Operatives from Iran's Ministry of Intelligence signalled openness to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to talks on ending the war, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing officials briefed on the matter. The offer was made through an unnamed country's spy agency, the NYT said, citing Middle Eastern...
US Sub Sinks Iranian Warship off Sri Lanka, at Least 80 Dead
A U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship off the southern coast of Sri Lanka, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday, dramatically widening Washington's pursuit of the Iranian navy. Sri Lanka's deputy foreign minister said at least 80 people were killed in the attack on the frigate IRIS Dena,...
US Government Shed 386,826 Workers in Trump’s First Year Back in Power
The U.S. government shed 386,826 employees in the first year of U.S. President Donald Trump's second term, according to government data published on Wednesday. The Office of Personnel Management, the U.S. government's HR office, published the information. The downsizing is part of Trump's effort to shrink the size of the...
Visalia Sinkhole Forces Road Closure, Disrupts School Traffic
A roadway in Visalia was completely closed Wednesday after a large sinkhole opened in the pavement, forcing authorities to warn motorists to find alternate routes during school traffic hours. Northbound and southbound Conyer Street between Feemster and Howard streets remained closed as crews worked to repair the damage, according to...
Polls Close in Texas, North Carolina Contests as US Midterm Elections Officially Begin
Polls have closed across most of Texas, where the results of bruising Democratic and Republican nominating contests on Tuesday for the U.S. Senate will test the divides roiling each party as the midterm elections officially kick off. Voters in Texas, North Carolina and Arkansas cast the first ballots of the...
Fresno County Authorities Identify Man Found Dead in Mendota Canal
Authorities have identified a 57-year-old man whose body was found in a canal in Mendota over the weekend. David Alvarez of Mendota was discovered in the water at Belmont Avenue and Marie Street around 1:00 p.m. Sunday, according to the Fresno County Sheriff's Office. Mendota police officers and sheriff's deputies...
Defense Executives Plan to Meet at White House as Strikes on Iran Diminish Stockpiles
The Trump administration plans to meet with executives from the biggest U.S. defense contractors at the White House on Friday to discuss accelerating weapons production, as the Pentagon works to replenish supplies after strikes on Iran and several other recent military efforts, five people familiar with the plan told Reuters....
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s Son Emerges as Leading Choice to Be His Successor
The senior clerics responsible for selecting Iran’s next supreme leader met Tuesday to deliberate, and the son of the slain former leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, emerged as the clear front-runner, according to three Iranian officials familiar with the deliberations. The officials said that the clerics were considering announcing that the...
Wall Street Indexes End Lower as Middle East Conflict Fans Inflation Fears
U.S. stocks ended sharply lower on Tuesday as investors worried the Middle East conflict may persist long enough to ramp up inflation. Selling was broad-based and the Cboe Volatility index registered its highest closing level since November. Still, indexes finished well off their lows of the day, with the S&P 500...
Reddit Goes Down for Thousands of Users, Downdetector Shows
Reddit experienced a possible outage Tuesday, with thousands of users reporting issues, according to Downdetector.com. More than 12,000 users had reported problems with the platform as of 4:08 p.m. PT, according to Downdetector, which tracks outages by collecting status reports from multiple sources. Most users reporting problems to Downdetector said...