U.S./World category, Page 337
Countdown begins for April’s total solar eclipse. What to know about watch parties and safe viewing
The sun is about to pull another disappearing act across North America, turning day into night during a total solar eclipse. The peak spectacle on April 8 will last up to 4 minutes, 28 seconds in the path of total darkness — twice as long as the total solar eclipse...
Israeli strikes kill 13 in a southern Gaza town that could be the next target in the war
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli airstrikes killed over a dozen people overnight and into Thursday in Rafah in the Gaza Strip, hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Hamas’ cease-fire terms and vowed to expand the offensive into the southern Gaza town. More than half of strip’s population has fled...
Stabbing of Palestinian American near the University of Texas meets hate crime standard, police say
AUSTIN, Texas — The stabbing of a 23-year-old Palestinian American who advocates say was attacked near the University of Texas campus while riding in a truck displaying support for Palestine merits the label of a hate crime, Austin police announced Wednesday. Bert James Baker, 36, was arrested following the Sunday...
Fossil fuel-dependent Puerto Rico can fully shift to clean energy by 2050, a federal study says
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — As Puerto Rico struggles with chronic power outages and a decaying electric grid, federal officials believe the U.S. territory can fully shift from fossil fuels to clean energy by 2050, according to a report Wednesday that has been two years in the making. The report...
Prince William thanks public for messages to King Charles and Kate, says they mean ‘a great deal’
LONDON — Prince William returned to royal duties Wednesday for the first time since his father, King Charles III, announced his cancer diagnosis and his wife, Kate, was hospitalized for abdominal surgery. Speaking about his families’ health scares in public for the first time, the 41-year-old heir to the throne...
Drone strike in Baghdad kills high-ranking militia commander, officials say
BAGHDAD — A U.S. drone strike hit a car in the Iraqi capital Wednesday night, killing three members of the powerful Kataib Hezbollah militia, including a high-ranking commander, officials said. The strike came on a main thoroughfare in the Mashtal neighborhood in eastern Baghdad. A crowd gathered as emergency response...
What’s next for Jennifer and James Crumbley, the parents of the Michigan school shooter?
PONTIAC, Mich. — A conviction in the unprecedented trial of a Michigan school shooter’s mother will stand as a milestone to law enforcers across the U.S. as well as a stark reminder to parents with guns in their home. But experts who followed Jennifer Crumbley’s involuntary manslaughter case note that...
‘Cocaine Bear’ or serious threat? Florida legislator warns of bears ‘on crack’
If House Bill 87 called “Taking of Bears” passes in Florida, the state’s bear population could be in danger. Republican state Rep. Jason Shoaf wants Florida to loosen regulations on the killing of wildlife, as he claims black bears that are high on crack are breaking into people’s homes and...
Medical examiner rules the decapitation of a baby during delivery was a homicideVideo
ATLANTA — A medical examiner has classified the death of a Georgia couple’s baby that was decapitated during delivery as a homicide, their attorneys announced Wednesday. Treveon Taylor, Jr.’s parents have sued the hospital and the doctor who delivered him in July. Both denied any negligence. The Clayton County Medical...
Senate Republicans block bipartisan border package, scuttling deal they had demanded from Democrats
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans blocked a bipartisan border package Wednesday, scuttling months of negotiations with Democrats on legislation intended to cut back record numbers of illegal border crossings. Many Republicans said the election-year compromise wasn’t enough, even as supporters of the bill insisted it was the best possible in divided...
CBO projects a $188 billion decrease in this year’s federal budget deficit, but debt would then grow
WASHINGTON — The Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday that it expects the federal budget deficit to drop by $188 billion this fiscal year to $1.5 trillion, a short-lived dip as the annual shortfall is likely to rise over the next nine years. Two major factors are behind the decline in...
New UN weather agency chief says rate of global warming is speeding up
BALTIMORE — The new chief of the World Meteorological Organization said it looks to her that the rate of human-caused climate change is accelerating and that warming has triggered more Arctic cold outbreaks in North America and Europe, weighing in on two issues that divide climate scientists. In her first...
NTSB to release cause of fiery Norfolk Southern derailment in eastern Ohio at June hearing
Federal investigators say they will determine the cause of last year’s fiery Norfolk Southern derailment in eastern Ohio at a hearing in East Palestine this June. The National Transportation Safety Board announced Wednesday that it will hold the hearing at East Palestine High School on June 25 to approve the...
Russia attacks targets across Ukraine with missiles and drones as EU’s top diplomat visits Kyiv
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia fired cruise and ballistic missiles and Shahed-type drones at six regions across Ukraine on Wednesday morning, authorities reported, killing at least five civilians and wounding almost 50 others, including a pregnant woman. The attacks hit at least three major cities, including the capital, Kyiv, where the...
Missing Marine Corps helicopter carrying 5 troops from Nevada to California has been locatedVideo
SAN DIEGO — A Marine Corps helicopter that had been missing with five troops aboard as an historic storm continued drenching California was found Wednesday morning in a mountainous area outside San Diego. The aircraft was located just after 9 a.m. by civil authorities near the mountain community of Pine...
Bombings at Pakistani political offices kill at least 30 a day before parliamentary elections
QUETTA, Pakistan — Bombs ripped through two separate political offices in southwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing at least 30 people, officials said, the day before the country was set to elect a new parliament. The attacks in Baluchistan province — home to a low-level insurgency and various militants groups —...
Florida attorney general set to ask state Supreme Court to keep abortion protections off the ballot
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida’s attorney general is expected to ask the state Supreme Court to keep an abortion-rights measure off November’s ballot on Wednesday, saying it misleads voters and could be used to expand abortion rights in the future. Proponents of the proposed amendment say the language is clear and...
Social media platform Bluesky takes aim at Elon Musk’s X
The social media platform Bluesky has opened to the public and could compete with X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, and Meta’s Threads. Bluesky offers users a place to post texts and images that show up on a feed — similar to the interface of X and Threads. The...
Syria says Israeli airstrikes over Homs have killed and wounded civilians
DAMASCUS, Syria — Israeli airstrikes over Syria’s central city of Homs and nearby areas killed and wounded civilians, the Syrian military said Wednesday without giving details. There was no immediate comment from Israel. The strikes come as tensions across the Middle East grow with the Israel-Hamas war and a drone...
Florida sheriff: ‘1,000-pound’ military bomb found at construction site
Construction workers found an inert, “1,000-pound” military bomb near Brooksville-Tampa Bay Regional Airport on Tuesday afternoon, according to the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office. The bomb was reported shortly before 3 p.m. by construction workers at the northeast corner of the airport near Helicopter Drive, where Wilton Simpson Technical College is...
Biden sets tighter standards for deadly soot pollution from tailpipes, smokestacks
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is setting tougher standards for deadly soot pollution, saying that reducing fine particle matter from tailpipes, smokestacks and other industrial sources could prevent thousands of premature deaths a year. Environmental and public health groups hailed the new Environmental Protection Agency rule finalized Wednesday as a...
Russia says former Fox News host Tucker Carlson has interviewed PutinVideo
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been interviewed by former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, the Kremlin confirmed Wednesday. It is Putin’s first interview to a Western media figure since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago. Carlson had released a video from Moscow on Tuesday in which he said...
102-year-old British veteran flies a Spitfire on a delightfully bumpy ride for charity
LONDON — A former Royal Air Forces pilot has taken to the skies in a Spitfire at 102 years old. Jack Hemmings, an ex-squadron leader with Britain’s air force, is believed to be the oldest pilot to fly the World War II plane. His 20-minute flight, from an airfield in...
Postal Service, once chided for slow adoption of EVs, announces plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions
The U.S. Postal Service announced sweeping plans Tuesday to reduce greenhouse emissions by diverting more parcels from air to ground transportation, boosting the number of electric vehicles, cutting waste sent to landfills and making delivery routes more efficient. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy described a mix of environmental initiatives and cost-cutting...
Gigantic replica of Emperor Constantine looks out over Rome as 3D technology brings past to life
ROME — Emperor Constantine, the 4th-century ruler whose embrace of Christianity helped spread the Christian faith throughout the Roman Empire, now has a reconstructed statue befitting his larger-than-life role in history. Rome authorities on Tuesday unveiled a massive, 13-meter replica of the statue Constantine commissioned for himself after 312 AD....
