After years of setbacks, Sound Transit’s long-planned light-rail extension to Federal Way is finally nearing its debut, even as riders on the existing system continue to encounter frequent delays. The Federal Way Link Extension, a roughly 7.8-mile addition to the 1 Line between Angle Lake and Federal Way Downtown, is slated to open in December 2025, adding new elevated stations at Kent Des Moines, Star Lake and Federal Way Downtown. Voters first approved funding to bring light rail deeper into south King County in 2008, but the project timeline was pushed back by the Great Recession, unexpected ground-stability problems along…
Author: Emily Harper
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LeBron James passed up a shot that could have extended his remarkable 18-year streak of scoring at least 10 points in every regular-season game — and instead set up a teammate to win the game for his team. The decision ended one of the most impressive consistency records in NBA history, while showing James continues to prioritize winning over personal milestones. The streak dated back to January 2007, when he was in his fourth NBA season. For 1,297 consecutive regular-season games spanning 6,907 days — across two decades and into his 23rd season — James had reached double figures in…
Pantone has introduced its latest Color of the Year, selecting a soft white shade named Cloud Dancer. The choice represents a shift toward quiet minimalism in a fast changing and visually saturated society. As a long running program by the Pantone Color Institute, each announcement aims to capture collective moods across art, technology, design, and culture. Cloud Dancer is described as a lofty neutral that encourages reflection and calm. It is also promoted as a tone that can adapt to different environments and support a wide range of aesthetic directions. The color selection continues a tradition that began more than…
On Wednesday, December 3, 2025, a major blackout plunged Havana and much of western Cuba into darkness, cutting electricity to millions of residents on an island already grappling with chronic power shortages. Energy officials said the disruption began when a high-voltage transmission line connecting two key power plants failed, forcing parts of the national grid offline and triggering a cascading outage across several provinces. The general director of the Ministry of Energy and Mines, Lázaro Guerra, said the fault occurred on a line linking the Antonio Guiteras plant in Matanzas with generating facilities that supply the capital. As protective systems…
Italian prosecutors in Rome have ordered 13 luxury fashion houses to submit detailed records on their corporate governance, internal controls and audit systems as part of a widening investigation into alleged labor exploitation in the sector. Judicial documents seen by reporters show that the request focuses on possible abuse of Chinese workers employed in subcontracted workshops that manufacture goods for some of Italy’s best-known brands. According to the documents, investigators are examining how these companies oversee their production chains and whether existing compliance systems were sufficient to detect or prevent abuses. The move marks the latest phase of an effort…
What a Supermoon Is and Why It Looks Bigger As December evenings approach, skywatchers have a celestial treat: the last supermoon of the year. The phenomenon occurs because the moon’s orbit around Earth is elliptical — at certain points it comes closer to our planet. When a full moon aligns with that near-Earth point, the result is a “supermoon”: a lunar appearance that can look up to 14% larger and 30% brighter than the faintest full moons of the year, according to NASA. Supermoons typically arrive in clusters, and this December’s event caps off a trio of consecutive supermoons in…
Visa has announced plans to begin operations in Syria after reaching an agreement with the country’s central bank on a roadmap to build a nationwide digital payments infrastructure. In a statement released on Thursday, the global card network said the accord sets out steps to introduce electronic payments in a market that has been largely cut off from international finance for more than a decade. The company said its immediate focus will be cooperation with licensed Syrian financial institutions to create a “robust and secure payments foundation.” That work will include the issuance of payment cards, the rollout of digital…
Breakthrough After Years of Investigative Dead Ends Federal investigators believe they have finally identified the person suspected of planting two viable pipe bombs near the headquarters of both major national political parties in Washington. The FBI arrested Brian Cole, according to senior law enforcement officials familiar with the case. The arrest brings a long stalled investigation closer to resolution after years of public appeals, extensive surveillance review, and mounting political pressure. Officials have confirmed that the arrest took place in the morning, and a Justice Department briefing is planned to outline additional details. Cole’s relatives declined comment, though one family…
Renewed Mission to Solve Aviation’s Greatest Mystery Malaysia is set to resume the deep-sea search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, the jetliner that vanished during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing more than a decade ago with 239 people on board. The disappearance of the Boeing 777 remains one of the most puzzling tragedies in modern aviation, with no clear explanation for its loss and only scattered debris confirming its fate somewhere in the remote Indian Ocean. Authorities confirmed that the next phase of the mission will begin at the end of December and continue for 55 days in…
Costco Wholesale Corp. has become the largest U.S. company so far to challenge former President Donald Trump’s sweeping import tariffs, asking a federal trade court to order a refund of the duties it has already paid. The warehouse-club retailer has filed suit in the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York, arguing that the levies, imposed under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), were unlawfully applied and should be rolled back for affected importers. The case underscores how deeply Trump’s trade measures have affected big-box retailers that rely heavily on imported goods, from electronics and clothing to…
