Texas lawmakers have issued 20 articles of impeachment against state Attorney General Ken Paxton, ranging from bribery to abuse of public trust as state Republicans surged toward a swift and sudden vote that could remove him from office

The Asiana Airlines plane landed safely in South Korea after a passenger forced open an emergency door.

TOKYO Japanese startup ispace inc said on Friday the cause of its failed Hakuto-R moon landing mission last

Two top rights groups say the severe restrictions imposed on women and girls by the Taliban in Afghanistan amount to gender-based persecution, which is a crime against humanity

Nepal is celebrating the 70 years since Mount Everest was successfully scaled for the first time

Material collected in a three-day hunt for evidence over the disappearance of Madeleine McCann will be sent to Germany for testing, the Portuguese police have confirmed. Officers concluded their search of the Algarve reservoir on Thursday, where key suspect Christian Brueckner reportedly visited “some days” after the three-year-old vanished on May 3, 2007. Using sniffer dogs and a tractor-based tree-cutter, authorities have been scouring Barragem do Arade reservoir in the Algarve - around 31 miles inland from where the McCanns were staying. On Tuesday, officers acting on “credible information” were said to be seeking any fragments of clothing and old rags that could be related to her disappearance, as reported by the Daily Mail. A source close to the investigation told Reuters there was nothing tangible to report while German prosecutor Christian Wolters played down hopes, adding: “Of course, there is a certain expectation, but it is not high.” Brueckner has denied any involvement and is currently behind bars in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in the same part of Portugal. Read More Madeleine McCann police give update as they end search of Portugal reservoir Police flatten area of woodland and dig holes in Madeleine McCann searches Who is Christian Brueckner? Madeleine McCann suspect and the accusations against him Madeleine McCann case: Timeline of the missing child’s disappearance

California rivers fed by winter’s massive Sierra Nevada snowpack have been turned into cold and deadly torrents, drawing warnings from officials ahead of the Memorial Day weekend's traditional start of outdoor summer recreation

Ten lighthouses that for generations have stood like sentinels along America’s shorelines protecting mariners from peril and guiding them to safety are being given away at no cost or sold at auction by the federal government

Detectives said Patrick Xavier Clark is considered the main suspect due to the 'direction' from where he was seen shooting in the surveillance video

A soft-spoken Republican state lawmaker in Louisiana shot down a bill that would ban affirming healthcare for transgender youth in the state, the sole southern state that has not outlawed gender-affirming care amid a wave of restrictive measures targeting LGBT+ people across the country. State Senator Fred Mills, the chair of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, cast the committee’s tie-breaking 5-4 vote to block the bill’s progress in the GOP-dominated state legislature on 23 May. Following the vote, Mr Mills has faced a barrage of attacks from anti-trans far-right activists on social media, his businesses have received harassing messages, and the Louisiana Republican Party is pressuring state lawmakers to sidestep the committee process and put the bill on the Senate floor for a vote. Louisiana’s House Republicans also plan to sabotage other legislation to send a message to the state Senate. Mr Mills, who is not seeking re-election and delivered congenial farewell remarks to his Senate colleagues on 25 May, appears unfazed. “Anytime you have to break a tie vote, no matter which way you vote, there’s going to be backlash, and this is a national topic,” Mr Mills told the USA Today Network. “I did like I always do. I listened to the debate and made the vote I thought was right. Why would I want to handcuff a doctor and his or her decision? I think they know more about this than politicians.” Anti-trans self-described fascist pundit Matt Walsh issued a threat to his nearly 2 million Twitter followers and claimed that Mr Mills “sided with the butchers and the groomers,” using the transphobic smear to falsely suggest that the St Martin Parish state lawmaker supports pedophilia. “He will regret it,” Walsh said. “This is the biggest mistake of his political career, and also the end of his career. He’s going to be infamous and disgraced by his own base. We’ll make sure of that.” Far-right activist Greg Price with the State Freedom Caucus Network told his followers to “let Senator Mills know how you feel about him single-handedly killing this bill to ban sex changes for kids.” Louisiana is the only state in the US South that has not banned gender-affirming care for trans youth. Nineteen states have enacted legislation to ban gender-affirming care for trans youth, and at least eight other states are considering similar legislation, against the guidance of major medical organisations, including the Americans Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, that recommend affirming treatment for trans youth experiencing gender dysphoria. House Bill 648, authored by Republican state Rep Gabe Firment, would ban health providers in the state from administering affirming care to patients younger than 18, or face the revocation of their professional licence. That care can include hormone replacement therapy and puberty blockers, which are also often prescribed for cisgender or nontransgender youth, as well as social transitioning measures, mental healthcare, and affirming surgeries, which are not recommended under major medical guidelines. A statewide report from the Louisiana Department of Health found that no affirming surgeries were performed on Medicaid-enrolled minors in the state between 2017 and 2021, and the prescription of affirming medications for trans youth within that same time period was also exceedingly rare. Mr Mills said the witness testimony and reporting from the health department persuaded him to vote against the bill. “All the testimony I heard by the proponents that children are getting mutilated, I didn’t see it in the statistics,” he told the Louisiana Illuminator. “Always in my heart of hearts have I believed that a decision should be made by a patient and a physician. I believe in the physicians in Louisiana,” he added. “I believe in the scope of practice. I believe in the standard of care.” After national backlash from far-right groups, the Louisiana Republican Party issued a statement calling for “procedural action that will result in a Senate floor vote” on House Bill 648 to give “all senators” a “chance to weigh in on this pivotal piece of legislation.” “The Republican Party of Louisiana is deeply disappointed in Senator Fred Mills’ tie-breaking vote” to kill the legislation in committee, according to a statement from the party. The bill passed through the state’s House of Representatives by a vote of 71-24. Louisina Trans Advocates said the GOP’s strategy “would be a complete disrespect of the process and would be undemocratic.” The onslaught of legislation and volatile political debate surrounding the bills have also negatively impacted the mental health of an overwhelming majority of young trans and nonbinary people, according to polling from The Trevor Project and Morning Consult. A separate survey from The Trevor Project found that 41 per cent of trans and nonbinary youth have seriously considered attempting suicide over the last year. “When you prescribe hormone therapies to these kids, they get better,” Louisiana psychologist Clifton Mixon told the state Senate health committee this week. “They want to live. They go to school. They get better grades. Their relationships improve, and they can begin to live a more normal teenage life.” Read More DeSantis wants to model America after Florida. Civil rights groups are sounding the alarm on his ‘hostile’ agenda Senator who voted for anti-trans bill that passed by one vote admits she wasn’t paying attention Trans teen misses high school graduation after judge rejects plea Trans rights groups pledge Texas lawsuit over gender-affirming care ban: ‘Anti-science, discriminatory fear-mongering’

The new documentary lifts the darker side of the functioning of the church where children were not allowed to hold hands and other ‘courting’ rituals

Justin Ross Harris, whose murder conviction for the 2014 hot-car death of his 22-month-old son in Georgia was overturned by the state's Supreme Court last year, will not be retried, prosecutors said Thursday.