First Run News

Chuck Blazer, an American soccer official and bon vivant who was a central figure in the FIFA scandal that laid bare widespread corruption in international soccer, died at a New Jersey hospital on Wednesday. He was 72. Mr. Blazer’s death was confirmed by his New York lawyer, Mary Mulligan. The cause was rectal cancer, which he had had for years. Mr. Blazer was a large man with voracious appetites, not all of them in accordance with the law. On Nov.

Investigators searching a sprawling suburban Philadelphia farm in the disappearance of four young men who vanished last week discovered human remains, including the body of one of the men, the authorities announced early Thursday morning. The announcement came hours after the authorities charged the son of the farm’s owners, Cosmo DiNardo, with stealing one of the men’s cars and trying to sell it for $500. Mr.

A Food and Drug Administration panel opened a new era in medicine on Wednesday, unanimously recommending that the agency approve the first-ever treatment that genetically alters a patient’s own cells to fight cancer, transforming them into what scientists call “a living drug” that powerfully bolsters the immune system to shut down the disease. If the F.D.A. accepts the recommendation, which is likely, the treatment will be the first gene therapy ever to reach the market.

A Food and Drug Administration panel opened a new era in medicine on Wednesday, unanimously recommending that the agency approve the first-ever treatment that genetically alters a patient’s own cells to fight cancer, transforming them into what scientists call “a living drug” that powerfully bolsters the immune system to shut down the disease. If the F.D.A. accepts the recommendation, which is likely, the treatment will be the first gene therapy ever to reach the market.

WASHINGTON — The tough lessons are piling up for Republicans as they struggle to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but one stands out as a harbinger of things to come: Tax cuts for the rich, paired with reduced services for the poor, are a politically unpalatable combination. Unable to get the first version of their health care bill off the ground, Senate Republicans are

As we recently wrote, it’s better for patients to have Medicaid than to be uninsured, contrary to critics of the program. But is having Medicaid, as those critics also say, much worse than having private insurance? This idea has become a talking point for conservatives who back big changes to Medicaid, as the Senate health bill proposes.

WASHINGTON — The likely defection of two Senate Republicans has left their leaders no margin for error as they move on Thursday to unveil another version of their bill to repeal much of the Affordable Care Act — without an assurance that they have the votes even to begin debate next week. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky flatly declared on Wednesday that he would not vote to take up the bill, which he said left too much of President Barack Obama’s health law in place.

WASHINGTON — The likely defection of two Senate Republicans has left their leaders no margin for error as they move on Thursday to unveil another version of their bill to repeal much of the Affordable Care Act — without an assurance that they have the votes even to begin debate next week. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky flatly declared on Wednesday that he would not vote to take up the bill, which he said left too much of President Barack Obama’s health law in place.

PARIS — President Trump will be in Europe on Thursday for the second time in less than a week, having accepted a rare outstretched hand from a leader on the Continent, where he is deeply unpopular. The invitation by France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, might not only give Mr. Trump a brief respite from his domestic political woes, but also establish Mr. Macron’s standing as Mr. Trump’s primary point of contact in Western Europe. It’s a position Mr.

PARIS — They were handshake rivals before President Trump said the United States would withdraw from the Paris climate accord, and his relationship with President Emmanuel Macron of France didn’t seem to get any better after that awkward beginning. But Mr. Trump and Mr. Macron appear to have put their strange and tense initial relationship behind them, in the service of a working partnership, and the love of a parade. Mr. Trump arrived in Paris just after 8:30 a.m.