Headline News from The Associated Press
AP Headline News - May 13 2024 09:00 (EDT)
This is AP News. I'm Rita Folley. Today's the day. Donald Trump's fix-or-turn foe Michael Cohen expected to offer jurors in his hush money case and insider's view of the dealings at the heart of the prosecution's case. Back in 2016, when Cohen was Trump's lawyer, he paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 to stay quiet about an alleged sexual encounter, which the former president paid back to Cohen, considered "hush money" by prosecutors. The former president repeatedly denying it all, and on Friday after court, Julie Walker, New York, and in another closely watched trial, jury selection begins today in the trial of Senator Bob Menendez, a Democrat charged with accepting bribes. The U.S. thinks Israel should get out of Gaza. Those are the words of Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. It remains our view that the fastest way to get to a ceasefire, the fastest way to get hostages home, is through an agreement, and we're determined every single day to pursue that and to try to get it to happen. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, he was on NBC's Meet the Press. In South Africa, a week after an apartment building under construction collapsed, 24 workers are known dead, 28 others are still missing, and over the weekend, they found one worker still alive after six days without food and water. Rescue teams are still searching for any survivors. Zhang Zhang was supposed to be released from prison in China today. She is the Chinese citizen journalist who served four years in prison for reporting on the early days of the COVID pandemic in Wuhan, but activists don't know where she is now and they're concerned. A curator at the American Museum of Natural History in Turkey is being detained there, accused of trying to smuggle spider and scorpion samples out of the country. This is AP News. Is inflation squeezing you? The government will release April's inflation report this Wednesday. Economists are forecasting it will show inflation has declined a 10th of a percent from March to about 3.4 percent. Inflation has been inching up since January after declining sharply last year, raising concerns about stalled progress. Those say part of the issue may be that Americans are spending less than 10 percent of their after-tax income servicing debt. Millions of Americans refinanced when rates were low and therefore feel little impact from fed rate hikes. Economist Gennady Goldberg with TD Security says the average rate for a new 30-year mortgage is nearly 7.1 percent, but the average rate on all outstanding mortgages is just 3.8 percent, the highest gap since the 1980s. Neil Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve's Minneapolis branch, says the most likely scenario is that rates stay put for an extended period of time. Jennifer King, Washington. And I'm Rita Foley, AP News. After countless steps and more than a few miles, her dog drives you forward one last time to make that final climb. And as the rising sun peeks out from the horizon, you know, incredible happens here because it starts here with a fuel that makes it all possible. Summer is meant to be easy. It's meant to be savored. So don't spend your summer weekend waiting in line for ice coffee. Satisfy your ice coffee craving in your own kitchen with Mespresso. Create consistently delicious ice coffee that's never watered down at the touch of a button. This summer, craft your own double espresso over ice or brew a smooth 12-ounce cold brew style coffee over ice for the perfect afternoon refresher. Be your own barista, making exceptional ice coffee at home with Mespresso. To be iced, meant to be simple, visit nespresso.com. It pays to find out. American Giant makes great clothing, sweatshirts, jeans, and more right here in the U.S. Visit american-giant.com and get 20% off your first order with Code Staple 20. That's 20% off your first order at american-giant.com, Code Staple 20.