U.S./World category, Page 345
Heavy fighting in Gaza’s 2nd-largest city leaves hundreds of patients stranded in main hospital
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli forces battled Palestinian militants on Wednesday near the main hospital in Gaza’s second-largest city of Khan Younis, where medics said hundreds of patients and thousands of displaced people were unable to leave because of the fighting. Israel has ordered residents to leave a swath of...
Americans’ economic outlook brightens as inflation slows and wages outpace prices
WASHINGTON — After an extended period of gloom, Americans are starting to feel better about inflation and the economy — a trend that could sustain consumer spending, fuel economic growth and potentially affect President Joe Biden’s political fortunes. A measure of consumer sentiment by the University of Michigan has jumped...
Rampant public drug use forces Oregon to backpedal on decriminalization law
SALEM, Ore. — Democratic lawmakers in Oregon on Tuesday unveiled a sweeping new bill that would undo a key part of the state’s first-in-the-nation drug decriminalization law, a recognition that public opinion has soured on the measure amid rampant public drug use during the fentanyl crisis. The bill would recriminalize...
Turkey’s parliament approves Sweden’s NATO membership, lifting key hurdle
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish legislators on Tuesday endorsed Sweden’s membership in NATO, lifting a major hurdle on the previously nonaligned country’s entry into the military alliance. Lawmakers ratified Sweden’s accession protocol 287 to 55, with ruling party members saying the Nordic country’s tougher stance on Kurdish militants was key to...
Appeals court rejects Trump’s bid to reconsider gag order in the election interference case
WASHINGTON — Washington’s federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected Donald Trump’s request to reconsider a gag order restricting the former president’s speech in the case charging him with plotting to overturn the 2020 election. Lawyers for the Republican presidential front-runner had asked the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the...
‘Doomsday Clock’ signals existential threats of nuclear war, climate disasters and AIVideo
WASHINGTON — Earth, for the second year running, is nearing apocalypse, a science-oriented advocacy group said, pointing to its famous “Doomsday Clock” that shows 90 seconds till midnight. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists made the annual announcement Tuesday rating how close humanity is from ending. It cited nuclear threat in...
New York man convicted of murdering woman who wound up in his backcountry driveway after wrong turn
FORT EDWARD, N.Y. — A man was convicted of second-degree murder Tuesday for fatally shooting a young woman when the SUV she was riding in mistakenly drove up his rural driveway in upstate New York. A jury found Kevin Monahan, 66, guilty of second-degree murder for shooting 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis...
Martin Luther King’s daughter recalls late brother as strong guardian of their father’s legacy
ATLANTA — The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter remembered her late brother on Tuesday as a fierce and visionary steward of their father’s legacy. The Rev. Bernice King choked back tears at times as she shared memories of her childhood and recent visits with Dexter Scott King, who died...
Los Angeles Times to lay off one-fourth of newsroom staff starting this week, union head says
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Times plans to lay off 94 newsroom employees — one-fourth of its newsroom staff — starting Tuesday, a number that is substantial but less than feared, the head of the journalists union said. The announcement comes after the LA Times Guild walked off the...
At United and Alaska airlines, frustration with Boeing’s manufacturing problems is boiling over
The leaders of United Airlines and Alaska Airlines took turns Tuesday blasting Boeing over manufacturing problems that have led to the grounding of more than 140 of their planes, with United’s CEO saying his airline will consider alternatives to buying a future, larger version of the Boeing 737 Max. “I...
Intimate partner violence is a precursor to homelessness, study finds
One in five women who become homeless in California flee their homes to escape violence and escalating abuse by an intimate partner, a new analysis of a statewide survey has reported. The study by the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative at UC San Francisco found that a dearth of domestic...
France fines Amazon $35M for ‘excessively intrusive’ monitoring of warehouse staff
PARIS — France’s privacy watchdog said Tuesday that it slapped Amazon ‘s French warehouse business with a $35 million for using an “excessively intrusive sytem” to monitor worker performance and activity. The French Data Protection Authority, also known by its acronym CNIL, said the system allowed managers at Amazon France...
Alabama calls nitrogen execution method painless and humane, but critics are raising doubts
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama, unless stopped by the courts, intends to strap Kenneth Eugene Smith to a gurney Thursday and use a gas mask to replace breathable air with nitrogen, depriving him of oxygen, in the nation’s first execution attempt with the method. The Alabama attorney general’s office told federal...
A pastor and a small Ohio city tussle over the legality of his 24/7 homeless ministry
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A Christian church in Ohio filed a federal lawsuit this week after its pastor was charged with violating city ordinances when he opened up the sanctuary around the clock for homeless people and others to find shelter. Police this month filed 18 criminal charges against Dad’s Place...
21 Israeli troops are killed in the deadliest attack on the military since the Gaza offensive began
JERUSALEM — Palestinian militants carried out the deadliest single attack on Israel’s forces since the Hamas raid that triggered the war, killing 21 soldiers, the military said Tuesday, a significant setback that could add to mounting calls for a cease-fire. Hours later, the military announced that ground forces had encircled...
Almost 80 years after the Holocaust, 245,000 Jewish survivors are still alive
BERLIN — Almost 80 years after the Holocaust, about 245,000 Jewish survivors are still living across more than 90 countries, a new report revealed Tuesday. Nearly half of them, or 49%, are living in Israel; 18% are in Western Europe, 16% in the United States, and 12% in countries of...
U.S., British militaries team up again to bomb sites in Yemen used by Iran-backed Houthis
WASHINGTON — The United States and British militaries bombed multiple sites used by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen on Monday night, the second time the two allies have conducted coordinated retaliatory strikes on an array of the rebels’ missile-launching capabilities, several U.S. officials said. According to officials, the U.S. and...
North Korean missiles face reality check on Putin’s battlefield
North Korea’s new arsenal of ballistic missiles are set for their first real-world test on the battlefield in Ukraine. But based on the success of U.S. interceptor systems in that conflict, Kim Jong Un may be worried. Burning through his stockpiles as the war in Ukraine nears the two-year mark,...
Flash floods inundate homes and overturn cars in San Diego as heavy rain sweeps through much of U.S.
SAN DIEGO — Flash floods inundated homes and overturned cars in San Diego on Monday as torrential rain swept through a large swath of the U.S., toppling trees and overflowing streets across California. Early morning flooding hit the town of Guerneville, north of San Francisco, where a creek overflowed after...
Judge orders the unsealing of divorce case of Trump special prosecutor in Georgia accused of affair
MARIETTA, Ga. — A judge on Monday ordered court records to be made public in the divorce involving a special prosecutor hired in the election case against Donald Trump and others and accused of having an affair with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. The judge ordered the unsealing of...
Supreme Court allows federal agents to cut razor wire Texas installed on U.S.-Mexico border
WASHINGTON — A divided Supreme Court on Monday allowed Border Patrol agents to resume cutting for now razor wire that Texas installed along a stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border that is at the center of an escalating standoff between the Biden administration and the state over immigration enforcement. The 5-4...
New York City plans to wipe out $2 billion in medical debt for 500,000 residents
NEW YORK — New York City intends to wipe out more than $2 billion in medical debt for up to 500,000 residents, tackling a top cause of personal bankruptcy, Mayor Eric Adams announced Monday. The city is working with RIP Medical Debt, a nonprofit that buys medical debt in bulk...
California State University faculty launch weeklong strike across 23 campuses
SAN FRANCISCO — More than 30,000 professors, librarians, plumbers, electricians, and other workers at California State University, the largest public university system in the U.S., walked off the job Monday in a weeklong strike to demand higher wages. The stoppage across Cal State’s 23 campuses comes two weeks after CSU...
Federal officials recommend that airlines inspect door plugs on some older Boeing jets as well
WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration recommends that airlines inspect the door plugs on certain Boeing 737s that are older than the Max 9 jetliner that suffered a blowout of a similar panel during a flight this month. The FAA said door plugs on one older version of the 737,...
Elon Musk visits Auschwitz after uproar over antisemitic messages on X
KRAKOW, Poland — Elon Musk, who has been accused of allowing antisemitic messages on his social media platform, X, visited the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp on Monday, saying afterwards that the tragedy of the Holocaust “hits you much more in the heart when you see it in person.”...
