Page 59 - United States

Severe weather leaves at least 27 dead across US, including 18 in Kentucky

At least 27 people have been killed by storms systems that swept across part of the U.S. Midwest and South, with Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear announcing Saturday that 18 of the deaths came in his state and 10 others were hospitalized in critical condition. A devastating tornado in Kentucky damaged homes, tossed vehicles and left many people homeless. Seventeen of the deaths were in Laurel County, located in the state's southeast, and one was in Pulaski County: Fire Department Maj. Roger Leslie Leatherman, a 39-year veteran who was fatally injured while responding to the deadly weather. Parts of two dozen state roads were closed, and some could take days to reopen, Beshear said. He also said the death toll could still rise. We need the whole world right now to be really good neighbors to this region, the governor said. State Emergency Management Director Eric Gibson said hundreds of homes were damaged, Kayla Patterson, her husband and their five children huddled in a tub in their ...

Moody's downgrade of US rating may not dent stock markets much: Analysts

Moody's downgrade, analysts said, was more to get the rating in sync with Fitch and S&P, who have already downgraded US' ratings.

White House slams Moody's downgrade to US credit as 'political decision'

Trump has argued that his economic agenda, centered on tax cuts, reduced regulations and sweeping tariffs to bring more manufacturing jobs to the US, would promote strong growth

10 escape New Orleans jail through hole in cell wall while guard gets food

Ten men broke out of a New Orleans jail Friday in an audacious overnight escape by fleeing through a hole behind a toilet and scaling a wall while the lone guard assigned to their cell pod was away getting food, authorities said. Eight of the escapees, including suspects charged with murder, remain on the lam following the breakout that the local sheriff says may have been aided by members within the department. Surveillance footage, shared with media during a news conference, showed the escapees sprinting out of the facility some wearing orange clothing and others in white. They scaled a fence, using blankets to avoid being cut by barbed wire, and then some could be seen sprinting across the nearby interstate. A photograph obtained by The Associated Press from law enforcement shows the opening behind a toilet in a cell that the men escaped through. Above the hole are scrawled messages that include To Easy LoL with an arrow pointing at the gap. The absence of the 10 men, who also

Moody's strips US govt of top credit rating over failure to rein in debt

Moody's Ratings stripped the U.S. government of its top credit rating Friday, citing successive governments' failure to stop a rising tide of debt. Moody's lowered the rating from a gold-standard Aaa to Aa1 but said the United States "retains exceptional credit strengths such as the size, resilience and dynamism of its economy and the role of the U.S. dollar as global reserve currency.' Moody's is the last of the three major rating agencies to lower the federal government's credit. Standard & Poor's downgraded federal debt in 2011 and Fitch Ratings followed in 2023. In a statement, Moody's said: "We expect federal deficits to widen, reaching nearly 9% of (the U.S. economy) by 2035, up from 6.4% in 2024, driven mainly by increased interest payments on debt, rising entitlement spending, and relatively low revenue generation.' Extending President Donald Trump's 2017 tax cuts, a priority of the Republican-controlled Congress, Moody's said, would add $4 trillion over the next decade to

NJ transit train engineers strike, disrupting commute for 350K riders

New Jersey Transit train engineers went on strike Friday, leaving an estimated 350,000 commuters in New Jersey and New York City to seek other means to reach their destinations or consider staying home. The walkout comes after the latest round of negotiations on Thursday didn't produce an agreement. It is the state's first transit strike in more than 40 years and comes a month after union members overwhelmingly rejected a labour agreement with management. We presented them the last proposal; they rejected it and walked away with two hours left on the clock," said Tom Haas, general chairman of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri described the situation as a pause in the conversations. I certainly expect to pick back up these conversations as soon as possible, he said late Thursday during a joint news conference with New Jersey Gov Phil Murphy. If they're willing to meet tonight, I'll meet them again tonight. If they want to meet tomorrow

Ex-Pentagon official hits out at Trump over IMF Pakistan bailout move

Former Pentagon official Michael Rubin criticises IMF and Trump administration for approving $1 billion bailout to Pakistan, says move aids China and ignores Islamabad's links to terrorism

Targeting telecoms, trade and power: China's strategy for a Taiwan showdown

China is more likely to launch cyber and economic warfare against Taiwan than a full-scale invasion, say experts, warning that Beijing could target energy, finance and telecom sectors

How a $27 document at Harvard turned out to be a priceless Magna Carta

A $27.50 document bought in 1946 and stored at Harvard Law School has been identified as a rare 1300 Magna Carta, making it the seventh known surviving copy of the historic charter

FBI likely to disband one of its Washington-based public corruption squads

The FBI is disbanding a Washington-based squad that investigates allegations of fraud and public corruption against members of Congress and other federal officials, people familiar with the matter said Thursday. The move is part of a broader reorganization of the FBI's Washington field office, said one FBI official familiar with the plans, adding that the bureau would continue to pursue investigations into alleged corruption by public officials. It was not immediately clear where the agents on the squad might be reassigned, though the office does have other squads focused on public corruption in the District of Columbia and Virginia. The people who confirmed the FBI's decision insisted on anonymity to discuss personnel changes that had not been previously announced. The action comes as the Trump administration has overhauled its approach to enforcement of public corruption, including by moving to dramatically slash the size of a prestigious section of Justice Department prosecutors

JD Vance, Marco Rubio to attend Pope Leo XIV's inaugural mass on May 18

Pope Leo XIV is the first American Pope. Vice President Vance is the first Catholic convert to serve as Vice President, as per White House

Trump calls US a 'stupid country' over birthright citizenship for illegals

Donald Trump urges US Supreme Court to end birthright citizenship for children of undocumented or temporary migrants, calling the current policy a 'scam' and criticising nationwide court orders

US tariffs may pressure FY26 margins, warns Arvind Ltd, delays capex plans

Arvind warns its FY26 margins may be affected by US tariffs; pauses non-essential capex and awaits clarity. Exports remain strong, with demand rising and UK FTA offering new growth potential

Trump says US nearing nuclear deal with Iran, but some gaps remain

Trump claimed Iran had "sort of" accepted the nuclear deal terms, a day after calling Iran "the most destructive force" in West Asia at a US-Saudi investment forum in Riyadh

Indian-origin techie among 3 killed in tragic climbing accident in US

Indian-origin techie Vishnu Irigireddy was among the three persons killed in a tragic climbing accident in Washington state's North Cascades Range of western North America. Vishnu, 48, a resident of Seattle, was attempting to climb North Early Winters Spire area of the Cascades along with his three friends, Tim Nguyen, 63, Oleksander Martynenko, 36 and Anton Tselykh, 38, on Saturday when the accident happened, NBC News reported. The group noticed a storm coming and started to retreat when at some point during their descent, the team's anchor point failed and sent the group plunging 200 feet down, Climbing website reported. Tselykh, the sole surviving climber, miraculously survived the dangerous fall and drove 64 kilometres to inform the authorities about the accident that killed his three friends. Vishnu's friends and family describe him as an experienced climber who found joy and purpose in nature. Originally from India and a proud member of Seattle's vibrant tech and cultural ..

Judge blocks Trump's bid to end Foreign Service workers' union rights

A federal judge agreed Wednesday to temporarily block the Trump administration from stripping Foreign Service employees of their collective bargaining rights. US District Judge Paul Friedman granted a federal labour union's request for a preliminary injunction that, while its lawsuit against the government is pending, stops the Republican administration from implementing a key portion of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump. The American Foreign Service Association, which represents more than 18,000 members of the Foreign Service, sued to stop the administration over the March 27 executive order. The union said Trump's order upended decades of stable labor-management relations in the Foreign Service, removing all members at the State Department and US Agency for International Development from coverage of a law that gives them the right to organise and bargain collectively. Government lawyers said Trump determined that agencies with a primary national security focus a

NSE closes probe into Jane Street trades flagged for unusual activity

The transactions in question involved rapid reversals of trades, sometimes at prices far above or below prevailing market rates

US-China tariff truce may not hit Apple's smartphone plans in India

The government is watching the developments closely, but is not too worried that a tariff truce between the US and China could hurt the chances of India's electronics products on the global stage

Trump administration rescinds curbs on AI chip exports to foreign markets

After a week of promises to alter the policy, the US Department of Commerce has rescinded a Biden-era rule due to take effect Thursday that placed limits on the number of artificial intelligence chips that could be exported to certain international markets without federal approval. These new requirements would have stifled American innovation and saddled companies with burdensome new regulatory requirements, the Commerce Department stated in its guidance. The Biden administration had established the export framework in an attempt to balance national security concerns about the technology with the economic interests of producers and other countries. While the United States had already restricted exports to adversaries such as China and Russia, some of those controls had loopholes and the rule would have set limits on a much broader group of countries. Commerce Undersecretary Jeffery Kessler said Tuesday that the Trump administration work to replace the now-rescinded rule. The Trump

Aramco signs up to $90 bn in US deals amid Trump's Gulf tour push

The agreements underscore Saudi Arabia's efforts to strengthen its energy partnerships and attract foreign investment as it looks to balance oil dominance