Breaking News

Editorial

True cost of cluster bombs

Twenty-thousand Laotians, almost half of them children, have been killed or injured by unexploded ordnance since the Vietnam War ended. It is half a century since the U.S. stopped bombing Laos, having dropped more than 2 million tons of cluster munitions; decades on, people then unborn are still paying the price. On one estimate, it will take another 100 years to fully clear the country. This is the true cost of cluster munitions. They are not only indiscriminate in showering dozens or hundreds of bomblets over a large area, but also have a lethal legacy because so many fail to ...

People you meet along the way

Ask a journalist to name the best part of their job and there’s a good chance they will say it is the people they meet. Sure, we get a jolt out of interviewing celebrities, world-class athletes and politicians, but the most memorable folks we cover are often everyday citizens who do extraordinary things. These are people who do not seek the limelight or push their way to the front to take credit. Somewhere along the line, one of us spots them in action or receives a tip. “You just have to do a story!” If meeting community members like this is the best part of the job, saying ...

Hotter future happening now

Brace yourself. Last week had probably some of the hottest days in Earth’s record. Last month was the hottest June ever recorded. Punishing, deadly heat has hit large swaths of the planet, and oceans are experiencing heat waves with surface temperatures hitting new highs. The long-predicted hotter future fueled by climate change is happening now. The global average daily temperature hit 62.6 degrees on July 3, which was the highest since modern record-keeping began more than four decades ago, according to the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer project, which uses satellite ...

A victory for voting rights

For lovers of democracy, the timing was sweet and propitious. Sixteen months before the presidential election, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a ruling that protects voters against what could have been a scurrilous assault against the election process. In a 6-3 vote June 27, the high court rejected the “independent state legislature” theory that would have given states almost unlimited power to establish federal election rules, while also allowing them to draw congressional maps with partisan gerrymandering. The ruling was a huge victory for voting rights, enabling voters to ...

Maui feels the heat

Kahului was far from alone Monday when it set a daily heat record of 94 degrees. Scientists say it was likely Earth’s hottest day on record — that is, until Tuesday and Wednesday recorded even hotter average temperatures, according to unofficial data compiled by the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer. June is on track to be the hottest month ever recorded. Antarctic sea ice is melting at an alarming rate. Smoke from the wildfires ravaging parched Canada chokes large swaths of North America. Water temperatures are soaring around the globe. The news is abuzz with stories ...

Trump and GOP debates

Candidate debates have become a fixture of presidential campaigns, and they’re especially valuable in primaries. Voters get a chance to see how well candidates perform under pressure, and relative unknowns get rare exposure against the front-runners. The debates helped Barack Obama in 2008 against Hillary Clinton, and they helped Donald Trump in 2016, so it’s notable that this time Mr. Trump is threatening not to debate. Mr. Trump and his advisers are signaling he’ll probably duck the first GOP debate, which the Republican National Committee (RNC) has scheduled for Aug. 23 in ...