North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's (NATO) 30 allies signed accession protocols for Sweden and Finland on Tuesday, kickstarting the process to admit the two Nordic countries into the alliance. Foreign Minister of Finland Pekka Haavisto and Foreign Minister of Sweden Ann Linde attended the signing ceremony, Xinhua reported. "With 32 nations around the table, we will be even stronger and our people will be even safer, as we face the biggest security crisis in decades," declared NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in a press conference after the signing ceremony. This summit comes as Turkey

Highland Park's police chief said the 22 year old man identified as a person of interest in the shooting that killed at least six people, wounded at least 30 and send hundreds of people fleeing from an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago has been taken into custody. Police earlier Monday said Robert E. Crimo III should be considered armed and dangerous. The city's police chief says he was pulled over by an officer on Monday evening after a brief pursuit. Lake County Major Crime Task Force spokesman Christopher Covelli said at a news conference that the gunman used a high-powered rifle

Police say at least six people are dead and 24 were wounded in a shooting at a July Fourth parade in a Chicago suburb, and officers are searching for a suspect who likely fired on the festivities from a rooftop. Highland Park Police Commander Chris O'Neill urged people to shelter in place as authorities search for the suspect, described as a white male wearing a white or blue T-shirt. Lake County Major Crime Task Force spokesman Christopher Covelli said at a news conference that the gunman apparently opened fire on parade-goers from a rooftop Monday morning using a rifle that was recovered at

As many as six people were killed and 24 were hospitalized in a shooting at the July 4th parade route in north suburban Highland Park in Illinois. All individuals are advised to shelter in place. Law enforcement agencies are searching for the suspect; evidence of a firearm has been recovered. Independence Day parade in Highland Park, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago, erupted in panic when shots were fired about 10 minutes after the parade kicked off, according to media reports. At least 25 shots were fired at an Illinois Fourth of July parade; a reporter saw five people bloodied. Source

Singaporean President Halimah Yacob on Monday said that she had tested positive for COVID-19 with mild flu-like symptoms. Yacob confirmed on her Facebook post that she was just tested positive for COVID-19 with mild flu-like symptoms, reported Xinhua. "Thankfully, I have been vaccinated and boosted. I hope to recover soon and am sorry to have to miss the events this week," she stated in a Facebook post. Also on Monday evening, Singapore's Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin also said that he was tested positive for COVID-19. "All good things must come to an end. My COVID-free days are over,"

Ketanji Brown Jackson has been sworn in to the Supreme Court, shattering a glass ceiling as the first Black woman on the nation’s highest court. The 51-year-old Jackson is the court’s 116th justice and she took the place Thursday of the justice she once worked for. Justice Stephen Breyer’s retirement took effect at noon. Jackson took two oaths during the livestreamed event: a constitutional oath, administered by Chief Justice John Roberts, and a judicial oath, administered by Justice Stephen Breyer. Biden nominated Jackson in February, fulfilling a campaign promise to nominate the firs

Facebook and Instagram have begun promptly removing posts that offer abortion pills to women who may not be able to access them following a Supreme Court decision that stripped away constitutional protections for the procedure. Memes and status updates explained how women could legally get abortion pills in the mail. Some even offered to mail the prescriptions to women living in a state that has banned the procedure. Facebook and Instagram responded by removing some of the posts. The platforms' parent company, Meta, said it has a policy against gifting or selling pharmaceutical drugs.

Senior Biden administration officials have quietly traveled to Caracas in the latest bid to rebuild relations with the South American oil giant as the war in Ukraine drags on, driving higher gas prices and forcing the U.S. to recalibrate other foreign policy objectives. The delegation that arrived Monday in Caracas includes Ambassador James Story, who heads the U.S. government’s Venezuelan Affairs Unit out of neighboring Colombia, said a State Department spokesperson on the condition of anonymity so as not to interfere with diplomatic discussions. It also includes Roger Carstens, the special

An air ambulance service official says at least eight helicopters are taking patients from the site of a passenger train that derailed in Missouri while traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago. Matt Daugherty, Lifeflight Eagle director of business development, said helicopters were responding from around the state, The Kansas City Star reported. Daugherty said he knew there were a number of injuries and some people were in critical condition. The train derailed Monday after hitting a dump truck that was blocking a public crossing, Amtrak said. The Southwest Chief was carrying about 243 passenge