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Trump push to arrest illegal immigrants hits Boston

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BOSTON — ICE has already begun rounding up hundreds of illegal immigrant criminals across the country just two days into the Trump administration’s aggressive push, including the Boston area where one Haitian gang member told agents “(expletive) Trump, Biden forever!,” according to a Fox News report set to air today.

The Herald reported...Read more

Fires destroyed your family photos. Here are some ways to restore those memories

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LOS ANGELES — Survivors of the Los Angeles-area fires have lost significant parts of their lives to this disaster, including homes, livelihoods, community and, in some cases, loved ones. But replacing lost photos — mementos of cherished family, friends and places— may be easier than it seems, according to experts.

"While photos can't ...Read more

Many more older people are leaving prison and face unmet needs for housing and health care − as well as a tangle of groups trying to help

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American prisons are rapidly graying.

Following decades of mass incarceration, exacerbated by the U.S. war on drugs, the proportion of older people in prison has increased since the early 1990s. Nearly a quarter of people behind bars in federal and state prisons are over age 50. That’s five times the proportion of the prison ...Read more

What another Lukashenko ‘victory’ will mean for Europe’s security – and that of Belarus’ citizenry

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Europe’s longest-serving authoritarian leader, Belarus’ Alexander Lukashenko, is set to run for a seventh term on Jan. 26, 2025. And even before the first vote is counted, it can be stated with a fair degree of confidence that he will prevail.

With no genuine opposition and a history of vote rigging, Lukashenko – in power since ...Read more

Kremlin promotes ‘traditional values’ – but leaves some battles to the governors

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As 2025 begins, Russia ends its official “Year of the Family.” But the state has been promoting what it calls “traditional” or “pro-family” values for more than a decade – and looks likely to continue.

“Traditional” values are now central to the idea of “Russian-ness” that the federal government promotes, ...Read more

10 years after the Charlie Hebdo attacks in France, conversations about free speech are still too black and white

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In January 2015, 12 people were killed at the French satirist magazine Charlie Hebdo’s office after it published controversial caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. Ten years later, the tragic events continue to resonate in global conversations about limits to the freedom of expression.

The attacks led to an outpouring of public ...Read more

After the fire: Rain on wildfire burn scars can trigger deadly debris flows – a geologist explains how

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While firefighters work to extinguish the Los Angeles-area wildfires, city officials and emergency managers are also worried about what could come next.

The potential for rain the weekend of Jan. 25-26 could help tamp down the fires. But rain can also trigger dangerous floods and debris flows on burned hillslopes.

These flows ...Read more

GOP majority renews focus on abortion

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WASHINGTON — This week marks the first time Republicans will hold a federal trifecta since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which overturned the federal right to an abortion.

For some conservatives, it also marks a new start.

While Democrats made abortion rights their top campaign issue in 2024, ...Read more

Cindy Ord/Getty Images North America/TNS

NYC Mayor Eric Adams says his 'heart goes out' to jailed music mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs

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NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams said in an interview Wednesday night that his “heart goes out” to music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is in federal custody on sex trafficking charges.

In an interview with Steven A. Smith on his YouTube show, Adams expressed sympathy about the fallen star’s legal woes.

“Listen, my heart goes out to ...Read more

No neighbors, no market, no town: For people whose homes survived of the LA County fires, a painful road ahead

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LOS ANGELES — At first glance, Jessica Allen is among the extremely lucky. Most of the houses on her street in Pacific Palisades came through the fire intact, while everything around their "little bubble" burned to the ground.

She's relieved her house was spared, as anyone would be, but she's also grieving for friends who lost everything. ...Read more

Thailand ushers Southeast Asia's first same-sex marriages

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Hundreds of LGBTQ couples on Thursday became legally married in Thailand, which celebrates a historic day as the first nation in Southeast Asia to guarantee equal marital rights for same-sex couples.

Rainbow colors were everywhere in an exhibition hall atop a luxurious mall in the capital Bangkok, where the first couples inked their signatures ...Read more

Fire breaks out along 405 Freeway in Sepulveda Pass

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LOS ANGELES — A new fire broke out Wednesday night along the 405 Freeway in the Sepulveda Pass.

The fire was burning on the east side of the 405 near the Sepulveda Fire Road. Winds were at about 5 mph, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. Multiple fire engines were on the scene.

Traffic could be seen crawling along the 405 as the ...Read more

South Korea probe team seeks indictment of Yoon over martial law

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South Korean anti-corruption agency asked prosecutors to indict impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol on insurrection charges after wrapping up a preliminary investigation into his ill-fated martial law declaration.

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials said they have decided to send Yoon’s case to the Seoul Central ...Read more

Syria's Alawites, tainted by Assad, endure a fall from grace

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DEIR SHMAYEL, Syria — In the mountains east of Syria's Mediterranean coast, armed patrols root out Assad loyalists, masked gunmen monitor checkpoints and residents fret every strange face could be an informer.

"See those guys over there? I think they're watching me," said Alaa Al-Rahy, watching from his balcony a trio of workers tending to a...Read more

California lawmakers are big on TikTok. What happens if Trump bans the app?

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LOS ANGELES — When Assemblymember Alex Lee was sworn into office at age 25, he became the youngest state lawmaker in nearly a century. The self-described "Zoomer" from San José started using TikTok in 2020 and now, five years later, he continues to reach voters on the app, distilling complicated policy issues into bite-sized clips.

The ...Read more

One by one, world leaders in Davos fall in line in Trump era

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He’s not showing up in person, and his video address will come as the World Economic Forum is already winding down. But Donald Trump is still what everyone wants to talk about in Davos.

Fans like Argentine President Javier Milei are celebrating. Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy is looking to his new U.S. counterpart with hope. Trump targets ...Read more

Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/TNS

LA fires revive trauma for homeowners battling insurance claims

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Annie Compton had just put her two young daughters to bed when she heard pounding on the front door. “You gotta get out, you gotta get out now,” her neighbor said.

Compton abandoned the lunches she was preparing for the next day, grabbed some documents and her husband’s hard drive, loaded the kids and two dogs into her minivan and fled. ...Read more

Kendall Warner/The Virginian-Pilot/Kendall Warner

Virginia Beach wind farm spared from Trump order, but future projects could be slowed, experts say

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President Donald Trump used his first day in office to slam the brakes on the renewable energy industry, issuing an executive order to temporarily halt federal leasing, permitting and approval of both onshore and offshore wind energy projects.

But a Virginia Beach wind farm already under construction will be spared the immediate effects of the ...Read more

Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun/TNS

Gov. Wes Moore's budget plan raises taxes on wealthiest Maryland residents. Could it push them out?

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BALTIMORE — Gov. Wes Moore’s new budget proposal would raise taxes on Maryland’s wealthiest residents by adding two new tax brackets at income thresholds the state previously did not account for — a plan that some Republicans worry could backfire.

As the state wrestles with a $3 billion budget deficit, Moore is asking “Marylanders who...Read more

Scott Olson/Getty Images North America/TNS

States consider high costs, possible savings of covering weight-loss drugs for their workers

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Russell Wooten of Hendersonville, North Carolina, has spent much of his life struggling with obesity, often carrying 260 pounds on his 6-foot-3 frame. He repeatedly starved himself to lose weight, then gained it back by binge eating comfort foods. The cycle left him feeling “depressed and distraught.”

In February 2023, Wooten began taking ...Read more