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National

Trump loses mistrial bid in midst of civil rape trial

The second week of the civil rape trial against Donald Trump began Monday with the presiding judge dashing Trump’s hopes of a midtrial dismissal.

Former advice columnist E. Jean Carroll walks into Manhattan federal court on April 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman)

Partisan pressure ratchets up in debt ceiling stalemate

The shadow of an impending U.S. debt crisis loomed large over a congressional visit to Israel Monday, where House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reiterated his support for a GOP plan of shoehorning spending cuts into a plan that would raise the federal debt ceiling.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy talks to reporters in Washington on Nov. 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Illinois assault weapons ban spurs emergency application to Supreme Court

Gun rights advocacy groups asked the Supreme Court on Monday to block a ban on assault weapons in Illinois, passed earlier this year in response to an Independence Day parade massacre where seven people were killed.

Assault weapons for sale at the NRA convention in Atlanta. (Kayla Goggin/Courthouse News Service)

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Regional

Ed Sheeran strums suite of acoustic Van Morrison ballads for New York jurors

Ed Sheeran, the English pop hitmaker accused of copying Marvin Gaye’s iconic “Let’s Get It On,” demonstrated his love for Northern Irish singer Van Morrison on the witness stand Monday with short acoustic guitar performances of several songs.

Ed Sheeran walks into Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, April 25, 2023, in New York. The heirs of Ed Townsend, Marvin Gaye's co-writer of the 1973 soul classic, sued Sheeran, alleging the English pop star's hit 2014 tune has “striking similarities” to “Let's Get It On” and “overt common elements” that violate their copyright.(AP Photo/Brittainy Newman)

Good-natured Satanists defy expectations in Boston

Massachusetts, famed for its Puritans, witch trials and scarlet letters, braced for the world’s largest-ever gathering of Satanists this weekend, but the feared pagan hordes turned out to be campy misfits seeking fun and community — far more “Rocky Horror” than “The Exorcist.”

Artist Schon Warner offered astrology-based ritual animal dolls for sale in the Satanic Temple conference’s exhibit hall in Boston on April 28. (Thomas F. Harrison/Courthouse News Service)

Police still searching for Texas man who killed five of his neighbors

The FBI on Monday advised news media not to bother relatives of five people killed Friday night by their enraged neighbor as more than 250 law enforcement officers continue their search for the gunman.

FBI Houston Special Agent in Charge James Smith speaks during a news conference, Sunday, April 30, 2023, in Cleveland, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

International

Cost-of-living crisis in Europe adds intensity to May Day

Europeans took to the streets on Monday for large-scale May Day marches amid a wave of strikes and protests in France, Portugal, Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Greece over inflation and a cost-of-living crisis.

A man kicks in a tear gas canister during a demonstration, Monday, May 1, 2023 in Paris. Across France, thousands marched in what unions hope are the country's biggest May Day demonstrations in years, mobilized against President Emmanuel Macron's recent move to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Op-ed

Real reasons

One of the lessons you learn during a career in journalism if you’re paying attention is that you never know what really happened. You can describe what you see and hear but you don’t know what people are thinking and you’re going to miss things.

Tucker Carlson, left, stands beside former President Donald Trump, right, during the final round of the Bedminster Invitational LIV Golf tournament in Bedminster, N.J., on July 31, 2022.(AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

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