The U.S. government has notified Congress of its plans to pay $850 million of the several billion it owes to the United Nations, the largest payment the Trump administration would make to the world body since it demanded sweeping reforms in exchange for continued support as its largest donor.

The State Department laid out its plans to transfer $725 million as part of its dues to the regular U.N. budget and $125 million toward U.N. peacekeeping operations in Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to notifications sent to lawmakers this month and obtained by The Associated Press.

The U.S. is behind on about $5 billion in dues related to its U.N. membership, with more than $2 billion owed toward the regular budget and $3 billion for peacekeeping operations, the United Nations says.

A federal appeals court has permanently banned Donald Trump's chief prosecutor in New York from investigations targeting the attorney general who beat him in court, ruling his appointment "unlawful."

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 Friday that John A. Sarcone III, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York, was never lawfully in his post.

The ruling bars Sarcone from both cases brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James that Trump has tried to reverse through the Justice Department — the civil fraud case against the Trump Organization and a separate case against the National Rifle Association.

Log Cabin Republicans, a leading organization for gay conservatives, will no longer advocate for transgender people, a significant break within the LGBTQ movement as the GOP makes opposition to trans rights a political and policy priority.

The influential group added support for transgender issues to its platform more than a decade ago amid growing cultural acceptance. But Log Cabin Republicans President Ross Hemminger told CNN that in recent years his members have grown increasingly uncomfortable with the focuses of the trans community, including gender-affirming care for minors and the participation of trans girls and women in sports.

A U.S. judge on Aug. 21 struck down a Trump administration policy suspending the issuance of immigrant visas to applicants from 75 countries, saying that the policy exceeded Secretary of State Marco Rubio's statutory authority.

U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas in Manhattan said the policy that the State Department announced in January was "patently unlawful" and ran afoul of federal immigration law, which explicitly stripped the secretary of state of authority over consular officers' processing of immigrant visas.

"The Policy, which categorically prohibits the issuance of immigrant visas based upon the nationality of the applicant, represents a direct abrogation of this statutory scheme," Vargas wrote.

The United States imposed 50% tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian products early Saturday, and Canada immediately said it would retaliate, after last-ditch negotiations failed to resolve the latest strain in already tense relations between the historic allies.

Donald Trump’s import taxes will hit about 5% of what Canada ships to the United States every year, including products ranging from hockey sticks to tongue depressors.

“Canada will match those tariffs dollar for dollar to protect our workers and businesses,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement. The retaliation escalates the trade conflict and calls into question the future of a North American trade pact between the United States, Canada and Mexico that is crucial to industry in all three countries.

Authorities believe handguns found in forest near Berlin were ⁠to be used ⁠to ​carry out assassinations for Russian intelligence, Sueddeutsche reports

German security authorities discovered handguns stashed in ⁠a forest near Berlin last year that they believe were ⁠to be used ⁠to ​carry out assassinations on behalf of Russian intelligence, Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on ⁠Friday.

The Russian embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The ⁠newspaper’s report, published jointly with the broadcasters NDR and ​WDR on Friday, ‌cited unspecified ‌sources as saying that one suspect had been ‌arrested in Romania and may have been responsible for setting up the weapons storage.

Not sure about grabbing that beer? You're not alone. Americans are reaching for alcohol at record lows, according to a new Gallup survey.

The survey, out Aug. 20, found the number of Americans who say they drink alcohol sits at 54% for the second consecutive year − and health concerns appear to be a major factor.

"Fifty-one percent of U.S. adults now believe drinking one or two alcoholic beverages a day is bad for one’s health," the survey results noted. "The figure is essentially unchanged from last year’s record-high 53%."

In 2001, only 27% considered moderate drinking bad for one’s health, according to Gallup.

Donald Trump’s director of legislative affairs is expected to depart the White House in the coming weeks, a Trump administration official told CNN on Wednesday.

James Braid has served as the president’s top liaison between the West Wing and Capitol Hill throughout Trump’s second term. His plans to leave the role less than three months before the midterm elections could complicate any final legislating the White House has planned.

The official told CNN Braid is expected to take on a new role in the private sector.

Braid has been crucial to the White House’s lobbying efforts in Congress, specifically in wrangling lawmakers to get behind Trump’s more controversial legislative agenda items.

The United States has demanded that Cuba open up to private investment, and Cuba has passed sweeping reforms to encourage just that. So Cuba’s U.N. ambassador says he wants to know why Washington keeps piling on sanctions that stymie the very economic opening it has sought for decades.

Ambassador Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, in an interview this week with The Associated Press, directed his question to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the main architect of the Trump administration’s Cuba policy:

“What are you afraid of? If you are so convinced that the Cuban government is an incompetent government, why do you need to implement almost every two weeks new sanctions?”

Hundreds of Lindsay Clancy supporters, many wearing pink clothing emblazoned with phrases such as “Believe,” “She Needed Help” and “Peace For Lindsay,” gathered Thursday outside the courthouse where she is on trial in the killings of her three children.

Several of the 300 women, and a few men, said Clancy’s story resonated with them and that they wanted to raise awareness about how the mental health system treats women. Clancy’s lawyer does not dispute that she killed the children, but says she should not be held criminally responsible because she was mentally ill.

Department of Justice plan raises questions over its ability to recruit so many people – and what they would do

Former officials and voting rights experts have expressed skepticism over a pledge by the Trump administration to dispatch 1,000 monitors across the country to scrutinize November’s US midterm elections.

While the Department of Justice (DoJ) has expressed hope that the operation will be the largest in its history, its plan raised questions over its ability to recruit so many people – and what they would do.

The US president has repeatedly denied the results of election defeats, including his 2020 loss in the presidential election to Joe Biden, and in recent months has escalated concerns that he will seek to meddle in November’s elections.

Omaha police agreed this week to stop carrying gloves that can deliver electric shocks to students in the halls of Nebraska’s largest public school district.

The decision affecting most Omaha middle and high schools came after The Associated Press first revealed Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s plan to give officers the gloves, which are known as G.L.O.V.E.s or Generated Low Output Voltage Emitters. The devices have also been used in recent years by some jails.

Omaha Superintendent Matthew Ray requested that police working in the schools, known as school resource officers, stop using the gloves. Omaha Police agreed.