A drawn portrait of Marc Fogel, who has been detained in Russia since August 2021, hangs on rails outside of the White House during a demonstration organized by his family, July 15, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, File)2025-02-11T18:33:17Z WASHINGTON (AP) Marc Fogel, an American teacher who was deemed wrongfully detained in Russia, has been released, the White House announced on Tuesday.Steve Witkoff, a special envoy for President Donald Trump, left Russian airspace with Fogel, a history teacher from Pennsylvania, and hes expected to be reunited with his family by the end of the day.Fogel was arrested in August 2021 and was serving a 14-year prison system. His family and supporters said he had been traveling with medically prescribed marijuana, and he was designated by President Joe Bidens administration as wrongfully detained in December.Mike Waltz, Trumps national security adviser, said the U.S. and Russia negotiated an exchange to ensure Fogels release. He did not say what the U.S. side of the bargain entailed. Previous negotiations have occasionally involved reciprocal releases of Russians by the U.S. or its allies. Waltz described the development as a sign we are moving in the right direction to end the brutal and terrible war in Ukraine. Trump, a Republican, has promised to find a way to end the conflict. Fogels relatives said they were beyond grateful, relieved and overwhelmed that he was coming home. This has been the darkest and most painful period of our lives, but today, we begin to heal, they said. For the first time in years, our family can look forward to the future with hope. There was no immediate comment from Moscow about Fogels release on Tuesday.Other Americans also remain detained in Russia when they werent included in a massive prisoner swap last August that freed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.Those include U.S.-Russian dual national Ksenia Khavana, who was convicted in August of treason and sentenced to 12 years in prison on charges stemming from a donation of about $52 to a charity aiding Ukraine. The Biden White House at the time called the conviction and sentencing nothing less than vindictive cruelty. CHRIS MEGERIAN Megerian covers the White House for The Associated Press. He previously wrote about the Russia investigation, climate change, law enforcement and politics in California and New Jersey. twitter mailto ERIC TUCKER Tucker covers national security in Washington for The Associated Press, with a focus on the FBI and Justice Department and the special counsel cases against former President Donald Trump. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

On Tuesday, a judge ordered the Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Disease Control, and Food and Drug Administration to restore several of the webpages they removed following President Trumps executive order attacking diversity, equity and inclusion.The health agencies have until 11:59 p.m. on February 11 to restore the pages to how they were on January 30, and identify any other resources that [Doctors for America] DFA members rely on to provide medical care and that defendants removed or substantially modified on or after January 29, 2025, without adequate notice or reasoned explanation, U.S. District Judge John Bates wrote in the order.The nonprofit Doctors for America is suing the health agencies following their takedown of these resources in compliance with President Trumps executive order Defending Women, which demanded federal agencies scrub their websites. Our teams government affairs firm is advising that as of 5pm today, all U.S. government agency websites will be taken down, an internal email obtained by 404 Media on February 1 said. According to reports, agencies are unable to comply fast enough with President Trumps EO ordering all government entities to remove all DEI references from their websites, so these websites will be taken offline. There is no word on when they will be made available again.The online resources that were taken down that which Doctors for America cited in court documents include The Youth Risk Behavioral Surveillance System, webpages on Data and Statistics for Adolescent and School Health, webpages for The Social Vulnerability Index, The Environmental Justice Index, a report on PrEP for the Prevention of HIV Infection in the U.S.: 2021 Guideline Summary, pages about HIV Monitoring, A webpage on Getting Tested for HIV. 404 Media reported on several of these resources going dark as it happened. According to the Internet Archive, some of these sites, such as the Youth Risk Behavioral Surveillance System, were down for more than a week after the executive order, then went back up, and are online as of writing. Others, like the Adolescent and School Health page, are still down.The judges decision is in response to Doctors for Americas motion for a temporary restraining order, as part of the organizations case against federal agencies for removing information from their websites that healthcare workers need for their work. Doctors for America is suing the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), claiming that their removal of datasets and webpages violates the Administrative Procedure Act, and the Paperwork Reduction Act.Lack of access to CDC materials on infectious diseases not only harms DFA members ability to treat individual patients but also hampers their ability to respond to broader disease outbreaks, Doctors for America wrote in court documents.Like many of my colleagues, I am both a doctor who takes care of patients and a researcher. Removing critical clinical information and datasets from the websites of CDC, FDA, and HHS not only puts the health of our patients at risk, but also endangers research that improves the health and health care of the American public, Reshma Ramachandran, a member of the Doctors for America board of directors, said in a Doctors for America press release.

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, at Station F, during an event on the sidelines of the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, Pool)2025-02-11T19:05:46Z PARIS (AP) OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has dismissed a $97.4 billion takeover bid led by rival Elon Musk, but the unsolicited offer could complicate Altmans push to transform the maker of ChatGPT into a for-profit company.We are not for sale, Altman said Tuesday at an artificial intelligence summit in Paris. Musks bid, announced Monday, is the latest in a bitter years-long battle with Altman over control of the AI startup they both helped found a decade ago as a nonprofit and is now a leading force in the global boom surrounding generative AI technology.OpenAI has a mission, Altman told Frances AI minister in an on-stage discussion Tuesday mobbed by tech industry workers and investors. We are an unusual organization and we have this mission of making AGI benefit all humanity. And we are here to do that.Its stated aim since its founding in 2015 is to safely build futuristic, better-than-human AI known as artificial general intelligence, or AGI. Musk, an early investor and board member, quit OpenAI in 2018 after an internal power struggle left Altman in charge. Their public feud has escalated over the past year as Musk sued OpenAI and is working to grow his own AI company called xAI, part of a business empire that includes Tesla, SpaceX and social media platform X. Musk also now holds power as a top adviser to President Donald Trump in reshaping the U.S. government, and has publicly questioned OpenAIs Trump-backed private investment project for building AI data centers in the United States. What happens next?The offer complicates OpenAIs plan to shift its structure away from its nonprofit roots to a company beholden to shareholders.OpenAIs nonprofit board will need to consider Musks offer. Its not Altman alone who can accept or reject it. The board will need to weigh not just the value of the companys assets but also the value of controlling the company developing this technology. Musks offer also seems to set a floor for how much the nonprofit should be paid if it does relinquish control of its subsidiaries. Rose Chan Loui, executive director for the Lowell Milken Center on Philanthropy and Nonprofits at UCLA Law, said the board should consider the credibility of Musks offer, including if he and his investors will pay in cash. And they should consider whether a new board under the control of Musk and other investors would be independent and what guarantees they can give about protecting its public mission.Musks $44 billion Twitter takeover in 2022 also started with an unsolicited offer and a legal fight with Twitters board, led by former Facebook and Salesforce executive Bret Taylor, who now chairs OpenAIs board. However, taking over OpenAI would be more complicated because of its charitable purpose.There is a legally binding purpose, said Jill Horwitz, a professor at UCLA School of Law. It is the promise that was made to the public when OpenAI, the nonprofit, was formed. That promise is legally enforceable.The sudden popularity of ChatGPT two years ago brought worldwide fame and new commercial possibilities to OpenAI and also heightened internal turmoil over the future of the organization and the advanced AI it was trying to develop. Its nonprofit board fired Altman in late 2023. He came back days later with a new board. OpenAIs nonprofit complicationsOpenAIs nonprofit purpose, as defined most recently in 2020, is (to) ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity, including by conducting and/or funding artificial intelligence research.The question is, can it do that if it sells its assets and loses control of the company developing this technology?To make the promise to the world that you are bound by a legal purpose and to build with that promise, including telling your investors not to expect any returns and to think of your investments as more akin to a donation than an investment, said Horwitz. And then to say once youve gotten big enough, You know what? Wed like to own this. That seems like a real violation of the promise. Musk sued OpenAI last year, first in a California state court and later in federal court, alleging it had betrayed its founding aims as a nonprofit research lab that would benefit the public good. A lawyer for Musk has said he invested about $45 million in the startup from its founding until 2018.Lawyers for OpenAI and Musk faced off in a California federal court last week as a judge weighed Musks request for a court order that would block OpenAIs for-profit conversion. The judge hasnt yet ruled on Musks request but in the courtroom said it was a stretch for Musk to claim he will be irreparably harmed if she doesnt intervene to stop OpenAI from moving forward with its planned transition. But she also suggested Musk had plausible enough arguments to take to a jury trial. Who else is backing Musks OpenAI bid?Along with Musk and xAI, others backing the bid announced Monday include Baron Capital Group, Valor Management, Atreides Management, Vy Fund ,and firms run by Musk allies Ari Emanuel and Jon Lonsdale.Musk attorney Marc Toberoff said in a statement that if Altman and OpenAIs current board are intent on becoming a fully for-profit corporation, it is vital that the charity be fairly compensated for what its leadership is taking away from it: control over the most transformative technology of our time.Altman has sought to characterize Musks tactics as those of a competitor trying to catch up.I think hes probably just trying to slow us down. He obviously is a competitor, Altman told Bloomberg TV at the Paris summit on Tuesday.Continuing their deeply personal feud, Altman said Musk is probably not a happy person. Probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity. I feel for the guy, Altman said.-OBrien reported from Providence, Rhode Island, and Beaty from Seattle. -The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI access to part of APs text archives. MATT OBRIEN OBrien covers the business of technology and artificial intelligence for The Associated Press. mailto THALIA BEATY Beaty reports on philanthropy for The Associated Press and is based in New York. KELVIN CHAN Covering technology and innovation in Europe and beyond. twitter mailto

New York City Mayor Eric Adams exits from Manhattan federal in New York, Friday, Nov. 01, 2024.(AP Photo/Kena Betancur, File)2025-02-11T16:21:06Z NEW YORK (AP) New York City Mayor Eric Adams vowed to regain the publics trust Tuesday as the Justice Department moved to halt his criminal corruption case, a directive that officials said would free him up to assist in the Trump administrations immigration crackdown.In his first public comments after a Justice Department memo ordering federal prosecutors to drop the case, Adams said he was eager to move on from the monthslong saga that put me, my family and this city through an unnecessary ordeal.He did not mention President Donald Trump by name but praised the Justice Department for its honesty, adding that he hoped to put this cruel episode behind us and focus entirely on the future of this city.The brief address at City Hall came one day after acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordered federal prosecutors in Manhattan to dismiss the bribery charges as soon as is practicable. AP AUDIO: New York mayor vows to regain publics trust after Justice Department orders halt to prosecution AP correspondent Julie Walker reports New Yorks Mayor thanks Trumps Justice Department for ordering the local case against him dismissed. In a two-page memo, Bove said the Justice Department decided to dismiss the case without assessing the strength of the evidence, but for a string of political considerations, including allowing Adams to devote full attention and resources to illegal immigration and violent crime. In the hours since, Adams has faced a barrage of criticism from some allies in the Democratic party, who say he is now beholden to the Trump administrations agenda.It certainly sounds like President Trump is holding the Mayor hostage, Rev. Al Sharpton said in a statement Tuesday. I have supported the Mayor, but he has been put in an unfair position even for him of essentially political blackmail. The task of carrying out the order now falls to Danielle Sassoon, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.Her office declined to comment and has not indicated what it plans to do next. In a letter sent last month, prosecutors in the Adams case praised the strength of the evidence, dismissing the mayors claim of political prosecution as an attempt to shift the focus away from the evidence of his guilt. Sassoon, a seasoned prosecutor who was appointed acting U.S. attorney in Manhattan just days after Trump took office, has limited power to oppose the order. She can be replaced at will by the Justice Department. Trump in November nominated Jay Clayton, the former chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, to lead the office. His appointment must be confirmed by the Senate.Adams lawyer, Alex Spiro, said Monday that the Justice Departments order vindicated the mayors claim of innocence. Now, thankfully, the mayor and New York can put this unfortunate and misguided prosecution behind them.Bove, however, said in his memo that the charges could still be refiled after the November mayoral election. Dismissal of the case should be conditional, Bove said, on Adams agreeing in writing that prosecutors are legally allowed to bring the charges back if they choose.That means the threat of a renewed prosecution will hover over Adams in all of his dealings with the Trump administration while he is mayor. Arlo Devlin-Brown, the former chief of public corruption at the U.S. attorneys office in Manhattan, said the unusual conditions attached to the memo made it uncertain when the charges would be formally dismissed.I have not seen anything like this before, he said. For a case thats already been charged to be reversed in the absence of some real new development in the merits of the case is highly unusual.The indictment against Adams alleges he accepted illegal campaign contributions and lavish travel perks worth more than $100,000 including expensive flight upgrades and luxury hotel stays while serving in his previous job as Brooklyn borough president.The indictment said a Turkish official who helped facilitate the trips then leaned on Adams for favors, including lobbying the Fire Department to allow a newly constructed diplomatic building to open in time for a planned visit by Turkeys president.Prosecutors also said they had evidence Adams personally directed campaign staffers to solicit foreign donations, then disguised those contributions to qualify for a city program that provides a generous, publicly funded match for small donations. Foreign nationals are banned from contributing to U.S. election campaigns under federal law. Many of Adams Democratic opponents in the June mayoral primary castigated the Justice Departments decision to shut down the case and accused the mayor of adopting a pro-Trump agenda out of a desire for personal preservation.Following his September indictment, Adams cultivated a warm relationship with Trump praising his agenda, refusing to criticize him and showing a willingness to roll back some of the citys protections for undocumented migrants. JAKE OFFENHARTZ Offenhartz is a general assignment reporter in the New York City bureau of The Associated Press. twitter mailto

New York City Mayor Eric Adams exits from Manhattan federal in New York, Friday, Nov. 01, 2024.(AP Photo/Kena Betancur, File)2025-02-11T19:58:14Z NEW YORK (AP) New York City Mayor Eric Adams was thrown a lifeline when the Trump administration moved to drop federal corruption charges against the embattled leader of Americas largest city.It marked an extraordinary deviation from longstanding norms of federal prosecutions, but, in many ways, was entirely expected, given the months of political intrigue involving closed-door talks and public overtures between the Democratic mayor and Republican president.Heres what you need to know: Did the mayor just reach a plea deal or get a pardon?Neither. The Justice Department on Monday simply ordered prosecutors to drop the charges before the case even goes to trial, which had been set for April.In a two-page memo, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, second in command at the U.S. Justice Department, directed prosecutors in New York to dismiss the bribery charges against Adams as soon as is practicable.He also ordered the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York to halt the ongoing investigation into the mayors conduct at least for now. Bove said prosecutors should review the case sometime after the November mayoral election to see if the charges should be revived. There shall be no further targeting of Mayor Adams or additional investigative steps prior to that review, Bove added.Prosecutors in the U.S. attorneys office had yet to comment on the directive or file any paperwork with the court to begin the process of formally dropping the case. Why are the feds seeking to drop the charges?The decision wasnt based on the strength of the evidence against Adams or the integrity and efforts of the career prosecutors who worked on the case, Bove said in his memo.Instead, the high-profile prosecution the first against a sitting New York City mayor has improperly interfered with Adams reelection campaign, he said.The case has also been distracting the Democratic executive from advancing the priorities of the Republican White House, namely around immigration, argued Bove, who previously served on Trumps legal team when he was convicted of falsifying business records in New York last year.The pending prosecution has unduly restricted Mayor Adams ability to devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime that escalated under the policies of the prior Administration, he wrote. Is it unusual to drop a case against a public official like this?Extremely. While prosecutions against elected officials occasionally fall apart for reasons related to the strength of the evidence, it is an extraordinary departure for the Justice Department to drop a case because an accused person is perceived to be a likely political ally.And while judges and prosecutors do sometimes adjust the timing of a trial or an indictment to avoid the appearance that they are interfering in with an election, it is extremely rare to drop an existing case entirely for that reason. Does this close the case for good?Not quite. Boves letter says the case should be dismissed without prejudice, giving prosecutors the flexibility to refile charges at a later date.The letter also says the mayor has to agree in writing to that key caveat, giving Adams critics concern that he will be under intense pressure to meet Trumps demands if he remains in office.The only thing worse for our city than Trump giving the mayor a get-out-of-jail-free card is the unspoken deal that comes with it, New York City Council member Shaun Abreu, a Democrat who represents upper Manhattan, said on social media. Our mayor shouldnt be beholden to anyone but the voters. A dismissal without prejudice means Adams isnt off the hook; hes just on notice.What was Adams accused of doing?Adams was indicted in September on charges including conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery.Prosecutors accused him of accepting illegal campaign contributions and lavish overseas trips while he was a local elected official in Brooklyn and while he was campaigning to become mayor.The indictment said that in exchange, Adams did favors for foreign government officials and local businesspeople, including expediting city approvals for the Turkish consulates new building in Manhattan. What happens to others charged in the investigation?It isnt clear. Prosecutors earlier this month said Mohamed Bahi, Adams chief liaison to the Muslim community, planned to plead guilty to charges that he conspired to commit wire fraud by collecting campaign contributions made under the name of someone other than the true contributor.A Brooklyn real estate magnate, Erden Arkan, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy, admitting that he worked with a Turkish government official to funnel illegal campaign contributions to Adams. Whats next for Adams?The mayor goes from the perils of a federal corruption probe to a bruising reelection fight.He faces at least eight challengers, many of them more left-leaning and progressive. Among them are the current and the former city comptrollers, various state lawmakers and a handful of others who have never held political office.Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has also been weighing a potential run. Cuomo resigned in 2021 following a state attorney general report that found he sexually harassed at least 11 women.Adding to the political calculus, Adams hasnt ruled out the possibility of switching back to the GOP.The Brooklynite, who was a registered Republican in the 1990s and early 2000s, attended Trumps inauguration last month and lunched with top New York Republicans in Washington.Hes also instructed officials to lawfully cooperate with Trumps agenda around immigration and other issues, while flatly refusing to criticize the president or any of his policies.___Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo. PHILIP MARCELO Marcelo is a general assignment reporter in the NYC bureau. He previously wrote for AP Fact Check and before that was based in Boston, where he focused on race and immigration. twitter mailto

Sona Anderson of San Diego, center, shouts her support for civil service workers as activists protest the policies of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk outside the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)2025-02-11T19:59:52Z WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order on Tuesday that would continue downsizing the federal workforce, including strict limits on hiring. The Associated Press reviewed a White House fact sheet on the order, which is intended to advance Elon Musk s work slashing spending with his Department of Government Efficiency. It said that agencies will undertake plans for large-scale reductions in force and determine which agency components (or agencies themselves) may be eliminated or combined because their functions arent required by law.It also said that agencies should hire no more than one employee for every four employees that depart from federal service. There are plans for exceptions when it comes to immigration, law enforcement and public safety. Trump and Musk are pushing federal workers to resign in return for financial incentives, although their plan is currently on hold while a judge reviews its legality. The deferred resignation program, commonly described as a buyout, would allow employees to quit and still get paid until Sept. 30. Administration officials said more than 65,000 workers have taken the offer. Hundreds of people gathered for a rally Tuesday across the street from the U.S. Capitol in support of federal workers. Janet Connelly, a graphic designer with the Department of Energy, said shes fed up with emails from the Office of Personnel Management encouraging people to take the deferred resignation program. She tried to use her spam settings to filter out the emails but to no avail. Connelly said she has no plans to take the offer. From the get-go, I didnt trust it, she said.Connelly said she thinks of her work as trying to do an important service for the American public. Its too easy to vilify us, she said. Others have said fear and uncertainty have swept through the federal workforce. Theyre worried about their jobs. Theyre worried about their families. Theyre also worried about their work and the communities they serve, said Helen Bottcher, a former Environmental Protection Agency employee and current union leader in Seattle. Bottcher participated in a press conference hosted by Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington.Murray said workers deserve better than to be threatened, intimidated and pushed out the door by Elon Musk and Donald Trump. She also said that we actually need these people to stay in their jobs or things are going to start breaking._____AP writers Martha Bellisle in Seattle and Rebecca Santana contributed to this report. CHRIS MEGERIAN Megerian covers the White House for The Associated Press. He previously wrote about the Russia investigation, climate change, law enforcement and politics in California and New Jersey. twitter mailto

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump's choice to be director of the FBI, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)2025-02-11T20:13:34Z WASHINGTON (AP) A top Democratic senator has asked the Justice Departments inspector general to investigate after he says he received information that President Donald Trumps pick to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, had been personally directing the ongoing purge of agents at the bureau.The letter Tuesday from Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, asserts that Patel may have misled the panel at his confirmation hearing last month when he said in response to a question that he was not aware of any plans inside the FBI to punish or fire any agents. The hearing took place just hours before news broke that a group of senior FBI executives had been told either to resign or be fired, and one day before it was revealed that the Justice Department had demanded a list of thousands of agents who worked on investigations related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, a move some bureau employees fear could be a precursor to more expansive firings. It is unacceptable for a nominee with no current role in government, much less at the FBI, to personally direct unjustified and potentially illegal adverse employment actions against senior career FBI leadership and other dedicated, nonpartisan law enforcement officers, Durbin wrote. If these allegations are true, Mr. Patel may have perjured himself before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Durbins letter to Inspector General Michael Horowitz points to what he describes as highly credible information from multiple sources that he says shows Patels involvement in that process. That includes contemporaneous notes from a Jan. 29 meeting between FBI and Justice Department leaders that say KP wants movement at FBI, reciprocal actions for DOJ, Durbin wrote. The senator also contends that hes learned from unidentified sources that Patel, despite not being confirmed yet as director, is receiving information about FBI operations from a member of a newly established advisory team inside the bureau and that he passes along that information to top White House official Stephen Miller. Durbin says hes been told that a senior Justice Department official told others that Miller had been pressuring the Justice Department because Mr. Patel wanted the FBI to remove targeted employees faster, as DOJ had already done with prosecutors.Erica Knight, a spokeswoman for Patel, who is set for a vote Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, described the claims in the letter as second-hand gossip meant to push a false narrative.Patel is a highly qualified national security expert who has been fully transparent with the American people throughout this process and has demonstrated the integrity and leadership needed for this role. The Senate should confirm him without delay, she said. ERIC TUCKER Tucker covers national security in Washington for The Associated Press, with a focus on the FBI and Justice Department and the special counsel cases against former President Donald Trump. twitter mailto

Flowers and a sign are placed outside the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)2025-02-11T17:57:19Z WASHINGTON (AP) The Trump administrations dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development is stiffing American businesses on hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid bills for work that has already been done, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.The administrations abrupt freeze on foreign aid also is forcing mass layoffs by U.S. suppliers and contractors for USAID, including 750 furloughs at one company, Washington-based Chemonics International, the lawsuit says. One cannot overstate the impact of that unlawful course of conduct: on businesses large and small forced to shut down their programs and let employees go; on hungry children across the globe who will go without; on populations around the world facing deadly disease; and on our constitutional order, the U.S. businesses and organizations said.An organization representing 170 small U.S. businesses, major suppliers, an American Jewish group aiding displaced people abroad, the American Bar Association and others joined the court challenge. It was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington against President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, acting USAID Deputy Administrator Peter Marocco, a Trump appointee who has been a central figure in hollowing out the agency, and Russell Vought, Trumps head of the Office of Management and Budget. It is at least the third lawsuit over the administrations rapid unraveling of the U.S. aid and development agency and its programs worldwide. Trump and ally Elon Musk have targeted USAID in particular, saying its work is out of line with Trumps agenda. Marocco, Musk and Rubio have overseen an across-the-board freeze on foreign assistance and agency shutdown under a Jan. 20 executive order by Trump. A lawsuit brought by federal employees associations has temporarily blocked the administration from pulling thousands of USAID staffers off the job. The funding freeze and other measures have persisted, including the agency losing the lease on its Washington headquarters. The new administration terminated contracts without the required 30-day notice and without back payments for work that was already done, according to a U.S. official, a businessperson with a USAID contract and an email seen by The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal by the Trump administration.For Chemonics, one of the larger of the USAID partners, that has meant $103 million in unpaid invoices and almost $500 million in USAID-ordered medication, food and other goods now stalled in the supply chain or ports, the lawsuit says.For the health commodities alone, not delivering them on time could potentially lead to as many as 566,000 deaths from HIV/AIDS, malaria, and unmet reproductive health needs, including 215,000 pediatric deaths, the lawsuit says. The filing asserts that the administration has no authority to block programs and funding mandated by Congress without approval.Marocco defended the funding cutoff and push to put all but a fraction of USAID staff on leave in an affidavit filed late Monday in the lawsuit brought by the workers groups.Insubordination and noncompliance by USAID staffers made it necessary to stop funding and operations by the agency to allow the administration to carry out a program-by-program review to decide what U.S. aid programs could resume overseas, Marocco wrote. ELLEN KNICKMEYER Knickmeyer covers foreign policy and national security for The Associated Press. She is based in Washington, D.C. twitter

Elon Musk listens as President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (Photo/Alex Brandon)2025-02-11T22:17:16Z The White House blocked an Associated Press reporter from an event in the Oval Office on Tuesday after demanding the news agency alter its style on the Gulf of Mexico, which President Donald Trump has ordered renamed the Gulf of America.The reporter tried to enter the White House event as usual Tuesday afternoon and was turned away, AP executives said. The highly unusual ban, which Trump administration officials had threatened earlier Tuesday unless the AP changed the style on the Gulf, could have constitutional free-speech implications. Julie Pace, senior vice president and executive editor of The Associated Press, called the administrations move unacceptable.It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism, Pace said in a statement. Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of APs speech not only severely impedes the publics access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment. The Trump administration made no immediate announcements about the move, and there was no indication any other journalists were affected. Trump has long had an adversarial relationship with the media. On Friday, the administration ejected a second group of news organizations from Pentagon office space. AP style is not only used by the agency. The AP Stylebook is relied on by thousands of journalists and other writers globally. Demands by a president that a news organization comply with an order to change its content would seem to run counter to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which bars the government from impeding the freedom of the press.Before his Jan. 20 inauguration, Trump announced plans to change the Gulf of Mexicos name to the Gulf of America and signed an executive order to do so as soon as he was in office. Mexicos president responded sarcastically and others noted that the name change would probably not affect global usage. This week, Google Maps began using Gulf of America, saying it had a longstanding practice of following the U.S. governments lead on such matters. The other leading online map provider, Apple Maps, was still using Gulf of Mexico.The AP said last month, three days after Trumps inauguration, that it would continue to refer to the Gulf of Mexico while noting Trumps decision to rename it as well. As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP says it must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences.Trump also decreed that the mountain in Alaska known as Mount McKinley and then by its Indigenous name, Denali, be shifted back to commemorating the 25th president. President Barack Obama had ordered it renamed Denali in 2015. AP said last month it will use the official name change to Mount McKinley because the area lies solely in the United States and Trump has the authority to change federal geographical names within the country.

Plastic straws are displayed in a glass, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)2025-02-11T18:25:12Z Straws might seem insignificant, inspiring jokes about the plastic vs. paper debate, but the plastic straw has come to symbolize a global pollution crisis over the past decade.On Monday, President Donald Trump waded into the issue when he signed an executive order to reverse a federal push away from plastic straws, declaring that paper straws dont work and dont last very long. Trump said he thinks its OK to continue using plastic straws, although theyve have been blamed for polluting oceans and harming marine life.In 2015, video of a marine biologist pulling a plastic straw out of a turtles nose sparked outrage worldwide and countries and cities started banning them, starting with the Pacific Island nation Vanuatu and Seattle in 2018. A box of plastic straws is displayed, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel) A box of plastic straws is displayed, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Heres what to know about the larger fight over single-use plastics in the United States: What happens to plastic straws?More than 390 million plastic straws are used every day in the United States, most for 30 minutes or less, according to advocacy group Turtle Island Restoration Network. Plastic straws are usually thrown away after one use, going on to litter beaches and waterways and potentially killing marine animals that mistake them for food.The straws are not recyclable because they are so small. They take at least 200 years to decompose, the network said. They break down into incredibly tiny bits of plastic smaller than a fraction of a grain of rice. These microplastics have been found in a wide range of body tissues. Though research is still limited overall, there are growing concerns that microplastics in the body could potentially be linked to heart disease, Alzheimers and dementia, and other problems. Trumps executive order claims that paper straws use chemicals that may carry risks to human health are more expensive to produce than plastic straws. Researchers from the University of Antwerp found forever chemicals known as PFAS to be present in paper, bamboo, glass and plastic straws, but not stainless steel ones, according to a 2023 study. The advocacy group Beyond Plastics said that while plastics are often cheaper than paper products, the cheapest option is to skip the straw.Judith Enck, a former Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator who now heads up Beyond Plastics, said she hopes that people react to the executive order by committing to using fewer plastic straws and that local and state governments do, too. Its easy to just kind of almost poke fun of this, ignore it, she said Tuesday. But this is a moment that we as individuals and state and local policymakers can make a statement that they disagree with this executive order and are committed to using less plastic straws. Its not that hard to do.Several states and cities have banned plastic straws and some restaurants no longer automatically give them to customers. Plastic straws, left, sit next to paper straws on display for sale in Cincinnati on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel) Plastic straws, left, sit next to paper straws on display for sale in Cincinnati on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More What is being done globally?President Joe Biden administrations had committed to phasing out federal purchases of single-use plastics, including straws, from food service operations, events and packaging by 2027, and from all federal operations by 2035. The move was a way for the federal government to formally acknowledge the severity of the plastic pollution crisis and the scale of the response required to effectively confront it. Erin Simon, an expert on plastics and packaging at the World Wildlife Fund, said at the time that it sent a message around the world: If we can make change happen at scale, so can you.The declaration came in July, just a few months before negotiators met in South Korea to try to finish crafting a treaty to address the global crisis of plastic pollution. Negotiators didnt reach an agreement late last year, but talks resume this year. Under the Biden administration, the United States at first adopted a position viewed as favoring industry, stating that countries should largely develop their own plans instead of abiding by global rules. China, the United States and Germany are the biggest players in the global plastics trade. The United States changed its position heading into South Korea. The delegation said it would support having an article in the treaty that addresses supply, or plastic production. More than 100 countries want an ambitious treaty that limits plastic production while tackling cleanup and recycling. U.S. manufacturers have asked Trump to remain at the negotiating table but revert to the old position that focused on redesigning plastic products, recycling and reuse. A plastic straw is displayed in a glass of milk, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel) A plastic straw is displayed in a glass of milk, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Arent other plastics a problem?The environment is littered with single-use plastic food and beverage containers water bottles, takeout containers, coffee lids, straws and shopping bags.Every year, the world produces more than 400 million tons of new plastic. About 40% of all plastics are used in packaging, according to the United Nations. In 2023, Ocean Conservancy volunteers collected more than 61,000 plastic straws and stirrers polluting beaches and waterways in the United States. There were even more cigarette butts, plastic bottles, bottle caps and food wrappers, the nonprofit said. Most plastic is made from fossil fuels. Negotiators at the United Nations climate talks known as COP28 agreed in 2023 the world must transition away from planet-warming fossil fuels and triple the use of renewable energy.As pressure to reduce fossil fuels has increased globally, oil and gas companies have been looking more to the plastics side of their business as a market that could grow. Trump strongly supports and gets support from the oil and gas industry.___The Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. JENNIFER McDERMOTT McDermott is a reporter on the Associated Press Climate and Environment team. She focuses on the transition to clean energy. twitter mailto

President Donald Trump listens as Elon Musk speaks in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (Photo/Alex Brandon)2025-02-11T22:31:59Z WASHINGTON (AP) A federal appeals court on Tuesday refused to immediately halt a judges order requiring the Trump administration to release billions of dollars in federal grants and loans that remain frozen even after a court blocked a sweeping pause on federal funding. The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals turned back the emergency appeal, though it said it expected the lower court judge to act quickly to clarify his order and would keep considering the issue.The Justice Department argued the sweeping lower court order to keep all federal grants and loans flowing was intolerable judicial overreach.That ruling came from U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell in Rhode Island, the first judge to find that the administration had disobeyed a court order.McConnell is presiding over a lawsuit from nearly two dozen Democratic states filed after the administration issued a boundary-pushing memo purporting to halt all federals grants and loans, worth trillions of dollars. The plan sparked chaos around the country. The administration has since rescinded that memo, but McConnell found Monday that not all federal grants and loans had been restored. Money for things like early childhood education, pollution reduction and HIV prevention research has remained tied up even after his Jan. 31 order halting the spending freeze plan, the states said.McConnell, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, ordered the Trump administration to immediately take every step necessary to unfreeze federal grants and loans. He also said his order blocked the administration from cutting billions of dollars in grant funding from the National Institutes of Health, a move announced last week.The Justice Department said McConnells order prevents the executive branch from exercising its lawful authority, including over discretionary spending or fraud. A single district court judge has attempted to wrest from the President the power to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. This state of affairs cannot be allowed to persist for one more day, government attorneys wrote in their appeal.The states, meanwhile, argued that the president cant block money that Congress has approved, and the still-frozen grants and loans are causing serious problems for their residents. They urged the appeals court to keep allowing the case to play out in front of McConnell.The court battle is unfolding as a string of court losses is increasingly frustrating top administration officials by slowing President Donald Trumps wide-ranging agenda .Judges have also blocked, at least temporarily, Trumps push to end birthright citizenship for anyone born in the U.S., access to Treasury Department records by billionaire Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency and a mass deferred resignation plan for federal workers.The Republican administration previously said the sweeping funding pause would bring federal spending in line with the presidents priorities, including increasing fossil fuel production, removing protections for transgender people and ending diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.A different federal judge in Washington has also issued a temporary restraining order against the funding freeze plan and since expressed concern that some nonprofit groups werent getting their funding. LINDSAY WHITEHURST Whitehurst covers the Supreme Court, legal affairs and criminal justice for The Associated Press in Washington, D.C. Past stops include Salt Lake City, New Mexico and Indiana. twitter mailto

New York City mayor Eric Adams departs Manhattan federal court after an appearance, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)2025-02-11T22:54:17Z New York City Mayor Eric Adams declared Tuesday that he is no longer facing legal questions after the Justice Department moved to shield him from the bribery charges that have been hanging over his reelection campaign.But now, with the Democratic primary just four months away, he faces a seemingly impossible political balancing act.The Democrat may have to continue pleasing Republican President Donald Trump with his policies and public statements to keep the charges from being revived while simultaneously convincing voters in a deep-blue city that hes still his own man.Adams fraught position is owed to a section of the extraordinary Justice Department memo that ordered prosecutors to drop the case but left open the possibility that the charges could be brought back.In the memo, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove told prosecutors in New York not to take additional investigative steps against the mayor until after the November election when the new top prosecutor in the district will review the case and could potentially reinstate charges. The decision was not based on the facts of the case, Bove wrote, but came instead because the prosecution was distracting Adams from campaigning and helping Trump carry out his hard-line immigration agenda in New York. The Rev. Al Sharpton, a close ally of Adams who holds sway among perhaps the mayors most crucial voting bloc, said in a pointed statement Tuesday that the arrangement amounts to essentially political blackmail. So if the Mayor were to disagree with the president, does that mean they have the right to call a trial on him at any time? Sharpton asked. It certainly sounds like President Trump is holding the mayor hostage.Adams was already fending off accusations that he had become beholden to the president in order to secure leniency in his criminal case. Now his primary challengers have a fresh angle of attack, arguing that everything the mayor does moving forward can be interpreted as an attempt to please a president who has unprecedented sway over a prominent Democrat who could have been a high-profile rival.Eric Adams no longer works for New Yorkers. He works for Donald Trump. Period, state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, a mayoral candidate, said at a news conference. Mayor Eric Adams will be under the thumb and control under Donald Trump until November.Adams, a former police officer, was indicted in September on federal conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery charges, with prosecutors alleging Adams allowed Turkish officials and businesspeople to buy his influence with illegal campaign contributions and lavish overseas trips in exchange for political favors.Before the charges, Adams ran for office and governed as a centrist, often warring with New York City liberals that he castigates as unrealistic. He was a registered Republican for a period of time earlier in his political career.Still, it is undeniable that Adams has significantly warmed to Trump since the case emerged and has built a relationship with the new administration, meeting with the Republicans so-called border czar on immigration enforcement and attending Trumps inauguration. Adams late last year also suggested that he was open to changing political parties to become a Republican but walked the idea back after criticism that he was openly courting Trump.On Monday, hours before the memo became public, Adams convened his top deputies to discuss the citys response to Trumps policies, including a recent directive that appeared to open the door to further cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.During the meeting, Adams instructed his deputies not to publicly spar with Trump, warning it could put federal grants at risk, according to an official who attended the meeting. The person requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.Among Adamss other declared primary challengers are city Comptroller Brad Lander, former comptroller Scott Stringer, state Sen. Jessica Ramos and state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo has also been eyeing an entry into the race and could be a formidable candidate, despite having resigned from office following multiple sexual harassment allegations.George Arzt, a veteran New York Democratic political operative, said Adams will have to proceed carefully.I think hell know what to do with Trump. The problem is that he can be handcuffed to Trump in an election year, and hes got to be very, very careful, Arzt said. Yes, he wants the charges dropped officially, but no, he doesnt want to be linked closely to Trump, even though he is already.In his first public statement since the Justice Department memo became public, Adams maintained that he is innocent of the charges, saying: I would never put any personal benefit above my solemn responsibility as your mayor. Despite the fact that I am no longer facing legal questions, I also understand that many New Yorkers will still question my character, Adams said in a speech. And I know that I must continue to regain your trust.New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat who has the power to remove Adams from office but has repeatedly said she would not do so, told reporters Tuesday that everything Adams does will now be under a spotlight.I dont know whether anyone is compromised in that situation. I truly do not know, she said. I have to believe that the mayor is going to put the interests of New York City first.I just want to have a partner who has the same priorities that I do and that is focused on the people of this city and nothing else, she said.___Associated Press Writer Jake Offenhartz contributed to this report.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks to employees at the Department of Homeland Security, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)2025-02-11T23:33:23Z WASHINGTON (AP) For years, Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have railed against the IRS and its cadre of armed agents. Now the administration has big plans for them: It wants the agents to assist with immigration enforcement.Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem sent a request to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to borrow IRS workers to help with the immigration crackdown, according to a recent letter obtained by The Associated Press. It cites the IRSs boost in funding, though the $80 billion infusion of funds the federal tax collection agency received under the Democrats Inflation Reduction Act has already been clawed back.Noems request, asking for workers from the IRS Criminal Investigation unit within the Treasury Department, is a change in Republicans tone toward these workers but also exemplifies Trumps focus on border security. It points to a broader shift in the overall direction of the federal workforce under the Trump administration with workers being coaxed to resign, redesignated to different jobs or eventually be fired. Republicans, both those in office and on the campaign trail, have long claimed falsely that the IRS planned to hire 87,000 armed agents to harass middle-income earners. But the IRS Criminal Investigation unit, which employed 2,144 special agents in 2023, is different from the larger IRS workforce of roughly 89,000 workers. These are the agents with guns who work on trafficking, fraud and other criminal cases in the field. Now DHS wants those agents to serve in task forces with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, targeting employers engaged in unlawful hiring practices, monitoring immigrants in the country illegally and other tasks. Treasury has qualified law enforcement personnel available to assist with immigration enforcement, especially in light of recent increases to the Internal Revenue Services work force and budget, Noem said in her letter to Bessent. Trump teased the idea in January in Las Vegas, when he said of IRS employees: Were in the process of developing a plan to either terminate all of them or maybe well move them to the border.Experts in the tax and immigration fields say this particular request for diverting workers is unusual and could result in a loss of tax revenue.While there is precedent across administrations for reassigning federal workers to do work unrelated to their original jobs, Noems request to Bessent is extraordinary, says Donald Williamson, the former executive director of the Kogod Tax Center at American University. Thats in part because it calls for mobilizing people who dont often deal with immigration issues and puts the ball in Bessents court to choose among thousands of IRS workers to serve DHSs mission, he said.I dont really look at IRS officials as G-men, he said.Williamson said he doesnt consider DHSs request as inconsistent with Republicans earlier criticisms of IRS hiring, but he noted that its a redirecting of the IRSs efforts to align with the administrations priorities. They have expertise of auditing employers and can do some of the tasks outlined in Noems memo, he said.Chloe East, who studies immigration policy and is a nonresident fellow at the Brookings Institution, said tapping into the IRS workforce to focus on the border rather than on catching tax evaders will likely result in lower tax revenues at a time when the Trump administration says it is focused on cutting the deficit.Were talking about billions of dollars in lost tax revenue by shuffling IRS workers, East said. She said the passage of the Laken Riley Act will require the presence of more officers at the border. The Trump administration would rather pursue immigrants rather than pursue money launderers, she said. Representatives from IRS Criminal Investigation and Treasury did not respond to requests for comment. FATIMA HUSSEIN Hussein reports on the U.S. Treasury Department for The Associated Press. She covers tax policy, sanctions and any issue that relates to money. twitter mailto

United States Vice-President JD Vance delivers a speech during the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit at the Grand Palais in Paris, France, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)2025-02-11T21:54:29Z PARIS (AP) In his first big moment on the world stage, Vice President JD Vance delivered an unmistakable message: the United States under the 47th president has room for you on the Trump train but it also has no problem leaving you behind.Vance, speaking at the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris on Tuesday, hewed closely to President Donald Trumps America First outlook as he spoke of maintaining U.S. dominance in the surging industry. He also pressed European nations to step back from excessive regulation of the AI sector that he said could kill a transformative industry just as its taking off.Now, just because were the leader doesnt mean we want to or need to go it alone, Vance said. But to create that kind of trust, we need international regulatory regimes that fosters the creation of AI technology rather than strangles it. And we need our European friends in particular to look to this new frontier with optimism rather than trepidation. The message was centered on AI, but the tone and substance of Vances remarks fall in line with a Trump administration that has been approaching policymaking and it opponents with the attitude that its a juggernaut that will not be stopped. Already, Trump has effectively shut down much of foreign aid through the United States Agency for International Development. He remains insistent that post-war Gaza will be taken over and redeveloped by the U.S. into a Riviera of the Middle East, despite Palestinians and much of the Arab world flatly rejecting his plans. He has also threatened to take back the Panama Canal and turn Canada into 51st state. Vances remarks contrasted sharply with the overall tenor and content of the summit, which was largely focused on protecting democracies from disinformation and promoting the use of AI technology for the public interest. The United States of America is the leader in AI, and our administration plans to keep that, Vance said. The AI future is not going to be won by hand-wringing about safety. It will be won by building.Early in his address, he knocked former President Joe Bidens administration for being far too risk averse and referred derisively to a speech that then- Vice President Kamala Harris gave at a summit two years ago.Im not here this morning to talk about AI safety, which was the title of the conference a couple of years ago, Vance said. Im here to talk about AI opportunity.For Vance, the five-day overseas visit to Paris, and later Munich, for a pair of summits gives him an early chance to rub shoulders with world leaders and the titans of the tech industry. But his boss threw a little shade at Vance ahead of the trip, telling Fox News that the vice president was very capable but that he wasnt ready to endorse him as his heir apparent in 2028.I think you have a lot of very capable people, Trump said. So far, I think hes doing a fantastic job. Its too early. Were just starting.The Paris summit was billed by organizers France and India as an opportunity for leaders to focus on solutions and standards for shaping a more sustainable AI that works for collective progress. Vance told emerging AI innovators that America is open for business while expressing disbelief that some foreign governments are considering tightening the screws on U.S. tech companies with international footprints.This administration will not be the one to snuff out the startups and the grad students, producing some of the most groundbreaking applications of artificial intelligence, Vance said. Instead, our laws will keep Big Tech, Little Tech and all other developers on a level playing field.The vice president arrived in Paris with Trump sparking new tension with world leaders, including some at the AI summit.Trump on Sunday announced hours before Vance embarked for his trip that he would levy 25% tariffs on all foreign aluminum and steel.The new tariffs didnt sit well with some U.S. allies. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen issued a statement early Tuesday that the U.S. tariffs will not go unanswered. Hours later, von der Leyen and Vance sat down for talks at the U.S. embassy. Neither directly addressed the steel and aluminum tariffs in their brief appearance before reporters.We also want to make sure that were actually engaged in a security partnership thats good for both Europe and the United States, Vance said, as Trump has also been pressing for NATO members to dramatically increase domestic spending.Von der Leyen, for her part, noted a moment in Vances speech when he called for allies to be motivated by optimism instead of fear.I think the same should go for our transatlantic relations, von der Leyen said. We should look with optimism.Vance and his wife, Usha, were hosted for lunch with French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, at the Elysee Palace. In an address on the opening day of the summit, Macron took a jab at Trump, contrasting Frances push for reducing its reliance on fossil fuels with Trumps belief that pumping more oil could be the answer to solving all thats wrong with the economy.In this world, where I have a good friend on the other side of the ocean saying, Drill, baby, drill, Macron said. Here, theres no need to drill. Its just plug, baby, plug.Vance will head on Thursday to Munich, where hes slated to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss Russias war on Ukraine, visit the site of the former Dachau concentration camp and deliver a much-anticipated address to the Munich Security Conference. AAMER MADHANI Madhani covers the White House for The Associated Press. He is based in Washington. twitter mailto

En esta imagen de archivo, el entonces candidato republicano a la presidencia de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump (izquierda), aplaude al director general de Tesla y SpaceX, Elon Musk, tras un discurso en un acto electoral en Butler Farm Show, el 5 de octubre de 2024, en Butler, Pensilvania. (AP Foto/Alex Brandon, archivo)2025-02-11T16:48:16Z Follow live updates on President Donald Trump and his new administration. WASHINGTON (AP) A federal research agency that tracks the progress of Americas students is being hit with almost $900 million in cuts after Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency found no need for much of its work.Its unclear to what degree the Education Departments Institute of Education Sciences will continue to exist after Musks team slashed scores of contracts. Industry groups said at least 169 contracts were suddenly terminated Monday, accounting for much of the institutes work.The Education Department did not immediately share details on the cuts. Madison Biedermann, an agency spokesperson, said the action will not affect the institutes primary work, including the NAEP assessment, known as the nations report card, and the College Scorecard, a database of university costs and outcomes.Musks grip on the Education Department was dealt a setback Tuesday when the agency agreed to temporarily block DOGE workers from more than a dozen internal systems containing sensitive information. DOGE has been tasked with slashing costs across the federal government. As part of a lawsuit challenging its access, the department agreed to block Musks team until at least Monday while a judge weighs a broader pause. The cuts to IES raised alarm among advocates who said it could hurt the accountability of Americas education system, leaving the nation in the dark on schools effectiveness. Historically, achievement gaps have shown low-income students and students of color falling behind their peers. The cuts are counterproductive and destructive, said Rachel Dinkes, president and CEO of the Knowledge Alliance, a coalition of education research firms. Cutting out at the knees the one independent agency that helps improve student outcomes is ridiculous, Dinkes said.Biedermann declined to share the names of vendors whose contracts were cut. Contracts have sensitive business information, our contractors have reputational interests that we want to preserve, and our contractors did not agree to have their business information publicly disclosed outside of the FOIA context, she said. In response to questions, she referred to a social media post from DOGE that said Musks team had terminated 89 contracts worth $881 million, including $1.5 million to a contractor hired to observe mailing and clerical operations at a mail center. Another post said 29 grants totaling $101 million for training in diversity, equity and inclusion had been cut.The Institute of Education Sciences is a central source of information on the health of Americas education system. Across the country, it tracks student progress over time and across demographics. It evaluates the effectiveness of federal programs, and colleges and schools rely on its research to improve student outcomes.The cuts appear to have been carried out under a clause allowing IES to end contracts at any time for the governments convenience, according to notices obtained by The Associated Press.Among the projects being cut is a study exploring how to accelerate math learning for students in fourth and fifth grade, according to a document obtained by the AP. Known as ReSolve, the project was being led by research group MDRC. Last month IES released the latest NAEP results, revealing that Americas children have continued to lose ground on reading skills and made little improvement in math in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.Activate Research, a small business, lost four contracts and plans to lay off at least 20 of its 28 workers. The company was hired to ensure accuracy and objectivity in reports. When founder Dinah Sparks announced the company was winding down Tuesday, she had a message for her team: We are not waste, she said. We did valuable work for the U.S. taxpayer.Another small business lost multiple contracts after being hired to collect basic information on the nations schools. The company started laying off workers this week, according to an employee who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. Congress gave the institute about $800 million last year, roughly 1% of the Education Departments annual budget.Two prominent research associations jointly called for the contracts to be reinstated, saying much of IES work is mandated by Congress and relies on contracts to support its limited staff. The groups said 169 contracts had been cut, curbing the institutes ability to report data on school finances and student outcomes.Without such research, student learning and development will be harmed, according to leaders of the American Educational Research Association and the Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics.The institute oversees a wide range of work, including the administration of the NAEP exam and U.S. participation in PISA, an assessment that compares academic progress across nations. Its also a major funder of education research and keeps a database of research that has shown results in improving education. IES shines a light on inequity and its work is more than just numbers and statistics, said the Education Trust, a nonprofit research and advocacy group. Without it, we are left in the dark, unable to see where educational gaps exist or how to close them, the group said in a statement.Mark Schneider, a former IES commissioner appointed by President Donald Trump in 2018, said the cuts give the new administration a chance to rethink programs that have changed little in decades. But so far its unclear if or how the contracts will be replaced.The question is not what happened on Monday, its what happens next, Schneider said. If we just swing this sledgehammer, break all this stuff and say, OK, done, then weve wasted an opportunity to fix things.Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, a former teacher and member of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said she will be sounding the alarm to fight the cuts.An unelected billionaire is now bulldozing the research arm of the Department of Education taking a wrecking ball to high-quality research and basic data we need to improve our public schools, the Washington senator said in a statement. Cutting off these investments after the contract has already been inked is the definition of wasteful.Trump has promised to abolish the Education Department and turn its power over to states and schools. The White House is considering an order that would direct Trumps education chief to dismantle the agency as far as possible while calling on Congress to fully shut it down.Its unclear how far Trump could act on his own to slash the departments spending, much of which is ordered by Congress.___The Associated Press education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. COLLIN BINKLEY Binkley covers the U.S. Education Department and federal education policy for The Associated Press, along with a wide range of issues from K-12 through higher education. twitter mailto BIANCA VZQUEZ TONESS Vzquez Toness is an Associated Press reporter who writes about the continuing impact of the pandemic on young people and their education. twitter mailto

Residences destroyed by the Eaton Fire line a neighborhood in Altadena, Calif., on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)2025-02-11T23:43:43Z SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) Californias plan that provides insurance to homeowners who cant get private coverage needs $1 billion more to pay out claims related to the Los Angeles wildfires, the state Insurance Department said Tuesday.The FAIR Plan is an insurance pool that all the major private insurers pay into, and the plan then issues policies to people who cant get private insurance because their properties are deemed too risky to insure. The plans provide high premiums and basic coverage. There were more than 452,000 policies on the Fair Plan in 2024, more than double the number in 2020.The plan says its expecting a loss of roughly $4 billion from the Eaton and Palisades Fires, which sparked Jan. 7, destroyed nearly 17,000 structures and killed at least 29 people. Roughly 4,700 claims have been filed as of this week, and the plan has already paid out more than $914 million. All insurers doing business in California will have to bear half the cost and can pass on the rest to all policyholders in the form of a one-time fee as a percentage of premiums. Insurers can collect that cost in the next two years. The state Insurance Department must approve those costs. The plan also expects to receive $1.45 billion in reinsurance to help pay out claims.Insurers on Tuesday said theyre committed to helping the recovery process after the fires and that the ability to recoup some of the cost from ratepayers will prevent companies from ending their business in the state. This is essential to prevent even greater strain on Californias already unbalanced insurance market and avoiding widespread policy cancellations that would jeopardize coverage for millions of Californians, said Mark Sektnan of the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, the largest national trade association for home, auto and business insurers.According to the FAIR Plan, 45% of the claims are reported as total losses, 45% as partial losses and 10% as fair rental value. Its the first time the Fair Plan has sought approval for additional money in more than 30 years, the department said.I took this necessary consumer protection action with one goal in mind: the FAIR Plan must pay claims just like any other insurance company, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said in a statement. I reject those who are hoping for the failure of our insurance market by spreading fear and doubt. Wildfire survivors cant cash what ifs to pay for food and rent, but they can cash FAIR Plan checks. TRN NGUYN Nguyn is an Associated Press reporter covering California government and politics. mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

In this photo provided by Zhang Yazhou, she stands in front of her damaged Tesla Model 3 outside of the Tesla dealership in Zhengzhou, the capital of central Chinas Henan province, on March, 19, 2021. The car was painted with the phrase Brakes fail. (Courtesy Zhang Yazhou via AP)2025-02-12T01:01:11Z BEIJING (AP) Zhang Yazhou was sitting in the passenger seat of her Tesla Model 3 when she said she heard her fathers panicked voice: The brakes dont work! Approaching a red light, her father swerved around two cars before plowing into an SUV and a sedan and crashing into a large concrete barrier.Stunned, Zhang gazed at the deflating airbag in front of her. She could never have imagined what was to come: Tesla sued her for defamation for complaining publicly about the cars brakes and won. A Chinese court ordered Zhang to pay more than $23,000 in damages and publicly apologize to the $1.1 trillion company.Zhang is not the only one to find herself in the crosshairs of Tesla, which is led by Elon Musk, among the richest men in the world and a self-described free speech absolutist. Over the last four years, Tesla has sued at least six car owners in China who had sudden vehicle malfunctions, quality complaints or accidents they claimed were caused by mechanical failures. The company has also sued at least six bloggers and two Chinese media outlets that wrote critically about the company, according to a review of public court documents and Chinese media reports by The Associated Press. Tesla won all eleven cases for which AP could determine the verdicts. Two judgments, including Zhangs, are on appeal. One case was settled out of court. It is not common practice for automakers in China or elsewhere to sue their customers. But Tesla has pioneered an aggressive legal strategy and leveraged the patronage of powerful leaders in Chinas ruling Communist Party to silence critics, reap financial rewards and limit its accountability. The AP review of Teslas record in China comes as Musk is wielding significant influence in President Donald Trumps new administration, leading an effort to rapidly shrink the size of the federal government and oust employees deemed disloyal to the president. His actions have raised concerns that Musk is weakening the U.S. system of checks and balances, in part, to benefit Tesla and his other companies. In the United States, Musk has found a powerful ally in Trump. Together, they have ransacked the federal government, freezing spending, suspending programs and dismissing prosecutors, government watchdogs and others that have traditionally acted as guardrails.Tesla officials in China and the United States did not reply to requests for comment. In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, the Tesla Gigafactory in Lingang new area of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone is seen in east Chinas Shanghai on Sept. 26, 2023. (Liu Ying/Xinhua via AP, File) In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, the Tesla Gigafactory in Lingang new area of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone is seen in east Chinas Shanghai on Sept. 26, 2023. (Liu Ying/Xinhua via AP, File) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Teslas record in China shows how Musk has thrived in a system in which regulators, the media and the courts which must all ultimately answer to the ruling Communist Party are, by design, somewhat intertwined.Tesla has profited from the largesse of the Chinese state, winning unprecedented regulatory benefits, below-market rate loans and large tax breaks. With a few pointed exceptions, Tesla has enjoyed largely ingratiating coverage in the Chinese press, and journalists told AP they have been instructed to avoid negative coverage of the automaker. Teslas windfall has extended to the courts and not just in legal actions Tesla has brought against customers. In a review of public court documents, AP found that Tesla won nearly 90% of civil cases over safety, quality or contract disputes brought by customers.The government gave Tesla a super status that put consumers in a very vulnerable position, said Qiao Yudong, a former lawyer for American sports car company Saleen Automotive in China. Thats why some consumers had to resort to extreme actions.One of those desperate customers was Zhang.Burning with angerThe February 2021 crash in central Chinas Henan province sent Zhangs mother and father, who had a concussion, to the hospital for four days, medical records show. Zhang who was unharmed in the accident, as was her baby niece wanted to understand what had happened: How could her dream car have turned into such a nightmare? This photo provided by Zhang Yazhou shows her damaged Tesla Model 3, left, which her father was driving when it hit two other cars before crashing to a halt against a concrete barrier in Anyang, a city in central Chinas Henan province, on Feb. 21, 2021. Zhang was in the passenger seat. Her mother and her one-year-old niece were at the back. (Zhang Yazhou via AP) This photo provided by Zhang Yazhou shows her damaged Tesla Model 3, left, which her father was driving when it hit two other cars before crashing to a halt against a concrete barrier in Anyang, a city in central Chinas Henan province, on Feb. 21, 2021. Zhang was in the passenger seat. Her mother and her one-year-old niece were at the back. (Zhang Yazhou via AP) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Traffic police determined that the crash was her dads fault because he hadnt maintained a safe following distance. Zhang, however, insisted that the brakes had malfunctioned, sending the car out of control. She filed a complaint with a local market regulator, requesting a refund and compensation. Teslas are among the most computerized cars on the market, so Zhang asked the automaker to turn over the full pre-crash data from her car, hoping it might help explain what went wrong. Tesla refused.Teslas employees were very arrogant and tough in dealing with my complaints, Zhang said in an interview. I was burning with anger. After weeks of stewing, she draped her damaged car with a banner proclaiming Tesla brake failure in front of the Tesla dealership in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, some 200 km (124 miles) from her home. She sat on the Teslas roof and blared her protest through a bullhorn: Tesla Model 3 brakes failed, she said. A family of four almost died. The next month, she parked her damaged car outside an auto show in Zhengzhou. It was all to no avail Tesla refused to turn over the full data and mediation went nowhere. In this photo provided by Zhang Yazhou, she sits on the roof of her damaged Tesla Model 3 with a bullhorn outside a Tesla dealership in Zhengzhou, the capital of central Chinas Henan province, on March, 9, 2021. Banner reads, Tesla brake failure. (Courtesy Zhang Yazhou via AP) In this photo provided by Zhang Yazhou, she sits on the roof of her damaged Tesla Model 3 with a bullhorn outside a Tesla dealership in Zhengzhou, the capital of central Chinas Henan province, on March, 9, 2021. Banner reads, Tesla brake failure. (Courtesy Zhang Yazhou via AP) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Figuring that top Tesla officials would attend an April auto show in Shanghai, she and a friend who had also had a problem with her Tesla donned matching T-shirts with the phrase Brakes fail and headed for Teslas booth, determined to buttonhole executives. The automakers officials avoided them, Zhang said, and they couldnt get anyone to hear them out.Her friend, who was six months pregnant, started shouting, Tesla brakes fail!Zhang clambered on top of a shiny red display model and started hollering, too.Things escalated, said Zhang.The moment captured on cell phone videos shot by onlookers went viral on Chinese social media. Burly security guards hauled Zhang out, and she was detained for five days. This February 2025 image shows Zhang Yazhous Weibo social media account with videos she posted talking about Tesla in 2022 in Henan Province. (AP Photo) This February 2025 image shows Zhang Yazhous Weibo social media account with videos she posted talking about Tesla in 2022 in Henan Province. (AP Photo) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Some observers speculated that Zhangs protest had been orchestrated -- perhaps by a competitor or by the Chinese government itself to pressure Tesla to conform with Chinese regulations. Tesla alleged that Zhang hadnt acted on her own. A top executive speculated to Chinese media that she had someone behind her and said Zhang was making a fuss because she just wanted higher compensation.Zhang insisted she acted on her own and out of anguish. Outraged, she sued Tesla for defamation, arguing that the executives comments unjustly cast her as a troublemaker to deflect attention from the companys own shortcomings. And then she found herself on the receiving end of a lawsuit filed by Tesla. The odds are against youTesla said Zhang had deliberately spread false information that damaged the brand and asked for 5 million yuan ($684,000) in damages.The case, which a court took up in October 2021, came as Tesla faced a barrage of criticism in China.Dozens of Tesla owners had been publicly complaining about alleged brake failures, battery fires, unintended acceleration and other defects, as well as what they claimed were misleading sales practices. The same month as Zhangs crash, Chinese regulators summoned Tesla to respond to quality concerns raised by such reports.Zhangs emotional protest sparked a rare burst of criticism of Tesla in Chinese media. Under pressure from regulators, Tesla finally released the data from her car, which the company said showed her father had been driving nearly 120 km per hour (75 mph) and that the brakes had functioned to reduce the magnitude of the collision.Tesla had finally given Zhang what shed been asking for, but theyd published the data publicly and included her vehicle identification number. She said she and her family started getting threatened and doxed online. Besides, she wondered, how could she be sure Tesla hadnt modified or redacted the data from her car? It was less than the victory shed hoped for. Feeling besieged, she sued Tesla a second time, in March 2022, for invading her privacy.Zhang lost both cases she brought against Tesla.Meanwhile, the defamation case against her was grinding along. Back in court as a defendant, Zhang was unable to prove that the brakes on her Tesla had indeed failed. In a closed trial, a Shanghai court ruled in May 2024 that Zhangs public complaints went beyond what magistrates considered reasonable, factual criticism and ordered her to publicly apologize and pay 170,000 RMB ($23,000) to cover damages and the legal costs of the worlds most valuable car company.Zhang appealed the ruling. She maintains that her lawsuit is a cry for transparency and accountability and that a company as rich and powerful as Tesla should be able to tolerate legitimate criticism from its customers.I refuse to accept it, Zhang told the Associated Press, As a consumer, even if I said something wrong, I have the right to comment and criticize. I spoke about my feelings as a user of the car. It has nothing to do with damaging their reputation.Her odds of winning the appeal against Tesla do not look good. Tesla has not only won the defamation cases it brought against unhappy car owners and critical journalists, its also prevailed in lawsuits customers have filed against it.An AP review of a Chinese government database of court filings published online found 81 civil judgements in which car owners sued Tesla over safety and quality issues or contract disputes. Car owners won in only nine of those cases.In a statement to AP, the Shanghai High Peoples Court said that judgments are the result of a fair trial based on the objective facts of the case. It cannot be assumed that the party has received special protection or special treatment because of their victory, the court wrote. Tesla vehicles are parked outside of a building at the Zhongnanhai leadership compound during a meeting between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and former Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing, Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2019. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool, File) Tesla vehicles are parked outside of a building at the Zhongnanhai leadership compound during a meeting between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and former Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing, Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2019. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool, File) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More While some auto industry experts in China say its generally difficult for customers to win cases against car companies, others say its remarkable for a foreign company to enjoy such blazing success in Chinese courts. Have a news tip?Contact APs global investigative team at [emailprotected]. For secure and confidential communications, use the free Signal app +1 (202) 281-8604. For Tesla to win that percentage of the time is an anomaly, said Bill Russo, founder of Automobility Ltd., an advisory firm based in Shanghai, who also used to be regional head of Chrysler in northeast Asia. The odds are stacked against you. Its like going to the casino and winning every hand. The power of patronageTeslas commercial and political success in China has hinged on the support of a powerful patron: Li Qiang, the former party boss of Shanghai who is now Chinas premier, second in rank only to President Xi Jinping. It was under his watch, in 2019, that Tesla built its first overseas factory on the outskirts of Chinas financial capital. In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, visiting Tesla CEO Elon Musk, left, meets with then-Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (Wang Ye/Xinhua via AP, File) In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, visiting Tesla CEO Elon Musk, left, meets with then-Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (Wang Ye/Xinhua via AP, File) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More With Lis support, Tesla became the first foreign automaker allowed to retain complete control over its China venture and got low-interest loans and generous tax breaks. China also adopted an emissions credit scheme modeled after a U.S. program that has generated billions in income for Tesla.In January 2020, one year after breaking ground, Elon Musk unveiled the first Chinese-made Teslas on a stage in Shanghai. Tesla turned an annual profit for the first time in its history that year, and Musk was declared the worlds richest person in January 2021.China got what it wanted, too: Tesla was a potent catalyst for domestic production and consumption. Before Teslas arrival, new energy vehicles accounted for around five percent of Chinas auto market. Today, analysts say, more than half of passenger vehicles sold retail in China are powered by an electric motor. Chinese battery maker CATL, a key Tesla supplier, has embedded itself in global supply chains to become the worlds largest EV-battery maker. Chinas BYD is now the worlds largest electric vehicle manufacturer and a growing competitive threat to legacy carmakers in the West.Tesla had a large part to play in that, said Tu Le, the managing director of Sino Auto Insights, a consulting firm. Tu said the way the government smoothed the way for Musks factory was critical. It was a swampy field on the outskirts of Shanghai. A year later theyre rolling cars off the line, he said. I dont know if that happens anywhere else in the world. In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Tesla CEO Elon Musk reacts at a delivery ceremony for the first Tesla Model 3 cars made at Tesla's Shanghai factory in Shanghai, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020. (Ding Ting/Xinhua via AP, File) In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Tesla CEO Elon Musk reacts at a delivery ceremony for the first Tesla Model 3 cars made at Tesla's Shanghai factory in Shanghai, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020. (Ding Ting/Xinhua via AP, File) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks at a delivery ceremony for the first Tesla Model 3 cars made at Tesla's Shanghai factory in Shanghai, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020. (Ding Ting/Xinhua via AP, File) In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks at a delivery ceremony for the first Tesla Model 3 cars made at Tesla's Shanghai factory in Shanghai, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020. (Ding Ting/Xinhua via AP, File) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Requests for comment to the State Council, which is run by Li Qiang and oversees Chinas government ministries, went unanswered.Musk still swings by to meet Li when he goes to China. Their encounters underscore the complexity of Musks overlapping interests as a businessman and the most China-friendly member of Trumps inner circle.Musks greater objective was winning influence over the people that mattered for him, that enabled him to get things done, said Russo, the auto strategist in Shanghai. Hes done a good job of it in China and hes done it now with the influence he purchased with his relationship with Trump.A chilling effectSafety advocates worry about the implications of Musks proximity to power in the United States. Federal investigations and safety initiatives Musk has long railed against could be easily snuffed out by the new administration.In the U.S., Tesla also has been subject to a raft of customer safety complaints and lawsuits over autopilot function, battery charging, alleged suspension defects, sudden braking or acceleration, faulty airbags and allegedly monopolistic practices on repairs and parts. Judges have dismissed some cases. In others, Tesla settled out of court or paid hefty settlements.Tesla has not publicly sued any of its U.S. customers for speaking out, though in January, Musk said on X that maybe it is time to sue media outlets for coverage that could stain Teslas brand. His post has been viewed more than 22 million times.Tesla has already successfully done that in China.Two Chinese journalists based in Shanghai told AP there is an unwritten rule to avoid critical coverage of Tesla. Both spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing retaliation.We were told by our editor that we should not write negatively about Tesla because it is a key company that was introduced and protected by the Shanghai government, a tech reporter told AP. Those who have strayed have found themselves in court. Musks company sued media outlets PingWest and ifeng.com over negative coverage. It was unhappy about PingWests report that claimed Teslas Shanghai factory was a sweatshop. The news website ifeng.com drew Teslas ire over a story that explored the tribulations of car owners who fought Tesla. PingWest had to apologize and pay Tesla 100,000 yuan ($13,700). AP could not determine the outcome of the case against ifeng.com.Tesla is not the only company in its industry to sue its critics. BYD has also aggressively pursued media in court, including an unsuccessful lawsuit against Vice Media in the United States. More recently, electric vehicle makers Nio and Li Auto have stepped up defamation cases against bloggers in China who allegedly spread false information about their companies.Tesla, however, stands out even among its cut-throat Chinese competitors in going after car owners who suffered crashes.Tesla used their legal advantages to bully Chinese car owners and people who speak up for them, said Feng Shiming, an auto blogger and Tesla owner who was ordered by a Shanghai court last year to pay Tesla 250,000 yuan ($34,200) after he wrote about Teslas alleged brake failures. He has appealed the verdict. Tesla wants to have a chilling effect on society and terrify people so they will be scared to say anything negative about Tesla.Chen Junyi got the message. He lost control of his Model 3 and plowed into a dozen cars in a parking lot at high speed in August 2020. He claimed the brakes had failed. He told Chinese media at the time that he broke his back and four ribs and had to have 30 centimeters (12 inches) of his small intestine removed. Chen took to social media and warned people not to buy Tesla, raising his shirt to reveal the long, gnarled scar that runs up his abdomen.Tesla maintained the accident was Chens fault, citing a technical review that found the car was accelerating and not braking in the seconds before the crash, and sued him for making false claims.Tesla should proactively respond to consumers instead of using its superior resources and filing lawsuits against consumers who are at a disadvantage, Chen said in a court statement reviewed by AP. I almost lost my life because of the car accident. I lost my job and income. I am under tremendous economic pressure. This excerpt from a legal document shows that a Chinese civil court ordered Chen Junyi to publicly apologize to Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. and to pay the company $6,800. (AP Illustration/Allen G. Breed) This excerpt from a legal document shows that a Chinese civil court ordered Chen Junyi to publicly apologize to Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. and to pay the company $6,800. (AP Illustration/Allen G. Breed) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Chen declined to speak with the AP, citing fear of retaliation. A Chinese court ordered Chen to pay the carmaker 50,000 yuan ($6,800) as compensation and to issue an apology.I deeply regret the serious negative impacts I have had on Tesla and its cars, he wrote. I hereby sincerely apologize to Tesla and to the people who were misled by my remarks.A month later, he apologized for his apology, saying the words were not his own.___Chen and Kinetz reported from Washington.___Contact APs global investigative team at [emailprotected] or https://www.ap.org/tips/ ELSIE CHEN Chen covers China-related issues for APs Global Investigations team from Washington. twitter mailto ERIKA KINETZ Kinetz is a global investigative journalist for The Associated Press, based in Rome. She has won awards for her work in Ukraine, China, India, Myamnar and Cambodia. mailto DAKE KANG Kang covers Chinese politics, technology and society from Beijing for The Associated Press. Hes reported across Central, South, and East Asia, and was a Pulitzer finalist for investigative reporting in China. twitter mailto

A sign for the Food and Drug Administration is displayed outside their offices in Silver Spring, Md., on Dec. 10, 2020. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)2025-02-11T15:29:36Z Several brands of canned tuna sold at stores including Trader Joes, Costco and H-E-B have been recalled because they might be contaminated with a type of bacteria that causes botulism, a potentially fatal form of food poisoning. Tri-Union Seafoods of El Segundo, California, last week recalled certain lots of tuna sold under the Genova, Van Camps, H-E-B and Trader Joes brand names, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The company said that lids on the easy open cans may have a manufacturing defect that could cause the products to leak or to become contaminated with the bacteria that causes botulism. The affected products have retail codes listed in the recall notice and best-by dates in 2027 and 2028. The tuna was also sold at Harris Teeter, Publix, Kroger, Safeway, Walmart and some independent stores in several states. No illnesses have been reported to date, the company said. Consumers should not consume the recalled tuna even if it doesnt look or smell spoiled. Return the recalled tuna to the store for a full refund, throw it away or contact Tri-Union Seafoods. Botulism is a rare but serious illness that occurs when a toxin caused by the bacteria attacks the bodys nerves. It can cause difficulty breathing, paralysis and death. ___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

A family runs across the street near a building, where some people trafficked under false pretenses are forced to work in online scams targeting people all over the world, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)2025-02-12T03:12:30Z BANGKOK (AP) President Donald Trumps freeze on foreign assistance has dealt a blow to organizations fighting human trafficking and forced labor in Cambodia, where tens of thousands of people are held captive and forced to work in call centers running telephone scams.Hundreds of thousands of people work in remote compounds in countries including Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos where they run online scams targeting people all over the world, including Americans, according to U.N. estimates. Some are trafficked and lured to the jobs under false pretenses and forced to work against their will. A shelter for people who manage to leave these compounds run by the Catholic charity Caritas recently let some victims go and may stop accepting further victims due to the funding squeeze, two sources with direct knowledge of the situation said. The shelter, in the capital Phnom Penh is the only one not operated by the government which takes in victims of scam compounds, both foreign and Cambodian. The sources declined to be named because they were concerned about retaliation from the Trump administration. The funding freeze has also halted civil-society-assisted rescue work and related programs on preventing human trafficking. The compounds operate with support from some local elites. Last October, the U.S. sanctioned Ly Yong Phat, a leading member of the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party of Prime Minister Hun Manet, for owning businesses that have trafficked people and forced to work in online scam centers. The blow to civil society efforts comes as a small network of society and independent media addressing Cambodias scam compounds are already under intense government pressure. Independent media outlets have been shuttered, and a prominent Cambodian investigative journalist who had reported on the issue was arrested.The Trump Administration froze U.S. foreign assistance in January, upending projects all over the world that ranged from providing medications to HIV patients to humanitarian assistance to people displaced by conflict. While there are other shelters in Cambodia, the one operated by Caritas is the only qualified and competent shelter, said Jake Sims, a co-founder of Shamrock, a public-private coalition working to combat transnational organized cybercrime. It offers victims trauma-informed care, as well as help with visas and legal support so they can go back to their home countries.The Caritas shelter received financial support from Winrock International, USAIDs partner in Cambodia. It was due to receive about $1 million from USAID over the course of two years, the sources said. The shelter was also partially funded by IOM, a United Nations agency which is largely funded by the U.S. Neither USAID, IOM nor the government of Cambodia responded to requests for comment.Some people manage to leave the compounds, either making their own escapes sometimes jumping out of windows or relying on a few rescue operators who assist the Cambodian police. Theres also a Cambodian government rescue hotline. When victims do get out, they often have trouble returning home. They are usually held in police custody and then sent on to immigration detention where they may linger for months. Many dont have any savings and may need legal help if they entered the country illegally with smugglers, rescuers say. Shelters are critical for ensuring victims dont wind up being trafficked again, said Mina Chiang, founder of Humanity Research Consultancy, which has conducted research on the scam compounds in the region.In 2022, my team and I have learnt cases where Taiwanese survivors became homeless on the streets of Cambodia after escaping the scam compounds, she said. There have also been cases where survivors were hunted down by criminals after they had escaped.Li Ling, a rescue worker who has referred cases to the Caritas shelter, said she has had to stop assisting in rescues of scam workers because of the funding freeze.Six victims left the shelter as soon as it got a stop-work order, and two of them have subsequently disappeared, said Li, whos also a PhD student at CaFoscari University of Venice studying cyber-enabled modern slavery. She had asked them to stay in regular contact after their departure and said she is concerned they may have wound up back in a scam compound, as they did not have any savings and planned to look for jobs for food and shelter. Other organizations that support scam center victims have also taken a hit from the funding freeze, such as one which provides medical assistance to victims who injured in escapes, said Li. For example, last year, they had helped someone who jumped out of a building to escape a scam compound. The organization helped pay for the emergency surgery for the victim, but that source of funds has also stopped. The funding freeze has also led to the cancellation of other related programs focused on preventing human trafficking.One non-profit organization registered in the region was due to start a training program with community journalists across Southeast Asia to raise awareness about scam compounds and their recruitment processes. Another labor-focused organization was due to start a training program with labor unions in six Southeast Asian countries on recognizing signs of trafficking, the sources with knowledge of the funding said.The organizations asked to not be named due to the fear of government retaliation. Ongoing research funded by to keep track of the latest developments in the scam compounds and the Cambodian government response has also been halted, the source with knowledge of the funding said. Research consultants funded by USAIDs counter-trafficking program wrote internal reports for the agency on the criminal activity that are also sometimes shared with Congressional staff, as well as different parts of the U.S. government.With U.S. government support now abruptly removed, we can expect an acceleration in civil society repression, Jake Sims.Last October, the Cambodian government arrested a well-known investigative journalist who had reported extensively on the proliferation of scam compounds in the country.After widespread international attention and the support of local media organizations, journalist Mech Dara was released on bail after about a month. Afterward, he made a public statement that he would quit journalism.Even if new funding is secured, restarting anti-trafficking programs could be more costly, since programs have already been shuttered and contract workers have been let go. The knock-on effect of the USAID funding freeze extends beyond the trafficking and re-trafficking of vulnerable people; it strengthens criminal networks, allowing them to expand their operations, said Humanity Research Consultancys Chiang. HUIZHONG WU Wu covers Chinese culture, society, and politics for The Associated Press, as well as the countrys growing overseas influence from Bangkok. She was previously based in Taiwan and China. twitter RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Migrant, Cesar Anibal Bonilla Estrada, 54, from Ecuador, center, checks his phone during dinner time at the migrant shelter on Randall's Island, on Tuesday, April 9, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki, File)2025-02-11T17:55:37Z Follow live updates on President Donald Trump and his new administration. WASHINGTON (AP) Four federal employees were fired Tuesday over payments to reimburse New York City for hotel costs for migrants, Department of Homeland Security officials said.The workers are accused of circumventing leadership to make the transactions, which have been standard for years through a program that helps with costs to care for a surge in migration. However, officials did not give details on how the four had violated any policies. On Monday, President Donald Trumps aide Elon Musk posted on X that his team had discovered payments used to house migrants in luxury hotels with money intended for disaster relief. Musk blasted the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is part of Homeland Security, and called the payments gross insubordination. FEMAs acting administrator, Cameron Hamilton, later said the payments were suspended and the employees who authorized them would be held accountable. The terminated employees were FEMAs chief financial officer, two program analysts and a grant specialist, a Homeland Security statement said. The employees made egregious payments for luxury NYC hotels for migrants, the statement said. DHS will not sit idly and allow deep state activists to undermine the will and safety of the American people. The statement gave no other details, and officials didnt reply to emails seeking further comment.But in court documents filed Tuesday, Hamilton said the administration yanked funding from the Shelter and Services Program because of concerns the money was facilitating illegal activities at a Manhattan hotel used to house migrants. Hamiltons comments came as part of a lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administrations freeze on federal grants and loans. The freeze, just days into the new administration, threw states, communities and organizations that rely on federal funding into mass confusion, and was rescinded two days later. As of today, the Department has paused funding to the Shelter and Services Program based on significant concerns that the funding is going to entities engaged in or facilitating illegal activities, Hamilton wrote.Hamilton cited a New York Post news report that the Venezuelan gang Tren De Aragua was using the Roosevelt Hotel which is used to house migrants in New York as a recruiting center and base of operations to plan a variety of crimes. Hamilton said if FEMA payments continue, they would likely fund criminal activity.New York started leasing the Roosevelt Hotel as an intake center for homeless migrants seeking city services in 2023, after it closed in the fall of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. By law, New York City must offer shelter to anyone who needs it, and at the time the regular homeless shelter system was overwhelmed with new arrivals. The hotel now serves as both a place where migrants must go to apply for services and as a temporary shelter for hundreds of families who can stay for only 60 days.Hamilton said that the federal government can pause or end payments if recipients dont abide by the terms and that FEMA is reaching out to New York to get more information and ensure that federal funds are not being used for illegal activities. The Shelter and Services Program with money coming from Congress and administered by FEMA has become a flashpoint for criticism by Republicans, who incorrectly claim its taking funds from people hit by hurricanes or floods.The money is separate from the disaster relief fund, which is FEMAs main funding stream to help people and governments affected by disasters.The firings and court filing come as Trumps Republican administration ratchets up pressure on FEMA, suggesting it should be disbanded and money should be given directly to states to handle disasters.___AP reporter Cedar Attanasio contributed from New York. REBECCA SANTANA Santana covers the Department of Homeland Security for The Associated Press. She has extensive experience reporting in such places as Russia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. twitter mailto

This articlewas producedwith support from WIRED.Last year, a joint investigation revealed that a Florida-based data broker, Datastream Group, was selling highly sensitive location data that tracked United States military and intelligence personnel overseas. However, at the time, the origin of that data remained unknown.Now, a letter sent to US senator Ron Wydens office that was obtained by an international collective of media outletsincluding WIRED and 404 Mediareveals that Eskimi, a little-known Lithuanian adtech company, was the ultimate source of that data.Eskimis role highlights the opaque and interconnected nature of the location data industry: A Lithuanian company provided data on US military personnel in Germany to a databroker in Florida, which could then theoretically sell that data to essentially anyone.

People gather outside the Bowery Ballroom where Paul McCartneys surprise show was held in New York, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Jake Coyle)2025-02-12T04:12:17Z NEW YORK (AP) Paul McCartneys previous New York-area performance took place three years ago at MetLife Stadium, capacity 82,500. His surprise show Tuesday night at the Bowery Ballroom fit, at most, 575. It was probably less than that since McCartneys sound board and gear too much to fit backstage occupied a portion of the floor space at the venerable downtown theater. The whole thing felt like, and was, a lark. McCartney announced the show just hours before taking the stage. Like an echo of Beatlemania, the news swept through Manhattan and beyond earlier in the day, sending New Yorkers sprinting down Delancey Street for a chance to snag one of the few tickets at the Bowery. Most in attendance, including McCartney, himself, could hardly believe it was happening. So, here we are, McCartney said, grinning. Some little gig. New York. Why not? Later, he added before launching into Let Me Roll It: I cant quite believe were here, doing this. But we are here, doing this.It was not McCartneys first impromptu concert. The Beatles, of course, famously performed atop the roof of their Apple Corps headquarters at 3 Savile Row in London in 1969. Since then hes made something of a habit of it on trips to New York. In 2009, McCartney returned to the Ed Sullivan Theater, site of the Beatles famous U.S. debut, and performed above the marquee. In 2018, he popped up in Grand Central Terminal to promote the release of his Egyptian Station. With temperatures in the low 30s on Tuesday, McCartney, 82, this time opted for an intimate, indoor show. Tickets were sold only physically at the venue, one per person. All were snapped up within about 30 minutes. For those quick enough, it was like hitting the lottery. Amy Jaffe, 69, was at home about 30 blocks north when she saw the announcement on Instagram. I thought: I can do this, Jaffe said before the show. I put on jeans, grabbed a coat, called a Lyft. Jaffe has seen McCartney many times before, including with the Beatles in 1964 in Forrest Hills, Queens. But she was still incredulous, smiling and shaking her head: I dont actually believe it.Phil Sokoloff, 31, was on his way to work nearby when he saw the news. He ran in and told his co-worker, Mat Fuller, and they rushed over to the Bowery Ballroom.We just got lucky, Sokoloff said. Im always learning about these things the day after.McCartney took the stage roughly on time at 6:30 p.m. with his regular band, along with a three-member horn section. They had only rehearsed once, the day before, McCartney said. Someone shouted: You dont need to rehearse! If the location was stripped down, the former Beatle didnt come with a minimized show, packing in a blistering tour through his entire catalog, from Beatles classics to Wings hits. He began with A Hard Days Night and also performed Got To Get You Into My Life, Maybe Im Amazed, Lady Madonna, Jet, Get Back, Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, Let it Be and Hey Jude. Blackbird was a solo number on acoustic guitar, and afterward McCartney reflected on how he wrote it for the Civil Rights Movement, a memory that brought back his first trips to the United States. We were just kids, McCartney said. Ive got grandchildren older than that now. In the early days, he said, he and John Lennon were always writing for the audience, and the songs were all about reaching out: I Want to Hold Your Hand, From Me to You. It had everything to do with the fans, really, McCartney said. Before playing the Wings song Mrs. Vanderbilt, McCartney spoke of playing it in front of 350,000 people in Kyiv, when Ukraine was exuberant with a newfound freedom. Lets hope it gets back to that soon, he said. Conversation, mixed with shouts from the audience, peppered the set. After one particularly shrill scream, McCartney responded. That was a Beatles scream. Then he asked for more, saying, OK, lets get it out of the way. Girls, give me a Beatles scream. All in attendance obliged. McCartney also performed the so-called last Beatles song, Now and Then, a ballad penned by Lennon in the late 70s but only released in 2023 with the help of the some of the technology used in Peter Jacksons 2021 documentary, The Beatles: Get Back. The song made McCartney wistful for his songwriting partner, whom he noted loved New York. Lets hear it for John, he said. McCartney, who was spotted Sunday at the Super Bowl in New Orleans chatting with Adam Sandler, was in New York for the upcoming Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary festivities. Hes to be a guest on the star-studded television special Sunday. It was unclear if McCartney was playing a single show or preparing for something more. He wrapped the Got Back Tour in December and has said hes hoping to finish a new album this year. For now, though, it was a one-night-only event. One crowd member asked McCartney if it could go all night. Some of us need to get some sleep, you know, he replied. McCartney still came back, bouncing on the stage for an encore. He closed with the rousing Abbey Road send off of Carry That Weight and The End, concluded with its immortalized final lines: And in the end/ The love you take/ Is equal to the love you make. The crowd, still in disbelief, spilled out into the street. Snow had begun to fall. JAKE COYLE Coyle has been a film critic and covered the movie industry for The Associated Press since 2013. He is based in New York City. twitter mailto

President Donald Trump, from right, speaks to reporters accompanied by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Burgum's wife Kathryn Burgum, aboard Air Force One where Trump signed a proclamation declaring Feb. 9 Gulf of America Day, as he travels from West Palm Beach, Fla. to New Orleans, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)2025-02-12T01:52:11Z SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Apple renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America on its maps Tuesday after an order by President Donald Trump was made official by the U.S. Geographic Names Information System.The move follows Google, which announced last month that it would make the change once the official listing was updated and wrote in a blog post Sunday that it had begun rolling out the change. In Googles case, the company said people in the U.S. will see Gulf of America and people in Mexico will see Gulf of Mexico. Everyone else will see both names.After taking office, Trump ordered that the water bordered by the Southern United States, Mexico and Cuba be renamed.The U.S. Geographic Names Information System officially updated the name late Sunday. Microsoft has also made the name change on its Bing maps.The Associated Press, which provides news around the world to multiple audiences, will refer to the Gulf of Mexico by its original name, which it has carried for 400 years, while acknowledging the name Gulf of America.

Relatives of hostages, held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, protest in Tel Aviv, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025 after the militant group announced it would delay hostage releases in the Gaza Strip after accusing Israel of violating a fragile ceasefire. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)2025-02-12T05:24:24Z TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) After 16 months of excruciating uncertainty, Idit Ohel finally received word this week that her 24-year-old son, a hostage in Gaza, is still alive.She said she fainted upon hearing the brutal details of his captivity from freed hostages who had been held with him by Hamas since Oct. 7, 2023. Bound by chains in an underground tunnel, Alon Ohel has subsisted on a piece of bread or less each day.He hasnt seen sunlight in 493 days, she told reporters on Monday.As the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas seems increasingly at risk of falling apart Hamas says it will not free three hostages on Saturday as planned, and Israel says its ready to resume the war if it doesnt families of the hostages are struggling to maintain hope. They are pleading with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to give up on the ceasefire framework, and to speed up the timeline of releases if possible. Their worries about the ceasefire collapsing have been exacerbated by President Donald Trumps demand that all of the hostages be freed by Saturday and his insistence that Gaza be emptied of all Palestinians and redeveloped as a tourist enclave controlled by the United States. The emaciated state of three hostages released last Saturday has infuriated Israelis and terrified families of the remaining hostages, especially as more details come out about the conditions of their captivity. The situation is especially difficult for relatives of hostages who are not on the list of 33 hostages expected to be released in the ceasefires first, six-week phase, which began on Jan. 19. The agreement requires Israel to free 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, whose families are also worried about how their enemy treats them.Two hostages released on Saturday, Or Levy and Eli Sharabi, were held together with Alon Ohel, and a fourth hostage, Eliya Cohen. The four were held underground since their kidnapping, Idit Ohel said. Cohen is expected to be released in the ceasefires first stage; Ohel would be freed in the second stage, if Israel and Hamas reach that point.Levy, Ohel, and Cohen were kidnapped from a bomb shelter near a music festival in southern Israel, along with Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American-Israeli who was killed in captivity in August.It breaks my heart to know he was chained and to know what happened to him in the tunnels from people in the tunnels, Cohens fiance, Ziv Abud, 27, told reporters on Tuesday. The returned hostages said that Cohen had lost more than 20 kilograms (44 pounds) and had a bullet in his leg that did not receive medical attention. While they were with him, Cohen was unaware that Abud had survived the Hamas attack on the bomb shelter where they were hiding.During the Oct. 7 attack, militants tossed grenades and sprayed bullets inside the concrete bomb shelter near the music festival, where almost 30 people had crammed inside. At least 16 people inside the shelter were killed.Abud said she was protected by the crush of bodies above her. Going in and out of consciousness, she spent hours laying beneath the bodies of her nephew and his girlfriend. For families of hostages who are not scheduled for release in the first phase of the ceasefire, its uncertainty is even more difficult to bear.Israel and Hamas were set last week to begin talks on a second phase of the ceasefire that would include an end to the war and the release of the remaining hostages. But those efforts have been frozen while the two sides trade accusations about whether the other is living up to the terms of the first phase. Tamir Nimrodi, 20, an Israeli soldier kidnapped from his post at a main crossing between Israel and Gaza, is not on the list to be freed in the first stage. His mother, Herut, said Hamas plan to delay the next hostage release came as a shock. We try to analyze it, think, what are the possibilities? Is this psychological terrorism they are pulling on us? she said.Its been difficult watching the hostage releases over the past few weeks, Nimrodi said, especially the emotional videos of hostages reuniting with their families. On the one hand, each reunion is a step closer to bringing back her son, whom she described as a creative person who loves riding horses and drinking sweet cocktails made with pineapple juice. But Nimrodi does not know if her son, who also holds German citizenship, is alive.The other two soldiers he was kidnapped with were killed, and she has not received any sign of life from him. I know there is a chance I wont get to the point where I can hold my son, she said.According to Israeli media, returning hostages have provided proof of life for at least seven Israeli hostages, including Cohen and Ohel.Nimrodi doesnt know what is worse to believe her son is dead, or to receive information that he is alive, but held in conditions like Alon Ohel. Im scared if Tamir is still alive, I have no idea what hes going through, Im scared to even imagine, she said. Idit Ohel received the information about her sons condition less than an hour before she went on Israels Channel 12 news program earlier this week. She sat at the news desk sobbing on live TV, pleading with the government to continue to the second stage of the ceasefire and bring all of the hostages home as soon as possible. Alon, who also has German and Serbian citizenship, is a talented pianist. The family has placed pianos across Israel in his honor, many of which are yellow, the color associated with the struggle for the hostages.The family marked Alons second birthday in captivity on Monday evening in Tel Aviv, where his mother addressed the Israeli government. After all the sights you saw, after all the testimonies you heard from the survivors of captivity, how do you allow this situation to continue? she said. Alon did remember his younger sister, Inbar, had a birthday on Saturday and delivered her a message through the hostages who were released that day. She got her birthday wish, to hear from her brother, which is incredible, Idit said, through tears. MELANIE LIDMAN Lidman is an Associated Press reporter based in Tel Aviv, Israel.

People line up to receive food at a shelter for families displaced by gang violence in the Kenscoff neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)2025-02-12T05:15:03Z SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) Haitis children are increasingly caught in the crossfire of gang violence, forced to carry weapons, spy on police and rival gangs and run errands for gunmen, according to a report released Wednesday by Amnesty International.One of 51 children interviewed by the human rights group said he was constantly pressured by a gang to fight alongside it.They killed people in front of me and asked me to burn their bodies. But I dont have the heart for that, the unidentified boy was quoted as saying.An estimated 30% to 50% of gang members are now children, according to UNICEF.Amnesty International said the children had no choice, and that their involvement was predominantly out of hunger or fear.Nearly two million people are on the verge of starvation in Haiti, and more than one million children are estimated to be living in gang-controlled areas, with 85% of the capital of Port-au-Prince under their rule. One unidentified boy, 16, said hes paid to run errands for a gang.(The gangs) are in control. And there is nothing you can do about it, he was quoted as saying. If children refuse to follow a gangs orders, they or their family would be killed, according to the report, which relied on a total of 112 interviews and research done from May to October last year.Children are not only in danger of gangs, but of vigilantes and police officers who believe theyre working for them, according to Amnesty International. Girls and young women also have been collectively raped by gang members and infected with sexually transmitted diseases, often ending up pregnant in a country where health care is extremely limited.One teen was raped by six men, and her sister by five others.There was so much blood, the unidentified younger sister said in an interview.Another teen recounted how she drank bleach to try and kill herself after having a baby after being raped by three men who then left her naked in public. People found me on the street and put a dress on me, she said.Amnesty International said many of those interviewed scoffed at the idea of reporting their attacks to authorities.A 16-year-old girl who was abducted and raped by several gang members said: Are you kidding me? Its not possibleThere is no policeThe only chief in town are the gang members.The violence also has led to injury and death.One girl, 14, recounted how a ricocheting bullet pierced her lip in September 2024. Three months before that, her 17-year-old brother died from a stray bullet.I lost a huge presence in my life. Since then, I dont know how to be happy, the girl said.The violence is especially punishing on children with disabilities, with some recounting how they had to leave behind crutches and wheelchairs during sudden gang attacks in their neighborhoods.Amnesty International called on the Haitian government to better support children, restore education, provide mental health services, and resume court proceedings against children suspected of ties to gangs who are being held without charge. It also said more resources including training and security are needed to help reintegrate children into society.The international community cannot continue to make empty promises, the report said. The country needs immediate and sustained technical and financial assistance to rescue a generation of boys and girls from being lost to repeated cycles of gang violence.In 2023, 128 children were reported killed, according to the U.N. While the figure wasnt available for last year, more than 5,600 people were reported killed in 2024, the organization found.Haitis National Police, which is severely underfunded and understaffed, is working alongside a U.N.-backed mission led by Kenyan police to help quell gang violence.However, the mission lacks funding and personnel, and the U.S. and other countries have been pushing to transform it into a U.N.-peacekeeping mission.____Follow APs coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

The exterior of the South Carolina Supreme Court building in Columbia, S.C. is shown Jan. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/James Pollard, file)2025-02-12T05:06:55Z COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) With a heartbeat abortion ban solidly in place in South Carolina, lawyers for the state and Planned Parenthood return to the states highest court Wednesday to argue how restrictive the ban should be.The law is being enforced in South Carolina as a ban on almost all abortions around six weeks after conception, setting that mark as the time cardiac activity starts.But Planned Parenthood and other abortion rights groups are arguing the 2023 law includes alternative definitions about the timing of a fetal heart forming and a heartbeat starting and the true ban should start around nine or 10 weeks.Both sides are set to argue for just over an hour at the South Carolina Supreme Court in Columbia. The justices likely will take several months to decide the case. In the meantime, the abortion ban around six weeks likely will remain in place after a lower court upheld it. The 2023 law says abortions cannot be performed after an ultrasound can detect cardiac activity, or the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart, within the gestational sac.South Carolina and several other states place that at six weeks into development. But what follows the or in the sentence could require that a heart has formed, and medical experts say that doesnt happen until around nine weeks. The legal fight has been brewing since the state Supreme Court reversed itself after overturning a similar ban in 2021. The Republican-dominated General Assembly then made small changes and a justice who voted in the majority in the 3-2 decision to overturn the ban reached retirement age and was replaced. In the decision upholding the new ban, the state Supreme Court itself noted the different definitions saying resolving them would be a question for another day.That day is Wednesday. Since then, more inconsistencies in the laws language have been brought up. The law refers to a fetal heartbeat, but most experts consider a fertilized egg to be an embryo for about 10 weeks after conception before transitioning into a fetus. Lawyers for the state said the parsing of the language ignores the intent of the Legislature. Both supporters and opponents of the bill called it nearly exclusively a six-week ban during debate in the House and Senate.Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and ended a nationwide right to abortion, most Republican-controlled states have started enforcing new bans or restrictions and most Democrat-dominated ones have sought to protect abortion access.Currently, 13 states are enforcing bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with limited exceptions, and South Carolina and three others have bans that kick in at or about six weeks into pregnancy -- often before women realize theyre pregnant.The latest lawsuit was filed by South Carolina resident Taylor Shelton, who said she had sought medical attention for pain from her intrauterine device and was stunned to find out, just two days after missing her regularly-tracked period, that she was pregnant. She ended up in North Carolina, driving for hours to several appointments to undergo an abortion because doctors in South Carolina were unsure how to define a heartbeat. Shelton couldnt be completely sure she was within six weeks.Some Republicans in South Carolina are also pushing for an outright abortion ban, but while legislation was introduced this January when the General Assembly started its two-year session, no hearings have been held. JEFFREY COLLINS Collins covers South Carolina from Columbia for The Associated Press. He has been with the AP since 2000. twitter mailto

President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up as Jordan's King Abdullah II departs the White House after meeting at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)2025-02-12T05:02:22Z WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump is taking additional action to upset the world trade system, with plans to sign an order as soon as Wednesday that would require that U.S. tariffs on imports match the tax rates charged by other countries.Its time to be reciprocal, Trump told reporters earlier this week. Youll be hearing that word a lot. Reciprocal. If they charge us, we charge them.The president had suggested that the order would come on Tuesday or Wednesday. But when Tuesday passed without the tariffs being officially announced, Trump was asked if he would sign the order on Wednesday and Trump answered: Well see what happens.As Trump has unleashed a series of tariffs after being in power for less than a month, he has fully taken ownership of the path of the U.S. economy. Its a bet that his economic ideas can eventually deliver meaningful results for voters, even if by Trumps own admission the import taxes could involve some financial pain in the form of inflation and economic disruptions. For all of Trumps talk, the impact will likely depend on the details of the tariffs and how other nations respond. A reciprocal tariffs order could amount to a substantial tax hike to be shouldered largely by U.S. consumers and businesses as the Census Bureau reported that the country had total imports of $4.1 trillion last year. The tariffs could set off retaliatory measures by trading partners that could roil growth around the globe and reset where the United States stands with allies and rivals alike. By signing the order, Trump would fulfill his long-standing pledge to raise taxes on most imported goods, a clear break with his recent White House predecessors who saw tariffs as either targeted tools to use strategically or barriers worth lowering. Trump has broken with that precedent by saying he wants to return the United States to the 1890s when taxes on imports were the governments dominant source of revenues. But should job gains never materialize and should inflation stay high, its an easy line of attack for Democratic lawmakers and candidates that Trump helped the ultrawealthy at the expense of the middle class. No matter which way you slice it, costs are going to climb for consumers, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said earlier this month. I will work with my colleagues to undo this mess, get costs down and get these billionaires out of the way.Trump put 10% tariffs on China over its contributions to the production of the illicit drug fentanyl, and China has taken retaliatory measures. He said he is ready if necessary on March 1 after a 30-day suspension to put tariffs on Mexico and Canada over his belief they should do more to fight illegal immigration and drug smuggling. On Monday, he closed the exemptions to his 2018 tariffs on steel and aluminum, in addition to raising the tariff rates on aluminum. He has also talked about additional taxes on imported autos, computer chips and pharmaceutical drugs.Many of Americas dominant trading partners are preparing for an economic rupture in reaction to Trumps possible actions. In response to the steel and aluminum tariffs, European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday: Unjustified tariffs on the EU will not go unanswered they will trigger firm and proportionate countermeasures. That means motorcycles, jeans, bourbon and peanut butter from the United States could face new taxes abroad. Mexico and Canada Americas two largest trading partners have also prepared countermeasures.Multiple Trump aides have privately said that Trumps long-standing goal with tariffs has been reciprocity. But Trump has also portrayed tariffs as a diplomatic tool to try to force Canada and Mexico to spend more resources on stopping illegal immigration and drug trafficking into the United States. He also suggested repeatedly that tariffs would be a source of revenues that could offset his planned income tax cuts.But even before Trump formally signed the order, analysts at Goldman Sachs on Tuesday concluded it was unlikely to be the final word on tariffs. Of course, even if President Trump views reciprocal tariffs as an alternative to more sweeping measures at the moment, we are entering only the fourth week of a four-year presidential term and it seems likely there will be many further tariff announcements, the investment banks analysts wrote.Michael Zezas, a strategist at Morgan Stanley, wrote in a Sunday note that the tariff trajectory would shape what happens with growth, inflation, interest rates and Federal Reserve policies this year.Its a major shift from the era of globalization, when companies shrank expenses by pursuing lower-cost labor and materials offshore, Zezas said. This transition is likely to take many years, creating challenges for some and substantial opportunities for others. JOSH BOAK Boak covers the White House and economic policy for The Associated Press. He joined the AP in 2013. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Priya Kathpal, right, and Taylor Williamson, left, who work for a company doing contract work for the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, carry signs outside the USAID headquarters in Washington, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)2025-02-12T05:07:52Z WASHINGTON (AP) The Trump administration will present an unforgiving argument for dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development to a federal judge Wednesday: USAID is rife with insubordination and must be shut down for the administration to decide what pieces of it to salvage. The argument, made in an affidavit by political appointee and deputy USAID administrator Pete Marocco, comes as the administration confronts a lawsuit by two groups representing federal employees.USAID staffers deny insubordination and call the accusation a pretext to break up the more than 60-year-old agency, one of the worlds biggest donors of humanitarian and development assistance.Accounts of USAID staffers filed Tuesday in support of the lawsuit revealed new details of the destruction of the agency. That includes a sworn statement from a USAID staffer describing a specific leader in billionaire Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency teams allegedly directing USAID staffers on Monday in the immediate termination of about 200 USAID programs without proper authorization or process. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, an appointee of President Donald Trump, dealt the administration a setback Friday in its dismantling of the agency, temporarily halting plans to pull all but a fraction of USAID staffers off the job worldwide. Nichols is due to hear arguments Wednesday on a request from the employee groups to keep blocking the move to put thousands of staffers on leave as well as broaden his order. They contend the government has already violated the judges order, which also reinstated USAID staffers already placed on leave but declined to suspend the administrations freeze on foreign assistance. Trump and Musks cost-cutting DOGE have hit USAID particularly hard as they look to shrink the size of the federal government, accusing its work of being wasteful and out of line with Trumps agenda. In the court case, a government motion shows the administration pressing arguments by Vice President JD Vance and others questioning if courts have the authority to check Trumps power. The Presidents powers in the realm of foreign affairs are generally vast and unreviewable, government lawyers argued.USAID staffers and supporters call the aid agencys humanitarian and development work abroad essential to national security.They argue each step of the administrations breakup of USAID has been unnecessarily cruel to its thousands of workers and devastating for people around the world who are being cut off from clean water, life-saving medical care, education, training and more since Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 20 freezing foreign assistance.This is a full-scale gutting of virtually all the personnel of an entire agency, Karla Gilbride, attorney for the employee associations, told the judge last week.The American Foreign Service Association and the American Federation of Government Employees argue that Trump lacks the authority to shut down the agency without approval from Congress. Democratic lawmakers have made the same argument. In an affidavit ahead of Wednesdays hearing, Marocco, a returning USAID political appointee from Trumps first term, presents without evidence a description of agency workers stalling and resisting the administrations orders to abruptly cut off funds for programs worldwide and subject each one to a rigorous review.In the face of deceit, noncompliance and insubordination, USAIDs new leaders ultimately determined that the placement of a substantial number of USAID personnel on paid administrative leave was the only way to faithfully implement the pause and conduct a full and unimpeded audit of USAIDs operations and programs, Marocco stated.Staffers deny resisting the funding freeze. They argue that the cutoff of money and resulting collapse of U.S.-funded programs abroad, the shutdown of the agencys website and lockout of employees from systems made it impossible for those reviews to take place. Nichols also agreed last week to block an order giving thousands of overseas USAID workers who were being placed on administrative leave 30 days to move back to the U.S. on government expense.Both moves would have exposed the workers and their spouses and children to unwarranted risk and expense, the judge said. Nichols pointed to accounts that the Trump administration had cut off some workers from government emails and emergency alert systems they needed for their safety.Administrative leave in Syria is not the same as administrative leave in Bethesda, the judge said last week, referring to the Washington, D.C., suburb.Nichols cited statements from agency employees who had no home to go to in the U.S. after decades abroad, who faced pulling children with special needs out of school midyear and other difficulties. ELLEN KNICKMEYER Knickmeyer covers foreign policy and national security for The Associated Press. She is based in Washington, D.C. twitter LINDSAY WHITEHURST Whitehurst covers the Supreme Court, legal affairs and criminal justice for The Associated Press in Washington, D.C. Past stops include Salt Lake City, New Mexico and Indiana. twitter mailto

An autorickshaw driver covers his face to protect himself from the pollution in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)2025-02-12T04:14:20Z HANOI, Vietnam (AP) Everyone loves a breath of fresh air. Unfortunately, too often our air is anything but fresh. While air quality varies dramatically from place to place and day to day, nearly the entire world about 99% of the global population is exposed to air at some point that doesnt meet the strict standards set by the World Health Organization, the agency has reported. Polluted air, laden noxious gasses or tiny, invisible particles that burrow into human bodies, kills 7 million people prematurely every year, the U.N. health agency estimates. And for the millions living in some of the worlds smoggiest cities many of them in Asia like New Delhi; Dhaka, Bangladesh; Bangkok and Jakarta, Indonesia bad air might seem inescapable. But there are things that people can do, starting with understanding that the air isnt only polluted when it looks smoggy, said Tanushree Ganguly of the Energy Policy Institute of Chicago in India.Blue skies cant guarantee you clean air, she said. What are the most dangerous kinds of air pollutants and their sources? Smoke rises from chimneys of brick kilns on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu) Smoke rises from chimneys of brick kilns on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More A farmer burns crop residue after harvest near Bundelkhand expressway some 330 kilometers (206 miles) from New Delhi, on Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup) A farmer burns crop residue after harvest near Bundelkhand expressway some 330 kilometers (206 miles) from New Delhi, on Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Air pollutants often come from people burning things: Fuels such as coal, natural gas, diesel and gasoline for electricity and transportation; crops or trees for agricultural purposes or as a result of wildfires. Fine, inhalable particles, known as particulate matter, are among the most dangerous. The tiniest of these known as PM 2.5 because they are less than 2.5 microns in diameter can get deep into human lungs and are mostly created by burning fuels. Coarser particles, known as PM 10, are linked to agriculture, roadways, mining or the wind blowing eroded dust, according to the WHO. Motorists wait in a traffic jam in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana) Motorists wait in a traffic jam in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More This article is part of APs Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well. Other dangerous pollutants include gases like nitrogen dioxide or sulfur dioxide, which are also produced from burning fuels, said Anumita Roychowdhury, an air pollution expert at the Center for Science and Environment in New Delhi. The sources and intensity of air pollution varies in different cities and seasons. For instance, old motorbikes and industrial boilers are major contributors to bad air in Indonesian capital Jakarta while burning of agricultural waste is a major reason for air pollution spikes in cities in Thailand and India. Brick kilns that burn coal adds to pollution in Dhaka, Bangladeshs capital. And seasonal forest fires cause problems in Brazil and North America. What health problems can air pollution cause? People cover their faces to protect themselves from the pollution, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Feb. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu) People cover their faces to protect themselves from the pollution, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Feb. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Air pollution is the second-largest risk factor for early death globally, behind high blood pressure, according to a recent report by the Health Effects Institute.Short-term exposure can trigger asthma attacks and increase the risk of heart attacks and stroke, especially in the elderly or people with medical problems. Long-term exposure can cause serious heart and lung problems that can lead to death, including heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung infections. A recent analysis by the U.N. childrens agency found that more than 500 million children in East Asia and Pacific countries breathe unhealthy air and the pollution is linked to the deaths of 100 children under 5 every day. June Kunugi, UNICEF Regional Director for East Asia, said the polluted air compromises growth, harms lungs and impacts their cognitive abilities.Every breath matters, but for too many children every breath can bring harm, she said. Whats the best way to tell if air is safe? A pedestrian wears a face mask in front of a sign displaying Air Quality Index in Bangkok, Thailand, on Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit) A pedestrian wears a face mask in front of a sign displaying Air Quality Index in Bangkok, Thailand, on Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Over 6,000 cities in 117 countries now monitor air quality, and many weather mobile apps include air quality information. But trying to gauge how bad the air is by looking at these numbers can be confusing.To help people understand air quality levels more easily, many countries have adopted an air quality index or AQI a numerical scale where larger numbers mean worse air. They are also often assigned different colors to show whether the air is clean or not.But different countries have different air quality standards. For instance, Indias daily PM 2.5 limit is more than 1.5-times higher than Thailands limit and 4-times higher than WHO standards.This means that countries calculate AQIs differently and the numbers arent comparable with each other. This is also why sometimes AQI scores by private companies using stricter standards may be different from those calculated by national regulators. What are the best ways to protect yourself from air pollution? FILE- A child puts on a face mask inside a shop selling masks to fight air pollution in New Delhi, India, on Nov. 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri) FILE- A child puts on a face mask inside a shop selling masks to fight air pollution in New Delhi, India, on Nov. 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More The goal, of course, is to limit exposure when air quality is bad, by staying inside or wearing a mask. Staying inside however, isnt always possible, especially for people who must live or work outside, noted Danny Djarum, an air quality researcher at World Resources Institute, an environmental advocacy group. They cant really afford not going out, he said.Pakaphol Asavakomolnant, an office worker in Bangkok, said that he wears a mask every day and avoids riding to work on a motorbike. I get a sore throat when I come to work in the morning and I forget to wear a mask, he said.People also need to be aware of indoor air pollution which can often be caused by common household activities like cooking or even burning an incense stick. What are the benefits and limitations of air purifiers? A woman carries an infant outside a shop selling air purifiers at a market place in New Delhi, India, on Nov. 14, 2017. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri) A woman carries an infant outside a shop selling air purifiers at a market place in New Delhi, India, on Nov. 14, 2017. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Air purifiers can help reduce indoor air pollution, but they have their limitations. They work by pulling air from a room, pushing it through a filter that traps pollutants before circulating it back. But theyre are most effective when used in small spaces and when people are nearby. Air purifiers can only clean a certain amount of air, said Rajasekhar Balasubramanian, who studies urban air quality at the National University of Singapore. If we have a tiny air purifier in a large room it wont be effective, he said.Air purifiers are also too expensive for people in many in developing countries.The majority of people who are affected by air pollution cant really afford air purifiers, said WRIs Djarum.___Associated Press journalists Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia, Julhas Alam in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Jintamas Saksornchai in Bangkok contributed to this report. 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

Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte speaks to the media during a press conference in Manila, Philippines on Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Basilio Sepe)2025-02-12T08:12:19Z MANILA, Philippines (AP) Philippine government investigators filed criminal complaints, including sedition, against Vice President Sara Duterte on Wednesday over her public threat to have the president assassinated if she herself was killed in an escalating political storm.National Bureau of Investigation Director Jaime Santiago said at a news conference that the complaints of inciting to sedition and grave threats against Duterte were filed at the Department of Justice, which would decide whether to dismiss the complaints outright or elevate them to court.The vice president, a lawyer and daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, reacted briefly by saying that she had expected the move by the NBI. She has accused her political rivals of taking steps to prevent her from seeking the presidency when President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s term ends in 2028. The vice presidents father himself, whose presidential term ended in 2022, is facing legal troubles. The International Criminal Court has been investigating the widespread killings under a brutal anti-drug crackdown he oversaw while in office as a possible crime against humanity. Sara Duterte ran as Marcos vice presidential running mate in 2022. Their whirlwind political alliance, however, quickly frayed and deteriorated into a bitter feud in an Asian democracy that has long been hamstrung by clashing political clans. Last week, the vice president was impeached by the House of Representatives on a range of accusations that included her threat to have Marcos, his wife and House Speaker Martin Romualdez killed if she herself were fatally attacked in an unspecified plot that she brought up in an online news conference in November.The impeachment complaint, which was signed by majority of the more than 300 members of the House, which is dominated by Marcos allies, also included allegations of largescale corruption and misuse of her offices confidential funds. The 24-member Senate plans to tackle the impeachment complaint after Congress reopens in June. The vice president has vaguely denied that what she said amounted to a threat against Marcos, his wife and Romualdez, the presidents cousin, but her remarks still sparked a national security alarm at the time and investigations, including by the NBI.The vice president said at a news conference last week that her lawyers were preparing for a legal battle in her upcoming impeachment trial, but she refused to say if resignation was an option so that she could preempt a possible conviction that would bar her from running for president in the future. JIM GOMEZ Gomez is The AP Chief Correspondent in the Philippines. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Family members, friends and colleagues of Marc Fogel, who has been detained in Russia since August 2021, rally for his release outside of the White House, July 15, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, File)2025-02-11T21:06:38Z Russia has released an American teacher imprisoned over what his family said was prescribed medical marijuana, but several other Americans remain in Russian custody.Teacher Marc Fogel was released in what the White House described Tuesday as a diplomatic thaw. Fogel was arrested in August 2021 and is serving a 14-year prison sentence on drug charges. He was designated by President Joe Bidens administration as wrongfully detained in December.Fogels release follows a massive prisoner swap last August that resulted in the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and corporate security executive Paul Whelan, among others. Here is a look at other Americans who remain in Russian custody:Ksenia KhavanaThe U.S.-Russian dual national was arrested in Yekaterinburg in January 2024 on treason charges, accused of giving a donation to a charity aiding Ukraine. She was sentenced in August to 12 years in prison. She obtained U.S. citizenship after marrying an American and was on a family visit from Los Angeles when arrested. Rights activists said the charges stem from a $51 donation to a U.S. charity that helps Ukraine. Stephen HubbardThe Michigan native was convicted of fighting alongside Ukraines military as a mercenary against Russia and sentenced to 6 years and 10 months in October 2024. Prosecutors said in the closed trial that Hubbard had signed a contract with Ukraines military shortly after Russian troops invaded in February 2022 and that he fought with the Ukrainian side until being captured two months later. Hubbard, who was 72 at the time of his conviction, was the first American known to have been convicted of fighting for Ukraine in the conflict. Travis LeakeThe musician was convicted on drug charges and sentenced to 13 years in prison in July 2024. An Instagram page described him as the singer for the band Lovi Noch (Seize the Night). News reports said he is a former paratrooper with the U.S. military and had lived in Moscow since 2010. Gordon BlackAn Army staff sergeant, Black was convicted in June 2024 in Vladivostok of stealing and making threats against his girlfriend, and was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison. He had flown to Russia from his post in South Korea without authorization and was arrested in May after she accused him of stealing from her, according to U.S. and Russian authorities. Robert WoodlandWoodland, a Russia-born U.S. citizen, was convicted of drug trafficking in July 2024 and sentenced to 12 1/2 years in prison. Russian media reported that his name matches a U.S. citizen interviewed in 2020 who said he was born in the Perm region in 1991 and adopted by an American couple at age 2. He said he traveled to Russia to find his mother and eventually met her on a TV show. David BarnesAn engineer from Texas, Barnes was arrested in 2022 while visiting his sons in Russia, where their mother had taken them. His supporters say the woman made baseless claims of sexual abuse that already had been discredited by Texas investigators but a Russian court in February 2024 convicted him on those claims anyway and sentenced him to 21 years in prison. Robert GilmanIdentified in the media as a former U.S. Marine, Gilman was arrested in 2022 for allegedly assaulting a police officer after a drunken disturbance on a train. He was initially handed a 3.5-year sentence, then allegedly attacked a prison inspector during a cell check and was sentenced in October 2024 to 7 years and 1 month in prison.Eugene SpectorA Russian-born U.S. citizen in prison on bribery charges, Spector was handed a second 15-year term for espionage in December 2024. Spector, formerly an executive at a medical equipment company in Russia, was previously sentenced to 3.5 years in prison in September 2022 for enabling bribes to a Russian government official.Joseph TaterTater was arrested in August 2024 at an upscale Moscow hotel after failing to provide documents showing that he entered the country legitimately. At a police station, he allegedly attacked an officer. He has been in custody awaiting trial on assaulting a law officer, which carries a sentence of up to five years. At a September court hearing, Tater claimed he came to Russia to seek political asylum and that he was being persecuted by the CIA. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, left, walks with Britain's Defense Secretary John Healey prior to a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of a NATO defense ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (Johanna Geron, Pool Photo via AP)2025-02-12T11:27:10Z BRUSSELS (AP) U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday made the first trip to NATO by a member of the new Trump administration, as the allies wait to learn how much military and financial support Washington intends to provide to Ukraines government.Hegseth held talks with U.K. Defence Secretary John Healey, before a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at NATO headquarters in Brussels. Hegseths predecessor, former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, set up the forum for drumming up arms and ammunition for Ukraine in 2022.Over nearly three years, around 50 countries have collectively provided Ukraine more than $126 billion in weapons and military assistance. But the meeting this week was convened by another country for the first time: the United Kingdom. All previous gatherings of the forum were chaired by the United States. No decision has been made on who might chair the next meeting, if one is called.Hegseth wasnt expected to make any announcement on new weapons for Ukraine.His trip comes less than two weeks before the third anniversary of Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Most U.S. allies fear that Russian President Vladimir Putin wont stop at Ukraines borders if he wins, and that Europes biggest land war in decades poses an existential threat to their security. U.S. President Donald Trump has promised to quickly end the war. Hes complained that its costing American taxpayers too much money. He has suggested that Ukraine should pay for U.S. support with access to its rare earth minerals, energy and other resources. Some U.S. allies worry that a hasty deal might be clinched on terms that arent favorable to Ukraine. On top of that, Trump appears to believe that European countries should take responsibility for Ukraines security going forward.Washingtons 31 NATO allies also want to hear what Trumps new administration has in store for the worlds biggest security organization. Trump traumatized his European partners during his first term in office by threatening not to defend any member that doesnt meet NATO guidelines for military spending. NATO is founded on the principle that an attack on any ally must be considered an attack on them all and met with a collective response. Membership is considered to be the ultimate security guarantee, and its one that Ukraine is trying to secure.Ukraines security needs and defense spending will be discussed on Thursday. European allies have hiked their military budgets since Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine, and 23 are estimated to have reached or exceeded last year the target of spending 2% of gross domestic product.However, a third of members still havent reached that threshold, and Trump is almost certain to target them again. Recently, Trump called for NATO members to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP, a level that no member has reached so far not even Poland, which is the closest, spending more than 4% and expected to approach 5% this year.Speaking to reporters in Germany on Tuesday, Hegseth wouldnt commit to having the U.S. increase its defense spending to 5% of GDP. Hegseth said that he believes that the U.S. should spend more than it did under the Biden administration and should not go lower than 3 percent. He said any final decision would be up to Trump, but added that we live in fiscally constrained times and need to be responsible with taxpayer money. The U.S. spends about 3.3% of GDP on defense. NATO leaders are expected to agree on new spending targets at their next planned summit, in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 24-26.___Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report from Washington. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Margelis Rodriguez, right, of Venezuela, gets a hug from her son Mickel during a birthday party at a shelter for migrants in Tijuana, Mexico, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)2025-02-12T12:08:24Z Margelis Rodriguez, left, of Venezuela, pushes a stroller packed with laundry as her son Mickel steadies the load on their way to a nearby laundromat in Tijuana, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Margelis Rodriguez, left, of Venezuela, pushes a stroller packed with laundry as her son Mickel steadies the load on their way to a nearby laundromat in Tijuana, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) Many migrants have been left stranded in Mexican border cities after the Trump administration immediately canceled tens of thousands of appointments made through a government app called CBP One that offered a legal pathway to the U.S. Some have returned to their countries. Margelis Rodrguez fled Venezuela with her children. She says the family has no other option but to remain in Tijuana. The Trump administration has given no indication it plans to replace the Biden administration program. Rodrguez is applying for a Mexican visa and looking for work after relatives in the U.S. who came in on humanitarian parole say they now fear being deported. Maickeliys Rodriguez, 6, of Venezuela, watches her familys laundry spins in a machine at a laundromat near the migrant shelter where they are staying in Tijuana, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Maickeliys Rodriguez, 6, of Venezuela, watches her familys laundry spins in a machine at a laundromat near the migrant shelter where they are staying in Tijuana, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Donated silver slippers sit under Maickeliys Rodriguez, 6, of Venezuela, at a laundromat near the migrant shelter where her family is staying in Tijuana, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Donated silver slippers sit under Maickeliys Rodriguez, 6, of Venezuela, at a laundromat near the migrant shelter where her family is staying in Tijuana, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Margelis Rodriguez, second from right, of Venezuela, gets a hug from her son Mickel, 12, as her friend Ale combs her hair as they wait for their laundry at a laundromat near the migrant shelter where the family is staying in Tijuana, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Margelis Rodriguez, second from right, of Venezuela, gets a hug from her son Mickel, 12, as her friend Ale combs her hair as they wait for their laundry at a laundromat near the migrant shelter where the family is staying in Tijuana, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Maickeliys Rodriguez, 6, of Venezuela, right, cringes as her mother Margelis instructs her to eat breakfast at the migrant shelter they are staying at in Tijuana, Mexico, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Maickeliys Rodriguez, 6, of Venezuela, right, cringes as her mother Margelis instructs her to eat breakfast at the migrant shelter they are staying at in Tijuana, Mexico, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Maickeliys Rodriguez, 6, of Venezuela, leaves her tent at a migrant shelter on a chilly morning in Tijuana, Mexico, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Maickeliys Rodriguez, 6, of Venezuela, leaves her tent at a migrant shelter on a chilly morning in Tijuana, Mexico, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Margelis Rodriguez, right, of Venezuela, gets a hug from a friend at a migrant shelter where she is staying with her two children in Tijuana, Mexico, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Margelis Rodriguez, right, of Venezuela, gets a hug from a friend at a migrant shelter where she is staying with her two children in Tijuana, Mexico, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Margelis Rodriguez, of Venezuela, folds a towel alongside her 6-year-old daughter Maickeliys at their tent where the family is staying at a migrant shelter in Tijuana, Mexico, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Margelis Rodriguez, of Venezuela, folds a towel alongside her 6-year-old daughter Maickeliys at their tent where the family is staying at a migrant shelter in Tijuana, Mexico, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Mickel Rodriguez, 12, of Venezuela, left, watches videos on a phone with a family friend who is traveling with his family as they rest in their tent at a migrant shelter in Tijuana, Mexico, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Mickel Rodriguez, 12, of Venezuela, left, watches videos on a phone with a family friend who is traveling with his family as they rest in their tent at a migrant shelter in Tijuana, Mexico, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Margelis Rodriguez, of Venezuela, center, pushes a stroller packed with laundry as her family and others from a migrant shelter make their way to a nearby laundromat in Tijuana, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Margelis Rodriguez, of Venezuela, center, pushes a stroller packed with laundry as her family and others from a migrant shelter make their way to a nearby laundromat in Tijuana, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Margelis Rodriguez, of Venezuela, center, looks at her 6-year-old daughter Maickeliys holding a shirt with the flags of Venezuela and the United States, and the Spanish message: Yes it was possible, thank God. The wait was worth it. I made it! at the laundromat near the migrant shelter where they are staying in Tijuana, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Margelis Rodriguez, of Venezuela, center, looks at her 6-year-old daughter Maickeliys holding a shirt with the flags of Venezuela and the United States, and the Spanish message: Yes it was possible, thank God. The wait was worth it. I made it! at the laundromat near the migrant shelter where they are staying in Tijuana, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Maickeliys Rodriguez, 6, of Venezuela, leaps into the air in her newly donated, silver slippers, at the migrant shelter where she lives with her family in Tijuana, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Maickeliys Rodriguez, 6, of Venezuela, leaps into the air in her newly donated, silver slippers, at the migrant shelter where she lives with her family in Tijuana, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Margelis Rodriguez, of Venezuela, center, cleans up after dinner at the migrant shelter where she lives with her two children in Tijuana, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Margelis Rodriguez, of Venezuela, center, cleans up after dinner at the migrant shelter where she lives with her two children in Tijuana, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Maickeliys Rodriguez, of Venezuela, 6, wears her newly donated silver slippers as she stops to adjust her backpack under the watchful gaze of a family friend from Haiti, as her family and others from a migrant shelter make their way to a nearby laundromat in Tijuana, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Maickeliys Rodriguez, of Venezuela, 6, wears her newly donated silver slippers as she stops to adjust her backpack under the watchful gaze of a family friend from Haiti, as her family and others from a migrant shelter make their way to a nearby laundromat in Tijuana, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More

Will Bowles jumps off a swing set during a winter snowstorm in Charlottesville, Va., Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP)2025-02-12T05:43:50Z Snow, sleet and freezing rain were expected to continue pummeling the central Appalachians and mid-Atlantic states Wednesday, while California readied for a storm that could flood areas ravaged by the recent wildfires.Especially heavy snowfall up to nearly 14 inches (25 centimeters) was expected in parts of Virginia and West Virginia, according to the National Weather Service. Ice accumulations could reach more than a third of an inch (8.4 millimeters) in Stanleytown, Virginia, and a quarter of an inch (6.3 millimeters) in Glendale Springs, North Carolina. In California, an atmospheric river a long band of water vapor that can transport moisture from the tropics to more northern areas was expected to move in late Wednesday, likely flooding urban areas across central and Southern California, according to the weather service. The snowstorm that blew into the mid-Atlantic states on Tuesday caused accidents on icy roads and prompted school closures. By Tuesday night, nearly 12,000 people in Virginia had lost power, according to PowerOutage.us.Stay home and off the roads tonight, Virginia, the Virginia Department of Transportation posted on social media Tuesday night, alongside a meme of Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz saying, Theres no place like home. In parts of Baltimore and Washington, an inch (2.5 centimeters) of snow was falling each hour, according to the weather service. All Washington public schools were closed Wednesday due to the weather. Appalachian Power, which serves 1 million customers in West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee, said Tuesday it had 5,400 workers dedicated to restoring power.About 65 Virginia National Guard soldiers were at facilities along the Interstate 95 and state Route 29 corridors and in southwest Virginia to support the storm response, guard officials said. Another 20 soldiers and members of the Virginia Defense Force were in support roles. Winter storm warnings extended from northwest North Carolina to southern New Jersey, and the snow-and-ice mix was expected to become all rain by Wednesday afternoon as temperatures climb.Meanwhile a separate storm system was expected to dump heavy snow on an area stretching from Kansas to the Great Lakes starting Tuesday night, the weather service said. The Kansas Legislature canceled Wednesday meetings because of the weather, and Gov. Laura Kelly closed state offices in the capital, Topeka.Hundreds of accidentsIn Virginia, where Gov. Glenn Youngkin declared a state of emergency and schools and government offices were closed Tuesday, state police reported 700 accidents and dozens of injuries Tuesday. Although Matt Demlein, a spokesperson for the Virginia State Police, said they cant say definitively that all were weather related.In southern West Virginia, multiple crashes temporarily shut down several major highways Tuesday. Smiths Towing and Truck Repair responded to at least 15 calls, mostly from tractor-trailer drivers who got stuck on Interstate 64 in Greenbrier County near the Virginia border, dispatcher Kelly Pickles said.Basically they just get sucked over into the median or they go off of the interstate just a little bit on the right-hand side, she said. And they just dont have enough power in their vehicles to get back onto the road due to the icy conditions. Skating rinks instead of roadsPaige Williams, who owns Downtown Books in Lexington, Virginia, closed her store Tuesday because of the weather. She hoped to reopen Wednesday, noting that Lexington and surrounding Rockbridge County are dependable when it comes to clearing the roads.But with temperatures on either side of freezing Tuesday night and Wednesday, the rain that is supposed to follow could make the roads better or worse. Its just going to depend on where those temperatures go, Williams said. Rain can clear things off. And rain can also freeze. And then you have a lot of skating rinks instead of roads. Bitter cold temperaturesAn Arctic air mass stretched from Portland, Oregon, to the Great Lakes.The temperature bottomed out Tuesday morning at minus 31 degrees (minus 35 Celsius) in Butte, Montana, where over the past two winters at least five people died from cold exposure, said Brayton Erickson, executive director of the Butte Rescue Mission. Advocates for homeless people in the city of about 35,000 were out on the streets distributing sleeping bags, jackets, mittens and other cold weather gear to anyone who needed them, according to Erickson. When it gets this cold, we kind of pull out all the stops, Erickson said.In Oregons Multnomah County, officials extended a state of emergency through at least Thursday. Five emergency shelters were set to open Tuesday night through Wednesday afternoon. Midweek wind chill readings could dip to 10 degrees (minus 12 Celsius) in Portland, the weather service said.California rainsThe atmospheric river was expected to arrive in California starting late Wednesday and to peak Thursday, according to Miles Bliss, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Along with flooding, heavy snowfall was expected in the Sierra Nevada.More than 700,000 sandbags have been arranged across central and Southern California, according to the California Department of Water Resources. ___Associated Press journalists from across the U.S. contributed to this report.

Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani, right, of Japan, walks back to the clubhouse at the Dodgers baseball spring training facility after working out Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)2025-02-12T13:33:26Z Theres a new No. 2 in the New York Yankees rotation behind Gerrit Cole. A familiar face is getting a fresh start leading the Cincinnati Reds. Meanwhile, Shohei Ohtani and Co. already have their title defense underway.Theres plenty to see as baseball returns Wednesday for most MLB clubs, with pitchers and catchers officially reporting at sites across Arizona and Florida. The Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers got an early spring training start ahead of their season-opening series in Tokyo, and a few clubs dont get going until Thursday. But for most, Wednesday marks the start of a new season.That includes the Yankees, who are welcoming back Cole, the 2023 Cy Young Award winner, after he chose to remain with the Yankees rather than opt out of his contract. Hell be joined in the rotation by Max Fried, a key addition as they try to return to the World Series. New York lost to the Dodgers in five games, failed to bring back Juan Soto in free agency, then signed Fried to a $218 million, eight-year contract, the largest ever for a left-handed pitcher. Fried went 54-25 with a 2.81 ERA over the past five seasons with the Braves and was instrumental in Atlantas 2021 World Series victory over the Astros. Wednesday will also be Day 1 for new Cincinnati Reds manager Terry Francona. Cincinnati went 77-85 last season but has some promising young talent, led by young ace Hunter Greene. Francona won two World Series titles with the Red Sox and took Cleveland to the playoffs six times in 11 years. That includes the 2016 World Series. Los Angeles added even more star power this winter with two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell and Japanese phenom pitcher Roki Sasaki. The rotation got another apparent boost Tuesday when Clayton Kershaw showed up for camp. Its been expected the 36-year-old would re-join the Dodgers for an 18th season, but he remained a free agent entering camp. Of course, the biggest boost to LAs rotation will be Shohei Ohtanis return from elbow surgery that kept him off the mound in 2024. He may provide an update to media Wednesday on his timeline to return.___AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

U.S. President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi embrace after giving a joint statement in New Delhi, India, Feb. 25, 2020. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)2025-02-12T09:59:14Z NEW DELHI (AP) Prime Minister Narendra Modis longstanding bonhomie with President Donald Trump could be tested as the Indian leader kicks off a visit to Washington on Wednesday, eager to avoid tariffs that have been slapped on others and threats of further taxes and imports. India, a key strategic partner of the United States, has so far been spared any new tariffs, and the two leaders have cultivated a personal relationship. Modi a nationalist criticized over Indias democratic backsliding has welcomed Trumps return to the White House, seeking to reset Indias relationship with the West over his refusal to condemn Russia for its war on Ukraine. But Trump has repeatedly referred to India as a tariff king and pressed the South Asian country on the deportation of migrants. In response, New Delhi has shown a willingness to lower its own tariffs on U.S. products, accept Indian citizens back and buy American oil.But as tariff threats loom, the question remains how much a good rapport between two leaders matters and how far India will go to cut a deal. Body language will be closely watchedModi had established a good working relationship with Trump during his first term in office, and the two can build on the areas of convergence and minimize areas of friction without conceding on core areas of national interest, says Meera Shankar, Indias former ambassador to the U.S.Most other partners have their reciprocal lists ready from the word go, because its a point of leverage when you negotiate, Shankar added, expressing hope that India will find the right balance between firmness and flexibility on the tariffs issue.Modi boosted by his ruling Hindu nationalist partys victory in the high-stakes state legislature election last weekend in Indias federal territory, including New Delhi said before leaving for Washington that the visit was an opportunity to build upon collaboration during Trumps first term and deepen our partnership in areas such as technology, trade, defense and energy. What has Trump said? Speaking with Modi in January, Trump emphasized the importance of India buying more American-made military gear and weapons, as well as reducing the trade imbalance. Last year, the U.S. imported $50 billion more in goods than it sold to India.A readout from the White House at the time said Trump emphasized the importance of India increasing its procurement of American-made security equipment and moving toward a fair bilateral trading relationship. Earlier this month, India accepted the return of 104 migrants brought back on a U.S. military plane, the first such flight to the country as part of a crackdown ordered by the Trump administration. Also, Modis government lowered some high tariffs, including on some Harley-Davidson motorcycles, from 50% to 40%. In 2023, India had dropped retaliatory tariffs on U.S. almonds, apples, chickpeas, lentils, and walnuts.Another thing we can expect is that Modi would offer to purchase more American (natural) gas to narrow the U.S. trade deficit, said Lisa Curtis, director of the Indo-Pacific security program at the Center for a New American Security, a Washington-based think tank. This will help a little bit. Concerns over China India is seen as integral to the U.S. strategy of containing China in the Indo-Pacific and is to host a summit of a group of countries known as the Quad made up of the U.S., India, Japan and Australia later this year. But India will likely have to recalibrate its stand in case of a Washington-Beijing thaw under Trump. Trumps outreach to China will complicate Indias ability to cultivate the American desire to use India as a proxy against China without actually ever becoming one, said Happymon Jacob, founder of the New Delhi-based Council for Strategic and Defense Research.India turned the page with China and in December agreed to work toward a solution to their long-running border dispute in the Himalayas after a military standoff that began with a deadly clash in 2020.Even a tactical accommodation between the U.S. and China has implications for India, Shankar said. Defense deals on the agenda?The U.S. is Indias largest trade partner, with a trade deficit of $50 billion in Indias favor. The Indo-U.S. goods and services trade totaled around $190.1 billion in 2023. According to Indias External Affairs Ministry, the U.S. exports to India were worth nearly $70 billion and imports $120 billion.India depends on Russia for nearly 60% of its defense equipment, but the war in Ukraine has added to doubts about future supplies, and New Delhi has been looking more toward the U.S., Israel, Britain, and others.A recently struck deal will allow U.S.-based General Electric to partner with India-based Hindustan Aeronautics to produce jet engines for Indian aircraft in India and the sale of U.S.-made armed MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones. Since 2008, India has contracted over $20 billion worth of U.S.-origin defense equipment. For India, that could also be an area where we see some synergies with the U.S., Shankar said, adding that Trump will likely seek to persuade India to buy more defense equipment.Raja Mohan, an analyst at the Institute of South Asian Studies in Singapore, said Modis visit will be a good time to advance Indo-U.S. ties.Indias diplomatic skills will be tested, so the general goodwill that exists between Trump and Modi should be translated into concrete outcomes, Mohan said.___Boak reported from Washington. JOSH BOAK Boak covers the White House and economic policy for The Associated Press. He joined the AP in 2013. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

(AP Illustration / Peter Hamlin)2025-02-12T13:53:52Z Bearing cards, flowers, chocolates and poetry, lovers have always swooned on Valentines Day as cherubs circled overhead. Right?Or is the history darker, marked by Roman bacchanalia, martyrs and lies?Innumerable legends claim to explain the origins of Valentines Day, but as is the case with legends, they leave many questions unanswered. Here are a few:Where did Valentines Day originate?For years, the consensus among historians was that the holiday had something to do with an ancient Roman festival called Lupercalia that fell in mid-February. Noel Lenski, a Yale University historian, pointed to the seasonal and thematic connections between Lupercalia and modern Valentines Day.Both are erotic festivals, in a sense, but the ancient one which included pairing off women and men by lottery also involved religious purification and atonement.Naked young men, drunk, would go running around Palatine Hill swatting virginal women with strips of dog fur and goat fur to make them fertile, Lenski said. According to one legend, Pope Gelasius wanted to put an end to the debauchery in the late fifth century. He declared Feb. 14 as the feast day of a St. Valentine, who had been martyred about 200 years before. But that theory emerged in an 1807 book without any evidence to support the connection, said Elizabeth White Nelson, a University of Nevada Las Vegas history professor.People who think thats the story havent read the letter that he actually wrote about Lupercalia, she said, referring to the pope. Is he pissed off about Lupercalia? Yeah. But does it have anything to do with St. Valentine? Its very, very hard to find any actual writing that says that. Was St. Valentine a real person? The most cited legend is about a priest named Valentine who was executed in third-century Rome for marrying couples against the will of the pagan Emperor Claudius II. (He also is said to have cured the blindness of his jailers daughter.) Another St. Valentine, the bishop of Terni, was martyred around the same time, but little is known about him.A couple centuries later, a prominent family named Valentine may have promoted themselves by exaggerating an ancestors story after Christianity had become the prevailing religion, Lenski said.They say, Oh, by the way, we have this famous ancestor who was a bishop, and he had been persecuted by the emperor for sanctifying marriages, he said.The story prevailed, but the lack of evidence prompted the Catholic Church in 1969 to remove St. Valentine as the primary saint celebrated on Feb. 14. Now, its officially the feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius, the missionary brothers who spread the Cyrillic alphabet to Eastern Europe.Whats love got to do with it?To further confuse things, there were many St. Valentines. As many as 50 saints with some variation of the spelling have been recognized by the Catholic Church, said Henry Kelly, a research professor at University of California Los Angeles.According to Kelly, author of Chaucer and the Cult of Saint Valentine, the English writer was the first to make the connection to love but he was talking about another St. Valentine whose feast day was May 3. To commemorate King Richard IIs engagement on that day in 1381, Geoffrey Chaucer wrote a love poem. He had Italian friends who told him that it was the feast of St. Valentine, the first bishop of Genoa, Kelly said. And so he picked that day as the day on which all the birds returned to choose their mates for the year.Chaucer continued writing poems every May that associated love, the rites of spring and St. Valentine. Shakespeare and other poets followed suit. Because the Roman Valentine was the most famous one, people conflated the feast days and now celebrated it in February, Kelly said.It was the middle of winter, so there werent any birds around, there werent any flowers around, and so they started making up things about Valentine, he said. When did it become the Valentines Day we recognize today?By the late 18th century, the tradition had solidified in England and spread to the United States, with people writing poetry and hand-making cards, White Nelson said. Around the 1830s, companies began manufacturing Valentine kits that were assembled from lace paper and cutouts of birds and cupids.Heart-shaped boxes of chocolates would come a few decades later, as would the accusations that the holiday was created to sell cards, flowers and candy, White Nelson said. People were complaining in womens magazines in the late 19th century that Valentines Day was too commercial.Everybodys always expecting Valentines Day to die out, and it never does, she said. Its sort of like saying, Coney Islands too crowded. Nobody goes there anymore.To be fair, none of the myth-busting historians interviewed for this article resented that a day celebrating love ended up in February. In fact, they said the opposite.Winter is endless, Kelly said. The cold is never ending, and were grateful for something to rejoice over.Kelly just gives his wife another Valentine on May 3. ___EDITORS NOTE: Albert Stumm lives in Barcelona and writes about travel, food and wellness. Find his work at https://www.albertstumm.com RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

A man walks between tents for displaced Palestinians next to destroyed buildings following the Israeli air and ground offensive in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, file)2025-02-12T11:03:54Z CAIRO (AP) Behind U.S. President Donald Trumps vows to turn Gaza into a Riviera of the Middle East lies a plan to forcibly drive a population from its land, rights groups say, warning it could be a war crime under international law.Trump doubled down this week on his vows to empty Gaza permanently of its more than 2 million Palestinians, saying they would not be allowed to return and suggesting at one point he might force Egypt and Jordan to take them in by threatening to cut off U.S. aid. Whether its serious, a negotiating tactic or a distraction, Palestinians have roundly rejected the idea of leaving. Some say Trumps talk normalizes their erasure and dehumanization, amplifying the idea that they have no connection to their land or right to their homes.He is talking as if the Palestinians are cattle, you can move them from one place to another. They have no agency, they have no say, said Munir Nuseibah, a professor of international law at Jerusalems Al-Quds University. The planTrump has billed the plan as being for the Palestinians own benefit after Israels 16-month campaign demolished entire neighborhoods and left much of Gaza unlivable. In its place, Trump has promised them a beautiful new land elsewhere.The United States would then take over the territory and rebuild it as a Riviera for the worlds people.Palestinians have made clear they dont want to leave Gaza, one part of their homeland that remains for them, along with pockets of the West Bank, after the Mideasts 1948 and 1967 wars. Despite Gazas devastation, Palestinians have shown a determination to stay and rebuild with international help promised in the U.S.-brokered ceasefire with Israel. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict in many ways is rooted in the 1948 war surrounding Israels creation during which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled from or forced to flee their homes in what is now Israel and the 1967 war, when Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza. Palestinians want those territories for a future state. The ambiguityTrump has left it ambiguous how Palestinians would be removed or what would happen if they refused to go. Asked by reporters at the White House on Monday if the U.S. would force Palestinians out, Trump replied: Youre going to see that theyre all going to want to leave.At one point, he said a rebuilt Gaza would be a place for anyone possibly including Palestinians to live, and administration officials have said Palestinians removal would be temporary.But Trump contradicted that in an interview with Fox News Channel that aired Monday. Asked whether Palestinians would have the right to return to Gaza, he replied: No, they wouldnt because theyre going to have much better housing. In other words, Im talking about building a permanent place for them.In a post Thursday on his Truth Social site, Trump said Israel would turn over Gaza to the U.S. at the conclusion of fighting. By that time, he wrote, all the Palestinians would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities. Resettled how? Trump hasnt said. Fighting in Gaza has been paused a ceasefire. There are fears Israel could renew its campaign to destroy Hamas if the two sides cant reach an agreement over a second phase of the deal, including the big question of how Gaza will be governed.The ceasefire is already precarious after Hamas accused Israel of violating the truce and said it would pause releases of hostages. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu then threatened to withdraw from the deal if the militant group does not release more hostages on Saturday.Forced displacement?With Palestinians refusing to go, Trumps ambiguity raises fears they would be forced to.Calls for a mass transfer of Palestinians were once relegated to the fringes of political discourse in Israel. But the idea has gained traction in the mainstream the result of frustration from years of failed peace efforts, recurring rounds of violence, and the painful images of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack that triggered the current war. Israeli leaders have talked of voluntary migration. The Geneva Conventions forbid mass forcible transfers from occupied lands regardless of their motive. The International Criminal Court where the U.S and Israel are not members also holds that forcible transfer can be a war crime or, in some circumstances, a crime against humanity.Forcible transfer was among the crimes that Nazi leaders were charged with in the Nuremberg trials after World War II. It was also among the acts for which some Bosnian Serb leaders were convicted by a U.N. tribunal over atrocities during the 1990s Balkan wars.Adam Coogle, deputy director of Human Rights Watchs Middle East & North Africa Division, said he didnt know if Trumps statements would turn into policy, but the statement of intent is very concerning. The moving out of the entire Palestinian population, any movement of a people in occupied territory out of that territory, is forced displacement, he said. If done with intent, he said, it could be a war crime.Amnesty International echoed that, saying forcibly expelling Palestinians is a war crime and could be a crime against humanity.Nuseibah pointed to rulings by the U.N. court for the former Yugoslavia and other international bodies saying that any type of pressure or duress to leave constitutes forcible transfer.It doesnt have to be at gunpoint, he said.Asked by a reporter Tuesday about criticism that moving Palestinians out of Gaza could be ethnic cleansing, Trump did not directly answer, repeating that they would go to a beautiful location, where they will have new homes and can live safely.The White House pointed to those comments when asked specifically about the potential that the permanent relocation of Palestinians is a war crime. The responseMany Palestinians have been staggered that Trump takes it on himself to speak on their behalf.Why dont they just ask us what we want? said Nuseibah. It is dehumanizing.Raji Sourani, a leading rights lawyer from Gaza, said Trumps stance was Kafkaesque.This is the first time ever in history that the president of the United States speaks publicly and frankly to commit one of the most serious crimes, said Sourani, who left Gaza for Egypt after Israeli airstrikes destroyed his home in the early days of the war.Sourani accused Trump of aiming to complete the genocide he said was begun by Israel. The International Court of Justice is considering arguments that Israels campaign in Gaza constitutes genocide. Israel denies the accusation, saying it is acting in self-defense to destroy Hamas.As proof of their commitment to stay, Palestinians point to the flood of hundreds of thousands of people returning to homes in Gaza under the ceasefire even to ones that were destroyed.On Monday, Hatem Mohammed set up a tarp to shelter his family from a cold rain on the ruins of their destroyed home. Their home lies in the so-called Netzarim corridor, a strip of land where troops leveled large areas to create a closed military zone during the war, before their withdrawal over the weekend. This is our land, this is our identity and that of our fathers and grandfathers, Mohammed said. Trump wants to deny our identity. No, our identity remains.___Associated Press journalists Omar Akour in Amman, Jordan, and Mohammed Jahjouh in Mughraqa, Gaza Strip, contributed. LEE KEATH Keath is the chief editor for feature stories in the Middle East for The Associated Press. He has reported from Cairo since 2005. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Videos that use AI generated voices of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are gaining a massive number of views on TikTok, showing that the platform is also suffering from the onslaught of AI-generated slop that has flooded every corner of the internet.According to Alexios Mantzarlis in his Faked Up newsletter, 400 videos from about two dozen accounts dedicated to posting AI-generated audio of Trump and Musk making quasi-motivational statements have gained more than 700 million views between them.The most popular of these accounts is Zack D Film (@zackdfilmusa), which has 838,800 followers.When you dont have money, people say, who are you, an AI-generated Trump voice says while inspirational music plays in the background in Zack D Films most popular TikTok, which has more than 24 million views. When you have money its, Hey how are you? Long time no see. You look so beautiful, handsome, and amazing. Thats the power of money. 0:00 /0:17 1 In another video posted by Mute-Elon (@mute.arsi), an account with 420,100 followers, an AI-generated voice of Musk talks about five things he wishes for in 2025 (health, strength, motivation, etc). I trust that god sees my struggles, collects my tears, and never abandons me, the AI voice of Musk says.While we dont know whether all the engagement with these videos is authentic, many of them have thousands of comments agreeing with or repeating the gist of the video, with only a handful of commenters pointing out that the voice is AI-generated.As Jason wrote in his investigation into where Facebook AI slop comes from, the primary reason this type of AI-generated content exists is that its profitable. In the case of these AI Trump and Musk channels, at least one avenue for monetization is TikToks own in-app store, TikTok Shop. For example, an account called @trumpsaying, which has 57,000 followers and some videos with millions of views, posted more than a dozen videos with an AI-generated Trump voice before pivoting to videos promoting Trump-themed or vaguely patriotic t-shirts. The videos lead viewers directly to the TikTok Shop, where they can purchase the shirt. The videos are also marked as eligible for commission, meaning other creators can get paid for promoting them as well.A different AI Trump account links to Amazon store pages selling Trump coins and a Trump picture book.Another TikTok account, in which an AI-generated Musk explains how he will colonize Mars and have his robots rule the world in the future, links to an Amazon store page for what appears to be an AI-generated book about Musk.TikToks community guidelines require users to label AIGC [AI-generated content] or edited media that shows realistic-appearing scenes or people. This can be done using the AIGC label, or by adding a clear caption, watermark, or sticker of your own. TikToks guidelines also dont allow content that falsely shows public figures in certain contexts. This includes being bullied, making an endorsement, or being endorsed. After I reached out for comment, TikTok removed two of the AI Musk accounts I flagged to the company that did not disclose they were AI-generated.Some of the videos from some of the accounts that use AI-generated voices of celebrities have a disclosure that says Creator labeled as AI-generated, but most do not. The accounts also dont explicitly endorse products in the videos, but AI Trump accounts promoted Trump-themed products and AI Musk accounts promoted Musk-themed products.TikTok did not immediately provide comment when we asked whether these accounts violate its policies. It also did not immediately provide comment when we asked whether these videos qualify as original content as outlined in its policy about requirements for accounts to qualify for TikTok Creator Rewards Program, which pays TikTok accounts for views.These AI Musk and Trump accounts and the 700 million views they garnered so far are likely just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to AI slop on TikTok. If youve spent any time on the platform youve probably noticed that the motivation genre is very popular there. These can come from financial and fitness influence themselves, but also from an endless number of accounts that take clips of motivational speakers, cut them up, and repost them under different accounts.Jason wrote about some of these accounts last year, which, at the time, were created by people buying packs of inspirational clips that had been compiled from podcasts and public appearances and were being sold on Discord. The idea with these packs of clips was to give people trying to make money on TikTok the raw material they needed to make a large number of edited and remixed videos for TikTok.These videos are trying to cash in on the motivational genre, but they dont even need original material to recycle anymore. They just AI-generate it.When I started viewing the Musk and Trump AI motivational videos, TikTok immediately began recommending other AI-generated motivational videos to me from other celebrities. I saw such videos featuring the AI-generated videos of Keanu Reeves, Cillian Murphy, Denzel Washington, Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma (which, weirdly was previously an Obama account and still has the username @obama.motivations), Sylvester Stallone, Sylvester Stallone en espaol, and Steve Harvey.

President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah II in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (Photo/Alex Brandon)2025-02-12T15:06:16Z WASHINGTON (AP) Eight government watchdogs have sued over their mass firing that removed oversight of President Donald Trumps new administration. The lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in Washington asks a judge to declare the firings unlawful and restore the inspectors general to their positions at the agencies.The watchdogs are charged with rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse at government agencies, playing a nonpartisan oversight role over trillions of dollars in federal spending and the conduct of millions of federal employees, according to the lawsuit.Presidents can remove inspectors general, but the Trump administration did not give Congress a legally required 30-day notice, something that even a top Republican decried.Trump has said he would put new good people in the jobs.The White House did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the lawsuit. The administration dismissed more than a dozen inspectors general in a Friday-night sweep on the fourth full day of Trumps second term. Though inspectors general are presidential appointees, some serve presidents of both parties. All are expected to be nonpartisan. At the time of the firings, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said there may have been good reasons for the terminations but that Congress needed to know.The role of the modern-day inspector general dates to post-Watergate Washington, when Congress installed offices inside agencies as an independent check against mismanagement and abuse of power. Democrats and watchdog groups said the firings raise alarms that Trump is making it easier to take advantage of the government.Trump, said at the time the firings were a very common thing to do. But the lawsuit says that is not true and that mass firings have been considered improper since the 1980s. The dismissals came through similarly worded emails. The watchdogs computers, phones, and agency access badges were collected within days. The officials were escorted into their respective agencies to collect their personal belongings under supervision, they said in the lawsuit. The inspector general of the Agriculture Department, however, returned to work as normal the Monday after being informed of the firing, recognizing the email as not effective, the lawsuit said. The watchdog conducted several meetings before agency employees cut off her access to government systems and took her computer and phone. Trump in the past has challenged their authority. In 2020, in his first term, he replaced multiple inspectors general, including those leading the Defense Department and intelligence community, as well as the one tapped to chair a special oversight board for the $2.2 trillion pandemic economic relief package.The latest round of dismissals spared Michael Horowitz, the longtime Justice Department inspector general who has issued reports on assorted politically explosive criminal investigations over the past decade.In December 2019, for instance, Horowitz released a report faulting the FBI for surveillance warrant applications in the investigation into ties between Russia and Trumps 2016 presidential campaign. But the report also found that the investigation had been opened for a legitimate purpose and did not find evidence that partisan bias had guided investigative decisions.The lawsuit was filed by the inspectors general of the departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services, State, Education, Agriculture, and Labor, and the Small Business Administration. __AP White House Correspondent Zeke Miller contributed to this report. LINDSAY WHITEHURST Whitehurst covers the Supreme Court, legal affairs and criminal justice for The Associated Press in Washington, D.C. Past stops include Salt Lake City, New Mexico and Indiana. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Trader Jonathan Mueller works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, file)2025-02-12T03:23:05Z NEW YORK (AP) U.S. stocks are sinking Wednesday after a report said inflation is unexpectedly getting worse for Americans, before even the first of President Donald Trump s tariffs had a chance to raise prices for imports. The S&P 500 was 0.9% lower in early trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 418 points, or 0.9%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.8% lower. The pain on Wall Street was widespread, and everything from AI darling Nvidia to staid utilities like Duke Energy to bitcoin fell. Treasury yields also climbed in the bond market, cranking up the pressure on financial markets after a report said U.S. consumers had to pay prices for eggs, gasoline and other costs of living that were 3% higher overall in January than a year earlier. That was worse than the 2.9% inflation rate of December, which is what economists expected to see again. The inflation report suggests not only that pressure on U.S. households budgets is amplifying but also that traders on Wall Street were correct to forecast the Federal Reserve will deliver less relief for Americans through lower interest rates this year. The Fed had cut its main interest rate sharply from September through the end of last year, moves that try to make borrowing cheaper, help the economy and boost prices for stocks, bonds and other investments. But the Fed warned at the end of 2024 that it may not cut rates by as much in 2025 as it had earlier expected because of worries about inflation staying stubbornly high. Its goal is to keep inflation at 2%, and lower rates can give inflation more fuel. Some investors were betting on the Fed not cutting rates at all in 2025, even before Wednesdays report on the consumer price index, or CPI. The hotter than expected CPI confirms investors anxiety regarding too-hot inflation that will keep the Fed on the sidelines, said Sameer Samana, head of global equities and real assets at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. And Januarys reading doesnt account for any of the tariffs that Trump has recently announced, which economists say should push up prices on imports from China and anything made with steel or aluminum. Those will make their impact felt later in the year, Samana said. Following Januarys discouraging inflation data, traders are betting on a 28% chance that the Fed will not cut rates at all this year, according to data from CME Group. Thats up from a less than 20% chance seen the day before. Such expectations sent the yield on the two-year Treasury up to 4.34% from 4.29% late Tuesday. The 10-year Treasury yield, which also takes longer-term economic growth and other factors into consideration, jumped even more sharply. It rose to 4.63% from 4.54%.When a 10-year Treasury, which is seen as one of the safest investments possible, is paying that much in interest, investors are less likely to pay high prices for stocks, which carry a higher risk of seeing their prices go to zero. That puts downward pressure on a stock market that critics say already looks to expensive after running to repeated records last year, with the latest coming late last month. One of the few ways companies have to counteract such pressure is to deliver stronger profits. CVS Health did just that, and its stock jumped 12.9% after topping Wall Streets modest sales and profit expectations for the latest quarter. But even doing that isnt always enough. Ride-hailing app Lyft tumbled to a 10% loss despite reporting stronger profits that Wall Street expected. Lyfts revenue fell short of forecasts as higher prices for rides weighed on bookings, the company said.Shares of Frontier Group Holdings, the parent company of Frontier Airlines, lost 1.6% after Spirit Airlines rejected a third takeover bid from the budget rival. Spirit said that it would focus on its own plan to emerge from bankruptcy and stabilize its finances.In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe after finishing mostly higher in Asia. ___AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Yuri Kageyama contributed.

This week we discuss a new Microsoft study that finds using generative AI is "atrophying" people's cognition and critical thinking skills, the right's war on Wikipedia, and, in the subscriber's section, the idea of posting against fascism.Articles discussed:Microsoft Study Finds AI Makes Human Cognition Atrophied and UnpreparedWikipedia Prepares for 'Increase in Threats' to US Editors From Musk and His AlliesYou Cant Post Your Way Out of FascismSubscribers-only video and embed below:

President Donald Trump holds up an executive order relating to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in the Oval Office at the White House, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025, in Washington. (Photo/Alex Brandon)2025-02-11T23:10:17Z NEW YORK (AP) To its fans, its an undeniable force for good in a corrupt world, a groundbreaking anti-bribery statute that has brought powerful businessmen to heel for secretly paying off foreign government officials to win contracts abroad. To detractors, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act unfairly hobbles American companies while foreign rivals not so encumbered swoop in.On Monday, President Donald Trump took a side. It sounds good on paper but in practicality, its a disaster, Trump said while signing an executive order freezing enforcement of the law. Its going to mean a lot more business for America.The consequences could be dramatic, depending on Trumps next move.If he halts many prosecutions, essentially defanging the law, it could help U.S. businesses win deals abroad. But it also could tarnish Americas image, allow corrupt autocrats ruling over impoverished people to get even richer and lead France, Britain, Japan and other wealthy countries to weaken their own anti-bribery laws so their companies can make payments, too.We are facing a Wild West situation, said Mark Pieth, a criminal law professor at the University of Basel in Switzerland and anti-bribery law expert. It will be everyone against everyone. WHAT EXACTLY DOES THE LAW BAN?The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, or FCPA, prohibits people or companies operating in the U.S. from giving money or gifts to foreign officials to win or retain deals in those countries. The law doesnt require that the bribe is actually paid, but only offered.Punishment for conviction is imprisonment of up to 20 years, and companies face fines double their profits from the illicit deal. That has often meant hundreds of millions of dollars, sometimes billions, in payments. HOW OFTEN HAS THE LAW BEEN USED?The law has been used hundreds of times in the past decade to stop bribes to win deals, leading to massive settlement payments from multinationals like Goldman Sachs, Germanys Siemens and the Swiss commodities trader Glencore. But its real impact, experts say, is arguably not in the headlines, but what happens behind the scenes as the fear of punishment deters businesses from even thinking about bribes in the first place. WHAT SPECIFICALLY DOES TRUMP THINK IS WRONG WITH THE LAW?In a nutshell, Trump is claiming that so many others are corrupt, were fools for playing by the rules.Specifically, Trump said the law is being enforced in excessive, unpredictable ways that U.S. companies are competing on an uneven playing field with foreign rivals. He also said the law was draining resources from law enforcement and harming U.S. national interests because companies were being held back from deals that would give the U.S. access to deep water ports, critical minerals and other assets.Trumps statements are reviving a criticism of the law that was common decades ago before other developed countries enacted their own bribery laws. More recently both Republican and Democratic administrations have embraced the FCPA not just as a way to stamp out U.S. corruption but to fight the kinds of conditions abroad that allow cartels and terrorist groups that act against U.S. interests to thrive. WHAT EXACTLY DID TRUMP DO UNDER HIS EXECUTIVE ORDER?Trump cant overturn the law, but as head of the executive branch he can change the way it is enforced and shift resources to other Justice Department priorities. His order puts in place a 180-day pause to all investigations under the FCPA while they are being reviewed. He also ordered no new ones be opened during that period. The order also says it will halt other Justice Department actions under the law, which might mean ongoing prosecutions though that is unclear. Trump said the pause is also necessary to give his administration time to come up with new reasonable guidelines on how to enforce the law that dont put U.S. companies at a disadvantage in striking foreign deals.Duncan Levin, a criminal defense attorney, said he expects Trump will essentially kill the law by neglect.He cant get rid of the law, but he can refuse to enforce it, said Levin, who has represented high profile defendants Harvey Weinstein and Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. I dont think this is just a pause. WHAT KIND OF BRIBES WERE UNCOVERED UNDER THE LAW?The FCPA was enacted after investigators at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the 1970s found more than 400 American companies making questionable or illegal payments to foreign officials to win business.Since then the list of bribes brought to light by prosecutions is long and varied.Last year, the military contractor RTX, formerly Raytheon, paid more than $300 million to settle charges it had allegedly bribed officials in Qatar by using a sham contract and other devices to hide its tracks.In 2019, Walmart paid $282 million to settle charges from a seven-year investigation into allegations it won approval to open stores in Mexico, India and Brazil by bribing local officials, including one contact called the sorceress who had an uncanny ability to make permitting problems disappear. WHAT DO OTHER COUNTRIES DO TO STOP BRIBERY?Since the FCPA was enacted nearly 50 years ago, U.S. businesses have complained that it was hurting more than helping and unfair because bribes were commonplace in some countries. Then under U.S. pressure, allies in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development started enacting their own laws, especially after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and African and Asian countries formerly in the communist orbit opened their borders to business.Eventually, 40 wealthy countries adopted anti-bribery laws based on the FCPA, according to University of Basels Pieth, including the ability to prosecute foreign companies operating in their countries for acts committed in a third country.Therein lies another danger of Trump weakening the FCPA.If a U.S. company bribes because Trump is giving them the green light, the French and the British will jump on that company, Pieth said. It will be a mess. BERNARD CONDON Condon is an Associated Press investigative reporter covering breaking news. He has written about the Maui fire, the Afghanistan withdrawal, gun laws, Chinese loans in Africa and Trumps business. twitter facebook mailto

Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump's choice to be the Director of National Intelligence, arrives to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee for her confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)2025-02-12T15:05:07Z WASHINGTON (AP) The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Tulsi Gabbard as President Donald Trumps director of national intelligence after Republicans who had initially questioned her experience and judgment fell in line behind her nomination.Gabbard was an unconventional pick to oversee and coordinate the countrys 18 different intelligence agencies, given her past comments sympathetic to Russia, a meeting she held with now-deposed Syrian President Bashar Assad and her previous support for government leaker Edward Snowden.Gabbard, a military veteran and former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, was confirmed by a 52-48 vote, with Democrats opposed in the sharply divided Senate where Republicans hold a slim majority. The only no vote from a Republican came from Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.She will take over the top intelligence post as Trump works to reshape vast portions of the federal government. Intelligence agencies including the CIA have issued voluntary resignation offers to staffers, while cybersecurity experts have raised concerns about Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency gaining access to sensitive government databases containing information about intelligence operations. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence was created to address intelligence failures exposed by the Sept. 11, 2001. Republicans have increasingly criticized the office, saying it has grown too large and politicized. Trump himself has long viewed the nations intelligence services with suspicion. GOP senators who had expressed concerns about Gabbards stance on Snowden, Syria and Russia said they were won over by her promise to refocus on the offices core missions: coordinating federal intelligence work and serving as the presidents chief intelligence adviser. While I continue to have concerns about certain positions she has previously taken, I appreciate her commitment to rein in the outsized scope of the agency, said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, adding that Gabbard will bring independent thinking to the job. Democrats noted that Gabbard had no experience working for an intelligence agency and said her past stances on Russia, Syria and Snowden made her a poor choice for the job. They also questioned whether she would stand up to Trump if necessary and could maintain vital intelligence sharing with American allies.It is an insult to people who have dedicated their lives and put themselves in harms way to have her confirmed into this position, said Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, a former CIA analyst,, D-Mich., about members of Americas intelligence service.Until GOP support fell into place, it was unclear whether Gabbards nomination would succeed. Given the 53-47 split in the Senate, Gabbard needed virtually all Republicans to vote yes.Trumps Make America Great Again base has pressured senators to support Trumps nominees, and Elon Musk, the presidents ally, took to social media recently to brand Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., as a deep-state puppet. Young had raised concerns about Gabbard but announced his support after speaking with Musk. The post was deleted after they spoke, and Musk later called Young an ally. Gabbard is a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard who deployed twice to the Middle East and ran for president in 2020. She has no formal intelligence experience and has never run a government agency or department. Gabbards past praise of Snowden drew particularly harsh questions during her confirmation hearing. Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor, fled to Russia after he was charged with revealing classified information about U.S. surveillance programs.Gabbard said that while Snowden disclosed important facts about such programs that she believes are unconstitutional, he violated rules about protecting classified secrets. Edward Snowden broke the law, she said.Gabbards 2017 visit with Assad was another flashpoint. He was recently deposed following a brutal civil war in which he was accused of using chemical weapons. Following her visit, Gabbard faced criticism that she was legitimizing a dictator, and then there were more questions when she said she was skeptical that Assad had used such weapons.Gabbard defended her meeting with Assad, saying she used the opportunity to press the Syrian leader on his human rights record.I asked him tough questions about his own regimes actions, Gabbard said.She also has repeatedly echoed Russian propaganda used to justify the Kremlins invasion of Ukraine. In the past, she opposed a key U.S. surveillance program known as Section 702, which allows authorities to collect the communications of suspected terrorists overseas.

A government website created by the Trump administration to track government waste has been left unupdated with a default WordPress sample page that includes language about an imaginary architecture firm.Waste.gov: Tracking government waste, the tagline for the website, archived here, says. The rest of the webpage, however, is about an imaginary architecture firm called tudes, pulled from a sample webpage for a default WordPress theme called Twenty Twenty-Four.This remains the case a day after Elon Musk, in the Oval Office, told reporters that all of DOGEs supposed waste-cutting actions are transparent and are available on government websites. Musk is currently in charge of finding and eliminating "waste."We actually are trying to be as transparent as possible. In fact, our actionswe post our actions to the DOGE handle on X, and to the DOGE website. So all of our actions, which are maximally transparent, Musk said. In fact, I dont think theres been I dont know the case that where [sic] an organization has been more transparent than the DOGE organization.The DOGE website contains the line An official website of the United States government, a single image of a dollar sign, the words Department of Government Efficiency. The people voted for major reform, and nothing else. The website for the US Digital Service, which has been renamed the US DOGE Service, has not been meaningfully updated since Trump was inaugurated.Waste.gov, meanwhile, says tudes is a pioneering firm that seamlessly merges creativity and functionality to redefine architectural excellence, and various default images and text from the Twenty Twenty-Four WordPress theme, which is also billed as a flexible default theme. The theme is suitable for everyone, from casual bloggers to creative photographers or small businesses, the themes page advertises. Seemingly, the inclusive nature of this theme extends its utility to those seeking to gut the federal government. Specifically, Waste.gov is an exact mirror of the Entrepreneur demo for that theme.Notably, Waste.gov does not comply with various executive orders issued by Donald Trump because it contains the word diverse in the line Our comprehensive suite of professional services caters to a diverse clientele, ranging from homeowners to commercial developers. The imaginary architecture firm also offers a commitment to innovation and sustainability. Research on climate change and sustainability has been purged by this administration.The White House registered both waste.gov and DEI.govwhich redirects to waste.govlast week, Reuters reported.

Palestinians stand next to tents surrounded by buildings that were destroyed by the Israeli air and ground offensive in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)2025-02-12T15:06:04Z JERUSALEM (AP) Three weeks into the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the number of tents and temporary homes entering Gaza risks falling short of the goals set for the deals first phase.The looming deficit sits at the heart of a dispute between Israel and Hamas that could topple the tenuous truce.Hamas said it would delay the scheduled release of three hostages on Saturday if Israel did not ramp up delivery of tents, pre-fabricated homes and heavy machinery into the devastated territory, where the majority of people are displaced and many live beside the rubble of blasted-out buildings. Israel rejects the accusation, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to withdraw from the ceasefire in Gaza and resume the war if Hamas does not release more hostages on schedule.Getting enough shelter into Gaza has been difficult because aid workers prioritized deliveries of food at the start of the ceasefire. Israeli inspections and restrictions on what can enter Gaza also complicate the process. The delivery of temporary shelters could soon ramp up, according to officials from Egypt and Hamas who signaled Wednesday that resolution of the dispute was within sight, paving the way for the hostages to be released as planned.Heres a look at where things stand with aid into Gaza: What does the ceasefire agreement say about aid to Gaza?The ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas says that during the first 42-day phase, Israel must allow at least 60,000 temporary homes and 200,000 tents into Gaza. It also must allow entry of an agreed-upon amount of equipment for rubble removal.Repairs to Gazas badly damaged electricity, water, sewage and communications systems as well as its torn up roads are to begin during phase one. So is the planning process for rebuilding homes decimated by the war. All of the repairs and planning are being overseen by the U.N. and ceasefire mediators Egypt and Qatar. Simply removing the rubble let alone beginning reconstruction could take decades, according to the U.N. It may also be premature, especially if the ceasefire falls apart and Israel resumes its bombing campaign there. U.S. President Donald J. Trumps stated intention to rebuild Gaza as the Riviera of the Middle East adds uncertainty.In the deals first phase, Hamas is to release 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Hamas so far has released 16 of the hostages, in addition to five Thai hostages who were not part of the deal.Whether the exchanges continue, the agreement says, depends on how the parties adhere to its regulations on humanitarian aid, among other stipulations. How many tents and temporary homes are getting into Gaza?Hamas spokesperson Abdul Latif al-Qanou said Israel had so far permitted 20,000 tents into the territory since the ceasefire took effect on Jan. 19. He said Israel hadnt let any temporary homes in and was not allowing entry of heavy machinery to remove rubble and recover dead bodies.COGAT, the Israeli defense body that coordinates the deliveries of humanitarian supplies, disputed part of Hamas claims, saying in a statement it had allowed entry of even more tents. A U.S. official, an Israeli official and aid worker involved in tracking deliveries into Gaza confirmed Hamas claim that as of Tuesday morning no prefabricated homes had been allowed in. Both spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.But the aid worker estimated that between 25,000 and 50,000 tents had entered. The Israeli official said at least 30,000 tents had entered. Why has it been difficult to get shelter material inside?Aid workers say a number of factors are complicating the quick delivery of tents and other temporary shelters into Gaza. For one, the priority at the start of the ceasefire period was getting food and water into a territory on the brink of famine. Shaina Low, communications adviser for the Norwegian Refugee Council, said humanitarian groups prioritized bringing in food during the first couple of weeks of the ceasefire to address Gazas acute starvation crisis.Also, anticipating mass population movements, aid groups held back from sending tents in immediately because people would have a hard time carrying them along with all their belongings, she said. The latest report from the coalition of groups tracking population movement in Gaza says that at least 586,000 Palestinians have gone north since late January and over 56,000 have moved south. Ramping up shelter supplies so suddenly proved a tall order, said Tania Hary, the director of Gisha, an Israeli organization dedicated to protecting Palestinians right to freedom of movement. She added that the initial focus in the first days of the ceasefire was meeting the threshold of 600 trucks a day. Theyre scrambling to get in all the tents in their pipeline, she said. Getting in 60,000 caravans is a huge production.There is another factor slowing the pace of aid deliveries: Israel deems some items dual-use, meaning they could potentially be diverted for military means. According to a list circulated to humanitarian aid groups by COGAT, mobile homes and large tents require Israeli inspection, even though they are on the list for being fast-tracked. The same goes for cleaning materials, water trucks, generators, metal waste containers, sewer inspection devices and iron waste containers.Large storage tents, desalination facilities, toilets and showers with certain kinds of metal, x-ray machines and diesel generators require an even more intense approval process. What does this mean for the deal?Mediators were hopeful Wednesday they could resolve the dispute by Saturday and get the ceasefire back on track.An Egyptian official with knowledge of the talks said the two sides were close to an agreement. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss private negotiations, said Israel had committed to delivering more tents, shelters and heavy equipment to Gaza. An official with Hamas, Mahmoud Merdawi, cited positive signals that the hostages would be released on Saturday. But he cautioned that the group had yet to receive the guarantees it seeks from Israel regarding the delivery of humanitarian aid.-AP reporter Ellen Knickmeyer contributed reporting from Washington. JULIA FRANKEL Frankel is an Associated Press reporter in Jerusalem. twitter mailto

This photo provided by World Relief shows care group volunteers Neimate Mustafa and John Simon Mbiliwele, who provide community health education, visiting a homestead in January 2022, in Maridi, South Sudan. (Esther Mbabazi/World Relief via AP)2025-02-12T16:26:17Z WASHINGTON (AP) In a warehouse in Haiti, nearly four metric tons of seeds cannot be distributed. Soon the planting season will be gone and with it, the best chance for those seeds to produce emergency food.Across the world in South Sudan, a program treating severely malnourished children under age 5 has halted.Both projects are led by World Relief, an evangelical organization whose work has collapsed in certain countries after the Trump administration froze most foreign aid and sidelined the U.S. Agency for International Development.Faith-based organizations that partner with the U.S. government to deliver international aid are being hard-hit by the USAID shutdown, and are now facing their own layoffs, furloughs and severe funding shortages.Remaining staff are being forced to make difficult choices about which lifesaving programs can continue without government funding. Thats what keeps me up at night, said Matthew Soerens, World Reliefs vice president of advocacy and policy.Two of the 12 largest non-governmental recipients of USAID funds are faith-based: Catholic Relief Services and World Vision. These Christian nonprofits serve millions of people globally and provide food, water and health care in conflict zones. Catholic Relief Services founded by U.S. Catholic bishops in 1943 told staff to expect drastic reductions in their workforce this year, as much as 50 percent, due to cuts in U.S. foreign assistance. CRS receives more USAID support than any other non-governmental organization. The U.S. government funded nearly half of the 2023 CRS budget of $1.2 billion. The Vaticans global charity arm, Caritas, on Monday warned that millions of people will die as a result of the ruthless U.S. decision to recklessly stop USAID funding, and hundreds of millions more will be condemned to dehumanizing poverty.The State Department has offered select waivers for organizations to continue lifesaving humanitarian work. But many organizations that have received waivers say federal funding has not arrived for those exempted projects, and they have been unable to get meaningful guidance from the U.S. government. USAID headquarters staffers in affidavits filed this week as part of a court challenge to the Trump administrations dismantling of the agency say they know of no one in USAID who has been told what process will be followed in accepting and reviewing waiver requests, and no funding is getting through to aid partners and programs.World Relief received a waiver to continue its lifesaving work in one country civil-war-torn Sudan but it is still waiting on government payments for those programs and previously completed work.We cant afford to misunderstand the instructions and spend resources that we dont have, Soerens said. We have some cash reserves, but like most nonprofits, we dont sit on months and months worth of cash.Churches and private donors have helped World Relief raise $4.5 million in two weeks to support international aid and its work in the U.S. with refugees. But the organization has furloughed employees and still faces a funding gap of $3.5 million for immediate needs. Franklin Graham, an evangelical leader who prayed at both of Donald Trumps presidential inaugurations, runs Samaritans Purse, an evangelical humanitarian organization that has received USAID funds. Graham said in a statement that the details of the waiver process are not yet clear.Samaritans Purse has not stopped its emergency food and medical programs overseas, he noted, and less than 5% of the organizations 2024 funding came from government grants.I think its a good thing for the government to assess and reexamine the various programs that the U.S. is funding around the world, Graham said. We trust that the new leadership will analyze all of the information and make good decisions. A spokesperson for World Vision, a Christian aid group that is separate from World Relief, said the organization was working on securing waivers and resuming critical programs as soon as possible. Our commitment to serving vulnerable communities through humanitarian and development work remains strong, and we will continue to comply with all relevant regulations, its statement said. The first Trump administration did some incredible work at USAID, according to Adam Phillips, who led the USAID faith-based office during the Biden administration. Phillips continued some of the data-driven approaches to working with faith communities that the Trump team pioneered at the agency.Its so mystifying to see what the second Trump administration is doing, Phillips said, because theyre really going backwards on some extraordinary commitments when it comes to faith-based partners.Supporters of USAIDs work argue it not only alleviates global suffering and promotes stability but also functions as a form of soft power to create goodwill and counter rivals like China and Russia. Many conservatives have championed the type of public-private partnerships that USAID and religious groups traditionally have had. Indeed, when Trump again established a White House faith office, the Feb. 7 executive order said it wanted faith-based entities to compete on a level playing field for grants, contracts, programs, and other Federal funding opportunities.Faith-based groups hope their humanitarian work will pass muster with the second Trump administration after a 90-day review is completed.At World Relief, were also pro-life Christians. We believe in the value of human life, Soerens said. Our hope is that the president and the secretary of state examine this as quickly as possible and get things moving on that genuinely lifesaving humanitarian support.A USAID employee who works on lifesaving humanitarian assistance said she has been instructed not to communicate with grantees. She was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.She still finds common cause with faith-based organizations: She has long viewed her secular work of helping the vulnerable as an extension of her own Christian faith.I cant say that if I werent a person of faith, that I wouldnt be in this in this field, she said. But I do think my main motivation is that Christ calls us to be his hands and feet in this world. Thats what I want to be.___AP reporters Nicole Winfield in Rome, Giovanna DellOrto in Minneapolis, and Gary Fields and Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington 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. TIFFANY STANLEY Stanley is a reporter and editor on The Associated Press Global Religion team. She is based in Washington, D.C. twitter mailto

Trucks carrying humanitarian aid enter the Gaza Strip from Egypt in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)2025-02-12T17:59:48Z JERUSALEM (AP) Israels defense minister on Wednesday vowed that all hell will break loose on Hamas if it fails to free hostages this weekend as planned, stepping up threats against the militant group as mediators worked to salvage their ceasefire.There were signs that the gaps could be bridged. The dispute was sparked when Hamas accused Israel of failing to meet some commitments under the truce, including the delivery of tents and other aid, and said it would delay the next hostage release on Saturday.Hamas official Mahmoud Merdawi told The Associated Press there were positive signals the three hostages will be released as planned on Saturday but the group had not yet received a commitment from Israel that it would adhere to the deal.An Egyptian official with knowledge of the talks said the two sides were close to an agreement. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss private negotiations, said Israel had committed to delivering more tents, shelters and heavy equipment to Gaza. Israeli officials had no immediate comment. Israel says it is fulfilling its obligations under the deal, which went into effect on Jan. 19 and has paused the 16-month war in Gaza, bringing respite to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. In the ceasefires current first stage, which is to last 42 days, Israel is to deliver large quantities of aid. Hamas is meant to free 33 hostages taken during its cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war. Eight of them are said to be dead. Twenty-one have been released so far, along with hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli custody. Israel and Hamas trade threatsHamas threat to delay the hostage release sparked fury from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who vowed to resume the fighting if Hamas didnt follow through and ordered troops to be strengthened around Gaza. They pulled back from the territorys populated areas during the ceasefire.On Wednesday, Defense Minister Israel Katz said he was echoing U.S. President Donald Trump by threatening that all hell will break loose if there is no hostage release on Saturday as planned.If Hamas stops releasing the hostages, then there is no deal and there is war, he said during a visit to a military command center. He said the new Gaza war wouldnt end until Hamas was defeated, which would allow for Trumps vision on transferring Gazas population to neighboring countries to be realized.Hamas spokesperson Hazem Kassem rejected the language of U.S. and Israeli threats and called on Israel to implement the terms of the ceasefire deal. Among other claims, Hamas says Israel is not allowing an agreed-upon number of tents, prefabricated homes and heavy machinery into Gaza. Trumps remarks test the delicate truceThe ceasefires stability has also been rocked by Trump, who has proposed relocating Palestinians out of Gaza to neighboring Arab countries so the U.S. can own and rebuild the territory not necessarily for its current inhabitants.Jordan and Egypt, where Trump wants Palestinians moved, have repeatedly and vehemently rejected the proposal. Jordans King Abdullah II did so again after his meeting with Trump at the White House on Tuesday.Trump has also suggested Hamas release all the hostages yet to be freed under the ceasefires first phase at once which emboldened Israel to call for more hostages to be freed on Saturday. The releases have been gradual and almost weekly so far.The latest ceasefire dispute came as Israel and Hamas were expected to begin negotiations on a second phase of the deal, which would extend the truce, bring about the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and see the remaining living hostages freed.But there appears to have been little progress on those talks.Netanyahu is under pressure from his political partners, on whom he relies to remain in power, to resume the war after the first phase. But he also faces surging outrage from many Israelis, who are stunned by the emaciated condition of the three hostages released last Saturday and want him to follow through with the deal.___Magdy reported from Cairo.___Follow APs war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war TIA GOLDENBERG Goldenberg is an Associated Press reporter and producer covering Israel and the Palestinian territories. She previously reported on East and West Africa from Nairobi. twitter mailto

In this Sept. 17, 2019 file photo, R. Kelly appears during a hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse in Chicago. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune via AP, Pool, File)2025-02-12T17:48:22Z NEW YORK (AP) R. Kellys racketeering and sex trafficking convictions, along with a 30-year prison sentence, were upheld Wednesday by a federal appeals court that concluded the singer exploited his fame for over a quarter century to sexually abuse girls and young women.The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled Wednesday after hearing arguments last March.The Grammy-winning, multiplatinum-selling R&B songwriter was convicted in 2021 in Brooklyn federal court of multiple charges, including racketeering and sex trafficking.Attorney Jennifer Bonjean, representing R. Kelly, said in a statement that she believed the Supreme Court will agree to hear an appeal. She called the 2nd Circuit ruling unprecedented, saying it gives prosecutors limitless discretion to apply the racketeering law to situations absurdly remote from the statutes intent. Last year, the high court declined to hear an appeal of a 20-year sentence Kelly received after he was convicted in 2022 of child sex charges including charges of producing images of child sexual abuse in Chicago.The 2nd Circuit rejected Kellys arguments that the trial evidence was inadequate, the constitutionality of some state laws used against him were questionable, four jurors were biased, the trial judge made some improper rulings and a racketeering charge more commonly used in organized crime cases was improper. Enabled by a constellation of managers, assistants, and other staff for over twenty-five years, Kelly exploited his fame to lure girls and young women into his grasp, the appeals court said, noting members of his entourage helped introduce him to underage girls. Evidence at trial showed that he would isolate them from friends and family, control nearly every aspect of their lives, and abuse them verbally, physically, and sexually, the three-judge panel said. The appeals court said it was neither arbitrary nor irrational that several accusers were permitted to testify at trial that Kelly gave them herpes without disclosing he had an STD, and it was not unduly prejudicial or cumulative that seven witnesses who were not yet adults when Kelly began to abuse them were allowed to testify.None of the testimony was more inflammatory than the charged acts, the appeals court said.The 2nd Circuit also said it was not unfairly prejudicial for the trial judge to let jurors view graphic videos. The videos, the appeals court said, were properly admitted to show the means and methods of the enterprise, including the level of control and dominance Kelly had over his victims.Bonjean, in her statement on R. Kellys behalf, also cited a partial dissent in which one 2nd Circuit judge, Richard J. Sullivan, concurred with what he described as the majoritys excellent opinion, but dissented in part over a restitution award given one victim for a lifetime supply of a suppressive regime of herpes medication. The award was based on the cost of the brand-name drug when a generic drug is available.This was not restitution. This was an effort by the government to unfairly enrich government witnesses for their testimony, Bonjean said. Kelly, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, is known for work including the 1996 hit I Believe I Can Fly and the cult classic Trapped in the Closet, a multipart tale of sexual betrayal and intrigue.Kelly sold millions of albums and remained in demand even after allegations about his abuse of young girls began circulating publicly in the 1990s. He was acquitted of child sexual abuse image charges in Chicago in 2008, but a second trial in Chicago in 2022 ended with his conviction on charges of producing images of child sexual abuse and enticing girls for sex.Widespread outrage over Kellys sexual misconduct did not emerge until the #MeToo reckoning, reaching a crescendo after the release of the documentary Surviving R. Kelly.