Gaza’s border crossing to Egypt reopens in a key step for truce but few Palestinians can cross
CAIRO — Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt reopened on Monday for limited traffic, a key step in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire but a mostly symbolic one as few people will be allowed to travel in either direction and no goods will pass through. An Egyptian official said 50 Palestinians were...
What to know after a deadly landslide in eastern Congo kills at least 200 miners
DAKAR, Senegal — A landslide last week collapsed several tunnels at a major coltan mine in eastern Congo, leaving at least 200 people dead in the rebel-controlled site. The collapse occurred on Wednesday at the Rubaya mines, controlled by the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, after heavy rains caused several hand-dug tunnels...
Trevi Fountain fee goes into effect as Rome seeks to manage tourist flow at celebrated water feature
ROME — Tourists hoping to get close to the Trevi Fountain had to pay 2 euros ($2.35) starting Monday as the city of Rome inaugurated a new fee structure to help raise money and control crowds at the one of the world’s most celebrated waterworks. The first tourists to pass...
Speaker Johnson faces tough choices as partial government shutdown drags and debate over ICE deepens
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson faces tough days ahead trying to muscle a federal funding package to passage and prevent a prolonged partial government shutdown as debate intensifies over the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration enforcement operations. Johnson signaled he is relying on help from President Donald Trump to ensure...
Fundraising hauls show RNC vastly outpacing Democrats ahead of midterm elections
WASHINGTON — The Republican National Committee has vastly outpaced Democrats in the crush for cash ahead of the midterm elections, holding a nearly $100 million advantage at the close of 2025, according to year-end filings to the Federal Election Commission. As Democrats have struggled in the Trump era, the RNC...
Pa.’s budget impasse ended in November. It’s already time to talk about the next budget
Here we go again. Pennsylvania’s latest budget impasse, which dragged on for 135 days, just ended in mid-November. Now, less than three months later, state government leaders are preparing to begin the often-tortured process of trying to hammer out a budget for the coming fiscal year. The budget process formally...
Police officer killed, another seriously wounded in hotel room shootout in Georgia
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — A man being questioned by police at a suburban Atlanta hotel on Sunday shot the two officers after inviting them into his room, killing one of them and seriously wounding the other, authorities said. The shooting suspect also was shot by one of the officers and was...
Sen. John Fetterman supports ICE agents’ mask use amid rising doxxing threatsVideo
Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, during a Fox News interview on Sunday, said he was in support of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents wearing masks to protect them and their families from being identified and pursued by left-wing protesters. “Some of those agents wearing masks, primarily that’s driven by...
Top Justice Department official plays down chance for charges arising from Epstein files revelations
WASHINGTON — A top Justice Department official played down the possibility of additional criminal charges arising from the Jeffrey Epstein files, saying Sunday that the existence of “horrible photographs” and troubling email correspondence does not “allow us necessarily to prosecute somebody.” Department officials said over the summer that a review...
Kennedy Center to close for 2 years for renovations in July, Trump says, after performers’ backlash
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Sunday he will move to close Washington’s Kennedy Center performing arts center for two years starting in July for construction, his latest proposal to upturn the storied venue since returning to the White House. Trump’s announcement on social media follows a wave of cancellations...
Teenagers charged in Louisiana parade shootings that injured child, 4 others
CLINTON, La. — Authorities in Louisiana said Sunday they have arrested two teenagers in the shootings of a 6-year-old child and four others wounded during a small town’s weekend parade. The suspects, ages 19 and 15, are charged with attempted murder, obstructing justice and reckless discharge of a firearm, the...
Abu Dhabi royal bought stake in Trump’s Crypto venture, WSJ reports
An Abu Dhabi royal signed a secret deal with the Trump family to buy a stake in their cryptocurrency venture, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing company documents and people familiar with the matter. Emissaries of Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan inked a deal with Eric Trump to purchase...
Misconduct complaint dismissed against judge who handled El Salvador prison deportation case
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court judge has dismissed a misconduct complaint filed by the Justice Department against a judge who clashed with President Donald Trump ‘s administration over deportations to a notorious prison in El Salvador. The complaint against U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg was dismissed on Dec....
Texas stunner: Democrat Taylor Rehmet flips Republican state Senate district Trump won by 17 pointsVideo
Democrat Taylor Rehmet flipped a reliably Republican state Senate district in Texas in Saturday’s special election, continuing a string of surprise victories for Democrats across the U.S. in the year since Donald Trump returned to the White House. The Republican president immediately distanced himself from the loss in a district...
Mayor of Portland, Oregon, demands ICE leave the city after federal agents gas protesters
PORTLAND, Ore. — The mayor of Portland, Oregon, demanded U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement leave his city after federal agents launched tear gas at a crowd of demonstrators — including young children — outside an ICE facility during a weekend protest that he characterized as peaceful. Witnesses said agents deployed...
From Elon Musk to the former Prince Andrew, a who’s who of powerful men are named in Epstein files
NEW YORK — From tech titans to Wall Street power brokers and foreign dignitaries, a who’s who of powerful men make appearances in the huge trove of documents released Friday by the Justice Department in connection with its investigations of Jeffrey Epstein. Many have denied having close ties to the...
In Minneapolis, all-encompassing immigration story tests a newsroom in midst of digital transition
With the eyes of a nation fixed on the unrest in Minneapolis, the events haven’t left local journalists overmatched. Over the past month, the Minnesota Star Tribune has broken stories, including the identity of the immigration enforcement officer who shot Renee Good, and produced a variety of informative and instructive...
Johnson says no quick House vote to end partial shutdown and blames Democrats for their ICE demands
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday it will be a few days before a government funding package comes up for a vote, all but ensuring the partial federal shutdown will drag into the week as Democrats and Republicans debate reining in the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration enforcement operations....
IOC president Kirsty Coventry says ICE and Epstein files are ‘sad’ distractions from Winter Olympics
MILAN — Two years before the Los Angeles Olympics, the United States is already dominating the narrative in the run-up to the opening ceremony of the Milan Cortina Winter Games. International Olympic Committee officials, including President Kirsty Coventry, couldn’t avoid questions relating to ICE and the Jeffrey Epstein files at...
What to know about the partial government shutdown
WASHINGTON — The partial government shutdown is vastly different from the record closure in the fall. That is mostly because this shutdown, which started Saturday, does not include the whole of government and may not last long, even as it now drags into the new week. The House had hoped...
More winter weather leads to heavy snow, canceled flights and, in Florida, falling iguanas
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A huge swath of the U.S. from the Gulf Coast into New England was mired in extra-cold temperatures Sunday after a bomb cyclone brought heavy snow and hundreds of flight cancellations to North Carolina, flurries and falling iguanas in Florida, and more misery for thousands who are...
5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and father return to Minnesota from ICE facility in Texas
Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, who were detained by immigration officers in Minnesota and held at an ICE facility in Texas, have been released following a judge’s order. They have returned to Minnesota, according to Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro. The boy and his dad, Adrian Conejo Arias, who...
Russian drone strike kills 15 in Dnipro as Zelenskyy says more Russia-Ukraine talks next week
KYIV, Ukraine — A Russian drone strike on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro hit a bus carrying mineworkers and killed at least a dozen people, Ukrainian authorities said Sunday, hours after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that the next round of peace talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations will take place...
Iran’s supreme leader warns any U.S. attack would spark ‘regional war’
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s supreme leader warned Sunday that any attack by the United States would spark a “regional war” in the Mideast, further escalating tensions as President Donald Trump has threatened to militarily strike the Islamic Republic over its crackdown on recent nationwide protests. The comments from...
Trump administration’s climate skepticism effort violated federal law, judge rules
A federal judge on Friday ruled the U.S. Department of Energy violated federal law when it formed a secretive group of researchers to produce a report downplaying the effects of climate change. The “Climate Working Group” was composed of five scientists hand-picked by Energy Secretary Chris Wright shortly after the...
