12+ hour, 23+ min ago (1522+ words) A federal judge on Monday dismissed the criminal indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James after finding the prosecutor who brought the cases, former Trump attorney Lindsey Halligan, was not lawfully appointed. U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie said that she agreed with Comey, who moved to dismiss the case on the grounds that Halligan's appointment was illegal. "Because Ms. Halligan had no lawful authority to present the indictment, I will grant Mr. Comey's motion and dismiss the indictment," Currie wrote in finding that Halligan lacked the authority to present a case to a grand jury. "All actions flowing from Ms. Halligan's defective appointment, including securing and signing Mr. Comey's indictment, were unlawful exercises of executive power and are hereby set aside," the judge wrote, describing the insurance lawyer as "a former White House aide…...

12+ hour, 23+ min ago (282+ words) An Australian far-right lawmaker wore a burqa to Parliament on Monday, drawing outrage from fellow senators who accused her of racism. Senator Pauline Hanson appeared in the burqa, a full-face covering worn by some Muslim women, after being denied permission to introduce a bill that would ban them in public. Lawmakers erupted in anger as Hanson entered the chamber, and Senate proceedings were suspended when she refused to remove the garment. "This is a racist senator displaying blatant racism and Islamophobia," said Mehreen Faruqi, a Muslim senator from the state of New South Wales. Another senator of the faith, Fatima Payman of Western Australia, said it was "disgraceful." "She is disrespecting the Muslims out there, Muslim Australians, it's absolutely unconstitutional," Payman said. This is the second time Hanson, who represents the state of Queensland, has worn a burqa in Parliament,…...

1+ day, 19+ hour ago (758+ words) It's not just you " internet outages severe enough to disrupt everyday services for many people have become more frequent and wide-ranging, experts say. When internet services company Cloudflare crashed Tuesday " prompting significant, hourslong disruptions at companies ranging from X to OpenAI to Discord " it was the third major internet outage in the space of about a month. "This spate of outages has been uniquely terrible," said Erie Meyer, the former chief technical officer of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under the Biden administration. "It's like what we were told Y2K would be like, and it's happening more often." It's become a common enough occurrence that jokes about the failures, rooted in an understanding of the basics of internet infrastructure, have become popular memes in the computer science world. Major cloud companies are often referred to as hyperscalers, meaning once they have…...

4+ day, 11+ hour ago (299+ words) Border Patrol is preparing to end its immigration enforcement operation in Charlotte, North Carolina, nearly a week after the agency first deployed agents to the state's most populated city, two officials at the Department of Homeland Security told NBC News on Thursday. According to one of the officials, Border Patrol has been in contact with state and local officials in Louisiana as it plans to mobilize to New Orleans for its next operation. A senior DHS official tells NBC News the Border Patrol agents deployed to New Orleans will not begin operations until after the Thanksgiving holiday, though prep work may begin ahead of time. Neither of the officials who spoke with NBC News said when exactly Border Patrol will wind down the operation the agency kicked off in Charlotte on Saturday. One official said the start date for the…...

4+ day, 12+ hour ago (714+ words) LONDON " Shaken by a scandal that saw King Charles III heckled in the streets before banishing his brother, the British royal family finally has some good news: Princess Kate is back. Consistently rated one of Britain's most popular royals, Kate appears to have eased into a fuller return to public duties this week. She made her first in-person speech Monday since she shared her cancer diagnosis 18 months ago. "The love we feel in our earliest years fundamentally shapes who we become and how we thrive as adults," Kate said, addressing business leaders at the Future Workforce Summit in London about the importance of early childhood, a cause she has championed for years. "Love is the first and most essential bond." The princess has made a growing number of public appearances since she announced this year that her cancer was in…...

4+ day, 20+ hour ago (714+ words) LONDON " Shaken by a scandal that saw King Charles III heckled in the streets before banishing his brother, the British royal family finally has some good news: Princess Kate is back. Consistently rated one of Britain's most popular royals, Kate appears to have eased into a fuller return to public duties this week. She made her first in-person speech Monday since she shared her cancer diagnosis 18 months ago. "The love we feel in our earliest years fundamentally shapes who we become and how we thrive as adults," Kate said, addressing business leaders at the Future Workforce Summit in London about the importance of early childhood, a cause she has championed for years. "Love is the first and most essential bond." The princess has made a growing number of public appearances since she announced this year that her cancer was in…...

5+ day, 12+ hour ago (1304+ words) Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker often warns that President Donald Trump may deploy military-style forces during the midterms to intimidate voters. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., has said Trump is signaling to supporters that he would forgive political violence on his behalf in future elections. And California Gov. Gavin Newsom has cast doubt on whether those elections will occur at all. For months, the Trump administration has surged immigration agents and National Guard troops in Democratic-run cities, citing emergencies tied to crime or immigration. But leading elected officials on the left have increasingly speculated something far darker is afoot: a plan to undermine future elections. Speculation that Trump may try to protect his power at all costs has become a central tenet for Pritzker and Newsom, both widely viewed as potential 2028 contenders, in their counter-offensives against the president. Republicans have rejected Democrats…...

6+ day, 16+ hour ago (448+ words) Alice and Ellen Kessler, German twin sisters whose singing and dancing talents made them famous across Europe in the 1950s and '60s, died by joint assisted suicide on Monday, according to the German Society for Humane Dying. "They had been considering this option for some time. They had been members of the organization for over a year. A lawyer and a doctor conducted preliminary discussions with them," the organization said in an English-language statement. "People who choose this option in Germany must be absolutely clear-headed, meaning free and responsible," the organization added. "The decision must be thoughtful and consistent, meaning made over a long period of time and not impulsive." Germany's highest court overturned a ban on medically assisted suicide in 2020, ruling that the previous law infringed on constitutional rights. Alice and Ellen Kessler were born on Aug. 20, 1936, in Nazi Germany, where…...

1+ week, 12+ hour ago (562+ words) BREAKING: U.N. Security Council approves Trump's Gaza peace plan Since he became the Kansas City Chiefs" starting quarterback in 2018, Patrick Mahomes has essentially become the "Final Boss" of the AFC. Mahomes and the Chiefs have been in the AFC championship game in each of his seven seasons as a starter, hosting the game six times. The Chiefs have made the Super Bowl five times in Mahomes"s career, including in each of the last three years. But after a 22-19 loss to the Denver Broncos on Sunday, Kansas City is not only in danger of being unable to host the conference title game " it is facing an uphill climb to simply make the playoffs. The Chiefs are 5-5 after the loss to the Broncos, good for ninth place in the AFC. The five losses are tied for the most in a single season…...

1+ week, 1+ day ago (1104+ words) TEHRAN, Iran " A drastic new message adorns the walls of the Iranian capital, usually reserved for war heroes and weapons. "There is a water shortage!" reads the government poster's slogan, inside a water container that is nearly empty. "It's fall and there is still no rain." That's not news to Erfan Ensani, 39, who returned home from a long day working in the textile section of the city's central bazaar last week to find his taps running dry. Iran is facing its worst water crisis in decades. With no end in sight and authorities warning they may even have to evacuate the capital of 10 million people, residents like Ensani are scrambling to respond. "We didn't have water for three days. The pressure was so low that nothing came out," Ensani, who, like many residents, works two jobs to make ends meet,…...