(Reuters) &#8211; A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump from removing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, an early setback for the White House in an unprecedented legal battle that could upend the central bank&#8217;s long-held independence.
The preliminary ruling by U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb in Washington, D.C. found that the Trump administration&#8217;s claims that Cook committed mortgage fraud prior to taking office were likely not sufficient grounds for her removal.
Cook denies any wrongdoing.
&#8220;President Trump has not identified anything related to Cook’s conduct or job performance as a Board member that would indicate that she is harming the Board or the public interest by executing her duties unfaithfully or ineffectively,&#8221; Cobb wrote in her ruling.
Trump moved to fire Cook in late August, but the Fed has said she remains in her position. The Fed declined to comment on the decision.
The White House spokesman Kush Desai on Wednesday defended Trump&#8217;s actions, saying that the president had &#8220;lawfully removed&#8221; Cook for cause over the mortgage allegations and that &#8220;this ruling will not be the last say on the matter.&#8221;
Trump on Tuesday did not respond to a reporter&#8217;s question about the ruling.
Cobb&#8217;s ruling prevents the Fed from following through on Cook&#8217;s firing while her lawsuit moves forward.
The case, which will likely end up before the U.S. Supreme Court, has ramifications for the Fed&#8217;s ability to set interest rates without regard to politicians&#8217; wishes, widely seen as critical to any central bank&#8217;s ability to keep inflation under control.
Trump has demanded that the U.S. central bank cut rates immediately and aggressively, berating Fed Chair Jerome Powell for his stewardship over monetary policy. The central bank is expected to deliver a rate cut at its September 16-17 policy meeting.
&#8220;This ruling recognizes and reaffirms the importance of safeguarding the independence of the Federal Reserve from illegal political interference,&#8221; Cook&#8217;s lawyer Abbe Lowell said in a statement.
The law that created the Fed says governors may be removed only &#8220;for cause,&#8221; but does not define the term nor establish procedures for removal. No president has ever removed a Fed governor, and the law has never been tested in court.
Cobb found that the &#8220;best reading&#8221; of the law is that it only allows a Fed governor to be removed for misconduct while in office. The mortgage fraud claims against Cook all relate to actions she took prior to her U.S. Senate confirmation in 2022.
Trump and William Pulte, the Federal Housing and Finance Authority director appointed by the president, say Cook inaccurately described three separate properties on mortgage applications, which could have allowed her to obtain lower interest rates and tax credits.
The U.S. Justice Department has also launched a criminal mortgage fraud probe into Cook and has issued grand jury subpoenas out of both Georgia and Michigan, according to documents seen by Reuters and a source familiar with the matter.
Cook sued Trump and the Fed, saying the claims did not give Trump the legal authority to remove her and were a pretext to fire her for her monetary policy stance.
Cook, the first Black woman to serve as a Fed governor, has denied the fraud claims in court filings, saying that she &#8220;did not ever commit mortgage fraud.&#8221;
But she has said that even if the allegations were true, it would not be grounds for removal because the alleged conduct occurred before she was confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
The Trump administration has argued that the president has broad discretion to determine when it is necessary to remove a Fed governor, and that courts lack the power to review those decisions.
(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York and Ismail Shakil. Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal, Howard Schneider, Mike Scarcella, Nate Raymond and Jeff Mason; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Alexia Garamfalvi, Paul Simao, Sam Holmes and Tomasz Janowski)

FILE PHOTO: Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s 2025 Jackson Hole conference

Judge Steps In To Block Trump From Ousting Fed Governor Lisa Cook

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Polish and allied aircraft were activated early on Wednesday to safeguard Poland&#8217;s airspace after Russia launched an air attack on Ukraine&#8217;s western regions that border the NATO-member Poland.
&#8220;Polish and allied aircraft are operating in our airspace, while ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems have been brought to the highest state of readiness,&#8221; the operational command of the Polish armed forces said in a post on X.
Earlier, Ukraine&#8217;s air force reported that Russian drones had entered NATO-member Poland&#8217;s airspace, posing a threat to the city of Zamosc, but the air force has since removed that statement from the Telegram messaging app.
As of 0000 GMT, most of Ukraine, including western regions of Volyn and Lviv, which border Poland, were under air raid alerts for several hours, according to Ukraine&#8217;s air force data.
Ukrainian media reported that several Russian drones crossed into Poland&#8217;s air space. Reuters could not independently verify the reports, and there was no official confirmation from Poland that Russian drones were in Poland&#8217;s airspace overnight.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Jamie Freed and Himani Sarkar)

Fa-52 Fighter Jets

Poland Scrambles Jets To Safeguard Airspace After Russia Attacks Near Border

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An LGBT rights attorney has been charged in a federal indictment with lying during a judicial inquiry into whether he and others engaged in &#8220;judge shopping&#8221; in order to challenge Alabama&#8217;s ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth.
Carl Charles, an attorney at Lambda Legal, was charged in an indictment unsealed on Monday in federal court in Montgomery, Alabama, months after a judge took the rare step of sanctioning him and referring him for a criminal investigation.
It marks a rare instance of charges being brought related to a widespread practice among both liberal and conservative litigants to steer cases challenging government policies to ideologically sympathetic judges.
Federal prosecutors secured the indictment amid a broader push by the U.S. Department of Justice under President Donald Trump to investigate providers of medical gender-affirming care for transgender youth.
Charles, who worked in the Justice Department during the tenure of Democratic President Joe Biden, pleaded not guilty on Monday to making a false statement before a court.
Lambda Legal, in a statement, said it stood behind Charles and called the indictment &#8220;an outrageous act of governmental overreach.&#8221; Charles&#8217; lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.
Charles was one of three lawyers sanctioned in February by U.S. District Judge Liles Burke after pursuing legal challenges to Republican-led Alabama&#8217;s ban on the use of puberty-blocking drugs and hormones to treat gender dysphoria in transgender minors.
Burke, a Trump appointee, said the lawyers tried to &#8220;game the system&#8221; by dropping two cases they filed in 2022 when they were assigned to him and then mounting a new legal challenge in a different federal district court in Alabama.
A 2024 report by a three-judge panel that investigated whether the three lawyers engaged in misconduct by attempting to circumvent procedures designed to have cases randomly assigned to a judge found they did so because they viewed Burke as a &#8220;bad draw.&#8221;
The new case was reassigned to Burke, who, despite their concerns, blocked the law&#8217;s enforcement, though an appeals court later reinstated it.
The indictment alleges that during the judicial inquiry, Charles falsely testified that he had not called a judge&#8217;s chambers in April 2022 about the assignment of the lawsuit with which he was involved.
According to Burke&#8217;s ruling, Charles later amended his answers to state he actually called a judge&#8217;s clerk. He apologized for his earlier response.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Matthew Lewis)

Brighton Beach Pride march in Brooklyn, New York City

LGBT Rights Lawyer Indicted For Lying During Alabama ‘Judge Shopping’ Inquiry

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KYIV (Reuters) &#8211; A Russian airstrike killed more than 20 civilians who were collecting their pensions in a village in eastern Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday.
He called for pressure by Kyiv&#8217;s allies on Russia, whose forces have pressed a grinding offensive across much of the eastern Donetsk region as diplomatic efforts to end the 3 1/2-year-old war have largely stalled.
Zelensky said the Russian airstrike had hit the village of Yarova, about 15 miles (24 km) from the city of Sloviansk and several kilometres behind the front line.
&#8220;Directly on people. Ordinary civilians. At the very moment when pensions were being disbursed,&#8221; he wrote on X.
The president posted video footage showing bodies strewn across the ground and debris. Another 21 people were wounded, said Donetsk governor Vadym Filashkin.
&#8220;The world must not remain silent,&#8221; Zelensky said. &#8220;The world must not remain idle. A response is needed from the United States. A response is needed from Europe. A response is needed from the G20.&#8221;
Russia did not immediately comment on Zelensky&#8217;s remarks. Moscow has denied targeting civilians, but tens of thousands have died since its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Ukraine&#8217;s human rights commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, said the attack was &#8220;yet another confirmation of systemic terror against the civilian population of Ukraine.&#8221;
(Reporting by Yulia Dysa, Writing by Dan Peleschuk, Editing by Timothy Heritage)

FILE PHOTO: France hosts ‘Coalition of the Willing’ meeting on support to Ukraine

Zelensky: Russian Airstrike On Ukrainian Village Kills More Than 20

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Ukraine-Russia War

Volodymyr Zelensky

SEOUL (Reuters) &#8211; South Korea will send a chartered plane to Atlanta as early as Wednesday to bring back workers detained in a huge immigration raid last week on a car battery plant in the U.S. state of Georgia, a Korean Air spokesperson said on Tuesday.
President Lee Jae Myung said Seoul would negotiate with Washington to achieve a reasonable resolution to the situation based on the spirit of their alliance, adding at a cabinet meeting that he felt a &#8220;heavy responsibility&#8221; for the detained nationals.
A Korean Air Boeing 747-8i plane with 368 seats will fly from South Korea&#8217;s Incheon to Atlanta, according to the spokesperson.
During the U.S. immigration raid about 300 South Koreans were arrested along with 175 others at the site of the $4.3 billion Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution project to build batteries for electric cars.
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun is in Washington to negotiate on points such as seeking assurances that the Koreans returned home will be allowed to re-enter the United States.
The raid &#8211; the largest single-site enforcement operation in the history of the Department of Homeland Security&#8217;s investigative operations &#8211; sent shockwaves through South Korea, a U.S. ally that has been trying to finalise a trade deal agreed with Washington in July.
A Realmeter opinion poll published on Tuesday showed that nearly 60% of South Koreans felt disappointed by what they viewed as excessive action by U.S. authorities in the raid, while about 30% regarded the action as unavoidable.
Two Japanese nationals and up to nine Chinese citizens were among the detainees, the Nikkei business daily reported.
James Rim, who heads the Korean-American Association of Southeast Georgia and runs guesthouses used by Korean workers near the Hyundai plant, said two of his residents had been detained after being found to be on a visa-waiver programme that prohibits employment in the country.
On Thursday evening after the raid they did not come back for dinner, Rim said, noting two other colleagues had made it back to the guesthouse after screening during the raid.
&#8220;I heard two of them saw an officer that didn&#8217;t let them go, while the other two managed to leave after talking to another officer,&#8221; said Rim.
Details on how U.S. immigration rules may have been breached have not been released by the authorities or companies involved, but South Korean lawmakers say some may have overstepped the boundaries of a 90-day visa-waiver programme or a B-1 temporary business visa.
Foreign Minister Cho said he would discuss with Washington creating a special work permit for Korean professionals.
Korean businesses have complained about what they consider strict U.S. limits on visas for skilled foreign workers, making it difficult for them to oversee the construction of factories or to train the local workforce.
According to workers, officials and lawyers, many South Korean workers were sent to the U.S. on questionable documents despite their misgivings and warnings about stricter U.S. immigration enforcement.
After the raid, Rim said some of the 20 subcontractors working at the plant and also staying at his guesthouse had returned to South Korea early.
&#8220;Not everyone, but some of the workers came here on a visa waiver,&#8221; Rim said, adding that this had long been a standard practice.
&#8220;It should have been done earlier but I think now is a good chance to give some kind of a special work permit to Koreans. Otherwise, it would be difficult to build factories only with a local workforce,&#8221; he said.
(Reporting by Ju-min Park and Jack Kim; Editing by Ed Davies and Hugh Lawson)

South Korea to send chartered plane to Atlanta to bring back workers detained in US

South Korea Sending Plane To Retrieve Workers Detained In Georgia Raid

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky&#8217;s chief of staff discussed Russian strikes on Ukrainian targets with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday and told him a government building that came under attack on Sunday was hit by a Russian ballistic missile.
Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak, writing on Telegram, also said he and Rubio discussed U.S. military aid for Ukraine, security guarantees for Ukraine that have been under discussion with Kyiv&#8217;s allies, and increased pressure on Russia.
&#8220;I informed him of the constant Russian strikes that attack our cities, our residential buildings with drones and missiles,&#8221; Yermak wrote.
&#8220;They kill civilians and children, destroy our infrastructure. For the first time, the enemy attacked the Ukrainian Government building &#8211; the strike was carried out by an Iskander ballistic missile.&#8221;
In a separate post, Yermak said he had held a video conference with the national security advisers of Britain, France, Germany, and Italy.
He said the discussion was a continuation of a meeting in Paris last week with Ukrainian allies within the Coalition of the Willing and said &#8220;a further strengthening of Ukraine&#8217;s positions in confronting Russian aggression is necessary.&#8221;
The European Union&#8217;s top sanctions official was in Washington with a team of experts to discuss what would be the first coordinated transatlantic measures against Russia since President Donald Trump returned to office.
On Sunday, after the war&#8217;s biggest air attack set fire to a government building in Kyiv, Trump said he was ready to move to a second phase of restrictions.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski; Editing by Chris Reese, Rod Nickel)

View shows Ukrainian government headquarters building damaged during a Russian drone and missile strike in Kyiv

Rubio Meets With Zelensky’s Chief Of Staff To Discuss Recent Russian Strikes

Marco Rubio

Vladimir Putin

The United States Supreme Court allowed President Donald Trump on Monday to keep a Democratic member of the Federal Trade Commission away from her post for now, temporarily pausing a judicial order that required the reinstatement of the commissioner Trump has sought to oust.
The court&#8217;s action, known as an administrative stay, gives the justices additional time to consider Trump&#8217;s formal request to let him fire Rebecca Slaughter from the consumer protection agency that enforces antitrust law prior to her term expiring.
The stay was issued by Chief Justice John Roberts, who handles emergency filings arising in Washington, D.C. Roberts asked Slaughter to file a response by next Monday.
The Justice Department made the request on Thursday after Washington-based U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan blocked Trump&#8217;s firing of Slaughter. AliKhan ruled in July that Trump&#8217;s attempt to remove Slaughter did not comply with removal protections in federal law. Congress put such tenure protections in place to give certain regulatory agencies a degree of independence from presidential control.
In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the judge&#8217;s ruling on September 2, prompting the administration&#8217;s request to the Supreme Court.
The lower courts ruled that the statutory protections shielding FTC members from being removed without cause conform with the U.S. Constitution in light of a 1935 Supreme Court precedent in a case called Humphrey&#8217;s Executor v. United States.
In that case, the court ruled that a president lacks unfettered power to remove FTC commissioners, faulting then-President Franklin Roosevelt&#8217;s firing of an FTC commissioner for policy differences.
The administration, in its Supreme Court filing, argued that &#8220;the modern FTC exercises far more substantial powers than the 1935 FTC,&#8221; and thus its members can be fired at will by the president.
The court, in a similar ruling in May, said the Constitution gives the president wide latitude to fire government officials who wield executive power on his behalf.
The administration has repeatedly asked the justices this year to allow implementation of Trump policies impeded by lower courts. The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, has sided with the administration in almost every case that it has been called upon to review since Trump returned to the presidency in January.
(Reporting by John Kruzel; Editing by Will Dunham)

FILE PHOTO: FTC Presser on Facebook settlement in Washington

Supreme Court Lets Trump Remove FTC Member For Now

The United States is not talking about regime change in Venezuela, President Donald Trump said on Friday, as the United States ordered an additional 10 stealth fighter jets to a military buildup in the Caribbean.
&#8220;We&#8217;re not talking about that, but we are talking about the fact that you had an election which was a very strange election, to put it mildly,&#8221; Trump said, referring to the contested 2024 election the Venezuelan government says President Nicolas Maduro won.
Trump had been asked by reporters about a claim Maduro has made this week that the United States was seeking &#8220;regime change through military threat.&#8221;
&#8220;The government of the United States should abandon its plan of violent regime change in Venezuela and in all of Latin America and respect sovereignty, the right to peace, to independence,&#8221; Maduro said on state television.
&#8220;I respect Trump. None of the differences we&#8217;ve had can lead to a military conflict,&#8221; Maduro added. &#8220;Venezuela has always been willing to converse, to dialogue.&#8221;
Trump demonstrated his new approach to fighting the drug war with a U.S. military strike on Tuesday that killed 11 people and sank a boat from Venezuela which Trump said was transporting illegal narcotics.
The U.S. president is weighing options for further strikes, including potentially attacking suspected drug cartel targets inside Venezuela, CNN reported on Friday, citing multiple sources briefed on the administration&#8217;s plans. Such a strike would mark a major escalation.
The White House, Pentagon and State Department did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment on the report.
The Trump administration has ordered the deployment of 10 F-35 fighter jets to a Puerto Rico airfield to conduct operations against drug cartels, sources told Reuters on Friday.
The new deployment comes on top of an already bristling U.S. military presence in the southern Caribbean as Trump carries out a campaign pledge to crack down on groups funneling drugs into the United States.
The disclosure about the F-35s came just hours after the Pentagon accused Venezuela of a &#8220;highly provocative&#8221; flight on Thursday by fighter jets near a U.S. Navy warship.
Trump warned Venezuela that the U.S. military had authorization to shoot down the jets if commanders believed they needed to, saying: &#8220;If they do put us in a dangerous position, they&#8217;ll be shot down.&#8221;
At every turn, the Trump administration has sought to tie Maduro&#8217;s government to narco trafficking, allegations Caracas denies.
Specifically, Trump has accused Maduro of running the Tren de Aragua gang, which his administration designated a terrorist organization in February. Maduro has denied any connection to Tren de Aragua, which his government says was rendered inactive in Venezuela by a prison raid in 2023.
Trump on Friday compared the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans in overdoses to war dead, as he sought to justify the muscular military activity in the Caribbean.
&#8220;Think if you&#8217;re in a war and you lose 300,000 &#8230; We&#8217;re not going to allow it to happen,&#8221; he said.
Venezuela&#8217;s Communications Ministry did not respond to a request for comment about the F-35s or the allegations that Venezuelan fighter jets flew over a U.S. warship.
The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity about the latest U.S. deployment, said the 10 fighter jets are being sent to conduct operations against designated narco-terrorist organizations operating in the southern Caribbean. The planes should arrive in the area by late next week, they said.
F-35s are highly advanced stealth fighters and would be effective in combat against Venezuela&#8217;s air force, which includes F-16 aircraft.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said two Venezuelan F-16s flew over the guided missile destroyer Jason Dunham on Thursday. The Dunham is one of at least seven U.S. warships deployed to the Caribbean, carrying more than 4,500 sailors and Marines.
U.S. Marines and sailors from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit have also been carrying out amphibious training and flight operations in southern Puerto Rico.
The buildup has put pressure on Maduro, whom U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has called &#8220;effectively a kingpin of a drug narco state.&#8221;
Trump said on Tuesday that the U.S. military had identified the crew of the vessel as Tren de Aragua members.
(Reporting by Steve Holland and Phil Stewart; Editing by Scott Malone, Edwina Gibbs, Mark Porter, Alistair Bell and William Mallard)

Trump Downplays Possible Regime Change In Venezuela; U.S. Deploys Stealth Fighter Jets

Drug Cartels

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U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to announce that use of Kenvue&#8217;s popular over-the-counter pain medication Tylenol in pregnant women is potentially linked to autism, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter, without including evidence for the claims.
Kennedy, in the report, will also suggest a medicine derived from folate called folinic acid can be used to treat symptoms of autism in some people, the WSJ reported.
Shares of Kenvue fell 14% after the report. Tylenol, whose active ingredient is acetaminophen, is a widely used pain reliever, including by pregnant women.
Kenvue said in a statement that it believes there is no causal link between Tylenol use during pregnancy and autism. The company advises expecting mothers to speak to healthcare professionals before taking OTC medications, including Tylenol.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and leading medical organizations agree on the safety of acetaminophen, its use during pregnancy, and the information provided on the label, the company said.
Kennedy has promised to find the cause of autism and has long suggested it is related to vaccines. He has also said it must be related to an &#8220;environmental toxin.&#8221; Decades of science have yet to establish a definitive cause.
Under Kennedy, the National Institutes of Health is running an Autism Data Science Initiative that aims to mine large datasets to investigate possible contributors to autism and evaluate the outcomes of existing treatments. Researchers have submitted more than 100 proposals to participate in the $50 million study, with a list of up to 25 grant winners expected to be announced by the end of September, people with knowledge of the plans told Reuters.
The WSJ said that a report is likely to highlight how low levels of folate, an important vitamin, and Tylenol taken during pregnancy, could be a potential cause of autism.
&#8220;What&#8217;s striking to me is that this report is supposed to uncover all these new causes, and so far, all we&#8217;re learning is that they&#8217;re rehashing existing research,&#8221; said Dr. David Mandell, a professor of psychiatry and autism expert at the University of Pennsylvania.
&#8220;We have no understanding of why there might be a biological reason that Tylenol would cause autism.&#8221;
In December 2023, a U.S. federal judge struck a blow to hundreds of lawsuits claiming Tylenol can cause autism if mothers take it during pregnancy, barring expert witnesses from testifying after finding they lacked scientific evidence for their claims.
Last August, citing that ruling, the judge dismissed all the cases in federal court. A U.S. appeals court is slated to hear arguments next month in an appeal of that ruling, court records show.
&#8220;We are using gold-standard science to get to the bottom of America’s unprecedented rise in autism rates. Until we release the final report, any claims about its contents are nothing more than speculation,&#8221; said an HHS Spokesperson.
Children&#8217;s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group formerly headed by Kennedy, has posted several times in recent weeks on social media site X about the potential link between Tylenol and autism.
Brian Hooker, chief scientific officer of CHD, said in a recent video posted on X that he expects Kennedy&#8217;s autism report to hit on Tylenol, but also vaccines and vaccine components.
CHD has cited a study published in August that found evidence of an association between use of acetaminophen by pregnant women and neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism in their offspring.
The scientists recommended medical guidelines advise that pregnant women use the lowest possible dose for the shortest time needed.
They noted that more studies were required to confirm any association and that failure to treat fever in pregnant women could lead to other fetal problems, such as neural tube defects.
Other studies have not found a link. A 2024 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association involving 2.4 million children born in Sweden found no evidence to support a causal link.
&#8220;There is no clear evidence that proves a direct relationship between the prudent use of acetaminophen during pregnancy and fetal developmental issues,&#8221; said Christopher Zahn, chief of clinical practice for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
(Reporting by Michael Erman in New Jersey and Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago, Additional reporting by Puyaan Singh in Bengaluru and Nancy Lapid in Tucson; Editing by Vijay Kishore and Aurora Ellis)

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

RFK Jr. To Link Tylenol Use In Pregnancy To Autism, Says Wall Street Journal

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The Trump administration plans to issue rules to restrict or potentially bar imports of Chinese drones and medium and heavy-duty vehicles after an earlier crackdown on cars and trucks, citing national security concerns.
The U.S. Commerce Department on Friday said it plans to issue rules as soon as this month to address national security risks involving information and communications technology that is integral to drones and their supply chain, as well as vehicles weighing more than 10,000 pounds from countries like China and other foreign adversaries.
It did not give details on what the import rules would be.
The Commerce Department and Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately comment.
Chinese imports account for the vast majority of U.S. commercial drone sales. More than half come from DJI, the world&#8217;s largest drone manufacturer.
The planned restrictions on drones and heavy-duty vehicles follow on from similar rules already scheduled on imports of cars and other trucks.
Democratic former President Joe Biden&#8217;s administration finalized rules in January that will effectively bar nearly all Chinese cars and trucks from the U.S. market starting in late 2026, as part of a crackdown on vehicle software and hardware from China.
The Commerce Department in January said it could also target for restrictions drone systems like onboard computers, communications and flight control systems, ground control stations, operating software and data storage.
The department opened national security investigations into the import of drones and related components in July and into medium and heavy duty vehicles and parts in April, which could lead to higher tariffs.
U.S. President Donald Trump in June signed executive orders to bolster defenses against threatening drones and to boost U.S. drone manufacturing.
In December, Biden signed legislation that could eventually ban DJI and Autel from selling new drone models in the United States.
(Reporting by David Shepardson, Editing by Rosalba O&#8217;Brien)

DJI Mavic 4 Pro Drone

U.S. Plans Restrictions On Chinese Drones And Heavy-Duty Vehicles, Citing National Security

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is tightening oversight of imports of GLP-1 drug ingredients, used for weight loss and diabetes, amid concerns that many of the items may be adulterated and pose a safety risk.
The move comes as the FDA cracks down on unapproved compounded drugs, which had filled the gap during shortages of patented treatments. Soaring demand for Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly&#8217;s obesity drugs has fueled a booming global market for cheaper, and sometimes even counterfeit versions.
The health regulator said it had previously identified serious concerns with compounded weight-loss drugs, including dosing errors, use of unapproved salt forms, and side effects, with some requiring hospitalization.
As part of its heightened scrutiny, the FDA sent an import alert on Friday authorizing detention without physical examination (DWPE) at U.S. ports. This will allow the agency to seize shipments that appear to be non-compliant with federal requirements, without inspecting them on arrival.
Importers must now provide proof of quality and compliance before their goods are released.
The FDA evaluated 48 manufacturing sites outside the U.S. and found 21% of them as non-compliant.
The regulator will also maintain a separate &#8220;green list&#8221; — identifying firms or products that have resolved compliance concerns and are not subject to automatic detention at the border.
Under the &#8220;green list&#8221;, the agency identified sources in Belgium, Canada, China, and India, among others, meeting its criteria, and hence are excluded from DWPE.
(Reporting by Puyaan Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)

FILE PHOTO: Signage is seen outside of FDA headquarters in White Oak, Maryland

FDA Tightens Control Over Obesity Drug Ingredient Imports Amid Safety Concerns

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that thousands of foreign troops could be deployed to his country under post-war security guarantees, but Russian leader Vladimir Putin said Moscow would regard them as legitimate targets to attack.
Their comments underlined the gulf between Kyiv and Moscow as Western pessimism mounts over prospects for ending Russia&#8217;s war in Ukraine quickly, with U.S. President Donald Trump expressing growing frustration with Moscow by saying Russia appeared &#8220;lost&#8221; to &#8220;deepest, darkest China.&#8221;
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that 26 countries had pledged to provide post-war security guarantees to Ukraine, including an international force on land and sea and in the air.
Macron initially said those countries would deploy to Ukraine, but later said some of them would provide guarantees while remaining outside Ukraine, for example, by helping to train and equip Kyiv&#8217;s forces.
&#8220;It is important that we are discussing all this (security guarantees) &#8230; it will definitely be in the thousands (of troops), not just a few,&#8221; Zelensky said after meeting Antonio Costa, a senior European Union official, in western Ukraine.
Russia has long said one of its reasons for going to war in Ukraine was to prevent NATO from admitting Kyiv as a member and placing its forces in Ukraine.
&#8220;Therefore, if some troops appear there, especially now, during military operations, we proceed from the fact that these will be legitimate targets for destruction,&#8221; Putin told an economic forum in Russia&#8217;s far eastern city of Vladivostok.
&#8220;And if decisions are reached that lead to peace, to long-term peace, then I simply do not see any sense in their presence on the territory of Ukraine, full stop,&#8221; the Russian president added.
Trump&#8217;s efforts to end the conflict in Ukraine have included holding talks with Putin, but he has been frustrated at his inability to resolve the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War Two.
He said this week he was &#8220;very disappointed&#8221; in Putin, and made clear on Friday that he was also upset by moves by Russia and India to improve ties with China as Beijing pushes a new world order. Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi both met Chinese President Xi Jinping this week.
&#8220;Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together!&#8221; Trump wrote in a social media post accompanying a photo of the three leaders together at Xi&#8217;s summit in China.
Trump said on Thursday that he would speak to Putin again in the near future. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview published on Friday that he had no doubt that a meeting could be organised very quickly.
As Western pessimism mounts over peace prospects for Ukraine, the United States and Europe are discussing imposing more sanctions on Russia over the war.
&#8220;We are ready to do more, we are working with the U.S. and other like-minded partners to increase our pressure, through further sanctions, direct and secondary sanctions. More economic measures to push Russia to stop this war,&#8221; Costa said after meeting Zelensky.
Costa, who is President of the European Council, said without giving details that &#8220;the work is starting in Brussels on the new sanctions package and a European team is travelling to Washington D.C. to work with our American friends.&#8221;
In Vladivostok on Friday, Putin denied that Russia&#8217;s economy was stagnating, despite a report from the central bank that suggests it is technically in recession.
(Additional reporting by Yuliia Dysa, Anastasiia Malenko, Bart Meijer, Olesya Astakhova, Maxim Rodionov, Darya Korsunskaya and Oksana Kobzeva, Writing by Timothy Heritage, Editing by William Maclean)

Ukrainian serviceman walks at a position near a front line in Donetsk region

Putin Says Foreign Troops in Ukraine Would Be Legitimate Targets

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