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Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Disneyland becomes more reliant on facial recognition despite privacy concerns

Current News / News & Features /

Photos are an expected part of almost any visit to Disneyland.

Whether it’s first-time international visitors or longtime returnees, just about everyone is clicking photos at some point.

That everyone, however, is extending more and more to Disneyland personnel.

My colleague Hannah Fry documented the growing use of facial recognition ...Read more

Barry Williams/New York Daily News/TNS

NYC schools panel, once a rubber stamp, flexes political muscle in debate over AI, school closures

Current News / News & Features /

NEW YORK — Days before the city’s Panel for Educational Policy was set to vote on controversial plans to open an AI-focused high school and relocate three Upper West Side schools, Chancellor Kamar Samuels unexpectedly pulled them off the agenda, a decision he attributed to needing more time to listen to families.

But last week’s ...Read more

California braces for uncertainty as last shipment of Persian Gulf oil arrives in Long Beach

Current News / News & Features /

The last California-bound oil tanker to pass through the Strait of Hormuz since war erupted is at the Port of Long Beach offloading its valuable cargo — 2 million barrels of crude destined to be transformed into gasoline, jet fuel and diesel.

The New Corolla loaded up in Iraq on Feb. 24 — just days before U.S. and Israeli forces launched ...Read more

Heather Diehl/Getty Images North America/TNS

Control of US House hinges on historically low number of seats

Current News / News & Features /

A shrinking number of seats will determine control of the U.S. House after both Republicans and Democrats spent much of the past year redrawing congressional maps to erase swing districts.

Even before Florida’s legislature approved a new Republican-leaning map last week, just 16 seats were listed as “tossups” by the Cook Political Report,...Read more

-/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump casts doubts on Iran peace proposal as details emerge

Current News / News & Features /

Efforts continued to broker an end to the Iran war, now into its third month, as U.S. President Donald Trump suggested the Islamic Republic’s latest peace proposal might not be enough to satisfy him.

Iran’s suggestions include setting a one-month deadline on talks for a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end both the U.S. naval ...Read more

Ukraine says Russia's Primorsk oil export port damaged in attack

Current News / News & Features /

Ukraine said it damaged Russia’s Primorsk port on the Baltic Sea, a key oil export hub, in a drone barrage that also targeted several vessels.

A Karakurt-class missile ship, patrol boat and tanker from Russia’s shadow fleet were hit in the attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday in a post on the X platform.

“...Read more

Greens' Polanski says marches don't make Jews 'actively unsafe'

Current News / News & Features /

Zack Polanski rejected calls to curb pro-Palestine marches in response to a wave of antisemitic attacks in the UK, days ahead of what’s expected to be a breakthrough election for his Green Party.

Polanski said on Sunday that ensuring the freedom of speech of those protesting against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza was more important ...Read more

Taylor Sisk/KFF Health News/TNS

Food stamp work rules don't increase employment, researchers say

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DELBARTON, W.Va. — A half-dozen cars had been in the queue for nearly four hours by the time the House of Hope mobile food pantry line began to move. Seventy or so more idled behind them by 11:30 a.m., when the food distribution began.

The plan was to begin handing out boxes of groceries at 11, but the Facing Hunger Foodbank truck delivering ...Read more

Friends of Big Bear Valley/TNS

Bald eagle 'massaging' its mate? AI deepfakes collide with the laws of the wild

Current News / News & Features /

LOS ANGELES — Shadow gingerly places one taloned foot, then the other, on Jackie as she hunkers down on the nest.

With Big Bear Lake glittering in the distance, he raises each foot in a kneading motion — evoking a bald eagle massage.

“Somehow, it says everything about their bond,” reads the caption on the 15-second video posted to ...Read more

Royal Palace/Balkis Press/Abaca Press/TNS

Morocco's crown prince gets key army role in sign of elevation

Current News / News & Features /

King Mohammed VI of Morocco named his only son to a key army role, signaling a milestone for the crown prince’s preparations to eventually take the throne of a four-century-old ruling dynasty.

The 62-year-old monarch appointed Prince El Hassan as the army general staff’s coordinator of offices and services, the royal Cabinet said in a ...Read more

San Bernardino County Fire/San Bernardino County Fire/TNS

What is an 'ash devil'? Rare fire phenomenon rises in Phelan's Trinity fire

Current News / News & Features /

Firefighters battling the Trinity fire in San Bernardino County, California, on Friday caught a glimpse of a rare phenomenon.

A mini tornado of ash, embers and debris, known as an ash devil, spun up into the air from the remains of a fire that the crews had already put out.

“An ash devil is not a common occurrence,” said Christopher Prater...Read more

Majid Saeedi/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump reviewing Iran's latest offer but doesn't rule out strike

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said he will review Iran’s latest peace offer but wouldn’t rule out restarting strikes on Tehran’s military targets should the regime “misbehave.”

Trump, speaking to reporters in Florida on Saturday, said he had been briefed on the “concept of the deal” offered by Iran, but moments later ...Read more

Joseph Prezioso/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

North Atlantic right whales see 'positive news' this calving season

Current News / News & Features /

BOSTON — It has been a good year for the North Atlantic right whale, according to scientists at the New England Aquarium.

The calving season, from mid-November until mid-April in the Southeast, generated “positive news” for the critically endangered species, as it produced 23 mother-calf pairs, the fourth-highest count ever.

So far this ...Read more

Yuri Gripas/ABACAPRESS.COM/Yuri Gripas/ABACAPRESS.COM/TNS

Trump threatens deeper cuts for US troop presence in Germany

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he plans to cut the U.S. military presence in Germany by more than the 5,000-troop drawdown announced so far, even as Republican allies and NATO countries questioned the move.

“We’re going to cut way down,” Trump told reporters Saturday as he boarded Air Force One in Florida, without offering ...Read more

Barry Williams/New York Daily News/TNS

2 teenage girls killed in Bronx fire were just visiting building, devastated families say

Current News / News & Features /

NEW YORK — Two teenage girls died after being trapped in a fast-moving fire in a Bronx apartment building they both were just visiting, leaving their families shattered, the Daily News has learned.

Nakayla Moreno, 19, was staying with her boyfriend when a five-alarm fire ripped through the Belmont building about 1:30 p.m. April 21, while ...Read more

Carl de Souza/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Mexican governor steps down temporarily after US indictment

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The Mexican governor charged by the U.S. over alleged drug-related crimes stepped down temporarily while investigations are underway.

Sinaloa governor Ruben Rocha Moya said in a video message posted Friday night on social media that he’d asked his state’s local Congress for a leave of absence as Mexican authorities consider the accusations...Read more

Matt Stone/Boston Herald/TNS

Boston's new fire commissioner lives in Canton, despite city's residency requirement

Current News / News & Features /

BOSTON — Boston’s new $318,000 fire commissioner, Rodney Marshall, lives in Canton, but the mayor’s office said he wouldn’t be violating the city’s residency requirement unless he fails to move to the Hub within the next six months.

Marshall made history when he was appointed by Mayor Michelle Wu last month as the city’s first Black...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

LAPD officers could lose their certification over an improper shooting

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LOS ANGELES — In a first, California's police accreditation body is weighing whether to strip two LAPD officers of their license to carry a badge over a controversial shooting.

The officers, José Zavala and Julio Quintanilla, shot and killed a suicidal man armed with a knife in 2021. A civilian advisory board for the Commission on Police ...Read more

Natalie Behring/Getty Images North America/TNS

'They just want to get it done:' More Florida women turn to mail-order pills for abortions

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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — When Florida’s six-week abortion ban went into effect two years ago, advocates expected a sharp rise in women traveling for abortion care to states with less restrictive laws. While many did travel, the surprising increase occurred in Florida women using medication from out-of-state telehealth providers to end their ...Read more

Andy Alfaro/Modesto Bee/TNS

Man shot by ICE in Central Valley charged with assaulting federal agents

Current News / News & Features /

LOS ANGELES — There are two starkly different narratives of what took place during an April 7 immigration operation in the San Joaquin Valley, when ICE agents fired multiple shots at a Salvadoran man, sending him to a hospital.

According to Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, federal agents fired defensive...Read more