The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier is heading to the Middle East, joining the USS Abraham Lincoln already in the region, according to multiple U.S. officials. This deployment, confirmed by CBS News and Fox News, adds a second aircraft carrier to the area as tensions between the U.S. and Iran continue to escalate.
The USS Ford, the Navy's most advanced aircraft carrier, is expected to arrive in the Middle East after being in the Caribbean since November, as reported by CBS News. The carrier strike group had been stationed near Venezuela, where American forces conducted strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats and captured former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, as stated by CBS News. The USS Abraham Lincoln and its strike group arrived in the Middle East late last month, according to CBS News.
Meanwhile, in other news, President Donald Trump announced the reversal of a key Obama-era scientific ruling that deemed greenhouse gases a threat to public health, as reported by the BBC World and the New York Times. This decision, which the White House called the "largest deregulation in American history," effectively ends the federal government's legal authority to control pollution that contributes to climate change, according to the New York Times. The 2009 "endangerment finding" had been the legal basis for federal efforts to curb emissions, particularly from vehicles, the BBC World reported.
Environmental groups have criticized the move, calling it the most significant rollback of environmental protections to date, according to the BBC World. The administration, led by a president who has called climate change a hoax, is essentially rejecting the scientific consensus that a hotter planet is a threat, as stated by the New York Times.
In other developments, Mexico could be at risk of losing its measles elimination status due to a surge in cases, as reported by ABC News. Since the beginning of last year, over 9,100 measles cases have been confirmed, with at least 28 deaths, according to Mexico's Secretariat of Health, as reported by ABC News. The majority of cases have occurred in children between the ages of 1 and 9, accounting for over 2,400 infections, according to health agency data, as reported by ABC News. A measles outbreak began in the northwestern state of Chihuahua on February 1, according to ABC News.
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