President Joe Biden's administration is weighing whether to go ahead with an $18 billion arms transfer package to Israel that would include dozens of F-15 aircraft‚ five sources familiar with the matter said on Monday. The sale of 25 F-15s from Boeing Co. (BA.N)‚ opens new tab to Israel has been under review since the United States received the formal request in January 2023‚ one of the sources said‚ long before Israel's six-month-old military campaign in Gaza. This sale would...

ISIS-K‚ the terrorist organization that killed more than 140 Russians March 22 in Moscow‚ would like to replicate the attack in the United States‚ but it lacks the capability‚ current and former senior U.S. officials say. “The U.S. remains target No. 1 for ISIS-K‚” said Mark Quantock‚ a retired two-star Army general who oversaw intelligence operations for U.S. Central Command. “They clearly would like to strike the homeland‚ but their challenge is penetrating our security‚ which...

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy‚ Jr. said Monday that he believes President Biden presents a greater threat to democracy than former President Trump. Kennedy said during an appearance on CNN's "OutFront" that Biden is a "much worse" threat to democracy than Trump because the current president has been "weaponizing" federal agencies to censor his political opponents. "I can make the argument that President Biden is much worse‚" Kennedy said. "And the reason...

Former US President Donald Trump has posted a $175m (£140m) bond in his New York civil fraud case‚ staving off asset seizures by the state. He was found in February to have fraudulently inflated property values‚ and was ordered to pay a $464m penalty. Posting bond means New York's attorney general cannot enforce the penalty‚ by freezing bank accounts or taking property‚ until his appeals are heard. The Republican denies wrongdoing and says the case is a political hit job. Mr Trump...

Every time prosecutors and judges tried to muzzle Donald Trump‚ he lashed out at their families. In three different court cases over the past six months‚ judges imposed gag orders that restrained the former president from vilifying witnesses‚ court employees and others involved in the proceedings against him. In each case‚ Trump responded by verbally attacking not only the prosecutors and judges themselves‚ but also their family members. “It’s clearly strategic‚” said Ty Cobb‚ who served...

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Nicole Shanahan‚ a 38-year-old attorney and philanthropist‚ as his running mate last week. Outside of Silicon Valley‚ Shanahan is a relative political unknown‚ though as the ex-wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin‚ she brings considerable financial assets to the ticket. Reaction to the pick has been mixed‚ however — especially among a constituency RFK Jr has courted: libertarians. In a recent interview‚ Libertarian...

The Florida Supreme Court issued two significant decisions on Monday‚ upholding a 15-week limit on abortion in the state while also allowing a proposed amendment that would enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution to appear on the ballot in November. The court’s decision to allow the 15-week limit to stand also clears the way for the state’s six-week abortion limit to take effect. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed the 15-week limit in 2022‚ which...

Senior EU officials and the news media say Russia is spreading disinformation and paying off politicians in Europe to affect the upcoming June elections. “Russian influence scandal rocks EU‚” read Politico’s headline yesterday. "This confirms what we have suspected‚” European Commission Vice President VÄ›ra Jourová said on Friday. The “Kremlin is using dodgy outlets pretending to be media [and] using money to buy covert influence.” The news media have described it as a major...

A New York judge expanded former President Trump’s gag order on Monday to limit his recent barrage of attacks against the judge’s daughter.  Justice Juan Merchan’s five-page ruling excoriated Trump over his series of Truth Social posts attacking the judge’s daughter since the former president was placed under a gag order last week.  “This pattern of attacking family members of presiding jurists and attorneys assigned to his cases serves no legitimate purpose. It...

Reducing the hours bars and taverns could sell alcohol in a Baltimore neighborhood reduced all violent crime in the area annually by 23 percent‚ a study has found. Research by the Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) and the Alcohol Research Group of Emeryville‚ California‚ found that the number of murders dropped by 51 percent within the first month of the trial. The homicide rate fell by 40 percent annually‚ compared to similar low-income neighborhoods which had no change...