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As crews battle hazardous fire on cargo ship, shelter-in-place order lifted for San Pedro, Wilmington

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LOS ANGELES — A shelter-in-place order was lifted Saturday morning for San Pedro and Wilmington due to a massive and stubborn blaze involving hazardous materials on a cargo ship, authorities said.

The order, due to potentially toxic smoke from the blaze, had covered a huge swath of the region from Western Avenue to the 103 Freeway.

The ...Read more

Cornered Europeans tell Trump his Ukraine plan needs more work

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European leaders and other allies told the U.S. that its peace plan for Ukraine needed “additional work,” in a rushed bid to try and slow walk a Trump administration determined to give concessions to Russia and impose terms by Thanksgiving.

They issued a statement at a Group of 20 summit in South Africa that U.S. President Donald Trump blew...Read more

Sergio Lima/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Bolsonaro arrested over fears he planned to flee Brazil

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Former Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro was arrested Saturday after a judge deemed him a flight risk following his conviction on charges that he attempted a coup after his 2022 election defeat.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered Bolsonaro’s detainment after his eldest son, Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro, called on supporters to stage a ...Read more

Trump's grip on party he remade weakens after string of setbacks

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President Donald Trump’s power to bend a compliant Republican Congress to his will has stalled amid a series of political setbacks that threaten to fracture the party heading into next year’s pivotal midterm elections.

In the last week, Trump capitulated to fellow Republicans’ demands for the release of the files of sex trafficker Jeffrey...Read more

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A $100,000 robot dog is becoming standard in policing -- and raising ethical alarms

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Spot, the four-legged robot from Boston Dynamics Inc., is perhaps best known for its viral dance routines to songs like “Uptown Funk.” But beyond its playful antics, Spot’s ability to climb stairs and open doors signals a potentially controversial role as a policing tool.

Five years after its commercial debut, the 75-pound, German ...Read more

Gina Ferazzi/Los Angles Times/TNS

Hundreds of California's Joshua trees were scorched during the government shutdown

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JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. — One day after the government shutdown ended, a ranger ambled down a trail in Joshua Tree National Park, bathed in golden light.

It was her first day back, and she had just walked through a sea of scorched Joshua trees rising from blackened earth, their dagger-like leaves bleached an unhealthy yellow.

It ...Read more

Mario Tama/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump allows more foreign ag workers, eases off ICE raids on farms

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In a tacit admission that U.S. food production requires foreign labor, the Trump administration is making it easier for farmers to employ guest workers from other countries.

At the same time, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in recent months appears to be refraining from conducting agricultural workplace raids, even as it scours ...Read more

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Home inseminations and gray market sperm: Florida Supreme Court case meets DIY fertility

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TAMPA, Fla. — In 2019, a couple wanted a baby. Because they were both women, they asked a friend to provide the sperm.

The insemination happened at their Tampa home without the mediation of doctors, lawyers, clinics or cryo banks — just a plastic syringe from a drugstore kit. That’s essentially where the trouble started.

Ashley Brito ...Read more

Elizabeth Flores/Star Tribune/TNS

Tiny fee on Minneapolis carbon pollution won't do much for the climate

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MINNEAPOLIS — When Minneapolis City Council Member Robin Wonsley began pursuing a carbon fee in 2022, she saw it as a promising way to cut the city’s greenhouse gas emissions and raise revenue for climate-related projects.

Wonsley succeeded in passing the carbon fee last year, making Minneapolis the only major city in the Midwest to do so. ...Read more

Mario Tama/Getty Images North America/TNS

Crews battle hazardous fire on cargo ship in San Pedro, major emergency declared

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LOS ANGELES — A major emergency was declared at the Port of Los Angeles on Friday night as 186 firefighters worked to combat a massive and stubborn blaze involving hazardous materials on a cargo ship, authorities said.

An electrical fire was reported below deck of the 1,100-foot container ship 1 Henry Hudson at 6:38 p.m., according to the Los...Read more

Adam Gray/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Luigi Mangione's death penalty case shouldn't be tossed, US says

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U.S. prosecutors urged a judge to reject a request by Luigi Mangione’s lawyers to dismiss federal death-penalty charges over last year’s fatal shooting of a UnitedHealth Group Inc. executive in New York.

Lawyers for Attorney General Pam Bondi argued Friday that she properly decided to seek the death penalty should Mangione, 27, be convicted...Read more

Mario Tama/Getty Images North America/TNS

Crews battle hazardous fire on cargo ship in San Pedro, major emergency declared

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LOS ANGELES — A major emergency was declared at the Port of Los Angeles on Friday night as 186 firefighters worked to combat a massive and stubborn blaze involving hazardous materials on a cargo ship, authorities said.

An electrical fire was reported below deck of the 1,100-foot container ship 1 Henry Hudson at 6:38 p.m., according to the Los...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

She set up three surfers visiting Mexico to be robbed, investigators say. All were found dead in a well

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A Mexican woman was sentenced to 20 years in prison for her role in last year’s killing of two Australian brothers and an American friend during a surfing trip in Baja California.

The Baja California sate attorney general’s office said in a written statement that the woman, identified as Ary Gisell Silva Raya, 23, pleaded guilty to ...Read more

ELIZABETH ROBERTSON/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Federal judge hands Children's Hospital of Philadelphia victory in its fight to protect medical records of transgender children

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PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Philadelphia on Friday blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from obtaining the private medical records of youth who sought gender-affirming care at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

The decision, issued by U.S. District Court Judge Mark A. Kearney, was a victory for patients’ privacy ...Read more

Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office/Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office/TNS

False imprisonment charge dropped against California mother as search for missing daughter Melodee Buzzard continues

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LOS ANGELES — A judge in Santa Barbara County Superior Court has dismissed a felony false imprisonment charge against Ashlee Buzzard, the county district attorney said in a statement.

Buzzard, 40, of Lompoc, remains at the center of a mystery surrounding the whereabouts of her 9-year-old daughter Melodee. Melodee was reported missing Oct. 14,...Read more

Ozan Kose/Getty Images North America/TNS

Europe seeks more time after US sets Ukraine deal deadline

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European leaders sought to buy time for Ukraine to work out a new ceasefire framework with Russia after the Trump administration set a one-week deadline to agree to terms that Kyiv and its allies rejected as an unacceptable giveaway to Moscow.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and leaders in France, Germany and across the continent were working to ...Read more

Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times/TNS

The first home has been rebuilt in the wake of the Palisades Fire

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LOS ANGELES — Less than a year after 6,822 structures burned in the Palisades Fire, the first rebuilding project has reached the finish line in Pacific Palisades: a two-story showcase home located at 915 Kagawa St.

In a news release, Mayor Karen Bass announced that the home received a certificate of occupancy from the L.A. Department of ...Read more

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Trump no longer plans to punish NYC, will be 'cheering' for Mamdani after 'great' White House meeting

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During an extraordinarily cordial meeting at the White House on Friday, President Donald Trump showered New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani with compliments and vowed to be “a big help” to his incoming administration — sparking perhaps the most improbable bromance in American politics.

The sympatico tone was a shocking turnaround for...Read more

Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images North America/TNS

Rapper Michel gets 14 years for illegally aiding 1MDB's Jho Low

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Pras Michel, a Grammy-winning rapper turned political influencer, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for conspiring to wage a back-channel lobbying campaign to end U.S. probes of fugitive Malaysian tycoon Jho Low and other crimes.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced Michel, 52, on Thursday in Washington federal court, where ...Read more

News briefs

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Florida DOGE seeks information on every course taught at universities

ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida’s DOGE team has asked state universities to turn over data on every undergraduate course offered at the 12 schools, including the syllabus and names of faculty members who are instructing it in the next two academic years.

The DeSantis ...Read more