The Importance of Iodine When you consume iodine, it is quickly absorbed and entered into your bloodstream. Your thyroid, which has tiny cells that capture the circulating iodine, takes in and oxidizes it so it can begin to be used to create triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4)—thyroid hormones that make their way throughout the body to regulate metabolism and ensure healthy functioning of the heart, brain, and other organs. While the major portion of iodine is concentrated in the thyroid gland, the nonhormonal iodine is found in a variety of body tissues including the mammary glands, the eyes, the gastric mucosa, the cervix, and the salivary glands....

The approval passed with a 55-44 vote in the Republican-controlled chamber on Wednesday night after more than two hours of debate, according to a House of Representatives Voting Report. The vote follows a similar proposal made by Republicans last year that argued there is no right to an abortion in the Iowa constitution. The amendment will now go to a Senate subcommittee, which is expected to take it up next week, before a statewide vote would determine if it becomes law....

The Cyclones coterie saw a car sinking in Laguna Madre Bay off the coast of Texas and sprang into action. MORE: Top 10 college football moments of 2015 Cyclones linebackers Jack Spreen and Anthony Lazard, defensive back Josh Jahlas, and defensive end Spencer Benton went to South Padre Island for spring break with former Iowa State linebacker Joe Doran and former Cyclones defensive back Matt Swoyer. The six young men worked together on March 16 to pull a 22-year-old woman out of her vehicle before it was submerged in the bay....

According to a state report, the money is being allocated to the Iowa Department of Public Safety to support employees “whose services were diverted to a substantially different use as a result of COVID-19.” But the spending has raised eyebrows amid reports that officers’ duties have remained largely unchanged during the pandemic. Department spokeswoman Debra McClung told the Associated Press (AP) that the funds will be used to pay salaries for roughly 550 state officers, which includes road troopers and criminal investigators....

At around 7:40pm, the woman was out for a run between 5th and 7th Street on Carroll Avenue, near Bandshell Park when she was stabbed, according to a statement from Ames Police Department. The suspect was a white male, around 6ft tall, with dark hair, dressed in a dark t-shirt featuring lettering, and jeans. “We want everyone to be aware there may be an ongoing threat to the public,” the department warned on Facebook....

That belief helped inform U.S. policy toward China for more than a decade, with Washington trying repeatedly to coax Beijing into behaving better through expanded trade and closer integration in various multilateral institutions. Only in the past couple of years has China’s behavior (from its predatory economic practices to its ongoing persecution of its Uyghur Muslim minority) sparked a serious rethinking of the American approach toward China—and prompted a tilt toward strategic competition with it....

U.S. Central Command Communications Director Army Colonel Joe Buccino issued a statement late Tuesday announcing that Biden had directed the U.S. military to conduct “precision airstrikes” in Syria’s eastern Deir Ezzor province. “These precision strikes are intended to defend and protect U.S. forces from attacks like the ones on August 15 against U.S. personnel by Iran-backed groups,” Buccino said. “The U.S. strikes targeted infrastructure facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps....

Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree said on Twitter that the group had hit a Saudi state-owned Aramco facility in Jeddah using a Quds-2 missile. Saree posted a satellite image that appeared to be of Aramco’s North Jeddah Bulk Plant, where the company stores oil products in tanks. This was the same facility that came under Houthi attack in November. The Houthis—officially called Ansarallah—also said they attacked an airbase in Saudi Arabia’s southwest using a drone....

The Houthi movement, funded and armed by Tehran, struck a Saudi Aramco oil company distribution station in the city of Jeddah using a cruise missile according to a Houthi military spokesman on Monday. Yahya Sarea said the Houthis used a Quds 2 cruise missile and warned that foreign companies and residents in Saudi Arabia should exercise caution as “operations will continue.” He added that the strike was retaliation for Saudi Arabia’s continued military activities in Yemen, where the kingdom is battling the Houthis in support of the government ousted by the rebels in 2014....

Zarif released a video message Wednesday to celebrate the Iranian new year, and which he also used to condemn continued U.S. sanctions on the country despite the COVID-19 pandemic. “My country is among the hardest hit by the coronavirus,” Zarif said, according to the state-funded Islamic Republic News Agency. “We are now learning how to better confront it — sadly a huge part of the danger Iranians face is due to restrictions unjustly imposed on them by the United States government....

The complex countries, performative personalities and harrowing history of the region rarely allow for black and white answers to even the most straightforward questions. The winner of last week’s “election” in Iran, however, is different. Despite attempts by analysts, journalists and commentators—whether out of habit or in pursuing an agenda—to demystify Ebrahim Raisi or to seek nuance in his political rise, he is exactly who you think he is—a killer....

And Iran’s President-Elect, Ebrahim Raisi, played a hands-on role in promoting The Protocols as part of a sustained campaign to demonize and delegitimize the Jewish people. This information, which the ADL recently uncovered, is deeply relevant as the world considers whether to return to the Iran deal and what would constitute a “longer and stronger” accord. Raisi’s track record shows us that an obsessive hatred of the Jewish state is not an abstraction but a major feature of his career....

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s fleet seized the Hankuk Chemi, which was carrying up to 7,200 tonnes of oil-based chemicals, off the coast of Oman. Images published by Iranian agencies showed the tanker being escorted to shore on Monday. South Korea has demanded the vessel’s release and dispatched forces stationed in the Strait of Hormuz, with presidential spokesman Kang Min-seok saying: “The government is taking the seizure of our ship very seriously....

Just one day before the Pentagon’s acting chief announced the decision to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq to 2,500 by January 15 as part of Trump’s plans to end the United States’ “perpetual war” abroad, Revolutionary Guard aerospace commander Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh railed against the United States on Monday in part of a series of meetings between senior Iranian and Iraqi military officials in Tehran....

Champagne made the comments during a press conference at Canada House in London following a meeting with fellow foreign affairs leaders from Britain, Ukraine, Sweden and Afghanistan. The five countries have formed an International Coordination and Response Group for victims of Flight PS752 and were meeting to discuss how to hold Iran accountable for the incident that claimed 167 lives. “We are here to pursue closure, accountability, transparency and justice for the victims,” Champagne told reporters....

Although it hasn’t been officially published, photocopied and e-mail versions of the 41-page work are being passed around among U.S. Embassy and military officials, contractors and aid workers in Baghdad. There’s even a copy of the guide in the waiting room to U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad’s office; Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice received a copy after a recent visit to Baghdad, and took it back to Washington with her. “It’s floating out there,” says the guidebook’s author, Richard Houghton III, a former Capitol Hill staffer who has spent the last 19 months working for an NGO in the Green Zone....

But the report avoids the details of the plight of Private Lynch, who’s still undergoing rehabilitation after suffering multiple broken bones and spinal and head injuries. She’s said she has no recollection of the event. The report seems to suggest Lynch was injured after her Humvee was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade and crashed into a truck in the convoy. The driver of the Humvee, Pfc. Lori Ann Piestewa, died of injuries she sustained, and two other occupants were killed under circumstances still under investigation, the report says....

But more recently, sources said, U.S. interrogators went back to al-Libi with new evidence from other detainees that cast doubt on his claims. Al-Libi “subsequently recounted a different story,” said one U.S. official. “It’s not clear which version is correct. We are still sorting this out.” Some officials now suspect that al-Libi, facing aggressive interrogation techniques, had previously said what U.S. officials wanted to hear. In any case, the cloud over his story explains why administration officials have made no mention of the “poisons and gases” claim for some time and did not more forcefully challenge the recent findings of the 9-11 Commission that Al Qaeda and Iraq had not forged a “collaborative relationship....

In a statement issued Friday and shared with Newsweek, the Iraqi Resistance Coordination Commission, an umbrella of paramilitary groups aligned with the pro-Iran Axis of Resistance opposed to the U.S. footprint in the region, said its members were “closely monitoring the extent of commitment to the outcomes of the so-called strategic dialogue round” that took place between Washington and Baghdad in July. The message went on to say that the council “did not believe in the seriousness of the occupation and its commitment” to withdrawing combat troops from Iraq according to the established timeline, but was itself “committed to giving the Iraqi negotiator an opportunity to expel the American occupation from our pure land through diplomatic means....

At the palace, Uday greeted Luguev warmly, showing off his collection of expensive cars, rare cognac and Cuban cigars–and, oddly, going on about his insatiable craving for Kit Kat candy bars. Saddam’s son then explained to Luguev how he could help make the Russian rich. The Iraqi government would set up Luguev with contracts to buy tankerloads of Iraqi oil at below-market prices. Luguev could then turn around and sell them to major oil companies at a higher price, and pocket the profit....