In 2024, control of the U.S. House could hinge on congressional districts in one famously liberal state: California. Command of the narrowly divided chamber will again be in play next year, and leaders in both parties agree on this much: The outcome in a string of contested California districts will...
More Americans Apply for Jobless Benefits, but Layoffs Are Not Rising Significantly
The number of Americans applying for jobless benefits rose last week, but remains at healthy levels despite the Federal Reserve's attempt to cool the labor market by raising interest rates. U.S. applications for jobless claims rose by 12,000 to 248,000 for the week ending July 1, from 236,000 previous week,...
Guantanamo Detainees Tell First Independent Visitor About Scars From Torture and Hopes to Leave
At the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, the aging men known by their serial numbers arrived at the meeting shackled. Every single one told the visitor — for many the first independent person they had talked to in 20 years — “You came too late.” But they still talked, about the...
Meta Takes Aim at Twitter With the Launch of Rival App Threads
Meta has unveiled an app called Threads to rival Twitter, targeting users looking for an alternative to the social media platform owned — and frequently changed — by Elon Musk. Threads is billed as a text-based version of Meta's photo-sharing app Instagram that the company says provides “a new, separate space for...
Russian Cruise Missile Attack on Ukraine City of Lviv Kills 4 People and Injures Dozens
Russia fired cruise missiles Thursday at a western Ukraine city far from the front line of the war, killing at least four people in an apartment building in what officials said was the heaviest attack on civilian areas of Lviv since the Kremlin’s forces invaded the country last year. The nighttime...
Belarus Leader Claims Wagner Chief Is in Russia, Adding Uncertainty About His Fate After Revolt
The mercenary leader who led a short-lived mutiny against the Kremlin is in Russia and his Wagner troops are in their field camps, the president of Belarus said Thursday, raising new questions about the deal that ended the extraordinary challenge to President Vladimir Putin's rule. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's claim could not...
Stalemate: UPS Contract Talks Break Down With Each Side Blaming the Other
Contract negotiations between UPS and the union representing 340,000 of the company's workers broke down early Wednesday with each side blaming the other for walking away from talks. The Teamsters have imposed several deadlines for United Parcel Service negotiators to make their “last, best and final” offer to its unionized...
Suspicious Powder Found at the White House Was Cocaine, Sources Say
WASHINGTON — The White House was briefly evacuated Sunday evening while President Joe Biden was at Camp David after the Secret Service discovered suspicious powder in a common area of the West Wing, and a preliminary test showed the substance was cocaine, two law enforcement officials said Tuesday. Secret Service...
US Citizenship Test Changes Are Coming, Raising Concerns for Those With Low English Skills
The U.S. citizenship test is being updated, and some immigrants and advocates worry the changes will hurt test-takers with lower levels of English proficiency. The naturalization test is one of the final steps toward citizenship — a monthslong process that requires legal permanent residency for years before applying. Many are...
Ransomware Criminals Are Dumping Kids’ Private Files Online After School Hacks
The confidential documents stolen from schools and dumped online by ransomware gangs are raw, intimate and graphic. They describe student sexual assaults, psychiatric hospitalizations, abusive parents, truancy — even suicide attempts. “Please do something,” begged a student in one leaked file, recalling the trauma of continually bumping into an ex-abuser...