AP-Newswatch

Netanyahu says Israel will not stop striking Hezbollah until all its goals are achieved

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is striking Hezbollah “with full force” and won’t stop until its goals are achieved. Netanyahu spoke as he landed in New York to attend the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting and as U.S. and European officials were pressing for a 21-day halt in fighting between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah to give time for negotiations.

NYC Mayor Eric Adams says he doesn’t plan to resign despite federal corruption case against him

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams says he’s “not surprised” by the federal corruption charges he faces and that he doesn’t plan to resign. He told reporters Thursday that, “I ask New Yorkers to wait to hear our defense before making any judgments. From here, my attorneys will take care of the case so I can take care of the city.” Adams was indicted on charges alleging that he took illegal campaign contributions and bribes from foreign nationals in exchange for favors that included helping Turkish officials get fire safety approvals for a new diplomatic building in the city. FBI agents seized Adams’ phone early Thursday, hours before the indictment was made public.

Helene is upgraded to Category 2 hurricane as it barrels toward Florida

CRAWFORDVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Fast-moving Hurricane Helene is advancing across the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida and has been upgraded to a Category 2 storm. Forecasters say it threatens a “catastrophic” storm surge in parts of northwestern Florida, as well as tornadoes, damaging winds, rains and flash floods hundreds of miles inland across much of the southeastern United States. Landfall is expected Thursday evening. In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday morning that models suggest Helene will make landfall further east, lessening the chances for a direct hit on the capital city of Tallahassee. The shift has the storm aimed squarely at the sparsely-populated Big Bend area.

Hearing on Trump assassination attempts says Pennsylvania failure was with Secret Service

WASHINGTON (AP) — Members of a bipartisan House panel investigating the Trump assassination attempts suggested during their first hearing that the failures that led to a gunman being able to open fire on former President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania were with Secret Service, not local police. In his opening statement Thursday, the Republican co-chair of the committee, Rep. Mike Kelly from Pennsylvania, blamed a cascade of failures by the Secret Service that allowed a gunman, Thomas Michael Crooks, to gain access to the roof of a nearby building and open fire on Trump. Trump was wounded and a man attending the rally with his family was killed.

Americans are more likely to see Harris’ gender as a hurdle than they were for Clinton: AP-NORC poll

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are more likely to believe that being a woman will hurt Kamala Harris’ chances in the November election, compared to eight years ago when Hillary Clinton was running. And they are more likely to believe that Donald Trump’s gender will help him. A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research indicates a shift in attitudes among U.S. adults in the time between the candidacies of the first and second female major-party nominees. The shift in attitudes is largely driven by Democrats — particularly Democratic men. Americans are also more likely to see Trump’s gender as something that will help his chances of being elected.

Zelenskyy visits Washington as election year divide grows over Ukraine war

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is returning to Washington as U.S. support for his country’s fight against Russia faces a reckoning in this year’s presidential election. On Thursday, he’ll meet separately with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president. Biden announced billions of dollars more in military assistance for Ukraine, and Harris has pledged to continue helping if elected. However, Republican nominee Donald Trump has criticized Zelenskyy and suggested that he would push Ukraine to cut a deal with Russia to end the war. It’s the most politically treacherous landscape that Zelenskyy has encountered in Washington since Russia invaded nearly three years ago.

Military recruiting rebounds after several tough years, but challenges remain

FORT JACKSON, South Carolina (AP) — The Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and Space Force say they will all meet their recruiting goals by the end of this month and the Navy will come very close. The results represent a slight uptick in young people joining the military, following several very difficult years and a swath of new programs and enticements. The services had struggled to overcome severe restrictions on in-person recruiting mandated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the low unemployment rate and stiff competition from private companies able to pay more and provide similar or better benefits. But military leaders say they’ll still face tough challenges and must keep transforming their recruiting.

Oklahoma executes a man for a 1992 killing despite board recommending his life be spared

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma has executed a man for his role in the 1992 shooting death of a convenience store owner during a robbery. Fifty-two-year-old Emmanuel Littlejohn received a three-drug lethal injection on Thursday. He was executed despite a recommendation from the state’s parole board that the governor spare his life. Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt declined to commute his sentence to life in prison without parole. Littlejohn is the third inmate put to death this year in Oklahoma and the 14th since the state resumed executions in 2021 after a more than six-year hiatus. Littlejohn acknowledged his role in the robbery but denied firing the shot that killed Kenneth Mears.

OpenAI looks to shift away from nonprofit roots and convert itself to for-profit company

OpenAI’s history as a nonprofit research institute that also sells commercial products like ChatGPT may be coming to an end as the San Francisco company looks to more fully convert itself into a for-profit corporation accountable to shareholders. The company’s board is considering a decision that would change the company into a public benefit corporation, according to a source familiar with the discussions who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about them.

US health authorities need to play a larger role in cannabis policy, a new report says

A scientific panel is calling for a public health approach to marijuana that’s a big departure from “Just Say No.” The report was released Thursday by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. It recommends a larger role for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in cannabis policy. The report comes as more Americans are using high-potency cannabis products that have health risks, especially with heavy use. Today, 38 states and the District of Columbia allow medical marijuana and many also allow adult recreational use. It remains illegal under federal law.