North America

WILLIAMS, Ariz. (AP) — Authorities are trying to determine the cause of a freight train derailment in northern Arizona that heavily damaged 23 cars and a load of new vehicles.

Coconino County Emergency Management officials said the derailment occurred around 11:20 p.m. Wednesday east of Williams, which is 33 miles (53 kilometers) west of Flagstaff.

They said the BNSF train cars were carrying a variety of new cars, vans and truck.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Thursday confirmed Dilawar Syed as deputy administrator of the Small Business Administration, ending more than two years of delays after a blockade by Republicans in the last Congress.

Syed will be the highest-ranking Muslim official in the U.S. government.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a surprising 5-4 ruling in favor of Black voters in a congressional redistricting case from Alabama, with two conservative justices joining liberals in rejecting a Republican-led effort to weaken a landmark voting rights law.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a surprising 5-4 ruling in favor of Black voters in a congressional redistricting case from Alabama, with two conservative justices joining liberals in rejecting a Republican-led effort to weaken a landmark voting rights law.

DENVER (AP) — A woman who received a desperate text from her husband indicating he had been taken hostage said Tuesday that she called 911 but that police did not respond until about an hour later, by which time he had been shot and killed.

On its online police blotter, the Colorado Springs Police Department said it found two deceased adult males on Friday at the location that Talija Campbell said she feared her husband Qualin Campbell was being held by another man. It said the officers responded to a report of a shooting there at 2:09 p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday called off a vote on a contempt of Congress charge against FBI Director Christopher Wray, accepting a last-minute offer by the bureau to allow the full committee access to a confidential document of an unverified tip about President Joe Biden.

Rep. James Comer said in a statement that the committee is removing a contempt resolution against Wray from Thursday’s schedule after receiving an accommodation that would give the full committee access to the document.

NEW YORK (AP) — On air quality maps, purple signifies the worst of it. In reality, it’s a thick, hazardous haze that’s disrupting daily life for millions of people across the U.S. and Canada, blotting out skylines and turning skies orange.

With weather systems expected to barely budge, the smoky blanket billowing from wildfires in Quebec and Nova Scotia and sending plumes of fine particulate matter as far away as North Carolina and northern Europe should persist into Thursday and possibly the weekend.

07 June 2023; MEMO: US Vice President Kamala Harris said that Israel's democracy requires an "independent judiciary", adding her name to the controversy over the judicial amendments proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which sparked massive protests in Israel.

07 June 2023; MEMO: Israel's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, said yesterday, that Israel will sever relations with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) if it is blacklisted by the UN over its mistreatment of Palestinian children.

08 June 2023; MEMO: Some 100 North American congregations, faith groups and organisations have launched the Apartheid Free Communities campaign aimed at ending the crime of apartheid committed by Israel against Palestinians.

The campaign's founding statement said it draws inspiration from the anti-apartheid movement that overthrew the apartheid regime in South Africa.