Israeli election challenger Gadi Eisenkot got the first attempt at forming a new government, putting him a step closer to ending Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s record tenure.

Eisenkot was formally handed the mandate on Sunday by President Isaac Herzog, who noted the “immense” challenges facing the country. Eisenkot will have up to ...Read more

Republicans’ midterm defeat is crushing any remaining hopes that Congress would approve President Donald Trump’s unprecedented $1.5 trillion defense budget request amid an unpopular war in the Middle East.

Democrats, who won solid majorities of both chambers of Congress on Tuesday, were already largely opposed to the 44% increase from the ...Read more

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries backed impeaching Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, saying he’s a “hard yes” on a measure that may be introduced as soon as this week.

“The so-called Secretary of Defense has abused his power, undermined our national security and engineered this reckless and costly war of choice in Iran, which ...Read more

U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said any effort by Democratic lawmakers to investigate Donald Trump and his family is likely to fail, taking a defiant stance as the president’s political foes threaten a range of probes once they take control of Congress in January.

Blanche, who previously served as Trump’s personal defense lawyer, ...Read more

President Donald Trump’s incoming chief of staff, Stephen Miller, has long focused on Minnesota and the state’s Somali community.

Miller, who most recently was the White House’s deputy chief of staff for policy and the homeland security adviser, has blamed immigration for making Minneapolis unsafe, disparaged Somali refugees as pirates ...Read more

40 remains the typical age, partly because of cash purchases by older buyers.

The age of the typical first-time homebuyer last year remained stuck at a historic high of 40 years old as younger people continue to get the worst of brutally high prices and interest rates in much of the country.

That’s according to new data from the National ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Microscopic shards of plastic have been found everywhere scientists have looked, from the depths of the ocean to the clouds above.

Now a UC Riverside environmental scientist with a particular set of outdoor and laboratory skills has found them in remote mountain snows reachable only on skis. In a new paper, she and 13 colleagues...Read more

While running for California governor in 2018, Gavin Newsom declared that he would rather be bold and fail than retreat to the safety of mediocrity.

The two-term governor known for taking big political risks once again made good on that vow Thursday when he moved to offer clemency to every inmate sentenced to death in California.

Amid a hum of...Read more

WASHINGTON — After more than a decade of false starts, lawmakers in Washington are on the cusp of advancing a bill to reform the Byzantine system for approving projects needed to modernize power grids, build artificial intelligence data centers and revitalize clean energy development.

The Democrats’ sweeping victories in the midterm ...Read more

CHICAGO — Chicago’s first fully elected school board will take office without a decisive majority for either side, and it faces immediate decisions on some of the most contentious issues for the nation’s third-largest school district — including potential midyear cuts.

Voters on Tuesday elected 21 members to serve on the governing body ...Read more

DETROIT — About 125 members of the Michigan Army National Guard will be deployed to the southwest border of the U.S. for up to a year.

The soldiers belong to the 1432nd Engineer Company, which is based out of Kingsford and Gladstone.

The company will support U.S. Customs and Border Protection by providing border security, allowing federal ...Read more

The leader of a notorious gang that terrorized residents of Haiti’s largest slum is dead following a security operation involving explosive drones, the latest development in an intensifying campaign against the tightening grip of the country’s powerful armed groups.

“One less gang leader,” Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé wrote on ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The city of Fresno in California will not renew its contract for controversial Flock Safety cameras, though it will seek another company to manage the city’s license-plate readers, city leaders announced Friday.

The contract with Flock Safety sunsets in February, and city and law enforcement leaders said the company ...Read more

Paraguay’s former President Santiago Peña was charged Saturday over his alleged role in the collapse of a major bank that set off widespread protests, a day after he was removed from office by the Senate.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office filed charges against Peña for breach of trust and self-enrichment in the administration of assets, ...Read more

NEW YORK — A 27-year-old former NYPD cop who worked with children as a city substitute school aide has been arrested for the murder of Brooklyn jogger Katie Suarez, who was stabbed to death during a run along the Brooklyn waterfront, police said Saturday.

Sayed Mohassib, who has been suspended by the city’s Department of Education, has been...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The latest Santa Ana wind event moving through Southern California will peak Saturday, but higher-than-normal temperatures and elevated fire risk will remain through next week.

Decreased humidity and wind gusts, in the 30-to-50 mph range, across Los Angeles and Ventura counties spell "elevated to critical fire weather conditions...Read more

NEW YORK — A federal judge ruled that the city officials must hand over the names and birth dates of residents living in a Bronx homeless shelter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, despite the city’s repeated attempts to block the move.

United States District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ordered the enforcement of the feds’ administrative ...Read more

President Donald Trump said he is offering the role of White House press secretary to UFC chief Dana White, asking him to “please take the job.”

It wasn’t clear if the offer was sincere. Trump said he had asked the “violent Fighter and Warrior” to bring “assistants,” attaching the names and photographs of famous cage fighters in ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Federal immigration officers reportedly detained two people late Friday evening amid an anti-ICE protest near a Boyle Heights hospital, sparking additional action by community immigrant advocates and swift condemnation from city leaders, including Mayor-Elect Nithya Raman.

“The Trump administration is unwelcome not just in Los...Read more