AP National News

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Dozens of Islamic Jihad militants have displayed life-sized replicas of their rockets during a parade in the Gaza Strip. Wednesday’s rally was a show of defiance after three days of heavy fighting with Israel earlier this month. The flare-up left 49 Palestinians dead, including the militant group’s top two commanders

By KATIE TAM Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — A tropical storm was forecast to make landfall in southern China later Thursday after bringing rain and stiff winds to Hong Kong overnight as it passed to the south of the Asian financial center. China’s National Meteorological Center said Tropical Storm Ma-on was heading northwest at

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea says it found four new fever cases in its border region with China that may have been caused by coronavirus infections, two weeks after leader Kim Jong Un declared a widely disputed victory over COVID-19. North Korean state media said Thursday that health

By REBECCA BOONE Associated Press A federal judge in Idaho has barred the state from enforcing a strict abortion ban in medical emergencies over concerns that it violates a federal law on emergency care. The ruling Wednesday evening came after a federal judge this week in Texas made the opposite call, barring the federal government

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS Associated Press JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A conservative federal appeals court has upheld Mississippi’s removal of voting rights from people convicted of certain felonies. Attorneys who challenged the provision argued that authors of the state’s 1890 constitution showed racist intent in setting the disenfranchising felonies by choosing crimes they thought were

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon is shutting down the hybrid virtual, in-home care service it’s spent years developing. It’s a surprising move that underscores the challenges Amazon faces as it moves into health care. Neil Lindsay, senior vice president of Amazon Health Services, said in an email sent to staff that Amazon Care will end

By ACACIA CORONADO Associated Press UVALDE, Texas (AP) — The Uvalde school district fired police chief Pete Arredondo on Wednesday under mounting pressure in the grieving Texas town to punish officers over letting a gunman at Robb Elementary School remain in a fourth-grade classroom for more than an hour with an AR-15 style rifle as

By CORA LEWIS and ADRIANA MORGA Associated Press New York (AP) — President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program announced on Wednesday aims to provide $10,000 in student debt cancellation for millions of Americans. But for federal Pell grant recipients, that amount is $20,000. Pell grants were created by the Higher Education Act in 1965

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations chief is calling on Myanmar’s military-installed government to include ethnic Rohingya in a solution to the country’s political crisis. The comment came Wednesday on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the start of the Muslim minority’s mass exodus to Bangladesh to

By ANDREW DALTON Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kobe Bryant’s widow was awarded $16 million as part of a $31 million jury verdict Wednesday against Los Angeles County for deputies and firefighters sharing grisly photos of the NBA star, his 13-year-old daughter and other victims killed in a 2020 helicopter crash. The nine jurors

WAUKEGAN, Ill. (AP) — A suburban Chicago police department says one of its officers fatally shot a man who was advancing toward him armed with a knife, a hammer and had a gas can taped to his chest. The shooting happened Wednesday afternoon in Waukegan, about 42 miles north of Chicago. Police say an officer

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — A local North Carolina district attorney has announced she won’t prosecute a police officer who authorities said fatally shot a man during a suspected car theft earlier this year. Cabarrus County District Attorney Roxann Vaneekhoven revealed her decision involving now-former Concord officer Timothy Larson on Wednesday. She says the officer was

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California man who smuggled more than 1,700 wild animals into the United States, including 60 reptiles hidden in his clothing, pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges. Jose Manuel Perez, 30, of Oxnard, entered pleas to two counts of smuggling and a charge of wildlife trafficking. Prosecutors said that from 2016

By JOHN FLESHER AP Environmental Writer TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — The gray wolf population at Isle Royale National Park is healthy once more. Scientists reported Wednesday it has reached 28, only a few years after it had fallen to two. Health problems from inbreeding had caused a steady die-off, leading officials to bring replacements

By DON BABWIN and CLAIRE SAVAGE Associated Press/Report for America CHICAGO (AP) — Authorities say three juveniles and one adult have been shot near a high school on Chicago’s Northwest Side. Police say the victims  between the ages of 15 and 18 were wounded on Wednesday afternoon outside an ice cream shop near Carl Schurz

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A man hired last spring to carry out what appeared to be an active shooting at an Omaha, Nebraska, charity — complete with actors smeared with fake blood — has been criminally charged. John Channels, of Omaha, was arrested and charged Tuesday with five counts of making terroristic threats and one

By BIANCA VÁZQUEZ TONESS Associated Press For the millions whose entire student debt is being wiped out, the Biden administration’s announcement on forgiveness means new freedom to move, start a family or keep a low-paying but fulfilling job. But for many others, the long-awaited plan brings bitterness and frustration. Many student loan borrowers feel left

By ACACIA CORONADO Associated Press UVALDE, Texas (AP) — An attorney for Uvlade’s embattled school police leader defended the response of the Robb Elementary School massacre Wednesday in a scathing and defiant letter released just before the school board was set to consider firing Chief Pete Arredondo. Uvalde residents and families of the May 24

By COLLIN BINKLEY, SEUNG MIN KIM and CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 40 million Americans could see their student loan debt reduced — and in many cases eliminated — under the long-awaited forgiveness plan President Joe Biden announced Wednesday, a historic but politically divisive move in the run-up to the midterm