Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi faces a diplomatic balancing act at a summit this week with Donald Trump, after the U.S. president called on Japan to deploy warships to help secure the war-stricken Strait of Hormuz — before abruptly dropping the demand.

Takaichi’s first trip to Washington on Thursday since winning a sweeping mandate has been ...Read more

Israel’s killing of Ali Larijani, a veteran Iranian politician known for his pragmatism and long experience helming national security, leaves the Islamic Republic’s wartime leadership largely in the hands of hardliners who may be less likely to seek a diplomatic pathway out of the war.

Larijani was an insider of the Islamic Republic’s ...Read more

WASHINGTON — A housing bill pushed by a bipartisan majority of the U.S. Senate and supported by the White House could open up opportunities for Marylanders, its supporters say. But the state’s lone Republican remains concerned that it needs to be changed before it’s sent to President Donald Trump’s desk.

The bill, titled the 21st ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Prosecuting attorneys from across California, including from Sacramento County, cheered a state Senate committee’s passage of a bill Tuesday they say will prevent the release of violent criminals through the state’s mental health court diversion program.

The bill, carried by Assembly member Stephanie Nguyen, D-Elk ...Read more

Two-term Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton held an early lead Tuesday as vote counting continued in the hotly contested Democratic primary race to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin.

With 66% of the estimated vote tallied in the race for Illinois’ first open Senate seat in 16 years, Stratton, of Chicago, had 38.9% of the vote to 33.5% for U.S. ...Read more

The Pacific Northwest saw a dramatic spike in Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests at the end of 2025, particularly in the Portland area and in less populous parts of Washington with agricultural communities, new data from the University of Washington Center for Human Rights show.

From a recent low point of fewer than 250 arrests across ...Read more

NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani drew a parallel between the Palestinian and Irish struggles on Tuesday — though he also hit a St. Patrick’s Day quagmire as he faced questions over his position on Irish unification.

Mamdani, whose support of Palestinian rights is central to his political identity, noted that Irish leaders like former ...Read more

SEATTLE — Thousands of Washington students walked out of school in February to protest increasing federal immigration enforcement, mirroring their peers speaking out across the nation. While hundreds of South King County and Seattle students have participated in peaceful demonstrations, a handful of students in Burien, Marysville, Lake Stevens...Read more

MIAMI — The FBI case agent assigned to the assassination of Haiti’s president, Jovenel Moïse, testified this week in Miami federal court that he never dusted for fingerprints or swabbed for DNA at the crime scene more than four years ago.

“We did the best we could while we were at the residence, but timing was a factor,” FBI special ...Read more

CHICAGO — Two-term Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton took an early lead Tuesday as vote counting began in the hotly contested Democratic primary race to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin.

With nearly 40% of the estimated vote tallied in the race for Illinois’ first open Senate seat in 16 years, Stratton of Chicago had 38.8% of the vote to 32.6...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia vaccine experts on Tuesday called a federal court decision reversing changes to the U.S. childhood vaccination schedule under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a win for public health.

But discord between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under his leadership and medical ...Read more

Maryland law enforcement leaders gained some national attention in their fight against a law banning formal agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement this week.

Lt. Col. Allen West, the executive director of the national conservative legal nonprofit American Constitutional Rights Union, met with officials in Harford and Carroll ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, abruptly resigned Tuesday, becoming the most senior national security official to break publicly with the Trump administration over its military campaign against Iran.

In a statement posted on social media, Kent said he “cannot in good conscience” continue ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Rebecca Grossman murdered two young brothers when she sped through a Westlake Village crosswalk, a jury found two years ago. Now, a state appeals court has upheld that verdict.

Grossman, the co-founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation, is serving 15 years to life in state prison for the second-degree murders of 11-year-old Mark ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has long used last-minute switches on foreign travel and meetings with heads of state as he seeks to gain a diplomatic upper hand and keep foreign partners on their toes.

Trump’s request this week to delay a planned trip to China initially set for March 31 to April 2 is the latest example in a pattern of ...Read more

CHICAGO — A bitter intraparty battle drew to a close Tuesday as Democratic primary voters went to the polls to decide who would be their choice to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin.

The race for Illinois’ first open Senate seat in 16 years — fueled by tens of millions of dollars in campaign and outside spending — narrowed to three ...Read more

BOSTON — James “Whitey” Bulger, the city’s most notorious gangster, was haunted by LSD flashbacks, kept cash hidden in the U.S. and Europe, and returned to Boston on “several occasions” armed “to the teeth” while on the lam.

It’s all part of his handwritten draft of a book manuscript and interview notes after his capture that ...Read more

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — A historic storm that dumped more than 4 feet of snow on parts of Michigan's Upper Peninsula tapered off Tuesday, but ice accumulated in northeastern lower Michigan and other locations as more than 90,000 people still lacked power, and some roads remained impassable.

A station near Round Lake in the U.P.’s Luce County...Read more

Maryland Republicans on Tuesday blamed Democratic policies for the state’s projected $1.4 billion deficit during a Senate debate over Gov. Wes Moore’s budget proposal, adding that their plan to close the gap is insufficient.

“We have to show people we’re serious about fiscal responsibility and discipline,” Senate Minority Whip Justin ...Read more