First Run News

Toys “R” Us, one of the world’s largest toy store chains, has filed for bankruptcy protection, becoming the latest casualty of the pressures facing brick-and-mortar retailers. The company made the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing late Monday night in federal court in Richmond, Va., acknowledging that it needed to revamp its long-term debt totaling more than $5 billion. The retailer, which also owns Babies “R” Us, has struggled to compete with Amazon and stores like Walmart. But the financial plight of Toys “R” Us was exacerbated by a heavy debt load that has weighed on the company for years.

WASHINGTON — The State Department is giving immigration and consular officials new grounds to deny entry to visitors to the United States or to kick them out if they are already here. In a cable to American embassies around the world, Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson wrote that visitors who require a visa before entering the United States must then follow through on their stated plans for at least three months.

WASHINGTON — Trump administration officials, under pressure from the White House to provide a rationale for reducing the number of refugees allowed into the United States next year, rejected a study by the Department of Health and Human Services that found that refugees brought in $63 billion more in government revenues over the past decade than they cost. The draft report, which was obtained by The New York Times, contradicts a central argument made by advocates of deep cuts in refugee totals as President Trump faces an Oct. 1 deadline to decide on an allowable number.

MIAMI — Florida was built on the seductive delusion that a swamp is a fine place for paradise. The state’s allure — peddled first by visionaries and hucksters, most famously in the Great Florida Land Boom of the 1920s — is no less potent today. Only, now there is a twist: Florida is no longer the swampy backwater it once was. It is the nation’s third most populous state, with 21 million people, jutting out precariously into the heart of hurricane alley, amid rising seas, at a time when warming waters have the potential to bring ever stronger storms.

MIAMI — Florida was built on the seductive delusion that a swamp is a fine place for paradise. The state’s allure — peddled first by visionaries and hucksters, most famously in the Great Florida Land Boom of the 1920s — is no less potent today. Only, now there is a twist: Florida is no longer the swampy backwater it once was. It is the nation’s third most populous state, with 21 million people, jutting out precariously into the heart of hurricane alley, amid rising seas, at a time when warming waters have the potential to bring ever stronger storms.

Hurricane Maria barreled through the islands that curve through the Caribbean on Monday night as it quickly grew into “a potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane” and made landfall in Dominica, the National Weather Service said. With maximum sustained winds of 160 miles per hour, the storm battered the island of 73,000 people.

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, has elected to forgo protection by the Secret Service, according to a senior administration official, and another top White House official is losing hers. The agency ceased protecting Mr. Trump, who lives in New York City and is an executive at the Trump Organization, last week. Mr.

WASHINGTON — The top United States trade negotiator said Monday that it was unclear whether Canada, Mexico and the United States could reach a deal to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement within the ambitious timetable set by the Trump administration. In remarks ahead of a third round of talks beginning on Saturday in Ottawa, Robert Lighthizer, the United States trade representative, said negotiators were “moving at warp speed, but we don’t know whether we’re going to get to a conclusion, that’s the problem.” “We’re running very quickly — somewhere,” Mr.

WASHINGTON — The United States and its allies have not shot down any North Korean missiles because Pyongyang has yet to launch one that directly threatens American or Japanese territory, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Monday. But he said that could change. North Korean missiles have been falling “in the middle of the ocean,” Mr. Mattis said. “Were they to be aimed at Guam, or U.S.

WASHINGTON — President Trump said on Monday that he was looking into staging a display of American military might in a Fourth of July parade down Pennsylvania Avenue. In remarks during a meeting with President Emmanuel Macron of France at the United Nations, Mr. Trump said he got the idea after watching the Bastille Day parade in Paris with Mr. Macron in July. During the parade, he could be seen gesticulating and whispering to Mr.