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Beijing CNN  —  A one-two punch from the United States risks shattering the already fragile trade war truce between Washington and Beijing, with Chinese tech companies and students both dealt shock blows by the Trump administration Wednesday night. Viewed from within China, things had been looking up after the world’s two largest economies agreed to dramatically roll back steep tariffs – a conciliatory step in a trade war that had threatened the entire global trading system. Factories started whirring again. Long-delayed shipping containers began leaving Chinese ports, destined for the US. Chinese media celebrated the agreement as a national victory,…

CNN  —  All season long, the Oklahoma City Thunder displayed dominance unlike any other team and that all culminated with their first trip to the NBA Finals in 13 years. The Thunder blew out the Minnesota Timberwolves 124-94 to win the Western Conference Finals in five games and will play for the Larry O’Brien Trophy for the first time since 2012. Besides a major Game 3 blip – where Oklahoma City lost by an astounding 42 points – the Thunder maintained total control in the series which was on complete display Wednesday at the Paycom Center. OKC opened the game…

CNN  —  A hungry crowd of Palestinians broke into a United Nations warehouse in central Gaza on Wednesday, resulting in at least two deaths and multiple injuries as famine conditions worsen in the Strip. “Hordes of hungry people broke into the WFP’s Al-Ghafari warehouse in Deir Al-Balah, Central Gaza, in search of food supplies that had been pre-positioned for distribution,” the World Food Programme (WFP) said. “Initial reports indicate two people died and several were injured in the tragic incident.” It is unclear what caused the deaths and injuries. WFP said it is working to verify the exact circumstances, but…

New York CNN  —  Hailey Bieber’s beauty brand rhode sold to budget makeup powerhouse e.l.f. Beauty for $1 billion on Wednesday. It’s e.l.f.’s largest acquisition to date, eclipsing its $355 million purchase of skin care brand Naturium in 2023. Founded in 2022, Bieber’s brand racked up $212 million in net sales in its last fiscal year, which ended in March. And earlier this year, rhode announced that its products will be seen in-stores at Sephoras in North America and the United Kingdom. Bieber will serve as rhode’s chief creative officer and head of innovation, the company said. She’s the company’s…

Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. CNN  —  China has launched an ambitious mission to study two intriguing objects in our solar system, the likes of which have never been visited by a spacecraft before. The Tianwen-2 mission launched aboard a Long March 3B rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province at 1:31 p.m. ET on Wednesday (1:31 a.m. Thursday local time in China), according to the China National Space Administration. Like Tianwen-1, which lifted off in July 2020 with two aims — delivering…

Mexico City CNN  —  Gadi Mokotov makes cars bulletproof. Living in Mexico City, he sees all sorts of demands for armored vehicles – from military trucks and secretive government vehicles to the Cadillacs of the capital’s high rollers and even 10-year-old Hondas. As criminal violence ticks up across the country, the lines for his services have grown longer – and more of his customized cars are coming back for repairs with bullet pocks and shattered windows. “We are living in a war,” he told CNN. “A war with the cartels.” Despite the efforts of successive governments to combat Mexico’s deeply…

KONGSBERG, Norway (AP) — In 1944, Norwegian resistance fighters in the town of Kongsberg blew up a factory making cannons for occupying Nazi German forces during World War II. More than 80 years later, the municipality could once again be a target for sabotage and is preparing for war. The local authorities have dusted off Cold War-era bomb shelters, installed a new satellite communications system and are working with the military on plans to help a deployment of Western forces in case of conflict. “The lesson we learned from Ukraine is that everybody pitched in,” said Odd John Resser, Kongsberg’s…

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexicans will vote in the country’s first judicial elections Sunday. The fiercely debated question is whether electing judges will deepen democratic decay or purge courts of rampant corruption and impunity.The vote comes as power in Mexico has been increasingly concentrated in the popular president’s office, and as organized crime wields significant political influence in many parts of the country. Critics worry that electing judges will weaken checks and balances on government and stack the courts in favor of the ruling party.Judges and court staff previously earned their positions through merit and experience. Now the election has…

DENVER (AP) — Teak Ty Brockbank posted online that Colorado’s top election official should be executed and her former counterpart in Arizona should also be killed.But Brockbank, who faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced Thursday for making online threats, is asking for leniency. He says he made those posts when he was drinking heavily and socially isolated, spending his evenings consuming conspiracy theories online. Brockbank pleaded guilty in October to one count of transmitting interstate threats between September 2021 and August 2022 against Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold and former Arizona Secretary of State…

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A man says he was tortured for weeks in a New York townhouse. Another in Paris was held for ransom and his finger cut off. A couple in Connecticut were carjacked, beaten and thrown into a van.All, authorities allege, were victims tied to cryptocurrency-related crimes that have spilled out from behind computer screens and into the real world as the largely unregulated currency surges in value.While crypto thefts are not new, the use of physical violence is a far more recent trend, said John Griffin, a finance professor at the University of Texas in Austin who…