HOLIDAYS WEEKENDS

The USNS Comfort spent a week in the Caribbean caring for ailing Venezuelans who couldn’t get treatment in their troubled home country.

The Trump administration wants to substantially limit which waterways are protected under the Clean Water Act. Farmers and developers have long lobbied against the current rule as too expansive.

This holiday season, the must-have item for people of a certain age is a vaccine to protect against shingles, the painful skin condition caused by a reawakening of the chickenpox virus.

The decision Tuesday follows five days of search and rescue efforts off the coast of Japan, following an accident last week that involved seven crew members. Only one Marine ultimately survived.

Time calls the four journalists and a news organization “Guardians” in a struggle against lies and misinformation that has pit news agencies against political groups and governments.

Sundar Pichai faced a Republican barrage on allegations of anti-conservative bias. He also was questioned on Google’s data collection and its work on a censored search tool for China.

While much of the farm bill draft mirrors current law, there is a major change coming for farmers: Industrial hemp will be legalized. Forestry and food stamps became sticking points.

Users’ names, birth dates, email addresses, work history and other data were exposed for nearly a week in November, Google says. It will now close the social network four months earlier than planned.

Something rare is stirring in Congress. There’s growing sentiment to force the president to end U.S. involvement in a war, in this case Yemen, where the U.S. military has been aiding Saudi Arabia.

With a partial government shutdown on the horizon, President Trump and Democratic leaders are set to discuss border funding and other issues at the White House.

Fifty-seven percent don’t think demanding funding for the wall is worth the gridlock, an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll finds. Many do not consider the wall a top priority for the next Congress, either.

The Russian woman apparently was part of an effort to build clandestine ties between Moscow and important parts of the conservative establishment.

The class actions represent more than 1,000 migrants detained by the government on islands belonging to other countries, under contract with Australia.

The milestone makes the 41-year-old NASA probe just the second human-made object, after Voyager 1, to reach such distant regions. Now, Voyager 2 is over 11 billion miles from the sun — and counting.

Leaders have vowed to pass a bill changing how Congress handles claims, but the House and Senate versions have big differences. Taxpayers are still paying for any settlements involving lawmakers.

To protect a developing fetus from experimental drugs or treatments that might cause birth defects, pregnant women aren’t included in many clinical trials. But that limits the safety evidence, too.

Roger, who lived at The Kangaroo Sanctuary in Alice Springs, Australia, was an orphan who grew up to be an impressively ripped alpha male. Photos of his physique were popular online.

Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, the first female mayor in Freetown in years, is trying to clean up the perpetual mess caused by rain and garbage — a first step in her plan to revive the beleaguered city.

The U.S. hosted an event on coal and refused to endorse the findings of a dire climate science report. And yet, in official negotiations, the U.S. is working out how to implement the Paris agreement.

President Trump is hunting for his third chief of staff in less than two years. So far, he is not finding many takers. “You have to wonder who would want to take this job,” said one scholar.

Tighter regulations on oyster harvesting have helped reduce the number of people affected by the deadly bacteria Vibrio vulnificus, but warming waters have allowed the bacteria to expand and thrive.

Ghosn was arrested last month — and ousted as chairman of Nissan — after he was accused of concealing income from the Japanese government.

Two states had tried to block the use of Medicaid money for non-abortion, pregnancy-related health care services at Planned Parenthood. The action is a big win for Planned Parenthood.

“If we held the vote tomorrow, the deal would be rejected by a significant margin,” the U.K. prime minister admitted, hours after a European Union court ruled the U.K. can still back out of Brexit.

Much of the movement’s popular anger has crystallized around President Emmanuel Macron, seen as arrogant and out of touch. He will make a televised address Monday evening to try to quell the crisis.

The pact, set to be approved this week, is meant to help the European Union navigate its most politically sensitive issue. The pact is non-binding, but several countries have pulled support.

Jazz 966 is a senior center by day, but, on Friday nights, it transforms into a swinging jazz club catering to seniors who love to hear live music.

The price of insulin keeps going up. For people with Type 1 diabetes, high prices can be a life and death issue. Now a grassroots movement is pushing for change.

Why develop an exercise habit now? Because 75-year-olds who’ve been doing it for decades may have the cardiovascular systems of people in their 40s and the muscles of 20-somethings, researchers found.

Suggesting that special counsel Robert Mueller is tightening the net has become a fashionable take lately. But last week’s developments may not mean Mueller’s investigation is winding up.

Meng Wanzhou was detained during a layover in Vancouver. The U.S. government says a subsidiary of Huawei violated U.S. sanctions with Iran, and that the company deceived financial institutions.

Up to a foot of snow is expected to fall across the southern Appalachians and nearby foothills in North Carolina and Virginia through Sunday night.

While opioids get all the attention, rural communities struggle with substances like meth and alcohol too. One clinic is building up capacity to treat all of them, using both medicine and counseling.