Donald Trump said he planned to hit goods from China with a new 10% tariff, the latest salvo in the US president's steadily escalating trade fights. Imports from China already face taxes at the border of at least 10%, after a Trump tariff order that went into effect earlier this month. China's ministry of foreign affairs said it "strongly" expressed its "dissatisfaction and resolute opposition" to the plans. Trump also said on Thursday he intended to move forward with threatened 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, which are set to come into effect on 4 March. Trump's comments came as officials from Mexico and Canada were in Washington for discussions aimed at heading off that plan. Trump had announced the plans for 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada for 4 February unless the two nations increased border security. He paused the measures for a month at the last minute after the two countries agreed to increase border funding and talk more about how to combat drug trafficking. On social media on Thursday, Trump wrote that he did not think enough action had been taken to address the flow of fentanyl to the US. "Drugs are still pouring into our Country from Mexico and Canada at very high and unacceptable levels," he wrote, adding that "a large percentage" of the drugs were made in China. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, at a press conference from the country's National Palace, said in response: "As we know, [Trump] has his way of communicating." She added: "I hope we can reach an agreement and on 4 March we can announce something else." Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also said his country was working hard to reach a deal, warning tariffs from the US would prompt an "immediate and extremely strong response". Trump's threats against Mexico and Canada have raised widespread alarm, as the North American economy is closely connected after decades of operating under a free trade agreement. Leaders of the two countries have previously said they would impose retaliatory tariffs on the United States if the White House went ahead with its plans. Tariffs are a tax collected by the government and paid for by the business bringing the goods into the country. China, Mexico and Canada are America's top three trade partners, together accounting for more than 40% of imports into the US last year. Economists have warned tariffs on goods from the three countries could lead to higher prices in the US on everything from iPhones to avocados. Trump's call for an additional 10% levy on goods from China - which he said would also go into effect on Tuesday - had not been previously announced, though during his presidential campaign he backed border taxes on Chinese products of as much as 60%. A spokesperson for China's ministry of foreign affairs, Lin Jian, said that Trump was using the issue of the drug fentanyl entering the US from China as an "excuse" to threaten tariffs, adding it had one of the "strictest" drug control policies in the world. "Pressure, coercion, and threats are not the correct way to deal with China," he said. Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy, had earlier said that his country was already working with the US to address the concerns about fentanyl, and had made "visual progress" in areas such as information exchange, case cooperation and online advertisement cleanup. "Reducing domestic drug demand and strengthening law enforcement cooperation are the fundamental solutions," he said in a statement, which warned that Trump's tariff moves were "bound to affect and undermine future counternarcotics cooperation between the two sides". "The unilateral tariffs imposed by the US will not solve its own problems, nor will it benefit the two sides or the world." Trump's comments, which called for drug flow to stop or be "severely limited", seemed to set the stage for Mexico and Canada to negotiate, said trade expert Christine McDaniel, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. On Thursday, as tariff talks intensified, two imprisoned alleged leaders of the violent Zetas cartel long sought by the US - Miguel Angel Trevino Morales and his brother Oscar - were extradited. Mexican media said they were part of a larger group of drug lords sent from Mexico to the US - a major step in terms of US-Mexico security relations. Ms McDaniel said Trump's demands of China were less clear, raising the likelihood that those measures will come into effect. Trump's initial round of tariffs on China was eclipsed by his threats against Canada and Mexico. But the potential for further duties raises questions about how businesses will respond. Ms McDaniel said she expected the hit to be felt more in China. "It's not costless for the US, but so far it seems more costly for China," she said. The impact of tariffs, if they go into effect, is expected to be felt more in the Canadian and Mexican economies, which count on the US as a key export market. But analysts have warned that the threat of the levies, even if they are never imposed, is still likely to have a chilling effect on investment, including in the US. China has already responded to the first round of tariffs from the US with its own tariffs on US products, including coal and agricultural machinery. Trump has dismissed fears about damage to the American economy.
More than half of sleep sessions end with the snooze button, with people sneaking in an extra 11 minutes on average, a new study reveals — but experts say it may not be a good idea. Researchers from Mass General Brigham analyzed data from the Sleep Cycle app, which included sleep habits from more than 21,000 people globally. Among the more than three million sleep sessions tracked, nearly 56% ended with the snooze button. MOST SLEEP-DEPRIVED CITIES IN US REVEALED IN REPORT: WHERE DOES YOURS RANK? The heaviest users of the snooze button — who used it for more than 80% of the mornings included in the study — slept an average of 20 extra minutes. These heaviest snoozers were also shown to have "more erratic sleep schedules" than those who used the snooze button less often, the researchers found."Unfortunately, the snooze alarm disrupts some of the most important stages of sleep," said lead author Rebecca Robbins, PhD, in the Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, in a press release. "The hours just before waking are rich in rapid eye movement sleep. Hitting the snooze alarm will interrupt these critical stages of sleep and typically only offer light sleep in between snooze alarms."
Proper handwashing could save a million lives a year, according to an expert — and yet many people are doing it improperly, often due to misconceptions surrounding the practice. Doctors recommend washing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds to reduce the spread of infectious diseases. The NFID 2025 State of Handwashing Report, recently released by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, provides details on Americans' handwashing habits (and mistakes). WHY YOUR LAUNDRY COULD BE MAKING YOU SICK AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT The report is based on a survey of 3,587 U.S. adults, conducted in November and December 2024 and March 2025."We have to recognize that there are a number of important infections that hand sanitizers are not effective at preventing," Hopkins said. One example is norovirus, a highly contagious stomach virus that is common on cruise ships and is also spread seasonally. The virus cannot be killed with hand sanitizer, but is "easily destroyed" with soap and water, according to Hopkins.Certain viruses are "encapsulated" and can be destroyed with either soap and water or hand sanitizer, the expert said. However, there is also an "unencapsulated" type of virus, which has an outer coat that does not break down from the alcohol in hand sanitizer. Using soap and water is a more effective way to kill the germs, the doctor noted. 2. Just coughing into your sleeve When people cough or sneeze into their sleeve, they could still spread germs afterward. "If you cough into your sleeve … go ahead and wash your hands with soap and water as well," Hopkins advised. COMMON MEDICAL TEST LINKED TO 5% OF CANCERS, STUDY SUGGESTS: ‘USE THEM WISELY’ "We also have to recognize that we often bring our hands up close to our face, touch our nose, our glasses, other parts of our face," noted the doctor, who is based in Arkansas. "If we have bacteria or viruses on our hands, we can introduce them into our mucous membranes, where we can get infections."
Note the time delay "The [cortisol] decline is different for everyone but typically occurs one-and-a-half to two hours after you wake," Zumpano said. That's the best time to have coffee, Zumpano said. SLEEP EXPERT REVEALS TOP FOODS AND DRINKS KEEPING YOU UP AT NIGHT That way, "you can rely on your body's natural alert system - cortisol - and when it declines, then you use caffeine to provide the boost.""There is no specific time that's best to drink caffeine," the dietitian added. "[It's] based on when you wake and your natural rise and drop in cortisol." Yet adhering to the body's natural wake-up processes can help sustain energy levels by avoiding one big cortisol, caffeinated crash. COFFEE CREAMER HEALTH RISKS: WHAT TO KNOW, WHAT TO CHOOSE INSTEAD Fox News Digital previously reported on smart ways to consume coffee, with an expert noting that coffee drinking should be tailored to each individual. "For some people, waking up and having a glass of water to rehydrate and then having coffee works well – but for others the morning ritual of having a cup of coffee first thing upon awakening is just too good to give up," said Wendy Troxel, a Utah-based sleep expert and senior behavioral scientist at the RAND Corporation.
The Pandemic Agreement, just adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO), is a landmark for global public health. Had such an agreement been in place before 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic would have looked very different. The agreement now means that when the next pandemic begins brewing, the world will be much better equipped to mitigate or even prevent it. What exactly will the agreement do? In a nutshell, 124 countries have pledged to prevent, prepare for, and respond to future pandemics. The countries that formally ratify the agreement will be bound to uphold a number of commitments including investing in health infrastructures, sharing intellectual property, and engaging in technology transfer. Advertisement One of the biggest benefits promises to be the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing System. This will require U.N. member states to share information and data about potential pandemic viruses, including sequencing of new viruses or variants, as well as share relevant vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostic technologies. Vaccine manufacturers in participating countries will be expected to provide 20% of pandemic vaccines in real time to the WHO to distribute globally, including to poorer countries and those most in need of them. Of these vaccines, member countries will donate 10% of them for free. Such an arrangement would have saved many lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first few years, the unequal access to vaccines was one of the biggest challenges, with one study finding that up to half the COVID-19 deaths in many lower income countries could have been avoided with a more equitable supply of vaccines. Read More: Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: Global-Health Architect Conspicuously absent from the agreement is the U.S., which has historically played a key role in global health, from HIV/AIDS to malaria and beyond. Although 11 countries abstained from voting, the U.S.'s omission due to its decision to withdraw from the WHO is notable. COVID-19 taught us that the health of people on the other side of the world is inexorably tied to our own. Isolationism doesn't work when it comes to infectious disease. Even countries that took the most drastic measures to contain COVID-19, like China, eventually succumbed to rapid and extensive spread of the virus when they relaxed international travel or strict lockdowns and social-distancing measures. Preventing the next pandemic will require us to ensure that all countries, including low- and middle-income ones, have the necessary resources to prevent outbreaks from happening and to quash them before they spread. Advertisement The agreement also proves that multilateralism and a desire for global cooperation are still shared goals among most countries. Some critics of the agreement, including U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, have argued that it would be a threat to national sovereignty or freedom, in that it would compromise countries’ ability to make pandemic-related health policy decisions. This is not the case. The agreement states that it “does not prejudice the sovereign right” of countries to consider it in accordance with their own national constitutions. Global agreements or treaties of this nature are rare. But when they do come about, they are far from being tokenistic documents full of legalese. Although the Pandemic Agreement is less formal and legally binding, several U.N. global treaties have already saved millions of lives. The Framework Convention for Tobacco Control, the first WHO treaty, has reduced tobacco use by one-third over the past 20 years and has saved lives with policies like indoor smoking bans.
The Israeli military fired warning shots at a large delegation of European and Arab diplomats on an official visit near the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, drawing swift international condemnation. Delegations from more than 20 countries, including the United Kingdom, France, Canada and others, were on an official mission to see the humanitarian situation around the besieged camp, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which called the incident a “deliberate and unlawful act.” Video from the incident shows Israeli soldiers firing toward the delegation as it backs away from a gate blocking the road. At least seven shots can be heard in the video. One member of the delegation cautions the group, “be close to the wall, be close to the wall,” as they walk away from the scene. “The ministry holds the Israeli occupying government fully and directly responsible for this criminal assault and affirms that such acts will not pass without accountability,” the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the visit to the camp - the site of a major ongoing military operation that has destroyed more than 100 buildings and impacted thousands of families - was coordinated in advance. The military said it launched an initial investigation once it became clear that the group was a diplomatic delegation. “The delegation deviated from the approved route and entered an area where they were not authorized to be,” the military said in a statement Wednesday. “IDF soldiers operating in the area fired warning shots to distance them away.” The IDF said it will reach out to the delegations about the findings of the initial inquiry and “regrets the inconvenience caused.” The Palestinian Authority said the visit was announced 10 days in advance and that the group had been at the gate for more than 15 minutes before Israeli soldiers started shooting. Roland Friedrich, the director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in the West Bank, refuted the Israeli military’s version of events, saying that its explanations “do not fully capture the severity of today’s event.” “This incident is a stark reminder of the lax use of excessive force routinely deployed by Israeli security forces in the West Bank, often with lethal consequences,” Friedrich said. “This raises serious concerns over the way rules of engagement are applied to unarmed civilians.” Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, said after the incident that “any threats on diplomats’ lives are unacceptable.” “We definitely call on Israel to investigate this incident and also hold those accountable who are responsible for this,” Kallas said at a press conference Wednesday. Italy’s foreign ministry summoned Israel’s ambassador in Rome for an official clarification. “The threats against diplomats are unacceptable,” the country’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani added in a social media post on X. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said that Israel’s ambassador to France would also be summoned following the incident, calling it “unacceptable,” while Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said that his government summoned the head of the Israeli embassy in Madrid. Canada’s Foreign Minister Anita Anand confirmed on social media that four Canadian personnel were part of the delegation that was shot at, adding that she has asked officials to summon Israel’s Ambassador to convey “Canada’s serious concerns.” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told a news conference in Ottawa that Canada expected a full and immediate explanation of what happened. “It’s totally unacceptable,” he said. “It’s some of many things that are totally unacceptable that’s going on in the region.” On Wednesday evening, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen told CNN’s Isa Soares that her country will be summoning the Israeli ambassador to Finland in response to the military’s actions. “Any deviation of any route – it is not an excuse,” Valtonen said. “It is prohibited to open fire against civilians, even under the laws of war. And, of course, these people were also under diplomatic protection.” A host of officials from other European nations condemned the shooting, including representatives from Ireland, Belgium, Slovenia, Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and the United Kingdom. Foreign ministries from countries including Jordan, Egypt, Turkey and Qatar also strongly condemned the incident. “This attack, which endangered the lives of diplomats, is yet another demonstration of Israel’s systematic disregard for international law and human rights,” Turkey’s foreign ministry said. “The targeting of diplomats constitutes a grave threat not only to individual safety but also to the mutual respect and trust that form the foundation of inter-state relations. This attack must be investigated without delay, and those responsible must be held accountable,” it added. Clarification: This story has been updated to reflect the shooting incident occurred near the Jenin refugee camp, not within the camp.
Britain’s government has been temporarily blocked from concluding its deal to transfer the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, PA Media reported, after an 11th-hour injunction by a High Court judge. Prime Minister Keir Starmer intends to return the islands to the African country, while maintaining control of the US-UK Diego Garcia military base, and it had been expected that the deal would be signed off on Thursday.
As the Trump Administration moves aggressively to shrink the federal government and cut its spending, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) may be next on the chopping block. Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs, a Republican, recently reintroduced legislation to abolish OSHA, which is part of the U.S. Department of Labor. The bill, called the Nullify Occupational Safety and Health Administration Act, has been nicknamed “NOSHA.” What would it actually mean to abolish OSHA? Here’s what to know. What does OSHA do? OSHA’s objective is to keep Americans safe and healthy at work. “The OSHA law says that employers have the legal responsibility to provide safe workplaces for their employees,” says David Michaels, who was assistant secretary of labor for OSHA from 2009 to 2017 and is now a professor at the George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health. “OSHA’s job is to ensure that employers do that.” Grottoes bear the enduring touch of Tang Branded Content Grottoes bear the enduring touch of Tang By China Daily Since President Richard Nixon signed the law that established OSHA in 1970, it has gone on to set standards on a wide range of potential workplace health hazards, from limiting exposure to harmful substances like asbestos and benzene to avoiding falls and other on-the-job injuries. Almost 700,000 lives have been saved by such safety standards since OSHA was established, according to the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, a group of 61 labor unions. Why do some Republicans want to abolish OSHA? This isn’t the first time OSHA has been caught in political crosshairs. Biggs first proposed abolishing the organization in 2021, after OSHA began enforcing COVID-19 vaccination measures under the Biden Administration. OSHA’s policy, which was quickly withdrawn after being blocked by the Supreme Court, required employers with at least 100 workers to either mandate COVID-19 vaccination, or require unvaccinated workers to mask on the job and undergo regular testing. In 2021, Biggs’ bill had nine cosponsors, but it never advanced to a congressional vote. This time, Biggs does not have any cosponsors on his bill. He is not alone among Republicans in criticizing OSHA, however. Last year, an Ohio contractor—with the support of 23 attorneys general from Republican states—asked the Supreme Court to hear a complaint arguing that OSHA’s far-reaching authority is unconstitutional, The Hill reported. Although the Supreme Court did not take up the case, conservative Justice Clarence Thomas called the question at its heart “undeniably important.” By reintroducing the bill, Biggs is trying to further the Trump Administration’s goal of reducing the government’s size and scope; stop “federal meddling” in workplaces; and turn regulatory powers over to the states, he said in a YouTube video explaining his motivations. “I have constitutional concerns about the federal regulation of private workplaces,” Biggs said in the video. “I think most Americans who read the Constitution also have those similar questions.” The Arizona Congressman specifically mentioned concerns about OSHA’s “one-size-fits-all” standards around outdoor work in hot weather, which he said unfairly penalize states with warm climates, like his. “It makes no sense to set a uniform national standard for heat,” Biggs said. What would happen if OSHA is abolished? “There would be a race to the bottom,” Michaels says. Without a legal requirement to do so, companies might decide not to expend the time, effort, and money necessary to keep staff safe—especially if their competitors aren’t doing so. “What would be the impetus to protect workers from [dangerous] exposures?” Michaels asks. State regulations could fill some of the void. Twenty-two states or territories currently operate federally approved OSHA State Plans. But, Michaels says, it would be a mistake to rely on state-level regulation alone. Current law does not require states to regulate workplace safety; it says only that if states choose to do so, they must set policies that are at least as effective as those spelled out by federal OSHA. Even still, that doesn’t always happen. Arizona, for example, has an OSHA State Plan—but Michaels notes that its policy has previously conflicted with that set by federal OSHA, including around fall protections for residential construction workers. The safest way to protect workers, Michaels says, is to maintain national workplace protections across the country.
Israel's security Cabinet was due to meet ahead of the expected beginning of second phase negotiations as part of the government's ceasefire deal with Hamas. Israel's security Cabinet was set to meet Monday to discuss the second phase of the government's ceasefire deal with Hamas, even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced his support for President Donald Trump's plan to take over the Gaza Strip. Following a call with Trump's special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, Netanyahu instructed Israel's negotiating team to depart for the Egyptian capital of Cairo on Monday to discuss the "continuation of the implementation" of the first stage of the deal that has brought a pause to deadly fighting in Gaza, the Israeli leader's office said in a statement Sunday. Netanyahu's office said the negotiating team would receive "instructions for the continuation of negotiations on Phase B issues" after the Israeli security Cabinet's discussion on the matter as it pushed back on reports suggesting Israel had dispatched the negotiating team under U.S. pressure. Branding those reports "fake news," Netanyahu's office said in a statement there had been "no American pressure to send a delegation to negotiate Phase 2." Still, plans for further negotiations come after Netanyahu said Sunday following a visit from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Israel and the Trump administration had formed a "joint strategy" to ensure that the "gates of hell will open" if Hamas does not eventually release all of the hostages who remain held captive in Gaza — a key requirement of the current ceasefire deal. He also said Israel was "committed" to Trump's widely condemned plan to take over Gaza, where tens of thousands of people have been killed and much of the infrastructure destroyed during Israel's offensive in the enclave. That campaign began after around 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks, with 251 people taken hostage into Gaza in an assault that marked a major escalation in a decadeslong conflict. Since then, more than 48,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to local health officials, though researchers estimate the death toll could be significantly higher. At least 60% of the territory’s infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, has been destroyed, according to estimates from the United Nations. Hailing Trump's proposal to take over Gaza as a "revolutionary vision," Netanyahu said the U.S. and Israel had also come up with a "joint strategy" to see it through and bring about a "completely different Gaza." In a meeting Sunday with a U.S. Senate delegation led by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz further said he believed Trump's plan for Gaza was "the only one that can guarantee security for the residents of the south and the state of Israel, in light of the lessons learned from the events of Oct. 7." Hamas on Sunday accused Netanyahu of looking to “return to aggression” in Gaza as it accused Israel of “hesitation in starting the second phase of negotiations.” The militant group also accused Israeli forces of carrying out a bombing east of Rafah city in southern Gaza, which it said killed three police officers. Video captured by NBC News’ crew on the ground in Gaza on Sunday appeared to show people mourning over their bodies after they were taken to the European Hospital in Khan Younis. The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that troops had “operated to distance several suspects who approached them” and were perceived as posing a threat. It added that forces on Sunday had fired to distance “suspicious vehicles” that were advancing north from central Gaza along a route unauthorized for passage under the ceasefire agreement and that the trucks had not been inspected, which it said violated the terms of the truce. That came as concerns grew over the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Anti-settlement watchdog group Peace Now said in a news release Sunday that Israel had issued a tender for the construction of nearly 1,000 additional settler housing units that could significantly expand the population of the Efrat settlement in the territory. The organization warned that such a development would also risk further blocking the development of the nearby Palestinian city of Bethlehem. Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Middle East war, building and expanding Jewish settlements there that are widely considered illegal by the international community, a charge Israel rejects. The West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem would form the internationally recognized future state Palestinians seek — and the expansion of settlements, as well as Trump's plan to take over Gaza, presents major obstacles to that effort.
A violent, tornado-spawning storm system tore across the central US, leaving at least 25 people dead in Missouri and southeastern Kentucky as it cut a path of destruction through several states. The storm made its way towards Kansas and Oklahoma late Sunday, where significant damage was reported in Grinnell, a town some 250 miles west of Wichita. Photos show severely damaged homes, blocked roads and overturned vehicles. One image shows a local church with its roof blown off. Parts of the I-70 and Kansas Highway northwest of the state have been closed due to downed power lines near Grinnell, according to roadway tracker KanDrive. In the small town of Plevna, roughly 60 miles from Wichita, Reno County Sheriff Darrian Campbell said a passing tornado Sunday night caused significant damage to homes. “We did have a tornado touch down and travel approximately 12 miles and went through a small town of Plevna,” Campbell said in an email to CNN. There are no reports of injuries in Kansas, where a life-threatening tornado alert was issued for the cities of Sylvia, Plevna, and Abbyville until roughly midnight CST. CNN has reached out to state authorities for more details. Over the weekend, 18 deaths were reported in Kentucky, just hours after authorities announced seven fatalities in the St. Louis, Missouri area. Two additional deaths were reported in northern Virginia. Both fatalities were caused by trees falling onto vehicles, one in Fairfax County and another on the George Washington Memorial Parkway, Fairfax County police and the United States Park Police said. The storms damaged homes and downed power lines across the Midwest and Great Lakes, brought by the same system that produced destructive storms and tornadoes Thursday. Over 100,000 homes and businesses across five states were without power as of Sunday night, with Missouri, Michigan and Arkansas among the hardest hit, according to Poweroutage.us. The same storm system hit Colorado Sunday afternoon, producing at least two tornadoes. Homes and buildings in Arapahoe, Adams and Elbert County were damaged or lost, according the counties’ sheriff’s offices. No injuries were reported. It’s part of a multiday spate of widespread severe weather stretching into early next week. As the system that generated deadly tornadoes in Missouri and Kentucky loses strength, another round of severe storms is expected near the border with Mexico, thrusting more than 20 million Americans across the Southwest in the risk zone. Southeastern Kentucky hit hard The National Weather Service reported a radar-confirmed, “large, extremely dangerous” tornado sweeping east across lower Kentucky shortly after midnight. Video and photos from southeastern Kentucky show a trail of destruction that began in Pulaski County before moving east into neighboring Laurel County, leaving at least 18 dead and 10 in critical condition across the state. Videos showed widespread damage to buildings, cars, trees and infrastructure in the wake of the possible tornado. “I’ve now been governor for at least 14 federally declared disasters, 13 of them weather. And this is one of the worst,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said at a news conference Saturday evening. “It’s one of the worst in terms of the loss of human life. It’s one of the worst in terms of damage.” Beshear has declared a state of emergency in the state and requested a federal disaster declaration. Mahala Watts told CNN affiliate WLKY her family was watching the news after 11 p.m. Friday when their phones started blaring with tornado warnings. She grabbed the dog, and her family took cover in the bathroom in the center of their home in Laurel County. The storm suddenly roared over her house – as the family was “breathing in all the debris.” They got on their hands and knees, Watts told the station. A bathroom mirror fell on Watts before the roar went silent. “We were just kind of praying, you know, scared it was going to come back,” she said. “We had no idea the roof was gone. The fridge was blocking the bathroom door.” Watts told WLKY her family climbed over the refrigerator and stood outside in the dark, fearing another hit. Cars were overturned and debris was strewn about. They used a relative’s car to get to a hospital where they sought refuge before making it to a hotel after the storm passed. Drone video over London, Kentucky, at daylight Saturday showed a vast wasteland of damaged and overturned vehicles and flattened homes as first responders searched heaps of rubble for possible survivors. London is about 75 miles south of Lexington. At the London-Corbin Airport, several planes were damaged and a medical helicopter was destroyed, CNN affiliate WLKY reported, adding officials said at least one airplane was pulled into a funnel cloud. Hangars and other buildings were leveled. In another video from Laurel County, first responders are seen descending on the Sunshine Hills area, a barren landscape of twisted cars, downed trees and piles of debris. Seventeen deaths were reported in Laurel County, including in London, Mayor Randall Weddle told CNN affiliate WKYT. Among those who died was Maj. Leslie Roger Leatherman of the Laurel County Fire Department, who had been responding to the storm, the governor said Saturday. “I have never personally witnessed what I’ve witnessed here tonight. There’s a lot of devastation,” Weddle told WKYT. Police in Corbin, south of London, were responding to mutual aid calls for tornado victims and described the devastation as overwhelming. “Stop and pray for Laurel County residents and victims of the tornado that touched down there,” the department wrote. Pulaski County Judge Executive Marshall Todd declared a state of emergency, and crews are working on cleanup efforts, county spokesperson John Alexander told CNN. One person was reported dead in the county. Heavy damage can be seen in Somerset, a city in Pulaski County to the west of London, where emergency officials urged residents to stay indoors. “The southern side of the city has been hit by a possible tornado!” the Somerset Fire Department posted on social media around 11 p.m. Friday. “Please avoid the area, poles and power lines are down!” St. Louis has massive damage A storm that produced a devastating tornado in the St. Louis area Friday afternoon has left five people dead and many others injured, according to local authorities. The EF3 tornado traveled at least 8 miles, according to an initial survey conducted by the National Weather Service. “We’re just a city that’s really grieving,” the city’s new mayor, Cara Spencer, told reporters Saturday. About 5,000 buildings have been impacted by the severe weather but she noted, “This community is coming together in a truly, truly amazing way.” Spencer called the event “one of the worst storms” in the city’s history. A curfew will remain in place overnight and thousands of homes and businesses still have no power. Nearly 40 people were injured, the mayor said. A state of emergency was declared in the city, and officials are seeking a federal major disaster declaration. More than 130 miles to the south of St. Louis, in Scott County, two others were killed during Friday’s storms, Sheriff Derick Wheetley announced on social media. Several others were taken to medical facilities, “with injuries ranging from minor to severe,” the sheriff added. “The tornado moved from the eastern part of the county, leaving behind a trail of destruction, with multiple homes completely lost and areas left unrecognizable,” the sheriff said. The devastation occurred after a tornado warning was issued at 2:34 p.m. Friday and a “likely tornado” touched down seven to eight minutes later, said Ben Herzog, a science and operations officer with the National Weather Service. One St. Louis resident, Cindy Spellman, told CNN her niece was in her apartment when the storm hit. Damage from the Friday storm is seen in St. Louis. Damage from the Friday storm is seen in St. Louis. Cindy Spellman “When the sirens sounded, she went to the basement of her building,” Spellman said. When her niece returned to her apartment, “she had to push her way inside because the tornado had thrown all of her furniture to the far walls.” They helped clean up after the storm passed and had to park over a mile away due to road closures, Spellman said. Dirt, glass and debris from trees and nearby homes coated everything inside the apartment and building. It took more than four hours to secure her niece’s apartment, clean it and remove her necessary belongings before dark. Another resident, Joan Miller Hitt, was in her home Friday when it was torn apart like a dollhouse. When a large tree outside started swaying violently and all the doors shut like in the movie “Carrie,” Miller Hitt and her husband took shelter in a bathroom. Seconds later, “the whole back of the house was gone.” Miller Hitt said she never saw it coming. “I never had any fear of anything happening to that house with a storm because of where I live and the sound structure of the house,” she told CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield on Saturday afternoon. “I go between being overwhelmed, shocked, teary.” Gov. Mike Kehoe said he has already been in contact with federal officials about disaster relief. The American Red Cross opened three shelters in St. Louis for storm and tornado victims, the nonprofit announced Saturday. First responders looking for victims or people in distress searched about 4,000 residences. More technical searches with boom microphones and cameras were being conducted Saturday. One victim was identified as Patricia Pendleton, who had been serving lunches before the storm caused a roof to collapse at Centennial Christian Church, her family told. Sarah Russell, commissioner of the City Emergency Management Agency in St. Louis, said some of the tornado sirens did not go off Friday, which will be investigated. “We’re looking into that,” she told reporters Saturday. The focus now is on life-saving measures in the community, she added. The citywide system of tornado sirens was being replaced and had undergone testing on Thursday. Residents were encouraged to rely on multiple warning systems, including mobile apps and weather radio, she said. The National Weather Service is surveying the damage and has no information on the intensity but estimated winds reached 100 mph. Herzog’s message for residents: “I think the biggest thing would be staying away if you don’t need to be around.” Damaging storm risks persist As the system that hit Missouri and Kentucky weakens and pushes across the Southeast, another round of severe storms threatens the Great Plains and Texas. The level 3 of 5 threat of severe storms will affect the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex Saturday evening, with large hail, damaging winds and the potential for tornadoes. The possibility of more severe weather stretches through Tuesday in the Great Plains and the lower Mississippi River Valley. The Plains will remain the main focus of severe weather on Sunday and Monday as well as the storms passing through Oklahoma and Kansas. The severe thunderstorm threat will then shift back into parts of the Mississippi Valley on Tuesday.
MANILA — On a balmy night outside Manila’s Baclaran church, Gerald Concepcion, 32, and his fellow devotees were decorating a float of the Virgin Mary with fragrant lilies and pink carnations. He added artificial white doves to the arrangement, saying they were in honor of the late Pope Francis, who had led a radical shift in the Catholic Church’s treatment of LGBTQ people. “Pope Francis is a testament that God is alive,” Concepcion, a devout Catholic who works as a street vendor, told NBC News. “He accepted everyone, including us gay people who have long been marginalized.” Francis’ death on April 21 has opened the eternal tension between choosing a successor that represents continuity, or one who will bring change, including a possible return to the church’s recent past of more conservative positions on issues like homosexuality. Luis Antonio Tagle, a Filipino cardinal often dubbed the “Asian Francis” for his emphasis on poor and marginalized people, has emerged as a possible leading contender, or papabile, when the conclave meets on May 7 to elect Francis’ replacement. If chosen as pope, Tagle could carry with him some lessons from the Philippines. Despite being the biggest Catholic nation in Asia — about 80% of Filipinos are Catholic — and the third-largest in the world, it is also one of the more LGBTQ-friendly countries in the region. Many gay Catholics, like Concepcion, remain active and visible members of the church, and he says Tagle offers the possibility of continuing Francis’ embrace of gay Catholics into the next papacy. “Being gay is not wrong because we were also created by God and all things that God created are beautiful,” Concepcion added. The Philippine Catholic Church has become more open to gay Catholics in recent years, including in a 2024 position paper in which the church acknowledged the LGBTQ community’s “important role in the life of the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines.” And while Tagle, who is known for avoiding provocative rhetoric and controversial issues, has rarely spoken publicly about homosexuality in his statements and homilies, he has lamented the church’s “harsh words” in the past about gay and divorced people. Filipino Catholics say they have felt supported by some of his actions and see them as potential signs of his approach to the community if he were to be elected pope. Edwin Valles, former president of Courage Philippines, an LGBTQ organization under the Archdiocese of Manila, says he is certain that Tagle would continue embracing the gay community. In 2014, Valles said he approached Tagle, then head of the Archdiocese of Manila, to request a priest to be assigned to guide their members, a request Tagle granted. “It’s a commitment on his part,” Valles said. “He puts money where his mouth is. So I like to think that he will also do the same if and when he becomes pope.” Valles tells a story from a 2018 event they both attended, when a young faithful asked the cardinal about the status of LGBTQ Catholics. “And his answer was something like: All of us are Catholics, all of us are parishioners, all of us are children of God. So why make that label and distinction? That just serves to separate or put people in boxes,” Valles recalled Tagle saying. A man of the people The Jesuit-educated Tagle, 67, was born to a Filipino father and a Filipino Chinese mother who were both bankers, and Tagle grew up in a well-to-do family. He was ordained as a priest in 1982 at the age of 24, and like Francis, adopted a simple life. From 2001 to 2011, he served as the bishop of the Diocese of Imus, a city south of Manila, and his hometown. There, Tagle took to walking the streets, greeting street vendors and motorcycle taxi drivers. Residents affectionately recalled how Tagle would sit on a wooden bench outside a humble neighborhood barbershop, Bible in hand, his presence so regular that it earned Roland, the shopkeeper, the nickname, “Holy Barber.” Tagle then became Manila’s archbishop in 2011 and was made a cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012. In 2015, he was elected president of Caritas Internationalis, the humanitarian and development organization of the Catholic Church, and was re-elected again in 2019. That year, he moved to the Vatican after Francis appointed him head of the Dicastery for Evangelization, the church’s missionary arm. He would fly back to the Philippines, unannounced and without fanfare, to check on his ailing parents, have his hair cut by Roland, and make surprise visits to neighbors and relatives eager to receive a blessing from a cardinal back home from the Vatican. He ‘does not possess a prophetic voice’ Tagle is highly respected in the Philippines, where he is widely perceived as “warm, gentle, approachable, humble and at times funny,” just like Francis, Noel Asiones, an academic researcher from the University of Santo Tomas, a Catholic university in Manila, told NBC News. As a top cleric, Tagle’s pastoral approach “reflects a leader eager to serve and emphasize meeting the needs of his flock,” Asiones said. But the similarities seemed to end there. Unlike Francis, who spoke with forceful, moral authority on worldly issues like exploitative capitalism or the injustices of war, Asiones said, Tagle “lacks or does not possess a prophetic voice.” Tagle has been criticized for his inaction on sexual abuse by priests, and his silence on the extrajudicial killings ordered by the Philippines’ former President Rodrigo Duterte, in a crackdown on drugs that left tens of thousands, including children, dead. Duterte openly attacked and threatened the church, which in the Philippines has historically stood up against political power. In the face of the flagrant human rights abuses, however, Tagle responded with statements Duterte’s opponents criticized as vague and unchallenging. “I don’t think Tagle will be entirely Francis 2.0. For one, he opts for political correctness, often avoiding confrontational language, and seems reticent, if not afraid, to hold truth to power,” Asiones said. A good theologian, but a poor administrator Tagle has had significant experience in the Vatican, but observers say it has been far from stellar. In 2022, Francis dismissed Tagle and the rest of the leadership team of Caritas Internationalis after a Vatican-led audit found “real deficiencies” in management and procedures. What the Roman Curia needs is a pope who is also a good administrator, said Charles Collins, managing editor of Crux, an international publication focusing on the Catholic Church. “Tagle is considered intelligent, a good theologian and a good communicator. But in many ways he has not been a very good administrator in some of the jobs he’s had in the Vatican,” Collins said. “He has not proven himself in that role.” Francis had shaken things up in the Vatican and the cardinals may look to someone who could provide stability to replace him. “I think the conclave is going to look at a European cardinal to become pope,” Collins said. Three issues are expected to hound the next pope: clerical abuse, poor finances of the Vatican and the ongoing cultural war between progressives and conservatives. Tagle might be one of the more popular papabili, but Collins cautioned that in every conclave, “there are always people who are being promoted more in the media than among the cardinals.” “A pope from Asia or Africa is a good news story, but that does not reflect the views of the cardinal electors.”
Corcoran purchased the home more than 20 years after she first saw it Corcoran Group founder and "Shark Tank" star Barbara Corcoran has put her Upper East Side penthouse up for sale. The duplex penthouse, which Corcoran just recently put on the market, is located within a building nestled in the Carnegie Hill neighborhood of Manhattan, a stone’s throw from Central Park, The New York Times first reported Tuesday. It sports a $12 million asking price, according to its listing with Corcoran brokers Scott Stewart and Carrie Chiang. "Real estate is always emotional, but I never thought I’d say goodbye to this beautiful palace in the sky," the "Shark Tank" star wrote Friday on Instagram. "I’m just hoping the special person who buys it cherishes it as much as I do!" Corcoran paid $10 million to acquire the penthouse in 2015, roughly 23 years after the businesswoman first encountered it while doing a messenger side-gig and becoming enamored with it, according to the Times. At the time, Corcoran was struggling to get her real estate business off the ground. She asked the owner in 1992 to let her know if it ever went up for sale and, finally in 2015, the opportunity for Corcoran to purchase it arrived. At that point, she was well into her successful business career and had the money to buy her dream home. While Corcoran owned it, the penthouse underwent significant renovations. The residence has nearly 3,800 square feet spanning two floors. Its living space includes four bedrooms, four full-bathrooms, two half-bathrooms and other rooms, the listing said. The living room on the penthouse's first floor "features five oversized windows, soaring ceilings, a wood-burning fireplace, and elegant custom moldings," per the listing. From many of the penthouse’s rooms, "sweeping views" of Central Park and the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir are present, the listing said. A library and service wing are among some of the home’s other offerings. On the second floor, there is a glass solarium dining room that, according to the Times, had previously been a greenhouse. The listing touted the solarium as an "unparalleled space to host dinner parties" with a seating area for "everyday meals." Beside the solarium is a large outdoor terrace. Corcoran said in an Instagram post that she and husband Bill Higgins "have decided a one-story home would better suit us, and it’s time to begin our next chapter," prompting them to put the penthouse up for sale. She told the Times the home’s staircase has posed difficulty for Higgins. Corcoran established the Corcoran Group in 1973 using a $1,000 loan, according to the real estate company’s website. She sold it to NRT Inc. in 2001, taking home $66 million. She has been a "shark" on the popular TV show "Shark Tank" for many years. In an Instagram post last fall, Corcoran marked 16 years on the show, sharing some insights she has learned from it. "Here’s to 16 beautiful years of Shark Tank!" she wrote. "It’s hard to imagine that a decade and a half has flown by; it feels both like a whirlwind and a blink of an eye."
If the government can deport an immigrant without due process by claiming he’s a gang member, what’s stopping it from doing the same to a U.S. citizen? That’s the question legal experts were grappling with Monday, after President Donald Trump said he was exploring whether U.S. citizens convicted of violent crimes could be deported to El Salvador. “We also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways, that hit elderly ladies on the back of the head with a baseball bat when they’re not looking, that are absolute monsters,” Trump told reporters inside the Oval Office while hosting El Salvador President Nayib Bukele. “I’d like to include them in the group of people to get them out of the country.” Trump offered no specifics about how his Administration would deport "homegrown" criminals, or if he was only referring to naturalized citizens who were born outside the U.S. But he said that Attorney General Pam Bondi was studying the legality of such a proposal. Deporting U.S. citizens would mark a dramatic escalation of the Trump Administration’s already aggressive approach to immigration and criminal justice, and has raised immediate legal and ethical questions from constitutional experts, who tell TIME that even suggesting the removal of U.S. citizens crosses a line long considered inviolable. “It’s constitutionally very problematic, if not illegal,” says Amanda Frost, an immigration law expert and University of Virginia law professor. “It's a baseline right of citizenship that you can remain in the country.” Trump’s suggestion appears to build on a deal struck earlier this year between Washington and San Salvador that allowed for the transfer of more than 200 Venezuelan nationals—many of them asylum seekers or convicted criminals—from U.S. detention facilities to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, a sprawling prison complex that has been condemned by human rights organizations for its harsh conditions. Bukele, a populist leader with close ties to Trump, has embraced the idea of taking in foreign detainees in exchange for compensation, calling it a chance to “outsource part of [America’s] prison system.” The prison, designed to house alleged gang members under extreme surveillance, has become both a symbol of Bukele’s crackdown and a flashpoint for global human rights groups. “We’re studying the laws right now,” Trump said of sending U.S. citizens convicted of violent crimes to El Salvadoran prisons. “If we can do that, that’s good. And I’m talking about violent people. Really bad people. Every bit as bad as the ones coming in.” He also suggested that Bukele should build “five more” prisons to make room for Americans. Legal experts say such comments risk normalizing the idea that U.S. citizenship can be revoked through executive action—an idea with little basis in law and potentially dangerous precedent. Courts may also find it cruel and unusual punishment to send Americans to prisons in El Salvador, where human rights groups say around 350 people have died since Bukele began his “war on gangs” in early 2022. Critics of the Salvadoran prison system say inmates are often held without charge, denied medical care, and subjected to overcrowded, inhumane conditions. Stephen Yale-Loehr, an immigration law expert and retired Cornell Law School professor, called the proposal an attempt to “sow chaos and fear even if the Administration’s actions are not legal.” He warned that forcibly transferring U.S. citizens to foreign custody could be unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. “When U.S. citizens get convicted of a crime, they serve time in either a state or federal jail, and then they get released,” Yale-Loehr notes. “They're not supposed to be deported.” Legal scholars say there is no constitutional or statutory authority for deporting U.S.-born citizens under any circumstances. While federal law does allow for denaturalization—the revocation of citizenship—it can only be pursued in rare cases, typically involving fraud during the naturalization process. Simply committing a crime, no matter how serious, is not grounds for stripping someone of their citizenship. Frost pointed to the Supreme Court’s 1967 decision in Afroyim v. Rusk, which held that the government cannot revoke someone’s citizenship without their consent. The ruling came in response to efforts to strip Americans of their citizenship during the Cold War for engaging in certain political activities, like voting in foreign elections or joining the Communist Party. If Trump were to attempt to strip citizenship from people who were naturalized lawfully, legal experts say it would almost certainly be struck down as unconstitutional. And deporting someone who retains their citizenship, whether naturalized or born in the United States, is plainly forbidden under existing law. “You can imprison U.S. citizens, you can even execute them—but you cannot remove them from the country,” Frost said. “That’s the foundational right of citizenship.” While the Trump Administration has not released any legal memo outlining how such deportations might work, rights advocates say even floating the idea could have a chilling effect, particularly among immigrant communities and naturalized citizens who may fear arbitrary detention or removal. “I think people should be alarmed,” Yale-Loehr says. “I think before people were saying, ‘well, I'm not an immigrant, so I don't have to worry.’ And now with this proposal, if he goes forward with it, we all have to worry.” Trump’s idea has landed with a thud among Democrats on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers warned it could set a dangerous precedent for abusing presidential power. “Donald Trump is a convicted criminal—can he be deported?” Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, asks TIME. “We're talking about millions of people who have criminal convictions,” adds Raskin, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee. “A criminal conviction is not a license to destroy the rights and dignity of a person. And one would think that Donald Trump, of all people, understands that, or should understand that.” Since returning to office, Trump has authorized a series of moves that expand scrutiny to naturalized citizens, green card holders, legal visa holders, and even U.S. citizens suspected of speech or behavior deemed threatening to national security. Federal agents have detained pro-Palestinian protesters, arrested legal residents on suspicion of spreading “Hamas propaganda,” and turned away foreign scientists at airports for expressing views critical of Trump Administration policies. In one instance, a French scientist was denied entry to the U.S. after officials reviewed his private messages criticizing Trump’s science agenda. In another case, Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a kidney specialist and professor at Brown University, was deported despite holding a valid visa and a court order blocking her removal. Federal agents cited social media posts and funeral attendance as evidence of ties to Hezbollah. The Administration has defended these actions as national security measures. “Those who violate these laws will be processed, detained and removed as required,” said Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin. But to many legal scholars, the cumulative effect of these actions is a calculated effort to redefine who belongs—and who doesn’t—within America’s legal and political framework. Both Yale-Loehr and Frost say that Trump’s comments, taken collectively, suggest an effort to redefine citizenship as a conditional status—revocable for those deemed undesirable. “First Trump came out with an executive order trying to restrict birthright citizenship,” Yale-Loehr says, “and now, if he goes ahead and deports U.S. citizens to foreign countries, that's another way of stripping someone of their citizenship.” It’s a pattern, Raskin says, that reveals a broader authoritarian impulse: expanding the boundaries of presidential power by testing legal norms. “Everybody can see where this is going,” Raskin says. “First he violates the rights of undocumented people, then he violates the rights of documented legal residents, and then he attacks the rights of citizens. So this is a sliding scale of constitutional injury, and Trump is seeing how far he can go before he’s stopped”
