News

By DAVID J. PHILLIP, LISA BAUMANN and CHRISTOPHER WEBER Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — Fast-moving thunderstorms pummeled southeastern Texas on Thursday for the second time this month, killing at least four people, blowing out windows in high-rise buildings, downing trees and knocking out power to more than 900,000 homes and businesses in the Houston area.

BANGKOK (AP) — Brazil will host the 2027 Women’s World Cup after a vote of FIFA’s full membership chose the South American bid over a joint proposal from Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. The FIFA Congress on Friday selected from a reduced field of two candidates to host the 2027 tournament after a joint bid by

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer China is expected to announce fresh measures to reinvigorate its ailing property industry after the latest data showed housing prices slumped in April. Other figures reported Friday showed factory output rose but consumer spending remained lackluster. China’s housing market has slumped after a crackdown on excessive borrowing by property

By MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press HAZLETON, Pa. (AP) — A federal lawsuit argues the way representatives are elected to a local school board in Pennsylvania’s coal region is unfairly shutting Latino voters out of power. Nearly two-thirds of students in the Hazleton Area School District are Hispanic but no Hispanic has ever been elected to

By BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah this week struck a military post in northern Israel using a drone that fired two missiles. The attack wounded three soldiers, one of them seriously, according to the Israeli military. Hezbollah has regularly fired missiles across the border with Israel over the

By JAMIE STENGLE Associated Press DALLAS (AP) — The National Rifle Association is kicking off its annual meeting in downtown Dallas, gathering for the first time in decades without Wayne LaPierre at the helm as board members prepare to elect his replacement. Though beset by financial troubles in recent years and following a trial in

By GERALD IMRAY Associated Press CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South Africa’s election will determine how weary the country has become of the ruling African National Congress party that has been in power since the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule 30 years ago. President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC are

By WAFAA SHURAFA and SAM MEDNICK Associated Press DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza (AP) — Atef Al-Buhaisi, 6, once dreamed of a career building houses. Now, all he craves is to return to school. In Israel’s war with Hamas, Atef’s home has been bombed, his teacher killed and his school in Nuseirat turned into a refuge for

BANGKOK (AP) — FIFA will seek independent legal advice before holding an extraordinary council meeting by July 20 to make a decision on a Palestinian proposal to suspend Israel from international soccer because of the conflict with Hamas. FIFA president Gianni Infantino outlined the plan at the FIFA congress on Friday after representatives of the

By HUIZHONG WU and EMILY WANG FUJIYAMA Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin focused on trade and cultural exchanges Friday during his state visit to China that started with bonhomie in Beijing and a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping that deepened their “ no limits ” partnership as both countries face

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Like a political convention held amidst an intra-party rift, Thursday night’s PEN America gala was a call for unity, dialogue and a renewed sense of mission at a time when PEN’s priorities have been called into question. “Our assembly is disassembling,” PEN America CEO Suzanne

By ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press JACUMBA HOT SPRINGS, Calif. (AP) — On many nights, hundreds of migrants squeeze through poles in a border wall or climb over on metal ladders. They gather in a buffer zone between two walls with views of the night lights of Tijuana, Mexico, waiting hours for Border Patrol agents while

By JEFF MARTIN and CURT ANDERSON Associated Press STONECREST, Ga. (AP) — A funeral will be held Friday for a Black U.S. Air Force senior airman who was shot and killed in his Florida home by a sheriff’s deputy, a day after the decorated military member’s mother vowed during an emotional news conference to get

By TOM KRISHER and KIM CHANDLER Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — The United Auto Workers union faces the latest test of its ambitious plan to unionize auto plants in the historically nonunion South when a vote ends Friday at two Mercedes-Benz factories near Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The voting at the two Mercedes factories — one an