Republican Georgia state Sen. Colton Moore on Tuesday told "War Room" host Steve Bannon that he plans to push the legislature to defund Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis' prosecution of former President Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants, arguing that Trump's prosecution threatens to ignite a "civil war." Moore complained that indicted fellow state Sen. Shawn Still is going to have to spend "a million dollars" to defend himself in the case. "It's just like Nazi Germany," Moore claimed. "I mean, they want to call us the Nazis and their actions are Nazism."

Some marijuana users may have elevated levels of lead and cadmium — two heavy metals linked to long-term health issues — in their blood and urine, a new study shows.

Among a group of more than 7,200 adults, the 358 who reported using marijuana within the past 30 days were found to have 27% higher blood lead levels than those who said they didn’t use either marijuana or tobacco.

The marijuana users also had 22% higher levels of cadmium in their blood, according to the research, which was published Wednesday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. Urine samples showed similar results.

The researchers, a team at Columbia University, knew going in that cannabis plants can absorb heavy metals from soil and, in fact, are particularly good at doing so. The contaminants travel through the stalk of the plant into the leaves and flowers.

But the new findings demonstrate that heavy metals in cannabis plants can also wind up in the human body.

Iran has banned a weightlifter from sports for life and dissolved a sports committee after the athlete greeted an Israeli counterpart on a podium.

Mostafa Rajaei, a veteran weightlifter, finished second in his category in the 2023 World Master Weightlifting Championships in Poland and stood on a podium with an Iranian flag wrapped around him on Saturday.

On anther step of the podium stood Maksim Svirsky from Israel, who finished third.

The two athletes shook hands and took a picture together, which led to the Iran Weightlifting Federation banning Rajaei from all sports for life due to what it called an “unforgivable” transgression.

The Department of Health and Human Services has moved to reclassify marijuana as less harmful than cocaine or heroin, a possible first step toward wider legalization, according to reports.

In a letter obtained by Bloomberg News, a Health and Human Services Department official wrote to Drug Enforcement Agency Administrator Anne Milgram that marijuana should be classified as a schedule three substance, which consists of drugs “with a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence.”

State District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble halted the law — House Bill 2127, which opponents nicknamed the “Death Star” bill — just days before it was slated to take effect on Friday.

The state is expected to appeal the ruling.

The Republican-backed law aims to stop local governments from enacting a wide range of progressive-leaning policies by barring cities and counties from passing local ordinances that go further than what’s allowed under broad areas of state law.

Local officials balked at the law’s passage earlier this year, blasting it as a massive, vague and possibly unconstitutional power grab by the state that would prevent them from meeting local needs and needlessly disrupted how the state has operated for nearly a century. Houston, later joined by San Antonio and El Paso, sued the state last month alleging that the law conflicts with a portion of the state constitution that allows cities to enact their own laws.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared to freeze for about 30 seconds on Wednesday while speaking with reporters after a speech in Covington, Kentucky.

The incident is similar to an episode McConnell experienced at the US Capitol late last month and is likely to raise additional questions about the fitness of the 81-year-old to lead the Senate Republican caucus.

Wednesday’s episode occurred when a reporter asked the Republican leader if he was planning to run for reelection in 2026. McConnell had to ask him to repeat the question several times, chuckled for a moment, and then paused.

Someone at his side then asked him, “Did you hear the question, senator, running for reelection in 2026?” McConnell did not respond.

Article includes video of the incident.

A company formed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has acquired a minority stake in the United States’ Professional Fighters League (PFL) and will create a regional tournament as the kingdom’s sports investment push expands into mixed martial arts (MMA).

The value of the deal was not disclosed, but the Financial Times reported it was $100m.

Sport has been a major component of oil-rich Saudi Arabia’s efforts to rebrand as a global business and tourism destination under the Vision 2030 reform agenda pursued by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the PIF chairman.

Saudi Arabia has made major investments in recent years in golf, Formula One and football, with Saudi clubs signing top footballers such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar.

But the flurry of deals and negotiations has also spurred allegations of “sportswashing” or using sports to distract from Saudi Arabia’s frequently criticised human rights record.

John Eastman, a onetime attorney to former President Trump, said he and his co-defendants in the Georgia election interference case “did nothing wrong” in an interview with Fox News that aired Tuesday evening.

“We did nothing wrong. We were challenging the election for what even Vice President [Mike] Pence described as serious allegations of fraud and numerous instances of officials violating state law,” Eastman told Fox News’s Laura Ingraham. “And if we can’t speak out about that, then our freedom of speech, our right to petition the government for redress of grievances are gone.”

In the Fox News interview Tuesday, Eastman doubled down on his election fraud claims – claims which Ingraham pushed back against numerous times.

“I had lots of evidence of fraud,” Eastman said.

“I haven’t seen that evidence, and I’m always wanting to see everything…I’d love to see that evidence,” Ingraham said.

More than half of U.S. dog owners expressed concerns about vaccinating their dogs, including against rabies, according to a new study published Saturday in the journal Vaccine. The study comes as anti-vaccine sentiments among humans have exploded in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pets are now often considered to be a member of the family, and their health-care decisions are weighed with the same gravity. But the consequences of not vaccinating animals can be just as dire as humans. Dogs, for example, are responsible for 99% of rabies cases globally. Rabies, which is often transmitted via a bite, is almost always fatal for animals and people once clinical signs appear. A drop in rabies vaccination could constitute a serious public health threat.

In the new study, the authors surveyed 2,200 people and found 53% had some concern about the safety, efficacy or necessity of canine vaccines. Nearly 40% were concerned that vaccines could cause dogs to develop autism, a theory without any scientific merit.

X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, is facing 2,200 arbitration cases that ex-employees filed after Elon Musk took over the company, slashed headcount, and made other sweeping changes there. The filing fees alone for that volume of cases could amount to $3.5 million.

The arbitration numbers were revealed in a new filing out Monday as part of a lawsuit in a Delaware district court. The case is Chris Woodfield v. Twitter, X Corp. and Elon Musk (No. 1:23-cv-780-CFC).

As CNBC has previously reported, many large corporations require workers to sign an arbitration agreement upon employment wherever it is legal to do so. This means to speak freely in court, where their speech can become part of a public record, workers would first need to get an exemption from a judge.

Wisconsin Republicans are moving to fire the state’s nonpartisan elections director ahead of the upcoming presidential primary in the state, casting a shadow of uncertainty over 2024 elections.

The state Senate is set to hold a hearing Tuesday on Meagan Wolfe, the administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, the first step in what is likely an attempt to remove her from her position. Democrats say Republicans want to drive Wolfe out of office as retribution for decisions the commission made in 2020.

Newly planted rice saplings have been underwater since July after torrential rain battered northern India, with landslides and flash floods sweeping through the region.

Last month, India, which is the world’s largest exporter of rice, announced a ban on exporting non-basmati white rice in a bid to calm rising prices at home and ensure food security. India then followed with more restrictions on its rice exports, including a 20% duty on exports of parboiled rice.

The move has triggered fears of global food inflation, hurt the livelihoods of some farmers and prompted several rice-dependent countries to seek urgent exemptions from the ban.