U.S./World category, Page 248
A spacecraft is on its way to a harmless asteroid slammed by NASA in a previous save-the-Earth test
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A spacecraft blasted off Monday to investigate the scene of a cosmic crash. The European Space Agency’s Hera spacecraft rocketed away on a two-year journey to the small, harmless asteroid rammed by NASA two years ago in a dress rehearsal for the day a killer space...
Hurricane Milton is a Category 5. Florida orders evacuations and scrambles to clear Helene’s debrisVideo
BELLEAIR BEACH, Fla. — Florida’s storm-battered Gulf Coast raced against a Category 5 hurricane Monday as workers sprinted to pick up heaps of appliances and other street debris left over from Helene two weeks ago and highways were clogged with people fleeing ahead of the storm. The center of Hurricane...
Nobel Prize in medicine honors American duo for their discovery of microRNA
STOCKHOLM — The Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was awarded Monday to Americans Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their discovery of microRNA, tiny pieces of genetic material that alter how genes work at the cellular level and could lead to new ways of treating cancer. The Nobel Assembly...
New analysis suggests national debt could increase under Harris, but it would surge under Trump
WASHINGTON — No one is likely to be happy with the projected higher deficits laid out in a new analysis of Kamala Harris’ and Donald Trump’s economic plans. The analysis released Monday by the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget suggests a Harris presidency could increase the national debt...
Gaza is in ruins after Israel’s yearlong offensive. Rebuilding may take decadesVideo
The Gaza Strip is in ruins. There are hills of rubble where apartment blocks stood, and pools of sewage-tainted water spreading disease. City streets have been churned into dirt canyons and, in many places, the air is filled with the stench of unrecovered corpses. Israel’s yearlong offensive against Hamas, one...
Mideast violence is spiraling a year since the Gaza war began
JERUSALEM — A year after Hamas’ fateful attack on southern Israel, the Middle East is embroiled in a war that shows no signs of ending and seems to be getting worse. Israel’s retaliatory offensive was initially centered on the Gaza Strip. But the focus has shifted in recent weeks to...
Israelis, scarred and battling on multiple fronts, mark a year since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack
RE’IM, Israel — Israelis held somber ceremonies on Monday to mark a year since the deadliest attack in the country’s history, a Hamas-led raid that shattered its sense of security and ignited wars on two fronts with no end in sight. Hamas marked the anniversary of its Oct. 7, 2023,...
U.S. disaster relief chief blasts false claims about Helene response as a ‘truly dangerous narrative’
WASHINGTON — The U.S. government’s top disaster relief official said Sunday that false claims and conspiracy theories about the federal response to Hurricane Helene — spread most prominently by Donald Trump — are “demoralizing” aid workers and creating fear in people who need recovery assistance. “It’s frankly ridiculous, and just...
A massive blast outside Karachi Airport in Pakistan injures at least 8
KARACHI, Pakistan — A massive blast outside Karachi Airport in Pakistan on Sunday injured at least eight people and destroyed several vehicles, officials said. Police and the provincial government said a tanker exploded outside the airport, which is Pakistan’s biggest. But the provincial home minister, Zia Ul Hassan, told local...
Authorities are investigating after a Frontier Airlines plane lands with fire in 1 engine
LAS VEGAS — Federal authorities said Sunday that they are investigating the emergency landing of a Frontier Airlines plane in Las Vegas. The Federal Aviation Administration said Frontier Flight 1326 from San Diego with 190 passengers aboard was in the process of landing Saturday afternoon at Las Vegas’ Harry Reid...
Pope names 21 new cardinals, significantly increasing the pool who will one day elect his successor
ROME — Pope Francis named 21 new cardinals Sunday, significantly increasing the size of the College of Cardinals and further cementing his mark on the group of prelates who will one day elect his successor. They include a man who will be the oldest cardinal — Monsignor Angelo Acerbi, a...
Hurricane Milton growing stronger as it blows toward Florida’s Tampa Bay region
MIAMI — People across Florida were given notice Sunday that Hurricane Milton is intensifying rapidly and will likely be a major hurricane before slamming midweek into the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast. While forecast models vary widely, the most likely path suggests Milton could make landfall Wednesday in the Tampa Bay area...
A year into the Israel-Hamas war, students say a chill on free speech has reached college classrooms
WASHINGTON — As a junior at George Washington University, Ty Lindia meets new students every day. But with the shadow of the Israel-Hamas war hanging over the Washington, D.C., campus, where everyone has a political opinion, each new encounter is fraught. “This idea that I might say the wrong thing...
A week after Helene hit, thousands still without water struggle to find enough
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Nearly a week after Hurricane Helene brought devastation to western North Carolina, a shiny stainless steel tanker truck in downtown Asheville attracted residents carrying 5-gallon containers, milk jugs and buckets to fill with what has become a desperately scare resource — drinking water. Flooding tore through the...
Tropical Storm Milton forms in Gulf of Mexico, could intensify as a hurricane threatening Florida
MIAMI — A storm system that was brewing in the Gulf of Mexico earlier Saturday has strengthened into Tropical Storm Milton, with forecasters warning it could intensify into a hurricane headed to Florida next week. Tropical Storm Milton is about 220 miles (355 kilometers) north-northeast of Veracruz, Mexico, the National...
Israel expands its bombardment in Lebanon as thousands flee widening war
MASNAA BORDER CROSSING, Lebanon — Israel expanded its bombardment in Lebanon on Saturday, hitting Beirut’s southern suburbs with a dozen airstrikes and striking a Palestinian refugee camp deep in the north for the first time as it targeted both Hezbollah and Hamas fighters. Thousands of people in Lebanon, including Palestinian...
Attempts to cross the English Channel on small boats leave 4 migrants, including a child, dead
PARIS — French authorities said four migrants, including a 2-year-old child, died Saturday in two separate incidents as they attempted to cross the English Channel toward Britain. France’s Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau deplored a “terrible tragedy” on X, saying that the child “was trampled to death in a boat.” “The...
Harris heads to North Carolina to survey Helene’s aftermath 1 day after Trump visited
WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris visited North Carolina on Saturday as the state recovers from Hurricane Helene, arriving there one day after a stop in the state by Republican Donald Trump, who is spreading false claims about the federal response to the disaster. The vice president was greeted...
Man fatally shoots 81-year-old wife at a Conn. nursing home
CROMWELL, Conn. — A man fatally shot his 81-year-old wife and then took his own life at a Connecticut nursing home Friday, according to a company official. The woman, who had been a resident of Apple Rehab in Cromwell for three years, was shot in her room, said Michael Landi,...
‘What’s in the rug?’: Woman’s videos go viral after discovery in yard
Viral TikTok videos showing a rug unearthed in a Columbus, Ohio, woman’s backyard sparked a police investigation and fueled social media speculation about the possibility of a buried body. However, the search ended Friday afternoon with no evidence of anything suspicious, the Columbus Dispatch reported. Katie Santry, who was digging...
U.S. launches air attacks on Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels
WASHINGTON — The U.S. military struck a number of Houthi targets in Yemen on Friday, going after weapons systems, bases and other equipment belonging to the Iranian-backed rebels, a U.S. official confirmed. U.S. aircraft and ships struck Houthi strongholds, according to the official. The exact number of targets was not...
U.S. arranges flights to bring Americans out of Lebanon as others seek escape
WASHINGTON — U.S.-arranged flights have brought about 350 Americans and their immediate relatives out of Lebanon this week during escalated fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, while thousands of others still there face airstrikes and diminishing commercial flights. In Washington, senior State Department and White House officials met Thursday with two...
Supreme Court leaves in place EPA rule aimed at reducing emissions of planet-warming gas methane
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court left in place Friday an environmental regulation aimed at reducing the oil and gas industry’s emissions of methane, a key contributor to climate change. Republican-led states and industry groups had filed emergency appeals asking the high court to pause the Biden administration rule. They argue...
Supreme Court will hear Ohio woman’s claim she lost out on jobs because she is straight
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is taking up the case of an Ohio woman who claims she suffered sex discrimination in her employment because she is straight. The justices on Friday agreed to review an appellate ruling that upheld the dismissal of the discrimination lawsuit filed by the woman, Marlean...
Mexico’s new president promises to resume fight against climate change
MEXICO CITY — In her first days as Mexico’s new president, Claudia Sheinbaum made a point of distancing herself from the fossil fuel reliance promoted by her predecessor and mentor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and vowed to resume an energy transition that he halted. “We are going to boost renewable...
