Feb 7 (Reuters) - Hims & Hers said in a statement on Saturday that it will stop offering access to the compounded semaglutide pill after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it would take action against the telehealth provider for its $49 weight-loss pill.
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(Reporting by Anusha Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
As fans from around the countrydescend on Californiato watch the New England Patriots take on the Seattle Seahawks in Sunday'sSuper Bowl, officials are telling them to leave their drones at home.
The police chief in Santa Clara, where this year's big game will be played, said authorities are prepared to shoot down a drone, if necessary.
Unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as drones, can be easily purchased online and are increasingly popular with hobbyist drone pilots, including sports fans who want to film their favorite events.
But the risks posed by drones are real, whether a hobbyist drone malfunctions and falls into the stands or a bad actor uses a drone to drop something into the stadium.
Retired Army Col. Bill Edwards, who runs counter-drone training at Washington, D.C.-based tech company ENSCO, expects people will try to fly drones at the big game.
"We have to expect it at every major event that's happening in the country," Edwards said in an interview.
To get ahead of the issue, the Federal Aviation Administration has issued a ban on all drone flights over the Super Bowl, which has been classified by the federal government as a top special event that merits extensive interagency support.
The FAA says it is collaborating with the FBI to detect, track and assess unauthorized drone activity, and drone operators who fly them in restricted airspace without authorization face fines of up to $75,000, confiscation of their drone and federal criminal charges.
Law enforcement agencies working on Super Bowl security use layers of responses and mitigation efforts for drones.
"Everything from ground intercept teams to contact the pilot on the ground to redirecting it, landing it or even shooting it down depending on the circumstances," Santa Clara Police Chief Cory Morgan said.
Technological advancements to drones made overseas during the Russia-Ukraine war and conflicts in the Middle East pose new challenges to law enforcement.
Edwards, who trains such police departments as the New York Police Department on drone threat mitigation, points to fiber-optic drones that can evade radio frequency detection systems as a particular concern.
"It's promulgating the technology's capability 20 years into the future — now," he said. He also said, "The threat level has increased a hundredfold."
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The first week of the partial reopening of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt was marked by confusion, and logistical hurdles, according to Palestinians attempting to cross and multiple sources who spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity.
The disorder resulted in far fewer Palestinians traversing the border between Egypt and Gaza than was expected, nearly two years after Israel seized and shut the crossing.
When the partial reopening was announced last week, an Israeli security official told CNN that 150 Palestinians per day would be allowed to leave Gaza, while only 50 would be permitted to enter. But even that detail was unclear, as Egyptian state media reported that only 50 would be allowed to leave and the same number to enter.
In the end, the number of people who crossed during the first week amounted to only a fraction of those figures. On Monday, when the crossing officially reopened, only 12 Palestinians crossed the Rafah border in each direction. On Tuesday, the highest day for which CNN has obtained numbers, 40 crossed each way.
In those first two days, most of the Palestinians who were medically evacuated to Egypt during the war and were due to return to Gaza were barred from re-entering the territory, despite receiving prior approval from Israeli and Egyptian authorities.
It was not immediately clear why the numbers allowed through the crossing have changed each day.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 20,000 people in Gaza have completed medical referrals and are awaiting permission to travel abroad for treatment. Since the war began, about 1,000 Palestinians have died while waiting to be approved for medical evacuation, according to the ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO).
CNN has reached out to Israel's Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) for comment but has yet to receive a response.
The few who did manage to pass through from Egypt described an arduous and exhausting journey.
To return to Gaza via the Rafah crossing, Palestinians must undergo three security checks – first with Egyptian forces, then with the European Union Border Assistance Mission to Rafah (EUBAM) alongside Palestinian forces, and finally the Israeli military once inside Gaza.
Those who returned on Monday told CNN they reached the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing at 3 a.m. but did not make it into Gaza until 11:30 p.m. Some described difficulties, mistreatment, and increased scrutiny at both EUBAM and particularly Israeli checkpoints.
Um Omar, frustrated and in tears, said Israeli forces had handcuffed those crossing and questioned them at length.
"The Israelis made everything difficult today. They searched us and they interrogated us about everything – about migration (from Gaza), about Hamas, about the 7th of October, and every topic you can imagine," she said.
The Egyptians treated them well and tended to their needs, she said, while the Israelis prevented them from having anything on them, including food and drink.
"They made us get rid of all our belongings. They only allowed one bag of clothes per person. Even a little girl was not allowed to take her toy with her. They told her the toy is forbidden and took it from her," Um Omar said, shouting angrily.
Lamia Rubia, 27, said all of her belongings were searched, and many items were confiscated.
In a statement, the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR) reported similar accounts from Palestinians returning to Gaza, alleging "patterns of ill treatment and coercion."
"After two years of utter devastation, being able to return to their families and what remains of their homes in safety and dignity is the bare minimum," the statement said, quoting the head of OHCHR's Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Ajith Sunghay.
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A diplomatic source told CNN that returning Palestinians could bring only one bag of belongings and face limitations on how much cash they can carry. But the exact restrictions are still unclear as different authorities try to streamline a system that has just begun working.
In response to a query from CNN, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) denied any mistreatment, saying in a statement that "no incidents of inappropriate conduct, mistreatment, apprehensions, or confiscation of property by the Israeli security establishment are known."
"Security authorities at the screening facility conduct a cross-check of the identities of incomers with lists approved by the Ministry of Defense. Additionally, they conduct a thorough screening of luggage, in accordance with the security policy that was coordinated in advance with Egypt and European Union Border Assistance Mission to Rafah (EUBAM), and in accordance with international law," the statement continued.
CNN has reached out to the EUBAM but has yet to receive a response.
A source at the European Union, however, told CNN the policy at the crossing is not decided by the EUBAM, but is rather based on the Agreed Principles for Rafah Crossing (APRC) and theAgreement on Movement and Access (AMA) – two documents signed in 2005 by Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
The list of authorized items is part of the AMA agreement, and anything not authorized gets confiscated before entering Gaza, the source added.
"The EUBAM is limited to monitoring and supporting Palestinian border officials. We don't know of any problems so far besides some minor logistics," the source said.
In southern Gaza, family members waited for hours to welcome the return of their loved ones.
Iman Rashwan, 30, had been waiting since 8 a.m. on Monday for her sister and mother to return from Egypt. They left in March 2025 after her brother was killed.
"He was my mother's only son. She had a heart condition, and her heart became very weak from the grief, so they had to medically evacuate her to Egypt," Rashwan said.
Despite the delay, joy erupted in hugs, smiles, and tears as the UN-marked bus carrying the returnees arrived, reuniting families who had been torn apart by the war.
"Open, open, open!" Rashwan shouted in glee, as she banged on the bus windows.
Her wheelchair-bound mother was the first to appear, and Rashwan immediately collapsed in her arms.
"My longing for Gaza was huge. I love Gaza and I do not want to leave my country… I didn't know I'd be gone for this long," Rashwan's mother said, her voice cracking with emotion.
"Today's trip was so difficult. Today was a taste from hell… the Egyptians treated us well, but the journey got difficult when we reached the Israelis," she added.
The hardships awaiting these Palestinians in a devastated homeland may outweigh the trials of their journey. As they arrived, however, they were simply grateful to be back in Gaza, with no wish to relive the journey they had just endured.
"I advise every Palestinian from Gaza not to leave their country and not to even think about leaving," Um Omar said.
As another woman emerged from the bus, she shouted: "Nobody leave Gaza! You are better off staying here and maintaining your dignity."
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SAN FRANCISCO — When theClass of 2026 for the Pro Football Hall of Famewas finally, and officially, unveiled on Thursday night, it was only natural to connect some dots.
Larry Fitzgerald was once aMinnesota Vikingsballboy, when he got a close-up view of how Randy Moss and Cris Carter operated.
Luke Kuechly tallied at least 100 tackles in every NFL season he played, yet there was a reason the dominant linebacker lasted just eight years: Concussions.
Adam Vinatieri is the NFL's all-time leading scorer, with a signature kick in a blizzard in a 2001 divisional playoff game that launched the Patriots dynasty – and had NFL Coach of the Year Mike Vrabel reminiscing earlier in the day, while ramping up for Super Bowl 60.
"One of the greatest feats I've ever seen on a football field," Vrabel reflected of the snowfest in Foxborough. "You could barely run, let alone approach and kick a football."
Then there's Drew Brees and Roger Craig. Let's connect some dots.
Brees hailed his formerSaintscoach, Sean Payton, for believing in him more than he believed in himself while at a career crossroads punctuated by major shoulder surgery.
Craig was viewed by 49ers architect Bill Walsh as the versatile, missing piece for the West Coast scheme triggered by Joe Montana. Now, more than 30 years since he retired, Craig, 65, was selected as a finalist from the seniors category.
The connection? As Brees explained, when he went to New Orleans in 2006, Payton began indoctrinating his new quarterback in a new system by having him absorb an abundance of film from Walsh's cutting-edge offense.
"We actually started off watching all the 49er Bill Walsh film," Brees said. "I think a lot of the attention went to Montana, went to (Jerry) Rice, it went to other people. What you started to realize very quickly was that Roger Craig was the secret sauce in so many ways."
Brees, second all-time for passing yards and passing TDs, is mindful of Craig's historical calling card: In 1985, he became the first player in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards while tallying 1,000 receiving yards in the same season, a feat that has been matched by only two others – Marshall Faulk (1999) and Christian McCaffrey (2019).
"He was truly one of the first every down, multi-purpose backs," Brees added. "And obviously, as you begin to dig into statistics, you realize just how exceptional he was at that. So, a lot in those early days (with the Saints), we're watching film on Roger Craig, which you wouldn't think that you'd be watching 25-year-old film. But you go back to the guys that were doing the absolute best and it was the fundamental components by which a lot of the offenses are run today."
Which is indeed a Hall of Fame connection.
Contact Jarrett Bell atjbell@usatoday.comor follow on X:@JarrettBell
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:How Bill Walsh offense shaped Drew Brees and Roger Craig legacies
About a decade ago, the last time the Seahawks and Patriots played in the Super Bowl, Michael Gervais stood on the Seattle sideline as the final moments played out: the Seahawks marching downfield, Malcolm Butler's shocking interception, Seattle left slack-jawed as New England celebrated.
Gervais isn't a player or a coach. He's a performance psychologist. After that game, he played an important role: helping the Seahawks process the gut-wrenching loss. Gervais had been hired a few years prior by Pete Carroll, then the Seahawks' head coach, who believed in developing players mentally, not just physically, at a time when sports psychology wasn't as mainstream.
"He made it part of the water we were drinking," Gervais told NBC News. "It was part of the air we were breathing. It was embedded through the culture."
This season, the Seahawks' culture had a new project: the redemption of quarterback Sam Darnold.
Once labeled a draft bust, Darnold had been cast aside by a number of teams. During those years, he had gone looking for better coaching, had rebuilt his confidence and finally landed with the Seahawks, a team that happened to prioritize the mental part of the game.
Darnold has played so well this year that he's led Seattle all the way to the Super Bowl, where the Seahawks will play — guess who — the New England Patriots on Sunday. On the biggest stage imaginable, Darnold will have a chance to exorcise Seattle's demons and complete his own arc from castoff to champion.
"He understands how much his team believes in him and has his back," Seattle coach Mike Macdonald, Carroll's successor, said at a news conference this week. "So just keep firing away, man, keep being you."
Darnold always had the pedigree of a Super Bowl quarterback. Growing up in San Clemente, California, he was graded as a top high school recruit and started at USC for two years, becoming a hero after he mounted a comeback win over Penn State in the 2017 Rose Bowl. He had a big arm and flashed athleticism. Pundits applauded when the Jets took him No. 3 in the 2018 draft.
But for his first five seasons, Darnold found himself stuck on dysfunctional teams — first the New York Jets and later the Carolina Panthers. In that time, the Jets and Panthers cycled through four head coaches and five offensive coordinators, including interim coaches replacing those fired midseason. On those teams, Darnold threw almost as many interceptions as touchdowns.
He had two low points in 2019, his second year in the league.
That September, the Jets were playing the Cleveland Browns on "Monday Night Football." Darnold had just been diagnosed with mononucleosis, the ailment sometimes described as "kissing disease," and was home recovering.
During the broadcast, ESPN displayed a graphic showing Darnold looking serious and pointing out toward the viewer in the type of pose seen on old Uncle Sam posters. Next to him were the words: "OUT INDEFINITELY MONONUCLEOSIS." Immediately, it went viral on social media.
"He was getting made fun of pretty good on the internet for a couple weeks," Jordan Palmer, Darnold's longtime personal quarterback coach, told NBC News. "He just had to sit at his house. Things weren't going well. Now everyone gets to make fun of you."
Later that season, the Jets were playing on "Monday Night Football" again, this time against the Patriots — and Darnold had one of the worst games of his life. He turned over the ball five times and the Jets lost 33-0. He was also wearing a microphone for the TV broadcast. At one point, ESPN caught him talking on the bench during a vulnerable moment.
"Seeing ghosts," he said.
That went viral, too. People made more jokes. Here was evidence the Patriots had rattled Darnold to the point he didn't seem to know what he was doing. "Seeing ghosts," Palmer explained, is actually a common phrase among coaches.
"Just eyes all over the place," Palmer said. "Feels like there's more than 11 [defenders] out there. Sometimes that's because the quarterback has no idea what he's doing, and sometimes that's because the quarterback could've been better prepared for that situation. And I'm not weighing in on which one it was."
In 2023, Darnold became a free agent for the first time. He turned down "much better opportunities," Palmer said, to sign with the San Francisco 49ers, to spend a season backing up Brock Purdy and being coached by Kyle Shanahan, a leading NFL offensive mind.
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Palmer compared it to a businessperson returning to school for an executive training program. "They go back there to get a different perspective, maybe a different way of thinking about the same problem they always see," he said. "It was a year of just resetting. Go to practice where you're not preparing for the game, you're just getting better yourself."
That season, the 49ers averaged about 29 points per game, the third most in the NFL. They rode that offense to the Super Bowl, where Purdy squared off with Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. San Francisco ended up losing, 25-22. But shortly after, Darnold and Palmer met to debrief. Darnold had watched Purdy closely, how he'd approached the playoffs and his preparation.
"Nothing changing about his routine," Palmer said of Purdy. "Nothing changing about his process. Big things happening in the world? He had no idea about it. Wasn't paying attention. … Just keeping it consistent all the way through the Super Bowl."
After that gap year, Darnold decided to sign with the Minnesota Vikings, a team coached by Kevin O'Connell, who'd played quarterback himself in the NFL. O'Connell designs plays with pre-snap shifts and motions that are supposed to help the quarterback figure out what the defense is doing and give the quarterback "answers," as Palmer put it.
"What did he help him with?" Palmer said. "The answer's kind of, like, everything."
Plus, the quarterback coach in Minnesota was Josh McCown, Darnold's former Jets teammate, with whom he had a good relationship. McCown helped Darnold "between the ears," Palmer said. "Managing the game, managing your emotions."
Darnold broke through that season — in his seventh year in the league. He threw for more than 4,000 yards, 35 touchdowns and just 12 interceptions — and led Minnesota to 14 wins. Until that point, he had recorded only 21 career wins. The Cinderella comeback was almost complete, but Darnold imploded in his playoff debut. He took nine sacks, had two turnovers and lost 27-9 to the Los Angeles Rams. One could have wondered if he was "seeing ghosts" again.
In March 2025, the Vikings let Darnold walk and he signed with Seattle.
That same offseason, John Schneider, the Seattle general manager, made another big decision. He asked Gervais, the performance psychologist, to come back. Gervais had worked for Seattle for about a decade during the Carroll era and left during the pandemic. (He'd also worked for a number of other professional teams and athletes.) Now, Schneider wanted Gervais to help Macdonald, Seattle's new coach, build hisownculture.
That culture can be defined by two words: "chasing edges," Gervais said, "which means running to the edge of your capabilities every day to extend what you're capable of doing."
In an interview with NBC News, Gervais spoke carefully. He described himself as an "organizational resource" and said he couldn't get into details to avoid giving away "competitive secrets." He said he taught Seattle's coaches some techniques to pass on to the players — breathing, meditation and visualization exercises, and something he called "self-talk training."
"Self-talk is the origin of creating confidence," Gervais explained. "It's also how we let go of mistakes. It's what we say to ourselves that materially impacts our performance state. The organization has invested in being great and disciplined with self-talk."
Gervais wouldn't say which players use which exercises. But he said Darnold "designs his life to explore what he is capable of doing. That's how you create mental toughness — is by day in and day out going right to your edge. In the messy edge is where you learn how to speak to yourself, how to back yourself, how to let go of mistakes, how to stay psychologically agile toward the shared mission."
Given all these tools, Darnold completed 67.7% of his passes this season, a career high, and threw for another 4,000 yards. He also led the Seahawks to 14 wins and the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs. (Without him, the Vikings turned to a young quarterback, J.J. McCarthy, and their season unraveled in short order.)
This week while preparing for the Super Bowl, Darnold reflected on his journey. He said he had learned how to forgive himself for a bad pass, a bad game, to move on and not to be so hard on himself.
"You're never going to have a perfect day out there," Darnold said, "and once you understand that, truly understand that, then you can go out there and just play free. That really unlocked something for me mentally, and it allowed me to play good football and be OK with things that happen out there."
In the NFC championship game, Darnold had a personal rematch with the Rams, who'd bounced him from the playoffs the year prior. He was facing quarterback Matthew Stafford, who on Thursday won the league MVP award — and Darnold outplayed him. He threw for 346 yards and three touchdowns with no turnovers as the Seahawks won 31-27.
All Darnold needed, after all those years in NFL purgatory, was a team with a healthy culture. That team is now reaping the rewards of all the lessons he learned along the way.
"Sam is a leader, a custodian and a massive contributor to the success of [our] culture," Gervais said.
CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) —Lindsey Vonnwrapped up her second straight successful downhill training run Saturday and appears ready to go for gold at theMilan Cortina Olympicsat the age of 41 on Sunday, little more than a week after rupturing the ACL of her left knee.
The Americancrossed in third position, 0.37 seconds behind leader and teammate Breezy Johnson, and pumped her fist after seeing the result.
"All good," Vonn told The Associated Press.
Aksel Lund Svindal, the 2018 Olympic downhill champion from Norway who now coaches Vonn, said she was "very calm" after her run "and didn't talk about the knee at all."
"And then I didn't want to ask, either, because I figured that's a good sign," Svindal said. "When she's calm means that she feels like she has it under control. She knows that she'll have to push harder tomorrow because the rest of the girls will and it's the Olympic downhill — you're not going to get away with a medal there unless you push hard. I think she's ready for that."
Still, Vonn has been favoring her right leg while landing jumps during training, which has put her off balance at times.
"Try to have less of that tomorrow if we can," Svindal said. "It's the landings that hurt the most."
Vonn is competing with a large brace covering her injured knee. She had a partial titanium replacement inserted in her right knee in 2024 and then returned to ski racing last season after nearly six years of retirement.She crashed during the final World Cup downhill before the Olympics, raising the possibility that she would end not just her season but her career.
Instead, she has been steadfast in saying she would ski at the Olympics if at all possible and, after a training run was canceled Thursday, hit the Olympia delle Tofana downhill course on Friday and Saturday with the other racers.She placed 11th in Thursday's training,though the times mean little since the athletes do not always go their hardest.
Svindal noted that Vonn's brace negatively affects her aerodynamics, but added, "We're not focusing on that because if she starts to ask to take the brace away I think there's a couple of doctors that would have something to say about that. Please don't ask her that question."
Vonn holds the record of 12 World Cup wins in Cortina.
AP Olympics:https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that the United States wants a peace settlement between Ukraine and Russia by early summer, despite repeated rounds of talks failing to reach a breakthrough over the issues of territory and security guarantees.
"They say they want to get everything done by June," Zelensky said in remarks published Saturday by the Presidency. "And they will do everything to end the war. They want a clear schedule of events."
"If the Russians are really ready to end the war, then it is really important to set a deadline," he added.
Zelensky said that Washington had proposed that Ukrainian and Russian delegations meet in the United States, probably in Miami, in a week's time. "We have confirmed our participation."
CNN has sought comment from the US government on Zelensky's remarks.
The Kremlin has insisted that Kyiv gives up all of the Donbas region, about a quarter of which is still held by Ukrainian forces. Ukraine has refused to cede the territory.
"We stand where we stand," said Zelensky, with the current frontline the basis for a ceasefire.
"The American side says they can guarantee the monitoring," Zelensky said, referring to the trilateral negotiations in Abu Dhabi this week.
"There can be no end to the war without security guarantees. This is an absolute certainty."
He added that there were signs that some bilateral discussions between the US and Russia might impinge on Ukraine. "Ukraine will not support any such even potential agreements about us that are made without us," Zelensky asserted.
Zelensky's remarks came as Russia carried out another large-scale attack on Ukraine's power infrastructure, with several regions targeted by hundreds of drones and missiles overnight.
The overnight attacks follow a recent lull in strikes on energy infrastructure by both sides, which was proposed by the US. Zelensky said Washington had proposed "that both sides once again support the US President's energy de-escalation initiative. Ukraine has agreed, but Russia has not yet responded."
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Zelensky said the latest Russian strikes involved "more than 400 drones and around 40 missiles of various types. The main targets were the energy grid, generation facilities, and distribution substations."
"Energy facilities have suffered significant damage, which has affected the energy situation across practically the entire country, resulting in major power outages," the Ukrainian president said.
Many of the targeted sites were in central and western Ukraine, including the Lviv and Rivne regions, Zelensky said, but the Kyiv and Kharkiv regions had also been hit. Much of Ukraine faces temperatures well below freezing for the next few days.
Ukrainian energy minister Denys Shmyal said the Russians had attacked the backbone of the country's energy grid, including high voltage 750 kV and 330 kV overhead lines and two thermal power plants.
Emergency blackouts had been implemented throughout Ukraine, Shmyhal said.
"Energy workers are ready to begin restoration as soon as the security situation allows."
More than 600,000 subscribers throughout the Lviv region were without electricity on Saturday morning, according to Maksym Kozytskyi, head of Lviv region military administration.
Ukrainian power provider DTEK said the strikes on the thermal plants were the 10th massive attack on the company's facilities since October. DTEK's thermal power plants "have been attacked by the enemy more than 220 times" since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, the company said.
The power outages led Ukraine's nuclear plants to reduce their output, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. The agency's Director General, Rafael Grossi, reiterated a call for restraint as the "worsening grid situation compromises nuclear safety," theIAEAsaid.
"Every day, Russia could choose real diplomacy, but it chooses new strikes," Zelensky said.
"Moscow must be deprived of the ability to use the cold as leverage against Ukraine. This requires missiles for Patriot, NASAMS, and other (air defense) systems. Every shipment helps us get through this winter."
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