Reuters

FDA approves first at-home test for cervical cancer screening

Teal Health offers alternative to pap smear tests that need to be undertaken at a doctor’s office, slated for June rollout

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first at-home test for cervical cancer screening, its maker Teal Health said on Friday, offering an alternative to smear tests that need to be undertaken at a doctor’s office.

Pap smear tests have significantly reduced cancer incidence from when they were first introduced 80 years ago. But they can be uncomfortable and inconvenient owing to the requirement for an in-clinic exam.

Alex Mashinsky of cryptocurrency firm Celsius Network sentenced to 12 years

Founder and former CEO of bankruptcy lender pleaded guilty in December to securities and commodities fraud

Alex Mashinsky, the founder and former chief executive of the cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network, was sentenced on Thursday to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty in December to securities fraud and commodities fraud.

Mashinsky’s sentence was imposed by US District Judge John Koeltl in Manhattan, and is among the longest in a criminal case arising from the 2022 meltdown in cryptocurrency markets.

Norwegian fan trades five kilos of fish for ticket to Bodø/Glimt v Tottenham

  • Supporter with spare ticket took the bait over offer
  • Around 50,000 supporters vying for just 480 seats

A Norwegian bartered five kilos of semi-dried fish for a ticket to Thursday’s semi-final clash between Bodø/Glimt and Tottenham in the Arctic Circle, as the hosts aim to become the first Norwegian club to reach a European final.

Some 50,000 fans were vying for just 480 remaining tickets to the second leg of Bodø/Glimt’s Europa League semi-final.

Court clash between Meta and NSO ends in $168m defeat for spyware firm

Damages awarded after earlier ruling found NSO unlawfully exploited a bug in WhatsApp to spy on users

Meta Platforms won a $168m verdict against the Israeli surveillance firm NSO, the company said on Tuesday, capping a six-year arm-wrestling match between the US’s biggest social-networking platform and the world’s best-known spyware company.

Meta had already won after a December ruling found that NSO had unlawfully exploited a bug in its messaging service WhatsApp to plant spy software on its users’ phones. On Tuesday, a jury in California ruled that NSO owed Meta $444,719 in compensatory damages – and $167.3m in punitive damages, Meta said.

Pentagon stopped Ukraine military aid shipments in February without Trump’s approval

Order to cancel 11 military aid flights – which were quickly reinstated – originated in defense head Pete Hegseth’s office

Roughly a week after Donald Trump started his second term as president, the US military issued an order to three freight airlines operating out of Dover air force base in Delaware and a US base in Qatar: stop 11 flights loaded with artillery shells and other weaponry that were bound for Ukraine.

Trump to continue Biden's court defense of abortion drug mifepristone

Lawsuit by Republican-led Missouri, Kansas and Idaho says FDA acted improperly by easing restrictions on abortion pill

Donald Trump’s administration on Monday pushed forward in defending US rules easing access to the abortion drug mifepristone from a legal challenge that began during Democratic former president Joe Biden’s administration.

The US Department of Justice in a brief filed in Texas federal court urged a judge to dismiss the lawsuit by three Republican-led states on procedural grounds.

Democratic-led states sue Trump for blocking wind energy projects

Lawsuit also filed over administration’s cuts to health and human services that destroy life-saving programs

A coalition of Democratic state attorneys general sued on Monday in an attempt to block Donald Trump’s move to suspend leasing and permitting of new wind projects, saying it threatens to cripple the wind industry and a key source of clean energy.

Seventeen states and the District of Columbia argued, in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Boston, that the decision by the Republican president’s administration to indefinitely pause all federal wind-energy approvals was unlawful and must be blocked.

Atalanta fan stabbed to death in clashes with Inter supporters, police confirm

  • Male in his late teens arrested over incident, say police
  • Violence ‘must never happen again’, says Gasperini

A 26-year-old fan of Serie A side Atalanta was stabbed to death during clashes between Atalanta and Inter supporters in the northern city of Bergamo, Italy’s police said.

The groups of supporters clashed in a pub in Bergamo on Saturday night after one of the Inter supporters chanted provocatively, the head of the carabinieri office in Bergamo, Carmelo Beringheli, said.

Arizona governor pauses deportation for Guatemalan who gave birth days ago

‘Erika’, 24, gained public attention after lawyer said federal agents denied him access to her in a Tucson hospital

A Guatemalan immigrant who crossed the US border eight months pregnant and gave birth in Arizona has avoided fast-track deportation after intervention by the state’s governor, her lawyer and a federal official said on Saturday.

The 24-year-old woman gained public attention after lawyer Luis Campos said federal agents had denied him access to her in a Tucson hospital after she gave birth on Wednesday and told him she was set for rapid removal after entering the country illegally.

Texas governor signs largest US school voucher law in win for conservatives

State becomes 16th to allow public funds to be used for private schools, which opponents say will benefit mostly wealthier children

The Texas governor Greg Abbott on Saturday signed a law making more than 5 million students eligible to use state funds for private schools, a watershed moment in the conservative campaign to remake public education in the US.

Texas is allocating $1bn for the first two years of the program to offer parents vouchers to pay for school. It is the 16th state to make all students eligible to receive public funds for private education.