Nation
Lights! Camera! Cage match! The White House lawn’s Octagon is ready for Trump’s 80th birthday bash
WASHINGTON | It looks from afar more UFO than UFC. Maybe it’s the kind of contraption that has carried space aliens to the White House to force a meeting with America’s leader. But come closer and you’ll see the contours of the eight-sided cage, 30 feet (9 meters) in diameter and shaped, with careful precision, […]
Ahead of G7, Carney softens tone toward Trump with trade talks at stake
PARIS | Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney became a symbol of middle power resistance after a celebrated speech earlier this year, but he is expected to be more muted in his criticism of U.S. President Donald Trump at an upcoming summit in Europe. Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, helped make […]
Officials search tornado-damaged areas after strong storms hit Illinois and Indiana
Authorities and residents searched tornado-ravaged areas and assessed damage Friday after a strong line of storms barreled through communities south of Chicago, leaving several hundred thousand customers without power in Illinois and Indiana and disrupting air travel in the region. There were no immediate reports of deaths or life-threatening injuries from Thursday’s storms, although several […]
Supreme Court nixes Alabama request for nitrogen execution, which lower court ruled unconstitutional
ATMORE, Ala. | An Alabama man facing the death penalty by nitrogen gas was spared Thursday as the U.S. Supreme Court refused to set aside a lower-court ruling that found the method is unconstitutionally cruel, issuing a brief order that came well after the hour originally planned to initiate Jeffery Lee’s execution. The justices decided […]
Kennedy Center board seeks pause of ruling ordering removal of Trump’s name by Friday deadline
WASHINGTON | President Donald Trump’s handpicked board at the Kennedy Center is mounting a last-minute effort to keep his name on the facade of the iconic performing arts facility before a court-ordered deadline to remove it by Friday. The board voted Thursday to seek a stay of U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper’s May 29 ruling […]
El Nino is here and scientists fear it’ll be big, bad and costly with heat, floods, droughts, fires
WASHINGTON | El Nino, Nature’s chaotic climate agent, has formed in a warmed-up Pacific Ocean and is expected to grow to historic strength, meteorologists announced Thursday. Experts said the El Nino, a natural warming cycle, should further heat a globe already warming from fossil fuel pollution and will likely turbocharge extreme weather across the planet. […]
An ancient whale graveyard in the Indian Ocean teems with life
NEW YORK | Scientists have unearthed communities of marine life — including jellyfish, tubeworms and brittle stars — thriving on a millions-year-old whale graveyard. These graveyards form when whale carcasses fall to the sea floor, becoming a sustaining snack for nearby critters. This one, located up to 23,000 feet (7 kilometers) below the surface of […]
Where Trump has lost support with independents, according to AP-NORC polling
WASHINGTON | Independents have grown increasingly unhappy with President Donald Trump during his second term, a new AP-NORC polling analysis finds, particularly those without a college degree. The analysis from researchers at The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that while about half of independents without a college education had a positive view […]
As UFOs go mainstream, the jury is out on what the existence of alien life might mean for religion
LOS ANGELES | In “Disclosure Day,” out Friday, Steven Spielberg is once again inviting audiences to ponder the existence of extraterrestrial life — and the implications it would have for religion on Earth. But Spielberg is hardly the only one making headlines of late about UFOs and the possibility of life on other planets. What […]
Elon Musk could become the world’s first trillionaire with SpaceX’s IPO
NEW YORK | Elon Musk may never colonize Mars as promised, but enough investors consider the SpaceX founder to be a sort of miracle man that they’ll help him reach another fantastic goal Friday when he takes the rocket company public. The world’s richest man is set to become its first trillionaire. Known for his […]