Chicago – An Illinois judge seems close to appointing a special prosecutor to look into why state prosecutors abruptly dropped charges against actor Jussie Smollett accusing him of staging a racist, anti-gay attack against himself. A hearing Friday will be one of the first opportunities for Cook County Judge Michael Toomin to name someone since [...]

Jerusalem – The leader of the Joint List of Arab parties said he would join a center-left government after Israeli elections in September, under certain conditions — a move that would prove historic. No majority-Arab party has ever joined a governing coalition in Israel, though they have backed left-wing governments from the sidelines in the [...]

Seoul – North Korea’s foreign minister on Friday called U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo a “poisonous plant of American diplomacy” and vowed to “shutter the absurd dream” that sanctions will force a change in Pyongyang. The North’s blistering rhetoric may dim the prospect for an early resumption of nuclear negotiations between the countries. A [...]

Qatar – An Al Jazeera anchor promoted an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory on Twitter on Thursday. “This Holy Land belongs to Palestinians Because Palestinians are Semitic unlike the Israeli Khazars who are occupiers !!” tweeted Ghada Oueiss, a Qatar-based news presenter. This Holy Land belongs to Palestinians Because Palestinians are Semitic unlike the Israeli Khazars who [...]

New York – Traffic has reopened on the George Washington Bridge after authorities investigated a suspicious package scare. Officials say the suspicious device was found on the upper level of the bridge near the New Jersey side just before 9:30 p.m. Thursday, causing authorities to briefly shut down traffic in both directions. The Port Authority [...]

Washington – President Donald Trump and other leaders of the world’s most industrialized nations will open their annual G-7 summit over the weekend by discussing the global economy. White House officials said Thursday that the session was added to Sunday’s schedule at the last minute at Trump’s request. Trump insists the U.S. economy is strong [...]

Tasilaq, Greenland – From a helicopter, Greenland’s brilliant white ice and dark mountains make the desolation seem to go on forever. And the few people who live here — its whole population wouldn’t fill a football stadium — are poor, with a high rate of substance abuse and suicide. One scientist called it the “end [...]

Manchester, NH – The campaign manager for Bernie Sanders emphasized Thursday that New Hampshire is a critical presidential primary state he expects Sanders to win, but he’s leaving room for a scenario in which Sanders falls short. Faiz Shakir said he doesn’t “like the language of must-win,” though he does believe it is an important [...]

Des Moines – President Donald Trump’s campaign is rallying and training a corps of female defenders, mindful that Trump’s shaky standing with women could sink his hopes of reelection next year. Female surrogates and supporters fanned out across important battlegrounds Thursday in a high-profile push to make the president’s case on the economy and to [...]

Minneapolis – Eight people were sent to the hospital with injuries after two tour buses collided near the Minnesota State Fairgrounds just as the event was getting underway. The Minnesota State Patrol says one of the buses was heading to the State Fair with 50 passengers and a driver Thursday. The other bus was empty, [...]