WASHINGTON — The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has issued a notification to pilots to exercise extreme caution because of a “worsening security situation and heightened military activity” around Venezuela, as President Donald Trump ramps up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

U.S. military aircraft have been operating...Read more

President Donald Trump signed an executive order that aims to return astronauts to the moon through NASA’s Artemis space program with an eye toward building a permanent lunar presence.

The directive reinforces NASA’s current plans for sending Americans back to the moon by 2028 and for Americans to begin establishing the outpost by 2030. It ...Read more

TikTok’s long-delayed plan to separate from Chinese parent ByteDance Ltd. was put in motion Thursday when the video sharing sensation said it’s being bought by a group of buyers led by Oracle Corp.

TikTok Chief Executive Officer Shou Chew told employees that the company and ByteDance signed binding agreements to create a US joint venture ...Read more

After long-awaited government data showed underlying U.S. inflation cooled to a four-year low in November, economists agreed on at least this much: something was off.

In a report fouled by the record-long government shutdown, inflation in several categories that had long been stubborn seemed to nearly evaporate. Chief among those were shelter ...Read more

A federal judge blasted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for ignoring court orders to release a Jamaican immigrant married to a U.S. citizen whom ICE detained for days inside a “putrid and cramped” holding cell on Long Island.

Following his arrest by ICE agents on Dec. 5, Erron Clarke was subjected to “inhumane and unlawful ...Read more

Police in Providence, Rhode Island, and other authorities, including the U.S. Marshals, are searching on a street off Route 28 in Salem, New Hampshire, as the investigation into Saturday’s Brown University shooting developed into a multistate manhunt with possible connections to the slaying of an MIT professor in his Brookline, Massachusetts, ...Read more

CHICAGO — In a move that could further reduce gender-affirming care for minors in Illinois, the federal government is proposing rules that would strip Medicare and Medicaid funding from hospitals that provide such services.

The administration of President Donald Trump has been threatening since early this year to block federal funding for ...Read more

A Northern California elected official is under scrutiny over comments she made at an after-school meeting of a conservative students club, where she attributed her daughter's sexual orientation to childhood trauma and repeated talking points criticized workplace diversity and the legacy of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

The ...Read more

SYDNEY — The gray arched footbridge, just a few meters from the grassy park where Jewish people gathered to celebrate Hanukkah last Sunday, gave the Bondi Beach gunmen an elevated vantage point over the crowd they attacked.

Police on Thursday peeled back the metal barriers that had surrounded the scene of Australia’s worst-ever terror ...Read more

SEATTLE — Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson on Thursday unveiled plans to create a state Department of Housing while spending $244 million on housing, part of his proposed 2026 supplemental budget.

A chunk of the investment will support repairing flood-damaged homes, he said.

The legislature will consider Ferguson’s proposal when it convenes ...Read more

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s redistricting advisory commission decided on Thursday to “recommend a congressional map to the Governor and the General Assembly,” after the group’s final meeting. The commission will make the submitted maps publicly available after Christmas and will hold two additional public meetings to gather feedback.

“...Read more

WASHINGTON — With no hope of preventing Obamacare health insurance premium costs from soaring in two weeks, Democrats and a few Republicans turned to ways to stop the increases when Congress returns in January.

But getting any such action next month, or as long as Republicans control Congress, appears difficult.

The Republican-led House ...Read more

After years of debate, investigations and conspiracy theories, the Department of Justice is scheduled on Friday to finally release the Jeffrey Epstein files.

The release will come nearly 20 years after federal prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida cut a remarkably lenient plea deal with Epstein that allowed him to avoid a lengthy ...Read more

CHICAGO — Mayor Brandon Johnson on Thursday singled out a debt collection measure as his latest nonstarter in the budget proposal crafted by his aldermanic antagonists, who showed no signs of slowing their march toward an imminent final vote.

Following a City Council meeting where aldermen teed up their 2026 spending package for potential ...Read more

CHICAGO — It was almost as if they never left.

When Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino and a throng of masked federal agents returned to Chicago in a flash on Tuesday, residents across the city — armed with whistles, smartphone cameras and chat networks on encrypted texting channels — were just as quick to greet them.

“For our team, we...Read more

In December 2006, Jeffrey Epstein was the target of a criminal investigation that the FBI had code named “Operation Leap Year.” A 14-year-old girl claimed that Epstein had sexually assaulted her. Palm Beach police took the case to the FBI because they discovered that he had raped and sexually molested more girls — and they suspected that ...Read more

CHICAGO — A man accused of lighting a woman on fire on the CTA Blue Line last month has been indicted on additional federal charges alleging he lit a fire outside City Hall three days earlier.

Lawrence Reed, 50, was charged in a two-count indictment made public Thursday with terrorism against a mass transportation system and arson involving a...Read more

TikTok Chief Executive Officer Shou Chew told employees that the social media company and its parent, ByteDance Ltd., signed binding agreements to create a U.S. joint venture majority-owned by American investors.

In an internal memo reviewed by Bloomberg, Chew said he was “pleased to share some great news” and said agreements with Oracle ...Read more

CHICAGO — After Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino and scores of his federal agents left Chicago last month, and immigration enforcement wound down, Matt DeMateo said daily life slowly but surely returned to normal.

Congregants started to fill church pews again on the Southwest Side and kids returned to school, said the CEO of the nonprofit ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — A viral video of an ICE agent dragging a woman across the pavement in south Minneapolis on Monday was met with outrage, while the Department of Homeland Security says agents moved to detain her after she vandalized a law enforcement vehicle but abandoned the arrest amid a clash with protesters.

People in the crowd said the woman...Read more