Actors Gerard Depardieu and Catherine Deneuve are seen in Cannes, southern France, on May 11 1984. (AP Photo/Michel Lipchitz, File)2025-05-12T06:48:38Z For over half a century, Grard Depardieu stood as a towering figure in French cinema, a titan known for his commanding physical presence, instinct, sensibility and remarkable versatility.A bon vivant who overcame a speech impediment and a turbulent youth, Depardieu rose to prominence in the 1970s and became one of Frances most prolific and acclaimed actors, portraying a vast array of characters, from volatile outsiders to deeply introspective figures.In recent years, however, Depardieus illustrious career has been overshadowed by multiple allegations of misconduct. He has been accused publicly or in formal complaints by more than 20 women, but so far only a sexual assault case has proceeded to court. Some others were dropped because of a lack of evidence or the statute of limitations.In March, the Paris public prosecutor requested an 18-month suspended prison sentence over accusations that he sexually assaulted two women on a film set. A decision is expected on Tuesday. Here is a timeline of key moments in Depardieus rise and fall:Dec. 27, 1948: Born in Chteauroux, in a modest family of six children. His youth is tumultuous. Depardieu lives close to an American military base and rubs shoulders with small-time hoodlums, smuggling all kinds of goods.1960s: Depardieu arrives in Paris. He takes acting classes and discovers all the great classics of literature while undergoing therapy to correct his speech difficulties. 1967: Depardieu makes his screen debut in the short film Le Beatnik et le Minet and appears in his first stage play.1972: Features in Nathalie Granger, directed by Marguerite Duras.1974: First big hit in France with Les Valseuses, (Going Places), Bertrand Bliers classic farce about two wandering thugs.1980s: Depardieu becomes the most sought-after French actor. Maurice Pialat casts him in Loulou, the highly acclaimed Police, for which he won an acting prize at the 1985 Venice Film Festival, and Under Satans Sun, a provocative tale about a monks encounter with the devil which won Cannes Palme dOr in 1987. Depardieu stars in many hits: The Woman Next Door, Jean de Florette, The Last Metro, Danton, The Return of Martin Guerre. 1991: Depardieu receives a nomination for the best actor Oscar for his performance in Cyrano de Bergerac. But controversy ensues after Time magazine carries an affirmation by Depardieu that he took part in a rape as a 9-year-old. The movie suffers a bloody nose at the Oscars. Depardieu categorically denies saying he took part in rape. Its outrageous at 9 years old or at any age, he told the French newspaper Le Monde. Yes, one can say I had sexual experiences when I was very young, but a rape, never. I respect women too much.1990s: Depardieus career is unaffected in France. He stars in Jean-Luc Godards Hlas pour moi. Meanwhile, Depardieu reinforces his popularity with mass audiences with the Astrix & Oblix film series.1998: Depardieu crashes his motorcycle. His blood-alcohol limit is five times the legal level. He escapes with leg and face injuries. The incident was one of several encounters with the law for Depardieu, who also grabbed headlines when he urinated in the aisle of a plane before takeoff on a Paris to Dublin flight, and when he was detained for allegedly driving drunk on his scooter. 1999: Depardieu returns to the French stage for the first time in 13 years as a guilt-ravaged emperor in a murder-mystery.2000: Depardieu undergoes successful coronary bypass surgery.Oct. 13, 2008: Death of his son Guillaume Depardieu.2013: After sparring with his native country over taxes, Depardieu is granted Russian citizenship by Vladimir Putin.2014: Depardieu plays the leading role in Welcome to New York, the film inspired by the life of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former director of the International Monetary Fund who was accused in 2011 of sexually assaulting a hotel maid.2018: Prosecutors in Paris open a preliminary investigation after actor Charlotte Arnould accused Depardieu of raping her at his home. That case is still active, and in August 2024 prosecutors requested that it go to trial. 2023: His wax figure is removed from Paris most famous wax museum following negative reactions from visitors over allegations about his conduct with women. The decision to remove the figure from the Grevin Museum followed a TV documentary showing him repeatedly making obscene remarks and gestures during a 2018 trip to North Korea.2025: Depardieu goes on trial in Paris on charges of sexually assaulting two women on a movie set. He is accused of having groped a 54-year-old set dresser and a 34-year-old assistant during filming in 2021 of Les Volets Verts.

US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, left, and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer meet the media on the second day of a bilateral meeting between the United States and China, in Geneva, Switzerland, Sunday, May 11, 2025. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)2025-05-12T08:10:50Z GENEVA (AP) U.S. and Chinese officials said Monday they had reached a deal to roll back most of their recent tariffs and call a 90-day pause to keep talking to resolve their trade disputes. Stock markets rose sharply as the globes two major economic powers took a step back from a clash that has unsettled the global economy. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the U.S. agreed to drop its 145% tariff rate on Chinese goods by 115 percentage points to 30%, while China agreed to lower its rate on U.S. goods by the same amount to 10%.Greer and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the tariff reductions at a news conference in Geneva.The two officials struck a positive tone as they said the two sides had set up consultations to continue discussing their trade issues.Bessent said at the news briefing after two days of talks that the high tariff levels would have amounted to a complete blockage of each sides goods, an outcome neither side wants. The consensus from both delegations this weekend is neither side wants a decoupling, Bessent said. And what had occurred with these very high tariff ... was an embargo, the equivalent of an embargo. And neither side wants that. We do want trade. We want more balanced trade. And I think that both sides are committed to achieving that. Trump last month raised U.S. tariffs on China to a combined 145% and China retaliated by hitting American imports with a 125% levy. Tariffs that high essentially amount to the two countries boycotting each others products, disrupting trade that last year topped $660 billion.The announcement by the U.S. and China sent shares surging, with U.S. futures jumping more than 2%. Hong Kongs Hang Seng index surged nearly 3% and benchmarks in Germany and France were both up 0.7% JAMEY KEATEN Keaten is the chief Associated Press reporter in Geneva. He previously was posted in Paris and has reported from Afghanistan, the Middle East, North Africa and across Europe. twitter

Varda Ben Baruch holds a picture of her grandson Edan Alexander, who is held hostage in Gaza, gathers with other families to call out on loudspeakers in hopes that their loved ones will hear them, near the Gaza border in Kibbutz Nir Oz, southern Israel, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, File)2025-05-12T07:36:30Z DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) An American-Israeli soldier taken captive and held for more than 19 months in the Gaza Strip is expected to be released on Monday, Hamas said, as part of a good will gesture for the Trump administration that could lay the groundwork for a new ceasefire between the warring sides.Edan Alexander was snatched from his military base in southern Israel during Hamas cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which set off the war in Gaza. His expected release would be the first since Israel shattered an 8-week ceasefire with Hamas in March when it unleashed fierce strikes on Gaza which have killed hundreds.Israel has also promised to intensify its offensive, including by seizing the territory and displacing much of its population again. Before the ceasefires demise, Israel blocked all imports from entering the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave, deepening a humanitarian crisis there. Israel says the steps are meant to pressure Hamas to accept a ceasefire agreement on Israels terms.Israel says that, including Alexander, 59 hostages remain in captivity, about 24 who are said to be alive and the remaining are deceased. Many of the 250 hostages taken by Hamas-led militants in the 2023 attack were freed in ceasefire deals. Trump says the expected release is hopefully a step toward ending the warAfter announcing on Sunday its intention to release Alexander, Hamas said in a statement on Monday that the handover would occur later in the day. Israeli authorities did not respond to requests for comment on the timing of the release.U.S. President Donald Trump, who is set to arrive in the Middle East on Tuesday on his first official foreign trip, said Sunday that the planned release is a step taken in good faith towards the United States and the efforts of the mediators Qatar and Egypt to put an end to this very brutal war and return ALL living hostages and remains to their loved ones. Hopefully this is the first of those final steps necessary to end this brutal conflict. I look very much forward to that day of celebration! Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social. Trump, who is travelling to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, is not scheduled to stop in Israel.An Israeli official said that Trump envoy Steve Witkoff was expected in Israel on Monday and would meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus security Cabinet to discuss nuclear talks with Iran and efforts to free more hostages. The official spoke on condition to of anonymity in line with regulations.Alexanders family, which is based in the U.S., was on route to Israel, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group representing the captives families. Israel says it still plans to escalate its offensive in GazaOn Monday, a statement from Netanyahus office said Alexanders release was expected, without indicating timing, and that Israel was not granting any concessions for it. The statement said Israel did not commit to a ceasefire or to free Palestinian prisoners as part of the release and that it had only agreed to create a safe corridor to allow for Alexander to be returned.The statement said Israel would still carry on with its plans to ramp up its offensive in Gaza despite the expected hostage release. Israel says it wont launch that plan until after Trumps visit to the Middle East this week, to allow for a potential new ceasefire deal to emerge.A statement by the office on Sunday said the U.S. had told Israel that Alexanders release could lead to a new deal with Hamas to free more hostages.Netanyahu faces criticism for not freeing all the hostagesIsraels exact involvement in getting the release off the ground wasnt immediately clear. But it created a backlash against Netanyahu, with critics accusing him of having to rely on a foreign leader to help free the remaining hostages. At the opening of his trial for alleged corruption, where he is giving testimony, a woman in the courtroom asked whether he was ashamed that the president of the United States is saving his citizens and he is leaving them to die there in captivity?Critics accuse Netanyahu of not doing enough to free the hostages, saying his insistence on keeping up the war in Gaza is politically motivated. Netanyahu says he aims to achieve Israels twin war goals, freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and took 250 captive in the 2023 attack. Israels retaliatory offensive has killed over 52,800 Palestinians, many of them women and children, according to Gazas Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants or civilians. It obliterated vast swaths of Gazas urban landscape and displaced 90% of the population, often multiple times.___Magdy reported from Cairo and Goldenberg from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report. ___Follow APs war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war SAMY MAGDY Magdy is a Middle East reporter for The Associated Press, based in Cairo. He focuses on conflict, migration and human rights abuses. twitter facebook mailto TIA GOLDENBERG Goldenberg is an Associated Press reporter and producer covering Israel and the Palestinian territories. She previously reported on East and West Africa from Nairobi. twitter mailto

Dealers walk past near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)2025-05-12T03:58:45Z HONG KONG (AP) World shares and U.S. futures surged Monday after the U.S. and China announced they were suspending for 90 days most of the sharp tariff hikes each has imposed since U.S. President Donald Trump began escalating his trade war. A joint statement said that for a 90-day period, the U.S. will cut tariffs on Chinese goods to 30% from as high as 145%. China said its tariffs on U.S. goods will fall to 10% from 125%. The agreement to allow time for more talks followed weekend negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland, that the U.S. side said had made substantial progress. The full impact on the complicated tariffs and other trade penalties enacted by Washington and Beijing remains unclear. And much depends on whether they will find ways to bridge longstanding differences during the 90-day suspension. But as trade envoys from the worlds two biggest economies blinked, finding ways to pull back from potentially massive disruptions to world trade and their own markets, investors rejoiced. The future for the S&P 500 jumped 2.6% and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 2%.Oil prices rallied, with U.S. benchmark crude oil gaining $1.66 to $62.68 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added $1.63 to $65.55 per barrel. The U.S. dollar surged against the Japanese yen, trading at 148.18 Japanese yen, up from 146.17 yen. The euro fell to $1.1107 from $1.1209. In other stock trading, Tokyos market closed before the joint statement was issued, gaining less than 0.1% to 37,644.26. But Hong Kongs, which closes later, jumped 3% to 23,558.11. Germanys DAX gained 1% to 23,723.55 and the CAC 40 in Paris added 0.8% to 7,805.62. Britains FTSE 100 edged 0.1% higher, to 8,560.42.Investors were also watching for developments in other flashpoints including clashes between India and Pakistan, the war in Ukraine and conflict in the Middle East. The Sensex in Mumbai shot up 3.2% after India and Pakistan agreed to a truce after talks to defuse their most serious military confrontation in decades. The two armies have exchanged gunfire, artillery strikes, missiles and drones that killed dozens of people.Pakistans KSE 100 surged more than 9% and trading was halted for one hour following a spike driven by the ceasefire and an International Monetary Fund decision Friday to disburse about $1 billion of a bailout package for its battered economy.The Shanghai Composite Index picked up 0.8% to 3,369.24.Chinese EV battery maker CATL, or Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd., said in a prospectus filed with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it plans to raise nearly $4 billion in a share listing. Elsewhere in Asia, the Kospi in Seoul gained 1.2% to 2,607.33.Australias S&P/ASX 200 climbed less than 0.1% to 8,233.50.Taiwans Taiex gained 1%.On Friday, U.S. stocks drifted, with the S&P 500 edging 0.1% lower. Last week was the first in seven where the index at the heart of many 401(k) accounts moved by less than 1.5%, after careening on fears about President Donald Trumps trade war and hopes that hell relent on some of his tariffs.The Dow dipped 0.3%, while the Nasdaq composite edged up by less than 0.1%.Apart from trade talks and other geopolitical factors, the flow of earnings reports for the start of the year from companies is slowing but still moving markets. ELAINE KURTENBACH Based in Bangkok, Kurtenbach is the APs business editor for Asia, helping to improve and expand our coverage of regional economies, climate change and the transition toward carbon-free energy. She has been covering economic, social, environmental and political trends in China, Japan and Southeast Asia throughout her career. twitter mailto

by Tony Schick and Monica Samayoa, Oregon Public Broadcasting This article was produced for ProPublicas Local Reporting Network in partnership with Oregon Public Broadcasting. Sign up for Dispatches to get stories like this one as soon as they are published. On Feb. 17, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek released a video assuring Oregonians that Donald Trump would not derail the progressive states efforts to combat climate change. As promised during his presidential campaign, Trump had issued executive orders during his first week in office aimed at halting new sources of wind power and freezing Biden-era funding for renewable energy. Oregon, Kotek said, had been leading the way for years on courageous state policies to fight climate change. Along with neighboring Washington state, Oregon has set an ambitious mandate for electric utilities to be carbon neutral within the next two decades.Its going to take all of us working together finding innovative solutions, no matter the obstacles, to confront the climate crisis, the governor said, and we are not turning back.But the reality is not nearly as inspiring as Kotek made it sound. For all their progressive claims, Oregon and Washington trail nearly all other states in adding new sources of renewable energy. Iowa, a Republican-led state with roughly the same population and usable volume of wind as Oregon, has built enough wind farms to generate three times as much wind power.Whats held the Northwest back is a bottleneck Oregon and Washington leaders paid little attention to when they set out to go 100% green, an investigation by ProPublica and Oregon Public Broadcasting found: The region lacks the wiring to deliver new sources of renewable energy to peoples homes, and little has been done to change that.Northwest leaders left it to a federal agency known as the Bonneville Power Administration to arrange badly needed upgrades to an electrical grid thats nearly a century old in places. Bonneville, under a setup that is unique to the Northwest, owns most of the power lines needed to carry green power from the regions sunny and windy high desert to its major population centers. Bonneville has no state or local representation within its federally appointed bureaucracy and, by statute, operates as a self-funded business. The agency decides which energy projects can hook up based on whether its infrastructure can handle the extra load, and it decides how quickly that infrastructure gets expanded. Its glacial pace has delayed wind and solar projects under Democratic and Republican presidents alike.Of the 469 large renewable projects that applied to connect to Bonnevilles grid since 2015, only one has reached approval. Those are longer odds than in any other region of the country, the news organizations found. No major grid operator is as stingy as Bonneville in its approach to financing new transmission lines and substations needed to grow the power supply, according to industry groups that represent power producers.Efforts to bypass Bonneville didnt start until this year, when Oregon and Washington legislators considered bills to create their own state bonding authorities for upgrading the regions high-voltage network.Both bills died. Washington and Oregon Trail the Nation in Renewable Growth Changes in states average annual production of power from wind, solar, hydroelectric and geothermal between the decades of 2005-2014 and 2015-2024 (Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration) The grids severe constraints are hindering the Northwest at a time when it desperately needs more electricity. Oregon and Washington lawmakers lured power-guzzling data centers with tax breaks in recent years, and the industry has helped drive electricity demand sky high. Having failed to add enough green-energy sources or any new gas-fired power, the Northwest buys electricity from elsewhere, at high prices, during extreme weather. Rates paid by customers of major Oregon utilities are now 50% higher than five years ago. The worsening energy shortage threatens millions of residents with continual rate hikes and sporadic power outages not to mention dashing the Northwests hopes of drastically reducing its contribution to climate change. The people who, technically speaking, are in charge of our transmission system are dropping the ball, said Oregon state Rep. Mark Gamba, a Democrat who sponsored this years failed legislation aimed at creating a state grid improvement authority. We are absolutely looking at rolling blackouts, and we are absolutely looking at not hitting any of our climate targets when it comes to energy production. Kotek declined an interview request. Kotek spokesperson Anca Matica said in a statement that the governor is open to innovative ideas to increase transmission capacity and labeled it key to achieving the states energy goals. She offered no direct response to questions about Oregons lack of progress in boosting renewables. While Washington and Oregon generate a lot of hydro power, their numbers have trended down over the last decade Hydroelectric generation by state and theyve added new sources of renewables, such as wind and solar, much more slowly than other states. Renewable energy net generation by state, excluding hydro (Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration) Reuven Carlyle, the former state senator who crafted Washingtons 2019 decarbonization bill, said he was deeply cognizant of the regions transmission challenges at the time but that plans to address the problem simply slipped.Its certainly nothing to be proud of that it didnt get resolved, said Carlyle, who founded a consulting firm for climate-focused investments after leaving the Legislature. And its embarrassing that Oregon and Washington, which are such good-looking states, simply cant practically build anything in terms of energy.In the final months of the Biden administration, Bonneville announced a plan to do some grid upgrades, and agency Administrator John Hairston has said the self-funded federal agency is investing in transmission as much as it can without taking on too much debt.Bonneville responded to written questions from OPB and ProPublica by citing recent improvements to its process for connecting energy projects and noting that its not the only player responsible for growing the grid. The agency added that it remains committed to its critical mission of supporting the region with affordable, reliable and secure power.But Bonnevilles latest plans for the grid are in jeopardy. In addition to suspending all new federal wind permits, the Trump White House has added Bonneville to the long list of agencies cutting federal jobs. Three Bonneville employees, requesting anonymity for fear of retribution, said the cuts will make building out the transmission system even harder.With four years of Joe Bidens climate activism in the rearview mirror, the Pacific Northwest appears to have blown its best chance to realize its ambitions for renewable power. Projects in LimboDavid Brown is a case study in the long and agonizing path to breaking ground on a Northwest solar farm. The Portland energy developer has been in the renewables business since 2003, and his firm, Obsidian Renewables, has a plan to put a vast array of solar panels on a piece of southern Oregon high desert thats the size of 3,000 football fields. Brown said its expected to produce enough energy for about 110,000 homes. Obsidian will handle everything from acquiring the land to getting permits approved, then look to sell the solar farm to an investor or utility once its ready for construction. But any power plant, whether fueled by coal, wind or sunshine, has to be wired into the electrical grid: a system of transmission lines and transformers that pools electricity and channels it to customers. While power lines crisscross the nation, power mainly gets used within the region that generates it. As in most parts of the Northwest, the nearest transmission lines Brown could plug into belong to Bonneville. He asked the agency for permission to connect his solar farm to its system in 2020. He doesnt expect approval until at least 2028.I dont know a single place in Oregon or Washington where I can connect a new solar project and get transmission. Not one, he said.One part of the holdup is that Bonneville needs to finish studying what kind of substation it will need to safely let a big new power source into the grid. Browns 400-megawatt solar farm has been through three such interconnection studies so far. The first time, Bonneville estimated Browns business would need to pay $23 million to build a substation, which Bonneville would own. The second study bumped the price to $70 million. By the third, Brown said, it was $212 million. He said the agency blamed supply chain and labor issues, in part, for the near-tripling in cost over four years. David Browns company, Obsidian Renewables, has proposed to build one of the states largest solar farms but has been waiting for five years for Bonneville Power Administrations approval. (Kristyna Wentz-Graff/Oregon Public Broadcasting) There are hundreds of projects like Browns: more than 200,000 megawatts worth of renewable energy awaiting Bonnevilles signoff, or enough to power the Northwest nearly 10 times over. One proposed wind farm has been in Bonnevilles queue for more than 16 years. Among projects 20 megawatts or bigger that were proposed in the past decade, the only one that made it through Bonnevilles waitlist was an add-on to an existing Portland General Electric wind farm that didnt require any major transmission upgrades. It won approval in 2022. The Northwest is not the only region with a backlog of projects waiting to plug in. Grid operators across the country have navigated a deluge of new wind, solar and mass-storage battery requests in recent years. Many applicants proved to be merely testing the waters, with nearly 3 in 4 ultimately pulling their plans, according to Joseph Rand, an energy researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.But other regions managed to sort out problems better than the Northwest, OPB and ProPublica found. The news organizations used data from Bonneville and from a national database compiled by researchers at the Berkeley Lab to analyze how many large renewable energy projects waiting for grid connections made it to the finish line.The data showed that for large projects proposed since 2015, Bonnevilles one approval translates to a success rate of 0.2%, the lowest rate of any region. By contrast, about 10% of new applications for major projects in the Midwest and 28% in Texas made it through. Bonneville has said one reason for the slow progress is that its waitlist is jammed up with too many speculative projects more dream than financial reality. (Theres no evidence that Bonneville has it worse, though; data shows that the share of developers who back out after seeking Bonnevilles approval, 76%, is close to the national average.)Renewable advocates and energy developers say Bonneville struggles to hire and retain people to process connection requests because the agency pays less than the private sector. In January, Washington U.S. Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democrat, and Dan Newhouse, a Republican, introduced a bill to make Bonnevilles compensation more competitive, but it hasnt moved since.To speed things up, Bonneville has halted new requests for grid connections and changed its approach to reviewing applications. Where specialists used to review proposals one at a time, in the order received, they now plan to prioritize projects that are closest to ready. The agency said the new approach will increase the number of projects that get connected while cutting processing time in half, from an expected 15 years. Bonneville said in a statement that it is confident the interconnection reforms we adopted will prove sufficient to meet our customers needs.The changes have not yet helped Brown, who has been awaiting Bonnevilles approval to start work in southern Oregon since 2020. For now, the planned solar project remains in limbo.Its gonna take me years and a couple million dollars to get land use approval, Brown said, and why do I want to get land use approval if I dont know whether or not I have transmission?Theres No Room for Your ProjectThe predicament Brown and dozens of other wind and solar developers face is a product of the Northwests unusual history with electric power.Oregon and Washington were blessed with powerful rivers fed by abundant snow and rainfall. Beginning in the New Deal era, the federal government built dozens of hydroelectric dams and a sprawling transmission system to electrify the rural West. The regions energy supply was cheaper and emitted less carbon than the rest of the nations. Bonneville was at the helm.Even today, hydropower supplies almost 35% of Oregons electricity and more than 50% of Washingtons, according to the most recent data available. But hydroelectric dams are a finite and increasingly shaky power source. Output from existing dams dips whenever droughts sap water from the Columbia River basin. New dams are a nonstarter because dams have decimated the regions salmon populations.That leaves wind, solar and battery storage as the most promising places for the Northwest to turn as it approaches self-imposed deadlines to fully wean utilities off electricity that comes from oil, coal or gas.Bonneville has now become a barrier to accommodating the new power sources, six green energy developers told OPB and ProPublica.An agency that erected more than 4,800 miles of high-voltage transmission lines from 1960 to 1990 built fewer than 500 miles from 1990 to 2020. In the past five years, it built 1. Bonneville has the ability to borrow money, at low interest rates, for projects that would enable the grid to carry more power. Congress pushed the agency to do so in 2021, more than doubling Bonnevilles debt limit specifically to finance transmission upgrades. The chairs of the Oregon and Washington public utility commissions, in a joint 2022 letter, urged Bonneville to spend the money: The region needs BPA to be a leader in delivering a transmission system that serves the entire region. Bonneville, however, has been reluctant to take on debt. It is still paying off billions of dollars in bonds from failed nuclear plants in the 1970s. As recently as 2019, the agencys finances were so poor that some economists expected it to become insolvent. Bonnevilles transmission planners, for their part, have told OPB and ProPublica in previous interviews that they want to avoid building expensive transmission lines that no one ends up using.We cant speculate and build a transmission line to nowhere, Jeff Cook, the agencys vice president for transmission planning, said in May 2024. First image: Contractors repair a transformer box in Portland, Oregon. Second image: Solar panels on the Wheatridge farm, the only project Bonneville approved out of the hundreds that applied for a grid connection in the past decade. (Kristyna Wentz-Graff/Oregon Public Broadcasting) When Bonneville announced in the fall it would tap some of its expanded debt limit to help pay for $5 billion in transmission upgrades over a decade, renewable energy advocates characterized the work as long overdue maintenance that wouldnt provide the expansion the grid needs. Most of the work Bonneville announced was the equivalent of fixing potholes, installing some new round-abouts, doing some repaving, Spencer Gray, executive director of the Northwest & Intermountain Power Producers Coalition, said in an email.A further frustration for wind and solar developers that is unique to Bonneville: The grid operator makes them absorb an outsize share of the cost for projects that help the transmission network accommodate their electricity and it requires a big deposit up front. Thats true even if the new power lines benefit a wide network and will be around for many generations of customers.Lately, the answer to these individual developers has been, Theres no room for your project. If you want to put this project on our system, its going to cost you this many millions of dollars to help us upgrade the system, said Sarah Edmonds, president of a coalition of utilities known as the Western Power Pool.The approach, Edmonds said, has had a chilling effect on the ability of developers to get their projects online.Michelle Manary, Bonnevilles vice president of transmission marketing and sales, said requiring up-front deposits keeps existing ratepayers from getting stuck with the tab if a developer backs out and that Bonneville has begun work on a transmission upgrade. She said other regions have more control over who pays these costs because their entire distribution networks are under one operator. Bonnevilles transmission lines are more like highways, from which electric utilities serve as exit ramps that deliver power the last mile to Northwest neighborhoods. Manary denied that Bonnevilles current way of allocating costs has stifled green energy projects. But she acknowledged the agency needs to reevaluate its policy amid the flood of applications for new projects, and she said that process is underway. Texas Is Kicking Our AssThe rest of the nation has taken a different approach to bringing green power online with better outcomes.In most parts of the country, each grid has a central, independent operator, known as a regional transmission organization, typically run by a board that represents customers, electric utilities and other groups. Bonneville recently rejected joining a California-based energy market that advocates described as the Northwests best bet at accelerating the adoption of renewables.In Texas, which runs its own grid, large renewable projects applying to connect in the past decade took a median of 19 months to get the green light, or nearly two years less than the one project Bonneville approved in that time frame. California and the Midwest were also faster than Bonneville.Texas doesnt require project-by-project grid upgrades the way other grid operators do. It essentially tells developers it will connect their project, and then it figures out how to balance the added electricity after the fact. Texas and other regional grid operators spend billions more than Bonneville on transmission upgrades annually, and they spread the costs across a wider swath of customers than Bonneville does. (Bonneville says the federal agency differs so much from regional operators that theyre not a fair comparison group.) Texas brought more energy online in the past two years than any other power region. Thats helped the oil and gas powerhouse become the countrys biggest producer of wind and solar energy. Last year alone it added more than enough renewable energy to power the entire Northwest.Texas is kicking our ass, said Gamba, the Oregon state representative. Oil well pumps and wind turbines in Lamesa, Texas, in February (Julio Cortez/AP) Northwest lawmakers were told that theyd need to find effective ways of confronting their regions aging transmission system if they wished to phase out coal and natural gas.As Washington lawmakers debated a mandate for renewable power in 2019, Nicholas Garcia of the Washington Public Utility Districts Association testified that replacing coal plants with wind and solar would require more transmission, significantly more transmission.In 2021, when Oregon lawmakers debated their own mandate for carbon-free energy, Republicans also raised concerns that the states transmission lines were maxed out. It became one more GOP argument against the bill, in addition to saying more should be done to ensure green energy projects were built in Oregon. Numerous reports from the Oregon and U.S. departments of energy, for example supported the assertion that heftier transmission lines were needed. Bonneville would be key to meeting that need, with one utilities lobbyist calling Bonnevilles grid the backbone for decarbonization in testimony to Oregon lawmakers. But Oregon state Rep. Pam Marsh, who led the 2021 effort, said in a recent interview she was focused on getting utilities to cut their carbon emissions and that green energy advocates werent demanding transmission improvements at the time.I was not thinking personally about the role that Bonneville might play in this, said Marsh, a Democrat representing southern Oregon. Washingtons Legislature took some action on the need for better transmission: It required the state to study the issue. The resulting 2022 report concluded that the grid was indeed inadequate but led to little in the way of solutions. Instead, lawmakers decided to require utilities to plan out transmission needs 20 years ahead rather than 10, and they created a statewide environmental review in hopes of streamlining the states approval process for transmission. It did nothing about impediments posed by Bonneville. The Legislature was a little complacent about relying on Bonneville to upgrade the grid, said Sen. Sharon Shewmake, a freshman lawmaker in 2019 when Washington enacted its energy mandate.Shewmake and Gamba both introduced legislation this year following states like Colorado, New Mexico, North Dakota and Wyoming in creating independent authorities to finance transmission infrastructure. Gamba said he led an 80-person group of interested parties through 18 months of drafting. Democratic Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson labeled Shewmakes bill a priority.The legislation didnt make it through either states Democrat-controlled legislatures, however.Brown, the energy developer whos been awaiting Bonnevilles solar approval since 2020, said the future of the Northwests energy dreams looks dim.We dont have a prayer of meeting our heralded, flag-waving renewable energy goals, he said. The dialogue will be to blame Trump; it wont be to blame ourselves for poor planning and extremely low expectations. Ellis Simani assisted with data analysis.

The papacy is a global platform, so the issues Pope Leo chooses to focus on can resonate far beyond the church.

Plus, For Sale: The popes childhood home.

The Kurdish group waged a bloody insurgency against the Turkish state for four decades.

The United States and China said Monday they would temporarily slash tariffs in an effort to reduce global trade tensions.

When the bidding stops Monday, the top buyers of a Trump family crypto coin will win a tour of the White House.

Nature, Published online: 12 May 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01467-4Researchers looking to study the social ramifications of mass traumas must not overlook the histories of affected communities in the search for healing.

Nature, Published online: 09 May 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01506-0A small tweak to a common enzyme lets stinky plants make their distinctive scents. Plus, physicists turned lead into gold for a fraction of a second and the migrations of herrings are being altered by the loss of elders knowledge.

President Trump has always viewed the presidency as a worldwide hunt for deals. And there is no better place for that than the Gulf, where a few men wield absolute authority over vast wealth.

Its been a scary few months for American air travel. How did we get here?

Civilian flights were returning to normal, and stocks jumped in both nations, signs of confidence that the agreement to halt fighting was holding.

These bellwether artworks in the spring auctions this week may indicate whether a recovery is likely, after years of declining profits and high rollers.

Justice David H. Souter, who died last week, said in 2012 that public ignorance of the Constitution could lead to the rise of an autocrat and the death of democracy.

Nature, Published online: 12 May 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01464-7An adventurous survey of inhospitable habitats unearths extraordinary organisms that pose challenging research questions.

Nature, Published online: 12 May 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01465-6Theoretical physicists are in thrall to a misguided mindset that allows viable ideas to be advanced only by overturning what already exists.

Nature, Published online: 12 May 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01501-5The transmuted metal only lasted a fraction of a second before it was obliterated but can tell researchers more about how atoms change.

In his first audience with the press as pontiff, Leo renewed his pleas for a more peaceful world and quoted his predecessor, Pope Francis, who had called for communication that is free from aggression.

As the president heads to the Middle East, Americas dominance over A.I. chips has become a powerful source of leverage for the president.

Mr. Brunk rose to fame with the Extreme Championship Wrestling Circuit, pioneering a wrestling style that made use of props like tables and chairs.

Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, the Democrats vice-presidential nominee last year, will attend state party conventions in South Carolina and California on May 31.

Few policy differences have emerged among the Democrats vying to replace the retiring Senator Richard J. Durbin, while Gov. JB Pritzkers influence looms large.

In April, Coca-Cola proudly launched a new ad campaign it called Classic, celebrating famous authors and the sugary drinks omnipresence in culture by highlighting classic literary works that mention the brand. The firm that produced the ad campaign said it used AI to scan books for mentions of Coca-Cola, and then put viewers in the point of view of the author, typing that portion of the text on a typewriter. The only issue is that the AI got some very basic facts about the authors and their work entirely wrong.One of the ads highlights the work of J.G. Ballard, the British author perhaps best known for his controversial masterpiece, Crash, and David Cronenbergs film adaptation of the novel. In the ad, we get a first person perspective of someone typing a sentence from Extreme Metaphors by J.G Ballard, which according to the ad was written in 1967. When the sentence gets to the mention of Coca-Cola, the typeface changes from the generic typewriter font to Coca-Colas iconic red logo.Before going to China with my parents, I spent six months in Canada, I went to Detroit, Buffalo, the Niagara falls. Whats more, the Shangai [sic] I knew was entirely within the sphere of American influence, says the text that appears on the page as the typewriter clack. The cars, the merchandise, Coca-Cola, air conditioning, the radio stations, the comics, the lifestyle, it was all American.When the typewriter types Coca-Colas logo we can hear the pop and fizz of a carbonated bottle opening.J.G. Ballard never wrote a book called Extreme Metaphors, and he never wrote the words that appear on the page in the ad. In reality, Extreme Metaphors, actual full title: Extreme Metaphors: Selected Interviews with J. G. Ballard 1967-2008, is a book edited by Dan OHara and Simon Sellars which collects interviews with J.G. Ballard that was published in 2012, three years after the authors death. The words in the ad were not written, but spoken by Ballard in an interview with the French Magazine Littraire in 1985. Ballard spoke in English, the magazine translated his words to French, and OHara told me he translated that printed French back to English.The sequence of words being typed out by the imagined J. G. Ballard in the ad was never written by him, only spoken, and the only person ever to type that exact sequence out in English is me, OHara told me. What most outraged my eye was the word Shangai being typed. Ballard would never have misspelled the name of the city in which he was born. Seeing the ad triggered an academic neurosis: had I? I checked my copy of Extreme Metaphors and, thank god, no: its printed as Shanghai in the original text.For the creation of Classic AI was leveraged in the initial research phase to identify books with brand mentions, a spokesperson for VML, a WPP agency behind the ad, told me in an email. After that, we conducted a manual scan of credible sources to ensure accuracy and due diligence and secured permission from all involved publishers, authors and estates.WPPs Open, an AI-powered Production Studio, collaborated on the ad. Coca-Cola also recently got some bad press about a different AI-generated ad, but this one was produced by a different agency.VML did not respond to specific questions about inaccuracies in the ad. Coca-Cola and the J.G. Ballard estate did not respond to a request for comment. At the time of writing, the ad is still up on YouTube, errors and all.A source who was familiar with the details of the deal who asked to remain anonymous told me that the Ballard estate was not aware the ad used AI in any way.If you read the text in the ad, you're not reading his prose: you're reading mine, translating his recorded words from French, OHara said. I've done my best to render his meaning, but that's all I've managed to do. My prose is a pretty poor substitute for the real thing, and I feel anyone seeing the ad and thinking there's nothing special about the writing is both right, and misled to think it's Ballard's own writing.I think I had to translate five of the interviews in the book into English, including the one used in the ad, and getting the tone and feel of a particular speaker right is an art and an endeavour in itself, OHara added. All of that is made evident by and in the book itself, and the relation between the authors and Ballard is clear. Coca-Cola's ad erases all of that. But on the other hand, I'm not going to argue with Coca-Cola describing Extreme Metaphors as a literary classic!Another clue that the people who made this ad do not really understand or care about Ballards work is that they chose to highlight it in the first place. His most famous novel, Crash, is about people who are turned on and have sex in terrible car crashes. Not exactly brand friendly. It is also, as Ballard himself said, about how technology can exploit us all, a very common complaint against generative AI.I would still like to think that Crash is the first pornographic novel based on technology, Ballard wrote in his 1995 introduction to the novel. In a sense, pornography is the most political form of fiction, dealing with how we use and exploit each other, in the most urgent and ruthless way. Needless to say, the ultimate role of Crash is cautionary, a warning against that brutal, erotic and overlit realm that beckons more and more persuasively to us from the margins of the technological landscape.

Nature, Published online: 12 May 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01469-2Cesria Hu is collecting bat vocalizations to understand how the sounds they make evolve.

There are no more excuses, the California governor said in pushing for municipalities to address one of the most visible byproducts of homelessness.

As the use of GLP-1s soars in popularity, diners are wrestling with new restaurant etiquette dilemmas and adjusting accordingly.

Republicans should embrace their working class voters.

President Trump goes to the Gulf kingdom this week seeking $1 trillion worth of investments in the United States a sum equivalent to the entire Saudi gross domestic product for a year.

A handshake deal with the food industry will never be enough.

Sort of a perk, right? Okay, sure, you and Jeff arent that close these days, but in theory it might be nice to see him more often. He could, like, come over for beers in the garage sometimes.Reference #34675The post Close To Jeff appeared first on The Onion.

LOS ANGELESAppearing nervous as he acknowledged that he had concealed the truth from his fiance for far too long, actor Tom Holland confided to reporters Thursday that he was working up the courage to tell Zendaya he was only 17.Oh man, I think Im in over my headwhen we go to get our marriage license, theyre bound to ask for some form of ID with my date of birth on it, said Holland, who admitted that while there had been a number of opportunities to come clean over the many years of their relationship, he had always found an excuse to put off telling the award-winning actress that he was legally underage. I know its scary, but Ive got to do it. If she really loves me, shell accept me for who I am no matter what my age. And maybe she already knows! She has to have some kind of idea considering I havent even gone through my growth spurt yet.Holland later added that he hoped Zendaya would be okay with a long-distance relationship once he started college next fall.The post Tom Holland Working Up Courage To Tell Zendaya He Only 17 appeared first on The Onion.

MEXICO CITYIn what is being hailed as a groundbreaking linguistic survey of resorts, beaches, and other tourist hotspots, a new report published Wednesday by a consortium of language experts across Mexico found that vacationing sources habla un poquito de espaol.According to the data we collected, American-born subjects were eager to tell researchers that they no habla espaol bien, perono se la palabrathey wanted to try, read the report, which went on to state that 85% of those surveyed in flip-flops, sunglasses, and festive linen shirts knew phrases like hola, me llamo Steve, dnde est el bao, y muchas gracias, seor because they took espaol en la escuela. Over the course of our research, we discovered that the sample population was eager to approach locals and strike up conversations about la comida, la playa, y las chicas bonitas. Out of 200 tourist participants, over half were also excited to self-report that they parle un peu de franais aussi.In addition, the study found that when addressed in English, 99% of blushing sources shyly admitted that they habla como un gringo y that ay caramba, tu ingls es muy bien.The post New Report Finds Vacationing Sources Habla Un Poquito De Espaol appeared first on The Onion.

WASHINGTONCiting an urgent need to combat dangerous and highly contagious ideas that might lead people to oppose the president, the Trump administration began offering free at-home loyalty tests Tuesday.The tests, which are distributed through the government website www.LoyaltyTestKits.com and mailed to the homes of U.S. residents, have been described by the White House as a quick and painless way for Americans to prove they support the agenda of President Donald Trump. In a post on Truth Social, the president described the kits as critical to determining who was a dedicated foot soldier of the MAGA movement and who was a traitor to their country.America can ONLY be great again when EVERYONE is loyal to me, wrote Trump, who went on to blame the previous administration for failing to identify and isolate several virulent strains of anti-Trump sentiment. Unlike CROOKED JOE BIDEN, the American people LOVE their favorite president of all time! Me! GO ONLINE NOW to order up to 4 test kits so you can ensure the whole family is LOYAL to the commander-in-chief.With your help we are one step closer to being the most obedient country IN THE WORLD, he added. Prepare yourselves, radical left haters!!!At LoyaltyTestKits.com, U.S. residents can sign up to receive a device that detects whether they have been infected with strains of thought that could make them a very sick person.According to the White Houses current disloyalty guidelines, Americans who test positive for treason are required to report their results to the federal government, wear protective MAGA gear, and quarantine indefinitely until they can prove their penance is paid and undying fealty to PresidentTrump has been achieved.In a press conference, Trump praised the brave men and women on the front lines of the fight against disloyalty, who he said had worked tirelessly to enforce his beautiful vision and ensure that dissenters were crushed, never to oppose his ultimate authority again.While several users reported glitches with the tests, including false positives that incorrectly labeled them a high security risk and enemy of the state, many expressed gratitude, saying they would have never known they were disloyal if their test hadnt alerted them.I took a test last week, and ever since, Ive been in lockdown, said 39-year-old Arizona resident Jason Stambaugh, adding that he had been forced to stay inside, isolate, and watch hours of Fox News clips praising Trump. I used to oppose his policies, but after a few days of state-mandated quarantine, I feel so much better. No matter what he doeswhether he takes my money, cuts my benefits, or imprisons my familyI support him.If President Trump wants to lock me up, there must be a reason, Stambaugh added. Maybe I was the enemy from within all along.At press time, reports confirmed several members of the Trump administration had been pronounced dead after testing positive for a terminal strain of disloyalty.The post Trump Administration Offers Free At-Home Loyalty Tests appeared first on The Onion.

CHICAGOEvaluating whether top college talent like Ace Bailey, Dylan Harper, and Kasparas Jakuionis can actually clean up on a professional level, the NBA Draft Combine started this week by testing how well prospects direct-message models on Instagram. Sometimes these players messages look good on paper, or theyre showing off on Instagram Reels, but then you see them in person and realize they dont have what it takes to DM at an NBA level, said Charlotte Hornets scout Cam Twiss, who explained that prospects are assessed on their timing, emoji form, shot selection, and a host of other essential DMing skills. Some of them are volume players firing off 30 or 40 DMs a night, while others guys are going to mix it up in the chat and fight for every reply, and the combine gives us a chance to see how they measure up. These arent some local college girls they are dealing with. These are elite women with careers and skills and a professional-level block game. You need a lot more speed and finesse than just texting Whats up? with an eggplant. These models are getting hit up by DM legends like LeBron James and Paul George, and we need to predict how these kids will compete with that. At press time, top NBA prospect Cooper Flagg was plummeting down draft boards after reportedly getting blocked by three Chicago-area models in a row.The post NBA Combine Tests How Well Prospects DM Models On Instagram appeared first on The Onion.

I was shocked to find this out! READ MORE...

Late last night, House Republicans introduced new language to the Budget Reconciliation bill that will immiserate the lives of millions of Americans by cutting their access to Medicaid, and making life much more difficult for millions more by making them pay higher fees when they seek medical care. While a lot of attention will be justifiably given to these cuts, the bill has also crammed in new language that attempts to entirely stop states from enacting any regulation against artificial intelligence....no State or political subdivision thereof may enforce any law or regulation regulating artificial intelligence models, artificial intelligence systems, or automated decision systems during the 10 year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, says the text of the bill introduced Sunday night by Congressman Brett Guthrie of Kentucky, Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The text of the bill will be considered by the House at the budget reconciliation markup on May 13.That language of the bill, how it goes on to define AI and other automated systems, and what it considers regulation, is broad enough to cover relatively new generative AI tools and technology that has existed for much longer. In theory, that language will make it impossible to enforce many existing and proposed state laws that aim to protect people from and inform them about AI systems.For example, last year California passed a law that requires health care providers to disclose when they have used generative AI to communicate clinical information to patients. In 2021, New York passed the first law in the United States requiring employers to conduct bias audits of AI tools used for employment decisions. California also passed a law that will go into effect in 2026 which requires developers of generative AI models to share detailed documentation on its websites about the data it used to develop these models, an extremely consequential law as AI companies are currently hiding their exploitation of copyrighted materials in order to create these models, as we have shown repeatedly.In theory none of these states will be able to enforce these laws if Republicans manage to pass the Budget Reconciliation bill with this current language.The AI industry has been sucking up to Trump since before he got into office, and his administration is intertwined with AI executives, be it Elon Musk at DOGE, David Sacks as an AI czar, or Marc Andreessen as an advisor. Trump has returned the favor by undoing Biden era executive orders aimed at mitigating AI risk. Preventing states from charting their own paths on this issue and trying to protect people from these systems will be one of the most radical positions Republicans have taken on this issue yet.

An informal survey along Bleecker Street surfaced complaints about higher delivery costs, but most businesses are making do, even if they do not like it.

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters as he signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, May 9, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)2025-05-12T11:28:37Z WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump said he will set a 30-day deadline for drugmakers to lower the cost of prescription drugs in a sweeping executive order that he will sign on Monday. The order calls on the health department, led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to broker new price tags for drugs, according to a White House official who briefed the press on the executive order ahead of its signing. If a deal is not reached, a new rule will kick in that will tie the price of what the U.S. pays for medications to lower prices paid by other countries. Trump teased the executive order in a social media post on Sunday evening. I will be instituting a MOST FAVORED NATIONS POLICY whereby the United States will pay the same price as the Nation that pays the lowest price anywhere in the World, the Republican president posted, pledging to sign the order on Monday morning at the White House. The federal government spends hundreds of billions of dollars on prescription drugs, injectables, transfusions and other medications every year through Medicare, which covers nearly 70 million older Americans. The nations leading pharmaceutical lobby on Sunday pushed back, calling it a bad deal for American patients. Drugmakers have long argued that any threats to their profits could impact the research they do to develop new drugs. Importing foreign prices will cut billions of dollars from Medicare with no guarantee that it helps patients or improves their access to medicines, Stephen J. Ubl, the president and CEO of PhRMA, said in a statement. It jeopardizes the hundreds of billions our member companies are planning to invest in America, making us more reliant on China for innovative medicines. Trumps so-called most favored nation approach to Medicare drug pricing has been controversial since he first tried to implement it during his first term. He signed a similar executive order in the final weeks of his presidency, which called for the U.S. to only pay a lower price that other countries pay for drugs administered in a doctors office. But even that more narrow executive order faced hurdles, with a court order that blocked the rule from going into effect under President Joe Bidens administration. The pharmaceutical industry argued that Trumps 2020 attempt would give foreign governments the upper hand in deciding the value of medicines in the U.S.Trump has played up the announcement, saying it will save taxpayers big money. Our Country will finally be treated fairly, and our citizens Healthcare Costs will be reduced by numbers never even thought of before, Trump added. He has touted immediate savings, but the health department is limited in its control of drug pricing. It has the most authority around the drug prices it pays for Medicare and Medicaid, which covers roughly 80 million poor and disabled Americans. The price that millions of Americans covered by private insurance pay for drugs is harder for the agency to manipulate. Trump boasted in his post that the plan will save TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS. The executive order will also encourage the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission to examine enforcement action the agencies can take around the pricing of drugs. The U.S. routinely outspends other nations on drug prices, compared with other large and wealthy countries, a problem that has long drawn the ire of both major political parties, but a lasting fix has never cleared Congress. Trump came into his first term accusing pharmaceutical companies of getting away with murder and complaining that other countries whose governments set drug prices were taking advantage of Americans.On Sunday, Trump took aim at the industry again, writing that the Pharmaceutical/Drug Companies would say, for years, that it was Research and Development Costs, and that all of these costs were, and would be, for no reason whatsoever, borne by the suckers of America, ALONE. Referring to drug companies powerful lobbying efforts, he said that campaign contributions can do wonders, but not with me, and not with the Republican Party. We are going to do the right thing, he wrote. AMANDA SEITZ Seitz is an Associated Press reporter covering federal health care policy. She is based in Washington, D.C. twitter mailto WILL WEISSERT Weissert covers the White House for The Associated Press. He is based in Washington. twitter mailto SEUNG MIN KIM Kim covers the White House for The Associated Press. She joined the AP in 2022 and is based in Washington. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Pope Leo XIV meets with members of the international media in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Monday, May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)2025-05-12T09:19:53Z VATICAN CITY (AP) Pope Leo XIV on Monday called for the release of imprisoned journalists and affirmed the precious gift of free speech and the press in an audience with some of the 6,000 journalists who descended on Rome to cover his election as the first American pontiff.Leo received a standing ovation as he entered the Vatican auditorium for his first meeting with representatives of the general public.The 69-year-old Augustinian missionary, elected in a 24-hour conclave last week, called for journalists to use words for peace, to reject war and to give voice to the voiceless.He expressed solidarity with journalists around the world who have been jailed for trying to seek and report the truth. Drawing applause from the crowd, he asked for their release.The church recognises in these witnesses I am thinking of those who report on war even at the cost of their lives the courage of those who defend dignity, justice and the right of people to be informed, because only informed individuals can make free choices, he said. The suffering of these imprisoned journalists challenges the conscience of nations and the international community, calling on all of us to safeguard the precious gift of free speech and of the press. Leo opened the meeting with a few words in English, joking that if the crowd was still awake and applauding at the end, it mattered more than the ovation that greeted him. Turning to Italian, he thanked the journalists for their work covering the papal transition and urged them to use words of peace.Peace begins with each one of us: in the way we look at others, listen to others and speak about others, he said. In this sense, the way we communicate is of fundamental importance: we must say no to the war of words and images, we must reject the paradigm of war.After his brief speech, in which he reflected on the power of words to do good, he greeted some of the journalists in the front rows and then shook hands with the crowd as he exited the audience hall down the central aisle. He signed a few autographs and posed for a few selfies. Journalists later shared some of the few words they exchanged with him, including hints that Vatican plans are going ahead for Leo to travel to Turkey to commemorate an important event in Catholic-Orthodox relations: the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea, Christianitys first ecumenical council.Other tidbits emerged: Journalists offered to play doubles in tennis, or to organize a charity match. Leo, a regular tennis player, seemed game but we cant invite Sinner, he joked, referring to the world No. 1 Jannik Sinner, who is playing just up the Tiber at the Italian Open.It was in the 2013 audience with journalists who covered the election of historys first Latin American pope that Pope Francis explained his choice of name, after St. Francis of Assisi, and his desire for a church which is poor and for the poor!During his 12-year pontificate, Francis too spoke about the value of journalism and as recently as January, he appealed for the release of imprisoned journalists during a Holy Year event with the media. NICOLE WINFIELD Winfield has been on the Vatican beat since 2001, covering the papacies of St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and the Francis pontificate and traveling the world with them.

Cassie Ventura, left, and Sean "Diddy" Combs appear at the premiere of "Can't Stop, Won't Stop: A Bad Boy Story" on June 21, 2017, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)2025-05-12T10:21:44Z NEW YORK (AP) Federal prosecutors and defense lawyers began summarizing their cases Monday in the Sean Diddy Combs sex trafficking trial, shortly after they settled on the jury that will eventually render judgement on the hip-hop icon.The proceedings in Manhattan began with prosecutors and the defense rejecting several candidates for the 12-person jury, which also includes six alternates. Testimony will begin after the sides present their opening statements.Combs, wearing a white sweater, entered the packed courtroom shortly before 9 a.m., hugged his lawyers and gave a thumbs up to supporters seated behind him. Earlier, the line to get into the courthouse stretched down the block. Combs mother and some of his children were escorted past the crowd and brought straight into the building.Combs, 55, pleaded not guilty to a five-count indictment that could land him in prison for at least 15 years if he is convicted on all charges. He has been held at a federal jail in Brooklyn since his arrest in September. Lawyers for the three-time Grammy winner say prosecutors are wrongly trying to make a crime out of a party-loving lifestyle that may have been indulgent, but was not illegal. Prosecutors say Combs coerced women into drugged-up group sexual encounters, then kept them in line through violence. He is accused of choking, hitting, kicking and dragging women, often by the hair. Before jury selection was completed, both sides struck the maximum number of potential choices they were allowed, with the defense dismissing 10 and prosecutors eliminating six. U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian rejected defense lawyers claims that the prosecution was being discriminatory by striking seven Black people from the jury, saying Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey had given race-neutral reasons.Subramanian told jurors that the court would shield their identities from public view, a common practice in federal cases to keep juries anonymous, particularly in sensitive, high-profile matters where juror safety is a concern. Combs former girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, is expected to be among the trials early witnesses.She filed a lawsuit in 2023 saying Combs had subjected her to years of abuse, including beatings and rape. The lawsuit was settled within hours of its filing, but it touched off a law enforcement investigation and was followed by dozens of lawsuits from people making similar claims.Prosecutors plan to show jurors video a security camera video of Combs beating Cassie in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.Jurors may also see recordings of events called Freak Offs, where prosecutors say women had sex with male sex workers while Combs filmed them. The indictment said the events sometimes lasted days and participants required IV-drips to recover.Combs attorney, Marc Agnifilo, has said that the Bad Boy Records founder was not a perfect person and was undergoing therapy, including for drug use, before his arrest.But he and other lawyers for Combs have argued that any group sex was consensual and any violence was an aberration. After the video of Combs assaulting Cassie in the hotel aired on CNN last year, Combs apologized and said he took full responsibility for his actions. I was disgusted then when I did it. Im disgusted now.The Associated Press doesnt generally identify people who say they are victims of sexual abuse unless they come forward publicly, as Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, has done.The trial is expected to last at least eight weeks.___Associated Press writer Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report. MICHAEL R. SISAK Sisak is an Associated Press reporter covering law enforcement, courts and prisons. He is based in New York. twitter mailto

Republican Senator of Utah Mike Lee introduced a bill that would effectively ban porn at the federal level in the United States.The Interstate Obscenity Definition Act (IODA), introduced by Lee and Illinois Republican Rep. Mary Miller on Thursday, aims to change the Supreme Courts 1973 Miller Test for determining what qualifies as obscene. Obscenity isnt protected by the First Amendment, but hazy and unenforceable legal definitions have allowed extreme pornography to saturate American society and reach countless children, Lee said in a press release. Our bill updates the legal definition of obscenity for the internet age so this content can be taken down and its peddlers prosecuted.The Miller Test is the three-pronged test that followed the famous I know it when I see it line from Justice Potter Stewart in 1964 when he grappled with defining obscenity at the time. The three prongs of the Miller Test are: Whether the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest; whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law; and whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.According to Lees press release (the full text of the bill is not yet on Congress website as of Monday morning, but Lee gave it to right-wing media outlet The Daily Caller last week), the IODA redefines obscenity within the Communications Act of 1934 as content that taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest in nudity, sex, or excretion and depicts, describes or represents actual or simulated sexual acts with the objective intent to arouse, titillate, or gratify the sexual desires of a person, which taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. Most importantly, it completely removes the intent requirement from the current lawwhich currently prohibits the transmission of obscenity for the purposes of abusing, threatening, or harassing a person. That would mean anyone sharing or posting content thats at all sexual or intended to arouse could be prosecuted for a federal crime.This is Lees third attempt at trying to pass the same bill: He tried it in 2022 and again in 2024. But we are in an even more hostile political climate today when it comes to sexual expression, free speech, and porn. Project 2025, the conservative roadmap for the Trump presidency spearheaded by several in the administration, aims to demonize and obliterate pornography altogethersomething sex workers have been sounding the alarm about for years.

Nature, Published online: 12 May 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01485-2Jakub Pachocki, who leads the firms development of advanced models, is excited to release an open version to researchers.

Nature, Published online: 12 May 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01443-yThe steepest drops in number are seen in areas that host the largest populations a trend observed for more than 80% of bird species across the continent.

After a terrorist attack in Kashmir, India and Pakistan traded volleys of attacks. The two sides said they had agreed to a cease-fire on Saturday.

The answer was right under my nose all along. READ MORE...

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From left, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz make a call to U.S. President Donald Trump from Kyiv, Ukraine, on Saturday, May 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov)2025-05-12T07:45:08Z KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Russia launched more than 100 Shahed and decoy drones at Ukraine in nighttime attacks, the Ukrainian air force said Monday, after the Kremlin effectively rejected an unconditional 30-day ceasefire in the more than three-year war, but reiterated that it would take part in possible peace talks later this week without preconditions.There was no direct response from the Kremlin, meanwhile, to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyys challenge for Russian leader Vladimir Putin to meet him for face-to-face peace talks in Turkey on Thursday.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday refused to say who might travel to Istanbul from the Russian side.Overall, were determined to seriously look for ways to achieve a long-term peaceful settlement. That is all, Peskov said.The United States and European governments are making a concerted push to stop the fighting, which has killed tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides, as well as more than 10,000 Ukrainian civilians. Russias invading forces have taken around one-fifth of Ukraine in Europes biggest conflict since World War II. In a flurry of diplomatic developments over the weekend, Russia shunned the ceasefire proposal tabled by the U.S. and European leaders, but offered direct talks with Ukraine on Thursday.Ukraine, along with European allies, had demanded that Russia accept a ceasefire starting Monday before holding peace talks. Moscow effectively rejected that proposal and instead called for direct negotiations in Istanbul. West increases pressure on Putin U.S. President Donald Trump insisted that Ukraine accept the Russian offer of talks. Zelenskyy went a step further Sunday and put pressure on Putin by offering a personal meeting.France added its voice to that offer Monday, with Foreign Minister Jean-Nol Barrot urging Putin to accept though Barrot repeated the European position that a truce must be in place before the talks.Russias failure to join the ceasefire offered by Ukraine would bring further sanctions on Moscow, European leaders say. Germany on Monday reminded Russia of that intention.The clock is ticking. There are 12 hours until the end of the day and, if the ceasefire doesnt stand by then, the European side will keep to the agreement to implement further sanctions, German government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius said.Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said that giving ultimatums to Russia was unacceptable and wouldnt work.You cannot talk to Russia in this language, he told reporters.Also Monday, U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy was hosting in London senior diplomatic officials from France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Poland and the European Union to discuss how best to fight back against Russian aggression.Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that he expected the two sides to reach a compromise in coming days that might break the deadlock over whether talks could begin without a truce in place.Russian and Ukrainian officials are mindful of public opinion in their countries and are trying to secure the support of the United States for their stances, he said in explaining the delay. Ukrainians react to peace prospects In Kyiv, residents expressed a mixture of hope and despondency at the latest peace efforts.Putin doesnt want a truce to halt the war, because it will mean that he has lost, Antonina Metko, 43, told The Associated Press. That is why they are postponing it. And everything will continue in the same way. Unfortunately.Vladyslav Nehrybetskyi, 72, was more upbeat, saying that the seeds of a peace agreement are being sown, even though a difficult process lies ahead. So lets hope. Ukraines government has tried to keep up the momentum for a peace deal started by the Trump administration.Ukraine wants to end this war and is doing everything for this, Zelenskyy said on Telegram Monday. We expect appropriate steps from Russia.The Ukrainian leader said that he told Pope Leo XIV about peace efforts during his first phone conversation with the new pontiff.Ukraine is counting on the Vaticans help in securing the return of thousands of children that the government says have been deported by Russia, Zelenskyy said, adding that he had invited the pope to visit Ukraine. In his first Sunday noon blessing as pontiff, Leo called for a genuine and just peace in Ukraine. I carry in my heart the sufferings of the beloved Ukrainian people, he said.In 2022, in the wars early months, Zelenskyy repeatedly called for a personal meeting with Putin but was rebuffed, and eventually enacted a decree declaring that holding negotiations with him had become impossible.Putin and Zelenskyy have only met once, in 2019. Trump says that deep hatred between the sides has made it difficult to push peace efforts forward.___Sylvie Corbet in Paris, Danica Kirka in London, Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, and Geir Moulson in Berlin, contributed to this report.___Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine