U.S. Secretary Antony Blinken visited Israel to push for a cease-fire deal in the Israel-Hamas war. He warned that Hamas would be blamed if an agreement to end the conflict in Gaza is not reached.
Authorities are looking for two people who they say committed “archeological theft” at a U.S national park in Utah. The incident occurred on March 23 at Canyonlands National Park in Moab, Utah, at the Cave Spring Cowboy Camp in the Needles district of the park at approximately 5:30 p.m. when security cameras captured two people enter “a signed-as-closed area, removed artifacts from a cabinet, and handled historic harnesses in a manner that had potential to damage them,” according to a statement from the National Park Service released on Wednesday. “National parks are some of the most special, treasured, and protected areas of our country,” authorities said.
A daycare owner and three of her employees have been arrested after allegedly sprinkling melatonin on children’s food, police say. The incident began in Nov. 2023 when police in Manchester, New Hampshire, received a report alleging “unsafe practices going on in an in-home daycare at 316 Amory Street,” which led to a lengthy investigation, according to a statement released by the Manchester Police Department on Thursday. “Through the investigation, police determined that the children’s food was being sprinkled with melatonin without their parent’s knowledge or consent,” authorities said regarding the case.
At least four people have died Thursday after an "exceptionally" strong storm hit Texas, according to Houston Mayor John Whitmire. Preliminary investigations indicate falling trees caused two deaths and a fallen crane caused one, according to Houston Police Chief Samuel Pena. Urging Houston, Texas, residents to stay home, Whitmire said the city was in "recovery mode" and schools will be closed in the Houston area on Friday.
The Justice Department on Thursday informed House Republicans that President Joe Biden has formally asserted executive privilege over the audio of his interview with special counsel Robert Hur, who investigated Biden's handling of classified documents. It's a move that the department said effectively shields Attorney General Merrick Garland from any criminal exposure, though Republican lawmakers moved ahead anyway toward trying to hold him in contempt of Congress. The GOP-led House Oversight Committee voted 24-20 late Thursday to approve a report recommending a contempt of Congress resolution against Garland for his failure to turn over audio recordings of Special Counsel Robert Hur's interview with Biden.
The girlfriend of U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Roger Fortson, who was on a video call with him when he was killed by an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office deputy, is speaking out about the May 3 incident. Fortson's girlfriend, who asked not to be identified over fears for her safety, spoke exclusively to Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB-TV telling the station the couple was having a conversation about weekend plans when the incident unfolded. "We started talking about our plans for the weekend because it was the weekend of Cinco De Mayo," Fortson's girlfriend said.
Former President Donald Trump's hush money trial turned heated Thursday when the defense accused Michael Cohen of lying about a phone call he said he had about the alleged deal with adult film star Stormy Daniels. Cohen previously testified he called Trump's bodyguard Keith Schiller, on Oct. 24, 2016, in order to speak with Trump and let him know he had come to an agreement with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford. In the days leading up to Oct. 24, Blanche said, Cohen complained about repeated prank calls from an unidentified teenager.
As the Israeli military intensifies its fight against the militant group Hamas in and around the southern Gaza city of Rafah, thousands are being forced to evacuate and several U.S. citizens are caught up in the confusion after the Israeli military took over the Rafah Crossing on May 7. Among those uncertain how they will get out of Gaza are a group of medics, who were volunteering with the Palestinian American Medical Association, working at the European Hospital in Khan Younis. "The U.N. have been working to try to secure a safe passage," Monica Johnston, a burns nurse from Portland, told ABC News in an interview.
Three people have died after a small plane appears to have broken up in-flight before crashing in Tennessee, authorities said. The aircraft -- a 1966 Beech V35 -- crashed near Franklin around noon Wednesday, according to the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the incident. Witnesses reported seeing both wings go backward and the plane "going violently out of control" before the crash, NTSB aviation accident investigator Aaron McCarter told reporters during a press briefing on Thursday.
Tensions at the University of California, Irvine campus escalated Wednesday as a group of several hundred pro-Palestinian protesters entered a lecture hall and surrounded the building, according to school officials. The Irvine Police Department and the Orange County Sheriff's Department were called to the scene after the university called for mutual aid from local law enforcement agencies, UC Irvine said in an emergency update. Authorities were seen putting protesters in zip-ties and escorting them away from the main protest area.
A judge in California ruled that a pro-Palestinian demonstrator will stand trial in the death of a Jewish man who was counter-protesting on a street in Thousand Oaks last year. Paul Kessler, a 69-year-old Jewish man, died from blunt-force head trauma following a confrontation with a counterprotester, amid simultaneous pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrations last November, the Ventura County Sheriff's Office previously said. Loay Abdel Fattah Alnaji is accused of striking Paul Kessler with a megaphone, causing him to fall and hit his head on the pavement.
Commuters on a Southern California freeway experienced an unexpected delay earlier this week when a bear wandered onto the road, bringing traffic to a halt. The bear incident happened Tuesday on the 14 freeway near Newhall Avenue. In footage from the scene, the bear can be seen leisurely strolling in front of the vehicles on the freeway before eventually retreating towards the nearby hills.
An Environmental Protection Agency whistleblower told ABC News the United States EPA wasted critical time gathering data in the days immediately following the catastrophic derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in East Palestine, Ohio, last year. Senior research scientist Robert Kroutil alleged the EPA delayed days in deploying one of its most effective tools in assessing chemical incidents: The Airborne Spectral Photometric Environmental Collection Technology (ASPECT) plane. Kroutil helped develop the EPA's ASPECT plane – a one-of-one specialized aircraft equipped with radiological and infrared sensors.
The Pentagon's temporary floating pier system was anchored onto a beach in Gaza on Thursday amid the Israel-Hamas war, and U.S. officials say humanitarian aid will begin flowing "in the coming days." Officials did, however, stress that while the pier -- formally called the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore, or JLOTS, capability -- will help bring aid to the strip, the real long-term solution in Gaza is to fully open the land routes so more aid can flow in. Pentagon officials said aid will begin flowing quickly, though initially it will be at a slow pace to ensure the system is working properly before operations are scaled up.
The House on Thursday passed a Republican-led bill to condemn President Joe Biden's approach to Israel and force him to send arms shipments to the U.S. ally. The measure is a culmination of the political fallout from Biden's recent pause of a bomb shipment to Israel and his pointed warning the U.S. won't supply weapons that could be used in an invasion of Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where more than a million civilians have sought shelter.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average crossed 40,000 for the first time in history on Thursday. This is a significant and symbolic milestone for the index that tracks 30 of the most valuable publicly traded companies in the U.S. The Dow is now up about 6% so far this year.
Despite frustration among some Morehouse College faculty, staff and students over President Joe Biden delivering the Atlanta school's commencement address on Sunday, the faculty voted on Thursday to award the president an honorary degree -- an act some said they opposed in protest of his handling of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. On a call Thursday morning, 50 of the 88 faculty members present voted to award Biden an honorary degree.
Officials are monitoring an oil spill in Texas waterways after the partial collapse of a bridge that was struck by a barge, but the source of the spill itself has been contained, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The 321-foot barge, named MMLP 321, struck a pillar on the railroad portion of the Pelican Island Causeway on Wednesday morning, causing oil aboard the vessel to leak into Galveston Bay, according to officials.
California lawmakers are currently considering a bill that would ban anti-aging skin care products from being sold to young children. Assembly Bill 2491, championed by Assemblymember Alex Lee of San Jose, aims to prohibit the sale of anti-aging skin care products to children under the age of 13. The bill passed the Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee last month and will head to an appropriations hearing on May 16.
Taquerías are a quintessential part of Mexico's street food scene and culture. Chef Arturo Rivera Martínez has helmed the ripping hot flat top at Taquería El Califa de León for 20 years -- searing off fresh meat to fill tortillas topped with red or green sauce -- and on Tuesday, it became the first taco shop to obtain one of the French dining guide's prestigious honors.
For the first time, women in the United States have the ability to self-collect a sample to screen for human papillomavirus (HPV). This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved two self-swab tests from global medical technology company Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD) and pharmaceutical company Roche Holding AG for "clinical" use, meaning in a private room inside a doctor's office, mobile clinic or another health care setting. HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the U.S. and can lead to several potentially deadly cancers, including cervical cancer.