Washington — President Trump on Thursday said he has “no objection” to withdrawing Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general until Republican Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina leave office in January, as their concerns have effectively placed Blanche’s nomination process on hold. Cornyn in particular has demanded that the Justice…
Ege-Cap Ferret, France — French authorities gave the go-ahead Thursday for 84,000 evacuees forced out by a monster wildfire to go back to their homes in southwest France, the strongest sign yet that firefighters are turning a corner in their battle against the flames that have burned an area four times the size of Paris. The…
Kyiv, Ukraine — A Russian ballistic missile and drone barrage across Ukraine overnight into Thursday killed at least eight civilians, including children, and wounded dozens of others, officials said. The blitz expanded Russia’s almost daily bombardment of Ukrainian cities as Moscow apparently looked to exploit Kyiv’s critical shortage of Western-supplied anti-ballistic missile defenses. NATO member…
One of the Trump administration’s top health officials, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, is accusing Dr. Anthony Fauci, the longtime former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, of an abuse of power during the COVID-19 pandemic. “He frankly abused the place of power that he had been given both by the media and…
London — A 19-year-old Norwegian has been found guilty of traveling to England to kill someone on behalf of a Swedish crime group that is under U.S. and U.K. sanctions for its links to Iran. Johannes Kongsnes Natland was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder after an investigation by British counterterrorism officers and a two-week…
The Federal Reserve is expected to leave interest rates unchanged at its July meeting on Wednesday, but rising oil prices have prompted investors to sharply increase their bets that a fresh rate hike could come later this year. At the start of the year, many economists expected at least one rate cut in 2026. But…
Several schools in three states will launch the new academic year with a new security measure: drones equipped with pepper spray, strobe lights and other features that their manufacturer says can be used against an active shooter within seconds. The schools, located in Colorado, Florida and Georgia, will be the first to add drones from…
The Consumer Price Index rose 2.4% in January from a year ago, below economists’ forecasts and a sign that price pressures across the U.S. are easing. By the numbers The CPI was expected to rise 2.5% on an annual basis last month, according to economists polled by financial data firm FactSet. The January CPI represents…
Hong Kong — The Federal Communications Commission is banning imports of new foreign-made humanoid robots and power inverters, citing national security risks, in a move that targets China. The measures are likely to test relations with Beijing ahead of a planned U.S. visit and meeting with President Trump by Chinese leader Xi Jinping in September….
The Trump administration has effectively shut down most of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s activities, closing the spigot on federal funding estimated to have saved thousands of lives and billions of dollars over the past 27 years by improving medical practice. In a July 15 letter, the small Department of Health and Human…
