How accurate are Punxsutawney Phil's weather predictions? The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ranked the furry marmot's skills against other beloved weather-predicting critters.
Some U.S. lawmakers and officials are touting a nearly half-century-old treaty between the United States and Panama to justify the Trump administration's threat to reclaim the Panama Canal - provided it can show the strategic waterway's operation is under threat. Others, however, say hurdles would loom for any bid to use the 1977 Panama Canal Neutrality Treaty, which took effect in 1999 and guarantees that the canal would remain neutral and open to all ships from all countries, as a pretext for the U.S. to seize it.
Iraq's National Security Agency said Friday it arrested a former high-level security official for his involvement in the 1980 execution of a prominent Shiite cleric and his sister during Saddam Hussein ’s brutal crackdown on religious opposition. Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr was a leading Iraqi Shiite cleric and political critic who opposed the secular Ba’athist government of the former Iraqi president. In 1980, as the government moved against Shiite activists, al-Sadr and his sister Bint al-Huda — a religious scholar and activist who spoke out against government oppression — were arrested.
Thousands of Costco workers prepared to strike with a midnight deadline drawing closer Friday while the worker's union and the company negotiated. The Teamsters union represents 18,000 Costco workers in six states: California, Washington, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey and New York. Costco has 219,000 U.S. employees and 617 U.S. stores.
Trump will impose 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10% on goods from China, following a pledge he made after winning the White House.
The directive could affect information across dozens of programs including climate-smart agriculture initiatives.
President Donald Trump will put in place 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10% tariffs on goods from China effective on Saturday, the White House said, but it provided no word on whether there would be any exemptions to the measures that could result in swift price increases to U.S. consumers. Trump had been threatening the tariffs to ensure greater cooperation from the countries on stopping illegal immigration and the smuggling of chemicals used for fentanyl, but he has also pledged to use tariffs to boost domestic manufacturing and raise revenues for the federal government. “Starting tomorrow, those tariffs will be in place,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
A New York doctor was indicted by a Louisiana grand jury on Friday for allegedly prescribing an abortion pill online in the Deep South state, which has one of the strictest near-total abortion bans in the country. Grand jurors at the District Court for the Parish of West Baton Rouge issued an indictment against Dr. Margaret Carpenter; her company, Nightingale Medical, PC; and a third person. All three were charged with criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs, a felony.
It was a day of wrenching emotions: Relief, joy, anger and trauma all spilled out as Hamas released a new round of hostages and Israel freed more Palestinians from its prisons. In the latest in the series of exchanges under the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal Thursday, three Israeli hostages, five Thai workers who had also been held captive by militants in Gaza and 110 Palestinians were freed. Friends of Arbel Yehoud gripped each other’s hands, tears in their eyes, as they gathered at a home in southern Israel to watch on TV as the 29-year-old emerged surrounded by masked Hamas fighters with their green headbands and automatic rifles.
US President Donald Trump sent an envoy Friday to Venezuela to warn leftist leader Nicolas Maduro to accept the unconditional return of deported Venezuelans or face consequences."President Trump expects Nicolas Maduro to take back all of the Venezuelan criminals and gang members that have been exported to the United States, and to do so unequivocally and without condition," Mauricio Claver-Carone, the US special envoy for Latin America, said separately.
Two executives of a Chinese chemical company have been found not guilty by a Manhattan jury on charges they conspired to ship precursor chemicals to the United States to manufacture fentanyl, but were convicted on related charges. In a verdict returned on Wednesday and made available electronically on Thursday, jurors found Hubei Amarvel Biotech's principal executive Qingzhao Wang and marketing manager Yiyi Chen not guilty of the top charge, conspiracy to distribute fentanyl or a fentanyl-related substance. However, Wang and Chen were found guilty of conspiracy to import a fentanyl precursor chemical.
WASHINGTON — Several top FBI executives promoted by former Director Christopher Wray were told Thursday to resign or retire or they would be fired, according to multiple current and former bureau officials.
NASA astronaut Suni Williams set a female spacewalk record after venturing outside the International Space Station with fellow Boeing Starliner crew member.
Gary O'Hara said President Trump's attempt to blame the Washington, D.C., plane crash on "DEI" added to the pain of victims' families.
An American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter collided over Washington, D.C., Wednesday night. All 67 people aboard the aircraft are presumed dead.
Dual U.S.-Israeli national Keith Siegel is among the 3 hostages expected to be released by Hamas in the fourth swap with Israel.
Swedish prosecutors said Friday they have ordered the release of five men who were arrested after the fatal shooting of an Iraqi man who carried out several Quran burnings. Salwan Momika staged several burnings and desecrations of Islam’s holy book in Sweden in 2023. Videos of the Quran burnings got worldwide publicity and raised anger and criticism in several Muslim nations, leading to riots and unrest in many places.
A Connecticut man charged with causing a fiery crash that shut down a major highway bridge and killed a truck driver has died of cancer. Reginald Collins, 60, died on Dec. 1, prompting the negligent homicide and other charges he faced to be officially dropped in New London Superior Court earlier this month, The Day reports. State police said the New London resident caused an April 2023 crash on the Gold Star Memorial Bridge.
Temperatures may approach record territory across more than a dozen states next week as mild Pacific air takes charge during the early days of February, AccuWeather experts say. The surge of mild air will sharply contrast with an exceptionally cold and snowy January, which ended with temperatures 3-6 degrees below the historical average from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes. The month included a record-shattering snow event along the Interstate-10 corridor from Texas to Florida. Warmer weather
Germany's conservatives doubled down Friday on allowing the far-right AfD to back their pre-election push to restrict immigration, but failed to pass a contentious bill after a day of jeers and high drama in parliament.If the bill had passed, it would have been the first time in Germany's post-World War II history that a mainstream party relied on extremist backing to pass legislation.
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