Artemis II astronauts are more than halfway to the moon as they seek to break Apollo 13’s record
Now more than halfway to the moon, the Artemis II astronauts were toasted by Canada on Saturday as they prepared for their historic lunar fly-around to push deeper into space than even the Apollo astronauts. The three Americans and one Canadian will reach their destination Monday, photographing the mysterious lunar...
Judge halts Trump effort requiring colleges to show they aren’t considering race in admissions
BOSTON — A federal judge has halted efforts by the Trump administration to collect data that proves higher education institutions aren’t considering race in admissions. The ruling from U.S. District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV in Boston on Friday granting the preliminary injunction follows a lawsuit filed earlier this...
Trump’s go-it-alone certainty confronts the uncertainties of war
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump did not equivocate in his first live address to Americans about the war in Iran. “We’ve beaten and completely decimated Iran,” he said in a prime-time speech from the White House on Wednesday. “They are decimated both militarily and economically and in every other way.”...
Trump gives Iran 48 hours to open Strait of Hormuz as search continues for missing U.S. pilot
TEL AVIV, Israel — The U.S. military searched for a second day for a pilot shot down over a remote area in Iran, while U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday again threatened Tehran over his Monday deadline to open the Strait of Hormuz: “Time is running out.” The American warplane,...
Floods, landslides triggered by heavy rain in Afghanistan leave 77 dead in 10 days, authorities say
KABUL, Afghanistan — Widespread flooding, landslides and lightning strikes triggered by heavy rain and storms across Afghanistan have left 77 people dead and 137 injured over the past 10 days, the country’s Disaster Management Authority said Saturday. More rain has been forecast for the coming days throughout Afghanistan, and the...
Bondi struggled to prosecute Trump foes. But will a new attorney general make a difference?
WASHINGTON — Pam Bondi is out of her job after failing to deliver criminal cases against President Donald Trump’s political enemies. But there’s no guarantee her successor will have any better success at placating the president. Over the last year, Bondi’s Justice Department has encountered resistance from judges, grand jurors...
A fast-growing wildfire in windy Southern California triggers evacuations
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A smoky and fast-growing wildfire Friday in windy Southern California has prompted multiple evacuation orders and warnings. The Springs Fire broke out at around 11 a.m. Friday and by the evening had grown to about 5.47 square miles , with fire crews starting to contain it. The...
Dozens of violations found at migrant detention camp in Texas
An inspection in February of Camp East Montana in Texas, one of the country’s largest immigration detention centers, found dozens of violations of national standards, including instances that may have exposed detainees to illnesses and uses of force that were not documented, a new report found. The inspection, which was...
As freed prisoners celebrate in Cuba, human rights groups demand clarity and release of protesters
HAVANA — Katia Arias buzzed with hope on Friday morning as she gathered at the gates of a prison on the outskirts of Havana, waiting with other families for their loved ones to be freed in one of the biggest prison releases by the Cuban government in years. When her...
Western Pa. gas prices surge above $4.20 per gallon as Iran war continues to push oil costs
Western Pennsylvanians felt a pinch at the pumps this week as some local gas stations offered fuel at $4.19 per gallon or more — about two months after the onset of the Iran war. Gas prices jumped to just shy of $4 per gallon two weeks ago. Friday, the statewide...
Lawyers say up to 75 women expected to benefit from Bank of America settlement in Epstein sex abuse
NEW YORK — Lawyers say up to 75 women who were sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein since 2008 may benefit from a $72.5 million fund set up as part of a settlement Bank of America reached with lawyers representing the women. U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff gave the deal...
New Jersey state troopers rescue bear cub from highway ditch
UNION TOWNSHIP, N.J. — State police troopers came to the rescue of a bear cub found in a ditch along the side of a major interstate highway in northern New Jersey. Troopers from the Perryville station responded shortly before 1:40 p.m. Wednesday to milepost 12.2 on I-78 eastbound in Union...
Pope Leo XIV to carry cross for entire procession, the 1st pontiff to do so in decades
ROME — Pope Leo XIV will personally carry the wooden cross through all 14 stations of the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum on his first Good Friday as pontiff, marking the first time in decades that a pope carries the cross to every station. “I think it will...
Artemis II’s moon-bound astronauts capture Earth’s brilliant blue beauty as they leave it behind
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The Artemis II astronauts have captured our blue planet’s brilliant beauty as they zoom ever closer to the moon. NASA released the crew’s first downlinked images Friday, 1 1/2 days into the first astronaut moonshot in more than half a century. The first photo taken by...
China says peace talks between Afghanistan and Pakistan are advancing
BEIJING — Peace talks between Afghanistan’s Taliban government and Pakistan are advancing, China’s government said Friday, two days after those countries resumed conversations following weeks of fighting that have killed hundreds. “The consultation process is being steadily implemented and advanced,” said China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning. Xi Jinping’s government...
U.S. searches for crew after fighter jet shot down over Iran, U.S. officials say
WASHINGTON — Iran shot down a U.S. fighter jet over the country, U.S. officials and Iranian state-affiliated media said Friday. The fate of the plane’s crew was unclear, as U.S. officials scrambled to mount a search and rescue operation before Iran could get to any survivors, officials said. U.S. Central...
Good Friday is a unique and solemn day for Christians, with ancient prayers and fervent processions
MIAMI — Good Friday is a unique — and uniquely solemn — day in the Christian calendar. It commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus, ahead of what’s a central tenet of faith for believers — his resurrection two days later on Easter Sunday, according to the Gospels. This year,...
Russia launches daytime strikes on Ukraine, killing 5, as Kyiv holds door open for Easter truce
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian strikes killed at least five people across Ukraine on Friday, including in a “massive” missile and drone attack near the capital, local authorities reported. Ukrainian officials claim the Kremlin is changing its tactics to increase civilian suffering, shifting to daytime barrages and preparing to target more...
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani wants to crack down on ‘bad landlords’ — but he has to find them
NEW YORK — On a recent weeknight, three tenants of an aging Bronx building were trading apartment horror stories inside a packed ballroom lined with city bureaucrats. The occasion was the third in a series of “rental rip-off hearings,” a new forum launched by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani for...
Trump budget seeks $1.5T in defense spending alongside cuts in domestic programs
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has proposed boosting defense spending to $1.5 trillion in his 2027 budget released Friday, the largest such request in decades, reflecting his emphasis on U.S. military investments over domestic programs. The sizable increase for the Pentagon, some 44%, had been telegraphed by the Republican president...
2 U.S. aircraft shot down as war in Iran escalates with at least 1 crew member missing
WASHINGTON — Two U.S. military planes were shot down in separate incidents on Friday, and while one crew member was rescued in Iran, the whereabouts of at least one other was unknown — marking a dramatic escalation since the war began nearly five weeks ago. It was the first time...
A look at how the Epstein files dogged Pam Bondi’s time as attorney general
NEW YORK — After Pam Bondi became U.S. attorney general last year, conservative influencers, online sleuths and others who wanted the government to disclose all it knew about Jeffrey Epstein thought they might have a champion in the Department of Justice. So did Jess Michaels, one of the legions of...
Trump offers murky path forward for Republicans as Iran war clouds midterm elections
NEW YORK — This is not the run up to the midterm elections that Republicans wanted. A year and a half after winning the White House by promising to lower costs and end wars, Donald Trump is a wartime president overseeing surging energy costs and an escalating overseas conflict that...
Cuba pardons 2,010 people as the U.S. pressures the island’s government
HAVANA — The Cuban government said Thursday it would release 2,010 prisoners in a move that comes while the Trump administration puts extreme pressure on the island’s government with a suffocating oil blockade. The announcement said the pardons were a “humanitarian gesture” in connection with Holy Week and didn’t mention...
Artemis II astronauts rocket toward the moon after spending a day around Earth
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s Artemis II astronauts fired their engines and blazed toward the moon Thursday night, breaking free of the chains that have trapped humanity in shallow laps around Earth in the decades since Apollo. The so-called translunar ignition came 25 hours after liftoff, putting the three Americans...
