe Biden at a campaign fundraiser that hauled in a record-setting $26 million-plus for the incumbent’s reelection campaign. The mood at Radio

By AUDREY McAVOY Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — The U.S. military has finished draining more than 104 million gallons of fuel from an underground fuel tank complex in Hawaii that poisoned 6,000 people when it leaked jet fuel into Pearl Harbor’s drinking water in 2021. Joint Task Force Red Hill began defueling the tanks in

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A former correctional officer at a federal women’s prison in California has been sentenced to six years in prison for sexually abusing inmates. The ex-prison guard supervised inmates at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin. A 2022 investigation by The Associated Press revealed a rampant culture of sexual abuse and cover-up