The firing of two employees at a religious school in western New York is fanning the culture wars roiling parts of the United States

Minnesota is on the verge of banning non-essential uses of “forever chemicals.”

Racist text messages between members of a San Francisco Bay Area police department will be the subject of a court hearing on possible violations of a state law aimed at stamping out racism in the criminal justice system

Lahaina residents are bracing for what they'll find when they return to the ruins of their homes after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century killed at least 97 people and destroyed thousands of buildings

Viral video of a chaotic brawl along Montgomery, Alabama's riverfront has renewed national conversations about racial tensions in America.

Exxon Mobil is buying pipeline operator Denbury, the beneficiary of changes in U.S. climate policy that intended to reduce the amount of emissions released into the atmosphere

Police allege Monu Manesar instigated deadly religious violence in Haryana state. He denies the charges.

The Supreme Court's landmark ruling Thursday on affirmative action pitted its two Black justices against each other.

Brian Harman wants to make the right kind of history in the British Open

Japan has approved a major revision to its development aid policy to focus on maritime and economic security and its national interests while helping developing nations overcome challenges amid China’s growing influence

Donald Trump’s former defence chief threw cold water on the assertion from his former boss and his allies that the classified records and other documents seized from the ex-president’s home and resort in an FBI raid were his to take. As the ex-president’s loyalists continue to offer a wide scope of defences for their leader ranging from arguments that Mr Trump was allowed to designate the materials as personal records for his own safekeeping to the idea that the prosecution is merely a politicised weaponisation of the Justice Department, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper has offered his own assessment on the situation. On Sunday, he joined CNN’s State of the Union with Jake Tapper, and flatly stated that his ex-boss’s actions were “illegal and dangerous”. “People have described him as a hoarder when it comes to these type of documents. But, clearly, it was unauthorized, illegal and dangerous,” said Mr Esper. “If the allegations are true that it contained information about our nation’s security, about our vulnerabilities, about other items, it could be quite harmful to the nation. And, look, no one is above the law. And so I think this process needs to play out and people held to account, the president held to account,” he continued. It was a firm look at the facts of the investigation from a man who, under the same ex-president now facing roughly three dozen federal charges, had access to some of the nation’s most classified materials and had oversight over America’s armed services as well as intelligence services such as the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA). Mr Esper was one of a number of the former president’s top officials who did not make it through the end of the Trump presidency; in the secretary’s case, he was fired days after the 2020 election as an increasingly volatile then-President Trump ordered thousands of US troops out of an already rapidly-deteriorating Afghanistan — reportedly having wanted the effort to conclude even before the election. Others, like members of his press team and the head of the Department of Transportation, Elaine Chao, would resign following the attack on the US Capitol by thousands of Mr Trump’s supporters on January 6. The withdrawal agreement signed by the Trump administration has widely been cited as contributing to the swift end of Afghanistan’s democratic government at the hands of the Taliban, accelerating with the departure of military contractors under Joe Biden’s presidency in 2021. Mr Trump has pled not guilty to 37 charges related to his allegedly illegal retention of documents from the White House following the end of his presidency, includng classified materials. He separately faces 34 counts of falsifying business records in New York state. Read More Attorney General Garland keeps poker face as firestorm erupts after Trump charges Miami's Francis Suarez looks to become first sitting mayor to be president Nikki Haley's husband begins Africa deployment as she campaigns for 2024 GOP nomination South Carolina GOP sets Feb. 24 date for first-in-the-South presidential primary Voters think Trump is a criminal, Biden is too old and DeSantis is a fascist, new poll finds DeSantis quiet on Trump indictment as he faces conservatives in Trump country

Elton John’s musical about televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker is coming to Broadway from London