SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol announced this week that he would create a new government ministry to tackle the country's low birth rate, which he called "a national emergency."

The ministry will serve as a specialized "control tower" that will "establish policies that span education, labor and welfare" — one ...Read more

ATLANTA — From Gov. Brian Kemp to former President Jimmy Carter, over 240,000 Georgia voters have already cast their ballots for this month’s primary.

Turnout steadily rose by roughly 25,000 voters each day across Georgia through nearly two weeks of early voting, according to state election data published Friday.

The deadline to request an...Read more

ATLANTA — Most members of Emory University’s Class of 2024 were finishing the sixth grade a decade ago when Georgia congressman and icon of the Civil Rights Movement John Lewis gave the school’s commencement address on campus.

During his speech, Lewis recalled meeting Rosa Parks when he was 17 years old and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr....Read more

LOS ANGELES — Sasha Jane Lowerson just wanted to surf.

But when the Australian longboard surfer attempted to enter an upcoming competition in Huntington Beach, the athlete, who was born intersex, learned that the organizer wasn't going to allow transgender athletes.

Instead, surfers would be required to enter the category of the gender they ...Read more

Meghan Markle was showing off hubby Prince Harry on their first stop of their Nigeria tour — on the heels of him getting snubbed by King Charles, Prince William and Kate Middleton.

The Sussexes spoke Friday at the GEANCO Foundation’s inaugural mental health summit, with the “Suits” alum, 42, praising her 39-year-old husband’s “...Read more

NEW YORK — New York state’s much-maligned Office of Cannabis Management will get new leadership and streamline its torpid permitting process for retailers, Gov. Hochul said Friday, moving to address failures that have allowed a sprawling illegal marijuana market to emerge in the city.

Hochul described the state’s legal cannabis rollout as...Read more

ATLANTA — After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision in June 2022 allowing states like Georgia to institute abortion bans, states with abortion bans or restrictions started attracting fewer medical residents, the new doctors who work in training at academic hospitals.

Court decisions in 2022 and 2023 including by Georgia’s state ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Faced with a $44.9 billion budget deficit, Gov. Gavin Newsom described a plan to shrink the size of state government and slow his progressive policy agenda by eliminating 10,000 vacant state jobs and pausing an expansion of subsidized childcare, among dozens of other cuts.

Newsom’s revised $288 billion budget proposal, ...Read more

Two new COVID-19 subvariants, collectively nicknamed FLiRT, are increasingly edging out the winter's dominant strain ahead of a possible summer uptick in coronavirus infections.

The new FLiRT subvariants, officially known as KP.2 and KP.1.1, are believed to be roughly 20% more transmissible than their parent, JN.1, the winter's dominant ...Read more

NEW YORK — A bid by Donald Trump’s lawyers to show he was concerned about how his family would take the news of the Stormy Daniels sex tryst allegations fizzled Friday as testimony in the ex-president’s hush money trial resumed.

Former top White House aide Madeleine Westerhout, who famously lost her job after saying she had a better ...Read more

ATLANTA — An inmate who escaped from deputies while in custody at a hospital has been located, the Newton County Sheriff’s Office said Friday.

Kendrick Darnell Hurst, 34, ran from deputies Saturday at Piedmont Newton Hospital. He fled before he could be transported back to the jail, investigators said.

Hurst had been spotted in the days ...Read more

Amid persistent calls from the United States and other countries that Israel needs to make it easier for life-saving aid to reach Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military closed two of the region’s few operating border crossings in Rafah, a southern Gazan city, on May 7, 2024.

Responding to political pressure and alarm, ...Read more

CHICAGO — Wendella engineer Miguel Chavez climbed down a ladder and over a small dock Wednesday to pull up a trap floating in the Chicago River near the Michigan Avenue Bridge. The size of a standard garbage can, the trap is designed to collect trash and can hold up to 44 pounds.

Chavez tapped the bin three times to release the contents into ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA —Police began moving in early Friday morning to dismantle the 16-day old pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia police dressed in riot gear with zip ties and shields stood alongside Penn police as dozens of protesters chanted with their arms linked around the base of the university's iconic ...Read more

SpaceX’s plans to build a Starship launch complex at Kennedy Space Center are moving closer to reality even as it potentially takes over a launch site from neighboring Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

The Federal Aviation Administration said it was beginning an Environmental Impact Statement for Starship launches from KSC’s Launch ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — The Legal Marijuana Now Party will no longer be recognized as a major political party in Minnesota after the state Supreme Court ruled Friday that they failed to meet legal requirements to maintain that status.

The unanimous ruling from the court directs the Secretary of State's office to "take all appropriate actions necessary...Read more

Right-wing firebrand Steve Bannon is likely headed to prison after a federal appeals court Friday upheld his conviction for defying the Congressional probe of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

The hardline supporter of former President Donald Trump is on the hook for a four-month stint behind bars after a three-judge panel of the Washington D.C...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Roughly 14,400 gallons of untreated sewage forced Los Angeles County public health officials to warn people to stay out of the water at Dockweiler State Beach, Venice Beach and the surrounding area.

It's unclear when the closure will be lifted, but people should stay clear of the water and the wet sand from Ballona Creek to one ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Ilya Tarshansky readily admits he’s not a great public speaker.

So, he sat Thursday evening in front of an audience of about 100 people at the Folsom Community Center and answered their questions as best as he could.

He’s a survivor of the Oct. 7 surprise Hamas militant attacks on Israel. Tarshansky, his 15-year-old ...Read more

DETROIT — A man from the Adrian area accused of threatening to kill Attorney General Dana Nessel and other Jewish members of state government is incompetent to stand trial, a federal judge said Friday.

Tipton resident Jack Eugene Carpenter III, 42, is a delusional conspiracy theorist, U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith wrote in an order, ...Read more