First Run News

Patriots from coast to coast draped themselves in clothing made up of the stars and stripes to celebrate the Fourth of July. It is a day that traditionally rises above partisan rancor, and maybe needed more this year than it has been in a while. Flags, parades, beaches and fireworks are the hallmark images of Independence Day. On the 241st anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, these photographs remind us that above all we are still one nation, united.

Swimmers and picnickers headed to New Jersey state beaches that reopened on Tuesday after a three-day government shutdown, even as Trenton insiders and beach-chair pundits began discussing the winners and losers in the budget standoff that ended with a deal late Monday night. Richard J. Codey, a Democratic state senator who served as acting governor from 2004 to 2006, said Gov.

ALDERSON, W.Va. — In normal times, the Fourth of July parade is a fat pitch down the middle for the grinning politician.

DETROIT — After a prolonged recovery that culminated in two years of record sales, the American auto industry is slowing down, with fewer buyers in dealer showrooms and fewer workers on the factory floor. Automakers said this week that sales dropped in June for a sixth consecutive month, falling by 3 percent from a year ago, a trend that analysts do not see letting up anytime soon.

WARSAW — Polish officials are bragging: On President Trump’s way to the Poland first, choosing it over more powerful American allies like Germany, France or Britain. “We have a new success, Trump’s visit,” Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the head of the governing party and Poland’s true power broker, said in a speech last week. Mr. Trump’s visit, he said, is causing other European countries to “envy” Poland. That remains to be seen. Mr.

SEOUL, South Korea — The Trump administration on Tuesday confirmed North Korea’s claim that it had launched an intercontinental ballistic missile, and it told Pyongyang that the United States would use “the full range of capabilities at our disposal against the growing threat.” The administration followed up that warning on Wednesday morning with a joint military exercise in which United States and South Korean forces fired ballistic missiles in the waters along the Korean Peninsula’s east coast. But

SEOUL, South Korea — The top American general in South Korea said Wednesday that self-restraint was all that kept the United States and South Korea from going to war with North Korea, as the South’s defense minister indicated that the North’s first intercontinental ballistic missile had the potential to reach Hawaii. The unusually blunt warning, from Gen. Vincent K.