Global fertility rates to plunge in decades ahead, new report says (www.cnn.com)
U.S. Doubles Down on Defunding UNRWA — Despite Flimsy Allegations (theintercept.com)
The U.S. government will defund the United Nations agency that aids Palestinians through next year — even as 1.1 million people in Gaza face threats of famine in coming months — on the basis of flimsy allegations by Israel against a tiny minority of the agency’s staff that have yet to be proven....
Kamala Harris announces new office to implement ‘red flag’ gun control laws (www.theguardian.com)
Chevron Will Pay Record Fines for Oil Spills in California (www.propublica.org)
Oil giant Chevron has agreed to pay a record-setting $13 million to two California agencies for past oil spills, but some of the company’s spills are ongoing....
California's unemployment rate rises to the highest level in the nation. Slower job growth is to blame (apnews.com)
The town that can’t live without migrants, but isn't sure it wants to live with them (www.nbcnews.com)
Fremont, Nebraska, has three massive meat-processing plants that need workers. It also requires anyone renting a home to sign a declaration that they’re in the U.S. legally....
Blinken: US condemns ‘heinous’ Moscow attack and ‘stands with people of Russia’ (www.theguardian.com)
Statement comes after shooting and fire at Russian concert hall kills more than 100 people and injures more than 100 more...
85 years after a racist mob drove Opal Lee's family away, she's getting a new home on the same spot (apnews.com)
When Opal Lee was 12, a racist mob drove her family out of their Texas home. Now, the 97-year-old community activist is getting closer to moving into a brand new home on the very same tree-lined corner lot in Fort Worth....
'Why do I need an all-Black cast?' Disney criticizes Peltz remarks (www.reuters.com)
Walt Disney Co on Friday said that remarks by activist investor Nelson Peltz criticizing the company for making movies dominated by female and Black actors is evidence that he shouldn’t be on Disney’s board....
Trump stares down first derailment of his campaign-to-courthouse strategy (www.cnn.com)
For days, Donald Trump’s fury over the requirement to secure hundreds of millions of dollars in bond money by Monday has been bubbling behind the scenes and through a steady stream of social media posts....
Born to die: Florida’s infant mortality crisis (www.sun-sentinel.com)
Working-age death rate 2.5x higher in the US than other countries (newatlas.com)
Working-age US adults are dying at far higher rates than their peers from high-income countries, even surpassing death rates in Central and Eastern European countries, and midlife mortality rates in the UK are not great either. A new study has examined what’s caused this rise in the death rates of these two cultural...
How rightwing groups used junk science to get an abortion case before the US supreme court (www.theguardian.com)
Anti-abortion researchers ‘exaggerate’ and ‘obfuscate’ in their scientific papers – but by the time they’re published, it’s too late...
'I will not feed a demon': YouTuber Ruby Franke's child abuse case rooted in religious extremism (apnews.com)
The malnourished and badly bruised son of a parenting advice YouTuber politely asks a neighbor to take him to the nearest police station in newly released video from the day his mother and her business partner were arrested on child abuse charges in southern Utah....
Jan. 6 defendant who was the subject of a conspiracy theory pleads guilty (www.nbcnews.com)
Rally Runner, an amateur mascot formerly known as Daniel Donnelly Jr., pleaded guilty in connection with efforts to push his way into the Capitol during the riot....
Trial starts for Arizona border rancher charged with killing migrant on his property (apnews.com)
An Arizona rancher went on trial Friday in the fatal shooting of a migrant on his property near Mexico, with his defense attorney maintaining his innocence as the national debate over border security heats up ahead of this year’s presidential election....
‘God gave us Trump’: Christian media evangelicals preach a messianic message (www.independent.co.uk)
Last month Trump vowed to defend Christianity and urged Christians to vote for him...
US embassy in Russia warned Americans about imminent attack by ‘extremists’ weeks ago (www.independent.co.uk)
US embassy on 7 March repeatedly urged all American citizens to leave Russia immediately, giving no further details about nature of threat...
Russian officials suggest without evidence that Ukraine may have been involved in terror attack (www.cnn.com)
A handful of Russian officials have suggested without evidence that Ukraine may have been involved in Friday’s attack on the Crocus City complex near Moscow....
West Virginia governor signs law removing marital assault exemption (apnews.com)
Certain sexual assaults against a spouse will now be criminalized in West Virginia for the first time under a law signed Friday by Republican Gov. Jim Justice....
Ocasio-Cortez, in House Speech, Accuses Israel of ‘Genocide’, Pleads for Biden to End Israel Aid (www.nytimes.com)
Christian TV evangelicals fire up Trump support with messianic message (www.reuters.com)
The Nebraska pastor, who was speaking on cable news show “FlashPoint” last summer, is among several voices in Christian media pressing a message of Biblical proportions: The 2024 presidential race is a fight for America’s soul, and a persecuted Trump has God’s protection....
Denying Your Medical Care is Big Business in America (www.nytimes.com)
India pharma quality lapses force U.S. to look to China for vital drugs (asia.nikkei.com)
In the final weeks of 2022, a small team of inspectors from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration were far from home, investigating a pharmaceutical factory in western India....