Former Albemarle police officer charged with multiple counts of child sex crimes, SBI says

Associated Press
UN resolution to commemorate the Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia sparks opposition from Serbs
A U.N. resolution sponsored by Germany and Rwanda to establish an annual day to commemorate the 1995 genocide of more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims by Bosnian Serbs has sparked protests and a strong lobbying campaign against its adoption by Serbia’s president and the Bosnian Serb leadership. The U.N. General Assembly has scheduled a debate on the resolution on the morning of May 23 to be followed by a vote in the 193-member world body.
Associated Press
The Latest | US military finishes pier for delivering aid into Gaza as Israel presses in Rafah
The U.S. military finished installing a floating pier for the Gaza Strip on Thursday for delivering badly needed humanitarian aid into the enclave besieged over seven months of intense fighting in the Israel-Hamas war. Israel has been pressing its military operations in Rafah, a city along Gaza's southern border with Egypt, and in northern Gaza, where Hamas has regrouped. Around 600,000 Palestinians have been driven out of Rafah since the beginning of last week, the U.N. said.
Reuters
Roche shares gain on obesity drug results from early-stage trial
The Swiss drugmaker said the study in the first of three trial stages required for regulatory approval showed the compound known as CT-388 resulted in weight loss of 18.8%, when adjusted for a placebo effect, after 24 weeks in healthy adults with obesity. Roche in December agreed to take over unlisted obesity drug developer Carmot for $2.7 billion upfront, joining a list of contestants seeking to challenge the dominant makers of weight-loss drugs Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly.
AFP
Asian markets track Wall St records after US inflation data
Asian equities rallied Thursday after US data showed inflation cooled last month, fuelling speculation that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates twice this year.Tokyo advanced even after data showed Japan's economy shrank more than expected in the first three months of the year.
AFP
Xi, Putin hail ties as 'stabilising' force in chaotic world
Leaders Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin framed their nations' ties as a stabilising force in a chaotic world as they met Thursday in Beijing, where the Russian president is seeking greater Chinese support for his war effort in Ukraine and isolated economy.US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who met Xi in Beijing last month, warned China's support for Russia's "brutal war of aggression" in Ukraine had helped Russia ramp up production of rockets, drones and tanks -- while stopping short of direct
Associated Press
Slovakian leader is in stable but serious condition after assassination attempt, hospital says
Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico is in stable but serious condition on Thursday after being shot multiple times in an assassination attempt a day earlier, a hospital official said. Doctors are continuing to treat Fico in an attempt to improve his condition, Defense Minister Robert Kalinak told reporters outside the hospital in Banska Bystrica. The government says five shots were fired at Fico on Wednesday outside a cultural center where he was meeting with supporters.
Associated Press
Stock market today: Asian shares advance after another round of Wall St records
Asian shares were mostly higher on Thursday after U.S. stocks rallied to records on hopes that inflation is heading back in the right direction. The optimism came from a report showing U.S. consumers had to pay prices for gasoline, car insurance and everything else in April that were 3.4% higher overall than a year earlier, less than March’s inflation rate of 3.5%. The slowdown was a relief after reports for the consumer price index, or CPI, earlier this year had consistently come in worse than expected.
CNN
US-built floating pier that will allow delivery of humanitarian aid has been anchored in Gaza
The floating pier that will allow for humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza from the sea has been anchored to a beach in Gaza, according to US Central Command (CENTCOM).
NBC News
Florida principal arrested, accused of hitting child with charging cable
The principal of a Florida elementary school was arrested this week and accused of holding a child in a room for 40 minutes, putting him in a chokehold and hitting him with a charging cable.
Reuters
Jailed Pakistan ex-PM Imran Khan appears in top court by video link
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) -Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan appeared in the Supreme Court on Thursday by video from prison, in connection with a case he has filed against amendments to Pakistan's anti-graft laws. His video appearance was expected to be streamed live on the court's website and YouTube, making it the first publicly seen visuals of the jailed leader since his arrest in August last year. It was not immediately known why the visuals were not available on the website or YouTube.
Reuters
New Dutch government to look for 'opt out' of EU asylum rules
The incoming Dutch government led by nationalist Geert Wilders' PVV party will look to opt out of European Union migration rules, as its says it is facing an asylum crisis. Wilders on Wednesday reached a deal to form what is set to be the most right-wing government in the Netherlands in decades, almost six months after a major election victory. In its government plan published early on Thursday, the four-party coalition says it will aim for the "strictest-ever asylum regime" with stronger border controls and harsher rules for asylum seekers that arrive in the Netherlands.
CNN
Looming fires are forcing thousands of Canadians to evacuate. Some may not return home until next week
Thousands of Canadians have been forced to evacuate their homes as colossal wildfires fill their rear-view mirrors with smoke-blackened skies, many of them unsure when they will be able to come home.
Associated Press
US military says Gaza Strip pier project is completed, aid to soon flow as Israel-Hamas war rages on
The U.S. military finished installing a floating pier for the Gaza Strip on Thursday, with officials poised to begin ferrying badly needed humanitarian aid into the enclave besieged over seven months of intense fighting in the Israel-Hamas war. The final, overnight construction sets up a complicated delivery process more than two months after U.S. President Joe Biden ordered it to help Palestinians facing starvation as food and other supplies fail to make it in as Israel recently seized the key Rafah border crossing in its push on that southern city on the Egyptian border. Fraught with logistical, weather and security challenges, the maritime route is designed to bolster the amount of aid getting into the Gaza Strip, but it is not considered a substitute for far cheaper land-based deliveries that aid agencies say are much more sustainable.
Associated Press
The top UN court is holding hearings on the Israeli military's incursion into Rafah
The United Nations’ top court opens two days of hearings on Thursday into a request from South Africa to make sure Israel halts its military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s population has sought shelter. It is the fourth time South Africa has asked the International Court of Justice for emergency measures since the nation launched proceedings alleging that Israel’s military action in its war with Hamas in Gaza amounts to genocide.
CNN
China’s Xi Jinping rolls out red carpet for close friend Putin in strong show of unity
Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Beijing for the start of a two-day state visit underlining close alignment with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Reuters
Kremlin says Switzerland conference on Ukraine is futile
The Kremlin said a planned summit that Switzerland hopes will pave the way for a peace process in Ukraine will be futile without the participation of Russia. "Without Russia, discussing security issues that concern us is absolutely futile," Kremlin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Russian newspaper Izvestia. Russia has previously said it saw no point in a conference being planned by Switzerland to discuss how to end the Ukraine conflict and to which Moscow is not currently invited.
Associated Press
Filipino activists decide not to sail closer to disputed shoal, avoiding clash with Chinese ships
About 100 Filipino activists on wooden boats have decided not to sail closer to a fiercely disputed shoal in the South China Sea on Thursday to avoid a confrontation with dozens of Chinese coast guard and suspected militia ships guarding the area. Accompanied by journalists on four boats, the activists will distribute food packs and fuel to Filipino fishermen about 58 nautical miles (107 kilometers) southeast of Scarborough Shoal and then sail back home, Emman Hizon and other organizers said. Chinese and Philippine coast guard and accompanying ships have had a series of increasingly hostile territorial faceoffs at Scarborough, which is surrounded by the Chinese coast guard, and at Philippine-occupied Second Thomas Shoal since last year.
TODAY
NFL responds after Harrison Butker’s controversial graduation speech goes viral
The NFL issued a statement after Kansas City Chief's kicker Harrison Butker's graduation speech went viral.
Associated Press
Family of Lewiston shooter to testify before commission investigating tragedy
An independent commission investigating the mass shooting that left 18 people dead in Maine is preparing to hear from the shooter's family for the first time. An Army reservist with a history of mental health troubles committed the deadliest shooting in Maine history, opening fire with an assault rifle inside a bowling alley and a bar and grill in Lewiston in October. The commission has been meeting for months, hearing from police, victims and their families, and Army reservists who served with Robert Card.
CNN
Law enforcement detains at least a dozen protesters at University of California, Irvine as they clear encampment
Police detained at least a dozen pro-Palestinian demonstrators at the University of California, Irvine as they cleared an encampment in front of a lecture hall on Wednesday.

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