Venezuela’s recent elections were marked by unfairness and political repression, but in a positive change from recent years, they did allow greater participation for the opposition, Jimmy Carter’s Carter Center wrote in a report.

While the opposition got more votes, the ruling party won most of the available positions amid low turnout and ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will travel to the Kansas City area on Wednesday, according to White House officials, in a visit that comes as he continues to promote his new infrastructure law and build support for a federal social spending proposal.

The White House did not immediately announce the exact location of the visit — Biden’s ...Read more

Former President Donald Trump’s media company said Digital World Acquisition Corp. has agreed to a $1 billion investment following the combination of both companies.

Trump first announced the plan to merge with the so-called blank-check firm in October that would help enable him to regain a social media presence after he was kicked off ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Iran didn’t show seriousness in the latest talks to rejoin a 2015 accord restraining its nuclear program, and the U.S. is preparing for a scenario in which restoring the deal won’t be possible, a senior U.S. official said Saturday.

It was the most pessimistic American assessment of the negotiations yet.

In the seventh round...Read more

Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is still on the fence about Build Back Better.

The moderate holdout broke her silence on Friday about President Joe Biden’s $1.8 trillion social spending plan, saying only that she is still negotiating with fellow Democrats.

In a rare TV interview, the usually tight-lipped Sinema declined to back the bill, which ...Read more

Former President Donald Trump is reportedly boiling mad at former aide Mark Meadows for disclosing that Trump tested positive for COVID-19 in the days before the first debate with Joe Biden.

The famously mercurial Trump has derided Meadows in conversations with friends since the ex-White House chief of staff revealed the previously unknown test...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri Republicans, encouraged by an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court decision many anticipate will severely reduce or eliminate the federal right to end a pregnancy, are poised to push an aggressive new slate of anti-abortion measures in the General Assembly next year.

Proposals include requiring women to undergo an ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — As young children got vaccinated against the coronavirus on Friday at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in West Philadelphia, they joined more than 12,700 kids who have already done so in Philadelphia.

Their shots were already exciting — finally being able to get protected against COVID-19 was a big deal for the little ...Read more

NEW YORK — The Biden administration sided with Donald Trump in urging a federal appeals court to find that he couldn’t be sued for defamation while he was president, which would allow him to dodge a lawsuit by a woman who claims he raped her two decades ago.

New York advice columnist E. Jean Carroll went public in 2019 with her claim that ...Read more

Not even the most strident defender of abortion rights would call the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision a model of elegant jurisprudence. But as six conservatives on the Supreme Court itch to strike it down — on the grounds that women’s bodily autonomy during pregnancy, at least until a fetus is thought to be viable outside the womb, is not rooted ...Read more

The Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in the most important case on abortion rights in three decades. And by the direction of the comments and questions, the court could be headed toward a major, if misguided and dangerous, scaling back of constitutional protections under Roe vs. Wade.

The state of Mississippi is asking the Supreme Court ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Congress approved a government spending bill late Thursday, averting a potential government shutdown with about 24 hours to spare after the latest example of the partisan standoffs crippling Washington's most basic functions.

Republican and Democratic congressional leaders had brokered an agreement Thursday morning to fund the ...Read more

NEW YORK — Michael Cohen asked a Manhattan appeals court Thursday to reconsider a ruling that spares the Trump Organization from having to pay his hefty legal bills.

Trump’s former personal attorney says the ex-president’s company must foot the bill for more than $1 million in unpaid lawyers’ fees incurred through the Mueller ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday night averted a U.S. government shutdown and passed a stopgap spending measure, sending it to President Joe Biden for his signature.

The 69-28 vote followed a day of negotiations between Senate leaders and a group of conservative Republicans who demanded a vote on an amendment blocking Biden’s COVID-19 ...Read more

NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump told a judge he plans to sue New York advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, alleging her defamation lawsuit against him was filed in bad faith after he denied her claim that he raped her in a department store dressing room two decades ago.

Trump, who recently replaced his legal team in the suit Carroll ...Read more

UAW members are closer to being able to directly vote for top union leadership in the future following a successful reform effort that supporters say shifts power back to the workers.

A news release from the union's court-appointed independent monitor said members "voted decisively to replace the union’s existing delegate voting system with a...Read more

WASHINGTON — The House passed a stopgap funding bill to keep the government operating past Friday, sending it to the Senate where a group of Republicans is threatening to delay action over objections to federal vaccine and testing mandates.

The 221-212 vote Thursday was largely along party lines as House GOP leaders urged their members to ...Read more

LANSING, Mich. — Attorney Sidney Powell and other lawyers who unsuccessfully sought to overturn Michigan's 2020 election will have to pay $175,250 in legal fees under a court order issued Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Linda Parker of Michigan's Eastern District said the penalty was "an appropriate sanction" and "is an amount the court finds ...Read more