Top General News

Norway, Ireland and Spain say they will recognize a Palestinian state, deepening Israel's isolation

May. 22, 2024 16:42 PM EDT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Norway, Ireland and Spain said Wednesday they would recognize a Palestinian state, a historic but largely symbolic move that further deepens Israel’s isolation more than seven months into its grinding war against Hamas in Gaza. Israel denounced the decisions and recalled...

How 2 debunked accounts of sexual violence on Oct. 7 fueled a global dispute over Israel-Hamas war

May. 22, 2024 03:20 AM EDT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Chaim Otmazgin had tended to dozens of shot, burned or mutilated bodies before he reached the home that would put him at the center of a global clash. Working in a kibbutz that was ravaged by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, Otmazgin — a volunteer commander with ZAKA, an...

Nikki Haley says she will vote for Donald Trump following their disputes during Republican primary

May. 22, 2024 17:39 PM EDT

Nikki Haley said Wednesday that she will be voting for Donald Trump in the general election, a notable show of support given their intense and often personal rivalry during the Republican primary calendar. But Haley also made it clear that she feels Trump has work to do to win over...

Lara Trump is taking the reins and reshaping the RNC in her father-in-law’s image

May. 22, 2024 14:15 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The direction of the Republican National Committee is clear from the last name of its new second-in-command: Trump. “My No. 1 goal is making sure that Donald Trump is the 47th president,” said Lara Trump, the RNC co-chair, in an Associated Press interview. ...

British prime minister sets July 4 election as his Conservatives face biggest challenge in a decade

May. 22, 2024 17:08 PM EDT

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday set July 4 as the date for a national election that will determine who governs the U.K., as his divided and demoralized Conservative Party faces its biggest challenge to its 14-year rule. “Now is the moment for Britain...

Use of Wegovy and other weight-loss drugs soars among kids and young adults

May. 22, 2024 13:50 PM EDT

At 17, Israel McKenzie was so burdened by obesity that he stopped going to high school in person and was embarrassed to speak to people at his restaurant job. “I was in a really dark place,” says McKenzie, whose weight had climbed to 335 pounds on his 6-foot-1 frame, despite...

Authorities still search for survivors after tornado slams Iowa; at least 1 dead

May. 22, 2024 17:16 PM EDT

GREENFIELD, Iowa (AP) — Authorities in Iowa continued search and rescue efforts Wednesday while surviving residents picked through the debris strewn on the land where their homes had stood a day after a deadly tornado devastated the town of Greenfield and killed an undisclosed number of people. ...

GOP candidate for NC governor blasts public spending as his family nonprofit rakes in taxpayer funds

May. 22, 2024 07:45 AM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — In his bid to become North Carolina’s first Black governor, Republican Mark Robinson assails government safety net spending as a “plantation of welfare and victimhood" that has mired generations of Black people in “dependency” and poverty. But the...

Daily marijuana use outpaces daily drinking in the US, a new study says

May. 22, 2024 16:28 PM EDT

For the first time, the number of Americans who use marijuana just about every day has surpassed the number who drink that often, a shift some 40 years in the making as recreational pot use became more mainstream and legal in nearly half of U.S. states. In 2022, an estimated 17.7...

If this is Rafael Nadal’s last French Open, it should be similar to Serena Williams’ last US Open

May. 22, 2024 09:41 AM EDT

If this is, as expected, Rafael Nadal's final French Open, it will be one that everyone — the 37-year-old Spaniard included — surely will remember vividly. No matter how healthy the guy everyone calls “Rafa” might be. No matter how long his stay in the bracket lasts. No...

Latest General News

Families of Israeli hostages release video of female soldiers being captured by Hamas

May. 22, 2024 18:04 PM EDT

JERUSALEM (AP) — A group representing the families of hostages held in Gaza has released new video footage showing Hamas’ capture of five female Israeli soldiers near the Gaza border on Oct. 7. The video shows several of the young soldiers bloody and wounded. In one scene, a...

Person fatally shot by Washington state trooper during altercation on I-5 identified as Idaho man

May. 22, 2024 18:03 PM EDT

EVERETT, Wash. (AP) — The person who was fatally shot by a Washington state trooper during an altercation on Interstate 5 north of Seattle last week has been identified as an Idaho man. The Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office said the man was 31-year-old Marvin Arellano...

California advances legislation cracking down on stolen goods resellers and auto theft

May. 22, 2024 18:03 PM EDT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The California Senate approved a bipartisan package of 15 bills Wednesday that would increase penalties for organized crime rings, expand drug court programs and close a legal loophole to make it easier to prosecute auto thefts. One proposal would require...

Abrupt shutdown of financial middleman Synapse has frozen thousands of Americans' deposits

May. 22, 2024 17:57 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — The bank accounts of tens of thousands of U.S. businesses and consumers have been frozen in the aftermath of the abrupt shutdown and bankruptcy of financial technology company Synapse, which acts as a middleman between financial technology companies and banks. ...

Lawmakers call for further inquiry into Virginia prison that had hypothermia hospitalizations

May. 22, 2024 17:57 PM EDT

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A raft of hypothermia hospitalizations and other questionable conditions at a Virginia prison uncovered in a recent report deserve further scrutiny, leading Democratic state lawmakers said this week. Lawmakers pledged to press Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin's...

Families of Uvalde school shooting victims are suing Texas state police over botched response

May. 22, 2024 17:52 PM EDT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The families of 19 of the victims in the Uvalde elementary school shooting in Texas on Wednesday filed a $500 million federal lawsuit against nearly 100 state police officers who were part of the botched law enforcement response to one of the deadliest school shootings in...

FBI agents raided the office and business of a Mississippi prosecutor, but no one is saying why

May. 22, 2024 17:48 PM EDT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The FBI on Wednesday raided a local prosecutor's office and business in Mississippi's capital city, although officials declined to say whether Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens is suspected of wrongdoing. FBI agents spent hours searching a cigar bar...

Using AI, Mastercard expects to find compromised cards quicker, before they get used by criminals

May. 22, 2024 17:46 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Mastercard said Wednesday that it expects to be able to discover that your credit or debit card number has been compromised well before it ends up in the hands of a cybercriminal. In its latest software update rolling out this week, Mastercard is integrating...

Wind towers crumpled after Iowa wind farm suffers rare direct hit from powerful twister

May. 22, 2024 17:46 PM EDT

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A wind farm in southwest Iowa suffered a direct hit from a powerful tornado that crumpled five of the massive, power-producing towers, including one that burst into flames. But experts say fortunately such incidents are rare. Video of the direct hit on the wind...

First aid from US pier in Gaza has reached starving Palestinians, the UN says

May. 22, 2024 17:46 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.N. World Food Program said Wednesday that it has handed out in Gaza in recent days a “limited number” of high-energy biscuits that arrived from a U.S.-built pier, the first aid from the new humanitarian sea route to get into the hands of Palestinians in grave need. ...