The Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was awarded Monday to Americans Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their discovery of microRNA, tiny pieces of genetic material that alter how genes work at the cellular level and could lead to new ways of treating cancer. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute, which awarded the prize, said the duo's discovery is “proving to be fundamentally important for how organisms develop and function." “Their groundbreaking discovery r

World News Oct. 7, 2024

BEIRUT (AP) -- Israel carried out a series of massive airstrikes overnight, hitting suburbs of Beirut and cutting off the main border crossing between Lebanon and Syria for tens of thousands of people fleeing Israeli bombardment. The blasts in Beirut's southern suburbs sent huge plumes of smoke and flames into the night sky and shook buildings kilometers away in the Lebanese capital. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on what the intended target was, and there was no informati

World News Oct. 4, 2024

Israel said Saturday that it killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, dealing its most significant blow to the Lebanese militant group after months of fighting. There was no immediate confirmation from Hezbollah. Nasrallah becomes the latest, and by far the most powerful, target to be killed by Israel in weeks of intensified fighting with Hezbollah. The army said that several top Hezbollah commanders were killed along with Nasrallah in a powerful airstrike Friday. The military said it carried o

World News Sept. 28, 2024

The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah’s headquarters in Beirut on Friday in a series of massive explosions that targeted the leader of the militant group and leveled multiple high-rise apartment buildings. At least six people were killed and 91 were wounded, Lebanon’s health ministry said. It was the biggest blast to hit the Lebanese capital in the past year and appeared likely to push the escalating conflict closer to full-fledged war. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was t

World News Sept. 28, 2024

The Federal Reserve's preferred inflation measure on Friday provided the latest sign that price pressures are easing, a trend that is expected to fuel further Fed interest rate cuts this year and next. Prices rose just 0.1 percent from July to August, the Commerce Department said, down from the previous month’s 0.2 percent increase. Compared with a year earlier, inflation fell to 2.2 percent, down from 2.5 percent the previous month and barely above the Fed's 2 percent inflation

World Business Sept. 27, 2024

MOSCOW (AP) — A Soyuz capsule carrying two Russians and one American from the International Space Station landed Monday in Kazakhstan, ending a record-breaking stay for the Russian pair. The capsule landed on the Kazakh steppe about 3 1/2 hours after undocking from the ISS in an apparently trouble-free descent. In the last stage of the landing, it descended under a red-and-white parachute at about 7.2 meters per second (16 mph), with small rockets fired in the final seconds to cushion the

World News Sept. 23, 2024

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military said it struck hundreds of targets Monday in Lebanon in one of the most intense barrages in nearly a year of fighting against the Hezbollah militant group, and military officials said they planned to widen the offensive. The Lebanese Health Ministry said 100 people were killed and more than 400 wounded in what would be the deadliest day in Lebanon since the conflict started in October. Before the escalation beginning with the wave of pager explosions l

World News Sept. 23, 2024

California will make it illegal for social media platforms to knowingly provide addictive feeds to children without parental consent beginning in 2027 under a new law Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Friday. California follows New York state, which passed a law earlier this year allowing parents to block their kids from getting social media posts suggested by a platform’s algorithm. Utah has passed laws in recent years aimed at limiting children’s access to social media, but the

World News Sept. 21, 2024

Israel launched a rare airstrike that killed a senior Hezbollah military official in a densely populated southern Beirut neighborhood on Friday. It was the deadliest such strike on Lebanon’s capital in decades, with Lebanese authorities reporting at least 14 people killed and dozens more wounded in the attack. The Israeli military’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said the strike on Beirut's southern Dahiya district killed Ibrahim Akil, a commander of Hezbollah&rsquo

World News Sept. 21, 2024

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The European Union pledged on Friday to lend Ukraine up to 35 billion euros ($39 billion) as part of a loan package organized by the Group of Seven major industrial nations, as it seeks to help the country rebuild its economy and its war-shattered power grid. G7 leaders agreed in June to engineer a $50 billion loan to help Ukraine in its fight for survival. Interest earned on profits from Russia’s frozen central bank assets would be used as collateral, but progre

World News Sept. 20, 2024

Ukrainian drones struck a large military depot in a town deep inside Russia overnight, causing a huge blaze and prompting the evacuation of some local residents, a Ukrainian official and Russian news reports said Wednesday. Meanwhile, a senior US diplomat said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s recently announced -- but still confidential -- plan for winning the war “can work” and help end the conflict that is now in its third year. Ukraine claimed the strike destro

World News Sept. 18, 2024

HANOI, Vietnam — The death toll in the aftermath of Typhoon Yagi in Vietnam climbed to 233 on Friday as rescue workers recovered more bodies from areas hit by landslides and flash floods, state media reported. Flood waters from the swollen Red River in the capital of Hanoi were beginning to recede, but many neighborhoods remained inundated and farther north, experts were predicting it could still be days before any relief is in sight. Typhoon Yagi made landfall Saturday, setting off heavy

World News Sept. 14, 2024

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris faced each other on the debate stage for the first — and possibly the last — time. The Democratic vice president opened Tuesday night's faceoff with a power move, marching across the stage to Trump’s lectern to shake his hand. “Kamala Harris,” she said, introducing herself as the pair met for the first time ever. “Let’s have a good debate.” “Nice to see you. Have fun,” the former Republican president

World News Sept. 11, 2024

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy arrived in Kyiv on a joint visit Wednesday, as Ukraine presses the West to allow it to use long-range missiles against Russia. The top diplomats reached the Ukrainian capital by train from Poland hours after the US presidential debate during which Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump sparred over the 2 1/2-year war in Ukraine. Blinken traveled from London, where he accused Iran of providing Russia w

World News Sept. 11, 2024

CAPE CANAVERAL (AP) -- A daredevil billionaire rocketed back into orbit Tuesday, aiming to perform the first private spacewalk and venture farther than anyone since NASA's Apollo moonshots. Unlike his previous chartered flight, tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman shared the cost with SpaceX this time around, which included developing and testing brand new spacesuits to see how they'll hold up in the harsh vacuum. If all goes as planned, it will be the first time private citizens conduct a

Technology Sept. 10, 2024