Page 156 - United States

Two people missing after building explosion in Ohio's Youngstown: Officials

Two people were missing and seven were injured when a natural gas explosion caused extensive damage to a building in downtown Youngtown, Ohio, authorities said. The blast, which occurred around 2:45 pm Tuesday blew off the faade of Realty Tower. Firefighters helped some people get out of the building, which houses a Chase Bank on the ground floor and has apartments in upper floors. Youngstown Fire Chief Barry Finley said a man and a woman were missing following the blast. One is a Chase employee, he said. The blast collapsed the first floor into the basement, Finley said, and the building's structural integrity is in question so no firefighters were being allowed in to conduct a search. The seven injured people were taken to Mercy Health Hospital in Youngstown. A hospital spokesperson said one person was in critical condition, but did not release further details. A social media post by the Mahoning County Emergency Management Agency said there was a natural gas explosion and the

Jury in Trump's hush money case to begin deliberations after instructions

Jurors in Donald Trump's hush money trial are expected to begin deliberations Wednesday after receiving instructions from the judge on the law and the factors they may consider as they strive to reach a verdict in the first criminal case against a former American president. The deliberations follow a marathon day of closing arguments in which a Manhattan prosecutor accused Trump of trying to hoodwink voters in the 2016 presidential election by participating in a hush money scheme meant to stifle embarrassing stories he feared would torpedo his campaign. This case, at its core, is about a conspiracy and a cover-up, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told jurors during summations that stretched from early afternoon into the evening. Trump's lawyer, by contrast, branded the star prosecution witness as the greatest liar of all time as he proclaimed his client innocent of all charges and pressed the panel for an across-the-board acquittal. The lawyers' dueling accounts, wildly divergent in th

Most AAPI adults think history of racism should be taught in schools: Poll

US schools should teach about issues related to race, most Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders believe. They also oppose efforts to restrict what subjects can be discussed in the classroom, according to a new poll. In the survey from AAPI Data and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 71% of AAPI adults favor teaching about the history of slavery, racism and segregation in K-12 public schools. The same share also said they support teaching about the history of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in the United States, while about half support teaching about issues related to sex and sexuality. AAPI Democrats are more supportive of these topics being taught in classrooms than AAPI Republicans. Still, only 17% of AAPI adults think school boards should be able to limit what subjects students and teachers talk about in the classroom, and about one-quarter of AAPI Republicans are in favor of these restrictions. The results indicate

US sanctions 3 Chinese, 3 Thai entities over Covid related cyber fraud

The botnet enabled users to commit widespread cyber-enabled fraud using compromised victim computers that were associated to residential IP addresses

Judge assures shareholders that Tesla won't contest Musk's pay case

The company's shareholders vote next month to ratify the pay package that McCormick voided and to reincorporate Tesla in Texas

Trump engaged in conspiracy to hoodwink voters in 2016, says prosecutor

Donald Trump engaged in a conspiracy to hoodwink voters in 2016, a prosecutor told jurors on Tuesday during closing arguments in the former president's hush money trial, while a defence lawyer branded the star witness as the greatest liar of all time and pressed the panel for an across-the-board acquittal. The lawyers' duelling accounts, wildly divergent in their assessments of witness credibility, Trump's culpability and the strength of evidence, offered both sides one final chance to score points with the jury before it starts deliberating the first felony case against a former American president. The landmark case, the only one of four criminal prosecutions against Trump to reach trial, centred on allegations that Trump and his allies conspired to stifle potentially embarrassing stories during the 2016 presidential campaign through hush money payments including to a porn actor who alleged that she and Trump had sex a decade earlier. This case, at its core, is about a conspiracy

Storms leave outages across Texas, cleanup continues after deadly weekend

Strong storms with damaging winds and baseball-sized hail pummeled Texas on Tuesday, leaving one person dead and about 1 million businesses and homes without power as much of the US recovered from severe weather, including tornadoes, that killed at least 24 people during the Memorial Day holiday weekend. Widespread outages were reported across a wide swath of storm-weary Texas, where an oppressive, early-season heat wave added to the misery. Voters in the state's runoff elections found dozens of polling places without power. Dallas County said it would keep polls open two hours later because of the outages on Tuesday. Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins declared a disaster and noted that some nursing homes were using generators. This ultimately will be a multiday power outage situation, Jenkins said on Tuesday. Around Houston, cars crawled through flooded highways and more than 300,000 customers were without power in the area, which includes parts still recovering from hurricane-force

US-built pier will be removed from Gaza, repaired after damage from seas

The US-built temporary pier taking humanitarian aid to starving Palestinians will be removed from the coast of Gaza to be repaired after getting damaged in rough seas and weather, the Pentagon said on Tuesday. Over the next two days, the pier will be pulled out and sent to the southern Israeli city of Ashdod, where US Central Command will repair it, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters. She said the fixes will take at least over a week and then the pier will need to be anchored back into the beach in Gaza. The pier, used to carry in humanitarian aid arriving by sea, is one of the few ways that food, water and other supplies are getting to Palestinians who the UN says are on the brink of famine amid the nearly 8-month-old war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. The setback is the latest for the USD 320 million pier, which only began operations in the past two weeks and has already had three US service members injured and had four of its vessels beached due to heavy ...

Nassau County to Grand Prairie: USA Stadiums hosting T20 World Cup 2024

The 16 matches to be played in the USA of the World Cup co-hosted by it and the West Indies will be played at these three venues in New York, Dallas, and Florida

Defense argues Donald Trump not guilty as hush money trial nears end

After six weeks of trial, Blanche was making his final bid to influence the 12 jurors who decide whether Trump will become the first U.S. president to be convicted of a crime

Closing arguments and maybe a verdict? Major week in Trump hush money trial

The testimony in Donald Trump's New York hush money trial is all wrapped up after more than four weeks and nearly two dozen witnesses, meaning the case heads into the pivotal final stretch of closing arguments, jury deliberations and possibly a verdict. It's impossible to say how long all of that will take, but in a landmark trial that's already featured its fair share of memorable moments, this week could easily be the most important. Here's what to expect in the days ahead: WHAT HAPPENS DURING CLOSING ARGUMENTS? Starting Tuesday morning, prosecutors and defense lawyers will have their final opportunity to address the jury in closing arguments expected to last for much of the day, if not all of it. The arguments don't count as evidence in the case charging Trump with falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments during the 2016 presidential election to a porn star who alleged she had a sexual encounter with him a decade earlier. They'll instead function as hourslon

US lawmakers express support for Taiwan after China's military drills

Addressing a news conference in Taipei, US Representative Michael McCaul called the drills an intimidation tactic to punish democracy and vowed to bolster Taiwan's defense

22 dead in Memorial Day weekend storms that devastate several US states

A series of powerful storms swept over the central and southern US over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, killing at least 22 people and leaving a wide trail of destroyed homes, businesses and power outages. The destructive storms caused deaths in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kentucky and were just north of an oppressive, early season heat wave setting records from south Texas to Florida. Forecasters said the severe weather could shift to the East Coast later Monday and warned millions of people outdoors for the holiday to watch the skies. A tornado watch was issued from North Carolina to Maryland. Kentucky Gov Andy Beshear, who earlier declared a state of emergency, said at a Monday press conference that five people had died in his state. The fifth death was a 54-year-old man who had a heart attack while cutting fallen trees in Caldwell County in western Kentucky, the governor's office said. The death toll of 22 also included seven deaths in Cooke County, Texas, from a Saturday .

Tornadoes rip through Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas; at least 19 people dead

At least 19 people, including two children, have been killed in powerful storms that ravaged the states of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas in the central US, destroying homes and plunging thousands into darkness amid rising temperatures. Seven fatalities were reported in Cooke County in Texas, near the Oklahoma border, where a tornado on Saturday night ripped through a rural area near a mobile home park, officials said. "It's just a trail of debris left. The devastation is pretty severe," Cooke County Sheriff Ray Sappington said. The dead included two children, aged two and five, and three members of a family, the sheriff said. Sappington said the death toll was likely to rise as search and rescue operations were underway for some people who remained missing on Sunday morning. Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Sunday said that about 100 people were injured by the Saturday tornado, noting that the exact toll was "hard to tell with certainty", CBS News reported. More than 200 houses as we

US lawmakers visit Taiwan in show of support after China's military drills

A US congressional delegation met Taiwan's new leader on Monday in a show of support shortly after China held drills around the self-governing island in response to his inauguration speech. Rep. Andy Barr, the co-chair of the Taiwan caucus in the US Congress, said the United States is fully committed to supporting Taiwan militarily, diplomatically and economically. There should be no doubt, there should be no scepticism in the United States, Taiwan or anywhere in the world, of American resolve to maintain the status quo and peace in the Taiwan Strait, the representative from Kentucky said at a news conference after the delegation met Taiwan President Lai Ching-te. Taiwan's new foreign minister, Lin Chia-lung, noted the recent Chinese drills and called the American delegation's visit an important gesture of solidarity at a critical time. The delegation included both Republicans and Democrats and was led by Rep. Michael McCaul, the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The Te

US, European nations taking steps to vaccinate workers exposed to bird flu

US officials last week said they were moving bulk vaccine from CSL Seqirus that closely matches the current virus into finished shots that could provide 4.8 million doses of vaccine

National Memorial Day 2024: History, importance, all that you need to know

Memorial Day, also called Decoration Day, is a federal holiday observed annually in the US. The day recognizes and grieves the sacrifices of fallen American military personnel

T20 World Cup in US going to be landmark event: India's Consul General

The T20 World Cup in the US is a "landmark event" and there is huge excitement among the diaspora as well as across America, India's envoy here said emphasising that the tournament is playing a "very significant role" in bringing cricket to the country's mainstream and will further contribute towards the bilateral people-to-people relationship. "This is the first time we are having a (cricket) World Cup being played on US soil. There is huge excitement, not only among the Indian diaspora members but even in the United States," Consul General of India in New York Binaya Srikanta Pradhan told PTI here in an exclusive conversation ahead of the much-anticipated tournament. He said American congressmen, senators, elected representatives are talking about the T20 Cricket World Cup being held in the US. The T20 World Cup is being jointly hosted by the USA and the West Indies from June 2 to June 29. The Indian cricket team, which has departed India for New York, will begin its campaign ...

UN migration agency estimates over 670 dead in Papua New Guinea landslide

The International Organisation for Migration on Sunday increased its estimate of the death toll from a massive landslide in Papua New Guinea to more than 670. Serhan Aktoprak, the chief of the UN migration agency's mission in the South Pacific island nation, said the revised death toll was based on calculations by Yambali village and Enga provincial officials that more than 150 homes had been buried by Friday's landslide. The previous estimate had been 60 homes. They are estimating that more than 670 people (are) under the soil at the moment, Aktoprak told The Associated Press. Local officials had initially put the death toll on Friday at 100 or more. Only five bodies and a leg of a sixth victim had been recovered by Sunday.

US 'deeply concerned' about China's military drills around Taiwan

Matthew Miller stated that US remains committed to its longstanding one China policy, guided by the Taiwan Relations Act