People from Christian and Muslim communities hold a demonstration to show their support with Pakistan Army, a day after the ceasefire between Indian and Pakistan, in Lahore, Pakistan, Sunday, May 11, 2025. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaduary)2025-05-11T09:09:08Z ISLAMABAD (AP) A ceasefire to end the conflict between India and Pakistan was shaken by overnight border fighting in the disputed Kashmir region.People on both sides of the Line of Control, which divides the territory, reported heavy exchanges of fire between Indian and Pakistani troops. The fighting subsided by Sunday morning.The two countries agreed to a truce a day earlier after talks to defuse the most serious military confrontation between them in decades following a gun massacre of tourists that India blames on Pakistan, which denies the charge.As part of the ceasefire, the nuclear-armed neighbors agreed to immediately stop all firing and military action on land, in the air and at sea. They accused each other of repeatedly violating the deal just hours later. Drones were spotted Saturday night over Indian-controlled Kashmir and the western state of Gujarat according to Indian officials. In the Poonch area of Indian-controlled Kashmir, people said the intense shelling from the past few days had traumatized them.Most people ran as shells were being fired, said college student Sosan Zehra who returned home Sunday. It was completely chaotic. In Pakistan-controlled Kashmirs Neelum Valley, which is three kilometers from the Line of Control, people said there were exchanges of fire and heavy shelling after the ceasefire began. Stay up to date with similar stories by signing up to our WhatsApp channel. Resident Mohammad Zahid said: We were happy about the announcement but, once again, the situation feels uncertain. U.S. President Donald Trump was the first to post about the deal, announcing it on his Truth Social platform. Indian and Pakistani officials confirmed the news shortly after.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting on Sunday with top government and military officials.India, unlike Pakistan, has not said anything about Trump or the U.S. since the deal was announced. Nor has India acknowledged anyone beyond its military contact with the Pakistanis. Both armies have engaged in daily fighting since Wednesday along the rugged and mountainous Line of Control, which is marked by razor wire coils, watchtowers and bunkers that snake across foothills populated by villages, tangled bushes and forests.They have routinely blamed the other for starting the skirmishes while insisting they were only retaliating.India and Pakistans two top military officials are due to speak again on Monday.____Hussain reported from Srinagar, India. AIJAZ HUSSAIN Hussain is a senior reporter for The Associated Press covering the Kashmir conflict, Indian politics and strategic affairs, and climate. He has worked for the AP for nearly two decades. twitter mailto

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Vatican clerks prepare the loggia ahead of Pope Leo XIV appearance at the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica for his first Sunday blessing after his election, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, May 11, 2025.(AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)2025-05-11T09:54:52Z VATICAN CITY (AP) Pope Leo XIV called for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine and an immediate ceasefire in Gaza with the release of hostages and delivery of humanitarian aid in his first Sunday noon blessing as pontiff. Never again war! Leo said from the loggia of St. Peters Basilica.Recalling the end of World War II 80 years ago, Leo quoted Pope Francis in denouncing the number of conflicts ravaging the globe today, saying it was a third world war in pieces.Leo also recalled that Sunday was Mothers Day in many countries and wished all mothers, including those in heaven a Happy Mothers Day.The crowd, filled with marching bands in town for a special Jubilee weekend, erupted in cheers and music as the bells of St. Peters Basilica tolled.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. APs earlier story follows below.VATICAN CITY (AP) Pope Leo XIV celebrated a private Mass on Sunday near the tomb of St. Peter, before he was to deliver his first Sunday noon blessing from the loggia of St. Peters Basilica. The Vatican said the pope was joined by the head of his Augustinian order, the Rev. Alejandro Moral Anton. The Mass occurred in the grottoes underneath St. Peters, the traditional burial place of St. Peter, the apostle who is considered the be the first pope. The area, which is normally open to the public, also contains the tombs of past popes, including Pope Benedict XVI. With still an hour to go before Leo was to appear to the public, St. Peters Square was filing up with pilgrims, well-wishers and the curious, joined by multiple marching bands that made grand entrances into the square.Leo on Saturday prayed before the tomb of Pope Francis, located across town at the St. Mary Major Basilica.The 69-year-old Chicago-born missionary was elected 267th pope on Thursday, the first American pope. He appeared to the world from the same loggia, offering a message of peace and unity.___Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. NICOLE WINFIELD Winfield has been on the Vatican beat since 2001, covering the papacies of St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and the Francis pontificate and traveling the world with them.

Reporters stand outside the residence of the Swiss ambassador to the United Nations where talks between U.S. Treasury Secretary, Americas top trade negotiator, and high-ranking Chinese officials are believed to be taking place, in Geneva, Switzerland, Saturday, May 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Jamey Keaten)2025-05-11T09:30:41Z GENEVA (AP) The U.S. and China on Sunday resumed crucial tariff talks that have put the global economy on edge, but appeared to have diverging views of where the negotiations presently stand. U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on social media that great progress was being made and even suggested a total reset was a possibility as the sides took their seats for the second and final scheduled day of discussions in Geneva. Beijing has yet to comment directly, but its official news agency took a tough approach, saying China will firmly reject any proposal that compromises core principles or undermines the broader cause of global equity. Still, Trump wrote Sunday on social media that great progress was being made. He gave no further details, and officials at the White House also offered little information during and after the opening day of discussions. Two officials speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter confirmed that the talks had resumed on Sunday morning.The discussions could help stabilize world markets roiled by the U.S.-China standoff that has ships in port with goods from China unwilling to unload until they get final word on tariffs. The discussions have been shrouded in secrecy, and neither side made comments to reporters as they left Saturday. In its editorial, Xinhua said, Talks should never be a pretext for continued coercion or extortion, and China will firmly reject any proposal that compromises core principles or undermines the broader cause of global equity. Stay up to date with similar stories by signing up to our WhatsApp channel. Several convoys of black vehicles have been seen coming and going from the residence of the Swiss ambassador to the U.N. delegation in Geneva, which hosted the talks aimed at de-escalating trade tensions between the worlds two biggest economies. Trump last month raised U.S. tariffs on China to a combined 145%, and China retaliated by hitting American imports with a 125% levy. Tariffs that high essentially amount to the countries boycotting each others products, disrupting trade that last year topped $660 billion. Even before talks got underway, Trump suggested Friday that the U.S. could lower its tariffs on China, saying in a Truth Social post that 80% Tariff seems right! Up to Scott! referring to lead negotiator and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.The talks mark the first time the sides have met face-to-face to discuss the issues. And though prospects for a breakthrough are slight, even a small drop in tariffs, particularly if taken simultaneously, would help restore some confidence. Negotiations to begin de-escalating the growing USChina trade war are badly needed and its a positive sign that both sides were able to gracefully move beyond their bickering over who had to call first, Jake Werner, director of the East Asia Program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said in an email. The tariff fight with China has been the most intense. Trumps tariffs on China include a 20% charge meant to pressure Beijing into doing more to stop the flow of the synthetic opioid fentanyl into the United States. The remaining 125% involve a dispute that dates back to Trumps first term and comes atop tariffs he levied on China back then, which means the total tariffs on some Chinese goods can exceed 145%.Chinas trade deficit, which came to a record $263 billion last year, has also been a major target of Trumps complaints. ___Bodeen reported from Taipei, Taiwan. JAMEY KEATEN Keaten is the chief Associated Press reporter in Geneva. He previously was posted in Paris and has reported from Afghanistan, the Middle East, North Africa and across Europe. twitter

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Clerics wave US flags during the speech of the newly elected Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican, Thursday, May 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)2025-05-11T11:43:27Z NEW YORK (AP) News that the global Catholic church would get its first-ever U.S.-born pope was welcomed by Catholics across the ideological spectrum in Pope Leo XIV s homeland, raising the question of whether he might be able to ease some of the deep divisions within its ranks.From U.S. Catholics to the left of the ideological center, there is optimism that Leo will carry on Pope Francis outreach to poor and marginalized people, including migrants, and provide a counterweight to policies of the Trump administration that distress them. To the right, there is hope the new pope will faithfully uphold Catholic doctrine, including opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage and womens ordination.One reason for optimism: The new pope has made clear in his remarks and his choice of a motto that unity within the global church will be a paramount priority. In these early days, hes still an empty vessel, said Steven Millies, a public theology professor at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. Until we all get to know him better, we can pour our expectations into him.Notre Dame Provost John McGreevy, a historian of Catholicism, said he was completely stunned after the papal announcement, having shared the conventional wisdom that a pope from the U.S. was a near-impossibility. But Leo is a global Catholic citizen, McGreevy said, citing the pontiffs time in Peru, at the Vatican and leading an international religious order.Even though hes an American, and were super proud that hes American, its hard to think of someone more embedded in a lot of the global church, he said. What will Pope Leos relation with U.S. Catholics be?Its too soon to tell what Leos relationship will be with his fellow American prelates and the broader U.S. Catholic Church, McGreevy cautioned.The early indications are that therell be some similarities to Pope Francis, he said suggesting that differences with conservative U.S. bishops could continue.McGreevy said he expects some tension between the Vatican and the White House over immigration and climate change, two of Francis key priorities that are likely to be reaffirmed by Leo.Chad Pecknold, a professor of systematic theology at the Catholic University of America, suggested that Francis either disliked or misunderstood the United States.With Leo XIV, its clear he not only loves America, but he even loves the White Sox, Pecknold said via email. That can only have a good effect, not only upon American Catholics, but also American bishops, and indeed, everyone. Its good to feel like the pope is on your side. During the latter years of Francis papacy, one of the most divisive issues among U.S. bishops was whether Catholic politicians who supported abortion rights including then-President Joe Biden and then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should be barred from receiving Communion.Francis stressed he would not reject politicians who support abortion rights and Biden received Communion during a visit to Rome in 2021.San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, who barred Pelosi from receiving Communion in the archdiocese, described Leo as a bridge builder. He will be a good force for unity in the church, Cordileone told KPIX-TV in San Francisco. Even with differences of opinion and different ideas of strategy and so forth, we can have unity in the church.U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican and outspoken abortion opponent, took heart from a homily delivered early this year by Leo when he was Cardinal Robert Prevost. The passage cited by Smith: Gods mercy calls us to protect every life, especially those society overlooks the child yet to be born and the elderly nearing their journeys end because each bears Christs face.Smith depicted this remark as underscoring the protection of the right to life as first among the many humanitarian responsibilities of the Church.The interim president of Catholics for Choice, which supports abortion rights, acknowledged that Leo opposes abortion and said the group would send him letters from Catholics who disagree with that stance.We are praying that he will be a pope guided by a commitment to peace, justice, and inclusion, said Chris Wimbush. The future of our church depends on greater inclusion and nuance on reproductive health decisions like abortion, contraception and IVF. Women and the churchFrancis, during his papacy, took major strides to give women more senior leadership positions in the church. But he upheld the ban on female priests and tamped down hopes that women could be ordained as deacons.Ellie Hidalgo of Discerning Deacons, which advocates for women deacons in the church, said she hopes Leo will support the churchs ongoing review of womens participation in ministry. A years-long Vatican process left open the contentious question of whether women should be ordained as deacons.Hidalgo, who lives in Miami, heard then-Cardinal Prevost speak in February when she was in Rome for a celebration of deacons.He was asking deacons to be humble in their service, Hidalgo said. I could tell just from meeting him that thats something he really values himself ... that you are to be of service and youre there in a posture of humility.The U.S.-based Womens Ordination Conference, which advocates for women to be accepted as priests, welcomed the inclusive tone of Leos initial remarks.His clear emphasis on bridge-building and dialogue offer WOC hope that Pope Leo XIV might be a leader who will also build bridges to Catholic women, the groups statement said. It envisioned a long-overdue day when women are recognized as equals in Christ.Called on by Pope FrancisFrancis, in many ways, saw Robert Prevost as a possible successor, assigning him to positions in Peru that bolstered his global resume and later calling him to the Vatican to oversee the influential office that vets bishop nominations.Francis was paying close attention to new U.S bishops, said Millies, the public theology professor. Prevost has been Francis man overseeing the careful selection of a different sort of bishop to fill important posts in the U.S.Millies said the top leadership of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops which was sometimes at odds with Francis remains relatively conservative.But in the ranks of bishops below them, the change has already happened, Millies said. They are men who are more pastoral than focused on doctrine. The election of Leo means we are firmly in a different era.Traditionally, the taboo against a U.S. pope reflected reluctance to give the worlds No. 1 superpower even more influence. That shouldnt be a concern with Leo, according to Austen Ivereigh, a British-based journalist and author of two books on the Francis papacy.If anybody thinks he (Leo) is going to take a different line from Francis on migration or climate change, theyre in for a surprise, Ivereigh said. Francis was putting into practice church teaching, and Leo will do the same.There was muted reaction to Leos election from Bishop Robert Strickland, who was ousted by Francis in 2023 from leadership of the Diocese of Tyler in Texas. Strickland had been a fierce critic of Francis and came to symbolize the polarization within the U.S. hierarchy.In social media posts after Leo assumed the papacy, Strickland expressed hope that he would faithfully uphold the sacred Scriptures and traditions known as the Deposit of Faith.With the heavy weight of the papacy now on his shoulders he needs our prayers, Strickland added.___Stanley reported from Washington. Associated Press journalists Nicole Winfield in Rome and Peter Smith in Pittsburgh contributed to this report.___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. DAVID CRARY Crary has headed APs 11-person Religion team since 2020. Among previous AP jobs, he was a foreign correspondent for 14 years, and has used that experience to bolster APs worldwide religion coverage. twitter mailto TIFFANY STANLEY Stanley is a reporter and editor on The Associated Press Global Religion team. She is based in Washington, D.C. twitter mailto

This image provided by King.com Limited shows the Candy Crush Saga video game. (King.com Limited via AP)2025-05-11T11:25:43Z LOS ANGELES (AP) Players swiping their way through more than 18,700 levels of Candy Crush Saga might be surprised to learn theyre solving puzzles designed with an assist from artificial intelligence.The app that helped make gamers out of anyone with a smartphone uses AI to help developers create levels to serve a captive audience constantly looking for more sweets to squash. King, the Swedish video game developer behind Candy Crush, also uses AI to update older levels to help ensure players dont feel bored, stuck or frustrated as they spend time with the game. Todd Green, general manager of the Candy Crush franchise, said using AI in that way helps free up developers time to create new puzzle boards. It would be extremely difficult, he said, for designers to update and reconfigure more than 18,000 levels without AI taking a first pass. Within the video game industry, discussions around the use of AI in game development run the gamut. Some game makers see AI as a tool that can assist with menial tasks, allowing designers and artists to focus on bigger projects. AI, they say, can help build richer worlds by creating more interactive non-player characters, for example. But there are also those who strongly oppose the use of AI, or who see the tech as a threat to their livelihoods be it as video game actors and performers, or as workers who help make games. Concerns over AI led game performers with the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists to go on strike in late July.Were not putting chatbots into the game. Were not putting AI-powered design experiences into the game for players directly to play with, Green said, adding that the tech is not being used to replace game workers. Instead, were trying to deploy AI on existing problems that we have in order to make the work of the teams faster or more accurate, and more accurate more quickly. In the United States, consumer spending on video game content increased to $51.3 billion in 2024, up from $49.8 billion in 2023, with mobile games accounting for about half of all video game content spending, according to data from the Entertainment Software Association trade group. Mobile is now the leading game platform among players aged 8 and older, the ESA says. Candy Crush first launched on Facebook in 2012 is constantly updating. King recently released its 300th client version of the game. Gaming giant Activision Blizzard acquired King in 2016 for $5.9 billion. The free-to-play game is in a unique position, said Joost Van Dreunen, author of One Up: Creativity, Competition, and the Global Business of Video Games. Candy Crush is more than a decade old, boasts millions of users and caters to a ravenous set of players, he said. Demand is so high for new content that it makes sense to use AI to offset the work it takes to create so many levels, Van Dreunen added.To supply that at scale, you absolutely can rely on a sort of artificial intelligence or generative AI to create the next set of forms, he said. The thing about Candy Crush is that every level is technically a single board that you have to solve or clear before you can advance. With AI and the existing library of human-made boards, it makes total sense to then accelerate and expand the efforts to just create more inventory. People play more levels. King uses AI to target two separate areas: developing new levels and going back to older levels, in some cases, puzzles that are several years old, and reworking them to ensure theyre still worth playing. On new levels designed for people who have played the game for a long time, the company wants to ensure the puzzles are fun on first contact. Thats hard for us to do, because we dont get the benefit of having many players test or play through the levels and give us feedback. We have to sort of try and pitch it right at first, he said. Theres a really important group for us in between people who maybe played before and perhaps took a break for a while, and then coming back because they saw or heard of or were curious about what might be new. Green said King uses AI as a behind-the-scenes assistant in the design loop of the game, rather than as a tool that immediately puts something new in front of players. Doing that for 1,000 levels all at once is very difficult by hand, he said. So the most important thing to understand here is that we are using AI as like a custom design.For most players, Green said, the fun in solving the puzzles lies in the up and down. Levels arent designed in order of difficulty. An easy level can follow a few difficult levels or vice versa to give the game a sense of variety. Leveraging AI means that instead of the team working on several hundred levels each week, they could potentially improve thousands of levels per week because theyre able to automate the drafting of the improved levels, he added. We talk to players all the time, he said. We also get the quantitative feedback. We can see how players respond to the levels... How easy are the levels? Do they get sort of stuck, or are they progressing in the way that we hope?To determine whether gamers and playing through the way the designers intended, King looks at several factors, including pass rate how many times a player passes a level out of every 100 attempts and how often a board is reshuffled, or refreshed with all candies rearranged. Some metrics are also intangible, like whether a level is simply fun. Its also, to some extent, obviously subjective, Green said. Its different for different people. SARAH PARVINI Parvini covers artificial intelligence for The Associated Press. She is based in Los Angeles. mailto

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Chris Rocheleau, acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, left, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, right, speak about a new air traffic control infrastructure plan, Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)2025-05-11T13:01:33Z Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy plans to reduce the number of flights in and out of the Newark Liberty International Airport for the next several weeks, as New Jerseys largest airport struggles with radar outages and other issues, including one Sunday, and flight delays and cancellations due to a shortage of air traffic controllers.Speaking on NBCs Meet the Press, Duffy said he will convene a meeting with all the airlines flying out of Newark this week to determine the reduction, adding that it will fluctuate, with a larger reduction coming in the afternoons when international flight arrivals make the airport busier.We want to have a number of flights that if you book your flight, you know its going to fly, right? he said. That is the priority. So you dont get to the airport, wait four hours, and then get delayed. The Federal Aviation Administration reported a telecommunications issue on Sunday at the facility in Philadelphia that directs planes in and out of Newark airport. The agency said in a statement that it briefly slowed aircraft in and out of the airport, while ensuring that redundancies were working as designed. Operations then returned to normal. That issue emerged two days after radar at the facility in Philadelphia went black for 90 seconds at 3:55 a.m. Friday, an episode that was similar to an incident on April 28. The FAA said in a statement last week that it slows the rate of arrivals into Newark to ensure safety when staffing or equipment issues occur. The agency noted that frequent equipment and telecommunications outages can be stressful, prompting some air traffic controllers to take time off to recover from the stress. While we cannot quickly replace them due to this highly specialized profession, we continue to train controllers who will eventually be assigned to this busy airspace, the FAA said in a May 5 statement. There has been an average of 34 arrival cancellations per day since mid-April at Newark, according to the FAA, with the number of delays increasing throughout the day from an average of five in the mornings to 16 by the evening. They tend to last 85 to 137 minutes on average.The Trump administration proposed a multibillion-dollar overhaul of the U.S. air traffic control system Thursday that includes six new air traffic control centers and technology and communications upgrades at all of the nations air traffic facilities over the next three or four years.Duffy said Sunday that he also plans to raise the mandatory retirement age for air traffic controllers from 56 to 61, as he tries to navigate a shortage of about 3,000 people in that specialized position.He plans to give those air traffic controllers a 20% upfront bonus to stay on the job. However, he says many air traffic controllers choose to retire after 25 years of service, which means many retire around the age of 50.These are not overnight fixes, Duffy said. But as we go up one, two years, older guys on the job, younger guys coming in, men and women we can make up that 3,000-person difference. Adding more air traffic controllers is in contrast to a top priority of the Trump administration slashing jobs in nearly all other federal agencies. However, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said on CBS Face the Nation that Duffy deserves credit for putting caution tape around FAA safety functions and separating those personnel from DOGE cost-cutting.Kirby said United has already reduced its schedule at Newark, and will meet with Duffy later this week. He expects a deeper cut in capacity to last until June 15 when construction to one of Newarks runways is expected to be complete, though he thinks some reductions will last throughout the summer.We have fewer flights, but we keep everything safe, and we get the airplane safely on the ground, Kirby said. Safety is number one, and so Im not worried about safety. I am worried about customer delays and impacts.

Hikers look up at a fast moving storm as it makes its way through Zion National Park outside of Springdale, Utah, July 22, 2013. (AP Photo/Sandy Huffaker, File)2025-05-11T16:41:17Z BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) Congressional Republicans say their plan to sell potentially hundreds of thousands of acres of federal land will generate revenue and ease growth pressures in booming Western cities. Yet without clear details on how it will work, skeptics worry it could be a giveaway for developers and mining companies and do little to ease the regions housing crisis.Legislation passed by the House Natural Resources Committee last week includes about 460,000 acres (186,155 hectares) in Nevada and Utah to be sold or transferred to local governments or private entities.The provision is part of a sweeping tax cut package and mirrors the Trump administrations view of most public lands as an asset to be used, not set aside for preservation.Who should control such sites has long been a burning source of disagreement in the West, where about half the acreage is under federal control and cities that sprawl across open landscapes face rising demand for housing, water and other necessities. The GOP plan is rekindling the fight and generating strong blowback from Democrats and conservationists. They see the measure as a precedent-setting move that would open the door to sales in other states. We have grave concerns that this is the camels nose under the tent, said Steve Bloch with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. If it can happen in Utah, if it can happen in Nevada, its not going to stay here. Its going to spread.Some Republicans also signaled opposition, setting up a political clash as the budget process moves forward. Good news for fast-growing Nevada cityThe majority of land in the House provision is in Nevada, including the counties that encompass Reno, Las Vegas and the fast-growing city of Fernley, according to maps released by the measures sponsors, Republican Reps. Mark Amodei of Nevada and Celeste Maloy of Utah. Fernley City Manager Benjamin Marchant said the opportunity to buy 12,000 acres (4850 hectares) of federal land at the edge of the community was good news. The city size tripled since its incorporation in 2001 and is expected to double again over the next decade, he said. There is hope to emerge as a technology hub, but Fernley needs space to grow.We cant even talk about projects when its federal land, Marchant said. We cant sell what we dont own, and this is the first step.Other parcels to be sold are farther from developed areas. They include sites bordering Zion National Park and tribal lands such as the Paiute Indian Tribe reservation in Utah and the Pyramid Lake Paiute reservation in Nevada.That means the tribe cant grow, said Mathilda Miller with Native Voters Alliance Nevada, an advocacy group for the states tribes that opposes the sales. They cant reclaim the land that was stolen from their tribe, and it brings development right up to their doorstep.Roughly 100,000 acres (40,500 hectares) in western Nevadas rural Pershing County could be sold to private companies with mining claims or mining infrastructure, according to Amodeis office. The legislation also requires federal parcels in that area to be exchanged for an equal amount of nonfederal land. Landlocked by federal holdingsMany of the communities near sale locations share a common theme: Their expansion is hemmed in by federal property, which makes up 80% of the land in Nevada and 63% in Utah. Some states in the Midwest and East have 1% or less federal land by comparison.Public parcels often are interspersed with private holdings in a checkerboard fashion that further complicates development efforts.Housing advocates caution that federal land is not universally suitable for affordable housing. Generally, the farther away the land is from cities and towns the more infrastructure is required roads, sewage, public transportation.Its a costly way to go because of the infrastructure needs, because of the time it will take, said Vicki Been of the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at New York University. Im not saying that theres no place on federal lands that would make sense, but one has to really look carefully. The Republican proposal seeks to identify suitable lands in coordination with local municipalities. That has left some concerned there arent enough assurances that the land, or enough land, will end up going to affordable housing.The devils in the details, said Tara Rollins, executive director of the Utah Housing Coalition. It could just be a land grab. There just needs to be a lot of checks and balances.A failed lawsuit to wrest controlThe wholesale transfer of federal lands to local or private entities is something many western conservatives have long sought. Republican officials in Utah last year filed a lawsuit last seeking to take over huge swathes of federal land in the state, but they were rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court. Twelve other states backed Utahs bid.There also are strong voices within the GOP against public land sales, notably Montana lawmakers Rep. Ryan Zinke, who was interior secretary in Trumps first term, and Sen. Steve Daines. Colorado Rep. Jeff Hurd was the lone Republican on the Natural Resources Committee to vote against the lands provision. The legislation would sell about 10,000 acres (4050 hectares) of land in two Utah counties. Maloy said it avoids areas that should be conserved and would help ease demand for housing and water, by creating space to build new homes and expand reservoir capacity.Smaller land sales are a common practice for the Interior Departments Bureau of Land Management.Not all federal lands have the same value, Maloy said. In both Democratic and Republican administrations, for decades, weve been disposing of appropriate lands in a manner thats consistent with what I propose to do here.___Bedayn reported from Denver and Daly from Washington, D.C. JESSE BEDAYN Bedayn is a statehouse reporter for The Associated Press based in Denver. He is a Report for America corps member. mailto MATTHEW DALY Daly covers climate, environment and energy policy for The Associated Press. He is based in Washington, D.C. twitter mailto

Lisa Brakel poses at the Bedford Branch Library in Temperance, Mich., Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)2025-05-11T11:39:47Z CHICAGO (AP) Growing up in the former Soviet Union, Pedro Spivakovsky-Gonzalezs father and grandparents would listen to Voice of America with their ears pressed to the radio, trying to catch words through the governments radio jamming.The U.S.-funded news service was instrumental in helping them understand what was happening on the other side of the Iron Curtain, before they moved to the United States in the 1970s.It was a window into another world, Spivakovsky-Gonzalez said. They looked to it as a sort of a beacon of freedom. They were able to imagine a different world from the one they were living in.When Spivakovsky-Gonzalez and his family heard of President Donald Trumps attempts to dismantle the U.S. Agency for Global Media the agency that oversees VOA, Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia - he said it was a gut punch. The first months of the second Trump administration have delivered blow after blow to American efforts to promote democracy abroad and pierce the information wall of authoritarian governments through programs that had been sustained over decades by presidents of both political parties. The new administration has decimated the Agency for Global Media, restructured the State Department to eliminate a global democracy office and gutted the U.S. Agency for International Development, which just last year launched an initiative to try to halt democratic backsliding across the globe. In all, the moves represent a retrenchment from the U.S. role in spreading democracy beyond its borders. Experts say the moves will create a vacuum for promoting freedom and representative government, and could accelerate what many see as anti-democratic trends around the world.The United States has historically been the leading power in spreading democracy globally. Despite different administrations, that has remained the case - until now, said Staffan Lindberg, a political science professor at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. Targeting a broad swath of democracy and civil society initiativesDavid Salvo, managing director for the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund, said promoting democracy abroad has been a pillar of American foreign policy in the last 50 years as a means of ensuring more stable, peaceful relationships with other countries, reducing the threat of conflict and war, and fostering economic cooperation.Yet among Trumps early actions was targeting democracy programs through the State Department and USAID, which had launched a new global democracy initiative at the tail end of Democrat Joe Bidens presidency. The Treasury Department halted funding to the National Endowment for Democracy, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in April he would shutter a State Department office that had a mission to build more democratic, secure, stable, and just societies.Funding cuts have hit the National Democratic Institute, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems and U.S. nonprofits that have worked for decades to inject resources into environments so that civil society and democratic actors can try to effect change for the better, including through bolstering unstable democracies against autocrats, Salvo said. Whether global democracy programs are worth funding was central to a hearing Thursday held by a U.S. House Foreign Affairs subcommittee as Rep. Maria Salazar, R-Fla., repeatedly asked how to ensure our return on investment is really high.About 1.2% of the federal budget went to foreign aid in the 2023 fiscal year, according to the Pew Research Center.I understand the committee is interested in how we can improve ... and get back to basics, Tom Malinowski, a former Democratic congressman from New Jersey and assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor under President Barack Obama, told lawmakers. The problem is the administration is eliminating the basics right now.Uzra Zeya, who leads the international nonprofit Human Rights First after serving in the Biden State Department, said it was heartbreaking and alarming to watch the U.S. essentially dismantle its democracy and human rights programs.The potential long-term impacts are devastating for U.S. national security and prosperity, she said. Diminishing the messaging pipelines for freedomFor more than 80 years, VOA and its related outlets have delivered news across the world, including to more than 427 million people every week in 49 languages, according to a 2024 internal report. The broadcaster began during World War II to provide Germans with news, even as Nazi officials attempted to jam its signals. The Soviet Union and China attempted to silence its broadcasts during the Cold War. Iranian and North Korean governments have also tried to block access to VOA for decades.But the most successful attempt to silence VOA has been through its own government. It was effectively shut down in March through an executive order.Lisa Brakel, a 66-year-old retired librarian in Temperance, Michigan, said VOA was a mainstay when she was a music teacher in Kuwait in the 1980s. She and her colleagues would listen together in the apartment complex where the American teachers were housed, using it as a way to stay up-to-date with U.S. news.When I saw the news, I thought, No, they cant shut this down. Too many people depend on that, Brakel said. As a librarian, any cuts to free access to information deeply concern me.Cuts will likely embolden US competitorsThe broadcasters future remains in flux after a federal appellate court paused a ruling that would have reversed its dismantling. This was just a day after journalists were told they would soon return to work after being off the air for almost two months. Even if they are allowed back, its not clear the mission would be the same. This past week, the Trump administration agreed to use the conservative and heavily pro-Trump media network OANs feed on VOA and other services.In Asia, dismantling Radio Free Asia would mean losing the worlds only independent Uyghur language news service, closing the Asia Fact Check Lab as it reports on misinformation from the Chinese Community Party, and curbing access to information in countries such as China, North Korea and Myanmar that lack free and independent media, the broadcasters president, Bay Fang, said in a statement.Their invaluable work is part of RFAs responsibility to uphold the truth so that dictators and despots dont have the last word, Fang wrote in May in The New York Times.Experts who monitor global democracy said the information gap created by the administration will embolden U.S. competitors such as Russia and China, which already are at work trying to shape public opinion.Barbara Wejnert, a political sociologist at the University at Buffalo, who studies global democracies, said diplomatic efforts through U.S. broadcasters and democracy nonprofits helped precipitate a rapid increase in democratizing countries in the late 20th century.Especially today when the truth is distorted and people dont trust governments, spreading the notion of freedom and democracy through media is even more vital, she said.___The Associated Pressreceives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about APs democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content. CHRISTINE FERNANDO Fernando is a democracy reporter covering misinformation, reproductive rights and state supreme courts for The Associated Press. twitter mailto

A 13-year-old private Boeing aircraft that President Donald Trump toured on Saturday to check out new hardware and technology features, and highlight the aircraft maker's delay in delivering updated versions of the Air Force One presidential aircraft, takes off from Palm Beach International Airport, Feb. 16, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)2025-05-11T15:35:18Z WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump reportedly is set to accept a luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet as a gift from the ruling family of Qatar during his trip to the Middle East this coming week, and U.S. officials could convert the plane into a potential presidential aircraft.ABC News reported that Trump will use the plane as a new version of Air Force One until shortly before he leaves office in January 2029, when ownership will be transferred to the foundation overseeing his yet-to-be-built presidential library. The gift is expected to be announced when Trump visits Qatar as part of a trip that also includes stops in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the first extended foreign travel of his second term. The Qatari government did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday night. Administration officials, anticipating questions about the president accepting such a large gift from a foreign government, have prepared an analysis arguing that doing so would be legal, according to ABC. The Constitutions Emoluments Clause, Article I, Section 9, Clause 8, bars anyone holding government office from accepting any present, emolument, office or title from any King, Prince, or foreign State, without congressional consent. Trump intends to convert the Qatari aircraft into a plane he can fly on as president, with the Air Force planning to add secure communications and other classified elements to it. But it will still have more limited capabilities than the existing planes that were built to serve as Air Force One, as well as two other aircraft currently under construction, according to a former U.S. official who was briefed about the plane and spoke Sunday on the condition of anonymity to discuss plans that have not yet been made public. The existing planes used as Air Force One are heavily modified with survivability capabilities for the president for a range of contingencies, including radiation shielding and antimissile technology. They also include a variety of communications systems to allow the president to remain in contact with the military and issue orders from anywhere in the world. The official told The Associated Press that it would be possible to quickly add some countermeasures and communications systems to the Qatari plane, but that it would be less capable than the existing Air Force One aircraft or long-delayed replacements.Neither the Qatari plane nor the upcoming VC-25B aircraft will have the air-to-air refueling capabilities of the current VC-25A aircraft, which is the one the president currently flies on, the official said.Air Force One is a modified Boeing 747. Two exist and the president flies on both, which are more than 30 years old. Boeing Inc. has the contract to produce updated versions, but delivery has been delayed while the company has lost billions of dollars on the project.Delivery has been pushed to some time in 2027 for the first plane and in 2028 Trumps final full year in office for the second.ABC said the new plane is similar to a 13-year-old Boeing aircraft Trump toured in February, while it was parked at Palm Beach International Airport and he was spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago club. Trumps family business, the Trump Organization, which is now largely run by his sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, has vast and growing interests in the Middle East. That includes a new deal to build a luxury golf resort in Qatar, partnering with Qatari Diar, a real estate company backed by that countrys sovereign wealth fund. Qatar, which is ruled by the Al Thani family, is home to the state-owned airline Qatar Airways. The country also has worked to have a close relationship to Trump after he apparently backed a boycott of Doha by four Arab nations in his first term. Trump later in his term applauded Qatar.Administration officials have brushed off concerns about the presidents policy interests blurring with familys business profits. They note that Trumps assets are in a trust managed by his children and that a voluntary ethics agreement released by the Trump Organization in January bars the company from striking deals directly with foreign governments. But that same agreement allows deals with private companies abroad. That is a departure from Trumps first term, when the organization released an ethics pact prohibiting both foreign government and foreign company deals.White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, when asked Friday if the president during his upcoming trip might meet with people ties to his familys business, said it was ridiculous to suggest Trump is doing anything for his own benefit.___Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report. ZEKE MILLER Miller leads coverage of the president and the presidency for The Associated Press. He is based in Washington. twitter mailto WILL WEISSERT Weissert covers the White House for The Associated Press. He is based in Washington. twitter mailto

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