Trump indictment ends decades of perceived invincibility

NEW YORK — When Donald Trump steps before a judge next week to be arraigned in a New York courtroom, it will not only mark the first time a former U.S. president has faced criminal charges. It will also represent a reckoning for a man long nicknamed “Teflon Don,” who until now has managed to skirt serious legal jeopardy despite 40 years of legal scrutiny.

Intensity and insults rise as lawmakers debate debt ceiling

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Fights over increasing the nation’s borrowing authority have been contentious in Congress, yet follow a familiar pattern: Time and again, lawmakers found a way to step back from the brink before markets began to panic and the nation risked a dangerous default on its debt.

Russia might put strategic nukes in Belarus, leader says

TALLINN, Estonia — Russian strategic nuclear weapons might be deployed to Belarus along with part of Russia’s tactical nuclear arsenal, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Friday, ramping up his rhetoric amid tensions with the West over the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine.

Ukraine marks grim Bucha anniversary, calls for justice

BUCHA, Ukraine — Ukrainians marked the anniversary of the liberation of Bucha Friday with calls for remembrance and justice after a brutal Russian occupation that left hundreds of civilians dead in the streets and in mass graves, establishing the town near Kyiv as an epicenter of the war’s atrocities.

U.N. food chief: Billions needed to avert unrest, starvation

UNITED NATIONS — Without billions of dollars more to feed millions of hungry people, the world will see mass migration, destabilized countries, and starving children and adults in the next 12 to 18 months, the head of the Nobel prize-winning U.N. World Food Program warned Friday.

Nashville shooter who killed 6 drew maps, surveilled school

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A former student shot through the doors of a Christian elementary school Monday and killed three children and three adults after elaborately planning the massacre by drawing out a detailed map and conducting surveillance of the building, police said.

Jumbled wreckage complicates chocolate factory blast probe

Investigators looking for the cause of a deadly explosion that leveled part of a Pennsylvania chocolate factory faced an even more difficult task Monday as they combed through wreckage that was extensively picked apart and moved around during the intensive weekend search for victims and survivors.

Fed official: SVB itself was main cause of bank’s failure

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The nation’s top financial regulator is asserting that Silicon Valley Bank’s own management was largely to blame for the bank’s failure earlier this month and says the Federal Reserve will review whether a 2018 law that weakened stricter bank rules also contributed to its collapse.

Zelenskyy, atomic agency chief discuss nuclear plant fears

ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine — The U.N.’s atomic energy chief warned during a meeting Monday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the perilous situation at Europe’s largest nuclear plant “isn’t getting any better” as relentless fighting in the area keeps the facility at risk of a disaster.

Netanyahu delays judicial overhaul after mass protests

JERUSALEM — Bending to a wave of mass protests, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delayed his contentious judicial overhaul plan Monday and said he wanted “to avoid civil war” by making time to seek a compromise with political opponents.