The Republican-controlled US Congress looked set to move ahead this week to keep the government funded and avert a partial shutdown beginning, as Washington is rocked by the president's rapid moves to slash federal agencies.
US immigration agents arrested a Palestinian graduate student who has played a prominent role in pro-Palestinian protests at New York's Columbia University as part of Trump's promised crackdown on some anti-Israel activists.
More than half a million people are facing travel disruption at German airports where a 24-hour strike has led to thousands of flight cancellations in a dispute about workers' pay.
Syria's leader vowed to hunt down the perpetrators of violent clashes pitting loyalists of deposed President Bashar al-Assad against the country's new Islamist rulers and said he would hold to account anyone who overstepped their authority.
Business & Markets
Prices of cooking oil could be buoyed up for years by stagnating production and a biodiesel push in top producer Indonesia that are making traditionally cheap palm oil costlier, eliminating an advantage that also curbed prices of rival oils.
Farmers put plans and investments on hold under Trump USDA spending freeze
Ed Morgan packs his signature "Pigda Lambda" ground pork and lamb mix into tins, West Virginia, February 16, 2025. REUTERS/Leah Douglas
Farmers and food organizations across the country are cutting staff, halting investments and missing key funding amid a USDA freeze on a broad swath of grants, more than two dozen farmers and agricultural support groups in seven states told Reuters.
All this comes as Trump has imposed new tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China, sparking trade wars with the biggest buyers of US farm products.
Milla, a five-year-old female ocelot, after undergoing an in vitro fertilization procedure at the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi, December 9, 2024. REUTERS/Evan Garcia
In the race to save the endangered ocelot, scientists are trekking the United States, pursuing fertility treatments and striving to kickstart a new generation of the wild cat.
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'Chopping heads off': Jennifer Piggott proudly supported Donald Trump, but she says she wouldn't have if she knew he was going to cut her job and that of more than 125 others workers at the Treasury Department's Bureau of Fiscal Service in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Political analysts are parsing cuts like these as they search for signs of a backlash against Trump and Elon Musk's plan to shrink the government. Here is the latest summary on the legal efforts to block Trump's executive orders on federal workers, frozen funds, transgender protections and more.
Report: Children under five, including babies, are among victims of sexual violence in the war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary RSF, the U.N. agency said.
Attack: A South Sudanese general and dozens of soldiers were killed when a U.N. helicopter trying to evacuate them from the northern town of Nasir came under attack, the government said. And a tinderbox conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo is ready to explode.
Skeptics and outbreaks: The large study comes despite extensive scientific research that has disproven or failed to find evidence that links autism (or long COVID, for that matter) to vaccines. Measles has infected more than 150 people and caused two deaths in Texas and New Mexico, including that of a school-aged child. It is testing Trump health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s vaccine skepticism.
Ahead of the curve: The owner of the John Lewis department stores and the Waitrose supermarket chain joins Currys, Marks & Spencer and several other British retailers that are giving their staff pay raises that beat inflation. The new rates also come as the UK prepares to raise the minimum wage 6.7% to 12.21 pounds ($15.77) an hour.
Before I forget…
Romania detained six people on charges of trying to overthrow the state with Russia's help. A 101-year-old Holocaust-denier and former army major general said his home was raided during the investigation.
Obesity rates are soaring globally, according to research published in the Lancet. The study's lead author called the trend a monumental social failure.
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