(NEW YORK) — At least 100 million Americans are on alert for dangerous cold weather in the coming days across the East as brutal, eye-watering cold winds — the coldest of the season for some — are expected across the Northeast this weekend.
Wind chills in the -20s are possible in Michigan and northern Ohio through Saturday morning, with -10s for southern Ohio and West Virginia.
Richmond, Virginia, could reach below-zero wind chills this weekend.
Extreme cold warnings are in place across much of the Northeast, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont.
New York City could reach as low as -20 this weekend, and upstate New York around Saranac Lake could reach -40. Frostbite can occur in 10 minutes on exposed skin.
Much of this extreme cold is due to strong winds gusting 30 to 50 mph this weekend, especially Saturday.
Monday morning will still be very cold across the Northeast, but the wind will be calmer, so wind chills won’t be as extreme.
Slowly through the week, a warming trend is expected across the East, with high temperatures going above freezing for New York City and Boston on Wednesday, possibly even on Tuesday.
The end of next week is looking above average across the middle of the country, while the Northeast feels seasonal mid-February winter temperatures.
The system ushering in the brutal cold also brings some snow.
Friday morning, snow was falling over Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, western Pennsylvania and western New York.
By Friday afternoon, snow will become more scattered and fall from the Appalachians of western North Carolina through upstate New York.
A few light snow showers or flurries will pass over New York City on Friday night, and much of Saturday is looking dry. A dusting up to 1 inch of snow is possible over the city on Friday night.
On Saturday, Boston and much of New England will continue to see passing snow showers.
Boston could see 2 to 4 inches of snow through Saturday evening.
The western New York I-90 corridor could see 2 to 5 inches of snow through Saturday evening, including Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo.
Signs point the way to measles testing in the parking lot of the Seminole Hospital District across from Wigwam Stadium on February 27, 2025 in Seminole, Texas. Jan Sonnenmair/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — There have been at least 733 confirmed measles cases reported across the nation, the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed Friday.
It comes as South Carolina is dealing with the largest outbreak recorded since measles was declared eliminated within the U.S. in the year 2000.
A total of 20 states have reported cases so far including Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Last year had a record breaking 2,276 cases nationwide, the highest number since 1992. There were also three measles deaths, the first in a decade.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Grocery Store Shopping Supermarket (Oscar Wong/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Consumer sentiment ticked higher in February for the second consecutive month as inflation fears appeared to ease, though shopper attitudes remained well below levels registered a year ago, University of Michigan data on Friday showed. The reading exceeded economists’ expectations
At its low point in November, consumer sentiment fell close to its worst level since a pandemic-era bout of acute inflation. Modest gains in recent months indicate some positive momentum for shoppers.
Year-ahead inflation expectations dropped from 4% in January to 3.5% in February, the data showed. The outcome anticipated by respondents would put inflation above its current level of 2.7%.
The labor market has slowed in recent months, while inflation has hovered above the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2%.
Despite these challenges, some major economic indicators remain upbeat.
In the fall, shoppers helped propel the fastest quarterly U.S. economic growth in two years, federal government data in December showed.
Meanwhile, a relatively small fraction of American adults are unemployed and looking for work. The unemployment rate dropped to 4.4% in December from 4.6% in November, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said, putting unemployment at a low level by historical standards.
Turmoil in markets this week, however, has prompted concern among some observers about the financial outlook.
Some major tech stocks plummeted in recent days after Anthropic unveiled an artificial intelligence tool viewed by some investors as a potential replacement for widely-used software products.
The price of bitcoin plunged more than 10% on Thursday, sinking the world’s largest cryptocurrency to its lowest level since October 2024 and erasing sizable gains made since then.
Geopolitical conflict also looms amid negotiations over Greenland, U.S.-backed leadership in Venezuela, the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, as well as persistent tensions between the U.S. and Iran.
In recent weeks, Trump has threatened tariffs against Canada, South Korea and eight European countries, invoking the tool as means of exerting pressure over a range of foreign-policy issues.
U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi (C), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel (L) and U.S. Attorney for Washington, DC Jeanine Pirro make a press announcement at the Department of Justice on February 6, 2026 in Washington, DC. Bondi announced the FBI has captured and extradited Zubayr al-Bakoush, a suspect in the 2012 attack on the US Embassy in Benghazi, Libya. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A suspect in the 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya, has been arrested and brought back to the United States, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday.
Zubayr al-Bakoush was brought back to Andrews Air Force Base at 3 a.m., she said.
On Sept. 11, 2012, a group of men stormed into the diplomatic compound in Benghazi. Four Americans were killed in the attack.
The suspect is charged with the murder of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others, according to the U.S. attorney.
“Bakoush was first charged by complaint in 2015 which was sealed for 11 years, an indictment, an eight count indictment, has been unsealed, and it charges Bakoush with the murder of Ambassador Chris Stevens, the murder of State Department employee Sean Smith, the attempted murder of State Department Special Agent Scott Wicklund and conspiracy to provide materials for terrorists and support that resulted in the death of four Americans, as well as arson at the special mission,” U.S. Attorney Jeannine Pirro said alongside the Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Russian Police officers walk next to the entrance of a residential building on Volokolamsk Highway, where an assassination attempt on General Lieutenant Alexeyev (Alekseev) was made earlier in the morning, on February 6, 2026, in Moscow, . (Photo by Contributor/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alexeyev, a high-ranking Defense Ministry official, was shot and injured in an ambush-style attack on Friday in a residential area of Moscow, according to the Investigative Committee of Russia and state-affiliated media.
“According to investigators, on Feb. 6, 2026, in a residential building located on Volokolamskoye Highway in Moscow, an as-yet-unidentified individual fired several shots at a man and fled the scene,” Svetlana Petrenko, the committee’s spokesperson, said in Russian on the Telegram messaging app.
The victim was transported to a local hospital, Petrenko said. She did not immediately describe the extent of his injuries.
State-affiliated news outlet TASS identified the victim as Alexeyev, adding that a criminal investigation had been launched.
“Special services are currently doing their job,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said. “Of course, this has been reported to the head of state. We wish the general a speedy recovery.”
Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, claimed without evidence that Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, may be responsible for the shooting. He suggested that it may be an attempt by Ukraine to disrupt negotiations between Washington, Kyiv and Moscow.
“The regime is ready to do anything to convince its Western sponsors not to lag behind the United States in their desire to derail the process of achieving a just settlement,” Lavrov told reporters at a briefing on Friday.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti, Dragana Jovanovic and Anna Sergeeva contributed to this report.
DHS Federal Coordinator Jeff Brannigan speaks with ABC News at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. (ABC News)
(SANTA CLARA, Calif.) — There will be a “substantial law enforcement presence” in the Bay Area for the week leading up to Super Bowl Sunday, the man who is leading it all told ABC News.
“We have multiple command centers that we are operating as the federal government in concert with our local partners,” Jeff Brannigan, the Department of Homeland Security federal coordinator, told ABC News in an interview. “It’s a broad footprint with a lot of personnel. Some are uniformed and, very clearly, government officials of some way.”
Others are working behind the scenes, he said.
The Super Bowl is a SEAR 1 event, meaning there is extensive federal security coordination.
“The federal government has brought resources to bear to augment the security planning of the cities of Santa Clara, San Francisco and San Jose, and we have brought resources that those cities don’t necessarily have, and that really is a full-domain security posture to include air support, maritime support and support on the ground,” he said.
The federal government will have support from the FBI; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the U.S Coast Guard; aerial assets from Customs and Border Protection; the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA); and even a helicopter that scans for nuclear technology.
Brannigan said he couldn’t get into specifics, but that there are “hundreds of federal special agents from across the government,” working with local police departments to provide security for the event.
Brian Clark, the associate chief of operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Pacific and Southwest region, said his agency is also providing support to state and local law enforcement in the area.
“For Super Bowl events, you have a lot of human trafficking that comes in,” he said. “You’ll also see a lot of drug trafficking that comes in the area for parties and things … So we would like to say for people to be aware, to have that conversation. Take this time, when you’re gathering with your friends and family, have that conversation about the dangers of fentanyl, because one pill, one time can kill.”
There are also law enforcement from outside the immediate area that are being brought in for “mutual aid,” Brannigan said.
Some of the concerns are lone wolf attackers, threats from drones and cyberattacks, he said.
“Oftentimes, people you know will see something and they want to dismiss it as that’s, ‘That’s my imagination,’ or ‘That’s not an issue,'” he said. “It is always better for members of the public to call the police and tell them about something they find suspicious, let the police investigate it, determine it isn’t an issue. But if you see something, say something.”
In this handout photo released by the Omani Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Feb. 6, 2026, Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Hamad Al Busaidi, US President Donald Trump’s Special Representative for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff and U.S. negotiator Jared Kushner meet ahead of the US-Iran talks, in Muscat, the capital of Oman. (Photo by Oman Foreign Ministry/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Negotiating teams from the United States and Iran are expected to meet on Friday in Oman, marking a reopening of nuclear talks following weeks of tensions and threats, as leaders in Tehran oversaw a deadly crackdown on widespread protests.
The U.S. side will be led by President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, according to the White House.
“The President has obviously been quite clear in his demands of the Iranian regime,” Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday during a press briefing. “Zero nuclear capability is something he’s been very explicit about.”
Iranian state-run media published photos and videos early on Friday of Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in the Omani capital, where he met with his local counterpart.
“Iran enters diplomacy with open eyes and a steady memory of the past year. We engage in good faith and stand firm on our rights,” Araghchi said on social media on Friday.
The talks, which were expected to begin at 10 a.m. local time, followed weeks of escalating tension between the U.S. and Iran, fueled in part by massive protests that have roiled Iran.
Those protests began in Tehran in late December in response to the collapse of the Iranian currency and the worsening of economic conditions, and then quickly took on a political character — with crowds on the streets openly calling for regime change.
Iranian authorities responded by launching a brutal crackdown on protests, according to observers. At least 6,495 protesters, along with hundreds of members of the state’s security forces, have been killed, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activist News Agency, an activist group. The group said it was reviewing thousands of other cases of possible deaths. ABC News cannot independently verify those figures.
As those protests escalated in January, Trump voiced concern for the protesters, saying, “I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY.”
Trump later in January said a “massive Armada” was heading toward the region. He warned Tehran to make a nuclear deal, saying another U.S. attack would be “far worse” than the U.S. strike on nuclear sites within Iran in June of last year.
The Iranian foreign minister responded by saying the country’s military had “their fingers on the trigger.”
Those tensions had to some extent begun to thaw by last week, when Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said he had instructed Araghchi to pursue “fair and equitable” talks with Washington. The White House had sought help from regional allies, who assisted in bringing Iran back to the negotiating table, according to both countries.
Araghchi said on Friday that any commitments made between the two countries “need to be honored,” adding, “Equal standing, mutual respect and mutual interest are not rhetoric — they are a must and the pillars of a durable agreement.”
Members of the Trump administration last held a series of nuclear talks with Iran in April and May 2025 in Oman. A round of those talks planned for June was scuttled after Israel launched aerial strikes on Iran, an attack that the U.S. later joined.
Senior U.S. officials have continued publicly voicing concerns about the Iranian leadership in the days since the latest round of talks were announced.
“The Iranian regime does not reflect the people of Iran, nor their culture rooted within a deep history,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday. “I know of no other country where there’s a bigger difference between the people who lead the country and the people who live there.”
The virtual U.S. Embassy in Iran posted on Thursday a security alert again calling for all U.S. citizens to depart Iran, provided it’s safe for them to do so.
“If you cannot leave, find a secure location within your residence or another safe building,” the alert said.
Leavitt on Thursday said Trump was seeking a deal with Iran, but, she added, “I would remind the Iranian regime that the President has many options at his disposal, aside from diplomacy, as the commander in chief of the most powerful military in the history of the world.”
US President Donald Trump, left, and Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, during an announcement in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. Trump launched a new website to help Americans directly buy select medicines at a discount, . (Photographer: Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Thursday unveiled his TrumpRx website in an event at the White House, listing 40 drugs at lower cost than previous list prices to patients paying out of pocket and calling the launch part of the “most transformative health care initiatives.”
Trump made the announcement alongside Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz and National Design Studio Director Joe Gebbia.
“Starting tonight, dozens of the most commonly used prescription drugs will be available at dramatic discounts for all consumers throughout a new website is called TrumpRx.gov,” Trump said at the White House event.
Some of the reduced cash prices were announced last year by the administration and some of the new prices had already gone into effect.
The president touted the use of his Most Favored Nation (MFN) policies — making sure the U.S. isn’t paying more than other countries — for making the lower prices possible.
“For years, politicians from both parties have promised to bring down prescription drug prices and make health care more affordable, but they all failed,” Trump said.
According to the TrumpRx website, these drugs can be obtained at participating pharmacies using coupon card codes displayed on the website or directly through manufacturers’ websites.
The website also notes that “TrumpRx discounted pricing is only available for cash-paying patients,” in a FAQ section. The discounts are not available for patients trying to pay through insurance and do not go toward insurance deductibles.
Only a few dozen drugs are offered on the website, though the website says that “many more drugs are coming soon,” in a FAQ section.
What some experts are saying
“It’s nice that they are aggregating coupons in one place,” Benjamin Jolley, PharmD, a senior fellow for health care at the American Economic Liberties Project told ABC News. “But it’s a convenience to check the website to see the coupons all in one place for the first time.
Dr. Christina Madison, the founder of The Public Health Pharmacist told ABC News: “There are a lot of patient assistance programs out there and this appears similar to programs like GoodRX but the difference here is that you would not have to go through the manufacturer’s website to get them.”
In a statement, Good RX tells ABC News they are a key integration partner for pharma companies that is offering discounted cash prices on TrumpRX, “The self-pay price is hosted on the GoodRx platform and GoodRx then integrates the price into TrumpRx.”
GoodRX-provided codes can currently be used at over 70,000 retail an home delivery pharmacies.
How much will consumers save?
Trump said the discount offers “tremendous” savings.
But experts say the overall savings are not clear and may only benefit a certain group of people.
“TrumpRx’s offerings are very limited, fewer than 50 drugs listed,” Rena Conti, an associate professor at the Boston University Questrom School of Business, told ABC News.
“This suggests it pays for consumers to check their insurance coverage and ask their regular doctor or pharmacist before they use this service,” Conti added.
The website boasted savings on GLP-1s, showing that the Wegovy pill’s lowest TrumpRx price was $149 a month, slashed from what the website says is an original price of $1,349. And while the full cash price of Ozempic and Wegovy (FDA approved for weight loss) did start at over $1,000 a month, those prices have been slowly going down in price. It was reduced voluntarily first to $499 in March 2025 and then to $199 in November after negotiations with the federal government.
Some drugs remain very expensive, including Xeljaz, which is marked at a starting price of $1,518, despite a 50% savings.
Fertility drugs
One of the big categories of drugs included in TrumpRx are fertility drugs.
According to the website, Gonal-F is available for an 83% discount, down from $966 to just $168 for the pen. Another IVF drug, Cetrotide, is offered at a 93% discount. And Ovidrel is offered for a 67% discount.
“One in three families is having trouble having a baby. We’re gonna have a lot of Trump babies with these costs, folks cannot afford these medications. It’s gonna change their lives,” Oz said during the White House event.
“The fertility drug discount is legitimately a big deal for people trying to get IVF,” Jolley said. “These medicines are quite expensive and this seems like a big discount. In general IVF is not covered by insurance and so people prior to this who needed certain drugs would be paying the full $1400 price.”
Jolley noted for example, that the price slash on certain fertility drugs could lower the cost of an IVF cycle by about 20% overall.
Trump first revealed his administration’s goal of launching the website back in September when he announced that Pfizer had agreed to lower its prices for prescription drugs offered through Medicaid. Pfizer so far is the largest participant in Trump RX with over 30 medications listed.
Trump last month released his “Great Healthcare Plan,” in which he called on Congress to codify the “most favored nation” initiative.
The plan also proposed sending money directly to Americans to buy health insurance and included calls to increase price transparency and hold insurance companies accountable — though it largely lacked specifics.
Polls show most Americans are concerned about health care costs.
A survey last month from KFF, a nonprofit health policy research organization, found two-thirds of U.S. adults worried about being able to afford health care for them and their family — outranking other expenses like gas and groceries. A majority of Americans, 56%, said they expect health care to become less affordable in the coming year.
The poll also found that two-thirds of Americans said Congress “did the wrong thing” by allowing enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits to expire. Millions of Americans were expected to face increased premium costs as a result of the lapse.
ABC News’ Eric Strauss, Michelle Stoddart, Emily Chang and Isabella Murray contributed to this report.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the 74th annual National Prayer Breakfast at the Washington Hilton on February 5, 2026 in Washington, DC. President Trump is joined by bipartisan Congressional members, business, and religious leaders to pray for the nation. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump last month told Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., that he would be willing to unfreeze $16 billion in funding for a major infrastructure project in New York if Schumer would agree to rename New York’s Penn Station and Washington’s Dulles Airport after him, two sources familiar with the conversation told ABC News.
The Hudson Tunnel Project — which would connect New York City and New Jersey — had already started. The project includes building nine miles of new passenger rail track and rehabilitating the North River Tunnel, according to the commission responsible for it.
Officials in New York and New Jersey said if the money isn’t freed-up by Friday, the project would stop, leaving approximately 1,000 construction jobs in jeopardy.
Sources told ABC that Schumer rejected Trump’s offer.
The White House and Schumer’s office have not yet commented on the story, which was first reported by Punchbowl News.
The Gateway Development Commission said on Monday it had filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration, saying the government was contractually obligated to provide the grants and loans for the project.
The funding for the project, which the commission described as an “urgent investment in America’s passenger rail network,” was finalized in July 2024.
“This lawsuit would be unnecessary if President Trump did the right thing for New York and New Jersey and lifted his arbitrary freeze,” Schumer said in a statement released on Monday. “Gateway is the most important infrastructure project in the country, and tens of thousands of union workers depend on it moving forward.”
The Trump Administration announced it was halting further funding for the project amid the federal government’s lengthy shutdown in October.
After Trump and Schumer met at the White House in January, the president said on social media the Schumer was “holding up” the project, but did not offer further detail.
Outside of politics, the president and his family have allowed their name to be appended to many products and buildings, including some where the Trump name has been used under licensing or royalty agreements. But by applying his name to programs, buildings and other entities that are fully or partially funded by the government, Trump has set himself apart from recent White House occupants.
A group of senators introduced legislation in early January intended to prohibit the naming of federal buildings after sitting presidents.
The sponsors said Trump’s renaming of the Kennedy Center and the U.S. Institute for Peace amounted to violations of “the federal laws that created these institutions.”
“For Trump to put his name on federal buildings is arrogant and it is illegal,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., one of the bill’s sponsors, said in a statement. “We must put an end to this narcissism — and that’s what this bill does.”
House Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty sued Trump in December in an effort to force the removal of his name from the Kennedy Center.
When asked for comment on the lawsuit at the time, White House spokesperson Liz Huston instead told ABC News in a statement that the Kennedy Center’s board, members of which were appointed by Trump, voted to rename it after Trump “stepped up and saved the old Kennedy Center …”
We now know when season 2 of Rivals is set to arrive on Hulu. The second season of the original comedy-drama series will debut its first three episodes on May 15. A teaser trailer for the new season also arrived, including stars David Tennant, Alex Hassell and Aidan Turner, and guest stars Hayley Atwell and Rupert Everett …
Dark Winds has been renewed for season 5 ahead of the upcoming season 4 premiere. The noir thriller show returns for its fourth season on Feb. 15. It was executive produced by the late Robert Redford, as well as George R.R. Martin. The fifth season begins filming in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in March and will debut in 2027 …
Blackpink‘s Lisa is gearing up for her next acting project. Deadline reports that she will star in a new romantic comedy for Netflix to be written by Set It Up‘s Katie Silberman. Lisa made her acting debut in The White Lotus season 3, where she met its executive producer David Bernad. She will once again collaborate with Bernad on this new project. While the film’s logline is under wraps, the premise was reportedly developed by Lisa and Bernad on The White Lotus set after they shared appreciation for the 1999 film Notting Hill …
