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Recent Articles
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US judge blocks Trumps 2bn anti weaponization fund
A United States federal judge has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s nearly $1.8bn “anti-weaponisation fund” to compensate victims of alleged government “lawfare”. On Friday, US District Judge Leonie Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia blocked the Trump administration from “taking any further action” to set up or operate the fund while she hears legal arguments. The judge, who was nominated to the bench by President Bill Clinton, scheduled a June 12 hearing about whether to extend the order blocking payouts. The Department of Justice announced the fund last week as part of an agreement to settle a lawsuit brought on behalf of Donald Trump, in his personal capacity, against… |
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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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The Epstein Files and the Machinery of Forgetting
Editorial The first instinct of power, when threatened, is not denial but delay. Delay until outrage exhausts itself, until headlines thin, until the public grows bored or distracted or numb. The newly unsealed Jeffrey Epstein-related documents land in public view with the weight of something both familiar and unfinished, a reminder not merely of a disgraced financier and the crimes that orbited him, but of how expertly the machinery of forgetting has been engineered. These files do not arrive as a revelation in the cinematic sense. There is no single smoking gun, no neat moral closure. Instead, they arrive like sediment, layer upon layer of testimony, allegation, recollection, and evasion. … |
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An Orca Calf Was Trapped Alone Inside a Remote Lagoon
VANCOUVER ISLAND — For nearly a month, a young orphaned killer whale trapped inside a shallow lagoon off Vancouver Island became something rare in modern news: a story people followed not because they were told to be angry, terrified, or politically divided, but because they desperately wanted something living to survive. This week, after repeated failures, dangerous tidal conditions, and growing fears the animal would either starve or succumb to isolation, the calf finally escaped the lagoon and rejoined its pod in open water. The rescue unfolded near Zeballos on the northwest coast of Vancouver Island, where the young female orca had remained trapped since late March after her pregnant mot… |
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Stanford Godmother of AI Launches Spatial Intelligence MasterClass
MasterClass, the personalized learning platform, has announced the launch of Dr. Fei-Fei Li: AI’s Future – and Yours, a class that covers the current state of AI development, its real-world applications and the role individuals can play in influencing how the technology evolves. Known as the “Godmother of AI,” Li is a Stanford professor, cofounder and CEO of World Labs and founding director of Stanford’s Human-Centered AI Institute. Her foundational research on ImageNet helped spark the deep learning revolution behind every AI product in use today. The class is available now on MasterClass, where members have unlimited access to 200+ instructors with an annual membership. The class begins wh… |
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Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing 8 women over 2 decades
Rex Heuermann, the Gilgo Beach serial murderer, was sentenced to life in prison without parole, bringing an emotional finish to a decades-long murder case that tormented Long Island. Families clapped and applauded in the courtroom Wednesday when Judge Timothy Mazzei imposed the sentence. “You are disgusting — a despicable man if you are a man at all,” the judge told Heuermann. “And you are a coward.” At sentence, Heuermann was allowed to speak and declared, “I am guilty of everything that was said in this room. What I would say is meaningless.” “Are you even a little bit sorry?” “Yes,” Mazzei inquired, and Heuermann nodded and seemed to say. Heuermann’s ex-wife Asa Ellerup and their two grow… |
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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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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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Iran will not bow down to US pressure in nuclear talks
Iran’s ?President ?Masoud Pezeshkian has pledged not to fold to pressure from the United States after his American counterpart, Donald Trump, said he was considering limited strikes to force a deal on Tehran’s nuclear programme. Pezeshkian’s comments on Saturday came amid high tensions in the Gulf, with the US continuing to grow its military presence with the deployment of two aircraft carriers and dozens of jets. “We will not bow down in the face of any of these difficulties,” Pezeshkian said at a ceremony to honour members of the Iranian Paralympics team. “World powers are lining up with cowardice to force us to bow our heads. Just as you did not bow down in the face of difficulties, we wi… |
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Rebecca Grossman murdered 2 boys when she sped through a crosswalk
This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here. Rebecca Grossman murdered two young brothers when she sped through a Westlake Village crosswalk, a jury found two years ago. Now, a state appeals court has upheld that verdict. Grossman, the co-founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation, is serving 15 years to life in state prison for the second-degree murders of 11-year-old Mark Iskander and 8-year-old Jacob Iskander. On Tuesday, the California 2nd District Court of Appeal upheld the Feb. 23, 2024, conviction of the wife of renowned surgeon Peter Grossman. Rebecca Grossman’s six-week trial was filled with dramatic testimony and evidence that she struck the bo… |
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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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Defending your life against ICE in Minnesota
Editorial If a masked man points a gun at your chest on a Minnesota street, or anywhere, it doesn't matter if he has a badge hidden under his tactical vest or a ICI patch Velcroed to his sleeve—you have a God-given and legal right to defend your life with equal, deadly force. The moment a federal agent prioritizes escalation over identification, they cease to be a "peace officer" and become a common predator. We are living in an era where the "Metro Surge" has turned our neighborhoods into hunting grounds, and the murder of Alex Pretti is the final, bloody proof that if you don't fight back, you'll be the next name etched into a headstone while the Department of Justice mops up the brass. Th… |
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Forever Young
Opinion | Editorial It began not with candlelight or conversation, but with silence. After their injuries in 2018, in a Minnesota hospital ward, two patients lay unconscious, each suspended between life and death. Families kept vigil, doctors measured progress in whispers, and the world outside moved on. Then, slowly, both opened their eyes. What followed wasn’t just recovery, but the improbable intertwining of two lives that had nearly ended before they began together. Their romance between Zach Zarembinski and Isabelle Richard is extraordinary because it starts at the edge of tragedy. Comas aren’t romantic backdrops; they’re medical limbos. Survival rates vary, and recovery is often incomp… |
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US journalist Don Lemon arrested after covering anti-ICE protest at Minnesota church
US journalist Don Lemon and three other people were arrested on Friday in connection with an anti-immigration crackdown protest that disrupted a service at a Minnesota church and increased tensions between residents and the Trump administration, officials said. Lemon was arrested by federal agents in Los Angeles, where he had been covering the Grammy Awards, his attorney Abbe Lowell said. It is unclear what charge or charges Lemon and the others are facing in the 18 January protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul. Lemon's arrest came after a magistrate judge last week rejected prosecutors' initial bid to charge him. Lemon, who was fired from CNN in 2023, has said he has no affiliation to th… |
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A timeline of British royal sagas and scandals down the decades
Former British prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, brother of the United Kingdom’s King Charles II, was released by police on Thursday after being arrested and held for several hours on suspicion of misconduct in public office over his links to convicted late American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Mountbatten-Windsor, who turned 66 the day of his arrest, is the first British royal in more than 350 years to be arrested and held in police custody – the last one was King Charles I, who was arrested by parliamentary forces in 1647 and put on trial for high treason. His princely title was revoked last year over his links to Epstein and allegations that the two men sexually abused Virginia Giuffre … |
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Young man killed in the front yard of his home
In June 2017, twenty-two-year-old Pedro Ruiz III was killed in the front yard of his home in Halstad, Minnesota, during a botched YouTube stunt. His pregnant girlfriend, Monalisa Perez, fired a .50-caliber Desert Eagle handgun at a hardcover encyclopedia Ruiz was holding against his chest, believing the book would act as a shield. Despite Ruiz’s claims that he had tested the idea on other volumes, the high-velocity round punched through the paper instantly while their three-year-old daughter and nearly thirty neighbors watched. Ruiz was pronounced dead at the scene, ending a planned "viral video" with a fatal ballistic failure. The event, meticulously planned and filmed, was intended to be t… |
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Winning peace in Lebanon is harder than winning war
But a symbolic meeting would not be enough to resolve the conflict in Lebanon, which has deep historical roots and a wide geopolitical reach. Despite the ceasefire, Israel continues to occupy parts of southern Lebanon. The aim of the ongoing operation, as declared by Defense Minister Israel Katz, is to establish a “security zone” over the entire area south of the Litani River – which represents 10 percent of Lebanon’s national territory. The civilian population has been barred from returning to their homes while Israeli forces have continued bombing and mass demolition. Netanyahu appears to be using the narrative of “destroying Hezbollah” to cover up what is really a campaign of mass destruc… |
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Where Are All The Aliens In Our Galaxy
Analysis There is a quiet arrogance in the way we ask the question, as if the universe has already had time to notice us, as if somewhere, something has chosen not to answer. The silence feels deliberate when you don’t look too closely. But scale ruins that feeling. Take the Milky Way and flatten it into a photograph—something you could hold in your hands, a pale, dusted disk smudged with light. Now imagine taking a needle and pressing the smallest pinhole you can into that image. Not a tear, not a rip, just a single puncture so small you have to tilt the photograph to catch it. That is the reach of everything humanity has ever said. Every radio broadcast, every television signal, every acci… |
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What Delay Looks Like When You are Absorbing the Cost
Halenews Editorial Delay is often described as prudence. From a distance, waiting can look reasonable, even wise. But distance matters. When you live close to the edge, delay is not neutral time—it is pressure. For families already stretched thin, rising energy prices are not a debate about markets; they are a calculation about heat. Flooding is not an environmental statistic; it is a ruined home. Healthcare access is not a policy disagreement; it is a postponed diagnosis that becomes irreversible. Those most affected by delay rarely appear in policy discussions except as data points. Their lives are summarized, averaged, and footnoted. Meanwhile, decisions are postponed to avoid political r… |
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Danger Lurks In The Bedroom
Danger lingers as a senior couple lie together in an overly warm bedroom. The air does not feel oppressive, only still, the kind of warmth that settles into fabric and skin without protest. He sleeps lightly now, age having thinned the distance between rest and vigilance. She sleeps deeper — until she does not. Her seizures arrive only at night. Grand mal, sudden, violent, disorienting in their aftermath. Daytime offers no clues. Medication remains stable. Diet unchanged. Tests return the quiet ambiguity medicine often delivers: nothing obvious, nothing solved. What remains is pattern. Always sleep. Always night. He has begun noticing the temperature. Seventy-eight degrees. Comfortable, peop… |