VA tests semaglutide for alcohol use disorder

July 31, 2026

1–2 minutes

Summary

VA began enrolling veterans in a trial testing whether semaglutide can safely reduce alcohol use disorder symptoms.

Why this matters

The trial could help determine whether a widely used diabetes and weight-loss drug has a role in treating alcohol use disorder in veterans. Veterans interested in joining can contact a Department of Veterans Affairs medical center or search ClinicalTrials.gov.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is launching a nationwide clinical trial to test whether semaglutide can help treat alcohol use disorder in veterans. The department said more than 400,000 veterans nationwide have been diagnosed with the condition.

Semaglutide is sold as Ozempic for Type 2 diabetes and Wegovy for chronic weight management. The Food and Drug Administration has approved it for those uses, but not for alcohol use disorder.

The Department of Veterans Affairs said researchers will study whether the GLP-1 receptor agonist affects parts of the brain involved in reward and could offer another treatment option for veterans with moderate or severe alcohol use disorder if it is shown to be safe and effective.

The study, called the Cessation or Reduction of Alcohol Consumption in Veterans, or CRAVE, trial, will enroll more than 600 veterans ages 18 to 80 at 18 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers nationwide. Participants will receive weekly injections of either semaglutide or a placebo for 24 weeks, followed by a safety evaluation. Researchers will track changes in alcohol consumption, overall health, and quality of life.

The department said veterans should not self-medicate or replace evidence-based treatment for alcohol use disorder with GLP-1 medications without first consulting a health care provider.

The Department of Veterans Affairs cited a March analysis that found patients taking GLP-1 medications had lower rates of alcohol use disorder and other substance use disorders than similar patients taking other diabetes medications. It also said larger, controlled clinical trials are needed to determine whether semaglutide is safe and effective for treating alcohol use disorder.

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World Politics

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Trump thanked Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and his team for their role in the negotiations, saying their work “made this historic breakthrough possible.”

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President Donald Trump said Thursday that the Board of Peace had reached an agreement for the “COMPLETE DISARMAMENT of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza.”

In a Truth Social post published Wednesday, Trump said Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey had helped mediate the agreement alongside his Board of Peace team.

According to Trump, the deal was part of his 20-Point Plan, which he introduced last year to end the war and rebuild Gaza. He said the agreement would lead to a new Palestinian government in Gaza, add a new police force supported by an “International Stabilization Force,” and end Gaza’s use “as a base for terror attacks.”

Trump said Israeli forces would withdraw as disarmament moved forward in phases.

“Today, the Board of Peace reached a HISTORIC agreement for the COMPLETE DISARMAMENT of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza,” Trump stated. He called it “a monumental step toward lasting PEACE and SECURITY.”

Trump said the agreement followed efforts made since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, assault on southern Israel.

“One year ago there was a violent raging war, humanitarian crisis and hostages kept in brutal captivity,” Trump said. “The threat that emerged from Gaza on October 7 will NOT be allowed to rebuild!”

He also said Gaza would be governed by a Palestinian government that serves its “PEOPLE.”
World

Missile, drone attacks widen Iran war across region

The attack appeared to be the first on Egypt since the war began Feb. 28.

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Iranian state media said Thursday that U.S. strikes killed three Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members in Zanjan province and three members of a family on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, wounding two others.

The strikes followed an Iranian missile attack on a U.S. base in Jordan that ended a four-day lull in fighting. U.S. Central Command said it struck dozens of Revolutionary Guard targets in Iran, including command centers, missile and drone sites, coastal surveillance and defense locations, and maritime capabilities.

Jordan said its air defenses intercepted five Iranian missiles Thursday and reported no casualties. Kuwait said a strike in the north of the country killed one person.

In Egypt, authorities said a drone attack caused a fire Wednesday at Damietta port on the Mediterranean coast, damaging two gas vessels. The government said no group had claimed responsibility and that the investigation was continuing. Maritime firms identified the vessels as the Energos Winter storage and regasification ship and the GasLog Salem tanker.

The attack appeared to be the first on Egypt since the war began Feb. 28. Iran’s Houthi allies in Yemen have recently targeted shipping in the Red Sea, but the source of the Damietta strike was not known.

Saudi Arabia’s state-owned Al-Arabiya TV said the kingdom’s gross domestic product fell 4.8% in the second quarter of 2026 from a year earlier, while oil activity fell 24.7%.

Saudi Arabia also acknowledged joining U.S. strikes on Iran-backed militias in Iraq on Wednesday, the first publicly confirmed offensive role by a Persian Gulf state in the five-month war. Iran-backed militia groups said at least 20 people, including some Iranian military advisers, were killed.
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Congo Ebola toll tops 1,500, response faces setbacks

Uganda declared itself free of Ebola on Tuesday after discharging its last patient in mid-June.

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The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has killed more than 1,500 people, as transmission continued to outpace response efforts, according to updated figures released Thursday.

The government reported 3,442 cases and 1,521 deaths. It said the death toll had risen 50% over the past week as authorities struggled to contain the outbreak in eastern Congo, where conflict and weak infrastructure have complicated the response.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said part of the increase reflected a backlog of cases and deaths that had not yet been confirmed or recorded.

The outbreak involved the Bundibugyo strain, the rarest of the four Ebola variants known to affect humans. There is still no proven vaccine for that strain. The lack of a vaccine, combined with active hostilities and limited public health resources, had allowed the virus to spread “like wildfire,” according to an Africa CDC official.

Africa CDC also said delays in contact tracing, difficulty reaching affected areas, and mistrust in some communities had hindered the response.

Most cases were concentrated in the remote Ituri province in eastern Congo, which accounted for nearly 90% of infections. Five other provinces also confirmed cases, including Tshopo province, where Kisangani is located.

Africa CDC Director-General Dr. Jean Kaseya said 63% of confirmed deaths in the past two weeks occurred outside treatment centers. He said this was largely due to the “unsafe handling of infected bodies” by residents, including touching remains, which can remain highly infectious.

The response has also been disrupted by labor and security problems. Earlier this month, some health care workers in Ituri went on strike over unpaid wages and unsafe conditions. In Ituri’s Nyakunde health zone, international partners temporarily relocated after a July 15 attack on a hospital and treatment center that followed a patient’s death, officials said. They said the attack disrupted surveillance, contact tracing, and supplies.

The World Health Organization said the risk of global spread remained low because Ebola does not spread through the air. Cases detected outside Congo had been identified and contained quickly, without sustained transmission, the agency said.
US

Sheriff: Hair in Nancy Guthrie home had no DNA

Nancy Guthrie, 84, was reported missing from her home on Feb. 1, six months ago.

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Hair found in Nancy Guthrie’s home outside Tucson, Arizona, contained no DNA, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said.

“To find DNA on hair is extremely rare. Hair doesn’t produce DNA like touch DNA or bodily fluids,” Nanos told NBC News on Thursday, July 30.

Nanos told Fox News that investigators tested the hair for DNA first. “Yes, there was a hair. We had it and thought, ‘OK, well, we’ll do the DNA first,’ right? You’re going to do DNA before something else. … It came back … there’s no DNA.”

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Nancy Guthrie, 84, was reported missing from her home on Feb. 1, six months ago. Police were investigating the case as a suspected kidnapping, and no suspect had been identified.

She was last seen on the evening of Jan. 31.

On Monday, July 27, her daughter, Today co-host Savannah Guthrie, 54, issued a public appeal on social media for her mother’s return.

“I’m coming on today with a very specific message,” Savannah Guthrie said in an Instagram video. “It has been months since our mom was taken from us. Our family is in agony. We are in a nightmare that will not end. Nothing about our situation has changed. We have done our part, but we will never stop looking for her. We will always ache for her. Feel that hole in our hearts.”

“The world can be a cruel and unforgiving place, and I know that you have tried to do things the right way. So I’m asking you, begging you, to do the right thing now. Make the right choice. Help us find her. Tell us where to look for her. I truly believe it is never too late to do the right thing. Help us bring this situation to an end. For all of us – no matter where we’ve been and what we’ve done – I believe there is always, always a way home. Please make the right choice.”
Health

VA tests semaglutide for alcohol use disorder

Recruitment began July 28. Veterans interested in participating can contact their local Department of Veterans Affairs medical center or search for the trial on ClinicalTrials.gov.

Full story +

The Department of Veterans Affairs is launching a nationwide clinical trial to test whether semaglutide can help treat alcohol use disorder in veterans. The department said more than 400,000 veterans nationwide have been diagnosed with the condition.

Semaglutide is sold as Ozempic for Type 2 diabetes and Wegovy for chronic weight management. The Food and Drug Administration has approved it for those uses, but not for alcohol use disorder.

The Department of Veterans Affairs said researchers will study whether the GLP-1 receptor agonist affects parts of the brain involved in reward and could offer another treatment option for veterans with moderate or severe alcohol use disorder if it is shown to be safe and effective.

The study, called the Cessation or Reduction of Alcohol Consumption in Veterans, or CRAVE, trial, will enroll more than 600 veterans ages 18 to 80 at 18 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers nationwide. Participants will receive weekly injections of either semaglutide or a placebo for 24 weeks, followed by a safety evaluation. Researchers will track changes in alcohol consumption, overall health, and quality of life.

The department said veterans should not self-medicate or replace evidence-based treatment for alcohol use disorder with GLP-1 medications without first consulting a health care provider.

The Department of Veterans Affairs cited a March analysis that found patients taking GLP-1 medications had lower rates of alcohol use disorder and other substance use disorders than similar patients taking other diabetes medications. It also said larger, controlled clinical trials are needed to determine whether semaglutide is safe and effective for treating alcohol use disorder.
US Politics

Trump may delay Blanche vote over GOP Senate holdouts

Before becoming deputy attorney general in March 2025, Blanche, of Florida, was Trump’s personal defense lawyer in three criminal cases, including a New York case in which Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

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President Donald Trump said Thursday he might withdraw acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination to lead the Justice Department until Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas leave office.

“Todd Blanche is a STAR, and everyone knows it! He has the potential to go down as one of the Greatest Attorney Generals of All Time. However, John Cornyn, of Texas, and Thom Tillis, of North Carolina, both of whom I refused to Endorse, and whose political careers have been ended by my action, are refusing to vote for this Great Nominee, who will remain, in any event, as Acting,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

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“POTUS is mistaken if he believes concerns about the provisions in his tax lawsuit settlement are limited to me and Senator Tillis,” Cornyn wrote on X.

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US

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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is not planning operations targeting polling places during the November midterm elections, a Department of Homeland Security official told States Newsroom on Thursday.

“ICE is not planning operations targeting polling locations,” the official said in an email sent from a general DHS media account. “ICE conducts intelligence-driven targeted enforcement, and if an active public safety threat endangered a polling location, they may be arrested as a result of that targeted enforcement action.”

The statement did not name the official and did not address other DHS agencies.

DHS responded after a dozen Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Edward Markey of Massachusetts, sent a Tuesday letter to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asking whether armed federal agents would be deployed at election sites. The senators wrote that such action would be prohibited under federal law.

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The senators cited records litigation tied to a 2025 Democratic National Committee investigation. According to their July 28 letter, ICE initially said it had found “no responsive records” related to possible deployments at polling stations, ballot-drop sites, and election offices. After the DNC challenged the search, ICE said it found more than 11,000 potentially responsive pages, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it found nearly 117,000, the lawmakers wrote.
US Politics

Senators seek Kennedy details on Gardasil fees

Merck agreed to pay $50 million to settle Gardasil litigation. Before becoming health secretary last year, Kennedy was an attorney of record in some of the cases.

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Four Democratic senators asked Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in a letter to say whether his family could profit from a recent legal settlement involving Merck’s Gardasil vaccine.

The letter, sent Monday and led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, said Merck agreed earlier this year to pay $50 million to settle Gardasil litigation. Before becoming health secretary last year, Kennedy was an attorney of record in some of the cases.

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Before taking office, Kennedy helped organize litigation against Merck on behalf of people who said they were injured by Gardasil, a vaccine against human papillomavirus. Merck has consistently defended Gardasil’s safety and efficacy.

After his nomination by President Donald Trump, Kennedy first said he intended to keep a 10% fee from any settlement in Gardasil cases he referred to the Wisner Baum law firm. After lawmakers raised conflict-of-interest concerns, he said he would transfer his stake to a son. One of his sons, Conor, works at Wisner Baum.

Brent Wisner, the firm’s managing partner, said in an email that “at no time” will Kennedy or his son receive fees from a Gardasil settlement.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends Gardasil as a routine immunization for 11- and 12-year-olds to prevent cervical and other cancers caused by HPV.

The senators’ letter also said Wisner Baum has sought awards from the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program in more than a dozen lawsuits. It asked whether Kennedy’s department plans changes to the program, including whether it intends to expand the injuries eligible for compensation.
Europe

Russian strikes across Ukraine kill 8, wound dozens

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses downed 258 Ukrainian drones overnight.

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Russian ballistic missiles and drones struck Ukraine overnight into Thursday, killing at least eight civilians, including children, and wounding dozens, Ukrainian officials said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at least 10 regions were hit. He said Russia launched more than 70 missiles, including many ballistic missiles, and more than 280 attack drones, with more than 260 drones intercepted.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the strikes targeted Ukrainian air bases, arms factories, and military telecommunications and logistics facilities, including drone production sites, storage depots, a missile plant, an aircraft repair plant, a factory making electronic components, and a chemical plant.

In the Dnipropetrovsk region, six people were killed and 10 wounded, according to regional military administration head Oleksandr Hanzha. He said a 6-year-old girl and boys ages 11 and 17 were among the dead in the Kryvyi Rih area. Zelenskyy said the children’s parents were also killed, while two more children were pulled alive from the rubble.

“It was an ordinary home, blown (to) smithereens by a ballistic missile … ” Zelenskyy wrote on X.

In Kyiv, ballistic missiles killed a 31-year-old man and wounded two others, according to the National Police. Police said residential buildings, a market, a garage cooperative, storage facilities, and vehicles were damaged.

In Lviv, a cruise missile strike wounded 34 people, including children ages 6, 13, and 15, regional administration head Maksym Kozytskyi said. Emergency crews were still searching through rubble.

In the Poltava region, a drone hit company warehouses, killing one person, regional military head Vitalii Diakivnych said.

Poland said an unidentified object flying westward was tracked in Polish airspace overnight, and an F-16 was launched. The object disappeared from radar before it could be identified. A helicopter later found a probable impact site near Tarnawa-Kolonia in Lublin province. Polish authorities have not confirmed what, if anything, crashed.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X that a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile crossed into Poland.
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Iran fires missiles, U.S.-Saudi forces strike Iraq

“We’re going to be hitting them very hard because it’s our turn to hit them,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

Full story +

Iran launched missiles at U.S. forces in Jordan early Wednesday, and the U.S. military said American and Saudi aircraft later struck Iran-backed militias in eastern Iraq, killing at least 20 fighters.

The U.S. military said it had also begun strikes on Iran in response to what it described as an attempted attack on American forces in the Middle East.

U.S. Central Command said on X that the strikes were “a powerful response” to Tuesday’s firing by Iran on U.S. bases in Jordan and at ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Hours before Wednesday’s strikes were announced, Trump said the U.S. would retaliate for Iran’s attempted attack on U.S. troops the previous day.

“We’re going to be hitting them very hard because it’s our turn to hit them,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

“They know it’s coming. They asked us not to do it.”

The exchanges followed several days of relative calm.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it fired ballistic missiles at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base and the headquarters of the U.S. military’s Central Command in Jordan, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

Jordan’s military said it intercepted and destroyed five Iranian missiles. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The U.S. military said the strikes in Iraq targeted multiple logistics and weapons sites in response to alleged drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities over the past two days. Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said it “does not seek escalation but will respond to any aggression.”

The Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of mainly Shiite, Iran-backed armed groups that operates under the Iraqi military, said 20 fighters were killed and 32 wounded.

Iraqi President Nizar Amidi’s office condemned the strikes as “an unacceptable attack and a blatant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty, targeting its official security institutions.” The statement said Iraq should not be a “launching pad or arena for attacks against neighboring countries or for settling regional and international scores.”

Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi called an emergency meeting of Iraq’s National Security Council. Two Iraqi officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly, said al-Zaidi’s planned Thursday visit to Saudi Arabia had been postponed indefinitely.

Saudi Arabia had accused Iraqi militias of launching drones at its oil facilities. An umbrella group of Iraqi militias denied the allegation, while Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said they had separately attacked Saudi energy facilities.