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Airliners carrying women and children linked to Islamic State group land in Australia

Rod Mcguirk, The Associated Press 2 minute read Updated: 3:31 AM CDT

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Airliners carrying Australian women and children with alleged ties to the Islamic State group landed in Australia on Thursday.

A plane reportedly carrying three Australian women and eight children landed in Melbourne, while a separate plane carrying a woman and her son arrived in Sydney soon after.

The Australian government announced on Wednesday that the 13, who have spent years in a Syrian desert camp, planned to return to Australia. Police said the women face potential criminal charges relating to their alleged time in the Islamic State group’s so-called caliphate that spanned Syria and Iraq.

Both Qatar Airways flights took off minutes apart from Doha bound for Australia’s two largest cities. QR904, which landed in Melbourne first, was followed by QR908 in Sydney.

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FILE - Ted Turner is seen at his desk inside the CNN Center in 1982. (Nancy Mangiafico/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, File)

Ted Turner’s vision of news as global and continuous changed both the industry and society itself

Jocelyn Noveck And Wyatte Grantham-philips, The Associated Press 6 minute read Preview

Ted Turner’s vision of news as global and continuous changed both the industry and society itself

Jocelyn Noveck And Wyatte Grantham-philips, The Associated Press 6 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 10:04 PM CDT

NEW YORK (AP) — When the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986, Beth Knobel, a future TV news correspondent, was in graduate school. Emerging from class, she saw TV sets had been set up in the lobby. They were tuned to CNN, the 24/7 news channel that Ted Turner had launched about five years earlier, which was carrying the launch live.

“Shuttle launches were just kind of routine and the broadcast networks weren’t even covering them anymore,” says Knobel, who worked for CBS News in the 1990s and now teaches journalism at Fordham University. “CNN did. So when things went so tragically wrong, there they were on top of the story like no one else.”

That, says Knobel, who now teaches a class on TV’s biggest innovators, is just one example of why Turner was the biggest of them all — huge steps ahead of anyone else in his understanding of how news needed to be delivered.

Turner’s death Wednesday comes at a fraught time for cable news, which has struggled to retain viewership in an era of countless media choices and abundant streaming video. CNN has not been immune; changes in the media ecosystem, the company’s financial picture and multiple editorial resets over the years have left it a markedly different entity than the one Turner built.

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Updated: Yesterday at 10:04 PM CDT

Lifestyles

The MV Hondius cruise ship departs the port in Praia, Cape Verde, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

About 40 passengers previously left ship hit by Hantavirus outbreak at island of St. Helena

The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

About 40 passengers previously left ship hit by Hantavirus outbreak at island of St. Helena

The Associated Press 2 minute read Updated: 3:36 AM CDT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — About 40 passengers on a cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak previously disembarked on the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena after the first passenger died, Dutch officials said Thursday.

The dozens of passengers, including the wife of a Dutch man who died, left the cruise ship during a stop at the British territory, the Dutch foreign ministry said.

The Dutch cruise company that operates the ship previously said the Dutch woman disembarked the ship with her husband's body at St. Helena. She then flew to South Africa on a commercial plane and died after collapsing at an airport in Johannesburg.

However, the company had not acknowledged that anyone else got off the ship at St. Helena.

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Updated: 3:36 AM CDT

Business

FILE - Ted Turner speaks during the CNN World Report Contributors banquet in Atlanta on May 4, 1995. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)

CNN founder Ted Turner, a brash and outspoken television pioneer, dies at age 87

David Bauder, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

CNN founder Ted Turner, a brash and outspoken television pioneer, dies at age 87

David Bauder, The Associated Press 5 minute read Yesterday at 11:34 AM CDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Ted Turner, a brash television pioneer who raced yachts, owned huge chunks of the American West and transformed the news business by launching CNN and introducing the 24-hour cable news cycle, died Wednesday. He was 87.

Turner died surrounded by his family, according to Turner Enterprises, the company that oversees his vast business interests.

Turner owned professional sports teams in Atlanta, defended the America’s Cup in yachting in 1977 and donated a stunning $1 billion to United Nations charities. He married three women — most famously actor Jane Fonda — and earned the nicknames “Captain Outrageous” and “The Mouth of the South.”

He once bragged: “If only I had a little humility, I’d be perfect.”

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Yesterday at 11:34 AM CDT

Lifestyles

Cargo ships are seen at sea near the Strait of Hormuz, as viewed from a rocky shoreline near Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

US tries to force open the Strait of Hormuz as the UAE comes under attack in a test of Iran truce

Adam Schreck, Ben Finley And Sam Metz, The Associated Press 7 minute read Preview

US tries to force open the Strait of Hormuz as the UAE comes under attack in a test of Iran truce

Adam Schreck, Ben Finley And Sam Metz, The Associated Press 7 minute read Tuesday, May. 5, 2026

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. military said it fired on Iranian forces and sank six small boats targeting civilian ships as it moved to reopen the Strait of Hormuz on Monday. The United Arab Emirates, a key American ally, said it had come under attack from Iran for the first time since a fragile ceasefire took hold in early April.

The U.S. military said two American-flagged merchant ships had successfully transited the strait on Monday as part of a new initiative.

The UAE Defense Ministry said its air defenses had engaged 15 missiles and four drones fired by Iran. Authorities in the eastern emirate of Fujairah said one drone sparked a fire at a key oil facility, wounding three Indian nationals. The British military reported two cargo vessels ablaze off the UAE.

Tehran did not outright confirm or deny the attacks but early on Tuesday, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on X that both the U.S. and the UAE “should be wary of being dragged back into quagmire.”

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Tuesday, May. 5, 2026

Business

FILE - U.S. media mogul Ted Turner poses for the photographers as he arrives prior to a dinner at the US Ambassador's residence in Paris, Dec. 8, 2015. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu, File)

CNN founder Ted Turner, a brash and outspoken television pioneer, has died at age 87

David Bauder And John Seewer, The Associated Press 9 minute read Preview

CNN founder Ted Turner, a brash and outspoken television pioneer, has died at age 87

David Bauder And John Seewer, The Associated Press 9 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 5:15 PM CDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Ted Turner could never be defined by just one role. He was a media mogul, philanthropist and conservationist. A yachtsman who won boating’s most famous race and owner of a baseball team that captured the World Series trophy.

The brash television pioneer who died Wednesday made his greatest mark on the news business when he launched CNN nearly a half-century ago and with it, the 24-hour cable news cycle — a revolutionary moment that transformed the industry.

His media empire grew to include CNN International, the Cartoon Network, TNT and Turner Classic Movies. Then he used his riches to become one of America’s most extensive landowners, dedicating his final years to preserving natural habitats, saving endangered species and reducing nuclear weapons.

Turner died at age 87 while surrounded by his family, according to Turner Enterprises, which oversees his vast businesses and investments. A cause was not released. He was diagnosed in 2018 with Lewy body dementia, a progressive neurological disorder.

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Updated: Yesterday at 5:15 PM CDT

Business

Mark Zuckerberg ‘personally authorized’ Meta’s copyright infringement, publishers allege

Hillel Italie, The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

Mark Zuckerberg ‘personally authorized’ Meta’s copyright infringement, publishers allege

Hillel Italie, The Associated Press 2 minute read Tuesday, May. 5, 2026

NEW YORK (AP) — Five publishing houses and author Scott Turow sued Meta and CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday, alleging the company illegally used millions of copyrighted works to train its AI language system Llama.

The class action lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, accuses the tech giant of copyright infringement and opens up a new front in the ongoing battle between the book community and developers of AI.

The plaintiffs allege that Zuckerberg and Meta “followed their well-known motto ‘move fast and break things’" by illegally drawing upon a massive trove of books and journal articles for Llama.

“Defendants reproduced and distributed millions of copyrighted works without permission, without providing any compensation to authors or publishers, and with full knowledge that their conduct violated copyright law,” the complaint reads in part. “Zuckerberg himself personally authorized and actively encouraged the infringement."

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Tuesday, May. 5, 2026

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FILE - Signage for The Pulitzer Prizes appear at Columbia University, May 28, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

Associated Press global investigation into government surveillance efforts wins Pulitzer Prize

Deepti Hajela, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Associated Press global investigation into government surveillance efforts wins Pulitzer Prize

Deepti Hajela, The Associated Press 3 minute read Monday, May. 4, 2026

NEW YORK (AP) — The expansion of government surveillance efforts in China — and the role that U.S. tech firms played in it — was the foundation of investigative stories from The Associated Press that won a Pulitzer Prize Monday for international reporting.

The Pulitzer board recognized AP journalists Dake Kang, Garance Burke, Byron Tau and Aniruddha Ghosal, along with contributor and independent journalist Yael Grauer, for what it called “an astonishing global investigation into state-of-the-art tools of mass surveillance” that also included a story about the expansion of license plate surveillance of drivers in United States by the U.S. Border Patrol.

AP Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Julie Pace said “this complex and difficult reporting, done by journalists across several continents, embodies the true spirit of the AP: leveraging our global footprint and deep expertise to tell important, impactful stories. It comes at a critical time when the immense and growing power of U.S. tech companies — and their increasingly complex relationship with governments — is in the spotlight and of immense public interest.”

The AP's investigation spanned three years, thousands of pages of documents and numerous interviews. It found that the foundations of the system used by the Chinese government to monitor and police its citizens over recent decades was laid down with the help of American companies. Some of the companies went so far as to use their tech's surveillance capabilities as a selling point.

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Monday, May. 4, 2026

Business

FILE - A picketer carries a sign on the picket line outside Netflix on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

Actors and studios strike a tentative 4-year deal, easing fears of another Hollywood shutdown

Andrew Dalton, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Actors and studios strike a tentative 4-year deal, easing fears of another Hollywood shutdown

Andrew Dalton, The Associated Press 3 minute read Monday, May. 4, 2026

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Union board members representing television and movie actors are set this week to review a tentative contract deal with studios and streaming services.

While an agreement was announced Saturday, it still must be approved by the board of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, then ratified by a member vote. If both those things happen — as they're expected to — the industry will avoid a repeat of the 2023 actor and writer strikes that seriously shook the entertainment industry. This year's negotiations were drama-free, and more strikes never really appeared to be in the cards.

The tentative deal was announced in a joint statement from SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents a coalition of Hollywood's major studios, streamers and production companies.

The statement said no details would be made public until the union's board has had a chance to review them.

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Monday, May. 4, 2026

Business

Journalists stand outside of the Casa Rosada government headquarters after President Javier Milei blocked their access, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, April 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Argentina’s Milei restores press access to presidency after a ban sparks backlash

Isabel Debre, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

Argentina’s Milei restores press access to presidency after a ban sparks backlash

Isabel Debre, The Associated Press 4 minute read Monday, May. 4, 2026

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina's President Javier Milei restored journalists' access to his government headquarters Monday, more than a week after the decision to block credentialed reporters from the building — accompanied by a volley of online insults — triggered backlash from lawmakers and press freedom advocates.

Most journalists said they could enter the Casa Rosada — or the Pink House, Argentina’s equivalent of the White House — for the first time since April 23. But authorities denied entry to two credentialed TV channels without explanation and introduced new restrictions on reporters' physical movement within the Casa Rosada, shuttering corridors and installing frosted glass on windows.

Last month's closure of the press room used for decades by reporters with credentials to cover the president added to a list of attacks and reprisals against news organizations by Milei, whose hostility toward the press mirrors the aggressive approach of his ally and powerful backer, U.S. President Donald Trump.

Journalists and their advocates rebuked the move as an attack on press freedom in Argentina. Condemnation poured in from business chambers, the Catholic Church and politicians across the spectrum.

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Monday, May. 4, 2026

Business

This image provided by Grand Street Media for The Leary Firefighters Foundation shows Leary Firefighters Foundation founder Denis Leary, center, talking with members of the foundation's board of directors, Brian Williams, left, and David Morkal, right, at the 2026 Denis Leary FDNY Firefighter Challenge in New York on May 1, 2026. (Jesse Guma/Grand Street Media for The Leary Firefighters Foundation via AP)

Denis Leary’s ‘crazy idea’ puts civilians through FDNY training to raise funds for fire departments

Glenn Gamboa, The Associated Press 6 minute read Preview

Denis Leary’s ‘crazy idea’ puts civilians through FDNY training to raise funds for fire departments

Glenn Gamboa, The Associated Press 6 minute read Sunday, May. 3, 2026

Denis Leary didn’t want to do another golf tournament for a fundraiser. Or an auction.

But the actor-comedian, currently starring in the Fox comedy “Going Dutch” and best known as the voice of Diego in the “Ice Age” movies, needed more donations for his Leary Firefighters Foundation. He came up with what he called a “crazy idea” to host a “Firefighter for a Day” event and teamed up with the Fire Department of New York and The FDNY Foundation to make it happen, in honor of International Firefighters Day celebrated every May 4.

Since 2016, the foundation’s Denis Leary FDNY Firefighter Challenge has been the only day each year when the FDNY Fire Academy on Randall’s Island in New York City is open to non-firefighters, who get a rare, hands-on opportunity to experience some of the training needed for emergency response.

“It was exciting from the get-go,” Leary told The Associated Press. “Now, 10 years in, it just gets better and better every year. It’s truly amazing.”

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Sunday, May. 3, 2026

Business

This image released by 20th Century Studios shows Meryl Streep, left, and Anne Hathaway in a scene from

‘The Devil Wears Prada’ struts to first place with $77 million debut

Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

‘The Devil Wears Prada’ struts to first place with $77 million debut

Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press 5 minute read Sunday, May. 3, 2026

Twenty years after the original, the sequel to “The Devil Wears Prada” made a splash in its first weekend in theaters. Driven largely by women, “The Devil Wears Prada 2” earned $77 million in the U.S. and Canada, and $156.6 million internationally, according to studio estimates Sunday. It easily topped the box office and bumped “Michael” to second place, though the musical biopic held well in its second weekend, falling only 44%.

The Walt Disney Co.’s 20th Century Studios opened “The Devil Wears Prada 2” in 4,150 locations in North America. Women made up about 76% of the ticket buyers, according to PostTrak exit polls; 74% said they would “definitely recommend” the movie to friends. Critics were a bit mixed on the sequel, which finds Anne Hathaway’s Andy Sachs working once more for Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly at the fictional “Runway” magazine in a much-depleted media landscape.

The movie cost a reported $100 million to produce — a significant boost from the first movie’s $35 million production budget. But as filmmaker David Frankel told The Associated Press recently, “As it turns out, you know, by the time you finish paying all the biggest movie stars in the world, you still end up with basically the same budget for making the movie as we did the first one.”

Stars Streep, Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci have been on a fashion-forward global publicity blitz for weeks, with glamorous stops in Tokyo, London and New York. Even Anna Wintour, the inspiration for the Prada-clad devil, has been involved this time, appearing with Hathaway on the Oscars stage and with Streep on the cover of “Vogue.”

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Sunday, May. 3, 2026

President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a charter school in The Villages, Fla., Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

US to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany in next 6-12 months

Ben Finley, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

US to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany in next 6-12 months

Ben Finley, The Associated Press 3 minute read Friday, May. 1, 2026

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States will withdraw about 5,000 troops from Germany in the next six to 12 months, the Pentagon said Friday, fulfilling President Donald Trump's threat as he clashes with the German leader over the U.S. war with Iran.

Trump had threatened to withdraw some troops from the NATO ally earlier this week after Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the U.S. was being “humiliated” by the Iranian leadership and criticized Washington’s lack of strategy in the war.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement that the “decision follows a thorough review of the Department’s force posture in Europe and is in recognition of theater requirements and conditions on the ground.”

Germany hosts several U.S. military facilities, including the headquarters of its European and Africa commands, Ramstein Air Base and a medical center in Landstuhl, where casualties from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were treated. U.S. nuclear missiles are also stationed in the country.

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Friday, May. 1, 2026

Entertainment

FILE - A game store manager holds the graded AM129 Spiderman

Gerry Conway, comic book writer who co-created Punisher character in Spider-Man, dies at 73

Claire Rush, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

Gerry Conway, comic book writer who co-created Punisher character in Spider-Man, dies at 73

Claire Rush, The Associated Press 4 minute read Friday, May. 1, 2026

Gerry Conway, a renowned comic book writer who helped create characters and stories for Marvel and DC, including the Punisher character in the Spider-Man comics, has died. He was 73.

In a Monday statement announcing his death, Marvel described Conway as a legendary comic book writer with a prolific career. He died of pancreatic cancer on Sunday in Thousand Oaks, California, his wife, Laura Conway, told The Associated Press.

“From Spider-Man to the Avengers, Iron Man to Captain Marvel, Gerry Conway has deftly written almost every character in the Marvel Universe,” Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief C.B. Cebulski said. "Gerry Conway’s legacy has made an undeniable and indelible impact on the Super Hero stories we know and love. He will be dearly missed.”

Tributes were also shared on social media.

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Friday, May. 1, 2026

World

The image above shows the country of Mali and the towns there which have come under recent attack and some overtaken by Islamic militants. (AP Digital Embed)

Mali accuses military officers of working with rebels to carry out attacks against government

The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Mali accuses military officers of working with rebels to carry out attacks against government

The Associated Press 3 minute read Friday, May. 1, 2026

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Some military officers in Mali worked with jihadi rebels and separatist fighters who launched their biggest round of attacks in over a decade in the conflict-battered country, authorities said late Friday.

The separatist fighters, meanwhile, said Friday they captured a strategic military camp in the northern town of Tessalit after the withdrawal of Mali's army and its Russian allies.

The claim by the Azawad Liberation Front separatist group was the latest setback for Mali’s ruling junta, which lost control of the major city of Kidal earlier in the week as part of attacks that killed Malian Defense Minister Sadio Camara.

Mali has been run by the military since a 2020 coup and has long suffered violence as jihadi groups expand in surrounding territories in the wider Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert, which is known as global hotspot for violent extremism.

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Friday, May. 1, 2026

Entertainment

Weinstein accuser finishes five days of tense testimony

Jennifer Peltz, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

Weinstein accuser finishes five days of tense testimony

Jennifer Peltz, The Associated Press 4 minute read Friday, May. 1, 2026

NEW YORK (AP) — The accuser at Harvey Weinstein ′s rape retrial returned to court Friday, a day after she said she was having difficulty focusing, and finished five days of fraught, often tearful testimony.

“I’m not doing too good right now, so I’m really trying to remember,” Jessica Mann said as a defense lawyer resumed scrutinizing her communications and get-togethers with the former movie magnate after the alleged 2013 rape. She added: “I feel like I said a lot, and I’m trying to get through this.”

But Mann went on to respond to hours of questions, at times seeming exhausted or asking for queries to be repeated. By the end of the day, as prosecutors took their second turn asking questions, she was slumped with her head propped on her left hand, weeping as she said she was being “as truthful and transparent as I can possibly be."

Mann, 40, and Weinstein, 73, are in the midst of the third trial about her accusation that he forced himself on her in a New York hotel room. Weinstein's lawyers say everything that happened between the two was consensual and part of a four-year, caring relationship.

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Friday, May. 1, 2026

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