SAN DIEGO (AP) — A fugitive defense contractor nicknamed "Fat Leonard" who claims to have incriminating sex photos of U.S. Navy brass could become the latest bargaining chip in Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's efforts to win official recognition from the Biden administration, according ...

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia ran a surplus of more than $6 billion in the budget year that ended June 30, meaning the state's next governor and lawmakers could spend or give back billions. The State Accounting Office, in a Friday report, said Georgia ran a $6.37 billion surplus even after spending ...

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — In competitive races across the U.S., Republican candidates are distancing themselves from their party's most controversial policies and people — namely, abortion and former President Donald Trump — as Election Day approaches. Not Ted Budd. The North Carolina GOP ...

PHOENIX (AP) — Public school advocates who oppose a massive expansion of Arizona's private school voucher system enacted by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed into law by Republican Gov. Doug Ducey in July filed enough signatures Friday to block it from taking effect. The law, ...

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona can enforce a near-total ban on abortions that has been blocked for nearly 50 years, a judge ruled Friday, meaning clinics statewide will have to stop providing the procedures to avoid the filing of criminal charges against doctors and other medical workers. The judge ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — "God bless you, let's have some music," said Elton John. With that, the White House South Lawn was transformed into a musical lovefest Friday night as John played a farewell gig to honor everyday "heroes" like teachers, nurses and AIDS activists. But as it turns out, the ...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif appealed for a peaceful end to the dispute over Kashmir and deplored regional instability, invoking the perennial themes of Pakistan's U.N. addresses after dedicating the first half of his speech Friday to the ravages of recent floods. The ...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Many leaders saying many things about many topics that matter to them, to their regions, to the world: That's what the U.N. General Assembly invariably produces each year. And each year, certain voices dominate. Here, The Associated Press takes the opposite approach and ...

NEW YORK (AP) — The Biden administration on Friday ramped up its diplomatic efforts to press China to end provocative actions against Taiwan and warned it about any active support for Russia in its war against Ukraine. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made both cases in a meeting with his ...

NEW YORK (AP) — The tide of international opinion appears to be decisively shifting against Russia, as a number of non-aligned countries are joining the United States and its allies in condemning Moscow's war in Ukraine and its threats to the principles of the international rules-based ...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Half of Puerto Rico is without power more than five days after Hurricane Fiona struck — including an entire town where not a single work crew has arrived. Many on the U.S. territory are angry and incredulous, and calls are growing for the ouster of the island's ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — How do American leaders and their allies intend to respond if President Vladimir Putin seeks to escalate his way out of a bad situation on Ukraine's battlefields, and makes good on renewed threats of annexing territory or even using nuclear weapons? At least to start with, ...

ATLANTA (AP) — The tale of breached voting equipment in one of the country's most important political battleground states involves a bail bondsman, a prominent attorney tied to former President Donald Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and a cast of characters from a ...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — In speech after speech, world leaders dwelled on the topic consuming this year's U.N. General Assembly meeting: Russia's war in Ukraine. A few, like Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, prodded the world not to forget everything else. He, too, was quick to bring up the ...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom will travel to Texas on Saturday, venturing into the territory of one of his chief political foils while seeking to boost his own profile amid a noncompetitive reelection campaign back home. Newsom is on his way to an easy victory for a ...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The fate of Belarus and Ukraine are "interconnected," and both countries must fight together to safeguard their very existence because Russia doesn't view them as independent sovereign states, Belarus' opposition leader said Friday. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who fled to ...

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. (AP) — Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor in Pennsylvania, is perhaps best known as an election denier who was at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. John Fetterman, the Democrat hoping to flip the state's Senate seat, has revolutionized how campaigns use social ...

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, released his health records as he maneuvers to keep questions about Democratic rival John Fetterman's recovery from a stroke front and center in the hotly contested campaign. Dr. Rebecca Kurth in ...

NEW YORK (AP) — Two U.S. military veterans who disappeared three months ago while fighting Russia with Ukrainian forces arrived Friday at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport after their release by Russian-backed separatists as part of a prisoner exchange. "We're looking forward ...

HOMEWOOD, Ala. (AP) — To the world, Harper Lee was aloof to the point of being unknowable, an obsessively private person who spent most of her life avoiding the public gaze despite writing one of the best-selling books ever, "To Kill a Mockingbird." To Wayne Flynt, the Alabama-born author was ...