Aurelia Butler

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    Israeli Airstrike in Gaza City Leaves Many Dead, Health Officials There Say

    An Israeli airstrike on a home in a neighborhood in Gaza City left a heavy death toll on Wednesday and others missing, with rescuers struggling to pull people out of the rubble with little equipment, Gaza’s civil defense service said.The Israeli military said it had been targeting a Hamas operative who it said was responsible for planning attacks. It did not name the operative or give further details.A spokesman for the Gazan civil defense service, Mahmoud Basal, said that rescuers had pulled 23 bodies from the destroyed buildings, including those of eight children, with about 20 people still missing. He said the strike had completely destroyed eight homes in Shajaiye, an already hard-hit neighborhood where Israel last week called for evacuations and which housed families who had been displaced from elsewhere in Gaza. Additional airstrikes had targeted other parts of the neighborhood on Wednesday, Mr. Basal said, but rescuers had not yet been able to respond to those strikes.The service’s figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.The site of the airstrike in Shajaiye on Wednesday. Israel last week called for evacuations from the neighborhood, which had already been pummeled.Omar Al-Qattaa/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThe Israeli military says Hamas operatives embed among civilians. On Wednesday, it said that it had taken “numerous steps” to reduce harm to civilians before striking, using aerial surveillance, “other intelligence” and precise weaponry. A New York Times investigation has found that the Israeli military has loosened its rules on how many civilians it can endanger with each airstrike, and experts on international law note that Israel still has an obligation to protect civilians.The Gazan civil defense said that its crews were having difficulty pulling out survivors because they lacked heavy equipment to sift through the debris. We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Bond Sell Off Raises Questions About U.S. Safe Haven Status

    A sharp sell-off in U.S. government bond markets has sparked fears about the growing fallout from President Trump’s sweeping tariffs and retaliation by China, the European Union and others, raising questions about what is typically seen as the safest corner for investors to take cover during times of turmoil.Yields on 10-year Treasuries — the benchmark for a wide variety of debt — shot 0.2 percentage points higher on Wednesday, to 4.45 percent, a big move in that market. Just a few days ago, it had traded below 4 percent. Yields on the 30-year bond rose significantly as well, at one point on Wednesday topping 5 percent. Borrowing costs globally have also shot higher.The sell-off comes as investors have fled riskier assets globally in what some fear has parallels to what became known as the “dash for cash” episode during the pandemic, when the Treasury market broke down. The recent moves have upended a longstanding relationship in which the U.S. government bond market serves as a safe harbor during times of stress.Volatility has surged as stock markets have plummeted amid fears that the U.S. economy is hurtling toward stagflation, in which economic growth contracts while inflation surges. The S&P 500 is now on the verge of entering a bear market, meaning it has dropped 20 percent from its recent high.“The global safe-haven status is in question,” said Priya Misra, a portfolio manager at JPMorgan Asset Management. “Disorderly moves have happened this week because there is no safe place to hide.”Scott Bessent, the U.S. Treasury secretary, sought to tamp down concerns on Wednesday, brushing off the sell-off as nothing more than investors who bought assets with borrowed money having to cover their losses.“I believe that there is nothing systemic about this — I think that it is an uncomfortable but normal deleveraging that’s going on in the bond market,” he said in an interview with Fox Business.But the moves have been significant enough to raise broader concerns about how foreign investors now perceive the United States, after Mr. Trump decided to slap onerous tariffs on nearly all of its trading partners. Some countries have sought to strike deals with the administration to lower their tariff rates. But China retaliated on Wednesday, announcing an 84 percent levy on U.S. goods after Mr. Trump raised the tariff rate on Chinese goods to 104 percent.In a social media post on Wednesday, the former U.S. Treasury secretary Lawrence H. Summers said the broader sell-off suggested a “generalized aversion to US assets in global financial markets” and warned about the possibility of a “serious financial crisis wholly induced by US government tariff policy.”“We are being treated by global financial markets like a problematic emerging market,” he wrote. More

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    Lawyers for Venezuelans Challenge Alien Enemies Act Deportations in Texas

    Broadening their efforts to stop the Trump administration from using a rarely invoked wartime statute to carry out deportations, lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday asked a federal judge in Texas to bar the White House from using the law to send Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador.The filings by the A.C.L.U., submitted in Federal District Court in Brownsville, Texas, were in direct response to a Supreme Court decision on Monday. That ruling permitted the migrants to challenge efforts to deport them under the wartime law, known as the Alien Enemies Act, but only in the place they were being held.The three Venezuelans identified in the Texas filings — albeit only by their initials — had already secured a court order from a federal judge in Washington last month shielding them from being flown to El Salvador under President Trump’s invocation of the act. But the Supreme Court, in its ruling, vacated the order by that judge, James E. Boasberg, saying that the A.C.L.U.’s case on behalf of the men should have been filed in Texas, not Washington.On Tuesday, the A.C.L.U. filed a similar case in New York, noting that two of the Venezuelans subject to Mr. Trump’s proclamation had been moved from a detention center in Texas to one in the town of Goshen, in Orange County, N.Y. An emergency hearing has been scheduled in that case for Wednesday morning in Federal District Court in Manhattan.Mr. Trump’s efforts to use the Alien Enemies Act to deport scores of Venezuelan migrants have set off one of the most contentious legal battles of his second term. It began last month, after the president invoked the act, which has been used only three times since it was passed in 1798, to authorize the deportation of people he claims were members of Tren de Aragua, a violent Venezuelan street gang.The A.C.L.U. immediately challenged Mr. Trump’s use of the act in court filings in Washington, even as the administration rushed more than 100 Venezuelan migrants on to planes to El Salvador. Once there, they were put in a megaprison called CECOT, known for its brutal conditions.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Britain Lost Out on Euro Disney. Now It’s Getting a Universal Theme Park.

    A yet-to-be-named Universal Studios theme park will be the country’s largest tourist attraction when it opens in 2031. But studio executives have not yet said which characters will be featured.Universal Studios will build its first European theme park in Bedfordshire, England, studio officials said Wednesday, previewing a sprawling resort that could combine iconic American brands like “Jurassic Park” with classic British characters like Paddington Bear, Dr. Who and Harry Potter.Set to open in 2031, British officials said the yet-to-be-named theme park would be Britain’s largest single tourist attraction. Executives at Comcast, Universal’s parent company, said the 476-acre complex would include themed lands, rides, a 500-room hotel, shops and dining.Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, hailed the announcement as a boost for his country’s sluggish economy and an example of his government’s attempt to cut through the red tape that has long made it costly and difficult to complete complex projects in Britain.“Today we closed the deal on a multibillion-pound investment that will see Bedford home to one of the biggest entertainment parks in Europe,” Mr. Starmer said in a statement, adding that the project would create around 28,000 jobs.The theme park, which Mr. Starmer said would generate nearly $64 billion (£50 billion) in revenue for the area by 2055, is a rare bright spot at a moment when the British economy has been barely growing.But it will be years before the doors open to the public as the company transforms what is a bare piece of land about 35 minutes north of London by train. That delay creates the kind of uncertainty that has sometimes doomed previous theme park efforts.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Delta Warns Trump’s Trade War Could Lead to a Recession

    Delta Air Lines on Wednesday became one of the largest American companies to warn that President Trump’s escalating trade war was weighing on its business and the global economy.In an interview with CNBC on Wednesday, Delta’s chief executive, Ed Bastian, said a recession was possible as companies pulled back spending.“Everyone’s being prepared for uncertainty,” he said, “if that continues, and we don’t get resolution soon, we will probably end up in a recession.”Airlines are highly sensitive to changes in the economy because air travel is among the first things that individuals and businesses can cut back on when they are worried about their paychecks or profits.Mr. Bastian expressed shock at the speed at which the trade tensions had taken the wind out of the economy.“We’re in uncharted, unprecedented uncertainty, when you look at what’s happened and the pivot so quickly to this self-inflicted situation,” he said.Mr. Bastian’s comments are at odds with those of the Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, who said on Wednesday that chief executives had told him the economy was solid.In its first-quarter earnings release, Delta said it no longer expected its business to grow in the second half of the year and added that a lack of the clarity about the economy prevented it from telling investors how much money it expects to make this year.Mr. Bastian said summer bookings were in line with last year. Some customs data show a sharp decline in foreigners entering the United States. Mr. Bastian said around 80 percent of Delta’s international bookings are made in the United States. “U.S. consumers are looking to go somewhere, particularly to try to get a reprieve from all the craziness we’re going through,” he said.Delta’s shares have fallen around 40 percent this year. More

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    Trump Administration Freezes $1 Billion for Cornell and $790 Million for Northwestern, Officials Say

    The Trump administration has frozen more than $1 billion in funding for Cornell and $790 million for Northwestern amid civil rights investigations into both schools, two U.S. officials said.The funding pause involves mostly grants from and contracts with the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Education and Health and Human Services, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the unannounced decision.The moves are the latest and largest in a rapidly escalating campaign against elite American universities that has resulted in roughly $3.3 billion in federal funds being suspended or put under review in just over a month. Other schools that have had funds threatened include Brown, Columbia, Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton.Cornell and Northwestern are both facing investigations into allegations of antisemitism and into accusations of racial discrimination stemming from their efforts to promote diversity.Cornell officials said in a statement that they had received more than 75 stop-work orders from the Defense Department on Tuesday, but that they had no information to confirm that more than $1 billion in funding had been suspended. The affected grants, they said, supported research that they described as “profoundly significant to American defense, cybersecurity and health.”“We are actively seeking information from federal officials to learn more about the basis for these decisions,” according to the joint statement from Michael Kotlikoff, the university president; Kavita Bala, the provost; and Robert Harrington, provost for medical affairs.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Another Rocky Day in Markets: Stocks in Asia Resume Their Slide

    With the S&P 500 nearing a bear market, shares in Asia decline as China and other major U.S. trading partners await the start of significantly higher tariffs.Market turmoil extended into Wednesday’s trading session in Asia, as stocks across the region faced renewed downward pressure amid the impending imposition of significantly higher taxes on imports to the United States.Benchmark indexes in Japan and Hong Kong opened down more than 3 percent on Wednesday morning, following a day on Wall Street when stocks whipsawed. The S&P 500 ended near a bear market, which is a 20 percent drop from a recent peak — a symbolic, and relatively rare and worrisome threshold for investors.Stocks slumped across Asia in early trading on Wednesday. The declines were less pronounced in mainland China, South Korea and Taiwan, where indexes fell between around 1 and 2 percent.President Trump uprooted investors last week with the announcement of tariffs on countries across the world. Significantly higher American import taxes on goods from dozens of other countries were set to take effect at 12:01 a.m. ET on Wednesday.After Tuesday’s drop, the S&P 500 closed 18.9 percent below its mid-February record, having plunged more than 12 percent just in the days since Mr. Trump announced his new tariffs. S&P 500 futures, which let investors bet on the direction of the index when it resumes trading in New York, were about 1 percent lower.Administration officials appeared to leave the door open for negotiations that could ultimately defuse the trade war, citing the fact that dozens of countries had approached the U.S. government in recent days to strike deals. But White House officials have sought to set a high bar for what the president is willing to accept, marking a shift in tone after Mr. Trump and his aides initially signaled they would not haggle over tariffs at all.“If they come to us with really great deals that advantage American manufacturing and American farmers, I’m sure he’ll listen,” Kevin Hassett, the director of the White House National Economic Council, said in an interview on Fox News.But, he added, “after decades and decades of mistreating American workers, it’s going to be tough to get him to decide to really come to the table and sign on the dotted line.”Since Mr. Trump’s announcement last week of new tariffs, including a base tax of 10 percent on virtually all American imports, countries have responded with tariffs of their own on U.S. goods, or with threats of retaliation.China, the world’s second-largest economy, retaliated with 34 percent tariffs on American goods that are set to take effect at noon ET on Wednesday.Earlier this week, Japan emerged as the first major economy to secure priority tariff negotiations with the Trump administration. The news triggered a brief surge in Tokyo-listed stocks before they resumed their decline on Wednesday. More

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    3 Are Killed in Shooting Near Fredericksburg, Va., Authorities Say

    Three others were injured in the shooting, which occurred on a suburban street in Spotsylvania County, about 60 miles southwest of Washington, D.C.Three people were killed and three others were wounded in a shooting on a residential street just outside Fredericksburg, Va., on Tuesday, the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office said.The authorities said that the shooting may have been carried out by more than one attacker, and that no one had been taken into custody. A motive was not immediately clear, but a spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office said that the shooting had not arisen from a domestic dispute.The shooting was reported around 5:30 p.m. on Olde Greenwich Circle, a street of modest townhouses in Spotsylvania County about 60 miles southwest of Washington, D.C., the sheriff’s office said. People in the immediate area were urged to stay indoors, and others were told to avoid the area.The ages of the victims were not known. The injured victims were taken to area hospitals, the sheriff’s office said in a statement. A bystander’s video showed what appeared to be two bodies covered in white sheets several yards apart on the pavement outside a row of houses.“We still have an active, ongoing investigation with no suspects in custody,” Major Scott said. Residents who live on or near Olde Greenwich Circle were urged to stay indoors.Fredericksburg City Public Schools said the start of classes would be delayed by two hours on Wednesday, citing “the profound impact this incident has had on members of our school community.”Reports of the shooting drew a heavy police response. A video posted on social media showed officers marching through a wooded area with their guns drawn.Andrea Staples, a receptionist at Strictly Ballroom, a dance studio in a shopping plaza near Olde Greenwich Circle, said a student had called at around 6:30 p.m. after leaving class to alert them to the shooting and the shelter-in-place advisory.“I locked the door and went and checked the back,” Ms. Staples said.A class was in session at the time, she said, and the students sheltered in place until about 8 p.m.“We will be here all night until we find the suspects,” Major Scott said. More