Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth Monday defended the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, calling the widespread and ongoing attacks a necessary response to threats of nuclear and terror attacks even as the conflict showed signs of spreading across the Middle East.

“We didn’t start this war but under President Trump we will end it,” Hegseth said....Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Sunlight streamed into a fifth-grade classroom at Wellstone Elementary in St. Paul in late February, but no kids were there — just 26 empty chairs and a teacher on her laptop in the corner of the room.

Dawn Windham delivered a virtual lesson to students afraid to go to school due to the recent ICE surge, and while happy to ...Read more

A British base in Cyprus struck by a drone. A French facility in Abu Dhabi targeted. A base hosting Italian troops in Kuwait hit. Saudi oil facilities attacked as ships queue outside the Strait of Hormuz. Missiles over Bahrain and Qatar. Gulf airspace shut down.

In just over 48 hours since the U.S. and Israel began striking Iran, the conflict ...Read more

U.S. President Donald Trump said the bombing campaign against Iran could last for weeks and called on the nation’s leaders to capitulate, while the Islamic Republic’s security chief ruled out negotiations.

The conflict continued to reverberate across the Middle East on Monday, with blasts heard across Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the ...Read more

Russia and Ukraine still expect planned U.S.-led peace talks to take place this week, even as President Donald Trump’s administration continues a military campaign against Iran.

With airspace in the United Arab Emirates currently closed amid the risk of missile and drone attacks, the talks are unlikely to take place in Abu Dhabi, according to...Read more

CHICAGO — A reputed high-ranking member of the Sinaloa drug cartel has been indicted on federal charges in Chicago alleging he ran security and helped the sons of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman-Loera smuggle and distribute large quantities of narcotics into the U.S.

Jesus Omar Ibarra Felix, also known by the alias “El Chuta,” was charged ...Read more

NEW YORK — It cost taxpayers more than $117 million in 2025 to resolve lawsuits accusing NYPD ​officers of misconduct, the fourth straight year payouts surpassed $100 million, according to a new report.

The Legal Aid Society, which analyzed city data and released its findings Monday, said the ramifications of police misconduct will continue...Read more

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — At around 2 a.m., 7-year-old twin brothers arrived at Mission Hospital in Asheville. Both had a fever, a cough, a rash, pink eye, and cold symptoms.

The boys sat in one waiting room and then another. Two hours and 20 minutes passed before the two were isolated, according to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services records ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The soft hum of Chicano soul music bled onto the darkened street as a steady stream of people made their way into a record store in San Fernando, passing a sign in the window: "'ICE, BIGOTS, MAGA' are not welcome."

Vendor booths replaced vinyl racks, some selling miniature lowrider replicas and Chicano-inspired artwork. ...Read more

For the bulk of her tenure with the Minnesota Department of Human Services, Shireen Gandhi found comfort in being a less visible part of its engine, working under the hood to keep the massive state agency running.

She did not expect to become top boss within eight years of joining the department, which is now at the center of national ...Read more

There is a statuette of a cheetah in Antonio Romanucci’s law office in a skyscraper overlooking the Chicago River. It sits next to a magazine cover of Romanucci, Chicago Lawyer’s “2021 Person of the Year.”

The cheetah is sleek and black. And, as the 65-year-old attorney explains, it represents a story he often recites to juries in civil...Read more

Three rounds of nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran failed to persuade President Donald Trump that a solution to the two country’s nuclear impasse lay in diplomacy, rather than military action. A perceived lack of progress in the last of those indirect negotiations on Feb 26, 2026, was enough to prompt Trump to green-light a massive ...Read more

United Arab Emirates closed its embassy in Tehran and withdrew all its diplomatic mission in response to Iranian missile strikes targeting the Gulf country, condemning the attacks.

“These hostile attacks against civilian sites, including residential areas, airports, ports, and service facilities, endangered innocent civilians in a serious ...Read more

Thousands gathered outside the Westwood Federal Building on Sunday afternoon celebrating the fall of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and dreaming of a "free Iran" as war continued to escalate between Iran and a united U.S. and Israel.

Residents of Los Angeles' massive Persian diaspora continued to revel in the news of Khamenei's ...Read more

As U.S. politicians and protesters roundly condemned the nation’s major attack on Iran, New Yorkers of Iranian-descent expressed a mix of joy and trepidation Sunday after Ayatollah Khamenei was killed in the American and Israeli forces’ military strikes.

Milad Hour, 40, said he traveled from his home in Connecticut to Ravagh Persian Grill ...Read more

President Donald Trump said the bombing campaign against Iran will continue until its objectives are achieved, calling on the nation’s leaders to capitulate as a report indicated at least one top official in Tehran sought to resume nuclear talks with the U.S.

Trump on Sunday re-confirmed the death of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali ...Read more

The U.S. reported the first Americans killed in a war with Iran as each side pledged escalating strikes in the days ahead.

Iran’s retaliation has spread across the region in the wake of massive missile attacks that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior officials. President Donald Trump said the U.S. sunk nine Iranian ...Read more

DETROIT — Soheila Boojari watched on television as the country she lives in dropped bombs on the country she came from.

She was relieved to see what could be the end of the Iranian regime that had ruled with violent suppression for decades. She couldn't quite believe it, but she felt happiness along with her tears.

"At the same time we are ...Read more