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Nathan Howard/Getty Images North America/TNS

With bans and taunts, Trump escalates his assault on the media

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — Under a light rain on Sunday at the Australian ambassador's residence in Washington, CNN hosted its third annual tennis tournament, the Kangaroo Cup, pitting Beltway journalists against administration officials. The event aims to inject some levity into an historically adversarial relationship, reminding both sides of the spirit ...Read more

Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times/TNS

An eroding California beach and the fight over driving on the sand

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LOS ANGELES — For Dylan Feierabend, there are few things more life-affirming than fishing for redtail surfperch and smelt at Centerville Beach in rural Humboldt County.

His favorite spot, where the Eel River meets the Pacific Ocean, is a few miles from the main road — too far to walk with fishing poles and an ice chest in tow. He instead ...Read more

Brandon Bell/Getty Images North America/TNS

Sheriffs have 'new, possible ransom note' in Nancy Guthrie kidnapping

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Nearly eight months after Nancy Guthrie was snatched from her Arizona home, authorities believe they have uncovered a “new, possible ransom note” linked to the case.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Office provided the update on X late Monday night, though they offered few specific details on the matter. It was not clear when the note was sent, ...Read more

FBI/FBI/TNS

'Most wanted' fugitive has SoCal ties, is right-hand man to a criminal kingpin, FBI alleges

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LOS ANGELES — A man with Southern California ties who goes by the alias "Goldy Brar" and is wanted by federal agents for numerous alleged crimes including murder, extortion and drug distribution has been added to the FBI's "Most Wanted Fugitives" list.

Satinderjeet Singh, who is believed to be in his early 30s and is known to reside in ...Read more

Lula and Bolsonaro deadlocked in final week of campaign

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President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and right-wing challenger Flávio Bolsonaro are running neck and neck as Brazil’s presidential race enters its closing days, a new poll showed.

Lula and Bolsonaro would each receive roughly 48% of the vote in a runoff scenario, according to an AtlasIntel survey conducted for Bloomberg News and published ...Read more

A view of Wainwright, Alaska, which sits on low-lying coastal terrain underlain by permafrost. Ming Xiao

Arctic infrastructure was built on frozen ground – drones and digital twins can help spot the permafrost thaw coming

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From the air, Wainwright, Alaska, looks like a perfectly stable band of homes and roads between the Chukchi Sea and a vast, flat tundra. But just below the surface, the frozen ground that this town was built on contains large bodies of ice. Along the eroding coastal bluffs, that hidden ice is becoming exposed and literally melting away.

...Read more

With fuel prices at record highs, a truck driver prepares to pump diesel into a tractor trailer at a gas station in Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Oil and gas industry expected surplus – but war brought shortage instead

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In 2023, the International Energy Agency predicted that by 2028 the world’s oil companies would produce more oil than people wanted to buy. Prices responded to that and similar projections of slowing oil demand, dropping too low to attract investment for new wells and refineries.

No forecast anticipated that the Strait of Hormuz, ...Read more

People are turning to AI with life’s difficult questions and to glimpse into the future. Yuichiro Chino/Moment via Getty Images

Chatbots as oracles: How AI is giving new life to the ancient practice of seeking answers from inscrutable sources

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People are increasingly turning to AI for advice. A 2026 Pew report found that 10% of Americans are using chatbots for emotional support or companionship. Some even find a charismatic leader in AI.

More broadly, a large-scale study of 1.1 million ChatGPT conversations found that 49% of the messages involved users seeking “...Read more

Russia set to surge defense spending by 27% as war escalates

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Russia is preparing to pour more money into its war on Ukraine, boosting planned military spending next year by more than a quarter as the costs of the intensifying conflict mount and both sides strike deeper into each other’s territory.

The government’s new draft budget sets military spending at 17.1 trillion rubles ($202 billion) in 2027,...Read more

Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images North America/TNS

Iran officials pessimistic about US deal before midterms

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Iranian officials have privately expressed pessimism about reaching a deal to end hostilities with Washington and reopen the Strait of Hormuz before U.S. midterm elections in November, according to people familiar with the matter.

Iran and the U.S. made little progress during talks in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General ...Read more

Graham Hughes/Pool/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Quebec separatists near power with plan for vote on breaking up Canada

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The likely return to power of a separatist political party in Quebec is set to create a new challenge for Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, just as he tries to hold the country together in the midst of a trade war with the U.S.

Residents of the French-speaking region will vote on Oct. 5, and surveys show they’re poised to choose the Parti ...Read more

Santa Ana Police Department/TNS

Incredibly venomous African viper is loose in SoCal neighborhood, police say

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LOS ANGELES — Somehow, a Gaboon viper — whose home is the tropics of central and western Africa — was on the loose Monday in a Southern California neighborhood, police say.

The sighting of the extremely venomous viper, which has the longest fangs of any snake in the world, spurred the Santa Ana Police Department to issue a public advisory...Read more

Tiffany Tompkins/Bradenton Herald/TNS

Toxic mounds triggered a crisis in Florida. What's the state of cleanup?

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PINEY POINT, Fla. — The end may finally be near for cleanup of a toxic industrial site that triggered a public emergency and environmental crisis on Florida’s Gulf Coast five years ago.

Piney Point, an abandoned fertilizer processing plant in northern Manatee County on the edge of Tampa Bay, is approaching the end of a state-supervised ...Read more

Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Voters to decide fate of state taxes this fall

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This fall, voters in at least nine states will decide whether to cut, cap or raise taxes through ballot measures that will give them a direct hand in steering state tax policy in a conservative or progressive direction.

Some states, such as California, will weigh whether to tax — or untax — their wealthiest residents. Others, such as ...Read more

Monica Herndon/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

A Pennsylvania man was detained by ICE a week after his wedding celebration. He was unexpectedly just released

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PHILADELPHIA — When Nelson Contreras-Gelves arrived at an immigration appointment in June, he worriedly "already saw myself being back in Venezuela."

The threat of deportation had loomed ever since he arrived in the United States in March 2022, surrendering at the border and requesting asylum. It hung over conversations he and Ariel Whaley ...Read more

Taylor Sisk/KFF Health News/TNS

Black lung disease remains a threat, but federal officials delay effort to address it

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OAK HILL, W.Va. — Each day at New River Health in Oak Hill, Lisa Emery finds disheartening signs of what she describes as a slow-motion repeat of the Hawks Nest Tunnel disaster.

Emery is director of New River’s Breathing Center and chair of the National Coalition of Black Lung and Respiratory Disease Clinics.

The disaster she’s reminded ...Read more

Kim Hairston/The Baltimore Sun/TNS

Nearly 300 new Maryland laws take effect Oct. 1. Here's what changes

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BALTIMORE — Nearly 300 new laws will take effect Oct. 1, changing rules for Marylanders involving housing, gun ownership, grocery pricing and other areas of daily life.

The measures were passed during the 2026 legislative session and were signed into law by Gov. Wes Moore. Some laws are entirely new, while others update existing laws.

The ...Read more

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, seen here in 2006, was the court's most prominent originalist. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Originalism: What it is, what it isn’t and why it’s the most democratic option for the Supreme Court

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The U.S. Supreme Court returns from summer break Oct. 5, 2026, and begins hearing a new year of cases.

Soon after what’s known as the “first Monday in October” among court watchers, we will start to see stories in the media about something called “originalism.”

Originalism is the judicial philosophy followed by most ...Read more

Jason Redmond/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

OpenAI pledges task force after hacking of Australia government website

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OpenAI on Tuesday apologized for its AI models breaching Australian government websites and promised to set up a new task force as part of reforms after the incident.

The San Francisco-based company said it will fund cyber defenses in Australia and help manage the risk of increasingly capable artificial intelligence, as it navigates the fallout...Read more

RENÉE C. BYER/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

Newsom vetoes bill calling for student feedback on campus protest rules

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — After dividing lawmakers and barely clearing the Legislature last month, a bill pushing for greater transparency on the implementation of campus protest rules at California’s public universities has been vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Assembly Bill 2551, authored by Assemblymember Sade Elhawary, D-Los Angeles, would have ...Read more