NEW YORK — A top executive at former President Donald Trump’s family business pleaded guilty Thursday to evading taxes on a free apartment and other perks, striking a deal with prosecutors that could make him a star witness against the company at a trial this fall.

Instagram and Facebook have suspended Children’s Health Defense for repeated violations of policies on COVID-19 misinformation. The nonprofit led by Robert Kennedy Jr. is regularly criticized by public health advocates for its misleading claims about vaccines and the COVID-19 pandemic. Kennedy objected to his group being kicked off, but under Facebook and Instagram’s policies, anyone can be suspended indefinitely if they repeatedly spread potentially harmful misinformation. Kennedy himself remains active on Facebook, though he was kicked off Instagram last year. Both platforms are owned by parent company Meta. Instagram and Facebook suspended Children’s Health Defense this week after the anti-vaccine group led by Robert Kennedy Jr. repeatedly violated rules prohibiting misinformation about COVID-19.

MAYVILLE, N.Y. — A judge refused to grant bail Thursday to the man accused of trying to kill Salman Rushdie as the acclaimed author prepared to give a talk in western New York.

LONDON (AP) — New coronavirus cases reported globally dropped nearly a quarter in the last week while deaths fell 6% but were still higher in parts of Asia, according to a report Thursday on the pandemic by the World Health Organization.

The first official federal calculations of the new spending package that President Biden signed this week show it will slice America’s carbon pollution by more than 1 billion tons by the end of the decade. Thursday’s Department of Energy calculations show emission reductions by 2030 will be about the same as the amount of greenhouse gases that U.S. homes produce each year. Overall, the analysis says the U.S. will reduce its emissions to about 40% below 2005 levels by the end of the decade. That still does not reach the national goal of cutting carbon pollution in half. Clean energy incentives in the new spending package signed this week by President Joe Biden will trim America’s emissions of heat-trapping gases by about 1.1 billion tons (1 billion metric tons) by 2030, a new Department of Energy analysis shows.

WASHINGTON — Millions of people in the United States will be spared from big increases in health care costs next year after President Joe Biden signed legislation extending generous subsidies for those who buy plans through federal and state marketplaces.