U.S./World category, Page 267
Trump ends Fauci’s security detail and says he’d feel no responsibility if harm befell him
President Donald Trump has ended the federal security detail for Dr. Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease expert who advised him on the COVID-19 pandemic, a person familiar with the matter said Friday. Fauci is the latest in a string of former Trump aides-turned-critics to see their federal protection canceled despite...
Washington state woman arrested in fatal shooting of Vermont Border Patrol agent
The FBI said Friday that it arrested a Washington state woman in the fatal shooting of a U.S. Border Patrol agent during a traffic stop in Vermont earlier this week. Teresa Youngblut, 21, was charged in Monday’s killing of Border Patrol Agent David Maland, the FBI said, noting that Youngblut...
Putin echoes Trump’s claim that conflict in Ukraine could have been avoided had he been in office
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday echoed U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim the conflict in Ukraine could have been prevented had he been in the White House in 2022. He also said Moscow is ready for talks with the U.S. on a broad range of issues. In an...
What to know about the ruling blocking Trump’s order on birthright citizenship
SEATTLE — President Donald Trump’s executive order denying U.S. citizenship to the children of parents living in the country illegally has faced the first of what will be many legal tests. It didn’t fare well. A Justice Department lawyer had barely started making his arguments in a Seattle courtroom Thursday...
Trump proposes ‘getting rid of FEMA’ while touring disaster areas
LOS ANGELES — President Donald Trump surveyed disaster zones in California and North Carolina on Friday and said he was considering “getting rid of” the Federal Emergency Management Agency, offering the latest sign of how he is weighing sweeping changes to the nation’s central organization for responding to disasters. In...
Belarus election poised to extend 30-year rule of ‘Europe’s last dictator’
The last time Belarus staged a presidential election in 2020, authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko was declared the winner with 80% of the vote. That triggered cries of fraud, months of protests and a harsh crackdown with thousands of arrests. Not wanting to risk such unrest again by those opposing his...
UN suspends all trips into Houthi-held areas of Yemen over staffers being detained
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The United Nations on Friday suspended all travel into areas held by Yemen’s Houthi rebels after more of their staff were detained by the rebels. The Houthis already have detained U.N. staffers, as well as individuals associated with the once-open U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen’s...
Thousands of endangered tortoises are rescued in Madagascar after their sanctuary is flooded
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — A community in southern Madagascar has pulled together to save thousands of critically endangered tortoises swept away from their sanctuary and left swimming for their lives in floods this month caused by a tropical cyclone. The 12,000 radiated and spider tortoises that were housed at...
Afghan refugees urge Pakistan to ease visa regime after Trump pauses U.S. resettlement programs
ISLAMABAD — Afghan refugees on Friday appealed to Pakistan’s premier to ease a visa regime on humanitarian grounds after President Donald Trump paused the U.S. refugee programs. Many Afghans whose visas have either expired or will expire soon fear arrest and deportation. “We don’t know exactly when the pause of...
Saudi crown prince says kingdom intends to invest $600 billion in U.S. during call with Trump
Saudi Arabia’s crown prince said the kingdom wants to invest $600 billion in the United States over the next four years, comments that came after President Donald Trump put a price tag on returning to the kingdom as his first foreign trip. Trump’s 2017 trip to Saudi Arabia upended a...
Pete Hegseth told senator he paid $50,000 to woman who accused him of 2017 sex assault
WASHINGTON — Pete Hegseth, President Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, paid $50,000 to the woman who accused him of sexual assault in 2017, according to answers he provided to a senator during his confirmation process that The Associated Press has obtained. The written answers were provided to Massachusetts Democratic...
FEMA faces shakeup under Trump while it wrestles with disasters on both coasts
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is preparing to reshape the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has been on the frontlines of responding to recent wildfires in California and last year’s hurricane in North Carolina. He spoke at length about the issue with congressional Republican leaders on Tuesday, discussing whether the...
Wisconsin man accused of setting fire to congressman’s office over TikTok ban charged with arson
MADISON, Wis. — Prosecutors charged a Wisconsin man who allegedly told police he tried to burn down a congressman’s office because he was upset with the federal TikTok ban with multiple counts on Wednesday, including arson. Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney filed a complaint against 19-year-old Caiden...
Trump orders release of JFK, RFK and MLK assassination records
DALLAS — President Donald Trump has ordered the release of thousands of classified governmental documents about the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which has fueled conspiracy theories for decades. The executive order Trump signed Thursday also aims to declassify the remaining federal records relating to the assassinations of...
Trump revokes protections for former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and top Iran aide
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has revoked government security protection for former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his top aide, Brian Hook, who have faced threats from Iran since they took hard-line stances on the Islamic Republic during Trump’s first administration. A congressional staffer and a person familiar with...
Senate confirms John Ratcliffe to lead CIA, giving Trump his 2nd Cabinet memberVideo
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday confirmed John Ratcliffe as CIA director, giving President Donald Trump the second member of his new Cabinet. Ratcliffe was director of national intelligence during Trump’s first term and is the first person to have held that position and the top post at the CIA,...
Man who took a U.S. Capitol tour with a gun in his possession is arrested, police say
WASHINGTON — A man who entered the U.S. Capitol with a handgun in his possession and took a tour of the building faces weapons charges, police said Thursday. The 27-year-old Massachusetts man was arrested Tuesday after Capitol police officers found him leaving the Library of Congress and walking toward his...
Louisiana law requiring Ten Commandments to be displayed in classrooms is back in court
As Louisiana public schools remain in limbo over a new law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in classrooms — caught between the state releasing guidelines for districts to comply with the mandate that took effect this year and opponents threatening to sue if any such posters are hung...
Purdue Pharma and owners to pay $7.4 billion in settlement to lawsuits over the toll of OxyContin
Members of the family who own OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, and the company itself, agreed to pay up to $7.4 billion in a new settlement to lawsuits over the toll of the powerful prescription painkiller, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced Thursday. The deal, agreed to by Purdue Pharma,...
More Americans file for unemployment benefits last week, continuing claims highest in 3 years
Jobless claims applications ticked up modestly last week, but the total number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits rose to their highest level in more than three years. Applications for jobless benefits rose by 6,000 to 223,000 for the week ending January 18, the Labor Department said Thursday. Analysts were expecting...
Thai LGBTQ+ couples register marriages as law gives them equal status
BANGKOK — LGBTQ+ couples in Thailand made Thursday a life-changing occasion, registering their marriages legally on the first day a law took effect granting them the same rights as heterosexual couples. The enactment of the Marriage Equality Act makes Thailand the first country in Southeast Asia and the third place...
Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde says she’ll continue to pray for Trump, who lashed out at her over viral sermon
WASHINGTON — The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, bishop of the Diocese of Washington, said Wednesday that she will continue to pray for President Donald Trump, hours after he lashed out at her over a sermon. “I don’t consider him an enemy,” Budde told The Associated Press. “I believe we...
A blooming plant that reeks of gym socks and rotting garbage has thousands lining up for a whiff
SYDNEY — The rare unfurling of an endangered plant that emits the smell of decaying flesh drew hundreds of devoted fans to a greenhouse in Sydney on Thursday where they joined three-hour lines to experience a momentous bloom —- and a fragrance evoking gym socks and rotting garbage. Tall, pointed...
Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump’s executive order redefining birthright citizenship
SEATTLE — A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order redefining birthright citizenship, calling it “blatantly unconstitutional” during the first hearing in a multi-state effort challenging the order. U.S. District Judge John Coughenour repeatedly interrupted a Justice Department lawyer to ask how he could consider the...
Aerial attack helps firefighters maintain the upper hand on a huge fire north of Los Angeles
CASTAIC, Calif. — Overnight water drops helped stop the spread of a huge wildfire churning through rugged mountains north of Los Angeles and firefighters battled to increase containment as dangerous winds whipped up again Thursday. The Hughes Fire broke out late Wednesday morning and in less than a day had...
