LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Conservative Party has chosen Foreign Secretary Liz Truss as the party’s new leader, putting her in line to be confirmed as prime minister. Truss’s selection was announced Monday in London after a leadership election in which only about 170,000 dues-paying members of the Conservative Party were allowed to vote. Truss beat rival Rishi Sunak, the government’s former Treasury chief.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States military says it flew a pair of nuclear-capable B-52 long-distance bombers over the Middle East in a show of force, the latest such mission in the region as tensions remain high between Washington and Tehran. The bombers took off from the Royal Air Force base at Fairford, England, and flew over the eastern Mediterranean, the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea on Sunday.

BEIJING (AP) — At least 21 people have been reported killed in a 6.8 magnitude earthquake that shook China’s southwestern province of Sichuan. It triggered landslides and shook buildings in the provincial capital of Chengdu whose 21 million residents are already under a COVID-19 lockdown. The temblor struck a mountainous area in Luding county shortly after noon Monday. Sichuan, which sits on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau where tectonic plates meet, is regularly hit by earthquakes.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Hundreds of flights have been grounded and more than 200 people evacuated in South Korea as Typhoon Hinnamnor approached the country’s southern region with heavy rains and winds of up to 105 miles per hour, the strongest storm in decades. South Korea’s weather agency says the country will start to feel the full force of Hinnamnor, the strongest global storm this year, by early Tuesday when it is forecast to graze the southern resort island of Jeju before making landfall near the mainland city of Busan.

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chileans have resoundingly rejected a new constitution to replace a charter imposed by the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet 41 years ago, dealing a stinging setback to President Gabriel Boric who argued the document would usher in a progressive era. With 99% of the votes counted in Sunday’s plebiscite, the rejection camp had 61.9% support compared to 38.1% for approval amid what appeared to be a heavy turnout with long lines at polling states. Voting was mandatory.

ATLANTA (AP) — Max Fried allowed no hits in five scoreless innings, Marcell Ozuna homered and the Atlanta Braves won their fifth straight in a rain-delayed game, 7-1 over the Miami Marlins. The defending World Series champion Braves have taken five in a row and 20 of 25 to move a season-high 33 games over .500. They are within one game of first place in the NL East.

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Third-ranked Georgia made a statement that its offense is ready to take the lead. Saturday’s 49-3 rout of Oregon was a showcase for the Bulldogs’ depth on offense and its new attacking, pass-first style. Georgia showed impressive depth at running back, wide receiver and tight end while quarterback Stetson Bennett accounted for three touchdowns.

REGINA, Saskatchewan (AP) — A series of stabbings at an Indigenous community and at another town nearby in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan has left 10 people dead and 15 wounded, Canadian police say as they search for two suspects. The stabbings took place in multiple locations on the James Smith Cree Nation and in the village of Weldon, northeast of Saskatoon. Rhonda Blackmore, the Assistant Commissioner of the RCMP Saskatchewan, said some of the victims appear to have been targeted by the suspects but others appear to have been attacked at random.

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) – Lenexa Baptist Church in Lenexa, Kan., had been seeking to launch a new campus to its west in 2013 when a struggling church reached out and asked about potentially …

SAN ANDRES, Colombia (AP) — The roots of First Baptist Church on Colombia's San Andres Island run deep. The church is so crucial to the island's history that a detailed record of births and deaths are kept here in dusty, crumbling books that date back nearly two centuries. From its founding until 1913, the church and its pastors held great authority over the community in shaping islanders’ values.

RIPLEY, Miss. (AP) — Authorities say a man who stole a plane and flew it over Mississippi after threatening to crash it into a Walmart store faces charges of grand larceny and terroristic threats. Tupelo Police Chief John Quaka says 29-year-old Cory Wayne Patterson didn't have a pilot's license but had some flight instruction and was an employee of Tupelo Aviation. Patterson could also face federal charges.

SUMMERVILLE, Ga. — Georgia Baptists were dispatching trucks loaded with bottled water on Sunday after heavy rain caused flash flooding in the state's northwestern region, and Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief crews stood ready to deploy if requested by local authorities. Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency Sunday afternoon in Chattooga and Floyd Counties, a necessary first step to funneling state resources to help communities recover.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani engineers have cut into an embankment for one of the country’s largest lakes to release rising waters. They hope to save a nearby city and town from flooding as officials predict more monsoon rain was on the way for the country’s already devastated south. While officials hope the cut in the sides of Lake Manchar will protect about half a million people who live in the city of Sehwan and the town of Bhan Saeedabad, villages that are home to 150,000 people are in the path of the diverted waters.

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says Palestinian gunmen opened fire on a bus in the occupied West Bank, wounding five soldiers, one of them seriously, and the civilian driver of the bus. The Israeli military said the attackers were traveling in a pickup truck when they threw an explosive and then opened fire at the bus. The suspects fled the scene in their vehicle, which burst into flames shortly after the shooting.

ATLANTA (AP) — Stetson Bennett threw for 368 yards and accounted for three touchdowns and Georgia's revamped defense didn’t miss a beat. The third-ranked Bulldogs looked very much like a team intent of defending their national championship with a 49-3 rout of No. 11 Oregon. Bennett completed 25-of-31 with two touchdowns and ran for another score before calling it a day in the third quarter of the season opener.

The university presidents who oversee the College Football Playoff have voted to expand the postseason model for determining a national champion from four to 12 teams. It will happen no later than the 2026 season. A process that started 14 1/2 months ago with optimism, and then derailed as conference leaders haggled over details, is now moving forward. The presidents approved a proposal that calls for the six highest-ranked conference champions and six at-large teams to make the playoff.

ATLANTA – Farmers in Southwest Georgia haven’t been permitted to drill new irrigation wells for a decade due to low stream flows.  But a new grant program funded with federal COVID relief aid promises a workaround for that moratorium that will provide a new source of water for irrigation in the region and thereby help stabilize Georgia’s number one industry.

BUFORD, Ga. (AP) — At least one person was stabbed and another shot at the Mall of Georgia outside Atlanta. Police say the incident happened Friday when a suspected thief began smashing jewelry counters inside the Macy's store at the mall. News outlets report the suspect then stabbed at least one person and a Gwinnett County police officer shot the suspect.

ATLANTA – Georgia Tech has been awarded a $65 million federal grant to support a statewide initiative combining artificial intelligence and manufacturing innovations with transformational workforce and outreach programs. The grant is aimed at creating jobs in distressed and rural communities as well as among historically underrepresented and underserved groups.

KANSAS CITY, Mo – President Jason Allen opened Midwestern Seminary’s fall semester with a message titled, “We Preach Christ,” during a service Tuesday. Allen began the service by reflecting on the importance of convocation, stating, “Convocation is always a day of promise. There is a formality to this day because there is a formality to our service. There is a gravity to this day because there is a gravity to our work.”

ELIZABETHTOWN, N.Y. (BP) – The Adirondack Mountains are one of the more beautiful places in the country for camping, hiking and overall enjoying God’s creation. They are also located in one of the more difficult places to plant and lead a church. Josh Bennett knows this.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA is counting down toward a Saturday launch of its new moon rocket, its second attempt in a week. Fuel leaks and a bad engine sensor foiled Monday's try. Managers say they've fixed the leaks and will work around the faulty sensor, in hopes of finally getting the test flight off. Delayed for years, the 322-foot rocket is the most powerful ever built by NASA.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi officials set up emergency distribution centers for handouts of water and hand sanitizer Thursday in the capital city of Jackson, as efforts to restore a flood-impaired, long-troubled water system continued. Jackson’s residents were already under a boil-water order before flooding from the Pearl River exacerbated long-standing problems at one of the city’s two water treatment plants.

HERAT, Afghanistan (AP) — Taliban officials and a local medic say an explosion tore through a crowded mosque in western Afghanistan, killing 18 people, including a prominent cleric close to the ruling Taliban. They say at least 21 people were hurt. The blast went off in the Guzargah Mosque in the western city of Herat during Friday noon prayers, the highlight of the Muslim religious week when places of worship are particularly crowded.

ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (AP) — Heavy fighting and shelling continued near Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, in a Russian-controlled area of eastern Ukraine. Friday's fighting comes a day after experts from the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog agency voiced concerns about structural damage to the sprawling Zaporizhzhia plant. The inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency braved gunfire and artillery blasts along their route to reach the Zaporizhzhia plant on Thursday in a mission to help safeguard the plant against catastrophe.