LOS ANGELES — President Donald Trump on Thursday announced that grocery stories and air conditioning companies will be allowed to keep using high-polluting refrigerants for longer than they would have under a law he signed during his first administration.

“This was a tremendous burden, a tremendous cost,” said Trump, surrounded in the ...Read more

The 63-year-old grandaughter of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini won Italy’s version of the reality TV competition show “Celebrity Big Brother.”

Alessandra Mussolini took home $116,000 for defeating 15 contestants on her way to victory on “Grande Fratello VIP.”

“I enjoyed everything to the fullest, just as I am,” she reportedly ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Iran said the latest proposal from the U.S. partly bridged the gap between the warring sides but comments from the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader about keeping Tehran’s uranium stockpile and a dispute over tolls in the Strait of Hormuz clouded the outlook for a breakthrough.

Tehran is in the process of responding to a ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The leading killer of gray whales is not natural causes, disease or predators but human-made ship strikes.

Last year, 21 gray whales were found dead around San Francisco Bay and 40% of those were from ship collisions. This year, seven whales have already died during whale season, which peaks this month. As climate change alters ...Read more

The 2026 Atlantic hurricane season is expected to be “below normal,” largely due to an El Niño weather pattern, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

NOAA’s hurricane season outlook, released Thursday, forecasts 8 to 14 named storms, including three to six hurricanes and one to three major hurricanes.

...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he called off the signing of an executive order that would address cybersecurity concerns raised by powerful new artificial intelligence models because he objected to parts of the directive, casting doubt on U.S. efforts to respond to new risks posed by the emerging technology.

“Because I didn’t ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday broadly upheld lawsuits by U.S. companies whose property was seized in Cuba prior to 1960, including claims against cruise ship lines that docked there in the past decade.

These suits do not seek compensation from Cubans but from those who "traffic in property which was confiscated by the Cuban ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Wide swaths of Southern California are under a smoke advisory through Thursday night, as wildfires burn across the area.

According to the South Coast Air Quality Management District, onshore winds will push smoke from the Sandy fire into Los Angeles County, impacting residents along the coast and from the San Fernando Valley to ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Despite finding nearly one in five homes had excessive levels of lead, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this week claimed that recent soil testing in Altadena proved that expedited federal cleanup efforts had effectively removed toxic ash and debris from homes destroyed by the deadly Eaton fire.

Earlier this year, the ...Read more

WASHINGTON — New questions have emerged about whether President Donald Trump has lost sway with some Republican senators as they mull action related to a number of thorny foreign policy matters after they have clashed with Trump over the Iran war, the White House ballroom and his targeting of respected incumbents.

Trump’s Senate headwinds ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Iran said the latest proposal from the U.S. partly bridged the gap between the warring sides but comments from the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader about keeping Tehran’s uranium stockpile and a dispute over tolls in the Strait of Hormuz clouded the outlook for a breakthrough.

Tehran is in the process of responding to a ...Read more

In what appears to be a carefully calibrated show of force, the United States deployed the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and its accompanying strike group into Caribbean waters this week, a move that coincided with the unsealing of murder charges against former Cuban leader Raúl Castro on Wednesday and an intensifying pressure campaign by the ...Read more

In a landmark decision several years into fierce litigation, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday reversed an appeals court order that had tossed a $400 million judgment against four cruise ship companies that took passengers to Cuba and were sued for damages for “trafficking in confiscated property” by an American company owning a concession ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — A federal judge on Thursday sentenced the woman prosecutors call the “mastermind” behind the nearly $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud scheme to 41 years in prison.

Aimee Bock, 45, of Apple Valley, was convicted in March 2025 for her role at the top of what the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office called the single largest ...Read more

Walmart Inc. warned rising fuel costs are squeezing the company’s bottom line and could lead to higher prices for shoppers.

The world’s largest retailer said comparable sales in U.S. stores, excluding fuel, rose 4.1% in the latest quarter, slightly better than what Wall Street analysts were expecting. It also forecast adjusted profit for ...Read more

Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez’s decision to hand over regime financial operator Alex Saab to the United States to face corruption charges has placed all members of Venezuela’s socialist ruling movement at risk of facing the same fate, an influential hardliner claims.

Mario Silva’s comments, delivered in a video posted on social ...Read more

CHICAGO — Just five days before a jury trial was set to begin, a judge has vacated next week’s trial date for the remaining “Broadview Six” defendants amid controversy over grand jury transcripts.

No new trial date was immediately set by U.S. District Judge April Perry, who had whistled prosecutors into court to explain redactions made ...Read more

The San Diego Islamic Center is typically a bustling crossroads, with kids in school, the faithful coming to pray and others simply taking part in cultural activity.

But these days, the site is busy for another, much darker reason. The community is mourning. An ever-growing pile of bouquets of lilies, daisies and sunflowers and notes sits at ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — San Diego County religious leaders remain on edge in the wake of Monday’s deadly attack at the Islamic Center of San Diego, even as law enforcement officials said they were increasing patrols around houses of worship.

Muslims, in particular, said they felt vulnerable given that the teenage shooters targeted a mosque, violence ...Read more