By Khushi Mandowara and Christy Santhosh Medtronic beat second-quarter profit and revenue estimates and raised its annual earnings

Donald Trump ally Bernie Kerik met Monday with special counsel Jack Smith's investigators who are handling the probe related to the 2020 election aftermath and the January 6, 2021, insurrection.

A missing California teen has been found dead following a violent kidnapping, officials in the Whittier Police Department said. The remains of 19-year-old Andrea Vazquez were found in a vegetation field in Moreno Valley. Vazquez was randomly kidnapped over the weekend while she was in a car with her boyfriend in a Los Angeles park. While Vazquez and her boyfriend were sitting in the parked car at Penn Park, an armed man approached them and began shooting. Vazquez’s boyfriend fled the scene and when he returned, he “discovered blood” near it and Vazquez was gone. “At this time, it appears that Andrea Vazquez and male companion were randomly targeted by the suspect at Penn Park,” police said in a statement. Detectives combed the area of Moreno Valley and made the gruesome discovery on Monday evening. Gabriel Sean Esparza, 20, has been arrested in connection with the crime. Mr Esparza is facing charges of murder and kidnapping and is currently being held without bail. Read More Andrea Vasquez: California woman shot and kidnapped from boyfriend’s car found dead

Magma may have reached very high up in the Earth’s crust, according to Iceland’s meteorological office, which says people will have to “wait in suspense for the next few days” to see how events play out. “While there is still magma flow into the corridor, and while our data and models show that, that probability is imminent, and we really just have to wait in suspense for the next few days to see what happens,” Kristín Jónsdóttir, head of department at the Icelandic Meteorological Office, said. She said the decreasing earthquake activity over the last 24 hours could be a sign that magma has reached very high up in the earth’s crust, adding that the scenario is not unlike what was seen prior to a previous eruption in 2021. The Met Office said magmatic gas has been detected at a borehole in Svartsengi, signalling an imminent eruption of the Fagradalsfjall volcano over the coming days, with the town of Grindavik most at risk. “Hagafell is thought to be a prime location for an eruption,” the forecaster said. An eruption is now feared by many experts to be a case of when, not if. “I do think an eruption will take place, but the big question is when that might happen,” Dr Margaret Hartley, of the University of Manchester, told Live Science. Read More Biggest volcanic eruptions in the last 10 years as Iceland town faces devastation ‘It’s like a dystopian movie’: Iceland residents describe ‘apocalyptic’ scenes as they flee volcano threat Iceland earthquakes: Are flights still running amid fears of volcano eruption? Is it safe to travel to Iceland? Your rights if you have a holiday booked

Ecuador will hold a presidential election Sunday after a campaign marked by the murder of a top candidate and vows to tackle the lawlessness that...

Northwestern University has parted ways with head football coach Pat Fitzgerald, the school announced Monday. The move comes after allegations of hazing within the Wildcats football program.

The group that successfully challenged race-conscious college admissions policies at the U.S. Supreme Court sued the U.S. Naval

In a tragic incident at a San Jose day care facility, two toddlers lost their lives, and another was hospitalized after falling into a pool

New York state education officials have released new guidance about recently enacted regulations that prohibit public schools from using Indigenous team names, logos or mascots.

An American woman says she told her new husband she loved him and was certain they would die when a New Zealand volcano erupted in 2019 killing 22 people

Pope Francis has opened the door for the first time to blessing same-sex unions in a cautious step away from the Catholic Church’s traditional attitude towards gay couples. Maintaining that the Church would crucially not recognise gay marriage, he suggested there could be room for blessings of unions between same-sex Catholic couples distinct from those given at marriages. The Pope made his opinions known in answer to doctrinal questions from five conservative cardinals who challenged him to affirm teaching on homosexuality. Their questions came ahead of a major Vatican meeting where LGBT+ Catholics are on the agenda, and at a time when several progressive priests in a number of countries have begun blessing same-sex couples in defiance of conservative archbishops. The Catholic Church considers homosexuality “intrinsically disordered” and the Pope has long opposed gay marriage, claiming marriage can only happen between a man and woman. However, his remarks could now signal a change in trajectory and represent a shift away from the Church’s traditional intolerance of homosexuality. In a letter, published yesterday, he said: “We cannot be judges who only deny, push back, exclude.” Pope Francis was sent the set of formal questions known as “dubia“ or doubts ahead of the Vatican synod, which will begin on Wednesday to decide the future direction of the Church and the inclusion of LGBT+ Catholics. The Vatican subsequently published a letter Francis wrote to the cardinals on 11 July, where he suggested that such blessings could be considered if they didn’t confuse the blessing with marriage. In his seven-point response, Francis said the Church was very clear that marriages could be only between a man and a woman and that the Church should avoid any other ritual that contradicted his teaching. He said “pastoral charity should permeate all our decisions and attitudes”, adding that “we cannot be judges who only deny, reject and exclude”. “For this reason, pastoral prudence must adequately discern whether there are forms of benediction, requested by one or more persons, that do not transmit a mistaken conception of marriage,” he wrote. “Because when a benediction is requested, it is expressing a request for help from God, a plea to be able to live better, a trust in a father who can help us to live better.” He noted that there are situations that are objectively “not morally acceptable”. The Church teaches that same-sex attraction is not sinful but homosexual acts are. The Pope’s response marks a reversal from the Vatican's current official position. In 2021 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said flat-out that the Church couldn’t bless gay unions because “God cannot bless sin”. New Ways Ministry, which advocates LGBT+ Catholics, said the letter “significantly advances” efforts to make the community welcomed in the Church and is “one big straw towards breaking the camel’s back”. Francis DeBernardo, executive director of the ministry, in a statement, said the pope's words implied “that the church does indeed recognise that holy love can exist between same-gender couples, and the love of these couples mirrors the love of God”. With agency inputs Read More Catholic priests have held a ceremony blessing same-sex couples in defiance of a German archbishop 5 conservative cardinals challenge pope to affirm church teaching on gays and women ahead of meeting Women's voices and votes loom large as pope opens Vatican meeting on church's future Things to know about the Vatican's big meeting on the future of the Catholic Church Clergy abuse survivors propose new 'zero tolerance' law following outcry over Vatican appointment 5 conservative cardinals challenge pope to affirm church teaching on gays and women ahead of meeting

By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK The American journalist Bob Woodward is seeking to end former President Donald Trump's