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Merz cites nuclear talks in call to reorder Trump-era relations

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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he’s in talks with France over potential European nuclear defense as he made a call to reorder the transatlantic relationship amid the turmoil of Donald Trump’s second term.

Kicking off the Munich Security Conference, Merz warned against a new era of great power politics and said that Germany and ...Read more

Florida lawmakers consider funding for struggling mobile home owners

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MIAMI — Florida mobile home owners struggling with affordability might soon get some short-term help.

The Florida House of Representatives is debating a bill that would make it easier for local governments to provide financial assistance to mobile home owners facing rising lot fees.

And, as mobile home parks like Sweetwater’s Li’l Abner...Read more

Alon Skuy/Getty Images North America/TNS

Venezuelan military commander accused of torturing Maduro's opponents is at Krome

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MIAMI — They would never forget his face after being stripped and beaten at a Venezuelan national guard barracks for protesting Nicolás Maduro’s narrow presidential win in 2013.

Five years later, they discovered that the commanding officer who allegedly gave the brutal orders was living in the Miami area and the FBI was investigating him. ...Read more

Ronaldo Bolaños/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Strong storm set to pummel LA with heavy rains, flooding and beach hazards

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LOS ANGELES — Southern California is experiencing the calm before the storm. Forecasters say a strong system is headed our way and, starting Sunday, poses the threat of thunderstorms, flooding, gusty winds and dangerous waves.

But before that happens, the region will have a warm, dry weekend. An offshore flow is pushing its way through the ...Read more

Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/TNS

LA Mayor Karen Bass directed Palisades fire damage control, email shows

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LOS ANGELES — A day after federal prosecutors announced that the catastrophic Palisades fire was caused by the rekindling of a smaller arson fire days earlier, Los Angeles city officials were in damage control mode.

The ultimate authority on how to handle the deluge of media inquiries was Mayor Karen Bass, according to an internal email ...Read more

Several Olympic figure skaters have spoken publicly of their eating disorders in recent years.  aire images/Moment via Getty Images

The intensity and perfectionism that drive Olympic athletes also put them at high risk for eating disorders

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Olympians – athletes at the top of their sport and in prime health – are idolized and often viewed as superhuman. These athletes spend their lives focusing on building physical strength through rigorous training and diets that are honed to provide the nutrients necessary to excel at their sport.

However, athletes are at ...Read more

Hoping to preserve his narrow majority, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson campaigned alongside Matt Van Epps, who narrowly won a December 2025 special election in a strongly Republican district in Tennessee. AP Photo/John Amis

Do special election results spell doom for Republicans in 2026?

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On Feb. 7, 2026, Chasity Verret Martinez won a special election to fill a vacant seat in the Louisiana House. That’s an outcome that might not mean very much to people outside of the state or even outside her Baton Rouge-area district.

But Martinez is a Democrat who took 62% of the vote in a district that had given Donald Trump a 13...Read more

Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/TNS

Florida House nixes Gov. Ron DeSantis priorities in budget plan

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Without warning, public debate or coordination with the Senate, the Florida House late Thursday released an austere $113.6 billion spending plan for next year that does not fund key priorities of Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The House’s budget for 2026-27, released while DeSantis was in California participating in the Pebble Beach...Read more

Oleksandr Gimanov/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Russia and Ukraine envoys set for new US-led talks in Geneva

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Russia and Ukraine said a new round of U.S.-led peace talks will take place in Geneva next week.

Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky will lead Moscow’s delegation at the negotiations planned for Feb. 17 and 18, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.

Ukraine’s negotiating team is also preparing for talks with Russia and the U....Read more

JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump steps up push for Israel president to pardon Netanyahu

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U.S. President Donald Trump stepped up his push for Israel’s president to pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who’s facing charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust.

President Isaac Herzog “should be ashamed of himself” for not granting a pardon, Trump told reporters on Thursday. “He doesn’t want to do it because I guess ...Read more

NASA to let private company Vast visit space station for private mission in 2027

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NASA has let Axiom Space make four visits to the International Space Station and last month awarded it the right for the fifth visit next year, but on Thursday the agency announced a new company would be allowed a private mission as well.

Vast, based in Long Beach, California, on track to build its own space station, has signed an order with ...Read more

Europe talks nuclear weapons after US delivers reality check

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When the U.S. briefly stopped sharing battlefield intelligence with Ukraine in March 2025, the results were immediate. Kyiv’s forces suffered decisive setbacks on the battlefield as its European allies watched in horror.

The outage only lasted a few days, but it sent shockwaves through Europe as a new reality dawned: Washington was no longer ...Read more

Colorectal cancer is increasing among young people, James Van Der Beek’s death reminds – cancer experts explain ways to decrease your risk

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An increasing number of people are dying of colorectal cancer at a young age, including those as young as 20. Actor James Van Der Beek, who was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2023, died at age 48 on Feb. 11, 2026, bringing the disease back into the limelight.

The Conversation U.S. asked gastrointestinal oncologist Christopher ...Read more

LA public defenders are on a remarkable win streak as Trump DOJ charges activists

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LOS ANGELES — As they waited for jurors to return a verdict, the lawyers were on edge.

Rebecca Abel and Kyra Nickell, both deputy federal public defenders, had spent days in trial defending their client, whom the government accused of assaulting a federal law enforcement officer with a camera and later with a shove to the chest during an ...Read more

Black leaders in St. Paul see similarities between civil rights struggle, immigration protests

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ST. PAUL, Minn. — Born in 1950, Readus Fletcher experienced his share of racial discrimination as a young man, but he also saw the dismantling of Jim Crow laws that kept Black families from white schools, southern lunch counters, voting booths and the front of the bus.

He witnessed the civil rights era up close, and was proud to see his own ...Read more

Officer's criminal record a factor in dismissed charges against LA anti-ICE protesters

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LOS ANGELES — A federal agent failed to disclose three criminal convictions to his bosses at the Department of Justice and misrepresented the nature of an alleged assault, according to court filings in two recent Los Angeles cases against protesters that ended with all charges dropped.

The dismissals continue a nearly unprecedented streak of ...Read more

Criminal justice is a top issue in state legislatures this year

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Criminal justice has emerged as one of the most wide-ranging and politically charged areas on lawmakers’ agendas in this year’s state legislative sessions. Across the country, legislators are weighing proposals that affect nearly every part of the criminal justice system, including policing, gun policy, solving crimes, sentencing, prison ...Read more

Florida blamed Congress for AIDS drug cuts. Gov. DeSantis administration made them worse

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is blaming rising health care costs and Congress for cutting off life-saving access to affordable AIDS drugs to thousands of Floridians next month.

But the administration’s own actions will cripple the program.

Florida is planning to kick patients in the AIDS Drug Assistance Program ...Read more

Central Florida immigrants temporarily sign away parental rights over fear of detention

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ORLANDO — Two weeks ago, Elizeth Villabos got a frantic call in the middle of the day from her teen daughter at high school in Orange County.

“She was at school and saw ICE out side and she was crying and so afraid,” Villalobos said. “She asked me if they were there to return us to Venezuela and if we would be killed if we went back.”...Read more

DOJ moves to drop charges against men arrested after north Minneapolis ICE shooting

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Federal prosecutors have moved to drop criminal charges against two Venezuelan men whose highly publicized arrests in north Minneapolis last month have been disputed after conflicting accounts emerged from Homeland Security officials and defense attorneys.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Feb. 12 that “newly discovered evidence” in the ...Read more