North America

New York(AP) —Threads, the simple, bare-bones text-based social network created by Facebook owner Meta, burst onto the scene during a particularly bad week for the rival then still known as Twitter. It quickly amassed 100 million signups — a huge feat for a newcomer in the space — and was dubbed as a “Twitter killer.”

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gone was the helicopter, but Donald Trump on Saturday renewed his reputation for defying norms and creating a mega-celebrity’s spectacle at the Iowa State Fair.

Trump, in fewer than two hours on the steaming fairgrounds in Des Moines, attracted thousands of sweating, chanting supporters to his stops at the Iowa Pork Producers tent, a baby farm animal exhibit and a popular Grand Concourse pub.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Democrats are teaming up with the Biden administration and a progressive advocacy group to turn policy efforts to curb “ junk fees ” into a political rallying cry, betting that a small but potentially potent kitchen table issue will resonate with voters.

WASHINGTON (AP) — David McCormick had a clear explanation for why his fellow Republican, Dr. Mehmet Oz, lost a critical Pennsylvania Senate seat last year: Voters viewed the daytime television celebrity as an interloper from New Jersey with limited ties to the state he hoped to represent.

“People want to know that the person that they’re voting for ‘gets it,’” McCormick, who narrowly lost to Oz in a GOP primary, said in March when asked to offer a postmortem of the general election defeat. “And part of ‘getting it’ is understanding that you just didn’t come in yesterday.”

ATLANTA (AP) — Long before the FBI began investigating Donald Trump ‘s hoarding of classified documents or Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special prosecutor to probe the former president, Fani Willis was at work.

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Hawaii’s governor warned that scores more people could be found dead following ferocious wildfires on Maui, as search and rescue crews scoured neighborhoods street by street and prepared to comb through buildings charred by flames that galloped a mile a minute.

The blazes, which consumed most of the historic town of Lahaina, are already the deadliest in the U.S. in more than a century, with a toll of 96. Two fires have not yet been completely contained, according to an update from Maui County late Sunday.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 13 (NNN-SABA) – The United Nations welcomed the release of five of its security personnel, who were kidnapped in Yemen on Feb 11, 2022.

UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, was delighted to learn of the release, his deputy spokesman, Farhan Haq said, adding that, “available information suggests that all five colleagues are in good health.”

The UN chief was profoundly relieved that their ordeal and the anxiety of their families and friends have finally come to an end, Haq said in a statement.

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Smoke still billowed upward in many parts of Maui, the second largest in the chain of islands which make up the state of Hawaii, and Friday's night sky glowed in places where flames leap up from the landscape like the tongues of fire over a funeral pyre.

Five days after the devastating hurricane-driven wildfires dubbed Lahaina, Pulehu and Upcountry Maui Fires, 93 people have been confirmed dead as of Saturday, according to the Maui County.

DEADLIEST WILDFIRES IN MODERN U.S.

KOKOMO, Ind. (AP) — A jury has acquitted one of two brothers charged in a decade-old slaying in north central Indiana.

The jury deliberated less than 90 minutes Friday night before acquitting 36-year-old Jesse McCartney of Kokomo of all charges in the death of 21-year-old Destiny Pittman. She was found shot to death Feb. 7, 2013, at her Kokomo home.

McCartney was charged with two counts of felony murder and other counts including robbery resulting in bodily injury, burglary resulting in bodily injury and conspiracy to commit burglary.

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Republicans in Nevada could have two chances next year to decide who they want to be their party’s presidential nominee. The catch: Only one will count.

The Nevada GOP is insisting on holding its own caucus despite a new state law calling for a primary election, a move critics say is designed to benefit former President Donald Trump. The competing contests are likely to confuse some and require GOP campaigns to spend extra time and money educating voters in one of the earliest states to cast ballots for the presidential nomination.