LITHONIA, Ga.  – Today, Luther Rice College and Seminary launched its newest degree program, a Doctor of Philosophy in Organizational Leadership. Luther Rice is now accepting applications …

KREMENCHUK, Ukraine (AP) — Search teams and relatives are racing to find people missing after a Russian airstrike on a shopping mall killed at least 18 people in the center of Ukraine. Several families stood by what was left of the Amstor shopping center in the city of Kremenchuk on Wednesday as crews looked through the rubble.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s economy, which a few years ago enjoyed strong growth that provided jobs and financial security, is now in a state of collapse, dependent on aid from India and other countries as its leaders desperately try to negotiate a bailout with the International Monetary Fund.

MADRID (AP) — NATO has declared Russia the “most significant and direct threat” to its members’ peace and security. That came as the military alliance met Wednesday to confront what NATO’s chief called the biggest security crisis since World War II. It also promised to “step up political and practical support” to Ukraine as it fights off Russia’s invasion.

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt will receive $500 million loan from the World Bank to help the Arab world's most populous country finance its purchases of wheat. The World Bank says the funds will help Egypt’s government finance procurement of imported wheat. Egypt is the world’s largest wheat importer and the country’s supply is subject to price changes on the international market.

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — The Atlantic Coast Conference is going forward with a plan to change its football scheduling model, with the biggest change being the elimination of divisions. Georgia Tech will face Clemson, Louisville, and Wake Forest each year.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy shrank at a 1.6% annual pace in the first three months of the year even though consumers and businesses kept spending at a healthy pace, the government reported Wednesday in a slight downgrade from its previous estimate for January-March quarter. It was the first drop in gross domestic product — the broadest measure of economic output — since the second quarter of 2020, in the depths of the COVID-19 recession, and followed a strong 6.9% expansion in the final three months of 2021.

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street has pivoted from losses to gains about an hour before markets open, following declines in Europe and Asia ahead of the latest update on U.S. economic growth. Futures for the Dow industrials rose 0.4% while futures for the S&P 500 gained 0.3%.

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The federal government says the number of whales entangled in fishing gear has declined recently, but the entanglements remain a critical threat to rare species. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Tuesday there were 53 confirmed cases of large whales entangled in gear in the U.S. in 2020.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Matt Olson homered twice and Travis d’Arnaud also went deep to lift the Atlanta Braves to a 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies were without Bryce Harper for the second straight game, and the 2021 NL MVP will be sidelined indefinitely due to a broken left thumb that interim manager Rob Thomson said will require surgery.

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Serena Williams has lost her first singles match in nearly a year, getting beat by 115th-ranked Harmony Tan of France in three sets at Wimbledon. Williams was two points from victory but could not finish the job and bowed out with a 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7) defeat.

ATLANTA – Ocmulgee Electric Membership Corp. announced plans Tuesday to launch a fiber-optic network that will provide high-speed internet service to customers in five Middle Georgia …

WASHINGTON (AP) — About 1,000 Air National Guard troops who are assigned to space missions are mired in an identity crisis. According to commanders, the troops' units are torn between the Air Force, where they’ve historically been assigned, and the military’s shiny new Space Force, where they now work. Commanders say the units have become orphans as state and federal leaders wrangle over whether to create a Space National Guard.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The man who shot and wounded President Ronald Reagan in 1981 has apologized for his actions in a televised interview. John Hinckley Jr. said he doesn’t remember what he was feeling when he attacked the president and wounded three others. Hinckley Jr. told CBS Mornings in his first TV interview since his release from court supervision that he feels remorse for all the lives he affected.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nissan is recalling nearly 323,000 Pathfinder SUVs in the U.S. because the hoods can unexpectedly fly open and block the driver’s view. The recall covers Pathfinders from the 2013 through 2016 model years. The automaker says in documents posted Tuesday by U.S. safety regulators that dust and dirt can accumulate on the secondary hood latch. That can cause it to malfunction and stay unlatched even when the hood is closed.

Stocks slid on Wall Street Tuesday as the market remains gripped by uncertainty over pervasive inflation, rising interest rates and the potential for a recession. The S&P 500 fell 2%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.6%, and the Nasdaq fell 3%.

LONDON (AP) — Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has told lawmakers in Edinburgh that she plans to hold a fresh referendum on Scottish independence on Oct. 19, 2023. That's despite U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying it wasn’t the right time for such a vote. Scottish voters rejected independence in the 2014 referendum.

A federal court has allowed Tennessee to ban abortions as early as six weeks into pregnancy, while a Texas judge temporarily blocked enforcement of that state’s ban on virtually all abortions. The moves come as both sides continue to make their case in courts around the country days after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Medical missionaries gathered in Virginia last week for MedAdvance 2022. The gathering is indended to give students and church leaders opportunities to connect with IMB missionaries and leaders,  discover how God is at work as healthcare missionaries share stories from around the world, and learn how to serve God’s mission at home and overseas using God-given talents, skills and experiences in the healthcare field.

MADRID (AP) — Turkey has agreed to lift its opposition to Sweden and Finland joining NATO, a breakthrough in an impasse clouding a leaders’ summit in Madrid amid Europe’s worst security crisis in decades triggered by the war in Ukraine. After urgent top-level talks, alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said “we now have an agreement that paves the way for Finland and Sweden to join NATO.”

ATLANTA – Georgia is about to embark on a new form of transportation technology that fits the needs of the era of e-commerce. Legislation the General Assembly passed this year that takes effect on Friday will authorize “personal delivery devices” better known as delivery robots to ply the state’s highways and sidewalks.

The theme of the 6th Baptist World Alliance, held in Atlantas in 1939, was “Freedom of Religion.” The event was billed as the largest gathering of Baptists in the history of the state, located in “the heart of the Baptist world.”

KREMENCHUK, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian officials say scores of civilians are feared killed or injured after a Russian missile strike hit a crowded shopping mall in the central city of Kremenchuk. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the number of victims “unimaginable” and labeled it a “terrorist attack.”

ELMAU, Germany (AP) — Leaders of the world’s wealthiest democracies have struck a united stance to support Ukraine for “as long as necessary” as Russia’s invasion grinds on, and said Tuesday they would explore far-reaching steps to cap Kremlin income from oil sales that are financing the war.

BERLIN (AP) — A 101-year-old man has been convicted in Germany of more than 3,500 counts of accessory to murder for serving at the Nazis' Sachsenhausen concentration camp during World War II. The Neuruppin Regional Court sentenced him to five years in prison on Tuesday. The man, who was identified by local media as Josef S., had denied being an SS guard at the camp.