LOS ANGELES — As lawmakers regrouped Thursday after fiery devastation across Los Angeles, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas vowed to back legislation to help homeowners expedite insurance claims, while Senate leader Mike McGuire delivered a tearful floor speech addressing California's "hellish week."

"Words cannot explain the absolute shock, ...Read more

Keir Starmer will travel to Ukraine in the coming weeks to discuss the possibility of deploying an international peacekeeping force there after the conflict with Russia has ended, his first visit to the war-torn nation since becoming U.K. prime minister half a year ago.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the plan following a ...Read more

Briana Navarro reached for her cellphone and called her grandmother for a third time, hoping she'd pick up and Navarro would hear her tender voice.

But like each time before, the phone rang, the generic voice greeting kicked in and Navarro would hang up.

"No luck," she said, dismayed. "I wish I could hear her voice on that voicemail."

It has ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — In 911 audio recordings released by police on Thursday, hotel guests and onlookers described the New Year’s Day Cybertruck explosion that happened near the entrance of the Trump International hotel.

“I am staying at the Trump hotel here in Las Vegas, and a really big explosion noise went off,” one caller said during the 34-...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A rookie LAPD officer was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence after a bicyclist was struck and killed on Christmas Eve in Ontario, police said.

Aaron Kleibacker, 39, was driving south on Bon View Avenue when his vehicle hit the bicyclist about 7:37 p.m. on Dec. 24, said Corp. Eliseo Guerrero, spokesperson for ...Read more

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s security chief resigned Friday, a week after leading a team that blocked an attempt to arrest the impeached president over his short-lived imposition of martial law.

Park Chong-jun offered to resign earlier in the day as he appeared for police questioning over alleged obstruction of duties last week. His...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The confirmed death toll in the Los Angeles wildfires doubled Thursday night — from five fatalities to 10.

The office of the Los Angeles County medical examiner announced it was investigating 10 fire-related deaths as of 9 p.m. Thursday. No information was available on the identity of the deceased or the location of the deaths...Read more

Officials said they are making progress in protecting two key institutions from the Eaton fire.

Don Fregulia, an operations section chief for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, which has joined in the Eaton fire response, said that efforts to protect Mt. Wilson had proved successful and he expected that to remain the ...Read more

You don’t have to actually freeze to death in order to die of cold.

And according to the Mayo Clinic, people who are dying of cold usually don’t realize it.

As sleet, snow or cold rainfall is expected in metro Atlanta on Friday amid freezing temperatures, Southerners who aren’t used to these conditions need to be careful to protect their...Read more

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump’s vowed crackdown on immigration could strain an already struggling elder care workforce that relies on foreign-born workers in nursing homes and home health settings.

Industry players and experts argue that increasing the long-term care workforce requires more immigration, and Trump’s plans could...Read more

Long before Southern Nevada built its winding highways, desert tortoises roamed freely without consequence. For these federally protected animals, crossing the street without a dedicated path could mean a death sentence.

Along a 34-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 93 near Coyote Springs, fencing and underground tortoise crossings will allow for ...Read more

Each day after outside play time, preschool teacher Dometila Casillas sits her classroom of 3- to 5-year-olds down on a rug to read a story together. Wednesday, she read “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.”

Each time the initially tiny insect eats an additional piece of fruit, Casillas asks the kids, “guess what?”

“He was still very hungry...Read more

CHICAGO — For more than 40 years, migrating birds have been crashing into McCormick Place Lakeside Center.

The glassy, low-lying convention building on the shores of Lake Michigan has been the scene of about 1,000 deadly collisions per year, according to Dave Willard, retired Field Museum bird division collections manager.

In 2023, the death...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Officials said Thursday that at least 10 people were killed and more than 9,000 homes, businesses and other buildings appeared to have been damaged or destroyed in the Palisades and Eaton fires.

Around 5,300 of these structures were destroyed in the Palisades fire, while another 4,000 to 5,000 structures were estimated to be ...Read more

A team of tech-savvy scam artists stole millions in a nation-wide cryptocurrency con that duped unsuspecting victims, including some in New York, searching for remote work into transferring money in the fraudsters’ digital wallets, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced Thursday.

The network of scammers cold-texted their victims, ...Read more

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court won’t block Attorney General Merrick Garland from releasing a special counsel’s report detailing the findings of his criminal investigations into President-elect Donald Trump.

But in a Thursday order rejecting requests by Trump and his former co-defendants to stop the report from becoming public, the ...Read more

ATLANTA — After weeks of pressure from parents and students, and the arrest of a 14-year-old student who allegedly had a weapon at Apalachee High School this week, the Barrow County Board of Education voted Thursday to install weapons detectors in its high schools.

District leaders intended to discuss safety recommendations later this month, ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump said a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin is being set up.

At a meeting with Republican governors at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, the incoming president told a reporter that Putin “wants to meet” and added, “we’re gonna — we’re setting it up.” Any such meeting, were it to happen...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Nick Libonati was drinking Turkish tea with his sister on Tuesday morning as he started his day in Pacific Palisades.

She leaned over to pour the 21-year-old boot salesman more tea in their home office when she glanced out the window.

“She screams, ‘Fire!’” Libonati recalled.

The Los Angeles Fire Department has said ...Read more

BOSTON — An illegal immigrant with a criminal record living in Lowell is in jail on $1 million bail after being charged with raping a girl in Massachusetts beginning when she was 5 years old.

Maynor Francisco Hernandez-Rodas, 38, a citizen of Guatemala, according to the Suffolk District Attorney’s office, faces four counts of aggravated ...Read more