President Donald Trump said he expects to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this year, but Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, said she was unaware of any contact between the two sides. The conflicting public messages come as Washington has scaled back parts of joint military drills with South Korea.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has delivered on parts of his affordability agenda, but recent decisions on policing and housing have drawn renewed scrutiny from advocates, council members and some voters in New York City. The debate has centered on whether City Hall’s budget choices match the priorities Mamdani campaigned on.

Pennsylvania authorities said 14 people, including 13 current or former Penn State students, were charged in a cocaine trafficking case tied to two off-campus fraternity houses in State College. Investigators said the operation ran in 2023 and 2024 and used fraternity members and pledges to package drugs.

Long-term U.S. borrowing costs have reached their highest levels in about 19 years as investors demand higher yields amid persistent inflation concerns and a growing federal debt load. The move is rippling into mortgages, business loans and the government’s own financing costs.

A coalition of 29 state attorneys general is continuing its court fight against Meta, arguing that Instagram and Facebook were designed in ways that keep children and teens engaged despite documented risks. The case is part of a broader national push to hold social media companies accountable for youth mental health harms.

The Department of Homeland Security said Ethiopians whose Temporary Protected Status ended could be arrested and deported after a court battle over the program narrowed sharply. The dispute centers on roughly 5,000 Ethiopian nationals who had been shielded from removal while a federal judge weighed whether DHS followed the law.

U.S. prescription drug prices fell 3.1% from a year earlier in July, the sharpest annual decline since 1963. President Donald Trump has highlighted the drop, but economists and health policy specialists say a 2022 law that allowed Medicare to negotiate some drug prices is a major factor.

A visitor searching through newly exposed shoreline at Lake Mead found a human jawbone in May 2022, days after the reservoir fell to a record low. The discovery became one of several sets of human remains uncovered as drought and declining water levels exposed more of the lakebed.

Former NIAID adviser David Morens pleaded guilty in federal court in Maryland after prosecutors said he used private email and deleted records tied to COVID-era research discussions. The case drew national attention after congressional investigators publicized emails in which he wrote that he would delete messages he did not want in The New York Times.

The U.S. Supreme Court on August 17 refused to reconsider Donald Trump’s failed appeal in E. Jean Carroll’s $5 million civil case, leaving the jury’s verdict in place. The rehearing request was a long-shot step legal analysts say the court almost never grants.

A 72-year-old Santa Barbara woman was pepper-sprayed by a masked federal agent while recording an immigration operation on January 28, 2026. Local police confirmed she received medical attention, and federal officials had not publicly explained the operation.

President Donald Trump has ordered new 50% tariffs on selected Canadian goods, a move the White House said covers nearly $20 billion in imports. The action lands in one of North America’s biggest trade relationships, where two-way goods and services trade totaled $917.4 billion in 2024.