PHILADELPHIA -- In the long slog of presidential elections, candidates don't have to think about New Jersey much because it usually holds its primary in June, after the likely nominee is obvious.

Enter Mike Bloomberg and his billions of dollars.

The former New York mayor and Republican-turned-Democrat opened his first campaign office in New ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump has a lot riding on a precarious agreement with Taliban militants to end America's longest war. But the process, which began over the weekend, is fraught with obstacles that could lengthen the conflict rather than conclude it.

The first step in the deal agreed to by the U.S. and the Taliban is a seven-day ...Read more

LONDON -- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was called a threat to the people "who put their lives at risk to assist the U.S." on the first day of his extradition trial in London.

James Lewis, a lawyer for the U.S., told a London court that Assange's case has little to do with freedom of the press. Instead, he tried to narrow the focus of the U....Read more

LOS ANGELES -- A vocal Bernie Sanders supporter. A Chicagoan with zero followers on Twitter. A dozen registered Republicans. These are some of the digital soldiers Michael R. Bloomberg's presidential campaign has recruited in California to boost the former New York mayor's online profile in preparation for the March 3 Democratic primary.

The ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- The highest-ranking African-American in Congress warned that if Bernie Sanders is the 2020 Democratic nominee the party could lose many of the moderate seats they won to retake the House in 2018.

"It's going to be tough to hold on to these jobs if you have to make the case for a self-proclaimed democratic socialist," House ...Read more

Finance chiefs from the world's 20 largest economies haggled over climate change and proposals for a global tax regime as they tried to draft a joint communique at a conference overshadowed by a viral outbreak that's shaken the global economy.

Delegates at the G-20 meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, spent much of their time talking about a global...Read more

NEW YORK -- As the jurors in Harvey Weinstein's sexual assault trial wrestle with a pair of charges that could send the fallen movie mogul to prison for life, the testimony of three women who don't even appear in his indictment could help seal his fate.

They're known as Molineux witnesses in New York, where Weinstein is being tried, and they ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- President Trump's national security advisor, in an exchange that touched on a perennial sore point for the president, said Sunday he had no knowledge of intelligence agency warnings that Russia is trying once again to help Trump by interfering in the 2020 campaign.

Another senior White House aide, meanwhile, insisted that last ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- Bernie Sanders said he would meet with adversaries, including North Korea's Kim Jong Un, but that he would do so better prepared than President Donald Trump.

"Meeting with people who are antagonistic is, to me, not a bad thing to do," the Democratic presidential candidate said in an interview with CBS's "60 Minutes" that was to ...Read more

SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in announced the government will raise the infectious disease alert to "red," the highest level, following a surge in cases of the novel coronavirus in a matter of days.

Moon, speaking at a special meeting convened with health authorities, said the government could take "powerful measures ...Read more

SAN ANTONIO -- It was the high point to date of his now soaring presidential campaign, and Bernie Sanders, looking ahead to Super Tuesday March 3, shared his Nevada victory with a diverse and ecstatic Saturday night crowd of some 4,000 at Cowboys Dancehall in Northeast San Antonio.

"Based on what I have seen today in Texas, we were in El Paso, ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump offered tepid support for Mick Mulvaney, days after the acting White House chief of staff made candid comments in the U.K. that broke with elements of the administration's policies.

"Yeah, he's here now, sure, no problem," Trump told reporters outside the White House as he prepared to depart for India, when ...Read more

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iranian hardliners won a majority in parliamentary elections, according to the semi-official Mehr news agency, sweeping Tehran and other cities in a repudiation of President Hassan Rouhani's engagement with outside powers.

Mehr didn't give a final breakdown, saying that more than 220 out of 290 members of parliament will be ...Read more

AHMEDABAD, India -- When the leaders of China and Japan visited this western Indian city in recent years, civic officials hung a giant piece of fabric along a stretch of road, hiding a slum of about 1,000 families from the official motorcades.

Local children eventually tore down the fabric. So when Ahmedabad prepared to welcome its highest ...Read more

ROME -- The number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in Italy rose above 100 on Sunday, with officials predicting that figure would continue to rise despite efforts to contain its spread.

The outbreak concerns the regions of Lombardy and Veneto.

Lombardy President Attilio Fontana said on the SkyTG24 news channel that infections in ...Read more

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Former Vice President Joe Biden, leaving Las Vegas behind, is placing all his chips on South Carolina as his best -- and perhaps last -- chance to reverse a string of losses in early-voting states and mount a serious challenge to Sen. Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination.

As the Democratic contest moves here, the ...Read more