North America

(AP) --- Elon Musk’s brain-implant company Neuralink is being probed over its shipping methods after an animal rights group contacted the U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. officials said.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine said that public records show untrained Neuralink employees transported “contaminated” devices that were removed from the brains of “infected” monkeys without safely packaging them. The incidents are said to have taken place in 2019 at the University of California, Davis, where experiments on rhesus macaques were performed.

DALLAS (AP) — A federal judge has rejected an effort by families of passengers who died in Boeing 737 Max crashes to reopen an agreement that allowed Boeing to avoid prosecution for fraud in how it won regulatory approval for the plane.

District Judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth said that he has sympathy for families of the 346 people who died in two Max crashes, but that federal law doesn’t give courts the power to oversee agreements that prosecutors make with defendants.

FALLSTON, Md. (AP) — A Maryland man was taken into custody early Friday, ending a 39-hour manhunt during which he wounded two Baltimore County police officers in separate shootings and holed up in a wooded area behind a suburban shopping center, authorities said.

David Linthicum, 24, was already on the run when he shot the second officer and stole his vehicle Thursday night, police said.

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is drifting on Friday as stocks head toward the close of their worst week since December.

The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged after flipping between small gains and losses through the morning. It’s on pace for a 1.3% loss for the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 75 points, or 0.2%, at 33,775, as of 11:15 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 0.6% lower.

WASHINGTON (AP) — As Indonesia’s fisheries minister, Edhy Prabowo was tasked with protecting one of his country’s most precious resources: baby lobsters so tiny one can fit on the tip of a finger.

(AP) --- Former Vice President Mike Pence has been subpoenaed by the special counsel overseeing investigations into efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to a person with direct knowledge of the event.

The subpoena to Pence as part of the investigation by special counsel Jack Smith was served in recent days, according to the person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Thursday to discuss a sensitive issue.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Within hours of an Air Force F-22 downing a giant Chinese balloon that had crossed the United States, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reached out to his Chinese counterpart via a special crisis line, aiming for a quick general-to-general talk that could explain things and ease tensions.

But Austin’s effort Saturday fell flat, when Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe declined to get on the line, the Pentagon says.

WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - A group of 34 Republican senators said on Thursday they would seek to overturn U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules that aim to drastically cut smog- and soot-forming emissions from heavy-duty trucks.

The senators said the Biden administration rule finalized in December was overly challenging to implement, would make trucks cost prohibitive for small business owners and would increase supply chain costs.

HOUSTON, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- The gunman who killed 23 people including eight Mexicans in 2019 at a Walmart mall in the largely Latino border city of El Paso in the U.S. state of Texas pleaded guilty on Wednesday to 90 charges, including 23 counts of hate crimes resulting in death.

His plea comes three years, six months and five days after the mass shooting took place on Aug. 3, 2019 as the deadliest attack targeting Hispanics in U.S. history.

Many Twitter users found themselves unable to tweet, follow accounts or access their direct messages on Wednesday as the Elon Musk-owned platform experienced a slew of widespread technical problems.

“Twitter may not be working as expected for some of you. Sorry for the trouble. We’re aware and working to get this fixed,” the company tweeted from its “support” account.

Further details were unavailable Wednesday and an email seeking comment from the company’s press account went unanswered. Twitter has dissolved its media relations team.