Top stories

Lead: On March 25, 2026, the United States circulated a 15-point peace proposal to Iran while dispatching roughly 2,000 paratroopers to the Middle East, a move that could sharpen U.S. leverage in talks or signal readiness to escalate militarily. Diplomats said Pakistan was mediating and proposed talks in Islamabad as soon as this weekend, though … Read more

Lead On March 25, 2026, Meta announced a round of layoffs that affects hundreds of employees across multiple teams, including Reality Labs, recruiting, social media and sales. The cuts arrive as the company intensifies investment in AI infrastructure and data centers, a strategy it expects will require as much as $135 billion in capital spending. … Read more

Lead: A mutated SARS-CoV-2 lineage, identified as BA.3.2, was first detected in the United States in June 2025 in a traveler who tested positive at San Francisco International Airport (SFO). The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on March 19 that BA.3.2 carries spike-protein changes that can reduce recognition by antibodies from … Read more

On Monday, Putnam County coroner Todd Zeiner was notified that actor Nicholas Brendon had been found dead at his Indiana home; a longtime friend who had been staying there discovered the body. The coroner reported finding an adult male “positioned as if asleep” who had already been pronounced dead on arrival. Local authorities say initial … Read more

U.S. stock futures were little changed Wednesday night as investors tracked fresh reports from the Middle East that could affect energy markets and global risk sentiment. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures traded about 0.2% lower while Dow futures fell roughly 101 points (0.2%), following a regular session in which all three major indexes rose. … Read more

Lead: On Wednesday, March 25, 2026, a Los Angeles jury found Meta’s Instagram and Google-owned YouTube negligent in a first-of-its-kind lawsuit brought by a 20-year-old plaintiff identified as KGM (Kaley). Jurors concluded the platforms were designed in ways that helped create addictive usage patterns for minors and awarded $3 million in compensatory damages and a … Read more

Lead On March 25, 2026, Microsoft Corp. saw its shares on track for their worst quarterly performance in 17 years, highlighting investor concern about the company’s core cloud and software businesses. Market observers pointed to a slowdown in Microsoft’s MSFT cloud-computing growth after the company diverted a portion of scarce artificial-intelligence hardware to internal projects … Read more

Lead: President Donald Trump said on March 25, 2026 that the United States was holding “really good discussions” with Iran to end a war that began nearly a month earlier; Tehran publicly denied any negotiations were underway the same day. The apparent contradiction reflects competing domestic and international incentives for both governments. Trump’s comments aim … Read more

Lead On March 25, 2026, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and Google’s YouTube liable for contributing to a woman’s depression and anxiety tied to compulsive social media use and awarded her $6 million. The panel assigned $3 million in compensatory damages and $3 million in punitive damages, with Meta responsible for 70% of the … Read more

Lead: A memo prepared in 2023 for Special Counsel Jack Smith and released to Congress alleges that former President Donald Trump showed a classified map to people aboard a private flight in 2022 and kept another record so restricted that only six U.S. officials had access. Representative Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House … Read more

On March 25, 2026, the White House told reporters that diplomatic contacts with Iran are progressing even as Iran’s foreign minister publicly rejected the characterization of those exchanges as negotiations. US officials said they are trying to arrange a meeting in Pakistan to discuss an off‑ramp to the conflict, while Tehran said message exchanges through … Read more

Lead Warner Bros. Discovery unveiled the title, first teaser trailer and a Christmas Day 2026 release for its new Harry Potter television adaptation at an HBO Max UK launch event in London. The series uses the original UK book title, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, and will debut globally on HBO Max where the … Read more

Taylor Frankie Paul has been accused for a third time of domestic violence by her ex-boyfriend, Dakota Mortensen. The latest allegations relate to an incident said to have occurred in 2024; the West Jordan, Utah, Police Department is reviewing multiple videos tied to the matter. Specifics of the most recent event and its timing have … Read more

Lead: A mutated version of SARS‑CoV‑2, designated BA.3.2, was first detected in the United States in a traveler who tested positive at San Francisco International Airport in June 2025 and is now showing signs of broader circulation. A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report on March 19 detailed the variant’s genetic changes in … Read more

Researchers publishing in Science Advances (2026) report evidence that Earth’s magnetosphere creates an extended energetic-particle “cavity” that reduces radiation on the lunar surface by about 20% at certain orbital phases. The result derives from analysis of measurements from China’s Chang’e-4 lander supplemented with trend checks from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). The effect appears when … Read more