BY SURINA VENKAT AND LEE ANN ANDERSON |
© Illustration / Samantha Wong; Kristina Blokhin, Adobe Stock |
As data centers hurtle to the forefront of the national debate over artificial intelligence (AI) and energy costs, northern Virginia offers a preview of the political fights that will play out in communities across the country seeking to cash in on the booming industry.
Virginia is the unofficial data center capital of the world, with more than half of the world's internet traffic running through hundreds of facilities in Loudoun and Fairfax counties, generating some 74,000 jobs and $9.1 billion for the state's economy each year.
But the sprawling data centers are also transforming the landscape and gobbling up massive amounts of water and electricity, leading state politicians to grapple with how to regulate and monitor the rapid development — without alienating the powerful interests backing the projects, from tech giants to local leaders and labor unions. |
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First came the Manhattan shooting death of a health insurance CEO.
In the months that followed, a young couple working for the Israeli embassy, a Democratic Minnesota lawmaker and her husband, a Ukrainian refugee, a conservative activist, a National Guard member deployed in the nation's capital and a legendary Hollywood director and his producer wife were all slain.
The spate of high-profile killings, and the federal and state criminal cases that have followed, thrust into the spotlight this year the death penalty as prosecutors have vowed to pursue the most serious punishment at stake.
At the same time, President Trump has pushed to reinvigorate executions — a bid at odds with public approval, as most capital juries rejected death sentences this year in favor of life. |
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New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani (D) on Saturday rejected Elon Musk's argument that his appointment to head up the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) is inexperienced.
"Experience does matter, which is why I appointed the person who spent more than 30 years at EMS. You know, the workforce that addresses at least 70% of all calls coming into FDNY?" Mamdani wrote in a post on the social platform X.
His comment was in response to Musk's earlier post alleging that people would "die" due to the appointment of Lillian Bonsignore, a veteran Emergency Medical Services leader. |
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday confirmed that Canada will give his country a new assistance package after he spoke with European leaders amid peace talks.
Zelensky stopped in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and thanked Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney for joining him in "speaking with our friends from Europe" about bringing the war between Ukraine and Russia to an end. Carney told reporters that "a just and lasting peace" needs a "willing Russia." He condemned Russia's strikes on Kyiv on Saturday, which killed at least one person and left over 20 people hurt. |
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Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday said his nation is at war with the United States and Israel, as well as Europe more broadly.
"We are in a full-scale war with the U.S., Israel and Europe; they don't want our country to remain stable," Pezeshkian said in an interview published on the website of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to The Associated Press.
Khamenei and Pezeshkian have reiterated an ironclad stance against the West after a U.S.- and Israel-led attack on Iran's nuclear facilities in June. |
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President Trump on Saturday touted low national crime statistics and his immigration agenda while claiming his tariffs have resulted in "no inflation" as the first year of his second term comes to a close.
"Crime in the United States is at its lowest levels on record," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "Much of that is attributable to the most successful Southern Border operation in history. Also, there are more people working in the U.S. today than EVER before. MAGA!!!" The president, in a second post, added that his tariffs have created "GREAT WEALTH, and unprecedented National Security for the USA." |
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Attorney Gloria Allred on Friday speculated on why the friendship between President Trump and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein ended, and what the files released by the Justice Department (DOJ) could reveal about the falling out.
"Well, I've heard different explanations from the White House about why he dropped him," Allred told CNN's Phil Mattingly. "One explanation was that he was a pervert, Jeffrey Epstein. But if he was a pervert, in the view of the president — not the president at the time — then why did he believe he was a pervert?" "And was he — did he investigate?" Allred continued. "Did he look into what actions or misconduct he knew that perhaps Jeffrey Epstein was inflicting on underage girls, children, or adults?" |
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom moved himself into front-runner status for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028, emerging from a pack of contenders to clear leading status.
It was a strong year for Newsom, whose combative approach to taking on President Trump resonated with Democrats and won favorable headlines for his team. "The headline on Newsom is that this year, he became the default answer of who Democrats are thinking about for 2028," Democratic strategist Joel Payne said. "He became the stand-in at a time when the party was looking for leadership and a good spokesperson." |
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International leaders are participating in high-stakes peace talks geared towards ending the Russia-Ukraine war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently presented a 20-point peace plan to his counterparts with clauses that outline a demilitarization zone, security guarantees and an $800 billion fund to help rebuild the war-torn nation. His refusal to cede pieces of land to Russia remain deeply embedded in his proposals, proving to be a sobering roadblock for officials from the Trump administration working to negotiate the conflict's end.
President Trump and Zelensky are set to meet in Florida on Sunday for face-to-face talks. The confab will follow several meetings earlier this year, which have failed to produce a ceasefire agreement. |
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BY NEAL MCCLUSKEY AND KAYLA SUSALLA |
OPINION | Last month, President Trump reiterated his plan to allow up to 600,000 Chinese students to study at U.S. universities. "I actually think it's good to have outside countries," he said in a Fox News interview. "I want to be able to get along with the world." He also noted that having foreign students, who often pay full freight, is economically beneficial for the country. "It's not that I want them, but I view it as a business," he said.
But it turns out business is suffering. A recent report shows that new international student enrollment has declined 17 percent between the last school year and the current one. |
OPINION | Most know the expression: "We have met the enemy, and he is us." As much as the Democratic leadership wants to attack President Trump in the coming new year, they first must deal with a much larger problem: the mirror.
To begin with, who is the "Democratic leadership?" It is a question a number in the media have asked of former Vice President Kamala Harris and others without getting many good answers. |
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April Flakne strides into the classroom to teach a course on "The Odyssey," a new requirement at New College of Florida.
She has taught philosophy at the small state college for 25 years, but this class is different — seven weeks on one classic book, required of all students. Normally, her focus is on philosophers like Hannah Arendt and Simone de Beauvoir, and their theories of totalitarianism, revolution and feminism.
This class on Homer is a turnabout from all that, and marks a signature accomplishment for conservatives who want to redirect higher education. |
President Trump and his team have spent much of the year railing at Europe, complaining about what they see as a cluster of countries too soft on immigration, weak on preserving democratic freedoms and unwilling to pay for the full cost of their defense.
Their biggest target, though, is the European Union. The U.S. helped create the institution from the wreckage of World War II, but Washington now regards it as an over-regulated bureaucracy incapable of responding swiftly to events and fulfilling its role as a U.S. ally |
Brigitte Bardot, the French 1960s sex symbol who became one of the greatest screen sirens of the 20th century and later a militant animal rights activist, has died. She was 91.
Bruno Jacquelin, of the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the protection of animals, told The Associated Press that she died Sunday at her home in southern France, and would not provide a cause of death. He said no arrangements have yet been made for funeral or memorial services. She had been hospitalized last month. |
BY MARIANNE LEVINE, EMMANUEL MARTINEZ & ÁLVARO VALIÑO |
The Trump administration's mass deportation campaign has led to a significant change in strategy, as federal officers shift away from focusing on arresting immigrants already held in local jails to tracking them down on the streets and in communities, according to a Washington Post analysis of government data. |
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