STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden’s bid to join NATO — held up for almost two years — cleared its next-to-last hurdle when Turkey gave its go-ahead this week to let the Nordic country into the alliance.

All existing NATO countries must give their approval before a new member can join the alliance, and Hungary is now the only member that hasn’t given Sweden the green light.

Here is a look at Sweden’s complicated path toward NATO membership.

WHY DOES SWEDEN WANT TO JOIN

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles County’s annual count of homeless residents began Tuesday night — a crucial part of the region’s efforts to confront the crisis of tens of thousands of people living on the streets.

Up to 6,000 volunteers with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority fanned out for the effort’s main component, the unsheltered street tally.

The so-called “point-in-time” count will take place over three days and aims to estimate how many people are

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Disney this week requested a second delay in a state court case involving with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ appointees over who controls Walt Disney World’s governing district, as the company accused them and the governor’s office of stonewalling requests for documents that are part of the litigation.

The entertainment giant’s request came as a district employee said in a deposition that the of the district’s board by DeSantis’ appointees last year, and its subsequent politicization, has caused around

Russia says a plane with Ukrainian POWs crashes, killing all aboard, and accuses Kyiv of downing it

A Russian military transport plane crashed Wednesday in a border region near Ukraine, and Moscow accused Kyiv of shooting it down, saying all 74 people aboard were killed, including 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war headed for a swap. Russia offered no evidence and Ukraine didn’t immediately confirm or deny it.

Video of the crash on social media from the Belgorod border region of Russia showed a plane falling from the sky in

WASHINGTON (AP) — President picked up an endorsement from the United Auto Workers union Wednesday, an important boost to the Democratic president’s reelection bid as he pushes to sway blue-collar workers his way in critical auto-making swing states such as Michigan and Wisconsin.

“I’m honored to have your back and you have mine,” Biden said to the cheering crowd. “That’s the deal.”

Biden spoke as the union closed out a three-day gathering in Washington to chart its

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s Constitutional Court is set to decide Wednesday whether popular politician Pita Limjaroenrat, who was blocked from becoming prime minister, should now lose his seat in Parliament.

The by Pita’s progressive Move Forward party reflected a surprisingly strong mandate for change among Thai voters after nearly a decade of military-controlled government. But the party was denied power by members of the unelected and more conservative Senate.

Pita was suspended from his lawmaking duties pending the court ruling Wednesday on whether he violated election law

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles County on Tuesday agreed to pay $5 million to the founder and CEO of a software company who was briefly accused of stealing data on county poll workers in a case he said was pushed by conspiracy theorists.

The Board of Supervisors voted without public discussion to approve the settlement of a lawsuit filed by Eugene Yu of Michigan-based Konnech Corp. over his 2022 arrest and prosecution, .

County lawyers had urged approval of the settlement in a letter to the board,

BEIJING (AP) — China and Nauru formally restored diplomatic relations Wednesday after the tiny Pacific island nation earlier this month, in a further move by Beijing to isolate Taipei’s democratic government.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Nauru’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Lionel Aingimea at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, and Wang said the resumption of ties “once again demonstrates to the world that adherence to the one-China principle is an irresistible historical trend.”

Aingimea said Nauru recognized that Taiwan is part

NEW YORK (AP) — Christopher Nolan was still sleeping when his film, “Oppenheimer,” landed Emma Thomas, Nolan’s wife and producing partner, roused him after a flurry of congratulatory messages came through on her phone.

“Don’t take it as being blase,” Nolan told The Associated Press, laughing. “We just didn’t want to jinx anything. Watching the nominations was more than our nerves could take so we just had a restless night and slept through.”

Nolan and Thomas