
Usher to headline the 2024 Super Bowl halftime show in Las Vegas
Usher has a new confession: The Grammy winner will headline the Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show in Las Vegas
2023-09-24 22:24

41-year-old woman found dead after Florida alligator is spotted with a body in its mouth
Florida authorities have identified the woman found dead after an alligator was seen with a body in its mouth.
2023-09-24 21:53

Wagner forces have not withdrawn from Africa in 'meaningful' numbers, defense official says
The US has not seen a withdrawal of Wagner forces from Africa "in any substantial or meaningful numbers," a senior US defense official said, as the Kremlin continues to weigh what to do with the Russian mercenary group following its leader's death last month.
2023-09-24 21:45

Nagorno-Karabakh: Ethnic Armenians leave amid cleansing fear
Azerbaijan captured the area in a flash operation and says it wants to integrate its ethnic Armenians.
2023-09-24 20:59

Toddler, two others killed in shooting at an apartment in Florida
A toddler was among three people killed Saturday night during a shooting at an apartment in Jacksonville, Florida, authorities said.
2023-09-24 20:57

Why New Hampshire is the most likely state where Trump could lose a primary
Former President Donald Trump is a heavy favorite to win the 2024 Republican nomination. He's getting over 60% in a number of national surveys of the GOP primary and holds the advantage in every early state that's been polled.
2023-09-24 20:24

Games-Asia Olympic body backs North Korea flag at Hangzhou despite WADA ban
By Ian Ransom HANGZHOU, China The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) says it is happy for the North
2023-09-24 20:23

Two Palestinian men killed during Israeli incursion in camp near Tulkarem
Two Palestinian men were killed in the early hours of Sunday during an incursion by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in the Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said.
2023-09-24 19:26

High-speed rail was touted as a game-changer in Britain. Costs are making the government think twice
The British government confirmed Sunday it may scrap a big chunk of an overdue and over-budget high-speed rail line once touted as a way to attract jobs and investment to northern England. British media reported that an announcement is expected this week that the line will end in Birmingham – 100 miles (160 kilometers) from London -- rather than further north in Manchester. The Conservative government insists no final decision has been made about the embattled High Speed 2 project. But Cabinet minister Grant Shapps said it was “proper and responsible” to reconsider a project whose costs have ballooned because of high inflation driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. “We’ve seen very, very high global inflation in a way that no government could have predicted,” said Shapps, a former transportation secretary who now serves as the U.K.'s defense minister. “It would be irresponsible to simply spend money, carry on as if nothing had changed,” he told the BBC. The projected cost of the line, once billed as Europe’s largest infrastructure project, was estimated at 33 billion pounds in 2011 and has soared to more than 100 billion pounds ($122 billion) by some estimates. HS2 is the U.K.’s second high-speed rail line, after the HS1 route that links London and the Channel Tunnel connecting England to France. With trains traveling at a top speed of around 250 m.p.h. (400 kph), the new railway was intended to slash journey times and increase capacity between London, the central England city of Birmingham and the northern cities of Manchester and Leeds. Though it drew opposition from environmentalists and lawmakers representing districts along the route, the project was touted as a way to strengthen the north’s creaky, overcrowded and unreliable train network. The government hailed it as a key plank in its plan to “level up” prosperity across the country. The north of England, which used to be Britain’s economic engine, saw industries such as coal, cotton and shipbuilding disappear in the last decades of the 20th century, as London and the south grew richer in an economy dominated by finance and services. The government canceled the Birmingham-to-Leeds leg of HS2 in 2021 but kept the plan to lay tracks on the 160 miles (260 km) between London and Manchester. Former Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a longtime champion of the project, said cutting it back even further “makes no sense at all.” “It is no wonder that Chinese universities teach the constant cancellation of U..K infrastructure as an example of what is wrong with democracy,” Johnson said. Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said people in northern England were “always treated as second-class citizens when it comes to transport.” “If they leave a situation where the southern half of the country is connected by modern high-speed lines, and the north of England is left with Victorian infrastructure, that is a recipe for the north-south divide to become a north-south chasm over the rest of this century,” Burnham, a member of the opposition Labour Party, told British TV channel Sky News. The government has also delayed work on bringing the line all the way to Euston station in central London. When it opens, some time between 2029 and 2033, trains will start and finish at Old Oak Common station in the city’s western suburbs. London Mayor Sadiq Khan said that would create “a ridiculous situation where a ‘high speed’ journey between Birmingham and central London could take as long as the existing route, if not longer.” “The government’s approach to HS2 risks squandering the huge economic opportunity that it presents and turning it instead into a colossal waste of public money,” Khan said in a letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Shapps says HS2 cannot have ‘open-ended cheque’ as Sunak set to wield axe It would be ‘irresponsible’ to keep spending money on HS2, cabinet minister says How the timeline for banning petrol and diesel cars has shifted over the years
2023-09-24 18:49

Karabakh's 120,000 Armenians will leave for Armenia, leadership says
By Felix Light and Guy Faulconbridge NEAR KORNIDZOR, Armenia The 120,000 ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh will leave for
2023-09-24 18:48

California seals its reputation as a climate juggernaut with a wave of legislation and head-turning lawsuit
California Gov. Gavin Newsom drew loud cheers and applause on Wednesday when he spoke at the UN's Climate Ambition Summit in New York, after pointedly calling the climate crisis "a fossil fuel crisis."
2023-09-24 18:16

How a government shutdown could impact Americans
With the government on the brink of a shutdown later this week as Congress remains at an impasse on a funding deal, federal departments and agencies have formally begun the mandatory process of planning to bring nonessential functions to a halt.
2023-09-24 18:15