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Richard Tribou/Orlando Sentinel/TNS

SpaceX launches 1st Falcon Heavy since 2024 bringing sonic booms to Central Florida

Current News / News & Features /

Central Florida got served up a pair of sonic booms as SpaceX launched its Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time since 2024.

After scrubbing an attempt Monday because of weather, the heavy-lift rocket that is essentially three Falcon 9 boosters strapped together, shot off Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A at 10:13 a.m. on the ViaSat-3 ...Read more

ihsanyildizli/TNS/TNS

Supreme Court limits Voting Rights Act in setback for Black Democrats

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WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court's conservatives on Wednesday announced a major retreat from part of the Voting Rights Act that has forced states to elect at least some Black or Latino representatives to Congress as well as state and local boards.

In a 6-3 decision, the court ruled that creating these majority-minority districts amounts to ...Read more

Bill Clark/ZUMA Press/TNS

Supreme Court invalidates Louisiana congressional map over race

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WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court invalidated Louisiana’s congressional map Wednesday ahead of the midterm elections, in a decision that reshaped legal protections for minority voters and could lead to further redistricting nationwide.

The 6-3 decision found that Louisiana should not have been forced to draw a second congressional map with a ...Read more

FEDERICO PARRA/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Venezuelan leader's brooch during Caribbean visit sparks fight with Guyana

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What was supposed to be a solidarity visit to Caribbean nations by Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, has instead ignited a diplomatic row that risks widening divisions within the 15-member Caribbean Community bloc known as CARICOM.

Guyana’s president, Irfaan Ali, and the CARICOM secretariat on Tuesday issued separate statements...Read more

'Clearly deliberate': Gov. Ron DeSantis cuts Florida's Hispanic-majority Democratic congressional district

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A new redistricting plan Gov. Ron DeSantis wants the Legislature to approve this week eliminates Florida’s sole Hispanic-majority Democratic congressional seat, in violation of the state’s Fair Districts amendments and possibly of the U.S. Constitution.

The plan, which was submitted the day before the Legislature ...Read more

Robbin Goddard/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Mysteries surround Cole Tomas Allen and his final movements in DC attack

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Four days after Torrance teacher Cole Tomas Allen allegedly attacked the White House correspondents' dinner in Washington, some facts are clear.

Video shows him running through a security perimeter at the hotel where the event took place. Authorities allege he wrote a "manifesto" explaining his plans to shoot members of the Trump Cabinet. He ...Read more

Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Gregory Bovino finds a new mission in retirement: Trolling DHS

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CHICAGO — While leading immigration raids in Chicago last fall and other big cities after, former Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino picked regular fights on social media with protesters, Democratic public officials and the media.

Since retiring last month, however, Bovino has found a new target for posts on X: his former employers in the ...Read more

Hussein Faleh/Getty Images North America/TNS

Oil rises as US-Iran standoff threatens prolonged supply shock

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Oil rose on signals that a U.S. blockade on Iranian ports could go on for an extended period, prolonging an unprecedented supply shock that has roiled energy markets.

Brent rose near $117 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate traded around $105 a barrel. U.S. President Donald Trump has told his aides to prepare for an extended blockade and ...Read more

Hussein Faleh/Getty Images North America/TNS

Oil rises as US-Iran standoff threatens prolonged supply shock

Current News / News & Features /

Oil rose on signals that a U.S. blockade on Iranian ports could go on for an extended period, prolonging an unprecedented supply shock that has roiled energy markets.

Brent rose above $117 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate traded around $105 a barrel. U.S. President Donald Trump has told his aides to prepare for an extended blockade and ...Read more

Pool/Getty Images North America/TNS

Fortnite is refunding D4vd cosmetics after singer appears in court in murder case

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LOS ANGELES — One of the world's most popular video games, Fortnite, is offering a refund to players who bought in-game items connected to musician D4vd, who is accused of killing a 14-year-old girl.

Players of the game have called on Epic Games to remove emotes and cosmetics associated with D4vd, whose real name is David Anthony Burke. Some ...Read more

Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS

'This is like the Russian mafia': LA judge elections see unusual drama

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LOS ANGELES — One judge claims his colleagues have adopted a "gangster mentality" in order to shut him up.

Another compared the state board accusing him of serious misconduct to "the Russian mafia."

Judicial elections are usually sleepy affairs, subject to little political fanfare or interest. But two battles on the June ballot in Los ...Read more

Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

Tupac's stepbrother files wrongful death suit, cites new turns in 29-year-old murder case

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LOS ANGELES — As a trial approaches for the sole suspect charged in the slaying of Tupac Shakur, the rapper's stepbrother has filed a wrongful death lawsuit stating that for "the first time in nearly 30 years, threads are starting to come together" regarding the various parties involved in the infamous murder.

Maurice Shakur, known by his ...Read more

Kirill Kudryavtsev/Getty Images North America/TNS

Putin's WWII parade cuts tanks and missiles for use in Ukraine war

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Russia will stage its traditional May 9 parade marking the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II without heavy military equipment for the first time since 2007, as the war in Ukraine takes its toll on President Vladimir Putin’s army.

No armored vehicles or missile systems will roll across Red Square during the parade “due to the current ...Read more

Aaron Chown/Pool/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

The king charms Trump, but Starmer's US ordeal will continue

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In one legislative chamber, a British king appealed to centuries of shared history in a bid to preserve his country’s most important alliance. In another, an ocean away, a British prime minister watched his agenda get sidelined again by his past efforts to protect the U.S.-U.K. “special relationship.”

The twin scenes, playing out in ...Read more

Hussein Faleh/Getty Images North America/TNS

Oil rises with elusive outlook for US-Iran deal over Hormuz

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Oil rose as a U.S.-Iran standoff over the crucial Strait of Hormuz dragged on, prolonging an unprecedented supply shock that has roiled energy markets.

Brent rose more than 3% above $114 a barrel. In the latest escalation of rhetoric, President Donald Trump said “Iran can’t get their act together” in a social media post with an image of ...Read more

Christian Bruna/Getty Images Europe/TNS

UAE bristled at Saudis for years before Iran war tipped scales

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The United Arab Emirates’ worsening rift with Saudi Arabia was at the heart of its shock decision to quit OPEC.

The rivalry has been building for years but it was the fallout from the U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran that provided the opportunity for Tuesday’s announcement from the UAE, according to several people familiar with the matter. ...Read more

Christian Bruna/Getty Images Europe/TNS

UAE bristled at Saudis for years before Iran war tipped scales

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The United Arab Emirates’ worsening rift with Saudi Arabia was at the heart of its shock decision to quit OPEC.

The rivalry has been building for years but it was the fallout from the U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran that provided the opportunity for Tuesday’s announcement from the UAE, according to several people familiar with the matter. ...Read more

An artisanal miner holds a cobalt stone at a mine near Kolwezi, Congo, in 2022. About 20,000 people work there among toxic materials. Junior Kannah/AFP via Getty Images

The race to mine critical minerals for AI and clean energy is creating ‘sacrifice zones’ that harm water and health of world’s poor

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There is a troubling contradiction at the heart of the global transition to a cleaner, greener, tech-driven future: Modern technologies – everything from AI to wind turbines, as well as cellphones, electric vehicles and defense systems – depend on critical minerals. But many of the communities where those minerals are mined end up with ...Read more

Abel Uribe/Chicago Tribune/TNS

The Flores twins built a drug empire with El Chapo -- then betrayed him

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To build their billion-dollar drug empire, the Flores brothers worked together as a perfect machine.

Identical twins born in Chicago to Mexican immigrant parents, they could communicate without speaking — just a raised eyebrow or grunt would do.

Pedro, who went by Pete, had the smarts and discipline to manage a sprawling bi-national business...Read more

Luke Parker/Baltimore Sun/TNS

Pushback leads Homeland Security to compromise on some warehouse detention centers for immigrants

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Some of the Trump administration’s controversial new warehouse immigration detention centers are getting scaled back and postponed as states and cities fight back and new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin reviews actions taken by his ousted predecessor, Kristi Noem.

Some states and cities have seen more communication and compromise...Read more