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WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke Monday to his Russian counterpart about convening the leaders of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council to mark the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, the State Department said. The department said Pompeo spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about the possibility of a commemorative event “in the near future” that would involve President Donald Trump and the leaders of Britain, China, France and Russia. The U.N. had planned a series of celebrations to mark the occasion centered around the annual General Assembly session in September but has been forced to cancel or postpone many of them due to the coronavirus pandemic. No details of the proposed summit were provided in the brief, four-sentence statement, but such a meeting, either in person or by teleconference due to COVID-19, would come as the U.S. pushes ahead with efforts to extend a U.N. arms embargo on Iran that is set to expire in Oct

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump called Roger Stone to inform his longtime political confidant that he would commute his sentence for crimes related to the Russia investigation, Stone told The Associated Press on Friday, just days before he was set to report to prison. The White House later confirmed the commuting of the sentence in a statement, saying Stone was a victim of the Russia “hoax.” The move, though short of a full pardon , is sure to alarm critics who have long railed against the president’s repeated interventions in the nation’s justice system. “The president told me he thought my trial has been unfair,” Stone told the AP in a phone call from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Stone said he expressed his gratitude and was popping Champagne. Stone had been sentenced in February to three years and four months in prison for lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstructing the House investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to win th

(MIAMI) — Tropical Storm Fay, the sixth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, formed off the North Carolina coast on Thursday and is expected to bring heavy rain and gusty winds to parts of the mid-Atlantic coast and southern New England. Reconnaissance aircraft put the center of Fay approximately 40 miles (65 kilometers) east-northeast of Cape Hatteras, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said at 5 p.m. The storm was moving to the north at 7 mph (11 kph). A tropical storm warning was issued Thursday afternoon from Cape May, New Jersey, to Watch Hill, Rhode Island. The warning area includes Long Island and the Long Island Sound in New York, forecasters said. According to forecasters, Fay will experience slight strengthening into Friday before it weakens as the center moves inland. Fay’s formation Thursday means it is the earliest sixth-named storm on record, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach. The previous record was Fr

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A Texas inmate received lethal injection Wednesday evening for fatally shooting an 82-year-old man nearly three decades ago, ending a five-month delay of executions in the nation’s busiest death penalty state because of the coronavirus pandemic. Billy Joe Wardlow was put to death at the state penitentiary in Huntsville for the June 1993 killing of Carl Cole at his home in Cason, about 130 miles (209 kilometers) east of Dallas in the East Texas piney woods, near the Louisiana and Arkansas borders. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to stop the 45-year-old man’s execution. Wardlow was the first inmate in Texas to receive a lethal injection since Feb. 6 and the second in the U.S. since the nation began reopening following pandemic-related shutdowns. A judge had moved Wardlow’s execution date from April 29 to Wednesday after Morris County District Attorney Steve Cowan requested the change citing the statewide disaster declaration due to the virus. In Tex

NEW YORK — New York Attorney General Letitia James proposed sweeping changes Wednesday to boost oversight of the New York City Police Department, including forming an independent commission that would approve the department’s budget and have the final say on officer discipline. “The police should not police themselves — period,” James, a Democrat, told reporters. “It’s really important that we think of major reforms and not tinkering around the edges.” Gov. Andrew Cuomo asked James to investigate whether NYPD officers used excessive force to quell unrest and enforce a citywide curfew in the wake of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis. Floyd’s death led to weeks of demonstrations in the city that became violent at times and prompted widespread allegations of police misconduct. James did not rule out criminal charges as her investigation continues. In the meantime, she outlined several reforms intended to restore New Yorkers’ faith in law enforcement. She made clear that

INDIANAPOLIS — The FBI is investigating as a hate crime the assault of a Black man by a group of white men at a southern Indiana lake, the victim’s attorney said Tuesday. Vauhxx Booker, a local civil rights activist and member of the Monroe County Human Rights Commission , said the men pinned him against a tree, shouted racial slurs and one of them threatened to “get a noose” at Monroe Lake near Bloomington over the Fourth of July weekend. Much of the assault was captured on cellphone video by Booker’s acquaintances. Katherine Liell, Booker’s attorney, said at a news conference that the FBI is questioning witnesses and that charging decisions could be made soon. “We want this investigated as a hate crime. It was clearly racially motivated,” Liell said. “We will continue our quest every day until some justice is served.” Chris Bavender, an FBI public affairs officer in Indianapolis, declined to immediately comment on the investigation. Booker spoke briefly at the new

JACKSON, Miss. — With a stroke of the governor’s pen, Mississippi is retiring the last state flag in the U.S. with the Confederate battle emblem — a symbol that’s widely condemned as racist. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves on Tuesday signed the historic bill that takes the 126-year-old state flag out of law, immediately removing official status for the banner that has been a source of division for generations. “This is not a political moment to me but a solemn occasion to lead our Mississippi family to come together, to be reconciled, and to move on,” Reeves said in a statement. “We are a resilient people defined by our hospitality. We are a people of great faith. Now, more than ever, we must lean on that faith, put our divisions behind us, and unite for a greater good.” Mississippi has faced increasing pressure to change its flag since protests against racial injustice have focused attention on Confederate symbols. A broad coalition of legislators on Sunday passed the la

Father’s Day marks the second time since the pandemic began that Alexandria Care Center, a nursing facility located in Los Angeles, Calif., has held open their sliding door for parents and their children to see each other from a distance. Last month, Alexandria Care Center allowed children to see their mothers at a distance for Mother’s Day. This Sunday, nurses wheel fathers down a corridor to the lobby where they see their children and grandchildren standing at the doorway. Isadora Kosofsky for TIME Loraine Moralo and Amanda Santos decorate the nursing facility for Father’s Day. Beginning June 18, Los Angeles County relaxed restrictions on nursing homes, allowing visitations with masks on and six feet of space. However, inside visits are not allowed in nursing homes unless four weeks have passed since a positive coronavirus case at a facility. At Alexandria Care Center, COVID-19 patients are housed in a separate unit with their own designated staff members. According

(DALLAS) — American Airlines has banned a man who was kicked off a plane for refusing to wear a face covering , among the first such incidents since airlines promised this week to step up enforcement of their mask rules. A spokesman for American said Thursday that the airline decided to ban the man after reviewing the incident, which occurred Wednesday at New York’s LaGuardia Airport. According to the airline, conservative activist Brandon Straka ignored requests by crew members to wear a mask while the plane with 122 passengers prepared to leave for Dallas-Fort Worth. He was ordered off the 172-seat plane and put on a later flight. Read more: The Ethics of Wearing (or Not Wearing) a Face Mask During the Coronavirus Pandemic American said Straka will be banned until the airline drops its requirement that passengers and crew members wear face coverings to limit spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. “We are committed to protecting the safety and well-being of our

(JERUSALEM) — An Israeli cabinet minister on Sunday said the government approved plans to build a new settlement in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights named after President Donald Trump. Settlements Minister Tzipi Hotovely wrote on Facebook that her ministry will start preparations for Ramat Trump — Hebrew for “Trump Heights” — to house 300 families. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it in 1981. Most of the international community considers the move, and Israeli settlements in the territory, illegal under international law. But Trump signed an executive order recognizing the strategic mountainous plateau as Israeli territory in March 2019. The move came during a visit to Washington by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just weeks before Israeli elections. The decision, just one of several diplomatic moves benefiting Israel, was widely applauded there. The Israeli government’s approval of the plan, which according to

Bad Bunny went silent on May 19. The Puerto Rican artist Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, who has collaborated with stars like Cardi B, Drake and J Balvin, had just released two albums, set off a controversy by cross-dressing in a hit music video and graced the cover of Rolling Stone. After all that activity, it was time to disconnect, even from his cell phone. Just a few days later, the callous killing of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer as three other officers looked on set off a series of protests in the U.S. that reinvigorated movements for racial justice around the world. Normally, Martínez does not shy away from politics: last year, he canceled a tour to join anti-corruption protests in Puerto Rico that ultimately led to the resignation of Gov. Ricardo Rosselló. He has made no secret of his disdain for President Trump. And he has become a de facto advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, a notable development from an artist in a musical traditi

Electronics giant Sony has finally taken the lid off its much-anticipated successor to the popular PlayStation 4 game console. On Thursday, the company showed off a sneak peak at its upcoming lineup of titles for its next-generation PlayStation 5 (PS5) console, along with a look at the console itself and some accessories. “Today’s the day we’ve been looking forward to for years, when we get to show you just some of the games that demonstrate our belief that PlayStation 5 marks the biggest generational transition our industry has yet seen,” said Jim Ryan, president of Sony Interactive Entertainment, at the start of the company’s streamed event. Surprising basically everyone, the new console cuts a distinctive figure when it comes to industrial design, making competition like Microsoft’s upcoming Xbox Series X and its gray boxy aesthetic look downright bland. Sony’s stream began with a showcase of upcoming PlayStation 5 titles from classic Sony franchises like Gran Tu