U.S./World category, Page 191
Trump upends US Ukraine policy and says he and Putin have agreed to begin negotiations on ending war
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump upended three years of U.S. policy toward Ukraine on Wednesday, saying that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to begin negotiations on ending the war following a dramatic prisoner swap. Trump said in a social media post that he and Putin held a...
Senate confirms Gabbard as Trump’s director of national intelligence after Republicans fall in line
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Tulsi Gabbard as President Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence after Republicans who had initially questioned her experience and judgment fell in line behind her nomination. Gabbard was an unconventional pick to oversee and coordinate the country’s 18 different intelligence agencies, given her...
Austrian far-right leader’s efforts to form a new government collapse
VIENNA — Austrian far-right leader Herbert Kickl said Wednesday that his talks on forming a coalition government with a conservative party have collapsed. Austria’s president gave Kickl a mandate to try to form a new government on Jan. 6 after efforts to put together a governing alliance with his Freedom...
Frontier makes another takeover bid for Spirit Airlines and it is rejected, again
Spirit Airlines has again rejected a third takeover bid from budget rival Frontier, saying that it would focus on its own plan to emerge from bankruptcy and stabilize its finances. The offer this week, like the last bid, offers Spirit shareholders $400 million in debt and a 19% stake in...
Musk appears at White House defending DOGE’s work but acknowledging mistakes
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s most powerful adviser, Elon Musk, made a rare public appearance at the White House on Tuesday to defend the swift and extensive cuts he’s pushing across the federal government while acknowledging there have been mistakes and will be more. Musk stood next to the Resolute...
Who are the Americans still in Russian custody?
Russia has released an American teacher imprisoned over what his family said was prescribed medical marijuana, but several other Americans remain in Russian custody. Teacher Marc Fogel was released in what the White House described Tuesday as a diplomatic thaw. Fogel was arrested in August 2021 and is serving a...
Convicted Russian criminal Alexander Vinnik being freed as part of swap for American Marc Fogel
MOSCOW — Alexander Vinnik, a convicted Russian criminal, is being freed as part of a swap that saw Moscow’s release of American Marc Fogel, two U.S. officials confirmed Wednesday. Vinnik was arrested in 2017 in Greece at the request of the U.S. on cryptocurrency fraud charges and was later extradited...
Seattle council passes bill letting police use weapons on crowds
SEATTLE — The Seattle City Council passed a bill Tuesday allowing police officers — in limited cases — to use weapons like tear gas, pepper spray and blast balls to control crowd movement during protests. Past councils greatly restricted the use of these so-called “less lethal” weapons in the wake...
Apple changes Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America based on Trump’s order
SAN FRANCISCO — Apple renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America on its maps Tuesday after an order by President Donald Trump was made official by the U.S. Geographic Names Information System. The move follows Google, which announced last month that it would make the change once...
Teacher questioned in stabbing death of first-grader in South Korea
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean police Tuesday were questioning an elementary school teacher who allegedly stabbed a first-grader to death in the city of Daejeon. The killing Monday during after-school care has shocked the nation and prompted the country’s acting president to order school safety standards reviewed. The female...
10 new cases of measles reported in West Texas county and New Mexico
SANTA FE, N.M. — Public health authorities said Tuesday that an outbreak of measles in western Texas has expanded, while a new case was confirmed nearby across state lines in New Mexico. The Texas Department of State Health Services has identified 24 measles cases in connection with the onset of...
Fugitive dog recaptured in New Orleans after gaining national fame for escapades
NEW ORLEANS — A scruffy New Orleans rescue dog famed for evading a monthslong effort to recapture him using nets and tranquilizer rifles has finally been caught and returned to domestic life Tuesday. Scrim, a 17-pound mutt who has become a Louisiana folk hero, first escaped from his adopted family...
Ex-FEMA worker who directed staff to avoid homes with Trump signs violated Hatch Act, agency says
WASHINGTON — A federal agency is seeking disciplinary action against a former Federal Emergency Management Agency worker who directed workers helping hurricane survivors to avoid homes with yard signs supporting President Donald Trump, according to a complaint filed Tuesday. The complaint with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board was filed...
Appeals court won’t halt judge’s order requiring Trump administration to unfreeze all federal cash
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Tuesday refused to immediately halt a judge’s order requiring the Trump administration to release billions of dollars in federal grants and loans that remain frozen even after a court blocked a sweeping pause on federal funding. The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of...
New Mexico celebrates hydraulics and heritage with lowrider car holiday
SANTA FE, N.M. — State lawmakers are embracing New Mexico’s time-honored culture of transforming customized lowrider cars into rolling canvases of artistic expression and a source of community pride. House and Senate lawmakers designated Tuesday as Lowrider Day at the state Capitol, marked by celebrations of Latino tradition and history....
NASA’s 2 stuck astronauts may return to Earth sooner under new plan
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s two stuck astronauts may end up back on Earth a little sooner than planned. The space agency announced Tuesday that SpaceX will switch capsules for upcoming astronaut flights in order to bring Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams home in mid-March instead of late March or...
A$AP Rocky decides not to take the stand at his felony assault trial
LOS ANGELES — A$AP Rocky will not take the stand at his trial over two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and the defense rested its case Tuesday without calling him to testify. The 36-year-old hip-hop star said “Absolutely, your honor” when asked by Superior Court Judge Mark...
Survivors of child abuse at Illinois youth detention centers file more lawsuits in hopes of change
CHICAGO — Marcus Walker said the sexual abuse he experienced two decades ago as a teenager at an Illinois youth detention facility has haunted his life. After a staff member gave him drugs and sexually abused him, he joined a gang hoping it would protect him. It didn’t. For years...
Storm makes for treacherous travel as snow, ice track through mid-AtlanticVideo
A snowstorm blew into the mid-Atlantic states on Tuesday, causing dozens of accidents on icy roads, prompting school closures and stoking worries about possible power outages. The heaviest snowfall — up to 10 inches — was expected in parts of Virginia and West Virginia. Ice accumulations could range from a...
After meeting with Trump, Jordan’s king says his country opposes displacing Palestinians in GazaVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump hosted Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House on Tuesday and renewed his insistence that Gaza could somehow be emptied of all residents, controlled by the U.S. and redeveloped as a tourist area. It’s an audacious, but highly unlikely, scheme to dramatically remake the...
Salman Rushdie testifies about his shock and pain as a stranger repeatedly stabbed him on stage
MAYVILLE, N.Y. — Salman Rushdie described in graphic detail Tuesday the frenzied moments in 2022 when a masked man rushed at him on a stage in western New York and repeatedly slashed him with a knife, leaving him with terrible injuries and fearful he would die. Rushdie took the stand...
White House fires USAID inspector general after warning about funding oversight, officials say
WASHINGTON — The White House fired the inspector general for the U.S. Agency for International Development on Tuesday, U.S. officials said, a day after his office warned that the Trump administration’s dismantling of USAID had made it all but impossible to monitor $8.2 billion in unspent humanitarian funds. The White...
‘Back to plastic’: Trump signs order for plastic straws as he declares paper ones ‘don’t work’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Monday he is banning federal use of paper straws, saying they “don’t work” and don’t last very long. Instead he wants the government to exclusively move to plastic. “It’s a ridiculous situation. We’re going back to plastic straws,” Trump said as he signed an...
Hegseth renames North Carolina military base Fort Roland L. Bragg
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has signed an order restoring the name of a storied special operations forces base back to Fort Bragg. The North Carolina base was renamed Fort Liberty in 2023 as part of a national effort under the Biden administration to remove names that honored Confederate...
27 religious groups sue Trump administration to protect houses of worship from immigration arrests
More than two dozen Christian and Jewish groups representing millions of Americans — ranging from the Episcopal Church and the Union for Reform Judaism to the Mennonites and Unitarian Universalists — filed a federal court lawsuit Tuesday challenging a Trump administration move giving immigration agents more leeway to make arrests...
