Here is today’s selection of top stories from The Associated Press at this hour to begin your day. 

Today’s Headlines

“The mouth of a bear”: Ukrainian refugees sent to Russia

NARVA, Estonia (AP) — For weeks Natalya Zadoyanova had lost contact with her younger brother Dmitriy, who was trapped in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol. …Read More

Wickremesinghe elected new president in crisis-hit Sri Lanka

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lankan lawmakers chose six-time Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as president Wednesday to succeed the ousted leader who fled the country in a vote that risks…Read More

Ukraine graft concerns resurface as Russia war goes on

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s dismissal of senior officials is casting an inconvenient light on an issue that the Biden administration has largely ignored since the…Read More

Editor Selections

Trump, Pence rivalry intensifies as they consider 2024 runs

NEW YORK (AP) — Former Vice President Mike Pence is becoming increasingly brazen in his willingness to counter former President Donald…Read More

Italy’s premier sets conditions to remain in office

ROME (AP) — Italian Premier Mario Draghi said Wednesday the spontaneous shows of popular support for his government were “unprecedented and impossible to ignore,” as he weighed appeals to rescind his…Read More

Trump-backed Cox wins Md. governor primary over Hogan’s pick

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Dan Cox, a far-right state legislator endorsed by former President Donald Trump, won the Republican primary for Maryland governor on Tuesday, defeating a moderate rival backed by…Read More

Cross Section

‘Forgotten’ US victims of Mexican drug lord want justice

MEXICO CITY (AP) — When fugitive 1980s Mexican drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero was arrested in Mexico last week, it stirred up old, terrible memories for Lannie Walker, the daughter of American writer…Read More

AP Photos: Afghan despair, poverty fuel addiction scourge

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Hundreds of men, strung out on heroin, opium and meth, were strewn over the hillside overlooking Kabul, some in tents, some lying in the dirt. Dogs skulked around because…Read More

Report: Brazil authorities turn blind eye to deforestation

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Environmental criminals in the Brazilian Amazon destroyed public forests equal the size of El Salvador over the past six years, yet the Federal Police — the Brazilian version of…Read More