AP National News

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A 7.7 magnitude earthquake Friday in the far Pacific created small tsunami waves in Vanuatu. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said waves 60 centimeters (2 feet) above tide level were measured off Lenakel, a port town in the island nation. Smaller waves were measured elsewhere off Vanuatu and off New

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea will send a 21-member team of government experts to Japan next week to visit the Fukushima nuclear power plant where they will review contentious Japanese plans to release treated but slightly radioactive water into the sea. Officials said the six-day visit starting Sunday

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A 95-year-old woman was in critical condition Friday, two days after police shocked her with a stun gun as she approached them with a walking frame and a steak knife in an Australian nursing home. The extraordinary police takedown of dementia sufferer Clare Nowland in the

By ZEKE MILLER, FOSTER KLUG and ELAINE KURTENBACH Associated Press HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) — Leaders of the world’s most powerful democracies huddled Friday to discuss new ways to punish Russia for its 15-month invasion of Ukraine, days before President Volodymyr Zelenskyy joins the Group of Seven summit in person on Sunday. Zelenskyy will be making

By TERRY TANG and JACQUES BILLEAUD Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — The trial over Kari Lake’s challenge to her defeat in the Arizona governor’s race will go for a third day. Attorneys for the defendants, which include Gov. Katie Hobbs, asked the judge on Thursday to enter a judgement despite without hearing from their witnesses.

BEIJING (AP) — Echoing the crackdown on freedoms in neighboring Hong Kong, the former Portuguese colony of Macao has revised its legal system to face “new adverse challenges in terms of national security.” The government of the tiny enclave, heavily dependent on its gambling industry, said changes to the Law on Safeguarding National Security are

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping has promised to build more railway and other trade links with Central Asia and proposed jointly developing oil and gas sources at a meeting with the region’s leaders that highlighted Beijing’s growing influence. The two-day China-Central Asia Summit in the western city of Xi’an came as President Joe

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH Associated Press Social media has law enforcement facing increasing pressure to release information fast amid a surge of mass shootings. Police began to harness social media a decade ago, most famously after the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013. The four-day manhunt ended with police tweeting: “CAPTURED!!! The hunt is over.” It was

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mostly higher Friday as hopes grow that the U.S. Congress will reach a deal to avoid defaulting on the nation’s debt. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.8% in early trading to 30,827.87. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.5% to 7,270.20. South Korea’s Kospi added

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A 7.7 magnitude earthquake Friday in the far Pacific posed a tsunami threat for Vanuatu. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said waves up to 1 meter (3 feet) above tides were possible for Vanuatu. That’s much lower than the initial forecast. New Zealand’s National Emergency Management Agency said it was

By TARA COPP Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — For months, Western allies have shipped billions of dollars worth of weapons systems and ammunition to Ukraine with an urgency to get the supplies to Kyiv in time for an anticipated spring counteroffensive. Now summer is just weeks away. While Russia and Ukraine are focused on an

By MARGERY A. BECK Associated Press LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Conservative Nebraska lawmakers are expected to have just enough votes to pass a bill Friday that combines a ban on gender-affirming care for minors with a 12-week abortion ban. The mood in the Nebraska Capitol since the hybrid measure was advanced Tuesday by a single

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and ERIC TUCKER Associated Press A judge is poised to decide Friday whether a Massachusetts Air National Guard member accused of leaking highly classified military documents will remain behind bars while he awaits trial. Jack Teixeira is due back in federal court in Worcester, Massachusetts, where a magistrate judge is expected

By DEEPTI HAJELA Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Jordan Neely, whose chokehold death on the New York City subway set off a debate about vigilantism, homelessness and public safety, will be mourned by his family Friday at a church in Harlem. A former Michael Jackson impersonator who had been struggling with mental illness and

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE and FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — About two-thirds of U.S. adults say they are highly concerned about the impact on the national economy if the U.S. debt limit is not increased and the government defaults on its loans, according to a new poll, even as few say they have a

By SHARON JOHNSON Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — On the weekend in March when Brittany Glover would have turned 34, her mother stood on the same busy road in Atlanta where her daughter died six months earlier. Glover, a flight attendant with a passion for clothes, was coming from an entertainment venue during the early

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The executive committee of Minnesota’s Democratic Farmer Labor Party gave initial approval to bylaws that will permanently ban people who engage in or incite violent acts from participating in party activities. The bylaws now go on to the state party’s central committee for final approval. The executive committee held an emergency meeting

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A wrongful death lawsuit accuses several establishments of overserving the alleged drunken driver who police say slammed into newlyweds riding along a South Carolina beach road in a crash that killed the bride. The complaint alleges four bars gave “copious amounts of alcohol” to a “visibly intoxicated” woman before she drove

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador’s Constitutional Court has rejected multiple challenges that sought to invalidate President Guillermo Lasso decree dissolving the opposition-led National Assembly as it tried to oust him in an impeachment trial. With Thursday’s ruling, there are no impediments for the country’s electoral body to call elections for president and the legislature, which