U.S. companies eyeing Venezuela’s vast mineral wealth may find themselves entering one of the world’s most opaque and dangerous supply chains — a gold economy dominated by armed groups, criminal syndicates and corrupt military-run networks that experts say could expose foreign firms to money laundering, human-rights abuses and ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Along the shores of the shrinking Salton Sea, desert winds regularly kick up dust and send it drifting through nearby neighborhoods. New research indicates that living there may affect kids' lungs.

Scientists from the University of Southern California tested the lung capacity of 369 children between the ages of 10 and 12 for ...Read more

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — For decades, dentists across Illinois have taken time out of their daily schedules to swap sterile offices for public schools, providing checkups, fluoride treatments and cleanings to children who might otherwise go without dental care.

In Chicago Public Schools alone, city officials say the program has reached more than 1...Read more

A Tulare County sheriff's deputy was fatally shot Thursday while assisting officers serving an eviction notice in Porterville, California. The incident turned into an hours-long standoff with the suspected gunman that ended when he was run over and killed by a police armored vehicle.

The bizarre ending to the tragic sequence of events occurred ...Read more

U.S. regulators have withdrawn their approval of a GSK Plc drug that the Trump administration had promoted as a treatment for autism, adding another twist to the unusual story of a decades-old drug.

The Food and Drug Administration is pulling its approval of Wellcovorin, a branded version of leucovorin from GSK Plc, according to a post Thursday...Read more

A small aircraft carrying two people crashed Thursday afternoon on Catalina Island, the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed.

The plane, a 2014 Airplane Factory Sling, took off from Zamperini Field in Torrance at 10:53 a.m. and was last seen at 11:13 a.m. near Avalon, per FlightAware.

The aircraft was en route to the island and crashed in...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Yolo County grand jury has made indictments for the July fireworks explosion in Esparto that killed seven people and ignited a 78-acre wildfire, the District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.

At least three people connected to the Esparto fireworks explosion have been arrested. Sam Machado, a Yolo County Sheriff�...Read more

Federal immigration agents in Maryland used the state’s driver’s license database — without citing a traffic violation or outstanding warrant — to detain a driver in Howard County, a federal affidavit shows, raising legal and policy questions about how the information is used in immigration enforcement.

As part of “Operation Take Back...Read more

The outlook for Southern Nevada’s lifeline has only worsened as the Colorado River heads into runoff season.

Colorado Basin River Forecast Center hydrologist Cody Moser said in a webinar this week that if conditions persist as expected, it’s possible that runoff into Lake Powell could be under the lowest year on record, 2002, which is ...Read more

CHICAGO — The Rainbow PUSH Coalition has tapped the youngest son of the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. as its new leader, the organization said Thursday.

The announcement that Yusef Jackson would take over as the coalition’s president and CEO comes nearly two months after his father’s death reverberated across the country.

“I am deeply ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon and the Vatican denied allegations of a rift following Pope Leo XIV’s criticism of the Trump administration and a news report of a contentious meeting between a papal envoy and a top U.S. defense official.

In separate statements, the two sides professed an eagerness to get along, saying the meeting that occurred in...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Twenty-one people are facing charges as part of a massive hospice fraud scheme that prosecutors say bilked California’s medical system out of $267 million.

Attorney General Rob Bonta on Thursday announced the results of an investigation called Operation Skip Trace. Five principal conspirators were arrested on suspicion of a ...Read more

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to hold talks with Lebanon as U.S. President Donald Trump said the Israeli leader is “going to low-key it” with strikes on the war-weary country, signaling some hope for deescalation.

Still, Netanyahu vowed to keep fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, which on Wednesday suffered the ...Read more

Hunter Biden wants to fight either of President Donald Trump’s elder sons in a cage match.

The 56-year-old son of former President Joe Biden said it’s his understanding that popular YouTuber Andrew Callaghan is trying to put him in a ring with either Don Trump Jr. or Eric Trump.

Much the same way President Donald Trump routinely derides ...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — After three hours inside the confines of the immigrant detention center in the Florida Everglades on Thursday, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said she discovered needlessly inhumane conditions, including 32 men housed in each cage, minimal food, and a persistent odor of urine.

“Everything about this screams ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and City Council member Ysabel Jurado called Thursday for allotting more than $360 million to developers and nonprofits building and preserving affordable housing projects.

The appropriation, which requires City Council approval, would fund 80 projects, with construction of 1,528 new units and ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will have wide latitude to keep his preferred pick leading the Justice Department after his firing of ally Pamela Bondi, including scenarios that could entirely avoid a Senate confirmation process well into the future.

Any permanent attorney general nominee could face a tough path to confirmation in the ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Pivotal negotiations in Pakistan this weekend between the United States and Iran could hinge on developments in Lebanon, where ongoing Israeli strikes Thursday risked derailing a wider regional ceasefire.

Tensions only deepened amid reports of limited Iranian drone attacks across the region, and as Arab states warned that the ...Read more