Postal Service overhaul runs into challenges
More than three years ago, the U.S. Postal Service unveiled a sweeping 10-year plan meant to steer the organization out of a financial crisis. The plan, which included consolidating locations, raising prices and lengthening promised delivery times, was meant to stabilize an agency that had lost $87 billion over the past 14 years.
UN food agency suspends staff movement in Gaza after vehicle fired on
UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations World Food Program temporarily suspended movement of its employees across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, saying at least 10 bullets struck one of its clearly marked vehicles as it approached an Israeli military checkpoint.
Harris tours Georgia as Democrats see the state fully in play
Vice President Kamala Harris is aiming to go on offense against former President Donald Trump in Georgia, kicking off a bus tour on Wednesday in the rural southeastern corner of the battleground state.
Supreme Court, for now, keeps block on revamped Biden student debt plan
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday maintained a temporary pause on a new effort by President Joe Biden to wipe out tens and perhaps hundreds of billions of dollars of student debt.
Trump videos at Arlington stir more fallout after grave site visit
The family of a Green Beret who died by suicide after serving eight combat tours and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery expressed concern Wednesday that Donald Trump’s campaign had filmed his grave site without permission as Trump stood in an area where campaign photography isn’t allowed.
US travelers set to end summer on a high note with record Labor Day air travel
U.S. airlines and airports are gearing up for the busiest Labor Day weekend, as a record number of travelers pack their bags and prepare to jet off to squeeze one last summer trip before the season ends.
Typhoon Shanshan barrels into Japan, triggering rare warnings
Nearly 1 million people in Japan were under evacuation orders Thursday morning as Typhoon Shanshan approached the mainland with hurricane-force winds, torrential rain and the threat of landslides, with authorities warning that the storm could produce a large-scale disaster.
Telegram founder charged with wide range of crimes in France
PARIS — Pavel Durov, the Russian-born entrepreneur who founded the online communications tool Telegram, was charged on Wednesday in France with a wide range of crimes for failing to prevent illicit activity on the app, and barred from leaving the country.
US, Chinese officials to wrap up talks in Beijing on Taiwan, fentanyl
BEIJING — Top U.S. and Chinese officials will wrap up talks in Beijing after a third day of meetings on Thursday that were intended to ease simmering tensions between the two superpowers ahead of the Nov. 5 U.S. election.
FBI says gunman spent months seeking a target, then settled on Trump
The gunman who tried to kill Donald Trump mounted a “sustained, detailed effort” to attack a major gathering of some sort before deciding to target the Republican presidential candidate at a Pennsylvania rally in July, FBI officials said on Wednesday.
On the COVID ‘off-ramp’: No tests, isolation or masks
Jason Moyer was days away from a family road trip to visit his parents when his 10-year-old son woke up with a fever and cough. COVID-19? The prospect threatened to upend the family’s plans.
Mariah Carey says her mother and sister died on the same day
Mariah Carey’s mother, Patricia, and sister, Alison, died on the same day over the weekend, the pop star announced. It was unclear what caused their deaths or when exactly they died.
HMD launches Barbie phone in partnership with Mattel
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) — HMD Global, which makes Nokia-branded phones, said it has teamed up with toymaker Mattel to launch the HMD Barbie Phone – a pint-sized pink feature flip phone with a retro design.
At Michigan, activists take over and shut down student government
Students were braced for a stalemate. There was an Ultimate Frisbee team without money to compete, an airport shuttle whose cost to students almost doubled without a campus subsidy, and a ballroom dance team unable to rent rehearsal space.
‘Nature is punishing us’: Drought imperils farmers and bees in Mexico’s north
BUENAVENTURA, Mexico, (Reuters) — In the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, residents and farmers have anxiously watched and waited for clouds to bring rain to refill dried-out dams, water wells and lagoons. They’ve waited so far in vain.
Fireball bursts like ‘60 tons of TNT,’ leaving smoke trail above Midwest, NASA says
A lot of Midwesterners were recently left impressed, and momentarily wondering what the heck they just saw, after a blazing fireball violently and loudly broke apart overhead.
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy to present plan to Biden to end war with Russia
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that the war with Russia would eventually end in dialogue, but that Kyiv had to be in a strong position and that he would present a plan to U.S. President Joe Biden and his two potential successors.
Mexico freezes relations with US, Canadian embassies which criticized judicial reform
MEXICO CITY — The Mexican government has paused its relationship with the U.S. and Canadian embassies in the country, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Tuesday, after their ambassadors criticized a proposed judicial reform that he backs.
Zuckerberg says Biden admin pressured Meta to ‘censor’ COVID-19 content
Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the Biden administration had pressured the company to “censor” COVID-19 content during the pandemic, apparently referring to White House requests to take down misinformation about the coronavirus and vaccines.
First Jan. 6 rioter to enter Capitol gets more than 4 years in prison
The first rioter to breach the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced Tuesday to more than four years in prison, federal prosecutors announced.
