Melania Trump denied ties to Jeffrey Epstein. The question remains: Why now?
WASHINGTON — First lady Melania Trump’s seemingly out-of-the-blue statement Thursday denying affiliation with disgraced sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein left people still wondering Friday what prompted the public declaration at a time when the case had receded from the spotlight. Reading prepared remarks at the White House on Thursday, Melania Trump...
From ‘BuddhaBot’ to $1.99 chats with AI Jesus, the faith-based tech boom is here
CAMARILLO, Calif. — For some evangelical Christians, faith is about having a personal relationship with Jesus. At $1.99 per minute, the tech company Just Like Me is taking that concept to a new level. Users of the platform can join video calls with an avatar of Jesus generated by artificial...
Artemis II astronauts return from moon with a splashdown to close out a record-breaking lunar voyageVideo
HOUSTON — Artemis II’s astronauts returned from the moon with a dramatic splashdown in the Pacific on Friday to close out humanity’s first lunar voyage in more than a half-century. It was a triumphant homecoming for the crew of four whose record-breaking lunar flyby revealed not only swaths of the...
Billions in research funding survive Trump crackdown, benefiting Pitt, CMU
The Trump administration is accepting legal defeat in its effort to limit critical funding for research institutions, including the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, after its window to petition to the U.S. Supreme Court closed this week. In February 2025, the National Institutes of Health announced a cap...
Trump shares video of a brutal Florida killing allegedly by Haitian immigrant
MIAMI — President Donald Trump shared video of a deadly attack allegedly by a Haitian immigrant accused of bludgeoning a woman with a hammer at a Florida gas station, portraying the killing as justification for his administration’s mass deportation agenda. Rolbert Joachin, 40, was arrested and charged with killing a...
‘I am thinking about it,’ Kamala Harris says of 2028 presidential bid
NEW YORK — After chants of “run again!” filled the room, former Vice President Kamala Harris told African American activists on Friday that she’s actively considering another presidential bid. “I might. I am thinking about it,” Harris told Rev. Al Sharpton after he asked directly whether she was going to...
Trump’s Washington arch plan includes golden-winged figure, eagles, lions and ‘One Nation Under God’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s plans for a new triumphal arch in the capital, unveiled on Friday, include a towering winged figure with a Lady Liberty-like torch and crown, flanked by two eagles and guarded by four lions — all gilded. The 12-page plan released by the U.S. Commission on...
Pope amplifies criticism of Iran war and says ‘God does not bless any conflict’
ROME — Pope Leo XIV amplified his condemnation of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran on Friday, saying that “God does not bless any conflict” and certainly doesn’t side with those who drop bombs. Leo spoke during a gathering of top bishops of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Iraq, an Eastern...
Stocks drift lower and oil prices ease ahead of planned U.S.-Iran talks
Stocks drifted mostly lower on Wall Street and oil prices slipped ahead of planned U.S.-Iran talks following a shaky ceasefire agreement. The S&P 500 fell 0.1% Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.4%. Trading remained choppy ahead of high-level talks between negotiators from...
Five people charged with murder in deadly Northern California fireworks warehouse explosion
WOODLAND, Calif. — Five people have been charged with murder in a deadly Northern California explosion at a fireworks warehouse that killed seven people, authorities said. Yolo County Deputy District Attorney Clara Nabity said Friday the charges stem from a grand jury indictment that found five people, including a former...
A federal judge dismisses another DOJ lawsuit seeking voter data, this time in Massachusetts
A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Justice seeking Massachusetts’ state voter rolls, marking the latest setback in a wide-ranging effort by the Trump administration to collect detailed data on the nation’s voters. The ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Leo Sorokin marks at...
Trump administration temporarily blocks Minnesota’s historic wage floor for nursing home workers
Unprecedented minimum wages for thousands of nursing home workers in Minnesota are delayed again. Leah Solo, executive director of the state’s Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board, said at a board meeting Thursday that the Trump administration has reset to day one its 90-day clock to review the wage floor. Under...
FAA investigates close call on LAX taxiway just weeks after LaGuardia runway crash
A Frontier Airlines jet nearly collided with two trucks that crossed in front of it earlier this week at Los Angeles International Airport, but unlike last month’s deadly crash in New York while a plane was landing, this incident happened on a taxiway while the plane was moving slowly. The...
Federal court hears new case against Trump’s latest global tariffs
NEW YORK — The centerpiece of President Donald Trump’s economic policy — sweeping taxes on global imports — is under legal assault again. The U.S. Court of International Trade, a specialized court in New York, heard oral arguments Friday in an attempt to overturn the temporary tariffs Trump turned to...
War in Iran sends inflation soaring and the mood of American consumers plunging
WASHINGTON — The largest monthly jump in gas prices in six decades caused a sharp spike in inflation last month, creating major challenges for the inflation-fighters at the Federal Reserve and heightening already substantial political hurdles for the White House. Consumer prices rose 3.3% in March from a year earlier,...
Bible stories would be part of a new Texas public schools reading list drawing attention
Biblical stories like Jonah and the whale would be required reading for Texas public schools students under proposals that are putting the state at the center of another contentious wrangling over the role of religion in classrooms. Religious leaders, teachers, parents and students spent hours Tuesday before the state education...
Former Russian deputy defense minister is sentenced to 19 years for corruption
MOSCOW — Former Russian Deputy Defense Minister Pavel Popov was sentenced to 19 years in prison for corruption by a military court in Moscow, Russian state media said Friday. The case against Popov, who was arrested in 2024, relates to business activities at a sprawling park in Moscow sometimes called...
Abusive husband gets 8 years in prison in Scotland for wife’s suicide in landmark case
LONDON — Kimberley Milne jumped to her death in Scotland in July 2023, but prosecutors in a landmark case said Friday that she was driven to do it by her husband’s physical abuse. Lee Milne, 40, was sentenced to eight years in prison following his conviction in Glasgow’s High Court...
Vance warns Iran not to ‘play’ the U.S. as he departs for negotiations aimed at ending the war
WASHINGTON — Vice President JD Vance on Friday warned Iran not to “play” the U.S. as he headed overseas for negotiations aimed at ending the war. President Donald Trump has tasked the member of his inner circle who has seemed to be the most reluctant defender of the 6-week-old conflict...
AP reporter describes intense Israeli attacks that stunned Beirut
BEIRUT — It was 2:14 in the afternoon when the first bomb fell, and the sudden sound of crashing metal was like a heavy truck had overturned outside our office. The Israeli strike had hit somewhere nearby. Within seconds, plumes of smoke were rising across Beirut’s skyline, from the coastal...
Nutella goes viral during Artemis II livestream
If you’ve ever wondered how far Nutella can travel and still hold up, the answer is: more than 250,000 miles. During a Wednesday Artemis II livestream, viewers got an unexpectedly viral moment when a jar of Nutella floated through the cabin in zero-gravity, casually drifting across the frame as the...
U.S. and Iran prepare for ceasefire talks as Netanyahu authorizes negotiations with Lebanon
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — With the ceasefire in Iran still shaky, Vice President JD Vance headed Friday to Pakistan for high-level talks with Iranian officials, as Israel and Hezbollah traded fire and Tehran maintained its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz. Many issues could derail the truce and the...
A president and a pope: The world’s most influential Americans are at odds over Iran
President Donald Trump is accustomed to criticism from coast to coast — Democrats, disaffected Republicans, late-night comedians, massive protests. Yet in his second presidency, Trump’s most influential American critic doesn’t live in the country but at the Vatican. It’s an unprecedented situation, with the first American pope directly assailing the...
Hungary’s election could end Orbán’s journey from liberal firebrand to far-right leader
BUDAPEST, Hungary — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the European Union’s longest-serving leader and one of its biggest antagonists, has taken a long road from his early days as a liberal, anti-Soviet firebrand to the Russia-friendly nationalist admired by the global far-right today. After dominating Hungarian politics for more than...
Trump administration admits a glaring error in its accusations about New York health care fraud
NEW YORK — President Donald Trump’s administration this week acknowledged it made a significant error in figures it used to help justify a fraud probe into New York’s Medicaid program, a glaring mistake that undercuts a federal campaign to tackle waste, mostly in Democratic-led states. The error, one of at...
