U.S./World category, Page 115
The U.S. military spent $6 billion in the past 3 years to recruit and retain troops
WASHINGTON — The U.S. military spent more than $6 billion over the past three years to recruit and retain service members, in what has been a growing campaign to counter enlistment shortfalls. The financial incentives to reenlist in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines increased dramatically from 2022 through...
In an uneasy climate, diverse pride groups converge on DC with differing interests but common goals
WASHINGTON — You’ve heard of twofers. Kenya Hutton is a “threefer.” His parents are immigrants, he’s a Black man and he’s gay — at a moment in history when anti-immigrant fervor, racism and anti-LGBTQ feelings are rampant and amplified by Trump administration policies. Hutton is hardly alone. As members of...
Pope prays for Chinese Catholics to be in communion with Rome in first comments on thorny issues
ROME — Pope Leo XIV asked Sunday for prayers for China’s Catholics to be in communion with the Holy See, as he made his first public remarks about one of the thorniest foreign policy issues facing his new pontificate. History’s first American pope recalled that on Saturday the Catholic Church...
Israeli use of human shields in Gaza was systematic, soldiers and former detainees tell the AP
TEL AVIV, Israel — The only time the Palestinian man wasn’t bound or blindfolded, he said, was when he was used by Israeli soldiers as their human shield. Dressed in army fatigues with a camera fixed to his forehead, Ayman Abu Hamadan was forced into houses in the Gaza Strip...
Russia and Ukraine complete prisoner swap hours after Moscow launches major aerial assault
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia and Ukraine swapped hundreds more prisoners on Sunday, the third and last part of a major exchange that reflected a rare moment of cooperation in otherwise failed efforts to reach a ceasefire in the more than three years of war. Hours earlier, the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv,...
Indonesian president and Chinese premier meet to discuss expanding trade during U.S. trade war
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto on Sunday to discuss ways to expand trade and investment during the U.S. global trade war and as economic globalization faces headwinds. Li arrived in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, on Saturday afternoon for a three-day visit to Southeast...
Venezuelans vote for lawmakers and governors as opposition calls for election boycott
CARACAS, Venezuela — Voters in Venezuela are choosing lawmakers, governors and other officials Sunday in polling being held against a backdrop of heightened government repression and opposition calls to boycott the election. The election is the first to allow broad voter participation since last year’s presidential contest, which President Nicolás...
Crypto investor charged with kidnapping, torturing man in NYC apartment for weeks
NEW YORK — A cryptocurrency investor has been arrested and charged with kidnapping a man and keeping him locked up for weeks in an upscale Manhattan apartment, where authorities say he was beaten, shocked and led to believe that his family was in danger if he didn’t give up his...
North Korea detains 3 shipyard officials over failed launch of naval destroyer
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea authorities have detained three shipyard officials over the recent failed launch of a naval destroyer, an incident that leader Kim Jong Un said was caused by criminal negligence, state media said Sunday. The 5,000-ton-class destroyer was damaged Wednesday when a transport cradle on the...
Federal judge orders Trump administration to return a Guatemalan deported to Mexico to the U.S.
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration late Friday to facilitate the return of a Guatemalan man it deported to Mexico in spite of his fears of being harmed there. The man, who is gay, was protected from being returned to his home country under a U.S. immigration judge’s order...
Russia and Ukraine swap hundreds more prisoners hours after a massive attack on Kyiv
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia and Ukraine exchanged hundreds more prisoners on Saturday as part of a major swap that amounted to a rare moment of cooperation in otherwise failed efforts to reach a ceasefire. The exchange came hours after Kyiv came under a large-scale Russian drone and missile attack that...
Trump hails West Point cadets for their accomplishments and takes credit for U.S. military might
WEST POINT, N.Y. — President Donald Trump used the first military commencement address of his second term Saturday to congratulate West Point cadets on their academic and physical accomplishments while veering sharply into politics, taking credit for America’s military might while boasting about the “mandate” he says he earned in...
Kyiv comes under large-scale Russian drone and missile attack
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s capital came under a large-scale Russian drone and missile attack early Saturday with explosions and machine gun fire heard throughout the city, forcing many Kyiv residents to take shelter in underground subway stations. The nighttime Russian attack came hours after Russia and Ukraine began a major...
Georgetown scholar recalls terror, ‘mockery of due process’ in immigration jail
ARLINGTON, Va. — One of the lowest moments of Badar Khan Suri’s two months in federal custody was being crammed onto an airplane with hundreds of other shackled prisoners. The Trump administration was trying to deport the Georgetown University scholar over statements he made against Israel’s war in Gaza. The...
Privacy, hunger groups sue over USDA attempt to collect personal data of SNAP recipients
Privacy and hunger relief groups and a handful of people receiving food assistance benefits are suing the federal government over the Trump administration’s attempts to collect the personal information of millions of U.S. residents who use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C., on Thursday says...
Trump approves FEMA disaster relief for 8 states
JACKSON, Miss. — President Donald Trump green-lit disaster relief for eight states Friday, assistance some of the communities rocked by natural disasters have been waiting on for months. The major disaster declaration approvals allow Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas access to financial support through the Federal...
Justice Department reaches deal to allow Boeing to avoid prosecution over 737 Max crashes
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has reached a deal with Boeing that will allow the airplane giant to avoid criminal prosecution for allegedly misleading U.S. regulators about the 737 Max jetliner before two of the planes crashed and killed 346 people, according to court papers filed Friday. Under the “agreement...
Venezuelan workers at Disney put on leave from jobs after losing protective status
ORLANDO, Fla. — Almost four dozen Venezuelan workers who had temporary protected status have been put on leave by Disney after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to strip them of legal protections. The move was made to make sure that the employees were not in violation of...
Florida’s prized state parks are shielded from golf courses and hotels as DeSantis bows to backlash
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The millions of tourists and Florida residents who visit state parks each year will see them remain free of golf courses, new hotels and sports facilities, as Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law curtailing his administration’s plans to allow more kinds of development on conservation lands....
DOGE targets Census Bureau, worrying data users about health of U.S. data infrastructure
The group launched by Elon Musk to cut federal spending in the second Trump administration is targeting some U.S. Census Bureau surveys it claims are “wasteful,” worrying users of federal data who are already concerned about the health of the nation’s statistical infrastructure. The Department of Government Efficiency said on...
Trump threatens 50% tariffs on EU and 25% penalties on Apple as his trade war intensifies
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Friday threatened a 50% tax on all imports from the European Union as well a 25% tariff on Apple products unless iPhones are made in America. The threats, delivered over social media, reflect Trump’s ability to disrupt the global economy with a burst of...
At least 60 people killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza as Israel lets minimal aid in
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — At least 60 people were killed by Israeli strikes across Gaza in a 24-hour period, Gaza’s health ministry said Friday, as Israel pressed ahead with its military offensive and let in minimal aid to the strip. The dead included 10 people in the southern city...
Ukrainian official says major prisoner swap with Russia is underway
CHERNIHIV REGION, Ukraine — A major prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine began Friday, a senior Ukrainian official said, in one of the few signs of progress from their direct talks last week in Istanbul — part of a U.S.-led effort that so far has failed to produce a ceasefire...
China criticizes U.S. ban on Harvard’s international students
BANGKOK — The Chinese government said Friday that the Trump administration’s move to ban international students from Harvard would harm America’s international standing, as anxious students and parents overseas fretted over what would come next. Among the two largest parts of the international student community in Harvard are Chinese and...
Iran and U.S. hold 5th round of nuclear negotiations in Rome with enrichment a key issue
ROME — Iran and the United States prepared for a fifth round of negotiations over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program Friday in Rome, with enrichment emerging as the key issue. U.S. officials up to President Donald Trump insist Iran cannot continue to enrich uranium at all in any deal that...
