Scotland's leader cancelled a speech Friday as he fights for his political life in the wake of his decision to pull the plug on a three-year power-sharing agreement, a move that has exposed the government to peril. First Minister Humza Yousaf of the Scottish National Party was due to deliver a major speech on Scotland's independence from the U.K., but that has been cancelled following the furor surrounding his decision to tear up the power-sharing deal with the much smaller Greens on Thursday. Without the support of the Greens, the SNP is two seats shy of a majority of lawmakers in the Scottis ..read more

House Republicans’ majority could tighten by another vote after Tuesday’s special congressional election in Buffalo — at least, temporarily. Voters are choosing a replacement for Democrat Brian Higgins, a longtime House member who cited the “slow and frustrating” pace of Congress before resigning in February. Democrats have a long record of success in the 26th Congressional District, and their nominee is highly favored to win on Tuesday. Rather than holding a traditional primary, local party officials handpick the nominees in New York special elections for Congress. Democrats chose Buffalo sta ..read more

Vietnamese state media outlet VN Express reports that the head of Vietnam’s Parliament, Vuong Dinh Hue, has resigned. He is the latest member of senior government to leave office amid an ongoing anti-corruption campaign. Hue's resignation takes place four days after his assistant Pham Thai Ha was arrested on charges of abusing his position and power for personal gain, according to state media. Vietnam's Communist Party accepted what called Hue's voluntary resignation, according to VN Express, while noting that investigators found that Hue had “violated Party regulations, and his violations hav ..read more

Students at a prestigious university in Paris resumed pro-Palestinian protests on Friday, inspired by Gaza solidarity encampments at campuses around the United States, two days after French police broke up another demonstration. Dozens of students at the Sciences Po blocked an entrance to a campus building in central Paris with trash cans, a bike, pieces of metal and wooden platforms. About 40 people remained in a building overnight in defiance of administrators who students say called the police on their peers two days earlier. On Wednesday evening, more than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters oc ..read more

Defense lawyers in Donald Trump’s hush money trial are poised Friday to dig into an account of the former publisher of the National Enquirer and his efforts to protect Trump from negative stories during the 2016 election. David Pecker will return to the witness stand for the fourth day as defense attorneys try to poke holes in his testimony, which has described helping bury embarrassing stories Trump feared could hurt his campaign. Pecker so far has painted a tawdry portrait of “catch and kill” tabloid schemes — catching a potentially damaging story by buying the rights to it and then killing ..read more

The U.S. government's auto safety agency is investigating whether last year's recall of Tesla's Autopilot driving system did enough to make sure drivers pay attention to the road. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says in documents posted on its website Friday that it has concerns about the December recall of more than 2 million vehicles, nearly all the vehicles that Tesla had sold at the time. The agency pushed the company to do the recall after a two-year investigation into Autopilot's driver monitoring system, which measures torque on the steering wheel from a driver's hand ..read more

China's vision of the future of the automobile — electrified and digitally connected — is on display at the ongoing Beijing auto show. Organizers say that 117 new models are making their debut at Auto China 2024, which runs through May 4. They range from eye-poppingly cutting edge to more subtle novelties. THE CONNECTED CAR One of the biggest mob scenes was for the opening day presentation by Xiaomi, a major Chinese maker of smartphones and trendy, affordable smart appliances aimed at younger generations that's entering the car market for the first time. Xiaomi announced that it had received m ..read more

A premature Palestinian infant, rescued from her mother's womb shortly after the woman was killed in an Israeli airstrike, has died, her uncle said Friday. Sabreen Jouda died in a Gaza hospital on Thursday after her health deteriorated and medical teams were unable to save her, said her uncle, Rami al-Sheikh. Sabreen's home in the southern Gaza city of Rafah was hit by an Israeli airstrike shortly before midnight Saturday. Her parents and 4-year-old sister were killed. First responders took the bodies to a nearby hospital, where medical workers performed an emergency cesarean section on her mo ..read more

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Friday with Chinese President Xi Jinping and senior Chinese officials, stressing the importance of “responsibly managing” the differences between the United States and China as the two sides butted heads over a number of contentious bilateral, regional and global issues. Talks between the two sides have increased in recent months, even as differences have grown. Blinken said he raised concerns with Xi about China's support for Russia and its invasion of Ukraine, as well as other issues including Taiwan and the South China Sea, human rights and the pro ..read more

K9s United will hold a big fundraising event Saturday that will benefit four-legged law enforcement throughout Northeast Florida and beyond. The 9K for K9s is set to start at 8 a.m. at the Ring Power headquarters (500 World Commerce Parkway) in St. Augustine. The goal is to keep K9 officers safe in the line of duty by providing life-saving training, tools and gear. This year’s event will honor the memory of a K9 officer recently killed while keeping his human partners safe. Marion County Sheriff’s Office K9 Leo, who was killed by gunfire two months ago, will be remembered in a special way for ..read more