U.S./World category, Page 35
19 missing, deaths confirmed as explosion rocks manufacturing plant in Tennessee
Nineteen people are unaccounted for after an explosion Friday at an explosive manufacturing plant in Tennessee. Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis initially said some people had died in the blast, later telling reporters 19 people were missing in wake of the explosion that occurred at 7:45 a.m., calling it a...
White House budget chief says government job cuts have begun
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump’s administration has begun laying off federal workers on Friday during the government shutdown, with a White House budget office spokesperson characterizing the layoffs as “substantial” in number. The U.S. health agency confirmed that some of its workers have received layoff notices. “The RIFs have begun,”...
Trump sees no reason to meet China’s Xi, threatens tariffs in new rift
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump threatened to hike tariffs on Chinese exports and cancel a meeting with President Xi Jinping, in a broadside against Beijing on Friday that sent markets and relations between the world’s largest economies into a spiral. Trump, due to meet Xi in about three weeks in...
Age 62, 67 or 70? Here’s the best time to claim Social Security
Some older Americans, staring down potential Social Security benefit cuts, might look to access the program as soon as possible. Experts say that could be a mistake. Instead, potential beneficiaries should consider their health and life expectancy, what buckets of money they can pull from, if they’re done working for...
Trump didn’t win the Nobel prize he coveted, but prizewinner dedicated it, in part, to him
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s dream of becoming a Nobel laureate did not come true this year, although the prizewinner dedicated the honor to him, in part, for supporting her cause. The Norwegian committee that determines the winner of the prestigious awards passed Trump over for the peace prize he...
Oil prices fall as risk premium fades after Gaza deal
LONDON -Oil prices declined to multi-month lows on Friday as the market’s risk premium faded after Israel and Hamas agreed to the first phase of a plan to end the war in Gaza. Brent crude futures were down $1.73, or 2.7%, at $63.49 a barrel at 1316 GMT. Earlier, they...
Trump administration airs video at airports blaming Democrats for government shutdown
WASHINGTON -President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday began airing a video at airports across the country that blames Democrats for a nine-day-old government shutdown that has prompted significant flight delays. Some 13,000 air traffic controllers and about 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers must still turn up for work during the...
Trump proposes barring Chinese airlines from flying over Russia on U.S. routes
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Thursday proposed banning Chinese airlines from flying over Russia on routes to and from the United States, saying the reduced flight time this practice enables puts American carriers at a disadvantage. The proposal is another escalation of the trade war between the world’s two...
Federal government shutdown: White House says mass layoffs of federal workers have begun
WASHINGTON – The federal government shutdown rolled on to Day 10 on Friday after senators the day before voted down dueling funding bills for the seventh time. With both sides not budging from their positions, it appears increasingly likely the shutdown will crash into the weekend and the next week....
Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Venezuela’s opposition leader Machado
OSLO — Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for promoting democratic rights and fighting dictatorship, receiving the award despite President Donald Trump’s repeated statements he deserved it. Machado, a 58-year-old industrial engineer who lives in hiding, was blocked in 2024 by Venezuela’s courts...
U.S. to deploy 200 troops for Gaza task force with no operations on ground in Gaza
WASHINGTON — The United States will deploy 200 troops as part of a joint task force for Gaza stability, with no Americans on the ground in the Palestinian enclave, two senior U.S. officials said Thursday. The officials, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, said the 200 would be the...
U.S. judge blocks Trump’s deployment of National Guard in Illinois
CHICAGO — A federal judge in Chicago on Thursday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s deployment of hundreds of National Guard soldiers in Illinois, five days after another U.S. judge blocked a similar deployment in Portland, Oregon. U.S. District Judge April Perry said that permitting Guard troops in the state would...
U.S. could fire air traffic controllers who fail to work during shutdown, transportation secretary saysVideo
WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned on Thursday that the government could dismiss air traffic controllers who repeatedly fail to show up for work during the government shutdown, saying a spike in absences is causing significant air disruptions. “If we have a continual small subset of controllers that don’t...
Health Secretary Kennedy, Trump link circumcision to autism through TylenolVideo
WASHINGTON – Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. expanded his crusade against using Tylenol with a cutting-edge warning: boys who were circumcised were twice as likely to be diagnosed with autism later. “There are two studies that show children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism,” Kennedy...
U.S. buys Argentine pesos, finalizes $20 billion currency swap
The U.S. government purchased Argentine pesos and finalized a $20 billion currency swap framework with Argentina’s central bank, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday, sending the peso and Argentine dollar bonds sharply higher. “The U.S. Treasury is prepared, immediately, to take whatever exceptional measures are warranted to provide stability...
New York AG Letitia James criminally charged in Trump’s latest effort to punish rivalsVideo
New York Attorney General Letitia James, a longtime foe of President Donald Trump, was indicted on charges of lying on a mortgage application on Thursday, the Justice Department said, as the administration seeks to use government power against those who have pursued investigations into him or publicly resisted his agenda....
Astronomers spot young rogue planet gobbling up its surroundings
WASHINGTON - Just as Earth orbits the sun, most planets discovered beyond our solar system orbit a host star. But some are out there all by themselves, called rogue planets. While their origins are poorly understood, astronomers have now spotted a voracious one in its infancy that offers new insight...
China outlines more controls on exports of rare earths and technology
HONG KONG — China outlined new curbs on exports of rare earths and related technologies on Thursday, extending controls over use of the elements critical for many high-tech and military products ahead of a meeting in about three weeks between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The regulations...
Putin says Russian air defenses were to blame for Azerbaijani jet’s crash last year, killing 38
MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia’s air defense was to blame for downing an Azerbaijani jetliner in December that killed 38 people, his first admission of responsibility for the crash in an effort to ease tensions between the neighbors. Putin said the missiles fired by Russian air...
Kremlin denies that Russia-U.S. efforts to end Ukraine war are exhausted
MOSCOW — Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said on Thursday that efforts by Russia and the United States to end the conflict in Ukraine were still alive, state news agency TASS reported, appearing to contradict remarks from a top Russian diplomat a day earlier. On Wednesday, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov...
RIP landline phones? If you don’t have one now, you may not be able to get one
When Andy Brady had his cable television service installed, a landline telephone number was part of the package deal. He’s never hooked a phone to it, though. That probably says something about the bleak future for landline phones, considering Brady is the market president for the Verizon Consumer Group’s Great...
‘Visionary’ writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai wins 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature
STOCKHOLM — Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature, the award-giving body said on Thursday, “for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art”. “Laszlo Krasznahorkai is a great epic writer in the Central European tradition that...
What do we know about Trump’s Gaza deal?
WASHINGTON — Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza, a ceasefire and hostage deal that could be a first step toward ending a two-year-old war that has roiled the Middle East. Here are some details of what is known and not...
Celebrations erupt in Gaza, Israel on news of deal to end 2-year war
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza/TEL AVIV — Palestinians and the families of Israeli hostages broke into wild celebrations Thursday after news of a pact between Israel and Hamas to end the war in Gaza and return home all the Israeli hostages, both living and dead. In Gaza, where most of the more...
Senate blocks debate on ending military action against Venezuelan vessels; Fetterman breaks with Dems
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Wednesday blocked a preliminary move to terminate President Donald Trump’s use of the military to destroy boats carrying alleged Venezuelan drug traffickers, unless he gets authorization from Congress. The effort, spearheaded by Democratic Senators Adam Schiff of California and Tim Kaine of Virginia — and...
