TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, an outspoken cultural conservative long seen as Donald Trump’s leading rival for the Republican nomination, is set to launch his 2024 presidential campaign on Wednesday.

The 44-year-old Republican governor plans to announce his decision in an online conversation with Twitter CEO Elon Musk, according to two people with knowledge of the decision. They spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the announcement publicly.

23 May 2023; MEMO: Eleven co-founding members of Turkiye's opposition Future Party, the main component of the Six-Party opposition coalition, have resigned in protest against the anti-refugee rhetoric of Nation Alliance candidate, Kemal  Kilicdaroglu.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A U.S. aircraft carrier arrived Wednesday in Oslo with the Norwegian armed forces saying it gives them “a unique opportunity to further develop cooperation and work more closely with our most important ally, the United States.”

The nuclear-powered ship USS Gerald R. Ford entered the Oslo fjord escorted by a rapid dinghy-type boat with armed personnel on board. The Norwegian armed forces has said any boats must stay a half-kilometer (half-mile) away from the aircraft carrier and a no-fly zone was created over the area where the aircraft carrier was.

24 May 2023; MEMO: The UAE has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog to attend the UN climate conference COP28, which is taking place in Dubai in November.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Wednesday he was sending Republican negotiators to the White House to finish out debt limit talks, but warned that the two sides are “still far apart” as they try to reach a budget deal with President Joe Biden.

McCarthy said he remained optimistic they could make progress in hopes of an agreement before a deadline as soon as next week, when the Treasury Department could run out of cash to pay its bills. “We’re not going to default,” said McCarthy, R-Calif.

WASHINGTON, May 24 (Reuters) - Democratic President Joe Biden and top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy's negotiators held what the White House called productive talks on Wednesday to try to close a deal to raise the United States' $31.4 trillion debt ceiling and avoid a catastrophic default.

Time is running short, as the Treasury Department has warned the federal government could be unable to pay all its bills by as soon as June 1 - just eight days away - and it will take several days to pass legislation through the narrowly divided Congress.

HAGATNA, Guam (AP) — Typhoon Mawar inched over Guam as a powerful Category 4 storm on Thursday, relentlessly lashing the U.S. Pacific island territory with heavy rain, powerful winds, and a dangerous storm surge and knocking out power to many communities where frightened residents hunkered down for the night in homes and shelters.

WASHINGTON, May 24 (Reuters) - Jabari Wamble, U.S. President Joe Biden's pick for a federal judgeship in Kansas, asked on Tuesday to have his nomination withdrawn from consideration in the Senate, a letter obtained by Reuters showed.

He became the second Biden judicial nominee to drop out in as many weeks. Michael Delaney, a former New Hampshire attorney general selected by Biden for a spot on the Boston-based 1st Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, last week asked to withdraw amid bipartisan criticism in the Senate.

UNITED NATIONS, May 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The world is failing to protect civilians as the number of people caught up in conflicts and their humanitarian aftershocks skyrocketed last year, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday.
 
   In 2022, the United Nations tallied a 53 percent increase in civilian deaths compared to the year prior, with nearly 17,000 civilian deaths recorded across 12 conflicts.
 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for Donald Trump on Tuesday asked for a meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland as a Justice Department investigation into the former president’s handling of classified documents shows signs of winding down.

ST PETERSBURG, Russia, May 24 (Reuters) - The first of three Russian hypersonic missile scientists to be arrested on suspicion of treason will go on trial next week, the court handling the case said on Wednesday.

The criminal case against Anatoly Maslov, 76, will open in St Petersburg's city court on June 1, the court said on its website.

He and two colleagues at the same Siberian institute, the Khristianovich Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (ITAM), have all been arrested on suspicion of treason in the past year.

May 24 (Reuters) - Once labelled a pariah, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman took centre stage as master of ceremonies last week when Arab states readmitted Syria to the Arab League, signaling to Washington who calls the regional shots.

His effusive greeting of President Bashar al-Assad at the Arab summit with kissed cheeks and a warm embrace defied U.S. disapproval at Syria's return to the fold and capped a turnabout in the prince's fortunes spurred by geopolitical realities.