AP News In Brief At 12:04 A.m. EDT

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World leaders at G7 meetings ready to pile fresh sanctions on Russia over Ukraine war
HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) - Leaders of the world's most powerful democracies are devoting much of the first full day of the Group of Seven summit to finding new ways to punish Russia for its 15-month invasion of Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's nuclear threats against Ukraine, along with North Korea´s months-long barrage of missile tests and China's rapidly expanding nuclear arsenal, have resonated with Japan's push to make nuclear disarmament a major part of the summit.

World leaders Friday visited a peace park dedicated to the tens of thousands who died in the world's first wartime atomic bomb detonation.
After group photos near the city's iconic bombed-out dome, a wreath-laying and a symbolic tree planting, a new round of sanctions were to be unveiled against Moscow, with a focus on redoubling efforts to enforce existing sanctions meant to stifle Russia's war effort and hold accountable those behind it, a U.S.

official said. Russia is now the most-sanctioned country in the world, but there are questions about the effectiveness of the financial penalties.
The U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to preview the announcement, said the U.S.
component of the actions would blacklist about 70 Russian and third-country entities involved in Russia's defense production, and sanction more than 300 individuals, entities, aircraft and vessels.
The official added that the other G7 nations would undertake similar steps to further isolate Russia and to undermine its ability to wage war in Ukraine.

Details were to emerge over the course of the weekend summit.
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More than 30 million US drivers don't know if they're at risk from a rare but dangerous airbag blast
DETROIT (AP) - More than 33 million people in the United States are driving vehicles that contain a potentially deadly threat: Airbag inflators that in rare cases can explode in a collision and spew shrapnel.
Few of them know it.
And because of a dispute between federal safety regulators and an airbag parts manufacturer, they aren't likely to find out anytime soon.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is demanding that the manufacturer, ARC Automotive of Knoxville, Tennessee, recall 67 million inflators that could explode with such force as to blow apart a metal canister and expel shrapnel.

But ARC is refusing to do so, setting up a possible court fight with the agency.
NHTSA argues that the recall is justified because two people have been killed in the United States and Canada and at least seven others have been injured by ARC's inflators.
The explosions, which first occurred in 2009, have continued as recently as this year.
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Disney scraps plans for new Florida campus as fight with Gov. Ron DeSantis continues
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla.

(AP) - The Walt Disney Co. announced Thursday that it was scrapping plans to build a new campus in central Florida and relocate 2,000 employees from Southern California to work in digital technology, finance and product development.
The decision follows a year of attacks from Gov.
Ron DeSantis and the Legislature because the company opposed a state law that bans classroom lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades. Disney filed a First Amendment lawsuit against DeSantis and other officials last month.
Disney had planned to build the campus about 20 miles (30 kilometers) from the giant Walt Disney World theme park resort, but Josh D´Amaro, chairman of the parks, experiences and products division, said in a memo to employees that "new leadership and changing business conditions" prompted the company to abandon those plans.
"I remain optimistic about the direction of our Walt Disney World business," D´Amaro said.

"We have plans to invest $17 billion and create 13,000 jobs over the next ten years. I hope we´re able to do so."
Disney and DeSantis have been engaged in a tug-of-war for more than a year that has engulfed the GOP governor in criticism as he prepares to launch an expected presidential bid in the coming weeks.
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China's loans pushing world´s poorest countries to brink of collapse
A dozen poor countries are facing economic instability and even collapse under the weight of hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign loans, much of them from the world´s biggest and most unforgiving government lender, China.
An Associated Press analysis of a dozen countries most indebted to China - including Pakistan, Kenya, Zambia, Laos and Mongolia - found paying back that debt is consuming an ever-greater amount of the tax revenue needed to keep schools open, provide electricity and pay for food and fuel.

And it´s draining foreign currency reserves these countries use to pay interest on those loans, leaving some with just months before that money is gone.
Behind the scenes is China´s reluctance to forgive debt and its extreme secrecy about how much money it has loaned and on what terms, which has kept other major lenders from stepping in to help.
On top of that is the recent discovery that borrowers have been required to put cash in hidden escrow accounts that push China to the front of the line of creditors to be paid.
Countries in AP´s analysis had as much as 50% of their foreign loans from China and most were devoting more than a third of government revenue to paying off foreign debt.

Two of them, Zambia and Sri Lanka, have already gone into default, unable to make even interest payments on loans financing the construction of ports, mines and power plants.
In Pakistan, millions of textile workers have been laid off because the country has too much foreign debt and can´t afford to keep the electricity on and machines running.
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Videos show gunman saying 'kill me' to onrushing officers in New Mexico rampage that killed 3
SANTA FE, N.M.

(AP) - Videos released Thursday of this week´s deadly rampage in northwest New Mexico recorded a voice said to be the shooter urging police to "kill me" and officers rushing toward the 18-year-old gunman before fatally shooting him outside a church.
"He is yelling on the Ring footage, `Come kill me,'" Farmington Police Chief Steve Hebbe said of Beau Wilson, the high school senior who authorities say killed three older women during the attack.
"He´s making a stand, he has opportunities to run off, he does not use those opportunities," Hebbe said.

"So yes it´s my belief that ultimately in his head, he has made the decision that he is going to stand and fight it out until he is killed."
Three older woman were killed Monday by the shooter, including a mother and daughter who happened to be driving through the neighborhood.
The victims were identified as longtime Farmington residents Gwendolyn Dean Schofield, 97, her 73-year-old daughter, Melody Ivie, and 79-year-old Shirley Voita.
At least six other people were wounded in the shootings, which sent waves of grief rippling through the community of 50,000 people.

They included two police officers, who have been released from medical care as they recover.
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88-year-old Australian doctor freed 7 years after kidnapping by Islamic extremists in West Africa
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - An 88-year-old Australian doctor backlink held captive by Islamic extremists in West Africa for more than seven years has been freed and has returned to Australia.
Ken Elliott was safe and well and was reunited with his wife and their children on Thursday night, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said.
"I´m very pleased to advise that Dr. Ken Elliott, who´s been held hostage in Western Africa for some seven years, has been reunited in Australia with his family," Wong told reporters in Sydney.
Elliott and his wife were kidnapped in Burkina Faso, where they had run a medical clinic for four decades.

Jocelyn Elliott was released three weeks later.
"We wish to express our thanks to God and all who have continued to pray for us," Elliott's family said in a statement released by Wong´s department.
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Salman Rushdie attends PEN America gala, first in-person appearance since stabbing
NEW YORK (AP) - Salman Rushdie has made his first in-person public appearance since being stabbed repeatedly and hospitalized nine months ago.

The author was in attendance Thursday night for the annual gala of PEN America, the literary and free expression organization for which he once served as president.
"I feel great," said Rushdie, wearing a dark collarless jacket and matching pants.
"I have a long association with PEN America and I´m just happy to be amongst writers and book people."
Rushdie, 75, attended the gala, where hundreds of writers and other PEN members gathered for the dinner benefit.
"Saturday Night Live" founder Lorne Michaels and Iranian dissident Narges Mohammadi were among those scheduled to be honored.
Last August, Rushdie was appearing at the Chautauqua Institution, a nonprofit education and retreat center in western New York, when he was assaulted by a young man dressed in black and carrying a knife.

Rushdie sustained multiple wounds, leaving him blind in his right eye and struggling to write.
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Car rushes Vatican gate, is fired on by gendarmes; driver apprehended after reaching courtyard
ROME (AP) - A car driven by someone with apparent psychiatric problems rushed through a Vatican gate Thursday evening and sped past Swiss Guards into a palace courtyard before the driver was apprehended by police, the Holy See said.
Vatican gendarmes fired a shot at the speeding car´s front tires after it rushed the gate, but the vehicle managed to continue on its way, the Vatican press office said in a statement late Thursday.
Once the car reached the San Damaso Courtyard of the Apostolic Palace, the driver got out and was immediately arrested by Vatican gendarmes.

The Vatican said the driver was about 40 years old and was in a "serious state of psychophysical alteration." He was being held in the Vatican barracks.
It wasn't clear if Pope Francis was anywhere near the incident, which occurred after 8 p.m.
at the Santa Anna gate, one of the main entrances to the Vatican City State in the heart of Rome.
Francis lives on the other side of Vatican City at the Santa Marta hotel, where at that hour he would normally be having dinner and retiring to his room.

The Vatican statement said that as soon as the gendarmes sounded the alarm of an incursion, the main gate blocking access to the piazza in front of Francis' hotel was shut.
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Murray's big fourth quarter propels Nuggets past Lakers 108-103 for 2-0 lead in West finals
DENVER (AP) - Jamal Murray scored 23 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter, propelling the Denver Nuggets to a 108-103 come-from-behind win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night for a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference finals.
Nikola Jokic had his 13th playoff triple-double with 23 points, 17 rebounds and a dozen assists for the Nuggets, who have never been this close to reaching the NBA Finals in their history.
Game 3 is Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena, where LeBron James and the Lakers are 8-0 in the playoffs.
Murray missed 12 of his 17 shots through three quarters but found his touch in the fourth, going 6 for 7, including four 3-pointers and fueling a 15-1 run that gave Denver a 96-84 lead.
Just like in Game 1, the Lakers didn't go down easily.

They pulled to three points on Austin Reaves' jumper before Murray sank two free throws with 12 seconds left and Bruce Brown stole the ball from James, then dribbled out the final 8 seconds.
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TikTok content creators file lawsuit against Montana over first-in-nation law banning app
HELENA, Mont.
(AP) - Five TikTok content creators have filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn Montana's first-in-the-nation ban on the video sharing app, arguing the law is an unconstitutional violation of free speech rights.
The Montana residents also argued in the complaint, filed in federal court late Wednesday without public notice, that the state doesn't have any authority over matters of national security.

Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed the bill into law Wednesday and said it would protect Montana residents´ private data and personal information from being harvested by the Chinese government.
The ban is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2024.
"The law takes the broadest possible approach to its objectives, restricting and banning the protected speech of all TikTok users in Montana to prevent the speculative and unsubstantiated possibility that the Chinese government might direct TikTok Inc., or its parent, to spy on some Montana users," the complaint states.
"We expected a legal challenge and are fully prepared to defend the law," said Emily Flower, spokeswoman for the Montana Department of Justice.