Russia, Ukraine exchange POWs for 1st time in months; bodies of fallen also swapped
SUMY REGION, Ukraine — Ukraine and Russia exchanged prisoners of war on Friday, each sending back 75 POWs in the first such swap in the past three months, officials said. A few hours earlier and at the same location, the two sides also handed over bodies of their fallen soldiers....
Israel confirms its forces are in central Rafah in expanding offensive in southern Gaza city
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military confirmed Friday that its forces are operating in central parts of Rafah in its expanding offensive in the southern Gaza city. Israel launched its ground assault into the city on May 6, triggering an exodus of around 1 million Palestinians out of the city and...
Upside-down American flag reappears as a right-wing protest symbol after Trump’s guilty verdict
CHICAGO — After Donald Trump’s historic guilty verdict, a steady flow of images showing upside-down American flags has appeared on social media as his supporters and right-wing commentators protest his felony conviction. At least one such flag was spotted Friday outside Trump Tower in New York City as the Republican...
Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia registers as independent, citing ‘partisan extremism’
WASHINGTON — Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia announced Friday he has switched his registration to independent, raising questions about his political plans since the move could help his chances should he seek elected office again in a state that has turned heavily Republican. Manchin, 76, has often been...
Federal rule on Title IX is a ruse to require trans sports participation, GOP states say
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The Biden administration has put on hold a plan to prohibit across-the-board bans on transgender athletes on school teams during an election year in which Republicans are rallying around restrictions on trans youths. But GOP state leaders are making sure voters know the issue is still...
Bruhat Soma wins National Spelling Bee after slow night concludes with sudden tiebreaker
OXON HILL, Md. — Bruhat Soma insisted he was nervous during the idle hours as he waited to take the Scripps National Spelling Bee stage, and he felt even more pressure to perform given that he hadn’t lost a spelling bee in eight months. He never showed any nerves in...
Israel could have used smaller weapons against Hamas to avoid deaths in Gaza tent fire, experts say
WASHINGTON — Defense experts who have reviewed debris images from an Israeli airstrike that ignited a deadly fire in a camp for displaced Palestinians questioned why Israel did not use smaller, more precise weapons when so many civilians were nearby. They said the bombs used were likely U.S.-made. The strikes,...
Minneapolis police officer dies in ambush shooting that killed 2 others including suspected gunman
MINNEAPOLIS — A Minneapolis police officer responding to a shooting call was ambushed and killed Thursday when he stopped to provide aid to a man who appeared to be a victim. That man instead wound up shooting the officer, authorities said. The death of officer Jamal Mitchell happened during a...
Barred from combat, women working as codebreakers, cartographers and coxswains helped D-Day succeed
LONDON — What did you do in the war, Granny? For British women who came of age during World War II, the answer to that question is often: quite a lot. The history of D-Day is often told through the stories of the men who fought and died when the...
Trump responds to his guilty verdict by falsely blasting a ‘rigged trial’ and attacking star witness
NEW YORK — Donald Trump launched into attacks on the judge in his criminal trial and continued to undermine New York’s criminal justice system Friday as he tried to repackage his conviction on 34 felony charges as fuel, not an impediment, to his latest White House bid. Trump spoke to...
Biden said to be finalizing plans for migrant limits as part of a U.S.-Mexico border clampdown
WASHINGTON — The White House is finalizing plans for a U.S.-Mexico border clampdown that would shut off asylum requests and automatically deny entrance to migrants once the number of people encountered by American border officials exceeded a new daily threshold, with President Joe Biden expected to sign an executive order...
Western Pa. voters react to Trump’s guilty verdict
Forest Hills’ Joel Johnson said Thursday evening that former President Donald Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts will sway his vote in November. Johnson, 43, described the unprecedented trial as a “hot mess.” As a self-proclaimed independent, he said he usually votes for who he believes is the least dangerous...
Republican lawmakers react with fury to Trump verdict and rally to his defense
WASHINGTON — Republican lawmakers reacted with immediate fury on Thursday as a New York jury convicted former President Donald Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records to influence the 2016 election, speaking out with near unanimity in questioning the legitimacy of the trial and how it was conducted. House...
Roberts rejects Senate Democrats’ request to discuss Supreme Court ethics, Alito flag controversy
WASHINGTON — Chief Justice John Roberts on Thursday declined an invitation to meet with Democratic senators to talk about Supreme Court ethics and the controversy over flags that flew outside homes owned by Justice Samuel Alito. Roberts’ response came in a letter to the senators a day after Alito separately...
Impact of Trump conviction uncertain, but even a small shift in Pa. could have big implications
Former President Donald Trump made history Thursday as the first U.S. president to be convicted of a felony, but the impact that will have on the November election is very much up in the air, according to party leaders and political experts across Pennsylvania. Republican and Democratic leaders in Western...
Crews race to restore power across Texas ahead of another round of stormsVideo
DALLAS — Crews trying to restore power across storm-battered Texas were contending with downed trees and tangled limbs on Thursday, along with a forecast that could bring more damaging wind and hail. Electricity was back on for about 80% of the more than 1 million homes and businesses that lost...
What’s next for Trump’s conviction in his hush money trial
NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts marks the end of the former president’s historic hush money trial, but the fight over the case is far from over. Now comes the sentencing and the potential for a prison sentence. A lengthy appellate process. And all the while,...
What verdict will voters render after jury finds Trump guilty in hush money case?Video
The sometimes-breathless gavel-to-gavel coverage of former President Trump’s trial was no surprise, as a singularly divisive figure sat for more than a month at the defense table, the first president to face criminal charges and the possibility of a trip to jail. But for all the trial’s spectacle, many political...
Biden partially lifts ban on Ukraine using American arms in strikes on Russian territory, U.S. officials say
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has given Ukraine the go-ahead to use American weaponry to strike inside Russia for the limited purpose of defending Kharkiv, according to three U.S. officials familiar with the matter. The officials, who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, underscored that the U.S. policy calling...
Trump becomes 1st former U.S. president convicted of felony crimesVideo
NEW YORK — Donald Trump became the first former American president to be convicted of felony crimes Thursday as a New York jury found him guilty of all 34 charges in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to a porn actor who said...
Supreme Court gives homeowners another chance in escrow dispute with Bank of America
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday gave homeowners another chance to force Bank of America and other large banks to pay interest on mortgage escrow accounts. The court unanimously threw out an appeals court ruling in favor of Bank of America, which has refused to pay interest on money...
NRA can sue ex-N.Y. official it says tried to blacklist it after Parkland shooting, Supreme Court says
WASHINGTON — A unanimous Supreme Court on Thursday cleared the way for a National Rifle Association lawsuit against a former New York state official over claims she pressured companies to blacklist it following the deadly 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Fla. Giving the NRA a new chance to prove its...
U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks dies at 80 after being struck by vehicle near Nevada courthouse
RENO, Nev. — Larry Hicks, a federal judge in Nevada for more than 20 years, died after being struck by a vehicle near the courthouse in Reno, authorities and his family said. He was 80. Hicks was a pedestrian struck at an intersection Wednesday afternoon, taken to a hospital and...
From the Newsroom podcast: TribLive unpacks the exclusive interview with Marc Fogel
Marc Fogel is an international teacher from Oakmont. Until the fall of 2021, the 63-year-old traveled to various countries teaching history. In August 2021, Fogel was arrested in Russia for the possession of 17 grams of medical marijuana, prescribed in Pennsylvania for his back and knee pain. Fogel is currently...
At 100, this vet says the ‘greatest generation’ moniker fits ‘because we saved the world’
HELEN, Ga. — A profile of Andrew “Andy” Negra Jr., of Helen, Georgia, one of a dwindling number of veterans took part in the Allies’ European war effort that led to the defeat of Nazi Germany. Born: May 28, 1924, near Avella, Pennsylvania. Service: Army’s 128th Armored Field Artillery Battalion,...
