U.S./World category, Page 8
Trump administration delays decision on federal protections for monarch butterflies
MADISON, Wis. — President Donald Trump’s administration has delayed a decision on whether to extend federal protections to monarch butterflies indefinitely despite years of warnings from conservationists that populations are shrinking. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced during the waning days of then-President Joe Biden’s term in December 2024...
Washington flooding forces an entire city to evacuate as rivers top historic highs
BURLINGTON, Wash. — National Guard troops went door-to-door early Friday to evacuate a farming city north of Seattle as severe flooding throughout Western Washington stranded families on rooftops, washed over bridges and ripped homes from their foundations. Days of torrential rain have swelled rivers to record or near-record levels, with...
Church Nativity scenes add zip ties, gas masks and ICE to protest immigration raids
DEDHAM, Mass. — One baby Jesus lays in a manger in the snow, wrapped in a silver emergency blanket with his wrists zip-tied. Mary stands nearby outside the Lake Street Church in Evanston, Illinois, wearing a plastic gas mask and flanked by Roman soldiers in tactical vests labeled “ICE.” In...
Chinese whistleblower now living in U.S. is being hunted by Beijing with help from U.S. tech
MIDLAND, Texas — Retired Chinese official Li Chuanliang was recuperating from cancer on a Korean resort island when he got an urgent call: Don’t return to China, a friend warned. You’re now a fugitive. Days later, a stranger snapped a photo of Li in a cafe. Terrified South Korea would...
Crypto mogul Do Kwon sentenced to 15 years in prison for $40 billion stablecoin fraud
NEW YORK — Onetime cryptocurrency mogul Do Kwon was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison after a $40 billion crash revealed his crypto ecosystem to be a fraud. Victims said the 34-year-old financial technology whiz weaponized their trust to convince them that the investment — secretly propped up by...
Japan issues tsunami advisory after 6.7 magnitude quake in country’s northeast
TOKYO — Japan on Friday issued a tsunami advisory after a 6.7 magnitude earthquake shook the country’s northeast, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. The quake occurred off the east coast of Aomori prefecture, in the north of Honshu, the main Japanese island, at a depth of 12.4 miles at...
Who wants to be a billionaire? Powerball jackpot hits $1 billion for 2nd time this year
The Powerball jackpot has swelled to an estimated $1 billion ahead of the drawing on Saturday night, marking one of the largest prizes in history. No tickets matched all six numbers drawn on Wednesday: white balls 10, 16, 29, 33, 69 and the red Powerball 22. The pot now ranks...
Homeland Security Secretary Noem defends Trump’s hard-line immigration policies under scrutinyVideo
WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defiantly defended the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration policies on Thursday during a House committee hearing, portraying migrants as a major threat faced by the nation that justifies a crackdown that has seen widespread arrests, deportations and a dizzying pace of restrictions on foreigners....
The man accused of killing Charlie Kirk appears in court for 1st time as judge weighs media access
PROVO, Utah — The 22-year-old Utah man charged with killing Charlie Kirk made his first in-person court appearance Thursday as his attorneys push to further limit media access in the high-profile criminal case. A Utah judge is weighing the public’s right to know details in the prosecution of Tyler Robinson...
Justice Department again fails to re-indict New York Attorney General Letitia James
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A grand jury declined for a second time to re-indict New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday, refusing to resurrect a mortgage fraud prosecution encouraged by President Donald Trump, according to a person familiar with the matter. It’s another major blow to the Justice Department after...
Noem links seizure of an oil tanker off Venezuela to U.S. antidrug efforts
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday linked the seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela to the Trump administration’s counterdrug efforts in Latin America as tensions escalate with the government of President Nicolás Maduro. Noem’s assertion, which came during her testimony to the House Homeland Security...
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...
