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Trump plans for Board of Peace to meet in Washington this month

Current News / News & Features /

The U.S. plans to convene the first formal meeting of President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace in Washington on Feb. 19, according to a U.S. official.

The board was a core element of Trump’s 20-point plan that helped broker a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas in October. Trump led the initial gathering of the group’s members �...Read more

Liz Rymarev/The Dallas Morning News/TNS

San Bernardino County reports first measles case since 2023 as U.S. infections continue to climb

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Health officials in San Bernardino County, California, have confirmed the first case of measles in the county since 2023.

The county's Department of Public Health said the case involves an unvaccinated child who was visiting from another state, and is unrelated to the recent case of an international traveler who visited a Disney park.

The ...Read more

NICK PALEOLOGOS/SOOC/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Zelenskyy says US looks for deal ending Russia's war by June

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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the U.S. is proposing to finish all necessary negotiations to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in June.

“The Americans are proposing that the parties end the war by the beginning of this summer,” Zelenskyy told reporters in a briefing late Friday.

“We understand that American internal ...Read more

Scott Olson/Getty Images North America/TNS

TrumpRx is launched: How it works and what Democrats say about it

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The White House's TrumpRx website went live Thursday with a promise to instantly deliver prescription drugs at "the lowest price anywhere in the world."

"This launch represents the largest reduction in prescription drug prices in history by many, many times, and it's not even close," President Trump said at a news conference announcing the ...Read more

A choir sings traditional gospel music. Staff Sgt. Bernardo Fuller

African rhythms, ideas of sin and the Hammond organ: A brief history of gospel music’s evolution

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The enslaved Africans who first arrived in the British colony of Virginia in 1619 after being forcefully removed from their natural environments left much behind, but their rhythms associated with music-making journeyed with them across the Atlantic.

Many of those Africans came from cultures where the mother tongue was a tonal ...Read more

A school of grunts on a sunken World War II German submarine in the Atlantic Ocean off North Carolina. Karen Doody/Stocktrek Images via Getty Images

Shipwrecks teem with underwater life, from microbes to sharks

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Humans have sailed the world’s oceans for thousands of years, but they haven’t all reached port. Researchers estimate that there are some three million shipwrecks worldwide, resting in shallow rivers and bays, coastal waters and the deep ocean. Many sank during catastrophes – some during storms or after running aground, others in battle...Read more

Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times/TNS

In Minneapolis, a mournful pilgrimage of 3 death sites

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MINNEAPOLIS — The sites of the three consequential deaths span just over two miles of south Minneapolis. George Floyd in 2020, Renee Good and Alex Pretti last month.

The death of Floyd, after a police officer dug a knee into his neck for more than nine minutes, was a catalyst for the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests that sought law ...Read more

Alex Kormann/Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Border czar tells Minnesotans to stop impeding ICE. It's not always clear what that means

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MINNEAPOLIS — Tens of thousands of protesters marching with signs. A chorus of whistles shrieking to alert neighborhoods to the presence of federal agents. Parents escorting neighborhood children to school. People on street corners holding up phones to record what they see.

The overwhelming majority of the pushback against the federal ...Read more

Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Homeboy Industries to convert Monastery of the Angels into treatment facility

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LOS ANGELES — Current and former gang members have long come to Homeboy Industries to get their lives back on track, in part lured by their trust in Father Greg Boyle, a Jesuit priest who founded the nonprofit nearly 40 years ago.

At Homeboy's headquarters in Chinatown, people receive employment, tattoo removal, therapy and more. But in ...Read more

Charles McClintock Wilson/ZUMA Press Wire/TNS

UCLA fires DEI director after social media posts on Charlie Kirk's death

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LOS ANGELES — In the days after Charlie Kirk was fatally shot in September while speaking at a Utah college campus, stunned followers of his conservative movement mourned online, condemning political violence. From his Los Angeles home, Johnathan Perkins, a Black diversity, equity and inclusion director at UCLA, had a different take.

“Good ...Read more

Dow Jones Industrial average exceeds 50,000 for first time

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average broke above the 50,000 level for the first time, as investors bid up the blue-chip gauge amid optimism over the U.S. economy and corporate earnings.

The 30-member index — comprised of household names like Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Coca-Cola Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. — rose 2.5% to 50,115.67 on Friday. ...Read more

Barry Williams/New York Daily News/TNS

NY-NJ tunnel project wins court order to block funds freeze

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New York and New Jersey won a temporary court order blocking the Trump administration’s freeze on federal funds for the $16 billion Gateway tunnel under the Hudson River.

U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas on Friday granted a request by the two states for a temporary injunction restoring funding to the project while their lawsuit against ...Read more

Drew Angerer/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump removes India's 25% Russia-related tariff after deal

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump eliminated the extra 25% tariff he had imposed on Indian goods over the country’s purchases of Russian oil, the first step to cement the terms of a trade deal the two nations announced earlier this week.

“India has committed to stop directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil, has ...Read more

Barry Williams/New York Daily News/TNS

Federal judge orders Trump to restore funding to Hudson River Tunnel project

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NEW YORK — A Manhattan judge has stopped the Trump administration from freezing funding for the Hudson River Tunnel project in an 11th-hour ruling.

The order by Manhattan Federal Court Judge Jeannette Vargas granted emergency relief to New York and New Jersey, prohibiting the federal government from continuing to withhold funds. Vargas said...Read more

Sophie Park/Getty Images North America/TNS

Harvard proposes cap on A's amid worry over grade inflation

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Harvard University is proposing to limit the number of top grades awarded to undergraduate students, responding to concerns that grade inflation may weaken the meaning of a degree from the school.

The plan would cap A grades at 20% of undergraduates, with some flexibility, across courses and departments if it’s approved by faculty ahead of ...Read more

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Trump refuses to apologize after sharing racist image of the Obamas: 'I didn't make a mistake'

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Friday deleted from his social media account a video clip depicting former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes, following fierce backlash from Democrats and some Republicans who called it racist and urged the president to take it down.

The White House initially defended ...Read more

Christopher Magan/Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Hennepin County Sheriff hasn't decided how much to aid ICE, even if it helps end surge

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MINNEAPOLIS — Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt said she hasn’t decided how much to cooperate with federal officials when it comes to handing over immigrants in the country illegally who are held in the jail she oversees in downtown Minneapolis.

Witt told reporters on Friday she’s had four meetings with White House border czar Tom ...Read more

Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office/TNS

NYC Mayor Mamdani adds more homeless outreach, warming centers as 'lethal' cold weekend weather expected

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NEW YORK — As temperatures are expected to drop again into single digits over the weekend, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the city is enlisting the help of school nurses, business improvement districts and formerly homeless New Yorkers to get people out of the dangerously chilly elements.

The mayor said that, over the past three weeks, outreach ...Read more

Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Zuma Press/TNS

First-responders network faced with calls for change

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WASHINGTON — As lawmakers begin working toward a potential reauthorization of the post-9/11 program that provides emergency communications services for first-responders, they will have to navigate calls for a revamp of its structure and for more competition.

A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee is headed toward a markup Tuesday after ...Read more

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Vodka dethroned as top-selling alcohol in the US. What took its spot?

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Does your favorite cocktail these days come in a can?

In a real twist on cocktail culture, ready-to-drink cocktails, or RTDs, are now the top-selling American spirit by volume.

According to new data released by the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S., in 2025 Americans bought 85.6 million 9-liter cases of RTDs, up 17.1% from the year before....Read more