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Putin to seek reelection as Kremlin culture war rallies voters

Current News / News & Features /

The Kremlin is rallying support for Vladimir Putin’s election to a fifth presidential term by pitching him as the defender of traditional Russian values against the “liberal” West, as the war in Ukraine grinds on with no resolution in sight.

Putin said he’ll run for another six-year term at a meeting with participants in a military ...Read more

Ukraine backs changes to anti-corruption law sought by EU

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Ukraine’s premier hailed parliament’s approval of changes to anti-graft and minorities legislation requested by the European Union as the country strives to open accession talks with the bloc.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, last month recommended a start to negotiations on opening Kyiv’s membership bid once the ...Read more

'Coolio-style hair': LAPD union official's column sparks backlash and debate

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Hours into a standoff with a barricaded suspect in northeast Los Angeles earlier this year, a Black officer said he was cornered by a white lieutenant who berated him for sporting a beard that was longer than permitted by LAPD regulations.

"This department is accepting anything now," the lieutenant said, according to a complaint filed in the ...Read more

How an LA marriage fraud scheme helped over 300 people obtain green cards

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It was a midsummer day in 2021 when Engilbert Ulan met with a newlywed couple in Los Angeles to help them prepare for questions they expected to face from United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The husband, a 53-year-old foreign national, had begun the process of applying for a green card and needed to pass an interview scheduled ...Read more

At COP28, countries debate if they should phase out fossil fuels

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The COP28 climate talks in Dubai are entering their second and final week with delegations positioning themselves on either side of a clearly drawn battle line: whether or not they can commit to phasing out fossil fuels.

The issue has become the most contentious at the largest-ever annual United Nations summit. The approval on the first day ...Read more

Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Kevin McCarthy uses PAC to lavish cash on high-end resorts, private jets and fine dining

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LOS ANGELES — Rambling above the rust-colored cliffs of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, the Terranea Resort is known for its ocean views, world-ranked spa and villas that can command $3,000 a night or more.

The property is less well known as a gathering spot for federal elected officials and the campaign donors they wine and dine.

But one ...Read more

Chris Saunders/FX/TNS

How the lavish hotel in 'Murder at the End of the World' evolves into a futuristic fortress

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“A Murder at the End of the World” is a complexly constructed series, hopping between two timelines and uncovering several mysteries. Its sets, by production designer Alex DiGerlando, were equally complicated.

The FX on Hulu series follows author, hacker and amateur investigator Darby Hart (Emma Corrin) to a remote hotel in Iceland, where ...Read more

Private timberland from Washington to California lost billions in value due to wildfires

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A new study from Oregon State University estimates that wildfire and drought caused $11.2 billion in economic losses to privately owned timberland in California, Oregon and Washington over the past two decades.

The study, which analyzed sales of private timberland over 17 years along with wildfire and drought data, found that most of the losses...Read more

Hector Amezcua/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

California forces migrant farmworker students to move every year. 'We need to survive'

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LODI, Calif. — The Harney Lane Migrant Housing Center in Lodi hasn’t changed much since Lorena Perez Guzman arrived in 1998.

Most afternoons, work pants still hang on the clothes lines, dusty boots rest on doormats and children playfully run across the grass between the units. The center has been renovated over the years, but the overall ...Read more

DNCC/Getty Images North America/TNS

Hunter Biden charged with tax crimes in LA

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LOS ANGELES — Hunter Biden, the president’s son, was indicted Thursday in Los Angeles on several federal tax charges, marking the start of a second criminal case that will proceed during his father’s reelection campaign.

Biden, who resides in Malibu, was accused of failing to pay his taxes on time from 2016 to 2019, filing false and ...Read more

MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

US won't rule out military action against Houthis in Yemen, official says

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WASHINGTON — A top White House official said the U.S. won’t rule out the possibility of strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen, which have been blamed for targeting commercial ships, while it focuses now on sanctions and security at sea.

“We have certainly not ruled out the possibility of taking military action — we reserve that right,�...Read more

Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Statue of controversial USC founder removed from campus

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LOS ANGELES — A statue of a University of Southern California founder whose connection to groups that carried out extralegal lynchings raised questions about the statue's placement was removed last month for routine maintenance, university officials said.

Judge Robert Widney was one of the USC's founders, and since 2014 an 8-foot bronze ...Read more

YONATHAN SINDEL/POOL/AFP/AFP/TNS

Netanyahu threatens to devastate Beirut if Hezbollah enters war

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened devastation in Beirut and southern Lebanon if Hezbollah opens a second front in Israel’s war with Hamas.

“If Hezbollah decides to open an all-out war, then with its own hands it will turn Beirut and southern Lebanon, which are not far from here, into Gaza and Khan Yunis,” Netanyahu said.

...Read more

K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

UNLV gunman had 'target list,' sheriff says

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LAS VEGAS — Police identified a former business professor unaffiliated with UNLV as the gunman who opened fire on the university’s campus, killing three faculty members and injuring a fourth.

Anthony Polito, 67, had been turned down multiple times from positions at Nevada universities, Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill said during a press...Read more

San Luis Obispo County Sheriff/ZUMA Wire/TNS

Inmate who allegedly stabbed Paul Flores in prison is charged with attempted murder

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SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — The inmate who stabbed Paul Flores, the convicted killer of Kristin Smart, has been charged with attempted murder and assault, according to a news release from the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office.

On Aug. 23, Flores, 46, was sent to the hospital in “serious condition” after he was stabbed in the neck ...Read more

Tyger Williams/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Former Philly labor leader John Dougherty found guilty in embezzlement trial, his second felony conviction in as many years

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PHILADELPHIA — A federal jury on Thursday found John Dougherty guilty on embezzlement charges, delivering his second felony conviction in as many years and casting a devastating blow to his legacy as one of the region’s most transformative labor leaders.

The panel of seven women and five men took roughly 14 hours over three days to conclude...Read more

Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Debate over controversial homeless encampment boils over in wake of fatal shooting

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CHICAGO — After weeks of the ward’s alderman asking Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration to remove a West Loop homeless encampment struggling with safety issues, a man was shot and killed Thursday, adding fuel to an already contentious debate.

Officers responded to the intersection of North Clinton Street and West Lake Street at 12:50 a...Read more

MADISON COUNTY SHERIFF/TNS

Lori Vallow Daybell, convicted of killing her children in Idaho, pleads not guilty to Arizona charges of conspiracy to kill ex-husband and other relative

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“Doomsday Mom” Lori Vallow Daybell pleaded not guilty Thursday to two charges in Arizona, including conspiracy to kill her ex-husband.

Vallow Daybell, 50, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in Idaho for killing her two children and conspiring to kill her current husband’s ex-wife.

In Arizona, she’s accused of scheming with ...Read more

DNCC/Getty Images North America/TNS

Hunter Biden charged with tax crimes in LA

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LOS ANGELES — Hunter Biden, the president’s son, was indicted Thursday in Los Angeles on several federal tax charges, marking the start of a second criminal case that will proceed during his father’s reelection campaign.

Biden, who resides in Malibu, was accused of failing to timely pay his taxes from 2016 to 2019, one count of tax ...Read more

News briefs

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Congress takes holiday decorating seriously. This year it caused an outcry

Since its inception in 2019, the holiday decorating contest in the Longworth House Office Building has been plagued by “skullduggery” and “holiday espionage,” to borrow phrases from two of its founders.

From stolen nutcrackers to deflated snowmen, members of ...Read more