Afghan national charged in Guard ambush shooting drove across U.S. to carry out attack, officials say
WASHINGTON — An Afghan national who worked with the CIA in his native country and immigrated to the U.S. in 2021 drove from Washington state to the nation’s capital where he shot two West Virginia National Guard members deployed in Washington, D.C., U.S. officials said Thursday. The suspect had worked...
Telescope in Chile captures stunning new picture of a cosmic butterfly
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A telescope in Chile has captured a stunning new picture of a grand and graceful cosmic butterfly. The National Science Foundation’s NoirLab released the picture Wednesday. Snapped last month by the Gemini South telescope, the aptly named Butterfly Nebula is 2,500 to 3,800 light-years away in...
Trump says he’s barring South Africa from participating in next year’s G20 summit near Miami
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he is barring South Africa from participating in the Group of 20 summit next year at his Miami-area club and will stop all payments and subsidies to the country over its treatment of a U.S. government representative at this...
2 Virginia brothers allegedly plotted to kill ICE agents, Homeland Security says
Two brothers in Virginia have been arrested after an off-duty police officer overheard the men allegedly discussing plans to kill immigration officers, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday. John Wilson Bennett and Mark Booth Bennett, both U.S. citizens, were arrested late last week on allegations they were planning...
Utah death row inmate with dementia dies 3 months after court blocked his execution
SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah man who was spared execution this fall after developing dementia during his 37 years on death row died Wednesday of apparent natural causes, according to the state’s Department of Corrections. Ralph Leroy Menzies, 67, was set to die by firing squad in September, but...
Canada’s prime minister announces supports for lumber, steel sectors hit by U.S. tariffs
TORONTO — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Wednesday new supports for the steel and lumber industries hit hard by U.S. tariffs. U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed 50% tariffs on steel and softwood lumber, long subject to U.S. tariffs, is currently taxed at 45% after the Trump administration’s hike...
Under a cloud, the Olympic flame begins its journey to the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics
ANCIENT OLYMPIA, Greece — The Olympic flame began its journey Wednesday to the Milan Cortina Winter Games — missing a little of its usual magic. Bad weather lashing western Greece forced organizers to move the torch-lighting ceremony indoors, from Olympia’s ancient stadium and temples to a nearby museum. The flame...
Skill games avoid regulation again in Pa. as gambling lobby war intensifies
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — This year’s state budget didn’t pull slot-like skill games out of their legal limbo in Pennsylvania, despite...
2 National Guard members shot in an ambush attack just blocks from the White HouseVideo
WASHINGTON — Two West Virginia National Guard members who deployed to the nation’s capital were shot Wednesday just blocks from the White House in a brazen act of violence that the mayor described as a targeted attack. FBI Director Kash Patel and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said they were hospitalized...
Soldiers in Guinea-Bissau appear on state TV saying they have seized power
BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau — Soldiers in Guinea-Bissau appeared on state television saying they have seized power in the country, following reports of gunshots near the presidential palace on Wednesday, three days after national elections were held. “The High Military Command for the reestablishment of national and public order decides to immediately...
New prosecutor won’t pursue charges against Trump and others in Georgia election interference case
ATLANTA — A judge on Wednesday dismissed the Georgia election interference case against President Donald Trump and others after the prosecutor who recently took over the case said he would not pursue the charges. Pete Skandalakis, the executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, took over the case...
Layoffs are piling up, raising worker anxiety. Here are some companies that have cut jobs recently
NEW YORK — It’s a tough time to be looking for a job. Amid wider economic uncertainty, some analysts have said that businesses are at a “no-hire, no fire” standstill. That’s caused many to limit new work to only a few specific roles, if not pause openings entirely. At the...
Sellers in other countries struggle to maintain U.S. customers as holiday shopping season starts
NEW YORK — At Fleece & Harmony, a woolen mill and yarn shop in bucolic Belfast, Prince Edward Island, in Canada, owner Kim Doherty used to be able to send yarn skeins to U.S. customers across the border with little fanfare. The yarn orders usually met an import tax exemption...
3 arrested in Hong Kong, as a high-rise fire leaves at least 44 dead and 279 reported missing
HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in years burned through the night, leaving at least 44 people dead and 279 reported missing with rescuers still pulling residents from blazing high-rise apartment buildings into the morning. Several local media outlets reported that police had arrested three men on suspicion of...
Health care plan circulated by the White House runs into familiar GOP divisions
WASHINGTON — A health care proposal circulated by the White House in recent days is running into the reality of Republican divisions on the issue — a familiar struggle for a party that has been trying to scrap or overhaul the Affordable Care Act for the past 15 years. The...
DACA recipients are being arrested despite deportation protection
McALLEN, Texas — Yaakub Vijandre was preparing to go to work as a mechanic when six vehicles appeared outside his Dallas-area home. Federal agents jumped out, one pointed a weapon at him, and they took him into custody. Vijandre is a recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the Obama-era...
Kilauea displays lava fountains for the 37th time since its eruption began last year
HONOLULU — The on-and-off eruption that’s been dazzling residents and visitors on Hawaii’s Big Island for nearly a year resumed Tuesday as Kilauea volcano sent fountains of lava soaring 400 feet into the air. The molten rock was confined within Kilauea’s summit caldera inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the U.S....
Kremlin confirms U.S. envoy’s visit as talks on ending war in Ukraine gain momentum
A senior Kremlin official confirmed Wednesday that U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff is set to visit Moscow next week as efforts to find a consensus on ending the nearly four-year war between Russia and Ukraine pick up speed. But Yuri Ushakov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, insisted that...
Israel returns 15 more Palestinian bodies to Gaza as first phase of ceasefire nears end
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Hospital officials in Gaza said Wednesday that Israel handed over 15 more Palestinian bodies, completing the latest swap of the ceasefire as the first phase of the agreement nears a conclusion and officials convened to discuss moving to the second. It came a day after...
Frustrated by missing mail, one American took the Postal Service to court
HARTFORD, Conn. — As a general rule, it’s difficult to sue the U.S. Postal Service for lost, delayed or mishandled mail. But a case before the U.S. Supreme Court involving a Texas landlord who alleges her mail was deliberately withheld for two years is looking to challenge that, in a...
National Parks to raise fees for millions of international tourists to popular sites
WASHINGTON — The National Park Service said Tuesday it is going to start charging the millions of international tourists who visit U.S. parks each year an extra $100 to enter some of the most popular sites, while leaving them out of fee-free days that will be reserved for American residents....
Americans eye Thanksgiving travel weather after Texas tornadoes, snow and rain elsewhereVideo
CYPRESS, Texas — Kenny Beck surveyed the damage Tuesday to his family’s two-story home after at least two tornadoes tore through the Houston area, damaging over 100 homes at the start of a busy Thanksgiving travel week that has Americans closely eyeing the weather. “Half my roof on the back...
Report: U.S. envoy coached Putin aide on how Russian leader should pitch Trump on Ukraine peace plan
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s chief interlocutor with the Russian government last month advised a senior aide to Vladimir Putin on how the Russian leader should go about pitching the U.S. president on a peace plan aimed at bringing an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to a transcript...
White House denies Trump considering ouster of FBI Director Kash Patel
WASHINGTON — The White House denied that Donald Trump was considering removing FBI Director Kash Patel following a report that the president is weighing his ouster amid a string of controversies. MS NOW reported Tuesday that Trump was considering replacing Patel with FBI co-Deputy Director Andrew Bailey, as concerns swirled...
Judge gives Justice Department a day to detail Ghislaine Maxwell trial materials to be released
NEW YORK — A federal judge in Manhattan is demanding more information from the Justice Department as he weighs its request to unseal records from the sex trafficking case against Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime confidante Ghislaine Maxwell. Judge Paul A. Engelmayer on Tuesday ordered the Justice Department to tell him what...
