AP National News

By SAM MEDNICK and JACK JEFFERY Associated Press TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A delegation of the Palestinian militant group Hamas was in Cairo on Saturday as Egyptian state media reported “noticeable progress” in ongoing cease-fire talks with Israel while an Israeli official downplayed the prospects for a full end to the war. Pressure has

By EVELYNE MUSAMBI Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A major blackout has hit most of Tanzania as heavy rains and strong winds from Cyclone Hidaya lashed the country following weeks of flooding in the region. Ferry services between Tanzania’s commercial hub, Dar es Salaam, and Zanzibar were suspended as Cyclone Hidaya approached the East

By PAN PYLAS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Kevin Spacey, the Oscar-winning actor, has denied new allegations of inappropriate behaviour from men who will feature in a documentary on British television that is due to be released next week. In an online interview with journalist Dan Wootton, Spacey said he has never done anything illegal

BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country’s mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people. Wang Xiangnan was driving Wednesday along the highway

By BETH HARRIS AP Racing Writer LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Twenty horses stampeding toward the first turn in a battle for position. A screaming crowd of 150,000 and maybe some showers that dampen the Churchill Downs dirt strip. It’s the 150th Kentucky Derby. Beyond a couple early wagering favorites, it’s a wide-open race. Post time

By PAN PYLAS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — London takes center stage as the counting of votes is underway in the capital city’s mayoral contest, a day after Britain’s governing Conservative Party suffered a drubbing in local election results. Sadiq Khan, the Labour Party mayor who is chasing a historic third straight election win, had

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Ukrainian village of Ocheretyne has been battered by fighting, drone footage obtained overnight by The Associated Press shows. The village has been a target for Russian forces in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. Russian troops have been advancing in the area, pounding Kyiv’s depleted,

By DENG MACHOL Associated Press JUNA, South Sudan (AP) — South Sudan has removed recently imposed taxes and fees that had triggered the suspension of U.N. food airdrops. The United Nations had earlier this week urged South Sudanese authorities to remove the new taxes, introduced in February. Thousands of people in the country depend on

By EVELYNE MUSAMBI Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Tanzania’s power distributing company has announced a major blackout for most parts of the country due to the power grid’s failure ahead of approaching Cyclone Hidaya. The metrological department says the cyclone continues toward the coastline. Heavy rainfall and strong winds have been reported in the

By JUAN A. LOZANO and LEKAN OYEKANMI Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — High waters flooded neighborhoods around Houston on Saturday following heavy rains that have already resulted in crews rescuing more than 400 people from homes, rooftops and roads engulfed in murky water. Others prepared to evacuate their property. A flood watch remained in effect

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations food agency warned Sudan’s warring parties Friday that there is a serious risk of widespread starvation and death in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan if they don’t allow humanitarian aid into the vast western region. Leni Kinzli, the World Food Program’s regional

By CHEVEL JOHNSON RODRIGUE Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and producer PJ Morton comes home with a new album and memoir dropping soon amid a Saturday afternoon performance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, which nears the end of an eight-day run. Morton said he looks forward every

By BETH HARRIS AP Racing Writer LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — As a record crowd cheered, American Pharoah rallied from behind and took aim at his remaining two rivals in the stretch. The bay colt and jockey Victor Espinoza surged to the lead with a furlong to go and thundered across the finish line a length

By VALERIE GONZALEZ and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — For two decades, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar has stood out as a moderate Democrat along the Texas-Mexico border, bucking his party at times over guns and immigration while seldom facing a tough reelection. But a federal indictment accusing Cuellar of federal conspiracy and

By ERIK VERDUZCO and LEAH WILLINGHAM Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Saing Chhoeun was locked out of his Charlotte, North Carolina, home on Monday as law enforcement with high-powered rifles descended into his yard and garage, using a car as a shield as they were met with a shower of gunfire from the direction

By MARK STEVENSON Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican authorities said Friday that three bodies were recovered in an area of Baja California near where two Australians and an American went missing last weekend during an apparent camping and surfing trip. The state prosecutors office did not say whether the bodies were those of

By DAVID A. LIEB Associated Press As the U.S. government moves toward reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug, there may be little immediate impact in the dozen states that have not already legalized cannabis for widespread medical or recreational use by adults. But advocates for marijuana legalization hope a federal regulatory shift could eventually

By JOSH FUNK AP Business Writer OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Warren Buffett’s company reported a steep drop in earnings Saturday because the paper value of its investments fell, but the tens of thousands of shareholders filling an Omaha arena to hear Buffett answer questions at the annual meeting later can take heart that Berkshire’s Hathaway’s

By SEUNG MIN KIM, JILL COLVIN and CALVIN WOODWARD Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden and Donald Trump are two presidents with unfinished business and an itch to get it done. Their track records and plans on abortion, immigration, taxes, wars abroad — you name it — leave no doubt that the man voters