U.S./World category, Page 48
Tens of thousands ordered to flee flooding after torrential rain in Pacific Northwest
MOUNT VERNON, Wash. — Surging floodwaters turned farmland into vast pools, washed out bridges and stranded people Thursday, with evacuation orders issued for tens of thousands of Washington state residents and authorities hoping levees prevent far worse damage. “The flooding levels we’re looking at are potentially historic in nature, so...
Senate rejects extension of health care subsidies as costs are set to rise for millions of Americans
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday rejected legislation to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits, essentially guaranteeing that millions of Americans will see a steep rise in costs at the beginning of the year. As Republicans and Democrats have failed to find compromise, senators voted on two partisan bills instead...
Judge orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia to be immediately released from immigration detentionVideo
GREENBELT, Md. — Kilmar Abrego Garcia must be freed from immigration detention while he fights to stay in the U.S., a judge ruled Thursday, handing a major victory to the immigrant whose wrongful deportation to a notorious prison in El Salvador made him a flashpoint of the Trump administration’s immigration...
U.S. jobless benefit applications jump to 236,000, but continuing claims are lowest since April
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits jumped last week, but the total number of those collecting benefits fell to the lowest level in eight months. U.S. jobless claim applications for the week ending Dec. 6 climbed by 44,000 to 236,000 from the previous week’s 192,000, the...
Trump’s handling of the economy is at its lowest point in AP-NORC polling
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s approval on the economy and immigration have fallen substantially since March, according to a new AP-NORC poll, the latest indication that two signature issues that got him elected barely a year ago could be turning into liabilities as his party begins to gear up for...
Trump wants to keep farmers happy with cash. They’re still worried about the future
RANDOLPH, Minn. — When Donald Trump promised new tariffs while running for president, Gene Stehly worried that trade disputes would jeopardize his international sales of corn, soybeans and wheat. A little more than a year later, Stehly said his fears have become a reality, and Trump’s latest promise of federal...
Trump administration separates thousands of migrant families in the U.S.
MIAMI — President Donald Trump’s zero-tolerance immigration policy split more than 5,000 children from their families at the Mexico border during his first term. Border crossings sit at a record low nearly a year into his second administration and a new wave of immigration enforcement is dividing families inside the...
Federal workforce’s toll after a year of DOGE and Trump: 317,000
The number of federal employees who left their jobs in 2025 will total about 317,000, according to the Office of Personnel Management, after efforts by Elon Musk and the Trump administration to reshape the government workforce. In the most detailed official accounting to date, OPM Director Scott Kupor said Wednesday...
Calibri font becomes the latest DEI target as Marco Rubio orders return to Times New Roman
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered diplomatic correspondence to stop using the Calibri font and return to the more traditional Times New Roman effective Wednesday, reversing a Biden administration shift to the less formal typeface that he called wasteful, confusing and unbefitting the dignity of U.S. government...
Trump’s ‘gold card’ program goes live, offering U.S. visas starting at $1 million per person
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that his long-promised “gold card” was officially going on sale, offering legal status and an eventual pathway to U.S. citizenship for individuals paying $1 million and corporations ponying up twice that per foreign-born employee. A website accepting applications went live as Trump revealed...
House passes defense bill to raise troop pay and overhaul weapons purchases
WASHINGTON — The House voted to pass a sweeping defense policy bill Wednesday that authorizes $900 billion in military programs, including a pay raise for troops and an overhaul of how the Department of Defense buys weapons. The bill’s passage on a 312-112 vote comes at a time of increasing...
Botulism outbreak sickens more than 50 babies and expands to all ByHeart products
Federal health officials on Wednesday expanded an outbreak of infant botulism tied to recalled ByHeart baby formula to include all illnesses reported since the company began production in March 2022. The Food and Drug Administration said investigators “cannot rule out the possibility that contamination might have affected all ByHeart formula...
Foreigners allowed to travel to the U.S. without a visa could soon face new social media screening
WASHINGTON — Foreigners who are allowed to come to the United States without a visa could soon be required to submit information about their social media, email accounts and extensive family history to the Department of Homeland Security before being approved for travel. The notice published Wednesday in the Federal...
Trump says the U.S. has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the United States has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela as tensions mount with the government of President Nicolás Maduro. Using U.S. forces to take control of a merchant ship is incredibly unusual and marks the Trump administration’s latest...
Judge orders Trump to end California National Guard troop deployment in Los Angeles
The Trump administration must stop deploying the California National Guard in Los Angeles and return control of the troops to the state, a federal judge ordered Wednesday in an emphatic ruling. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco granted a preliminary injunction sought by California officials, but also put...
Justice Department can unseal records from Epstein’s 2019 sex trafficking case, judge says
NEW YORK — Secret grand jury transcripts from Jeffrey Epstein’s 2019 sex trafficking case can be made public, a judge ruled on Wednesday, joining two other judges in granting the Justice Department’s requests to unseal material from investigations into the late financier’s sexual abuse. U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman...
Trump once denied using this slur about Haiti and African nations. Now he boasts about it
President Donald Trump admitted Tuesday that he used the slur “shithole countries” to disparage Haiti and African nations during a 2018 meeting with lawmakers, bragging about a comment that sparked global outrage during his first term. Back then, Trump had denied making the contemptuous statement during a closed-door meeting, but...
Trump’s speech in Pa. on combating inflation turns to grievances about immigrants from ‘filthy’ countries
MOUNT POCONO — On the road in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, President Donald Trump tried to emphasize his focus on combating inflation, yet the issue that has damaged his popularity couldn’t quite command his full attention. The president told the crowd gathered at a casino and resort in Mount Pocono that...
Hegseth tells congressional leaders he is weighing release of boat strike video
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told congressional leaders Tuesday that he was still weighing whether to release the full video of an attack on an alleged drug boat that killed two survivors, even as he faced intensifying demands from Congress for disclosure. Hegseth provided a classified briefing for congressional...
Son arrested after Grammy-nominated singer Jubilant Sykes is stabbed to death at California home
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Grammy-nominated singer Jubilant Sykes was stabbed to death at his home in Santa Monica, California, and his son was arrested on suspicion of murder, authorities said Tuesday. Officers responded to a 911 call Monday night reporting an assault in progress at the residence in the coastal...
Luigi Mangione’s notes to self: ‘Pluck eyebrows,’ ‘Keep momentum, FBI slower overnight’
NEW YORK — Pluck eyebrows. Buy less conspicuous shoes. Take a bus or a train west toward Cincinnati and St. Louis. Move around late at night. Stay away from surveillance cameras. A to-do list and travel plans found during Luigi Mangione’s arrest and revealed in court this week shed new...
Shooting at Kentucky State University leaves 1 dead, 1 hurt and a suspect in custody, officials say
FRANKFORT, Ky. — One student was killed and another was critically wounded in a shooting at a residence hall at Kentucky State University on Tuesday, and a suspect who is not a student at the school has been arrested, officials said. The shooting happened around 3 p.m. and was an...
San Diego officials approve $30M settlement for family of teen killed by police
SAN DIEGO — The San Diego City Council on Tuesday approved a $30 million payment to the family of a 16-year-old killed by police in one of the largest such settlements in U.S. history. The settlement exceeds the $27 million the city of Minneapolis agreed to pay the family of...
Indigenous artifacts returned by the Vatican are now at a Canadian museum
OTTAWA, Ontario — A selection of Inuit artifacts returned by the Vatican is now at the Canadian Museum of History, after First Nations, Inuit and Métis leaders for years called for the repatriation of Indigenous items. Pope Leo XIV gave the artifacts — including a traditional Inuit kayak — and...
New report shows rise in violence against women journalists and activists linked to digital abuse
GENEVA — More than two-thirds of women journalists, rights defenders and activists have reported violence online, with over 40% saying they have faced real-world attacks linked to digital abuse, according to a study published Tuesday by UN Women and partners. The report focuses on an escalation in violence targeting such...
