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Associated Press News	2025-05-19 18:29:18+00:00	[ "Conyers", "Georgia", "Fires", "Chemicals manufacturing", "Explosions", "Climate and environment", "Contracts and orders", "Business", "Climate" ]	# Company decides not to rebuild chlorine plant with history of fires, explosions and toxic clouds By The Associated Press May 19th, 2025, 06:29 PM --- CONYERS, Ga. (AP) — The company that operated a Georgia chlorine plant with a history of explosions, chemical fires and toxic clouds that have drifted over neighborhoods outside Atlanta has decided not to rebuild the main manufacturing facility in Conyers. In a statement, BioLab Inc. said it has been unable to resume manufacturing operations in Conyers after the most recent catastrophe on Sept. 29. "After taking steps to meet customer needs through alternative production, and in considering our future business needs carefully, we have made the difficult decision not to restart manufacturing at the Conyers plant," it said. Though manufacturing won't restart, the company's Conyers distribution center will remain operational and fill customer orders for products from other manufacturing facilities, BioLab said. "We take our role in Conyers very seriously, and as we move forward, the safety and wellbeing of the Conyers community remain a top priority." The September fire sent a huge plume of orange and black smoke into the Georgia sky, forcing nearby residents to shelter in place, leading to classes canceled for schoolchildren and the closure of a major interstate. Last month, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board released an update on its investigation. The company improperly stored hazardous chemicals, federal authorities said. BioLab was cited for six violations, including four serious ones, and more than $60,000 in proposed penalties, the U.S. Department of Labor said. BioLab makes chemicals that kill algae and bacteria in water, primarily for swimming pools and hot tubs. The company is a subsidiary of Lawrenceville, Georgia-based KIK Consumer Products. Its Conyers plant is about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southeast of downtown Atlanta.
Associated Press News	2025-05-20 08:24:55+00:00	[ "Donald Trump", "Emmanuel Macron", "Narendra Modi", "Pandemics", "Geneva", "World Health Organization", "United States", "Coronavirus", "Health", "Immunizations", "Politics", "United Nations", "COVID-19 pandemic", "Robert F. Kennedy Jr.", "International agreements" ]	# WHO members adopt a 'pandemic agreement' to prepare for next one By Jamey Keaten May 20th, 2025, 08:24 AM --- GENEVA (AP) — World Health Organization member countries on Tuesday approved an agreement to better prevent, prepare for and respond to future pandemics in the wake of the devastation wrought by the coronavirus. Sustained applause echoed in a Geneva hall hosting the WHO's annual assembly as the measure — debated and devised over three years — passed without opposition. The U.S., traditionally the top donor to the U.N. health agency, was not part of the final stages of pandemic agreement process after the Trump administration announced a U.S. pullout from the WHO. Many world leaders offered words of support for the U.N. health agency, and praised the show of multilateralism. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking by video, congratulated WHO and the other member states, calling the accord "a shared commitment to fight future pandemics with greater cooperation while building a healthy planet." While many supporters praised the "historic" deal, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. delivered a scathing critique of the U.N. health agency, saying the United States was working with unspecified "like-minded" countries to improve the global health system and called on health ministers in others to join. "Like many legacy institutions, the WHO has become mired in bureaucratic bloat, entrenched paradigms, conflicts of interest and international power politics," Kennedy said in a video statement. "We don't have to suffer the limits of a moribund WHO. Let's create new institutions or revisit existing institutions that are clean, efficient, transparent and accountable." The U.S. administration cited the WHO's "mishandling of COVID-19" and failure to enact needed reforms, and "China's demonstrated political influence" over science and policy at the agency, the State Department said in an email. The U.S. was not sending a delegation for the assembly, which runs through May 27. "I urge the world's health ministers and the WHO to take our withdrawal from the organization as a wake-up call," Kennedy said. "It isn't that President (Donald) Trump and I have lost interest in international cooperation. Not at all. We just want it to happen in a way that's fair and efficient and transparent for all the member states." China, meanwhile, was doubling down its support for WHO — both politically and financially. Vice Premier Liu Guozhong said "all sides need to firmly support the WHO to play a central coordinating in global health governance, (and) support WHO to perform its duty in an independent, professional and science-based manner." China, he said through a translator, "will provide an additional quota of financial support to the WHO that can add up to $500 million in the coming five years," without specifying. It was not immediately clear whether that amounted to a new financial commitment from Beijing. The Chinese diplomatic mission in Geneva said the $500 million would include higher dues that Beijing pays for WHO membership, as well as some voluntary contributions and projects supported through Chinese development and cooperation programs. The United States — whose contributions to WHO have been halted — had been set to contribute more than $700 million to the current 2024-2025 budget, while China was poised to chip in more than $200 million, according to the U.N. health agency's website. French President Emmanuel Macron said "some believe they can do without science," an apparent allusion to U.S. funding cuts for research. "Not only will that harm the health of us all, but it's first of all the population of those who are taking a step back, in a way, who will be in real danger in the face of emerging pathogens that they wouldn't see coming," Macron told the assembly by video. The treaty's effectiveness will also face doubts because the United States — which poured billions into speedy work by pharmaceutical companies to develop COVID-19 vaccines — is not taking part, and because countries face no penalties if they ignore it. Even though it has been adopted, some hard work remains. Countries hope to adopt by next year's assembly an annex to the treaty that would guarantee that countries that share virus samples will receive tests, medicines and vaccines used to fight pandemics, under what's called the Pathogen Access and Benefits Sharing system. Under it, up to 20% of such products would be given to WHO to make sure that developing countries have some access to them. Also Tuesday, member states agreed to a 20% increase in the dues that countries pay to WHO, in an effort to provide more regular funding compared to the voluntary — often program-specific and less consistent — support that has traditionally made up most of its budget.
Associated Press News	2025-05-03 04:01:11+00:00	[ "Donald Trump", "JD Vance", "Italy", "Giorgia Meloni", "Narendra Modi", "Chelsea Clinton", "Usha Vance", "Joe Biden", "India", "Greenland", "Paris", "Children", "United States government", "Diplomacy", "United States", "South Asia", "Sasha Obama", "Christopher Devine", "Government and politics", "Brad Blakeman", "Jean Twenge", "George W. Bush", "Pope Francis", "Kamala Harris", "Travel and tourism", "Joel Goldstein", "Politics" ]	# VP Vance's global trips blend diplomacy, deals, soft power and family time By Darlene Superville and Julie Carr Smyth May 3rd, 2025, 04:01 AM --- WASHINGTON (AP) — When JD Vance was running for vice president, he walked across an airport tarmac in Wisconsin one August day when his campaign travels happened to intersect those of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and approached Air Force Two. Besides wanting to take a poke at Republican Donald Trump's rival for avoiding the press, Vance said, "I just wanted to check out my future plane." It's an aircraft he now knows well. In the opening months of Trump's term, Vice President Vance has traveled all over the globe — family in tow — to conduct top-level diplomacy for the administration, in addition to taking a number of domestic trips. His international forays have featured a mix of meetings with world leaders, sharply crafted speeches advancing U.S. policy, "soft power" appearances to build goodwill and family time at tourist sites along the way. ## Diplomacy before family and cultural sights Vance's trips have included a five-day trip to Europe in February, a hastily reorganized trek to Greenland in March and a tour of Italy and India in April that was notable for the vice president's brief meeting with Pope Francis the day before the pontiff died. In his first big moment on the world stage in February, Vance pressed Trump's "America first" message at an artificial intelligence summit in Paris and spoke of maintaining U.S. dominance in the surging industry. From there, he attended a security conference in Munich, where the vice president left his audience stunned with his lecturing remarks about democracy and scant focus on Russia's war against Ukraine. In March, Vance delivered pointed remarks while in Greenland, scolding Denmark for not investing more in the security of its territory and demanding a new approach. Trump has upset many Greenlanders with his aggressive claims that the U.S. needs to take control of the island away from Denmark. There's been dealmaking, too. In India last month, Vance announced after meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that they had agreed on a negotiating framework for a U.S.-India trade deal. In Italy, he held talks with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, in addition to his separate audiences with the pope and a top Vatican official. ## Family time follows Vance's diplomatic work Vance has been accompanied on his overseas trips by his wife, Usha, and their 7- and 5-year-old sons and 3-year-old daughter. The kids are usually in pajamas as they board Air Force Two for the overnight . The Vances have gazed aloft at the newly restored Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City and been photographed, with the children in traditional Indian dress, in front of the Taj Mahal in Agra. Without their children, the Vances also visited Dachau in Germany. Brad Blakeman, a former senior official in George W. Bush's administration who has provided planning advice to Vance's office for some of his foreign travel, said that, while some personal time is woven in, these are not vacations. "You try and balance the policy with the culture aspect of the trip so that you're honoring the customs and culture of the places that you are visiting," he said. Visiting iconic cultural sites while abroad shows respect and builds rapport with host nations that can enhance diplomacy. It's also important to be mindful that the president and vice president travel at the public's expense, he said. "That's the balancing act that always has to be done because of the stewardship of the taxpayers' money," he said. Joel Goldstein, a law professor at Saint Louis University who specializes in the U.S. vice presidency, said the journeys also could be intended to build Vance's foreign policy chops. "Part of foreign travel for a vice president is establishing a national security and diplomatic credential," he said, noting that it's particularly important for Vance. At age 40, Vance served just two years in the Senate before ascending to the office. ## Vance displays the habits of a millennial Vance is also the second-youngest person and the first of the millennial generation to hold the job. "Generations" author Jean Twenge, a San Diego State University psychology professor who studies generational differences, said the ease with which Vance moves between work and leisure is emblematic of his generation. "The research suggests that, just with internet use and social media use, the lines between work time and family time blur, that you switch tasks much more quickly than, say, Gen Xers or boomers," she said. Vance frequently switches gears on the road. Last week, he wedged in a quick beer with service members in Germany — and autographed the "kegerator" built by one airman — after days of wall-to-wall official and cultural activities throughout Italy and India. ## Some of the Vances' activities have been unwelcome Usha Vance was originally slated for a solo trip to Greenland with one of their sons to attend a dogsled race. But that plan was scrapped amid growing discontent from the governments of Greenland and Denmark over the visit and Trump's tough talk of the U.S. taking the territory away from a NATO ally. Instead, the vice president joined the trip, and their visit was limited to a U.S. military base there. On his Italy trip, Vance took heat on X for being photographed inside the Sistine Chapel. Photography there is usually forbidden, but the session turned out to have been sanctioned by the Vatican, as has happened on past visits by U.S. dignitaries. A decision during the same trip to close the Roman Colosseum to the public so Usha Vance and the children could take a tour drew some grumbling from tourists stranded outside. A consumer group has since filed a legal complaint. In India, the Taj Mahal, normally swarming with tourists, was also closed to visitors to accommodate the Vances, according to local media reports. American officials are often formally invited to make such cultural diversions, and it's not unusual for the U.S. Secret Service, which provides protection for top U.S. officials, to ask for the sites to be closed to the public for security reasons during presidential and vice presidential tours. The Vances appear to have tried on occasion to avoid such disruptions. In France, the family visited the Louvre on a Tuesday, a day when the museum is closed to the public. ## Such trips have a long history Other recent vice presidents also have taken family members along on trips. Presidents do, as well. As vice president, Democrat Joe Biden often took one of his older granddaughters on trips, a practice he continued as president. Presidents' children, including Malia and Sasha Obama and Chelsea Clinton, went along on some trips with their parents, too. Practices differ, but the idea is the same: Time in office is short, so make the most of it and expose your children to the world. Usha Vance said as much during the family visit to India, where her parents were born. She hadn't visited in decades, and her husband and children had never been there. In an interview with India's NDTV, she said she'd been anxious to make the "trip of a lifetime" with them. "It's been something that I've wanted to share with my new nuclear family," the U.S. second lady said, adding that they knew Vance would have a chance to visit India as vice president. "We always knew that, when that opportunity arose, we would all come with him." "We think of it as sort of a gateway, the first of many trips to come, I hope," she said. ## Soft diplomacy is another goal One aim of vice presidential travel abroad is often soft diplomacy, or the building of favorable attitudes toward the U.S. through imagery and symbolism. When Vance, with his wife of Indian descent and their children, is photographed at the Taj Mahal, it sends a message of solidarity with that nation. When he visits the Vatican and worships there, it emphasizes common ground with Catholics around the world. Likewise, when Vance appears in public with his children, it could help drive home his quest to encourage large families and build goodwill among American voters, said University of Dayton political scientist Christopher Devine, co-author of "Do Running Mates Matter?" "I wonder, with JD Vance, if it's an effort to soften his image," Devine said. "He's someone who has not been particularly popular ever since he entered the national scene, and appearing with family tends to make people a little more likable, harder to hate." ___ Smyth reported from Columbus, Ohio.
Associated Press News	2025-05-02 00:10:29+00:00	[ "Minneapolis", "Crime", "Shootings", "Law enforcement", "Brian OHara", "Gun violence", "Organized crime", "Homicide" ]	# Man arrested in fatal shootings of 3 people in Minneapolis May 2nd, 2025, 12:10 AM --- MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Authorities arrested a 34-year-old man Thursday in connection with the fatal shootings of three people in Minneapolis, and the city's police chief said it's likely another person was killed the next day in retaliation. Police have said that the four people killed and two others seriously wounded in the multiple shootings were Native American, and authorities strongly suspect the shootings were gang-related. However, Police Chief Brian O'Hara said during a news conference Thursday that authorities are still investigating the motives behind the shootings. The shootings shook a large Indigenous community south of downtown Minneapolis. A 20-year-old woman, a 17-year-old boy and a 27-year-old man were killed in Tuesday's shootings, and a 28-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman were taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries. A 30-year-old man died in Wednesday's shooting. The first shooting took place just before midnight Tuesday. O'Hara said it's "entirely probable" that the second shooting with a single victim was a response to the three deaths, and he said someone else was responsible. It occurred about 1 p.m. Wednesday a little more than a mile (1.6 kilometers) to the northeast outside an apartment building housing the Minneapolis offices of the Red Lake Nation tribe. "But beyond that, I can't speculate further about some ongoing beef," O'Hara said. The police chief said police believe the shootings are gang related based on the "lived experience" of the people in the area. The U.S. Marshals Service said its local fugitive task force and an FBI SWAT team arrested the suspect in the multiple shootings Thursday afternoon. He was being held in the Hennepin County jail and had not been charged as of Thursday evening.
Associated Press News	2025-05-07 22:35:24+00:00	[ "Protests and demonstrations", "Marco Rubio", "Donald Trump", "Mahmoud Khalil", "Eric Adams", "Colleges and universities", "Kathy Hochul", "New York City", "National", "New York City Wire", "Colombia government", "Education", "United States government", "Politics", "Andrew Dalack", "Technology", "Tarek Bazrouk", "Claire Shipman" ]	# Pro-Palestinian demonstrators clash with security guards at Columbia University May 7th, 2025, 10:35 PM --- NEW YORK (AP) — Police officers in helmets streamed into Columbia University Wednesday evening to remove a group of mask-clad protesters who staged a Pro-Palestinian demonstration inside the school's main library. Videos shared on social media show a long line of NYPD officers entering the library hours after dozens of protesters pushed their way past campus security officers, raced into the building and then hung Palestinian flags and other banners on bookshelves in an ornate reading room. Some protesters also appear to have scrawled "Columbia will burn" across framed pictures. Other videos show campus security officers barring another group of protesters from entering the library, with both sides shoving to try and force the other group aside. Police said at least 80 people had been taken into custody, though it wasn't clear how many came from the demonstration inside the library and how many were outside the building. Videos shared by a reporter on the scene show more than 30 people being taken away from the library by officers with their hands tied behind their backs. Protesters and other supporters, meanwhile, gather around the metal barriers set up outside the building by police cheering on the detained demonstrators and chanting "Free Palestine." The university's acting president, Claire Shipman, said the protesters who had holed up inside a library reading room were asked repeatedly to show identification and to leave, but they refused. The school then requested the NYPD come in "to assist in securing the building and the safety of our community," she said in a statement Wednesday evening. Shipman said two university public safety officers sustained injuries as protesters forced their way into the building. "These actions are outrageous," she said, adding that the disruption came as students were studying and preparing for final exams. New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, subsequently said officers were entering the campus "to remove individuals who are trespassing." New York Gov. Kathy Hochul also denounced the protesters. "Everyone has the right to peacefully protest," the Democrat wrote on X. "But violence, vandalism or destruction of property are completely unacceptable." U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X that they are examining visa status for "trespassers and vandals" who took over the library. "Pro-Hamas thugs are no longer welcome in our great nation," he wrote. The Trump administration has cracked down on international students and scholars at several American universities who had participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations or criticized Israel over its military action in Gaza. Columbia University scholar Mahmoud Khalil, for example, is a legal U.S. resident with no criminal record who was detained in March over his participation in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Wednesday's demonstration and the effort to break it up came the same evening that the U.S. Justice Department announced it had brought hate-crime charges against a man who had been repeatedly arrested at pro-Palestinian demonstrations over the past year, including one held near Columbia. An indictment charged Tarek Bazrouk, 20, with assaulting Jewish people at the demonstrations. Columbia University in March announced sweeping policy changes related to protests following Trump administration threats to revoke its federal funding. Among them are a ban on students wearing masks to conceal their identities and a rule that those protesting on campus must present their identification when asked. The school also said it had hired new public safety officers empowered to make arrests on campus. Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a pro-Palestinian student group, said it had occupied part of Butler Library because it believed the university profited from "imperialist violence." "Repression breeds resistance — if Columbia escalates repression, the people will continue to escalate disruptions on this campus," the group wrote online. The federal charges against Bazrouk say he kicked a person in the stomach at a protest near the New York Stock Exchange, stole an Israeli flag and punched someone in the face at a demonstration near Columbia, and punched someone wearing an Israeli flag at another Manhattan protest in January. Bazrouk's lawyer, Andrew Dalack, said his attorneys "look forward to zealously defending" him. A magistrate judge said Wednesday that Bazrouk could be released on bail, but that ruling is being challenged by prosecutors. A hearing is scheduled before a federal judge on Tuesday.
Associated Press News	2025-05-08 02:24:45+00:00	[ "Donald Trump", "Seattle", "San Francisco", "Lawsuits", "United States government", "Homelessness", "Subsidies", "United States", "Trump lawsuits", "Politics", "Shannon Braddock", "Barbara Rothstein", "Legal proceedings", "Government policy" ]	# Judge temporarily blocks Trump administration's new transit and homelessness grant conditions By Gene Johnson May 8th, 2025, 02:24 AM --- SEATTLE (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from imposing new conditions on hundreds of millions of dollars worth of mass transit grants for the Seattle area or homelessness services grants for Boston, New York, San Francisco and other local governments. The new conditions were designed to further President Donald Trump's efforts to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion policies; coerce local officials into assisting with the administration's mass deportation efforts; and cut off information about lawful abortions, according to the lawsuit filed last week by eight cities and counties. The administration argued that Senior U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein in Seattle did not have jurisdiction over the lawsuit because it was essentially a contract dispute that should have been brought in the Court of Federal Claims — an argument the judge rejected. Rothstein wrote that the local governments had shown they were likely to win the case, because the conditions being imposed on the grants had not been approved by Congress, were not closely related to the purposes of the grants and would not make the administration of the grants more efficient. "Defendants have put Plaintiffs in the position of having to choose between accepting conditions that they believe are unconstitutional, and risking the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grant funding, including funding that they have already budgeted and are committed to spending," Rothstein wrote. Her order blocks U.S. Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Transportation Administration for 14 days from enforcing the new grant conditions or withholding or delaying funding awarded under the grants. The local jurisdictions said they would seek a longer-term block in the meantime. The Trump administration did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. King County, which includes Seattle, sued over changes to grant conditions for homelessness services as well as mass transit funding that helps pay for maintenance of the region's light rail system. Boston and New York, Pierce and Snohomish Counties in Washington, the city and county of San Francisco, and Santa Clara County in California all sued over the changes to homelessness services grants. "Today's ruling is a positive first step in our challenge to federal overreach," King County Executive Shannon Braddock said in a statement. "We will continue to stand up against unlawful actions to protect our residents and the services they rely on." The conditions highlighted in the plaintiff's restraining order motion included barring grant recipients from using the funding in a way that promotes "illegal immigration or abets policies that seek to shield illegal aliens from deportation." Another condition bars them from using the funding to "promote elective abortions." ___ AP reporter Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed to this report.
Associated Press News	2025-05-05 23:12:41+00:00	[ "George Floyd", "Donald Trump", "Minnesota", "Minneapolis", "U.S. Department of Justice", "Harmeet Dhillon", "Mary Moriarty", "Pam Bondi", "Legal proceedings", "Diversity", "equity and inclusion", "Racial injustice", "Discrimination", "Human rights", "Race and ethnicity", "Politics", "Paul Magnuson", "Law enforcement", "Daniel Borgertpoepping", "Civil rights", "Fires", "United States government", "Death of George Floyd", "Race and Ethnicity" ]	# Justice Department plans to investigate prosecutor's office in Minnesota's most populous county By Steve Karnowski May 5th, 2025, 11:12 PM --- MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice has opened an investigation of the prosecutor's office in Minnesota's most populous county after its leader directed her staff to consider racial disparities as one factor when negotiating plea deals. Harmeet Dhillon, a Republican lawyer who's the new director of the agency's Civil Rights Division, announced the investigation in a social media post Saturday night. Dhillon posted a letter from Attorney General Pam Bondi to Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, dated Friday. It said the investigation would focus on whether Moriarty's office "engages in the illegal consideration of race in its prosecutorial decision-making." The letter, released to The Associated Press by the Justice Department on Monday, said the investigation was triggered by a new policy adopted by the county attorney that has come under conservative fire in recent weeks. That policy, which was leaked to local media last month, says racial disparities harm the community, so prosecutors should consider the "whole person, including their racial identity and age," as part of their overall analysis. Moriarty's office got the Justice Department letter via email on Monday, the county attorney's spokesperson, Daniel Borgertpoepping, said in a statement. "Our office will cooperate with any resulting investigation and we're fully confident our policy complies with the law," he said. Moriarty, a former public defender, was elected in 2022 as the Minneapolis area and the country were still reeling from the death of George Floyd, a Black man, under the knee of a white officer. She promised to make police more accountable and change the culture of a prosecutors' office that she believed had long overemphasized punishment without addressing the root causes of crime. The federal inquiry will be a "pattern or practice" investigation, Bondi's letter said. That's the same kind of probe that the Justice Department conducted of the Minneapolis Police Department following the murder of Floyd nearly five years ago. That process led to an agreement in January between the Biden administration's Justice Department and the city on a consent decree to mandate changes to the police department's training and use-of-force policies that are meant to reduce racial disparities in policing. However, the agreement still requires approval by a federal judge. After taking office later in January, President Donald Trump's administration froze civil rights litigation and suggested it may reconsider the Minneapolis agreement and a similar one with Louisville, Kentucky. Trump took a step further last month when he signed an executive order directing the attorney general to review all ongoing federal consent decrees with law enforcement agencies and "modify, rescind, or move to conclude such measures that unduly impede the performance of law enforcement functions." The Justice Department had already asked the court to pause its decision on the Minneapolis agreement while Dhillon reviews the matter. U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson has given the agency until May 21. Louisville's consent decree is similarly on hold.
Associated Press News	2025-05-14 04:05:37+00:00	[ "Donald Trump", "Newark", "Joe Biden", "Sean Duffy", "Federal Aviation Administration", "Aviation safety", "Pete Buttigieg", "U.S. Department of Transportation", "New York City Wire", "Business", "Frank McIntosh", "Chris Rocheleau" ]	# FAA meets with airlines to address Newark airport delays and equipment issues By Josh Funk May 14th, 2025, 04:05 AM --- The recent chronic delays and cancellations at New Jersey's largest airport have highlighted the shortage of air traffic controllers and the aging equipment they use, which President Donald Trump's administration wants to replace. The Federal Aviation Administration is working on a short-term fix to the problems at the Newark airport that includes technical repairs and cutting flights to keep traffic manageable while dealing with a shortage of controllers. Officials met with some of the airlines that fly out of Newark on Wednesday to discuss the plan, and those conversations will continue on Thursday. But even before those problems, aviation was already in the spotlight ever since the deadly midair collision of a passenger jet and a U.S. Army helicopter above Washington, D.C., in January, and a string of other crashes and mishaps since then. The investigations into those crashes continue while the U.S. Department of Transportation tries to make progress on the long-standing issues of not having enough air traffic controllers and relying on outdated equipment. A U.S. Senate hearing on Wednesday focused on the FAA's efforts. ## What happened in Newark? Twice in the past two-and-a-half weeks, the radar and communications systems that air traffic controllers in Philadelphia who direct planes in and out of Newark rely on failed for a short time. That happened because the main line that carries the radar signal down from another FAA facility in New York failed, and the backup line didn't work immediately. So the controllers were left unable to see or talk to the planes around Newark Liberty International Airport for as long as 90 seconds on April 28 and May 9. The lines — some of which were old copper wires — failed a third time on Sunday, but that time the backup system worked and the radar stayed online. The FAA's head of air traffic controllers, Frank McIntosh, said during the Senate hearing on Wednesday that he believes the planes remained safe because of what they had been directed to do beforehand, but acknowledged that 90 seconds is "a long disruption for a radar screen to go blank or not to be able to talk to aircraft." "I don't believe there was a heightened significant danger to the flying public. But with that being said, from where I sit, we want to remove all risk to the flying public," McIntosh said. "And that is what's concerning to me is how do we remove any bit of that risk. And we need to make sure our contingencies are better placed." The first of those stressful outages prompted five to seven controllers to take a 45-day trauma leave, worsening the existing staff shortage at the Philadelphia control facility and prompting the FAA to limit the number of flights in Newark each day. The FAA currently has 22 fully certified air traffic controllers and five supervisors assigned to Newark in the Philadelphia facility, but the agency wants to have 38 controllers there. Another 21 controllers are in training there, and 10 of them are certified on at least part of the area. ## What has been done in Newark? The FAA quickly limited the number of flights in Newark to between 24 and 28 arrivals and the same number of departures every hour to ensure the remaining controllers could handle them safely. At times when controller staffing is especially lean, like Monday, the FAA is limiting traffic even further. Before the problems, 38 or 39 flights would take off and land every hour in Newark. McIntosh said at the Senate hearing that on Monday, there were only three controllers on duty in Philadelphia for about an hour because some had taken sick leave and others had unplanned leave. That put the facility well below the minimum of seven controllers the FAA wants and led to average delays of more than 90 minutes as the agency limited flights. The meetings FAA officials are having with all the airlines are focused on a plan that continues limiting takeoffs and landings to no more than 28 apiece an hour until at least mid-June. By then, a runway construction project should be wrapped up, and the controllers who took trauma leave would be scheduled to return. After that, the FAA has said it might be able to bump up the limit to 34 arrivals and 34 departures an hour. Meanwhile, the number of flights a day must be cut because the airport can't handle everyone on the schedule. That's why Newark has generally led the nation in cancellations and delays in recent weeks — more than 100 flights were cancelled there Wednesday. After the FAA meets with the airlines, it will give them a couple of weeks to submit information in writing, so it likely won't issue a decision before May 28. The FAA said Wednesday that it is meeting with United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Spirit Airlines and Allegiant Air about the Newark schedule. United has a major hub in Newark and has been vocal about the need for the FAA to manage the schedule at the airport more closely. United has already cut 35 flights from its daily schedule at the airport. The FAA has been able to install new fiber optic lines at Newark airport and the two other major airports in the New York area — Kennedy International and LaGuardia — but those are still being tested and won't come online until the end of the month. Officials were able to update some computer software last week that kept the radar from going offline a third time on Sunday when the primary line failed yet again. Longer-term, the FAA is also planning to build a new radar system in Philadelphia, so that controllers there won't have to rely on the signal piped down from New York anymore. But that might not be done for months, although officials are working with contractors to speed up that project. A third data line is also being added to the facility as an additional backup. McIntosh said the FAA has similar systems all across the country with a main line and a backup line carrying radar data to controllers, "and we haven't had a failure like this to this degree in my memory." ## Why not hire more controllers? The FAA has been working for a long time to hire more air traffic controllers to replace retiring workers and handle the growing air traffic. But it can be hard to find good candidates for the stressful positions, and it takes years to train controllers to do the job. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has made several moves to try to hire more controllers. The FAA is trying to shorten the time it takes between when someone applies to the air traffic controller academy in Oklahoma City and when they start, and the agency is also trying to improve the graduation rate there by offering more support to the students. The candidates with the highest scores on the entrance exam are also getting top priority. The FAA is also offering bonuses to experienced controllers if they opt not to retire early and continue working to help ease the shortage. More high-tech simulators are also being used at airports across the country, including Newark, to train air traffic controllers. The FAA said Tuesday that controllers tend to complete training more quickly when they use one of the 111 simulators it has. "These new simulators give air traffic control trainees a high-tech space to learn, develop and practice their skills," said acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau. ## What about the outdated equipment? The Transportation Department plans to ask Congress for billions and billions of dollars to pay for an overhaul of the air traffic control system nationwide to replace the 618 radars, install 4,600 new high-speed connections and upgrade all the computers controllers use. The exact price tag hasn't been determined. Duffy blames former President Joe Biden's administration for failing to upgrade the air traffic control system, but Congress first recognized the system was struggling to keep up with the growing number of flights as far back as the 1990s, so the problems go back decades — long before the Biden or first Trump administrations. Biden's former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has defended their efforts to upgrade some of the technology and expand air traffic controller hiring. Some of the decades-old computer equipment that controllers rely on was on display at last week's news conference about the plan, which has drawn broad support from more than 50 groups across the industry. Duffy has used an assortment of colorful metaphors to emphasize how old the equipment is, saying the gear looks like it came off the set of the movie "Apollo 13" and comparing it to a 1967 Volkswagen Beetle.
Associated Press News	2025-05-18 03:07:52+00:00	[ "Space launches", "Aerospace technology", "India", "South Asia", "Asia", "Asia Pacific", "Science", "Technology" ]	# Indian space agency's satellite mission fails due to technical issue in launch vehicle May 18th, 2025, 03:07 AM --- NEW DELHI (AP) — The Indian space agency's mission to launch into orbit a new Earth observation satellite failed after the launch vehicle encountered a technical issue during the third stage of flight, officials said Sunday. The EOS-09 Earth observation satellite took off on board the PSLV-C61 launch vehicle from the Sriharikota space center in southern India on Sunday morning. "During the third stage ... there was a fall in the chamber pressure of the motor case, and the mission could not be accomplished," said V. Narayanan, chief of the Indian Space Research Organisation. Active in space research since the 1960s, India has launched satellites for itself and other countries, and successfully put one in orbit around Mars in 2014. After a failed attempt to land on the moon in 2019, India became the first country to land a spacecraft near the moon's south pole in 2023 in a historic voyage to uncharted territory that scientists believe could hold reserves of frozen water. The mission was dubbed as a technological triumph for the world's most populous nation.
Associated Press News	2025-05-10 13:19:51+00:00	[ "Somalia", "Mogadishu", "Weather", "Mohamed Hassan", "Climate and environment", "Droughts", "Building collapses", "Climate" ]	# At least seven people die as heavy rains leave waist-high floodwaters in Somalia's capital By Omar Faruk May 10th, 2025, 01:19 PM --- MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — At least seven people have died and major roads were cut off after heavy rains led to flooding in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, on Friday night due to an overwhelmed drainage system and a growing urban population. The regional administration spokesperson, Abdinasir Hirsi Idle, told The Associated Press on Saturday that rescue efforts were ongoing. "The death toll could rise because the rains were heavy and lasted for several hours, causing nine houses to collapse across different neighborhoods, and at least six major roads to suffer severe damage," he said. Somalia has in the past suffered extreme climate shocks that include prolonged dry seasons that have caused drought and heavy rains that have resulted in floods. Friday's rains went on for about eight hours, leaving waist-high waters in neighborhoods where some residents were trapped and others were forced to move to higher ground. A resident, Mohamed Hassan, told the AP that some older people were still trapped. "We spent the night on rooftops, shivering from the cold, and I haven't even had breakfast," he said. Floodwaters also damaged key infrastructure, halting public transport and temporarily disrupting operations at the main airport, Aden Abdulle International Airport. Officials later confirmed flights had resumed operations. The Somali Disaster Management Agency has not yet released an official death toll but said assessment was underway to determine the extent of the damage. The country's energy and water ministry in a statement on Saturday said, "a substantial amount of rainfall, exceeding 115 mm, was recorded in over 8 consecutive hours" and warned of flash floods in other regions outside the capital.
Associated Press News	2025-05-05 15:35:44+00:00	[ "Maine", "Paul LePage", "Donald Trump", "District of Columbia", "Jared Golden", "United States government", "United States", "Politics", "2020 United States presidential election", "Voting", "Capitalism", "Austin Theriault", "Elections" ]	# Ex- Maine Republican governor runs for Congress in Trump-friendly district By Patrick Whittle May 5th, 2025, 03:35 PM --- LEWISTON, Maine (AP) — Former Maine Gov. Paul LePage, an early supporter of President Donald Trump's first successful White House bid and a polarizing figure in state politics, said Monday he is running for Congress in a competitive district. LePage, a Republican who was governor from 2011 to 2019 and lost a bid for another term in 2022, filed papers late Sunday to run for the 2nd Congressional District seat currently held by Democratic Rep. Jared Golden. The district is politically mixed, as voters have sent Golden to Washington four times in a row while also supporting President Donald Trump in three consecutive presidential elections. LePage, 76, brought Maine into the national spotlight as governor with incendiary statements about out-of-state drug dealers impregnating "young white" girls and a political rival he said would "give it to the people without providing Vaseline." He also described himself as "Donald Trump before Donald Trump became popular" and threw support behind the future president in 2016. LePage made support for Trump less of a focus in his failed 2022 bid for governor, but said in a Monday statement that "entrenched interests are fighting President Trump at every turn as he works to fix problems." He also vowed to fight "extreme woke policies that defy common sense," protect the 2nd Amendment and create jobs. Golden, 42, served as a member of the Maine House of Representatives for four years while LePage was governor. A spokesperson for Golden said the congressman is prioritizing protecting Maine's fishing communities, fighting Republican-led health care cuts and working to secure jobs at the Bath Iron Works shipyard and is not focusing on reelection. Golden said in a Monday statement: "I thought Paul was doing his best work in retirement." LePage initially moved from Maine after leaving the governor's office in 2019 and took up residence in Florida. He then re-established residence in Maine. His bid to unseat Mills in 2022 would have made him the longest-serving governor in Maine history. Regardless of who the candidates are, the 2nd Congressional District in Maine will be one of the most-watched House races in the country in 2026 because Republicans hold a slim majority in the chamber and the district is one of the most competitive. Golden narrowly won reelection over Republican Austin Theriault last year.
Associated Press News	2025-05-14 16:00:01+00:00	[ "Robert Brooks", "New York", "Nicholas Gentile", "Crime", "New York City Wire", "Law enforcement", "Violence", "Homicide", "Assault", "Christopher Walrath", "Police brutality", "Prisons", "Criminal punishment", "William Fitzpatrick", "Indictments" ]	# New York prison guard says he cleaned up blood of fatally beaten inmate in plea May 14th, 2025, 04:00 PM --- UTICA, N.Y. (AP) — A New York corrections officer admitted in court Wednesday that he cleaned up bloodstains from an inmate whose fatal beating was captured on bodycam videos in an attempt to conceal evidence. Nicholas Gentile pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of attempted tampering with physical evidence in the Dec. 9 beating of Robert Brooks at the Marcy Correctional Facility. Publicly released video of the assault, which shows officers beating Brooks while his hands were cuffed behind his back, sparked condemnation and calls for reforms. Gentile, 36, was among 10 guards indicted in February in connection with Brooks' death. Six officers were charged with second-degree murder. Gentile was indicted on a felony charge of tampering with physical evidence. Under questioning from the judge and a prosecutor, Gentile acknowledged he knew about the assault by fellow guards, cleaned up Brooks' blood and failed to document it. Under a plea agreement, Gentile was sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge, meaning he can avoid prison time if he resigns his job and obeys the law. He also waived his right to appeal. He declined to make a statement in court. One former officer charged with murder in the assault, Christopher Walrath, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter earlier this month. Three other prison workers have reached agreements but had yet to enter those pleas, according to prosecutors. Brooks began serving a 12-year sentence for first-degree assault in 2017 and was transferred Dec. 9 to Marcy, a prison about 180 miles (290 kilometers) northwest of New York City. Special prosecutor William Fitzpatrick has said Brooks was beaten three times that night, the last of which was the fatal attack caught on bodycam footage. Brooks, 43, was declared dead the next day. Fitzpatrick, the Onondaga County district attorney, also is prosecuting guards in the fatal beating of Messiah Nantwi on March 1 at another Marcy lockup, the Mid-State Correctional Facility.
Associated Press News	2025-05-05 14:36:38+00:00	[ "Theater", "Nonfiction", "Books and literature", "Musicals", "New York City Wire", "Andrew Rannells", "Lindsay Mendez", "Renee Elise Goldsberry", "Lifestyle", "Arts and entertainment", "New York", "Jesse Tyler Ferguson", "Danny Burstein", "Tony Award", "Darren Criss", "Christopher Sieber", "Annaleigh Ashford", "Lin Manuel Miranda", "Jonathan Karp", "Andrew Lippa", "Tom Kitt" ]	# Broadway producer Jeffrey Seller writes his autobiography, 'Theater Kid' By Mark Kennedy May 5th, 2025, 02:36 PM --- NEW YORK (AP) — Jeffrey Seller, the Broadway producer behind such landmark hits as "Rent," "Avenue Q" and "Hamilton," didn't initially write a memoir for us. He wrote it for himself. "I really felt a personal existential need to write my story. I had to make sense of where I came from myself," he says in his memento-filled Times Square office. "I started doing it as an exercise for me and I ultimately did it for theater kids of all ages everywhere." Seller's "Theater Kid" — which he wrote even before finding a publishing house — traces the rise of an unlikely theater force who was raised in a poor neighborhood far from Broadway, along the way giving readers a portrait of the Great White Way in the gritty 1970s and '80s. In it, he is brutally honest. "I am a jealous person. I am an envious person," he says. "I'm a kind person, I'm an honest person. Sometimes I am a mean person and a stubborn person and a joyous person. And as the book shows, I was particularly in that era, often a very lonely person." Seller, 60. who is candid about trysts, professional snubs, mistakes and his unorthodox family, says he wasn't interested in writing a recipe book on how to make a producer. "I was more interested in exploring, first and foremost, how a poor, gay, adopted Jewish kid from Cardboard Village in Oak Park, Michigan, gets to Broadway and produces 'Rent' at age 31." ## Unpacking Jeffrey Seller It is the story of an outsider who is captivated by theater as a child who acts in Purim plays, directed a musical by Andrew Lippa, becomes a booking agent in New York and then a producer. Then he tracks down his biological family. "My life has been a process of finally creating groups that I feel part of and accepting where I do fit in," he says. "I also wrote this book for anyone who's ever felt out." Jonathan Karp, president and CEO of Simon & Schuster, says he isn't surprised that Seller delivered such a strong memoir because he believes the producer has an instinctive artistic sensibility. "There aren't that many producers you could say have literally changed the face of theater. And I think that's what Jeffrey Seller has done," says Karp. "It is the work of somebody who is much more than a producer, who is writer in his own right and who has a really interesting and emotional and dramatic story to tell." The book reaches a crescendo with a behind-the-scenes look at his friendship and collaboration with playwright and composer Jonathan Larson and the making of his "Rent." Seller writes about a torturous creative process in which Larson would take one step forward with the script over years only to take two backward. He also writes movingly about carrying on after Larson, who died from an aortic dissection the day before "Rent's" first off-Broadway preview. "'Rent' changed my life forever, but, more important, 'Rent' changed musical theater forever. There is no 'In the Heights' without 'Rent,'" Seller says. "I don't think there's a 'Next to Normal' without 'Rent.' I don't think there's a 'Dear Evan Hansen' without 'Rent.'" ## What about 'Hamilton'? So enamored was Seller with "Rent" that he initially ended his memoir there in the mid-'90s. It took some coaxing from Karp to get him to include stories about "Avenue Q," "In the Heights" and "Hamilton." "'Hamilton' becomes a cultural phenomenon. It's the biggest hit of my career," Seller says. "It's one of the biggest hits in Broadway history. It's much bigger hit than 'Rent' was. But that doesn't change what 'Rent' did." In a sort of theater flex, the memoir's audiobook has appearances by Annaleigh Ashford, Danny Burstein, Darren Criss, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Lindsay Mendez, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Andrew Rannells, Conrad Ricamora and Christopher Sieber. There's original music composed by Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winner Tom Kitt. The portrait of Broadway Seller offers when he first arrives is one far different from today, where the theaters are bursting with new plays and musicals and the season's box office easily blows past the $1 billion mark. In 1995, the year before "Rent" debuted off-Broadway, there was only one Tony Award-eligible candidate for best original musical score and the same for best book — "Sunset Boulevard." This season, there were 14 new eligible musicals. "I think that's just such a great moment in Broadway history to say, 'This is before 'Rent,' and then look what happens after. Not because 'Rent' brought in an era of rock musicals, but it opened the doors to more experimentation and more unexpected ideas, more variety." He is drawn to contemporary stories with modern issues and all four of his Tony wins for best musical are set in New York. "For me, shows that were about people we might know, that were about our issues, about our dreams, about our shame, about things that embarrass us — that's what touched me the most deeply," he says. "I was looking to have the hair on my arms rise. I was looking to be emotionally moved."
Associated Press News	2025-05-10 10:17:44+00:00	[ "Myanmar", "China", "Xi Jinping", "Min Aung Hlaing", "Earthquakes", "Thailand government", "China government", "War and unrest", "Thailand", "Aung San Suu Kyi", "Politics" ]	# Myammar's military government chief has first meeting with China's leader since taking power in 2021 By Grant Peck May 10th, 2025, 10:17 AM --- BANGKOK (AP) — The chief of Myanmar's military government, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, has for the first time since seizing power four years ago met with President Xi Jinping of China, a top ally of his military government, state-run media in the Southeast Asian nation reported Saturday. The Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported that Xi pledged to provide assistance for recovery after Myanmar's devastating earthquake in March and aid in efforts to end the country's civil war. The two leaders met Friday in Moscow on the sidelines of the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Its report said they also discussed "bilateral relations, enhancing cooperation in all sectors, and cooperating in regional stability and peace." ## Cooperation discussed as Beijing seeks to shore up military government China has been using its influence with ethnic rebel organizations to ease their pressure on the military government in an apparent effort to stabilize it. China, along with Russia, is a major arms supplier to Myanmar's military in its war against pro-democracy and ethnic minority resistance forces. Beijing is also Myanmar's biggest trading partner and has invested billions of dollars in mines, oil and gas pipelines, and other infrastructure. Its interests in security in Myanmar are especially strong because the two nations share an 890-mile (1,440-kilometer) border China's government has maintained good working relations with Myanmar's ruling military, which is shunned and sanctioned by many Western nations for the army's February 2021 takeover from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and for major human rights violations. It is also one of the countries providing major relief and reconstruction assistance after the 7.7-magnitude March 28 earthquake that killed more than 3,700 people in Myanmar and injured more than 5,100. The quake worsened an already dire humanitarian crisis, with more than 3 million people displaced from their homes and nearly 20 million in need due to the war, according to the United Nations. Beijing has been concerned about instability that threatens its interests in Myanmar since Myanmar's army suffered unprecedented battlefield defeats over the past few years, especially in areas near the Chinese border. An offensive began in October 2023, by the " Three Brotherhood Alliance, " comprising the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Arakan Army and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, was able to quickly capture towns and overrun military bases and command centers and strategic cities along the Chinese border in northeastern Shan state. It was widely seen at the time as having Beijing's tacit support to help stamp out rampant organized crime activities in areas controlled by ethnic Chinese. In early 2024, Beijing helped broker a ceasefire, but that quickly fell apart when the alliance launched new attacks. Myanmar's ruling generals and China's government showed concern as pro-democracy guerrillas and armed ethnic minority groups, sometimes working hand in hand, gained the initiative in fighting. ## Beijing put pressure on rebel groups to yield key captured town The alliance's offensive lost momentum after China shut down border crossings, cut electricity to Myanmar towns and took other measures to discourage the fighting. Under increasing pressure from Beijing, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, or MNDAA, withdrew its forces and administration authorities last month from the strategically important town of Lashio in northeastern Myanmar, which hosts a major regional military headquarters but which the rebel group seized in August last year. A member of the MNDAA told The Associated Press on Saturday that the army's soldiers had already re-entered and and reestablished themselves in bases inside the town at the end of April. He spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to release information. Tar Pan La and Lway Yay Oo, spokespersons for the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, or TNLA, said during an online press conference on May 4 that local residents had been facing difficulties as China and Myanmar's military government blocked trade into areas it controlled. Tar Pan La said China had continuously urged the group both in person and through messages to avoid clashes along the border and areas of Chinese investments. The TNLA said in a statement released on its Telegram channel on Saturday that the military carries out daily airstrikes in areas it controls, although it extended until the end of May a ceasefire it declared in the wake of the earthquake.
Associated Press News	2025-05-06 20:39:19+00:00	[ "Fires", "North Dakota", "Berthold Reservation", "Wildfires", "Jamie Azure", "Alison Vetter" ]	# Wildfires burn thousands of acres on tribal lands in North Dakota By Jack Dura May 6th, 2025, 08:39 PM --- BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Crews have been fighting at least 16 wildfires throughout North Dakota in the last several days, including several large fires still burning Tuesday across wooded areas and grasslands on the Turtle Mountain Reservation near the Canadian border. Dry and breezy conditions before the spring green-up haven't helped the situation. Much of the state is in some level of drought, including a swath of western North Dakota in severe or extreme drought, according to a recent map by the U.S. Drought Monitor. Numerous agencies including the North Dakota Forest Service and fire departments have responded to the fires. National Guard Black Hawk helicopters have dropped water, saving homes. Officials requested fire engines from as far as Montana and South Dakota. Tribal members with buckets and hoses sprang into action to fight the flames. "It's inspiring that our people can rise up and help each other out like that," Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Tribal Chair Jamie Azure said Tuesday. Three distinct fires that have been joining and separating have burned about 6.5 square miles (16.8 square kilometers) in the Turtle Mountain area, according to the state Department of Emergency Services. Most of the fires have been north of Belcourt, in the northern part of the Turtle Mountain Reservation, said Jenna Parisien, recruitment and retention coordinator and spokesperson for the Belcourt Rural Fire Department. "We have several locations where areas have burned, so places were lit up all at once, and with the unfavorable weather conditions that we have had, areas keep relighting, embers are causing spread to surrounding areas as well," Parisien said. The fires steadily kicked off on Friday, she said. It wasn't clear how much of the fires were contained. Three firefighters were treated for exhaustion, dehydration and smoke inhalation, but were doing well, Azure said. One vacant mobile home was believed to be lost, but there were no other injuries or homes lost despite fires in people's yards, he said. About 10 families evacuated from their homes, he said. Crews were battling high winds with the fires on Monday, but rain overnight, moderate winds and firefighters' great efforts have improved the situation, Azure said Tuesday. Seventy-five to 100 firefighters responded on Sunday, the busiest day, Parisien said. Local businesses and tribal members have helped, Azure said. Causes of the fires are thought to be accidental, potentially sparks escaping from residents' trash-burning barrels, Parisien said. But some people have been taken into custody in connection with intentionally starting a fire, she said. She declined to elaborate. The Associated Press emailed the Bureau of Indian Affairs for comment. Nearly all of the 16 fires around the state are 100% contained. A fire in Rolla on Sunday led to evacuations. Fires on the Fort Berthold Reservation burned at least 3.1 square miles (8 square kilometers). A 2.8 square mile (7.2 square kilometer) fire on the reservation is 40% contained. No structures are believed lost to it, state Department of Emergency Services spokesperson Alison Vetter said.
Associated Press News	2025-05-19 16:42:50+00:00	[ "Venezuela", "Donald Trump", "Barack Obama", "Nicolas Maduro", "Courts", "Immigration", "United States government", "U.S. Supreme Court", "United States", "Taxes", "Edward Chen", "Government and politics", "Cecilia Gonzalez Herrera", "Supreme Court of the United States", "Mariana Moleros", "Tricia McLaughlin", "Ketanji Brown Jackson", "Prisons" ]	# Supreme Court allows Trump to strip legal protections from 350,000 Venezuelans By Mark Sherman May 19th, 2025, 04:42 PM --- WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to strip legal protections from 350,000 Venezuelans, potentially exposing them to deportation. The court's order, with only one noted dissent, puts on hold a ruling from a federal judge in San Francisco that kept in place Temporary Protected Status for the Venezuelans that would have otherwise expired last month. The justices provided no rationale, which is common in emergency appeals. The status allows people already in the United States to live and work legally because their native countries are deemed unsafe for return due to natural disaster or civil strife. The high court's order appears to be the "single largest action in modern American history stripping any group of non-citizens of immigration status," said Ahilan Arulanantham, one of the attorneys for Venezuelan migrants. "This decision will force families to be in an impossible position either choosing to survive or choosing stability," said Cecilia Gonzalez Herrera, who sued to try and stop the Trump administration from revoking legal protections from her and others like her. "Venezuelans are not criminals," Gonzalez Herrera said. "We all deserve the chance to thrive without being sent back to danger," she said. The ramifications for the hundreds of thousands of people affected aren't yet clear, Arulanantham said. Mariana Moleros, her husband and their daughter left their native Venezuela in September 2005 after receiving death threats for their open political opposition to the socialist government. They came to the United States hoping to find peace and protection and requested asylum, but their application was denied. They were temporarily granted TPS but now they live in fear again — fear of being detained and deported to a country where they don't feel safe. "Today we are all exposed to being imprisoned in Venezuela if the U.S. return us," said Moleros, a 44-year-old Venezuelan attorney who lives in Florida. "They should not deport someone who is at risk of being assassinated, torture and incarcerated." A federal appeals court had earlier rejected the administration's request to put the order on hold while the lawsuit continues. A hearing is set for next week in front of U.S. District Judge Edward Chen, who had paused the administration's plans. In a statement, Homeland Security called the court's decision a "win for the American people and the safety of our communities" and said the Biden administration "exploited programs to let poorly vetted migrants into this country." "The Trump administration is reinstituting integrity into our immigration system to keep our homeland and its people safe," said spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin. The case is the latest in a string of emergency appeals President Donald Trump's administration has made to the Supreme Court, many of them related to immigration and involving Venezuela. Earlier this month, the government asked the court to allow it to end humanitarian parole for hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, setting them up for potential deportation as well. The high court also has been involved in slowing Trump's efforts to swiftly deport Venezuelans accused of being gang members to a prison in El Salvador under an 18th century wartime law called the Alien Enemies Act. The complex economic and political crisis in Venezuela has driven more than 7.7 million people to leave the South American nation since 2013. Venezuela's most recent economic troubles pushed year-over-year inflation in April to 172%. The latest chapter even prompted President Nicolás Maduro to declare an "economic emergency" last month. Maduro, whose reelection last year to a third term has been condemned internationally as illegitimate, also has cracked down on his political opponents. In the dispute over TPS, the administration has moved aggressively to withdraw various protections that have allowed immigrants to remain in the country, including ending the temporary protected status for a total of 600,000 Venezuelans and 500,000 Haitians. That status is granted in 18-month increments. Venezuela was first designated for TPS in 2021; Haiti, in 2010. Last week, DHS announced that TPS for Afghanistan, first provided in 2022, would end in mid-July. The protections for Venezuelans had been set to expire April 7, but Chen found that the expiration threatened to severely disrupt the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and could cost billions in lost economic activity. Chen, who was appointed to the bench by Democratic President Barack Obama, found the government hadn't shown any harm caused by keeping the program alive. But Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote on behalf of the administration that Chen's order impermissibly interferes with the administration's power over immigration and foreign affairs. In addition, Sauer told the justices, people affected by ending the protected status might have other legal options to try to remain in the country because the "decision to terminate TPS is not equivalent to a final removal order." Congress created TPS in 1990 to prevent deportations to countries suffering from natural disasters or civil strife. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said she would have rejected the administration's emergency appeal. ___ Associated Press writers Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela, Gisela Salomon in Miami and Lindsay Whitehurst contributed to this report.
Associated Press News	2025-05-14 04:10:56+00:00	[ "Volodymyr Zelenskyy", "Kyiv", "Vladimir Putin", "Donald Trump", "Ukraine", "Sergey Lavrov", "Marco Rubio", "Steve Witkoff", "Saudi Arabia", "Russia", "Donald Tusk", "Lloyd Austin", "Emmanuel Macron", "Keir Starmer", "Sergei Shoigu", "International agreements", "War and unrest", "Russia government", "United States government", "Germany government", "Poland government", "United States", "Russia-Ukraine war", "Poland", "Vladimir Medinsky", "Politics", "Friedrich Merz", "Antonio Guterres", "Ukraine government", "Russia Ukraine war", "JD Vance", "Recep Tayyip Erdogan", "Mykhailo Podolyak", "United Kingdom government" ]	# The diplomatic road seeking peace in Ukraine has had twists and turns By Katie Marie Davies May 14th, 2025, 04:10 AM --- It was a weekend of diplomatic announcements on the war in Ukraine. First, European leaders assembled in Kyiv on Saturday with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to put pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin for a ceasefire. Then, after midnight, the Kremlin leader surfaced in Moscow to unveil a proposal for talks in Istanbul. If both Putin and Zelenskyy sit down with each other, it would be a first in the 3-year-old war. Key events that have shaped efforts to end the war since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022: Feb. 28, 2022: Ukrainian and Russian delegations meet in neighboring Belarus for the first time after the invasion. Talks continue over the next two weeks, but no apparent agreements emerge other than a decision to set up humanitarian corridors for civilians. March 21, 2022: Zelenskyy calls for direct talks with Putin but is rebuffed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. A day later, Zelenskyy says he is prepared to discuss a commitment for Ukraine to not to seek NATO membership in exchange for a ceasefire, the withdrawal of Russian troops and a guarantee of Ukraine's security. March 29, 2022: Talks begin in Istanbul, with Moscow saying it's willing to "fundamentally cut back" military activity near Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv, while Ukraine said it was open to discussing neutral status for Ukraine if its security is backed by other nations. April 7, 2022: Lavrov rejects a Ukrainian peace proposal as "unacceptable. " He says Kyiv has walked back on an agreement to exempt the Crimean Peninsula from wider Ukrainian security guarantees. Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014. April 26, 2022: U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres visits Russia to discuss ending the war. May 13, 2022: U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin calls his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, in their first contact since before the start of the war. July 22, 2022: Russia and Ukraine, with mediation by Turkey and the U.N., agree on a deal to unblock supplies of grain stuck in Ukraine's Black Sea ports, ending a standoff that threatened global food security. The deal expires a year later. Sept. 22, 2022: Zelenskyy addresses the U.N. General Assembly, laying out five "nonnegotiable" conditions, including a "just punishment" for Russia. Sept. 30, 2022: Russia illegally annexes the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, even though it doesn't fully control any of them. Ukraine responds by applying to join NATO and by enacting a decree that declares negotiations with Putin "impossible". Nov. 15, 2022: Zelenskyy unveils a 10-point peace plan at the G20 summit in Indonesia. June 25, 2023: Officials from 15 countries, including the U.S., the European Union, India, Brazil, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey meet in Copenhagen, Denmark, to discuss Zelenskyy's peace plan. Aug. 5, 2023: Two days of discussions on the war begin in Saudi Arabia with delegates from 40 countries, but not Russia. No joint statements are issued. Oct. 28, 2023: Delegates from 65 countries meet in Malta to continue talks on Zelenskyy's peace plan. Russia, which has dismissed the talks, was not invited. June 15, 2024: Representatives of 92 nations meet in Nidwalden, Switzerland, to discuss Ukraine's peace plan. Despite the growing number of delegates, a consensus remains elusive. The summit's final statement is backed by most – although not all – participants. Dec. 7, 2024: U.S. President-elect Donald Trump travels to Paris and meets Zelenskyy and other European leaders. Feb 12. 2025: Trump and Putin speak directly via telephone and agree to begin negotiations on ending Ukraine war in a phone call that abruptly ended a three-year U.S.-led effort to isolate Putin over Ukraine. Feb. 18, 2025: Russian and U.S. officials, including Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meet in Saudi Arabia and agree to work toward ending the war, as well as restoring bilateral ties. Ukrainian officials are not invited. Feb. 28, 2025: Zelenskyy meets with Trump, Rubio and Vice President JD Vance in the White House but tensions break out in the Oval Office and a proposed minerals deal between the countries is left unsigned. March 11, 2025: U.S. and Ukrainian officials meet in Saudi Arabia, with American officials putting forward a plan for a 30-day ceasefire. Kyiv agrees to the proposed truce. March 13, 2025: Putin effectively rejects the ceasefire plan, stating certain issues still must be resolved. He also meets with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow. Witkoff would travel to Russia two more times in April to meet Putin. March 18, 2025: A proposal is put forward for a temporary halt on strikes on energy infrastructure. Both sides agree to the plan, but soon accuse each other of violations, and the measure later expires. April 19, 2025: Putin announces a 30-hour ceasefire to mark the Easter holiday, although attacks continue across Ukraine. April 28, 2025: The Kremlin declares a unilateral 72-hour ceasefire starting May 8 to mark Russia's Victory Day celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Kyiv does not agree, preferring a 30-day truce proposed by U.S. officials. Both sides accuse each other of violating it. May 10, 2025: French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk meet with Zelenskyy in Kyiv and urge Russia to enact a 30-day truce starting May 12. May 11, 2025: Putin proposes restarting direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on May 15, "without preconditions," but does not agree to the 30-day ceasefire Zelenskyy challenges Putin to meet personally in Turkey. May 12, 2025: Trump says he is "thinking about flying over" to Turkey for the talks after his visit to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates but later says Rubio and other U.S. officials will go. May 13, 2025: Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak says Zelenskyy won't meet with any representative of Russia in Turkey except for Putin. Zelenskyy says he and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will wait for Putin in Ankara, adding: "If Putin does not arrive and plays games, it is the final point that he does not want to end the war." May 14, 2025: The Kremlin releases a statement that names Putin's aide Vladimir Medinsky as head of Russia's delegation, which also includes three other officials. The list does not include the Russian president himself.
Associated Press News	2025-05-07 19:08:54+00:00	[ "Harvey Weinstein", "Kaja Sokola", "Legal proceedings", "Indictments", "Juries", "Crime", "Trials", "New York City Wire", "Miriam Haley", "Manhattan", "Arthur L. Aidala", "MeToo", "Sexual assault", "New York", "Sexual misconduct", "Jessica Mann", "Entertainment" ]	# Ex-model takes the stand in Harvey Weinstein's retrial By Jennifer Peltz and Michael R. Sisak May 7th, 2025, 07:08 PM --- NEW YORK (AP) — Days into Harvey Weinstein 's first sexual assault trial in 2020, prosecutors privately spoke for the first time with a former model who alleged that he had forced oral sex on her. But that jury was never told about Kaja (KEYE'-ah) Sokola's claim. Prosecutors have said they still were investigating the allegation when Weinstein, a onetime movie tycoon-turned- #MeToo pariah, was convicted in February 2020 of charges based on other women's accusations. On Wednesday, Sokola began to tell a new jury her story. Sokola didn't look at Weinstein as she walked past him and onto the witness stand in a Manhattan courtroom where he's on trial again. An appeals court overturned his 2020 rape and sexual assault conviction, sending those charges back for retrial, and prosecutors subsequently added another sexual assault charge based on Sokola's allegations. As she began testifying about her life before the alleged 2006 assault, Weinstein looked toward her, with his right hand across his mouth. Weinstein, 73, has pleaded not guilty to all the charges. His lawyers contend that his accusers consented to sexual encounters with him in hopes of getting movie and TV opportunities, and the defense has emphasized that the women stayed in contact with him for a while after the alleged assaults. The women, meanwhile, say the Oscar-winning producer used the prospect of show business work to prey on them. The Polish-born Sokola, 39, is a psychotherapist and author and said she recently launched a film production company. She sued Weinstein after industry whispers about his behavior toward women became a chorus of public accusations in 2017, fueling the #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct. Prosecutors have said Sokola eventually received $3.5 million in compensation. Sokola testified that she was never interested in modeling — but rather in acting and writing — but her mother and sister decided she should enter a Polish modeling contest at age 14. She won a contract with a modeling agency and was soon juggling middle school with photo shoots. The next two years "were a very fast growing-up lesson," she said. By 2002, she was 16 and in New York to make the modeling rounds, without any of relatives on hand. Sokola, who's expected to continue testifying Thursday, hasn't been asked yet about Weinstein. Prosecutors have said she was introduced to him while on that 2002 modeling trip to New York. In her lawsuits, Sokola said that shortly after she met Weinstein, he invited her to lunch to discuss her career but then sexually assaulted her. The lawsuits alleged he sexually harassed and emotionally abused her for years afterward. The criminal charge stems from one instance when Sokola maintains that Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her in a Manhattan hotel in May 2006. Prosecutors have said it happened after Weinstein arranged for Sokola to be an extra in the film "The Nanny Diaries" and met her visiting older sister, whom she was trying to impress. "She was proud of knowing him," her sister, cardiologist Dr. Ewa (pronounced EH'-vah) Sokola, told jurors Wednesday. She said the three of them met in a hotel lobby, chatted about Italian movies and the heavyset Weinstein's heart health, and then he and the model left the table together. Kaja Sokola was tense when she returned about a half-hour later — "like somebody waiting for the result of an exam" or the Oscars — but didn't say anything about the alleged sexual assault, Dr. Sokola told jurors. She said she was shocked to learn about the claim over a decade later, when she read about it in a magazine article. Weinstein's lawyers will get a chance to question Kaja Sokola in the coming days. In an opening statement last month, defense attorney Arthur Aidala questioned why she waited years to come forward. Prosecutors have argued that accusers were reluctant to speak up because of Weinstein's wealth and influence. Prosecutors have said they began investigating Sokola's claims after her attorneys called on the eve of Weinstein's first trial. But prosecutors set the inquiry aside after he was convicted and the coronavirus pandemic loomed. They revived the Sokola investigation after New York's highest court reversed Weinstein's conviction. Weinstein's lawyers fought unsuccessfully to keep Sokola's allegation out of the retrial. They accused prosecutors of "smuggling an additional charge into the case" to try to bolster other accusers' credibility. One of the others, Miriam Haley, testified last week that Weinstein forced oral sex on her in 2006. The third accuser in the case, Jessica Mann, is expected to testify later. The Associated Press generally does not name sexual assault accusers without their permission, which Haley, Mann and Sokola have given.
Associated Press News	2025-05-16 04:15:25+00:00	[ "Nigeria", "U.S. Agency for International Development", "Donald Trump", "Children", "Humanitarian crises", "AFRICA PULSE", "Emmanuel Ali", "Frederico Joo", "Shawn Baker", "Technology", "Business", "Health", "Shelters", "Kate Phillips-Barrasso", "Boko Haram", "Helen Keller Intl" ]	# Children die as USAID aid cuts snap a lifeline for the world's most malnourished By Taiwo Adebayo May 16th, 2025, 04:15 AM --- DIKWA, Nigeria (AP) — Under the dappled light of a thatched shelter, Yagana Bulama cradles her surviving infant. The other twin is gone, a casualty of malnutrition and the international funding cuts that are snapping the lifeline for displaced communities in Nigeria's insurgency-ravaged Borno state. "Feeding is severely difficult," said Bulama, 40, who was a farmer before Boko Haram militants swept through her village, forcing her to flee. She and about 400,000 other people at the humanitarian hub of Dikwa — virtually the entire population — rely on assistance. The military restricts their movements to a designated "safe zone," which severely limits farming. For years, the United States Agency for International Development had been the backbone of the humanitarian response in northeastern Nigeria, helping non-government organizations provide food, shelter and healthcare to millions of people. But this year, the Trump administration cut more than 90% of USAID's foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in overall assistance around the world. Programs serving children were hit hard. Bulama previously lost young triplets to hunger before reaching therapeutic feeding centers in Dikwa. When she gave birth to twins last August, both were severely underweight. Workers from Mercy Corps enrolled them in a program to receive a calorie-dense paste used to treat severe acute malnutrition. But in February, Mercy Corps abruptly ended the program that was entirely financed by USAID. Two weeks later, one of the twins died, Bulama said. She has no more tears, only dread for what may come next. "I don't want to bury another child," she said. ## 'Very traumatic' Globally, 50% of the therapeutic foods for treating malnutrition in children were funded by USAID, and 40% of the supplies were produced in the U.S., according to Shawn Baker, chief program officer at Helen Keller Intl and former chief nutritionist at USAID. He said the consequence could be 1 million children not receiving treatment for severe malnutrition, resulting in 163,500 additional deaths per year. For Helen Keller Intl, its programs in Bangladesh, Nepal and Nigeria have been terminated. "It is very traumatic," said Trond Jensen, the head of the United Nations humanitarian office in Maiduguri, Borno's capital, of the funding cuts, noting that other donors, including the European Union, have taken similar steps this year. "One of the things is the threat to the lives of children." UNICEF still runs a therapeutic feeding center nearby, which now supports Bulama's surviving baby, but its capacity is stretched. It is turning away many people previously served by other aid groups that have pulled out due to funding cuts. Intersos, an Italian humanitarian organization, has the only remaining facility providing in-patient services for malnutrition in Dikwa, treating the most perilous cases. Its workers say they are overwhelmed, with at least 10 new admissions of seriously malnourished children daily. "Before the USAID cut, we made a lot of progress," said Ayuba Kauji, a health and nutrition supervisor. "Now my biggest worry is high mortality. We don't have enough resources to keep up." Intersos was forced to reduce its staff from 30 to 11 in Dikwa after the USAID freeze. Its nutrition and health facilities now operate solely on support from the Nigerian Humanitarian Fund, a smaller pot of money contributed by a few European countries. That funding will be finished in June. The crisis is equally acute in Maiduguri, where the economy is reeling from massive terminations of aid workers. At another Intersos-run facility, 10 of the 12 doctors have left and four nurses remain, with 50 new admissions of malnourished children per week. "It used to be far less," said Emmanuel Ali, one of the remaining doctors. ## Beyond nutrition The effects of the funding cuts extend far beyond nutrition. At the International Organization for Migration's reception center in Dikwa, thousands of displaced families and those escaping Boko Haram captivity are stranded. There are no new shelters being built and no support for relocation. "Before, organizations like Mercy Corps built mud-brick homes and rehabilitated damaged shelters to absorb people from the IOM reception center," said one official at the center, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the situation. "Now, that has stopped." Jensen, the U.N. humanitarian head in Maiduguri, said, "sadly, we are not seeing additional funding to make up for the U.S. cuts." He warned that vulnerable people could turn to risky ways of coping, including joining violent groups. ## A global problem The crisis in Nigeria is part of a larger reckoning. According to Kate Phillips-Barrasso, Mercy Corps' vice president for policy and advocacy, 40 of its 62 U.S.-funded programs with the potential to reach 3.5 million people in Nigeria, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Somalia, Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan, Kenya, Lebanon and Gaza have been terminated. In Mozambique, where jihadist violence in the north has displaced over a million people since 2017, humanitarian organizations face steep shortfalls with "devastating" effects on the needy, said Frederico João, chairman of the forum of NGOs in the region. More widely, the USAID funding cut compromises Mozambique's health sector, especially in HIV/AIDS care, said Inocêncio Impissa, cabinet spokesman. The government now seeks alternative funding to prevent total collapse of health systems. Charles Mangwiro in Maputo, Mozambique, contributed to this story. ___ For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The 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	2025-05-13 20:24:40+00:00	[ "Donald Trump", "Honduras", "United States government", "Lawsuits", "Immigration", "Louisiana", "New Orleans", "United States", "U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement", "Politics", "Terry Doughty", "Gracie Willis", "Legal proceedings" ]	# Family of 2-year-old US citizen deported to Honduras drops lawsuit against Trump administration By Megan Janetsky May 13th, 2025, 08:24 PM --- MEXICO CITY (AP) — Lawyers for a 2-year-old U.S. citizen who was deported with her mother to Honduras confirmed on Tuesday that the family was dropping its lawsuit against the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. The girl -– one of three U.S.-born children who were deported alongside their Honduran-born mothers -– had been at the heart of one of the mounting legal battles playing out in the United States weighing if the Trump administration broke the law in implementing its new deportation policies. "Given the traumatizing experiences the families have been through, they are taking a step back to have full discussions about all their options, the safety and well-being of their children, and the best ways to proceed so the harms they have suffered can be fully addressed," said Gracie Willis, one of the family's lawyers. The lawsuit was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, National Immigration Project and several other allied groups, which said the deportations were a "shocking — although increasingly common — abuse of power." Willis and the group of lawyers had argued that the families did not have a fair opportunity to decide whether they wanted the children to stay in the United States. Willis said the family of the 2-year-old girl and their lawyers jointly decided to dismiss the case to give the family "space and time to consider all the options that are available to them." A federal judge in Louisiana had raised questions about the girl's deportation, saying the government did not prove it had done so properly. The Honduran-born mother — who is pregnant — was arrested in April on an outstanding deportation order along with the girl and her 11-year-old Honduran-born sister during a check-in appointment at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in New Orleans, lawyers said. The family lived in Baton Rouge. Lawyers for the girl's father insisted he wanted the girl to remain with him in the U.S., while ICE said the mother had wanted the girl to be deported with her to Honduras. In a court filing, lawyers for the father said ICE indicated that it was holding the girl in a bid to induce the father to turn himself in. U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty in Louisiana had scheduled a hearing for the case later this week, saying it was "in the interest of dispelling our strong suspicion that the Government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process." ____ Follow AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Associated Press News	2025-05-01 21:32:50+00:00	[ "Texas", "Donald Trump", "Don Beyer", "Patricia Tolliver Giles", "Virginia", "Louisiana", "United States government", "Lawsuits", "Hamas", "United States", "David Byerley", "Law enforcement", "Courts", "Conservatism", "Hassan Ahmad", "Prisons", "American Civil Liberties Union", "Tricia McLaughlin", "Vishal Agraharkar", "Badar Khan", "Immigration", "Politics", "Legal proceedings", "Ahmed Yousef" ]	# US wants to move Georgetown scholar's deportation lawsuit to Texas. Judge appears skeptical By Olivia Diaz and Ben Finley May 1st, 2025, 09:32 PM --- ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — The Trump administration told a federal judge Thursday that a Georgetown University scholar's lawsuit against deportation should be moved from Virginia, where it was filed, to Texas, where he's jailed over allegations of "spreading Hamas propaganda." U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles seemed skeptical of the government's request, which would involve her dismissing the case in Virginia. She raised concerns that a dismissal in her court would void her order in March to keep Badar Khan Suri in the U.S. while his First Amendment case plays out. David Byerley, a Justice Department attorney, told Giles that he would need to talk to U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement about the judge's concern. Byerley said he didn't see why ICE wouldn't honor her order against deporting Khan Suri while the case is refiled in a Texas federal court. "OK," the judge said. "I'm not going to rely on that. But thank you." In a government filing before the hearing, U.S. attorneys argued that Khan Suri's attorneys filed his suit in Virginia after he was already taken out of state. They said filing his case in Texas is "relatively straightforward application of well-settled law." The Trump administration said it quickly moved Khan Suri from a facility in Farmville, Virginia, because of overcrowding to a detention center in Louisiana and then Texas. But the judge seemed skeptical of the government's overcrowding claim. She asked the U.S. to provide details about the number of open beds in Farmville at the time of Khan Suri's arrest as well as the number of people who've been transferred because of overcrowding. Khan Suri's attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union told the judge that once in Texas, Khan Suri slept on the floor of an overcrowded detention center for at the least the first few weeks. Khan Suri now has his own bed in a dormitory. Khan Suri's attorneys said the real reason he was moved to Texas was to bring the case before a more conservative judge. The attorney, Vishal Agraharkar, accused the government of what's often called "forum shopping." Unlike the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, federal district courts in Texas and western Louisiana are dominated by Republican-appointed judges. Win or lose, appeals of such cases go to the reliably conservative 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The 5th Circuit is one of 13 federal appellate courts around the nation and has 17 full-time judges. Twelve were appointed by Republican presidents, including six by former President Donald Trump. Agraharkar's statements before the judge in Alexandria were echoed by another attorney for Khan Suri, Hassan Ahmad, outside the courtroom after Thursday's hearing. "There is a reason why the detention facilities exist there," Ahmad said, adding, "This kind of rigged game has to stop." Ahmad was among a group of people who gathered at the courthouse to show support. They included Khan Suri's wife, Georgetown students and faculty and U.S. Rep. Don Beyer, a Democrat who represents the northern Virginia district where Khan Suri lives. Khan Suri's lawsuit was filed shortly after masked, plain-clothed officers arrested him on March 17 outside his apartment complex in Arlington, Virginia. His attorneys say he was unconstitutionally arrested and jailed because of his wife's connection to Gaza. He and his wife, Mapheze Saleh, have been targeted because Saleh's father worked with the Hamas-backed Gazan government for more than a decade but before Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Khan Suri's attorneys say. The ACLU said in the memo that Khan Suri hardly knew the father, Ahmed Yousef. According to the U.S. government, Khan Suri has undisputed family ties to the terrorist organization, which Khan Suri "euphemistically refers to as 'the government of Gaza.'" Khan Suri's arrest also stems from his social media posts about the war in Gaza, in which he expressed support of Palestinian people. Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin posted on the social platform X that Khan Suri was accused of "spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media" and was determined to be deportable. The ACLU has argued that arrests on such grounds violated his First Amendment rights. Khan Suri, an Indian citizen, came to the U.S. in 2022 through a J-1 visa, working at Georgetown as a visiting scholar and postdoctoral fellow. He and Saleh have three children: a 9-year-old son and 5-year-old twins. Before his arrest, he taught a course on majority and minority human rights in South Asia, according to court records. The filings said he hoped to become a professor and embark on a career in academia. ___ Finley reported from Norfolk, Virginia. ___ This story has been corrected to say that Khan Suri now has his own bed in a jail dormitory.
Associated Press News	2025-05-19 07:46:40+00:00	[ "Poland", "Donald Tusk", "Poland government", "Grzegorz Braun", "Warsaw", "Andrzej Duda", "Donald Trump", "European Union", "Global elections", "Elections", "Politics", "Voting", "Conservatism", "Run-off elections", "Piotr Buras" ]	# Right-wing populists hopeful after first round of Polish presidential election By Vanessa Gera May 19th, 2025, 07:46 AM --- WARSAW, Poland (AP) — There's a way to go yet in Poland's presidential election but Sunday's first round was a good day for candidates on the political right and far right, and it flashed a big red warning signal for the moderate government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Tusk's candidate, liberal Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, and a conservative opponent backed by the Law and Justice party, Karol Nawrocki, emerged ahead in a pack of 13 candidates. They were extremely close. Trzaskowski got 31.36% of the votes and Nawrocki — who was endorsed by U.S. President Donald Trump — won a better-than-expected 29.54%, according to final results released Monday morning. Poles now head to a nail-biting second round on June 1, with much resting on the outcome of the runoff. "The campaign in the next two weeks will be very polarizing and brutal — a confrontation of two visions of Poland: pro-EU, liberal and progressive versus nationalist, Trumpist and conservative," said Piotr Buras, head of the Warsaw office of the European Council on Foreign Relations. The race is not only for the presidency, an office with the power to influence foreign policy and veto laws. It will also seal the fate of Tusk's efforts to repair the country's relationship with European allies after years of rule by conservatives from Law and Justice, which was often in conflict with Brussels. Sunday's election came on the same day that Romania's centrist mayor of Bucharest, Nicusor Dan, won the presidency in a country that, like Poland, is located along the eastern flank of NATO and the European Union, where Russia has waged a three-year war in Ukraine. Dan managed to overcome a threat from a hard-right anti-Ukrainian nationalist, offering relief to those in Europe worried about a stance viewed as helpful to Moscow. Tusk has been trying to reverse changes to the judicial branch that were considered undemocratic by the EU, but his efforts have been hampered by outgoing conservative President Andrzej Duda. Many centrist and progressive voters are disappointed that Tusk has not delivered on other promises, like liberalizing the restrictive abortion law. He has also been criticized for the heavy-handed way he took over control of public media from Law and Justice, and the continued politicization of taxpayer-funded public media. ## 2 candidates hit the streets ahead of a runoff Trzaskowski and Nawrocki wasted no time at all as they head toward the finish line. They got out on the streets early Monday to meet with voters. Trzaskowski handed out sweet yeast buns on the streets of Kielce, and Nawrocki distributed donuts and posed for selfies with supporters in Gdansk. Trzaskowski, who ran and barely lost to Duda in 2020, was long considered this year's front-runner. After Sunday's vote he can't be sure. Nawrocki declared himself "full of energy and enthusiasm on the way to victory" in a statement to the media, adding that "probably all of Poland saw that Rafał Trzaskowski is a candidate who can't cope." Meanwhile, Trzaskowski vowed to fight until the end. "I will try to convince young people and all those who voted differently that it is worth voting for a normal Poland, not a radical Poland," Trzaskowski told reporters in Karzysko-Kamienna. The two men's political fates rest to a large extent with voters who chose other candidates in the first round, and how they will vote can be difficult to predict. Experts say there isn't an automatic transfer of votes from certain candidates to others; some who don't get their chosen candidate might not vote at all. ## The rise of the far right Still, Trzaskowski has a lot to worry about. More than 20% of voters opted for candidates on the far right, whose conservative and nationalistic worldviews overlap with Nawrocki's. Sławomir Mentzen of the hard-right Confederation party won 14.8% and — in one of the biggest electoral suprises — a far-right extremist, Grzegorz Braun, won over 6%. Both have embraced antisemitic and anti-Ukrainian language but Braun has taken his stance much further. During the campaign Braun stormed a hospital with supporters and tried to carry out a citizen's arrest of a doctor who had carried out a legal late-term abortion on a woman whose fetus was diagnosed with severe condition, putting her health at risk. Supporters at one of his rallies pulled down a Ukrainian flag from city hall in Biała Podlaska. Braun was already known as a provocateur known for spreading Russian propaganda. In 2023, he used a fire extinguisher to put out candles on a Jewish Hannukkah menorah in the Polish parliament. Candidates from parties in Tusk's coalition government, which includes left-wing, centrist and center-right parties, together won about 40%. "Right-wing and far-right candidates gathered as many as 54% of votes — this is the most surprising result of the first round of the presidential election," Buras said. "This brings Nawrocki into a favorable position ahead of the run-off on June 1. He will have a larger pool of votes to draw upon."
Associated Press News	2025-05-11 04:06:34+00:00	[ "Louisiana", "Bobby Gumpright", "Juries", "Oregon", "Legislation", "Legal proceedings", "National", "Oregon state government", "Politics", "Jermaine Hudson", "Race and ethnicity", "Prisons", "Louisiana state government", "Race and Ethnicity" ]	# Louisiana bill would allow courts to revisit split jury verdicts By Sara Cline May 11th, 2025, 04:06 AM --- BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — As 18-year-old Bobby Gumpright rode his bike home from his bartending job in New Orleans in 1999, he began to concoct a story about why he didn't have any money. In the throes of addiction and not wanting to admit he had spent his paycheck on drugs, Gumpright lied to his father and said a Black man had robbed him at gunpoint. The fabrication spun out of control when a detective, armed with photos of potential suspects, asked Gumpright to point to the culprit. Across town, Jermaine Hudson, a 20-year-old Black man, was pulled over for a traffic stop and taken into custody. He figured he would soon be released to go home to his pregnant wife and 10-month-old daughter. Instead, he was charged with a crime he didn't commit. Even though two jurors didn't believe Gumpright's story, Hudson was found guilty by a split jury, a practice that 20 years later would be deemed unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, which acknowledged its origins from racist Jim Crow laws. Nearly 1,000 people convicted by split juries remain in prison in Louisiana. Now, 25 years after Gumpright's lies sent Hudson to prison, the two unlikely friends are sharing their story in a push for legislation to give some of those people a chance to have their cases retired. ## A split decision As Hudson sat in the courtroom in 2001, he grappled with a reality that he didn't create. "Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought my life would have been at a standstill ... missing out on my kids' life, on my life," Hudson told The Associated Press last month. Two witnesses testified: the officer who responded to the 911 call and Gumpright. As Gumpright took the stand, Hudson prayed the stranger would acknowledge the wrongful allegation and his nightmare would end. A prosecutor asked Gumpright, who is white, if he was sure it was Hudson who robbed him. He responded, "110%." In a 10-2 vote, the jury convicted Hudson of armed robbery. The judge sentenced him to 99 years in prison. ## A practice rooted in racism At the time of Hudson's trial, only Louisiana and Oregon allowed convictions if one or two jurors disagreed. Louisiana adopted the practice in 1898, fueled by efforts to maintain white supremacy after the Civil War. Diluting the voice of Black jurors allowed the often-white majority to determine the outcome. In 2018, Louisiana voters did away with the use of nonunanimous jury convictions, two years before the Supreme Court ruling. Of the 1,500 people in Louisiana prisons from split jury convictions at that time, about 80% were Black and most were serving life sentences, according to a Project of Justice Initiative analysis. Following the high court decision, Oregon's Supreme Court granted new trials to hundreds of people. But Louisiana's Supreme Court rejected arguments to apply the ruling retroactively, leaving people like Hudson locked up with scarce legal options or waiting on a miracle. ## Waiting 22 years for freedom Years of Hudson's life dwindled away as he missed the birth of his second daughter, graduations and other milestones. He prayed Gumpright would "come forward with the truth." "This can't be my final destination. This can't be the end of my life," Hudson often thought. Gumpright tried to numb his guilt with drugs and alcohol, but it never went away. "I was either gonna kill myself or I was gonna come forward," he told the AP. In 2021, Hudson was preparing to take a new deal: plead guilty to armed robbery in exchange for a sentence of time served. Just days before the bargain was finalized, Hudson received news he long waited for. Gumpright, who had entered a drug treatment facility, had come clean about his lies. After spending 22 years behind bars, Hudson was released. A few months later, Gumpright answered a phone call from a blocked number. "I bet you never thought you'd hear from me," Hudson said. ## Fixing an injustice A packed committee room at the state Capitol fell silent last month as a man wearing a suit and tie took to the microphone. "My name is Bobby Gumpright," he said, his hand trembling. "I come before you as a citizen of Louisiana. ... I'm also a man who lives each day with the consequences of a terrible sin." Gumpright told lawmakers his story, the true one. Sitting behind him was Hudson. The pair first met in New Orleans, six months after Hudson's release. They have spent the past two years advocating for a bill that would give inmates convicted by split juries the opportunity to ask for a retrial. The measure does not automatically grant a retrial. The duo say their story is an example of how an innocent man can be imprisoned for decades under an unconstitutional practice and that it's never too late to right a wrong. "I couldn't change the past, but I could refuse to live the lie any longer while injustice continued," Gumpright told lawmakers. "Louisiana can't change the past. But Louisiana can refuse to let its injustice live on." The measure failed last year, but a legislative committee backed a similar bill in April. It still needs approval from the governor, House and Senate, which could debate it this week People cheered as the bill cleared its first hurdle. Gumpright and Hudson hugged, holding each other up, as they cried tears of joy. ## An unlikely bond Both men said they needed one another to heal. Hudson wanted to know why Gumpright lied. Gumpright sought forgiveness. "I'm not the type of man to hold grudges or to hate anyone," Hudson said. "I have a forgiving heart. And in order for me to really move on I forgave him, because I understood what he was going through." Sober for four years, Gumpright, 44, is now an addiction counselor. Hudson, 47, moved to Texas, got married, bought a house, is starting a business and spends time with his two grandsons. Gumpright attended Hudson's housewarming and met his family. They text each other words of encouragement every day and keep photos of each other close by. "My friend? That's an understatement," Hudson said about his relationship with Gumpright. "He's my brother."
Associated Press News	2025-05-01 19:39:10+00:00	[ "Espectaculos", "Noticias", "Entertainment" ]	# Las 10 canciones más escuchadas de la semana en Spotify By Por The Associated Press May 1st, 2025, 07:39 PM --- Las 10 canciones más escuchadas de la semana en Spotify, a nivel global y en algunos países de Latinoamérica y España. GLOBAL 1.- "Die with a Smile" – Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars 2.- "Ordinary" - Alex Warren 3.- "Birds of a Feather" – Billie Eilish 4.- "APT." - Rosé, Bruno Mars 5.- "Luther" - Kendrick Lamar, SZA 6.- "Like Jennie" – JENNIE 7.- "That's So True" - Gracie Abrams 8.- "Sailor Song" - Gigi Perez 9.- "La Plena - W Sound 05" - W Sound, Beéle, Ovy On The Drums 10.- "Beautiful Things" - Benson Boone ARGENTINA 1.- "La plena - W Sound 05" - W Sound, Beéle, Ovy On The Drums 2.- "Blackout" - Emilia, TINI, Nicki Nicole 3.- "Capaz (merengueton)" - Alleh, Yorghaki 4.- "Bunda" - Emilia, Luísa Sonza 5.- "Vitamina" - Jombriel, DFZM, Jøtta 6.- "Baile inolvidable" - Bad Bunny 7.- "Amor de vago" - La T y la M, Malandro 8.- "Con otra" – Cazzu 9.- "Veldá" - Bad Bunny, Omar Courtz, Dei V 10.- "Parte & Choke" – Jombriel, Alex Krack, Jøtta CHILE 1.- "Minnie 2" - Kid Voodoo, Cris MJ 2.- "Ponte lokita" - Katteyes, Kidd Voodoo 3.- "La plena - W Sound 05" - W Sound, Beéle, Ovy On The Drums 4.- "Tiene" - Tobal Mj, Lucky Brown, Nacho G Flow 5.- "Who" – Jimin 6.- "Whisky a la roca" - Kidd Voodoo, Jere Klein, Swift 047 7.- "La verdad" - Kidd Voodoo, Resonancia Etérea 8.- "2x1" - Jere Klein, Lucky Brown, Valdi, Mateo On The Beatz 9.- "Party MJ" - Cris Mj 10.- "Confortas pero dañas" - Kidd Voodoo, Resonancia Etérea COLOMBIA 1.- "La plena - W Sound 05" - W Sound, Beéle, Ovy On The Drums 2.- "Vitamina" - Jombriel, DFZM, Jøtta 3.- "Mi refe" - Beéle, Ovy On The Drums 4.- "Ultra Complicado - remix" - Kenny Die, Blessd, Kris R, Sebas 5.- "Sobelove" – Beéle 6.- "Solcito" - Miguel Bueno, Juan Duque 7.- "Imagínate" - Danny Ocean, Kapo 8.- "Hasta aquí llegué" - Nanpa Básico, Beéle 9.- "Baile inolvidable" - Bad Bunny 10.- "Polos opuestos remix - Blessd Version" - Blessd, Kris R. ESPAÑA 1.- "La plena - W Sound 05" - W Sound, Beéle, Ovy On The Drums 2.- "Flipa" - JC Reyes, Dei V 3.- "Capaz (merengueton)" - Alleh, Yorghaki 4.- "Still Luvin" - Delaossa, Quevedo, Bigla The Kid 5.- "Ninfo" - JC Reyes, De La Rose, MC Menor JP 6.- "Mi refe" - Beéle, Ovy On The Drums 7.- "Veldá" - Bad Bunny, Omar Courtz, Dei V 8.- "Romeo y Julieta" - Eladio Carrión, Quevedo 9.- "Baile inolvidable" - Bad Bunny 10.- "Nubes" - De La Rose, Omar Courtz MÉXICO 1.- "Morena" - Neton Vega, Peso Pluma 2.- "Te quería ver" - Alemán, Neton Vega 3.- "Triple Lavada" - Esau Ortiz 4.- "Tattoo" - Tito Double P 5.- "Por esos ojos" - Fuerza Regida 6.- "Visita Fer" - Los Dareyes De La Sierra, Tito Double P 7.- "M&M" - Neton Vega 8.- "7 Días" - Gabito Ballesteros, Tito Double P 9.- "Como Capo" - Clave Especial, Fuerza Regida 10.- "Amigos? No." - Oscar Maydon, Neton Vega
Associated Press News	2025-05-13 15:48:10+00:00	[ "Classical music", "Fisher", "Gustav Mahler", "Silvio Scambone", "Jaap van Zweden", "Simon Reinink", "Klaus Mkel", "Dorian Gray", "Michael Waterman", "John F. Kennedy", "Dominik Winterling", "Kirill Petrenko", "Vienna", "Bernard Haitink", "Chicago", "Entertainment", "Marina Mahler", "Robert F. Kennedy", "Leonard Bernstein", "Willem Mengelberg", "Anders Hillborg" ]	# Composer Gustav Mahler celebrated at Amsterdam festival By Ronald Blum May 13th, 2025, 03:48 PM --- AMSTERDAM (AP) — When Klaus Mäkelä climbed the Concertgebouw podium and turned to the audience at the orchestra's third Gustav Mahler Festival in 105 years, the conductor could see the writing on the wall. Facing him was "MAHLER" etched in gold on a cartouche and shining in a spotlight, centered in a permanent position of honor among the 17 composers enshrined across the balcony front. And sitting in the first row directly behind the sign Friday night was Marina Mahler, the composer's 81-year-old granddaughter. "It was just as it should be. I was terribly moved and excited at the same time," she said after the final note of Symphony No. 1. "It affected me in the deepest possible way." All 10 of Mahler's numbered symphonies are being presented in order along with his other major works from May 8-18, ending on the 114th anniversary of his death at age 50. "This is in a way the first orchestra that really trusted in Mahler," Mäkela said. Joining the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra are the Budapest Festival Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Berlin Philharmonic, with conducting split among Mäkelä (Symphonies 1 and 8), Iván Fischer (2 and 5), Fabio Luisi (3 and 4), Jaap van Zweden (6 and 7), Kirill Petrenko (9) and Sakari Oramo (10). Programs are simulcast to a 1,500-seat amphitheater in Amsterdam's Vondelpark. "We have a U.S. orchestra for the first time in this festival," said Simon Reinink, who headed the planning as general director of The Concertgebouw (the building, as opposed to the orchestra). "We also thought why shouldn't we invite an Asian orchestra?" ## Early champion was in Amsterdam Mahler's first champion was Willem Mengelberg, who conducted the entirety of the first Mahler Festival in 1920 to celebrate his 25th anniversary as the Concertgebouw's chief conductor. A second festival was held in 1995 to mark the 75th anniversary of the first festival and a 100th anniversary celebration was planned for 2020 and canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. "Mahler is really in the DNA of the orchestra," said Dominik Winterling, managing director of Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. "You feel it because we have a certain tradition, which is also passed on from generation to generation." Bruno Walter and Leonard Bernstein were Mahler's other primary proponents in the 20th century. "My father, who was a musician, always told me: `Mahler was a great conductor and a good composer with some problems. Usually the form is not perfect and it's formless,'" Iván Fischer said of Sándor Fischer, also a conductor. When Bernstein led the Vienna Philharmonic in all of Mahler's symphonies over a decade starting in the mid-1960s, there was resistance. "In intervals, in corridors, everywhere musicians talk to each other, there was this: `Yes, it's good music but a little kitsch. Well, why does he need these bombastic effects?'" Iván Fischer recalled. "Really the cult of Mahler, where everybody started to love it, came after this cycle of Bernstein in Vienna but it was a spirit of the time. I think what created the breakthrough was that you didn't feel that music had to comport to certain norms and so it was a little liberation of the '60s, the time of free love, Beatles." Mahler has gained acceptance. The Fifth Symphony's adagietto was conducted by Bernstein at Sen. Robert F. Kennedy's funeral and is featured in Luchino Visconti's 1971 film "Death in Venice" and 2022's "Tár." No. 2 sets a mood in a current Tony Award nominee, "The Picture of Dorian Gray." ## Klaus Mäkelä gets prominent role Though just 29, Mäkelä was a natural fit to lead off with the first symphony because he becomes both Concertgebouw chief conductor and CSO music director for the 2027-28 season. His exuberantly stepped down two dozen steps toward the podium to open his program with Anders Hillborg's "Hell Mountain," a world premiere commissioned for the festival that quotes two of Mahler's works. Van Zweden, who has a home a short walk from the Concertgebouw, was to open the canceled 2020 festival with the New York Philharmonic, when he was its music director. Van Zweden first heard Mahler When he was 6 or 7, van Zweden heard a fourth symphony led by Bernard Haitink, the Concertgebouw's chief conductor from 1961-88. A violinist in his youth, van Zweden became the orchestra's youngest concertmaster at age 19. "The scores of Mahler, what he gave us is a GPS system about the road of his life," he said. "He is such a human and we are such a witness of all the emotional roller-coasters and beauty and sadness and everything in his life during that performance. That is a different experience than a Tchaikovsky symphony." Luisi first heard Mahler when he attended a Fifth Symphony as a 15-year-old in Genoa, Italy. "It was overwhelming. I didn't know that this music could be so passionate and intense all the time — such a long symphony with a lot of different characters, different feelings, different moods," he recalled. "I remember getting out of that concert shaking in pleasure and surprise." Mäkelä used a new edition of the score for No. 1 compiled by Michael Waterman, the fifth member of his family to play in the Concertgebouw in a lineage dating to 1950. With the help of his mom Cleora and friend Silvio Scambone, Waterman compiled markings going back to 1967. He now is working on editions of Nos. 5 and 9 based on notations dating to Mengelberg, who headed the orchestra from 1895-1945 before he was banned for his collaboration with Nazis. On Saturday, Fisher took a five-minute break between the first and second movements of No. 2, specified by Mahler but not often followed. In a hall famous for its precise acoustics, he drew breathtaking playing from horns that scampered on and off stage like NFL special teams. "So you hear these trumpets from heaven, everywhere, different directions," he said. Mäkelä is convinced Mahler has become more accessible in current times. "It speaks to the audience now because it's music that everyone can relate to," he said. "Because it's so personal, it somehow gives you a possibility to self-reflect." ___ Corrects that Mahler 5 was played at Robert F. Kennedy's funeral from John F. Kennedy's funeral in earlier version.
Associated Press News	2025-05-16 07:40:09+00:00	[ "Nepal", "Bhutan", "Arzu Rana Deuba", "Glaciers", "Climate change", "Water shortages", "Climate and environment", "Droughts", "Natural disasters", "Earth science", "Khadga Prasad Oli", "Climate science", "Weather", "Climate" ]	# Nepal hosts environment conference as Himalayan glaciers melt By Binaj Gurubacharya May 16th, 2025, 07:40 AM --- KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — An environment conference opened in Nepal on Friday to discuss global climate change, including the impact on the highest Himalayan peaks where snow and ice are melting. The three-day conference in Kathmandu titled, "Climate Change, Mountains and the Future of Humanity," is expected to include discussions of critical climate issues. "From the lap of Sagarmatha (Everest), the world's highest peak, we send this message loud and clear that to protect the mountains is to protect the planet. To protect the mountains is to protect our seas. To protect the mountains is to protect humanity itself," Nepal Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli told participants at the opening meeting. Nepal is home to eight of the tallest mountains in the world including Mount Everest. A high level of glaciers melting in the Himalayan mountains because of global warming has raised signficant concerns. Melting snow and ice have exposed the mountains and increased the risk of rock slides, landslides and avalanches. Scientists have warned the Himalayan mountains could lose up to 80% of their glaciers if the Earth warms in coming decades or centuries. They say flash floods and avalanches also could become more likely in coming years, in part because of climate change. "The tragedy is that the Himalayas are facing an unprecedented stress test in real time today, exposing not only the fragile nature of our mountain ecosystems but also a glaring evidence of the lack of meaningful global climate action," Nepal Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba said. "As a mountainous country with high disaster risk vulnerability, Nepal faces a stark predicament." Nepal has experienced a series of severe weather events in the recent past with devastating impacts on people and their livelihoods, Deuba said. "Floods and glacial lake outbursts have caused large-scale destruction and damage, and droughts, water scarcity and forest fires have brought untold suffering to the people across the country," she said Ministers from neighboring India, Bhutan and Maldives are attending the conference. Organizers have said they intend to publish a Kathmandu declaration after the discussions end Sunday.
Associated Press News	2025-05-10 17:12:46+00:00	[ "Donald Trump", "Stephen Miller", "Mexico", "Amy Coney Barrett", "Constitutional law", "Immigration", "Philippines", "Latin America", "Legal proceedings", "United States government", "Politics", "Rebellions and uprisings", "George W. Bush", "United States", "Abraham Lincoln", "Roger Taney", "Ulysses S. Grant" ]	# Trump team mulls suspending habeas corpus to speed deportations. Can it? By Will Weissert May 10th, 2025, 05:12 PM --- WASHINGTON (AP) — White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller says President Donald Trump is looking for ways to expand its legal power to deport migrants who are in the United States illegally. To achieve that, he says the administration is "actively looking at" suspending habeas corpus, the constitutional right for people to legally challenge their detention by the government. Such a move would be aimed at migrants as part of the Republican president's broader crackdown at the U.S.-Mexico border. "The Constitution is clear, and that of course is the supreme law of the land, that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in a time of invasion," Miller told reporters outside the White House on Friday. "So, I would say that's an option we're actively looking at," Miller said. "Look, a lot of it depends on whether the courts do the right thing or not." ## What is habeas corpus? The Latin term means "that you have the body." Federal courts use a writ of habeas corpus to bring a prisoner before a neutral judge to determine if imprisonment is legal. Habeas corpus was included in the Constitution as an import from English common law. Parliament enacted the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679, which was meant to ensure that the king released prisoners when the law did not justify confining them. The Constitution's Suspension Clause, the second clause of Section 9 of Article I, states that habeas corpus "shall not be suspended, unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it." ## Has it been suspended previously? Yes. The United States has suspended habeas corpus under four distinct circumstances during its history. Those usually involved authorization from Congress, something that would be nearly impossible today — even at Trump's urging — given the narrow Republican majorities in the House and Senate. President Abraham Lincoln suspended habeas corpus multiple times amid the Civil War, beginning in 1861 to detain suspected spies and Confederate sympathizers. He ignored a ruling from Roger Taney, who was the Supreme Court chief justice but was acting in the case as a circuit judge. Congress then authorized suspending it in 1863, which allowed Lincoln to do so again. Congress acted similarly under President Ulysses S. Grant, suspending habeas corpus in parts of South Carolina under the Civil Rights Act of 1871. Also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, it was meant to counter violence and intimidation of groups opposing Reconstruction in the South. Habeas corpus was suspended in two provinces of the Philippines in 1905, when it was a U.S. territory and authorities were worried about the threat of an insurrection, and in Hawaii after the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor, but before it became a state in 1959. Writing before becoming a Supreme Court justice, Amy Coney Barrett co-authored a piece stating that the Suspension Clause "does not specify which branch of government has the authority to suspend the privilege of the writ, but most agree that only Congress can do it." ## Could the Trump administration do it? It can try. Miller suggested that the U.S. is facing "an invasion" of migrants. That term was used deliberately, though any effort to suspend habeas corpus would spark legal challenges questioning whether the country was facing an invasion, let alone presenting extraordinary threats to public safety. Federal judges have so far been skeptical of the Trump administration's past efforts to use extraordinary powers to make deportations easier, and that could make suspending habeas corpus even tougher. Trump argued in March that the U.S. was facing an "invasion" of Venezuelan gang members and evoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a wartime authority he has tried to use to speed up mass deportations. His administration acted to swiftly deport alleged members of Tren de Aragua to a notorious prison in El Salvador, leading to a series of legal fights. Federal courts around the country, including in New York, Colorado, Texas and Pennsylvania, have since blocked the administration's uses of the Alien Enemies Act for many reasons, including amid questions about whether the country is truly facing an invasion. ## If courts are already skeptical, how could habeas corpus be suspended? Miller, who has been fiercely critical of judges ruling against the administration, advanced the argument that the judicial branch may not get to decide. "Congress passed a body of law known as the Immigration Nationality Act which stripped Article III courts, that's the judicial branch, of jurisdiction over immigration cases," he said Friday. That statute was approved by Congress in 1952 and there were important amendments in 1996 and 2005. Legal scholars note that it does contain language that could funnel certain cases to immigration courts, which are overseen by the executive branch. Still, most appeals in those cases would largely be handled by the judicial branch, and they could run into the same issues as Trump's attempts to use the Alien Enemies Act. ## Have other administrations tried this? Technically not since Pearl Harbor, though habeas corpus has been at the center of some major legal challenges more recently than that. Republican President George W. Bush did not move to suspend habeas corpus after the Sept. 11 attacks, but his administration subsequently sent detainees to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, drawing lawsuits from advocates who argued the administration was violating it and other legal constitutional protections. The Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that Guantanamo detainees had a constitutional right to habeas corpus, allowing them to challenge their detention before a judge. That led to some detainees being released from U.S. custody. ___ Associated Press writer Mark Sherman contributed to this report.
Associated Press News	2025-05-20 03:59:19+00:00	[ "Kathy Hochul", "Donald Trump", "Joe Biden", "Indigenous people", "New York", "Education funding", "Ohio", "U.S. Democratic Party", "Race and ethnicity", "Philip E. Thomas", "Lori Quigley", "Children", "Matthew Hill", "Politics", "Race and Ethnicity" ]	# NY governor apologizes for 'atrocities' at state boarding school for Native Americans By Philip Marcelo May 20th, 2025, 03:59 AM --- NEW YORK (AP) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul formally apologized Tuesday for the "atrocities" she says were committed at an upstate boarding school where Native American youths were forcibly separated from their families and forced to assimilate into American society. The Democrat, speaking on the grounds of the former Thomas Indian School on Seneca Nation land, said students were subjected to "unimaginable physical, emotional and sexual assaults" during the institution's more than 100-year existence. "Instead of being a haven for orphan children, it became a place of nightmares," Hochul said. "A place some would call a torture chamber, the site of sanctioned ethnic cleansing. That's what was going on here. Trying to eradicate the long, proud story of the Senecas." More than 2,500 students from tribes across the state attended the school in western New York, which operated from 1875 to 1957 and was among hundreds of such boarding schools across the U.S. Seneca President J. Conrad Seneca, whose father attended the school, said the apology was an important reckoning for the "dark and tragic period" in the tribe's history. "It is a day that many people thought would never happen," he said in a statement after the event. "Healing takes time, but it also requires accountability for the pain that people caused. We still feel the pain. Now, with Governor Hochul's words of apology, our healing process can continue." Hochul, during what the tribe said was the first official visit by a sitting New York governor to Seneca land, met with school survivors and their family members. She said she learned about how the school's harsh environment affected generations of tribe members. "The children in that school didn't feel like they had a family. They were lonely," she said. "No one gave them hugs or kisses goodnight, so when they became parents themselves, they were not conditioned to nurture or give love." Hochul vowed her budget will propose the creation of new education materials about local indigenous communities and their contributions. "A deeper understanding of the people whose land we are on and what they have gone through. That is a first step forward," she said. Originally called the Thomas Asylum for Orphan and Destitute Indian Children, the school was established by Presbyterian missionaries in 1855 and taken over by the state in 1875. It was named after Philip E. Thomas, an early benefactor and president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The institution was among more than 400 government-supported schools established throughout the country with the goal of assimilating Native American youths. But the schools, which operated for roughly 150 years, had a devastating impact on Native American communities. Staff at the schools worked to strip Native children of their traditions and heritage. Teachers and administrators cut their hair, forbade them from speaking their own languages and forced them into manual labor. Students, forcibly separated from their families, endured torture, sexual abuse and hatred from school officials. More than 900 children died at the schools, the last of which closed or transitioned into different institutions decades ago. Former President Joe Biden in October 2024 visited the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona to formally apologize to Native Americans for the "sin" of the nation's government-run boarding school system. But at least $1.6 million in federal funds destined for research projects on the boarding schools have been among the casualties of President Donald Trump's efforts to rein in the federal bureaucracy. Some Seneca tribe members were skeptical of Hochul's goodwill gesture. Lori Quigley, a Niagara University professor whose mother attended the Thomas school for 10 years as a young child, said she hoped the governor offered more than words. "An apology is one thing," she said by phone ahead of the visit. "What actions is she going to take in acknowledging this? These traumas are still impacting our communities." Matthew Hill, a tribe member whose father was among the last class of students before the school was shuttered, dismissed the visit as "empty words." After all, he said, the Hochul administration and the tribe have been negotiating for years over how much if any of the tribe's casino revenues the state should be allowed to collect. "They're saying sorry for the school, but they'll continue extorting money from us in the form of gaming revenues," said Hill. "It's a joke."
Associated Press News	2025-05-19 10:20:20+00:00	[ "Madrid", "Spain", "Barcelona", "Spain government", "Consumer affairs", "Business", "Airbnb", "Inc.", "Recessions and depressions", "Pablo Bustinduy", "Politics" ]	# Spain orders Airbnb to block nearly 66,000 holiday rental listings By Suman Naishadham May 19th, 2025, 10:20 AM --- MADRID (AP) — Spain has ordered Airbnb to block more than 65,000 holiday listings on its platform for having violated rules, the Consumer Rights Ministry said Monday. The ministry said that many of the 65,935 Airbnb listings it had ordered to be withdrawn did not include their license number or specify whether the owner was an individual or a company. Others listed numbers that didn't match what authorities had, it said. Spain is grappling with a housing affordability crisis that has spurred government action against short-term rental companies. In recent months, tens of thousands of Spaniards have taken to the streets protesting rising housing and rental costs, which many say have been driven up by holiday rentals on platforms like Airbnb that have proliferated in cities like Madrid and Barcelona and many other popular tourist destinations. "Enough already with protecting those who make a business out of the right to housing," Consumer Minister Pablo Bustinduy told reporters on Monday. Airbnb said that it would appeal the decision. Through a spokesperson, the company said it did not think the ministry was authorized to rule on short-term rentals — and that it had utilized "an indiscriminate methodology" to include Airbnb rentals that do not need a license to operate. Last year, Barcelona announced a plan to close down all of the 10,000 apartments licensed in the city as short-term rentals by 2028 to safeguard the housing supply for full-time residents. The ministry said it had notified Airbnb of the noncompliant listings months ago, but that the company had appealed the move in court. Spain's government said Madrid's high court had backed the order sent to Airbnb. Bustinduy said it involved the immediate removal of 5,800 rental listings from the site. Two subsequent orders would be issued until the nearly 66,000 removals are reached, he said. Spain's government said the first round of affected properties were located across the country, including in the capital, Madrid, as well as in the regions of Andalusia and Catalonia, whose capital is Barcelona.
Associated Press News	2025-05-01 17:26:35+00:00	[ "Jair Bolsonaro", "Brasilia", "Luiz Incio Lula da Silva", "Surgery", "Politics", "Health", "Diets and dieting" ]	# Brazilian ex-President Jair Bolsonaro is out of intensive care but still hospitalized, doctors say May 1st, 2025, 05:26 PM --- SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian ex-President Jair Bolsonaro, who continues to recover after undergoing bowel surgery, has left intensive care, his doctors said Thursday. The medical team at the DF Star Hospital in Brasilia said that he left intensive care on Wednesday and there is no set discharge date from the facility. His health condition is stable and he has begun receiving a liquid diet. Bolsonaro underwent a 12-hour surgery on April 13 to remove intestinal adhesions and reconstruct the abdominal wall. It was the sixth procedure related to long-term effects of being stabbed in the abdomen during a campaign rally in September 2018. He has been in and out of hospitals since the attack and underwent multiple surgeries during his presidency from 2019-2022. Doctors described the latest surgery as the "most complex" since the stabbing, requiring a "very delicate and prolonged post-surgery." Bolsonaro was admitted with severe abdominal pain to a hospital in Santa Cruz, a small city in Rio Grande do Norte, on April 11 and then transferred to a hospital in the state's capital, Natal. His family later requested his transfer to Brasilia. He had been preparing for a trip across northeast Brazil to promote his Liberal Party's right-wing agenda, eyeing next year's presidential election, though he himself is barred from running. The region traditionally has been a political bastion of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Bolsonaro is expected to stand trial in the next few months at Brazil's Supreme Court for allegedly attempting to stage a coup in January 2023, with riots led by his supporters in Brasilia. ___ Follow AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Associated Press News	2025-05-13 05:19:42+00:00	[ "Nigeria", "Agriculture", "Africa", "Nigeria government", "Future of food", "AFRICA PULSE", "Climate and environment", "World Food Programme", "Business", "Bola Tinubu", "Daniel Obiora", "Yusuf Isah Sokoto", "Climate" ]	# Nigeria has a food security problem as water for crops is harder to find By Dyepkazah Shibayan May 13th, 2025, 05:19 AM --- KWALKWALAWA, Nigeria (AP) — After two decades of working his farm in northwestern Nigeria, Umaru Muazu now struggles to find water for his crops. A murky puddle is all that remains of a river near his 5-hectare farm and those of others in this community in arid Sokoto state. Because the 62-year-old Muazu can't afford to dig a well to keep crops like millet and maize from withering, he might abandon farming. "Before, with a small farm, you could get a lot," he said. Climate change is challenging agriculture in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country. With long dry spells and extreme heat, water bodies are drying because the arid season is becoming longer than usual. The wet season, though it can dump excessive rain, is short. It's fresh pain in a country where the World Food Program says 31 million people already face food insecurity. Efforts to recover from one climate shock are overlapped by the next, said WFP spokesperson Chi Lael. The challenges faced by farmers in the north, who account for most of what Nigeria eats, are affecting food prices and availability in the booming coastal south that's home to the megacity of Lagos. More than 80% of Nigeria's farmers are smallholder farmers, who account for 90% of the country's annual agricultural production. Some work their fields with little more than a piece of roughly carved wood and their bare hands. Farmers are facing low yields because the government has failed to develop infrastructure like dams to help mitigate the effects of climate change, said Daniel Obiora, national president of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria. There is little data available on the drying-up of smaller water bodies across the north. But farmers say the trend has been worsening. In Adamawa state, water scarcity caused by higher temperatures and changing rain patterns has affected over 1,250 hectares (3,088 acres) of farmland, disrupting food supply and livelihoods, Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency said last year. Over-extraction of water and deforestation are other factors contributing to northern Nigeria's drying rivers, according to Abdulsamad Isah, co-founder of local Extension Africa nonprofit that often works with farmers. Elsewhere in Sokoto state, Nasiru Bello tilled his farm to cultivate onions without assurance of a meaningful harvest. With nearby rivers and wells drying up, he has resorted to pumping groundwater for the farm that provides the sole income for his family of 26. But the cost of pumping amid soaring gas prices has become unbearable. "The plants do not grow well as it did," he said. Nigeria is forecast to become the world's third most populous nation by 2025, alongside the United States and after India and China. With Nigeria's population expected to reach 400 million by 2050, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization has been encouraging climate-smart agriculture to help ensure food security, including drip irrigation, which delivers water slowly and directly to roots and helps conserve water, instead of traditional irrigation systems that flood entire fields. "There should be more orientation for farmers about climate change," said Yusuf Isah Sokoto, director of the College of Environmental Science at Sokoto's Umaru Ali Shinkafi Polytechnic. At least two-thirds of the trees in the state have been lost due to deforestation, contributing to rising temperatures, Sokoto said. Data from the government-run statistics agency show that local agriculture contributed 22% of Nigeria's GDP in the second quarter of 2024, down from 25% in the previous quarter. While the trend has fluctuated in recent years, experts have said agricultural production still does not reflect growing government investment in the sector. Household food imports, meanwhile, rose by 136% from 2023 to 2024, government statistics show. The decreasing farm yields are being felt elsewhere in Nigeria, especially the south. In Lagos, the price of several items grown in the north have nearly doubled in the last two years, partly due to decreasing supplies. A head of cabbage grown in the north is selling for 2,000 naira ($1.2), nearly double its price a year ago and more than five times the price in Sokoto. Nigerian authorities acknowledge the problem. Many farmers who once harvested up to 10 tons are hardly able to get half that these days, agriculture minister Aliyu Abdullahi said earlier this year. Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu and his government have touted agriculture as a means for economic prosperity. Shortly after he took office in May 2023, Tinubu's government declared a food security state of emergency and announced plans to activate 500,000 hectares of farmland in Nigeria's land banks, which are mostly in the north. The land banks, however, are yet to be activated. ___ For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The 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	2025-05-02 16:16:24+00:00	[ "Idaho", "Brad Little", "Bozeman", "Montana", "Aaron Snell", "Brenda Dye", "Fires", "Automotive accidents", "Roger Merrill" ]	# 7 people are dead after a truck and tour van collided near Yellowstone, police say By Beatrice Dupuy and Rebecca Boone May 2nd, 2025, 04:16 PM --- BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A pickup truck collided with a tour van carrying a number of foreign travelers on a highway leading to Yellowstone National Park, leaving seven people dead and eight others injured, Idaho State Police said. The crash happened just before 7:15 p.m. Thursday on U.S. Highway 20 near Henry's Lake State Park in eastern Idaho, police said in a news release. The state park is roughly 16 miles (26 kilometers) west of Yellowstone National Park. Police have not said what exactly caused the wreck, but the Dodge Ram truck was traveling west while the Mercedes van was traveling east toward Yellowstone when it happened. Video from the scene showed clear weather conditions at the time. Both vehicles caught fire, police said. The driver of the pickup and six people inside the Mercedes passenger van died. The truck driver was identified Friday as Isaih Moreno, 25, of Humble, Texas. Identifying the others will take some time, according to police. Fremont County coroner, Brenda Dye, told The New York Times that she was waiting for DNA test results to identify the six others because the bodies were unrecognizable. She said all six were from outside the U.S. Two were from Italy. China's Consulate General in San Francisco said that five Chinese citizens were killed in the accident and another eight were injured. "The consulate expressed deep condolences for the dead and sincere sympathy to the injured and the families of those affected," according to the official Xinhua news agency. It was in contact with the family members and providing support, it said. It was not immediately clear why there was a discrepancy between the figures given by Chinese officials and the Fremont County coroner. The van was carrying a tour group of 14 people, and the surviving occupants were taken to hospitals with injuries, police spokesperson Aaron Snell said. Two were flown to an Idaho Falls hospital and one was flown to a Bozeman, Montana, hospital, according to police. Their conditions were not released. The others were taken to area hospitals with injuries believed to be non-life-threatening, police said. The crash remains under investigation. Roger Merrill, 60, was driving home when he saw flames engulfing the two vehicles as bystanders tried to care for survivors from the van on the side of the highway. Merrill said he often sees tourist vans on the highway. "It is a very dangerous highway because it leads to the main entrance of Yellowstone National Park," he said. "It's extremely busy." Merrill captured video of the wreckage with smoke blanketing the van. Due to the remote location, Merrill said he anxiously awaited the help of first responders. "It took an unnervingly long time for help to arrive just because of the location," he said. Police said Friday that a Fremont County sheriff's deputy arrived shortly after the crash and, with the help of bystanders, immediately helped injured van occupants as it caught fire. The state is working with local officials to get "answers on what led to this terrible tragedy," Idaho Gov. Brad Little said in a social media post. The Idaho Transportation Department had identified the highway for safety improvements aimed at reducing the severity of crashes, but the project was still in the research and planning phase. An average of about 10,500 vehicles traveled that portion of the highway daily in 2023, according to the agency. ___ Dupuy reported from New York City. Associated Press reporter Lisa Baumann contributed to this story from Bellingham, Washington.
Associated Press News	2025-05-08 09:48:47+00:00	[ "South Africa", "Animals", "Animal poaching and smuggling", "Endangered species", "Poisoning", "Crime", "National parks", "Africa", "Vultures" ]	# More than 100 vultures die in a mass poisoning in South Africa's flagship national park By Gerald Imray May 8th, 2025, 09:48 AM --- CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — At least 123 vultures died in South Africa's flagship national park after eating the carcass of an elephant that was poisoned by poachers with agricultural pesticides, park authorities and an animal conservation group said Thursday. Another 83 vultures that were rescued from the site and transported for treatment by helicopter or a special vulture ambulance were recovering. The mass poisoning was one of the worst seen in the famous Kruger National Park in northern South Africa, said SANParks, the national parks agency. Vultures are key to wildlife ecosystems because of the clean up work they do feeding on the carcasses of dead animals. But that also makes them especially vulnerable to poisoning by poachers, either intentionally or as a result of the killing of other animals. Hundreds of vultures typically feed on a carcass. The elephant had been poisoned by poachers in a remote part of the huge park to harvest its body parts for the illegal wildlife trade, SANParks and the Endangered Wildlife Trust said. Many vulture species are endangered in Africa because of poisoning and other threats to them. The affected birds in Kruger included Cape vultures, endangered lappet-faced vultures and critically-endangered white-backed and hooded vultures. "This horrific incident is part of a broader crisis unfolding across southern Africa: the escalating use of poisons in wildlife poaching," SANParks and the Endangered Wildlife Trust said in their joint statement. "Poachers increasingly use agricultural toxins to target high-value species." The Kruger National Park covers approximately 20,000 square kilometers (7,722 square miles) and is nearly twice the size of small countries like Jamaica and Qatar. Rangers say they face a daily battle to guard species like rhinos, elephants and lions from poachers. Vulture conservation organization Vulpro, which was not involved in the rescue, said the poisoning came at the start of the breeding season and many other birds that weren't found at the site could still be affected. ___ AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa
Associated Press News	2025-05-07 04:24:30+00:00	[ "Lebanon", "2024-2025 Mideast Wars", "Israel government", "Hamas", "Israel", "War and unrest", "Military and defense" ]	# An Israeli drone strike in a Lebanese port city kills a Hamas member May 7th, 2025, 04:24 AM --- BEIRUT (AP) — An Israeli drone strike on a car in southern Lebanon killed an official with the Palestinian militant group Hamas early Wednesday, authorities said. Hamas said in a statement that Khaled Ahmad al-Ahmad, who was a member of its military wing, was killed while he was on his way to a mosque to attend dawn prayers. The Israeli military confirmed that it had targeted al-Ahmad, saying he was a commander with Hamas in south Lebanon and was behind several attacks against Israel. Since Hamas' attack on southern Israel triggered the war on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel's military has targeted members of the group in Lebanon, where Hamas has a military presence. The group has also carried out rocket attacks from Lebanon since the Israel-Hamas war began, and in recent weeks Lebanese authorities detained several men linked to Hamas on suspicion of firing rockets toward Israel. Lebanese authorities warned Hamas last week that it would face the "harshest measures," if it carried out any attacks from Lebanon.
Associated Press News	2025-05-14 21:58:12+00:00	[ "North Dakota", "Lawsuits", "Voting rights", "Raymond Gruender", "George W. Bush", "Steven Colloton", "Arkansas", "Redistricting", "Legal proceedings", "David Hogue", "Race and ethnicity", "Indigenous people", "Jonathan Topaz", "Courts", "Peter Welte", "Politics", "Mark Gaber", "Voting", "Michael Howe" ]	# Ruling in North Dakota case erases path for people in 7 states to sue under the Voting Rights Act By Jack Dura May 14th, 2025, 09:58 PM --- BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A federal appeals court that already has said private individuals and groups cannot sue under a key part of the federal Voting Rights Act went even further Wednesday toward blocking lawsuits over alleged racial bias in voting in seven Midwest states. But its decisions may not be the last word, because another appeals court has ruled differently, and the U.S. Supreme Court might have to resolve the conflict. The latest ruling reversed a legal victory for two tribal nations in North Dakota that challenged a legislative redistricting plan. The ruling shuts off a route to Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act through a federal civil rights law known as Section 1983, which allows people to sue state officials to vindicate their federal or constitutional rights, said Jonathan Topaz, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union Voting Rights Project. Section 1983 provides a legal vehicle to bring a lawsuit, he said. Private individuals in past decades brought lawsuits under Section 2, but a 2023 8th Circuit ruling in an Arkansas redistricting case held that Section 2 doesn't allow for private claims. That ruling and Wednesday's ruling only apply to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which encompasses Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. "These decisions together at the moment mean that no one can sue under the Voting Rights Act in the seven states that comprise the 8th Circuit, other than the U.S. Attorney General," said Mark Gaber, senior director for redistricting at Campaign Legal Center and an attorney for the Spirit Lake Tribe and Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians. The majority opinion Wednesday said that in order to use Section 1983 to file lawsuits over voting rights, including how redistricting affects them, a private person or group must "unambiguously" have the right to sue under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Appeals Judge Raymond Gruender, appointed by George W. Bush and writing for the majority, said that while the tribes "are within the general zone of interest" of the Voting Rights Act, it is "without the statute having unambiguously conferred an individual right." In a dissent, Circuit Chief Judge Steven Colloton, another Bush appointee, said Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act does confer a right to sue and he would have upheld the tribes' legal victory on redistricting. Wednesday's decision and the Arkansas ruling "create circuit splits" on the Section 2 and Section 1983 issues because the 8th Circuit is the only court to rule in such a way in both instances, Gaber said. The tribes and their attorneys are discussing and considering appeal options, he said. The 2-1 ruling is a reversal for the two tribes, who had successfully challenged North Dakota's 2021 redistricting map, alleging it dilutes their voting strength. The tribes wanted to share a single legislative district, electing a state senator and two House members, making it more likely that all three would be Native American. The 2021 plan split them into different districts. The court-ordered plan gave the tribes what they wanted. Spirit Lake, Turtle Mountain and several tribal citizens alleged that the 2021 map drew the lines so that while Turtle Mountain members still could elect a House member, the Spirit Lake members could not. In late 2023, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Peter Welte ruled after a trial, saying the Legislature's map "prevents Native American voters from having an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice" in violation of the Voting Rights Act's Section 2. In early 2024, the judge ordered a new map into place with a joint district for the two tribes. Their reservations near the Canadian border and in northeastern North Dakota, respectively, are about 60 miles (97 kilometers) apart. Later that year, voters elected three Native Americans, all Democrats, to the district's seats. Republican Senate Majority Leader David Hogue said the 2021 boundaries the Legislature drew "will be the boundaries." Somehow officials will have to address the seats of incumbents affected by the boundaries at question, potentially by special election, he said. "I think the Legislature was very comfortable with the fairness of the boundaries that they drew in 2021, and I think we should endeavor to uphold those boundaries," Hogue said. In a statement, Secretary of State Michael Howe's office said it will now work with the 2021 map in place for the 2026 elections, "pending any further actions." Republicans control North Dakota's Legislature by 83-11 in the House and 42-5 in the Senate. The state's biennial legislative session concluded earlier this month. ___ Associated Press reporter John Hanna contributed from Topeka, Kansas.
Associated Press News	2025-05-01 15:22:27+00:00	[ "Music", "National", "JWD-evergreen", "Hugo Merchant", "Science", "Entertainment", "Peter Cook" ]	# Scientists once thought only humans could bob to music. Ronan the sea lion helped prove them wrong By Christina Larson May 1st, 2025, 03:22 PM --- Ronan the sea lion can still keep a beat after all these years. She can groove to rock and electronica. But the 15-year-old California sea lion's talent shines most in bobbing to disco hits like "Boogie Wonderland." "She just nails that one," swaying her head in time to the tempo changes, said Peter Cook, a behavioral neuroscientist at New College of Florida who has spent a decade studying Ronan's rhythmic abilities. Not many animals show a clear ability to identify and move to a beat aside from humans, parrots and some primates. But then there's Ronan, a bright-eyed sea lion that has scientists rethinking the meaning of music. A former rescue sea lion, she burst to fame around a decade ago after scientists reported her musical skills. From age 3, she has been a resident at the University of California, Santa Cruz's Long Marine Laboratory, where researchers including Cook have tested and honed her ability to recognize rhythms. Ronan joined a select group of animal movers and shakers -- which also includes Snowball the famed dancing cockatoo -- that together upended the long-held idea that the ability to respond to music and recognize a beat was distinctly human. What is particularly notable about Ronan is that she can learn to dance to a beat without learning to sing or talk musically. "Scientists once believed that only animals who were vocal learners — like humans and parrots — could learn to find a beat," said Hugo Merchant, a researcher at Mexico's Institute of Neurobiology, who was not involved in the Ronan research. But in the years since since Ronan came into the spotlight, questions emerged about whether she still had it. Was her past dancing a fluke? Was Ronan better than people at keeping a beat? To answer the challenge, Cook and colleagues devised a new study, published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports. The result: Ronan still has it. She's back and she's better than ever. This time the researchers focused not on studio music but on percussion beats in a laboratory. They filmed Ronan bobbing her head as the drummer played three different tempos — 112, 120, and 128 beats per minute. Two of those beats Ronan had never been exposed to, allowing scientists to test her flexibility in recognizing new rhythms. And the researchers asked 10 college students to do the same, waving their forearm to changing beats. Ronan was the top diva. "No human was better than Ronan at all the different ways we test quality of beat-keeping," said Cook, adding that "she's much better than when she was a kid," indicating lifetime learning. The new study confirms Ronan's place as one of the "top ambassadors" of animal musicality, said University of Amsterdam music cognition researcher Henkjan Honing, who was not involved in the study. Researchers plan to train and test other sea lions. Cook suspects other sea lions can also bob to a beat — but that Ronan will still stand out as a star performer. ___ 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	2025-05-01 09:19:22+00:00	[ "Nigel Farage", "England", "Keir Starmer", "United Kingdom", "Boris Johnson", "London", "Conservatism", "Global elections", "Mike Amesbury", "Tim Bale", "Elections", "Politics", "United Kingdom government", "Voting" ]	# Parts of England vote in local elections, with Farage's Reform UK seeking big gains By Jill Lawless May 1st, 2025, 09:19 AM --- LONDON (AP) — Voters in many areas of England went to the polls Thursday in local elections that provide a test of feeling about Prime Minister Keir Starmer's center-left Labour government, 10 months after it was elected in a landslide. Both Labour and the main opposition Conservative Party braced for losses in the midterm poll. The hard-right Reform UK led by Nigel Farage fielded more candidates than any other party and hoped to make major gains in the elections that are deciding 1,600 seats on 23 local councils, six mayoralties and one seat in Parliament. Reform got about 14% of the vote in last year's national election and holds just four of the 650 seats in the House of Commons. But polls now suggest its support equals or surpasses that of Labour and the Conservatives, and it hopes to displace the Conservatives as the country's main party on the right before the next national election, due by 2029. "Tomorrow is the day that two-party politics in England dies for good," Farage told supporters at a rally on Wednesday evening. Results in most of the races were expected Friday. Reform is aiming to win hundreds of municipal seats, largely from the Conservatives, whose leader Kemi Badenoch could face revolt if the party does very badly. Badenoch has acknowledged that the results could be "very difficult" for the Tories. The party did extremely well when these areas were last contested in 2021, a time when then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative government enjoyed a surge in popularity due to the COVID-19 vaccine program. Farage's party also hopes to win two or three mayoral contests and a special parliamentary election for the seat of Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England. It was long a secure Labour district, but the previous lawmaker, Mike Amesbury, quit after he was convicted of punching a constituent in a drunken rage. Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, said the Conservatives and Reform are in "a fight for the soul of the right wing of U.K. politics." He said Farage's "populist radical right insurgency" also poses a threat to Labour, targeting working-class voters with pledges to curb immigration, create jobs and cut government waste. The centrist Liberal Democrats also hope to build on their success in winning more affluent, socially liberal voters away from the Conservatives. Bale said winning municipal power could be a double-edged sword for Reform, bringing pressure to deliver on transport, potholes, housing and all the other unglamorous demands of everyday politics. "Populist parties tend to offer fairly simple solutions to fairly complex problems," he said. "Which is fine when you're in opposition and all you are doing is living in a house of words. But once you start living in house of deeds, that is a completely different proposition."
Associated Press News	2025-05-06 20:33:25+00:00	[ "India", "Kashmir", "Pakistan", "War and unrest", "India government", "Pakistan government", "Donald Trump", "Antonio Guterres", "Narendra Modi", "Fires", "South Asia", "Ahmed Sharif", "Sachin Kumar", "Michael Kugelman", "Mohammad Ashraf", "Abdul Sammad", "Mohammed Yousuf Dar", "Politics", "Stephane Dujarric" ]	# India fires missiles into Pakistani territory in response to Pahalgam attack By Munir Ahmed, Sheikh Saaliq, Rajesh Roy, Riazat Butt, and Aijaz Hussain May 6th, 2025, 08:33 PM --- ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan said Wednesday it will avenge those killed by India's missile strikes that New Delhi called retaliation for last month's massacre of Indian tourists in India-controlled Kashmir. Pakistan called the strikes an act of war and claimed it downed several Indian fighter jets. The missiles killed 31 people, including women and children, in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and the country's Punjab province, Pakistan's military said. The strikes targeted at least nine sites "where terrorist attacks against India have been planned," India's Defense Ministry said. Two mosques were hit. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said his country would avenge the dead but gave no details, fanning fears of all-out conflict between the nuclear-armed rivals. Already, it's their worst confrontation since 2019, when they came close to war. A heavy exchange of fire continued to follow the missile strikes, and officials in each country confirmed people killed. Sharif commended the armed forces for shooting down five Indian jets, which he said were hit after they fired their missiles but while still in Indian airspace. There was no comment from India, but three planes fell onto villages in India-controlled territory, according to police and residents. Tensions have soared between the neighbors since the April attack in which gunmen killed 26 people, mostly Indian tourists. Some survivors told Indian media that gunmen in some cases singled out Hindu men and shot them at close range. India accuses Pakistan of being behind the attack, which was claimed by a militant group calling itself Kashmir Resistance. India has said the group is linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, a disbanded Pakistani militant group that New Delhi long accused of being backed by Pakistan. Islamabad denies involvement. India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, which is split between them and claimed by both in its entirety. In the wake of the massacre, the rivals have expelled each other's diplomats and nationals, closed their borders and shuttered airspace. India has also suspended a critical water-sharing treaty with Pakistan. ## The risk of war "Pakistan has every right to give a robust response to this act of war imposed by India, and a strong response is indeed being given," the prime minister said, and later accused India of acting out of arrogance. The country's National Security Committee said Pakistan reserves the right to respond "in self-defense, at a time, place and manner of its choosing." The statement said the strikes were carried out "on the false pretext of the presence of imaginary terrorist camps" and said they killed civilians. The prime minister said he had attended the funeral of a 7-year-old boy. South Asia analyst Michael Kugelman said the strikes were some of the highest-intensity ones from India on its rival in years and that Pakistan's response would "surely pack a punch as well." "These are two strong militaries that, even with nuclear weapons as a deterrent, are not afraid to deploy sizeable levels of conventional military force against each other," Kugelman said. "The escalation risks are real." In 2019, the countries came close to war after a Kashmiri insurgent rammed an explosive-laden car into a bus carrying Indian soldiers, killing 40. India responded with airstrikes. U.S. President Donald Trump called the escalating conflict "so terrible" and urged both sides to stop the violence. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for maximum restraint because the world cannot "afford a military confrontation" between India and Pakistan, according to spokesperson Stephane Dujarric. Neighboring China also called for calm. Beijing is the largest investor in Pakistan by far and has multiple border disputes with India, including one in the northeastern part of the Kashmir region. Several Indian states held civil defense drills Wednesday to train civilians and security personnel to respond in case of attack. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi postponed his upcoming trip to Norway, Croatia and the Netherlands. ## Scenes of panic and destruction The missile strikes hit six locations and the dead included women and children, said Pakistan's military spokesperson, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif. Officials said another 57 people were injured, and five more people were killed in Pakistan during exchanges of fire later in the day along the Line of Control, which divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan. Sharif late Wednesday said the exchanges of fire continued. In Muzaffarabad, the main city of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, resident Abdul Sammad said he heard several explosions as blasts ripped through houses. He saw people running in panic, and authorities immediately cut power to the area. "We were afraid the next missile might hit our house," said Mohammad Ashraf, another resident. Indian jets damaged infrastructure at a dam in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, according to Sharif, the military spokesman, calling it a violation of international norms. The strikes also hit close to at least two sites previously tied to militant groups that have since been banned, according to Pakistan. One hit Subhan Mosque in Punjab's Bahawalpur city, killing 13 people, according to Zohaib Ahmed, a doctor at a nearby hospital. The mosque is near a seminary that was once the central office of Jaish-e-Mohammed, a militant group outlawed in 2002. Officials say the group has had no operational presence at the site since then. Another missile hit a mosque in Muridke in Punjab, damaging it. A building located nearby served as the headquarters of Lashkar-e-Taiba until 2013, when Pakistan banned the militant group and arrested its founder. India's Defense Ministry called the strikes "focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature," adding that "no Pakistan military facilities have been targeted." Indian politicians from various political parties praised the operation, which was named "Sindoor," a Hindi word for the vermilion powder worn by married Hindu women on their foreheads and hair. It was a reference to the women whose husbands were killed in front of them in the Kashmir attack. ## Planes fall on villages Indian police and medics said 12 civilians were killed and at least 40 wounded by Pakistani shelling in Poonch district near the highly militarized de facto border. At least 10 civilians were also injured in Kashmir's Uri sector, police said. Shortly after India's strikes, aircraft fell in three villages: two in India-controlled Kashmir, a third in India's own Punjab state. Debris from one plane was scattered across one village, including in a school and a mosque compound, according to police and residents. "There was a huge fire in the sky. Then we heard several blasts also," said Mohammed Yousuf Dar, a resident of Wuyan village in India-controlled Kashmir. Another aircraft fell in an open field in Bhardha Kalan village. Resident Sachin Kumar said he heard massive blasts and saw a huge ball of fire. He said he and several others rushed to the scene, where they saw Indian soldiers carry away the pilots. A third aircraft crashed in a field in Punjab, a police officer told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. ___ This story has been updated to correct that all three planes did not fall in India-controlled Kashmir. Two fell in India-controlled Kashmir, while a third fell in India's Punjab state. ___ Saaliq and Roy reported from New Delhi, and Hussain reported from Srinagar, India. Associated Press writers Ishfaq Hussian in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan; Babar Dogar in Lahore, Pakistan; Asim Tanveer in Multan, Pakistan; Huizhong Wu in Bangkok and Seung Min Kim in Washington contributed to this story.
Associated Press News	2025-05-02 20:14:31+00:00	[ "Financial markets", "Donald Trump", "Business", "China" ]	# How major US stock indexes fared Friday, 5/2/2025 By The Associated Press May 2nd, 2025, 08:14 PM --- Wall Street extended its gains to a ninth straight day, marking its longest winning streak since 2004 and reclaiming the ground it lost since President Donald Trump escalated his trade war in early April. The rally on Friday was spurred by a better-than-expected report on the job market and resurgent hope of a ratcheting down of the 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%. Treasury yields rose in the bond market after the government reported that employers added more jobs than forecast in April. On Friday: The S&P 500 rose 82.53 points, or 1.5%, to 5,686.67. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 564.47 points, or 1.4%, to 41,317.43. The Nasdaq composite rose 266.99 points, or 1.5%, to 17,977.73. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 44.88 points, or 2.3%, to 2,020.74. For the week: The S&P 500 is up 161.46 points, or 2.9%. The Dow is up 1,203.93 points, or 3%. The Nasdaq is up 594.79, or 3.4%. The Russell 2000 is up 63.12 points, or 3.2%. For the year: The S&P 500 is down 194.96 points, or 3.3%. The Dow is down 1,226.79 points, or 2.9%. The Nasdaq is down 1,333.06, or 6.9%. The Russell 2000 is down 209.42 points, or 9.4%.
Associated Press News	2025-05-14 22:56:37+00:00	[ "California", "Government budgets", "Donald Trump", "Health care industry", "United States government", "Politics", "California state government" ]	# Here is how California Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to address a $12 billion budget shortfall By Sophie Austin May 14th, 2025, 10:56 PM --- SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California would scale back state Medicaid coverage for immigrants without legal status, eliminate coverage for certain weight loss drugs and use money from a key climate program to help fund state fire response under a $322-billion budget proposal announced Wednesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The Democratic governor's plan aims to fill a projected $12 billion budget hole he attributed to the Trump administration's economic policies, a volatile stock market causing a decline in revenues from wealthy taxpayers, and a reduction in global tourism. "California's fundamental values don't change just because the federal winds have shifted," Newsom said in a statement. "Even as the Trump Slump slows the economy and hits our revenues, we're delivering bold proposals to build more housing, lower costs for working families, and invest in our kids." California is required by law to balance its budget every year. Newsom first unveiled a plan in January without a projected shortfall. His revised proposal now heads to state lawmakers, who have until mid-June to negotiate before a final budget act must be passed. Here is a look at some of what Newsom is proposing: ## Health care and human services Newsom plans to freeze enrollment for low-income adult immigrants without legal status and require eligible adults to pay a $100 monthly premium. He said the proposed changes to the program would save the state $5.4 billion by the 2028-2029 fiscal year. Newsom also wants to stop using revenues from a tobacco tax to pay dental, family planning and women's health providers. The revenues from the tax have declined close to 40% between 2017 and 2024 and can no longer make those payments without using the general fund, a state Department of Finance spokesperson said. The proposal would save at least $500 million a year. But that would also cut California Planned Parenthood's budget by a third, the organization said. The group is heavily critical of the proposed cut. "It's cruel, quite frankly, especially during this time that we're fighting at the federal level as well," said Jodi Hicks, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California and a Newsom ally. The governor also proposed eliminating state health care coverage for certain drugs used for weight loss beginning in January 2026, which would save an estimated $85 million for the upcoming fiscal year and $680 million by fiscal year 2028-2029. The state would also delay the repayment of a $3.4 billion loan for state Medicaid providers under Newsom's plan. Newsom plans to cut spending for a program providing in-home domestic and personal care services for some low-income residents and Californians with disabilities by capping workers' overtime and travel hours at 50 hours per week. The move would reduce spending by nearly $708 million for the upcoming fiscal year. ## Environment Newsom wants to reauthorize the state's cap-and-trade program through 2045. The program aims to reduce emissions from industrial sources over time through market-based mechanisms, and it is set to expire in 2030. Money generated through auctions of credits needed to pollute goes into a fund that lawmakers tap for climate-related spending and the state's high-speed rail project. Newsom proposed tapping $1.5 billion from that fund for the state fire department. He said the shift would help ensure carbon emitters help pay for the state's response to fires intensified by climate change. His proposal would also ensure $1 billion annually for the state's long-delayed high-speed rail project. The project now receives 25% of the cap-and-trade fund money, which ends up being a little more or a little less than a billion annually depending on the year. Environmental groups called on Newsom to back proposals aimed at making fossil fuel companies pay the state for damages linked to climate change. The money would be used in part to support the state's response to climate-driven natural disasters. Newsom also announced a plan to streamline a project to create a massive underground tunnel to reroute a big part of the state's water supply. ## Public Safety Newsom proposed closing another state prison by October 2026 to save $150 million annually. Newsom has already approved the closure of three prisons since 2019. The state's prison population has declined over the years, even after voters last year passed a tough-on-crime ballot measure that could incarcerate more people, according to Newsom's budget plan. Newsom didn't specify which facility would shutter. The budget proposal did not include funding to implement the voter-approved initiative that makes shoplifting a felony for repeat offenders again, increases penalties for some drug charges and gives judges the authority to order people with multiple drug charges to get treatment. ___ Associated Press writer Trân Nguyễn contributed to this report. ___ 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	2025-05-07 20:17:36+00:00	[ "North Carolina", "Phil Berger", "U.S. Republican Party", "Karen Brinson Bell", "Sam Hayes", "Donald Trump", "Roy Cooper", "Voting", "North Carolina state government", "David Becker", "Justin Roebuck", "Politics", "Francis De Luca", "Elections", "Josh Stein", "Siobhan ODuffy Millen" ]	# Election director in North Carolina ousted after Republican power play By Gary D. Robertson May 7th, 2025, 08:17 PM --- RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The North Carolina elections board ousted its widely respected executive director Wednesday in a partisan move that will put Republicans in control of election operations in the political swing state, which includes the certification of results. The removal of Karen Brinson Bell, who had held the job for nearly six years during a time when the board had Democratic majorities, came after Republicans took away the authority to appoint election board members from the Democratic governor late last year, overriding a veto while they still held a supermajority in the legislature. GOP legislators handed that power to the elected state auditor, a Republican. Meeting for the first time with its new GOP majority, the North Carolina State Board of Elections agreed in a party-line vote to replace Brinson Bell with Sam Hayes, the top lawyer for the Republican House speaker. The board declined to consider her request to speak at the end of the meeting, adjourning instead. "While I would have liked to have continued to serve the county boards of elections and the voters of North Carolina in this capacity, the state board has made a different decision," Brinson Bell said after the meeting to those remaining in the audience. Brinson Bell led the board during the voting difficulties of the early COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and through last year's presidential balloting after a devastating hurricane hit the state. Democratic board member Siobhan O'Duffy Millen told her Republican colleagues before the 3-2 vote to hire Hayes that how they parted ways with Brinson Bell "is a shabby way to treat a nationally admired executive election director." Nonetheless, her removal was not surprising, given that there's precedent for a new director to get hired with a changing partisan majority, and Republican legislative leaders have clashed over the years with Brinson Bell. Still, the circumstances are extraordinary. ## Republicans have sought board changes for years The board's partisan composition was altered just last week through the state law enacted by Republican lawmakers in December over the veto of then-Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat. It stripped the governor of his appointment powers not only to the state election board, but also to the chairs of county election boards. Republicans are also expected to install new GOP majorities on the local boards starting next month. The GOP has tried several times since 2016 to remove the governor's authority to choose members of the election board, whose duties include carrying out campaign finance laws, certifying election results and setting rules on a host of voting administration details. New Democratic Gov. Josh Stein sued over the law, and some trial judges ruled that it had to be blocked. But the appointment switch took effect after a state Court of Appeals panel ruled the law could still be implemented starting May 1. The executive director is chosen for a two-year term set to begin May 15. ## Election leaders praise outgoing director Brinson Bell received high marks from colleagues for helping administer elections during the pandemic and when a photo identification requirement was carried out in the first general election in 2024. She also oversaw the effort to hold the presidential election in the state last year after Hurricane Helene laid waste to numerous counties when it struck in September. The storm and subsequent flooding knocked out power and damaged water treatment systems across western North Carolina. Nonetheless, election officials managed to open nearly all of the 80 voting sites initially planned for the hardest hit areas on the first day of early in-person voting, just weeks later. Some Republican officials complained about long lines at early-vote sites in some counties, and with mixed results lobbied to get more open. Brinson Bell was selected recently to serve as the incoming president of the National Association of State Election Directors — a position Brinson Bell said she can no longer hold after losing her job. David Becker, a former U.S. Justice Department lawyer who now leads the Center for Election Innovation & Research, said the GOP's "highly partisan power grab" has "resulted in the removal of one of the most highly respected election officials in the country." Justin Roebuck, the chief election official in Ottawa County, Michigan, said Brinson Bell's "departure will be a significant loss — not only for North Carolina voters but for the entire election administration community that has benefited from her leadership." ## Pandemic litigation built animosity State Republicans have been unhappy with Brinson Bell going back years. They focused on her role in a legal settlement in 2020. The settlement extended to nine days after the November election the time for mail ballots postmarked by Election Day to be received and counted. State law at the time had set the limit at three days. Brinson Bell defended her actions and those of the board, saying they helped more mail-in ballots get counted after worries about Postal Service delays during the pandemic. GOP leaders also have criticized the previous board for what they called errors in how election laws were carried out for the 2024 election. It led to litigation and formal protests in last November's race for a state Supreme Court seat that dragged on for months. After last November's election, Brinson Bell publicly asked that Senate leader Phil Berger -– the state's most powerful Republican elected official -– retract a comment suggesting that results were being manipulated during the canvassing period to lead to favorable results for Democrats. She said such words could lead to threats against local election workers. Berger declined to withdraw his comments. Asked about the departure of the executive director, Berger said late Wednesday that Brinson Bell "acted in a partisan manner" on the job. ## Republican chairman says he seeks trust in elections Francis De Luca, a Republican who chairs the new elections board, said his goal was that "we get things so we have fair elections, make voting easy and make sure we follow the law. And make sure there's trust in the election system." Republican Donald Trump has won the state each of the three times he has run for president. Hayes, the incoming election director, has been general counsel to previous Speaker Tim Moore and current Speaker Destin Hall. His recent career has largely been spent working for state agencies, and he has been highly involved with election-related litigation filed against GOP lawmakers. While she was not allowed to speak during the meeting, Brinson Bell stayed afterward and addressed the audience and the two Democratic members of the election board, who remained after their GOP colleagues had left. "We have done this work under incredibly difficult circumstances and in a toxic political environment," she said, adding that she hoped election workers are "supported and rewarded for their work rather than vilified by those who don't like the outcome." ___ Associated Press writer Christina A. Cassidy in Atlanta contributed to this report.
Associated Press News	2025-05-14 17:46:58+00:00	[ "Donald Trump", "Bashar Assad", "Syria", "Ahmad al-Sharaa", "Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi", "Al-Qaida", "Rebellions and uprisings", "War and unrest", "United States government", "Islam", "United States", "Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud", "Syria government", "Lara Nelson", "Islamic State group", "Abu Mohammad al-Golani", "Sanctions and embargoes", "Military and defense", "Politics" ]	# Trump handshake caps Syrian leader's journey from anti-U.S. insurgent to nascent Mideast partner By Kareem Chehayeb May 14th, 2025, 05:46 PM --- BEIRUT (AP) — As an al-Qaida fighter in Iraq, he was detained by the American military. As the leader of a U.S.-designated terror group fighting in Syria's civil war, he had a $10 million bounty on his head. As the leader of a fast-changing Syria, Ahmad al-Sharaa shook hands Wednesday with U.S. President Donald Trump, who later described him as a "young, attractive guy" with a "very strong past." The handshake, at a meeting orchestrated by the leaders of Saudi Arabia and Turkey, captured al-Sharaa's long journey from hardened jihadi to the leader of a country that is gradually shedding its pariah status as it cements ties with America's top allies in the Middle East. Trump said he would lift crippling sanctions that were imposed on the government of deposed Syrian President Bashar Assad, who was overthrown in December, expressing hope that al-Sharaa, who led the insurgency, can move Syria in a new direction. "He's got a real shot at holding it together," Trump said. "He's a real leader. He led a charge, and he's pretty amazing." The news sparked celebrations across Syria, where the economy has been ravaged by 14 years of civil war and international isolation. But al-Sharaa still faces daunting challenges to building the kind of peaceful, tolerant Syria he has promised. ## From al-Qaida extremist to statesman Before toppling Assad, al-Sharaa was known by the jihadi nickname he adopted, Abu Mohammed al-Golani. His ties to al-Qaida stretch back to 2003, when he joined the insurgency after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. He helped al-Qaida form an offshoot in Iraq that attacked both U.S. forces and the country's Shiite majority, often using car and truck bombs. He was detained by the U.S. and held for over five years without being charged. The group's Iraqi leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, sent al-Sharaa to his native Syria in 2011 after a popular uprising led to a brutal crackdown and eventually a full-blown civil war. There, al-Sharaa established an al-Qaida branch known as the Nusra Front. The two insurgent leaders had a brutal falling out when al-Sharaa refused to join al-Baghdadi's Islamic State group and remained loyal to al-Qaida's central leadership. The Nusra Front later battled the Islamic State group. In his first interview in 2014 on Qatari network Al Jazeera, he kept his face covered and said Syria should be governed by Islamic law, an alarming prospect for the country's Christian, Alawite and Druze minorities. Al-Sharaa also said he couldn't trust Gulf and other Arab leaders who he said had sold themselves to Washington to stay in power. "They paid a tax, these Arab rulers, to the United States," he said. But in the following years, he began rebranding himself and the armed group he led. In 2016, he announced that he had severed ties with al-Qaida. He began appearing in public unmasked and in military garb, and changed his group's name to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham — the Organization for Liberating Syria — as it consolidated control over a swath of northwestern Syria. His transformation — both political and sartorial — continued in 2021, when he gave an interview to an American network. This time he appeared in a shirt and trousers, with his short hair gelled back, and said his group posed no threat to the West. He also called for the lifting of sanctions on Syria. ## A promise of change, but many obstacles After leading the lightning insurgency that toppled Assad, al-Sharaa promised a new Syria. He vowed to rid the country of Iranian influence and Iran-backed armed groups such as the Lebanese militia Hezbollah. He promised an inclusive, representative government that would allow the country's many ethnic and religious groups to live in peace. Washington lifted the terror designation weeks after he took power, and he was embraced by Turkey and Saudi Arabia, whose de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, hosted Wednesday's meeting with Trump. But the difficulties have been daunting. Fourteen years of war left large areas in ruins and, along with the sanctions, devastated the economy. An estimated 90% of the population lives in poverty. Assad's rule and the civil war also left deep fissures between the country's Sunni minority and the Alawite minority from which Assad hailed, and which benefited from his rule. Those rifts have proven tough to heal. Al-Sharaa formed a transitional government that gave some positions to minorities but was dominated by his inner circle. A constitutional declaration later broadened al-Sharaa's powers and said Islamic law would remain at the heart of legislation for a five-year interim period. Al-Sharaa argued that the measures were needed to stabilize the country, while many critics viewed it as a power grab. "It appears that many of the steps taken have been rushed and performative rather than offering genuine meaningful change in Syria," said Lara Nelson, policy director at the Syrian research and policy group Etana. "There are concerns about authoritarian consolidation." ## Sectarian clashes as civil war tensions linger The biggest test for al-Sharaa came in early March, when the country witnessed its worst sectarian clashes since Assad's downfall. After security forces crushed an armed rebellion, apparently led by Assad loyalists, on the mostly Alawite Mediterranean coast, fighters loyal to the new government carried out a wave of revenge killings. More than 1,000 people were killed over two days, mostly Alawite civilians. Videos surfaced online showing houses set ablaze and bodies in the streets. Others showed Alawites being rounded up, mocked and beaten. Weeks later, clashes broke out between fighters loyal to the government and minority Druze living in the Damascus suburbs. Smaller such incidents have occurred elsewhere in the country. Meanwhile, Israel has invaded southern Syria and carried out a wave of airstrikes that it says are aimed at destroying the country's military capabilities and any armed groups that could pose a threat. A strike hit near the presidential palace earlier this month. Al-Sharaa has opened an investigation into the sectarian violence on the coast and has reached a settlement with the Druze. Those steps have calmed things down for now. But the internecine violence and Israel's incursions have fed a sense among many Syrians that there is a security vacuum. Even as he praised al-Sharaa, Trump acknowledged the huge challenges he faces. "I think they have to get themselves straightened up," Trump said. "They have a lot of work to do."
Associated Press News	2025-05-13 23:06:23+00:00	[ "Agriculture", "Des Moines", "Argentina", "Biochemistry", "Future of food", "JWD-evergreen", "Business", "Norman Borlaug", "Science" ]	# Food grown with fewer chemicals? A Brazilian scientist wins $500,000 for showing the way By Scott Mcfetridge May 13th, 2025, 11:06 PM --- DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Brazilian scientist who pushed back against chemical fertilizers and researched biologically based approaches to more robust food production has been honored with this year's World Food Prize, the organization announced Tuesday. Microbiologist Mariangela Hungria's research helped her country become an agricultural powerhouse, an accomplishment that has now won her $500,000 from the Iowa-based World Food Prize Foundation. Hungria has been researching biological seed and soil treatments for 40 years, and has worked with Brazilian farmers to implement her findings. "I still cannot believe it. Everybody said, my whole life, it's improbable, you are going the wrong way, just go to things like chemicals and so on. And then, I received the most important prize in the world of agriculture," Hungria said in an interview. "Sometimes I still think I'll wake up and see that it's not true." Norman Borlaug, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his work to dramatically increase crop yields and reduce the threat of starvation in many countries, founded the World Food Prize. Since the first prize was handed out in 1987, 55 people have been honored. Hungria said she grew up wanting to alleviate hunger. Early in her career, she decided to focus on a process called biological nitrogen fixation, in which soil bacteria could be used to promote plant growth. At that time, farmers in Brazil and around the world were reluctant to reduce their use of nitrogen fertilizers, which dramatically increase crop production but lead to greenhouse gas emissions and pollutes waterways. Hungria studied how bacteria can interact with plant roots to naturally produce nitrogen. She then demonstrated her work on test plots and began working directly with farmers to convince them that they wouldn't have to sacrifice high crop yields if they switched to a biological process. The work is credited for increasing yields of several crops, including wheat, corn and beans, but it has been especially affective on soybeans. Brazil has since become the world's largest soybean producer, surpassing the United States and Argentina. Although Hungria's research could be applied on farms in other countries, soybean production in the U.S. is different than it is in Brazil; American farmers typically rotate crops on their land between growing corn and soybeans. Enough nitrate fertilizer applied to corn still remains in the soil when soybeans are planted that little or no fertilizer needs to be applied, Hungria said. Brazilian agricultural companies have faced fierce criticism for clearing forested land to create farmland, largely to grow soybeans. Much of that criticism is justified, Hungria said, but she added that her biological approach builds up the soil and makes further encroachment into forested areas less necessary. "If you manage the crop well, the crop will enrich the soil with nitrogen. Soil health improves if you do the right things," she said. Hungria will be awarded her prize at an annual October gathering in Des Moines, Iowa, of agricultural researchers and officials from around the world. Gebisa Ejeta, chair of the World Food Prize Laureate Selection Committee, credited Hungria for her "extraordinary scientific achievements" that have transformed agriculture in South America. "Her brilliant scientific work and her committed vision for advancing sustainable crop production to feed humanity with judicious use of chemical fertilizer inputs and biological amendments has gained her global recognition both at home and abroad," Ejeta said in a statement.
Associated Press News	2025-05-13 13:06:49+00:00	[ "Ari Aster", "Cannes Film Festival", "Josh OConnor", "Joaquin Phoenix", "Michael Cera", "Kelly Reichardt", "Denzel Washington", "Movies", "Paul Mescal", "Emma Stone", "Pedro Pascal", "Sean Baker", "Juliette Binoche", "Benicio del Toro", "Kristen Stewart", "Scarlett Johansson", "Spike Lee", "Tom Cruise", "Jafar Panahi", "Joachim Trier", "Lynne Ramsay", "Oliver Hermanus", "Luc Dardenne", "Arts and entertainment", "Chie Hayakawa", "Mascha Schilinksi", "Julia Ducournau", "Donald Trump", "Bong Joon-ho", "Harris Dickinson", "Wes Anderson", "Entertainment" ]	# 5 things to look for at this year's Cannes Film Festival By Jake Coyle May 13th, 2025, 01:06 PM --- CANNES, France (AP) — The 78th Cannes Film Festival got underway Tuesday, kicking off two weeks of French Riviera frenzy. Here are five things to look for at this year's Cannes: ## Oscar season starts now It might still be springtime, but, make no mistake, multiple Oscar campaigns will be launched in Cannes. Recent Cannes editions have produced several best-picture winners, including Bong Joon Ho's "Parasite" and this year's winner, "Anora" by Sean Baker. The sway Cannes has on the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has only grown in recent years as the academy has expanded its overseas membership — many of them European voters who closely follow the buzz in Cannes. At the Oscars in March, three Cannes entries — "Anora," "Emilia Perez" and "The Substance" — were among the 10 best-picture nominees. Less heralded movies can also emerge. The Latvian animated charmer "Flow" premiered last year in Cannes before its upset win at the Oscars. ## As ever, a wide-open Palme d'Or race Before we get to the Academy Awards, though, Cannes will hand out its own prize, the Palme d'Or. Deliberations by the jury (headed this year by Juliette Binoche ) are held entirely in private, so predicting the Palme is no easier than it was guessing the next pope. That doesn't stop bookies from handicapping the race and plenty of guesswork up and down the Croisette. This year's competition lineup features two previous Palme winners in Julia Ducournau (who returns with "Alpha," her follow-up to "Titane") and Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (two-time winners, back this year with "The Young Mother's Home"). Some of the movies that could be in the mix include Lynne Ramsay's "Die, My Love," Jafar Panahi's "A Simple Accident" and Mascha Schilinksi's "Sound of Falling." Or it could be Chie Hayakawa's "Renoir," Joachim Trier's "Sentimental Value" or Ari Aster's "Eddington." Or it could be … well, you get the idea. ## Who will shine on the red carpet in Cannes? Cannes has a power to burnish even the most established stars, and its red carpet will, for the next 10 days, host a nonstop parade of them. (And they will be clothed, as per Cannes' latest etiquette protocol.) Among those on tap are Tom Cruise with "Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning" on Wednesday; Spike Lee's "Highest 2 Lowest," with Denzel Washington; Wes Anderson's "The Phoenician Scheme," with a cast featuring Benicio Del Toro and Michael Cera; Ari Aster's "Eddington," with Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal and Emma Stone; and Oliver Hermanus' "The History of Sound," with Paul Mescal and Josh O'Connor. O'Connor also stars in Kelly Reichardt's "The Mastermind," scheduled as one of the festival's last premieres. ## How will the actors-turned-directors fare? Three stars are coming to Cannes with their first features behind the camera: Scarlett Johansson ("Eleanor the Great"), Kristen Stewart ("The Chronology of Water") and Harris Dickinson ("Urchin"). All are premiering in the Cannes sidebar Un Certain Regard, which means they won't have quite the pressure of the competition lineup. But there's no calm or easygoing section of Cannes, and each could emerge from the festival either minted as a filmmaker or humbled by critics. ## Will the threat of tariffs dampen deal making? While Cannes movie screens light up with films, deal making transpires along the Croisette. Cannes draws studios, producers and sales agents all on the hunt for acquisitions. But when U.S. President Donald Trump last week announced that he wants to enact tariffs on films made outside the U.S., it threw a giant wrench in the border-crossing dealmaking that Cannes specializes in. Yet with little detail on any possible tariffs and widespread doubt over its feasibility, the buying and selling of movies might not be slowed. ___ For more coverage of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/cannes-film-festival
Associated Press News	2025-05-19 19:32:20+00:00	[ "OpenAI Inc", "Microsoft Corp.", "Elon Musk", "Satya Nadella", "Artificial intelligence", "Sam Altman", "Israel government", "Seattle", "Technology", "2024-2025 Mideast Wars", "Gaza", "Meta Platforms", "Inc.", "Business" ]	# Elon Musk, who's suing Microsoft, is also software giant's special guest in new Grok AI partnership By Matt O'Brien May 19th, 2025, 07:32 PM --- Elon Musk is in a legal fight with Microsoft but made a friendly virtual appearance at the software giant's annual technology showcase to reveal that his Grok artificial intelligence chatbot will now be hosted on Microsoft's data centers. "It's fantastic to have you at our developer conference," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said to Musk in a pre-recorded video conversation broadcast Monday at Microsoft's Build conference in Seattle. Musk last year sued Microsoft and its close business partner OpenAI in a dispute over Musk's foundational contributions to OpenAI, which Musk helped start. Musk now runs his own AI company, xAI, maker of Grok, a competitor to OpenAI's ChatGPT. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also spoke with Nadella via live video call earlier at Monday's conference. Musk's deal means that the latest versions of xAI's Grok models will be hosted on Microsoft's Azure cloud computing platform, alongside competing models from OpenAI and other companies, including Facebook parent Meta Platforms, Europe-based AI startups Mistral and Black Forest Labs and Chinese company DeepSeek. The Grok partnership comes just days after xAI had to fix the chatbot to stop it from repeatedly bringing up South African racial politics and the subject of "white genocide" in public interactions with users of Musk's social media platform X. The company blamed an employee's "unauthorized modification" for the unsolicited commentary, which mirrored South Africa-born Musk's own focus on the topic. Musk didn't address last week's controversy in his chat with Nadella but described honesty as the "best policy" for AI safety. "We have and will make mistakes, but we aspire to correct them very quickly," Musk said. ## Nadella was interrupted by protest over Gaza Monday's Build conference also became the latest Microsoft event to be interrupted by a protest over the company's work with the Israeli government. Microsoft has previously fired employees who protested company events, including its 50th anniversary party in April. "Satya, how about you show how Microsoft is killing Palestinians?" a protesting employee shouted in the first minutes of Nadella's introductory talk Monday. "How about you show how Israeli war crimes are powered by Azure?" Nadella continued his presentation as the protesters were escorted out. Microsoft acknowledged last week that it provided AI services to the Israeli military for the war in Gaza but said it has found no evidence to date that its Azure platform and AI technologies were used to target or harm people in Gaza. Microsoft didn't immediately return an emailed request for comment about the protest Monday. ## Microsoft introduces new AI coding agent Microsoft-owned GitHub also used the Seattle gathering to introduce a new AI coding "agent" to help programmers build new software. The company already offers a Copilot coding assistant but the promise of so-called AI agents is that they can do more work on their own on a user's behalf. The updated tool is supposed to work best on tasks of "low-to-medium complexity" in codebases that are already well-tested, handling "boring tasks" while people "focus on the interesting work," according to Microsoft's announcement. The new tool arrives just a week after Microsoft began laying off hundreds of its own software engineers in Washington's Puget Sound region as part of global cuts of nearly 3% of its total workforce, amounting to about 6,000 workers.
Associated Press News	2025-05-12 02:42:18+00:00	[ "Los Angeles", "Donald Trump", "Politics", "Lifestyle", "U.S. Gold Corp.", "Business" ]	# AP PHOTOS: Economic jitters and soaring gold prices create a frenzy for US jewelry merchants By Jae C. Hong May 12th, 2025, 02:42 AM --- LOS ANGELES (AP) — As gold prices soar to record highs resulting from global economic jitters, hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars' worth of gold are circulating through the doors of the St. Vincent Jewelry Center in downtown Los Angeles on any given day. Many of the 500 independent merchants in the largest jewelry center in the United States say they have never seen such a surge in customers. People are flocking in to sell or melt down their old jewelry, while others are investing in gold blocks to keep as stable assets. Gold's current rally comes as President Donald Trump issues ever-changing announcements of tariffs, roiling financial markets into volatility and threatening to reignite inflation. ____ This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
Associated Press News	2025-05-09 14:22:02+00:00	[ "Space launches", "Space exploration", "Aerospace technology", "Marco Langbroek", "Science", "Planets", "Soviet Union", "Technology" ]	# Soviet-era spacecraft is expected to plummet to Earth this weekend after 53 years By Marcia Dunn May 9th, 2025, 02:22 PM --- CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A half-ton Soviet spacecraft that never made it to Venus 53 years ago is expected to fall back to Earth this weekend. Built to land on the solar system's hottest planet, the titanium-covered spacecraft may survive its fiery, uncontrolled plunge through Earth's atmosphere, predicted to occur on Saturday. But experts said it likely would come down over water, covering most of the world, or a desolate region. The odds of it slamming into a populated area are "infinitesimally small," said University of Colorado Boulder scientist Marcin Pilinski. "While we can anticipate that most of this object will not burn up in the atmosphere during reentry, it may be severely damaged on impact," Pilinski said in an email. By Friday, all indications pointed to a reentry early Saturday morning, U.S. Eastern Time, give or take several hours. While space debris trackers around the world converged in their forecasts, it was still too soon to know exactly when and where the spacecraft known as Kosmos 482 would come down. That uncertainty was due to potential solar activity and the spacecraft's old condition. Its parachutes were expected to be useless by now and its batteries long dead. Dutch scientist Marco Langbroek estimated the impact speed at 150 mph (242 kph) if the spacecraft remains intact. The Soviets launched Kosmos 482 in 1972, intending to send it to Venus to join other spacecraft in their Venera program. But a rocket malfunction left this one stuck in orbit around Earth. Gravity kept tugging on it and was expected to finally cause its doom. Spherical in shape, the spacecraft — 3-foot (1-meter) across and packing more than 1,000 pounds (495 kilograms) — will be the last piece of Kosmos 482 to fall from the sky. All the other parts plummeted within a decade. Any surviving wreckage will belong to Russia under a United Nations treaty. ___ 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	2025-05-19 21:24:38+00:00	[ "Fires", "Lawsuits", "Legal proceedings", "Robert Luna", "Los Angeles", "California", "Los Angeles Area wildfires" ]	# Family sues after Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy dies from fire in mobile gun range By Jaimie Ding May 19th, 2025, 09:24 PM --- LOS ANGELES (AP) — The family of a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy filed a wrongful death lawsuit Monday against the law enforcement agency after he died from being critically injured in a fire that broke out inside a mobile gun range. Deputy Alfredo "Freddy" Flores died April 20 after enduring third-degree burns across most of his body and a period of medical complications, six months after the fire on Oct. 10, 2023. He was performing a mandatory firearm recertification inside a trailer that serves as a mobile shooting range when it caught on fire at the department's Pitchess Detention Center about 30 miles (48.3 kilometers) north of Los Angeles. Another deputy with him was also seriously injured. Flores was participating in firearms qualification which the department requires deputies to do once a quarter, Sheriff Robert Luna said in October 2023. His family filed a lawsuit suit seeking damages for constitutional violations, negligence and product liability, alleging the fire started because officials failed to properly maintain the mobile gun range. The LA County Sheriff's Department did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. The lawsuit alleges the sheriff's department allowed a "dangerous accumulation of unburned gunpowder residue, lead, propellant, and/or other combustible material" which ignited suddenly to start the fire. According to the lawsuit, there are well-documented prior instances of fires in mobile shooting ranges in California as well as other ranges operated by the LA County Sheriff's Department. There is also "documentation of violations" by the department related to unsafe practices in the operation and maintenance of its mobile shooting ranges, the suit said. The family is also seeking relief from Inveris Training Solutions, the manufacturer of the trailer. Mobile Inveris shooting ranges are "defectively designed" and have a high risk of fires from a buildup of the combustible material that isn't properly cleaned and ventilated, the lawsuit said. The suit asks for injunctive relief to stop the county's operations of its mobile gun ranges, compensation for damages as well as civil penalties. Flores was a deputy for 22 years and his assignments included the North County Correctional Facility and Altadena Station. He is survived by his wife, two daughters and two sons.
Associated Press News	2025-05-09 06:59:48+00:00	[ "Thailand", "Agriculture", "Future of food", "Business", "Religion" ]	# An elaborate centuries-old royal ritual in Thailand's capital predicts a good year for farmers By Tian Macleod Ji May 9th, 2025, 06:59 AM --- BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn presided Friday over an elaborate annual ceremony that marks the start of the rice-planting season and honors the nation's farmers. The Royal Ploughing Ceremony is held to read auguries that predict the farming conditions for the year ahead. As is usually the case, good times were predicted, even though Thailand's economy is sluggish. The King and Queen Suthida were sheltered from the bright sun by ornate umbrellas at the ceremony's traditional venue, Sanam Luang, or "Royal Ground," a large field near the Grand Palace in the capital Bangkok. According to Thai historians, the ritual goes back some 700 years. Then, as now, the cultivation of rice was central to the country's culture and economy, and the ceremony is meant to give encouragement to farmers as the new planting season begins. The ceremony was led by the highest-ranking civil servant in the Agriculture Ministry, serving as the Lord of the Ploughing Ceremony. In a colorful traditional costume, he chose from a selection of cloths, and the one he picked was interpreted to signify satisfactory rainfall and an abundant harvest. In the ceremony's second stage, he anointed the heads of two "sacred" oxen, who then pulled a plough around a section of the field several times, as he scattered seeds at the front of a small procession with more traditionally garbed participants. The two oxen, called "Por" and "Piang" — which together mean "sufficiency" — then chose from a selection of food offered by Brahmin priests. The foods chosen were water, grass and liquor, which symbolize adequate water supplies, abundance of food supplies and what was interpreted as good international trade, respectively. After the departure of the king and queen, onlookers sprinted onto the field to collect the scattered seeds as souvenirs or to add to their own rice stores at home for a meritorious mix.
Associated Press News	2025-05-01 04:09:16+00:00	[ "Pope Francis", "Pope Benedict XVI", "Vatican City", "John Paul I", "Apparel and accessories manufacturing", "Papal conclave", "Retail and wholesale", "Religion", "Roman Catholicism", "Lifestyle", "Matteo Bruni", "Fashion", "Lorenzo Gammarelli" ]	# These papal tailors aren't expecting a traditional order for new cassocks to outfit the next pope By Colleen Barry May 1st, 2025, 04:09 AM --- ROME (AP) — Two papal tailors and no conclave orders. The conclave that begins next Wednesday to elect a successor for Pope Francis is the first in 46 ½ years for which the Vatican hasn't ordered a set of cassocks for the new head of the Catholic Church — at least from the two best-known papal tailors. That isn't stopping Ranieri Mancinelli, who opened his ecclesiastical tailoring shop near the Vatican in the 1960s, from making three simple white cassocks just in case: the traditional small, medium and large sizes to cover all possible heights and girths. "I'm doing this on my own to be able to present these cassocks for the next pope, without knowing who he will be," Mancinelli said. Gammarelli, another family-run ecclesiastical tailor near the Pantheon in the historic center, has a paper trail showing it has received cassock orders for every conclave since the beginning of the 20th century — and probably far earlier. Gammarelli has been making garments for priests, bishops and cardinals since 1798. The last time no pre-conclave order came in to the Vatican's tailor of choice, Gammarelli, was October 1978, when cardinal electors voted a successor to Pope John Paul I, who died after 33 days as pontiff, said Lorenzo Gammarelli, representing the sixth generation of the family business. Gammarelli won't speculate why no order was made this year, but Italian media suggests the Vatican has enough unworn cassocks on hand, and is honoring Pope Francis' message of environmental and economic sustainability. "Obviously, we're a little sorry, because in the sadness caused by the death of the Holy Father, we still would have the beautiful thing of having to make the trousseau for the new one. Not this time," Gammarelli said. The Vatican declined to comment on what is being viewed as the great papal cassock race. "I don't think I need to speak on behalf of businesses," said Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni. "Not every curiosity needs to be answered." ## The papal trousseau For a pope's first encounter with the flock, the basic garment is the hand-stitched white wool cassock with cape and wide silk sleeves. The cassock is fastened by silk buttons and worn with a silk brocade sash with gold fringe. All popes, until Francis, had this sash later embroidered with his papal seal. Francis also eschewed the classic burgundy red mozzetta, a short elbow-length cape worn for formal occasions, and a gold embroidered stole, not only the night of his election but throughout his papacy. The papal garb is finished with a white "zucchetto," or skullcap that is also worn by cardinals in red and bishops in purple. When they are called on to provide a conclave order, Gammarelli also provides shoes in an array of sizes so the new pope will be comfortable when presented to his flock. After that, Gammarelli said, "shoes are a very personal matter." Francis favored plain black shoes and was buried in a pair with the scuff marks showing. In keeping with the secrecy of the conclave, Gammarelli never reveals papal prices. ## Sizing up the next pope While the world speculates on who will be the next pope, Gammarelli's job is more practical. The family has a system to best outfit the unknown successor, using data from their cardinal clients and sizing up cardinal candidates who are not. "We consider who, in our opinion, could be elected," Gammarelli said. "We pull out their measurements, and … we make three cassocks that would more or less fit all of them.'' ## Balcony mishaps Their best guesses are sometimes off. Gammarelli said they never imagined that Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla would become pope in October 1978. They had considered Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio a candidate in 2005 (when Benedict XVI was elected) but not in 2013, when Bergoglio became the church's first Latin American pope. Back in 1958, the portly John XXIII appeared on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica with safety pins holding together the back of his cassock, after a too-small size was mistakenly grabbed, forcing aides to open the back. Gammarelli said that throughout Francis' 12-year papacy he tried to persuade the pope to wear white pants under his cassock. But Francis stuck with the black trousers of a priest, a reminder to himself and everyone that he was a pastor at heart. ## Francis' unadorned style Mancinelli, at his shop just steps from the Vatican, has made cassocks for the last three popes: St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. He got to know Benedict when he was a cardinal, living near Mancinelli's shop. Francis later invited him to his apartment in the Santa Marta residence, marking "the beginning of a very pleasant encounter period." While Gammarelli won't make the cassocks on speculation, Mancinelli is making three to give to the Vatican, in Francis' simple, unadorned style, all in white. "Compared with the other two, Francis preferred much simpler and much more practical things," he said, also taking costs into account. Only after the words "Habemus Papam!" are announced from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica will it be clear whether the Catholic Church's 267th pontiff will follow Francis's unembellished example or will bring back traditional papal trappings, like flashes of red. ____ Associated Press video journalist Silvia Stellacci contributed to this report.
Associated Press News	2025-05-08 14:47:31+00:00	[ "Gaming", "New York City Wire", "Jeremy Saucier", "Lindsey Kurano", "Technology", "Mario Kart", "John Romeo" ]	# World Video Game Hall of Fame inducts Defender, Tamagotchi, GoldenEye 007 and Quake May 8th, 2025, 02:47 PM --- ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — The World Video Game Hall of Fame on Thursday inducted four honorees, paying tribute to games that challenged players and changed the industry. Making up the Class of 2025 are: Defender, the 1981 arcade game that raised the bar on difficulty; Tamagotchi, the digital pets that bridged toys and video games; GoldenEye 007, whose four-person mode influenced multiplayer games that followed; and Quake, which debuted in 1996 with a 3D engine that became the new standard for the industry. The winners emerged from a field of 12 finalists that included Age of Empires, Angry Birds, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Frogger, Golden Tee, Harvest Moon, Mattel Football, and NBA 2K. The Hall of Fame each year recognizes arcade, console, computer, handheld, and mobile games that have had staying power and influenced the video game industry or pop culture. Id Software's 1996 Quake was recognized for its lasting influence, with a game code that "is a literal legacy" and continues to be used in some games after nearly 30 years, electronic games curator Lindsey Kurano said. Quake co-creator John Romeo, on hand to see his game enshrined, said he and the other developers worked on the game for an exceptionally long time, a year and a half, playing it constantly. "We knew that what we were building into the game was going to make people who had played our previous game, Doom, even happier with the addition of a programming language built into the game," he said in remarks aired on RochesterFirst.com. "We're just really happy with the impact that Quake made on the world," he said. The best-selling Defender, released by Williams Electronics, proved that players would embrace complex and challenging games in the arcade, the experts said. It combined intense gameplay and a complicated control scheme with a horizontally scrolling shooter. "Defender's punishing gameplay raised the level of competition in arcades, and it was among the first games to truly separate dedicated players from more casual ones," Jeremy Saucier, assistant vice president for interpretation and electronic games, said. The 1996 launch of Tamagotchi is credited with sparking the popularity of pet simulation video games. The handheld egg-shaped electronic game allowed owners to care for a virtual pet from birth through death, feeding, playing with and cleaning up after it by pressing buttons. Collections manager Kristy Hisert said Tamagotchi offered something different than the popular video game electronics of the time. "It provided players with feelings of connection, caring, and customization, a respite from competition and fighting games," she said. Neopets, Nintendogs and other social media and app-based versions of pet simulation games would follow. GoldenEye 007 was based on the 1995 James Bond spy film "GoldenEye" and was the third best-selling game for the Nintendo 64, behind Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64. The result of a 1997 partnership between Nintendo and Rare, the first-person shooter game was known for its four-person multiplayer mode, which Hall of Fame experts said influenced many multiplayer games that followed. The World Video Game Hall of Fame is inside The Strong National Museum of Play. Anyone can nominate a video game for consideration. Museum staff name 12 finalists each year and solicit votes from experts and fans before announcing the winners.
Associated Press News	2025-05-15 22:00:08+00:00	[ "The Weeknd", "Movies", "Robbie Williams", "Jenna Ortega", "Sam Levinson", "Barry Keoghan", "Film Reviews", "Entertainment", "Classical music", "Daniel Lopatin", "Maria Sherman", "Pharrell Williams", "Trey Edward Shults" ]	# 'Hurry Up Tomorrow' review: The Weeknd movie is a vanity project By Maria Sherman May 15th, 2025, 10:00 PM --- NEW YORK (AP) — It's the final night of tour. SoFi Stadium, just outside Los Angeles, is packed. 80,000 fans stand before The Weeknd, an endless sea of blinding lights. The bestselling artist born Abel Tesfaye emerges onstage. He launches into the first song. Less than a minute goes by, and the unthinkable happens: His voice cracks. And then it is gone. That September night in 2022 marked a turning point for Tesfaye. He mines the scene in "Hurry Up Tomorrow, " where, ironically, it arrives too late. The tedium of an incoherent first act paints the charismatic performer — one of the last few decades' most popular — as an unempathetic protagonist in a nonlinear and nonsensical world. But how much of The Weeknd is here, really? In his first leading role in a feature film, directed by Trey Edward Shults, Tesfaye plays a fictionalized version of himself, an insomniac musician (as made explicitly clear in the "Wake Me Up" leitmotif, where he sings, "Sun is never rising / I don't know if it's day or night"). He's marred by a recent breakup from an ex portrayed in a cruel voicemail message ("I used to think you were a good person," she says) and a hedonistic lifestyle, instigated by his superficial friend-manager Lee, played Barry Keoghan. Shortly after Tesfaye loses his voice, a psychosomatic ailment, he meets superfan Amina, portrayed by Jenna Ortega. She offers temporary comfort and, in return, is afforded no agency. She exists for him. Soon, the uninspired horrors begin, culminating in what recalls the torture scene in "Reservoir Dogs" with less violence. Instead, Amina — when she is not weeping; I urge all viewers to keep a "cry count" and consider what feminist blogs might have to say — lip-syncs some of The Weeknd's biggest hits back to him, explaining that they're all about "emptiness and heartbreak." Woven throughout is some conversation about absent fathers and fear of abandonment, with unearned delivery and first-draft acuity — something gesturing at depth without piercing the surface. According to press materials, Amina and Lee are not real people but representations of Tesfaye. She is meant to represent Tesfaye's disconnected, "deeper emotional self" — and Lee, his public persona. That is not made explicitly clear in the film, except in a very generous reading of the ending. Subtext only works when there is context to back it up, otherwise, you are left with "Hurry Up Tomorrow": an exciting vanity project with surrealist imagination but stiff writing, no stakes, limited emotional weight and an unclear narrative. That won't be an issue for superfans, of course — those intimately familiar with The Weeknd's music and career. This film appears to be for them and Tesfaye, a producer, alone; they have the framework in which to enjoy the runtime. Considering that fandom is the dominant form of popular culture, it's not a bad business decision. And it's worked for him before. This is not Tesfaye's first foray into acting. Aside from his cameo in "Uncut Gems," he starred in HBO's 2023 series "The Idol. " He co-created the show with Sam Levinson, a show that similarly presented unearned provocation. At the time, "The Idol" received criticism for its sadomasochistic storytelling that emerged after a shift away from "the female perspective," allegedly a request from Tesfaye. It was not a clever or subversive show, nor was it really even about anything, but it did inspire conversation. It's easy to see how "Hurry Up Tomorrow" may have similar effects. In a moment where autobiographical films about musicians are playful and creative — Pharrell Williams' Lego partnership "Piece by Piece" comes to mind, as does Robbie Williams' " Better Man " — "Hurry Up Tomorrow" feels like a misstep for those outside The Weeknd's most devoted. Of course, the film does not identify as a biopic. But it could've benefited from less self-seriousness. And editing. But what about the music? "Hurry Up Tomorrow" is connected to Tesfaye's latest album of the same name — and the final chapter in The Weeknd's record-breaking trilogy that began with 2020's "After Hours" and continued with 2022's "Dawn FM." The album, the quietest of the series, worked as an allegory on the trials of fame — a topic long covered by the most successful purveyors of pop. Retrospectively, it works best as a film's soundtrack than a stand-alone record, ambitious. Like the movie, it gestures at criticism of the celebrity-industrial complex without accomplishing it. It seems obvious, now, to learn that the movie predates the record. The film's strength far and away is its score, composed by Tesfaye with Daniel Lopatin (better known as the experimental electronic musician Oneohtrix Point Never and for his "Good Time" and "Uncut Gems" scores). It builds from Tesfaye's discography and morphs into something physical and psychedelic — at its most elated, dread-filled and clubby. It is so affecting, it almost distracts from moments of dizzying cinematography, with the films' penchant for spinning frames, zooms into upside skylines, blurred vision and erratic lights. Those tools feel better suited for a music video, the kind of sophisticated visual world Tesfaye has developed in his pop career. They elevate his euphoric, layered, evocative dance-pop, but they do not translate in this film. "Hurry Up Tomorrow," a Lionsgate release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for language throughout, drug use, some bloody violence and brief nudity. Running time: 105 minutes. One and a half stars out of four.
Associated Press News	2025-05-09 19:45:06+00:00	[ "South Africa", "Donald Trump", "Stephen Miller", "District of Columbia", "Cyril Ramaphosa", "United States government", "Marco Rubio", "Discrimination", "Government programs", "Racism", "U.S. Department of State", "Political refugees", "United States", "Politics", "South Africa government", "Race and ethnicity", "Christopher Landau", "Alvin Botes", "Rick Santos", "Shawn VanDiver", "Executive orders", "Elon Musk" ]	# US to accept white South African refugees while other programs remain paused By Matthew Lee, Rebecca Santana, and Michelle Gumede May 9th, 2025, 07:45 PM --- WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration will welcome more than two dozen white South Africans to the United States as refugees next week, an unusual move because it has suspended most refugee resettlement operations, officials and documents said Friday. The first Afrikaner refugees are arriving Monday at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press. They are expected to be greeted by a government delegation, including the deputy secretary of state and officials from the Department of Health and Human Services, whose refugee office has organized their resettlement. The flight will be the first of several in a "much larger-scale relocation effort," White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told reporters. The Trump administration has taken a number of steps against South Africa, accusing the Black-led government of pursuing anti-white policies at home and an anti-American foreign policy. The South African government denies the allegations and says the U.S. criticism is full of misinformation. While State Department refugee programs have been suspended — halting arrivals from Afghanistan, Iraq, most of sub-Saharan Africa and other countries in a move being challenged in court — President Donald Trump issued an executive order in February prioritizing the processing of white South Africans claiming racial discrimination. "What's happening in South Africa fits the textbook definition of why the refugee program was created," Miller said. "This is persecution based on a protected characteristic — in this case, race. This is race-based persecution." ## Efforts to get white South Africans to the US Since Trump's executive order, the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria has been conducting interviews, "prioritizing consideration for U.S. refugee resettlement of Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination," the State Department said. The department said nothing about the imminent arrival of what officials said are believed to be more than two dozen white South Africans from roughly four families who applied for resettlement in the U.S. Their arrival had originally been scheduled for early last week but was delayed for reasons that were not immediately clear. The HHS Office for Refugee Resettlement was ready to offer them support, including with housing, furniture and other household items, and expenses like groceries, clothing, diapers and more, the document says. "This effort is a stated priority of the Administration." HHS didn't respond to messages seeking comment. Supporters of the refugee program questioned why the Trump administration was moving so quickly to resettle white South Africans while halting the wider refugee program, which brings people to the U.S. who are displaced by war, natural disaster or persecution and involves significant vetting in a process that often takes years. "We are concerned that the U.S. Government has chosen to fast-track the admission of Afrikaners, while actively fighting court orders to provide life-saving resettlement to other refugee populations who are in desperate need," Church World Services president Rick Santos said in a statement. His group has been assisting refugees for more than 70 years. Letting in white South Africans while keeping out Afghans is "hypocrisy," said Shawn VanDiver, who heads #AfghanEvac, which helps resettle Afghans who assisted the U.S. during the two-decade war. "Afghans who served alongside U.S. forces, who taught girls, who fought for democracy, and who now face Taliban reprisals, meet every definition of a refugee," he said. "Afghans risked their lives for us. That should matter," he said. ## Trump administration has accused South Africa of anti-white policies The Trump administration alleges the South African government has allowed minority white Afrikaner farmers to be persecuted and attacked, while introducing an expropriation law designed to take away their land. The South African government has said it was surprised by claims of discrimination against Afrikaners because white people still generally have a much higher standard of living than Black people more than 30 years after the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule. South Africa is the homeland of close Trump adviser Elon Musk, who has been outspoken in his criticism, and it also holds the rotating presidency of the Group of 20 developed and developing nations. Secretary of State Marco Rubio notably boycotted a G20 foreign ministers meeting in Johannesburg in March because its agenda centered on diversity, inclusion and climate change. He also expelled South Africa's ambassador to the U.S. in March for comments that the Trump administration interpreted as accusing the president of promoting white supremacy. Shortly thereafter, the State Department ended all engagement with the G20 during South Africa's presidency. The U.S. is due to host G20 meetings in 2026. ## What South Africa says about the refugees South African President Cyril Ramaphosa's office said in a statement Friday that he had spoken with Trump late last month on issues including U.S. criticism of the country and allegations that Afrikaners are being persecuted. Ramaphosa told Trump that the information the U.S. president had received "was completely false." "Therefore, our position is that there are no South African citizens that can be classified as refugees to any part of the world, including the U.S.," the statement said. The South African foreign ministry said Deputy Foreign Minister Alvin Botes spoke with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau on Friday about the refugees. Landau is expected to lead the delegation to welcome the group Monday. South Africa "expressed concerns" and denied allegations of discrimination against Afrikaners, the foreign ministry said in a statement. "It is most regrettable that it appears that the resettlement of South Africans to the United States under the guise of being 'refugees' is entirely politically motivated and designed to question South Africa's constitutional democracy," the statement said. It noted that the country has worked to prevent any repeat of the type of persecution and discrimination that happened under apartheid rule. The foreign ministry said it would not block anyone who wanted to leave as it respected their freedom of movement and choice. But it said it was seeking information about the "status" of the people leaving South Africa, wanting assurances that they had been properly vetted and did not have outstanding criminal cases. The foreign ministry added that South Africa was "dedicated to constructive dialogue" with the U.S. ___ Gumede reported from Johannesburg. Associated Press writers Gerald Imray in Cape Town, South Africa, Gisela Salomon in Miami, and Seung Min Kim and Amanda Seitz in Washington contributed to this report.
Associated Press News	2025-05-02 02:16:10+00:00	[ "Syria", "Damascus", "Syria government", "War and unrest", "2024-2025 Mideast Wars", "Benjamin Netanyahu", "Politics", "Ahmad al-Sharaa", "Religion", "Islam", "Hikmat Al-Hijri", "Hussein al-Sharaa" ]	# Israeli military strikes near Syria's presidential palace after warning over sectarian attacks By Ghaith Alsayed and Sam Mednick May 2nd, 2025, 02:16 AM --- DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Israel's air force struck near Syria's presidential palace early Friday after warning Syrian authorities not to march toward villages inhabited by members of a minority sect in southern Syria. The strike came after days of clashes between pro-Syrian government gunmen and fighters who belong to the Druze minority sect near the capital, Damascus. The clashes left dozens of people dead or wounded. Late Friday, intense Israeli airstrikes were reported in different parts of Damascus and its suburbs as well as the southern and central Syria, Syrian media outlets said. Associated Press journalists in Damascus said the airstrikes lasted for more than one hour until after midnight. It was not immediately clear if the Israeli airstrikes late Friday inflicted any casualties. Syria's presidency condemned the Israeli airstrike, calling it a "dangerous escalation against state institutions and the soveignty of the state." It called on the international community to stand by Syria, saying that such attacks "target Syria national security and the unity of the Syrian people." Friday's strike was Israel's second on Syria this week, and attacking an area close to the presidential palace appears to send a strong warning to Syria's new leadership that is mostly made up of Islamist groups led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. On Thursday, Syria's Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hijri harshly criticized Syria's government for what he called an "unjustified genocidal attack" on the minority community. Early Friday, the Druze religious leadership said that the community is part of Syria and refuses to break away from the country, adding that the role of the state should be activated in the southern province of Sweida and authorities should be in control of the Sweida-Damascus highway. "We confirm our commitment to a country that includes all Syrians, a nation that is free of strife," the statement said. In the Damascus suburb of Jaramana, where fighting occurred earlier this week, security forces deployed inside the area along with local Druze gunmen, and at a later stage heavy weapons will be handed over to authorities. As part of the deal, forces from the defense ministry will deploy around Jaramana without going inside. ## Israeli fighter jets strike near the palace The Israeli army said that fighter jets struck adjacent to the area of the Palace of President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Damascus. Its statement gave no further details. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said that the strike was "a clear message" to Syrian leaders. "We will not allow the deployment of forces south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community," the joint statement said. Pro-government Syrian media outlets said that the strike hit close to the People's Palace on a hill overlooking the city. Over the past two days, the Israeli military said that it had evacuated Syrian Druze who were wounded in the fighting. The Israeli army said in a statement Friday that a soldier was killed and three were slightly injured in an accident in the Golan Heights. An army statement added that the soldiers were evacuated to receive medical treatment at a hospital and that the circumstances of the incident were being investigated. ## Clashes set off by disputed audio clip The clashes broke out around midnight Monday after an audio clip circulated on social media of a man criticizing Islam's Prophet Muhammad. The audio was attributed to a Druze cleric. But cleric Marwan Kiwan said in a video posted on social media that he was not responsible for the audio, which angered many Sunni Muslims. Syria's Information Ministry said that 11 members of the country's security forces were killed in two separate attacks, while Britain-based war monitor The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 99 people — over the past four days of which 51 were killed in Sahnaya and the Druze-majority Damascus suburb of Jaramana — were killed in clashes, among them local gunmen and security forces. The Druze religious sect is a minority group that began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. More than half of the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria, largely in the southern Sweida province and some suburbs of Damascus. Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981. ___ Mednick reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Bassem Mroue contributed to this report from Beirut.
Associated Press News	2025-05-13 17:39:56+00:00	[ "Florida", "Glen Edward Rogers", "Tina Marie Cribbs", "Ron DeSantis", "Crime", "Lake City", "Carmen Gayheart", "Anthony Wainwright", "Homicide", "Kidnapping", "Legal proceedings", "O.J. Simpson", "Prisons", "Law enforcement", "Capital punishment", "Ronald Goldman" ]	# 2 more executions set in Florida, making it 6 so far in 2025 May 13th, 2025, 05:39 PM --- STARKE, Fla. (AP) — Florida is continuing its rapid pace of executions this year, with one convicted killer set to die this week and another on June 10 who would be the sixth person put to death by the state in 2025. Glen Rogers, 62, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at Florida State Prison on Thursday for the 1995 stabbing death near Tampa of Tina Marie Cribbs. Rogers, who has claimed he killed many people around the country, was also sentenced to death in California for another woman's murder. Rogers was arrested in Kentucky driving Cribbs' car, which he claimed she had lent to him. There were also claims by Rogers and others that he was involved in the O.J. Simpson murder case and was responsible for the killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. This came up in a 2012 documentary and in correspondence between Rogers and a criminal profiler, but Los Angeles police and prosecutors said he was not the killer. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis last week signed a death warrant for Anthony Wainwright, 54, who was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering Carmen Gayheart in 1994. Gayheart was abducted from a grocery store parking lot in Lake City, Florida. Wainwright and another man had escaped earlier from prison in North Carolina and were captured in Mississippi after a shootout with police, according to court records. Both Rogers and Wainwright have appeals pending that could delay their executions. There were also six Florida executions in 2023 but only one in 2024.
Associated Press News	2025-05-16 18:33:00+00:00	[ "Automotive accidents", "Ohio", "David Branstool", "Jacob McDonald", "Crime", "Homicide", "Columbus", "Chris Brigdon" ]	# Truck driver found guilty on lesser charges in bus crash that killed 6 on school trip May 16th, 2025, 06:33 PM --- NEWARK, Ohio (AP) — A truck driver who triggered a chain-reaction crash with a bus that killed three Ohio high school band students and three adults was convicted of vehicular homicide Friday but cleared on more serious charges. The three students killed in the 2023 crash were on a charter bus, and a teacher and two chaperones in another vehicle hit by the tractor trailer also died. Licking County Judge David Branstool found Jacob McDonald, of Zanesville, guilty on six misdemeanor counts of vehicular homicide, but ruled that he was not guilty of aggravated vehicular homicide, a felony. The judge said McDonald's actions in causing the crash were negligent but not reckless. McDonald could have faced three decades in prison if he had been convicted on all of the more serious charges, but instead he now faces a maximum sentence of 18 months, according to his attorney. Some family members of the victims left the court before the judge finished announcing the verdict. Prosecutors said McDonald was speeding and failed to brake for slowing traffic on Interstate 70 because he was looking at his phone. His defense attorney, Chris Brigdon, disputed that, saying that the cellular data cited by investigators did not clearly show what was happening before the crash. Brigdon said after the verdict was announced that McDonald was still devastated by the crash because he knows he caused it. According to investigators, McDonald's truck hit an SUV and pushed it into the bus, which was carrying students from the Tuscarawas Valley Local School District in eastern Ohio. Some of the vehicles caught fire. Five vehicles were involved in the crash in Licking County, east of Columbus. The bus was carrying the students to an Ohio School Boards Association conference in Columbus.
Associated Press News	2025-05-07 04:04:46+00:00	[ "Germany", "Vladimir Putin", "Russia", "Robert Fico", "Ilham Aliyev", "Xi Jinping", "Moscow", "China", "Luiz Incio Lula da Silva", "Angela Merkel", "Donald Trump", "Jean Chretien", "Canada government", "Russia government", "Ukraine", "Narendra Mod", "Ukraine government", "George W. Bush", "United States government", "Nikolai Petrov", "Drones", "Politics", "India government", "John Major", "Lynne Tracy", "War and unrest", "European Union", "Nicolas Maduro", "Dmitry Peskov", "Kaja Kallas", "China government", "Aleksandar Vucic", "Yuri Ushakov", "United Kingdom government", "Germany government", "Plane crashes", "Bill Clinton" ]	# Putin's Victory Day guests at Red Square parade will include China's Xi By The Associated Press May 7th, 2025, 04:04 AM --- Russia's President Vladimir Putin is set to host the leaders of China, Brazil and other heads of states for festivities on Friday marking the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Victory Day, which is celebrated in Russia on May 9, has become the country's most important secular holiday. A massive parade through Red Square and other ceremonies underline Moscow's efforts to project its power and cement the alliances it has forged while seeking a counterbalance to the West amid the 3-year-old war in Ukraine. "For Putin, this day is important as a demonstration how broad a coalition backing Russia is," said political analyst Nikolai Petrov. The lineup of leaders coming to Moscow this year contrasts sharply to some past celebrations that drew top Western leaders at a time of friendlier ties between Russia and the West. The festivities have been overshadowed by reports of Ukrainian drone attacks targeting Moscow and severe disruptions at all four of the capital's airports, with dozens of flights delayed or canceled, stranding hundreds of passengers. Tightened security around the celebrations also led to restrictions on cellphone internet service and reports of outages. Banks and taxi firms have preemptively warned customers about disruption to services over the holidays due to unstable internet access, and some shops and supermarkets have restricted deliveries due to potential network problems. ## The guest list reflects Moscow's priorities Putin described Chinese President Xi Jinping as "our main guest" at the Victory Day festivities when he discussed preparations for his visit with China's foreign minister. The Russian leader noted that he and Xi are to discuss both bilateral and global issues at their summit in Moscow. Xi arrived Wednesday for a four-day visit. Putin's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov has said they would discuss trade and Russia's supply of oil and gas to China, as well as cooperation within BRICS — the bloc of developing economies that initially included Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa but has since expanded to more countries. Putin and Xi have met over 40 times and developed strong personal ties to bolster their "strategic partnership" as they both face soaring tensions with the West. China has offered robust diplomatic support to Moscow after the 2022 invasion and has emerged as a top market for Russian oil and gas, helping fill the Kremlin's war coffers. Russia also has relied on China as the main source of machinery and electronics to keep its military machine running after Western sanctions curtailed high-tech supplies. While Beijing hasn't provided weapons to use in Ukraine, it has backed the Kremlin diplomatically, blaming the West for threatening Russia's security. China also condemned Western sanctions against Moscow. Russia, in turn, has consistently voiced support for Beijing on issues related to Taiwan. Last month, Ukraine reported capturing two Chinese soldiers who were fighting for Russia and claimed there were over 150 others deployed alongside Moscow's forces. Beijing disavowed official involvement, saying it told its citizens not to enter foreign conflicts. Reports suggested the men were mercenaries answering advertisements. India's Prime Minister Narendra Mod i, another top ally whom Putin has courted, had been expected in Moscow but he canceled his trip amid tensions with Pakistan after an attack in which gunmen opened fire on tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir. India, which has had persistent tensions with China, watched the growing Russia-China relationship with unease but sought to maintain close ties with Moscow. Russia is a major defense supplier for India, and New Delhi's importance as a key trading partner for Moscow has grown since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine. Just like China, India has become a key buyer of Russian oil. Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva also arrived Wednesday, his first official trip to Moscow since the invasion of Ukraine. He twice visited Russia during his previous tenure as president in 2003-10. ## Other signs of global support for the Kremlin Other guests include Slovakia's populist Prime Minister Robert Fico, who has openly challenged the European Union's policies over Ukraine. Fico has shrugged off warnings from the EU's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, against visiting Moscow, defiantly saying, "nobody can order me where to go or not to go." Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic made his first trip to Russia since the invasion, despite EU pressure that visiting Moscow could derail Serbia's ambitions to join the bloc. He arrived in Moscow on Wednesday after falling ill last week on a trip to the U.S., which raised questions about his attendance. The Kremlin said Putin will have bilateral meetings with him and Fico on Friday. Petrov said attendance by European countries despite EU pressure demonstrates "that the Kremlin isn't just in any sort of isolation but has quite powerful support not only in the Global South but also in the West." Putin met Wednesday with the leaders of Cuba and Venezuela, who also came to Moscow. He and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro signed an agreement on strategic partnership and cooperation. The leaders of Vietnam and Burkina-Faso, plus presidents of several former Soviet nations, also were expected. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the guest list reflects the importance of the holiday and "shows that Russia not only has allies, but a large number of countries that feel close to the spirit of our ideology and world vision." Ushakov said Tuesday that leaders of more than two dozen countries are expected, and Putin will hold more than 15 bilateral meetings. The Kremlin also invited U.S. Ambassador Lynne Tracy, although "whether she will be present at the parade, we will see on May 9," Ushakov said. The State Department didn't confirm whether any U.S. officials would attend. Ushakov said Wednesday the presidents of Laos and Azerbaijan weren't coming after all. Laos President Thongloun Sisoulith fell ill with COVID-19, Ushakov told Russia's Life news outlet, and Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, who the Kremlin said in March had accepted an invitation, had to attend events at home. Relations between Moscow and Baku cooled after an Azerbaijani airliner crashed in Kazakhstan in December, killing 38 of 67 people aboard. Aliyev said it was shot down over Russia, albeit unintentionally, and rendered uncontrollable by electronic warfare. He accused Russia of trying to "hush up" the incident for several days. Putin apologized to Aliyev for what he called a "tragic incident" but stopped short of acknowledging responsibility. Aliyev hasn't attended the Moscow parade since 2015, the Russian daily Vedomosti reported. ## Past celebrations featured top Western leaders When Russia's ties with the West blossomed after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, many Western leaders attended Victory Day celebrations. In 1995, U.S. President Bill Clinton, British Prime Minister John Major and Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien were among the guests. U.S. President George W. Bush attended the 2005 Victory Day parade along with the leaders of France, Germany and other heads of states, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel was on Red Square for the 2010 parade. Ties with the West were badly strained after Russia's illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and the start of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, where Moscow backed a separatist insurgency. Western leaders stopped coming to the event. U.S. President Donald Trump, who this year upended Washington's policy of isolating Russia over the war, hasn't ruled out visiting Moscow someday, but will not be attending on Friday.
Associated Press News	2025-05-02 18:02:26+00:00	[ "Vehicle ramming attacks", "Stuttgart", "Germany", "Business", "Crime" ]	# Vehicle slams into pedestrians in German city of Stuttgart, killing 1 person and injuring several May 2nd, 2025, 06:02 PM --- BERLIN (AP) — A vehicle slammed into a group of pedestrians in the southwestern German city of Stuttgart on Friday, killing one person and injuring several others in what police said appeared to be an accident. The driver was detained, but Stuttgart police said on X that there was "currently no evidence of an attack or a deliberate act" and that all the information so far indicates it was a "tragic traffic accident." The incident happened at an above-ground subway stop in downtown Stuttgart, police said. "Five people were slightly injured and three seriously injured in the accident. Of the seriously injured, a 46-year-old woman has since succumbed to her injuries in the hospital," police said in a Friday evening statement, hours after the accident. An investigation was under way, and the area was cordoned off as emergency responders, police and forensic specialists examined the scene. Witnesses were being interviewed, and subway service through the area was suspended. Photos from the scene showed plastic gloves, blankets and bags scattered on the ground near the SUV. ___ Corrects that the accident occurred on Friday, not Thursday.
Associated Press News	2025-05-09 03:34:21+00:00	[ "International trade", "Geneva", "Beijing", "China government", "Scott Bessent", "China", "Donald Trump", "Tariffs and global trade", "Asia", "Asia Pacific", "Business", "Joe Biden" ]	# China's exports to US sink, offset by trade with other economies, as US tariffs hit global trade By Elaine Kurtenbach May 9th, 2025, 03:34 AM --- China's exports to the United States tumbled in April while its trade with other economies surged, suggesting that President Donald Trump's tariffs offensive is hastening a shakeup in global supply chains. Total exports from China rose 8.1% last month from a year earlier, much faster than the 2% pace most economists had been expecting. That was much slower than the 12.4% year-on-year increase in March. Imports fell 0.2% in April from the year before. Shipments to the U.S. sank 21% in dollar terms as Trump's tariffs on most Chinese exports rose to as high as 145%. With Chinese tariffs on U.S. goods at 125%, business between the two biggest economies has grown increasingly uncertain. China's imports from the U.S. dropped more than 13% from a year earlier, while its politically sensitive trade surplus with the United States was nearly $20.5 billion in April, down from about $27.2 billion a year earlier. In the first four months of the year, China's exports to the United States fell 2.5% from a year earlier, while imports from the U.S. fell 4.7%. A potential break in the tariffs stalemate could come as soon as this weekend. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and other senior trade officials are due to meet with Chinese officials in Geneva on Saturday. But Beijing and Washington are at odds over a raft of issues, including colliding strategic interests that will may impede progress in the talks. Some of the punitive tariffs, including Beijing's retaliatory 125% tariffs on U.S. exports, could be rolled back, but a full reversal is unlikely, Zichun Huang of Capital Economics said in a report. "This means China's exports to the U.S. are set for further declines over the coming months, not all of which will be offset by increased trade with other countries. We still expect export growth to turn negative later this year," Huang said. Whatever the outcome of those discussions, the rapid increase in Chinese exports to other countries reflects a restructuring that began years ago but has gained momentum as Trump has raised barriers to exporting to the U.S. Global manufacturers have been looking for alternatives to a near total reliance on manufacturing in China after disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for more diverse options. The need for more versatile supply chains grew more apparent as Trump hiked tariffs on Chinese exports during his first term in office. Most of those remained during former President Joe Biden's term. Exports to the United States accounted for about a tenth of China's total exports in April and the U.S. is still China's largest single-country market. But the European Union and Southeast Asia are larger regional export markets. Trade with a broader grouping, the 15-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which does not include the United States, is still bigger. And exports to countries participating in China's "Belt and Road Initiative," a vast network of Beijing-supported infrastructure projects, are bigger still. In the first four months of the year, exports to the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations rose 11.5% from a year earlier, and those to Latin America also climbed 11.5%. Shipments to India jumped nearly 16% by value, and exports to Africa surged 15%. Some of the fastest growth was in Asia, reflecting moves by Chinese and other manufacturers to diversify their supply chains outside of the Chinese mainland. Most notable were exports to Vietnam, which jumped 18% year-on-year. Exports to Thailand were up 20%. Back in China, preliminary data have shown a sharp decline in shipping and other trade activity. Earlier this week, Beijing announced a barrage of measures meant to counter the impact of the trade war on its economy, which was already struggling to regain momentum after the pandemic and a lengthy downturn in its housing sector. ___ Associated Press researcher Yu Bing in Beijing contributed.
Associated Press News	2025-05-01 18:48:00+00:00	[ "Donald Trump", "News media", "George Stephanopoulos", "Mark Whitaker", "Barack Obama", "Gary Condit", "Television", "Connie Chung", "Entertainment", "George W. Bush", "Terry Moran", "David Bauder", "Government and politics", "Diane Sawyer", "Kelly McBride", "David Muir", "Business", "Jonathan Karl", "United States government", "Mary Bruce", "Barbara Walters", "Martha Raddatz", "Andrew Heyward", "Karoline Leavitt", "Politics" ]	# Trump said he chose the ABC News journalist who interviewed him. Did he? By David Bauder May 1st, 2025, 06:48 PM --- NEW YORK (AP) — During a contentious exchange about deportations in his interview with ABC News' Terry Moran this week, President Donald Trump brought up — from his perspective — how Moran had gotten into the White House in the first place. "They're giving you the break of a lifetime, you know," Trump said in Tuesday's prime-time broadcast. "You're doing the interview. I picked you because, frankly, I never heard of you, but that's OK." Emphasizing again that it was his choice that Moran was there, the president scolded, "You're not being very nice." From an ethics perspective, it's considered a breach for a news organization to let a newsmaker dictate who will conduct an interview. In the real world of competitive journalism, things aren't always so simple. ## Did ABC News let President Trump decide who would do the interview? We don't know. ABC on Thursday would not talk publicly about what arrangements were discussed after Trump agreed to speak to the network about the first 100 days of his administration. ABC privately pushes back against the notion that Trump was given a list of potential interviewers, but it's unclear whether other names came up. On its face, Moran would seem an unexpected choice. At 65, he's been with the network since 1997 and was chief White House correspondent during George W. Bush's first term. He had nine one-on-one interviews with Barack Obama. But his profile at ABC News has diminished. He's an anchor for the "ABC News Live" streaming service and covers the Supreme Court for the network. There would seem to be more obvious alternatives, like "World News Tonight" anchor David Muir, effectively the face of the news division. Mary Bruce is the current chief White House correspondent. Jonathan Karl has written three books about Trump and rotates as a host of the "This Week" Sunday show with Martha Raddatz. Only George Stephanopoulos would seem off the table, since Trump sued him for defamation in a case settled last December. Why would a news organization not want to cede the choice of an interviewer to the president? "It undermines our independence as journalists," said Kelly McBride, a media ethics expert and senior vice president at the Poynter Institute. "When we make decisions of what questions are going to be asked, who's doing the interview and how we edit the interview, we do it in service to the audience." "If we let the powerful person that we are attempting to get information from choose who does the interview or select the questions, we're breaking our promise to the audience that we would be acting on their behalf," she said. ## The power of a president Practically speaking, however, a president has a great deal of power in these dynamics. Whatever the well-established challenges inherent in interviewing Trump, news organizations prize an exclusive interview with the president, any president. At any given moment, his press office likely has many requests for interviews, usually with a specific journalist's name attached. He already has choices. The Trump administration has made no secret of its desire to wield more control over who questions the president. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has invited new, mostly friendly, journalists into the White House briefing room and talked about further changes in who is allowed there. The administration sparked a court fight with The Associated Press over access to the Oval Office. When he worked as a news executive at CNN and NBC News, Mark Whitaker said he would discuss interviews with the White House involving certain journalists, but "the idea of giving a choice is not something I ever saw." he said. Andrew Heyward, a former CBS News president, said he understands the principle of not ceding the decision of who asks the questions, "but as a practical matter, it's often a negotiation." Heyward stressed he had no inside information about what happened with ABC News this week. ## The 'Wild West' days of competition for celebrity interviews In some cases, the importance of landing an interview ahead of a competitor can take precedence over the principle of controlling who does the asking. Its value is illustrated in the ratings: nearly 4 million people watched Moran's interview with Trump on Tuesday, the largest audience of anything on television that night, the Nielsen company said. There was even more at stake during the "Wild West" days of television networks competing for big celebrity interviews, primarily at the end of the last century. "Shamefully, the interviewee was in the driver's seat whenever it came to the flavor-of-the-week or the most sought-after new interview," said veteran broadcast journalist Connie Chung. "It was one of the reasons why I despised getting the so-called 'get.' It was a matter of who could grovel better." On many of those occasions, news organizations didn't always speak with one voice; Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters often competed fiercely for the same interviews when they both worked at ABC News. In 2001, Chung recalled that Walters was designated by ABC to interview scandal-scarred U.S. Rep. Gary Condit, but the congressman's representative said they were going to another network unless Chung did the story. Chung got the interview. So what if the day's big celebrity is the president of the United States? "It is a bit of a gray area," Heyward said. ___ David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.
Associated Press News	2025-05-06 23:53:56+00:00	[ "Ohio", "Voting", "Ohio state government" ]	# Ohio voters approve ballot issue authorizing $2.5 billion in bonds over 10 years for infrastructure By Julie Carr Smyth May 6th, 2025, 11:53 PM --- COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio voters voted on Tuesday to reauthorize a program that will provide $2.5 billion for roads, bridges and other needed local infrastructure projects over the next decade. State Issue 2 called for the renewal of the Ohio Capital Improvement Program, which was first authorized in 1987. Administered by the Ohio Public Works Commission, it relies on existing state revenues as opposed to raising taxes. Under the measure, up to $250 million of the total general obligation bonds authorized can be issued each year over 10 years, creating an estimated 35,000 construction jobs. The Strong Ohio Communities Coalition, a gathering of business, labor, agriculture and civic organizations supported the measure, which attracted no significant opposition. Coalition spokesperson Sam Rossi thanked voters and the Ohio General Assembly, which placed the measure on the ballot. The Ohio Chamber of Commerce said in a statement that it looks forward to witnessing all the improvements roll out and the jobs they create, saying voters recognized "the importance of modern, reliable infrastructure to Ohio's quality of life and its economic outlook." Though it was listed on the ballot as Issue 2, Tuesday's ballot measure was the first and only statewide issue to appear. That's the result of a new numbering system approved by state lawmakers after the elections of 2023 and 2024 featured several ballot issues timed close together and called either Issue 1 or Issue 2. Ohio's next statewide ballot question will be labeled Issue 3.
Associated Press News	2025-05-16 06:59:19+00:00	[ "Sara Duterte", "Philippines", "Rodrigo Duterte", "Ferdinand Marcos Jr.", "Philippines government", "Impeachment", "Global elections", "International Criminal Court", "Kiko Pangilinan", "Voting", "Kristina Conti", "Legal proceedings", "Christopher Go", "Government and politics", "Erwin Tulfo", "Camille Villar", "Elections", "Ronald Llamas" ]	# Philippines Senate race a blow to President Marcos as he feuds with Vice President Duterte By Teresa Cerojano May 16th, 2025, 06:59 AM --- MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Key allies of detained former President Rodrigo Duterte and two liberal opposition candidates were among top winners in the May 12 Senate race in the Philippines, according to official results released Friday by the Election Commission. The midterm election outcome provided unexpectedly strong backing for Duterte and boosted his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, ahead of her impeachment trial in the Senate in July. The election also was a blow to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s administration, whose candidates did not do as well as expected in midterm polls when the president's influence is usually strong, analysts said. Five of the 12 Senate race winners were endorsed by Sara Duterte, including the president's sister, Imee Marcos, and Camille Villar, another Marcos alliance candidate from a wealthy political family. Five others were aligned with Marcos, while two surprise winners were from the opposition. Two Duterte allies were among the top five. Christopher Go, a former Cabinet member under the elder Duterte, led the Senate winners with more than 27 million votes. Ronald dela Rosa, Duterte's first national police chief and executor of his deadly anti-drugs campaign, ranked third. Erwin Tulfo, a news anchor and candidate from the Marcos slate who was topping pre-election surveys, only managed fourth place. Two opposition members, Bam Aquino and Kiko Pangilinan, took second and fifth place, respectively. The election results reflected "a vote against the administration," political analyst Ronald Llamas said, adding that it wasn't a vote for the Dutertes because many anti-Duterte candidates also won, including in the lower house of Congress. "It's a plebiscite on the president, it's a referendum on the government and it looks like they lost there," Llamas said. Marcos teamed with Sara Duterte to win the 2022 general elections, but their partnership soured over political differences that led to her impeachment in February and her father's subsequent arrest and handover to the ICC. Marcos can't seek re-election as the president is limited to a single six-year term. Sara Duterte is seen as a strong presidential candidate for 2028 elections but will be barred from office for life if convicted by the Senate. She was impeached on a raft of charges including alleged misuse of public funds and plotting to assassinate Marcos. She had said the impeachment was a political assassination. To be acquitted, she needs the votes of at least nine of 24 senators. At least two other senators who were not part of the elections were seen as supporters of the vice president. Other senators may support her acquittal depending on public opinion during the trial, political pressure from the administration and perceived political benefits, Llamas said. "Definitely Sara gained in the election in her fight against impeachment," Llamas said. "The impeachment will be uphill but not impossible." Rodrigo Duterte was elected as mayor of Davao City, his stronghold, with a landslide despite being detained thousands of miles away in the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, since March. He is awaiting trial for crimes against humanity related to his war on illegal drugs that left thousands of suspects dead during his presidency from 2016 to 2022. Under Philippine law, candidates facing criminal charges, including those in detention, can run for office unless they have been convicted and have exhausted all appeals. Kristina Conti, an assistant to counsel at the ICC, has said the court also is investigating Dela Rosa and Go for their role in the drug war.
Associated Press News	2025-05-08 17:30:40+00:00	[ "Protests and demonstrations", "District of Columbia", "Seattle", "Law enforcement", "The Boeing Co.", "U.S. Department of Education", "Victor Balta", "Engineering" ]	# 21 University of Washington students suspended for pro-Palestinian protest May 8th, 2025, 05:30 PM --- SEATTLE (AP) — The University of Washington has suspended the 21 students arrested earlier this week for occupying an engineering building during a pro-Palestinian protest, the school announced Wednesday. The students who moved into the Interdisciplinary Engineering Building in Seattle on Monday evening demanding the school break ties with Boeing have also been banned from all UW campuses, according to a school statement. Thirteen people who were arrested but are not students have also been banned from the university's Seattle campus, it added. The school said the occupation resulted in "significant damage" to the building and equipment housed in it. Multiple dumpsters were also set on fire outside the school. Boeing has donated over $100 million to UW since 1917, including $10 million for the engineering building, The Seattle Times reported. Boeing is a major supplier to the Israeli Defense Forces, and that country has received more military aid from the U.S. than any other country since World War II. The students who occupied the building unofficially renamed it after Shaban al-Dalou, a teenage engineering student who was killed along with his mother after an Israeli airstrike triggered an inferno outside of a Gaza hospital. Because of Boeing's donation, the aviation manufacturer was granted naming rights for the building's second level. The U.S. Department of Education announced an investigation Tuesday into the protest. "The University values its long-standing partnership with the federal government," the school said. "We will cooperate with the Task Force's review and are confident that an evaluation will find we are in compliance with federal civil rights laws." The federal Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism responded to the protests with a statement saying the university needs to follow up "with enforcement actions and policy changes that are clearly necessary to prevent these uprisings moving forward." School spokesperson Victor Balta said Thursday that the university initiated some changes in November that included tracking incidents of bias, antisemitism and Islamophobia, but recognized the need to continually improve. Some changes include adding a Title VI coordinator position, strengthening relationships with the Jewish community, improving bias incident reporting and response processes, and consolidating anti-discrimination compliance in a new Civil Rights Compliance Office. In March, the University's Board of Regents overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to divest from companies with ties to Israel, the school's statement said.
Associated Press News	2025-05-15 19:13:04+00:00	[ "Bono", "Cannes Film Festival", "Movies", "Donald Trump", "Movie premieres", "Europe", "Theater", "Albania", "Arts and entertainment", "The Edge", "Eve Hewson", "Documentaries", "Andrew Dominik", "Associated Press" ]	# Bono: 'The world has never been closer to a world war in my lifetime' By Jake Coyle May 15th, 2025, 07:13 PM --- CANNES, France (AP) — Cannes is a short trip from Bono's seaside villa in Eze-sur-Mer. He bought it with The Edge in 1993, and considers himself grateful to a coastline that, he says, gave him a "delayed adolescence." "I can tell you I've slept on beaches close to here," Bono says with a grin. "I've woken up in the sun." But that doesn't mean the Cannes Film Festival is a particularly familiar experience for the U2 frontman. He's here to premiere the Apple TV+ documentary "Bono: Stories of Surrender," which captures his one-man stage show. Before coming, Bono's daughter, the actor Eve Hewson, gave him some advice. "She said: 'Just get over yourself and bring it,'" Bono said in an interview on a hotel off the Croisette. "What do I have to bring? Bring yourself and your gratitude that you're a musician and they're allowing you into a festival that celebrates actors and storytellers of a different kind. I said, 'OK, I'll try to bring it.'" Besides, Cannes, he notes, was founded amid World War II as an alternative to then-Mussolini controlled Venice Film Festival. It was, he says, "designed to find fascists." Shifts in geopolitical tectonics was much on Bono's mind. He has spent much of his activist life fighting for aid to Africa and combating HIV-AIDS. U.S. President Donald Trump's dismantling of USAID has reversed much of that. "What's irrational is taking pleasure in the defacement of these institutions of mercy," Bono said. "Bono: Stories of Surrender," an Andrew Dominik-directed black-and-white film that begins streaming May 30, adapts the one-man stage show that, in turn, came from Bono's 2022 book, "Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story." In the film, Bono is self-effacing and reflective, sifting through the formative influence of his father, U2's skyrocketing to fame and considering how ego and social work might be related. He calls it "the tall tales of a short rock star." And as was the case on a recent sunny afternoon in Cannes, Bono makes a captivating raconteur. Remarks have been lightly edited for clarity. ## AP: You've long maintained that globalization lifts developing nations out of poverty. What do you make of the shift away from globalization by many countries recently? BONO: Well, that's right. Globalization did very well for the world's poor. That and increased aid levels brought a billion people out of extreme poverty and halved childhood mortality — remarkable jumps for quality of life for human beings. But it's also fair to say certain communities really paid the price for that — here in Europe, in the United States. And I'm not sure those communities were credited enough for weathering storms that globalization brought. So I understand how we got to this place, but it doesn't mean that it's the right place to be in. Nationalism is not what we need. We grew up in a very charged atmosphere in Ireland. It makes you suspicious of nationalism and those animal spirits that can be drummed up. This is me speaking about surrender, "Stories of Surrender," at a time when the world has never been closer to a world war in my lifetime. At first I think it looks absurd, a bit ridiculous — now that has never stopped me in the past — but I think it's OK to look ridiculous for these ideas. Like surrender, nonviolence, peace. ## AP: Do you have any sense yet of Pope Leo XIV? BONO: The new pope, he does look like a pope. That's a good start. I just saw the other day his first piece and he was talking about stopping shouting, God might prefer whispers. I thought, "Oh, this could be interesting." I'm more of a shouter myself. I come from punk rock. But I'm learning to turn that shout into a whisper in this film to get to an intimacy. ## AP: The most moving parts of "Stories of Surrender" are when you talk about your dad, who died in 2001. How have you feelings about him evolved with time? BONO: Well, the accuracy of the put-down — "You are a baritone who thinks he's a tenor" — is so all encompassing. I was going to call the play "The Baritone Who Thinks He's a Tenor." He's on my mind because he's the reason I sing. It's a wound that will never close because after playing him on stage for all those nights — just by turning left or right — I always loved him but I started to really like him. He started to make me laugh. There was a gift, as well as the voice, that he left me. Would he forgive me for impersonating him in the Teatro di San Carlo, a sacred place for tenors, probably not. But here I am impersonating an actor, so. ## AP: You've spent the last five years in some state of self analysis. First the book, then the stage show, now the film. Why? BONO: Mission creep. I knew I had to write the book. The play was so I didn't have to tour the book in normal promotional activity, that I could actually have fun with it and play all the different characters in my life. I thought it was really good fun. Then I realized: Oh, there's parts of you that people don't know about. We don't go to U2 shows for belly laughs. But that's a part of who I am, which is the mischief as well as the melancholy. Then you end up doing a play with a lot of cameras in the way. Enter Andrew Dominik and he taught me something that I didn't really understand but my daughter does: The camera really knows when you're lying. So if want to tell this story, you better get ready to take your armor off. You're going to feel naked in front of the whole school, but that's what it takes. ## AP: Coming out the other side, did you gain any new perspective on yourself? BONO: Based on my behavior just in the past week, the answer to that question is probably: Must try harder. The pilgrim's lack of progress. I would say that I understand a little better where I came from and that where I end up depends on how I deal with that. I've been calling it the hall of mirrors, when you try to figure out who you are and who's behind the face. Then you just see all these faces staring back at you, and they're all true. The real star of this movie is my dad. I sort of like him better than I like myself because humor has become so important to me. It's not like everything needs to be a belly laugh, but there's a freedom. People like me, we can sing about freedom. It's much better to be it. ## AP: You earlier spoke about the rising threat of world war. As someone who's often sang for and worked for peace, do you still have hope? BONO: There's a minister from Albania who said something that really stuck with me. She said: If you have a chance to hope, it's a moral duty because most people don't. So, yes, I feel we'll figure our way out of this. This is a scary moment. I think acknowledging that we can lose all we've gained is sobering but it may be course-changing. I just believe in people enough. I believe in Americans enough. I'm an Irish person, I can't tell people how to vote. I can tell you that a million children dying because their life support systems were pulled out of the wall, with glee, that's not the America that I recognize or understand. You're on the front lines of Europe here. America came in and saved the day. Ironically, so did Russia. More people died from Russia fighting the Nazis than everybody else. Now they tread on their own sacred memories by treading on the Ukrainians who also died on the front lines. I think part of that is that history didn't acknowledge it. I believe there is integrity in the Russian people. They need to change their leader, in my view. I believe there is integrity in the Americans. They will figure it out. Who was it who said: If you give Americans the facts, they will eventually make the right choice. Right now, they're not getting the facts. Think of it: a 70% decline in HIV-AIDS, Republican-led, Democratically followed though. The greatest health intervention in the history of medicine to fight HIV-AIDS has been thrown away. It was nearly there. To a space traveler, it's like getting to Mars and going, "Nah, we'll go back." It's bewildering to me. ___ For more coverage of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, visit https://apnews.com/hub/cannes-film-festival.
Associated Press News	2025-05-02 01:59:18+00:00	[ "Fires", "Neil Young", "Mary Ellen Sobule", "Denver", "Notable Deaths", "Arts and entertainment", "Ron Bostwick", "Craig Grossman", "Cyndi Lauper", "Jill Sobule", "Minneapolis", "Neil Diamond", "Billy Bragg", "John Porter", "David Elkin", "Minnesota" ]	# Jill Sobule, singer-songwriter known for 'I Kissed a Girl,' dies in house fire By Hallie Golden May 2nd, 2025, 01:59 AM --- Jill Sobule, the award-winning singer-songwriter whose witty and poignant writing first attracted widespread attention with the gay-themed song "I Kissed a Girl," died in a house fire Thursday. She was 66. Her death was confirmed by her publicist, David Elkin, in an email Thursday afternoon. It was not immediately clear how the fire in Woodbury, Minnesota, started. "Jill Sobule was a force of nature and human rights advocate whose music is woven into our culture," John Porter, her manager, said in a statement. "I was having so much fun working with her. I lost a client & a friend today. I hope her music, memory, & legacy continue to live on and inspire others." During her more than three decades of recording, Sobule released 12 albums that addressed such complex topics as the death penalty, anorexia nervosa, reproduction and LGBTQ+ issues. Her first album, "Things Here Are Different," was released in 1990. Five years later, she received widespread attention for her hit singles, "Supermodel," from the movie "Clueless," and "I Kissed A Girl," which, despite being banned on several southern radio stations, made it into the Billboard Top 20. She also starred in an autobiographical off-Broadway musical that initially premiered at the Wild Project in New York in 2022 and includes songs and stories about her life. Sobule was known for taking control of her career by fundraising so she could make her next album. In 2008, after two major record companies dumped her and two indie labels went bankrupt beneath her, she raised tens of thousands of dollars from fans so she could make a new album. "The old kind of paradigm, where you've always waited for other people to do things, you'd have your manager and your agent," she said at the time. "You'd wait for the big record company to give you money to do things and they tell you what to do. This is so great. I want to do everything like this." Sobule was scheduled to perform in Denver on Friday night. Instead, there will be an informal gathering hosted by her friend Ron Bostwick from 105.5 The Colorado Sound at the performance space where attendees can "share a story or song," according to her publicist. A formal memorial to celebrate her life and legacy will be held later this summer. "No one made me laugh more. Her spirit and energy shall be greatly missed within the music community and beyond," Craig Grossman, her booking agent, said in a statement. Born in Denver, Colorado, on Jan. 16, 1959, she has described herself as a shy child who preferred observing over participating. Sobule was known for playing dozens of shows a year and has described her live performances as vulnerable experiences. She said she often doesn't have a set list and wings it. She's performed with such icons as Neil Young, Billy Bragg and Cyndi Lauper, and also inducted Neil Diamond into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, according to her website. She also sang a song as herself on an episode of "The Simpsons" in 2019. "In a good way, I feel like I'm still a rookie," she told The Associated Press in 2023 in an interview about her musical. "There's so much more to do and I haven't done my best yet." She is survived by her brother and sister-in-law, James and Mary Ellen Sobule, along with her nephews and cousins.
Associated Press News	2025-05-01 17:58:31+00:00	[ "Spacecraft", "Space launches", "Space exploration", "JWD-evergreen", "Marco Langbroek", "Science", "Planets", "Soviet Union", "Jonathan McDowell" ]	# Soviet-era spacecraft is set to plunge to Earth a half-century after its failed launch to Venus By Marcia Dunn May 1st, 2025, 05:58 PM --- CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A Soviet-era spacecraft meant to land on Venus in the 1970s is expected to soon plunge uncontrolled back to Earth. It's too early to know where the half-ton mass of metal might come down or how much of it will survive reentry, according to space debris-tracking experts. Dutch scientist Marco Langbroek predicts the failed spacecraft will reenter around May 10. He estimates it will come crashing in at 150 mph (242 kph), if it remains intact. "While not without risk, we should not be too worried," Langbroek said in an email. The object is relatively small and, even if it doesn't break apart, "the risk is similar to that of a random meteorite fall, several of which happen each year. You run a bigger risk of getting hit by lightning in your lifetime," he said. The chance of the spacecraft actually hitting someone or something is small, he added. "But it cannot be completely excluded." The Soviet Union launched the spacecraft known as Kosmos 482 in 1972, one of a series of Venus missions. But it never made it out of Earth orbit because of a rocket malfunction. Most of it came tumbling down within a decade. But Langbroek and others believe the landing capsule itself — a spherical object about 3 feet (1 meter) in diameter — has been circling the world in a highly elliptical orbit for the past 53 years, gradually dropping in altitude. It's quite possible that the 1,000-pound-plus (nearly 500-kilogram) spacecraft will survive reentry. It was built to withstand a descent through the carbon dioxide-thick atmosphere of Venus, said Langbroek of Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. Experts doubt the parachute system would work after so many years. The heat shield may also be compromised after so long in orbit. It would be better if the heat shield fails, which would cause the spacecraft to burn up during its dive through the atmosphere, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics' Jonathan McDowell said in an email. But if the heat shield holds, "it'll reenter intact and you have a half-ton metal object falling from the sky." The spacecraft could reenter anywhere between 51.7 degrees north and south latitude, or as far north as London and Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, almost all the way down to South America's Cape Horn. But since most of the planet is water, "chances are good it will indeed end up in some ocean," Langbroek said. ___ 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	2025-05-01 04:12:52+00:00	[ "Donald Trump", "Oregon", "National parks", "Joe Biden", "Homelessness", "United States government", "Michael McShane", "Executive orders", "Kaitlyn Webb", "Jesse Rabinowitz", "Mandy Bryant", "Climate and environment", "Forest Homeless Eviction-Oregon", "Government programs", "Politics", "Wildfires", "Climate" ]	# Forest Service starts clearing homeless camp in Oregon's Deschutes National Forest By Jenny Kane and Claire Rush May 1st, 2025, 04:12 AM --- BEND, Ore. (AP) — Dozens of homeless people who have been living in a national forest in central Oregon for years were being evicted Thursday by the U.S. Forest Service, as it closed the area for a wildfire prevention project that will involve removing smaller trees, clearing debris and setting controlled burns over thousands of acres. The project has been on the books for years, and the decision to remove the encampment in the Deschutes National Forest comes two months after the Trump administration issued an executive order directing federal agencies to increase timber production and forest management projects aimed at reducing wildfire risk. Deschutes National Forest spokesperson Kaitlyn Webb said in an email that the closure order was "directly tied to the forest restoration work." Homeless advocates, meanwhile, seized on the timing on Thursday as U.S. Forest Service officers blocked the access road. "The fact that they are doing this with such vigor shortly after they announced that the forests would be opened up for logging I don't think is a coincidence," said Jesse Rabinowitz, spokesperson for the National Homelessness Law Center. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the U.S. Forest Service, and the service's Pacific Northwest Region did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment. "The closure does not target any specific user group and will restrict all access, including day use and overnight camping, while crews operate heavy machinery, conduct prescribed burns, and clean up hazardous materials," Webb said. "It's not safe for the public to be in the area while heavy machinery is operating, trees are being felled, mowing operations are active, and prescribed burning is occurring." Campers who had set up trailers, recreational vehicles and tents amidst the ponderosa pines in the forest scrambled in the darkness Wednesday night to pack up and get their engines working again. Authorities closed the two-lane road in the early hours of Thursday morning, and it wasn't immediately clear how many people were left in the forest by the afternoon, though some were unable to leave. The U.S. Forest Service has been working for years on plans to close part of the Deschutes National Forest near Bend for forest restoration and wildfire mitigation. But the number of people living in that part of the forest has grown, with many losing homes during the coronavirus pandemic due to job losses and high housing costs, Rabinowitz said. ## The wildfire mitigation effort President Donald Trump's administration has acted to roll back environmental safeguards around future logging projects on more than half of U.S. national forests, under an emergency designation that cites dangers from wildfires. Whether the administration's move will boost lumber supplies as Trump envisioned in an executive order he signed in March remains to be seen. Former President Joe Biden's administration also sought more logging in public forests to combat fires, which have become more intense amid drier and hotter conditions linked to climate change, yet U.S. Forest Service timber sales stayed relatively flat under his tenure. The Cabin Butte Vegetation Management Project, a wildfire mitigation treatment on some 30,000 acres (12,000 hectares), is prompting the closures in the Deschutes National Forest. The goal of the work is to reduce wildfire risk and restore damaged habitats where development encroaches on natural areas near Bend, Deschutes National Forest officials said in a statement. Recreation sites and trails in that area will be closed through April next year. Multiple U.S. Forest Service officials and vehicles were stationed at the Deschutes National Forest road closure on Thursday. A sign on the metal gate blocking the road said the temporary emergency closure will last at least one year. Violators could face up to six months in jail, fines up to $5,000, or both. ## Judge declines to block the closure On Wednesday night, Mandy Bryant, who said she had lived in the encampment for about three years, was cleaning up her site and trying to get a trailer to start so she could move it. "You could feel the heaviness in the air and just the stress and depression that people are feeling," she told The Associated Press. "We're up there on the list of groups of people that society doesn't really care for." Four people living in the encampment including Bryant, along with two homeless advocates, filed for a restraining order to stop the closure. The claim argued it would cause irreparable harm to more than 100 people who were living there, many of whom have disabilities. The government responded in court filings that U.S. Forest Service staff in January began notifying homeless people living in the area of the upcoming closure. Original plans for the project were published in 2019 and were authorized by the U.S. Forest Service in 2023, the court filings said. U.S. District Court Judge Michael McShane denied the restraining order on Tuesday and issued a written opinion on Thursday. "The public's significant interest in restoring natural habitats, preventing catastrophic wildfires, and preserving the overall health of Deschutes National Forest is not outweighed by the interest of 150 or so individuals in residing on this particular plot of land," he wrote in his ruling. Webb, the Deschutes National Forest spokesperson, told The Oregonian/OregonLive that the government's goal is "voluntary compliance," but Forest Service officers and staff will patrol and "enforce the closure and ensure public safety." __ Rush reported from Portland, Oregon.
Associated Press News	2025-05-02 17:10:24+00:00	[ "Islamabad", "Pakistan", "Saudi Arabia", "Kuwait", "Kashmir", "India government", "International agreements", "Pakistan government", "South Asia", "India", "Indictments", "Politics", "Data management and storage" ]	# Pakistan asks Gulf allies to help ease India tensions following Kashmir attack By Munir Ahmed and Aijaz Hussain May 2nd, 2025, 05:10 PM --- ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan's prime minister met Friday with envoys from Gulf allies, seeking to defuse tensions with India following last week's deadly attack on tourists in the disputed Kashmir region, his office said. In separate meetings with the Saudi, Kuwait and UAE ambassadors, Shehbaz Sharif briefed them on Islamabad's stance regarding the April 22 attack in Indian-administered Kashmir, where 26 people, mostly Hindus, were killed. India has blamed Pakistan for the attack, a charge Islamabad strongly rejects. Following "credible intelligence" from a Pakistani minster that India intended military action over Pakistan's alleged role in the Pahalgam tourist attack, Sharif and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar have received calls from the United States and other nations' diplomats, according to Sharif's office and Pakistan's ministry of foreign affairs. The international community has encouraged both sides to exercise restraint. Sharif's office stated Friday that he had urged "brotherly countries, including Saudi Arabia, to press India for de-escalation and the defusal of tensions," reiterating Pakistan's commitment to peace and stability in South Asia. Tensions have been high in the South Asian region since last week's attack in Kashmir, a situation exacerbated by retaliatory actions between the two nuclear-armed rivals, including the expulsion of diplomats and citizens, border closures and airspace shutdowns. India has also suspended a critical water-sharing treaty with Pakistan. Sharif told UAE's ambassador Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Salem Al-Zaabi that Pakistan had no involvement in the attack on tourists and said he offered to join a credible, transparent and neutral international investigation, according to Sharif's office. In a meeting with the Saudi ambassador, Nawaf bin Saeed Al-Maliky, the prime minister briefed him about the latest situation. In response, the Saudi envoy said the Kingdom wanted to work with Pakistan for peace and security in the region, the statement said. Pakistan and India have a history of bitter relations. They have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, a region split between them, since gaining independence from the former British colonial rule in 1947. The Indian army said Friday in a statement it responded to "unprovoked" small arms fire from Pakistan for the eighth consecutive night in the Kupwara, Baramulla, Poonch, Naushera, and Akhnoor areas of Indian-controlled Kashmir. There was no immediate comment from Pakistan. No casualties were reported in the latest exchange of fire in Kashmir. Also on Friday, more than 200 members of civil society and political parties rallied in Muzaffarabad, the main city in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, denouncing India's steps against Pakistan. ___ Hussain reported from Srinagar, India
Associated Press News	2025-05-03 04:18:41+00:00	[ "Elon Musk", "SpaceX", "Texas", "Aerospace technology", "Space launches", "Donald Trump", "Military and defense", "Voting", "Business", "Kathryn Lueders", "National Aeronautics and Space Administration", "Josette Hinojosa", "Eddie Trevino Jr.", "Christopher Basald", "Politics" ]	# Starbase: Elon Musk's SpaceX launch site becomes an official Texas city By Valerie Gonzalez and Jim Vertuno May 3rd, 2025, 04:18 AM --- McALLEN, Texas (AP) — The South Texas home of Elon Musk's SpaceX rocket company is now an official city with a galactic name: Starbase. A vote Saturday to formally organize Starbase as a city was approved by a lopsided margin among the small group of voters who live there and are mostly Musk's employees at SpaceX. With all the votes in, the tally was 212 in favor to 6 against, according to results published online by the Cameron County Elections Department. Musk celebrated in a post on his social platform, X, saying it is "now a real city!" Starbase is the facility and launch site for the SpaceX rocket program that is under contract with the Department of Defense and NASA that hopes to send astronauts back to the moon and someday to Mars. Musk first floated the idea of Starbase in 2021 and approval of the new city was all but certain. Of the 283 eligible voters in the area, most are believed to be Starbase workers. The election victory was personal for Musk. The billionaire's popularity has diminished since he became the chain-saw-wielding public face of President Donald Trump's federal job and spending cuts, and profits at his Tesla car company have plummeted. SpaceX has generally drawn widespread support from local officials for its jobs and investment in the area. But the creation of an official company town has also drawn critics who worry it will expand Musk's personal control over the area, with potential authority to close a popular beach and state park for launches. Companion efforts to the city vote include bills in the state Legislature to shift that authority from the county to the new town's mayor and city council. All these measures come as SpaceX is asking federal authorities for permission to increase the number of South Texas launches from five to 25 a year. The city at the southern tip of Texas near the Mexico border is only about 1.5 square miles (3.9 square kilometers), crisscrossed by a few roads and dappled with airstream trailers and modest midcentury homes. SpaceX officials have said little about exactly why they to want a company town and did not respond to emailed requests for comment. "We need the ability to grow Starbase as a community," Starbase General Manager Kathryn Lueders wrote to local officials in 2024 with the request to get the city issue on the ballot. The letter said the company already manages roads and utilities, as well as "the provisions of schooling and medical care" for those living on the property. SpaceX officials have told lawmakers that granting the city authority to close the beach would streamline launch operations. SpaceX rocket launches and engine tests, and even just moving certain equipment around the launch base requires the closure of a local highway and access to Boca Chica State Park and Boca Chica Beach. Critics say beach closure authority should stay with the county government, which represents a broader population that uses the beach and park. Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevino, Jr. has said the county has worked well with SpaceX and there is no need for change. Another proposed bill would make it a Class B misdemeanor with up to 180 days in jail if someone doesn't comply with an order to evacuate the beach. The South Texas Environmental Justice Network, which has organized protests against the city vote and the beach access issue, held another demonstration Saturday that attracted dozens of people. Josette Hinojosa, whose young daughter was building sandcastle nearby, said she was taking part to try to ensure continued access to a beach her family has enjoyed for generations. With SpaceX, Hinojosa said, "Some days it's closed, and some days you get turned away," Organizer Christopher Basaldú, a member of the Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas tribe, said his ancestors have long been in the area, where the Rio Grande meets the Gulf. "It's not just important," he said, "it's sacred." ___ Vertuno reported from Austin, Texas.
Associated Press News	2025-05-19 13:05:40+00:00	[ "Hugh Mangum", "Philippines", "Recipes", "Maryland", "Lifestyle", "Arts and entertainment", "Florida", "Los Angeles", "Albert Stumm", "New York", "Food and drink", "Entertainment" ]	# Hugh Mangum's new barbecue book offers recipes from around the world By Albert Stumm May 19th, 2025, 01:05 PM --- When Hugh Mangum was growing up in Los Angeles, his Texan father showed off his barbecue skills in their backyard nearly every weekend. It became a ritual for the family to patiently tend to the fire. After his father's death more than 20 years ago, Mangum carried on the tradition, first experimenting with a little smoker after he moved to Bucks County, Pennsylvania. "Whenever I start a fire, there's just this kind of presence," he said. "I feel it in the soul of my belly, my heart, like he's there." Now he is more steeped than ever in the barbecue world, with in-laws from barbecue-loving North Carolina and a 7,000-pound smoker. Not to mention his nine locations of Mighty Quinn's barbecue restaurants in the New York area, plus franchises in Florida and Maryland. His father's recipes formed the base of the menu at Mighty Quinn's and now of Mangum's new book, "Barbecue: Smoked & Grilled Recipes From Across the Globe." Where the book differs from the restaurants is its international outlook, and that was inspired by his father too. The elder Mangum had traveled the world for work, bringing back influences from Peru, Japan, Spain and elsewhere. "He so celebrated food all over the world, " Mangum said. "So, I think that there was a seed planted." In the book, the seed translates into using a meat grinder for homemade sausages spiced as they are in Bulgaria, Panama or Alsace, France. Or making skewers in the style of the Philippines, Bali, Lebanon or Croatia, for starters. Short ribs can be simply smoked with only salt and black pepper. Or other recipes call for grilling and slathering ribs with Colombian chimichurri or marinating them in Korean seasonings and serving the meat in lettuce wraps. He calls beef brisket the "holy grail of Texas barbecue but also the most daunting cut of meat to smoke." It requires 12 hours of consistently tending the fire, but he promises incredibly juicy meat "with a bark that is equal parts smoky and salty with a hint of sweetness." For beginners, Mangum recommended smoking chicken, starting with wings to get used to a new smoker before trying a half chicken. Despite all the variations on grilled red meat in the book, he said one of his favorite recipes is gai yang, whole grilled chicken from northeastern Thailand. Marinated for 12 hours with a puree of lemongrass, garlic, fish sauce, turmeric and more, the chicken is grilled first on the cool side of the grill skin side up. Just before it finishes cooking, he flips it over the high heat to crisp the skin. Served with two dipping sauces, it's smoky and lightly charred, and bursting with flavor. "It's this incredibly flavorful, bombastic version of chicken that people will be like, 'Holy crap,'" he said. "It's just so good." ## Thai Grilled Chicken with Sweet Chili Sauce From "Barbecue: Smoked & Grilled Recipes From Across the Globe," by Hugh Mangum Preparation time: 20 minutes, plus overnight marinating and at least 1 hour standing Cooking time: 50 minutes Serves: 4-6 ## Ingredients: For the marinated chicken: 8 cloves garlic, minced 2 shallots, chopped 1 stalk lemongrass, outer leaves removed and chopped ½ cup (1 oz/25 g) cilantro (coriander) with stems, chopped 4 tablespoons soy sauce 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 teaspoons sweet soy sauce or dark soy sauce 2 teaspoons fish sauce 2 tablespoons palm sugar or light brown sugar 1 teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon black pepper ½ teaspoon ground turmeric 1 (5–6-lb/2–3-kg) chicken, butterflied ___ For the dipping sauce (Nam Jim Jaew): 1 tablespoon palm sugar or light brown sugar 2 tablespoons fish sauce 1 tablespoon tamarind paste 1 tablespoon toasted sticky rice (kao khua), ground (optional) 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro 1 tablespoon chopped scallions 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes ___ For serving: Sticky rice Lime wedges ___ ## Directions: For the chicken: In a food processor, combine the garlic, shallots, lemongrass and cilantro and blend to a paste. Add the remaining ingredients except the chicken and blend well. Rub the marinade over the chicken. Cover and refrigerate overnight or, preferably, 12 hours. ___ For the dipping sauce: Combine the sugar and 1 tablespoon hot water in a large bowl and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the remaining ingredients; set aside. One to 2 hours before cooking, bring the chicken to room temperature. Preheat a grill to high for indirect grilling (hot coals grouped on on side, or just half the burners turned on a gas grill). ___ Place the chicken, skin side up, on the cooler side and cook for 45 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the breast reaches 140°F (use a meat thermometer). Flip the chicken and place it on the hot side of the grill. Cook for another 3 minutes, until the skin is crispy. Set aside to rest for 5 to 10 minutes. Serve warm with sticky rice, the dipping sauce and lime. EDITOR'S NOTE: Albert Stumm lives in Barcelona and writes about food, travel and wellness. Find his work at https://www.albertstumm.com
Associated Press News	2025-05-09 19:06:56+00:00	[ "New Jersey", "New Jersey Transit", "Transportation", "U.S. government shutdown", "New York City Wire", "Business" ]	# Federal board makes move in hopes of avoiding New Jersey Transit strike May 9th, 2025, 07:06 PM --- NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Transit and its train engineers were moving closer to a potential strike as early as next week, but both sides will first head to Washington to meet with a federal mediation board in hopes of averting a rail shutdown. The National Mediation Board ordered both sides to show up on Monday in an attempt to work out their differences, both sides said Friday. A strike could happen in just a week on May 16, crippling commuters across the state. New Jersey Transit operates buses and rail in the state, providing nearly 1 million weekday trips, including into New York City. The agency plans to increase bus service if there is a rail strike, but the buses won't be able to handle close to the same number of passengers. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen in mid-April overwhelmingly rejected a labor agreement with management. Both sides had earlier said the tentative agreement included a "reasonable wage increase" for the union's members, as well as the resolution of a long-standing grievance. But since then, both sides traded jabs over the labor dispute, which goes back to 2019, when the engineers' contract expired. Union leaders say the train engineers have gone without a raise over the past five years.
Associated Press News	2025-05-03 06:02:17+00:00	[ "Europe", "Donald Trump", "European Union", "Charles Shay", "War and unrest", "Eurocopa 2024", "Hendrik Vos", "Politics", "Ronald Reagan", "Adolf Hitler", "Marie Pascale Legrand", "Marcel Schmetz", "Henri Chapelle", "Sanctions and embargoes" ]	# Europe will mark V-E Day's 80th anniversary as once-unbreakable bonds with the US are under pressure By Raf Casert May 3rd, 2025, 06:02 AM --- THIMISTER-CLERMONT, Belgium (AP) — The memory of blood dripping from trucks loaded with the mangled bodies of U.S. soldiers arriving at a nearby war cemetery straight from the battlefield in 1945 still gives 91-year-old Marcel Schmetz nightmares. It also instilled a lifelong sense of gratitude for the young soldiers from the United States and around the world who gave their lives battling the armies of Adolf Hitler to end World War II in Europe. Schmetz even built a museum at his home in the Belgian Ardennes to honor their sacrifice. "If the Americans hadn't come, we wouldn't be here," the Belgian retiree said. That same spirit also pervades Normandy in northern France, where the allied forces landed on June 6, 1944, a day that became the tipping point of the war. ## Eternal gratitude In Normandy, Marie-Pascale Legrand is still taking care of the ailing Charles Shay, a 100-year-old American who stormed the bloodied beaches on that fateful D-Day as a teenager and fought to help liberate Europe for many more months. "Gratitude for me means that I am eternally indebted, because I can live free today," Legrand said. After D-Day, it would take almost another year of fierce fighting before Germany would finally surrender on May 8, 1945. Commemorations and festivities are planned for the 80th anniversary across much of the continent for what has become known as Victory in Europe Day, or V-E Day, one of the most momentous days on the continent in recent centuries. ## Fraying bonds Ever since, for generation upon generation in the nations west of the Iron Curtain that sliced Europe in two, it became a day to confirm and reconfirm what were long seen as the unbreakable bonds with the United States as both stood united against Soviet Eastern Europe. No more. Over the past several months, the rhetoric from Washington has become increasingly feisty. The Trump administration has questioned the vestiges of the decades-old alliance and slapped trade sanctions on the 27-nation European Union and the United Kingdom. Trump has insisted that the EU trade bloc was there to "screw" the United States from the start. The wartime allies are now involved in a trade war. "After all that has happened, it is bound to leave scars," said Hendrik Vos, European studies professor at Ghent University. ## Honoring the fallen Yet deep in the green hills and Ardennes woods where the Battle of the Bulge was fought and Schmetz lives, just as along the windswept bluffs of Legrand's Normandy, the ties endure — isolated from the tremors of geopolitics. "For all those that criticize the Americans, we can only say that for us, they were all good," Schmetz said. "We should never forget that." After watching the horrors of the dead soldiers at the nearby Henri-Chapelle cemetery as an 11-year-old, Schmetz vowed he would do something in their honor and gathered war memorabilia. A car mechanic with a big warehouse, he immediately started to turn it into the Remember Museum 39-45 once he retired more than three decades ago. "I had to do something for those who died," he said. And for the treasure trove of military artifacts, what truly stands out is a long bench in the kitchen where U.S. veterans, their children, and even their grandchildren come and sit and talk about what happened, and the bonds uniting continent, memories all meticulously kept by his wife Mathilde, to pass on to new visitors and new generations of schoolkids. ## 'The Big Red One' In the coming weeks, she will be going out to put 696 roses on the graves of soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division — nicknamed "The Big Red One," or "BRO" — who lie buried among 7,987 headstones at Henri Chapelle. Charles Shay, who is now bedridden in Normandy, was also part of the 1st Infantry Division and came through the Ardennes region too before heading to Germany. He survived the Korean War too and started making visits to the D-Day beaches around two decades ago. Over the years, he became increasingly sick and Legrand, who has helped veterans in one way or another for more than 40 years, took him in to her home in 2018. He has been living there ever since. ## Reagan's impact The moment everything changed for Legrand was listening to then U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1984 speaking on a Normandy bluff of the sacrifice and heroism of American soldiers. Barely in her 20s, she realized that "their blood is in our soil and we have to show gratitude. We have to do something. I didn't know what at the time, but I knew I would do something to show it." She had long volunteered to help Allied veterans before she met Shay. He was lonely, sick and frail when she took him in and began caring for him at her Normandy home. "It is a strong symbol, which takes on a new dimension in this day and age," she said, referring to the tumultuous trans-Atlantic relations that have put the bonds between allies that Trump called "unbreakable" only six years ago, under extreme pressure. ## Once an ally, always an ally? Central in Trump's criticism of European NATO allies is that they have happily hunkered far too long under U.S. military supremacy since World War II and should start paying much more of their own way in the alliance. He has done so in such terms that many Europeans sincerely fear the breakup of the trans-Atlantic bonds that were a core of global politics for almost a century. "The naive belief that the Americans will, by definition, always be an ally — once and for all, that is gone," said Vos. It also raises a moral question for Europeans now. "Are we doomed to be eternally grateful?" Vos asked.
Associated Press News	2025-05-07 16:30:34+00:00	[ "Queen Elizabeth II", "United Kingdom", "Thomas Heatherwick", "Keir Starmer", "London", "Norman Foster", "Tom Stuart Smith", "Robin Janvin", "Royalty", "King Charles III" ]	# Giant lily pads and a bronze tree are among designs for Queen Elizabeth II's memorial By Jill Lawless May 7th, 2025, 04:30 PM --- LONDON (AP) — What could be a better memorial to Queen Elizabeth II, Britain's longest-reigning monarch, than a pod of faintly psychedelic giant lily pads? Perhaps a big bronze tree or a recording of the late monarch's voice. All those ideas feature among the five finalists for a permanent London monument to Elizabeth, who died in September 2022 at the age of 96 after 70 years on the throne. The government is asking for public feedback on an online exhibition of the designs that opened Wednesday. Competition organizers put out the call to designers for "an emotionally powerful place and a space for pause and reflection." The memorial will be built near Buckingham Palace in St. James's Park, an immaculately landscaped green space known for its waterfowl-filled lake, resident pelicans and neatly pruned flower beds. Computer-generated images of the five finalists show a park transformed. The entry by designer Thomas Heatherwick's Heatherwick Studio includes a canopy of giant limestone lily pads with twisting stems towering over a statue of the queen. Another concept is "a tranquil family of royal gardens" linked by "a natural stone tessellated path" designed by architect Norman Foster's firm Foster + Partners, with a rippling "wind sculpture" by artist Yinka Shonibare and audio installations featuring Elizabeth's voice. The other concepts include a bedrock bridge – because "the queen was the nation's bedrock" – and forested glades by landscape architects J&L Gibbons; a memorial by garden designer Tom Stuart-Smith centered on a bronze cast of an ancient oak tree; and a thread of pathways and landscapes "gently woven through the natural fabric" of the park by architects WilkinsonEyre. The queen's former private secretary Robin Janvin, who is chairing the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee, said the goal is to create "a landmark memorial of outstanding beauty that celebrates and honors the life of Queen Elizabeth II." "Memories of her long reign are still fresh for so many of us and we need to capture the essence of them for future generations," he said. Separately, the committee will select an artist to create a sculpture of Elizabeth as part of the final design. Several of the shortlisted proposals feature statues of the queen on horseback. The public consultation closes on May 19 and the committee is expected to announce the winning bid in the summer. The final design is scheduled to be submitted to King Charles III and Prime Minister Keir Starmer for approval in 2026, the 100th anniversary of the queen's birth. Building the memorial is expected to cost between 23 million pounds and 46 million pounds ($30 million and $60 million), the government said. ____ Find more of AP's coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/royalty ——- This story has been corrected to say that Thomas Heatherwick is a designer, not an architect
Associated Press News	2025-05-15 19:47:04+00:00	[ "Harvey Weinstein", "Jessica Mann", "Crime", "Indictments", "Legal proceedings", "New York City Wire", "Sexual misconduct", "New York", "Juries", "Sexual assault", "Elizabeth Perz", "Arts and entertainment", "Trials", "Kaja Sokola", "Entertainment" ]	# Weinstein's office kept a list of women 'friends of Harvey,' an ex-aide testifies By Jennifer Peltz May 15th, 2025, 07:47 PM --- NEW YORK (AP) — Harvey Weinstein 's assistants kept a list of female "friends of Harvey" to invite to events and sometimes considered them a special category for guest lists, an ex-aide testified Thursday at the former movie mogul's sex crimes retrial. "A 'friend of Harvey' was a woman that he'd meet at events or parties or festivals or — somewhere," said Elizabeth Perz. She worked for his production company from 2011 to 2015, initially as one of his executive assistants. The then-married Weinstein asked his assistants to invite these women to events, Perz said. It was such common practice that Weinstein's subordinates had a shorthand: "Might as well add a FOH column," Perz advised colleagues by email as they discussed the attendee list for some 2013 awards-season events. Jurors were shown a roster of well over a dozen names, which Perz said was kept in the office at Weinstein's company. The names were broken down by geography, such as "LA Friends" or "Cannes/Etc/all invites." One "LA Friends" entry was Jessica Mann, one of the three women whose allegations are at the heart of the retrial. Weinstein has pleaded not guilty. The once-powerful studio boss, who became a prime target of the #MeToo movement's campaign against sexual misconduct, maintains that he's never had sexual encounters that weren't consensual. During the last five years, he was convicted of various sex crimes in both New York and California. But he's on trial again because an appeals court found that his New York trial was tainted by prejudicial testimony and overturned that conviction. He's charged with raping Mann in 2013 and forcing oral sex on two other women, separately, in 2006. Mann, who was a hairstylist and aspiring actor when she met Weinstein in the early 2010s, is expected to testify in the coming days or week. The other accusers, Miriam Haley and Kaja Sokola, already have taken the stand. At Weinstein's 2020 trial, Mann painted a complex and emotional picture of a yearslong relationship that began consensually but became "degrading" and volatile and eventually exploded into rape. Still, she kept seeing him and sending warm messages because she wanted him to believe she "wasn't a threat," she testified. Weinstein's lawyers at the time argued that Mann willingly had a sexual liaison with him to serve her acting ambitions. At one point during his defense's questioning in 2020, she began sobbing so forcefully that court ended early that day. At the retrial on Thursday, jurors saw messages that Perz had sent to Mann about some Oscars-related parties in 2013. "Harvey would like to extend an invitation to you" and a friend, Perz wrote. The Associated Press generally does not identify people who alleged they have been sexually assaulted unless they agree to be identified, which Sokola, Haley and Mann have done.
Associated Press News	2025-05-12 11:57:34+00:00	[ "Christopher Kimball", "Recipes", "JWD-evergreen", "Lifestyle", "Food and drink" ]	# This salt-and-pepper pork chop recipe uses a crunchy coating, no deep fry By Christopher Kimball May 12th, 2025, 11:57 AM --- The salt-and-pepper treatment is a Cantonese technique that can be applied to give almost any meat, seafood or tofu a crunchy exterior and tongue-tingling flavor. The protein typically is deep-fried, but in this recipe from our cookbook " Milk Street 365: The All-Purpose Cookbook for Every Day of the Year," we opt to pan-fry pork that we first dust in cornstarch seasoned generously with Sichuan pepper, black pepper and cayenne. The starch granules swell when they come in contact with moisture released by the pork as it cooks; as the water evaporates, the starch settles into a rigid, locked network, creating a crunchy coating. In a classic salt-and-pepper dish, chilies and garlic are quickly fried and tossed with the cooked protein for big, bold, in-your-face flavors. We, however, finish the pork with a fresh, punchy, uncooked mix of sliced scallions, chopped cilantro, minced chilies, rice vinegar and grated ginger. The easiest way to grind the tongue-tingling Sichuan peppercorns for this recipe is in an electric spice grinder. Don't use thick-cut or bone-in pork chops for this recipe. Look for boneless pork loin chops that are ¼ to ½ inch thick. They sometimes are called pork cutlets. Serve with steamed jasmine rice. Salt-and-Pepper Pork Chops with Spicy Scallions Start to finish: 45 minutes Servings: 4 ## Ingredients: 1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced 1 cup lightly packed fresh cilantro, roughly chopped 1 Fresno or jalapeño chili, stemmed, seeded and minced 2 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar 1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger Kosher salt and ground black pepper 3 tablespoons cornstarch 1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns, finely ground ½ to 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper ½ teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder 8 boneless (about 1½ pounds) thin-cut pork loin chops/cutlets (¼ to ½ inch thick), patted dry ⅓ cup grapeseed or other neutral oil ## Directions: In a medium bowl, toss together the scallions, cilantro, chili, vinegar, ginger and ¼ teaspoon salt; set aside. In a wide, shallow dish, mix together the cornstarch, Sichuan pepper, cayenne pepper, five-spice, 2 teaspoons black pepper and 1 teaspoon salt. Dredge the cutlets in the cornstarch mixture, turning to coat both sides and pressing so the mixture adheres, then transfer to a large plate, stacking or shingling as needed. In a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high, heat the oil until barely smoking. Add half of the cutlets and cook until browned on the bottoms, 2 to 3 minutes. Using tongs, flip the cutlets and cook until golden brown on the second sides, about 1 minute. Transfer to a platter and tent with foil. Cook the remaining cutlets in the same way, using the oil remaining in the skillet. Spoon the scallion-cilantro mixture onto the chops and serve. EDITOR'S NOTE: For more recipes, go to Christopher Kimball's Milk Street at 177milkstreet.com/ap
Associated Press News	2025-05-19 05:46:57+00:00	[ "Judaism", "Pope Francis", "Pope Leo XIV", "Vatican City", "Catholic Church", "Gaza Strip", "Israel", "2024-2025 Mideast Wars", "Inaugurations", "Noam Marans", "Israel government", "Noemi Di Segni", "Joshua Stanton", "Hamas", "Palestinian territories government", "David Rosen", "Israel-Hamas war", "Religion", "Yaron Sideman" ]	# At Pope Leo XIV's inaugural Mass and beyond, Jewish leaders show hope in Jewish-Catholic relations By Giovanna Dell'Orto May 19th, 2025, 05:46 AM --- VATICAN CITY (AP) — Jewish leaders met with Pope Leo XIV on Monday to discuss interreligious dialogue, a day after getting up-front seats at his inauguration Mass. An American rabbi and other representatives saw hopeful signs for an upswing of Catholic-Jewish relations under the first U.S.-born pontiff, after a strained relationship with his predecessor. With growing antisemitic rhetoric and attacks reported in various countries, as well as mounting international criticism of Israel's conduct in its war with Hamas in Gaza, the moral voice of the leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics can make a real difference, they said. "It can save Jewish lives," Rabbi Noam Marans, the American Jewish Committee's director of interreligious affairs, told The Associated Press. Wearing his kippah, he attended Sunday's Mass at St. Peter's Square days after he received a letter from the newly elected Leo highlighting the importance of cooperation. Marans was on hand when Leo met Monday with faith leaders who attended his inaugural Mass and vowed to continue the Vatican's dialogue and emphasis on fraternity with people of other faiths. "A relationship that needed oxygen has gotten a supply," Marans said after presenting the Chicago-born pontiff with a White Sox baseball hat on Monday. "What a relief." He added that Leo's "let's get down to business" style would allow the dialogue to move on from possible disagreements over Israel, and focus instead on cementing good relations at a time when conservative voices on both sides can derail them. "That is a gift," Marans said. "We're starting off on the right foot." ## Jewish leaders were upset over Francis' comments It was 60 years ago that the Second Vatican Council issued the proclamation "Nostra Aetate" (Latin for "in our time"). It marked a turning point in the 2,000-year-old history of two major religions by focusing on the shared heritage between Judaism and Christianity, rejecting the centuries-old belief of Jewish guilt in the killing of Christ and denouncing antisemitism as a sin. Since then, the Vatican has sought to bolster relations with other faiths, including Judaism. In 2016, Pope Francis became the third pope to visit Rome's main synagogue, after a Vatican declaration that the church didn't support official efforts to convert Jews. But Francis also dismayed numerous Jewish leaders with some of his remarks about Israeli's military operations in Gaza that followed the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas militants. More than 1,200 people were killed then, mostly civilians, and 250 abducted, with dozens still held in Gaza. More than 53,000 Palestinians there have been killed in the war, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. There was widespread anger over a public letter from Francis on the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack that expressed empathy with the people of Gaza, but never mentioned Israel or the Jewish people. A month later, news broke that Francis in an interview had called for an investigation to determine if Israel's attacks in Gaza constitute genocide. "It was painful to hear from the pope the word 'genocide' or even suspicion of genocide," said Noemi Di Segni, president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, which represents Italy's 25,000 Jews. "It really devastates us, and a crisis was created." Di Segni said she also received a letter from Leo, days into his papacy. It made her hopeful, she said, that he would make the Vatican's official position of dialogue with, and respect for, Jews trickle down to the reality of small Italian parishes, where the faithful might never have interacted with a Jewish person. ## The church and the Jewish trauma Centuries of discrimination when Jews were made to live in ghettos, including in Rome — often at the instigation of the church — have left vivid memories in Jewish communities across Europe, as has the trauma of the Holocaust. Interfaith relations have been smoother in the United States, several faith leaders said, both at the official and daily levels. In December, the American Jewish Committee and U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops jointly published a booklet to combat antisemitism. "The success of the post-Council Jewish-Catholic relations is demonstrated better in the United States than anywhere else," Marans said. In the U.S. and Israel, Jewish faith leaders said they were encouraged by Leo's commitment to interreligious dialogue. Meeting representatives of different faiths on Monday, the pope thanked them for their presence at the Mass and highlighted "the special relationship with Judaism" that all Christians have because of their "shared spiritual heritage." "The theological dialogue between Christians and Jews remains ever important and close to my heart. Even in these difficult times, marked by conflicts and misunderstandings, it is necessary to continue the momentum of this precious dialogue of ours," the pope said. ## Leo opens a new page in relations with other religions Jewish faith leaders praised Leo's mention of the hostages in his first Sunday blessing on May 11, when he also called for a ceasefire in Gaza. In the blessing following his inaugural Mass on Sunday, Leo called out "those who suffer because of wars" in Gaza, Myanmar and Ukraine — though this time he made no mention of the Jewish hostages. "The suffering of innocent non-combatants in any conflict is a tragedy," Marans said after Sunday's Mass, echoing sentiments from other Jewish leaders who expect Leo to strike a different tone than Francis even while maintaining political criticism. "Our hope is to return to the direct, frank dialogue between friends that can take place behind closed doors," said Rabbi Joshua Stanton, who oversees interfaith initiatives for Jewish Federations of North America. He added that Pope Leo "is known for working well with people quietly." The trickiest question is how the dialogue with Jewish faith leaders will translate into a dialogue between the Holy See and Israel, especially over the ongoing war. The two states only established diplomatic relations in 1993. For many Jews around the world — regardless of religious observance, politics and opinions about the Israeli government — the state of Israel, and its security, are crucial to their identity. Francis sometimes failed to see that, said Jerusalem-based Rabbi David Rosen, who was invited to attend Leo's inauguration Mass and has long worked with the Vatican on interreligious affairs. "Francis was a great friend, but not always considerate," he added, while Leo has shown "greater sensitivity" in his statements about the war. Israel's ambassador to the Holy See, Yaron Sideman, said relations with Francis had become "very complicated," but he met Leo on Friday alongside the rest of the diplomatic corps and praised the pope's commitment to engage. "We both stand for something much bigger than geopolitical entities," Sideman added of the Israeli and Vatican states. "You can't separate dialogue with Jewish people and the state where half of Jewish people live. This is where it needs to be fundamentally restructured." ___ Associated Press writers David Crary in New York and Nicole Winfield in Vatican City contributed to this report. ___ 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	2025-05-17 09:09:43+00:00	[ "Sanaa", "Yemen", "Amman", "Jordan", "Donald Trump", "Houthis", "Israel government", "2024-2025 Mideast Wars", "War and unrest", "Business", "Traffic", "Military and defense", "Yemen government" ]	# Flights resume at the rebel-held airport in Yemen's capital, more than a week after Israeli strikes By Samy Magdy May 17th, 2025, 09:09 AM --- CAIRO (AP) — Flights resumed on Saturday to Yemen's capital of Sanaa, held by the country's Iran-backed Houthi rebels, more than a week after massive Israeli airstrikes disabled the airport. The Israeli strikes on May 6 — a rare daytime attack — destroyed the airport's terminal and left craters on its runway, according to Khaled al-Shaif, the head of the airport. At least six passenger planes were hit, including three belonging to the national carrier, Yemen Airway or Yemenia, he said. On Saturday, a flight operated by Yemenia landed at the Sanaa International Airport with 136 passengers on board, according to the Houthis' al-Masirah satellite news channel. The flight had departed from Jordan's capital, Amman, earlier in the day, the airliner said. Three more flights were scheduled on Saturday between Sanaa and Amman. The Israeli offensive was in response to a Houthi ballistic missile that hit the grounds of Ben-Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, which briefly halted flights and commuter traffic. The Houthis have targeted Israel throughout Israel's war with the militant Hamas group in Gaza, in solidarity with Palestinians there, while also targeting commercial and naval vessels on the Red Sea. The attacks have raised the Houthis' profile at home and internationally as the last member of Iran's self-described "Axis of Resistance" capable of launching regular attacks on Israel. Since mid-March, the U.S. military under President Donald Trump launched an intensified campaign of daily airstrikes targeting the Houthis. The two sides reached a deal to halt the U.S. campaign in return for the Houthis halting their attacks on shipping. However, the U.S.-Houthis deal did not stop the rebels' missile and drone attacks on Israel, which in turn responded with attacks on Yemen's Red Sea ports held by the Houthis. On Friday, the Israeli military said it struck the Hodeida and Salif ports, claiming that the Houthis were using the two facilities to transfer weapons. The Houthi-run health ministry said at least one person was killed and 11 others were wounded in Friday's airstrikes.
Associated Press News	2025-05-05 19:38:07+00:00	[ "Rumeysa Ozturk", "Boston", "Louisiana", "Vermont", "Asthma", "Prisons", "Race and ethnicity", "Immigration", "Crime", "Courts", "Race and Ethnicity" ]	# Detained Tufts student seeking transfer says asthma attacks worsened in custody By Kimberlee Kruesi May 5th, 2025, 07:38 PM --- A Turkish Tufts University student says her asthma attacks continue to worsen since she was taken into custody, arguing ahead of her latest court hearing that her health has suffered while being held in crowded conditions. Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, was detained by immigration officials as she walked along a street in the Boston suburb of Somerville on March 25. She is currently being held in a detention center in Basile, Louisiana. A federal three-judge panel will hear arguments Tuesday over whether to grant a federal judge's order to transfer Ozturk to Vermont. "Since my arrest, in the span of five weeks, I have had at least eight asthma attacks where I have felt unable to control my coughing," Ozturk wrote in court documents released Monday. "Prior to my arrest, in the span of 2-3 years, I had approximately 9 such asthma attacks in which I felt unable to control my coughing." A district court judge in Vermont had earlier ordered that the 30-year-old doctoral student be brought to the state for hearings to determine whether she was illegally detained. Ozturk's lawyers say her detention violates her constitutional rights, including free speech and due process. The U.S. Justice Department, which is appealing that ruling, said that an immigration court in Louisiana has jurisdiction over her case. In court filings, Ozturk says she's had trouble receiving proper medical care while at the Louisiana detention center, noting that her asthma attacks can last up to 45 minutes and that she's rarely given opportunities for fresh air. "I do not have control over the exposure to potential triggers," Ozturk added. "The dorm rooms in detention are very crowded, and the other women have reported seeing mice in the dorm rooms. Additionally, the air conditioning is running most of the day, and I do not have immediate access to fresh air." Immigration officials surrounded Ozturk as she walked along a street in a Boston suburb on March 25 and drove her to New Hampshire and Vermont before putting her on a plane to a detention center in Louisiana. Ozturk was one of four students who wrote an op-ed in the campus newspaper, The Tufts Daily, last year criticizing the university's response to student activists demanding that Tufts "acknowledge the Palestinian genocide," disclose its investments and divest from companies with ties to Israel. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in March, without providing evidence, that investigations found that Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group.
Associated Press News	2025-05-09 18:21:56+00:00	[ "Robert Fico", "Europe", "Russia government", "Slovakia", "Russia", "Vladimir Putin", "Germany", "Protests and demonstrations", "European Union", "Politics", "War and unrest", "Slovakia government", "Michal Simecka" ]	# Protesters in Slovakia condemn Prime Minister Fico's visit to Moscow May 9th, 2025, 06:21 PM --- BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Protesters gathered Friday in the Slovak capital to demonstrate against populist Prime Minister Robert Fico's latest trip to Russia. Fico was the only leader of a European Union country to travel to Moscow for festivities marking the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Chanting slogans like "We've had enough of Fico," "Slovakia is Europe," and "Stay there," protesters filled Freedom Square. Organizers said that Fico "doesn't represent the whole Slovakia." "It's a shame for Slovakia," and "one of the worst moments for the Slovak foreign policy," Michal Šimečka, the leader of the major opposition and pro-Western Progressive Slovakia party, said about the trip. The Kremlin has used the annual "Victory Day" celebrations to tout its battlefield prowess. On Friday, President Vladimir Putin praised Russian troops fighting in Ukraine, saying that "we are proud of their courage and determination, their spiritual force that always has brought us victory." Fico said in a video message his goal was to establish "normal, friendly cooperation," with Russia. The rallies in Bratislava and some other towns and cities across Slovakia were the latest in a wave of protests fueled by Fico's recent trip to Moscow for talks with Putin over gas deliveries in December. Fico, who is a divisive figure at home and abroad, returned to power in 2003 after his leftist Smer (Direction) party won a parliamentary election on a pro-Russia and anti-American platform. Known for his pro-Russian views, he has openly challenged the European Union's policies over Ukraine.
Associated Press News	2025-05-12 14:09:45+00:00	[ "Books and literature", "Nonfiction", "JWD-evergreen", "Book Reviews", "Entertainment", "Ron Chernow", "Andrew DeMillo", "Alexander Hamilton" ]	# 'Mark Twain' review: Ron Chernow gives readers an honest assessment By Andrew Demillo May 12th, 2025, 02:09 PM --- Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ron Chernow is known for writing massive biographies of the country's most enduring figures, including Ulysses S. Grant and Alexander Hamilton. So it comes as no surprise that his biography of author and humorist Mark Twain clocks in at more than 1,000 pages. It's also forgivable, considering that Twain was such a colossal figure in American literature and history that his authorized biography was more than 1,500 pages long. Chernow's "Mark Twain" is well worth that length to learn more about the author best known for introducing readers to Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Chernow's book aptly portrays Twain as someone who "fairly invented our celebrity culture," the precursor to the influencers that dominate our lives today. Twain had no qualms about cashing in on his fame, with his name being used to promote cigars, pipes and other products. But Twain was known just as much for the attitude linked to the humorist and his works. Twain, as Chernow describes him, was "someone willing to tangle with anyone, make enemies and say aloud what other people only dared to think." Chernow's biography avoids the trap of idolizing Twain and gives an honest assessment of the author's life, including his flaws and contradictions. Revered for addressing the evils of slavery in "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," Twain was also someone who avoided lending his voice to condemning the practice of lynching. That silence, Chernow writes, was a major missed opportunity to help foster a national debate. Chernow also delves into the uncomfortable subject of Twain's obsession in his later years with teenage girls, developing close friendships with teens that he dubbed his "angelfish." Chernow's willingness to give readers the unvarnished truth about Twain makes the biography stand out, as does his ability to simultaneously explore the historical and literary context of Twain's writing. Even Twain's lesser-known works are addressed. Twain comes alive in the pages of Chernow's biography, which shows how much he was influenced by his wife and her "delicate restraining hand." It also portrays the complex and fraught relationship Twain had with his daughters. The book drags at some points, which is inevitable in a tome of this size, and is strongest when it tells the relationship Twain had with the written word. Chernow writes that "words were his catharsis, his therapy, his preferred form of revenge." The recurring theme of Chernow's biography is Twain's love affair with the written word, and it ably demonstrates the impact that relationship had on a nation. ___ AP book reviews: https://apnews.com/hub/book-reviews
Associated Press News	2025-05-05 17:38:17+00:00	[ "Ron DeSantis", "Florida", "Voting", "Lawsuits", "Government programs", "James Uthmeier", "Associated Press", "Kate Payne", "Politics", "Don Gaetz", "Southern Poverty Law Center", "Mitch Emerson", "Elections" ]	# Lawsuit challenges new restrictions to getting measures on Florida's election ballot By Kate Payne May 5th, 2025, 05:38 PM --- TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Progressive advocates have filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging new restrictions on Florida's process to get citizen-driven initiatives on the ballot before voters. Florida Decides Healthcare, the campaign to secure a measure on the 2026 ballot to expand Medicaid in the state, is bringing the legal challenge, along with the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Elias Law Group, which frequently represents Democratic groups and candidates. Sunday's filing came days after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the restrictions into law, over the objections of critics who argued the new hurdles would make it prohibitively expensive and effectively impossible for grassroots campaigners to get measures on the ballot. "This bill is not about improving the ballot initiative process. It attacks the fundamental freedom of Floridians to participate in their own democracy," said FDH Executive Director Mitch Emerson. "It is a calculated and cowardly attempt by politicians in Tallahassee to rewrite the rules — not to serve the people, but to protect their own power." Representatives for Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd and Attorney General James Uthmeier did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press. A spokesperson for DeSantis pointed to the governor's previous posts on social media, in which he argued that lawmakers should have made the changes sooner. Under the new law, voters could be charged with a felony if they collect more than 25 signed ballot petitions, other than their own or those of immediate family members, and don't register with the state as a petition circulator. Emerson estimates the new law will mean millions of dollars in additional costs for his campaign, the price of complying with new requirements and hiring more paid circulators to make up for volunteers who back out for fear of legal liability. "Volunteers are second-guessing whether they can legally help. Communities are confused. And that's exactly what the law was designed to do: to sow confusion and try to shut down engagement before it starts," he said. Emerson said FDH had collected about 100,000 signatures to date in its push to bank 880,000 verified petitions ahead of a Feb. 1 deadline. Florida voters have long been able to use the citizens' initiative process to bypass the Republican-dominated Legislature and advance progressive policies such as raising the minimum wage, legalizing medical marijuana and restoring the voting rights of people with felony convictions. Lawmakers argue the new restrictions are needed to reform a process they claim has been tainted by fraud. The state's GOP-controlled Legislature pushed the changes months after Florida voters supported ballot initiatives to protect abortion rights and legalize recreational marijuana, though the measures fell short of the 60% needed to pass. "This bill is not an attack on the citizen initiative process," said co-sponsor state Sen. Don Gaetz, a Panhandle Republican. "It's an attack on those who have corrupted it." The law also restricts who can collect petitions, barring Floridians with felony convictions who haven't had their voting rights restored, as well as noncitizens and people who don't reside in the state. Under the changes, Floridians will have to provide more personal information when filling out a petition, disclosing their driver's license number, voter ID card number or the last four digits of their Social Security number. And campaigners will face shorter deadlines to return petitions to local election officials, and stiffer fines if they don't send them to the correct county. ___ Kate Payne 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.
Associated Press News	2025-05-04 04:08:04+00:00	[ "Rome", "Italy", "Italy government", "Europe", "Religion", "Catholic Church", "Elena Cangiano", "Lifestyle", "Cristina Giusio", "Pope Francis", "Fabrizio Cardoni" ]	# A roofless palace in Italy's Viterbo hosted the first and longest conclave By Giada Zampano May 4th, 2025, 04:08 AM --- VITERBO, Italy (AP) — It was the mounting rage of citizens in Viterbo, a small town north of Rome, that put an end to the longest papal election in the history of the Catholic Church, forging for the first time the word "conclave." The Viterbo conclave in the 13th century was a pivotal event in papal elections, lasting almost three years – exactly 1,006 days – due to deep divisions among the cardinals over the name of the new pope. Viterbo is also considered the birthplace of modern conclaves, where cardinals are confined to a single place until they elect a new pontiff, and often need to negotiate before reaching a compromise on the final name. In November 1268, the cardinals — summoned in Viterbo to elect the successor of the late Pope Clement IV — were split mainly between two factions and couldn't reach a consensus before September 1271. ## Drastic measures As the cardinals continued to deliberate in Viterbo, frustration rose among locals due to the lack of progress, as political and internal struggles had cast a shadow over the election. Those divisions stemmed from the cardinals' allegiance to competing parties, mainly supporters of the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire. That was further complicated by personal and family ties, making any agreement on the pope's election extremely difficult. The electing marathon led citizens ,who at the time had to pay for the cardinals' room and board expenses, to resort to drastic measures. The cardinals were first locked in Viterbo's papal palace with a key, giving birth to the term conclave, which comes from the Latin words "cum" (with) and "clavem" (key). "The cardinals left us a very important testimony, a parchment, dated June 8, 1270, where they said to be locked inside a palazzo discoperto, a palace with no roof," said Elena Cangiano, an archaeologist at Viterbo's medieval Palazzo dei Papi (Palace of the Popes). Cangiano noted that, according to Viterbo oral tradition, the cardinals ended up camping inside the unroofed palace. "That's reportedly testified by some holes found on the hall's floor, which could be those left by the tents' poles," she explained. Then Viterbese also restricted the cardinals' meals to bread and water to make them hurry up. As that didn't work either, they started tearing off part of the roof of the large room that hosted the college of cardinals, exposing them to the elements. Those extreme conditions only lasted three weeks, following which the cardinals were allowed access to the other rooms of the palace, but not to leave the building. It would take another 15 months before Gregory X was chosen as the new pope. That was the longest papal election ever: To avoid the same situation ever occurring again, Gregory X promulgated a new apostolic constitution — called "Ubi Periculum" — that imposed strict regulations on the election and allowed to isolate the cardinals. Gregory's election was also seen as a "compromise," with his name chosen to unite the divided college of cardinals and bring an end to the exhausting process. ## Modern conclave That's why the Viterbo conclave is seen by historians as setting the stage for future papal elections. The rules and practices established at the time laid the foundation for many of the procedures used currently in papal conclaves. Among the new rules, Gregorio X decreed that cardinals were restricted to "one meal per day," and later, to bread, water and wine, to further encourage a quick decision. The newly elected Adrian V, however, suspended those rules a few years later. Fabrizio Cardoni, 61, born and raised in Viterbo, considers the city's primacy a matter of pride. "This is the history of our city," he said. "So, we care a lot about our medieval neighborhood, we care about the pope palace that is truly wonderful and, let's say, almost unique." Cristina Giusio, a tourist visiting from northern Italy, was struck by the history of the Viterbo conclave after a tour of the papal palace. "It was something quite amazing. ... I did not know that first conclave started here, so it was a real surprise," she said. Vatican history experts stress that modern conclaves still owe to Viterbo some of their key characteristics, including shorter durations. Viterbo's legacy could again play a role again in the conclave that starts on Wednesday in Rome's Sistine Chapel to choose Pope Francis' successor. "Let's say that the timing is now almost certainly respected, also thanks to all that happened in Viterbo," said Cangiano. "In recent times, usually, it doesn't take that long to elect the pope." ___ Associated Press video journalist Isaia Montelione contributed to this report.
Associated Press News	2025-05-13 20:32:05+00:00	[ "Missouri", "Government budgets", "Mike Kehoe", "Saddam Hussein", "Ronald Reagan", "Josh Hawley", "Notable Deaths", "U.S. Republican Party", "Politics", "Kit Bond", "Jason Van Eaton", "United States Senate", "Matt Blunt" ]	# Sen. Kit Bond, whose mastery of pork-barrel spending benefitted his native Missouri, dies at 86 By Heather Hollingsworth May 13th, 2025, 08:32 PM --- Christopher "Kit" Bond, a Republican who brought billions of dollars in federal funding to Missouri during his four terms in the U.S. Senate and who was state's the youngest person to be governor, died Tuesday. He was 86. Bond's family told Gov. Mike Kehoe's office that Bond died in St. Louis, but it didn't disclose the cause, Gabby Picard, a spokesperson for the governor, said in an email. Kehoe ordered flags flown at half staff for the man he described as a "skilled statesman." Jason Van Eaton, Bond's former deputy chief of staff, told The Associated Press that his former boss' death marked the end of an era. "The lasting legacy of Kit Bond will be the thousands of people that he inspired," he said. U.S. Senator Josh Hawley, of Missouri, described Bond as a "champion for Missouri" in a message on X. Former U.S. Sen. Jim Talent, of Missouri, praised Bond's "relentless and penetrating intelligence" in a statement. As a member of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, Bond secured federal money for big and small projects in Missouri, scoffing at government watchdog groups that considered him a master of pork-barrel spending. "If it's pork, it's an awfully healthy diet for the people of Missouri," Bond said in 1999. Early in his career, Bond was considered a political wunderkind. When he took office at age 33 as Missouri's youngest governor, he was also the state's first Republican chief executive in about three decades and garnered consideration as a vice presidential candidate. His early success stalled when he lost a reelection bid, but he later rebounded to win another term as governor before being elected to the Senate in 1986 and eventually becoming the patriarch of the Missouri Republican Party. "Public service has been a blessing and a labor of love for me," Bond said during his 2009 announcement to a joint session of the Legislature that he would not seek another term. Former Gov. Matt Blunt, who was the state's second-youngest governor, recalled the advice and friendship Bond offered after his 2004 election. He called Bond's death a "profound loss." When Bond entered the Senate, he downplayed hot-button issues in favor of working on legislation that benefited Missouri. Early in his career, Bond voted to override President Ronald Reagan's veto of a highway financing bill that included money for projects in Missouri. Bond assumed a higher national profile during his last term in the Senate. After the U.S. invasion of Iraq, he became a primary spokesman for congressional Republicans about the war during the time leading up to the 2006 elections. Eventually, though, the Bush administration's central allegation that Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction proved baseless. After Republicans lost control of Congress in 2006, Bond sought to mend relations with Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee after years of discord over its investigation into intelligence before the invasion of Iraq. Testaments to Bond's longevity in the public arena are stamped across Missouri. A federal courthouse in Jefferson City and a life sciences center at the University of Missouri-Columbia are named after him. A highway bridge crossing the Missouri River in Hermann and one in Kansas City also carry his name. Bond often bragged about his wife, Linda, a fundraising consultant whom he married in 2002, and his son from his previous marriage, Sam. "I have a wonderful wife, a magnificent son I'm very proud of, I have the opportunity to serve the state I love," he told the AP in 2004. ___ Former Associated Press reporters Chris Blank and Sam Hananel contributed to this report.
Associated Press News	2025-05-05 19:34:31+00:00	[ "Donald Trump", "Karoline Leavitt", "Hector David Sagastume Rivas", "Crime", "Homicide", "Marietta", "Immigration", "Assault", "Politics", "Indictments", "Sexual assault", "Georgia", "Georgia Killing", "United States government", "Honduras", "Kristi Noem" ]	# Man charged in Georgia slaying cited by White House amid immigration crackdown pleads not guilty By Sudhin Thanawala May 5th, 2025, 07:34 PM --- ATLANTA (AP) — The man charged in a slaying in suburban Atlanta that the Trump administration highlighted in support of its tough immigration stance pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of murder and rape, according to a court filing. Hector David Sagastume Rivas was scheduled to appear in a Cobb County courtroom on Tuesday. But in the filing signed by his attorney, A. Lee Fudger, he waived formal arraignment and entered the plea. A message for Fudger was not immediately returned. Rivas also pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated assault, aggravated sexual battery and necrophilia in the attack on 52-year-old Camillia Williams, who was strangled in Marietta some time late on the night of March 11 or in the early morning hours of March 12. Marietta is about 20 miles (32 km) north of Atlanta. Authorities have not disclosed any motive. Rivas, a 21-year-old from Honduras, entered the U.S. illegally in March 2021 and was arrested by border patrol agents before being released with a notice to appear in court, according to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. The agency said a judge had ordered his removal in 2025. In a statement on X in March, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Rivas "should have never been in our country in the first place," and she and President Donald Trump were "putting the safety of Americans FIRST." White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the slaying "horrific" at a news conference in April and said it reflected the Biden administration's lax border enforcement policies. Williams was a mother and grandmother whose family said she had moved to metro Atlanta from Louisiana. Her brother, Arsene Williams, told WAGA-TV he believes his sister would still be alive if Rivas had been deported. ___ Associated Press writer Jeff Martin contributed to this report.
Associated Press News	2025-05-06 06:02:18+00:00	[ "Sudan", "War and unrest", "Sudan government", "Khartoum", "United Arab Emirates", "Persian Gulf", "Republican Sinn Fein", "Clementine Nkweta-Salami", "United Arab Emirates government", "United Nations" ]	# Sudan's paramilitary unleashes drones on key targets in Port Sudan, officials say By Samy Magdy May 6th, 2025, 06:02 AM --- CAIRO (AP) — Sudan's paramilitary unleashed drones on the Red Sea city of Port Sudan early Tuesday, hitting key targets there, including the airport, the port and a hotel, military officials said. The barrage was the second such attack this week on a city that had been a hub for people fleeing Sudan's two-year war. There was no immediate word on casualties or the extent of damage. Local media reported loud sounds of explosions and fires at the port and the airport. Footage circulating online showed thick smoke rising over the area. The attack on Port Sudan, which also serves as an interim seat for Sudan's military-allied government, underscores that after two years of fighting, the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces are still capable of threatening each other's territory. The RSF drones struck early in the morning, said two Sudanese military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Information Minister Khalid Aleiser visited the southern part of the port, where he said fuel tanks were hit in the attack. He slammed the United Arab Emirates, saying it was arming the paramilitary RSF. "We will continue our legitimate battle," he said as flames and thick smoke billowed behind him. The UAE rejected the accusation and condemned the attacks. In comments to The Associated Press, the country's Foreign Ministry on the Sudanese government "to de-escalate, disengage and negotiate" to end the war. Later Tuesday, Sudan's Security and Defence Council, the highest decision-making body in the military-backed government, said it was severing ties with the UAE over its alleged support of the RSF. In a statement, the council, chaired by military chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, said it was recalling its diplomatic mission to the wealthy Arab Gulf nation. Abdel-Rahman al-Nour, a Port Sudan resident, said he woke up to strong explosions and saw fires and plumes of black smoke rising over the port. Msha'ashir Ahmed, a local journalist living in Port Sudan, said fires were still burning late Tuesday morning in the southern vicinity of the maritime port. The attack apparently disrupted air traffic at the airport, with Cairo airport data in neighboring Egypt showing that three Port Sudan-bound flights were canceled on Tuesday. Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC taken Tuesday show several fuel tanks ablaze about 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) southeast of downtown Port Sudan, on a farm identified as belonging to the state-owned Sudan National Petroleum Corp. Thick black smoke is seen rising into the sky. Other tanks burned at the Port Sudan refinery at the city's port as well, satellite images showed. This was not the first time the oil industry was targeted. In January, fighting around Sudan's largest oil refinery set it ablaze as Sudan's military ultimately pushed the RSF from the site north of the capital, Khartoum. The RSF did not release any statements on the attack. On Sunday, the paramilitary force struck Port Sudan for the first time in the war, briefly disrupting air traffic in the city's airport, which has been the main entry point for the country in the last two years. A military ammunition warehouse in the Othman Daqna airbase in the city was also hit, setting off a fire that burned for two days. Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, expressed concerns Tuesday about the attacks on Port Sudan civilian infrastructure, calling them "serious violations of international humanitarian law." "Such attacks will deepen humanitarian suffering and needs, as well as exacerbate the already severe access and logistical challenges," she said in a statement. When the fighting in Sudan broke out, the focus of the battles initially was in Khartoum, which turned into a war zone. Within weeks, Port Sudan, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) to the east of Khartoum, turned into a safe haven for the displaced and those fleeing the war. Many aid missions and U.N. agencies moved their offices there. The attacks on Port Sudan are also seen as retaliation after the Sudanese military earlier this month struck the Nyala airport in South Darfur, which the paramilitary RSF has turned into a base and where it gets shipments of arms, including drones. A U.N. panel of experts said in 2024 that cargo planes carrying weapons, ammunition and medical support to the RSF flew from the UAE's capital, Abu Dhabi. The UAE denies the claim. Sudan's military is backed by Egypt. Sudan plunged into chaos in April 2023, when simmering tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open warfare in Khartoum. From there, the fighting spread to other parts of 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 four 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 the western Darfur region, according to the United Nations and international rights groups. ___ Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.
Associated Press News	2025-05-16 11:26:22+00:00	[ "Serbia", "Aleksandar Vucic", "Vladimir Putin", "Protests and demonstrations", "Rail accidents", "Activism", "Corruption", "European Union", "Prisons", "Russia government", "Politics" ]	# Anti-corruption protesters clash with Serbian riot police By Jovana Gec May 16th, 2025, 11:26 AM --- BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Skirmishes erupted for a second day on Friday during a court protest in Serbia as political tensions persist in the Balkan country more than six months after the start of massive anti-corruption demonstrations. Riot police in the northern city of Novi Sad used pepper spray and pushed away protesters demanding the release of a group of activists jailed for a third month for alleged anti-state activities. The six activists were detained in March after secret recordings of their alleged plotting of anti-state actions were broadcast on pro-government media in Serbia ahead of a major rally in the capital, Belgrade. Police also used pepper spray in Novi Sad on Thursday, while tensions mounted in the central town of Kraljevo during a session of the local municipal assembly, as well as the southern city of Nis, where Vucic plans a weekend rally. Students there have announced they would organize a counter-gathering on Saturday. Hundreds of thousands of people attended the huge March 15 rally in the Serbian capital that was part of a nationwide movement which started after a concrete canopy collapsed on Nov. 1 at a train station in Novi Sad killing 16 people. Many in Serbia believe widespread government corruption linked to major infrastructure projects fueled negligence and undermined construction regulations that contributed to the disaster. Shaken by the protests, the government of populist President Aleksandar Vucic has stepped up pressure on those involved while trying to curb the demonstrations. Lawyers for the jailed activists in Novi Sad say that accusations against their clients are based on illegal wiretapping and lack evidence of the alleged coup plot. Six more activists have fled the country to avoid arrest over the same incident. Local media reports said a jailed professor was transferred to a hospital in Belgrade after going on a hunger strike. Tonino Picula, the European Parliament's envoy for Serbia, urged the immediate release of Prof. Marija Vasic and other "poltical prisoners." Picula added that "there is no reason for them to be kept in inhumane conditions." "Citizens of Serbia want to live in a country free of state intimidation," Picula said on X. "EU leaders must react!" Civil Rights Defenders group also condemned the activists' jailing, calling it "a clear attempt by the Serbian government to silence dissent." Critics have accused Vucic of an increasingly authoritarian rule that stifles the media and other democratic freedoms. The populist president says he wants Serbia to join the European Union while boosting relations with Russia and China. Earlier this month, Vucic attended Russian President Vladimir Putin's Victory Day military parade in Moscow, which has sparked EU criticism.
Associated Press News	2025-05-16 13:25:01+00:00	[ "South Africa", "Donald Trump", "Artificial intelligence", "Elon Musk", "Genocide", "Business", "Igor Babuschkin", "Jen Golbeck", "Technology", "X Corp.", "South Africa government" ]	# Elon Musk's AI company says Grok chatbot focus on South Africa's racial politics was 'unauthorized' By Matt O'Brien May 16th, 2025, 01:25 PM --- Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company said an "unauthorized modification" to its chatbot Grok was the reason why it kept talking about South African racial politics and the subject of "white genocide" on social media this week. An employee at xAI made a change that "directed Grok to provide a specific response on a political topic," which "violated xAI's internal policies and core values," the company said in an explanation posted late Thursday that promised reforms. A day earlier, Grok kept posting publicly about "white genocide" in South Africa in response to users of Musk's social media platform X who asked it a variety of questions, most having nothing to do with South Africa. One exchange was about streaming service Max reviving the HBO name. Others were about video games or baseball but quickly veered into unrelated commentary on alleged calls to violence against South Africa's white farmers. It was echoing views shared by Musk, who was born in South Africa and frequently opines on the same topics from his own X account. Computer scientist Jen Golbeck was curious about Grok's unusual behavior so she tried it herself before the fixes were made Wednesday, sharing a photo she had taken at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show and asking, "is this true?" "The claim of white genocide is highly controversial," began Grok's response to Golbeck. "Some argue white farmers face targeted violence, pointing to farm attacks and rhetoric like the 'Kill the Boer' song, which they see as incitement." The episode was the latest window into the complicated mix of automation and human engineering that leads generative AI chatbots trained on huge troves of data to say what they say. "It doesn't even really matter what you were saying to Grok," said Golbeck, a professor at the University of Maryland, in an interview Thursday. "It would still give that white genocide answer. So it seemed pretty clear that someone had hard-coded it to give that response or variations on that response, and made a mistake so it was coming up a lot more often than it was supposed to." Grok's responses were deleted and appeared to have stopped proliferating by Thursday. Neither xAI nor X returned emailed requests for comment but on Thursday, xAI said it had "conducted a thorough investigation" and was implementing new measures to improve Grok's transparency and reliability. Musk has spent years criticizing the "woke AI" outputs he says come out of rival chatbots, like Google's Gemini or OpenAI's ChatGPT, and has pitched Grok as their "maximally truth-seeking" alternative. Musk has also criticized his rivals' lack of transparency about their AI systems, fueling criticism in the hours between the unauthorized change — at 3:15 a.m. Pacific time Wednesday — and the company's explanation nearly two days later. "Grok randomly blurting out opinions about white genocide in South Africa smells to me like the sort of buggy behavior you get from a recently applied patch. I sure hope it isn't. It would be really bad if widely used AIs got editorialized on the fly by those who controlled them," prominent technology investor Paul Graham wrote on X. Musk, an adviser to President Donald Trump, has regularly accused South Africa's Black-led government of being anti-white and has repeated a claim that some of the country's political figures are "actively promoting white genocide." Musk's commentary — and Grok's — escalated this week after the Trump administration brought a small number of white South Africans to the United States as refugees, the start of a larger relocation effort for members of the minority Afrikaner group that came after Trump suspended refugee programs and halted arrivals from other parts of the world. Trump says the Afrikaners are facing a "genocide" in their homeland, an allegation strongly denied by the South African government. In many of its responses, Grok brought up the lyrics of an old anti-apartheid song that was a call for Black people to stand up against oppression by the Afrikaner-led apartheid government that ruled South Africa until 1994. The song's central lyrics are "kill the Boer" — a word that refers to a white farmer. Golbeck said it was clear the answers were "hard-coded" because, while chatbot outputs are typically random, Grok's responses consistently brought up nearly identical points. That's concerning, she said, in a world where people increasingly go to Grok and competing AI chatbots for answers to their questions. "We're in a space where it's awfully easy for the people who are in charge of these algorithms to manipulate the version of truth that they're giving," she said. "And that's really problematic when people — I think incorrectly — believe that these algorithms can be sources of adjudication about what's true and what isn't." Musk's company said it is now making a number of changes, starting with publishing Grok system prompts openly on the software development site GitHub so that "the public will be able to review them and give feedback to every prompt change that we make to Grok. We hope this can help strengthen your trust in Grok as a truth-seeking AI." Among the instructions to Grok shown on GitHub on Thursday were: "You are extremely skeptical. You do not blindly defer to mainstream authority or media." Noting that some had "circumvented" its existing code review process, xAI also said it will "put in place additional checks and measures to ensure that xAI employees can't modify the prompt without review." It wasn't the first time xAI has blamed its staff for Grok's behavior, including in February when the tool was instructed to censor criticism of Musk and Trump. Igor Babuschkin, a co-founder of xAI, said on X at the time that an employee who "hasn't fully absorbed xAI's culture yet" made the change to Grok's instructions without asking anyone at the company for confirmation.
Associated Press News	2025-05-19 15:58:37+00:00	[ "Sudan", "Khartoum", "Kamil al-Taib Idris", "War and unrest", "Sudan government", "Kenya government", "International agreements", "Republican Sinn Fein", "Military and defense", "Egypt government", "Abdalla Hamdok" ]	# Sudan's army chief appoints the first prime minister since war began in 2023 By Fatma Khaled May 19th, 2025, 03:58 PM --- CAIRO (AP) — Sudan's army chief on Monday appointed the country's first prime minister since it plunged into civil war two years ago and following months of steady advances by the military against its paramilitary rival. Kamil al-Taib Idris will be tasked with forming the country's transitional government, a move long touted by military chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, particularly after the army regained control of Khartoum in March and ousted the Rapid Support Forces from the capital. The war in Sudan broke out in April 2023 when the military and the RSF turned against each other in a struggle for power. Their battles spread from Khartoum to around the country. At least 20,000 people have been killed, but the real toll is probably far higher. Nearly 13 million people have fled their homes, 4 million of them streaming into neighboring countries. Half the population of 50 million faces hunger. The last prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok, resigned in 2022 during a political deadlock and widespread pro-democracy protests. Journalist and political analyst Osman Mirghani said that appointing Idris marks an important step toward restoring civilian-led rule and addressing Sudan's political crisis. "His chances of being accepted by various communities of the Sudanese society seems higher, even among those who support the RSF, because he has no political affiliations," he said. The RSF and its allies signed a charter in February in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, to establish a parallel government. The charter calls for "a secular, democratic and decentralized state," in a nod to growing calls by Sudan's many communities for autonomy from Khartoum. Idris had previously worked as Sudan's legal adviser at its U.N. mission and is a member of the U.N. International Law Commission, according to his social media profile.
Associated Press News	2025-05-06 13:25:00+00:00	[ "Alphabet", "Inc.", "Virginia", "U.S. Department of Justice", "Technology", "Mobile apps", "Media and entertainment industry", "Courts", "Politics", "Amit Mehta", "ATT", "Business" ]	# US expands attempt to blow up Google with proposed teardown of its ad technology By Michael Liedtke May 6th, 2025, 01:25 PM --- The U.S. Justice Department is doubling down on its attempt to break up Google by asking a federal judge to force the company to part with some of the technology powering the company's digital ad network. The proposed dismantling coincides with an ongoing federal effort to separate Google's Chrome browser from its dominant search engine. The government's latest proposal was filed late Monday in a Virginia federal court two-and-half weeks after a federal judge ruled that its lucrative digital ad network has been improperly abusing its market power to stifle competition to the detriment of online publishers. In a 17-page filing, Justice Department lawyers argued that U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema should punish Google by ordering the company to offload its AdX business and DFP ad platform, tools that bring together advertisers, who want to market their products, and publishers, who want to sell commercial space on their sites, to bring in revenue. The government also is seeking other restrictions, including a 10-year ban on Google from operating a digital ad exchange, to undercut the power of a "recidivist monopolist." Not surprisingly, it's an idea that Google vehemently plans to oppose when the penalty phase of the antitrust case —known as remedy hearings — begins in late September. Google already has vowed to appeal Brinkema's ruling that the technology powering the ad network has been breaking the law, but can't do that until the judge rules on its punishment in a decision expected late this year or early next year. The Justice Department's proposal "would cause economic chaos and technological dysfunction resulting in harm to millions of advertisers and publishers, and in so doing, degrade the experience of internet users," Google said in a court filing late Monday. In its counterproposal, Google outlined a plan that it believes will bring more transparency to its ad network and eventually foster more competition. Google proposed the appointment of a trustee to oversee its behavior for three years. The attempt to tear down Google's ad network comes on top of the Justice Department's ongoing effort to have the company part with its popular Chrome browser and impose other restrictions to curtail the power of its ubiquitous search engine, which another federal judge branded an illegal monopoly in a ruling last August. The remedy hearings in the search case are scheduled to conclude later this month, with a ruling from U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta expected by Labor Day. If the Justice Department is able to persuade the two different judges to order its proposed dismantling of Google, it would be the biggest breakup of a U.S. company since AT&T was forced to spin off its phone service into seven separate regional companies more than 40 years ago. Google's Play Store for apps running on its Android software that powers most of the world's smartphones also was declared an illegal monopoly by a federal jury in 2023 and is battling a judge's order that would require it to overhaul a commission system that generates billions of dollars in annual revenue. But hobbling its search engine and digital ad network would be far bigger blows because they are the key cogs in a business that generated $265 billion in revenue last year. Google is confronting the breakup threats at the same time the advent of artificial intelligence is changing the way consumers are using technology and seeking information online — a shift that could also siphon traffic and money away from a powerhouse that began in a Silicon Valley garage in 1998. Despite the adversity, Google is still delivering robust financial growth to its corporate parent Alphabet Inc., which is currently valued at $2 trillion. Alphabet's share dipped by less than 1% Tuesday to close at $163.20.
Associated Press News	2025-05-18 14:59:33+00:00	[ "Mauricio Macri", "Argentina government", "Buenos Aires", "Argentina", "Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner", "Javier Milei", "Juan Cruz Daz", "Manuel Adorni", "Global elections", "Conservatism", "Silvia Lospennato", "Misinformation", "Elon Musk", "Ignacio Labaqui", "Elections", "Politics", "Voting" ]	# In win for far-right President Milei, Argentines deal a blow to centrists in local elections By Isabel Debre May 18th, 2025, 02:59 PM --- BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — What was once one the bastion of the center-right in Argentina fell on Sunday to the radical libertarian party of President Javier Milei, a dramatic result that could help the leader's chances in crucial midterm elections later this year as voters across the country's capital abandoned the main conservative party. Milei's top candidate and official spokesperson, Manuel Adorni, swept to victory in the Buenos Aires elections, securing over 30% of the ballots and crushing the center-right party of former President Mauricio Macri in its stronghold. Milei's La Libertad Avanza party, or LLA, said it racked up twice as many votes Sunday as it did in the last local election, in 2023. As a brassy Argentine rock anthem blared at the post-election rally, Milei burst onto the stage, bouncing and pumping his arms to whip up the crowd. "Today is a pivotal day for the ideas of freedom," he bellowed, reveling in the cheers of supporters. The upset marked a bruising defeat for Macri's PRO (Republican Proposal) party, which has governed Buenos Aires uninterrupted for the past 18 years. The PRO candidate, Silvia Lospennato, came in third with 15.9% of the vote. "The results are not as expected," Lospennato acknowledged. "We have a lot of work ahead of us." Argentina's left-leaning populist Peronist party, which has governed the country for much of the past two decades, came second, scraping over 27% in a city where they normally fall short, a sign of how the splintered right-wing has benefited the opposition. "The Peronist party is far from dead with this result," said Juan Cruz Díaz, a political analyst who runs the Cefeidas Group, a consultancy in Buenos Aires. But the main takeaway from Sunday's vote, he said, "is the fight for dominance in the center-right and the strong victory over the PRO party." Some 2.5 million people were eligible to vote in Sunday's election, in which half of the 60 legislative seats were up for grabs. Turnout was far lower than usual, hovering around 53%. Widely seen as a power struggle between far-right Milei and center-right Macri, this local race reflected the shifts that hard-right factions have pulled off around the world, from Europe to the United States, squeezing the political center. "It turned into a crucial battle for the political leadership," said Ignacio Labaqui, a senior analyst at research group Medley Global Advisors. The result cements Milei's party as Argentina's main alternative to the left-leaning Peronist movement championed by former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who governed for eight years after succeeding her husband in 2007. Under her watch, Argentina became notorious for its unbridled state spending and massive budget deficits. "What this election yielded is that society understands we're the best way to end Kirchnerism for good, which was nothing but a tragedy for Argentina," Adorni said in his victory speech, referring to the political movement of former President Kirchner. The win also strengthens Milei's hand ahead of midterm elections in October, a high-stakes vote in which he hopes to expand his party's tiny congressional minority to complete his economic and institutional overhaul of Argentina. A former TV pundit known for his angry rants against Argentina's political class, Milei founded LLA just four years ago, drawing a motley crew of political novices into his anti-establishment agenda. With his party holding just 15% of seats in the lower house and 10% in the Senate, the president was forced to strike deals with Macri, the scion of a wealthy family who governed from 2015-2019, in order to push his harsh austerity measures through Congress. Macri supplied Milei's new government with key ministers, brought him a conservative base and helped him secure the support of critical political brokers and powerful governors. But their uneasy alliance faltered over various disagreements, such as Milei's recent effort to bypass Congress to install a contentious judge accused of corruption on the Supreme Court. Macri has increasingly criticized Milei's bellicose approach to politics and what he called his "lack of respect" for Argentina's institutions. "Putting the economy in order is not enough. We must strengthen institutions, be predictable and regain respect for one another," Macri told supporters last week. The Milei-Macri rivalry turned ugly on Sunday as Macri's party filed a complaint with the Buenos Aires Electoral Tribunal over a widely shared artificial intelligence-generated deepfake of Macri announcing that his candidate was dropping out of the race and urging voters to back Milei's candidate instead. While the origin of the false video was unclear, Macri blamed Milei's supporters for "breaking all the rules." In response, the city's electoral court said it had ordered Elon Musk's social network X to take down the manipulated video. X did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ___ Associated Press writer Debora Rey in Buenos Aires, Argentina, contributed to this report.
Associated Press News	2025-05-07 04:06:53+00:00	[ "Voting", "Utah", "Florida", "North Dakota", "South Dakota", "Politics", "Kelly Hall", "Mike Lefor", "Amber Hulse", "United States government", "Jennifer Bradley", "North Dakota state government" ]	# Arkansas, Florida, South Dakota Republicans try curbing ballot initiatives By David A. Lieb May 7th, 2025, 04:06 AM --- Citizen activists supporting a public vote on important issues could have to brush up on their reading, writing and arithmetic if they want to get their initiatives on next year's ballot in some states. A new Arkansas law will bar initiative ballot titles written above an eighth-grade reading level. And canvassers will have to verify that petition signers have either read the ballot title or had it read aloud to them. In South Dakota, sponsors will need to make sure their petition titles appears in 14-point type on the front page and 16-point font on the back, where people typically sign. And in Florida, volunteers will have to register with the state if they gather more than 25 petition signatures from outside their family or risk facing felony charges punishable by up to five years in prison. Across about dozen states, roughly 40 bills restricting or revamping the citizen initiative process have passed at least one legislative chamber this year, according to a review by The Associated Press. Many already have been signed into law. Some advocates for the initiative process are alarmed by the trend. "Globally, as there's movements to expand direct democracy, in the United States it's contracting," said Dane Waters, chair of the Initiative and Referendum Institute at the University of Southern California, who has advised ballot campaigns in over 20 nations. Most of the new restrictions come from Republican lawmakers in states where petitions have been used to place abortion rights, marijuana legalization and other progressive initiatives on the ballot. GOP lawmakers contend their measures are shielding state constitutions from outside interests. "This is not a bill to restrict. It is a bill to protect — to make sure that our constitutional system is one of integrity, and that it's free of fraud," said state Sen. Jennifer Bradley of Florida, where the new initiative requirements already have been challenged in court. ## A right in some states, but not others About half the U.S. states allow people to bypass their legislatures by gathering signatures to place proposed laws or constitutional amendments on the ballot. Since Oregon voters first used the process in 1904, a total of 2,744 citizen initiatives have appeared on statewide ballots, with 42% winning approval, according to the Initiative and Referendum Institute. But the process has long caused tension between voters and their elected representatives. Lawmakers often perceive the initiative process as "an assault on their power and authority, and they want to limit it," Waters said. "They view it, in my opinion, as a nuisance – a gnat that keeps bothering them." ## Restrictions on petition canvassers Because initiative petitions require thousands of signatures to qualify for the ballot, groups sponsoring them often pay people to solicit signatures outside shopping centers and public places. Some states now prohibit payments based on the number of signatures gathered. States also are trying to restrict who can circulate petitions. A new Arkansas law requires paid petition canvassers to live in the state. And a new Montana law will make petition circulators wear badges displaying their name and home state. The new Florida law expanding registration requirements for petition circulators also requires them to undergo state training and bars canvassers who are noncitizens, nonresidents or have been convicted of felony offenses without their voting rights restored. ## More requirements for petition signers In addition to providing their name, address and birth date, people signing initiative petitions in Florida also will have to provide either their Florida driver's license, state identification card or the last four digits of their Social Security number. That information is not required in other states, said Kelly Hall, executive director of the Fairness Project, a progressive group that has backed dozens of ballot initiatives in states. Hall said people concerned about privacy might hesitate to sign petitions. "I work in ballot measures, and I deeply support many of the things that folks have tried to put on the ballot in Florida," Hall said, "and I don't know if I could bring myself to do that – that's a very prohibitive requirement." ## Making the fine print larger Many states already prescribe a particular format for initiative petitions. South Dakota's new mandate for specific font sizes was prompted by allegations that some people got duped into signing a petition for abortion rights last year, said sponsoring state Sen. Amber Hulse, a Republican. Printing the ballot title in large type "might make it harder for some issues to get on the ballot if people know what they're signing. But that's actually a good thing," Hulse said. ## More power for elected officials Before they can collect signatures, petition sponsors must get approval from state officials. New measures in several states give those officials greater authority. New Arkansas laws allow the attorney general to reject initiatives written above an eighth-grade reading level or which conflict with the U.S. Constitution or federal law. Utah's lieutenant governor, who already can reject unconstitutional petitions, now also will be able to turn away petitions that are unlikely to provide adequate funding for their proposed laws. A new Missouri law gives greater power to the secretary of state, instead of judges, to rewrite ballot summaries struck down as being insufficient or unfair. ## A higher threshold for voter approval Most states require only a majority vote to amend their constitutions, though Colorado requires 55% approval and Florida 60%. Republican-led legislatures in North Dakota and South Dakota approved measures this year proposing a 60% public vote to approve future constitutional amendments, and Utah lawmakers backed a 60% threshold for tax measures. All three propositions still must go before voters, where they will need only a majority to pass. Voters rejected similar proposals in Ohio, Arkansas and South Dakota in recent years, but they approved a 60% threshold for tax measures in Arizona. Lawmakers contend the move has merit. "Raising the threshold can help protect the constitution from being manipulated by special interest groups or out-of-state activists," North Dakota House Majority Leader Mike Lefor said earlier this year. ___ Associated Press writers Jack Dura and Kate Payne contributed to this report. ___ Payne 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.
Associated Press News	2025-05-13 04:29:40+00:00	[ "Rodrigo Duterte", "Sara Duterte", "Ferdinand Marcos Jr.", "Philippines government", "Legal proceedings", "The Hague", "Netherlands", "Global elections", "Jean Franco", "Courts", "International Criminal Court", "Indictments", "Elections", "Politics", "Impeachment" ]	# Detained Philippines ex-President Duterte wins mayoral race in his home city By Teresa Cerojano May 13th, 2025, 04:29 AM --- MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was elected as mayor in his home city by a landslide, official results showed Tuesday, despite his detention by the International Criminal Court. The Davao election board proclaimed Duterte won the race for Davao mayor, with the official tally showing that he garnered over 660,000 votes, or eight times as many as his closest rival. Elated supporters chanted "Duterte, Duterte" when the result was announced. His youngest son, Sebastian, the incumbent mayor of Davao, was declared Davao vice mayor. His eldest son, Paolo, was reelected as a member of the House of Representatives, and two grandsons won in local races, an indication of the family's continued influence. "Duterte landslide in Davao!" his youngest daughter Veronica posted on Facebook Partial unofficial results showed at least five candidates backed by the Duterte family were also among those leading the race for 12 Senate positions, in a stronger-than-expected showing in Monday's midterm elections. Pre-election surveys had indicated only two of them would emerge victorious. The results come as a boost for Duterte's daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, ahead of an impeachment trial in the Senate in July over a raft of charges including alleged misuse of public funds and plotting to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., his wife and the House speaker. Sara Duterte is considered a strong contender for the 2028 presidential race. But if convicted by the Senate, she will lose her job and will be disqualified from holding public office forever. To be acquitted, she needs at least nine of the 24 senators to vote in her favor. Results of the Senate race will be known in a week. Apart from the five Duterte-backed candidates, the others leading in the top 12 included five others endorsed by Marcos and two opposition candidates. While the senate race outcome was encouraging for Sara Duterte, the jury is still out on how the impeachment trial will go for her, said Jean Franco, a political science professor from the University of the Philippines. If damning evidence were raised against her, Franco indicated it could hurt her chances of an acquittal. The Senate race unofficial results also showed that support for Marcos, whose approval rating fell in April, is dwindling and could turn up surprises in the 2028 elections, Franco added. In a statement, Marcos thanked Filipinos who voted, saying "our democracy has renewed itself — peacefully, orderly and with dignity." "We may not have won every seat, but our work and mission continue," he added. The impeachment and Rodrigo Duterte's arrest and transfer to the tribunal in The Hague came after Marcos and Sara Duterte's ties unraveled over political differences and their competing ambitions. Duterte supporters slammed Marcos's government for arresting and surrendering the former leader to a court whose jurisdiction his supporters dispute. Nicknamed "the Punisher" and "Dirty Harry," Duterte served as Davao's mayor for two decades before becoming president. He has been in the custody of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, since March, awaiting trial for crimes against humanity over a brutal war on illegal drugs that left thousands of suspects dead during his 2016-2022 presidency. Under Philippine law, candidates facing criminal charges, including those in detention, can run for office unless they have been convicted and have exhausted all appeals. Sara Duterte had told reporters after voting Monday that she was in talks with her father's lawyers on how he could take his oath as mayor despite being behind bars. She had said the vice mayor would likely be the acting mayor.
Associated Press News	2025-05-19 20:18:58+00:00	[ "Jeff Landry", "Louisiana", "New Orleans", "Susan Hutson", "Prisons", "Crime", "Liz Murrill", "Gary Price", "Bianka Brown" ]	# Sheriff says 'defective' locks were a key factor in Louisiana jailbreak by 10 men By Sara Cline and Jack Brook May 19th, 2025, 08:18 PM --- BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Just days before 10 men broke out of a New Orleans jail, officials with the sheriff's office asked for money to fix faulty locks and cell doors deemed a key factor in the escape. As the manhunt for the remaining six fugitives stretches into a new week, officials continue to investigate who or what was to blame in a jailbreak that even the escapees labeled as "easy" — in a message scrawled on a wall above the narrow hole they squeezed through. Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson said she has long raised concerns about the jail's ongoing "deficiencies," adding that the breakout has "once again highlighted the critical need for repairs and upgrades" to the ailing infrastructure. But some officials are pointing the blame in security lapses at the person who oversees the control and custody of the inmates, Hutson. Early Friday, 10 men being held at the Orleans Justice Center — many awaiting trials or sentencing for violent charges, including murder — yanked open a cell door, slipped through a hole behind a toilet, scaled a barbed wire fence and fled into the dark. Four of the men have since been caught, with the most recent arrest coming late Monday when 21-year-old Gary Price was taken into custody. While Hutson said the locks played a key role in the escape, there are other crucial elements that officials have outlined; Indications that the escape may have been an inside job; the hole that officials said may have been formed using power tools; a lack of monitoring of the cell pod; and law enforcement not being aware of the escape until seven hours after the men fled. Attorney General Liz Murrill said on Monday said it's no secret that the jail has been experiencing staffing shortages and maintenance defects for years and that state and local officials, courts and law enforcement are working together to hastily address issues. Four days before the escape, Jeworski "Jay" Mallet — chief of corrections for the jail — presented a need for a new lock system during the city's Capital Improvement Plan hearing. Mallet said the current system at the jail, which houses around 1,400 people, was built for a "minimum custody type of inmate." But he classified many at the facility as "high security" inmates, who are awaiting trials for violent offenses, and require a "restrictive housing environment that did not exist" at the jail. As a result, the sheriff's office has transferred dozens in custody to more secure locations. In the aftermath of the escape, Murrill said officials are looking to "harden physical aspects of this prison so that we can be realistic about the population that is being held there." Mallet said some cell unit doors and locks have been "manipulated" to the point that they can't even be closed properly. Since becoming sheriff in 2022, Hutson said she has complained about the locks at every turn and advocated for additional funding to make the facility more secure. New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell says that funding for the jail has been "a priority" and money has been allocated to the sheriff's office for operating expenses and capital improvements. Bianka Brown, the chief financial officer for the sheriff's office, said the current budget "doesn't support what we need" to ensure critical fixes and upgrades. "Things are being deprived," Brown said of the jail, which for more than a decade has been subject to federal monitoring and a consent decree intended to improve conditions. The jail, which opened in 2015, replaced another facility that had its own history of escapes and violence. Other's have pointed to Hutson being at fault. "Rather than take accountability, she's pointed fingers elsewhere," State Rep. Aimee Adatto Freeman, who represents much of the uptown area of New Orleans, said Monday as she called for the sheriff to step down. "Blaming funding is a deflection--not an excuse." Hutson has faced criticism in recent months for continued violence and dysfunction in the lockup. An independent watchdog overseeing the federal consent decree noted in a report last fall that Hutson, after taking office, abandoned a practice of housing certain inmates in a "high security unit" in the jail. The report found that inmates were left unsupervised for hours, allowing for "inmate-on-inmate assaults" and access to materials to fashion weapons. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry recently announced the state is launching an investigation into who is responsible in the escape. He is also asking for an audit of the jail's compliance with basic correctional standards and an inventory of pre-trial detainees or those awaiting sentencing in violent cases at the facility, to consider moving them into state custody. —— Associated Press writer Jim Mustian in New York contributed to this report.
Associated Press News	2025-05-06 09:28:02+00:00	[ "Indonesia", "Automotive accidents" ]	# At least 12 dead in Indonesia bus crash after brakes apparently failed, police say May 6th, 2025, 09:28 AM --- PADANG, Indonesia (AP) — A bus carrying 34 passengers sped out of control on a downhill road and overturned in Indonesia's West Sumatra province on Tuesday, killing at least 12 people and leaving others injured, police said. The inter-province bus was on its way to Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, from Medan in North Sumatra province when its brakes apparently malfunctioned near a bus terminal in West Sumatra's Padang city, said Reza Chairul Akbar Sidiq, the director of West Sumatra traffic police. He said police were still investigating the cause of the accident, but survivors told authorities that the driver lost control of the vehicle in an area with a number of steep hills in Padang after the brakes malfunctioned. The 12 bodies, including those of two children, were mostly pinned under the overturned bus, Sidiq said. All the victims, including 23 injured people, were taken to two nearby hospitals, he said. Thirteen of the injured were treated for serious injuries, Sidiq said. The driver was among those in critical condition. Local television footage showed the mangled bus on its side, surrounded by rescuers from the National Search and Rescue Agency, police and passersby as ambulances evacuated the injured victims and the dead. Road accidents are common in Indonesia because of poor safety standards and infrastructure. Last year, a bus carrying 61 students and teachers returning from an outing to a high school in Depok, just outside Jakarta, slammed into cars and motorbikes after its brakes failed, killing 11 students and injuring dozens of others. In 2023, a tourist bus with an apparently drowsy driver slammed into a billboard on a highway in East Java, killing at least 14 people and injuring 19 others.
Associated Press News	2025-05-08 06:37:38+00:00	[ "Toyota Motor Corp.", "Finance Business", "Business", "Akio Toyoda", "Finance", "Japan", "Yuri Kageyama", "Donald Trump", "Electric vehicles", "Auto industry" ]	# Toyota reports booming sales but stays cautious on profit because of various costs By Yuri Kageyama May 8th, 2025, 06:37 AM --- TOKYO (AP) — Japan's top automaker Toyota reported record sales for the fiscal year through March on Thursday, but its profit for the latest quarter faltered partly because of a certification scandal. Toyota Motor Corp.'s January-March net profit totaled 664.6 billion yen ($4.6 billion), down from 997.6 billion yen the same period a year ago. Quarterly sales totaled 12.36 trillion yen ($85.9 billion), up from 11 trillion yen. Toyota has been strengthening the testing system of its vehicles after acknowledging wide-ranging fraudulent testing, including the use of inadequate or outdated data in crash tests, incorrect testing of airbag inflation and engine power checks. Akio Toyoda, Toyota's chairman and the grandson of the automaker's founder, has apologized. The wrongdoing did not affect the safety of vehicles already on roads, which include the popular Corolla subcompact and Lexus luxury vehicles. But the scandal has been a major embarrassment for a manufacturer whose brand has been synonymous for decades with quality and attention to detail. For the fiscal year through March, Toyota reported a 4.77 trillion yen ($33 billion) profit, down from 4.94 trillion yen the previous fiscal year. Annual sales reached a record 48 trillion yen ($333.6 billion), up from 45 trillion yen. Toyota is forecasting sales of 48.5 trillion yen ($337 billion) for the fiscal year through March 2026. Its profit forecast was less bullish, citing costs to meet carbon neutrality demands, as well as the impact of President Donald Trump's U.S. tariffs on operating income, which was factored in tentatively at 180 billion yen ($1.3 billion), according to Toyota. That estimate covers April and May, meaning it could grow in coming months. Consolidated vehicle sales for the fiscal year through March totaled 9.36 million vehicles, down slightly from 9.44 million vehicles the previous fiscal year. Cost reduction and marketing efforts worked as pluses countering the negatives, including the production shutdown spanning several months in the U.S. due to quality issues, Toyota officials said. Toyota also said the portion of electric vehicles it was selling was steadily growing. Sometimes Toyota has been criticized as falling behind in the global move toward EVs, partly because it has an extensive lineup of other kinds of green cars, including hybrids. ___ Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama
Associated Press News	2025-05-12 08:18:44+00:00	[ "Syria", "John Cantlie", "Kidnapping", "Steven Sotloff", "Peter Kassig", "Islamic State group", "James Foley", "Austin Tice", "Qatar government", "Jihadi John", "Bashar Assad", "Kayla Jean Mueller", "New Orleans truck attack" ]	# Remains of 30 people believed killed by IS militants found in Syria in a search by Qatar and FBI By Ghaith Alsayed and Kareem Chehayeb May 12th, 2025, 08:18 AM --- DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The remains of 30 people believed to have been killed by the militant Islamic State group have been found in a remote Syrian town in a search led by Qatari search teams and the FBI, according to a statement from Qatar on Monday. The Qatari internal security forces said the FBI had requested the search, and that DNA tests are currently underway to determine the identities of the people. The Qatari agency did not whom the American intelligence and security agency is trying to find. Dozens of foreigners, including aid workers and journalists, were killed by IS militants who had controlled large swaths of Syria and Iraq for half a decade and declared a so-called caliphate. The militant group lost most of its territory in late 2017 and was declared defeated in 2019. Since then, dozens of gravesites and mass graves have been discovered in northern Syria containing remains and bodies of people IS had abducted over the years. American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, as well as humanitarian workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig are among those killed by IS. John Cantlie, a British correspondent, was abducted alongside Foley in 2012, and was last seen alive in one of the extremist group's propaganda videos in 2016. The search took place in the town of Dabiq, near Syria's northern border with Turkey. IS released videos in 2014 and 2015 of the beheadings of Foley, Sotloff, and Kassig. A similar video was released of two abducted Japanese aid workers who were beheaded by the extremists in a similar way. A masked man who was doing the killings and speaking in English on the videos was later identified as Mohammed Emwazi, a British citizen of Kuwaiti origin from London, known as "Jihadi John." He was killed in November 2015 in a targeted U.S. and British drone strike. Mass graves have also found in areas previously controlled by Syrian President Bashar Assad who was ousted in a lightning insurgency last December, ending his family's half-century rule. For years, the Assads used their notorious security and intelligence agencies to crack down on dissidents, many who have gone missing. American journalist Austin Tice, abducted in 2012 in a contested area in western Syria, is among the most prominent cases of the missing. He was last seen a video weeks later, showing him being taken captive by armed men. The U.S. administration in December said he is still believed to be alive, though Washington admitted at the time it had no direct evidence of Tice's wellbeing. Washington had for years maintained that Tice was held by Syria's now-former authorities. The United Nations in 2021 estimated that over 130,000 Syrians were taken away and disappeared during the uprising that began in 2011 and descended into a 13-year civil war. ___ Chehayeb reported from Beirut.
Associated Press News	2025-05-12 15:12:14+00:00	[ "Kim Reynolds", "Iowa", "Donald Trump", "Rob Sand", "Voting", "Politics", "U.S. Democratic Party" ]	# Iowa's lone Democratic statewide officeholder Rob Sand announces 2026 bid for governor By Hannah Fingerhut May 12th, 2025, 03:12 PM --- DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — State Auditor Rob Sand, the only Iowa Democrat currently serving in statewide office, announced a bid Monday for the open governor's race in an effort to break up a long streak of Republican leadership in the state. Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds made a surprise announcement last month that she would not seek a third term, leaving a wide open Republican primary and offering Democrats a glimmer of hope that they could make inroads in a midterm year with President Donald Trump in the White House. "In Iowa, we know it's not about right versus left, but right versus wrong," Sand said in his announcement. "As governor, I will always do what's right for Iowans." It's an uphill battle in a state that Trump won by 13 percentage points in 2024 and Reynolds by 18 percentage points in 2022. The state has shifted dramatically in favor of Republicans since 2006, the last time there was a governor's race without an incumbent candidate. Sand was first elected state auditor in 2018 by a margin of about 4 percentage points over his Republican opponent. But his election was far more competitive in 2022, when he won by less than 3,000 votes, or about three-tenths of a percentage. Recent voter registration data show nearly 200,000 more active voters registered as Republicans than Democrats. Sand often draws on his experience growing up in a small town in northeast Iowa, hunting and fishing. He has said he appeals to a bipartisan coalition of voters across all parts of Iowa, urban and rural. His campaign will also benefit from an amassed $8 million in campaign contributions last year, most of which came from his extended family's pockets. ___ This story has been updated to correct that Sand is state auditor, not state treasurer.
Associated Press News	2025-05-16 18:09:59+00:00	[ "Donald Trump", "District of Columbia", "Muriel Bowser", "DC Wire", "War and unrest" ]	# Large metal plates to protect DC streets from tanks during military parade By Tara Copp and Michelle L. Price May 16th, 2025, 06:09 PM --- WASHINGTON (AP) — The Army will place large metal plates at key points on the streets of Washington to better protect the pavement from the movements of 25 M1 Abrams main battle tanks set to roll through the capital on June 14, a U.S. official told the Associated Press. The tanks are a key part of a parade that will honor the Army's 250th birthday and fall on President Donald Trump's 79th birthday. Since it was announced, the parade has grown in scope and participation, and one of the highlights will be columns of tanks rolling in formation along Constitution Avenue. Each Abrams tank can weigh 60 tons or more and carry a crew of four. Concerns over the tanks' weight, and what that would do to D.C.'s streets, ultimately kept them from being used for a parade during Trump's first term. The metal plates are seen as the best way to protect the streets Each plate weighs hundreds of pounds and will be placed at points along the parade route where the tanks will turn — and where their metal and rubber-shoed tracking that helps them move can do the most damage, the official said. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has said if tanks are used on the city's roads, funding to repair any damage they may do should also be part of the plans. Asked on Friday for a response to the Army's plan for metal plates, her office referred to her past comments. Movement of a single M1 Abrams tank is a loud affair — movement of 25 in unison is expected to be thunderous, the official said. The parade and celebration will likely cost between $25 million and $45 million, a White House official told The Associated Press. It will involve thousands of troops also marching in formation, in uniforms representing every U.S. conflict dating back to the Revolutionary War, which began in 1775. Each war will have 60 troops in period costume, followed by 400 troops from that same unit in their regular battle dress uniforms. For example, the Civil War will be represented by the Army's 4th Infantry Division, based in Fort Carson, Colorado, with 60 soldiers wearing historical costumes and 400 in today's uniforms. Overall the parade plans call for about 6,600 soldiers, 150 vehicles and 50 helicopters to follow a route from the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, to the National Mall. The late-afternoon parade will be followed by a parachute jump by the Army's Golden Knights, a concert and the fireworks.
Associated Press News	2025-05-15 09:49:20+00:00	[ "China", "Military and defense", "Hiroaki Uchikura", "Japan government" ]	# Japan starts emergency inspections on nearly 200 military training planes after crash By Mari Yamaguchi May 15th, 2025, 09:49 AM --- TOKYO (AP) — Japan's air force has begun emergency safety inspections on all of its nearly 200 military training aircraft after one of the planes crashed minutes after takeoff, officials said Thursday. The T-4 training aircraft, operated by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, or JASDF, and carrying two service members, crashed into a reservoir Wednesday, minutes after taking off from Komaki Air Base in the central Japanese prefecture of Aichi. While the search operation for the missing aircraft and the two crew members continued Thursday, the military announced that it had started emergency inspections on all remaining 196 of the training planes deployed at JASDF bases across the country. Their operation has been suspended since the crash and they will remain grounded until the cause is identified and safety checks are completed, Hiroaki Uchikura, the air force chief of staff, told reporters on Wednesday. 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 influence in the region and double its defense spending, raising concern that funding for weapons may be prioritized over safety measures. The crashed plane was a 36-year-old T-4 operated out of Nyutabaru Air Base, in the southern prefecture of Miyazaki. It wasn't fitted with a voice recorder or a flight data recorder, a setback for the investigation. Defense Minister Gen Nakatani on Thursday announced plans to promptly fit the training aircraft with voice and flight data recording equipment. The JASDF said Thursday the plane experienced trouble when it reached an altitude of 4,000 feet (1,200 meters) about one minute after takeoff. Kyodo News agency said that air traffic control didn't receive any contact from the T-4 aircraft about an emergency. The force said the plane was lost from radar two minutes after departure and crashed into a reservoir called the Iruka pond, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) northeast of the air base. Witnesses told the NHK national broadcaster that they heard a loud noise like thunder at the time of the crash. Debris believed to be of the aircraft, as well as lifesaving equipment and helmets of the crew were found near the reservoir.
Associated Press News	2025-05-05 10:14:51+00:00	[ "Pope Francis", "Maria Agnese Ciarrocco", "Vatican City", "Rome", "Catholic Church", "Papal conclave", "Don Morinello", "Raffaella Petrini", "Religion", "Graciela Trivilino", "Nathalie Becquart", "Theodosia Baki", "Maya Angelou", "Mary Barron", "Nicole Winfield", "Delphine Kalisha" ]	# They don't vote in the conclave, but nuns leading the world's Catholic orders gather in Rome By Giovanna Dell'Orto May 5th, 2025, 10:14 AM --- ROME (AP) — They don't have a vote in the pope's election, but nearly 900 superiors of the world's female Catholic orders met in Rome on Monday to chart a course forward, a few miles from where cardinals will gather in a conclave to choose a successor to Pope Francis. Sister Mary Barron, president of the umbrella group of leaders of women's religious orders, urged the superiors and the over 650,000 nuns worldwide to pray that the cardinals make the right choice and reflect on how to carry forward Francis′ vision. "We must be vigilant in doing our part to keep that flame of church renewal alive," she told the assembly of sisters — some in regular clothes, others in traditional habits. The International Union of Superiors General is holding its plenary assembly this week – coincidentally at the same time as the conclave, which opens Wednesday. The Catholic Church reserves the priesthood for men, so only men will choose the leader of the world's 1.4-billion Catholics. Of the 133 cardinals expected to vote at the conclave, 108 were appointed by Francis. Among those present at the assembly was Sister Nathalie Becquart — elevated by Pope Francis as the first female undersecretary in the Vatican's Synod of Bishops office in 2021. Many saw her appointment, as well as that of Sister Raffaella Petrini as president of the Vatican City State, as a sign that the rigidly male Catholic hierarchy might finally allow women to assume high-level decision-making responsibilities. Delphine Kalisha of the Sisters of Mercy in Zambia said she hopes the new pope will continue to promote sisters in positions of leadership. "That has given us hope for women in the church," Kalisha said. Becquart told The Associated Press that sisters want "to be better listened to, like others, to be valued." "Maybe you are a cardinal or a young sister, we are all together called to be protagonists to carry on the mission of the church," she said. The orders at the assembly are involved in public ministries such as education and health. Superior generals from Argentina to Zambia said that's an essential role at the frontlines of the church's social work, which Francis emphasized. Barron exhorted her fellow sisters, who last gathered in a general assembly in 2022, to continue to embrace Francis' vision of a church that listens to all by "daring to dream a future that reflects the boundless love of God." Quoting from poets Emily Dickinson and Maya Angelou, she called religious sisters to meet the needs of the world's most marginalized. "Our path forward might not be clear or conventional, but it's illuminated by the language of hope," Barron said. Topics discussed in the first working session included wars, migration and human trafficking, climate change and economic inequality. Several sister said they hope the next pope carries on Francis' legacy of outreach to the marginalized, whether at the Vatican or in impoverished borderlands. Sister Graciela Trivilino of Argentina – who as head of the Franciscan Sisters of Bonlanden in Argentina has worked with people with addiction for many years – said the goal is "to take the Gospel to the concrete facts of everyday life." In Sicily, Sister Maria Agnese Ciarrocco does street ministry with the Sisters of the Poor of Don Morinello. "We're all in a climate of challenge," she said. "Let's keep hoping that religious life can still be something that attracts people precisely by the way we work, by our presence." Several sisters said the decline in vocations even in Africa, a continent where Catholicism is strong, is a major worry for the future. "Even just our presence is a lot of witness that people need," said Sister Theodosia Baki of the Tertiary Sisters of St. Francis in Cameroon. Her order focuses on the education of girls, as well as health and refugee care in five African countries. Barron said that despite many challenges, including problems with securing visas for missionary work, the sisters' contributions are increasingly needed. "I think right now in the Church and the world there are so many opportunities for consecrated life to make a difference," she said. ___ AP Vatican correspondent Nicole Winfield contributed. ___ 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.

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