Hegseth abruptly summons top military commanders to a meeting in Virginia next week
Q&A: Mariah Carey enters ‘the era of me’ with her first album in 7 years
Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky has enlisted help from a key ally, Sen. Rand Paul, as he tries to fend off President Donald Trump’s threats to oust him from Congress. Massie is running headlong into his toughest political fight. A super PAC launched by Trump aides has attacked him and he awaits a yet-to-be-known challenger whom Trump has said he would endorse. Massie on Thursday wraps up a two-day swing through his district alongside Paul, who has endorsed the congressman and shares Massie’s libertarian leanings. Massie says Paul’s endorsement of him offers “a counterbalance to Donald Trump’s presumed endorsement for somebody else.”
Greenspan, Bernanke and Yellen urge Supreme Court to let Lisa Cook keep her job as a Fed governor
A federal judge says he'll rule soon whether to toss out two prostitution-related charges that Sean “Diddy” Combs was convicted of in July. Judge Arun Subramanian listened Thursday to nearly 90 minutes of arguments by lawyers over whether the charges were properly brought against the Grammy-winning hip-hop producer. Combs is scheduled to be sentenced next week in Manhattan federal court. As he entered the courtroom, a smiling Combs waved to supporters and touched his heart. The 55-year-old has been jailed for nearly 13 months. His lawyers say he has spent enough time behind bars. Prosecutors say he should spend years more locked up.
Amazon has reached a historic $2.5 billion settlement with the Federal Trade Commission which said the online giant tricked customers into signing up for its Prime memberships, and made it difficult to cancel after they did so. The Seattle company will pay $1 billion in civil penalties — the largest fine in FTC history, and $1.5 billion will be paid to consumers who were unintentionally enrolled in Prime, or were deterred from canceling their subscriptions.
Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, Janet Yellen and other former top economic officials appointed by presidents of both parties are urging the Supreme Court to preserve the Federal Reserve’s political independence and allow Lisa Cook to remain as a central bank governor for now. The filing Thursday comes as the justices are weighing an emergency appeal from the administration to remove Cook while her lawsuit challenging her firing by President Donald Trump proceeds through the courts. The Fed board was designed to be largely independent from day-to-day politics. No president has fired a sitting Fed governor in the agency’s 112-year history.
An outside review of Los Angeles County’s response to January’s deadly wildfires found a lack of resources and an outdated emergency alert process led to delays in warning residents about the need to evacuate as flames began consuming neighborhoods. The Independent After-Action Report was commissioned by county supervisors after the Eaton and Palisades fires killed more than 30 people and destroyed thousands of homes. The report released Thursday says a series of weaknesses, including “outdated policies, inconsistent practices and communications vulnerabilities,” hampered the effectiveness of the county’s response. The county says it's not intended to investigate or assess blame.
European soccer body UEFA moves toward vote to suspend Israel
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has summoned hundreds of generals and admirals to a base in northern Virginia for a sudden meeting next week. The directive doesn't offer a reason for the gathering Tuesday of senior commanders of the one-star rank or higher and their top advisers. Confirmation comes from two people familiar with the matter who weren't authorized to publicly discuss the sensitive plans and spoke on condition of anonymity. The Pentagon’s top spokesman confirms that Hegseth “will be addressing his senior military leaders early next week.”