Officials say as many as 11 people in the United States have died this week due to record-low winter temperatures that have made even quick trips outside dangerous and could cause frostbite within minutes. Classes were canceled at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, where a student was found in distress behind a campus building in extreme weather conditions. The wind chill when the student was found was minus-46 Celsius; the student later died at the hospital. In Moline, Illinois, the temperature dropped to minus-36 degrees Celsius on Thursday. In Norris Camp, Minnesota, temperatures dropped to minus-44 degrees Celsius Wednesday, making it the coldest location in the United States and one of the coldest spots on Earth at that time. Below-freezing temperatures put the town of Hell, Michigan, in the news this week, with news stories reporting that Hell had “frozen over,” referencing a popular American joke about an …

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says President Donald Trump hasn’t paid attention to warnings from his own administration about threats posed by North Korea, Iran and other countries. Pelosi says U.S. intelligence officials were “courageous” in speaking “truth to power” by contradicting Trump to Congress. She says she’s dismayed that, in her words, Trump “just doesn’t seem to have the attention span or the desire to hear what the intelligence community has been telling him.” Trump lashed out at his intelligence chiefs after they told Congress that North Korea is unlikely to dismantle its nuclear arsenal and that the Iran nuclear deal is working. Trump tweeted that, “Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school!” Pelosi calls Trump’s comments “stunning” and suggests that congressional Republicans “have an intervention” with Trump.   …

The U.S. Department of Energy revealed on Wednesday that it secretly shipped weapons-grade plutonium from South Carolina to a nuclear security site in Nevada months ago despite the state’s protests. The Justice Department notified a federal judge in Reno that the government trucked in the radioactive material to store at the site 70 miles (113 kilometers) north of Las Vegas before Nevada first asked a court to block the move in November. Department lawyers said in a nine-page filing that the previously classified information about the shipment from South Carolina can be disclosed now because enough time has passed to protect national security. They didn’t specify when the one-half metric ton of plutonium was transferred. Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak said he’s “beyond outraged by this completely unacceptable deception.” He announced at a hastily called news conference in Carson City late Wednesday the state is now seeking another court order to …

A defense lawyer at the U.S. trial of the Mexican drug lord known as El Chapo has accused government witnesses of lying about his exploits. Attorney Jeffrey Lichtman asked jurors in closing arguments Thursday to not accept testimony by dishonest cooperators as fact.   Lichtman singled out an allegation by a cooperator that Joaquin Guzman had paid a $100 million bribe to a Mexican president to call off a manhunt. He argued that made no sense since authorities still arrested his client and sent him to the U.S. in 2017 to face drug-trafficking charges. A prosecutor in her closing Wednesday called the evidence against Guzman “overwhelming.” She argued that his constant attempts to evade capture were proof of his guilt.   Jury deliberations are expected to begin Monday.     …

The World Health Organization reports that more than 700 people have been sickened with Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo. And now, neighboring countries of South Sudan and Rwanda are bracing for the virus to spread. But, half a world away, U.S. researchers are hoping to develop a new, long-lasting vaccine against Ebola. VOA’s Carol Pearson has more. …

A new report estimates that nearly half of all U.S. adults have some form of heart or blood vessel disease, a medical milestone that’s mostly due to recent guidelines that expanded how many people have high blood pressure.   The American Heart Association said Thursday that more than 121 million adults had cardiovascular disease in 2016. Taking out those with only high blood pressure leaves 24 million, or 9 percent of adults, who have other forms of disease such as heart failure or clogged arteries.   Measuring the burden of diseases shows areas that need to improve, the heart association’s chief science and medical officer, Dr. Mariell Jessup, said in a statement.   High blood pressure, which had long been defined as a top reading of at least 140 or a bottom one of 90, dropped to 130 over 80 under guidelines adopted in 2017. It raises the risk for …

Sen. Sherrod Brown has kicked off his tour of states that cast pivotal early votes in the 2020 presidential primary by accusing Republican President Donald Trump of “phony populism” that disrespects minorities, workers and families while benefiting billionaires. The Ohio Democrat launched his “dignity of work” tour Wednesday at a warehouse south of Cleveland. He and his wife, journalist Connie Schultz, head next to Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.   The 66-year-old senator and former representative told the crowd of several hundred that Democrats can’t let “extremists” at statehouses and in Washington claim populist credentials if they don’t support policies that benefit middle-class Americans.   Brown says his re-election victory in November shows progressive values can play even in a state Trump won by double digits. …

As the Trump administration pushes for peace in Afghanistan, a new U.S. watchdog report says Afghan security forces are shrinking, gaps in security are growing, and the Taliban are largely holding their own despite a surge in American bombing. These trends reflect what U.S. military officials call a stalemated war, more than 17 years after U.S. forces invaded following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Gauges of battlefield momentum have changed little over the past year, according to a watchdog agency known as the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. In a report to Congress on Thursday, it said the Afghan government controls or influences 54 percent of districts, down from 56 percent a year earlier, and the Taliban’s share slipped from 14 percent to 12 percent. Contested territory increased from 30 percent to 34 percent. The Pentagon insists that military pressure on the Taliban is mounting. Last year the U.S. …

Apple says Facebook can no longer distribute an app that paid users, including teenagers, to extensively track their phone and web use. In doing so, Apple closed off Facebook’s efforts to sidestep Apple’s app store and its tighter rules on privacy. The tech blog TechCrunch reported late Tuesday that Facebook paid people about $20 a month to install and use the Facebook Research app. While Facebook says this was done with permission, the company has a history of defining “permission” loosely and obscuring what data it collects. “I don’t think they make it very clear to users precisely what level of access they were granting when they gave permission,” mobile app security researcher Will Strafach said Wednesday. “There is simply no way the users understood this.” He said Facebook’s claim that users understood the scope of data collection was “muddying the waters.” Facebook says fewer than 5 percent of the …

Detectives have recovered more surveillance footage of “Empire” actor Jussie Smullett walking in downtown Chicago before and after he says he was attacked by two masked men, but they still haven’t found video of the attack, a police spokesman said Thursday.   Spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said there are hundreds of surveillance cameras in the area, which is home to many high-end hotels and restaurants, and that the hope is that detectives will be able to piece them together to capture most if not all of Smollett’s trip from a Subway restaurant to his apartment at about 2 a.m. Tuesday, when Smollett said the attack occurred.   Guglielmi said piecing together the private and public surveillance video is tedious work that is made more difficult by the fact that the time stamps on various cameras may not be in sync, meaning detectives have to figure out the exact times of events. …

Three Democratic U.S. lawmakers, including the House armed services committee chairman, on Wednesday urged the Pentagon to revise a report on climate change, saying it omitted required items such as a list of the 10 most vulnerable bases. The Pentagon’s report, released on Jan. 10, said climate change was a national security issue and listed 79 domestic military installations at risk from floods, drought, encroaching deserts, wildfires and, in Alaska, thawing permafrost. But the report, required by a defense policy law signed by President Donald Trump in 2017, did not include the top 10 list, and details of specific mitigation measures to make bases more resilient to climate change, including the costs. It also failed to list any Marine Corps bases or installations overseas. U.S. Representative Adam Smith, the chairman of the House committee, said the Trump administration’s report was inadequate. “It demonstrates a continued unwillingness to seriously recognize and …

Federal prosecutors in New York say there is an “avalanche of evidence” to convict alleged Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. Guzman is on trial for 10 charges ranging from drug trafficking, money laundering and murder. U.S. Attorney Andrea Goldbarg displayed some of that apparent evidence to the jury Wednesday, including rifles, a bulletproof vest and a brick of cocaine. Intercepted phone calls, text messages, and written letters ordering drug deals and killings were the other evidence. Guzman decided “who lives and who dies,” Goldbarg said. “Over 25 years, the defendant rose to the ranks to become the principal leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel. His goal was to distribute as much drugs as possible to the United States. His goal was to make millions of dollars in profits.” Guzman has pleaded not guilty. His attorneys say he is the victim of a corrupt Mexican government and a scapegoat …

Millions of Americans are experiencing temperatures so cold that a burst of wind could cause frostbite within minutes — conditions that have caused the suspension of regional train service, work and school schedules, and even production of television and stage shows. The National Weather Service said Wednesday some 25 million people will face temperatures that cause near-instant frostbite in New England (the northeastern United States) and the Midwest — states such as Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois and Michigan. In Chicago, Amtrak canceled train service, and even federal mail delivery was suspended in many areas to protect the mail carriers, whose motto declares they deliver mail in almost any weather condition. In some cities, bus service has been suspended because the cold can cause mechanical difficulties. The governors of Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin have declared states of emergency. With the wind chill, it was minus 32 degrees Celsius (minus 26 degrees Fahrenheit) …

China’s largest employer said Wednesday it is shifting away from construction of a mammoth electronics factory in the U.S., a facility that President Donald Trump once heralded as the rebirth of manufacturing in the country’s heartland. Foxconn Technology Group said the global market environment has forced it to turn the project in the Midwestern state of Wisconsin into a research hub, but that it still plans to create 13,000 jobs as it had promised at the factory. Foxconn, when it announced the manufacturing plant in 2017, promised to invest $10 billion, but the company did not recommit to the same figure for the research facility. Foxconn is a major supplier to the giant U.S. technology firm Apple and is the world’s largest contract maker of electronics. A company official said it is scaling back, though, and possibly ending plans to build liquid crystal display panel screens, saying it cannot compete …