U.S./World category, Page 20
Ex-officer planned to kill Black people in mass shooting at a New Orleans festival, authorities say
NEW ORLEANS — Authorities say a former North Carolina law enforcement officer planned to kill Black people in a mass shooting at a major New Orleans festival but was arrested at a Florida hotel with a handgun and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Authorities in several states did not name...
Why the European Union’s wartime loan is a vital lifeline for cash-strapped Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine — Cash-strapped Ukraine has secured a crucial European Union loan that will provide a vital lifeline to sustain its wartime efforts this year. The $106 billion package was formally approved on Thursday, days after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that the Ukrainian section of the Druzhba pipeline had been...
The Gates Foundation is reviewing its Epstein ties as released emails raise questions for funders
NEW YORK — The Gates Foundation is reviewing its ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the organization confirmed Wednesday, as chairman Bill Gates faces mounting scrutiny over his appearances in Justice Department documents related to its investigation of the disgraced financier. Gates, who founded Microsoft, reportedly spoke “candidly” about...
Nuclear energy is having a global revival 40 years after Chernobyl
The 1986 Chernobyl disaster fueled global fears about nuclear power and slowed its development in Europe and elsewhere. Four decades later, however, there’s a revival around the world, a trend that has been given a big boost by war in the Middle East. Over 400 nuclear reactors are operational in...
Trump reclassifies state-licensed medical marijuana as a less-dangerous drug in a historic shift
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s acting attorney general on Thursday signed an order reclassifying state-licensed medical marijuana as a less-dangerous drug, a major policy shift long sought by advocates who said cannabis should never have been treated like heroin by the federal government. The order signed by Todd Blanche does...
Trump orders U.S. military to ‘shoot and kill’ Iranian small boats choking Strait of HormuzVideo
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — President Donald Trump has ordered the U.S. military to “shoot and kill” small Iranian boats that deploy mines in the Strait of Hormuz, he said Thursday, a day after Iran again displayed its ability to thwart traffic through the channel. Trump’s post on social media...
Senate passes budget plan for ICE and Border Patrol in bid to reopen Homeland Security Department
WASHINGTON — The Senate took the first steps in a new effort to reopen the Department of Homeland Security early Thursday, voting to adopt a budget plan that would fund ICE and Border Patrol over Democratic objections and sending it to the House. The entire department has been shut down...
Immigration officer is charged with assault after protest outside Colorado ICE facility, DA says
An immigration officer has been charged with third-degree assault and criminal mischief following an investigation into how he treated a protester who said the officer put her in a chokehold. Multiple videos from bystanders show a masked agent grabbing and pulling Franci Stagi across the street during a protest in...
Supreme Court hears arguments on U.S. power to strip green cards
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court justices grappled over a president’s power over immigration enforcement Wednesday during oral arguments over a technical challenge to the government’s ability to take away someone’s green card as they enter the country. Over the course of more than an hour of oral arguments, the justices delved...
New York Times says FBI investigated reporter after article about director Kash Patel’s girlfriend
NEW YORK — The New York Times says the FBI investigated whether one of its reporters, Elizabeth Williamson, violated laws against stalking after she wrote a story nearly two months ago about how federal agents had been assigned to protect and give rides to FBI Director Kash Patel’s girlfriend. The...
Pentagon says Navy Secretary John Phelan is leaving, the latest departure of a top defense leader
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon announced Wednesday that the Navy’s top civilian official, Secretary of the Navy John Phelan, is leaving his job. In a statement posted to social media, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Phelan was “departing the administration, effective immediately.” Navy Undersecretary Hung Cao will become acting secretary of...
U.S. health officials nix publication of a study on covid vaccine effectiveness
NEW YORK — U.S. health officials stopped the publication of a study on whether the covid-19 vaccine was keeping adults from becoming sick enough to have to go to the hospital. A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spokesman on Wednesday confirmed the decision to halt publication, citing a...
Federal appeals court blocks California law requiring federal agents to wear identification
LOS ANGELES — A federal appeals court issued an order Wednesday blocking a California law passed in 2025 requiring federal immigration agents to wear a badge or some form of identification. The Trump administration filed a lawsuit in November challenging the law, arguing that it would threaten the safety of...
Chemical leak at a West Virginia plant kills 2 people and sends 30 others to hospitals, officials say
INSTITUTE, W.Va. — A chemical leak at a West Virginia silver recovery business on Wednesday killed two people and sent about 30 others to hospitals, including one in serious condition, authorities said. The leak occurred at the Catalyst Refiners plant in Institute as workers were preparing to shut down at...
Searchers find the body of 1 of 6 missing crew from a ship that overturned during a typhoon
SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands — Searchers found the body of one of the six missing crew members from a cargo ship that overturned near the Northern Mariana Islands during a typhoon and were looking for the rest, hoping they might have made it to a life raft. U.S. Air Force...
Supreme Court rules for Michigan in its fight to shut down an aging energy pipeline
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with Michigan in ruling that the state’s lawsuit seeking to shut down a section of an aging pipeline beneath a Great Lakes channel will stay in state court. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for a unanimous court that the Enbridge energy company waited...
Rep. David Scott, a Georgia Democrat seeking a 13th term in Congress, dies at age 80
ATLANTA — U.S. Rep. David Scott, a Georgia Democrat and the first Black chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, has died. He was 80. Scott, who was seeking his 13th term in Congress despite challenges from within his party, was once a leading voice for Democrats on issues related to...
U.K. passes bill that will eventually ban cigarette purchases
LONDON — Opponents of smoking got a breath of fresh air as Parliament passed a bill that will put cigarettes out of reach for future generations. “The end of smoking, and the devastating harm it causes, is no longer uncertain — it’s inevitable,” Hazel Cheeseman, chief executive of Action on...
War crimes court rejects bid to free Philippines’ Duterte
The International Criminal Court’s appeals chamber ruled that the tribunal has jurisdiction over the case of ex-Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s crimes against humanity and rejected his bid for release. The appeals chamber by a majority “has rejected all four grounds of appeal,” Judge Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza said in...
Charlie Kirk assasination: Does the recovered bullet match Tyler Robinson’s gun?
Just weeks after reports of a bombshell claim by the defense for Tyler Robinson, who is accused of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk last year, there is a new twist in the case. According to multiple reports, documents filed by the defense in the case claimed the bullet used in...
Ukraine says it asked Turkey to help seek Zelenskyy-Putin talks
Ukraine has asked Turkey to help arrange a summit meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in a renewed effort to end the war, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in Kyiv. “We have addressed the Turks directly. But if another capital — other than Moscow and Belarus...
Senate hearings with RFK Jr. put Bill Cassidy’s competing loyalties to Trump and science on display
A Republican senator juggling three roles — lawmaker, doctor and political candidate seeking reelection — walked a fine line on Wednesday as he questioned Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has moved to dramatically roll back the nation’s childhood vaccine recommendations. Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy,...
Beneath Trump’s ballroom legal case: A brief history of the White House bunker
Secrecy surrounding White House security makes details hard to come by, but President Donald Trump’s court fight over his $400 million ballroom casts some light on an underground bunker at the site that has had a role in history. The bunker emerged in the Trump administration’s court fight against the...
The Iran war could drive up costs for petroleum-derived products like clothes and crayons
NEW YORK — It might be hard to imagine the Iran war weighing on stuffed toys with names like Snuggle Glove, Bizzikins and Wobblies, but even plush playthings are not immune when oil shipments from the Middle East are constrained. Like many soft toys, the creatures developed by a manufacturer...
Iran fires on 3 ships in the Strait of Hormuz as U.S. maintains blockade and diplomacy stallsVideo
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran fired on three ships in the Strait of Hormuz and seized two of them on Wednesday, intensifying its assault on shipping in the key waterway. The attacks came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump extended a ceasefire while maintaining an American blockade of...
