New signage, The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts, is unveiled on the Kennedy Center, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)2025-12-30T15:28:55Z More artists have canceled scheduled performances at the Kennedy Center following the addition of President Donald Trumps name to the facility, with jazz supergroup The Cookers pulling out of a planned New Years Eve concert, and the institutions president saying the cancellations belie the artists unwillingness to see their music as crossing lines of political disparity.The fresh round of cancellations after Trump put his name of the building follows an earlier artist backlash in spring. After Trump ousted the Kennedy Center board and named himself the institutions chairman in February, performer Issa Rae and the producers of Hamilton cancelled scheduled engagements while musicians Ben Folds and Renee Flaming stepped down from advisory roles. The Cookers, a jazz supergroup performing together for nearly two decades, announced their withdrawal from A Jazz New Years Eve on their website, saying the decision has come together very quickly and acknowledging frustration from those who may have planned to attend. The group didnt mention the buildings renaming or the Trump administration but did say that, when they return to performing, they wanted to ensure that the room is able to celebrate the full presence of the music and everyone in it, reiterating a commitment to playing music that reaches across divisions rather than deepening them. The group may not have addressed the Kennedy Center situation directly, but one of its members has. On Saturday, saxophone player Billy Harper said in comments posted on the Jazz Stage Facebook page that he would never even consider performing in a venue bearing a name (and being controlled by the kind of board) that represents overt racism and deliberate destruction of African American music and culture. The same music I devoted my life to creating and advancing. According to the White House, Trumps handpicked board approved the renaming. Harper said both the board, as well as the name displayed on the building itself represents a mentality and practices I always stood against. And still do, today more than ever. Richard Grenell, a Trump ally whom the president chose to head the Kennedy Center after he forced out the previous leadership, posted Monday night on X that The artists who are now canceling shows were booked by the previous far left leadership, intimating the bookings were made under the Biden administration. In a statement to The Associated Press, Grenell said Tuesday the last minute cancellations prove that they were always unwilling to perform for everyone even those they disagree with politically, adding that the Kennedy Center had been flooded with inquiries from real artists willing to perform for everyone and who reject political statements in their artistry.There was no immediate word from Kennedy Center officials if the entity would pursue legal action against the group, as Grenell said it would after musician Chuck Redd canceled a Christmas Eve performance. Following that withdrawal, in which Redd cited the Kennedy Center renaming, Grenell said he would seek $1 million in damages for what he called a political stunt. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, and Congress passed a law the following year naming the center as a living memorial to him. Scholars have said any changes to the buildings name would need congressional approval; the law explicitly prohibits the board of trustees from making the center into a memorial to anyone else, and from putting another persons name on the buildings exterior.___Associated Press writers Steven Sloan and Hillel Italie contributed to this report. MEG KINNARD Kinnard covers national politics for The Associated Press. She lives in South Carolina. twitter instagram mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

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WASHINGTONClaiming that his longstanding interest in the arts made him a perfect fit for the role, President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he had appointed himself to the divine muses. Many are saying these nine inspirational goddesses have become beholden to DEI and woke ideology, so Im ascending Mount Helicon as a muse to make sure literature, science, and music continue to serve the American people, Trump said during a press conference, adding that in his position as the 10th muse, he would embody the practices of pastoral poetry and late-night posting sprees on Truth Social. Buskin-shod Melpomene must be doing very well, because its a tragedy whats happened to the muses. Calliope is turning epic poetry into a Marxist nightmare, and Terpsichore, its so sad what shes doing to chorus and dance, isnt it, folks? And what happened to Euterpe? Good old Euterpe, we loved Euterpe. But the flutes now, theyre terrible, so were going in and fixing it. I actually had a great relationship with the Titaness Mnemosyne in the 1980s, and she used to say, Donald, we need someone like you in the muses to keep my daughters in line. So its happening. Im in charge, and together were going to make Boeotia great again. At press time, Trump had reportedly been transformed into a magpie after boasting that the Kennedy Center could stage a production of The Phantom Of The Opera more beautifully than the nine original muses.The post Trump Appoints Self To Divine Muses appeared first on The Onion.

Caroline Kennedy, ambassador of the United States to Australia, left, arrives with her husband, Edwin Schlossberg, center left, and her children, Tatiana Schlossberg, center right, and Jack Schlossberg, right, Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, before the presentation ceremony for the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)2025-12-30T19:28:31Z Environmental journalist Tatiana Schlossberg, one of three grandchildren of the late President John F. Kennedy, has died. She was 35.Schlossberg, daughter of Kennedys daughter, Caroline Kennedy, and Edwin Schlossberg, revealed she had terminal cancer in a November 2025 essay in The New Yorker. A family statement disclosing her death was posted on social media Tuesday by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.Our beautiful Tatiana passed away this morning. She will always be in our hearts, the statement said. It did not disclose a cause of death or say where she had died.Schlossberg was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in May 2024 at 34. After the birth of her second child, her doctor noticed her white blood cell count was high. It turned out to be acute myeloid leukemia with a rare mutation, mostly seen in older people.In the essay, A Battle With My Blood, Schlossberg recounted going through rounds of chemotherapy and two stem cell transplants and participating in clinical trials. During the most recent trial, she wrote, her doctor told her he could keep me alive for a year, maybe. Schlossberg also criticized policies pushed by her mothers cousin, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in the essay, saying policies he backed could hurt cancer patients like her. Her mother had urged senators to reject his confirmation. As I spent more and more of my life under the care of doctors, nurses, and researchers striving to improve the lives of others, I watched as Bobby cut nearly a half billion dollars for research into mRNA vaccines, technology that could be used against certain cancers, the essay reads. Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel. Follow on Schlossberg had worked as a reporter covering climate change and the environment for The New York Times Science section. Her 2019 book Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Dont Know You Have won the Society of Environmental Journalists Rachel Carson Environment Book Award in 2020. Schlossberg wrote in The New Yorker essay that she feared her daughter and son wouldnt remember her. She felt cheated and sad that she wouldnt get to keep living the wonderful life she had with her husband, George Moran. While her parents and two siblings tried to hide their pain from her, she said she felt it every day. Her siblings, Rose and Jack Schlossberg, are JFKs other grandchildren. For my whole life, I have tried to be good, to be a good student and a good sister and a good daughter, and to protect my mother and never make her upset or angry, she said. Now I have added a new tragedy to her life, to our familys life, and theres nothing I can do to stop it.Schlossbergs mother Caroline was 5 years old when her father, President Kennedy, was assassinated in Dallas in 1963. She was 10 when her uncle, Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated in Los Angeles in 1968 while he was running for president. Carolines brother, John F. Kennedy Jr., died in 1999 when the single-engine plane he was piloting plunged into the Atlantic Ocean, near Marthas Vineyard, Massachusetts. His wife, Carolyn, and her sister, Lauren Bessette, also died in the crash.___Levy reported from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Brumfield from Cockeysville, Maryland. MARC LEVY Levy covers politics and state government in Pennsylvania for The Associated Press. He is based in Harrisburg. twitter

Kilmar Abrego Garcia and his wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura leave the United States District Court District of Maryland, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in Greenbelt, Md. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)2025-12-30T19:23:54Z NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) A newly unsealed order in the criminal case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia reveals that high-level Justice Department officials pushed for his indictment, calling it a top priority, only after he was mistakenly deported and then ordered returned to the U.S. Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty in federal court in Tennessee to charges of human smuggling. He is seeking to have the case dismissed on the grounds that the prosecution is vindictive a way for President Donald Trumps administration to punish him for the embarrassment of his mistaken deportation.To support that argument, he has asked the government to turn over documents that reveal how the decision was made to prosecute him in 2025 for an incident that occurred in 2022. On Dec. 3, U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw filed an order under seal that compelled the government to provide some documents to Abrego Garcia and his attorneys. That order was unsealed on Tuesday and sheds new light on the case. Earlier, Crenshaw found that there was some evidence that the prosecution of Abrego Garcia could be vindictive. He specifically cited a statement by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on a Fox News program that seemed to suggest that the Department of Justice charged Abrego Garcia because he had won his wrongful deportation case. Rob McGuire, who was the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee until late December, argued that those statements were irrelevant because he alone made the decision to prosecute, and he has no animus against Abrego Garcia. In the newly unsealed order, Crenshaw writes, Some of the documents suggest not only that McGuire was not a solitary decision-maker, but he in fact reported to others in DOJ and the decision to prosecute Abrego may have been a joint decision.DOJ officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The human smuggling charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee where Abrego Garcia was pulled over for speeding. There were nine passengers in the car, and state troopers discussed the possibility of human smuggling among themselves. However, he was ultimately allowed to leave with only a warning. The case was turned over to Homeland Security Investigations, but there is no record of any effort to charge him until April 2025, according to court records. The order does not give a lot of detail on what is in the documents that were turned over to Abrego Garcia, but it shows that Aakash Singh, who works under Blanche in the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, contacted McGuire about Abrego Garcias case on April 27, the same day that McGuire received a file on the case from Homeland Security Investigations. That was several days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Abrego Garcias favor on April 10. On April 30, Singh said in an email to McGuire that the prosecution was a top priority for the Deputy Attorney Generals Office, according to the order. Singh and McGuire continued to communicate about the prosecution. On May 15, McGuire emailed his staff that Blanche would like Garcia charged sooner rather than later, Crenshaw writes. On May 18, Singh wrote to McGuire and others to hold the draft indictment until they got clearance to file it. The implication is that clearance would come from the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, Crenshaw writes. A hearing on the motion to dismiss the case on the basis of vindictive prosecution is scheduled for Jan. 28. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

This combination of undated images provided by Hardman for Iowa and Lucas Loftin on Friday, Dec. 26, 2205, shows Democrat Renee Hardman and Republican Lucas Loftin, who are running against each other in the special election for the state Senate seat representing parts of Des Moines suburbs. (Hardman for Iowa, Lucas Loftin via AP)2025-12-30T05:04:22Z DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Some Iowans are ringing in 2026 with a special election on the final Tuesday of the year, casting ballots for a state senator in a race that offers Republicans an opportunity to reclaim two-thirds control of the chamber.Democrat Renee Hardman faces Republican Lucas Loftin in the election for the state Senate seat representing parts of Des Moines suburbs. The seat is vacant after the Oct. 6 death of state Sen. Claire Celsi, a Democrat.Flipping the seat would give Republicans supermajority status once again, just months after a Democrat flipped a Republican seat in an August special election, giving Democrats 17 seats to Republicans 33. Celsis death left the Democratic caucus at 16.Senate Republicans left Des Moines last spring with a supermajority, which allows the party to easily confirm Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds appointments to state agencies and commissions. A Hardman win in Tuesdays election would limit Republicans power in the Senate as lawmakers prepare to return to Des Moines for the 2026 legislative session. Without a supermajority, Republicans would have to rely on support from at least one Democrat to approve Reynolds nominees. Democrats outnumber Republicans in the district by about 3,300 voters, 37% to 30%, but a holiday week special election may prove more volatile.About a third of registered voters in the district are affiliated with another party or register without a political party. Celsi won her 2024 reelection bid against a Libertarian competitor with 69% of the district electorate. But she earned a smaller majority of voters in 2022 58% against a Republican, who earned 42% of the vote. That was similar to the share Republican President Donald Trump received in the district last year.Hardman, who would be the first Black woman elected to the Iowa state Senate, is the CEO of nonprofit Lutheran Services of Iowa and a member of the West Des Moines City Council. Loftin, who started as a tree trimmer for Wright Service Corp. in 2007, has since transitioned to software and data project management for the environmental services company.___Schoenbaum reported from Salt Lake City. HANNAH FINGERHUT Fingerhut is a government and politics reporter based in Des Moines, Iowa. mailto HANNAH SCHOENBAUM Schoenbaum is a government and politics reporter based in Salt Lake City, Utah. She also covers general news in the Rockies and LGBTQ+ rights policies in U.S. statehouses. twitter mailto

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Children watch television at ABC Learning Center in Minneapolis, Minn., on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave)2025-12-31T21:13:16Z The Trump administration has said it is freezing child care funds to all states until they provide more verification and administrative data about the programs in a move fueled by a series of fraud schemes at Minnesota day care centers run by Somali residents.All 50 states will be impacted by the review, but the Republican administration is focusing most of its ire on the blue state of Minnesota. Minnesota Democratic Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement Wednesday that he was exploring all our legal options to ensure that critical childcare services do not get abruptly slashed based on pretext and grandstanding.Minnesota will face additional hurdles to restart child care funding by needing to provide even more verification for child care centers in the state that are suspected of fraud. The administration is also calling for an audit of some Minnesota child care centers after a series of fraud schemes involving government programs in the state in recent years. It is unclear how much more robust the verification process for states will be than it was before the new measures were implemented. Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim ONeill called it a response to blatant fraud that appears to be rampant in Minnesota and across the country in a social media post announcing the change on Tuesday. Officials are also requiring all states to provide additional verification to get child care funds.Here are some things to know about these moves: More verification needed for all states to get child care fundsAll 50 states will have to provide additional levels of verification and administrative data before they receive more funding from the Child Care and Development Fund, according to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson. However, before Minnesota can receive child care funds again, it will have to provide even more verification for child care centers in that state that are suspected of fraud, such as attendance and licensing records, past enforcement actions and inspection reports.In his post on Tuesday, ONeill said all Administration for Children and Families payments nationwide would require justification and a receipt or photo evidence before money is sent, but the HHS spokesperson said Wednesday that the additional verifications only apply to CCDF payments. Walz says Trump is politicizing the issue Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, said in a social media post that fraudsters are a serious issue that the state has spent years cracking down on but that this move is part of Trumps long game.Hes politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans, Walz said.State Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy condemned the move in a statement Wednesday.Republicans are playing sick games and winning devastating prizes, Murphy said. And now, tens of thousands of Minnesota families will pay the price as Donalds Trumps agents strip away crucial funding. Our day care system is already stressed; this reckless decision could force a collapse that affects all of us. Fraud investigations could stretch to other programs, statesThe administration launched efforts in recent weeks to track down fraud in other programs in Minnesota and is looking at fraud in other states. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an interview with Fox & Friends on Wednesday that the administration is considering similar fraud investigations in other blue states, such as California and New York.The administration will continue to send officers to investigate potential fraud sites in Minnesota and deport undocumented immigrants, Leavitt said, adding that the Department of Homeland Security is considering plans to denaturalize citizens.The Department of Labor is also investigating the states unemployment insurance program, Leavitt said. The administration this month threatened to withhold SNAP food aid funding from Democratic-controlled states, including Minnesota, unless they provide information about people receiving assistance. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins in December sent Minnesota a letter threatening to disqualify it from SNAP and cut funding unless it recertified the eligibility for over 100,000 households and interviewed them in-person within 30 days, according to a lawsuit filed by Minnesotas attorney general, who Leavitt criticized. Attention focused on MinnesotaThe announcement came a day after U.S. Homeland Security officials conducted a fraud investigation in Minneapolis, questioning workers at unidentified businesses. Trump has criticized Walzs administration over the cases, capitalizing on them to target the Somali diaspora in the state, which has the largest Somali population in the U.S.In his post Tuesday, ONeill, who is serving as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, referenced a right-wing influencer who posted a video last week claiming he found that day care centers operated by Somali residents in Minneapolis had committed up to $100 million in fraud. Meanwhile, there are concerns about harassment that home-based day care providers and members of the Somali community nationwide might face amid the vitriol, including Trumps comments earlier this month, referring to Somali immigrants as garbage. Washington state Attorney General Nick Brown released a statement about home-based day care providers being harassed and accused of fraud, saying, Showing up on someones porch, threatening, or harassing them isnt an investigation. Neither is filming minors who may be in the home. CHARLOTTE KRAMON Kramon covers government and politics from Atlanta. She is a Report for America corps member. twitter mailto

President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)2025-12-31T17:16:21Z WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump issued the first vetoes of his second term on Tuesday, rejecting two low-profile bipartisan bills, a move that had the effect of punishing backers who had opposed the presidents positions on other issues.Trump vetoed drinking water pipeline legislation from Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, a longtime ally who broke with the president in November to release files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He also vetoed legislation that would have given the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida more control of some of its tribal lands. The tribe was among groups suing the administration over an immigration detention center in the Everglades known as " Alligator Alcatraz.Both bills had bipartisan support and had been noncontroversial until the White House announced Trumps vetoes Tuesday night. Trump appeared to acknowledge the tribes opposition to the detention facility in a letter to Congress explaining his veto. The Miccosukee Tribe has actively sought to obstruct reasonable immigration policies that the American people decisively voted for when I was elected, Trump wrote. Trump did not allude to Boebert in his veto of her legislation, but raised concerns about the cost of the water pipeline at the heart of that bill. Boebert, one of four House Republicans who sided with House Democrats early on to force the release of the Epstein files, shared a statement on social media suggesting that the veto may have been political retaliation. I sincerely hope this veto has nothing to do with political retaliation for calling out corruption and demanding accountability. Americans deserve leadership that puts people over politics, her statement said. Boebert added in another post: This isnt over.The Florida legislation had been sponsored by Republican Rep. Carlos Gimenez, whom Trump has endorsed. Gimenez and the Miccosukee Tribe were not immediately available for comment on Wednesday. When asked whether the vetoes were punishment, the White House did not answer and instead referred to Trumps statements explaining the vetoes.Congress can override the vetoes by a vote of two-thirds of the members of the House and the Senate, but its unclear if theres enough support in the Republican-controlled chambers to do so, especially heading into a midterm election year where many of them will be on the ballot and many GOP members will count on Trumps backing.Boeberts legislation, the Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act, aimed to improve access to clean drinking water in eastern Colorado. While the congresswoman has long been a staunch supporter of Trump, she found herself at odds with the president with her support this year for legislation that required the Justice Department to release files related to Epstein.Trump fought the proposal before reversing in the face of growing Republican support for releasing the files. Members of his administration even met with Boebert in the White House Situation Room to discuss the matter, though she didnt change her mind. Republican Rep. Jeff Hurd of Colorado, who co-sponsored the legislation, said he was deeply disappointed by Trumps veto. This was a bipartisan, unanimous bill passed by Congress to uphold a long-standing federal commitment to southeastern Colorado, Hurd said in a statement. He said the legislation did not authorize any new construction spending or expand the federal governments original commitment to the pipeline project, but adjusted the terms of repaying its costs.___Kinnard reported from Chapin, South Carolina. MICHELLE L. PRICE Price covers the White House. She previously covered the 2024 presidential campaign and politics, government and other news in New York, Nevada, Utah and Arizona. She is based in Washington. twitter mailto MEG KINNARD Kinnard covers national politics for The Associated Press. She lives in South Carolina. twitter instagram mailto

President Donald Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House, on April 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)2025-12-31T13:48:40Z President Donald Trump made a lot of tariff threats and trade promises this year. Many materialized into a barrage of new import taxes that overturned decades of U.S. economic policy but others have yet to be fulfilled as 2025 comes to a close.Some of Trumps unrealized threats reflect a broader approach from a president with a track record of using sky-high levies to pressure other countries into new trade deals, one-up retaliatory measures or even punish political critics. At the same time, they arrived as growing list of tariffs did go into effect from Trumps punishing new taxes on imported metals, to tit-for-tat levies with top U.S. trading partners like China plunging consumers and businesses worldwide into uncertainty.Heres what Trump said when announcing some of his biggest (but still unrealized) tariff threats and promises this year, and where things stand today. External Revenue ServiceIn his words: 1. Trump in a Jan. 14 social media post: For far too long, we have relied on taxing our Great People using the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) ... We will begin charging those that make money off of us with Trade, and they will start paying, FINALLY, their fair share. January 20, 2025, will be the birth date of the External Revenue Service.2. Trump in his Jan. 20 inaugural address: We are establishing the External Revenue Service to collect all tariffs, duties, and revenues. It will be massive amounts of money pouring into our Treasury, coming from foreign sources.What happened: The External Revenue Service has yet to be established as of the end of December. While administration officials continued to reiterate plans for launching the External Revenue Service during Trumps first months back in office, the entity does not yet exist. 200% tariff on European wine, Champagne and spirits In his words:3. Trump in a March 13 social media post: The European Union, one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the World, which was formed for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the United States, has just put a nasty 50% Tariff on Whisky. If this Tariff is not removed immediately, the U.S. will shortly place a 200% Tariff on all WINES, CHAMPAGNES, & ALCOHOLIC PRODUCTS COMING OUT OF FRANCE AND OTHER E.U. REPRESENTED COUNTRIES.What happened: The EUs planned levy on American whiskey which it unveiled as part of broader retaliation in response to Trumps new steel and aluminum tariffs was postponed, with the latest delay reportedly running until at least February. Trumps 200% tariff threat on European alcohol never materialized. But spirits were not included in the EU-U.S. trade deal struck over the summer, which set a 15% rate on most European imports. 100% tariff on foreign-made filmsIn his words:4. Trump in a May 4 social media post: The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death ... I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.5. Trump in a Sept. 29 social media post: Our movie making business has been stolen from the United States of America, by other Countries, just like stealing candy from a baby ... I will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any and all movies that are made outside of the United States.What happened: Despite Trumps repeated threats, the U.S. has yet to impose a 100% tariff on foreign films. After his initial May promise to initiate the process, the White House said no final decision had been made. Also still unclear is how the U.S. would tax a movie made overseas. Tariffs on pharmaceutical drugsIn his words:6. Trump in a Cabinet meeting on July 8: Well be announcing something very soon on pharmaceuticals. Were going to give people about a year, a year and a half, to come in. And after that, theyre going to be tariffed ... Theyre going to be tariffed at a very, very high rate, like 200 percent.7. Trump in a Sept. 25 social media post: Starting October 1st, 2025, we will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any branded or patented Pharmaceutical Product, unless a Company IS BUILDING their Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plant in America.What happened: The president did not sign an executive order imposing a 100% tariff on pharma products on Oct. 1 and, as of today, no levy has been put into place. But Trump previously suggested that steep levies on pharmaceutical drugs could arrive further down the road, telling CNBC in August that he would start by charging a small tariff and potentially raise the rate as high as 250%. Meanwhile, trade agreements with specific countries set their own rates or exemptions with the U.K., for example, securing a 0% tariff on all British medicine exported to the U.S. for three years. The administration also announced deals with specific companies with promises of lower drug prices.100% tariff on computer chipsIn his words: 8. Trump on August 6: Well be putting a tariff of approximately 100% on chips and semiconductors ... But if youre building in the United States of America, theres no charge.What happened: A sweeping 100% on computer chips has yet to go into effect. When announcing his plans to impose the levy back in August, Trump was not specific about the timing. And other details have remained scarce.$2,000 tariff dividendIn his words:9. Trump in a Nov. 9 social media post: People that are against Tariffs are FOOLS! ... A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone.What happened: Details about how, when and if a tariff dividend will reach Americans are still scarce. Budget experts have said that the math doesnt add up. And Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested that it might not mean checks from the government. Instead, Bessent told ABC in November, the rebate might take the form of tax cuts. White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett also told CBS News that its up to Congress. WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS Grantham-Philips is a business reporter who covers trending news for The Associated Press. She is based in New York. twitter mailto

Flight officer Rayan Gharazeddine scans the water in the southern Indian Ocean off Australia from a Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion during a search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 on March 22, 2014. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith, File)wld2025-12-31T11:57:42Z HANOI, Vietnam (AP) A deep-sea search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 began in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday, reviving efforts to solve one of aviations greatest mysteries more than a decade after the jet vanished with 239 people on board.Malaysias Transport Ministry said Wednesday that a search vessel, the Armada 86 05, arrived at a designated search area with two autonomous underwater vehicles. The location of the search area was not disclosed in the statement. It said the vessel had prepared for the search in Fremantle Port in Western Australia.The government did not specifically mention Ocean Infinity, the company that helmed a previous search and had long been slated to lead the new one. But the craft that the government specified by number has been widely identified by maritime and aviation websites as belonging to Ocean Infinity. Earlier in December, the Malaysian government said that the Texas-based marine robotics firm would begin searching targeted areas of the seabed under a renewed no-find, no-fee agreement. Ocean Infinity has confirmed it was resuming the search for MH370 but refused to comment further, citing the important and sensitive nature of the operation. Ocean Infinity previously searched the seabed in 2018, under a similar contract but found no trace of the plane. The company has said it has since upgraded its technology and refined its analysis. Its CEO Oliver Plunkett said last year the firm was working with multiple experts and had narrowed the search zone to what it believes is the most probable crash site. Earlier this year, Ocean Infinity briefly restarted seabed search operations in a new 15,000-square-kilometer (5,800-square-mile) area of the southern Indian Ocean after receiving approval from Malaysia, but the effort was suspended in April because of poor weather. The Malaysia Airlines plane disappeared from radar shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on March 8, 2014. Satellite data later showed the aircraft veered from its planned route and flew south toward the remote southern Indian Ocean, where investigators believe it crashed. There has never been an explanation for the course change. A costly and protracted multinational search effort failed to locate the aircraft, though pieces of debris believed to be from the plane later washed up along the East Africa coast and on Indian Ocean islands. No main wreckage or bodies have ever been recovered.___Nuga reported from Bangkok. ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL Ghosal covers the intersection of business and climate change in southeast Asia for The Associated Press. He is based out of Hanoi in Vietnam. twitter mailto

Travellers wait for Eurostar services at St Pancras International station in London, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)2025-12-31T09:07:04Z PARIS (AP) Trains were running again Wednesday in both directions through the Channel Tunnel between continental Europe and the United Kingdom but problems remained after a day of travel chaos caused by power malfunctions.The tunnel operator, Eurotunnel, said the 50-kilometer (32-mile) undersea link was back to full capacity after a power fault inside it was fixed overnight Tuesday. The short statement didnt detail the cause of the power failure. But Eurostar, which runs passenger trains through the tunnel, warned of continued possible delays and cancellations because of knock-on impacts from the severe disruptions on Tuesday. Its website showed delays Wednesday to London-Paris, London-Brussels and London-Amsterdam trains in both directions and early morning cancellations.Tuesdays hours-long interruption of cross-Channel train services and a resulting cascade of cancellations upended travelers end-of-year getaway plans and provoked scrambles for flights and buses. Another power malfunction Tuesday on the U.K. side that Eurostar said was related to the electrical fault inside the tunnel also caused severe delays for passengers aboard three trains, Eurostar said. It said an overhead power cable fell onto a Eurostar train from London to Paris, near the tunnel entrance, and that an effort to move the train with its passengers inside proved very complex. The power failure also caused severe delays to two trains to Brussels, Eurostar said. Passenger Ghislain Planque told French broadcaster BFMTV that his Eurostar journey Tuesday evening from London to France was meant to take just under 90 minutes but instead took around 11 hours, with passengers stuck overnight in the train that had only intermittent power.We were left without electricity, so with no heating, no air-conditioning, no possibility to charge phones, he said. We were in total darkness for some of the time.

Nature, Published online: 31 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09860-9Modulation of random heteropolymers results in globular polymer clusters with catalytic activity mimicking proteins.

Nature, Published online: 31 December 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-04021-4Stacking light-generating layers in tandem light-emitting diodes (LEDs) can enhance performance, but achieving efficient and stable tandem LEDs made with perovskite materials has remained a challenge. A tandem perovskite-based device that seems to benefit from recycling of photons between stacked layers demonstrates highly efficient performance, surpassing the combined emissions of two single-unit devices.

Nature, Published online: 31 December 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-03982-wA model quantifies the environmental footprint of wearable health-care electronics and identifies strategies to reduce their environmental toll.

Nature, Published online: 31 December 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-04007-2To map the biodiversity of sub-Saharan Africa, 200 specialists in African plants and animals were asked to estimate local species abundances. This approach integrates contextual, place-based knowledge into a multi-scale, comparative biodiversity assessment that can be used to support policy decisions at national, regional and global scales.

Nature, Published online: 31 December 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-03833-8A meta-analysis of 168 studies covering more than 11 million people found no reliable link between economic inequality and well-being or mental health. In other words, living in a place that has large gaps between the rich and poor does not affect these outcomes, with implications for policy.

President Donald Trump signed into law this month a measure that prohibits anyone based in China and other adversarial countries from accessing the Pentagons cloud computing systems.The ban, which is tucked inside the $900 billion defense policy law, was enacted in response to a ProPublica investigation this year that exposed how Microsoft used China-based engineers to service the Defense Departments computer systems for nearly a decade a practice that left some of the countrys most sensitive data vulnerable to hacking from its leading cyber adversary.U.S.-based supervisors, known as digital escorts, were supposed to serve as a check on these foreign employees, but we found they often lacked the expertise needed to effectively supervise engineers with far more advanced technical skills.In the wake of the reporting, leading members of Congress called on the Defense Department to strengthen its security requirements while blasting Microsoft for what some Republicans called a national betrayal. Cybersecurity and intelligence experts have told ProPublica that the arrangement posed major risks to national security, given that laws in China grant the countrys officials broad authority to collect data.Microsoft pledged in July to stop using China-based engineers to service Pentagon cloud systems after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth publicly condemned the practice. Foreign engineers from any country, including of course China should NEVER be allowed to maintain or access DoD systems, Hegseth wrote on X.In September, the Pentagon updated its cybersecurity requirements for tech contractors, banning IT vendors from using China-based personnel to work on Defense Department computer systems. The new law effectively codifies that change, requiring Hegseth to prohibit individuals from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from having direct or indirect access to Defense Department cloud computing systems.Microsoft declined to comment on the new law. Following the earlier changes, a spokesperson said the company would work with our national security partners to evaluate and adjust our security protocols in light of the new directives.Rep. Elise Stefanik, a Republican who serves on the House Armed Service Committee, celebrated the development, saying it closes contractor loopholes following the discovery that companies like Microsoft exploited them. Sen. Tom Cotton, the GOP chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence who has been critical of the tech giant, also heralded the legislation, saying it includes much-needed efforts to protect our nations critical infrastructure, which is threatened by Communist China and other foreign adversaries.The legislation also bolsters congressional oversight of the Pentagons cybersecurity practices, mandating that the secretary brief the congressional defense committees on the changes no later than June 1, 2026. After that, such briefings will take place annually for the next three years, including updates on the effectiveness of controls, security incidents, and recommendations for legislative or administrative action.Read MoreA Little-Known Microsoft Program Could Expose the Defense Department to Chinese HackersAs ProPublica reported, Microsoft initially developed the digital escort program as a work-around to a Defense Department requirement that people handling sensitive data be U.S. citizens or permanent residents.The company has maintained that it disclosed the program to the Pentagon and that escorts were provided specific training on protecting sensitive data and preventing harm. But top Pentagon officials have said they were unaware of Microsofts program until ProPublicas reporting.A copy of the security plan that the company submitted to the Defense Department in 2025 showed Microsoft left out key details of the escort program, making no reference to its China-based operations or foreign engineers at all.This summer, Hegseth announced that the department had opened an investigation into whether any of Microsofts China-based engineers had compromised national security. He also ordered a new third-party audit of the companys digital-escort program. The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment on the status of those inquiries.The post Trump Signs Defense Bill Prohibiting China-Based Engineers in Pentagon IT Work appeared first on ProPublica.

Mayor Eric Adams had one public appearance on his schedule, but that didnt stop him from naming a third charter commission in the last hours of his administration.

See how people across the globe celebrated.

Two Times journalists joined Miles Taylor, a YouTuber and transport enthusiast, on a daylong journey across New York City area buses and trains before sale of the card ends on Dec. 31.

The mayor-elects turnaround came as he selected Kamar Samuels to lead New York Citys school system at a precarious moment.

One of few people in the world of style who could legitimately claim the status of icon, she dressed to impress even before she became a designer.

It was a lot cheaper than replacing them!READ MORE...

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In this image from video released by the House Judiciary Committee, former special counsel Jack Smith speaks during a deposition Dec. 17, 2025, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (House Judiciary Committee via AP)2025-12-31T21:43:48Z WASHINGTON (AP) The Jan. 6., 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol does not happen without Donald Trump, former special counsel Jack Smith told lawmakers earlier this month in characterizing the Republican president as the most culpable and most responsible person in the criminal conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election.The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee released on Wednesday a transcript and video of a closed-door interview Smith gave about two investigations of Trump. The document shows how Smith during the course of a daylong deposition repeatedly defended the basis for pursuing indictments against Trump and vigorously rejected Republican suggestions that his investigations were politically motivated.The evidence here made clear that President Trump was by a large measure the most culpable and most responsible person in this conspiracy. These crimes were committed for his benefit. The attack that happened at the Capitol, part of this case, does not happen without him. The other co-conspirators were doing this for his benefit, Smith said, bristling at a question about whether his investigations were meant to prevent Trump from reclaiming the presidency in 2024. So in terms of why we would pursue a case against him, I entirely disagree with any characterization that our work was in any way meant to hamper him in the presidential election, he added. The Dec. 17 deposition was conducted privately despite Smiths request to testify publicly. The release of the transcript and video of the interview, so far Smiths only appearance on Capitol Hill since leaving his special counsel position last January, adds to the public understanding of the decision-making behind two of the most consequential Justice Department investigations in recent history. Trump was indicted on charges of conspiring to undo the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden, and of willfully retaining classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Both cases were abandoned after Trumps 2024 election win, with Smith citing Justice Department policy against the indictment of a sitting president. Smith repeatedly made clear his belief that the evidence gathered against Trump was strong enough to sustain a conviction. Part of the strength of the Jan. 6 case, Smith said, was the extent to which it relied on the testimony of Trump allies and supporters who cooperated with the investigation.We had an elector in Pennsylvania who is a former congressman, who was going to be an elector for President Trump, who said that what they were trying to do was an attempt to overthrow the government and illegal, Smith said. Our case was built on, frankly, Republicans who put their allegiance to the country before the party.Accounts from Republicans willing to stand up against the falsehood that the election had been stolen even though it could mean trouble for them created what Smith described as the most powerful evidence against Trump.When it came to the Capitol riot itself, Smith said, the evidence showed that Trump caused it and that he exploited it and that it was foreseeable to him. Asked whether there was evidence that Trump had instructed supporters to riot at the Capitol, Smith said that Trump in the weeks leading to the insurrection got people to believe fraud claims that werent true.He made false statements to state legislatures, to his supporters in all sorts of contexts and was aware in the days leading up to Jan. 6th that his supporters were angry when he invited them and then he directed them to the Capitol, Smith said. Now, once they were at the Capitol and once the attack on the Capitol happened, he refused to stop it. He instead issued a tweet that without question in my mind endangered the life of his own vice president, he added. And when the violence was going on, he had to be pushed repeatedly by his staff members to do anything to quell it.Some of the deposition focused on Republican anger at revelations that the Smith team had obtained, and analyzed, phone records of GOP lawmakers who were in contact with Trump on Jan. 6. Smith defended the maneuver as lawful and by-the-book, and suggested that outrage over the tactic should be directed at Trump and not his team of prosecutors. Well, I think who should be accountable for this is Donald Trump. These records are people, in the case of the senators, Donald Trump directed his co-conspirators to call these people to further delay the proceedings. He chose to do that, Smith said. If Donald Trump had chosen to call a number of Democratic senators, we would have gotten toll records for Democratic senators.The communications between Trump and Republican supporters in Congress were an important component of the case, Smith said. He cited an interview his office did with Mark Meadows in which Trumps former chief of staff referenced that Rep. Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican and current chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, had been in touch with the White House on the afternoon of the riot. And what I recall was Meadows stating that Ive never seen Jim Jordan scared of anything, and the fact that we were in this different situation now where people were scared really made it clear that what was going on at the Capitol could not be mistaken for anything other than what it was, Smith said.Smith was also asked whether his team evaluated former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinsons explosive claim that Trump that grabbed at the steering wheel of the presidential SUV when the Secret Service refused to let him go to the Capitol after a rally at the Ellipse on Jan. 6, 2021. Smith told lawmakers that investigators interviewed the officer who was in the car, who said that President Trump was very angry and wanted to go to the Capitol, but the officers version of events was not the same as what Cassidy Hutchinson said she heard from somebody secondhand.___Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this report. ERIC TUCKER Tucker covers national security in Washington for The Associated Press, with a focus on the FBI and Justice Department. twitter mailto

With the Supreme Court Building under renovations, the justices hear oral arguments on President Donald Trump's push to expand control over independent federal agencies, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)2025-12-31T23:03:49Z WASHINGTON (AP) Chief Justice John Roberts said Wednesday that the Constitution remains a sturdy pillar for the country, a message that comes after a tumultuous year in the nations judicial system with pivotal Supreme Court decisions on the horizon.Roberts said the nations founding documents remain firm and unshaken, a reference to a century-old quote from President Calvin Coolidge. True then; true now, Roberts wrote in his annual letter to the judiciary.The letter comes after a year in which legal scholars and Democrats raised fears of a possible constitutional crisis as Republican President Donald Trumps supporters pushed back against rulings that slowed his far-reaching conservative agenda.Roberts weighed in at one point in March, issuing a rare rebuke after Trump called for the impeachment of a judge who had ruled against him in a case over the deportation of Venezuelan migrants accused of being gang members. The chief justices Wednesday letter was largely focused on the nations history, including an early 19th-century case establishing the principle that Congress shouldnt remove judges over contentious rulings.He also called on judges to continue to decide the cases before us according to our oath, doing equal right to the poor and to the rich, and performing all of our duties faithfully and impartially under the Constitution and laws of the United States. While the Trump administration faced pushback in the lower courts, it has scored a series of some two dozen wins on the Supreme Courts emergency docket. The courts conservative majority has allowed Trump to move ahead for now with banning transgender people from the military, clawing back billions of dollars of congressionally approved federal spending, moving aggressively on immigration and firing the Senate-confirmed leaders of independent federal agencies. The court also handed Trump a few defeats over the last year, including in his push to deploy the National Guard to U.S. cities.Other pivotal issues are ahead for the high court in 2026, including arguments over Trumps push to end birthright citizenship and a ruling on whether he can unilaterally impose tariffs on hundreds of countries.Roberts letter contained few references to those issues. It opened with a history of the seminal 1776 pamphlet Common Sense, written by Thomas Paine, a recent immigrant to Britains North American colonies, and closed with Coolidges encouragement to turn for solace to the Constitution and Declaration of Independence amid all the welter of partisan politics. LINDSAY WHITEHURST Whitehurst covers the Supreme Court and legal affairs for The Associated Press. Shes won multiple journalism awards in a career thats spanned two decades. twitter mailto