LOS ANGELES — The likelihood of a potentially powerful El Niño taking shape in the Pacific Ocean is rising, heightening concerns that Southern California could be in for an extreme rainy season.

There is now an 82% chance that El Niño is likely to emerge over the next few months, up from the 61% chance estimated a month ago. And there’s ...Read more

NEW YORK — Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is opening up for the first time about the recent health crisis that sent him to a Florida hospital, including a “very significant spiritual experience” he said he had while he was in a coma.

The 81-year-old Giuliani on Wednesday returned to his online show, “America’s Mayor Live!”...Read more

U.S. President Donald Trump signaled China is willing to support negotiations with Iran, as he pushes for a diplomatic resolution to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, after a commercial vessel was apparently seized near the United Arab Emirates.

Trump, who is visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, said his counterpart ...Read more

FORT WORTH, Texas — Human remains, not yet officially identified, have been found this week in Everman in the investigation of the disappearance and presumed death of 6-year-old Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez.

Authorities including Everman police, the FBI and the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office announced the major development in ...Read more

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Former Minnesota state Sen. Justin Eichorn pleaded guilty Thursday to a lower federal charge in connection to his arrest during an undercover sex sting operation by Bloomington police last year.

Eichorn, 42, admitted in U.S. District Court in St. Paul to attempting to possess child pornography while messaging who he thought ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A former top aide to Gov. Gavin Newsom pleaded guilty in Sacramento federal court Thursday to bank fraud, filing a false tax return and lying to the FBI in a corruption scandal that rattled California politics last fall and still threatens to upend the state’s hotly contested race for governor.

Dana Williamson, who ...Read more

NEW YORK — A flag with two swastikas was raised at New York University during a graduation-week event on Thursday night, an incident reported as a hate crime and currently under investigation by the NYPD.

The banner, apparently modeled on the flag of Israel with a Star of David and two horizontal stripes, appeared after 5 p.m. on the roof of ...Read more

CHICAGO — Men and women who were brought to the United States as children are at risk of being deported by the Trump administration as federal officials delay processing their immigration paperwork, creating backlogs that are causing people to lose their jobs and fear deportation, federal officials and advocates said this week.

The government...Read more

MIAMI — The Miami City Commission on Thursday voted to delay a vote on Mayor Eileen Higgins’ half-billion-dollar public safety bond, dealing a blow to the mayor as she’s worked to find her footing during her first five months in City Hall.

Higgins had hoped to ask voters in August to approve $450 million in spending to replace the city’...Read more

After Xi Jinping regaled Donald Trump with goose-stepping soldiers and flag-waving children, the Chinese leader’s warning that Taiwan could lead to “clashes” between the superpowers amounted to a thunderclap in the choreographed world of Communist Party politics.

Cautioning American presidents against interfering with the self-ruled ...Read more

For years, they have stood unfinished across Venezuela like monuments to collapse: abandoned bridges rising from rivers to nowhere, rusting refineries swallowed by weeds, empty rail lines ending in concrete pillars and half-built power plants that never generated electricity.

Tens of billions of dollars disappeared into those projects during ...Read more

NASA announced it would forgo using the same upper stage used on the first two Artemis flights for next year’s Artemis III mission since it won’t be heading to the moon.

The mission will be headed for a low-Earth orbit and won’t need the interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS) built by United Launch Alliance that helped propel the ...Read more

BEIJING — An extraordinary display of power and precision along Tiananmen Square greeted President Donald Trump in Beijing on Thursday, kicking off a two-day summit with particularly high stakes for the Americans.

It was not immediately clear what the two sides had accomplished in their first day of meetings. But carefully choreographed ...Read more

The voyage was marketed for explorers eager to venture to "the edges of the map," from Antarctica to some of the most remote islands in the world.

It would be a tantalizing trip for tourists with an appetite for adventure — less about trips to the spa and lounging by the pool than a chance to see landscapes few humans have ever laid eyes upon...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Health officials have identified another California resident who was exposed to the deadly hantavirus strain that spread on a Dutch cruise ship and killed three people.

This brings the total count of exposed Golden State residents to five, all of whom are currently asymptomatic, according to the California Department of Public ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Hours before Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to present his budget plan on Thursday, his office released new projections of a $16.5-billion state revenue windfall over three years and offered a rosy outlook on California's fiscal position during his final year in office and the year after.

Newsom's office provided few ...Read more

Wes Streeting resigned as Keir Starmer’s health secretary, paving the way for him to challenge the U.K. prime minister for his job.

“It is now clear that you will not lead the Labour Party into the next general election and that Labour MPs and Labour Unions want the debate about what comes next,” Streeting said in a letter to Starmer that...Read more

After Xi Jinping regaled Donald Trump with goose-stepping soldiers and flag-waving children, the Chinese leader’s warning that Taiwan could lead to “clashes” between the superpowers amounted to a thunderclap in the choreographed world of Communist Party politics.

Cautioning American presidents against interfering with the self-ruled ...Read more

Like Americans today, the people living in the United States in 1826 were preparing to celebrate a milestone for their country. July Fourth of that year marked the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

As what was known as the “Jubilee” of American independence approached, Americans realized that the founding ...Read more