Novartis paid Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen more than $1 million for work he was unable to do, company says  —  Drug giant Novartis paid President Donald Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen more than $1 million for work that he actually ended up being “unable” to do, the company said Wednesday.

New York Times slams AWOL Pompeo, then learns he was rescuing Americans  —  As the New York Times was bashing Mike Pompeo for being missing in action while President Trump tore up the Iran nuclear deal, it turned out the secretary of state was busy rescuing three Americans who have been held captive in North Korea.

Top takeaways from the first big primary of 2018  —  Republicans can exhale now.  —  Convicted coal magnate Don Blankenship's surprise third-place finish in Tuesday's West Virginia GOP Senate primary sidestepped yet another debacle for the party after consecutive meltdowns in special elections in Alabama and Pennsylvania.

‘She Should Have Fought Back.  Other People Did’: Inside Gina Haspel's Black Site … Ahead of her Senate reckoning, Gina Haspel's defenders in U.S. intelligence circles have adopted the fallback position that she'll be a check on Donald Trump as his CIA director.

Hours into his new job, Trump's ambassador to Germany offends his hosts … BERLIN — For the past year, German officials have been urging their U.S. counterparts to send a new ambassador to Berlin.  But after finally receiving one, many may be having second thoughts.

Trump makes it explicit: Negative coverage of him is fake coverage … A generous interpretation of President Trump's views on “fake” news is that he believes that media outlets are overly quick to be critical of his decisions and his administration.  In other words, he applies an overly broad term …

Mr. Drumpf, Your Newest Nightmare Is A Website Called ResistanceHole  —  Hey, Drumpf (a.k.a. President Donald Trump), don't get too cozy in the White House, because there is a new website that wants to kill you.  It's called ResistanceHole, and it's your new worst nightmare.

There is no Plan B on Iran  —  The Trump administration has no Plan B on Iran beyond “not Plan A.”  —  In American foreign policy circles, the worst insult one can lob at someone is to call them naive in their thinking.  International relations is a cold, hard business …

Risk to intelligence source who aided Russia investigation at center of latest showdown between Nunes and Justice Dept.  —  Last Wednesday, senior FBI and national intelligence officials relayed an urgent message to the White House: Information being sought by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes …

Is Krystal Ball's PAC a fresh approach or a get-rich scheme?  —  A new Democratic group — one with support from Democratic congressmen and three of the biggest names in the tech industry — is testing the boundary between a new approach to politics and a self-enriching scam.

Mormon Church breaks all ties with Boy Scouts, ending 100-year relationship … The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said Tuesday it will sever all ties with the Boy Scouts of America, ending a century-old tradition deeply ingrained in the religious life of Mormon boys.

Black student reported to YPD for napping in dormitory common room  —  Yale Police officers on Monday evening interrogated a black graduate student, Lolade Siyonbola GRD '19, for more than 15 minutes, after a white graduate student reported Siyonbola to the police for sleeping in the HGS common room.

Rachel Crooks, who accused Trump of sexually assaulting her, wins uncontested Ohio House primary … Rachel Crooks, one of at least 19 women who have publicly accused President Trump of sexual assault, won an uncontested primary Tuesday for a seat in the Ohio state House of Representatives, her campaign manager confirmed.

NYC lunch spots are killing off the chopped salad  —  That staple of New York City lunch hour, the chopped salad, has been, well, chopped.  —  Just Salad, with 20 Manhattan locations, is the latest chain to do away with chopped-on-demand greens.  You'll just have to chew.

Big Donors Form New Alliance to Seize House From Republicans  —  Major Democratic donors in New York have discreetly formed a new political alliance to raise roughly $10 million that would be injected into as many as two dozen key House battlegrounds in an effort to wrest control of Congress from Republicans.

A Duke University VP Walked Into the Campus Joe Van Gogh, Heard a Rap Song, Demanded That the Employees Be Fired  —  On Monday, two employees of Duke University's Joe Van Gogh location had their contracts terminated after vice president for student affairs Larry Moneta and executive director …

When Everything Is Possible and Nothing Is True  —  Hannah Arendt proves indispensable in understanding the Trump era.  —  One of my favorite stories about Winston Churchill goes like this. … Unfortunately, the story is what we would now call fake news.

Pretty Loud For Being So Silenced  —  Critics of the left aren't oppressed and they don't believe in “rational debate.”  —  Irony can be a difficult concept to grasp, but some hypothetical examples can illustrate it clearly.  It would be ironic, for instance, if people who claimed …

Coal Collapsing Faster Under Trump; Wind, Solar, Gas All Benefit  —  Contributor From Chicago, I write about green technology, energy, environment.  Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. … More coal plants are now projected to retire more quickly than experts thought …