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Doug Burgum Is Confirmed by Senate as Interior Secretary

The former governor of North Dakota is promoting President Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda and wants more oil, gas and mining on public lands.

© Eric Lee/The New York Times

Mr. Burgum will be in charge of nearly 500 million acres of public land, 1.7 billion acres of offshore waters, and more than 70,000 employees tasked with protecting wildlife and managing national parks and tribal lands.

Doug Burgum Is Confirmed by Senate as Interior Secretary

The former governor of North Dakota is promoting President Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda and wants more oil, gas and mining on public lands.

© Eric Lee/The New York Times

Mr. Burgum will be in charge of nearly 500 million acres of public land, 1.7 billion acres of offshore waters, and more than 70,000 employees tasked with protecting wildlife and managing national parks and tribal lands.

FDA Approves Journavx Drug to Treat Pain Without Addiction Risk

The drug, Journavx by Vertex Pharmaceuticals, blocks pain signals to the brain, making it nonaddictive.

© Lucas Jackson/Reuters

The drug was tested in two large clinical trials, each with approximately 1,000 patients who had pain from surgery. In one, patients had an abdominoplasty, or tummy tuck; in the other, a bunionectomy.

RFK Jr. Says He Won’t Keep Financial Stake in HPV Vaccine Lawsuits

Senators had objected to the financial conflict posed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to retain a financial stake in lawsuits against a major drug company. It remains unclear whether any proceeds would be redirected.

© Brendan Mcdermid/Reuters

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has referred clients to a law firm in cases claiming injuries from the Gardasil vaccine, made by Merck. The shots prevent cervical cancer that can be caused by the human papillomavirus, or HPV.

Trump’s First Two Weeks Have Thrown U.S. Climate Spending Into Chaos

Executive orders and announcements by President Trump have put billions of dollars in U.S. climate commitments into question.

© Kenny Holston/The New York Times

President Trump boarded Air Force One in Los Angeles after visiting areas burned by wildfires on Friday.

Shell and Equinor Oil and Gas Production Is Blocked at Sites Off British Coast

A court ruling requires the British government to consider the potential climate impact of the oil and gas produced in the North Sea.

© via Reuters

Equinor’s liquified natural gas facility outside Hammerfest, Norway. Equinor is one of Europe’s largest energy companies.

Pause on U.S. Funding Spreads Fear of H.I.V. Spike Across Africa

Patients and health care advocates said the abrupt decision to halt U.S. funding for a lifesaving H.I.V. program led to widespread confusion. The backtracking didn’t help.

© Joao Silva/The New York Times

The Engage Men’s Health clinic in Johannesburg has been temporarily closed after the Trump administration ordered health organizations to stop distributing H.I.V. medications purchased through a U.S. funding program.

Asteroid 2024 YR4 Could Strike Earth, Researchers Say, But the Odds are Small

Researchers say there’s a 1.3 percent chance that the space rock 2024 YR4 could strike our planet — but not until December 2032.

© ESA-Science Office

An artist’s impression of an asteroid. Newly discovered 2024 YR4 has an almost 99 percent chance of safely passing Earth in 2032.

Life’s Building Blocks Lurked Inside NASA’s Bennu Asteroid Samples

Scientists studying samples that NASA collected from the asteroid Bennu found a wide assortment of organic molecules that shed light on how life arose.

© NASA

Astromaterials processors at the Johnson Space Center in Houston collected asteroid particles from the base of the OSIRIS-REx science canister after its return from space in 2023.

Why Trump Picked a Science Advisor, Michael Kratsios, Who Isn’t a Scientist

Michael Kratsios, who served in the White House and Defense Department in the first Trump administration, is a policy specialist on artificial intelligence.

© Miguel A. Lopes/EPA, via Shutterstock

Michael Kratsios was one of the previous Trump administration’s earliest science and technology aides, leading tech policy initiatives on issues such as A.I., drones, quantum computing and cybersecurity.

Elon Musk Suggests SpaceX Will Accelerate Return of NASA Astronauts

The founder of SpaceX said President Trump had asked his company to return two astronauts aboard the space station to Earth “as soon as possible.” NASA said it would do that “as soon as practical.”

© NASA

Suni Williams, top center, and Butch Wilmore, bottom center, on board the International Space Station last year.

Senate Confirms Lee Zeldin to Head E.P.A.

The former New York congressman has little experience in environmental policy. He is expected to follow orders to weaken climate rules.

© Kenny Holston/The New York Times

Lee Zeldin speaking to the Senate in Washington on Jan. 16.

Kennedy Is Keeping His Stake in Vaccine Litigation

If confirmed as health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would oversee the Food and Drug Administration and other agencies that issue key decisions for drug companies.

© Kenny Holston/The New York Times

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. last month in Washington. He is President Trump’s nominee to be the health secretary.

Leaving the W.H.O. Could Hurt Americans on a Range of Health Matters

President Trump’s decision to pull out of the international health agency could deprive the United States of crucial scientific data and lessen the country’s influence in setting a global health agenda.

© Fabrice Coffrini/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

For all its scope, the World Health Organization has a relatively modest budget — $6.8 billion for 2024 and 2025, comparable to that of the health department of Rhode Island.

Trump Orders ‘Iron Dome’ for U.S., but Freezes Funds for Nuclear Protection

The United States is estimated to have spent more than $400 billion on the kinds of antimissile goals that the president now says will provide “for the common defense.”

© Kenny Holston/The New York Times

The Pentagon. President Trump wants to build big and take the Space Force he created to new heights, even at the risk of new arms races.

State Department Permits Distribution of H.I.V. Medications to Resume — for Now

Experts fear a resurgence of infections in low-income countries if the ban were to continue. The waiver remains in place, while officials review foreign aid programs.

© Nardus Engelbrecht/Associated Press

Every day, more than 220,000 people pick up H.I.V. medications at clinics funded by PEPFAR.

Caroline Kennedy Calls RFK Jr. a ‘Predator’ in Letter to Senators

In a scathing letter to lawmakers weighing Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination for health secretary, Ms. Kennedy called her cousin unfit for the job and a “predator” who led family members to addiction.

© Steven Senne/Associated Press

Caroline Kennedy, at the funeral of Ethel Kennedy, the mother of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., last year. Ms. Kennedy has now publicly opposed her cousin’s nomination to be the nation’s health secretary, saying he is not qualified.

Could Trump Use the ‘God Squad’ to Override Environmental Law?

The president wants to convene the rarely used panel, which has the power to carve out exemptions to the Endangered Species Act. Here’s what to know.

© Rob Nagel Photography, via Alamy

Northern spotted owls were the subject of a legal battle under the so-called God Squad provision.
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