US & World News

Hunter Biden Will Plead Guilty In A Deal That Likely Averts Time Behind Bars In A Tax And Gun Case

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s son Hunter will plead guilty to federal tax offenses but avoid prosecution on a separate gun charge in a deal with the Justice Department that likely spares him time behind bars. Hunter Biden, 53, will plead guilty to the misdemeanor tax offenses as part of an agreement made public Tuesday. The agreement will also avoid prosecution on…

A Search Is Underway For Missing Submarine That Takes People To See Titanic

(AP) — A rescue operation was underway deep in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean on Monday in search of a submersible vessel that carries people to view the wreckage of the Titanic. The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia said the vessel was reported overdue around 9:13 p.m. Sunday, about 435 miles (700 kilometres) south of St….

Americans Mark Juneteenth With Parties, Events And Quiet Reflection On The End Of Slavery

DETROIT (AP) — Americans across the country this weekend celebrated Juneteenth, marking the relatively new national holiday with cookouts, parades and other gatherings as they commemorated the end of slavery after the Civil War. While many have treated the long holiday weekend as a reason for a party, others urged quiet reflection on America’s often violent and oppressive treatment of its Black…

Supreme Court Preserves Law That Aims To Keep Native American Children With Tribal Families

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday preserved the system that gives preference to Native American families in foster care and adoption proceedings of Native children, rejecting a broad attack from some Republican-led states and white families who argued it is based on race. The court left in place the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act, which was enacted to address concerns that Native…

Trump Pleads Not Guilty To Federal Charges

MIAMI (AP) — Former President Donald Trump, who is making his first court appearance Tuesday after being indicted on 37 charges related to the mishandling classified documents. The indictment marks the first time in U.S. history that a former president faces criminal charges by the federal government he once oversaw. ___ TRUMP PLEADS NOT GUILTY Former President Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to federal…

Trump To Appear In Court Over Charges He Mishandled Secret Government Documents

MIAMI (Fox 9)- Donald Trump was set to make his first court appearance Tuesday in a historic criminal case charging the former president with hoarding top secret government documents, boastfully displaying them to visitors and trying to hide them from investigators who demanded them back. Trump approached his Miami court date with characteristic bravado, insisting as he has done through years…

US Halts Online Asylum Appointments At Texas Crossing After Extortion Warnings

LAREDO, Texas (AP) — The Biden administration has stopped taking mobile app appointments to admit asylum-seekers at a Texas border crossing that connects to a notoriously dangerous Mexican city after advocates warned U.S. authorities that migrants were being targeted there for extortion. U.S. Customs and Border Protection gave no explanation for its decision to stop scheduling new appointments via the…

Donald Trump Says He’s Been Indicted On Charges Of Mishandling Classified documents

MIAMI (AP) — Former President Donald Trump and his aides are bracing for a potential indictment in the classified documents investigation as prosecutors handling the probe were spotted Thursday at a Miami courthouse where a grand jury has been hearing from witnesses. The former president’s lawyers have been told he is a target of the investigation, the clearest indication yet…

Pence Opens Presidential Bid With Denunciation Of Trump Over Jan. 6 Insurrection And Abortion

ANKENY, Iowa (AP) — Former Vice President Mike Pence opened his bid for the Republican nomination for president Wednesday with a firm denunciation of former President Donald Trump, accusing his two-time running mate of abandoning conservative principles and being guilty of dereliction of duty on Jan. 6, 2021. Pence, launching his campaign in a suburb of Des Moines, became the first vice president in…

PGA Tour And European Tour Agree To Merge With Saudis And End LIV Golf Feud

(AP) — The PGA Tour ended its expensive fight with Saudi Arabia’s golf venture and now is joining forces with it, making a stunning announcement Tuesday of a merger that creates a commercial operation with the Public Investment Fund and the European tour. As part of the deal, the sides immediately are dropping all lawsuits involving LIV Golf. From the…

Former Vice President Pence Files Paperwork Launching 2024 Presidential Bid In Challenge To Trump

NEW YORK (AP) — Former Vice President Mike Pence filed paperwork on Monday declaring his campaign for president in 2024, setting up a challenge to his former boss, Donald Trump, just two years after their time in the White House ended with an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and Pence fleeing for his life. Pence, the nation’s 48th vice president, will formally launch…

No Survivors Found After Plane That Flew Over DC And Led To Fighter Jet Scramble Crashes In Virginia

WASHINGTON (AP) — A wayward and unresponsive business plane that flew over the nation’s capital Sunday afternoon caused the military to scramble a fighter jet before the plane crashed in Virginia, officials said. The fighter jet caused a loud sonic boom that was heard across the capital region. Hours later, police said rescuers had reached the site of the plane…

Biden Trips And Falls On Stage At Air Force Graduation; White House Says He’s ‘Fine’

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — President Joe Biden fell on stage at the U.S. Air Force Academy graduation Thursday and the White House said he was “fine” after tripping over a sandbag. Biden had been greeting the graduates in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at the front of the stage with salutes and handshakes, and turned to jog back toward his seat when he…

Changes To Food Aid In Debt Bill Would Cost Money, Far From Savings GOP Envisioned

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican attempt to expand work requirements for federal food aid in debt legislation moving through Congress would increase federal spending by $2.1 billion over 10 years — far from the cuts GOP lawmakers had promised. A compromise on the food aid requirements between House Republicans and President Joe Biden as the nation nears a disastrous government default may…

Debt Ceiling Deal: What’s In, What’s Out Of The Bill To Avert US Default

WASHINGTON (AP) — The details of the deal between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy were released Sunday in the form of a 99-page bill that would suspend the nation’s debt limit through 2025 to avoid a federal default while limiting government spending. The Democratic president and Republican speaker are trying to win over lawmakers to the plan in time…

Biden Marks Memorial Day Nearly 2 Years After Ending America’s Longest War, Lauds Troops’ Sacrifice

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden lauded the sacrifice of generations of U.S. troops who died fighting for their country as he marked Memorial Day with the traditional wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. Biden was joined by first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Harris’ husband, Douglas Emhoff, for the 155th National Memorial Day Observance. He had a moment…

Tina Turner, Unstoppable Superstar Whose Hits Included ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It,’ Dead At 83

NEW YORK (AP) — Tina Turner, the unstoppable singer and stage performer who teamed with husband Ike Turner for a dynamic run of hit records and live shows in the 1960s and ’70s and survived her horrifying marriage to triumph in middle age with the chart-topping “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” has died at 83. Turner died Tuesday, after…

More Than 30 Million US Drivers Don’t Know If They’re At Risk From A Rare But Dangerous Airbag Blast

DETROIT (AP) — More than 33 million people in the United States are driving vehicles that contain a potentially deadly threat: Airbag inflators that in rare cases can explode in a collision and spew shrapnel. Few of them know it. And because of a dispute between federal safety regulators and an airbag parts manufacturer, they aren’t likely to find out…

Supreme Court Sidesteps Challenge To Internet Companies’ Broad Protections From Lawsuits

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday sidestepped a case against Google that might have allowed more lawsuits against social media companies. The justices’ decision returns to a lower court the case of a family of an American college student who was killed in an Islamic State terrorist attack in Paris. The family wants to sue Google for YouTube videos they said helped attract IS recruits…

Grand Jury Indicts Man In 4 University Of Idaho Stabbing Deaths, Eliminating Need For Hearing

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A grand jury has indicted a man who was already charged in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students, allowing prosecutors to skip a planned week-long preliminary hearing that was set for late June. Bryan Kohberger was arrested late last year and charged with burglary and four counts of first-degree murder in connection with the Nov….

Prince Harry And Meghan Pursued In Their Car By Photographers In New York

NEW YORK (AP) — Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, were pursued in their car by photographers after a charity event in New York, an incident that the mayor and the couple’s office described Wednesday as potentially dangerous and that instantly drew comparisons to the 1997 fatal car crash of Harry’s mother, Princess Diana. The NYPD did not provide immediate…

The US Has Approved $42 Billion In Loan Forgiveness For Public Service Workers. Here’s What To Know

(AP) — The U.S. has approved more than $42 billion in federal student loan debt forgiveness for more than 615,000 borrowers in the past 18 months as part of a program aimed at getting more people to work in public service jobs, the U.S. Department of Education said this week. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program is open to teachers, librarians, nurses,…

Migrants Rush Across US Border In Final Hours Before Expiration Of Title 42

MATAMOROS, Mexico (AP) — Migrants rushed across the Mexico border Thursday in hopes of entering the U.S. in the final hours before pandemic-related asylum restrictions are lifted — a change that many feared could make it more difficult for them to stay. With a midnight deadline looming, migrants in Mexico shed clothing before descending a steep bank into the Rio…

Rep. George Santos Pleads Not Guilty To Charges Alleging Fraud, Theft At Heart Of Campaign

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — U.S. Rep. George Santos, the New York Republican infamous for fabricating his life story, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges he duped donors, stole from his campaign and lied to Congress about being a millionaire, all while cheating to collect unemployment benefits he didn’t deserve. Santos’ 13-count federal indictment was a reckoning for a web of fraud and…

US Prices Stay High, Showing Inflation Pressures Persist

WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer prices in the United States rose again in April, and measures of underlying inflation stayed high, a sign that further declines in inflation are likely to be slow and bumpy. Prices increased 0.4% from March to April, the government said Wednesday, up sharply from a 0.1% rise from February to March. Compared with a year earlier, prices climbed 4.9%,…

US To Propose New Rules For Airline Cancellations, Delays

(AP) — The Biden administration is working on new regulations that would require airlines to compensate passengers and cover their meals and hotel rooms if they are stranded for reasons within the airline’s control. The White House said President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg would announce the start of the rulemaking process Monday. The rulemaking pledge continues a push by…

WHO Downgrades COVID Pandemic, Says It’s No Longer Emergency

GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization said Friday that COVID-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency, marking a symbolic end to the devastating coronavirus pandemic that triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies worldwide and killed at least 7 million people worldwide. WHO first declared COVID-19 to be an emergency more than three years ago. The U.N. health agency’s officials…

1 Dead, 4 Hurt In Shooting Inside Atlanta Medical Building

ATLANTA (AP) — One person was fatally shot and at least four others injured Wednesday in a shooting at a medical building in Midtown Atlanta, police said. Atlanta police said there had been no additional shots fired since the initial shooting unfolded inside a Northside Medical building on West Peachtree Street in a commercial area with many office towers and…

US Says 20,000 Russians Killed In Ukraine War Since December

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said Monday it now estimates that just since December Russia has suffered 100,000 casualties, including more than 20,000 killed, as Ukraine has rebuffed a heavy assault by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine. In what has become a grinding war of attrition, the fiercest battles have been in the eastern Donetsk region, where Russia is…

House Republicans Pass US Debt Bill, Push Biden On Spending

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans passed sweeping legislation Wednesday that would raise the government’s legal debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion in exchange for steep spending restrictions, a tactical victory for Speaker Kevin McCarthy as he challenges President Joe Biden to negotiate and prevent a catastrophic federal default this summer. The bill passed by a razor-thin 217-215 margin. Biden has threatened to veto the Republican package, which…

Biden Announces 2024 Reelection Bid: ‘Let’s Finish This Job’

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday formally announced that he is running for reelection in 2024, asking voters to give him more time to “finish this job” and extend the run of America’s oldest president for another four years. Biden, who would be 86 at the end of a second term, is betting his first-term legislative achievements and more than 50 years of experience in Washington…

Supreme Court Temporarily Extends Access To Abortion Pill

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has temporarily extended women’s access to an abortion pill until Friday while the justices consider whether to allow restrictions on mifepristone to take effect as a legal challenge to the medication’s Food and Drug Administration approval continues. In an order signed by Justice Samuel Alito on Wednesday, the court indicated it will act by Friday…

Tyre Nichols’ Family Sues Memphis Police Over Beating, Death

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The family of Tyre Nichols, who died after a brutal beating by five Memphis police officers, sued the officers and the city of Memphis on Wednesday, blaming them for his death and accusing officials of allowing a special unit’s aggressive tactics to go unchecked despite warning signs. The lawsuit accuses Memphis Police Director Cerelyn “CJ” Davis…

2 Iowa Teens Plead Guilty In Spanish Teacher’s Beating Death

(AP) — Two Iowa teenagers admitted helping ambush and kill their high school Spanish teacher who was beaten to death in a park with a baseball bat. Both pleaded guilty Tuesday to first degree murder. Prosecutors said Willard Miller and Jeremy Goodale carried out the 2021 attack on Nohema Graber because of a bad grade she had given Miller. The two were 16…

Damar Hamlin Cleared To Play, 4 Months After Cardiac Arrest

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin is cleared to resume playing and is attending the team’s voluntary workout program, the latest and biggest steps in his remarkable recovery some four months after going into cardiac arrest and having to be resuscitated on the field during a game at Cincinnati. “He’s fully cleared. He’s here and he…

Suspect In Military Documents Leak Taken Into Custody, AP Source

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Massachusetts Air National Guard member who has emerged as a main person of interest in the disclosure of highly classified military documents on the Ukraine war was taken into custody Thursday by federal agents, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because it hadn’t been publicly announced. Investigators believe that the…

Louisville Bank Employee Livestreamed Attack That Killed 5

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A Louisville bank employee armed with a rifle opened fire at his workplace Monday morning, killing five people — including a close friend of Kentucky’s governor — while livestreaming the attack on Instagram, authorities said. Police arrived as shots were still being fired inside Old National Bank and killed the shooter in an exchange of gunfire, Louisville Metro…

Biden Ends COVID National Emergency After Congress Acts

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. national emergency to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic ended Monday as President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan congressional resolution to bring it to a close after three years — weeks before it was set to expire alongside a separate public health emergency. The national emergency allowed the government to take sweeping steps to respond to the virus…

Police: 4 Killed In Shooting At Downtown Louisville Building

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A shooting Monday at a bank in downtown Louisville killed at least four people and wounded at least eight others, police said. The suspected lone shooter was also dead. Louisville Metro Police Department Deputy Chief Paul Humphrey told reporters officers who arrived on the scene “encountered active gunshots still being fired inside the location at that…

Trump’s Response To Criminal Charges Revives Election Lies

NEW YORK (AP) — Legally, the most important words former President Donald Trump said after he was charged with 34 felonies by the Manhattan District Attorney last week were “not guilty.” But, politically, the most significant may be “election interference.” Trump’s repetition of those words, which have been taken up by other top Republicans, show how he is trying to turn his…

US Would Bar Full Ban On Trans Athletes But Allow Exceptions

WASHINGTON (AP) — Schools and colleges across the U.S. would be forbidden from enacting outright bans on transgender athletes under a proposal released Thursday from the Biden administration, but teams could create some limits in certain cases — for example, to ensure fairness. The proposed rule sends a political counterpunch toward a wave of Republican-led states that have sought to…

GOP Lawmakers To Vote On Expelling Democrats In Gun Protest

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Thousands flocked to the Tennessee Capitol on Thursday to support the three Democratic lawmakers facing possible expulsion for their role in a gun control demonstration, cheering and chanting outside the House chamber so loud that it drowned out proceedings. The GOP-dominated House is set to vote on whether to oust Reps. Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones and Justin…

Reports: Donald Trump Pleads Not Guilty To 34 Felony Charges

NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, according to several news reports. He entered the plea Tuesday during a brief arraignment in a lower Manhattan courtroom as prosecutors unsealed a grand jury indictment. The charges stem from a hush money payment to a porn actor during Trump’s…

Finland Joins NATO In Major Blow To Russia Over Ukraine War

BRUSSELS (AP) — Finland joined the NATO military alliance Tuesday, dealing a major blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin with a historic realignment of Europe’s post-Cold War security landscape triggered by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The Nordic country’s membership doubles Russia’s border with the world’s biggest security alliance. Finland had adopted neutrality after its defeat by the Soviets in World War II, but…

Trump Arrives At New York Courthouse Ahead Of Arraignment

NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump arrived Tuesday at a Manhattan courthouse ahead of his arraignment on criminal charges stemming from a hush money payment to a porn actor during his 2016 campaign. Trump pumped his fist as he exited Trump Tower minutes earlier, then traveled in an eight-car motorcade down a highway along the East River to the downtown courthouse, where’s…

Officials: US Providing Ukraine $2.6 Billion In Military Aid

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. will send Ukraine about $500 million in ammunition and equipment and will spend more than $2 billion to buy an array of munitions, radar and other weapons in the future, U.S. officials said, as the Ukrainian troops prepare for a spring offensive against Russian forces. The ammunition rounds, along with grenade launchers and vehicles, will be…