Iran’s speedboats, missiles, drones and mines have shown they can still wreak havoc in the Strait of Hormuz, defying daily strikes from the most powerful navy in the world.

Five months into the war, the U.S. is confronting the limits of its military power against a determined adversary in a critical global chokepoint. As the flow of shipping ...Read more

One person has died and rescues are underway as catastrophic flooding overwhelms the Hill Country, a little more than a year after the July 4 floods killed more than 130 people in Central Texas.

Up to 25 inches of rain has fallen in three days in Central Texas, and the heavy rainfall continues. More than 46,000 people are under a flash flood ...Read more

SpaceX is set for the 13th suborbital test flight of its Starship and Super Heavy rocket from Texas on Thursday as it drives toward its goal of beginning operational missions from Florida.

The massive rocket looks to launch during a 90-minute window that opens at 6:45 p.m. from the company’s Starbase site on the southeast Texas coast. SpaceX ...Read more

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in plainclothes tried to detain a man at Harry Reid International Airport on Monday, but bystanders intervened, prompting the officers to abandon the arrest, according to authorities.

Phu Nguyen, 57, was later arrested at the Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday, according to an X post ...Read more

Days before hundreds of thousands of Haitians in the U.S. are set to lose deportation protections, the Trump administration on Thursday flew more than 100 Haitian nationals back to the Caribbean country, signaling the start of what Haiti officials and immigration advocates expect to be a surge in removals beginning next week.

More than 300,000 ...Read more

DETROIT — Smoke from Canadian wildfires gave Detroit the most polluted air in the world among major cities for a good chunk of Thursday, according to a Swiss air quality technology company.

Detroit had an air quality index, or AQI, of 724 at one point, the No. 1 spot on IQAir's ranking of the most polluted global major cities on Thursday. ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — A month after federal agents raided a construction site in Bemidji that sent workers jumping off roofs, agents staged another operation on Thursday that scattered another construction site and sent one worker into Lake Bemidji attempting to swim away.

Bemidji Police Chief Mike Mastin said his agency was informed a few hours ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Doug Mastriano, the far-right Pennsylvania lawmaker who President Donald Trump nominated to become the U.S. ambassador to Slovakia, refused to tell senators during his confirmation hearing on Thursday whether he believes all American political leaders should be Christian.

A key Trump ally during the president’s attempt to ...Read more

A bombshell new report reveals that Secret Service agents assigned to JD Vance and his family have become increasingly frustrated about the vice president and his office pressing them for “royal treatment,” asking for taxpayer-funded government resources for trips, assignments and other “perks” that they consider “inappropriate” and ...Read more

A longtime teleprompter operator for President Donald Trump has been accused of making more than $100,000 by using prediction markets to make winning bets on the content of his speeches, federal officials said Thursday.

Gabriel Perez, a White House tech assistant who has been running Trump’s teleprompter since his first term, has been ...Read more

Sen. Thom Tillis on Thursday set a new condition for his vote to confirm Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to attorney general: He wants Blanche to meet with Epstein victims first.

During the second day of hearings for Blanche’s nomination as attorney general, Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who will retire at the end of this term, ...Read more

URBANA, Ill. — Six-term Democratic state Rep. Carol Ammons and her husband, Champaign County Clerk Aaron Ammons, each pleaded not guilty Thursday to federal charges handed up earlier this month by a grand jury.

Rep. Ammons is accused of wire fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice, while her husband is also charged with conspiracy to ...Read more

As thick smoke blanketed Metro Detroit on Thursday from wildfires in Canada and Minnesota, health officials are urging residents to take precautions.

Dr. Avani Sheth, chief medical health officer for Wayne County Health, Human and Veterans Services, on Thursday said the best way for residents to protect themselves is to stay indoors in air ...Read more

NEW YORK — The New York City Council on Thursday approved a bill to send $10,000 in checks to low-paid teacher aides, despite questions about the legality of pay bumps outside of collective bargaining.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has said pay should be negotiated at the bargaining table, not through Council legislation. The bill passed the Council ...Read more

NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Thursday he will opt out of the city’s matching funds program — which would have imposed limits on how big his war chest can get — in his run for a second term.

The program, which matches campaign donations from city residents 8-to-1 with taxpayer funds, helped boost Mamdani to victory last year.

...Read more

LANSING, Mich. — U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a prominent figure in national Democratic politics, said in an interview Thursday that the wildfire smoke blanketing Michigan and other places in the United States was a "manifestation" of climate change, which he labeled a crisis.

Sanders, an independent and self-described democratic socialist from ...Read more

The U.S. launched fresh strikes against Iran on Thursday, the fifth straight day of attacks as shipping traffic slumped in the critical Strait of Hormuz.

The attacks began at 2 p.m. ET, according to U.S. Central Command, with U.S. forces aiming to “further degrade Iranian military capabilities.”

Iran responded to earlier strikes by firing...Read more

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Thursday said he won’t vote in favor of Todd Blanche’s confirmation as attorney general unless the nominee meets with survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring.

The Republican lawmaker, who is retiring and is considered a crucial swing vote on Blanche’s bid, said he wants to see a meeting before any ...Read more