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Tag: NNT

  • Russian attacks kill 3 as diplomatic efforts to end war in Ukraine gain momentum

    KYIV, Ukraine — Russian drone and missile attacks in and around the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, killed at least three people early Saturday, officials said, as the country’s representatives traveled to the U.S. to work on a renewed push to end the war.

    What You Need To Know

    • Russian drone and missile attacks in and around Kyiv have killed at least three people

    • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has sent a delegation to the U.S. to push for an end to the war

    • The Kyiv City Military Administration reported casualties and power outages from the strikes

    • Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump has released a plan to end the nearly four-year war, which heavily favors Russia

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X that the delegation, headed by national security chief Rustem Umerov, was on its way to “swiftly and substantively work out the steps needed to end the war.” A U.S. delegation is then expected to travel to Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the second half of next week.

    The Kyiv City Military Administration said two people were killed in the strikes on the capital, and a woman died and eight were wounded in a combined missile and drone attack on the broader Kyiv region, according to the regional police.

    Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 29 people were wounded in Kyiv, noting that falling debris from intercepted Russian drones hit residential buildings. He also said the western part of Kyiv had lost power.

    U.S. President Donald Trump last week released a plan for ending the nearly four-year war. The 28-point proposal heavily favored Russia, prompting Zelenskyy to quickly engage with American negotiators. European leaders, fearing for their own future in the face of Russian aggression, scrambled to steer the negotiations toward accommodating their concerns.

    Trump said Tuesday that his plan to end the war had been “fine-tuned” and that he’s sending envoy Steve Witkoff to Russia to meet with Putin and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to meet with Ukrainian officials. He suggested he could eventually meet with Putin and Zelenskyy, but not until further progress has been made in negotiations.

    Zelenskyy announced Friday the resignation of his powerful chief of staff, Andrii Yermak, who was also the country’s lead negotiator in talks with the U.S, after anti-corruption investigators searched Yermak’s residence.

    The unprecedented search at the heart of Ukraine’s government was a blow to the Ukrainian leader, risking the disruption of his negotiating strategy at a time when Kyiv is under intense U.S. pressure to sign a peace deal.

    Ukrainian special forces strike a Russian oil terminal

    In Russia, a major oil terminal near the port of Novorossiysk stopped operations Saturday after a strike by unmanned boats damaged one of its three mooring points, according to a press release from the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), which owns the terminal.

    Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, confirmed that Ukraine had carried out the attack.

    “Ukrainian special forces worked on the Russian Federation, its energy sector and infrastructure. In particular, naval drones managed to destroy one of the three oil tanker berths of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium in the Novorossiysk area,” he wrote on Telegram.

    Months of Ukrainian long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries and terminals have aimed to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue the war.

    Meanwhile, Kyiv and its western allies say Russia is trying to cripple the Ukrainian power grid and deny civilians access to heat, light and running water for a fourth consecutive winter, in what Ukrainian officials call “weaponizing” the biting cold.

    Associated Press

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  • Death toll rises to 128 in Hong Kong residential fire; 8 more arrested

    HONG KONG — Hong Kong firefighters found dozens more bodies Friday in an intensive apartment-by-apartment search of a high-rise complex where a massive fire engulfed seven buildings, and authorities arrested another 8 people involved in the towers’ renovation. The death toll in one of the city’s deadliest blazes rose to 128, and many remain unaccounted for.

    What You Need To Know

    • Hong Kong firefighters have found dozens more bodies in a high-rise complex after a massive fire engulfed seven buildings

    • The death toll has risen to 128, with many still unaccounted for

    • Authorities said fire alarms in the complex, which housed many older people, did not sound during the fire

    • Authorities on Friday arrested eight more people involved in the building’s renovation, including scaffolding subcontractors and project managers

    First responders found that some fire alarms in the complex, which housed many older people, did not sound when tested, said Andy Yeung, the director of Hong Kong Fire Services, though he did not say how many were not working or if others were.

    The blaze jumped rapidly from one building to the next as foam panels and bamboo scaffolding covered in netting apparently installed by a construction company caught fire.

    Authorities on Friday arrested seven men and one woman, ranging in age from 40 to 63, including scaffolding subcontractors, directors of an engineering consultant company and project managers supervising the renovation, the Independent Commission Against Corruption said in a statement.

    On Friday, crews prioritized apartments from which they had received emergency calls during the blaze but were unable to reach in the hours that the fire burned out of control, Derek Armstrong Chan, a deputy director of Hong Kong Fire Services, told reporters. It took firefighters a day to bring the fire under control, and it was not fully extinguished until Friday morning — some 40 hours after it started.

    Even two days after the fire began, smoke continued to drift out of the charred skeletons of the buildings from the occasional flare-up.

    More bodies may be found

    Some 200 people remain unaccounted for, Secretary for Security Chris Tang told reporters. That includes 89 bodies that have not yet been identified. Yet more bodies might be recovered, authorities said, though crews have finished a search for anyone living trapped inside.

    More than 2,300 firefighters and medical personnel were involved in the operation, and 12 firefighters were among the 79 people injured, Yeung said. One firefighter was also killed, he had said previously.

    Katy Lo, 70, a resident of Wang Fuk Court, was not home when the fire started Wednesday. She rushed back roughly an hour later to see that the blaze had spread to her building.

    “That’s my home.… I still can’t really believe what happened,” Lo said on Friday as she registered for government assistance for affected households. “This all still feels like a bad dream.”

    The government said all official flags in the city will be lowered to half staff in mourning from Saturday to Monday. The city’s leader, John Lee, will lead a three-minute silence Saturday from the government headquarters.

    The apartment complex of eight, 31-story buildings in Tai Po district, a suburb near Hong Kong’s border with mainland China, was built in the 1980s and had been undergoing a major renovation. It had almost 2,000 apartments and some 4,800 residents.

    Highly flammable foam panels blamed

    Three men — the directors and an engineering consultant of a construction company — were arrested Thursday on suspicion of manslaughter, and police said company leaders were suspected of gross negligence.

    Police have not identified the company where the suspects worked, but documents posted to the homeowners association’s website showed that the Prestige Construction & Engineering Company was in charge of renovations. Police have seized boxes of documents from the company, where phones rang unanswered Thursday.

    In addition to the new arrests Friday, the anti-corruption agency also searched the suspects’ offices and seized relevant documents and bank records.

    Police said they found highly flammable plastic foam panels attached to the windows on each floor of the one unaffected tower. The panels were believed to have been installed by the construction company but the purpose was not clear.

    Preliminary investigations showed the fire started on a lower-level scaffolding net of one of the buildings, and then spread rapidly as the foam panels caught fire, said Tang, the secretary for security.

    “The blaze ignited the foam panels, causing the glass to shatter and leading to a swift intensification of the fire and its spread into the interior spaces,” Tang said.

    Authorities suspected some materials on the exterior walls of the high-rise buildings did not meet fire resistance standards, allowing the unusually fast spread of the fire.

    Authorities planned immediate inspections of housing complexes undergoing major renovations to ensure scaffolding and construction materials meet safety standards.

    The fire was the deadliest in Hong Kong in decades. A 1996 fire in a commercial building in Kowloon killed 41 people. A warehouse fire in 1948 killed 176 people, according to the South China Morning Post.

    Associated Press

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  • Black Friday arrives with solid momentum despite tariffs, economic uncertainty

    NEW YORK — Black Friday may no longer be the retail bacchanalia of years past, when the promise of one-time bargains caused people to leave Thanksgiving tables for malls where some customers got into fistfights over toys or TVs. But the event still has enough enthusiasts to make it the biggest shopping day in the U.S.

    What You Need To Know

    • Black Friday may no longer be the retail bacchanalia of years past, but the event still has enough enthusiasts to make it the biggest single shopping day in the U.S.

    • This year’s traditional kickoff to the holiday shopping season comes as companies navigate an uncertain economic environment

    • Many have absorbed some of the costs from the Trump administration’s tariffs on imported goods and pulled back on hiring instead of raising prices for customers

    • Consumer confidence in the economy fell this month

    For that reason, the day retains its crown as the official start of the holiday shopping season. This year’s kickoff comes as companies navigate an uncertain economic environment and wrestle with the volatility of President Donald Trump ‘s wide-ranging tariffs on imported goods.

    Many have absorbed some of the costs and pulled back on hiring instead of raising prices for customers. Consumer confidence in the U.S. economy fell this month to the lowest since April — when Trump announced his tariffs — in the aftermath of the government shutdown, weak hiring and stubborn inflation, according to a report The Conference Board issued Tuesday.

    Shoppers nonetheless have remained resilient and willing to spend, at least judging by the solid quarterly sales reports from Walmart, Best Buy and other retailers. But many retail executives also say customers are focusing on deals and have been selective in what they’re buying.

    Aron Boxer, 50, from Greenwich, Connecticut, said he delayed buying a car this year amid worries about tariffs. He said he’ll be looking for deals on toys on Cyber Monday but is also willing to wait to the end for the best discount.

    “The tariffs definitely are not behind me, and I am concerned about it,” the founder of an educational services company and a life coaching service said. “I did consider buying earlier this year, but I feel like some people made some pretty bad business decisions anticipating tariffs to have a bigger impact than they did.”

    Still, analysts and mall executives cited solid momentum heading into Black Friday week.

    “We’re seeing a very positive start to the holiday season,” said Jill Renslow, chief business development and marketing officer at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, which plans to give gift cards and other giveaways to the first 250 customers who show up at 7 a.m. on Friday. “The last few Saturdays in November have been very strong.”

    Mall traffic heading into Black Friday surpassed the numbers from pre-pandemic 2019, Renslow said.

    A forecast from the National Retail Federation, the nation’s largest retail trade group, predicted a healthy increase in holiday sales. The group estimated that shoppers would collectively spend between $1.01 trillion and $1.02 trillion in November and December, or 3.7% to 4.2% more than last year.

    Retailers rung up $976 billion in holiday sales last year, or a 4.3% increase from 2023, the group said.

    Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracks spending across all payment methods including cash, predicted a 3.6% increase in holiday sales from Nov. 1 through Dec. 24. That compares with a 4.1% increase last year.

    “Clearly, there’s uncertainty,” Mastercard Chief Economist Michelle Meyer said. “Clearly, consumers feel on edge. But at the moment, it doesn’t seem like it’s changing how they are showing up for this season.”

    Online sales have been strong so far. From Nov. 1 to Sunday, consumers spent $79.7 billion, according to Adobe Analytics. That represented a gain of 7.5% from a year earlier and was bigger than Adobe’s 5.3% growth forecast for the season.

    Tariffs have played a role in stores’ merchandising and pricing strategies. Many retailers accelerated shipments of some holiday merchandise before the tariffs took effect while also absorbing some of the extra import costs. But stores still have passed on some of the expense for items like toys, which are largely sourced in China.

    Market research firm Circana’s retail tracking service examined various subcategories of general merchandise and found 40% of all general merchandise sold in September saw a price increase of at least 5% compared with the first four months of the year.

    Toys, baby products, housewares, and team sports equipment were among the hardest hit. For example, 83% of toys sold in September saw an increase of at least 5%, Circana said.

    That number was up from 32% in June and will go even higher in coming months, according to Marshal Cohen, the firm’s chief industry advisor.

    Some executives have noticed retailers advertising tamer holiday discounts. Mall of America’s Renslow said deals didn’t show up at the mall as early as she anticipated. But she estimated store tenants had ramped up this week with discounts in the range of 30% to 50%. She thinks they’ll likely go deeper for the weekend.

    Stephen Lebovitz, CEO of CBL Properties, which operates 85 shopping properties, also noted unimpressive holiday discounting.

    “I think one of the benefits of the tariffs or the silver lining is that the inventory levels for the retailers are leaner, and they’ve tried to allow themselves to keep pricing power,” he said.

    Associated Press

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  • Trump wants to ‘permanently pause’ migration to U.S. from poorer countries

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump says he wants to “permanently pause migration” from poorer nations and is promising to seek to expel millions of immigrants from the United States by revoking their legal status. He is blaming immigrants for problems from crime to housing shortages as part of “social dysfunction” in America and demanding “REVERSE MIGRATION.”

    What You Need To Know

    • President Donald Trump says he wants to “permanently pause migration” from poorer nations and is promising to seek to expel millions of immigrants from the United States by revoking their legal status

    • He’s blaming immigrants for problems from crime to housing shortages as part of “social dysfunction” in America and demanding “REVERSE MIGRATION”

    • The comment came late Thursday in his most severe social media post against immigration since returning to the Oval Office in January

    • A day earlier, two National Guard members who were patrolling the streets of the nation’s capital under his orders were shot

    His most severe social media post against immigration since returning to the Oval Office in January came after the shooting Wednesday of two National Guard members who were patrolling the streets of the nation’s capital under his orders. One died and the other is in critical condition.

    A 29-year-old Afghan national who worked with the CIA during the Afghanistan War is facing charges. The suspect came to the U.S. as part of a program to resettle those who had helped American troops after U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

    Trump’s threat to stop immigration would be a serious blow to a nation that has long defined itself as welcoming immigrants.

    Since the shooting not far from the White House, administration officials have pledged to reexamine millions of legal immigrants, building on a 10-month campaign to reduce the immigrant population. In a lengthy social media post late Thursday, the Republican president asserted that millions of people born outside the U.S. and now living in the country bore a large share of the blame for America’s societal ills.

    “Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. “Other than that, HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL, except those that hate, steal, murder, and destroy everything that America stands for — You won’t be here for long!”

    Trump was elected on a promise to crack down on illegal migration, and raids and deportations undertaken by his administration have disrupted communities across the country. Construction sites and schools have been frequent targets. The prospect of more deportations could be economically dangerous as America’s foreign-born workers account for nearly 31 million jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    The president said on Truth Social that “most” foreign-born U.S. residents “are on welfare, from failed nations, or from prisons, mental institutions, gangs, or drug cartels” as he blamed them for crime across the country that is predominantly committed by U.S. citizens.

    There are roughly 50 million foreign-born residents in the U.S., and multiple studies have found that immigrants are generally less likely to commit crimes than are people who were born in the country.

    The perception that immigration breeds crime “continues to falter under the weight of the evidence,” according to a review of academic literature last year in the Annual Review of Criminology.

    “With few exceptions, studies conducted at both the aggregate and individual levels demonstrate that high concentrations of immigrants are not associated with increased levels of crime and delinquency across neighborhoods and cities in the United States,” it said.

    A study by economists initially released in 2023 found immigrants are 60% less likely to be incarcerated than people born in the U.S. Immigrants have been imprisoned at lower rates for 150 years, the study found, adding to past research undermining Trump’s claims.

    Trump seemed to have little interest in a policy debate in his post, which the White House, on its own rapid response social media account, called “one of the most important messages ever released by President Trump.”

    He pledged to “terminate” millions of admissions to the country made during the term of his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden. He also wants to end federal benefits and subsidies for those who are not U.S. citizens, denaturalize people “who undermine domestic tranquility” and deport foreign nationals deemed “non-compatible with Western Civilization.”

    Trump claimed immigrants from Somalia were “completely taking over the once great State of Minnesota” as he used a dated slur for intellectually disabled people to demean that state’s governor, Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee last year.

    On Wednesday night, Trump called for the reinvestigation of all Afghan refugees who had entered under the Biden administration. On Thursday, the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph Edlow, said the agency would take additional steps to screen people from 19 “high-risk” countries “to the maximum degree possible.”

    Edlow did not name the countries. But in June, the administration banned travel to the U.S. by citizens of 12 countries and restricted access from seven others, citing national security concerns.

    The shooting of the two National Guard members appeared to trigger Trump’s anger over immigrants, yet he did not specifically refer to the event in his social media post.

    The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, is accused of driving across the country to the District of Columbia and shooting two West Virginia National Guard members, Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24. Beckstrom died on Thursday; Wolfe is in critical condition.

    The suspect, currently in custody, was also shot and had wounds that were not believed to be life-threatening.

    Trump was asked by a reporter Thursday if he blamed the shootings on all Afghans who came to the U.S.

    “No, but we’ve had a lot of problems with Afghans,” the president said.

    Associated Press

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  • Suspect in shooting of National Guard members charged with first-degree murder

    WASHINGTON — Charges against the man accused of shooting two National Guard members have been upgraded to first-degree murder after one of the soldiers died, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia announced Friday.

    What You Need To Know

    • Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, has announced upgraded charges against a man accused of shooting two National Guard members

    • The charges are now first-degree murder after the death of Specialist Sarah Beckstrom

    • Beckstrom, 20, and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, were critically injured in Wednesday’s shooting

    • President Donald Trump announced Thursday evening that Beckstrom had died

    Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24 were hospitalized in critical condition after the Wednesday afternoon shooting near the White House. Trump announced Thursday evening that Beckstrom had died.

    U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office said the charges against Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who worked with the CIA during the Afghanistan War, now include one count of first-degree murder, three counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence and two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed.

    Beckstrom and Wolfe were deployed with the West Virginia National Guard as part of President Donald Trump’s crime-fighting mission that federalized the D.C. police force. The president has also deployed National Guard members to Democratic-run cities — from Chicago to Los Angeles — to assist with his mass deportation efforts.

    This combo from photos provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025, show National Guard members, from left, Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe and Specialist Sarah Beckstrom. (U.S. Attorney s Office via AP)

    Trump called the shooting a “terrorist attack” and criticized the Biden administration for enabling Afghans who worked with U.S. forces during the Afghanistan War to enter the U.S. The president has said he wants to “permanently pause migration” from poorer nations and expel millions of immigrants from the country.

    In an interview on Fox News, Pirro said there are “many charges to come” beyond the upgraded murder charge. She said her heart goes out to the family of Beckstrom, who volunteered to serve and “ended up being shot ambush-style on the cold streets of Washington, D.C., by an individual who will now be charged with murder in the first degree.”

    Pirro declined to discuss the suspect’s motive, saying officials have been working around the clock on that question. Investigators are continuing to execute warrants in the state of Washington, where Lakanwal lived, and other parts of the country, she said.

    Wolfe remains in “very critical condition,” West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey said Friday. He ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in recognition of Beckstrom’s death

    “These two West Virginia heroes were serving our country and protecting our nation’s capital when they were maliciously attacked,” Morrisey said. “Their courage and commitment to duty represent the very best of our state.”

    Lakanwal entered the U.S. in 2021

    Lakanwal entered the U.S. in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden administration program that evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the U.S. withdrawal from the country, officials said. Lakanwal applied for asylum during the Biden administration, but his asylum was approved under the Trump administration, #AfghanEvac said in a statement.

    Lakanwal has been living in Bellingham, Washington, about 80 miles north of Seattle, with his wife and five children, said his former landlord, Kristina Widman.

    Lakanwal had briefly worked as an independent contractor for Amazon Flex, which allows people to use their own cars to deliver packages, a company spokesperson shared with The Associated Press. Lakanwal delivered packages from the end of July to the end of August and hadn’t been active since.

    Mohammad Sherzad, a neighbor of Lakanwal’s in Bellingham, told the AP in a phone interview Friday that Lakanwal was polite, quiet and spoke very little English.

    Sherzad said he attended the same mosque as Lakanwal and had heard from other members that Lakanwal was struggling to find work. Some of his children attended the same school as Lakanwal’s children, Sherzad said.

    “He was so quiet and the kids were so polite, they were so playful. But we didn’t see anything bad about him. He was looking OK,” Sherzad said. Sherzad said Lakanwal “disappeared” about two weeks ago.

    In his address to the troops Thursday, Trump said that Lakanwal “went cuckoo. I mean, he went nuts.”

    People who knew Lakanwal say he served in a CIA-backed Afghan Army unit before immigrating to the United States. Lakanwal worked in one of the special Zero Units in the southern province of Kandahar, according to a resident of the eastern Afghan province of Khost who identified himself as Lakanwal’s cousin. He said Lakanwal was originally from the province and that his brother had worked in the unit as well.

    The cousin spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. He said Lakanwal had started out working as a security guard for the unit in 2012 and was later promoted to become a team leader and a GPS specialist. A former official from the unit, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said Lakanwal’s brother was a platoon leader.

    Zero Units were paramilitary units manned by Afghans but backed by the CIA that also served in front-line fighting with CIA paramilitary officers. Activists had attributed abuses to the units. They played a key role in the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from the country, providing security around Kabul International Airport as the Americans and withdrew from the country.

    Beckstrom ‘exemplified leadership, dedication, and professionalism’

    Beckstrom had enlisted in 2023, the same year she graduated high school, and served with distinction as a military police officer with the 863rd Military Police Company, the West Virginia National Guard said in a statement.

    “She exemplified leadership, dedication, and professionalism,” the statement said, adding that Beckstrom “volunteered to serve as part of Operation D.C. Safe and Beautiful, helping to ensure the safety and security of our nation’s capital.”

    The president called Beckstrom an “incredible person, outstanding in every single way.”

    On Wednesday night, Trump called for the reinvestigation of all Afghan refugees who had entered under the Biden administration initiative that brought roughly 76,000 people to the country, many of whom had worked as interpreters and translators.

    The program has faced intense scrutiny from Trump and others over allegations of gaps in the vetting process, even as advocates say there was extensive vetting and the program offered a lifeline to people at risk of Taliban reprisals.

    The director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Joseph Edlow said in a statement that the agency would take additional steps to screen people from 19 “high-risk” countries “to the maximum degree possible.”

    Edlow didn’t name the countries. But in June, the administration banned travel to the U.S. by citizens of 12 countries and restricted access from seven others, citing national security concerns.

    Associated Press

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  • Afghan national is suspect in National Guard ambush shooting

    WASHINGTON — An Afghan national who worked with the CIA in his native country and immigrated to the U.S. in 2021 drove from Washington state to shoot two West Virginia National Guard members deployed in Washington, D.C., just blocks from the White House, U.S. officials said Thursday.

    What You Need To Know

    • An Afghan national has been accused of shooting two West Virginia National Guard members just blocks from the White House in a brazen act of violence

    • The guard members had deployed to the nation’s capital and were shot Wednesday afternoon

    • The FBI director and Washington’s mayor say the guard members were hospitalized in critical condition

    • The suspect who is in custody also was shot and had wounds that were not believed to be life-threatening

    The suspect had worked in a special CIA-backed Afghan Army unit before emigrating from Afghanistan, according to two sources who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation, and #AfghanEvac, a group that helps resettle Afghans who assisted the U.S. during the two-decade war.

    Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, declined to provide a motive for Wednesday afternoon’s brazen act of violence, which comes as the presence of troops in the nation’s capital and other cities around the country has become a political flashpoint.

    Pirro identified the guard members at a news conference as Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24. The West Virginia National Guard said both had been deployed in D.C. since August. Both remained hospitalized in critical condition on Thursday.

    Pirro said that the suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, launched an “ambush-style” attack with a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver. The suspect currently faces charges of assault with intent to kill while armed and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. Pirro said that “it’s too soon to say” what the suspect’s motives were.

    The charges could be upgraded, Pirro said, adding: “We are praying that they survive and that the highest charge will not have to be murder in the first degree. But make no mistake, if they do not, that will certainly be the charge.”

    The rare shooting of National Guard members on American soil, on the eve of Thanksgiving, comes amid court fights and a broader public policy debate about the Trump administration’s use of the military to combat what officials cast as an out-of-control crime problem.

    The Trump administration quickly ordered 500 more National Guard members to Washington.

    The suspect who was in custody also was shot and had wounds that were not believed to be life-threatening, according to a law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.

    Suspect worked with CIA during Afghanistan War

    A resident of the eastern Afghan province of Khost who identified himself as Lakanwal’s cousin said Lakanwal was originally from the province and that he and his brother had worked in a special Afghan Army unit known as Zero Units in the southern province of Kandahar. A former official from the unit, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said Lakanwal was a team leader and his brother was a platoon leader.

    The cousin spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. He said he had last spoken to Lakanwal about six months ago. He said both brothers had moved to the United States in 2021. He said Lakanwal had started out working as a security guard for the unit in 2012, and was later promoted to become a team leader and a GPS specialist.

    Zero Units were paramilitary units manned by Afghans but backed by the CIA and also served in front-line fighting with CIA paramilitary officers. Activists had attributed abuses to the units. They played a key role in the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from the country, providing security around Kabul International Airport as the Americans and others fell back during the Taliban offensive that seized the country.

    Lakanwal, 29, entered the U.S. in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden administration program that evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the U.S. withdrawal from the country, officials said. Lakanwal applied for asylum during the Biden administration, but his asylum was approved under the Trump administration, #AfghanEvac said in a statement.

    The initiative brought roughly 76,000 people to the U.S., many of whom had worked alongside U.S. troops and diplomats as interpreters and translators. It has since faced intense scrutiny from Trump and his allies, congressional Republicans and some government watchdogs over allegations of gaps in the vetting process and the speed of admissions, even as advocates say there was extensive vetting and the program offered a lifeline to people at risk of Taliban reprisals.

    Lakanwal has been living in Bellingham, Washington, about 79 miles north of Seattle, with his wife and five children, said his former landlord, Kristina Widman.

    Prior to his 2021 arrival in the United States, the suspect worked with the U.S. government, including the CIA, “as a member of a partner force in Kandahar,” John Ratcliffe, the spy agency’s director, said in a statement. He did not specify what work Lakanwal did, but said the relationship “ended shortly following the chaotic evacuation” of U.S. servicemembers from Afghanistan.

    Kandahar in southern Afghanistan is in the Taliban heartland of the country. It saw fierce fighting between the Taliban and NATO forces after the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 following the al-Qaida attacks on Sept. 11. The CIA relied on Afghan staff for translation, administrative and front-line fighting with their own paramilitary officers in the war.

    Wednesday night, in a video message released on social media, President Donald Trump called for the reinvestigation of all Afghan refugees who entered under the Biden administration.

    “If they can’t love our country, we don’t want them,” he said, adding that the shooting was “a crime against our entire nation.”

    Attack being investigated as terrorist act

    FBI Director Kash Patel said the shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism. Agents have served a series of search warrants, with Patel calling it a “coast-to-coast investigation.”

    Pirro said: “We have been in constant contact with their families and have provided them with every resource needed during this difficult time.”

    Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser interpreted the shooting as a direct assault on America itself, rather than specifically on Trump’s policies.

    “Somebody drove across the country and came to Washington, D.C., to attack America,” Bowser said. “That person will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

    Editor’s Note: This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of the suspect’s name. It is Lakanwal, not Lakamal or Lakanmal. (Nov. 27, 2015)

    Associated Press

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  • Authorities: 2 National Guard members critically wounded in DC shooting

    Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this article reported that West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey said the two National Guard members had died. Morrisey later said his office had received “conflicting reports” about the soldiers’ conditions. FBI Director Kash Patel said they remain in critical condition. (Nov. 26, 2025)

    WASHINGTON — Two West Virginia National Guard members who deployed to the nation’s capital were critically injured in a shooting Wednesday just blocks from the White House, authorities said.

    What You Need To Know

    • Two West Virginia National Guard members who deployed to the nation’s capital were critically injured in a shooting Wednesday just blocks from the White House, authorities said
    • FBI Director Kash Patel told reporters after Morrisey’s social media posts that the National Guard troops remained in critical condition

    • West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey said in a an earlier social media post, “It is with great sorrow that we can confirm both members of the West Virginia National Guard who were shot earlier today in Washington, DC have passed away from their injuries”
    • But shortly afterward, Morrisey wrote, “We are now receiving conflicting reports about the condition of our two Guard members and will provide additional updates once we receive more complete information”
    • A suspect who is in custody also was shot and has injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening, an Associated Press source said

    FBI Director Kash Patel told reporters that the National Guard troops remain in critical condition.

    Earlier in the day, West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey said in a social media post, “It is with great sorrow that we can confirm both members of the West Virginia National Guard who were shot earlier today in Washington, DC have passed away from their injuries.”

    But shortly afterward, Morrisey wrote, “We are now receiving conflicting reports about the condition of our two Guard members and will provide additional updates once we receive more complete information.”

    A suspect who was in custody also was shot and had wounds that were not believed to be life-threatening, according to a law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.

    Two law enforcement officials and a person familiar with the matter said the suspect was believed to be an Afghan national who entered the U.S. in September 2021 and has been living in Washington state.

    The suspect has been identified by law enforcement officials as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, but authorities were still working to fully confirm his background, they said. The people could not discuss details of an ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

    Hours later, in a video message, President Donald Trump called for the reinvestigation of all Afghan refugees who entered under the Biden administration.

    One of the soldiers was shot in the head, according to a person familiar with the details of the incident who also spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.

    Officials said the soldiers were “targeted” by a lone shooter around 2:15 p.m. at 17th Street NW and I Street NW, roughly two blocks from the White House. There are no other suspects, Carroll said.

    “A suspect came around the corner, raised his arm with a firearm and discharged it at the National Guard members,” said Jeffery Carroll, an executive assistant chief with the Metropolitan Police Department. 

    Other National Guard members responded “within moments” to the scene and subdued the suspect, Carroll said. 

    A motive is not yet clear, Carroll added. Authorities are investigating.

    Trump, who is in Florida for Thanksgiving, warned in a statement on social media that the “animal” who shot the guardsmen “will pay a very steep price.”

    “God bless our Great National Guard, and all of our Military and Law Enforcement. These are truly Great People,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I, as President of the United States, and everyone associated with the Office of the Presidency, am with you!”

    The Trump administration quickly ordered 500 more National Guard members to Washington following the shooting. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Trump asked him to send the extra troops.

    In Fort Campbell, Kentucky, Vice President JD Vance urged “everybody who’s a person of faith” to pray for the two guardsmen. 

    “I think it’s a somber reminder that soldiers, whether they’re active duty, reserve or National Guard, our soldiers are the sword and the shield of the United States of America,” Vance said as he delivered a Thanksgiving message to troops.

    Social media video shared in the immediate aftermath showed first responders attempting CPR on one of the soldiers and treating the other on a glass-covered sidewalk. Other officers could be seen steps away restraining an individual on the ground.

    Stacy Walters said she was in a car near the scene when she heard two gunshots and saw people running. Almost instantly, law enforcement swarmed the area. “It’s such a beautiful day. Who would do this, and we’re getting ready for the holidays?”

    Emergency medical responders transported all three people to a hospital, according to Vito Maggiolo, the public information officer for DC Fire and Emergency Services.

    The presence of the National Guard in the nation’s capital has been a flashpoint issue for months, fueling a court fight and a broader public policy debate about the Trump administration’s use of the military to combat what officials cast as an out-of-control crime problem.

    Trump issued an emergency order in August that federalized the local police force and sent in National Guard troops from eight states and the District of Columbia. The order expired a month later, but the troops remained.

    The soldiers have patrolled neighborhoods, train stations and other locations, participated in highway checkpoints and also have been assigned to trash pickup and to guard sports events.

    Last week, a federal judge ordered an end to the deployment but also put her order on hold for 21 days to allow the Trump administration time to either remove the troops or appeal the decision.

    More than 300 West Virginia National Guard members were deployed to Washington in August. Last week, about 160 of them volunteered to extend their deployment until the end of the year while the others returned to West Virginia just over a week ago.

    Editor’s Note: This article was updated to correct Jeffery Carroll’s title. It previously referred to him as the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department. He is the executive assistant chief. (Nov. 26, 2025) 

    Spectrum News Staff, Associated Press

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  • National Parks to raise fees for international tourists to popular U.S. parks

    WASHINGTON — The National Park Service said Tuesday it is going to start charging the millions of international tourists who visit U.S. parks each year an extra $100 to enter some of the most popular sites, while leaving them out of fee-free days that will be reserved for American residents.

    What You Need To Know

    • The National Park Service says it is going to start charging international tourists an extra $100 to enter some of the most popular U.S. parks

    • They will be left out of fee-free days that will be reserved for American residents

    • The announcement Tuesday declaring “America-first entry fee policies” comes as national parks deal with the strain of a major staff reduction and severe budget cuts; they’re also recovering from significant lost revenue during the recent government shutdown

    • The change will take effect Jan. 1 and impact 11 national parks

    The announcement declaring “America-first entry fee policies” comes as national parks deal with the strain of a major staff reduction and severe budget cuts, along with recovering from damage during the recent government shutdown and significant lost revenue due to fees not being collected during that time.

    The fee change will impact 11 national parks, including the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and Yosemite, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior.

    As part of the changes, which are set to take effect Jan. 1, foreign tourists will also see their annual parks pass price jump to $250, while U.S. residents will continue to be charged $80, according to the department’s statement.

    Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a post on the social platform X that the changes make sure U.S. taxpayers who support the park service “continue to enjoy affordable access, while international visitors contribute their fair share to maintaining and improving our parks for future generations!”

    A White House post on X laying out the increased fees ended with the phrase, “AMERICANS FIRST.”

    The announcement follows a July executive order in which President Donald Trump directed the parks to increase entry fees for foreign tourists.

    “There’s a lot to unpack in this announcement, including many questions on its implementation – all which NPCA will raise with the Department of Interior,” Kati Schmidt, a spokesperson for National Parks Conservation Association, said in an email.

    The U.S. Travel Association estimated that in 2018, national parks and monuments saw more than 14 million international visitors. Yellowstone reported that in 2024, nearly 15% of its visitors were from outside the country, which was down from 30% in 2018.

    The money made off the new fees will help support the national parks, including with upgrading facilities for visitors and maintenance, according to the statement.

    The “resident-only patriotic fee-free days” next year include Veterans Day, which was one of the parks’ eight free days open to everyone in 2025. The Department of the Interior had announced those days by saying they wanted to ensure that “everyone, no matter their zip code, can access and enjoy the benefits of green spaces and our public lands.”

    Associated Press

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  • Ukraine and Western allies meet in Geneva to discuss U.S. peace plan

    GENEVA — Top European and Ukrainian envoys conferred in Geneva on Sunday ahead of talks with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio over President Donald Trump’s proposal to end Russia’s war on Ukraine.

    What You Need To Know

    • Top European and Ukrainian envoys have met in Geneva ahead of talks with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio about President Donald Trump’s proposal to end Russia’s war on Ukraine

    • Ukrainian presidential chief of staff Andrii Yermak says they met with national security advisers from the U.K., France, and Germany

    • The allies aim to revise the plan, which they see as favoring Moscow

    • Rubio is expected to join the talks with Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff. Ukraine and allies have ruled out territorial concessions, sparking alarm in Kyiv and European capitals

    The head of the Ukrainian delegation, presidential chief of staff Andrii Yermak, wrote on social media said that they held their first meeting with the national security advisers from the U.K., France and Germany. The allies have rallied around Kyiv in a push to revise the plan, which is seen as favoring Moscow.

    Rubio was expected to join the talks together with Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff.

    “The next meeting is with the U.S. delegation. We are in a very constructive mood,” Yermak said. “We continue working together to achieve a lasting and just peace for Ukraine.”

    Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was waiting for the outcome of the talks. “A positive result is needed for all of us,” he said.

    “Ukrainian and American teams, teams of our European partners —- are in close contact, and I very much hope there will be a result. Bloodshed must be stopped and it must be guaranteed that the war will not be reignited,” he wrote in a post on Telegram on Sunday.

    Ukraine and allies have ruled out territorial concessions

    The 28-point blueprint drawn up by the U.S. to end the nearly four-year war has sparked alarm in Kyiv and European capitals. Zelenskyy has said his country could face a stark choice between standing up for its sovereign rights and preserving the American support it needs.

    The plan acquiesces to many Russian demands that Zelenskyy has categorically rejected on dozens of occasions, including giving up large pieces of territory. The Ukrainian leader has vowed that his people”will always defend” their home.

    Speaking before Sunday’s talks, Alice Rufo, France’s minister delegate at the Defense Ministry, told broadcaster France Info that key points of discussion would include the plan’s restrictions on the Ukrainian army, which she described as “a limitation on its sovereignty.”

    “Ukraine must be able to defend itself,” she said. “Russia wants war and waged war many times in fact over the past years.”

    Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Saturday, Trump said the U.S. proposal was not his “final offer.”

    “I would like to get to peace. It should have happened a long time ago. The Ukraine war with Russia should have never happened,” Trump said. “One way or the other, we have to get it ended.”

    Trump didn’t explain what he meant by the plan not being his final offer and the White House didn’t respond to a request for clarification.

    Rubio’s reported comments cause confusion

    Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Sunday that Warsaw was ready to work on the plan with the leaders of Europe, Canada and Japan, but also said that it “would be good to know for sure who is the author of the plan and where was it created.”

    Some U.S. lawmakers said Saturday that Rubio had described the plan as a Russian “wish list” rather than a Washington-led proposal.

    The bipartisan group of senators told a news conference that they had spoken to Rubio about the peace plan after he reached out to some of them while on his way to Geneva. Independent Maine Sen. Angus King said Rubio told them the plan “was not the administration’s plan” but a “wish list of the Russians.”

    A State Department spokesperson denied their account, calling it “blatantly false.”

    Rubio himself then took the extraordinary step of suggesting online that the senators were mistaken, even though they said he was their source for the information. The secretary of state doubled down on the assertion that Washington was responsible for a proposal that had surprised many from the beginning for being so favorable to Moscow.

    Possibility for additional talks

    Meanwhile. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that he would hold a phone call with the Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday. He said he would talk to the Russian leader about reviving a previous deal from July 2022 that allowed Ukraine to safely ship exports of grain via the Black Sea.

    The agreement stayed in place until the following year, when Putin refused to extend it, saying that a parallel agreement promising to remove obstacles to Russian exports of food and fertilizer hadn’t been honored.

    “We had a grain corridor endeavor to open the path to peace,” Erdogan said, “Unfortunately we were only partially able to succeed. Tomorrow I will be asking Putin to revisit the endeavor.”

    Erdogan’s new diplomatic push comes just days after he met with Zelenskyy in Ankara.

    Associated Press

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  • Thanksgiving Travel Forecast

    According to AAA, more Americans will travel for Thanksgiving this year than ever before. Whether you’re flying or driving, the weather could impact your trip. Here’s what to expect across the country this week.

    What You Need To Know

    • An early week system will bring rain from the Plains to East Coast

    • Thanksgiving looks mostly quiet across U.S.

    • Much colder air after Thanksgiving


    Here are the weather highlights for Thanksgiving travelers this week. 


    A more detailed forecast for each day can be found below.

    Monday

    A system will be on the move and bring widespread rain from the Southern Plains to Great Lakes. Scattered storms could create travel issues for places like Dallas, St. Louis and Memphis. 


    Tuesday

    By Tuesday, our system will continue its path to the east with showers and storms expected in the Southeast and up the East Coast. Areas farther north will see mostly showers, so nothing too concerning other than a wet commute up and down I-95.

    Wednesday

    By Wednesday, the system will be mostly gone with only a few areas of lingering rain chances in the East and lake-effect snow in the Great Lakes. Attention turns to the Pacific Northwest where the next system will be moving on shore. Rain and mountain snow will be likely in this region.


    Thanksgiving Day

    If you are traveling short and far on Thanksgiving Day, most of the country thankfully looks quiet and uneventful. The Pacific NW system will be pushing inland bringing snow across the northern Mountain West. Additionally, the lake-effect machine will continue in the Great Lakes.


    Black Friday

    Black Friday shoppers may need to deal with some winter weather from the Northern Plains to Great Lakes. Temperatures will be far colder behind the early week front setting this one up.

    Saturday

    Forecast info.


    Sunday

    Forecast info.


    Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.

    Spectrum News Weather Staff

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  • Officials set to meet in Geneva as Ukraine’s allies push back on U.S. peace plan

    KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s Western allies rallied around the war-torn country on Saturday as they pushed to revise a U.S. peace plan seen as favoring Moscow despite its all-out invasion of its neighbor. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed Ukrainians “will always defend” their home.

    What You Need To Know

    • Ukraine’s Western allies have rallied around the country as they push to revise a U.S. peace plan seen as favoring Moscow

    • President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed Ukrainians “will always defend” their home

    • A Ukrainian delegation, joined by France, Germany, and the U.K., is preparing for talks with Washington in Switzerland on Sunday

    • The U.S. plan suggests Ukraine hand over territory to Russia, which Kyiv has ruled out.

    A Ukrainian delegation, bolstered by representatives from France, Germany and the U.K., is preparing for direct talks with Washington in Switzerland on Sunday.

    The 28-point blueprint drawn up by the U.S. to end the nearly four-year war sparked alarm in Kyiv and European capitals, with Zelenskyy saying his country could face a stark choice between standing up for its sovereign rights and preserving the American support it needs.

    Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Saturday, President Donald Trump said the U.S. proposal was not his “final offer.”

    “I would like to get to peace. It should have happened a long time ago. The Ukraine war with Russia should have never happened,” Trump said. “One way or the other, we have to get it ended.”

    The U.S. plan foresees Ukraine handing over territory to Russia, something Kyiv has repeatedly ruled out, while reducing the size of its army and blocking its coveted path to NATO membership. It contains many of Moscow’s long-standing demands, while offering limited security guarantees to Kyiv.

    On Saturday, leaders of the European Union, Canada and Japan issued a joint statement welcoming U.S. peace efforts, but pushed back against key tenets of the plan.

    “We are ready to engage in order to ensure that a future peace is sustainable. We are clear on the principle that borders must not be changed by force. We are also concerned by the proposed limitations on Ukraine’s armed forces, which would leave Ukraine vulnerable to future attack,” the statement said. It added that any decisions regarding NATO and the EU would require the consent of member states.

    The leaders of France, Germany and the U.K. met during the day on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, to discuss ways to support Kyiv, according to a person with knowledge of the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

    German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told reporters at the summit that “wars cannot be ended by major powers over the heads of the countries affected,” and insisted Kyiv needed robust guarantees.

    French President Emmanuel Macron said the U.S. peace plan for Ukraine “requires broader consultation” because “it stipulates many things involving Europeans,” like Russia’s frozen assets and Ukraine’s accession to the European Union. Europe’s security issues must also be taken into account, Macron said, adding: “We want a robust and lasting peace.”

    Merz and Macron said that envoys from Germany, France, the U.K. and the EU will join Ukrainian negotiators as they meet a U.S. delegation in Geneva on Sunday to discuss Washington’s proposal. Zelenskyy confirmed the meeting on Saturday, after Trump set a deadline for Kyiv to respond to the plan by next Thursday.

    Among those expected to represent Washington are Trump’s Army secretary, Dan Driscoll, and Marco Rubio, who serves as both national security adviser and secretary of state, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to publicly discuss the American participants before the meeting and spoke on condition of anonymity. Driscoll presented the U.S. plan to Ukrainian officials this week.

    European leaders have long warned against rushing a peace deal, seeing their own future at stake in Ukraine’s fight to beat back Russia, and insist on being consulted in peace efforts.

    Rescue workers clear the rubble of a residential building which was heavily damaged by a Russian strike on Ternopil, Ukraine, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Vlad Kravchuk)

    ‘Quite a way from a good outcome’

    Kyiv’s key allies in Europe reiterated their reservations about the Kremlin’s readiness to end the war.

    “Time and again, Russia pretends to be serious about peace, but their actions never live up to their words,” U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters ahead of the G20 summit, days after a Russian strike on western Ukraine killed over two dozen civilians.

    European leaders have long accused Russia of stalling diplomatic efforts in the hope of overwhelming Ukraine’s much smaller forces on the battlefield. Kyiv has repeatedly accepted U.S. ceasefire proposals this year, while Moscow has held out for more favorable terms.

    “An end to the war can only be achieved with the unconditional consent of Ukraine,” Merz said during G20 summit briefing, adding that he had told Trump in a long phone call on Friday that Europe needed to be a part of any peace process, and that Russia had previously failed to keep its promises to respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

    “From my perspective, there is currently a chance to end this war,” Merz added. “But we are still quite a way from a good outcome for everyone.”

    EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that a key principle for Kyiv’s European allies was “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.”

    Zelenskyy defiant as Ukraine remembers Soviet-era famine

    Zelenskyy, in a video address published Saturday, said Ukrainian representatives at the Geneva talks “know how to protect Ukrainian national interests and exactly what is needed to prevent Russia from carrying out” another invasion. “Real peace is always based on security and justice,” he added.

    Nine officials are to take part in the talks, including Zelenskyy’s chief of staff Andrii Yermak and top envoy Rustem Umerov, according to a statement posted on the Ukrainian presidency’s website, which also stated that the negotiators are empowered to deal directly with Russia.

    On Saturday, Ukraine commemorated the “great famine” that Soviet leader Josef Stalin imposed in the early 1930s, which led to millions of deaths.

    “We all know how and why millions of our people died, starved to death, and millions were never born. And we are once again defending ourselves against Russia, which has not changed and is once again bringing death,” Zelenskyy said in a post on Telegram marking Holodomor Memorial Day.

    “We defended, defend, and will always defend Ukraine. Because only here is our home. And in our home, Russia will definitely not be the master,” he added.

    Drones hit Russian refinery

    A nighttime Ukrainian drone strike hit a fuel refinery in southern Russia, killing two people and injuring two more, a local official said. The attack on the Samara region in the latest of Kyiv’s long-range strikes against Russian oil infrastructure, which it says fuels the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine.

    Regional Gov. Vyacheslav Fedorishchev did not immediately name the site that was targeted or detail any damage. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.

    Russian air defenses overnight shot down 69 Ukrainian drones over Russia and occupied Crimea, including 15 flying over the province of Samara, according to the Defense Ministry in Moscow. The nighttime strikes forced at least five Russian airports to temporarily halt or restrict operations, and cut off power to some 3,000 households in the southern city of Rylsk, according to Russian officials.

    Associated Press

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  • Israel launches strikes in Gaza ceasefire’s latest test

    DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israel’s military on Saturday launched airstrikes against Hamas militants in Gaza in the latest test of the ceasefire that began on Oct. 10. Health officials in Gaza reported at least 24 people killed and another 54 wounded, including children.

    What You Need To Know

    • Israel’s military says it has launched new airstrikes against Hamas militants in Gaza, testing the ceasefire that began on October 10

    • Health officials in Gaza report at least 24 people killed and at least 54 wounded, including children

    • Strikes have occurred during the ceasefire after reported attacks against Israeli forces

    • Israel says it launched the latest attacks after an “armed terrorist” crossed into an Israeli-held area and shot at troops in southern Gaza

    The Israeli strikes came as international momentum was building on Gaza, with the U.N. Security Council on Monday approving the U.S. blueprint to secure and govern the territory. It authorizes an international stabilization force to provide security, approves a transitional authority to be overseen by President Donald Trump and envisions a possible future path to an independent Palestinian state.

    Israel has previously carried out similar waves of strikes after reported attacks on its forces. At least 33 Palestinians were killed over a 12-hour period Wednesday and Thursday, mostly women and children, health officials said.

    One of Saturday’s strikes targeted a vehicle, killing 11 and wounding over 20 Palestinians in Gaza City’s Rimal neighborhood, said Rami Mhanna, managing director of Shifa Hospital, where the casualties were taken. The majority of the wounded were children, director Mohamed Abu Selmiya said. Associated Press video showed children and others inspecting the blackened vehicle, whose top was blown off.

    Another strike targeting a house near Al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza killed at least three people and wounded 11 others, according to the hospital. It said a strike on a house in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza killed at least seven people including a child and wounded 16 others.

    And a strike targeting a house in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza killed three people, including a woman, according to Al-Aqsa Hospital.

    “Suddenly, I heard a powerful explosion. I looked outside and saw smoke covering the entire area. I couldn’t see a thing. I covered my ears and started shouting to the others in the tent to run,” said Khalil Abu Hatab in Deir al-Balah. “When I looked again, I realized the upper floor of my neighbor’s house was gone.”

    He added: “It’s a fragile ceasefire. This is not a life we can live. There’s no safe place.”

    Israel’s military in a statement said it launched attacks against Hamas after an “armed terrorist” crossed into an Israeli-held area and shot at troops in southern Gaza. It said no soldiers were hurt. The military said the person had used a road on which humanitarian aid enters the territory, and called it an “extreme violation” of the ceasefire.

    In separate statements, the military said soldiers killed five “terrorists” in the Rafah area, and two others after firing at four people who crossed into Israeli-held areas in northern Gaza and advanced toward soldiers in two separate incidents.

    The war began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed some 1,200 people and took over 250 hostage. Almost all of the hostages or their remains have been returned in ceasefires or other deals.

    Gaza’s Health Ministry says 69,733 Palestinians have been killed and 170,863 injured in Israel’s retaliatory offensive. The toll has gone up during the ceasefire both from new Israeli strikes and from the recovery and identification of bodies of people killed earlier in the war.

    The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures but has said women and children make up a majority of those killed. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by independent experts.

    Associated Press

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  • Zelenskyy says Ukraine faces choice of losing dignity or risking loss of partner

    Ukraine faces a hard choice at a pivotal point in its almost four-year fight to defeat Russia’s full-scale invasion, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Ukrainians in a national address Friday, pledging to hold constructive discussions with Washington on a U.S. peace proposal in what he called “truly one of the most difficult moments in our history.”

    What You Need To Know

    • Ukraine has reached a critical point in its fight against Russia’s invasion, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a national address on Friday

    • He pledged to discuss a U.S. peace proposal that includes territorial concessions to Russia, which Zelenskyy has opposed

    • He emphasized the need for fair treatment and urged Ukrainians to unite amid a corruption scandal

    • President Donald Trump in a radio interview on Friday said that he wants an answer from Zelenskyy on his 28-point plan by Thursday, but says an extension is possible to finalize terms

    The U.S. plan contains many of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s longstanding demands while offering limited security guarantees to Ukraine. It foresees Ukraine handing over territory to Russia, something Zelenskyy has repeatedly ruled out, reduces the size of its army and blocks its coveted path to NATO membership.

    President Donald Trump in a radio interview on Friday said that he wants an answer from Zelenskyy on his 28-point plan by Thursday, but says an extension is possible to finalize terms.

    “I’ve had a lot of deadlines, but if things are working well you tend to extend the deadlines,” Trump said in an interview on the Brian Kilmeade Show on Fox News Radio. “But Thursday is it — we think an appropriate time.”

    While Zelenskyy has offered to negotiate with the U.S. and Russia, he signaled Ukraine may not get everything it wants and has to confront the possibility of losing American support if it makes a stand.

    “Currently, the pressure on Ukraine is one of the hardest,” Zelenskyy said in a recorded speech. “Ukraine may now face a very difficult choice, either losing its dignity or the risk of losing a key partner.”

    “We do not make loud statements. We will work calmly with America and all partners,” he said, but insisted on fair treatment.

    “Ukraine’s national interest must be taken into account,” he said.

    He urged Ukrainians to “stop fighting” each other, in a possible reference to a major corruption scandal that has brought fierce criticism of the government, and said peace talks next week “will be very difficult.”

    German Chancellor Friedrich Merz briefs the media in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

    Existential threat to Europe

    European countries see their own futures at stake in Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invasion and have insisted on being consulted in peace efforts.

    “Russia’s war against Ukraine is an existential threat to Europe. We all want this war to end. But how it ends matters,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in Brussels. “Russia has no legal right whatsoever to any concessions from the country it invaded. Ultimately, the terms of any agreement are for Ukraine to decide.”

    Trump in his radio interview pushed back against the notion that the settlement, which offers plentiful concessions to Russia, would embolden Putin to carry out further malign action on his European neighbors.

    “He’s not thinking of more war,” Trump said of Putin. “He’s thinking punishment. Say what you want. I mean, this was supposed to be a one-day war that has been four years now.”

    A European government official said that the U.S. plans weren’t officially presented to Ukraine’s European backers.

    Many of the proposals are “quite concerning,” the European government official said, adding that a bad deal for Ukraine would also be a threat to broader European security.

    The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to discuss the plan publicly.

    European Council President Antonio Costa in Johannesburg said of the U.S. proposals: “The European Union has not been communicated (about) any plans in (an) official manner.”

    In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, shakes hands with U.S. Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

    In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, shakes hands with U.S. Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

    Ukraine examines the proposals

    Ukrainian officials said they were weighing the U.S. proposals, and Zelenskyy said he expected to talk to Trump about it in coming days.

    The Kremlin offered a reserved reaction, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying that Moscow has not officially received the U.S. proposal.

    “No, we haven’t received anything officially. We’re seeing some innovations. But officially, we haven’t received anything. And there hasn’t been a substantive discussion of these points,” Peskov told reporters without elaborating further.

    He claimed U.S.-Russian diplomatic contacts are “ongoing,” but “nothing substantive is currently being discussed.”

    A U.S. team began drawing up the plan soon after U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff held talks with Rustem Umerov, a top adviser to Zelenskyy, according to a senior Trump administration official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

    The official added that Umerov agreed to most of the plan, after making several modifications, and then presented it to Zelenskyy.

    However, Umerov on Friday denied that version of events. He said he only organized meetings and prepared the talks.

    He said technical talks between the U.S. and Ukraine were continuing in Kyiv.

    “We are thoughtfully processing the partners’ proposals within the framework of Ukraine’s unchanging principles — sovereignty, people’s security, and a just peace,” he said.

     

    A rescuer works at a market destroyed by a Russian airstrike on Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)

    A rescuer works at a market destroyed by a Russian airstrike on Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)

    Russian glide bomb hits Ukraine homes

    Meanwhile, a Russian glide bomb slammed into a residential district in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing five people, officials said Friday, as Moscow’s forces continued to hammer civilian areas of Ukraine. The overnight attack also injured 10 people, including a teenage girl.

    The powerful glide bomb damaged some high-rise apartment blocks for the third time since the war began and also wrecked a local market, according to the head of the regional military administration, Ivan Fedorov.

    A Russian drone assault on the southern city of Odesa also struck a residential area during the night, injuring five people, including a 16-year-old boy.

    The U.S. plan includes Ukrainian territorial concessions and limited security guarantees

    Associated Press

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  • Some air traffic controllers left out of shutdown bonuses

    Only 776 air traffic controllers and technicians who had perfect attendance during the government shutdown will receive $10,000 bonuses while nearly 20,000 other workers will be left out, the Federal Aviation Administration announced Thursday.

    What You Need To Know

    • The Federal Aviation Administration says only 776 of the nearly 20,000 air traffic controllers and technicians who had to work without pay during the shutdown will receive bonuses

    • The announcement Thursday means thousands without perfect attendance during the shutdown won’t receive the $10,000 bonuses that President Donald Trump suggested.

    • Many controllers called out of work as they dealt with the financial pressure of not getting a paycheck

    • Some got side jobs, but others simply couldn’t afford the child care or gas they needed to work

    • Their absences forced delays at airports across the country and led to the government to cut some of their flights at 40 busy airports

    A number of controllers started calling out of work as the shutdown dragged on longer than a month and they dealt with the financial pressure of working without a paycheck. Some of them got side jobs, but others simply couldn’t afford the child care or gas they needed to work. Their absences forced delays at airports across the country and led the government to order airlines to cut some of their flights at 40 busy airports.

    President Donald Trump suggested the bonuses for those who have stayed on the job in a social media post, but he also suggested that controllers who missed work should have their pay docked. FAA officials haven’t publicly announced plans to penalize controllers.

    Thousands of FAA technicians also had to work during the shutdown to maintain the equipment that air traffic controllers rely on. At least 6,600 technicians were expected to work throughout the shutdown but more than 3,000 others were subject to be recalled to work.

    Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the bonuses acknowledged the dedication of these few workers who never missed a shift during the 43-day shutdown. In a post on X he described it as “Santa’s coming to town a little early.”

    “These patriotic men and women never missed a beat and kept the flying public safe throughout the shutdown,” Duffy said in his formal announcement.

    The National Air Traffic Controllers Association union said only 311 of its more than 10,000 members will receive the bonuses. The union said these workers with perfect attendance deserve recognition but so do the others.

    “We are concerned that thousands of air traffic controllers who consistently reported for duty during the shutdown, ensuring the safe transport of passengers and cargo across the nation, while working without pay and uncertain of when they would receive compensation, were excluded from this recognition. More than 311 of these dedicated professionals were instrumental in keeping America moving,” the union said in a statement.

    The Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union said the thousands of technicians it represents worked hard to keep the aging computer and radar systems controllers use operating during the shutdown, and they should all be recognized — not just the 423 getting bonuses.

    “It took many hands to ensure that not one delay during the historic 43-day shutdown was attributed to equipment or system failures,” the union said in a statement.

    Democratic Rep. Rick Larsen questioned why all the controllers and others who worked to keep flights moving during during the shutdown won’t get bonuses.

    “For the Trump administration to not give a bonus to every single one of these hardworking women and men is wrong; they all deserve a bonus and back pay,” said Larsen, who is the ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure committee.

    The controllers union said they hope to work with Duffy to find a way to recognize all the other air traffic controllers who worked during the shutdown.

    Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that any TSA officers who went “above and beyond” while working without pay would get $10,000 bonuses, but she never specified how many will qualify beyond the handful of checks she handed out to officers at a news conference.

    The FAA was already critically short on air traffic controllers before the shutdown. Duffy had been working to boost controller hiring and streamline the years of training required in the hope of eliminating the shortage over the next several years.

    Duffy has said that some students and controllers quit and more experienced controllers retired during the shutdown. Many controllers already work 10-hour shifts six days a week because the FAA is so short on staffing.

    As more controllers missed work, the FAA ordered airlines to cut flights to relieve pressure on the system. Duffy said repeatedly that FAA safety experts became worried as the absences grew because of reports from pilots concerned about controllers’ responses and a number of runway incursions.

    Since the shutdown ended, controller staffing has improved significantly and airlines were allowed to resume normal operations this week..

    Associated Press

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  • Starbucks union says 30 more U.S. stores are joining week-old strike

    Starbucks’ union is expanding its week-old strike against the company.

    What You Need To Know

    • Starbucks Workers United said baristas from 30 more stores in 25 U.S. cities planned to join the strike Thursday

    • Stores included ones in Cleveland; Memphis, Tennessee; Springfield, Missouri, and Albany, New York

    • The strike began last Thursday on Starbucks’ Red Cup Day, which is typically one of its busiest days of the year

    • Starbucks said only 49 of the 65 stores that the union vowed to strike last week experienced any disruption, and 29 of those have reopened

    Starbucks Workers United said baristas from 30 more stores in 25 U.S. cities planned to join the strike Thursday, including stores in Cleveland; Memphis, Tennessee; Springfield, Missouri and Albany, New York. That brings the total number of stores with striking workers to 95 in 65 cities, the union said.

    The strike began last Thursday on Starbucks’ Red Cup Day, which is typically one of its busiest days of the year. Since 2018, Starbucks has given out free, reusable cups on that day to customers who buy a holiday drink.

    Starbucks said the strike has caused minimal disruption to its operations, and noted that this year’s Red Cup Day was the strongest in the company’s history in terms of sales and store traffic. Placer.ai, a location data company, said Starbucks’ foot traffic jumped 44.5% last Thursday compared to this year’s daily average.

    Starbucks said only 49 of the 65 stores that the union vowed to strike last week experienced any disruption, and 29 of those have reopened.

    Around 550 of Starbucks’ 10,000 company-owned U.S. stores are unionized. Starbucks also has 7,000 licensed locations in places like airports.

    “As we’ve said, 99% of our 17,000 U.S. locations remain open and welcoming customers, including many the union publicly stated would strike but never closed or have since reopened,” Starbucks spokeswoman Jaci Anderson said.

    Striking workers are protesting a lack of progress in labor negotiations with the company. They say they are seeking better pay, improved staffing in stores and a resolution of hundreds of unfair labor practice charges filed against the company.

    There is no date set for the strike to end, and more stores are prepared to join if Starbucks doesn’t reach a contract agreement with the union, organizers said.

    Starbucks said it is prepared to talk when the union is ready to return to the bargaining table. Negotiations between the two sides ended in April.

    Spectrum News Staff, Associated Press

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  • U.S. employers added 119,000 jobs in September, government says

    WASHINGTON — U.S. employers added a surprisingly solid 119,000 jobs in September, the government said, issuing a key economic report that had been delayed for seven weeks by the federal government shutdown.

    What You Need To Know

    • U.S. employers added a suprisingly solid 119,000 jobs in September, the government said, issuing a key economic report that had been delayed seven weeks by the federal government shutdown

    • The Labor Department also said Thursday that the unemployment rate rose to 4.4% from 4.3% in August

    • The increase in payrolls was more than double the 50,000 economists had forecast

    • But Labor Department revisions showed that jobs fell by 4,000 in August instead of increasing by 22,000 as originally reported

    The unemployment rate rose to 4.4% from 4.3% in August, the Labor Department said Thursday.

    The increase in payrolls was more than double the 50,000 economists had forecast. But Labor Department revisions showed that the economy lost 4,000 jobs in August instead of gaining 22,000 as originally reported.

    During the 43-day U.S. government shutdown, investors, businesses, policymakers and the Federal Reserve were groping in the dark for clues about the health of the American job market because federal workers had been furloughed and couldn’t collect the data.

    The report comes at a time of considerable uncertainty about the economy. The job market has been strained by the lingering effects of high interest rates and uncertainty around President Donald Trump’s erratic campaign to slap taxes on imports from almost every country on earth and on specific products — from copper to foreign films.. But economic growth at midyear was resilient.

    The Federal Reserve policymakers are divided over whether to cut interest rates for the third time this year when they meet next month.

    Economists expected to see a continuation of what was happening in the spring and summer: weak hiring but few layoffs, an awkward pairing that means Americans who have work mostly enjoy job security – but those who don’t often struggle to find employment.

    Labor Department revisions in September showed that the economy created 911,000 fewer jobs than originally reported in the year that ended in March. That meant that employers added an average of just 71,000 new jobs a month over that period, not the 147,000 first reported.

    Since March, job creation has slowed even more — to an average 53,000 a month. During the 2021-2023 hiring boom that followed COVID-19 lockdowns, by contrast, the economy was creating 400,000 jobs a month.

    Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration is expected to reduce the number of people looking for work, which means that the economy can create fewer jobs without sending the unemployment rate higher.

    With September numbers out, businesses, investors, policymakers and the Fed will have to wait awhile to get another good look at the numbers behind the American labor market.

    The Labor Department said Wednesday that it won’t won’t release a full jobs report for October because it couldn’t calculate the unemployment rate during the government shutdown.

    Instead, it will release some of the October jobs data — including the number of jobs that employers created last month — along with the full November jobs report on Dec. 16, a couple of weeks late.

    That puts an even more intense focus on September jobs numbers released Thursday. They are the last full measurement of hiring and unemployment that Fed policymakers will see before they meet Dec. 9-10 to decide whether to cut their benchmark interest rate for the third time this year.

    Associated Press

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  • U.S. trade deficit dropped 24% in August as Trump’s tariffs reduced imports

    WASHINGTON — The U.S. trade deficit fell by nearly 24% in August as President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs pushed imports lower.

    What You Need To Know

    • The U.S. trade deficit fell by nearly 24% in August as President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs pushed imports lower

    • In a report delayed for more than seven weeks by the federal government shutdown, the Commerce Department said Wednesday that the the gap between what the United States buys from other countries and what it sells them fell to $59.6 billion in August from $78.2 billion in July

    • Imports fell 5.1% to $340.4 billion in August from July when U.S. companies were stocking up on foreign products before Trump finalized taxes on products from almost every country on earth that went into effect Aug. 7

    In a report delayed for more than seven weeks by the federal government shutdown, the Commerce Department said Wednesday that the the gap between what the United States buys from other countries and what it sells them fell to $59.6 billion in August, from $78.2 billion in July.

    Imports of goods and services dropped 5% to $340.4 billion in August from July when U.S. companies were stocking up on foreign products before Trump finalized taxes on products from almost every country on earth. Those levies went into effect Aug. 7.

    U.S. exports blipped up 0.1% in August to $280.8 billion.

    Trump, charging that America’s persistent trade deficits mean that other countries have taken advantage of the U.S., has overturned decades of U.S. policy in favor of free trade, slapping double-digit tariffs on imports from most countries and targeting specific products, including steel, copper and autos, with their own levies.

    Still, the U.S. trade deficit is up so far in 2025, coming in at $713.6 billion through August, up 25% from $571.1 billion in January-August 2024.

    A drop in imports and the trade deficit is good for economic growth because foreign products are subtracted from the nation’s gross domestic product. GDP is the output of a nation’s goods and services.

    “August’s smaller trade deficit will be a tailwind for third quarter real GDP, since it means that more U.S. expenditures were directed toward domestically-produced goods and services rather than foreign ones,” Bill Adams, chief economist at Comerica Bank, wrote in a commentary. “While this release is quite dated because of the government shutdown, it contributes to evidence that the economy was growing briskly in the third quarter.”

    Tariffs, which Trump says will protect U.S. industries and lure factories to America, are paid by importers who typically attempt to pass along the higher cost to their customers. Economists say Trump’s tariffs are one reason U.S. inflation remains stubbornly above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.

    After voters’ dissatisfaction with the high cost of living led to big Democratic gains in the Nov. 4 elections, the president relented and dropped tariffs last week on beef, coffee, tea, fruit juice, cocoa, spices, bananas, oranges, tomatoes and certain fertilizers, saying they “may, in some cases” have contributed to higher prices.

    His tariffs are also facing a legal challenge that has gone to the Supreme Court. In a Nov. 5, hearing, the justices sounded skeptical that the president had the authority to bypass Congress and slap unlimited tariffs on most imports simply by declaring a national emergency.

    Associated Press

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  • Cloudflare outage disrupts ChatGPT, X, other internet services

    Cloudflare outage impacts thousands, disrupts transit systems, ChatGPT, X and more

    By MICHELLE CHAPMAN AP Business Writer

    A widely used Internet infrastructure company said that it has largely resolved an issue that led to outages impacting users of everything from ChatGPT and the online game, “League of Legends,” to the New Jersey Transit system early Tuesday.

    What You Need To Know

    • A widely used Internet infrastructure company said that it has resolved an issue that led to outages impacting users of everything from ChatGPT and the online game, “League of Legends,” to the New Jersey Transit system early Tuesday

    • Around 10 a.m. ET, Cloudflare said it was “continuing to monitor for errors to ensure all services are back to normal”

    • Others platforms that experienced outages Tuesday included the social media site X, Shopify, Dropbox, Coinbase and the Moody’s credit ratings service

    At 10:40 a.m. EST, Cloudflare said its engineers were still mitigating some lingering issues after they posted a fix for the outage, but that they were continuing to monitor for any further problems.

    Others platforms that experienced outages Tuesday included the social media site X, Shopify, Dropbox, Coinbase, and the Moody’s credit ratings service. Moody’s website displayed an Error Code 500 and instructed individuals to visit Cloudflare’s website for more information.

    New Jersey Transit said parts of its digital services including njtransit.com, may be temporarily unavailable or slow to load. And New York City Emergency Management said there are reports city services being impacted by the outage. The city is continuing to monitor for disruptions.

    Cloudflare, based in The San Francisco, works behind the scenes to make the internet faster and safer, but when problems flare up “it results in massive digital gridlock” for internet users, cybersecurity expert Mike Chapple said.

    While most people think there’s a direct line between their digital device and a website, what actually happens is that companies like Cloudflare sits in the middle of those connections, he said.

    Cloudflare is a “content delivery network” that takes content from 20% of the world’s websites and mirrors them on thousands of servers worldwide, said Chapple, an information technology professor at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business.

    “When you access a website protected by Cloudflare, your computer doesn’t connect directly to that site,” Chapple said. “Instead, it connects to the nearest Cloudflare server, which might be very close to your home. That protects the website from a flood of traffic, and it provides you with a faster response. It’s a win-win for everyone, until it fails, and 20% of the internet goes down at the same time.”

    Last month Microsoft had to deploy a fix to address an outage of their Azure cloud portal that left users unable to access Office 365, Minecraft and other services. The tech company wrote on its Azure status page that a configuration change to its Azure infrastructure caused the outage.

    And Amazon experienced a massive outage of its cloud computing service in October. The company resolved the issue, but the outage took down a broad range of online services, including social media, gaming, food delivery, streaming and financial platforms.

    Associated Press

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  • Trump plans to meet with NYC Mayor-elect Mamdani

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Donald Trump indicated Sunday that he plans to meet with New York City’s mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and said they’ll “work something out,” in what could be a detente for the Republican president and Democratic political star who have cast each other as political foils.

    What You Need To Know

    • President Donald Trump is indicating that he plans to meet with New York City’s mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and says they’ll “work something out

    • It could be a detente for the Republican president and Democratic political star, who have cast each other as political foils

    • Trump has for months slammed Mamdani, falsely labeling him as a “communist” and predicting the ruin of his hometown if the democratic socialist was elected

    • Mamdani rose from an obscure state lawmaker to become a social media star and symbol of the resistance against Trump during his mayoral campaign

    Trump has for months slammed Mamdani, falsely labeling him as a “communist” and predicting the ruin of his hometown, New York, if the democratic socialist was elected. He also threatened to deport Mamdani, who was born in Uganda and became a naturalized American citizen, and to pull federal money from the city.

    Mamdani rose from an obscure state lawmaker to become a social media star and symbol of the resistance against Trump during his mayoral campaign. He campaigned on an array of progressive policies and a message that was stark in its opposition to the aggressive, anti-immigrant agenda Trump has rolled out in his second White House term.

    The 34-year-old appealed to a broad cross-section of New Yorkers and defeated one of its political heavyweights, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, by nearly 9 percentage points.

    In his election night victory speech, Mamdani said he wanted New York to show the country how to defeat the president. But the day after, while speaking about his plans for “Trump-proofing” New York once he takes office in January, the incoming mayor also said he was willing to work with anyone, including the president, if it can help New Yorkers.

    Representatives for Mamdani did not have an immediate comment Sunday night on the president’s remarks, but a spokesperson pointed to the mayor-elect’s remarks last week when he said he planned to reach out to the White House “because this is a relationship that will be critical to the success of the city.”

    Trump expressed a similar sentiment on Sunday.

    “The mayor of New York, I will say, would like to meet with us. We’ll work something out,” Trump told reporters as he prepared to fly back to Washington after spending the weekend in Florida.

    White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt clarified shortly after that Trump was referring to Mamdani and said no date had been set for such a meeting.

    “We want to see everything work out well for New York,” Trump said.

    Trump’s comments came as he also said the U.S. may hold discussions soon with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, after a military buildup near the South American country: “I’ll talk to anybody,” Trump said.

    Associated Press

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  • Judge scolds DOJ for ‘profound investigative missteps’ in Comey case

    WASHINGTON — The Justice Department engaged in a “disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps” in the process of securing an indictment against former FBI Director James Comey, a federal judge ruled Monday in directing prosecutors to provide defense lawyers with all grand jury materials from the case.

    What You Need To Know

    • A federal judge says the Justice Department engaged in a “disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps” when it secured an indictment against former FBI Director James Comey

    • Those problems, according to Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick, include “fundamental misstatements of the law” by a prosecutor to a grand jury that indicted Comey in September, the use of potentially privileged communications in the investigation and unexplained irregularities in the transcript of the grand jury proceedings

    • Fitzpatrick ordered the Justice Department to produce to Comey’s lawyers all grand jury materials in the case

    Those problems, wrote Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick, include “fundamental misstatements of the law” by a prosecutor to the grand jury that indicted Comey in September, the use of potentially privileged communications during the investigation and unexplained irregularities in the transcript of the grand jury proceedings.

    “The Court recognizes that the relief sought by the defense is rarely granted,” Fitzpatrick wrote “However, the record points to a disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps, missteps that led an FBI agent and a prosecutor to potentially undermine the integrity of the grand jury proceeding.”

    The 24-page opinion is the most blistering assessment yet by a judge of the Justice Department’s actions leading up to the Comey indictment. It underscores how procedural missteps and prosecutorial inexperience have combined to imperil the prosecution pushed by President Donald Trump for reasons separate and apart from the substance of the disputed allegations against Comey.

    The Comey case and a separate prosecution of New York Attorney General Letitia James have hastened concerns that the Justice Department is being weaponized in pursuit of Trump’s political opponents. Both defendants have filed multiple motions to dismiss the cases against them before trial, arguing that the prosecutions are improperly vindictive and that the prosecutor who filed the charges, Lindsey Halligan, was illegally appointed.

    A different judge is set to decide by Thanksgiving on the challenges by Comey and James to Halligan’s appointment.

    Though grand jury proceedings are presumptively secret, Comey’s lawyers had sought records from the process out of concern that irregularities may have tainted the case. The sole prosecutor who defense lawyers say presented the case to the grand jury was Halligan, a former White House aide with no prior prosecutorial experience who was appointed just days before the indictment to the job of interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

    In his order Monday, Fitzpatrick said that after reviewing the grand jury transcript himself, he had come away deeply concerned about the integrity of the case.

    “Here, the procedural and substantive irregularities that occurred before the grand jury, and the manner in which evidence presented to the grand jury was collected and used, may rise to the level of government misconduct resulting in prejudice to Mr. Comey,” Fitzpatrick said.

    The Justice Department responded to the ruling by asking that it be put on hold to give prosecutors time to file objections. The government said it believed Fitzpatrick “may have misinterpreted” some facts in issuing his ruling.

    Fitzpatrick listed, among nearly a dozen irregularities in his ruling, two different comments that a prosecutor — presumably, Halligan — made to the grand jury that he said represented “fundamental misstatements of the law.”

    The actual statements are blacked out, but Fitzpatrick said the prosecutor seems to have ignored the fact that a grand jury may not draw a negative inference about a person who exercises his right not to testify in front of it. He said she also appeared to suggest to grand jurors that they did not need to rely only on what was presented to them and could instead before assured that there was additional evidence that would be presented at trial.

    The judge also drew attention to the jumbled manner in which the indictment was obtained and indicated that a transcript and recording of the proceedings do not provide a full account of what occurred. Halligan initially sought a three-count indictment of Comey, but after the grand jury rejected one of the three proposed counts and found probable cause to indict on the other two counts, a second two-count indictment was prepared and signed.

    But Fitzpatrick said it was not clear to him in reviewing the record that the indictment that Halligan presented in court at the conclusion of the process had been presented to the grand jury for their deliberation.

    “Either way, this unusual series of events, still not fully explained by the prosecutor’s declaration, calls into question the presumption of regularity generally associated with grand jury proceedings, and provides another genuine issue the defense may raise to challenge the manner in which the government obtained the indictment,” he wrote.

    The two-count indictment charges Comey with lying to Congress in September 2020 when he suggested under questioning that he had not authorized FBI leaks of information to the news media. His lawyers say the question he was responding to was vague and confusing but the answer he gave to the Senate Judiciary Committee was true.

    The line of questioning from Sen. Ted Cruz appeared to focus on whether Comey had authorized his former deputy director, Andrew McCabe, to speak with the news media. But since the indictment, prosecutors have made clear that their indictment centers on allegations that Comey permitted a separate person — a close friend and Columbia University law professor, Dan Richman — to serve as an anonymous source in interactions with reporters.

    The FBI executed search warrants in 2019 and 2020 to access messages between Richman and Comey as part of a media leaks investigation that did not result in charges. But Fitzpatrick said he was concerned that communications between the men that might have been protected by attorney-client privilege — Richman was at one point functioning as a lawyer for Comey — were exposed to the grand jury without Comey having had an opportunity to object.

    Associated Press

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