Civil rights leaders decry administration’s move to downplay Black American history and promote president
The US’s National Park Service (NPS) will offer free admission to US residents on Donald Trump’s birthday in 2026 – which also happens to be Flag Day – but is eliminating the benefit for Martin Luther King Jr Day and Juneteenth.
The new list of free admission days for Americans is the latest example of the Trump administration downplaying America’s civil rights history while also promoting the president’s image, name and legacy.
The Associated Press’ top photos from the Middle East and the surrounding region in 2025 capture conflict, resilience, and moments of quiet wonder. Taken across Gaza, Israel, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates, the 35 images reveal a turbulent year.
Officials track public sentiment, noting negative impact of ‘videos with sounds of children crying’ as parents arrested
State and federal authorities are closely tracking online criticism and protests against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in New Orleans, monitoring message boards around the clock for threats to agents while compiling regular updates on public “sentiment” surrounding the arrests, according to law enforcement records reviewed by the Associated Press.
The intelligence gathering comes even as officials have released few details about the first arrests made last week as part of “Catahoula Crunch”, prompting calls for greater transparency from local officials who say they have been kept in the dark about virtually every aspect of the operation.
Co-conspirator receives two-year sentence in Seoul court
A woman has been sentenced in Seoul to four years in prison for blackmailing South Korean football star Son Heung-min.
The woman, identified only as Yang, was charged with extorting 300 million won (£153,000) from Son in 2024 after sending him an ultrasound photo of a baby that she claimed was his and demanding money to stay silent.
As celebrations kicked off marking the first anniversary on Monday of the ousting of former President Bashar Assad’s regime, Syrians are still struggling to heal after the dynasty’s repressive 50-year rule and a 14-year civil war that killed an estimated half-million people, displaced millions more and left the country battered and divided.
A six-episode, behind-the-scenes Disney+ docuseries about Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and Rian Johnson’s third “Knives Out” movie, “Wake Up Dead Man,” are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you
The San Diego city attorney’s office has agreed to pay $30 million to the family of a 16-year-old youth who was fatally shot by police last January in what would be one of the largest settlements of a police-involved killing case in U.S. history
Architect Frank Gehry, celebrated for his imaginative, genre-shifting designs, has died at 96. He is known for iconic works such as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Over his prolific career, Gehry received architecture’s highest honors, including the Pritzker Prize, the RIBA gold medal, the Americans for the Arts lifetime achievement award and Canada’s Companion of the Order.
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