PARIS—French magistrates on Thursday filed preliminary charges against five French maritime rescue personnel in a probe of the deadly sinking of a flimsy migrant craft in the English Channel in 2021 that killed 27 people. The five, all military personnel, were handed a preliminary charge of not assisting people in danger, judicial authorities said. Preliminary…

A group of state attorneys general are investigating the photo-sharing platform Instagram and its effects on children and young adults, saying its parent company Facebook—now called Meta Platforms—ignored internal research about the physical and mental health dangers it posed to young people. The investigation is led by a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from California,…

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Transportation Department said on Thursday it has 18 pending investigations against airlines over complaints that they failed to provide timely refunds during the COVID-19 pandemic. The department said in a report to the White House it was still reviewing 30,100 complaints involving 18 airlines out of 20 investigations it had initially opened. It…

DETROIT—The U.S. government is investigating complaints of engine compartment fires in nearly 1.9 million Toyota RAV4 small SUVs. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began investigating after getting 11 fire complaints involving the 2013 through 2018 model years. The RAV4 is the top-selling vehicle in the U.S. that isn’t a pickup truck. In documents posted…