Politics

FILE - Flames rise from flare stacks at the Amuay refinery in Los Taques, Venezuela, Jan. 14, 2026....

What we know about Trump’s deal giving US access to vast oil reserves in Venezuela

WASHINGTON (AP) — Besides a social media post from President Donald Trump, the White House has said little about what he is calling “THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY” in Venezuela. Trump said the agreement announced Friday night would give the United States a stake in Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, a step toward his […]
10 days ago
FILE - Voters cast their ballots during the primary election in Windsor, Conn., Aug. 11, 2026. (AP ...

Noncitizen voting claims animate Trump’s attacks on midterms and set up potential result challenges

The drumbeat by President Donald Trump and his allies about the perceived threats of voting by people who are not U.S. citizens is getting louder as the November election approaches. He is pushing to have the U.S. Postal Service send mail ballots only to voters verified as U.S. citizens. The Census Bureau promoted a dubious […]
10 days ago
FILE - Protestors march through Manhattan up to Central Park during the "Make Billionaires Pay" cli...

The Earth is sizzling, but climate isn’t a hot topic for Democrats in this year’s campaigns

BOSTON (AP) — Climate change has been the backdrop to Charles Hughes’ entire life, from kindergarten lessons about disappearing habitats to wildfire smoke billowing through the air he breathed while growing up in Colorado. But now that he’s a college student in Massachusetts, he said global warming is rarely a top issue. “Honestly, it doesn’t […]
10 days ago
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks at the Davie shipyard in Levis, Quebec on Monday, Aug. 2...

Untested in court, Trump’s new tariffs on Canada raise legal questions

WASHINGTON (AP) — In firing up a trade war with Canada, President Donald Trump turned to a 96-year-old statute so obscure that many trade lawyers didn’t even know it was still on the books. A week ago, Trump invoked Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 to slap a 50% tax on $20 billion […]
10 days ago
FILE - Motorbikes drive past a billboard depicting Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamene...

The US and Israel tried to topple Iran’s government. Six months on, new leaders are defying them

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — After six months of war, Iran’s leadership has coalesced around a hard core of military generals and clerics long entrenched in the ruling theocracy. They are ready for a potentially long confrontation with the U.S. and determined to prevent any unrest at home. It’s a far cry from U.S. […]
10 days ago
A helicopter from Marine Helicopter Squadron One, or HMX-1, flies past the White House after Presid...

Former White House teleprompter operator ordered to turn over profits, pay fine over insider trading

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former White House teleprompter operator accused of using inside knowledge to make bets on the prediction market Kalshi has been ordered to turn over more than $100,000 in profits and pay a $65,000 fine as part of a settlement with federal authorities. The settlement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, announced […]
10 days ago
Colombia's President Abelardo De la Espriella announces a joint effort with Bogota's Mayor Carlos F...

Colombia captures a suspected Tren de Aragua gang leader as US security ties deepen

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian security forces captured a suspected senior leader of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, the U.S. Southern Command announced on Friday, hailing the arrest as a result of stronger military cooperation between the historically close allies. The capture on Thursday of Luis Saúl Pérez Nieto, who Colombian authorities described as […]
10 days ago
President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, Thu...

Seneca Nation calls for reversal of Trump’s ‘Lake America’ executive order

The leader of the Seneca Nation in upstate New York is criticizing President Donald Trump’s decision to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America,” saying it violates a more than 225-year-old treaty and shows a “blatant disrespect” for the Indigenous people who gave it its name in the first place. Seneca Nation President J. Conrad Seneca […]
10 days ago
President Donald Trump waves after arriving off Air Force One, Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, at Joint Base...

Trump says US has entered deal with Venezuela to take control of 65 billion barrels of oil reserves

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday said the U.S. has entered an agreement with Venezuela to take control of 65 billion barrels of the South American country’s oil reserves. Trump in a social media post announced the agreement he said was negotiated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and […]
10 days ago
President Donald Trump speaks after arriving on Air Force One, Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, at Joint Base...

Trump says he will observe the 25th anniversary of 9/11 at the Pentagon

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will mark the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks at the Pentagon. Trump confirmed his plans Friday. Vice President JD Vance will attend the New York observance and other administration officials will go to the ceremony in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, the White House said. This year marks a quarter-century […]
10 days ago
FILE - An FBI seal is displayed on a podium before a news conference at the field office in Portlan...

FBI no longer treating an applicant’s experience with prostitution as automatic bar against hiring

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI is dropping a categorical hiring ban on applicants who have had sexual encounters with prostitutes and will instead consider in a more holistic manner at least some candidates who have engaged in the practice in the past, according to people familiar with the matter. The move away from an automatic […]
10 days ago
This image taken from a WRIC video shows workers attaching straps to a Confederate statue as they p...

Virginia removes three Confederate memorials

Years into efforts to purge Richmond, Virginia — a former Confederate Capital — of memorials honoring the Confederacy, the Commonwealth of Virginia began removing three more Confederate memorials in the city on Friday. Statues honoring Confederate Generals Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson and Gov. William “Extra Billy” Smith, as well as Confederate Dr. Hunter Holmes McGuire, […]
11 days ago
FILE - U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Steven Butler, charge d'affaires ad interim of the U...

US diplomats and family members slowly begin to return to the Mideast embassies

WASHINGTON (AP) — American diplomats and at least some of their family members are beginning to return to U.S. embassies in the Middle East after many were ordered to leave their posts during the early days of the war with Iran. Although most embassies are not returning to full strength immediately, starting this week the […]
11 days ago
FILE - A mockup of President Donald Trump's proposed triumphal arch stands at the Great American St...

National Park Service backs Trump’s arch, despite its impact on Washington’s sightline

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new National Park Service report backs President Donald Trump’s proposed arch, despite what it says are adverse effects to the sightline between a host of iconic landmarks in Washington, including the Washington Monument and Lincoln and Jefferson memorials. The report released Friday says the 250-foot-tall (76-meter) memorial arch is likely to […]
11 days ago

Far-right British provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos arrested by US immigration enforcement

U.S. Immigration officials arrested controversial British far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos on Thursday in New Orleans, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Immigration officials said that Yiannopoulos was arrested at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport on Friday and accused him of entering the United States illegally in May 2019 through New York City. An […]
11 days ago
Election workers sort vote-by-mail ballots at the Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections Office ...

Trump administration appeals latest ruling blocking his mail voting order from taking effect

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is appealing a judge’s ruling that blocked limitations on mail voting before the midterm elections, the latest twist in a court fight unfolding days before the first states begin sending out mail ballots. The notice of appeal filed Friday comes after a federal judge in Boston handed down a […]
11 days ago
FILE - Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon poses for a photo in a state office in Cheyenne, Wyo., Dec. 18, 201...

Wyoming governor requests investigation into activity of Justice Department monitors during primary

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — Wyoming’s attorney general is investigating how two U.S. Department of Justice officials monitored poll workers and observed voters in the state’s most populous county during the Aug. 18 primary, a spokesperson for Republican Gov. Mark Gordon said Friday. Gordon called the monitors’ behavior “a bit aggressive” and “irregular” in an […]
11 days ago
President Donald Trump speaks during an event to present the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to ...

President Donald Trump loses again in bid to erase his hush money conviction

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge has again blocked President Donald Trump’s bid to erase his hush money conviction in New York.
11 days ago
FILE - Former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky arrives at the Centre C...

Judge will hear recantation of sexual abuse claim against ex-Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky

BELLEFONTE, Pa. (AP) — A judge has granted a hearing to explore claims that a man wants to recant allegations of sexual abuse years ago by Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. Sandusky, 82, has been serving a decades-long prison sentence since he was convicted of 45 counts of sexual abuse involving multiple boys […]
11 days ago
FILE - Matsapha Correctional Complex is seen in Matsapha, near Mbabane, Eswatini, July 17, 2025. (A...

Eswatini receives 2 more US deportees under a controversial third-country deal

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Two migrants deported from the United States arrived in Eswatini, authorities in the southern African country said, under an agreement between the two countries that has drawn criticism from rights groups. The two migrants are from Latin America, according to a statement government late Thursday which described the individuals as “third-party nationals” […]
11 days ago
People vote at a polling place in a primary election Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP ...

Democrats and Republicans draw battle lines for November’s general election with primaries ending

NEW YORK (AP) — In a Michigan swing district just north of Detroit, Democratic congressional candidate Christina Hines said voters are far more worried about affording fuel, groceries and healthcare than about left-wing extremists gaining ground in her party. “It costs me $73 to fill up our minivan right now,” she said. “This is just […]
11 days ago
Motorcyclists pass a billboard depicting U.S. President Donald Trump underwater amid explosions, wi...

Six months on, the Iran war has changed the Middle East, but not in the way its architects had hoped

It’s been six months since the United States and Israel attacked Iran with the perennial goal of transforming the Middle East through military force. The region has changed, but not in the way they had hoped. The Islamic Republic survived the assassination of its top leaders and weeks of heavy bombing, and found a potent […]
11 days ago
Workers installing bulletproof glass around the podium at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington in pre...

Civil rights groups make urgent plea for voting rights in DC, ahead of midterm elections

WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of protesters are expected on the National Mall on Friday for a rally in support of voting rights and racial justice ahead of the midterm elections, following a wave of changes to voting laws and redistricting that civil rights groups have condemned as detrimental to Black Americans. The 2026 “Defend the […]
11 days ago
President Donald Trump gestures as he walks to board Marine One on the Ellipse, Friday, Aug. 14, 20...

Trump used to say he saw a quick end to his Iran war. Six months later, he claims he’s in no hurry

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump arrives at an awkward moment for his presidency on Friday as the U.S.-Israel war against Iran reaches the six-month mark, a notable milestone for a conflict that the Republican leader repeatedly assured Americans would be a “little excursion” lasting a matter of weeks. The war isn’t over, though Trump […]
11 days ago