Evidence that climate change harms public health is “beyond scientific dispute,” the independent National Academy of Sciences said Wednesday in response to the Trump administration’s efforts to revoke a landmark U.S. government finding to that effect that underpins key environmental regulations.

The NAS, a non-governmental nonprofit set up to advise the government on science, said human activity is releasing greenhouse gases that are warming the planet, increasing extreme temperatures and changing the oceans, all dangerous developments for the health and welfare of the United States public. Evidence to that effect has only grown stronger since 2009, the group said.

In July, the Trump administration proposed revoking what’s known as the 2009 “endangerment” finding, the concept that climate change is a threat. Overturning it could pave the way for cutting a range of rules that limit pollution from cars, power plants and other sources.

As Donald Trump threatens legal action against his adversaries, particularly after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, he’s repeatedly talked about using one federal law: the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO.

Trump wants to bring racketeering charges against left-wing groups he’s accused of promoting violence. Some influential Republicans agree with him and have been pushing to include rioting as one of the crimes that falls under the racketeering statute, a decades-old law once aimed at cracking down on organized crime.

Kirk’s death and the resulting calls by influential conservatives to crack down on the left using the federal government’s official powers has called new attention to that push. Trump and his aides have said publicly they plan to channel the mounting conservative anger over Kirk’s killing into efforts to take on the president’s political rivals, including potentially pursuing RICO charges and seeking to designate some liberal groups as domestic terrorist organizations.

China’s internet regulator has banned the country’s biggest technology companies from buying Nvidia’s artificial intelligence chips, as Beijing steps up efforts to boost its domestic industry and compete with the US.

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) told companies, including ByteDance and Alibaba, this week to end their testing and orders of the RTX Pro 6000D, Nvidia’s tailor-made product for the country, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.

Three police officers were fatally shot and two wounded Wednesday in southern Pennsylvania, and the shooter was killed by police, authorities said.

The officers were at the scene, amid rolling farmland, to follow up on a domestic-related investigation that began the previous day.

It was one of the deadliest days for Pennsylvania police this century.

Slowing growth in factory output and retail sales prompts calls for fresh economic stimulus

China’s economy showed further signs of weakness last month as it comes under strain from Donald Trump’s trade wars and domestic problems, with factory output and consumer spending rising at their slowest pace for about a year.

The disappointing data adds pressure on Beijing to roll out more stimulus to fend off a sharp slowdown, with a debt crisis denting the country’s once-booming property sector and exports facing stronger headwinds.

Economists were split over whether policymakers should introduce more near-term fiscal support to hit their annual 5% growth target, with manufacturers awaiting further clarity on a US trade deal and domestic demand curbed by an uncertain job market and property crisis.

Some have little to no documented experience with vaccines while others have undermined their safety

Five new advisers will join the vaccines committee for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) later this week, the agency and the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on Monday, in a move that underscores the increasingly anti-vaccine stance of the committee.

Some of the new members have little to no documented experience with vaccines, while others have repeatedly undermined the safety and effectiveness of vaccines and other measures to control infectious disease.

The news comes on the heels of resignations by senior health leaders who say they were ignored or pressured to participate in unscientific processes, including changes to Covid vaccine eligibility and access.

French unions have been mounting nationwide protests against planned budget cuts, halting transport and blocking streets. Pre-dawn clashes took place as Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu faces his first major challenge.

A Lithuanian investigation has determined Russia-linked suspects packed explosive devices in packages shipped by land and air to the UK, Poland and Germany. Authorities say more attacks were in the works.

Prosecutors in Lithuania said on Wednesday that it disrupted a Russian-led plot to use mail parcels for bomb attacks across Europe.

Several suspects with ties to Russian military intelligence were involved in the plot, a Lithuanian general prosecutor and criminal police said.

According to Lithuanian National Television (LNT), among the suspects charged are nationals of Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Ukraine.

Homemade incendiary devices were to be concealed in massage cushions and cosmetic tubes. The suspects packed the parcels with thermite, a highly flammable substance used for industrial and military purposes.

The Department of Justice is escalating its demands for sensitive elections data from voting officials, announcing lawsuits against two Democratic-controlled states who have thus far rebuffed the department's requests.

The DOJ is suing Oregon and Maine and those states' secretaries of state in an effort to gain access to each state's voter registration list, including personal information such as partial Social Security numbers.

The department has asked for sensitive voting data from numerous states; Oregon and Maine are the first to be sued.

"If the President wants to use the DOJ to go after his political opponents and undermine our elections, I look forward to seeing them in court," Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read, a Democrat, said in a statement. "I stand by my oath to the people of Oregon, and I will protect their rights and privacy."

Central bank moves to set rates at range between 4 and 4.25% but decision unlikely to satisfy Donald Trump

The US Federal Reserve cut interest rates on Wednesday, its first rate cut since December, as the central bank moved to stabilize a wobbling labor market even as Donald Trump’s tariffs continue to push up prices.

Rates are now at a range of 4% to 4.25% – the lowest since November 2022. But the decision is unlikely to satisfy Trump, who has lambasted the Fed for acting “too late” and called for a far bigger cut.

“Job gains have slowed and the downside risks to unemployment have risen,” Fed chair Jerome Powell said during a closely watched press conference. At the same time, he warned, inflation has picked up.

The Trump administration has aggressively rolled back efforts across the federal government to combat human trafficking, a Guardian investigation has found.

The sweeping retreat threatens to negate decades of progress in the drive to prevent sexual slavery, forced labor and child sexual exploitation, according to legal experts, former government officials and anti-trafficking advocates. They say the administration’s moves are impeding efforts to prosecute perpetrators and protect survivors in the United States and around the world.

“It’s been a widespread and multi-pronged attack on survivors that leaves all of us less safe and leaves survivors with few options,” said Jean Bruggeman, executive director of Freedom Network USA, a national coalition of service providers, researchers and trafficking survivors.

Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of the Ben & Jerry's ice cream brand, has stepped down from the company he started 47 years ago citing a retreat from its campaigning spirit under parent company Unilever.

Greenfield wrote in an open letter late Tuesday night — shared on X by his co-founder Ben Cohen — that he could no longer "in good conscience" remain an employee of the company and said the company had been "silenced."

He said the company's values and campaigning work on "peace, justice, and human rights" allowed it to be "more than just an ice cream company" and said the independence to pursue this was guaranteed when Anglo-Dutch packaged food giant Unilever bought the brand in 2000 for $326 million.

Cohen's statement didn't mention Israel's ongoing military operation in Gaza, but Ben & Jerry’s has been outspoken on the treatment of Palestinians for years and in 2021 withdrew sales from Israeli settlements in what it called "Occupied Palestinian Territory."