A federal appeals court in the District of Columbia on Friday refused the Trump administration’s request to put a hold on a requirement that it allow transgender people to enlist in the military starting January 1. The decision by the three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia was the… more

NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless, the first person to fly freely and untethered in space, has died. He was 80. He was famously photographed in 1984 flying with a hefty spacewalker’s jetpack, alone in the cosmic blackness above a blue Earth. He traveled more than 300 feet away from the space shuttle Challenger during the spacewalk. … more

An immigrant teen who was denied an abortion by a U.S. government official, even though her pregnancy was caused by rape, had threatened to harm herself if she was forced to have the child, according to a government memo released Friday. The memo is addressed to Scott Lloyd, director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement,… more

Three opera singers and a classical musician say that world-renowned conductor Charles Dutoit sexually assaulted them — physically restraining them, forcing his body against theirs, sometimes thrusting his tongue into their mouths, and in one case, sticking one of their hands down his pants. In separate interviews with The Associated Press, the accusers provided detailed… more

Restaurant workers, a hotel event booker and a watchdog group who say President Donald Trump has business conflicts that violate the Constitution cannot sue him, a New York judge ruled Thursday. U.S. District Judge George Daniels said it was too soon for the lawsuit to be considered by the courts, particularly because Congress had not… more

The Republican-led Congress narrowly passed a temporary spending bill to avert a government shutdown Thursday, doing the bare minimum in a sprint toward the holidays and punting disputes on immigration, health care and the budget to next year. The measure passed the House on a 231-188 vote over Democratic opposition and then cleared the Senate,… more

Throughout the year, young members of the Los Angeles Conservation Corps beautify the city — cleaning and planting trees, and creating trails and green spaces in the city. They get a break at the holidays to share holiday cheer.  “We all come together to have fun,” says Corps member Chrishana Cameron, 21, who was enjoying… more

A jury did not reach a verdict in its first day of deliberations in the trial of a Turkish banker accused of helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions and launder billions of dollars in oil revenue. Deliberations began early Wednesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Manhattan after Judge Richard Berman read instructions on the law… more

The top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, responding to escalating Republican attacks on special counsel Robert Mueller, said  Wednesday that if President Donald Trump fired Mueller, the action would have “the potential to provoke a constitutional crisis.” WATCH: Virginia’s Warner on Potential Constitutional Crisis Speaking on the Senate floor, Virginia Senator Mark Warner denounced… more