The Columbian

Nation & World

This photo taken from video provided by Chincoteague Chamber of Commerce, shows ponies arriving on shore during Chincoteague's 99th Pony Swim in Chincoteague, Va., Wednesday, July 24, 2024.

Thousands watch Chincoteague wild ponies complete 99th annual swim in Virginia

July 25, 2024, 5:35pm Nation & World

Thousands of people gathered in Virginia to watch the Chincoteague wild ponies make their annual swim across the Assateague Channel, the 99th year of the popular tradition. Read story

New Zealand abuse called ‘national disgrace’

July 25, 2024, 5:30pm Nation & World

New Zealand’s independent inquiry into decades of abuse of children and vulnerable adults released a blistering final report Wednesday finding the country’s state agencies and churches failed to prevent, stop or admit to the mistreatment of those in their care. Read story

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan sits on a panel at the 2024 Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference in Sacramento, Calif., Thursday, July 25, 2024. Kagan became the first member of the Supreme Court to call publicly for beefing up the court’s new ethics code by adding a way to enforce it.

Justice Kagan says there needs to be a way to enforce the U.S. Supreme Court’s new ethics code

July 25, 2024, 5:20pm Nation & World

Justice Elena Kagan on Thursday became the first member of the U.S. Supreme Court to call publicly for beefing up its new ethics code by adding a way to enforce it. Read story

People sit on a bench under an intense sun at a park in Tokyo on July 8. Japan’s total population marked its 15th straight year of decline, according to government data released Wednesday.

Japan’s population falls for 15th year, losing 500,000

July 25, 2024, 5:06pm Nation & World

Japan’s total population declined for the 15th straight year in 2023, dropping by more than a half-million people as the population ages and births remain low. Read story

U.N. asks nations to better prepare, cool the vulnerable as ‘extreme heat epidemic’ breaks records

July 25, 2024, 5:05pm Nation & World

After three of Earth’s hottest days ever measured, the United Nations called for a flurry of efforts to try to reduce the human toll from soaring and searing temperatures, calling it “an extreme heat epidemic.” Read story

FILE - A woman fills out a pledge card for the U.S. Census in exchange for a reusable boba tea carton at a boba drink competition in Phoenix on Jan. 3, 2020. According to a new study released in June 2024, adding a citizenship question to the census reduces the participation of people who aren’t U.S. citizens.

Noncitizens are less likely to participate in a census with citizenship question, study says

July 25, 2024, 1:56pm Latest News

Adding a citizenship question to the census reduces the participation of people who aren’t U.S. citizens, particularly those from Latin American countries, according to a new research paper that comes as Republicans in Congress are pushing to add such a question to the census form. Read story

Two men work and stand on a sidewalk on Skid Row, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Los Angeles. California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order Thursday to direct state agencies on how to remove homeless encampments, a month after a Supreme Court ruling allowing cities to enforce bans on sleeping outside in public spaces. (AP Photo/Jae C.

Newsom issues executive order for removal of homeless encampments in California

July 25, 2024, 1:35pm Nation & World

California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order Thursday to direct state agencies on how to remove homeless encampments, a month after a Supreme Court ruling allowing cities to enforce bans on sleeping outside in public spaces. Read story

FILE - In this Friday, Nov. 13, 2015 photo, a pickup truck stirs up dust as it drives along the road between farmlands in Blythe, Calif. Under a new program, farmers of certain forage crops, including alfalfa, will be paid to shut off water to their fields for a short period of time during the hot summer months, which are not peak times for the crop and which won’t affect its long-term viability. (AP Photo/Jae C.

A plan to replenish the Colorado River could mean dry alfalfa fields. And many farmers are for it

July 25, 2024, 1:31pm Nation & World

A plan to help shore up the depleted Colorado River by cutting off water to alfalfa fields in California’s crop-rich Imperial Valley is finding support from the farmers who grow it. Read story

FILE - Flamin’ Hot Cheetos are pictured near the front door of La Azteca Market in South Los Angeles, Aug. 22, 2008. The man who says he invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos filed a lawsuit against his former employers Thursday, July 18, 2024, for fraud, defamation and other violations, saying he was harmed when Frito-Lay and PepsiCo denied his role in creating the popular hot snack.

Spicy dispute over the origins of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos winds up in court

July 25, 2024, 1:23pm Nation & World

A court case could soon settle a spicy dispute: Who invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos? Read story

In this photo released by Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang, left, Laos’ Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith, center, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pose for a photo on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers meeting in Vientiane, Laos, Thursday, July 25, 2024.

Myanmar violence, South China Sea tensions are top issues as Southeast Asian diplomats meet in Laos

July 25, 2024, 10:29am Nation & World

Southeast Asian foreign ministers and top diplomats from key partners including the United States and China are gathering in the Laotian capital on Thursday for the start of three days of talks expected to focus on the increasingly violent civil war in Myanmar, tensions in the South China Sea and… Read story