A total of 631 passengers were on board the ship at the time.
The CDC said the cruise line took multiple steps to limit the spread of illness onboard.
The ship was carrying 631 passengers when the outbreak occurred.(Gerard Bottino/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images)
Those measures included increasing cleaning and disinfection procedures and isolating passengers and crew members who reported symptoms. The cruise line also followed the agency’s outbreak response and sanitation protocols, the CDC said.
The CDC asked passengers who reported symptoms to provide stool samples, so health officials could test for a possible cause of the outbreak.
The agency said laboratory testing was still pending.
Fox News Digital reached out to Regent Seven Seas Cruises for comment.
Identifying the source of an outbreak can take time, federal health officials said. Norovirus is often associated with gastrointestinal illness on cruise ships. However, the virus is not always immediately confirmed.
Laboratory testing is still underway to determine the cause of the illness.(oe Raedle/Getty Images)
The CDC advises frequent handwashing as a key step in reducing the risk of gastrointestinal illness.
Fox News Digital previously reported on the first confirmed norovirus outbreak of 2026.
Thast outbreak occurred on a Holland America Line cruise and left nearly 90 passengers and crew members ill during a voyage that ran from Dec. 28 through Jan. 9.
New Delhi. It rained runs in the T20 World Cup warm-up match played between India and South Africa. A total of 450 runs were scored by both the teams together. In this match, for India, Ishan Kishan scored his half-century in 20 balls while Tilak Verma scored 45 runs in 19 balls. Captain Suryakumar Yadav was out after scoring 30 runs on 16 balls while Akshar Patel scored unbeaten 35 runs on 23 balls while in the end Hardik Pandya scored 30 runs on 10 balls. In response to India’s 240 runs, South Africa’s team could score 210 runs.
Due to the excellent performance of the batsmen led by Ishan Kishan, India defeated South Africa by 30 runs in the practice match of the ICC T20 World Cup. Chasing India’s big target of 241 runs, South Africa could score only 210 runs for seven wickets despite the innings of Tristan Stubbs (45 not out), Ryan Rickelton (44), Aiden Markram (38), Jason Smith (35) and Marco Yansen (31). For India, Abhishek Sharma took two wickets for 32 runs.
India defeated South Africa by 30 runs in its warm-up match.
Earlier, apart from playing an inning of 53 runs in 20 balls with seven sixes and two fours, Ishan Kishan made a partnership of 80 runs for the first wicket with Abhishek Sharma (24) due to which India scored 240 runs for five wickets. Tilak Verma, who was returning after injury, also played an inning of 45 runs in 19 balls with three sixes and as many fours. Axar Patel (35 not out), captain Suryakumar Yadav (30) and Hardik Pandya (30) also made useful contributions.
It is expected that Ishan Kishan will open the innings with Abhishek in India’s first T20 World Cup match against America at Wankhede Stadium on February 7. South Africa, chasing the target, lost the wicket of George Linde (0) in the first over itself, who was caught by Pandya off the ball of Arshdeep Singh. Markram showed his attitude with three consecutive sixes on Pandya and then hit a six on Arshdeep too.
Rickelton also hit fours and sixes on consecutive balls of Harshit Rana. Markram retired after scoring 38 runs in 19 balls with four sixes and two fours. Rickelton welcomed Kuldeep Yadav with two consecutive sixes but Dewald Brevis was caught by Verma on the ball of Shivam Dubey after scoring only two runs. Varun Chakraborty got Rickelton caught by wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan on his very first ball, while Akshar ended the innings of David Miller (13) taking South Africa’s score to 100 for five.
Jason Smith hits a six on Kuldeep. He hit two consecutive fours on Abhishek but was caught by Kuldeep on the next ball. South Africa needed 99 runs in the last five overs. Marco Jansen scored 22 runs in the 16th over with two fours and two sixes on Dubey but Abhishek bowled him out.
Suryakumar Yadav
Earlier, Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and decided to bat first, after which Ishan Kishan and Abhishek gave a stormy start to the team. Ishan Kishan hit two sixes in the first over of Lungi Ngidi while Kagiso Rabada’s ball also reached the audience. Abhishek hit three consecutive fours on Corbin Bosch. Ishan Kishan added 29 runs in the fifth over with three sixes and one four on consecutive balls of Enrich Norkia.
Ishan Kishan completed his half-century in just 20 balls with a six off Quena Mafaka and then retired out. He hit seven sixes and two fours in his innings. India scored 83 runs for one wicket in the power play. Abhishek also retired hurt after scoring 24 runs. Verma, returning after injury, looked in great form. He started with sixes and fours on spinner George Linde and then hit two consecutive fours on Norkia.
India scored 135 runs for two wickets in 10 overs. Marco Jansen bowled Tilak. Facing 19 balls, he hit three sixes and three fours. Suryakumar also got caught by Linde on the ball of Mafaka after scoring 30 runs in 16 balls with two sixes and two fours. Vice captain Axar Patel also hit some attractive shots in his 23-ball innings while Pandya hit three sixes and two fours in his 10-ball innings before becoming the victim of Corbin Bosch. Bosch’s ball hit Rinku Singh’s helmet. He scored 16 runs.
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It’s bot versus bot! Just in time for the predicted rise of AI-made biological and chemical weapons, the US Army has plans to fight autonomy with autonomy by getting its hands on some bot-based chemical weapon cleanup tech.
The Army recently published a Request For Information on Autonomous Decontamination Systems (ADS) to see what might be out there in the existing commercial market to help its Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) troops more easily clean up contaminated vehicles, infrastructure, and terrain.
“ADS will reduce manpower and optimize resources required for decontamination operations while mitigating the risk of exposure of warfighters to Chemical and Biological Warfare Agents through robotic means,” the Army said in its RFI.
The Army sees its auto-decontamination machines fitting into platoon-sized groups (40 soldiers or so), where they’ll be able to conduct full cleaning cycles, spraying decontaminants and rinsing objects with water. The branch is also looking for ADS to be capable of “precision contamination mapping” using “surface indication technologies to identify, digitize, and track the contamination footprint” as well as “post-decontamination assessment.”
In short, the Army wants to get its CBRN troops out of harm’s way and leave the dirty work to the bots.
The RFI notes that the Army is seeking tethered and untethered drones to serve as part of ADS, with aerial and ground units to be used for detection of contaminants and actual cleaning work, and it wants bots transportable by light and medium tactical vehicles (i.e., trucks, not armored units like the Stryker or a Humvee).
Since this is just an RFI, there’s no indication if or when the Army might acquire ADS units, or which it might select from the ones presented – if any. The filing notes the branch isn’t asking for pricing or other details and is just seeking information about the feasibility of such tech.
We reached out to the Army to learn more about ADS, including whether it’s something the Army is definitely planning to develop and on what timeline, but didn’t immediately hear back.
The fact that the Army is seeking autonomous CBRN cleanup units makes perfect sense given the warnings presented by AI experts in recent years.
Pharmaceutical researchers said in 2022 that AI algorithms used to generate therapeutic drugs could easily be tweaked to produce bioweapons, and last year Stanford bioengineers used a synthetic AI-generated bacteriophage that was able to modify E. coli bacteria into a fa more infectious form.
Speaking to Congress in 2023, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei predicted that AI like the ones his company makes would be advanced enough to develop bioweapons in as little as two or three years. In other words, by 2026 or so.
“Today, certain steps in the use of biology to create harm involve knowledge that cannot be found on Google or in textbooks and requires a high level of specialized expertise,” Amodei told Senators. “If we don’t have things in place that are restraining what can be done with AI systems, we’re going to have a really bad time.”
That was three years ago, and it’s safe to say little to no progress has been made in reining in the threats posed by malicious AI since then. ®
A conversation has taken place between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Donald Trump himself has shared this information through a post on his social media Truth.
He said, I have just had an excellent telephone conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping. It was a long and deep conversation. This includes trade, military arrangement, my visit to China in April, which I am eagerly waiting for, Taiwan, Russia-Ukraine war, the current situation in Iran, China’s purchase of oil and gas from the USA, consideration of China’s purchase of additional agricultural products, this includes increasing the quantity of soybean to 20 million tons in the current season.
America will increase soybean purchases from China
He said that he has promised to purchase 25 million tonnes of soybean for the next season. Also, delivery of airplane engines and other topics have been discussed. All the discussions were very positive.
He told that relations with China are good. Personal relations with President Xi Jinping are very good. We both understand this. How important it is to keep it that way. I am confident that the next three years of my presidency will yield many positive results related to President Xi Jinping and the People’s Republic of China.
Trump has called Canada and Britain’s deal with China dangerous
Recently, four days before the talks, President Donald Trump had also warned Britain and Canada against making a trade deal with China. He had said that this would be a very dangerous step. In fact, recently British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had visited China. During this, he had said that this visit is about emphasizing on strengthening trade relations. Donald Trump responded to journalists on the news of Britain and Canada’s trade deal with China.
Ministers have been forced into a last-minute concession after Labour MPs had threatened to vote down a government amendment to limit the disclosures about Peter Mandelson’s links with Jeffrey Epstein.
In the final hours before the vote, whips agreed to hand power over the disclosures to the intelligence and security select committee (ISC), a compromise brokered by the chair of the Treasury select committee, Meg Hillier, and the former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner.
The Conservatives – who triggered the vote to force the release of documents related to Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the US – will back the new amendment.
“Yet again the prime minister has to thank Angela Rayner’s swift political judgment to save this government from itself,” said one MP, referring back to the concessions brokered by Rayner ahead of the welfare reform vote. “The sooner the day comes that she’s making the original decisions, the better.”
MPs said they believed that anger was so vast among the parliamentary party that it posed a significant threat to Keir Starmer’s premiership. “This is Boris and Chris Pincher on steroids,” one senior Labour figure said, referring to the scandal that brought down Boris Johnson.
No 10 had been intending to release documents later on Wednesday, but Starmer’s spokesperson said that had been complicated after contact from the Metropolitan police.
Police have launched a criminal investigation into whether there had been misconduct in a public office over sensitive government documents that appeared to have been forwarded from Mandelson to Epstein.
The Conservatives have forced a vote on the release of the documents, and the government said it would release the vetting process for Mandelson’s appointment, which they claim will show he lied about his relationship with the convicted child sex offender.
Angela Rayner said the government needed to go further. Photograph: HoC
But the government’s original amendment would mean the cabinet secretary could refuse to disclose documents that prejudiced national security or international relations – an exemption that many MPs have told the Guardian they believed was too broad.
Instead, Rayner and Hillier have said the government should allow the select committee to have oversight over what is disclosed. Whips have used a so-called manuscript amendment to make the change after MPs warned they would vote against the government unless this was done.
The backbench MP Matt Bishop was among those who rejected the decision being made by the cabinet secretary. “As a party, we have promised to halve violence against women and girls, and promised to put victims at the heart of everything we do, and yet today we’re being asked to accept an internal review into how the close friend of a known paedophile was vetted, an internal review carried out by the very structures that failed to prevent this in the first place,” he told the Commons.
Questioned repeatedly at prime minister’s questions, Starmer said Mandelson had “betrayed our country” in his dealings with the disgraced financier.
“He lied repeatedly to my team, when asked about his relationship with Epstein before and during his tenure as ambassador,” the prime minister said. “I regret appointing him. If I knew then what I know now, he would never have been anywhere near government.
“I want to make sure this house sees the full documentation, so it will see for itself the extent to which, time and time again, Mandelson completely misrepresented the extent of his relationship with Epstein, and lied throughout the process, including in response to the due diligence.”
In the Conservative-led debate, Rayner said the government needed to go further. “Given the public disgust and the sickening behaviour of Peter Mandelson and the importance of transparency … should the ISC not have the same role now [as in relation to a previous humble address] in keeping public confidence in the process?” she said.
The Cabinet Office minister, Nick Thomas-Symonds, said he would consider the changes. “I am hearing what the house is saying and I will take that point away,” he said.
MPs from across the house used the debate to call for the ISC to take charge of those decisions rather than the cabinet secretary. The chair of the ISC is Kevan Jones, a Labour peer and former defence minister. The committee is made up of a mix of MPs and peers from different parties, with Labour the most well represented.
Peter Mandelson underwent a two-step vetting process before arriving in Washington as an ambassador. Photograph: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Downing Street officials said that Mandelson had misrepresented his relationship with Epstein “time and time again” – both directly to the prime minister and his team.
Mandelson underwent a two-step vetting process. The first was “due diligence” by the Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics team, which sent a document to No 10 with outstanding questions before his appointment was made in late 2024. This consisted of only information already in the public domain, including that Mandelson had stayed overnight at Epstein’s house and had an ongoing friendship with him post-conviction and release.
The Guardian understands that Starmer or Morgan McSweeney, his chief of staff, questioned Mandelson on the allegations before his appointment themselves. However, they do not appear to have pushed for any further information and were satisfied with his answers at the time.
After the appointment, but before Mandelson went to Washington, he underwent a second, more secretive part of the process. This was developed vetting (DV) in which officials asked questions about sensitive issues including finances, business records, sexual history, foreign travel and personal relationships.
Its aim was to establish whether he was being honest about his past, and if not, could be susceptible to coercion. At no point in the DV process, which is never made public, was the information shared with any politicians. Instead, it provided a binary decision, with mitigations in place for any areas of concern.
As Mandelson ended up in Washington, it is assumed the DV process gave him the green light. It is unclear whether any mitigations were put in place. Despite that, No 10 said on Wednesday it had faith in the vetting process.
Downing Street suggested the UK had not asked the US Department of Justice to see the Epstein documents before the appointment, repeatedly dodging questions on whether a request was made to view documents related to Mandelson before they were published.
The Princess of Wales has spoken of how a cancer journey has “moments of fear and exhaustion” in a personal video message to mark World Cancer Day.
Kate, who is in remission after being diagnosed with cancer in 2024, addresses those affected by the disease, telling them: “Please know that you are not alone.”
In her video message, she tells how a cancer journey has “moments of fear and exhaustion” but also “moments of strength, kindness, and profound connection”.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
The Senate Republican campaign chair has a stark warning for his party as the GOP defends its 53-47 majority in the chamber in this year’s midterm elections.
National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chair Tim Scott pointed to a ballot box deficit the GOP’s facing in a new Fox News national poll, saying it could impact specific Senate races this year.
And Scott said that the toughest challenge may be in Maine, where longtime GOP Sen. Susan Collins is running for re-election in the blue-leaning northern New England state.
The straight talk from Scott, which came at a closed-door meeting Tuesday with fellow GOP senators, comes as Republicans, as the party in power in the nation’s capital, face traditional political headwinds in the midterms. But the GOP is also facing a rough political climate, with President Donald Trump’s approval ratings remaining underwater while Democrats are energized as they work to win back the House majority and possibly recapture the Senate.
An exterior view of the Senate side of the U.S. Capitol, on Jan. 12, 2026.(Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
Scott, in his briefing, pointed to the Democrats’ six-point margin over Republicans on the generic ballot — which asks respondents whether they’d back the Democrat or Republican candidate in their congressional district without mentioning specific candidate names — in the latest Fox News national poll. Scott’s briefing was first reported by Axios and confirmed by Fox News Digital.
Maine, which Scott pointed to, and battleground North Carolina, where Republicans are defending an open seat in the race to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Thom Tillis, are the Democrats’ top two targets in the 2026 election cycle.
“The Democrats are targeting a number of our incumbents. And so we’ve got some races that are going to be expensive and hard fought in places like Maine and North Carolina,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters following the NRSC briefing.
But Thune added, “We feel really good about… where our Senate races are.” And he emphasized that “incumbents in our conference are seasoned veterans who will outwork any of their opponents.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., center, arrives for a news conference after a policy luncheon on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Washington(Mariam Zuhaib/AP Photo)
The Fox News poll was the latest national survey to give Republicans pause.
More than half (54%) surveyed in the poll, which was conducted Jan. 23–26, said the nation was worse off than it was a year ago, when Trump took office, with only 31% saying the U.S. was in a better position. And only three in 10 said the economy was in excellent or good shape.
The Democrats’ brand image remains in negative territory, according to the latest polls. But thanks in part to their laser focus on the issue of affordability amid persistent inflation, Democrats scored decisive victories in the 2025 elections, and have overperformed at the ballot box in other off-year and special elections since the start of Trump’s second administration.
That was vividly illustrated this past weekend, when Republicans suffered a stunning setback at the hands of Democrats: a double-digit shellacking in a special Texas state Senate election, in a Fort Worth area district that Trump won by 17 points in 2024 just 15 months ago.
Thune said the special election results in Texas “remind us that we need to up our game and do a better job of not only putting up a record of accomplishment for the American people, but then, being able to deliver that message. And I think if you look at what we’ve accomplished in this last year, it’s a it’s a terrific record of accomplishment for our candidates to run on.”
Thune pointed to the GOP’s sweeping “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” Trump’s signature second-term domestic achievement, which includes numerous tax cuts that many voters will feel this spring.
President Donald Trump signs sweeping spending and tax legislation, known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” during a picnic with military families to mark Independence Day, at the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 4, 2025. (Reuters/Ken Cedeno)
“I think what happened in Texas should capture our attention and remind us that we need to up our game and do a better job,” Thune said. “We’ve got to get out and tell that story. And I think over the course of the next several months, we’ll do that.”
Scott, in a Fox News Digital interview late last year, touted that “2026 is shaping up to be the year where Donald Trump’s activities, his actions, the legislation we’ve passed, shows up for the American voter. And consumers all across the country will see a more affordable economy because of President Trump and the Senate majority and the House majority in the hands of the Republican Party.”
Democrats are happy to have that fight.
“President Trump is creating a toxic agenda that’s harming people,” Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) Chair Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand told Fox News Digital last month.
And she added she’s “optimistic that we have a shot to take back the majority.”
Gillibrand argued that Trump “is creating this massive backlash because of his bad and hurtful and harmful agenda,” which she said “adds more to the map.”
Besides Maine and North Carolina, Democrats are also trying to flip GOP-held Senate seats in Texas, Ohio, Alaska and Iowa, which are all red states.
But they’re playing defense as they defend open seats in battleground Michigan, swing state New Hampshire, and blue-leaning Minnesota. And the NRSC’s targeting battleground Georgia, where they consider first-term Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff very vulnerable as he seeks re-election.
While Scott offered a sobering presentation to his Senate GOP colleagues this week, he told Fox News Digital in December that in the battle for the majority, “54 is clearly within our grasp right now, but with a little bit of luck, 55 is on our side.”
Asked about Scott’s aspirations to pick up one or two seats, Gillibrand last month responded, “No chance.”
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in the swing state of New Hampshire. He covers the campaign trail from coast to coast.”
Moscow has given a blunt reply to Donald Trump’s statement regarding Russian oil on India-US trade deal. Russia’s Rashtrapati Bhavan Kremlin said on Wednesday (4 February 2026) that India is completely free to buy crude oil from any country. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in response to a question, ‘We and other international energy experts are well aware that Russia is not the only country supplying oil and petroleum products to India. India has always been buying these products from other countries too, so we do not see anything new in this.
Statements of someone close to Putin on Trump’s claim
Dmitry Peskov was asked about US President Donald Trump’s claim that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi The Russians have agreed to stop purchasing oil and buy crude from the US as well as potentially Venezuela. A day before this, Peskov had clarified that Russia has not yet received any official statement or information regarding stopping the purchase of Russian oil from India.
‘It is not possible to replace Russian oil with American oil’
Igor Yushkov, chief expert of Russia’s ‘National Energy Security Fund’, said that Indian oil refineries cannot completely stop the import of Russian crude oil. Citing technical reasons, he said, ‘The shale oil that America exports is of light category. In contrast, Russia supplies relatively heavy and sulfur-rich Urals oil. According to the structure of Indian oil refineries, they will have to blend American oil with other categories, which will lead to additional costs. In such a situation, it will not be possible to completely replace Russian oil with American oil.
‘US will not be able to compensate for India’s oil supply’
Yushkov said, ‘Russia usually exports 15 to 20 lakh barrels of oil to India per day. America is not able to compensate this quantity. It seems that Trump is only trying to show that he has won the trade talks and the agreement is completely in accordance with American demands.
An ICE attorney who publicly expressed frustrations with her role and told a court “this job sucks” is no longer detailed to the US attorney’s office for the district of Minnesota, according to NBC News.
“The system sucks. This job sucks,” Julie Le, an attorney representing the US attorney’s office in Minnesota, said in response to a federal judge’s questions on why ICE has repeatedly failed to comply with court orders.
“I wish you would hold me in contempt so I would have a full 24 hours sleep,” she added in comments that quickly went viral.
US district judge Jerry Blackwell had ordered Le, as well as assistant US attorney Ana Voss, to appear in his St Paul courtroom on Tuesday to explain why DHS missed multiple deadlines to release five detainees who the judge said never should have been arrested in the first place.
“A court order is not advisory, and it is not conditional,” Blackwell said. “It is not something that any agency can treat as optional as it decides how or whether to comply.”
During the hearing, Le acknowledged that many at DHS do not understand the seriousness of an order from a federal judge.
“It took a long, long, long time, and many orders to show cause to explain and let them know that if you don’t fix it, I’m going to quit and you’re going to be dragging yourself into court,” she said.
Le said that she moved from her job as an ICE lawyer to the Minnesota US attorney’s office on 5 January to help it respond to an influx of civil filings of detainees, known as petitions of habeas corpus.
Le also told the court that she had previously submitted her resignation, after handling more than 88 immigration cases in less than a month. She ultimately ended up staying in the role because there was no one to replace her.
Le’s testimony took place amid intense scrutiny of the ICE operations in Minnesota, which have resulted in the detention of adults and children without criminal records, including Liam Ramos, the five-year-old in the viral photograph being detained by ICE agents in his bunny hat.
Tom Homan, the White House border czar, announced today that about 700 federal agents would leave Minnesota, a large drop in agents on the ground but still leaving about 2,000 agents there, far above typical levels for the state.
