Top General News

South Africans begins voting in an election seen as their country's most important in 30 years

May. 29, 2024 01:27 AM EDT

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South Africans began voting Wednesday in an election seen as their country’s most important in 30 years, and one that could put their young democracy in unknown territory. At stake is the three-decade dominance of the African National Congress...

Netanyahu frequently makes claims of antisemitism. Critics say he's deflecting from his own problems

May. 29, 2024 00:03 AM EDT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — After the International Criminal Court’s top prosecutor sought arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his defense minister and top Hamas officials, the Israeli leader accused him of being one of “the great antisemites in modern times.” ...

Israeli strikes kill at least 37 Palestinians, most in tents, near Gaza's Rafah as offensive expands

May. 28, 2024 21:59 PM EDT

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli shelling and airstrikes killed at least 37 people, most of them sheltering in tents, outside the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight and on Tuesday — pummeling the same area where strikes triggered a deadly fire days earlier in a camp for displaced...

Jury in Trump's hush money case to begin deliberations after hearing instructions from judge

May. 29, 2024 00:07 AM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Jurors in Donald Trump's hush money trial are expected to begin deliberations Wednesday after receiving instructions from the judge on the law and the factors they may consider as they strive to reach a verdict in the first criminal case against a former American president. ...

Rallies and debates used to define campaigns. Now they're about juries and trials

May. 29, 2024 00:11 AM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump has been sitting for hours a day in a Manhattan courtroom, where his hush-money trial is nearing its end. On Monday, a trial is set to begin in Wilmington, Delaware, for President Joe Biden's son Hunter, who is accused of lying on a...

Mexico's next president is likely a woman. But in some Indigenous villages, men have all the power

May. 29, 2024 00:13 AM EDT

PLAN DE AYALA, Mexico (AP) — At 4:30 a.m., the girls and women begin to appear in the dark streets of this rural village of Tojolabal people in southern Mexico. They walk in silence. Some are headed to grind corn to make their family’s tortillas. Others fetch firewood to carry home, on their...

The toll of Beijing's security law on Hong Kong's activists

May. 28, 2024 22:06 PM EDT

HONG KONG (AP) — Activist Chan Po-ying is permitted only 15-minute daily visits to see her husband, Leung Kwok-hung, separated by a plexiglass barrier in a highly guarded Hong Kong jail. Leung, 68, is one of 47 activists who were prosecuted in the largest national security law...

Storm-weary Texas battered again as powerful storm, strong winds kill 1, cause widespread damage

May. 29, 2024 00:13 AM EDT

HOUSTON (AP) — Power outages remained widespread in storm-weary Texas after another burst of severe weather flooded streets, uprooted trees and ripped off roofs. Authorities said a teenager was killed at a construction site while working on a home that collapsed. The severe weather...

Transitional council in Haiti selects new prime minister for a country under siege by gangs

May. 28, 2024 21:52 PM EDT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — U.N. development specialist Garry Conille was named Haiti’s new prime minister Tuesday evening, nearly a month after a coalition within a fractured transitional council sought to choose someone else for the position. The long-awaited move comes as...

Pope apologizes after being quoted using vulgar term about gay men in talk about ban on gay priests

May. 28, 2024 14:24 PM EDT

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis apologized Tuesday after he was quoted using a vulgar and derogatory term about gay men to reaffirm the Catholic Church’s ban on gay priests. The ruckus that ensued underscored how the church’s official teaching about homosexuality often bumps...

Latest General News

Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will be indicted for royal defamation, prosecutors say

May. 29, 2024 02:12 AM EDT

BANGKOK (AP) — Thai prosecutors said Wednesday former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will be indicted for defaming the monarchy, three months after he was freed on parole on other charges. Thaksin will not yet be indicted because he had filed a request to postpone his original...

Georgian parliament overrides presidential veto of the divisive foreign influence bill

May. 29, 2024 01:54 AM EDT

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — The Georgian parliament on Tuesday overrode a presidential veto of the “foreign agents” bill that has prompted weeks of massive protests by critics who say it will restrict media freedom and obstruct Georgia’s chances of joining the European Union. The...

A bus plunges into a ravine in southwest Pakistan, killing at least 20 passengers

May. 29, 2024 01:45 AM EDT

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — A speeding passenger bus crashed off a mountainous highway and fell into a ravine in southwest Pakistan early Wednesday, killing at least 20 passengers, police and government officials said. Local police officer Asghar Ali said the accident happened in...

AP PHOTOS: Weeks of sweltering heat scorch northern India

May. 29, 2024 01:43 AM EDT

BIKANER, India (AP) — People in northern India have been struggling with an unrelenting, weekslong heat wave that has forced schools to close in some places and raised the risk of heatstrokes for laborers working outdoors. India’s weather department expects the high temperatures...

Butterflies, bees, bugs and more: The summer of insect-counting gets underway in Germany

May. 29, 2024 01:41 AM EDT

BERLIN (AP) — In a strip of greenery between Berlin’s Natural History Museum and a busy street, bumble bees move swiftly between flowers while a ladybug makes its way along a leaf full of aphids and bugs crawl about. Gardens, balconies, verges, fields, woods and patches of...

Sweden seeks to answer worried students' questions about NATO and war after its neutrality ends

May. 29, 2024 01:40 AM EDT

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) — The teacher's opening question to students in Stockholm is blunt: “Has joining NATO increased the threat to Sweden?” Sweden became the Western military alliance's 32nd member in March. The abrupt end to the Scandinavian country’s 200 years of...

US Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas fights off challenge from gun-rights activist in GOP runoff

May. 29, 2024 01:34 AM EDT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas narrowly won his primary Tuesday against a gun-rights activist who pushed the border congressman into a bruising runoff that threatened to unseat a U.S. House incumbent. Another prominent Texas Republican, state House...

2 people missing after building explosion in Youngstown, Ohio

May. 29, 2024 01:30 AM EDT

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) — Two people were missing and seven were injured when a natural gas explosion caused extensive damage to a building in downtown Youngtown, Ohio, authorities said. The blast, which occurred around 2:45 p.m. Tuesday, blew off the façade of Realty Tower....

South Africans begins voting in an election seen as their country's most important in 30 years

May. 29, 2024 01:27 AM EDT

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South Africans began voting Wednesday in an election seen as their country’s most important in 30 years, and one that could put their young democracy in unknown territory. At stake is the three-decade dominance of the African National Congress...

South Africans have begun voting in an election seen as their country's most important in 30 years

May. 29, 2024 01:17 AM EDT
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africans have begun voting in an election seen as their country's most important in 30 years.