AP National News

By BARBARA SURK and JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press PARIS (AP) — President Emmanuel Macron convened a meeting of top ministers to discuss spiraling violence in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia after at least two people were killed and four others were seriously injured, including a gendarme, according to officials there and French media

By JOSEPH KRAUSS, ABBY SEWELL and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinians across the Middle East on Wednesday are marking the anniversary of their mass expulsion from what is now Israel with protests and other events at a time of mounting concern over the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. The Nakba, Arabic for “catastrophe,”

By RAF CASERT Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — Anti-Islam firebrand Geert Wilders is on the verge of brokering a four-party coalition in the Netherlands six months after coming in first in national elections, opening the prospect that yet another European Union nation will veer toward the hard right weeks ahead of EU-wide elections. Wilders has

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defenses shot down 10 U.S.-supplied Ukrainian missiles targeting Crimea early Wednesday just as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was visiting Kyiv. The ministry said 10 U.S.-supplied Ukrainian ATACMS missiles were destroyed over the Black Sea over Crimea. Sevastopol Gov. Mikhail Razvozhayev said air defenses shot

By ZIMO ZHONG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Asian stocks were mostly higher on Wednesday after a rally on Wall Street that took the Nasdaq composite index to a record high. A report Tuesday showed that prices remain stubbornly high at the wholesale level in the United States, before many price changes are passed

By KASPARMAN PILIANG and NINIEK KARMINI Associated Press TANAH DATAR, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian authorities have seeded clouds in a bid to prevent further rainfall after flash floods that hit the country’s Sumatra Island over the weekend left at least 58 people dead. Another 35 are missing. A landslide of mud and cold lava from

By SHEIKH SAALIQ and KRUTIKA PATHI Associated Press MALAPPURAM, India (AP) — Preventing Muslim migrants from gaining citizenship. Revoking the semi-autonomy of the country’s only Muslim-majority region. Building a Hindu temple where a violent mob razed a mosque. These were political triumphs for Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the past decade, burnishing his reputation as

By LARRY NEUMEISTER and MIKE CATALINI Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The bribery trial of New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez is ready to start with opening statements Wednesday as prosecutors seek to convince a jury that the longtime powerful Democrat was corrupt. The three-term senator has insisted since his fall arrest that he is

By SAM METZ Associated Press TANGIERS, Morocco (AP) — Morocco has grown its automotive industry from virtually non-existent to Africa’s largest in less than two decades. The North African kingdom supplies more cars to Europe than China, India or Japan, and has the capacity to produce 700,000 vehicles a year. Moroccan officials are determined to

By DEEPTI HAJELA Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Some social media users are calling out celebrities for what they say is inaction in the face of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza — and they’ve taken to a “blockout” to pressure the stars to take a stand. For the blockout, users put a block on

By GERALD IMRAY Associated Press CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — After 30 years of dominating South African politics, the ruling African National Congress will face its toughest election this month as most opinion polls predict it will lose its parliamentary majority for the first time. Once admired under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, and

By ZIMO ZHONG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Asian stocks were mostly higher on Wednesday after a rally on Wall Street that took the Nasdaq composite index to a record high. A report Tuesday showed that prices remain stubbornly high at the wholesale level in the United States, before many price changes are passed

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — Eight watches belonging to auto racing icon Michael Schumacher sold Tuesday for nearly 4 million Swiss francs ($4.4 million) at a Geneva auction. The top piece in the sale was a watch given to the German superstar by former Ferrari CEO Jean Todt as a Christmas present

By MIKE SCHNEIDER and TERRY SPENCER Associated Press OCALA, Fla. (AP) — Mexican citizens were among those going to work at a Florida watermelon farm on Tuesday when the bus they were traveling in was sideswiped and crashed, killing eight people, officials said. Alicia Bárcena, Mexico’s foreign relations secretary, on Tuesday said via the social

By ZEN SOO AP Technology Writer HONG KONG (AP) — YouTube has blocked access to videos of a protest song in Hong Kong, days after court approved an injunction banning the song in the city. “Glory to Hong Kong” was an anthem of anti-government protests in 2019. YouTube said that it would comply with a

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — First-year students at the U.S. Naval Academy are taking part in the annual Herndon Monument Climb, a ritual that marks the end of their plebe year. Members of the Class of 2027 will work together Wednesday morning to scale the greased 21-foot obelisk to replace a white plebe “Dixie cup” hat

By JULIA DIAS CARNEIRO and DIARLEI RODRIGUES Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — It all started with nifty leg movements, strong steps backwards and forwards, paced to Brazilian funk music. Then it adopted moves from break dancing, samba, capoeira, frevo — whatever was around. The passinho, a dance style created in the 2000s by

By ANNIE MA AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Seventy years ago this week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled separating children in schools by race was unconstitutional. On paper, that decision — the fabled Brown v. Board of Education, taught in most every American classroom — still stands. But for decades, American schools have been