U.S./World category, Page 264
Rail cars carrying hazardous material derail and catch fire in North Dakota
Rail cars carrying hazardous material derailed and burst into flames Friday in a remote area of North Dakota, but officials said no one was hurt and the threat to those living nearby appeared to be minimal. Twenty-nine cars of a CPKC train derailed about 3:45 a.m. in an area surrounded...
How Texas is still investigating migrant aid groups on the border after a judge’s scathing order
McALLEN, Texas — Texas is widening investigations into aid organizations along the U.S.-Mexico border over claims that nonprofits are helping migrants illegally enter the country, taking some groups to court and making demands that a judge called harassment after the state tried shuttering an El Paso shelter. The efforts are...
Air travel is getting worse. That’s what passengers are telling the U.S. government
WASHINGTON — Air travel got more miserable last year, if the number of consumer complaints filed with the U.S. government is any measure. The Transportation Department said Friday that it received nearly 97,000 complaints in 2023, up from about 86,000 the year before. The department said there were so many...
July Fourth shootings kill at least 8, wound more than 2 dozen
Shootings around the Fourth of July killed at least eight people, including a 10-year-old girl in Cleveland, while police were investigating other gun violence across the country that injured nearly three dozen people. No arrests were made in any of the shootings, police said. The Fourth of July historically is...
Hurricane Beryl slams into Mexico’s coast as a Category 2 storm; 11 dead across the Caribbean
TULUM, Mexico — Hurricane Beryl roared ashore on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula near the resort town of Tulum as a Category 2 storm early Friday, whipping trees and knocking out power after leaving a trail of destruction that killed at least 11 people across the Caribbean. Beryl was expected to rapidly...
Hungary’s Orbán meets Putin for talks in Moscow in rare visit by European leader
MOSCOW — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán visited Moscow on Friday for a rare meeting by a European leader with Russian President Vladimir Putin and discussed peace proposals for Ukraine, which triggered condemnation from Kyiv and some European leaders and officials. Orbán’s visit comes only days after he made a...
Vatican excommunicates former U.S. ambassador Vigano, declares him guilty of schism
ROME — The Vatican has excommunicated its former ambassador to the U.S., Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, after finding him guilty of schism, an inevitable end for the firebrand conservative who became one of Pope Francis’ most ardent critics. The Vatican’s doctrine office imposed the penalty after a meeting of its...
U.S. employers added a solid 206,000 jobs in June in a sign of continued economic strength
WASHINGTON — America’s employers delivered another healthy month of hiring in June, adding 206,000 jobs and once again displaying the U.S. economy’s ability to withstand continually high interest rates. Last month’s job growth did mark a pullback from 218,000 in May. But it was still a strong gain, reflecting the...
Fireworks light up the skies across the U.S. as Americans endure searing heat to celebrate July Fourth
Millions of people in the U.S. celebrated and suffered under heat warnings Thursday as they flocked to beaches and traveled in droves to toast their nation’s birth with July Fourth parades, cookouts and the always anticipated fiery splashes of color in the evening sky. In Washington, neon bursts of light...
The UK election winner only becomes prime minister when King Charles III says so
LONDON — The Labour Party has won Britain’s general election, bringing a new party to power for the first time in 14 years. But Labour leader Keir Starmer didn’t actually become prime minister until a carefully choreographed ceremony on Friday during which King Charles III formally asked him to form...
Starmer vows ‘government of service’ for national renewal as he takes power after Labour landslide
LONDON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he would lead a “government of service” on a mission of national renewal in his first official remarks Friday after his Labour Party swept to power in a landslide victory after more than a decade in opposition. Starmer acknowledged in his first...
Ranger injured and armed person making threats dies at Yellowstone, park says
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. — An armed person who was making unspecified threats at Yellowstone National Park died and a park ranger was hospitalized following an exchange of gunfire Thursday, authorities said. The shooting happened at Canyon Village, an area in the central part of the park that has a...
Americans shrug off searing heat to celebrate Fourth of July with parades, cookouts and fireworks
The burgers aren’t the only things sizzling this Fourth of July: Millions of people are under heat warnings as large numbers of Americans traveled to toast their nation’s birth with parades, cookouts and fiery splashes of colors against the evening sky. Travel records are projected to fall with people already...
British voters pick a new government against a backdrop of economic malaise and deep pessimism
LONDON — British voters were picking a new government Thursday in a parliamentary election widely expected to bring the Labour Party to power against a gloomy backdrop of economic malaise, mounting distrust in institutions and a fraying social fabric. A jaded electorate is delivering its verdict on Prime Minister Rishi...
Mbappé warns of ‘catastrophic’ political situation in France as the far right gets closer to power
HAMBURG, Germany — France soccer captain Kylian Mbappé warned on Thursday his country is in a “catastrophic” political situation as it lurches closer to a first far-right government since World War II. The National Rally gained strong results — around 33% of the vote nationwide — on Sunday in the...
Patrick Bertoletti wins his first men’s title at Nathan’s hot dog eating contest as defending champion Miki Sudo wins women’s division
NEW YORK — Patrick Bertoletti of Chicago gobbled down 58 hot dogs to win his first men’s title Thursday at the annual Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest. Bertoletti won in a tight, 10-minute race where the leader bounced back and forth. The 39-year-old Bertoletti defeated 13...
Netanyahu will dispatch negotiators to resume Gaza cease-fire talks, an Israeli official says
JERUSALEM — An Israeli official says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will dispatch negotiators to resume Gaza cease-fire talks. The decision on Thursday comes a day after Hamas submitted a new response a a U.S.-backed proposal for a phased cease-fire. The Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal...
Vatican chief of staff testifies in UK finance trial, points finger at deputy who escaped unscathed
ROME — Pope Francis’ chief of staff became one of the highest-ranking Holy See officials to testify in a foreign court Thursday, giving a British tribunal a detailed explanation of the negotiations at the heart of the Vatican’s so-called “trial of the century” and pointing a finger at his onetime...
Thousands evacuate as Northern California wildfire spreads, with more hot weather expectedVideo
OROVILLE, Calif. — Firefighters lined roads to keep flames from reaching homes as helicopters dropped water on a growing wildfire Wednesday in Northern California that has forced at least 26,000 people to evacuate, as the state sweltered under extreme heat. The Thompson fire broke out before noon Tuesday about 70...
Delta flight diverts to New York after passengers served spoiled food
NEW YORK — A Delta flight from Detroit to Amsterdam was diverted Wednesday to New York’s Kennedy Airport when passengers were served spoiled food, airline officials said. The redeye flight took off from Detroit around 11 p.m. Tuesday and landed in New York at 4 a.m. “after reports that a...
Man tells jury he found body but had no role in fatal attack on Detroit synagogue leader
DETROIT — A man charged with killing a Detroit synagogue leader during a violent overnight encounter denied any role Wednesday, telling jurors that he never entered her home but had discovered and touched her bloody body outdoors. Michael Jackson-Bolanos repeatedly said “absolutely not” when his attorney asked if he broke...
Colorado dairy worker tests positive for bird flu, 4th person linked to outbreak
A fourth farm worker has been infected with bird flu in the growing outbreak linked to dairy cows, health officials reported Wednesday. The worker had direct contact with infected dairy cows on a northeast Colorado farm, state and federal health officials said. The man developed pink eye, or conjunctivitis, received...
Hurricane Beryl roars by Jamaica after killing at least 6 people in the southeast CaribbeanVideo
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Hurricane Beryl was roaring by Jamaica Wednesday, bringing fierce winds and heavy rain after the powerful Category 4 storm earlier killed at least six people and caused significant damage in the southeast Caribbean. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Beryl’s eyewall was “brushing the south coast of...
Israeli strike kills another senior Hezbollah commander as diplomats scramble for calm in Lebanon
BEIRUT — An Israeli strike in southern Lebanon on Wednesday killed a senior Hezbollah commander as tensions between the two sides continue to boil, a Hezbollah official told The Associated Press. The strike near the southern coastal city of Tyre took place as global diplomatic efforts have intensified in recent...
Anti-settlement group says Israel has made largest West Bank land seizure in 3 decades
JERUSALEM — Israel has approved the largest seizure of land in the occupied West Bank in over three decades, an anti-settlement watchdog group said Wednesday, a move that could further worsen already soaring tensions linked to the ongoing war in Gaza. Peace Now said authorities recently approved the appropriation of...
