Elon Musk pulls back on threat to withdraw Dragon spacecraft
As President Donald Trump and Elon Musk argued on social media on Thursday, the world’s richest man threatened to decommission a space capsule used to take astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station. A few hours later, Musk said he wouldn’t follow through on the threat. After Trump threatened...
Ex-WH press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre left the Democratic Party, publisher of her new book says
Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has a book out this fall that promises a close look at President Biden’s decision not to run for reelection and calls for thinking beyond the two-party system. Jean-Pierre herself has switched her affiliation to independent after working in two Democratic administrations, according...
Salvage crew bound for the site of a cargo ship fire off the coast of Alaska
JUNEAU, Alaska — A salvage team is expected to arrive early next week at the scene of a cargo ship that was carrying about 3,000 vehicles to Mexico when it caught fire in waters off Alaska’s Aleutian island chain. A tug carrying salvage specialists and special equipment is expected to...
Gaza marks the start of Eid with outdoor prayers in the rubble and food growing ever scarcer
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Palestinians across the war-ravaged Gaza Strip marked the start of one of Islam’s most important holidays with prayers outside destroyed mosques and homes early Friday, with little hope the war with Israel will end soon. With much of Gaza in rubble, men and children were...
Pentagon watchdog investigates if staffers were asked to delete Hegseth’s Signal messages
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon watchdog is looking into whether any of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s aides was asked to delete Signal messages that may have shared sensitive military information with a reporter, according to two people familiar with the investigation and documents reviewed by The Associated Press. The inspector general’s...
Jewelry salesman steals $650,000 worth of watches from his employer, Florida cops say
A trusted jewelry store employee got away with pocketing luxury watches for years, thanks to doctored paperwork, according to investigators in Florida. The trickery amounted to 36 missing watches valued at over $650,000, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Thursday. All were taken from Gold &...
Judge puts temporary hold on Trump’s latest ban on Harvard’s foreign students
WASHINGTON — A federal judge has temporarily blocked a proclamation by President Donald Trump that banned foreign students from entering the U.S. to attend Harvard University. Trump’s proclamation was the latest attempt by his Republican administration to prevent the nation’s oldest and wealthiest college from enrolling a quarter of its...
Feds move to drop Sheetz discrimination case as Trump targets key civil rights tool
Federal authorities are moving to drop a racial discrimination lawsuit against the Sheetz convenience store chain, part of a broader effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to halt the use of a key tool for enforcing the country’s civil rights laws. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which enforces workplace anti-discrimination...
D-Day veterans return to Normandy to mark 81st anniversary
COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, France — Veterans gathered Friday in Normandy to mark the 81st anniversary of the D-Day landings — a pivotal moment of World War II that eventually led to the collapse of Adolf Hitler’s regime. Along the coastline and near the D-Day landing beaches, tens of thousands of onlookers attended...
The implosion of a powerful political alliance: Trump and Musk in their own words
Last Friday, President Donald Trump heaped praise on Elon Musk as the tech billionaire prepared to leave his unorthodox White House job. Less than a week later, their potent political alliance met a dramatic end Thursday when the men attacked each other with blistering epithets. Trump threatened to go after...
Rangers in Alaska recover body of man who died from a fall on North America’s tallest peak
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Mountaineering rangers in Alaska recovered the body of a Seattle man who died after falling 3,000 feet from a climbing route on Mount McKinley. Alex Chui’s body was transferred to the state medical examiner Wednesday, the Denali National Park and Preserve said in a statement. Two other...
No injuries when fire erupts at Philadelphia transit lot filled with decommissioned busesVideo
PHILADELPHIA — A fast-moving fire erupted early Thursday at a transit bus lot in Philadelphia and burned dozens of decommissioned vehicles, sending a thick plume of black smoke into the sky but causing no injuries. The fire did not impact the morning commute. The cause of the blaze remains under...
Supreme Court revives straight woman’s job-bias lawsuit
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court revived a job-bias lawsuit by a woman who says she suffered so-called reverse discrimination because she’s straight, in a ruling that makes it easier to bring similar cases to trial in parts of the country. The justices unanimously said a federal appeals court was...
Netanyahu says Israel has ‘activated’ some Palestinian clans opposed to Hamas
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel has “activated” some clans of Palestinians in Gaza that are opposed to Hamas, though it was not immediately clear what role they would play. His comments on social media were the first public acknowledgment of Israel’s backing of armed...
Man accused of yelling ‘Free Palestine’ and firebombing demonstrators charged with attempted murder
BOULDER, Colo. — A man accused of yelling “Free Palestine” and throwing Molotov cocktails at demonstrators calling for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza was charged Thursday with 118 counts, including attempted murder, assault, cruelty to animals and explosives crimes in a Colorado court. Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, was...
Harvard files legal challenge over Trump’s ban on U.S. entry for incoming foreign students
Harvard University is challenging President Donald Trump’s move to block foreign students from coming to the United States to attend the Ivy League school, calling it illegal retaliation for Harvard’s rejection of White House demands. In an amended complaint filed Thursday, Harvard called the president’s action an end-run around a...
Governments denounce Trump’s travel ban and vow to push back against U.S.
WASHINGTON — Officials in some of the 12 countries whose citizens will be soon banned from visiting the United States denounced President Donald Trump’s move to resurrect a hallmark policy of his first term and vowed Thursday to push back against the U.S. The ban, which was announced Wednesday, takes...
Massachusetts student arrested by ICE on his way to volleyball practice has been released
CHELMSFORD, Mass. — A Massachusetts high school student who was arrested by immigration agents on his way to volleyball practice has been released from custody after a judge granted him bond Thursday. Marcelo Gomes da Silva, 18, who came to the U.S. from Brazil at age 7, was detained by...
Irwin theater company reprises shows from founding years in 10th season
Rob Jessup is taking a step back in time, reprising his role as director for the first show Split Stage Productions performed in its inaugural season 11 years ago. Split Stage Productions spawned out of a conversation between Jessup and his friend Nate Newell about the lack of risqué or...
Trump and Musk’s relationship flames out just as intensely and publicly as it startedVideo
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s alliance took off like one of SpaceX’s rockets. It was supercharged and soared high. And then it blew up. The spectacular flameout Thursday hit a crescendo when Trump threatened to cut Musk’s government contracts and Musk said without providing evidence that Trump’s administration...
Trump suggests Biden aides acted without then-president’s knowledge — but says he has no evidence
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump alleged Thursday that officials in Joe Biden ‘s administration might have in effect forged their boss’s signature and taken broad actions he wasn’t aware of — while acknowledging he had no evidence that actually happened. Meeting in the Oval Office with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz,...
Russian strike kills 5 in Ukraine, including a 1-year-old, hours after Trump-Putin call
PRYLUKY, Ukraine — At least five people, including a 1-year-old child, his mother and grandmother, were killed Thursday in a nighttime Russian drone attack on the northern Ukrainian city of Pryluky, officials said. Six drones hit a residential area in the city shortly before dawn, injuring nine others, according to...
Supreme Court blocks Mexico’s $10B lawsuit alleging U.S. gunmakers have fueled cartel violence
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked a $10 billion lawsuit Mexico filed against top firearm manufacturers in the U.S. alleging the companies’ business practices have fueled tremendous cartel violence and bloodshed. The unanimous ruling tossed out the case under U.S. laws that largely shield gunmakers from liability when...
Supreme Court backs straight Ohio woman in workplace discrimination suit
WASHINGTON — A unanimous Supreme Court made it easier Thursday to bring lawsuits over so-called reverse discrimination, siding with an Ohio woman who claims she didn’t get a job and then was demoted because she is straight. The justices’ decision affects lawsuits in 20 states and the District of Columbia...
Crews clean up 2,000-gallon fuel spill in Baltimore’s harbor
BALTIMORE — Crews were working Thursday morning to contain and clean up a 2,000-gallon diesel fuel spill in Baltimore’s harbor, according to state and city officials. Initially, Johns Hopkins Hospital reported a contained 200-gallon diesel fuel spill at its East Baltimore facility on Wednesday morning, but a few hours later...
