The Merced County Sheriff-Coroner's Office is asking for the public's help locating relatives of a 72-year-old man who died in the county. Officials are searching for the family of Bruce Wayne Collier. The coroner's office said it has searched numerous personal records but has been unable to find his relatives....
Pope Leo Laments a World ‘in Flames’ at Ash Wednesday Service
Pope Leo lamented a world "in flames" due to wars and the destruction of the environment during an Ash Wednesday Mass, opening the season of Lent for the world's Christians. Before sprinkling ashes on the heads of participants, a sign of mortality, the pope said the ashes could represent "the...
Meta’s Zuckerberg Faces Questioning at Youth Addiction Trial
LOS ANGELES, Feb 18 - Meta Platforms CEO and billionaire Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is set to be questioned for the first time in a U.S. court on Wednesday about Instagram's effect on the mental health of young users, as a landmark trial over youth social media addiction continues. While...
US Agency Sought Transcript of Bad Bunny Super Bowl Halftime Performance
The Federal Communications Commission requested transcripts of Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show performance from Comcast's NBC after a Republican lawmaker suggested it could violate federal indecency regulations, a member of the commission said Wednesday. FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said she reviewed the transcripts of the performance in Spanish after...
Elon Musk’s xAI Gets $3 Billion Investment From Saudi-Backed AI Firm
LONDON — Saudi Arabia’s state-backed artificial intelligence company, Humain, said Wednesday that it had invested $3 billion in Elon Musk’s xAI, deepening the country’s financial ties with the tech billionaire. Humain, the Riyadh-based AI company created last year by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, said it made the investment just...
Oil Prices Rise 3% on Iran-US Tensions, Russia-Ukraine Talks End Without Breakthrough
Oil prices rose by more than 3% on Wednesday as traders priced in potential supply disruptions amid concerns of conflict between the United States and Iran, and after talks between Ukraine and Russia in Geneva ended without a breakthrough. Brent crude oil futures were up $2.38, or 3.53%, at $69.80...
EPA Faces First Lawsuit Over Its Killing of Major Climate Rule
The first shot has been fired in the legal war over the Environmental Protection Agency’s rollback of its “endangerment finding,” which had been the foundation for federal climate regulations. Environmental and health groups filed a lawsuit Wednesday morning in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit,...
Some Democrats to Boycott Trump State of the Union for Rally
A group of liberal U.S. lawmakers will abandon President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech on Tuesday for an outdoor rally to protest his policies, marking a rare coordinated boycott as partisan tensions around the annual address intensify. About a dozen Democrats in the Senate and House of Representatives...
Millions of US Medicare Advantage Enrollees Forced to Switch Plans, Study Finds
Nearly 3 million people with Medicare Advantage plans - or about 10% of all enrollees in the privately-managed program - had to find alternative coverage in 2026, as health insurers exited markets and scaled back plan options, according to a study published in a medical journal on Wednesday. Members in...
Ramadan Begins in Gaza Amid Ruins of Shattered Mosques
As the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan began in Gaza on Wednesday, Palestinians headed to the shattered ruins of mosques or to makeshift prayer spaces made of tarpaulins and wood, mourning their dead and their lost places of worship. In Gaza City, the dome of the now destroyed Al Hassaina mosque rests...