A whistleblower has alleged that renovations at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts were rushed in order to satisfy President Trump, according to Al Jazeera, which cited details brought forward by Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse.

The claims describe rusting columns, uneven paint and demolition work described as unnecessary, raising questions about the oversight of construction at one of the nation's premier cultural institutions.

The Kennedy Center, home to the National Symphony Orchestra, the Washington National Opera and a steady calendar of theater and dance, has been under scrutiny amid the renovation effort. Whitehouse's account, detailed by Al Jazeera, suggests the work may have prioritized speed over quality workmanship.

The center has long served as a bipartisan symbol of American arts patronage, funded through a mix of federal appropriations and private donations. Allegations that political considerations shaped the pace or execution of physical upgrades to the building strike at that institutional identity.

No response from Kennedy Center leadership was included in the available reporting. The extent of any structural or cosmetic damage tied to the renovation work, and whether it will require additional repair, remains unclear.

— Compiled from reporting by Al Jazeera.

Adams, a midfielder for Mamelodi Sundowns, featured prominently in South Africa's run to the World Cup's round of 32, Al Jazeera reported. His death at 25 came just weeks after that tournament appearance, according to Fox News.

No cause of death was disclosed in available reporting. South Africa's soccer federation confirmed the news, and tributes were expected to follow from teammates and the broader football community.

— Compiled from reporting by Fox News and Al Jazeera.

Linda Noskova won the 2026 Wimbledon women's singles title, defeating fellow Czech player Karolina Muchova in the final, and dedicated the victory to her late mother, according to the BBC.

A tearful Noskova, 21, said the moment validated years of sacrifice. "All the blood, sweat and tears was worth it," she said after the match, the BBC reported.

The all-Czech final capped a breakthrough tournament for Noskova, who came through the draw to claim the sport's most prestigious grass-court title at the All England Club.

— Compiled from reporting by BBC Sport.

The Chicago White Sox selected UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky with the first overall pick of the 2026 MLB Draft, and the moment was overshadowed by Commissioner Rob Manfred botching the pronunciation of his name on stage, according to Fox News and ESPN.

The draft's opening day wrapped with 135 picks in the books, according to ESPN, which is compiling its rundown of winners, losers and prospects to watch heading into Day 2.

Manfred's mispronunciation of Cholowsky's name instantly became one of the most talked-about moments of the draft's first day, drawing widespread attention on social media and among fans following the selection, Fox News reported.

Attention now turns to the draft's remaining rounds, with clubs continuing to fill out their farm systems in the days ahead.

— Compiled from reporting by ESPN and Fox News.

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield has withdrawn his effort to delay the closing of Paramount's takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, according to The Verge, which cited Deadline and Variety.

Rayfield had been seeking documents from Paramount related to the merger and had asked a state circuit court judge to postpone the deal's closing by 60 days so his office could review them. He has since dropped that request, according to the trade outlets' reporting relayed by The Verge.

The reversal removes one potential obstacle to finalizing the merger, though it was not clear from available reporting whether Rayfield's broader document requests remain active or what prompted the change in approach.

— Compiled from reporting by The Verge.

A group led by Vinod Khosla, a limited partner in the San Francisco 49ers, has agreed to purchase the Seattle Seahawks for a record $9.612 billion, according to sources cited by ESPN.

The sale price would mark the highest ever paid for an NFL franchise, reflecting the continued surge in valuations for major American sports teams. As a condition of the deal, the Khosla family will be required to divest its ownership interest in the 49ers, ESPN reported.

The transaction still requires the formal approvals typical of NFL ownership changes, though ESPN's sources indicated an agreement has already been reached on price and terms.

— Compiled from reporting by ESPN.

Relationship experts are warning that a growing reliance on artificial intelligence to write dating profiles and compose text messages is undermining people's ability to connect authentically with potential partners, according to Fox News.

Experts quoted by Fox News said the trend is making people "relationally stupid," leaving daters unable to show up as themselves in budding relationships. The concern centers on tools like ChatGPT, which some singles now use to craft profiles or generate responses during early courtship.

The warning adds to a broader conversation about how artificial intelligence is reshaping everyday social behavior, as dating apps and AI writing tools become increasingly intertwined.

— Compiled from reporting by Fox News.

A second U.S. citizen has tested positive for the Ebola virus while working for a humanitarian organization in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Fox News reported, as the country contends with a record outbreak of the disease.

The latest case marks the second known instance of an American aid worker contracting the virus amid the ongoing crisis, underscoring the risks facing humanitarian personnel operating in affected areas.

Details on the individual's condition and current treatment were not disclosed in available reporting. The outbreak has been characterized as the largest on record, though specific case counts and fatality figures were not provided.

— Compiled from reporting by Fox News.

The Trump administration has issued subpoenas to New York Times reporters over their coverage, drawing swift condemnation from press freedom advocates and lawmakers, according to Al Jazeera.

Critics described the subpoenas as an attempt to "threaten and intimidate" journalists, Al Jazeera reported, citing press freedom advocates and members of Congress who spoke out against the action.

The subpoenas represent a significant escalation in tensions between the administration and one of the nation's largest news organizations. Details on the specific coverage that prompted the subpoenas, and the scope of information sought from the reporters, were not immediately available.

The move is likely to intensify debate over press freedom protections and the use of legal tools against journalists covering the federal government.

— Compiled from reporting by Al Jazeera.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said he was detained for more than an hour in the West Bank earlier this week by Israeli settlers, an ordeal that continued even after Israeli Defense Forces soldiers arrived at the scene, he said Saturday.

"Israeli settlers, brandishing American made M4s, detained me & other Americans on my trip to Palestine," Khanna said, according to The Hill.

The congressman was part of a delegation traveling in the West Bank when the confrontation occurred. He said the settlers involved carried American-made rifles, and that the standoff did not end once IDF soldiers reached the scene, according to The Hill's account of his statement.

Khanna also spoke publicly about the episode, telling Al Jazeera he had been harassed by Israeli settlers during the trip. His account adds a prominent voice — a sitting member of Congress — to long-running disputes over settler conduct in the occupied West Bank, an issue that has drawn international scrutiny for years.

Neither Israeli authorities nor the settlers involved were quoted responding to Khanna's account in the available reporting.

— Compiled from reporting by The Hill and Al Jazeera.

The Scene. You open the app to check one small thing, and there it is: the engagement ring, the sonogram, the new title, the house with the yellow door. Everyone your age, it seems, has crossed a finish line you can't even see from where you're standing. You're not unhappy, exactly. You just feel like a runner who glanced sideways and lost the rhythm of your own stride.

The Voice. Henry David Thoreau knew that sideways glance, and he distrusted it. From his cabin at Walden Pond he offered a line worth taping to your mirror: "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." The point is not that you're behind. It's that "behind" assumes everyone is walking to the same beat toward the same destination. They aren't. A feed is a parade of other people's drums.

But there's a second worry underneath the first — that time itself is slipping, that the milestones are markers of a race you're losing. For that, hear Seneca, writing two thousand years ago in On the Shortness of Life. He observed — I'll paraphrase his argument rather than pin an exact translation to it — that our lives are not truly short; we simply squander great stretches of them, chasing what others prize and looking everywhere except at the days in front of us. His famous charge still lands: "It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste much of it." Notice what wastes it. Not the absence of a ring or a title. Rather, the hours spent auditing your life against someone else's highlight reel.

The Landing. So, three practical things. First, curate your inputs: mute, unfollow, or set a timer. You would not invite a stranger over daily to recite their accomplishments at you; don't let a screen do it. Second, name your own drum. Write down two or three things that are genuinely yours to build this year — not milestones borrowed from the parade. Third, when envy flares, let it inform rather than indict; it often points at a real desire you can actually pursue, quietly, on your own timeline.

The milestones will come, or better ones will. Meanwhile, the life happening while you scroll is the only one on offer.

Step to the music you hear — the parade was never the point.

Editor's note: An earlier draft of this piece anchored its argument to a specific claim — that an ICE officer had fatally shot a man identified by name in Houston. That claim was stated flatly, with no attribution to police, ICE, court records, local officials, or any named source, and The American Times could not independently verify that the shooting occurred, that it involved ICE, or the identity of the person named. A claim this serious about a named individual cannot run without sourcing, so it has been removed. What remains is the underlying, ongoing national debate over aggressive immigration enforcement, which stands on its own regardless of any single unverified incident.

That debate is real and it is not new. For months, immigration enforcement under the current crackdown has been the subject of an argument playing out online, in local government, and in Congress: whether the pace and intensity of enforcement has become too aggressive, or whether a hard line is the necessary price of restoring order to a system many Americans believe has been broken for a generation. Below are the two sides of that argument, stated on their own merits.

The case for tougher enforcement

Supporters of aggressive enforcement argue that for decades the United States effectively stopped enforcing its own immigration laws, and that the resulting backlog, strain on public services, and erosion of public trust in border security demanded a genuine correction. From this view, ICE officers are asked to do dangerous, high-stakes work — often against individuals who may resist, flee, or pose unknown risks — and split-second decisions in the field cannot be fairly judged with the benefit of hindsight from a news article. Proponents argue that a nation which does not enforce its immigration laws consistently invites more of the chaos, exploitation, and black-market labor conditions that hurt immigrants and citizens alike, and that isolated tragic incidents, however painful, should not be used to indict an entire enforcement apparatus or halt a broader effort to deter illegal entry and remove those with final removal orders. They see media narratives that instantly frame every ICE encounter as an outrage as part of a broader campaign to delegitimize immigration enforcement altogether, rather than to improve it — while maintaining that accountability for individual officer misconduct is appropriate and separate from the question of whether the enforcement mission itself is legitimate.

The case against the current approach

Critics of the current approach argue that a person's immigration status should not be treated as grounds for the kind of lethal encounters more commonly reserved for violent crime, and that fatal outcomes in the course of enforcement are the sort of result predictable escalation produces when priorities shift from targeted removal of serious offenders to broad, high-volume sweeps. This side argues that when officers are pushed to meet aggressive arrest quotas and operate with expanded authority and less oversight, the odds of deadly mistakes involving nonviolent people rise accordingly, and that outrage from local leaders when such incidents occur reflects a real breakdown in trust between communities and federal agents rather than partisan overreaction. It also stresses that accountability mechanisms for ICE have historically been weaker than those for other law enforcement bodies, making it harder to distinguish justified uses of force from avoidable ones — and that public scrutiny is a legitimate and necessary check rather than an attack on enforcement itself. For many in this camp, the deeper concern is not that laws shouldn't be enforced, but that the current strategy prioritizes visible toughness and high numbers over careful, proportionate policing.

The unresolved tension

Both sides are responding to something real: one to years of frustration over inconsistent enforcement and a belief that credibility requires consequences, the other to the human cost of enforcement carried out at speed and scale, with imperfect information. The genuine policy disagreement isn't over whether immigration law should exist — it's over how much risk of tragic error is acceptable in pursuit of stricter enforcement, and where the line falls between legitimate policing and outcomes communities experience as indiscriminate.

That is a real and worthwhile debate, and it doesn't require — and shouldn't be anchored to — any single unverified incident to be worth having. When specific claims about specific people and specific events are put forward as fact, they need sourcing: police statements, court records, named officials, or on-the-record witnesses. Until such claims meet that bar, they don't belong in a news article, however compelling the broader argument around them may be.

Turns out the pen is only mightier than the sword until the subpoena shows up.

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield has withdrawn his effort to delay the closing of the Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery merger, according to a report from The Verge, removing a regulatory obstacle that had been hanging over the deal.

Rayfield had been seeking documents from Paramount related to the takeover and had asked a state circuit court judge to postpone the deal's closing by 60 days to give his office time to review the material. According to Deadline and Variety, as cited by The Verge, that request has now been dropped.

The withdrawal clears the way for the closely watched media consolidation to proceed without the delay Rayfield had sought, though it remains one piece of a broader deal that has drawn scrutiny from multiple quarters as Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery move toward completing their combination.

Grab your coffee and give these five a try before you scroll down to check your work. No googling — you've got this!

1. Geography: Excluding Australia (which counts as a continent), what is the world's largest island?

2. Science: What is the most abundant gas in Earth's atmosphere, making up about 78% of the air we breathe?

3. History: In what year did the Continental Congress adopt the Declaration of Independence?

4. Literature: In Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, who are the King and Queen of the Fairies?

5. Sports: In a standard game of soccer (association football), how many players does each team field, including the goalkeeper?

Good luck — and no peeking until you've locked in your answers!

Answers

1. Greenland

2. Nitrogen

3. 1776

4. Oberon and Titania

5. 11 players

Saturday, July 11, 2026

Aries (Mar 21 - Apr 19) The weekend sun favors bold plans, Aries, but even you need a nap between conquests. Romance sizzles if you let someone else pick the restaurant for once. A stray bill or chore you've been dodging finally gets handled — and it feels weirdly satisfying.

Taurus (Apr 20 - May 20) Comfort is calling louder than ambition today, and honestly, answer it. Your love life benefits from slow, cozy gestures rather than grand ones — think shared meals, not fireworks. A financial worry eases slightly; keep the receipts anyway.

Gemini (May 21 - Jun 20) Your mouth is moving faster than your brain today, Gemini, which is either charming or chaotic depending on the audience. A conversation you've been avoiding turns out easier than expected. Keep weekend plans flexible — the best moment arrives uninvited.

Cancer (Jun 21 - Jul 22) Home base feels extra magnetic this weekend, and you're right to linger there. Someone close offers reassurance you didn't know you needed — let it land instead of deflecting with a joke. Work stress fades faster if you actually log off.

Leo (Jul 23 - Aug 22) The spotlight finds you without much effort today, Leo — try not to look too pleased about it. Love matters glow warmer with a little generosity, not grand gestures. A creative hobby deserves an hour of your undivided, dramatic attention.

Virgo (Aug 23 - Sep 22) Your inner critic is loud today, Virgo, but the world isn't judging you nearly as hard as you are. Let a friend or partner help without micromanaging their method. Small tidy wins — an inbox cleared, a drawer organized — bring outsized calm.

Libra (Sep 23 - Oct 22) Balance proves elusive this weekend as your social calendar and your couch both make strong cases. Split the difference: one gathering, one guilt-free nap. Romantically, a fair, honest conversation smooths over recent friction better than flowers would.

Scorpio (Oct 23 - Nov 21) Secrets simmer beneath the surface today, Scorpio, and one of them may finally bubble up — yours or someone else's. Trust deepens in relationships willing to sit with a little discomfort. Money matters favor patience over impulsive moves.

Sagittarius (Nov 22 - Dec 21) Wanderlust hits hard today, even if the "adventure" is just a new neighborhood taco stand. Keep travel plans loose and love talk lighthearted — heavy topics can wait for Monday. A friend's advice proves more useful than you expected.

Capricorn (Dec 22 - Jan 19) Duty calls, as usual, but even you deserve a proper Saturday off. Let a partner or friend take the lead on plans for once — delegation looks good on you. Career matters quietly improve; a decision made weeks ago starts paying off.

Aquarius (Jan 20 - Feb 18) Your brain is buzzing with offbeat ideas today, Aquarius, and at least one is genuinely brilliant. Group plans bring more joy than one-on-one today, so widen the invite list. In love, honesty lands better than mystery right now.

Pisces (Feb 19 - Mar 20) Daydreams threaten to swallow your whole afternoon, Pisces — indulge them, but set a timer. Emotional conversations flow easily and bring real closeness, so don't dodge the deep end. A small act of creativity restores energy you didn't know you'd lost.

Few foreign-policy stories have generated as much heat online today as reporting that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is, in effect, directing Venezuela's finances, its oil and mineral wealth, and the machinery of its government from Washington. Paired with renewed attention to the decades-old U.S. embargo on Cuba — and the argument that American sanctions, not government mismanagement, are responsible for blackouts hitting hospitals and maternity wards — the posts crystallize a much older argument that has never really gone away: when Washington uses its financial and military muscle to shape the internal affairs of a Latin American state, is that legitimate statecraft or empire by another name? The hashtag "#USHandsOffVenezuela" trending alongside the Rubio story shows this isn't an abstract question for the people arguing it — it's a live, urgent one.

The case for assertive U.S. pressure

Supporters of an assertive American role in Venezuela argue that the alternative — hands-off neutrality — simply cedes the field to a regime that has spent two decades hollowing out its own democracy, jailing opponents, and partnering with adversarial powers like Russia, China, and Iran. From this view, sanctions and financial leverage are not acts of aggression but tools of last resort against a government that rigs elections, tolerates narco-trafficking networks, and has driven roughly a quarter of its population into exile. If the United States has financial leverage — through sanctions relief, oil licensing, or debt structuring — using it to extract concessions on elections, human rights, or migration cooperation is not colonialism; it's the ordinary exercise of power that any major country deploys with a troubled neighbor. Advocates also note that regional stability is a legitimate U.S. interest: migration surges, drug trafficking, and energy markets all ripple outward from Venezuela's collapse, giving Washington a direct stake, not just a moral one. In this telling, someone has to fill the vacuum of accountability the Maduro government has created, and better it be conditioned engagement than indifference that lets authoritarianism and instability metastasize unchecked.

The case against U.S. control

Critics counter that what's being described isn't diplomacy — it's a foreign power effectively running another nation's economy and resources without the consent of its people, a dynamic with an ugly and well-documented history in Latin America. They point to Cuba as the cautionary tale: a decades-long embargo that, whatever its original justification, has increasingly been shown to inflict its heaviest costs on ordinary civilians — patients in blacked-out hospitals, women in maternity wards, families rationing food — while the political outcomes it was meant to produce never materialize. Applying similar leverage to Venezuela, in this view, risks repeating that pattern: punishing a population for the sins of its government while a foreign official far from Caracas makes decisions about who eats, who gets paid, and how the country's oil wealth is allocated. This argument doesn't require defending Maduro's record to hold that Venezuelans, not Washington, should determine Venezuela's path, and that "helping" a country by controlling its finances is a contradiction in terms. It also warns that heavy-handed U.S. involvement can backfire strategically, handing authoritarian governments a convenient external enemy to blame for internal failures, entrenching the very regimes the pressure campaigns are meant to dislodge.

The unresolved tension

Both sides are responding to the same undeniable fact: Venezuela's government has caused immense suffering, and the United States has real power to influence what happens next. Where they part ways is on whether wielding that power from the outside solves the problem or reproduces it in a new form. Supporters of pressure see restraint as complicity in continued authoritarian rule; critics see intervention as a rerun of a policy — embargo, control, "help" — whose Cuban precedent has run for over sixty years without delivering the democratic transition it promised. The open question neither side has settled: is there a version of American leverage that changes Venezuela's trajectory without simply making Venezuelans pay the price of a fight between two governments neither of them controls?

Following the crash, aviation authorities grounded flights as they examine the circumstances surrounding the disaster, according to Fox News. Video from the scene showed the aftermath of the wreckage in North Andros.

The deaths of the musicians and DJ resonated widely in the Bahamas, where the victims were known for their contributions to the country's music community.

— Compiled from reporting by Fox News.

The Nopia synthesizer, which set off a frenzy in the music gear world after its first glimpse in 2023, is nearing release, according to The Verge. Citing an in-depth first look at MusicRadar's offices, The Verge reported that creators Martin Grieco and Rocío Gal brought the long-teased device in for viewing, signaling that it is close to launching.

The synth had gone viral years earlier, stirring anticipation among gear enthusiasts who followed its development online. That years-long wait now appears to be closing out, per The Verge's account of the MusicRadar visit — one of the more closely watched sagas in the independent music gear community.

Further specifics on the Nopia's features, pricing or release timeline were not detailed in the available reporting.

— Compiled from reporting by The Verge, citing MusicRadar.

Linda Noskova produced what the BBC called "one of the all-time greatest efforts on Centre Court," fighting back to win the Wimbledon women's singles title in an all-Czech final over Karolina Muchova.

The three-set battle delivered an emotional finish. Afterward, Noskova joked about Muchova being her "ex-friend" following their hard-fought clash, Fox News reported.

The all-Czech final underscored the country's growing weight in the sport. ESPN wrote that the matchup further showcased "the nation's undeniable influence in tennis," pointing to Czech players' deepening dominance on the tour.

Noskova's triumph capped a dramatic day 13 at the All England Club that also featured Britain's Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewett claiming the wheelchair doubles title, according to the BBC.

— Compiled from reporting by the BBC, ESPN and Fox News.