AP News Summary at 11:51 a.m. EDT

By The Associated Press

A second wave of device explosions is reported in Lebanon after pager attack

BEIRUT (AP) — Hezbollah officials and Lebanon’s state media say explosions went off in Beirut and multiple parts of Lebanon in an apparent second wave of detonations of electronic devices. The officials and state media said Wednesday that walkie-talkies and even solar equipment detonated a day after hundreds of pagers blew up. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said at least one person was killed and more than 100 people were wounded. Associated Press journalists at the scene said several blasts were heard at the funeral in Beirut for three Hezbollah members and a child killed by exploding pagers the day before.

Blinken says surprise escalations threaten to derail talks for a cease-fire in Gaza

CAIRO (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has expressed frustration at surprise escalations that threaten to derail efforts to broker a cease-fire deal in Gaza. Speaking Wednesday in Egypt, Blinken said the U.S. is assessing a deadly attack that caused pagers used by Hezbollah to explode in Lebanon. The U.S., Egypt and other international partners are working for an agreement between Israel and Hamas to halt nearly a year of fighting in Gaza and release hostages held by the militant group. The U.S. says such a deal is the best chance at tamping down wider regional tensions, with Israeli leaders threatening to step up military action against Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and the pager attack risking further escalation.

Trump and Harris are taking a brief break from campaigning in battleground states

The presidential candidates are taking a brief break from campaigning in battleground states. On Wednesday, Donald Trump will be in suburban New York, an area where his party is trying to protect Republicans in Democratic-heavy congressional districts that Joe Biden carried in 2020. Trump doesn’t seem to have changed his campaign travel plans after Sunday’s apparent assassination attempt as he golfed in Florida. Later this week he’s expected to be in the nation’s capital and North Carolina. Also Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris plans to speak at a Congressional Hispanic Caucus conference. She has upcoming trips to Michigan and Wisconsin.

Now a Roe advocate, woman raped by stepfather as a child tells her story in Harris campaign ad

WASHINGTON (AP) — A 22-year-old woman who became an abortion rights advocate after she was raped by her stepfather as a child tells her story in a new campaign ad for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. The ad is part of a continued push by the Harris campaign to highlight the growing consequences of the fall of Roe, including in some states where abortion restrictions have no exceptions for rape or incest. Women in some states are suffering increasingly perilous medical care. Republican nominee Donald Trump has taken credit for appointing three of the conservatives to the U.S. Supreme Court who helped overturn the constitutional right to abortion.

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs makes a fresh bid for bail in his sex trafficking and conspiracy case

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs is asking the federal judge assigned to his criminal federal sex trafficking and conspiracy case in New York City to free him on strict bail conditions including home detention. His lawyers made the proposal on Wednesday prior to an afternoon appearance before Judge Andrew L. Carter Jr. The lawyers added new proposed restrictions on Combs after their $50 million bail proposal a day earlier failed to persuade a magistrate judge to release him. The hip-hop mogul has pleaded not guilty following his Monday arrest and his lawyer says he’s innocent. Prosecutors say he used his power and prestige for years to sexually abuse women.

Justice Department sues over Baltimore bridge collapse and seeks $100M in cleanup costs

BALTIMORE (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department is suing the owner and manager of the cargo ship that caused the Baltimore bridge collapse. The lawsuit filed Wednesday in Maryland seeks to recover more than $100 million that the government spent to clear the underwater debris and reopen the port. The case alleges that the electrical and mechanical systems on the Dali were improperly maintained, causing the ship to veer off course before striking the Francis Scott Key Bridge in March. A spokesperson for Grace Ocean said the owner and manager had no comment at this time, but “look forward to our day in court to set the record straight.”

Kentucky governor bans use of ‘conversion therapy’ with executive order

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is banning the use of “conversion therapy” on minors in Kentucky. He signed an executive order Wednesday. The governor calls it a necessary step to protect children from a widely discredited practice that tries to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity through counseling. The governor used executive powers after efforts to enact a law banning the practice repeatedly failed in the state’s Republican-dominated legislature. The order bans the practice and makes it illegal to use state or federal funds to provide the therapy on minors.

Scientists detect longest pair of jets streaming from a supermassive black hole

NEW YORK (AP) — Scientists have discovered the longest pair of jets streaming from a black hole in a distant galaxy. Black holes eat most space debris that falls their way. Sometimes, hot plasma makes a narrow escape by spewing out in thin, high-energy jets. These latest black hole jets are as long as 140 Milky Way galaxies lined up end-to-end. They date back to when the universe was less than half its current age. Studying the jets could reveal whether they had an influence on how the early universe came to be. The research was published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

John Thune is striving to be the next Republican Senate leader, but can he rise in Trump’s GOP?

MITCHELL, S.D. (AP) — Sen. John Thune of South Dakota is competing intensely to become the next Republican leader in the Senate. Senators John Cornyn of Texas, a former whip and strong fundraiser, and Rick Scott of Florida, a Trump ally, are also running for leader. Others could still jump in the race. Thune recently pledged a record-setting $4 million to the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, held meetings this spring with every colleague to lock in support and has crisscrossed the country to boost Republicans’ bid to win a Senate majority. But Thune’s bid could ultimately hinge on whether Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gets involved in the leadership election.

An ancient African tree is providing a new ‘superfood’ but local harvesters are barely surviving

K0TWA, Zimbabwe (AP) — The baobab tree is known as the “tree of life” and its fruit is feeding a growing global market for natural food and beauty products. But the people picking the fruit in rural Africa say they are barely making enough money to survive. Climate change-induced drought has killed their usual crops. And the pickers accuse middlemen of paying them little for the baobab fruit they spend hours collecting each day. Meanwhile, companies in Europe, the United States and China are selling baobab products for prices that pickers, including children, say they can only dream of.