FBI director says COVID pandemic ‘most likely’ originated from Chinese lab … Christopher Wray: COVID-19 origins most likely caused by Chinese lab ‘incident’  —  FBI Director Christopher Wray said that the COVID-19 pandemic was likely caused by a lab leak in Wuhan, China.

Fox Leaders Wanted to Break From Trump but Struggled to Make It Happen  —  Executives and top hosts found themselves in a bind after Donald Trump began pushing unfounded claims about election fraud, court filings show.  —  Five days after a pro-Trump mob attacked the U.S. Capitol …

Trump's February bump  —  Four new polls show former President Trump has received a boost in Republican support — with one survey showing him hitting 50% support in a crowded GOP field. … - His visit to the derailment site in East Palestine, Ohio — ahead of President Biden …

Lori Lightfoot becomes the first Chicago mayor in 40 years to lose re-election  —  CHICAGO — Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot lost her bid for re-election Tuesday, ending her historic run as the city's first Black woman and first openly gay person to serve in the position.

The story behind Gaetz citing Chinese propaganda at a hearing  —  In 2021, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) decried what he labeled “a fusion of the interest of the Chinese Communist Party and much of the apparatus of the United States government.”  —  At a hearing Tuesday, Gaetz cited …

House GOP moving to let Jan. 6 defendants access Capitol security footage  —  House Republicans are moving to provide defendants in Jan. 6-related cases access to thousands of hours of internal Capitol security footage, a move that could influence many of the ongoing prosecutions stemming from 2021's violent attack.

Adams, Discussing Faith, Dismisses Idea of Separating Church and State  —  Mayor Eric Adams also suggested that banning organized public school prayer was a mistake, saying, “When we took prayers out of schools, guns came into schools.”  —  The annual interfaith breakfast hosted on Tuesday by Mayor Eric Adams began normally enough.

Deadly Collision of Passenger, Freight Trains Kills Dozens in Greece  —  TEMPE, Greece (AP) — A passenger train carrying hundreds of people collided at high speed with an oncoming freight train in a fiery wreck in northern Greece, killing 32 and injuring at least 85, officials said Wednesday.

Nigeria Declares Bola Tinubu Winner of Presidential Election: Live Updates  —  Here's the latest on the election in Nigeria.  —  Bola Tinubu, the governing party candidate and a perennial political kingmaker who campaigned on the slogan “It's my turn,” was named by election officials …

You probably won't get any student loan relief, thanks to a GOP-controlled Supreme Court  —  At the end of the day, the most important question in US law is which political party controls the Supreme Court.  —  If you were hoping that your student loans would be forgiven under a program …

Trump ties GOP in knots over Medicare and Social Security  —  The former president is assailing his primary opponents for entertaining entitlement cuts in the past — and exacerbating divisions among Hill Republicans in the process.  —  Donald Trump is driving a wedge through the GOP …

Dark money and special deals: How Leonard Leo and his friends benefited from his judicial activism  —  The Federalist Society co-chairman's lifestyle took a lavish turn after he became Donald Trump's adviser on judicial nominations.  —  A network of political non-profits formed …

Abbe Lowell Built Ties to Trump World.  Now He's One of Hunter Biden's Lawyers.  —  The shift by Mr. Lowell, one of Washington's best-known scandal lawyers, highlights the blurry lines between self-promotion, access to power and the right to legal representation.

Hundreds massacred in Ethiopia even as peace deal was being reached  —  Soldiers from neighboring Eritrea went house to house killing villagers in Ethiopia's Tigray region, witnesses say  —  NAIROBI — Just days before a deal to end the war in Ethiopia's Tigray region …

Georgia Republicans want to make it easier to challenge voters' eligibility  —  Georgia Republicans introduced legislation Tuesday making it easier to kick voters off the rolls through mass challenges, according to a copy of the bill sent to lawmakers and shared with NBC News by an aide to two of the bill's sponsors.

Blaise Ingoglia bill would ‘cancel’ Democratic Party … Mike Wright  —  Mike Wright is a former reporter with the Citrus County Chronicle, where he had covered county government and politics since 1987.  Mike's skills as an investigative reporter earned him first-place awards in investigative writing.

Mississippi governor signs bill banning transgender health care for minors  —  Mississippi on Tuesday became the seventh state to enact a restriction on certain transition-related health care for minors.  —  Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican, said he signed the bill, which bars puberty blockers …

Finland starts building fence on Russian border as MPs prepare to vote on Nato bid  —  Construction begins on fence along part of 1,340km boundary amid fears Moscow could weaponise mass migration against Helsinki  —  Finland has started construction of a fence along parts of its 1,340km …

Iowa lawmakers propose a ban on same-sex marriage  —  Nearly eight years after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage and several months after Congress codified gay nuptials, Iowa lawmakers proposed banning such unions in their state constitution.  —  “In accordance with the laws …

GOP Congressman Claimed He's an Economist.  He Took One Class—and Got a C.  —  ‘I WAS MISTAKEN’  —  Freshman Republican Rep. Andy Ogles (TN) says he's a trained economist, but in reality, he only took one community college course on the subject—and he got a C, a transcript obtained by NewsChannel 5 in Nashville revealed.

As Americans Work From Home, Europeans and Asians Head Back to the Office  —  Return-to-office rates in Paris and Tokyo have climbed to over 75%, while U.S. often sits around half  —  While U.S. offices are half empty three years into the Covid-19 pandemic, workplaces in Europe and Asia are bustling again.

West Virginia Adds to Election Deniers' Ongoing Takeover of State Politics  —  In January 2021, days after rallying outside the U.S. Capitol against legitimate presidential election results, West Virginia state Senator Mike Azinger said he hoped for an encore.

House Oversight Chair Laments That Joe Biden's Dead Son Was Never Prosecuted  —  Fuming that the Trump-appointed attorney probing Hunter Biden hasn't yet brought up charges, Comer then invoked Beau Biden and wondered why he wasn't indicted at some point.  —  House Oversight Committee Chairman …

Biden to tap Julie Su as next Labor secretary  —  President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that he would nominate Julie Su to be his next Labor secretary, moving swiftly to fill a coming vacancy within his cabinet.  —  “It is my honor to nominate Julie Su to be our country's next Secretary of Labor,” Biden said in a statement.

DeSantis' new memoir skips juicy details about his life that could emerge in a presidential bid.  Here's what he left out.  — DeSantis published his first memoir, “The Courage to Be Free,” on Tuesday  — The book is widely viewed as laying the groundwork for a presidential run.

Ron DeSantis shows how not to run an education system  —  It's no coincidence that Republican governors who have weaponized government against vulnerable populations represent states that are spectacularly failing their residents on a wide range of issues.  There's no better illustration than Ron DeSantis's war on education.