WASHINGTON — A top White House official said the U.S. won’t rule out the possibility of strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen, which have been blamed for targeting commercial ships, while it focuses now on sanctions and security at sea.

“We have certainly not ruled out the possibility of taking military action — we reserve that right,�...Read more

COVID-19 infection can lead to preterm birth, a study published last week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows, but getting vaccinated protects against it.

Researchers found a serious adverse effect on preterm birth from COVID infection during pregnancy, a risk that had plummeted to zero by fall 2022, following ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A statue of a University of Southern California founder whose connection to groups that carried out extralegal lynchings raised questions about the statue's placement was removed last month for routine maintenance, university officials said.

Judge Robert Widney was one of the USC's founders, and since 2014 an 8-foot bronze ...Read more

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened devastation in Beirut and southern Lebanon if Hezbollah opens a second front in Israel’s war with Hamas.

“If Hezbollah decides to open an all-out war, then with its own hands it will turn Beirut and southern Lebanon, which are not far from here, into Gaza and Khan Yunis,” Netanyahu said.

...Read more

LAS VEGAS — Police identified a former business professor unaffiliated with UNLV as the gunman who opened fire on the university’s campus, killing three faculty members and injuring a fourth.

Anthony Polito, 67, had been turned down multiple times from positions at Nevada universities, Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill said during a press...Read more

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — The inmate who stabbed Paul Flores, the convicted killer of Kristin Smart, has been charged with attempted murder and assault, according to a news release from the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office.

On Aug. 23, Flores, 46, was sent to the hospital in “serious condition” after he was stabbed in the neck ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — A federal jury on Thursday found John Dougherty guilty on embezzlement charges, delivering his second felony conviction in as many years and casting a devastating blow to his legacy as one of the region’s most transformative labor leaders.

The panel of seven women and five men took roughly 14 hours over three days to conclude...Read more

CHICAGO — After weeks of the ward’s alderman asking Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration to remove a West Loop homeless encampment struggling with safety issues, a man was shot and killed Thursday, adding fuel to an already contentious debate.

Officers responded to the intersection of North Clinton Street and West Lake Street at 12:50 a...Read more

“Doomsday Mom” Lori Vallow Daybell pleaded not guilty Thursday to two charges in Arizona, including conspiracy to kill her ex-husband.

Vallow Daybell, 50, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in Idaho for killing her two children and conspiring to kill her current husband’s ex-wife.

In Arizona, she’s accused of scheming with ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Hunter Biden, the president’s son, was indicted Thursday in Los Angeles on several federal tax charges, marking the start of a second criminal case that will proceed during his father’s reelection campaign.

Biden, who resides in Malibu, was accused of failing to timely pay his taxes from 2016 to 2019, one count of tax ...Read more

The congressional committee that held the hearing on antisemitism on college campuses Tuesday has opened an investigation into the University of Pennsylvania’s policies and disciplinary procedures following President Liz Magill’s testimony.

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce also intends to investigate Harvard and the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Hunter Biden, the president’s son, was indicted Thursday in Los Angeles on several federal tax charges, marking the start of a second criminal case that will proceed during his father’s reelection campaign.

Biden, who resides in Malibu, was accused of failing to pay his taxes from 2016 to 2019, one count of tax evasion, and ...Read more

At a time of heightened tension in the Middle East, Cuba’s handpicked president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, met with Iranian leaders in Tehran and signed half a dozen cooperation agreements in another signal that Havana is strengthening its alliance with anti-Western regimes.

Díaz-Canel traveled to Iran on Sunday and met with Iran’s supreme ...Read more

NEW YORK — Donald Trump was back at his Manhattan Supreme Court fraud trial Thursday to see his legal team wind down their defense case.

The former president told reporters he’d returned after a weeks-long hiatus for NYU accounting professor Eli Bartov’s testimony, lauding him as “one of the great experts in the country.”

Bartov was ...Read more

SEATTLE — Hundreds of people packed a Seattle community meeting Wednesday night to oppose a proposal by the city to build a kids playground at a beach park known for decades as a nude hangout, especially for LGBTQ+ folks.

People who swim and sunbathe at Denny Blaine Park, and who view the $550,000 plan initiated by an anonymous donor as an ...Read more

DENVER — El Paso County Sheriff’s deputies found four adults killed in a Wednesday night shooting after sending in a SWAT team to investigate the scene, the office said in a release Thursday afternoon.

According to the release, deputies initially contacted a man who had injuries that were not life-threatening after responding to the scene ...Read more

CHICAGO — In late October, a young sea otter pup was found in the remote coastal town of Seldovia, Alaska, stranded and calling out in distress with no mother in sight. After being rehabilitated, fed and healed, the tiny otter — barely over a month old — began a cross-country trip to his new home in Chicago.

After being rescued by the ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — One day after a mass shooting at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, left three people and the gunman dead, a picture emerged of a quiet, lonesome academic with obsessive tendencies who was upset by being rejected for a position at the university, according to law enforcement sources, neighbors and the man’s personal website.

...Read more