Costa Ricans elected ruling party candidate Laura Fernández in a first round landslide as her promise of a draconian crackdown on criminals appealed to voters in a nation roiled by soaring drug violence.

With 94% of ballots tallied, Fernández had with 48% of the vote, enough to avoid a runoff, and trouncing 19 other candidates. Álvaro Ramos...Read more

MIAMI — The window for Florida lawmakers to meaningfully debate cutting property taxes gets smaller with each passing day.

Monday marks day 21 of 60 in the legislative session, and there is still no policy discussion between the two legislative chambers on Republicans’ best effort to make Florida more affordable ahead of the 2026 midterm ...Read more

On the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan order, his body will be displayed for the first time ever in February 2026, at the Basilica of San Francesco. Millions of visitors are expected to converge in the small Tuscan town of Assisi to honor the 13th-century saint.

Francis, who died on ...Read more

The U.S. Department of State has announced that starting on Jan. 21, 2026, it has indefinitely stopped issuing immigrant visas for people from 75 countries, claiming concerns that some immigrants may rely on public benefits once they get to the United States.

While applications may still be processed, no immigrant visas will be issued...Read more

Iran said talks with the U.S. over a new nuclear deal could get underway in coming days, building on a flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at averting war between the two sides.

President Masoud Pezeshkian ordered the start of negotiations with Washington “within the framework of the nuclear issue,” Iran’s semi-official Fars news service...Read more

Physicians have said the HBO Max drama "The Pitt" offers one of the most accurate depictions of medicine on television.

But there are plenty of shows that don't offer such realism — and they may be having real-world consequences when it comes to the public understanding of best practices for bystander CPR.

Bystander cardiopulmonary ...Read more

When Rachel Marshall was growing up in Virginia, her parents kept a magnet on the refrigerator from a national homeschooling advocacy group, with a phone number to call if local school officials tried to interfere with their decision to educate their children at home.

“You tell [the organization] the state’s after you, and they will come in...Read more

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — In 2019, after a routine vaccination, 11-year-old Keithron Thomas felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and down his arm. His mother, Melanie Bostic, thought it would go away after a few days. But days turned to weeks, then months, and years.

Bostic learned of a federal program designed to help people who suffer rare vaccine ...Read more

Like many Chicago-area residents, Katie Bunt watched in horror as federal agents conducted Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago, and did what she could to push back on the immigration raids as they swept through the city and suburbs.

She hadn’t anticipated that immigration enforcement eventually would escalate further than it did here.

“Every...Read more

Peter Mandelson, Britain’s former ambassador to the U.S., resigned from the U.K.’s ruling Labour Party to avoid causing it “further embarrassment” after the latest revelations about his links to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Mandelson is facing questions about payments totaling $103,000 made to him and his partner by Epstein ...Read more

President Donald Trump said he plans to close the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for about two years to carry out renovations after his takeover prompted a significant backlash.

“I have determined that the fastest way to bring The Trump Kennedy Center to the highest level of Success, Beauty, and Grandeur, is to cease ...Read more

Ballots are being counted in Costa Rica in an election dominated by soaring drug violence that has shocked a country historically known as a peaceful tourist haven in a turbulent region.

Ruling party candidate Laura Fernández, who served as chief-of-staff for President Rodrigo Chaves, led polls by a wide margin ahead of the vote largely due ...Read more

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s public support remains solid while a new opposition alliance is struggling to resonate with voters, opinion polls over the weekend showed, positioning the ruling party for a comfortable majority in the upcoming lower house election.

A victory for Takaichi would consolidate the power of the Liberal ...Read more

Democrats face a tough map in their quest to flip the Senate this year, but their candidates – both incumbents and challengers – continue to outraise their Republican opponents in several battleground races, new federal filings show.

Both parties are also contending with competitive primaries across the country, with a handful of candidates...Read more

The recent FBI raid of a Georgia county election office is a precursor to battles ahead as President Donald Trump’s administration steps up efforts to obtain sensitive voter information from states.

The effort has set up legal showdowns with 24 states and Washington, D.C., with the Justice Department suing them for refusing to turn over voter...Read more

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan to protect India’s economy from Donald Trump’s tariffs is coming into sharper focus.

The latest outlines of India’s plan to live in the new world order dominated by the U.S. president came on Sunday in an annual budget announcement that was packed with support for exporters battered by U.S. tariffs, ...Read more

Gov. JB Pritzker threw his two-term former running mate a $5 million political lifeline, largely bankrolling a political action committee aimed at helping Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton win the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, recent federal campaign finance documents show.

Pritzker’s Dec. 4 contribution to the Illinois Future PAC enabled ...Read more

A 6-year-old boy pressed close to his mother’s hip as they sat together on a bench in Denver immigration Judge Brea Burgie’s courtroom Tuesday morning.

The boy’s green sneakers kicked the air, his legs too short to touch the ground. His dark, gelled curls sat immaculate on his head, aside from a single indentation where his mother’s ...Read more