Trump administration officials and allies are rallying to the president's defense, trying to contain the fallout from an explosive new book that questions Trump's fitness for office.

Chief policy adviser Stephen Miller, in a combative appearance Sunday on CNN, described the book as "nothing but a pile of trash through and through."

Sean Penn and Leonardo DiCaprio used the eighth annual benefit for the J/P Haitian Relief Organization to publicly praise each other's philanthropic work.

DiCaprio was the guest of honor at the $15,000-a-plate dinner Saturday night at Milk Studios, which raised more than $3.5 million for Penn's Haitian Relief Organization and its nonprofit partners.

Plainly agitated by a new book portraying him as dysfunctional, President Donald Trump is bemoaning his country's "very weak" libel laws and making the case that he's "like, really smart" and, indeed, a "very stable genius."

Trump defense of his mental fitness in a series of tweets was a singular episode in a presidency rife with moments unlike any that have come before in that office.

Syrian government forces and allied militiamen are advancing on the largest remaining rebel-held territory in the country's north, forcing thousands of civilians to flee toward the border with Turkey in freezing winter temperatures.

Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said overnight that U.S. President Donald Trump's "hopes" that the protests in Iran will snowball and lead to regime change or chaos will be dashed along with the hopes of "the Israelis and Saudis."

In his first comments since protests in Iran broke out, Nasrallah said protesters with legitimate grievances have been exploited by political factions who attached political slogans to their protests.

As Iranians take to the streets in the biggest demonstrations in nearly a decade, residents of the increasingly tense capital say they sympathize with the protesters' economic grievances and anger at official corruption.

The Associated Press spoke to Iranians in Tehran on Tuesday, the sixth day of protests that have seen at least 21 people killed and hundreds arrested across the country. The protests, which have erupted in several cities, are the largest since those that followed the disputed 2009 presidential election.

Acknowledging his push to broker peace in the Middle East has stalled, President Donald Trump on Tuesday appeared to threaten to cut off U.S. aid money to the Palestinian Authority, asking why the U.S. should make "any of these massive future payments" when the Palestinians are "no longer willing to talk peace."

Trump, in a pair of tweets, said the U.S. pays "the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect."

Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid al-Yaacoub has presented a copy of his credentials to Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil in preparation for presenting them to President Michel Aoun, ending a diplomatic tussle over presentation with each country delaying accreditation of the other's diplomat.

Yaacoub presented his letters of credence to Bassil at the Foreign Ministry, the State-run National News Agency reported on Tuesday.

Iran has seen its largest anti-government protests since the disputed presidential election in 2009, with thousands taking to the streets in several cities in recent days.

Travel restrictions and moves by the government to shut down social media networks have limited the ability of journalists to cover the ongoing unrest, which reportedly has killed at least 13 people. Here's what we know so far:

Bone-chilling cold gripped much of the central U.S. as 2018 began Monday, breaking century-old records, icing over some New Year's celebrations and leading to at least two deaths attributed to exposure to the elements.

The National Weather Service issued wind chill advisories covering a vast area from South Texas to Canada and from Montana and Wyoming through New England. Dangerously low temperatures enveloped much of the Midwest, yet didn't deter hundreds of people from ringing in the new year by jumping into Lake Michigan.