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A blackout hit nearly all of Puerto Rico early Tuesday as the U.S. territory prepared to celebrate New Year’s Eve. More than 1.2 million out of 1.47 million clients were without power, according to Luma Energy, a private company that oversees electricity transmission and distribution on the island. It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the widespread outage or when power would be restored. Luma officials did not immediately return a message for comment. In a post on X, Luma said it was in touch with crews and companies overseeing the generation of power in Puerto Rico to solve the outage....

The 2024 election featured far more Republicans than Democrats in the electorate, reversing a longtime trend in party identification dating back to the New Deal in the 1930s. Exit polls showed Republicans outnumbering Democrats by 5 points in the AP VoteCast Survey and 4 points in network exit polls, writes Republican Party pollster and political strategist Patrick Ruffini on his Substack webpage, The Intersection, on Tuesday. Until the current election, Republicans only came out even with Democrats during the 1994 "Republican Revolution" and the period just after the 9/11 attacks. Before late President Ronald Reagan revamped the GOP's image during...

Puerto Rico woke up in darkness on Tuesday morning after a power grid failure left nearly all of the island without electricity. Around 90% of clients were without power at 9:30 a.m. (1330 GMT), according to energy distribution company Luma Energy's real-time portal. It will likely take 24 to 48 hours to turn the lights back on, "conditions permitting," Luma said in a statement. "While the cause of the outage is under investigation, preliminary findings point to a failure in an underground line," Luma added. Ivan Baez, a spokesperson for power generator Genera, called the grid failure a "major incident"...

Article 5 "The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security...

(WHTM) — The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced that Ford Motor Company has recalled thousands of 2023-2024 electric trucks due to increased crash risk. According to NHTSA, Ford is recalling nearly 12,000 of its 2023-2024 F-150 Lightning BEV vehicles due to an increased risk of crashing. The agency said the front upper control arm ball joint nut may not have been tightened properly, which could allow the front upper arm control to detach from the knuckle assembly. To put it simply, this problem could cause the loss of vehicle steering and control, increasing a driver’s risk of crashing....

Something struck a group of Russian troops in Lgov, a town of 21,000 in western Russia’s Kursk Oblast, late Sunday or early Monday. “It’s terrible,” a bystander cried. “The guys are all in the bunker,” they added as the bunker burned. A Ukrainian official insinuated the fire was the result of a Ukrainian raid, which would make sense. Lgov lies just 30 miles north of the town of Sudzha, the anchor of the 250-square-mile salient that Ukrainian forces carved out of Kursk back in August. It’s a key road and rail node for troops and supplies supporting the two-month-old Russian...

The European Union would prefer to cut off Slovakia and Hungary from accessing energy than to “cave” to Russia. Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia paid a visit to Russian President Vladamir Putin to discuss the matter as tensions between EU nations heat up over the energy scandal. Hungary and Slovakia are exempt from the EU ban on Russian crude oil. These landlocked neighbors are to receive oil through the Druzhba pipeline, but Ukraine has prevented these nations from receiving shipments. Lukoil may be the main supplier using this line, but Russneft, Tatneft, and Gazprom also utilize this line, leading...

An aviation expert said that a bird strike alone would not sufficiently explain why a South Korean airline jet skidded off a runway and crashed, killing nearly every passenger on board. On Sunday, Jeju Air Flight 2216 was landing at Muan International Airport about 180 miles south of Seoul when the incident occurred, according to the Wall Street Journal. The crash killed 179 of the 181 passengers and crew members onboard. WARNING: The following post contains video of the crash, which may be disturbing for some readers. VIDEO AT LINK................. “There are a million backups on this airplane. It’s extremely...

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NATIONAL CHAMPAGNE DAY National Champagne Day recognizes the wine that puts the pop in every New Year's Eve celebration. #NationalChampagneDay Genuine champagne only comes from France's Champagne region. French law protects where and how it is made. With some exceptions, only Champagne made according to set specifications and within the French region may label their wines using the term "Champagne." Other foods and beverages fall under this type of protection in France and other parts of the world. Champagne, France, is located northeast of Paris and provides the ideal temperature and soil to produce the grapes required for Champagne. French...

A polar vortex headed for the US could bring cold winds and low temperatures this week, making January the coldest month in over a decade.

NASHVILLE, Friday, Dec. 30. Major-Gen. STONEMAN, who arrived in the city last night, from his great raid in East Tennessee and West Virginia, furnishes the following account of his expedition: The force consisted of Gen. BURBRIDGE's troops and Gen. GHLEM's East Tennessee troops, all under command of Major-Gen. STONEMAN. They left Knoxville on the 18th. The movement was unknown to the rebels, who were not discovered until after three days marching. At Kingsport Gen. JONES' command was attacked, consisting of about five hundred of MORGAN's old command. These forces were killed, scattered or captured. Next the rebel forces of VAUGHAN...

The split-second shot of a lone male cheerleader on the sidelines sparked a homophobic and misogynistic meltdown on social media. 'Just saw a male cheerleader on Monday night football, why am I not surprised “it” cheers for the 49ers,' one social media user wrote on X.

The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen fired another ballistic missile at Israel late Monday night, reminding Israelis that there is still unfinished business in the war that Hamas launched with the October 7, 2023, terror attack. The missile was intercepted outside Israeli airspace, but the fragments continued on their trajectory, falling on the central Israeli town of Ramat Beit Shemesh. Sirens were heard throughout central Israel in the late evening hours. The Times of Israel reported: Air defenses intercepted a ballistic missile launched at Israel from Yemen that triggered sirens across central Israel late Monday night, the military said, in...

The situation in Russia’s Kursk region, where North Korean troops have been deployed, is rapidly deteriorating for Ukraine. While Ukraine claims significant North Korean casualties, reports suggest heavy losses among Ukrainian forces as well. Russian troops are mounting an all-out offensive to reclaim the area.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Insurance companies that stopped providing home coverage to hundreds of thousands of Californians in recent years as wildfires became more destructive will have to again provide policies in fire-prone areas if they want to keep doing business in California under a state regulation announced Monday. The rule will require home insurers to offer coverage in high-risk areas, something the state has never done, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara's office said in a statement. Insurers will have to start increasing their coverage by 5% every two years until they hit the equivalent of 85% of their market share....

North Korean leader expresses hope that Moscow will defeat ‘neo-Nazism and achieve a great victory’ in Ukraine. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has paid homage to Russian President Vladimir Putin in a New Year’s message extolling deepening ties between Pyongyang and Moscow, state media has reported. In a letter to mark the New Year, Kim extended his greetings to his “dearest friend and comrade” Putin, the Russian people and Russian military personnel, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Tuesday. Kim wished Putin “greater success in his responsible and heavy state leadership activities and the Russian people prosperity, wellbeing...

Some of the most checked-out books in public libraries across the country in 2024 include Kristin Hannah's The Women, Rebecca Yarros' Fourth Wing, and Emily Henry's Happy Place. These books landed on the year-end wrap lists of public libraries in New York City, Cincinnati, Seattle and other cities. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin, was the most checked-out adult book in New York City and the second-most popular adult fiction book in Denver. There, The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store was number one; that novel by James McBride also made the most-borrowed lists at libraries in San Francisco,...

Former President Jimmy Carter was often photographed, hammer in hand, helping to build homes for Habit for Humanity. But he was also an avid furniture maker. Earlier this year, the White House Historical Association described Carter as a "master woodworker." In a 1984 interview with United Press International, Carter said he typically spent three or four hours a day in his woodshop. "I just finished making some picture frames, my first experience of that," he said, adding that he and his wife, Rosalynn Carter, "are measuring an entire room for bookshelves." Carter commissioned a rocking chair from renowned furniture maker...

President-elect Donald Trump shared a ruthless highlight reel of Democrats repeatedly praising President Biden’s mental sharpness, sharing it soon after a veteran reporter blasted those who helped hide his “obvious cognitive decline.” Trump shared the brutal supercut hours after CBS News reporter Jan Crawford ripped the media for helping to cover up the eldest-ever president’s decline until it was too obvious to ignore at the debate. The nearly three-minute-long video — set to the goofy Wii theme music — started with White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre appearing baffled that someone would even dare question Biden’s mental acuity. “Oh my...