Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo said he was "locked in" on getting healthy and told reporters on Thursday afternoon that he can't control reports about his future with the Bucks.

TCU quarterback Josh Hoover intends to enter the NCAA transfer portal, he told ESPN on Thursday.

Federal prosecutors said they were now investigating fraud worth billions of dollars in 14 social services programs in the state.

Lawmakers from a half-dozen states said Thursday they will use legislation next year to thwart the tactics of federal law enforcement carrying out immigration policies.

The long-running case had been on hold for nearly a year because of higher court appeals and the retirement of the military judge.

The president has a long record of making false or misleading statements. But the sheer density of them in his administrations boat attacks and Venezuela pressure campaign is exceptional.

During his 16 years in office, he earned national acclaim for his focus on education. But losing his bid for the Senate in 1984 cost him a shot at the presidency.

In an intent to terminate letter, Ohio University's president wrote that football coach Brian Smith's "extramarital affairs," including one with a student, brought "disrepute, scandal and ridicule," which violated his employment agreement.

Jake Paul predicted he would knock out Anthony Joshua in an upset that would be "biblical, like reimagining David beating Goliath."

Jake Paul has been good for boxing. But his fight on Friday night against Anthony Joshua is not.

The Wisconsin state judge, Hannah C. Dugan, was accused of ushering a man to a side door as federal agents waited outside a courtroom.

This courtroom sketch depicts Judge Laura Gramling Perez at Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan's trial in court, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025 in Milwaukee, Wis. (Adela Tesnow via AP, Pool)2025-12-18T05:05:26Z MILWAUKEE (AP) A jury found a Wisconsin judge accused of helping a Mexican immigrant dodge federal authorities guilty of obstruction Thursday, marking a victory for President Donald Trump as he continues his sweeping immigration crackdown across the country.Federal prosecutors charged Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan with obstruction, a felony, and concealing an individual to prevent arrest, a misdemeanor, in April. The jury acquitted her on the concealment count, but she still faces up to five years in prison on the obstruction count.The jury returned the verdicts after deliberating for six hours. Dugan and her attorneys left the courtroom, ducked into a side conference room and closed the door without speaking to reporters.According to a court filings that include an FBI affidavit and a federal grand jury indictment, immigration authorities traveled to the Milwaukee County courthouse on April 18 after learning 31-year-old Eduardo Flores-Ruiz had reentered the country illegally and was scheduled to appear before Dugan for a hearing in a state battery case. Dugan learned that agents were in the corridor outside her courtroom waiting for Flores-Ruiz. She left the courtroom to confront them, falsely telling them their administrative warrant for Flores-Ruiz wasnt sufficient grounds to arrest him and directing them to go to the chief judges office. While the agents were gone, she addressed Flores-Ruizs case off the record, told his attorney that he could attend his next hearing via Zoom and led Flores-Ruiz and the attorney out a private jury door. Agents spotted Flores-Ruiz in the corridor, followed him outside and arrested him after a foot chase. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced in November he had been deported. Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel. Follow on The case inflamed tensions over Trumps immigration crackdown, with his administration branding Dugan an activist judge and Democrats countering that the administration was trying to make an example of Dugan to blunt judicial opposition to the operation. Prosecutors worked during Dugans trial to show that she directed agents to the chief judges office to create an opening for Flores-Ruiz to escape. An FBI agent who led the investigation testified that after agents left the corridor, she immediately moved Flores-Ruizs case to the top of her docket, told him that he could appear for his next hearing via Zoom and led him out the private door.Prosecutors also played audio recordings from her courtroom in which she can be heard telling her court reporter that shed take the heat for leading Flores-Ruiz out the back.Her attorneys countered that she was trying to follow courthouse protocols that called for court employees to report any immigration agents to their supervisors and she didnt intentionally try to obstruct the arrest team. TODD RICHMOND Richmond is an Associated Press reporter covering Wisconsin politics and courts as well as environmental issues and breaking news across the Great Lakes region. He is based in Madison. twitter mailto

The Bank of Japan moved to slow inflation as the prime minister is borrowing more to fund an ambitious effort to build up industry and support households.

The Milwaukee judge was charged with obstructing federal immigration agents, who were trying to arrest a man who had appeared before her on a battery charge.

Right-hander Michael King and the San Diego Padres agreed to a three-year, $75 million contract, sources told ESPN's Jeff Passan on Thursday.

As military officials sound the alarm over Russian hybrid attacks, the chair of Parliaments defense committee said the governments progress on ramping up home defense was glacial.

A reordering of the rules of trade, set on top of transformational change in technology, demographics and climate, is remaking jobs, politics and lives.

Marijuanas classification as one of the most dangerous and habit-forming substances has long drawn criticism.

The annual news conference sets the Kremlins tone for the next year and highlights President Vladimir V. Putins grip over Russia.

The battle of the NFC West came down to overtime. Here's everything you need to know.

Nikola Jokic passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA's career assists leader among centers in Thursday's win over the Magic.

Restricting Tehrans growth and water use however politically difficult would be more prudent than trying to engineer ever more elaborate workarounds.

Facing a deadline to appeal, the Justice Department told the courts late Thursday that it would try to overturn a judges ruling in favor of Harvard.

Greg Biffle smiles along pit row during qualifying for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Friday, Aug. 31, 2012, in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/David Tulis, File)2025-12-19T06:37:30Z STATESVILLE, N.C. (AP) Federal investigators on Friday will begin sifting through the wreckage of a business jet that crashed in North Carolina and killed all seven people aboard, including retired NASCAR driver Greg Biffle and his family.The Cessna C550 erupted into a large fire when it hit the ground Thursday. It had departed Statesville Regional Airport, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of Charlotte, but soon crashed while trying to return and land, the North Carolina State Highway Patrol said.Flight records show the plane was registered to a company run by Biffle. The cause of the crash wasnt immediately known, nor was the reason for the planes return to the airport in drizzle and cloudy conditions.Federal Aviation Administration records show Biffle was rated to fly helicopters and single and multi-engine planes. It wasnt clear if Biffle was piloting the plane at the time of the crash. Biffle was on the plane with his wife, Cristina, and children Ryder, 5, and Emma, 14, according to the highway patrol and a family statement. Others on the plane were identified as Dennis Dutton, his son Jack, and Craig Wadsworth. Each of them meant everything to us, and their absence leaves an immeasurable void in our lives, the joint family statement said. Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel. Follow on Biffle, 55, won more than 50 races across NASCARs three circuits, including 19 at the Cup Series level. He also won the Trucks Series championship in 2000 and the Xfinity Series title in 2002. NASCAR called Biffle a beloved member of the NASCAR community, a fierce competitor, and a friend to so many.His passion for racing, his integrity, and his commitment to fans and fellow competitors alike made a lasting impact on the sport, NASCAR said.The plane, bound for Florida, took off from the Statesville airport shortly after 10 a.m., according to tracking data posted by FlightAware.com. Golfers playing next to the airport were shocked as they witnessed the disaster, even dropping to the ground at the Lakewood Golf Club while the plane was overhead. The ninth hole was covered with debris.We were like, Oh my gosh! Thats way too low, said Joshua Green of Mooresville. It was scary.A team from the National Transportation Safety Board headed to North Carolina on Thursday to investigate. The Federal Aviation Administration is also investigating. The Cessna plane, built in 1981, is a popular mid-sized business jet with an excellent reputation, aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti said. It has two engines and typically seats six to eight passengers and two pilots.In 2024, Biffle was honored for his humanitarian efforts after Hurricane Helene struck the U.S., even using his personal helicopter to deliver aid to flooded, remote western North Carolina.The last time I spoke with Cristina, just a couple of weeks ago, she reached out to ask how she could help with relief efforts in Jamaica. Thats who the Biffles were, U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson, a Republican from North Carolina, said.Wadsworth was Biffles friend and helped him with odd jobs, including delivering supplies to places hit by Hurricane Helene, roommate Benito Howell said. He didnt know how to say no, Howell said of Wadsworth, who had worked for several NASCAR teams. He loved everybody. He always tried to help everybody.The joint family statement also spoke about Dutton and his son Jack, saying they were deeply loved as well, and their loss is felt by all who knew them.With 2025 almost over, there have been 1,331 U.S. crashes this year investigated by the NTSB, from two-seat planes to commercial aircraft, compared to a total of 1,482 in 2024. Major air disasters around the world in 2025 include the plane-helicopter collision that killed 67 in Washington, the Air India crash that killed 260 in India, and a crash in Russias Far East that claimed 48 lives. Fourteen people, including 11 on the ground, died in a UPS cargo plane crash in Kentucky.___Robertson reported from Raleigh, North Carolina. Associated Press writers John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; Jenna Fryer in Charlotte, North Carolina; Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska; Ed White in Detroit; Sarah Brumfield in Washington; and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed to this story. ALLEN G. BREED Breed is an Associated Press general assignment/feature writer. He joined the AP in 1988 in Kentucky. twitter mailto

Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff sounded off on official John Goble, saying his calls during Thursday night's game against the Mavs were "not objective."

A Reddit user provided information that helped identify Claudio Manuel Neves Valente as not only the suspect in the campus shooting, but also the murder of an M.I.T. professor.

Officials identified a man from Portugal as the suspect in the deadly shooting at Brown University and the killing of an M.I.T. professor. The police said on Thursday he died from a self-inflicted gunshot.

The program is expected to take hundreds of thousands of firearms out of circulation, the prime minister said on Friday.

Law enforcement officers are seen outside a storage facility where a suspect in the shooting at Brown University was found dead, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, in Salem, N.H. (AP Photo/Reba Saldanha)2025-12-19T07:31:21Z A frantic search for the suspect in last weekends mass shooting at Brown University ended at a New Hampshire storage facility where authorities discovered the man dead inside and then revealed he also was suspected of killing a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor.Claudio Neves Valente, 48, a former Brown student and Portuguese national, was found dead Thursday night from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, said Col. Oscar Perez, the Providence police chief. Investigators believe he is responsible for fatally shooting two students and wounding nine other people in a Brown lecture hall last Saturday, then killing MIT professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro two days later at his home in the Boston suburbs, nearly 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Providence. Perez said as far as investigators know, Neves Valente acted alone.Brown University President Christina Paxson said Neves Valente was enrolled there as a graduate student studying physics from the fall of 2000 to the spring of 2001. He has no current affiliation with the university, she said.Neves Valente and Loureiro previously attended the same academic program at a university in Portugal between 1995 and 2000, U.S. attorney for Massachusetts Leah B. Foley said. Loureiro graduated from the physics program at Instituto Superior Tcnico, Portugals premier engineering school, in 2000, according to his MIT faculty page. The same year, Neves Valente was let go from a position at the Lisbon university, according to an archive of a termination notice from the schools then-president in February 2000. Neves Valente had come to Brown on a student visa. He eventually obtained legal permanent residence status in September 2017, Foley said. It was not immediately clear where he was between taking a leave of absence from the school in 2001 and getting the visa in 2017. His last known residence was in Miami. Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel. Follow on After officials revealed the suspects identity, President Donald Trump suspended the green card lottery program that allowed Neves Valente to stay in the United States.There are still a lot of unknowns in regard to motive, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said. We dont know why now, why Brown, why these students and why this classroom, he said. Tip helps investigators connect the dotsThe FBI previously said it knew of no links between the Rhode Island and Massachusetts shootings.Police credited a person who had several encounters with Neves Valente for providing a crucial tip that led to the suspect.After police shared security video of a person of interest, the witness known only as John in a Providence police affidavit recognized him and posted his suspicions on the social media forum Reddit. Reddit users urged him to tell the FBI, and John said he did.John said he had encountered Neves Valente hours earlier in the bathroom of the engineering building where the shooting occurred and noticed he was wearing inappropriate clothing for the weather, according to the affidavit. He again bumped into Neves Valente a couple blocks away and saw him suddenly turn away from a Nissan sedan when he saw John. When you do crack it, you crack it. And that person led us to the car, which led us to the name, Neronha said.His tip pointed investigators to a Nissan Sentra with Florida plates. That enabled Providence police to tap into a network of more than 70 street cameras operated around the city by surveillance company Flock Safety. Those cameras track license plates and other vehicle details.After leaving Rhode Island, Providence officials said Neves Valente stuck a Maine license plate over his rental cars plate to help conceal his identity.Investigators found footage of Neves Valente entering an apartment building near Loureiros in a Boston suburb. About an hour later, Neves Valente was seen entering the Salem, New Hampshire, storage facility where he was found dead, Foley said. He had with him a satchel and two firearms, Neronha said. Victims include renowned physicist, political organizer and aspiring doctorLoureiro, a 47-year-old physicist and fusion scientist, had joined MIT in 2016 and was named last year to lead the schools Plasma Science and Fusion Center, one of its largest laboratories. The scientist from Viseu, Portugal, had been working to explain the physics behind astronomical phenomena such as solar flares.The two Brown students killed during a study session for final exams were 19-year-old sophomore Ella Cook and 18-year-old freshman MukhammadAziz Umurzokov. Cook was active in her Alabama church and served as vice president of the Brown College Republicans. Umurzokovs family immigrated to the U.S. from Uzbekistan when he was a child, and he aspired to be a doctor.As for the wounded, three had been discharged and six were in stable condition Thursday, officials said.Although Brown officials say there are 1,200 cameras on campus, the attack happened in an older part of the engineering building that has few, if any, cameras. And investigators believe the shooter entered and left through a door that faces a residential street bordering campus, which might explain why the cameras Brown does have didnt capture footage of the person.___Associated Press reporters Mark Scolforo in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania,, Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu, Hallie Golden in Seattle and Matt OBrien in Providence contributed. ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Richer covers the Justice Department and federal courts. She joined The AP in 2013 and is based in Washington. twitter ERIC TUCKER Tucker covers national security in Washington for The Associated Press, with a focus on the FBI and Justice Department. twitter mailto HANNAH SCHOENBAUM Schoenbaum is a government and politics reporter based in Salt Lake City, Utah. She also covers general news in the Rockies and LGBTQ+ rights policies in U.S. statehouses. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

After apologizing for a gesture that was "antisemitic in nature" earlier Thursday, Puka Nacua had one of the best games of his career and afterward criticized officials on social media.

Rams coach Sean McVay questioned a crucial 2-point conversion that allowed the Seahawks to tie Thursday night's score midway through the fourth quarter, saying after Los Angeles' 38-37 OT loss that he had "never quite seen anything like what happened."

A poster seeking information about the campus shooting suspect is seen on the campus of Brown University, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)2025-12-19T06:16:38Z PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) Information from a tipster who had a strange encounter with another man on a sidewalk outside Brown University was key to police identifying the suspect they believe killed two students at the school and then two days later gunned down a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor.Known only as John in a Providence police affidavit, the source is being hailed by investigators as the key figure who gave law enforcement the details needed to determine who was behind the Brown shooting, as well as the killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who was shot in his Brookline home Monday.Ever since a shooter unloaded more than 40 rounds inside a Brown engineering building, anxiety and frustration has plagued the Providence, Rhode Island, community as police appeared no closer to identifying the person. Yet on the sixth day of the investigation, the case gathered steam, ending with police announcing late Thursday they had found the suspected gunman dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.The tipster, John, was the reason why.He blew this case right open, said Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha of the information provided by the individual that resulted in finding the gunman nearly 24 hours later. When you crack it, you crack it, he said. Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel. Follow on According to police, John had several encounters with 48-year-old Claudio Neves Valente before Saturdays attack. As police posted images of a person of interest now identified as Neves Valente John began posting on the social media forum Reddit that he recognized the person and theorized that police should look into possibly a rental grey Nissan. Reddit users urged him to tell the FBI, and John said he did. The police affidavit said they learned about the tip on Dec. 16, three days after the shooting and a day after the tip line was created. Up until that point, the police affidavit says officials had not connected a vehicle to the possible shooter. That detail led them to get more video of a Nissan Sentra sedan with Florida plates and enabled Providence police officers to tap into a network of more than 70 street cameras operated around the city by surveillance company Flock Safety. The affidavit says John gave investigators additional critical details: he encountered Neves Valente in the bathroom of the engineering building just hours before the attack, where John noted the suspects clothing was inappropriate and inadequate for the weather.John also bumped into Neves Valente outside, mere blocks from the building, where John watched Neves Valente suddenly turn around from the Nissan when he saw John. What ensued was then a game of cat and mouse, according to Johns testimony where the two would encounter each other and Neves Valente would run away.At one point, John says he yelled out Your car is back there, why are you circling the block? The Suspect responded, I dont know you from nobody, then Suspect repeatedly asked, Why are you harassing me? according to the affidavit. John told police he eventually saw Neves Valente approach the Nissan sedan once more and decided to walk away. Respectfully, I have said all I have to say on the matter to the right people, John wrote on Reddit Wednesday night. As of Thursday, its unknown whether John will receive the $50,000 reward the FBI had offered for information about the Brown shooting. Ted Docks, special agent in charge of the FBI, said it was possible when asked by reporters.It would be logical to think that, absolutely, that individual would be entitled to that, he said.___Associated Press writer Matt OBrien contributed to this report.

Manchester United have been put on alert as Al Hilal midfielder Rben Neves wants to return to the Premier League. Transfer Talk has the latest news and rumors.

Sam Darnold overcame two crushing second-half interceptions and rallied the Seahawks from a 16-point deficit to stun the Rams and punch Seattle's ticket to the playoffs.

Nuno F.G. Loureiro, the professor, attended the same physics program in Portugal as the man suspected in his killing.

From left, Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen address a media conference at the EU Summit in Brussels, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)2025-12-19T02:10:42Z BRUSSELS (AP) European Union leaders agreed on Friday to provide a massive interest-free loan to Ukraine to meet its military and economic needs for the next two years, but they failed to bridge differences with Belgium that would have allowed them to use frozen Russian assets to raise the funds.After almost four years of war, the International Monetary Fund estimates that Ukraine will need 137 billion euros ($161 billion) in 2026 and 2027. The government in Kyiv is on the verge of bankruptcy, and desperately needs the money by spring.The plan had been to use some of the 210 billion euros ($246 billion) worth of Russian assets that are frozen in Europe, mostly in Belgium. The leaders worked deep into Thursday night to reassure Belgium that they would protect it from any Russian retaliation if it backed the reparations loan plan, but as the talks bogged down the leaders eventually opted to borrow the money on capital markets. We have a deal. Decision to provide 90 billion euros ($106 billion) of support to Ukraine for 2026-27 approved. We committed, we delivered, EU Council President Antnio Costa said in a post on social media. Not all countries agreed to the loan package. Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic refuse to support Ukraine and opposed it, but a deal was reached in which they did not block the package and were promised protection from any financial fallout. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbn, who is Russian President Vladimir Putins closest ally in Europe and describes himself as a peacemaker, said I would not like a European Union in war.To give money means war, said Orbn. He also described the rejected plan to use the frozen Russian assets as a dead end.French President Emmanuel Macron said the deal was a major advance, saying that borrowing on capital markets was the most realistic and practical way to fund Ukraine and its war efforts. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also hailed the decision.The financial package for Ukraine has been finalized, Merz said in a statement, noting that Ukraine is granted a zero-interest loan.These funds are sufficient to cover the military and budgetary needs of Ukraine for the two years to come, Merz added. He said the frozen assets will remain blocked until Russia has paid war reparations to Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that would cost over 600 billion euros ($700 billion). If Russia does not pay reparations we will in full accordance with international law make use of Russian immobilized assets for paying back the loan, Merz said.Zelenskyy, who traveled to Brussels for a summit that took place during fiery protests by farmers angry about a proposed trade deal with five South American countries, had appealed for a quick decision to keep Ukraine afloat in the new year. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned early on Thursday that it would be a case of sending either money today or blood tomorrow to help Ukraine.The plan to use frozen Russian assets got bogged down as Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever rejected the scheme as legally risky, and warned that it could harm the business of Euroclear, the Brussels-based financial clearing house where 193 billion euros ($226 billion) in frozen assets are held. Belgium was rattled last Friday when Russias Central Bank launched a lawsuit against Euroclear to prevent any loan being provided to Ukraine using its money, which is frozen under EU sanctions slapped on Moscow after its launched its full-scale war in 2022.For me, the reparations loan was not a good idea, De Wever told reporters after the meeting. When we explained the text again, there were so many questions that I said, I told you so, I told you so. There are a lot of loose ends. And if you start pulling at the loose ends in the strings, the thing collapses.We avoided stepping into a precedent that risks undermining legal certainty worldwide. We safeguarded the principle that Europe respects law, even when it is hard, even when we are under pressure, he said, adding that the EU delivered a strong political signal. Europe stands behind Ukraine.Still, Costa said that the EU reserves its right to make use of the immobilized assets to repay this loan.

Protesters shout slogans in front of the premises of the Prothom Alo daily newspaper after news reached the country from Singapore of the death of a prominent activist Sharif Osman Hadi, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)2025-12-18T20:33:12Z DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) Angry protesters stormed the offices of Bangladeshs two leading newspapers late Thursday after the death of a prominent activist in last years political uprising in Bangladesh. The crowds set fire to the buildings of the dailies, trapping journalists and other staff inside.Hours later, the journalists and other staff were evacuated, and the fires were brought under control early Friday. It was not clear why the protesters attacked the newspapers whose editors are known to be closely connected with the countrys interim leader, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus. Protests were organized in recent months outside the offices of the dailies by Islamists who blamed the newspapers for their alleged link with India.Sharif Osman Hadi, a spokesperson for the Inqilab Moncho culture group, died in hospital in Singapore early Thursday evening after a weeklong battle for his life. He was shot on the streets of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, last Friday while riding on a rickshaw. Two men on a motorbike followed Hadi and one shot him before they fled the scene. After days of treatment in Dhaka, Hadi was flown to Singapore in critical condition. Authorities have said they identified the suspects and that the shooter had most probably fled to India remarks that sparked a new diplomatic squabble with India and prompted New Delhi this week to summon Bangladeshs envoy to express its condemnation. Bangladesh also summoned the Indian envoy to Dhaka and sought clarification. Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel. Follow on Hadi was a fierce critic of both neighboring India and former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, whose 15-year rule of Bangladesh ended in last years uprising. The Inqilab Moncho group, formed after the ouster of Hasina last year, has been organizing street protests and campaigns denouncing Hasina and India. The countrys Islamists and other Hasina opponents have blamed her government for being subservient to India during her rule. Hadi had planned to run as an independent candidate in a major constituency in Dhaka in the next national elections which the countrys interim government has announced for February. Since Hasinas ouster, the Inqilab Moncho group has promoted anti-Indian sentiment in the Muslim-majority country. Hasina now lives in self-imposed exile in India.Witnesses and media reports said hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Dhaka immediately after the news of Hadis death, rallying on Shahbagh Square near the Dhaka University campus where many chanted slogans such as Allahu Akbar, or God is great in Arabic. There were also similar protests elsewhere in the country.Later, a group of protesters gathered outside the head office of the countrys leading Bengali-language Prothom Alo daily in Dhakas Karwan Bazar area. They then surged into the building, vandalized it and set fire to it, according to online portals of various leading media outlets.A few hundred yards away, another group of protesters pushed into the premises of the countrys leading English-language Daily Star and set fire to the building, according to footage from Kaler Kantha, another mainstream newspaper. Soldiers and paramilitary border guards deployed outside the two buildings but did not take any action to disperse the protesters. Security officials tried to convince them to leave peacefully as firefighters arrived at the scene outside the Daily Star building.The blaze trapped the newspapers staff working inside the building late Thursday. One of the Daily Stars journalists, Zyma Islam, wrote on Facebook that she was inside the building. I cant breathe anymore. Theres too much smoke, she said.By early Friday, the fire was brought under control.Both dailies stopped updating their online editions after the attacks and they did not publish broadsheets on Friday. The protesters Thursday night also targeted Chhayanaut, a leading cultural institution widely respected by liberals, in Dhakas Dhanmondi neighborhood. Dozens of protesters were still at Shahbagh Friday morning and vowed to continue the protests. Hadis body would be brought to Dhaka from Singapore on Friday evening, authorities said. The attack on Hadi is still being investigated, but the shooting has set off tensions. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have recently expressed concerns over violations of human rights in Bangladesh. Yunus, who took over three days after Hasinas ouster in August 2024, promised in a televised address to the nation late Thursday to punish Hadis killers.He announced that Saturday would be a day of mourning and urged the citizens to stay calm.Yunus critics and Hasinas former Awami League party have blamed the interim government for the rise of Islamists in Bangladesh, a parliamentary democracy with a history of political violence. The interim government has banned all activities by Hasinas party, including its running in the February election. Last month, a Bangladesh court sentenced Hasina to death on charges of crimes against humanity involving the uprising. On Wednesday, anti-India protesters attempted to march toward the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, prompting it to close its visa section. After Hasinas ouster India stopped issuing tourist visas to Bangladeshis, citing security concerns, but continued giving visas for medical treatment in India. On Thursday, protesters in the southwestern city of Rajshahi tried to march toward the office of a regional Indian diplomat. Police stopped both marches. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Marijuana has been tied to psychosis and other health problems. I still think its safer than alcohol.

Theres no getting around this if we want to avoid the deficit cliff ahead.

Pyrotechnic showers of white sparks fell behind Chappell Roan as she belted out, "I'm gonna keep on dancin' at the Pink Pony Club! I'm gonna keep on dancin' down in West Hollywood!" The crowd was pulsing with energy, singing along as she laid into the chorus with a voice that thrummed with power, only 14 miles from West Hollywood and The Abbey.Like Chappell, I'm a California transplant from the Midwest, raised on compulsory heterosexuality and conservative Christianity. A late bloomer, I came out as bisexual when I was 34, and as a lesbian at 40. The cost was high: a seventeen-year marriage that forever altered the lives of my three children. Staying closeted was no longer survivable. Like Chappell in her "Roan of Arc" performance, I put on my armor, turned around with my crossbow, and launched the fiery arrow that would burn down the life I had been taught to want.I often struggled to have compassion with my younger self for not paying attention to those feelings sooner. There were signs: my thrifted Doc Martens, a closet full of old flannel shirts, and an Indigo Girls Retrospective CD always in my Discman. But in the 90s, queerness felt particularly dangerous in the Midwest. Reminders of this weren't just on TV when helicopters airlifted Matthew Shepard to a Colorado hospital. It sat next to me at the dinner table.I had always known my (great) Uncle Hal as a tall, lean man with red hair, whose face slanted slightly downward on one side, and whose words were slurred and difficult to understand. When I was young, I didn't know why he looked and acted differently from most people, but I also didn't particularly care. He was gentle and kind, and always winked at me and grinned when he noticed me sneaking another sweet pickle or the perfect bit of turkey before everyone sat down to the holiday feast.When he was young, Hal had fled his hometown for Chicago, where he created window displays, worked in interior design, and performed on stage. He joyfully lived in the city's thriving gay community after Illinois decriminalized homosexuality in 1961 (it would not be decriminalized nationwide until 2003).When he returned home to care for his ailing mother, he was met with public ridicule. He was arrested regularly and had to be bailed out by my grandfather, who fancied himself the John Wayne of the Midwest. The worst happened when he was brutally attacked and left for dead, sustaining a traumatic brain injury that left him permanently disabled and unable to fully care for himself. The body that had been his instrument of expression on the stage had become a prison from which he could not escape. His aunt took care of him for the remainder of her life, but he never returned to the city or to himself.Hal doted on me as a child, bringing me piles of books about faraway places he urged me to visit someday. Whenever I saw him, he placed little gifts in my hands that he thought I might like: a chocolate, new art supplies, once even a model wishing well that had tiny spools of thread in its depths, buried in gold glitter.Decades later, on a hot California night, I stood at the barricade with my wife behind me, making sure I didn't get squished by the enthusiastic fans. We overheard a couple of attendees complaining that there were too many old people there taking up the good spots. That they had been waiting since 4, and it had been so long. My wife and I rolled our eyes at each other and kept enjoying the hell out of the concert. We danced, belting out Chappell's anthem to queer spaces. I wished Hal could see the sparks falling like gold glitter. The same shimmer that once filled the wishing well he gave me. I wondered if his own Pink Pony Club was on the bustling Near North Side of Chicago or in the smaller gay neighborhood near Dearborn and Division.Wherever it was, I hoped it felt like safety, however fleeting.We had waited so long to get here. Not just the hours in line, starting at 8 am to get a good spot. Some of us took years to get to this spot at Brookside by the Rose Bowl.Some of us never got there.I knew that, like Hal's gay bars in Chicago, this concert was not a promise of safe queer spaces from here on out. After the concert, we'd return to a world where queer rights feel increasingly fragile. In the past year, protections have been rolled back, trans lives targeted, and even marriage equality threatened. It would be easy to grow quiet in the darkness.That night was all bright sparkling lights, and silence wasn't an option in our Pink Pony Club. We celebrated not only finding a queer space but also finding a part of ourselves. It felt like beautiful defiance, bold and bright, as befitting the concert's aesthetic. Over a sea of pink fans, with upturned faces sparkling with body glitter and sequins, we sang an anthem of self-love and joy. An anthem of belonging. Everything that the conservative movement is trying to push out of sight was on full, unapologetic display.Chappell Roan was incandescent as she led what had become more of a mass chorus than a solo performance. I imagined her when she first arrived in LA, another girl from the Midwest discovering who she was free to be in California, and I was grateful.For her lyrics that gave voice to our experiences. For her artistry and courage to be herself. May we all keep on dancing.Perspectives is dedicated to featuring a wide range of inspiring personal stories and impactful opinions from the LGBTQ+ community and its allies. Visit Pride.com/submit to learn more about submission guidelines. We welcome your thoughts and feedback on any of our stories. Email us at voices@equalpride.com. Views expressed in Perspectives stories are those of the guest writers, columnists, and editors, and do not directly represent the views of Pride or our parent company, equalpride.

Nature, Published online: 19 December 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-04088-zNature speaks to theoretical physicists to explore the real theories that inspired the hit series. Warning: contains spoilers.

Nature, Published online: 19 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-10022-0Author Correction: Cryo-EM structure of a natural RNA nanocage

The Samaritan Clinic is a small, free clinic serving people without health insurance in Albany, Georgia. It was created in 2008 to provide care for people who couldnt afford medical treatment. More than 15 years later, the need has changed little. Today, Albany has one of the highest poverty rates in the state. About 16% of residents are uninsured, nearly double the national average. And people here pay some of the highest commercial health insurance rates in the country.Not far from the Samaritan Clinic is Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, Southwest Georgias largest hospital a nonprofit founded on the principle that patients should be treated regardless of their ability to pay.So why do some residents turn to a free clinic for care?This short documentary is part of Sick in a Hospital Town, a five-part series about why people in Albany are so sick when the main institution is a hospital. You can read and listen to it.Watch the video here.The post Inside the Free Clinic Caring for Those Who Cant Afford the Only Hospital in Town appeared first on ProPublica.

In Colorado, students taunted their Black classmates by playing whipping sounds on their cellphones and saying they should be shot to make us a better race.The only two Black students in a small district in Ohio were called the N-word by white peers starting on their first day. They got accustomed to hearing slurs like porch monkey and being told to go pick cotton.And at a school in Illinois, white students included Confederate flags in their PowerPoint presentations for class assignments and shook a school bus as Black students were exiting to try to make them tumble off.In each case, the U.S. Department of Educations civil rights arm investigated and concluded that school districts didnt do enough to stop racial hostility toward Black students. It struck agreements with those districts to require changes and to monitor them for months, if not years. They were among roughly 50 racial harassment cases the OCR resolved in the last three years.But that sort of accountability has ended under the second administration of President Donald Trump. Nearly a year since he took office, the departments Office for Civil Rights has not entered into a single new resolution agreement involving racial harassment of students, a ProPublica analysis found.The message that it sends is that the people impacted by racial discrimination and harassment dont matter, said Paige Duggins-Clay, an attorney with a Texas nonprofit that has worked with families whove filed racial harassment complaints with OCR.The Education Department had been investigating nine complaints in the Lubbock-Cooper school district tied to racial discrimination, but Duggins-Clay said she and others involved in the cases havent heard from the department this year.The OCR regularly resolves dozens of racial harassment cases a year and did so even during Trumps first administration. In the last days of the Biden administration, OCR workers pushed to close out several racial harassment agreements, including one that was signed by the district the day after Trump was inaugurated. With Trump in office, the agency has shifted to resolving cases involving allegations of discrimination against white students.At the same time, the administration has been clear about its goal of dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion programs across all facets of American life. This has been especially pronounced at schools and colleges, where the administration has also eroded protections for transgender students and considerations for historically disadvantaged groups.Internal department data obtained by ProPublica shows that more than 1,000 racial harassment investigations initiated in previous administrations still are open. Most of those complaints involve harassment of Black students.Not only has the Education Department failed to enter into any resolution agreements in those racial harassment cases, but it also has not initiated investigations of most new complaints. Since Jan. 20, it has opened only 14 investigations into allegations of racial harassment of Black students. In that same time period, more than 500 racial harassment complaints have been received, the internal data shows.The Education Department did not respond to ProPublicas questions and requests for comment. Trump is working to shutter the Education Department, and the agency has not updated online case information typically accessible to the public since he took office.Under Trump, OCR even stopped monitoring many districts the agency previously found had violated students civil rights including some that the OCR rebuked days before Trump took office. In most cases, districts had agreed to be monitored.On Jan. 13, the OCR closed out a nearly three-year investigation into the Cottonwood-Oak Creek Elementary District in Arizona, which it found had made minimal and ineffective attempts to address racial and sexual harassment at the school.A seventh grader who describes herself as Afro-Indigenous said school employees witnessed her being pushed, kicked and ridiculed for having darker skin, then having water poured over her head by a boy to baptize her for the sin of being gay, using a slur. But the school, according to records, merely documented the incidents and then removed the boy from music class for the last weeks of the school year.Students in Cottonwood who identified as queer told an OCR investigator that they were having anxiety attacks and considering harming themselves after sustained harassment. Peers groped their bottoms and nipples and yelled, Thats the homo way! A teacher told OCR she heard a kindergartener use the N-word and saw swastikas doodled on notebooks, and students admitted saying slavery is good and white power. For many, the investigator found, school was a hostile, discriminatory place.Kate Sierras filed a complaint against Cottonwood-Oak Creek Elementary District with the Office for Civil Rights on behalf of her daughter. Jesse Rieser for ProPublicaAlmost immediately my daughters whole personality changed. She just went from a vibrant, happy, confident person to a person with dark circles under her eyes, said Kate Sierras, who filed a complaint with the OCR on behalf of her daughter, the girl who was baptized.Her daughter was heartbroken, she said.She started having panic attacks every day. It got to the point where I would drive her to school and she wouldnt get out of the car.The district agreed to extensive training for staff, training for students and their parents, and a thorough audit of reported harassment for two school years. A district spokesperson said the district has tried to address OCRs findings but that it never heard from OCR again after the agreement was reached.Were prepared and ready to move forward as soon as they reach out, the spokesperson said.A Diminished Dismissal FactoryThe OCR operates under a 1979 congressional mandate to ensure equal treatment at school for students regardless of race, gender or disability. As recently as last year, it remained one of the federal governments largest enforcers of antidiscrimination laws, with nearly 600 civil rights workers.It has weathered the prerogatives of each presidency. In Trumps first term, the OCR took a less aggressive stance than in previous years. But as he entered office a second time, Trump was not ready to settle for incremental change. He pledged to carry out the long-held conservative dream of shutting down the Education Department. His education secretary, Linda McMahon, has decimated the OCR and shifted its purpose.The Trump administration started the process of laying off hundreds of Education Department workers in March about 300 of them from the OCR and closed seven of the 12 regional civil rights offices. While court challenges played out, those workers have been on paid leave.Amid the staffing chaos and the shift in priorities at the OCR, families discrimination complaints have piled up. When President Joe Biden left office, there were about 12,000 open investigations; now there are nearly 24,000. The majority involve students with disabilities, as has been the case historically.At the same time, even getting complaints into the investigative queue is getting harder. Attorneys still on the job at OCR describe working in what they call a dismissal factory. Records filed in court cases show that most complaints filed by families have been dismissed without investigation.Real investigations are very infrequent now, said Jason Langberg, who was an OCR attorney in Denver until this summer. With more than half the workforce gone, pauses for various reasons, a shutdown this is what you get.This month, the OCR ordered employees affected by the disputed layoffs back to work. In an email to those staff members on leave, the department said it still planned to fire them but now wants them to start working through its backlog.Protesters rally outside the U.S. Department of Education building in Washington, D.C., as the Trump administration made cuts to the agency in March. Around 300 employees were cut from the OCR alone. Jason Andrew for ProPublicaThe accumulation of cases that stalled mid-investigation include several in West Texas. One stems from allegations that white students accosted Black students with racial slurs and monkey sounds in the hallways at a middle school in the Lubbock-Cooper school district in 2022. Those complaints were being handled by the OCRs Dallas office, which McMahon closed. No information has been provided about the cases since, according to a March court filing in one of the lawsuits to stop OCR layoffs.Duggins-Clay, an attorney with the nonprofit Intercultural Development Research Association who has advocated for Lubbock-Cooper families, said the OCR had interviewed students and parents and was actively investigating their concerns through last year.We felt like OCR was close to making a determination. We thought we were going to be able to get a resolution in the next couple of months, early in 2025, Duggins-Clay said.She emailed the investigator in July and got an automated reply that the employee no longer had access to the email. There has been no outreach, no communication, nothing. Period, she said.District officials said in a statement that they also havent heard from the OCR this year. The board of trustees passed a resolution in 2023 condemning racial harassment, and the district remains committed to fostering a strong, welcoming climate for students and the community, and addressing concerns promptly and thoroughly whenever they arise, the statement said.The OCR did reach out in July to Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville, Kentucky to sanction it for its efforts to address discrimination against Black students. In September 2024, under the Biden administration, the district had agreed to address OCRs finding that it disproportionately disciplined Black students and to put in place measures to halt unfair treatment.Trumps Education Department, however, warned the district that it will not tolerate efforts to consider racial disparities in discipline practices and accused the district of making students less safe. Then it revoked a nearly $10 million federal magnet-school grant and chastised the district for having sent extra funding to schools with more students of color.The district revised its school funding formula in response but has asked an administrative law judge within the Education Department to reinstate the grant, which is designed to help further school desegregation nationwide and ensure all students have access to a high-quality education.The OCRs work has slowed, but racial harassment of Black students at school hasnt, said Talbert W. Swan II, president of the Greater Springfield NAACP in Massachusetts. Only last year in his community, white students in the Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School District held a mock slave auction on Snapchat, bidding for the sale of Black students.The district agreed to address racial bullying and to be monitored by the state attorney general through this school year.When youre talking about 13-year-olds holding a slave auction, it lets you know that these racist attitudes are not dying, said Swan, who also is senior pastor of the Spring Of Hope Church Of God In Christ. Theyre being reproduced over and over again from generation to generation.Civil Rights Enforcement AbandonedIn North Carolina, one district sees Trumps view on civil rights enforcement as a way out of a resolution agreement reached at the end of the Biden administration.An OCR investigation at mostly white Carteret County Public Schools had found that students had hurled racial slurs at two Black teenagers who had enrolled mid-year. Classmates cornered one of the boys in a bathroom stall and taunted him about his darker skin.The boys family pleaded with school officials to intervene. In response to these incidents, administrators offered access to a staff-only restroom; the schools police officer suggested that one of the boys leave school 10 minutes early, and the principal permitted the other to skip class. Administrators viewed the harassment at Croatan High School as isolated incidents because there were many different perpetrators, records show.William Hart II, whose son and nephew were the targets of harassment, said it was so unbearable and the districts reaction so inadequate that he and his wife moved the family to Florida after just four months in Carteret County. Both students graduated, and Harts nephew joined the U.S. Air Force. Both remain in therapy trying to make sense of the traumatic time.I never wouldve thought my boys would go through this. I thought my generation would be the last to deal with it. My father went to a segregated school growing up in North Carolina, Hart said. We thought it would be different.On Jan. 16, investigators struck an agreement with the Carteret County district. But in February, the district urged OCR to nullify its findings and the deal given the dramatic changes underway in Washington, D.C., according to emails from the district to the OCR that were obtained by ProPublica.The agreement was based on the previous administrations notion of diversity, equity and inclusion, wrote Neil Whitford, the attorney for the district.The election of Trump as President has made it crystal clear that DEI at the federal level is dead, he wrote.Whitford told ProPublica in an email that the district has an excellent reputation and prides itself on having strong antidiscrimination policies. The district, he said, handled the racial harassment of the two boys well and has completed some terms of the resolution agreement even though it maintains it broke no civil rights laws.Records show that no one from the OCR has responded to the Carteret County district since February, including to its request to dismiss the agreement and postpone any remaining reform efforts.Help Us Report on How the Department of Education Is Handling Civil Rights CasesHave you recently filed a civil rights complaint or do you have a pending case? We need your help to get a full picture of how the dismantling of the Office for Civil Rights is affecting students, parents, school employees and their communities.Share Your ExperienceThe post Monkey Sounds, White Power and the N-Word: Racial Harassment Against Black Students Ignored Under Trump appeared first on ProPublica.

They will be eligible for a one-time payment as well as college tuition for their children. The effort is part of a legislative push to address the dangers of working in toxic smoke.