First Run News

BEIRUT, Lebanon — American-backed forces have begun an assault on Raqqa, the Islamic State’s hub in northern Syria, and signs are that they could capture the long-sought target with relative ease. Yet the militant group’s commanders, who have already withdrawn their toughest forces from the city, and most everyone else in Syria’s multifaceted war are looking ahead to an even more decisive battle in the south. There, a complex confrontation is unfolding, with far more geopolitical import and risk.

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Images and reports from witnesses in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa suggest that the United States-led coalition battling the Islamic State there has used munitions loaded with white phosphorus, the use of which in populated areas is prohibited under international law. Photographs and video clips posted online showed blinding spots of light spreading outward on Thursday night over what residents said was eastern Raqqa.

As more details emerge about the first-ever charges of female genital mutilation in the United States, the case is opening a window onto a small immigrant community, while stirring impassioned discussion about genital cutting among women who have experienced it. At a hearing in Michigan this

LONDON — It was a scathing put-down. “He can lead a protest, I’m leading the country,” Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain said about the leader of the opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn. Over the past seven weeks, Mr. Corbyn led the protest of his life. As Mrs. May faltered, stumbling her way toward an election she herself had called, the veteran left winger and serial campaigner turned his party into a movement. Even in his own party, many derided Mr.

LONDON — Prime Minister Theresa May of a major setback in the country’s election on Thursday, on Saturday let go her top two aides, who had earned reputations for secrecy and arrogance. The aides, Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy, Mrs.

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Jeff Sessions told Congress on Saturday that he would testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday about issues related to Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. Mr. Sessions had been scheduled to testify before other committees about the Justice Department’s budget that day, but he will instead appear before the intelligence panel. Mr. Sessions said he would send Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, to testify about the department’s budget before the House and Senate appropriations panels. Mr.

WASHINGTON — James B. Comey’s testimony on Thursday that he orchestrated the disclosure of his account of his discussions with President Trump has raised questions about the ethical and legal implications of his actions. “My judgment was, I needed to get that out into the public square,” said Mr. Comey, whom Mr. Trump fired last month as F.B.I. director. “And so I asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with a reporter. Didn’t do it myself, for a variety of reasons.

It was the testimony of a once-obscure former law enforcement official. Before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. At 10 in the morning. On a workday. Not your usual ratings gold. No matter. Roughly 19.5 million Americans tuned in on Thursday to watch James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, unspool the tale of his awkward, unsettling and, at times, ethically questionable encounters with President Trump. That is about the same number of people who watched Game 2 of this week’s N.B.A.

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Friday accused James B. Comey, the fired F.B.I. director, of lying under oath to Congress, saying he would gladly provide sworn testimony disputing Mr. Comey’s charge that the president forced him out because of his handling of the investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible collusion with Russia. Mr. Trump asserted that the comments on Thursday by Mr.

WASHINGTON — Lost in the showdown between President Trump and James B. Comey that played out this past week was a chilling threat to the United States. Mr. Comey, the former director of the F.B.I., testified that the Russians had not only intervened in last year’s election, but would try to do it again. “It’s not a Republican thing or Democratic thing — it really is an American thing,” Mr.