First Run News

WASHINGTON — Let’s just get this out of the way: There are other matters of consequence going on in the world. But in these fractious times, a series of puppy photos sent by none other than the fun-loving scamps at the Central Intelligence Agency qualifies as a feel-good, stick-it-to-the-man moment, shared by thousands of people who are marooned in office jobs.

The declarations of victory played out across Iraq and Syria: The long campaigns to retake city after city from Islamic State militants had come to an end. But the hard-won battles left vast destruction in their wake, and the celebrations from atop the rubble of once-grand buildings are ringing hollow for hundreds of thousands of displaced residents. Iraqis and Syrians return to cities that are ghosts of their former glory, lacking the infrastructure for normal life to begin again.

BEIRUT, Lebanon — American-backed forces have barely begun to clear the land mines from Raqqa after pushing the Islamic State from the city, the de facto capital of its self-declared caliphate. But the militants’ defeat there is already setting the stage for a new round of conflict and instability in Syria’s long civil war. Fleeing jihadists are already regrouping in remote areas, rearming with the help of desert smugglers.

The Los Angeles police are investigating a woman’s claim that she was raped by Harvey Weinstein, the former movie mogul, who is already under investigation in New York and London for alleged sexual assaults in those cities. “The Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery Homicide Division has interviewed a potential sexual assault victim involving Harvey Weinstein, which allegedly occurred in 2013,” a department spokesman, Officer Sal Ramirez, said. Because the case is under investigation, he said, there was “no further information at this time.” On Oct.

Quentin Tarantino, the Hollywood director most closely tied to Harvey Weinstein, has known for decades about the producer’s alleged misconduct toward women and now feels ashamed he did not take a stronger stand and stop working with him, he said in an interview. “I knew enough to do more than I did,” he said, citing several episodes involving prominent actresses. “There was more to it than just the normal rumors, the normal gossip. It wasn’t secondhand. I knew he did a couple of these things.” “I wish I had taken responsibility for what I heard,” he added.

RICHMOND, Va. — Former President Barack Obama, returning to the campaign trail on Thursday for the first time since leaving the White House, issued an unexpectedly stinging attack on the immigration-focused campaign of the Republican candidate for Virginia governor. Seeking to lift the candidacy of Lt. Gov. Ralph S. Northam, the Democratic nominee for governor, Mr.

Neither of them mentioned President Trump by name but two of his predecessors emerged from political seclusion on Thursday to deliver what sounded like pointed rebukes of the current occupant of the Oval Office and the forces of division that propelled him to power. In separate and unrelated appearances, former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama both warned that the United States was being torn apart by ancient hatreds that should have been consigned to history long ago and called for addressing economic anxiety through common purpose. While not directly addressing Mr.

Neither of them mentioned President Trump by name but two of his predecessors emerged from political seclusion on Thursday to deliver what sounded like pointed rebukes of the current occupant of the Oval Office and the forces of division that propelled him to power. In separate and unrelated appearances, former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama both warned that the United States was being torn apart by ancient hatreds that should have been consigned to history long ago and called for addressing economic anxiety through common purpose. While not directly addressing Mr.

WASHINGTON — Mitch McConnell and Lamar Alexander go way back. The two Southern Republicans met in Washington in 1969 when Mr. Alexander was a promising young aide at the Nixon White House and Mr. McConnell an up-and-coming legislative assistant to Senator Marlow W. Cook of Kentucky. The story goes that Senator Howard H. Baker Jr. suggested to Mr.

WASHINGTON — Almost no one on or off Capitol Hill has seen the tax overhaul bill that Republicans are drafting behind closed doors. Congressional staff members have not settled on many key details.