South Korean President Lee Jae Myung will meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping during his inaugural state visit to the world’s No. 2 economy, just as tensions simmer between Beijing and Tokyo.

Lee will become the first sitting South Korean president to travel to China since 2019 when he arrives in the capital on Sunday for a three-day stop. He...Read more

Gov. Gavin Newsom will soon embark on his final year in office, as he termed out in 2026 and cannot run again for governor. He said he will then announce his decision whether to run for president, as expected. But before then, he must rectify an $18 billion budget deficit and faces the possibility of voters passing a tax on billionaires, which ...Read more

A federal judge has found evidence that high-level Department of Justice officials may have played a role in the government’s push for criminal charges against Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant who became a symbol of President Donald Trump’s hard-line immigration policies.

The government has previously said Robert McGuire, ...Read more

Winds exceeding 110 mph that tore across the top of Mount Hamilton early Christmas morning blasted a massive steel protective door off the iconic white dome at Lick Observatory.

Now, with back-to-back rainstorms bearing down on the Bay Area, officials this week are racing to seal the gaping hole and protect the historic Great Lick Refractor ...Read more

Guinea’s military leader Mamadi Doumbouya won a widely expected victory in Dec. 28 elections from which several opposition figures were barred from running.

Doumbouya, who seized power in a 2021 coup, secured 86.7% of the vote, according to preliminary results from the General Directorate of Elections.

Standing under the banner of the ...Read more

Over the weekend, a viral video produced by a right-wing influencer leveled explosive allegations about Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program — charges that once again put the state in the national spotlight, raised new concerns about fraud and prompted a quick reaction from state regulators.

As the state reviews providers flagged in ...Read more

Those wanting to add some protein to their favorite dish this New Year’s Day should double-check their labels after food safety officials warned that products from an Idaho meat distributor could cause food poisoning.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced Saturday that routine testing of beef from...Read more

Whether weighing accusations of fraud and corruption, tackling the rancorous divide between the Trump administration and Gov. Gavin Newsom, or exposing problems that plague the legal system, federal courts in California were busy in 2025, providing a window into the issues and personalities that shape our region and our country.

Here is our ...Read more

Elected Democrats in New Hampshire are slamming reports of plans by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to open a new detainee processing facility at a vacant warehouse in Merrimack, with room to house an estimated 500 to 1,500 people as the Trump Administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration continues.

The Washington Post reported ...Read more

The United Arab Emirates said it will withdraw forces from Yemen following a flare-up in tensions with Gulf ally Saudi Arabia over military operations in the conflict-hit country.

“In light of recent developments and their potential implications for the safety and effectiveness of counterterrorism missions,” the UAE will pull out remaining ...Read more

President Donald Trump’s unusual decision to reveal a covert U.S. strike against what he said was a drug-trafficking facility in Venezuela marked a new escalation in his pressure campaign against the regime of Nicolás Maduro, raising new questions about how far Trump is willing to go.

Trump, who’s repeatedly threatened to expand his ...Read more

Discovery Channel reality star Chad Ollinger told police he killed his cellmate because he just “knew” the man was a pedophile, despite lacking any evidence to support the claim, authorities said.

Ollinger, 41, was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation at his first court appearance Tuesday. He’s accused of killing 42-year-old ...Read more

Newly elected Maryland House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk announced a revamped leadership team and committee structure for the House of Delegates, elevating several women and lawmakers of color, reshuffling key committee chairs and creating two new standing committees as lawmakers prepare to return to Annapolis on Jan. 14 for the 2026 ...Read more

Idaho is set to receive over $900 million in federal money over the next five years to improve the state’s provision of healthcare in rural areas, Gov. Brad Little’s office announced. The funds were allocated as part of the Rural Health Transformation Program under House Resolution 1, also called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

“For many ...Read more

A newly created division charged with recommending job cuts in North Carolina agencies released a report Tuesday showing that the state has accumulated over $1 billion in lapsed salary dollars for roughly 8,800 long-term employee vacancies.

The Division of Accountability, Value and Efficiency (DAVE), published its findings in an interactive ...Read more

Heightened federal immigration enforcement activity in California coincided with a workforce downturn that surpassed the Great Recession, a new UC Merced analysis has found.

The UC Merced report used U.S. Census data to track changes in the number of Californians reporting private sector employment across several months in 2025.

Between the ...Read more

Former Letcher County sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines, who shot and killed a Kentucky judge inside the judge’s chambers last year, is asking for a special judge to be removed from the case.

Stines, 44, argues special judge Christopher Cohron, of Bowling Green, Ky., may be partial because he sat next to District Judge Kevin Mullins at a ...Read more