Gunnar Kaasen and with his dog Balto, the heroic dogsled team leader, sit for a portrait in the early 1920s. (AP Photo, File)2025-01-31T05:01:51Z ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) The Alaska Gold Rush town of Nome faced a bleak winter. It was hundreds of miles from anywhere, cut off by the frozen sea and unrelenting blizzards, and under siege from a contagious disease known as the strangling angel for the way it suffocated children.Now, 100 years later, Nome is remembering its saviors the sled dogs and mushers who raced for more than five days through hypothermia, frostbite, gale-force winds and blinding whiteouts to deliver life-saving serum and free the community from the grip of diphtheria. Gunnar Kaasen poses with his original dog team, including his lead dog Balto, top row, second left, in 1925, which he drove through a blinding blizzard to deliver life-saving serum, in Nome, Alaska. (AP Photo, File) Gunnar Kaasen poses with his original dog team, including his lead dog Balto, top row, second left, in 1925, which he drove through a blinding blizzard to deliver life-saving serum, in Nome, Alaska. (AP Photo, File) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Among the events celebrating the centennial of the 1925 Great Race of Mercy are lectures, a dog-food drive and a reenactment of the final leg of the relay, all organized by the Nome Kennel Club. Remembering the mushers and dogs for heroic effortTheres a lot of fluff around celebrations like this, but we wanted to remember the mushers and their dogs who have been at the center of this heroic effort and ... spotlight mushing as a still-viable thing for the state of Alaska, said Diana Haecker, a kennel club board member and co-owner of Alaskas oldest newspaper, the Nome Nugget. Leonhard Seppala and his sled dog team are pictured on Oct. 12, 1928, in Alaska. In 1925, Seppala was part of the nearly 700-mile relay of mushers and dog teams to get diphtheria antitoxin to Nome, Alaska, during a deadly outbreak of the disease. (AP Photo, File) Leonhard Seppala and his sled dog team are pictured on Oct. 12, 1928, in Alaska. In 1925, Seppala was part of the nearly 700-mile relay of mushers and dog teams to get diphtheria antitoxin to Nome, Alaska, during a deadly outbreak of the disease. (AP Photo, File) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More People just dropped whatever they were doing, she said. These mushers got their teams ready and went, even though it was really cold and challenging conditions on the trail.Other communities are also marking the anniversary including the village of Nenana, where the relay began, and Cleveland, Ohio, where the serum runs most famous participant, a husky mix named Balto, is stuffed and displayed at a museum. Jonathan Hayes, a Maine resident who has been working to preserve the genetic line of sled dogs driven on the run by famed musher Leonhard Seppala, is recreating the trip. Hayes left Nenana on Monday with 16 Seppala Siberian sled dogs, registered descendants of Seppalas team. The historic trek to neutralize the diphtheria epidemic in NomeDiphtheria is an airborne disease that causes a thick, suffocating film to develop at the back of the throat; it was once a leading cause of death for children. The antitoxin used to treat it was developed in 1890, and a vaccine in 1923; it is now exceedingly rare in the U.S.Nome, western Alaskas largest community, had about 1,400 residents a century ago. Its most recent supply ship had arrived the previous fall, before the Bering Sea froze, without any doses of the antitoxin. Those the local doctor, Curtis Welch, had were outdated, but he wasnt worried. He hadnt seen a case of diphtheria in the 18 years he had practiced in the area.Within months, that changed. In a telegram, Welch pleaded with the U.S. Public Health Service to send serum: An epidemic of diphtheria is almost inevitable here.The first death was a 3-year-old boy on Jan. 20, 1925, followed the next day by a 7-year-old girl. By the end of the month, there were more than 20 confirmed cases. The city was placed under quarantine.West Coast hospitals had antitoxin doses, but it would take time to get them to Seattle and then onto a ship for Seward, an ice-free port south of Anchorage. In the meantime, enough for 30 people was found at an Anchorage hospital. It still had to get to Nome. Airplanes with open-air cockpits were ruled out as unsuited for the weather. There were no roads or trains that reached Nome.Instead, officials shipped the serum by rail to Nenana in interior Alaska, some 675 miles (1,086 kilometers) from Nome via the frozen Yukon River and mail trails.Thanks to Alaskas new telegraph lines and the spread of radio, the nation followed along, captivated, as 20 mushers many of them Alaska Natives with more than 150 dogs relayed the serum to Nome. They battled deep snow, whiteouts so severe they couldnt see the dogs in front of them, and life-threatening temperatures that plunged at times to minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 51 degrees Celsius).The antitoxin was transported in glass vials covered with padded quilts. Not a single vial broke. In this image published on Jan. 23, 1928, and provided by the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, NYWT&S Collection, shows Leonhard Seppala winner of the first annual sled dog race held at the Lake Placid Club Seven teams competed in Lake Placid, N.Y. (Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, NYWT&S Collection via AP) In this image published on Jan. 23, 1928, and provided by the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, NYWT&S Collection, shows Leonhard Seppala winner of the first annual sled dog race held at the Lake Placid Club Seven teams competed in Lake Placid, N.Y. (Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, NYWT&S Collection via AP) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Seppala, a Norwegian settler, left from Nome to meet the supply near the halfway point and begin the journey back. His team, led by his dog Togo, traveled more than 250 miles (320 kilometers) of the relay, including a treacherous stretch across frozen Norton Sound. After about 5 1/2 days, the serum reached its destination on Feb. 2, 1925. A banner front-page headline in the San Francisco Chronicle proclaimed: Dogs victors over blizzard in battle to succor stricken Nome. The official record listed five deaths and 29 illnesses. Its likely the toll was higher; Alaska Natives were not accurately tracked. Gunnar Kaasen and with his dog Balto, the heroic dogsled team leader, sit for a portrait in the early 1920s. (AP Photo, File) Gunnar Kaasen and with his dog Balto, the heroic dogsled team leader, sit for a portrait in the early 1920s. (AP Photo, File) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Balto gains fame as unlikely dog to bring serum to NomeSeppala and Togo missed the limelight that went to his assistant, Gunnar Kaasen, who drove the dog team led by Balto into Nome. Balto was another of Seppalas dogs, but was used to only haul freight after he was deemed too slow to be on a competitive team.Balto was immortalized in movies and with statues in New Yorks Central Park and one in Anchorage intended as a tribute to all sled dogs. He received a bone-shaped key to the city of Los Angeles, where legendary movie actress Mary Pickford placed a wreath around his neck. The statue erected to honor Balto and other heroic sled dogs who carried serum to Nome, Alaska, through an Arctic blizzard is covered in snow in New Yorks Central Park, Dec. 11, 1947. (AP Photo/Anthony Camerano, File) The statue erected to honor Balto and other heroic sled dogs who carried serum to Nome, Alaska, through an Arctic blizzard is covered in snow in New Yorks Central Park, Dec. 11, 1947. (AP Photo/Anthony Camerano, File) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More But he and several team members were eventually sold and kept in squalid conditions at a dime museum in Los Angeles. After learning of their plight, an Ohio businessman spearheaded an effort to raise money to bring them to Cleveland. After dying in 1933, Balto was mounted and placed on display at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.Iditarod pays homage to the serum runToday, the most famous mushing event in the world is the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, which is not based on the serum run but on the Iditarod Trail, a supply route from Seward to Nome. Iditarod organizers are nevertheless marking the serum runs centennial, with a series of articles on its website and by selling replicas of the medallions each serum run musher received a century ago, race spokesperson Shannon Noonan said in an email. This years Iditarod starts March 1.The Serum Run demonstrated the critical role sled dogs played in the survival and communication of remote Alaskan communities, while the Iditarod has evolved into a celebration of that tradition and Alaskas pioneering spirit, Noonan said. MARK THIESSEN Thiessen is an Associated Press all-formats reporter based in Anchorage, Alaska. He covers Alaska Native issues and other general assignments. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President Donald Trump's nominee to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services, testifies during a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing for his pending confirmation on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)2025-01-31T10:00:08Z WASHINGTON (AP) The man who hopes to be President Donald Trumps health secretary repeatedly asked to see data or science showing vaccines are safe but when an influential Republican senator did so, he dismissed it.Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spent two days this week insisting to senators that hes not anti-vaccine. He said that he instead supports vaccinations and will follow the science in overseeing the $1.7 trillion Department of Health and Human Services, which, among other duties, oversees vaccine research, approval and recommendations. But Kennedy repeatedly refused to acknowledge scientific consensus that childhood vaccines dont cause autism and that COVID-19 vaccines saved millions of lives, and he falsely asserted the government has no good vaccine safety monitoring. While appearing to ignore mainstream science, he cited flawed or tangential research to make his points, such as suggesting Black people may need different vaccines than whites. His responses raised concern among health experts that Kennedy lacks basic skills needed for the job.He ignores science. He cherry-picks sometimes fraudulent studies. Sometimes he takes well-done studies and takes little pieces of them out of context, said Dr. Sean OLeary of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He worries that Kennedy could further damage public confidence in vaccines and we will see return of diseases that we really havent seen much of and unfortunately children will suffer.Kennedy in many ways demonstrated his lack of capacity to really understand some details around science and evidence that I think he would really need to know, said Dr. Georges Benjamin of the American Public Health Association. The science on vaccines is clear to doctors and scientists but not to Kennedy Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican and physician, said the science is clear that measles and other childhood vaccines are safe and not linked to autism.Kennedy said if shown the data he would recommend those vaccines and not only will I do that but I will apologize for any statements that misled people otherwise.So Cassidy pulled out and read aloud definitive scientific conclusions that vaccines dont cause autism. Kennedy rebuffed him, instead mentioning a recent paper that outside experts have called fundamentally flawed and Cassidy agreed has some issues in an attempt to counter decades of rigorous studies.The senator told Kennedy his history of undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments concerns me and risks casting a shadow over President Trumps legacy if people die of vaccine-preventable diseases should he become health secretary.Sen. Maggie Hassan, a Democrat from New Hampshire, said theres a real-world ramification for re-litigating and churning settled science diverting money and time that could be spent finding the real cause of autism.Kennedy ignored science showing COVID-19 saved millions of livesKennedy claimed theres no good surveillance system to know that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and lifesaving.The U.S. tracks vaccine safety through multiple monitoring systems including electronic medical records from a list of health systems. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also checks how vaccines fare internationally, such as during the pandemic when large databases from Israel and the U.K. helped reinforce that the new mRNA vaccines were safe and lowering deaths from the coronavirus.Youre applying for the job -- clearly you should know this, said Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. The scientific community has established that COVID vaccines saved millions of lives and youre casting doubt. Kennedy declines to back a vaccine that prevents cancer in womenAAPs OLeary said there are about 35,000 cases of cancer related to the HPV virus that could be prevented by that vaccine, including 4,000 deaths per year. We are already seeing decreases in the number of cases of HPV-related cancers as a result of HPV vaccination.Kennedy didnt answer directly when asked if he stood by claims that the HPV vaccine could cause cancer or other disease. He instead brought up a pending lawsuit and suggested a jury of non-scientists would decide. Kennedys unfounded comment about race and vaccine schedulesSen. Angela Alsobrooks, a Maryland Democrat, asked Kennedy about prior comments that Black people might need a different vaccination schedule than whites. Alsobrooks, who is Black, asked how Kennedy thought she should have been vaccinated differently.Kennedy referred to some earlier papers suggesting people of African-American ancestry had a stronger immune response to measles and rubella vaccines than white people.Vaccination recommendations arent based on race but on biological factors such as someones age and risk of a specific disease. Some studies show Black Americans are more hesitant than whites to receive certain vaccines.That is so dangerous, Alsobrooks told Kennedy.Theres no evidence that there needs to be a different vaccine schedule based on race, said Dr. Amesh Adalja of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Such statements could make different populations wrongly believe well, maybe I dont need as many vaccines as are recommended. ___AP Medical Writer Carla K. Johnson contributed.___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers performs during the FireAid benefit concert on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)2025-01-31T10:39:52Z INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) The FireAid benefit was fueled by some of musics best performers to raise money for Los Angeles-area wildfire relief efforts.The event at the Kia Forum and the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, on Thursday night featured a long list of stars including Billie Eilish, Rod Stewart, Dr. Dre and Joni Mitchell during a pair of concerts that mixed stories of heartbreak, music and surprises galore.They started right out of the gate, with Eilish joining Green Day for the first song of the night, leading to a cute moment greeting the bands frontman, Billie Joe Armstrong. Another Billy, comedian Billy Crystal, quickly followed them and reminded everyone of why they were there and watching: to raise money to help rebuild the devastated Pacific Palisades and Altadena neighborhoods and other impacted areas.The show ended with a big surprise: Lady Gaga performing an upbeat new song she said she wrote with her fiance specifically for FireAid.Here are some of FireAids outstanding moments: Billy Crystal says Well laugh againCrystal appeared as the first host in the same clothes he was wearing when he fled his family home, which was lost in the Palisades Fire. Then, with his trademark humor and heart, he recalled another national spasm of pain.Crystal reminded the crowd that 23 years before, he attended the Concert for New York City in the wake of 9/11 and had seen grieving attendees holding up signs with pictures of their loved ones, asking if anyone had seen them.And tonight, here I am, talking to all of you in pain, he said. But Im also one of the hurting thousands asking, Have you seen my school? Have you seen my church? Have you seen my house? Have you seen my town? Have you seen the 29 people who lost their lives?On that night in 2001, we were mourning the loss of hundreds of firefighters and police officers and first responders, Crystal said. Tonight, we are here together to thank them and all those who run towards danger while we run to shelter and safety. Crystal said he returned to the wreckage of his home and began to wail: I had not cried like that since I was 15 and I was told that my father had just died. His daughters soon found a rock with the word Laughter engraved in it.He recalled how his uncle at his fathers funeral service made everyone laugh by telling stories and doing magic tricks. It changed my life. I knew at that moment even in your worst pain, folks its OK and its important to laugh, he said.Well laugh again, he said. Lets show the world who we are: Were Los Angeles, one city, one heart. L.A. Strong!Eilishs early surpriseFireAid kicked off with a surprise guest appearance from Grammy winner Eilish.The superstar singer strutted onstage while Green Day performed Last Night on Earth, which includes the lyrics, If I lose everything in the fire/Im sending all my love to you. She stood next to Armstrong as the bands frontman played his guitar.After Eilish finished, she blew kisses to the crowd, who who rose to their feet and threw their lit-up wrists toward the sky. She and the band performed as a series of photos showed devastated homeowners watching their houses burn to the ground. Dr. Dre gives Cali loveDr. Dre took the energy to another level, dashing onto the stage to join Anderson .Paak and Sheila E.As Anderson .Paak introduced him, the crowd erupted with many rising to their feet, some jumping in excitement, as the super producer launched into a couple West Coast hip-hop classics: his 1999 hit Still D.R.E. and Tupac Shakurs 1995 jam California Love, which he produced.Im all about love for me tonight, Dr. Dre said alongside Sheila E. standing behind her drums and Anderson.Paak, who wore a black jersey with Koreatown across his chest.Dr. Dre talked about being in the music game for 40 years before showing his appreciation for the first responders. I appreciate all the first responders and all the firemen who put their lives on the line, he told the crowd.Before Dr. Dres surprise appearance, Anderson .Paak performed Put Me Thru and Come Down from his 2016 album Malibu. Flea sets tone for Chili Peppers closing setRed Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Flea made his signature grand entrance because, of course, he did setting the tone for his bands high-energy finale at the Forum.Wearing nothing but a black Speedo, he flipped onto the stage with a handstand, instantly sending the crowd into a frenzy. Up until that moment, many had been seated, casually watching Lil Babys performance on the venues big screens. But Fleas wild antics had them on their feet in no time.Once they were up, many stayed up. The Chili Peppers kept the energy soaring, tearing through a set packed with their biggest hits such as Californication and Give it Away.LA is our home, Flea said. We love you. Nirvanas reunionThis is probably the closest thing to a Nirvana reunion well ever see. The three surviving members Krist Novoselic, Dave Grohl and Pat Smear took the stage for a powerful, nostalgia-fueled performance that left the crowd in awe.A special lineup of St. Vincent, Kim Gordon and Joan Jett filled in for the late Kurt Cobain, the bands frontman who died in 1994. The trio separately delivered renditions of Nirvanas classics including Breed, School and Territorial Pissings.Another poignant moment involved Grohls daughter, Violet, who stepped onto the stage to perform All Apologies, adding a personal touch to the night.Dawes invites iconic friendsThe band Dawes performed three songs with some icons and an intimate knowledge of what the city has gone through. Brothers Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith both had substantial damage to their homes.The band played their melancholy ode to the city, Time Spent in Los Angeles, with the lyrics, Cause you got that special kind of sadness/You got that tragic set of charms/That only comes from time spent in Los Angeles.They invited Stephen Stills to play a jammy version of Stills For What Its Worth (Stop, Hey Whats That Sound). Then Graham Nash, a longtime musical partner to Stills, was invited to the stage to sing Teach Your Children by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. At the end, Nash let the audience sing the final words.Whenever Los Angeles gets into trouble, the musicians are right there, and Im proud to be one of them, Nash said. A prayer for teachersQuinta Brunson, who plays a teacher on the television show Abbott Elementary, introduced a real teacher and shined the spotlight on the impact the fires had on schools and education. Glendale High School math teacher Aurora Barboza Flores said she lost the Altadena home she had been saving for over 21 years. So now Ive lost more than my home. Ive lost my community, too. I was so proud to be a homeowner, so proud to have a place to call my own in this city, she said.She managed to find one thing in the wreckage: A dish she kept her jewelry in, inscribed with the words I think Ill just be happy today. The crowd in the Intuit Dome cheered. Sometimes, thats all we can do. Even though its hard there are moments that get us through. Moments like tonight, Flores said.Thats right, Brunson added. Everybody, lets thank Aurora and all the teachers out there right now. JONATHAN LANDRUM JR. Landrum is an entertainment reporter based in Los Angeles. He reports on television, film and music for The Associated Press. twitter instagram mailto MARK KENNEDY Kennedy is a theater, TV, music, food and obit writer and editor for The Associated Press, as well as a critic for theater, movies and music. He is based in New York City. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

This May 18, 1969 photo provided by NASA shows Earth from 36,000 nautical miles away as photographed from the Apollo 10 spacecraft during its trans-lunar journey toward the moon. (NASA via AP)2025-01-29T21:37:04Z CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) A newly discovered asteroid has a tiny chance of smacking Earth in 2032, space agency officials said Wednesday. Scientists put the odds of a strike at slightly more than 1%.We are not worried at all, because of this 99 percent chance it will miss, said Paul Chodas, director of NASAs Center for Near Earth Object Studies. But it deserves attention.First spotted last month by a telescope in Chile, the near-Earth asteroid designated 2024 YR4 is estimated to be 130 to 330 feet (40 to 100 meters) across.Scientists are keeping close watch on the space rock, which is currently heading away from Earth. As the asteroids path around the sun becomes better understood, Chodas and others said theres a good chance the risk to Earth could drop to zero.The asteroid will gradually fade from view over the next few months, according to NASA and the European Space Agency. Until then, some of the worlds most powerful telescopes will keep monitoring it to better determine its size and path. Once out of sight, it wont be visible until it passes our way again in 2028. The asteroid came closest to Earth on Christmas Day passing within roughly 500,000 miles (800,000 kilometers) of Earth, about twice the distance of the moon. It was discovered two days later. Chodas said scientists are poring over sky surveys from 2016, when predictions show the asteroid also ventured close. If scientists can find the space rock in images from then, they should be able to determine whether it will hit or miss the planet, he told The Associated Press. If we dont find that detection, the impact probability will just move slowly as we add more observations, he said.Earth gets clobbered by an asteroid this size every few thousand years, according to ESA, with the potential for severe damage. Thats why this one now tops ESAs asteroid risk list. The potential impact would occur on Dec. 22, 2032. Its much too soon to know where it might land if it did hit Earth.The good news, according to NASA, is that for now, no other known large asteroids have an impact probability above 1%.___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Sheep graze as students march trough the fields in northern Serbia to protest over the collapse of a concrete canopy that killed 15 people more than two months ago, in Indjija, Serbia, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)2025-01-31T11:33:11Z INDJIJA, Serbia (AP) After spending a freezing night out in the open, hundreds of striking students on Friday resumed their 2-day anti-graft protest march from the capital, Belgrade, to the northern city of Novi Sad, where they plan to blockade three bridges over the River Danube this weekend. The bridge blockade is planned for Saturday to mark three months since a huge concrete construction at the railway station collapsed in Novi said on Nov. 1, leaving 15 people dead.What started two months ago as a protest against suspected corruption in construction contracts has developed into the most serious challenge in years to the countrys powerful populist leader, President Aleksandar Vucic.Meanwhile in Belgrade, a driver rammed a car into a silent protest Friday, slightly injuring one woman, the third such incident in weeks.The incident happened in downtown Belgrade during 15 minutes of silence observed daily throughout Serbia at around noon when a canopy collapsed at a railway station in the northern town of Novi Sad on Nov. 1 Video footage showed the woman, wearing a doctors white coat, being thrown to the pavement. Pro-government thugs have repeatedly attacked the protesters, many of them students, twice ramming cars into demonstrations. Two people were seriously injured in the previous attacksAlong the way to Novi Sad on Friday, the students were greeted by cheering citizens, honking their car horns or coming out of their homes with offers of refreshments and food. When they reached the town of Indjija on Thursday, roughly halfway along their 80-kilometer (50-mile) route, they were welcomed with fireworks and cheers from residents.Although most of them spent the night out in the open in a soccer field, the freezing temperatures did not dampen their desire for major changes in the corruption-ridden Balkan state. Nevena Vecerinac, a student, said she hoped the protesters demands that include the punishment of all those responsible for the rail station tragedy will be fulfilled. We will make it to Novi Sad, she said. Yesterdays walk was easy. Its cold now, but we can make it. We all have the same goal.We need support from all people. With this energy and mood I hope we can do it, otherwise there will be no brighter future, said Luka Arsenovic, another student marcher. Many in Serbia believe that the collapse of the overhang at the train station was essentially caused by government corruption in a large infrastructure project with Chinese state companies. Critics believe graft led to a sloppy job during the reconstruction of the Novi Sad train station, poor oversight and disrespect of existing safety regulations. Monthslong demonstrations have already forced the resignation of Serbias prime minister Milos Vucevic this week, along with various concessions from authorities which were ignored by the protesters who say that is not enough.Vucic and other officials have shifted from accusing the students of working with foreign powers to oust him, to offering concessions or issuing veiled threats. The strength and determination of the protesters have caught many by surprise in a country where hundreds of thousands of young people have emigrated, looking for opportunities elsewhere.-Stojanovic contributed from Belgrade, Serbia. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

The FOIA Forum is a livestreamed event for paying subscribers where we talk about how to file public records requests and answer questions. If you're not already signed up, please consider doing sohere.Recently we had a FOIA Forum where we focused on getting information from federal government agencies. With any new administration there is a flurry of activity, and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests are a way to get more information on what is happening inside government.

An activist with a yellow ribbon on her mouth holds a white umbrella during a protest calling for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, in front of the U.S. Embassy branch office in Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)2025-01-31T13:53:27Z JERUSALEM (AP) News that three high-profile hostages are expected to be released Saturday, including the father of the youngest captives held in Gaza, brought excitement and trepidation to Israel on Friday.Yarden Bibas father to young Ariel and Kfir Bibas Keith Siegel and Ofer Kalderon have all become household names in Israel since their abduction, with major campaigns calling for their release.The mens release would be the fourth since a ceasefire paused the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas this month. In its first phase, 33 Israeli captives are expected to be freed in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.Israels announcement of the names provided by Hamas dimmed hopes that the Bibas boys and their mother, Shiri, are still alive in captivity. Hamas has said they are dead and Israel says it is gravely concerned about them. Around a third of some 80 people still held hostage in Gaza are believed to be dead. Activists dressed in white and carrying white umbrellas held a silent protest Friday outside the U.S. Embassy branch office in Tel Aviv to call for more releases, with yellow chairs representing the hostages. A group representing the captives families called the news joyous but said Israel had the sacred duty and moral right to bring all the hostages home, dead and alive. To the mens families, the news was a relief. Thank God, Sahar Kalderon, one of Ofer Kalderons children, wrote on Instagram. What a perfect morning. Aviva Siegel, Keith Siegels wife, exclaimed with joy in a video her daughter posted to Instagram. Dad is coming! she cried. Dad is on the list!Around 250 were abducted when Hamas stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Israels ensuing air and ground war has been among the deadliest and most destructive in decades. More than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed, over half of them women and children, according to Gazas Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were militants.Heres a closer look at the men set to be freed Saturday. Yarden Bibas, 35News that Yarden Bibas would be released dimmed hopes that his wife and children were still alive in Gaza. Hamas has claimed that the three were killed in an Israeli airstrike. Israel has not confirmed that, but spokesperson Daniel Hagari said last week that the military was extremely concerned about the familys welfare. Yarden Bibas was taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7. Photos from the abduction appear to show him wounded.Its believed he was taken captive separately from his wife and sons. A video of the familys abduction showed Shiri swaddling her two redheaded boys in a blanket and being whisked away by armed men.Kfir, who was 9 months old at the time, was the youngest to be taken captive. The infant with a then-toothless smile has come to represent the helplessness and anger over the hostage crisis. Keith Siegel, 65Keith Siegel, from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was abducted with his wife, Aviva Siegel, from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, a communal farming village heavily damaged by the attack. She was freed during the November 2023 ceasefire deal, and has campaigned across the world for her husbands release.Keith Siegel worked as an a occupational therapist and loves spending time with his grandchildren, according to the forum representing the hostage families. Aviva Siegel said that she was held hostage with her husband during her 51 days in captivity. She said she took comfort from having her husband by her side as they were moved from tunnel to tunnel, the two given almost no food or water. Her parting words to him were, Be strong for me.Ofer Kalderon, 54Ofer Kalderon, a French-Israeli hostage, was taken captive by the militants from Kibbutz Nir Oz, along with his children, Sahar and Erez. His ex-wife, Hadas, was also abducted.The children and Hadas Kalderon were released during the hostage exchange in November. Hadas Kalderon has said that the children have struggled since leaving captivity, worried for their fathers health.Ofer Kalderon worked as a carpenter and loves biking and flying model planes, according to the hostage forum. JULIA FRANKEL Frankel is an Associated Press reporter in Jerusalem. twitter mailto

Avocados are displayed for sale at a grocery store in Waukegan, Ill., Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)2025-01-31T12:42:08Z WASHINGTON (AP) The 25% tax that President Donald Trump plans to slap on imports from Canada and Mexico as soon as Saturday could drive up the price of everything from gasoline and pickup trucks, to Super Bowl party guacamole dip.The tariffs would also invite retaliation. Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, has already vowed to counterpunch by pulling American alcohol off store shelves in the Canadian province no idle threat; Canada is the worlds No. 2 market for Americas distilled spirits (behind the 27-nation European Union).Trumps tariffs threaten to blow up the trade agreement he himself negotiated with Americas neighbors in his first term. His U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement the fairest, most balanced, and beneficial trade agreement we have ever signed into law, Trump once declared -- was supposed to bring predictability to North American trade, giving businesses the confidence to make investments. But when it comes to the self-proclaimed Tariff Man, Trump and his passion for plastering taxes on foreign goods, nothing is predictable, and nothing is ever really settled. Tariffs at those levels and at that scope would effectively destroy the agreement that Trump himself negotiated and always brags about, said Scott Lincicome, a trade analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute.The president says the 25% levies are designed to pressure Americas two neighbors to do more to stop the flow of undocumented immigrants and fentanyl into the United States. Michael Robinet of S&P Global Mobility and many other analysts suspect the tariff threat is also designed to get Canada and Mexico to go along with Americas demands for changes to the USMCA when it comes up for renewal next year.Robinet, executive director of automotive consulting at S&P Global, said he doubts that Trump will go ahead with 25% across-the-board tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports what he calls a shock-to-the-system approach that would freeze the North American economy in a Tariff Winter. Instead, Robinet said, Trump might postpone or phase in the tariffs or initially exempt some industries to show Canada and Mexico how much worse things could get if he doesnt get his way. Trump pressured Mexico and Canada into agreeing to the USMCA five years ago, partly to narrow the United States big trade deficit the gap between what the U.S. sells and what it buys.It hasnt worked out that way.The U.S. deficit in the trade of goods of Mexico has widened from $106 billion in 2019 to $161 billion in 2023 (the last full year for which numbers are available). That is partly because Mexico has replaced China, locked in an ongoing trade war with the United States, as the source of many U.S. imports furniture, textiles, shoes, laptops, computer servers.The trade gap in goods with Canada has ballooned, too: From $31 billion in 2019 to $72 billion in 2023. The deficit largely reflects Americas imports of Canadian energy.The USMCA has not met the goals that Trump set forth for it. Our trade deficit with Canada and Mexico is bigger than it was, considerably, said Lori Wallach, director of the Rethink Trade program at the American Economic Liberties Project and a longtime critic of Americas free trade pacts. A lot of jobs have been offshored to Mexico since USMCA. When the USMCA comes up for renewal next year, the U.S. is expected to press for rules that would do more to encourage factories to produce in the United States. And it could seek a crackdown on Chinese goods being sent through Mexico to the United States to evade tariffs that Trump and President Joe Biden imposed on Beijing.The United States now does far more business exports and imports alike with both Canada and Mexico than it does with China. In 2023, U.S. trade of both goods and services with Canada and Mexico came to more than $1.8 trillion, compared with $643 billion with China. Because of USMCA and the regional trade deal it replaced in 2020 most products cross the regions borders tariff-free. The threatened 25% tariffs are causing heartburn in corporate boardrooms. If Trump goes ahead with his threat, tariffs would surge from $1.3 billion to $132 billion a year on Mexicos imports to the United States and from $440 million to $107 billion on Canadas, according to the tax and consulting firm PwC.And no one knows if Trump will really pull the trigger or how long the tariffs would stay in place if he does. Its really thrown industry into this turmoil of anxiety, said trade lawyer Chandri Navarro, senior counsel at Baker & McKenzie. What industry likes is certainty. Youre making production decisions, supply chain decisions, purchasing decisions five years out.Trump views tariffs as a fix-it for most of what ails the economy. He says they raise money for cuts in income and corporate taxes, encourage companies to move production to the United States and offer useful leverage in pressuring other countries to make concessions on trade and other issues. Trump administration officials also say critics of potential tariffs shouldnt view them in isolation, arguing that their other policies, including lowering taxes and easing regulations, will strengthen the economy. Companies are scrambling to prepare. Some bought goods and shipped them to the United States ahead of time to beat the tariffs. Others are calculating how much of the cost they can pass along to their customers. Unfortunately, its going to impact a lot of consumers, said Dave Evans, co-founder and CEO of Fictiv, a San Francisco company that helps clients manage their supply chains in plastics and metals. We saw this in his first term. A tariff isnt fully absorbed by the companies.Canada and Mexico are bracing, too. Chrystia Freeland, the former finance minister who represented Canada in USMCA negotiations, has called for retaliation if Trump moves ahead with tariffs. Being smart means retaliating where it hurts, said Freeland, who is running to replace prime minister Justin Trudeau. Our counterpunch must be dollar-for-dollar and it must be precisely and painfully targeted: Florida orange growers, Wisconsin dairy farmers, Michigan dishwasher manufacturers, and much more.Likewise, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum promised in November that for every tariff, there will be a response in kind.____Associated Press Writer Josh Boak in Washington contributed this story.

Washington players stand during the playing of the national anthem wearing warm-up jackets for Black History Month before an NCAA college basketball game against Arizona, Feb. 12, 2022, in Seattle. (AP Photo/John Froschauer, File)2025-01-31T15:16:02Z WASHINGTON (AP) Beginning Feb. 1, schools, museums and communities across the nation will mark the start of Black History Month - a celebration of Black history, culture and education. The history of the month dates back almost a century, and the way it is celebrated and evolved has created history in itself. The origins of the monthBlack History Month wasnt always a monthlong celebration. In February 1926, historian and author Carter G. Woodson created Negro History Week. It was a weeklong celebration in an effort to teach people about African-American history and the contributions of Black people.This effort was made under the umbrella of an organization he founded in September 1915 called the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, or ASALH. I think Black folks understood what they had contributed to Americas historical narrative, but no one was talking about it, said Kaye Whitehead, the organizations president. No one was centralizing it until Dr. Carter G. Woodson was in 1926. After he passed away in 1950, the members of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity, which Dr. Woodson was a member of, did a lot of groundwork to encourage celebrating the week. The fraternity was also responsible for the push to extend the celebrations to a full month. Eventually, in 1976, President Gerald Ford became the first president to issue a message recognizing the month. Since then, presidents have made annual proclamations for National Black History Month, a tradition that President Donald Trump plans to continue, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. AP AUDIO: Black History Month explained: Its origins, celebrations and myths AP correspondent Haya Panjwani reports on Black History Month, in the wake of President Trumps anti-DEI initiatives. Celebrating Black history The Association for the Study of African American Life and History releases a theme for each year, which is a practice Woodson started.This years theme is African Americans and Labor. The organization plans to use the month, and the rest of the year, focusing on the role of Black labor in building the nation through industry or community work. Black history is also celebrated within communities and families. Worth K. Hayes, an associate professor of history and Africana studies at Morehouse College, said some families may use the month to explore their genealogy, learn about their ancestors or come together to eat a meal and make family trees. We may be more familiar with the more public ways, but there are also a lot more intimate ways in which these messages are spread and the way that the holiday is propagated, Hayes said. At some schools, assemblies or gatherings are held to honor Black leaders, according to the nonpartisan organization the Center for Racial Justice in Education.Some schools invite elders to share their wisdom and lived experiences, allowing young people to learn from them, ask questions, and build meaningful connections across generations, the center said in an email to The Associated Press. Additionally, some communities select specific topics or principles for in-depth exploration during the month. Myths about Black History Month Myths around Black History Month continue, Whitehead said, including the idea that the U.S. government purposely chose the shortest month of the year. In reality, Woodson chose February because two prominent figures in the civil rights movement Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass had birthdays in the week he chose. Whitehead also stresses that Black history shouldnt just be taught for the month of February, but rather taught and celebrated for the entire year. Celebrities, including actor Morgan Freeman, have criticized it being just a monthlong celebration. But Hayes argued that the month isnt just about celebrating African-American history, but Black history as a whole. I think that there is this desire to make this point that African-American history or Black history is so integral to the American story, American history, Hayes said. But that reduces Black history to African-American history, and thats not how it is and is celebrated from its origins to this day So if youre talking about Black History Month, youre not only talking about Nat Turner, youre also talking about Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution. Youre talking about many of the women and men who led the independence movements on the African continent. Whitehead added that Black history is not just for Black people, it is for all people. If youre in an environment and everybody in the environment is white, you need Black History Month more than ever because you need to understand that the world, even though you like to believe it fits into this box, it does not, Whitehead said.Black history doesnt rely on a presidential proclamation, Whitehead and others said. Whitehead said Black people dont need permission to mark the month. It doesnt happen because were waiting for a statement to be released. We proclaim it, We celebrate it, we uplift, we center it and we help people to understand that this is our history, she said. Black History Month in 2025At least one government agency has paused celebrations of cultural or historic events, including Black History Month. But at the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, the decisions of the new Trump administration around Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives will not affect how Black History Month is celebrated. Negro History Week started in 1926 without any proclamation from anyone other than the people, said ASALH executive director Sylvia Cyrus. The president of the United States has his views, and certainly we assume that he understands the contributions that African Americans and other people of color have made.A White House spokesperson has said that they intend to celebrate the month. Some believe how Black history is taught could be affected by the new administrations outlook on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs. The Center for Racial Justice in Education said educators may be more encouraged to teach Black history in their classrooms throughout the year. Resistance takes many inspiring forms, and those dedicated to celebrating this essential history are employing creative and strategic approaches to share and further develop it, the organization said in an email. Hayes agreed and said it could encourage others to teach communities about the contributions of Black people.African Americans, Black folks throughout the world, just like all cultures throughout the world, have taken ownership of their history, he said. And these various political developments may shape the contours of it. But this story is going to be told regardless of the political dynamics of the particular time.

A woman holds up a dosage of Wegovy, a drug used for weight loss, at her home in Front Royal, Va., on March 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades, File)2025-01-31T14:09:05Z More U.S. adults believe it is a good thing than a bad thing for adults to use weight-loss drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and other brands if they are struggling with obesity or have a health condition tied to weight, but they are not broadly supportive of teens who have obesity using the medications, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. When it comes to ages 12 to 18 who are dealing with obesity, Americans are divided: About one-third say the use of weight-loss drugs in this context is a very or somewhat good thing, a similar share say its a bad thing and about 3 in 10 say it isnt good or bad. For adults, about half think its a good thing, and about 2 in 10 think its a bad thing. The popular weight-loss drugs known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, which were originally meant to treat diabetes, surged in popularity after the Food and Drug Administration approved them for weight loss in 2021. Now, theyre all over the place celebrities, TV advertisements, social media, news media, your neighbor. Doctors and researchers say the injectable drugs are a effective tools when it comes to treating obesity. The American Medical Association has urged health insurance companies to cover the drugs, and the American Academy of Pediatrics has said that doctors should consider giving the medications to kids 12 and older who are struggling with obesity. The AP-NORC poll results indicate that even as doctors urge the drugs use, some Americans continue to have concerns about weight-loss drugs, particularly for teens and people who arent struggling with obesity. Using obesity drugsAccording to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 100 million adults in the U.S. are obese defined as having a body mass index of 30 or higher and more than 22 million adults are severely obese, with a BMI of 40 or higher.Obesity is classified as a chronic disease that needs medical attention, because it can result from genetics, environmental factors and socioeconomic factors. Patients who use the drugs as an extra boost to lose weight can face criticism that theyre somehow cheating, said Dr. Cate Varney, who treats patients with obesity at UVA Health in Charlottesville, Virginia.Its like telling somebody to nail a nail into a board and then giving one person a hammer and another person, you know, like a chopstick, Varney said, adding, were leveling the playing field with these medications.Anjanette Ewen lost 67 pounds on Mounjaro, and credits that weight loss as the reason she found a cancerous lump on her breast. The 50-year-old from Fort Walton Beach, Florida, who responded to the AP-NORC poll, said she had struggled to lose weight for years because of complications with polycystic ovarian syndrome. Because of PCOS, which has a common symptom of sudden weight fluctuations, Ewen went from 150 pounds to 220 pounds in eight months. Ive been on a weight loss journey for forever, it seems like, and nothing was working, she said. About 20% of children in the U.S. have obesity, according to CDC data. Dr. Gitanjali Srivastava, the medical director of obesity medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, said obesity is easier to treat in children than in adults. The youth actually respond beautifully to these medications, she said, adding that obesity at a young age increases the chance of having even severe and more profound obesity as an adult ... to the point that you will actually have to have medications and or bariatric surgery as an adult.Insurance coverage is an issueWithout insurance, out-of-pocket costs for the drugs can run hundreds of dollars each time you fill a prescription.The AP-NORC poll shows about half of Americans strongly or somewhat favor having the federal programs Medicare and Medicaid cover weight-loss drugs for people who have obesity, while about 2 in 10 are opposed the idea and about one-quarter have a neutral view. So far, Medicare, the health insurance program for 66 million Americans 65 and older, doesnt cover the drugs for obesity. Coverage varies under Medicaid, which provides health insurance for low-income Americans. Some large companies with 500 employees or more and some Medicaid programs are adding coverage. But many other employers and health insurers are scaling back, with some citing treatment costs. Using GLP-1s if youre not obeseYou cant get weight-loss drugs without a prescription, though there are off-market compounds that people can purchase. The AP-NORC poll showed that about 6 in 10 Americans believe it is a very or somewhat bad thing for adults to take GLP-1s for weight loss if theyre not obese, and that increases to about 7 in 10 for teens in the same situation.Younger adults, though, are a little more open to the use of GLP-1s for teens who arent dealing with obesity. About 8 in 10 Americans above the age of 45 believe its a bad idea for teenagers who want to lose weight by using the drugs but arent obese, but about two-thirds of American adults under the age of 45 hold the same opinion. ___AP Health Writer Tom Murphy in Indianapolis contributed to this report. Hunter reported from Atlanta. Sanders reported from Washington.___The AP-NORC poll of 1,147 adults was conducted Jan. 9-13, 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.___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. KENYA HUNTER Hunter is an Atlanta-based public health reporter for The Associated Press, covering disabilities and sexual health. mailto LINLEY SANDERS Sanders is a polls and surveys reporter for The Associated Press. She develops and writes about polls conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, and works on AP VoteCast. twitter RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

A group of men who sold Anom devices, the encrypted phone secretly backdoored by the FBI which led to the largest sting operation in history, pleaded guilty this month in San Diego. The defendants had been set to go to trial, in which the government was preparing to reveal the real identity of the confidential human source who provided the FBI with the Anom company in the first place. Now, that trial most likely wont happen.The court records released as part of the plea deals also provide new insight into how some of the phone sellers discussed drug trafficking on their Anom devices as well.If you really want to be secure there is only one word. ANOM, one of the defendants wrote in messages collected from a backdoored phone.In 2018, the FBI shut down an encrypted phone company called Phantom Secure. Companies in this underground industry typically take ordinary mobile handsets, then load them with custom encrypted messaging software and sometimes make modifications to the hardware too, such as removing the microphone or camera. Their customer bases are often disproportionately serious organized criminals, including drug traffickers, hitmen, and money launderers.After shuttering Phantom Secure, a seller of the devices who used the moniker Afgoo approached the FBI with a staggering proposition: would the agency like to take the new encrypted phone company they had started, called Anom, and run it themselves? This meant the FBI could secretly backdoor Anoms phones, and if criminals started using them, read all of their messages.That would only work if criminals bought the phones, and if people in the encrypted phone industry sold them. Thats where the defendants Aurangzeb Ayub, Shane Ngakuru, Seyyed Hossein Hosseini, and Alexander Dmintrienko. Prosecutors allege they became part of Anom and sold Anom devices to criminals around the world.Do you know anything else about Anom or encrypted phones? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at +44 20 8133 5190. Otherwise, send me an email at joseph@404media.co.Anom became a popular tool for serious criminals in Australia, Europe, South America, and South East Asia. Customers used the phones to coordinate massive, multi-ton shipments of drugs. In June 2021, authorities launched a global relay race of raids, with more than nine thousand law enforcement officials acting across a single day.In a twist, even though the FBI secretly managed the Anom company, deciding which features should be included and those which shouldnt, authorities also decided to charge what they saw as some of Anoms most significant sellers. That indictment named seventeen people, including Hakan Ayik, who was Australias most wanted man and a key reason why Anom went global. Associates called him the encryption king.The new plea agreements point to the defendants communications with criminal users of the phones. Defendant assured his criminal customers that Anom would be safe from law enforcement and that Anom was more secure than other hardened encrypted device companies that had recently been infiltrated by law enforcement, Ayubs plea agreement reads.Buy DARK WIRE anywhere books are sold, including Barnes & Noble and Hachette.In March 2021, authorities shut down Sky, one of the largest encrypted phone companies. Ayub then told Anom higher ups he was ready to sell 100 Anom devices and another 600 devices down the line, the record adds. Defendant recognized that the criminal market for hardened encrypted device brands were overlapping and that the fall of a competitor provider presented opportunities for the growth of the Anom Enterprise, it reads.Hosseinis agreement mentions a conversation where some of the men discussed keeping Anom underground. Remeber. Word of mouth only. No social media nothing We dont exist xx, one called Edwin Harmendra Kumar wrote (Kumar previously pleaded guilty). Yes we dont advertize [sic], Dmitrienko added. Hosseini then wrote This one of the policies of ANOM no advertising!! I know you guys are aware of it.. Just a minder . The irony, of course, was that all of these messages were being collected and then read by the FBI.Some of the phone sellers also discussed drug sales in their messages, according to the plea agreements. Ngakuru coordinated a shipment of methamphetamine to New Zealand; Ayub spoke about the sale of kilograms of cocaine; and Hosseini discussed cocaine trafficking, according to the documents. Those three men have entered their pleas, but Dmintrienkos hearing has been delayed to February, according to the court docket. Hosseinis plea agreement mentions Dmintrienko in the cocaine discussion.The guilty pleas close those cases, but some of the people charged by the U.S. remain overseas, including encryption king Ayik and Maximilian Rivkin, a Serbia-born drug trafficker who was also crucial to Anoms aggressive expansion.

In this Oct. 15, 2020, file photo Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos speaks at the Phoenix International Academy in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)2025-01-31T16:44:25Z WASHINGTON (AP) Schools and universities responding to complaints of sexual misconduct must return to policies created during President Donald Trumps first term, with requirements for live hearings and more protections for accused students, according to new guidance issued Friday by the Education Department.In a memo to education institutions across the nation, the agency clarified that Title IX, a 1972 law barring discrimination based on sex, will be enforced according to a set of rules created by former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. The rules govern how complaints of misconduct are investigated and how to settle cases where students present differing accounts.Colleges already have been returning to DeVos 2020 rules in recent weeks since a federal judge in Kentucky overturned the Biden administrations Title IX rules. The courts decision effectively ordered a return to the earlier Trump administration rules. A statement from the Education Department called Bidens rules an egregious slight to women and girls.Under the Trump Administration, the Education Department will champion equal opportunity for all Americans, including women and girls, by protecting their right to safe and separate facilities and activities in schools, colleges and universities, said Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor. The Biden administration sought to overhaul the rules and expand Title IX to protect LGBTQ+ students. It expanded the type of behavior thats considered sexual harassment a reversal of the DeVos policy, which used a narrower definition. But a federal judge in Kentucky overturned Bidens rule on Jan. 9, saying it was a presidential overstep and violated constitutional free speech rights by telling schools to honor students preferred pronouns. The judge, U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves, said there was nothing in Title IX suggesting it should cover anything more than it did when Congress created it. Even before the decision, Bidens rule had been halted in half the states amid legal challenges from Republicans.The full text of the Title IX law is just 37 words long, but the federal government has added rules over the years explaining how its interpreted. DeVos policy adds 500 pages detailing how schools must address complaints and how the Education Department makes sure schools comply.Already, the Trump administration has taken a hard turn on its enforcement of Title IX: On Tuesday the Education Department said it opened an investigation into Denver schools after the district converted a girls restroom into an all-gender restroom while leaving another bathroom exclusive to boys.The new memo says even investigations that started when Bidens rules were in effect should be immediately reoriented to comport fully with the requirements of the 2020 Title IX Rule.DeVos rules were welcomed by advocates who said colleges had become too quick to punish students accused of sexual misconduct without a fair trial. But the rules were condemned by victims rights groups who said they retraumatized victims and would deter many from reporting assaults. Among the most controversial changes was a rule requiring colleges to hold live hearings where accused students could cross-examine their accusers through an adviser. The Biden rule eliminated the requirement and made live hearings optional, though some courts had previously upheld an accused students right to cross examination.More broadly, the 2020 policy narrowed the definition of sexual harassment and the scope of cases that schools must address. It also reduced the liability for colleges, holding them responsible only if they acted with deliberate indifference.Trumps new pick for education secretary is Linda McMahon, a longtime Trump ally known for building the World Wrestling Entertainment professional wrestling empire with her husband, Vince McMahon. Her Senate confirmation hearing has yet to be scheduled.___The Associated Press education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. COLLIN BINKLEY Binkley covers the U.S. Education Department and federal education policy for The Associated Press, along with a wide range of issues from K-12 through higher education. twitter mailto

U.S. Army soldiers stand outside their armored vehicle on a joint base with the Iraqi army, south of Mosul, Iraq, Feb. 23, 2017. (AP Photo/ Khalid Mohammed, File)2025-01-31T15:57:57Z BAGHDAD (AP) The fall of Bashar Assad in Syria has led Iran-allied factions in neighboring Iraq to reconsider their push for U.S. forces to exit the country, multiple Iraqi and American officials told The Associated Press.The U.S. and Iraq announced an agreement last year to wind down the military mission in Iraq of an American-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group by September 2025, with U.S. forces departing some bases where they have stationed troops during a two-decade-long military presence in the country.Political and armed factions linked to Iran had been among the loudest voices calling for a U.S. exit from Iraq particularly after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack in southern Israel and Israels ensuing bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza. In Iraq, as in much of the Arab world, U.S. backing for Israel in a war that killed tens of thousands of civilians and displaced nearly Gazas entire population of 2.3 million was unpopular. When the agreement was reached to end the coalitions mission in Iraq, Iraqi political leaders said the threat of IS was under control and they no longer needed Washingtons help to beat back the remaining cells. But the fall of Assad in a lightning offensive led by Sunni Islamist rebels in December led some to reassess that stance, including members of the Coordination Framework, a coalition of mainly Shiite, Iran-allied political parties that brought current Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani to power in late 2022. The fall of Assad an ally of Iran weakened Tehrans hand in the region, leaving allied groups in Iraq feeling vulnerable. Many in Iraq also fear that IS could take advantage of the security vacuum to stage a comeback while Syrias new leaders are still consolidating their control over the country and forming a national army. Most leaders of the Shiite Coordination Framework are in favor of keeping American forces in Iraq and will not want American forces to leave Iraq as a result of what happened in Syria, said one official with the group. They are afraid of ISIS exploiting the vacuum if the Americans leave Iraq and the situation in Iraq collapses. Multiple other Iraqi political and security officials gave similar assessments. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.A high-ranking official in Iraqs National Security Service said that in a meeting with the Iraqi government, his agency had made the argument that it is not in Iraqs interest to request the withdrawal of the US and the international coalition from Iraq at the present time.The loud voices that were previously talking about the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq have decreased significantly, he said. I expect that there will be no withdrawal this year by the Americans.A senior U.S. defense official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly, said that since the fall of Assad in Syria, Iraqi government officials have asked informally at the highest of levels to delay the end of the mission in Iraq of an American-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group and the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. He said the Iraqis were anxious that IS could take advantage of the chaos following Assads ouster and of large stockpiles of weapons abandoned by the former Syrian army to stage a comeback, which he described as a valid concern.ISIS is not imminently going to make a resurgence, but it certainly could, he said, using an alternative name for IS. The Iraqi government has not made any public statement about the possibility of extending the coalitions mandate. Iraqi government spokesperson Bassim al-Awadi said Friday that the time frames between Iraq and the international coalition have not changed and that meetings between Iraq and coalition officials are ongoing.While Iraqi would likely need to make a formal written request to extend the withdrawal timeline, al-Sudani might be reluctant to make the request publicly out of fear of being portrayed by domestic rivals as backing down after he had previously called for a U.S. exit. The Iraqi government has attempted to maintain a delicate balance between its ties to Iran and to the United States. Iraqi armed groups have also had a complicated relationship with U.S. forces, with the same groups sometimes attacking them and on other occasions becoming allies of convenience in a fight against a common enemy.The Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of primarily Shiite, Iran-backed armed groups, fought against the Islamic State group beginning in 2014, when IS militants rampaged across the country, seizing large swathes of territory. Renad Mansour, a senior research fellow at the Chatham House think tank in London, said that while there wasnt active coordination between the U.S. forces and PMF at the time they were fighting the same war on the same side against the same enemy. During the war in Gaza, some of the groups that make up the PMF launched drone attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria. They have not launched any attacks since the fall of Assad.Mansour said that much of the anxiety in Iraq about the post-Assad future of Syria stems from Iraqs own history. Many of the countrys current leaders remember the chaotic years following the fall of Iraqs former strongman leader, Saddam Hussein, in a U.S.-led invasion in 2003.If the argument for removing the U.S. troops from Iraq was that the fight against ISIS was over and the region is stable, that calculation has changed following regime change in Syria, he said. The threat of Daesh (the Arabic acronym for IS) in the context of an unstable and precarious Syria for the next few years is very real for the Coordination Framework and the government in Iraq.-Sewell reported from Beirut. ABBY SEWELL Sewell is the Associated Press news director for Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. She joined the AP in 2022 but has been based in the region since 2016, reporting and guiding coverage on some of its most significant news stories. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together. This week, we discuss AI's boom or bust, trying Github's Copilot, and making time for good ideas.JASON:When we started 404 Media, I bought a macro lens for my camera and used it to take pictures of leaked documents, things we had FOIAed, things like that. Sometimes I printed out the documents and took pictures of them, other times I took pictures of my computer screen. The thinking was that it was a cooler visual style than just screenshotting them, which obviously takes half a second. It wasnt a policy or anything, but I took pics for the first few weeks, and they did look cool. I only have one camera, and I mainly use it as a webcam for our podcast. So it was definitely a pain in the ass to take it off a tripod, change the lens, take the photos, put them on my computer, and so on. So after a few weeks, I stopped doing it, and now we use screenshots like everyone else on the entire internet.

A boat passes by July 2, 2024, off Sea Girt, N.J., where a power cable from the Atlantic Shores offshore wind farm project is projected to come ashore. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry, File)2025-01-31T16:53:50Z In the first serious fallout from President Donald Trumps early actions against offshore wind power, oil and gas giant Shell is walking away from a major project off the coast of New Jersey.Shell told The Associated Press it is writing off the project, citing increased competition, delays and a changing market. Naturally we also take regulatory context into consideration, spokesperson Natalie Gunnell said in an email.Shell co-owns the large Atlantic Shores project, which has most of its permits and would generate enough power for 1 million homes if both of two phases were completed. Thats enough for one-third of New Jersey households.Its unclear whether Shells decision kills the project partner EDF-RE Offshore Development says it remains committed to Atlantic Shores.On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order singling out offshore wind for contempt with a temporary halt on all lease sales in federal waters and a pause on approvals, permits and loans. Perhaps most of interest to Shell, the order directs administration officials to review existing offshore wind energy leases and identify any legal reasons to terminate them. Large offshore wind farms have been making electricity for three decades in Europe, and more recently in Asia. They are considered by experts to be an essential part of addressing climate change because they can take the place of fossil fuel plants, if paired with battery storage. New Jersey has set a goal of generating 100% of its energy from clean sources by 2035. The Biden administration approved plans to build the Atlantic Shores project in two phases in October, but construction has not begun. Oliver Metcalfe, head of wind research at BloombergNEF, said the partners are facing significant uncertainty about their lease, and other developers are watching what happens with Atlantic Shores closely. Were in uncertain territory here, he added. Offshore wind foes, who are particularly vocal and well-organized in New Jersey, celebrated Shells withdrawal. Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew, of New Jersey, helped the Trump team draft the executive order. He said Shells decision is a big win for New Jerseys coastline and economy but this fight is not over. Robin Shaffer, president of Protect Our Coast NJ, said that without Shells financial backing, it appears the project is dead in the water. Shell is writing off a nearly $1 billion investment. It announced its decision on Thursday, as it reported a 16% decline in full-year earnings of $23.7 billion from $28.3 billion. Most of its business is oil and gas.Danish wind developer Orsted was close to beginning work on two offshore wind farms in New Jersey but scrapped the project in Oct. 2023 after deciding it would not be economical.A lot of clean energy is cheap now, but offshore wind is still among the most expensive. That can make these projects less attractive to investors, absent strong policy support, said Coco Zhang, vice president for environmental, social and governance research at ING. The potential uncertainty that the executive order has brought to the market, it cannot be ignored, she said. The Biden administration sought to ramp up offshore wind as a climate change solution, setting national goals to deploy offshore wind energy, holding lease sales and approving nearly a dozen commercial-scale offshore wind energy projects. ___The Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. JENNIFER McDERMOTT McDermott is a reporter on the Associated Press Climate and Environment team. She focuses on the transition to clean energy. twitter mailto

Shoppers pass by a dining room set on display in a Costco warehouse Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025, in Sheridan, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)2025-01-31T13:37:20Z WASHINGTON (AP) An inflation gauge closely watched by the Federal Reserve rose slightly last month, while some underlying prices pressures showed signs of easing. The latest inflation figures arrive as President Donald Trump has threatened to impose big import taxes on goods from Canada and Mexico, potentially affecting everything from autos to avocados, which could push prices higher in the coming months. Fridays report from the Commerce Department showed that consumer prices rose 2.6% in December from a year earlier, up from a 2.4% annual pace in November and the third straight increase. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices increased 2.8% compared with a year ago, the same as in November and October.There were some positive signs in Wednesdays report, however. When measured in shorter time frames, inflation is slowing: In December, core prices ticked up 0.2% from the previous month, a pace that is nearly consistent with the Feds annual target. Economists and Fed officials pay close attention to core prices because they provide a better read on where inflation is headed. The figures arrive just two days after Federal Reserve officials, led by Chair Jerome Powell, decided to pause their interest rate cuts in part because inflation has largely been stuck at about 2.5%, above their 2% target, for the past six months. In the past three months, core prices have risen at an annual rate of just 2.2%, down from 2.6% in November. Many businesses raise prices at the start of the year, which could push up inflation a bit when Januarys figures are released next month. But the Feds preferred gauge should decline steadily in the next few months, economists say, as higher inflation readings early last year fall out of the year-over-year figures. Beyond that, however, the growing risk that Trump will impose tariffs a little earlier than we are assuming presents an upside risk to inflation, Paul Ashworth, chief North America economist at Capital Economics, a forecasting firm, said in a written note. Overall inflation climbed 0.3% in December from the previous month, driven higher by a jump in gas prices. Monthly increases at that level, if they continued, would exceed the Feds target. The Commerce Departments report also showed consumer spending rose a healthy 0.7% in December from the previous month, fueled in part by steady wage gains and higher stock prices and home values. Incomes rose 0.4%, the government said. With spending outpacing incomes, the savings rate fell to 3.8% from 4.1%. Americans specifically ramped up spending on goods, such as electronics and furniture, likely a sign that consumers are buying more manufactured products, many of which are imported, before the potential imposition of tariffs that Trump has threatened to implement. Underlying trends point to lower inflation ahead. Apartment rental prices and other housing costs are slowly moderating. And a sluggish labor market has meant wage growth has slipped, which means companies are under less pressure to raise prices to offset higher labor costs. We seem to be set up for further progress, Powell said Wednesday at a news conference, referring to inflation. But being seem to set up for it is one thing, having it is another. So were going to want to see further progress on inflation.Until then, Powell suggested, the Fed is likely to keep its key rate at about 4.3%, down a full percentage point from a two-decade peak last year before three cuts at the end of 2024. The Fed expects higher borrowing costs will weigh on spending and bring inflation down further. Consumers, meanwhile, powered strong growth in the final three months of last year, when the economy expanded at a solid 2.3% annual rate. Growth was stronger in the July-September quarter, at 3.1%, but the fourth-quarter expansion was held back by a sharp reduction in business inventories, which should reverse in coming quarters. CHRISTOPHER RUGABER Rugaber has covered the Federal Reserve and the U.S. economy for the AP for 16 years. He is a two-time finalist for the Gerald Loeb award for business reporting. twitter mailto

Then former President Donald Trump speaks next to Richard Grenell during a presidential election campaign event at a farm in Smithton, Pa., Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)2025-01-31T16:18:00Z CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) A senior Trump administration official has traveled to Venezuela to urge President Nicols Maduros government to take back deported migrants whove committed crimes in the U.S. and release a handful of imprisoned Americans, a U.S. official said Friday.The visit by Richard Grenell, who U.S. President Donald Trump appointed as an envoy for special missions, may come as a surprise to some Venezuelans who hoped that Trump would continue the maximum pressure campaign he pursued against the authoritarian Venezuelan leader during his first term.Mauricio Claver-Carone, Trumps special envoy to Latin America, confirmed Grenells visit to Caracas in a conference call with journalists on Friday. He said Grenell, who served as U.S. Ambassador to Germany and acting director of national intelligence during Trumps first term, was in Venezuela on a very specific mission that in no way detracts from the Trump administrations goal of restoring democracy in the South American nation. I would urge the Maduro government, the Maduro regime in Venezuela, to heed special envoy Ric Grenells message, said Claver-Carone, himself a former top national security aide to Trump during his first administration. Ultimately there will be consequences otherwise. The visit comes less than a month after Maduro was sworn in for a third six-year term despite credible evidence that he lost last years election by a more than 2-to-1 margin. The U.S. government, along with several other Western nations, does not recognize Maduros claim to victory. Electoral authorities loyal to the ruling party declared Maduro the winner of the July election hours after polls closed without providing detailed vote counts, unlike in previous elections. Meanwhile, the countrys main opposition coalition collected tally sheets from 85% of electronic voting machines showing that its candidate, Edmundo Gonzlez, won by a more than a two-to-one margin. Spokespeople for Gonzlez and his campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Grenells visit.The dispute over the election results sparked nationwide protests. More than 2,200 people were arrested during and after the demonstrations.Among those detained are as many as 10 Americans who the government has linked to alleged plots to destabilize the country. One of them is a Navy SEAL. None of the Americans has been declared wrongfully detained by the State Department, a designation that would give their cases more attention.The Trump administration has taken a slew of actions to make good on promises to crack down on illegal immigration and carry out the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history. Those measures include the revocation earlier this week of a Biden administration decision that would have protected roughly 600,000 people from Venezuela from deportation, putting some at risk of being removed from the country in about two months.More than 7.7 million Venezuelans have left their home country since 2013, when its economy unraveled and Maduro first took office. Most settled in Latin America and the Caribbean, but after the pandemic, migrants increasingly set their sights on the U.S. Venezuelans desire for better living conditions and their rejection of Maduro and his policies are expected to keep pushing people to emigrate.Ahead of the presidential election last year, a nationwide poll by Venezuela-based research firm Delphos showed about a quarter of the population thinking about emigrating if Maduro was re-elected.Grenell has reached out to Maduro before on Trumps behalf to secure the release of imprisoned Americans only to come home empty handed.In 2020, he traveled with Erik Prince, the founder of controversial security firm Blackwater, to Mexico City for a secret meeting with a top Maduro aide. The backchannel talks centered on Maduros offer to swap eight Americans then imprisoned in Venezuela for businessman Alex Saab, a close ally of the president charged in the U.S. with money laundering, The Associated Press previously reported. No deal was struck and Grenells demand that Maduro step down was laughed off by the Venezuelan presidents envoy. Grenell has always denied he was negotiating a hostage swap.Later, in December 2023, the Biden administration exchanged Saab for 10 Americans as part of a policy to re-engage Maduro ahead of presidential elections.___Goodman reported from Miami.____Follow APs coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america JOSHUA GOODMAN Goodman is a Miami-based investigative reporter who writes about the intersection of crime, corruption, drug trafficking and politics in Latin America. He previously spent two decades reporting from South America. twitter mailto

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James reacts after dunking against the Washington Wizards during the second half of an NBA basketball game Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jess Rapfogel)2025-01-31T17:29:08Z The NBA All-Stars have been selected. Next up: Assigning them to teams.The 10 players designated as starters were announced on Jan. 23, the remaining 14 players designated as reserves were revealed Thursday and now, those 24 players will be drafted onto eight-player teams for the games that will be played on Feb. 16 in San Francisco.TNT analysts and basketball greats Shaquille ONeal, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith will draft the teams on Feb. 6. The eight-player teams will bear their names Team Shaq, Team Charles and Team Kenny.Theyll pick from this pool of players: LeBron James and Anthony Davis of the Los Angeles Lakers Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Darius Garland of the Cleveland Cavaliers Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard of the Milwaukee Bucks Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams of the Oklahoma City Thunder Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves Cade Cunningham of the Detroit Pistons Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves James Harden of the Los Angeles Clippers Kevin Durant of the Phoenix Suns Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors Pascal Siakam of the Indiana Pacers Tyler Herro of the Miami Heat Alperen Sengun of the Houston Rockets Jaren Jackson Jr. of the Memphis Grizzlies Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs How the tournament worksThe games will be fast. Games are to 40 points; first one to reach that total wins. The two semifinal winners will meet in the All-Star final, that game also goes only to 40 points.Voting formatThere was a weighted formula to pick the 10 players designated as starters. It was 50% fan vote, 25% media panel vote, 25% current player vote. NBA head coaches picked the 14 players designated as reserves.But the starter and reserve columns wont mean much on game night, since there will be 15 different players starting five from each of the three teams and only nine players coming off the bench in those semifinal games. How the tournament worksThe Rising Stars event winner that tournament will be held Feb. 14, another four-team event made up of first- and second-year players will be the fourth team in the All-Star games on Feb. 16. That team will be called Team Candace, for Candace Parker.Why the changeNBA Commissioner Adam Silver has wanted a more competitive All-Star event for some time, and this change comes after the teams combined to score a record 397 points 211-186 was the final in last seasons game at Indianapolis.The teams combined to take 289 shot attempts in last years game, 94% of those being either inside the paint or beyond the 3-point line.Coaching staffsKenny Atkinson of the Cleveland Cavaliers will coach one All-Star team, Mark Daigneault of the Oklahoma City Thunder will coach another, and two of their assistants one from each team will have the other teams under their direction.Cleveland and Oklahoma City are sending their staffs to the game because those are the teams with the best records in the Eastern and Western Conferences. Prize moneyThere is a prize pool of $1.8 million for the All-Star Game.Each player on the All-Star champion team gets $125,000, each player on the runner-up team will get $50,000 and the players on the teams eliminated in the semifinals will each get $25,000.___AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba TIM REYNOLDS Reynolds is an Associated Press sports writer, based in South Florida. twitter mailto

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators examine cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder recovered from the American Airlines passenger jet that crashed with an Army helicopter Wednesday night near Washington, D.C, Thursday, Jan.30, 2024. (NTSB via AP)2025-01-31T19:11:32Z Its one of the most important pieces of forensic evidence following a plane crash: The so-called black box. There are actually two of these remarkably sturdy devices: the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder. And theyre typically orange, not black. Federal investigators on Friday recovered the black boxes from the passenger jet that crashed in the Potomac River just outside Washington on Wednesday, while authorities were still searching for similar devices in the military helicopter that also went down. The collision killed 67 people in the deadliest U.S. aviation disaster since 2001. Here is an explanation of what black boxes are and what they can do: What are black boxes? The cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder are tools that help investigators reconstruct the events that lead up to a plane crash. Theyre orange in color to make them easier to find in wreckage, sometimes at great ocean depths. Theyre usually installed a planes tail section, which is considered the most survivable part of the aircraft, according to the National Transportation Safety Boards website. Theyre also equipped with beacons that activate when immersed in water and can transmit from depths of 14,000 feet (4,267 meters). While the battery that powers the beacon will run down after about one month, theres no definitive shelf-life for the data itself, NTSB investigators told The Associated Press in 2014. For example, black boxes of an Air France flight that crashed in the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 were found two years later from a depth of more than 10,000 feet, and technicians were able to recover most of the information. If a black box has been submerged in seawater, technicians will keep them submerged in fresh water to wash away the corrosive salt. If water seeps in, the devices must be carefully dried for hours or even days using a vacuum oven to prevent memory chips from cracking. The electronics and memory are checked, and any necessary repairs made. Chips are scrutinized under a microscope. What does the cockpit voice recorder do? The cockpit voice recorder collects radio transmissions and sounds such as the pilots voices and engine noises, according to the NTSBs website. Depending on what happened, investigators may pay close attention to the engine noise, stall warnings and other clicks and pops, the NTSB said. And from those sounds, investigators can often determine engine speed and the failure of some systems. Investigators are also listening to conversations between the pilots and crew and communications with air traffic control. Experts make a meticulous transcript of the voice recording, which can take up to a week. What does the flight data recorder do? The flight data recorder monitors a planes altitude, airspeed and heading, according to the NTSB. Those factors are among at least 88 parameters that newly built planes must monitor. Some can collect the status of more than 1,000 other characteristics, from a wings flap position to the smoke alarms. The NTSB said it can generate a computer animated video reconstruction of the flight from the information collected. NTBS investigators told the AP in 2014 that a flight data recorder carries 25 hours of information, including prior flights within that time span, which can sometimes provide hints about the cause of a mechanical failure on a later flight. An initial assessment of the data is provided to investigators within 24 hours, but analysis will continue for weeks more.What are the origins of the black box? At least two people have been credited with creating devices that record what happens on an airplane. One is French aviation engineer Franois Hussenot. In the 1930s, he found a way to record a planes speed, altitude and other parameters onto photographic film, according to the website for European plane-maker Airbus. In the 1950s, Australian scientist David Warren came up with the idea for the cockpit voice recorder, according to his 2010 AP obituary.Warren had been investigating the crash of the worlds first commercial jet airliner, the Comet, in 1953, and thought it would be helpful for airline accident investigators to have a recording of voices in the cockpit, the Australian Department of Defence said in a statement after his death. Warren designed and constructed a prototype in 1956. But it took several years before officials understood just how valuable the device could be and began installing them in commercial airlines worldwide. Warrens father had been killed in a plane crash in Australia in 1934. Why the name black box?Some have suggested that it stems from Hussenots device because it used film and ran continuously in a light-tight box, hence the name black box, according to Airbus, which noted that orange was the boxs chosen color from the beginning to make it easy to find. Other theories include the boxes turning black when they get charred in a crash, the Smithsonian Magazine wrote in 2019. The truth is much more mundane, the magazine wrote. In the post-World War II field of electronic circuitry, black box became the ubiquitous term for a self-contained electronic device whose input and output were more defining than its internal operations. The media continues to use the term, the magazine wrote, because of the sense of mystery it conveys in the aftermath of an air disaster. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Israeli captive Arbel Yehoud, 29, who has been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023, is escorted by Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters as she is handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)2025-01-31T18:37:04Z JERUSALEM (AP) It was a day of wrenching emotions: Relief, joy, anger and trauma all spilled out as Hamas released a new round of hostages and Israel freed more Palestinians from its prisons.In the latest in the series of exchanges under the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal Thursday, three Israeli hostages, five Thai workers who had also been held captive by militants in Gaza and 110 Palestinians were freed. Red Cross vehicles, left, wait for the hand-over of Israeli soldier hostage Agam Berger at the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza City, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Mohammad Abu Samra) Red Cross vehicles, left, wait for the hand-over of Israeli soldier hostage Agam Berger at the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza City, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Mohammad Abu Samra) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Freed hostage Shani Goren, right, and friends of Israeli hostage Arbel Yehoud react as they watch the broadcast of her being released from Hamas captivity, in Carmei Gat, southern Israel, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, as part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit) Freed hostage Shani Goren, right, and friends of Israeli hostage Arbel Yehoud react as they watch the broadcast of her being released from Hamas captivity, in Carmei Gat, southern Israel, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, as part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Israeli captive Arbel Yehoud, 29, who has been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023, is escorted by Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters as she is handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi) Israeli captive Arbel Yehoud, 29, who has been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023, is escorted by Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters as she is handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Friends of Arbel Yehoud gripped each others hands, tears in their eyes, as they gathered at a home in southern Israel to watch on TV as the 29-year-old emerged surrounded by masked Hamas fighters with their green headbands and automatic rifles.After more than 470 days of captivity, Yehoud looked stunned, surrounded by a giant crowd of Palestinians in the ruins of the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis gathered to witness her handover. The fighters marched her through the crowd to vehicles of the Red Cross. The scenes were similar as militants freed Gadi Moses, an 80-year-old man, and female soldier Agam Berger, 20. Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters contain the crowd as cars carrying Israeli Gadi Mozes and Arbel Yahoud, who have been held hostages by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023, are escorted to be handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana) Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters contain the crowd as cars carrying Israeli Gadi Mozes and Arbel Yahoud, who have been held hostages by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023, are escorted to be handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Since the ceasefire began, Hamas has turned each round of hostage releases into a combination of spectacle and ceremony with large crowds, flags and stages. For the militants, its a chance to show off their survival as a fighting force to Israelis and Palestinians alike, as well as to highlight the devastation wreaked by Israel in Gaza during its 15-month campaign of retaliation over the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks in which the hostages were snatched. But the images of hostages being led through the crowds have unnerved and angered Israelis. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the shocking scenes and called on international mediators to ensure the safety of hostages in future releases a commitment he said he later received. People surround the cars carrying Israeli Gadi Mozes and Arbel Yahoud, who have been held hostages by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023, as they are escorted by Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters as they are handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana) People surround the cars carrying Israeli Gadi Mozes and Arbel Yahoud, who have been held hostages by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023, as they are escorted by Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters as they are handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Israeli soldier Agam Berger waves to the crowd as she is handed over to the Red Cross by masked Islamic Jihad militants at the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza City, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Mohammed Hajjar) Israeli soldier Agam Berger waves to the crowd as she is handed over to the Red Cross by masked Islamic Jihad militants at the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza City, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Mohammed Hajjar) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More People react as they watch broadcast of the release of Israeli soldier Agam Berger, one of eight hostages set to be released today as part of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) People react as they watch broadcast of the release of Israeli soldier Agam Berger, one of eight hostages set to be released today as part of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More For more than 15 months, Israelis have been riveted by the ordeals of the hostages. Each release has brought an outpouring of relief, intertwined with frustration and sorrow over the dozens who remain captive. For Palestinians, the releases of those imprisoned by Israel bring an end to years of separation. Palestinians view the prisoners released as heroes who have sacrificed for the cause of ending Israels decades-long occupation of their land.In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, a cheering crowd lifted Zakaria Zubeidi onto their shoulders after his release. Zubeidi thrilled Palestinians and stunned the Israeli security establishment with a dramatic jailbreak alongside other prisoners in 2021, though they were all soon recaptured. Zaharia Zubeidi , former leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed offshoot of the secular Fatah party, center, is greeted upon his arrival after being released from an Israeli prison in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Nasser Nasser) Zaharia Zubeidi , former leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed offshoot of the secular Fatah party, center, is greeted upon his arrival after being released from an Israeli prison in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Nasser Nasser) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Zubeidi once headed an armed militia and was imprisoned in the early 2000s for attacks on Israelis. After serving his time, he said he set aside militancy for political activism and opened a theater for cultural resistance in the Jenin refugee camp. Israel arrested him again in 2019 for alleged involvement in attacks on settlers, though in the six years since he was not tried.Those released included 30 serving life sentences for deadly attacks against Israelis, all but seven of whom were immediately sent into exile. Hamas fighters are greeted as they arrive in pick-up trucks to the site of the hand over of hostage Agam Beger to the Red Cross at the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza City, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Mohammed Hajjar) Hamas fighters are greeted as they arrive in pick-up trucks to the site of the hand over of hostage Agam Beger to the Red Cross at the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza City, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Mohammed Hajjar) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More People surround the cars carrying Israeli Gadi Mozes and Arbel Yahoud, who have been held hostages by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023, as they are escorted by Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters as they are handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana) People surround the cars carrying Israeli Gadi Mozes and Arbel Yahoud, who have been held hostages by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023, as they are escorted by Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters as they are handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters contain the crowd as cars carrying Israeli Gadi Mozes and Arbel Yahoud, who have been held hostages by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023, are escorted to be handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana) Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters contain the crowd as cars carrying Israeli Gadi Mozes and Arbel Yahoud, who have been held hostages by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023, are escorted to be handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Israeli soldier Agam Berger walks next to masked Islamic Jihad militants as she is handed over to the Red Cross at the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza City, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Mohammed Hajjar) Israeli soldier Agam Berger walks next to masked Islamic Jihad militants as she is handed over to the Red Cross at the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza City, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Mohammed Hajjar) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Hamas fighters arrive in a pick-up truck to the site of the hand over of hostage Agam Beger to the Red Cross at the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza City, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Mohammed Hajjar) Hamas fighters arrive in a pick-up truck to the site of the hand over of hostage Agam Beger to the Red Cross at the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza City, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Mohammed Hajjar) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More A crowd surrounds Red Cross cars as they arrive at the site for the handover of Thai and Israeli hostages in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi) A crowd surrounds Red Cross cars as they arrive at the site for the handover of Thai and Israeli hostages in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters hold their weapons as cars carrying Israeli Gadi Mozes and Arbel Yahoud, who have been held hostages by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023, are escorted to be handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana) Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters hold their weapons as cars carrying Israeli Gadi Mozes and Arbel Yahoud, who have been held hostages by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023, are escorted to be handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Two Thai captives, who has been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023, are escorted by Hamas fighters as they are handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi) Two Thai captives, who has been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023, are escorted by Hamas fighters as they are handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Freed hostage Shani Goren, fourth left, and friends of Israeli hostage Arbel Yehoud react as they watch the broadcast of her being released from Hamas captivity, in Carmei Gat, southern Israel, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, as part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit) Freed hostage Shani Goren, fourth left, and friends of Israeli hostage Arbel Yehoud react as they watch the broadcast of her being released from Hamas captivity, in Carmei Gat, southern Israel, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, as part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Gadi Moses, 80, center right, who has been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023, is escorted by Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters as he is handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi) Gadi Moses, 80, center right, who has been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023, is escorted by Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters as he is handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants secure the area as Red Cross representatives wait for the handover of Thai and Israeli hostages in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi) Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants secure the area as Red Cross representatives wait for the handover of Thai and Israeli hostages in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More An Israeli military helicopter carrying five Thai hostages released from Gaza lands at Shamir Medical Center (Assaf Harofeh) in Beer Yaakov, Israel, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) An Israeli military helicopter carrying five Thai hostages released from Gaza lands at Shamir Medical Center (Assaf Harofeh) in Beer Yaakov, Israel, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Crowd greets Palestinian prisoners after being released from Israeli prison following a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean) Crowd greets Palestinian prisoners after being released from Israeli prison following a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More A Palestinian prisoner is greeted after being released from an Israeli prison, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Thursday January. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Nasser Nasser) A Palestinian prisoner is greeted after being released from an Israeli prison, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Thursday January. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Nasser Nasser) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More A freed Palestinian prisoner waves as he arrives in the Gaza Strip after being released from an Israeli prison following a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel in Khan Younis, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi) A freed Palestinian prisoner waves as he arrives in the Gaza Strip after being released from an Israeli prison following a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel in Khan Younis, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Zaharia Zubeidi , former leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed offshoot of the secular Fatah party, center, is greeted upon his arrival after being released from an Israeli prison in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Nasser Nasser) Zaharia Zubeidi , former leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed offshoot of the secular Fatah party, center, is greeted upon his arrival after being released from an Israeli prison in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Nasser Nasser) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More A Palestinian prisoner is greeted upon his arrival after being released from an Israeli prison in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Nasser Nasser) A Palestinian prisoner is greeted upon his arrival after being released from an Israeli prison in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Nasser Nasser) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Headquarters is seen in Washington, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)2025-01-31T20:00:28Z WASHINGTON (AP) Trump administration officials are moving to fire FBI agents engaged in investigations involving President Donald Trump in the coming days, two people familiar with the plans said Friday.It was not clear how many agents might be affected, though scores of investigators were involved in various inquiries touching Trump. Officials acting at the direction of the administration have been working to identify individual employees who participated in politically sensitive investigations for possible termination, said the people who insisted on anonymity to discuss private conversations.The terminations would be a major blow to the historic independence from the White House of the nations premier federal law enforcement agency and would reflect the Trumps determination to bend the law enforcement and intelligence community to his will. Its part of a startling pattern of retribution waged on federal government employees, following the forced ousters of a group of senior FBI executives earlier this week as well as a mass firing by the Justice Department of prosecutors on special counsel Jack Smiths team who investigated Trump. The FBI Agents Association called the planned firings outrageous actions by acting officials are fundamentally at odds with the law enforcement objectives outlined by President Trump and his support for FBI Agents. Dismissing potentially hundreds of Agents would severely weaken the Bureaus ability to protect the country from national security and criminal threats and will ultimately risk setting up the Bureau and its new leadership for failure, the association said in a statement. The FBI and Smiths team investigated Trump over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and his hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Both of those cases resulted in indictments that were withdrawn after Trumps November presidential win because of longstanding Justice Department policy prohibiting the federal prosecution of a sitting president. The Justice Department also brought charges against more than 1,500 Trump supporters who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, though Trump on his first day in office granted clemency to all of them including the ones convicted of violent crimes through pardons, sentence commutations and dismissals of indictment.A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment, and an FBI spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.The firings would be done over the will of the acting FBI director Brian Driscoll, who has indicated that he objects to the idea, the people said. ERIC TUCKER Tucker covers national security in Washington for The Associated Press, with a focus on the FBI and Justice Department and the special counsel cases against former President Donald Trump. twitter mailto ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Richer is an Associated Press reporter covering the Justice Department and legal issues from Washington. twitter mailto

Boys sit next to a mural of Shiite clerics Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr, left, and Mohammad Sadiq al-Sadr, right, in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, April 6, 2013, painted over a portrait of former dictator Saddam Hussein. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim, File)2025-01-31T18:57:25Z BAGHDAD (AP) Iraqs National Security Agency said Friday it arrested a former high-level security official for his involvement in the 1980 execution of a prominent Shiite cleric and his sister during Saddam Hussein s brutal crackdown on religious opposition.Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr was a leading Iraqi Shiite cleric and political critic who opposed the secular Baathist government of the former Iraqi president. His opposition intensified following the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, which heightened Saddams fears of a Shiite-led uprising in Iraq.In 1980, as the government moved against Shiite activists, al-Sadr and his sister Bint al-Huda a religious scholar and activist who spoke out against government oppression were arrested. Reports indicate they were tortured before being executed by hanging on April 8, 1980. The government refused to return their bodies, fearing their graves would become rallying points for resistance. Al-Sadrs execution deepened Shiite opposition to Saddam, fueling movements that contributed to the Baathist governments eventual downfall. The primary suspect in al-Sadrs execution, Saadoun Sabri Jamil Jumaa al-Qaisi, was among five people detained five months ago, a security official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly, told The Associated Press. Al-Qaisi held high-ranking positions under Saddam, including director of state security and director of security in the port city of Basra as well as the central city of Najaf. He is accused of overseeing al-Sadrs detention and execution. After the 2003 fall of Saddams government, al-Qaisi fled to Syria, assuming the alias Hajj Saleh to evade prosecution, the security source said. He returned to Iraq on Feb. 26, 2023, and was arrested in Erbil 44 years after the execution.According to the Iraqi National Security Agency, al-Qaisi faces a potential death sentence. A final verdict is expected next week.Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani praised the arrest on X, saying, We reaffirm our commitment to tracking down criminals, no matter how long they have been on the run.

Mifepristone tablets are seen in a Planned Parenthood clinic Thursday, July 18, 2024, in Ames, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)2025-01-31T18:37:19Z BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) A New York doctor was indicted by a Louisiana grand jury on Friday for allegedly prescribing an abortion pill online in the Deep South state, which has one of the strictest near-total abortion bans in the country. Grand jurors at the District Court for the Parish of West Baton Rouge issued an indictment against Dr. Margaret Carpenter; her company, Nightingale Medical, PC; and a third person. All three were charged with criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs, a felony.The case appears to be the first instance of criminal charges against a doctor accused of sending abortion pills to another state, at least since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and opened the door for states to have strict anti-abortion laws.Carpenter was also sued by the Texas attorney general in December under similar allegations of sending pills to that state. That case did not involve criminal charges. Carpenter did not immediately return a message.The indictment comes just months after Louisiana became the first state with a law to reclassify both mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled dangerous substances. The drugs are still allowed, but medical personnel have to go through extra steps to access them. Under the legislation, if someone knowingly possesses mifepristone or misoprostol without a valid prescription for any purpose, they could be fined up to $5,000 and sent to jail for one to five years. The law carves out protections for pregnant women who obtain the drug without a prescription to take on their own. I have said it before and I will say it again: We will hold individuals accountable for breaking the law, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, a Republican, said in a statement on Friday. Since the fall of Roe v. Wade, Louisiana has had a near-total abortion ban, without any exceptions for rape or incest. Under the law, physicians convicted of performing an illegal abortion, including one with pills, face up to 15 years in prison, $200,000 in fines and the loss of their medical license. Make no mistake, since Roe v Wade was overturned, weve witnessed a disturbing pattern of interference with womens rights, the Abortion Coalition of Telemedicine, where Carpenter is one of the founders, said in a statement. Its no secret the United States has a history of violence and harassment against abortion providers, and this state-sponsored effort to prosecute a doctor providing safe and effective care should alarm everyone.Fridays indictment could be the first direct test of New Yorks shield laws, which are intended to protect prescribers who use telehealth to provide abortion pills to patients in states where abortion is banned.We always knew that overturning Roe v. Wade wasnt the end of the road for anti-abortion politicians. Thats why I worked with the Legislature to pass nation-leading laws to protect providers and patients, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a prepared release.Attorney General Letitia James, who would enforce the shield law, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Pills have become the most common means of abortion in the U.S., accounting for nearly two-thirds of them by 2023. Theyre also at the center of political and legal action over abortion. In January, one judge let three states continue to challenge federal government approvals for how one of the drugs usually involved can be prescribed.___Mulvihill reported from Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Associated Press reporter Michael Hill in Albany, New York, also contributed. GEOFF MULVIHILL Mulvihill covers topics on the agendas of state governments across the country. He has focused on abortion, gender issues and opioid litigation. twitter mailto

President Donald Trump listens to a question as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)2025-01-31T18:43:55Z WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump will put in place 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10% tariffs on goods from China effective on Saturday, the White House said, but it provided no word on whether there would be any exemptions to the measures that could result in swift price increases to U.S. consumers.Trump had been threatening the tariffs to ensure greater cooperation from the countries on stopping illegal immigration and the smuggling of chemicals used for fentanyl, but he has also pledged to use tariffs to boost domestic manufacturing and raise revenues for the federal government.Starting tomorrow, those tariffs will be in place, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. These are promises made and promises kept by the president.The tariffs carry both political and economic risks for Trump, who is just two weeks into his second term. Many voters backed the Republican on the promise that he could tamp down inflation, but the possibility of tariffs could trigger higher prices and potentially disrupt the energy, auto, lumber and agricultural sectors. Trump had said he was weighing issuing an exemption for Canadian and Mexican oil imports, but Leavitt said she had no information to share on the presidents decision on any potential carveouts. The United States imported almost 4.6 million barrels of oil daily from Canada in October and 563,000 barrels from Mexico, according to the Energy Information Administration. U.S. daily production during that month averaged nearly 13.5 million barrels a day. Trump has previously stated a 10% tariff on Chinese imports would be on top of other import taxes charged on products from the country.Shortly after Leavitt spoke, the S&P 500 stock index sold off and largely erased its gains on the day.Both Canada and Mexico have said theyve prepared the option of retaliatory tariffs to be used if necessary, which in turn could trigger a wider trade conflict that economic analyses say could hurt growth and further accelerate inflation. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday that Canada is ready is a respond if Trump goes ahead with the tariffs, but he did not give details.Were ready with a response, a purposeful, forceful but reasonable, immediate response, he said. Its not what we want, but if he moves forward, we will also act.Trudeau said tariffs would have disastrous consequences for the U.S, putting American jobs at risk and causing prices to rise. Trudeau reiterated that less than 1% of the fentanyl and illegal crossings into the U.S. come from Canada.Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday that Mexico has maintained a dialogue with Trumps team since before he returned to the White House, but she emphasized that Mexico has a Plan A, Plan B, Plan C for what the United States government decides.Now it is very important that the Mexican people know that we are always going to defend the dignity of our people, we are always going to defend the respect of our sovereignty and a dialogue between equals, as we have always said, without subordination, Sheinbaum said.___AP writers Jim Morris in Vancouver, Canada, and Christopher Sherman in Mexico City contributed. ZEKE MILLER Zeke is APs chief White House correspondent twitter mailto AAMER MADHANI Aamer Madhani is a White House reporter. twitter mailto JOSH BOAK Boak covers the White House and economic policy for The Associated Press. He joined the AP in 2013. twitter mailto

An American Airlines plane passes in the foreground as a member of a dive team and a Coast Guard vessel with a crane work near the wreckage of a Black Hawk helicopter in the Potomac River from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)2025-01-31T22:04:12Z WASHINGTON (AP) Airline pilots flying into Washington, D.C., have reported nearly a dozen near misses that were scarily similar to this weeks midair collision that killed 67 people the type of close calls that led one aviator to complain that Reagan National Airport was probably the most dangerous in the nation.An Associated Press review of a federal database that catalogs such concerns found scores of reports of near-misses and warnings about congested skies over the nations capital, with pilots repeatedly complaining about military helicopters getting too close to passenger jets. Last May, one of those helicopters passed just 300 feet (91 meters) below a commercial airliner, triggering a cockpit collision avoidance alert and prompting the jets pilot to file a report in the Aviation Safety Reporting System, a database maintained by NASA that allows pilots and crew to submit voluntary, anonymous and confidential safety concerns. I never saw it, the jetliner pilot wrote, adding that he never received a warning about the helicopter from air traffic controllers. Such complaints highlighted the tension that has developed between commercial airline pilots unnerved by the helicopters and the military units that have critical national security duties and must maintain flying skills to execute them. It is not clear if federal authorities were aware of such concerns or took any steps to mitigate the risks. But on Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration paused almost all helicopter flights from operating near the airport, with exceptions for police and emergency response. The presidents helicopter transport, Marine One, is also exempt. The pause came after an Army Black Hawk helicopter on a nighttime training run collided with an American Airlines jet that was about to land at the airport Wednesday night, plunging both into the dark, cold Potomac River. No one survived. Investigators are examining whether the helicopter was flying higher than its allowed limit and whether control tower staffing was an issue. A preliminary FAA report noted that one controller was performing duties typically handled by two people at certain times of the day.In the days since the crash, some officials have questioned why the military flies so close to the airport. I have not yet heard a good reason why military helicopters are doing training exercises in the same airspace as commercial airliners at night and with peak congestion. I hope these exercises in Reagan airspace will be suspended indefinitely until the investigation is complete, Sen. Josh Hawley, Missouri Republican, tweeted. More than a half dozen military, federal and local agencies operate helicopters in the airspace near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, and they need those same air routes to train for and execute their missions, current and former Army pilots said. The Black Hawk lost in the collision was part of Fort Belvoirs Virginias 12th Aviation Battalion, which has had some classified, very important missions related to our nations worst day, said Brad Bowman, a Black Hawk pilot who served in 12th Aviation Battalion for two years, referring to 9/11. You want to have training be as realistic as possible. And that means trying to replicate what youre actually going to be doing when you conduct your mission. In an attack, the unit is tasked with ensuring continuity of government by getting officials to secure locations, which means being able to fly officials from the White House, Pentagon and other locations. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Bowman took part in managing some of those flights, he said.Anyone who suggests that we cant have military helicopters flying in Washington, D.C., doesnt understand national security and the threats we confront and what is necessary to defend our citizens, Bowman said.The unit also ferries high-ranking military and government officials around the region, missions that are flown every day by multiple aircraft, said Jonathan Koziol, chief of staff for Army aviation. The Pentagons right there. And we have to go in and pick up Pentagon leaders. Wednesdays crash and the reports in the federal database highlighted the unique challenges of flying into Reagan National Airport. It has been described by some as a postage stamp of an airport, with water on three sides and constant congestion along the busy Potomac River corridor.Though its been upgraded with modern terminals and other amenities, the bustling airport is an aviation relic dating to the era before World War II, when all planes had propellers and airstrips were built on small footprints close to downtowns.The APs review of the NASA database found that commercial airline pilots repeatedly lodged concerns about the congested airspace and the risks of helicopters and planes flying in close proximity. Reagan Airport is probably the most dangerous airport in the United States, one pilot wrote in 2015. The controllers are pushing, pushing, pushing in an attempt to handle the traffic they have.Low-level military helicopter traffic in the area complicates matters, the pilot said.In another 2015 incident, a jetliner pilot reported a near-midair collision with a helicopter after being instructed to land on Runway 3-3 instead of Runway 1, the airports main north-south landing strip. It was the same type of scenario that preceded Wednesdays crash.The co-pilot took the controls and maneuvered the plane to prevent it from becoming a midair collision, the pilot wrote, adding that a wider approach to the airport would have almost definitely ended in the collision of two aircraft.After frantically working to avoid a similar collision in 2013, an air traffic controller wrote in the database that our helicopter operation is an abomination of the picture of safe aircraft movement.Such incidents and repeated warnings about helicopter traffic near the airport had led pilots and others in the aviation industry to grow complacent about the risks, another pilot wrote in the database. What would normally be alarming at any other airport in the country, the pilot reported, has become commonplace.___AP reporter Michael Biesecker contributed from Washington. TARA COPP Copp covers the Pentagon and national security for the Associated Press. She has reported from Afghanistan, Iraq, throughout the Middle East, Europe and Asia. twitter mailto MICHAEL R. SISAK Sisak is an Associated Press reporter covering law enforcement and courts in New York City, including former President Donald Trumps criminal and civil cases and problems plaguing the federal prison system. twitter mailto

President Donald Trump speaks in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)2025-01-31T22:09:57Z NEW YORK (AP) President Donald Trump wasted little time this week trying to assign blame for the nations deadliest air disaster in more than two decades. Among his chief targets: An FAA diversity hiring initiative he suggested had undermined the agencys effectiveness.But certainly for an air traffic controller, we want the brightest, the smartest, the sharpest. We want somebody thats psychologically superior, Trump said at a news conference Thursday.No evidence has emerged that rules seeking to diversify the FAA played any role in the collision Wednesday between an American Airlines regional jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter that killed 67 people.Nevertheless, Trumps comments drew attention to the agencys attempts to address its most pressing and long-standing problem a persistent shortage of air traffic controllers who are critical to keeping the nations skies safe. How has Trump tied diversity hiring to the collision?Trump is using this weeks disaster as another opportunity to push back against diversity programs, after signing executive orders that banned such initiatives across the federal government. That included one specifically for the secretary of transportation and the federal aviation administrator.During the White House press briefing, Trump said the FAA diversity program allowed for hiring people with hearing and vision issues, as well as paralysis, epilepsy and dwarfism.The FAA is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agencys website, he said.The FAAs own data shows people with such disabilities make up only a tiny fraction of air traffic controllers. And there is no indication that investigators into the crash are focused on diversity hiring or staffers with disabilities.Later Thursday, Trump doubled down on his criticism by signing a presidential memorandum on aviation safety he said would undo damage done to federal agencies by the Biden administrations diversity and inclusion initiatives. Are FAA diversity initiatives part of the investigation?Asked Thursday about Trumps comments, National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said her team examines all factors in any investigation, the human, the machine and the environment. She said that means looking at the people involved, the aircraft and the environment in which they were operating.That is standard, she said.Trumps remarks drew strong rebukes from Democrats and civil rights leaders.There are still bodies being pulled from the Potomac River. Families are grieving the loss of loved ones. Yet Donald Trump is baselessly blaming DEI for last nights tragic collision, said Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat who lost both legs while flying Black Hawk helicopters in the Iraq War, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion policies.Absolutely shameful, Duckworth said on the X social media platform.Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego, a Marine veteran, was blunt in his response to Trumps remarks. DEI did not cause this tragedy, he said on X. Groups representing disabled workers issued a joint statement saying they were dismayed by the scapegoating, noting that anyone hired under the FAAs diversity initiative had to meet its stringent qualifications.The implication that people are being hired to do a job for which they are unqualified is an unfounded lie that further reinforces harmful stereotypes against disabled people, it said.Whats behind the FAAs recruitment strategy?The FAA has long-faced a shortage of air traffic controllers, which was compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. Homendy told a Senate panel in 2023 that a surge in close calls between planes at U.S. airports that year was a clear warning sign the aviation system was stressed.The FAAs diversity efforts arent new and were not started under the Biden administration.Before Trump removed them from the agencys website after taking office this month, they had been promoted since at least 2013, including during Trumps first term. Similar language seeking candidates with disabilities was on the site during both Bidens term and Trumps first term. Disabilities identified for special emphasis in hiring included conditions such as paralysis, epilepsy or missing extremities. The FAA during Trumps first term launched a pilot program to prepare people with disabilities for jobs in air traffic operations.A 2019 announcement detailed a program to enroll up to 20 people with targeted disabilities in up to a year of training at air traffic control centers, with the potential to be appointed to a temporary position at the FAAs academy. It noted candidates were subject to the same rigorous standards for aptitude, medical and security qualifications as any other candidates. A federal report from 2023 describes the qualifications. What do aviation experts say about the FAAs recruitment program?The FAA says its Aviation Development Program for hiring diverse candidates into mission critical occupations required them to meet the same qualifications as any other applicant.Former FAA administrator Michael Whitaker said last year that the FAA seeks qualified candidates from a range of sources who must meet rigorous qualifications that vary by position.Paul Hanges, a professor of industrial and organizational psychology at the University of Maryland, helped compile a report for the FAA in 2013 documenting barriers for women and minorities. The agency followed up by hiring a consulting firm to find the root causes, which led to changes in the testing and hiring process but Hanges said that did not lower hiring standards.It was the same kind of protocol, the same cognitive test, but a different version of it, he said. One thing I know about the FAA is they take public safety very seriously. So Id be surprised that they systematically did stuff that would have put the flying public in danger. I always got the impression that was job one.He called Trumps assertion that this weeks crash is related to diversity efforts an illogical leap.It is something that is consistent with his message, but we dont have the data, he said.How have the FAAs recruitment efforts worked?The agencys recruitment programs have resulted in a modest deepening of its workforce diversity over the years. Progress has been especially slow in roles it considers mission critical, including air traffic controllers.The FAAs overall workforce of more than 44,000 employees remains predominately male, according to a 2023 FAA report on the status of its Equal Employment Opportunity program.Among its nearly 18,000 air traffic controllers, more than 80% were men. White men constituted the biggest percentage of air traffic controllers at 64%, the report said.The FAAs overall workforce also remained predominately white, with racial minorities making up 30% of its employees.About 2% of the FAAs overall workforce are people with more severe disabilities. Among air traffic controllers, less than 1% are people with such disabilities.The claims that diversity efforts factored into this weeks crash come after Trump surrogates blamed other recent crises, including the wildfires that devastated Los Angeles, on diversity, equity and inclusion policies, although there has been no evidence to support that.Its a focus that has generated anger among those who feel Trump and his allies are quick to use horrific disasters to further their political agenda.Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin specifically called out Trump for quickly pointing the finger this week at the FAAs diversity programs: The American people deserve real answers, not narcissistic speculations.__Associated Press writers Graham Brewer in Norman, Oklahoma, Wyatte-Grantham-Philips in New York, Haleluya Hadero in South Bend, Indiana, Angeliki Kastanis in Los Angeles and Claire Savage in Chicago contributed to this report. MELISSA GOLDIN Goldin debunks, analyzes and tracks misinformation for The Associated Press. She is based in New York. twitter mailto ALI SWENSON Swenson reports on election-related misinformation, disinformation and extremism for The Associated Press. twitter ALEXANDRA OLSON Olson is a business reporter for The Associated Press, focusing on women in the workplace. She has spent many years as a correspondent in Latin America. twitter mailto

Demonstrators against transgenders rights protest during a rally outside of the Supreme Court, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, in Washington, as arguments begin in a case regarding a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)2025-01-31T21:44:34Z Public health data disappeared from websites, entire webpages went blank and employees erased pronouns from email signatures Friday as federal agencies scrambled to comply with a directive tied to President Donald Trumps order rolling back protections for transgender people.The Office of Personnel Management directed agency heads to strip gender ideology from websites, contracts and emails in a memo sent Wednesday, with changes ordered to be instituted by 5 p.m. Friday. It also directed agencies to disband employee resource groups, terminate grants and contracts related to the issue, and replace the term gender with sex on government forms. Some parts of government websites appeared with the message: The page youre looking for was not found. Some pages disappeared and came back intermittently. Asked by reporters Friday about reports that government websites were being shut down to eliminate mentions of diversity, equity and inclusion, Trump and said he didnt know anything about it but that hed endorse such a move. I dont know. That doesnt sound like a bad idea to me, Trump said, adding that he campaigned promising to stamp out such initiatives. Much public health information was taken down from the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions website: contraception guidance; a fact sheet about HIV and transgender people; lessons on building supportive school environments for transgender and nonbinary kids; details about National Transgender HIV Testing Day; a set of government surveys showing transgender students suffering higher rates of depression, drug use, bullying and other problems. Eliminating health resources creates dangerous gaps in scientific information, disease experts said. The Infectious Diseases Society of America, a medical association, issued a statement decrying the removal of information about HIV and people who are transgender. Access is critical to efforts to end the HIV epidemic, the organizations leaders said. A Bureau of Prisons web page originally titled Inmate Gender was relabeled Inmate Sex on Friday. A breakdown of transgender inmates in federal prisons was no longer included.The State Department on Friday removed the option to select X as a gender on passport applications for nonbinary applicants. It also replaced the word gender from the descriptor with the word sex.All State Department employees were ordered to remove gender-specific pronouns from their email signatures. The directive, from the acting head of the Bureau of Management, said this was required to comply with Trumps executive orders and that the department was also removing all references to gender ideology from websites and internal documents.All employees are required to remove any gender identifying pronouns from email signature blocks by 5:00 PM today, said the order from Tibor Nagy. Your cooperation is essential as we navigate these changes together.An official from the U.S. Agency for International Development said staffers were directed to flag the use of the word gender in each of thousands of award contracts. Warnings against gender discrimination are standard language in every such contract. The official spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, under a Trump administration gag order prohibiting USAID staffers from speaking with people outside their agency. The official said staffers fear that programs and jobs related to inclusion efforts, gender issues and issues specific to women are being singled out and possibly targeted under two Trump executive orders.Some Census Bureau and National Park Service pages were also inaccessible or giving error messages. Trumps executive order, signed on his first day back in office, calls for the federal government to define sex as only male or female and for that to be reflected on official documents such as passports and policies such as federal prison assignments. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the military to immediately stop recognizing identity a day before the start of Februarys Black History Month, saying they erode camaraderie and threaten mission execution. ___Mike Stobbe in New York and Amanda Seitz, Matthew Lee, Will Weissert and Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington contributed to this report.___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. CARLA K. JOHNSON Johnson covers research in cancer, addiction and more for The Associated Press. She is a member of APs Health and Science team. twitter mailto

First responders work the scene after what witnesses say was a plane crash in Philadelphia, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)2025-02-01T00:19:36Z PHILADELPHIA (AP) A small plane crashed in Northeast Philadelphia 30 seconds after it took off as crews respond to a fiery scene, Pennsylvanias governor said Friday.Gov. Josh Shapiro said he is offering all Commonwealth resources as they respond to the small private plane crash in Northeast Philly.The crash happened less than 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) from Northeast Philadelphia Airport, which primarily serves business jets and charter flights. Photos taken at the crash site appear to show residential homes on fire.Philadelphias emergency management office said there was a major incident at the location of the crash site and that roads are closed in the area.Flight data showed a small jet taking off from the airport at 6:06 p.m. and disappearing from radar about 30 seconds later after climbing to an altitude of 1,600 feet (487 meters). A photo posted on the social platform X by the Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management showed a thick cloud of smoke in the sky near the Roosevelt Mall, where first responders were blocking traffic and onlookers crowded onto a street corner.The plane crashed in a busy intersection near Roosevelt Mall, an outdoor shopping center with dozens of stores and restaurants in the residential neighborhood of Rhawnhurst. The Federal Aviation Administration said two people were aboard the plane, which was a Learjet 55. The plane, a small, business-type jet, was en route to Springfield, Missouri. The plane appeared to be a medical transport jet. The plane that took off and quickly disappeared from radar was registered to a company operating as Med Jets.The FAA said the National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation. The NTSB, which investigates air crashes, said it was gathering information about the crash. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Brazilian soccer player Neymar waves to fans during his presentation ceremony after signing a six-month contract with Santos FC at Vila Belmiro Stadium in Santos, Brazil, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)2025-01-31T19:02:58Z SANTOS, Brazil (AP) A tearful Neymar was welcomed back to his boyhood club on Friday by thousands of Santos fans and a concert in the home stadium beneath an electronic sign saying, The prince is back. The 32-year-old signed a six-month contract, which he said could be extended.Neymar later admitted his return was also due to his feeling unhappy at Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal earlier this year as he struggled to get playing time. He said he would be ready to play for Santos at least 30 minutes in a match scheduled for Saturday if he was given the go-ahead by local soccer authorities.About 20,000 raucous Santos fans filled their Vila Belmiro Stadium in the rain outside Sao Paulo to celebrate the Brazilians return.His evening arrival highlighted by fireworks capped a three-hour fiesta which also featured local singers.I am very happy. We lived great moments here. Theres still a lot that could come, Neymar said on the pitch. Neymar said at a media conference that he and his family had adapted well to Saudi Arabia, but his lack of playing time since his return from an ACL injury he hasnt played since November forced his move. Some decisions are not about soccer logic, Neymar said. I started getting sad in training sessions (at Al-Hilal), and it wasnt good for my head. So there was the chance to come back and I did not think twice. Since the first day I decided I wanted to come back, I told my father (and agent) and it all worked. The striker signed his contract upon arrival and added it is too soon to speak about extending his deal until the 2026 World Cup, which he says will be the last he will play in his career. He also said his return home is a rescue for his own soccer soul.Santos gave me the chance to come back. I gave away a lot of things to be here. It was a perfect marriage at an unimaginable moment for both parts. Still, it happened, Neymar said. We have a six-month contract that can obviously be extended. Two weeks ago I didnt even think I would be here. Neymar also said he has one more thing to win, a mission that will be the last.I am going after this World Cup trophy in any way I can. I have goals, said Neymar, who is Brazils all-time top goal scorer with 79 goals in 125 matches.Shortly before, Neymar greeted his future teammates and club executives at the Santos training ground.Neymars private jet landed in the Sao Paulo state countryside from Saudi Arabia in the morning but he requested a few hours of rest before being flown into Santos by helicopter.Banners reading The prince is back were selling for 10 reais ($1.50) outside the 20,000-seat Vila Belmiro Stadium.Graffiti inspired by artificial intelligence outside the stadium showed Neymar looking more mature and with a crown on his head no small feat in a city where Pel was king for decades until he died in December 2022 at age 82.Video posted by Santos on social media showed Neymar not wearing the No. 11 that was his during his first spell from 2009-13. He will wear Pels No. 10. It will be an honor to wear this sacred jersey, Neymar said in the video.Saudi club Al-Hilal terminated Neymars contract with mutual consent this week, six months early, after playing only seven matches and scoring once since September 2023. The ACL injury sidelined him for a year until October. Al-Hilal said Neymar could no longer perform like he used to.Neymar also left Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain to criticism, even though he delivered silverware and goals. On Thursday, he said he hopes to get some love back home, where he is revered.Former teammates appeared in a video to congratulate Neymar on the move, including Luis Surez, Gianluigi Buffon, Andres Iniesta and Rodrygo.Neymar played 225 matches for Santos in his first spell. He scored 138 goals, many of them key to winning six titles at the Brazilian giant, which was relegated in 2023 and returned to the top division last year.For us, Neymars return is a rebirth, said Victor Hugo Arantes, 45, an event producer in Santos. We werent expecting this. Neymar could play anywhere else, he has the level to be in top leagues. I think his heart spoke louder. Neymar was the most expensive player in soccer history when he transferred from Barcelona to PSG for 222 million euros (then $262 million) in 2017. He was sold to Al-Hilal in 2023 for 90 million euros ($94 million).Anderson Souza, 43, lives in Santos and is not a supporter of the club. But he is one of those who believes Neymar will put the city back on the map after some tough times.Pel died, the team was relegated, there was a lot of gloom. I hope he is bringing some energy back, people need it, Souza said. But he needs to know that people will want him to perform, to make an effort for them, to be at his best. Santos fans love him, but they are not fools.Neymar said soccer fans like Souza do not need to worry.I am not here to take a stroll, I didnt come to stay home on my couch, Neymar said. I came after my happiness as a soccer player and to help Santos.___AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer MAURICIO SAVARESE Savarese is a reporter since 2004, with a vast experience covering soccer and politics. English, Espaol, Portugus, some French and a bit of Italian. twitter instagram facebook mailto

First responders work the scene after what witnesses say was a plane crash in Philadelphia, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)2025-02-01T04:40:09Z A medical transport jet carrying a child patient, her mother and four others slammed into a Philadelphia neighborhood and exploded in flames. The child had been treated in Philadelphia for a life-threatening condition and was being transported home to Mexico, according to Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, the planes operator. The flights final destination was Tijuana after a stop in Missouri. All six people aboard were from Mexico. The plane crashed Friday 30 seconds after takeoff from Northeast Philadelphia Airport, which primarily serves business jets and charter flights. Heres what to know about air medical transport: What is an air ambulance?An air ambulance provides transportation to people in critical or life-threatening situations when a ground ambulance cant reach a patient or wouldnt get to them fast enough.They help boost a patients odds of surviving and recovering, particularly in rural areas that dont have trauma or burn centers, according to a 2017 U.S. Government Accountability Office report. Theyve grown in importance as more rural hospitals have closed, according to a medical journal report from 2022. Air ambulances can be either a helicopter or a fixed wing aircraft. Helicopters are generally used to take patients between hospitals or from the scene of an accident to a hospital. The airplane versions fly longer distances between airports. Helicopters make up 74% of all air ambulances, according to the GAO report. The Philadelphia crash involved a Learjet 55, a small business jet. Who rides air ambulances? People with traumatic injuries, pregnancy complications, heart attacks, strokes and respiratory diseases are the most common users of air ambulances, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. More than 550,000 patients in the U.S. use them every year. In Hawaii, for example, they are frequently used to take patients from less populated islands, where health care is more limited, to Honolulu, where the states biggest hospitals are located. The owner of the plane that crashed in Philadelphia, Jet Rescue, flew baseball Hall of Famer David Ortiz to Boston after he was shot in the Dominican Republican in 2019. What are they equipped with?Air ambulances will often have similar life-saving equipment like ventilators and blood transfusion devices. They will have stretchers and incubators.The Mayo Clinic, for example, said its air ambulances will have an external defibrillator, an external pacemaker and more than 60 medications.Paramedics and emergency medical technicians care for patients on board. Sometimes doctors and nurses are on board.What does an air ambulance cost?The average air ambulance trip is 52 miles (84 kilometers) and costs between $12,000 and $25,000 per flight, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. The medical condition of the patient and the staff on board can influence the price. Many insurers will pay what they believe to be a reasonable but sometimes they will disagree with the air ambulance provider and in these cases the patient may have to pay the difference. Insurance experts say big invoices are becoming more common as costs rise and coverage shifts. Have there been other fatal crashes with air ambulances? Yes, there were 87 accidents that led to 230 deaths from 2000 to 2020, according to a study in the journal Prehospital and Disaster Medicine. Nearly three-fourths of those accidents were on helicopters. Human factors that can include pilot error or disorientation, impairment and fatigue contributed to 87% of the fatal crashes. The Philadelphia crash was the second fatal incident in 15 months for Jet Rescue. In 2023, five crewmembers were killed when their plane overran a runway in the central Mexican state of Morelos and crashed into a hillside. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Activists sit on a road with white umbrellas during a protest calling for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, in front of the U.S. Embassy branch office in Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)2025-02-01T05:30:36Z DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) Hamas-led militants are set to free three more hostages all men on Saturday, and Israel will release dozens of Palestinian prisoners as part of a fragile agreement that has paused fighting in the Gaza Strip after more than 15 months of war.The hostages to be released, according to Hamas and Israel, are: Yarden Bibas, 35; American-Israeli Keith Siegel, 65; and French-Israeli Ofer Kalderon, 54. All were abducted during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war.It will be the fourth swap of hostages for prisoners since the ceasefire began on Jan. 19. Fifteen hostages and hundreds of prisoners have already been freed in that time. Also on Saturday, wounded Palestinians are expected to be allowed to leave Gaza for Egypt through the Rafah crossing. It had been the only exit point for Palestinians during the war before Israel closed it in May. A European Union civilian mission was deployed Friday to prepare for the reopening of the crossing. The reopening would mark another key step in the first phase of the ceasefire, which calls for the release of 33 hostages and nearly 2,000 prisoners, the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza and an increase in humanitarian aid to the devastated territory. The imminent release of Bibas has brought renewed attention to and concern for the fate of his wife, Shiri, and their two young sons. All four were captured from Kibbutz Nir Oz. A video of their abduction by armed men showed Shiri swaddling in a blanket her two redheaded boys Ariel, 4, and Kfir, 9 months old at the time.Kfir was the youngest of about 250 people taken captive on Oct. 7, and his plight quickly came to represent the helplessness and anger the hostage-taking stirred in Israel, where the Bibas family has become a household name.Hamas has said Shiri and her sons were killed in an Israeli airstrike. Israel has not confirmed that, but a military spokesman recently acknowledged serious concern about their fates. Yarden Bibas is believed to have been held separately from his family. Photos taken during his abduction appeared to show him wounded.Like Bibas, Kalderon was also captured from Kibbutz Nir Oz. His two children and ex-wife, Hadas, were also taken, but they were freed during the 2023 ceasefire. Keith Siegel, originally from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was taken hostage from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, along with his wife, Aviva Siegel. She was released during the 2023 ceasefire and has waged a high-profile campaign to free Keith and other hostages.The dozens of Palestinian prisoners to be released by Israel on Saturday include people serving lengthy and life sentences. More than 100 hostages were released during a weeklong ceasefire in Nov. 2023. About 80 more hostages are still in Gaza, at least a third of them believed dead. Israel says Hamas has confirmed that eight of the 33 to be released in the first phase of the ceasefire are dead.Israel and Hamas are set next week to begin negotiating a second phase of the ceasefire, which calls for releasing the remaining hostages and extending the truce indefinitely. The war could resume in early March if an agreement is not reached. Israel says it is still committed to destroying Hamas, even after the militant group reasserted its rule over Gaza within hours of the latest ceasefire. A key far-right partner in Netanyahus coalition is calling for the war to resume after the ceasefires first phase.Hamas says it wont release the remaining hostages without an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.In the Oct. 7 attack that started the war, some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed. More than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israels retaliatory air and ground war, over half of them women and children, according to Gazas Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were militants.The Israeli military says it killed over 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence. It blames civilian deaths on Hamas because its fighters operate in residential neighborhoods. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Vendors selling groceries wait for customers at a local market Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)2025-02-01T04:20:46Z BANGKOK (AP) Peace prospects look bleak in Myanmar as a civil war rages despite international pressure on the military four years after it seized power from an elected civilian government.The political situation remains tense with no negotiation space in sight between the military government and the major opposition groups fighting against it.The four years after the armys takeover on Feb. 1, 2021, have created a profound situation of multiple, overlapping crises with nearly half the population in poverty and the economy in disarray, the U.N. Development Program said.The U.N. Human Rights Office said the military ramped up violence against civilians last year to unprecedented levels, inflicting the heaviest civilian death toll since the army takeover as its grip on power eroded.The army launched wave after wave of retaliatory airstrikes and artillery shelling on civilians and civilian populated areas, forced thousands of young people into military service, conducted arbitrary arrests and prosecutions, caused mass displacement, and denied access to humanitarians, even in the face of natural disasters, the rights office said in a statement Friday. After four years, it is deeply distressing to find that the situation on the ground for civilians is only getting worse by the day, U.N. human rights chief Volker Trk said. Even as the militarys power wanes, their atrocities and violence have expanded in scope and intensity, he said, adding that the retaliatory nature of the attacks were designed to control, intimidate, and punish the population. The United States, United Kingdom, European Union and others criticized the military takeover in a statement that also called for the release of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners. They said nearly 20 million people need humanitarian assistance and up to 3.5 million people are displaced internally, an increase of nearly 1 million in the last year. They also expressed concern about increased cross-border crime in Myanmar such as drug and human trafficking and online scam operations, which affect neighboring countries and risk broader instability.The current trajectory is not sustainable for Myanmar or the region, the countries said in the joint statement that also included Australia, Canada, South Korea, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland. The status of the fightingThe militarys 2021 takeover prompted widespread public protests, whose violent suppression by security forces triggered an armed resistance that has now led to a state of civil war. Ethnic minority militias and peoples defense forces that support Myanmars main opposition control large parts of the country, while the military holds much of central Myanmar and big cities including the capital, Naypyidaw.The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which keeps detailed tallies of arrests and casualties linked to the repression of the military government, said that at least 6,239 were killed and 28,444 were arrested since the takeover. The actual death toll is likely to be much higher since the group does not generally include deaths on the side of the military government and cannot easily verify cases in remote areas. Aung Thu Nyein, director of communications for the Institute for Strategy and Policy-Myanmar think tank, told The Associated Press that Myanmars current situation is at its worst with peace and development being pushed back.Whats worse is that the sovereignty which ever-proclaimed by the military is losing, and the countrys borders could even shift, Aung Thu Nyein said in a text message.Myanmars army suffered unprecedented battlefield defeats over the past year, when a coalition of ethnic armed groups won victories in the northeast near the Chinese border and in the western state of Rakhine.The ethnic rebels were able to quickly capture several towns, military bases and two important regional commands, and their offensive weakened the armys grip in other parts of the country.The ethnic minorities have been fighting for decades for greater autonomy from Myanmars central government and are loosely allied with the Peoples Defense Force, the pro-democracy armed resistance formed after the armys 2021 takeover.The U.N. Human Rights Office and rights groups including Amnesty International also made rare allegations in recent statements that armed groups opposing the military have also committed human rights violations in areas under their control. The status of election plansIn pursuit of a political solution, the military government is pushing for an election, which it has promised to hold this year. Critics say the election would not be free or fair as civil rights have been curtailed and many political opponents imprisoned and the election would be an attempt to normalize military control.On Friday, the military government extended a state of emergency another six months because it said more time was needed to restore stability before the election, state-run MRTV television reported. No exact date for the polls was given.Tom Andrews, a special rapporteur working with the U.N. human rights office, said it wasnt possible to hold a legitimate election while arresting, detaining, torturing and executing leaders of the opposition and when it is illegal for journalists or citizens to criticize the military government.Governments should dismiss these plans for what they are a fraud, Tom Andrews said. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

First responders work the scene after a small plane crashed in Philadelphia, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)2025-02-01T06:38:23Z PHILADELPHIA (AP) A medical transport jet transporting a child who had just completed treatment for a life-threatening condition, her mother and four others crashed into a Philadelphia neighborhood shortly after takeoff Friday evening, exploding in a fireball that engulfed several homes.Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, which operated the Learjet 55, said in a statement: We cannot confirm any survivors. There was no immediate word whether anyone on the ground was killed, but at least six people were treated for injuries at a hospital.Everyone aboard the flight was from Mexico. The child was being transported home, according to Jet Rescue spokesperson Shai Gold. The flights final destination was Tijuana after a stop in Missouri.The patient and her mother were on board along with four crew members. Gold said this was a seasoned crew and everyone involved in these flights goes through rigorous training. When an incident like this happens, its shocking and surprising, Gold told The Associated Press. All of the aircraft are maintained, not a penny is spared because we know our mission is so critical. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said at a news conference late Friday that officials expected fatalities in the awful aviation disaster.We know that there will be loss, he said.A spokesperson for Temple University Hospital-Jeanes, Jennifer Reardon, said they had treated six people with injuries from the crash. Three of those people had since been released and the others were in fair condition. She wasnt able to provide information about their injuries or where the people were when they sustained them. The plane was registered in Mexico. Jet Rescue is based in Mexico and has operations both there and in the U.S.The crash came just two days after the deadliest U.S. air disaster in a generation. On Wednesday night, an American Airlines jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided in midair in Washington, D.C., with an Army helicopter carrying three soldiers. There were no survivors. The Philadelphia crash was the second fatal incident in 15 months for Jet Rescue. In 2023 five crewmembers were killed when their plane overran a runway in the central Mexican state of Morelos and crashed into a hillside.In Philadelphia, a doorbell camera captured video of the plane plunging in a streak of white and exploding as it hit the ground near a shopping mall and major roadway. All we heard was a loud roar and didnt know where it was coming from. We just turned around and saw the big plume, said Jim Quinn, the owner of the doorbell camera.The crash happened less than 3 miles (5 kilometers) from Northeast Philadelphia Airport, which primarily serves business jets and charter flights.The Learjet 55 quickly disappeared from radar after taking off from the airport at 6:06 p.m. and climbing to an altitude of 1,600 feet (487 meters). It was registered to a company operating as Med Jets, according to the flight tracking website Flight Aware.Shortly after 6 p.m., audio recorded by LiveATC captured an air traffic controller telling Medevac Medservice 056 to turn right when departing. About 30 seconds later it repeats the request before asking, You on frequency? Minutes later, the controller says, We have a lost aircraft. Were not exactly sure what happened, so were trying to figure it out. For now the field is going to be closed. In a post on the social media platform Truth Social, President Donald Trump said: So sad to see the plane go down in Philadelphia.More innocent souls lost, he added. Our people are totally engaged.A continuous stream of police vehicles and fire trucks initially responded at the crash site, taking over business parking lots. Within about an hour, the cry of sirens and shouted orders had faded into relative quiet at the edges of the closed-off area, and darkness settled in as drivers passing by peered out trying to see what was happening.The plane crashed in a busy intersection near Roosevelt Mall, an outdoor shopping center in the densely populated neighborhood of Rhawnhurst. One cellphone video taken by a witness moments after the crash showed a chaotic scene with debris scattered across the intersection. A wall of orange glowed just beyond as a plume of black smoke rose into the sky and sirens blared.Michael Schiavone, 37, was sitting at his home in Mayfair, a nearby neighborhood, when he heard a loud bang and his house shook. He said it felt like a mini earthquake and when he checked his home security camera, it looked like a missile came down. There was a large explosion, so I thought we were under attack for a second, he said.Jet Rescue, which provides global air ambulance services, flew baseball Hall of Famer David Ortiz to Boston after he was shot in the Dominican Republic in 2019 and was involved in transporting patients critically ill with COVID-19.The FAA said the National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation. The NTSB said an investigator arrived and more officials would be there Saturday. ___Associated Press writers Rio Yamat, Hallie Golden and Josh Cornfield contributed to this report. MICHAEL R. SISAK Sisak is an Associated Press reporter covering law enforcement and courts in New York City, including former President Donald Trumps criminal and civil cases and problems plaguing the federal prison system. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

United Nations and Red Crescent workers prepare the aid for distribution to Palestinians at UNRWA warehouse in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza Strip, on Monday, Oct. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Hassan Eslaiah, File)2025-01-31T13:45:00Z Support has surged for the U.S. nonprofit that raises money for UNRWA, the U.N. agency that serves Palestinian refugees, since the start of the war in Gaza. That is despite the U.S. government cutting off funding for UNRWA and accusations from Israel that it supports Hamas.Giving to nonprofits is one way Americans have reacted to the war that broke out on Oct. 7, 2023 when Hamas-led militants attacked Israeli communities on the other side of the Gaza border wall, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages. With the recent ceasefire, the work of humanitarian organizations like UNRWA is kicking into high gear. However, a new Israeli law cutting ties with the organization could greatly hinder its ability to operate in Gaza and the West Bank. Its unclear how it would be replaced if forced to close.Supporters of Israel have also seen a surge in donations for what they say will be a lengthy rehabilitation and reconstruction process there as well. Some 139,000 people have given to UNRWA USA since October 2023, said Mara Kronenfeld, its executive director, a huge jump from the 7,000 people it counted among its donor base before the current war. Those donors, and some institutional funders, gave $32 million in 2023 and she expects the total raised in 2024 to reach over $51 million. Previously, the nonprofit raised around $4 million annually, she said. UNRWA USA is a separate but affiliated nonprofit that supports UNRWAs mission through advocacy and fundraising. Providing humanitarian aid to PalestiniansUNRWA has been the main agency providing humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, though Israel has accused it of employing hundreds of militants and allowing Hamas to operate out of its schools and other facilities. UNRWA denies those accusations. It fired several employees suspected of taking part in the Oct. 7 attack. Its hard to provide an overall view of U.S. donors response to the war. Typically, there is a lag of more than a year before researchers can access the grant information that nonprofit organizations report on their tax forms. Polarized responses to the war among the public likely also deter some donors and organizations from publicizing their support. That stands in contrast with Russias invasion of Ukraine in 2022, when researchers tracked philanthropic contributions. Donors to UNRWA USA who spoke with The Associated Press expressed dismay with U.S. policy, which has staunchly backed Israel with both weapons and diplomatic cover. Other donors have poured funds into nonprofits that support organizations in Israel, providing services for displaced people, mental health support and money to rebuild. The U.S. had been the UNRWAs largest funder, sending $422 million in 2023 and $343 million in 2022. The funds raised by UNRWA USA certainly do not replace the amount withheld by the U.S. government, Kronenfeld said, but she sees the donations from individuals as evidence that people have not given up hope trying to save lives in Gaza.The American people really stepped up. They stepped up to provide essential, lifesaving, critical humanitarian support when our government stepped aside, Kronenfeld said. In the initial weeks after the Oct. 7 attack, the Jewish Federations of North America tapped its network with a campaign to raise $500 million. It surpassed that goal, raising $862 million by the end of 2024. The federations immediately started moving money to benefit survivors of the Hamas attack and Israelis displaced by the war and have allocated $707 million so far to organizations in Israel.Dont worry about the moneyEric Fingerhut, the CEO and president of the organization, said his donors have also traveled to Israel to communicate support with their presence and cited an instance when the federation talked with farming communities that were attacked. They needed millions to replace farming equipment that militants had burned and the federations were able to tell them, Dont worry about the money, well take care of it, Fingerhut said.Donors more than doubled the amount they gave to P.E.F Israel Endowment Fund, which facilitates donations to Israeli charities. In the 12 months after the war broke out, the fund gave out $330 million, up from the $160 million it typically had granted out annually, said Geoffrey Stern, its president. When asked about the surge in support for UNRWA USA, Stern said, There is tragedy, there is hurt and pain, there is need on both sides of the conflict.The vast majority of humanitarian funding comes from governments or multilateral organizations like the United Nations. But Patricia McIlreavy, president and CEO of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, said the support individual donors give to humanitarian organizations is very important.I dont think you would find a humanitarian organization that didnt wish that they had more flexible funding from private sources, she said. Philanthropic funds from small donors or foundations can plug budget gaps, allow for innovation and help organizations operating in dangerous environments to keep their workers safe, she said. No brakes for PalestineLast summer, Riley Brookshire, who lives near San Francisco, raised more than $2,100 through a crowdfunding campaign for UNRWA USA, mostly from his friends and other people he knew. It was his first time donating to the organization. Over about a month, he biked more than 40 miles a day after he got off work, logging almost 1,270 miles. He called the fundraiser, No brakes for Palestine, in reference to the fixed gear bike he rode, which has no gears and no brakes. Cycling is not apolitical, Brookshire said. He was moved to start the fundraiser in part by posts he saw online from the war, which has now killed more than 47,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to local health authorities. Brookshire said that he wanted to do something more than going to protests and calling his representatives, but he had doubts along the way about whether the fundraiser was working. It was the early nights like that when some of the donations were kind of small at the beginning where I was like, What the hell am I doing? This might be futile. I know that I want to help. Maybe this isnt an effective way to do it, he said.After posting screenshots of his daily ride to the fundraiser for about two weeks, donations started to pick up. He said he felt a lot of gratitude to his friends who helped him reach his goal of first $1,200 and then, $2,000. But he also said the money was a drop in the bucket. Theres a weird contradiction there, right? Brookshire said. If you do something, its not going to help very much. But if you dont do anything, then youre not helping at all.McIlreavy said across the board, humanitarian responses to conflicts are underfunded even as the number of conflicts and displaced people have grown. Her advice for donors is not to expect that that their gift will solve a conflict or totally restore a community thats been hit by disaster. We need to get more comfortable with saying, I dont need to be there for everything, but doing something is better than nothing, she said. ___Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of APs philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy. THALIA BEATY Beaty reports on philanthropy for The Associated Press and is based in New York. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Rebel leader of rebel group of Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC) including M23, Corneille Nangaa, addresses a news conference in Goma, Democratic republic of the Congo, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)2025-02-01T07:03:52Z KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) After Rwanda-backed M23 rebels took control of the biggest city in eastern Congo this week, the man who emerged from the shadows to assert his leadership was not the groups long-time military leader.Sultani Makenga, an ethnic Tutsi rebel leader sanctioned by both the U.S. and the U.N., was nowhere to be seen in Gomas Serena Hotel as the bearded Corneille Nangaa, in military fatigues, was ushered into the hall. Nangaa, who is not a Tutsi and who analysts say brings a more diverse, Congolese face to the group, told reporters of his plan to fight all the way to Kinshasa, the national capital a thousand miles away.The spectacle was significant because it captures the evolution of M23 from an ethnic Tutsi-dominated outfit more than a decade ago to one thats now actively seeking to be seen as a Congolese nationalist group. Thats the case despite the military support it gets from neighboring Rwanda, according to observers and analysts in Africas Great Lakes region. From election chief to rebel leaderNangaa is the former head of Congos electoral body who oversaw the 2018 presidential election won by President Flix Tshisekedi. He has been a controversial figure in Congolese politics for years. As the election commission chair, he oversaw the heavily criticized vote that elected Tshisekedi and led the U.S. to sanction him in 2019 for undermining Congos democracy.A falling-out with Congolese authorities, including a dispute over a mining concession, sent Nangaa into exile in Kenya. In 2023, he joined the Congo River Alliance, a political-military coalition including 17 parties and rebel groups opposed to the government of Tshisekedi and became a top political figure. Besides the mining, his grievance is also believed to be due to the presidents alleged refusal to advocate for the U.S. dropping Nangaa from its sanctions list, according to Christian Moleka, a political scientist at the Congolese think tank Dypol. His perception that he had been mistreated by the authorities is what pushed him towards radicalization, Moleka said. An unholy matrimonyLast year, Makengas M23 joined Nangaas Congo River Alliance and with Nangaa at the helm of the revamped outfit, the M23 looked even more menacing to Congolese authorities, analysts say.M23 is more of a threat now because the group is trying to decouple the question of self-determination in eastern Congo from evidence of Rwandan support, said Angelo Izama, an analyst with the Uganda-based Fanaka Kwawote think tank.The rebels want to provoke a national discussion on widespread feelings of neglect in eastern Congo while gaining as much territory as possible such that they can force the Congolese state to deal with questions of genuine autonomy and to force some kind of negotiation, he said.Forcing political negotiations is a smart move for the rebels, the only path out of this crisis, he added. M23 forcing local alliances in CongoUnlike in 2012, when the M23 took Goma in a campaign led by Kinyarwanda-speaking fighters pushing mainly for their full integration into the Congolese army, this time it has a national agenda, the Crisis Group think tank said of M23 in a recent assessment.With Nangaas Congo River Alliance as the political umbrella for the M23, the think tank said the rebels have accumulated resources and allies that made them attractive partners not only to armed groups in eastern (Congo) but to others aiming to undermine Tshisekedi.This is in line with (Rwandas) probable strategy of creating a deniable but powerful Congolese front to exact the maximum leverage over Kinshasa and confirm its dominance of North Kivu (province), at a minimum, the think tank said.United Nations experts have asserted that some 4,000 Rwandan troops back M23 rebels in North Kivu. To take Goma, which is strategically located close to the Rwanda border, the rebels defeated Congolese government troops who long had been supported by local militias known as Wazalendo as well as U.N. and regional peacekeepers and mercenaries from Europe. M23 was once defeated but regrouped after a failed amnestyM23 has about 6,500 fighters, according to U.N. estimates. It emerged in 2012 as a rebel group led by Congolese ethnic Tutsis who said a 2009 agreement signed to look after their interests including integration into the army and the return of refugees from elsewhere in east Africa had been violated by Congos government.Led by Makenga, a Congolese Tutsi, M23 took Goma in a November 2012 offensive and pulled out days later under international pressure. They were later repulsed by U.N. forces fighting alongside Congolese government troops in a military campaign that forced hundreds of them to flee to Rwanda and Uganda. Makenga, a self-appointed major-general often seen wielding a herders staff in the bush, was among those who fled to Uganda.In December 2013, with hundreds of the rebels cantoned in a remote forested area of western Uganda, M23 signed an agreement with Congos government that called for the repatriation of the rebels to Congo within a year. That proved difficult to achieve because of a dispute over the rebels demand for a blanket amnesty while Congos government wanted commanders such as Makenga tried for their alleged crimes against civilians. In 2016, hundreds of M23 rebels fled custody in Uganda, from where they were to be airlifted back to Congo. The rebels resurfaced in 2021 and became the most potent of more than 100 armed groups vying for control in the mineral-rich territory. The U.S. Department of Commerce estimates mineral deposits there to be worth $24 trillion, most of them crucial to global technology.A new face politically motivatedUnlike in 2012, Nangaas selling point as the face of M23 is that he is from the Haut-Uele province and not Tutsi, said Moleka with the Dypol Congolese think tank. This allows M23 to give itself a new, more diverse, Congolese face, as M23 has always been seen as a Rwanda-backed armed group defending Tutsi minorities, said Moleka.The Washington-based Africa Center for Strategic Studies, in an analysis published Wednesday, cited a shifting political calculus by sponsors of M23. Efforts to establish a parallel civilian administration and expand the illicit exploitation of minerals suggests that the rebel group and their regional backers have longer-term objectives in holding and potentially expanding their territorial control, according to the assessment by Paul Nantulya, a Ugandan analyst with the group. At an M23 news conference in Goma on Thursday, Nangaa said the rebels aim to set up a new administration in the city of 2 million people thats now home to hundreds of thousands of displaced Congolese. The rebels spoke to reporters of their plans to return displaced people to their homes, presenting a major challenge to Tshisekedi. We are here in Goma to stay as Congolese, Nangaa said. We will continue the march for liberation all the way to Kinshasa.___Associated Press writer Mark Banchereau in Paris contributed to this report.

Israeli Yarden Bibas, 34, who has been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023, is escorted by Hamas fighters before being handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Saturday Feb. 1, 2025. Photo/Abdel Kareem)2025-02-01T06:25:48Z Hamas released three hostages in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday as part of its ceasefire deal with Israel, while Palestinian authorities say Israel has agreed to release dozens of prisoners in the fourth round of exchanges during the Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.The six-week phase one truce calls for the release of 33 hostages and nearly 2,000 prisoners, as well as the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza and an increase in humanitarian aid to the devastated territory. Israel and Hamas are set next week to begin negotiating a second phase of the ceasefire, which calls for releasing the remaining hostages and extending the truce indefinitely. The war could resume in early March if an agreement is not reached.Palestinian health authorities in Gaza also announced that the long-shuttered Rafah border crossing with Egypt would reopen on Saturday for thousands of Palestinians who desperately need medical care a breakthrough that signals the ceasefire agreement continues to gain traction. Heres the latest: Hamas hands over U.S.-Israeli hostageHamas has handed American-Israeli hostage Keith Siegel, 65, over to the Red Cross, the third hostage to be released Saturday as part of a ceasefire deal with Israel.Siegel walked onto a stage set up by the sea in Gaza City before militants handed him over to waiting Red Cross officials.Earlier, the militants released Yarden Bibas, 35, and French-Israeli Ofer Kalderon, 54, to the Red Cross in similar scenes in the town of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. All three had been abducted during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war. Macron hails release of French citizenFrench President Emmanuel Macron has hailed the release of French-Israeli citizen Ofer Kalderon, while noting that another French citizen remains a hostage.Ofer Kalderon is free! We share the immense relief and joy of his family after 483 days of unimaginable hell, Macron posted on X.Our thoughts are with Ohad Yahalomi, still in the hands of Hamas, and his family. France is doing everything in its power to secure his immediate release. Red Cross vehicles arrive in Gaza City for planned hostage releaseRed Cross vehicles have arrived in Gaza City where Hamas is set to release American-Israeli hostage Keith Siegel, 65, as part of the fourth round of hostage releases in its ceasefire deal with Israel.Two other hostages Yarden Bibas, 35, and French-Israeli Ofer Kalderon, 54 were released earlier Saturday in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. In return for the three, Israel is to release dozens of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.2 freed hostages return to IsraelTEL AVIV, Israel Two released hostages, Ofer Kalderon and Yarden Bibas, have arrived in Israel and are on their way to an initial reception point. Along the road leading to the military base, small groups of supporters waited for the convoys waving Israeli flags.The two hostages were freed Saturday as part of the fourth such release in Israels ceasefire with Hamas. One more, American-Israeli Keith Siegel, is set to be released in Gaza City later Saturday morning. Hamas hands 2 hostages over to Red CrossKHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip Hamas handed two hostages over to the Red Cross in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday as part of its ceasefire deal with Israel.The militants released Yarden Bibas, 35, and French-Israeli Ofer Kalderon, 54, in a highly stage-managed and orderly handover to the Red Cross. Both had been abducted during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war.Another hostage, American-Israeli Keith Siegel, 65, was also set to be released Saturday and was expected to be handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza City to the north.Red Cross vehicles arrive at site of planned hostage handoverRed Cross vehicles arrived in a location in the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip Saturday where Hamas was set to release hostages in its ceasefire deal with Israel. Who are the Israeli hostages expected to be freed today?The hostages to be released, according to Hamas and Israel, are: Yarden Bibas, 35; American-Israeli Keith Siegel, 65; and French-Israeli Ofer Kalderon, 54. All were abducted during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war.News that Yarden Bibas, 35, is among the hostages set to be freed on Saturday brought renewed attention to the uncertain fate of the Bibas family. Hamas says his kidnapped wife and two young boys were killed in an Israeli airstrike, but Israel has not verified the claim.A video of their abduction by armed men showed Shiri swaddling in a blanket her two redheaded boys Ariel, 4, and Kfir, 9 months old at the time. Kfir was the youngest of about 250 people taken captive on Oct. 7, and his plight quickly came to represent the helplessness and anger the hostage-taking stirred in Israel, where the Bibas family has become a household name.Like Bibas, Kalderon was also captured from Kibbutz Nir Oz. His two children and ex-wife, Hadas, were also taken, but they were freed during the 2023 ceasefire. Keith Siegel, originally from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was taken hostage from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, along with his wife, Aviva Siegel. She was released during the 2023 ceasefire and has waged a high-profile campaign to free Keith and other hostages. Ceasefire holds for now but next phase will be harderTodays exchange is part of a deal that paused fighting in Gaza on Jan. 19. Israeli forces have pulled back from most of Gaza, allowing hundreds of thousands of people to return to what remains of their homes and humanitarian groups to surge assistance.It calls for Hamas to release a total of 33 hostages, including women, children, older adults and sick or wounded men, in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Israel says Hamas has confirmed that eight of the hostages to be released in this phase are dead.The initial Phase One ceasefire paused fighting for six weeks, calling for the sides to use that time to negotiate a second phase in which Hamas would release the remaining hostages and the ceasefire would continue indefinitely. The war could resume in early March if an agreement is not reached.Negotiating a phase two deal could be difficult. Hamas says it wont release the remaining hostages without an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, after reasserting its rule over Gaza within hours of the truce. Meanwhile, Israel says it is still committed to destroying Hamas, and a key far-right partner in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus coalition is already calling for the war to resume after the ceasefires first phase.

Afghans walk by the Serena hotel in downtown Kabul, Afghanistan, March 21, 2014. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, File)2025-01-31T20:50:03Z The Taliban are taking over the operations of Afghanistans only luxury hotel in Kabul, more than a decade after they launched a deadly attack there that killed nine people.The Serena Hotel said Friday it was closing its operations in the Afghan capital on Feb. 1, with the Hotel State Owned Corporation taking over. The corporation is overseen by the finance ministry.The finance ministry wasnt immediately available for comment. Neither the Serena nor the government clarified the terms under which the hotel was changing hands.The Taliban first targeted the Serena in 2008 and again in 2014. Acting Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani acknowledged planning the 2008 attack, which killed eight, including U.S. citizen Thor David Hesla.A statement from the Serena, a brand owned by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, said it had trained thousands of Afghan nationals, hosted large numbers of foreign guests and delegations, and set high international benchmarks in hospitality standards. It asked people to direct their queries to the Hotel State Owned Corporation. Kabul no longer appears as a destination on the Serena website. According to information on the finance ministry website, the corporations mission is to revive and develop Afghanistans hotel industry. It operates three other hotels in Afghanistan, two in Kabul and one in the eastern city of Nangarhar. Tourism official Mohammad Saeed told The Associated Press last year that he wanted Afghanistan to become a tourism powerhouse. At that time, in a sign the country was preparing for more overseas visitors, the Serena reopened its womens spa and salon for foreign females after a monthslong closure, only to shut them again under pressure from authorities.The Taliban have barred women from gyms, public spaces including parks, and education. Last year, they ordered the closure of beauty salons, allegedly because they offered services forbidden by Islam.

Barleycorn's, a restaurant, bar and live music venue, uses its marquee to express its sympathy for friends and family of the victims of a deadly crash involving a commercial airliner flying from Wichita and an Army helicopter in Washington, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025, in Wichita, Kansas. (AP Photo/John Hanna)2025-02-01T05:03:36Z WICHITA, Kan. (AP) When American Eagle Flight 5342 took off from Wichita, the Midwest city with a proud aviation history was glowing from a big moment.It had just hosted the next generation of Olympic hopefuls at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, the kind of major sporting event that leaders of the largest city in Kansas had envisioned when they opened a 15,000-seat arena in 2010. For Wichita, which once built many of the nations aircraft, the skating showcase was another way of putting the community in Americas heartland on a larger stage. Then came the horror of learning the flight never made it. We were so proud to see these high-level athletes, their families, their friends, fans, coming to our community and sharing their skills and talents so that the whole world could see, Mayor Lily Wu said. To end it with this type of tragedy just truly breaks my heart. The midair collision Wednesday night between the plane and an Army helicopter in Washington, D.C., has left Wichita grieving. The worst U.S. air disaster in a generation killed 67 people, including young figure skaters who had attended a national development camp in Wichita following the championships. No one survived. The city of nearly 400,000 residents has deep connections to Americas aviation history and is a regional hub for oil companies, engineers and drillers, riding the industrys boom-and-bust cycles. It was unclear how many of the victims may have been Wichita residents. Authorities have not released a list of the passengers, who included hunting buddies, an attorney on a business trip and a college student returning from her grandfathers funeral.Following the collision, city and religious leaders held a prayer vigil that turned out hundreds of people who prayed for victims families and pledged to provide comfort.This unity cannot just stay in sadness. It has to elicit something greater, something brighter, something that can shine forth, said Rabbi Shmulik Greenberg of Chabad, a Hasidic synagogue and community center in Wichita. An aircraft hub in the Midwest Wichita started as a trading post after the American Civil War, had a short life as a cattle drive town and boomed in the 1940s and 1950s, with military and civilian aircraft production.Passengers moving through security at Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport, named for the president who grew up in Abilene, first walk past a display describing Wichita as the Air Capital of the World. The industry has a history of more than a century in the area, with storied founders such as Clyde Cessna and Walter and Olive Ann Beech, who gave their names to aircraft companies. During World War II, Boeing made more than 1,700 bombers in Wichita, said Logan Daugherty, curator of the Kansas Aviation Museum. The industry employs tens of thousands of area residents, who work for major manufactures such as Spirit AeroSystems, as well as a network of more than 350 suppliers, according to an economic development agency called the Greater Wichita Partnership.The community has had its share of other strivers: The first White Castle restaurant opened here in 1921, beginning one of the first fast-food hamburger chains. Two Wichita State University students opened the first Pizza Hut in 1958. Koch Industries the energy, agriculture and manufacturing conglomerate with 121,000-plus employees has its leafy headquarters grounds in the north part of the city. The city recently celebrated the first anniversary of the start of the single daily commercial American Airlines flight from Wichita to Washington.The manufacturer of the passenger airline that went down, Bombardier, has its U.S. headquarters in Wichita. Jim Howell, who serves on the local county commission, said the plane had been certified in the city. Theres a lot of connections to this plane. Theres a lot of connections to Bombardier as a company, said Howell, who spent two decades working in flight testing, including a stint with Bombardier in the early 1990s. We have a lot of employees who work for Bombardier who are still involved in testing and maintaining those types of planes here in Wichita. A growing cityWichitas population more than doubled between 1940 and 1960 and has since grown steadily and more diverse. The public school system the largest in the state, educating roughly 11% of all Kansas students says it has families from more than 100 nations, speaking more than 110 languages and dialects other than English.Its also a politically diverse city. Although President Donald Trump has carried Sedgwick County, which includes Wichita, three times, Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly has won it twice. Rushing to help The city has mourned other aviation tragedies, including in 1970, when a plane carrying players, coaches and fans of Wichita State Universitys football team crashed in Colorado, killing 31 of the 37 people on board.Following the tragedy in Washington, the citys nonprofit Wichita Community Foundation almost immediately set up a fund to collect donations for victims families, to cover burial expenses and provide mental health or other services. Shelly Prichard, the foundations president and CEO, said on the night of the crash they started having people reach out to us about how they could help.Kristin Anneler, who attended the vigil in Wichita following the collision, said she was impressed that people of different faiths and views came together to mourn the victims.Its just a tiny little bite right? Of the cross section of humanity that we often forget about because we run in our own circles and we think our own thoughts, she said. ___ Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas. JOHN HANNA Hanna covers politics and state government in Kansas for The Associated Press. Hes worked for the AP in Topeka since 1986. twitter mailto

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President Donald Trump's nominee to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services, testifies during a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing for his pending confirmation on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)2025-02-01T05:03:31Z PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) A letter submitted to the U.S. Senate that states it was sent by physicians in support of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s nomination as secretary of Health and Human Services includes the names of doctors who have had their licenses revoked, suspended or faced other discipline, The Associated Press has found.The letter was meant to lend credibility to Kennedys nomination, which has faced strenuous opposition from medical experts due to his two decades of anti-vaccine activism. Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a medical doctor who boasts on his official website of an effort he created to vaccinate 36,000 children against hepatitis B, expressed hesitancy about Kennedys nomination and is seen as a key vote.The AP found that in addition to the physicians who had faced disciplinary action, many of the nearly 800 signers are not doctors. The letter with the names of those who signed was provided to the AP by Sen. Ron Johnsons office after he entered it into the Congressional Record on Wednesday during the first of Kennedys two confirmation hearings. Among those who signed it were a self-described journalist, a certified public accountant, a firefighter/paramedic, a certified health coach and someone who said they had a bachelors degree with an emphasis on Jungian Psychology. The signers include at least 75 nurses, as well as physicians assistants. More than 90 did not include any credentials at all. Over 20 were chiropractors, representing an industry that has funded Kennedys work. An AP investigation found that donations from a chiropractic group represented one-sixth of the revenues collected by Kennedys anti-vaccine nonprofit in 2019. The letter was organized and submitted by MAHA Action, which is run by Del Bigtree, who worked for Kennedys presidential campaign and is a longtime anti-vaccine activist. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that Kennedy transferred the trademark for the MAHA slogan to an limited liability company run by Bigtree. Kennedy reported that he received $100,000 in income from licensing the slogan and said in his financial disclosures that he had transferred the trademark for no compensation. MAHA stands for Make America Healthy Again, a play on President Donald Trumps Make America Great Again.Emma Post, a MAHA Action spokesperson, said in an email that the letter was shared and circulated organically in a grassroots manner with explicit instructions that it was for physicians only to sign on to. She did not address the APs questions about what further steps the group took to verify credentials, if any. Bigtree and Kennedy did not return messages seeking comment. A White House spokesman, Kush Desai, said the administration looks forward to the Senates swift confirmation of Kennedy.The letter includes the header Doctors for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and begins with the words, We, the undersigned physicians. It says lower down that it reflects the collective voice of physicians and medical professionals committed to addressing chronic disease. The APs review found that at least 10 doctors who signed the letter had run into trouble with state medical boards or their board certification body for a variety of alleged misconduct. Sanctions they faced included having their license revoked or suspended, being put on probation, receiving a reprimand or other action. One received a warning letter from the Federal Trade Commission, which said he was unlawfully advertising products as treatments or prevention for COVID-19, including intravenous nutrient therapy and vitamins.Among the signers was Paul Thomas, an anti-vaccine doctor who voluntarily surrendered his medical license in 2022 after Oregons medical board found he had engaged in repeated and gross negligence in the practice of medicine. Thomas did not admit or deny the finding. NBC News reported that Thomas was part of a team assembled by Kennedy who remotely advised an anti-vaccine activist in Samoa during a measles outbreak there on how to treat children with vitamins. A person who responded on behalf of Thomas, DeeDee Hoover, said the information the AP had was inaccurate but did not reply when asked what specifically was wrong. Other signers included Dr. Simone Gold, who was reprimanded by Californias medical board after she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for her conduct at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Gold was recently pardoned by Trump and told the AP in an email that her reprimand and other disciplinary action were overturned by a judge prior to her pardon.Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is an honorable and honest person with vast subject matter knowledge and experience who values the health of the American people, and furthermore because he is willing to challenge corporate interests where they conflict with the best interests of those citizens, Gold wrote in an email. Meryl Nass, whose medical license was suspended in Maine over her treatment of COVID-19 patients, also signed. She told the AP she is appealing the decision and expects to be fully vindicated.At least two of the doctors were disciplined, prior to the pandemic, for improperly giving out vaccine waivers, including one who had his license revoked and another who was put on probation. Another doctors license was revoked for refusing to follow COVID-19 guidelines. Post said MAHA Actions letter was just one of several provided to the Senate supporting Kennedy, including one that she provided a link to that she said was signed by 17,000 medical professionals. That letter stated it was from international medical providers and did not include the names of those who signed.Opponents of Kennedys nomination sent their own letter with signatures from what they said were more than 18,000 vetted and verified doctors. The group, the Committee to Protect Health Care, said that the letter was initially circulated among verified physicians and that as additional signatures were added, their credentials were checked. The group provided the list of signatories to the AP but with anonymized names that included the first initial of their first name along with the first three letters of their last name, as well as their medical credentials. They said doctors names were anonymized for their privacy and to protect them from harassment.__Contact APs global investigative team at [emailprotected] or https://www.ap.org/tips/ MICHELLE R. SMITH Smith reports for APs global investigations team. She is based in Providence, Rhode Island. instagram mailto

Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman shows a red pouch containing budget documents, as she arrives to present the federal budget in the Parliament in New Delhi, India, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025. (AP Photo)2025-02-01T08:25:30Z NEW DELHI (AP) Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis government presented an annual budget to Parliament on Saturday that focused on wooing the salaried middle class with tax cuts and spurring economic growth by boosting agriculture and manufacturing.In her budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government is focused on boosting private investment to strengthen growth, increasing funding in the agriculture sector and enhancing the spending power of Indias middle class.The focus of the budget is taking everyone together on an inclusive path, Sitharaman said, adding that the government is aiming for a fiscal deficit of 4.4% of Indias gross domestic product for the 2025-26 financial year.The worlds fifth-largest economy is expected to post its slowest growth in four years due to a sluggish manufacturing sector, persistent food inflation, stagnant job growth and weak urban consumption. The countrys chief economic advisor, in a report released on Friday, forecast Indias economy would grow 6.3% to 6.8% in the next fiscal year.Here are some takeaways from the budget: Income tax cuts for the salaried middle classSitharaman said her government will initiate reforms in sectors like finance, power, urban development and mining, with transformative reforms in taxation. She raised the starting point for income tax to $14,800 from $8,074 and said the government will introduce a new income tax bill next week.The new structure will substantially reduce the taxes of the middle class and leave more money in their hands, boosting household consumption, savings and investment, Sitharaman said.Modi, who is now in his third term as the countrys prime minister, has been under pressure to allay discontent among the countrys middle class and generate more jobs to help sustain growth. Many economists had suggested his government make tax cuts on individuals income and implement job creation programs to mitigate rising unemployment.According to the Center for Monitoring the Indian Economy, youth unemployment was at 7.5% in January, underscoring the challenge of delivering jobs in a country of more than 1.4 billion people. Agriculture sector and gig economy gets a boostTo boost productivity across the agriculture sector, the Indian government will launch a nationwide program to push high-yielding crops, focusing on the cultivation of pulses and cotton production. Sitharaman said the program will target at least 17 million farmers and raise the limit for subsidized credit offered to them from $3,460 to $5,767.The government also plans to formally register Indias gig workers and ease their access to health care. Sitharaman said the government will issue them identity cards and maintain a national registry that will ensure their inclusion in welfare initiatives.Indias gig economy could employ more than 23 million people by 2030, according to estimates by government think tank NITI Aayog. Investments in new startup funds and energy sectorSitharaman announced a new fund for startups and said the government will provide more money to promote innovation in partnership with the private sector and launch programs to push manufacturing and exports. The share of manufacturing in Indias economy is close to 17%, short of its aimed goal of 25%.The government will infuse more money to increase tourism-led employment in several Indian states and help with building infrastructure and boosting air connectivity to 120 new destinations over 10 years, Sitharaman said. She also announced the Nuclear Energy Mission to drive Indias transition toward clean energy, with a goal of developing at least 100 GW of nuclear power by 2047. SHEIKH SAALIQ Saaliq covers news across India and the South Asia region for The Associated Press, often focusing on politics, democracy, conflict and religion. He is based in New Delhi. twitter mailto

President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)2025-02-01T05:01:26Z President Donald Trump has targeted transgender and nonbinary people with a series of executive orders since he returned to office.He has done it with strong language. In one executive order, he asserted medical professionals are maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children under the radical and false claim that adults can change a childs sex.Thats a dramatic reversal of the policies of former President Joe Bidens administration and of major medical organizations that supported gender-affirming care.American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Sruti Swaminathan said that to be put into effect, provisions of the orders should first go through federal rulemaking procedures, which can be years long and include the chance for public comment.When you have the nations commander-in-chief demonizing transgender people, it certainly sends a signal to all Americans, said Sarah Warbelow, the legal director at Human Rights Campaign.Things to know about Trumps actions: Recognizing people as only men or womenOn Trumps first day back in office, he issued a sweeping order that signaled a big change in how his administration would deal with transgender people and their rights.It questions their existence by saying the government would recognize only two unchangeable sexes: female and male.The stated purpose is to protect women. Efforts to eradicate the biological reality of sex fundamentally attack women by depriving them of their dignity, safety, and well-being, the order says. The document calls on government agencies to use the new definitions of the sexes, and to stop using taxpayer money to promote what it calls gender ideology, the idea broadly accepted by medical experts that gender falls along a spectrum.Federal agencies have been quick to comply. Andrea Lucas, the acting chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, for example, announced this week that she would remove identity pronouns from employees online profiles and disallow the X gender marker for those filing discrimination charges. Biology is not bigotry. Biological sex is real, and it matters, Lucas said in a statement.On Friday, information about what Trump calls gender ideology was removed from federal government websites and the term gender was replaced by sex to comport with the order. The Bureau of Prisons stopped reporting the number of transgender incarcerated people and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention removed lessons on building supportive school environments for transgender and nonbinary students.Researchers have found less than 1% of adults identify as transgender and under 2% are intersex, or born with physical traits that dont fit typical definitions for male or female. Requests denied for passport gender markersIn the order calling for a new federal definition of the sexes, Trump included some specific instances in which policy should be changed, including on passports.The State Department promptly stopped granting requests for new or updated passports with gender markers that dont conform with the new definition.The agency is no longer issuing the documents with an X that some people who identify as neither male nor female request and will not honor requests to change the gender markers between M and F for transgender people.The option to choose X was taken off online passport application forms Friday.The ACLU says its considering a lawsuit.Transgender women moved into mens prisonsTrumps initial order called for transgender women in federal custody to be moved to mens prisons. Warbelow, from Human Rights Campaign, said her organization has received reports from lawyers that some have been.The Federal Bureau of Prisons did not immediately respond to requests for information about such moves.There have been at least two lawsuits trying to block the policy. In one, a federal judge has said a transgender woman in a Massachusetts prison should be housed with the general population of a womans prison and continue to receive gender-affirming medical care for now. Opening the door to another ban on transgender service membersTrump set the stage for a ban on transgender people in the military, directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to come up with a new policy on the issue by late March.In the executive order, the president asserted that being transgender conflicts with a soldiers commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in ones personal life.Trump barred transgender service members in his first term in office, but a court blocked the effort.A group of active military members promptly sued over the new order this week. Defunding gender-affirming medical care for transgender youthTrump called for halting the use of federal money to support gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth under 19 years old.The care in question includes puberty blocking drugs, hormone therapy and gender-affirming surgery, which is rare for minors.If fully implemented, the order would cut off government health insurance including Medicaid and TRICARE, which serves military families, for the treatments.It also calls on Congress to adopt a law against the care, though whether that happens is up to lawmakers.Twenty-six states already have passed laws banning or limiting gender-affirming care for minors, so the change could be smaller in those places.Some hospitals have paused some gender-affirming care for people under 19 following the executive order while they evaluate how it might apply to them.Barring schools from helping student social transitioningAnother executive order this week seeks to stop radical indoctrination in the nations school system.It calls on the Education Department to come up with a policy blocking schools from using federal funds to support students who are socially transitioning or using their curriculum to promote the idea that gender can be fluid, along with certain teachings about race.The order would block schools from requiring teachers and other school staff to use names and pronouns that align with transgender students gender identify rather than the sex they were assigned at birth.Some districts and states have passed those requirements to prevent deadnaming, the practice of referring to transgender people who have changed their name by the name they used before their transition. It is widely considered insensitive, offensive or traumatizing. GEOFF MULVIHILL Mulvihill covers topics on the agendas of state governments across the country. He has focused on abortion, gender issues and opioid litigation. twitter mailto

A Palestinian girl wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip waits inside an ambulance before crossing the Rafah border into Egypt, as wounded and sick Palestinians are allowed to leave the Gaza Strip for medical treatment, in Khan Younis, Saturday Feb. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)2025-02-01T10:57:24Z RAFAH CROSSING, Egypt (AP) A group of 50 sick and wounded Palestinian children began crossing to Egypt for treatment through Gazas Rafah crossing on Saturday, the first opening of the border since Israel captured it nearly nine months ago.The reopening of the Rafah crossing represents a significant breakthrough that bolsters the ceasefire deal Israel and Hamas agreed to earlier this month. Israel agreed to reopen the crossing after Hamas released the last living female hostages in Gaza.Egyptian television showed an Palestinian Red Cross ambulance pulling up to the crossing gate, and several children were brought out on stretchers and transferred to ambulances on the Egyptian side. Gazas Health Ministry said around 60 family members were accompanying the children.The children are the first in what are meant to be regular evacuations of Palestinians through the crossing for treatment abroad. Over the past 15 months, Israels campaign against Hamas in retaliation for the militants Oct. 7, 2023 on southern Israel has decimated Gazas health sector, leaving most of its hospitals out of operation. Care for the population has been crippled, even as tens of thousands of Palestinians were wounded by Israels bombardment and ground offensives. Mohammed Zaqout, the director of hospitals in Gazas Health Ministry, said more than 6,000 patients were ready to be evacuated abroad, and more than 12,000 patients were in urgent need of treatment. He said the small numbers set to be evacuated will not cover the need, and we hope the number will increase. Rafah is Gazas only crossing that does not enter into Israel. Israeli forces closed the Rafah crossing in early May after seizing it during an offensive on the southern city. Egypt shut down its side of the passage in protest. Even before the Gaza war began, the Rafah crossing represented a crucial escape valve from the territory. An Israeli-Egyptian blockade aimed at containing Hamas has crippled health facilities and infrastructure in Gaza for the past 15 years. Palestinians routinely applied for permission to travel outside the territory for lifesaving treatments not available in Gaza, including chemotherapy. It took some diplomatic gymnastics to reopen the crossing and overcome security disputes between Israeli, Egyptian and Palestinian officials. Hamas had overseen the border since 2007, when it took control of Gaza from its rival, the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority, or PA, after winning parliamentary elections in 2006.Management of the crossing is a sensitive issue. Israel accused Hamas of using its control of the border to smuggle weapons a claim Egypt has denied. Israel has also refused to allow the Palestinian Authority to officially take over management of the crossing.Instead, the crossing will be staffed by Palestinians from Gaza who previously served as border officers with the PA, but they will not be allowed to wear official PA insignia, a European diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to brief the media. Israel has screened the officers to ensure they have no affiliation with Hamas, the European diplomat added. European Union monitors will also be present, as they were before 2007. Negotiations on the second phase of the deal which calls for a permanent ceasefire, full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the release of any remaining hostages are supposed to begin Monday. Israel has resisted the notion that the PA would control postwar Gaza.

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, right, moves the ball while defended by Golden State Warriors forward Gui Santos during the first half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vsquez, File)2025-02-01T11:24:08Z Aging athletes such as LeBron James, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lindsey Vonn are similar to racing cars maintained by tinkering mechanics, data analysts, and shelves of replacement partsIf you look at many elite athletes now, they have an army of supporting staff like a Formula 1 team, Hirofumi Tanaka, a Japan-born exercise physiologist at the University of Texas at Austin, told The Associated Press in an interview.Los Angeles Lakers star James and World Cup skier Vonn just turned 40, and soccers Ronaldo hits the Big-Four-Oh on Feb. 5. Add seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton, who turned 40 just a few weeks ago as he moves this season to Ferrari.They have physical therapists, dietitians, massage therapists, strength coaches, and so on, Tanaka added. With this holistic approach these elite athletes are helped to maintain their performance. Others like quarterback Tom Brady, hockeys Jaromir Jagr, and pitcher Nolan Ryan retired at the top and well into their 40s. Martina Navratilova won the U.S. Open mixed doubles title in 2006 just a month short of turning 50.Then theres Gordie Howe, who finished his last National Hockey League season (1979-80) at 52. Japanese soccer player Kazuyoshi Miura turns 58 in February and plans to play with fourth-tier club Suzuka his 40th professional season. And dont forget Hall of Famer Satchel Paige, who didnt allow a run pitching three innings in a Major League game at 59 with the Kansas City Athletics in 1965. This isnt exactly new, but it used to be rare. Whats changed is the frequency, the array of aides supporting the stars, and the reality the expectation that athletes can compete longer and produce.Watch any Grand Slam tennis tournament. The winner and losing finalist inevitably thank their teams as a half-dozen staffers rise to stadium applause. Peak performance at the OlympicsTanaka analyzed Olympic data starting with the first modern Games in 1896, and hes found the peak-performance age for men has remained stable between 20-30 depending on the discipline. But gradually all Olympians are getting older, and the statistics for women bear this out.Womens peak performance age was much younger 20 or 30 years ago, he said. But now that peak-performance age is becoming very similar to men.Tanaka attributed this partly to cultural change in regard to marriage and child-bearing, which used to prompt women to drop out earlier from elite competition.Of course, there are exceptions like Syrian Hend Zaza. At 12, she was the youngest in the Tokyo Olympics, delayed a year until 2021.The best evidence that athletes are staying longer and maintaining performance is seen in so-called Masters athletes. There is no standard age as each sport sets different parameters.Older athlete are getting closer and closer to younger athletes, Tanaka said, speaking of both men and women. And the older the Masters athlete is, the greater the improvement. The case of LeBron JamesJames is reported to spend about $1.5 million annually on his body to stay fit, a number he neither confirms nor denies. He can afford it with an estimated worth of more than $1 billion.James talks about staying on top in the Netflix series Starting 5. Maybe hes not getting better with age, but there is little drop-off.In some ways hes a freak of nature, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has said. Ive been around a lot of great players and hes one of the hardest-working players Ive been around. I mean, he doesnt take a day off. He seems to not take an afternoon off.Hes always working on some part of his body, Silver added. You meet with him and hes always soaking something or eating something or has some contraption attached to him.Lindsey Vonns comeback and her titanium kneeVonn is making a comeback on the World Cup circuit after getting a new titanium right knee. James, of course, has never been away after breaking into the NBA and 18.Like James, Vonn talks about the benefits of ice baths and new recovery methods that were not around earlier in her career.She said she gets inspiration from athletes like Brady, Hamilton and Serena Williams, who won her last Grand Slam singles title at 35 at the Australian Open in 2017. She was several weeks pregnant at the time, which she didnt announce until months later. Tom, Lewis, Serena. Theyve all done it, Vonn said. The resources that athletes have now allow for a better recovery. So even though youre older, youre still recovering faster than I was when I was in my 20s.Vonn told The AP recently in an interview in Cortina dAmpezzo, Italy, that she might be doing less to stay fit, or at least less to keep her knee functioning.My knee doesnt bother me, she said. I dont wake up and have to do kneecap (exercises) for 15 minutes and do a 30-minute warmup just to walk out the door. I am doing a normal warmup like normal athletes do, she added. I dont have to do anything different which takes a lot less energy, a lot less mental strain.Now she simply focuses on maintaining the other parts of her body.___Andrew Dampf in Rome contributed to this report. STEPHEN WADE Wade has written about sports and the politics of sports around the globe for The Associated Press. He has covered nine Olympics and five soccer World Cups and has been based for AP in Madrid, London, Beijing, Mexico City, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, before moving to Tokyo. twitter mailto

A worker organizes boxes of flowers intended for export to the U.S. at a flower farm in Chia, on the outskirts of Bogota, Colombia, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)2025-01-27T21:14:33Z WASHINGTON (AP) Tariffs are in the news at the moment. Heres what they are and what you need to know about them:Tariffs are a tax on importsTariffs are typically charged as a percentage of the price a buyer pays a foreign seller. In the United States, tariffs are collected by Customs and Border Protection agents at 328 ports of entry across the country.U.S. tariff rates vary: They are generally 2.5% on passenger cars, for instance, and 6% on golf shoes. Tariffs can be lower for countries with which the United States has trade agreements. For example, most goods can move among the United States, Mexico and Canada tariff-free because of Trumps US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.Mainstream economists are generally skeptical of tariffs, considering them a mostly inefficient way for governments to raise money and promote prosperity. Theres much misinformation about who actually pays tariffsPresident Donald Trump, a proponent of tariffs, insists that they are paid for by foreign countries. In fact, its is importers American companies that pay tariffs, and the money goes to the U.S. Treasury. Those companies, in turn, typically pass their higher costs on to their customers in the form of higher prices. Thats why economists say consumers usually end up footing the bill for tariffs.Still, tariffs can hurt foreign countries by making their products pricier and harder to sell abroad. Foreign companies might have to cut prices and sacrifice profits to offset the tariffs and try to maintain their market share in the United States. Yang Zhou, an economist at Shanghais Fudan University, concluded in a study that Trumps tariffs on Chinese goods inflicted more than three times as much damage to the Chinese economy as they did to the U.S. economy. What has Trump said about tariffs?Trump has said tariffs will create more factory jobs, shrink the federal deficit, lower food prices and allow the government to subsidize childcare.Tariffs are the greatest thing ever invented, Trump said at a rally in Flint, Michigan, during his presidential campaign.As president, Trump imposed tariffs with a flourish targeting imported solar panels, steel, aluminum and pretty much everything from China.Tariff Man, he called himself.Trump has promised even more and higher tariffs in his second term.The United States in recent years has gradually retreated from its post-World War II role of promoting global free trade and lower tariffs. That shift has been a response to the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs, widely attributed to unfettered tree trade and an increasingly powerful China. Tariffs are intended mainly to protect domestic industriesBy raising the price of imports, tariffs can protect home-grown manufacturers. They may also serve to punish foreign countries for committing unfair trade practices, like subsidizing their exporters or dumping products at unfairly low prices.Before the federal income tax was established in 1913, tariffs were a major revenue driver for the government. From 1790 to 1860, tariffs accounted for 90% of federal revenue, according to Douglas Irwin, a Dartmouth College economist who has studied the history of trade policy.Tariffs fell out of favor as global trade grew after World War II. The government needed vastly bigger revenue streams to finance its operations.In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the government collected around $80 billion in tariffs and fees. Thats a trifle next to the $2.5 trillion that comes from individual income taxes and the $1.7 trillion from Social Security and Medicare taxes.Still, Trump wants to enact a budget policy that resembles what was in place in the 19th century.Tariffs can also be used to pressure other countries on issues that may or may not be related to trade. In 2019, for example, Trump used the threat of tariffs as leverage to persuade Mexico to crack down on waves of Central American migrants crossing Mexican territory on their way to the United States.Trump even sees tariffs as a way to prevent wars.I can do it with a phone call, he said at an August rally in North Carolina.If another country tries to start a war, he said hed issue a threat:Were going to charge you 100% tariffs. And all of a sudden, the president or prime minister or dictator or whoever the hell is running the country says to me, Sir, we wont go to war. Economists generally consider tariffs self-defeatingTariffs raise costs for companies and consumers that rely on imports. Theyre also likely to provoke retaliation.The European Union, for example, punched back against Trumps tariffs on steel and aluminum by taxing U.S. products, from bourbon to Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Likewise, China responded to Trumps trade war by slapping tariffs on American goods, including soybeans and pork in a calculated drive to hurt his supporters in farm country.A study by economists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Zurich, Harvard and the World Bank concluded that Trumps tariffs failed to restore jobs to the American heartland. The tariffs neither raised nor lowered U.S. employment where they were supposed to protect jobs, the study found. Despite Trumps 2018 taxes on imported steel, for example, the number of jobs at U.S. steel plants barely budged: They remained right around 140,000. By comparison, Walmart alone employs 1.6 million people in the United States.Worse, the retaliatory taxes imposed by China and other nations on U.S. goods had negative employment impacts, especially for farmers, the study found. These retaliatory tariffs were only partly offset by billions in government aid that Trump doled out to farmers. The Trump tariffs also damaged companies that relied on targeted imports.If Trumps trade war fizzled as policy, though, it succeeded as politics. The study found that support for Trump and Republican congressional candidates rose in areas most exposed to the import tariffs the industrial Midwest and manufacturing-heavy Southern states like North Carolina and Tennessee. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Pico Iyer, the bestselling author of "The Art of Stillness," presents his new book "Aflame: Learning from Silence" at Vroman's bookstore in Pasadena, Calif., on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, in the wake of the devastating Eaton Fire that recently swept through parts of Pasadena and Altadena, forcing over 30,000 people to evacuate and burning thousands of structures. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)2025-02-01T13:12:37Z PASADENA, Calif. (AP) On a quiet summer evening in June 1990, Pico Iyer sat in his family home in Santa Barbara, California, when suddenly, he was surrounded by walls of flames five stories high.Thirty-four years after that conflagration turned his life upside down, Iyer returned to Southern California to share how it transformed his life, nudging him toward what he now values simplicity, silence, solitude and love. The novelist and essayist addressed about 80 people Tuesday at Vromans Bookstore in Pasadena, the very community devastated by the deadly Eaton Fire earlier this month.Now intimately familiar with a wildfires destructive powers, many who came to hear Iyer speak clutched his book with a fiery orange cover titled Aflame: Learning from Silence. During his hour-long conversation with violinist and social justice advocate Vijay Gupta, Iyer admitted that soon after the fire, all he could see was loss. But now, he says, he sees all those doors that have gradually opened. As they conversed, a poster for Octavia Butlers novel Parable of the Sower, considered prophetic by some in its depiction of a dystopian future where Los Angeles is ravaged by climate change among other ills, graced the background. Iyer said the fire liberated him in many ways. To write a different way, to live more simply, to remember what is really important in life. Today, I wouldnt say it was a calamity, but a dramatic wake-up call for me. Iyers story resonated with Jeremy Hunter, an Altadena resident whose historic home burned in the Eaton Fire. His feelings after the blaze are mixed: purified and liberated by losing his possessions, but also grieved. Hunter said listening to Iyer has inspired him to figure out his familys next act.I guess the key is to let that pain pass through you, he said. That way, youre less afraid of the pain. In 1990, Iyer, then 33, an author and columnist for Time magazine, grabbed his mothers aging cat and his latest manuscript, jumped in his car and tried to flee the fire. But, he was trapped in the area for three hours, watching, as it turned everything in his childhood home to ash furniture, stuffed toys, notes for his next three books. Iyer escaped thanks to a Good Samaritan with a water truck. Safe but shaken, he wrote an essay that night. It appeared in Time magazine with the title California: In the Blazing Eye of the Inferno. He ended it with a poem by the 17th century Japanese poet, Mizuta Masahide, describing how destruction can sometimes bring clarity:My house burned down.Now I can better seeThe rising moon.Eight months after the fire, Iyer took his friends suggestion to stay for a few days at the New Camaldoli Hermitage, a Benedictine monastery nestled in the Santa Lucia Mountains of Big Sur, California. The Catholic order, founded by St. Romuald in the late 10th century, is known globally for its austere way of life and keenness to engage in interfaith and ecumenical dialogue. At the hermitage, Iyer paid $30 a day for a room, shower, food and so much more. The tranquility of the grounds with its tolling bells, lavender-covered hills, panoramic ocean views, and the compassion of the monks, eventually, proved life changing. The silence and solitude gave him clarity to make sense of his life and work.A repeated visitor to this spiritual oasis, Iyer says the hermitage helps him remember what he loves and what matters the most. One of his 100 or so visits motivated him to get married and move into a small, two-room apartment with his wife in Nara, Japan, where he still resides, splitting his time between that country and California. And somehow, he lives without a cell phone.The monks helped him understand how luxury is defined not by what you have but what you dont need.Moving into that tiny apartment didnt seem like a hardship and being without a car and cell phone actually seems like a luxury, Iyer said.The hermitage has become a kind of soul-sustaining medicine, even though he says he is not religious. He was born into a Hindu family, and his parents were Indian immigrants, both professors and followers of the Theosophical movement, which combines Eastern and Western beliefs. In the book, Iyer also speaks about his close relationship with the Dalai Lama and singer Leonard Cohen who lived for several years as a Zen Buddhist monk. While he has grown spiritually thanks to them, Iyer says his Benedictine brothers and fire itself have helped him understand how to cope with death and impermanence. Just like his family home, his happy place in Big Sur is also vulnerable to wildfires. There is no safe place in this world that is immune to impermanence or reality, Iyer said. The fact that these monks live unflinchingly in the midst of that acute vulnerability and go about their regular business even as they are encircled by flames, is powerful to witness. His books title comes from a quote by Abba Joseph, an early Christian hermit who told a young monk as they traversed the Egyptian desert: If you will, you can become all aflame. The hermit meant that fully committing to a spiritual life would mean being completely consumed by Gods love and transformed to a state of radiant holiness.Its about kindling the internal fires as a response to the external fires, Iyer said. My monk friends see fire as an act of God, which is not something they quarrel with, but simply act with.Iyer still turns away when he sees footage of wildfires on television. Being stuck in that fire for three hours, I had a visceral sense of how powerful those flames were. But then, coming that close to losing my life made losing my possessions much easier.He said several who stood in line at Vromans to get his book signed talked about their recent loss. The Eaton Fire killed at least 17 people, destroyed thousands of structures and scorched over 14,000 acres. Iyer said he started to write a bright message for one woman who appeared positive and smiling when she told him: Oh, I just lost everything I had.I was taken aback and as we continued the conversation, she seemed so strong, clear and unrattled, he said. I was touched and inspired by her presence.This weeks book event was already scheduled when the Eaton Fire started burning. The timing was uncanny for some, including Suzanne McDonnell, a Glendale resident whose friends lost their homes in the recent fires.I thought it was providential, she said about Iyers talk. There can be so much hope, even in suffering. ___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. DEEPA BHARATH Bharath is a reporter with APs Global Religion team. She is based in Los Angeles. twitter mailto

Welcome back to the Abstract!This week, were serving up some much-needed good news about global biodiversity! Well, its more like a silver lining, but in the Anthropocene you have to take what you can get. As you may have noticed, humans are highly annoying and deadly to many other lifeforms on Earth, a condition that is driving a global decline of biodiversity. But there are bright spots in this dark trend, as conservation efforts continue to yield results around the world.Then, just how radioactive was that Saharan dust cloud that engulfed Europe in 2022? Scientists found answers, and they were weird! Next, the effects of Daylight Savings Timeon dogs. Finally, its time to warm up in the balmy gassy vistas of ancient Mars.Biodiversity Loss Is Staggering, but Conservation Pays OffShaw, Robyn and Farquharson, Katherine et al. Global meta-analysis shows action is needed to halt genetic diversity loss. Nature.It is understandable to feel overwhelmed by the escalating consequences of human activity on our planet and its inhabitants. In fact, it is a sign that your brain is good at recognizing reality, even at its own peril. But there were welcome rays of hope from conservation science this week: It turns out trying to stop biodiversity loss actually works sometimes!On Wednesday, scientists published a massive meta-analysis of genetic diversity that encompasses decades of data collected from 628 species of animals, plants, and fungi across every land environment and most maritime regions on the planet. It is the most comprehensive investigation of within-population genetic diversity change to date, according to the study.Here we report an overall global decline in intraspecific genetic diversity, said researchers co-led by Robyn Shaw of the University of Canberra and Katherine Farquharson of the University of Sydney. In birds and mammals in particular, the evidence for genetic diversity decline is clear.Genetic diversity accumulates over evolutionary timescales through mutation and once lost, is difficult to restore, the team continued. However, we also show that we have the theoretical and technical means, as well as the on-ground conservation management approaches, to prevent further loss if we act now.The study points to many success stories about targeted conservation that have reversed genetic diversity in species as diverse as the Hines emerald dragonfly to the Golden bandicoot. As it happens, two unrelated case studies were also published this week about the recovery of wolverines across their historic Scandinavian range, and the recovery of tigers in India, both of which offer inspiration from gains made with these iconic carnivores.We provide pervasive evidence for successful expansion of the wolverine population from the refuge-like alpine range into boreal forest, which was previously considered suboptimal habitat for wolverines in Scandinavia, said researchers led by Ehsan Moqanaki of the University of Montana. The ongoing recovery of the Scandinavian wolverine demonstrates that coexistence of apex predators with humans on multiuse landscapes is possible.Meanwhile, the study on tigers found that Indias recovery efforts offers cautious optimism for megafauna recovery, particularly in the Global South.Tiger occupancy increased by 30% (at 2929 square kilometers per year) over the past two decades, leading to the largest global population occupying ~138,200 square kilometers, said researchers led by Yadvendradev Jhala of the Wildlife Institute of India. The success of tiger recovery in India offers important lessons for tiger-range countries as well as other regions for conserving large carnivores while benefiting biodiversity and communities simultaneously. It rekindles hope for a biodiverse Anthropocene.Of course, these studies are not presenting an altogether rosy picture; the global trends of biodiversity loss are still incredibly concerning and theres no doubt humans are fueling a major spike in extinction rates. But its much better to know that conservation efforts, if we make them, do pay off, and that were not just pissing in the wind. So let's take the win and stick it up our noses or ears or wherever youre supposed to put hopium these days.Oops! Its a Radioactive Saharan Dust CloudXu-Yang, Yangjunjie et al. Radioactive contamination transported to Western Europe with Saharan dust. Science AdvancesIn the beginning, Cilllian Murphy invented nuclear weapons. For decades afterward, governments around the world came up with the flimsiest excuses to make them go boom. Hmm, should we nuke a battleship? Yeah. Nuke the sky? Hell yeah. Nuke the Sahara? Oui (because France did that one).In a twist, the spectre of those Saharan nukes literally visited itself upon Europe in March 2022, when a desert storm blew dust clouds from the Algerian test site across the continent. The event raised concerns that radioactive particles from the four atmospheric detonations, which were performed over Reggane in 1960 and 1961, may have contaminated those nations, potentially posing a public health threat.To investigate the risk, researchers enlisted citizen sciences to collect more than 100 dust samples from six countries in Western Europe, which they tested for plutonium isotope signatures. In yet another twist, the team found that there was detectable radioactive contamination in the particles from the 2022 storm, but it mostly didnt come from the French atmospheric tests. It was dominated by the global fallout signature of the atmospheric tests conducted by the United States and the Soviet Union before sky nukes were banned in 1963.Radionuclide signatures detected in Saharan dust collected in 2022 remained in the range of the global fallout found as a background signal in soils worldwide, and they significantly differed from the characteristics of the French atmospheric nuclear tests conducted in Southern Algeria, said researchers led by Yangjunjie Xu-Yang of Universit Paris-Saclay.The team concluded that the contamination didnt pose a public health threat, but its still a little disconcerting to be reminded that the planet is covered in a film of radioactive dust. As the sage Nelson Muntz once proclaimed: Gotta nuke something.Spring Forward, Fall Back, Shake a PawNagendran, Lavania et al. The impact of Daylight Saving Time on dog activity. PLOS One.Dogs are thrown off by Daylight Savings Time (DST) too, at least if they are gainfully employed. Thats the conclusion of the first study to examine how DST affects all the good boys and good girls out there. To accomplish this feat, the team put accelerometers into the collars of 25 sled dogs and 29 companion dogs living around Ontario during the fall time change in 2020 and 2021 respectively. By measuring the activity of the dogs, they were able to determine that sled dogs were more sensitive to time changes because of their rigid working schedules.Recognizing that DST is an extreme form of anthropogenic intervention on the effects of natural light on circadian rhythm regulation, we aim to investigate how this abrupt shift in the timing of human activity affects companion animals, said researchers led by Lavania Nagendran of the University of Toronto.Sled dogs took one day to adjust to the time shift, the researchers concluded. In companion dogs, we did not find evidence for any changes in morning onset activity following DST.In other words, the coalition ban time changes may have just earned a powerful new bloc: Huskies and malamutes. These dogs will make great political allies, assuming they can take some time away from other important business (digging holes, chasing squirrels, and yowling discordantly).The Lost Water World of MarsAdams, Danica et al. Episodic warm climates on early Mars primed by crustal hydration. Nature Geoscience.Mars was once a warm world of gushing rivers and huge lakes that may have supported microbial life. But just how Mars remained toasty enough to produce these balmy conditions is a matter of some debate; the Sun was dimmer four billion years ago, when Mars was habitable, plus the red planet receives less sunlight than Earth due to its orbital distance, so solar radiation alone cannot account for its liquid water.Scientists now propose that Mars was partly warmed by its own fartsor, in more scientific terms, its crustal outgassing. Hydrogen gas released by water sinking into the crust could have helped to transiently foster warm, humid climates according to researchers led by Danica Adams of Harvard University.These events of outgassing due crustal hydration would have been short-lived, lasting tens of millions of years. This scenario adds more evidence to the idea that Martian climate, and thus its habitability, fluctuated until about three billion years ago, when the planet permanently transformed into the cold dry husk we like to put our best robots on today.Adams and her colleagues note that these models will be put to the test once samples from Mars are returned to Earth (though the Mars Sample Return mission is currently experiencing setbacks). For now, well have to be satisfied with this glimpse of a gassy ancient Mars and the possible organisms that may have flourished during its warm spells.Thanks for reading! See you next week.

Palestinian prisoners are greeted as they exit a Red Cross bus after being released from Israeli prison following a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Saturday Feb. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)2025-02-01T12:06:24Z RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) Israel on Saturday released a total of 183 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for three Israeli hostages held in Gaza as the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas continued to gain traction after nearly two weeks. In a sign of progress, Saturdays release included for the first time some of the 1,000 detainees from Gaza that Israel has agreed to free during Phase 1 of the deal on condition that they did not participate in Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the Israel-Hamas war. Detained in Gaza on suspicion of militancy, the 111 Palestinians released Saturday have been held without trial since the day after the Oct. 7 attack. The remaining 72 Palestinians, all arrested from either the West Bank or Gaza before the war, served long sentences or life sentences for deadly attacks against Israelis. They are all men, ranging in age from 30 to 66. The release of Palestinians from Gaza draws attention to Israels mass roundups of men in the enclave during the past 15 months of its military campaign against Hamas. Many were taken to Israel. Images of Israeli forces rounding up Palestinians in Gaza showing men stripped to their underwear, sitting or kneeling on the ground, with some bound and blindfolded have raised concern from the U.N. human rights body. The Israeli military says it arrests those suspected of involvement in Hamas and other militant groups. In the occupied West Bank, frenzied crowds thronged the Red Cross bus carrying the Palestinians from Israels Ofer prison near Ramallah. Supporters lifted the 25 released prisoners into the air, crying, God is greater! and Victory to God! Women wept as they pulled their long absent husbands into hugs. Its an indescribable feeling, and undoubtedly a mixed feeling, said Mohammad Kaskus, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for attacks against Israelis. Weve left our brothers behind in captivity, subject to torture, starvation, intimidation and abuse. The Israeli Prison Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Another seven prisoners were being transferred to Egypt ahead of their deportation.The rest arrived in a convoy to the European Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, where scores of relatives, friends and reporters awaited. The ex-prisoners stuck their heads out the dusty bus windows, waving excitedly to familiar faces in the crowds. Some grasped the outstretched hands of their loved ones who were hoisted onto shoulders of onlookers.Heres a look at some prominent Palestinian prisoners released since the ceasefire deal went into effect on Jan. 19: Mohammed el-HalabiThe Palestinian manager of the Gaza branch of World Vision, a major Christian aid organization, was arrested in 2016 and accused of diverting tens of millions of dollars to Hamas in a high-profile case that drew criticism from rights groups. He was freed on Saturday. Both el-Halabi, 47, and World Vision vigorously denied the allegations and independent investigations found no proof of wrongdoing. One independent audit found that el-Halabi had enforced internal controls and ordered employees to avoid anyone suspected of Hamas ties.World Vision has also said that the accusations that el-Halabi transferred 60% of the charitys annual budget for Gaza to Hamas could not be reconciled with its financial records. Rights groups say el-Halabi was denied a fair and transparent trial, as he and World Vision had no chance to review the evidence against them, with all procedures shielded from the public and shrouded in unusual secrecy. U.N. experts say el-Halabi was questioned for 50 days without access to a lawyer. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison.Israel has attributed the closed hearings to sensitive security information being relayed. Israeli courts typically hold closed hearings to protect the sources of their information.His prolonged detention sent a chill through nongovernmental groups providing aid to Palestinians in Gaza. After el-Halabis arrest, World Vision suspended its activities in Gaza, where it it says its aid had benefited nearly 40,000 children affected by the crippling Israeli-Egyptian blockade on the enclave. Shadi AmouriAmouri, 44, from the northern West Bank city of Jenin, was arrested for his alleged role in manufacturing the powerful car bomb that detonated beside an Israeli bus packed with passengers on June 5, 2002, killing 17 Israelis in what became known as the Megiddo Junction suicide bombing. The attack during the second intifada, or Palestinian uprising, between 2000 and 2005, took place in northern Israel. The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.Amouri was sentenced to life in prison, plus 20 years. He was among those transferred to Egypt Saturday and released into exile. We wish to have felt the joy of his release here, on the land of Jenin refugee camp, said Bassam Amouri, his brother. But, thank God, what matters is that he is free of the suffering of prison. Ashraf Abu SrourAbu Srour, 50, sentenced to life in prison over a 2000 attack that killed Israeli soldier Shahar Veckart, was also among those released Saturday into exile. Hailing from Aida refugee camp in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Abu Srour was detained in 2001 and convicted the next year over the shooting at Rachels Tomb, the traditional burial place of the wife of the biblical patriarch Jacob. During the second intifada, the shrine became a target of Palestinian militants protesting Israels claim to the holy site revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike. Abu Srour belonged to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade an armed group affiliated with Fatah, the secular political party that controls the Palestinian Authority.Zakaria ZubeidiZakaria Zubeidi is a prominent former militant leader and theater director whose dramatic jailbreak in 2021 thrilled Palestinians across the Middle East and stunned the Israeli security establishment.Zubeidi once led the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. After the second intifada in 2006, he co-founded a theater in his hometown of Jenin refugee camp, a hotbed of Palestinian militancy, to promote what he described as cultural resistance to Israel. Even today, the Freedom Theater puts on everything from Shakespeare to stand-up comedy to plays written by residents.In 2019, after Zubeidi had already served years in prison for attacks in the early 2000s, Israel arrested him again over his alleged involvement in shooting attacks that targeted buses of Israeli settlers but caused no injuries.Zubeidi, who was released Thursday into the West Bank, had been awaiting trial in prison. He denies the charges, saying that he gave up militancy to focus on his political activism after the intifada.In 2021, he and five other prisoners tunneled out of a maximum-security prison in northern Israel, an escape that helped solidify Zubeidis image among Palestinians as a folk hero. All six were recaptured days later.Mohammed Abu WardaA Hamas militant during the second intifada, Abu Warda helped organize a series of suicide bombings that killed over 40 people and wounded more than a hundred others. Israel arrested him in 2002, and sentenced him to 48 terms of lifetime imprisonment, among the longest sentences it ever issued. As a young student, Abu Warda joined Hamas at the start of the intifada following Israels killing of Yahya Ayyash, the militant groups leading bomb maker, in 1996. Palestinian authorities said at the time that Warda had helped to recruit suicide bombers including his cousin, his cousins neighbor and a classmate at the Ramallah Teachers College whose attacks targeting crowded civilian areas in Israeli cities killed scores of people in the early 2000s. Warda was released and deported on Thursday. Mohammed Aradeh, 42An activist in Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Aradeh was sentenced to life in prison for a range of offenses going back to the second intifada. Some of the charges, according to the Israeli Prison Service, included planting an explosive device and attempting murder.He was credited with plotting the extraordinary prison escape in 2021, when he and five other detainees, including Zubeidi, used spoons to tunnel out one of Israels most secure prisons. They remained at large for days before being caught.From an impoverished and politically active family in Jenin, in the northern occupied West Bank, Aradeh has three brothers and a sister who have all spent years in Israeli prisons.He was welcomed as a sort of cult hero in Ramallah on Jan. 25 as family, friends and fans swarmed him, some chanting The freedom tunnel! in reference to his jailbreak. Mohammed Odeh, 52, Wael Qassim, 54, and Wissam Abbasi, 48All three men hail from the neighborhood of Silwan, in east Jerusalem, and rose within the ranks of Hamas. Held responsible for a string of deadly attacks during the second intifada, the men were sentenced to multiple life sentences in 2002. They were accused of plotting a suicide bombing at a crowded pool hall near Tel Aviv in 2002 that killed 15 people. Later that year, they were found to have orchestrated a bombing at Hebrew University that killed nine people, including five American students. Israel had described Odeh, who was working as a painter at the university at the time, as the kingpin in the attack.All three were transferred to Egypt on Jan. 25. Their families live in Jerusalem and said they will join them in exile.The Abu Hamid brothers Three brothers from the prominent Abu Hamid family of the Al-Amari refugee camp in Ramallah Nasser, 51, Mohammad, 44, and Sharif, 48 were also deported to Egypt on Jan. 25. They had been sentenced to life in prison over deadly militant attacks against Israelis in 2002. Their brother, a different Nasser Abu Hamid, was one of the founders of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. He was also sentenced to life in prison for several deadly attacks. His 2022 death from lung cancer behind bars unleashed a wave of angry protests across the West Bank as Palestinian officials accused Israel of medical neglect.The family has a long arc of Palestinian militancy. The mother, Latifa Abu Hamid, 72, now has three sons exiled, one still imprisoned, one who died in prison and one who was killed by Israeli forces. Their family house has been demolished at least three times by Israel, which defends such punitive home demolitions as a deterrent against future attacks.Mohammad al-Tous, 67Al-Tous had held the title of longest continuous Israeli imprisonment until his release last Saturday, Palestinian authorities said. First arrested in 1985 while fighting Israeli forces along the Jordanian border, the activist in the Fatah party spent a total of 39 years behind bars. Originally from the West Bank city of Bethlehem, he was among the prisoners exiled on Jan. 25. ISABEL DEBRE DeBre writes about Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay for The Associated Press, based in Buenos Aires. Before moving to South America in 2024, she covered the Middle East reporting from Jerusalem, Cairo and Dubai. twitter mailto

This is a locator map for Sudan with its capital, Khartoum. (AP Photo)2025-02-01T14:26:45Z CAIRO (AP) Sudans health authorities say a notorious paramilitary group fighting against the countrys military has attacked an open market in the city of Omdurman, killing 54 people.Saturdays attack by the Rapid Support Forces on the Sabrein Market also wounded at least 158 others, the Health Ministry said in a statement.There was no immediate comment from the RSF.Khalid al-Aleisir, minister of culture and government spokesperson, condemned the attack, saying that the casualties included many women and children. He also said the attack caused widespread destruction to private and public properties.This criminal act adds to the bloody record of this militia, he said in a statement. It constitutes a blatant violation of international humanitarian law.The conflict in Sudan started in April 2023 when simmering tensions between the leaders of the military and the RSF exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and other cities across the sprawling northeastern African country. The conflict has killed more than 28,000 people, has forced millions to flee their homes and has left some families eating grass in a desperate attempt to survive as famine sweeps parts of the country.It has been marked by gross atrocities including ethnically motivated killing and rape, according the United Nations and rights groups. The International Criminal Court said it was investigating alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra, speaks from the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex in Washington, April 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)2025-02-01T15:02:01Z PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) President Donald Trump has fired the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Rohit Chopra, in the latest purge of a Biden administration holdover.Chopra was one of the more important regulators from the previous Democratic administration who was still on the job since Trump took office on Jan. 20.During Trumps first term, the Republican had picked Chopra as a Democrat member of the Federal Trade Commission. Chopra was notified of his firing in an email from the White House, according to a person familiar with the notice who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.Chopra is an ally of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, one of Trumps favorite targets, and the Massachusetts Democrat said in a statement that the agency under Chopra held Wall Street accountable for cheating hard-working families and prevented the de-banking of Americans across the country, including consumers locked out of the financial system due to overdraft fees, religious organizations, and conservatives.Under the law, Chopra was to serve a five-year term, which meant he could have stayed on as the CFPB director. But he had publicly stated that he would leave his post if the new president asked. JOSH BOAK Boak covers the White House and economic policy for The Associated Press. He joined the AP in 2013. twitter mailto

Qatar's prime minister and foreign minster Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani attend sa meeting of Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Khaled Elfiqi)2025-02-01T12:53:51Z CAIRO (AP) Powerful Arab nations on Saturday rejected U.S. President Donald Trumps suggestion to relocate Palestinians from Gaza to neighboring Egypt and Jordan.Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, the Palestinian Authority and the Arab League released a joint statement rejecting any plans to move Palestinians out of their territories in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.Trump floated the idea last month, saying he would urge the leaders of Jordan and Egypt to take in Gazas now largely homeless population, so that we just clean out that whole thing. He added that resettling most of Gazas population of 2.3 million could be temporary or long term. Some Israel officials had raised the transfer idea early in the war.Its literally a demolition site right now, Trump said, referring to the vast destruction caused by Israels 15-month war with Hamas, now paused by a fragile ceasefire. The Arab statement warned that such plans threaten the regions stability, risk expanding the conflict, and undermine prospects for peace and coexistence among its peoples.The statement followed a meeting in Cairo of top diplomats from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, as well as Hussein al-Sheikh, a senior Palestinian official who serves as the main liaison with Israel, and Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul-Gheit. They said they were looking forward to working with the Trump administration to achieve a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East, based on the two-state solution, according to the statement. They called for the international community to help plan and implement a comprehensive reconstruction plan for Gaza to ensure that Palestinians stay on their land.Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi rejected Trumps suggestion in a news conference last week, saying that he transfer of Palestinians cant ever be tolerated or allowed. The solution to this issue is the two-state solution. It is the establishment of a Palestinian state, he said. The solution is not to remove the Palestinian people from their place. No.Jordans Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi also said that his countrys opposition to Trumps idea was firm and unwavering.Egypt and Jordan, along with the Palestinians, worry that Israel would never allow them to return to Gaza once they have left. Egypt and Jordan also fear the impact any such influx of refugees would have on their struggling economies as well as the stability of their governments. Jordan already is home to more than 2 million Palestinians. Egypt has warned of security implications of transferring large numbers of Palestinians to Egypts Sinai Peninsula, bordering Gaza.Both countries were the first to make peace with Israel but they support the creation of a Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories that Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War.___Follow APs war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war