1gridNATIONandSTATE
German leader faces tough time ahead after election defeats, but no sign of leadership challenge
BERLIN | German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stood by his vow to stay in office Monday after his party suffered two more regional election defeats and was voted out of a state legislature in a humiliating first. But he faces a struggle to keep his reform agenda intact. Minutes after polls closed on Sunday, the unpopular […]
Ukraine fires over 1,000 drones at Russia, including hundreds launched at Moscow
Ukrainian forces fired more than 1,000 drones at Russia overnight, including hundreds that were launched toward Moscow, officials said Sunday as the Kremlin was wrapping up the third and last day of its parliamentary elections. Moscow’s mayor described the wave of drones as the “largest ever” drone attack on the Russian capital and said there […]
America’s long history of falling for hucksters and their outlandish promises
NEW YORK | America: land of possibility. And also: land of suckers. Our enduring belief that anything is possible — whether based in reality or not — has helped the nation become the world’s largest economy. It has also led us to fall head over heels for hucksters and charlatans, again and again. If so […]
Converse apologizes and pulls sneaker ad that critics said included racist imagery
The sneaker company Converse has removed a social media ad that sparked outrage among critics who viewed it as evoking the Ku Klux Klan and lynching. The Instagram ad photo showed K-pop singer Karina wearing a skirt and holding a pair of Chuck 70 X sneakers. Critics lashed out online, saying that a white triangular […]
MS NOW, CNN and Politico say their journalists were denied access to White House after Trump ban
NEW YORK | Reporters from three major news organizations — CNN, MS NOW and Politico — were denied access to the White House on Saturday, a day after President Donald Trump said he was barring them because of reporting he found to be “fake news.” The actions were a clear escalation of Trump’s long-running efforts […]
Trump says he is banning CNN, MSNOW and Politico from the White House, more to follow
WASHINGTON | President Donald Trump said Friday that he was banning CNN, MSNOW and Politico from the White House due to what he called unfavorable coverage, and threatened that more such media prohibitions could be coming — offering his administration’s latest test of constitutional First Amendment protections guaranteeing the freedom of the press. Trump has […]
One thing that hasn’t changed in 250 years: Americans’ willingness to get suckered
NEW YORK | America: land of possibility. And also: land of suckers. Our enduring belief that anything is possible — whether based in reality or not — has helped the nation become the world’s largest economy. It has also led us to fall head over heels for hucksters and charlatans, again and again. If so […]
A judge rejects Pamela Smart’s latest bid for a new trial in 1990 accomplice to murder case
CONCORD, N.H. | A New Hampshire judge on Thursday dismissed the latest petition for a new trial from Pamela Smart, who is serving life in prison for orchestrating the murder of her husband by her teenage student more than three decades ago. Smart, 59, was a 22-year-old high school media coordinator when she began an […]
Kennedy tells anti-vaccine activists they have a friend in Trump’s White House
WASHINGTON | Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gave the keynote address Thursday at a conference of an anti-vaccine activist group he once chaired, telling the hundreds in attendance that they had a friend in President Donald Trump’s White House. It was Kennedy’s first time appearing at the Children’s Health Defense conference […]
Postal Service chief says work stopped on computer system key to Trump effort to limit mail voting
WASHINGTON | The top official at the U.S. Postal Service said Thursday that the agency has stopped work on developing a controversial computer system that was central to President Donald Trump’s effort to limit mail voting after the Supreme Court rejected his executive order this week. “There’s an injunction so we’re not doing anything,” postmaster […]