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Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Friday warned that state officials could lose funding or face investigations if they fail to go along with President Donald Trump's election security demands, part of the Republican president’s longstanding attempt to undermine Americans’ confidence in the vote. Experts said the threats — issued just months before midterm elections that will determine control of Congress — were likely hollow because Trump's voting initiatives have been stalled by judges and the Constitution gives states control over how elections are run.

Mullin pushes states to comply with election demands, echoing Trump's claims about midterm risks

Jamaica says 2 citizens deported by US to Eswatini rejected repatriation offers

Chinese AI model takes US tech industry by surprise with abilities rivaling Claude and ChatGPT

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Fed rate-hike voices swell before July decision, rates still seen on hold

Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack on Friday added her voice to a small but growing chorus of policymakers arguing the Fed may need to raise short-term borrowing costs to deal with persistently high inflation, setting up a charged debate at the central bank's July 28-29 meeting."For the first time in my tenure, I’m hearing from businesses who say they think we need to take action to curb inflation, and from consumers who can’t make ends meet about a growing sense of despair," said Hammack, who joined the Fed in 2024 after it ended a run of sharp rate hikes to fight the surge in inflatio

Brazil finance chief pledges reciprocity, not retaliation, after new U.S. tariffs

Walmart names Kinnard to replace departing US COO Shanahan, memo shows

Business|Economy|Political|World

Top US tax lawyer forced out after White House clash over tax audits

The U.S. tax agency’s top attorney was forced from his role in recent days after refusing White House demands to participate in tax audits, according to three people familiar with the matter. Ken Kies, the Internal Revenue Service’s acting chief counsel and Treasury Department assistant secretary for tax policy, told administration officials their requests would violate a law prohibiting the president, vice president and other White House officials from ordering the IRS to “conduct or terminate an audit or other investigation of any particular taxpayer,” said the people. They spoke

Apple in early settlement talks with US DOJ over antitrust case, Bloomberg News reports

Northern Ireland's Donaldson seeks to appeal convictions for child sex offences

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Environment|Health|Science|US|World

Before and after images: Wildfire smoke casts skylines in dystopian haze

Smoke from wildfires in Canada has poured into the United States, causing air quality to plummet and masking landscapes in a thick, brown haze.Poor air quality has been an issue in New York since Wednesday, when the cloud of smoke descended near the ground.Washington, DC, has mostly avoided hazardous air – until Friday, when a thick haze settled over the nation’s capital.Chicago experienced some of the country’s worst air quality on Thursday and is still enveloped in a cloud of smoke. Here’s what it looks like compared to Wednesday.Wildfire smoke has altered skies over Central Pennsylv

Consumer sentiment surges due to lower gas prices

Lower gas prices helped Americans feel more optimistic about the economy early this month, though that relief might be short lived if the conflict in the Middle East continues to intensify.The University of Michigan’s latest survey of Americans, released Friday, showed that consumer sentiment surged 10% early this month to a preliminary reading of 54.4, the highest point since February.“Consumer sentiment climbed to its highest reading since February of this year on the basis of easing price pressures at the pump in recent weeks,” Joanne Hsu, the survey’s director, said in a release. �

A body is recovered after San Francisco boat tragedy but 2 remain missing

Barack Obama hasn’t endorsed a Michigan Senate candidate. An AIPAC-linked group is spending millions on ads with him anyway

Food|Health|Science|US|World

Lettuce at Taco Bell in 5 states confirmed as a source of diarrhea-causing parasite

Federal health officials have identified lettuce from Mexico served at Taco Bell locations across five U.S. states as a source of a widespread outbreak of diarrhea-causing parasite cyclospora. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention late Thursday warned consumers not to eat shredded iceberg lettuce from Taco Bell restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia. A record number of cyclospora cases have been reported in more than 30 states, and experts have said not every recent U.S. illness might be caused by a single source. A Food and Dru

Economy|Finance|Political|Stock Markets|US

Key moments from Trump’s speech claiming declassified documents show US election vulnerabilities

President Donald Trump, in a primetime speech Thursday night, alleged vulnerabilities exist in American election systems, despite declassified documents released by his administration largely discussing vulnerabilities that have been known for years and that election officials around the country have tried to address.Trump said the speech and release of documents are not meant to “weaken confidence” in US elections, though critics say he has done just that. For years, the US president has spread falsehoods about the 2020 election.In the remarks, he addressed his economic agenda, immigratio

Fed may need to hike rates if inflation does not ease soon, Jefferson says

Water rescues underway in western Texas after catastrophic floods in Hill Country kill 2

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Arts|Celebrity|Entertainment|Europe|World

Brenda Fricker, the first Irish actress to win an Oscar for 'My Left Foot,' dies at 81

Brenda Fricker, who became the first Irish woman to win an Academy Award for her role as Bridget Fagan Brown in the 1989 film “My Left Foot,’’ has died. She was 81. The Irish character actor died Thursday night in Dublin after a period of ill health, her agent, Phil Belfield said in a statement. Fricker won the Academy Award in 1990 for best supporting actress for her portrayal of the determined mother of Christy Brown, a writer and painter who was born with cerebral palsy and could control only his left foot. Daniel Day-Lewis, who played Brown, won the award

Americas|Environment|Science|World

Strong quake off Mexican coast rattles Guatemala and El Salvador, but leaves no damage

A powerful magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck off the coast of Mexico's southernmost state of Chiapas on Friday, shaking buildings as far away as Guatemala and El Salvador, though authorities said there were no immediate reports of casualties or major damage.Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said emergency protocols were activated but that neither Chiapas nor the neighboring state of Tabasco reported issues, and Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo said there were no deaths.In some parts of Guatemala, residents in their homes and office workers spilled onto the streets. The quake struck at a

Powerful earthquake in Mexico shakes Guatemala and El Salvador

Nasdaq drops 1% after China’s latest AI breakthrough rattles tech stocks

Entertainment|Opinion|Sports|World

Three things we’ve learned from the World Cup… so far

Note: This story first appeared in The Beautiful Game by CNN Sports, our daily newsletter on all things World Cup. To subscribe, click here.The last Friday of a World Cup is always a bit strange. It sort of feels like a down day, cut adrift from all the action, color and drama of the tournament.But fear not, this is just the calm before the storm.Both Argentina and Spain are busy behind the scenes putting the finishing touches to their tactics, as fans around the world finalize their plans for how they’ll be watching Sunday’s final (Spanish editor’s note: Unfortunately for me, it will be

Business|Food|Lifestyle|Travel|World

Communist scientists built a Cold War cola to beat Coke. It’s still a hit — along with these 7 other global rivals

When American pharmacist John Stith Pemberton reached his eureka moment on May 8, 1886, his formula for what would become Coca-Cola sparked a global soft drink revolution that still reverberates today.In fact, it’s now possible to “buy the world a Coke,” as the 1970s jingle goes, in nearly every country — apart from Cuba, North Korea and, since 2022, Russia — but even these places have developed local substitutes to satisfy their citizens’ cola cravings.Those same cravings have also inspired many entrepreneurs, enthusiasts and even governments around the world to create regional a

Netanyahu buys political loyalty with controversial legislation ahead of election

Iranians suffer new uncertainty and anxiety as US steps up attacks

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Economy|Political|World

Trump threatens new Iran escalation and risks repeating old mistakes

Business|Economy|Entertainment|Finance|Technology

Netflix earnings forecast disappoints Wall Street, shares tumble

Netflix forecast third-quarter revenue and earnings on Thursday that fell short of Wall Street targets and said it would cut the frequency of viewing-

Business|Economy|Finance

America had a love affair with ‘fixer-upper’ homes. That may be over

Trump’s teleprompter operator under investigation for insider trading, sources say

I’ve spent years studying economic data. These Americans taught me what ‘affordability’ really means

Trump threatens to revoke licenses of US networks for not carrying primetime speech

Two of the three major U.S. television networks and CNN did not broadcast a prime-time address on Thursday by President Donald Trump on their primary

Economy|Health|Political|US

Speaker Johnson suffers humiliating political defeat, yanks veterans benefits bill

Crime|Political|World

Rubio and Miller warn of the ‘mortal threat’ of ‘far-left terror’ in speech to 67 countries

Americas|Europe|Political|Sports|World

UK urges FIFA to investigate Argentina over Falklands banner at World Cup

The British government has urged FIFA to investigate Argentina's soccer team after players posed with a banner claiming sovereignty over the Falkland Islands

Economy|MidEast|Political|World

Iran and US step up attacks, release of American in dispute

Iran and the United States exchanged intensifying fire on Thursday in a week-long escalation that has largely

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From LA to Scottsdale: The Founder Behind AdDynamix Is Building the Bridge Between AI and Business Tools

An LA digital advertising veteran of 28 years has moved to Scottsdale and is building what he calls the missing piece between business software and the AI assistants people now use every day. SCOTTSDALE, AZ. When Benoit Pecqueur talks about his latest company, he sounds less like a founder pitching a product and more like an operator who got tired of watching the same problem repeat itself. “Most small business owners are watching the AI revolution from the sidelines,” he says. “Not because they don’t want it. Because their tools don’t talk to ChatGPT or Claude. Their accountant still pulls