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NASA astronaut and 2 cosmonauts blast off for an 8-month stay in space

July 14, 2026 / 12:26 PM EDT / CBS News

Physician-astronaut Anil Menon, a former flight surgeon with NASA and then SpaceX who rejoined NASA as an astronaut along with his wife Anna, rocketed into space Tuesday with two Russian cosmonauts for an eight-month stay aboard the International Space Station.

Soyuz MS-29/75S commander Pyotr Dubrov, flanked on his left by cosmonaut Anna Kikina and on the right by Menon, blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 10:47 a.m. EDT.

Eight minutes and 46 seconds later, after a smooth climb to orbit, the Soyuz was released for a two-orbit rendezvous with the sprawling lab complex.

A Russian Soyuz rocket blasts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying two veteran cosmonauts and a NASA rookie on a flight to the International Space Station. NASA/Roscosmos

While Menon is a space rookie, he’s no stranger to space operations. He met his wife, Anna, while both were working for NASA at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, he as a flight surgeon and she as a biomedical engineer and flight controller. Both left NASA in 2018 and went to work for SpaceX.

Menon was the company’s first flight surgeon, helping establish astronaut medical protocols for commercial space flights. His wife worked as a senior engineer and was one of two SpaceX employees who flew to space in 2024 on a five-day Crew Dragon flight chartered by billionaire Jared Isaacman, now NASA’s administrator.

Menon left SpaceX and returned to NASA after applying and being selected to join the agency’s astronaut corps in 2021. Anna was selected to join the corps in 2025 and will be available for flight assignment after she completes two years of initial training.

NASA astronauts Anna and Anil Menon, posing with their two children. NASA

Menon’s family flew to Kazakhstan to attend the Soyuz launch as did Isaacman, his first visit to the complex since taking the reigns at NASA.

“In terms of me and Anna, I would say there was a zero percent chance we thought this would happen, but it does go to show that if you keep working at something, you should never count yourself out,” Anil Menon said.

“It also goes to show that if you’re interested in being a part of NASA, going to space, there’s a lot of different ways this could work out. There isn’t a set course. Sometimes … if you work hard and consistently over time, the results can be completely shocking. We’ve been absolutely shocked by this.”

The crew pauses for a traditional farewell wave to support crews before boarding their Soyuz rocket for launch. Top to bottom: Anna Kikina, NASA astronaut Anil Menon and commander Pyotr Dubrov. NASA/Bill Ingalls

Dubrov will monitor the Soyuz spacecraft’s automated approach to the station, ready to take over manual control if needed as the ship glides in for docking at the Earth-facing Prichal module three hours and nine minutes after launch.

Standing by to welcome them aboard were Crew 12 commander Jessica Meir, pilot Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot and cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, along with Soyuz MS-28/74S commander Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, Andrey Mikaev and NASA astronaut Chris Williams.

Menon, Dubrov and Kikina are replacing the Soyuz MS-28/74S crew, who were launched to the space station last November. NASA plans to launch a replacement crew for Meir and her crewmates in September.

The fresh Soyuz crew is expected to remain aboard the station for about 260 days, returning to Earth next April. With a few exceptions, station flights have typically lasted for five to six months, but the Russians are now extending visits to eight months to reduce the amount of cargo that has to be shipped up.

And Menon is fine with that.

“We always walk into these missions somewhat prepared for any length of time,” he said before launch. “So I’m going into this willing and excited to spend more time there.”

But he will miss his wife and kids, ages 5 and 8.

“I’m looking for ways to connect with them, because when I Facetime with them, they would give me about five seconds of attention, and then they quickly start playing random things or messing with the phone,” Menon said. “So I’m bringing up some toys, some Lego figurines that will remind me of them, and maybe I can keep them engaged for 10 seconds. We’ll see.”

In an interview with CBS News, he said staying at home with the kids while his wife flew in space was more difficult than he expected. Now that their roles are reversed, both are gaining a better understanding of the challenges faced by both.

“When we talk about what it was like for her to launch and me to be on the ground, I think that was the harder job, and I found it really stressful,” he said. “I was worried about her and the kids, and there were certain challenges related to that.

“I’m able to share that perspective with her, so I’m like, hey, heads up, like it’s going to be a lot easier for me to do this launch.”

For her part, he added, “she’s got insight into what that’s like (to fly in space) and what the launch might be like, and how to make it meaningful. … We’ve talked a lot about that. I think, like, either side of this, my side and her side, hopefully we’re better off, and we understand each other a bit better.”

The Soyuz MS-29/75S crew poses for an official portrait. Left to right: NASA astronaut Anil Menon, Soyuz commander Pyotr Dubrov and cosmonaut Anna Kikina. NASA/Roscosmos

Menon is part of the Soyuz crew under an agreement between NASA and Roscosmos, the Russian federal space agency, that calls for at least one NASA astronaut to launch aboard each Soyuz and one cosmonaut to go up aboard each SpaceX Crew Dragon.

The agreement ensures at least one American and at least one Russian are always aboard the station to operate their respective systems in case a Soyuz or Dragon has to depart early because of a medical emergency or some other major problem.

Menon said he was lucky to be flying with space veterans like Dubrov and Kikina. He described his Soyuz commander as “kind of on the quieter side, really intellectual, really sharp.”

“He speaks incredibly good English, and he’s into Rubik’s cubes and esoteric science fiction. He’s read the Foundation series (by) Isaac Asimov, and Murderbot before the TV shows made those things popular. We really hit it off, because I love science fiction, too, and that’s super cool.”

As for Kikina, who first flew to space aboard a Crew Dragon in 2022, Menon described her as “100 percent full on energy, and really adds a lot to our team because me and Pyotr are a bit more quiet, and so it’s really cool to have her just like keep the engine running and moving us along.

“And she’s an athlete, like a rafter boater, she was on the Russian version of American Gladiator — it’s called Titan — and won that easily. And so it’s a cool crew, an interesting, fun crew to be a part of as well. They’ve also flown to space, so I got a lot to learn and pick up from them, and it’s a good spot to be in.”

Illegal alien ‘pirate’ who hijacked plane to US freed by Clinton-appointed judge

July 14, 2026 2:17pm EDT / Fox News

DHS blasts the Key West aircraft piracy case as an activist judge defying Trump’s deportation mandate

By Charles Creitz, Fox News

A Cuban national convicted of hijacking an airplane in the wake of 9/11 has been ordered released in Florida despite a standing order for his removal from the U.S.

Maikel Guerra Morales and several others assaulted a flight crew and hijacked a Cuban commuter airplane in 2003 and forced it to fly more than 100 miles north to Monroe County, Florida, where it eventually landed at Key West International Airport.

Morales was arrested that evening after U.S. Air Force jets scrambled from Homestead to intercept the plane, which originally took off from Nuevo Gerona on Cuba’s Isle of Youth.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION PLANS NEW ICE HOLDING FACILITY NEAR LOUISIANA DEPORTATION FLIGHT HUB

A courtroom gavel, left, is seen with an inset of Maikel Guerra Morales, right.(iStock; DHS)

Since then, he has been in U.S. custody, including for a 22-year sentence for “aircraft piracy.”

A federal immigration judge issued an order of removal against Morales in 2023, and he ultimately was transferred to ICE custody after completing his prison sentence in 2025.

But, Clinton-appointed Judge John Steele in Fort Myers ruled last week that Morales must be released, citing a Supreme Court ruling involving foreign nationals languishing in custody with no country to take them back.

DHS Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis called Morales’ case “yet another example of an activist judge trying to thwart President Trump’s mandate from the American people to remove criminal illegal aliens from our country.”

“Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, DHS will continue to fight for the detention and removal of criminal illegal aliens who have no right to be in our country,” Bis said in a statement.

BIDEN JUDGE REJECTS TRUMP’S SANCTUARY CITIES LAWSUIT, SAYS EVEN A WIN WOULDN’T SOLVE DOJ’S PROBLEM

Cuban President Fidel Castro, center, greets passengers and crew who were aboard a Cuban plane hijacked and flown to Florida.(Pablo Pildain/Getty Images)

Steele wrote that federal officials indicated their intention to deport him to Mexico, but instead found that there is no evidence of a “a significant likelihood that Guerra Morales will be removed in the reasonably foreseeable future.”

ALLEGED CUBAN INFLUENCE OPERATIVE, FAMILY IN FEDERAL CUSTODY AFTER RUBIO REVOKES LEGAL STATUS

“Therefore, he is entitled to release from detention under ‘Zadvydas’, but he remains subject to the terms of an order of supervision,” Steele wrote – relying on the case of Kestutis Zadvydas, an ethnic Lithuanian lawful permanent U.S. resident born in a German displaced-persons camp who had been ordered deported in 1994 due to a criminal record but had no receptive country to return to.

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Cuba lies 90 miles south of the Southernmost Point in the Continental United States, as marked by this buoy at the foot of Whitehead Street in Key West, Florida.(compassandcamera/iStock)

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An Associated Press report following the hijackers’ 2003 arrests in Key West said Cuban officials demanded the U.S. return the plane and all occupants, including those charged with piracy. Morales and the other suspects claimed at the time they hijacked the plane “for freedom.”

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Insider shares story behind “The Wolf of Wall Street”: “My lifestyle was insane”

July 14, 2026 / 2:01 PM EDT / CBS News

A former partner at the scandal-ridden stock-trading firm that inspired the blockbuster movie “The Wolf of Wall Street” is speaking out as a new documentary about the firm premieres on Paramount+.

“My lifestyle was insane,” Howie Gelfand, who rose to become a partner at Stratton Oakmont, said in an interview on “CBS Mornings.”

The three-part docuseries “The Real Wolf of Wall Street” gives an inside look at the firm run by Jordan Belfort, who was portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in the feature film.

Gelfand joined Stratton Oakmont when he was 19. He told “CBS Mornings” that within a year of starting he was making over $100,000 a month — far more than the $35,000 a year that he had been earning.

Eventually, he was making over $1.5 million a year. When he found out that what the firm was doing was illegal, he thought it was just business as usual for Wall Street.

But Gelfand learned that his fast-paced lifestyle came with a cost.

“I was the most miserable millionaire — 325 pounds, drugs, booze,” Gelfand said. “I couldn’t figure enough ways to subconsciously kill myself because what I was doing was horrible, so I had to anesthetize myself every day to do what I was doing.”

The docuseries includes new revelations from over 15,000 internal FBI and government documents obtained by investigative reporter and executive producer Jason Leopold using the Freedom of Information Act.

“The Real Wolf of Wall Street” is streaming now on Paramount+, a division of Paramount, the parent company of CBS News.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/ex-firm-partner-people-would-be-blown-away-real-story-the-wolf-of-wall-street/

Senate Dems draw rare line against must-pass Pentagon bill

July 14, 2026 3:38pm EDT / Fox News

Sen. Jim Banks said Democrats were playing games with troop support by blocking the defense bill

By Alex Miller, Fox News

Chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst reports President Donald Trump has declared Iran’s military capabilities are crippled, attributing it to the U.S. Armed Forces, while technical discussions for nuclear negotiations are set to resume.

Senate Democrats drew a rare line in the sand against a yearly, must-pass defense package in an act of rebellion against President Donald Trump.

Democrats blocked a procedural hurdle for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a perennial bill that opens up funding for the Pentagon and military. Many were already frustrated by the overall funding target of the package and pushed over the edge by the renewal of the Iran war.

“It’s very disappointing,” Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told Fox News Digital.

REPUBLICANS BREAK WITH TRUMP TO REBUKE IRAN WAR — BUT IT WON’T CHANGE POLICY

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, speaks during a news conference following Senate Democratic policy luncheons at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on June 23, 2026.(Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“It’s about supporting our troops, supporting our military, and it’s disappointing when Democrats play games with that,” he continued.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., charged on the Senate floor that Republicans wanted the upper chamber to take up the bill “as though none of this is happening.”

“The president is waging an unauthorized war, defying bipartisan majorities in Congress, refusing to level with the American people at the cost of the mission or the endgame,” Schumer said. “The NDAA cannot become a permission slip for that recklessness that we see occurring in Iran.”

CLOSED-DOOR OUTBURST TURNS INTO VICTORY FOR TRUMP’S IRAN NEGOTIATIONS

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6399566398112

Early signs of trouble for this year’s NDAA first appeared during the Senate Armed Services Committee’s vote to advance the legislation. The majority of Democrats, nine out of 13 on the panel, voted against it.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., was one of the “no” votes, something he acknowledged was a rare move.

He said guardrails needed to be added to Trump’s war authorities in Iran and a deeper explanation provided of where exactly the where exactly the staggering $1.15 trillion authorized by the bill would come from.

IRAN WAR’S PRICE TAG HITS $80B — MORE THAN DOUBLE WHAT CONGRESS WAS TOLD

President Donald Trump speaks with the media aboard Air Force One shortly after departure from Mildenhall Air Force Base in the United Kingdom en route to Washington, on July 8, 2026.(Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

“The Iran war issue is, I think, one of the major issues about the NDAA, but it’s not the only issue,” Kaine said. “The absence of knowing where this money is coming from to do this dramatic top-line increase? That still has to get resolved.”

Republicans, however, contended that taking the first step on the bill would allow for an amendment process to modify it.

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Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., who also sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told Fox News Digital, “It’s pretty frustrating, people need to come together and act in the best interest of the country.”

“We have to, you know, we have to have a strong military,” Scott said. “Whether we like it or not, people decide to be our enemies. They want to destroy us. So I think we ought to, you know, get on the bill and if we need to do amendments, let’s start amending it.”

Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.

Prominent American marine biologist shot dead, companion injured in the Philippines

July 14, 2026 1:41 PM EDT / CBS/AP

A distinguished American marine biologist has been shot dead by three men who entered his house in the central Philippines, police said on Tuesday.

Kent Carpenter, 73, was with his Filipina companion in a house in the coastal town of Sibulan, in Negros Oriental province, on Sunday night when the masked men forced their way in.

One drew a gun and shot Carpenter in the head, killing him instantly, police said his companion told them. The men took a laptop, an unspecified amount of cash and a backpack before fleeing, national police spokesperson Col. Allen Rae Co told reporters.

Regional police spokesperson Lt. Col. Joem Malong told The Associated Press that Carpenter’s companion sustained unspecified injuries and was being treated. Investigators were trying to determine the motive for the killing and identify the attackers.

Carpenter was a marine biologist who had worked as a lecturer at the Silliman University, in Dumaguete city, Negros Oriental, Malong said.

This 2023 photo provided by Old Dominion University shows Professor Kent Carpenter. Chuck Thomas/Old Dominion University via AP

The U.S. Embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“We assure the victim’s family, the community and our foreign visitors that this case is being treated with utmost urgency and no effort will be spared until justice is served,” regional police director Brig. Gen. Romano Cardiño said.

The most recent travel advisory from the U.S. State Department says Americans should “exercise increased caution in the Philippines due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, and kidnapping.

Carpenter had been a biological sciences professor at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, since 1996. His research — which focused on the Philippines and the Coral Triangle between the Indian and Pacific oceans — shaped conservation efforts around the world, university officials said. Carpenter studied biodiversity in the Philippines’ Verde Island Passage, and he advocated for its designation as a World Heritage Site.

Old Dominion said he was on an extended research assignment in the Philippines and planned to retire in September.

Last year, the university touted Carpenter’s research comparing museum specimens from 1907 to current populations of fish.

“He dedicated his career to expanding our understanding of the world’s bodies of water and protecting some of its most vulnerable ecosystems,” Old Dominion President Brian Hemphill said in a statement. He described Carpenter’s killing as sad and devastating. “His scholarship and passion impacted and inspired many individuals locally, nationally, and internationally.”

On his university webpage, Carpenter wrote that his research in marine conservation biology centered on assessing the extinction risks to fish species and plants. In 2010, he told the AP that unchecked global warming could lead to the extinction of all coral reefs on the planet within 100 years.

“You could argue that a complete collapse of the marine ecosystem would be one of the consequences of losing corals,” he said. “You’re going to have a tremendous cascade effect for all life in the oceans.”

Carpenter’s interest in the Philippines stemmed from his Peace Corps assignment there in the 1970s, according to a 2007 Old Dominion newsletter.

Several Philippine environment and biodiversity centers mourned Carpenter’s death. Silliman University said Carpenter was an exceptional scientist, who had collaborated with the university on marine research work and studies since 1976.

“Dr. Carpenter made ground-breaking contributions that transformed global understanding of Philippine marine biodiversity,” the university said in a social media post.

“We remain profoundly grateful for his decades of scholarship and service to the University,” the school continued. “His legacy will continue to inspire future generations of Sillimanians committed to the advancement of science and the conservation of our marine environment.”

US FDA sued for allowing unauthorized vaping products

2026-07-14 19:00:07 UTC / Reuters

By Reuters

July 14, 2026 7:00 PM UTC Updated 1 hour ago

Spree Bar which contains a new chemical that mimics nicotine, is pictured on the shelf at Sultans’ Smoke in Arvada, Colorado, U.S., May 21, 2024. REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

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July 14 (Reuters) – A coalition of public health organizations, pediatricians and parents sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday, challenging a ​new policy that allow some manufacturers to sell vapes and ‌nicotine without the legally required license.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland, targets FDA guidance issued in May. The guidance states the agency would ​not prioritize enforcement against certain unauthorized e-cigarettes and nicotine pouch ​products if the companies have marketing applications under review.

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• Plaintiffs ⁠include the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Academy of Pediatrics, ​the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the American Heart Association, ​the American Lung Association, Truth Initiative and Parents Against Vaping, along with a pediatrician and a parent whose children became addicted to nicotine after using flavored ​e-cigarettes.
• Plaintiffs argue the policy unlawfully allows products to remain on ​the market without the marketing authorization required under the Tobacco Control Act.
• The group also ‌said ⁠the guidance could permit thousands of unauthorized products, including flavored e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches popular with young people, to be sold indefinitely.
• They also contend the FDA bypassed required public notice and comment procedures ​under the Administrative ​Procedure Act ⁠and failed to justify the policy shift.
• The lawsuit also challenges the FDA’s plan to publish a list ​of products it does not intend to prioritize for ​enforcement, ⁠arguing it would facilitate sales of unauthorized products.
• The case will be heard in the same Maryland court that struck down an earlier FDA ⁠policy in ​2017 that had allowed many e-cigarettes ​to remain on the market without authorization.
• The FDA did not immediately respond to Reuters ​request for comment.

Reporting by Sanskriti Shekhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid

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Rare T. rex fossil sells for record $50.1 million at auction

July 14, 2026 12:36 PM EDT / CBS News

By Emily Mae Czachor
Emily Mae Czachor is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. She typically covers breaking news, extreme weather and climate. Emily Mae previously wrote for outlets like the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed and Newsweek.

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A giant Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton sold for $50.1 million at an auction in New York on Tuesday, marking a new record price for a dinosaur fossil.

The T. rex, nicknamed Gus, is a towering figure, standing at 12.5 feet fall and roughly 38 feet long, according to Sotheby’s, the auction house that hosted the historic bid. Composed of 183 different bones, in addition to dozens of rare rib specimens that aren’t included in technical bone counts, the assembled fossil is among the largest and most complete T. rex skeletons ever discovered, the auction house said.

Gus was auctioned off as a fully mounted structure, ready to be placed in an exhibit. The last time such an intact dinosaur skeleton sold for such a comparably high price was two years ago, almost to the date, when Sotheby’s auctioned off the mounted bones of a stegosaurus called Apex for nearly $45 million. It was a record sale at the time, which significantly exceeded the estimated price range of $4 to $6 million.

Sotheby’s had predicted that Gus would sell for $20 or $30 million, according to its website. But, after only a 10-minute bidding window, the skeleton became “the most valuable dinosaur ever sold at auction,” the auction house said. Just seven bidders participated in the auction.

A massive T. rex skeleton sold for a record $50.1 million at an auction on Tuesday. Matthew Sherman/Sotheby’s

Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby’s vice chair, said in a statement that the auction’s outcome “has been years in the making,” crediting Thomas Heitkamp, who led the excavation to uncover the T. rex remnants alongside a team in Harding County, South Dakota. The colossal dinosaur skeleton is named after the late cattle rancher Gary “Gus” Licking, who owned the land on which Heitkamp initially found the fossils.

The T. rex dates back to the late Cretaceous period, approximately 67 million years ago, according to Sotheby’s. Its discovery in South Dakota’s Hell Creek Formation followed a number of similar finds in that region, which is one of the most renowned sites of dinosaur fossils in the world.

But unearthing one like Gus is incredibly uncommon. According to Sotheby’s, just 32 T. rex skeletons have been found since the first was discovered by a paleontologist in southeastern Montana in 1902. Of them, just two, before Gus, proved to be at least 60% complete. The first, called Sue, is now on display at the Chicago Field Museum, while the second, called Stan, is at the Natural History Museum in Abu Dhabi, the auction house said.

The skeleton of Gus is roughly 61% complete, according to Sotheby’s, and it includes what the auction house described as “an exceptionally preserved skull.”

“For me the added bonus was knowing that ‘Gus’ was just one of the many pieces of history hidden in the land that Gary and I loved to share,” said Dana Licking, Gary Licking’s wife, in a statement. “It will be exciting to see how many others will get to enjoy this spectacular discovery.”

DOJ charges 3 Russians in alleged $63M cybercrime scheme targeting Americans

July 14, 2026 2:47pm EDT / Fox News

Alexander Volosovik, Kirill Zatolokin and Yulia Pankova allegedly ran St Petersburg firms enabling ransomware and phishing attacks

By Robert McGreevy Fox News

Three Russian nationals allegedly scammed Americans in 21 states out of more than $63 million, according to a December 2024 indictment that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio unsealed Tuesday.

The trio — Alexander Alexandrovich Volosovik, 43, Kirill Andreevich Zatolokin, 34, and Yulia Vladimirovna Pankova, 29 — conducted “malicious cyber activities against U.S. critical infrastructure” through their St. Petersburg, Russia-based companies Media Land, LLC and ML.Cloud, LLC, according to federal prosecutors.

“From their overseas safe haven, these defendants ran the criminal infrastructure that powered attacks on critical institutions across our nation,” Department of Justice Criminal Division Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva said in a statement.

GLOBAL SCAM CRACKDOWN LEADS TO 276 ARRESTS

“Their actions put the American public at risk. We will continue to dismantle these networks and protect our critical infrastructure from cybercriminals at home and abroad.”

Alexander Alexandrovich Volosovik, Yulia Vladimirovna Pankova and Kirill Andreevich Zatolokin.(U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio)

A grand jury indicted the trio on charges of conspiracy to commit and aid and abet computer fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering in December 2024.

The U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for Justice (RFJ) program is offering up to $10 million for information on foreign government-linked associates of the trio or for affiliates of their companies.

FBI ADDS 2 FUGITIVES TO ‘MOST WANTED FRAUDSTERS’ LIST AMID HISTORIC $6.5B HEALTHCARE TAKEDOWN: PATEL

The U.S. and allied countries levied sanctions on the companies in 2025.

Media Land and MLCloud, according to the indictment, provided hosting services and information technology infrastructure for business both in the U.S. and abroad. Specifically, the groups offered “bulletproof hosting” services meant to be used by those trying to evade detection by law enforcement.

The companies “provided infrastructure and tech support to criminal client co-conspirators with the means to infect victim computers with malware and ransomware and then extorted those victims for money and cryptocurrency,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office Tuesday announcement read.

STOLEN IDS SOLD FOR ‘HAPPY MEAL’ PRICES FUEL BILLIONS IN US BENEFIT FRAUD

“Other computer-based crimes facilitated by Media Land and ML.Cloud included supporting criminal marketplaces, fraudulent domain registrations, and providing the platform from which to launch phishing and brute force attacks,” the announcement added.

While many U.S. residents were alleged victims of the group’s products, their organizations targeted victims across the globe, prompting U.S. authorities to collaborate with international partners, a fact the U.S. attorney and the FBI both stressed.

U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio David Toepfer(U.S. Department of Justice)

“The victims in this case are not only in Ohio, but also in 20 other states across the country, touching every aspect of Americans’ lives. They include banks, schools, government entities, hospitals and media companies,” United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio David M. Toepfer said in a statement.

“Together with our international partners, we will aggressively combat the efforts of individuals who hide behind computers anywhere in the world who seek to profit and wreak havoc by targeting the infrastructures that support our communities.”

Other international organizations that Toepfer thanked included the National Police of the Netherlands and the Netherlands’ Public Prosecutor’s Office, the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency, the United Kingdom Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Australian Federal Police.

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“Today’s announcement underscores the importance of global partnerships and international collaboration, especially in a borderless world riddled with cyber criminals,” FBI Cleveland Special Agent in Charge Josh DelManzo also said.

FBI headquarters in Washington D.C., July 3, 2023.(Celal GÃneÅ/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

“The methods used by these bad actors, including ransomware, malware, phishing and other cyber activity, serves as a reminder that whether for business or personal use, when you are online, criminal networks will stop at nothing to hack, attack, share, or sell your information for their own greed, gain, and profit. The FBI and its partners will continue to identify and cripple criminal networks and freeze their infrastructures to reduce or remove the threats to the public and further protect trusting individuals and companies.”

Fox News Digital contacted the DOJ for further comment.

The U.S. Attorney’s office for the Northern District of Ohio declined to comment, citing an ongoing investigation.

As cyclosporiasis cases rise, consumers are left guessing which foods to avoid

July 14, 2026 3:45 PM EDT / CBS News

By Megan Cerullo Reporter, MoneyWatch
Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News 24/7 to discuss her reporting.

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Consumers worried about a growing outbreak of cyclosporiasis, a diarrheal illness caused by the cyclospora parasite, are turning to social media for advice on what foods to avoid as public health officials have yet to identify the source.

The illness can cause long-lasting bouts of explosive diarrhea leading to severe dehydration, particularly in young children, older adults and people who are immunocompromised. Public health experts say it is difficult to dispense safety advice because key details about the outbreak remain unknown, leaving the public largely flying blind when it comes to appropriate health precautions.

“This isn’t a problem consumers can solve,” said Dr. Celine Gounder, CBS News medical correspondent and editor-at-large for Public Health at KFF Health News. “We basically have to revert to what you’d tell someone traveling to a developing country: Don’t eat fresh produce that isn’t cooked and can’t be peeled.”

The lack of definitive information has fueled widespread speculation online, with some social media users naming specific grocery stores, restaurants or food producers they believe are responsible for the outbreak.

“Anyone who is sick with cyclospora, what state are you in and have you narrowed down what you ate that may have caused it?” one social media user wrote in a post that received more than 1,300 responses.

Gounder said the absence of an official recall or confirmed source has created fertile ground for online speculation, adding that she cautions against drawing such conclusions before investigators identify the source.

“No recall has been issued for this outbreak,” Gounder added. “And a lot of the viral content treats this as gross-out material, explosive diarrhea, played for shock value.”

On July 13, the state of Michigan, with some 2,600 cases, issued some guidance, saying that “current results point to lettuce or salad greens as a potential source for this outbreak, although other food items cannot be completely ruled out.” The statement didn’t point to any specific producer or retailer, but urged consumers to purchase whole heads of lettuce rather than pre-washed bags of greens.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Taco Bell removes some ingredients

On Tuesday, Taco Bell told CBS News that it has “voluntarily and temporarily removed limited ingredients at select restaurants as a precautionary measure.” Federal and local health officials are investigating whether illnesses reported by some customers are connected to the broader outbreak, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.

Taco Bell told CBS News that public health officials haven’t confirmed a link to its restaurants or any specific ingredient, supplier, restaurant or retailer.

“Until the culprit is found, we really can’t put the blame on a certain farm or processing company,” Dr. Nuwan Gunawardhana, an infectious disease expert at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, told CBS News.

Optional cyclospora tracking

Some public health experts say staffing reductions and changes to disease surveillance may have made it more difficult to quickly identify the source of the outbreak.

The outbreak comes about one year after the CDC scaled back monitoring of cyclospora. Before July 2025, the CDC mandated the reporting of cyclosporiasis through FoodNet, a network that tracked laboratory-confirmed infections from cyclospora, Dr. Omer Awan, a physician and senior public health contributor for Forbes, told CBS News.

“Our surveillance systems have been hindered to a large extent because of many cuts we’ve seen from the federal government,” Awan said.

Many of the CDC employees laid off last year worked on disease outbreaks like the current one, reducing the agency’s ability to identify and contain foodborne illnesses, he said.

“Now it’s become optional to report [cyclospora], so our surveillance systems have been hindered, and it’s hard to know what the source is,” he said.

In the absence of specific product recalls, here is how health experts say people can avoid contracting the disease.

Advice on food safety

Because investigators haven’t identified a specific contaminated product, health experts say the safest approach is to follow general food safety precautions.

Michigan health officials noted that previous cyclosporiasis outbreaks have been linked to:

• Bagged salad mixes and kits
• Fresh cilantro
• Fresh basil
• Raspberries
• Snow peas
• Green onions or scallions

People who want to be especially cautious may choose to avoid those foods until investigators identify the source of the current outbreak.

Handwashing is also essential, according to Dr. Jessica Justman, an infectious disease and internal medicine specialist at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

“People should step up their hand washing with soap and water, particularly before handling any food, preparing any food and eating,” she said.

Produce should be rinsed thoroughly before consumption, she added.

Heating fresh produce to 70 degrees Celsius or 158 degrees Fahrenheit is the best way to eliminate the parasite, experts told CBS News.

“The best way to avoid ingesting it is to cook your food,” Dr. Gunawardhana said. He added that brushing or scrubbing vegetables can also help get rid of it. “But it’s also known to be extremely adherent to surfaces, so it won’t protect you 100%.”

Edited by Aimee Picchi

Cyclosporiasis parasite cases skyrocket

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/cyclosporiasis-parasite-cases-found-31-states/

Amy Coney Barrett recalls heartbreaking question from 12-year-old son over bulletproof vest

July 14, 2026 3:41pm EDT / Fox News

Barrett and Justice Elena Kagan’s testimony before Congress came as the Supreme Court seeks a 10% budget increase for fiscal year 2027

By Elaine Mallon, Fox News

Barrett: Didn’t expect this job meant explaining bulletproof vest to my son, 12

Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett says threats around the Dobbs leak forced her to bring home a bulletproof vest — and explain it to her 12-year-old son — as she warned lawmakers that the threat level facing federal judges remains “really high.”

Justice Amy Coney Barrett shared before the House Appropriations Committee that the uptick in threats waged against her and fellow Supreme Court justices have taken a toll on her children.

“They have required my children to think about and see things that children should not have to see or think about,” Barrett testified Tuesday.

Barrett shared how her security detail gave her a bulletproof vest to wear, and one day when she brought it into her bedroom, her 12-year-old son asked what it was.

“And I didn’t know how to respond because maybe I lack imagination, but I didn’t expect that performing this service was going to put me in the position of explaining to my children what a bulletproof vest was, and why I had to wear one,” Barrett told the committee.

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Barrett and Justice Elena Kagan’s testimony before Congress came as the Supreme Court seeks a 10% budget increase for fiscal year 2027, with roughly $16.6 million of the $20.7 million increase dedicated to expanding security for the justices.

Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett testify before the House Appropriations Committee on Capitol Hill July 14, 2026, in Washington.(Finn Gomez / Getty Images)

Barrett, who was the target of a swatting incident in May, recounted how her and her family’s lives drastically changed following the leaked Dobbs decision in 2022, which ruled that abortion was not a constitutional right, causing threats on her life to intensify.

In that incident, someone falsely reported gunshots at her home, Barrett testified, saying her teenage son and his friends were the first to discover the street filled with police.

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“I was very, very grateful that I had Supreme Court police outside my home because they were able to stop and meet with and explain to the county police that it had been a false alarm, and so the police did not actually attempt to enter our home,” Barrett said.

She also shared that her and other justices are receiving anonymous packages being sent in the name of Daniel Anderl, the 20-year-old son of U.S District Court Judge Esther Salas, who was killed in 2020.

The gunman was an attorney, posing as a delivery driver. Judge Salas was his target. Salas’ husband was seriously injured as well.

Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett arrives to testify during a House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 14, 2026.(Kent Nishimura / AFP)

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“I think the message on these deliveries being sent in his name is clear,” Barrett said. “As Justice Kagan said, federal judges across the country, throughout the judiciary, including the Supreme Court, continue to do their jobs without fear or favor, but the threat level is really high.”

The testimony underscored the urgency behind the Supreme Court’s push for more security funding during its first appearance before Congress since 2019.

In total, the Supreme Court is requesting roughly $89 million to cover their personal security costs, which Kagan said is necessary given that the Justices have experienced a 35% increase in threats just in 2026, compared to a 25% increase in threats the year prior. Kagan noted how recent growth in the budget can be entirely attributed to security expenses.

“For some of us, those threats have come very close and all of us live with the knowledge that they may again materialize,” Kagan testified.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6401126352112

She recalled that when she arrived at the Supreme Court in 2010, justices did not receive around-the-clock personal protection. Instead, the court’s police primarily guarded the building, and she only had security accompanying her during work-related public events.

But Kagan said the heightened focus on justices’ security began after Justice Antonin Scalia’s death in 2016. Scalia died while on a hunting trip in Texas, where he was hours away from security personnel after declining a private security detail for the trip.

Kagan recalled that Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and the late Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, D-Md., came to Chief Justice John Roberts to push them to step up their security.

“This was how the Chief described it to us — they said, kind of like, ‘We think you’re crazy, you know, that you have less security than the director of the Office of Personnel Management does. And we think that you have to do better.’

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“Then, of course, the Dobbs leak happened, and that really increased the urgency of the entire thing,” Kagan said. “But we’ve been working on this now for about a decade and actually, I think, are grateful to Congress for coming to us and saying, ‘You have to up your game in this area.’”

Elaine Mallon is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business covering national politics.