Hamas hands over to Red Cross 4 dead hostages from Gaza, as Palestinians leave Israeli prison
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Hamas handed over four dead hostages to the Red Cross early Thursday in exchange for Israel’s release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, days before the first phase of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip was to end. An Israeli security official confirmed that Hamas handed...
Drunken Penn State student assaulted EMT after being led away from State College bar, police say
A Penn State student was accused Sunday of assaulting an emergency medical technician shortly after being asked to leave downtown State College bar. Joseph A. Draper, 21, was arrested and charged with a felony count of aggravated assault, three misdemeanor counts of simple assault and summary counts of harassment and...
Trump Gaza AI video draws online pushback
Using an artificial intelligence video, President Donald Trump shared his proposals for the potential development of the war-torn Gaza Strip. The video was posted Tuesday evening on Truth Social and then on Instagram. The AI 33-second video depicts Trump as a golden statue, along with mini golden statues for sale,...
The Trump administration sets the stage for large-scale federal worker layoffs in a new memo
WASHINGTON — Federal agencies must develop plans to eliminate employee positions, according to a memo distributed by President Donald Trump’s administration that sets in motion what could become a sweeping realignment of American government. The memo expands the Republican president’s effort to downsize the federal workforce, which he has described...
Supreme Court seems likely to rule for Ohio woman claiming job bias because she’s straight
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court seemed likely Wednesday to side with an Ohio woman who claims she suffered sex discrimination from her employer because she is straight. The outcome of the case could remove an additional requirement that some courts apply when members of a majority group, including those who...
New technology, culture shifts give cold cases from latchkey-kid era new hope
In the American latchkey era, if a child went missing, law enforcement and the local community utilized tools of the time, milk cartons, print publications and a community network, to gain and share information to help find the missing child. Time has since afforded progressions in culture and technology that...
A Texas child who was not vaccinated has died of measles, a first for the U.S. in a decade
LUBBOCK, Texas — A child who wasn’t vaccinated died in a measles outbreak in rural West Texas, state officials said Wednesday, the first U.S. death from the highly contagious — but preventable — respiratory disease since 2015. The school-aged child had been hospitalized and died Tuesday night amid the widespread...
U.S. and Ukraine have agreed on a preliminary economic deal, Ukraine’s prime minister says
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Wednesday that Ukraine and the United States have reached preliminary agreement on a broad economic deal that includes U.S. access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals amid its three-year war with Russia. After days of negotiations, Ukraine and the U.S. will sign...
American Airlines flight discontinues landing to avoid departing plane at Washington National
ARLINGTON, Va. — An American Airlines plane arriving at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport discontinued its landing, performing a go-around at an air traffic controller’s instruction to avoid getting too close to another aircraft departing from the same runway, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The maneuver involving American Flight 2246...
The National Archives is nonpartisan but has found itself targeted by Trump
WASHINGTON — As President Donald Trump moves to overhaul the federal government with astonishing speed, he has wreaked havoc on one agency long known for its nonpartisanship and revered for its mission: the National Archives and Records Administration. The independent agency and its trove of historic records have been the...
Russian, U.S. diplomats to meet in Istanbul to discuss operation of embassies
Diplomats from Russia and the United States will meet in Istanbul on Thursday to discuss the operation of their respective embassies, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced Wednesday. The meeting comes on the heels of Russia-U.S. talks in Saudi Arabia last week, which marked an extraordinary shift in U.S. foreign...
House GOP pushes ‘big’ budget resolution to passage, a crucial step toward delivering Trump’s agenda
WASHINGTON — With a push from President Donald Trump, House Republicans sent a GOP budget blueprint to passage Tuesday, a step toward delivering his “big, beautiful bill” with $4.5 trillion in tax breaks and $2 trillion in spending cuts despite a wall of opposition from Democrats and discomfort among Republicans....
Trump says he will offer ‘gold cards’ for $5 million path to citizenship, replacing investor visas
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he plans to offer a “gold card” visa with a path to citizenship for $5 million, replacing a 35-year-old visa for investors. “They’ll be wealthy and they’ll be successful, and they’ll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and...
Southwest Airlines flight abruptly rises to avoid another plane crossing Chicago runway
CHICAGO — Pilots on a Southwest Airlines flight attempting to land at Chicago’s Midway Airport were forced to climb back into the sky to avoid another aircraft crossing the runway on Tuesday morning. Airport webcam video posted to X shows the Southwest plane approaching a runway just before 9 a.m....
Israel, Hamas agree on new exchange, leaving fragile ceasefire intact
JERUSALEM — Israeli and Hamas officials said Tuesday they have reached an agreement to exchange the bodies of dead hostages for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, keeping their fragile ceasefire intact for at least a few more days. Israel has delayed the release of 600 Palestinian prisoners since...
Nearly 40% of contracts canceled by Musk’s DOGE are expected to produce no savings
Nearly 40% of the federal contracts President Donald Trump’s administration claims to have canceled as part of its signature cost-cutting program aren’t expected to save the government any money, the administration’s own data shows. The Department of Government Efficiency, run by Trump adviser Elon Musk, published an updated list Monday...
Mystery illness in Congo has killed more than 50 people hours after they felt sick
KINSHASA, Congo — An unknown illness first discovered in three children who ate a bat has rapidly killed more than 50 people in northwestern Congo over the past five weeks, health experts say. The interval between the onset of symptoms — which include fever, vomiting and internal bleeding — and...
Ukraine, U.S. agree on framework economic deal, Ukrainian officials say
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine and the U.S. have reached an agreement on a framework for a broad economic deal that would include the exploitation of rare earth minerals, three senior Ukrainian officials said Tuesday. The officials, who were familiar with the matter, spoke on condition of anonymity because they were...
White House says it ‘will determine’ which news outlets cover Trump, rotating some traditional ones
The White House said Tuesday that its officials “will determine” which news outlets can regularly cover President Donald Trump up close — a sharp break from a century of tradition in which a pool of independently chosen news organizations go where the chief executive does and hold him accountable on...
Asteroid 2024 YR4 is no longer a threat to Earth, scientists say
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Scientists have finally given the all-clear to Earth from a newly discovered asteroid. After two months of observations, scientists have almost fully ruled out any threat from the asteroid 2024 YR4, NASA and the European Space Agency said Tuesday. At one point, the odds of a...
Federal judge in Seattle blocks Trump’s effort to halt the refugee admissions system
SEATTLE — A federal judge in Seattle blocked President Donald Trump’s effort to halt the nation’s refugee admissions system Tuesday. The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by major refugee aid groups, who argued that Trump’s executive order suspending the federal refugee resettlement program ran afoul of the system Congress...
Couple forced to sit next to dead body on airline flight to Italy
After a passenger died midway through a Qatar Airways flight, an Australian couple was forced to sit next to the corpse for the remainder of the trip. Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin were on their way to Venice, Italy, from Melbourne when a woman onboard their flight walked out of...
21 federal technology staffers resign rather than help Musk and DOGE slash size of government
WASHINGTON — More than 20 civil service employees resigned Tuesday from billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, saying they were refusing to use their technical expertise to “dismantle critical public services.” “We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential...
Police are investigating assault allegations against Republican U.S. Rep. Cory Mills of Florida
WASHINGTON — Police in Washington, D.C., are investigating assault allegations against Republican U.S. Rep. Cory Mills of Florida, but an official said the case has been sent back for further investigation and might never result in charges. Officers were called Wednesday afternoon to a residence in the Wharf neighborhood “for...
Supreme Court throws out Oklahoma inmate Richard Glossip’s murder conviction and death sentence
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out the murder conviction and death penalty for Richard Glossip, an Oklahoma man who has steadfastly maintained his innocence and averted multiple attempts by the state to execute him. The justices found that Glossip’s trial violated his constitutional rights because prosecutors did...
