U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan issued a 14-day temporary restraining order early Friday blocking groundbreaking on the president's 250-foot Arlington-facing triumphal arch — just hours after a federal planning commission green-lit it. Chutkan sided with D.C. and Virginia, writing that construction would clog traffic, impede disaster preparedness and harm the environment. The White House says it's confident the project survives the legal challenge; DOJ has already conceded the arch won't be finished before Trump leaves office.
Outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom moved to convert all 548 California death sentences to life without parole, calling state-sanctioned killing "incompatible with California's values." He can finalize roughly 40 percent unilaterally; the remaining 382 cases need sign-off from the California Supreme Court before his term ends in January. Law enforcement groups and victims' families say he steamrolled the people left behind.
Thursday was brutal: the Dow shed 1,833 points and the Nasdaq fell 5.52 percent — its worst day since April 2025 — as investors dumped anything with data-center exposure on fears the new Democratic majorities will clamp down on AI buildouts. Friday brought a partial rebound, with the Nasdaq up about 1.1 percent and the semiconductor index rallying 4.2 percent, though the Dow slipped again. Worth noting: voters backed data-center restrictions in 40 of 41 local ballot measures across ten states.
In Alaska, former Rep. Mary Peltola leads Sen. Dan Sullivan by fewer than 700 votes — while a same-named candidate dubbed "Decoy Dan" pulled roughly 3,600 votes, more than five times the margin. In Mississippi, Democrat Scott Colom leads Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by under 2,000 with about 96 percent counted and 3,600 mail ballots outstanding, and the state has no formal recount process. Democrats already clinched the Senate without either seat; Alaska's final tally may not land until November 18.
At least eleven aircraft departing Copenhagen, Dublin, Helsinki, Madrid, Milan and Warsaw were diverted or forced into emergency landings Thursday — the second such wave this week. A Dublin-to-Rome flight put down at a French military base in Normandy, and three Sofia-bound Ryanair flights made emergency landings. Every inspection so far has come up empty, pointing to a coordinated hoax campaign amid a broader pattern of European "disruption" incidents.
Nearly 600,000 people turned out across 193 marches, the largest crowds since the September student walkouts, with authorities logging 642 arrests and 86 fires. Protesters want a ten percent minimum-wage hike, a ten-billion-euro education injection, and the government's resignation. The U.S. has issued a travel warning as the unrest stretches into a third month.
The president met his national security team Thursday — their first Iran session since the midterms — and told reporters a decision on renewed strikes is coming "soon." Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday called the earlier U.S.-Iran campaign a "courageous and historic effort" while briefing Congress on budget needs. The team is split: Vice President Vance has pushed for a deal, while Netanyahu presses for action.
Researchers have identified an object designated 2026 ED138 far out past Pluto's orbit, and it's large enough to be a dwarf planet candidate. Objects of this size in that region are genuinely rare finds, which makes the detection a meaningful data point for mapping the outer solar system. Confirmation will require follow-up observations to pin down its size and orbit.
NYU Langone Health researchers found plastic particles in 90 percent of prostate tumor samples examined, with cancerous tissue carrying more than twice the concentration of adjacent healthy tissue. The team calls it the first direct evidence linking microplastics to prostate cancer. Big caveat: it's a pilot study of just ten men, and presence is not proof of cause.
Resident Franshara Napoleon was picking up her daughter from school when she spotted something moving in a flooded intersection — and it was a shark, cruising down the street. King tide flooding stacked on top of heavy rain has swamped parts of Florida's Atlantic coast, bad enough earlier this week that Gov. DeSantis had to open 23 temporary polling sites across seven counties. The video is as unsettling as it sounds.
