BAGHDAD -- Influential Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr declared Saturday his Shiite bloc had agreed to form an alliance with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's own Shiite bloc, as the country's government began to take shape more than a month after elections.

The goal of the new alliance was to overcome sectarianism in the country. The Cabinet was ...Read more

LOS ANGELES--Boeing Co.'s Echo Voyager has headed back to sea for a second round of testing, as the aerospace company looks to demonstrate the underwater drone's more sophisticated capabilities for a U.S. Navy contract competition.

The 51-foot-long, yellow and gray autonomous undersea vehicle is being designed to glide just beneath the waves or...Read more

MIAMI -- At least 10 babies and toddlers taken away from their parents after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border are being housed in "tender-age shelters" in Miami-Dade County, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., said Saturday.

Wasserman Schultz said the children -- whose ages range from newborns to 5-year-olds -- are being sheltered at His...Read more

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- One person was killed and 156 others were injured by an explosion at a political rally in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa Saturday, Health Minister Amin Aman said.

Organizers claimed that the attack was aimed at Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

Nine police officials were detained after the blast, state broadcaster ETV ...Read more

CHICAGO -- Jackie Wilson, one of two brothers convicted of killing two Chicago police officers, walked out of Cook County Jail, a free man for the first time in more than 36 years.

The sudden freedom for Wilson, 57, came after Cook County Circuit Judge William Hooks ordered his release a few hours earlier. The judge had tossed out Wilson's ...Read more

As four federal lawmakers from Florida walked into the shelter housing 1,179 migrant children in Homestead Saturday, five elected officials were denied access to the facility.

The group of state and local Democrats who wanted to assess conditions in the shelter were dismayed when they were told they had to request a tour two weeks in advance.

...Read more

A young girl sobs. Standing over her is a smiling Donald Trump. "Welcome to America," the accompanying text reads.

The cover of Time's July 2 edition lifts the image of a 2-year-old Honduran girl, Yanela Sanchez, from a photo of her crying as a Border Patrol agent pats down her mother at the border in Texas. Yanela's image is plopped onto a red...Read more

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia ––Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said a "well-orchestrated attack" that injured scores of people in the capital Addis Ababa has failed to sow discord as the country embarks on a series of political and economic reforms.

"Whoever is trying to darken our joy and love, dilute our unity, you will not succeed," Abiy ...Read more

In a quiet nook in the small city of La Verne, small cottages topped with Spanish tile are spread across a green campus.

Long ago, it was an orphanage. Now it's a group home for foster children. Recently, it also became one of several shelters in the Los Angeles area that began to house children who have been split from their parents at the ...Read more

BRUSSELS –– The European Union says it will continue a tit-for-tat escalation in its trade dispute with the U.S. while countering President Donald Trump's assertion that the U.S. is being treated unfairly by the 28-nation bloc.

Jyrki Katainen, the EU commissioner in charge of jobs and growth, told the French newspaper Le Monde in a story ...Read more

VATICAN CITY –– A former Vatican career diplomat was sentenced Saturday to five years in prison over child pornography charges.

Vatican judges took just two days to hear the case against Italian Monsignor Carlo Alberto Capella, who was found guilty of possessing and distributing child pornography.

The priest, who was also fined $5,800, ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- With the flow of refugees into the U.S. at a trickle, many who work with new arrivals worry that the low numbers will have a lasting impact on economies, schools and families in places like San Diego, where many used to resettle.

The International Rescue Committee, a resettlement agency with offices in the San Diego area, released ...Read more

Katie Arrington, who defeated Rep. Mark Sanford in the South Carolina Republican primary this month, was seriously injured in a car accident Friday night.

Her Democratic opponent in the general election, Joe Cunningham, said Saturday morning that he is suspending campaign activities until further notice.

"Katie sustained a fracture in her back...Read more

WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday extended sanctions against North Korea for one year, saying it still posed an "extraordinary threat" despite days earlier insisting Pyongyang was no longer a nuclear danger to the U.S.

The sanctions were renewed under an executive order reauthorizing a "national emergency" originally put in ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- A year ago, President Donald Trump announced tougher policies concerning Cuba, reinstating travel and trade restrictions eased by the historic Obama-era opening between Washington and Havana.

As a result, the United States today is largely sitting on the sidelines as the communist-ruled island faces potentially major changes in ...Read more

WASHINGTON--Rain Valladares wiped tears from her eyes this week as she recounted the hours before a gunman invaded the halls of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., with an AR-15 and killed 17.

But she was in Washington to talk about the future of activism, not the past.

"We have a huge problem with gun violence," Valladares...Read more

Jonenskia Hector's best chance at life is a passport.

Diagnosed with a large hole in her heart, the 8-year-old girl has been waiting for months to have a life-saving surgery that isn't available in Haiti to repair the defect. Last year, after applying for a passport and being told there was a problem with her documents, she lost her surgical ...Read more