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Recent Articles
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AI companies accused of copyrighted infringement
Opinion | Editorial The open letter signed by Scarlett Johansson and hundreds of other creatives didn’t land because it was polite. It landed because it said the quiet part out loud: training commercial AI systems on copyrighted work without permission is theft dressed up as inevitability. The industry has spent years insisting this was a philosophical debate about progress. It isn’t. It’s a business choice—and a corrosive one. The letter, organized through the Human Artistry Campaign, rejects the soothing language that has insulated AI companies from accountability. “Learning,” “absorption,” “transformation.” These words are doing legal work, not descriptive work. They exist to blur a simpl… |
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Gulf strikes stoke concerns of new conflict with Iran
Uncertainty hung over the survival of a fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran on Monday as a new wave of strikes on the United Arab Emirates and Oman and rumors of attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz undercut trust in the truce. The drone and missile attacks, the first since a truce ended combat earlier in April, came after the Trump administration started a wide-scale naval operation Monday to “guide” trapped maritime vessels out of the critical channel. However, concerns of a resumption of warfare have sparked yet another rise in the price of oil, which has shot up to above $114 a barrel, a level not seen since the truce over a month ago. The Gulf has trapped hundreds o… |
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Pope Leo not afraid of Trump and we should not be either
This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here. “I’m not afraid.” With these three words Sunday morning, Pope Leo XIV offered as powerful a rebuke of President Trump and everything he has wrought on the world as anyone ever has. Three words to inspire all good people to fight against Trump — because if a mild-mannered man of God such as Leo isn’t afraid, no one should be. Pope Leo’s words thrilled me as an American—becauseially as a Catholic. His quiet, confident witness since becoming pontiff in May had already reignited a spiritual light in me to adhere closer to the faith I was brought up in. Rather than cower before a despot who makes the Pharaoh in … |
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Students killed in mass attack the second school shooting in 2 days
On Wednesday, a student at a middle school in southeast Turkey opened fire on two classes, killing four people and injuring 20 others, according to an official. This was the second shooting in the nation in two days. Kahramanmaras province Gov. Mukerrem Unluer added that the gunman, who was also murdered, came to the school with firearms that are thought to have belonged to their father, who was a former police officer. The assailant had five guns and seven magazines with him. Unluer reported that the victims were a teacher and three pupils. At least four of the injured were in bad shape. It wasn't clear right away what the attack was about. The attack happened the day after a former student… |
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Catherine OHara as The Girl Who Became Our Comic Conscience
Catherine O’Hara stunned the world when she chose to walk away from Saturday Night Live. It was an incredible opportunity, one that could launch a career overnight, but she declined it. The stakes were high—she risked fading into obscurity before anyone recognized her name—yet that choice demonstrated her determination to forge her own path. She grew up in Toronto, the youngest in a large family, surrounded by the noise and warmth of siblings who never let her fade into the background. Catherine was quick to laugh, quicker to make others laugh, and she discovered early that humor was her way of connecting. She would mimic voices, invent characters, and turn ordinary afternoons into small per… |
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Los Angeles population falling which could haunt us for decades
This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here. Long the epicenter of population growth in the United States, Los Angeles is slowly losing its people because of a series of demographic shifts that experts say could have profound implications for the county if trends continue. High housing prices have led a growing number of residents to leave the region for more affordable parts of the country. Immigration — long a pipeline for population growth — has ebbed significantly under a federal crackdown. A rapidly aging population is adding to the concern over how these declines will affect the local economy. “We’ve been depending on immigrants all along to sor… |
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Energy Department Announces two Billion for Projects Strengthening Power Grid
The Department of Energy (DOE) has announced a $1.9 billion funding opportunity for projects aimed at speeding up improvements to the nation’s power grid to meet rising electricity demand while bringing down costs, the department said in a March 12 statement. The money comes from the $10.5 billion authorized for a five-year grid resilience program under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021. The funds were to be disbursed to states and electric utilities over five years. The money will help build more than 600 miles of new transmission lines and upgrade about 400 miles of existing lines so that they can carry more current. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the funding is i… |
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UFC fighting cage rises on White House lawn for US and Trump celebrations
Yet another White House construction project is under way in the United States, though this one is meant to be only temporary. Crews are erecting an octagon-shaped cage on the South Lawn that will host next month’s Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bout, marking the nation’s 250th anniversary and President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday. Online renderings depict what the completed, wire-mesh-fence-ringed fight space is expected to look like before the June 14 event. It will be ringed by a red, white and blue stage under a towering arch featuring stars-and-stripes patterns and two large screens showing the action live. The cage and stage will themselves be surrounded by thousands of temporar… |
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US says Taiwan needs to become a hornet nest of drones
Taiwan needs a “hornet’s nest” of drones to help deter conflict and provide security, says the top United States ?diplomat to the self-governing island that China claims as part of its territory. Speaking at a forum on drones in the central city of Taichung, Raymond Greene, director of the American Institute in ?Taiwan and the de facto US ambassador, said on Thursday that drones represented a “game-changing opportunity” to enhance Taiwan’s security and reinforce peace in the broader region. The US, Taiwan’s most important international backer and arms supplier despite their lack of formal diplomatic ties, has strongly supported the government’s military ?modernisation plan and increased defe… |
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How the fight for public land around Los Angeles hinges on saving one parcel at a time
Over the last year, activists have organized droves of people across the United States to protest and petition Congress over concerns that the Trump administration will sell off our most beloved outdoor spaces. We’ve worried about general threats to public lands, such as whether the 700,000-acre Angeles National Forest or the 150,000-acre Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area will remain pristine protected landscapes. We’ve also seen specific examples of what activists have cautioned could happen: a large mining operation that could open just outside Joshua Tree National Park and a large housing development proposed at the border of Yosemite National Park. And although that attenti… |
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Kristi Noem and the politics of cruelty
Kristi Noem’s defense of the ICE agent who killed Renee Nicole Good has ignited one of the most explosive political firestorms of her career. Her remarks—branding Good a “domestic terrorist” and standing behind a podium emblazoned with a Nazi-era slogan—have drawn condemnation from lawmakers, activists, and ordinary citizens who see her as emblematic of authoritarian excess. The controversy is not a passing headline; it is a defining moment that reveals the deeper instincts of a politician who has built her career on toughness, loyalty, and spectacle, but who now finds herself accused of weaponizing cruelty into policy. The reaction to her stance has been visceral because it touches a raw ne… |
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Woman Killed by Police After She Stabs Young Boy at Walmart
Omaha police shot and killed a woman on Tuesday after they say she seized a 3-year-old kid at a Walmart and slashed him with a knife. The police named her Noemi Guzman and said she was 31 years old. According to WOWT, police say she stole a big knife from a store, accosted the boy and his guardian, and then had the guardian go ahead as she pushed the cart into the parking lot. Deputy Chief Scott Gray says she "took the child, which is basically kidnapping the child." Police claim the two ladies "talked back and forth" for a few minutes before officers got to the scene after getting a 911 call. Police said that officers told Guzman to drop the knife many times. According to the AP, Gray then … |
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Spielberg and Coppola and Lucas is the toxic friendship that built modern Hollywood
A new book captures how Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg went from allies to rivals, driving a filmmaking revolution in the process. By Patrick Smith Removed from bookmarks I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice George Lucas should have died. It was 1962; the 17-year-old had just crashed his yellow Autobianchi convertible into a walnut tree, in Modesto, California. The car rolled, bounced and came to rest – it was “beyond mangled, flipped upside down and twisted like a crushed Coke can against the tree”, writes Paul Fischer in his new book, The Last Kings of Hollywood: Coppola, Lucas, Spielberg and the … |
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Humanity Has Gone Over the Edge
Halenews Editorial Humanity has just gone over the edge of a cliff, and there may be no way back. Picture eight billion people in free fall and you begin to grasp the scale of what is now in motion. The only reason this does not feel urgent is because the catastrophe has not yet interrupted daily life. Nuclear war is no longer a distant Cold War nightmare. Reckless politics, fragile alliances, and leaders who talk about force the way bored men talk about dares have made it real again. If this goes wrong—and it can—the lights do not flicker. They go out. Satellites die. GPS disappears. Phones become paperweights. Banks freeze. Hospitals improvise. The internet, games, streaming, and social li… |
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Daughter and son-in-law charged with killing four family members in 2015
Shocking new charges have been brought in the case of a family that was brutally murdered in their homes on Halloween night in 2015. Cathy Scott, her husband Michael Scott, Mr Scott's mother, Barbara, and Ms Scott's mother, Violet Taylor, were murdered on Halloween night in 2015. Now, the couple’s daughter, Amy Vilardi, and her husband, Rosmore "Ross" Vilardi, have been arrested and charged in their deaths. Ms Vilardi and her husband were featured in tearful television interviews following the murders, but are now considered the prime suspects in the slayings, according to The Daily Beast. The four adults were found shot and killed in their homes in Pendleton, South Carolina, on 2 November 2… |
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SoCal school psychologist thought he was meeting a 13 year old but it was a sting
This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here. A Riverside County school psychologist thought he had arranged a meeting with a 13-year-old, authorities say, but he walked into a sting operation. He now faces three charges related to child sex crimes. Paul Ryan Coleman, 46, of Yucaipa was arrested Tuesday following a three-month investigation by county authorities. Coleman, a licensed school psychologist at the Nuview Union School District, planned to meet up with someone he believed was a 13-year-old child but who was actually an undercover investigator, the county district attorney’s office said in a statement. He had exchanged hundreds of sexually exp… |
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The Iran strikes could become a midterm reckoning for Trump and Israel
It is clear that the latest United States-Israel-Iran war stands to fundamentally reshape the politics of the Middle East. Less obvious is its immediate impact on US politics, especially the 2026 midterm elections and the durability of US support for Israel. While the core of US President Donald Trump’s base has come out in support of the joint US-Israel strikes, some influential figures on the American right have denounced them. These condemnations have heightened tensions already at play within the MAGA (Make America Great Again) base, and dovetail with conservative concerns about Israel’s influence over US foreign policy. With the midterm elections approaching, this is not a good time for… |
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World faces food catastrophe if Strait of Hormuz disruption persists
A prolonged disruption in the Strait of Hormuz could result in a global food “catastrophe”, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned, as shipments of critical agricultural inputs remain blocked in the key waterway due to the US-Israel war on Iran. Food prices have not risen yet because existing stocks are absorbing the shock, the United Nations body’s chief economist, Maximo Torero, said in an interview on Monday, alongside David Laborde, director of FAO’s agrifood economics division. But if traffic through the strait does not resume, the shocks to energy and fertiliser markets will translate into higher commodity and retail prices later this year and into 2027, Laborde added. … |
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Who will backdown first with the Hormuz blockade
Donald Trump said that Iran is “collapsing financially” and accused the country of losing millions of dollars a day because to Washington’s naval blockade of Iranian ports. “Iran is collapsing financially!” Trump posted Tuesday night on his Truth Social platform. They want the Strait of Hormuz opened up right away - starving for cash! $500 MILLION DOLLARS LOST A DAY. Military and police saying they are not getting paid. SOS!!!” The US embargo of Iranian ports started at 14:00 GMT on April 13. Since then, the US has fired on and captured an Iranian-flagged tanker near the Strait of Hormuz and rerouted ships in the open seas transporting goods to or from Iran. Iran's armed forces have labeled … |
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Why Brad Pitt and Jude Law are not as cool as they think they are
The two actors and Oasis man Noel Gallagher have far younger partners and bask in it, thinking that it’s somehow avant-garde. But it’s not, says Charlotte Cripps. It’s just what older men have been doing since the dawn of time In case you’ve been living under a rock, Brad Pitt, 62, has a Swiss jewellery executive girlfriend, who is half his age – Ines de Ramon, 33. The couple graced social media in early July after four years together – on her hairstylist’s Instagram page – looking glamorous in matching black outfits ahead of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding ceremony at Madison Square Garden in NYC. They have since been spotted looking loved-up at the quarter-final World Cup match bet… |