BEIRUT — Yahya Sinwar, the alleged mastermind of the Hamas-led onslaught of just over a year ago in southern Israel that triggered a devastating war, was killed by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip, Israeli officials said Thursday.

Sinwar’s killing in an apparently surprise encounter with Israeli forces is the culmination of a yearlong hunt...Read more

Gov. Ron DeSantis is easing some elections rules this year after officials in several counties asked for emergency relief following back-to-back hurricanes.

The Florida Supervisor of Elections association on Tuesday sent a letter to DeSantis asking him to waive several state requirements in counties that were impacted by hurricanes Helene and ...Read more

Most perfume ads suggest that the right scent can make you sexy, alluring and successful. A blend by Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs, meanwhile, offers to make you smell like Hecate, the three-faced Greek goddess of witchcraft.

As a classics scholar who studies both magic and the senses in the ancient world, this idea of a witch-inspired ...Read more

This Halloween, there are likely to be fewer pint-sized witches going door to door in search of candy. Concerns over the coronavirus have meant that in many places, trick-or-treating is off the menu. In Salem, Massachusetts, the place associated with the infamous witch trials of 1692 and the epicenter of Halloween gatherings, people going to ...Read more

Books have always had the power to cast a spell over their readers – figuratively.

But one book that was quite popular from the 15th to 17th centuries, and infamously so, is literally about spells: what witches do, how do identify them, how to get them to confess, and how to bring them to swift punishment.

As fear of witches...Read more

WASHINGTON — 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline be routed by wireless carriers to local call centers.

Cellphone carriers will be required to use georouting to connect callers to the 988 call center closest to the caller’s physical location, a change intended to streamline connections to local resources and broaden services.

“If we get more ...Read more

DETROIT — Attorney General Dana Nessel's office issued a 14-page letter to law enforcement officials last week, providing legal advice on how police are to enforce state election law in their communities.

The letter, written by Assistant Attorney General Robyn Liddel, outlines Michigan's election laws, provides a phone number for officers to ...Read more

President Joe Biden marked a new milestone in his effort to forgive student loans, as the total number of public servants who have received relief exceeded 1 million since he took office.

The administration on Thursday announced that it has approved $4.5 billion in student-debt cancellation for around 60,000 of the workers. While court ...Read more

Donald Trump urged a Washington federal judge Thursday not to release some evidence about his attempt to overturn his loss in the 2020 election until after Election Day in the 2024 contest, arguing it would taint his trial and the presidential campaign.

Trump’s attorneys made the argument in a bid to keep from the public evidence that special...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Attorneys for the man who admitted to ambushing and killing Sacramento police officer Tara O’Sullivan as she attempted to help a woman collect her belongings from an abusive partner asked jurors on Wednesday to spare him the death penalty.

Adel Sambrano Ramos, 51, sat quietly, long hair pulled back in a ponytail and ...Read more

Colt Gray and his father, Colin Gray, have been indicted by a Barrow County grand jury.

Colt Gray, 14, was indicted on 55 charges for the Sept. 4 mass shooting at Apalachee High School. Charges include: four counts of felony murder, four counts of malice murder, four counts of aggravated battery, 18 counts of cruelty to children in the first ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The rate of youth tobacco use has dropped to its lowest levels in 25 years, new data from the 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey revealed.

The survey, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, found that 2.25 million middle and high school students reported using a tobacco ...Read more

CHICAGO — And on the 7th day, a jury was selected.

After a long week of intensive questioning, a panel of 12 people that will decide the fate of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan was finalized Thursday, although attorneys for both sides still needed to select six alternates to sit for the landmark trial.

The final member of the ...Read more

MIAMI — Two men colluded to operate a faux rideshare service that they used to kidnap, rape and rob inebriated women leaving nightclubs in Miami, according to investigators.

The case began with the February arrest of Danny Estalin Maurad-Avecilla, 49, after a California woman vacationing in Florida said that she ordered an Uber to her Airbnb ...Read more

BEIRUT — Yahya Sinwar, the alleged mastermind of the Hamas-led onslaught of just over a year ago in southern Israel that triggered a devastating war, was killed by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip, Israeli officials said Thursday.

Sinwar’s killing in an apparently surprise encounter with Israeli forces is the culmination of a yearlong hunt...Read more

Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader who orchestrated the Palestinian group’s brutal attack on Israel that triggered war in the Gaza Strip, has been killed, according to Israel’s military. He was thought to be 61 or 62.

He was one of three “terrorists” killed on Wednesday in an Israel Defense Forces operation in the south of Gaza, the ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — More grand jury transcripts released in the case of a Metropolitan Police Department sergeant accused of abusing his power and making unlawful arrests show that while both of his supervisors said they weren’t aware of Kevin Menon’s alleged illegal tactics, his lieutenant was working directly with him during one detention that ...Read more

Israel said an operation in Gaza may have killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, part of a renewed assault against the militant group after more than a year of war in the Palestinian territory.

The Israel Defense Forces said Thursday it’s “checking the possibility” that Sinwar was one of three people killed at a location it didn’t specify. ...Read more

BEIRUT — The Israeli military said Thursday it was checking whether its forces had killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the alleged mastermind of the Oct. 7 attack that killed 1,200 Israelis and captured 250 as hostages.

If confirmed, Sinwar’s killing would be the culmination of a yearlong hunt — involving Israeli and American spy agencies ...Read more

PONTIAC, Mich. — An Oakland County judge on Thursday chastised defense attorneys for the Oxford High School shooter who killed four students in 2021 for allegedly trying to circumvent court rules and extend the amount of time they have to file their briefs to withdraw the shooter's guilty plea and have him be resentenced.

Ethan Crumbley's ...Read more