Top General News

Police and pro-Palestinian demonstrators clash in tense scene at UCLA encampment

May. 02, 2024 09:14 AM EDT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Police removed barricades and began dismantling pro-Palestinian demonstrators’ fortified encampment early Thursday at the University of California, Los Angeles, after hundreds of protesters defied orders to leave, some of them forming human chains as police fired flash-bangs...

As Hamas considers cease-fire, question hangs: Will Israel end war without the group's destruction?

May. 02, 2024 09:30 AM EDT

BEIRUT (AP) — Hamas on Thursday was considering the latest proposal for a cease-fire with Israel that the United States and other mediators hope will avert an Israeli attack on the Gaza town of Rafah. But chances for the deal are entangled with the question of whether Israel can accept an end to...

Trump faces prospect of additional sanctions in hush money trial as key witness resumes testimony

May. 02, 2024 09:10 AM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump faces the prospect of additional sanctions in his hush money trial as he returns to court Thursday for another contempt hearing followed by testimony from a lawyer who represented two women who have said they had sexual encounters with the former president. ...

Abortion is still consuming US politics and courts 2 years after a Supreme Court draft was leaked

May. 02, 2024 00:14 AM EDT

Two years after a leaked draft of a U.S. Supreme Court opinion signaled that the nation's abortion landscape was about to shift dramatically, the issue is still consuming the nation's courts, legislatures and political campaigns — and changing the course of lives. On Wednesday, a...

No safety in retreat: Ukrainian soldiers say rear defensive lines barely exist amid Russian advance

May. 02, 2024 00:05 AM EDT

KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) — During pitched battles with far better-armed Russian forces, Ukrainian soldier Batyar’s unit has few options. Devastating Russian aerial glide bombs that can drop up to 1.5 tons of explosives out of range of most of Ukraine's air defenses are gnawing away...

Death toll jumps to at least 48 as a search continues in southern China highway collapse

May. 02, 2024 05:51 AM EDT

BEIJING (AP) — The death toll from a collapsed highway in southeastern China climbed to 48 on Thursday as searchers dug for a second day through a treacherous and mountainous area. One side of the four-lane highway in the city of Meizhou gave way about 2 a.m. on Wednesday after a...

Faceless people, invisible hands: New Army video aims to lure recruits for psychological operations

May. 02, 2024 00:32 AM EDT

FORT LIBERTY, N.C. (AP) — The video is unsettling, with haunting images of faceless people, fire and soldiers. The voiceover is a cascade of recognizable historical voices as the screen pulses cryptic messages touting the power of words, ideas and “invisible hands.” Hints of...

As India votes, misinformation surges on social media: 'The whole country is paying the price'

May. 02, 2024 01:15 AM EDT

NEW DELHI (AP) — Bollywood stars seldom weigh in on politics, so videos showing two celebrities criticizing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi — and endorsing his main opposition, the Congress party — were bound to go viral. But the clips of A-list actors Aamir Khan and...

At time of rising antisemitism, Holocaust survivors take on denial and hate in new digital campaign

May. 02, 2024 00:15 AM EDT

DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) — Herbert Rubinstein was 5 years old when he and his mother where taken from the Jewish ghetto of Chernivtsi and put on a cramped cattle wagon waiting to take them to their deaths. It was 1941, and Romanians collaborating with Germany's Nazis were rounding up tens of...

Student journalists are put to the test, and sometimes face danger, in covering protests on campus

May. 02, 2024 00:55 AM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Ordered by police to leave the scene of a UCLA campus protest after violence broke out, Catherine Hamilton and three colleagues from the Daily Bruin suddenly found themselves surrounded by demonstrators who beat, kicked and sprayed them with a noxious chemical. On...

Latest General News

What is at stake in UK local voting ahead of a looming general election

May. 02, 2024 10:00 AM EDT

LONDON (AP) — Millions of voters in England and Wales will cast their ballots on Thursday in an array of local elections that will be the last big test before a U.K. general election that all indicators show will see the Conservative Party ousted from power after 14 years. Prime...

The Latest | Trump could see more gag order sanctions as 10th day of hush money trial gets underway

May. 02, 2024 09:58 AM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump could face more sanctions over another round of potential gag order violations when witness testimony in his hush money trial resumes Thursday morning. Judge Juan M. Merchan will hold a hearing over four more online posts that prosecutors say violate...

Kyiv's forces are up against a concerted Russian push in eastern Ukraine, a military official says

May. 02, 2024 09:55 AM EDT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The situation on the front line in eastern Ukraine is worsening but local defenders are so far holding firm against a concerted push by Russia’s bigger and better-equipped forces, a senior Ukrainian military official said Thursday. Russia has amassed troops...

Biden keeps quiet as Gaza protesters and police clash on college campuses

May. 02, 2024 09:55 AM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is staying mum about student protests and police crackdowns as Republicans try to turn campus unrest over the war in Gaza into a campaign cudgel against Democrats. Tension at colleges and universities has been building for days as some...

Landmark Google antitrust case ready to conclude

May. 02, 2024 09:55 AM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for both the Department of Justice and Google will present arguments Thursday and Friday to conclude the biggest antitrust case in a quarter century. In closing arguments of a Washington, D.C., trial that began last September, regulators will apply the...

Organizers of Eurovision Song Contest ready to remove Palestinian flags or symbols

May. 02, 2024 09:54 AM EDT

GENEVA (AP) — Organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest said Thursday they reserve the right to remove any Palestinian flags and pro-Palestinian symbols at the show next week in Sweden. The announcement came amid heightened tensions surrounding Israel’s participation in the...

Stock market today: Wall Street opens higher, trimming its losses for the week

May. 02, 2024 09:38 AM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street to trim their losses for the week. The S&P 500 was up 0.7% in early trading Thursday, a day after swinging sharply when the Federal Reserve said it’s likely delaying cuts to interest rates, but not planning to raise them. The Dow...

About 4 in 10 Americans see China as an enemy, a Pew report shows. That's a five-year high

May. 02, 2024 09:41 AM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — About 4 in 10 Americans now label China as an enemy, up from a quarter two years ago and reaching the highest level in five years, according to an annual Pew Research Center survey released Wednesday. Half of Americans think of China as a competitor, and only 6%...

The Latest | Police break up protests, make arrests at UCLA, Yale, Dartmouth, New York schools

May. 02, 2024 09:39 AM EDT

Arrests continue on campuses around the U.S. as police dismantle camps of students protesting Israel’s war in Gaza. At UCLA, officers removed barricades and moved in on hundreds of protesters who defied orders to leave, scuffling with protesters and detaining some. Other arrests...

British police officer pleads guilty to terror charges for showing support for Hamas on WhatsApp

May. 02, 2024 09:38 AM EDT

LONDON (AP) — A British police officer pleaded guilty Thursday to terror charges for showing support on social media for Hamas, which is designated a terror group and banned in the U.K. West Yorkshire constable Mohammed Adil admitted sharing two images on WhatsApp supporting the...