General Politics

Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime suggested relations between Washington, D.C., and Moscow are on "the brink" of collapse this week.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov made the announcement during a Monday press conference. Ryabkov reiterated Putin's stance that there would be no peace in Ukraine unless the country dropped its ambitions to join NATO and ceded Russian-occupied regions.

"We simply imperatively need to get ... the new U.S. administration to understand and acknowledge that without resolving the problems that are the...

The Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections has finalized and implemented a protocol allowing sentences for death row inmates to be carried out using the nitrogen hypoxia method, Gov. Jeff Landry announced Monday.

The new protocol will allow for death sentences to be carried out again after a 15-year pause and builds on a constitutionally approved method already in place in Alabama.

A summary of Alabama’s protocol allows for the condemned person to communicate with a spiritual adviser. It also allows for "designated victim...

Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Bill Cassidy, R-La., both announced that they would vote to confirm former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard to serve as Director of National Intelligence.

In a party-line vote on Monday, Murkowski, Cassidy, and the other Republican senators who voted opted to move forward with the confirmation process by supporting cloture, while the members of the Senate Democratic caucus who voted opposed cloture.

"I will vote to confirm Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence," Murkowski declared in a post on X.

TRUMP NOMINEE...

Google on Monday changed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America in Google Maps.

The change comes after the Trump administration updated its "official government sources."

"We've received a few questions about naming within Google Maps," the company said in a previous X post. "We have a longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources."

Google, based in Mountain View, California, has said the name Gulf of Mexico will remain displayed for users in Mexico. Users in other countries will see...

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday ending the "procurement and forced use of paper straws."

The order directs the federal government to stop purchasing paper straws and ensure they are no longer offered in federal buildings, according to a White House fact sheet.

It also requires the development of a "National Strategy" to end the use of paper straws within 45 days and "alleviate the forced use of paper straws nationwide."

'BACK TO PLASTIC!': TRUMP VOWS EXECUTIVE ORDER ENDING 'RIDICULOUS' PUSH FOR PAPER STRAWS

The White...

President Touadéra says it could "unite people" but many have lost money on similar investments.

Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday said that the U.S. will safeguard American artificial intelligence and chips and block efforts to "weaponize" the critical technologies.

"Some authoritarian regimes have stolen and used AI to strengthen their military intelligence and surveillance capabilities, capture foreign data and create propaganda to undermine other nations' national security," Vance said in an address at France's AI Action Summit in Paris.

"I want to be clear, this administration will block such efforts, full stop," Vance added. "We will...

An off-duty corrections officer in Florida was shot and killed in a “targeted attack,” according to police.

It comes as Jordan's King Abdullah is set to visit the White House Tuesday.

Tom Krause, an Elon Musk ally hired to overhaul the Treasury Department, has a lengthy record of hardline reforms in the private sector, according to some ex-employees.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) provided millions of dollars in funding to extremist groups tied to designated terrorist organizations and their allies, according to a report published by Middle East Forum, a U.S. think tank.

"The Middle East Forum’s multi-year study of USAID and State Department spending has uncovered $164 million of approved grants to radical organizations, with at least $122 million going to groups aligned with designated terrorists and their supporters," the conservative think tank wrote in its...

President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Department of Labor, former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Ore., has left Republicans in the Senate with some questions over her pro-union stances, but at the same time, she has generated some interest from pro-labor Democrats.

In particular, the moderate Republican will need to explain to Republicans her support for the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act), a controversial piece of legislation that was proposed a few years ago.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters that...

The BBC's Lucy Williamson assesses the mood ahead of King Abdullah's talks with Donald Trump.

The ministry worker had left behind the files and his laptop during a five-hour night out.

Doctors have reported a rare case where the use of a menstrual cup was linked to kidney problems.