News

By TOM DAVIES Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The nation’s midsection is heading into the July Fourth weekend and instead of enjoying the start of summer people are facing smoky haze, high temperatures and powerful derecho winds that knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of residents. Utility crews were scrambling Friday to restore electricity

By SYLVIE CORBET, JOHN LEICESTER and ALEX TURNBULL Associated Press PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron urged parents Friday to keep teenagers at home and proposed restrictions on social media to quell rioting spreading across France over the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old driver that has resulted so far in the arrests of

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey got a thrill preying on other men and escalated his behavior from touchy-feely advances to hostile fondling and worse, a prosecutor told jurors Friday during Spacey’s sexual assault trial in London. Spacey is “a man who does not respect personal boundaries or space,

By LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — Hungary and Poland have vetoed a statement by European Union leaders laying out their migration priorities in a symbolic gesture of protest. The two anti-migrant governments took the action on Friday because they were angry at being outvoted on a landmark deal to reform EU asylum rules.

By KEN SWEET AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — A group of Democratic senators is asking the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to take action against medical credit cards such as CareCredit, saying the cards’ deferred interest features are confusing and often lead to consumers paying high interest rates after a promotional period has ended.

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A sharply divided Supreme Court ruled Friday that the Biden administration overstepped its authority in trying to cancel or reduce student loans for millions of Americans. The 6-3 decision, with conservative justices in the majority, effectively killed the $400 billion plan, announced by President Joe Biden last

By ALI SWENSON and JILL COLVIN Associated Press PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says that 2024 will be the year that parents “finally fight back” as he kicks off an annual gathering of Moms for Liberty that is drawing top GOP candidates. The group was founded in Florida in 2021 to fight local

By SAM METZ Associated Press LOGAN, Utah (AP) — High up in the mountains, amid pinyon pine and quaking aspen trees, the remaining remnants of the winter’s snow is dotted with hues of pinks, purples and oranges. Hikers, campers and church youth groups journeying by grasp it in their palms and liken it to flavored

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has been cleared of wrongdoing by a public watchdog over a scandal involving the theft of more than half a million dollars in U.S. currency that had been stashed in a sofa at his farm. Acting Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka said Friday

By DAVID SHARP Associated Press COLUMBIA FALLS, Maine (AP) — Lobster boat engines rumble to life in quiet coves. Lumberjacks trudge deep into the woods. Farmers tend expanses of wild blueberries. Maine’s Down East region is where the sunlight first kisses the East Coast of the United States each day, where the vast wilderness and

By The Associated Press Did mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin have inside help from the military and political elite in his armed rebellion that rattled Russia? A week after the mutiny raised the most daunting challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s rule in over two decades, key details about the uprising are still unknown. Uncertainty also swirls

By MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press The Canadian wildfires that have shrouded much of the nation in smoky haze are making it much harder for American kids to enjoy one of the staples of summer camp: fresh country air. As a result, many camps in the Midwest and the East have been moving activities indoors, seeking

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — An inflation index that is closely monitored by the Federal Reserve tumbled last month to its lowest level since April 2021, pulled down by lower gas prices and slower-rising food costs. At the same time, consumers barely increased their spending last month, boosting it just 0.1%,

By SYLVIE CORBET, JOHN LEICESTER and ALEX TURNBULL Associated Press NANTERRE, France (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron is urging parents to keep teenagers at home to quell rioting spreading across France and says social media are fueling copycat violence. After a second crisis meeting with senior ministers, Macron said Friday that social media are

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The economic affairs minister in Finland’s new center-right governing coalition has resigned after 10 days in the job for his alleged ties to the extreme right wing. Vilhelm Junnila, a member of anti-immigration Finns Party gave a speech in connection with a far-right memorial, Finnish media reported. He also has made