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WASHINGTON, May 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department plans to press ahead with a merger of its two agencies that investigate drug and firearms offenses, though the effort would still need approval from Congress, four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.In a meeting on Thursday, officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were informed that the merger could be executed as soon as October, one of the sources said, speaking anonymously because the discussions are not public.The Reuters Tariff Watch newsletter is your daily guide to the latest global trade...

Herlyn Barrientos wasn’t happy to run into a fellow member of his gang in the produce section of his local grocery store.A burly man with tattoos inked on his head and face, Barrientos was from MS-13, a group notorious for savage killings. Federal prosecutors alleged the Honduran national, nicknamed “Doctorazo,” supplied methamphetamine to MS-13 members across Los Angeles, who sold the drug and kicked up a cut to the gang’s imprisoned leader. Charged with drug trafficking in 2023, Barrientos decided to turn on his gang and cooperate with the FBI. A judge signed off on his release from jail, and...

The justices did not address the broader question about whether Trump officials can legally invoke the Alien Enemies Act to target alleged gang members.A divided Supreme Court on Friday kept a block on the Trump administration’s use of a rarely invoked wartime power to deport migrants in Northern Texas and said administration officials had not given those targeted for removal last month sufficient time to challenge their deportations.The majority called the detainees’ interests “particularly weighty” because of the risk of removal to a notorious megaprison in El Salvador where the migrants could face indefinite detention.President Donald Trump’s use of the...

Amid long, uncomfortable pauses, Joe Biden struggled to recall when his son died, when he left office as vice president, what year Donald Trump was elected or why he had classified documents he shouldn't have had, according to audio Axios obtained of his October 2023 interviews with special counsel Robert Hur.

A public health alert has been issued for some ready-to-eat wraps amid concerns that the products may be contaminated with listeria. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) earlier this week issued the alert for Rachel’s Food Corp. chicken and bacon ranch wraps sold in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York. A recall was not requested because the affected products are no longer available for purchase, according to the announcement. “The problem was discovered when a state public health partner notified FSIS of a product sample that tested positive for listeria monocytogenes,” the FSIS said.

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men worldwide, accounting for more than 1.4 million new cases each year. For many patients, radiotherapy is a standard treatment option that offers outcomes comparable to surgery, particularly for localized disease. As an outpatient procedure, it allows men to maintain much of their daily routine during treatment. However, traditional radiotherapy schedules typically span several weeks, which can be burdensome for patients and put pressure on health care structures and radiotherapy capacity. A major clinical trial (HYPO-RT-PC) has shown that a significantly shorter course of radiotherapy for localized prostate cancer is just...

Russia told Ukraine it could fight for at least another 21 years during peace talks that ended in acrimony in Istanbul. Vladimir Medinsky, a Kremlin aide who led the Russian delegation, said Moscow wanted peace but would fight “however long it takes”. “We don’t want war, but we’re ready to fight for a year, two, three, however long it takes. We fought Sweden for 21 years. How long are you ready to fight?” he told the Ukrainian delegation. The Great Northern War, fought between Russia and Sweden, lasted for 21 years, from 1700 to 1721 during the rule of Peter...

Last September, I found myself — confused, groggy and irritable — staring into the surgical dome light of my local hospital’s emergency room. I had been found by a passing police officer, not breathing, and with no pulse, after my ventilator hose had become disconnected and severe hypoxia kicked in. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation brought me back, and I’d been transported to the ER. I was alive — thanks to the determination of law enforcers and local medical personnel to keep me that way. New York’s proposed Medical Aid in Dying Act threatens to undo this presumption in favor of lifesaving, especially...

Ed just wrote an excellent piece on the "Biden Nightmare" being an anvil around the neck of the Democrats. And it is true that both the media and the Democrats have taken a major hit in their approval ratings, and that some Democrats and left-leaning Independents have reconsidered their allegiance to both. And yet, many of those people who say they have lost trust in these institutions are still accepting their characterizations of what Trump is doing. This phenomenon is called the Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect. The Gell-Mann amnesia effect is a cognitive bias describing the tendency of individuals to critically...

The newly elected Pope Leo XIV has suggested that the Vatican could host high-level negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, as Istanbul talks were watered down following Russian President Vladimir Putin's refusal to come face to face with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. According to Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin's statement on Friday, the supreme pontiff plans to "if necessary, provide the Vatican, the Holy See, as a direct meeting (place) between the two sides." Parolin has also expressed his disappointment with the talks in Turkey, which took place on Friday. "It's all tragic because we hoped that a...

May 16 (Reuters) - Moody's on Friday downgraded the credit rating of the United States by a notch to "Aa1" from "Aaa", citing rising debt and interest "that are significantly higher than similarly rated sovereigns". "Successive US administrations and Congress have failed to agree on measures to reverse the trend of large annual fiscal deficits and growing interest costs," Moody's said in a statement.

"...As soon as I look at this pastor I know something's wrong..."

Plasma assessment is not intended as a screening or stand-alone diagnostic test, agency saysThe FDA cleared the first blood-based in vitro diagnostic test for Alzheimer's disease, the agency announcedopens in a new tab or window Friday. The blood test, known as the Lumipulse G pTau 217/β-Amyloid 1-42 Plasma Ratio, can be used to detect amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer's in people ages 55 and older who have signs and symptoms of the disease, the agency said. "Alzheimer's disease impacts too many people, more than breast cancer and prostate cancer combined," FDA Commissioner Martin Makary, MD, MPH, said in a statement....

"...I guess this is how black women, subsaharan women celebrate getting their college college diploma yeah they graduate they are the most educated people the most educated demographic that's what I mean that's what CNN says ..."

President Donald Trump’s approval rating in New Jersey bests that of Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ), according to a poll, marking a negative sign for Democrats. The Emerson College/Pix 11/the Hill poll, published Thursday night, finds that Trump has a neutral rating in the Garden State, with 47 percent approving and 47 percent disapproving of his performance. Another six percent did not have an opinion or had neutral feelings about his performance. Conversely, Murphy has a negative approval rating in the traditionally blue state. Of the respondents, 40 percent give him positive marks, while 45 percent disapprove. This equates to a...

The Aztec Empire once hosted an expansive trade network that brought volcanic glass to its capital from right across Mesoamerica, coast to coast. The largest compositional study of obsidian artifacts found in the ancient Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan has now revealed the far-flung influence of the Mexica culture – the largest and most powerful faction of the Aztec Alliance. The 788 precious obsidian objects analyzed include weapons, urns, earrings, pendants, scepters, and decorated human skulls. They appear to have been sourced from across the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, even from the lands of rival governments. The discovery speaks to the commercial...

The Hag’s seventh No.1 featured such great players as James Burton and Jim Gordon.Merle Haggard’s reputation as the champion of the working class was further cemented on May 16, 1969. That day, he was at Capitol Records’ studios in Hollywood with an A-list of musicians that comprised the Strangers, recording the great “Workin’ Man Blues.” It went on to become the seventh in an incredible total of 24 country No.1s amassed by “The Hag” in just ten years. Haggard’s tough upbringing, including time in San Quentin for a robbery conviction, and his unshakeable principles as a man of the people,...

Whilst it has been argued that US President Donald Trump has been turning a deaf ear to Europe with regards to tariffs, in the case of hearing aids, it’s not true. Three of the world’s largest and longest established hearing aid manufacturers are based outside of Danish capital Copenhagen in an area known locally as the “Silicon Valley of Sound.” These companies, Demant, GN Store Nord and WS Audiology (as well as Swiss rival Sonova Holding) must have held their collective breaths as Trump announced the levy of tariffs for products imported into the USA but once again, they were...

An American baby, KJ Muldoon, born with a rare and life-threatening genetic disease, is growing normally after undergoing the first successful personalized gene therapy. In a new study, researchers report that the baby is among the first humans to receive this therapy to correct tiny yet critical errors in his genetic code. These errors are fatal to half of the affected infants. Although this treatment is not anticipated to become mainstream, doctors hope the technology will eventually aid millions with similar conditions. Dr. Kiran Musunuru from the University of Pennsylvania said, “This is the first step towards the use of...

Mayoral hopeful Andrew Cuomo bailed on a planned visit Friday to a Queens senior center as dozens of raging protesters were expected to confront the ex-gov over his botched handling of the nursing homes during the pandemic. About 25 protesters marched in front of Peter Cardella Senior Citizens Center in Ridgewood for over an hour as they eagerly waited to face Cuomo over his administration’s controversial directive to send infected COVID-19 patients into nursing homes — which resulted in thousands of deaths. “I’m still trying to process and come to terms with how to prevent that [a pandemic] from happening...