Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the U.S. has paused the supply of “high-payload” munitions to Israel over concerns about a potential military offensive on the Gazan city of Rafah.

The delivery was supposed to contain 3,500 bombs, split roughly evenly between 2,000-pound (907-kilogram) and 500-pound explosives, according to a senior ...Read more

NEW YORK — A man identified as a cousin of Rabbi Meir Kahane — the controversial founder of the Jewish Defense League assassinated in a Manhattan hotel — has been arrested for ramming his car into a pro-Palestinian protester on the Upper East Side.

Reuven Kahane, a 57-year-old real estate developer, was arrested at Park Ave. and E. 72nd ...Read more

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Pro-Palestinian protesters urged students throughout California State University’s Southern California campuses to take part in a CSU-wide day of action on Wednesday as tensions continue to flare over the Israel-Hamas war.

No major outbreaks were reported in the greater Los Angeles area, however. Across a number of ...Read more

NEW YORK — Stormy Daniels will return to the witness stand in Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial Thursday morning, testing the ability of both the adult film star and the former president to keep their cool.

Daniels on Tuesday ended her testimony in the midst of a harsh cross-examination in which Trump’s lawyer repeatedly accused ...Read more

A Mexican judge laid out Wednesday the evidence against a man arrested in connection with the disappearance and killings of two Australian brothers and their American friend, including the testimony of a witness who told investigators that the suspect allegedly boasted that he attacked "three gringos."

Identified only by his first and middle ...Read more

As COVID-19 swept over Phoebe Putney Health System and Southwest Georgia in the first days of the pandemic, residents and public health officials were desperate to know what patients had and how far it was spreading. The Albany, Georgia-based outbreak turned out to be one of the four largest in the world in terms of the percentage of the ...Read more

LANSING, Mich. — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced a new round of criminal charges Wednesday against lawyer Stefanie Lambert, alleging Lambert, who's worked to advance dubious election fraud claims nationally, and former Adams Township Clerk Stephanie Scott allowed someone to access non-public voter information.

Nessel, a ...Read more

NEW YORK — The city’s Department of Investigation has launched a probe into accusations that top NYPD officials flouted local laws by thumbing out what have been criticized as politically charged social media posts, a spokeswoman for the watchdog agency told the New York Daily News on Wednesday.

The spokeswoman, Diane Struzzi, said the ...Read more

Two former students of a high school in Mountain View, California, were awarded $1 million and tuition reimbursement after they were expelled for wearing acne face masks, which were interpreted as "blackface," and sued.

A Santa Clara County jury sided with the former Saint Francis High School students who claimed the district was in breach of ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The body that represents the University of Southern California’s faculty voted on Wednesday to censure the university’s president, Carol Folt, and provost, Andrew Guzman, citing both leaders’ mishandling of events around commencement.

In the USC Academic Senate’s vote, 21 members favored censuring the president and ...Read more

A bipartisan bill that would outlaw all child marriages in Missouri has run into resistance from Republicans in the Missouri House that could prevent it from becoming law.

The legislation, filed by Sen. Holly Thompson Rehder, a Scott City Republican, and Sen. Lauren Arthur, a Kansas City Democrat, would prohibit anyone under 18 from obtaining a...Read more

WASHINGTON — The House overwhelmingly voted to table Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s attempt to oust Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday evening, with nearly all Republicans and most Democrats coming to Johnson’s rescue.

The final tally was 359-43, with 11 Republicans and 32 Democrats voting against the motion to table Greene’s resolution. ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Occidental College's Board of Trustees has agreed to hold a vote on pro-Palestinian protesters' calls to divest from Israel, bringing the encampment on the Los Angeles campus to an end after nine days.

Leaders of Occidental's Students for Justice in Palestine chapter agreed the encampment would be taken down by Friday, the group...Read more

BOISE, Idaho — Just weeks after its launch, Ada County’s new online elections transparency tool has drawn national attention, with a prominent technology publication saying that it will give election deniers “exactly what they’ve been asking for.”

The tool, Ballot Verifier, will give users free and direct access to every ballot cast ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, California — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is navigating one of his biggest budget shortfalls since taking office in 2019.

Tackling the state’s finances – with an economy that is the fifth largest in the world – is a tall order and Newsom is at the threshold of a critical moment in his political journey, a sliver of time that...Read more

Ex-Trump adviser Stephen Miller’s legal group has sued IBM Corp. subsidiary Red Hat Inc. claiming the company’s diversity goals led to the discriminatory treatment and termination of a former White male employee.

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho, America First Legal said that Allan Kingsley ...Read more

UC Irvine Chancellor Howard Gillman in a Tuesday night email sent to the campus community reiterated there are some demands being made by students who have formed a solidarity encampment with Gaza that the university can accommodate, but not others.

Meanwhile, a similar encampment that formed at Chapman University entered its seventh day, with...Read more

WASHINGTON — Less than six months out from Election Day, the 10 most vulnerable House members are a mix of Republicans and Democrats, including two progressives facing tough primary challenges.

The other eight members to make the list will be battling to keep their seats in November. Taking over the No. 1 spot — after its occupant in our ...Read more

For years, scientists have listened to the clicks of sperm whales and wondered what they were saying.

While previous research scratched the surface of understanding, a new study — published May 7 in the journal Nature Communications — uses machine learning to pinpoint specific patterns in their speech.

With the help of artificial ...Read more