AP National News

By CURT ANDERSON Associated Press ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A trio of lawsuits target a Florida law championed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis that restricts race-based conversation and analysis in business and education, the latest filed by college professors and students claiming it is blatantly unconstitutional. Known as the “Stop WOKE” act, the law

MILAN (AP) — Firefighters worked Thursday to put out the remnants of two wildfires on a Sicilian island that forced fashion designer Giorgio Armani and dozens of others to flee their vacation villas overnight. A photo from the island of Pantelleria showed flames appearing to encroach on Armani’s villa, but the Italian designer’s press office

By JAY REEVES Associated Press Rosalynn Carter, the second-oldest U.S. first lady ever, turns 95 Thursday on a birthday that will be marked not just with cards and best wishes, but with butterflies. The wife of former President Jimmy Carter, 97, has a fascination with butterflies dating back to childhood, when she was entranced by

By BRUCE SCHREINER and DYLAN LOVAN Associated Press FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s Supreme Court is keeping the state’s near-total abortion ban in effect. The high court says the state’s ban will remain in place while it reviews arguments by abortion clinics challenging the state law. It was the latest legal setback for the two

By SYLVIA HUI Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Thousands of train workers in Britain have staged a fresh round of strikes that is paralyzing rail services across the country. Only around one in five trains was running across the U.K. as a result of Thursday’s walkout by union members in an ongoing dispute over pay

BERLIN (AP) — Officials in Bremen said Thursday that an iconic lighthouse at the German city’s port has tilted sideways and could soon topple over entirely. Public broadcaster Radio Bremen quoted the head of the water police, Uwe Old, saying nothing could be done to save the lighthouse. “Unfortunately, I think the tower is going

By GRANT PECK Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi has testified in a prison courtroom in the capital Naypyitaw for the first time in her official secrets case. Suu Kyi, who has been detained since her government was ousted last year by the military, is being tried with  Australian

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s top court has refused to allow ex-Prime Minister Najib Razak’s new lawyer to withdraw from his graft case linked to the looting of the 1MDB state fund, preventing a possible delay in his final appeal. It was another blow for Najib after the Federal Court on Tuesday rejected his

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong officials say they are seeking the return of citizens who traveled to Southeast Asia for jobs that entrapped them in scams and virtual slavery. The victims, who also came from Taiwan and mainland China, took jobs in call centers that sought to cheat Chinese speakers into making payments on

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are off to a weak start on Wall Street, drifting between small gains and losses in the first few minutes of trading Thursday. Several big technology companies were lower, with the notable exception of Cisco Systems, which turned in stronger-than-expected quarterly results. The S&P 500 was just barely in the

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Police in Nigeria say they have discovered 20 mummified bodies including those of children in a building in Benin City in southern Nigeria, shocking many in what is usually a busy neighborhood. Police spokeswoman Jennifer Iwegbu said that three suspects have been arrested. She said armed

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Dubai court has found that a cargo ship’s mishandled peroxide caused an explosion at the city-state’s busy Jebel Ali port in 2021, a blast felt through the emirate. That’s according to a report on Thursday by Abu Dhabi’s English-language newspaper The National. The Dubai Misdemeanor Court sentenced five

By RALPH D. RUSSO AP College Football Writer The Big Ten’s new $7 billion media rights deal will string the conference’s top football games across three major networks each week, creating an NFL-style television schedule on Saturdays. The Big Ten announced Thursday it has reached seven-year agreements with Fox, CBS and NBC to share the

NEW YORK (AP) — Markets in the U.S. moved into positive territory before Thursday’s opening bell ahead of more corporate earnings releases and weekly employment data. Futures for the benchmark S&P 500 index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% hours before the opening bell, bouncing back from overnight losses. U.S. markets fell Wednesday

By DEREK GATOPOULOS and SUZAN FRASER Associated Press LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — As a potential power broker, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will use his first visit to Ukraine since the war started nearly six months ago to seek ways to expand grain exports fom Europe’s breadbasket to the world’s needy. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres

By ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Saudi court has sentenced a doctoral student to 34 years in prison for spreading “rumors” and retweeting dissidents, according to court documents obtained Thursday, a decision that has drawn growing global condemnation. Activists and lawyers consider the sentence against Salma al-Shehab, a mother

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — The international envoy tasked with overseeing a 1995 peace agreement for Bosnia has raised eyebrows with angry comments about the country’s political leaders. Christian Schmidt became the international high representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina a year ago. He previously indicated he would consider imposing election law changes if Bosnia’s ethnic leaders continued failing

By FRANK JORDANS Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has told Israel’s Prime Minister that he condemns any attempts to deny or downplay the Holocaust. Scholz offered the reassurance after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas sparked outrage during a visit to Berlin this week by accusing Israel of committing “50 Holocausts” against Palestinians

By RODNEY MUHUMUZA Associated Press KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — The head of Africa’s public health agency says he’s “really pleased” that the World Health Organization is renaming the strains of the monkeypox disease to remove references to African regions to reduce concerns of stigmatization. The version of the disease formerly known as the Congo Basin

By TERRY TANG Associated Press The Federal Emergency Management Agency has developed a new strategy to better engage with hundreds of Native American tribes as they face climate change-related disasters, the agency announced Thursday. FEMA will include the 574 federally recognized tribal nations in discussions about possible future dangers from climate change. It has earmarked