1 Dead After 2 Explosions Hit Japanese City; Cause Unclear

A Texas Democratic lawmaker who broke with her party by supporting a ban on gender-affirming care for minors was ousted in a primary runoff that galvanized LGBTQ+ groups nationwide who then campaigned for her opponent in the race for the south Houston seat. Rep. Shawn Thierry’s defeat followed four terms in which the Houston lawmaker typically joined her fellow Democrats on major issues, including voting against aggressive immigration measures demanded by Republican Gov.

McDonald’s is fighting back against viral tweets and media reports that it says have exaggerated its price increases. In a post on the company’s website Wednesday, McDonald’s U. S. President Joe Erlinger said reports suggesting the price of the average Big Mac has doubled since 2019 were false. McDonald’s said the average U.

Grindavik, Iceland — A volcano in southwestern Iceland erupted Wednesday for the fifth time since December, spewing red lava that once again threatened the coastal town of Grindavik and led to the evacuation of the popular Blue Lagoon geothermal spa. The eruption began in the early afternoon following a series of earthquakes north of the town of 3,800 people that was largely evacuated in December when the volcano came to life after centuries of dormancy and put on an impressive show of nature’s power. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Although activity began to calm down by early evening, initial estimates found the eruption was the most vigorous in the area so far, as lava shot 50 meters (165 feet) into the sky from a fissure that grew to 3.5 kilometers (2.1 miles) in length, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said. [video id=ogHf0h2W autostart="viewable" vertical] Barriers built to protect Grindavik deflected the flowing lava that cut off two of the three roads leading to town and was close to reaching the third. “It’s a much larger volume that’s on the move right now headed for town,” Grindavik Mayor Fannar Jónasson told national broadcaster RUV.

Nearly 45 million Instagram users—including celebrities like Bella Hadid and Nicola Coughlan—have shared an AI-generated image depicting tent camps for displaced Palestinians and a slogan that reads “all eyes on Rafah,” according to a Wednesday afternoon count by Instagram. The sharing of the post comes amid criticism from the international community regarding Rafah, which rests on the southern Gaza Strip near the Egyptian border, and has been the subject of intense bombing by Israeli troops.

Swifties flocked to the social media platform X on Wednesday to demand that Taylor Swift “Speak Now” on Gaza, calling out her silence on the ongoing conflict. The hashtag #SwiftiesForPalestine was trending on X, garnering nearly 80,000 posts by Wednesday afternoon. The online callout comes after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah killed at least 45 Palestinians over the weekend, sparking international outrage.

Seoul, South Korea — North Korea flew hundreds of balloons carrying trash and manure toward South Korea in one of its most bizarre provocations against its rival in years, prompting the South’s military to mobilize chemical and explosive response teams to recover objects and debris in different parts of the country. The balloon campaign came as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un urged his military scientists to overcome a failed satellite launch and continue developing space-based reconnaissance capabilities, which he described as crucial for countering U.