Powerful earthquakes leave at least 55 dead, destroy buildings along Japan’s western coast
WAJIMA, Japan — A series of powerful earthquakes that hit western Japan have left at least 55 people dead and damaged thousands of buildings, vehicles and boats. Officials warned Tuesday that more quakes could lie ahead. Aftershocks continued to shake Ishikawa prefecture and nearby areas a day after a magnitude...
South Korean opposition leader stabbed in neck during airport construction site visit
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung was stabbed in the neck by an unidentified knife-wielding man during a visit Tuesday to the southeastern city of Busan. Busan’s emergency office said Lee was attacked as he visited the construction site of a new airport in the city....
Police seek motive in fiery fatal crash in upstate New York; no terror link found
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A man who died after crashing an SUV loaded with gas cans outside an upstate New York concert venue appeared to have been aiming at a pedestrian crossing, but investigators have found no evidence that the crash that killed two ride-hail passengers early on New Year’s Day...
Train derails and catches fire near San Francisco, causing minor injuries
ORINDA, Calif. — Several people suffered minor injuries and service was disrupted when a commuter train derailed and caught fire on New Year’s Day in the San Francisco Bay Area, officials said. The Bay Area Rapid Transit train had just left Orinda on its way to Lafayette around 9 a.m....
90 dogs rescued from Bedford County home in ‘unimaginable scene’
State police were called to Bedford County home Sunday where they found 90 dogs, most packed in kennels stacked on top of each other in an “unimaginable” scene, officials said. Volunteers from eight humane societies were called to help rescue the dogs, which included breeds from Pomeranians to Beagles to...
Influential former Texas U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson dies at 88
DALLAS, Texas — Trailblazing longtime U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, a nurse from Texas who helped bring hundreds of millions of federal dollars to the Dallas area as the region’s most powerful Democrat, died Sunday. She was 88. President Joe Biden, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and many other leaders issued...
Ron DeSantis urges crowd to defy odds, help him ‘win the Iowa caucuses’
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — To underscore how much Iowa means to Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor was unwilling to put his campaigning there on hold even in the waning hours of 2023. At a New Year’s Eve event in a Sheraton Hotel ballroom in West Des Moines, jeans and...
India to study black holes with first satellite launch after U.S.
India launched its first satellite Monday to study black holes as it seeks to deepen its space exploration efforts ahead of an ambitious crewed mission next year. The spacecraft, named X-ray Polarimeter Satellite, was propelled into an orbit of 350 kilometers from an island near India’s main spaceport of Sriharikota,...
Poll: More Americans think foreign policy should be a top priority
WASHINGTON — In this time of war overseas, more Americans think foreign policy should be a top focus for the U.S. government in 2024, with a new poll showing international concerns and immigration rising in importance with the public. About 4 in 10 U.S. adults named foreign policy topics in...
USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier returning home after deployment defending Israel
WASHINGTON — After months of extra duty at sea providing protection for Israel, the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier strike group will be heading home, the Navy announced Monday. The Ford and its accompanying warships will be replaced by the amphibious assault ship the USS Bataan and its accompanying...
College releases its annual list of banished words: Is it cringe-worthy? Or iconic?
Wait for it: At the end of the day, hacks need to slay 10 cringe-worthy words and phrases, according to an iconic list from a Michigan university. The 2024 Lake Superior State University Banished Words List, released Sunday, is: hack, impact, at the end of the day, rizz, slay, iconic,...
Detroit records 252 homicides in 2023, lowest since 1966
Detroit recorded 252 homicides last year — its lowest total since 1966 — while nonfatal shootings declined for the fourth straight year, according to preliminary statistics released Monday by Detroit police. Overall, violent crime in Detroit fell 1.6% from 2022-23, with carjackings dropping 33.5% to a level unseen since the...
Iran says prospect for talks over nuclear deal ‘still exists’
Iran said it is open to fresh talks around its nuclear program with world powers that had been overshadowed by the deadly war in Gaza. “The diplomatic environment to hold a new round of talks still exists,” Nasser Kanaani, a spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, said in a press conference...
Access to busy NYC airport’s international terminal restricted due to pro-Palestinian protest
NEW YORK — Access to a busy terminal at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport was restricted Monday as pro-Palestinian protesters converged on the airport for the second time in a week. Videos posted online show heavy traffic and a slow-moving line of cars, some flying Palestinian flags and...
Pennsylvania ‘porch pirating’ measure, New Jersey ‘Seinfeld Bill’ among laws taking effect in 2024
NEW YORK — The new year begins with a series of new laws going into effect Monday throughout the Eastern U.S. Perhaps most notable is New Jersey’s bipartisan “Seinfeld Bill” requiring Garden State telemarketers to provide the name, mailing address and telephone number of the company for which they’re working...
Israel’s Supreme Court overturns a key component of Netanyahu’s polarizing judicial overhaul
JERUSALEM — Israel’s Supreme Court on Monday struck down a key component of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s contentious judicial overhaul, delivering a landmark decision that threatens to reopen the fissures in Israeli society that preceded the country’s ongoing war against Hamas. The planned overhaul sparked months of mass protests, threatened...
Powerball jackpot hits $810 million for tonight’s drawing
Lottery money is rolling into 2024. A Powerball jackpot went without a big winner Saturday, with the next drawing scheduled for New Year’s Day with an estimated $810 million jackpot. It is expected to be the fifth-largest Powerball jackpot ever and the 10th-largest U.S. lottery jackpot, according to a Powerball...
Russia launches record number of drones across Ukraine as Moscow and Kyiv continue aerial attacks
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia launched a record 90 Shahed-type drones over Ukraine during the early hours of the new year, the Ukrainian air force said Monday, while Russia also reported Ukrainian attacks. A 15-year-old boy was killed and seven people wounded after falling debris from one of 87 downed drones...
Israel pulling thousands of troops from Gaza as combat focuses on enclave’s main southern city
TEL AVIV, Israel — Thousands of Israeli soldiers are being shifted out of the Gaza Strip, the military said Monday, in the first significant drawdown of troops since the war began as forces continued to bear down on the main city in the southern half of the enclave. The troop...
Japan lowers tsunami warning but still tells people not to go home after series of earthquakes
TOKYO — Japan dropped its highest-level tsunami alert, issued following a series of major earthquakes on Monday but told residents of coastal areas not to return to their homes as deadly waves could still come. The quakes, the largest of which had a magnitude of 7.6, started a fire and...
Colorado mother suspected of killing her 2 children and wounding 3rd arrested in United Kingdom
A Colorado mother suspected of killing two of her young children and injuring a third was arrested Saturday in the United Kingdom, according to the Colorado Springs Police Department. Kimberlee Singler’s 9-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son were found dead on Dec. 19 when police responded to a report of a...
Chief Justice John Roberts says AI will transform how the courts work
Artificial intelligence will change how U.S. courts do business, though human judges will be around “for a while” yet, Chief Justice John Roberts said. AI tools will change how judges do their jobs and how they understand “the role that AI plays in the cases that come before them,” Roberts...
Maine state official who removed Trump from ballot was targeted in swatting call at her home
A fake emergency call to police resulted in officers responding Friday night to the home of Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows just a day after she removed former President Donald Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot under the Constitution’s insurrection clause. She becomes the latest elected politician to...
Sen. John Fetterman says he thought news about his depression treatment would end his political careerVideo
WASHINGTON — Sen. John Fetterman acknowledges having “dark conversations” about harming himself before he hit “the emergency brake” and sought treatment for depression. He remembers thinking about his three school-age kids. “I can’t be a blueprint for my children. I can’t let them be left alone or not to understand...
American democracy has overcome big stress tests since the 2020 election. More challenges are ahead
Over the past three years, the world’s oldest democracy has been tested in ways not seen in decades. A sitting president tried to overturn an election and his supporters stormed the Capitol to stop the winner from taking power. Supporters of that attack launched a campaign against local election offices,...
