LOS ANGELES — Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell in January as rising mortgage rates and prices put off many would-be homebuyers despite a wider selection of properties on the market. Sales fell 4.9% last month from December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.08 million units, the...
Muslim Community Unites for Ramadan After Wildfire Destroys Mosque
PASADENA — All that remains of Masjid Al-Taqwa is a sign that bears its name. The mosque in Altadena, which served a tight-knit Muslim community for 42 years, burned to the ground in one of the Los Angeles area's deadliest fires in January — leaving the congregation heartbroken and without...
Trump’s Forest Service Cuts Raise Wildfire Concerns in Western US
SEATTLE — The termination letters that ended the careers of thousands of U.S. Forest Service employees mean fewer people and less resources will be available to help prevent and fight wildfires, raising the specter of even more destructive blazes across the American West, fired workers and officials said. The Forest...
Netanyahu Vows Revenge as Hamas Releases Wrong Body, Threatening Ceasefire
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed revenge Friday for what he described as a "cruel and malicious violation" of the ceasefire agreement after authorities determined that a body released by Hamas as part of the deal was not an Israeli mother of two small boys, as the militant...
Global Glacier Melt Accelerates, Losing 7 Trillion Tons Since 2000
Climate change is accelerating the melting of the world's mountain glaciers, according to a massive new study that found them shrinking more than twice as fast as in the early 2000s. The world's glaciers lost ice at the rate of about 255 billion tons (231 billion metric tons) annual from...
Trump Expands Immigration Enforcement Across Nearly Every Major Department
WASHINGTON — Drug Enforcement Administration agents touting immigration arrests, IRS agents poring over documents, the military escorting deportation flights. As the Trump administration works on the president's pledge to crack down on illegal immigration and carry out mass deportations, the flurry of activity has stretched across the federal government —...
Experts: IRS Cuts May Benefit Rich Tax Dodgers, Hurt Revenue
WASHINGTON — The layoffs of roughly 7,000 IRS probationary workers beginning this week likely mean the end of the agency's plan to go after high-wealth tax dodgers and could spell disaster for revenue collections, experts say. The majority of employees shown the door at the federal tax collector are newly...
Stock Market Today: Discouraging Economic Reports Knock Wall Street Further From Its Record
NEW YORK — Wall Street is pulling further from its record after reports on Friday showed worries about President Donald Trump's policies may be hitting the U.S. economy. The S&P 500 was down 0.4% in morning trading, a day after a weaker-than-expected profit forecast from Walmart helped knock it off...
Musk Waves Chainsaw and Charms Conservatives Talking Trump’s Cost-Cutting
OXON HILL, Md. — Billionaire Elon Musk appeared at a conservative gathering outside Washington on Thursday waving a chainsaw in the air, showing openness to auditing the Federal Reserve and accusing Democrats of "treason." Musk, the Tesla CEO who has become perhaps President Donald Trump's most influential adviser, spoke about...
Could Trump Really Return DOGE Savings to Taxpayers?
WASHINGTON — An idea first proposed on social media has bubbled up to the White House and received President Donald Trump's enthusiastic endorsement: Take some of the savings from billionaire Elon Musk's drive to cut government spending and return it to taxpayers. “I love it,” Trump said late Wednesday on Air Force...