‘Annoying’: Trump rivals hunker down for the indictment primary

If there was ever room for a Republican critical of Donald Trump in the 2024 GOP field, it all but disappeared on Thursday night. Within a matter of hours following Trump’s indictment, his rivals and the nation’s most influential, once-Trump-wary conservative news outlet, Fox News, rallied to his defense. Even Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump’s most prominent Republican opponent,...

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Florida House passes parental rights bill restricting pronouns in schools

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — House Republicans in Florida passed a wide-ranging education bill Friday targeting how teachers and students can use their pronouns in schools, building on the state’s parental rights law that critics call “Don’t Say Gay.” The proposal tightens restrictions on school lessons about sexual identity and gender orientation, which lawmakers say should happen...

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Lost in translation: Washington and Brussels face pushback on effort to patch trade rift

The United States and European Union are racing to settle their dispute over tax credits for electric vehicles, but their attempted fix is creating new problems for each of them back home. Lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic complain leaders are circumventing the standard approval process for free trade agreements in their attempt to heal the rift. The potential deal...

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Florida proposal targets transgender bathroom use

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Republican lawmakers in Florida this week introduced legislation that could make it a misdemeanor offense for someone to use certain bathrooms that don’t align with their sex at birth, joining conservatives across the country on an issue that opponents say unfairly targets LGBTQ people. Named the “Safety in Private Spaces Act,” lawmakers in the House and...

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Feds: Fugees rapper Pras Michel ran global influence-peddling scheme for cash

Federal prosecutors on Thursday portrayed rap star Pras Michel as a washed-up, money-hungry entertainer who embarked on a brazen secret-influence scheme aimed at the highest levels of the U.S. government. “The defendant needed money and was willing to do anything to get it, including being an agent of the Chinese government,” Justice Department attorney Nicole Lockhart told...

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Biden steps up pressure on Fed to toughen rules for regional banks

The White House on Thursday said it will push to reverse the deregulation of regional banks that was carried out under President Donald Trump, heightening the pressure for swift action in the wake of Silicon Valley Bank's collapse. The Biden administration is urging the Federal Reserve and other independent agencies to toughen rules aimed at reducing banks’ reliance on debt...

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Bankman-Fried pleads not guilty to five new charges

NEW YORK — Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of the cryptocurrency platform FTX, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to additional charges alleging that he committed bank fraud and bribed Chinese officials. Bankman-Fried, who flew from his parents’ home in California where he is under house arrest, appeared in a Manhattan courtroom and entered the plea in response to the...

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