Florida’s wildlife commission voted Wednesday to end a controversial policy that allowed the capture of wild manta rays — a federally threatened species — for overseas aquariums.

But the commission will still allow U.S. companies to seek approval from Florida’s wildlife officials if they want endangered marine wildlife for their ...Read more

Cuba’s leader, Miguel Díaz-Canel, said Thursday that his government will accept a U.S. offer to provide $100 million in humanitarian aid, as the country runs out of fuel and Washington signals its impatience with stalled diplomatic talks between the two countries.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday the U.S. government had offered to ...Read more

The WhatsApp messages go out, often several times a week, to royals across the Persian Gulf.

The sender: Jared Kushner, envoy for President Donald Trump — and a private investor handling billions of dollars for those same princes and emirs.

Since his father-in-law took the U.S. to war with Iran, he’s engaged in a campaign of official ...Read more

DENVER — Gov. Jared Polis signed legislation Thursday that rewrites and softens a Colorado law that sought to curb discrimination through the use of artificial intelligence, ending a two-year tug-of-war over how tightly the state should regulate the technology.

Starting Jan. 1, the law passed as Senate Bill 189 will require companies or ...Read more

Where you live, how much you earn and whether you can afford health insurance can shape far more than your medical bills in Texas. According to a new report, those differences can also have lasting effects on your access to care and overall health.

The Commonwealth Fund analyzed data from 2022 through 2024 to compare health system performance ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Just east of the front doors of St. Cecilia’s Church in the Fox Chase neighborhood, there sits a memorial to victims of sexual abuse — a rare sight not only in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, but at churches nationwide.

Consisting of a stone pillar embellished with a light and a blue wreath, in a parish that has reckoned ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — A justice on the North Carolina Supreme Court has proposed loosening the rules that require judges to restrict their political speech in public — rules intended to maintain the image of impartiality among the state’s judicial branch.

Phil Berger Jr., a Republican on the high court, suggested the reforms in an email to his ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — For the past several weeks, young people have been running through Church of Scientology buildings. They’re often clad in masks and costumes and film themselves trying to get as far into the building as possible — all to the chagrin of bewildered church staff.

The trend gained popularity after a teenager, who uses the social...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Federal prosecutors have asked to dismiss the criminal case against a woman accused of assaulting federal law enforcement officers in January during Operation Metro Surge.

In a brief motion, special assistant U.S. attorney Robert Tucker asked the court on Thursday to dismiss the case against Nasra Ahmed. The motion did not ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Two toxic air contaminants present in California’s ambient air, acrolein and ethylene oxide, appear to be much stronger carcinogens than previously known, California environmental health officials announced Thursday.

The draft finding from the state’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment found that the chemicals ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The likelihood of a potentially powerful El Niño taking shape in the Pacific Ocean is rising, heightening concerns that Southern California could be in for an extreme rainy season.

There is now an 82% chance that El Niño is likely to emerge over the next few months, up from the 61% chance estimated a month ago. And there’s ...Read more

NEW YORK — Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is opening up for the first time about the recent health crisis that sent him to a Florida hospital, including a “very significant spiritual experience” he said he had while he was in a coma.

The 81-year-old Giuliani on Wednesday returned to his online show, “America’s Mayor Live!”...Read more

U.S. President Donald Trump signaled China is willing to support negotiations with Iran, as he pushes for a diplomatic resolution to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, after a commercial vessel was apparently seized near the United Arab Emirates.

Trump, who is visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, said his counterpart ...Read more

FORT WORTH, Texas — Human remains, not yet officially identified, have been found this week in Everman in the investigation of the disappearance and presumed death of 6-year-old Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez.

Authorities including Everman police, the FBI and the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office announced the major development in ...Read more

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Former Minnesota state Sen. Justin Eichorn pleaded guilty Thursday to a lower federal charge in connection to his arrest during an undercover sex sting operation by Bloomington police last year.

Eichorn, 42, admitted in U.S. District Court in St. Paul to attempting to possess child pornography while messaging who he thought ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A former top aide to Gov. Gavin Newsom pleaded guilty in Sacramento federal court Thursday to bank fraud, filing a false tax return and lying to the FBI in a corruption scandal that rattled California politics last fall and still threatens to upend the state’s hotly contested race for governor.

Dana Williamson, who ...Read more

NEW YORK — A flag with two swastikas was raised at New York University during a graduation-week event on Thursday night, an incident reported as a hate crime and currently under investigation by the NYPD.

The banner, apparently modeled on the flag of Israel with a Star of David and two horizontal stripes, appeared after 5 p.m. on the roof of ...Read more

CHICAGO — Men and women who were brought to the United States as children are at risk of being deported by the Trump administration as federal officials delay processing their immigration paperwork, creating backlogs that are causing people to lose their jobs and fear deportation, federal officials and advocates said this week.

The government...Read more

MIAMI — The Miami City Commission on Thursday voted to delay a vote on Mayor Eileen Higgins’ half-billion-dollar public safety bond, dealing a blow to the mayor as she’s worked to find her footing during her first five months in City Hall.

Higgins had hoped to ask voters in August to approve $450 million in spending to replace the city’...Read more