AP-National

BEIJING (AP) — China’s space agency says its latest lunar explorer has arrived at the launch site in preparation for a mission to the moon in the first half of this year. Wednesday’s announcement came a day after a U.S. company abandoned a lunar landing planned for Feb. 23 because of a fuel leak that

By FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Hunter Biden made a surprise visit to a Capitol Hill hearing Wednesday, stirring a political frenzy as Republicans were taking the first step toward holding President Joe Biden’s son in contempt of Congress for defying a congressional subpoena. The arrival of the president’s son at the Oversight

By SEUNG MIN KIM and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s administration pledged from Day One to restore truth and transparency to the federal government — but now it’s facing a maelstrom of criticism and credibility questions after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s hospitalization was kept secret for days, even from the

By RIAZ KHAN Associated Press PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani police say militants attacked a police checkpoint on a highway in the country’s northwest, killing three police officers and a civilian. A police official says the pre-dawn attack on Wednesday took place in Kohat, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. No one immediately claimed responsibility

By HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press WAUKEE, Iowa (AP) — Snow was still piling on top of the 8 inches that had already accumulated when Kadee Miller trekked out to see Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley in Waukee. “There were moments on the drive up here, I was like, ‘What are we doing?’” Miller said about

By STEVE PEOPLES AP National Political Writer DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Just two Republican presidential candidates, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, will meet on the debate stage Wednesday night. With just five days before the Iowa caucuses, the debate may be their last, best chance to change the trajectory

By JULIA FRANKEL Associated Press BEIT RIMA, West Bank (AP) — Security camera video from a West Bank village shows a young man standing in a central square when he is suddenly shot and drops to the ground. Two others rushing to his aid are also hit, leaving a 17-year-old dead, moments before Israeli military

By MEG KINNARD, STEVE PEOPLES and MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — In their most hostile encounter yet, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis attacked each other early and often in Wednesday’s Republican primary debate rather than focus on Donald Trump, the absent front-runner, as both tried to demonstrate they were the

By DÁNICA COTO Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Cesareans are surging in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, which has one of the world’s highest rates. More than half of babies born in the territory are now delivered via surgery compared with only 32% on the U.S. mainland. That’s according to a

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former first lady Melania Trump’s mother has died. Trump announced the death of Amalija Knavs late Tuesday without disclosing the cause. Former President Donald Trump said at a New Year’s Eve celebration in Palm Beach, Florida, that his mother-in-law was “very ill” and his wife was with her at a hospital in

By WAYNE PARRY Associated Press UNION, N.J. (AP) — Federal investigators are looking into a dockside cargo ship fire that killed two New Jersey firefighters at Port Newark. The Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board held a hearing Wednesday about the July 5 blaze aboard the Grande Costa d’Avorio. The Italian-owned vessel was

By MATT BROWN and LINLEY SANDERS Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans of various racial backgrounds largely agree that the government should focus on the economy and foreign policy issues in 2024, but recent polling shows that views among racial groups diverge on some high-profile topics, including racism and immigration. About 7 in 10 U.S.

By YOLANDA MAGAÑA and MEGAN JANETSKY Associated Press SAN SALVADOR (AP) — A record-breaking 51,226 Salvadorans living abroad voted in El Salvador’s upcoming presidential election in the first three days after the country opened overseas electronic voting for the first time, two electoral officials confirmed to The Associated Press on Tuesday. The overseas vote is

By GONZALO SOLANO Associated Press GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador (AP) — A group of armed, masked men in Ecuador launched an audacious attack on a television station during a live broadcast and so revealed the country’s spiraling violence in the wake of an apparent recent prison escape. The imprisoned leader of a drug gang mysteriously vanished from

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council has voted to demand Yemen’s Houthi rebels immediately stop their attacks on ships in the Red Sea. The resolution approved by an 11-0 vote Wednesday implicitly condemned the rebels’ main weapons supplier — Iran. Permanent council members Russia and China were among

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean police say the man accused of stabbing South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung in the neck told investigators that he wanted to kill him to prevent him from becoming the country’s president. Lee was released from the hospital after eight days of treatment.

By ERIC TUCKER and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Appeals court judges are signaling they will likely reject Donald Trump’s claims that he is immune from prosecution in his election interference case. That outcome seemed clear Tuesday during arguments that touched on a range of political and legal considerations. The Republican presidential

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — The national champion Michigan Wolverines have returned home to their Ann Arbor campus. They were met with thunderous applause and screaming fans Tuesday night. The Wolverines beat the Washington Huskies 34-13 in the national championship game Monday. Coach Jim Harbaugh and defensive tackle Kris Jenkins showed their appreciation and thanked

By HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds focused on education and health care in an expansive agenda laid out for legislators Tuesday evening, calling for substantial revisions to how special education is provided in schools and how mental health and substance use are treated across the state. The