Current News

/

ArcaMax

ROUZBEH FOULADI/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Who's who in Iran? Guide to the Islamic Republic's top leaders

Current News / News & Features /

The U.S. and Israeli war on Iran has targeted the Islamic Republic’s most senior leaders and mobilized every branch of its sprawling state apparatus in a fight for survival.

In the past, power ultimately rested with the supreme leader, the country’s top authority. But since last year’s 12-day war, important national security and foreign ...Read more

Iranian Army office/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

French and Japanese leaders to discuss Hormuz maritime security

Current News / News & Features /

France’s Emmanuel Macron is traveling to Japan this week where he plans to explore closer cooperation on maritime security in the Strait of Hormuz once the fighting has ceased.

Macron is scheduled to meet Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Wednesday in Tokyo, with the bilateral agenda being roiled by the Middle East crisis and its ...Read more

Majid Saeedi/Getty Images Europe/TNS

Iran attacks Kuwaiti oil tanker as Trump expands US threats

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — The White House threatened further escalation of its military campaign against Iran, which later attacked a Kuwaiti oil tanker near Dubai, as the war entered a fifth week with little relief for jolted global markets.

President Donald Trump said in a social media post Monday that if Tehran doesn’t reopen the Strait of Hormuz, �...Read more

Justin Tallis/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Meta, TikTok flagged for potential Australia kids' ban breaches

Current News / News & Features /

Australia’s online safety regulator is investigating Meta Platforms Inc., Snap Inc., TikTok and YouTube for potentially failing to comply with the country’s social media ban for under-16s, in the first formal assessment of Big Tech’s response to the world-first crackdown.

In its first compliance report on Tuesday, eSafety said it has “...Read more

Screen capture Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation video/TNS/TNS

Trump releases first renderings of massive Miami highrise presidential library

Current News / News & Features /

President Donald Trump’s foundation released a teaser video for his proposed presidential library in downtown Miami Monday, revealing plans for a skyscraper with a fully capitalized TRUMP emblazoned atop, a presidential jet in the lobby, an amphitheater where audiences will face a golden statue of the president and replicas of the White House,...Read more

Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel/TNS

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stops in Miami to announce healthy hospital menu initiative

Current News / News & Features /

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami on Monday to announce the formation of a Florida Farm-to-Hospital partnership designed to encourage healthier meals for patients nationwide.

Kennedy, the nation’s health secretary, said the partnership aims to connect Florida farms directly to hospital food programs, ...Read more

Dreamstime/TNS

US resumes asylum claims paused after guard shootings

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration will resume processing some asylum claims after a near-blanket halt of immigration paperwork for hundreds of thousands of people seeking refuge in the U.S.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has lifted the adjudicative hold for asylum seekers from countries that are deemed to be a lower risk, a ...Read more

Leonard Ortiz/The Orange County Register/TNS

3 men accused of not dispersing during pro-Palestinian protest at UC Irvine say the law was on their side

Current News / News & Features /

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Three men who were on the University of California, Irvine campus during a pro-Palestinian protest nearly two years ago and ordered to disperse by law enforcement remained for hours, a prosecutor told jurors at the opening of their trial Monday.

Defense attorneys representing the men, while asking the jury to find their ...Read more

Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco suspends election fraud probe as legal challenges mount

Current News / News & Features /

LOS ANGELES — Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a leading Republican candidate for governor, said Monday that he had paused his controversial investigation into unsubstantiated claims of election fraud, a probe that was facing mounting legal challenges and ethical concerns.

In a statement Monday, Bianco said the probe was "on hold" ...Read more

Matt Button/The Aegis/The Baltimore Sun/TNS

Harford County judge dismisses effort to use Maryland's new ICE ban against detention center

Current News / News & Features /

BALTIMORE — What is believed to be the first legal challenge to the new Maryland law banning agreements between local law enforcement and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was thrown out by a Harford County judge.

The case illustrates confusion over Maryland’s new law, which some lawmakers heralded as prohibiting local law ...Read more

Majid Saeedi/Getty Images Europe/TNS

Iran attacks Kuwaiti oil tanker as Trump expands US threats

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — The White House threatened further escalation of its military campaign against Iran, which later attacked a Kuwaiti oil tanker near Dubai, as the fifth week of war jolts global markets with little sign of relief.

President Donald Trump said in a social media post Monday that if Tehran didn’t reopen the Strait of Hormuz, “we ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

US to release defense budget details for Fiscal 2027 on April 21

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — Key details about U.S. military spending for the 2027 fiscal year — including the planned budgets for each of the military services — will be released on April 21, according to a U.S. defense official, who requested anonymity to disclose the information.

That’s three weeks after the broad overview of the Trump ...Read more

Jesus Vargas/Getty Images North America/TNS

Nicolás Maduro fades fast as Venezuela's ruling movement rewrites its future

Current News / News & Features /

The shift is visible across Venezuela’s capital.

Billboards that once carried Hugo Chávez’s image in the deep red color of the “Bolivarian Revolution” now show something different: Interim President Delcy Rodríguez, framed in light blue, with a new slogan: “Delcy, move forward, you have my trust.”

It is more than a rebranding. It...Read more

Nancy Lane/Boston Herald/TNS

Cash-strapped Boston City Hall facing $48.4 million budget gap

Current News / News & Features /

BOSTON — Boston’s financial chief said the city is scrambling to close a projected $48.4 million budget gap before the fiscal year ends on June 30, a daunting number that has already led the mayor to freeze some spending and delay hiring.

Chief Financial Officer Ashley Groffenberger said Monday that the fiscal year 2026 budget deficit is ...Read more

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Group plans $100 million Midterm effort to back Trump AI agenda

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — A former top aide to President Donald Trump is initiating a $100 million campaign to promote the administration’s pro-artificial intelligence agenda during this year’s midterm elections.

The launch of the Innovation Council adds new heft to the AI industry’s already extensive efforts to shape the 2026 races that will decide...Read more

Michigan GOP sobers up with 'tough' election challenge ahead

Current News / News & Features /

NOVI, Mich. — Top Michigan Republicans voiced new optimism over the weekend about their party's chances in the November election, despite historical trends and national polling that point to possible trouble ahead for the GOP.

The Republicans said they were specifically motivated by the results of a Saturday convention in Novi, where about 2,...Read more

David Guralnick/The Detroit News/TNS

Temple Israel attack in Michigan was Hezbollah-inspired act of terror, FBI says

Current News / News & Features /

DETROIT — The attack on the Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield Township earlier this month was a Hezbollah-inspired act of terrorism in which the assailant "was motivated and inspired by Hezbollah's militant ideology," FBI Special Agent in Charge Jennifer Runyan said in a Monday briefing.

In the days leading up to the March 12 attack,...Read more

News briefs

Current News / News & Features /

Temple Israel attack in Michigan was Hezbollah-inspired act of terror, FBI says

DETROIT — The attack on the Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield Township earlier this month was a Hezbollah-inspired act of terrorism in which the assailant "was motivated and inspired by Hezbollah's militant ideology," FBI Special Agent in Charge Jennifer ...Read more

Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

Judge closes Nevada lithium mine case without trial, sides with Bureau of Land Management

Current News / News & Features /

LAS VEGAS — A judge has denied environmentalists’ claims that the federal government erred in approving a lithium-boron mine in Esmeralda County, clearing the way for the mine to proceed with its eventual construction.

The battle over the mine’s impacts has spanned years, largely concerned with an endemic wildflower called Tiehm’s ...Read more

Barry Williams/New York Daily News/TNS

NYC assassination plot target Nerdeen Kiswani tries to tie suspect to extremist pro-Israel groups

Current News / News & Features /

NEW YORK — A thwarted assassination plot against Palestinian activist Nerdeen Kiswani at her home was the inevitable result of bounties placed on her head by several extremist pro-Israel organizations, she claimed Monday.

Echoing charges she made last month in a federal lawsuit against Betar Zionist Organization and several of its leaders, ...Read more