WASHINGTON — The U.S. deal with the Taliban — forged under President Donald Trump and implemented under President Joe Biden — was “the single most important factor” in the rapid collapse of Afghanistan’s forces as American troops withdrew last year.

As in Vietnam decades earlier, the U.S. “spent years and billions of dollars ...Read more

BUFFALO, N.Y. — President Joe Biden on Tuesday condemned Saturday’s deadly mass shooting in Buffalo as a “racist rampage” and an act of “domestic terrorism,” calling on Americans to reject the racist theory that authorities say appeared to have motivated the gunman to carry out the massacre.

“White supremacy is a poison running ...Read more

BOISE, Idaho — Early Tuesday a steady flow of voters trickled out of polling locations throughout the Treasure Valley as residents geared up for primary elections.

Idahoans cast their votes Tuesday to decide the primary candidates for federal, state and local offices, including the highly anticipated governor’s race. Republican voters — ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The Orange County district attorney filed a murder charge Tuesday that could carry the death penalty against a man accused of fatally shooting one man and wounding five other people at a Taiwanese church in what authorities have characterized as an apparent political hate crime.

David Wenwei Chou, 68, of Las Vegas, is accused of...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has requested access to transcripts of interviews conducted by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

The committee and department officials haven’t yet reached an agreement that could help advance a long simmering federal investigation into efforts to prevent the ...Read more

LVIV, Ukraine — With full control of the beleaguered port city of Mariupol in hand, Russian forces kept up their assault Tuesday on eastern Ukraine, now the focus of a grinding conflict that bears the hallmarks of a grim war of attrition.

Images posted online depicted wounded Ukrainian servicemen taken on stretchers from the vast Azovstal ...Read more

ATLANTA — The scheduled execution of a Georgia man who murdered an 8-year-old girl 46 years ago was postponed Tuesday evening, one day after a Fulton County judge granted an injunction temporarily halting the process.

Virgil Delano Presnell Jr., 68, was set to die by lethal injection after spending nearly five decades on death row. But ...Read more

Former Wynn Resorts Chief Executive Steve Wynn lobbied then-President Donald Trump in 2017 on behalf of the Chinese government, which sought the return of an exiled businessman, the United States said in a lawsuit seeking to compel Wynn to register as an agent for China.

Wynn engaged in those efforts at the request of Sun Lijun, a former Vice ...Read more

The congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol doesn’t plan to call former President Donald Trump and is “unlikely” to call former Vice President Mike Pence, either.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the committee chair, said it’s “not our expectation” to call Trump since the panel already has heard ...Read more

If you are traveling internationally or within the U.S. this summer, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends you test for COVID-19 in the days before flying.

The agency’s recommendation for all travelers regardless of vaccination status came in an update to its COVID-19 testing website on May 16.

“Consider getting tested ...Read more

ATLANTA — The federal government is going hard after reality stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, accusing them of defrauding millions from banks using falsified documents and then actively evading taxes.

“They make up documents and live like they can seek and get whatever they want, when they want,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Annalese Peters said...Read more

Americans generally don’t spend much time thinking about the nation’s blood supply.

That’s mainly because the collection and distribution system is safe and efficient. But there’s a new behind-the-scenes challenge, according to some hospital officials, who fear a change in how blood platelets are handled will sharply increase the cost ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The leader of Greece on Tuesday implored Congress to take seriously internal democratic erosion in the United States, which he said was critical to confront if Washington is to maintain its global leadership role.

Addressing a joint session of Congress, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who was elected in 2019, referenced...Read more

If, as expected, the U.S. Supreme Court decides as early as next month to overturn Roe v. Wade, just how quickly Republican-dominated legislatures will act to restrict abortion and how far they will go to eliminate the procedure is uncertain.

But recent rhetoric from state officials and events in state capitols offer some clues.

GOP officials ...Read more

NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams upgraded New York City’s COVID-19 alert status to high on Tuesday due to a surge in people testing positive and being hospitalized for the virus.

The change in status from a medium risk alert to high risk comes as coronavirus hospital admissions have increased steadily over the past two months and as more and ...Read more

Cuba’s National Assembly has approved a new criminal code that maintains the death penalty for several crimes, punishes criticism of government officials with jail time and makes it illegal for independent media to receive funds from abroad, the latest step in a relentless government campaign to squash dissent following mass protests last year...Read more

The U.S. Coast Guard intercepted 55 people from Cuba at sea off the Florida Keys over a five-day period last week.

A Coast Guard cutter Charles Sexton returned them to Cuba on Tuesday, the agency said.

They were stopped at sea in six separate interdictions off the Keys from last Monday, May 9, through Friday, according to the Coast Guard.

...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — A top staffer for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis worked on a proposal that sought to challenge decades-old First Amendment protections for the news media and make it easier for high-profile people to win defamation lawsuits, according to documents obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.

The idea didn’t make the 2022 legislative session...Read more

VALLEJO, Calif. — The FBI is investigating potential “criminal enterprise activities” of the Vallejo chapter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, including an hours-long beating at the infamous outlaw biker gang’s clubhouse and the possession of guns, silencers, and more than 1,000 rounds of ammo seized in a series of December raids, ...Read more