Europe

Belgian manhunt for soldier on terror-watch list goes on

BRUSSELS — Belgian forces kept up their manhunt for an armed soldier who is on a terror watch list because of his extreme right sympathies while the government remained nonplussed over how a known threat to society could have had access to an array of heavy weapons.

Benjamin Netanyahu

The Latest: Biden tells Netanyahu he expects de-escalation

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has called for “significant de-escalation” from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

General News

Israeli strikes kill 6 in Gaza; rockets fired from Lebanon

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israeli airstrikes killed at least six people across the Gaza Strip and destroyed the home of an extended family early Wednesday. The military said it widened its strikes in the Palestinian territory’s south to blunt continuing rocket fire from Hamas, while a separate barrage also came from Lebanon.

Europe

Russian lawmakers vote to follow US out of overflight treaty

MOSCOW — The Russian parliament's lower house voted Wednesday to withdraw from an international treaty allowing surveillance flights over military facilities following the U.S. departure from the pact.

General News

Officials: Several rockets fired from Lebanon toward Israel

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Lebanese security officials say several rockets have been fired from southern Lebanon toward Israel.

Europe

Germany welcomes US sanctions U-turn on Russia gas pipeline

BERLIN — Germany’s foreign minister on Wednesday welcomed the Biden administration’s decision to waive sanctions against entities and individuals involved in a controversial Russian pipeline, describing the move as “constructive.”

Europe

Angry French police hold huge, emotional rally at parliament

PARIS — French police officers held a huge demonstration outside parliament Wednesday to press for a law that protects the protectors who are feeling vulnerable to attacks, angry and useless.

Europe

Putin, Xi initiate projects in show of warming ties

BEIJING — Chinese leader Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin joined Wednesday in a videoconference to initiate a series of nuclear energy projects, an event intended to display warming ties between two nations that have paired-up as the chief geopolitical rivals to the United States.

Europe

UK inflation spikes as retailers respond to lockdown easing

LONDON — Britain’s inflation rate more than doubled in April as energy prices soared and clothing retailers hiked prices as the country's coronavirus lockdown was eased, official statistics showed Wednesday.

Europe

German minister quits amid thesis plagiarism allegations

BERLIN — A prominent German government minister announced her resignation Wednesday as a long-running controversy over allegations of plagiarism in her doctoral thesis nears its conclusion.

Europe

EU court annuls approval of KLM, TAP aid, wants more info

BRUSSELS — A top European Union court on Wednesday annulled the EU's approval of 3.4 billion euros ($4.1 billion) in state aid for the Dutch carrier KLM but suspended its immediate application because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry.

Europe

Spain’s African enclave struggles to handle migrant influx

CEUTA, Spain — Spain’s north African enclave of Ceuta awoke to a humanitarian crisis on Wednesday after thousands of migrants who crossed over from Morocco spent the night sleeping where they could find shelter.

Europe

EXPLAINER: Spain’s migrant crisis in North Africa

About 8,000 people have streamed into the Spanish city of Ceuta from Morocco in the past two days in an unprecedented influx, most of them swimming around breakwaters and across the border to reach the Spanish enclave in North Africa.

Business

AP Interview: Disinformation concerns mail voting expert

ATLANTA — Amber McReynolds, CEO of The National Vote at Home Institute, helped state and local election officials prepare for the record number of mailed ballots cast during last year's presidential election.

U.S. News

Navajo Nation surpasses Cherokee to become largest US tribe

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — The Navajo Nation has by far the largest land mass of any Native American tribe in the country. Now, it's boasting the largest enrolled population, too.

Middle East

GOP seeks political opening amid tense Israel-Hamas fighting

WASHINGTON — Republicans trying to drive a wedge between Democrats and chip away at President Joe Biden’s support are zeroing in on the violence in the Middle East, laying blame on his administration and aiming to make his liberal critics the face of the party heading into the midterm elections.

Politics

Republicans vie for Trump’s blessing in Ohio Senate primary

CINCINNATI — One candidate has been circulating a who's-done-more-for-Donald Trump scorecard. Footage of a waving Trump was dropped without context into a TV ad for another. A photo posted to Twitter gushes over the ex-president and his wife stopping by a third candidate's fundraiser just to say hello.

Politics

House to vote on independent panel to probe Jan. 6 attack

WASHINGTON — The House is poised to vote on a 9/11-style commission on the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, a first step toward creating an independent, bipartisan panel that would investigate the siege and try to prevent it from happening again.

Business

Can monthly cash payments cut child poverty by nearly half?

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The check won't arrive until mid-July, but Katrina Peters already knows what she’ll do with her Child Tax Credit payments. The 20-year-old mother of three has applied to work as a driver with a food delivery app and the extra cash is earmarked for repairing, registering and insuring her car.

Health

Pittsburgh takes big step toward electing first Black mayor

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto lost his bid for re-election Tuesday as the city took a big step toward electing its first Black chief executive.

AP Investigations

Biden moves to improve legal services for poor, minorities

DETROIT — President Joe Biden took executive action Tuesday to ensure minorities, low-income Americans and others have better access to quality legal representation after services dwindled during the Trump administration.

Europe

The Latest: France seeks UN Security Council resolution

UNITED NATIONS -- China’s U.N. ambassador says France is seeking a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian militants who control Gaza.

Technology

Arizona auditors backtrack, say no election data destroyed

PHOENIX — Firms hired to run a partisan audit of the 2020 election for Senate Republicans in Arizona said Tuesday that data was not destroyed, reversing earlier allegations that election officials in the state's most populated county eliminated evidence.

Business

Unions want priority rehiring of workers as Nevada reopens

CARSON CITY, Nev. — Laid-off casino and hotel workers picketed at the Nevada statehouse on Tuesday to demand state lawmakers pass a bill to require their former employers bring them back at pre-pandemic wages rather than hire new workers.

Latin America

US eases asylum restrictions at border amid legal challenges

MCALLEN, Texas — Domingo Antonio Zeledon traveled for nearly three weeks from his hometown in Nicaragua, leaving behind his wife and three youngest children to come to the United States with his 17-year-old son.

Health

US wildland firefighting force urged to get vaccinated

BOISE, Idaho — With a potentially ferocious wildfire season threatening to ignite across the western U.S., a push is on to persuade wildland firefighters to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

General News

Palestinians go on strike as Israel-Hamas fighting rages

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Palestinians across Israel and the occupied territories went on strike in a rare collective protest Tuesday as Israeli missiles toppled a building in Gaza and militants in the Hamas-ruled territory fired dozens of rockets that killed two people.

Business

Capitol fence will be missing when Legislature reconvenes

MINNEAPOLIS — Something will be missing when the Minnesota Legislature reconvenes next month to finish its work on a new budget — the fence that has surrounded the Capitol since the unrest last summer following George Floyd's death.