Ancient human DNA hints at why multiple sclerosis affects so many northern Europeans today

Ancient human DNA hints at why multiple sclerosis affects so many northern Europeans today

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ancient DNA helps explain why northern Europeans have a higher risk of multiple sclerosis than other ancestries: It’s a genetic legacy of horseback-riding cattle herders who swept into the region about 5,000 years ago. The findings come from a huge project to compare modern DNA with that culled from ancient humans’ teeth … Read more

House Speaker Mike Johnson invites Biden to deliver the State of the Union

House Speaker Mike Johnson invites Biden to deliver the State of the Union

WASHINGTON (AP) — Speaker Mike Johnson is inviting President Joe Biden to deliver his annual State of the Union address on March 7. In a letter sent to the White House on Saturday, Johnson, R-La., extended the formal invitation for Biden to speak to a joint session of Congress. Johnson said he was inviting Biden … Read more

US tensions with China are fraying long-cultivated academic ties. Will the chill hurt US interests?

US tensions with China are fraying long-cultivated academic ties. Will the chill hurt US interests?

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the 1980s, Fu Xiangdong was a young Chinese virology student who came to the United States to study biochemistry. More than three decades later, he had a prestigious professorship in California and was conducting promising research on Parkinson’s disease. But now Fu is doing his research at a Chinese university. His … Read more

Ex-Proud Boys leader is sentenced to over 3 years in prison for Capitol riot plot

Ex-Proud Boys leader is sentenced to over 3 years in prison for Capitol riot plot

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former leader of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group was sentenced on Tuesday to more than three years behind bars for joining a plot to attack the U.S. Capitol nearly three years ago. Charles Donohoe was the second Proud Boy to plead guilty to conspiring with other group members to obstruct … Read more

Latino Democrats shift from quiet concern to open opposition to Biden’s concessions in border talks

Latino Democrats shift from quiet concern to open opposition to Biden’s concessions in border talks

WASHINGTON (AP) — Prominent Latinos in Congress looked on quietly, at first, privately raising concerns with the Biden administration over the direction of border security talks. Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California was on the phone constantly with administration officials questioning why the Senate negotiations did not include any meaningful consideration of providing pathways to … Read more

Biden considers new border and asylum restrictions as he tries to reach Senate deal for Ukraine aid

Biden considers new border and asylum restrictions as he tries to reach Senate deal for Ukraine aid

WASHINGTON (AP) — Top Biden administration officials were laboring Wednesday to try to reach a last-minute deal for wartime aid for Ukraine by agreeing to Senate Republican demands to bolster U.S.-Mexico border policies, with urgency setting in as Congress prepared to depart Washington with the impasse unresolved. The White House was racing to lock in … Read more

US economic growth accelerated to strong 4.9% rate last quarter as consumers shrugged off Fed hikes

US economic growth accelerated to strong 4.9% rate last quarter as consumers shrugged off Fed hikes

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s economy expanded at a robust 4.9% annual rate from July through September as Americans defied higher prices, rising interest rates and widespread forecasts of a recession to spend at a brisk pace. The Commerce Department said the economy expanded last quarter at the fastest pace in nearly two years — … Read more

US government estimates economy grew last quarter at a 2.1% rate, unchanged from previous projection

US government estimates economy grew last quarter at a 2.1% rate, unchanged from previous projection

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy grew at a 2.1% annual pace from April through June, extending its sturdy performance in the face of higher interest rates, the government said Thursday, leaving its previous estimate unchanged. The second-quarter expansion of the nation’s gross domestic product — its total output of goods and services — marked … Read more

Fed’s preferred inflation gauge shows a modest rise in latest sign of slowing price increases

Fed’s preferred inflation gauge shows a modest rise in latest sign of slowing price increases

WASHINGTON (AP) — An inflation gauge closely tracked by the Federal Reserve remained low last month, adding to signs of cooling price increases and raising the likelihood that the Fed will leave interest rates unchanged when it next meets in late September. Thursday’s report from the Commerce Department showed that prices rose just 0.2% from … Read more

Biden heads west for a policy victory lap, drawing an implicit contrast with Trump

Biden heads west for a policy victory lap, drawing an implicit contrast with Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden set out Monday on a Western swing aimed at showcasing his work on conservation, clean energy and veterans’ benefits as he seeks to draw an implicit contrast between his administration’s accomplishments and former President Donald Trump’s legal troubles. Biden’s first stop will be the Grand Canyon area, where he’s … Read more