Author: Reporter

Thousands of journalists have fled their home countries in recent years to escape political repression, save their lives, and escape conflict. But even in exile they are often vulnerable to physical, digital, and legal threats, a U.N. investigator said on May 22. Irene Khan said in a report to the U.N. General Assembly that the number of journalists in exile has increased as the space for independent and critical media has been “shrinking in democratic countries where authoritarian trends are gaining ground.” She said that free, independent, and diverse media – supporting democracy and holding the powerful to account...

The return of horse-drawn caissons at Arlington National Cemetery is being delayed for months and maybe longer, the Army said as it struggles to improve the care of the horses, after two died in 2022 as a result of poor feed and living conditions. Nearly a year after the Army suspended the use of the gray and black horses for funerals, officials said they are making progress buying new horses, getting better equipment, and improving the training, facilities and turnout areas. But Major General Trevor Bredenkamp, commander of the Military District of Washington, said it’s been far more time...

In the hours after the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, Ohio’s then-Republican senator, Rob Portman, voted to accept President Joe Biden’s win over the defeated former president, Donald Trump, despite Trump’s false allegations that Biden only won because of fraud. But as Trump charges toward his rematch with Biden in 2024, Portman has been replaced by Senator J.D. Vance, a potential vice presidential pick who has echoed Trump’s false claims of fraud and said he will accept the results this fall only “if it’s a free and fair election.” South Carolina Senator Tim Scott and...

Memorial Day is supposed to be about mourning the nation’s fallen service members, but it has come to anchor the unofficial start of summer and a long weekend of discounts on anything from mattresses to lawnmowers. But for people such as Manuel Castañeda Jr., the day is very personal. He lost his father, a U.S. Marine who served in Vietnam, in an accident in 1966 in California while his father was training other Marines. “It isn’t just the specials. It isn’t just the barbecue,” Castañeda said in a discussion about Memorial Day last year. Castañeda also served in the...

When travel restrictions were lifted after the COVID-19 pandemic, most people expected that summer travel would be easier. 2024 is proving for the second year that it is not. Highways and airports are likely to be jammed the next few days as Americans head out for Memorial Day weekend getaways and then return home. AAA predicts this will be the busiest start-of-summer weekend in nearly 20 years, with 43.8 million people expected to travel at least 50 miles from home between Thursday, May 23 and Monday, May 27. The Transportation Security Administration expected up to 3 million might pass...