The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an emergency bid from Republican election officials in a Pennsylvania county to freeze sanctions related to a dispute about voting equipment and the 2020 election.

WASHINGTON ESSA Bank & Trust has agreed to pay over $3 million to resolve allegations it engaged in

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday the “time is now” for Turkey to drop its objections to Sweden joining NATO but said the Biden administration also believed that Turkey should be provided with upgraded F-16 fighters “as soon as possible.” Blinken maintained that the administration had not linked the two issues but acknowledged that some U.S. lawmakers had. President Joe Biden implicitly linked the two issues in a phone call to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday. “I spoke to Erdogan and he still wants to work on something on the F-16s. I told him we wanted a deal with Sweden. So let’s get that done," Biden said. Still, Blinken insisted the two issues were distinct. However, he stressed that the completion of both would dramatically strengthen European security. “Both of these are vital, in our judgement, to European security,” Blinken told reporters at a joint news conference in the northern Swedish city of Lulea with Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. “We believe that both should go forward as quickly as possible; that is to say Sweden’s accession and moving forward on the F-16 package more broadly.” “We believe the time is now,” Blinken said. He declined to predict when Turkey and Hungary, the only other NATO member not yet to have ratified Sweden’s membership, would grant their approval. But, he said, “we have no doubt that it can be, it should be, and we expect it to be” completed by the time alliance leaders meet in Vilnius, Lithuania in July at an annual summit. Fresh from a strong re-election victory over the weekend, Erdogan may be willing to ease his objections to Sweden’s membership. Erdogan accuses Sweden of being too soft on groups Ankara considers to be terrorists, and a series of Quran-burning protests in Stockholm angered his religious support base — making his tough stance even more popular. Kristersson said the two sides had been in contact since Sunday’s vote and voiced no hesitancy in speaking about the benefits Sweden would bring to NATO “when we join the alliance.” Blinken is in Sweden attending a meeting of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council and will travel to Oslo, Norway on Wednesday for a gathering of NATO foreign ministers, before going on to newly admitted alliance member Finland on Friday. Speaking in Oslo ahead of the foreign ministers' meeting, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the goal was to have Sweden inside the grouping before the leaders' summit in July. "There are no guarantees, but it’s absolutely possible to reach a solution and enable the decision on full membership for Sweden by the Vilnius summit,” Stoltenberg said. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide

By Karen Freifeld President Joe Biden is expected to issue his long-awaited executive order to screen outbound investments

The US is deepening intelligence cooperation with countries across Asia as it looks to counter Beijing’s sophisticated spying

By Joseph White DETROIT United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain is scheduled to say later on Friday whether

Watch as Italian people pay their respects at the villa of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi on Tuesday (13 June) following his death at the age of 86. Italy's longest-serving premier, who led four governments across three spells as prime minister, died on Monday. Local Italian media reported that Mr Berlusconi passed away after being admitted to hospital last Friday. A Downing Street spokesperson paid tribute to the former Italian leader, praising how Mr Berlusconi "made a huge impact on Italian politics over several decades. "Our thoughts are with the Italian people and his family," they added. Mr Berlusconi's last few years in office were tarnished by allegations of corruption and sex scandals. Tales of "bunga bunga" sex parties at his lavish villa outside Milan surrounded the former prime minister, and he was accused of having unlawful sex with a 17-year-old nightclub dancer known as “Ruby the Heartstealer” but was acquitted on appeal. Several women testified that the "bunga bunga" parties were “elegant dinners”. Read More What happened in Silvio Berlusconi’s notorious ‘Bunga Bunga’ sex party scandal? Why was Silvio Berlusconi a controversial figure? Putin pays tribute to ‘dear friend’ Berlusconi

England survived a huge scare in the Rugby World Cup on Saturday, coming from behind courtesy of a late Danny...

A private plane carrying 20 migrants from Texas arrived in California's capital city of Sacramento Monday morning, officials said -- the second such arrival of migrants in the city from a conservative state in several days.

Taylor Swift's friends 'want what's best for her and aren't shocked that their relationship fizzled out,' a source revealed earlier

Australia’s government is telling the online dating industry to improve safety standards or be forced to make changes through legislation

The shocking allegation that India may have been behind the assassination of a Sikh separatist leader in Canada is shining the light on various layers of activism as well as diverse views on a separate Sikh state or Khalistan within the North American diaspora