BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union auditors said on Wednesday that they are unable to establish whether some of the billions of euros the bloc has given to Turkey to help it cope with Syrian refugees is actually having any impact. Under a deal concluded between EU leaders and Turkey in 2016, the bloc committed to provide at least 6 billion euros ($6.4 billion) to Turkey to help it cope with migrants crossing in from Syria. Turkey in turn committed to stop migrants leaving its territory for Europe. In March 2016, a month after the deal came into effect, Turkey’s government said the number of migran ..read more

SEATTLE (AP) — A former Washington state police officer who court documents say had a child with a teenage girl he met through a school resource program was on the run Tuesday after killing two people, including his ex-wife, who had recently obtained a protection order against him, authorities said. The Washington State Patrol late Monday issued an alert that the ex-Yakima officer, Elias Huizar, had fled with 1-year-old Roman Huizar. Huizar, 39, had a baby of that age with the 17-year-old former student, who lived with him as of early this year, court records show. Authorities said Huizar migh ..read more

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina’s libertarian President Javier Milei has tried to dismiss the worsening budget crisis at public universities as politics as usual, a contest with his leftist political rivals who hold sway over liberal campuses. It does not feel that way to many of the students at the elite University of Buenos Aires, where halls went dark, elevators froze and air conditioning stopped working in some buildings last week. Professors taught 200-person lectures without microphones or projectors because the public university — among the best in Latin America — couldn’t cove ..read more

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Protesters chanted “Blood on your hands” at Tennessee House Republicans on Tuesday after they passed a bill that would allow some teachers and staff to carry concealed handguns on public school grounds, and bar parents and other teachers from knowing who was armed. The 68-28 vote in favor of the bill sent it to Republican Gov. Bill Lee for consideration. If he signs it into law, it would be the biggest expansion of gun access in the state since last year’s deadly shooting at a private elementary school in Nashville. Members of the public who oppose the bill harangued Re ..read more

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations called Tuesday for “a clear, transparent and credible investigation” of mass graves uncovered at two major hospitals in war-torn Gaza that were raided by Israeli troops. Credible investigators must have access to the sites, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters, and added that more journalists need to be able to work safely in Gaza to report on the facts. Earlier Tuesday, U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk said he was “horrified” by the destruction of the Shifa medical center in Gaza City and Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Youni ..read more

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Korean War veteran from Minnesota who still carries shrapnel in his leg from when he was wounded in combat will finally get his Purple Heart medal, 73 years late. The U.S. Army notified Earl Meyer, 96, of St. Peter, on Monday that it has reversed itself and granted him a Purple Heart, which honors service members wounded or killed in combat. The decision came after a campaign by his daughters and attorney. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota championed his cause. The Army’s top noncommissioned officer — the sergeant major of the army — took an interest in the case after i ..read more

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A bill designed to ban LGBTQ+ Pride flags in Tennessee public school classrooms was spiked Tuesday after it failed to attract enough support in the GOP-controlled Senate. The proposal had easily cleared the Republican-dominant House nearly two months prior after the bill’s sponsor said he had parents complain about “political flags” in classrooms. However, the proposal dragged in the Senate as lawmakers debated possible changes and delayed debating the measure up until the final week of this year’s legislative session. “There were some parents in my district that felt l ..read more

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Supporters of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in North Dakota are cheering new federal legislation to help build the library and to showcase artifacts of the 26th president, who as a young man hunted and ranched in the state during its territorial days. Last week, North Dakota’s three-member, all-Republican congressional delegation announced the bill to “authorize funding for the Library’s continued construction and go towards ensuring the preservation of President Roosevelt’s history and legacy.” The bill’s Interior Department grant is for $50 million of one ..read more

Former U.S. Rep. George Santos on Tuesday said he is dropping his longshot bid to return to Congress, months after he was expelled from the House while facing a slew of federal fraud charges. Santos, who was running as an independent candidate for the 1st Congressional District in New York, said he was withdrawing from the race in a post on the social media platform X. The announcement came after the disgraced former congressman’s campaign committee reported no fundraising or expenditures in March, raising speculation that his campaign had failed to get off the ground. Santos last month launch ..read more

OTTAWA — A Conservative member of Parliament says he isn’t seeking re-election because his party is not allowing an open nomination in a new riding.  Gary Vidal cites the party’s response to changing electoral boundaries in his announcement that he won’t run. Vidal was elected in 2019 to represent the sprawling Saskatchewan riding of Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River in the province’s far north. Vidal says the riding boundaries are changing “drastically” and he will no longer reside in the electoral district he serves, but rather in the new riding of Battlefords-Lloydminster-Meadow Lake ..read more