The U.S. Justice Department says it has dropped plans for a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund that critics denounced as a “slush fund” for President Donald Trump’s supporters.

But “weaponization” claims will keep coming.

The new fund was expected to offer a faster and easier path to government payouts for people alleging ...Read more

Pedro Sánchez is having a come-to-Jesus moment.

After eight years in office, Sánchez attended his first Roman Catholic mass as prime minister on Wednesday when Pope Leo XIV blessed the Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona. Sánchez’s Socialists have traditionally had a difficult relationship with the church — but this week, with this ...Read more

President Donald Trump said an interim deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the conflict with Iran would be signed on Sunday, even as both sides have differed on the details.

“The Deal is scheduled to get signed tomorrow, and immediately after it is signed, the Hormuz Strait is OPEN TO ALL,” Trump said in a social media post on ...Read more

President Donald Trump is trying to project brute strength as he turns 80, but mounting political problems at home and abroad are tarnishing his self-styled image as an all-powerful leader.

Trump will celebrate becoming an octogenarian as he hosts an extravagant, $60 million Ultimate Fighting Championship showcase on the White House South Lawn...Read more

In a neighborhood flanked by grapevines and orange groves on the east side of the San Joaquin Valley, people cannot drink the water from their faucets because it’s contaminated.

Residents in the area north of Porterville, many of them farmworkers, have been discussing a solution, which they expect will require running pipes to connect to the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- In certain circles, Nelson Holdo was the go-to guy for fine jewelry and luxury watches.

He ingratiated himself with the wealthy, touting his charitable donations and trips to Geneva, the world’s watchmaking capital. He hosted extravagant poker nights where players smoked cigars and cashed out chips toward pieces worn by roving ...Read more

CHICAGO — State oversight failures exposed in a Tribune investigation drove a package of major changes to state law aimed at better protecting patients from sexual abuse or other inappropriate conduct by doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers.

State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, who first proposed the legislation more than a year ago, ...Read more

WASHINGTON — A year after the Trump administration kicked off its aggressive immigration enforcement tour with military-style raids across greater Los Angeles, federal officials have veered toward a less flashy but broader strategy: making immigrants' lives harder so they will leave.

The changes range in scale and scope, from disqualifying ...Read more

Imagine living in the same forest as your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and all your ancestors as far back in time as stories can tell, and depending on the forest for food, shelter, recreation and education. Imagine, then, that the forest depends on you, too, because you and your people have protected it for generations.

...Read more

It’s official: El Niño is back. By late fall 2026, forecast models give a 2-in-3 chance of a strong-to-very strong El Niño affecting the weather, climate and ocean temperatures across the planet.

El Niño is the climate system’s biggest player and one side of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, or ENSO. It’s the heads to La Ni�...Read more

The death of Thai Princess Bajrakitiyabha Narendira Debyavati, once seen as a potential heir, has raised the question of royal succession in a country where the monarchy wields enormous power.

King Maha Vajiralongkorn, himself appointed crown prince at the age of 20, has yet to name a successor nearly a decade after taking the throne.

The 73...Read more

The U.S. has killed the leader of the Tren De Aragua drug cartel, Niño Guerrero, in a strike that was coordinated with Venezuela, President Donald Trump said.

“Tren de Aragua terrorists no longer have safe haven in Venezuela or anywhere else,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

Trump designated the group as a terrorist organization as...Read more

In a post on the social media platform he owns, Elon Musk recently lamented, “Whoever said ‘money can’t buy happiness’ really knew what they were talking about.”

Now the world’s richest person can put that maxim to an even bigger test as he adds a new title: world’s first trillionaire.

Shares of SpaceX rose 19% Friday to $160.95 ...Read more

OpenAI is under investigation by a coalition of state attorneys general who requested information from the artificial intelligence company on a wide range of topics.

A spokesperson for the company said it was cooperating with the probe.

“AI is a new and powerful technology, and we work every day to safely bring its benefits to people in a ...Read more

NEW YORK — The New York City Democratic Socialists of America — a group closely aligned with Mayor Zohran Mamdani — issued a rebuke of his move to drive up the Police Department’s headcount despite his campaign trail pledge to keep NYPD numbers flat.

In rare public criticism of Mamdani, the group called on him to reverse that decision, ...Read more

A reported possible case of hantavirus in an inmate at the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center in California was determined to be a false positive after further laboratory testing, officials said Friday.

Authorities investigating a potential case of the rare-but-deadly disease initially sent a sample from an inmate to a commercial lab for ...Read more

WASHINGTON — A central element of President Donald Trump’s emerging Iran deal is a step-by-step approach that would see the Strait of Hormuz reopened followed by Tehran getting economic rewards each time it meets U.S. demands.

That sequencing, described to reporters by a senior U.S. official on Friday, formalizes a cautious approach ...Read more