WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden went to Chicago on June 28 to give a landmark speech on “Bidenomics,” only to learn in private during the trip about a soon-to-close auto factory, news that was a challenge to his vision for the country.

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s lawyers made a longshot bid Thursday to immediately end to the New York civil fraud trial that threatens his real estate empire, arguing that state lawyers had failed to prove that the former president intended to dupe banks, insurers and others by inflating his wealth on financial statements.

Trump’s lawyers sought a directed verdict, asking Judge Arthur Engoron to clear the 2024 Republican front-runner, his namesake company and other defendants of wrongdoing at the halfway point in the trial of state Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Former President Donald Trump will stay on the Minnesota primary ballot after the state supreme court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit seeking end his candidacy under a rarely-used constitutional provision that forbids those who “engaged in insurrection” from holding office.

MADRID (AP) — Veteran Spanish right-wing politician Alejandro Vidal-Quadras was shot in the face in broad daylight on a central Madrid street on Thursday. His life was not in danger, according to the hospital where he was rushed for treatment.

Police said Vidal-Quadras was attacked at around 1:30 p.m. local time near his home and that he was conscious when taken to a hospital by emergency crews. A motive for the shooting wasn’t immediately disclosed.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Israel has agreed to put in place four-hour daily humanitarian pauses in its assault on Hamas in northern Gaza starting on Thursday, the White House said, as President Joe Biden pressed Israelis for a multi-day stoppage in the fighting in a bid to release hostages held by the militant group.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Eight people died Wednesday when the driver of a car suspected of carrying smuggled migrants fled police and smashed into an oncoming vehicle on a South Texas highway.

The crash happened around 6:30 a.m. when the driver of a 2009 Honda Civic tried to outrun deputies from the Zavala County Sheriff’s Office and attempted to pass a semi truck, the state Department of Public Safety said. The Civic collided with a 2015 Chevrolet Equinox, which caught fire.

BERLIN (AP) — German police said Thursday evening that a student with a handgun is suspected of having killed another student at a high school in the country’s southwest, German news agency dpa reported.

The suspect, a teenager, was detained as part of a large-scale police operation earlier in the day in the town of Offenburg.

He had allegedly entered a classroom at the high school for children with special needs, and fired at least one shot from a handgun at a classmate, police said.

PARIS (AP) — Western and Arab nations, international agencies and nongovernmental groups stressed the urgent need for aid for Gaza civilians at a Paris conference Thursday, held as the humanitarian crisis in the besieged territory worsens amid Israel’s massive air and ground campaign against Hamas.

The gathering ended a few hours before the White House said Israel has agreed to put in place four-hour daily humanitarian pauses in Gaza, starting on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Wednesday for a united and Palestinian-led government for Gaza and the West Bank after the war ends, as a step toward Palestinian statehood. That vision sharpens U.S. differences with ally Israel on what the future should look like for the Palestinian territories once Israel’s military campaign against Hamas winds down.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Authorities on Thursday were trying to determine who sent letters filled with fentanyl or other substances to local election offices, an attack that appears to have targeted multiple states in the latest instance of threats faced by election workers around the country.

Among the offices that may have been targeted was Fulton County in Georgia, which includes Atlanta and is the largest voting jurisdiction in one of the nation’s most important presidential swing states.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The man accused of breaking into former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco home, bludgeoning her husband with a hammer and seeking to kidnap her goes on trial Thursday.

Opening statements are scheduled in the federal trial of David DePape who prosecutors say assaulted then-82-year-old Paul Pelosi, sending shockwaves through the political world just days before last year’s midterm elections. The attack in the early hours of Oct. 28, 2022, also highlighted how conspiracy theories and misinformation that spread online can fuel political violence.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — An industrial robot grabbed and crushed a worker to death at a vegetable packaging plant in South Korea, police said Thursday, as they investigated whether the machine was defective or improperly designed.