North America

HONOLULU (AP) — A Hawaiian Airlines flight from Honolulu to Sydney hit severe turbulence, injuring seven people on board.

The plane was carrying 163 passengers and 12 crew members on Thursday when it “encountered unexpected severe turbulence approximately five hours into the flight,” said a statement from the airline.

“The plane just dropped,” passenger Sultan Baskonyali told ABC News. “We weren’t prepared.”

She said she wasn’t yet ready to discuss the turbulence in more detail because she was still upset and emotional about it.

(AP) --- Heavy rains that flooded Chicago neighborhoods, rendered freeways impassable and wreaked havoc on NASCAR street races downtown Sunday are serving as stark reminders of urban centers’ vulnerability during extreme weather events.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A gunman wearing a bulletproof vest opened fire on the streets of Philadelphia on Monday night, seemingly at a random, killing four people and wounding two boys in the latest outbreak of gun violence in the United States, police said.

The shootings took place over several city blocks in the southwestern neighborhood of Kingsessing. Responding officers chased the suspect as he continued to fire, and he was arrested in an alley after surrendering, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said at a news conference.

WASHINGTON, July 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is set to visit Beijing this week, the United States said, marking the second trip by a cabinet official to China since ties between the world’s top two economies deteriorated earlier this year.

Yellen is expected to discuss with her counterparts the importance for both countries “to responsibly manage our relationship, communicate directly about areas of concern, and work together to address global challenges,” said the Treasury Department in a statement.

WASHINGTON, July 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US President Joe Biden has scheduled a diplomatic trip to Europe this month with stops in the United Kingdom, at the NATO summit in Lithuania and to attend meetings in Finland, the White House said.

Biden is set to depart July 9 for Britain, where he will meet with King Charles III and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the White House said in a statement. He will then continue to the NATO summit in Vilnius on July 11-12, followed by a one-day visit to Helsinki for the US-Nordic Leaders Summit.

July 2 (Reuters) - A mass shooting early on Sunday at an outdoor neighborhood block party in Baltimore, Maryland, left two people dead and 28 others injured, about half of them children, as investigators sought the public's help in tracking down multiple suspects, police said.

Authorities offered no motive for the gun violence, which erupted at about 12:35 a.m. local time in a courtyard of grass and pavement between a pair of two-story rowhouse structures in South Baltimore's Brooklyn Homes community.

New York, Jul 3 (PTI) A 50-year-old Indian-origin attorney and a former candidate for the US House of Representatives has been arrested in the US for allegedly defrauding an India-based company of more than USD 5 million and using client funds for personal expenses, the Department of Justice said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will travel to Beijing Thursday as part of an ongoing Biden administration effort to thaw U.S.-China relations, a senior Treasury official said Sunday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Seeking a valid U.S. passport for that 2023 trip? Buckle up, wishful traveler, for a very different journey before you step anywhere near an airport.

A much-feared backup of U.S passport applications has smashed into a wall of government bureaucracy as worldwide travel rebounds toward record pre-pandemic levels — with too few humans to handle the load. The result, say aspiring travelers in the U.S. and around the world, is a maddening pre-travel purgatory defined, at best, by costly uncertainty.

03 July 2023; MEMO: A US judge accused of making racist remarks and "witness interference and tampering" has been removed from his judicial duties in Cook County, Illinois.

Attorney Matthew Fakhoury said in a recent lawsuit that Judge William Hooks made inappropriate and racist comments about Arab-American men in a meeting with prosecutors in January.