About 3 million fewer people in the United States had Affordable Care Act health insurance plans in February compared with the same time last year, according to new federal data.

In the report released Friday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services suggested the 13% drop in enrollment from 22.1 million people in 2025 to 19.2 million this year could be attributed to a federal crackdown on fraudulent or “phantom” enrollment. But health analysts said it was more likely related to the Jan. 1 expiration of federal subsidies, which caused a surge in plan costs that resulted in many people being unable to pay their premiums.

“We know that real people lost their health insurance coverage,” said Cynthia Cox, a vice president and director of the ACA program at the healthcare research nonprofit KFF, citing survey findings on people who had left their plans. “This coverage loss happened at the same time millions of people faced double or even triple digit increases in their premium payments.”

Strikes come after retaliatory attacks on Friday following a drone strike on cargo ship in strait of Hormuz

The US military has launched further strikes on multiple targets in Iran, the US Central Command (Centcom) confirmed, a day after it had struck Iran in retaliation for a drone attack on a cargo ship in the strait of Hormuz.

Centcom said its strikes on Saturday were in “direct response to continued Iranian aggression against commercial shipping”. The US strikes targeted “Iranian military surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities, and minelayer capabilities”, Centcom said in a statement.

The flare-up in tensions comes as Washington and Tehran have been negotiating a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to end an unpopular war that has sent global oil prices skyrocketing and resulted in thousands of civilian deaths.

Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry earlier this week supported a resolution that would repeal the 17th Amendment and strip American voters of their right to elect U.S. Senators.

The joint resolution, introduced by Texas Congressman Keith Self, aims to “restore the Founders’ original vision for the United States” and return the selection of senators to state legislatures.

“Our Founding Fathers designed the Senate to protect state sovereignty and act as a check on federal overreach. If senators are supposed to represent their states, then the states should choose them. Repealing the 17th Amendment will restore that constitutional balance and make the Senate more accountable to the people of Texas and every other state in the union,” Self said.

A fast-moving wildfire in Utah raced across the landscape overnight, fed by heat and dry wind and forcing more communities to evacuate, officials said Saturday.

Air tankers and helicopters were grounded Friday as winds picked up on the Cottonwood Fire, the largest blaze currently burning in the U.S. Gusts were clocked at 45 miles per hour (72 kph) and humidity levels were in the single digits, leaving crews with few options for slowing the flames, especially as they raced through the treetops.

The U.S. Forest Service said in a statement on Facebook that weather conditions are expected to slightly improve, but not by much.

Iran launched a drone assault targeting Bahrain while a ship in the Strait of Hormuz separately came under attack Saturday, in Tehran’s likely response to overnight airstrikes by the United States.

The attacks in the Persian Gulf show the danger of the Iran war again spinning out of control, even after Iran and the U.S. reached an interim deal to try and agree on a final accord to end the conflict.

The U.S. had launched airstrikes overnight in response to an Iranian drone attack on a container ship trying to leave the strait on Thursday, continuing a string of attacks that have shaken the war’s uneasy ceasefire.

Germany ⁠and Italy endured sweltering conditions on Saturday as a heatwave linked to dozens of deaths in western Europe spread eastwards, after temperatures broke records above 40C (104F).

Denmark registered its highest temperature on record on Saturday, according to the Danish meteorological institute. “With 36.6C north of Odense, we have the warmest day ever since measurements began in 1874,” it said in a post on X.

Slovakia confirmed that Friday night was its warmest on record, with temperatures not dropping below 26.3C.

Britain, France, Switzerland and Germany have experienced record heat in June, and the weather system could set more records as it moves towards Poland.

An unprecedented legal filing claims that regulating Elon Musk’s xAI could kill us.

The federal government intervened Monday in a Clean Air Act lawsuit in which people in Memphis, Tennessee, and Southaven, Mississippi, are suing Elon Musk’s xAI over the health risks posed by the company’s unpermitted gas turbines.

The Department of Justice didn’t intervene on behalf of the people breathing dirty air, though: instead, it submitted an unprecedented motion backing xAI.

The suit, filed by NAACP lawyers, contends that xAI should owe over $100,000 a day in civil penalties for violating the Clean Air Act. DOJ is pushing for the suit to be thrown out—not on the facts of the case, but because, the agency claims, Americans need Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot for our continued safety.

The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is many things.

Murky. Peaceful. Stinky. The backdrop for protests, vigils, celebrations and stunning sunrise photos. Beset by gnats and algae. Scenery for a run. A key part of the capital’s carefully designed monumental core. The location of an iconic scene in “Forrest Gump.”

One thing it’s generally not: a strictly enforced police zone.

Many international fans visiting the US for the World Cup have become frustrated by the culture of tipping servers, telling the BBC that tipping fatigue has set in.

England supporter Geoff Pryor said he understood tipping for good service, but he found it "weird" when buying a bottle of water and "they try to get a tip for doing nothing".

In the US, staff at some restaurants and bars are paid just over $2 (£1.50) an hour, and they expect customers to tip about 20% of the total cost of the bill so they can earn a living.

Frustrations have also been shared by hospitality staff, with one bar owner telling the BBC that many World Cup tourists have been bad tippers.

The US military has conducted strikes on Iranian targets after Donald Trump accused Iran of a "foolish violation" of its truce following an attack on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz.

No casualties were reported when the ship was struck by a one-way attack drone on Thursday, an incident which prompted a planned evacuation of more than 11,000 sailors stuck in the region.

In response, US Central Command said on Friday it had struck missile and drone storage facilities and coastal radar positions. There has been no comment yet from Iran.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom called for a nationwide tax on billionaires as part of a broader “economic reset for America.”

Newsom, who is considered to be a 2028 presidential contender, also reiterated his opposition to a state-level wealth tax that Californians will vote on in November.

He also called for creating a “national public equity fund” to help “ensure every American owns a stake in the future being built by AI.”