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Lead Ofelia Torres, a 16-year-old from Chicago who had been treated for an aggressive form of cancer since late 2024, died on Friday, her family said. While she underwent care for stage 4 alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, her father, Ruben Torres Maldonado, was detained by federal immigration authorities in October 2025, triggering a public legal fight for … Read more

Lead Former UFC heavyweight titleholder Cain Velasquez was released on parole from a California state prison on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026, his longtime agent confirmed to ESPN. Velasquez, 43, had been serving a five-year sentence imposed in March 2025 after pleading no contest in a shooting related to an incident from February 2022. At sentencing … Read more

Lead Law enforcement officials investigating the Feb. 1 disappearance of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie said on Feb. 13–14 that gloves recovered roughly two miles from her home have been sent to a lab for DNA testing, and that a gray Range Rover photographed and later towed by agents is also under forensic review. Ms. Guthrie, the … Read more

The New York Mets claimed catcher Ben Rortvedt off waivers from the Los Angeles Dodgers on Feb. 15, 2026, with right-hander Dedniel Nunez transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man roster spot. The move follows Rortvedt’s designation for assignment in Los Angeles earlier this week to make room for Evan Phillips. Rortvedt … Read more

Lead: Sir Vince Cable has urged a formal investigation into Prince Andrew’s decade as a UK trade envoy (2001–2011) after documents recently released by the US Department of Justice appear to show he forwarded UK government and commercial material to Jeffrey Epstein. The material reportedly includes an email exchange in 2010 about Aston Martin and … Read more

Lead At the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 15, 2026, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sought to reassure trans-Atlantic partners while framing the relationship in terms of a shared Western civilization. He emphasized common history, Christian faith and cultural ties as foundations for U.S.-Europe cooperation. Yet the Europe Rubio described contrasts with the continent’s … Read more

Lead White House border czar Tom Homan said on Sunday that more than 1,000 immigration agents have already left the Minneapolis–St. Paul area and that several hundred more will depart in the coming days as part of a planned drawdown of the enforcement surge. Homan said a “small” security force will remain for a short … Read more

Lead: Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis publicly denounced Doctors Without Borders’ (MSF) decision to suspend most noncritical operations, saying civilian police were deployed to safeguard patients and staff. The dispute surfaced on Sunday amid a ceasefire period in which Gaza health officials report 602 Palestinians killed since Oct. 10, 2023, and 11 deaths in the … Read more

Lead Indiana visits Illinois in Champaign on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026, with tipoff scheduled for 1 p.m. ET on CBS. The market lists Illinois as a 10.5-point favorite with a moneyline near -650 and the total at 151.5 points. This preview projects the Illini to cover the spread and highlights the matchup edges that support … Read more

Lead Rosebush Pruning, a high-profile new film that premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, assembles a glamorous cast only to deliver a divisive, often frustrating experience. The story tracks a dysfunctional American family living in a grand Spanish house and foregrounds incest, violence and moral decay while leaning on glib, self-aware narration. Despite pedigree—writer Efthimis … Read more

A 2025 literature review led by Bruna Falcão of the University of São Paulo examined 503 reports from 207 species and found that snake cannibalism has evolved independently at least 11 times across global lineages. Published on Nov. 2, 2025 in Biological Reviews, the study links these occurrences to factors such as dietary flexibility, jaw … Read more

Lead: On February 15, 2026, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman wrote in his Power On newsletter that Apple is preparing iOS 27 with a focus on tidying its codebase, applying modest interface adjustments and subtly updating older apps. The reported goal is cleaner internal systems and improved efficiency, which Apple engineers hope will translate into better … Read more

A winter storm watch issued Feb. 15, 2026, covers much of Northern California as communities prepare for heavy snow during the Presidents Day holiday weekend. Meteorologists say a travel window exists Saturday through Sunday morning but warn conditions will deteriorate Sunday afternoon into Monday, with major travel impacts likely. Areas between 3,000 and 4,000 feet … Read more

Lead On Feb. 15, 2026 at the Milano Cortina Winter Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Mikaela Shiffrin finished 11th in the women’s giant slalom with a combined time of 2:14.42, missing a second Olympic podium opportunity. Italy’s Federica Brignone won gold in 2:13.50, while Sweden’s Sara Hector and Thea Louise Stjernesund tied for silver. Shiffrin, 30, … Read more

Lead On Christmas night 1776, General George Washington led Continental troops across an icy Delaware River and won at Trenton, a reversal that revived American hopes. That freezing weather, once ordinary in the Mid-Atlantic, played a tactical role by reducing enemy vigilance and enabling surprise. Today the same landscape records an accelerating climate signal: regional … Read more