U.S./World category, Page 3
EU targets Snapchat over child safety and accuses porn sites of failing to block minors
LONDON — European Union regulators are investigating Snapchat over concerns the platform isn’t doing enough to protect kids and exposing them to risks such as increased vulnerability to child predators or recruitment by criminals. The 27-nation EU’s executive Commission said Thursday it was opening a formal investigation into Snapchat under...
Iran and the U.S. harden their positions over talks to end the nearly month-old war
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran and the United States appeared at an impasse Thursday, hardening their positions over ceasefire talks and setting the stage for another potential escalation in the Middle East war as thousands more U.S. troops neared the region. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump extended his deadline for...
U.S. troop movements fan fears of a risky ground attack on IranVideo
WASHINGTON — Even as President Donald Trump pushes for talks to end the war against Iran, the U.S. has ordered thousands of troops to the region, fueling fears that the president is gearing up for exactly the sort of risky ground invasion that he once campaigned against. Iran has publicly...
At Pentagon Christian service, Pete Hegseth prays for violence ‘against those who deserve no mercy’
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, hosting his first monthly Christian worship service at the Pentagon since the Iran war began, prayed Wednesday to have “every round find its mark.” “Every month it is fitting to be right here,” he told the gathered civilian employees and uniformed military personnel. “All...
Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez push bill to impose AI data center moratorium
WASHINGTON — Two high-profile progressive lawmakers introduced a bill Wednesday that would pause new data centers in the United States until national safeguards are in place to protect workers and consumers and ensure the technologies don’t harm the environment. The legislation by Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and...
Democratic lawmaker asks judge to take Trump’s name off Kennedy Center
WASHINGTON — A Democratic lawmaker is asking a federal judge to force the Kennedy Center to block and reverse efforts to attach President Donald Trump’s name to the historic performing arts venue. In a motion filed Wednesday, Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio argues that Congress was clear in its intent...
Trump to delay nominating new CDC director
The White House plans to delay naming a candidate to head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an agency that has been roiled by a string of high-level departures and has had three different leaders since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, according to people familiar with...
Army raises enlistment age limit to 42 and eases marijuana rules
The United States Army has officially raised its enlistment age limit to 42 from 35 and eased restrictions for people with marijuana convictions, a move that comes years after a period in which it struggled to meet its recruitment goals and as the country is engaged in a war with...
Justice Department settles lawsuit from Trump ally Michael Flynn for $1.2 million
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has settled for roughly $1.2 million a lawsuit from Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser to President Donald Trump who pleaded guilty during the Republican’s first term to lying to the FBI about his conversations with a top Russian diplomat and was later pardoned....
Record-high passenger wait times at airports, but no deal yet on the 40th day of the shutdown
WASHINGTON — Air travelers are experiencing the highest wait times ever under the Transportation Security Administration, the agency’s acting head told Congress on Wednesday, as the latest offer to end a funding impasse and put restraints on President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda met fierce resistance. The TSA’s Ha Nguyen...
Pa. teens get probation after using AI to create fake nudes of classmates
LANCASTER — Two teenage boys who used artificial intelligence to create fake nude photos of their classmates at an exclusive private school in Pennsylvania received probation Wednesday after dozens of victims described the images’ traumatizing effect on them. The boys were 14 at the time. They admitted this month that...
Jury finds Instagram and YouTube liable in a landmark social media addiction trialVideo
LOS ANGELES — Meta and YouTube must pay millions in damages to a 20-year-old woman after a jury decided the social media giant and video streamer designed their platforms to hook young users without concern for their well being. The California jury’s decision Wednesday in a first-of-its-kind lawsuit could influence...
Conservatives gather for CPAC with the right openly divided over the Iran war
GRAPEVINE, Texas — Conservatives are holding one of their largest annual gatherings at a perilous political moment for President Donald Trump and with open division on the right over the war he launched in Iran. While Trump maintains broad support among conservatives, the war in Iran is more than a...
Means’ surgeon general nomination is stalled as senators question her experience and vaccine stance
NEW YORK — Wellness influencer Dr. Casey Means’ nomination to be U.S. surgeon general is stalled a month after senators of both major political parties grilled her on vaccines and other health topics during a tense confirmation hearing, deepening doubts about her ability to secure the votes she needs for...
World Food Prize goes to food safety scientist for preventing millions of cases of foodborne illness
DES MOINES, Iowa — A scientist who pioneered the modern food processing safety standards used around the world was awarded this year’s World Food Prize, the organization announced Wednesday, crediting his work for averting millions of cases of foodborne illness and reducing food waste. Huub Lelieveld of the Netherlands earned...
The lines, the prices, the anxiety: Can air travel get any worse?
War is raging in the Middle East, passengers are waiting in four-hour security lines, airfares are spiking and, now, a deadly runway collision at LaGuardia Airport has renewed questions about the safety of U.S. air traffic control. All this comes at one of the busiest travel periods of the year....
Beneath Lake Erie, a vast salt mine works overtime to meet winter road demands
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Below Cleveland, in a subterranean world many surface dwellers don’t know exists, miners extract a crucial winter mineral — salt. The Whiskey Island salt mine, owned by food giant Cargill, helps supply road salt across the Northeast and Great Lakes, where a colder, snowier-than-usual winter has driven...
Seconds before LaGuardia crash, controller cleared the fire truck to cross the runway, NTSB says
NEW YORK — One of only two air traffic controllers on duty at LaGuardia Airport cleared a fire truck to cross a runway just 12 seconds before an Air Canada flight touched down, leaving little time to avoid the collision that killed both pilots, federal investigators said Tuesday. The National...
Jewish communities boost security and continue observances amid rise in hateful incidents
Law enforcement officials on Tuesday said they are taking steps to monitor and counter threats to Jewish and Muslim communities nationwide since the onset of war in the Middle East, multiple hate crimes and an attempted terror attack prompted increased security measures at places of worship and investigations into extremist...
Perfect homework, blank stares: Why colleges are turning to oral exams to combat AI
The assignment involves no laptop, no chatbot and no technology of any kind. In fact, there’s no pen or paper, either. Instead, students in Chris Schaffer’s biomedical engineering class at Cornell University are required to speak directly to an instructor in what he calls an “oral defense.” It’s a testing...
TSA officers describe tears, tough choices and dwindling savings from working without pay
A woman in Indiana who put off dental surgery because she doesn’t know if she can afford the copay. A Florida couple with young children who are depleting their savings. A grandmother in Idaho who plans to sell her car to pay the rent. They are among the tens of...
Iran rejects U.S. ceasefire plan, issues its own demands as strikes land across the Mideast
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran on Wednesday dismissed an American plan to pause the war in the Middle East and launched more attacks on Israel and Gulf Arab countries, including strikes that hit a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport, sparking a fire. Iran’s defiance came as Israel launched...
The U.S. said it helped bomb a drug camp. It was a dairy farm
As President Donald Trump prepared to welcome conservative Latin American leaders to a summit in Florida in early March, U.S. officials released a video of a massive explosion — capturing the destruction of what they said was a drug trafficker’s training camp in rural Ecuador. The video was meant to...
The ferocity of downpour that brought the latest Hawaii flooding surprised even meteorologistsVideo
HONOLULU — Crews on Tuesday began evaluating damage from a surprise downpour that sent floodwaters raging through a neighborhood near downtown Honolulu — the latest bout in a series of storms and flooding that have pummeled the state over the past two weeks. Residents along Oahu’s North Shore, famous for...
High oil and gas prices could outlast Trump’s war with Iran
WASHINGTON — As the war with Iran began to send oil and gas prices soaring around the world, President Donald Trump shrugged off the fallout as a temporary setback for the U.S. economy. “When this is over,” he told reporters this month, “oil prices are going to go down very,...
