AP-National

By SIMINA MISTREANU Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — City officials in eastern China have apologized to local journalists after authorities were shown pushing them and trying to obstruct reporting from the site of a deadly explosion. In the rare acknowledgment of state aggression against journalists, the city of Sanhe, near Beijing, issued a public

SYDNEY (AP) — Rescuers say falling rocks inside a gold mine in Australia killed one worker and left another with life-threatening injuries. Another 29 workers inside the mine when the collapse happened Wednesday took refuge in a safety pod and later returned to the surface. It happened almost 2 miles underground in the Ballarat Gold

By JULIA FRANKEL Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — A brother contemplated suicide. A sister stopped going to school. A father barely speaks. With each passing day, the relatives of hostages held in Gaza since Oct. 7 face a deepening despair. Their hopes were raised that a cease-fire deal was near to bring some of their

By ED WHITE Associated Press PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — The father of a Michigan school shooter was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter Thursday, a second conviction against the teen’s parents who were accused of failing to secure a gun at home and doing nothing to address acute signs of his mental turmoil. The jury verdict

By ALI SWENSON and KELVIN CHAN Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Artificial intelligence is supercharging the threat of election disinformation worldwide, making it easy for anyone with a smartphone and a devious imagination to create fake – but convincing – content aimed at fooling voters. It marks a quantum leap from a few years ago,

By JIM HEINTZ Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — As Vladimir Putin heads for another six-year term as Russia’s president, there’s little electoral drama in the race. What he does after he crosses the finish line, however, is what’s drawing attention and, for many observers, provoking anxiety. The voting that concludes on Sunday is all

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s paroled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has launched a series of public appearances with an early morning visit to a holy shrine in the capital Bangkok before flying to his home province of Chiang Mai in the country’s north. The controversial billionaire former leader, who was toppled in a coup in

By MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press Three New York City boroughs have lost almost 80,000 residents from people moving away last year. That’s according to population estimates released Thursday. But city officials think those numbers are a vast undercount that didn’t capture the influx of asylum seekers who came to the city. The city rented out

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI Associated Press SAGINAW, Mich. (AP) — President Joe Biden travelled to Michigan’s premier bellwether county of Saginaw as he looks to shore up support in the key battleground state ahead of November. Biden is trying to energize Black and union-affiliated voters in his trip Thursday as his campaign faces challenges in other

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER Associated Press KANEOHE, Hawaii (AP) — A pinky and thumb extended with the remaining fingers curled down: That’s the “shaka” in Hawaii. The gesture is sometimes known outside the islands as the “hang loose” sign associated with surf culture, but it was a fixture of daily life in the islands long

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press WILSON, Okla. (AP) — Before Oklahoma became one of the last places in the U.S. to outlaw cockfighting in 2002, it wasn’t uncommon to see hundreds of spectators packed into small arenas in rural parts of the state to watch roosters, often outfitted with razor-sharp steel blades, fight until a

By ASTRID SUÁREZ Associated Press COSCUEZ, Colombia (AP) — Deep inside mountain tunnels where the heat is so intense it causes headaches, women with power tools are chipping away at boulders in search of gems. They have opened a difficult path for themselves in Colombia’s emerald industry, a sector long dominated by men. The lack

By ERIC TUCKER, ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and TERRY SPENCER Associated Press FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday rejected one bid by Donald Trump to throw out out his classified documents criminal case, and appeared skeptical during hours of arguments of a separate effort to scuttle the prosecution ahead of trial. U.S.

By MARK THIESSEN Associated Press ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — For the past five years, Alaska’s annual Iditarod sled dog race has gone off mostly free of controversy, as teams of dogs and their mushers braved the elements in the 1,000-mile (1,609-kilometer) test of endurance across the frozen wilderness. This year the deaths of three dogs

By DIDI TANG Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — If some U.S. lawmakers have their way, the United States and China could end up with something in common: TikTok might not be available in either country. The House on Wednesday approved a bill requiring the Beijing-based company ByteDance to sell its subsidiary TikTok or face a

By SOPHIA TAREEN Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — An open seat to lead the nation’s second-largest prosecutor’s office has become one of the most spirited races in the Illinois primary. The Democratic matchup is between a tough-on-crime judge and an attorney with union and establishment backing. The Cook County state’s attorney primary features Eileen O’Neill

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris has toured a Minnesota Planned Parenthood clinic that performs abortions and provides other reproductive care. Harris’ office says it’s the first time a president or vice president has been to a reproductive health clinic. Thursday’s visit is part of Harris’ election

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A U.N. report says many countries are bouncing back from the COVID-19 pandemic, but the poorest are not and a significant number are seeing their conditions deteriorate. The U.N. Development Program issued the report Wednesday. Agency head Achim Steiner says that after two decades during

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un joined troops training on a new model of tank and drove one himself, as his rivals South Korea and the U.S. wrapped up their annual military exercises, state media reported Thursday. It’s the third time during the 11-day drills

IRVINE, Calif. (AP) — An explosion during a California training exercise sent 16 members of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department SWAT team to the hospital. One person requires surgery for a non-life-threatening leg injury. The department says two others had superficial wounds. The remaining 13 had dizziness and ringing in their ears. The blast occurred