Live updates | UN aid agency serving Palestinians in Gaza faces more funding cuts amid Oct 7 claims

Live updates | UN aid agency serving Palestinians in Gaza faces more funding cuts amid Oct 7 claims

The U.N. aid agency serving Palestinians in Gaza faced more funding cuts Monday amid accusations that 12 of its employees were involved in the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the Israel-Hamas war. An Israeli document obtained by The Associated Press on Monday details Israeli claims that U.N. teachers and a social worker employed by the … Read more

Defense Department to again target ‘forever chemicals’ contamination near Michigan military base

Defense Department to again target ‘forever chemicals’ contamination near Michigan military base

The U.S. Department of Defense plans to install two more groundwater treatment systems at a former Michigan military base to control contamination from so-called forever chemicals, U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin’s office announced Friday. Environmentalists say the systems will help prevent PFAS from spreading into the Clarks Marsh area and the Au Sable River near the … Read more

Advocacy groups are petitioning for the end of SNAP interview requirements

Advocacy groups are petitioning for the end of SNAP interview requirements

NEW YORK — Student and legal advocacy groups are petitioning the U.S. Department of Agriculture to lift the interview requirement for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) applicants to receive food aid. The groups argue the interview requirement is burdensome and prevents those who qualify for food aid from receiving it. The National Student Legal Defense … Read more

Secrecy surrounding the defense secretary’s hospitalization has put the White House on the defensive

Secrecy surrounding the defense secretary’s hospitalization has put the White House on the defensive

WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s administration pledged from Day One to restore truth and transparency to the federal government — but now it’s facing a maelstrom of criticism and credibility questions after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s hospitalization was kept secret for days, even from the White House. The controversy has prompted a … Read more

A Pentagon mystery: Why was Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s hospital stay kept secret for days?

A Pentagon mystery: Why was Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s hospital stay kept secret for days?

WASHINGTON — Members of Congress and Pentagon leaders were unaware for days that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had been hospitalized since Monday, U.S. officials said Saturday, as questions swirled about his condition and the secrecy surrounding it. And it remained unclear when the White House and other key U.S. officials were told about his stay … Read more

Defense Secretary Austin hospitalized due to complications after minor procedure

Defense Secretary Austin hospitalized due to complications after minor procedure

WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has been hospitalized since Monday, due to complications following a minor elective medical procedure, Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said Friday. It was the department’s first acknowledgement that Austin had been admitted — five days earlier — to Walter Reed National … Read more