AP National News

By GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A candidate seeking the Republican nomination for a central North Carolina congressional seat has announced she’s suspending her campaign days before her primary runoff election.  Johnston County attorney Kelly Daughtry released her decision on Thursday and endorsed her runoff rival Brad Knott in the 13th

By KIM CHANDLER Associated Press MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama has authorized the execution of a second inmate by nitrogen gas. The decision comes after the state carried out the first nitrogen execution in January. The Alabama Supreme Court on Thursday granted the state attorney general’s request for an execution date for Alan Eugene Miller.

By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A judge declared a mistrial after a jury said it was deadlocked and couldn’t reach a verdict in the trial of a military contractor accused of contributing to the abuse of detainees at the Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq two decades ago. The mistrial Thursday came

By MARK M. MENGONFIA and JESSICA DONATI Associated Press MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — Liberian President Joseph Boakai has signed an executive order to create a long-awaited war crimes court to deliver justice to the victims of Liberia’s two civil wars. The conflicts were characterized by the widespread and systematic use of mass killings, torture and

NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyer Keith Davidson has concluded his testimony in Donald Trump’s hush money trial after spending over six hours on the witness stand over two days. Prosecutors have since called a forensic analyst to the stand. Thursday’s proceedings began with a contempt hearing over whether Trump again violated his gag order. The

By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — The start of the first civil trial stemming from the 2021 Astroworld festival, at which 10 people were killed in a crowd surge, has been delayed. Jury selection had been set to begin next Tuesday in the wrongful-death lawsuit filed the family of Madison Dubiski, a

By KATE BRUMBACK Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s governor has signed a bill putting new regulations on the production and sale of products containing kratom, a plant-based supplement. The law was signed Thursday. It takes effect Jan. 1 and prohibits the sale of kratom to anyone under 21. The law says it must be

By ALLEN G. BREED and JOCELYN GECKER Associated Press In a way, the black-and-white Palestinian scarf draped over Hannah Sattler’s shoulders this week and the tie-dyed T-shirts of 1968 are woven from a common thread. Like so many college students across the country protesting the Israel-Hamas war, Sattler feels the historic weight of the anti-Vietnam

NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyer Keith Davidson has returned to the witness stand in Donald Trump’s hush money trial following a contempt hearing over whether Trump has again violated his gag order. The judge did not immediately rule Thursday on four more alleged violations of the mandate barring Trump from speaking publicly about witnesses and

By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are rising Thursday to trim their losses for the week. The S&P 500 was 0.9% higher in late trading, a day after swinging sharply when the Federal Reserve said it’s likely delaying cuts to interest rates but not planning to hike them. It

HOUSTON (AP) — Torrential rain has caused flooding in southeastern Texas. Officials in one county are asking residents to leave. Water is being released from a dam and could cause flooding. Officials in Montgomery County on the northern edge of Harris County and Houston on Thursday asked residents to evacuate. The National Weather Service says

By TRAVIS LOLLER Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The fate of a decades-old Tennessee policy that does not allow transgender people to change the sex designation on their birth certificates is in the hands of a federal appeals court. A group of four transgender women born in Tennessee wants the policy declared unconstitutional. A

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS says it’s taken steps to address a wide disparity in audit rates between Black taxpayers and others filers. And the agency is more closely examining the returns of larger numbers of wealthy people and major companies. The IRS says in an annual report that it’s

The Associated Press A study by the nonprofit Brookings Institution says Russian state-affiliated accounts have boosted their use of TikTok and are getting more engagement on the short-form video platform ahead of the U.S. presidential election. The report published Thursday states that Russia is increasingly using TikTok to disseminate Kremlin messages in both English and

By The Associated Press The number of people arrested in connection with protests on college campuses against the Israel-Hamas war has now topped 2,000. The Associated Press has tallied arrests at 35 schools since the protests began at Columbia University on April 17. Student protests have popped up at many college and university campuses over

By DÁNICA COTO Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Gangs in Haiti have laid siege to several neighborhoods in the capital, burning homes and exchanging gunfire with police for hours in one of the biggest attacks since Haiti’s new prime minister was announced. Hundreds fled the violence early Thursday. The attacks began late Wednesday in

By The Associated Press The number of people arrested in connection with protests on college campuses against Israel’s war in Gaza has now topped 2,000. The Associated Press has tallied arrests at 35 schools since the protests began at Columbia University on April 18. Student protests have popped up at many college and university campuses

NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyer Keith Davidson has returned to the witness stand in Donald Trump’s hush money trial following a contempt hearing over whether Trump has again violated his gag order. The judge did not immediately rule Thursday on four more alleged violations of the mandate barring Trump from speaking publicly about witnesses and

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The head of Greece’s extreme far-right Golden Dawn party has been granted conditional early release from prison. He had been serving a 13-year sentence for running a criminal organization blamed for numerous violent hate crimes. A council of judges accepted the request by Nikolaos Michaloliakos, 66, who had served the minimal

By BASSEM MROUE, LEE KEATH and SAM MEDNICK Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Hamas said Thursday that it was sending a delegation to Egypt for further cease-fire talks, in a new sign of progress in attempts by international mediators to hammer out an agreement between Israel and the militant group to end the war in