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Associated Press News	2025-05-13 18:23:46+00:00	[ "Cannes Film Festival", "Heidi Klum", "Bella Hadid", "Fairs and festivals", "Entertainment", "Alessandra Ambrosio", "Juliette Binoche", "Lifestyle" ]	# See the looks from Cannes' opening ceremony after the festival banned big dresses and nude looks May 13th, 2025, 06:23 PM --- CANNES, France (AP) — A day after it was revealed the Cannes Film Festival was banning nudity and "voluminous outfits" from its red carpets and beyond, long trains and massive dresses still captivated attention. Heidi Klum, who in previous years brought sheer looks to Cannes, flouted the large dress ban with a pink-and-white gown with a massive train. Bella Hadid, whose daring looks had become a staple of the Cannes carpet, opted for a relatively demure black dress (and blonder hair), on the other hand. Chinese actor Wan QianHui posed with a massive, cloudlike white dress that looked like it had giant cotton balls attached to it on the steps outside the Palais. Another large dress was worn by Russian-born Aliia Roza, who describes herself as a "secret agent turned speaker, coach and fashion columnist." "You can see here a dove, representing peace in the whole world," said Roza of her painted hoop skirt look, which she described on her Instagram story. The volume on model Alessandra Ambrosio's dress was mostly on her arms, though her dress was one of several that included shorter trains. Halle Berry, who is on the Cannes jury this year, noted earlier in the day that she had changed her opening night look to comply with the new Cannes policy. "I had to make a pivot," said Berry, who said she had "an amazing dress" with a long train for the opening ceremony. "But the nudity part, I do think is probably also a good rule." No one from Juliette Binoche's jury seemed to defy the policy at Tuesday's opening ceremony. Enforcement of the policy remains unclear, as Wan and others flaunting reams of fabric were not ousted from the carpet. __ This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
Associated Press News	2025-05-03 18:23:59+00:00	[ "Portugal", "Luis Montenegro", "Antnio Leito Amaro", "Portugal government", "Migration", "Voting", "Elections", "Politics" ]	# Portugal announces expulsion of 18,000 foreigners ahead of national election May 3rd, 2025, 06:23 PM --- LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portugal's caretaker government plans to expel some 18,000 foreigners living in the country without authorization, a minister said Saturday in the buildup to a national election. Minister of the Presidency António Leitão Amaro said the center-right government will issue approximately 18,000 notifications to people in the country illegally to leave. The minister said officials will begin next week by asking some 4,500 foreigners to leave voluntarily within 20 days. Portugal will hold an early general election on May 18. Prime Minister Luis Montenegro called the snap ballot in March after his minority government led by his conservative Social Democratic Party lost a confidence vote in Parliament and stood down. Portugal has been caught up in the rising European tide of populism, with its far-right Chega party surging into third place in last year's election.
Associated Press News	2025-05-02 21:08:11+00:00	[ "California", "Donald Trump", "Barack Obama", "Animals", "Fish", "Endangered species", "Biodiversity", "National", "Oceans", "Climate and environment", "Molly Morse", "Politics", "Sandy Aylesworth", "Bribery", "George W. Bush", "Science", "Zoology", "Craig Shuman", "Lifestyle", "Scuba diving and snorkeling", "Douglas McCauley", "Climate change" ]	# As Trump pares back ocean protections, California weighs expanding them By Annika Hammerschlag May 2nd, 2025, 09:08 PM --- CHANNEL ISLANDS, Calif. (AP) — Strands of kelp glow in the dim morning light off California's Channel Islands as fish and sea lions weave through the golden fronds. It's a scene of remarkable abundance — the result of more than two decades of protection in one of the state's oldest marine reserves. But farther out in the Pacific, life in the vast Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument faces a very different future. The Trump administration has moved to reopen 500,000 square miles (about 1.3 million square kilometers) of previously protected waters there to commercial fishing, in a dramatic rollback of federal ocean protections. California, meanwhile, may be headed in the opposite direction. As it undertakes its first 10-year review of its marine protected area network, state officials, scientists, tribal leaders and environmental advocates are pushing not just to maintain protections but to expand them. "These areas are like our underwater Yellowstone," said Douglas McCauley, director of the Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory at the University of California, Santa Barbara, speaking aboard a dive boat heading to the Channel Islands. "It's important to protect that biological heritage, but it also creates an extremely lucrative tourism industry. People want to go see all that nature and wildlife in action." The state's marine protected areas have become magnets for scuba divers and snorkelers drawn by their rich life. Over time, these reserves allow fish populations to rebound and spill over into nearby waters – a long-term investment with large returns for fishermen, as McCauley sees it. Launched in 2003, the network now spans 124 distinct sections along the coast. Some areas are "no-take" zones where all fishing is prohibited, while others allow limited use. The network covers roughly 16% of state waters, with proposed expansions that would add 2%. The goal, under the 1999 Marine Life Protection Act, was to create a science-based system to rebuild ecosystems after decades of overfishing and habitat loss. The Channel Islands were among the first sites established. About 20% of the waters surrounding the eight-island chain are now fully protected. But expansion proposals have sparked debate among fishermen. ## Some anglers would like the restrictions to be relaxed Blake Hermann, a fourth-generation commercial fisherman from Ventura County, grew up fishing around the Channel Islands, where he harpoons swordfish by hand. He supports keeping much of the marine protected network intact, but he argues that some closures go too far and has petitioned the state to allow limited fishing in three no-take zones around the islands. Protected areas can help nearshore species like sea bass and lobster recover, Hermann said, but offer little benefit to wide-ranging ocean-goers like swordfish and tuna that may pass only briefly through a protected zone during migration. He questions whether it makes sense to restrict selective, low-impact fishing methods in places where these migratory species are only temporary visitors and will likely be caught when they move into unrestricted waters. "These islands are the best thing on the planet," Hermann said. "We can still protect what makes sense to protect in the right areas, but you can also still give some access back too." ## 'We're really protecting ourselves' Others warn that reopening any part of the protected network could set a troubling precedent, especially as climate change disrupts ocean ecosystems. "When we protect the oceans, we're really protecting ourselves," said Sandy Aylesworth, director of the Pacific Initiative for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "If the additional 2% is added, it will better prepare California's ocean for future stressors like climate change and new industrial uses of the ocean. So I see it as being a real benefit to all of the ocean users in California — including recreational and commercial fishermen." Final decisions from the review are expected early next year. "Marine protected areas are probably the most controversial thing that we work on, because you're essentially telling a group of individuals that they can't do what they've historically done in an area," said Craig Shuman, marine region manager at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Shuman said the fishing community has become particularly vocal in response to petitions to expand the MPA network. Many aren't asking for more access, he said, just for existing opportunities not to be taken away. "They're asking, 'If you take all the places we can fish, where do we go?'" he said. "That's the challenge: how to find the right balance between protection and access, especially in a state like California where we already have very strong fisheries management laws." Overall, he said, the data shows the network is working. "It's not consistent — each MPA is a little bit different — but more often than not, we're seeing the MPAs are working to achieve the goals of the Act." ## Trump administration moves to open up previously protected waters The president's executive order lifted fishing restrictions in waters between 50 and 200 nautical miles around a remote Pacific island chain — areas first protected by President George W. Bush in 2009 and expanded by President Barack Obama in 2014. Supporters said doing so would boost commercial fishing interests in Hawaii and American Samoa. Conservationists fear the impacts from fishing in an area that's home to coral reefs, sea turtles, whales and thousands of other species. "It makes it even more critical here at the state level that there is this expansion of protections to really balance out some of those rollbacks," said Molly Morse, senior manager at the Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory. Back on the boat, still within the protected waters off Anacapa Island, a shimmering school of sardines and anchovies draws a frenzy of seabirds and dolphins. Humpback whales surge from the depths, mouths agape, swallowing fish by the gallon. Along the border of the protected area, a sport fishing boat drops its lines as a container ship rumbles past in the distance. "We've got the largest port in the United States. We've got offshore oil and gas. We've got fishing boats coming and going," McCauley said. "But still, in the middle of all that, we still have this wildness — a place where all the stakeholders who want value out of the ocean can find it." ___ The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP's environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment
Associated Press News	2025-05-01 18:52:29+00:00	[ "Illinois", "Springfield", "Automotive accidents", "Ainsley Johnson", "Jamie Loftus", "Teens", "Kathryn Corley", "Medication", "Rylee Britton", "Brendan F. Kelly" ]	# Driver who killed 4 by smashing through an Illinois after-school camp may have had health emergency By John O'Connor May 1st, 2025, 06:52 PM --- SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The driver of a car that barreled through a building used for a popular after-school camp in central Illinois, killing three children and a teenager, was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol and may have had a medical emergency, police said Thursday. No decisions have been made on whether to file charges against the 44-year-old driver, Illinois State Police Director Brendan F. Kelly said at a news conference. The driver is not in custody, Kelly said. Evidence that she may have had a medical emergency was "not conclusive" and the investigation is ongoing, Kelly said. The car went off the road Monday, crossing a field and smashing into the side of the building in Chatham used by Youth Needing Other Things Outdoors, also known as YNOT. It traveled through the building, striking people before exiting the other side. Six other children were hospitalized. Four of them remained hospitalized, including one in critical condition, a state police spokesperson said after Thursday's news conference. Those killed were Rylee Britton, 18, of Springfield, Ainsley Johnson, 8, Kathryn Corley, 7, and Alma Buhnerkempe, 7. All of the children were from Chatham, a community of about 15,000 outside the Illinois capital of Springfield. The driver was not injured but was taken to a hospital for evaluation after the crash, Kelly said. She voluntarily submitted blood and urine samples that tested negative for drugs and alcohol, he said. "Some evidence has been developed indicating the possibility of a medical emergency leading up to the crash," Kell said. "However, the investigation of this information and other evidence has not yet concluded and will continue until all leads and research have been exhausted." He would not elaborate on the possible health issue or say what evidence investigators have indicating a medical emergency may have occurred. He also would not say whether the driver was conscious and alert when emergency responders reached her. Security camera footage showed the vehicle was "a substantial distance" away when it left the roadway, said Jamie Loftus, founder of YNOT Outdoors. It crossed the field, a road, the sidewalk and YNOT's parking lot before crashing through the building "with no apparent attempt to alter its direction," Loftus said earlier this week. The vehicle then crossed a gravel road and crashed into a pole and fence. Kelly said the vehicle traveled more than 1,300 feet (396 meters) but would not elaborate and also would not say how fast the vehicle was moving. He said he could not provide a timeline for completing the investigation and said charges, if appropriate, would be up to the Sangamon County state's attorney. ___ Associated Press writers Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, and Sophia Tareen in Chicago contributed.
Associated Press News	2025-05-03 06:46:49+00:00	[ "Eurocopa 2024" ]	# PHOTO GALLERY:Europe-US-V-E-Day May 3rd, 2025, 06:46 AM --- This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors
Associated Press News	2025-05-02 22:30:30+00:00	[ "Jeff Landry", "Louisiana state government", "Donald Trump", "Black experience", "Louisiana", "District of Columbia", "DC Wire", "Politics", "Courtney Burdette", "Climate and environment", "Climate" ]	# The head of Louisiana's Department of Environmental Quality leaves for a new job By The Associated Press May 2nd, 2025, 10:30 PM --- BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The head of Louisiana's environmental agency is leaving her position for a job at a law firm in Washington, D.C., the governor's office announced on Friday. Aurelia Skipwith Giacometto, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and a former wildlife official for President Donald Trump's administration during his first term, was the first Black woman to lead the state agency. Giacometto, a biologist and lawyer who spent more than six years at agrochemical giant Monsanto, was appointed by Gov. Jeff Landry in November 2023. The state agency is responsible for ensuring the citizens of Louisiana have a clean and healthy environment to live and work. Among other things, the department regulates pollution sources and responds to environmental emergencies. When Landry, a Republican, took office last year, he said Giacometto understood "the balance between protecting our environment and ensuring job creation." Landry has been a major defender of the state's fossil fuel industry. Louisiana, which is situated on the Gulf Coast and home to diverse natural landscapes that include bayous, forests and coastal areas, has tens of thousands of jobs tied to the oil and gas industry. Additionally, the Deep South state has had a front-row seat to the impacts of climate change. Hurricanes are making landfall more frequently, coastal areas are being eaten away by erosion, subsidence and rising sea levels, and the Mississippi River has reached record-low water levels, causing barges with agricultural exports to get stuck and allowing a mass influx of salt water that has threatened drinking supplies. During Giacometto's year and a half in office, she has faced criticism over her management style and numerous employees, including some high-profile staffers, have left the agency, as reported by The Advocate. Courtney Burdette, who has worked in the department for a decade in various positions, has been named by Landry as the next secretary.
Associated Press News	2025-05-08 09:01:55+00:00	[ "Donald Trump", "Keir Starmer", "United Kingdom", "International trade", "United Kingdom government", "Boris Johnson", "Joe Biden", "Howard Lutnick", "Metals and mining", "Economy", "Federal Reserve System", "United States government", "United States", "Tariffs and global trade", "Government and politics", "The Boeing Co.", "Taxes", "Mattel", "Inc.", "Business" ]	# Trump agrees to cut some tariffs on UK in a trade deal By Josh Boak, Jill Lawless, and Chris Megerian May 8th, 2025, 09:01 AM --- WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump agreed Thursday to cut tariffs on U.K. autos, steel and aluminum in a planned trade deal but played down the possibility of other nations getting similarly favorable terms on his import taxes, which are roiling the global economy. Under the framework agreement, the United Kingdom is to buy more American beef and ethanol and streamline its customs process for goods from the United States. But Trump's baseline 10% tariffs against British goods are to stay in place, and the Republican president suggested that even higher import taxes would be charged on other countries trying to reach deals with the U.S. "That's a low number," Trump said of the U.K.'s 10% tariff rate, adding that other countries would face higher tariff rates in their deals because the U.S. runs trade deficits with them and "in many cases they didn't treat us right." The announcement provided a political victory for U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and offered a degree of validation for Trump's claims that his turbulent approach on trade may be able to rebalance the global economy on his preferred terms. While the deal should improve Britain's situation relative to when Trump began imposing new tariffs, the world economy is still mired in the confusion and uncertainty unleashed by the president's import taxes. The deal with the U.K. would be a resonant but small step toward greater clarity given that Britain represents a fraction of U.S. imports. The U.S. president talked up the framework to reporters in the Oval Office, although the fine print remains in flux. "In the coming weeks, we'll have it all very conclusive," Trump said. The president said the agreement would lead to more beef and ethanol exports to the U.K., and streamline the processing of U.S. goods through customs. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the baseline 10% tariffs would stay in place and said an unspecified British company would be announcing the purchase of $10 billion in aircraft from Boeing. ## Cars, steel and olive oil U.K. officials said Trump's auto tariffs would go from 27.5% to 10% on a quota of 100,000 vehicles and the import taxes on steel and aluminum would go from 25% to zero. Starmer said Britain would preserve its health and safety standards on food products. The U.K. government also said it would also reduce tariffs on 2,500 U.S. products such as olive oil, wine and sports equipment, bringing down the average tariff rate 1.8%. Starmer, speaking over the phone to Trump while reporters listened in, stressed the importance of the relationship between the two countries as the anniversary of the Allies' World War II victory in Europe was being commemorated. "To be able to announce this great deal, on the same day 80 years forward, almost at the same hour," Starmer said, "I think is incredibly important and makes this truly historic." Starmer later spoke to workers at a Jaguar Land Rover plant and promoted the deal, which he said would protect thousands of auto jobs. He told the workers that "this is just the start," saying "we are hammering out further details to reduce barriers to trade with the United States and across the world." While celebrating the planned deal, Trump talked up the U.S. economy's future despite worrisome signs of a possible slowdown and increase in inflation that could hurt most Americans' financial well-being and lead to layoffs. The president said the public should buy into the stock market because the U.S. was about to go up like a "rocket ship," even as he dismissed reports of fewer container ships docking in the U.S. and companies warning of price increases if the tariffs remain. Trump said that fewer container ships arriving from China meant "we lose less money" from the trade deficit, even though the goods in those ships are used by U.S. manufacturers and sold by retailers in ways that can support jobs while holding down prices. Asked about companies saying they would need to raise prices because of the tariffs, Trump said, "I think they're saying that just to try and negotiate deals with me." Trump suggested that he might put 100% tariffs on Mattel toys if they don't relocate their factories to the United States. Trump has maintained that there is "virtually" no inflation. The Federal Reserve's preferred inflation measure has increased at 2.3% annually, slightly higher than the central bank's 2% target. The U.S. president on Thursday said that Fed Chair Jerome Powell should cut the Fed's benchmark interest rates that are designed to manage inflation, saying that Powell was holding the Fed's rates at current levels instead of slashing them because "he's not in love with me." Powell warned at a Wednesday news conference that the tariffs were creating uncertainty and the Fed could afford to wait until more data shows the impacts on the economy. ## Looking for a deal since Brexit The U.S. already runs a trade surplus with the U.K., making it a bit easier to find common ground at a time when Trump has staked his tariffs on eliminating the annual trade deficits with multiple nations he says have taken advantage of the U.S. A British government official, insisting on anonymity to discuss the talks, said the U.K. planned to seek greater trade liberalization as negotiations continue, such that the effective tariff rate charged by the U.S. could be lower than the 10% baseline. The official said the talks have been built on the longstanding closeness between the two nations and, when in discussions with the Trump administration, the key was to be charming and know how to say "no" nicely. The official said Trump had invited the British government to agree to a trade deal before April 2, but the president changed his mind so that he could impose his sweeping "Liberation Day" tariffs. That statement indicates that Trump could have announced some form of Thursday's agreement weeks earlier. No new deals have been reached with the United States' largest trading partners, including Canada, Mexico and China. Trump has left the highest tariffs in place on China, sparking a confrontation between the world's two biggest economies. Washington and Beijing are sending officials to Switzerland this weekend for an initial round of trade talks. Trump said Thursday that he "could" lower the 145% rate charged on Chinese goods if the weekend talks go well. "Right now, you can't get any higher," Trump said. "It's at 145, so we know it's coming down." The U.S. and the U.K. have been aiming to strike a bilateral trade agreement since the British people voted in 2016 to leave the European Union, allowing the country to negotiate independently of the rest of the continent. Then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson touted a future deal with the U.S. as an incentive for Brexit. Negotiations started in 2020, during Trump's first term. But the talks made little progress under President Joe Biden, a Democrat and a critic of Brexit. Negotiations resumed after Trump returned to office in January and intensified in recent weeks. The U.S. ran a $11.9 billion trade surplus in goods with the U.K. last year, according to the Census Bureau. The $68 billion in goods that the U.S. imported from the U.K. last year accounted for just 2% of all goods imported into the country. The U.S. is far more important for the U.K. economy. It was Britain's biggest trading partner last year, according to government statistics, though the bulk of Britain's exports to the U.S. are services rather than goods. ___ Jill Lawless reported from London. Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed to this report.
Associated Press News	2025-05-14 22:44:48+00:00	[ "Missouri", "Reproductive rights", "Voting", "Abortion", "Mike Kehoe", "Mary Elizabeth Coleman", "Referendums", "U.S. Republican Party", "Tracy McCreery", "Politics", "Planned Parenthood", "Health", "U.S. Democratic Party", "Missouri state government", "Sam Lee", "Brian Williams" ]	# Missouri lawmakers back repeal of abortion-rights amendment By David A. Lieb May 14th, 2025, 10:44 PM --- JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Six months after Missouri voters approved an abortion-rights amendment, Republican state lawmakers on Wednesday approved a new referendum that would seek the amendment's repeal and instead ban most abortions with exceptions for rape an incest. The newly proposed constitutional amendment would go back to voters in November 2026, or sooner, if Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe calls a special election before then. Republican senators used a series of rare procedural moves to cut off discussion by opposing Democrats before passing the proposed abortion-rights revision by a 21-11 vote. The measure passed the Republican-led House last month. Immediately after the vote, protestors erupted with chants of "Stop the ban!" and were ushered out of the Senate chamber. The Senate then blocked further Democratic debate and gave final approval to a separate measure repealing provisions of a voter-approved law guaranteeing paid sick leave for workers and cost-of-living increases to the minimum wage. That measure does not go back to the ballot. It will instead become law when signed by Kehoe, who has expressed his support for it. After taking the sweeping votes, the Senate effectively ended its annual legislative session — two days ahead of a constitutional deadline to wrap up work. Democrats were outraged by the legislative actions and vowed to retaliate by slowing down any Senate work next year. "Our rights are under attack," Democratic state Sen. Brian Williams said during debate. He accused Republicans of "trying to overturn the will of the voters." Republicans contend they are simply giving voters a second chance on abortion — and are confident they will change their minds because of the new rape and incest exceptions. "Abortion is the greatest tragedy in the world right now," Republican state Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman said while explaining her efforts to repeal the abortion-rights amendment. If someone's fine with "taking the life of an innocent, then probably you can justify whatever you want." Some GOP lawmakers said they needed to repeal the paid sick leave requirement, which kicked in May 1, because it's adding costs that threaten the financial viability of small businesses. Republicans had been negotiating with Democrats over an alternative to exempt only the smallest businesses before scrapping that and opting for the full repeal. Missouri lawmakers have a history of altering voter-approved policies. They previously tried to block funding for a voter-approved Medicaid expansion and authored changes to voter-approved measures regulating dog breeders and legislative redistricting. Missouri's abortion policies have swung dramatically in recent years. When the U.S. Supreme Court ended a nationwide right to abortion by overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022, it triggered a Missouri law to take effect banning most abortions. But abortion-rights activists gathered initiative petition signatures to reverse that. Last November, Missouri voters narrowly approved a constitutional amendment guaranteeing a right to abortion until fetal viability, generally considered sometime past 21 weeks of pregnancy. The amendment also allows later abortions to protect the life or health of pregnant women and creates a "fundamental right to reproductive freedom" that includes birth control, prenatal and postpartum care and "respectful birthing conditions." A limited number of surgical abortions have since occurred in Missouri, but medication abortions remain on hold while Planned Parenthood wrangles with the state over abortion regulations. The new measure seeks to repeal the abortion-rights amendment and instead allow abortions only for a medical emergency or fetal anomaly, or in cases of rape or incest up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. It also would prohibit gender transition surgeries, hormone treatments and puberty blockers for minors, which already are barred under state law. Polling indicates "that most voters are opposed to most abortions in Missouri but do want to allow for abortions with limited exceptions," said Sam Lee, director of Campaign Life Missouri. The ballot title that voters will see doesn't explicitly mention repealing Amendment 3. Instead, it says the new measure would "ensure women's safety during abortions, ensure parental consent for minors" and "allow abortions for medical emergencies, fetal anomalies, rape, and incest." It also states that it will "protect children from gender transition," among other provisions. Democratic state Sen. Tracy McCreery called the measure "an attempt to mislead and lie to the voters," echoing similar accusations that Republicans had made against the original Amendment 3. An abortion-rights coalition that includes Planned Parenthood affiliates, the American Civil Liberties Union and others planned a rally Thursday at the Missouri Capitol and vowed a vigorous campaign against the measure. "Abortion rights won in this state six months ago, and mark my words: Missourians will protect reproductive freedom again," said Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes.
Associated Press News	2025-05-08 20:30:29+00:00	[ "Alexander Mashinsky", "Soviet Union", "Fraud", "New York City Wire", "Indictments", "Business", "Marc Mukasey", "Legal proceedings", "Jay Clayton", "John G. Koeltl", "Cameron Crewes", "Cryptocurrency", "Allison Nichols" ]	# Founder of crypto platform Celsius Network is sentenced to 12 years in prison By Larry Neumeister May 8th, 2025, 08:30 PM --- NEW YORK (AP) — The founder and former CEO of the cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius Network was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in prison after a prosecutor labeled him a predator who "preyed on hope" by enticing vulnerable customers to risk their life savings for a supposedly safe investment. Alexander Mashinsky, 59, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl, who said a substantial term in prison was necessary for someone who engaged in "extremely serious" crimes that enabled him to pocket over $45 million while some of his customers lost everything and suffered severe psychological harm. Celsius declared bankruptcy in 2022, exposing risky financial bets Mashinsky had made with some of the $20 billion that thousands of customers poured into the company. He had promised that their money would be safe and secure at Celsius, which pitched itself as a modern-day bank where crypto assets could earn interest. The defense blamed the collapse of Celsius on a "cataclysmic downturn" of cryptocurrency markets in May and June of 2022 and said in court papers that Mashinsky's "actions were never predatory, exploitative or venal. He never acted with the intent to hurt anyone." But Assistant U.S. Attorney Allison Nichols cast him as a financial predator, telling the judge Thursday that Mashinsky had deceived customers from the start by exaggerating Celsius' ability to build momentum. "He preyed on hope," she said. "Mashinsky knew exactly what he was doing — selling these people hope." She said the customers were not going to be made financially whole regardless of money that can be recovered through bankruptcy proceedings. Before he was sentenced, Mashinsky sobbed several times as he apologized to customers and referenced his difficult past as his family was able to leave a small Ukrainian town in the former Soviet Union with help from the United States when he was 7. The family moved to Israel, where Mashinsky served three years in the Israeli Defense Forces as a fighter pilot before coming to America. Mashinsky said he "never meant to hurt anybody here after all this country has done for me." "I'm truly sorry," he said, describing himself as someone "who came from nothing." When he pleaded guilty in December, Mashinsky admitted to misleading customers between 2018 and 2022 by promising their investments were safe even as he fabricated Celsius' profitability and put customers' funds at the mercy of uncollateralized loans and undisclosed risky market bets. His attorney, Marc Mukasey, said victim impact statements submitted to the court were "rather brutal" toward his client. "We hear the intensity of their pain," he said. "Our sympathies are with everyone." Several victims spoke at the sentencing hearing. Cameron Crewes, who serves on a victims' committee, called for a "harsh sentence," saying nearly 250 victims died before they could see justice served or get adequately compensated for losses. "Many people have been wiped out," he said. In a statement, U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said Mashinsky "made tens of millions of dollars while his customers lost billions." He added: "America's investors deserve better. The case for tokenization and the use of digital assets is strong, but it is not a license to deceive. The rules against fraud still apply."
Associated Press News	2025-05-16 07:54:50+00:00	[ "Donald Trump", "Syria", "Vladimir Putin", "Qatar", "Middle East", "Abu Dhabi", "Joe Biden", "Karoline Leavitt", "Volodymyr Zelenskyy", "Recep Tayyip Erdogan", "United States government", "United States", "Tommy Pigott", "Saudi Arabia government", "Ellen Knickmeyer", "Abdullah Alaoudh", "Government and politics", "Josh Boak", "Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud", "Israel government", "Ahmad al-Sharaa", "Politics" ]	# Opulence, business deals and a $400M plane from Qatar: Takeaways from Trump's Mideast tour By Zeke Miller and Aamer Madhani May 16th, 2025, 07:54 AM --- ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — President Donald Trump used the first major foreign trip of his second term to outline a vision for restoring global stability that is grounded in pragmatism and self-interest rather than values, holding out U.S. ties to wealthy Gulf countries as a model for America's longtime foes. His four-day swing through Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which ends Friday, put a spotlight on Trump's transactional approach to foreign affairs as he was feted by autocratic rulers with a trio of lavish state visits where there was heavy emphasis on economic and security partnerships. His trip played out against the backdrop of stubborn global conflicts, including Gaza and Ukraine, that showed the limits of his influence. But Trump insisted he was turning the page on American "interventionalism" in the region as he moved to recognize the new government in Syria for the first time and prodded Iran to engage on nuclear talks before it's too late. Some takeaways from Trump's travels: ## Trump marveled at Gulf state opulence but held his tongue on human rights Presidential trips to the Middle East usually feature at least some public calls for authoritarian governments to improve their human rights efforts. Not this one, as Trump celebrated his business deals with Gulf royals and admired their wealth. Trump toured the marble and gilded palaces of Gulf rulers and deemed them "perfecto" and "very hard to buy." He praised the "gleaming marvels" of the skyline in Saudi Arabia. And he groused about the "much less impressive" Air Force One. In Trump's remarks at a VIP business conference in Riyadh, he went out of his way to distance himself from the actions of past administrations, the days when he said American officials would fly in "in beautiful planes, giving you lectures on how to live and how to govern your own affairs." Rights advocates took that as a pledge of nonintervention, swearing off some of the pressure past U.S. presidents have brought to bear on partners to varying degrees to ease up on detentions, suppression of critics and other issues. "It's absolute support for absolute monarchy," said Saudi exile Abdullah Alaoudh. His father, a Saudi cleric with a wide following there, is imprisoned in the kingdom. Some rights advocates said Trump officials gave them private assurances the administration was working on behalf of detained Americans and rights advocates. Tommy Pigott, a deputy spokesman at the State Department, declined to say whether Trump raised those or other rights issues in discussions with Gulf royals. ## Thwarted by Putin While Trump was in the Mideast, Vladimir Putin opted to skip direct peace talks with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy despite the U.S. president's strong calls for them to meet face to face. Trump has been pushing Putin and Zelenskyy to move with greater haste to end Russia's grinding war in Ukraine. But after it became clear Putin wouldn't be attending talks in Turkey this week and would instead be sending underlings to Istanbul, an annoyed Trump insisted he knew all along that it was highly likely Putin would be a no-show. "I don't believe anything's going to happen whether you like it or not, until he and I get together," Trump said. "But we're going to have to get it solved because too many people are dying." As he wrapped up his visit on Friday, Trump said the face-to-face would happen "as soon as we can set it up." Trump was scheduled to fly back to Washington on Friday, but tried to keep people guessing until the end. He teased late Thursday that he would be heading to a "destination unknown" — "probably" Washington, he added. His opaque language stoked speculation that he might make a drop-by to Turkey. But on Friday morning, he told reporters he needed to get back to Washington. His daughter Tiffany had her first child while the president has been away. "I would actually leave here and go," Trump said. "I do want to see my beautiful grandson." ## On Syria sanctions, Trump takes a leap of faith Just two months ago, the Trump administration wasn't sold on Syria's interim government led by Ahmad al-Sharaa, the onetime al-Qaida-affiliated insurgent. They worried the Syrian president didn't have the legitimacy to govern the country's ethnically diverse population. Clashes broke out in early March, killing hundreds and targeting many more members of the Alawite religious minority to which the ousted Syrian leader Basher Assad belongs. The moment gave the Trump White House pause about easing sanctions on Syria. But Trump signaled Monday that he was having a change of heart and was moving toward lifting the Syria sanctions. A day later, he announced the move during an address to Gulf leaders. Trump then took it another step by agreeing to meet al-Sharaa. Trump said he was impressed with al-Sharaa, who not that long ago had a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head. The president called him a "young, attractive guy" with a "very strong past." Trump said it was recommendations from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that nudged him to take a chance on al-Sharra. "President Erdogan called me and said: 'Is there any way you could do that? Because if you don't do that, they don't have a chance,'" Trump said. "So, I did it." ## Trump's fuzzy math on display Throughout the trip, Trump felt more than comfortable dishing out exaggeration and hyperbole. "This has been an amazing trip." Trump told reporters Thursday as Air Force One was about to land in Qatar. "We've raised trillions of dollars of investment for our country." A little later he put the figure at $4 trillion. That figure is about two times the combined gross domestic products of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, meaning that any announced investments would likely accrue over several years — if at all — in ways that might not show up in overall U.S. economic growth numbers. Boeing confirmed that Qatar's $96 billion purchase of its 787 and 777X jets was the largest order for 787s and wide body jets in the company's history. Trump enthused it was "the biggest order in the history of, I think, aviation, certainly of that size" of jets. Trump also went overboard in running down the economic record of his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, at one point declaring, "The days of economic misery under the last administration are rapidly giving way to the greatest economy in the history of the world." The U.S. economy grew at 2.8% last year. It declined at an annualized rate of 0.3% during the first three months of this year. ## Intractable conflicts remain just that While Trump's trip initially was conceived as a visit to reward countries that invest in the United States, Trump at one point hoped it also would herald significant steps to end the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. Positive news on both fronts proved elusive. Trump barely mentioned either conflict on his trip – and when he did, it was generally in the context of his assertion that they wouldn't have occurred had he won reelection in 2020. As Israel stepped up an offensive in Gaza — a prelude to a promised full takeover of the territory if Hamas doesn't release the remaining hostages in its captivity — Trump was again musing about the creation of a "freedom zone" in its territory. It's a notion rejected by Palestinians and the broader Arab world because Trump's plan would relocate civilians from Gaza to allow for rebuilding. Israel conducted significant airstrikes all week in Gaza as Trump was in the region and the fighting on the ground appeared to escalate Friday morning even before Trump left the UAE. Meanwhile, Trump said "a lot of people are starving" in Gaza, a rare acknowledgement of the humanitarian crisis in the territory. Speaking to reporters at a business forum in Abu Dhabi on the final day of his trip to the Middle East, Trump said, "We're looking at Gaza." "And we've got to get that taken care of. A lot of people are starving. A lot of people are — there's a lot of bad things going on." ## Ethics issues follow along as Trump travels the Mideast Trump was already facing questions about conflicts of interest for traveling to the Middle East to shape U.S. policy at a time when his family's business interests in the region have boomed. He attempted to quiet worries about national security and constitutional questions by insisting he's smart to accept a $400 million luxury plane from Qatar and use it as Air Force One. "Why should our military, and therefore our taxpayers, be forced to pay hundreds of millions of Dollars when they can get it for FREE," Trump posted on his social media site during his Middle East swing. The president also dodged questions about a state-backed investment company in Abu Dhabi using a Trump family-aligned stablecoin for a $2 billion investment in the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. "I don't know anything about it," he said. Beyond that, the Trump family has piled up deals to license its brand for real estate projects, and to build Trump towers and golf courses, around the Middle East. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says it's "frankly ridiculous" to wonder if those profits might influence Trump's governing decisions. ___ Madhani reported from Dubai. Associated Press writers Josh Boak, Will Weissert and Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington contributed to this report.
Associated Press News	2025-05-18 18:49:58+00:00	[ "Product safety", "Product recalls", "Business", "Production facilities", "U.S. Food and Drug Administration", "Food safety", "Health" ]	# Ice cream maker issues recall over concerns about plastic By The Associated Press May 18th, 2025, 06:49 PM --- An Iowa-based ice cream manufacturer has recalled nearly 18,000 containers of ice cream and frozen yogurt over concerns they could contain pieces of plastic. Wells Enterprises issued the voluntary recall last month, according to recently released information from the Food and Drug Administration. The company's brands include Blue Bunny and Halo Top ice cream products. KXAS-TV reports that the nationwide recall includes 22 flavors of ice cream and frozen yogurt in 3-gallon containers. The recalled products have "Best If Used By" dates ranging from March to October 2026.
Associated Press News	2025-05-10 17:46:00+00:00	[ "South Africa", "Giorgia Meloni", "Nursing homes", "Entertainment", "International agreements" ]	# Koyo Kouoh, 2026 Venice Art Biennale curator, dies suddenly at age 58 May 10th, 2025, 05:46 PM --- ROME (AP) — Koyo Kouoh, the curator of the 2026 Venice Art Biennale, has died at age 58, her home institution in South Africa said in an Instagram post Saturday. The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town in South Africa confirmed her passing overnight but gave no cause of death. The Biennale said Saturday it was "deeply saddened and dismayed" to learn of her death. Kouoh was the first African woman tapped to helm the Venice Biennale. Born in Cameroon in 1967, she was tapped to curate the 2026 edition of the Biennale in December. A leading figure in promoting Pan-Africanism throughout the art world, Kouoh had been executive director and chief curator at Zeitz since 2019. Appointed in December 2024 by the board of directors of La Biennale, Kouoh worked "with passion, intellectual rigor and vision on the conception and development of the Biennale Arte 2026," the Venice arts institution said. The presentation of the exhibition's title and theme was due to take place in Venice on May 20. "Her passing leaves an immense void in the world of contemporary art and in the international community of artists, curators, and scholars who had the privilege of knowing and admiring her extraordinary human and intellectual commitment," the Biennale said. It extended "its deepest sympathies and affection" to Kouoh's family and friends, and "all those who shared with her a journey of research and critical thought on contemporary art." In a statement, Italy's Premier Giorgia Meloni on Saturday expressed her "deepest condolences" for Kouoh's "premature and sudden passing," noting it "leaves a void in the world of contemporary art."
Associated Press News	2025-05-16 11:29:31+00:00	[ "Pittsburgh", "Pennsylvania", "Philadelphia", "Voting", "Corey OConnor", "Josh Shapiro", "Ed Gainey", "Larry Krasner", "Pat Dugan", "Associated Press", "Courts", "U.S. Republican Party", "Decision notes", "Government and politics", "Carlos Vega", "Tony Moreno", "Elections", "Bill Peduto", "U.S. Democratic Party", "Bob OConnor", "Politics" ]	# What to expect in Pennsylvania's state primaries By Robert Yoon May 16th, 2025, 11:29 AM --- WASHINGTON (AP) — Pennsylvania's two largest cities will hold primaries Tuesday for high-profile municipal offices, while voters across the commonwealth will choose nominees for statewide appellate court judgeships. The election is a prelude to November, when voters could scramble partisan control of the state Supreme Court. The primaries in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh will have added significance because the eventual Democratic nominees will be heavily favored in the general election. In Philadelphia, Democrat Larry Krasner seeks a third term as district attorney against former Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge Pat Dugan. Dugan stepped down in December midway through his third term to challenge Krasner for the Democratic nomination. He's running as a moderate alternative to Krasner and has far outraised the incumbent. Republicans have not fielded a candidate for the general election. Krasner won reelection in 2021 by a wide margin, but the Republican-controlled state House impeached him a year later over his progressive policies. Senate Republicans had prepared to hold an impeachment trial to try to remove Krasner from office, but the state Supreme Court ruled that the trial needed to be held before the end of the 2022 legislative session. Democrats took control of the state House in 2023, making a new impeachment effort all but impossible. Krasner won the 2021 primary with 67% of the vote. His opponent that year was Carlos Vega, a former prosecutor who sued the city over his 2018 firing by Krasner. Vega also ran as a more moderate alternative to Krasner and carried most of the wards in Northeast Philadelphia and two wards in South Philadelphia. Krasner swept the rest of the city. In the race for mayor of Pittsburgh, Democratic incumbent Ed Gainey faces a primary challenge from Allegheny County Controller Corey O'Connor, a former member of the Pittsburgh City Council and son of the late Mayor Bob O'Connor. The two began the year on roughly even footing in terms of campaign funding, but O'Connor had far outraised and outspent Gainey by the end of March. Gainey is a former state representative who ousted Democratic Mayor Bill Peduto in the 2021 primary on his way to becoming the city's first Black mayor. He received about 46% of the primary vote, compared with about 39% for Peduto. Gainey carried most of the districts north of the Ohio and Monongahela rivers, excluding the downtown Golden Triangle area and some neighborhoods in the East and the Northwest. Running for the Republican nomination are Thomas West and 2021 nominee Tony Moreno. On the statewide ballot, Republicans will hold contested primaries for vacant seats on the state Superior Court and Commonwealth Court. These are the two statewide appellate courts a step below the state Supreme Court. The Democratic candidates for these seats are uncontested in their primaries. There are no primaries Tuesday for state Supreme Court, but three Democratic justices will face yes-or-no votes in the November general election to serve additional 10-year terms. The court has a 5-2 Democratic majority, and Democrats are concerned that Republicans will mount a campaign to oust the justices who are up for retention this year. If voters decide not to retain a justice for another term, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro would appoint a temporary replacement, subject to confirmation by the Republican-controlled state Senate. An election to fill the seat for a full 10-year term would be held in 2027. Philadelphia, the state's most populous city, plays a big role in statewide general elections but takes a back seat in statewide Republican primaries, since most voters there are registered Democrats. In the 2023 state Supreme Court primaries, Philadelphia cast more votes than any other county in the Democratic primary, but it didn't crack the top 10 in the Republican primary. The counties with the most total votes cast in the GOP race were Allegheny, Montgomery, Bucks, Lancaster, Delaware, Chester, York, Westmoreland, Berks and Cumberland. All but York, Berks and Cumberland also made the list of top 10 counties in the Democratic primary in terms of most votes cast. The Associated Press does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it's determined there is no scenario that would allow the trailing candidates to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why. Pennsylvania requires an automatic recount for statewide races with a vote margin of 0.5 percentage points or less. For non-statewide races, voters may petition an individual county board of elections or the courts to order a recount. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is eligible for a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome. Here's a look at what to expect Tuesday: ## Primary day Pennsylvania's state primary will be held Tuesday. Polls close at 8 p.m. ET. ## What's on the ballot? The Associated Press will provide vote results and declare winners in primaries for state Superior Court, Commonwealth Court, Pittsburgh mayor and Philadelphia district attorney. Retention elections for state Supreme Court will be held in November. ## Who gets to vote? Pennsylvania has a closed primary system, which means that registered voters may vote only in their own party's primary. ## What do turnout and advance vote look like? As of Monday, there were about 3.8 million Democrats and 3.6 million Republicans registered in Pennsylvania. Allegheny County, home to Pittsburgh, has almost a 2-1 ratio Democratic registration advantage. Democrats outnumber Republicans in Philadelphia County by a nearly 6-1 ratio. More than 57,000 people voted in the 2021 Democratic primary for Pittsburgh mayor, which was about 34% of registered voters at the time. Mail ballots made up about 37% of votes cast. Roughly 224,000 people voted in the Philadelphia municipal primary that year, or about 21% of registered voters. About 28% of the vote was from mail ballots. Turnout in 2023 state Supreme Court primaries was 12% of registered voters in the Democratic primary and 10% in the Republican primary. About 42% of votes in the Democratic primary were mail ballots cast before primary day, compared with about 15% in the Republican primary. As of Thursday, nearly 390,000 of the 798,000 absentee ballots requested statewide had already been cast. In Philadelphia, more than 14,000 absentee ballots for the Democratic primary had been cast out of the approximately 64,000 requested. In Pittsburgh, about one-third of the 22,000 Democratic absentee ballots requested had already been cast. About 30% of the roughly 1,900 Republican primary ballots requested in Pittsburgh had been cast. ## How long does vote-counting usually take? In the 2024 general election, the AP first reported results just as polls closed at 8 p.m. ET. Vote tabulation paused at 5:49 a.m. ET for roughly 90 minutes with about 96% of the statewide vote counted. The first results in Allegheny County were available just after 8 p.m. ET and in Philadelphia County at 8:08 p.m. ET. The election night tabulation in Allegheny ended at 12:08 a.m. ET with about 98% of total votes counted and in Philadelphia County at 1:56 a.m. ET with about 93% of total votes counted. ## Are we there yet? As of Tuesday, there will be 168 days until Pennsylvania's 2025 general election in November. ___ Follow the AP's coverage of Election 2025 at https://apnews.com/projects/election-results-2025/.
Associated Press News	2025-05-02 13:51:03+00:00	[ "Chile", "Argentina", "Chile government", "Earthquakes", "Tsunamis", "Gabriel Boric", "Natural disasters", "Climate and environment", "Politics", "Strait of Magellan" ]	# 7.4 magnitude quake off Chile's far south briefly triggers tsunami alert but causes no damage By Nayara Batschke May 2nd, 2025, 01:51 PM --- SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — A major earthquake with a magnitude of 7.4 struck in the South Atlantic Ocean off Chile and Argentina on Friday, prompting thousands in Chile to evacuate parts of the sparsely populated coast for higher ground due to tsunami fears. There were no reported damage or casualties from the earthquake that hit at 8:58 a.m. local time and triggered at least a dozen aftershocks. Due to fears that the tremblor could generate a potential tsunami, the Chilean government issued an evacuation order for the coastline of the Strait of Magellan, at the southern tip of South America, and for the country's bases and research stations on the Antarctic peninsula. Chilean authorities withdrew the warning later Friday after determining that no tsunami was occurring, allowing people to trickle back to their homes even as officials continued to caution the public to steer clear of boardwalks and beaches. "Although the state of the emergency has been downgraded ... it's very important to remain alert to official communications," Chilean President Gabriel Boric wrote on social media platform X. "In these cases, it's always better to be safe than sorry." The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was shallow, at just 10 kilometers (6 miles) under the seabed, and it struck about 219 kilometers (173 miles) south of Argentina's southernmost city of Ushuaia, the remote outpost from which most Antarctic cruises set sail. The U.S. monitoring agency said it expected waves to reach up to 3 meters high. The Chilean government estimated the waves would first hit bases in Antarctica before reaching Chile's southernmost naval station of Puerto Williams and, on Saturday morning, lashing the coast off the larger town of Punta Arenas along the Strait of Magellan, the key waterway connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Local news stations aired footage of residents in Punta Arenas calmly making their way toward shelters and evacuation points on higher ground as sirens blared in the background. Schools in the region closed for the day. Chile's police force also shared footage of an officer pushing a man in a wheelchair up a hill in desolate Puerto Williams. Chile's national disaster response service, Senapred, reported the evacuation of some 2,000 residents before it downgraded the warnings, with 32 people following procedures from Chile's Antarctic research bases. Boric, who is from the city of Punta Arenas, suspended his normal agenda on Friday and called an emergency committee meeting to address the earthquake. "All state resources are available," he said. As one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world, Chile has built up its preparedness for earthquakes and tsunamis spawned over the years by the tectonic plates clashing under the surface of the Pacific Ocean. ____ Associated Press writers Isabel DeBre and Débora Rey in Buenos Aires contributed to this report. ____ Follow AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Associated Press News	2025-05-16 13:22:35+00:00	[ "Disease outbreaks", "Bird flu", "International trade", "Europe", "Tariffs and global trade", "Health", "United States government", "Agriculture", "China", "Brazil government", "Business", "Livestock diseases", "Brazil", "China government", "European Union" ]	# Brazil confirms its first bird flu outbreak in a commercial poultry farm By Associated Press May 16th, 2025, 01:22 PM --- SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil, one of the world's largest producers and exporters of poultry, confirmed Friday the country's first bird flu outbreak on a commercial farm. The virus was found at a facility in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, the country's agriculture ministry said in a statement. It said a contingency plan has been implemented "not only to eliminate the disease but also to maintain the sector's productive capacity, ensuring supply and, consequently, food security for the population." The ministry said it has notified the World Organization for Animal Health, the Ministries of Health and the Environment and Brazil's trade partners. The agency said in a statement later Friday that China and the European Union have halted poultry imports from Brazil, following trade agreements. Restriction on poultry exports follows rules agreed on with each importing country, based on international health certificate requirements, the Agriculture and Livestock ministry added. Depending on the type of the disease, some deals apply to the whole country while others involve limits on where products can come from — for example, a specific state, city or just the area of the outbreak. "Countries like Japan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the Philippines have already accepted this regional approach," the ministry said. Brazil is one of the world's leading producers and exporters of poultry, accounting for 14% of global chicken meat production, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. An egg shortage in the United States following the bird flu outbreak boosted Brazilian egg exports to the U.S., rising by more than 1,000% between January and April 2025 compared to the same period the previous year, according to trade data from the Brazilian government. Brazil's agriculture ministry also said Friday the disease is not transmitted through the consumption of poultry meat or eggs. "The risk of human infection by the avian flu virus is low and occurs mostly among handlers or professionals who have close contact with infected birds (alive or dead)," the ministry said. Brazilian chicken exports have previously faced resistance over sanitary concerns. In 2018, the European Union temporarily banned imports of chicken from 20 Brazilian plants due to concerns about salmonella. Brazil brought the case to the World Trade Organization. ___ Follow AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Associated Press News	2025-05-15 04:01:41+00:00	[ "Donald Trump", "Wisconsin", "Hannah Dugan", "Todd Blanche", "Milwaukee", "Immigration", "Indictments", "Pam Bondi", "George W. Bush", "United States government", "Legal proceedings", "Courts", "Stephen Dries", "Paul Clement", "U.S. Department of Justice", "John Vaudreuil", "U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation", "Steven Biskupic", "Law enforcement", "Nancy Camden", "Esther Cabrera" ]	# Wisconsin judge pleads not guilty to helping a man evade federal immigration agents By Todd Richmond May 15th, 2025, 04:01 AM --- MILWAUKEE (AP) — A Wisconsin judge pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges accusing her of helping a man who is illegally in the country evade U.S. immigration authorities seeking to arrest him in her courthouse. Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan entered the plea during a brief arraignment in federal court. Magistrate Judge Stephen Dries scheduled a trial to begin July 21. Dugan's lead attorney, Steven Biskupic, told the judge that he expects the trial to last a week. Dugan, her lawyers and prosecutors left the hearing without speaking to reporters. ## The accusations against Dugan She is charged with concealing an individual to prevent arrest and obstruction. Prosecutors say she escorted Eduardo Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer out of her courtroom through a back door on April 18 after learning that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were in the courthouse seeking to arrest him for being in the country illegally. She could face up to six years in prison if convicted on both counts. Her attorneys say she's innocent. They filed a motion Wednesday to dismiss the case, saying she was acting in her official capacity as a judge and therefore is immune to prosecution. They also maintain that the federal government violated Wisconsin's sovereignty by disrupting a state courtroom and prosecuting a state judge. ## A public backlash Dugan's arrest has inflamed tensions between Trump administration and Democrats over the president's sweeping immigration crackdown. Dozens of demonstrators gathered outside the courthouse ahead of Thursday's hearing, with some holding signs that read, "Only Fascists Arrest Judges -- Drop the Charges," "Department of Justice Over-Reach" and "Keep Your Hands Off Our Judges!!" The crowd chanted "Due process rights," "Hands off our freedom," and "Si se puede" — Spanish for "Yes, we can" — which is a rallying cry for immigrant rights advocates. One man stood alone across the street holding a Trump flag. Nancy Camden, from suburban Mequon north of Milwaukee, was among the protesters calling for the case to be dismissed. She said she believes ICE shouldn't have tried to arrest Flores-Ruiz inside the courthouse and the Department of Justice "overreached" in charging Dugan. "How they handled this and made a big show of arresting her and putting her in handcuffs, all of that was intimidation," Camden said. "And I'm not going to be intimidated. I'm fighting back." Esther Cabrera, an organizer with the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, said the charges against Dugan amount to "state-funded repression." "If we are going to go after judges, if we're going to go after mayors, we have to understand that they can come after anybody," she said. "And that's kind of why we wanted to make a presence out here today is to say that you can't come after everyone and it stops here." ## The case background According to court documents, Flores-Ruiz illegally reentered the U.S. after being deported in 2013. Online court records show he was charged with three counts of misdemeanor domestic abuse in Milwaukee County in March, and he was in Dugan's courtroom on April 18 for a hearing in that case. According to an FBI affidavit, Dugan was alerted to the agents' presence by her clerk, who was informed by an attorney that the agents appeared to be in the hallway. Dugan was visibly angry and called the situation "absurd" before leaving the bench and retreating to her chambers, the affidavit contends. She and another judge later approached members of the arrest team in the courthouse with what witnesses described as a "confrontational, angry demeanor." After a back-and-forth with the agents over the warrant for Flores-Ruiz, Dugan demanded they speak with the chief judge and led them from the courtroom, according to the affidavit. After she returned to the courtroom, witnesses heard her say something to the effect of "wait, come with me" before ushering Flores-Ruiz and his attorney out through a door typically used only by deputies, jurors, court staff and in-custody defendants, the affidavit alleges. Flores-Ruiz was free on a signature bond in the abuse case, according to online state court records. Federal agents ultimately detained him outside the courthouse after a foot chase. The state Supreme Court suspended Dugan last week, saying the move was necessary to preserve public confidence in the judiciary. She was freed after her arrest. ## How the case might play out John Vaudreuil, a former federal prosecutor in Wisconsin who isn't involved in Dugan's or Flores-Ruiz's cases, said the Trump administration seems to want to make an example out of Dugan. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi or Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, rather than the U.S. attorney in Milwaukee, are likely making the decisions on how to proceed, making it less likely prosecutors will reduce the charges against Dugan in a deal, he said. Her attorneys will likely try to push for a jury trial, Vaudreuil predicted, because they know that "people feel very strongly about the way the president and administration is conducting immigration policy." Dugan is represented by some of Wisconsin's most accomplished lawyers. Biskupic was a federal prosecutor for 20 years and served seven years as U.S. attorney in Milwaukee. Paul Clement, meanwhile, is a former U.S. solicitor general who has argued more than 100 cases in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. Both were appointed to jobs by former Republican President George W. Bush. ___ Associated Press reporters Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, and Laura Bargfeld contributed to this report.
Associated Press News	2025-05-01 21:30:30+00:00	[ "Pete Hegseth", "Military and defense", "United States government", "U.S. Department of Defense", "District of Columbia", "United States", "Donald Trump", "Politics", "Dave Butler" ]	# Hegseth orders Army to cut costs by merging some commands and slashing jobs By Lolita C. Baldor May 1st, 2025, 09:30 PM --- WASHINGTON (AP) — The Army is planning a sweeping transformation that will merge or close headquarters, dump outdated vehicles and aircraft, slash as many as 1,000 headquarters staff in the Pentagon and shift personnel to units in the field, according to a new memo and U.S. officials familiar with the changes. In a memo released Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the transformation to "build a leaner, more lethal force." Discussions about the changes have been going on for weeks, including decisions to combine a number of Army commands. Col. Dave Butler, an Army spokesman, said the potential savings over five years would be nearly $40 billion. U.S. officials said as many as 40 general officer slots could be cut as a result of the restructuring. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel issues. The changes come as the Pentagon is under pressure to slash spending and personnel as part of the broader federal government cuts pushed by President Donald Trump's administration and ally Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. In his memo, Hegseth said the Army must eliminate wasteful spending and prioritize improvements to air and missile defense, long-range fires, cyber, electronic warfare and counter-space capabilities. Specifically, he said the Army must merge Army Futures Command and Training and Doctrine Command into one entity and merge Forces Command, Army North and Army South into a single headquarters "focused on homeland defense and partnership with our Western Hemisphere allies." In addition, he called for the Army to consolidate units, including Joint Munitions Command and Sustainment Command, as well as operations at various depots and arsenals. Officials said that while the mergers will result in fewer staff positions, there won't be a decrease in the Army's overall size. Instead, soldiers would be shifted to other posts. On the chopping block would be legacy weapons and equipment programs, such as the Humvee and some helicopter formations, along with a number of armor and aviation units across the active duty forces, National Guard and Reserve. The units were not identified. A key issue, however, will be Congress. For years, lawmakers have rejected Army and Pentagon efforts to kill a wide range of programs, often because they are located in members' home districts. Defense Department and service leaders learned long ago to spread headquarters, depots, troops and installations across the country to maximize congressional support. But those efforts also have stymied later moves to chop programs. It's unclear whether the House and Senate will allow all of the cuts or simply add money back to the budget to keep some intact. ___
Associated Press News	2025-05-08 02:15:17+00:00	[ "Tyre Nichols", "Memphis", "Law enforcement", "Tennessee", "Indictments", "Homicide", "Courts", "Justin Smith", "Demetrius Haley", "Paul Hagerman" ]	# What happened with the 5 police officers accused of crimes in Tyre Nichols' fatal beating May 8th, 2025, 02:15 AM --- MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Three of five former Memphis, Tennessee, police officers were acquitted by a jury Wednesday on all state charges including second-degree murder in the January 2023 fatal beating of Tyre Nichols. The other two ex-officers previously agreed to plead guilty to the state charges. The acquittals are the most recent development in the case, which come after the same three officers were convicted of at least one crime in federal court and the two others pleaded guilty. Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, ran from a traffic stop after officers yanked him out of his car, pepper-sprayed him and used a Taser on him. The five officers, who are also Black, chased down Nichols and punched, kicked and hit him with a police baton, struggling to handcuff him as he called out for his mother just steps from his home. Nichols died three days later, sparking nationwide protests and renewed calls for police reforms in the U.S. The five officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith — were part of a crime suppression team called the Scorpion Unit that was disbanded after Nichols' death. The team targeted illegal drugs and guns and violent offenders to amass arrests, while sometimes using force against unarmed people. All of the officers were fired after the beating, charged in state court with murder, and indicted by a federal grand jury on civil rights and witness tampering charges. Here's a look at each former officer's role in the beating and status related to the court cases. ## Tadarrius Bean Bean tackled Nichols from behind as Nichols ran away from officers and toward his nearby home. Bean then held Nichols on the ground while other officers struck Nichols. According to footage from the scene, Bean said Nichols was "eating" the blows. Bean was acquitted Wednesday of state charges including second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression. He was convicted last year on a federal charge of witness tampering related to the cover-up of the beating. He was acquitted of federal civil rights charges of using excessive force and being indifferent to Nichols' serious injuries. ## Demetrius Haley Haley was one of the officers who pulled Nichols out of his car and onto the ground. Haley also kicked him and said "beat that man," according to prosecutors. Haley wrote in his response to resistance form that Nichols "ignored all directives" to get out of the car and that Nichols was "swinging his arms" and cursing at the officers. But body worn camera footage shows Nichols was immediately yanked from the vehicle by officers, while the officers are swearing and shouting and threatening to shock Nichols with a Taser. Haley was acquitted Wednesday of state charges including second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression. In federal court, Haley was convicted of witness tampering related to the cover-up of the beating, as well as violating Nichols' civil rights by causing bodily injury. He was also convicted of a conspiracy to witness tamper charge. Haley was acquitted of violating Nichols' civil rights causing death. ## Justin Smith Smith joined the pummeling after Nichols was caught near his home. He is accused of holding Nichols down and saying "hit him," according to prosecutors. Smith's body worn camera shows that he and another officer exchanged a high five as Nichols was injured on the ground afterward. Footage also shows that Smith said they hit Nichols with "so many pieces," or punches. Smith was acquitted Wednesday of state charges including second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression. Smith was convicted in October in federal court of witness tampering related to the cover-up of the beating. He was acquitted of civil rights charges of using excessive force and being indifferent to Nichols' serious injuries. ## Desmond Mills Jr. Mills said he tried to pepper-spray Nichols, while others held Nichols down, but Mills ended up spraying himself. After stepping away to recover, Mills then walked up to Nichols and hit his arm three times with a police baton. Mills told prosecutor Paul Hagerman that he hit Nichols with the baton because he was angry over the pepper spray. Mills has agreed to plead guilty to the state charges and did not stand trial. He testified as a state prosecution witness saying he regrets his failure to stop the beating, which led to Nichols' death from blunt force trauma. He acknowledged on the stand that he had a duty to intervene to stop the beating but didn't and that Nichols never punched or kicked any of the officers. Mills also pleaded guilty in federal court, where sentencing for all five officers is pending. He took a plea deal in which prosecutors call for up to 15 years in prison. ## Emmitt Martin Martin was one of the first officers in the encounter with Nichols. Defense attorneys in the state case have said Martin acted with the most violence, kicking and punching Nichols several times in the head. Martin testified in federal court that he punched Nichols at least five times while other officers held his arms. He also said he lied to his supervisor about their use of force. Martin has agreed to plead guilty to the state charges and did not stand trial under deals with prosecutors. He also pleaded guilty in federal court. Under Martin's plea agreement, prosecutors will suggest a prison sentence of up to 40 years. Sentencing will come at a later date for the former officers. The federal witness tampering charges carry possible sentences of up to 20 years in prison. The federal civil rights charge against Haley carries up to 10 years in prison. The five officers, the city of Memphis and the police chief also are being sued by Nichols' family for $550 million. A trial has been scheduled for next year. Late last year, the U.S. Justice Department said a 17-month investigation showed the Memphis Police Department uses excessive force and discriminates against Black people.
Associated Press News	2025-05-05 16:05:55+00:00	[ "Keith McNally", "John Belushi", "Jay McInerney", "Book Reviews", "New York City Wire", "Andy Warhol", "Mae Anderson", "District of Columbia", "Arts and entertainment", "Business", "New York City", "New York" ]	# 'I Regret Almost Everything' review: Keith McNally's memoir By Mae Anderson May 5th, 2025, 04:05 PM --- Keith McNally has been charming New York City diners since he opened his first restaurant, The Odeon, in 1980, helping transform a then-derelict TriBeCa into a hotspot for the "glitterati." The Odeon's glowing neon sign was featured on the cover of Jay McInerney's 1984 novel "Bright Lights, Big City," and the restaurant was a regular hangout for celebrities from Andy Warhol to John Belushi. Nearly five decades and 19 restaurants later, McNally's Balthazar in SoHo, Minetta Tavern in New York and D.C., and other restaurants are still going strong. In his candid, funny and poignant memoir, "I Regret Almost Everything," McNally, 73, shows that he is, too. But it might not have been that way. The book opens with a 2018 suicide attempt, sparked by back pain, a crumbling marriage and the aftereffects of a 2016 stroke which left him with aphasia and a paralyzed right hand. Work — building and operating restaurants — helped keep him going. And with his speech distorted, he found a creative outlet in Instagram, where his filter-free screeds on everything — from dealing with his stroke to Balthazar's evening recap by staff — often go viral. "In some ways, it was only after I lost my voice that I learned to speak my mind," he writes. In his memoir, McNally charts his unlikely success story from a working-class teen actor raised in Bethnal Green, London, to being dubbed "The Restaurateur Who Invented Downtown" in his heyday of the 1980s and '90s. His exacting eye for lighting and ambiance and charming touches in his restaurants — he sends a gratis glass of champagne to solo diners at Balthazar, and often filled the "cheap" $15 carafe of wine at the now-defunct Schiller's with his finest bottles — have turned countless customers into regulars at his establishments. McNally's memoir lets readers sidle up to the bar and feel like regulars in his life, too. ___ AP book reviews: https://apnews.com/hub/book-reviews
Associated Press News	2025-05-15 16:33:59+00:00	[ "Joe Rogan", "Theo Von", "Donald Trump", "Ivanka Trump", "Podcasts", "Jared Kushner", "Chris Pratt", "Tiffany Haddish", "Ben Affleck", "Tim Walz", "Mark Zuckerberg", "Chelsea Handler", "Qatar", "Tom Green", "Politics", "Kamala Harris", "JD Vance", "Bernie Sanders", "Ed Sheeran", "U.S. Navy", "Technology", "Entertainment", "David Spade", "Comedy", "Amy Schumer", "Timothee Chalamet", "Spotify Technology SA", "Morgan Wallen", "Alex Bruesewitz", "Jon Caramanica" ]	# Who is Theo Von? By The Associated Press May 15th, 2025, 04:33 PM --- Podcaster Theo Von performed a set for U.S. troops in Qatar on Thursday where he joked about snorting drugs off a mixed-race baby and the sexuality of men in the U.S. Navy, and compared the Qatari hosts' attire to Klansman robes. His appearance preceded President Donald Trump's visit to the Al-Udeid Air Base. The comedian's remarks drew laughter and some groans from the service members in attendance and also some questions about why he was there. "Dad, you've got to do an interview with a guy named Theo Von," Trump said in his own remarks Thursday, recalling his son Barron's urging to do Von's podcast last year. "I said, 'Who the hell is Theo Von?'" Here's what you need to know about Von. ## Who is Theo Von? Theo Von, born Theodor Capitani von Kurnatowski III, is a 45-year-old stand-up comedian and podcaster who did an extended one-on-one podcast interview with Trump during the presidential campaign in which they discussed addiction and the opioid crisis. Born and largely raised in what he describes as the "stray animal belt" of Louisiana, and legally emancipated at 14, Von's first taste of the spotlight was on MTV reality shows, including the "Road Rules: Maximum Velocity Tour" and "The Challenge." He also competed in "Last Comic Standing," and won the Comedy Central show "Reality Bites Back" over comedians like Amy Schumer and Tiffany Haddish. He has hosted the hidden camera show "Deal With It" and has had various acting roles, including in "Inside Amy Schumer" and the Chris Pratt movie "The Tomorrow War." ## Why is he famous? Things really took off for Von when the self-described "white trash" creator found podcasting. In 2016, he started a longform video podcast called "This Past Weekend," which, as of 2024 per Spotify's year-end charts, was the fourth-biggest podcast on the streamer globally, with nearly 54,000 monthly listeners. A frequent guest on another popular podcast, "The Joe Rogan Experience," Von speaks candidly about addiction and recovery and has over 7.6 million followers on TikTok. He has comedy specials on Netflix and is currently touring around the U.S. and Canada. Von, often described as "the next Joe Rogan," is part of the so-called manosphere, a rising online community of hypermasculine influencers and comedians who rebuff "cancel culture" and offer crudeness in its place Von was also one of the founders of "King and The Sting," a podcast that ran from 2018 to 2022, and featured Brendan Schaub and comedian Chris D'Elia, who has denied sexual misconduct allegations. ## Why is he in Qatar? That was the question of the day on social media, but Von has a lot of experience performing for the troops. He's been part of five USO tours. ## Where does he sit politically? Von seems loath to pin himself down to a certain side, and he tries to balance his guests accordingly, although it's tempting to make assumptions based on association. Over the weekend, he was photographed having dinner with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner in Miami. The pair attended his "Return of the Rat" show alongside Trump media adviser Alex Bruesewitz. New York Times pop music critic Jon Caramanica watched over 60 hours of Von's podcast and saw various standup sets in an attempt to answer the question: "Is Theo Von podcasting from the right or the left?" "That depends from where you're looking," Caramanica wrote. ## Who goes on his podcast? It seems like everybody makes a point to chat with Von these days, including politicians, Oscar-nominated actors, titans of business, athletes, comedians, documentarians and investigative journalists. Recent guests have included Mark Zuckerberg, Ben Affleck, Morgan Wallen, Chelsea Handler, popular left-wing Twitch streamer Hasan Piker and David Spade. Last year, he hosted Rogan, Timothée Chalamet, JD Vance (when he was campaigning for vice president), Sen. Bernie Sanders and Ed Sheeran. He told Tom Green that he tried to host Kamala Harris and Tim Walz as well.
Associated Press News	2025-05-04 12:03:05+00:00	[ "Sudan", "War and unrest", "Republican Sinn Fein", "Military and defense", "Drones", "Nabil Abdullah" ]	# Paramilitaries carry out drone attack on Red Sea port city, Sudan's army says By Samy Magdy May 4th, 2025, 12:03 PM --- CAIRO (AP) — Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces launched a drone attack Sunday targeting a military airbase and civilian facilities in the coastal city of Port Sudan, the military said. No casualties were reported in what is the first known attack by the Rapid Support Forces on the Red Sea city. Port Sudan has served as an interim seat for the government since the war between the military and the RSF paramilitary group started more than two years ago. Brig. Gen. Nabil Abdullah, a spokesman for the Sudanese military, said RSF drones hit an ammunition warehouse in the Osman Digna airbase, causing explosions. The attack also hit a cargo warehouse and civilian installations, he said in a statement. Video footage posted on social media appeared to show plumes of thick smoke rising above the airbase. The attack briefly halted air traffic at Port Sudan's airport, according to the Sudanese civil aviation authority. The city's airport has been the country's entry point since the RSF occupied the Khartoum international airport at the start of the war. The miliary retook the capital's airport earlier this year but the facility has yet to be functional. There was no immediate comment from the RSF. The rebel group has stepped up its drone attacks on civilian facilities in military held areas in Sudan. Last month, the paramilitaries hit a major power plant in Atbara, a railway city, north of Khartoum. The drone attacks came after the military re-took Khartoum earlier this year, pushing the RSF to their stronghold in the western region of Darfur. As the military consolidated its positions in the capital, the RSF advanced in other areas in the county's peripheries, capturing Sudan's largest camp for displaced people in North Darfur and a key town in West Kordofan province. Activists accused the RSF of committing atrocities, including street killing and rape, in the two areas where hundreds of people were reported killed. Sudan's ongoing war broke out on April 15, 2023 after simmering tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open warfare across the country. Since then, at least 24,000 people have been killed, though the number is likely far higher. The war has driven about 13 million people from their homes, including 4 million who crossed into neighboring countries. It also pushed parts of the country into famine. The fighting has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in Darfur, according to the U.N. and international rights groups.
Associated Press News	2025-05-05 02:22:11+00:00	[ "Donald Trump", "Mike Lawler", "Robert F. Kennedy Jr.", "New York", "U.S. Republican Party", "Voting", "2020 United States presidential election", "Politics", "Jeanette Spoor" ]	# New York Republican questioned about Trump cuts during raucous town hall By Anthony Izaguirre May 5th, 2025, 02:22 AM --- SOMERS, N.Y. (AP) — Voters in U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler's suburban New York swing district heaped criticism on the Republican during a raucous town hall Sunday night, peppering him with questions around President Donald Trump's aggressive agenda before devolving into a chaotic chorus of boos as attendees were removed by law enforcement. The town hall in Somers, a leafy section of Lawler's Hudson Valley district, began to teeter off the rails soon after it began. The first crack emerged when Lawler, in his opening remarks, told the packed prep school auditorium: "This is what democracy looks like." Laughter crept through the crowd. A little while later, the congressman's mention of federal health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. drew loud jeers. "So you want, for instance, petroleum-based dyes to continue?" Lawler asked in response. Republicans, in some instances, have made themselves scarce in their home districts following President Donald Trump's first few months in office, as party leadership expresses wariness of viral blowback against Republicans in vulnerable seats. Lawler, a moderate who last year won a second term and has openly expressed interest in running for governor, has instead sought to put himself in front of voters, holding a previous town hall late last month and planning more in the coming weeks. On Sunday, Lawler's staff required people to RSVP and set up a series of ground rules, including that attendees live in the district, not record at the event, refrain from shouting or standing, and "be respectful of one another, of staff, and of the Congressman," a sign at the door read. At one point, as Lawler was responding to a question about tariffs, law enforcement began to surround a woman in the upper stretch of the auditorium. The crowd chanted "let her stay, let her stay" before law enforcement picked her up and carried her out. It was unclear what exactly led to her removal. "Shame! Shame! Shame!," the audience yelled. Lawler tried to get back on track: "Folks, tariffs are way more complicated than you want to make them." The crowd groaned. "Folks, enough!," Lawler said above the din. Soon after, another person was removed. Then another. In the audience, Jeanette Spoor, a 74-year-old retiree, said she wanted to ask Lawler about the future of Social Security and Medicaid but wasn't called on during the nearly two hour event. "You're not helping your constituents if you're making it hard for them to get help," she said in an interview. She added, "I have no hopes for this guy." Another attendee, Kristi Thompson, 52, said she was bothered by what she said were Lawler's long-winded answers that didn't address the substance of the crowd's questions. "He claims to be available to constituents but he isn't," she said. The crowd walked out during the final question of the night, which was about protests against Israel. Lawler began to answer, but cut himself off as the room emptied out. "I appreciate everybody coming out tonight and taking the time to ask your questions and hear my answers, whether you liked them or not, or agreed with them or not, or whether you really actually wanted to listen to them or not, but I very much appreciate you participating," he said as attendees exited.
Associated Press News	2025-05-09 00:18:00+00:00	[ "North Korea", "North Korea government", "South Korea", "Military and defense", "Kim Jong-un", "Russia Ukraine war", "Weapons testing", "Lee Sung Joon" ]	# North Korea says leader Kim supervised missile tests simulating nuclear strikes against rivals By Kim Tong-Hyung May 9th, 2025, 12:18 AM --- SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised tests of short-range ballistic missile systems that simulated nuclear counterstrikes against U.S. and South Korean forces, state media said Friday, as the North continued to blame its rivals for escalating tensions through their joint military exercises. The report came a day after South Korea's military detected multiple launches from North Korea's eastern coast and assessed that the tests could also be related to the country's weapons exports to Russia during its war in Ukraine. North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said Thursday's tests involved a mobile ballistic missile system apparently modeled after Russia's Iskander, as well as 600-millimeter multiple rocket launchers that South Korean officials classify as ballistic due to their self-propulsion and guided flight. Both are part of a growing lineup of weapons systems that the North says could be armed with "tactical" nuclear weapons for battlefield use. KCNA said the tests were intended to train military units operating missile and rocket systems to more effectively execute attacks under the North's nuclear weapons control system and ensure a swift response to a nuclear crisis. The agency criticized the United States and its "vassal states" for expanding joint military exercises on and around the Korean Peninsula, which the North claims are preparations for nuclear war, and said Thursday's launches demonstrated the "rapid counteraction posture" of its forces. Kim stressed the need to strengthen the role of his nuclear forces in both deterring and fighting war, and called for continued efforts to improve combat readiness and precision strike capabilities, KCNA said. Kim Inae, spokesperson for South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, described the latest North Korean launches as a "clear act of provocation" that violates UN Security Council resolutions and poses a serious threat to peace and stability in the region. Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have escalated in recent months as North Korean leader Kim continues to accelerate the development of his nuclear and missile program and supply weapons and troops to support Russia's war against Ukraine. In a separate report, KCNA said Kim Jong Un visited the Russian Embassy in Pyongyang on Friday to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union's defeat of Nazi Germany and praised the development of "long-standing strategic relations" between the two countries." South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Thursday's launches involved multiple missiles of various types that were fired from an area around the eastern port city of Wonsan from about 8:10 to 9:20 a.m., with the farthest traveling about 800 kilometers (497 miles). Lee Sung Joon, spokesperson for the Joint Chiefs, said in a briefing the North Korean launches were possibly intended to test the performance of weapons it plans to export, as the country continues to send military equipment and troops to fuel Russia's warfighting against Ukraine. Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani told reporters that none of the North Korean missiles reached Japan's exclusive economic zone and there was no damage to vessels or aircraft in the area. It was the North's first known ballistic activity since March 10, when it fired several ballistic missiles hours after U.S. and South Korean troops began an annual combined military exercise, and the country's sixth launch event of the year. Thursday's launch came a day after North Korean state media said Kim urged munition workers to boost the production of artillery shells amid his deepening alignment with Moscow.
Associated Press News	2025-05-15 17:29:42+00:00	[ "Chris Brown", "London", "United Kingdom", "Manchester", "Abe Diaw", "Crime", "Celebrity", "Law enforcement", "Assault", "Music", "Bryson Tiller", "Entertainment", "Jhene Aiko", "Indictments", "Summer Walker" ]	# Chris Brown charged for alleged attack at London club in 2023 May 15th, 2025, 05:29 PM --- LONDON (AP) — Grammy-winning singer Chris Brown was charged Thursday in England for allegedly beating a music producer in a London nightclub in 2023, prosecutors said. Brown, 36, was charged with one count of causing grievous bodily harm after being arrested at a Manchester hotel. The Sun, which first reported the story, said producer Abe Diaw told them he was hospitalized after Brown beat him in an unprovoked attack at the Tape nightclub in the swanky Mayfair neighborhood in London in February 2023. Brown was on tour in the U.K. at the time. The tabloid said it became aware Brown was in the U.K. on Wednesday and called police to find out if he was under arrest. The newspaper said officers from London's Metropolitan Police traveled to Manchester and made the arrest. Brown's representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. Brown was held in custody and faces a hearing Friday morning in Manchester Magistrates' Court. Brown, often called by his nickname Breezy, burst onto the music scene as a teen in 2005 and has become a major hitmaker over the years with notable songs such as "Run It," "Kiss Kiss" and "Without You." He won his first Grammy for best R&B album in 2011 for "F.A.M.E." then earned his second gold trophy in the same category for "11:11 (Deluxe)" earlier this year. The singer is launching an international tour next month with artists Jhene Aiko, Summer Walker and Bryson Tiller, opening with a European leg before starting North America shows in July.
Associated Press News	2025-05-14 04:05:42+00:00	[ "Russia", "Volodymyr Zelenskyy", "Donald Trump", "Europe", "Vladimir Putin", "Kyiv", "Ukraine", "Emmanuel Macron", "Recep Tayyip Erdogan", "Keir Starmer", "Mykhailo Podolyak", "Donald Tusk", "Russia government", "Poland government", "Germany government", "Poland", "Vladimir Medinsky", "Friedrich Merz", "United Kingdom government", "Igor Kostyukov", "Turkey government", "Ukraine government", "Russia Ukraine war", "Alexander Fomin", "Politics", "Marco Rubio" ]	# As eyes turn toward Turkey, here's what to know about Russia-Ukraine peace talks By Dasha Litvinova May 14th, 2025, 04:05 AM --- TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — The talks have taken place in the warring capitals of Moscow and Kyiv, from Washington and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to countries across Europe. Now, all eyes are finally turning to Istanbul to seek an end to Russia's 3-year-old, full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed restarting direct peace talks Thursday with Ukraine in the Turkish city that straddles Asia and Europe. And President Volodymyr Zelenskyy challenged the Kremlin leader to meet in Turkey in person. What will unfold remains unclear. The Kremlin said its delegation at the talks will be led by Putin's aide Vladimir Medinsky and include three other officials. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Zelenskyy will only sit down with the Russian leader. Zelenskyy said Tuesday that "if Putin does not arrive and plays games, it is the final point that he does not want to end the war." What's known about the possible talks: ## How did the idea of talks in Turkey arise? On Saturday, Zelenskyy hosted French President Emmanuel Macron, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in a show of unity. They issued a coordinated call for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine starting Monday. The plan has received backing from the European Union and U.S. President Donald Trump, who had promised during his campaign to swiftly end the war that is now in its fourth year. The leaders pledged tougher sanctions on Russia if Putin did not accept the proposal. In remarks to the media early Sunday, however, Putin effectively rejected the offer and proposed restarting direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul instead "without preconditions." He did not specify whether he envisioned the talks to involve Zelenskyy and himself personally, or with lower-level officials. Zelenskyy responded by insisting on a ceasefire, saying he will travel to Turkey — and challenged Putin to do the same: "I will be waiting for Putin in (Turkey) on Thursday. Personally. I hope that this time the Russians will not look for excuses." ## Who's coming and why? The Kremlin on Wednesday night said Putin's aide Vladimir Medinsky will head the Russian delegation, which will also include Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin and Igor Kostyukov, chief of the General Staff's main directorate. Medinsky led the Russian delegation at peace talks that took place in Belarus and Turkey in the first weeks of the war in 2022. The Kremlin's list did not include Putin himself. Trump's administration initiated separate talks with Russia and Ukraine in Saudi Arabia in March. But since then, the administration has indicated it might withdraw from the process if no tangible progress is made. Trump said Monday he was optimistic about the talks — a sharp contrast to a contentious Oval Office meeting with Zelenskyy on Feb. 28. He added he was "thinking about flying over" after his visit to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates but later said Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others from the U.S. will go to Turkey for the talks. Podolyak on Tuesday told a YouTube broadcast by prominent Russian journalists in exile that the Ukrainian leader won't be meeting any Russian officials in Istanbul other than Putin. He added that "there are always people" in Zelenskyy's entourage who can "conduct certain negotiations at corresponding levels" with the Russians but questioned the point of a lower-level meeting. "Undoubtedly, only Putin can make the decision to continue the war or stop the war," he said. Zelenskyy said Tuesday he will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the capital Ankara, and wait there. If the Russian leader chooses Istanbul for the meeting, Zelenskyy said, then he and Erdogan will travel there. If Putin doesn't show, European and U.S. leaders should follow through with additional sanctions against Russia, he added. ## What happened at talks in Istanbul in 2022? The Kremlin billed Thursday's talks as a "restarting" of peace negotiations in Istanbul in 2022, early on in the war, that quickly fell apart. Moscow had blamed Ukraine and the West for their alleged desire to continue fighting, while Kyiv said Russia's demands amounted to an ultimatum rather than something the sides could mutually agree on. Zelenskyy has said the Russian delegation's demands included Ukraine's recognition of Russian control over the Donbas, an area in eastern Ukraine consisting of Donetsk and Luhansk regions; constitutional amendments to declare neutrality; a significant reduction of Ukraine's armed forces; and the surrender of long-range weaponry. "There were never any negotiations; it was an ultimatum from a murderer," he said in 2022. Putin accused Ukraine of derailing a peace deal that was basically agreed on and included clauses of Ukraine's neutral and nonnuclear status and details on how much its army would be reduced. "The Kyiv authorities ... just threw it all away. They turned it down," Putin said in 2023. The Kremlin has said repeatedly "the Istanbul agreements" could serve as a basis for further peace talks. After Moscow illegally annexed the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in September 2022, Russian authorities started saying that Kyiv should also recognize "the reality on the ground." ## What are both sides' demands to end the war? Putin last year demanded that Ukraine cede the four regions, which it still does not fully control. He also wants Kyiv to recognize the Crimean Peninsula, also illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014, as Russian; Ukraine also must renounce its bid to join NATO and drastically reduce its army. He also demanded that the West lift sanctions imposed on Moscow after the invasion. Kyiv, in turn, refused to cede any land and wants robust security guarantees against future Russian aggression. Trump, who has engaged in a broad diplomatic effort to end the war since taking office, has said that Crimea, "will stay with Russia." He has also said that Kyiv was unlikely to ever join NATO. ## What's happening on the battlefield? Both sides are preparing a warm weather campaign on the battlefield, where a war of attrition has killed tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said Russia is "quickly replenishing front-line units with new recruits to maintain the battlefield initiative." In 2024 and more recently, Russian troops have made slow but steady gains in several sections along the front. Last month, Moscow's forces also declared that they fully reclaimed chunks of Russia's Kursk region bordering Ukraine that Kyiv's forces seized in a surprise incursion in August 2024. Kyiv denied the claim, but it has been steadily losing ground there as Moscow, aided by North Korean soldiers, worked to push them out and leave Ukraine without a key negotiating chip. Several attempts to establish at least a partial ceasefire have been unsuccessful. Russia effectively rejected a 30-day unconditional truce; the Kremlin instead declared two short, unilateral ceasefires for holidays in the last two months, but in both cases, Kyiv and Moscow accused each other of failing to halt the fighting. Russia and Ukraine also pledged in March to observe a 30-day halt to attacking energy infrastructure that was brokered by the Trump administration. Both sides repeatedly accused each other of massive violations until the measure expired.
Associated Press News	2025-05-13 04:39:11+00:00	[ "Donald Trump", "International trade", "Shigeru Ishiba", "China", "Japan", "Japan government", "World Trade Organization", "Tariffs and global trade", "Business", "Politics" ]	# WTO chief says global free trade is in crisis By Mari Yamaguchi May 13th, 2025, 04:39 AM --- TOKYO (AP) — Global free trade is in crisis, the head of the World Trade Organization chief said Tuesday while meeting Japanese Prime Minister Shigaru Ishiba on Tuesday. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director-general of the World Trade Organization, told Ishiba that she has high expectations for Japan as a champion of open markets as U.S. President Donald Trump disrupts world commerce with his fast-changing tariffs and other policies. "Trade is facing very challenging times right now and it is quite difficult," she said. "We should try to use this crisis as an opportunity to solve the challenges we have and take advantage of new trends in trade." Japan, as "a champion of the multilateral trading system" must help maintain, strengthen and reform the WTO, the Japanese Foreign Ministry cited her as saying. Later Tuesday, the WTO chief met with Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and issued a joint statement, saying that "in a time of uncertainty and disruption, the value of the multilateral trading system is unquestionable." Japan said in the same statement the current trade turmoil "would have a significant impact on the global economy and the entire multilateral trading system" and called for promoting WTO reforms, including its rule-making function, dispute settlement and monitoring of the implementation of agreements. They met a day after the United States and China said they had agreed to slash recent sky- high tariffs for 90 days to allow time for negotiations. Japan is among many countries yet to reach a deal with the Trump administration on hikes to U.S. tariffs, including those on autos, steel and aluminum. The WTO played a pivotal role in past decades as the U.S. and other major economies championed the trade liberalization that facilitated the growth of global supply chains, many of which are anchored in China. By dismantling many protectionist barriers to trade, it has aided the ascent of Japan and China, and many other countries, as export manufacturing hubs. Since taking office for a second time, Trump has prioritized higher tariffs to try to reduce U.S. imports and compel companies to locate factories in the United States, doubling down on a trade war that he launched during his first term. Okonjo-Iweala and Ishiba agreed that WTO member countries should unite to restore the organization's capacity to address challenges. The trade chief visited Japan to strengthen cooperation between the east Asian country and the WTO to maintain and reinforce the multilateral trading system, Japanese officials said. She also met with Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato and Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yoji Muto. ___ Associated Press video journalist Mayuko Ono in Tokyo contributed to this report.
Associated Press News	2025-05-11 06:25:10+00:00	[ "Donald Trump", "Steve Witkoff", "Benjamin Netanyahu", "Hamas", "2024-2025 Mideast Wars", "Gaza Strip", "Israel", "Hostage situations", "Middle East", "Israel government", "International agreements", "Edan Alexander", "War and unrest", "Politics", "Khalil al-Hayyah", "Bashar Assad", "Tzvi Feldman", "Alexanders", "Inc.", "Religion", "Yael Alexander", "Prisoner exchange" ]	# Hamas says it will release last living American hostage Edan Alexander By Wafaa Shurafa, Samy Magdy, and Zeke Miller May 11th, 2025, 06:25 AM --- DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas said Sunday that the last living American hostage in Gaza, Edan Alexander, will be released as part of efforts to establish a ceasefire, reopen crossings into the Israeli-blockaded territory and resume the delivery of aid. Two Hamas officials told The Associated Press they expect the release in the next 48 hours. U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff confirmed late Sunday in a message to AP that Hamas had agreed to release Alexander as a good will gesture toward Trump. The announcement of the first hostage release since Israel shattered a ceasefire in March comes shortly before Trump visits the Middle East this week. It highlighted the willingness of Israel's closest ally to inject momentum into ceasefire talks for the 19-month war as desperation grows among hostages' families and Gaza's over 2 million people under the new Israeli blockade. "This was a step taken in good faith towards the United States and the efforts of the mediators — Qatar and Egypt — to put an end to this very brutal war and return ALL living hostages and remains to their loved ones," Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social on Sunday evening. "Hopefully this is the first of those final steps necessary to end this brutal conflict. I look very much forward to that day of celebration!" Alexander is an Israeli-American soldier who grew up in New Jersey. He was abducted from his base during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack that ignited the war in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the U.S. informed it of Hamas' intent to release Alexander "without compensation or conditions" and that the step is expected to lead to negotiations on a truce. Netanyahu's government was angered by U.S. direct talks with Hamas earlier this year — which led to a Hamas offer to release Alexander and the bodies of four other hostages if Israel recommitted to a stalled ceasefire deal. Days later, however, Israel resumed the war. Witkoff told the AP that Hamas' goal in releasing Alexander was to restart talks on a ceasefire, the release of additional hostages and a surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza before Israel carries out a threatened total takeover of the territory. Khalil al-Hayyah, a Hamas leader in Gaza, said the group has been in contact with the U.S. administration over the past few days. Al-Hayyah said in a statement Hamas is ready to "immediately start intensive negotiations" to reach a final deal for a long-term truce, which includes an end to the war, the exchange of Palestinian prisoners and hostages in Gaza and the handing over of power in Gaza to an independent body of technocrats. Indirect talks between Hamas and the U.S. began five days ago, an Egyptian official and a senior Hamas official told the AP, with both describing the release of Alexander as a gesture of goodwill. The senior Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said Alexander is expected to be released on Monday. Hamas was advised to "give a gift to President Trump and in return he will give back a better one," the official said. Another Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss negotiations, said Alexander's release is expected in the next 48 hours, adding that it requires Israel to pause fighting for a couple of hours. The Egyptian official involved in ceasefire negotiations, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss talks, said Hamas received assurances from the Trump administration through Egyptian and Qatari mediators that Alexander's release "will put all files on the negotiating table" including an end to the war. Alexander's parents did not immediately return requests for comment. Trump and Witkoff have frequently mentioned Alexander, now 21, by name in the past few months. Witkoff was traveling to the region on Monday ahead of Alexander's expected release. "Every time they say Edan's name, it's like they didn't forget. They didn't forget he's American, and they're working on it," Edan's mother, Yael Alexander, told The Associated Press earlier this year. Hamas released a video of Alexander in November during the Thanksgiving weekend, his mother said. The video was difficult to watch as he cried and pleaded for help, but it was a relief to see the latest sign that he was alive, she said. The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostage. Israel's offensive has killed over 52,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants or civilians. The offensive has destroyed vast areas of the territory and displaced some 90% of its population. Fifty-nine hostages are still in Gaza, around a third of them believed to be alive. Most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. The Hostages Families Forum, the grassroots forum representing most hostage families, said Alexander's release "must mark the beginning of a comprehensive agreement" that will free everyone. Trump, whose administration has voiced full support for Israel's actions, is set to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates this week in a regional tour. ## Bombardment continues Israeli strikes overnight and into Sunday killed 15 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to local health officials. Two strikes hit tents in the southern city of Khan Younis, each killing two children and their parents, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. Another seven people were killed in strikes elsewhere, including a man and his child in a Gaza City neighborhood, according to hospitals and Gaza's Health Ministry. The Israeli military says it only targets militants and tries to avoid harming civilians. It blames Hamas for civilian deaths in the 19-month-old war because the militants are embedded in densely populated areas. Israel has sealed Gaza off from all imports, including food, medicine and emergency shelter, for over 10 weeks in what it says is a pressure tactic aimed at forcing Hamas to release hostages. Israel in March shattered the ceasefire that had facilitated the release of more than 30 hostages. Aid groups say the humanitarian crisis is worse than at any time in the war, with food running low. ## Israel recovers remains of soldier killed in Lebanon in 1982 In a separate development, Israel said it retrieved the remains of a soldier killed in a 1982 battle in southern Lebanon after he had been classified as missing for more than four decades. The Israeli military said Sgt. 1st Class Tzvi Feldman's remains were recovered from deep inside Syria, without providing further details. Netanyahu visited Feldman's surviving siblings and told them that the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad late last year led to an "opportunity" that allowed the military and the Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence agency, to gather additional intelligence and locate and retrieve the body, according to video released by his office. Feldman went missing, along with five other Israeli soldiers, in a battle with Syrian forces in the Lebanese town of Sultan Yaaqoub. ___ Magdy reported from Cairo and Miller from Washington. Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut, Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report. ___ Follow AP's war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Associated Press News	2025-05-16 20:51:07+00:00	[ "Joaquin Phoenix", "Pedro Pascal", "New Mexico", "Ari Aster", "Cannes Film Festival", "George Floyd", "Emma Stone", "Movie premieres", "Racial injustice", "Entertainment", "Health", "Jake Coyle", "Politics", "Joe Cross" ]	# Ari Aster's COVID-era 'Eddington' finds a mixed reception at Cannes By Jake Coyle May 16th, 2025, 08:51 PM --- CANNES, France (AP) — Ari Aster's COVID-era Western "Eddington," about a 2020 America quickly losing its mind to conspiracy theories, TikTok and political extremism, premiered to a mixed reception at the Cannes Film Festival. "Eddington," starring Joaquin Phoenix as a muddled, mistake-prone sheriff who runs for mayor in a fictional New Mexico town, was among the most feverishly awaited American films at Cannes. It marks the first time in competition at the French festival for Aster, the lauded director of "Hereditary," "Midsommar" and "Beau Is Afraid." It's also his most politically ambitious film. "Eddington," which A24 will release in July, plunges into the U.S. pandemic psyche, plotting a small-town feud that swells to encompass nationwide events, including mask mandates, the death of George Floyd and right-left divisions. As a microcosm portrait of the United States, it's a hardly a more peaceful affair than "Midsommar." When Joe Cross (Phoenix) tires of the mask ordinances of the town's mayor (Pedro Pascal), he decides to oppose him in the upcoming election. Other pressures on Cross — Emma Stone plays his shut-in wife, who has a history with the mayor — gradually increase, driving "Eddington" toward a surreal and bloody eruption. In Aster's dark satire, both MAGA Republicans and elitist Democrats get skewered, but the new, ominous data center just outside of town suggests a common social poison in the internet. "Eddington," predictably, proved divisive at Cannes. Some critics hailed it as an eerily accurate film about contemporary America, while others called it a tedious and wayward rumination. After a not particularly enthusiastic stranding ovation, Aster himself seemed both proud and apologetic for what he had wrought. "I don't know what to say. I don't know what you think," he said, smiling. Aster added: "I don't know, sorry?" On Saturday, Aster and the cast faced questions from journalists at a news conference that inevitably focused on how much the filmmakers felt "Eddington" was an accurate reflection of current times. "I wrote this film in a state of fear and anxiety about the world, and I wanted to try to pull back and show what it feels like to live in a world where nobody can agree on what is real anymore," Aster said. "The last 20 years, we've fallen into this age of hyper individualism." "We're on a dangerous road, and I feel like we're living through an experiment that's gone wrong," Aster added. "I think people feel very powerless and very fearful." Pascal compared his director to a "mole" or "whistleblower" — "someone on the inside being like, 'This is what's happening.'" Pascal, when asked about recent deportations in the U.S., was reluctant to speak. "It's obviously very scary for an actor who participated in the movie to speak on issues like this." "I want people to be safe and to be protected and I want very much to live on the right side of history. And I'm an immigrant," added Pascal. "My parents are refugees from Chile. I, myself, was a refugee. We fled a dictatorship, and I was privileged enough to grow up in the U.S." "If it weren't for that, I don't know what would have happened to us," he said. "I stand by those protections always." ___ Jake Coyle has covered the Cannes Film Festival since 2012. He's seeing approximately 40 films at this year's festival and reporting on what stands out. ___ For more coverage of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, visit https://apnews.com/hub/cannes-film-festival.
Associated Press News	2025-05-06 08:52:38+00:00	[ "Vladimir Putin", "Russia", "Moscow", "Ukraine", "Russia government", "Volodymyr Zelenskyy", "Donald Trump", "Drones", "Russia-Ukraine war", "Politics", "Xi Jinping", "Dmitry Peskov", "Russia Ukraine war", "Sergei Sobyanin", "Military and defense", "Ukraine government", "Brazil government", "War and unrest" ]	# Flights suspended at Moscow airports due to Ukrainian drone attack By The Associated Press May 6th, 2025, 08:52 AM --- All four international airports around Moscow temporarily suspended flights Tuesday as Russian forces intercepted more than 100 Ukrainian drones fired at almost a dozen Russian regions, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said. Nine other regional Russian airports also temporarily stopped operating as drones struck areas along the border with Ukraine and deeper inside Russia, according to Russia's civil aviation agency, Rosaviatsia, and the Defense Ministry. The Moscow region was later attacked for a second time, with the capital's major airports of Vnukovo and Domodedovo forced to ground flights again, while the city's air defenses intercepted three drones, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. The drone assaults threatened a planned unilateral 72-hour ceasefire in the more than three-year war announced by President Vladimir Putin to coincide with celebrations in Moscow marking Victory Day in World War II. The day celebrating Moscow's defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 is Russia's biggest secular holiday. Chinese President Xi Jinping, Brazilian leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and others will gather in the Russian capital on Thursday for the 80th anniversary and watch a parade featuring thousands of troops accompanied by tanks and missiles. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry urged foreign countries not to send military representatives to take part in the parade, as some have in the past. None is officially confirmed for this year's event. Ukraine will regard the participation of foreign military personnel as "an affront to the memory of the victory over Nazism, to the memory of millions of Ukrainian front-line soldiers who liberated our country and all of Europe from Nazism eight decades ago," a statement on the ministry's website said. Security is expected to be tight. Russian officials have warned that internet access could be restricted in Moscow during the celebrations and have told residents not to set off fireworks. Putin last week declared the brief unilateral truce "on humanitarian grounds" from May 8. Ukraine has demanded a longer ceasefire. Russia has effectively rejected a U.S. proposal for an immediate and full 30-day halt in the fighting by insisting on far-reaching conditions. Ukraine has accepted that proposal, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says. U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that the brief truce "doesn't sound like much, but it's … a lot if you knew where we started from." Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that ceasefire orders had been issued to Russian troops, but soldiers would retaliate if fired upon. Meanwhile, Ukraine and Russia swapped hundreds of captured soldiers in one of the largest exchanges since Moscow's full-scale invasion started in February 2022. The last exchange was on April 19. Zelenskyy and Russia's Defense Ministry said they each received 205 soldiers in the swap. Both sides said the United Arab Emirates had mediated the exchange, as on previous occasions. The long-range strikes by both sides continued, however. Ukraine has used increasingly sophisticated, domestically produced drones to compensate for having a smaller army than Russia along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, and to take the war onto Russian soil with long-range strikes. Russia has used Shahed drones as well as 3,000-pound (1,300-kilogram) glide bombs, artillery and cruise and ballistic missiles against Ukraine. Two people were injured in Russia's Kursk region, according to local Gov. Alexander Khinshtein, and some damage was reported in the Voronezh region. The Russian reports couldn't be independently verified. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian air force said Russia fired 136 strike and decoy drones overnight. Russian forces fired at least 20 Shahed drones at Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city near the border with Russia, injuring four people, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram. The drones started a fire at the biggest market in Kharkiv, Barabashovo, destroying and damaging around 100 market stalls, he said. Seven civilians were hurt elsewhere in the Kharkiv region by Russian glide bombs and drones, Syniehubov said. Three people were also killed when a Russian ballistic missile hit the Ukrainian city of Sumy Tuesday evening, acting Mayor Artem Kobzar said. One woman died at the scene, while two more people died due to injuries at a hospital, he said. In Kramatorsk, in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, Russian Shahed drones killed one person and injured two others, Mayor Oleksandr Honcharenko wrote on Facebook. The drones targeted residential and industrial areas of the city, he said. In the Odesa region, Russian drones struck residential buildings and civilian infrastructure, killing one person, regional head Oleh Kiper wrote on Telegram. ___ Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Associated Press News	2025-05-05 15:30:35+00:00	[ "Andy Warhol", "Laurence Leamer", "Book Reviews", "Marilyn Monroe", "Yuri Kageyama", "Jean-Michel Basquiat", "Alfred Hitchcock", "Arts and entertainment", "Entertainment" ]	# 'Warhol's Muses' review: Laurence Leamer takes a look at Andy Warhol By Yuri Kageyama May 5th, 2025, 03:30 PM --- There are celebrities whose persona is as famous, if not more so, than their works, or what made them stars in the first place. Andy Warhol, probably the most important artist to emerge from the 1960s American avant-garde, is one example. His nervous face peering beneath a shock of white hair is as signature as his Campbell soup cans. It's clear Warhol wasn't ashamed to tell the world that he should be reckoned with as a human being, accepted for all that he was, including being gay when that was still relatively taboo. Laurence Leamer's well-researched "Warhol's Muses: The Artists, Misfits and Superstars Destroyed by the Factory Fame Machine" explores the life of Warhol through that perspective. Like Leamer's earlier books, about Truman Capote and Alfred Hitchcock, his latest explores an artist's life through their relationships with women. The opening "Prologue" begins with Warhol's getting shot by a woman who targets him for basically deranged reasons. And that's just the beginning. In one characteristic segment, Warhol shows up at a gala preview in a tuxedo, except his pants are defiantly splattered with paint. In another, he designs department store windows, one of the first to underline the connection between art and fashion, in an unabashed embrace of 20th century commercialism. "Warhol is the defining figure of pop art, an artistic movement that burst forth in the early Sixties, taking fine art on a wild roller-coaster ride. In the same way that jazz is the first uniquely American music, so pop art is profoundly American," a passage in the book reads. Various recognizable names pop up on the pages, flitting in and out of Warhol's life: Salvador Dali, the Velvet Underground, Jean-Michel Basquiat. In 2022, nearly four decades after Warhol's death, his silk-screen portrait of Marilyn Monroe sold for $195 million. Every art fan has been mesmerized by Warhol's psychedelic repetition of flowers, lips and bananas. Warhol seems to inject such everyday items with a greater meaning, or perhaps with zen-like meaninglessness. To be fair to the legacy of Warhol, it may not really matter in the end what kind of person he was. It may have mattered to those who loved him, the characters Leamer chronicles. But as Warhol's art becomes a chapter in history, his reality takes another dimension. He speaks to us, and the world, as Andy Warhol, the artist. His art is a powerful statement on America, whether you ever knew him as a person or not. The characters in his life, even if they are gorgeous and tragic, are mere footnotes. In 1966, Warhol told a young reporter that he preferred to stay a mystery. "I never have time to think about the real Andy Warhol," he said. ___ AP book reviews: https://apnews.com/hub/book-reviews
Associated Press News	2025-05-15 21:13:01+00:00	[ "Montana", "U.S. National Guard", "Michael Vincent Bray", "Animals", "Military and defense", "Indictments", "Perry Wray Woodland", "Moose", "Nathan Hulling", "Alan Ronneberg", "Greg Lemon", "Deer", "Ryan Finnegan" ]	# National Guard helicopter crew landed on Montana ranch and trespassed to take antlers, citations say By Matthew Brown May 15th, 2025, 09:13 PM --- BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Three Montana Army National Guard members face trespassing charges after authorities said they landed a Black Hawk helicopter in a mountain pasture on a private ranch to take several elk antlers before flying away. A witness saw the May 4 landing and the person who owns the property reported it to officials, who tracked down the three guard members, Sweet Grass County Sheriff Alan Ronneberg said Thursday. The guardsmen had been on a training flight from the city of Billings to Helena, the state capital, said Major Ryan Finnegan with the Montana National Guard. The helicopter landed briefly in the pasture located in the foothills of the Crazy Mountains, where the crew members picked up two individual antlers and an old elk skull with antlers still attached, the sheriff said. Elk antlers — which grow and drop off male animals annually — are highly prized and can be sold by the pound. They also are collected from the wild as keepsakes. The antlers and skull taken by the guardsmen were worth a combined $300 to $400, according to Ronneberg. They were later turned over to a state game warden. Trespassers taking antlers from private land is not uncommon in Montana and other western states. "This an odd one," Ronneberg said. "Usually somebody parks on the side of the road and crosses into private ground and picks up a shed," he said, referring to an antler that's been shed by an elk. Citations issued to two of the guardsmen said they "entered posted private property that was posted as trespassing for the purpose of elk antler removal." The citation for the third again mentioned trespassing and also that "subject landed military helicopter on private property." The Sweet Grass County Attorney and Sheriff's Office are considering additional charges related to the taking of the antlers themselves but no decision has been made, Ronneberg said. He said those discussions center on whether the antlers were the property of the landowners. An attorney for one of the guardsmen, Michael Vincent Bray of East Helena, Montana, said Friday that Bray and the others had served their country honorably for many years and were "innocent until proven guilty." "In cases like this that get highly publicized, we all seem to forget that principal," said the attorney, Nathan Hulling. Guardsmen Perry Wray Woodland of Great Falls and Deni Lynn Draper of Clancy could not be reached. They face charges of criminal misdemeanor trespass, which comes with a $185 fine, and do not have to appear in court, said Greg Lemon with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Taking antlers from state-owned land is legal in Montana for people with an $8 state conservation license, Lemon said. Montana National Guard Adjutant General J. Peter Hronek said in a statement he was aware of the case and it was being investigated. "Appropriate adverse and/or administrative action will take place if the allegations are determined to be true," Hronek said. "Misuse of military equipment erodes the trust we strive to uphold with the people of Montana." Finnegan said a Montana National Guard representative reached out to the owner of the ranch "to provide an update and coordinate for an in person return of the items."
Associated Press News	2025-05-02 19:33:04+00:00	[ "John Ratcliffe", "China government", "U.S. Central Intelligence Agency", "United States government", "China", "United States", "CIA", "District of Columbia", "Technology", "Communism", "Government and politics", "Xi Jinping" ]	# CIA releases Mandarin-language videos to encourage Chinese officials to spill secrets By David Klepper May 2nd, 2025, 07:33 PM --- WASHINGTON (AP) — The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in President Xi Jinping's government: Come work with us. America's premier spy agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted to YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost both the agency's use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted U.S. officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are "aimed at recruiting Chinese officials to steal secrets," Ratcliffe said in a statement to The Associated Press. He said China "is intent on dominating the world economically, militarily, and technologically." "Our agency must continue responding to this threat with urgency, creativity, and grit, and these videos are just one of the ways we are doing this," Ratcliffe said. The more than 2-minute-long videos are of cinematic quality and feature scenes of Communist Party insiders, luxury automobiles and glittering skyscrapers as narrators share their growing disillusionment with the system they have served. In one video, a man described as an honest party member speaks of his unease about the power struggles among his peers, and what it might mean for his family's safety. As the pace of the music picks up, he says, "I've done nothing wrong, I can't go on living in fear!" The man is then seen using his smartphone to contact the CIA, and the video ends with the agency's seal. Links below the video offer instructions on contacting the agency securely, along with a warning cautioning potential informants about fake accounts that might impersonate the CIA. The videos are the agency's latest attempt to make it easier and safer for potential informants to share information. Last fall, the CIA posted online instructions in Korean, Mandarin and Farsi detailing steps that potential informants can take to contact U.S. intelligence officials without putting themselves in danger. The instructions include ways to reach the CIA on its public website or on the darknet, a part of the internet that can only be accessed using special tools designed to hide the user's identity. The CIA posted similar instructions in Russian three years ago. A spokesperson for China's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment about the videos. ___ Associated Press writer Sylvia Hui in London contributed to this report.
Associated Press News	2025-05-13 20:29:28+00:00	[ "New Jersey", "3M Co.", "Matt Platkin", "Pollution", "Legal proceedings", "Shawn LaTourette", "Business", "The Chemours Co.", "Lawsuits", "Climate and environment", "Climate" ]	# New Jersey says chemical maker 3M agrees to 'forever chemical' settlement worth up to $450M May 13th, 2025, 08:29 PM --- TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey's attorney general said Tuesday chemical manufacturer 3M agreed to pay up $450 million to resolve lawsuits over natural resource contamination stemming from PFAS — commonly referred to as "forever chemicals." The settlement is subject to court approval and a public comment period, Attorney General Matt Platkin's office said. St. Paul, Minnesota-based 3M is expected to pay $285 million this year, with additional amounts payable over the next 25 years. The total amount could reach $450 million, Platkin's office said. "Corporate polluters must be held accountable when they contaminate our state's water supply," Platkin said in a statement. PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of chemicals that have been around for decades and have now spread into the nation's air, water and soil. 3M said in 2022 it would end all PFAS manufacturing by the end of this year. In a statement, the company said it's on track to do so. "This agreement is another important step toward reducing risk and uncertainty on these legacy issues, allowing 3M to focus on its strategic priorities," 3M said. PFAS were manufactured by companies such as 3M, Chemours and others because they were incredibly useful. They helped eggs slide across non-stick frying pans, ensured that firefighting foam suffocates flames and helped clothes withstand rain and keep people dry. The chemicals resist breaking down, though, meaning they linger in the environment. Environmental activists say PFAS makers knew about the health harms of PFAS long before they were made public. The same attributes that make the chemicals so valuable – resistance to breakdown – make them hazardous to people. PFAS accumulate in the body, which is why the Environmental Protection Agency set their limits for drinking water at 4 parts per trillion for two common types — PFOA and PFOS — that are phased out of manufacturing but still are present in the environment. The New Jersey settlement stems from 2019 lawsuits at the nearly 1,500-acre (607-hectare) Chambers Works site in Pennsville and Carneys Point and another location in Parlin. The settlement also resolves all other statewide claims in litigation over PFAS in firefighting material used in the state. The lawsuits alleged the companies involved, including 3M, knew about risks from forever chemicals produced at the facilities but continued to sell them. The attorney general said that by agreeing to settle 3M would not go to trial next week in the Chambers Works case. New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection will use a portion of the settlement funds to "protect public health, safety and the environment from impacts caused by PFAS," according to a joint statement from the attorney general and DEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette.
Associated Press News	2025-05-01 18:10:27+00:00	[ "Georgia", "Children", "Lawsuits", "Teens", "Social media", "Legal proceedings", "Civil rights", "Human rights", "Education", "Censorship", "Business", "Constitutional law", "Technology", "Chris Carr", "Government regulations", "Amy Totenberg", "Pornography", "Courts", "Krista Chavez", "Paul Taske", "Jason Anavitarte" ]	# Georgia is the 8th state sued over age verification for children on websites By Jeff Amy May 1st, 2025, 06:10 PM --- ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia on Thursday became the eighth state to see its law requiring parental consent for children to use social media challenged in court. NetChoice, a technology industry trade group, sued in federal court in Atlanta to overturn the law, which is scheduled to take effect on July 1. Similar laws have been overturned by federal judges in Arkansas and Ohio and temporarily blocked in Utah. Litigation is pending against laws in Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. The fight pits a growing movement that social media use is harmful to children and teens against constitutional protections for free speech. While the laws in Georgia and other states require parental consent, Australia, a country without constitutional free speech protections, has banned social media for children younger than 16 altogether. Some in the U.S. Congress have also proposed parental consent for minors. "Georgia's SB 351 unconstitutionally blocks access to protected online speech and forces Georgians to surrender their private information just to use everyday digital services," Paul Taske, NetChoice associate director of litigation, said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. "That's unconstitutional, as several other states have now been told by courts. We're fighting to keep online communication safe and free in the Peach State." The suit asks U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg to declare the law unconstitutional because it violates First Amendment rights to free speech and 14th Amendment rights to due process. Georgia officials said they will defend the measure. "It's a shame that the industry would rather file a lawsuit than partner with us to protect children from online predators," Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, a Republican running for governor in 2026, said in a statement. Republican state Sen. Jason Anavitarte, the bill's sponsor, said in a statement that he "won't stop working to give Georgia's parents the tools they need to help keep kids safe online." NetChoice spokesperson Krista Chavez said the group is not challenging a separate section of the Georgia law that requires age verification for users of online pornography sites. A number of states have made laws aimed at pornography, and a challenge to Texas' law is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. Georgia's law says social media services must use "commercially reasonable efforts" to verify someone's age by July 1. Services would have to treat anyone who can't be verified as a minor. Parents of children younger than 16 would have to consent to their children joining a service. Social media companies would be limited in how they could customize ads for children younger than 16 and how much information they could collect on those children, a provision that Thursday's lawsuit also argues is illegal. To comply with federal regulations, social media companies already ban kids under 13 from signing up for their platforms. "Parents have many existing tools they can choose from to regulate whether and how their minor children use the internet," the lawsuit states. But children have been shown to easily evade the bans. Up to 95% of teens aged 13 to 17 report using a social media platform, with more than a third saying they use them "almost constantly," the Pew Research Center found.
Associated Press News	2025-05-06 18:00:42+00:00	[ "Medication", "Donald Trump", "Robert F. Kennedy Jr.", "U.S. Food and Drug Administration", "Vivek Ramaswamy", "Immunizations", "Vinay Prasad", "Jay Bhattacharya", "COVID-19 pandemic", "Medical research", "COVID-19", "Health", "Angela Rasmussen", "Marty Makary", "Peter Marks", "Business", "Politics" ]	# Critic of drug industry and COVID-19 measures to lead FDA vaccine program By Matthew Perrone May 6th, 2025, 06:00 PM --- WASHINGTON (AP) — Dr. Vinay Prasad, a prominent critic of the pharmaceutical industry and the Food and Drug Administration, has been named to oversee the agency's program for vaccines and biotech drugs. FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary announced the appointment Tuesday in a message to agency staff, praising Prasad's "long and distinguished history in medicine." Prasad is the latest in a series of medical contrarians and critics of COVID-19 measures to join the federal government under President Donald Trump. Unlike political roles such as FDA commissioner, the job Prasad is stepping into has traditionally been held by an FDA career scientist. His appointment raises new questions about whether vaccines and other new therapies will face unnecessary scrutiny from regulators. Prasad replaces Dr. Peter Marks, FDA's longtime vaccine chief who resigned in March after clashing with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over concerns about the safety of vaccinations. In a social media post, Prasad likened Marks to "a bobblehead doll that just stamps approval." Last year, he told former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy that Americans would probably be better off without the FDA in its current form. "If you're talking about FDA 2024, I think they'd probably be better off as a result of not having the FDA" Prasad said during an appearance on Ramaswamy's podcast. A professor at the University of California San Francisco, Prasad's medical training is in cancer and blood disorders. He first came to prominence among academics more than a decade ago for a series of papers scrutinizing the evidence behind new cancer therapies. Research by Prasad and his colleagues showed that many cancer drugs fast-tracked by the FDA have never been shown to improve or extend patient lives. Instead, the drugs are often approved based on alternate measures, such as the ability to shrink tumors, which are thought to predict long-term survival in patients. The FDA has long defended this practice as a way of accelerating approval of medicines for gravely ill patients. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Prasad reached a much broader audience as a critic of vaccine and mask mandates, lockdowns and moves to speed the availability of booster shots from Pfizer and Moderna. Many of his views mirror those of other Trump appointees, including Makary and National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya. In 2022, Prasad and Makary were co-authors on a paper attacking the recommendation for booster shots in teens and young adults, particularly boys and young men. Those patients received particular attention because early vaccinations showed a higher rate of myocarditis, a rare form of heart inflammation that is usually mild. The paper concluded that requiring booster shots in young people would cause more injury than benefit. None of the authors specialized in studying infectious diseases or vaccine reactions, prompting pushback from many health experts. Angela Rasmussen, a virus expert at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, said Tuesday's announcement "bodes extremely poorly for vaccine approvals in the U.S." "This decision will invariably result in decreased vaccine access for the public, less transparency, and fewer approvals," Rasmussen wrote in an email. In recent years, Prasad became a regular on podcasts associated with Kennedy's "Make America Healthy Again" movement, which often portrays the FDA as beholden to the pharmaceutical industry. Prasad's appointment is likely to rattle drug and vaccine makers, who depend on the predictability of FDA standards and procedures to guide drug development plans that can span years or even decades. ___ Associated Press writer JoNel Aleccia contributed to this story. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Associated Press News	2025-05-17 12:38:29+00:00	[ "Ulf Kristersson", "Sweden government", "Recep Tayyip Erdogan", "Joakim Medin", "Istanbul", "Stockholm", "Journalism", "Sweden", "Legal proceedings", "Ekrem Imamoglu", "Lobbying", "Politics", "Turkey", "Terrorism", "Maria Malmer Stenergard", "Law enforcement", "Protests and demonstrations", "Indictments" ]	# Turkey frees a Swedish journalist who was convicted for insulting President Erdogan May 17th, 2025, 12:38 PM --- STOCKHOLM (AP) — A Swedish journalist arrested in Turkey in March when he traveled there to cover nationwide protests was released and returned home to Sweden on Saturday. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson wrote on X that "hard work in relative silence has paid off" and that Joakim Medin's release was due to intensive lobbying by the Swedish foreign ministry and European colleagues. "Welcome home Joakim!" Kristersson wrote on X. Last month, a Turkish court had convicted Medin of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Medin was given an 11-month suspended prison term, but initial reports said he would remain in custody awaiting the outcome of a separate trial on terrorism-related charges. Medin, a journalist with the daily Dagens ETC, was detained March 27 as he arrived at Istanbul airport to cover last month's nationwide protests following the arrest of Istanbul's popular mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu. The journalist was jailed days later on charges of insulting Erdogan and membership of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. Swedish media reported that Medin landed early Saturday at Stockholm airport, where he was welcomed by his wife and the Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard. "All is well after all. I'm really tired in body and mind. But I feel good," he said, according to Dagens ETC. "The pressure on my chest disappeared as soon as we lifted off the ground and we started heading home." Medin also said later on Saturday that "I've been thinking from day one about what to say at this moment. Long live freedom: freedom of the press, freedom of speech and freedom of movement," Sveriges Television reported. Medin said that he spent his prison time in solitary confinement in a ward for political prisoners. He said that he had not been subjected to violence, but that the isolation took its toll. Kristersson said on X that "it is well known that Sweden and Turkey have different views on quite a few and big things. But we have also developed a climate of cooperation that allows us to discuss quite difficult issues." Local media reported that while Medin's separate trial on terrorism charges would still take place, he would not be required to attend it.
Associated Press News	2025-05-15 20:43:55+00:00	[ "Crime", "Michael James Jordan", "Homicide", "James Jones", "Drug crimes", "Law enforcement", "Indictments", "Michelle Joiner", "Matthew Pollard", "Police brutality" ]	# Police charge man with murder after 4 people are found dead in central Georgia home May 15th, 2025, 08:43 PM --- PERRY, Ga. (AP) — Police in central Georgia arrested a man Thursday on murder charges in the killings of three adults and a 2-year-old child found dead in a mobile home last month. The Perry Police Department obtained warrants charging 34-year-old Michael James Jordan with four counts of murder more than a month after jailing him for lesser crimes. Online records show Jordan has been locked up in Houston County since April 5, the day after the bodies were found, on charges of aggravated stalking and marijuana possession. The four victims were discovered April 4 by officers dispatched to check on their welfare at a mobile home park in Perry, a rural city about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Macon. Authorities said three of the victims had been stabbed and one of them was suffocated. They were identified as Beaulah Robinson, 82; Michelle Joiner, 51; Tuquondra Robinson, 37; and 2-year-old A'Layah Joiner. Perry police Capt. James Jones told WMAZ-TV that Jordan dated one of the victims, Robinson, and had lived at the mobile home. He said that Jordan became a person of interest in the killings early in the investigation. A Houston County public defender, Matthew Pollard, is representing Jordan on the stalking and marijuana charges he was arrested on last month before facing murder charges. The Associated Press left a phone message for Pollard seeking comment Thursday.
Associated Press News	2025-05-19 22:58:39+00:00	[ "Crime", "Peter Zisopoulos", "Alison Russo-Elling", "New York", "September 11 attacks", "Homicide", "New York City Wire", "Retail and wholesale", "Indictments", "Melinda Katz", "Queens", "Law enforcement" ]	# New York man convicted of fatally stabbing EMS worker as she walked to a store to get food May 19th, 2025, 10:58 PM --- NEW YORK (AP) — A New York man was convicted Monday of fatally stabbing a longtime emergency services officer in a 2022 unprovoked attack that took place steps away from her station in Queens. The victim, Lt. Alison Russo-Elling, 61, was ambushed while heading to a corner store in her uniform to get something to eat. One of the first responders to the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, she was months away from a planned retirement when she died. Peter Zisopoulos, 37, was convicted on charges of second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon. He's scheduled to be sentenced on June 30 and faces 25 years to life in prison, according to prosecutors. There was no indication Russo-Elling knew Zisopoulos, who fled to his apartment and was arrested after locking himself inside. Zisopoulos' lawyer previously said his client "has a past psychiatric history going back to 2018." District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement she hopes the conviction "brings Alison's family, friends and coworkers solace as we continue to grieve her loss." Russo-Elling was posthumously promoted to captain.
Associated Press News	2025-05-05 17:11:56+00:00	[ "OpenAI Inc", "Alphabet", "Inc.", "Artificial intelligence", "Media and entertainment industry", "Geneva", "Technology", "Engineering", "Business", "Microsoft Corp.", "Fox Corp.", "News media", "Intellectual property", "Krakow", "Misinformation" ]	# AI developers should counter misinformation and protect fact-based news, global media groups say By Jamey Keaten May 5th, 2025, 05:11 PM --- GENEVA (AP) — A global group of broadcasters and publishers is calling on artificial intelligence developers to make sure their technology serves the public by helping to counter misinformation and protect the value of fact-based news. The Geneva-based European Broadcasting Union, an association of public broadcasters that's also known for running the popular Eurovision Song Contest, says it and the World Association of News Publishers and other partners want to cooperate with tech companies behind AI. The group says thousands of public and private media in broadcast, print and online formats have joined the "News Integrity in the Age of AI" initiative, whose five core steps were announced Monday at the World News Media Congress in Krakow, Poland. The initiative is calling for news content to only be used in generative AI models with the authorization of the content originator, and for clarity about attribution and accuracy. It says the original news source behind AI-generated material must be "apparent and accessible." "Organizations and institutions that see truth and facts as the desirable core of a democracy and the foundation of an empowered society should now come together at one table to shape the next era," said Ladina Heimgartner, president of the publishers association and CEO of Switzerland's Ringier Media. Among the media affiliates along with EBU and WAN-IFRA — as the association of news publishers is known — are Latin American broadcasters association AIL; the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union; and the North American Broadcasters Association, which counts Fox, Paramount, NBC Universal and PBS among its members. Since AI surged into public awareness with the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT in November 2022, legacy media have grappled with how best to use the technology, and whether to cooperate with or even combat the companies behind it. The New York Times and other newspapers have filed a copyright lawsuit against OpenAI and business partner Microsoft. The Times has said the tech companies have threatened its livelihood by effectively stealing billions of dollars' worth of work by its journalists. Many news outlets have struck deals with OpenAI, including the Associated Press. which has a licensing and technology deal with it as well as with Google for delivery of news through its Gemini AI chatbot. In the U.S., leading tech companies like Google, Microsoft and OpenAI have told the Copyright Office that their training of AI models fits into the "fair use" doctrine that allows for limited uses of copyrighted materials. That includes teaching, research or transforming the copyrighted work into something different.
Associated Press News	2025-05-06 04:01:50+00:00	[ "Zimbabwe", "Europe", "United Kingdom", "Pakistan", "JWD-evergreen", "South Asia", "Recipes", "Murad Baseer", "Margret Verwijk", "International trade", "Language", "Pete Vowles", "Food and drink", "Lifestyle", "Paul Bertrand Barets" ]	# Diplomats in Zimbabwe embrace local culture in a lively cooking contest By Farai Mutsaka May 6th, 2025, 04:01 AM --- HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — In a world of trade wars, tariffs and tensions, foreign diplomats in Zimbabwe found a more lighthearted way to vie for supremacy: a cooking contest. Ambassadors swapped briefing notes for recipes in the quest to win the second annual #ambassadorscookoff challenge in the southern African country last month. Their task was to produce the most delicious-looking version of a favorite local village dish of chicken with rice in a peanut butter sauce. The public voted online after the diplomats posted photos of their finished meals. "The atmosphere in international relations these days is a little bit tense," said France's ambassador to Zimbabwe and cook-off competitor Paul-Bertrand Barets. "We are human beings. As diplomats, we want also to have some fun and to relax." Barets, in a blow for his food-famous nation, didn't win. The crown went instead to Dutch Ambassador Margret Verwijk. Other contestants included ambassadors from Canada, the U.K., Australia, Turkey and "flavor master" Murad Baseer, the ambassador of Pakistan, whose meal took third place. The dish the ambassadors were judged on has its own story. It's made with what are known as "road runner" chickens — hardy free-range birds whose tough, flavorful meat is deemed by many to be tastier than that of commercially bred chickens. Known for scavenging and surviving in harsh rural conditions, the chickens are a staple of Zimbabwe village cuisine and often command high prices in urban restaurants. The cookoff organized by Zimbabwe's popular online foodie community TeamFulo encouraged the foreign envoys to do more than just cook a good meal. They visited rural and township markets to source their ingredients, learned local cooking practices and immersed themselves in Zimbabwean food, humor and culture. From bargaining at the markets in the local Shona language to cooking on open fires with clay or iron pots, and even tossing in some Zimbabwean slang for flair, the contestants dived in and posted their progress on social media. For Zimbabweans following online, it provided a rare chance to see foreign diplomats embrace local life with seemingly genuine interest and humility. Followers cheered the ambassadors on and assigned them Shona totems — symbols of kinship and respect. Australian Ambassador Minoli Perera, whose dish took second place, knelt on a reed mat, blowing into a fire. She stirred a huge iron pot similar to those usually used for big rural feasts. Fans dubbed her "Chihera," a revered totem associated with a lineage of assertive, independent women. One gushed: "Ambassador, you are truly a daughter-in-law of Africa. I love it, I love it!" British Ambassador Pete Vowles was a fan favorite. Video of him roasting and pounding peanuts and preparing other ingredients was accompanied by his best Shona commentary for each step. His experience riding home in a packed public minibus while cradling a live road runner chicken like a trophy was a hilarious highlight. "Send us videos when you cook!" women shouted to him at the market. He even prompted nostalgic comments from online followers like "now you make me miss my rural home!" Vowles won the Choice Award, given to the ambassador who best connected with the public online and in person. "You reminded us of the richness in our culinary traditions. You truly brought the spirit of community to life," said TeamFulo. Fulo is local slang for food. Barets said his social media videos showing him chasing a chicken, shopping at a dusty market and demonstrating his kitchen skills gained attention and boosted interest in more formal posts on France's diplomatic programs in Zimbabwe, which is enjoying improved relations with the United States and European Union following two decades of sanctions that are gradually being removed. The cookoff provided a unique avenue to connect with ordinary Zimbabweans and "convince them we are human beings and not statutes with neck ties," Barets said. ___ AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa
Associated Press News	2025-05-09 20:27:08+00:00	[ "Bucharest", "Europe", "Romania", "European Union", "Viktor Orban", "George Simion", "Romania government", "Run-off elections", "Global elections", "Stefan Gheorghe", "Nationalism", "Diana Draghici", "Politics", "Elections" ]	# Thousands join a pro-EU rally in Romania's capital as pivotal presidential runoff looms By Stephen Mcgrath May 9th, 2025, 08:27 PM --- BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Thousands of people gathered in Romania's capital on Friday for a pro-European Union march. It came a week before the final vote of a closely watched presidential election that pits a hard-right nationalist front-runner against the capital's pro-EU mayor. Marchers converged in Bucharest in front of the government building, where many waved the blue and yellow flags of Europe. Many chanted slogans such as "We are in Europe" and "Bucharest is not Budapest," referring to Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a member but also a longtime critic of the EU. A communist country until 1989, Romania joined the EU in 2007. But last year it was plunged into its worst political crisis in decades when a top court voided the previous election. The far-right outsider Calin Georgescu topped the first round following allegations of electoral violations and Russian interference, which Moscow has denied. The rally was held nearly a week after the first round of a presidential election redo that saw hard-right nationalist George Simion, 38, emerge as the front-runner. In second place was 55-year-old incumbent Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan. "We need to develop … we want to be like the best countries, and we don't have the possibilities on our own," said Stefan Gheorghe, a 23-year-old lawyer. "You need the European Union to help us out. It is very important to us to stay together … and to benefit from each other." A median of polls ahead of the runoff suggests Simion holds a lead in the vote, which will be held between the two staunchly antiestablishment candidates on May 18. Observers have warned that the outcome could reshape the EU and NATO member country's geopolitical direction. After reaching second place on Sunday night, Dan called the final vote a choice "between a pro-Western direction for Romania and an anti-Western one." Simion's critics have long accused him of being Russia-friendly and warn that his presidency would undermine both the EU and NATO as Moscow's war drags on in Ukraine. But in an interview with The Associated Press this week, Simion rejected the accusations and said, "It's not for the good of the Romanian people to be close to Russia." "We want to be a member of the European Union. Some fake news were saying that we want to exit the European project," said Simion, who leads Romania's second-largest party, the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians. "We don't want to leave. We are here to stay. We invested a lot." Simion, who came fourth in last year's race and later backed Georgescu, said in an earlier interview with the AP that he wants to see "more power" go to the bloc's 27 individual members, "not toward the European institutions." Similar rallies were held in several cities across Romania on Friday to mark Europe Day, a date that proclaims to celebrate peace and unity in Europe. Although Simion and Dan are ideological opposites, they both made their political careers railing against Romania's old political class, which has fallen out of favor as strong antiestablishment sentiment among voters grips the country. For Diana Draghici, 38, the upcoming runoff will be a pivotal moment for Romania's future and a choice between forging stronger EU ties or potentially shifting East. "I think it's important that the young people who were undecided and didn't vote so far ... to have a wake-up call and choose who they want to have represented," she said. "It could decide two extremely different scenarios for Romania's future."
Associated Press News	2025-05-05 16:39:30+00:00	[ "Rhode Island", "Donald Trump", "Robert F. Kennedy Jr.", "Letitia James", "District of Columbia", "U.S. Department of Health and Human Services", "Legal proceedings", "United States government", "United States", "DC Wire", "New York City Wire", "Public health", "Government programs", "Health", "Medical research", "Courts", "Children", "Access to health care", "Early childhood education", "Health care costs", "Government and politics", "Politics" ]	# 19 states suing over cuts to US Health and Human Services agency By Rebecca Boone and Amanda Seitz May 5th, 2025, 04:39 PM --- Attorneys general in 19 states and Washington, D.C., are challenging cuts to the U.S. Health and Human Services agency, saying the Trump administration's massive restructuring has destroyed life-saving programs and left states to pick up the bill for mounting health crises. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Rhode Island on Monday, New York Attorney General Letitia James said. The attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia signed onto the complaint. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. restructured the agency in March, eliminating more than 10,000 employees and collapsing 28 agencies under the sprawling HHS umbrella into 15, the attorneys general said. An additional 10,000 employees had already been let go by President Donald Trump's administration, according to the lawsuit, and combined the cuts stripped 25% of the HHS workforce. "In its first three months, Secretary Kennedy and this administration deprived HHS of the resources necessary to do its job," the attorneys general wrote. Kennedy has said he is seeking to streamline the nation's public health agencies and reduce redundancies across them with the layoffs. The cuts were made as part of a directive the administration has dubbed, " Make America Healthy Again." HHS is one of the government's costliest federal agencies, with an annual budget of about $1.7 trillion that is mostly spent on health care coverage for millions of people enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid. James, who is leading the lawsuit, called the restructuring a "sweeping and unlawful assault" that would endanger lives. "This is not government reform. This is not efficiency," James said during a press conference Monday. The cuts have resulted in laboratories having limited testing for some infectious diseases, the federal government not tracking cancer risks among U.S. firefighters, early childhood learning programs left unsure of future funds and programs aimed at monitoring cancer and maternal health closing, the attorneys general say. Cuts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also have hampered states' ability to respond to one of the largest measles outbreaks in recent years, the lawsuit says. "This chaos and abandonment of the Department's core functions was not an unintended side effect, but rather the intended result," of the "MAHA Directive," they said. They want a judge to vacate the directive because they say the administration can't unilaterally eliminate programs and funding that have been created by Congress. The restructuring eliminated the entire team of people who maintain the federal poverty guidelines used by states to determine whether residents are eligible for Medicaid, nutrition assistance and other programs. A tobacco prevention agency was gutted. Staff losses also were significant at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The Trump administration is already facing other legal challenges over cuts to public health agencies and research organizations. A coalition of 23 states filed a federal lawsuit in Rhode Island last month over the administration's decision to cut $11 billion in federal funds for COVID-19 initiatives and various public health projects across the country. ___ This story has been updated to correct that the lawsuit is filed in federal court in Rhode Island. ___ Boone reported from Boise, Idaho and Seitz reported from Washington, D.C.
Associated Press News	2025-05-16 05:11:40+00:00	[ "Pope Leo XIV", "Alejandro Moral", "Colleen Mitchell", "Lifestyle", "Alberto Giovannetti", "Pasquale Cormio", "Italy", "Martin Luther", "Pope Francis", "Christianity", "Religion", "Rome", "Catholic Church", "Gabriele Pedicino" ]	# Pope Leo XIV is known as 'Father Bob' among fellow Augustinians. Who are they? By Giovanna Dell'Orto May 16th, 2025, 05:11 AM --- GENAZZANO, Italy (AP) — A new photo of Leo XIV stands by frescoes representing past papal visits to a Virgin Mary icon in the Sanctuary of Our Mother of Good Counsel, commemorating where he prayed two days after being elected pope. But the new pontiff is still "Father Bob" to the handful of Augustinian friars who serve in the basilica in a hilltop medieval village — and the tight-knit community of Augustinians worldwide. They knew Leo when he was their global leader, seminary teacher or simply fellow brother in black habits with thick belts and large hooded capes. "With Father Robert, then Very Rev. Prior General, we have had to change the names, but Father Bob … we realize the person hasn't changed at all, it's still him," said the Rev. Alberto Giovannetti, 78. He was born in Genazzano in the wooded hills outside Rome and entered the seminary at age 11. He remembers a day in 2001 when he was struggling with the responsibility of a new position and then-Prior General Prevost comforted him. "He gave me courage, 'Stay calm, the less adequate you feel, the more you're fit for it,' that was the meaning," Giovannetti said. "I think it's what's guiding him now as well, that real humbleness that doesn't make you feel weak, but rather makes you feel not alone." ## St. Augustine and brotherly leadership It's a style of brotherly leadership that was crucial to St. Augustine, who inspired the order that's found itself in an unusual spotlight ever since Leo's first public blessing from St. Peter's Basilica. "He resolutely affirmed, 'I'm a son of Augustine, I'm Augustinian,' and this filled us all with pride. We're feeling like the pope's friars," said the Rev. Pasquale Cormio, rector of Rome's Basilica of St. Augustine. Leo's predecessor, Pope Francis, was a Jesuit who took the name of the founder of the Franciscans. The Jesuit order is widely known for its scholarly star-power, while the Franciscans appeal to many because of the order's down-to-earth charity. The Augustinian order is a bit of a paradox — it remains as unassuming as when it was first organized in the mid-13th century as a union of mendicant orders, yet traces its origins to one of the most influential thinkers in Christian and Western culture. And now the friars are expecting that "Father Bob" will bring some of St. Augustine's spiritual trademarks to the wider church. ## Augustinian spirituality "Augustinian spirituality is founded on these words of St. Augustine — a single heart, a single soul oriented toward God, that is to say, toward unity," said the Rev. Lizardo Estrada, who was a student of Leo's in seminary. "That's why you can sum it up in four words, I'd say — community, interiority, charity and obedience." For Augustinians, the foundation of a godly life is seeking truth with the help of Scriptures and sacraments, finding it as God's presence inside one's heart — the "interiority" — and then taking that knowledge outward to help others. "You can't adore the Lord every day, pray every day, and not find God in the vulnerable, in the humble, in those working the fields, in the Amazonian peoples," said Estrada, who is secretary general of the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Conference. "You can't know God inside you, have that knowledge, and stay put." The order has certainly been on a journey — part of St. Augustine's enduring appeal is that he was a "seeker" who introduced the concept of introspection as a way to happiness. Born in what today is Algeria in the 4th century, he embraced his mother's Christian faith during travels in Italy and went on to write some of history's pivotal spiritual and philosophical treatises. His answers to perennial questions such as free will versus predestination, true faith versus heresy, even issues addressing leadership, gender and sexuality continue to inform Western culture today, said Colleen Mitchell, a scholar with Villanova University's Augustinian Institute. ## The Augustinians since the Middle Ages As both male and female monastic communities started following him, St. Augustine wrote the basics of a "rule" or the charter for an order, which was eventually assigned some eight centuries later by the pope to medieval hermits in Tuscany to form a single union. Today, the order of some 3,000 friars is active in 50 countries, with universities like Villanova in Pennsylvania and some 150,000 children enrolled in Augustinian schools. They operate missions across Africa, are growing in Asia, and run historic and artwork-filled churches across Europe, including Santo Spirito in Florence — for which a young Michelangelo sculpted a crucifix as a thank-you gift since the friars had allowed him access to their hospital to learn anatomy, said the prior general, the Rev. Alejandro Moral. "The search for truth is very important because as St. Augustine put it, truth is not yours or mine, it's ours. And we have to engage in dialogue to find that truth and, once we have found it, walk together, because we both want to follow truth," Moral told The Associated Press from the Augustinians' headquarters in Rome. ## A brother pope The large, unpretentious complex is next to the spectacular colonnade that encircles St. Peter's Square. Jubilant friars huddled at the windows cheering when Leo was announced as pope. A few days later, the pope joined them for a surprise lunch and the birthday celebration of a brother, showing the attention to fraternity that is an Augustinian point of pride. "He puts you at ease, he has this way of being near that … always struck me even when he was prior general, and he's kept up that style as cardinal and now as pope," said the Rev. Gabriele Pedicino, the provincial for Italy. He added that finding unity in diversity is another pillar of Augustinian thought that he expects Leo will promote. "The diversity among brothers — I think that the pope will labor so that increasingly inside and outside the church, we can recognize the other, the different, not as a danger, not as an enemy, but as someone to love, someone who makes our life richer and more beautiful," Pedicino said. Various friars found inspiration in the pope's motto, "in illo uno unum" — Latin for "in the one Christ, we are one" and derived from St. Augustine's sermons about Christian unity. He lived through times of division. A millennium later a former Augustinian, Martin Luther, broke with Catholicism and launched the Protestant Reformation. As today's Catholic Church also struggles with polarization, reestablishing a core unity centered in Jesus is a message that resonates widely. "It's not like we're better than anybody else, we're all the same, and when we engage in dialogue, we need to realize that we need to greatly respect the other," Moral said. "I believe that this is fundamental to our mission — to listen, to respect, and to love. Pope Leo has this straightforward simplicity." ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Associated Press News	2025-05-16 04:09:29+00:00	[ "Bangkok", "Building collapses", "Crime", "Indictments", "Animals", "Asia", "Asia Pacific", "Business" ]	# 17 charged over deadly Bangkok building collapse during earthquake By Jintamas Saksornchai May 16th, 2025, 04:09 AM --- BANGKOK (AP) — A construction magnate, builders, designers and engineers surrendered to police Friday on criminal negligence charges over the collapse during the March 28 earthquake of a Bangkok high-rise in which 92 people died. Premchai Karnasuta, president of Italian-Thai Development Co, the main Thai contractor for the building project, as well as designers and engineers, was among 17 charged with the felony of professional negligence causing death, Bangkok deputy police chief Noppasin Poonsawat said. Noppasin said those who met police on Friday formally denied the charges. Several have previously issued public denials in response to allegations in the media. Ninety-two people were confirmed dead in the rubble of the building that had been under construction. A small number of other people remain unaccounted for. The building, which was to become a new State Audit Office, was the only one in Thailand to collapse in the earthquake that was centered in neighboring Myanmar. The search for victims at the site has been halted, though efforts to identify remains through DNA will continue. Noppasin said at a news conference that evidence and testimony from experts suggested the building plan did not meet standards and codes. The Bangkok Post newspaper said police had also determined the project showed "structural flaws in the core lift shaft and substandard concrete and steel." Thai media have reported allegations of wrongdoing in the project almost every day since the building's collapse, many of them involving irregular documentation for the project. Their reports have highlighted the role of Italian-Thai's Chinese joint venture partner, the China Railway No. 10 company, which is involved in projects around the world. One of the 17 charged Friday was Chinese executive Zhang Chuanling, a director at China Railway No. 10's joint venture with Italian-Thai Development. He was previously arrested last month on a charge of violating Thai business law by wrongly using Thai nominees to serve as the Chinese firm's proxies to allegedly control the joint venture. Three Thai executives were also arrested on the charge. A Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for the 17 on the negligence charge on Thursday. Noppasin said 15 turned themselves in at a police station in the morning and the remaining two were expected to do so later. All 15 were driven in police vehicles to the Bangkok Criminal Court, which approved a police detention request and denied the suspects' bail applications, local media reported. The epicenter of the quake was in central Myanmar, where it killed more than 3,700 people and caused major damage in Mandalay, the country's second biggest city, and the capital Naypyitaw. Premchai's case is his second major tangle with the law. In 2019, he was convicted of wildlife poaching and served about three years in prison. He was found guilty of killing protected animals and illegal possession of weapons after park rangers found a hunting party at a wildlife sanctuary in 2018 with carcasses of a rare black panther, a kalij pheasant and a barking deer. The panther had been butchered and its meat cooked for soup.
Associated Press News	2025-05-07 20:27:57+00:00	[ "Donald Trump", "Iran", "Persian Gulf", "Steve Witkoff", "United States government", "United States", "Reza Pahlavi", "Abbas Araghchi", "Alphabet", "Inc.", "Government and politics", "Associated Press", "Waterways", "Iran government", "Politics" ]	# Trump says he'll decide what to call the Persian Gulf while in the Middle East By Matthew Lee and Aamer Madhani May 7th, 2025, 08:27 PM --- WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he will make a decision about how the U.S. government will refer to the body of water now commonly known as the Persian Gulf when he visits Arab states next week. Trump told reporters at the White House that he expects his hosts in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will ask him about the U.S. officially calling the waterway the Arabian Gulf or Gulf of Arabia. "They're going to ask me about that when I get there, and I'll have to make a decision," Trump said. "I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings." The Associated Press reported Tuesday that two U.S. officials familiar with the matter said Trump would announce the change while he was on the trip. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. That report generated a storm of outcry from Iranians of all political persuasions who said the Persian Gulf moniker was thousands of years old and an essential part of Iran's cultural and geographical history. It comes months after Trump said the U.S. would refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. "I have a case right over here. It's called Gulf of America," Trump said Wednesday in the Oval Office. "And I guess a lot of people get ideas from us." Arab nations have long pushed for a change to the geographic name of the body of water off the southern coast of Iran, while Iran has maintained its historic ties to the gulf. Iranians both supportive and opposed to Iran's current government denounced any change. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who has been involved in three rounds of nuclear negotiations with Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff, said the change would indicate "hostile intent" toward Iran. "Politically motivated attempts to alter the historically established name of the Persian Gulf are indicative of hostile intent toward Iran and its people, and are firmly condemned," he wrote on the social platform X. "Any short-sighted step in this connection will have no validity or legal or geographical effect, it will only bring the wrath of all Iranians from all walks of life and political persuasion in Iran, the U.S. and across the world." Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last shah of Iran who was deposed in the 1979 Islamic Revolution and is a staunch opponent of the current government, also decried the step. "The Persian Gulf is not just a name but a historical reality," he said in a social media post. "The reported decision by President Trump to abrogate history, should it be true, is an affront to the people of Iran and our great civilization." The Persian Gulf has been widely known by that name since the 16th century, although usage of "Gulf of Arabia" and "Arabian Gulf" is dominant in many countries in the Middle East. The government of Iran — formerly Persia — threatened to sue Google in 2012 over the company's decision not to label the body of water at all on its maps. On Google Maps in the U.S., the body of water appears as Persian Gulf (Arabian Gulf). Apple Maps only says the Persian Gulf. The U.S. military for years has used the Arabian Gulf in statements and images it releases. Trump can change the name for official U.S. purposes, but he can't dictate what the rest of the world calls it. The Associated Press sued the Trump administration earlier this year after the White House barred its journalists from covering most events because of the organization's decision not to follow the president's executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America" within the United States ___ Associated Press writers Zeke Miller in Washington, Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Meg Kinnard in Chapin, South Carolina, contributed to this report.
Associated Press News	2025-05-14 16:24:31+00:00	[ "Media and entertainment industry", "Television", "Casey Bloys", "Business", "Entertainment", "David Zaslav" ]	# Max streaming service is reviving the HBO name May 14th, 2025, 04:24 PM --- NEW YORK (AP) — HBO is returning — at least in a name. Warner Bros. Discovery said Wednesday that it was rebranding its streaming service as HBO Max this summer, instead of the current Max. The Max name dated to Warner's merger with Discovery and was considered a curious choice when made in 2023. HBO is widely considered a gold standard for quality while Max was a reference to the less well-regarded Cinemax network. Two years later, the company is reviving the HBO Max name, which was used by Warner before the merger. While the company didn't acknowledge a mistake, the move was loudly applauded Wednesday when announced at a presentation to advertisers. "The powerful growth we have seen in our global streaming service is built around the quality of our programming," said David Zaslav, president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery. "Today, we are bringing back HBO, the brand that represents the highest quality in media, to further accelerate that growth in the years ahead." Now, HBO executive Casey Bloys told advertisers, he has a desk drawer full of old stationery that he can use again.
Associated Press News	2025-05-03 00:06:39+00:00	[ "Donald Trump", "Government budgets", "United States government", "United States", "Business", "Children", "Yasmina Vinci", "Associated Press", "Politics", "Education", "Education funding" ]	# Head Start survives Trump's budget proposal By Moriah Balingit May 3rd, 2025, 12:06 AM --- WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration apparently has backed away from a proposal to eliminate funding for Head Start, the early education program that serves some of the nation's neediest preschoolers. Backers of the six-decade-old program, which educates more than half a million children from low-income and homeless families, had been fretting after a leaked Trump administration proposal suggested defunding it. Project 2025, the conservative blueprint drawn up by the Heritage Foundation and co-authored by President Donald Trump's current budget chief, also called for cutting Head Start. But the budget summary released Friday, which outlined programs set to receive drastic cuts or boosts, did not mention Head Start. On a call with reporters, an administration official said there would be "no changes" to it. The official insisted on anonymity to preview the budget plan on a call with reporters. Still, teachers, families and advocates remain concerned about the stability of Head Start. The Trump administration is closing several regional offices and laying off the staff who support the program, which has led to funding delays that threatened to close individual preschools. A document accidentally emailed to grant recipients this week called for eliminating funding for research on Head Start and other child care programs. And before Trump took office, staffing shortages and rising costs had forced some programs to cut the number of students they served, or shutter altogether. Advocates say other cuts to education and social-safety-net programs would also hurt families served by Head Start. "While Head Start is grateful that it was not explicitly eliminated in this skinny budget proposal, we are concerned about the significant cuts that threaten access to health services, education, and support for hundreds of thousands of families," said Yasmina Vinci, executive director for the National Head Start Association, in a statement. ____ The Associated Press' education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Associated Press News	2025-05-16 15:07:24+00:00	[ "Syria", "Saudi Arabia", "Bashar Assad", "Donald Trump", "Qatar", "World Bank", "Syria government", "Business", "Politics", "Qatar government", "Saudi Arabia government", "Ahmad al-Sharaa" ]	# World Bank says Saudi Arabia and Qatar have paid off Syria's outstanding debt By Associated Press May 16th, 2025, 03:07 PM --- DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The World Bank said Friday that the $15.5 million Syria owed it has been paid off by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, clearing Damascus to take out new loans. Saudi Arabia and Qatar had announced plans last month to clear Syria's outstanding debts, a move that Syria hailed as paving the way for recovery and reconstruction after a 14-year conflict that killed half a million people and caused wide destruction in the country. The debt was owed to the World Bank's International Development Association, a fund that provides zero- or low-interest loans and grants to the world's poorest countries. "We are pleased that the clearance of Syria's arrears will allow the World Bank Group to reengage with the country and address the development needs of the Syrian people," the World Bank said in a statement. In added that "the first project in our reengagement with Syria is centered on access to electricity." Months after a lightning insurgency unseated former Syrian President Bashar Assad and ended the civil war that decimated much of the country's infrastructure, severe electricity shortages continue to plague the country. The United Nations estimates that 90% of Syrians live in poverty and state-supplied electricity comes as little as two hours every day. Millions of Syrians cannot afford to pay hefty fees for private generator services or install solar panels to supplement the meagre supply. In March, Qatar began supplying Syria with natural gas through Jordan to ease the long hours of electricity cuts. However, Western sanctions imposed on the country during the Assad dynasty's rule have posed an obstacle to development and reconstruction projects. Earlier this week, during a regional tour during which he met with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would move to lift the sanctions, clearing the way for investments in Syria.
Associated Press News	2025-05-16 11:36:26+00:00	[ "Plane crashes", "Japan government", "Military and defense", "Japan", "China" ]	# Japan retrieves remains of 1 of 2 service members whose training plane crashed By Mari Yamaguchi May 16th, 2025, 11:36 AM --- TOKYO (AP) — Japanese defense officials said Friday they recovered the remains of one of two crew members who were missing since their military training aircraft crashed earlier this week. The air force T-4 aircraft carrying two service members crashed into a reservoir Wednesday, minutes after taking off from Komaki Air Base in the central Japanese prefecture of Aichi. On Friday, after two days of searching, rescuers recovered "what appears to be the body of a crew member" and transported it to Komaki base for examination, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani told reporters. The air force grounded all remaining 196 of the training planes and began their emergency inspection on Thursday. The crash is the latest in a series of defense aircraft accidents in recent years and comes at a time when Japan is accelerating a military buildup to deter China's growing influence in the region. Japan has doubled its defense spending, raising concern that funding for weapons may be prioritized over safety measures. The crashed plane was 36 years old and wasn't fitted with a voice recorder or a flight data recorder.
Associated Press News	2025-05-04 08:33:52+00:00	[ "Animals", "Deer", "Television", "Moose", "Stockholm", "JWD-evergreen", "Migration", "Associated Press", "Johan Erhag" ]	# This year's 24-hour live coverage of Sweden's epic moose migration is over May 4th, 2025, 08:33 AM --- STOCKHOLM (AP) — The seventh season of Swedish slow TV hit "The Great Moose Migration" ended Sunday night after 20 days of 24-hour live coverage. The show, called "Den stora älgvandringen" in Swedish, began in 2019 with nearly a million people watching. In 2024, the production hit 9 million viewers on SVT Play, the streaming platform for national broadcaster SVT. By 10 p.m. local time (2000GMT) Sunday, the end of the production, the livestream's remote cameras had captured 70 moose swimming across the Ångerman River, some 300 kilometers (187 miles) northwest of Stockholm, in the annual spring migration toward summer grazing pastures. The program kicked off April 15, a week ahead of schedule due to warm weather and early moose movement. Johan Erhag, SVT's project manager for "The Great Moose Migration," said this year's crew will have produced 478 hours of footage — "which we are very satisfied with," he wrote in an email to The Associated Press Saturday evening. Figures for this year's audience were not immediately available, but Erhag said roughly 30% of the viewers tuned in from outside Sweden. The 2025 production attracted international headlines from the New York Times, CNN, Sky News and France 24, among others, following an AP story that published April 15. "I think AP has been a key for the success around the world this year, absolutely," Erhag wrote hours before the final footage aired on Sunday night. The program will return to SVT next spring for its eighth season. "The Great Moose Migration" is part of a trend that began in 2009 with Norwegian public broadcaster NRK's minute-by-minute airing of a seven-hour train trip across the southern part of the country. The slow TV style of programming has spread, with productions in the United Kingdom, China and elsewhere. The central Dutch city of Utrecht, for example, installed a " fish doorbell " on a river lock that lets livestream viewers alert authorities to fish being held up as they migrate to spawning grounds.
Associated Press News	2025-05-06 17:44:41+00:00	[ "Tyre Nichols", "Memphis", "Juries", "Law enforcement", "Homicide", "Police brutality", "James Jones Jr.", "Race and ethnicity", "Paul Hagerman", "Marco Ross", "Indictments", "Justin Smith", "Martin Zummach", "Race and Ethnicity" ]	# Jury deliberating in trial of 3 ex-officers charged in Tyre Nichols' death By Adrian Sainz May 6th, 2025, 05:44 PM --- MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The fate of three former Memphis police officers charged in the beating of Tyre Nichols was in the hands of 12 people who do not live in the city as jury deliberations began Tuesday in the 29-year-old Black man's death. The jury began deliberating after a prosecutor and defense lawyers presented closing arguments in the trial of Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith, who have pleaded not guilty to state charges including second-degree murder. They already face the possibility of years in prison after they were convicted of federal charges last year. Nichols fled a Jan. 7, 2023, traffic stop after he was yanked out of his car, pepper-sprayed and hit with a Taser. Five officers who are also Black caught up with him and punched, kicked and hit Nichols with a police baton, struggling to handcuff him as he called out for his mother near his home. Footage of the beating captured by a police pole camera also showed the officers milling about, talking and laughing as Nichols struggled. His death led to nationwide protests, calls for police reforms in the U.S., and intense scrutiny of police in Memphis, a majority-Black city. The sequestered jury ended its deliberations for the day at around 5 p.m., after having the case for four hours. They will resume Wednesday. The jury for the state trial was chosen in Hamilton County, which includes Chattanooga, after Judge James Jones Jr. ordered the case be heard from people outside of Shelby County, which includes Memphis. Defense lawyers for the officers had argued that intense publicity made seating a fair jury difficult. The officers are charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression. Prosecutors have argued that the officers used excessive, deadly force in trying to handcuff Nichols and were criminally responsible for each others' actions. The officers also had a duty to intervene and stop the beating and tell medical personnel that Nichols had been struck in the head, but they failed to do so, prosecutors said. ## Two of the five ex-officers have already agreed to plead guilty Former Memphis officers Desmond Mills Jr. and Emmitt Martin also were charged in the case. They have agreed to plead guilty to the state charges and are not standing trial. They already pleaded guilty in federal court, where sentencing for all five officers is pending. Defense attorneys have sought to chip away at accusations that the officers used unnecessary force to subdue Nichols. They have argued that Nichols was actively resisting arrest by running away and failing to give his hands to officers so that he could be handcuffed. They also say their use of force complied with police department policies. Mills testified that he regrets his failure to stop the beating, which led to Nichols' death three days later from blunt-force trauma. Dr. Marco Ross, the medical examiner who performed the autopsy, testified that Nichols suffered tears and bleeding in the brain. As Nichols struggled with Bean and Smith, who were holding him on the ground, Mills tried to pepper-spray Nichols, but he ended up spraying himself, he said. After stepping away to try to recover, Mills then walked up to Nichols and hit his arm three times with a police baton. Mills told prosecutor Paul Hagerman that he hit Nichols with the baton because he was angry over the pepper spray. Defense attorneys have said the the officer who acted with the most violence was Martin, who kicked and punched Nichols several times in the head but is not standing trial. ## Defense attorneys argue that Nichols was resisting arrest Mills acknowledged on the stand that he had a duty to intervene to stop the beating, but didn't. But Mills also said Nichols was actively resisting arrest and not complying with orders to present his hands to be cuffed. Martin Zummach, Smith's lawyer, noted in closing arguments that credit and debit cards that did not belong to Nichols were found in his car when it was searched after the beating and said it was likely why Nichols ran from the traffic stop. Defense lawyers have argued that the fatal beating would not have taken place if Nichols had just allowed himself to be handcuffed. "This is Emmitt Martin's and Tyre Nichols' doing," Zummach said. Mills acknowledged that the officers were afraid and exhausted, but said wrist locks and the baton strikes complied with police department policies. Mills admitted Nichols never punched or kicked any officers. Defense lawyers also claimed Bean and Smith could not see the strikes to Nichols' head because they were blinded by pepper spray and they had tunnel vision as they tried to restrain Nichols. But prosecutors sowed doubt on that claim by pointing to comments the defendants made after the beating. According to footage from the scene, Bean said Nichols was "eating" the blows and Smith said they hit Nichols with "so many pieces," or punches. Smith also said "hit him" and Haley said "beat that man," prosecutor Tanisha Johnson said. The five officers were part of a crime suppression team called the Scorpion Unit that was disbanded after Nichols' death. The team targeted drugs, illegal guns and violent offenders to amass arrests, while sometimes using force against unarmed people The trial comes months after the U.S. Justice Department said in December that a 17-month investigation found that the Memphis Police Department uses excessive force and discriminates against Black people.
Associated Press News	2025-05-07 16:14:26+00:00	[ "Ryan Zinke", "Joe Biden", "Donald Trump", "Scott Turner", "Utah", "Mike Johnson", "U.S. Republican Party", "Nevada", "United States House of Representatives", "Alaska", "St. George", "Congress", "Legislation", "Politics", "Mark E. Amodei", "Jeff Hurd", "Affordable housing", "Government programs", "Gabe Vasquez", "Doug Burgum", "Climate and environment", "John Seibels", "U.S. Democratic Party", "Climate" ]	# House Republicans push to sell thousands of acres of land in Utah, Nevada By Matthew Daly and Matthew Brown May 7th, 2025, 04:14 PM --- WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans added a provision to their sweeping tax cut package authorizing sales of hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands in Nevada and Utah, prompting outrage from Democrats and environmentalists who called it a betrayal that could lead to drilling, mining and logging in sensitive areas. Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee adopted the land sales proposal early Wednesday morning. The initial draft had not included it amid bipartisan opposition. The land sale provision was put forward by Republican Reps. Mark Amodei of Nevada and Celeste Maloy of Utah. The parcels could be used for economic development, mining and infrastructure projects such as the expansion of an airport and a reservoir in Utah, according to local officials and plans for the areas. Some sites would be considered for affordable housing, which is much needed in fast-growing parts of Nevada. The sites include up to 200,000 acres (80,000 hectares) in Clark County Nevada, which includes Las Vegas, according to Nevada Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto. That's less than 1% of more than 50 million acres (20 million hectares) of federal land overall in the state. Also included is land in Pershing County, Nevada, where Amodei has advocated for selling or exchanging about 350,000 acres of public lands and allowing sales to mining companies. Cortez Masto in a statement called it "a land grab to fund Republicans' billionaire giveaway tax bill." "In the dead of night, Representative Mark Amodei pushed House Republicans to move forward with an insane plan that cuts funding from water conservation and public schools across Nevada," she said. The parcels in Utah would be sold at fair market value to local governments and make up only a third of 1% of public lands in the state, according to Maloy's office. "The sales from these small parcels of land will generate significant federal revenue, and have broad local support. It's a tailored, parochial budgetary measure," said House Natural Resources Committee spokesperson John Seibels. Colorado Republican Rep. Jeff Hurd voted against the provision. The Nevada parcels are also in Lyon and Washoe Counties. The Utah parcels are in the western portion of the state, including around the city of St. George and near Zion National Park. Seibels said the land sales provision resulted from a "community-driven effort" by the impacted counties. The sales provision advanced as the Natural Resources committee voted 26-17 to allow increased leasing of public lands for natural resource extraction, while clearing the path for more development by speeding up government approvals. Republicans said the overall bill would generate at least $18 billion in new revenue and savings. Royalty rates paid by companies to extract oil, gas and coal would be cut, reversing former Democratic President Joe Biden's attempts to curb fossil fuels to help address climate change. The measure is part of Trump's big bill of tax breaks, spending cuts and beefed-up funding to halt migrants. House Speaker Mike Johnson has set a goal of passing the package out of his chamber by Memorial Day. All told, 11 different House committees are crafting portions of the bill. Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke, a Republican and former Interior secretary in the first Trump administration, had said before the vote that he was drawing a "red line" on federal land sales. "It's a no now. It will be a no later. It will be a no forever,'' said Zinke, whose state includes large parcels of federally owned lands. He is not on the Natural Resources Committee but his office said he would oppose any legislation to sell lands that reaches the House floor. About 1 million square miles is under federal control. Most of that land is in Alaska and Western states. That includes 63% in Utah and 80% in Nevada. Zinke and Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M., are leading a new bipartisan Public Lands Caucus intended to protect and expand access to America's public lands. The caucus launched with a Wednesday news conference hours after the resources panel vote. Asked about the land sale provisions, Zinke said he understood frustrations over restrictions on logging and mineral extraction. But he indicated federal lands should remain under government management. "I prefer the management scheme and I give as an example a hotel. If you don't like the management of a hotel, don't sell the hotel; change the management," he said. Oil and gas royalty rates would drop from 16.7% on public lands and 18.75% offshore to a uniform 12.5% under the committee-passed bill, which still faces a vote in the full House and Senate once it is incorporated into the final legislative package. Royalties for coal would drop from 12.5% to 7%. The measure calls for four oil and gas lease sales in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge over the next decade. It also seeks to boost the ailing coal industry with a mandate to make available for leasing 6,250 square miles of public lands — an area greater in size than Connecticut. Republican supporters say the lost revenue would be offset by increased development. It's uncertain if companies would have an appetite for leases given the industry's precipitous decline in recent years as utilities switched to cleaner burning fuels and renewable energy. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner in March proposed using "underutilized" federal land for affordable housing. Turner said some 7 million homes are needed. Officials under Biden also sought to use public lands for affordable housing, although on a smaller scale. The agencies have not yet released more details of the plan. ___ Brown reported from Billings, Montana.
Associated Press News	2025-05-14 03:51:32+00:00	[ "Halle Bailey", "Celebrity", "Darryl Dwayne Granberry Jr.", "Hip hop and rap", "Los Angeles", "Entertainment", "Chloe Bailey" ]	# Halle Bailey gets restraining order against DDG By Andrew Dalton May 14th, 2025, 03:51 AM --- LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles judge has granted a restraining order to "The Little Mermaid" actor and singer Halle Bailey, who says her ex-boyfriend, the rapper and YouTuber DDG, has been repeatedly violent with her and she fears for herself and the baby they have together. The judge on Tuesday ordered DDG, whose legal name is Darryl Dwayne Granberry Jr., to stay away from Bailey and their 17-month-old son, Halo, until a June 6 hearing. "Throughout our relationship," Bailey said in documents requesting the order, "Daryl has been and continues to be physically, verbally, emotionally, and financially abusive towards me. I am seeking orders to protect myself and our son Halo from his ongoing abuse." A message seeking comment from a representative for Granberry was not immediately answered. Bailey, 25, and Granberry, 27, were in a relationship from 2022 until last year, and since their breakup there have been "multiple acts of physical violence," Bailey said. In a January incident that she recounts in detail, Bailey said Granberry was repeatedly calling her a "bitch" as she tried to strap the baby into a seat inside his car. "The next thing I knew, things got physical between us," Bailey said in the documents. "We fought each other, wrestling and tussling. At one point, Darryl was pulling my hair. He then slammed my face on the steering wheel, causing my tooth to get chipped. I then stopped fighting back as I was in a lot of pain." Bailey included photos of her tooth and bruises on her arms in her filing. In March, she said Granberry entered her house when she wasn't home and texted her a photo of her bed along with a threatening message suggesting she was having sex with other men. A few days later, she said, he berated her when she did not want to send their sick baby on a visit with him, and smashed the Ring camera on her porch when he realized it was recording the confrontation. She said when she called a relative for help, he took her phone and got into his car, slamming the door on her as she was holding the baby. Bailey filed a police report over the incident. She also asked that Granberry be ordered to stop using his streaming platforms on Twitch and YouTube to turn his followers against her. "Whenever he wishes to cause upset, he starts bad mouthing me to his several millions of fans," she said in the documents. "He claims I am withholding our son and that I am with other men. As a result, I then receive threats and hate on social media." Granberry was also ordered not to possess any weapons. The judge can extend the order for up to five years at the June 6 hearing. DDG, from Pontiac, Michigan, first saw success as a video streamer and then as a hip-hop artist. On May 5, he released his fourth studio album, "Blame the Chat," on Epic records. Bailey, from Atlanta, has been nominated for five Grammy Awards as both a solo artist and as part of Chloe x Halle, the duo with her sister that first brought her fame. She starred in the sitcom "Grown-ish" from 2018 to 2022, and in 2023 played the title character in Disney's live-action remake of "The Little Mermaid."
Associated Press News	2025-05-13 17:10:47+00:00	[ "Aaron Thomas", "Juries", "Crime", "Legal proceedings", "Melanie Wilk Thunberg", "Sexual assault", "John Calcagni", "Child abuse", "Indictments" ]	# Jurors deliberate fate of high school basketball coach who conducted naked fat tests By Kimberlee Kruesi May 13th, 2025, 05:10 PM --- WAKEFIELD, R.I. (AP) — Jurors began deliberating Tuesday in the child molestation trial of a former Rhode Island high school basketball coach who asked hundreds of male student-athletes to take off their underwear so he could check their body fat. Defense attorneys contend Aaron Thomas conducted the tests because he was focused on developing a successful athletics program, downplaying the credibility of students who say they were humiliated and embarrassed. The trial for the once popular coach and teacher at North Kingstown High School lasted six weeks. Thomas, 57, is charged with second-degree child molestation and second-degree sexual assault. Jurors concluded Tuesday without a verdict. The judge has instructed them to deliberate each day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. until they reach a decision. For nearly 30 years, Thomas designed and administered a fitness test that involved measuring their upper inner thighs and pressing his fingers into their groin areas with no other adults present. Defense attorneys acknowledged it was wrong and not backed by body composition expert but insisted it didn't break the law. They said that's because Thomas didn't touch the boy athletes for sexual gratification or arousal, a key requirement under the charges he faces. "I suggest to you that justice was served years ago," John Calcagni, Thomas' attorney, said during closing arguments on Monday. "He lost his job. He'll never coach and teach ever again. And in his own words, his reputation has been destroyed." Prosecutors, meanwhile, presented a starker picture in their closing argument on Tuesday, focusing on Thomas creating a program that allowed him to have unfettered access to young naked boys for decades. Quoting from the student-athletes who testified throughout the trial, the prosecution argued that Thomas preyed on prepubescent boys who were smaller in size and likely intimidated by Thomas' authority. "He's someone who used somewhat legitimate testing as a cover and a guise to administer his own perverted tests, under the guise of legitimacy for his own pleasure," said Special Assistant Attorney General Meegan Thomson. A key detail surrounding the case is the question Thomas would present to the male athletes, asking if they were "shy or not shy?" Those who said no were asked to strip naked, allowing Thomas to pinch various areas of their bodies, including near their groins and buttocks. The tests were conducted behind closed doors, first in a small closet-like room and then eventually in Thomas' office. "It's meant to be coercive. That question is not poised until you're alone being towered over this man at 6'4 and you're already in a state of undress and he's saying 'shy or not shy'.'" Thomson said. During his testimony, Thomas told his attorney he likely saw more than 600 student-athletes throughout his career, with "roughly 80%" of them taking their underwear off during the test. He acknowledged that removing the underwear was not necessary. During his third day of testifying, Thomas acknowledged he lied to law enforcement when he was initially asked if students were naked for the tests. "I'm truly sorry that it occurred the way it occurred," Thomas said. "It was never my intent to ever hurt or cause any kind of pain, or embarrass, or make uncomfortable, even, any of the student-athletes. It was just for competitive advantage." Although Thomas is alleged to have performed the tests on multiple students over many years, the charges relate to just two. One was 14 at the time of the alleged crime between September 2000 and February 2002. On Monday, the defense team attacked the credibility of the two student-athletes whose allegations led to the charges, pointing out the mental health struggles of one of the witnesses and inconsistent statements in their testimony. Calcagni also stressed that some of the student-athletes are pursuing a civil lawsuit against North Kingstown, saying "when money is on the line, that becomes a motivating factor for people, sometimes to stretching the truth, and sometimes not to tell the truth at all." Thomson pushed back against those attacks, saying that one of the witnesses involved in the charges has passed the statute of limitations to file a civil lawsuit and countered that the mental health struggles directly stemmed from the years of abuse caused by Thomas. More than a dozen student-athletes testified throughout the six-week trial, as well as law enforcement officers, body composition experts and former school officials. Judge Melanie Wilk Thunberg told jurors that if they don't find Thomas guilty of sexual assault, they can consider whether he's guilty of misdemeanor battery, a lesser charge.
Associated Press News	2025-05-15 18:33:24+00:00	[ "Donald Trump", "Military and defense", "Space launches", "Government and politics", "Politics" ]	# Space Force at odds with states over recruiting from National Guard units By Tara Copp May 15th, 2025, 06:33 PM --- WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the U.S. Space Force is moving ahead with plans to pull talent from Air National Guard units to help build up the still new military service — but several governors remain opposed and argue it tramples on their rights to retain control over their state units. Overall, the plan would affect only 578 service members across six states and the Air National Guard headquarters and augment the Space Force without creating a separate Space Force National Guard — something the service has said would not be efficient because it would be so small. "We are actively pursuing where do we want our part-time workforce? What type of work do they do?" the head of Space Force, Gen. Chance Saltzman, said Thursday at a POLITICO conference. The Space Force was established by President Donald Trump in late 2019, during his first term. In the years since, the Air Force has transferred its space missions into the now five-year-old military branch — except for the 578 positions still contained in the Air National Guard, which is part of the Air Force. In the 2025 defense bill, Congress mandated that those positions move over to the Space Force as well. The transferred service members would be a part-time force like they are now, just serving under the Space Force instead of their state units. But space missions are some of the most lucrative across the military and private sector and the states that lose space mission service member billets are potentially losing highly valuable part-time workforce members if they have to move away to transfer in to the Space Force. Last month, the National Governors Association said the transfers violate their right to retain control over their state units. "We urge that any transfers cease immediately and that there be direct and open engagement with governors," the Association said in April. The group was not immediately available to comment on Space Force's plan. "There's a lot of concern in the National Guard about these individuals who are highly skilled that want to be in the Guard being transferred out," Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin said at an Air Force manpower hearing this week. The contention between the states and the Space Force has meant the service hasn't so far been able to approach individual members about transferring in. According to the legislation, each National Guard will get the option to either stay with their units — and get re-trained in another specialty — or join the Space Force. Even if they do transfer into the Space Force, their positions would remain located in those same states for at least the next 10 years, according to the 2025 legislation. The affected personnel include 33 from Alaska, 126 from California, 119 from Colorado, 75 from Florida, 130 from Hawaii, 69 from Ohio and 26 from Air National Guard headquarters ___
Associated Press News	2025-05-07 05:39:39+00:00	[ "Shellfish", "New Zealand", "Endangered species", "JWD-evergreen", "Oddities", "Climate and environment", "Lisa Flanagan", "Climate" ]	# A rare New Zealand snail is filmed for the first time laying an egg from its neck By Charlotte Graham-Mclay May 7th, 2025, 05:39 AM --- WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The strange reproductive habits of a large, carnivorous New Zealand snail were once shrouded in mystery. Now footage of the snail laying an egg from its neck has been captured for the first time, the country's conservation agency said Wednesday. What looks like a tiny hen's egg is seen emerging from an opening below the head of the Powelliphanta augusta snail, a threatened species endemic to New Zealand. The video was taken at a facility on the South Island's West Coast, where conservation rangers attempting to save the species from extinction have cared for a population of the snails in chilled containers for nearly two decades. The conditions in the containers mimic the alpine weather in their only former habitat — a remote mountain they were named for, on the West Coast of the South Island, that has been engulfed by mining. ## Observing their habits Lisa Flanagan from the Department of Conservation, who has worked with the creatures for 12 years, said the species still holds surprises. "It's remarkable that in all the time we've spent caring for the snails, this is the first time we've seen one lay an egg," she said in a statement. Like other snails, Powelliphanta augusta are hermaphrodites, which explains how the creatures can reproduce when encased in a hard shell. The invertebrate uses a genital pore on the right side of its body, just below the head, to simultaneously exchange sperm with another snail, which is stored until each creates an egg. ## A long but slow reproductive life Each snail takes eight years to reach sexual maturity, after which it lays about five eggs a year. The egg can take more than a year to hatch. "Some of our captive snails are between 25 and 30 years old," said Flanagan. "They're polar opposites to the pest garden snail we introduced to New Zealand, which is like a weed, with thousands of offspring each year and a short life." The dozens of species and subspecies of Powelliphanta snails are only found in New Zealand, mostly in rugged forest and grassland settings where they are threatened by habitat loss. They are carnivores that slurp up earthworms like noodles, and are some of the world's largest snails , with oversized, distinctive shells in a range of rich earth colors and swirling patterns. ## A political storm The Powelliphanta augusta was the center of public uproar and legal proceedings in the early 2000s, when an energy company's plans to mine for coal threatened to destroy the snails' habitat. Some 4,000 were removed from the site and relocated, while 2,000 more were housed in chilled storage in the West Coast town of Hokitika to ensure the preservation of the species, which is slow to breed and doesn't adapt well to new habitats. In 2011, some 800 of the snails accidentally died in a Department of Conservation refrigerator with faulty temperature control. But the species' slow survival continues: In March this year, there were nearly 1,900 snails and nearly 2,200 eggs in captivity, the conservation agency said.
Associated Press News	2025-05-03 02:48:49+00:00	[ "Donald Trump", "Persian Gulf", "Saudi Arabia", "Joe Biden", "Saudi Arabia government", "Business", "Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud", "Politics", "United States Congress" ]	# US backs $3.5 billion missile sale to Saudi Arabia before Trump visit By Jon Gambrell May 3rd, 2025, 02:48 AM --- DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States has given initial approval to sell $3.5 billion worth of air-to-air missiles for Saudi Arabia's fighter jets, the latest proposed arms deal for the region ahead of President Donald Trump 's planned trip to the region later this month. The sale, announced early Saturday, likely will be one of several heralded by Trump on his visit to the kingdom. Saudi Arabia has already said it wants to invest $600 billion in the United States over the next four years, likely as a way to woo Trump to again pick the kingdom for his first formal trip as president. Trump traveled to Italy briefly for Pope Francis' funeral. Trump's 2017 trip to Saudi Arabia upended a tradition of modern U.S. presidents typically first heading to Canada, Mexico or the United Kingdom for their first trip abroad. It also underscored his administration's close ties to the rulers of the oil-rich Gulf states as his eponymous real estate company has pursued deals across the region. The arms sale involves 1,000 AIM-120C-8 advanced medium range air-to-air missiles, guidance sections and other technical support. The missiles will be built by RTX Corp of Tucson, Ariz. The Royal Saudi Air Force has the world's second-largest fleet of F-15 fighter jets after the U.S. "This proposed sale will support the foreign policy goals and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a partner country that contributes to political stability and economic progress in the Gulf Region," the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement. The proposed sale now goes to the U.S. Congress. Lawmakers typically weigh in on such sales and, in some cases, can block them. Saudi Arabia has faced intense Congressional scrutiny for years, first for launching a war on Yemen's Houthi rebels back in 2015 that saw the kingdom's airstrikes kill civilians. Then a Saudi assassination team killed Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018. The U.S. intelligence community concluded the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who likely will meet Trump on his visit this month and met with President Joe Biden in his term, ordered the operation against Khashoggi. The kingdom insists the prince was not involved in the killing. Trump maintained close ties to the Gulf states after leaving office. His second administration has already given initial approval for the energy-rich Mideast nation of Qatar to buy eight armed MQ-9B Reaper drones for its military, a purchase estimated to be worth nearly $2 billion.
Associated Press News	2025-05-12 14:41:03+00:00	[ "Brian P. Kemp", "Donald Trump", "Marjorie Taylor Greene", "Georgia", "Jon Ossoff", "John King", "Atlanta", "U.S. Republican Party", "United States Senate", "Senate elections", "Rich McCormick", "Government and politics", "Greg Dolezal", "U.S. National Guard", "Brad Raffensperger", "John Oxendine", "Mike Collins", "Military and defense", "Indictments", "Buddy Carter", "Politics" ]	# Georgia Insurance Commissioner John King enters 2026 Republican race for US Senate By Jeff Amy May 12th, 2025, 02:41 PM --- ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Insurance Commissioner John King on Monday became the second major Republican to enter the 2026 race to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen Jon Ossoff, saying "President Trump needs reinforcements and Georgia needs a new senator." King jumped in after U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene announced Friday that she would not seek the Republican nomination for Senate, and a week after King's political patron, Gov. Brian Kemp, made the same decision. U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, a Republican who represents a coastal Georgia district, announced his campaign for the Senate after Kemp announced he wasn't running. Five other GOP officeholders have acknowledged interest to The Associated Press, signaling what could be a wide-open Republican contest. They include two other Republicans in Congress, Mike Collins and Rich McCormick. Also considering the race are Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, state Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper and state Sen. Greg Dolezal. King, 61, emphasized his biography in his announcement, including being born in Mexico, his rise to major general in the Georgia National Guard and his work in law enforcement as an Atlanta police officer and Doraville police chief. "I've never shied away from a fight, but what truly scares me today is having Jon Ossoff for six more years. President Trump got sent to Washington, D.C., to solve some very big problems," King said in an announcement video. "He needs help and I'm asking for your support to go help President Trump and solve these incredibly big problems." King said Monday that he had been stabbed and shot while serving as an Atlanta police officer. He also was a member of the Atlanta Police Department's Red Dog unit, an anti-crime task force that drew widespread criticism for its aggressive tactics. It was King's experience in the National Guard that brought him to Kemp's attention. King had never held elective office and had lost out on his application to be Kemp's National Guard chief when Kemp was faced with filling a vacancy in the insurance commissioner's office after Jim Beck was indicted on federal criminal charges and suspended in 2019. Kemp chose King, saying he would "restore trust" in the office after not only Beck but also his predecessor John Oxendine faced criminal charges. King held the post on an interim basis for years, and Kemp appointed him permanently after Beck was convicted in 2022. Later that year, King became the first Hispanic person to be elected to a statewide post in Georgia. Kemp has made a number of appointments to diversify what has traditionally been an overwhelmingly white and male group of Republican officeholders. Fluent in Spanish, King often delivered messages on behalf of Kemp in that language during the pandemic, and released announcement videos Monday in both English and Spanish. King was also a key messenger during Kemp's successful push to limit civil lawsuit verdicts and has become a frequent speaker at political events the last two years. But King, like a number of other Senate hopefuls, remains little-known by the broader electorate. He also needs to prove that he can raise the large amounts of money needed for a Senate campaign. He raised $1 million during his 2022 reelection campaign, enough for a low-profile statewide office but not for a competitive Republican primary. Overall, the 2026 Senate race is likely to cost hundreds of millions. Ossoff raised more than $11 million just in the first three months of 2025.
Associated Press News	2025-05-18 14:53:27+00:00	[ "Donald Trump", "Scott Bessent", "Joe Biden", "John David Rainey", "China", "International trade", "Tariffs and global trade", "Business", "Government regulations", "Production facilities", "Doug McMillon", "Retail and wholesale", "Compensation and benefits", "United States government", "Politics" ]	# Trump's tariffs may mean Walmart shoppers pay more, treasury chief acknowledges By Josh Boak May 18th, 2025, 02:53 PM --- WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent acknowledged Sunday that Walmart, the largest U.S. retailer, may pass along some of the costs from President Donald Trump's tariffs to its shoppers through higher prices. Bessent described his call with the company's CEO a day after Trump warned Walmart to avoid raising prices from the tariffs at all and vowed to keep a close watch on what it does. As doubts persist about Trump's economic leadership, Bessent pushed back against inflation concerns, praised the uncertainty caused by Trump as a negotiating tactic for trade talks and dismissed the downgrade Friday of U.S. government debt by Moody's Ratings. Yet Walmart does not appear prepared to "eat the tariffs" in full, as Trump has insisted the company and China would do. Bessent said he spoke Saturday with Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, stressing in two news show interviews that what he thought really mattered for Walmart customers was the decline in gasoline prices. Gas is averaging roughly $3.18 a gallon, down from a year ago but also higher over the past week, according to AAA. "Walmart will be absorbing some of the tariffs, some may get passed on to consumers," Bessent said on CNN. "Overall, I would expect inflation to remain in line. But I don't blame consumers for being skittish after what happened to them for years under Biden," a reference to inflation hitting a four-decade high in June 2022 under then President Joe Biden as the recovery from the pandemic, government spending and the Russian invasion of Ukraine pushed up costs. Walmart did not comment on Bessent's description of his conversation with McMillon. In a social media post on Saturday morning, Trump said Walmart should not charge its customers more money to offset the new tariff costs. "I'll be watching, and so will your customers!!!" he posted. Bessent said Walmart on its earnings call on Thursday had been obligated under federal regulations "to give the worst-case scenario so that they're not sued," suggesting in an NBC interview that the price increases would not be severe in his view. But Walmart executives said last week that higher prices began to appear on their shelves in late April and accelerated this month. "We're wired to keep prices low, but there's a limit to what we can bear, or any retailer for that matter," Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey told The Associated Press on Thursday. Bessent maintained that the ratings downgrade was a "lagging indicator" as the financial markets had already priced in the costs of a total federal debt of roughly $36 trillion. Still, the tax plan being pushed by Trump would add more roughly $3.3 trillion to deficits over the next decade, including a $600 billion increase in 2027 alone, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. The treasury secretary maintained that deficits would not be a problem because the economy would grow faster than the debt accumulation, reducing its increase as a size of the overall economy. Most independent analyses are skeptical of the administration's claims that it can achieve 3% average growth as Trump's 2018 tax cuts failed to do so. Those tax cuts from Trump's first term did boost economic growth before the pandemic, but they also raised the budget deficit relative to previous estimates by the Congressional Budget Office. On tariffs, the Trump administration is still trying to determine rates with roughly 40 major trading partners before a July deadline. It's also in the early stages of a 90-day negotiation with China, after agreed a week ago to reset tariffs on that country from 145% to 30% so that talks can proceed. Bessent said any worries about tariffs by small business owners most likely reflected the higher rate previously being charged on China. Still, the uncertainty has been a major drag for consumers and businesses trying to make spending plans in the weeks, months and years ahead. "Strategic uncertainty is a negotiating tactic," Bessent said. "So if we were to give too much certainty to the other countries, then they would play us in the negotiations." Bessent appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press" and CNN's "State of the Union."
Associated Press News	2025-05-05 22:20:10+00:00	[ "Donald Trump", "Education funding", "Linda McMahon", "Subsidies", "Colleges and universities", "U.S. Department of Education", "United States government", "United States", "Education", "Health", "Politics", "Alan Garber", "Science" ]	# White House says Harvard will receive no new grants By Collin Binkley and Jocelyn Gecker May 5th, 2025, 10:20 PM --- WASHINGTON (AP) — Harvard University will receive no new federal grants until it meets a series of demands from President Donald Trump's administration, the Education Department announced Monday. The action was laid out in a letter to Harvard's president and amounts to a major escalation of Trump's battle with the Ivy League school. The administration previously froze $2.2 billion in federal grants to Harvard, and Trump is pushing to strip the school of its tax-exempt status. Harvard has pushed back on the administration's demands, setting up a closely watched clash in Trump's attempt to force change at universities that he says have become hotbeds of liberalism and antisemitism. In a press call, an Education Department official said Harvard will receive no new federal grants until it "demonstrates responsible management of the university" and satisfies federal demands on a range of subjects. The ban applies to federal research grants and not to federal financial aid that helps students cover college tuition and fees. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the decision on a call with reporters. ## Trump administration enumerates Harvard's 'failures' The official accused Harvard of "serious failures." The person said Harvard has allowed antisemitism and racial discrimination to perpetuate, it has abandoned rigorous academic standards, and it has failed to allow a range of views on its campus. To become eligible for new grants, Harvard would need to enter negotiations with the federal government and prove it has satisfied the administration's requirements. The Trump administration has demanded Harvard make broad government and leadership changes, revise its admissions policy and audit its faculty and student body to ensure the campus is home to many points of view. The demands are part of a pressure campaign targeting several other high-profile universities. The administration has cut off money to colleges including Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University, seeking compliance with Trump's agenda. The White House says it's targeting campus antisemitism after pro-Palestinian protests swept U.S. college campuses last year. It's also focused on the participation of transgender athletes in women's sports. And the attacks on Harvard increasingly have called out the university's diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, along with questions about freedom of speech and thought by conservatives on campus. In a letter Monday to Harvard's president, Education Secretary Linda McMahon accused the school of enrolling foreign students who showed contempt for the U.S. "Harvard University has made a mockery of this country's higher education system," McMahon wrote. ## Harvard says government is exerting 'improper control' Harvard's president has previously said he will not bend to the government's demands. The university sued last month to halt the government's funding freeze. A Harvard statement Monday reiterated the university's refusal to acquiesce and said the government was retaliating for Harvard's lawsuit. "Today, we received another letter from the administration doubling down on demands that would impose unprecedented and improper control over Harvard University and would have chilling implications for higher education," Harvard said. The university said it will "continue to defend against illegal government overreach aimed at stifling research and innovation that make Americans safer and more secure." In a conversation with alumni last week, Harvard President Alan Garber acknowledged there was a "kernel of truth" to criticism over antisemitism, freedom of speech and wide viewpoints at Harvard. But he said the conflict with the federal government has become a threat to the school's autonomy. "We were faced with a recent demand from the federal government that, in the guise of combating antisemitism, raised new issues of control that frankly we did not anticipate, getting to the heart of governance," Garber said. "We felt that we had to take a stand." Harvard's lawsuit said the funding freeze violated the school's First Amendment rights and the statutory provisions of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. But the stakes go beyond Harvard, Garber said. "Let us not mistake the issue that we face right now," he said. "It is an assault on higher education." ## Harvard's large endowment has limits The Trump administration said previously that Harvard would need to meet a series of conditions to keep almost $9 billion in grants and contracts. The school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has an endowment of $53 billion, the largest in the country. Across the university, federal money accounted for 10.5% of revenue in 2023, not counting financial aid such as Pell grants and student loans. Harvard isn't alone in its reliance on federal money. Universities receive about 90% of all federal research spending, taking in $59.6 billion in 2023, according to the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. That accounts for more than half the $109 billion spent on research at universities, with most of the rest coming from college endowments, state and local governments and nonprofits. To make up for the loss in federal funding, McMahon on Monday suggested Harvard rely on "its colossal endowment" and raise money from wealthy alumni. Harvard generally steers about 5% of its endowment value toward university operations every year, accounting for about a third of its total budget, according to university documents. The university could draw more from its endowment, but colleges generally try to avoid spending more than 5% to protect investment gains. Like other schools, Harvard is limited in how it spends endowment money, much of which comes from donors who specify how they want it to be used. ___ AP writer Adam Geller contributed reporting from New York. ___ The Associated Press' education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Associated Press News	2025-05-09 16:21:38+00:00	[ "Steve Witkoff", "Donald Trump", "Iran", "Saudi Arabia", "Oman", "Iran government", "Nuclear weapons", "United States government", "Politics", "Bombings", "Oman government", "Barack Obama" ]	# Iran and US to hold more talks in Oman on Tehran's nuclear program By Jon Gambrell and Matthew Lee May 9th, 2025, 04:21 PM --- DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran and the United States will meet again this weekend for talks over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said the talks Sunday would again be held in Oman, which has mediated three previous rounds of negotiations. The two will speak in both direct and indirect talks, according to a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity Friday to describe private diplomatic contacts. It comes ahead of Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates next week. Witkoff, in an interview with the conservative outlet Breitbart News published Friday, ramped up U.S. demands for a deal. After weeks of mixed messaging, he said the U.S. would not allow Iran to maintain a uranium enrichment program, which had been a main criticism of the 2015 nuclear deal reached during the Obama administration. That agreement, which Trump withdrew from in 2018 during his first term, had allowed Iran to keep enriching uranium at low levels. Critics said that allowed Tehran a pathway to eventual nuclear weapons development. "An enrichment program can never exist in the state of Iran ever again," Witkoff told Breitbart. "That's our red line. No enrichment. That means dismantlement, it means no weaponization, and it means that Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan — those are their three enrichment facilities — have to be dismantled." Witkoff also said that during the talks Iran had reiterated it did not want to acquire a nuclear weapon, something that Iranian officials have said for years. "We believe that they cannot have enrichment, they cannot have centrifuges, they cannot have anything that allows them to build a weapon," he said. He added that if the talks on Sunday were not productive, "then they won't continue, and we'll have to take a different route." Trump has imposed new sanctions on Iran as part of his "maximum pressure" campaign. He has repeatedly suggested military action against Iran remains a possibility, while emphasizing he still believed a new deal could be reached after writing a letter to Iran's 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian officials increasingly have threatened that they could pursue a nuclear weapon. Oman did not immediately acknowledge its hosting of the Sunday talks. ___ Lee reported from Washington.
Associated Press News	2025-05-05 18:28:07+00:00	[ "Basel Adra", "West Bank", "Mohammed Rabia", "2024-2025 Mideast Wars", "Activism", "Ali Dababsa" ]	# Israeli bulldozers demolish most of a West Bank hamlet, displacing dozens of Palestinians By Julia Frankel May 5th, 2025, 06:28 PM --- JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli military bulldozers demolished most of a Palestinian Bedouin village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Monday, taking out the hamlet's infrastructure and leaving residents wandering amid the rubble of their homes. The bulldozers rolled into Khalet Al-Dab in the morning, taking down most of the village's structures, said Basel Adra, a filmmaker, journalist and activist from the area. Nine homes, five tents and five animal pens were demolished, said Mohammed Rabia, head of the village council in the area. COGAT, the Israeli military body responsible for administrative affairs in the occupied West Bank, said it demolished the buildings because they were built illegally in an area designated as a closed firing zone. Palestinians have long said that securing Israeli permission to build in the West Bank is nearly impossible. Ali Dababsa, 87, a shepherd who watched the forces demolish his home, looked aghast. "We want to die under this soil, this land is precious to us and we are the owners of this land," he said, as he and other villagers gathered on a hilltop. The demolitions took place in an area of the West Bank known as Masafer Yatta, where radical Israeli settlers are expanding a network of outposts in the area. Palestinians say the settlers operate with the tacit consent of the Israeli state, which carries out home demolitions and rarely prosecutes settlers for instances of violence against Palestinians. "Since Oct. 7, the Israeli army with the settlers established three illegal outposts around this community and now erasing this village to create more and more Israeli illegal settlements in the area," said Adra, who co-directed the Oscar-award winning film "No Other Land," about Palestinian expulsion and settler violence in the area. The destruction comes as Israeli forces are set to demolish over 100 homes across two northern refugee camps in the West Bank.
Associated Press News	2025-05-13 17:08:56+00:00	[ "Donald Trump", "Karoline Leavitt", "District of Columbia", "Josh Hawley", "John Thune", "Richard Blumenthal", "Rand Paul", "James Lankford", "Shelley Capito", "U.S. Department of Justice", "Qatar", "United States", "New York City Wire", "Qatar government", "Corruption", "Politics", "Tommy Tuberville", "United States government", "National security", "Sean Hannity", "Markwayne Mullin", "Pam Bondi" ]	# Schumer vows to hold up Justice Department nominees over luxury plane from Qatar By Mary Clare Jalonick May 13th, 2025, 05:08 PM --- WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday that he will hold up all Justice Department nominations on the Senate floor until he gets more answers about the free Air Force One replacement that President Donald Trump says would be donated by Qatar. Trump said this week that he wants to accept the $400 million plane, and that it would later be donated to a presidential library. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Monday that the details of the donation are still being worked out. The plan, Schumer said, "is not just naked corruption, it is also a grave national security threat." Schumer said he wants answers from Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Trump administration about whether it is investigating activities inside the United States by Qatari foreign agents that could benefit Trump or his business. He also wants to know if Qatar will be responsible for adding security measures to the plane and how it will be built and paid for. "The Attorney General must testify before both the House and Senate to explain why gifting Donald Trump a private jet does not violate the emoluments clause — which requires congressional approval — or any other ethics laws," Schumer said. The Constitution prohibits federal officials from accepting things of value, or "emoluments," from foreign governments without congressional approval. In a post on his social media site on Tuesday night, Trump said the plane "is being given to the United States Air Force/Department of Defense, NOT TO ME! It is a gift from a Nation, Qatar, that we have successfully defended for many years." Democrats have expressed uniform outrage about the potential foreign gift and many Republicans are uneasy about the plan, as well. Returning to Washington on Monday evening, senators in both parties questioned how the deal would work and stressed the importance of following federal laws that govern how a U.S. president can accept gifts from foreign countries. "We need to look at the constitutionality of it," said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., who said she'd be concerned about possible spying devices installed on the plane. Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma said that Trump had said he would follow the law, and "that's the right answer." Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said Trump shouldn't accept the jet. "I don't think it looks good or smells good," Paul said. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said he'd prefer "a big, beautiful jet made in the United States of America." On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., declined to give a direct opinion on the possible deal, but said that if it happens, "I can assure you there will be plenty of scrutiny." Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma defended the idea. "Why would we care if another country wanted to give the United States a gift?" he asked. In an excerpt of an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity airing Tuesday night, Trump also questioned the criticism. "My attitude is, why wouldn't I accept a gift?" Trump said. He said the United States "should have the most impressive plane." Schumer's holds mean that the Senate can't quickly confirm any of Trump's Justice Department nominees. Many lower-level nominations, such as U.S. attorneys, are often approved in groups by voice vote. Democratic Sens. Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Richard Blumenthal of Hawaii went to the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon and tried to force a vote on a resolution disapproving of the Qatari gift. But it was blocked by Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who said Democrats are "losing their mind over the situation" and the gift is not a done deal. If the Qatari government does donate the plane, "the only thing we should say is thank you," Tuberville said. Schatz said that "it really should go without saying, but no president should be accepting a $400 million gift from a foreign country. It is gross, it is reckless, it is corrupt, and the outrage and condemnation especially on the Republican side should be universal." ___ Associated Press writers Matt Brown, Leah Askarinam and Chris Megerian contributed to this report.
Associated Press News	2025-05-11 17:28:41+00:00	[ "California", "Marina del Pilar vila", "Mexico", "Mexico City", "Carlos Torres" ]	# Governor of Mexican state says US withdrew her tourist visa May 11th, 2025, 05:28 PM --- MEXICO CITY (AP) — The governor of the Mexican state of Baja California, which borders the U.S., said on social media Sunday that the United States withdrew tourist visas from her and her husband. Marina del Pilar Ávila, from the ruling Morena party, did not say why her visa was withdrawn. A spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy said that visa records are confidential and that the details of individual cases cannot be discussed. Baja California borders California and day-to-day commercial ties between the two states run deep. "I fully trust that the situation will be satisfactorily clarified for both of us," Ávila said on X. Her husband, Carlos Torres Torres, who is an active member of Morena, said his "conscience is clear," in a statement on Facebook on Saturday. "This proceeding does not represent a formal accusation, investigation or indictment by any authority in Mexico or the United States," he added. ____ Follow AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Associated Press News	2025-05-06 03:01:12+00:00	[ "Pakistan", "Kashmir", "Narendra Modi", "India government", "Terrorism", "Pakistan government", "Hinduism", "South Asia", "India", "Religion", "Politics", "Avinash Mohananey", "War and unrest", "Indictments", "Business", "Omar Abdullah" ]	# India's Modi touted all was well in restive Kashmir. A tourist massacre shatters the claim By Aijaz Hussain, Sheikh Saaliq, and Rajesh Roy May 6th, 2025, 03:01 AM --- SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Hundreds of Indian tourists, families and honeymooners, drawn by the breathtaking Himalayan beauty, were enjoying a picture-perfect meadow in Kashmir. They didn't know gunmen in army fatigues were lurking in the woods. When the attackers got their chance, they shot mostly Indian Hindu men, many of them at close-range, leaving behind bodies strewn across the Baisaran meadow and survivors screaming for help. The gunmen quickly vanished into thick forests. By the time Indian authorities arrived, 26 people were dead and 17 others were wounded. India has described the April 22 massacre as a terror attack and blamed Pakistan for backing it, an accusation denied by Islamabad. India swiftly announced diplomatic actions against its archrival Pakistan, which responded with its own tit-for-tat measures. The assailants are still on the run, as calls in India for military action against Pakistan are growing. World leaders have been scrambling to de-escalate the tensions between two nuclear-armed neighbors, which have historically relied on third countries for conflict management. But the massacre has also touched a raw nerve. Early on Wednesday, India fired missiles that struck at least three locations inside Pakistani-controlled territory, according to Pakistani security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. India said it was striking infrastructure used by militants. ## India admits security lapse Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration has governed Kashmir with an iron fist in recent years, claiming militancy in the region was in check and a tourism influx was a sign of normalcy returning. Those claims now lie shattered. Security experts and former intelligence and senior military officers who have served in the region say Modi's government — riding on a nationalistic fervor over Kashmir to please its supporters — missed warning signs. The government acknowledged that in a rare admission. Two days after the attack, Kiren Rijiju, India's parliamentary affairs minister, said that a crucial all-party meeting discussed "where the lapses occurred." "We totally missed ... the intentions of our hostile neighbor," said Avinash Mohananey, a former Indian intelligence officer who has operated in Kashmir and Pakistan. The meadow, near the resort town of Pahalgam, can be reached by trekking or pony rides, and visitors cross at least three security camps and a police station to reach there. According to Indian media, there was no security presence for more than 1,000 tourists that day. Pahalgam serves as a base for an annual Hindu pilgrimage that draws hundreds of thousands of people from across India. The area is ringed by thick woods that connect with forest ranges in the Jammu area, where Indian troops have faced attacks by rebels in recent years after fighting ebbed in the Kashmir Valley, the heart of an anti-India rebellion. The massacre brought Modi's administration almost back to where it started when a suicide car bombing in the region in 2019 prompted his government to strip Kashmir of its semi-autonomy and bring it under direct federal rule. Tensions have simmered ever since, but the region has also drawn millions of visitors amid a strange calm enforced by an intensified security crackdown. "We probably started buying our own narrative that things were normal in Kashmir," Mohananey said. In the past, insurgents have carried out brazen attacks and targeted Hindu pilgrims, Indian Hindu as well as Muslim immigrant workers, and local Hindus and Sikhs. However, this time a large number of tourists were attacked, making it one of the worst massacres involving civilians in recent years. The attack outraged people in Kashmir and India, where it led to calls of swift action against Pakistan. Indian television news channels amplified these demands and panelists argued that India should invade Pakistan. Modi and his senior ministers vowed to hunt down the attackers and their backers. Experts say much of the public pressure on the Indian government to act militarily against Pakistan falls within the pattern of long, simmering animosity between both countries. "All the talk of military options against Pakistan mainly happens in echo chambers and feeds a nationalist narrative," in India, New Delhi-based counterterrorism expert Ajai Sahni said. "It doesn't matter what will be done. We will be told it was done and was a success," he said. "And it will be celebrated nonetheless." ## Modi's optimism misplaced, experts say Experts also say that the Modi government's optimism was also largely misplaced and that its continuous boasting of rising tourism in the region was a fragile barometer of normalcy. Last year, Omar Abdullah, Kashmir's top elected official, cautioned against such optimism. "By this attack, Pakistan wants to convey that there is no normalcy in Kashmir and that tourism is no indicator for it. They want to internationalize the issue," said D.S. Hooda, former military commander for northern India between 2014 to 2016. Hooda said the "choice of targets and the manner in which the attack was carried out indicates that it was well-planned." "If there would have been a good security cover, maybe this incident would not have happened," he said. ## India sees Pakistan connection to the attack Indian security experts believe the attack could be a retaliation for a passenger train hijacking in Pakistan in March by Baloch insurgents. Islamabad accused New Delhi of orchestrating the attack in which 25 people were killed. India denies it. Mohananey said that Indian authorities should have taken the accusations seriously and beefed-up security in Kashmir, while arguing there was a striking similarity in both attacks since only men were targeted. "It was unusual that women and children were spared" in both cases, Mohananey said. Two senior police officers, who have years of counterinsurgency experience in Kashmir, said after the train attack in Pakistan that they were anticipating some kind of reaction in the region by militants. The officers, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that security officials perceived the threat of an imminent attack, and Modi's inauguration of a strategic rail line in the region was canceled. A large-scale attack on tourists, however, wasn't anticipated, because there was no such precedence, the officers said. Hooda, who commanded what New Delhi called "surgical strikes" against militants in the Pakistan-controlled part of Kashmir in 2016, said that the attack has deepened thinking that it was time to tackle the Pakistani state, not just militants. Such calculus could be a marked shift. In 2016 and 2019, India said that its army struck militant infrastructure inside Pakistan after two major militant attacks against its soldiers. "After this attack," Hooda said, India wants to stop Pakistan "from using terrorism as an instrument of state policy." "We need to tighten our security and plug lapses, but the fountainhead of terrorism needs to be tackled," Hooda said. "The fountainhead is Pakistan." ___ Saaliq and Roy reported from New Delhi.
Associated Press News	2025-05-09 21:54:10+00:00	[ "Honolulu", "Law enforcement", "California", "Nathaniel Radimak", "Crime", "Assault", "Hawaii Rainbow Warriors", "Violence" ]	# Tesla driver charged in California attacks arrested again for road rage in Hawaii May 9th, 2025, 09:54 PM --- HONOLULU (AP) — A Tesla driver charged with attacking motorists' vehicles with a pipe in the Los Angeles area has been arrested again for allegedly assaulting two women during a road rage incident in Honolulu. The recent arrest comes less than a year after Nathaniel Radimak was released from prison for the California road attacks, KABC-TV reported. Honolulu police arrested a man with the same name on Thursday, a day after what police described as a road rage incident. A woman, 18, was parking her vehicle downtown on Wednesday when she saw a gray Tesla speeding past, police said. The woman and the Tesla driver "exchanged words" before he got out of the Tesla and assaulted the woman and her mother, 35, who was a passenger, police said. The Tesla driver then fled. Police said the gray 2022 Tesla had Oregon license plates. Radimak, 38, was located in Waikiki on Thursday and arrested on suspicion of unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle and assault. It was not clear Friday if Radimak had an attorney who could comment on his behalf. Police records listed him as in custody and said charges were pending. In 2023, California Highway Patrol arrested Radimak in connection with other assaults he was accused of committing while driving a Tesla Model X. The highway patrol said the assaults were recorded on a dashcam video, which showed the Tesla did not have a rear license plate. Other drivers came forward with accounts of attacks after video of the attacks was shared publicly.
Associated Press News	2025-05-02 14:47:19+00:00	[ "Atlanta", "Georgia", "Chris Klaus Chris Klaus", "Colleges and universities", "Chris Klaus", "Entrepreneurship", "Education", "Andre Dickens" ]	# Georgia Tech commencement speaker pledges to cover startup incorporation costs for graduates May 2nd, 2025, 02:47 PM --- ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Tech's commencement speaker left graduates with more than inspiring words Friday — he promised to cover incorporation costs for any graduate launching a startup. "This is about more than just covering fees — it's about lighting a spark," alumnus and speaker Christopher Klaus said in a press release. "Every founder needs someone to believe in them early. Through this gift, we're offering that belief and giving graduates the chance to start building with purpose and confidence." It costs around $100 to file for incorporation in Georgia. Georgia Tech has spent years trying to cultivate an entrepreneurial ecosystem, partnering with real estate developers to build multiple phases of Tech Square, a development of offices, labs and residences that anchors part of Atlanta's booming office-filled Midtown district. That and a similar development on the other side of the campus has helped cement Tech's relationship with companies that partner with the university for research and hire Tech graduates. The school attracted record applications this year. Klaus currently leads Fusen, a startup he founded in 2022 to help students build startups by connecting them with mentors and funding. He also co-founded the school's entrepreneurship program CREATE-X in 2014, which has helped launch over 500 student startups. He received an honorary Ph.D. during the ceremony. "We invited Chris Klaus to speak at Commencement because he embodies the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit that has defined Georgia Tech for 140 years," President Ángel Cabrera said in a statement. "Through his groundbreaking work, his message, and now his generous gift to this semester's graduates, Chris continues to inspire a new generation to lead with imagination and creativity." Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, who recently announced his run for re-election, has sought to make make Atlanta one of the top five tech hubs in the country. A report released last year said that would require the launch of 2,000 tech startups each year in the city by 2027.
Associated Press News	2025-05-07 07:43:45+00:00	[ "Buddhism", "Hong Kong", "International agreements", "India", "South Asia", "Business", "Cultural preservation", "Religion", "William Pepp", "Chris Pepp" ]	# Sotheby's postpones auction of jewels associated with Buddha after backlash from India's government By Kanis Leung May 7th, 2025, 07:43 AM --- HONG KONG (AP) — Sotheby's on Wednesday postponed an auction of jewels associated with Buddha's remains after the Indian government opposed the sale and demanded it be halted. The gems for auction were found buried together in reliquaries with the corporeal relics of the historical Buddha and discovered in northern India in 1898, the auction house said. They dated back to around 240-200 BC, it said. But India's Ministry of Culture said in a Facebook post on Tuesday it had issued a legal notice to Sotheby's Hong Kong to demand the immediate halt of the sale, accusing the auction of violating "Indian laws, international norms and UN conventions." In its letter to Sotheby's Hong Kong dated Monday, posted on Facebook, it said the auction involves sacred Buddhist relics that constitute the inalienable religious and cultural heritage of India and the global Buddhist community. It demanded the repatriation of the relics to the Indian government and a public apology from the auction house and Chris Peppé. Peppé is a great-grandson of British William Peppé, who excavated the relics. The Indian government warned in the letter that failure to comply would result in legal actions and public advocacy campaigns highlighting the auction house's role "in perpetuating colonial injustice and becoming a party to unethical sale of religious relics." Sotheby's announced the postponement in a statement on Wednesday, acknowledging the matters raised by the Indian government and saying it was done with the agreement of the consignors. "This will allow for discussions between the parties, and we look forward to sharing any updates as appropriate," it said. Some of Sotheby's webpages about the auction were no longer available on Wednesday. The Indian Ministry of Culture said on Facebook on Wednesday it was "pleased to inform" that the auction was postponed after its intervention.
Associated Press News	2025-05-15 05:21:43+00:00	[ "Poland", "Europe", "Warsaw", "Donald Tusk", "Andrzej Duda", "Donald Trump", "George Simion", "Poland government", "European Union", "Global elections", "Jacek Kucharczyk", "Voting", "Vladimir Putin", "Conservatism", "Government policy", "Politics", "Voting rights", "Democracy", "Run-off elections", "Elections" ]	# Poland votes for a new president Sunday as worries grow about the future By Vanessa Gera May 15th, 2025, 05:21 AM --- WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A war next door in Ukraine.Migration pressure at borders. Russian sabotage across the region. Doubts about the U.S. commitment to Europe's security. In Poland's presidential election Sunday, security looms large. So do questions about the country's strength as a democracy and its place in the European Union. One of the new president's most important tasks will be maintaining strong ties with the United States, widely seen as essential to the survival of a country in an increasingly volatile neighborhood. ## A crowded field, a likely runoff Voters in this Central European nation of 38 million people will cast ballots to replace conservative incumbent Andrzej Duda, whose second and final five-year term ends in August. With 13 candidates, a decisive first-round victory is unlikely. Some have appeared unserious or extreme, with a couple expressing openly pro-Putin or antisemitic views. A televised debate this week dragged on for nearly four hours. There are calls to raise the threshold to qualify for the race. A runoff on June 1 is widely expected, with polls pointing to a likely showdown between Rafał Trzaskowski, the liberal mayor of Warsaw, and Karol Nawrocki, a conservative historian backed by the Law and Justice party, which governed Poland from 2015 to 2023. ## A nation at the front line Poland's geography gives the election added importance. Bordering Russia's Kaliningrad exclave, Belarus and war-torn Ukraine — as well as several Western allies — Poland occupies a critical position along NATO's eastern flank and serves as a key logistics hub for military aid to Ukraine. There are growing fears that if Russia prevails in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it could target other countries that freed themselves from Moscow's control some 35 years ago. Against that backdrop, the election will shape Warsaw's foreign policy at a moment of mounting strain on trans-Atlantic unity and European defense. Both leading candidates support continued U.S. military engagement in Europe. Trzaskowski puts greater emphasis on deepening ties with the European Union, while Nawrocki is more skeptical of Brussels and promotes a nationalist agenda. When Law and Justice held power, it repeatedly clashed with EU institutions over judicial independence, media freedom and migration. ## Why the presidency matters While Poland is a parliamentary democracy, the presidency wields significant influence. The president serves as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, holds veto power, shapes foreign policy and plays a symbolic role in national discourse. Under Duda, the office largely advanced the conservative agenda of Law and Justice. Since Prime Minister Donald Tusk's centrist coalition came to power in late 2023, Duda has blocked key reforms aimed at restoring judicial independence and repairing relations with the EU. "The stakes are enormous for the ruling coalition and for those concerned with the future of Polish democracy," said Jacek Kucharczyk, president of the Institute of Public Affairs, a Warsaw think tank. "This is about democratic reform and restoring the rule of law — and that can only happen with cooperation from the next president." The election is also pivotal for Law and Justice, Kucharczyk noted: "Its future as a dominant political force may hinge on the outcome." ## Two visions for Poland Both Trzaskowski and Nawrocki have pledged to support Ukraine and maintain strong defense ties, but their visions for Poland diverge sharply on the role of the EU and domestic social policy. Trzaskowski, 52, is a former presidential contender and a senior figure in Civic Platform, the centrist party led by Tusk. He is running on a pro-European platform and has pledged to defend judicial independence and rebuild democratic institutions. Supporters describe him as a modernizer who represents a cosmopolitan, outward-facing Poland. He speaks foreign languages, has marched in LGBTQ+ parades and appeals to younger, urban voters. Trzaskowski's progressive views highlight an evolution of the once more conservative Civic Platform. Nawrocki, 42, represents how the party backing him, Law and Justice, is turning further to the right as support for the hard right grows. Nawrocki, who is not a Law and Justice party member, heads the state-backed Institute of National Remembrance, which investigates Nazi and communist-era crimes. He has drawn praise from conservatives for dismantling Soviet monuments and promoting patriotic education, but he faces criticism for inexperience and playing on anti-German and other resentments. He has also been embroiled in some scandals. Earlier this month, Nawrocki met with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House — a symbolic moment welcomed by Law and Justice-friendly media as proof that he would be the best man for keeping the relationship with the United States strong. Critics viewed it as interference by Trump's administration. This week Nawrocki was joined on the campaign trail by Romanian nationalist George Simion, who faces a runoff vote for the presidency on Sunday. Simion is viewed by critics as pro-Russian, leading Tusk to tweet: "Russia is pleased. Nawrocki and his pro-Russian Romanian counterpart George Simion on the same stage five days before the presidential elections in Poland and Romania. Everything is clear." ___ AP video reporter Rafał Niedzielski contributed to this report.
Associated Press News	2025-05-15 16:30:26+00:00	[ "Meta Platforms", "Inc.", "Donald Trump", "Alphabet", "Abortion", "Censorship", "Mexico", "Email and messaging", "United States government", "Mexico City", "Reproductive rights", "Womens rights", "Colombia", "Social media", "Software", "United States", "Health", "Technology", "Government policy", "Martha Dimitratou", "Mara Vivas", "Tatiana Martnez", "Araceli Lpez-Nava", "Marie Stopes" ]	# Abortion-rights groups denounce censorship on Meta-owned apps in Latin America and beyond By María Verza May 15th, 2025, 04:30 PM --- MEXICO CITY (AP) — All of a sudden, women contacting one of the biggest sources of information about abortion in Mexico through the encrypted messaging app WhatsApp were met with silence. The nongovernmental organization's business account had been blocked. Weeks later, a similar digital blackout struck a collective in Colombia. Across the Americas, organizations that guide women seeking abortions in various countries are raising alarm, decrying what they see as a new wave of censorship on platforms owned by tech giant Meta — even in countries where abortion is decriminalized. The organizations believe this is due to a combination of changes to Meta policies and attacks by anti-abortion groups that denounce their content. While this also occurs on Instagram and Facebook, the blocking of organizations' verified WhatsApp business accounts, which they use to communicate with people seeking help, has been particularly disruptive. These accounts are crucial for communicating with people seeking help, and their blockage has significantly complicated daily interactions between women and support providers. Meta usually attributes its content blocking to policy violations, though it has acknowledged occasional mistakes. Since January, Meta changed the way it moderates content, now relying on user-generated notes "to allow more speech and reduce enforcement mistakes." U.S. President Donald Trump has said the changes were "probably" made in response to his threats over what conservatives considered a liberal bias in fact-checking. Among the organizations whose WhatsApp business accounts were suspended is the MSI Foundation (part of MSI Reproductive Choices, formerly Marie Stopes) a network working in Mexico for 25 years. Its account was suspended in February, and the Colombian group Oriéntame, or Guide Me, which has worked in women's health in Colombia for decades, was labeled by Instagram as "dangerous." While conservatives cheered the change in Meta moderation policies, organizations helping women who seek abortions say that, even if they just apply in the U.S., they often result in over-enforcement, likely driven by Artificial Intelligence, which disproportionately flags or removes their posts — obstacles that have increased since the start of the Trump administration. "It is not always intentional censorship, but the outcome is still more censorship for us and our partners," said Martha Dimitratou, cofounder of Repro Uncensored, an organization that monitors digital suppression of reproductive health content. In additional comments on Thursday, Meta rejected any link between the groups' experiences and its policy changes. "Our policies and enforcement regarding abortion medication-related content have not changed recently and were not part of the content moderation changes," Meta said in a statement. ## 'Looks orchestrated' "From one day to the next they blocked communication between our users and women who need first-hand information" to address doubts or look for medical follow-up with MSI, said Araceli López-Nava, the organization's Latin America director. In the days after the suspension, appointments dropped 80% López Nava said that MSI had previously faced issues with regular WhatsApp numbers, because it's easy to file complaints. So, the organization thought it would be different with a business account, which gives them a platform to manage the thousands of messages they receive every month. That wasn't the case. After an initial suspension, MSI's WhatsApp business account was permanently suspended two weeks later. The reason cited in Meta's notification? "Sending spam." "The argument is that they've received complaints, but from whom?" López-Nava asked. She said the organization can't be accused of sending spam because they only answer those who contact them and provide information in line with Mexican law. Abortion is decriminalized in Mexico at the federal level and in the majority of its 32 states. "It looks like an orchestrated strategy to us," López-Nava said. "And not necessarily by Meta." ## Warnings before suspension Dimitratou, who is also digital strategist for Canada-based Women on Web and the U.S.-based Plan C, said cases of blocked content have increased since Trump's election, not only in the U.S., but around the world, likely driven by anti-abortion groups. Conservative or religious groups have a history of attempting to leverage technology companies to obstruct abortion supporters' efforts, but the anonymity of app reporting prevents organizations from proving who is behind it. That is why MSI and an ally NGO, Women's Link Worldwide, have asked Meta to implement transparent mechanisms to be able to appeal the company's decisions and to respect international human rights standards. They have not received a response. A Meta spokesperson told The Associated Press that MSI's WhatsApp business account was blocked for valid reasons, saying that organizations receiving numerous negative comments receive warnings before suspension. Meta declined to provide details about the nature of the negative comments or comment on whether they could be coordinated by anti-abortion groups aiming to paralyze MSI. The Instagram accounts of Women on Web United States and Women on Web Latin America were suspended right after the U.S. presidential election in November, though they were later reinstated. Dimitratou said that Meta has also limited the organization's ability to place ads on accounts in Latin America, South Korea and West Africa. Repro Uncensored has documented at least 60 instances of similar digital censorship since January. The most recent occurred this week, when Thailand's TamTang Group said that Facebook had accused them of violating rules on selling medicines simply for sharing information about free abortion pills provided by the Thai government. ## Health information vs. explicit content A 2025 report by the California-based Center for Intimacy Justice, based on a survey of 159 nonprofits worldwide, found that major tech platforms were removing ads and content related to abortion and other women's sexual and reproductive health issues like menopause. When asked about the report, Meta downplayed its findings, noting that it was based on a small number of examples. Tech companies often cite policies against explicit or inappropriate sexual content or the advertisement of unsafe substances, such as abortion pills, even though the World Health Organization has said they're safe. In April, months after Meta announced changes to ensure greater freedom of expression, Oriéntame, the Colombian collective that offers reproductive health services, posted on Instagram a drawing of a heart and the phrase "Abort without pain." The post was blocked with the explanation: "Dangerous people and organizations, photo removed." While Colombia legalized abortion in 2022, Oriéntame experienced censorship of at least 14 of their posts on Instagram in April 2025. That same month, their WhatsApp business account was suspended, said Tatiana Martínez, who manages their social media. Although the WhatsApp account was restored after a week, they worry it could happen again. A Meta spokesperson said this week that the Instagram posts were mistakenly taken down and not the result of a change in its content standards. ## A creative response Oriéntame director María Vivas says the organization has been battling Google for years over online content limitations. The tech giant said in a message to the AP that it only restricts content when it violates policies. But Google keeps Colombia on the list of countries with restrictions on abortion ads — even though abortion was decriminalized there in 2022. As for their problems with Meta, Vivas said they started in late 2024, when the company started to make some data management adjustments. Taking legal action against tech giants, when each country has its own laws, is complicated. As a result, affected organizations have turned to creative strategies, like operating multiple backup accounts, having a substitute ready when one is blocked and reformulating language in posts to avoid censorship triggers. "It feels like Meta is our boss," Vivas joked about the ongoing struggle with the tech giant over the basic right to provide health information. "We live to respond to Meta, to adapt ourselves to Meta," she said. "That's absurd." ____ AP journalist Maria Cheng contributed to this report from New York. ____ Follow AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Associated Press News	2025-05-15 05:21:00+00:00	[ "Crime", "Capital punishment", "Matthew Lee Johnson", "Ohio", "South Carolina", "Legal proceedings", "John Fitzgerald", "Donald Trump", "Oklahoma", "Alabama", "Bill Lee", "Richard Gerald Jordan", "Benjamin Ritchie", "Kareem Jackson", "Tennessee", "Homicide", "Oscar Smith", "Bill Toney", "Henry Turner", "Karen Pulley", "Mike DeWine", "Karen Lane", "Anthony Wainwright", "Stephen Stanko", "Harold Nichols", "Mikal Mahdi", "Gregory Hunt", "Timothy Coleman", "Tennessee state government", "Carmen Gayheart", "Nancy Harris" ]	# Status of US executions in 2025 By Adrian Sainz May 15th, 2025, 05:21 AM --- Eighteen men have died by court-ordered execution so far this year in the U.S., and 10 other people are scheduled to be put to death in seven states during the remainder of 2025. Matthew Lee Johnson was executed by lethal injection on Tuesday evening. Benjamin Ritchie died of the same method hours earlier in the day in Indiana. A Tennessee man is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Thursday. Other states with scheduled executions this year are Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma and South Carolina, though Ohio's governor has been routinely postponing the actions as their dates near. So far this year, executions have been carried out in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas. A look at the recent executions and those scheduled for the rest of the year, by state: ## Texas Johnson was executed 13 years to the day of a May 20, 2012, attack on 76-year-old Nancy Harris, a great-grandmother and convenience store clerk who was splashed with lighter fluid and set on fire during a robbery in Garland, a northeast suburb of Dallas. Badly burned, she died days afterward. At trial, Johnson admitted to the attack and expressed remorse. ## Indiana Ritchie was executed Tuesday for the fatal shooting of Beech Grove Police Officer Bill Toney in September 2000. According to court records, Ritchie jumped out of a stolen van after a police pursuit. Toney was chasing him when Ritchie turned and shot him four times. A jury convicted Ritchie of murder and other offenses in 2002. Ritchie unsuccessfully challenged the convictions at the state and federal level. His latest motion asked permission to raise arguments that his attorney was ineffective because the lawyer failed to investigate whether Ritchie suffered from fetal alcohol spectrum disorders as well as childhood lead exposure. ## Tennessee Tennessee's Supreme Court has set execution dates for three inmates this year. Oscar Smith, 75, is scheduled to be executed on May 22. Smith was convicted of fatally stabbing and shooting his estranged wife and her teenage sons at their Nashville home in 1989. Smith was within minutes of being executed in 2022 when Gov. Bill Lee issued a sudden reprieve. Smith's attorney had requested the results of required purity and potency tests for the lethal injection drugs that were to be used on him. It turned out that a test was never done. An independent review later found that none of the drugs prepared for the seven inmates executed in Tennessee since 2018 had been fully tested. The Tennessee Department of Correction issued a new execution protocol in late December that will utilize the single drug pentobarbital. Byron Black, 69, is scheduled to be executed on Aug. 5. Black was convicted in 1989 of three counts of first-degree murder for the shooting deaths of his girlfriend, Angela Clay, and her two daughters. Harold Nichols, 64, is scheduled to be executed on Dec. 11. Nichols was convicted of rape and first-degree felony murder in the 1988 death of Karen Pulley in Hamilton County. ## Florida Anthony Wainwright, 54, is scheduled to die by lethal injection on June 10 for the kidnapping, rape and murder of Carmen Gayheart in 1994. Gayheart was abducted from a grocery store parking lot in Lake City, Florida. ## Alabama Gregory Hunt, 65, is scheduled to die by nitrogen gas on June 10 for the 1988 beating death of Karen Lane. She was found dead in an apartment in Cordova that she shared with another woman. Hunt had been dating Lane for about one month before her death, according to court records. Alabama last year became the first state to carry out an execution with nitrogen gas. Nitrogen has now been used in five executions — four in Alabama and one in Louisiana. The method involves using a gas mask to force a person to breathe pure nitrogen gas, depriving them of the oxygen needed to stay alive. ## Oklahoma John Fitzgerald Hanson, 61, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on June 12. An Oklahoma board has denied clemency for Hanson, who was convicted of killing a Tulsa woman in 1999. Hanson was transferred to Oklahoma custody in March by federal officials following through on President Donald Trump's sweeping executive order to more actively support the death penalty. ## South Carolina Stephen Stanko is scheduled to be executed June 13 for killing his 74-year-old friend Henry Turner in April 2006. Stanko, 57, is also on death row for killing a woman he was living with and raping her teenage daughter. Stanko will get to decide if he dies by firing squad, lethal injection or the electric chair. The deadline for his decision is May 30. Stanko is the first person whose death has been scheduled in South Carolina's since Mikal Mahdi was executed by firing squad on April 11. Mahdi's lawyers released autopsy results that show the shots that killed him barely hit his heart and suggested he was in agonizing pain for three or four times longer than experts say he would have been if his heart had been hit directly. Stanko's execution would be the 23rd to take place in 2025, if the previously scheduled executions take place as planned. All of 2024 saw 25 executions, matching the number for 2018. Those were the highest totals since 28 executions in 2015. ## Mississippi Mississippi's longest-serving death row inmate is set to be executed on June 25. Richard Gerald Jordan, 78, was sentenced to death in 1976 for kidnapping and killing a woman. Jordan has filed multiple death sentence appeals, the most recent of which was denied in October. Mississippi Supreme Court records show Jordan kidnapped Edwina Marter and shot her to death in a forest in Harrison County. He then called her husband, falsely claimed she was safe and asked for $25,000. Mississippi law allows death sentences to be carried out using lethal injection, nitrogen gas, electrocution or firing squad. ## Ohio Ohio has two executions set for later this year, with Timothy Coleman scheduled to die on Oct. 30 and Kareem Jackson scheduled to be executed on Dec. 10. However, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine has been routinely postponing the actions as their dates approach. He did so in February, when he postponed into 2028 three executions scheduled for June, July and August of this year. DeWine has said publicly that he does not anticipate any further executions will happen on his watch as governor, which runs through 2026.
Associated Press News	2025-05-17 13:51:29+00:00	[ "New Jersey", "Strikes", "New York City", "Transportation", "Kris Kolluri", "Phil Murphy", "New Jersey Transit", "New York City Wire", "Bill Craven", "Business" ]	# Talks aimed at ending New Jersey Transit rail strike resumed Saturday and will continue Sunday By Mike Catalini May 17th, 2025, 01:51 PM --- Talks aimed at settling a strike between train engineers and New Jersey's huge commuter railroad resumed Saturday and are set to continue Sunday, New Jersey Transit CEO Kris Kolluri said. The locomotive engineers' strike began Friday at the rail system with 100,000 daily riders and left commuters either working from home or searching for other ways to travel across the state or over the Hudson River to New York City. Kolluri spoke Saturday at Newark's Broad Street Station, saying the agency is preparing for the workweek commute by "surging" buses to help commuters at train stations. But he cautioned that the buses can't handle the entire volume of the commuter rail system. Kolluri said he and Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen President Mark Wallace spoke and agreed to meet Saturday. It had been uncertain whether the two sides would meet ahead of a National Mediation Board meeting already set for Sunday. Late Saturday afternoon, Kolluri said in a statement that the talks were constructive and had ended for the day. "Today's discussions continued to be constructive. We've mutually agreed to adjourn formal discussions for the day but will continue talking and look forward to resuming discussions tomorrow," Kolluri said. Wallace said he had hopes for a deal with the resumption of negotiations, which had ended shortly before the strike Thursday night. "If we come out together, we'll have a deal," Wallace said. NJ Transit has a train yard, just over the Delaware River from Trenton in the suburban Philadelphia town of Morrisville. Picketers in red shirts that said "United We Bargain Divided We Beg" carried signs and blared music not far from the yard there on Saturday. Bill Craven, a 25-year veteran engineer, described the mood among union members positively. He said they usually don't get to congregate because they are typically passing each other on the rails at 100 mph. "Most of us would much rather be running trains. That's what we do for a living. We don't want to disrupt our lives, other people's lives, but it comes to a point where we haven't had a raise in six years," he said. The walkout comes after the latest round of negotiations on Thursday didn't produce an agreement. It is the state's first transit strike in more than 40 years and comes a month after union members overwhelmingly rejected a labor agreement with management. Wallace walked the picket line Friday outside New York City's Penn Station. He said the engineers are committed to staying on strike until they get a fair deal. Union members were nearly unanimous in authorizing a strike last summer, and 87% of them rejected the latest agreement. Wallace said NJ Transit needs to pay engineers a wage that is comparable to Amtrak and Long Island Railroad because engineers are leaving for jobs on those other railroads for better pay, The union has seen steady attrition in its ranks at NJ Transit as more members leave to take better-paying jobs at other railroads. The number of NJ Transit engineers has shrunk from 500 several months ago to about 400. The engineers are responsible for operating trains, ensuring safe and smooth transport between stations, New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy said Friday that it is important to "reach a final deal that is both fair to employees and at the same time affordable to New Jersey's commuters and taxpayers." NJ Transit is the nation's third-largest transit system and operates buses and rail in the state, providing nearly 1 million weekday trips, including into New York City. The walkout halts all NJ Transit commuter trains, which provide heavily used public transit routes between Penn Station on one side of the Hudson River and communities in northern New Jersey on the other, as well as the Newark airport, which has grappled with unrelated delays of its own recently. ___ This story has been updated to correct that New Jersey Transit's daily train ridership is 100,000, not 350,000.
Associated Press News	2025-05-20 04:51:09+00:00	[ "Taiwan", "Vehicle ramming attacks", "Automotive accidents", "Accidents", "Taiwan government" ]	# A car runs a red light and kills 3 people in Taiwan, including two 12-year-old girls May 20th, 2025, 04:51 AM --- TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A stream of people in Taiwan left flowers and bags of snacks on Tuesday near the intersection where a driver plowed through pedestrians the previous day, killing three people including two 12-year-old girls. The crash, which left the 78-year-old driver in a coma, saddened many on this self-governing island of 23 million people off China's east coast. A video posted on X by Taiwan's Central News Agency showed people praying and bowing their heads in front of rows of colorful flowers and bags of snacks. Taiwanese often place snacks as offerings, sometimes those that were the favorites of the deceased. A small group of family members waved pieces of clothing — a small blouse and what appeared to be a T-shirt — in a ritual meant to help the souls of the deceased find their way home. President Lai Ching-te, who visited injured victims in the hospital on Monday night, opened a major policy speech by offering his "deepest condolences" to the families of the deceased. He said the government would work as quickly as possible to determine the cause of the accident and assess ways to prevent such accidents in the future. Police said the driver sped through the intersection when the traffic lights were red in all directions, the Central News Agency reported. The accident happened in New Taipei, the sprawling area in northern Taiwan that surrounds Taipei, the capital. The rapidly moving car sideswiped three scooters and a bicycle at the intersection and then hit schoolchildren and their guardians crossing the street late Monday afternoon, the news agency said. The vehicle kept going straight, hitting another person before slamming into a concrete divider when it reached a T-intersection at the end of the street. An earlier video posted by the news agency showed debris strewn in the intersection and people giving CPR to two victims, one behind a red scooter lying on its side. A 40-year-old woman died along with the two students from a nearby junior high school. Twelve other people were injured. They included seven students from the same school and a 5-year-old boy, who was slightly injured, according to statements from the New Taipei government and fire department. Five people were seriously injured, including the driver. He tested negative for alcohol consumption, the Central News Agency said, citing police. The cause of the crash was under investigation.
Associated Press News	2025-05-14 13:59:35+00:00	[ "Niger", "Ibrahim Manzo", "Legal proceedings", "Business", "Politics" ]	# A French mining company sues Niger after its director disappears and offices are raided By Monika Pronczuk and Baba Ahmed May 14th, 2025, 01:59 PM --- DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — French uranium mining company Orano has sued the government of Niger after the disappearance of its director and the raiding of its local offices, as military authorities in the west African country tighten their grip on foreign companies and civil society. "Orano deplores this intervention, for which no legal basis nor reason has been offered," Orano said in a statement late Tuesday, accusing authorities of arbitrary arrest, illegal detention and "unjust confiscation of the property of Nigerien companies, subsidiaries of Orano and the State of Niger itself." The company's director was reportedly detained earlier this month. The company says the raids in Niamey, the capital, seized staff's electronic devices and cellphones. Niger's military authorities did not respond to a request for comment. Orano has been operating in Niger, the world's seventh biggest supplier of uranium, for over 50 years, and holds majority shares in three main uranium mines in Niger. Only one of the mines, near the town of Arlit, is currently operational. Last year military authorities withdrew the company's operating permit for the Imouraren uranium mine, with reserves estimated at 200,000 tons. The authorities also took operational control of Orano's subsidiary, Somaïr, which operates the only active mine. The military authorities seized power in 2023 with a pledge to cut ties with the West and review mining concessions. Before that, Niger was the West's major economic and security partner in the Sahel, the vast region south of the Sahara Desert that has been a hot spot for violent extremism. Also Wednesday, the founder and director of the private Sahara FM radio station, Ibrahim Manzo, said that authorities had arrested three of its staff members in the central city of Agadez and accused them of spreading fake news. Although Niger's transitional authorities recently released political prisoners in an attempt to calm the political climate, such arrests continue.
Associated Press News	2025-05-17 05:27:07+00:00	[ "Syria", "Baghdad", "Mahmoud Abbas", "Donald Trump", "Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi", "Qatar", "Iraq", "Benjamin Netanyahu", "Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani", "Edan Alexander", "Antonio Guterres", "2024-2025 Mideast Wars", "War and unrest", "International agreements", "Hamas", "Israel-Hamas war", "Political endorsements", "Politics", "Egypt government", "Esmail Ghaani", "Business", "Iraq government", "Bashar Assad", "Race and ethnicity", "Islam", "Foreign aid", "Israel government", "Fouad Hussein", "Spain government", "United Nations", "Arab League", "Pedro Sanchez", "Mohammed Shia al-Sudani", "Iran government", "Ahmad al-Sharaa" ]	# Arab leaders promise to work on reconstruction of Gaza and press for a ceasefire By Qassim Abdul-Zahra May 17th, 2025, 05:27 AM --- BAGHDAD (AP) — Arab leaders at an annual summit in Baghdad called Saturday for an immediate end to Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip and to allow aid into the Palestinian territories without conditions. They promised to contribute to the reconstruction of the territory once the war stops. In March, an emergency Arab League summit in Cairo endorsed a plan for Gaza's reconstruction without displacing its roughly 2 million residents. Saturday's summit was attended by Arab leaders including Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Siss i. The Egyptian leader said that even if Israel succeeds in normalizing relations with all Arab states, "a lasting, just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East will remain elusive unless a Palestinian state is established in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions." Egypt was the first Arab country to normalize ties with Israel. Among the guests were Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, who called for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza and the flow of aid into the besieged territory. He said that the U.N. rejects any "forced displacement" of Palestinians. Saturday's summit comes two months after Israel ended a ceasefire reached with the Hamas militant group in January. In recent days, Israel has launched widespread attacks in Gaza and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed a further escalation to pursue his aim of destroying Hamas. "This genocide has reached levels of ugliness not seen in all conflicts throughout history," Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in a speech that called for allowing aid to flow into Gaza. Al-Sudani added that Iraq will work on setting up an Arab fund for the reconstruction of the region in which Baghdad will pay $20 million for Gaza and a similar amount for Lebanon. ## Final statement calls for end to Israeli attacks in Gaza "We demand an immediate end to the Israeli aggression on Gaza and an end to hostilities that are increasing the suffering of innocent civilians," said the final statement issued after the summit that was read by Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein. "Humanitarian aid should be allowed into all areas in Palestine without conditions." The leaders said they reject any attempt to displace Palestinians in Gaza saying that any such move would be "a crime against humanity and (an act of) ethnic cleansing." The statement said Arab leaders support Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' call for the holding of an international peace conference that leads to a two-state solution. El-Sissi said that Egypt, in coordination with Qatar and the U.S., is "exerting intense efforts to reach a ceasefire" in Gaza, adding that the efforts led to the release of Israel-American hostage Edan Alexander. He said that Egypt plans to hold an international conference for the reconstruction of Gaza "once the aggression stops." ## Abbas calls for Hamas to give up power in Gaza Abbas, the Palestinian president, called on Hamas to abandon power in Gaza and along with other militant groups to hand over weapons to the Palestinian Authority. Hamas seized control of Gaza from Abbas' Western-backed Palestinian Authority in 2007, and reconciliation attempts between the rivals have repeatedly failed. The Baghdad meeting was upstaged by U.S. President Donald Trump's tour in the region earlier in the week. Trump's visit did not usher in a deal for a new ceasefire in Gaza as many had hoped, but he grabbed headlines by meeting with new Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa — who had once fought against U.S. forces in Iraq — and promising to remove U.S. sanctions imposed on Syria. Al-Sharaa did not attend the summit in Baghdad, where Syria's delegation was headed by Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani. Iraqi Shiite militias and political factions are wary of al-Sharaa's past as a Sunni militant and had pushed back against his invitation to the summit. During Syria's conflict that began in March 2011, several Iraqi Shiite militias fought alongside the forces of former Syrian President Bashar Assad, making al-Sharaa today a particularly sensitive figure for them. ## Arab leaders back Syrian unity The statement issued after the summit said Arab leaders back Syria's unity and reject foreign intervention in the country. They condemned Israel's airstrikes and land incursions into Syria over the past months. They praised Trump's plans to lift the sanctions imposed on Syria and the easing of European sanctions recently saying that would "speed up recovery and the reconstruction process" in the war-torn country. An Iraqi official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media, said that Iran's Quds Force commander Esmail Ghaani paid a visit to Baghdad prior to the summit and "conveyed messages of support for the Iranian-American negotiations" to reach a nuclear deal and lifting of crippling sanctions on Iran. ___ Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.
Associated Press News	2025-05-05 22:44:22+00:00	[ "Donald Trump", "Kansas", "Abortion", "Joe Biden", "Idaho", "Robert F. Kennedy Jr.", "Lawsuits", "Supreme Court of the United States", "Legal proceedings", "U.S. Food and Drug Administration", "Government and politics", "Daniel Schwei", "U.S. Department of Justice", "Health", "Matthew Kacsmaryk", "United States government", "Politics" ]	# Trump administration asks judge to toss suit restricting abortion medication By Lindsay Whitehurst and Rebecca Boone May 5th, 2025, 10:44 PM --- WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has asked a judge to toss out a lawsuit from three Republican-led states seeking to cut off telehealth access to the abortion medication mifepristone. Justice Department attorneys on Monday stayed the legal course charted by the Biden administration, though they didn't directly weigh in on the underlying issue of access to the drug, which is part of the nation's most common method of abortion. Rather, the government argued the states don't have the legal right, or standing, to sue. "The states are free to pursue their claims in a district where venue is proper, but the states' claims before this court must be dismissed or transferred pursuant to the venue statute's mandatory command," federal government attorneys wrote. The lawsuit from Idaho, Kansas and Missouri argues that the Food and Drug Administration should roll back access to mifepristone. They filed their complaint after the Supreme Court preserved access to mifepristone last year. They want the FDA to prohibit telehealth prescriptions for mifepristone, require three in-office visits and restrict the point in a pregnancy when it can be used. The case is being considered in Texas by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump nominee who once ruled in favor of halting approval for the drug. Kacsmaryk's original ruling came in a lawsuit filed by anti-abortion groups. It was narrowed by an appeals court before being tossed out by the Supreme Court, which found the plaintiffs lacked the legal right to sue. The three states later moved to revive the case, arguing they did have legal standing because access to the drug undermined their abortion laws. But the Department of Justice attorneys said the states can't just piggyback on the earlier lawsuit as a way to keep the case in Texas. Nothing is stopping the states from filing the lawsuit someplace else, attorney Daniel Schwei wrote, but the venue has to have some connection to the claims being made. Besides, Schwei wrote, the states are challenging actions the FDA took in 2016, when it first loosened restrictions on mifeprostone. That's well past the six-year time limit to sue, he said. Abortion is banned at all stages of pregnancy in Idaho. Missouri had a strict ban, but clinics recently began offering abortions again after voters approved a new constitutional amendment for reproductive rights. Abortion is generally legal up to 22 weeks in Kansas, where voters rejected an anti-abortion ballot measure in 2022, though the state does have age restrictions. Trump told Time magazine in December he would not restrict access to abortion medication. On the campaign trail, the Republican said abortion is an issue for the states and stressed that he appointed justices to the Supreme Court who were in the majority when striking down the national right to abortion in 2022. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s stance on abortion seems to have shifted at times, drawing criticism from both abortion rights advocates and anti-abortion forces. During his first confirmation hearing in January, he repeatedly said, "I have always believed abortion is a tragedy," when pressed about his views. Mifepristone is usually used in combination with a second drug for medication abortion, which has accounted for more than three-fifths of all abortions in the U.S. since the Supreme Court's ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.
Associated Press News	2025-05-15 11:32:10+00:00	[ "Rwanda", "Democratic Republic of the Congo government", "Kidnapping", "Military and defense", "Rebellions and uprisings", "Democratic Republic of the Congo", "Sexual assault" ]	# Rwanda's army and its rebel group ally have killed dozens and abducted thousands, Congo says By Justin Kabumba and Mark Banchereau May 15th, 2025, 11:32 AM --- GOMA, Congo (AP) — Congolese authorities have accused Rwanda's army and the M23 rebel group it backs of murdering dozens, kidnapping thousands more and committing rape, torture and looting in the war-torn country's east. The alleged crimes were committed between May 10 and 13 against civilians accused by the rebels of belonging to the Congolese army and its allied militias, Congo's interior ministry said in a statement Wednesday. "The toll includes 107 murders, more than 4,000 men and boys abducted and forcibly loaded onto trucks to an unknown destination, hundreds of cases of summary executions, rape, torture, looting, restrictions on freedom of movement, as well as incursions into health facilities," the statement read. The Associated Press has not been able to independently verify the reports. Spokespersons for Rwanda's military and the M23 rebels did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The decades-long conflict in eastern Congo escalated in January, when the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels seized the strategic city of Goma, followed by the takeover of the city of Bukavu in February. The fighting has killed some 3,000 people and raised fears of a wider regional war. Congo's accusation comes days after M23 presented hundreds of captured men at a stadium in Goma. The group said the captives were Congolese army or members of its allied militias whom Congo armed to foment conflict in order to blame it on M23. M23 rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to U.N. experts, and at times have vowed to march as far as Congo's capital, Kinshasa, about 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) to the west. The fighting in Congo is linked to Rwanda's decadeslong ethnic conflict. M23 says it is defending ethnic Tutsis in Congo. Rwanda has claimed the Tutsis are being persecuted by Hutus and former militias responsible for the 1994 genocide of 800,000 Tutsis and others in Rwanda. Many Hutus fled to Congo after the genocide and founded the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda militia group. Rwanda says the militia group is "fully integrated" into the Congolese military, which denies it. ————- Banchereau reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writer Jean-Yves Kamale contributed from Kinshasa, Congo.
Associated Press News	2025-05-13 04:02:07+00:00	[ "Sean Diddy Combs", "Crime", "New York City Wire", "Mary J. Blige", "Alex Fine", "Los Angeles", "Sex and sexuality", "Usher", "Emily Johnson", "Human trafficking", "Entertainment", "Sexual misconduct", "Sexual assault" ]	# Sean 'Diddy' Combs' ex-girlfriend Cassie testifies at his trial about abuse and 'freak offs' By Michael R. Sisak and Larry Neumeister May 13th, 2025, 04:02 AM --- NEW YORK (AP) — Cassie, the R&B singer and former girlfriend of Sean "Diddy" Combs, testified Tuesday that the mercurial music mogul — powerful, abusive and controlling — beat her mercilessly and ordered her to have "disgusting" sex with strangers during drug-fueled, multi-day marathons he called "freak offs." Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, sniffled and dabbed her eyes with a tissue, sighed heavily and paused to compose herself through about five hours of testimony at Combs' sex trafficking trial. In humiliating detail, she recounted a turbulent 10-year relationship with Combs that she said was consumed by violence and his obsession with a form of voyeurism where "he was controlling the whole situation." That included directing her encounters with male sex workers right down to the copious amounts of baby oil she applied to maintain the "glistening" look he desired. The "Me & U" singer told jurors that his demands for her to engage in sometimes-revolting sex acts — sometimes as he watched from another room via FaceTime — left her feeling "heavily objectified." But, she said, she endured them because she was in love with Combs. At the same time, Cassie said, Combs controlled every aspect of her life, from her career to her living arrangements, and she didn't feel like she could tell him "no." When she did try to leave, she said, Combs punished her — most notably in a 2016 assault captured on a security camera at a Los Angeles hotel. In the video, played in court for a fifth time, Combs is seen hitting, kicking and attempting to drag her back to their room. After the footage was leaked last year, Combs apologized. Asked how many other times Combs had knocked her to the ground, Cassie replied: "Too many to count." Due to give birth soon to her third child, Cassie occasionally rested her hands on her pregnant belly as she testified. Her supporters in the courtroom included her husband, Alex Fine. She is scheduled to return to the witness stand Wednesday. After prosecutors are done questioning her, Combs' lawyers will get their turn. Prosecutors allege the three-time Grammy winner used his fame and fortune to orchestrate a deviant empire of exploitation, coercing women into abusive sex parties. His lawyers argue that, although he could be violent, he never veered into sex trafficking and racketeering. They contend all sexual acts were consensual. Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty. He interacted with his lawyers but remained largely stoic as Cassie testified. During a break, he made a heart shape with his hands and mouthed "thank you" to one of his twin daughters. He also blew a kiss to his mother. Jailed since his arrest last September, he could get at least 15 years and up to life in prison if convicted. ## Cassie testifies about violence and abuse Cassie sued Combs in 2023 alleging years of abuse. He settled within hours, but dozens of similar lawsuits followed. Cassie testified Tuesday that she met Combs in 2005, when she was 19 and he was 37. Combs signed her to a 10-year contract with his Bad Boy Records label. Within a few years, they started dating, Cassie said. Her 2006 single, "Me & U," reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart and was the signature song on her first studio album. She was working on a follow up, but Combs "chose what was next for me" and didn't release any others, she said. Cassie told jurors she was "sexually inexperienced" when she met Combs and that he introduced her to various sex acts before asking her to engaged in her first "freak off" when she was barely 22. Cassie said she was "confused, nervous, but also loved him very much" and "wanted to make him happy." Cassie, now 38, said her relationship with Combs ran the gamut from good times to arguments and physical altercations. She said the abuse happened "too frequently" and sometimes came after the smallest perceived slights. Cassie said Combs ordered her to recruit male sex workers for "freak offs" and that he would pay them thousands of dollars to have sex with her. The encounters, fueled by ecstasy and other drugs, would go on for 36 or 48 hours, and she said the longest lasted four days. They took place in private, often in dark hotel rooms, unlike Combs' very public White Parties in the Hamptons that attracted A-list celebrities. ## Cassie felt she couldn't refuse Combs' demands Cassie said her first "freak off" occurred in Combs' Los Angeles home with a male stripper from Las Vegas. She told jurors she felt dirty and confused afterward, but also relieved that Combs was happy. Still, she said she felt obligated to go along with future "freak offs." "I just didn't want to make him upset," she said. "I just didn't want to make him angry and regret telling me about this experience that was so personal." Cassie began crying when asked if she liked any aspect of the "freak offs." She said she enjoyed "time spent with him." She said she used drugs at every "freak off" to numb herself during "emotionless sex with a stranger that I didn't really want to have sex with." The Associated Press doesn't generally identify people who say they are victims of sexual abuse unless they come forward publicly, as Cassie has done. ## 'Freak offs' became a 'job' Soon, she said, she was doing "freak offs" weekly. They went on for a decade, with the final one in 2017 or 2018, she said. Each time, she said, she had to recuperate from lack of sleep, alcohol, drugs and "having sex with a stranger for days." She described the situation as: "'Freak offs' became a job where there was no space to do anything else but to recover and just try to feel normal again." During her opening statement, prosecutor Emily Johnson told the jury that Cassie was not the only woman Combs beat and sexually exploited. Combs was among the most influential hip-hop producers and executives of the past three decades, working with artists including Notorious B.I.G., Mary J. Blige and Usher. He also created the fashion clothing line Sean John and produced the reality show "Making the Band." ___ Associated Press writer Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.
Associated Press News	2025-05-08 18:35:09+00:00	[ "Wisconsin", "Mark Pocan", "Tony Evers", "Courts", "U.S. Republican Party", "Wisconsin state government", "U.S. Democratic Party", "Bryan Steil", "Politics", "Susan Crawford", "Brian Schimming", "Liberalism", "Redistricting", "Voting" ]	# Democrats ask Wisconsin Supreme Court to toss state's congressional boundaries By Scott Bauer May 8th, 2025, 06:35 PM --- MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democratic voters on Thursday asked the liberal-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court to throw out the battleground state's current congressional district boundaries after a similar request was rejected last year. Republicans currently hold six of the state's eight U.S. House seats — but only two of those districts are considered competitive. The petition seeks to have the state's congressional district lines redrawn ahead of the 2026 midterms. Filed on Wednesday and made public Thursday, the petition comes from the Elias Law Group, which represents Democratic groups and candidates and also filed last year's request. The new petition argues that the court's decision to redraw maps for state legislative districts a couple years ago has opened the door to revisiting maps for U.S. House districts. The petition asks for the Wisconsin Supreme Court to take the case directly, skipping lower courts. The chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party, Brian Schimming, called the lawsuit "a desperate attempt by far-left Democrats who have shown time and time again that they can't win without rigged maps." But Wisconsin Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan, who criticized the state Supreme Court for not hearing the lawsuit last year, praised the new effort. "The residents of Wisconsin deserve fair maps," Pocan said in a text message. "Hopefully this will provide that." The court is controlled 4-3 by liberal justices. Democratic-backed candidate Susan Crawford won an April election to ensure the court will remain under a 4-3 liberal majority until at least 2028. Redistricting was an issue in that race after Crawford spoke at a virtual event billed as a "chance to put two more House seats in play," a move that Republicans said shows that Crawford is committed to redrawing congressional districts to benefit Democrats. Crawford denied those allegations. The court in 2023 ordered new maps for the state Legislature, saying the Republican-drawn ones were unconstitutional. The GOP-controlled Legislature, out of fear that the court would order maps even more unfavorable to Republicans, passed ones drawn by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. Democrats made gains in the state Legislature in the November election and are hoping to take majority control in 2026. When ordering the state legislative maps redrawn, the Wisconsin Supreme Court said the earlier conservative-controlled court was wrong in 2021 to say that maps drawn that year should have as little change as possible from the maps that were in place at the time. The latest lawsuit argues that decision warranted replacing the congressional district maps that were drawn under the "least change" requirement. In 2010, the year before Republicans redrew the congressional maps, Democrats held five seats compared with three for Republicans. Democrats are eyeing two congressional seats for possible flipping in 2026. Western Wisconsin's 3rd District is represented by Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, who won an open seat in 2022 after longtime Democratic Rep. Ron Kind retired, and won reelection in 2024. Southeastern Wisconsin's 1st District, held by Republican Rep. Bryan Steil since 2019, was made more competitive under the latest maps but still favors Republicans. The current congressional maps in Wisconsin, drawn by Evers, were approved by the state Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court in March 2022 declined to block them from taking effect.
Associated Press News	2025-05-07 20:07:40+00:00	[ "Joe Biden", "Donald Trump", "Electric vehicles", "Elon Musk", "United States government", "California", "Lawsuits", "Government programs", "Sacramento", "Climate change", "United States", "New York City Wire", "Business", "Climate and environment", "Rob Bonta", "Politics", "Technology", "Climate" ]	# California, Colorado and other states sue Trump for blocking EV funding By Sophie Austin and Alexa St. John May 7th, 2025, 08:07 PM --- SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Seventeen states are suing President Donald Trump 's administration for withholding billions of dollars for building more electric vehicle chargers, according to a federal lawsuit announced Wednesday. The Trump administration in February directed states to stop spending money for electric vehicle charging infrastructure that was allocated under President Joe Biden — part of a broader push by the Republican president to roll back environmental policies advanced by his Democratic predecessor. The EV charger program was set to allocate $5 billion over five years to various states, of which an estimated $3.3 billion had already been made available. The lawsuit is led by attorneys general from California, Colorado and Washington, and challenges the Federal Highway Administration's authority to halt the funding. They argue Congress, which approved the money in 2021 as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, holds that authority. "These funds were going to be used to shape the future of transportation," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said, calling it "short-sighted" of Trump to revoke the funds. "We won't sit back while the Trump administration violates the law," Bonta, a Democrat, said. The U.S. Department of Transportation did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit. EVs stood at about 8% of new car sales in the U.S. last year, according to Motorintelligence.com, a sign the market is growing — although the pace has slowed as the auto industry tries to convince mainstream buyers about going electric. The program was meant to assuage some concerns and build infrastructure along highway corridors first, then address gaps elsewhere once the state highway obligations were met. Some states with projects running under the program have already been reimbursed by the Biden-era federal funds. Others are still contracting for their sites. Still more had halted their plans by the time the Trump administration ordered states to stop their spending. Regardless, getting these chargers installed and operating has been a slow process with contracting challenges, permitting delays and complex electrical upgrades. It was expected that states would fight against the federal government's efforts to slow the nation's electric vehicle charger buildout. New York, for example, which is part of the suit, has been awarded over $175 million in federal funds from the program, and state officials say $120 million is currently being withheld by the Trump administration. Even the electric carmaker Tesla, run by Elon Musk, who has spearheaded Trump's Department of Government Efficiency efforts to cut federal spending, benefited greatly from funding under the program, receiving millions of dollars to expand its already-massive footprint of chargers in the U.S. Despite threats to the program, experts have said they expect the nation's EV charging buildout to continue as automakers look to make good on massive electrification ambitions. Consumers thinking about buying an EV often cite concerns about the availability of charging infrastructure. It's a hurdle for people living in multifamily dwellings and in rural areas, or what are otherwise known as "charging deserts." It's also a problem for people who can't find a place to charge their vehicle near their work, or who often drive longer highway routes. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California said withholding the funds was illegal and would kill thousands of U.S. jobs, ceding them to China. "Instead of hawking Teslas on the White House lawn, President Trump could actually help Elon — and the nation — by following the law and releasing this bipartisan funding," Newsom said, referencing Trump's recent purchase of a Tesla in a show of support for Musk. The Trump administration's effort to withdraw funding for electric vehicle chargers is part of a broader push to roll back environmental policies advanced under Biden. During Trump's first week back in office, he signed executive orders to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement again, reverse a 2030 target for electric vehicles to make up half of new cars sold, and end environmental justice efforts. At the same time, federal agencies under Trump have rolled back key rules and regulations and supported the build-out of the fossil fuel industry. The U.S. House also advanced proposals last week aimed at blocking California from enforcing vehicle-emission rules, including a ban on the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035. The Senate parliamentarian says the California policies are not subject to the review mechanism used by the House. ___ St. John reported from Detroit. ___ Austin is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on X: @sophieadanna
Associated Press News	2025-05-09 18:15:28+00:00	[ "Colombia", "Amazon River", "Colombia government", "Climate and environment", "Ins Luna Maira", "Julia Urrunaga", "Indigenous people", "Associated Press", "Philanthropy", "Government and politics", "Mayu Velasco Anderson", "Government budgets", "Activism", "Patricia Surez", "Peru government", "Climate", "Politics" ]	# Colombia takes regional lead in Indigenous self-government, raising hopes for Amazon protection By Steven Grattan May 9th, 2025, 06:15 PM --- Colombia this week took a leading position in Latin America for Indigenous rights and forest protection by formalizing Indigenous local governments across swaths of the Amazon, raising hopes that other countries in the region will follow its lead. Activists say Monday's decision gives Indigenous communities not just land titles, but actual self-governing authority — complete with public budgets and administrative power. The process, underway since 2018, now has a legal framework enabling Indigenous councils to function as official local governments. "This puts Colombia in the lead when it comes to recognizing Indigenous rights — not just to land, but to identity, autonomy, and decision-making over their own development," said Mayu Velasco Anderson, head of the Peru and Colombia program at nongovernmental organization Rainforest Foundation Norway. Patricia Suárez, Indigenous leader and adviser to the National Organization of Indigenous Peoples of the Colombian Amazon, called the presidential decree "historic." "We have been seeking recognition of our autonomy and self-determination as Indigenous Territorial Entities for over 30 years," Suárez said. "This progress is a milestone in the consolidation of the rights of Indigenous Peoples as autonomous governments." In contrast, other Latin American countries typically only grant land titles. Brazil, for example, has extensive Indigenous territories that frequently intersect multiple municipalities, forcing communities to navigate conflicting public systems and undermining their self-governance. "In Brazil, even demarcated and regularized Indigenous lands fall under the administrative boundaries of states and municipalities, and communities depend on these governments to access public policies," said Inés Luna Maira, head of institutional partnerships at Rainforest Foundation Norway. "They have to deal with a patchwork of public systems and elected officials that don't reflect Indigenous governance." Suriname, home to some of the most intact forests and Indigenous and Maroon communities, lags furthest behind other nations in the region on this issue. Colombia's new framework gives Indigenous groups direct authority over their territories, streamlining governance and boosting protections for forests that are critical to combating climate change. Julia Urrunaga, director of Peru Programs at the nonprofit Environmental Investigation Agency welcomed the move and expressed hope that her country would follow Colombia's example. "We celebrate this victory for the Indigenous Peoples of Colombia," she said. "Sadly, the Peruvian government has been walking in the opposite direction — passing laws that affect Indigenous rights without prior consultation, which goes against Peru's own constitution." Urrunaga pointed to what environmental activists have dubbed Peru´s "Anti-Forest Law," which activists say legalizes illegal deforestation in Indigenous territories, and to the government's promotion of palm oil plantations over Amazonian forest. "Peru's Indigenous Peoples are still struggling to receive recognition of their ancestral territories," she said. "And even when they obtain it, they don't get the support they deserve from the state to protect their land and forests for the benefit of all humanity." ___ The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Associated Press News	2025-05-16 12:18:18+00:00	[ "Chris Brown", "Manchester", "London", "Crime", "Law enforcement", "Entertainment", "Grace Forbes", "Bryson Tiller", "Assault", "Jhene Aiko", "Abe Diaw", "Hannah Nicholls", "Courts", "Summer Walker", "Joanne Hirst", "Indictments" ]	# Singer Chris Brown's tour in question as UK judge orders him into custody on assault charge By Brian Melley May 16th, 2025, 12:18 PM --- LONDON (AP) — Grammy-winning singer Chris Brown 's upcoming tour was thrown into question Friday as a British judge ordered him held in custody while facing allegations that he beat a music producer with a bottle in a London nightclub in 2023. Brown, 36, appeared in Manchester Magistrates' Court to face one count of causing grievous bodily harm and was ordered held until his next hearing June 13 in London — the same day he's due to take the stage in Frankfurt, Germany, on the third date of his world tour. Judge Joanne Hirst rejected Brown's bail request after prosecutor Hannah Nicholls said that the crime was "extremely serious." Brown was on tour in the U.K. in February 2023 when he launched an unprovoked attack on producer Abe Diaw, striking him several times with a bottle at the Tape nightclub in the swanky Mayfair neighborhood in London, Nicholls said. Brown then chased Diaw and punched and kicked him in an attack caught on surveillance camera in front of a club full of people, she said. Defense attorney Grace Forbes argued that the American performer wasn't a flight risk and should be released. Brown was flanked by court officers in the dock. His hair was bleached blonde and he wore sweatpants and a black T-shirt. He confirmed his name and birth date, and said that his address was the local Lowry Hotel, where he was arrested early Thursday and taken into custody. His case was transferred to Southwark Crown Court in London, where he is expected to enter a plea to the charge. Brown's representative didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. Brown, often called by his nickname Breezy, burst onto the music scene as a teen in 2005 and has become a major hitmaker over the years with notable songs such as "Run It," "Kiss Kiss" and "Without You." He won his first Grammy for best R&B album in 2011 for "F.A.M.E." and then earned his second gold trophy in the same category for "11:11 (Deluxe)" earlier this year. The singer is due to launch an international tour next month with artists Jhene Aiko, Summer Walker and Bryson Tiller, opening with a European leg on June 8 in Amsterdam before starting North America shows in July. ___ Jonathan Landrum Jr. contributed to this report from Los Angeles.
Associated Press News	2025-05-19 13:00:33+00:00	[ "Privacy", "Biotechnology", "Consumer affairs", "Mark Jensen", "Anne Wojcicki", "Business", "George Yancopoulos" ]	# Biotechnology company Regeneron buying 23andMe for $256 million By Michelle Chapman May 19th, 2025, 01:00 PM --- Biotechnology company Regeneron Pharmaceuticals is buying 23andMe for $256 million, two months after the genetic testing company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In March 23andMe said that it was looking to sell "substantially all of its assets" through a court-approved reorganization plan. Its co-founder and CEO Anne Wojcicki also resigned from the top post, but remained as a board member. 23andMe has faced an uncertain future for some time. Beyond battles to go private, the company struggled to find a profitable business model since going public in 2021. Privacy concerns related to customers' genetic information have also emerged, notably spanning from a 2023 data breach — along with questions around what new ownership could mean for users' data. The proposed transaction with Regeneron includes 23andMe's personal genome service and total health and research services. It does not include the Lemonaid Health subsidiary, a telehealth services provider which 23andMe plans to wind down. "We believe we can help 23andMe deliver and build upon its mission to help people learn about their own DNA and how to improve their personal health, while furthering Regeneron's efforts to improve the health and wellness of many," Regeneron co-founder, board co-chair and Chief Scientific Officer George Yancopoulos said in a statement. Regeneron said Monday that it will comply with 23andMe's privacy policies and applicable law, process all customer personal data in accordance with the consents, privacy policies and statements, terms of service, and notices currently in effect and have security controls in place designed to protect such data. "We are pleased to have reached a transaction that maximizes the value of the business and enables the mission of 23andMe to live on, while maintaining critical protections around customer privacy, choice and consent with respect to their genetic data," said Mark Jensen, chair and member of the special committee of 23andMe's board. Regeneron will be keeping all of 23andMe's employees, Jensen added. As part of the court-supervised sale process, 23andMe required all bidders to guarantee that they will comply with its privacy policies and applicable law. Regeneron said that its proposed deal aligns with 23andMe's privacy statement, but that a court-appointed, independent consumer privacy ombudsman will also examine the transaction and any potential impact on consumers' privacy. The ombudsman will present a report to the court by June 10. A court hearing to consider approval of the transaction is currently scheduled for June 17. The deal, which still needs approval from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, is expected to close in the third quarter. Shares of Regeneron fell slightly before the market open.
Associated Press News	2025-05-02 04:48:02+00:00	[ "Donald Trump", "Financial markets", "China", "International trade", "Economic policy", "Tariffs and global trade", "Chevron Corp.", "Chris Zaccarelli", "NVIDIA Corp.", "Microsoft Corp.", "Exxon Mobil Corp.", "Business", "Federal Reserve System", "JPMorgan Chase Co.", "Government policy" ]	# Wall Street extends its gains to a 9th straight day, reclaiming losses since tariff escalation By Damian J. Troise and Alex Veiga May 2nd, 2025, 04:48 AM --- Wall Street extended its gains to a ninth straight day Friday, marking the stock market's longest winning streak since 2004 and reclaiming the ground it lost since President Donald Trump escalated his trade war in early April. The rally was spurred by a better-than-expected report on the U.S. job market and resurgent hope for a ratcheting down in the U.S. trade showdown with China. The S&P 500 climbed 1.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.4%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 1.5%. The gains were broad. Roughly 90% of stocks and every sector in the S&P 500 advanced. Technology stocks were among the companies doing the heaviest lifting. Microsoft rose 2.3% and Nvidia rose 2.5%. Apple, however, fell 3.7% after the iPhone maker estimated that tariffs will cost it $900 million. Banks and other financial companies also made solid gains. JPMorgan Chase rose 2.3% and Visa closed 1.5% higher. Employers added 177,000 jobs in April. That marks a slowdown in hiring from March, but it was solidly better than economists anticipated. However, the latest job figures don't yet reflect the effects on the economy of President Donald Trump's across-the-board tariffs against America's trading partners. Many of the more severe tariffs that were supposed to go into effect in April were delayed by three months, with the notable exception of tariffs against China. "We've already seen how financial markets will react if the administration moves forward with their initial tariff plan, so unless they take a different tack in July when the 90-day pause expires, we will see market action similar to the first week of April," said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Northlight Asset Management. The S&P 500 slumped 9.1% during the first week of April as Trump announced a major escalation of his trade war with more tariffs. The market has now clawed back its losses since then, helped by a string of resilient earnings reports from U.S. companies, hopes for de-escalation of trade tensions with China and expectations that the Federal Reserve will still be able to cut rates a few times this year. The benchmark index is still down 3.3% so far this year, and 7.4% below the record it reached in February. All told, the S&P 500 rose 82.53 points to 5,686.67. The Dow gained 564.47 points to 41,317.43, and the Nasdaq added 266.99 points to 17,977.73. The job market is being closely watched for signs of stress amid trade war tensions. Strong employment has helped fuel solid consumer spending and economic growth over the last few years. Economists are now worried about the impact that taxes on imports will have on consumers and businesses, especially about how higher costs will hurt hiring and spending. The economy is already showing signs of strain. The U.S. economy shrank at a 0.3% annual pace during the first quarter of the year. It was slowed by a surge in imports as businesses tried to get ahead of Trump's tariffs. The current round of tariffs and the on-again-off-again nature of Trump's policy has overshadowed planning for businesses and households. Companies have been cutting and withdrawing financial forecasts because of the uncertainty over how much tariffs will cost them and how much they will squeeze consumers and sap spending. Hopes remain that Trump will roll back some of his tariffs after negotiating trade deals with other countries. China has been a key target, with tariffs of 145%. Its Commerce Ministry said Beijing is evaluating overtures from the U.S. regarding the tariffs. Investors had a relatively quiet day of earnings reports following a busy week. Exxon Mobil rose 0.4%, recovering from an early slide, after reporting its lowest first-quarter profit in years. Rival Chevron rose 1.6% after it also reported its smallest first-quarter profit in years. Falling crude oil prices have weighed on the sector. Crude oil prices in the U.S. are down about 17% for the year. They fell below $60 per barrel this week, which is a level at which many producers can no longer turn a profit. Block slumped 20.4% after reporting a sharp drop in first-quarter profit that fell short of analysts' forecasts. The financial technology company behind Cash App cited a pullback in consumer spending on travel and other discretionary items as a key reason for the results. Treasury yields rose in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.31% from 4.22% late Thursday.
Associated Press News	2025-05-05 05:09:37+00:00	[ "Donald Trump", "Gulf of Mexico", "Mexico", "California", "JWD-evergreen", "Public opinion", "Andrea Ruiz", "Ignacio Zaragoza", "Race and ethnicity", "Fairs and festivals", "Jacob Troncoza", "Hispanics", "Politics", "Immigration", "2024 United States presidential election" ]	# Cinco de Mayo 2025: Celebrating the resilience, culture of Mexican people By Fernanda Figueroa May 5th, 2025, 05:09 AM --- AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Cinco de Mayo festivities are taking place across the U.S. with music, tacos, tequila and colorful displays of Mexican culture — even if they're not always the most authentic. The day falls on a Monday this year, meaning the bulk of the celebrations took place over the weekend. In California, a state with a large Mexican American population, there was a mix of art displays, classic car shows, parades and food truck offerings. In Austin, Texas, events included an opportunity for children to get their photo taken with characters from the Disney animated musical "Encanto," which was inspired by Colombian culture but celebrates broader Latino cultures. A luncheon with speakers talking about the significance of the Mexican holiday and Mexican Americans in Austin was planned for Monday. Here's a look at the celebration and its roots: ## What the day celebrates Cinco de Mayo marks the anniversary of the 1862 victory by Mexican troops over invading French forces at the Battle of Puebla. The triumph over the better-equipped and much larger French troops was an enormous emotional boost for Mexican soldiers led by Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza. In Mexico, historical reenactments are held annually in the central city of Puebla to commemorate the victory. Participants dress as Mexican and French troops, and as Zacapoaxtlas — the Indigenous and farmer contingent that helped Mexican troops win. In the United States the date is seen as a celebration of Mexican American culture, stretching back to the 1800s in California. Festivities typically include parades, street food, block parties, mariachi competitions and baile folklórico, or folkloric ballet, with whirling dancers wearing bright, ruffled dresses and their hair tied with shiny ribbons. Latino activists and scholars say that disconnect in the U.S. is bolstered by the hazy history of Cinco de Mayo, and marketing that plays on stereotypes that include fake, droopy mustaches and gigantic, colorful sombreros. The day often is mistaken for Mexican Independence Day, which is in September. ## It's not all about tequila and tacos For many Americans with or without Mexican ancestry, the day is an excuse to toss back tequila shots and gorge on tortilla chips, nachos and tacos. The celebrations in the U.S. started as a way for Mexican Americans to preserve their cultural identity, said Sehila Mota Casper, director of Latinos in Heritage Conservation. "Since then we've seen a shift to more commercialization and commodification and mockery over the years," Mota Casper said. "I think that has a lot to do with the commercialization of products and especially Latino heritage." Mota Casper encourages people to learn about that day in history and its importance in Mexico. Jacob Troncoza, 49, said he celebrates Cinco de Mayo in his household because he's proud of his Mexican ancestry. "I try to make sure that the kids understand what it's about, which was the revolution, the war, and the battles that our grandfathers fought on," said Troncoza, who was born in east Los Angeles. Others, like Andrea Ruiz don't because her Mexican dad never did. But she noted what she deemed the irony in widespread celebrations. "I think it's funny Trump … and all of his supporters want to get Mexicans out, call them criminals, but then on Cinco de Mayo, they want to go and eat tacos and drink tequila," the 23-year-old Ruiz said. ## Political rhetoric Since returning to the White House, Trump has continued to label Mexican immigrants as criminals and gang members. He's also sought to end birthright citizenship, renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and ended the federal government's diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Trump acknowledged Cinco de Mayo during his first term, posting on X, "Happy #CincoDeMayo!" and "I love Hispanics!" as he sat with a "taco bowl." In the last presidential election, data showed more young Hispanic men moved to the right and voted for Trump. It's unclear if the current administration will acknowledge Cinco de Mayo — designated a holiday in Mexico but not in the United States. The Associated Press sent an email to the White House Press Office late Friday seeking comment. Trump's handling of immigration remains a point of strength as he ramps up deportations and targets people living in the U.S. without legal status, according to a recent poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. While Trump's actions remain divisive, there's less of a consensus that the Republican president has overstepped on immigration than on other issues, the poll found. Organizers of Chicago's Cinco de Mayo parade said they canceled it because the city has become a target for immigration agents. ___ Associated Press writer Jaimie Ding in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Associated Press News	2025-05-09 06:02:56+00:00	[ "Pakistan", "Kashmir", "Pakistan government", "India", "JD Vance", "India government", "Asia", "Asia Pacific", "South Asia", "Mohammad Shakil", "Military and defense", "Drones", "Ahmad Sharif" ]	# Indian and Pakistan troops swap intense artillery fire By Aijaz Hussain, Munir Ahmed, Sheikh Saaliq, and Rajesh Roy May 9th, 2025, 06:02 AM --- SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Indian and Pakistani soldiers exchanged heavy volleys of shells and gunfire across their frontier in Kashmir overnight, killing at least five civilians in a growing military standoff that erupted following an attack on tourists in the India-controlled portion of the disputed region. In Pakistan, an unusually intense night of artillery exchanges left at least four civilians dead and wounded 12 others in areas near the Line of Control that divides Kashmir, local police official Adeel Ahmad said. People in border towns said the firing continued well into Friday morning. "We're used to hearing the exchange of fire between Pakistan and India at the Line of Control, but last night was different," said Mohammad Shakil, who lives near the frontier in Chakothi sector. In India, military officials said Pakistani troops barraged their posts overnight with artillery, mortars and gunfire at multiple locations in Indian-controlled Kashmir. They said Indian soldiers responded, triggering fierce exchanges until early dawn. Two people were killed and four others injured in Uri and Poonch sectors, police said, taking the civilian death toll in Indian-controlled Kashmir to 18 since Wednesday. Pakistan said Indian mortar and artillery fire has killed 17 civilians in Pakistan-administered Kashmir in the same period. Indian authorities have evacuated tens of thousands of civilians from villages near the volatile frontier. Thousands of people slept in shelters for a second consecutive night. ## Rivals exchange strikes and allegations Tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals have soared since an attack on a popular tourist site in India-controlled Kashmir left 26 civilians dead, mostly Hindu Indian tourists, on April 22. New Delhi has blamed Pakistan for backing the attack, an accusation Islamabad rejects. On Wednesday, India conducted airstrikes on several sites in Pakistani territory it described as militant-related, killing 31 civilians according to Pakistani officials. Pakistan said it shot down five Indian fighter jets. On Thursday, India said it thwarted Pakistani drone and missile attacks at military targets in more than a dozen cities and towns, including Jammu city in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Pakistan denied that it carried out drone attacks. India said meanwhile it hit Pakistan's air defense systems and radars close to the city of Lahore. The incidents could not be independently confirmed. The Indian army said Friday that Pakistan fired about 300-400 drones overnight in violation of Indian airspace to target military installations in nearly three dozen sites along the western borders. India brought down a number of the drones using "kinetic and non-kinetic means," Wing Commander Vyomika Singh of the Indian air force told a news conference. Pakistan's army spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmad Sharif refuted India's claims of firing 300-400 drones. "At least show us the debris of one drone to prove the charge," he said at a news briefing on Friday. Sharif said that since Wednesday night India had fired 77 Israeli-made attack drones into Pakistan, all of which were neutralized and their debris collected by Pakistani forces. "Whatever they will send, we will convert it into debris," he said. ## India orders X to block thousands of accounts Meanwhile, social platform X in a statement on Thursday said the Indian government had ordered it to block users in the country from accessing more than 8,000 accounts, including a number of "international news organizations and other prominent users." The social platform did not release the list of accounts it was blocking in India, but said the order "amounts to censorship of existing and future content, and is contrary to the fundamental right of free speech." Later, X briefly blocked access to the Global Affairs Account from which it had posted the statement, also citing a legal demand from India. ## Crisis disrupts schools, sports and travel India's biggest domestic cricket tournament, the Indian Premier League, which attracts top players from around the world, was suspended for one week. Pakistan also moved its own domestic tournament to the United Arab Emirates because of the tensions. Panic also spread during an evening cricket match in northern Dharamsala city, where a crowd of more than 10,000 people had to be evacuated from the stadium and the game called off, according to an Associated Press photographer covering the event. Meanwhile, several northern and western Indian states, including Punjab, Rajasthan, Indian-controlled Kashmir, shut schools and other educational institutions for two days. Airlines in India have also suspended flight operations from two dozen airports across northern and western regions until May 15, India's Civil Aviation Ministry said. The impact of border flare up was also seen in the Indian stock markets. In early trade on Friday, the benchmark Sensex tanked 662 points to 79,649 while Nifty 50 declined 215 points to trade at 24,058. ## Vance says a war would be 'none of our business' As fears of military confrontation soar and worried world leaders call for de-escalation, the U.S. Vice President JD Vance has said that a potential war between India and Pakistan would be "none of our business." "What we can do is try to encourage these folks to de-escalate a little bit, but we're not going to get involved in the middle of war that's fundamentally none of our business and has nothing to do with America's ability to control it," Vance said in an interview with Fox News. ___ Saaliq and Roy reported from New Delhi and Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writers Ishfaq Ahmed and Roshan Mughal in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan contributed to this report.
Associated Press News	2025-05-14 19:35:55+00:00	[ "El Salvador", "Donald Trump", "Nayib Bukele", "Human rights", "Politics", "Germany government", "Legislation", "Protests and demonstrations", "Juan Pappier", "United States government" ]	# El Salvador president announces 'foreign agents' proposal, fueling concerns of crackdown on dissent By Megan Janetsky and Marcos Alemán May 14th, 2025, 07:35 PM --- SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said he's pushing forward a "foreign agents" bill that critics say would deal another blow to civil society and independent journalistic organizations as the popular president tightens his control three years into a crackdown against gangs. While Bukele announced few details of the proposal Tuesday night, the president wrote on X that the bill would include a 30% tax on donations to non-governmental organizations, some of which have long criticized his government for moves they assert are undemocratic. Because Bukele's party has a firm grip on control of the country's congress, he will likely face few hurdles in jamming the legislation through. It resembles a similar proposal championed by Bukele in 2021, which collapsed under the weight of international criticism. But critics say the Salvadoran leader – adored by American right-wing figures – has become emboldened by his recent political alliance with U.S. President Donald Trump. Juan Pappier, Americas director for Human Rights Watch, warned that it falls in line with measures passed by autocratic governments to crack down on dissent, citing laws in Nicaragua, Venezuela, Russia, Belarus and China. "Passing foreign actors legislation is a classic move in the autocrats' playbook. There's nothing creative or innovative about this," Pappier said. "This is a way of stigmatizing organizations that receive foreign funding and of limiting their work." In nearby Nicaragua, the government in an all-out crackdown on dissent has used such laws to shut down or outlaw at least 3,500 NGOs since mass social protests erupted in 2018. Among them were a scouting association and a rotary club. Bukele's proposal comes after hundreds of people peacefully protesting an eviction order in front of Bukele's house were met with a violent response by police, which detained at least two people. The leader quickly cast blame on civil society groups and announced the measure on his social media. "Yesterday we witnessed how humble people were manipulated by self-proclaimed leftist groups and globalist NGOs, whose only real goal is to attack the government," he wrote. Bukele has cited such funds as evidence of the groups' corruption and bias against him, but it is fairly common in poorer countries in Latin America to depend on international aid dollars, as it's often difficult to raise money in their own countries. Bukele's 2021 proposal would have required groups that receive monetary support from abroad to register as "foreign agents," something that would severely limit their activities. The measure failed in Congress that year after the Biden administration and the European Union raised concerns, and the German embassy threatened to withdraw funding for humanitarian programs in the country. Since, Bukele has further consolidated power in all branches of government, and simultaneously feels "emboldened" by his alliance with Trump to stamp out dissent, said Pappier. Bukele has long been at odds with human rights groups as they have criticized his harsh crackdown on the country's gangs, in which he has suspended key constitutional rights and arrested more than 85,000 for alleged gang ties. He has repeatedly accused human rights organizations of defending gangsters. Security has improved dramatically, and Bukele easily won reelection last year despite a constitutional prohibition on serving consecutive terms. Human rights groups are again criticizing Bukele's administration after the Trump administration sent more than 200 Venezuelans to a maximum security prison in El Salvador, despite little to no evidence that they belonged to a gang as the Trump administration alleged. The measure builds off a number of moves by the government in recent weeks that have raised alarm by watchdog groups. "El Salvador is entering that group of countries that repress civil society in order to stay in power and that there is no criticism, no questioning, no social scrutiny of the exercise of power," said Ingrid Escobar, lawyer and head of the rights group Socorro Juridico. Earlier in the month, Bukele ordered the arrest of five heads of bus companies after they defied his order to offer free transport for a week following a major highway closure. That same week, the investigative news organization El Faro said it received word that the government was preparing arrest warrants for reporters after the organization published a series of stories about Bukele's alleged ties to gangs. No arrests have been made. —— Janetsky reported from Mexico City.
Associated Press News	2025-05-11 13:01:57+00:00	[ "Michigan", "Michigan state government", "Gretchen Whitmer", "Mike Rogers", "Joe Tate", "U.S. Democratic Party", "United States Senate", "U.S. Republican Party", "Politics", "Elissa Slotkin", "Elections", "Voting", "Abdul El-Sayed", "Black experience" ]	# Lawmaker from Detroit joins crowded race for US Senate By Isabella Volmert May 11th, 2025, 01:01 PM --- LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A lawmaker from Detroit is joining the crowded field of Democrats vying for the battleground state's open Senate seat, one of the most critical races as the party aims to regain a majority in the 2026 midterm election. Michigan state Rep. Joe Tate launched his campaign Sunday to compete against three other Democrats seeking the seat left open by retiring Democratic U.S. Sen. Gary Peters. In an interview with the Associated Press, Tate spoke about his campaign goals and referenced his grandparents, who came to Detroit from Alabama as part of the Great Migration. "I'm running for the U.S. Senate, because I want to continue to keep that promise that my grandparents came up to Michigan for," he said. To become the Democratic nominee, the former marine and NFL football player will have to convince voters to look past significant setbacks to the state party under his leadership. Tate made history in 2022 when he became the first Black speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives, the highest position in the chamber. That fall, Democrats swept statewide offices and gained historic "trifecta" control of both chambers of the Legislature and the governor's office. Democrats passed significant legislation on gun control, climate change, reproductive rights and labor, repealing the state's "right to work" law. But their momentum stalled ahead of the 2024 fall elections and fell apart after Republicans won back the state House in November. Tate announced after the election that he would not seek a leadership role among House Democrats the next year. In the final days of the legislative session, internal divisions among Democrats caused Tate to abruptly end the session. The move effectively killed dozens of bills including key Democratic priorities on economic development, road funding, ghost guns and reproductive health data. Republicans took control in January, and the Legislature has been deadlocked on most topics since. Many Democrats and Republicans alike have blamed Tate for disastrous final days when Democrats still had control. Nine bills from the 2024 session approved by both chambers have still not been presented to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The new Republican speaker of the House has said it was Tate's job to get them to Whitmer's desk. "It's just unfortunate that some people decided to stop coming to work when the job wasn't done," Tate said in response, referencing one Democrat and the entire Republican caucus who boycotted the final days of session in order to stall it. Tate said he is proud of the work Democrats accomplished while they held the majority in the Legislature, referencing legislation on universal background checks to purchase firearms and free breakfast and lunch for school children. "I see kids with full bellies in schools because of what we did," he said. A deep bench of Democrats began to eye the U.S. Senate seat after Peters this year announced plans to retire at the end of his term. U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and former gubernatorial candidate and public health official Abdul El-Sayed have all launched campaigns for the position. On the Republican side, former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers is running again after losing to Democrat Elissa Slotkin in the state's 2024 U.S. Senate race by just 19,000 votes.
Associated Press News	2025-05-08 18:21:56+00:00	[ "Papal conclave", "Pope Leo XIV", "Robert Prevost", "Religion", "Vatican City", "Pope Francis" ]	# AP PHOTOS: Pope Leo XIV, the first pontiff from the US is also a Peruvian citizen By The Associated Press May 8th, 2025, 06:21 PM --- Pope Francis brought Robert Prevost to the Vatican in 2023 as the powerful head of the office that vets bishop nominations, one of the most important jobs in the Catholic Church. On Thursday, he ascended to become Pope Leo XIV — the first pope from the U.S. Prevost, 69, had to overcome the taboo against a U.S. pope, given the geopolitical power already wielded by the United States in the secular sphere. The Chicago native is also a Peruvian citizen and lived for years in Peru, first as a missionary and then as an archbishop. This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
Associated Press News	2025-05-08 14:21:06+00:00	[ "Classical music", "Samuel Barber", "Opera", "New York City Wire", "Massachusetts", "Raphael Picciarelli", "Richard Strauss", "Dan Schlosberg", "Business", "Francisco Ladrn de Guevara", "Entertainment", "Jacob Ashworth", "Sara Holdren", "Celebrity", "Language", "Kurt Weill", "New York City", "Nathaniel Sullivan" ]	# Scrappy opera company Heartbeat thrives by reimagining the classics By Mike Silverman May 8th, 2025, 02:21 PM --- NEW YORK (AP) — Dan Schlosberg remembers the day 11 years ago when his upstart opera company put on its first performance — in a yoga studio before an audience of 30 people. "We did Kurt Weill's 'The Seven Deadly Sins' accompanied by an upright piano that we got for free on Craigslist and a violin," recalled Schlosberg, the company's music director and one of its founders. They named their company Heartbeat Opera, "from the idea that singers would be feet away from you," Schlosberg said. "And so you would be experiencing their voices at arm's length and that would make a resonance in your heart." Today, in an era when many opera companies are struggling financially, Heartbeat appears to be thriving, with an annual budget that just passed $1 million. But true to its initial vision, the company still performs in small venues, most with a seating capacity of about 200. ## No small opera here "Very few small companies take up the ambition to do the fullness of opera on a small scale," said Jacob Ashworth, another founding member and Heartbeat's artistic director. "We don't do small opera. We do big opera in a small space." And despite its success with critics and audiences — performances regularly sell out — the company has deliberately maintained a modest schedule. There's typically an opera-themed drag show around Halloween and then two operas staged in New York City performance spaces in the winter and spring. Each work is condensed to 90-100 intermission-less minutes with new orchestrations that require just a few musicians. Marc Scorca, president and CEO of Opera America, thinks Heartbeat is smart not to expand too quickly — a mistake that has caused some small companies to collapse. "Growth itself shouldn't be a goal. Excellence should be a goal," he said. "I always prefer companies to plan their trajectory as slow as possible so they don't overstretch and overstep." Unlike some small companies, Heartbeat doesn't focus on new work or on bringing to light neglected old rarities. Instead, its website promises "incisive adaptations and revelatory arrangements of classics, reimagining them for the here and now." It's that reimagining that attracted Sara Holdren, a director, writer and teacher who first worked with the company on Bizet's "Carmen" in 2017. "Their approaches to the storytelling feel extremely of our world and about our world," she said, "without falling across that line into a sort of trite topicality where you say, 'Oh yes, I understand a relevant-with-a-capital-R political point is being made here'." For Beethoven's "Fidelio," Heartbeat went to prisons and recorded the voices of incarcerated people, who appeared on video singing the Prisoners Chorus. For Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin," the two main male characters became lovers, reflecting the composer's own sexuality. ## Salome in a pink skirt and sneakers And for Richard Strauss' "Salome" this season, the teenage title character was dressed in a frilly pink skirt and sneakers; John the Baptist was imprisoned on stage in a cage with transparent sides instead of in an underground cistern; and during the Dance of the Seven Veils, it was a lascivious Herod who stripped off his clothes, not Salome. Heartbeat's casting for "Salome" reflected the premium it places on theatrical values in addition to vocal ability. Baritone Nathaniel Sullivan, who portrayed John the Baptist, recalled that "a big part of the audition was just straight acting. And in the rehearsals, there was a real focus on the storytelling. "I haven't experienced that in a lot of other opera companies to that extent," he said. Soprano Summer Hassan, who was cast as Salome, admits she was nervous at first "because I had never done a role like this where I am the title character. "I was really doubting myself, thinking how do I make this girl look so young?" she said. "And they said, your physicality will do that on your own. Make her look confident and you will make her look like a confident child. They gave me the tools to figure out it was within me." Perhaps the most striking aspect of this "Salome" was the re-orchestration by Schlosberg. Instead of more than 100 players as called for in the original, he took a cue from the opening notes on a clarinet and scored the piece for eight clarinetists (who also played other instruments) and two percussionists. Heartbeat's final local offering of the season will be Gounod's "Faust," to run at the Baruch Performing Arts Center from May 13-25. ## The devil made her do it "I had mentioned to Jacob that I really love devil stories," said Holdren, who is directing the production. "And I was fascinated with the idea of taking something so big and so weighed down with history and assumptions and seeing how much we could crack it open and blow the dust off." She sees Mephistopheles less as a "mustache-twirling villain" and more as "a figure of hunger and loneliness slipping into the vacuums that human beings create when they are so desperate or disgusted with life that there's an opening for him." Her production will be set in contemporary times, sung in French but with new English-language dialogue, and it will make heavy use of shadow puppetry. It's the first Heartbeat offering for which Schlosberg has not done the re-orchestration. That task fell to Francisco Ladrón de Guevara, a Mexican violinist and composer who has scored the opera for seven musicians, most of whom play two instruments, including Ashworth, who will play violin and mandolin and also conduct. ## Taking Heartbeat Opera on the road Schlosberg will be back doing the arranging for a rare Heartbeat foray outside the city this summer. The company has been invited to stage a revised version of Samuel Barber's "Vanessa" at the Williamstown Theater Festival in Massachusetts. "I'm really excited by what they've been doing, particularly in reimagining the classics for contemporary times," said Raphael Picciarelli, co-managing director of the festival. For Heartbeat's debut in Williamstown, the festival is setting up a new performance space that should make the company feel right at home. It's in an abandoned grocery store, and there will be seats for just over 200 people.
Associated Press News	2025-05-14 11:25:28+00:00	[ "Bangkok", "Thailand government", "United States government", "International trade", "Thailand", "Tariffs and global trade", "United States", "Business", "Production facilities", "United States Congress", "Technology", "Climate and environment" ]	# Thai officials seize over 200 tons of electronic waste illegally imported from the US May 14th, 2025, 11:25 AM --- BANGKOK (AP) — Thai officials said Wednesday they seized 238 tons of illegally imported electronic waste from the United States at the port of Bangkok, one of the biggest lots they've found this year. The waste, which came in 10 large containers, was declared as mixed metal scrap but turned out to be circuit boards mixed in a huge pile of metal scrap, said Theeraj Athanavanich, director-general of the Customs Department. It was found Tuesday in a random inspection. A U.N. report last year said electronic waste is piling up worldwide. Some 62 million tons of electronic waste was generated in 2022 and that figure is on track to reach 82 million tons by 2030, the report said. It said only 22% of the waste was properly collected and recycled in 2022 and that quantity is expected to fall to 20% by the end of the decade due to higher consumption, limited repair options, shorter product life cycles, and inadequate management infrastructure. Theeraj said Thai authorities are looking to press charges including falsely declaring imported goods, illegally importing electronic waste and planning to return the waste to its country of origin. "It's important that we take action on this kind of goods," he said. "There are environmental impacts that are dangerous to the people, especially communities around factories that might import these things for processing, then recycling." Electronic waste creates huge health hazards. Many components are laden with lead and mercury, cadmium and other toxins. Recyclers are after gold, silver, palladium and copper, mainly from printed circuit boards, but lax controls mean that facilities often burn plastics to release encased copper and use unsafe methods to extract precious metals. Thailand passed a ban on the import of a range of electronic waste products in 2020. The Cabinet in February approved an expanded list of the banned waste. Sunthron Kewsawang, deputy director-general of the Department of Industrial Works, said officials suspected at least two factories in Samut Sakhon province, which borders Bangkok, are involved in importing the waste. In January, the Customs Department said it seized 256 tons of illegally imported electronic waste from Japan and Hong Kong at a port in eastern Thailand.
Associated Press News	2025-05-06 16:09:33+00:00	[ "Belarus", "Nina Bahinskaya", "Alexander Lukashenko", "Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya", "Democracy", "Protests and demonstrations", "Activism", "Pavel Sapelka", "Human rights", "Law enforcement", "Ales Bialiatski", "Belarus government", "Politics" ]	# Belarus opens case against a 78-year-old activist who became a symbol of the pro-democracy movement By Yuras Karmanau May 6th, 2025, 04:09 PM --- TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Authorities in Belarus opened a criminal case against a 78-year-old activist who became the face of the country's pro-democracy protests in 2020, a rights organization said Tuesday. Retired geologist Nina Bahinskaya was charged with repeatedly violating Belarus' laws on holding and organizing protests, Belarus' Viasna human rights center said. Authorities accused Bahinskaya of repeatedly walking the streets of the Belarusian capital displaying symbols striped with white, red and white: the same colors used by Belarus' pro-democracy opposition. If found guilty, the activist faces up to three years in prison. Bahinskaya is one of the most recognizable faces of Belarus' pro-democracy movement, which reached its peak during mass protests in the summer of 2020, shortly after the country's authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, was declared president for a sixth consecutive term. Observers widely condemned the vote as rigged. In March, Lukashenko was sworn in to a seventh term. Bahinskaya's defiance and caustic tongue quickly has made her a popular opposition figure. When told by police in 2020 that she was violating a government ban on unauthorized demonstrations, she simply responded, "I'm taking a walk" — a snappy reply that was adopted by thousands and chanted at demonstrations. "I noticed that the riot police more rarely beat protesters when they see elderly people among them," she told The Associated Press at the time. "So I come out to protest as a defender, an observer and a witness. I'm psychologically and intellectually stronger than the police. Even among those who detained me, there were people who respected me." The 2020 protests triggered a wave of police violence from Belarusian security services, and political repression that has engulfed the country of 9.5 million people. More than 65,000 people have been arrested, thousands have been beaten by police, and independent media and nongovernmental organizations have been shut down and outlawed, prompting condemnation and sanctions from the West. Belarus holds about 1,200 political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski. At least six political prisoners have died in prison, according to human rights activists. Bahinskaya has been previously detained on multiple occasions, collecting fines totaling 7,200 Belarusian rubles (about $2,400). As part of the case against her, Bahinskaya was detained in early May and taken for a forced psychiatric examination, Viasna said. In April, U.N. experts reported that Belarusian authorities had resumed the Soviet practice of forced psychiatric treatment as a punishment for political dissent, and that at least 33 cases of punitive psychiatry had already been recorded against political prisoners. "Bahinskaya is a symbol of resistance to totalitarianism within the country, and it is important for the authorities to break her," Viasna representative Pavel Sapelka told the AP. "This is a show case against an elderly person who has dedicated her entire life to the fight for freedom." Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who lives and works in exile in Lithuania, also condemned the case. "Today, the regime is still afraid of Nina Bahinskaya's courage," Tsikhanouskaya said. "For decades, Nina has stood up to tyranny."
Associated Press News	2025-05-02 03:59:37+00:00	[ "Netherlands", "War and unrest", "Humanitarian crises", "Netherlands government", "Famine", "Military occupations", "Health", "Ben Buitenhuis", "United Kingdom government", "Germany government" ]	# Dutch WWII 'Hunger Winter' survivor had to wait in line for meal made from flower bulbs By Mike Corder May 2nd, 2025, 03:59 AM --- DELFT, Netherlands (AP) — Ben Buitenhuis doesn't get hungry. He never really has since the end of World War II, when he had to use his wits to scavenge for milk powder or wait in line for a meager ration of a meal made from flower bulbs. "My wife used to say, 'If I have to wait for you, I'll never get any food,'" he said, chuckling at the memory of his wife, Ria, who died in 2023. "And I think that's an after effect of the war, when you never got enough to eat. I don't know the feeling of hunger." Buitenhuis, now an 83-year-old retired truck driver, was one of the lucky ones. ## Too late for some The end of the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands on May 5, 1945 — 80 years ago on Monday — came too late for around 20,000 people who died of as a result of starvation or freezing temperatures in what the Dutch call, with a grim simplicity, The Hunger Winter of 1944-45. While Allied forces including American, British, Canadian and Polish troops liberated parts of the southern Netherlands in 1944, the more densely populated western part of the country, including major cities Amsterdam and Rotterdam had to wait months before their war finally ended with the German capitulation. On Monday, veterans and dignitaries will gather in the central town of Wageningen, where German top brass signed the capitulation order that ended the occupation, to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the day the entire Netherlands once again tasted freedom. A day earlier, the Netherlands solemnly remembers its war dead. ## Famine in the west The long weeks and months between the liberation of the south and the final German capitulation turned into a famine in the west. There wasn't enough food to eat or fuel to heat homes in a freezing winter. As German occupiers desperately tried to feed their homeland's faltering war machine with any resources plundered from the occupied Dutch territory, the Netherlands' government in exile in London called for a rail strike that halted many trains, including those carrying food from the fertile fields of the eastern Netherlands. The strike, called in September 1944, was intended to hamper the Nazi war effort as Allied forces prepared to make their final push into Germany, but it also had the effect of cutting off vital supplies from the fertile fields of the Dutch agricultural heartland to the densely populated cities of the west. ## Flower bulbs and stolen sugar beets A photo taken of Buitenhuis in early 1945 shows him sitting next to a girl called Neeltje, clutching a plate and spoon. It's an emblematic image for the plight of children facing famine caused by German occupation and Dutch efforts to end it. Buitenhuis remembers taking a bowl to a milk factory next to his home in Delft and waiting until a sack with powdered milk fell and spilled open. He filled the bowl with water then emptied it so that when he scooped up powder and was inevitably told to empty it again some of the powder stuck to the wet surface. "That way we'd have a sort of milk," he said. Other times, he and other children would use a stick with a nail driven through one end to snag a single sugar beet from a cart driving past. Recipes circulated in the Netherlands for preparing tulip bulbs to eat because they provided at least some nourishment. Many families walked east or north in search of food and warmth, according to the Dutch Institute for War Documentation. Churches and governments set up kitchens in an attempt to feed the starving, and tens of thousands of children from the cities were sent to foster families in rural areas. Those, like Buitenhuis, who survived lived with the legacy of hunger. After the war, he and other children like him who had survived the famine were sent to recuperate at sanatoriums. Buitenhuis spent six weeks at one. Every morning, he'd get a boiled egg for breakfast that he gave to other children, because he was allergic to the egg white. ## Remember, but don't look back in anger Sitting in his ninth-floor apartment on the edge of Delft, he recalls the harsh winter 80 years ago without a trace of bitterness or malice. And he says he's glad that the war is still commemorated even as the number of survivors dwindles. "It's something to maintain, so that people still understand what freedom is," he said. But while he values the way the world commemorates the end of the war, Buitenhuis prefers not to dwell too much on the past. "Look at what's in front of you, not what's behind," he said. "That's over, you can't get it back." ___ AP journalist Molly Quell contributed to this report.
Associated Press News	2025-05-16 13:08:18+00:00	[ "Pope Leo XIV", "Thomas Joseph White", "Vatican City", "Catholic Church", "Religion and politics", "Religion" ]	# The pope's doctoral thesis drew on St. Augustine's idea of religious authority as service, not power May 16th, 2025, 01:08 PM --- By The Associated Press (AP) — The Rev. Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, wrote his doctoral thesis on the way local Augustinian superiors exercise authority, the university rector said Friday. It's an issue that is perhaps newly relevant now that Prevost is the leader of the 1.4-billion strong Catholic Church. The way religious superiors exercise authority has long been a topic of study for scholars. In recent years it has come under renewed scrutiny in light of cases where such authority has been abused: When a superior takes advantage of his or her authority, and the obedience that is owed to him or her by underlings, for sexual or other ends. It's an issue that Prevost would have dealt with as a superior of the Augustinian religious order from 2001-2012, bishop of Chiclayo, Peru from 2014-2023, and as prefect of the Vatican's dicastery for bishops, from 2023 until his election last week as pope. The Vatican office not only vets nominations of bishops around the world but also reviews cases of bishops who are accused of abusing their authority. The Rev. Thomas Joseph White, rector of the Dominican-run Pontifical St. Thomas Aquinas University where Prevost studied from 1981 to 1985, said Prevost's canon law thesis demonstrated a "very mature and nuanced" understanding of religious life and authority, especially for someone his age. Prevost would have been at the university, known as the Angelicum, from around 26 to 30 years old. White said that Prevost was specifically interested in the issue of religious authority in light of the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council and the new legal code that the Catholic Church adopted in 1983, while Prevost was at the university. In an email, he said Prevost underscored that all exercise of authority is meant to be a selfless act of service for the common good. White highlighted a line from the thesis drawing from St. Augustine's concept of authority and service: "There is no room in Augustine's concept of authority for one who is self-seeking and in search of power over others," Prevost wrote. "The exercise of authority in any Christian community requires the setting aside of all self-interest and a total dedication to the good of the community," he wrote. "This is the attitude which must be adopted as the starting point for an authentic understanding of the role of the local superior." ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Associated Press News	2025-05-06 16:44:47+00:00	[ "Tennessee state government", "Tennessee", "Bill Lee", "Politics", "Voting", "Legislation", "Rick Scarbrough", "Stephen Crump" ]	# Tennessee Republican governor vetoes easier denial of parole bill By Jonathan Mattise May 6th, 2025, 04:44 PM --- NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has vetoed his first bill since taking office in 2019, nixing a measure that would make it easier for a state board to deny parole. The Republican's veto Monday eliminates the bill, though the GOP-supermajority Tennessee Legislature can override a veto with the same number of votes that were required to originally pass the bill. In his veto letter, Lee wrote that the legislation unwinds a key component of a 2021 law aimed at reducing recidivism named the Reentry Success Act. He said removing that provision would be a "step backwards from safer Tennessee communities." That older bill, which Lee pushed for, only received one "no" vote "because we all know we cannot tackle crime without tackling recidivism," he wrote. "I am confident that the Board of Parole and other safeguards ensure parole is awarded appropriately," Lee wrote. Currently, the Board of Parole can deny a felony inmate's application based solely on the seriousness of the crime for more than 20 specific offenses, ranging from first-degree murder to aggravated child abuse. The bill would have allowed such rejections regardless of the type of crime. With Tennessee's weak veto authority, Lee had previously only shown his displeasure with bills by working to get them changed or defeated in the committee process, or, in rarer instances, letting them go into law without signing them. But vetoes like the one exercised Monday that are timed when lawmakers are out of session can delay a bill from become law for months, since lawmakers don't return until January. Vetoes can also leverage the political weight of the governor's office in hopes of convincing lawmakers not to override. One prominent example where Lee wouldn't sign a bill was the 2019 legislation that paved the way for online sports betting in the state, which Lee disliked because it expanded gambling in a state that doesn't allow casinos. Lee also notably declined to sign a 2022 bill that requires serving entire sentences for various felonies and at least 85% of sentences on other offenses. Lee, who ran in 2018 on criminal justice reform, said the data did not support the premise of the law. Lee's first veto likewise scrutinized a toughened approach to criminal justice. Rep. Rick Scarbrough, the Republican bill sponsor from Oak Ridge, said he plans to seek a veto override in January. The legislation passed 75-16 in the House and 22-4 in the Senate, with Democrats casting the only "no" votes. A few House Democrats voted for it. "While I have deep respect for Governor Lee, I am both surprised and disappointed by his decision to veto this bill," Scarbrough said in a statement. "This legislation addresses critical gaps in our parole system while strengthening public safety and confidence, ensuring that serious offenses are not minimized." The bill was backed by the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference. Its executive director, former district attorney Stephen Crump, told a panel of senators in March that there are some "very significant offenses" that are not part of the current law, and he argued that the parole board needs greater discretion in its decision making.
Associated Press News	2025-05-07 05:02:24+00:00	[ "Europe", "France", "Angela Merkel", "France government", "Germany government", "European Union", "Helmut Kohl", "Charlie Hebdo", "War and unrest", "Konrad Adenauer", "Charles de Gaulle", "Franois Hollande", "Politics" ]	# AP PHOTOS: How bitter wartime enemies France and Germany built a friendship that underpins the EU May 7th, 2025, 05:02 AM --- PARIS (AP) — They were bitter enemies, seemingly destined to be perpetually at odds after fighting two devastating world wars less than 30 years apart. But in the decades since French forces were among the victors of World War II, which ended in Europe with Nazi Germany's surrender 80 years ago, neighbors France and Germany have built a powerful partnership that underpins the European Union. With the EU's largest economies, they're frequently described as the motors of the 27-nation bloc and its stated goal of "an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe" after generations of conflict. Statesmen and women and ordinary people alike have worked since WWII to weave deep personal, political, economic, cultural and military bonds upon which French-German friendship has flowered where guns once roared. French wartime hero President Gen. Charles de Gaulle was a pivotal early peacemaker, after fighting in both WWI and WWII. His partner in reconciliation was Konrad Adenauer, who as West Germany's first chancellor led its recovery from the Nazi disaster. Adenauer had himself been one of Nazism's victims, spending several months in the hands of its murderous Gestapo. The cooperation treaty they signed on Jan. 22, 1963, marked a fresh start. De Gaulle said it "turns the page after such a long and bloody history of struggle and fighting." They sealed the deal with a tight embrace. Other leaders bound France and Germany ever closer with more deals and poignant moments of symbolism. Remembrance of war's horrors became an integral part of the partnership, so lessons from their shared history of tragic conflict aren't forgotten. Seventy years after WWI's eruption, French President François Mitterrand and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl held hands on the former battlefields of Verdun, facing a memorial housing the remains of 130,000 unidentified soldiers. As friends do, France and Germany have supported each other through recent calamities, too. Chancellor Angela Merkel sped to Paris to stand with President François Hollande in January 2015 when France was mourning the victims of a deadly assault by extremist gunmen on satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. On a bridge that crosses the French-German border that once bristled with guns, words painted in the colors of the French and German flags capture how far the two neighbors have come. "BIENVENUE" and "WILLKOMMEN," they read. Their meaning: Welcome.
Associated Press News	2025-05-16 11:12:16+00:00	[ "Mergers and acquisitions", "Media and entertainment industry", "Alex Taylor", "California", "Virginia", "Liberty Broadband Corp.", "Netflix", "Inc.", "Technology", "Business", "Exxon Mobil Corp.", "Comcast Corp.", "Charter Communications", "Scott Purdy", "Chris Winfrey", "Amazon.com", "Entertainment", "MicroStrategy" ]	# US cable giants Charter and Cox, under assault by streaming services, pursue $34.5 billion merger By Michelle Chapman May 16th, 2025, 11:12 AM --- Charter Communications has offered to acquire Cox Communications, a $34.5 billion merger that would combine two of the top three cable companies in the U.S. Cox is the third largest cable television company in the country, with more than 6.5 million digital cable, internet, telephone, and home security customers. It has a strong foothold in states spanning from California to Virginia. Charter Communications, known more widely as Spectrum, has more than 32 million customers in 41 states. The cable industry has been under assault for years from streaming services like Disney, Netflix, Amazon and HBO Max, as well as internet plans offered by mobile phone companies. Comcast, which is of nearly equal size to Charter, spun off many of its cable television networks in November as as consumers increasingly swap out their cable TV subscriptions for streaming platforms. So-called "cord cutting" has cost the industry millions of customers and left them searching for ways to successfully compete. Charter said Friday that it will acquire Cox Communications' commercial fiber and managed IT and cloud businesses. Cox Enterprises will contribute Cox Communications' residential cable business to Charter Holdings, an existing subsidiary partnership of Charter. Cox Enterprises will own about 23% of the combined company's outstanding shares. The transaction, which needs approval from Charter shareholders as well as regulators, includes $12.6 billion in debt. "This merger exemplifies the strategic consolidation reshaping media and telecom," Scott Purdy, KPMG U.S. Media Industry Lead, Strategy, said in a statement. "By pooling resources, these companies will create scale, drive significant cost synergies, and strengthen their competitive positioning in a challenging market." The proposed deal is one of the largest in over a year. Mars' announced a $30 billion deal with Kellanova last summer and Exxon Mobil's approximately $60 billion acquisition of Pioneer Natural happened in late 2023. The combined company will change its name to Cox Communications within a year after closing. It will keep Charter's headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, and have a significant presence on Cox's Atlanta, Georgia campus following the closing. After the deal is complete, Charter CEO Chris Winfrey will become president and CEO of the combined company. Cox CEO and Chairman Alex Taylor will serve as chairman. Cox will be able to keep two directors on the 13-member board. Advance/Newhouse, which is part of Charter, will retain its two board members. The transaction is expected to close at the same time as Charter's merger with Liberty Broadband, which was approved by Charter and Liberty Broadband stockholders in February. Shares of Charter rose slightly in afternoon trading. Cox is a private company.
Associated Press News	2025-05-16 14:57:30+00:00	[ "Kentucky", "Roger Leslie Leatherman", "Weather", "Andy Beshear", "Tornadoes", "Storms", "Patricia Penelton", "Chris Cromer", "Seth Borenstein", "Mike Catalini", "Kayla Patterson", "Eric Gibson", "Juan Lozano", "Derick Wheetley", "Stacy Clark", "Cara Spencer", "Jennifer Peltz", "William Pollihan" ]	# Severe weather leaves at least 27 dead, including 18 in Kentucky By Dylan Lovan May 16th, 2025, 02:57 PM --- LONDON, Ky. (AP) — At least 27 people have been killed by storms systems that swept across part of the U.S. Midwest and South, with Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear announcing Saturday that 18 of the deaths came in his state and 10 others were hospitalized in critical condition. A devastating tornado in Kentucky damaged homes, tossed vehicles and left many people homeless. Seventeen of the deaths were in Laurel County, located in the state's southeast, and one was in Pulaski County: Fire Department Maj. Roger Leslie Leatherman, a 39-year veteran who was fatally injured while responding to the deadly weather. Parts of two dozen state roads were closed, and some could take days to reopen, Beshear said. He also said the death toll could still rise. "We need the whole world right now to be really good neighbors to this region," the governor said. State Emergency Management Director Eric Gibson said hundreds of homes were damaged, Kayla Patterson, her husband and their five children huddled in a tub in their basement in London, the county seat, as the tornado raged around them. "You could literally hear just things ripping in the distance, glass shattering everywhere, just roaring like a freight train," she recalled Saturday. "It was terrible." The family eventually emerged to the sounds of sirens and panicked neighbors. While the family's own home was spared, others right behind it were demolished, Patterson said as the sound of power tools buzzed in the background. The neighborhood was dotted with piles of lumber, metal sheeting, insulation and stray belongings — a suitcase, a sofa, some six-packs of paper towels. Rescuers were searching for survivors all night and into the morning, the sheriff's office said. An emergency shelter was set up at a local high school and donations of food and other necessities were arriving. The National Weather Service hadn't yet confirmed that a tornado struck, but meteorologist Philomon Geertson said it was likely. It ripped across the largely rural area and extended to the London Corbin Airport shortly before midnight. Resident Chris Cromer said he got the first of two tornado alerts on his phone around 11:30 p.m. or so, about a half-hour before the tornado struck. He and his wife grabbed their dog, jumped in their car and scrambled to the crawlspace at a relative's nearby home because the couple's own crawlspace is small. "We could hear and feel the vibration of the tornado coming through," said Cromer, 46. A piece of his roof was ripped off, and windows were broken, but homes around his were destroyed. "It's one of those things that you see on the news in other areas, and you feel bad for people — then, when it happens, it's just surreal," he said. "It makes you be thankful to be alive, really." The storm was the latest severe weather to cause deaths and widespread damage in Kentucky. Two months ago, at least 24 people died in a round of storms that swelled creeks and submerged roads. Hundreds of people were rescued, and most of the deaths were caused by vehicles getting stuck in high water. A storm in late 2021 spawned tornadoes that killed 81 people and leveled portions of towns in western Kentucky. The following summer, historic floodwaters inundated parts of eastern Kentucky, leaving dozens more dead. ## Missouri pounded by storms, with deaths confirmed in St. Louis About 1,200 tornadoes strike the U.S. annually, and they have been reported in all 50 states over the years. Researchers found in 2018 that deadly tornadoes were happening less frequently in the traditional "Tornado Alley" of Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas and more frequently in parts of the more densely populated and tree-filled mid-South area. The latest Kentucky storms were part of a weather system Friday that killed seven in Missouri and two in northern Virginia, authorities said. The system also spawned tornadoes in Wisconsin, brought a punishing heat wave to Texas and temporarily enveloped parts of Illinois — including Chicago — in a pall of dust on an otherwise sunny day. "Well that was.....something," the weather service's Chicago office wrote on X after issuing its first-ever dust storm warning for the city. Thunderstorms in central Illinois had pushed strong winds over dry, dusty farmland and northward into the Chicago area, the weather agency said. In Missouri, St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer said five people died, 38 were injured and more than 5,000 homes were affected in her city. "The devastation is truly heartbreaking," she said at a news conference Saturday. An overnight curfew was to continue in the most damaged neighborhoods. Weather service radar indicated a likely tornado touched down between 2:30 p.m. and 2:50 p.m. in Clayton, Missouri, in the St. Louis area. The apparent tornado touched down in the area of Forest Park, home to the St. Louis Zoo and the site of the 1904 World's Fair and Olympic Games the same year. Three people needed aid after part of the Centennial Christian Church crumbled, St. Louis Fire Battalion Chief William Pollihan told The Associated Press. Stacy Clark said his mother-in-law, Patricia Penelton, died in the church. He described her as a very active church volunteer who had many roles, including being part of the choir. John Randle said he and his girlfriend were at the St. Louis Art Museum during the storm and were hustled into the basement with about 150 other people. "You could see the doors flying open, tree branches flying by and people running," said Randle, 19. At the Saint Louis Zoo, falling trees severely damaged the roof of a butterfly facility. Staffers quickly corralled most of the butterflies, the zoo said on social media, and a conservatory in suburban Chesterfield is caring for the displaced creatures. A tornado struck in Scott County, about 130 miles (209 kilometers) south of St. Louis, killing two people, injuring several others and destroying multiple homes, Sheriff Derick Wheetley wrote on social media. ## Forecasters say severe weather could batter parts of the Plains The weather service said that supercells are likely to develop across parts of Texas and Oklahoma Saturday afternoon before becoming a line of storms in southwest Oklahoma and parts of Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas on Saturday night. The biggest risks include large to very large hail that could be up to 3.5 inches (8.9 centimeters) in size, damaging wind gusts and a few tornadoes. These conditions were expected to continue on Sunday across parts of the central and southern Plains as well as parts of the central High Plains. "Be prepared to take action if watches and warnings are issued for your area," the weather service said. ## National Weather Service offices lost staff The storms hit after the Trump administration massively cut staffing of National Weather Service offices, with outside experts worrying about how it would affect warnings in disasters such as tornadoes. The Jackson, Kentucky, weather office, which was responsible for the area around London, Kentucky, had a March 2025 vacancy rate of 25%, the Louisville, Kentucky, weather service staff was down 29%, and the St. Louis office was down 16%, according to calculations by weather service employees obtained by The Associated Press. The Louisville office was also without a permanent boss, the meteorologist in charge, as of March, according to the staffing data. Experts said any vacancy rate above 20% is a critical problem. ___ See more photos from the severe storms in the South and Midwest here. ___ Contributing were Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz in New York, Sudhin Thanawala in Atlanta, Mike Catalini in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, Juan Lozano in Houston, and Seth Borenstein in Kensington, Maryland.
Associated Press News	2025-05-13 16:17:05+00:00	[ "Crime", "Baghdad", "Iraq", "Law and order", "Drug crimes", "Terrorism", "Prisons", "Indictments", "Islamic State group" ]	# Iraq says more than 19,000 prisoners have been released under a new amnesty law By Qassim Abdul-Zahra May 13th, 2025, 04:17 PM --- BAGHDAD (AP) — More than 19,000 prisoners have been released in Iraq so far this year under a broad new amnesty law that eases prison crowding and frees some people convicted of terrorism-related crimes, judicial authorities said Tuesday. The amnesty covers some people convicted of the terror-related offense of membership in the Islamic State group, which had been seen by Sunni Muslims as disproportionately targeting their community. However, anyone convicted of a killing in connection with terrorism-related charges is not eligible for the amnesty. Other crimes covered under the amnesty include corruption, theft and drug use. The number of releases were announced following a meeting Tuesday in Baghdad among top judicial officials led by the head of the Supreme Judicial Council Faeq Zeidan to discuss the implementation of the new law, passed earlier this year. A statement released after the meeting said that 19,381 inmates were released from prisons during the first four months of the year. It added that the overall number of beneficiaries of the law, including those sentenced in absentia, those released on bail and those with outstanding arrest warrants, reached 93,597. Iraq's prisons face a crisis of overcrowding, with the justice minister saying earlier this month that the country's 31 prisons hold about 65,000 inmates despite being built to hold only about half that number. Thousands more detainees remain in the custody of security agencies but have not yet been transferred to the Justice Ministry due to a lack of prison capacity. Among provisions of the new law adopted in January is that some people convicted of terrorism charges can ask for a retrial if they assert that their confessions were taken under duress while in detention. The general amnesty law had strong support from Sunni lawmakers who argue that their community has been targeted by terrorism charges, with confessions sometimes extracted under torture. Thousands of detainees held in the country are linked to the Islamic State group, which was defeated in Iraq in 2017. Some former members of the extremist group were executed for their acts while they controlled large parts of the country. All executions have been halted under the general amnesty law. Iraq has faced criticism from human rights groups over its application of the death penalty and particularly over mass executions carried out without prior notice to lawyers or family members of the prisoners.
Associated Press News	2025-05-12 04:36:35+00:00	[ "Donald Trump", "Josh Hawley", "Mike Johnson", "Health care industry", "U.S. Republican Party", "Government programs", "Joe Biden", "Health care costs", "U.S. Democratic Party", "United States House of Representatives", "Legislation", "Access to health care", "Prenatal care", "Congress", "Business", "Frank Pallone", "Health", "Steven Guthrie", "Politics" ]	# House Republicans unveil Medicaid cuts in Trump's big bill By Lisa Mascaro May 12th, 2025, 04:36 AM --- WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans have unveiled the cost-saving centerpiece of President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill," at least $880 billion in cuts largely to Medicaid to help cover the cost of $4.5 trillion in tax breaks. Tallying hundreds of pages, the legislation revealed late Sunday is touching off the biggest political fight over health care since Republicans tried but failed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, during Trump's first term in 2017. While Republicans insist they are simply rooting out "waste, fraud and abuse" to generate savings with new work and eligibility requirements, Democrats warn that millions of Americans will lose coverage. A preliminary estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the proposals would reduce the number of people with health care by 8.6 million over the decade. "Savings like these allow us to use this bill to renew the Trump tax cuts and keep Republicans' promise to hardworking middle-class families," said Rep. Brett Guthrie of Kentucky, the GOP chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, which handles health care spending. But Democrats said the cuts are "shameful" and essentially amount to another attempt to repeal Obamacare. "In no uncertain terms, millions of Americans will lose their health care coverage," said Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the panel. He said "hospitals will close, seniors will not be able to access the care they need, and premiums will rise for millions of people if this bill passes." As Republicans race toward House Speaker Mike Johnson's Memorial Day deadline to pass Trump's big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts, they are preparing to flood the zone with round-the-clock public hearings this week on various sections before they are stitched together in what will become a massive package. The politics ahead are uncertain. More than a dozen House Republicans have told Johnson and GOP leaders they will not support cuts to the health care safety net programs that residents back home depend on. Trump himself has shied away from a repeat of his first term, vowing there will be no cuts to Medicaid. One Republican, Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, warned his colleagues in an op-ed Monday that cutting health care to pay for tax breaks would be "morally wrong and politically suicidal." All told, 11 committees in the House have been compiling their sections of the package as Republicans seek at least $1.5 trillion in savings to help cover the cost of preserving the 2017 tax breaks, which were approved during Trump's first term and are expiring at the end of the year. But the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee has been among the most watched. The committee was instructed to come up with $880 billion in savings and reached that goal, primarily with the health care cuts, but also by rolling back Biden-era green energy programs. The preliminary CBO analysis said the committee's proposals would reduce the deficit by $912 billion over the decade — with at least $715 billion coming from the health provisions. Central to the savings are changes to Medicaid, which provides almost free health care to more than 70 million Americans, and the Affordable Care Act, which has expanded in the 15 years since it was first approved to cover millions more. To be eligible for Medicaid, there would be new "community engagement requirements" of at least 80 hours per month of work, education or service for able-bodied adults without dependents. People would also have to verify their eligibility to be in the program twice a year, rather than just once. The bill also adds a more rigorous income verification for those who enroll in the Affordable Care Act's health care coverage. This is likely to lead to more churn in the program and present hurdles for people to stay covered, especially if they have to drive far to a local benefits office to verify their income in person. But Republicans say it'll ensure that the program is administered to those who qualify for it. Some Medicaid recipients who make more than 100% of the federal poverty level — about $32,000 a year for a family of four — would be required to pay out-of-pocket costs, too, for some services. Those fees, which would not apply to emergency room visits, prenatal care, pediatric visits or primary care check-ups, would be limited to $35 per visit. And applicants could not qualify for Medicaid if they have a home that is valued at more than $1 million. The proposed bill also targets any immigrants who are living in the country illegally or without documentation. It reduces by 10% the share the federal government pays to states — such as New York or California — that allow those immigrants to sign up for Medicaid. To qualify for the ACA coverage, enrollees would have to prove they are "lawfully present." Other moves would shift costs to all states. Many states have expanded their Medicaid rosters thanks to federal incentives, but the legislation would cut a 5% boost that was put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. There would be a freeze on the so-called provider tax that some states use to help pay for large portions of their Medicaid programs. The extra tax often leads to higher payments from the federal government, which critics say is a loophole that allows states to inflate their budgets. The energy portions of the legislation run far fewer pages, but include rollbacks of climate-change strategies President Joe Biden signed into law in the Inflation Reduction Act. It proposes rescinding funds for a range of energy loans and investment programs while providing expedited permitting for natural gas development and oil pipelines. ___ Associated Press writer Amanda Seitz contributed to this report.

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