Many of the more than 5,000 people killed in Venezuela’s devastating twin earthquakes might have survived had authorities mounted a professional emergency response during the critical first 72 hours after the disaster, according to a new report that sharply criticizes the government’s handling of the crisis.

Released Thursday, exactly one ...Read more

A South Florida couple accused in the manslaughter of their baby has been captured in rural North Carolina, according to investigators.

Leon Alejandro, Jr., 21, and Samantha Angeline Feliz, 20, were arrested Wednesday at a rural home in the 900 block of Ledbetter Road near Rockingham, the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office said in a July 22 ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump threatened to step up strikes on Iran and said he’ll hold the country responsible for any further attacks by the Yemen-based Houthis on Red Sea ships, potentially widening U.S. involvement in the Middle East war.

The Iran-backed Houthis earlier claimed assaults on two Saudi Arabian oil tankers, the group�...Read more

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said a new civil nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia depends on the kingdom normalizing ties with Israel, a condition that could derail a landmark deal his administration finalized just a day earlier.

In a social media post Thursday, Trump also said there would be “no enrichment” of nuclear ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — As UC embarks on a new and speedier plan to determine whether to reinstate SAT standardized testing, the university's admissions board is also moving to reexamine key academic requirements that reach even further into California high school classrooms: the exact set of courses students must take to get in.

Those requirements ...Read more

U.S. President Donald Trump said a new civil nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia depends on the kingdom normalizing ties with Israel, throwing cold water on a landmark deal his administration finalized just a day earlier.

In a social media post Thursday, Trump also said there would be “no enrichment” of nuclear material. The pact would ...Read more

BALTIMORE — The Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter took in more than 300 birds from a Highlandtown neighborhood exotic animal shop following an investigation, a Baltimore City Health Department representative confirmed to The Baltimore Sun.

Baltimore’s animal control office responded to a 311 complaint last Friday about a business —...Read more

Marie Noon takes eight medications a day. One keeps her heart rate from spiking to avoid a stroke. One prevents debilitating headaches. Another ensures she doesn’t retain excess fluid.

More than a decade ago, Noon said, she was diagnosed with adult-onset Still’s disease, a rare type of inflammatory arthritis that can cause rashes, ...Read more

Wildfires forced French authorities to evacuate some 20,000 residents and tourists from an area southwest of Bordeaux, after successive heat waves created tinderbox conditions.

Hundreds of firefighters are battling blazes that have so far burned 3,100 hectares in the Bassin d’Arcachon in the Gironde department. Tanker aircraft are dousing ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Storm damage from six tornadoes and straight-line winds was found in several Kentucky communities during National Weather Service surveys on Wednesday.

NWS surveyors confirmed the tornadoes were on the ground in Bourbon, Carroll, Casey, Gallatin, Grant, Grayson, Hardin, Hart, Lincoln, Metcalfe and Owen counties during a ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Two Maryland residents this week have contracted measles after traveling to a part of the United States experiencing an active outbreak, prompting state health officials to warn of possible public exposure.

The Maryland Department of Health said it is working to notify people who may have been exposed, and urged residents to ...Read more

NEW YORK — All of the city’s non-emergency trucks will be required to have audible turn alerts by 2029, under an executive order expected to be signed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani Thursday — and all new non-emergency vehicles will be required to have intelligent speed limiters going forward.

The order will require the installation of audio ...Read more

CHICAGO — A first-in-the-nation tax on cryptocurrencies and other digital assets that Gov. JB Pritzker signed last month is facing a legal challenge from an industry association that argues the law is unconstitutional because it singles out certain financial instruments based on how their transactions are recorded.

Democrats in the General ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — On stage at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, a far cry from the sweaty basement punk shows of the band's early days, Jimmy Eat World played breakthrough power pop hit "The Middle" as the sold-out crowd sang along with the final chorus that "everything will be all right, all right."

"It really is incredible to us to think ...Read more

BELZONI, Miss. — Harmony Ball-Stribling’s path to pregnancy had been turbulent, from an endometriosis diagnosis to an arduous in vitro fertilization process and sky-high blood pressure. But as her due date approached in the summer of 2021, her health improved and those storm clouds seemed to scatter.

“It was just too perfect,” said her ...Read more

MIAMI — When hurricanes come ashore in Miami, their waves take big bites out of the coastline, chewing up sand and waterfront properties alike. A chunk of concrete sunk offshore in Miami Beach could change that.

The University of Miami recently installed the second phase of its hybrid reef project — an engineered piece of concrete seeded ...Read more