WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed Friday a $6 billion commitment for long-term contracts to provide Ukraine with weapons such as Patriot missiles, artillery ammunition and drones.

Austin laid out a broad commitment but not signed contracts, which would be likely to take months to complete under the Ukraine Security ...Read more

BOSTON — A former American Airlines flight attendant who’s accused of filming a girl in a plane’s bathroom on a Boston-bound flight has been indicted, according to the feds.

Estes Carter Thompson III, 36, of Charlotte, North Carolina, also allegedly had recordings of four other girl passengers using airplane lavatories.

Thompson was ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles traffic is so notoriously bad, some residents might be willing to do anything to cut down on wait time — including driving with a mannequin in the passenger seat.

A California Highway Patrol officer in Santa Fe Springs stopped a driver recently for crossing solid double lines to enter a carpool lane, only to bust ...Read more

Kim Kardashian made a return to the White House this week to discuss criminal justice reform with Vice President Kamala Harris.

The reality TV star — and billionaire business mogul — joined a roundtable discussion Thursday regarding the 11 pardons issued and five sentences commuted by President Joe Biden the day prior.

Kardashian was ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City police officer has been indicted on 14 federal counts of wire fraud and two counts of money laundering, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri announced Friday.

Aaron Wayne McKie, 46, has been a Kansas City Police Department officer since April 2000.

The charges allege he took ...Read more

Buckingham Palace and the British government began reviewing hundreds of documents related to King Charles III’s future funeral following the monarch’s cancer diagnosis, according to a report.

Little is known about Charles’ mysterious illness outside of his initial announcement of “a form of cancer” in February, but sources close to ...Read more

BALTIMORE — A Baltimore publisher is suing the companies behind the massive cargo ship that collapsed the Francis Scott Key Bridge last month, saying they were negligent for allowing an allegedly unseaworthy ship to sail ahead of the catastrophic crash that killed six people.

American Publishing LLC, based in Essex, filed the proposed class ...Read more

Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s past personal foibles reemerged in the trial of former President Donald Trump over allegations of a hush money payment to a porn star in an attempt to cover up their sexual relationship.

Former National Enquirer Publisher David Pecker testified this week that he was reluctant to pay off a Playboy...Read more

DETROIT — A federal judge Friday refused to let an accused Islamic State supporter convicted after an FBI counterterrorism investigation travel to the West Bank this weekend to attend a wedding while under court supervision and amid the Israel-Hamas war.

U.S. District Judge Terrence Berg concluded letting Ypsilanti resident Yousef Ramadan, 35...Read more

In 1973, the National Hurricane Center introduced the Saffir-Simpson scale, a five-category rating system that classified hurricanes by wind intensity.

At the bottom of the scale was Category 1, for storms with sustained winds of 74 to 95 mph. At the top was Category 5, for disasters with winds of 157 mph or more.

In the half-century since the...Read more

KHARKIV, Ukraine — It made for an unlovely municipal symbol, soaring but hardly graceful: the 800-foot-tall Soviet-era television tower that was for decades a familiar signature in the skyline of Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv.

Ungainly though the tower may have been, the sight of its red-and-white upper mast plunging spearlike to ...Read more

NEW YORK — President Biden Friday said he considered killing himself after his first wife and baby daughter died in a car crash shortly after he won election as a U.S. senator.

In an interview with radio host Howard Stern, Biden admitted being distraught after his first wife, Neilia, and 18-month-old daughter, Naomi, died in a 1972 crash.

�...Read more

NEW YORK — Donald Trump walked into his hush money trial Friday and wished his wife Melania a happy birthday — the day after former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker testified Trump never mentioned worrying about what she thought about his alleged affairs at the heart of the state’s case against him.

“I want to start by wishing ...Read more

CHICAGO — R. Kelly’s sex-crime conviction and 20-year sentence in Chicago’s federal court will stand, an appeals court ruled Friday in a blistering opinion.

“For years, Robert Sylvester Kelly abused underage girls. By employing a complex scheme to keep victims quiet, he long evaded consequences. In recent years, though, those crimes ...Read more

A corrections counselor at Pelican Bay State Prison in Crescent City is suing the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for interest on back pay that was seized in what he described as whistleblower retaliation in response to him complaining of discrimination.

Joshua Kuzmicz has worked at Pelican Bay since March 2001, and for ...Read more

ATLANTA — Emory University President Gregory L. Fenves said Friday he was “saddened” and “horrified” at protests that took place at the school Thursday, but said actions that disrupt the campus will not be tolerated.

The message to the school community came a day after at least 23 people were booked into the DeKalb County Jail on ...Read more

CHICAGO — R. Kelly’s sex-crime conviction and 20-year sentence in Chicago’s federal court will stand, an appeals court ruled Friday in a blistering opinion.

“For years, Robert Sylvester Kelly abused underage girls. By employing a complex scheme to keep victims quiet, he long evaded consequences. In recent years, though, those crimes ...Read more

NEW YORK — Donald Trump walked into his hush money trial Friday and wished his wife Melania a happy birthday – the day after former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker testified Trump, after he announced his candidacy, never mentioned worrying about what she thought about his alleged affairs at the heart of the state’s case against ...Read more

NEW YORK — The pro-Gaza encampment at Columbia University persisted Friday, after a deadline for students to clear the lawn of a series of colorful tents expired.

“There is a rumor that the NYPD has been invited to campus this evening,” university officials said overnight Thursday. “This rumor is false.”

“The talks have shown ...Read more

ATLANTA — Simultaneous gatherings were held at Emory University on Thursday evening, hours after an encampment on campus led to clashes with responding officers and multiple arrests.

A small group of Jewish students, local residents and officials stood outside Ali’s Cookies at Emory Village at 7 p.m. for a Passover gathering and to show ...Read more