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Inside Villanova in the 1970s, when the future Pope Leo XIV arrived on campus

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PHILADELPHIA — In the summer of 1973, the war was still raging in Vietnam, the Watergate scandal was unfolding in Washington, and protests roiled college campuses nationwide. But at leafy Villanova University just outside Philadelphia, trouble was on the home front.

The staid Catholic institution on the Main Line stood at a cultural ...Read more

Leon Neal/Getty Images North America/TNS

Keir Starmer's Trump win fails to calm Labour Party's worries about Farage

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Keir Starmer’s double victory in securing trade deals with India and the U.S. this week still isn’t enough to pacify restive lawmakers in the U.K.’s governing Labour Party.

Last week, the British premier faced a breakdown in party discipline after hemorrhaging seats in local elections dominated by the insurgent populist Nigel Farage’s ...Read more

Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump hails progress after first day of US-China trade talks

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Senior U.S. and Chinese negotiators spent hours behind closed doors in Switzerland on Saturday as they held high-stakes talks that offer the clearest opportunity yet for the two countries to de-escalate their trade war, with President Donald Trump calling it a “very good” meeting.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice ...Read more

Rebecca White/New York Daily News/TNS

Little Maltese dog plucked from East River adopted by NYPD savior

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NEW YORK — A small white Maltese found struggling to stay afloat in the East River six weeks ago has a new owner — one of the NYPD Harbor Unit cops who plucked him from the water.

Police Officer Jared Desalvo opened his home to the small dog, now named Hudson, after picking up the adorable pooch at the Animal Care Centers of NYC’s Queens ...Read more

Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Putin offers talks with Ukraine on May 15 but skirts truce

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Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to hold direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on May 15, saying he didn’t rule out reaching an agreement on a ceasefire in the war.

“We’re in the mood for serious talks with Ukraine,” Putin said in late-night comments to reporters at the Kremlin. Russia was ready to “resume direct negotiations ...Read more

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump vs. Massachusetts: Brazilian child rapist in home day care ICE flashpoint

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BOSTON — The governor is being called out for the “appalling” case of an illegal immigrant child rapist found at a Cape Cod home day care.

It’s a startling arrest, Gov. Maura Healey’s administration argued Friday night, that dates back to the waning months of the Biden presidency that’s now being highlighted as Massachusetts, Boston...Read more

K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS

DHS calls for death penalty in Del Mar smuggling case -- a steep escalation from previous sentences

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SAN DIEGO — On the Saturday morning after Thanksgiving in 2022, a panga piloted by two cousins from Baja California capsized as it approached the shoreline off Imperial Beach. The cousins and five of the undocumented immigrants they were transporting made it safely onto the beach, but three others drowned.

The cousins were eventually ...Read more

Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Forensic testing links skull remains to Northern California woman missing since 1987

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LOS ANGELES — A man was walking along a rocky, picturesque shoreline of Trinidad Head, located about 25 miles north of Eureka, when he spotted something unusual and unnerving.

The unidentified man's discovery in February 1993 turned out to be a partial human skull that he handed over to the nearby Fortuna Police Department.

To help identify ...Read more

Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Trump executive order envisions housing homeless veterans at VA center in West LA

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LOS ANGELES — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday directing the Department of Veterans Affairs to create a center for homeless veterans on its West Los Angeles campus.

The order set a goal of housing up to 6,000 homeless veterans at the center, which Trump named the National Warrior Independence Center, and ordered federal...Read more

Joe Raedle/Getty Images North America/TNS

Bill shielding Florida elected officials' addresses from public headed to governor

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ORLANDO, Fla. — New legislation meant to protect elected officials and their families from harassment worries government watchdogs who say it would also prevent voters from knowing if their lawmakers live in their districts as required.

The Florida Legislature in April overwhelmingly approved the bill (SB 268), which would exempt disclosure ...Read more

Antonio Masiello/Getty Images North America/TNS

Heartbreak and acceptance for Philly's Catholic Filipinos over pope

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PHILADELPHIA — As Philadelphians and Catholics rejoiced at the announcement of the new pope, with his ties to Villanova University, among local Filipinos, there was some disappointment.

The election of Pope Leo XIV meant Filipino cardinals who had been front-runners in the papal process would not ascend to the Catholic Church’s highest post...Read more

Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times/TNS

'We Did It, Bolinas!!!' Remote Northern California town gets its post office back

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LOS ANGELES — For more than two years, a big wooden sign in west Marin County has displayed a set of hand-painted numbers, dutifully changed each morning.

"Days Without a Bolinas Post Office," the sign reads. The number Friday: 806.

The sign has been a charming, if sad, reminder to the 1,200 or so residents of Bolinas of the loss of their ...Read more

Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant/TNS

Michigan pauses program to lethally gas nuisance geese at Belle Isle, other sites

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LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has paused a pilot program that allowed for the collection and lethal gassing of nuisance Canada geese, according to a Friday letter from M. Scott Bowen, the state agency's director.

Bowen announced the decision in a message to a group of Democratic lawmakers who had expressed ...Read more

HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

US to probe reports of swabs on its citizens arriving in China

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The U.S. embassy in China said it received reports that American citizens are being subjected to “invasive medical testing” upon arrival in the country.

“We are looking into these reports,” the embassy in Beijing said in a response to a query by Bloomberg. “The U.S. Mission to China has no greater priority than the safety and security...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

4.1 magnitude earthquake rattles Carolinas, including Charlotte area, USGS says

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A 4.1 magnitude earthquake near the Tennessee-North Carolina border on Saturday was felt as far east as Charlotte, government seismologists confirmed.

The quake struck at 9:04 a.m. and was centered about 12 miles southeast of Greenback, Tennessee, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. That’s near North Carolina’s ...Read more

SVEN HOPPE/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

What's next on Russia sanctions if Putin balks at ceasefire call

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With European leaders calling for a 30-day ceasefire in the war in Ukraine starting Monday and claiming President Donald Trump’s support for the ultimatum, the possibility of additional sanctions on Russia is moving into focus.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that his Russian adversary Vladimir Putin would face new ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Sharks spotted off Massachusetts coast: 'This is an enormous shark… Holy cow!'

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BOSTON — The sharks are back!

The second largest shark species in the world is being spotted close to the Bay State coast, according to shark researchers.

Multiple basking sharks were seen off Plymouth Friday morning. Shark researcher John Chisholm was alerted to the site, and he counted at least five basking sharks close to the beach.

“...Read more

Yuri Gripas/Abaca Press/TNS

Once-powerful NSC is sidelined by Trump as Rubio takes the helm

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President Donald Trump is taking his time naming a permanent replacement for his national security adviser. But he’s already sent a clear message: the job once held by figures like Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski won’t matter in his administration nearly as much.

Even before he removed Mike Waltz from the post on May 1, the ...Read more

Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times/TNS

US representatives sound alarm over slowing SoCal port activity

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LOS ANGELES — Three Democratic U.S. representatives for California visited the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach on Friday to voice their concerns after President Donald Trump told reporters that the slowdown of activity at the ports was “a good thing.”

Trump has argued that tariffs are needed to boost manufacturing jobs in the U.S. and...Read more

Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Cutting Newark flights is temporary fix for long-term crisis

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Airline chief executives are poised to work with U.S. aviation officials to throttle back more Newark airport flights, a fix that may ease short-term safety concerns but won’t solve long-term challenges.

The move comes as a key facility that routes planes into Newark suffered a second radar failure in as many weeks, making it the face of a ...Read more