ADAM SMITH

America’s onslaught of mega costly weather disasters remains stuck in high gear.

This past year has seen a horrific flood that submerged one-third of Pakistan, one of the three costliest U.S. hurricanes on record, devastating droughts in Europe and China, a drought-triggered famine in Africa and deadly heat waves all over.

A bill to rescind the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for members of the U.S. military has passed the House.

When President Joe Biden visits a Lockheed Martin plant on Tuesday that manufactures an antitank weapons system, he’s certain to herald the U.S.-made arms as a gamechanger in Ukraine’s stiff resistance to the Russian invasion.

President Joe Biden has called Russia’s war on Ukraine a genocide and he's accused Vladimir Putin of committing war crimes.

Some Democratic and Republican lawmakers say the United States is delaying providing some intelligence to Ukraine in its fight against Russia as the U.S. also seeks to limit any direct confrontation with Moscow.

U.S. and European officials are holding one key financial sanction against Russia in reserve.

As the Biden administration prepares its response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine, U.S. Treasury Department officials and their counterparts in Europe are tasked with finding ways to make Russia’s economy pay a price.

Three new reports show 2021 was a deadly year for America's struggle with climate change.

The American military is warning that China is probably accelerating its timetable for retaking Taiwan, the island democracy that's widely seen as the most likely trigger for a potentially catastrophic U.S.-China war.

National Guard open a gate in the razor wire topped perimeter fence around the Capitol allow another member in at sunrise in Washington, Monday, March 8, 2021. The U.S. Capitol Police has asked for the fencing and the National Guard to remain, for now. As of Friday there were about 4,300 Guard troops in the city. "Our National Guard troops, who serve with great honor and distinction, are not law enforcement officers, and we will not abide the continued militarization of Capitol complex security,” wrote Sens. Coupled with the hiring of 350 additional officers, the report also recommends establishing a permanent “quick response force” within the Capitol Police but also at the National Guard in D.C. for emergencies.

According to the National Guard, troops from some states will stay in Washington for the entire two months. Military leaders were also concerned because governors initially expressed reluctance to have their troops stay in the city. Troops from the District of Columbia Guard will continue in the security mission. As of Friday there were about 4,300 Guard troops in the city. The National Guard Association of the United States also questioned the extension, noting that it was difficult for Guard leaders to find enough volunteers for the mission.

National Guard open a gate in the razor wire topped perimeter fence around the Capitol allow another member in at sunrise in Washington, Monday, March 8, 2021. The U.S. Capitol Police has asked for the fencing and the National Guard to remain, for now. As of Friday there were about 4,300 Guard troops in the city. "Our National Guard troops, who serve with great honor and distinction, are not law enforcement officers, and we will not abide the continued militarization of Capitol complex security,” wrote Sens. Coupled with the hiring of 350 additional officers, the report also recommends establishing a permanent “quick response force” within the Capitol Police but also at the National Guard in D.C. for emergencies.

President-elect Joe Bidens pick for national intelligence director Avril Haines arrives for a confirmation hearing before the Senate intelligence committee on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, in Washington. Neither Blinken nor Biden's other nominees for national security Cabinet posts encountered substantial opposition Tuesday. “When it comes to intelligence, there is simply no place for politics — ever,” she told the Senate Intelligence Committee. The House majority leader, Rep. Steny Hoyer, indicated Tuesday that the full House would consider an Austin waiver bill on Thursday. Like Blinken, Austin said he views China as the leading international issue facing Biden's national security team.

Trump slammed GOP lawmakers on Twitter, charging that “Weak and tired Republican ‘leadership’ will allow the bad Defense Bill to pass.″Trump called the override vote a “disgraceful act of cowardice and total submission by weak people to Big Tech. !″The 322-87 vote in the House sends the override effort to the Senate, where the exact timing of a vote is uncertain. The House veto override was supported by 212 Democrats, 109 Republicans and an independent. Reed called the Dec. 23 veto “Trump’s parting gift to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and a lump of coal for our troops. The defense bill guides Pentagon policy and cements decisions about troop levels, new weapons systems and military readiness, personnel policy and other military goals.

(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)WASHINGTON – The Democratic-controlled House voted overwhelmingly Monday to override President Donald Trump’s veto of a defense policy bill, setting the stage for what would be the first veto override of his presidency. House members voted 322-87 to override the veto, well above the two-thirds needed to override. Trump rejected the defense bill last week, saying it failed to limit social media companies he claims were biased against him during his failed reelection campaign. The veto override was supported by 212 Democrats, 109 Republicans and an independent. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in a rare break with Trump, had urged passage of the defense bill despite Trump’s veto threat.

A U.S. official confirmed Saturday that the Pentagon has a plan for separating the National Security Agency and Cyber Command. In his letter to Miller, Smith said the Pentagon has not met conditions set by the 2017 defense bill for severing the NSA from Cyber Command. The notion of splitting NSA from Cyber Command goes back to the Obama administration, which proposed to elevate the status of Cyber Command by making it a unified military command, taking it from under the purview of U.S. Strategic Command. That move was approved by President Donald Trump in 2017, and it was foreseen that at some point Cyber Command would split away from the NSA, although such a move had strong opponents in Congress. It's not clear who the Trump administration might install as head of the NSA if it were split from Cyber Command before President-elect Joe Biden takes office Jan. 20.

The measure guides Pentagon policy and cements decisions about troop levels, new weapons systems and military readiness, military personnel policy and other military goals. It follows Trump's bid to sabotage the package with an earlier veto threat over Confederate base names. If he does veto the defense bill, Congress could cut short its Christmas recess to hold override votes, senior House members said. And I think he will get substantial pressure, advice (from Republicans) that, you know, you don’t want to put the defense bill at risk.'' The defense bill is typically a widely bipartisan measure, one of the few areas of common ground.

It follows Trump's bid to sabotage the package with an earlier veto threat over Confederate base names. If he does veto the defense bill, Congress could cut short its Christmas recess to hold override votes, senior House members said. And I think he will get substantial pressure, advice (from Republicans) that, you know, you don’t want to put the defense bill at risk.'' The defense bill is typically a widely bipartisan measure, one of the few areas of common ground. Some Democrats, including Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, agree the Section 230 provision could be revisited, even as they disagree with Trump’s tactic of attaching it to the defense bill.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany speaks during a briefing at the White House, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020, in Washington. But interjecting the complicated tech issue threatens to upend the massive defense bill, which Congress takes pride in having passed unfailingly for half a century. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said at briefing Wednesday that the president is serious about vetoing the defense bill unless Congress repeals Section 230. Some Democrats, including Schumer, agree the Section 230 provision could be revisited, even as they disagree with Trump’s tactic of attaching it to the defense bill. But he also said he doesn’t believe Trump will veto the must-pass defense bill.

(Tom Williams/Pool via AP, File)WASHINGTON – A day after President Donald Trump fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper, three staunch loyalists to the president were named to top defense jobs. Patel and Cohen-Watnick are both considered staunchly loyal to Trump and previously worked at the National Security Council. He also is a former prosecutor in the national security division of the Department of Justice and former staff member on the House Intelligence Committee. Cohen-Watnick was a protégé of Trump’s initial national security adviser, Michael Flynn, but was replaced in the summer of 2017 by Flynn’s successor, H.R. McMaster, as part of a string of shakeups at the White House and National Security Council.

In the August complaint, Lt. Col Yevgeny Vindman alleges he faced retaliation from Trump and White House officials after raising concerns about the presidents pressure on Ukrainian officials to investigate Democrat Joe Bidens family the heart of the Democrats impeachment inquiry. Both Vindmans worked for the National Security Council in the White House and were reassigned to the Army after the Senate voted to acquit Trump in his impeachment trial. If the White House refuses to cooperate fully including by denying requests for documents or for interviews with White House officials we will have no other choice but to infer that any such actions were retaliatory, the Democrats wrote. Mark Zaid, a lawyer for Yevgeny Vindman, confirmed the existence of the complaint and said it states that that senior White House officials, to include the president, retaliated against him for performing his duty as an attorney and soldier. The White House did not immediately comment on the allegations. The allegations are wide-ranging, including his apprehension about the pressure on Ukraine and the behavior of OBrien, who was then the assistant to the president for national security affairs.

Gen. Anthony Tata to a job performing the duties of the deputy undersecretary for defense policy, amid ongoing furor over offensive remarks Tata made, including about Islam. Last week the Senate canceled a hearing on Tata's nomination to become defense undersecretary for policy, the third-highest civilian post at the Pentagon. Tata, who also has been a Fox News commentator, withdrew his name from consideration for the undersecretary job over the weekend, and was then appointed by Trump to serve in the deputy's post. James Anderson, who had been serving as Rood's deputy, is currently the acting policy undersecretary the job Tata was initially nominated to fill. Officials who carry the acting title have more authority than those who are performing the duties of the job.

On Friday, the House passed a $259 billion funding bill for foreign aid and the Interior, Agriculture, and Veterans Affairs departments along party lines. The measure is the first annual spending measure to pass either the House or Senate this year, but it has scant chance of becoming law, serving instead as a springboard for negotiations down the line. And if Trump loses the election, Democrats are likely to wait until the Biden administration is in place before wrapping up the annual bills, which fund the annual operations of federal Cabinet agencies. The Senate Appropriations panel canceled plans for drafting its 12 annual bills after Democrats served notice they would offer amendments on COVID relief and policing reform that Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., deemed too politically troublesome. As a result, Congress is likely to return to Washington in September to handle a stopgap funding bill that would last until December to prevent a campaign season government shutdown.

WASHINGTON The White House is threatening to veto a massive defense policy bill over a provision that would rename military bases such as Fort Bragg that are named after Confederate officers. The House approved the bill, 295-125, sending it to the Senate, where lawmakers are considering a similar measure. If the bill were presented to President Donald Trump in its current form, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto it, the White House said. The Senate's top Democrat, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, dared Trump to veto the defense bill over Confederate base naming. It also requires designation of an assistant secretary of defense for industrial base policy, charged with supervising Pentagon policies to develop and maintain the nation's defense industrial base.

Brett Crozier, then-commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), addresses the crew on Jan. 17, 2020, in San Diego, Calif. In a stunning reversal, the Navy has upheld the firing of Crozier, the aircraft carrier captain who urged faster action to protect his crew from a coronavirus outbreak, according to a U.S. official. After about two weeks of training at sea, the carrier returned to operations at sea with a reduced crew on June 4. Sailors have continued to fly back to the ship from Guam after they have recovered from the virus or completed two weeks of quarantine. The Roosevelts experience with the virus, however, spurred the development of widespread cleaning and health precautions across the military.

FILE - In this June 1, 2020, file photo President Donald Trump departs the White House to visit outside St. John's Church in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)WASHINGTON The nation's top military officer, Gen. Mark Milley, spoke privately with congressional leaders and many other lawmakers as Pentagon officials came under fire for the military's role in containing protests following the police killing of George Floyd. That was the day after authorities cleared protesters near the White House so President Donald Trump could hold a photo opportunity at a nearby church. Milley and Defense Secretary Mark Esper were sharply criticized for accompanying Trump and thereby giving the impression of endorsing a politicization of the military. The White House has prohibited officials from the administration from testifying before the House unless they have cleared any appearances with the White House chief of staff.

That was the day after authorities cleared protesters near the White House so President Donald Trump could hold a photo opportunity at a nearby church. Late Friday, Esper and Milley declined a request from Democrats to appear before the House Armed Services Committee next week. Our military leaders are sworn to be accountable to the people of this country, and Congress is constitutionally responsible for oversight, the Democrats wrote. The White House has prohibited officials from the administration from testifying before the House unless they have cleared any appearances with the White House chief of staff. In his own Senate speech Tuesday morning, Inhofe said he wanted to set the record straight after conferring with Milley before and after Mondays events.

Bournemouth's manager Eddie Howe walks on the field at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Bournemouth and Liverpool at the Vitality stadium in Bournemouth, England, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019. So, a decade later, Howe will be putting Bournemouth’s current plight in the context of its perilous recent history. Bournemouth is in free fall in the Premier League, with its injury-ravaged team having lost five straight matches to drop within a point of the relegation zone. It is brave — some might say reckless — but it’s a philosophy that Howe, seven years into his second spell as Bournemouth manager, hasn’t wavered from. The current Bournemouth squad is the youngest since the club came into the Premier League, with many of the leaders no longer regulars.

And even when she moved several times, that box went with her. "It turns out it was a baby," Smith told KSDK. St. Louis investigators are treating the case as a "suspicious death," the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Even as she was on her deathbed, she never told me what was in that box, Smith told the Post-Dispatch. RELATED STORIESWhat to Know About the Canada Highway Murders of Chynna Deese, Lucas Fowler and Leonard DyckOfficers Stopped Canada Highway Murder Suspects but Let Them Go: CopsDad of Canada Highway Murders Suspect Predicts Teen Son Is on 'Suicide Mission'

Yumi Kimura via Wikimedia Commons(CNN) - Adam Smith said he's known about the white cardboard box in his mother's freezer his entire life. The white cardboard box was wrapped in garbage bags, Smith told CNN. I remember trying to grab a stool and rip through the plastic," Smith told CNN. It traveled with his mother to four different homes in St. Louis, Smith said, including the apartment on Magnolia Avenue where she lived for 25 years until her death. There was no blood on it, looked like a newborn baby," Smith recalled.