AP-Newswatch

Alito rejects calls to quit Supreme Court cases on Trump and Jan. 6 because of flag controversies

WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Samuel Alito is rejecting calls to step aside from Supreme Court cases involving former President Donald Trump and Jan. 6 defendants because of the controversy over flags that flew over his homes. In letters to members of Congress on Wednesday, Alito says his wife was responsible for flying an upside-down flag over his Virginia home in 2021 and an “Appeal to Heaven” flag at his New Jersey beach house last year. Alito says neither incident merits his recusal. Alito says he’s “duty-bound to reject” lawmakers’ recusal request.

Israel’s military says it’s taken control of a strategic corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s military says it’s seized control of a strategic corridor that runs along the length of Gaza’s border with Egypt. The capture on Wednesday of the area, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, gives Israel control over a strip of land that it says is awash in smuggling tunnels that have bolstered the militant Hamas group. But it could complicate relations with neighboring Egypt, which has warned against an increase of Israeli troops in the area. The move comes as Israel has deepened its incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah. A top Israeli official meanwhile warned that the war could stretch on through the end of the year.

Netanyahu frequently makes claims of antisemitism. Critics say he’s deflecting from his own problems

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly accused critics of Israel or his policies of antisemitism. But his detractors say he is overusing the label to push his political agenda and try to quash even legitimate criticism, and that doing so risks diluting the term’s meaning at a time when antisemitism is surging worldwide. Among other things, he has called the U.S. college campus protests and the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court antisemitic. Netanyahu’s supporters say he is genuinely concerned for the safety of Jews around the world. However, he has repeatedly sidestepped accountability for not preventing Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.

Biden and Harris will launch a Black voter outreach effort as they see signs of diminished support

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have headed to the battleground state of Pennsylvania as they step up their reelection pitch to Black voters. The Democrats will launch a summerlong Black voter outreach effort with a visit Wednesday to Girard College, an independent boarding school in Philadelphia with a predominantly Black student body. Biden and Harris also will stop by a small business to visit members of the Black Chamber of Commerce. The push comes as Biden has seen his solid support among Black voters show signs of erosion. An AP-NORC poll published in March showed Biden’s approval had dropped among Black adults from 94% when he started his term to 55%.

US pledges $135 million in aid to Western-leaning Moldova to counter Russian influence

CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has pledged $135 million in aid to Moldova for energy security and to counter Russian disinformation. The Western-leaning nation is struggling to blunt Russia’s push for influence that’s been buoyed by recent successes in its war in neighboring Ukraine. Blinken opened a short visit to Eastern Europe with a stop Wednesday in Moldova’s capital, where he announced the assistance. Blinken’s trip is centered around a NATO meeting in the Czech Republic. There are concerns that Moldova and Georgia, another former Soviet republic, are facing renewed threats from Russia.

A woman will likely be Mexico’s next president. But in some Indigenous villages, men hold the power

PLAN DE AYALA, Mexico (AP) — Seventy years ago, Mexican women won the right to vote, and today the country’s on the verge of electing its first woman president. Yet some of the Indigenous women who will vote in Sunday’s national election don’t have a voice in their own communities. Some communities of Tojolabal people in the southern state of Chiapas don’t allow women to participate in local government. It’s one example of the marginalization Indigenous women continue to face. In certain places, such as Plan de Ayala in Las Margaritas, some Indigenous women are pushing for change little by little with help from younger generations. They say they’re seeing progress, for example in workshops where young men and women discuss equality.

South Africans vote in what’s been framed as their most important election since apartheid ended

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africans are voting in an election seen as their country’s most important in 30 years. It’s a vote that could put their young democracy into unknown territory. At stake Wednesday is the three-decade dominance of the African National Congress party. It led South Africa out of apartheid’s brutal white minority rule in 1994. But it’s now the target of a new generation of discontent in a country of 62 million people. The ANC has won six successive national elections. But several polls have the ANC’s support at less than 50% ahead of this vote. The party might lose its majority in Parliament for the first time. Final results are expected by Sunday.

Charges against world’s top golfer Scottie Scheffler dropped after arrest outside PGA Championship

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Criminal charges against Scottie Scheffler have been dismissed, ending a legal saga that began with images of the world’s top golfer being arrested and handcuffed in Louisville during the PGA Championship. Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell, a local prosecutor, asked a judge Wednesday afternoon to drop the four charges against Scheffler. Scheffler was not required to be in the courtroom Wednesday. Scheffler was charged with a felony for assaulting a police officer with his vehicle, along with three misdemeanors. Scheffler has said he simply misunderstood the commands coming from traffic officers.