First Run News

Special counsel Robert Mueller has reportedly started interviewing White House officials as part of the investigation into ties between Trump campaign associates and Russia. Fox News reported Friday that retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, the chief of staff for the National Security Council, was interviewed on Thursday.

FAJARDO, P.R. — Juan Jimenez squinted into the dark lobby of his bank early Friday, thinking about the paycheck sitting in his account, just behind the locked doors. If only he could get to it. With power failures and communications outages still widespread nine days after Hurricane Maria, much of Puerto Rico has become a cash-only island for Mr. Jimenez and others who desperately need to buy food, gasoline and ice from stores that cannot run credit cards, take phone payments or process electronic government benefits. “You’re broke even if you have money,” Mr.

SAN JUAN, P.R. — In the storm-battered neighborhood of Barriada Figueroa on Friday, neighbors greeted visitors with a now-familiar question, one that was inevitably followed by a disappointing answer: “Are you FEMA?” Hurricane Maria had ripped walls and metal roofs from the brightly colored homes in this working-class neighborhood in central San Juan. Nine days after the storm hit, putrid water still lay stagnant in the streets. Aida Perez, 73, gave a tour of her house, pointing to the holes in her roof and ceiling. She said she could use a tarp. And food. And money.

SAN FRANCISCO — Google has become the latest Silicon Valley giant to become entangled in a widening investigation into how online social networks and technology products may have played a role in Russian interference in the 2016 election. On Friday evening, Google said it would cooperate with congressional inquiries into the election, days after Facebook and Twitter provided evidence to investigators of accounts on their networks that were linked to Russian groups. Google was called to testify at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Nov.

ERBIL, Iraq — The president of Iraq’s Kurdish region warned on Friday that the Kurds might be forced to retaliate if the central government persists with what his spokesman called a “very aggressive” stance toward the pro-

ERBIL, Iraq — The president of Iraq’s Kurdish region warned on Friday that the Kurds might be forced to retaliate if the central government persists with what his spokesman called a “very aggressive” stance toward the pro-

BARCELONA — Catalonia’s independence referendum is no longer about whether Catalans want statehood but whether they will be able to vote on Sunday at all. Far from the orderly vote that separatists wanted to stage, the referendum has instead turned into a covert operation to avoid a Madrid-ordered shutdown. The government of the conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has called on residents to stay home.

TERRASSA, Spain — Jordi Juanico Sabaté, a 6-foot-8 giant of a man, folded himself into a cafe chair in this Catalan city and fixed his eyes at a point on the horizon. He was thinking about Sunday, when Catalan leaders have scheduled a vote on separating from Spain.

TERRASSA, Spain — Jordi Juanico Sabaté, a 6-foot-8 giant of a man, folded himself into a cafe chair in this Catalan city and fixed his eyes at a point on the horizon. He was thinking about Sunday, when Catalan leaders have scheduled a vote on separating from Spain.

Just when it seemed that Cuba was on track to become something of a routine destination for Americans, tensions and tactics reminiscent of the Cold War have once again complicated travel to the Communist island. In a strongly worded statement issued on Friday, the State Department warned Americans “not to travel to Cuba” after news of a bizarre series of sonic attacks that have affected American and Canadian diplomats based th