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Recent Articles
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Oil prices are skyrocketing but companies will not rush to drill in California
If you are an oil producer with wells in California and global oil prices have risen to over $100 a barrel in the last week, are you going to drill new wells? It’s a question that touches the lives of hundreds of thousands of Californians who either live near oil wells or receive royalty checks as mineral rights owners. Experts said probably not, given this state’s aging fields and the unpredictability of global prices. It’s too early for data that will show if companies have ordered more drilling rigs on their fields — known as the rig count — since the U.S. and Israel invaded Iran and sent oil prices soaring. But analysts and producers say only if prices stay above $80 for at least a year … |
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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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From Seconds to Minutes As Fusion Energy Takes a Historic Step
Nearly unlimited fusion power on a global scale is the objective. It will be the highest achievement in human history. And it's moving ahead at a fast pacde. Humanity has always been defined by its relationship with fire. The first spark struck from stone gave us warmth, protection, and the power to cook food. Centuries later, coal and oil lit the furnaces of industry, driving trains, ships, and factories. But those fuels came with a cost: smoke in the skies, carbon in the air, and wars fought over pipelines and reserves. For decades, scientists dreamed of a different fire—the fire of the stars themselves. Fusion, the reaction that powers the sun, was the ultimate prize. If we could hold it,… |
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Lost in the Flood they Found Each Other Years Later
Human Interest They met the way people used to meet before algorithms pretended to know our hearts better than we did—by proximity and boredom and youth. Two teenagers in New Orleans, same neighborhood, different schools, running into each other at a corner store that smelled like dust and sugar and summer. There was nothing cinematic about it at first. He made her laugh. She remembered what he ordered every time. They walked streets that would later be mapped by disaster, unaware they were standing on a fault line between before and after. They dated for a year. Long enough to feel permanent. Short enough to believe permanence was guaranteed. Then, in August 2005, the city broke open. When … |
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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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Texas homeowner charged with murder after killing armed intruder
The story begins in Texas, a state long associated with strong protections for gun owners and expansive interpretations of self-defense. According to reports, a homeowner confronted an armed intruder inside his residence. Shots were fired, and the intruder was killed. What might seem, at first glance, like a textbook case of “castle doctrine”—the legal principle that allows homeowners to use deadly force against unlawful entry—quickly became more complicated. Prosecutors filed murder charges against the homeowner, arguing that the circumstances did not justify lethal force. The decision shocked many Texans, who assumed the law would shield the homeowner. It also sparked outrage among gun rig… |
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The Lost Promise of MSN News
There was a time when MSN felt like a gateway to the world. It offered curated access to reporting, a sense of connection to serious journalism, and the promise that a portal could simplify the chaos of the internet. For many readers, MSN was the homepage that greeted them each morning—a digital front page that seemed to carry authority. But that promise has been abandoned. What remains today is a hollowed-out shell of journalism, a site that has traded substance for tricks, rewrites, and endless clickbait. The decline of MSN is not just a story about one portal—it is a warning about what happens when corporate media prioritizes ad impressions over trust. The Mechanics of Decline The tactics… |
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Two more people die while skiing in the Lake Tahoe region
There have been two additional fatalities in the Sierra Nevada, adding to the total number of fatalities that have occurred throughout the winter season. The avalanche that occurred on Castle Peak last week killed nine lives. According to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, which arrived just before noon, the most recent deaths occurred on Friday in two "fatal ski incidents" that were unrelated to each other at the Boulder Lodge of Heavenly resort. In a press statement, the Sheriff's Office stated that paramedics from the Ski Patrol and the Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District attempted to save the life of the subject. On the other hand, both persons were pronounced dead at the site of th… |
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Hayley Mills Is Eighty And I Am Not Accepting It
Hayley Mills will turn 80 on April 18, 2026, but I reject this information on instinct. 80 years old? No way. Not in a dramatic, screaming way. In a quiet, stubborn way, like when you reread a sentence because it must be wrong. Eighty doesn’t belong to her. Eighty belongs to politicians who won’t go away. Eighty belongs to men who confuse survival with wisdom. Eighty belongs to people who feel heavy with years. It does not belong to the girl who made optimism look precise, controlled, and—most importantly—earned. I learned this in Saigon, which is calm, structured, and orderly in a way that puts most American cities to shame. There are rules here, and people follow them. There are no guns. T… |
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President Trump Fires Attorney General Pam Bondi
President Donald Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi in the middle of an escalating international conflict, removing the nation’s top law enforcement authority at the exact moment legal clarity matters most. There was no transition window, no easing into change—just a sudden rupture that leaves a sharper question than the conflict itself: who is enforcing the law now, and on whose terms? A sitting president has dismissed his attorney general in the middle of an escalating international conflict. Not after resolution, not during a lull, not at the clean edge of a policy cycle—but in the thick of it, when legal clarity and institutional steadiness are not luxuries but requirements. That tim… |
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William Shatner from Star Trek Falls From Horse With Serious Injury
William Shatner’s recent accident is more than a celebrity headline. At 94, the Star Trek legend fell from a horse, shattering his shoulder and requiring surgery. Days later, he appeared at the Saturn Awards, visibly fatigued but still commanding the stage, asking only for a chair as he accepted recognition for his contributions to science fiction. That moment, followed by his surgery, forces us to confront uncomfortable truths about aging, vitality, and society’s double standards. We celebrate youth for daring but chastise elders for the same courage. If a 30-year-old athlete falls from a horse, we call it grit. When Shatner does it, critics call it reckless. Yet risk is universal. Horses t… |
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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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Will America Go To War With NATO Over Greenland
Feature Editorial The United States is now openly challenging NATO, which theoretically could lead to WW3. What began as a crude discussion about purchasing has evolved into strategic pressure, which often transcends boundaries when power disregards its obligations. This conflict is no longer solely about Arctic bases or melting ice lanes; it raises the critical question of whether the United States is willing to fracture the very system it established, whether an alliance built to stop war can hold when the danger comes from the United States itself. The Arctic used to feel distant, a white silence at the edge of maps where ambition froze before it could speak. That illusion is gone. Greenl… |
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Latest Epstein files include emails between Ghislaine Maxwell and LA28 Olympics head Casey Wasserman
The latest cache of investigative files on Jeffrey Epstein released Friday include personal emails exchanged more than 20 years ago between Casey Wasserman, chairman of the LA28 Olympics organizing committee, and convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former romantic partner. In emails sent in March and April 2003, Wasserman — who was married at the time — writes about wanting to see Maxwell in a tight leather outfit, she offers to give him a massage that can “drive a man wild,” and the pair discuss how much they miss each other, according to files released and posted online by the U.S. Department of Justice. Representatives for Wasserman did not immediately respond to The Times… |
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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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The Vote That Was Not Supposed to Happen
The House’s vote to cancel Trump’s tariffs on Canada is less about trade mechanics than about political courage. In a chamber long bent under executive power, a bipartisan crack appeared. Whether symbolic or substantive, the rebellion signals a deeper struggle over democracy, consumer costs, and the meaning of loyalty in American politics. On February 11, 2026, the House of Representatives narrowly voted 219–211 to terminate President Donald Trump’s emergency tariffs on Canadian imports. Six Republicans broke ranks to join Democrats, while one Democrat opposed the measure. The resolution, spearheaded by Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, challenges Trump’s use of emergency powers to justify swe… |
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The Hidden Secret of AI Intelligence
Feature Editorial We have been sold a ghost in a machine, but what we actually bought was a warehouse full of heaters. When you ask an AI to read an 80,000-word manuscript in two seconds, you aren't witnessing a "mind" at work. You are witnessing a feat of industrial plumbing. There is no quiet contemplation happening in the cloud; there is only a violent, high-voltage surge of electricity through millions of silicon gates. It is a process so hot and so demanding that it requires literal tons of circulating water just to keep the hardware from melting into a puddle of useless metal. To understand why your AI assistant is brilliant one moment and a total idiot the next, you have to stop think… |
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Iran Prepares for US Attack as It Rejects Negotiations
Iran is not dancing toward the negotiating table out of fear; it is bracing for war while refusing to yield. Reports that Tehran is preparing for a possible U.S.–Israeli missile assault, even as it dismisses offers to talk, underscore a new kind of tension: fear without capitulation. That is not weakness, and it is not readiness in the traditional sense. It is a regime calculating its own survival amid an increasingly hostile international environment. This moment looks nothing like the hope-tinged diplomacy of past nuclear talks. Then, there were back channels, envoys meeting in hotel suites, whispered negotiations and, at times, fragile progress. Now the language is public posturing, threa… |
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The exodus of California tech billionaires from the Golden State to Florida Gold Coast
This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here. MIAMI and PALM BEACH, Fla. — Last December, a large coterie of Silicon Valley billionaires descended upon Miami to attend Art Basel, the ritzy, contemporary art fair that marks the end of the moneyed set’s yearly social calendar. Much of the buzz surrounded the spectacle of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, among the world’s richest men, docking his 466-foot, $450-million yacht, the Dragonfly, in Biscayne Bay while he stepped ashore to view the art installations. But the chatter pivoted quickly among a contingent of a dozen California billionaires. Weeks earlier a new ballot measure — backed by the SEIU-United… |
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US Olympic medalist Jenny Simpson rushed to hospital after collapsing during North Carolina race
Jenny Simpson collapsed at an event in North Carolina on Tuesday night Removed from bookmarks I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Olympic bronze medalist and world champion runner Jenny Simpson suffered a medical episode and collapsed while pacing a mile group at a community event in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Tuesday night. The 39-year-old 1,500-meter specialist received CPR and an automated external defibrillator (AED) was used at the track before she was transported to a hospital. The incident was first reported by LetsRun. Simpson was participating in a Sir Walter Running event, which encourages runners of all levels … |