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The Summary A majority of the Northeast has been plunged into drought after an exceptionally dry and warm start to fall. Nationally, October was one of the driest months on record. Fires have broken out in New Jersey and Connecticut, where fire risk remains high. Dry and unseasonably warm conditions in the Northeast have plunged much of the region into drought, fueling wildfires in New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts. October ended as one of the driest months on record in the U.S., according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Northeast, in particular, saw scant precipitation. Cities such as Philadelphia; Newark, New Jersey; Wilmington, Delaware; and Norfolk, Virginia, recorded no rain at all in October, according to the So...

Voter frustration with their economic lives was central in propelling Donald Trump to a second term. Now, it will be up to Trump to try to change that trajectory and deliver on his sweeping promises of economic revival. Trump will inherit an economy already on relatively solid footing. Inflation has slowed and wages have begun to catch up with higher prices. While companies aren’t hiring at the same breakneck pace as they were coming out of the pandemic, the job market remains strong by historic standards, with low unemployment and around one job opening for every person looking for work. But despite the signs of strength in the economy, the cost of living and overall dissatisfaction with the economy was repeatedly cited as a top concern by voters heading into the election. Housing c...

WASHINGTON — When Donald Trump took office in 2017, he immediately issued a provocative executive order banning travel from Muslim-majority countries that led to chaos, confusion and a flurry of lawsuits that ended up at the Supreme Court. If he wins the election in November, he has pledged to follow a similar course on another contentious policy proposal: ending birthright citizenship. In May of last year, Trump released a campaign video renewing his call to end the long-standing constitutional right, saying he would sign an executive order on day one of his presidency that would ensure that children born to parents who do not have legal status in the U.S. will not be considered U.S. citizens. “The United States is among the only countries in the world that says even if neither p...

The Chinese military has increased its provocative flights around Taiwan by 300% over the last five months, according to the commander of the U.S. Air Forces in the Indo-Pacific Command. In an exclusive interview with NBC News, Gen. Kevin Schneider warned that People’s Liberation Air Force activities have increased dramatically since Taiwan’s new president was inaugurated in May. “Whether it’s coming into the air defense identification zone or crossing the center line within the Taiwan Strait, since the inauguration we have seen a 300% increase in those air activities,” he said. From May 2023 until November 2023, China violated Taiwan’s air defense identification zone 335 times, according to figures released by Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense compiled by NBC News. During tha...

Minnesota jurors on Thursday convicted a man for murdering his girlfriend after he'd warned she could end up like Gabby Petito, the vlogger who in 2021 was also slain by her boyfriend. After nine hours of deliberations in Mankato, 30-year-old Adam Fravel was found guilty of the first-degree murder and other charges in connection to the killing of Madeline "Maddi" Kingsbury, 26. The victim vanished on March 31, 2023 after dropping off her and Fravel’s two children at daycare in Winona. Her body was found on June 7 last year in a wooded area near Mabel, and Fravel was arrested. “As for the verdict today, of course we’re glad of it (but) it’s a bit of a Pyrrhic victory. We’re not going to get Madeline back,” the victim’s father David Kinsgbury told reporters outside court. “F...

The election of Donald Trump as the next U.S. president has triggered a surge of social media posts and internet search interest in South Korea’s fringe feminist "4B" movement, which calls on women to refrain from dating, having sex with men, having kids and marrying men. Across TikTok, dozens of American women disappointed by Tuesday’s election results have posted videos stating their intention to participate in their own version of the 4B trend. There were over 500,000 search inquires for “ 4B movement ” on Google over the span of 48 hours this week, and it became one of the top trending topics on the online search engine. The 4B trend, which began in South Korea 2018 in the wake of the #MeToo movement , has become a way for some women to protest misogyny, gender disc...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed U.S.-born Yechiel Leiter, an official who previously served as chief of staff in the finance ministry, as the next Israeli ambassador to the United States. “Yechiel Leiter is a highly capable diplomat, an eloquent speaker, and possesses a deep understanding of American culture and politics,” Netanyahu said in a statement. His appointment was also welcomed by Yisrael Ganz, the head of the Yesha Council, an umbrella organisation representing councils of Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank , a territory Palestinians want as part of a future state. Ganz said Leiter, who lives in the Gush Etzion settlement area, as “a key partner in English-language advocacy for Judea and Samaria”, a name used by many Is...

The Summary After an election in which abortion rights were a major issue, focus is turning to the policy changes Donald Trump could make as president. Trump has said that he wouldn’t sign a federal abortion ban and that states should decide their own policies. But experts pointed to ways a new Trump administration could restrict abortion nationwide without explicitly banning it. President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in an election in which abortion rights were a heavy focus raises major questions about what might come next for abortion access in the U.S. During the final stages of his campaign, Trump said he thought states should determine their own abortion policies. But his position on the issue has varied widely — in a March interview, he signaled ...

There’s something about an election that is both cleansing — especially for my pre-Election Day email inbox — and, most importantly, clarifying. It’s also the ultimate test of lots of theories of the case — all sorts of them. Which gender gap would matter more? Which side had the best campaign tactically? Which one had the better message? How much does the basic fundamental rule of politics — the perceived state of the economy — trump everything? What matters more: class or identity? Small shifts of the electorate, which turn defeats into victories and vice versa, can either shatter or cement various pieces of conventional wisdom based on the various theories of what moves the electorate in one direction or the other. Note: Thank you for visiting our website! We strive to keep you in...

Rafael was moving west across the Gulf of Mexico on Friday morning as the first major hurricane in the Gulf in November for almost 40 years, bringing the threat of life-threatening conditions to the southern United States coastline. Forecasters said the storm could cause dangerous surf and riptides across the whole Gulf region in the coming days, after causing havoc in Cuba where millions are still without power. As of 4 a.m. ET, Rafael was 585 miles east of the mouth of the Rio Grande with sustained wind speeds of 120 mph, making it a Category 3 hurricane, moving west at a rate of 9 mph, the National Hurricane Center said. Rafael is now tied with Hurricane Kate in 1985 as the strongest storms recorded in the Gulf. The storm is expected to weaken throughout the weekend, ...