The governing Conservatives suffered heavy defeats in a set of local elections on Thursday, adding to the sense that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will struggle to turn things around before a general election that he must hold within nine months.

Keir Starmer’s opposition Labour Party made some eye-catching gains, taking control of councils in ...Read more

Labour wins in the U.K.’s two biggest cities completed a string of local election successes by opposition leader Keir Starmer that showed his party firmly on course for victory at a general election later this year.

Not only did Sadiq Khan comfortably win a historic third term as London mayor, but Labour candidate Richard Parker eked out an ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Eight people have been arrested on suspicion of organized retail theft after authorities discovered several million dollars' worth of stolen medicines, cosmetics and other merchandise at multiple Los Angeles locations, L.A. County sheriff's officials announced this week.

The retail goods were stolen by crews of organized ...Read more

MEXICO CITY — Mexican officials said three bodies have been found in the same remote stretch of Baja California where two Australian brothers and their American friend went missing last week while on a surf trip.

The bodies were recovered south of the city of Ensenada, according to a statement from the state prosecutor's office. The statement...Read more

BOSTON — The protest encampment at Tufts University has come down, but the students who put up the tents say they will continue to fight until the school fully divests from Israel.

Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine, which set up the tents in early April, removed the encampment on the academic quad Friday night after failing to reach a ...Read more

NEW YORK — The video begins over ominous music in a New York City Police Department command center with top brass mulling over surveillance video of a man waving a Palestinian flag and ends with police officials talking tough about their crackdown on protesters at Columbia University Tuesday night.

“The conditions in this courtyard are ...Read more

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A group of about 50 graduating students stood and called for the University of Michigan to divest from companies with ties to Israel at the spring commencement ceremony Saturday, but the speeches continued.“Disclose! Divest! We will not stop, we will not rest!” students chanted early in the ceremony at the Big House in ...Read more

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Police used a chemical spray to disperse a large crowd and handcuff pro-Palestinian protesters during a chaotic scene outside the University of Michigan Museum of Art on Friday night, according to videos posted on social media.

The incident occurred around 9 p.m. outside the museum on South State Street in downtown Ann ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — At a special meeting of the University of Pennsylvania faculty senate executive committee early this week, members expressed differing views about the pro-Palestinian encampment but concurred that the university should work to "de-escalate tensions" and "find a negotiated resolution."

That’s according to a summary of Monday�...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station has almost become routine — but not for Boeing and not on Monday, when after years of delay it's finally set to launch two crew members to the orbiting platform on a critical test flight.

The Arlington, Virginia-based aerospace giant was awarded a $4.2 billion contract in ...Read more

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Boeing has spent more than $1.5 billion to develop its CST-100 Starliner amid years of delays, but the payoff on its deal with NASA is on the horizon with the first human test flight set for launch Monday night.

Veteran NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will climb aboard the capsule for the Crew Flight ...Read more

Cooking with gas poses a health risk, but new research shows that risk isn’t evenly distributed.

Poorer Americans and racial and ethnic minority groups are disproportionately exposed to harmful gas stove pollutants, scientists at Stanford University, Harvard University and the Central California Asthma Collaborative found.

Previous studies ...Read more

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland will deliver remarks at a memorial service in Charlotte on Monday for slain Deputy U.S. Marshal Thomas M. “Tommy” Weeks Jr.

Weeks was a 48-year-old father of four from Mooresville. He died in last Monday’s Charlotte shooting where four law enforcement officers were killed and four ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — After police forcibly removed Pro-Palestinian encampments at two universities this week, college leaders across California are grappling with how to move forward with protests on other campuses.

The high-profile law enforcement operations that cleared a massive camp at the heart of UCLA and evicted protesters at Cal Poly ...Read more

A Hamas delegation has reportedly arrived in Cairo for new talks aimed at reaching a cease-fire in Gaza, where the war between the Iran-backed militant group and Israel is nearing the seven-month mark.

Reports in Saudi Arabian and Israeli media that couldn’t be independently confirmed suggest Hamas negotiators are prepared to accept the ...Read more

Chad’s military ruler Mahamat Deby is almost certain to win the country’s May 6 presidential election, cementing the ruling junta’s power in a move that could jeopardize the future of U.S. military engagement in the region.

The election comes as Chad has become the last remaining military ally of the U.S., France and its European partners...Read more

A wide variety of historical, economic and cultural forces combine to allow a larger percentage of whites to climb up the socioeconomic ladder than Blacks and Hispanics.

Some people call the combined effects of these forces “white privilege.” Though these words are commonly used, research by Lia Bozarth and me has found that use ...Read more