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

Elon Musks DOGE, the newly formed government agency aiming for drastic cuts across the U.S. government, has brought in an HR employment attorney and consultant who has spent the last few years teaching companies her refreshing approach to diversity and inclusion which include attempting to redefine DEI in a manner that she says is more consistent with Christianity and offers a non-woke version of HR practices, 404 Media has learned.Stephanie Holmes is in charge of HR at DOGE, two people familiar told 404 Media. Holmes is one of many new faces at the agency, which has been rebranded from the United States Digital Service to United States DOGE Service. DOGE, which stands for the Department of Government Efficiency, has also brought in a series of employees from Musks other companies and asked government tech workers to show Musks aides their code. DOGE higher ups re-interviewed every existing employee of the US Digital Service immediately following Musks takeover.A 404 Media review of Holmes previous speaking engagements, which touch on her perception of diversity and maintaining company culture, provide insight into what might be in store for DOGE and the federal government at large. Holmes association with DOGE has not been previously reported.Holmes is the founder of an HR consulting firm called BrightSideHR and the author of a document called the True Diversity Toolkit, published through the conservative Philanthropy Roundtable think tank that recommends employers define DEI as diversity of thought or diversity of viewpoint rather than through a lens of critical race theory. Holmes has spoken about her approach to diversity at the Federalist Society, Catholic University, and the conservative Catholic organization Napa Institutes Principled Entrepreneurship conference, which has become a hotspot of conservative political organizing power.Do you know anything else about this story? We would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message Jason securely on Signal at +1 202 505 1702. You can reach Joseph securely on Signal at +44 20 8133 5190.Holmes told an audience at a Federalist Society event that she started BrightSideHR to counter progressive ideology in corporate America.Working in the HR space and seeing the DEI efforts and progressive ideology that HR was pushing into corporate America was particularly concerning to me, and I didnt see any other alternatives for employers in the HR space. I care a lot about these issues and saw a problem I wanted to help fix, she said. I left my job and started BrighterSideHR, an HR consulting company to offer an alternative kind of more values aligned space for employers.I do workplace training, discrimination, harassment training, how to do workplace investigations, she added. Its simply just a non-woke version, offering employers an alternative approach to diversity and inclusion.The BrightSideHR website shut down in recent weeks, and now says it is no longer active. An archived version of the site says We focus on employee conduct at the workplace as opposed to imposing a particular ideological viewpoint.At the Napa Institutes conference panel on Practical Steps for Dealing with DEI, Holmes sat on a panel with former Trump administration official and current Heritage Foundation fellow Roger Severino. A moderator introduced the panel by saying were here to discuss diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, or as I like to put it, DIE. Many of us are quite aware of diversity, equity, and inclusion and how it has its roots really going back to Marxism.Holmes said on the panel that the mainstream kind of leftist approach to DEI presents us with a lot to push back against.It is really inconsistent with our faith and I also think that this presents us with an opportunity to not only say why were against this, why were opposed to mainstream DEI initiatives, but its important for us to be part of the conservation and to use it to say what we are for and why we have a positive vision and positive solution of DEI in a way that is consistent with our values, she said.Image: Screenshot from Philanthropy Roundtable YouTube channel.She said she advises employers to move away from defining diversity exclusively focused on employees race, sex, or other protected category, and to instead focus on bringing together employees with diverse backgrounds, viewpoints, perspectives, and beliefs to achieve common workplace goals. She said employers need to also be reframing the term inclusion to incorporate that in a way thats more aligned with our faith.When asked whether any of the panelists knew of a DEI program that incorporates Catholic values, the Heritage Foundations Severino said dont use that word DEI ever again in a positive light. That phrase should be deemed toxic now. Holmes said, however, that she has taught companies that they probably need to continue using the term because employees have asked for there to be a consideration of diversity at work.Larger companies must balance how to kind of umm, play the game essentially. So I oftentimes use the term diversity and inclusion. I do use the term equality instead of equity because I think thats particularly problematic, but I also understand that sometimes its just not politically feasible within a company to fully implement different terms, she said. I sometimes use those terms generally speaking because its just too politically, too much of a political hot potato to do otherwise.The United States Digital Service did not respond to a request for comment.

Singer Rihanna leaves Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Liam McEwan)2025-02-01T16:43:46Z LOS ANGELES (AP) The trial of rapper A$AP Rocky is progressing according to standard legal procedure, but there have been no lack of unusual moments, from visits from Rihanna to a tough-but-quirky judge and lawyers nearly coming to blows.Testimony is expected to last another week before jurors will decide Rockys fate on two counts of assault with a semi-automatic firearm. A conviction could lead to up to 24 years in prison for the hip-hop star.Here are some of the out-of-the-ordinary moments from the first two weeks of the trial, most not captured by the cameras in the courtroom. Waiting for RihannaFrom the moment it became clear the case was going to trial, nearly everyone involved was asking the same thing: What about Rihanna?Editors asked it of reporters, who asked it of lawyers. Even Judge Mark Arnold asked it months ago at a hearing: Will the mother of his children be there?Her name came up constantly during jury selection, when prospective panelists were asked whether her attendance would affect their judgment.Yet when the singing superstar finally did show up, she was easy to miss.She didnt appear through the first week, but rumors abounded Wednesday that she might appear, on a short court day with important testimony. Yet there was no sign of her outside or in the halls. (Unlike a nearby civil courthouse, where celebrities like Britney Spears and the Kardashians are smuggled in, Rocky and other defendants must use public entrances and many thought shed accompany him.) When the media were allowed in the courtroom, many reporters walked past her without noticing she was already sitting inconspicuously between Rockys mother and sister. She had been brought in through restricted entrances. She could barely be seen from the media section, and the camera capturing the trial is not allowed to shoot the audience. Her presence caused a quiet stir once the audience realized it, though its not clear if the jurors had noticed her. She appeared again the next day, and it soon felt almost unexceptional that she was there. By Friday, she slipped in about 30 minutes into testimony after coming through a public entrance.Later that day she entered the courtroom together with Rocky for the first time, down a hallway full of jurors from his and other cases that was abuzz. Attorneys in the octagon Court observers knew that when Deputy District Attorney John Lewin joined the prosecution shortly before trial, that he and Rockys equally bullish and vocal attorney, Joe Tacopina, were sure to butt heads. They werent wrong. Lewin, a dogged prosecutor, is best known for his successful murder prosecution of real estate heir Robert Durst. Tacopina is a New York attorney and frequent TV commentator whose clients have included President Donald Trump. Defense attorney Joe Tacopina. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via AP, Pool) Defense attorney Joe Tacopina. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via AP, Pool) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Their shouting matches began quickly. Soon, without judge or jury present, the two had to be separated by a fellow lawyer when they went nose-to-nose in a faceoff that looked like it might become a fistfight.Mr. Tacopina started literally screaming at me in the courtroom. He basically appeared to challenge me to a fight, Lewin told the judge later. Tacopina responded. No one screamed. You werent there your honor. Mr. Lewin comes up with his little scolding, bullying attitude.Arnold, a former sheriffs deputy, forbade the two from talking to each other except on the record.Moments later, he said a UFC fight might be warranted. Maybe we should get an octagon.Arnold wasnt wrong either. An even more fierce fight broke out between the two men in front of the judge but off camera a few days later as they argued over evidence. Lewin shouted that the defense assertion Rocky was carrying a prop gun was garbage. Oh?! Oh?! Tacopina yelled. Well see what the jury says at the end! The argument grew more out of control and turned to personal insults.You dont know me! But you will learn! Tacopina yelled. The judge, disgusted, refused to keep playing referee.Thats it, were off the record, he said, and walked out. The quirks of the key witness The testimony of A$AP Relli, Rockys accuser, was dark and difficult but brought a couple of oddly light moments.At one point, Deputy District Attorney Paul Przelomiec asked him how far away Rocky was at a certain moment.About three or four skips, Relli said.Ive never heard about anyone estimating with skips, Przelomiec said.Wait, what does a skip mean? the judge asked.You dont know what I mean? Relli asked.They determined for the record that it was about 7 to 8 feet. Judge Mark S. Arnold (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via AP, Pool) Judge Mark S. Arnold (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via AP, Pool) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Arnolds long-for-a-judge hair and rugged, bushy mustache evoke a biker, or a cowboy. His nameplate on the bench is a carved wooden log. Relli let him know he liked his style.As he testified, Arnold told him he clearly had to say yes or no for the court reporter. Relli said sorry, he was nervous, then looking at the judge said, I like your bracelet. What? Arnold said.Relli pointed at the silver wristband on the judges right arm. Your bracelet.Oh, the judge said. Thank you. A$APs mother and sister at the trialRockys mother, Renee Black, and his sister, Erika Mayers, garnered their own share of attention even before Rihanna sat between them.The first day they appeared, Arnold asked Rocky who the women in his section were.Thats my mother and my sister, Rocky said. The judges marveled at Blacks youthful appearance. What were you, 7 when you had him? the judge asked. She said she was 26.You are very beautiful, the judge told her. Thats on the record.Later, Lewin politely approached the women and talked to them during a break. He said of Rocky, I just hope hes evaluating everything in a reference to the deal Rocky turned down a recommendation of 180 days in jail and other relatively minor punishments for a guilty plea on one count.Tacopina angrily brought it up to the judge later, and Lewin explained himself.I walked up very kindly to the defendants mother and sister. I said I am very sorry you have to go through this. I hope that your brother and your son, hes really evaluated what hes risking here. The phantom photographerDuring jury selection, when the room was packed with tired and seemingly bored potential jurors being questioned one after another, a woman gave everyone a start when she suddenly shouted, Theres a woman taking a picture in that corner!She pointed to a door with a small window behind the judge, who pounced into action, his robe flying. He and his clerk opened the door and hurried down the hall behind it, but found no one. The woman swore she saw someone and tried to justify herself, but Arnold cut her off.You did the right thing! Arnold said. You done good!They kept the window covered after that. ANDREW DALTON Dalton covers entertainment for The Associated Press, with an emphasis on crime, courts and obituaries. He has worked for the AP for 20 years and is based in Los Angeles. mailto

President Donald Trump speaks as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)2025-02-01T14:14:28Z PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) New trade penalties against Canada, Mexico and China that President Donald Trump plans to impose Saturday represent an aggressive early move against Americas three largest trading partners, but at the risk of higher inflation and possible disruptions to the global economy.In Trumps view, the 25% tariffs against the two North American allies and a 10% tax on imports from Washingtons chief economic rival are a way for the United States to throw around its financial heft to reshape the world. You see the power of the tariff, Trump told reporters Friday. Nobody can compete with us because we have by far the biggest piggy bank.The Republican president is making a major political bet that his actions will not worsen inflation, cause financial aftershocks that could destabilize the worldwide economy or provoke a voter backlash. AP VoteCast, an extensive survey of the electorate in last years election, found that the U.S. was split on support for tariffs. It is possible that the tariffs could be short-lived if Canada and Mexico can reach a deal with Trump to more aggressively address illegal immigration and fentanyl smuggling. Trumps move against China is also tied to fentanyl and comes on top of existing import taxes. Trump is honoring promises he made in the 2024 White House campaign that are at the core of his economic and national security philosophy, though Trump allies had played down the threat of higher import taxes as mere negotiating tactics. The president is preparing more import taxes in a sign that tariffs will be an ongoing part of his second term. On Friday, he mentioned imported computer chips, steel, oil and natural gas, as well as against copper, pharmaceutical drugs and imports from the European Union moves that could essentially pit the U.S. against much of the global economy. Trumps intentions drew a swift response from financial markets, with the S&P 500 stock index slumping after his announcement Friday.It is unclear how the tariffs could affect the business investments that Trump said would happen because of his plans to cut corporate tax rates and remove regulations. Tariffs tend to raise prices for consumers and businesses by making it more expensive to bring in foreign goods.Many voters turned to Trump in the November election on the belief that he could better handle the inflation that spiked under Democratic President Joe Biden. But inflation expectations are creeping upward in the University of Michigans index of consumer sentiment as respondents expect prices to rise by 3.3%. That would be higher than the actual 2.9% annual inflation rate in Decembers consumer price index.Trump has said that the government should raise more of its revenues from tariffs, as it did before the income tax became part of the Constitution in 1913. He claims, despite economic evidence to the contrary, that the U.S. was at its wealthiest in the 1890s under President William McKinley.We were the richest country in the world, Trump said Friday. We were a tariff country. Trump, who has aspired to remake America by using McKinleys model, is conducting a real-time experiment that the economists who warn tariffs lead to higher prices are wrong. While the tariffs in his first term did not meaningfully increase overall inflation, he is now looking at tariffs on a much grander scale that could push up prices if theyre enduring policies.Trump has fondly called McKinley, an Ohioan elected president in 1896 and 1900, the tariff sheriff.Brad Setser, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, noted on the social media site X that the tariffs if sustained, would be a massive shock a much bigger move in one weekend than all the trade action that Trump took in his first term.Setser noted that the tariffs on China without exemptions could raise the price of iPhones, which would test just how much power corporate America has with Trump. Apples CEO Tim Cook attended Trumps inauguration last month. Recent research on Trumps various tariff options by a team of economists suggested the trade penalties would be drags on growth in Canada, Mexico, China and the U.S. But Wending Zhang, a Cornell University economist who worked on the research, said the fallout would be felt more in Canada and Mexico because of their reliance on the U.S. market.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Canadians that they could be facing difficult times ahead, but that Ottawa was prepared to respond with retaliatory tariffs if needed and that the U.S. penalties would be self-sabotaging.Trudeau said Canada is addressing Trumps calls on border security by implementing a CDN$1.3 billion (US$90 million) border plan that includes helicopters, new canine teams and imaging tools.Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum has stressed that her country has acted to reduce illegal border crossings and the illicit trade in fentanyl. While she has emphasized the ongoing dialogue since Trump first floated the tariffs in November, she has said that Mexico is ready to respond, too. Mexico has a Plan A, Plan B, Plan C for what the United States government decides, she said.Trump still has to get a budget, tax cuts and increase to the governments legal borrowing authority through Congress. The outcome of his tariff plans could strengthen his hand or weaken it.Democrats are sponsoring legislation that would strip the president of his ability to impose tariffs without congressional approval. But that is unlikely to make headway in a Republican-controlled House and Senate.If this weekends tariffs go into effect, theyll do catastrophic damage to our relationships with our allies and raise costs for working families by hundreds of dollars a year, said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del. Congress needs to stop this from happening again. JOSH BOAK Boak covers the White House and economic policy for The Associated Press. He joined the AP in 2013. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks after being sworn in by Vice President JD Vance in the Vice Presidential Ceremonial Office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)2025-02-01T05:02:40Z WASHINGTON (AP) Secretary of State Marco Rubio embarks this weekend on his first foreign trip in office, heading to Central America to press President Donald Trumps top priority curbing illegal immigration and bring the message that the U.S. wants to reclaim control over the Panama Canal despite intense resistance from regional leaders.Its an unusual destination for the maiden voyage of Americas top diplomat, whose predecessors have generally favored Europe or Asia for their initial outings. It reflects not only the personal interest that Rubio the first Hispanic to hold the nations most senior Cabinet post has in the region but also the Trump administrations intent to focus much of its foreign policy energy close to home. Its no accident that my first trip abroad as secretary of state will keep me in the hemisphere, Rubio wrote in The Wall Street Journal on Friday. Limiting immigration and fighting narcotics smuggling are major elements of that effort, but another key priority will be curbing Chinas growing influence in the Western Hemisphere, topped by reasserting U.S. control over the Panama Canal. The American-built canal was turned over to the Panamanians in 1999 and they object strongly to Trumps demand to hand it back. Mass migration, drugs and hostile policies pursued by Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela have wreaked havoc, Rubio said in the Journal opinion piece. All the while, the Chinese Communist Party uses diplomatic and economic leverage such as at the Panama Canal to oppose the U.S. and turn sovereign nations into vassal states. Indeed, Rubios first stop on the five-nation tour Saturday will be Panama, whose president, Jos Ral Mulino, says there will be no negotiation with the United States over ownership of the canal. He said he hoped Rubios visit would instead focus on shared interests like migration and combating drug trafficking. Its impossible, I cant negotiate, Mulino said Thursday. The canal belongs to Panama.Yet Rubio said he will make clear Trumps intent. In an interview Thursday with SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly, he said Trumps desire to retake control of the Panama Canal is driven by legitimate national security interests stemming from growing concerns about Chinese activity and influence in Latin America.Were going to address that topic, he said. The presidents been pretty clear he wants to administer the canal again. Obviously, the Panamanians are not big fans of that idea. That message has been brought very clear.Chinese investments in ports and other infrastructure and facilities at both the Pacific and Caribbean ends of the canal are a cause for major concern, leaving Panama and the critical shipping route vulnerable to China, he said.Rubio added that if China wanted to obstruct traffic in the Panama Canal, they could, and that would be a violation of the 1977 treaty signed by former President Jimmy Carter under which the U.S. later ceded control.Despite Mulinos rejection of any negotiation over ownership, some believe Panama may be open to a compromise under which canal operations on both sides are taken away from the Hong Kong-based Hutchison Ports company that was given a 25-year no-bid extension to run them. An audit into the suitability of that extension is already under way and could lead to a rebidding process. What is unclear is whether Trump would accept the transfer of the concession to an American or European firm as meeting his demands, which appear to cover more than just operations.In some ways, Trump is pushing on an open door, said Ryan Berg, director of the Americas program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. But it will depend on how his red lines are defined.Theres been a lot of heavy rhetoric and it will be up Rubio to clarify it, Berg said, adding that some kind of compromise was possible but well have to see if hes really serious about taking it back. If thats the case then nothing short of that will satisfy him. Rubio will arrive in Panama on Saturday for meetings the following day with Mulino and the canal administrator. He will then travel to El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic.His arrival will come just a day after the U.S. resumed visa processing at its embassy in Bogota, Colombia, which had been shut down Sunday after the Colombian government refused to accept two planeloads of Colombian deportees from the United States.Previous secretaries of state have often traveled abroad with so-called deliverables assistance packages, new cooperation initiatives and the like that they can announce at each stop. However, such as with Colombia, Rubio may only be able to bring limited relief from a U.S. freeze on foreign assistance that Trump ordered pending a review of all programs. In Latin America, such programs have generally focused on policing, counternarcotics operations and efforts to stem illegal migration. Rubio has made provisions for certain programs offering life-saving assistance to be exempted from the funding pause, and waiver applications for programs in several of the countries he will be visiting are under review.Among the countries for which waivers for certain programs have been submitted are Panama, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and its neighbor, Haiti. Although Rubio will not be traveling to Haiti, the State Department has already allowed some $41 million in support of an international peacekeeping force there to go ahead.

Steve Petersen, left, and his wife Jennifer watch as their daughter Carolynn tries to stand inside their apartment in Campbell, Calif., Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vsquez)2025-02-01T13:41:24Z The Petersen familys two-bedroom apartment in northern California is starting to feel small. Four-year-old Jerriks toy monster trucks are everywhere in the 1,100-square-foot unit in Campbell, just outside of San Jose. And its only a matter of time before 9-month-old Carolynn starts amassing more toys, adding to the disarray, says her mother, Jenn Petersen.The 42-year-old chiropractor had hoped she and her husband, Steve, a 39-year-old dental hygienist, would have bought a house by now. But when they can afford a bigger place, it will have to be another rental. Petersen has done the math: With mortgage rates and home prices stubbornly high, theres no way the couple, who make about $270,000 a year and pay about $2,500 in monthly rent, can afford a home anywhere in their area. According to October data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, a San Jose family with a median income of $156,700 would need to spend 80% of their income on housing including an $8,600 monthly mortgage payment to own a median-priced $1.54 million home. Thats far higher than the general rule of thumb that people should pay no more than 30% of their income on a mortgage or rent. Moving out of state is out of the question for the Petersens they have strong family ties to the area and their income would plummet if they move to a lower cost-of-living area. Im not willing to give up my job and close connections with my family for a house, Petersen said. The issue is widespread and near historic highs nationally: As of last fall, the median homeowner in the U.S. was paying 42% of their income on homeownership costs, according to the Atlanta Fed. Four years ago, that percentage was 28% and had not previously reached 38% since late 2007, just before the housing market crash.The American dream, as our parents knew it, doesnt exist anymore, Petersen said. The whole idea that you get a house after you graduate college, get a steady job and get married? Ive done most of those milestones. But the homeownership part? That just doesnt fit financially. First-time homeowners are getting olderThe same is true for an increasing number of American families.In 2024, the median first-time homebuyer was 38 years old, a jump from age 35 the previous year, according to a recent report by the National Association of Realtors. Thats significantly above historic norms, when median first-time buyers hovered between 30 and 32 years old from 1993 to 2018.The biggest driver of this trend, experts said, is simple: There are far too few houses on the market to match pent-up demand, driving prices past the point of affordability for many people who are relatively early in their careers. Coupled with high mortgage rates, many have concluded that renting is their only option.Wage growth hasnt kept up with the increase in home prices and interest rates, said Domonic Purviance, who studies housing at the Atlanta Fed. Even though people are making more money, home prices are increasing at a faster rate.That gap has left many out of the housing market, which for generations has been a way for Americans to build equity and wealth that they can pass down or leverage to buy a larger home. Its also led to widespread worries about housing in the U.S. About 7 in 10 voters under age 45 said they were very concerned about the cost of housing in their community, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters in the 2024 election. Is the dream of homeownership going to fade?Brian McCabe, a sociology professor at Georgetown University, said he frequently tells his students that there are few things that all Americans agree on, but one of them is that theyd rather own a home than rent.McCabe said homeownership, especially as a wealth-building tool, is the right move for many, especially if the owner intends to be in one place for a long time. But he also said many are realizing that not owning a home has its advantages, too it gives people more flexibility to move and allows them to live in exciting neighborhoods they would not be able to afford to buy property in. McCabe said millennials are getting married later, having children later, have a stronger desire to stay in cities and, especially due to remote work, value the flexibility of being able to move with ease all of which he said could prompt an end to the notion that homeownership is the apex of the American dream.The big question is whether we see the sheen of homeownership start to fade, McCabe said. Its such an interesting cultural marker: Why is owning a home the pinnacle for so many people?Its a question Petersen wrestles with because she knows any three-bedroom home she found in her area would leave her family house poor.I used to subscribe to the idea that owning a house is just a natural milestone you have to reach, she said. At some point, though, what are you sacrificing by just owning a house and gaining equity? I want to be able to travel with my kids. I want to be able to sign them up for extracurriculars. How are we supposed to do that if were paying a mortgage thats most of our take-home pay? Petersen said shell always hold out a little bit of hope that homeownership will be in her familys future. But if they find a townhouse to rent that has space for her kids and fits within their $3,600 monthly rental budget?Id take that, she said.Some cities are providing crucial aid to first-time homebuyersLifelong Boston resident Julieta Lopez, 63, spent decades hoping to buy a home but watched as prices became increasingly out of reach.The prices in Boston just got higher and higher and higher and higher, said Lopez, who works for the city traffic department issuing tickets for parking violations.Two years ago, furious to learn that her subsidized apartments monthly rent was being hiked to $2,900, Lopez, who earns about $60,000 annually, took out her phone and began searching for government programs that help first-time homebuyers. She was determined to finally own her own place.Within months, she had succeeded. Lopez qualified to receive $50,000 from the local Massachusetts Affordable Homeownership Alliance nonprofit and another $50,000 from the city of Bostons Office of Housing funds that helped her with a down payment on the $430,000 two-bedroom condominium she shares with her 30-year-old son. She now pays about $2,160 a month on her mortgage.Lopez knows she is lucky the city has placed such a focus on aiding first-time buyers like herself Boston has poured more than $24 million into its homeownership assistance programs since Mayor Michelle Wu took office in 2021, helping nearly 700 residents get their first homes. But Lopez also feels proud to have her own place after years of working so hard jobs that included everything from telecommunications to health care to electronics.I was determined to have my piece of the pie, she said. I felt I deserved that. Ive always worked. Always. Nonstop. R.J. RICO Rico is a U.S. Desk editor and reporter based in Atlanta for The Associated Press. He has covered housing, immigration and activism in the South. twitter mailto

U.S. Marines install barbed wire along the border fence Friday, Jan. 31, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)2025-02-01T18:42:02Z SAN DIEGO (AP) Dozens of Marines unfurled coils of concertina wire one on the ground and one slightly above making it more difficult to climb a border wall separating Tijuana from San Diego. They worked with speed and efficiency amid a weekend rush of cars nearby at the busiest border crossing between the U.S. and Mexico.Fortifying barriers has long been a military task on border missions that date back to the administration of George W. Bush. But President Donald Trump has hinted strongly at the unprecedented use of the armed forces to repel what he calls a disastrous invasion. Until now, the military has limited itself to a supporting role at the border surveilling for illegal crossings by ground and air, repairing vehicles, building barriers adhering to the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 to keep the armed forces away from civilian law enforcement. The Associated Press toured the border in San Diego with Marines and saw a military operating similar to past missions. But some scholars and advisers close to Trump argue there are legal grounds to summon the military to combat narcotics and mass migration. Trumps declaration of a national emergency at the southern border indicates he may redirect money, as he did during his first term, to get billions of dollars for border wall construction. His inaugural day orders raise the possibility of invoking wartime powers, including the Insurrection Act of 1807, allowing him to deploy active-duty troops to suppress a rebellion. He gave Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem 90 days to deliver recommendations. The Insurrection Act is just all-purpose. The regular military can do anything on U.S. soil, said Adam Isacson, who follows the role of military at the Washington Office on Latin America, a research and advocacy organization. Trump has already broken from predecessors. While the military has housed migrants at times, its deportation flights to Guatemala, Ecuador and Colombia mark a departure from previous administrations. Trump said he would use a detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to hold tens of thousands of the worst criminal aliens, though it hasnt happened yet. There is a sense among Border Patrol agents and others that there is more to come. Isacson believes the administration may see a model in Texas Gov. Greg Abbotts Operation Lone Star, which thrust the states National Guard into a central role in border enforcement.The Defense Department deployed 1,600 active-duty troops to the border during Trumps first week in office. U.S. officials said Friday that they are preparing to deploy at least 1,000 more in Trumps immigration crackdown, about half to the border and half to Guantanamo Bay.So far, the military has maintained low visibility in San Diego. The Marines laid concertina wire Friday at the bottom of an 18-foot-high (5.5-meter-high) border wall that already had wire on top. Migrants who manage to get over or through the wire face a second, 30-foot-high (9.1-meter-high) wall. A tour in Osprey military transport aircraft, which have been used to bring concertina to Brown Field Municipal Airport in San Diego, showed Border Patrol vehicles staged at various lookouts. They stretched about 70 miles (112 kilometers) from the Pacific Ocean through boulder-strewn ranches east of San Diego and a treacherous mountain range where few migrants cross.Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks said Thursday that arrests for illegal crossings averaged 654 a day over the previous week, down from a daily average of 1,527 in December.San Diego has been the busiest corridor for illegal crossings over much of the last year. Arrests averaged 222 a day in a seven-day period through Jan. 25, down from 237 the previous week.

Officials gather at the end of runway 33 near the wreckage site in the Potomac River of a mid-air collision between an American Airlines jet and a Black Hawk helicopter at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)2025-02-01T17:30:27Z ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) Recovery crews and divers searched the Potomac River for remains and cleared wreckage Saturday from the midair collision of a passenger jet and Army helicopter that killed 67 people.A Coast Guard cutter outfitted with a crane waited by the wreckage as occasional recovery team members slipped into the water amid a group of smaller emergency boats. No one survived the Wednesday night collision. The remains of 41 people had been pulled from the river as of Friday afternoon, including 28 that had been positively identified, investigators said. They expect to recover all of the remains, though the wreckage of the planes fuselage will probably have to be pulled from the water to get all the bodies, Washington, D.C., Fire Chief John Donnelly Sr. told reporters.The collision occurred as an American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas carrying 64 passengers was preparing to land at Ronald Reagan National Airport, just across the Potomac from the nations capital, and hit an Army Black Hawk helicopter that apparently flew into the jets path. The helicopter had three soldiers on board. Army officials have said the helicopter crew was highly experienced, and familiar with the congested skies around the city. Military aircraft frequently make such flights to practice routes they would use if key government officials need to be evacuated during an attack or major catastrophe. The National Transportation Safety Board is scheduled to update reporters on Saturday evening. Investigators are examining the actions of the military pilot and air traffic control. Full NTSB investigations typically take at least a year, though investigators hope to have a preliminary report within 30 days.Other possible factors in the crash, including the helicopters altitude and whether the crew was using night vision goggles, are still under investigation, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News Channel. Black boxes have been recovered from both aircraft. More than 300 responders were taking part in the recovery effort at a given time, officials said. This is heartbreaking work, Donnelly told reporters Friday. Its been a tough response for a lot of our people. The Federal Aviation Administration heavily restricted helicopter traffic around the airport on Friday, hours after President Donald Trump claimed in a social media post that the helicopter had been flying higher than allowed.NTSB member Todd Inman told reporters Friday that investigators had interviewed at least one air traffic controller who was working when the crash happened. He said interviews were ongoing and that it was unclear how many controllers were on duty at the time.Investigators will also examine staffing levels, training, hiring and other factors, in addition to looking at controllers records.The FAA has long struggled with a shortage of air traffic controllers. Officials say the helicopters maximum allowed altitude at the time was 200 feet (about 60 meters), though they have not said whether it had exceeded that limit. But on Friday, one day after he questioned the helicopter pilots actions and blamed diversity initiatives for undermining air safety, Trump said the helicopter was flying too high. It was far above the 200 foot limit. Thats not really too complicated to understand, is it??? Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.Wednesdays crash was the deadliest in the U.S. since Nov. 12, 2001, when a jet slammed into a residential neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens, just after takeoff from Kennedy Airport. The crash killed all 260 people on board and five people on the ground.Experts regularly highlight that plane travel is overwhelmingly safe, but the crowded airspace around Reagan National can challenge even the most experienced pilots.

An order of "boneless chicken wings" is shown at a restaurant in Willow Grove, Pa., Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. With the Super Bowl at hand, behold the cheerful untruth that has been perpetrated upon (and generally with the blessing of) the chicken-consuming citizens of the United States on menus across the land: a boneless wing that isnt a wing at all. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)2025-02-01T17:28:42Z The good news? The cost of hosting a Super Bowl party is expected to barely budge this year, with an average increase of about 10 cents from the previous year. The bad news? Consumers might have to use some fancy footwork to ensure their dollars get further down the field.Economists with the Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute found a surprising spread in prices for popular game-day ingredients and prepared foods so finding a balance between more expensive items and those that have dropped in price can help keep the budget from running out of bounds. Theyve pegged the price for a Super Bowl party menu for 10 people at around $139 this year, just 0.1% more than last year. While inflation and shrinkflation have been grocery store buzzwords for a while now, coming up with a winning game plan to keep party guests happy could become even more of a challenge as the Trump administration looks for opportunities to impose more tariffs. With no overarching, easily understood theme to explain everything, the Wells Fargo economists say party planners must become food fluent to successfully navigate price fluctuations. A review of data from NielsenIQ, which tracks food scanned at retailers across the U.S., shows that celery and broccoli are the best veggies for dipping this year, as both have seen price decreases. Potato chips, frozen shrimp and cauliflower also have seen decreases. Salsa and nacho cheese prices are holding steady, but it can get complicated if guacamole dip is on the menu.Fresh avocados have jumped by 11.5% compared to last year, but prepared guacamole dip increased by only 1.5%. So making guacamole from scratch can still save money despite the hike in avocado prices. This scenario, the experts say, underscores the broader trend of price variability within categories.Overall, the review found the total cost of chips and guacamole is just two cents higher than last year. On the beverage front, beer and wine have seen only 2% increases.Chicken wings continue to be a favorite, but they come at a premium this year. Theyre up by more than 7%, an increase that reflects not just inflation but also a sustained consumer demand that supports higher prices. On the bright side, retail prices for whole frozen shrimp have decreased by 4%. This is due to increased supply from shrimp-exporting countries and a subsequent softening in demand following price spikes around the coronavirus pandemic. While shrimp is two and half times more expensive per pound than chicken wings, shrimp might be the Hail Mary for reaching those protein goals.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)2025-02-01T17:57:05Z WASHINGTON (AP) The U.S. military has conducted coordinated airstrikes against Islamic State operatives in Somalia, the first attacks in the African nation during President Donald Trumps second term.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Saturday that the strikes by U.S. Africa Command were directed by Trump and coordinated with Somalias government.An initial assessment by the Pentagon indicated that multiple operatives were killed. The Pentagon said it assessed that no civilians were harmed in the strikes.Trump, in a post on social media, said a senior IS planner and recruits were targeted in the operation.The strikes destroyed the caves they live in, and killed many terrorists without, in any way, harming civilians. Our Military has targeted this ISIS Attack Planner for years, but Biden and his cronies wouldnt act quickly enough to get the job done. I did! Trump said. The message to ISIS and all others who would attack Americans is that WE WILL FIND YOU, AND WE WILL KILL YOU! Trump did not identify the IS planner or say whether that person was killed in the strike. White House officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Pentagons counterterrorism strategy in Africa has been strained as two key partners, Chad and Niger, ousted U.S. forces last year and took over key bases that the U.S. military had used to train and conduct missions against terrorist groups across the Sahel, the vast arid expanse south of the Sahara Desert. U.S. military officials have warned that IS cells have received increasing direction from the groups leadership that relocated to northern Somalia. That has included how to kidnap Westerners for ransom, how to learn better military tactics, how to hide from drones and how to build their own small quadcopters.A U.S. military airstrike in Somalia last May targeted IS militants and killed three, according to U.S. Africa Command. The number of IS militants in the country are estimated to be in the hundreds, mostly scattered in the Cal Miskaat mountains in Puntlands Bari region, according to the International Crisis Group.Saturdays operation followed military airstrikes on Jan. 30 in northwest Syria, killing a senior operative in Hurras al-Din, an al-Qaeda affiliate, U.S. Central Command said. 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 AAMER MADHANI Aamer Madhani is a White House reporter. twitter mailto

The air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is pictured, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025, in Arlington, Va., near the wreckage of a mid-air collision between a Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines jet in the Potomac River. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)2025-01-31T23:47:31Z Just a day before a deadly midair collision at Reagan National Airport outside Washington, D.C., employees at the Federal Aviation Administration were sent an offer to resign with eight months pay.The union for air traffic controllers recommended to its members that they not accept Tuesdays offer, because the FAA had not decided which positions would be included in the resignation plan. An official for the Office for Personnel Management, the U.S. governments human resources arm, said Friday that controllers werent eligible for the resignation plan or subject to the hiring freeze across much of the rest of federal government. The crash Wednesday that killed all 67 people on board an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter has renewed focus on the real-world implications of President Donald Trumps push to slash the federal bureaucracy. Theres no evidence that the White House effort to downsize government played any role in the collision, with shortages of air traffic controllers long predating Trump taking office. But those whove worked in air safety say that those who try to dramatically shake up the federal workforce need to remember that lives are on the line. It concerns me that there are people who dont want to reform or restructure institutions, they want to destroy institutions, said James Hall, who was head of the National Transportation Safety Board under President Bill Clinton, a Democrat. The American people enjoy the safest aviation system in the world. I dont doubt there should be changes in government, but someone should remember the old adage to look before you leap. On Thursday, as the investigation into the crash was well underway, FAA employees were among the federal workers who received an email telling them to quit and find more useful work.The way to greater American prosperity is encouraging people to move from lower productivity jobs in the public sector to higher productivity jobs in the private sector, read the memo from OPM. An official with OPM, which made the resignation offers, said air traffic controllers are exempt from a hiring freeze that Trump announced on taking office on Jan. 20 and they are not eligible for a buyout even though they were sent the offer. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal government operations. It was unclear if the controllers themselves have been notified by OPM whether they are exempt. After the initial offer went out, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association recommended in an email to its union members not to submit a request for the resignation until more information was available. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the union email.NATCA President Nick Daniels said officials had not explained to the union the details of how its employees would be affected by the retirement program. NATCA has not received a briefing on how or whether the deferred resignation program will be implemented in the FAA, Daniels said in a statement provided to the AP Friday. It is not yet clear how this program will affect aviation safety workers represented by our Union, he added. However, we are concerned about the potential effect to public safety and the efficiency and capacity of the air traffic control system if FAA were to lose experienced aviation safety personnel during a universally recognized air traffic controller staffing shortage.Though the new administration insists its cost-cutting will exempt public safety workers and keep citizens safe, its rhetoric and approach have been more sweeping than surgical.Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, the technology mogul Trump tapped to lead the effort, has said bureaucracy is killing America and repeatedly called for massive, across-the-board reductions in the federal workforce. Trump and his supporters have made personal loyalty to the president a top priority in hiring new workers or keeping existing ones.During the campaign, Musk demanded the resignation of FAA administrator Michael Whitaker, who clashed with Musk over regulating SpaceX and stepped down the day before Trump took office. That left the FAA leaderless until Trump, at a Thursday press conference after the crash, named an acting head of the agency. Trump blamed diversity hiring after the crash despite no evidence about the qualifications of anyone involved in the collision and alleged that former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama lowered standards to meet racial or other quotas. He decried an FAA diversity policy that existed during his first administration. Though the Trump administration talks about the need to shed federal workers, the government has been desperate to hire air traffic controllers for nearly a decade. The FAA has struggled to keep up with the rapidly increasing number of commercial flights, even as there had been no fatal air accidents since 2009. Last year, Biden pushed for funding to hire 2,000 more controllers and announced the hiring of 1,800 controllers in September. An FAA report obtained by the AP said that air traffic control staffing at the airport Wednesday was not normal, with one person doing the work normally assigned to two people at the time of the collision. A person familiar with the matter noted that the positions are regularly combined when controllers need to step away from the console for breaks, during shift changes or when air traffic is slow. That person spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal procedures.Don Kettl, an emeritus professor of public policy at the University of Maryland, warned that it is likely to become even harder to recruit those sorely needed air traffic controllers now.The fact that theres so much uncertainty in such a short time period and the fact that the president personally seems to have blamed them, Kettl said, is bound to make it more difficult to hire more controllers.Kettl warned that there are many critical, demanding and high-skilled government jobs that are already tough to fill from food safety inspectors to surgeons at Veterans Administration hospitals and that may get even tougher now.The fiber of government is woven throughout our lives, Kettl said. If you downgrade the capacity, you downgrade what you get.___Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa; Gomez Licon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and Riccardi reported from Denver. THOMAS BEAUMONT Beaumont covers national politics for The Associated Press. He is based in Des Moines, Iowa. twitter mailto ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON Gomez Licon writes about national politics for The Associated Press. She is based in Florida. twitter mailto

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gestures as he speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)2025-02-01T21:21:05Z KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that excluding his country from talks between the U.S. and Russia about the war in Ukraine would be very dangerous and asked for more discussions between Kyiv and Washington to develop a plan for a ceasefire.Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Zelenskyy said Russia does not want to engage in ceasefire talks or to discuss any kind of concessions, which the Kremlin interprets as losing at a time when its troops have the upper hand on the battlefield.He said U.S. President Donald Trump could bring Russian President Vladimir Putin to the table with the threat of sanctions targeting Russias energy and banking system, as well as continued support of the Ukrainian military.I think these are the closest and most important steps, he said in the interview in the Ukrainian capital that lasted for more than an hour. Zelenskyys remarks followed comments Friday by Trump, who said American and Russian officials were already talking about ending the war. Trump said his administration has had very serious discussions with Russia, but he did not elaborate. They may have their own relations, but talking about Ukraine without us it is dangerous for everyone, Zelenskyy said.He said his team has been in contact with the Trump administration, but those discussions are at a general level, and he believes in-person meetings will take place soon to develop more detailed agreements. We need to work more on this, he said, adding that Trump understandably appeared to be focused on domestic issues in the first weeks after his inauguration.The nearly three-year war in Ukraine is at a crossroads. Trump promised to end the fighting within six months of taking office, but the two sides are far apart, and it is unclear how a ceasefire deal would take shape. Meanwhile, Russia continues to make slow but steady gains along the front, and Ukrainian forces are enduring severe manpower shortages. Most Ukrainians want a pause in fighting to rebuild their lives. The country faces near-daily Russian attacks on homes, and strikes on power systems have plunged entire cities into darkness.Millions of Ukrainians have been displaced, unable to return to their homes after vast tracts of the countrys east have been reduced to rubble. Nearly a fifth of Ukraine is now occupied by Russia. In those areas, Moscow-appointed authorities are swiftly erasing any hint of Ukrainian identity.With Trump back in the White House, Ukraines relationship with the U.S., its largest and most important ally, is also at a tipping point.In an initial phone call with Trump during the presidential campaign, Zelenskyy said, the two agreed that if Trump won, they would meet to discuss the steps needed to end the war. But a planned visit by Trumps Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, was postponed for legal reasons Zelenskyy said. That was followed by a sudden foreign aid freeze that effectively caused Ukrainian organizations to halt projects. I believe that, first and foremost, we (must) hold a meeting with him, and that is important. And that is, by the way, something that everyone in Europe wants, Zelenskyy said, referring to a common vision of a quick end to the war.After the conversation with Trump, we should move on to some kind of format of conversation with Russians. And I would like to see the United States of America, Ukraine and the Russians at the negotiating table. ... And, to be honest, a European Union voice should also be there. I think it would be fair, effective. But how will it turn out? I dont know.Zelenskyy cautioned against allowing Putin to take control over the war, an apparent reference to Russias repeated threats of escalation during President Joe Bidens administration.Without security guarantees from Ukraines allies, Zelenskyy said, any deal struck with Russia would only serve as a precursor to future aggression. Membership in the NATO alliance, a longstanding wish for Kyiv that Moscow has categorically rejected, is still Zelenskyys top choice. NATO membership is the cheapest option for Ukraines allies, and it would also strengthen Trump geopolitically, Zelenskyy argued.I really believe that these are the cheapest security guarantees that Ukraine can get, the cheapest for everyone, he said.It will be a signal that it is not for Russia to decide who should be in NATO and who should not, but for the United States of America to decide. I think this is a great victory for Trump, he said, evidently appealing to the presidents penchant for winners and business deals.In addition, Zelenskyy said, Ukraines 800,000-strong army would be a bonus to the alliance, especially if Trump seeks to bring home U.S. troops who are stationed overseas.Other security guarantee proposals should be backed up by sufficient weapons from the U.S. and Europe, and support for Kyiv to develop its own defense industry, he said. Zelenskyy also said a French proposal to put European forces in Ukraine to act as a deterrent against Russian aggression is taking shape, but he expressed skepticism, saying many questions remained about the command-and-control structure and the number of troops and their positions. The issue was raised by French President Emmanuel Macron and with Trump, he said.I said in the presence of the two leaders that we are interested in this as a part of the security guarantee, but not as the only guarantee of safety, he said. Thats not enough.He added: Imagine, there is a contingent. The question is who is in charge? Who is the main one? What will they do if there are Russian strikes? Missiles, disembarkation, attack from the sea, crossing of the land borderline, offensive. What will they do? What are their mandates?Asked if he put those questions directly to Macron, he smiled and said: We are still in the process of this dialogue.Following a statement by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the war has set Ukraine back by 100 years, Zelenskyy urged Rubio to visit Ukraine.Rubio needs to come to Ukraine, first of all, to see what Russia has done, the Ukrainian president said. But also to see what the Ukrainian people did, what they were able to do for the security of Ukraine and the world, as I said, and just talk to these people.___Associated Press journalist Volodymyr Yurchuk contributed to this report. SAMYA KULLAB Kullab is an Associated Press reporter covering Ukraine since June 2023. Before that, she covered Iraq and the wider Middle East from her base in Baghdad since joining the AP in 2019. twitter instagram mailto

Large parts of the CDCs website and several important databases were taken down on Friday and Saturday to comply with Trumps executive orders banning DEI content. Saturday, a message at the top of the CDCs home page said the website is being modified to comply with President Trumps Executive Orders.CDC websites and databases taken offline include the CDC Atlas, the CDC Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, a CDC website about HIV treatment, and the CDC Social Vulnerability Index. Some of these removals were earlier reported by NBC News. Some of the pages were replaced with messages that read Page Not Found or Temporarily Unavailable or The page you're looking for was not found. There was widespread uncertainty throughout Friday as to whether a broader takedown across the government would happen.Our teams government affairs firm is advising that as of 5pm today, all U.S. government agency websites will be taken down, an internal email obtained by 404 Media earlier Friday read. According to reports, agencies are unable to comply fast enough with President Trumps EO ordering all government entities to remove all DEI references from their websites, so these websites will be taken offline. There is no word on when they will be made available again.At 5pm Friday, however, no widespread, cross-government takedowns happened. Throughout the day Friday and Saturday, however CDC pages continued to disappear. Saturday, a message at the top of the CDCs website said CDCs website is being modified to comply with President Trumps Executive Orders.404 Media has reported on U.S. government pages about gender identity were taken down; that GitHub commits showed the Trump administration scrubbing government web pages in real time; and how archivists are working to save thousands of datasets disappearing from Data.gov. Do you know anything else about this story? We would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message Jason securely on Signal at +1 202 505 1702. Otherwise, send me an email at jason@404media.co.Some federal contractors and federal employees spent much of Friday afternoon panicking about the deletions, and there was uncertainty about what would be taken offline and how widespread the takedowns would be. A CDC employee that 404 Media granted anonymity to speak about sensitive issues said that they were told by the Office of the Chief Information Security Officer of the Department of Health and Human Services that all employees were told they had to delete their preferred pronouns from their email signatures by 5 PM Friday.Agencies were also ordered to review all agency programs, contracts, and grants, and terminate any that promote or inculcate gender ideology and to take down all outward facing media (websites, social media accounts, etc.) that inculcate or promote gender ideology, with a deadline of 5 PM Eastern Friday. Agencies were forced to send an email to all agency employees announcing that the agency will be complying with Defending Women and this guidance. Agencies have been ordered to create a report within the next week that includes a complete list of actions taken in response to this guidance. The specific executive order is Trumps Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government (Defending Women).A similar message was posted to Reddit earlier on Friday. We are being told that the CDC website is scheduled to go down by EOD today. Please share this with your partners and encourage them, as well as you should plan to download any significant information, it reads.There have been several efforts to archive data that already existed across the federal government, including the End of Term Archive, a volunteer effort that saved hundreds of terabytes of data before Trump was inaugurated.

A man walks past boxes of USAID humanitarian aid at a warehouse at the Tienditas International Bridge on the outskirts of Cucuta, Colombia, Feb. 21, 2019, on the border with Venezuela. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)2025-02-01T23:34:23Z WASHINGTON (AP) The website of the U.S. Agency for International Development went offline without explanation Saturday as thousands of furloughs, layoffs and program shutdowns continued in President Donald Trumps freeze on U.S.-funded foreign aid and development worldwide.Congressional Democrats battled the Trump administration increasingly openly, expressing concern that Trump may be headed toward ending USAID as an independent agency and absorbing it into the State Department. Democrats say Trump has no legal authority to eliminate a congressionally funded independent agency, and that the work of USAID is vital to national security.Trump and congressional Republicans say much of foreign aid and development programs are wasteful. They single out programs they say advance liberal social agendas.The fear of even tougher administration action against USAID comes two weeks into the administrations shutdown of billions of dollars of the United States humanitarian, development and security assistance. The U.S. is the worlds largest donor of humanitarian aid by far. It spends less than 1% of its budget on foreign assistance, a smaller share overall than some other countries. Administration officials had no comment Saturday when asked about concerns expressed by lawmakers and others that Trump may be planning to end USAID as an independent agency.President John F. Kennedy created at the height of the Cold War to counter Soviet influence. USAID today is at the center of U.S. challenges to the growing influence of China, which has a successful Belt and Road foreign aid program of its own. Congress passed the Foreign Assistance Act in 1961, and Kennedy signed that law and an executive order establishing USAID as an independent agency.USAID staffers spent Friday and Saturday in chat groups monitoring the fate of their agency, giving updates on whether the agencys flag and signs were still up outside agency headquarters in Washington. As of late Saturday afternoon, they were. In a post on X, Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy said presidents cannot eliminate congressionally appropriated federal agencies by executive order, and said Trump was poised to double down on a constitutional crisis.Thats what a despot who wants to steal the taxpayers money to enrich his billionaire cabal does, Murphy said.Billionaire Elon Musk, advising Trump in a campaign to whittle down the federal government in the name of efficiency, endorsed posts on his X site calling for dissolving USAID.Live by executive order, die by executive order, Musk tweeted in reference to USAID.Trump placed an unprecedented 90-day freeze on foreign assistance on his first day in office Jan. 20. The order, a tougher-than-expected interpretation of Trumps freeze order on Jan. 24 drafted by Peter Marocco, a returning political appointee from Trumps first term, shut down thousands of programs around the world and forced the furloughs or layoffs of many thousands.Secretary of State Marco Rubio has since moved to keep more kinds of strictly life-saving emergency programs going during the freeze. Aid groups say confusion surrounding what programs are still allowed to operate is contributing to paralysis in global aid organizations. Rubio said Thursday, in his first public comments on the matter, that USAIDs programs were being reviewed to eliminate any that are not in the U.S. national interest, but he said nothing about eliminating it as an agency.The shutdown of U.S.-funded programs during the 90-day review meant the U.S. was getting a lot more cooperation from recipients of humanitarian, development and security assistance, Rubio said. Republicans and Democrats have fought over the agency for years, arguing whether humanitarian and development aid protects the U.S. by helping stabilize partner countries and economies, or is a waste of money. Republicans typically push to give State more control of USAIDs policy and funds. Democrats typically build USAID autonomy and authority. A version of that legal battle played out in Trumps first term, when Trump tried to cut the budget for foreign operations by a third.When Congress refused, the Trump administration used freezes and other tactics to cut the flow of funds already appropriated by Congress for foreign programs. The General Accounting Office later ruled that it violated a law known as the Impoundment Control Act. ___ AP photographer Carolyn Kaster contributed to this report. ELLEN KNICKMEYER Knickmeyer covers foreign policy and national security for the Associated Press. She is based in Washington, D.C. twitter

This image provided by the U.S. Army shows Cpt. Rebecca M. Lobach, of Durham, N.C. (U.S. Army via AP)2025-02-01T22:51:13Z WASHINGTON (AP) The Army on Saturday released the name of the third soldier who died Wednesday when an Army helicopter collided with an American Airlines jet near Reagan National Airport in D.C.Cpt. Rebecca M. Lobach, of Durham, N.C., served as an Army aviation officer since July 2019. Her awards include an Army commendation medal and an achievement medal.In a statement released by the Army, her family said she was a distinguished military graduate in ROTC at the University of North Carolina, and was in the top 20% of cadets nationwide. They said she had more than 450 hours of flight time, and earned certification as a pilot-in-command after extensive testing by the most senior and experienced pilots in her battalion.The family also noted that she served as a certified sexual harassment/assault response and prevention victim advocate and hoped to become a physician when she got out of the Army. We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Rebecca. She was a bright star in all our lives. She was kind, generous, brilliant, funny, ambitious and strong. No one dreamed bigger or worked harder to achieve her goals, the statement said, adding, we request that you please respect our privacy as we grieve this devastating loss. The names of the two other soldiers were released on Friday, but Lobachs name was withheld at the time at the request of her family. The others were: Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin OHara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia, who was the crew chief, and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland, who was a pilot. There has been no specific explanation from the Army for the one-day delay in releasing her name. But while the investigation into the crash has only just begun, President Donald Trump has publicly blamed the helicopter for flying at too high an altitude. And he issued a lengthy critique about an FAA diversity hiring initiative particularly regarding air traffic controllers saying they eroded flight safety.No evidence has emerged that rules seeking to diversify the FAA played any role in the collision.___ LOLITA C. BALDOR Baldor has covered the Pentagon and national security issues for The Associated Press since 2005. She has reported from all over the world including warzones in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. twitter mailto

Vice President Kamala Harris talks to reporters after presiding over a joint session of congress to confirm the Electoral College votes at the Capitol, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)2025-02-01T00:15:25Z CBS says it will turn over an unedited transcript of its October interview with Kamala Harris to the Federal Communications Commission, part of President Donald Trumps ongoing fight with the network over how it handled a story about his opponent.Trump sued CBS for $10 billion over the 60 Minutes interview, claiming it was deceptively edited to make Harris look good. Published reports said CBS parent company, Paramount, has been talking to Trumps lawyers about a settlement.The network said Friday that it was compelled by Brendan Carr, Trumps appointee as FCC chairman, to turn over the transcripts and camera feeds of the interview for a parallel investigation by the commission. 60 Minutes has resisted releasing transcripts for this and all of its interviews, to avoid second-guessing of its editing process.The case, particularly a potential settlement, is being closely watched by advocates for press freedom and by journalists within CBS, whose lawyers called Trumps lawsuit completely without merit and promised to vigorously fight it after it was filed. The Harris interview initially drew attention because CBS News showed Harris giving completely different responses to a question posed by correspondent Bill Whitaker in clips that were aired on Face the Nation on Oct. 6 and the next night on 60 Minutes. The network said each clip came from a lengthy response by Harris to Whitakers question, but they were edited to fit time constraints on both broadcasts. In his lawsuit, filed in Texas on Nov. 1, Trump charged it was deceptive editing designed to benefit Harris and constituted partisan and unlawful acts of voter interference. Trump, who turned down a request to be interviewed by 60 Minutes during the campaign, has continued his fight despite winning the election less than a week after the lawsuit was filed.The network has not commented on talks about a potential settlement, reported by the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. Paramount executives are seeking Trump administration approval of a sale of the company to another entertainment firm, Skydance. ABC News in December settled a defamation lawsuit by Trump over statements made by anchor George Stephanopoulos, agreeing to pay $15 million toward Trumps presidential library rather than engage in a public fight. Meta has reportedly paid $25 million to settle Trumps lawsuit against the company over its decision to suspend his social media accounts following the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.___David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.socialThis story was first published on Jan. 31, 2025. It was updated on Feb. 1, 2025, to correct the amount of damages President Donald Trump is seeking in his lawsuit against CBS. He is seeking $10 billion, not $10 million. DAVID BAUDER Bauder is the APs national media writer, covering the intersection of news, politics and entertainment. He is based in New York. twitter mailto

Elon Musk speaks at an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event in Washington, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)2025-02-02T02:16:27Z WASHINGTON (AP) The Department of Government Efficiency, run by President Donald Trumps billionaire adviser and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has gained access to sensitive Treasury data including Social Security and Medicare customer payment systems, according to two people familiar with the situation. The move by DOGE, a Trump administration task force assigned to find ways to fire federal workers, cut programs and slash federal regulations, means it could have wide leeway to access important taxpayer data, among other things.The New York Times first reported the news of the groups access of the massive federal payment system. The two people who spoke to The Associated Press spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.The highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, Ron Wyden of Oregon, on Friday sent a letter to Trumps Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expressing concern that officials associated with Musk may have intended to access these payment systems to illegally withhold payments to any number of programs. To put it bluntly, these payment systems simply cannot fail, and any politically motivated meddling in them risks severe damage to our country and the economy, Wyden said. The news also comes after Treasurys acting Deputy Secretary David Lebryk resigned from his position at Treasury after more than 30 years of service. The Washington Post on Friday reported that Lebryk resigned his position after Musk and his DOGE organization requested access to sensitive Treasury data. The Fiscal Service performs some of the most vital functions in government, Lebryk said in a letter to Treasury employees sent out Friday. Our work may be unknown to most of the public, but that doesnt mean it isnt exceptionally important. I am grateful for having been able to work alongside some of the nations best and most talented operations staff. The letter did not mention a DOGE request to access Treasury payments. Musk on Saturday responded to a post on his social media platform X about the departure of Lebryk: The @DOGE team discovered, among other things, that payment approval officers at Treasury were instructed always to approve payments, even to known fraudulent or terrorist groups. They literally never denied a payment in their entire career. Not even once.He did not provide proof of this claim. DOGE was originally headed by Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who jointly vowed to cut billions from the federal budget and usher in mass headcount reductions across the federal bureaucracy.Ramaswamy has since left DOGE as he mulls a run for governor of Ohio. FATIMA HUSSEIN Hussein reports on the U.S. Treasury Department for The Associated Press. She covers tax policy, sanctions and any issue that relates to money. twitter mailto

People gather in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, to protest President Javier Mileis speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, during which he criticized sick wokeism, social welfare, feminism, identity politics and the fight against climate change. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)2025-02-01T22:02:48Z BUENOS AIRES (AP) Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Argentinas capital Buenos Aires and in cities across the country to protest President Javier Mileis speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, during which he slammed wokeism, feminism and other progressive ideals.Protesters were clad in rainbow-colored flags and bore banners that read rights are not negotiable. Dubbed the Federal March of Anti-Fascist and Anti-Racist Pride, the LGBTQ+ community called the protest after the speech on Jan. 23 to combat the economic violence, political persecution and sexual repression of Javier Mileis government.Rights groups, unions and political parties also joined the protest.In Switzerland, Milei sharply criticized sick wokeism, social welfare, feminism, identity politics and the fight against climate change, adding that in its most extreme versions gender ideology constitutes plain and simple child abuse. Protester Germn Paladino, an industrial engineer, said Mileis government was not taking care of public issues such as healthcare and education and was instead lashing out at peoples private life. I dont know if this march can change anything, but if it could put a break on Javier Mileis remarks which were rather aggressive, Paladino said.I am here to defend our rights, those which we have won and those that are currently under attack, said Milagros, a 33-year-old visual artist.In recent decades, Argentina has enshrined progressive laws consecrating sexual diversity and equal marriage rights, among others.

Beyonce accepts the award for best dance/electronic music album for "Renaissance" at the 65th annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 5, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)2025-02-02T05:00:54Z LOS ANGELES (AP) The 67th Grammy Awards will take place Sunday but with a dramatically different tone this year.As Los Angeles continues to recover from fires that destroyed more than 14,000 structures and displaced tens of thousands, the Recording Academy has reformatted its award show to benefit to help wildfire victims.Since the fires began, the Grammys and its affiliated MusiCares charity have distributed $2 million in emergency aid and pledged more than $4 million to help those in the music industry impacted by the wildfires.The Grammys on Sunday will seek to add to those donations.Viewers and attendees will still see trophies handed out and a bespoke concert experience but they will also watch the show raise awareness, drive donations and resources to funds that benefit people in need.Comedian Trevor Noah will host for a fifth year in a row and history could be made when some of the biggest names in music gather. Heres some key things to know ahead of Sundays show at the Crypto.com Arena: How to watchThe Grammys will air live on CBS and Paramount+ beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern. Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers can also watch live and on demand. The award show can also be watched through live TV streaming services that include CBS in their lineup, like Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV and FuboTV.The premiere ceremony, hosted by songwriter Justin Tranter, will take place at 3:30 p.m. Eastern/12:30 p.m. Pacific at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday. It can be streamed at the Recording Academys YouTube channel and on live.GRAMMY.com. Whos nominated at the 2025 GrammysBeyonc leads the Grammy nods with 11, bringing her career total to 99 nominations. That makes her the most nominated artist in Grammy history.Since 2023 shes also been the most decorated artist, having earned 32 trophies across her career.Is it finally her time to take home the top prize? If she wins the album of the year, shell become the first Black woman to do so in the 21st century.Post Malone, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar and Charli xcx follow with seven nominations.Taylor Swift and first-time nominees Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan boast six nominations each.Whos attending and performing at the GrammysCarpenter, Eilish, Roan, Shaboozey, Charli xcx, Doechii, RAYE, Benson Boone, Shakira, Teddy Swims, Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars will perform at the 2025 Grammys.Stevie Wonder, Janelle Mone and Will Smith will pay tribute to the late, legendary producer Quincy Jones.Brad Paisley, Brittany Howard, Coldplays Chris Martin, Cynthia Erivo, Herbie Hancock, Jacob Collier, John Legend, Lainey Wilson, Sheryl Crow and St. Vincent will also appear.Taylor Swift, who last month wrapped her massive Eras tour, will be a presenter.Other presenters will include Smith, Cardi B, Gloria Estefan, Olivia Rodrigo, Queen Latifah, SZA, Victoria Mont and the Red Hot Chili Peppers Anthony Kiedis and Chad Smith.___For more coverage of this years Grammy Awards, visit: www.apnews.com/GrammyAwards MARIA SHERMAN Maria Sherman is the music reporter at The Associated Press. She is based in New York City. twitter instagram mailto

This undated photo provided by Marisa Kabas shows Kabas holding up a press credential on Oct. 4, 2024 in Pittsburgh. (Marisa Kabas via AP)2025-02-02T05:59:14Z First word of the Trump administrations since-rescinded order to freeze spending on federal loans and grants came not from a major news organization, but from a woman working alone in her Brooklyn apartment.Marisa Kabas scoop this past week was a key moment for a growing cadre of journalists who work independently to gather and analyze news and market themselves as brands. Many are refugees from legacy outlets while others are scrappy newcomers like Kabas, who found traditional career paths unappealing or out of reach.This week has been career-changing, Kabas said in an interview. In a sense, my job has changed overnight.She was sitting at her kitchen table last Monday, sifting through emails on her laptop, when a source forwarded her a copy of a memo announcing the freeze sent by the Office of Management and Budgets acting director. Kabas has her own website, the Handbasket, but to give the story wider visibility, she posted a screen shot of the memo on the social media site Bluesky. Then she waited.Her stomach was in knots. She calmed herself with a walk on a frigid night. Despite her belief in independent journalism and her own work she recognized that to many, news only becomes real when it appears in a major outlet. Three hours later, The Washington Post published its story, with a hat-tip to Kabas.The directive caused such an uproar that the administration walked back its order two days later. Kicking around jobs until she found her callingKabas, 37, kicked around in various journalism and publicist jobs and freelanced for outlets like MSNBC.com, the Huffington Post and New Republic. She started her website in 2022 primarily for personal writing and decided to go all in with journalism the next year.The advantage to going it alone is that I get to write about things that I care about, she said. I dont have to work on assignments that are given to me that I dont care about. The down side is shes all alone, dependent upon her own hustle.Kabas wrote on ex-congressman George Santos, the raid on a weekly newspaper in Kansas and Elon Musk, although much of her writing was essays instead of reported work. Like many in the independent journalism world, she doesnt hide her opinions. She wrote that the OMB memo was a truly unhinged document that sounds like it was written by the worlds most petty 4Chan poster.Shes got attitude, shes got personality, said Greg Munno, a journalism professor at Syracuse University. I think attitude and personality help these independent journalists connect with readers and potentially sources.Indie journalists making their mark in a variety of subject areasA wide variety of independent journalists have made their mark, often working on publishing platforms like Substack and Beehiiv. Seamus Hughes Court Watch pulls together interesting legal documents from around the country. Heather Cox Richardsons Letters From an American explores the intersection of history and todays politics. Peter Geoghegans Democracy for Sale investigates money in politics.Casey Newton, a former editor at The Verge, looks at the tech world on Platformer, and this past week urged people worried about the A.I. company DeepSeek to take a few long, deep breaths. Molly Knights The Long Game writes smartly about sports and even admits to her clunkers, like recently revisiting her prediction that the Texas Rangers would repeat as American League champions. Oliver Darcy left CNN to break news and offer commentary about the media on his own site, Status. Two former Washington Post journalists have set up their own shops: opinion writer Jennifer Rubins site, The Contrarian, boasts the tagline Not owned by anybody, and tech writer Taylor Lorenzs User Mag broke its own news last week on conservative influencer Candace Owens new venture.Days ago, CNN anchor Jim Acosta announced he was setting up shop at Substack after quitting the network rather than accept a transfer to a middle-of-the-night time slot.Independent journalism is now the way forward, Dan Rather, the former CBS News anchor and perhaps quintessential old-school journalist, posted on Facebook Thursday. Sadly, we can no longer rely on legacy media to hold the powerful accountable. Expand the definition of independent journalist more broadly, and you can include the exploding world of podcasts, many of which played a key role in the presidential election, and TikTok or YouTube influencers who comment on the news.The more that traditional news outlets shrink or die, something is going to fill that gap, said Jeremy Littau, a Lehigh University journalism professor. There is going to be a need for it. How much room is there for journalists and who can you trust?Its exciting for those who seek variety and new voices, particularly with legacy media lagging in public esteem. The danger comes in figuring out who to trust in a world where a single person often performs the role of reporter, editor, sales person and business manager. Thats particularly important with breaking news, Littau said. Who is out there cutting corners, or repackaging things they see online without the standards that a traditional news organization imposes?Munno is skeptical about how much support there is in the marketplace.I dont think the consumers appetite for news is high enough to support a really deep pool of independent journalists that would be able to create an audience and make a living, he said.Kabas cobbled together what she considered a typical journalists living translation: modest before this past week. Her earnings through the Handbasket come through subscribers who pay $8 a month or $80 annually. This week alone, she jumped from 800 paid subscribers to about 1,500.Her scoop is making her rethink the purpose of her work, that now the pressing need is to report deeply on how the country is changing as the result of its new government. Shes even thinking of hiring another reporter to help.Ive gone from very much taking my time, sitting with my thoughts and writing from a personal perspective to being a breaking news reporter, Kabas said. They are very different skills.___David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social. DAVID BAUDER Bauder is the APs national media writer, covering the intersection of news, politics and entertainment. He is based in New York. twitter mailto

Injured Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic smiles as he holds the game ball in a time out during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Minnesota Timberwolves Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)2025-02-02T05:49:45Z Luka Doncic led Dallas to the NBA Finals last season. Anthony Davis won a championship with the Los Angeles Lakers.Theyre switching teams now in an absolute blockbuster.Doncic is being traded by the reigning Western Conference champion Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers for Davis, a person with knowledge of the agreement said early Sunday.Doncic, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris are headed to the Lakers, while Davis and Max Christie are going to Dallas, said the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither team can announce the deal while it awaits league approval.The Utah Jazz also are involved in the deal, said the source. ESPN, which first reported the trade, said Jalen Hood-Schifino and two draft picks will be headed to the Jazz. The Dallas Morning News also reported those details on the trade. The trade news broke about an hour after the Lakers beat New York at Madison Square Garden. Davis was not with the Lakers for the game; he has been back in Los Angeles because of an abdominal injury that needed assessing.Doncic has not played for Dallas since Christmas Day, when he was sidelined with a strained left calf. I believe that defense wins championships, Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison told ESPN. I believe that getting an All-Defensive center and an All-NBA player with a defensive mindset gives us a better chance. Were built to win now and in the future. The deal, at least for now, would pair Doncic with LeBron James as the new 1-2 punch in Los Angeles, while Davis would be forming a new star duo with Kyrie Irving in Dallas.And there was immediate shock on social media when the news hit.Luka getting traded from Dallas has to have a deeper story behind it, Cleveland center Tristan Thompson wrote on X. This just doesnt happen on a random Saturday night.Knicks guard Jalen Brunson wondered in another post if it was a joke: April fools right? he asked. Evidently not.Dallas plays at Cleveland on Sunday, while the Lakers are off until visiting the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night. Its not clear when Doncic or Davis could play for their new clubs: the trade needs NBA approval, and both are dealing with injuries without any publicly known firm timetable for their returns.___AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA TIM REYNOLDS Reynolds is an Associated Press sports writer, based in South Florida. twitter mailto

People shop at a retail store on Black Friday, Nov. 25, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)2025-02-02T05:01:06Z WASHINGTON (AP) From an ice cream parlor in California to a medical supply business in North Carolina to a T-shirt vendor outside Detroit, U.S. businesses are bracing to take a hit from the taxes President Donald Trump imposed Saturday on imports from Canada, Mexico and China Americas three biggest trading partners.The levies 25% on Canadian and Mexican and 10% on Chinese goods will take effect Tuesday. Canadian energy, including oil, natural gas and electricity, will be taxed at a lower 10% rate. Mexicos president immediately ordered retaliatory tariffs and Canadas prime minister said the country would put matching 25% tariffs on up to $155 billion in U.S. imports. China did not immediately respond to Trumps action.The Budget Lab at Yale University estimates that Trumps tariffs would cost the average American household $1,000 to $1,200 in annual purchasing power. Gregory Daco, chief economist at the tax and consulting firm EY, calculates that the tariffs would increase inflation, which was running at a 2.9% annual rate in December, by 0.4 percentage points this year. Daco also projects that the U.S. economy, which grew 2.8% last year, would fall by 1.5% this year and 2.1% in 2026 as higher import costs dampen consumer spending and business investment. The Penny Ice Creamery in Santa Cruz, California, has had to hike prices of its ice cream including popular flavors strawberry pink peppercorn and chocolate caramel sea salt repeatedly in recent years as an inflationary surge increased the cost of its supplies. I feel bad about always having to raise prices, said co-owner Zach Davis. We were looking forward to inflation coming down, the economy stabilizing in 2025 ... Now with the tariffs, we may be back at it again.Trump tariffs, Davis said, threaten to drive up the cost of the mostly made-in-China refrigerators, freezers and blenders hell need if Penny Ice Creamery goes ahead with plans to add to its six shops. He still has painful memories of the extra equipment costs the company had to absorb when Trump slapped massive tariffs on China during his first term. The new tariffs will also raise the price of a customer favorite sprinkles which Penny Ice Creamery imports from a company in Whitby, Ontario. Tacking a 25% import tax on even something as small as that can damage a small business like his. The margins are so slim, he said. Being able to offer that add-on can maybe generate an additional 10 cents in profit per scoop. If a tariff wipes that out, that can really be the difference between being profitable and being break-even and even being underwater by the end of the year.In Asheville, North Carolina, Casey Hite, CEO of Aeroflow Health, expects to take a hit because his company gets more than half its supplies including breast pumps from Chinese manufacturers, providing them to American patients through insurance plans. Aeroflow Health gets paid by insurers at pre-negotiated rates, put in place before Trump decided on his tariffs. Hite said the tax on Chinese imports would hit the companys finances, forcing it either to purchase cheaper and lower-quality products or pass higher costs along via higher health insurance premiums. Those might take two years to materialize, Hite said, but eventually they would hit consumers budgets. It will impact the patients, Hite said. In time, patients pay more for the products.Even the made-in-USA absorbent incontinence pads Aeroflow Health buys arent safe from Trumps import taxes. They may include pulp from tariff target Canada and plastics and packaging from China, according to the Aeroflow Health, which warns of turbulences from the tariffs.Is this going to affect our business? You bet it is, said Linda Schlesinger-Wagner, who owns skinnytees, a womens apparel company in Birmingham, Michigan, north of Detroit, that imports clothing from China. She said the 10% tax would increase her costs, though she plans to absorb the extra expense instead of passing it along to customers. I dont like whats going on, she said, referring to the broader impact of the tariffs. And I think people are going to be truly shocked at the pricing theyre going to see on the cars, on the lumber, on the clothes, on the food. This is going to be a mess.William Reinsch, a former U.S. trade official now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that many companies that stocked up on imported goods ahead of time to avoid the tariffs. They will be able to draw on their piled-up inventories for weeks or a couple of months, delaying their customers pain. George Carrillo, CEO of the Hispanic Construction Council, an industry advocacy group, said construction companies have been hoarding materials in anticipation of Trumps actions, but he worries about the possibility of inflation spiking in three to six months. Once that inventory starts to get low, were going to start feeling the effects, Carillo said in a phone interview Saturday, ahead of the announcement. Developers and general contractors need to keep up with the pace and theyre going to start buying more products and its going to be at a higher price point.All that will be exacerbated by an emerging immigration crackdown that is already spooking the construction industrys labor pool, he said.You put tariffs and you put workforce instability, its going to create major delays in projects. Its going to create an increase in prices because of the lack of availability, Carrillo said.Then there are the industries that dont have the luxury of stockpiling, including supermarkets whose farm products will spoil. So the tariff impact will show up on grocery shelves within days. You dont stockpile avocados, Reinsch said. You dont stockpile cut flowers. You dont stockpile bananas.In the tomato trading hub of Nogales, Arizona, produce vendor Rod Sbragia, who followed his father into the business nearly four decades ago, worries that the import levies will force some distribution companies out of business and would be detrimental to the American consumer, to the choices they have at the supermarket.Sbragia voted for Trump in the past three elections and calls himself a staunch Republican. The president, he said, must not have been properly advised on the matter. When were worried about cost to consumers, inflationary pressures and the overall health of our population, he asked, why are we going to make it more difficult to get access to fresh fruits and vegetables?American farmers are also likely to get caught in Trumps trade tussle with Canada, China and Mexico. The presidents supporters in rural America make a tempting target for retaliatory tariffs. That is what happened in Trumps first term when other countries, notably China, slapped back against the presidents tariffs with levies of their own on things like soybeans and pork. In response, Trump spent billions in taxpayer money to compensate them for lost sales and lower prices.Many farmers are now counting on the president to come through and protect them from reprisals.The Trump administration provided a safety net, said former tobacco grower Lee Wicker, deputy director of the North Carolina Growers Association, a collection of 700 farms that lawfully brings in foreign temporary laborers to work the fields through a federal visa program. Many of the associations farmers trust him that hes going to take care of anybody whos hurt by the tariffs, and thats really all that we can ask for.____AP Staff Writers Mae Anderson and Cedar Attanasio in New York; Mike Householder in Birmingham, Michigan; Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina; Gabriel Sandoval in Phoenix; and Didi Tang and Christopher Rugaber in Washington contributed to this story.

Syria's de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, walks in the presidential palace ahead of his meeting with Walid Ellafi, Libyan minister of state for communication and political affairs, in Damascus, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy, File)2025-02-02T08:14:23Z DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) Syrias interim president made his first trip abroad Sunday, traveling to Saudi Arabia in a move likely trying to signal Damascus shift away from Iran as its main regional ally. Ahmad al-Sharaa, who was once aligned with al-Qaida, traveled to Riyadh alongside his governments foreign minister, Asaad al-Shaibani. A photo published by the state-run SANA news agency showed the two men on a jet, likely provided by the kingdom, with a Saudi flag visible on the table behind them. Saudi state television trumpeted the fact that the first trip by al-Sharaa, first known internationally by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, would make Riyadh his first destination. Saudi Arabia had been among the Arab nations that poured money into insurgent groups that tried to topple former President Bashar Assad after Syrias 2011 Arab Spring protests turned into a bloody crackdown. However, its groups found themselves beaten back as Assad, supported by Iran and Russia, fought the war into a stalemate in Syria. That changed with the December lightning offensive led by al-Sharaas Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. The group was once affiliated with al-Qaida but has since denounced its former ties. Al-Sharaa and HTS have carefully managed their public image in the time since, with the interim president favoring an olive-colored military look similar to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, appointing women to roles and trying to maintain ties to Syrias Christian and Shiite Alawite populations. That also includes keeping both Iran and Russia largely at arms length as well. Iran has yet to reopen its embassy in Damascus, which had been a key node in running operations through its self-described Axis of Resistance, including Assads Syria, Lebanons Hezbollah militia and other partners. Russia meanwhile would like to maintain access to air and sea bases it has in Syria, but took in Assad when he fled Syria during the advance. Those moves appear aimed at reassuring the West and trying to get crippling sanctions lifted on Syria. Rebuilding the country after over a decade of war will likely cost hundreds of billions of dollars, not to mention covering the needs of Syrias people, millions of whom remain impoverished.Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan visited Damascus in January and said Riyadh has been actively engaging in dialogue to lift sanctions on Syria. Saudi Arabia, unlike Al-Sharaas key allies in Turkey and Qatar, restored ties with Assad in 2023 alongside most of the Arab world. Getting sanctions lifted could go a long way in cementing their relationship.Meanwhile, Syrias interim government still faces challenges from the Islamic State group and other militants in the country. On Saturday, a car bomb exploded in Manbij, a city in Syrias Aleppo governorate, killing four civilians and wounding nine, SANA reported, citing civil defense officials. Turkish-backed Syrian rebels had seized Manbij in December, part of a push by Ankara to secure Syrian territory close to its border for a buffer zone. ___Associated Press writer Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report. JON GAMBRELL Gambrell is the news director for the Gulf and Iran for The Associated Press. He has reported from each of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Iran and other locations across the world since joining the AP in 2006. twitter instagram mailto

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference in Jerusalem, Dec. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, Pool, File)2025-02-02T08:38:33Z TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he will discuss victory over Hamas, countering Iran and expanding diplomatic relations with Arab countries in his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.Tuesdays meeting at the White House will be Trumps first with a foreign leader since returning to office. It comes as U.S. and Arab mediators begin the daunting work of brokering the next phase of an agreement to wind down the war in the Gaza Strip and release dozens of militant-held hostages.Hamas, which has quickly reasserted its control over Gaza since the ceasefire took hold last month, has said it will not release the hostages slated to go free in the second phase without an end to the war and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces.Netanyahu, who is under mounting pressure from far-right governing partners to resume the war after the first phase ends in early March, has said Israel is still committed to victory over Hamas and the return of all the hostages captured in the militants Oct. 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war. Its unclear where Trump stands in all this. He has been a staunch supporter of Israel, but has also pledged to end wars in the Middle East and took credit for helping to broker the ceasefire agreement. The deal has halted the fighting and led to the release of 18 hostages who had been held for over 15 months, as well as hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Netanyahu embraces Trumps call for peace through strengthIn a statement released ahead of his departure on Sunday, Netanyahu said they would discuss victory over Hamas, achieving the release of all our hostages and dealing with the Iranian terror axis in all its components, referring to Irans alliance of militant groups across the region, including Hamas.He said that by working together, they could strengthen security, broaden the circle of peace and achieve a remarkable era of peace through strength.The war began when thousands of Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostage. Over 100 hostages were freed during a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023, eight have been rescued alive and dozens of bodies have been recovered by Israeli forces.Israels air and ground war has killed over 47,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to local health authorities who do not say how many of the dead were fighters. The war has left large parts of several cities in ruins and displaced around 90% of Gazas population of 2.3 million people.Under the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, Hamas is to release a total of 33 hostages, eight of whom Hamas says are dead, in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Israeli forces have pulled back from most areas and allowed hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to devastated northern Gaza.Negotiations on the second phase, in which the war would end and the remaining 60 or so hostages would be returned, are set to begin Monday. If the United States, Qatar and Egypt are unable to broker an agreement between Israel and Hamas, the war could resume in early March. Aspirations for a bigger dealTrumps Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, joined the yearlong ceasefire negotiations in their final weeks last month and helped push the agreement over the finish line. He met with Netanyahu in Israel last week and the two were expected to formally begin talks on the second phase in Washington on Monday.Trump, who brokered normalization agreements between Israel and four Arab countries in his first term, is believed to be seeking a wider and potentially historic agreement in which Israel would forge ties with Saudi Arabia.But the kingdom, which resisted similar entreaties from the Biden administration, has said it would only agree to such a deal if the war ends and there is a credible pathway to a Palestinian state in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.Netanyahus government is opposed to Palestinian statehood, and a key partner, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, has threatened to leave the governing coalition if the war is not resumed next month. That would raise the likelihood of early elections in which Netanyahu could be voted out.Follow APs war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war TIA GOLDENBERG Goldenberg is an Associated Press reporter and producer covering Israel and the Palestinian territories. She previously reported on East and West Africa from Nairobi. twitter mailto