Breaking News

Belarus Forces Airliner to Land and Arrests Opponent, Sparking U.S. and European Outrage

Belarusian authorities scrambled a fighter jet and flagged what turned out to be a false bomb alert to force a Ryanair plane to land on Sunday and then detained an opposition-minded journalist who was on board, drawing condemnation from Europe and the United States.

In what was described by some EU leaders as a hijacking, the passenger plane flying from Athens to Lithuania was suddenly diverted to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, escorted there by a Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jet. On its landing, authorities took journalist Roman Protasevich into custody.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/belarus-forces-vilnius-bound-ryanair-plane-land-detain-blogger-2021-05-23/

Israel, Hamas Agree to Cease-Fire to End Bloody 11-Day War

Israel and Hamas agreed to a cease-fire Thursday, halting a bruising 11-day war that caused widespread destruction in the Gaza Strip, brought life in much of Israel to a standstill and left more than 200 people dead.

https://apnews.com/article/gaza-israel-middle-east-israel-palestinian-conflict-caac81bc36fe9be67ac2f7c27000c74b

‘Shocking and Horrifying’: Israel Destroys AP Office in Gaza

An Israeli airstrike on Saturday destroyed a high-rise building that housed The Associated Press office in the Gaza Strip, despite repeated urgent calls from the news agency to the military to halt the impending attack. AP called the strike “shocking and horrifying.”

https://apnews.com/article/media-israel-middle-east-business-israel-palestinian-conflict-fe452147166f55ba5a9d32e6ba8b53d7

China’s Mars Rover Mission Lands on the Red Plane

The United States now has company on Mars.

A Chinese spacecraft descended through the thin Martian atmosphere and landed safely on a large plain on Saturday morning, state media reported, accomplishing a feat that only two other nations have before.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/14/science/china-mars-rover-landing.html

‘Great Day for America’: Vaccinated Can Largely Ditch Masks

In a major step toward returning to pre-pandemic life, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eased mask-wearing guidance for fully vaccinated people on Thursday, allowing them to stop wearing masks outdoors in crowds and in most indoor settings.

“Today is a great day for America,” President Joe Biden said during a Rose Garden address heralding the new guidance, an event where he and his staff went without masks.

https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-masks-cdc-guidelines-9d10c8b5f80a4ac720fa1df2a4fb93e5

Israel, Hamas Trade Deadly Fire as Confrontation Escalates

A confrontation between Israel and Hamas sparked by weeks of tensions in contested Jerusalem escalated Tuesday as Israel unleashed new airstrikes on Gaza while militants barraged Israel with hundreds of rockets. The exchange killed a number of militants and civilians in Gaza and at least three people in Israel.

https://apnews.com/article/world-news-hamas-middle-east-israel-ad7d5a99e382dcdd3e5df45f33be1b43

Mexico City Metro Overpass Collapses Onto Road; 13 Dead

An overpass in Mexico City's metro collapsed Monday night, sending a train plunging downward, trapping cars under rubble and killing at least 13 people, authorities said.

https://apnews.com/article/mexico-city-mexico-faee07a9250174f58365db6c915476d7

Stampede at Israel Religious Celebration Kills at Least 44

A stampede early Friday at a mountainside religious celebration in Israel that drew tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews left at least 44 people dead and scores more injured.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/29/world/middleeast/israel-mount-meron-stampede.html

India Posts Daily Rise of Over 300,000 COVID-19 Cases, Record Death Toll

India on Thursday reported more than 300,000 coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours, the highest daily global total, while COVID-19-related deaths also jumped by a record.

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/india-posts-daily-rise-over-300000-covid-19-cases-record-death-toll-2021-04-22/

Derek Chauvin is Found Guilty of Murdering George Floyd

Derek Chauvin was found guilty of two counts of murder on Tuesday in the death of George Floyd, whose final breaths last May under the knee of Mr. Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, were captured on video, setting off months of protests against the police abuse of Black people.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/20/us/chauvin-guilty-murder-george-floyd.html

President of Chad Is Killed as Soldiers Clash With Rebels

President Idriss Déby of Chad died of wounds sustained in clashes between insurgents and government soldiers, the country’s armed forces said on Tuesday, one day after he had claimed victory in his re-election campaign.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/20/world/africa/president-chad-killed.html

NASA’s Mars Helicopter Completes First Flight on Another Planet

A small robotic helicopter named Ingenuity made space exploration history on Monday when it lifted off the surface of Mars and hovered. It was the first machine from Earth ever to fly like an airplane or a helicopter on another world.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/19/science/nasa-mars-helicopter.html

Raul Castro Confirms He’s Resigning, Ending Long Era in Cuba

Raul Castro said Friday he is resigning as head of Cuba’s Communist Party, ending an era of formal leadership by he and his brother Fidel Castro that began with the 1959 revolution.

https://apnews.com/article/fidel-castro-miguel-diaz-canel-raul-castro-cuba-be9643a492b1803b67e29c8de467f7e9

Prince Philip, Husband of Queen Elizabeth II, Dies at 99

Prince Philip, the irascible and tough-minded husband of Queen Elizabeth II who spent more than seven decades supporting his wife in a role that both defined and constricted his life, has died, Buckingham Palace said Friday. He was 99.

https://apnews.com/article/prince-philip-dead-at-99-0143185dc6ad526d4bb6357034972bb3

Train Crash Kills 50 in Taiwan’s Deadliest Rail Tragedy in Decades

A Taiwan express train with almost 500 aboard derailed in a tunnel on Friday after hitting a truck that had slid down a bank onto the track, killing at least 50 passengers and injuring 146 in the island’s worst rail disaster in seven decades.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-taiwan-train/taiwan-train-derails-at-least-36-dead-many-injured-idUSKBN2BP07P

Giant Container Ship That Blocked Suez Canal Finally Free

Salvage teams on Monday freed a colossal container ship stuck for nearly a week in the Suez Canal, ending a crisis that had clogged one of the world’s most vital waterways and halted billions of dollars a day in maritime commerce.

Helped by the high tide, a flotilla of tugboats wrenched the bulbous bow of the skyscraper-sized Ever Given from the canal’s sandy bank, where it had been firmly lodged since March 23.

https://apnews.com/article/egypt-suez-canal-48f856c9afed58feb908878c2a495287

US Implicates Saudi Crown Prince in Journalist’s Killing

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince likely approved an operation to kill or capture a U.S.-based journalist inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, according to a newly declassified U.S. intelligence report released Friday that could escalate pressure on the Biden administration to hold the kingdom accountable for a murder that drew bipartisan and international outrage.

https://apnews.com/article/politics-journalists-istanbul-jamal-khashoggi-26c37f6d603737de7509f5ee09ae7f9d

US Tops 500,000 Virus Deaths, Matching the Toll of 3 Wars

The COVID-19 death toll in the U.S. topped 500,000 Monday, a staggering number that all but matches the number of Americans killed in World War II, Korea and Vietnam combined.

President Joe Biden held a sunset moment of silence and a candle-lighting ceremony at the White House and ordered American flags lowered at federal buildings for the next five days.

https://apnews.com/article/us-over-500k-coronavirus-deaths-4ffa86c709f6a843de9cf0711e7215cf

NASA Rover Lands on Mars to Look for Signs of Ancient Life

A NASA rover streaked through the orange Martian sky and landed on the planet Thursday, accomplishing the riskiest step yet in an epic quest to bring back rocks that could answer whether life ever existed on Mars.

https://apnews.com/article/nasa-rover-streaks-towards-mars-62f78481fe746cd7d0e41e28969a2c5a

Conservative Radio Personality Rush Limbaugh Has Died at Age 70

Rush Limbaugh, the conservative commentator whose fiery rhetoric forged a new landscape for talk radio and inflamed the partisan divide that came to characterize political discourse in the U.S., has died, according to an announcement on his radio show Wednesday.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/conservative-radio-personality-rush-limbaugh-has-died-age-70-n1164306