A young man tries a skateboard trick on a bench at a viewpoint overlooking the Tagus river on Wednesday in Lisbon, Portugal. The Associated Press

NATION

New Jersey

BARNEGAT TOWNSHIP — A wildfire burning in New Jersey has forced thousands of people to evacuate and closed a stretch of a major highway.

The New Jersey Fire Service says the Garden State Parkway has been closed between Barnegat and Lacey townships. Authorities say more than 1,300 structures have been threatened and power is out to most of Barnegat Township. About 3,000 residents have been evacuated. There have been no immediate reports of injuries. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Vermont

Hearing on detained student next week

BURLINGTON — A Palestinian man who led protests against the war in Gaza as a student at Columbia University and was arrested during an interview about finalizing his U.S. citizenship has made an initial apperance in a Vermont courthouse.

Mohsen Mahdawi, a legal permanent resident for 10 years, was arrested April 14 by immigration authorities. A judge on Wednesday extended a temporary order keeping Mahdawi in Vermont and scheduled a hearing for next week.

New York

Weinstein rape retrial opens

NEW YORK — Opening statements began Wednesday in the retrial, that could take six weeks, of Harvey Weinstein after an appeals court threw out the ex-studio-boss’s 2020 rape conviction in a case that was a watershed for the #MeToo movement.

He faces an additional charge based on an allegation from a woman who wasn’t a part of the first case. He has pleaded not guilty.

WORLD

Bosnia

Reports: Arrest of Serb separatist fails

SARAJEVO — Tensions rose in Bosnia following reports that Bosnian state security agents tried to arrest pro-Russian Bosnian Serb president but were prevented by his armed officers.

Milorad Dodik, the president of the Republika Srpska entity of Bosnia, is facing legal action for his separatist policies. Bosnian courts issued an arrest warrant for Dodik in March after he failed to appear for questioning. Details surrounding Wednesday’s events were unclear.

Gaza Strip

Arab mediators seek long-term truce

DEIR AL-BALAH — An overnight Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City has killed 23 people and set tents ablaze, burning people alive.

Arab mediators are meanwhile working on a proposal to end the war with Hamas that would include a five-to-seven year truce and the release of all remaining hostages. France, Germany and Britain say Israel’s seven-week blockade on all imports to Gaza is “intolerable.”

United Arab Emirates

Houthis fire missile at Northern Israel

DUBAI — Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched a missile toward northern Israel, the first-such attack by the group to reach the area as a monthlong intense U.S. airstrike campaign continues to target them.

The Israeli military said “an interceptor was launched toward the missile, and the missile was most likely successfully intercepted.” Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree later claimed the attack in a prerecorded message, claiming they targeted Haifa with hypersonic missile.