The annual weekend celebrating Americas free press went forward, even as the Trump administration chips away at press freedoms.

Both major political parties are pledging steep cuts on the number of foreigners allowed to study in Australia as a way to rein in runaway housing prices.

Stephen Curry had 36 points, and the Warriors delivered perhaps their gutsiest performance of the season in a 104-93 win to take a 2-1 series lead over the Rockets.

The previously winless North Carolina Courage scored twice in the final minutes of the game to hand the first-place Kansas City Current their first loss of the NWSL season on Saturday.

Drinks in hand, anxious media people braved a series of events in the nights before the annual White House Correspondents Association dinner.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen on a screen as he attends a concert in Red Square in Moscow, on March 18, 2024, marking the 10th anniversary of Russias annexation of Crimea. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)2025-04-27T05:11:09Z KYIV, Ukraine (AP) A peace proposal by the Trump administration that includes recognizing Russian authority over Crimea shocked Ukrainian officials, who say they will not accept any formal surrender of the peninsula, even though they expect to concede the territory to the Kremlin, at least temporarily.Giving up the land that was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014 is also politically and legally impossible, according to experts. It would require a change to the Ukrainian constitution and a nationwide vote, and it could be considered treason. Lawmakers and the public are firmly opposed to the idea.It doesnt mean anything, said Oleksandr Merezkho, a lawmaker with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyys party. We will never recognize Crimea as part of Russia.Unlike a territorial concession, a formal surrender would permanently relinquish Crimea and abandon the hope that Ukraine could regain it in the future. The Ukrainian public largely understands that land must be ceded as part of any armistice because there is no way to retake it militarily. Polls indicate a rising percentage of the population accepts such a trade-off. But much of the public messaging about land concessions has suggested that they are not necessarily permanent, as when Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko told the BBC recently that Ukraine may need to temporarily give up land as part of a peace deal. Saying otherwise would effectively admit defeat a deeply unpopular move, especially for Ukrainians living under Russian occupation who hope to be liberated and reunited with their families one day. It also would call into question the sacrifices made by tens of thousands of Ukrainian service members who have been killed or wounded.U.S. President Donald Trump underscored the Crimea proposal in an interview published Friday in Time magazine: Crimea will stay with Russia. Zelenskyy understands that, and everybody understands that its been with them for a long time. His comments offered the latest example of the U.S. leader pressuring Ukraine to make concessions to end the war while it remains under siege. Trump has also accused Zelenskyy of prolonging the war by resisting negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.Crimea, a strategic peninsula along the Black Sea in southern Ukraine, was seized by Russia years before the full-scale invasion that began in 2022. The Russian takeover followed large protests that ousted former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who had refused to sign an association agreement with the European Union.In the lead-up to peace talks, Ukrainian officials told The Associated Press for months that they expect Crimea and other Ukrainian territory controlled by Russia to be among Kyivs concessions in the event of any deal. But Zelenskyy has said on multiple occasions that formally surrendering the land has always been a red line.Elements of Trumps peace proposal would see the U.S. formally recognizing Crimea as Russian and de facto accepting Moscows rule over occupied Ukrainian territories, according to a senior European official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic discussions. Whether the U.S. formally recognizes Crimea as Russian is out of Zelenskyys hands. But many obstacles prevent the Ukrainian president from doing so, even under immense pressure. He cannot unilaterally sign any such proposal, and he could be reprimanded by future governments for even attempting it, experts said.Ukraine began to accept that it would not regain its lost territories after the failure of the countrys 2023 summer counteroffensive. From then on, the Ukrainian military concentrated on defending the territory it still held.In return for territorial concessions, Ukraine wants robust security guarantees that ideally would include NATO membership or concrete plans to arm and train its forces against any future Russian invasion with the pledged support of allies. One scenario envisions European boots on the ground, which Russia rejects. Zelenskyy has said negotiations over occupied Ukrainian territory will be drawn out and will not likely occur until a ceasefire is in place. In late March, he told reporters after a call with Trump that the U.S. president clearly understands that legally we will not recognize any territories.He said giving up territory would be the most difficult question and a big challenge for us.Formal recognition of Crimea would also amount to political suicide for Zelenskyy. It could expose him to legal action in the future, said Tymofiy Mylovanov, president of the Kyiv School of Economics and a former economics minister.Signing a potentially unconstitutional document could be interpreted as high treason, Mylovanov said.The Ukrainian government cannot act either. It has no constitutional means to accept a violation of its territorial integrity, and altering the territorial makeup of the country requires a nationwide referendum. If Ukrainian lawmakers were even to entertain the idea of surrendering Crimea, it would trigger a long, drawn-out legal debate.Thats why Russia is pushing it, because they know its impossible to achieve, Mylovanov said.Anything related to constitutional change gives so much policy and public communication space to Russia, he added. This is all they want.Soldiers on the front line say they will never stop fighting, no matter what the political leadership decides.We lost our best guys in this war, said Oleksandr, a soldier in the Donetsk region, who spoke on the condition that only his first name be used in line with military protocols. We wont stop until all Ukrainian lands are free.___Associated Press Writer Hanna Arhirova contributed to this report. SAMYA KULLAB Kullab is an Associated Press reporter covering Ukraine since June 2023. Before that, she covered Iraq and the wider Middle East from her base in Baghdad since joining the AP in 2019. twitter instagram mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

A lone demonstrator waves the Palestinian flag outside the Peace Palace, rear, housing the International Court of Justice, or World Court, in The Hague, Netherlands, on May 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)2025-04-27T06:01:52Z THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) The top United Nations court on Monday will begin hearing from 40 countries on what Israel must do to provide desperately needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.Last year, the U.N. General Assembly asked the International Court of Justice to weigh in on Israels legal obligations after the country effectively banned the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, the main provider of aid to Gaza, from operating. The United States, Israels closest ally, voted against the resolution.Israel over a month ago again cut off all aid to Gaza and its over 2 million people. Israel has disputed that there is a shortage of aid in Gaza, and says it is entitled to block the aid because it says Hamas seizes it for its own use.The Hague-based court has been asked to give an advisory opinion, a non-binding but legally definitive answer, in the latest judicial proceedings involving Israel and the 18-month war in Gaza. That is expected to take several months. What is the International Court of Justice?Set up in the aftermath of World War II, the ICJ is an organ of the U.N. and adjudicates disputes between countries. Certain U.N. bodies, including the General Assembly, can request advisory opinions from the courts 15 judges.All 193 U.N. member states are members of the ICJ, though not all of them automatically recognize its jurisdiction.Last year, the court issued an unprecedented and sweeping condemnation of Israels rule over the occupied Palestinian territories, finding Israels presence unlawful and calling for it to end. The U.N. General Assembly sought the opinion after a Palestinian request. The ICJ said Israel had no right to sovereignty in the territories, was violating international laws against acquiring territory by force and was impeding Palestinians right to self-determination. Two decades ago, the court in another advisory opinion held that Israel was violating international law by constructing a barrier between Israel and the West Bank. That opinion, also requested by the U.N. General Assembly, dismissed Israeli arguments that the wall was needed for security.Israel has not participated in previous advisory opinion hearings but has submitted written statements. What is the genocide case that Israel is facing at the ICJ?South Africa went to the court last year to accuse Israel of genocide over its actions in the war in Gaza, which began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251.Israels retaliatory offensive has killed over 51,000 Palestinians, according to Gazas Health Ministry, which does not say how many are civilians or combatants. The offensive has reduced much of Gaza to rubble, and most of its people remain homeless.Israel rejects South Africas claim and accuses it of providing political cover for Hamas.South Africa also asked judges to make nine urgent orders known as provisional measures. They are aimed at protecting civilians in Gaza while the court considers the legal arguments.The court has ruled several times on that request, including ordering Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza. The proceedings are ongoing and likely to take years to reach a conclusion. How is the ICJ different from the International Criminal Court?The International Criminal Court was established in 2002 as the court of last resort to prosecute those responsible for the worlds most heinous atrocities: war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression.While the ICJ deals with disputes between two or more countries, the ICC seeks to hold individuals criminally responsible.In November, a three-judge panel issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas military chief, Mohammed Deif, accusing them of crimes against humanity in connection with the war in Gaza.The warrants said there was reason to believe Netanyahu and Gallant have used starvation as a method of warfare by restricting humanitarian aid and intentionally targeted civilians in Israels campaign against Hamas, charges Israeli officials deny. The warrant marked the first time a sitting leader of a major Western ally has been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the global court of justice and has sparked major pushback from supporters of Israel, including the U.S.Israel and its top ally, the United States, are not members of the court. However, Palestine is, and judges ruled in 2021 that the court had jurisdiction over crimes committed on Palestinian territory.

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A U.S. Marine Air Defense Integrated System, or MADIS, fires at a drone during a live-fire joint Philippines-U.S. military exercise at the Philippine Navy training camp in San Antonio, Zambales province, northern Philippines Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)2025-04-27T06:51:16Z BATAN ISLAND, Philippines (AP) The U.S. military has deployed an anti-ship missile launcher for the first time on Batan Island in the Philippines, as Marines unloaded the high-precision weapon on the northern tip of the archipelago, just a sea border away from Taiwan.U.S. and Philippine forces separately unleashed a barrage of missile and artillery fire that shot down several drones acting as hostile aircraft in live-fire drills on Sunday in Zambales province facing the disputed South China Sea.The mock battle scenarios over the weekend in the annual Balikatan exercises between the U.S. and its oldest treaty ally in Asia, the Philippines, not only simulated real-life war. They were also staged near major geopolitical hotspots, which have become delicate frontlines in the regional rivalry between China and the U.S. under former President Joe Biden and now Donald Trump. About 9,000 American and 5,000 Filipino military personnel took part in the combat maneuvers. At least 260 Australian personnel also joined, with smaller observer delegations from Japan and other countries.China has fiercely opposed the combat drills as provocative. Its aircraft carrier group sailed by a few days earlier near Batanes, where the U.S. military had deployed the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System on Saturday on Batan near the Bashi Channel just south of Taiwan, a critical trade and military route that the U.S. and Chinese militaries have tried to gain strategic control of. The introduction of NMESIS into the first island chain for sea denial, sea control is another step in our force design journey, U.S. Marine Lt. Gen. Michael Cederholm told a small group of journalists, including from The Associated Press, who were invited to witness the transport of the missile system aboard a C-130 Air Force aircraft to Batanes. Were not here practicing a war plan, said Cederholm. Were practicing for the defense of the Philippines. The U.S. and the Philippines have denied the annual combat maneuvers which both said would focus on a full-scale battle scenario this year were aimed at China or any adversary. The lines between whats mock and real, however, have been at times murky.Asked if U.S. forces would pull out the anti-ship missile system from Batanes after the combat drills, Cederholm did not reply clearly.We dont broadcast when were going in, when were coming out and how long things are going to stay, Cederholm said. All Ill say is were here at the invitation and with the support of the Philippine government.But Im glad its here, he said.Additionally, China had repeatedly expressed its strong opposition to the U.S. Army deployment last year of a mid-range missile system in the Philippines for joint exercises.The U.S. Army launcher with at least 16 Standard Missile-6 and the Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles was repositioned in January from an international airport in northern Laoag city to a northwestern coastal area facing the Scarborough Shoal, where Chinas forces have used water cannons and dangerous blocking maneuvers against Philippine coast guard and fishery ships and fired flares near Manilas patrol planes, a Philippine official then told The AP. The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to a lack of authority to discuss the delicate issue publicly.Tomahawk missiles can travel over 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers), which places China within their target range.During the combat exercises from April 21 to May 9, American and Filipino forces will also practice jointly defending Philippine islands by repelling hostile forces attempting to assault from the sea in the western Philippine province of Palawan, which faces the South China Sea, and in northern Cagayan province near Batanes.Philippine Brig. Gen. Michael Logico said the combat exercises were crucial to strengthening deterrence against aggression in the Bashi Channel.A peaceful region can only be maintained through a proper balance of strength between opposing forces until such time that both countries decide that its not going to be worth it to fight over this area, Logico said. Early this month, the Chinese military staged largescale drills in the waters around Taiwan and renewed a warning to the self-ruled democracy not to seek independence. Chinese navy, air, ground and rocket forces staged the drills.The Philippines used to host two of the largest U.S. Navy and Air Force bases outside the American mainland. The bases were shut down in the early 1990s after the Philippine Senate rejected an extension, but American forces returned for large-scale combat exercises with Filipino troops under a 1999 agreement.Cederholm cited the tens of thousands of U.S. military personnel, along with Filipino scouts, buried in the vast American cemetery in Manila as proof of Washingtons commitment to help defend the Philippines beyond the U.S. bases era in the Philippines.We take our treaty obligations very seriously, Cederholm said.___Associated Press journalist Aaron Favila contributed to this report. JIM GOMEZ Gomez is The AP Chief Correspondent in the Philippines. twitter mailto

Cardinals stand during the funeral of Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)2025-04-27T04:02:03Z VATICAN CITY (AP) One of Pope Francis enduring legacies was that he greatly expanded the diversity of cardinals who will elect his successor, naming princes of the church from faraway countries that had never had one before.That legacy is now throwing a wrench in the traditional sport of speculating about the next pope, since these far-flung cardinals dont know one another well and havent coalesced into clear voting blocs going into the conclave, the centuries-old ritual to elect a new pope.As a result, all that is certain about the upcoming conclave is that there is no certainty.As the Oscar-nominated film Conclave made clear, the election of a pope is a Hollywood-worthy drama steeped in mystery, secrecy and faith. But real-world politics and personal calculations come into play and will weigh on the 130-plus cardinals when they enter the Sistine Chapel to cast their ballots. What will the cardinals be looking for?No date has yet been set for the conclave, but it must start by May 10. After Francis funeral Saturday, the cardinals who have flocked to Rome will meet regularly this week, sizing one another up as they discuss the needs of the 1.4 billion-strong Catholic Church following Francis revolutionary papacy.Francis 12-year pontificate was characterized by a focus away from doctrinaire rules to making the church more inclusive and welcoming. For progressives, it was a refocusing of mission back to the Gospels mandate to care for poor people and feed the hungry. For conservatives, Francis sowed confusion by introducing wiggle room in hot-button cultural issues such as the churchs teaching on marriage and homosexuality. As a result, the cardinals face a fundamental decision when looking for a successor: Does the church need someone to continue Francis legacy, focusing on the marginalized as Jesus did? Or does it need a course correction to rebuild unity, after Francis radical reforms alienated some? One question is whether the conservative wing, which counts cardinals from Africa, Eastern Europe and part of the U.S., has enough votes to swing the pendulum back to the doctrinaire papacies of St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.Beyond that, the cardinals will consider more practical matters: Pick someone in his 60s and you might have a pope for 20-plus years, for better or worse. Pick a pope from where the church is alive and growing Asia or Africa and you might bring more upheaval to the Vaticans Italian-heavy bureaucracy that is still smarting from the Argentine popes go-it-alone style. Pick a relatively unknown pope and hes just that, unknown.Who are the contenders?Chatbots and bookmakers predictions aside, its really anyones guess, said Alberto Melloni, a church historian.They barely know each other, Melloni said, recalling that in his last batch of cardinals alone, in December, Francis added 20 new voters to the conclave. These cardinals hailed from Algeria, Argentina and Australia and points in between, and may have first met the day they got their red hats.Of course there are some leading candidates. They stand out as front-runners simply because they are the most well-known. - Cardinal Pietro Parolin is a leading Italian, by nature of his office: He was Francis secretary of state, the Vatican No. 2, so known to every cardinal in the Sistine Chapel. - The top candidate to be historys first Asian pope is also on everyones short list because hes got a similarly high-profile Vatican job: Filippino Cardinal Luis Tagle, who heads the Vaticans evangelization office responsible for the Catholic Church in much of the developing world. - A leading candidate representing more of the conservative wing of the church is Hungarian Cardinal Erdo, 72, the archbishop of Budapest.You dont see in this moment real front-runners, because to be a front-runner, you need already to have behind you a packet of votes, said longtime Vatican watcher Marco Politi, whose upcoming book The Unfinished explores Francis unfinished business. Kingmakers expected to have a big roleBecause the cardinals dont know each other well, no one is seen to have secured the packet of votes, suggesting it might take several rounds of voting to get a two-thirds majority. Melloni said cardinals shouldnt be afraid to let the conclave drag on, even if it sends a message of division as black smoke day after day signals a lack of consensus.Certainly the church is divided. The problem is to find the one who unites, not pretend that it isnt divided, Melloni said.The lack of front-runners has made the kingmakers more important in this conclave.These are the influential figures who themselves may not be considered papabile but can rally votes from other cardinals in a particular direction. They include New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, German Cardinal Reinhard Marx and Congolese Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, the Franciscan archbishop of Kinshasa who heads the African bishops conference. Just because they were named by Francis ...While 108 of the voting-age cardinals were created by Francis, they may not necessarily follow his mercy-over-morals line: Some may support Francis call for the church to be more inclusive, but oppose women priests, Politi said. Maybe they agree with the issue of giving Communion to divorced and remarried people, but they dont want to bless a homosexual couple, he said. So this makes this conclave very difficult.Marx said the global outpouring of grief after Francis death shows support for a pope who will continue his ministry focusing on people who are marginalized and against war.People long for a voice that goes beyond national interests, beyond polarizations, beyond discussion about who overwhelms whom and who defeats whom, Marx told reporters after the funeral.Some outstanding questionsOne question is whether Cardinal Angelo Becciu, once one of the most powerful cardinals at the Vatican, will be allowed to cast a vote.Francis in 2020 forced Becciu to resign and relinquish his rights and privileges as a cardinal over alleged financial misconduct. The Sardinian prelate was later convicted of finance-related crimes by the Vatican criminal tribunal. He is appealing the convictions and has participated in Vatican events since his downfall. At 76, he is under the voting age limit of 80. However, official Vatican statistics list him as a non elector. He and his supporters maintain that he didnt lose his primary duty of electing a pope.Another question is where the cardinals will sleep.The Vaticans Domus Santa Marta hotel was built in 1996 specifically to house cardinals during a conclave, so they could all be in one place and sequestered. At the time, St. John Paul II had decreed that there could only be 120 cardinal electors who could participate in a conclave, and the hotel was built to accommodate their numbers. But Francis and his predecessors regularly breached the 120-man threshold and the electors now number 135.Also, Room No. 201, where Francis chose to live after his 2013 election, is under seal and must remain so until a new pope is elected.Asked if the cardinals would be asked to double-up in hotel rooms, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni noted that such accommodations would be fitting.Its a great opportunity to create community, Bruni said.___Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. 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.

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A victim covered with a cloth lies near a food truck after a car drove into a crowd at the Lapu Lapu Festival in Vancouver, British Columbia, Saturday April 26, 2025. (Rich Lam/The Canadian Press via AP)2025-04-27T05:41:10Z VANCOUVER (AP) The driver of a car struck revelers at a street festival in Canada, killing and injuring an unknown number of people at the event celebrating Filipino culture, police said.The vehicle entered the street at 8:14 p.m. Saturday where people were attending the Lapu Lapu Day festival, the Vancouver Police Department said in a social media post.A number of people have been killed and multiple others are injured after a driver drove into a crowd, police said. The exact number of dead or injured was not immediately available.A 30-year-old Vancouver man was arrested at the scene and the departments Major Crime Section is overseeing the investigation, police said.The festival was being held in a South Vancouver neighborhood. Video posted on social media showed victims and debris strewn across a long stretch of road, with at least seven people lying immobile on the ground. A black SUV with a crumpled front section could be seen in still photos from the scene. I am shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific incident at todays Lapu Lapu Day event, Vancouver Mayor Kenneth Sim said in a social media post, adding that the city would provide more information when possible. Our thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouvers Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time. Prime Minister Mark Carney and other Canadian political figures posted messages expressing shock at the violence, condolences for victims and support for the community celebrating its heritage at the festival. I offer my deepest condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver. We are all mourning with you, Carney wrote.As we wait to learn more, our thoughts are with the victims and their families and Vancouvers Filipino community, who were coming together today to celebrate resilience, wrote Jagmeet Singh, leader of the New Democratic Party, who was at the festival earlier in the day. My thoughts are with the Filipino community and all the victims targeted by this senseless attack. Thank you to the first responders who are at the scene as we wait to hear more, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre wrote.David Eby, the premier of British Columbia, the province where Vancouver is located, said he was shocked and heartbroken. We are in contact with the City of Vancouver and will provide any support needed, Eby wrote.

In this Aug. 29, 2021, photo reviewed by U.S. military officials, a flag flies at half-staff as seen from Camp Justice in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)2025-04-27T01:33:01Z Immigration and civil rights advocates have renewed concerns that immigrants detained at Guantanamo Bay are being held in extreme isolation, cut off from meaningful access to legal counsel or candid communication with relatives, according to a new court filing Saturday.In a lawsuit brought on behalf or two Nicaraguan immigrants held at the U.S. Navy base on Cuba, attorneys say there is a climate of extreme fear and intimidation that interferes with constitutional rights to due process and legal counsel.The revised lawsuit asks a federal judge in Washington to intervene on behalf of all future immigrants at Guantanamo, which authorities have used as a way station for immigrants whom President Donald Trump calls the worst, with final removal orders, as his administration seeks to ramp up mass deportations. Officers at Guantnamo have created a climate of extreme fear and intimidation where immigrant detainees are afraid to communicate freely with their counsel, the lawsuit says, adding that conditions are more restrictive than at mainland detention facilities, prisons and in some instances law-of-war military custody at Guantanamo Bay. U.S. Southern Command, which oversees the base, declined to comment on the lawsuit and referred requests to the Department of Homeland Security, which did not immediately respond to an email Saturday. In March a federal judge ruled against advocates attempts to help migrants at Guantanamo and prevent further transfers there, days after the administration moved all migrants out of the facility. Two Nicaraguans who arrived since then have submitted court declarations charting their journey through detention centers in Louisiana to Cuba and describing their anguished concerns that phone conversations are being monitored and might lead to punishment or reprisals.Attorneys have no in-person contact with clients at the base and say they are chained and placed in restraints during legal calls that are broadcast on speakerphone with officers seated outside an open doorway. That undermines the right to confidential communication and attorney-client privilege, the lawsuit says. The complaint also says some detainees have been interrogated by the FBI about possible gang affiliation while surrounded by military officers. One person was stripped in search of a missing toothbrush, and another was locked in a concrete cell with no windows or lights for four days, it adds.I have been allowed to speak to my family about 20 times. Each call is about 5 minutes, Johon Suazo-Muller said in a written declaration to the court that was translated into English. He said he immigrated to the U.S. from Nicaragua in October 2023 in search of asylum from political conflict and a better life. I am not allowed to give any information about my time at Guantanamo, Suazo-Muller said. I cant say where Im at or details about how Im doing.

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Ellis Monk, professor of Sociology at Harvard University and developer of the Monk Skin Tone Scale, poses at his office, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)2025-04-27T10:00:08Z CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) After retreating from their workplace diversity, equity and inclusion programs, tech companies could now face a second reckoning over their DEI work in AI products. In the White House and the Republican-led Congress, woke AI has replaced harmful algorithmic discrimination as a problem that needs fixing. Past efforts to advance equity in AI development and curb the production of harmful and biased outputs are a target of investigation, according to subpoenas sent to Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI and 10 other tech companies last month by the House Judiciary Committee.And the standard-setting branch of the U.S. Commerce Department has deleted mentions of AI fairness, safety and responsible AI in its appeal for collaboration with outside researchers. It is instead instructing scientists to focus on reducing ideological bias in a way that will enable human flourishing and economic competitiveness, according to a copy of the document obtained by The Associated Press. In some ways, tech workers are used to a whiplash of Washington-driven priorities affecting their work. But the latest shift has raised concerns among experts in the field, including Harvard University sociologist Ellis Monk, who several years ago was approached by Google to help make its AI products more inclusive. Back then, the tech industry already knew it had a problem with the branch of AI that trains machines to see and understand images. Computer vision held great commercial promise but echoed the historical biases found in earlier camera technologies that portrayed Black and brown people in an unflattering light. Black people or darker skinned people would come in the picture and wed look ridiculous sometimes, said Monk, a scholar of colorism, a form of discrimination based on peoples skin tones and other features. Google adopted a color scale invented by Monk that improved how its AI image tools portray the diversity of human skin tones, replacing a decades-old standard originally designed for doctors treating white dermatology patients. Consumers definitely had a huge positive response to the changes, he said.Now Monk wonders whether such efforts will continue in the future. While he doesnt believe that his Monk Skin Tone Scale is threatened because its already baked into dozens of products at Google and elsewhere including camera phones, video games, AI image generators he and other researchers worry that the new mood is chilling future initiatives and funding to make technology work better for everyone.Google wants their products to work for everybody, in India, China, Africa, et cetera. That part is kind of DEI-immune, Monk said. But could future funding for those kinds of projects be lowered? Absolutely, when the political mood shifts and when theres a lot of pressure to get to market very quickly.Trump has cut hundreds of science, technology and health funding grants touching on DEI themes, but its influence on commercial development of chatbots and other AI products is more indirect. In investigating AI companies, Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, chair of the judiciary committee, said he wants to find out whether former President Joe Bidens administration coerced or colluded with them to censor lawful speech. Michael Kratsios, director of the White Houses Office of Science and Technology Policy, said at a Texas event this month that Bidens AI policies were promoting social divisions and redistribution in the name of equity.The Trump administration declined to make Kratsios available for an interview but quoted several examples of what he meant. One was a line from a Biden-era AI research strategy that said: Without proper controls, AI systems can amplify, perpetuate, or exacerbate inequitable or undesirable outcomes for individuals and communities.Even before Biden took office, a growing body of research and personal anecdotes was attracting attention to the harms of AI bias. One study showed self-driving car technology has a hard time detecting darker-skinned pedestrians, putting them in greater danger of getting run over. Another study asking popular AI text-to-image generators to make a picture of a surgeon found they produced a white man about 98% percent of the time, far higher than the real proportions even in a heavily male-dominated field. Face-matching software for unlocking phones misidentified Asian faces. Police in U.S. cities wrongfully arrested Black men based on false face recognition matches. And a decade ago, Googles own photos app sorted a picture of two Black people into a category labeled as gorillas.Even government scientists in the first Trump administration concluded in 2019 that facial recognition technology was performing unevenly based on race, gender or age. Bidens election propelled some tech companies to accelerate their focus on AI fairness. The 2022 arrival of OpenAIs ChatGPT added new priorities, sparking a commercial boom in new AI applications for composing documents and generating images, pressuring companies like Google to ease its caution and catch up. Then came Googles Gemini AI chatbot and a flawed product rollout last year that would make it the symbol of woke AI that conservatives hoped to unravel. Left to their own devices, AI tools that generate images from a written prompt are prone to perpetuating the stereotypes accumulated from all the visual data they were trained on. Googles was no different, and when asked to depict people in various professions, it was more likely to favor lighter-skinned faces and men, and, when women were chosen, younger women, according to the companys own public research.Google tried to place technical guardrails to reduce those disparities before rolling out Geminis AI image generator just over a year ago. It ended up overcompensating for the bias, placing people of color and women in inaccurate historical settings, such as answering a request for American founding fathers with images of men in 18th century attire who appeared to be Black, Asian and Native American. Google quickly apologized and temporarily pulled the plug on the feature, but the outrage became a rallying cry taken up by the political right.With Google CEO Sundar Pichai sitting nearby, Vice President JD Vance used an AI summit in Paris in February to decry the advancement of downright ahistorical social agendas through AI, naming the moment when Googles AI image generator was trying to tell us that George Washington was Black, or that Americas doughboys in World War I were, in fact, women.We have to remember the lessons from that ridiculous moment, Vance declared at the gathering. And what we take from it is that the Trump administration will ensure that AI systems developed in America are free from ideological bias and never restrict our citizens right to free speech.A former Biden science adviser who attended that speech, Alondra Nelson, said the Trump administrations new focus on AIs ideological bias is in some ways a recognition of years of work to address algorithmic bias that can affect housing, mortgages, health care and other aspects of peoples lives.Fundamentally, to say that AI systems are ideologically biased is to say that you identify, recognize and are concerned about the problem of algorithmic bias, which is the problem that many of us have been worried about for a long time, said Nelson, the former acting director of the White Houses Office of Science and Technology Policy who co-authored a set of principles to protect civil rights and civil liberties in AI applications.But Nelson doesnt see much room for collaboration amid the denigration of equitable AI initiatives. I think in this political space, unfortunately, that is quite unlikely, she said. Problems that have been differently named algorithmic discrimination or algorithmic bias on the one hand, and ideological bias on the other - will be regrettably seen us as two different problems. MATT OBRIEN OBrien covers the business of technology and artificial intelligence for The Associated Press. mailto

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People attend a mass presided over by Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin on the second of nine days of mourning for late Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)2025-04-27T08:01:57Z VATICAN CITY (AP) Roman Catholic faithful began visiting the tomb of Pope Francis on Sunday, filing past the simple white tomb in St. Mary Major Basilica a day after he was bade farewell by the powerful of the world and a crowd of hundreds of thousands.A single white rose was placed on the tomb that said Franciscus the popes name in Latin. A light cast its warm glow over the tomb and a reproduction of the late pontiffs pectoral cross on the wall above it. People filed past, many crossing themselves or snapping photos with their phones. Ushers urged them to keep moving to accommodate the thousands who flocked to the Rome basilica to see the tomb, forming a long line outside.Pope Francis for me was an inspiration, a guide, said Elias Caravalhal. Caravalhal lives in Rome but was unable to pay his respects to Francis when the body was lying in state in St. Peters Basilica after his death on Easter Monday at the age of 88. He said he visited the tomb to thank him for what he has done. The tomb was opened on the second of nine days of official mourning for Francis, after which a conclave will be held to elect the next pope.A special Mass was also celebrated in St. Peters Square on Sunday by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vaticans secretary of state. Parolin is considered a possible contender to be the next pope due to his prominence in the Catholic hierarchy. Faithful line up to pay their respects to the tomb of Pope Francis inside St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino) Faithful line up to pay their respects to the tomb of Pope Francis inside St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Faithful take images of the tomb of Pope Francis inside St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino) Faithful take images of the tomb of Pope Francis inside St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More A faithful holds a rose in front of the tomb of Pope Francis inside St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino) A faithful holds a rose in front of the tomb of Pope Francis inside St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More The shepherd whom the Lord gave to his people, Pope Francis, has ended his earthly life and has left us, Parolin said in his homily, delivered on the first Sunday after Easter. The grief at his departure, the sense of sadness that assails us, the turmoil we feel in our hearts, the sense of bewilderment: We are experiencing all of this, like the apostles grieving over the death of Jesus. The Mass was attended by a crowd estimated at 200,000, among them many young people who originally came to Rome for what was supposed to be the canonization of the first millennial saint, Carlo Acutis, during special holy days devoted to teenagers. Many groups of youths, some in scouting uniforms, attended Francis funeral Saturday and again filled St. Peters Square on Sunday.No date has yet been set for the conclave, but it is expected to start between May 5 and May 10. Cardinals who traveled to Rome for Francis funeral will be meeting regularly this week ahead of the conclave as they start to chart a way forward for the 1.4 billion-strong Catholic Church.Pope Francis chose his place of burial in St. Mary Major Basilica, near an icon of the Madonna that he revered, because it reflects his humble, simple and essential life, the archbishop who administers the basilica said Friday.Its unbelievable that hes no more with us, said Susmidah Murphy, a tourist from Kerala, India. Its sad that we dont get popes like this very often.

In this photo taken from video distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Sunday, April 27, 2025, a Russian Army 152mm howitzer Giatsint-B fires towards Ukrainian positions in Kherson, Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)2025-04-27T10:04:25Z KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Russia launched a sweeping drone assault across Ukraine overnight into Sunday, targeting multiple regions, officials said, after U.S. President Donald Trump cast doubt over Russian President Vladimir Putins willingness to end the war.One person was killed and a 14-year-old girl wounded in the city of Pavlohrad in the Dnipropetrovsk region, which was hit for the third consecutive night, regional Gov. Serhii Lysak said. The attacks came hours after Russia claimed to have regained control over the remaining parts of the Kursk region, which Ukrainian forces seized in a surprise incursion last August. Ukrainian officials said the fighting in Kursk was still ongoing.Trump said Saturday that he doubts Putin wants to end the more than three-year war in Ukraine, expressing new skepticism that a peace deal can be reached soon. Only a day earlier, Trump had said Ukraine and Russia were very close to a deal. There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days, Trump wrote in a social media post as he flew back to the United States after attending Pope Francis funeral at the Vatican, where he met briefly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump also hinted at further sanctions against Russia. The Trump-Zelenskyy conversation on the sidelines of the popes funeral was the first face-to-face encounter between the two leaders since they argued during a heated Oval Office meeting at the White House in late February. Russia fired 149 exploding drones and decoys in the latest wave of attacks, the Ukrainian air force said, adding that 57 were intercepted and another 67 jammed. One person was wounded in drone attacks on the Odesa region and one other in the city of Zhytomyr. Four people were also wounded in a Russian airstrike on the city of Kherson on Sunday morning, according to local officials. Russias Defense Ministry said Sunday that air defenses shot down five Ukrainian drones in the border region of Bryansk, as well as three drones over the Crimean peninsula, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.Five people were wounded when Ukrainian forces shelled the city of Horlivka in the partially occupied Donetsk region, the citys Russian-installed Mayor Ivan Prikhodko said.___Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., speaks during a campaign event in front of employees at an insurance marketing firm, Oct. 17, 2024, in Harrisburg, Pa. (AP Photo/Marc Levy, file)2025-04-27T12:54:25Z MECHANICSBURG, Pa. (AP) Many days over the past two weeks, no one answered the phone at any of U.S. Rep. Scott Perrys four offices.Perrys team did not share details about the Republican congressmans public appearances until they were over. Even supporters who live in Perrys central Pennsylvania district could not remember the last time he hosted an in-person town hall.No one opened the locked door at his district office in Mechanicsburg last week when an Associated Press reporter rang the bell. A male voice said through the intercom, I dont have any public appearance information that I can provide. The U.S. House is ending a 17-day recess, typically known as a district work period, in which members of Congress return home to focus on their constituents. But some of the most vulnerable Republicans limited their potential exposure to the potential backlash from President Donald Trumps first months in office. They are embracing the strategy outlined by GOP leaders in Washington who argue there is no benefit to creating more viral moments such as the crowd in Asheville, North Carolina, that booed U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards and the pointed questions about tariffs and deportations that were directed at U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa. Perry, who won reelection last fall by about 5,000 votes, is one of the 10 most vulnerable House Republicans, as measured by their margins of victory last fall. They were especially hard to find during the recess, though it was difficult to verify many of the public schedules due to the inconsistent responses from their offices. None of them, a collection of swing-district conservatives from across Arizona, Colorado, California, Iowa, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, hosted in-person events that were open to the public. Just one planned a telephone town hall. Others favored smaller invitation-only gatherings with local officials promoted only after they were over. The Republicans lack of access didnt sit well with some voters.Theyre publicly elected officials. They ought to be accessible to the public, Republican voter Robert Barton, a 57-year-old civil engineer, said as he waited for his lunch at Italian Delight Pizzeria across the street from Perrys office in Mechanicsburg. Perrys team did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Republicans defend their strategyVeteran GOP strategist Doug Heye argued that interacting with constituents in planned and controlled ways is more productive than town halls for members of Congress. And thats smart for any politician, he said.The National Republican Congressional Committee, the House Republicans campaign arm, is not encouraging targeted members to stay out of the public eye, a spokesperson said.Instead, the NRCC encourages lawmakers to meet with their constituents in public, but to be wary of events that could divert attention from a House members message and agenda, according to NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella. We tell everyone, go out and meet people. You have to be in front of your constituents, Marinella said. Use every avenue you can. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., recently suggested that some of the people attending public meetings with members do this as a profession, theyre professional protesters. He urged lawmakers to consider convening so-called tele-town hall meetings, dial-in conferences where thousands can listen and lawmakers take questions.In 2010, under pressure over the health care overhaul that became known as Obamacare, a number of House Democrats skipped public events after facing angry town halls the previous summer. Some held tele-town hall meetings instead. Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., co-authored an opinion piece referring to some protests as un-American and denouncing an ugly campaign (to) disrupt public meetings and prevent members of Congress and constituents from conducting a civil dialogue. Just under a decade later, House Republicans trying to repeal that health law were accused of ducking town halls as well. Then-House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said he would stop holding town halls to limit access for protesters from outside his district. Both the Democrats in 2010 and the Republicans in 2018 would go on to lose their House majorities. Democrats step inThe Democratic National Committee, backed by organized labor and other progressive groups in some states, has launched dozens of Peoples Town Halls and Good Trouble events in districts where Republicans will not hold public events. Democrats are betting their strategy will give them an advantage in the 2026 election, when control of Congress will be decided for the last two years of Trumps final term. Historically, the party that holds the White House loses seats in these midterms. And as of now, Republicans would lose the House majority if they lose a net of just two seats. Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley put it in stark terms during an appearance at the Iowa Faith and Freedom spring fundraiser this month. This midterm election cycle is going to determine whether we have a four-year presidency or a two-year presidency, Whatley told an audience of 700 Iowa Republican activists and social conservative leaders. Referring to the 2018 Democratic House takeover, he warned of House investigations and a stalled Trump agenda that knocked the administration off its feet. Where are the Republicans?Mariannette Miller-Meeks is an Iowa Republican who won last fall by 799 votes, the closest U.S. House election in the country.She spoke at the Faith and Freedom fundraiser, but she spent the Easter recess meeting with far smaller groups in more controlled environments: a wheel accessory plant, several business groups in the Des Moines and Davenport areas, a Rotary Club meeting, and a groundbreaking for an eastern Iowa medical center. Most of her constituents would have learned of the stops by checking Miller-Meeks social media accounts after the fact. Miller-Meeks, like her fellow most-targeted Republican House members, offered little if any public notice of her appearances.Like the other House Republicans in the nations most-competitive districts, she held no events open to all constituents, nor had any planned for the remainder of the break, which ended Sunday.Aides to U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, who represents Nebraskas 2nd Congressional District, confirmed that the Republican held no open events nor had plans to before the end of the break. Bacons X account included a post from last weekend where he appeared to be attending an Easter egg hunt in south Omaha.On the ground in a key swing districtBack in Perrys Harrisburg-area district, Democrats are optimistic that they are well-positioned to defeat the seven-term Republican, a former chairman of the hard-line conservative House Freedom Caucus. He defeated Democrat Janelle Stelson, a former local television broadcaster, by 5,000 votes last fall. Stelson expects to start another campaign against Perry in July. The title of the job is representative. Its not actually about you, its about what the people you talk to care about and want you to accomplish for them, she said. And I dont understand how he can possibly know what that is when hes never out among us.Some voters have taken notice.Tim Shollenberger, a Mechanicsburg resident who was a registered Republican until recently, struggled to be heard during Perrys April 2 tele-town hall. Participants were not allowed to ask questions directly, so the 69-year-old trial lawyer submitted three questions in writing: one about Elon Musks critical comments about Social Security and two about Perrys lack of public access.The moderator did not ask any of them. If you really care about the views of your constituents, get in a room and face them, Shollenberger said.___Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa. THOMAS BEAUMONT Beaumont covers national politics for The Associated Press. 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President Donald Trump points as he arrives at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, N.J., Saturday, April 26, 2025, upon returning from a trip to attend the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)2025-04-27T12:12:57Z In his first 100 days, President Donald Trump exerted his power in a sweep and scale that has no easy historical comparison.His actions target the architecture of the New Deal and the Great Society, but they hardly stop there. He is also rewriting the Reagan Republican orthodoxy of free trade and strong international alliances. All of it is in service of fundamentally altering the role of government in American life and the U.S. place in the world.To implement parts of his vision, he deployed the worlds richest person, Elon Musk, to dismantle the federal workforce, deciding only after the fact if the cuts had gone too far. Trump also has unilaterally declared the power to remake the post-World War II alliance with Europe that has largely maintained peace for nearly 80 years. The Republican president has made extraordinary emergency declarations to rewrite the rules of global trade, setting off panic in markets and capitals around the world. And he has ordered the removal of migrants to a prison in El Salvador without judicial review. Whats more, he has taken direct aim at law, media, public health and culture, attempting to bring all to heel, with some surprising success. Many of his actions were promised during his campaign but he put them in place with a blunt force aggressiveness. Here is a look at the most consequential first 100 days of an American presidency since Franklin D. Roosevelt. EconomyTrump has tried to bend the U.S. economy to his will. But one force is unbowed: the financial markets.Trump says the outcome of his tariffs will eventually be beautiful. So far, its been an difficult three months with consumer confidence plummeting, stock markets convulsing and investors losing confidence in the credibility of Trumps policies. It has become a time of anxiety instead of his promised golden age of prosperity.Trump has managed to reshape the economy through executive power, largely bypassing the Republican-controlled Congress. He has imposed hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs, including on Americas two largest trading partners, Mexico and Canada. Chinese goods are getting taxed at a combined 145%. The trade penalties increased tensions with the European Union and sent Japan and South Korea rushing to negotiate. Despite clear evidence of American economic supremacy, Trump claimed that the U.S. has been ripped off by trade.The president says his tariffs will create domestic factory jobs, cover the cost of an income tax cut plan that could exceed $5 trillion over 10 years, repay the $36 trillion national debt and also serve as leverage to renegotiate trade on terms favoring the United States. But his tariffs could reduce an average households disposable income by $4,900, according to The Budget Lab at Yale University.Trump has used his office to promote investment announcements that have yet to make much of an economic impact. Trump talked up a $500 billion investment in artificial intelligence by OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank. He invited Hyundai executives to the White House for the announcement of a new steel mill in Louisiana. But factory construction slipped in February and outside forecasters have increased the likelihood of a recession this year He has rewarded the coal and oil sectors by attacking alternative energy, yet his tariffs pushed up the price of the steel and other materials that the energy industry needs to build out production. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said Trump will take full ownership of the economy in the final three months of this year, when the administration policies are fully in place. By Josh Boak DOGETrump promised to take on what he called waste, fraud and abuse in government. He tapped Musk to lead the effort.Musk turned his plan for a Department of Government Efficiency into one of the most polarizing and consequential pieces of Trumps first 100 days.The billionaire entrepreneur approached the task with a tech mogul ethos: break things, then see what you want to fix. Firings were widespread and indiscriminate. Programs were eliminated with limited analysis. The human consequences were left for others to sort out. Musks team accessed sensitive databases and burrowed into little-known departments responsible for managing the government workforce and federal properties. Republicans have long dreamed about scaling back the bureaucracy. But even veterans of Washingtons budget battles were stunned by the speed and ferocity of Musks work.DOGE also made mistakes. Claims of massive savings did not add up. Musk wildly inflated estimates of how much taxpayer money is lost to fraud. His broadsides against Social Security, which he described as a Ponzi scheme, rattled retirees.It is unlikely that Musk will accomplish his grand-scale goals. His plans for slashing $1 trillion out of the budget were pared back to $150 billion. Trump and Musk lavish praise on each other. But Musks time in the administration is limited and Trump has begun talking about Musks work in the past tense.This guy did a fantastic job, Trump said during a recent Cabinet meeting. By Chris MegerianImmigrationCracking down on illegal immigration was the anthem of Trumps campaign, and it is the issue where he has the greatest support.He has followed through by implementing some of the hardest-line immigration policies in the nations history, even as the promised mass deportations have yet to materialize. Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport migrants with limited due process, then used it to send hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members to a mega-prison in El Salvador in defiance of a court order.His administration has balked at the Supreme Courts order, issued with no noted dissents, that it must work to return Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia after he was wrongly deported to El Salvador.Trump sent troops to the U.S.-Mexico border and temporarily deported migrants using military flights. He declared gangs foreign terrorist organizations and barred migrants arriving at the southern border from seeking asylum in the United States. Officials converted a Biden-era app known as CBP One, which about 900,000 people had used to schedule appointments to legally enter the U.S., into a mechanism for urging migrants to self-deport.The administration pledged to end birthright citizenship for people who were born in the U.S., while proposing gold cards that would allow foreigners to buy American citizenship for $5 million.Officials have sought to expel migrants from many countries who had been given temporary legal status, and they canceled the Social Security numbers that some had been legally issued by moving them to lists of dead people.Before El Salvador, the Trump administration sent migrants to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, while also requiring Canadians to register when crossing into the U.S. Officials pressured the IRS to surrender sensitive data for hundreds of thousands of people who are in the U.S. illegally, which could make it easier to find them.Illegal border crossings dropped precipitously. In March, U.S. Customs and Border Enforcement said 7,181 people were apprehended nationwide between border crossings -- a 14% decrease from February and a 95% drop from March 2024.An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that 46% of U.S. adults approve of Trumps handling of immigration, while about half say he has gone too far when it comes to deporting immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.The administration is nonetheless considering evoking the Insurrection Act of 1807, which allows the president to deploy the military on U.S. soil, including to help detain migrants. By Will Weissert RetributionTrump entered office pledging to bring retribution for his supporters.He made good on that on his first day and virtually every week since, with actions taking aim at the prosecutors who investigated him and the law firms that employed them. He went after former officials who criticized him or asserted, correctly, that he had lost the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden.Trump ordered the suspension of the security clearances of the more than four dozen former intelligence officials who signed onto a letter during the 2020 campaign stating that the saga of Bidens son Hunters laptop bore the hallmarks of a Russian influence campaign. Trumps Justice Department fired the prosecutors who investigated him as part of special counsel Jack Smiths team and demanded the names of FBI agents who participated in investigations into the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.Executive orders targeted some of the countrys elite law firms, in some cases because they employ or once employed prosecutors who investigated Trump. Those orders have sought to punish the firms by stripping the security clearances of their attorneys, barring them from federal buildings and terminating federal contracts.Some firms have successfully sued to halt enforcement of key provisions of the orders, but even more have cut deals with the White House, agreeing to provide a combined hundreds of millions of dollars in free legal services to causes championed by Trump.The nations top universities have not been spared, either. The administration pulled $400 million in research grants and other funding for Columbia University over the schools handling of protests against Israels military campaign in Gaza; Columbia agreed to changes demanded by the Trump team.Some $175 million in federal funding for the University of Pennsylvania was suspended over a transgender swimmer who last competed for the school in 2022.Harvard, which has $9 billion in government funding at stake, refused to comply with Trumps demands. The administration responded by freezing grants and opening an inquiry about the universitys tax exempt status.The president has singled out individuals, too. Presidential memos call for scrutiny of Miles Taylor, a former Department of Homeland Security official from the first Trump administration who has become a rump critic, and Chris Krebs, a former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency who angered Trump after he declared the 2020 election to be secure and the ballot counts to be accurate.On Thursday, Trump extended his reach to ActBlue, a Democratic fundraising platform. He instructed the Justice Department to conduct an investigation. By Eric TuckerCourts, judges and the rule of lawTrump has consistently said he would follow an order from federal judges. But that has not stopped talk of a possible constitutional crisis over defying the courts.His executive orders reshaping the federal government are facing more than 150 lawsuits on issues from fired federal workers and immigration to transgender rights. Judges have ruled against the administration dozens of times, blocking parts of his agenda for now. The administration has argued that individual judges should not be able to issue nationwide injunctions.Trump issued an extraordinary call for the impeachment of a federal judge who ruled against him the case of Venezuelan migrants accused of being gang members. That prompted a rare rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts, who did not mention the president by name but said impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreements over court decisions.The administration has also pushed back in court, quickly appealing multiple orders to the conservative-majority Supreme Court.Trump so far has a mixed record at the Supreme Court in a flurry of emergency appeals. The justices have handed down some largely procedural rulings siding with the administration. They also have rejected Trumps broad arguments in several cases, including the one involving the Venezuelans and another in the Abrego Garcia case. By Lindsay Whitehurst Diplomacy and international relationsTrump has rejected the post-World War II order that has formed the basis for global stability and security.He has rejected long-standing alliances and hinted at scaling back the U.S. troop presence in Europe. Longtime allies such as Germany and France have suggested they no longer can depend on Washington.Trump also pledged a swift end to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, so far to little effect. He set a new standard for hosting a leader of another country when he openly chided Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump has repeatedly, and inaccurately, said Ukraine started the war; it began when Russia invaded in February 2022.His actions have led allies in Europe, along with Canada, Japan and South Korea, to question their reliance on the U.S. and whether commitments that have long endured apply no more.Trump has directed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to make dramatic cuts of people and programs at the State Department. Rubio has complied and said some in the department have followed a radical ideology. The president has upended other multilateral organizations. He immediately withdrew the U.S. from the World Health Organization, canceling participation in the Paris Climate accord on global warming and took action against the International Criminal Court.He has effectively shuttered the United States Agency for International Development, long seen as an example of an effective tool to provide humanitarian aid and to build goodwill, even though some programs were beset by corruption.At the same time, he has repeatedly called for the U.S. to annex Greenland, which is a Danish territory, to retake control of the Panama Canal and to make Canada the 51st U.S. state. By Matthew LeeCongressCongress is proving to be almost no match for this White House.Trump is testing, challenging and even bullying the Congress in unparalleled ways - slashing government agencies, deporting legal migrants, investigating perceived enemies and churning the economy -- and all but daring lawmakers to object.With unified Republican control of the White House and Congress, the GOP has a rare opportunity to muscle through an ambitious partisan agenda. But Trump has shown he does not necessarily want or need Congress to accomplish his goals. The president has issued almost 10 times as many executive orders as the first five presidents combined, bypassing Congress. DOGE is slashing programs, jobs and entire agencies, including the Department of Education, that by law receive funding under the purview of Congress, which holds the power under the Constitution to allocate money to the agencies. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., the second in the line of presidential succession, portrays himself as the quarterback for the coach Trump who is calling the plays. In the Senate, Republican senators confirmed some of his more contentious nominees over nominal objections. Democrats are warning of the creep of authoritarianism into American. democracy. Our Founding Fathers were very aware that a strong executive could essentially crowd out democracy and become an autocrat, said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. Behind the scenes, many Republicans are trying to push back, for local imperatives such as agriculture and trade, but so far, most are acquiescing to the president. By Lisa MascaroMilitaryFor the past three months the Pentagon has been rocked by the removals of top military leadership, including its only female four-star officers, its Joint Chiefs chairman a Black general and its top military lawyers.The defense chief, Pete Hegseth, has been floundering in controversy. He was a key participant in the Signal chat set up by national security adviser Mike Waltz, sending details of sensitive military operations over the nonsecure channel. Hegseth also used a second Signal chat to send similar information to a group that included his wife and brother. That was followed by the purge of his top staff: He removed or shifted at least five of them, including three whom he said were under investigation for leaks.Trump has said the military had gone woke and he acted swiftly to reverse long-standing policies.He issued an executive order to remove transgender service members, which has been stalled by the courts. Hegseth ordered the military to eliminate any programming, books or imagery that celebrates diversity.More change is coming. Hegseth, long an opponent of women in front-line combat jobs, has ordered a broad review of military standards to ensure they are the same for women and men. Tens of thousands of career defense civilians are set to either voluntarily depart the agency or be pushed out through a reduction in force.The internal changes come as the military is reshaping for a potential future China fight, and just as it is potentially about to receive an infusion of funds as Trump weighs an almost $1 trillion budget for the department.Social media posts that celebrated military women or cultural diversity are gone. Instead the services are publicly promoting increases in enlistments, even though the latest totals reflect new recruiting programs and improvements that began long before Trump was elected.The military has dedicated significant resources to Trumps broader order to secure the U.S.-Mexico border. He has transferred control of a thin strip of land along the border to the Defense Department so troops can arrest migrants for trespassing on military land.By Tara Copp and Lolita C. BaldorPublic healthAt the Department of Health and Human Services, 10,000 jobs are gone. Billions of dollars in research sent to scientists and universities was shut off. Public meetings to discuss flu shots and other vaccines have been canceled.Fluoride in drinking water may be the next to go, according to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.Kennedy has done a blitz of his Make America Healthy Again campaign at day cares, schools and health centers around the country where he has promised to work with Trumps other agency leaders to prohibit soda from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, limit dyes in the food supply and call for fluoride to be removed from drinking water.Kennedys resistance to launching a vaccination campaign as a growing measles outbreak has worsened, so far infecting hundreds and leaving two young children dead, has elicited concerns from doctors, public health experts and lawmakers.Those worries deepened after he eliminated thousands of jobs across the nations public health agencies, including at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health. The move, department officials projected, will save taxpayers $1.8 billion.But some have escaped steep cuts. Earlier this month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced an unusually steep rate increase for private health insurers that provide plans for older Americans through Medicare Advantage.It will cost an extra $25 billion. By Amanda SeitzEnergy and environment Trump has reversed Bidens focus on slowing climate change to pursue what the Republican calls U.S. energy dominance in the global market. He created a National Energy Dominance Council, led by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and directed it to move quickly to drive up already record-high U.S. energy production, particularly fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas, and remove regulatory barriers that may slow that down. Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement, but he has moved even more aggressively in his second term to roll back major environmental regulations, including rules on pollution from coal-fired power plants, motor vehicles and manufacturers.Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin has announced a series of actions to roll back landmark regulations, including a scientific finding that has long been the central basis for U.S. action against climate change. Zeldins plan would rewrite the EPAs 2009 finding that planet-warming greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare, the legal underpinning for a host of climate regulations.Zeldin says the changes, including more than 30 announced on a single day last month, will drive a dagger through the heart of what he calls climate-change religion. Environmentalists and climate scientists call the so-called endangerment finding a bedrock of U.S. law and that any attempt to undo it has little chance to succeed. While Trumps administration has blocked renewable energy sources such as offshore wind, he has tried to boost what he calls beautiful coal, granting nearly 70 coal-fired power plants a two-year exemption from federal requirements to reduce emissions of toxic chemicals such as mercury, arsenic and benzene. Environmental groups and public health advocates say the plan could allow hundreds of companies to evade laws meant to protect the environment and public health. By Matthew DalyArts and cultureDana Gioia, a poet and former chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, liked to say that a key to maintaining support for the NEA and other federal organizations was ensuring they backed projects in as many congressional districts as possible.It was a bipartisan formula that lasted for some 60 years, through Democratic and Republican administrations, until Trumps second term.Since returning to office, Trump has ousted leaders, placed staff on administrative leave and cut off hundreds of millions of dollars in funding that artists, libraries, museums, theaters and others in the cultural community had long counted on. Acting without congressional authorization, he has declared that institutions ranging from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to the National Endowment for the Humanities have become fronts for a woke agenda that threatens to undermine what he calls our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture.The organizations he has attacked mostly date from the mid-1960s, at the peak of President Lyndon Johnsons Great Society domestic programs, when public support for government was high and the elevation of the arts a national priority. The Kennedy Center, the NEA, the NEH and the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences all were established with broad backing from the two parties.The humanities are the languages, religions, laws, philosophies, and customs that make us distinct, reads a statement on the NEH website. They are our history and our cultures, the ideas and movements that have shaped societies throughout time.The NEH and others also cite practical benefits; arts and culture are good for economy.The NEH homepage includes a headline stating that the endowment supports the humanities in every state and U.S. jurisdiction. The NEAs website highlights a recent government study showing that the arts added $1.2 trillion to the economy in 2023 and, at a time when Trump has placed steep tariffs on countries worldwide, notes that the total value of the nations arts exports was nearly $37 billion greater than the value of arts imports from other countries.By Hillel ItalieMediaMany journalists figured a second Trump term would be a challenge for their industry. Few recognized how much.The new administration has aggressively, even innovatively, waged combat against the press since taking office. It has fought against CBS News and The Associated Press in court, sought to dismantle the government-run Voice of America and sent the Federal Communications Commission after perceived media rivals.The White House has established rapid-response social media feeds that maintain a constant flow of rejoinders to hold the fake news accountable.The Trump administration is on a campaign to do everything it can to diminish and obstruct journalism in the United States, said Bill Grueskin, a Columbia University journalism professor.The future of Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and similar services that for generations have delivered unbiased news to countries where it is in short supply is being haggled over in court. Trump sued CBS News because he believed 60 Minutes edited a segment last fall to the advantage of election opponent Kamala Harris. It remains hanging over the networks head, although the newsmagazine has produced several hard-hitting segments on the administration over the first 100 days, provoking Trump into an angry social media response on April 13.Trumps FCC chairman, Brendan Carr, is investigating CBS News, too, along with ABC News, NBC News, NPR, PBS, Comcast and, most recently, the Walt Disney Co., the latter for promoting diversity, equity and inclusion policies.The AP sued the administration after it reduced the outlets access to presidential events for not following Trumps lead in renaming the Gulf of Mexico, winning a court ruling that the government could not punish the organization for free speech. The administration says it intends to appeal. The administration has sought changes in the press corps that covers him, introducing new media that some suggest is often a euphemism for friendly outlets, and wants more control over who questions Trump.Fox News is again the go-to source to hear Trumps thinking, or that of people trying to influence him. The young administrations biggest embarrassment came when it unwittingly invited a journalist into a group chat where military plans were discussed. Even worse, it was a figure Trump reportedly dislikes: Atlantic magazine editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg.Trump press aides miss few opportunities to push the boss point of view, tweak the media or both simultaneously: They say they do not respond to questions from reporters who cite personal pronouns in their bios.-By David Bauder

Bianca Castro, better known as the RuPaul's Drag Race season 4 star Jiggly Caliente, died this morning, according to a post to her social media. She was 44.A luminous presence in the worlds of entertainment and advocacy, Jiggly Caliente was celebrated for her infectious energy, fierce wit, and unwavering authenticity, her family said on her Instagram page. She touched countless lives through her artistry, activism, and the genuine connection she fostered with fans around the world. See on Instagram Earlier this week, Castros family announced that she had undergone the loss of most of her right leg and would not return as a judge for the next Drag Race Philippines season, nor is she participating in "any public engagements for the foreseeable future."RELATED: Drag Race star Jiggly Caliente lost 'most of her right leg,' family saysJiggly Caliente placed eighth on Season 4 of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2011. She later went on to compete in RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars Season 6 and was a main judge on Drag Race Philippines. She also played Veronica Ferocity on the Ryan Murphy FX series Pose.Jiggly's fellow drag performers mourned her loss in comments on social media."I cannot stop crying," Morphine Love Dion, star of RuPaul's Drag Race season 16, said on Instagram. "I love you so much I wish I can hug you one more time this can't be real..."Baga Chipz, from Drag Race UK season 1, said Castro was "one of the most kindest, sweetest souls Ive ever met," in a comment on Instagram. "Im gonna miss you beautiful. Thank you for always being so lovely. Rest easy legend."

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West Virginia Coal Festival teen beauty pageant winner Ava Johnson, 16, collects small pieces of coal left behind at the former Kay Moor coal town and camp in the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve near Fayetteville, W.Va., Thursday, April 17, 2025, (AP Photo/Leah Willingham)2025-04-27T11:38:50Z FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. (AP) The winner of this years West Virginia Coal Festival teen beauty pageant walks among the ruins of a community abandoned 70 years ago and imagines the rusted remains of coal tipples and processing plants coming back to life.Ava Johnson knows West Virginia coal will not ever be what it once was. But as she makes her way along overgrown railroad tracks near the abandoned Kay Moor mine in the New River Gorge National Park looking for spikes for her collection, the 16-year-old history buff says she has heard people talking with hope about the future of an industry that has brought good-paying jobs to her state for the better part of two centuries.You cant appreciate being a true West Virginian unless you realize that people risk their lives every single day to make ours better, she said.Much of that renewed sense of hope is based on the actions of President Donald Trump, who earlier this month issued new executive orders aimed at reviving an energy source that has long been flagged by scientists as the worlds most polluting fossil fuel, one that directly contributes to the warming of the planet. Trump, who has pledged since his first run for the presidency in 2016 to save coal, issued orders to allow mining on federal land and to loosen some emissions standards meant to curb coals environmental impact. All those plants that have been closed are going to be opened, if theyre modern enough, Trump said at the signing ceremony. (or) theyll be ripped down and brand-new ones will be built. The news was met with enthusiasm in West Virginia, where residents like Johnson say the coal industry is misunderstood and that they are tired of feeling unheard by their fellow Americans. But others do not think Trump will be able to fulfill promises he has made to some of his most loyal constituents. Trump and his allies are spinning a false narrative, said Tyson Slocum, who teaches energy and climate policy at the University of Maryland Honors College and is the energy program director for the nonprofit Public Citizen. He said market forces have shifted away from coal in ways that cannot be reversed, an opinion widely shared among economists. Theres nothing that Trump can do thats going to materially impact the domestic coal market, Slocum said in a telephone interview. The energy markets, the steel markets, have fundamentally changed. And learning how to adapt and how to provide the real solutions to the concerns and fears in coal communities would be a more effective strategy than promising them a return that isnt going to happen.At a coal exposition, renewed optimismThat was not the prevailing mood at a recent coal exposition in Charleston, attended by Johnson and many others who found encouragement in the Republican presidents words, even if some expressed skepticism about his ability to make coal great again. For years, our industry has felt like its been a little bit of a whipping boy, like a political, sacrificial pawn, said Steven Tate of Viacore, a company that makes an apparatus that helps mine operators limit the amount of coal dust in a mine. We feel like were finally starting to get the recognition that our industry deserves. Some said Trumps orders demonstrated respect for workers who gave their lives in the mines 21,000 in West Virginia, the most out of any state and for a resource that helped build America.Trump stood his ground all the way through, said Jimbo Clendenin, a retired mine equipment specialist whose grandson started working in coal mining three years ago. He said he was for coal. And a lot of people even a couple of them here in West Virginia said, I just think he said that to get into office. Now, nobodys got any doubt. Hes for coal.In recent decades, the Democratic Partys aggressive push toward clean energy led to the installation of more renewable energy and the conversion of coal-fired plants to be fueled by cheaper and cleaner-burning natural gas.In 2016, Trump seized on the issue, promising to end what he described as Democratic President Barack Obamas war on coal and to save miners jobs. It helped in West Virginia, where a majority of voters in every county supported Trump in three presidential elections. Trump did not bring the industry back during his first term. In West Virginia, which employs the most miners of any state, the number of coal jobs fell from 11,561 at the start of his presidency to 11,418 at the end of 2020, perhaps slowing coals steep decline but not stopping it. Slocum said Trump can defang the federal Environmental Protection Agency and deregulate mining, but he cannot save coal.Its not the EPA, its not Democrats that declared this war on coal, Slocum said. It was capitalism and natural gas. And being honest about the reasons for coals decline is the least we can do for coal-dependent communities instead of lying to them, which the Trump administration is doing. Sometimes people want to believe a lie, because its easier than facing a hard truth. A steady decline in jobsIn 2009, the EPA found that planet-warming greenhouse gases put public health and welfare in danger, a determination that new EPA chief Lee Zeldin has urged Trump to reconsider. Scientists oppose Zeldins push, and Slocum said the endangerment finding and the need to move away from coal dependence is not a theoretical debate. It is a factual, scientific one, albeit one that does not occur within the current Trump administration. Still, there is no doubt that the culture of coal is woven into the fabric of West Virginia. A miner can be a coal industry worker, but also a sports team mascot, an image emblazoned on the state flag or the name of a breakfast sandwich at Tudors Biscuit World.In the 1950s, more than 130,000 West Virginians worked in the industry, which then had a population of around 2 million. Production peaked in 2008, a year before Johnson was born. But by then, the number of coal workers had dropped to 25,000, mostly due to mechanization.Heather Clay, who runs West Virginia Coal Festivals beauty pageant and social media, said losing coal jobs often six-figure incomes was especially significant in a state with one of the nations highest poverty rates.Its so much more than what people outside of West Virginia understand, she said. Theyre always saying, Shut down coal, Shut down coal. So you want to shut down our economy? You want to shut down our families? You want to shut down our way of life? And it has, for a lot of people.Innovation, not eliminationTrump and coal industry advocates say keeping coal in the U.S. energy portfolio is essential for maintaining the power grid, servicing growing demand from innovations like artificial intelligence centers and keeping America energy-independent.But John Deskins, director of the West Virginia University Bureau of Business and Economic Research, said it would take a significant shift in the underlying economics for it to make financial sense for utilities to build new coal-fired plants.Natural gas is cleaner and cheaper, he said, and its the direction most utilities are moving in. Earlier this year, First Energy announced plans to convert its two remaining coal-fired power plants to natural gas. Johnson wears the sash and crown from her pageant victory over a black dress and sneakers as she traipses through the ruins of the abandoned Kay Moor mine. She talks enthusiastically about the industrys past, but also, occasionally, about what she thinks could be a brighter future for coal in West Virginia because of what Trump has done.I think that it will positively impact not just the industry, she said, but peoples lives.___Raby reported from Charleston, West Virginia. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Sabastian Sawe of Kenya reacts after he crossed the line to win the men's race at the London Marathon, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)2025-04-27T10:53:10Z LONDON (AP) Running his first major marathon in unusually warm temperatures, Sabastian Kawe made it look easy. The Kenyan runner made a solo breakaway with about 10 kilometers left and never looked like wavering in the sunshine as he cruised to victory in the London Marathon on Sunday. Sawe pulled away from a leading group of nine runners about 90 minutes into the race and finished in 2 hours, 2 minutes and 27 seconds.Sawe made his move when his rivals slowed down at a drinks station opting not to take any water despite temperatures that crept toward 18 C (64) as the elite runners were finishing. I was well prepared for this race and thats why it became easy for me to win, Kawe said. Jacob Kiplimo, the half marathon world record holder who was making his full marathon debut, was the only runner able to give chase but could never get close to erasing the gap. The Ugandan finished 70 seconds back in second place. The 29-year-old Sawes only previous marathon win came in Valencia in 2024. This was his first start in one of the six marathon majors Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York City but its unlikely to be his last. It does give me hope that in the future, the marathon will be so important to me, and be so easy for me, he said. He is the fourth Kenyan runner in a row to win the mens race in London. In a tight sprint for third place, Alexander Mutiso Munyao of Kenya beat Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands in a photo finish. Assefa sets women-only recordIn the womens race, Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia secured her first London Marathon title after pulling away from Joyciline Jepkosgei near the end.Assefa made up for second-place finishes in London and the Paris Olympics last year, finishing in 2:15:50. It was the fastest ever time in a womens-only marathon but 25 seconds slower than the course record set by Paula Radcliffe in 2003 when it was a mixed race.The weather in London was a lot warmer this year than in 2024, which Assefa said was to her advantage.Last year I did have some problems with the cold, my hamstring tightened up toward the end of the race, Assefa said through an interpreter. This year the weather suited me really well.Assefa adds this win to two previous Berlin Marathon titles.Jepkosgei, the 2021 London winner, was almost three minutes back after tiring near the end.Olympic champion Sifan Hassan fell behind about halway through the race and finished third, 3:10 behind. Hug and Debrunner defend wheelchair titlesSix-time Paralympic champion Catherine Debrunner defended her title in the womens wheelchair race for a third London victory, beating her own course record by finishing in 1:34:18 just two seconds off the world record she set at the Berlin marathon in 2023.American Susannah Scaroni was second and Debrunners compatriot Manuela Schar third.Defending champion Marcel Hug of Switzerland won the mens wheelchair race after holding off Japanese challenger Tomoki Suzuki.Hug finished in 1:25:25, 44 seconds ahead of Suzuki. Jetze Plat of the Netherlands was third, while eight-time London Marathon winner David Weir of Britain settled for sixth. ___AP Sports: https://apnews.com/sports

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President Donald Trump listens as Elon Musk, joined by his son X A-Xii, speaks in the Oval Office at the White House, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)2025-04-27T11:26:54Z WASHINGTON (AP) Elon Musk spent years building cachet as a business titan and tech visionary, brushing aside critics and skeptics to become the richest person on the planet.But as Musk gained power in Washington in recent months, his popularity has waned, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.Just 33% of U.S. adults have a favorable view of Musk, the chain-saw-wielding, late-night-posting, campaign-hat-wearing public face of President Donald Trumps efforts to downsize and overhaul the federal government. That share is down from 41% in December. It was a shame that he crashed and burned his reputation, said Ernest Pereira, 27, a Democrat who works as a lab technician in North Carolina. He bought into his own hype.The poll found that about two-thirds of adults believe Musk has held too much influence over the federal government during the past few months although that influence may be coming to an end. The billionaire entrepreneur is expected to leave his administration job in the coming weeks. Musk is noticeably less popular than the overall effort to pare back the government workforce, which Trump has described as bloated and corrupt. About half of U.S. adults believe the Republican president has gone too far on reducing the size of the federal workforce, while roughly 3 in 10 think he is on target and 14% want him to go even further. Retiree Susan Wolf, 75, of Pennsylvania, believes the federal government is too big but Musk has made a mess of everything. I dont trust him, she said. I dont think he knows what hes doing. Wolf, who is not registered with a political party, said Musks private sector success does not translate to Washington.He thinks you run a government like you run a business. And you dont do that, she said. One is for the benefit of the people, and the other is for the benefit of the corporation. Much of the downsizing has been done through so-called the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which was Musks brainchild during last years campaign. Thousands of federal employees have been fired or pushed to quit, contracts have been canceled and entire agencies have been brought to a standstill.Musk has succeeded in providing a dose of shock therapy to the federal government, but he has fallen short of other goals. After talking about cutting spending by $1 trillion, he has set a much lower target of $150 billion. Even reaching that amount could prove challenging, and DOGE has regularly overstated its progress.He is expected to start dedicating more time to Tesla, his electric automaker that has suffered plummeting revenue while he was working for Trump. Musk told investors on a recent conference call that now that the major work of establishing the Department of Government Efficiency is done, he expects to spend just a day or two per week on government matters.Musk, in his work for the administration, has continued a political evolution toward the right. Although the South African-born entrepreneur was never easy to categorize ideologically, he championed the fight against climate change and often supported Democratic candidates. Now he criticizes the woke mind virus and warns of the collapse of Western civilization from the threats of illegal migration and excess government spending.Musks increasingly conservative politics are reflected in the polling. Only about 2 in 10 independents and about 1 in 10 Democrats view Musk favorably, compared with about 7 in 10 Republicans. In addition, while about 7 in 10 independents and about 9 in 10 Democrats believe Musk has too much influence, only about 4 in 10 Republicans feel that way. Mark Collins, 67, a warehouse manager from Michigan who has leaned Republican in recent years, said Musk runs a nice, tight ship at his companies, and the government definitely needs tightening up.Hes cleaning up all the trash, he said. I love what hes doing.Republicans are much less likely than Democrats to be worried about being affected by recent cuts to federal government agencies, services or grants. Just 11% said they are extremely or very concerned that they or someone they know will be affected, while about two-thirds of Democrats and 44% of independents have those fears. ___The AP-NORC poll of 1,260 adults was conducted April 17-21, using a sample drawn from NORCs probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points. CHRIS MEGERIAN Megerian covers the White House for The Associated Press. He previously wrote about the Russia investigation, climate change, law enforcement and politics in California and New Jersey. twitter mailto AMELIA THOMSON-DEVEAUX Thomson-DeVeaux is the APs editor for polling and surveys.

Firefighters try to extinguish the fire, Sunday, April 27, 2025, after a massive explosion and fire rocked a port near the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, Iran, on Saturday. (Mahdi Nori/Fars News Agency via AP)2025-04-27T13:12:24Z DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) Irans president on Sunday visited those injured in a huge explosion that rocked one of the Islamic Republics main ports, a facility purportedly linked to an earlier delivery of a chemical ingredient used to make missile propellant. The visit by President Masoud Pezeshkian came as the toll from Saturdays blast at the Shahid Rajaei port outside of Bandar Abbas in southern Irans Hormozgan province rose to 40 with about 1,000 others injured. While Irans military sought to deny the delivery of ammonium perchlorate from China, new videos emerged showing an apocalyptic scene at the still-smoldering port. A crater that appeared meters (yards) deep sat surrounded by burning smoke so dangerous that authorities closed schools and businesses in the area. Containers appeared smashed or thrown as if discarded toys, while the burned carcasses of trucks and cars sat around the site. We have to find out why it happened, Pezeshkian said during a meeting with officials aired by Iranian state television.Authorities described the fire as being under control, saying emergency workers hoped that it would be fully extinguished later Sunday. Overnight, helicopters and heavy cargo aircraft flew repeated sorties over the burning port, dumping seawater on the site. Satellite pictures taken Sunday by Planet Labs PBC and analyzed by The Associated Press showed a huge plume of black smoke still over the site. Provincial Gov. Mohammad Ashouri gave the latest death toll, Iranian state TV reported. Pir Hossein Kolivand, head of Irans Red Crescent society, said that only 190 of about 1,000 injured remained hospitalized on Sunday, according to a statement carried by an Iranian government website. The governor declared three days of mourning. Private security firm Ambrey says the port received missile fuel chemical in March. It was part of a shipment of ammonium perchlorate from China by two vessels to Iran, first reported in January by the Financial Times. The chemical used to make solid propellant for rockets was going to be used to replenish Irans missile stocks, which had been depleted by its direct attacks on Israel during the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Ship-tracking data analyzed by the AP put one of the vessels believed to be carrying the chemical in the vicinity in March, as Ambrey said. The fire was reportedly the result of improper handling of a shipment of solid fuel intended for use in Iranian ballistic missiles, Ambrey said.In a first reaction on Sunday, Iranian Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Reza Talaeinik denied that missile fuel had been imported through the port.No sort of imported and exporting consignment for fuel or military application was (or) is in the site of the port, he told state television by telephone. He called foreign reports on the missile fuel baseless but offered no explanation for what material detonated with such incredible force at the site. Talaeinik promised authorities would offer more information later. Its unclear why Iran wouldnt have moved the chemicals from the port, particularly after the Beirut port blast in 2020. That explosion, caused by the ignition of hundreds of tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate, killed more than 200 people and injured more than 6,000 others. However, Israel did target Iranian missile sites where Tehran uses industrial mixers to create solid fuel meaning potentially that it had no place to process the chemical.Social media footage of the explosion on Saturday at Shahid Rajaei saw reddish-hued smoke rising from the fire just before the detonation. That suggests a chemical compound being involved in the blast, like in the Beirut explosion.Meanwhile on Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin deployed several emergency aircraft to Bandar Abbas to provide assistance. JON GAMBRELL Gambrell is the news director for the Gulf and Iran for The Associated Press. He has reported from each of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Iran and other locations across the world since joining the AP in 2006. twitter instagram mailto

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