U.S./World category, Page 161
‘Puppy Mountain’ photo draws onlookers to a Chinese riverside
When Shanghai-based designer Guo Qingshan posted a vacation photo on Valentine’s Day and captioned it “Puppy Mountain,” it became a sensation in China and even created a tourist destination. Guo had gone on a hike while visiting his hometown of Yichang in central China’s Hubei province in late January. When...
House Speaker Mike Johnson tries to push Trump’s ‘big’ agenda forward, but GOP votes are in jeopardy
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson will try against the odds to muscle a Republican budget blueprint to passage this week, a step toward delivering President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” with $4.5 trillion in tax breaks and $2 trillion in spending cuts over stiff opposition from Democrats — and...
A 4th person is presumed dead after a boat sank off the coast of New York City
NEW YORK — Three people died and a fourth person is presumed dead after a boat sank off the coast of New York City, authorities said Monday. Two others were hospitalized. The U.S. Coast Guard called off its search around 6 p.m. Monday after failing to locate 52-year-old Vernon Glasford,...
Trump backs Musk as he roils federal workforce with demands, threats
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump backed Elon Musk’s demand that federal employees explain their recent accomplishments by the end of Monday or risk getting fired, even as government agency officials were told that compliance with Musk’s edict was voluntary. Confusion and anger over the situation spawned new litigation and added...
U.S. refuses to blame Russia for Ukraine war, splitting with European allies in U.N. votes
UNITED NATIONS — In a dramatic shift in transatlantic relations under President Donald Trump, the United States split with its European allies by refusing to blame Russia for its invasion of Ukraine in votes on three U.N. resolutions Monday seeking an end to the three-year war. The growing divide follows...
Does lip balm help chapped lips? Here’s what to know
NEW YORK — A tube of lip balm may seem like the perfect antidote to dry, cracked lips. But do these over-the-counter products soothe flaking or can they make it worse? Though dry lips can happen year-round, they’re most common during the winter. The cold outdoors paired with the low-humidity...
Mississippi city drops lawsuit over newspaper editorial that judge ordered removed
A Mississippi city dropped its lawsuit Monday against a newspaper that had its editorial criticizing local leaders removed by a judge in a case that sparked widespread outrage from First Amendment advocates. The city of Clarksdale’s board of commissioners sought to dismiss its libel lawsuit against The Clarksdale Press Register,...
Idaho town hall meeting turns chaotic after woman forcibly removed for heckling speakersVideo
BOISE, Idaho — A Republican-hosted legislative town hall meeting in northern Idaho descended into chaos after three plainclothes security workers forcibly removed a woman who was heckling the speakers. The incident Saturday at Coeur d’Alene High School, first reported by the Coeur d’Alene Press, drew widespread attention after videos of...
Jury selection begins for trial of suburban Chicago July 4 parade mass shooting suspect
WAUKEGAN, Ill. — The man accused of opening fire on a suburban Chicago Independence Day parade, killing seven people, is about to stand trial, nearly three years after the attack. Jury selection started Monday after several delays. Part of the reason is the erratic behavior of the defendant, Robert Crimo...
Judge blocks Trump immigration policy that permits arrests in churches for some groups
GREENBELT, Md. — A federal judge on Monday blocked immigration agents from conducting enforcement operations in houses of worship for Quakers and a handful of other religious groups. U.S. District Judge Theodore Chang found that the Trump administration policy could violate their religious freedom and should be blocked while a...
Lester Holt to step down as anchor of NBC’s flagship ‘Nightly News’ after a decade
NEW YORK — NBC’s veteran Lester Holt is stepping down as anchor of the network’s flagship “Nightly News” broadcast in the coming months. Holt, who has been the face of “Nightly News” for a decade, won’t be leaving NBC altogether, however. In a memo to staff Monday, he said he...
Trump expresses hope Russia’s war in Ukraine is nearing an endgame as he meets with France’s Macron
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he was hopeful that Russia’s war in Ukraine was nearing an endgame as he met on Monday with French President Emmanuel Macron on the third anniversary of the invasion. Trump, in broad-ranging comments on the state of the conflict, said he believed Russian President...
Pope Francis shows slight improvement and resumes some work, Vatican says
ROME — Pope Francis showed slight improvement in laboratory tests Monday and resumed some work activities, including calling a parish in Gaza City that he has kept in touch with since the war there began, the Vatican said. The Vatican’s evening bulletin was more upbeat than in recent days. It...
Prosecutor says golden toilet was stolen from English palace in ‘audacious raid’
LONDON — It was not your typical smash-and-grab burglary and the booty was precious: a toilet worth more than its weight in gold. The one-of-a-kind 18-carat gold toilet was swiped in under five minutes from Blenheim Palace, the sprawling English country mansion where British wartime leader Winston Churchill was born,...
Apple announces $500 billion investment in U.S. amid tariff threats that could affect iPhoneVideo
NEW YORK — Apple announced Monday that it plans to invest more than $500 billion in the United States over the next four years, including plans to hire 20,000 people and build a new server factory in Texas. The move comes just days after President Donald Trump said Apple CEO...
FDA moves to rehire medical device staffers fired only days earlier
Barely a week after mass firings at the Food and Drug Administration, some probationary staffers received unexpected news over the weekend: The government wants them back. Beginning Friday night, FDA employees overseeing medical devices and other key areas received calls and emails notifying them that their recent terminations had been...
UN rejects U.S. resolution urging end to war in Ukraine without noting Russian aggression
UNITED NATIONS — In a win for Ukraine on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion, the United States on Monday failed to get the U.N. General Assembly to approve its resolution urging an end to the war without mentioning Moscow’s aggression. And the assembly approved a dueling European-backed Ukrainian resolution...
Starbucks lays off 1,100 corporate employees as coffee chain streamlines
Starbucks plans to lay off 1,100 corporate employees globally as new Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol streamlines operations. In a letter to employees released Monday, Niccol said the company will inform employees who are being laid off by midday Tuesday. Niccol said Starbucks is also eliminating several hundred open and...
Fired federal workers hunt for new jobs but struggle to replace their old ones
NEW YORK — HIRING: Park ranger. SEEKING: Nuclear submarine engineer. WANTED: Sled dog musher. If they seem unlikely postings, they probably are. But a laid-off federal worker can dream. Axed from jobs not easily found outside government, thousands of federal workers caught in President Donald Trump’s cost-cutting efforts now face...
The young techies behind DOGE are a lightning rod for criticism but also a youth magnet for the GOP
CHICAGO — To those concerned about billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk’s access to sensitive government data, his tear-it-down band of young techies doing that work is an unregulated threat to privacy. The view on the right is much different. Voices influential in conservative politics describe the crew of engineers, most...
Key federal agencies refuse to comply with Musk’s latest demand in his cost-cutting crusade
WASHINGTON — Key U.S. agencies, including the FBI, State Department and Pentagon, have instructed their employees not to comply with cost-cutting chief Elon Musk’s latest demand that federal workers explain what they accomplished last week — or risk losing their job. The pushback from appointees of President Donald Trump marked...
Ex-Secret Service agent and conservative media personality Dan Bongino picked as FBI deputy director
WASHINGTON — Dan Bongino, a former U.S. Secret Service agent who has penned best-selling books, ran unsuccessfully for office and gained fame as a conservative pundit with TV shows and a popular podcast, has been chosen to serve as FBI deputy director. President Donald Trump announced the appointment Sunday night...
Conservative opposition wins German election and the far right is 2nd with strongest postwar result
BERLIN — Germany’s conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz won a lackluster victory in a national election Sunday, while Alternative for Germany doubled its support in the strongest showing for a far-right party since World War II, projections showed. Chancellor Olaf Scholz conceded defeat for his center-left Social Democrats after what...
Israel sends tanks into West Bank for 1st time in decades, says fleeing Palestinians can’t returnVideo
JENIN, West Bank — Israeli tanks moved into the occupied West Bank on Sunday for the first time in decades in what Palestinian authorities called a “dangerous escalation,” after the defense minister said troops will remain in parts of the territory for a year and tens of thousands of Palestinians...
Zelenskyy says progress made on reaching an agreement with the U.S. on rare minerals deal
KYIV, Ukraine — A contentious Trump administration proposal to give the U.S. $500 billion worth of profits from Ukraine’s rare earth minerals as compensation for its wartime assistance to Kyiv has been taken off the table, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday, indicating a more equitable deal is in the works....
