Brooklyn building collapse kills at least eight, traps others

Firefighters called to Flatbush scene at about 4pm Wednesday

Firefighters dug through the rubble of a three-story building in Brooklyn on Wednesday after it collapsed at the edge of a construction site, killing at least eight people and trapping others beneath the wreckage, The Guardian reported. Firefighters were called to the scene in the borough’s Flatbush section at about 4pm.

The White House threatened criminal investigations over Democrats’ planned scrutiny of the administration. Robert Garcia, the ranking member of the oversight committee in the House of Representatives, said it appeared Donald Trump had “something to hide” in response to the threat. Garcia said in a statement that Congress’s authority came from article I of the constitution, “not from the permission of the White House.”

Nvidia’s board of directors has met to decide whether to oust Jensen Huang as CEO of the world’s most valuable chip company, according to reports, after a tumultuous week in which the executive and co-founder of the company admitted to having a romantic relationship with a woman who is alleged to be a Chinese spy. Huang’s position became more tenuous late on Wednesday after it was reported by the New York Times that Huang had a separate extramarital affair with a company employee.

In Mississippi, the Democrat Scott Colom has defeated Cindy Hyde-Smith, the incumbent Republican senator, after more than a week of vote counting in one of the country’s most reliably red states — an outcome the Guardian characterized as a stunning upset. Colom, a 43-year-old district attorney, becomes the first Black senator elected in the state since Reconstruction. With the addition of Colom, Democrats will hold at least 55 seats in the Senate, the party’s largest midterm gain since 1986. Colom’s election capped a national wave of anger at Donald Trump’s administration, sweeping away Republicans in places where Democrats had not been competitive in decades, according to the Guardian report.

Speaking at his victory rally, Colom said there had been times when his long-shot campaign felt defeated but “I had to have faith.” He told supporters: “My commitment to you, each and every one of you, is that first I’m going to treat your children like I want my children to be treated. I’m going to treat your parents the way I want my parents to be treated. I’m gonna treat your future the way I want my future to be.” Colom takes the seat held by Hyde-Smith, who ran as the incumbent Republican senator in a state that has ranked among the most reliably Republican in the country.

Democratic lawmakers expressed outrage at nearly a dozen of their colleagues for missing a vote Tuesday evening to impeach the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, allowing Republicans to defeat the effort. Eleven Democrats missed the key procedural vote on the impeachment effort, which failed by just seven votes. “You should show up and do your job,” Abdul El-Sayed, the senator-elect of Michigan, said on CNN, while Richard Ojeda, the representative-elect of North Carolina, said: “Shame on them for not showing up … they had an opportunity to finally get rid of this buffoonery.” A Guardian photo composite identified Nancy Pelosi, Steven Horsford and Haley Stevens as among those who failed to vote.

A US army sentinel guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier loudly reprimanded Hegseth and his top staffers on Wednesday after some in the group were heard laughing and talking near the memorial following a Veterans Day ceremony.

Russia’s ambassador to the United States has died aged 66. Alexander Darchiev took up the role last year.

The US could lose its measles elimination status under RFK Jr’s leadership, with the country in the middle of the worst measles outbreak since 1991.

Average US heating bills are set to rise 7% this winter, according to a report by the National Energy Assistance Directors Association.

Starbucks baristas, students, elected officials and allies are holding rallies at more than 40 college campuses across the US to support the Starbucks Workers United boycott campaign as the union nears five years of deadlock with the company over contract negotiations.

Two skulls that likely belonged to enslaved people are being returned to Brazil after Harvard used them in eugenics studies. The remains had been outside Brazil since the 19th century.

A coyote that officials thought they had killed after it attacked a child has been seen alive in an LA neighborhood.

Ethics watchdogs have questioned the necessity of the country’s top diplomat shuttling so often between Washington DC and Gainesville, where his son Anthony has a walk-on role as a running back.

Lorenzo Tondo reports that, since the US war on Iran began in February, there have been hundreds of oil spills, posing a “generational” threat to wildlife.

Seoul’s “scarf uncle” has become a South Korean sensation for a sales technique that consists of talking customers out of purchases. The combination of his affectionate bluntness and amusing selling style — coupled with praise for his looks — has led to him becoming a huge star on social media.