U.S./World category, Page 44
Food banks brace for surge as shutdown threatens benefits
WASHINGTON/CHICAGO — Cynthia Kirkhart, the CEO of Facing Hunger Foodbank in Huntington, West Virginia, has already had to explain to customers this year why the organization is rationing bags of potatoes. The food bank, which also serves households in Kentucky and Ohio, has had to shrink its allotments as higher...
U.S. corn crop could be the biggest ever. That’s terrible news for America’s farmers.
FREDERICKSBURG, Iowa — Kyle Wendland stepped away from his engineering degree two decades ago to follow his father - not just into farming corn, but into a world of debt, grit, and stubborn faith he could wrest a living from Iowa’s soil. He calls his place Comeback Farms, after his...
Social Security checks to rise 2.8% in 2026
More than 75 million Americans receiving Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits will see their monthly payments rise 2.8% in 2026, accelerating from the prior year’s increase for the first time in three years. The Social Security Administration announced the annual cost-of-living adjustment to benefits on Friday, less than...
Putin envoy says U.S., Ukraine, Russia close to ‘diplomatic solution’ on war
Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy for investment and economic cooperation, said Friday he believes his country, the United States and Ukraine are close to a diplomatic solution to end Russia’s war in Ukraine. Speaking to CNN after arriving in Washington for talks with U.S. officials, Dmitriev said...
Athletes, influencers navigate fine line as sports betting booms
Livvy Dunne has parlayed her successful stint as a collegiate gymnast at LSU into a career as a social media influencer and model. She can be seen in ads for Fanatics, including one where she appears shrouded in bubbles in a bathtub in the middle of a football field. “Fanatics...
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy urges U.S. to broaden Russian oil sanctions and seeks long-range missiles
LONDON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday urged the United States to expand sanctions on Russian oil from two companies to the whole sector, and appealed for long-range missiles to hit back at Russia. Zelenskyy was in London for talks with two dozen European leaders who have pledged military...
U.S. military to deploy aircraft carrier to South America amid soaring tensions with Venezuela
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump dramatically escalated a U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean on Friday by deploying the Gerald Ford aircraft carrier group to Latin America, a show of force that far exceeds any past counter-narcotics need and represents Washington’s most muscular move yet in the Latin America region....
White House says October inflation data unlikely to be released next month
WASHINGTON — The White House said Friday it had learned there likely will not be a release of inflation data next month due to the U.S. government shutdown, which could leave a gap in a data series stretching back more than a century. An impasse between Republicans and Democrats in...
Picasso painting held in private collection sells for $31 million at Paris auction
PARIS — A painting by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, believed to be depicting his muse and partner Dora Maar, fetched $31.49 million — 27 million euros — at a Paris auction Friday. The work, titled “Bust of a Woman with a Flowered Hat (Dora Maar) 1943”, was acquired by a...
N.Y. Attorney General Letitia James pleads not guilty to mortgage-related charges
NORFOLK, Va. — New York Attorney General Letitia James pleaded not guilty in federal court Friday to charges related to allegedly lying on mortgage documents. James, a Democrat who last year secured a $450 million civil fraud judgment against President Donald Trump, is one of three perceived enemies that the...
Croatia reintroduces military conscription as Europe worries about Russia-Ukraine war
ZAGREB, Croatia — Croatia’s parliament on Friday voted to reintroduce compulsory military service in the European Union and NATO member country. The move comes amid heightened tensions in Europe following the Russian aggression against Ukraine, as well as an apparent arms race and military buildup in the Balkans, which went...
Ontario premier doesn’t back down against Trump, posts video of Reagan opposing tariffs
TORONTO — The leader of Canada’s most populous province posted remarks by former U.S. President Ronald Reagan on social media on Friday showing Reagan opposed tariffs, hours after President Donald Trump announced he’s ending “all trade negotiations” with Canada because of a television ad that Trump said misstates Reagan’s opposition...
U.S. military takes steps to adapt new hypersonic weapons to mobile launchers
WASHINGTON — Defense startup Castelion said on Friday it has won contracts to integrate its Blackbeard hypersonic strike weapon with current U.S. Army systems, the first step toward allowing the military to place the powerful and nearly unstoppable weapons around the world. The U.S. and China are engaged in an...
Almost 4,400 people abused by priests in Italy, victims’ group alleges
ROME — Nearly 4,400 people have been abused by Catholic priests in Italy in cases reported since 2020, a victims’ group alleged on Friday, renewing pressure on bishops to confront a crisis that has long plagued the world’s largest Christian faith. The unofficial tally by Rete l’Abuso, Italy’s largest church...
Trump says all trade talks with Canada are terminatedVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said late Thursday that all trade talks with Canada were terminated following what he called a fraudulent advertisement in which former President Ronald Reagan spoke negatively about tariffs. “Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED,” Trump wrote on Truth...
Arson suspect in deadly Los Angeles Palisades fire pleads not guilty
LOS ANGELES — The man accused of deliberately setting the blaze that grew into one of the most devastating wildfires in Los Angeles history, killing 12 people and incinerating thousands of homes, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to three federal arson-related charges. Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, is charged with “maliciously” starting...
Trump said he’s good at building ‘on budget.’ Then the ballroom cost escalated by 50%
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has often touted his experience as a real estate builder who is good at building things “on budget and on time,” as he did when he hosted a dinner last week for donors to his long-championed White House ballroom. Then, exactly a week later, on...
Top Trump official defied court order on tear gas during Chicago crackdown, protesters say
CHICAGO — A top U.S. Border Patrol official violated a court order limiting the use of tear gas during demonstrations against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Chicago, a group of protesters, journalists and clergy members told a U.S. judge on Thursday. The group said in a court filing that...
New York Attorney General James to challenge U.S. Attorney Halligan’s appointment
WASHINGTON — New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday said her legal team plans to ask a federal judge to dismiss the criminal charges against her on the grounds that the U.S. Attorney in Eastern Virginia who obtained the indictment was unlawfully appointed, according to a court filing. James’...
Tropical Storm Melissa lumbers through the Caribbean, killing an elderly man in HaitiVideo
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Tropical Storm Melissa lumbered through the Caribbean Sea on Thursday, bringing a risk of dangerous landslides and life-threatening flooding to Jamaica and southern Hispaniola — an island shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Officials urged residents in flood-prone areas to seek higher ground. The...
U.S. reopens Alaska wildlife refuge to oil and gas development
The Trump administration on Thursday announced a series of steps to open up Alaskan wilderness to energy and infrastructure development, including by allowing oil and gas drilling in the remote Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The administration has announced a string of policy swings involving the sprawling refuge for polar bears,...
Trump calls off federal agent deployment to San Francisco
Donald Trump will not deploy federal agents to San Francisco, the U.S. president and the California city’s mayor said in separate social media posts on Thursday, a surprising stand-down as Trump pressures Democratic-led cities around the country to step up enforcement against crime and illegal immigration. San Francisco Mayor Daniel...
2 federal judges say use of AI led to errors in U.S. court rulings
Two federal judges admitted in response to an inquiry by U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley that members of their staff used artificial intelligence to help prepare recent court orders that Grassley called “error-ridden.” In letters released by Grassley’s office on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate in Mississippi...
Trump to quadruple Argentine beef imports while U.S. ranchers fume
President Donald Trump’s administration is quadrupling the country’s low-tariff imports of Argentine beef in his attempt to lower grocery store beef prices, a White House official said Thursday, evoking fury from the nation’s cattle ranchers. Raising the tariff rate quota on Argentine beef to 80,000 metric tons will let the...
Clearing Gaza’s surface of bombs will take up to 30 years, aid group says
GENEVA — Clearing the surface of Gaza of unexploded ordnance will likely take between 20 to 30 years, according to an official with aid group Humanity & Inclusion, describing the enclave as a “horrific, unmapped minefield.” More than 53 people have been killed and hundreds injured by lethal remnants from...
