Ukrainian dam breach: What is happening and what’s at stake
KYIV, Ukraine — The dramatic rupture of the dam that upheld Ukraine’s largest reservoir released a torrent of water Tuesday, raising fears of widespread damage and flooding in areas where tens of thousands of people live. It’s not clear what caused the breach in the Kakhovka dam, which was already...
Protests in France as unions make last-ditch bid to resist higher retirement age
PARIS— French union activists marched on the headquarters of the Paris Olympics and slowed traffic at the capital’s Orly Airport with strikes Tuesday as they sought to reignite resistance to a higher retirement age. But the last-ditch effort drew fewer followers than at the height of the movement earlier this...
European Union urges probe into ‘horrible and heinous’ poisoning of Afghan schoolgirls
KABUL, Afghanistan — The European Union called on Afghan authorities Tuesday to investigate the poisoning of primary schoolgirls in the country’s north after 77 students were hospitalized. Two separate attacks took place in Sar-e-Pul province on Saturday and Sunday, local authorities said. Sixty schoolgirls were poisoned in Naswan-e-Kabod Aab School...
D-Day: Historical photos of Americans storming Normandy beaches
On June 6, 1944, during World War II, Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, France, on D-Day as they began the liberation of German-occupied Western Europe. The D-Day invasion that helped change the course of World War II was unprecedented in scale and audacity. Over 156,000 Allied troops landed...
Normandy marks D-Day’s 79th anniversary, honors WWII veterans
ON OMAHA BEACH, France — An overwhelming sound of gunfire and men’s screams. That’s how World War II veteran Marie Scott described D-Day, as Tuesday’s ceremonies got underway in honor of those who fought for freedom in the largest naval, air and land operation in history. This year’s tribute to...
Banks’ growing reliance on chatbots to handle customer service tasks worries consumer watchdog
NEW YORK — Can you trust Erica, or Sandi or Amy to increasingly control parts of your financial life without giving you inaccurate information or sending money to the wrong place? That’s what the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is asking in a report released Tuesday, where the bureau lays out...
Dozens of dangerous rail crossings will be eliminated with $570 million in grants
OMAHA, Neb. — With the rail industry relying on longer and longer trains to cut costs, the Biden administration is handing out $570 million in grants to help eliminate many railroad crossings in 32 states. The grants announced Monday will contribute to building bridges or underpasses at the sites of...
Florida official says migrants flown to California went willingly, disputes claims of coercionVideo
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration said Tuesday that three dozen migrants whom the state flew from the U.S. southern border to California on private planes all went willingly, disputing allegations by California officials that the individuals were coerced to travel under false pretenses. The admission of responsibility...
Police in South Florida arrest 3 suspects in Memorial Day beach shooting
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Police in South Florida arrested two suspects over the weekend and a third on Monday following a Memorial Day shooting along a busy beachside promenade that injured nine people. Detectives from the Hollywood Police Department took Ariel Cardahn Paul, 16, into custody on Sunday night and Lionel...
4.9 magnitude quake strikes southern Haiti; 4 dead, dozens injured
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.9 struck southern Haiti early Tuesday, killing at least four people and injuring 36 others, authorities said. The quake struck before dawn near the southwestern coastal city of Jeremie at a depth of six miles (10 kilometers), according to the...
Collapse of major dam in southern Ukraine triggers emergency as Moscow and Kyiv blame each otherVideo
KYIV, Ukraine — A major dam in southern Ukraine collapsed Tuesday, flooding villages, endangering crops and threatening drinking water supplies as both sides in the war scrambled to evacuate residents and blamed each other for the destruction. Ukraine accused Russian forces of blowing up the Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric power...
Supreme Court opened the door to states’ voting restrictions
ATLANTA — Within hours of a U.S. Supreme Court decision dismantling a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, Texas lawmakers announced plans to implement a strict voter ID law that had been blocked by a federal court. Lawmakers in Alabama said they would press forward with a similar law...
Pa. House OKs bill to expand property tax, rent subsidy for seniors, disabled
HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Monday overwhelmingly approved a bill to increase the state’s property tax and rent subsidy for seniors and people with disabilities, plus raise the income eligibility cap to expand the program. The bill passed 194-9 and goes on to the state Senate. This...
Sheriff: Neighbor angry over playing children fatally shoots Florida motherVideo
OCALA, Fla. — A Florida mother was fatally shot through a door outside a neighbor’s home after what officials characterized on Monday as a 2 1/2-year feud over playing children. Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said at a news conference Monday that deputies responding to a trespassing call at an...
Lawyer: Rep. George Santos would go to jail to keep identities of bond cosigners secret
NEW YORK — Rep. George Santos’ lawyer said Monday the indicted New York Republican would risk going to jail to protect the identities of the people who cosigned the $500,000 bond enabling his pretrial release. The lawyer, Joseph Murray, urged a judge to deny a request by news outlets to...
USW petitions state labor board to unionize Pitt staffers
Monday’s petition by the United Steelworkers for a state-supervised election to unionize thousands of University of Pittsburgh staff is rooted in years of preparation, said Jesse Dubin, a program evaluator in Pitt’s school of pharmacy. Though the path to a vote could be complex and prolonged staff will benefit from...
Trump lawyers meet with Justice Department officials as charging decision nears in Mar-a-Lago caseVideo
WASHINGTON — Lawyers for Donald Trump met with Justice Department officials on Monday as a decision nears on whether to bring criminal charges over the handling of classified documents at the former president’s Florida estate. The Trump lawyers two weeks ago requested a meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland to...
California officials: Florida picked up asylum-seekers on Texas border and flew them to Sacramento
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The state of Florida picked up asylum-seekers on the Texas border Monday and took them by private jet to California’s capital city at taxpayer expense for the second time in four days, California officials said, prompting allegations that migrants were misled and catching shelters and aid workers...
New Hampshire Gov. Sununu rules out 2024 presidential bid, warns that crowded GOP field helps TrumpVideo
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said Monday that he will not seek the presidency in 2024, arguing that Republican candidates with “no path to victory must have the courage to get out” of their party’s increasingly crowded primary to stop former President Donald Trump. The 48-year-old governor, who has emerged...
Partisan stalemate keeps child sexual assault lawsuit window from advancing in Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG — Child sexual abuse survivors pressed Pennsylvania lawmakers Monday to move ahead with opening a two-year window for them to file otherwise outdated lawsuits over their claims, but a partisan fight in the Legislature kept the proposal bottled up with no resolution in sight. Amid the stalemate, survivors renewed...
Oklahoma school board approves what would be the 1st taxpayer-funded religious school in U.S.
OKLAHOMA CITY — A state school board in Oklahoma voted Monday to approve what would be the first publicly funded religious school in the nation, despite a warning from the state’s attorney general that the decision was unconstitutional. The Statewide Virtual Charter School Board voted 3-2 to approve the application...
Former FBI agent Robert Hanssen, who was convicted of spying for Russia, dies in prison
WASHINGTON — A former FBI agent who took more than $1.4 million in cash and diamonds to trade secrets with Russia and the former Soviet Union in one of the most notorious spying cases in American history died in prison Monday. Robert Hanssen, 79, was found unresponsive in his cell...
Pitt, Slovakian government officials look to expand academic collaboration
Not every college classroom rates a visit from a European country’s ambassador and his entourage. Then again, not many settings for teaching Slovak culture and language quite compare to the University of Pittsburgh’s Czechoslovak Room, one of 31 renowned Nationality Rooms on a campus that is home to the only...
Trump lawyers meet with Justice Dept. officials as charging decision nears
WASHINGTON — Lawyers for Donald Trump met with Justice Department officials on Monday as a decision nears on whether to bring charges over the handling of classified documents at the former president’s Florida estate. The Trump lawyers two weeks ago requested a meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland to raise...
Norfolk Southern is 1st railroad to give all workers sick time but all see progress in labor talks
OMAHA, Neb. — Norfolk Southern became the first major freight railroad with deals to provide paid sick time to all of its workers Monday, but the other railroads are making progress with nearly 60% of all rail workers securing this basic benefit since the start of the year. All of...
