Iranian missiles hit a hospital and wound over 200. Israel threatens Iran’s top leader
BEERSHEBA, Israel — Israel’s defense minister threatened Iran’s supreme leader on Thursday after Iranian missiles crashed into a major hospital in southern Israel and hit residential buildings near Tel Aviv, wounding at least 240 people. As rescuers wheeled patients out of the smoldering hospital, Israeli warplanes launched their latest attack...
Erick makes landfall in southern Mexico as a Category 3 storm
ACAPULCO, Mexico — Powerful Hurricane Erick made landfall in Mexico’s southern state of Oaxaca early Thursday, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said, but there was no immediate report of injuries. The hurricane’s center was located about 20 miles east of Punta Maldonado. Its maximum sustained winds were clocked at...
2 arrests in hit-and-run at Southern California ‘No Kings’ protest
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Two people were arrested in connection with a hit-and-run crash at a weekend “No Kings” protest in Southern California that left a 21-year-old demonstrator seriously injured, authorities said. The SUV veered toward marchers Saturday night in Riverside, east of Los Angeles, and struck the woman, according to...
Erick strengthens into a Category 3 major hurricane approaching Mexico’s coast
ACAPULCO, Mexico — Hurricane Erick powered up into a dangerous Category 3 major hurricane Wednesday evening as it bore down on the southern Mexico coast, threatening to unleash destructive winds, flash floods and a dangerous storm surge on the region in coming hours, forecasters said. Swiftly strengthening from a Category...
Reporter recap: What it was like covering the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club
J.J. Spaun took home the title of champion of the 125th U.S. Open as the sole golfer under par Sunday night at Oakmont Country Club. The championship rounds during the past week reaffirmed Oakmont Country Club’s reputation as one of the toughest tests of the world’s best. The course’s slick...
Judge finds Florida attorney general in contempt over immigration law
ORLANDO — A federal judge on Tuesday found Florida’s attorney general to be in civil contempt over her ruling that put on hold a new state law making it a misdemeanor for people living in the U.S. illegally to enter the state. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams said that Florida...
U.S. resumes visas for foreign students but demands access to social media accounts
WASHINGTON — The U.S. State Department said Wednesday it is restarting the suspended process for foreigners applying for student visas but all applicants will now be required to unlock their social media accounts for government review. The department said consular officers will be on the lookout for posts and messages...
Study: ‘Forever chemicals’ detected in 65% of sampled private wells, 18% had levels beyond standards
A team of researchers from Penn State University found that 18% of sampled private wells in the state had levels of PFAS that was higher than drinking water standards. Penn State announced the research findings Wednesday, and the study will be in the July issue of the Journal of Environmental...
Supreme Court OKs Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care for kids, a setback for transgender rights
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors, a jolting setback to transgender rights. The justices’ 6-3 decision in a case from Tennessee effectively protects from legal challenges many efforts by President Donald Trump’s Republican administration and state governments to roll back...
Karen Read found not guilty of second-degree murder, guilty of drunken driving in boyfriend’s death
DEDHAM, Mass. — A jury found Karen Read not guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges Wednesday in the 2022 death of her Boston police officer boyfriend, a case that attracted legions of true crime followers who erupted in cheers when word of the acquittal spread outside court. The same...
Heat dome will blanket much of U.S., with worrisome temperatures in Midwest
Summer will make a dramatic entrance in the U.S. this week with a heat dome that will bring stifling temperatures and uncomfortable humidity to millions. The heat will be particularly worrisome this weekend across wide stretches of Nebraska, Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa, where forecasters are warning of extreme temperature impacts....
The world’s only twice-a-year shot to prevent HIV could stop transmission — if people can get it
WASHINGTON — The U.S. has approved the world’s only twice-a-year shot to prevent HIV, the first step in an anticipated global rollout that could protect millions – although it’s unclear how many in the U.S. and abroad will get access to the powerful new option. While a vaccine to prevent...
Hegseth says the Pentagon has given Trump options for Israel-Iran conflict
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers Wednesday that the Pentagon was providing options to President Donald Trump as he decides next steps on Iran but would not say whether the military was planning to assist with Israeli strikes, an action that could risk dragging America into a wider...
Trump says he’s ‘not looking for a fight’ with Iran but stands ready to act if necessary
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump would not say Wednesday whether he has decided to order a U.S. strike on Iran, a move that Tehran warned anew would be greeted with stiff retaliation if it happens. “I may do it, I may not do it,” Trump said in an exchange with...
Air India faces turbulence as plane crash prompts deeper checks and disruptions
NEW DELHI — Air India is facing fresh turbulence following last week’s fatal crash as additional safety inspections on its Dreamliner fleet have led to flight delays, cancellations and growing passenger anxiety. India’s aviation safety regulator ordered deeper checks on Boeing 787 aircrafts operated by the airline soon after its...
Kyiv rescuers find more bodies as death toll from latest Russian aerial attack climbs to 28
KYIV, Ukraine — Emergency workers pulled more bodies Wednesday from the rubble of a nine-story Kyiv apartment building demolished by a Russian missile, raising the death toll from the latest attack on the Ukrainian capital to 28. The building in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district took a direct hit and collapsed during...
U.S. unemployment claims dipped to 245,000 last week, hovering at historically low levels
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits dipped to 245,000 last week, hovering at historically low levels, the Labor Department said Wednesday. U.S. jobless claims ticked down from 250,000 the week before. Economists had expected last week’s claims to match that at 250,000. The four-week average of...
Iran’s leader rejects call to surrender, saying U.S. intervention would cause ‘irreparable damage’
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s supreme leader on Wednesday rejected U.S. calls for surrender in the face of more Israeli strikes and warned that any military involvement by the Americans would cause “irreparable damage to them.” European diplomats prepared to hold talks with Iran on Friday. The second public...
Fed leaves key rate unchanged as it awaits the impact of tariffs and Trump again scolds Jerome Powell
WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve officials expect inflation to worsen in the coming months but they still foresee two interest rate cuts by the end of this year, the same as they projected in March. The Fed kept its key rate unchanged for the fourth straight meeting Wednesday, and said the...
Firms led by U.S. military veterans deliver aid in Africa and Gaza, alarming humanitarian groups
ON A PLANE OVER UPPER NILE STATE, South Sudan — Swooping low over the banks of a Nile River tributary, an aid flight run by retired American military officers released a stream of food-stuffed sacks over a town emptied by fighting in South Sudan, a country wracked by conflict. Last...
‘Abolishing FEMA’ memo outlines ways for Trump to scrap agency
WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to prepare a memo on how to abolish itself and create a re-branded, radically smaller disaster response organization, according to a copy of the document reviewed by Bloomberg News. As recently as last week, President Donald Trump...
U.S. spies said Iran wasn’t building a nuclear weapon. Trump dismisses that assessment
WASHINGTON — Tulsi Gabbard left no doubt when she testified to Congress about Iran’s nuclear program earlier this year. The country was not building a nuclear weapon, the national intelligence director told lawmakers, and its supreme leader had not reauthorized the dormant program even though it had enriched uranium to...
Judge says government can’t limit passport sex markers for many transgender, nonbinary people
BOSTON — A federal judge expanded a ruling Tuesday that blocked the Trump administration from enacting policy changes to sex markers on passports for many transgender and nonbinary Americans. In an executive order signed in January, the president used a narrow definition of the sexes instead of a broader conception...
Kristi Noem ‘alert and recovering’ after trip to hospital over allergic reaction, official saysVideo
WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem was taken to the hospital on Tuesday after experiencing an allergic reaction, her spokeswoman said. “She is alert and recovering,” said the statement from department spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, who said the hospital treatment was out of an “abundance of caution.” Noem,...
Marie Scott, incarcerated more than a half-century for murder, has life sentence commuted by Gov. Shapiro
PHILADELPHIA — Marie Scott, 71, who has spent more than half a century in prison for murder after she and her then-boyfriend robbed a gas station store and he killed the cashier, will be eligible for parole after Gov. Josh Shapiro approved the commutation of her life sentence. Last month,...
