Vice President JD Vance called for a significant reduction in legal immigration during an appearance at a Turning Point event at the University of Mississippi. Vance on Wednesday criticized President Joe Biden's immigration policies, claiming they allowed too many people into the country and threaten the social fabric of the United States. Vance said legal immigration should be brought “way, way down” until newcomers assimilate into American culture. He urged conservatives not to worry about how liberals might use President Donald Trump's unprecedented claims of executive power against them in the future.

President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are meeting face-to-face today in South Korea. Tensions between the world's two largest economies have soared since Trump returned to office for a second term, and hiked import tariffs. China has retaliated by limiting exports of rare earth minerals, and shunning U.S. soybeans. The markets have been nervous but ahead of the meeting, officials from both countries signaled that there could be a detente. But the countries remain on a potential collision course as they compete to dominate manufacturing, develop AI technologies, and shape global affairs.

BEIJING (AP) — The Chinese government has blanketed the country with the world's largest network of surveillance cameras. Some cameras swivel, ensuring sweeping views of public squares. Others scan license plates of passing cars, allowing police to track vehicles in…

The Detroit Lions have signed star edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson to a contract extension through the 2030 season. Hutchinson was the No. 2 overall pick out of Michigan in 2022. He has 34 1/2 sacks in 46 career games. He also has 78 quarterback hits, 36 tackles for loss, 11 pass defenses, eight forced fumbles, five fumble recoveries and four interceptions. Hutchinson made the Pro Bowl in 2023 and had 7 1/2 sacks in five games last year before he broke his leg. He has six sacks in seven games this season for the Lions.

The United States will share closely held technology to allow South Korea to build a nuclear-powered submarine, President Donald Trump said on social media Thursday after meeting with the country’s president. President Lee Jae Myung stressed to Trump in their Wednesday meeting that the goal was to modernize the alliance with the U.S., noting plans to increase military spending to reduce the financial burden on America. The South Korean leader said there might have been a misunderstanding when they last spoke in August about nuclear-powered submarines, saying that his government was looking for nuclear fuel rather than weapons. Lee said that if South Korea was equipped with nuclear-powered submarines, that it could help U.S. activities in the region.

Microsoft says users of its Azure cloud portal may be not be able to access Office 365, Minecraft or other services due to issues with its global content delivery network services. The tech company posted a note to its Azure status page that its teams are currently deploying a fix to address the outage.

A North Dakota judge has ordered Greenpeace to pay damages of $345 million, reducing an earlier jury award after it found the environmental group and others liable for defamation and other claims brought by a pipeline company in connections with protests of an oil pipeline nearly a decade ago. The lawsuit in state court reaches back nearly a decade ago to protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline. Dallas-based Energy Transfer and subsidiary Dakota Access sued Greenpeace USA, Greenpeace International and Greenpeace Fund Inc. in 2019, alleging a scheme to stop the pipeline. Earlier this year a nine-person jury sided with the pipeline company and awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.

Nvidia has become the first $5 trillion company, just three months after the Silicon Valley chipmaker was first to break through the $4 trillion barrier. The ravenous appetite for Nvidia’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023. On Wednesday the shares closed at $207.04 with 24.3 billion shares outstanding, putting its market cap at $5.03 trillion. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was heading to South Korea this week as leaders from major Pacific Rim economies, including the United States, China and Japan, are gathering for the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

Food aid for more than 40 million Americans is at risk of expiring at week's end. Republican leaders in Congress said it’s all or nothing Wednesday as they rejected a Democratic push for a temporary fix. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said that SNAP benefits have never stopped during previous government shutdowns and urged quick passage of the funding bill. But Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Republicans would not let Democrats pick winners and losers by funding only parts of the federal government. Thune said “it’s time to fund everybody.” The Department of Agriculture says the SNAP benefits will end Friday.

An Illinois jury has convicted a former sheriff’s deputy of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Sonya Massey, a Black woman who called 911 for help. The nine-woman, three-man jury announced the verdict against Sean Grayson on Wednesday. Grayson arrived at Massey’s home in Springfield after she reported seeing a prowler early on July 6, 2024. At the time of the shooting, Massey was holding a pan of hot water. Grayson’s attorneys argued that he was afraid she would throw it at him. Grayson faces a sentence of four to 20 years in prison or probation when he is sentenced Jan. 29.

According to court documents, a Democratic congressional candidate in Illinois has been indicted along with five others accused of blocking vehicles during protests outside a federal immigration enforcement building in suburban Chicago. The indictment filed last week by a special grand jury accuses Kat Abughazaleh of blocking a federal agent outside the immigration center. Abughazaleh says in a video posted on social media Wednesday: “This is a political prosecution and a gross attempt to silence dissent, a right protected under the First Amendment. This case is a major push by the Trump administration to criminalize protest and punish anyone who speaks out against them."

Israel’s intense bombardment of the Gaza Strip this week marked the most serious challenge yet for a fragile, U.S.-brokered ceasefire. Gaza health officials said over 100 Palestinians were killed, including dozens of civilians. Israel said one of its soldiers was killed in an attack that helped prompt the fierce Israeli strikes. But by early Wednesday, the ceasefire had been restored almost as quickly as it had unraveled. President Donald Trump defended Israel’s actions but also made it clear that the U.S. expects the broader ceasefire to hold. The chain of events underscored the fragility of the truce between Israel and Hamas after two years of war, but also showed how intent the U.S. is on keeping it going.

Shutdown? What shutdown? President Donald Trump is barreling along like the government isn't shuttered, keeping up international and domestic travel while construction crews race to transform the White House to accommodate his new ballroom. Other presidents have cut back on travel and events during past shutdowns, including Trump himself when the government was defunded during his first term. Allies say this business-as-usual strategy makes him look presidential, cutting programs backed by Democrats while making sure other priorities are funded. Democratic critics say it makes Trump look callous as workers go unpaid and some people lose benefits to help them buy food.

A senior Border Patrol official is due in court for the second day in a row in the first of his daily court-mandated check-ins about the Chicago area immigration enforcement operation, which has produced more than 1,800 arrests and complaints of excessive force. A federal judge took the rare step Tuesday of ordering Greg Bovino to brief her every evening on how his agents are enforcing the law and whether they are staying within constitutional bounds. It is an unprecedented bid to impose real-time oversight on the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. Bovino is chief of the Border Patrol sector in El Centro, California, and is leading efforts in Chicago.

It's a tough time for the job market. Amid wider economic uncertainty, some analysts have said that businesses are at a “no-hire, no fire” standstill. At the same time, some sizeable layoffs have continued to pile up — raising worker anxieties across sectors. Some companies have pointed to rising operational costs due to U.S.'s new tariffs, while others have redirected money to artificial intelligence investments. Workers in the public sector have also been hit hard. Federal jobs were cut by the thousands earlier this year. And many workers are now going without pay as the U.S. government shutdown nears its fourth week.