Colin Powell, the first Black US secretary of state whose leadership in several Republican administrations helped shape American foreign policy in the last years of the 20th century and the early years of the 21st, has died from complications from Covid-19, his family said on Facebook. He was 84. “General Colin L. Powell, former U.S.…

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Joe Biden spoke by phone last Tuesday and zeroed in on a strategy for their party’s sweeping economic package, deciding that the time has come to wrap up negotiations, several senior officials in both places tell CNN — a sign of Democrats’ growing restiveness at a critical moment for…

In May 2015, emotionally hobbled from watching her son, Beau Biden, fight and then succumb to brain cancer, Jill Biden said “goodbye” to God. “After Beau died, I felt betrayed by my faith, broken,” the first lady said Sunday during a publicly unannounced visit to Brookland Baptist Church in Columbia, South Carolina, where she spoke…

First Lady Jill Biden on Sunday afternoon made a trip to Columbia, South Carolina, which had not been announced publicly ahead of time, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Charles B. Jackson, the senior pastor of Brookland Baptist Church. The attendance of the first lady was spurred by her relationship with Robin…

The damage from the recent California oil spill has so far been less disastrous than initially feared, but it has thrust the issue of offshore oil drilling on the West Coast into some of the most hotly contested US House races in the country. The spill created a plume that threatened beaches and wetlands all…

One of the largest evacuation flights departed Kabul on Sunday with an unknown number of Americans on board and is on its way to Doha, a senior Qatari government official tells CNN. The ninth evacuation flight from Afghanistan since August 31 is carrying 353 evacuees, including faculty, staff, and students from the American University of…

A Republican on the House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol on Sunday did not rule out issuing a subpoena for former President Donald Trump as it seeks to obtain information from his allies. “I don’t know. I think if I had that answer now, I’d probably go in, you know,…

Much of the US Supreme Court’s business occurs in private, as the nine justices meet alone around a rectangular table in a small oak-paneled room. The results of some of those internal deliberations become public when rulings in cases, fully briefed and openly argued, are handed down. But other decisions made in private are surrounded…

Former President Bill Clinton will remain at University of California Irvine Medical Center in Orange, California, for at least one more night, and is expected to be discharged Sunday, his spokesperson Angel Ureña said in a statement Saturday on Twitter. Clinton “continued to make excellent progress,” Ureña added. “He will remain overnight at UC Irvine…

An assistant to the US House of Representatives Sergeant-At-Arms has been arrested and charged with 10 felony counts related to the possession of child pornography, according to court records filed Wednesday. Stefan Bieret, 41, is allegedly the owner of a DropBox account that contained images of child sexual abuse material, according to a news release…

Terry McAuliffe, the former governor of Virginia, is vying for another shot at leading the commonwealth, a place that bars governors from serving successive terms. Earlier this year, the seasoned candidate — whose story in the Democratic Party is defined by millions of dollars raised, the Clintons and a tenure as chair of the Democratic…

Terry McAuliffe did not mince words about what he needed from Virginia voters on Friday night. “We need Democrats to step up, get energized and bring this one home for us,” he implored the audience in Henrico County. “People are counting on you.” Although the Democratic gubernatorial nominee has been running against Republican Glenn Youngkin…

The Clean Electricity Performance Program, the cornerstone climate policy in Democrats’ massive social safety net package, will likely be dropped from the final budget deal after pushback from Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, three congressional sources told CNN. “He is not there on the CEPP period. We’ve been trying,” one Democratic aide with knowledge…