Listen Early to ‘This American Life’: And the Call Was Coming From the Basement

WASHINGTON — American spy agencies have concluded in a new intelligence assessment that Al Qaeda has not reconstituted its presence in Afghanistan since the U.S. withdrawal last August and that only a handful of longtime Qaeda members remain in the country. The terror group does not have the ability to…

President Biden said on Sunday that he believed he had the authority to challenge the constitutionality of the nation’s borrowing limit but that he did not believe such a challenge could succeed in time to avoid a default on federal debt if lawmakers did not raise the limit soon. “I…

President Biden on Tuesday called a decision by the Florida Supreme Court to uphold a restrictive abortion law “outrageous” and “extreme,” saying that it had effectively eliminated access to the procedure across the American South. The president said in a statement that the restrictions in Florida and others enacted by…

President Vladimir Putin has always made expert use of puppets. These are regime-friendly politicians who, at the Kremlin’s behest or with its blessing, pose as opposition candidates but never stray into genuinely challenging territory. This system has existed for a long time — at least since Mr. Putin’s first re-election…

A shooting caused hundreds of people to flee for safety from the Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Ill., on Monday morning, the authorities said. The Illinois State Police said on Twitter that they were assisting the local police with a shooting at the parade. The Lake County Sheriff’s…