More than 50 million Americans have filed for unemployment since the start of the pandemic, overwhelming some states. WSJ visits an unemployment processing event in Ardmore, Okla., to hear from some of the people waiting to get help with their claims. Photo: Benjamin Lindsey
The Maine Legislature approved sweeping gun safety legislation including background checks on private gun sales, waiting periods for gun purchases and criminalizing gun sales to prohibited people before adjourning Thursday morning, nearly six months after the deadliest shooting in state history. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills and the Democratic-led Legislature pressed for a number of gun and mental health proposals after the shooting that claimed 18 lives and injured another 13 people, despite the state’s strong hunting tradition and support for gun owners. “Maine has taken significant steps forward in preventing gun violence and protecting Maine lives,” said Nacole Palmer, executive director of the Maine Gun Safety Coalition, who praised lawmakers for listening to their constituents.
The United Arab Emirates witnessed the heaviest rainfall in 75 years this week, triggering massive flooding that swept away cars, caused flights to be canceled and left multiple people dead.
The Justice Department is ramping up its efforts to reduce violent crime in the U.S., launching a specialized gun intelligence center in Chicago and expanding task forces to curb carjackings. In an interview with The Associated Press, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said there is "absolutely much more to do” to make communities safer, even as many places have experienced a downward trend in crime after a coronavirus pandemic-era spike. “No level of violence is acceptable," Monaco said during a trip to Chicago this week.
Russian air defenses downed what authorities described as five Ukrainian balloons overnight, the defense ministry in Moscow said Thursday, as the sides kept up long-range strikes that have featured heavily in what has largely become a war of attrition. Neither Russian nor Ukrainian officials have provided details about the secretive balloons, which Moscow authorities and media have reported on the battlefield in recent weeks. Ukraine’s military has been driving innovation since the war began in February 2022, notably adapting drones for wide use against the bigger Kremlin forces.
Hundreds of Gazans found rare respite at the beach this week from more than six months of traumatising Israeli bombardments in the Palestinian territory.Israeli bombardments have left children dead and wounded.
Mexico's federal government, under pressure from the U.S., is keeping Chinese automakers at arm's length by refusing to offer such incentives as low-cost public land or tax cuts for investment in EV production, three Mexican officials familiar with the matter said. The last meeting between top Mexican officials and a Chinese automaker was in January, the sources said, with executives of BYD Co - one of the world's largest electric vehicle makers by sales. At the meeting, Mexican officials made clear they would not give incentives like those awarded to automakers in the past and that officials would be putting on pause any future meetings with Chinese automakers, said the sources, who asked not to be identified.
The European Union must act fast or risk falling perilously behind the economies of China and the United States, EU leaders heard Thursday as they headed into summit talks on how to leverage the bloc's huge market to stem its decline.While the United States grew by 2.5 percent and China by 5.2 percent in 2023, Eurostat data last month showed the EU economy grew by only 0.4 percent.
In the continuous grief of watching Israel's bombardment of Gaza, I have begun reimagining what a Palestinian future looks like.
President Joe Biden will accept endorsements from at least 15 members of the Kennedy political family during a campaign stop in Philadelphia on Thursday as he aims to undermine former President Donald Trump and marginalize the candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Kerry Kennedy, a daughter of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, niece of former President John F. Kennedy and sister of the current presidential contender, will deliver the endorsements of Biden, his campaign announced. The decision to highlight the Kennedy family endorsement more than six months from Election Day is an indication of how seriously Biden's team is taking the threat of the long shot bid potentially using his last name’s lingering Democratic magic to siphon off support from the president.
Jury selection is set to resume Thursday in Manhattan Criminal Court, where a panel of 12 jurors and six alternates will ultimately be chosen to decide the former president’s fate.
U.S. allies around the world are wary of the upcoming presidential election. Here’s why experts think those in Asia may have less to worry about.
A restrictive abortion ban revived in Arizona is providing a new opening for Democrats in the runup to the Nov. 5 election and putting Republicans in a tricky political bind as they try to win over moderates in the battleground state. U.S. Representative Ruben Gallego, the leading Democratic candidate in a closely watched U.S. Senate race, has criticized Republican former President Donald Trump for paving the way for the Arizona Supreme Court last week to reinstate a near-total abortion ban based on an 1864 law written during the U.S. Civil War and when women lacked the right to vote. The top Republican candidate in the race, former television newscaster Kari Lake, once praised the 1864 law, a stance Gallego highlighted in a new digital ad this week.
After a disastrous year marked by high costs, accusations of environmental harm and project cancellations in 2023, there’s a sense the US offshore wind industry is on a rebound.
Fresh, frozen and canned fruits and vegetables, including imported versions, may contain concerning levels of pesticides, a new report says.
The S&P 500 is still up on the year — but the real estate sector is lagging far behind the broader index. The differences between sector and market don't stop there: the two have broadly different ideas of what the Fed will do.
The deadly heatwave that hit Africa's Sahel region in early April would not have occurred without human-induced climate change, according to a study by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group published Thursday.Observations and climate models used by researchers at the WWA showed that "heatwaves with the magnitude observed in March and April 2024 in the region would have been impossible to occur without the global warming of 1.2C to date", which scientists attribute to human-induced climate ch
Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) major powers warned on Thursday that Ukraine risked being defeated by Russia unless it received more air defences, as Kyiv urged a change in Western strategy towards the war. More than two years into Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine is facing a shortage of ammunition, with vital funding from the U.S. blocked by Republicans in Congress for months and the EU failing to deliver sufficient munitions on time. G7 ministers kicked off a second day of talks on the Italian island of Capri by discussing the Middle East crisis and will turn their attention to Ukraine in the afternoon, when they will be joined by the head of NATO and Ukraine's foreign minister.
Reuters photographer Mohammed Salem captured this year’s prestigious World Press Photo of the Year award Thursday with a depiction of loss and sorrow in Gaza, a heartrending photo of a Palestinian woman cradling the body of her young niece. The photograph, taken in Khan Younis just days after Salem’s own child was born, shows 36-year-old Inas Abu Maamar holding five-year-old Saly, who was killed along with her mother and sister when an Israeli missile struck their home. Salem, who is Palestinian, described this photo filed Nov. 2 last year, as a “powerful and sad moment that sums up the broader sense of what was happening in the Gaza Strip.”
European Union leaders on Thursday debated a new “European Competitiveness Deal” aimed at helping the 27-nation bloc close the gap with Chinese and American rivals amid fears the region's industries will otherwise be left behind for good. In a volatile geopolitical landscape redefined by the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and increasing tensions in the Middle East that create new economic challenges, EU leaders believe there is an urgent need for action. China, the U.S. and the European Union are the three largest economies in the world, but the EU's share has diminished over the past 30 years.
Chaos ensued in the United Arab Emirates after the country witnessed the heaviest rainfall in 75 years, with some areas recording more than 250 mm of precipitation in fewer than 24 hours, the state’s media office said in a statement Wednesday.
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