AMMAN, Jordan — As the 11th-hour ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran came into effect on Wednesday, Middle East governments welcomed the cessation of hostilities even as Israel continued to pound wide swaths of Lebanon.

Regional countries are breathing a sigh of relief after Washington and Tehran announced Tuesday night that they ...Read more

Bond traders boosted wagers that the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates this year as a U.S.-Iran ceasefire sent oil tumbling.

Treasuries rallied along with other government debt markets, paring losses since the war began Feb. 28. The energy price surge it caused threatened to stoke inflation and cause central banks either to delay ...Read more

The U.S. and Iran said they are prepared to hold talks to end the war in the Middle East during a proposed two-week pause in hostilities, even as Israeli strikes on Lebanon threatened to derail the fragile truce.

Further adding uncertainty, sporadic fighting continued throughout the region and the Strait of Hormuz remained largely blocked. ...Read more

NEW YORK — Accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann admitted in a Long Island court Wednesday to murdering eight young women during a nearly two-decade spree — after adamantly denying the charges against him since he was arrested in 2023.

Heuermann, 62, pleaded guilty to slaying the eight victims before State Supreme Court Justice ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — When she ran for mayor four years ago, Karen Bass said she wanted to regrow the Los Angeles Police Department to the 9,500-officer force it was before the ranks began to shrink. Now up for reelection — and facing a budget crunch — Bass says her plan has shifted.

The aim going forward, she told The Times in a recent interview...Read more

MIAMI — A Haitian immigrant has confessed to fatally beating a woman to death with a hammer last week at the Fort Myers convenience store where she worked, according to police and court records. Rolbert Joachin is now facing murder charges in Lee County.

The case has become the latest flashpoint in immigration politics because Joachin had ...Read more

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Three years after Illinois passed a sweeping assault weapons ban in the wake of Highland Park’s Fourth of July mass shooting, state lawmakers are weighing another measure aimed at the firearms industry: requiring some gun manufacturers to redesign pistols so they can’t be easily converted into automatic weapons.

The ...Read more

In his attempts to position himself at the confluence of money and power, Jeffrey Epstein cultivated myriad relationships among the ruling elite of the Middle East, according to an extensive Miami Herald review of several million pages of documents recently released by the U.S. Justice Department.

From his Palm Beach and New York mansions and ...Read more

In NATO’s glass and steel corridors, calls and texts were coming in from European governments: Mark Rutte needs to tone it down. This isn’t our war.

Less than 48 hours earlier, on Feb. 28, European leaders had watched in shock as the U.S. and Israel pummeled Iran without consulting their allies. Across the continent, leaders anxiously ...Read more

The U.S. and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire and Tehran pledged to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a last-ditch deal that saw President Donald Trump vow to pursue talks rather than escalate the war.

Trump announced the agreement on Tuesday night, shortly after mediator Pakistan implored him to rethink a threat to unleash massive devastation on...Read more

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared victory in the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran on Wednesday, a day after Washington and Tehran agreed to a two-week ceasefire.

“Operation Epic Fury was a historic and overwhelming victory on the battlefield,” Hegseth said, using the Pentagon’s name for the war against Iran.

Hegseth spoke after ...Read more

The U.S. and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire and Tehran pledged to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a last-ditch deal that saw President Donald Trump vow to pursue talks rather than escalate the war.

Trump announced the agreement on Tuesday night, shortly after mediator Pakistan implored him to rethink a threat to unleash massive devastation on...Read more

Public health institutions are under threat by populist governments across the globe.

From Budapest to Jakarta, Indonesia, public health agencies are being stripped of funding and independence. Meanwhile, disinformation has sown distrust in scientific experts. The results are already visible through the return of diseases once thought...Read more

The urban monkeys in New Delhi are so bold they’ll steal the lunch right off your plate. If you’ve spent time in New York, you’ve probably seen squirrels try to do the same. Sydney’s white ibises got the nickname “bin chickens” for stealing trash and sandwiches.

This brazen behavior isn’t normal for most species in the ...Read more

When a drought turns into an urban water crisis, a city’s first step is often to limit lawn watering and launch a campaign to encourage everyone to conserve. It might raise water-use rates or offer incentives for installing low-flow devices.

While demand management techniques like these have had a lot of success in reducing water ...Read more

MIAMI — Martin Hochheiser was overjoyed when nurses told him he was going home to his North Miami Beach condo after a brief hospital stay — until the medical van began veering west toward Hialeah.

His dread turned to panic when Hochheiser, 79, was unloaded at Villa Rosa III, a 48-bed assisted living home with peeling paint, burglar bars, ...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A criminal probe into the Hope Florida Foundation is likely concluded, but the state-created charity could soon pique the interest of the Internal Revenue Service when it files its tax return.

The foundation’s financials, due May 15, should include the charity’s accounting for the $10 million it received from a state ...Read more

California lawmakers on Tuesday moved forward on a bill that could lead to the re-introduction of grizzly bears to the state, more than a century after the quarter-ton predators were hunted into local extinction.

The measure, which is backed by two Native American tribes, calls for a comprehensive study on the feasibility of bringing back the ...Read more