Trump Boat Bombings Take Darker Turn as Top Official Suddenly Resigns  —  The other day, President Trump announced that he has bombed yet another boat allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean sea.  He has now struck six boats, with 27 people dead, and the bombings have been widely denounced as illegal.

Three Reasons I Still Have Hope for America  —  This weekend's “No Kings” rallies stand as an important corrective amid a dark moment … Saturday's national “No Kings” protests seem likely to be huge, and the Trump administration appears especially concerned and worried about the public backlash it's facing this weekend.

Jury Acquittal Hands Jeanine Pirro a Big L  —  Three-Time Loser  —  In a closely watched case, a federal jury acquitted a woman Thursday on charges of assaulting a federal law enforcement officer over the summer during a transfer of detainees to ICE outside of the D.C. jail.

The Shadow President  —  ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power.  Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published.  —  This story is exempt from ProPublica's Creative Commons license until Dec. 19, 2025.  —  On the afternoon of Feb. 12 …

NEW: Pope Leo Set To Break Up Opus Dei  —  Prefer A One-Time Gift?  Donate Here  —  A report from InfoVaticana — a Spanish outlet with close Opus Dei ties — claims that Pope Leo XIV is on the verge of approving new statutes that would effectively dismantle Opus Dei as it exists today.

How would Putin, who faces an international arrest warrant, get to Hungary to see Trump?  —  Where Things Stand  — Ukraine talks: President Trump is mounting a new effort to reach a truce in the war in Ukraine and is scheduled to host President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday at the White House.

Penn, USC join growing list of universities declining Trump's federal funding deal … Although Jameson did not outline his specific concerns, the Faculty Senate passed a resolution urging the university's leaders to decline the administration's offer, first reported by The Daily Pennsylvanian.

Young Republican Kids Say the Darndest Things  —  “Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery, and rape.... Vice President JD Vance downplayed [the] bigoted messages, suggesting they were nothing more than ‘edgy, offensive jokes.’” — Politico

‘Roots are so deep’: The GOP is straining to get past its Obamacare morass … Speaker Mike Johnson is downplaying prospects for nixing the ACA ahead of the midterms, saying this week he still has “PTSD” from the GOP's 2017 repeal-and-replace debacle.  —  Senate Majority Leader John Thune …

Hackers Dox Hundreds of DHS, ICE, FBI, and DOJ Officials  —  A group of hackers from the Com, a loose-knit community behind some of the most significant data breaches in recent years, have posted the names and personal information of hundreds of government officials, including people working …

Who won the NYC mayoral debate?  What the candidates, and an expert, are saying  —  Andrew Cuomo, Zohran Mamdani and Curtis Sliwa were on the attack Thursday night in their first mayoral debate.  —  The took one another on across a host of issues including their plans to improve the cost …

America First?  No, Billionaire Buddies First  —  Argentina: A very Trumpy debacle  —  The Trump administration is doing so many corrupt, destructive and simply stupid things that the failing attempt to rescue Javier Milei, Argentina's MAGAesque president, with billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars isn't even in the top 10.

Small businesses are being crushed by Trump's tariffs and economists say it's a warning for the economy … Viresh Varma can't sleep.  —  The CEO of AV Universal Corp., a small footwear company that sells through retailers like Macy's, Nordstrom and DSW, said he needed to take out a $250,000 loan …

‘No Kings’ protests return as Trump ramps up authoritarian practices, organizers say  —  Add AP News to Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.  Share  —  Big crowds of protesters are expected Saturday in thousands of places around the U.S …

New York's Richest Ask ‘How Dare He?’ as Mamdani Closes In on City Hall  —  The city's 1% realize their influence is waning: 'It's hard to be chill and relaxed'  —  It was just after finishing a set of pelvic floor exercises that a Pilates instructor on the Upper East Side recently brought …

Republican Frustration With Kristi Noem Has Reached a Boiling Point  —  Both publicly and privately, GOP lawmakers are frustrated with Noem's lack of communication and new rules that are delaying critical FEMA funds.  — Copy  —  Members of Congress are growing incensed with Secretary …

Democrats up 6, 10 points in new averages of New Jersey and Virginia governor polls  —  Aggregators take note: We found that many polls in these contests are sponsored by or affiliated with GOP campaigns, increasing the potential bias of (unadjusted) polling averages  —  Two announcements before we get started:

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS: IU has now fully cut IDS print.  What more is there to say?  —  Indiana University fully cut the Indiana Daily Student's print newspaper — including the special publications it had earlier indicated it wanted us to run — Tuesday evening, hours after firing its student media director.

Trump Says Threatened High Tariffs on China ‘Not Sustainable’  —  President Donald Trump said high threatened tariffs with China were not viable as tensions between the world's two largest economies intensify ahead of an expected face-to-face meeting with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

Donald Trump's Dream Palace of Puffery  —  The Pentagon's ban on real journalism looks to be a preview of where the White House is headed.  —  Two weeks into a federal-government shutdown, with no end in sight and President Donald Trump threatening to fire thousands of government employees …

It's a Bird!  It's a Plane!  It's a Chemtrail?  New Conspiracy Theory Takes Wing at Kennedy's HHS  —  While plowing a wheat field in rural Washington state in the 1990s, William Wallace spotted a gray plane overhead that he believed was releasing chemicals to make him sick.

Iowa Senate candidate drops bid to focus on school board after superintendent was arrested by ICE  —  Des Moines School Board Chairwoman Jackie Norris is dropping her Senate bid in Iowa to focus on her job after it was revealed that a former superintendent of the district lived in the United States illegally.

US anti-vax stance to blame for continent-wide surge in measles, say experts  —  The disease was eliminated across the Americas in 2024, but urgent vaccination drives are now under way as cases rise from Mexico to Bolivia after outbreaks farther north  —  Governments across Latin America …

Trump unveils IVF policies, but no new funding or coverage requirements … The cost of EMD Serono's Gonal-F, a follicle-stimulating hormone injection commonly taken during a standard IVF cycle, will drop by anywhere between 42 and 79 percent in the cash-pay market, depending on the patient's income …