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Tony Sirico, the actor who played the eccentric gangster Paulie Walnuts in “The Sopranos,” died Friday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where he lived. He was 79. His death was confirmed by Bob McGowan, his manager. No cause was given. Paulie Walnuts — which was Paul Gualtieri’s nickname because he once…

SLOVIANSK, Ukraine — A woman berated visiting reporters, accusing them of publishing lies. Others turned away, reluctant to talk. Tensions were running high in the central market of Sloviansk, after rocket strikes earlier this week killed seven people and destroyed shops and houses. This depleted eastern Ukrainian city is in…

In California, Freedom Revival, which started late last year and has used worship to mobilize evangelicals to see Christian morality as the foundation for governance, targeted conservative Christians with voter guides of its California primary endorsements of “freedom loving candidates” who stand for “traditional values.” Endorsements included those for Anthony…

TOKYO — Shinzo Abe, Japan’s most influential former prime minister, was stumping on behalf of a junior politician from his party near a train station in Japan’s old capital city of Nara on Friday morning when he collapsed, bleeding, on the street. He was shot in the neck, doctors said,…

Wages continued to climb rapidly last month, offering little encouragement to the Federal Reserve as policymakers hope for a slowdown in pay gains that might allow inflation to moderate. Average hourly earnings picked up by 5.1 percent in the year through June, moderating slightly from 5.3 percent in the year…

It is miserable to be a hater. I pray to be more like Jesus with his crazy compassion and reckless love. Some days go better than others. I pray to remember that God loves Marjorie Taylor Greene exactly the same as God loves my grandson, because God loves, period. God…

After a lifetime of swaggering and dissembling his way through one scandal after another on the strength of his prodigious political skills — a potent mix of charm, guile, ruthlessness, hubris, oratorical dexterity and rumpled Wodehousian bluster — Boris Johnson has finally reached the end. It seems that the laws…

LONDON — I’ve always resisted comparisons between Boris Johnson and Donald Trump. Not anymore. True, the British prime minister did not try to cling to power by instructing his supporters to rampage through the Houses of Parliament. He has not made, so far, spurious claims that he’s been cheated out…

More than 100 million Americans have medical debt, according to a recent Kaiser Health News-NPR investigation. And about a quarter of American adults with this debt owe more than $5,000. This isn’t because they’re uninsured. More often, it’s because they’re underinsured. The Affordable Care Act was supposed to improve access…

HOUSTON — Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday ordered the Texas National Guard and the state police to begin apprehending migrants who illegally cross the border from Mexico and taking them back to ports of entry, a move that could put the state into direct conflict with the federal government over…