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In a historic vote, Tennessee Volkswagen workers get their first union contract

Volkswagen assembly plant workers in Chattanooga, Tenn. and supporters celebrate the factory joining the United Auto Workers union on April 19, 2024.

Two years ago, the successful union drive at this plant was expected to spark victories throughout the South. But now, as members vote to make their contract official, momentum has fizzled.

(Image credit: Stephan Bisaha)

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NASA chief blasts Boeing, space agency for failed Starliner astronaut mission

This view from the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft shows Boeing

NASA's Jared Isaacman slammed Boeing for failures with its Starliner spacecraft, which was deemed unsafe to return its crew of two astronauts from the International Space Station

(Image credit: NASA)

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U.S. figure skater Alysa Liu said she didn't care if she medaled. She won gold

Team USA

Liu is the first American woman to win an individual figure skating gold medal since Sarah Hughes in 2002.

(Image credit: Jamie Squire)

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Internal memo details cosmetic changes and facility repairs to Kennedy Center

A person walks a dog in front of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 10, 2026.

Trump announced his plans to close the Kennedy Center entirely for two years "for Construction, Revitalization, and Complete Rebuilding." The announcement came after many prominent artists canceled existing scheduled appearances.

(Image credit: Mandel Ngan)

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Baby chicks link certain sounds with shapes, just like humans do

Baby chickens appear to react similarly to humans when tested for something called the "bouba-kiki effect," which links certain sounds to certain shapes.

A surprising new study shows that baby chickens react the same way that humans do when tested for something called the "bouba-kiki effect," which has been linked to the emergence of language.

(Image credit: Elena Goncharova)

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American Jordan Stolz speedskates to a third Olympic medal -- silver this time

Jordan Stolz took silver in the men

U.S. speedskater Jordan Stolz had a lot of hype accompanying him in these Winter Olympic Games. He's now got two gold medals, one silver, with one event to go.

(Image credit: Daniel Munoz)

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Reporter's notebook: My Olympic Lunar New Year

The exterior of Villa Necchi in Milan, a 1930s villa-turned-museum that South Korea has rented during the Olympics

An NPR reporter covering the Olympics in Milan takes us on cultural side quests, to a hospitality house and a candy store.

(Image credit: Rachel Treisman)

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Michael Pollan says AI may 'think' — but it will never be conscious

Michael Pollan is the author of <!-- raw HTML omitted -->A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness.<!-- raw HTML omitted -->

"Consciousness is under siege," says author Michael Pollan. His new book, A World Appears, explores consciousness on both a personal and technological level.

(Image credit: Christopher Michel)

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The U.S. and Canada set to square off in Olympic women's ice hockey gold medal match

USA forward Abbey Murphy celebrates at the end of the women

Canada was long the top dog of Olympic women's hockey. But with a win Thursday, the Americans could do more than earn a third gold medal — they could prove the sport's balance of power has shifted.

(Image credit: Piero Cruciatti)

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Amazon dethrones Walmart as the world's biggest company by sales

An Amazon Prime delivery van sits parked near a Walmart store in California.

In a slow-motion race of two retail behemoths, Amazon's trump card was its lucrative cloud-computing business.

(Image credit: Justin Sullivan)

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A Republican plan to overhaul voting is back. Here's what's new in the bill

People vote at a polling station in Pasadena, Calif., on Nov. 4, 2025.

A Republican voting overhaul is back on Capitol Hill — with an added photo identification provision and an altered name. Opponents say the legislation would disenfranchise millions of voters.

(Image credit: Mario Tama)

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'Dude, good luck': the Olympic wit and wisdom of a pioneering African skeleton racer

Ghana

Who says serious athletes are always serious? Akwasi Frimpong, who's competed for Ghana, is a world-class wisecracker as he reflects on being a Black African athlete in the white world of winter sports.

(Image credit: Kirill KudryavtsevAFP)

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HUD rule could push families with undocumented immigrants out of their homes

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development headquarters in Washington, D.C.  The agency wants to ban families with any undocumented member from federally subsidized housing.

A proposed rule could put nearly 80,000 people at risk of eviction, many of them U.S. citizen children. Undocumented immigrants don't get rental aid but can currently live with family members who do.

(Image credit: Kent Nishimura)

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1,000 Kenyans were recruited to fight for Russia in Ukraine, intelligence report says

Protesters hold placards at a small demonstration held by Ukrainians, Russians and Kenyans against Russia

A new Kenyan intelligence report said the Kenyans were recruited to fight for Russia in Ukraine after being misled with false promises of jobs in Russia before being sent to the front lines.

(Image credit: AP)

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Refugees in the U.S. could be arrested under new immigration memo

Protesters perform on the street in December 2025 as they march through frigid conditions in a neighborhood in Minneapolis, Minn., where many Somali, Latino and Hispanic immigrants live and work.

The move is another Trump administration effort to limit legal pathways to migration or resettlement, after already curbing the number of admitted refugees and re-reviewing those admitted under the Biden administration.

(Image credit: Kerem Yucel)

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Police arrest Ex-Prince Andrew. And, Trump hosts the first Board of Peace meeting

People snap photos outside the United States Peace Institute, with the recently added name of President Trump.

U.K. police arrested Former Prince Andrew today on suspicion of misconduct in public office, U.K. media reports. And, President Trump is hosting the first-ever Board of Peace meeting today.

(Image credit: Allison Robbert)

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That ain't perfume! Ancient bottle contained feces, likely used for medicine

Researchers scraped residue from ancient Roman bottles and discovered what may have been a medical concoction.

Researchers found a tiny bottle from ancient Rome that contained fecal residue and traces of aromatics, offering evidence that poop was used medicinally more than two thousand years ago.

(Image credit: Ilker Demirbolat (left); Atila Cenker (right))

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Former Prince Andrew arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office: reports

Britain

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, reports say.

(Image credit: Kirsty Wigglesworth)

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Urban sketchers find the sublime in the city block

Portland

Sketchers say making art together in urban environments allows them to create a record of a moment and to notice a little bit more about the city they see every day.

(Image credit: Deena Prichep)

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Epstein once attended an elite arts camp. Years later, he used it to find his victims

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Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell lavished money on the Interlochen Center for the Arts to gain access, documents show — even funding an on-campus lodge they stayed in. In the process, two teenagers were pulled into their orbit.

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An unsung hero stepped in to help a newly widowed mom in a moment of need

Barbara Alvarez (left) was newly widowed and overwhelmed while she helped her daughter, Monica Dreesen (right), move into college. Then an unsung hero stepped in and made the transition easier.

Barbara Alvarez lost her husband in 2017, just before their daughter went off to college. Her unsung hero helped her find the strength to be a single mother to her child at a key moment in their lives.

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How do Olympians like Eileen Gu earn $23 million? Here are all the ways

Eileen Gu celebrates her silver medal for China at the Women

Most Olympians never win big money — or big fame. So how are athletes such as Eileen Gu or Chloe Kim able to earn millions of dollars? Here are some of the ways.

(Image credit: Hannah Peters)

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How a recent shift in DNA sleuthing might help investigators in the Nancy Guthrie case

A member of the FBI

DNA science has helped solve criminal cases for decades. But increasingly, investigative genetic genealogy — which was first used for cold cases — is helping to solve active cases as well.

(Image credit: Brandon Bell)

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Morning news brief

President Trump's Board of Peace to meet for the first time, latest round of talks to end war in Ukraine conclude with little progress, Meta CEO defends the platform in social media addiction trial.

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Iran and the U.S. lean into gunboat diplomacy as nuclear talks hang in balance

In this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, the USS Gerald R. Ford embarked on the first of its sea trials to test various state-of-the-art systems on its own power for the first time, April 8, 2017, from Newport News, Va.

Iran and the United States leaned into gunboat diplomacy Thursday, with Tehran holding drills with Russia and the Americans bringing another aircraft carrier closer to the Mideast.

(Image credit: Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ridge Leoni/AP)

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Former South Korean President Yoon receives life sentence for imposing martial law

FILE - Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, center arrives at a court to attend a hearing to review his arrest warrant requested by special prosecutors in Seoul, South Korea, July 9, 2025.

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to life in prison for his brief imposition of martial law in December 2024.

(Image credit: Kim Hong-Ji)

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José María Balcázar becomes Peru's eighth president in a decade

Peru

José María Balcázar has become Peru's new interim president, replacing another interim leader who was removed over corruption allegations just four months into his term.

(Image credit: Guadalupe Pardo)

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Trump gathers members of Board of Peace for first meeting, with some U.S. allies wary

President Donald Trump

President Donald Trump will gather Thursday with representatives from more than two dozen countries that have joined his Board of Peace, for a meeting that will focus on the reconstruction of Gaza.

(Image credit: Evan Vucci)

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With a win over Sweden, the U.S. men's hockey team will play for an Olympic medal

Sweden

A thrilling overtime goal by defenseman Quinn Hughes puts Team USA through to a semifinal game against Slovakia. On the other side of the bracket, Canada had its own close call, but moves on to face Finland.

(Image credit: Hassan Ammar/AP)

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Zuckerberg grilled about Meta's strategy to target 'teens' and 'tweens'

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives at the Los Angeles Superior Court ahead of the social media trial tasked to determine whether social media giants deliberately designed their platforms to be addictive to children on Feb. 18, 2026. Zuckerberg is scheduled to testify Wednesday.

The billionaire tech mogul's testimony was part of a landmark social media addiction trial in Los Angeles. The jury's verdict in the case could shape how some 1,600 other pending cases from families and school districts are resolved.

(Image credit: Frederic J. Brown)

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