8 Israeli soldiers killed in southern Gaza in deadliest attack on Israeli forces in months
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s military says that eight soldiers have been killed in southern Gaza in the deadliest attack on Israeli forces in months. The army said Saturday without elaborating that the troops were killed in an explosion. The deaths will likely fuel calls for a cease-fire and heighten Israeli public anger over ultra-Orthodox exemptions from the military. Months of cease-fire negotiations have failed to find common ground between Israel and Hamas. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier in the week that Hamas proposed changes to a U.S.-backed plan. Blinken said that some of them were “workable” and some not without elaborating.
Trump Michigan trip includes stops at a Black church and a gathering of MAGA activists
DETROIT (AP) — Donald Trump is courting Black voters and a conservative group popular with white supremacists during back-to-back stops in Michigan. Trump hosted a Saturday afternoon roundtable discussion at an African American church in Detroit. Later, he’ll deliver the keynote address at Turning Point Action, a group that the Anti-Defamation League says has a history of attracting white supremacists. Few states will matter more in November than Michigan, a swing state that Democrat Joe Biden carried by less than 3 percentage points in 2020. And few voting groups will matter more than African Americans.
Biden goes straight from G7 to Hollywood fundraiser, balancing geopolitics with his reelection bid
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hollywood’s A-list is turning out for President Joe Biden’s campaign at a glitzy fundraiser headlined by George Clooney and Julia Roberts that features former President Barack Obama as well. Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel will interview all four of them at Saturday night’s event at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles. The Biden campaign says the event is expected to raise at least $28 million. Biden is just back in the U.S. after a Group of Seven summit in Italy and he’s skipping a gathering in Switzerland where world leaders are discussing ways to end Russia’s war in Ukraine. Vice President Kamala Harris is there representing the U.S.
Indiana Republicans upset Mike Braun’s choice for lieutenant governor, backing far-right pick
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana Republicans have rejected Sen. Mike Braun’s choice for lieutenant governor, instead nominating a podcasting pastor with far-right views to be his running mate. Braun, who is leaving the Senate, endorsed state Rep. Julie McGuire for his running mate when he became the GOP nominee for governor. Indiana delegates usually back the nominee’s chosen running mate without a challenge. But during Saturday’s state Republican Party convention, party delegates instead chose pastor Micah Beckwith over McGuire. Beckwith promotes uncompromising positions on abortion, gender and sexuality and cohosts his “Jesus, Sex and Politics” podcast. He lobbied delegates for a year to win the nomination.
World leaders meet in Switzerland to discuss a Ukraine peace roadmap. Russia is notably absent
OBBÜRGEN, Switzerland (AP) — Dozens of world leaders have converged on a Swiss resort to discuss how to bring peace to war-ravaged Ukraine, though any hopes of a real breakthrough are muted by the absence of Russia. More than two years into the war, the combatants remain as far apart as they’ve ever been, with Kyiv sticking to its demands that Russia leave all Ukrainian territory it has seized and Moscow pressing on with its grinding offensive that has already taken large swaths of eastern and southern Ukraine. Despite Russia’s absence from the summit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that he thinks the event could lay the groundwork for an eventual end to the war.
UK royals unite on palace balcony, with Kate back at her first public event since cancer diagnosis
LONDON (AP) — Britain has put on a display of birthday pageantry for King Charles III with a military parade that marked the Princess of Wales’ first appearance at a public event since her cancer diagnosis early this year. Bystanders cheered as Kate joined other members of the royal family on a Buckingham Palace balcony at the end of the King’s Birthday Parade. Kate disclosed in March that she was undergoing chemotherapy for an unspecified form of cancer. Charles is also being treated for cancer. The king inspected the troops at Saturday’s event known as Trooping the Color. It’s a spectacle involving 1,400 soldiers, 250 military musicians and more than 200 horses.
Missouri woman’s murder conviction tossed after 43 years. Her lawyers say a police officer did it
A judge has overturned the conviction of a Missouri woman who was a psychiatric patient when she incriminated herself in a 1980 killing. Sandra Hemme has spent 43 years behind bars. Her attorneys argue the killing actually was committed by a now-discredited police officer. Judge Ryan Horsman ruled late Friday that Hemme had established evidence of actual innocence. Her attorneys says this is the longest time a women has been been incarcerated for a wrongful conviction. The judge said Hemme must be freed within 30 days unless prosecutors retry her. Prosecutors didn’t immediately respond to a phone message from The Associated Press seeking comment.
Haitian leaders oust police chief and appoint a new one as gang violence claims officers’ lives
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The beleaguered director of Haiti’s National Police has been ousted following months of criticism that he wasn’t doing enough to protect officers under assault by gangs. A government official not authorized to speak to the media told The Associated Press on Saturday that Frantz Elbé was replaced by former Haitian police chief Normil Rameau. Rameau was dismissed from the post nearly four years ago under a different administration but will once again take the helm of an underfunded and ill-equipped department. More than 2,500 people have been killed or injured across Haiti in the first three months of the year as gang violence continues to surge. Among those killed are nearly two dozen police officers.
Some hawking stem cells say they can treat almost anything. They can’t
Attorneys general across the U.S. have a new fight on their hands: protecting Americans from unproven and expensive stem cell treatments that salespeople claim can cure almost anything. Iowa is among the states suing companies raking in millions by injecting people with stem cells that the Federal Drug Administration says have little to no benefits and can be associated with serious side effects. One expert told The Associated Press many stem cells injected into people are already dead when they are used. The FDA has issued some 30 warning letters to consumers since 2017. The Iowa case is scheduled for trial next year.
Think cicadas are weird? Check out superfans, who eat the bugs, use them in art and even striptease
FOREST PARK, Illinois (AP) — The periodical cicadas that have blanketed parts of the American Midwest this spring are strange creatures, but they have nothing on some of their superfans. There’s the woman who has taken more than 4,600 photos of them in her backyard and treats them almost like children. There’s the New York chef who collects them for cooking, including tempura cicada. There’s the Wisconsin artist who incorporates the hardy insects into her work. But the capper might be an Ohio architecture professor who worked up a kind of cicada striptease that has her bursting out of a cardboard costume as a red-eyed, adult nymph.
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