FILE - This Feb. 19, 2013, file photo shows OxyContin pills arranged for a photo at a pharmacy in Montpelier, Vt. The global business consulting firm McKinsey & Company has agreed to a $573 million settlement over its role in the opioid crisis, according to a person with knowledge of the deal. An announcement is expected Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot, File)

The global consulting firm McKinsey & Company agreed to pay nearly $600 million for its role in advising businesses on how to sell more prescription opioid painkillers amid a nationwide overdose crisis. “We deeply regret that we did not adequately acknowledge the tragic consequences of the epidemic unfolding in our communities,” McKinsey Global Managing Partner Kevin Sneader said in a statement Thursday, noting the company cooperated with investigations. “With this agreement, we hope to be part of the solution to the opioid crisis in the U.S.” Most of the money is in a $573 million settlement reached with 47 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories, but the company said it had deals with a total of 49 states. Washington’s attorney general announced a separate $13.5 million deal and West Virginia announced a $10 million settlement with the New York-based company. West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said the state went with their own lawsuit to avoid the potential of only receiving a measly settlement tied to the population of the state, one of the hardest hit by overdoses.

Harris in cracked glass portrait

WASHINGTON — Two weeks after Kamala Harris was sworn in as the first woman to be vice president , her barrier-breaking career has been memorialized in a portrait that depicts her face emerging from the cracks in a massive sheet of glass. The 6-by-6 foot, 350-pound portrait, meant to symbolize Harris breaking through a glass ceiling, was unveiled Thursday at the Lincoln Memorial by groups excited by Harris’ historic election as the first woman and person of color to the nation’s second-highest office. “This will just be a wonderful visual emblem of this moment in time and hopefully people will reflect a little bit on all the barriers that have been broken by her election,” said Holly Hotchner, president and CEO of the National Women’s History Museum, a co-sponsor of the project.

Natural portrait of John Lewis

ATLANTA — Freedom Park in Atlanta is currently doubling as the canvas for one of the city’s newest portraits of the late civil rights icon and longtime congressman John Lewis. Artist and progressive activist Stan Herd created the piece, one of his many so-called Earthworks, with grass, earth and other natural materials. It sits at the east end of John Lewis Freedom Parkway, just minutes from the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum. “In general, I hope to bring attention to land, and the people who work the land, who value the landscape and Mother Earth. That is my family,” Herd told Atlanta’s Saporta Report in January. “I also have been involved, all my life, in lending art to causes and issues and thoughts and opinions that have changed the world. That is John Lewis.”

Voting company sues Fox

MIAMI — A voting technology company is suing Fox News, three of its hosts and two former lawyers for former President Donald Trump — Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell — for $2.7 billion, charging that the defendants conspired to spread false claims that the company helped “steal” the U.S. presidential election. The 285-page complaint filed Thursday in New York state court by Florida-based Smartmatic USA is one of the largest libel suits ever undertaken. On Jan. 25, a rival election-technology company — Dominion Voting Systems, which was also ensnared in Trump’s baseless effort to overturn the election — sued Guiliani and Powell for $1.3 billion. Unlike Dominion, whose technology was used in 24 states, Smartmatic’s participation in the 2020 election was restricted to Los Angeles County, which votes heavily Democratic. Smartmatic’s limited role notwithstanding, Fox aired at least 13 reports falsely stating or implying the company had stolen the 2020 vote in cahoots with Venezuela’s socialist government, according to the complaint. This alleged “disinformation campaign” continued even after then-Attorney General William Barr said the Department of Justice could find no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

Myanmar blocks Facebook

YANGON, Myanmar — Myanmar’s new military government blocked access to Facebook as resistance to Monday’s coup surged amid calls for civil disobedience to protest the ousting of the elected government and its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. Facebook is especially popular in Myanmar and is how most people access the internet. The military seized power shortly before a new session of Parliament was to convene on Monday and detained Suu Kyi and other top politicians.

Jobless claims fall to 779,000

WASHINGTON — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits declined to 779,000 last week, a still-historically high total that shows that a sizable number of people keep losing jobs to the viral pandemic. Last week’s total, the third straight, declined from 812,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said Thursday. It left the weekly figure at its lowest point in two months but nevertheless elevated: Before the virus erupted in the United States in March, weekly applications for jobless aid had never topped 700,000, even during the Great Recession. Thursday’s report reflects a U.S. job market that is still suffering from the pandemic, with hiring having weakened for six straight months.

Pets banned from bill hearings

CONCORD, N.H. — Politically active pets are out of luck in New Hampshire, where some lawmakers have been told to keep their cats and dogs out of the room when they log on for remote hearings. Rep. Anita Burroughs, a Democrat from Glen, said her cats, Yoshi and Jack, have made appearances during several recent House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee hearings — including Wednesday, when Yoshi’s fluffy black-and-white face partially obscured her own as he moved in for some attention. No one objected at the time, but a colleague later passed along a message from the committee chair, Republican Rep. John Hunt of Rindge. “The chair talked to her and said no animals in the room,” Burroughs said. “I can try to keep the cats off the screen. Keeping them out of the room is going to be impossible.” Burroughs said at least one other lawmaker’s cat attended the hearing, and another’s dog barked briefly in the background. Lawmakers’ children also have popped up, she said. “That’s part of the life we’re living right now, and pets are part of it, too,” she said. “For me personally, it’s just calming having my animals sit next to me so I can pet them, and it doesn’t distract me in any way. I’m fully attentive to what’s going on.”

Car carrying vaccine stolen

PLANT CITY, Fla. — Florida police are investigating the theft of a car that was carrying $10,000 worth of COVID-19 vaccine. The Plant City Police Department said Thursday that it is searching for a man suspected of having stolen the vehicle with 30 vials inside that had parked near a vaccination site in the city where Florida’s winter strawberries are harvested. The gray Hyundai Accent had been left with the engine running and unlocked by a driver who worked for CDR Maguire, a contractor hired for vaccination scheduling and logistical support, including taking vaccines from county health departments to specific sites. The company said in a statement that its employee was taking vaccine vials in temperature-controlled coolers from the Hillsborough County Department of Health in Tampa to Plant City’s Strawberry Festival Fairgrounds, but at the entrance of the delivery point there was “a line that hindered him from entering.” The driver got out of the car to find a security guard to allow him into the site when the suspect got in the car and took off. Police told news outlets that the 21-year-old driver is not considered a suspect.

Epstein fund halts payouts

NEW YORK — A fund set up to provide money to victims of financier Jeffrey Epstein has abruptly suspended payouts, saying Thursday that it has temporarily run out of money. The announcement by the Epstein Victims’ Compensation Program came through a release that blamed the suspension on uncertainty about the liquidity of estate assets needed to finance payouts. Payments will not resume before March 25, the deadline to file claims. The deadline to register for the program is Monday. According to the release, the program’s 150 claims to date have far exceeded expectations. So far, $50 million in claims has been paid out.

Democrats ask Trump to testify

WASHINGTON — House Democrats on Thursday asked Donald Trump to testify under oath for his Senate impeachment trial, challenging the former president to explain why he and his lawyers have disputed key factual allegations at the center of their charge that he incited a violent mob to storm the Capitol. The request from House impeachment managers does not require Trump to appear — though the Senate could later force a subpoena — but it does warn that any refusal to testify could be used at trial to support arguments for a conviction. Even if Trump never testifies, the request nonetheless makes clear Democrats’ determination to present an aggressive case against him even though he has left the White House. The Senate impeachment trial starts Feb. 9.

South Africa seizes rhino horns

JOHANNESBURG — South African customs officials have seized more than $3.5 million worth of rhino horns at the O.R Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg on Thursday. A shipment of the 18 pieces of horns weighing 63 kilograms (139 pounds) destined for Malaysia was discovered at the airport’s courier facilities. The package was labeled “HP cartridges” but an x-ray scan revealed images resembling horns so the customs officials inspected it to discover the contraband, the South African Revenue Services said in a statement. This is the fourth rhino horn bust at the airport by customs officials since July last year, with a total of 277 kilograms (611 pounds) of rhino horn worth more than $15 million confiscated, said the statement. “Those that are determined to destroy the rich natural endowment of our country, which is a common treasure and heritage for all that we should look after for future generations, will be met with the unwavering commitment of our officers to enforce the law,” revenue service commissioner Edward Kieswetter said.

Navalny: Overcome your fear

MOSCOW — In a note from jail, opposition leader Alexei Navalny urged Russians Thursday to overcome their fear and “free” the country from a “bunch of thieves,” while the Kremlin cast the arrests of thousands of protesters as a due response to the unsanctioned rallies. Navalny, who was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison earlier this week, said in a statement posted on his Instagram account that “iron doors slammed behind my back with a deafening sound, but I feel like a free man. Because I feel confident I’m right. Thanks to your support. Thanks to my family’s support.” He said his imprisonment was “Putin’s personal revenge” for surviving and exposing the assassination plot. “But even more than that, it’s a message from Putin and his friends to the entire country: ‘Did you see what we can do? We spit on laws and steamroll anyone who dares to challenge us. We are the law.'” Protests against Navalny’s arrest and jailing have spread across Russia’s 11 time zones over the past two weekends, drawing tens of thousands in the largest show of discontent with Putin’s rule in years.

High heat on asteroid studied

TOKYO — Japanese space experts said Thursday they will examine soil samples brought back from a distant asteroid in an attempt to find the source of heat that altered the celestial body, in their search for clues to the origin of the solar system and life on Earth. Scientists at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said they have made a preliminary examination of 5.4 grams (0.19 ounce) of soil, far more than the minimum 0.1 gram sample they had hoped for, which the Hayabusa2 spacecraft brought back in December from the asteroid Ryugu, more than 300 million kilometers (190 million miles) from Earth. About 3 grams (0.1 ounce) of the black granules are from Ryugu’s surface and were gathered when Hayabusa2 touched down on the asteroid in April 2019. About 2 grams of larger fragments, up to about 1 centimeter (0.4 inch), were obtained from under the surface in a crater made by Hayabusa2 when it landed a second time three months later. Based on near-infrared spectrophotometer analysis of data transmitted by Hayabusa2, JAXA scientists found that the asteroid was exposed to extremely high temperatures both on its surface and underground, possibly caused by an internal source of heat or planetary collisions rather than heat from the sun. Kohei Kitazato, a University of Aizu planetary scientist working with JAXA, said his team found indications of heat exceeding 300 degrees Celsius (572 degrees Fahrenheit) both on the asteroid surface and underground.

Boeing to outsource IT work

SEATTLE — Boeing Co. has said it will outsource a significant amount of information technology work to Dell starting in April, including support of cloud services, databases and information technology. The move is expected to eliminate 600 jobs. Susan Doniz, vice president for information technology and data analytics for Boeing, told employees Thursday that the eliminated jobs represent about 10% of the company’s IT staff, The Seattle Times reported. Doniz said affected employees, most of whom are not unionized, must either find different work within the company, apply to work for Dell or be laid off. The move is expected to increase the company’s efficiency, simplify operations and “advance our digital transformation,” she said.

Britain to test mixing vaccines

British scientists are starting a study Thursday to find out if it’s OK to mix and match COVID-19 vaccines. The vaccines being rolled out now require two doses, and people are supposed to get two shots of the same kind, weeks apart. Guidelines in Britain and the U.S. say the vaccines aren’t interchangeable, but can be mixed if the same kind isn’t available for the second dose or if it’s not known what was given for the first shot. Participants in the government-funded study will get one shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine followed by a dose from Pfizer, or vice versa. Jonathan Van Tam, the U.K.’s deputy chief medical officer, said that given the challenges of immunizing millions of people amid a global vaccine shortage, there would be advantages to having data that could support more “flexible” immunization campaigns.

Fake accounts gain traction

A pro-China network of fake and impostor accounts found a global audience on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to mock the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the deadly riot in Washington that left five dead, new research published Thursday found. Messages posted by the network, which also praised China, reached the social media feeds of government officials, including some in China and Venezuela who retweeted posts from the fake accounts to millions of their followers. The international reach marked new territory for a pro-China social media network that has been operating for years, said Ben Nimmo, head of investigations for Graphika, the social media analysis firm that monitored the activity. “For the very first time, it started to get a little bit of audience interaction,” Nimmo said. The network’s messaging aligns closely with posts and comments made by Chinese state officials. But it is unclear who is behind the fake accounts, which posted more than 1,400 videos in English, Mandarin or Cantonese, Nimmo said. One of the Twitter accounts, which had a following of roughly 2,000 users mostly from Latin American, also tweeted the messaging in Spanish. The posts appear to target social media users outside of the United States, gaining traction in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Venezuela — places where Chinese and U.S. diplomatic or financial interests have increasingly come into conflict. “The overall message is: America is doing very badly. China is doing very well,” Nimmo said. “Who do you want to be like?”

The goal is diplomacy abroad

WASHINGTON — Asserting a broad reset of American foreign policy, President Joe Biden said Thursday that he would halt the withdrawal of U.S. troops stationed in Germany, end support for Saudi Arabia’s military offensive in Yemen and make support for LGBTQ rights a cornerstone of diplomacy. In his first visit to the State Department as president, Biden called for a return to the “grounding wire of our global power.” He sought to buck up the diplomatic corps, many of whom were discouraged by the policies and tone of former President Donald Trump. “America is back. Diplomacy is back,” Biden said in brief remarks to the State Department staff. “You are the center of all that I intend to do. You are the heart of it. We’re going to rebuild our alliances”