Headline News from The Associated Press
AP Headline News - May 15 2024 18:00 (EDT)
AP News, I'm Ben Thomas. An assassination attempt in Slovakia, Prime Minister Robert Fizzo shot multiple times, taken to a hospital for surgery. Slovakia's Defense Minister says doctors were still fighting for his life after several hours. The 59-year-old populist has been a divisive figure in Slovakia and beyond, returning to power last year on a pro-Russian anti-American message, and halting arms deliveries to Ukraine. A suspect is in custody, and the Interior Minister says the attack had a clear political motivation. Elsewhere, Ukrainian forces have withdrawn from parts of the country's northeast and are battling Russian troops in other areas of the country. President Vladimir Zelensky has postponed upcoming foreign trips amid a renewed Russian onslaught. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a $2 billion arms deal while in Kyiv. Meantime Russian President Vladimir Putin has landed in Beijing for a two-day state visit to China. In this country, Sagar McGahnny has some big political news. President Biden and Donald Trump have agreed on one thing, holding a pair of campaign debates in June and September. Both men say they've accepted CNN's invitation to debate June 27th in battleground Georgia. It was a quick agreement and came after the president said he would not take part in fall debates sponsored by the nonpartisan commission that's organized them for decades. Instead, his campaign proposed media outlets directly organized the debates. The president took to social media to challenge Trump to show up. "Let's pick the dates down. I hear you're free on Wednesdays." A dig at Trump's Hush Money trial, which usually takes Wednesdays off. Trump says he is ready and willing to debate, though the two sides appear far apart on key details and ground rules. Sagar McGahnny, Washington. In the Supreme Court has ordered Louisiana to hold congressional elections this year using a map with a second mostly black district. This is AP News. The Labor Department reports consumer practices rose 0.3 percent from March to April, easing for the first time this year, year over year inflation ticked down to 3.4 percent. That helps spur a big day on Wall Street. "I'm Seth Zutel, and this is the AP Market Support. Stocks rallied to record highs on hopes that inflation is heading back in the right direction. The S&P 500 jumped 1.2 percent Wednesday, beating the all-time high it's set back in late March. But as that composite added 1.4 percent, the Dow rose 349 points, that's about 9/10 of a percent. Treasury yields eased in the bond market after a report showed that growth in consumer prices eased a bit last month. A rally earlier this week in so-called meme stocks was already showing signs of fizzling out. AMC Entertainment gave back most of its gain from a day earlier. The struggling movie theater chain said it would issue more than 23 million shares of stock in order to wipe out some of its debt. Seth Zutel, New York. And I'm Ben Thomas, AP News.