Author: Grace Thompson

Diplomacy aimed at securing a cease-fire in Lebanon showed tentative signs of progress on Friday as Israel pounded its northern neighbor including heavy airstrikes on the stronghold of militant group Hezbollah near Beirut. Pressing its offensive against the Iran-backed group, Israel hit Beirut’s Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs on Thursday, carrying out intense attacks there for a third consecutive day. Plumes of smoke rose over the suburbs known as Dahiyeh, where the Israeli military said its fighter jets targeted weapons warehouses, military headquarters and other Hezbollah sites. In addition, Israeli strikes in the eastern city of Baalbek killed at least 15 members of the country's civil defense, according to the region's governor. In a more hopeful sign, the U.S. a...

LIMA, Peru — Chinese President Xi Jinping launched a weeklong diplomatic blitz of South America on Thursday by inaugurating a massive deep-water port in Peru , a $1.3 billion investment by Beijing as it seeks to expand trade and influence on the continent. With China’s demand for agricultural goods and metals from Latin America growing, Xi will participate in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima and then head to the Group of 20 summit in Rio de Janeiro next week, where he will also make a state visit to Brazil. Xi and Peruvian President Dina Boluarte participated on Thursday by video link in the opening of the Chancay port, about 48 miles north of Lima on the Pacific Ocean , and signed a deal to widen an existing free t...

The sale of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ media empire is a major blow to one of the defining independent media brands that ushered in a new era of fringe thinking, mainstreaming conspiracy theories once banished to the edges of the internet. And while Jones’ Infowars brand is now owned by the satirical news site The Onion , media researchers and conservative media experts say its legacy will live on thanks to the far-right media ecosystem it helped inspire, which continues to flourish. “Right-wing media is robust and only becoming more robust,” said A.J. Bauer, an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Alabama who focuses on conservative news. And with some emboldened after Donald Trump’s 2024 election win, “this can be a race to the bottom in terms of misin...

Democrats and good government groups are skeptical of how much influence President-elect Donald Trump’s outside advisory commission chaired by billionaire Elon Musk and onetime presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will have over government spending and the state of the federal workforce. Since Trump announced his plans for a “Department of Government Efficiency,” or “DOGE” — a play on a cryptocurrency Musk has promoted — both Musk and Ramaswamy have talked up their big plans to slash government regulations and spending while downsizing the federal workforce. Despite its name, it won’t actually be a “department,” like the Department of Education or the Department of Homeland Security. Creating a government agency would require approval from Congress. The effort won’t even be ...

The man accused of killing Georgia nursing student Laken Riley has waived his right to a jury, paving the way for his bench trial, which is expected to begin Friday morning. Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, of Athens, Georgia, was indicted on charges including three counts of felony murder and counts of malice murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape and "peeping Tom." In a bench trial, the judge will ultimately decide whether the defendant is guilty or innocent, without the help of a jury. The trial is expected to start at 9 a.m. Friday. Prosecutors are seeking life in prison without the possibility of parole. Riley, 22, was found dead with "visible injuries" on Feb. 22 in a forested area behind Lake Herrick on the University of Georg...

Republicans ended up flipping, maintaining control of, or expanding their majority in nearly all of the state legislative chambers across the country where partisan control was up for grabs on Election Day. With the final votes largely tallied in key state House and Senate races across the country, the results provide the GOP with yet another slate of success — on top of the party winning full control of Washington — that will likely help to determine the future of several hot-button policy issues. According to projections from The Associated Press, Republicans flipped control of the Michigan state House, padded their narrow majorities in the New Hampshire state House and Senate, and maintained their majority in the Pennsylvania state Senate. In Arizona, Repub...

Coverage on this live blog has ended. What to watch in Washington today President-elect Donald Trump continues to build out his Cabinet ahead of his inauguration, announcing today that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. , an anti-vaccine activist, is his pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. The pick has been met with mixed reactions from senators. Trump also this evening announced he'd tapped Todd Blanche to be deputy attorney general, former Rep. Doug Collins to be secretary of veterans affairs and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to be secretary of the interior . A gathering of the Conservative Political Action Conference kicked off at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida today. Trump himself ...

At least 10 elderly people were killed when fire ripped through a retirement home in the northern Spanish town of Villafranca del Ebro early on Friday, authorities said. The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters. All the victims were elderly people living in the “Jardines de Villafranca” residence, he added. The fire started at around 5 a.m. (11 p.m. ET) and it took around two hours for firefighters to put it out, a spokesperson for the regional government said. Two people were in a critical condition and several were being treated, mainly for smoke inhalation, mayor Volga Ramirez, said. Ramirez said her husband helped evacuate the elderly. Firefighters — who came from around Zaragoza,...

After a campaign featuring promises to slash landmark climate legislation, and a first-term record that included pulling the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement , President-elect Donald Trump ’s win casts a shadow of doubt over the world of global climate policy. The Paris Agreement, which Trump vowed to withdraw from once again in his second term as president, is a landmark pledge by 195 countries and the European Union to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. More from CNBC Japan GDP expands 0.3% in third quarter, snapping two quarters of year-on-year declines Powell says the Fed doesn’t need to be ‘in a hurry’ to reduce interest rates Hyundai names North American exec Jose Munoz as its first foreign CEO Now that Republicans have ...

SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras — Tropical Storm Sara made landfall in northern Honduras late Thursday and threatened to dump torrential rains across parts of Central America and southern Mexico. Sara hit land about 105 miles west-northwest of the Cabo Gracias a Dios on the Honduras-Nicaragua border, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. That is near Brus Laguna, a village of about 13,000 inhabitants. There are few other population centers nearby. Mexican authorities warned it could cause “intense rains” over the resort-studded Yucatan Peninsula. Sara had winds of about 45 mph and was moving west at about 10 mph. It was expected to remain roughly on that path before heading out to sea again and threatening the coast of Belize. The center said that along the way ...