Arkansas man learns the 'interesting and shiny' crystal he found is a 9.07-carat diamond

Associated Press
As Russia edges toward a possible offensive on Kharkiv, some residents flee. Others refuse to leave
A 79-year-old woman makes the sign of the cross and, gripping her cane, leaves her home in a quaint village in northeast Ukraine. Torn screens, shattered glass and scorched trees litter the yard of Olha Faichuk's apartment building in Lukiantsi, north of the city of Kharkiv. “God, forgive me for leaving my home, bless me on my way,” Faichuk said, taking one last look around before slowly shuffling to an evacuation vehicle.
8m ago
AFP
Weekend job: Trump hits campaign trail on days off from trial
Donald Trump on Saturday will hold his first campaign rally since his criminal trial in New York began, with the North Carolina crowd likely to hear the ex-president reiterate fiery outrage at the unprecedented legal proceedings.Denouncing an alleged political "witch hunt," Trump has repeatedly complained the trial -- the first of a former US president -- has impeded his ability to campaign.
9m ago
Reuters
Fighting flares at Myanmar-Thai border as rebels target stranded junta troops
Resistance fighters and ethnic minority rebels seized the key trading town of Myawaddy on the Myanmar side of the frontier on April 11, dealing a big blow to a well-equipped military that is struggling to govern and is now facing a critical test of its battlefield credibility. Three witnesses on the Thai and Myanmar sides of the border said they heard explosions and heavy machine gun fire near a strategic bridge from late on Friday that continued into early Saturday. Several Thai media outlets said about 200 people had crossed the border to seek temporary refuge in Thailand.
13m ago
Associated Press
Venice Biennale titled 'Foreigners Everywhere' platforms LGBTQ+, outsider and Indigenous artists
Outsider, queer and Indigenous artists are getting an overdue platform at the 60th Venice Biennale contemporary art exhibition that opens Saturday, curated for the first time by a Latin American. Brazilian curator Adriano Pedrosa’s main show, which accompanies 88 national pavilions for the seven-month run, is strong on figurative painting, with fewer installations than recent editions. A preponderance of artists are from the Global South, long overlooked by the mainstream art world circuits.
14m ago
AFP
US House to vote on Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan aid package
The US House of Representatives is poised to hold a crucial vote on Saturday on a major aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan -- and a possible ban of TikTok.President Joe Biden and Democratic lawmakers in Congress have been pushing for a major new weapons package for Ukraine for months.
23m ago
NBC News
Volkswagen workers in Tennessee vote to join UAW in historic win for union
The United Auto Workers said late Friday that Volkswagen employees in Chattanooga, Tennessee, have overwhelmingly voted to join the union — marking a major milestone for the labor organization and its first successful organizing drive of an automaker outside of Detroit’s Big Three.
41m ago
AFP
India pushes Maoist rebel strongholds on road to democracy
A narrow winding road through an untamed forest has proven a blow to a decades-old Maoist rebellion that is one of India's longest and deadliest insurgencies.- 'The state has arrived' - The Naxalite rebellion, as the Maoist movement is known, began in the 1960s as a revolt against the exploitation of marginalised rural Indians.
48m ago
CNN
Senate passes surveillance bill despite contentious debate over privacy concerns
The Senate voted late Friday to reauthorize a key surveillance authority, avoiding a lapse in the controversial program.
1h ago
Associated Press
House on the brink of approving Ukraine and Israel aid after months of struggle
The House is preparing in a rare Saturday session to approve $95 billion in foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies, Democrats and Republicans joining together behind the legislation after a grueling months-long fight over renewed American support for repelling Russia's invasion into Ukraine. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson — putting his job on the line — relied on Democratic support this week to set up a series of votes on three aid bills, as well as a fourth that contains several other foreign policy proposals.
1h ago
Associated Press
Senate passes reauthorization of key US surveillance program after midnight deadline
After its midnight deadline, the Senate voted early Saturday to reauthorize a key U.S. surveillance law after divisions over whether the FBI should be restricted from using the program to search for Americans’ data nearly forced the statute to lapse. The legislation approved 60-34 with bipartisan support would extend for two years the program known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. It now goes to President Joe Biden’s desk to become law.
1h ago
Associated Press
Trump set to gain national delegates as the only choice for Wyoming Republicans
Republicans in Wyoming will decide Saturday which presidential candidate will get their state's votes at the GOP national convention this summer — but they will have only one choice. Former President Donald Trump will be the only candidate listed on a presidential preference poll at the state Republican convention in Cheyenne. The poll will decide how all 29 of Wyoming's delegates to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee pledge their first-round votes.
1h ago
Associated Press
Israel and Iran's apparent strikes and counterstrikes give new insights into both militaries
Israel demonstrated its military dominance over adversary Iran in its apparent precision strikes that hit near military and nuclear targets deep in the heart of the country, meeting little significant challenge from Iran's defenses and providing the world with new insights into both militaries' capabilities. The international community, Israel and Iran all signaled hopes that Friday's airstrikes would end what has been a dangerous 19-day run of strikes and counterstrikes, a highly public test between two deep rivals that had previously stopped short of most direct confrontation. As all sides took stock, regional security experts predicted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government and the country's allies would emerge encouraged by the Israeli military’s superior performance.
1h ago
NBC News
Trump vows to make his voice heard in court as first week of trial draws to a close. Here's what you missed on Day 4.
The former president, who has largely sat silently in the courtroom during a week's worth of court proceedings, told reporters that he will take the stand.
1h ago
Associated Press
California is rolling out free preschool. That hasn't solved challenges around child care
A year before I-Ting Quinn's son was old enough for kindergarten, she and her husband had the option to enroll him in “transitional kindergarten,” a program offered for free by California elementary schools for some 4-year-olds. Instead, they kept their son, Ethan, in a private day care center in Concord, California, at a cost of $400 a week. Transitional kindergarten's academic emphasis was appealing, but Ethan would have been in a half-day program, and options for afterschool child care were limited.
1h ago
CNN
RFK Jr. will appear on Hawaii ballot, third state to include him
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will appear on Hawaii’s presidential ballot following a Friday ruling that blocked an effort by Hawaii Democrats to disqualify his campaign’s ballot access petition.
2h ago
Associated Press
Donald Trump will use his weekend reprieve from the courtroom to campaign in North Carolina
On a weekend reprieve from the courtroom, former President Donald Trump will campaign Saturday in North Carolina as he juggles legal troubles and his rematch against President Joe Biden. “They want to keep me off the campaign trail,” Trump insisted earlier this week in Harlem, where he visited a neighborhood convenience store and addressed a throng of media outside. The event Saturday also underscores the importance of North Carolina, a presidential battleground that Trump won by 1.5 percentage points over Biden in 2020.
2h ago
TODAY
Meet Simone Biles' parents, Ronald and Nellie Biles
Here's everything to know about Simone Biles' parents, Nellie and Ronald Biles
2h ago
Associated Press
The drug war devastated Black and other minority communities. Is marijuana legalization helping?
When Washington state opened some of the nation's first legal marijuana stores in 2014, Sam Ward Jr. was on electronic home detention in Spokane, where he had been indicted on federal drug charges. A decade later, Ward, who is Black, recently posed in a blue-and-gold throne used for photo ops at his new cannabis store, Cloud 9 Cannabis.
2h ago
Associated Press
Melania Trump, long absent from campaign, will appear at a Log Cabin Republicans event in Mar-a-Lago
Former first lady Melania Trump will attend a fundraiser Saturday for the Log Cabin Republicans, an advocacy group for LGBTQ+ members of the GOP, in a rare political appearance after months of being absent from her husband's campaign. The event at the Palm Beach estate she shares with former President Donald Trump will take place behind closed doors. Melania Trump had for months not appeared at her husband’s campaign events, notably being absent at his victory party on Super Tuesday.
2h ago
Associated Press
Haiti's former capital seeks to revive its hey-day as gang violence consumes Port-au-Prince
CAP-HAITIEN, Haiti (AP) — They call it Okap, home to Haiti’s kings, emancipated slaves and revolutionaries. Sitting on the shimmering north coast, the city of Cap-Haïtien was abandoned as a capital during the waning years of the French colonial era and again when the Kingdom of Haiti fell after its king died by suicide and his teenage son was slain. It was once known as the Paris of the Antilles, and now it is on the brink of becoming what some say is Haiti’s de facto capital as Port-au-Prince crumbles under the onslaught of powerful gangs.
2h ago

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