MEXICO CITY — Cuba has begun direct talks with the United States in an effort to solve “bilateral differences” between the two countries, Cuban President Miguel Díaz Canel said Friday.

The comments, broadcast nationwide in Cuba, are the first confirmation of bilateral talks between the Trump administration and Cuban government. The U.S....Read more

BALTIMORE — The Maryland Senate budget committee announced Friday plans to cut $126 million from the Maryland Developmental Disabilities Administration, $24 million less of a slash than what Gov. Wes Moore proposed in January.

The 11-member group added that it aims to move $23 million to the agency from the general fund. The state Senate’s ...Read more

NEW YORK — Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville is attacking Zohran Mamdani with an anti-Muslim tweet that accused the New York City mayor of being “the enemy inside the gates.”

The conservative Alabama lawmaker retweeted a post including a photo of Mamdani hosting a Ramadan iftar dinner at City Hall alongside the Sept. 11 terror attack on ...Read more

Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel said Friday his government is engaged in talks with the United States and that the two countries are moving away from confrontation, confirming earlier reporting by the Miami Herald about the high-level contacts.

In footage of a government meeting aired on state television early morning, he said Cuban officials ...Read more

LANSING, Mich. — The alcohol content in canned, ready-to-drink mixed spirits would increase significantly under legislation approved this week by the Michigan House.

The lower chamber voted 82-22 on Thursday in favor of a bill that would increase the allowed alcohol content in canned mixed spirit beverages distributed by beer and wine ...Read more

WEST BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called on Michiganians to "lower the rhetoric" of antisemitism in the state and the country less than 24 hours after a man drove his truck into a West Bloomfield Township synagogue and opened fire.

"Yesterday’s attack was antisemitism. It was hate. Plain and simple," Whitmer said ...Read more

The U.S. said it had stepped up strikes on Iran to unprecedented levels as the war that’s engulfed the Middle East hit the two-week mark and continued to upend energy flows and global markets.

The campaign is “on plan to defeat, destroy, disable all of their meaningful military capabilities at a pace the world has never seen before,” ...Read more

Americans have a reputation for being bad at world geography, and the current U.S. administration is no exception, particularly when it comes to correctly identifying what is – and is not – part of the United States of America.

President Donald Trump’s April 2025 executive order “unleashing America’s offshore critical ...Read more

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Iran with further attacks after the Islamic Republic’s new leader signaled defiance, suggesting there will be no letup in a war that’s upending energy flows and global markets.

“We have unparalleled firepower, unlimited ammunition, and plenty of time,” Trump said on Truth Social. “Watch what ...Read more

DETROIT — The suspected gunman who attacked a West Bloomfield Township synagogue on Thursday has been identified as a Dearborn Heights man.

Ayman Ghazali, 41, a restaurant worker, allegedly crashed his truck into the Temple Israel synagogue just after noon on Thursday and opened fire with a rifle. Authorities said he was killed by security ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s decision to draw crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve received little criticism on Capitol Hill Thursday, although Democrats expressed reservations that it would not do much to insulate Americans from global price volatility resulting from the war in Iran.

Senate Energy and Natural Resources ...Read more

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Iran with further attacks after the Islamic Republic’s new leader signaled defiance, suggesting there will be no letup in a war that’s upending energy flows and global markets.

“We have unparalleled firepower, unlimited ammunition, and plenty of time,” Trump said on Truth Social. “Watch what ...Read more

Israel said it’s preparing to expand an incursion into southern Lebanon to fight Iran-backed Hezbollah militants, an escalation that threatens a humanitarian crisis and regional repercussions amid the ongoing Iran war.

Lebanese authorities have called for a ceasefire and offered to directly negotiate with Israel, but have acknowledged their ...Read more

Afghanistan said fresh Pakistani air strikes killed at least four people and hit a fuel depot site of a domestic airline, as fighting between the two sides intensified.

The Taliban government and police said Friday that the targets included a fuel storage site of private airline Kam Air near Kandahar Airport in the south of the country and a ...Read more

MIAMI — Sandra Madjdi remembers fleeing Tehran as a child on the last Pan Am flight out of Iran before the 1979 hostage crisis.

Her family, once living a comfortable life with nannies and chauffeurs, left in fear after her grandfather — a diplomat and congressman with ties to the Shah — was poisoned. The family moved between Turkey, ...Read more

The first bill Missouri lawmakers sent to Gov. Mike Kehoe’s desk would affirm the right of pregnant women to get divorced.

Judges aren’t currently prohibited from issuing divorces to a pregnant couple, but the statute governing dissolutions of marriage includes whether the wife is pregnant in the divorce petition. The inclusion has led ...Read more