First Run News

WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday announced plans to eliminate decades-old media ownership rules meant to protect local coverage and diversity in media voices. The commission’s chairman, Ajit Pai, said in a congressional hearing that the agency would vote in November to roll back rules that prevent ownership of a newspaper and broadcast station in the same market. The rules were created to prevent an individual or organization from having outsize influence over public opinion. But in the hearing, where he faced fierce criticism by Democratic lawmakers, Mr.

WASHINGTON — In an unusually close vote, an advisory panel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday recommended the use of a new vaccine to prevent shingles over an older one that was considered less effective. The decision was made just days after the Food and Drug Administration announced approval of the new vaccine, called Shingrix and manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, for adults ages 50 and older.

FRANKFURT — The European Central Bank appeared ready on Thursday to begin dismantling a decade’s worth of emergency measures that helped keep the eurozone from disintegrating during the financial crisis. The bank’s action, widely expected to come after a meeting of its Governing Council, highlights the eurozone economy’s

I awoke sometime before dawn to the soft, rhythmic clacking of the train, pacing steadily through the heart of South Africa. Poking my face out of the window to take in a breath of cool, dry spring air, I could see stars behind the blue-black shadows of the passing trees. We were somewhere past Kimberley, the Northern Cape Province city where Cecil Rhodes had famously — or, rather, infamously — made a fortune mining diamonds more than a century ago.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia is throwing an economic coming-out party of sorts this week, hawking its efforts to liberalize its conservative society and diversify its economy in a sweeping overhaul of the way the wealthy Arab kingdom has long operated. In a glittering conference center in Riyadh, slick videos promised a gleaming, $500 billion city of the future, powered by solar energy and run by robots. The crown prince lauded a “moderate Islam” that embraces the world.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia is throwing an economic coming-out party of sorts this week, hawking its efforts to liberalize its conservative society and diversify its economy in a sweeping overhaul of the way the wealthy Arab kingdom has long operated. In a glittering conference center in Riyadh, slick videos promised a gleaming, $500 billion city of the future, powered by solar energy and run by robots. The crown prince lauded a “moderate Islam” that embraces the world.

LLIVIA, Spain — The Spanish police cracked down on parts of Catalonia in an attempt to halt an independence referendum on Oct. 1, wielding truncheons, firing rubber bullets and barring polling stations. But in little Llivia, the small cobblestone square in the town center was packed with a celebratory crowd.