Trump wants to stop states from regulating AI. This Utah Republican isn’t listening
RIVERTON, Utah — When a dozen Republican activists gathered on a back deck in the Salt Lake City suburbs to talk about this year’s elections, the conversation cycled through all the staples of conservative chatter in Utah such as dwindling water supplies, illegal immigrant fraud and chemtrail conspiracy theories. But...
Fears of looser standards as the FBI and Justice Department scramble to fill a depleted workforce
WASHINGTON — The FBI and Justice Department are scrambling to rebuild a depleted workforce after a wave of departures over the past year, with leaders easing hiring requirements and accelerating recruitment in ways that some current and former officials see as a lowering of long-accepted standards. The FBI has used...
U.S. seizes Iranian-flagged ship near Strait of Hormuz and Tehran vows to respondVideo
WASHINGTON — The United States attacked and seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship it said had tried to evade its naval blockade near the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, and Iran’s joint military command vowed to respond, throwing a fragile ceasefire into question days before it expires. It was the first...
Pope prays at Catholic shrine in Angola that was a center of African slave trade
MUXIMA, Angola — Pope Leo XIV on Sunday recalled the “sorrow and great suffering” Angolans endured for centuries, as the American pope prayed at a Catholic shrine located at the site of an important hub of the African slave trade during Portugal’s colonial rule. Leo traveled to the Sanctuary of...
Russian attacks kill at least 2 as Ukraine strikes a Russian drone factory
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian strikes killed at least two people in Ukraine, officials said Sunday, as Ukraine’s military struck a drone factory in southwestern Russia. A 16-year-old boy died and four others were injured in a “massive” nighttime drone strike on Chernihiv in northern Ukraine, according to the head of...
UK police investigating if arson attacks on Jewish sites in London are the work of Iranian proxies
LONDON — British police say they are investigating whether a series of arson attacks on Jewish sites in London are the work of Iranian proxies. The Metropolitan Police force says counterterror officers are probing the attacks on synagogues and other sites linked to the Jewish community, as well as an...
North Korea launches multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward sea
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea launched multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea on Sunday, its neighbors said, days after the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog warned that North Korea was making “very serious” advances in efforts to build nuclear weapons. The missiles fired from the North’s Sinpo area flew about...
Game commission seeks entries for 2027 wildlife art contest
The Pennsylvania Game Commission is looking for artists’ best portraits of a Pennsylvania shorebird. The agency is seeking entries for its 2027 Working Together for Wildlife art contest. The featured category is shorebirds, and unlike in previous years, the 2027 contest is restricted to paintings. One or more shorebirds can...
Dominican Republic and Haiti to reopen airspace in May, restoring flights after more than 2 years
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — The governments of the Dominican Republic and Haiti have agreed to reopen their airspace starting in May, allowing flights between their countries for the first time in more than two years. The decision, announced Friday in a joint statement, clears the way for connections between...
Ukrainian police shoot dead gunman who killed at least 5 and took hostages in a supermarket
KYIV, Ukraine — A gunman who killed at least six people in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, before taking hostages and barricading himself inside a supermarket on Saturday has been shot and killed by police, Ukrainian officials said. Ukraine’s special tactical police units stormed the store after attempts to contact the gunman...
Russian attacks on Ukraine kill 1 and wound dozens
A civilian was killed and dozens more wounded in overnight Russian attacks across Ukraine, local officials said Saturday. One person was killed in a strike on Mykolaivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, local leader Vadym Filashkin said in a post on social media. Other officials reported at least 26 people...
Pope Leo XIV says ‘not in my interest at all’ to debate Trump but will keep preaching peace
ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE — Pope Leo XIV said Saturday that it was “not in my interest at all” to debate U.S. President Donald Trump about the Iran war, but that he would continue preaching the Gospel message of peace. Leo spoke to reporters aboard the papal plane flying from...
Iranian official says U.S. ‘maximalist’ demands stall face-to-face talks
ANTALYA, Turkey — Iran is not yet ready to hold a new round of face-to-face talks with U.S. officials, a senior Iranian official said Saturday, citing Washington’s refusal to abandon “maximalist” demands on key issues. In an interview with The Associated Press on the margins of a diplomacy forum in...
Iran says it has closed Hormuz again over U.S. blockade
CAIRO — The standoff over the Strait of Hormuz quickly escalated again Saturday as Iran reversed its reopening of the crucial waterway and fired on ships attempting to pass, in retaliation after the United States pressed ahead with its blockade choking off Iranian ports. Confusion over the strait, through which...
$13 train fare spikes to $150 for World Cup fans attending matches in New Jersey
NEWARK, N.J. — Sky-high ticket prices won’t be the only thing emptying the wallets of soccer fans attending World Cup matches at some U.S. venues this spring. Fans trying to get to MetLife Stadium from New York City can expect to shell out $150 for a round-trip train fare for...
Trump’s lawyers are in talks with the IRS to resolve president’s $10B lawsuit
WASHINGTON — Lawyers for President Donald Trump are engaged in talks with the IRS to resolve a $10 billion lawsuit the president filed against his own tax collection agency over the leak of his tax information to news outlets between 2018 and 2020. In a federal court filing Friday, Trump...
Descendants say the theft of body parts from Pennsylvania grave sites is not a victimless crime
MEDIA — Judy Prichard McCleary believes her ancestors have gone to the afterlife, and that only their bodies are buried at the family mausoleum in a sprawling Philadelphia-area cemetery. Yet she remains rattled by the discovery that five of their nine crypts were disturbed — and the remains of a...
Oil prices drop more than 10% and U.S. stocks soar after Iran reopens Strait of Hormuz
NEW YORK — Oil prices dropped more than 10% Friday, and U.S. stocks raced toward another record after Iran said the Strait of Hormuz is open again for commercial tankers carrying oil from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide. The S&P 500 leaped 1.3% as Wall Street rallied to the...
Trump cancels millions from Catholic Charities amid Pope feud
MIAMI — The Trump administration has abruptly canceled an $11 million contract with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami to shelter and care for unaccompanied migrant children. The decision is drawing a raft of criticism from South Florida political and religious leaders — including members of the president’s own...
IPC report finds that soaring oil prices threaten to deepen hunger in Haiti
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The number of people facing high levels of hunger in Haiti is expected to drop slightly, according to a new report released Thursday, but officials say the situation remains critical and that any small gains might soon be erased because of soaring oil prices linked to the...
House extends surveillance powers until April 30 after late-night revolt sinks GOP plan
WASHINGTON — The House early Friday approved a short-term renewal until April 30 of a controversial surveillance program used by U.S. spy agencies in a post-midnight vote after Republicans revolted and refused President Donald Trump’s push for a longer extension. GOP leaders rushed lawmakers back into session late Thursday with...
Trump and Iranian foreign minister say Strait of Hormuz is fully open
BEIRUT — U.S. President Donald Trump and Iran’s foreign minister said Friday that the Strait of Hormuz is now fully open to commercial vessels, as a 10-day truce in Lebanon appeared to hold. The truce offered a pause in fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group and could clear...
Trump draws Marie Antoinette comparisons as he leans into the gilded trappings of the presidency
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump had something urgent to address while flying back to Washington from his luxury Mar-a-Lago estate on a recent Sunday. It wasn’t the Iran war, nor the still-going partial government shutdown over Department of Homeland Security funding. He wanted to talk about a monumental issue of...
Trump bets his tax cuts will please Las Vegas voters on his swing West
LAS VEGAS — President Donald Trump is betting that the tax cuts he signed into law last year will resonate with voters in Las Vegas, where he highlighted his tax breaks for tipped workers in an appeal targeted at this year’s midterm elections. Workers who earn tips and overtime are...
Artemis II astronauts praise their moonship’s performance, especially the heat shield
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The Artemis II astronauts who ignited a lunar renaissance gave high marks Thursday to their moonship, especially the heat shield, for its performance during reentry. In their first news conference since returning to Earth, the three Americans and one Canadian said their lunar flyby puts NASA...
