Page 13 - United States

One killed, 14 injured in gas explosion at NYC apartment building

A gas explosion sent fire racing through the top floors of a high-rise apartment building in New York City early Saturday, killing one person and injuring 14 others as temperatures plunged into the single digits overnight, authorities said. Firefighters responded shortly before 12:30 am to the 17-story building in the Bronx, where people were seen leaning out of windows calling for help as flames engulfed parts of the top floors, officials said. Chief of Department John Esposito said firefighters were investigating reports of a gas odour on the 15th and 16th floors when the explosion occurred. He said there was major structural damage to about a dozen apartments and fires in 10 apartments on the 16th and 17th floors. Authorities did not immediately release information on the person who died. Another person was critically injured, five had serious injuries and eight had minor injuries, officials said. Officials said the building had been undergoing renovations, and work on the natur

US envoys meet Netanyahu, press Israel to enter Gaza ceasefire phase two

American officials met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, urging Israel to move into the second phase of the ceasefire that stopped the war in Gaza. Netanyahu met with President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and Middle East adviser, according to the Prime Minister's Office. The US is anxious to keep the Trump-brokered deal moving, but Netanyahu is facing pressure from within Israel not to progress to the second phase until Hamas returns the body of the last hostage it is holding in Gaza. The Rafah border crossing is both a symbolic and logistical step that is the biggest signal of the commencement of second phase, and many outside Israel are eager to see it open. Ali Shaath, the head of a new, future technocratic government in Gaza that is expected to run the day-to-day affairs, announced on Thursday that the Rafah border crossing will open in both directions this coming week. There was no confirmation from Israel, which

Trilateral talks talks were constructive, may continue next week: Zelenskyy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that two days of trilateral talks with Russia and the United States in Abu Dhabi concluded with "constructive" discussions on "possible parameters for ending the war." The talks are the first known instance that officials from the Trump administration have sat down with both countries as part of Washington's push for progress to end Moscow's nearly 4-year-old invasion. "All parties agreed to report to their capitals on each aspect of the negotiations and to coordinate further steps with their leaders," Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. He said that military representatives identified issues for a possible next meeting, which could take place as soon as next week. The Ukrainian leader said there was "an understanding of the need for American monitoring and control of the process of ending the war and ensuring real security." US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner participated alongside Ukrainian officials, including chief negotiato

Trump threatens Canada with 100% tariffs over new trade deal with China

President Donald Trump on Saturday threatened to impose a 100 per cent tariff on goods imported from Canada if America's northern neighbour went ahead with its trade deal with China. Trump said in a social media post that if Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney "thinks he is going to make Canada a "Drop Off Port" for China to send goods and products into the United States, he is sorely mistaken." While Trump has waged a trade war over the past year, Canada this month negotiated a deal to lower tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles in return for lower import taxes on Canadian farm products. Trump initially had said that agreement was what Carney "should be doing and it's a good thing for him to sign a trade deal.

Zelenskyy says Moscow must end war as Ukraine-US-Russia meet in UAE

The trilateral talks in the United Arab Emirates marked the first such engagement involving all three sides since the war began nearly four years ago

US hits suspected drug-smuggling vessel in Pacific, first since Maduro raid

The US military said Friday that it has carried out a deadly strike on a vessel accused of trafficking drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, the first known attack since the raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro earlier this month. US Southern Command said on social media that the boat was "engaged in narco-trafficking operations" and that the strike killed two people and left one survivor. It said it notified the Coast Guard to launch search and rescue operations for that person. A video accompanying the post announcing the latest strike shows a boat moving through the water before exploding in flames. The US military has focused lately on seizing sanctioned oil tankers with connections to Venezuela since the Trump administration launched an audacious raid to capture Maduro and bring him to New York to face drug trafficking charges. With the latest military action, there have been 36 known strikes against alleged drug smuggling boats in South American waters since ..

Why Greenland has drawn America's strategic interest for over a century

From Cold War defence pacts to Trump's annexation threats, the Arctic island has often found itself at the centre to Washington's strategic calculations

Woman shot during immigration stop sentenced for illegally entering US

A woman who was shot and wounded by a Border Patrol agent during a recent immigration stop in Portland, Oregon, pleaded guilty Thursday to illegally entering the U.S. and was sentenced to one year of probation. Yorlenys Zambrano-Contreras appeared by video from an immigration detention facility in Tacoma, Washington, for the federal court hearing in Portland, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. She won't face time in prison but will have location monitoring and certain nighttime curfew requirements during probation. She will be able to remain out of custody in Oregon under the negotiated resolution of the case, the news outlet reported. The case was initially filed in Texas, where she was accused of illegally entering the U.S., but she waived her right to appear there for prosecution, the outlet reported. The shooting on Jan. 8, one day after a federal agent shot and killed a driver in Minneapolis, prompted protests over agents' aggressive tactics during immigration enforcement ...

TikTok seals long-awaited deal to operate in US, averts nationwide ban

The social media company has officially established a US entity with three managing investors: Oracle Corp., private equity firm Silver Lake Management LLC, and Abu Dhabi-based investment company MGX

Musk expects Europe, China to approve Tesla's FSD system next month

The approvals would be crucial for Tesla, which is under pressure to generate revenue from software and services and is looking to monetize FSD outside the US

US scraps multimillion-dollar solar projects in Puerto Rico amid grid woes

The administration of US President Donald Trump has cancelled solar projects in Puerto Rico worth millions of dollars, as the island struggles with chronic power outages and a crumbling electric grid. The projects were aimed at helping 30,000 low-income families in rural areas across the US territory as part of a now-fading transition toward renewable energy. In an email obtained by The Associated Press, the US Energy Department said that a push under Puerto Rico's former governor for a 100 per cent renewable future threated the reliability of its energy system. "The Puerto Rico grid cannot afford to run on more distributed solar power," the message states. "The rapid, widespread deployment of rooftop solar has created fluctuations in Puerto Rico's grid, leading to unacceptable instability and fragility." Javier Rua Jovet, public policy director for Puerto Rico's Solar and Energy Storage Association, disputed that statement in a phone interview Thursday. He said that some 200,000

Trump claims 'total access' to Greenland; NATO urges allies to step up

Trump's U-turn had triggered a rebound in European markets but also raised questions about how much damage had already been done to transatlantic ties and business confidence

Russia, US, Ukraine to meet in UAE: Zelenskyy after meeting Trump in Davos

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said he had a good meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and his message to Russian President Vladimir Putin is that "war has to end". Replying to media queries before leaving Davos, Trump said a US delegation will be meeting Putin today or tomorrow. "I met President Zelenskyy here; the meeting was good. We (US delegation) are meeting President Putin today or tomorrow," he said. Asked what would be his message to Putin, Trump said, "The war has to end. A lot of people have been killed".

US applications for jobless benefits inch up last week to still-low 200,000

The number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits inched up last week but US layoffs remain historically low despite signs of a softening labour market. US filings for jobless aid for the week ending Jan 17 rose by 1,000 to 200,000, up from 199,000 the previous week, the Labour Department reported Thursday. That's fewer than the 207,000 new applications that analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet were expecting. Applications for unemployment benefits are viewed as a proxy for layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market. The four-week average of jobless claims, which softens some of the week-to-week volatility, fell by 3,750 to 201,500. The total number of Americans filing for jobless benefits for the previous week ending Jan 10 declined by 26,000 to 1.85 million, the government said.

US economy logged 4.4% growth in third quarter, official data shows

Powered by strong consumer spending, the US economy grew at the fastest pace in two years from July through September, the government said Thursday in a slight upgrade of its first estimate. America's gross domestic product - the nation's output of goods and services - rose at a 4.4 per cent annual pace in the third quarter, the Commerce Department reported Thursday, up from 3.8 per cent in the April-June quarter and from the 4.3 per cent growth the department initially estimated. The economy hasn't grown faster since third-quarter 2023. Consumer spending, which accounts for 70 per cent of US GDP, grew at a healthy 3.5 per cent pace. A surge in exports and a drop in imports also contributed to robust third-quarter growth. The economy has remained resilient despite uncertainty caused by President Donald Trump's policies, particularly his double-digit taxes on imports from almost every country on Earth. Despite the strong growth numbers, many Americans are dissatisfied with the state

Trump launches Board of Peace, says it'll work with UN on global conflicts

Trump, who will chair the Board of Peace, invited dozens of world leaders to join the initiative, arguing that it should address conflicts beyond Gaza while working alongside the United Nations

Trump says he is 'reasonably close' to deal to end Russia-Ukraine war

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he thinks he is 'reasonably close' to a deal on stopping the Russia-Ukraine war, though he had earlier thought it would be an easier one for him to settle in a matter of hours. He also said Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would be stupid if they don't end it now, and that he knows they are not stupid. Speaking here during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, Trump said he is good at the 'stuff (settling wars) though the United Nations should be doing it. "I hate to say, I thought that was going to be so, I settled for four plus. And I thought that was going to be one of my easier ones. Not the easiest, so settled in a matter of hours," Trump said in reply to a question on the Ukraine war. "It's got to get done. Saving a lot of lives, saving millions of lives. With Ukraine and Russia, this tremendous hatred between President Zelensky and President Putin. That's not good. That's not good for

Paper tossing, winding riffs as Trump recaps first year back in office

For more than 10 minutes, he showed off mugshots of people he said had been arrested, remarking on their alleged crimes

EU 'fully prepared' to hit back over Trump's Greenland tariffs, threats

Pointedly, von der Leyen also argued that there was no returning to the world order that Europe spent decades building with US cooperation

US won't use force to acquire Greenland, but will 'remember' a no: Trump

Trump said the United States would not use force to acquire Greenland, but added that Washington would "remember" a rejection