In 2022, after the start of the war in Ukraine, the number of people studying Ukrainian on Duolingo, a language learning website and mobile app, increased by more than 500%.

Most of those who have taken up Ukrainian are probably unaware that there is a long-running controversy about this particular form of speech. One side views ...Read more

BALTIMORE — A federal judge has sided with Maryland in a dispute over the state’s digital advertising tax, dismissing a claim filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and three trade associations arguing the tax violates First Amendment rights to free speech.

The decision, issued Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby, found...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ended its term divided into partisan blocs, with the Republican appointees ruling in favor of former President Trump's claim of immunity while the three Democratic appointees voiced a bitter dissent.

It's exactly the result many critics of the court might have expected, with politics driving the law. It's also ...Read more

MIAMI — David Rivera, a former Miami-Dade congressman who built his reputation on bashing the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro, wants to travel to Venezuela for work as a consultant for an opposition candidate challenging Venezuela’s socialist president in the upcoming election.

But the Republican has a slight problem.

Rivera has been ...Read more

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on a self-styled “peace mission” on Friday, triggering condemnation from European Union leaders who said he had no mandate to represent the bloc.

The Hungarian leader, who visited Kyiv a day after he took over the E.U.’s six-month rotating ...Read more

A mass shooting in Southwest Philadelphia late Thursday night killed one person and wounded eight others, including three minors, authorities said.

The incident unfolded just after 11:30 p.m. near 60th St. and Kingsessing Ave., ABC Philadelphia reported. A video shot by the network shows a heavy police presence in the area, while fireworks can ...Read more

The Kansas Supreme Court struck down a series of abortion rules and restrictions on Friday in twin opinions affirming its landmark decision that the state constitution protects the right to end a pregnancy.

The justices in two near-unanimous decisions tossed a ban on dilation and evacuation abortions, a common second trimester surgical ...Read more

New British Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised a government of “stability and moderation” after leading his Labour Party to a landslide election victory that ended 14 years of Conservative rule that became characterized by turmoil and infighting.

In a dramatic reshaping of the political landscape, Labour took 412 of the 650 seats in the ...Read more

Homicides and non-fatal shootings in Baltimore County have continued to fall in the first six months of 2024, a downward trend in violence also visible in the city.

Between January and July 1 of this year, the county recorded 11 homicides and 25 non-fatal shootings, putting it on pace for lower numbers than it saw in 2023.

Baltimore County’...Read more

Over one million Americans faint every year, and countless more do worldwide. Fear, pain, the sight of blood or prolonged standing – think the long lines of summer travel – can trigger fainting.

These triggers set off a reflex in our nervous system that cause our hearts to paradoxically slow instead of speed up, and our blood ...Read more

There was a time when U.S. President Joe Biden’s allies abroad would make allowances for his age, let the slip-ups slide, gently bring him back to the fold when he appeared to wander off. No longer.

His calamitous presidential debate performance changed the calculus. Now even Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva — a leading South ...Read more

A judge postponed the date when Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s wife will testify in court as part of an investigation into her business dealings that’s rocked the country’s politics for months.

Begona Gomez will appear in court to respond to questions on July 19, state-owned news agency EFE reported on Friday. The judge took the ...Read more

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on a self-styled “peace mission” on Friday, just days after he visited Kyiv, triggering condemnations from European Union leaders who said he had no mandate to represent the bloc.

The Hungarian leader, who took over the E.U.’s six-month rotating ...Read more

The head of Israel’s Mossad will travel to Qatar on Friday to try to finalize a cease-fire deal with Hamas, according to a person familiar with the matter.

David Barnea, who leads the Israeli external-intelligence agency, will meet Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, the person said, asking not to be named ...Read more