Turkey's Erdogan says he could still win, would accept presidential election runoff
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is locked in a tight election race, with a make-or-break runoff against his chief challenger possible as the final votes are counted. With the votes of Turkish citizens living abroad still needing to be counted early Monday, support for the incumbent had dipped below the majority required for him to win reelection outright. State-run news agency Anadolu said Erdogan had 49.3% of the vote and his main opposition rival, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, had 45%. Erdogan has ruled his country with an increasingly firm grip for 20 years and told supporters he could still win but would respect the nation’s decision if the race went to a runoff vote in two weeks.
NYC converts hotels to shelters as pressure mounts to accommodate asylum seekers
NEW YORK (AP) — Around Manhattan and elsewhere in New York City, hotels that served tourists just a few years ago have become de facto emergency shelters. The latest is the historic Roosevelt Hotel in midtown Manhattan, which shuttered three years ago and is reopening later this week as a welcome center and shelter for asylum seekers. In announcing the plan, city officials say they are doing so ahead of a possible surge in migrants because of a change in policy along the U.S.-Mexico border. As New York faces growing pressure to expand the city's shelter system, it is turning to vacant hotels to make more room for people who need a roof and a place to bunk down as they sort out their lives. A legal mandate requires the city to provide shelter to anyone who needs it.
France pledges more military aid as Ukraine's Zelenskyy makes surprise Paris visit to meet Macron
PARIS (AP) — France has pledged additional military aid, including light tanks, armored vehicles, training for soldiers and other assistance for Ukraine as it gears up for a counteroffensive against Russian forces. The fresh French support followed surprise talks Sunday in Paris between the Ukrainian and French presidents. Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and France’s Emmanuel Macron met for three hours at the presidential Elysee Palace. The encounter was kept under wraps until shortly before the Ukrainian leader's arrival in Paris from Germany on a French government jet, extending a multi-stop European tour. Zelenskyy met earlier Sunday with Germany's chancellor, Olaf Scholz.
Guest nations at the G-7 reflect outreach to developing countries, worries over China, Russia
TOKYO (AP) — During this week’s summit of the leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies in Hiroshima, you’ll also see eight other guest nations engaging in a flurry of diplomacy with Japan and others. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has invited South Korea, Australia, India, Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia, Comoros and the Cook Islands. Observers say the selection of the countries signals Kishida’s major foreign policy objectives. They include a rules-based order in the face of China’s assertiveness and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, stronger ties with U.S. allies and developing nations, and a nuclear-free world.
China sentences 78-year-old US citizen to life in prison on spying charges
BEIJING (AP) — China has sentenced a 78-year-old United States citizen to life in prison on spying charges. John Shing-Wan Leung, who holds permanent residency in Hong Kong, had been detained on April 15, 2021 by the counterintelligence agency in the southeastern city of Suzhou. The city's intermediate court announced Leung's sentencing in a brief statement Monday on its social media site but gave no details of the charges. Such investigations and trials are held behind closed doors and little or no information is made public. Relations between Washington and Beijing have hit a historical low amid disputes over trade, technology, human rights and China's increasingly aggressive approach toward its territorial claims.
Stained glass window shows Jesus Christ with dark skin, stirring questions about race in New England
WARREN, R.I. (AP) — A nearly 150-year-old stained-glass church window showing a dark-skinned Jesus Christ interacting with women has been rediscovered in a Rhode Island church. The artwork is stirring questions about race, the slave trade and the place of women in 19th century New England society. Experts say the window installed in 1878 in the long-closed St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Warren is one of the earliest public examples of Christ portrayed as a person of color. It also shows Christ interacting with women as equals. An architect turning the church into a private home hopes the window can be put on display in a museum.
Victims of racist Buffalo supermarket mass shooting remembered on anniversary
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Buffalo, New York, has paused to mark one year since a white supremacist gunman killed 10 Black people and wounded three victims at a supermarket. Mayor Byron Brown led a moment of silence outside of the Tops Friendly Market on the city's east side Sunday. A bell chimed 13 times to remember the victims. In the year since the shooting, victims' relatives have appeared before Congress to address white supremacy and gun reform. Others have sought to combat food insecurity that worsened when the neighborhood’s only grocery store was closed for two months. The gunman is imprisoned for life.
Philadelphia Inquirer hit by cyberattack causing newspaper's largest disruption in decades
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Philadelphia Inquirer has experienced the most significant disruption to its operations in 27 years due to what the newspaper calls a cyberattack. The newspaper's website reports that the company is working to restore print operations after the cyber incursion that prevented the printing of the newspaper’s Sunday print edition. The Inquirer reports its news website is still operational, although updates are slower than normal. Inquirer publisher Lisa Hughes says the company is not immediately able to provide an exact timeline for full restoration of its systems. The cyberattack has caused the largest disruption to the publication of Pennsylvania’s largest news organization since a massive blizzard in January 1996.
Child social media stars have few protections. Illinois aims to fix that
CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois lawmakers aim to make their state what they say will be the first in the country to create protections for child social media influencers. A bill that was approved unanimously by the state Senate in March and is scheduled to be considered by the House this week would entitle child influencers under the age of 16 to a percentage of earnings based on how often they appear on video blogs or online content. Family-style vlogs can feature children as early as birth and recount milestones and family events. But experts say the commercialized “sharenthood” industry, which can earn content creators tens of thousands of dollars per brand deal, is underregulated and can even cause harm.
Minneapolis city council nomination brawlers could be expelled from Minnesota Democratic Party
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Democratic Party says it will consider expelling anyone involved in a brawl that broke out at a political event to nominate candidates for a Minneapolis City Council seat. At least two people were injured in Saturday's confrontation. Ken Martin chairs the state Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. He said on Twitter that he plans to call an emergency meeting later this week. The dispute erupted during the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party’s endorsing convention for central Minneapolis' Ward 10. Convention chair Sam Doten called the behavior embarrassing and adjourned without a nominee being chosen, saying it was no longer safe. Minneapolis police spokesman Brian Feintech said no arrests had been made.