U.S./World category, Page 78
Smoking or oxygen machine may have caused deadly fire at Massachusetts assisted-living home
FALL RIVER, Mass. — A fire that killed 10 people at a Massachusetts assisted-living facility was unintentionally caused by someone smoking or an electrical issue with an oxygen machine, investigators said Tuesday The state’s deadliest blaze in more than four decades has highlighted the lack of regulations governing assisted-living facilities...
OpenAI’s Sam Altman warns of AI voice fraud crisis in banking
WASHINGTON — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman warned the financial industry of a “significant impending fraud crisis” because of the ability of artificial intelligence tools to impersonate a person’s voice to bypass security checks and move money. Altman spoke at a Federal Reserve conference Tuesday in Washington. “A thing that terrifies...
Black man punched and pulled from his car by Florida deputies on video is set to speak to publicVideo
A Black man who was shown on video being punched and dragged from his car by Florida deputies during a traffic stop will speak to the public on Wednesday. William McNeil Jr., along with his family and attorneys, is set to host a news conference at 10 a.m. Wednesday at...
17 dead in head-on collision between minibus taxi and truck in Zimbabwe, police say
JOHANNESBURG — A head-on collision between a minibus taxi and a haulage truck killed 17 people in northeastern Zimbabwe on Tuesday police said. Police spokesman Paul Nyathi said all 17 victims, including some pedestrians, died at the scene of the crash, which happened near Chitungwiza, a densely populated town about...
What to know about Bryan Kohberger’s sentencing hearing for killing 4 Idaho students
BOISE, Idaho — For many University of Idaho students, a “shelter in place” text message from the school was the first indication that something had gone horribly wrong at the rental house near campus on Nov. 13, 2022. Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves and Ethan Chapin were found stabbed...
UN says booming solar, wind and other green energy hits global tipping point for even lower costs
NEW YORK — The global switch to renewable energy has passed a “positive tipping point” where solar and wind power will become even cheaper and more widespread, according to two United Nations reports released Tuesday, describing a bright spot amid otherwise gloomy progress to curb climate change. Last year, 74%...
Russian lawmakers pass a bill punishing online searches for information deemed to be ‘extremist’
MOSCOW — Russian lawmakers on Tuesday approved a bill that punishes online searches for information that is deemed “extremist,” the latest move by government authorities in their relentless crackdown on dissent. The bill passed by the lower house, the State Duma, moves to its all-but-certain endorsement in the upper house...
Trump’s Labor Department proposes more than 60 rule changes in a push to deregulate workplaces
NEW YORK — The U.S. Department of Labor is aiming to rewrite or repeal more than 60 “obsolete” workplace regulations, ranging from minimum wage requirements for home health care workers and people with disabilities to standards governing exposure to harmful substances. If approved, the wide-ranging changes unveiled this month also...
Vermont engineer revives pay phones for free calls in areas with poor cell service
TUNBRIDGE, Vt. — An electrical engineer by trade, Patrick Schlott has spent countless hours tinkering with new and old technology. But it wasn’t until he found himself living in rural Vermont that he realized his penchant for repairing old pay phones could provide a public service. “I realized, wow, there’s...
Zelenskyy renews offer to meet with Putin as officials say Russian attacks kill a child in Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday renewed his offer to meet with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, but hopes of progress were low as delegations prepared to hold another round of talks. Russian forces, meanwhile, pounded four Ukrainian cities in...
Initial probe into South Korea’s Jeju Air crash hints at pilot error, angering families
SEOUL, South Korea — The initial results of an investigation into December’s devastating Jeju Air crash in South Korea showed that, while the plane’s both engines sustained bird strikes, its pilots turned off the less-damaged one just before its crash-landing. The finding, which implied human errors, drew quick, vehement protests...
Israeli strikes kill at least 20 in Gaza, health officials say
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes killed at least 20 people in Gaza, Palestinian health officials said Tuesday, as Israel pushed on with a new incursion in an area that had largely been spared heavy fighting during the 21-month war. The expansion of Israel’s ground invasion comes as Israel...
U.S. says it’s leaving UN cultural agency UNESCO again, only 2 years after rejoining
PARIS — The United States announced Tuesday it will again pull out of the U.N.’s educational, scientific and cultural agency because of what Washington sees as its anti-Israel bias, only two years after rejoining. “President Trump has decided to withdraw the United States from UNESCO — which supports woke, divisive...
Planned Parenthood wins partial victory in legal fight with Trump administration over funding cuts
BOSTON — Planned Parenthood won a partial victory Monday in a legal fight with President Donald Trump’s administration over efforts to defund the organization in his signature tax legislation. A provision in that bill ends Medicaid payments for one year to abortion providers that received more than $800,000 from Medicaid...
Florida lawmaker refers Jerome Powell perjury claim to Justice Department
WASHINGTON — Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida has asked the Department of Justice to consider investigating and prosecuting Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for allegedly lying under oath in testimony before a congressional committee. In a July 19 letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Florida Republican accused...
Banishing a reporter: Trump escalates battle with Wall Street Journal over Epstein story
President Donald Trump on Monday followed up his lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal over last week’s Jeffrey Epstein story by banishing one of the newspaper’s reporters from Air Force One for an upcoming Scotland trip. The moves reflect Trump’s aggressiveness toward media who displease him — even a media...
Federal judge gives ex-officer nearly 3 years in Breonna Taylor raid
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A federal judge on Monday sentenced a former Kentucky police officer to nearly three years in prison for using excessive force during the 2020 deadly Breonna Taylor raid, declining a U.S. Department of Justice recommendation that he be given no prison time. Brett Hankison, who fired 10...
Budget office says Trump’s tax law will add $3.4 trillion to deficits, leave 10 million uninsured
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s tax and spending law will add $3.4 trillion to federal deficits through 2034, the Congressional Budget Office reported Monday, a slight increase in the projection that takes into account the final tweaks that Republicans made before getting the legislation over the finish line. More than...
Lawsuit to halt ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ filed in wrong court, Florida official says
Florida’s top emergency official asked a federal judge on Monday to resist a request by environmentalists to halt an immigration detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz” in the middle of the Florida Everglades because their lawsuit was filed in the wrong jurisdiction. Even though the property is owned by Miami-Dade...
Pentagon withdraws 700 Marines from Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES — The Pentagon ordered U.S. Marines to leave Los Angeles on Monday, more than a month after President Donald Trump deployed them to the city against the objections of local leaders. The 700 Marines were deployed June 9 on the fourth day of protests in downtown L.A. over...
Trump administration releases FBI records on MLK Jr. despite his family’s opposition
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has released records of the FBI’s surveillance of Martin Luther King Jr., despite opposition from the slain Nobel laureate’s family and the civil rights group that he led until his 1968 assassination. The digital document dump includes more than 240,000 pages of records that had...
More than 5.2 million pools sold across the U.S. and Canada are under recall after reports of 9 deaths
NEW YORK — More than 5.2 million aboveground swimming pools sold across the U.S. and Canada over the last two decades are being recalled after nine drowning deaths were reported. The recall covers a range of Bestway, Intex Recreation and Polygroup pools that were sold by major retailers as far...
Pilot made sharp turn to avoid a B-52 bomber over North Dakota, then took to the mic to explainVideo
BISMARCK, N.D. — The pilot of a regional airliner flying over North Dakota carried out an unexpected sharp turn and later apologized to passengers, explaining that he made the move after spotting a military plane in his flight path. The Friday incident is detailed in a video taken by a...
Appeals court orders new trial for man convicted in 1979 Etan Patz case
NEW YORK — The man convicted in the 1979 killing of 6-year-old Etan Patz was awarded a new trial Monday as a federal appeals court overturned the guilty verdict in one of the nation’s most notorious missing child cases. Pedro Hernandez has been serving 25 years to life in prison...
Israeli forces push into parts of central Gaza city that the war had largely spared
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli ground troops for the first time Monday pushed into areas of a central Gaza city where several aid groups are based, in what appeared to be the latest effort to carve up the Palestinian territory with military corridors. Deir al-Balah is the only Gaza...
