AP National News

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN AP Business Writer China’s fast fashion retailer Shein is facing a lawsuit that claims the clothing maker’s copyright infringement is so aggressive, it amounts to racketeering. The filing this week claims that Shein is in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, better known as RICO, a law originally crafted

By KRYSTA FAURIA Associated Press SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) — Robert Downey Jr. says he came away from Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” thinking about how “context is so critical” to understand significant moments in history. The film tells the story of the controversial theoretical physicist, J. Robert Oppenheimer, who oversaw the development of the first atomic

By MEG KINNARD Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis plans to file his 2024 candidacy for South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary when he visits the first-in-the-South voting state next week. He’ll become the first GOP hopeful to file in the state. DeSantis’ campaign told The Associated Press that he will sign

By JOVANA GEC Associated Press BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s government has decided to ban arms export for 30 days just days after the United States imposed sanctions on the Balkan country’s intelligence chief over alleged involvement in criminal activities including illegal arms shipment. Serbia’s defense minister said Friday the government made the decision in

By MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS and LEFTERIS PITARAKIS Associated Press NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Disgruntled tourists bemoaned the temporary closing of the Acropolis in Athens on Friday as Greek authorities proactively shut the world monument’s gates between midday and early evening amid a heat wave that continues to grip southern Europe. Red Cross staff handed out bottled

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS is showcasing its new capability to audit high-income tax dodgers aggressively as it makes the case for sustained funding and tries to avoid budget cuts sought by Republicans who want to gut the agency. IRS leaders have laid out how they netted $38 million in

ROME (AP) — Italians are using social media to denounce a court verdict clearing a school janitor of a sexual assault charge for groping a 17-year-old student because it only lasted “around five/10 seconds.” The teenager said the man came up from behind her as she was pulling up her trousers while walking up the

TOKYO (AP) — A rocket being developed by the Japanese space agency has exploded during testing but there were no reports of injuries. That’s according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA. The cause of the accident at the facility in Akita Prefecture in northeastern Japan is still being investigated. It’s unclear when tests

By MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Disney is asking a Florida judge to toss out a lawsuit filed by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ appointees to Disney World’s governing district. The appointees are trying to void agreements that the company made in an attempt to neutralize the takeover of the district by the Florida

By MUNIR AHMED Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has launched the construction of a 1,200-megawatt Chinese-designed nuclear energy project. It’s being built at a cost of $3.5 billion as part of the government efforts to generate more clean energy. Friday’s ceremony to mark the start of the project comes less

By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Wildlife officials were trying to capture a wayward sea otter Thursday that has been wresting surfboards away from surfers and aggressively approaching kayakers off the coast of Santa Cruz, California. The 5-year-old female otter has shown aggression toward people for several weeks and poses a

By NOAH BERGER and DOUG GLASS Associated Press FORT ST. JOHN, British Columbia (AP) — As more than 900 fires burn in a Canadian fire season that has periodically pushed dangerous smoke south into the U.S. and even far east to Europe, one province — British Columbia — relies on smokejumpers to help fight the

By DAVID BRUNAT Associated Press BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spanish police have arrested six young Germans for allegedly raping an 18-year-old German woman on Spain’s Mallorca island in the Mediterranean. Police said Friday that the alleged gang rape occurred in a hotel room in the popular tourist spot of Playa de Palma on Thursday. The

By AIJAZ RAHI and ASHOK SHARMA Associated Press SRIHARIKOTA, India (AP) — An Indian spacecraft blazed its way toward the far side of the moon Friday in a follow-up mission to its failed effort nearly four years ago to land a rover on the lunar surface, the country’s space agency said. Chandrayaan-3, the word for

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Health Security Agency said that measles vaccination rates in parts of London have dropped so low that the capital could see tens of thousands of cases of the rash-causing disease. The agency said on Friday that although the risk of an outbreak across the U.K. was low, the current levels of

By EDNA TARIGAN, DAVID RISING and JIM GOMEZ Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has met China’s top diplomat to discuss thorny issues as part of efforts to nurture talks on the sidelines of regional diplomatic meetings in Indonesia. United States officials said Blinken stressed the importance of maintaining

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A Dutch court has convicted a man of killing two people at an activity farm for people with mental disabilities and limitations and earlier fatally shooting a man to test his weapon. He was sentenced Friday to life imprisonment for the murders and two attempted murders. The defendant fatally shot