Politics

FILE - Mulambo Hamakuni Haimbe, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Zambia, addresses the 80th session ...

Zambia blasts the US over a $2 billion health deal in exchange for critical minerals

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zambia is accusing the United States of tying a $2 billion deal for critical health assistance to access to the southern African nation’s rich mineral assets, and calling the outgoing U.S. ambassador’s allegations of corruption “mischievous” and “undiplomatic.” The comments by Zambia’s foreign affairs minister, Mulambo Haimbe, on Monday brought into […]
4 months ago
President Donald Trump talks with small business owners in the Grand Foyer of the White House, Mond...

Trump’s retribution? What to watch in Tuesday’s elections in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan

President Donald Trump’s campaign to politically punish Republicans who stand in his way moves through Indiana on Tuesday, when seven state senators face Trump-backed primary challengers. In neighboring Ohio, primaries for U.S. Senate and governor will lock in the candidates for two major races with national implications. And in Michigan, voters in a bellwether district […]
4 months ago
Mexican restaurant owner-chef Marco Mendoza prepares a hot molcajete, a traditional Mexican dish, a...

Restaurants celebrate authentic Mexican culture and history this Cinco de Mayo

Nayomie Mendoza has become accustomed to how Cinco de Mayo is celebrated in the U.S.: the platters of tacos, the pitchers of margaritas and the jubilant sounds of mariachi bands. She is among a number of Mexican American business owners who’ve become more vocal about also honoring Mexican history and the significance of the holiday, […]
4 months ago
FILE - A general exterior view of the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis, April 23, 2025. (AP Photo...

Trump’s influence tested in Indiana Republican state Senate primaries

Indiana’s primary will test President Donald Trump’s enduring power over the Republican Party as he tries to dislodge state senators who refused to go along with his call to redraw the state’s congressional map. Twenty-one Republican senators voted against redistricting in December, including eight running for reelection this year. Trump has endorsed primary challengers against […]
4 months ago
FILE - Vice President JD Vance speaks in the Oval Office at the White House, April 23, 2026, in Was...

Vance gets a chance to woo Iowa GOP voters ahead of 2028 in a campaign stop with congressman

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Vice President JD Vance will visit Iowa on Tuesday, marking his first visit since taking office to the state where Republicans in less than two years will cast the first votes to pick their party’s next presidential nominee. Vance, who is seen as one of the GOP’s strongest potential candidates […]
4 months ago
Chedrick Greene, Democratic candidate for the 35th Senate District, speaks at a rally Monday, April...

Michigan special election to decide state Senate control and give clues about fall midterms

WASHINGTON (AP) — A special election in a small Michigan swing district on Tuesday could have outsized consequences, determining whether Democrats retain their slim majority in the state Senate for the final months of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s term. Democrat Chedrick Greene and Republican Jason Tunney are vying for the 35th state Senate district seat left […]
4 months ago
FILE - Boxes of the drug mifepristone sit on a shelf at the West Alabama Women's Center in Tuscaloo...

Abortion pill rulings bring the issue back to the forefront in a midterm election year

NEW YORK (AP) — Back-to-back court rulings on abortion pill access are thrusting a contentious political issue back into the spotlight ahead of this year’s midterm elections that will determine control of Congress for the second half of President Donald Trump’s term. Friday’s ruling from a federal appeals court restricted mail access to mifepristone prescriptions, […]
4 months ago
Republican Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks to supporters before the Warren Coun...

Ramaswamy looks to put primary behind him and turn to expensive fall campaign for Ohio governor

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Republican Vivek Ramaswamy has spent his campaign for Ohio governor focused on November’s general election and finally gets the chance Tuesday to put the long primary season behind him, as the Trump-endorsed biotech entrepreneur positions for an expensive run against Dr. Amy Acton, the former state health director. Contests on the […]
4 months ago
Randall Williams protests outside the Alabama state house during a special session of the Alabama L...

Tennessee Republicans will consider redrawing US House district covering majority-Black Memphis

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — As civil rights advocates protest, Republican lawmakers in several Southern states are seizing on the opportunity afforded by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling to redraw congressional districts ahead of the November midterm elections. The latest state to jump on the redistricting bandwagon is Tennessee, where a special legislative session is to […]
4 months ago
Indigenous people and others gather in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Saturday, May 2, 2026, to raise ...

Indigenous people honor and raise awareness for relatives who are missing or have been killed

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Across the country, Indigenous people are gathering this week to honor loved ones who are missing or have been killed and to call for better data collection, law enforcement response and reforms to make their communities safer. From U.S. state capitols and tribal community spaces to the streets of major cities, […]
4 months ago

Education Department opens probe into Smith College for admitting trans women

The U.S. Department of Education opened an investigation Monday into Smith College, an all-women’s institution in Massachusetts, for admitting transgender women. The probe by the department’s Office of Civil Rights will look at whether the college violated Title IX, a 1972 law forbidding discrimination based on sex in education. The move is the latest by […]
4 months ago
FILE - John Sarcone, acting U.S. Attorney for Northern New York, leaves Manhattan federal court in ...

Appellate judges seem skeptical of Trump administration’s appointments of some top prosecutors

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal appeals court panel expressed skepticism on Monday over the legitimacy of President Donald Trump’s administration appointing top federal prosecutors for extended periods of time without U.S. Senate approval. Questions about the practice arose before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as it considered a judge’s decision that First […]
4 months ago

Trump administration moves to block Minnesota climate change lawsuit against oil companies

President Donald Trump’s administration moved Monday to block a lawsuit Minnesota officials filed almost six years ago alleging oil companies and a petroleum trade group deceived state residents about climate change. The U.S. Department of Justice, the administration’s law enforcement arm, filed an action in federal court in Minneapolis arguing that the federal government has […]
4 months ago
Randall Williams protests outside the Alabama state house during a special session of the Alabama L...

Redistricting is rampant ahead of the US House midterm elections. What states are taking action?

A partisan redistricting battle among states has accelerated ahead of the November midterm elections following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that weakened the federal Voting Rights Act and opened the way for states to try to eliminate voting districts drawn for racial minorities. Legislative voting districts typically are redrawn based on census data after the […]
4 months ago
FILE - A vender sells La Nation newspapers in San Jose, Jan. 21, 2009. (AP Photo/Kent Gilbert, File...

Costa Rica’s top newspaper says US revoked visas of its executives, prompting press freedom concerns

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — The United States has revoked the visas of several board executives at La Nación, one of Costa Rica’s leading media outlets, triggering fresh accusations that the U.S. — in conjunction with the allied Costa Rican government — is stripping visas to punish critics and political opponents. In a statement […]
4 months ago
FILE - A pair of North Atlantic right whales interact at the surface of Cape Cod Bay, March 27, 202...

Endangered whale protections may be delayed to 2035 under Trump-blacked plan

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — For roughly 380 right whales left in the North Atlantic, which can die after getting tangled in fishing ropes or hit by ships, the Trump administration said this month it wants to delay new protections by almost a decade in favor of commercial fishing interests. The sleek black whales, which weigh […]
4 months ago

Rudy Giuliani is breathing on his own while hospitalized with pneumonia, spokesperson says

NEW YORK (AP) — Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is breathing on his own after being hospitalized with pneumonia and placed on a ventilator, his spokesperson said Monday. Giuliani, 81, remains in critical but stable condition at a Florida hospital and is being monitored as a precautionary measure, spokesperson Ted Goodman said. Goodman […]
4 months ago
Calvin Duncan, left, an exoneree who was elected Orleans Parish clerk of criminal court, gets behin...

Louisiana exoneree assumes elected clerk office after federal judge blocks law eliminating position

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A Louisiana man who spent decades in prison for a wrongful conviction began work Monday overseeing the criminal court in New Orleans after a judge temporarily blocked the state from eliminating the position. Calvin Duncan won 68% of the vote to serve as Orleans Parish criminal court clerk. But at the […]
4 months ago
The Washington Monument stands in the background as Roman Sandoli swings at the East Potomac Golf C...

Judge in dispute over Washington golf course tells Trump officials not to cut trees without notice

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge told the U.S. government Monday not to cut down more than 10 trees without first providing notice amid a legal dispute at a historic Washington golf course that President Donald Trump plans to renovate. U.S. District Court Judge Ana Reyes said during a remote hearing that she wasn’t going […]
4 months ago
President Donald Trump steps off from Marine One upon his arrival at the South Lawn of the White Ho...

The Latest: Trump launches a new effort to reopen the Strait of Hormuz

U.S. forces on Monday launched an effort to guide commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, where hundreds have been stuck since the Iran war began. Two American-flagged merchant ships have “successfully transited” through the critical waterway, the U.S. military said. Separately, the U.S. military denied Iran’s claims that it struck an American Navy vessel […]
4 months ago
Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives at the West Wing of White House in Washington, Thursday Apri...

Rubio plans to visit the Vatican this week as tensions between Trump and the pope rise

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Rome and Vatican City this week in a bid to ease rising tensions between President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV over U.S. policies, particularly the Iran war. The State Department said Monday that Rubio, a Catholic who has visited Rome and the Vatican […]
4 months ago
Retired couple Annette Williams, and her husband, Curtis Williams, speak with Indiana state Sen. Sp...

AP Decision Notes: What to expect in Indiana’s state primaries

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is waging a retribution campaign against some fellow Republicans in Tuesday’s primary in Indiana. Seven GOP state senators who blocked his push to redraw the state’s congressional districts now face primary challengers endorsed by him. In a series of social media posts, Trump has lobbed various insults at the […]
4 months ago
Iowa state Rep. Josh Turek talks with community members following a candidates forum at the State o...

Democrats look for a foothold in Iowa as Vance visits to boost Republicans

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — After years of coming up short, Democrats think they can make Iowa a political battleground again. Republican Donald Trump may have won the state by double digits in the last presidential election, but growing dissatisfaction with his leadership and rising costs from the Iran war could help set the stage […]
4 months ago
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrives for a meeting of the European Political Community in ...

European leaders see Trump’s troop drawdown from Germany as new proof they must go it alone

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — European leaders on Monday said that U.S. President Donald Trump’s snap decision to pull thousands of U.S. troops out of Germany came as a surprise but is a fresh sign that Europe must take care of its own security. The Pentagon announced last week that it would pull some 5,000 troops […]
4 months ago