AP National News

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A Malaysian defense contractor nicknamed “Fat Leonard” who orchestrated one of the largest bribery scandals in U.S. military history has been arrested in Venezuela after fleeing before his sentencing, authorities said Wednesday. The international manhunt for Leonard Glenn Francis ended with his arrest by Venezuelan authorities Tuesday morning at the Caracas

By JOSHUA GOODMAN Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — Investigators say they found evidence a former Trump official who heads Latin America’s biggest development bank carried on a romantic relationship with his chief of staff — a bond they allegedly forged in a pact scribbled on the back of a restaurant place mat: “We deserve absolute

By DÁNICA COTO Associated Press CAGUAS, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Fiona was on a track Thursday to menace Bermuda and far-eastern Canada after leaving hundreds of people stranded across Puerto Rico, where it smashed roads and bridges and caused historic flooding. Government officials have been working with religious groups, nonprofits and others braving landslides,

By PIA SARKAR Associated Press While world leaders from wealthy countries acknowledge the “existential threat” of climate change, Tuvalu Prime Minister Kausea Natano is racing to save his tiny island nation from drowning by raising it 13 to 16 feet (4 to 5 meters) above sea level through land reclamation. While experts issue warnings about

By JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is reaching out to local governments. It hosted officials from North Carolina on Thursday to highlight funding opportunities and hear firsthand how coronavirus relief, infrastructure dollars and other policies are faring in communities. A key message for the visit by North Carolina officials is

By DAVE COLLINS and PAT EATON-ROBB Associated Press WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) — Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones appeared in court Thursday in Connecticut as he and his lawyer try to limit damages he must pay for promoting the lie that the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre was a hoax. More than a dozen family members of

By MALLIKA SEN Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — After two years of discourse dominated by the coronavirus pandemic, the war in Ukraine has taken center stage at this year’s U.N. General Assembly. The pleas made by leaders from around the world for peace were both an altruistic amplification of besieged Ukrainians’ plight as well

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Ukraine’s president laid out a detailed case against Russia’s invasion at the United Nations and demanded punishment from world leaders in a speech delivered just hours after Moscow made an extraordinary announcement that it would mobilize some reservists for the war effort. Buoyed by a counteroffensive

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve delivered its bluntest reckoning Wednesday of what it will take to finally tame painfully high inflation: Slower growth, higher unemployment and potentially a recession. Speaking at a news conference, Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged what many economists have been saying for months: That the

By SOPHENG CHEANG and GRANT PECK Associated Press PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — An international court convened in Cambodia to judge the brutalities of the Khmer Rouge regime that caused the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people in the 1970s is ending its work after taking 16 years to convict just three men of

By JOHN HANNA AP Political Writer TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ Democratic governor declares in a new television ad that she agrees men don’t belong in women’s sports. The ad for Gov. Laura Kelly launched Wednesday seeks to blunt Republican attacks over her vetoing two proposals to ban transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s school

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets followed Wall Street lower on Thursday after the Federal Reserve delivered another big interest rate hike to cool galloping inflation and raised its outlook for more. Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney declined. Oil prices gained. Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index fell

By ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL AP Science Writer BENGALURU, India (AP) — Eight-year-old Jerifa Islam only remembers the river being angry, its waters gnawing away her family’s farmland and waves lashing their home during rainy season flooding. Then one day in July of 2019, the mighty Brahmaputra River swallowed everything. Her home in the Darrang district of

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Joan Didion’s precision with words extended even to ones she would never live to hear, such as those used during a small, private service this spring at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. “She left very clear directions about what she wanted to happen

CLARE, Mich. (AP) — A woman pleaded guilty Wednesday to killing her father, sister and two handymen in rural mid-Michigan last year. Judy Boyer, 55, of Farwell admitted in court to killing all four with a .22-caliber rifle on Oct. 20, 2021, the Morning Sun reported. Police were called to her father’s home that day

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The governments of South Korea and Japan say their leaders have agreed to accelerate efforts to mend ties frayed over Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. The announcement Thursday followed their countries’ first summit in nearly three years on the sidelines of the United

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — British Prime Minister Liz Truss has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of making “saber-rattling threats” to cover his failed invasion of Ukraine. It comes as Truss tells the United Nations that its founding principles are fracturing because of aggression by authoritarian states. In her debut speech

By AYA BATRAWY Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Inside the grand hall of the United Nations, the world’s leaders are convening this week. Each is taking a turn to speak at the high-level leaders’ meeting at the U.N. General Assembly. It’s a practice rooted in diplomatic decorum and strict protocol. But walk a few

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency says he’ll meet with Ukraine’s and Russia’s foreign ministers in a bid to establish a safety and security zone around a nuclear plant in southeastern Ukraine that is Europe’s largest. The Zaporizhzhia power plant has faced almost

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine announced a high-profile prisoner swap early Thursday that culminated months of efforts to free many of the Ukrainian fighters who defended a steel plant in Mariupol during a long Russian siege. In exchange, Ukraine gave up an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. President Volodymr Zelenskky said his government had