U.S./World category, Page 3
Army veteran charged with sharing classified details of an elite commando unitVideo
RALEIGH, N.C. — An Army veteran has been charged with sharing classified information about an elite commando unit with a journalist, which one official said put “our nation, our warfighters, and our allies at risk.” Courtney Williams, 40, of Wagram, North Carolina, is accused of violating federal law, as well...
Legendary mountaineer Jim Whittaker, the 1st American to summit Mount Everest, dies at 97
SEATTLE — The celebrated mountaineer Jim Whittaker, the first American to summit Mount Everest, has died. He was 97. Whittaker, who also served as the first full-time employee of the outdoor retailer REI and later as its president and CEO, died Tuesday at his home in Port Townsend, Washington, according...
GOP hawks, Israel backers question Trump’s Iran ceasefire
Republican hawks and supporters of Israel expressed uneasiness on Wednesday over President Donald Trump’s shaky ceasefire deal with Iran, suggesting it was negotiated without Israel’s input and could allow Tehran to rebuild its military threat. As new rounds of attacks threatened to derail the agreed two-week truce, Sen. Lindsey Graham,...
Pam Bondi won’t appear on Capitol Hill for scheduled Epstein deposition next week
WASHINGTON — Pam Bondi, the former attorney general whom President Donald Trump fired last week, will not appear next week for a scheduled deposition with the House Oversight Committee as part of its inquiry into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The committee said in a statement Wednesday that it would...
RFK Jr is launching a podcast to expose ‘lies’ that have made Americans sick
NEW YORK — Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is launching a new podcast that he says will begin “a new era of radical transparency in government,” according to a teaser video first obtained by The Associated Press. The show, titled “The Secretary Kennedy Podcast,” will launch next week and...
How Trump went from threatening Iran’s annihilation to agreeing to a 2-week ceasefire with Tehran
WASHINGTON— President Donald Trump, over the course of a single day, went from threatening Iran with “annihilation” to proclaiming that the battered Islamic Republic’s leadership had presented a “workable” plan that led him to agree to a 14-day ceasefire that he hopes will pave the way to end the nearly...
Texas officials investigating hundreds of complaints against Camp Mystic amid license renewal bid
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas health regulators told Camp Mystic’s owners Tuesday they are investigating hundreds of complaints following last year’s devastating floods that killed 27 girls as the state considers whether to allow the all-girls camp to reopen this summer. The Texas Rangers are also helping look into allegations of...
My quest to solve bitcoin’s great mystery
One evening in the fall of 2024, my wife and I were sitting in traffic on the Long Island Expressway when, tired of listening to the jazz-funk station I often played on our drives, she switched to a podcast. It was “Hard Fork,” the New York Times tech show, and...
Fire breaks out at Rio de Janeiro Olympic Park; no injuries reported
RIO DE JANEIRO — A fire broke out Wednesday morning at Rio de Janeiro’s Olympic Park velodrome, prompting a major emergency response involving about 80 firefighters and 20 vehicles, authorities said. Rio state military fire department said the blaze was under control and largely confined to the venue’s fabric roof....
Rex Heuermann pleads guilty to murder charges and admits he killed 8 women in the Gilgo Beach case
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — A Long Island architect who led a secret life as a serial killer pleaded guilty on Wednesday to murdering seven women and admitted he killed an eighth in a string of long-unsolved crimes known as the Gilgo Beach killings. Rex Heuermann, 62, entered the pleas in a...
Israel strikes central Beirut without warning after saying Iran ceasefire doesn’t apply there
BEIRUT — Israeli strikes hit several dense commercial and residential areas in central Beirut Wednesday afternoon without warning, hours after a ceasefire was announced in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. Israel had said the agreement does not extend to its war with the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, although...
Trump is expected to meet NATO leader Rutte as he muses about pulling out of the military alliance
WASHINGTON — NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte is expected to meet with President Donald Trump on Wednesday to try to smooth over the president’s anger with the military alliance over the Iran war. Trump had suggested the U.S. may consider leaving the trans-Atlantic alliance after NATO member countries ignored his call...
Fired Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman tells AP he was ‘blindsided’ by his ouster
MADISON, Wis. — Fired Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman told The Associated Press on Wednesday in his first interview since the ouster that he was “blindsided” by the move but has no hard feelings and is unlikely to sue. Rothman was fired on Tuesday night in a unanimous vote...
Ceasefire threatened as Israel expands Lebanon strikes and Iran closes strait again
TEHRAN, Iran — A ceasefire deal to pause the war in Iran appeared to hang by a thread Wednesday after the Islamic Republic closed the Strait of Hormuz again in response to Israeli attacks in Lebanon. The White House demanded that the channel be reopened and sought to keep peace...
Will the Iran war ceasefire mean a drop in gas prices?
President Donald Trump on Tuesday agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran just hours before his 8 p.m. deadline to attack the country. That ceasefire agreement includes that Iran will reopen the crucial Strait of Hormuz to allow the safe transit of oil tankers. Whether the ceasefire agreement will result...
How Trump took the United States to war with Iran
The black SUV carrying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived at the White House just before 11 a.m. on Feb. 11. The Israeli leader, who had been pressing for months for the United States to agree to a major assault on Iran, was whisked inside with little ceremony, out of view...
Even as they praise Iran ceasefire, world leaders are whipsawed by Trump
BERLIN — World leaders expressed relief Wednesday that the United States, Israel and Iran had agreed to a temporary ceasefire, with President Donald Trump backing off his apocalyptic threat to escalate a war that had already set off a cascading series of global crises. But the relief was tempered by...
It will take months to get oil and gas flowing again
HOUSTON — Reopening the Strait of Hormuz — a central aim for the United States when it agreed to a ceasefire with Iran — would be the first step toward getting more energy flowing through the Persian Gulf. But only the first step. That is because dozens of refineries, storage...
Former NYPD officer gets 3 to 9 years in prison for throwing a cooler that caused fatal crash
NEW YORK — A former New York City police sergeant was sentenced Thursday to three to nine years in prison for tossing a picnic cooler full of drinks at a fleeing suspect, who then crashed his motorized scooter and died. The ex-officer, Erik Duran, was convicted of manslaughter in the...
To boost military budget, Trump targets popular programs at home
WASHINGTON — For decades, the U.S. government has helped poor Americans pay their home heating and cooling bills. It sends money to states, which then administer the aid, assisting nearly 6 million households nationally. With a roughly $4 billion budget, the bipartisan program known as LIHEAP is just a sliver...
Judge refuses to block sending abortion pill by mail for now, but says FDA must finish review
A federal judge Tuesday refused to block filling prescriptions for the abortion pill mifepristone by mail across the U.S. — at least for now — in a setback to Louisiana’s effort to stifle groups that send it into states where abortion is banned. U.S. District Judge David Joseph, who sits...
Bible stories would be part of a new Texas public schools reading list drawing attention
Bible stories like Jonah and the Whale would be part of a new Texas public schools reading list that drew an overflow crowd to the state education board meeting on Tuesday. Religious leaders, teachers, parents and students spent hours arguing about the reading list for the state’s 5.4 million kindergartners...
Bill Gates to appear before House Epstein panel on June 10
Tech billionaire Bill Gates will appear before the House panel investigating disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein on June 10, said a person familiar with the plans. The Microsoft Corp. co-founder was among a group of prominent figures with ties to Epstein that House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer requested appear for...
Pope says Trump’s threat to destroy Iranian civilization ‘truly unacceptable’
ROME — Pope Leo XIV said Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s threat to destroy Iranian civilization was “truly unacceptable” and said any attacks on civilian infrastructure violate international law. In some of his strongest comments yet against the war, the American pope urged Americans and other people of good will...
Former FedEx driver pleads guilty to killing 7-year-old girl after making delivery at her Texas home
DALLAS — A former FedEx driver pleaded guilty Tuesday to killing a 7-year-old girl after delivering a Christmas gift to her Texas home, where he told authorities he accidentally stuck her with his van and then strangled her in a fit of panic. Tanner Horner faces either the death penalty...
