MON ANIO

President Donald Trump, accompanied by Pam Bondi, speaks before Bondi is sworn in as U.S. Attorney General in the Oval Office of the White House on Feb. 5, 2025, in Washington, D.C. Credit - Andrew Harnik—Getty Images The Department of Justice has announced that it will be curtailing the ability of the American Bar Association (ABA) to rate candidates for tenure in the federal judiciary. This will hinder the ABA's ability to vet nominations put forth by President Donald Trump. Attorney General Pam Bondisaid in a letterto the ABA president William Bay on Thursday, May 29, that she is cutting off the association's access to non-public information about Trump nominees. Bondi referred to the non-partisan membership organization as an "activist" group. "Unfortunately, the ABA no longer functions as a fair arbiter of nominees' qualifications, and its ratings invariably and demonstrably favor nominees put forth by Democratic Administrations," said Bondi, accusing the ABA of having "bias" in its ratings process. "There is no justification for treating the ABA differently from such other activist organizations and the Department of Justice will not do so." Bondi went on to say that judicial nominees will no longer need to provide waivers to allow the ABA access to non-public information, nor will they respond to questionnaires or sit for interviews with the association. In a subsequent social media post, Bondi doubled down, saying: "The American Bar Association has lost its way, and we do not believe it serves as a fair arbiter of judicial nominees. The Justice Department will no longer give the ABA the access they've taken for granted." The move against the ABA came a day after Trump announced six new judicial nominees, which included top Justice Department official Emil Bove being put forward to serve as a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.In a post on Truth Social, Trump saidthat Bove "will end the weaponization of Justice, restore the rule of law, and do anything else that is necessary to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN." Bove defended Trump during his hush-money trial,during which the President was convicted on 34 counts. Trump also nominatedKyle Dudek,John Guard,Jordan E. Pratt, andAnne-Leigh Gaylord Moeto serve as Judges on the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, andEd Artauto serve as a Judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The President has previously threatened to revoke the ABA's status as the federally-recognized accreditor of law schools in anExecutive Order signed on April 24. As part of his wide-scale crackdown onDEI efforts, Trump said that the ABA has required law schools to demonstrate commitment to diversity and inclusion, something which he says is a "discriminatory requirement" and that "similar unlawful mandates must be permanently eradicated." Critics have recently raised concerns over current practices at the Department of Justice."I think what's happening in the Department of Justice right now is that it's being transformed into Donald Trump's personal law firm,"said Liz Oyer, the DOJ's former pardon attorney. "The Attorney General has made it clear that directions are coming from the very top, from the President, and she is there to do his bidding." Read More:Democrats Grill AG Pick Pam Bondi Over Whether She Can Defy Trump Founded in 1878, theABA works on the"commitment to set the legal and ethical foundation for the American nation," according to the organization's website. Its main three areas of focus revolve around advocating for the legal profession, eliminating bias and enhancing diversity, as well as advancing the rule of law. It is theABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciarythat typically oversees and conducts the judicial nominee vetting process, something it has done since 1953. According to the ABA, the committee "makes a unique contribution to the vetting process by conducting a thorough peer assessment of each nominee's professional competence, integrity, and judicial temperament." The organization asserts that these assessments are non-partisan, providing the Senate and sitting Administration with "confidential assessments of the nominee's professional qualifications." Contact usatletters@time.com.

A combination drug treatment doubled survival time for patients with an aggressive form ofcolorectal cancer, according to late-stage trial data published Friday inThe New England Journal of Medicineand presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting in Chicago. The three-treatment combination included a standard chemotherapy drug, an antibody drug called cetuximab and a pill from Pfizer called Braftovi, which targets acancer mutation called BRAF V600E. The mutation shows up in about 10% of patients with colorectal cancer, said Dr. Lionel Kankeu Fonkoua, a gastrointestinal oncologist at the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center in Rochester, Minnesota. Patients with the mutation tend to survive for less than a year after diagnosis, and they often don't respond well to standard chemotherapy treatments, said Fonkoua, who wasn't involved with the new trial. According to Pfizer, the risk of death for these patients is more than double compared with those without the mutation. Braftovi was initially approved in 2020 to be used with cetuximab in this group of patients after other treatments had failed. The new trial looked at the drug combination as a so-called first-line therapy. The Food and Drug Administrationgranted the treatment fast-track approval as a first-line approach in Decemberon the condition that Pfizer provide additional data confirming its effectiveness. The agency often grants fast-track approval to treatments that address serious or life-threatening conditions, especially when there's an unmet medical need. Dr. Christopher Lieu, a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine who wasn't involved with the research, called the results "very impactful." "Patients are clearly living longer, and this represents the new standard of care for this specific subset of patients with this specific mutation," Lieu said. The trial included more than 600 patients with the mutation who had metastatic colorectal cancer. Patients were randomized to get either the three-drug combination treatment or standard chemotherapy alone. Some of the patients in the latter group were also given bevacizumab, a first-line treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer. The trial found that patients who got the combination treatment lived, on average, about 30 months, compared with about 15 months for those who got standard chemotherapy, with or without bevacizumab. What's more, 47% of patients who got the combination treatment had no disease progression after two years, meaning their cancer didn't grow or spread. The treatment was well-tolerated, with no unexpected safety concerns that would've caused investigators to stop the trial. "This is a really remarkable finding," said Dr. Scott Kopetz, a professor of gastrointestinal medical oncology at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas and a co-principal investigator in the trial. "When we bring this together with standard of care chemotherapy, we get really substantially prolonged survival for these patients that are really unprecedented for this disease type." More than 141,000 new cases of colorectal cancer are diagnosed in the U.S. each year, making it the fourth most common cancer, according tothe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 52,900 people in the U.S. are expected to die from colorectal cancer this year, according tothe American Cancer Society. Laurie Ritchie, 61, of St. Louis, got the combination treatment in October 2023. Her results weren't included in the clinical trial analysis. Ritchie had been diagnosed with metastatic colorectal cancer with the BRAF mutation — a diagnosis she describes as "a huge shock." Previous colonoscopies hadn't detected cancer; by the time she was diagnosed, the cancer had already reached Stage 4. It eventually spread to her lungs and ovaries. Since she got the combination treatment, she said her blood tests have consistently shown no trace of cancer. While she still worries about the cancer coming back, she says she's now focused on living fully — including going water skiing and downhill skiing. "I've kind of learned to think of it as something in the trunk, not in the front seat," she said. "It still feels a bit like a ticking time bomb inside me, but I think the work I've done on my mental health has really helped me live with it."

Tropical Storm Alvinis producing large swells that will affect portions of the coasts of west-central and southwestern Mexico and the southern Baja California peninsula in the next couple of days, according to theNational Hurricane Center. These swells are "likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions" and the hurricane center advises people to keep an eye on weather forecasts from their local weather office. TheNHC said Friday morningthe storm is located about 445 miles south-southeast of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula with maximum sustained winds of about 50 mph with higher gusts. Alvin is moving toward the north-northwest, however a turn toward the north is expected Friday. "Gradual weakening is forecast during the next couple of days, and Alvin is expected to degenerate to a remnant low on Saturday," according to the hurricane center. While the 2025 Pacific hurricane season began on May 15, the Atlantic season officially begins on June 1 and will last through the end of November. Active hurricane weather typically peaks between mid-August and mid-October. TheNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrationreleased its prediction for the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season on Thursday, May 22,predicting an above-average season, with 13 to 19 named storms and six to 10 hurricanes. The hurricane center is also keeping tabs on a disturbance just offshore of Central America and southern Mexico. The NHC said an area of low pressure could form by the middle part of next week and that environmental conditions appear "favorable for some development" while it moves generally westward to west-northwestward. The hurricane center gives the disturbance a 20% chance of formation through the next seven days. This forecast track shows the most likely path of the center of the storm. It does not illustrate the full width of the storm or its impacts, and the center of the storm is likely to travel outside the cone up to 33% of the time. Illustrations include an array of forecast tools and models, and not all are created equal. The hurricane center uses only the top four or five highest-performing models to help make its forecasts. Hurricanes are born in the tropics, above warm water. Clusters of thunderstorms can develop over the ocean when water temperatures exceed 80 degrees Fahrenheit. If conditions are right, the clusters swirl into a storm known as a tropical wave or tropical depression. A tropical depression becomes a named tropical storm once its sustained wind speeds reaches 39 miles per hour. When its winds reach 74 mph, the storm officially becomes a hurricane. Delaying potentially life-saving preparations could mean waiting until it's too late. "Get your disaster supplies while the shelves are still stocked, and get that insurance checkup early, as flood insurance requires a 30-day waiting period," NOAA recommends. Prepare now for hurricanes:Here's what you should do to stay safe before a storm arrives Develop an evacuation plan: If you are at risk from hurricanes, you need anevacuation plan. Now is the time to begin planning where you would go and how you would get there. Assemble disaster supplies: Whether you're evacuating or sheltering-in-place, you're going to need supplies not just to get through the storm but for the potentially lengthy aftermath,NOAA said. Get an insurance checkup and document your possessions: Contact your insurance company or agent now and ask for aninsurance check-upto make sure you have enough insurance to repair or even replace your home and/or belongings. Remember, home and renters insurance doesn't cover flooding, so you'll need a separate policy for it. Flood insurance is available through your company, agent, or theNational Flood Insurance Program. Act now, as flood insurance requires a 30-day waiting period. Create a family communication plan: NOAA said to take the time now to write down yourhurricane plan, and share it with your family. Determine family meeting places, and make sure to include an out-of-town location in case of evacuation. Strengthen your home: Now is the time to improve your home's ability to withstand hurricane impacts. Trim trees; install storm shutters, accordion shutters, and/or impact glass; seal outside wall openings. Gabe Hauari is a national trending news reporter at USA TODAY. You can follow him on X@GabeHauarior email him at Gdhauari@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Tropical Storm Alvin tracker: See projected path, spaghetti models

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said China had violated an agreement on tariffs with the United States. "China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US. So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!," Trump said in a post on Truth Social. (Reporting by Susan Heavey, Katharine Jackson)

Wildfire smoke is pouring into the Midwest from Canada as dozens of fires burn north of the border. Let's get you caught up on all the latest information: Since the upper Midwest is closest to the fires burning in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, upper-level winds are blowing the thick smoke southward. This has prompted air quality alerts for the entire state of Wisconsin on Friday, as well as parts of Michigan's Upper Peninsula and northern Minnesota. (MORE:Here's What Wildfire Smoke Does To Your Body) Chicago residents could also experience degraded air quality as the smoke pushes southward. From weather.com senior digital meteorologistChris Dolce: The image below shows near-surface smoke on Saturday afternoon – this is the kind of smoke that can be unhealthy to breathe since it's at the lower levels. As you can see, the greatest concentrations of that will be in the Midwest and Northern Plains today through this weekend. However, some of it is modeled in a less concentrated fashion into the South and East this weekend: This animation shows that a much larger area will see smoke aloft that is not necessarily an air quality concern, but will lead to hazy skies and orange/red sunrises and sunsets. That is spreading into the Midwest now and will head into the South and East this weekend. As you can see, this is amuchlarger area, but areas that overlap with near-surface smoke have the greatest air quality concerns in the Midwest and Northern Plains: - Make sure you have the latest version ofThe Weather Channel app– if you don't, head to your phone's app store and download/update it. - Locate the pill that displays lifestyle options like "Allergies," "Cold & Flu" and "Skin Health." Locate the button that says "Breathing" and tap on it to load our Breathing module. - Scroll down to "Today's Biggest Impacts" and the air quality index will load. You'll also find other important information in that module. Some 17,000 residents in Manitoba remain under evacuation orders as wildfires have spread in the province,and also into Saskatchewan, BBC.com reported. "The conditions that our northern residents, communities and wildland firefighters are facing today are as severe or quite likely unlike anything we have faced in quite some time, if not ever," Scott Moe, Premier of Saskatchewan, told BBC.com. A state of emergency is in effect in Manitoba and more than 80 fires have been deemed "out of control" in Canada. The entire town of Flin Flon, Manitoba, was ordered to evacuate; about 5,000 people live in the city. As the fires grew, some residents in Saskatchewan have also been ordered to evacuate their homes. According to the Associated Press: "Canada's wildfire season runs May through September. Its worst-ever wildfire season was in 2023. It choked much of North America with dangerous smoke for months."