WASHINGTON -- With the 2018 midterm elections about 18 months away, attention is shifting to the battle for the Senate -- and who could emerge as potential challengers.

But history shows that prospective contenders have a few more months before they typically announce their candidacies.

Senate Republicans bear the brunt of the recruitment ...Read more

CANBERRA, Australia -- Australian police made key mistakes in handling a siege at a Sydney cafe that ended with the death of two hostages along with the gunman who'd claimed allegiance to Islamic State, a coroner's report has found.

Police wrongly assumed Man Haron Monis, who had a history of violence and extremist sympathies, didn't pose an ...Read more

President Donald Trump's $19.1 billion budget proposal for NASA will allow the space agency to continue its long-term efforts to explore the universe, including sending humans to the moon and to Mars.

The 2018 funding plan, released Tuesday, includes support for about 100 space missions even as it cuts some well-known programs, including one ...Read more

Prosecutors are excluding blacks from Cosby jury, defense lawyers say

PITTSBURGH -- Defense lawyers on Tuesday accused prosecutors of systematically trying to exclude black people from the jury that will decide Bill Cosby's fate, as the court came close to filling out the full panel on the second day of jury selection.

The dispute broke out ...Read more

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Mo. -- A 24-year-old man performed "wrestling moves" on his girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter, who had seizures and later died at a hospital, authorities say.

Richard Gamache Jr. has been charged with abuse and neglect of a child. His bail has been set at $500,000, cash-only.

His girlfriend, Cheyenne Cook, 19, exchanged ...Read more

Pretty much every parent of a young child has told the occasional white lie to preserve his or her sanity. You might, for example, say "I went to the bank" and leave out the fact that you also stopped for frozen yogurt to avoid the inevitable meltdown that would follow the realization of a missed treat.

Harmless, right? Maybe not.

According to...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Pop singer Ariana Grande was reported to be back home in South Florida Tuesday, the day after a terrorist suicide bomb blasted her fans as they departed her concert Monday night in Manchester, England.

London's The Daily Mail published photographs and video Tuesday afternoon that it said showed Grande, friends and ...Read more

TEL AVIV, Israel -- Even before President Donald Trump signed the guest book at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum during his visit Sunday, his administration had faced accusations that it was insensitive to the memory of the 6 million Jews murdered by Nazi Germany.

Instead of putting those accusations to rest, the visit to the museum ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Trey Gowdy's bid to be the next chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee keeps getting easier as a key potential rival says he won't run and predicted the South Carolina Republican is likely to wield the gavel, even as the deadline to make a bid draws near.

Any serious bid to challenge Gowdy will need to get ...Read more

LAS VEGAS -- Salt Lake City police are on the hunt for four people captured on surveillance video stealing a 700-pound statue of Mormon prophets Joseph Smith and Brigham Young from a business park early Tuesday morning.

The heist of the bronzed iconic figures of the Mormon Church -- which is headquartered in Salt Lake City -- was likely the ...Read more

BERLIN -- From the hushed halls of government to cobblestoned streets and plazas across the Continent, Europeans are greeting Donald Trump's first visit with considerable skepticism, no small degree of apprehension -- and even overt hostility.

The president's inaugural overseas trip, which began Friday in Saudi Arabia, has so far been dominated...Read more

How does science fare under President Donald Trump's proposed budget?

Not too well.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science, or AAAS, estimated that the budget released Tuesday morning represented a 16.8 percent decrease in overall funding for scientific research compared with the current budget.

The proposed cuts include:

--...Read more

BRUSSELS -- A suicide attack Monday at an Ariana Grande concert that killed 22 people in Manchester, England, has thrown Europe into a deeper quandary over how best to prevent such attacks just days before President Donald Trump is scheduled to arrive to call for unity in the terrorism fight.

Trump is expected to bring up the attacks in ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- Former national security adviser Michael Flynn could face a criminal charge of contempt of Congress if the Senate Intelligence Committee isn't pleased with his response to its latest round of subpoenas, the committee leadership announced Tuesday afternoon.

"We keep all options on the table," said Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., the ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump's standing in national polls has consistently declined since the end of last month. His approval rating now sits at the lowest point of his presidency. Here are some questions and answers about what the polls do -- and don't -- tell us.

Question: How significant is Trump's slide?

Answer: At the end of April...Read more

WASHINGTON -- On his first official trip to the Middle East, President Donald Trump has resoundingly thrown America's lot in with Sunni Arab states and cast Shiite Iran as a global pariah, even as Iranians re-elected a president who has offered to work with the West.

During his two days in Riyadh, Trump's full-throated support for the ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump's 2018 budget would cut $667 million in federal grants to states for security against terrorist threats, a reduction that local officials are certain to fight after Monday's deadly bombing in Britain spurred fresh questions about U.S. security.

Since 2003, the Department of Homeland Security has doled out ...Read more

PITTSBURGH -- Defense lawyers on Tuesday accused prosecutors of systematically trying to exclude black people from the jury that will decide Bill Cosby's fate, as the court came close to filling out the full panel on the second day of jury selection.

The dispute broke out when Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele moved to block a...Read more