Once thought to be a danger largely reserved for travelers, a flesh-eating parasite known as Leishmania mexicana is now likely spreading locally through some sand flies native to the southern U.S., a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis has concluded. Skin sores caused by Leishmania mexicana typically erupt weeks to months after people are bitten by an infected fly. The parasite can continue to inflict damage for years, leading to long-term scarring in its wake. Hospitals have some options for drugs to use in trying to treat patients suffering from this disease caused by the parasite, which doctors call cutaneous leishmaniasis, though experts acknowledge there is "low certainty" about their effectiveness. Many patients who initially respond to treatment remain at risk of their leishmaniasis relapsing. No vaccine is available for leishmaniasis. The immediate concern triggered by the discovery is raising awareness of the parasite, officials say, which now appears to be "endemic" in Texas as well as some southern border states.

Morale is low, and some staffers are preparing to formally express their opposition to President Joe Biden's approach, officials told HuffPost. Two officials told HuffPost that diplomats are preparing what’s called a “dissent cable,” a document criticizing American policy that goes to the agency’s leaders through a protected internal channel. Such cables are seen within the State Department as consequential statements of serious disagreement at key historical moments. The dissent channel was established amid deep internal conflict during the Vietnam War, and diplomats have since then used it to warn that the U.S. is making dangerous and self-defeating choices abroad. The cable would come in the wake of Josh Paul, a veteran State Department official, announcing his resignation on Wednesday. After more than a decade of working on arms deals, he said, he could not morally support the U.S.’s moves to supply Israel’s war effort.

Marc Andreessen, a man worth nearly two billion dollars, a man who lives in a $177 million compound in Malibu, a man who has been on the board of Facebook and Hewlett-Packard and who likely hasn’t experienced a struggle in decades, wants you to believe he’s a victim. His 5000-word screed — the “Techno-Optimist Manifesto” — is a sprawling list of grievances and demands from society, claiming that “the free markets are the most effective ways to organize a technological economy” and that “markets cause entrepreneurs to seek out high prices as a signal of opportunity to create new wealth by driving prices down based on supply and demand.” This is Andreessen’s dream — a continual race to the bottom where the tech industry is incentivized not to solve problems, but to find ways to make already-solved problems cheaper to solve so that venture capitalists can make money. His ugly, spurious logic phrases his “solutions” as utopian, claiming that ‘markets are by far the most effective way to lift vast numbers of people out of poverty” without couching that with any citation or proof, other than the fact that “even in totalitarian regimes, an incremental lifting of the repressive boot…leads to rapidly rising incomes and standards of living…[and if you] take the boot off entirely, who knows how rich everyone can get.”

Jim Jordan, who earlier on Thursday indicated that he would pause speaker balloting and back the idea, now could reverse course and go to the floor again to further humiliate himself.

The push to end a statewide ban on rent control opens the possibility that Chicago, for the first time, could limit hikes. Rent control rules typically cap how much landlords can increase rents each year. In Oregon, for example, a state law caps annual hikes at 7 percent, plus adjustments for inflation. Rent control proponents point out that local policies could include protections for property owners, such as provisions for utility increases and capital improvements. Still, local landlords are vehemently opposed to letting Chicago opt out of the ban. Garvey and Mike Mini, executive vice president of the Chicagoland Apartment Association, contend that rent control would make life so difficult and unprofitable for property owners that some would flee the market and stop developing low-cost housing altogether. “We think the best way to solve the affordability issue is to incentivize and create more investment in housing; we know rent control will result in the opposite,” says Mini. Garvey, a landlord herself, says she has already sold several properties in Chicago because of the mere possibility of rent control. If the General Assembly allows municipalities to opt in, would Chicago pass a referendum? Garvey is “horrified” at the prospect. She argues that a local vote would be stacked against landlords, since many reside outside the city. “The proportion of owners to renters is lopsided in Chicago, so if you allow the community to make up its own mind, it’s a real problem.”

The "see translation" feature for user bios was auto-translating phrases that included "Palestinian" and “alhamdulillah” into "Praise be to god, Palestinian terrorists are fighting for their freedom."

In 2021, Thiel, a top tech investor and Trump megadonor, began a secret life as a confidential FBI informant.

Lawyer Sidney Powell pleaded guilty to reduced charges Thursday over efforts to overturn Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election in Georgia, becoming the second defendant in the sprawling case to reach a deal with prosecutors. Powell, who was charged alongside Trump and 17 others with violating the state’s anti-racketeering law, entered the plea just a day before jury selection was set to start in her trial. She pleaded guilty to six misdemeanors accusing her of conspiring to intentionally interfere with the performance of election duties. As part of the deal, she will serve six years of probation, will be fined $6,000 and will have to write an apology letter to Georgia and its residents. She also agreed to testify truthfully against her co-defendants at future trials.

The influential idea that in the past men were hunters and women were not isn’t supported by the available evidence

Parks Canada and two First Nations have signed an agreement that points to a stronger Indigenous voice in national parks management and opens the door to harvesting in western Alberta's Jasper National Park. "We want to be part of decision-making in the park," Chief George Lampreau, of the Simpcw First Nation, said from Barriere, B.C. Parks Canada spokesperson Mark Young said the agreement between Parks Canada, the Simpcw and Alberta's Stoney Nakoda Nation is part of a larger move within the agency to reopen parks lands to First Nations and restore their influence on how they're managed. "From coast to coast to coast, it's everywhere," he said.

Wab Kinew has officially become Manitoba's 25th premier, and the first First Nations premier of a Canadian province, following a colourful and tradition-filled swearing-in ceremony that Kinew said marked the dawn of a new day for the province. Kinew took his oath of office, which was administered by Manitoba Lt.-Gov. Anita Neville, while wearing a ceremonial First Nations headdress in a ceremony at The Leaf in Winnipeg's Assiniboine Park. After taking his oath, Kinew greeted the crowd in the languages of seven different Manitoba Indigenous nations, and said Wednesday was the start of a new era.

Josh Paul, who spent a decade in State's bureau overseeing arms sales, exclusively spoke with HuffPost after quitting over the U.S. approach to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Workers on London’s Millennium Bridge are hanging a bale of straw under the structure after triggering an ancient bylaw. Repair works to the footbridge mean straw must be dangled to warn oncoming boats of the work going on beneath it. The large bale, which these days is lowered on climbing rope by workers in hi-vis jackets, is intended to alert river traffic of the reduced headroom.

The man who shot his wife twice — then turned the gun on himself in the West Delray Beach BurgerFi parking lot earlier this week — is identified by sources as political activist Steven Alembik. Alembik, Monday night, allegedly shot his wife in the back and arm. While she ran into BurgerFi while bleeding profusely, he shot and killed himself in their car in the parking lot.

The Daily Wire spent nearly $150,000 on Facebook ads in the past month promoting their “anti-woke” shaving company Jeremy’s Razors. The Daily Dot’s analysis of Meta’s Ad Library found that the right-wing media site spent a minimum of $144,300 on countless ads featured across the Facebook pages of Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro, podcaster Candace Owens, and the official Jeremy’s Razors account. The company has been endlessly pushing the product on Facebook. Since January 2023, the Jeremy’s Razors’ Facebook page alone has spent over a million dollars marketing the product. This comes amid a slew of negative customer reviews complaining about the alleged poor quality of the razors.

The bad blood is growing between the two House GOP rivals as the chaos continues.

Hamas officials say 500 people have been killed; the Israeli military says a rocket barrage fired by militants is to blame.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday once again stepped in to leave in place the federal government's ban on so-called "ghost guns." These are unassembled and unmarked guns that can be bought online and then assembled into fully operative guns.

The music has stopped for the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, David Solomon, amid reports that the US investment bank’s board was concerned his DJing sideline would distract him from his main job. Solomon has formally hung up his headphones on high-profile gigs and has not performed publicly in more than a year, the bank said. The Financial Times reported that Solomon’s DJing caused unease among some Goldman board members. He DJed at an event in the Hamptons near New York in 2020 that was criticised for flouting social distancing rules during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Small business owners — particularly immigrant owned —say they've been pressured by police to hire off-duty officers to provide security.