Heat dome will blanket much of U.S., with worrisome temperatures in Midwest
Summer will make a dramatic entrance in the U.S. this week with a heat dome that will bring stifling temperatures and uncomfortable humidity to millions. The heat will be particularly worrisome this weekend across wide stretches of Nebraska, Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa, where forecasters are warning of extreme temperature impacts....
The world’s only twice-a-year shot to prevent HIV could stop transmission — if people can get it
WASHINGTON — The U.S. has approved the world’s only twice-a-year shot to prevent HIV, the first step in an anticipated global rollout that could protect millions – although it’s unclear how many in the U.S. and abroad will get access to the powerful new option. While a vaccine to prevent...
Hegseth says the Pentagon has given Trump options for Israel-Iran conflict
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers Wednesday that the Pentagon was providing options to President Donald Trump as he decides next steps on Iran but would not say whether the military was planning to assist with Israeli strikes, an action that could risk dragging America into a wider...
Trump says he’s ‘not looking for a fight’ with Iran but stands ready to act if necessary
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump would not say Wednesday whether he has decided to order a U.S. strike on Iran, a move that Tehran warned anew would be greeted with stiff retaliation if it happens. “I may do it, I may not do it,” Trump said in an exchange with...
Air India faces turbulence as plane crash prompts deeper checks and disruptions
NEW DELHI — Air India is facing fresh turbulence following last week’s fatal crash as additional safety inspections on its Dreamliner fleet have led to flight delays, cancellations and growing passenger anxiety. India’s aviation safety regulator ordered deeper checks on Boeing 787 aircrafts operated by the airline soon after its...
Kyiv rescuers find more bodies as death toll from latest Russian aerial attack climbs to 28
KYIV, Ukraine — Emergency workers pulled more bodies Wednesday from the rubble of a nine-story Kyiv apartment building demolished by a Russian missile, raising the death toll from the latest attack on the Ukrainian capital to 28. The building in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district took a direct hit and collapsed during...
U.S. unemployment claims dipped to 245,000 last week, hovering at historically low levels
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits dipped to 245,000 last week, hovering at historically low levels, the Labor Department said Wednesday. U.S. jobless claims ticked down from 250,000 the week before. Economists had expected last week’s claims to match that at 250,000. The four-week average of...
Iran’s leader rejects call to surrender, saying U.S. intervention would cause ‘irreparable damage’
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s supreme leader on Wednesday rejected U.S. calls for surrender in the face of more Israeli strikes and warned that any military involvement by the Americans would cause “irreparable damage to them.” European diplomats prepared to hold talks with Iran on Friday. The second public...
Fed leaves key rate unchanged as it awaits the impact of tariffs and Trump again scolds Jerome Powell
WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve officials expect inflation to worsen in the coming months but they still foresee two interest rate cuts by the end of this year, the same as they projected in March. The Fed kept its key rate unchanged for the fourth straight meeting Wednesday, and said the...
Firms led by U.S. military veterans deliver aid in Africa and Gaza, alarming humanitarian groups
ON A PLANE OVER UPPER NILE STATE, South Sudan — Swooping low over the banks of a Nile River tributary, an aid flight run by retired American military officers released a stream of food-stuffed sacks over a town emptied by fighting in South Sudan, a country wracked by conflict. Last...
‘Abolishing FEMA’ memo outlines ways for Trump to scrap agency
WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to prepare a memo on how to abolish itself and create a re-branded, radically smaller disaster response organization, according to a copy of the document reviewed by Bloomberg News. As recently as last week, President Donald Trump...
U.S. spies said Iran wasn’t building a nuclear weapon. Trump dismisses that assessment
WASHINGTON — Tulsi Gabbard left no doubt when she testified to Congress about Iran’s nuclear program earlier this year. The country was not building a nuclear weapon, the national intelligence director told lawmakers, and its supreme leader had not reauthorized the dormant program even though it had enriched uranium to...
Judge says government can’t limit passport sex markers for many transgender, nonbinary people
BOSTON — A federal judge expanded a ruling Tuesday that blocked the Trump administration from enacting policy changes to sex markers on passports for many transgender and nonbinary Americans. In an executive order signed in January, the president used a narrow definition of the sexes instead of a broader conception...
Kristi Noem ‘alert and recovering’ after trip to hospital over allergic reaction, official saysVideo
WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem was taken to the hospital on Tuesday after experiencing an allergic reaction, her spokeswoman said. “She is alert and recovering,” said the statement from department spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, who said the hospital treatment was out of an “abundance of caution.” Noem,...
Marie Scott, incarcerated more than a half-century for murder, has life sentence commuted by Gov. Shapiro
PHILADELPHIA — Marie Scott, 71, who has spent more than half a century in prison for murder after she and her then-boyfriend robbed a gas station store and he killed the cashier, will be eligible for parole after Gov. Josh Shapiro approved the commutation of her life sentence. Last month,...
Split forms in MAGA world as Trump weighs next steps on Iran, with some top ranks rebuking him
A schism has opened among President Donald Trump’s most devout MAGA supporters and national security conservatives over the Israel-Iran conflict, as some longtime defenders of the president’s America First mantra call him out for weighing a greater U.S. role in the region. Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, commentator Tucker Carlson...
Sen. Mike Lee deletes posts about shootings after Minnesota lawmakers in both parties push backVideo
MINNEAPOLIS — After pushback from Minnesota lawmakers, Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Lee of Utah deleted two posts on social media that were criticized as insensitive following a weekend shooting that killed one state legislator and injured another. Lee’s reversal comes after confrontations and condemnation from Minnesota politicians in both parties,...
CBO: Trump tax bill would widen deficits by $2.8T after factoring in economic impacts
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s tax and budget bill would increase deficits by $2.8 trillion over the next decade after including other economic effects, according to a more fulsome analysis of the measure released Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office. The report, produced by the nonpartisan CBO and the Joint...
Los Angeles mayor lifts downtown curfew she imposed during protests against immigration raids
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass lifted a curfew in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday that was first imposed in response to clashes with police and vandalism amid protests against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in the city. Bass, a Democrat, said she’s lifting the curfew following “successful...
Padilla says in Senate ‘it’s time to wake up’ after forced removal from Noem’s event
WASHINGTON — Sen. Alex Padilla on Tuesday encouraged Americans to peacefully protest against President Donald Trump’s administration and said it’s “it’s time to wake up” in his first extended remarks in the Senate since he was forcibly removed from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s press conference in Los Angeles last...
Ketanji Brown Jackson reports $2 million in income last year for her memoir, ‘Lovely One’
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson received more than $2 million last year for her best-selling memoir, “Lovely One,” according to her annual financial disclosure, released Tuesday. Jackson’s outside income exceeded that of her court colleagues combined, the reports showed. Justice Neil Gorsuch reported $250,000 for the book...
NYC mayoral candidate is arrested at immigration court after linking arms with man being detained
NEW YORK — New York City Comptroller and Democratic mayoral candidate Brad Lander was arrested by federal agents at an immigration court Tuesday after he linked arms with a person authorities were attempting to detain. A reporter with The Associated Press and other journalists witnessed Lander’s arrest at a federal...
Former police chief known as the ‘Devil in the Ozarks’ pleads not guilty to a prison escape charge
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A convicted murderer and former police chief known as the “Devil in the Ozarks” pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a charge stemming from his recent escape from an Arkansas prison. Grant Hardin, who was captured June 6, appeared at the hearing via video. He pleaded...
Trump suggests he’ll extend deadline for TikTok’s Chinese owner to sell app
President Donald Trump suggested on Tuesday that he would likely extend a deadline for TikTok’s Chinese owner to divest the popular video sharing app. Trump had signed an order in early April to keep TikTok running for another 75 days after a potential deal to sell the app to American...
Americans turn cautious and retail sales slide after a spring rush to beat tariffs
WASHINGTON — Retail sales fell sharply in May as consumers pulled back from a spending surge early this year to get ahead of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on nearly all imports. Sales at retail stores and restaurants dropped 0.9% in May, the Commerce Department said Tuesday, after a decline...
