CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s first round of government-opposition talks has brought cautious optimism to a process intended to produce meaningful political change – but what comes next, and what is not on the formal agenda, is also drawing concern.

The White House-backed talks are intended to discuss political reforms and eventually ...Read more

Seven months after President Donald Trump first predicted that Cuba would “fall” in comments shortly after the capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro in a U.S. military raid, the prospects that regime change is coming to Cuba soon are receding.

The island’s communist leaders remain firmly in control despite unprecedented U.S. ...Read more

CHICAGO — Local DJ and rising star Omar David Panqueva, who goes by the stage name DJ TUNJO, and his husband, Santiago Páez, have been released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody on bond. But their legal fight to stay in the United States is far from over.

Panqueva, 26, and Páez, 27, of Colombia, were arrested by ICE agents ...Read more

DENVER — A female black bear attacked a man as he walked out of a laundry room at an apartment complex in the Colorado mountain community of EagleVail, state wildlife officials said.

The attack happened late Monday afternoon in the unincorporated community west of Vail in Eagle County when the man came across the bear and it swiped his arm. ...Read more

The United Arab Emirates’ decision to cut economic ties with Iran is likely to impose more pain on the Islamic Republic as it faces the loss of a vital trade link amid escalating tensions with the U.S.

As the war drags on, the U.S. is trying to ramp up economic pressure on the Islamic Republic, which an embargo from its most important partner...Read more

One light bulb. That was what electrification brought to my grandmother Mag’s two-story farmhouse in Boydton, Virginia. No one wrote down the year the rural electric cooperative workers brought the wire to her house in the late 1940s.

Newspapers celebrated rural electrification for making people’s lives better: People could run ...Read more

Sept. 15 marks the anniversary of an infamous terror attack: the 1963 bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. On that Sunday morning, members of the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist group, planted dynamite on the east side of the brown brick building.

The bomb went off in the midst of Sunday school, at 10:22 a.m...Read more

After Luigi Mangione was arrested in December 2024 in connection with the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, the internet did what it often does: It turned something serious into a joke.

Nearly two years later, on Aug. 14, 2026, Mangione pleaded guilty to federal stalking charges and admitted to shooting Thompson. He’s ...Read more

Since his return to the White House, President Donald Trump has issued over 270 executive orders.

That includes two orders issued in August 2026 addressing birthright citizenship, a subject seemingly settled by the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision. In June, the high court struck down Trump’s effort to deny citizenship to ...Read more

When survivors of trauma recount their experiences, they are often questioned because of how they relay their stories. They may have problems remembering what happened, or their memories may be jumbled or even contradictory. People hearing those stories – attorneys, reporters, healthcare workers or friends – may expect a clearer, linear ...Read more

The new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Erica Schwartz, confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Aug. 5, 2026, is only the second CDC director to face Senate confirmation. Congress adopted the process for the agency after the COVID-19 pandemic to bring more scrutiny to one of the country’s most consequential public health...Read more

WASHINGTON — The only remaining U.S. aircraft carrier patrolling the Pacific departed Asia through Singapore last week en route to the Middle East, marking the latest step in a steady drawdown of American military assets across the region.

An armada of naval forces, alongside a constellation of air-defense and missile capabilities, has been ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Council has rescinded camping bans on a dozen locations in Hollywood, Echo Park and Silver Lake at the urging of the area's council member, who called the bans ineffective in addressing homelessness.

"Displacing our neighbors from block to block, or in many cases from district to district, doesn't help ...Read more

In a clearing in the fiercely contested jungles of southern Colombia, former members of a feared militia are waiting to learn whether President Abelardo de la Espriella will let them build civilian lives, or force them back on the run.

The 86 men and 13 women are the only fighters to demobilize under the previous government’s four-year “...Read more

Oil rose for a fourth day, with no sign of progress toward a resolution of the U.S.-Iran war after almost six months of conflict.

Brent climbed toward $92 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate was near $86. U.S. President Donald Trump insisted Tuesday there were no talks ongoing with Tehran, with the status of the Strait of Hormuz still ...Read more

CHICAGO – Oscar Ortega likes to sit out on his porch in South Deering and watch cars go by. He did, at least, before the smell.

“When we moved here, my wife actually liked the scenery,” Ortega said. “It looks like a small-town scenery, you know, just a few houses, lots of trees. But then something just slapped us right in the face: the ...Read more

CHICAGO – Oscar Ortega likes to sit out on his porch in South Deering and watch cars go by. He did, at least, before the smell.

“When we moved here, my wife actually liked the scenery,” Ortega said. “It looks like a small-town scenery, you know, just a few houses, lots of trees. But then something just slapped us right in the face: the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- If all goes to plan, Jae Kim, Annie Akin and their 4-year-old son will soon be residents of Portugal. By then, the San Francisco family will have had their birth certificates notarized, had European officials record their fingerprints and transferred half a million Euros into an international investment fund.

Kim and Akin are ...Read more

The U.S. started collecting tariffs last Saturday on imported quartz slabs used for countertops, backsplashes and bathroom tiles, dividing the industry among opponents who warn of added consumer strains and backers who argue the protections will create jobs.

Some foreign-produced quartz will be subject to a levy ranging from 19% and 50% over ...Read more

About 200,000 low-income Arkansans could see major changes to their health coverage next year after the Trump administration recently informed state officials it will not renew a key Medicaid agreement with the federal government.

The decision by federal officials, citing authority granted under President Donald Trump’s signature tax-and-...Read more