Could Marvel's latest supergroup join forces with the Avengers on screen? The Guardians definitely think so.
Torrential rain caused flooding Thursday in southeastern Texas and officials in one county were asking residents to leave. A storm system dumped heavy rain in Montgomery County, on the northern edge of Harris County and Houston. Officials in Montgomery County issued a voluntary evacuation order and said roads were closed because of flooding along the San Jacinto River.
A federal appeals court heard arguments on Thursday over a decades-old Tennessee policy that does not allow transgender people to change the sex designation on their birth certificates. The lawsuit was first filed in federal court in Nashville in 2019 by transgender Tennesseans who say Tennessee’s prohibition serves no legitimate government interest while it subjects transgender people to discrimination, harassment and even violence when they have to produce a birth certificate for identification that clashes with their gender identity. Last year, a federal judge dismissed the case, ruling that while there are varying definitions of “sex,” the term has a very narrow and specific meaning for the purpose of birth certificates in Tennessee: “external genitalia at the time of birth.”
The body of a fifth person was recovered more than a month after the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, officials said.
Russian military personnel have entered an air base in Niger that is hosting U.S. troops, a senior U.S. defense told Reuters, a move that follows a decision by Niger's junta to expel U.S. forces from the country. The military officers ruling the West African nation have told the U.S. to withdraw its nearly 1,000 military personnel from the country, which until a coup last year had been a key partner for Washington's fight against insurgents who have killed thousands of people and displaced millions more. A senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Russian forces were not mingling with U.S. troops but were using a separate hanger at Airbase 101, which is next to Diori Hamani International Airport in Niamey, Niger's capital.
Russian state-affiliated accounts have boosted their use of TikTok and are getting more engagement on the short-form video platform ahead of the U.S. presidential election, according to a study published Thursday by the nonprofit Brookings Institution. The report states that Russia is increasingly leveraging TikTok to disseminate Kremlin messages in both English and Spanish, with state-linked accounts posting far more frequently on the platform than they did two years ago. Such accounts are also active on other social media platforms and have a larger presence on Telegram and X than on TikTok.
The start of the first civil trial stemming from the 2021 Astroworld festival, at which 10 people were killed in a crowd surge, has been delayed. Jury selection had been set to begin next Tuesday in the wrongful-death lawsuit filed the family of Madison Dubiski, a 23-year-old Houston resident who was killed during the crowd crush at the Nov. 5, 2021, concert by rap superstar Travis Scott. “Unless I hear differently, the trial is stayed,” state District Judge Kristen Hawkins said during a court hearing Thursday.
A U.S. regulator's censure of a top U.S. oil executive over private meetings with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) group of oil producers has put a spotlight on dinners attended by dozens of shale executives. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Thursday barred former Pioneer Natural Resources CEO Scott Sheffield from joining the board of Exxon Mobil, which is acquiring Pioneer for $60 billion in stock. The FTC accused the 72-year-old executive of leading a coordinated effort with other U.S. oil firms and with OPEC "to keep production artificially low" and increase oil companies' profits.
The IRS said Thursday that it has taken steps to address a wide disparity in audit rates between Black taxpayers and others filers, and is more closely examining the returns of larger numbers of wealthy people and major companies. “We are overhauling compliance efforts to advance our commitment to fair, equitable, and effective tax administration and hold ourselves accountable to taxpayers we serve," according to an annual update from the agency. A study from January 2023 involving university researchers and the Treasury Department found that IRS data-driven algorithms selected Black taxpayers for auditing at up to 4.7 times the rate of non-Black taxpayers.
The United States will provide nearly $55 million to address a dire humanitarian crisis in Burkina Faso, U.S. aid chief Samantha Power will announce on Thursday, according to a statement seen by Reuters. The aid will address emergency food and nutrition needs as well as other support, Power said. The funds will bring the U.S. Agency for International Development's total emergency aid to Burkina Faso to nearly $158 million since the beginning of fiscal-year 2023.
Pedestrians who are not white ended up in the emergency room for traffic-related injuries at higher rates than white people, according to a new federal report published Thursday. There were more than 137,000 emergency room visits involving a pedestrian injury between January 2021 and December 2023. Asian pedestrians went to the ER 2.23 times more than white people, while Black people went 1.93 times more and Hispanic people 1.7 times more.
What do protesters want? What would divestment from Israel mean in practice? How have schools responded?
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Gangs in Haiti laid siege to several neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince, burning homes and exchanging gunfire with police for hours as hundreds fled the violence early Thursday in one of the biggest attacks since Haiti’s new prime minister was announced. The attacks began late Wednesday in neighborhoods including Solino and Delmas 18, 20 and 24 located southwest of the main international airport, which has remained closed for nearly two months amid relentless gang violence.
The head of Greece's extreme far-right Golden Dawn party was granted conditional early release from prison Thursday, after serving part of his sentence for running a criminal organization blamed for violent hate crimes. A council of judges accepted the request by Nikolaos Michaloliakos, 66, who had served the minimal legal requirement for early release. Restrictions imposed on him include a ban on traveling outside the greater Athens region.
Former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Julio Urías pleaded no contest to one count of misdemeanor domestic battery on Wednesday. According to court records, four other misdemeanor charges against Urías were dropped. Urias had also been facing one count of spousal battery, one count of domestic battery involving a dating relationship, one count of false imprisonment and one count of assault.
The U.S. on Thursday called on both Israel and Hamas to ensure that aid bound for civilians in Gaza is not disrupted, after a shipment from Jordan was attacked by Israeli settlers and subsequently diverted by Palestinian militants. Secretary of State Antony Blinken viewed the aid on Tuesday just before it departed from the headquarters of the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization in Amman bound for the newly opened crossing into Gaza at Erez. The visit was part of a U.S. push to increase the aid getting to civilians in Gaza amid warnings of imminent famine after nearly seven months of war stemming from Hamas's Oct. 7 attacks in southern Israel.
Pollsters found only five states where abortion supporters are in the minority.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre made the election pledge after Trump in Wisconsin placed conditions on accepting the results.
Exxon Mobil's $60 billion deal to buy Pioneer Natural Resources on Thursday received clearance from the Federal Trade Commission, but the former CEO of Pioneer was barred from joining the new company's board of directors. The FTC said Thursday that Scott Sheffield, who founded Pioneer in 1997, colluded with OPEC and OPEC+ to potentially raise crude oil prices.
First lady Jill Biden was opening the White House on Thursday to more than 50 of America's best educators, hosting the 2024 national and state teachers of the year at a fancy dinner to recognize them for their commitment to students and excellence in the classroom. The teachers typically attend a White House ceremony every year after their selection by an organization that represents elementary and secondary school educators.
Global warming has unleashed a cascade of unintended consequences and whipped up climate anxiety. CNN Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir has five tips to weather it.
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