Nation

New York

US health officials nix COVID study

NEW YORK — U.S. health officials have stopped the publication of a study on the COVID-19 vaccine’s effectiveness in preventing hospitalizations.

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed the decision on Wednesday, citing concerns about the study’s methodology. HHS officials argue that factors like prior infection and behavior can affect the results of such studies. But experts in the field say the methodology is sound and essential for real-time vaccine effectiveness estimates.

District of Columbia

Navy secretary latest to leave role

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has abruptly announced that Navy Secretary John Phelan is leaving his job.

Phelan is the first head of a military service to depart during President Donald Trump’s second term but is just the latest top defense leader to step down or be ousted. No reason was given for the unexpected departure of the Navy’s top civilian official.

Iowa

Police seek teen for attempted murder

IOWA CITY — Authorities are seeking a 17-year-old on charges of attempted murder after a weekend shooting near the University of Iowa campus.

Five people were treated for gunshot wounds, including three students. One woman remains in critical condition with a head injury.

World

Northern Mariana Islands

Searchers find body of 1 of 6 missing

SAIPAN — Authorities have found the body of one of the six missing crew members from a cargo ship that overturned near the Northern Mariana Islands during a typhoon.

The U.S. Coast Guard says the body was recovered Tuesday by U.S. Air Force divers searching the overturned vessel, called the Mariana. None of the other five crew were found inside the ship, and rescuers hope they made it to a life raft.

Mexico

Role of CIA agents in incident unclear

MEXICO CITY — Mexican authorities continued to contradict themselves over the role of two CIA agents in a counter­narcotics operation in northern Mexico and the extent to which Mexico’s federal government was aware of the U.S. involvement in the incident.

The officials were returning from destroying a drug lab in northern Mexico.

Lebanon

Israeli strike on house kills journalist

BEIRUT — Rescue workers say a Lebanese journalist was killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon. The daily Al-Akhbar newspaper says its reporter Amal Khalil was killed on Wednesday in the southern village of al-Tiri.

Earlier on Wednesday, Reporters Without Borders had called on the international community to pressure the Israeli army to allow the rescue of Khalil and others who were in the house. However, rescuers say her body was only retrieved hours later from the rubble.