U.S./World category, Page 340
A grainy sonar image reignites excitement and skepticism over Earhart’s final flight
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A grainy sonar image recorded by a private pilot has reinvigorated interest in one of the past century’s most alluring mysteries: What happened to Amelia Earhart when her plane vanished during her flight around the world in 1937? Numerous expeditions have turned up nothing, only confirming that...
What to know as Republican governors consider sending more National Guard to the Texas border
AUSTIN, Texas — As Republicans cheer on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s escalating feud with the Biden administration over immigration enforcement, some governors are considering deploying National Guard members to the border — again. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday was among the first to commit more personnel to Texas, announcing...
New videos show towers of fire that prompted evacuations after last year’s fiery Ohio derailment
Residents of eastern Ohio can now get an up-close view in newly released videos of the twin toxic towers of fire that forced them from their homes last February when officials decided to blow open five tank cars filled with vinyl chloride they worried might explode days after a Norfolk...
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin apologizes for handling of cancer and hospitalization
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin apologized on Thursday over his handling of his prostate-cancer surgery and two-week hospital stay, saying he should have informed President Joe Biden and the American public. “I did not handle this right,” Austin said during a briefing at the Pentagon, where he returned to...
California pummeled by first of back-to-back atmospheric rivers as ‘Pineapple Express’ sweeps stateVideo
LOS ANGELES — Heavy rain flooded California roadways and much-needed snow piled up in the mountains as the first of back-to-back atmospheric rivers pummeled the state Thursday. The storm focused its energy on the southern and eastern parts of the state after initially hitting the San Francisco Bay Area on...
Skyscraper-size asteroid will buzz Earth on Friday, safely passing within 1.7 million miles
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — An asteroid as big as a skyscraper will pass within 1.7 million miles of Earth on Friday. Don’t worry: There’s no chance of it hitting us since it will pass seven times the distance from Earth to the moon. NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies...
More Americans apply for unemployment benefits but layoffs still historically low
The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits rose last week to the highest level in 11 weeks, though layoffs remain at historically low levels. Applications for unemployment benefits climbed to 224,000 for the week ending Jan. 27, an increase of 9,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department reported...
Ukraine claims its sea drones sank a Russian ship. Moscow says a Patriot missiles downed its plane
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine claimed Thursday it used sea drones to sink a Russian corvette in the Black Sea as Russian investigators alleged that a Russian military transport plane that crashed last month was brought down by two U.S.-made Patriot missiles fired by Kyiv’s forces. Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, known...
Farmers on tractors create chaos outside an EU summit to protest rising costs and bureaucracy
BRUSSELS — Farmers in convoys of tractors created chaos outside the European Union’s headquarters on Thursday, pelting police with firecrackers, eggs and beer bottles as they demanded leaders at an EU summit provide relief from rising prices and bureaucracy. With thick smoke from burning bales of hay hanging over parts...
U.K. judge dismisses Trump’s lawsuit over dossier containing ‘shocking and scandalous claims’
LONDON — A judge in London on Thursday threw out a lawsuit by former U.S. President Donald Trump that accused a former British spy of making “shocking and scandalous claims” that were false and harmed his reputation. Judge Karen Steyn said the case Trump filed against Orbis Business Intelligence should...
Greta Thunberg has gone on trial over a London climate protest outside an oil and gas conference
LONDON — Climate activist Greta Thunberg went on trial Thursday for refusing to leave a protest that blocked the entrance to a major oil and gas industry conference in London last year. Thunberg, 21, was among more than two dozen protesters arrested on Oct. 17 after preventing access to a...
Iran begins building 4 more nuclear power plants
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran began construction on four more nuclear power plants in the country’s south, with expected total capacity of 5,000 megawatts, the official IRNA news agency reported Thursday. Iran seeks to produce 20,000 megawatts of nuclear energy by 2041. The country has one active nuclear power plant, a...
3 people killed, 9 injured in collapse of Boise, Idaho, airport hangar
BOISE, Idaho — A hangar under construction on the grounds of the airport in Boise, Idaho, collapsed Wednesday, killing three people and injuring another nine, officials said. Five of those injured in the collapse are in critical condition, the city said in a statement released Wednesday night. Authorities responded at...
European Union overcomes threat of Hungary veto to seal $54 billion aid package for Ukraine
BRUSSELS — Leaders of the 27 European Union countries sealed a deal Thursday to provide Ukraine with 50 billion euros ($54 billion) in support for its war-ravaged economy after Hungary dropped weeks of threats to veto the measure. European Council President Charles Michel said the agreement “locks in steadfast, long-term,...
Alec Baldwin pleads not guilty to involuntary manslaughter charge in fatal film set shooting
SANTA FE, N.M. — Actor Alec Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to an involuntary manslaughter charge in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer during a rehearsal on a Western movie set in New Mexico. Court documents filed Wednesday show Baldwin entered the plea in state district court in Santa Fe,...
First of back-to-back atmospheric rivers pushes into California. Officials urge storm preparationsVideo
LOS ANGELES — The first of two back-to-back atmospheric rivers slowly pushed into California on Wednesday, triggering statewide storm preparations and calls for people to get ready for potential flooding, heavy snow and damaging wind. Known as a “Pineapple Express” because its long plume of moisture stretched back across the...
Federal judge dismisses Disney’s free speech lawsuit against Ron DeSantis
ORLANDO, Fla. — A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed Disney’s free speech lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, leaving the company’s remaining hopes of regaining control of the district that governs Walt Disney World to a separate state court challenge. U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor in Tallahassee said in his...
Federal Reserve signals that interest rate cuts aren’t imminent and leaves them unchanged for now
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve indicated Wednesday that it’s nearing a long-awaited shift toward cutting interest rates, a sign that its officials have grown confident that they’re close to fully taming inflation. But the Fed also signaled that the first rate cut is likely months away. The central bank kept...
Russia, Ukraine swap scores of POWs despite tensions over plane crash last week
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia and Ukraine have exchanged about 200 prisoners of war each, the countries said Wednesday, despite tensions stemming from last week’s crash of a military transport plane that Moscow claimed was carrying Ukrainian POWs and was shot down by Kyiv’s forces. After the Jan. 24 crash of...
Laser strikes against aircraft including airline planes have surged to a new record, the FAA says
WASHINGTON — Laser strikes aimed at aircraft including airline planes surged 41% last year to a record high, according to federal officials. The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday that it received 13,304 reports from pilots about laser strikes last year, erasing a record set in 2021. “Aiming a laser at...
Meta, TikTok and other social media CEOs testify in heated Senate hearing on child exploitation
Sexual predators. Addictive features. Suicide and eating disorders. Unrealistic beauty standards. Bullying. These are just some of the issues young people are dealing with on social media — and children’s advocates and lawmakers say companies are not doing enough to protect them. On Wednesday, the CEOs of Meta, TikTok, X...
Elon Musk says the first human has received an implant from Neuralink, but other details are scant
NEW YORK — According to Elon Musk, the first human received an implant from his computer-brain interface company Neuralink over the weekend. In a Monday post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Musk said that the patient received the implant the day prior and was “recovering well.” He...
Imprisoned ex-Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan convicted again, another blow days ahead of vote
ISLAMABAD — Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was found guilty of corruption on Wednesday and sentenced to 14 years, yet another blow to the imprisoned populist leader days before his political movement attempts a return to power in parliamentary elections. It was his second conviction in as many days...
Nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize end Wednesday. Not all of them are secret
STAVANGER, Norway — The doors close Wednesday on nominations for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize, with peace activists connected to the wars in Gaza and Ukraine among the known entries. The Norwegian Nobel Committee keeps the nominations secret, but those with nomination rights sometimes make their picks public. Attempts to...
Islamic Resistance in Iraq group is to blame for Jordan drone strike that killed 3 troops, U.S. says
WASHINGTON — The United States on Wednesday attributed the drone attack that killed three U.S. service members in Jordan to the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias, as President Joe Biden weighs his response options to the strike. The attribution comes as Iran threatened on Wednesday...
