As the Trump White House weighs its next steps in an expanding military offensive against Venezuela’s main drug-trafficking network, strongman Nicolás Maduro is taking to the streets to project an image of national unity — insisting that Venezuelans stand ready to take up arms to defend his regime.

Maduro, indicted in the United States for...Read more

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow to meet with President Vladimir Putin, who claimed a key Ukrainian city had fallen to Russia on the eve of Tuesday’s talks about a potential peace plan to end his war.

Putin said Russian troops had taken the city of Pokrovsk in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region in a video announcement posted late ...Read more

MIAMI – Nearly three years after a fire shut down Miami-Dade County’s garbage incinerator, a fight over who caused the blaze is rattling a bidding war over how and where to build a modern replacement.

In a Nov. 20 letter, a top deputy to Mayor Daniella Levine Cava demanded the Doral facility’s former operator, Reworld, put up $7.8 million...Read more

Two weeks after an 11-year-old Haitian girl and honor student died during a school outing in northern Dominican Republic, her mother says she still does not know how or why it happened.

Stephora Anne-Mircie Joseph, a student at the Leonardo Da Vinci Institute in Santiago, died on Nov. 14 during a field trip to a private ranch that included a ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Hopes are fading for a year-end bipartisan deal to extend Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits after a potential compromise proposal floated by President Donald Trump’s White House has fizzled with congressional Republicans.

GOP leaders in the House and Senate have poured cold water on the putative plan put forward by the ...Read more

Hong Kong’s leader John Lee pledged to launch an independent committee over the city’s deadliest fire in nearly eight decades, while vowing to crackdown on forces that “sabotage” social unity.

“We have to expose the truth, do everyone justice and make sure the deceased can rest in peace,” said Lee at a Tuesday briefing, standing ...Read more

BOSTON — On the first day of the Brian Walshe murder trial, three investigators who were involved in the Karen Read case have already been mentioned, including former Massachusetts State trooper Michael Proctor.

Walshe is on trial for allegedly killing his wife Ana in January of 2023. He pleaded guilty last month to lying to police and ...Read more

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s political risk has crept up to levels seen in Peru, as Mexicans voice mounting frustration over cartel-fueled crime, corruption and a stagnant economy.

The nation’s political risk surpassed that of Argentina and Colombia in November to reach a score of 55 — the same as Peru’s, where political instability has ...Read more

ATLANTA — There were times when Kirstie Gentry wasn’t sure she’d pass all the required training and tests to be part of a SWAT team.

During the strenuous weeklong course, she would confide in her best friend, who would push her to stay focused on the goal.

“We would talk, and we would say, ‘Just keep doing it. You signed up for it. ...Read more

State Medicaid agencies are struggling to pay for an intensive therapy for children with autism — and looming federal Medicaid cuts are likely to make the problem worse.

Parents of children and young adults who receive applied behavior analysis, or ABA, worry states’ cost-saving measures will make it harder for them to get vital services. ...Read more

There’s a big new development going up in Mountain View along the edge of San Francisco Bay. But it’s not a tech company headquarters or a condo project. It’s for birds, and fish and hikers.

Workers are putting the finishing touches on a three-year effort to restore 435 acres of former industrial salt evaporation ponds to natural wetlands...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Dozens of Topanga residents gathered in the town’s Community House to hear Assistant Fire Chief Drew Smith discuss how the Los Angeles County Fire Department plans to keep Topangans alive in a fierce firestorm.

In the red-brick atrium, adorned with exposed wood and a gothic chandelier, Smith explained that if a fire explodes ...Read more

LOUISVILLE, Colo. — E-bike of Colorado sales manager Perry Fletcher said his sales and repair shop saw an increase in back-to-school sales to young riders and families this fall as the popularity of the battery-powered bicycles revs up.

But the kids’ excitement for their new rides is tempered by a recurring question from worried parents: ...Read more

The investigation into the car crash that killed Colorado state Sen. Faith Winter will take weeks, with the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office reporting Monday that she had been involved in one of two wrecks that happened near each other on Interstate 25.

A memorial service for Winter will be held at 2 p.m. Friday on the west steps of the ...Read more

Haiti’s transitional government on Monday adopted a long-awaited electoral law, setting in motion the process for restoring democratic rule after years of political paralysis and escalating violence.

The announcement was made by Frinel Joseph, one of the two observers on the scandal-plagued Transitional Presidential Council. In a post on X, ...Read more

The White House defended the Pentagon’s handling of a September attack on an alleged drug-running boat and denied that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had given an order to kill everyone on the vessel, rebutting a report that had led to allegations of possible war crimes.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt confirmed there were two ...Read more