Trump tours Texas flood sites and defends officials as questions mount about response

KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — President Donald Trump toured the devastation from catastrophic flooding in Texas and lauded local officials amid mounting criticism that they failed to warn residents quickly enough that a deadly wall of water was coming their way. Trump met Friday with first responders and other state and local officials gathered at an emergency operations center inside an expo hall in Kerrville. The president said his administration “is doing everything it can to help Texas” and insisted that good people were running the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Since the July 4 disaster, the president has been conspicuously silent on his past, repeated promises to do away with FEMA.

US is selling weapons to NATO allies to give to Ukraine, Trump says

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says the United States is selling weapons to its NATO allies in Europe so they can provide them to Ukraine as it struggles to fend off a recent escalation in Russia’s drone and missile attacks. Trump said in an NBC interview, "NATO is paying for those weapons, 100%.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday some of the U.S.-made weapons Ukraine is seeking are deployed with NATO allies in Europe. Rubio says those weapons could be transferred to Ukraine, with European countries buying replacements from the U.S. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says talks with the U.S. president have been “very constructive.”

Trump administration has floated deporting third-party nationals to Africa. Here's what we know

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — South Sudan has accepted eight third-country deportees from the U.S. and Rwanda says it’s in talk with the administration of President Donald Trump on a similar deal. Nigeria meanwhile says it’s rejecting pressure to do the same. These initiatives in Africa mark an expansion in U.S. efforts to deport people to countries other than their own. It has sent hundreds of Venezuelans and others to Costa Rica, El Salvador and Panama but has yet to announce any major deals in Africa, Asia or Europe. While proponents see such programs as a way of deterring what they describe as unmanageable levels of migration, human rights advocates have raised concerns over sending migrants to countries where they have no ties.

Appeals court throws out plea deal for alleged mastermind of Sept. 11 attacks

WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided federal appeals court has thrown out an agreement that would've allowed accused Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to plead guilty in a deal sparing him the risk of execution for al-Qaida’s 2001 attacks. Friday's decision undoes an attempt to wrap up more than two decades of military prosecution beset by legal and logistical troubles. It suggests no quick end to the long struggle by the U.S. military and successive administrations to bring to justice the man charged with planning one of the deadliest attacks on the United States. Mohammed is accused of developing the plot to crash hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. One hijacked plane crashed in Pennsylvania.

State Department lays off over 1,300 employees under Trump administration plan

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department is firing over 1,300 employees in line with a dramatic reorganization plan initiated by the Trump administration earlier this year. A senior State Department official said Friday the department is sending layoff notices to 1,107 civil servants and 246 foreign service officers with domestic assignments in the United States. While lauded by President Donald Trump's administration as overdue and necessary to make the department leaner and more efficient, the cuts have been roundly criticized by current and former diplomats who say they will weaken U.S. influence and its ability to counter existing and emerging threats abroad.

Boeing settles with a man whose family died in a 737 Max crash in Ethiopia

CHICAGO (AP) — Boeing has reached a settlement with a man whose wife and three children were killed in a deadly 2019 plane crash in Ethiopia. The deal announced Friday comes just days before the scheduled start of the first trial stemming from the devastating Boeing 737 Max jetliner crash that left 157 people dead. The jury trial at Chicago’s federal court was supposed to determine damages for Paul Njoroge of Toronto, whose family was heading to their native Nigeria when the plane crashed. The 41-year-old had planned to testify at trial about how the crash affected his life. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

Furor over Epstein files sparks clash between Bondi and Bongino at the Justice Department

WASHINGTON (AP) — The fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein files flap is cascading, further roiling a Justice Department and FBI that have struggled for months to appease the demands of far-right conservative personalities and influential members of President Donald Trump’s base. In a sign of continued tumult, Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino were revealed to have had a contentious conversation at the White House earlier in the week over the Epstein documents and a recent story that described divisions between the FBI and Justice Department. The turmoil arising from the Epstein investigation lays bare the struggles of FBI and Justice Department leaders to resolve the conspiracy theories and amped-up expectations that they had stoked.

Adult son convicted, sentenced to life for shooting and beheading father in Pennsylvania

A Pennsylvania man who posted a YouTube video of his father’s severed head has been convicted of murder. Bucks County Judge Stephen A. Corr issued the guilty verdict against Justin D. Mohn on Friday in the January 2024 shooting death of his father at their home in the Philadelphia suburbs. The judge sentenced him to life without parole. Prosecutors said Mohn shot his 68-year-old father and decapitated him. The 33-year-old was arrested after scaling a fence at the state’s National Guard headquarters. His lawyer is declining to say if Mohn will appeal.

Flash floods once again hit Vermont, damaging homes and roads

SUTTON, Vt. (AP) — Communities in rural Vermont face damaged homes and washed-out roads after heavy rainfall caused flash flooding. Up to 5 inches of rain fell in just a few hours on Thursday, swelling waterways and isolating nearly 20 homes in Sutton. Swift-water rescue teams evacuated residents from two homes. This marks the third consecutive summer of severe flooding in the state. According to the National Weather Service, Vermont's frequent floods can be linked to climate change and its mountainous terrain. Meanwhile, Massachusetts also experienced flash flooding on Thursday, with over seven inches of rain disrupting businesses and commuters.

Son of ‘El Chapo’ pleads guilty in US drug case, promising cooperation for lighter sentence

CHICAGO (AP) — The son of notorious Mexican drug kingpin “El Chapo” has pleaded guilty to U.S. drug trafficking charges. Ovidio Guzman Lopez is the first of El Chapo’s sons facing similar charges to enter a plea deal. Prosecutors allege Ovidio Guzman Lopez, along with his brother, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, ran a faction of the Sinaloa cartel that exported fentanyl to the United States. Ovidio Guzman Lopez previously pleaded not guilty, but on Friday pleaded guilty to drug trafficking, money laundering and firearms charges tied to his leadership role in the cartel as part of a plea deal.