Notre Dame rises again … in Lego
Arnaud Gaudillat, a history teacher in France, recalled bursting into tears as he watched television coverage of flames tearing through the Cathedral of Notre Dame in 2019. “We couldn’t do anything but just watch it burn,” he said.
Democrats push Biden to make Trump’s felonies a top 2024 issue
WASHINGTON — Now that former President Donald Trump is a convicted criminal, the Democratic Party finds itself wrestling with a choice that will help define this year’s presidential race: Should it try to push his felonies to the center of the election? The route Democrats take may determine not only President Joe Biden’s fortunes but also, they say, the future of American democracy. Widely believing a vengeful Trump poses a grave threat to the nation, Democrats at all levels of the party are simultaneously thrilled to see him found guilty and fearful that he has a supernatural ability to survive even this political peril.
Trump has few ways to overturn his conviction as a New York felon
NEW YORK — “This is long from over,” Donald Trump, the former president and current felon, declared Thursday, moments after a Manhattan jury convicted him on 34 counts of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal.
Why Mexico may elect a female president before the United States
MEXICO CITY — Mexico is poised to elect its first female president today, a historic leap in a country long known for its machismo — and a big moment for all of North America.
Idaho man in ‘Doomsday’ killings is sentenced to death
An Idaho judge Saturday sentenced a man to death, two days after he was found guilty of first-degree murder and other charges in the 2019 killings of his first wife and two of his current wife’s children, capping a case that drew scrutiny because of the couple’s “doomsday” religious beliefs.
Google rolls back AI search feature after flubs and flaws
SAN FRANCISCO — When Google CEO Sundar Pichai introduced a generative artificial intelligence feature for the company’s search engine last month, he and his colleagues demonstrated the new capability with six text-based queries that the public could try out.
After Biden’s push for truce, Netanyahu calls Israel’s war plans unchanged
JERUSALEM — A day after President Joe Biden called on Israel and Hamas to reach a truce, declaring that it was “time for this war to end,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday reiterated that Israel would not agree to a permanent cease-fire in the Gaza Strip as long as Hamas still retains governing and military power.
Texas Supreme Court rejects challenge on exceptions to abortion ban
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday unanimously rejected a challenge to the state’s strict abortion ban, ruling against a group of 22 women and abortion providers who sought to expand the exceptions for medical emergencies under the law.
Russian missiles hit Ukraine’s energy system, again
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian forces struck several of Ukraine’s energy facilities with drones and missiles early Saturday, in a major air assault that targeted cities across the country, including some near the borders with NATO members.
Elon Musk lobbies on X for his $46.5 billion Tesla pay package
Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, offered a personal tour of the electric carmaker’s factory in Austin, Texas, to select shareholders this week.
FDA’s review of MDMA cites health risks and study flaws
The Food and Drug Administration on Friday raised concerns about the health effects of MDMA as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, citing flaws in a company’s studies that could pose major obstacles to approval of a treatment anticipated to help people struggling with the condition.
Bird flu infects third US farmworker, but officials say risk to public is low
A third farmworker in the United States has been found to be infected with bird flu, heightening concerns about an outbreak among dairy cattle first identified in March.
Biden endorses Israeli proposal for a cease-fire in Gaza
REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. — Declaring Hamas no longer capable of carrying out a major terrorist attack on Israel, President Joe Biden said Friday that it was time for a permanent cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and endorsed a new plan he said Israel had offered to win the release of hostages and end the fighting.
Alzheimer’s takes a financial toll long before diagnosis, study finds
Long before people develop dementia, they often begin falling behind on mortgage payments, credit card bills and other financial obligations, new research shows.
Trump’s conviction fuses the GOP even closer to him
A day after Donald Trump’s conviction, it quickly became clear that Republicans across the country would not run away from his newfound status as a felon.
A ‘laundry list’ or a ‘feel’: Biden and Trump’s clashing appeals to black voters
As President Joe Biden took the stage in Philadelphia on Wednesday to kick off his Black voter outreach program, he methodically ticked through more than a dozen accomplishments, executive orders, appointments, investments and economic statistics.
There’s a program to cancel private student debt. Most don’t know about it.
More than 1 million borrowers who were defrauded by for-profit schools have had billions of dollars in federal student loans eliminated through a government aid program. But people with private loans have generally been excluded from any relief — until recently.
Hong Kong convicts democracy activists in largest national security trial
HONG KONG — Fourteen democracy activists in Hong Kong were convicted Thursday on national security charges, adding to the ranks of dozens of others — once the vanguard of the city’s opposition — who may now become a generation of political prisoners.
Trump convicted on all counts to become America’s first felon president
NEW YORK — Donald Trump was convicted Thursday of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal that threatened to derail his 2016 presidential campaign, capping an extraordinary trial that tested the resilience of the U.S. justice system and transformed the former commander in chief into a felon.
Its future in doubt, the freewheeling ‘Inside the NBA’ is on edge instead
MINNEAPOLIS — The future of “Inside the NBA” was already a sensitive topic when Charles Barkley stepped into an elevator in Minneapolis after Game 2 of the Western Conference finals late Friday. Barkley’s on-air candor as an analyst is a key reason that the studio show has become so influential and beloved among basketball fans and around the league.
