News Briefs

A federal judge is hearing Washington's request for a temporary restraining order against President Donald Trump's federal takeover of the city's police department. U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes indicated the law likely doesn’t allow the Trump administration power to fully take over city police, but it probably does give the president more power than the city might like. The District of Columbia's attorney general filed the lawsuit Friday after Attorney General Pam Bondi named an emergency police commissioner with all the powers of the police chief.

This moment has opened a new chapter in Washington’s relationship with the federal government .

The Marines and sailors being sent to the waters around Latin America and the Caribbean are part of a growing effort to combat drug cartels, reports CNN. The military build-up is primarily a show of force for now, officials said, but would give President Trump options if he decides to target the cartels. Last weekend, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected the president’s reported plan to use the U.S. military against drug cartels in Mexico.

Flash floods triggered by torrential rains have killed over 200 people and left scores of others missing in India and Pakistan over the past 24 hours. Rescuers brought to safety some 1,600 people. Sudden, intense downpours over small areas known as cloudbursts are increasingly common in India’s Himalayan regions and Pakistan’s northern areas. Experts say cloudbursts have increased in recent years partly because of climate change, while damage from the storms also has increased because of unplanned development in mountain regions.

A federal judge on Thursday struck down two Trump administration actions aimed at eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at the nation’s schools and universities. In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher in Maryland found that the Education Department violated the law when it threatened to cut federal funding from educational institutions that continued with DEI initiatives. The guidance has been on hold since April when three federal judges blocked various portions of the anti-DEI measures.

Nations were meeting for an 11th day at the United Nations office in Geneva to try to complete a landmark treaty to end the plastic pollution crisis. They remain deadlocked over whether the treaty should reduce exponential growth of plastic production and put global, legally binding controls on toxic chemicals used to make plastics. The negotiations at the U.N. hub were supposed to be the last round and produce the first legally binding treaty on plastic pollution, including in the oceans. The session was adjourned Friday and will be resumed at a later date.

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused for now to block enforcement of a Mississippi law aimed at regulating the use of social media by children, an issue of growing national concern. The justices rejected an emergency appeal from a tech industry group, NetChoice, that is challenging laws passed in Mississippi and other states that require social media users to verify their ages. The court had been asked to keep the law on hold while a lawsuit plays out.

Experts credit policies such as tripling the minimum wage and a new lineup of anti-poverty programs aimed at seniors, students, farmers, and others. Some 8.3 million people were pulled out of poverty. Making sure these strides in poverty alleviation stick may come down to the Mexican government’s budget, and whether they can continue to fund such unprecedented social spending.

It is being prepared at a state prison in north Florida, as a federal judge decides the fate of the state’s holding center for immigrants at an isolated airstrip in the Florida Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.” Gov. DeSantis announced Thursday that the new facility is to be built at the Baker Correctional Institution, a state prison about 43 miles west of Jacksonville, and is expected to house 1,300 immigration detention beds. That capacity could be expanded to 2,000, state officials said.

We looked at the trend behind centers like “ Alligator Alcatraz .”

Officials say new sandbag-style barriers installed along a river in Juneau, Alaska’s capital, have held back record levels of flooding and prevented widespread damage after an ice dam at the nearby Mendenhall Glacier released a massive amount of rainwater and snowmelt downstream. Water pooled on several streets and in some yards and homes as the Mendenhall River crested Wednesday. But there were no damage reports similar to the last two years. Last year, nearly 300 residences were damaged.

Israel’s far-right finance minister has announced approval of contentious new settlement construction in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which Palestinians and rights groups worry will scuttle plans for a future Palestinian state by effectively cutting the West Bank into two separate parts. The announcement comes as many countries said they would recognize a Palestinian state in September. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says the “reality finally buries the idea of a Palestinian state, because there is nothing to recognize and no one to recognize.”

Wholesale inflation surged unexpectedly last month as President Donald Trump’s sweeping taxes on imports are pushing costs higher. The Labor Department reported Thursday that its producer price index – which measures inflation before it hits consumers – was up 0.9% last month from June and 3.3% from a year earlier. Some aspects of Thursday's producer price report were puzzling, including a big jump in profit margins at retailers and wholesalers. Mr. Trump's tariffs have generated uncertainty about the U.S. economy.

The Trump administration can cut billions of dollars approved by Congress for overseas assistance, an appeals court ruled on Wednesday. The funding was suspended as part of the government’s efforts to dissolve the U.S. Agency for International Development.

A matchmaking service is helping humanitarian projects find find new funding.

Jailed migrants blasted cells as dirty, smelly, and overcrowded. The temporary restraining order requires U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to limit capacity, ensure cleanliness, and provide sleeping mats in holding rooms at a key federal office building in Manhattan. A cell phone video recorded by a detainee showed about two dozen men crowded in a holding room, many lying on the floor without mattresses or padding.

On Tuesday, a letter was sent to Smithsonian Institution outlining steps for the review. The examination will assess public-facing content for tone and historical framing ahead of the nation’s 250th birthday celebrations. The initiative aims to celebrate American exceptionalism and remove divisive narratives. The Smithsonian says it remains committed to factual history and is reviewing the letter. The review will initially focus on eight museums, with more to follow.

He said there would be “very severe consequences” if there is no agreement after their Friday summit in Alaska, though he did not say what those consequences might be. Mr. Trump’s comment Wednesday came after attending a virtual meeting with European leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who told the group that Putin “is bluffing” about seeking peace.

For the first time, most adults in the U.S. view even moderate drinking as harmful, a survey by analytics firm Gallup showed on Wednesday. About 54% Americans reported drinking alcohol, compared with 58% in 2024 and 62% in 2023.

The president has announced country music stars George Strait and “Rocky” actor Sylvester Stallone among the first batch of Kennedy Center Honors nominees in his new role as chairman of the center. The remaining three recipients are singer Gloria Gaynor, the rock band KISS, and actor-singer Michael Crawford. The glamorous event is usually taped in December and broadcast later in the month by CBS. Mr. Trump avoided the Kennedy Center Honors during his first term due to protests from artists.

The warning came as an end-of-the-month deadline nears for the country to resume negotiations with the West over its nuclear program and cooperation with the United Nations nuclear watchdog. The three countries wrote in a letter to the U.N. dated Friday that they were willing to trigger a process known as the “snapback” mechanism. That allows one of the Western parties to reimpose U.N. sanctions if Tehran doesn’t comply with its requirements.