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As lawmakers in a nearby hearing room debated last month whether to support her legislation to expand Medicaid, Gov. Laura Kelly of Kansas challenged the state's Republican House speaker to hold a vote.“If he thinks he can kill him, bring him,” Ms. Kelly, a soft-spoken moderate Democrat, said in an interview in her vast office at the state Capitol in Topeka.The next morning, in his office outside the House, Speaker Dan Hawkins showed no sign of relenting. He described the expansion of Medicaid as "almost like the biggest Ponzi scheme ever devised." The same day, a House committee voted against passing Ms. Kelly's bill, derailing the proposal, at least for now.The standoff between Ms. Kelly and Mr. Hawkins represented a clash in a fierce political battle playing out in several sta...

Israel bombed a building that was part of the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus on Monday, killing seven people, including Gen. Mohamad Reza Zahedi, who oversaw Iran's covert military operations in Syria and Lebanon, and two other senior generals.For centuries, diplomatic posts have been afforded special protections. Diplomats gain immunity from prosecution in the host country, and embassy buildings are often seen as a sanctuary for their nation's citizens: the host country's police cannot enter them without permission from diplomatic staff, and they often become sanctuaries for wartime expatriates.So attacks on diplomatic offices carry particular weight, both in the law and in the popular imagination. But in this case, experts say, Israel can probably argue that its actio...

When I temporarily switched from an iPhone to an Android phone last week, I was preparing myself for a world of pain. I've only owned Apple phones since I bought the first-generation iPhone in 2007. And, like many, I've purchased other Apple products that go well together, including AirPods, an Apple Watch, and an iPad.That kind of loyalty is the basis of an antitrust case against Apple brought by the Justice Department, which accused the company of using monopoly control over the iPhone to harm competitors and dissuade customers from switching to other phones. To test this theory, I decided to briefly part with my iPhone.I was initially surprised by how easy it was to transfer my iPhone data to an Android smartphone made by Google. By simply installing an app created by Google ...

Seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen were killed in the Gaza Strip when their convoy came under fire on Monday night, according to the aid organization and Gaza health officials.The disaster relief organisation, founded by Spanish chef José Andrés, said the convoy had been hit by an Israeli attack. In a statement following the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to the “tragic case in which our forces unintentionally struck innocent people.” He said Israel was in contact with foreign governments about the episode.Here's what we know.The convoy of three vehicles had just left a food warehouse.World Central Kitchen staff members were leaving a warehouse in Deir al Balah, a town in the central Gaza Strip, when their convoy - two armored cars and a third ve...

La forma altamente letale di influenza aviaria che circola in tutto il mondo dal 2021 ha ucciso decine di milioni di uccelli, costretto gli allevatori di pollame negli Stati Uniti a macellare interi branchi e provocato un breve ma allarmante aumento del prezzo delle uova.Più recentemente, ha infettato mucche da latte in diversi stati e almeno una persona in Texas che ha avuto uno stretto contatto con gli animali, hanno detto i funzionari questa settimana.L’epidemia, a quanto pare, si sta rivelando particolarmente costosa per i contribuenti americani.L’anno scorso, il Dipartimento dell’Agricoltura ha pagato ai produttori di pollame più di mezzo miliardo di dollari per i tacchini, i polli e le galline ovaiole che erano stati costretti a uccidere dopo che il ceppo influenzale H5N1 era stato r...

Maryse Condé, a writer from the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe whose explorations of race, gender and colonialism in the Francophone world made her a favorite for the Nobel Prize in literature, died Tuesday in Apt, a city in the south of France. She was 90 years old.Her death, in hospital, was confirmed by her husband, Richard Philcox, who translated many of her works into English.Condé's work, which began with her first novel, “Hérémakhonon” (1976), came at a crucial moment, when the notion of French literature, centered on the canonical works of French writers, began to give way to the multifaceted notion of literature francophone. literature, drawing from all parts of the French-speaking world.Having lived in Guadeloupe, France, West Africa and the United States, Condé has ...

michael barbaroFrom The New York Times. I’m Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily.For millions of Americans, the past four years have been a national trauma. Today: As Joe Biden prepares to take the oath of office and become the 46th president of the United States, some of his supporters are filled with hope, some with concern, but all with relief. It’s Wednesday, January 20.brian keaneThere he is.michael barbaroHey, Brian.brian keaneHey, Michael. How’s it going? It’s been a long year, huh?michael barbaroHas it ever.brian keaneBoy, oh, boy.michael barbaroWell, Brian, I’m sure you remember the last time that we talked.brian keaneYeah.michael barbaroAnd let me refresh your — let me refresh our listeners’ memory. Because you surely remember it. It was right before Super Tuesday in the middle of ...

Tesla appeared to have lost control of the market it effectively created after reporting a stunning drop in quarterly sales on Tuesday, raising new questions about Elon Musk's leadership of the company.The sales decline caught investors by surprise as rivals such as China's BYD and South Korea's Kia and Hyundai reported increases in electric vehicle sales, suggesting that slowing overall demand for battery-powered models was not the only explanation of Tesla's problems.Tesla pioneered the electric vehicle market with the Model 3 sedan and Model Y sport-utility vehicle, proving that battery-powered cars could be attractive, practical and profitable. The cars have revolutionized the automotive industry and forced established automakers to develop their own electric models.Bu...

President Biden spoke with Xi Jinping, China's leader, on Tuesday morning in a call that aimed to address a wide range of combative and cooperative issues as the United States grapples with wars and other global crises, according to a House statement White.Topics on Biden's agenda included combating narcotics production, conflict in the Middle East and China's support for Russia during the war in Ukraine, a senior administration official said.Biden intended the conversation to be a "check-in" rather than a summit with concrete deliverables, said the official, who spoke to a small group of reporters Monday evening on condition of anonymity, as is customary for such briefings in Washington. . But it was a crucial signal during a crucial political year and as the countries try t...

The Department of Health and Human Services said Monday that hospitals must obtain written informed consent from patients before undergoing sensitive tests — such as pelvic and prostate exams — especially if the patients will be under anesthesia.A New York Times investigation in 2020 found that hospitals, doctors and doctors-in-training sometimes conducted pelvic exams on women under anesthesia, even when such exams were not medically necessary and when the patient had not authorized them. Sometimes these exams were performed only for the educational benefit of medical trainees.On Monday, the secretary of Health and Human Services, along with senior officials from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the department's Office for Civil Rights, sent a letter to teaching hos...