A 2-year-old red panda named Ruby died at the Santa Barbara Zoo this week, weeks after the deaths of her two newborn cubs.

Director of Animal Care Kristen Wieners said Ruby had shown signs of distress last weekend. She was brought to the zoo's animal hospital and underwent extensive testing, but her condition declined rapidly. She died ...Read more

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a landmark first visit on Saturday to Serbia to expand cooperation with the Balkan country whose leader has been scaling back once-close ties with Russia.

Serbia and Ukraine will work together on the common goal of joining the European Union, and intend to finalize a mutual free trade agreement by ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida prison gynecologist and his employer agreed to pay five women $100,000 after they filed a lawsuit alleging the doctor sexually assaulted them while they were incarcerated.

The women allege Ader Benoit fondled, penetrated, injured and demeaned them during gynecology appointments at Lowell Correctional Institution ...Read more

In the early morning hours of Saturday, the U.S. Senate passed a budget with a provision, led by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, to temporarily delay a nationwide hemp ban that has alarmed Minnesota’s booming industry of home-grown hemp products and THC seltzers.

The bill still needs House approval in the fall to become law and thwart a government ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — The National Hurricane Center on Saturday began forecasting chances that two Atlantic systems could develop into the season’s next tropical depression or storm.

As of the NHC’s 8 p.m. tropical outlook, the more likely of the two was a tropical wave expected to move off the west coast of Africa on Tuesday into the eastern ...Read more

CHICAGO — Booming drumlines echoed through Bronzeville Saturday as thousands of spectators packed miles of sidewalk, staking out spots for a glimpse of what organizers call the largest Black parade in the country.

But Corey Tyiska stood a few feet behind the crowd, quietly waiting for his daughter’s cheerleading troupe to tumble by. He had ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Newly released body-camera videos show a man armed with a handgun breaking free from sheriff’s deputies during a Sacramento County traffic stop and reaching for the weapon as he ran before two deputies opened fire.

The Sheriff’s Office released the footage Friday afternoon, providing the first detailed look at the Feb...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s No. 2 official asked major U.S. defense companies to accelerate efforts to produce and deliver key weapons systems amid new concerns about shortages and gaps exacerbated by the Iran war.

Steve Feinberg, the deputy secretary of defense, said the department is targeting accelerated or increased procurement for ...Read more

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley said goodbye on Saturday to his longtime friend and recent internet celebrity, a nearly 50-year-old vacuum cleaner named Beth.

“U willl see Beth no more,” Grassley wrote in a eulogy to the Hoover appliance on X, where the vacuum and his signature abbreviated and un-punctuated style are well known among the 92-...Read more

WASHINGTON — The U.S. accused China on Saturday of using “dubious” pretexts to press its disputed territorial claims in the South China Sea by enforcing a nature reserve at Scarborough Shoal and barring Filipino fishermen from entering the contested waters.

Violent clashes between China’s coast guard and Philippine fishing vessels had ...Read more

NEW YORK — FDNY firefighters have recovered a third body from a demolished Bronx apartment building that caught fire following a massive explosion, officials said Saturday.

The body was found inside the rubble of the fire-ravaged E. 209th St. apartment building in Norwood just before 12 p.m., FDNY officials said.

The deceased is an adult, ...Read more

The person who set up the botched renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington is the manager at President Donald Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, according to an investigation by The New York Times.

The Times found that David Schutzenhofer, who has run the Trump Organization’s golf club in North Jersey since...Read more

Key members of President Donald Trump’s foreign policy team — special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner — may visit Kyiv and Moscow within the next seven to 10 days, Russian state-run Tass news agency reported, citing an official who wasn’t identified.

The possible trip would mark a renewed push by Trump’s two main ...Read more

HARTFORD, Conn. — Secretary of State Stephanie Thomas issued new guidance Thursday regarding a controversial law that prohibits police officers from coming within 250 feet of election sites.

In a letter to Farmington Police Chief Paul Melanson, who also serves as legislative chair of the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association, Thomas granted ...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Four judges have publicly acknowledged they will run for the prized vacant associate justice seat on the five-member South Carolina Supreme Court.

The application process — handled by the Judicial Merit Selection Commission — opened July 20 and will close at noon Monday, Aug. 24.

The term is for 10 years and the ...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The parasitic outbreak of cyclosporiasis, the diarrheal disease caused by the Cyclospora parasite, has made headlines once again as six more states have been reportedly exposed, according to a recent update from the CDC.

Since May 1, the CDC has received reports of 10,468 laboratory-confirmed domestic cases of cyclosporiasis....Read more

LAS VEGAS — Since February, University Medical Center has advertised online for a forensic or child abuse pediatrician.

As of Thursday, no one had applied.

Multiple experts said in recent interviews that Nevada has no board-certified child abuse pediatrician, a doctor whose extensive training ideally enables them to tell whether or not an ...Read more

NEW YORK — A man who fell unconscious on a Bronx street after fighting a rival early Saturday was run over by two passing vehicles, one a marked NYPD police cruiser, police said.

The grisly death was one of two fatal crashes on city streets within two hours, cops said. In a second, unrelated incident, a 66-year-old man crossing Ninth Ave. in ...Read more

More than 20,000 people were ordered to evacuate one of Canada’s top wine-producing regions as an uncontrolled wildfire spread rapidly, forcing local authorities to declare a province-wide state of emergency.

Authorities ordered the town of Summerland and nearby communities in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley to be evacuated on Saturday ...Read more

The Trump administration is dialing up pressure on Florida oil magnate and Republican Party donor Harry Sargeant III to divest from Venezuela.

The Treasury Department on Friday froze the assets of Sargeant’s offshore company that participates in Venezuelan oil-producing ventures, according to people with knowledge of the measure who declined ...Read more