Sudanese crowd at borders to escape amid shaky truce
CAIRO — Sudanese families were massing Wednesday at a border crossing with Egypt and at a port city on the Red Sea, desperately trying to escape their country’s violence and sometimes waiting for days with little food or shelter, witnesses said.
Concerned about North Korea, South’s Yoon seeks more U.S. help
WASHINGTON, D.C. — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol urged ever more strengthening of the U.S.-led security alliance against nuclear-armed North Korea on Thursday, drawing cheers from Congress as he saluted the “great American heroes” who helped preserve his country’s democracy in the Korean War.
Saucepans clang anew in France against Macron’s pension law
PARIS — Protesters loudly banged pots and pans near a castle where French President Emmanuel Macron was to make a speech Thursday, in what has become a popular way to voice anger at a resented new law raising the retirement age from 62 to 64.
Supporters of Israel’s judicial overhaul rally in Jerusalem
JERUSALEM — Tens of thousands of right-wing Israelis who support a plan by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to overhaul the judiciary flocked to Jerusalem on Thursday to rally for the proposal, which has prompted some of the biggest protests in Israel’s history.
Montana transgender lawmaker barred by GOP from House floor
HELENA, Mont. — Montana Republicans barred transgender lawmaker Zooey Zephyr from the House floor on Wednesday, wielding “decorum” rules after she rebuked colleagues supporting a ban on gender-affirming care for children and protested their efforts to silence her.
Feds wrote $128M in duplicate checks to docs, report finds
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The federal government wrote duplicate checks to doctors who provided care for veterans, costing taxpayers as much as $128 million in extra payments, according to a new watchdog report out this week.
AP explains: Why China is trying to mediate in Russia’s war with Ukraine
BEIJING — Chinese leader Xi Jinping said Wednesday that Beijing will send an envoy to Ukraine to discuss a possible “political settlement” to Russia’s war with the country.
Biden announces 2024 reelection bid: ‘Let’s finish this job’
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Joe Biden on Tuesday formally announced that he is running for reelection in 2024, asking voters to give him more time to “finish this job” and extend the run of America’s oldest president for another four years.
McCarthy edges Republicans closer to House debt vote
WASHINGTON, D.C. — House Republicans pushed their debt ceiling package toward a vote as soon as Wednesday as Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his leadership team huddled with key holdouts late into Tuesday evening, working to ensure they would have majority support for passage.
As epic snow melts, a California community braces for floods
LEMOORE, Calif. — Ron Caetano is packed and ready to go. His family photos and valuables are in the trailer and he’s put food in carry totes. He moved the rabbits and chickens and their automatic feeders to higher ground.
Roberts declines Senate request to testify on court ethics
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Chief Justice John Roberts has declined a request from the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify at a hearing next week on ethical standards at the court, instead providing the panel with a statement of ethics reaffirmed by the court’s nine justices.
Trial opens in E. Jean Carroll’s rape lawsuit against Trump
NEW YORK — A nearly 30-year-old rape claim against Donald Trump went to trial Tuesday as jurors in the federal civil case heard a former advice columnist’s allegation of being attacked in a luxury department store dressing room. The former president says nothing happened between them.
Biogen receives FDA approval for breakthrough ALS treatment: ‘Pivotal moment in ALS research’
BOSTON — Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Biogen has gotten the green light for a breakthrough ALS treatment that targets a devastating, ultra-rare genetic form of the progressive neurodegenerative disease.
Taliban kill mastermind of suicide bombing at Kabul airport
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A ground assault by the Taliban killed the Islamic State militant who spearheaded the August 2021 suicide bombing at the Kabul airport that left 13 U.S. troops and about 170 Afghans dead during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, U.S. officials said Tuesday.
2 killed, 10 wounded as Russian forces hit Ukrainian museum
KYIV, Ukraine — A Russian missile hit a museum building in a Ukrainian city on Tuesday, killing at least two people and wounding 10 others, part of a relentless barrage that comes as Ukraine is readying its forces for an expected spring counteroffensive.
Trouble looms for Indian grain that combats climate change
KOCHI, India — On a tiny sliver land in southern India, the future of an ancient grain that helps combat climate change is in doubt.
Sudan fighting eclipses new truce as aid groups raise alarm
CAIRO — Sudanese and foreigners streamed out of the capital of Khartoum and other battle zones, as fighting Tuesday shook a new three-day truce brokered by the United States and Saudi Arabia. Aid agencies raised increasing alarm over the crumbling humanitarian situation in a country reliant on outside help.
Japanese company: ‘High probability’ lander crashed on moon
A Japanese company’s spacecraft apparently crashed while attempting to land on the moon Wednesday, losing contact moments before touchdown and sending flight controllers scrambling to figure out what happened.
U.N. warns of lab risk, more displacement amid Sudan conflict
GENEVA — U.N. officials said Tuesday that one side in the Sudan conflict has seized control of a national health lab in the capital of Khartoum that holds biological material, calling it an “extremely dangerous” development.
‘Almost authoritarian:’ Hawai‘i’s Cold War speech law may go
HONOLULU — A Cold War-era law in Hawai‘i that allows authorities to impose sweeping restrictions on press freedoms and electronic communications during a state of emergency could soon be repealed by lawmakers over concerns about its constitutionality and potential misuse.