Every Christmas, a relatively small town in the Palestinian West Bank comes center stage: Bethlehem. Jesus, according to some biblical sources, was born in this town some two millennia ago.

Yet the New Testament Gospels do not agree about the details of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. Some do not mention Bethlehem or Jesus’ birth at ...Read more

President Joe Biden on Sunday pardoned his son Hunter, who was convicted of illegally purchasing a handgun in Delaware and pleaded guilty to tax charges in Los Angeles.

In explaining his controversial action — which came weeks before the president's son was to be sentenced by federal judges on both coasts — Biden claimed his son was the ...Read more

The change from the Biden to the Trump administration is primed to alter the trajectory of salmon recovery in the Snake and Columbia river basins.

The effort to save the threatened and endangered fish through breaching one or more of the four dams on the lower Snake River was elevated to unprecedented levels during Joe Biden’s time in the ...Read more

The biggest challenge to Bashar al-Assad’s regime seemingly came out of nowhere, and as Aleppo fell to Turkish-backed rebels in a matter of days, the Syrian president reportedly flew to Moscow.

Russia’s intervention in Syria’s civil war almost a decade ago turned the tide in Assad’s favor, but this time around his two biggest backers ...Read more

U.K. defense companies will be prioritized for government contracts to ensure Britain has a resilient domestic supply chain that can “innovate at a wartime pace” under a strategy that creates jobs and boosts growth, the government will announce on Monday.

Defense Secretary John Healey will launch a new Defense Industrial Strategy in London,...Read more

As a year of travel that was marked largely by overtourism protests in Barcelona, Oaxaca and Venice draws to a close, the appeal of offbeat vacations continues to grow.

To wit, consider these spots you’ve likely never heard of: secluded Graciosa Island on the Azores, the remote fishing village Roches Noires in northeastern Mauritius, or ...Read more

A nearly year-old U.S. Senate GOP inquiry into Chicago’s housing of migrants at O’Hare and Midway airports may become more than a political annoyance for Mayor Brandon Johnson next year as Republicans take control of the federal government with an eye on tightening rules about public spending for noncitizens.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, ...Read more

Donald Trump announced his intention to cut short the term of FBI Director Christopher Wray and select Kash Patel to lead an agency the president-elect often criticized on the campaign trail.

The pick would be another high-profile test for Senate Republicans, who would be tasked with deciding whether to confirm Patel, a former Trump ...Read more

The squawking usually begins just past 4:30 p.m. this time of year, when the sun begins to hang low in the sky.

Just a few at first, announcing themselves with loud calls from above. Another flock soon appears from the south, then a larger one from the east, and even more soon fly in from the north and west.

Like clockwork, hundreds of parrot ...Read more

With the dawn of a second Trump administration and a looming deadline for interstate negotiations, Las Vegas will turn its focus to the Colorado River this week.

Scientists, nonprofit advocates, tribal leaders and negotiators from all seven states that rely on the river will attend the Colorado River Water Users Association conference at Paris ...Read more

In a case that could affect thousands of property owners and beaches visited by millions of people along California’s 1,100-mile coastline, a state appeals court has indicated it will uphold rules limiting the construction of sea walls along the coast.

The case, centered on the California Coastal Commission’s decision to deny a sea wall for...Read more

Ireland is heading for a return of the coalition government led by Prime Minister Simon Harris’s Fine Gael party and Fianna Fail, as voters bucked a recent international trend of ousting incumbent parties.

With more than two thirds of the results announced, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael were together on track to get more than 80 seats. They need ...Read more

Migrants living in city-run shelters have made up a relatively small number of Illinois Department of Child and Family Services investigations in Chicago.

At the peak of migrant shelter operations, thousands of people were crammed into dozens of shelters across the city. Despite the large influx of new arrivals, the number of DCFS ...Read more

Romania’s ruling Social Democrats were on course to win a parliamentary election, with exit polls showing the party ahead of a nationalist group that had threatened to drive home a blow to the Black Sea nation’s political establishment.

The Social Democrats secured 26% of the vote on Sunday, with the far-right Alliance for the Unity of ...Read more

In the skies over Virginia it is common to see contrails, cloud-like strips of condensed water left behind by aircrafts at high altitude.

Some dissipate within minutes, but depending on the weather or time of day, some can remain for hours or develop into wispy cirrus clouds. Because of that, there is uncertainty about how exactly contrails ...Read more

A jury picked in federal court this week will decide the fate of Roger Golubski, a retired Kansas City, Kansas, homicide detective accused of raping women while lording his power as a policeman over them.

The criminal trial, set to begin Monday, stems from the first of two federal indictments brought against Golubski, 71, since 2022. ...Read more

While the future of federal DEI programs is uncertain, the Boston City Council is looking to establish protocols that ensure all ordinances and budgetary decisions “adhere to principles of racial and social equity.”

The council’s Committee on Government Operations is set to hold a hearing on Monday on an ordinance that would mandate ...Read more

Sarah Boone, the woman recently found guilty of murdering her boyfriend in 2020 by suffocating him in a suitcase, will be sentenced in an Orlando courtroom on Monday and faces up to life in prison.

The Orlando Sentinel spoke to two defense attorneys about how the sentencing hearing may play out and whether Boone will have grounds for an appeal....Read more

Planned Parenthood of Illinois has repeatedly been hearing the same question from transgender patients since Donald Trump won the presidential election.

Patients want to know how many refills they can get of hormone therapy medications, which they often need to maintain their health and certain physical characteristics.

“We’ve definitely ...Read more