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Lead: The recent ouster of Justice Department antitrust chief Gail Slater has shifted Washington’s merger landscape, signaling a clearer path for corporate deals. Insiders say the change — announced last week — reflects the White House’s business-friendly posture prevailing over populist skeptics within the administration. Deal lawyers and corporate advisers report that remedies and negotiated … Read more

Inglewood, Calif. — On Saturday night at the Intuit Dome, All-Star Saturday delivered its usual mix of spectacle and highlight-reel moments: Damian Lillard, sidelined for the season with a torn Achilles, won the State Farm 3-Point Contest; Team Knicks captured the revived Shooting Stars title; and Miami’s Keshad Johnson emerged victorious in the AT&T Slam … Read more

Lead On Feb. 14, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security ran out of funding, thrusting Transportation Security Administration employees into another unpaid work cycle while Congress remains deadlocked. Many T.S.A. officers — who screen passengers and luggage at U.S. airports — are again on the front lines of a political impasse they did not create. … Read more

Lead: On Saturday evening a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base produced a bright, spiral-shaped plume that lit the twilight sky across the High Desert and drew widespread attention in Victor Valley. The rocket—part of a Starlink mission carrying internet satellites into low-Earth orbit—lifted off from California’s Central Coast and was observed … Read more

Bruce Thornton scored 28 points and Amare Bynum added 15, but Ohio State could not finish a resume-boosting win Monday night as No. 15 Virginia edged the Buckeyes 70-66 in Columbus. The Buckeyes led late in the second half but managed just seven points in the final 10 minutes, allowing the Cavaliers to capitalize and … Read more

Lead: A United Nations human rights report says more than 6,000 people were killed over a three‑day span during a late‑October offensive by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on el‑Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur. The U.N. Human Rights Office attributes mass killings, summary executions, widespread sexual violence, abductions and large‑scale detention to RSF … Read more

Lead At the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, U.S. athletes collected a wide-ranging set of medals across speedskating, skiing, skating and sliding events between Feb. 8 and Feb. 14 in northern Italy. Standouts included 21-year-old speedskater Jordan Stolz, who took two golds, and a mix of veterans and rising stars who produced podium finishes in … Read more

Artificial-intelligence stocks remain a primary growth theme for many investors, and one quietly rising specialist is Astera Labs, a supplier of high-performance interconnect hardware and software for AI data centers. In recent results the company reported $852.5 million in revenue for fiscal 2025, a 115% year-over-year increase, and provided guidance implying further top-line growth near … Read more

Lead: After qualifying for the women’s big air final on Saturday in Livigno, 22-year-old Eileen Gu said she was disappointed that International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) organizers would not adjust the Milan–Cortina 2026 schedule so she could receive the same amount of halfpipe training as other competitors. Gu, who won silver in slopestyle earlier … Read more

Lead No. 22 BYU escaped a serious scare and a late comeback by Colorado in a 90-86 overtime victory on Saturday in Provo. The Cougars improved to 19-6 overall and 7-5 in Big 12 play, but the game’s defining moment came 45 seconds in when veteran guard Richie Saunders landed awkwardly and exited with a … Read more

Lead: Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the Munich Security Forum on Saturday that Kyiv will only sign a peace agreement preserving its dignity if the United States provides a legally binding security guarantee for at least 20 years. The remarks come ahead of planned trilateral talks next week with the US and Russia in Geneva. … Read more

Lindsey Vonn, 41, said Saturday that a recent operation on her left leg — injured in an Olympic downhill crash — “went well” and that she will be able to return to the United States. The American skiing star is being treated at a hospital in Treviso after being airlifted off the Cortina d’Ampezzo course … Read more

Lead SpaceX is set to mark its 600th Falcon 9 launch with the Starlink 17-13 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Saturday evening. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East is scheduled for 5:59:59 p.m. PST (8:59:59 p.m. EST / 01:59:59 UTC) at the close of the window. The flight will deliver 24 Starlink … Read more

Lead Cardiologists are highlighting six practical lifestyle habits that research and clinical experience link to better cardiovascular outcomes in the United States. In a campaign this February tied to women’s heart awareness, physicians emphasized that most heart disease is preventable and that modest, sustained changes can reduce risk even with a family history. Experts from … Read more

Lead: The seven Western states that rely on the Colorado River missed a Saturday deadline for the second time to finalize a shared plan to confront record drought and looming water shortages across the basin. Lower Basin governors from Arizona, California and Nevada urged greater concessions from the Upper Basin states — Colorado, New Mexico, … Read more