U.S./World category, Page 7
U.S. health officials nix publication of a study on covid vaccine effectiveness
NEW YORK — U.S. health officials stopped the publication of a study on whether the covid-19 vaccine was keeping adults from becoming sick enough to have to go to the hospital. A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spokesman on Wednesday confirmed the decision to halt publication, citing a...
Federal appeals court blocks California law requiring federal agents to wear identification
LOS ANGELES — A federal appeals court issued an order Wednesday blocking a California law passed in 2025 requiring federal immigration agents to wear a badge or some form of identification. The Trump administration filed a lawsuit in November challenging the law, arguing that it would threaten the safety of...
Chemical leak at a West Virginia plant kills 2 people and sends 30 others to hospitals, officials say
INSTITUTE, W.Va. — A chemical leak at a West Virginia silver recovery business on Wednesday killed two people and sent about 30 others to hospitals, including one in serious condition, authorities said. The leak occurred at the Catalyst Refiners plant in Institute as workers were preparing to shut down at...
Searchers find the body of 1 of 6 missing crew from a ship that overturned during a typhoon
SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands — Searchers found the body of one of the six missing crew members from a cargo ship that overturned near the Northern Mariana Islands during a typhoon and were looking for the rest, hoping they might have made it to a life raft. U.S. Air Force...
Supreme Court rules for Michigan in its fight to shut down an aging energy pipeline
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with Michigan in ruling that the state’s lawsuit seeking to shut down a section of an aging pipeline beneath a Great Lakes channel will stay in state court. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for a unanimous court that the Enbridge energy company waited...
Rep. David Scott, a Georgia Democrat seeking a 13th term in Congress, dies at age 80
ATLANTA — U.S. Rep. David Scott, a Georgia Democrat and the first Black chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, has died. He was 80. Scott, who was seeking his 13th term in Congress despite challenges from within his party, was once a leading voice for Democrats on issues related to...
U.K. passes bill that will eventually ban cigarette purchases
LONDON — Opponents of smoking got a breath of fresh air as Parliament passed a bill that will put cigarettes out of reach for future generations. “The end of smoking, and the devastating harm it causes, is no longer uncertain — it’s inevitable,” Hazel Cheeseman, chief executive of Action on...
War crimes court rejects bid to free Philippines’ Duterte
The International Criminal Court’s appeals chamber ruled that the tribunal has jurisdiction over the case of ex-Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s crimes against humanity and rejected his bid for release. The appeals chamber by a majority “has rejected all four grounds of appeal,” Judge Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza said in...
Charlie Kirk assasination: Does the recovered bullet match Tyler Robinson’s gun?
Just weeks after reports of a bombshell claim by the defense for Tyler Robinson, who is accused of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk last year, there is a new twist in the case. According to multiple reports, documents filed by the defense in the case claimed the bullet used in...
Ukraine says it asked Turkey to help seek Zelenskyy-Putin talks
Ukraine has asked Turkey to help arrange a summit meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in a renewed effort to end the war, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in Kyiv. “We have addressed the Turks directly. But if another capital — other than Moscow and Belarus...
Senate hearings with RFK Jr. put Bill Cassidy’s competing loyalties to Trump and science on display
A Republican senator juggling three roles — lawmaker, doctor and political candidate seeking reelection — walked a fine line on Wednesday as he questioned Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has moved to dramatically roll back the nation’s childhood vaccine recommendations. Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy,...
Beneath Trump’s ballroom legal case: A brief history of the White House bunker
Secrecy surrounding White House security makes details hard to come by, but President Donald Trump’s court fight over his $400 million ballroom casts some light on an underground bunker at the site that has had a role in history. The bunker emerged in the Trump administration’s court fight against the...
The Iran war could drive up costs for petroleum-derived products like clothes and crayons
NEW YORK — It might be hard to imagine the Iran war weighing on stuffed toys with names like Snuggle Glove, Bizzikins and Wobblies, but even plush playthings are not immune when oil shipments from the Middle East are constrained. Like many soft toys, the creatures developed by a manufacturer...
Iran fires on 3 ships in the Strait of Hormuz as U.S. maintains blockade and diplomacy stallsVideo
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran fired on three ships in the Strait of Hormuz and seized two of them on Wednesday, intensifying its assault on shipping in the key waterway. The attacks came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump extended a ceasefire while maintaining an American blockade of...
Texas can require public schools to display Ten Commandments in classrooms, U.S. appeals court rules
DALLAS — Texas can require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public school classrooms, a U.S. appeals court ruled Tuesday in a victory for conservatives who have long sought to incorporate more religion into schools. The ruling sets up a potential clash at the U.S. Supreme Court over the...
Florida’s attorney general launches criminal probe into ChatGPT over FSU shooting
ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida’s attorney general on Tuesday opened a rare criminal investigation into OpenAI’s ChatGPT over whether the artificial intelligence app offered advice to a gunman who killed two people and wounded six others last year at Florida State University. Attorney General James Uthmeier said that prosecutors had done...
Trump media company replaces CEO, ex-congressman Devin Nunes after stock plunge that wiped out billions
NEW YORK — The Trump business behind Truth Social is replacing a former congressman and big supporter of the U.S. president as leader of the social media platform after a stock collapse that wiped out billions in investor wealth. Devin Nunes, a former California congressmen in Donald Trump’s first term,...
In reversal, Justice Department withdraws subpoenas in John Brennan investigation
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has withdrawn subpoenas issued in the investigation of former CIA Director John Brennan, with officials asking for voluntary interviews instead of testimony before a grand jury, two people familiar with the matter said Tuesday. A small handful of subpoenas were known to have been issued...
Southern Poverty Law Center charged with defrauding donors with payments to extremist informants
WASHINGTON — The Southern Poverty Law Center was indicted Tuesday on federal fraud charges alleging it improperly raised millions of dollars to pay informants to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan and other extremist groups, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said. The Justice Department alleges the civil rights group defrauded donors...
Sen. Dave McCormick endorses Trump nominee for Fed chair
U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick introduced the nominee to chair the Federal Reserve at a contentious Senate Banking Committee hearing on Tuesday, describing him as a personal friend who he said is the “right man for this pivotal moment.” “He will shake up a stagnant institution at a time when change...
Flu vaccine no longer mandated for U.S. troops, Pete Hegseth maintains
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Tuesday that the U.S. military will no longer require all American troops to get the flu vaccine, citing “medical autonomy” and religious freedom. “The notion that a flu vaccine must be mandatory for every service member, everywhere, in every circumstance at all times...
Federal judge strikes down some Trump administration actions that have slowed clean energy projects
WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Massachusetts on Tuesday struck down several Trump administration actions slowing down development of clean energy, including a requirement that all solar and wind energy projects on federal lands and waters be personally approved by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. Chief Judge Denise J. Casper of...
Trump, other top Republicans read passages in a marathon Bible event
President Donald Trump and many of his leading Christian supporters and top Republicans are taking part this week in a marathon reading of the Bible in an America 250-themed event billed as encouraging a “return to the spiritual foundation that has shaped our country.” The America Reads the Bible event...
2 CIA officers killed in Mexico vehicle crash after counterdrug operation, AP sources say
WASHINGTON — Two U.S. officials killed in a vehicle crash as they returned from destroying a clandestine drug lab in a rugged region of Mexico over the weekend were working for the CIA, according to a U.S. official and two other people familiar with matter. Two Mexican investigators also were...
Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida resigns amid ethics investigation
WASHINGTON — Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick is resigning from Congress rather than be formally disciplined by the House as part of an ethics investigation into her use of campaign funds. Explaining her decision in an extended social media statement Tuesday, the Florida Democrat decried the internal investigation process as unfair. She...
