AP-Newswatch

President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, is convicted of all 3 felonies in federal gun trial

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Hunter Biden has been convicted of all three felony charges related to the purchase of a revolver in 2018 when, prosecutors argued, he lied on a mandatory gun-purchase form by saying he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs. Jurors found Hunter Biden guilty of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days. First lady Jill Biden arrived to the courthouse minutes after the jury delivered its verdict and was not in the courtroom when it was read. The judge did not set a sentencing date.

Blinken calls on Hamas to accept Gaza cease-fire plan after UN Security Council strongly endorses it

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the U.N. Security Council’s vote in favor of a U.S.-backed proposal for a cease-fire in Gaza has made it “as clear as it possibly could be” that the world supports the plan. He again called on Hamas to accept it and said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had reaffirmed his commitment to the proposal. Blinken spoke Tuesday during his latest visit to the region, his eighth since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel ignited the war. Hamas also welcomed the Security Council vote and says it supports the broad outline of the agreement but wants assurances it will be implemented.

UN says Israeli forces, Palestinian armed groups may have committed war crimes in deadly raid

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. human rights office is citing possible war crimes by Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups in connection with a deadly raid by Israeli forces that freed four hostages over the weekend. Office spokesman Jeremy Laurence expressed concerns about possible violations of rules of proportionality, distinction and precaution by the Israeli forces in Saturday’s raid at the urban Nuseirat refugee camp. Palestinian health officials say at least 274 Palestinians, including dozens of women and children, were killed in the operation. Laurence said Palestinian armed groups who are holding hostages in densely populated areas are putting the lives of nearby civilians and the hostages at “added risks” from the hostilities.

Biden and gun control advocates want to flip an issue long dominated by the NRA

ATLANTA (AP) — Gun control advocates and many Democrats see additional openings created by hard-line positions of the gun lobby. President Joe Biden’s campaign says gun control could be a motivating issue for suburban college-educated women who may be decisive in several key battlegrounds this fall. The Biden campaign and its allies have already circulated clips of Republican former President Donald Trump saying after an Iowa school shooting in January that “we have to get over it.” Trump has also promised he would impose no new restrictions on guns if elected again. About 7 in 10 suburban college-educated women who voted in the 2022 midterm elections supported stricter gun control laws.

Malawi’s vice president and 9 others are confirmed dead after their plane’s wreckage is found

BLANTYRE, Malawi (AP) — Malawi’s president says the vice president and nine others have died in a plane crash. The wreckage of the military plane carrying Vice President Saulos Chilima was found in a mountainous area in the country’s north after a search that lasted more than a day. President Lazarus Chakwera says there are no survivors. The plane went missing Monday morning while making a 45-minute flight from the southern African nation’s capital. Air traffic controllers told the plane not to attempt a landing at the Mzuzu airport because of bad weather and poor visibility and asked it to turn back.

Pamela Smart, serving life, accepts responsibility for her husband’s 1990 killing for the first time

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — For the first time, inmate Pamela Smart has accepted full responsibility for plotting with her teenage student to have her husband killed in 1990. Smart is serving a life sentence and accepted responsibility in a videotaped statement released Tuesday as part of her latest sentence reduction request. The 56-year-old Smart was a 22-year-old high school media coordinator when she began an affair with a 15-year-old boy who later killed her husband, Gregory Smart. The shooter was freed in 2015. Though Pamela Smart denied knowledge of the plot, she was convicted of being an accomplice to first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole.

These candidates who won seats in the European Parliament this week aren’t who you might expect

LONDON (AP) — Social media influencers and candidates in jail have won seats in the powerful European Parliament, with social media playing an outsized role in many elections. In Cyprus, a 24-year-old influencer with millions of followers but no political experience snagged one of six seats in the legislature. In Spain, an anti-immigrant influencer with a squirrel as a logo snatched not one but three of the country’s 61 seats. In Germany, a far-right party kicked its top candidate out because of a series of scandals — but he won a seat anyway. A jailed politician won a seat from Greece, and an Italian activist jailed in Hungary won a seat for Italy.

With 100M birds dead, poultry industry could serve as example as dairy farmers confront bird flu

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — As the U.S. dairy industry confronts an outbreak of bird flu, the egg industry serves as an example of how to slow the spread of the disease but also how difficult it can be to completely eradicate the problem. In the decade since the first major bird flu outbreak, the disease has forced the slaughter of nearly 100 million chickens and turkeys. Outbreaks still occur, but their frequency has dropped dramatically since peaks several years ago in large part because of biosecurity efforts at farms and a coordinated approach between companies and agricultural officials. Some of those efforts can be repeated with dairy cows, but there are vast differences between the industries that limit what lessons can be learned.

For shrinking Mississippi River towns, frequent floods worsen fortunes

WEST ALTON, Mo. (AP) — Flooding has pushed people out of their homes near the Mississippi River at a roughly 30% higher rate than the U.S. as a whole, according to data provided exclusively to The Associated Press by the risk analysis firm First Street. That’s hurting a region that is already growing slower than the rest of the country and in some places is struggling with job loss and fewer resources. The riverside community of West Alton, Missouri, is an example of one that has repeatedly been hit by floods. That’s forced some people to leave and cut into the sense of community. Climate change is making bad floods more frequent by sending more water into the atmosphere and causing more extreme rainfalls.

US opts for experience and versatility on Olympic women’s basketball roster, passes on Caitlin Clark

USA Basketball says experience was a major reason Caitlin Clark was left off the U.S. Olympic roster that was officially announced Tuesday. The roster compiled by the U.S. women’s basketball selection committee features seven returning players from the gold-medal winning team at the Tokyo Games. Diana Taurasi is back for a record sixth time. She made the 2004 Olympic team when she was a rookie in the WNBA, and now the 42-year-old will be on the team again. Other returners from the Tokyo Olympics are Breanna Stewart, A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, Napheesa Collier, Jewell Loyd and Brittney Griner.