Millions in North America kicked off 2026 with bitterly cold temperatures, with many saying it’s been years since they’ve experienced such frigid winter weather.
Mayor says Japanese city will respect donor’s specification that £2.7m gift must be used to repair dilapidated system
Osaka has received a hefty gift of gold bars worth 560m yen (£2.7m) from an anonymous donor and a request for its specific use: to fix the Japanese city’s dilapidated water pipes.
The gold bars, weighing a total of 21kg (46lb), were given to the Osaka City Waterworks Bureau in November by the donor who wants to help improve ageing water pipes, the mayor, Hideyuki Yokoyama, told reporters on Thursday.
The formal declaration of innocence could also be a key step for the men and their families if they seek financial compensation for years they spent incarcerated or struggled to live under a cloud of suspicion.
Long-serving socialist former leader Evo Morales has reappeared in his political stronghold after almost seven weeks of unexplained absence
Bolivia’s long-serving socialist former leader, Evo Morales, reappeared on Thursday in his political stronghold of the tropics after almost seven weeks of unexplained absence, endorsing candidates for upcoming regional elections and quieting rumours he had fled the country in the wake of the US seizure of his ally, Venezuela’s ex-president Nicolás Maduro.
The weeks of hand-wringing over Morales’ fate showed how little the Andean country knows about what’s happening in the remote Chapare region, where the former president has spent the past year evading an arrest warrant on human trafficking charges, and how vulnerable it is to fears about US president Donald Trump’s potential future foreign escapades.
Idaho authorities are looking for a suspect who allegedly stole an ambulance from St. Luke’s hospital and later crashed into an office building that houses U.S. Department of Homeland Security offices.
‘Make America Safe Again’ banner put up in striking symbol of president’s control over top US law-enforcement agency
A large banner featuring Donald Trump’s face was hung on the exterior of headquarters of the Department of Justice on Thursday in a physical display of the president’s efforts to exert power over the law enforcement agency that once investigated him.
While Trump banners have been hung outside other agencies across Washington, the decision to place one on the storied justice department building amounted to a striking symbol of the erosion of the department’s tradition of independence from White House control.
The Chicago Bears’ potential move to Indiana took another step forward on Thursday when a key committee approved a plan to create an agency that would help get a stadium built.
The Indiana House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee passed a bill establishing a Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority to finance, construct and lease a stadium by a 24-0 margin. The Bears are looking at a tract of land near Wolf Lake in Hammond, Indiana.
Bruce Meyer promoted to interim executive director
New labor deal negotiations with owners looming
Bruce Meyer was promoted to interim executive director of the baseball players’ association on Wednesday, a day after Tony Clark’s forced resignation. It was a move for continuity ahead of the likely start in April of what figures to be contentious collective bargaining with team owners.
Clark is a former All-Star first baseman who had headed the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) since 2013. He resigned on Tuesday, just months ahead of the expected start of bargaining for a new labor contract. The current deal expires on 1 December.
The local declaration is asking the president to issue a Presidential Emergency Disaster Declaration. It seeks full reimbursement for the money the city and local utility DC Water are spending on repairs.
Depop, which is owned by Etsy, has 7 million active buyers on its marketplace, nearly 90% of whom are under the age of 34
Online seller eBay has agreed to purchase secondhand fashion marketplace Depop from Etsy for about $1.2bn in cash, the companies announced on Wednesday, with eBay hoping the acquisition will help it capture a younger demographic.
The deal comes at a time when used clothing has become increasingly popular, sought out by Gen Z shoppers searching for unique items that cost less than new ones, and who want to keep older items from heading to landfill.
Australian finishes second behind China gold medallist Xu Mengtao
Skier makes ‘heartbreaking’ call for loved ones not to join her in Livigno
Australian freestyle skier Danielle Scott told her family and friends last month to cancel their plans to watch her compete at the Olympics because she was feeling so low about her form.
That meant the aerials veteran’s loved ones, husband Clark aside, weren’t in Livigno to watch the four-time Olympian achieve a lifelong dream when she finally clinched a medal on Wednesday.
Dangerous days have nearly tripled in past 45 years – and increase largely driven by human-made warming
The number of days when the weather gets hot, dry and windy – ideal to spark extreme wildfires – has nearly tripled in the past 45 years across the globe, with the trend increasing even higher in the Americas, a new study shows.
And more than half of that increase is caused by human-caused climate change, researchers calculated.
With NHL players returning to the Winter Olympics for the first time since 2014, these Games were expected to be a relative stroll for Canada and USA. However, both star-packed teams struggled in Wednesday’s men’s ice hockey quarter-finals.
Quinn Hughes scored in overtime to put the US past Sweden 2-1 after giving up the tying goal to Mika Zibanejad with 91 seconds left in the third period. Dylan Larkin deflected Jack Hughes’ shot in for the only US goal in regulation.
Alberto Castañeda Mondragón was hospitalized with eight skull fractures after being arrested by ICE agents in January
Minnesota and federal authorities are investigating the alleged beating of a Mexican citizen by immigration officers last month, seeking to identify what caused the eight skull fractures that landed the man in the intensive care unit of a Minneapolis hospital.
Investigators from the St Paul police department and FBI last week canvassed the shopping center parking lot where Alberto Castañeda Mondragón says Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents pulled him from a vehicle, threw him to the ground and repeatedly struck him in the head with a steel baton.
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