The U.S. and European leaders are placing their hopes in the Vatican to engage Russia and Ukraine in peace talks, after President Donald Trump said Pope Leo XIV had expressed interest in the idea. The Kremlin isn’t so keen.

Russian officials have no plans for leader Vladimir Putin to travel to the Vatican or anywhere else for talks now, and ...Read more

A Chicago man who railed on social media against the ongoing bombing of Gaza fatally shot two Israeli Embassy employees near the Jewish museum in Washington on Wednesday before allegedly admitting to a police officer he “did it for Palestine,” according to federal charges unsealed Thursday afternoon.

Elias Rodriguez, 31, of the 4700 block ...Read more

CHICAGO — The morning after the fatal shooting of two Israeli Embassy employees in Washington on Wednesday night, university protests in Chicago against the Israel-Hamas war continued.

Wednesday’s attack was a marked display of antisemitism as Israel ramps up its offensive in the Gaza Strip. Federal authorities told police that the suspect,...Read more

WASHINGTON — Top holders of Donald Trump’s memecoin and other guests were greeted by protesters as they arrived for a dinner with the president at his golf club outside Washington on Thursday, a day that saw Bitcoin extend its record high amid optimism about U.S. government support for the crypto industry.

Chinese crypto entrepreneur ...Read more

The differences between Massachusetts and its neighbor to the north grew beyond their divergent takes on sales and income tax after Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed a ban on “sanctuary cities” into law.

According to the former U.S. Senator, the law she signed Thursday is just another example on a long list of things that make the Granite State ...Read more

WASHINGTON — A Chicago man made his first court appearance to face murder charges in the shooting of two Israeli embassy staff members outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, in what officials have called an antisemitic hate crime.

Elias Rodriguez, 31, appeared in Washington federal court Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Matthew ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to fire without cause members of the national labor boards for federal employees and workers, despite lower court judges finding that the terminations likely violated federal law.

The unsigned, two-page decision addressed a tangle of lower court orders on the firings of Cathy ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Earlier this month, Gov. Josh Stein made an impassioned plea to North Carolina’s congressional delegation.

“Reject this budget proposal so that North Carolina families don’t go hungry,” Stein wrote in a statement released May 8.

Stein was reacting to proposed changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The man who authorities believe detonated a powerful explosive device outside a Palm Springs fertility clinic had “access to a large quantity of commercially available chemical products which could be combined to create a home-made explosive device,” the FBI revealed Thursday.

The agency said it was still investigating the ...Read more

BOSTON — A Colombian woman illegally in Massachusetts is accused of living under a stolen identity for more than 20 years and receiving more than $400,000 in stolen federal benefits.

Lina Maria Orovio-Hernandez, 59, also allegedly voted in the 2024 presidential election, and she obtained a Massachusetts Real ID and eight other state IDs, ...Read more

The Nevada Supreme Court has created a business court commission in the latest move to curb Delaware’s dominance in the corporate filings market.

Nevada Supreme Court Chief Justice Douglas Herndon announced plans on Thursday to create a commission to develop rules and regulations for a Nevada business court. A petition from Herndon will be ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — Only four U.S. presidents have won the Nobel Peace Prize: Theodore Roosevelt (1906), Woodrow Wilson (1919), Jimmy Carter (2002) and Barack Obama (2009).

UK oddsmakers have made President Donald Trump the favorite to win the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, while offshore sportsbooks list him as the second choice.

Ninety-seven percent of ...Read more

As Democrats reevaluate their past support for then-President Joe Biden amid new reports that some people around him were concerned for his health and mental acuity while he was in office, Gov. Wes Moore said this week he isn’t wavering.

The Maryland Democrat was a fierce defender and active campaign surrogate for Biden before he dropped out ...Read more

LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan House voted largely along party lines Thursday on legislation prohibiting biological male athletes from participating in women's sports and amending the state's civil rights law to stop lawsuits challenging its enforcement.

The Republican-controlled House passed the first bill 58-46 along party lines, while the ...Read more

A former assistant for Sean “Diddy” Combs took the stand in the rapper’s NYC sex trafficking trial on Wednesday, with a harrowing story to tell.

George Kaplan testified that he was a fixer of sorts for Combs for 15 months from 2013 to 2015, with a salary of $125,000. His job description entailed everything from the mundane to the shocking...Read more

DENVER — A group supporting medical aid-in-dying sued Colorado on Thursday, alleging the state’s ban on assisting out-of-state residents in ending their lives violates the U.S. Constitution.

Compassion & Choices filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Denver on behalf of a Minnesota resident with stage 4 cancer and two Colorado ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Rep. Glenn Ivey will fly to El Salvador this weekend and try to meet with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland resident who was mistakenly deported by the Trump administration.

“The overall goal obviously is to have continued pressure on the Trump administration,” Ivey, a Prince George’s County Democrat, told The Baltimore ...Read more

So much for shooting for the moon.

Most Americans are on board with slashing space exploration funding in order to rein in federal spending, according to new polling.

In the latest Marquette Law School Poll, 63% of respondents said they would be willing to reduce spending on NASA and its space program to shrink the federal budget deficit. ...Read more

Sherri Papini is walking back claims her kidnapping was a hoax in a new documentary series, saying instead that she was abducted by her ex-boyfriend and that she later lied about it out of fear.

“Haven’t you ever lied?” she asks. “Have you ever lied in your history of existence? And then has that lie been blown up and broadcast around ...Read more