U.S./World category, Page 5
Justice Department official meets with Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s imprisoned former girlfriend
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department’s No. 2 official met Thursday with Ghislaine Maxwell, the imprisoned former girlfriend of financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The meeting in Florida, which Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Tuesday he was working to arrange, is part of an ongoing Justice Department...
Air Force command pauses M18 pistol use after airman’s death at Wyoming base
The U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command has paused the use of a handgun following the death of a Security Forces airman at a base in Wyoming. The use of the M18 pistol, a variant of another gun that has been the target of lawsuits over unintentional discharge allegations, was...
Zelenskyy announces new anti-graft bill in Ukraine after public outcry and EU criticism
KYIV, Ukraine — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he’s sending a new anti-corruption bill to Ukraine’s Parliament on Thursday, in a further attempt to defuse tensions after he approved changes to graft laws that brought a public outcry and sharp criticism from the European Union. Opponents of the contentious law...
A replica Oval Office near the White House just got a Trump makeover
WASHINGTON — A replica Oval Office on display near the White House now looks exactly like President Donald Trump’s. But it is not the blingy version he is currently using. Visitors starting Thursday will experience the mock Oval Office as it was in the Republican president’s first term, until it...
The U.S. fertility rate reached a new low in 2024, CDC data shows
The fertility rate in the U.S. dropped to an all-time low in 2024 with less than 1.6 kids per woman, new federal data released Thursday shows. The U.S. was once among only a few developed countries with a rate that ensured each generation had enough children to replace itself —...
Most U.S. adults still support legal abortion 3 years after Roe was overturned, poll finds
Three years after the Supreme Court opened the door to state abortion bans, most U.S. adults continue to say abortion should be legal — views that look similar to before the landmark ruling. The new findings from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll show that about two-thirds...
48 people die in passenger plane crash in Russia’s far east, officials say
MOSCOW — Forty-eight people, including 5 children, have died in a plane crash in Russia’s Far East, the head of the country’s Amur region said in a statement Thursday. The An-24 passenger plane disappeared from radar as it travelled from the city of Blagoveshchensk on the Russian-Chinese border to the...
France’s 1st couple sue Candace Owens for defamation over claims that Brigitte Macron is a man
PARIS — A lawyer for France ‘s first couple said they’ll be seeking “substantial” damages from U.S. conservative influencer Candace Owens if she persists with claims that President Emmanuel Macron ‘s wife, Brigitte, is a man. The lawyer, Tom Clare, said in an interview with CNN that a defamation suit...
Police documents released after Bryan Kohberger’s sentencing detail strange happenings weeks before
BOISE, Idaho — In the weeks before Bryan Kohberger killed four University of Idaho students, there were strange happenings at their rental home near campus. One of the victims, Kaylee Goncalves, told her roommates she saw a man she didn’t recognize staring at her when she took her dog outside....
3 men who went missing while fishing and swimming in Mississippi River found dead
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Three men who were reported missing while fishing and swimming on a sandbar in the Mississippi River have been found dead near Memphis, Tennessee, authorities said Wednesday. Search and rescue teams with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and other Memphis-area agencies began looking for the men Tuesday...
Appeals court finds Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship unconstitutional, upholds block
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s order seeking to end birthright citizenship is unconstitutional, affirming a lower-court decision that blocked its enforcement nationwide. The ruling from a divided panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals comes after Trump’s plan was also blocked...
Columbia University agrees to pay more than $220M in deal with Trump to restore federal funding
NEW YORK — Columbia University has reached a deal with the Trump administration to pay more than $220 million to the federal government to restore federal research money that was canceled in the name of combating antisemitism on campus, the university announced Wednesday. Under the agreement, the Ivy League school...
FEMA chief rejects criticism, calls Texas floods response ‘a model’ for dealing with disaster
The acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency is pushing back on criticisms of the federal response to the central Texas floods that killed at least 136 people earlier this month. “I can’t see anything we did wrong,” David Richardson told a House panel of the Committee on Transportation...
Pam Bondi facing Democratic calls to testify following report she told Trump he was in Epstein files
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Pam Bondi is facing Democratic calls to testify before Congress following a newspaper’s revelation that she told President Donald Trump that his name appeared in the files of the Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking investigation. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Bondi told Trump his name was...
Summer Lee leads push to subpoena Epstein files
U.S. Rep. Summer Lee led an effort Wednesday to subpoena files related to the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation — hours before the House was scheduled to go on break until September. In an 8-2 vote with bipartisan support, a House Oversight subcommittee passed a motion by Lee to subpoena...
Here’s what family members and friends told Idaho killer Bryan Kohberger in court
Family members and friends lashed out at killer Bryan Kohberger in court Wednesday as he was sentenced to life in prison for the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students. No motive has been offered and Kohberger, 30, chose not to speak at the hearing. He pleaded guilty earlier...
Judge bars ICE from immediately taking Abrego Garcia into custody if he’s released from jail
A federal judge in Maryland has prohibited the Trump administration from taking Kilmar Abrego Garcia into immediate immigration custody if he’s released from jail in Tennessee while awaiting trial on human smuggling charges, according to an order issued Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the U.S. government to provide...
Supreme Court allows Trump to remove 3 Democrats on the Consumer Product Safety Commission
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the Trump administration to remove three Democratic members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, who had been fired by President Donald Trump and then reinstated by a federal judge. The justices acted on an emergency appeal from the Justice Department, which argued...
House Democrats launch bid to subpoena Justice Department for Epstein files
WASHINGTON — House Democrats launched a bid Wednesday to subpoena President Donald Trump’s Justice Department for files in the sex trafficking investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, goading GOP lawmakers to defy Trump and Republican leadership to support the action. Democrats on a subcommittee of the powerful House Committee on Oversight made...
Judge rejects Trump administration effort to unseal Epstein grand jury records in Florida
A judge on Wednesday rejected a Trump administration request to unseal transcripts from grand jury investigations of Jeffrey Epstein years ago in Florida, though a similar request for the work of a different grand jury is pending in New York. U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg in West Palm Beach said...
3 Haitian police officers and 2 civilians killed as gangs overrun a central region
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Three Haitian police officers and two civilians were killed in the country’s central region, where gang violence has surged, the government and a police union said Wednesday. The officers were members of a specialized unit known as UDMO, which is largely activated during protests and disturbances. A...
Doctor pleads guilty to selling Matthew Perry ketamine in the weeks before the actor’s death
LOS ANGELES — A doctor pleaded guilty Wednesday to giving Matthew Perry ketamine in the month leading up to the “Friends” star’s overdose death. Dr. Salvador Plasencia became the fourth of the five people charged in connection with Perry’s death to plead guilty. He stood next to his lawyer and...
Gaza has been at risk of famine for months, experts say. Here’s why it’s not been declared
For months, U.N. officials, aid groups and experts have warned that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are on the brink of famine without formally declaring one. Even though Israel eased a 2½-month blockade on the territory in May, aid groups say only a trickle of assistance is getting into the...
UN’s top court decides what polluting countries must do about climate change
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The U.N.’s highest court is handing down a historic opinion on climate change Wednesday, a decision that could set a legal benchmark for action around the globe to the climate crisis. After years of lobbying by vulnerable island nations who fear they could disappear under rising...
Bryan Kohberger sentenced to life in prison for murdering 4 Idaho students
BOISE, Idaho — Police released documents Wednesday detailing their investigation into the murders of four University of Idaho students. Police in Moscow, Idaho released dozens of pages of documents just hours after Bryan Kohberger was sentenced to life in prison without parole in the years-long case. In one of the...
