U.S./World category, Page 158

LONDON — Two climate change protesters smashed a protective glass panel covering a famous Diego Velázquez oil painting at London’s National Gallery, the group Just Stop Oil said Monday. The two activists targeted Velázquez’s “The Toilet of Venus,” also known as “The Rokeby Venus,” with small hammers. Photos showed the...

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli forces severed northern Gaza from the rest of the besieged territory and pounded it with intense airstrikes overnight into Monday, setting the stage for an expected push into the dense confines of Gaza City and an even bloodier phase of the month-old war. Already,...

NEW YORK — Donald Trump has testified in court as a football owner, casino builder and airline buyer. He bragged in a deposition that he saved “millions of lives” by deterring nuclear war as president. Another time, he fretted about the dangers of flung fruit. Conditioned by decades of trials...

WASHINGTON — Inside the White House Situation Room, new House Speaker Mike Johnson made clear to Biden administration officials his demands when it came to foreign assistance: Aid to Israel for its war against Hamas would have to be separated out from support for Ukraine, defending itself from a Russian...

MURRIETA, Calif. — Leo Ortega started growing spiky blue agave plants on the arid hillsides around his Southern California home because his wife liked the way they looked. A decade later, his property is now dotted with thousands of what he and others hope is a promising new crop for...

BERLIN — The hostage situation at Hamburg Airport ended Sunday afternoon, around 18 hours after a man drove his vehicle through the gates of the airport with his 4-year-old daughter inside, authorities said. The man was arrested and the girl appears to be unharmed. Hamburg police tweeted that “the hostage...

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Gaza came under the third total communications outage since the start of the war, while Israel’s military announced late Sunday that it had encircled Gaza City and divided the besieged coastal strip into two. “Today there is north Gaza and south Gaza,” Rear Adm. Daniel...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A 63-foot Norway spruce from the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia is on its way to the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol to be the Christmas tree for 2023. Snow fell on the crew members Wednesday in Monongahela National Forest as they harvested the tree selected...

WASHINGTON — From Washington to Milan to Paris, tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched Saturday, calling for a halt to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. The marches reflected growing disquiet about the mounting civilian casualty toll and suffering from the Israel-Hamas war. Protesters, particularly in countries with large Muslim populations,...

Secretary of State Antony Blinken took U.S. calls for “humanitarian pauses” in the Israel-Hamas war to key Arab allies, who publicly insisted on an immediate cease-fire instead. The rift played out on Blinken’s tour of the Middle East against the backdrop of a growing backlash against the death toll in...

UVALDE, Texas — On a sticky Texas morning, Kimberly Mata-Rubio is lacing up her running shoes ahead of two races she is running in Uvalde in tribute to her daughter Lexi, who was killed in the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting. First up is a charity run honoring Lexi’s life....

CHICAGO — Sophee Langerman was on her way to a bicycle safety rally in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood in June when a car turning right rolled through a red light and slammed into her bike, which she was walking off the curb and into the crosswalk. The car was moving slowly...

RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli military strikes killed multiple civilians Saturday at a U.N. shelter and hospital in the main combat zone in the Gaza Strip as the assault intensified on the besieged enclave’s Hamas rulers, amid growing international uproar over the soaring death toll and deepening humanitarian crisis. Israel’s...

KATHMANDU, Nepal — Survivors of a strong earthquake that shook Nepal’s northwest in the middle of the night described sudden shaking followed by houses collapsing and burying entire families, as the death toll rose to 157 on Saturday. Most of those killed were crushed by debris when their houses —...

ORLANDO, Fla. — A Florida Virtual School physics teacher who identifies as non-binary was fired last month for using a gender-neutral courtesy title in class materials, which the school said violated a new Florida law that prohibits teachers from sharing “personal titles and pronouns” that do not correspond to their...

PORTLAND, Maine — The Army reservist who fatally shot 18 people at two locations in Lewiston before disappearing into the night was alive and possibly on the run during a good portion of the huge search that led to community-wide shelter-in-place orders, according to the Maine medical examiner’s office. Robert...

NEWPORT NEWS — A teacher who was shot by her 6-year-old student in Virginia can press forward with her $40 million lawsuit against a school system over claims of negligence by school administrators, a judge ruled Friday. The surprise decision by Newport News Circuit Court Judge Matthew Hoffman means Abby...

The second of two workers trapped under a coal mine preparation plant that collapsed this week in eastern Kentucky has died, Gov. Andy Beshear said Friday. “This is a heartbreaking situation,” the Democratic governor wrote on social media, calling for prayers for the men’s loved ones. The two men —...

One of the defendants in the Fulton elections interference case is pursuing a unique legal strategy: trying to prove that former President Donald Trump won the 2020 election in Georgia. While other Trump allies, notably those who have reached plea deals with prosecutors, have backed away from election fraud claims,...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to decide whether a Trump era-ban on bump stocks, the gun attachments that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire rapidly like machine guns, violates federal law. The justices will hear arguments early next year over a regulation put in place by the Justice...

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Voters in Ohio will decide next week whether to legalize recreational marijuana, but people on both sides of the issue say more hangs in the balance than simply decriminalizing the drug. Supporters of legalization say Ohio can reclaim tax revenue being lost to states such as Michigan,...

LAS VEGAS — Tens of thousands of Las Vegas hotel workers set a deadline Thursday for a sweeping strike, threatening major disruptions to the city’s economic backbone that could coincide with the Strip’s inaugural Formula 1 races later this month. The Culinary Workers Union said about 35,000 members whose contracts...

WAPPINGERS FALLS, N.Y. — A gas explosion collapsed part of a brick multifamily building north of New York City, trapping victims in the rubble and injuring 15 people, including five first responders, according to officials. There were no fatalities in the Thursday afternoon explosion and fire, which sent thick smoke...

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said more needs to be done to “protect Palestinian civilians” in Gaza and that, without that, there will be “no partners for peace.” Speaking to reporters in Tel Aviv on Friday, Blinken also said, “we need to substantially and...

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is gathering leaders from 11 other countries across the Americas on Friday in the U.S. capital to discuss the tightening of supply chains and address migration issues. In a preview of the first Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity Leaders’ Summit, White House National Security Council...