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  • Mikaela Shiffrin wins record-tying 6th overall World Cup skiing title

    Mikaela Shiffrin secured a record-tying sixth women’s overall World Cup skiing title by holding off a challenge from emerging German rival Emma Aicher in the final race of the season Wednesday in Norway.

    Shiffrin needed only to finish in the top 15 of a giant slalom and the American standout secured that before Aicher even began her second run.

    The 31-year-old American matched Austrian downhill great Annemarie Moser-Pröll, who won her six titles in the 1970s.

    Moser-Pröll won five straight titles from 1971-75 then a sixth in 1979. Shiffrin won three straight from 2017-19, then back-to-back titles in 2022 and ’23.

    Lindsey Vonn is third on the women’s list with four overall titles.

    Marcel Hirscher leads the men’s list with eight overall titles.

    It’s been another stellar season for Shiffrin, who claimed the third Olympic gold of her career by dominating the slalom at the Milan Cortina Games.

    Shiffrin also won nine of the 10 World Cup slaloms this season and has a record 110 victories across all disciplines – by far the most in the World Cup by any man or woman. Ingemar Stenmark is next best with 86 wins in the 1970s and ’80s.

    Last month, Shiffrin told CBS News that winning her third Olympic gold medal “does feel different.”

    “Every single experience has been wildly different,” the 30-year-old said, reflecting on her Olympic career that now includes four total medals.

    Shiffrin’s father, Jeff Shiffrin, unexpectedly died in 2020 at the age of 65.

  • Sharks in the Bahamas test positive for caffeine, painkillers and even cocaine, study finds

    Sharks in the Bahamas are consuming substances including caffeine, painkillers and even cocaine, according to a new study by marine scientists who say it could potentially impact the animals’ health and behavior.

    The research team, made up of marine biologists and scientists from a variety of international programs, analyzed blood samples from 85 sharks of five different species. The sharks were captured about four miles off the coast of a remote island and their blood levels were tested for 24 legal and illegal drugs.

    Twenty-eight of the sharks had detectable levels of caffeine, two common over-the-counter anti-inflammatory painkillers, or, in one instance, cocaine in their blood, according to the study. Some tested positive for more than one substance.

    Medications, illicit drugs and other substances are “increasingly recognized as contaminants of emerging concern” in oceans and other bodies of water, the researchers said. They noted areas that are “undergoing rapid urbanization and tourism-driven development” are especially at risk. This is the first study looking at the effect of these contaminants on sharks in the Bahamas, the researchers said.

    “While the detection of cocaine — an illicit substance — tends to draw immediate attention, the widespread presence of caffeine and pharmaceuticals in the blood of many analyzed sharks is equally alarming,” said lead author Natascha Wosnick, a zoologist and associate professor at the Brazil’s Federal University of Parana, in an email to CBS News. “These are legal substances, routinely consumed and often overlooked, yet their environmental footprint is clearly detectable. This underscores the need to critically reassess even our most normalized habits.”

    The data showed the sharks with contaminated blood had changes in metabolic markers, including those tied to stress and metabolism. The researchers said it’s not clear if the changes are harmful, but it’s possible they could lead to behavioral changes.

    “Our primary concern is not an increase in aggression toward humans, but rather the potential implications for the health and stability of shark populations,” Wosnick said. “Chronic exposure to these anthropogenic compounds, many of which have no natural analogue in marine systems, may lead to negative effects that are still poorly understood.”

    The researchers said that the data highlights “the urgent need to address marine pollution in ecosystems often perceived as pristine.”

    Tracy Fanara, a marine biologist who worked on a Discovery TV show called “Cocaine Sharks” that explored how sharks might be affected by the drug, told CBS News in 2023 about experiments that simulated cocaine exposure. She said it led to “strange behavior” that requires more research. During the show, she can be heard noting that a hammerhead shark appears to be pursuing a bale of fake cocaine.

    “My goal of this experiment was to shed light on the real problem of chemicals in our waterways and impacting our aquatic life and then eventually impacting us,” Fanara said in 2023. “But the goal of the study was basically to see if this is a research question worth exploring more. And I would say, yes, it is.”

    In a separate study from 2024, scientists reported that sharks in the waters off Brazil tested positive for cocaine and benzoylecgonine, the primary molecule in cocaine. Those researchers looked at the levels of the substances in the sharks’ liver and muscles. Each of the 13 sharks examined for the study tested positive for high levels of cocaine, CBS News reported at the time. The research team said more data would be necessary to see how cocaine and other substances affect sharks and other wildlife.

  • Russian man gets 4 years in U.K. prison for attacking woman after Barron Trump alerted police

    A Russian man was sentenced to four years in prison Friday for assaulting a woman in London, in an attack that was witnessed on a video call by President Trump’s youngest son, Barron.

    Matvei Rumiantsev, 23, was convicted by a jury on Jan. 28 of assault with bodily harm but was acquitted of rape and choking charges. He was also convicted of perverting the course of justice because he sent the woman a letter from jail asking her to retract her allegations.

    In his sentencing remarks at Snaresbrook Crown Court in east London, Justice Joel Bennathan said Rumiantsev was “totally unrepentant” and a “man given to jealousy.”

    “Your lack of insight and empathy was apparent at trial,” the judge said. “You continue to try to blame the complainant for everything that has happened.”

    In the attack on Jan. 18 last year, Rumiantsev drunkenly beat up the victim, who is entitled to anonymity under U.K. law, when he became jealous of her friendship with Barron Trump. She had met the president’s son, who lives in the U.S., through social media.

    During the assault, Rumiantsev answered a FaceTime call from Barron Trump on the woman’s phone and turned the camera to show her crying on the floor.

    The U.S. president’s son then called police in the British capital and pleaded for help for the woman.

  • U.S. Tomahawks are being used in Iran war faster than stockpile is being refilled

    The U.S. has so far used hundreds of Tomahawk cruise missiles against Iran, according to two sources familiar with the matter, several times more than the number procured for the military each year.

    One of the sources said over 850 have been used so far in the conflict, a figure that is roughly nine times the number of Tomahawks the Pentagon buys on average each year. This number was first reported by the Washington Post.

    The maximum rate of production is estimated to be 2,330 per year: Three contracts from Raytheon each have a capacity of 600 and a BAE has a contract to produce up to 530 missiles per year, according to a report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which cites Pentagon budget documents.

    However, the actual procurement rate for the U.S. military is about 90 per year, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The Navy requested only 57 missiles for fiscal year 2026, according to Defense Department budget documents.

    In total, it’s estimated the Pentagon has about 3,100 or so Tomahawk missiles in its inventory, according to Kelly Grieco, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center.

    “It’s been recognized that we don’t have enough long-range strike capability, so we’ve been trying to build up these stockpiles, but we keep depleting them,” Grieco told CBS News.

    Raytheon, or RTX, recently announced a framework agreement with the Defense Department to scale up to 1,000 missiles for the U.S. per year over several years.

    What is a Tomahawk missile and what U.S. military services use them?
    A Tomahawk cruise missile, launched from Navy destroyers and submarines, can travel more than 1,000 miles and strike with remarkable precision, even against targets protected by sophisticated air defenses. Developed during the Cold War and continually upgraded since, it has become one of the Pentagon’s most dependable long-range weapons.

    The missile is operated primarily by the U.S. Navy, but in recent years has also been adopted by the Marine Corps and the Army, reflecting a broader shift toward long-range precision weapons across the services. Allied militaries, including Britain’s Royal Navy, also field the system. No evidence has come to light that would suggest that Iran uses or has obtained Tomahawk missiles for use.

    According to Pentagon data, the Tomahawk has been flight-tested more than 550 times and used operationally in over 2,300 strikes, according to Raytheon, the defense manufacturer. In conflicts from Iraq to Syria and recently in the U.S.-Israel war with Iran, Tomahawks are often used as the weapon of first resort when American commanders seek to hit distant or heavily defended targets without risking pilots.

    How much do Tomahawks cost?
    Costs can vary depending on what version of the Tomahawk the U.S. is purchasing but the missile costs around $2.2 million and a launcher is more than $6 million for ground-based versions. Tomahawks launched by the U.S. Navy from destroyers or submarines are capable of striking moving ships and can come in at more than $4 million.

    Tomahawks are just one of the advanced munitions the U.S. has been using.
    Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said at a hearing earlier this week that U.S. Forces have fired “thousands of Tomahawks, Precision Strike Missiles, and other long-range offensive weapons into Iran, while also using Patriot, THAAD, and Standard Missile interceptors at an alarming rate.”

    Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. is ramping up the defense industrial base in an effort to produce critical munitions faster.

    “We’re reviving our defense industrial base and rebuilding the arsenal of freedom,” Hegseth said at a news conference last week, adding that new deals would cut “long lead times on exquisite munitions.”

    “We’re going to be refilled faster than anyone imagined,” Hegseth said.

     

  • North Korea tests missile that it claims can target U.S. mainland

    North Korean leader Kim Jong Un observed a test of an upgraded solid-fuel engine for weapons capable of reaching the U.S. mainland, and called it a significant development boosting his country’s strategic military arsenal, state media reported Sunday.

    While the test was in line with Kim’s stated goal of acquiring more agile, hard-to-detect missiles targeting the U.S. and its allies, some experts speculate North Korea’s claim may be an exaggeration. Missiles with built-in solid propellants are easier to move and conceal their launches than liquid-fuel weapons, which, in general, must be fueled before liftoff and cannot last long.

    The official Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim watched the ground jet test of the engine using a composite carbon fiber material. It said the engine’s maximum thrust is 2,500 kilonewtons, up from about 1,970 kilonewtons reported in a similar solid-fuel engine test in September.

    An undated photo provided by the North Korean government shows what it says is the engine test at an undisclosed site. The event was not covered by independent reporters. The photo shows a large jet of flame shooting from the missile.

    KCNA reported the test was conducted as part of the country’s five-year arms build-up meant to upgrade “strategic strike means,” a term referring to nuclear-capable ballistic missiles and other weapons. Kim said the latest engine test had “great significance in putting the country’s strategic military muscle on the highest level,” according to KCNA. The agency did not say when or where the test occurred.

    North Korea’s report on the latest test could be “bluffing” as it didn’t disclose some key information like the engine’s total combustion time, said Lee Choon Geun, an honorary research fellow at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute.

    When North Korea reported about the previous engine test in September, it described it as the ninth and final ground test of a solid-fuel engine that it earlier said would be used for intercontinental ballistic missiles. Observers predicted at the time that North Korea would soon test-launch an ICBM loaded with that engine, but it hasn’t done so yet.

    North Korea’s solid-fuel engine program may be facing some delays or the country might have determined to develop a better engine, possibly with Russian assistance, Lee said. Cooperation between the countries has deepened in recent years, with the North sending troops and conventional weapons to support Russia’s war against Ukraine.

    In recent years, North Korea has test-fired a variety of ICBMs demonstrating the potential range to reach the U.S. mainland, including solid-fuel ones. But some of North Korea’s past claims about major weapons tests drew outside skepticism. In 2024, North Korea claimed to have successfully test-launched a multiwarhead missile, but South Korea quickly dismissed it as a deception to cover up a failed launch.