The justices accepted a Wisconsin case where a federal court has ruled that the state’s Republican leadership pushed through a plan so partisan that it violated the Constitution.
Moscow condemned the downing of a Syrian aircraft by a U.S. fighter as a “flagrant violation of international law” and said it is suspending an air agreement with American military forces.
The outcome is likely to affect the legal case of the Washington Redskins, whose trademark registration was revoked in 2014 under the same disparagement clause.
The president’s increasing volatility and the ongoing Russia problem are giving many qualified candidates second thoughts about working for the White House.
On the cusp of fame and fortune, the D.C.-area native is still fueled by doubts and slights – real and imagined – which have propelled him to potentially the brightest star in the NBA draft.
While the NRA was silent, verdict drew outrage and fear among black gun owners, and a congressman said it meant “the Second Amendment does not apply to them."
It’s no secret Donald Trump benefited from rural voters. But Democrat or Republican, they usually tell Katherine Cramer the same thing: it’s the cities that get all the breaks, and then have the gall to look down on them, too. READ MORE»
The attorney general conflates therapeutic cannabis with the opioid epidemic and attempts to tie it to a potential long-term uptick in violent crime. READ MORE»
BRUSSELS (AP) — The Latest on Brexit negotiations (all times local): 2:05 p.m. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she hopes for a "good agreement" after Brexit talks in which 27 EU countries will listen carefully to what Britain wants but also defend their own interests.
(1 of 6) German Chancellor Angela Merkel signs a condolence book for former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, June 18, 2017. Kohl died on Friday, June 16, 2017 at the age of 87 years.
Britain on Monday finally opened negotiations with other European Union nations about leaving the bloc. Merkel said Monday: "I think it is premature to speculate on the first day of the negotiations how they will end."
She added: "I hope that we will reach a good agreement. That will be in our mutual interest, but we 27 will formulate our interests very clearly and hopefully together." Merkel spoke after meeting with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, who also stressed the 27 EU countries' unity. He noted the EU wants to discuss divorce terms before moving on to the shape of its future relations with Britain. He said he views the talks with "informed optimism."
1:05 p.m.
A top German business lobby is urging negotiators for Britain and the European Union to quickly come to an agreement over how Britain's departure from the EU will affect cross-border trade — and avoid a "hard Brexit."
The Mechanical Engineering Industry Association, known by its German initials VDMA, says that that goal of the two-year negotiating process is "damage limitation" because Brexit won't benefit either side.
VDMA managing director Thilo Brodtmann said in a statement that "the EU and Great Britain must absolutely avoid being left without an agreement in two years."
The association represents 3,200 businesses with a million employees in Germany making industrial machinery. Such firms sold 7.3 billion euros ($8.2 billion) worth of goods to customers in Britain last year, their fourth-biggest market.
11:15 a.m.
U.K. negotiator David Davis says that Britain has gone into Brexit negotiations looking for a "positive and constructive tone" to deal with the myriad issues dividing both sides.
Reflecting on Britain's longtime EU membership, Davis says that "there is more that unites us than divides us" despite the June 23, 2016 referendum in which Britain decided to break away from the 27 other member nations.
EU negotiator Michel Barnier said the negotiations which should lead to a breakup by March 2019 "must first tackle the uncertainties caused by Brexit — first for citizens, but also for the beneficiaries of the EU policies and for the impact on borders, in particular Ireland."
10:20 a.m.
The head of the biggest group in the European Parliament says that what Britain wants out of the Brexit talks is a mystery as negotiations get underway.
European People's Party caucus leader Manfred Weber told German radio station Bayern 2 Monday: "Our big problem is that we have no picture, no idea at all what the British want." He said that the other EU countries have a united position but the British are "in chaos."
He added: "It's not as if Europe is leaving Britain; Britain wants to leave the EU. They should finally tell us what the aim is. We keep hearing that they don't want a 'Norway model,' they don't want a 'Swiss model,' they want to leave the customs union, the internal market, they want to limit migration. We keep hearing only what they don't want, but we don't have any picture of what future relations will look like."
9:15 a.m.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Monday he still thinks that the Brexit negotiations will yield "a happy resolution that can be done with profit and honor for both sides."
The negotiations kick off in Brussels on Monday with Britain under pressure for stalling the talks and entering the negotiations without a working parliamentary majority fully in place.
Still, Johnson called on people to look at the more distant future. At a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg he said: "The most important thing for us is to look to the horizon, raise our eyes to the horizon. In the long run, this will be good for the U.K. and good for the rest of Europe."
8.45 a.m.
A senior German official is stressing that the EU doesn't want to punish Britain for leaving, but says its departure will not be good for the U.K. or the rest of the EU.
Germany's deputy foreign minister, Michael Roth, told RBB Inforadio that "we must of course protect our interests as the EU 27 but naturally we also don't want to punish Britain."
Roth said that "Brexit is a very, very difficult operation" and there's only a bit over a year to negotiate it. He added: "Brexit won't make anything better, but it will make a lot of things more difficult. And we want to try to solve the difficult things as well as possible.
PARIS (AP) — The Latest on Paris security operation on Champs-Elysees (all times local): 6 p.m. Visitors to an art exhibit of Auguste Rodin's works in central Paris were confined inside the Grand Palais for an hour after an attacker rammed into a police convoy on the nearby Champs-Elysees.
(1 of 5) Police forces secure the area on the Champs Elysées next to the suspected car, center, in Paris, Monday, June 19, 2017. A man rammed his car into a police vehicle in Paris' Champs-Elysees shopping district Monday, prompting a fiery explosion, and was likely killed in the incident, authorities said.
Victoria Boucher and daughter Chrystel said they're hoping the Champs-Elysees reopens soon. They came in from the suburb of Cergy-Pontoise for a Paris visit and weren't afraid to go to the famed avenue.
Chrystel said that "we were better off inside than outside." But both agreed as the mother said, "unfortunately we now are used to this." "The show must go on," the daughter said in English. "They won't win."
The attacker was killed in Monday's incident.
5:50 p.m.
France's interior minister says the attempted attack on security forces on the Champs-Elysees shows the threat is still very high in the country and justifies the state of emergency.
Gerard Collomb says he will present a bill Wednesday at a Cabinet meeting to extend the state of emergency from July 15, its current expiration date, until Nov. 1.
He says the current situation in France shows a new security law "is needed" and the measure would "maintain a high security level" beyond the end of the state of emergency.
France has been under a state of emergency since the November 2015 attacks by Islamic extremists in Paris.
5:45 p.m.
Two French police officials say the man who rammed into a police convoy on Paris' Champs-Elysees was a 31-year-old man from a Paris suburb who had been flagged for extremism.
The officials identified the man as from the suburb of Argenteuil, and said he had an "S'' file, which means authorities had been aware of potential links to extremism.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation into Monday's incident.
The interior minister said the man was killed in the incident.
--By Lori Hinnant
5:30 p.m.
France's interior minister says that a driver who rammed a car carrying explosives into a police convoy on the Champs-Elysees avenue has died after the "attempted attack" on security forces.
Gerard Collomb told reporters near the scene Monday that the man's motives weren't immediately clear.
Bomb squad officers are at the scene on the city's most famous avenue, which is popular with tourists. It was the second major incident on the avenue this year.
An attacker defending the Islamic State group shot and killed a police officer on the Champs-Elysees in April, days before a presidential election, prompting an extensive security operation.
4:55 p.m.
A French security official says that the attacker on Champs-Elysees avenue is probably dead and the bomb squad is on the scene.
Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet says the driver whose car exploded as he tried to ram a police vehicle is "most probably" dead.
Brandet said bomb squads were still securing the scene. He said the attacker appeared to have acted deliberately.
4:45 p.m.
France's anti-terrorism prosecutor has opened an investigation into the ramming of a police vehicle on Paris' Champs-Elysees avenue.
Authorities say a driver has rammed his car into a police vehicle in the Champs-Elysees shopping district. They say he has been arrested after being injured in a subsequent apparent clash with police.
4:30 p.m.
The French national gendarmerie service says the driver of a car that rammed a law enforcement vehicle has been arrested.
The tweet Monday confirmed an attack had taken place on Paris' famed Champs-Elysees.
Police had earlier warned people to avoid the neighborhood, one of the French capital's most popular with tourists. Paris police said neither gendarmes nor passers-by were injured.
4:25 p.m.
Two French police officials have told The Associated Press that a suspected attacker drove into a police vehicle on the Champs-Elysees shopping district in Paris, and is now lying on the ground immobilized.
It is unclear the attacker has been killed or why he drove into the police Monday. The officials weren't authorized to be publicly named.
The suspect is wearing a white shirt and dark shorts and prone on his stomach on the avenue.
Police ringed the area as tourists and other onlookers gathered.
--By Elaine Ganley and Lori Hinnant
4:20 p.m.
Paris police say a security operation is underway in the Champs-Elysees shopping district and are urging people to avoid the area.
The police department tweeted the warning Monday without providing further details. The high-end neighborhood is popular with tourists.
The reason for the operation remains unclear.
A subway station in the area is closed.
An attacker defending the Islamic State group shot and killed a police officer on the Champs-Elysees in April, days before a presidential election, prompting an extensive security operation. France is under a state of emergency after a string of deadly Islamic extremist attacks.
The QP chief said Doha would not cut supplies to the UAE as it would do 'great harm' to its people [Al Jazeera]
Qatar will not cut gas supplies to the United Arab Emirates despite a diplomatic dispute between the two nations, the chief executive of the state-run Qatar Petroleum has told Al Jazeera.
Saad Sherida al-Kaabi told Al Jazeera Arabic's Liqa al-Yaum (Today's Meeting show) on Sunday that although there was a "force majeure" clause in the Dolphin gas pipeline agreement - which pumps around 2 billion cubic feet of gas per day to the UAE - Qatar would not stop supplies to its "brothers".
Gulf crisis: Qatar approaches International Maritime Organization over blockade
"The siege we have today is a force majeure and we could close the gas pipeline to the UAE," he said.
"But if we cut the gas, it does great harm to the UAE and the people of the UAE, who are considered like brothers ... we decided not to cut the gas now."
According to analysts and industry sources, a shutdown of the 364km Dolphin pipeline, which links Qatar's giant North Field with the UAE and Oman, would cause major disruptions to the UAE's energy needs.
Earlier on Sunday, the chief executive of Sharjah National Oil Corp said he did not expect flows of natural gas from Qatar to the UAE to be interrupted by the diplomatic dispute in the region.
Four Arab states - Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt - severed diplomatic and trade relations with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of supporting "extremism" and aligning with their regional rival Iran - charges that Qatar has repeatedly denied.
The Saudi-led bloc of nations cut off sea and air links with Qatar and ordered Qatari nationals to leave their countries with 14 days.
Qatar Airways, one of the biggest regional carriers, was forced to take long detours after it was barred from using Saudi, UAE and Egyptian air space.
The air, sea and land restrictions imposed by its three Gulf neighbours have not so far affected maritime routes for Qatari LNG vessels which can pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
Most of Qatar's almost 80 million tonnes of annual LNG supplies are shipped in tankers, mainly to Japan, South Korea and India, as well as to several European countries.
Any disruption to Qatar's LNG exports could anger the European Union as the UK, Spain and Poland rely on Qatari LNG.
