President Donald Trump steps off Air Force One upon arrival at Miami International Airport, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, in Miami. (Photo image via AP)2025-02-19T16:31:40Z MIAMI (AP) President Donald Trump on Wednesday warned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that he better move fast to negotiate an end to Russias invasion of Ukraine or risks not having a nation to lead.The rhetoric from Trump toward Ukraine comes amid an escalating back-and-forth between the two presidents and rising tensions between the United States and much of Europe over Trumps approach to settling the biggest conflict on the continent since World War II.Trump used an extended social media post on his Truth Social platform to lash out at Zelenskyy and call the Ukrainian a dictator without elections. Trumps broadside came not long after Zelenskyys comment that Trump was being influenced by Russian disinformation as he tries to bring the fighting to a close on terms that Kyiv says are too favorable to Moscow.Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldnt be won, that never had to start, but a War that he, without the U.S. and TRUMP, will never be able to settle, Trump said of Zelenskyy, who was a popular television star in Ukraine before running for office. AP AUDIO: Trump warns Zelenskyy to quickly negotiate wars end with Russia or risk not having a nation to lead AP Washington correspondent Sagar Meghani reports President Trump and Ukraines Volodymyr Zelenskyy are trading barbs as relations sour over the Russia war. The U.S. has obligated about $183 billion since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, according to the U.S. special inspector general, conducting oversight of American assistance to Ukraine. Trump, who was in Miami for a meeting of business executives hosted by Saudi Arabias sovereign wealth fund, accused Zelenskyy of being A Dictator without Elections !! Due to the war, Ukraine did delay elections that were scheduled for April 2024. Trump also contended that Zelenskyy was misusing American aid intended for the war effort and had taken advantage of Democrat Joe Bidens administration.The Republican president was riled by Zelenskyys charge that Trump lives in this disinformation space fostered by Moscow. We have seen this disinformation. We understand that it is coming from Russia, Zelenskyy said. Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance told the Daily Mail that Zelenskyys criticism of Trump was not helping his cause. The idea that Zelensky is going to change the presidents mind by bad mouthing him in public media, everyone who knows the president will tell you that is an atrocious way to deal with this administration, Vance said.Ukrainian officials, however, continue to raise their concerns about Trumps approach.Why should dominance be handed over to a country that is an aggressor, a violator of international law, and the author of aggression against Ukraine? said Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelenskyy. We still do not understand this strategy. The back-and-forth came after senior U.S. and Russian officials meeting in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday agreed to negotiate a settlement to an end to the war. Ukrainian and European officials were not included despite Zelenskyys insistence that they should be part of any such discussions.Trump said Zelenskyy should have negotiated a deal earlier. Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left, Trump said. In the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only TRUMP, and the Trump Administration, can do. Biden never tried, Europe has failed to bring Peace, and Zelenskyy probably wants to keep the gravy train going.The rhetoric from Trump went even further than the false charges he made Tuesday against the Ukrainians when he suggested Kyiv was responsible for starting the war. It was Russia that invaded its smaller neighbor.Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York was appalled that Trump was blaming Ukraine for Russian President Vladimir Putins invasion.Its disgusting to see an American president turn against one of our friends and openly side with a thug like Vladimir Putin, Schumer said.Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said he disagreed with Trumps suggestion that Ukraine was responsible.I think Vladimir Putin started the war, Kennedy said. I also believe, from bitter experience, that Vladimir Putin is a gangster. Hes a gangster with a black heart who has Soviet dictator Josef Stalins taste for blood. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Trumps words were insulting to the thousands who of Ukrainians who have died in the war and he accused the president of parroting Putin. I would call on President Trump to apologize to the people of Ukraine, but it would be a waste of breath, Durbin said. Donald Trump is a pushover for Putin. The Trump administration has also shown frustration with Zelenskyy for directing his ministers last week not to sign off on a proposed agreement to give the United States access to Ukraines rare earth minerals. The Ukrainians said the document was too focused on U.S. interests. The proposal, a key part of Zelenskyys talks with Vance on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, did not offer any specific security guarantees in return, according to one current and one former senior Ukrainian official familiar with the private talks who were not authorized to discuss them publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.Ukrainian officials met on Wednesday in Kyiv with retired U.S. Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trumps special envoy to Ukraine and Russia.Its an egregious war in the sense of the length of time and casualties there and he understands the human suffering, Kellogg said of Trumps thinking. He understands the damage that we can see and we want to see an end to it. I think it would be good for the region and good for the world, as well.___Madhani and Pesoli reported from Washington. AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro in Washington and Associated Press writers Susie Blann and Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report. STEPHANY MATAT Matat is an Associated Press general assignment reporter with a focus on politics and South Florida issues. twitter instagram mailto AAMER MADHANI Madhani covers the White House for The Associated Press. He is based in Washington. twitter mailto MIKE PESOLI Pesoli is an Associated Press video journalist based in Washington, D.C. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

This image taken from video provided by CTV shows workers near the crashed passenger jet on a tarmac of the Toronto Pearson Airport on Wednesday, Feb.19, 2025. (CTV via AP)2025-02-19T20:39:06Z After watching videos of a Delta Air Lines jet catch fire upon landing and flip over on a Toronto runway, its fair to wonder how anyone could have survived.But aviation experts said it was not surprising that all 76 passengers and four crew walked away from Mondays disaster, with 21 people suffering minor injuries and only one still hospitalized on Wednesday. Its a credit, they said, to advances in plane design as well as a crew that flawlessly executed an evacuation plan. When I first saw (footage of) that aircraft upside down at the airport, I was like: How can that happen? And how can anybody survive that? Michael McCormick, an assistant professor and program coordinator for air traffic management at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, said. It was absolutely astounding to watch the people actually climbing out. But McCormick and others said the fact there were only minor injuries shows that passenger jet design and engineering has greatly improved over time. Fuel tanks are stored in the wings, so the wings are designed to break off in a crash to remove a seriously explosive hazard, he said. The tail-like fin of a plane known as a vertical stabilizer is frangible or easily broken meaning an aircraft that has flipped over can stay flat on the ground and passengers and crew are able to evacuate, he said. Aviation is and remains the safest form of transportation, McCormick said, adding that it was no fluke 80 people were able to walk away from the Toronto crash. That is because the safety of aviation is constantly improving. Jeff Guzzetti, an airline safety consultant and a former investigator for the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, said the seats and seat belts also helped to prevent fatalities. He noted that passenger jet seats are designed to withstand impacts of up to 16 times the force of gravity and that the seat belts restrained the passengers who were suspended upside down as the plane slid to a halt on the runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport. The odds of getting injured or killed in an commercial airline accident is far less than driving in your car, Guzzetti said.Experts also credited the crew, who calmly and quickly shepherded many of the passengers off the plane before emergency crews even arrived on the scene. Deborah Flint, CEO of Greater Toronto Airports Authority, called the flight crew heroes, while their boss, Delta CEO Ed Bastian, praised their response as a testament to the safety thats embedded in the systems.Its horrifying. When you look at the video you can imagine when I received the text minutes after it happened, hearing that there was a regional jet upside down on an active runway with 80 people on board, how I felt without knowing it, what was transpiring, Bastian said in an interview with CBS Mornings. But the reality is that safety is embedded into our system, he said. Air travel in the United States is the safest form of transportation and travel there is. Period. And its because we train for events like this. Flight 4819 from Minneapolis to Toronto, operated by Delta subsidiary Endeavor Air, crashed on landing around 2:30 p.m. on Monday. Videos show the plane hitting the runway hard, bursting into flames then skidding along the tarmac and flipping over. All of a sudden, everything just kind of went sideways and the next thing I know, its kind of a blink and Im upside down still strapped in, Peter Carlson, who was traveling to Toronto for a paramedics conference, told CBC News.Other videos appear to show passengers scrambling out of an upside-down cabin as workers assist them off the plane onto the snowy tarmac as emergency crews hose the aircraft with water.Some passengers who have been harmed as a result of the crash retained the law firm Rochon Genova, according to Vincent Genova, head of the companys Aviation Litigation Group.Our clients, similar to many other passengers, suffered personal injuries of a serious nature that required hospital attention, Genova said in a statement. With our involvement, we expect to reach a timely and fair resolution for these clients and others who reach out to us. A Canadian investigator refused to comment on preliminary theories, although aviation experts told the Associated Press they will likely consider weather conditions, as well as the possibility of human error or an aircraft malfunction.At this point, its far too early to say what the cause of this accident might be, Ken Webster, a senior investigator for the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, said in a video statement Tuesday. He said investigators will examine the wreckage and runway, and that the cockpit voice and flight data recorders are being analyzed. MICHAEL CASEY Casey writes about the environment, housing and inequality for The Associated Press. He lives in Boston. twitter mailto

Andrew Lester appears in court to answer charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action, April 19, 2023, in Liberty, Mo. (KMBC via AP, Pool, File)2025-02-19T20:55:31Z MISSION, Kan. (AP) An 86-year-old Missouri man has died just days after pleading guilty to a lesser charge in the 2023 shooting of Ralph Yarl, a Black honor student who rang the white mans doorbell by mistake, prosecutors announced Wednesday.Andrew Lester of Kansas City was charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action in the shooting of the then-16-year-old, who survived and is now a freshman at Texas A&M. Before his trial was scheduled to begin, he pleaded guilty Friday to a lesser charge of second-degree assault, which carries up to seven years behind bars. He was scheduled to be sentenced on March 7.Cher Congour, a spokeswoman for the Clay County prosecutors office, said Lesters attorney informed them of his death.We have learned of the passing of Andrew Lester and extend our sincere condolences to his family during this difficult time, the prosecutors office said in a news release. While the legal proceedings have now concluded, we acknowledge that Mr. Lester did take responsibility for his actions by pleading guilty in this case. The news release offered no cause of death. Kansas City police didnt immediately respond to emails seeking comment. Sarah Boyd, a spokeswoman for the Clay County Sheriffs Office, didnt immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press. The case shocked the country and renewed national debate about gun policies and race in the U.S. Yarl showed up on Lesters doorstep on the night of April 13, 2023, after he mixed up the streets where he was supposed to pick up his twin siblings. Lesters attorney, Steve Salmon, had argued that Lester was acting in self-defense and that he was terrified by the stranger who knocked on his door as he settled into bed. Authorities say Lester shot Yarl twice: first in the head, then in the arm.Yarl testified at a hearing that he rang the bell and then waited for someone to answer for what seemed longer than normal. As the inner door opened, Yarl said, he reached out to grab the storm door, assuming he was at his brothers friends parents. He said Lester shot him in the head and uttered, Dont come here ever again. Although the bullet didnt penetrate Yarls brain, the impact knocked him to the ground. Yarl said Lester then shot him in the arm. The teen was taken to the hospital and released three days later.His family said the shooting took a big emotional toll and they had filed a lawsuit against the retired aircraft mechanic.Now, another Black child harmed by prejudice will never see the man who shot him face the full weight of the justice system. While Lester finally admitted guilt, it came at the very last momentafter two years of stalling. That delay leaves our family reeling, Yarls family said in a written statement Wednesday.Salmon said last year that Lesters physical and mental condition had deteriorated. He said Lester had heart issues, a broken hip and had been hospitalized. Lester also lost 50 pounds (23 kilograms), which Salmon blamed on the stress of intense media coverage and death threats he subsequently received. During Fridays hearing, the judge asked Lester whether he was in poor health. Lester responded yes.Ralph is doing his best to be okay, a spokesperson for the family said in a text.A judge had previously ordered a mental evaluation of Lester but allowed for the trial to proceed after its completion. The results of that evaluation were not released publicly. Lesters grandson, Daniel Ludwig, didnt immediately return a text message from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Herb Ettel attends a rally at Health and Human Services headquarters to protest the polices of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)2025-02-19T22:04:01Z WASHINGTON (AP) Hundreds of current and former federal employees rallied Wednesday outside the Department of Health and Human Services headquarters, protesting recent firings and their effect on public health, and directing much of their ire at Elon Musk and his agencys efforts to cut spending.We are here today to fight for the future of science, to fight for your familys future, to give the American people hope, said Ian Fucci, a cancer researcher at the National Institutes of Health. Consider the medications you rely on for diabetes, heart disease or cancer. These were developed in large part due to NIH and NIH-funded researchers. Is destroying years of progress into research really serving the American people? No. Amid frigid temperatures and light snow, attendees chanted slogans such as Funding, not freezes and Stand up, fight back. They carried signs proclaiming, Protect civil servants because they protect you! and In science we trust. Many said they were there to fight the work of Musks Department of Government Efficiency and the confusion its workforce reductions have sowed. One sign altered the DOGE acronym to read Department of Grifting Everything. Are we going to shut down the illegal Elon Musk takeover of the government? Yeah, you bet we are, Democratic Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen told the crowd of about 300. Were going to fight this in the courts. Were going to fight this in the Congress. And there can be no business as usual in the Congress. And were going to fight this in gatherings like this all over the country. Ellen Bak, a former NIH scientist, said she was terminated over the weekend and that her research into stem cells and blood cancer had essentially been lost. The sheer amount of money and time and testing and care and effort, she said. Is it all just gone? Jenna McGrew, an 18-year-old student from Florida, said she attended because her older brother, Ethan, suffers from a rare autoimmune disease and is in intensive care at NIH with a serious bacterial infection. She called the level of uncertainty inside the NIH a risk to his life. Speaking of President Donald Trump, McGrew said, What he is doing is not only affecting my family, it is affecting every citizen in America, and everyone outside of America. The NIH is one of the best hospitals in the world. And they research everything. And so the funding cut for them is not only affecting America, but its affecting the rest of the world.The rally took place within sight of the Capitol, and multiple lawmakers pledged to continue their outnumbered fight against Trumps policies from inside the Congress. Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin drew an extended analogy between the scientists medical research and this moment in American history. These are the people who are fighting the viruses that threaten the American people, Raskin told the crowd. But fascism is a virus, too.The people who are out here fighting in subfreezing temperatures, they are the antibodies. We are the antibodies.___Associated Press journalist Serkan Gurbuz contributed to this report. NATHAN ELLGREN Ellgren is an Associated Press video journalist based in Washington, D.C. mailto ASHRAF KHALIL Khalil writes about local issues in Washington, D.C., for The Associated Press and covers the social safety net around the country. twitter instagram mailto

President Donald Trump listens as Elon Musk, joined by his son X A-Xii, speaks in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (Photo/Alex Brandon)2025-02-19T22:24:07Z WASHINGTON (AP) Its been a burning political question for weeks: How long will President Donald Trump who doesnt like sharing the spotlight be able to do just that with Elon Musk, a billionaire also overly fond of attention?In a joint Fox News Channel interview that aired Tuesday, both insisted they like each other a lot and would stick with their arrangement despite what Trump said were attempts by the media to drive us apart.At times, Trump sat back as Fox News Channels Sean Hannity heaped praise on Musk in an attempt to counteract a Democratic narrative that hes a callous and unelected force out to destroy the government and upend civil society through sweeping cuts being imposed by the Department of Government Efficiency. There were also moments when Trump and Musk were all but finishing each others sentences, as if they were part of a buddy comedy and not the president and his most powerful aide. Heres a look at how the friendship formed, what it means for them both and why Trumps history suggests it may not last: They werent always friends Trump told Hannity that he wasnt really acquainted with Musk until recently, saying, I knew him a little bit through the White House originally but didnt know him before that. Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa, and became a U.S. citizen in 2002. Hes the worlds richest man, with a net worth exceeding $400 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. His vast business holdings include X, Tesla and SpaceX, as well as the satellite internet service provider Starlink. Musk said he voted for Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 and Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016. Musk has recently said that Tesla was being unfairly targeted by regulations in its original home state of California. Musk and the companys headquarters moved to Austin, Texas in 2021, and he increasingly soured on Biden with the then-presidents embrace of unions that clashed frequently with Tesla. In the past, Musk butted heads with Trump over climate change. They feuded as recently as July 2022 with Trump calling Musk a bulls- artist. He also suggested then that Musk came to the White House during his first term seeking federal subsidies for electric cars that dont drive long enough, driverless cars that crash, or rocketships to nowhere. I could have said, drop to your knees and beg, and he would have done it, Trump previously said on his social media site. Musk originally backed Ron DeSantis in last years Republican presidential primary, even helping the Florida governor launch his White House bid in a glitch-marred presentation on X. But Musk met with Trump at his Florida residence last March and endorsed the then-canidate in July shortly after the first assassination attempt. I was going to do it anyway, but that was a precipitating event, Musk told Hannity. Musk appeared at his first Trump rally in early October, and his super PAC spent around $200 million to boost the Republicans campaign. X also amplified messaging and often disinformation promoted by Trump and his Make America Great Again movement. The pair spent election night at the presidents Mar-a-Lago club. Less than a week after securing victory, Trump announced that Musk would lead DOGE, the new push to shrink government, alongside former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who left the commission by Inauguration Day. Their relationship is mutually beneficial Trump has empowered Musk to help him keep a campaign promise and shatter the deep state by firing scores of federal workers, shrinking or shuttering agencies and slashing the size of government.Theres a vast federal bureaucracy that is implacably opposed to the the president, Musk told Hannity. He added: What were seeing here is the sort of the thrashing of the bureaucracy as we try to restore democracy and the will of the people.Tesla and SpaceX have benefited from lucrative government contracts from the Defense Department, NASA and other federal entities, as well as plenty of tax breaks and subsidies over the years. The Trump administration could also take a lot of regulatory heat off Musk, including dismissing crash investigations into Teslas partially automated vehicles and a Justice Department criminal probe examining whether Musk and Tesla have overstated their cars self-driving capabilities. Musk nonetheless insisted to Hannity, I havent asked the president for anything, ever. Trump said the billionaire wont be involved in areas where his government efforts and business concerns overlap though that seems dubious given that Musks team has already begun scrutinizing federal contracts in areas that would seem to present conflict-of-interest concerns. Trumps friendships often dont last Trump and Musk say they wont turn on each other. But those once closest to Trump often end up as his fiercest critics. His former vice president, Mike Pence, said Trump endangered his family in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol and attempted to bully him into violating the Constitution. His former attorney general, Bill Barr, refuted Trumps falsehoods about widespread fraud in the 2020 election and has since said he shouldnt be anywhere near the Oval Office. Michael Cohen, Trumps longtime lawyer who testified against him in a hush money case, told a House committee in 2019: People that follow Mr. Trump, as I did blindly, are going to suffer the same consequences that Im suffering. More recently, Trump shrugged off potential security risks while ending Secret Service protection for former top officials in his first administration, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former White House chief of staff John Kelly. Trump also has shown repeatedly that he doesnt like being overshadowed, even hinting at such where Musk is concerned. Asked recently about Musk appearing on the cover of Time from behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, Trump quipped, Is Time Magazine still in business? But Trump has also been fiercely loyal to those he perceives as having stood by him. Former White House adviser Peter Navarro, who served time in prison related to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, is back helping dictate Trump trade policy. Trumps valet, Walt Nauta, is working anew at the White House after once being a codefendant with Trump in the classified documents case. Trump has also said hed offered about 10 jobs to his former national security adviser, Mike Flynn, whom he pardoned after Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.Four weeks in, they seem genuinely fond of each other Throughout the interview, Hannity was friendly and his questions were mostly fawning. But what came through was how complimentary Trump and Musk were of each other even amid skepticism about how long thatll last.Hes an amazing person, Trump said of Musk. I love the president, I just want to be clear about that, Musk offered of Trump.I feel like Im interviewing two brothers here, Hannity finally said. WILL WEISSERT Weissert covers national politics and the White House for The Associated Press. He is based in Washington. twitter mailto

An Apple logo adorns the facade of the downtown Brooklyn Apple store on March 14, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)2025-02-19T16:55:49Z Apple has released a sleeker and more expensive version of its lowest priced iPhone in an attempt to widen the audience for a bundle of artificial intelligence technology that the company has been hoping will revive demand for its most profitable product lineup.The iPhone 16e unveiled Wednesday is the fourth-generation of a model thats sold at a dramatically lower price than the iPhones standard and premium models. The previous bargain-bin models were called the iPhone SE, with the last version coming out in 2022.Like the higher-priced iPhone 16 lineup unveiled last September, the iPhone 16e includes the souped-up computer chip needed to process an array of AI features that automatically summarize text, audio and create on-the-fly emojis while smartening up the devices virtual assistant, Siri. It will also have a more powerful battery and camera. All those upgrades will translate into a higher starting price for an iPhone 16e at $600, a 40% increase from $430 for the last iPhone SE. But iPhone 16e will be more affordable than the cheapest standard iPhone 16 at $800. The new phone will be available in stores Feb. 28, but can be pre-ordered beginning Friday. Were so excited for iPhone 16e to complete the lineup as a powerful, more affordable option to bring the iPhone experience to even more people, said Kaiann Drance, an Apple vice president in charge of promoting a device lineup that accounts for more than half of the companys revenue. But Apple is also trying to balance its desire to offer a more affordable iPhone that will lure more people into its sphere of product against its self interest in maximizing its profits from selling higher price products, according to Forrester Research analyst Dipanjan Chatterjee.The problem with a lower-end product in a luxury portfolio is that you want it to be good but not so good as to cannibalize the crown jewels, Chatterjee said. Although Apple has been hyping its foray into AI since last June, the complete set of features still havent been released in the U.S. and the technology still isnt even available in some parts of the world.The delays in making the iPhones AI dubbed Apple Intelligence more widely available through free software updates dinged the Cupertino, California, company during the past holiday when sales of the device dipped slightly from their 2023 levels.Apple has primarily been losing the ground in China, where it hasnt yet specified when the iPhones AI technology will be available. But the company recently struck an AI partnership with Alibaba in China that could pave the way for the technology coming to iPhones in that country this spring.Besides being able to handle AI for the first time, the iPhone 16e has a different look from previous SE models. It boasts a 6.1-inch display screen, slightly larger than the 4.7-inch display on SE model and no longer has a home screen button like the SE had. The new iPhone 16e will rely include a facial recognition option for unlocking the device, just like the higher priced models do.Apples shares edged higher Wednesday to close at $244.87, below the stocks peak of roughly $260 reached in late December. MICHAEL LIEDTKE Liedtke has been covering technology and wide range of other business topics for The Associated Press since the turn of the century. twitter mailto

A demonstrator holds a poster displaying a prohibited traffic sign reading "Musk DOGE" during a rally to protest President Trump's policies on Presidents Day Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)2025-02-19T21:59:36Z WASHINGTON (AP) Although some parts of President Donald Trump s agenda are getting bogged down by litigation, Elon Musk s Department of Government Efficiency is having better luck in the courtroom.Labor unions, Democrats and federal employees have filed several lawsuits arguing that DOGE is running roughshod over privacy protections or usurping power from other branches of government. But judges appointed by Democratic and Republican presidents havent always gone along with those arguments, at least so far. Most notably, DOGE critics are failing to obtain temporary restraining orders that would prevent Musks team from accessing sensitive government databases. It is not the job of the federal courts to police the security of the information systems in the executive branch, wrote U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss in a case involving the Office of Personnel Management. Moss was appointed by President Barack Obama. The success is striking given the other challenges that Trump has faced in the judicial system, which has blocked at least temporarily his efforts to limit birthright citizenship, freeze congressionally authorized foreign aid and stop some healthcare services for transgender youth. If Musks opponents continue struggling to gain traction with lawsuits, he could be largely unencumbered in his crusade to downsize the federal government and workforce. The continued successes in the courts in favor of the Trump administration shouldnt be a surprise to anyone who has ever read our great Constitution, which clearly lays out the role of the Executive Branch, and which President Trump and his entire administration are following to a T, Harrison Fields, the White House deputy press secretary, said in a statement. The resistance campaign can try, but they will continue to fail in their pursuit to rewrite the Constitution and deny the people the legal authority of the President to run the Executive Branch. An exception to DOGEs legal victories has been a suit regarding Treasury Department systems, which are used to distribute trillions of dollars in federal money. The databases can include sensitive information like bank accounts and Social Security numbers, and theyre traditionally maintained only by nonpartisan career officials. A judge in Washington restricted DOGEs access to two staff members, while another judge in New York has temporarily blocked DOGE altogether. Norm Eisen, a lawyer who worked for House Democrats during their first impeachment of Trump, said it was too early to say that the legal efforts wouldnt work. He noted that U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, also appointed by Obama, expressed concern about Musks apparent unchecked authority in a case involving federal data and worker layoffs.Although she didnt issue a temporary restraining sought by Democratic attorneys general from 14 states, Chutkan said they could still make a strong argument Musk and DOGE violated the Constitution as the case progresses. Eisen is representing current and former employees at the U.S. Agency for International Development, which was shut down by Musk and Trump. His lawsuit alleges that Musk and DOGE are exercising powers that should only belong to those elected by voters or confirmed by the Senate. These are not minor peccadillos, Eisen said. These are some of the most fundamental issues that our Constitution and laws address.John Yoo, a law professor at the University of California in Berkeley, said an important factor has been the administrations contention that Musk is a presidential adviser without any independent authority. He said there are echoes of another legal battle from the 1990s, when Hillary Clinton chaired a healthcare task force as first lady. A federal appeals court in Washington ruled that the task force did not need to comply with rules on open meetings. Thats how theyre winning the lawsuits, Yoo said. Theyre trying to stay on the side of the line that the D.C. circuit has drawn.U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman heard more than three hours of arguments Wednesday on a request for a temporary restraining order in a lawsuit challenging DOGEs access to personal information collected by the federal government. She did not issue a decision, and expressed skepticism about the argument from labor unions. But she also pressed administration lawyers on why DOGE representatives need to know everything.Emily Hall of the Justice Department said DOGE was tasked with making broad, sweeping reforms that require such access.Its a pretty vague answer, responded Boardman, who was appointed by President Joe Biden.A major victory for Trump and Musk came in Boston, where U.S. District Judge George OToole Jr. allowed the administration to implement its deferred resignation program.Commonly described as a buyout, the program allows workers to quit while getting paid until Sept. 30. It was challenged by a group of labor unions, but OToole ruled against them on technical legal grounds, saying they didnt have standing to sue. OToole was appointed by President Bill Clinton. Moss, the judge in the case involving the Office of Personnel Management, also decided not to block Musks team from viewing Education Department data. He pointed out that DOGE employees had testified in court papers they would follow laws around information sharing. U.S. District Judge John Bates, an appointee of President George W. Bush, also did not stand in the way of DOGEs involvement at the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Although Bates said he had serious concerns about the privacy issues raised by the legally complex case, he found the evidence did not yet justify a court block. Administration lawyers said the DOGE team was not running rampant, accessing any data system they desire and had gotten security training and signed nondisclosure agreements.___ 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 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 RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky gives a press conference in Kyiv, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (Tetiana Dzhafarova/Pool Photo via AP)2025-02-19T19:25:37Z KYIV, Ukraine (AP) President Donald Trump this week falsely blamed Ukraine for starting the war that has cost tens of thousands of Ukrainian lives, causing outrage and alarm in a country that has spent nearly three years fighting back a much larger Russian military.Trump called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a dictator without elections and claimed his support among voters was near rock-bottom. Zelenskyy said Wednesday that the disinformation is coming from Russia, and some of what Trump has said does echo Russias own narrative of the conflict.Heres a look at some of Trumps statements: Ukraine should have never started it Rescuers and volunteers are working at Ohmatdyt Childrens Hospital that was strongly damaged during a Russian missile strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, on July 08, 2024, amid the Russian invasion. Russia is massively attacking Ukraine with missiles on July 08. (Photo by Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto via AP) Rescuers and volunteers are working at Ohmatdyt Childrens Hospital that was strongly damaged during a Russian missile strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, on July 08, 2024, amid the Russian invasion. Russia is massively attacking Ukraine with missiles on July 08. (Photo by Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto via AP) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More WHAT TRUMP SAID: Youve been there for three years. You should have ended it ... You should have never started it. You could have made a deal. THE FACTS: Russias army crossed the border on Feb. 24, 2022, in an all-out invasion that Putin sought to justify by falsely saying it was needed to protect Russian-speaking civilians in eastern Ukraine and prevent the country from joining NATO. But Russias aggression against Ukraine didnt start then. In 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin saw signs that Ukraine was pulling away from Russias sphere of influence, seeking alliances with western European nations. Putin illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula and started an armed aggression in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas that grew into a long-running conflict that left thousands dead.That conflict simmered until 2022, when Putin ordered what he called military exercises along Ukraines borders. He told the world that the roughly 150,000 soldiers that he had amassed would not be used to invade Ukraine. But in the early hours of Feb. 24, Russia launched widespread airstrikes and soldiers began pouring over the border.Ukraine should hold elections Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky gives a press conference in Kyiv, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (Tetiana Dzhafarova/Pool Photo via AP) Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky gives a press conference in Kyiv, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (Tetiana Dzhafarova/Pool Photo via AP) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More WHAT TRUMP SAID: We have a situation where we havent had elections in Ukraine, where we have martial law, Trump said in Mar-a-Lago, adding on Wednesday in a post on social media: A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left.THE FACTS: Zelenskyy was elected to a five-year term in 2019, and the next presidential elections had been scheduled for spring 2024. But Ukrainian law prohibits parliamentary or presidential elections during a state of martial law, so Zelenskyy has remained in office. He has said he believes elections will be held in Ukraine after martial law is lifted. The country would need to amend the law if it decided to hold a vote. There are numerous factors that, according to Ukraines government, would render it literally impossible to ensure a fair electoral process in the circumstances of a total war.According to the United Nations refugee agency, some 6.9 million Ukrainian refugees have been registered worldwide since February 2022. Of those, millions remain outside the country due to the war. It would be nearly impossible for all of those who have been displaced to participate in an election, potentially robbing millions of their right to vote.Furthermore, around 800,000 soldiers are currently serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces as they struggle to contain Russian advances. An election would necessitate pulling soldiers off the front lines to vote, weakening Ukraines military position. Additionally, those fighting would be unable to run for office, a right that is guaranteed to them by Ukrainian law. Many Ukrainians are living in areas under Russian occupation, essentially precluding their participation in any electoral process. And since Russia continues to regularly strike both military and civilian targets across the country, packing millions of citizens into crowded polling places could create additional danger. Zelenskyys support at rock bottom?WHAT TRUMP SAID: The leader in Ukraine, I mean, I hate to say it, but hes down at 4% approval rating. THE FACTS: Zelenskyy retains a fairly high level of public trust about 57 percent - according to a report released Wednesday by the Kyiv International Institution of Sociology, whose executive director is Anton Hrushetskyi.Speaking in Kyiv on Wednesday, Zelenskyy said the number given by Trump, for which the president cited no sources, was disinformation that originated in Russia, and that the president unfortunately lives in this disinformation space.Zelenskyy said he will ask pollsters in the coming weeks to conduct surveys on the publics trust in him and share the results with the Trump administration. Millions of deaths Oleksii Yukovs team members offload the bodies of Russian soldiers theyve collected from the frontline in the Sloviansk region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023. Yukov and his team retrieve bodies from the frontline to barter for Ukrainian bodies in periodic exchanges of war dead. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen) Oleksii Yukovs team members offload the bodies of Russian soldiers theyve collected from the frontline in the Sloviansk region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023. Yukov and his team retrieve bodies from the frontline to barter for Ukrainian bodies in periodic exchanges of war dead. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More WHAT TRUMP SAID: When you see whats taken place in Ukraine with millions of people killed, including the soldiers, millions of people killed, a big percentage of their cities knocked down to the ground, I dont know how anybody even lives there.THE FACTS: No estimates by any reputable analysis place deaths near the millions. While exact figures of the number of deaths are unknown, Zelenskyy said earlier this month that over 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed since the start of the full-scale war in February 2022. He has also said that tens of thousands of civilians had been killed in occupied areas of Ukraine, but that no exact figures would be available until the war was over. The most recent data from the Russian Defense Ministry, published in January 2023, pointed to just over 6,000 military deaths, although reports from U.S. and U.K. officials put that number significantly higher. JUSTIN SPIKE Spike is an Associated Press reporter based in Budapest, Hungary. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends an interview after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov, , U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, at Diriyah Palace, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)2025-02-19T14:35:18Z JOHANNESBURG (AP) U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will skip a two-day meeting of foreign ministers from the leading rich and developing nations that starts on Thursday after criticizing host South Africas policies as anti-American.Instead, Rubio was headed back to the United States on Wednesday from his first trip to the Middle East as Americas chief diplomat after leading a U.S. delegation in talks with Russia in Riyad over the war in Ukraine. Rubio spoke with the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the European Unions foreign policy chief to brief them immediately after Tuesdays meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the State Department said. Top European diplomats, as well as Lavrov and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi are all expected at the Group of 20 meeting in Johannesburg while the U.S. will be represented by a lower-level delegation. A G20 meeting would normally be an opportunity for a U.S. secretary of state to push for support on U.S. positions, especially at the start of a new administration.Analysts say Rubios absence reflects the Trump administrations indifference to organizations promoting international cooperation, but Rubio has also directly rejected South Africas priorities for its G20 presidency. The hosts have picked solidarity, equality, sustainability as the theme of the G20 this year. South Africa, the first African nation to hold the groups presidency, says it will try to advance the interests of poor countries, especially with debt refinancing and helping them mitigate the impacts of climate change, where the developing world is asking rich countries to pay more. Rubio posted on X this month that he would also not attend the main G20 summit in Johannesburg in November, saying South Africa was using the gathering to promote diversity, equality and inclusion frameworks, In other words: DEI and climate change. My job is to advance Americas national interests, not waste taxpayer money or coddle anti-Americanism, Rubio wrote.Rubios decision to skip the G20 meeting also underscores a major deterioration in U.S. relations with South Africa, one of its key trade partners in Africa.President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this month stopping U.S. aid and assistance to South Africa over a land law that he says discriminates against some of the countrys white minority. The order also called South Africas foreign policy anti-American and criticized its ongoing case accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza at the United Nations top court, and what it said was the countrys closeness to the Communist Party in China.South Africa is due to hand over the presidency of the G20 to the U.S. at the end of this year, and the two countries are expected to work together under G20 protocols. South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said on Wednesday that the U.S. would be represented in Johannesburg this week in one form or shape or another and stressed that Rubios decision was not a complete boycott of South Africas G20 by the U.S. Analysts in Africa says they still see a way for the G20 to make progress under South Africas presidency, even with limited U.S. interest. The EU, Russia and China have expressed support for South Africas G20 leadership.No one wants to be on the wrong side of the United States, said Oscar van Heerden, senior researcher at the University of Johannesburgs Centre of African Diplomacy and Leadership. But I think everyone also realizes that what drives the foreign policy of the United States is not necessarily what drives the foreign policy of the European Union or the other members of the G20.While European allies have their own concerns over future cooperation with the Trump administration after they were sidelined by its move to hold bilateral talks this week with Russia, the G20 meeting was still an opportunity for the EU to promote inclusivity. Multilateralism is under threat right now, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in South Africa, We also need to use this opportunity to develop the international system further to be more inclusive for all countries in the world.___Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Mogomotsi Magome in Johannesburg and Gerald Imray in Cape Town, South Africa, contributed to this report.

Michigan Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth T. Clement istens during oral arguments at the Michigan Hall of Justice, Dec. 4, 2024, in Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)2025-02-19T23:37:16Z LANSING, Mich. (AP) The chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court announced Wednesday that she is stepping down from the court by the end of April, opening the door for the court to have a 6-1 majority of Democratic-backed justices. Elizabeth Clement did not give a reason for her upcoming resignation. Leading our states highest court has been an opportunity to continue a proud record of independence, fairness, and commitment to the rule of law, Clement said in a statement. I am thankful to my colleagues for their support and friendship, as well as for their willingness to seek common ground in serving the people of Michigan.Michigans justices are technically nonpartisan, but they are nominated by parties or appointed by the governor in the case of a vacancy. The court currently has a 5-2 majority of justices backed by Democrats after picking up a seat in the November election. Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has the opportunity to appoint a justice to fill Clements vacancy and create a 6-1 majority of Democratic-backed justices. Whoever fills the vacancy must run for retention in 2026 for a full eight-year term. Clement was appointed to the Michigan Supreme Court in 2017 by Republican Gov. Rick Snyder. She secured a full term in the 2018 general election and her term was set to end in 2026. In November 2022, she was chosen to serve as Chief Justice. Going forward, my plan is to continue working to find ways to bring people together, to put data to work, and to make a difference in the lives of people so that interactions with our justice system result in safer communities and stronger families, Clement said in the statement released by the court. ISABELLA VOLMERT Volmert covers Michigan government and politics for The Associated Press, with a focus on women in state government. She is based in Lansing. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

The Kennedy Center is seen Aug. 13, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)2025-02-19T21:19:36Z Until a few weeks ago, the biggest news to come out of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., was its annual celebration of notable American artists.That has changed since the return of Donald Trump.In the first month of his second term, the president has ousted the arts institutions leadership, filled the board of trustees with his supporters and announced he had been elected the boards chair unanimously. In a statement this week to The Wall Street Journal, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: The Kennedy Center learned the hard way that if you go woke, you will go broke. President Trump and the members of his newly-appointed board are devoted to rebuilding the Kennedy Center into a thriving and highly respected institution where all Americans, and visitors from around the world, can enjoy the arts with respect to Americas great history and traditions. What is the Kennedy Center and how long has it been around?Supported by government money and private donations and attracting millions of visitors each year, the center is a 100-foot high complex featuring a concert hall, opera house and theater, along with a lecture hall, meeting spaces and a Millennium Stage that has been the site for free shows. The centers very origins are bipartisan. It was first conceived in the late 1950s, during the administration of Republican President Dwight Eisenhower, who backed a bill from the Democratic-led Congress calling for a National Culture Center. In the early 1960s, Democrat President John F. Kennedy launched a fundraising initiative, and his successor, President Lyndon B. Johnson, signed into law a 1964 bill renaming the project the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. Kennedy had been assassinated the year before.Construction began in 1965 and the center formally opened six years later, with a premiere of Leonard Bernsteins Mass, otherwise known as MASS: A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players, and Dancers). Who has performed at the Kennedy Center?The center has long been a showcase for theater, music and dramatic performances, with artists ranging from the Paul Taylor Dance Company to a joint concert by Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga. Other highlights have included the annual Mark Twain Award for comedy, with recipients including Lorne Michaels, Tina Fey and Bob Newhart, and the annual Kennedy Center ceremony honoring outstanding artists, most recently Francis Ford Coppola, Bonnie Raitt and the Grateful Dead, among others.Presidents have routinely attended the honors ceremony, even in the presence of artists who disagreed with them politically. The good-natured spirit was well captured in 2002, during Republican President George W. Bushs first term, when Steve Martin offered tribute to honoree Paul Simon. Martin digressed into a tangent about pirated music recordings and joked that he had been approached by Bush about getting bootlegs of Barbra Streisand, a prominent Democrat.Its been nice being a citizen, Martin added, as Bush and others laughed in response. Why is Trump focusing on the Kennedy Center now?Trump mostly ignored the center during his first term, becoming the first president to routinely skip the honors ceremony. One honoree, producer Norman Lear, had threatened not to attend if Trump was there.Mirroring his overall governing approach, Trump has been far more aggressive and proactive in his second term, citing some drag show performances at the center as a reason to transform it entirely.At my direction, we are going to make the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., GREAT AGAIN, he wrote on his social media website earlier this month. I have decided to immediately terminate multiple individuals from the Board of Trustees, including the Chairman, who do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture. Meanwhile, the Kennedy Center website still includes a passage about the core mission, one that strives to ensure that the education and outreach programs and policies of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts meet the highest level of excellence and reflect the cultural diversity of the United States.Also listed on the site is a new project called Promise of US, for which the public is invited to submit an artistic self-portrait to be part of a virtual wall of faces expressing the myriad diversity of Americas peoples and the promise of Americas future. This ever-expanding mosaic will be featured on the Centers website and social channels. Who is in charge now?Trump pushed out the incumbent board chair David M. Rubenstein, a philanthropist and Baltimore Orioles owner. He now presides over a board that by tradition was divided between Democratic and Republican appointees, but is now predominantly Republican, with recent additions including Attorney General Pam Bondi, country star Lee Greenwood and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.Kennedy Center President Deborah F. Rutter, brought on by Rubenstein in 2014, resigned soon after the board shakeup. Trump replaced her, on an interim basis, with diplomat Richard Grenell, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Germany during the presidents first term.Im really, really, really sad about what happens to our artists, what happens on our stages and our staff who support them, Rutter said during a recent interview with NPR. The Kennedy Center is meant to be a beacon for the arts in all of America across the country. What has been the fallout?The fallout is unprecedented. Kennedy Center consultants such as musician Ben Folds and singer Rene Fleming have resigned and actor Issa Rae and author Louise Penny have canceled appearances. During a concert last weekend that proceeded as scheduled, singer-songwriter Victoria Clark wore a T-shirt reading ANTI TRUMP AF.Further controversy is possible. Next months schedule includes RIOT! Funny Women Stand Up, a special comedy event in celebration of Womens History Month. Conan OBrien is to receive the Twain award in an all-star event that will likely include jokes about the president. (Representatives for OBrien have not responded to requests for comment.) The center also is scheduled to host Eureka Day, a stage play centered on an outbreak of mumps, a sensitive topic with the confirmation of vaccine critic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. __An earlier version of this story said the center has canceled performances by the touring childrens musical Finn and a planned concert featuring the Gay Mens Chorus of Washington, D.C., since Trump took over. Kennedy Center officials say the cancellations were initiated before the change in leadership. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks during a media conference after a meeting of NATO defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)2025-02-20T01:07:41Z WASHINGTON (AP) Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed the military services to identify $50 billion in programs that could be cut next year in order to redirect those savings to fund President Donald Trumps priorities. Hegseth has committed to redirecting Pentagon spending to more directly support warfighters. In a statement late Wednesday, Robert Salesses, who is performing the duties of deputy secretary of defense, said the time for preparation is over and excessive bureaucracy and programs targeting climate change or other woke programs such as diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives would be targeted. To achieve our mandate from President Trump, we are guided by his priorities including securing our borders, building the Iron Dome for America, and ending radical and wasteful government DEI programs and preferencing, Salesses said. Iron Dome is envisioned as an extensive, multilayered air defense system for the U.S. that Trump has said should include the ability to shoot down incoming missiles from space. The roughly $50 billion would represent about 8% of the militarys budget. It was not immediately clear which parts of the Pentagons spending on diversity and equity programs, or its spending to address climate change such as buying alternate fuels for aircraft, or making bases more resistant to the effects of extreme weather, such as the 2018 hurricane that caused significant damage to Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida would be targeted or could add up to $50 billion in savings. The spending cuts mandate comes as the military is quickly trying to build its fiscal year 2026 request, a congressional process that often starts late during transitions between new presidential administrations. Hegseth has asked the Pentagon to find offsets programs that can be cut to achieve spending elsewhere for fiscal year 2026, which starts Oct. 1. The cuts would be as drastic as the single-year ordered savings across the military in the 2013 sequestration, a law passed by Congress that was intended to force the legislative branch to reach agreement on budget deficit reductions and instead forced the services to cut $56 billion in a matter of months. Because of the way the military budget is structured, long-term, high-dollar procurement programs at the time were protected, as were most entitlements such as military retirement and health care. At the time, the accounts that were easier to cut were found in operations, maintenance and personnel. The services lost noncommissioned officers highly trained mid-level enlisted personnel and cut training such as flight hours. Military training accidents quickly climbed. In the years since the sequester, Congress and the services have directed additional protections to operations and maintenance spending. TARA COPP Copp covers the Pentagon and national security for the Associated Press. She has reported from Afghanistan, Iraq, throughout the Middle East, Europe and Asia. twitter mailto

U.S. first lady Melania Trump walks along the Mutianyu Great Wall section in Beijing on Nov. 10, 2017. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)2025-02-20T02:03:31Z WASHINGTON (AP) Joyce Yip, a 39-year-old entrepreneur in southern Chinas Guangzhou, has a new celebrity crush: Melania Trump.The two-time first lady has become an online celebrity in China, especially among women. That may be surprising, given her husbands hostility toward China, but social media posts reflect an admiration for her independence, her taste in fashion and how shes raising her teenage son. And, perhaps most importantly, her stoic allegiance to President Donald Trump despite his misogynistic comments, allegations that hes had extramarital affairs and his being found liable for sexual abuse in a civil suit brought by a New York advice columnist.She looks heroic, elegant and resolute, so powerful and majestic, loving it so much, Yip wrote on the Instagram-like platform Xiaohongshu after the inauguration last month. After the first lady wore a wide-brimmed hat to the inauguration, similar products appeared on online shops and knitting influencers on Xiaohongshu posted videos showing people how to make their own within 48 hours.By Chinas conventional standards, women are expected to be supportive of their husbands and to focus on raising children. But Melania Trumps streaks of independence also appeal to Chinese fans, as does her ascent from small-town Slovenian roots to the top of the worlds social ladder. Chinese fans like her having both traditional and modern sides of a woman, said Jingsi Wu, an associate professor of media studies at Hofstra University in New York. Both sides are on display in a 4-year-old video that showed Melania Trump refusing to hold her husbands hand as they disembarked from Air Force One. The video has scored more than 5 million likes on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, and still generates views and comments.Around half a million people liked a November post on Xiaohongshu that joked about how unwilling the usually reserved Melania Trump must be to return to the very public life of a first lady. A satire in The New Yorker magazine meant to be critical of her marriage to the president received 1 million views on Bilibili, a YouTube-like platform, and only seemed to boost her popularity. Almost 30,000 people liked a November post about a years-old interview Melania Trump and her husband did on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, saying their relationship was super sweet. Ge Yahan is among Melanias fans. The 24-year-old from Zibo on Chinas eastern coast calls Melania a mysterious lady who was brave enough to follow her dreams from a small town in Slovenia to the United States.Her celebrity crush brings in a bit of pocket money too. She has been selling unauthorized copies of Melanias new self-titled memoir translated to Mandarin by AI on Chinas social media underground for eight yuan ($1.10). Donald Trump has been openly critical of Chinas economic practices as barriers to Americas financial success. He launched a trade war during his first term by imposing hefty tariffs on Chinese imports, adding more after he returned to office last month. He mocked the deadly coronavirus as the Kung Flu, a racist term for COVID-19. Earlier this year, Trump claimed, without evidence, that thousands of Chinese immigrants are flooding the U.S. to build an army and attack America. But Wu, the academic, said people in China often see U.S. politics as akin to a soap opera.Pouring over details of leaders lives is a novelty to many in China, where top leaders tend to appear only in tightly stage-managed public settings. Chinese First Lady Peng Liyuan, who was a well-known singer before marrying Xi Jinping, has kept a higher profile than the wives of previous leaders, but the couples lifestyle is still so little known that its not clear where they live or whether they have a pet.Rose LuQiu, an associate professor at School of Communication in Hong Kong Baptist University, said fans see Donald Trump as a winner, whose success the first lady shares.The more independent and accomplished she is but still unwaveringly loyal to (Donald) Trump the more it reflects his perceived success as a man, she said. Huang Li, who works in public relations for the fashion industry and sells Melania Trumps memoir online on the side, says she doesnt care about politics, but says she likes Trump for his hard work and the courage he showed by yelling fight, fight, fight after being shot during an assassination attempt in July.Huang has sold more than 30 copies of Melanias memoir, which is not available in China. Chinas National Publications Import & Export Shanghai Co. is pre-selling English copies for 290 yuan ($40), and its not clear if there are plans for an official translation.People want to know more about her, Huang said.Fans also like what they see as sacrifices Melania Trump has made to help her 18-year-old son Barron. Many have joked that she only agreed to move back to the White House dormitory to help with his career. Wu said this appeals to Chinese fans. Chinese pay extra attention to parenting, she said. Melanias perseverance amid her husbands personal and political scandals resonates with fans even more.Melania is a woman who is low-key, very real, supports her husband in the back and stands with him when he needs her, said Yip, the entrepreneur.Like many admirers of Melania, Yip said she liked the presidents daughter Ivanka during her highlight moments eight years ago. But Yip now views her a traitor for testifying in her fathers civil fraud trial in New York last year after being ordered by the judge to take the stand. Even though Ivanka Trump revealed little, Yip and many other Chinese believe she betrayed her father.The rules of this society are that men are allowed to be disloyal, but not women, said Yip, Melania is very loyal to her husband. FU TING Ting reports for APs Global Investigations team. She is based in Washington, D.C. twitter

Natali Sevriukova reacts next to her house following a rocket attack the city of Kyiv, Ukraine, on Feb. 25, 2022. The yearlong war in Ukraine has left tens of thousands of dead and wounded on both sides, disrupted energy and food supplies, and reduced whole cities to ruins. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File)2025-02-20T05:13:50Z When Russian troops rolled into Ukraine three years ago, they brought their parade uniforms with them on the push to Kyiv. President Vladimir Putin expected a quick victory.What Putin dubbed the special military operation has turned into Europes largest conflict since World War II. Tens of thousands have been killed, entire cities have been reduced to smoldering ruins, millions of Ukrainians became refugees, and Russia was isolated from the West.Now as senior Russian and U.S. officials are talking again and setting the stage for summit meeting, Putin appears closer than ever to cementing Moscows gains of about a fifth of Ukraines territory and keeping it out of NATO.President Donald Trump sharply reversed the three-year U.S. policy of isolating Russia when he called Putin and said afterward they agreed to work together very closely to end the war. He said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be involved in negotiations but didnt elaborate. Trump also expressed understanding of Putins key demand on the pivotal issue of Ukraines prospective NATO membership that the U.S. and other alliance members previously described as irreversible. Theyve been saying that for a long time that Ukraine cannot go into NATO, Trump said of Russia. And Im OK with that. Changing fortunesPutin invaded on Feb. 24, 2022, after demanding that NATO abandon membership for Ukraine and pull back the alliances troops on NATOs eastern flank -- actions rejected by the West.He claimed his move was necessary to safeguard Russias security interests and protect Russian speakers in Ukraine. Kyiv and its allies denounced his move as an unprovoked act of aggression. Ukrainians saw it as Moscows attempt to destroy their national sovereignty and identity.Russian troops reached the outskirts of Kyiv early in the invasion but pulled back a month later amid heavy losses and Ukraines attacks on supply lines. More humiliating setbacks came in September and October 2022, when a Ukrainian counteroffensive forced Russia to pull back from large parts of the Kharkiv region in the northeast and the Kherson region in the south. Fortunes changed in 2023 when a Ukrainian counteroffensive in the south failed to cut Russias land route to the Crimea Peninsula, which Moscow illegally annexed from Kyiv in 2014.Russia seized the combat initiative last year with offensives along the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front, making slow but persistent gains. In the fall, Russian forces captured the most territory since the opening of the war.Moscow also pummeled Ukrainian infrastructure with waves of missiles and drones, destroying much of its power generating capacity.Ukraine struck back in August with an incursion into Russias Kursk region to try to distract Moscows forces in the east and gain more leverage in potential peace talks. Ukraine still holds some of those gains, but its limited resources are stretched, making it difficult to defend strongholds in the east. Ukraines demands, Trumps viewWhile Zelenskyy earlier demanded Russias full withdrawal from all occupied areas as a precondition for talks, he later acknowledged Kyiv cant immediately reclaim all its territory. He said Ukraine wont abandon its goal of joining NATO even though Trump dismissed that as impractical and Zelenskyy emphasized needing reliable Western security guarantees and a robust European peacekeeping force to prevent Russian attacks.Trumps call with Putin and ensuing Russia-U.S. talks in Saudi Arabia shattered the Biden administrations nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine policy. Trump blamed Kyiv for failing to make a deal with Moscow that could have prevented the war, praised Russias military might and even suggested that Ukraine may be Russian someday.Zelenskyy said Ukraine wont accept any deal negotiated without Kyiv and insisted that European allies must participate in peace talks. He dismissed a U.S.-proposed draft agreement that would give Washington a large share of Ukraines rare earth minerals as too focused on U.S. interests and had no security guarantees for Kyiv. Europe in the coldTrumps approach stunned European allies, whose shock deepened when Vice President JD Vance sharply rebuked them at the Munich security conference over free speech and migration.While the Trump administration said European allies werent welcome at the peace talks, it encouraged them to provide security guarantees for Kyiv in what former British ambassador Nigel Gould-Davies called a contradictory approach.Washington has signaled that the U.S. alone will negotiate an end to the war but also that Europe alone must pay for and enforce an outcome it has not played a role in deciding, said Gould-Davies, a senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia with the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Putins goalsPutins key goals remain much the same that Ukraine renounce joining NATO and enforce the use of the Russian language to keep the country in Moscows orbit but now wants Kyiv to withdraw its forces from the four regions Moscow has seized but doesnt fully control.He said a peace agreement could be broadly based on a draft negotiated early in the war that obliged Ukraine to declare neutrality, scale down its military and protect Russian language and culture. Those talks collapsed in April 2022 with no deal.Putin ruled out a truce, arguing it would benefit Kyiv. But some Kremlin-watchers believe he could accept it if Kyiv agrees to hold elections after a ceasefire.Trump echoed Putins line that Zelenskyy, whose term expired last year, needs to face voters, while Kyiv maintains elections are impossible to hold amid a war. Trump escalated that notion Wednesday by posting on social media that Zelenskyy was a Dictator without Elections.Putin could hope an election would weaken Zelenskyy and lead to political instability, said Tatiana Stanovaya, senior fellow at Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center.In his view, most potential outcomes would be advantageous for Moscow whether through heightened political infighting, possible protests, or a fragile victory for a new president, she wrote.Jack Watling of Londons Royal United Services Institute says Ukraine faces a politically divisive election, economic paralysis due to a lack of foreign direct investment, and coercive threats from Russia to restart the war after a truce. Keeping peaceIts unclear who would monitor any potential ceasefire.U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said NATO should play no role and that any European troops taking part should not be covered by NATOs charter obliging allies to aid of any member under attack - conditions that could dampen European enthusiasm about the mission.While the U.K. and others signal readiness to deploy troops for such a mission, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after the U.S.-Russian talks in Saudi Arabia that Moscow wont accept troops from any NATO members in a peacekeeping force. Some reports suggested Chinese or Brazilian troops as part of a monitoring force, but those countries havent signaled any intention of participation.Many believe Putin is no rush to make a peace deal. Negotiations appear desirable but by no means necessary for Russia to achieve its goals in its war against Ukraine, Stanovaya wrote.Virtually any outcome will be a good result for Moscow, she said, pointing at the erosion of Western unity and reduced Western support for Kyiv amid Moscows gains.Putin has repeatedly made it clear that he believes Russia can achieve its goals in Ukraine without any U.S.-brokered deal, Stanovaya noted. As far as he is concerned, Moscow simply needs to wait until Ukraine falls apart of its own accord, after which the Russian army will crush any remaining resistance among the Ukrainian army. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Election posters showing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, right, and CDU top candidate for chancellor Friedrich Merz in Frankfurt, Germany, Feb. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, File)2025-02-20T05:19:32Z BERLIN (AP) German voters go to the polls Sunday to elect a new parliament that will determine how the country is run for the next four years. Europes biggest economy is the 27-nation European Unions most populous nation and a leading member of NATO, as well as the second-biggest weapons supplier to Ukraine, after the United States, following Russias full-scale invasion in 2022. Germanys next government will be central to Europes response to an assertive new U.S. administration.Heres a look at what to expect for Sunday and beyond. What happens on election day?Polls are due to open at 8 a.m. and close at 6 p.m.. Germans can also vote by postal ballot, but their ballot must arrive by the time polling stations close on election day to be counted. Exit polls will come and vote-counting will begin immediately after voting ends, and the general picture of the outcome should be clear very quickly. A final official result is expected early Monday. Who are the contenders?Four candidates are running to be Germanys next leader: incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz, of the center-left Social Democrats; Friedrich Merz, the candidate of the mainstream conservative Christian Democratic Union party; current Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, of the environmentalist Greens; and Alice Weidel, of the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany, or AfD.Preelection polls have put Merzs Union bloc in the lead with support of about 30%, ahead of AfD, with around 20%. Scholzs Social Democrats and Habecks Greens are further back.Merz is favored to replace Scholz as chancellor, but its not yet clear what governing coalitions will be possible after the election. How easy it is to form a government may depend in part on how many parties are in the new parliament. Opinion polls show three parties hovering around the 5% of the vote needed to win seats.All mainstream parties say they wont work with AfD. Whats up for grabs?At least 59.2 million people in a country of 84 million are eligible to vote for the new Bundestag, or lower house of parliament. It is the 630-member Bundestag that will elect the next chancellor, Germanys equivalent of a prime minister. There are 29 parties on the ballot, but its likely that between five and eight of them will get enough votes to win seats in parliament. In most cases, parties must win at least 5% of the vote to get a share of the seats.What happens after polls close?Germanys electoral system rarely gives any party an absolute majority and opinion polls suggest that no party is anywhere near one this time. The country has no tradition of minority governments at national level, which means that two or more parties will most likely form a coalition.There is no formal referee for the process of forming a new government, and no set time limit. Parties hold exploratory talks to determine who they have most common ground with, and one combination of parties then moves on to formal coalition talks.Those negotiations typically produce a detailed coalition agreement setting out the new governments plans. That will typically need approval at least from conventions of the parties involved. Some parties may choose to put it to a ballot of their entire membership. Once that process is complete, the Bundestag can elect the new chancellor. Whats at stake?A strong German government would be important to Europes response to the new U.S. administration and to turmoil in Ukraine and elsewhere. Germany and neighboring France have traditionally been the motor of the EU, but both heavyweights have been consumed by domestic political instability in recent months.This election is being held seven months earlier than originally planned because Scholzs three-party coalition collapsed in November as it argued about how to reinvigorate the economy, which has shrunk for the past two years. One of the new governments most urgent tasks will be to find a coherent response to that problem. Another challenge will be further reducing irregular migration, which has been a top issue in the campaign.Merz has said he hopes to form a new government by mid-April if he wins. Scholzs outgoing government will remain in office on a caretaker basis until the Bundestag elects the new chancellor.

U.S. President Donald Trump, right, chats with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Nov. 9, 2017. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)2025-02-20T05:07:26Z WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trumps restrictions on foreign aid and targeting of a key agency funding programs around the world may be offering an opening to Americas biggest adversary China.From the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development to quitting international groups, Trumps drastic America First moves have raised concerns among some lawmakers and experts about whether the U.S. is ceding global influence to its rivals, especially at a time when Washington is fretting over Beijings growing clout at the cost to American interests. Foreign assistance offered the U.S. a source of soft power allowing it to cultivate goodwill, build alliances and counter adversaries in a bid to shore up national security without having to dispatch troops, weapons or other more coercive measures.In Cambodia, the contrast could not be sharper than China sending $4.4 million to support demining operations, as Trump halted a $6.3 million grant from the State Departments Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement partly meant to clear U.S.-origin unexploded ordnances as the remnants of war. Administration officials say its past time to review how America spends money abroad. Asked if the U.S. was giving China and Russia an opening for greater global influence, national security adviser Mike Waltz denied that, telling NBCs Meet the Press recently that all too often, these missions and these programs ... are not in line with strategic U.S. interests like pushing back on China.In Panama, the Trump administration got the government to quit the Belt and Road Initiative, Beijings flagship overseas development program, prompting condemnation from China. What it means for the US to step backExperts and lawmakers disagree on the impact of the U.S. taking a step back from foreign aid. Lawsuits are challenging the administrations freeze on foreign assistance and moves against USAID, with temporary holds on some of those efforts.The second Trump administration will deliver the goal for China of wielding greater global influence, Feng Zhang, a visiting scholar at Yale Law Schools Paul Tsai China Center, said at a recent debate in Washington.Sen. Andy Kim, a Democrat from New Jersey, was worried for the same reason. China doesnt even need to fight for their influence around the world now because of our own effort, Kim said recently on Meet the Press.Rep. John Moolenaar, a Republican from Michigan who chairs the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said it could be time for change on foreign assistance.I think as we dig into this, were going to find out whats been working and what hasnt been working, he said. And then how do we innovate to a new way of promoting American interests, American values and being clear on what those values are.Dennis Wilder, a senior fellow at the Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues at Georgetown University, said global influence goes beyond foreign aid, with the U.S. commanding the worlds most powerful military and its dollar dominating the financial system. Lets not accept at face value that China is ready or able to step in where the U.S. may be leaving a vacuum, Wilder said.The Chinese embassy in Washington said Beijing is willing to work with all countries and parties, including the U.S., to strengthen exchanges and cooperation in the field of development, so as to promote common development and prosperity among all countries.The foreign aid rivalryThe two countries the primary players in global development are spending foreign assistance differently. Most Chinese money is issued as debt and typically spent on energy and infrastructure projects. Most U.S. funds were disbursed as grants or loans with low or no interest rates in areas like public health and humanitarian aid, said AidData, an international development research lab at William & Mary Universitys Global Research Institute.In Peru, Chinese money helped build the $1.3 billion megaport in Chancay, which opened in November during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping. U.S. foreign aid in Peru, by contrast, was used to finance coffee and cacao as alternatives to cocaine production. Elsewhere, American dollars helped fight HIV/AIDS in Africa, treated malnourished children in South Sudan and provided medical services at an immigrant shelter in Mexico. Acknowledging that the U.S. should fund tangible foreign projects like ports and factories, Congress in 2018 established an institution to combine government funding with private investments for projects such as the trans-Africa rail project in Angola. Overall, China spent $1.34 trillion on nearly 18,000 overseas development projects between 2000 and 2021, averaging about $61 billion a year, AidData said.The U.S. disbursed $1.24 trillion in foreign aid, including military assistance, between 2001 and 2023, the research lab said.USAID, created during the Cold War to counter Soviet influence, is the single largest U.S. government player in foreign aid. It paid out $43.8 billion in 2023, AidData said. That is equivalent to less than 1% of total annual government spending. US could risk goodwill abroadBecause of the differences in the types of projects funded, China is unlikely to step in as the U.S. retreats, but Beijing still wins because foreign aid is about building relationships and goodwill, said Samantha Custer, director of policy analysis at AidData.These countries are watching the U.S. and how it engages with its partners and its workers, and theyre making determinations as to whether the U.S. is a reliable economic and security partner, and increasingly there are concerns that we are not, Custer said. That will feed into Beijings narrative that its a responsible partner and global leader while sowing doubt about the U.S., she said.New York-based China Labor Watch, which monitors labor conditions and investigates practices such as the use of forced labor in China, relies on U.S. funding for about 90% of its budget, and the aid freeze has forced the group to lay off or put on unpaid leave most of its U.S. staff, group founder Li Qiang said.China now has a strategic opening as the go-to alternative for countries seeking investments without political conditions, said Salvador Santino Regilme, an associate professor of international relations at Leiden University in the Netherlands.The broader implication of the U.S. aid freeze is a return to militarized diplomacy, where soft power is sidelined in favor of hard-power coercion, he said.___Associated Press writer Sopheng Cheang in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, contributed to this report. DIDI TANG Tang joined the AP Washington bureau in 2023 after spending 11 years in Beijing as a China correspondent. She covers anything related to the Indo-Pacific region with a focus on U.S.-China competitions 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, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)2025-02-20T05:01:40Z WASHINGTON (AP) The Senate was set to vote Thursday on whether to confirm Kash Patel as FBI director, a decision that could place him atop the nations premier federal law enforcement agency despite concerns from Democrats over his qualifications and the prospect that he would do President Donald Trumps bidding.Patel cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee last week by a 12-10, party-line vote and is set for consideration by the Republican-controlled Senate on Thursday afternoon. He is expected to be confirmed unless more than three Republican senators defy Trumps will and vote against him, which is seen as unlikely. Trump has already secured approval for most of his nominees despite initial Republican skepticism to several of his choices. Patel, a Trump loyalist who has fiercely criticized the agency that he is poised to lead, would inherit an FBI gripped by turmoil. The Justice Department in the last month has forced out a group of senior FBI officials and made a highly unusual demand for the names of thousands of agents who participated in investigations related to the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Trump has said that he expects some of those agents will be fired. Republicans angry over what they see as law enforcement bias against conservatives during the Biden administration, as well as criminal investigations into Trump, have rallied behind Patel as the right person for the job. Democrats, meanwhile, have complained about his lack of management experience compared to others who have held the directors job and highlighted incendiary past statements that they say call his judgment into question. My prediction is if you vote for Kash Patel, more than any other confirmation vote you make, you will come to regret this one to your grave, Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said this week.Patels eyebrow-raising remarks on hundreds of podcasts over the last four years include referring to law enforcement officials who investigated Trump as criminal gangsters, referring to some Jan. 6 rioters as political prisoners and pledging to come after anti-Trump conspirators in the government and media. At his confirmation hearing last month, Patel said Democrats were taking some of his comments out of context or misunderstanding the broader point that he was trying to make, such as when he proposed shutting down the FBI headquarters in Washington and turning it into a museum for the so-called deep state. And Patel denied the idea that a list in his book of government officials who he said were part of a deep state amounted to an enemies list, calling that a total mischaracterization.FBI directors are given 10-year terms as a way to insulate them from political influence and keep them from becoming beholden to a particular president or administration. Patel was selected in November to replace Christopher Wray, who was picked by Trump in 2017 and served for more than seven years but who repeatedly angered the president and was seen by him as insufficiently loyal. He resigned before Trump took office. A former federal defender and Justice Department counterterrorism prosecutor, Patel attracted Trumps attention during his first term when, as a staffer on the Republican-led House Intelligence Committee, he helped author a memo with pointed criticism of the FBIs investigation into ties between Russia and Trumps 2016 campaign. Patel later joined Trumps administration, both as a counterterrorism official at the National Security Council and as chief of staff to the defense secretary. 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

This undated photo provided by Hostages Family Forum shows Shiri Bibas, who was abducted and brought to Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023. (Hostages Family Forum via AP)2025-02-20T05:18:28Z KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) Hamas is set to return the bodies of four Israeli hostages on Thursday, including a mother and her two children who have long been feared dead and had come to embody the nations agony following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.The remains to be released from the Gaza Strip are of Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir. Kfir was the youngest captive taken that day. Hamas has said all three were killed in an Israeli airstrike early in the war. The militant group also plans to release the body of Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was abducted. The heart of an entire nation breaks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday in anticipation of the bodies being returned to Israel.Israelis have celebrated the return of 24 living hostages in recent weeks under a tenuous ceasefire that paused over 15 months of war. But the handover on Thursday will provide a grim reminder of those who died in captivity as the talks leading up to the truce dragged on for over a year.It could also provide impetus for negotiations on the second stage of the ceasefire that have hardly begun. The first phase is set to end at the beginning of March. Infant was the youngest taken hostage Kfir Bibas was just 9 months old, a red-headed infant with a toothless smile, when militants stormed into the familys home on Oct. 7, 2023. His brother Ariel was 4. Video shot that day showed a terrified Shiri swaddling the two boys as militants led them into Gaza.Her husband, Yarden Bibas, was taken separately and released this month after 16 months in captivity.Relatives in Israel have clung to hope, marking Kfirs first and second birthdays and his brothers fifth. The Bibas family said in a statement Wednesday that it would wait for identification procedures before acknowledging that their loved ones were dead.Supporters throughout Israel have worn orange in solidarity with the family a reference to two boys red hair and a popular childrens song was written in their honor. Like the Bibas family, Oded Lifshitz was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, along with his wife Yocheved, who was freed during a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023. Oded was a journalist who campaigned for the recognition of Palestinian rights and peace between Arabs and Jews.Hamas-led militants abducted 251 hostages, including some 30 children, in the Oct. 7 attack, in which they also killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians.More than half the hostages, and most of the women and children, have been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight and have recovered dozens of bodies of people killed in the initial attack or who died in captivity.Its not clear if the ceasefire will lastHamas is set to free six living hostages on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and says it will release four more bodies next week, completing the ceasefires first phase. That will leave the militants with some 60 hostages, all men, around half of whom are believed to be dead. Hamas has said it wont release the remaining captives without a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal. Netanyahu, with the full backing of the Trump administration, says he is committed to destroying Hamas military and governing capacities and returning all the hostages, goals widely seen as mutually exclusive. Trumps proposal to remove some 2 million Palestinians from Gaza so the U.S. can own and rebuild it, which has been embraced by Israel but universally rejected by Palestinians and Arab countries, has thrown the ceasefire into further doubt.Hamas could be reluctant to free more hostages if it believes the war will resume with the goal of annihilating the group or forcibly transferring Gazas population.Israels military offensive killed over 48,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gazas Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its records. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.The offensive destroyed vast areas of Gaza, reducing entire neighborhoods to fields of rubble and bombed-out buildings. At its height, the war displaced 90% of Gazas population. Many have returned to their homes to find nothing left and no way of rebuilding.___Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel.___Follow APs war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war MELANIE LIDMAN Lidman is an Associated Press reporter based in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Elon Musk, left, and President Donald Trump, right, are seen through the windows as Marine One lands on the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)2025-02-20T03:55:07Z WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he likes the idea of giving some of the savings from Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency back to U.S. citizens as a kind of dividend.He said at an investment conference in Miami that the administration is considering a concept in which 20% of the savings produced by DOGEs cost-cutting efforts goes to American citizens and another 20% goes to paying down the national debt.Trump also said the potential for dividend payments would incentivize people to report wasteful spending.Theyll be reporting it themselves, Trump said. They participate in the process of saving us money.Later, as he flew back to Washington aboard Air Force One, he was asked by a reporter about the plan floated by Musk.I love it, the Republican president told reporters on the plane. A day earlier, Musk wrote on his social media platform that he will check with the President in response to a suggestion that Trump and Musk should announce a DOGE Dividend that would send a refund to taxpayers from part of the savings created by DOGE. Its efforts have already led to thousands of federal government employees being fired or laid off. 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

South Korean actor Kim Sae-ron arrives at the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 5, 2023. (Yonhap via AP)2025-02-20T07:16:03Z SEOUL, South Korea (AP) In the about 1,000 days between her drunken-driving crash in May 2022 and her death, South Korean mainstream news organizations published at least around 2,000 stories on film actor Kim Sae-rom. They illustrate how the local media often cover a celebritys fall from grace. Previously one of the brightest young stars in South Korean cinema, Kim was condemned and ridiculed for driving drunk; for talking about her financial struggles after losing roles; for taking a job at a coffee shop; for attempting a comeback in theater; for going out with friends instead of showing remorse; and for being seen smiling on set while shooting an indie movie.After the 24-year-old actor was found dead at her home Sunday, the headlines predictably swung to calling for changes to the way celebrities are treated in the public arena.Kims death, which police consider a suicide, adds to a growing list of high-profile celebrity deaths in the country, which some experts attribute to the enormous pressure celebrities face under the gaze of a relentlessly unforgiving media that seizes on every misstep. ___EDITORS NOTE: In South Korea, callers can receive 24-hour counseling through the suicide prevention hotline 1577-0199, the Life Line service at 1588-9191, the Hope Phone at 129 and the Youth Phone at 1388.___Heres a look at the intense pressure faced by South Korean celebrities who fall from grace. A sudden fall from graceSouth Korea is notoriously harsh on its celebrities, particularly women. Kim rose to stardom as a child actor with the 2010 hit crime thriller The Man from Nowhere and garnered acclaim and popularity for her acting in movies and TV dramas for years.But that changed after May 18, 2022, when Kim crashed a vehicle into a tree and an electrical transformer while driving drunk in southern Seoul. She posted a handwritten apology on Instagram and reportedly compensated around 60 shops that lost power temporarily because of the crash, but that did little to defuse negative coverage and she struggled to find acting work. When a Seoul court issued a 200 million won ($139,000) fine over the crash in April 2023, Kim expressed her fears about the media to reporters, saying many articles about her private life were untrue.Im too scared to say anything about them, she said.Relentless negative coverageIn the wake of Kims drunken-driving crash, celebrity gossip channels on YouTube began posting negative videos about her private life, suggesting without providing evidence that she was exaggerating her financial straits by working at coffee shops, and arguing that social media posts showing her socializing with friends meant she wasnt showing enough remorse.Other entertainers, especially female, have struggled to find work after run-ins with the law, including drunken driving or substance abuse, and experts say many of them are reluctant to seek treatment for mental health problems like depression, fearing further negative coverage.Kwon Young-chan, a comedian-turned-scholar who leads a group helping celebrities with mental health issues, said celebrities often feel helpless when the coverage turns negative after spending years carefully cultivating their public image. Kwon, who stayed with Kims relatives during a traditional three-day funeral process, said her family is considering legal action against a YouTube creator with hundreds of thousands of subscribers for what they describe as groundless attacks on Kims private life.Peter Jongho Na, a professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, lamented on Facebook that South Korean society had become a giant version of Squid Game, the brutal Netflix survival drama, abandoning people who make mistakes or fall behind, acting as though nothing happened. Media blamed for celebrity deathsThe National Police Agency said officers found no signs of foul play at Kims home and that she left no note.But a spate of high-profile deaths has sparked discussions about how news organizations cover the private lives of celebrities and whether floods of critical online comments are harming their mental health. Similar conversations happened after the 2008 death of mega movie star Choi Jin-sil; the death of her former baseball star husband, Cho Sung-min, in 2013; the deaths of K-Pop singers Sulli and Goo Hara in 2019; and the death of Parasite actor Lee Sun-kyun in 2023. Sensational but unsubstantiated claims like from social media are widely recycled and amplified by traditional media outlets as they compete for audience attention, said Hyun-jae Yu, a communications professor at Seouls Sogang University.Struggling with a sharp decline in traditional media readership, he said, media turn to covering YouTube drama as the easiest way to drive up traffic, often skipping the work of reporting and verifying facts.Following the 2019 deaths of Sulli and Goo Hara, which were widely attributed to cyberbullying and sexual harassment both in the public and media, lawmakers proposed various measures to discourage harsh online comments. These included expanding real-name requirements and strengthening websites requirements to weed out hate speech and false information, but none of these proposed laws passed. Reforms remain elusive South Korean management agencies are getting increasingly active in taking legal action to protect their entertainers from online bullying. Hybe, which manages several K-Pop groups including BTS, publishes regular updates about lawsuits its filing against social media commentators it deems malicious.But Yu said its crucial for mainstream media companies to strengthen self-regulation and limit their use of YouTube content as news sources. Government authorities could also compel YouTube and other social media platforms to take greater responsibility for content created by their users, he said, including actively removing problematic videos and preventing creators from monetizing them. The South Korean office of Google, YouTubes parent company, didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.Heo Chanhaeng, an executive director at the Center for Media Responsibility and Human Rights, said news organizations and websites should consider shutting down the comments sections on entertainment stories entirely.Her private life was indiscriminately reported beyond what was necessary, Heo said. Thats not a legitimate matter of public interest. KIM TONG-HYUNG Kim has been covering the Koreas for the AP since 2014. He has published widely read stories on North Koreas nuclear ambitions, the dark side of South Koreas economic rise and international adoptions of Korean children. twitter mailto

A protester wearing a mask of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol attends with his fellow protesters during a rally calling for Yoon to step down in front of the Constitutional Court in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. The signs read "Impeach Yoon Suk Yeol quickly." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)2025-02-20T01:58:45Z SEOUL, South Korea (AP) South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol appeared in court Thursday for a hearing where his lawyers contested his arrest on a criminal charge alleging he was orchestrating a rebellion when he briefly imposed martial law in December.Security was heightened as the motorcade transporting Yoon arrived at the Seoul Central District Court and dozens of his supporters rallied nearby. The preliminary hearing will involve discussions of witnesses and other preparations for his criminal trial, and the court was also to review the request by Yoons lawyers to cancel his arrest and release him from custody. Such challenges are rarely successful. Yoon was indicted Jan. 26 on the rebellion charge carrying a potential punishment of death or life in prison. In South Korea, presidents have immunity from most criminal prosecutions, but not on charges of rebellion or treason. The indictment alleges his imposition of martial law was an illegal attempt to shut down the National Assembly and arrest politicians and election authorities. The conservative Yoon has said his martial law declaration was intended as a temporary warning to the liberal opposition and that he had always planned to respect lawmakers will if they voted to lift the measure. Yoons presidential powers were suspended when he was impeached Dec. 14, and South Koreas Constitutional Court is nearing a decision on whether to formally remove him from office or dismiss the Assemblys impeachment and reinstate him. Martial law was lifted about six hours after Yoon declared it but has caused political turmoil, disrupted high-level diplomacy and tested the resiliency of the countrys democracy. Yoons conservative supporters rioted at the Seoul Western District Court after it authorized his arrest last month, while his lawyers and ruling party have openly questioned the credibility of courts and law enforcement institutions handling the case. Yoon has continued to express contempt for his liberal rivals for obstructing his agenda and endorsed baseless conspiracy theories about election fraud to justify his ill-fated authoritarian push.Yoons defense minister, police chief and several military commanders have also been arrested and indicted on rebellion, abuse of power and other charges related to the martial law decree, which involved hundreds of heavily armed troops deployed to the National Assembly and National Election Commission offices. KIM TONG-HYUNG Kim has been covering the Koreas for the AP since 2014. He has published widely read stories on North Koreas nuclear ambitions, the dark side of South Koreas economic rise and international adoptions of Korean children. twitter mailto

2025-02-20T08:39:56Z JOHANNESBURG (AP) A meeting of foreign ministers from G20 countries will take place in Johannesburg on Thursday, but U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will not attend amid diplomatic tensions between South Africa and the U.S.Diplomats including Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi are expected to attend the gathering, while the U.S. will be represented by acting ambassador to South Africa Dana Brown.The European Union, the United Nations and the African Union, which is part of the G20, will also be in attendance.Rubio snubbed the meeting after an executive order by U.S. President Donald Trump stopped foreign aid to the country over a law that the White House said amounts to discrimination against the countrys white minority. The U.S. is also displeased with South Africas case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola has said that Rubios decision was not a complete boycott of South Africas G20. He said the U.S. would be represented in Johannesburg this week in one form or shape or another. U.S. Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent has also confirmed his will not attend a meeting of G20 finance ministers scheduled to take place in South Africa next week.Bessent said on the social media platform X that he would not participate in the event because of obligations in Washington. A senior Treasury official will attend in his place, he said. Analysts say that Rubio and Bessents absence signalled the U.S was pulling back from the G20 and demonstrated how strained relations are.I think if we want to really know what message the US administration is trying to send, you have to know whether the treasury secretary will come next week or not. And if he chooses not to come as well, thats a quite serious sign, said political analyst Daniel Bradlow. President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to officially open and address the gathering under the theme Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability, which Rubio has described as a diversity, equality and inclusion framework one that the new Trump administration vocally opposes.South Africa will host over 130 working group meetings and 23 ministerial-level meetings this year as part of their G20 presidency, which began in December last year.The U.S. is expected to take over the G20 presidency in 2026 after South Africas tenure. MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Magome is an Associated Press reporter based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He covers a range of topics including general news, politics, and enterprise stories from across the Southern Africa region. mailto

Casey Brunson, Casey Brunson, Steevan Galindo and Joseph Moore, from left, take direction from Christopher Franklin, center, during a rehearsal at the Stax Music Academy, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)2025-02-20T05:03:46Z MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) The Memphis music studio where some of Americas most recognizable songs were recorded decades ago is now a museum. But next door, trumpets blare, drums boom, and singers craft the soulful sounds of Stax Records biggest hits.At Stax Music Academy, young musicians rehearse the unmistakable intro to Theme from Shaft, the Isaac Hayes tour de force that won an Oscar in 1972 and tantalizes listeners with its pulsating bass line, crisp hi-hat and funky guitar. Theres an air of professionalism among the students as their teacher hands out sheets of music and words of wisdom.Here we go. Read the ink thats on the paper. From the top, one, two, ready and , says Sam Franklin IV, the academys music director. When they finish, Franklin says, Hey yall, that was good.Under the guidance of Franklin and other instructors, the students are practicing for three concerts in Memphis, Tennessee, on Friday to celebrate Black History Month and the academys 25th anniversary. Created in 2000, the academy is an after-school program for teens that teaches them to sing, dance and play instruments. Some pay nothing to attend. The academy has graduated more than 4,000 students since it started in the working-class neighborhood of Soulsville, where Stax Records produced soul and R&B classics in the 1960s and 1970s. Since 2008, every high school senior has been accepted to a college or university, many on full scholarships. The academy has performed at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, the Kennedy Center in Washington, and in Europe and Australia. Students take pride and joy in continuing the legacy of the influential record company, where Otis Redding cut (Sittin On) the Dock of the Bay, Sam and Dave worked on Soul Man, and The Staple Singers made Respect Yourself. Other mainstays of the Stax catalog include Booker T. and the MGs, Rufus and Carla Thomas, Wilson Pickett and Johnnie Taylor. Before it went bankrupt in 1975, Stax Records helped develop the raw, emotional Memphis Sound, driven by tight horn and rhythm sections, and strong-voiced singers. Some Stax songs were energetic and raucous, others smooth and sexy. Stax Records no longer churns out chart-topping music, although it still has a program for songwriters. The building has been converted into the Stax Museum of American Soul Music. The Stax Music Academy group practicing on a rainy January evening includes both Black and white players. Before the work begins, some students joke around and dance in the hallway outside the rehearsal room, which boasts a high ceiling and a whiteboard with musical notes written on it. In a separate room, vocalists clap for each other as they take turns singing for their instructors.Its so fun, said Tatiyana Clark, a 17-year-old singer who joined the academy in 2023. Ive been in places where we would have the same interest in music, but nothing is like the connection that I have here. Honestly, its a different level of friendship, when you have the exact same feelings towards music, the same experiences almost. Stax began online Black History Month presentations in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous programs have included specific themes, with this years being the U.S. labor movement and how it involved and affected Black people, including work training, entrepreneurship and unionization. But this years show is a series of in-person concerts at a downtown Memphis venue where attendees will hear Sam and Daves Hold On, Im Comin, Arthur Conleys Sweet Soul Music, and Cause I Love You, by the father and daughter duet of Rufus and Carla Thomas. A companion study guide includes lessons and activities highlighting key figures and events that shaped labor policies and standards. Its all about the message for me, said Johnathan Cole, an 18-year-old singer and songwriter. It feels good because with the world going crazy right now, everybody just needs a little bit of love, happiness and music. Thats what Stax Music Academy has always been about: love, music, creativity. When the labor and civil rights movements were striving for racial equality and social justice, Booker T. and the MGs churned out Green Onions and other toe-tapping instrumental songs, with Black men at organ and drums Booker T. Jones and Al Jackson Jr. and white players on lead and bass guitar Steve Cropper and Donald Duck Dunn.I would describe Stax as change, said Johnathan McKinnie, a 16-year-old piano and organ player. It drastically changed how music was formed It was definitely an advocate for civil rights.In the vocalists rehearsal room, the group is perfecting Eddie Floyds song about luck and love, Knock on Wood. Its like thunder, and lightning, the way you love me is frightening better knock, knock, knock on wood, three vocalists sing in harmony. Breathe. Youre not breathing, one instructor tells a student, who smiles and nods. The exchange exemplifies the spirit of cooperation and dedication that permeates the academy. Pasley Thompson, a 17-year-old singer and songwriter, calls the academy an escape from the every day.Being able to be in a space with people that get you on a creative level, and on a personal level, because were around each other all the time, its a really great feeling to have, she said. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

A militant stands next to the coffins containing the bodies of hostages, from right to left, Shiri Bibas, her two children, Ariel and Kfir and Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was abducted before their are handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)2025-02-20T09:27:26Z JERUSALEM (AP) Ariel and Kfir Bibas two of the youngest hostages held in Gaza became a symbol for Israelis of the brutality of Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, attack. The return of what are presumed to be their bodies on Thursday dashed hopes they had survived captivity and struck another blow to a nation still reeling from Hamas assault.The fate of Ariel and Kfir, just 4 years old and 9 months old when they were abducted, captivated Israelis, and the return, along with a body said to be that of their mother, Shiri Bibas, brings a tragic measure of closure to the country.But it is also likely to fuel anger over the governments failure to bring home some 250 hostages sooner and safely, and it could step up pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend the ceasefire.The mother and children were taken captive from Kibbutz Nir Oz. Video of the abduction, with a terrified Shiri Bibas seen swaddling her two redheaded boys in a blanket and being whisked away by armed men, ricocheted around the world in the hours after the attack. Yarden Bibas, the father, was abducted and held separately and released on Feb. 1, as part of the first phase of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas that paused the 15-month-long war in Gaza. During the first phase, a total of 33 hostages are to be freed in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Eight of those 33 were said by Israel to be dead. Since his release, Yarden Bibas has pleaded for information about his family, whose fate has been unclear for much of the war. While Hamas last year released a video of Yarden Bibas in captivity as a sign of life, nothing had been heard from his wife or children. The militant group claimed they were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the first weeks of the war, and filmed Yarden Bibas receiving the news. Israel did not confirm the claim, saying just that it had grave concern for their lives.The bodies released Thursday will now be formally identified, which could take up to 48 hours. The Bibas boys became icons and their plight transfixed IsraelisThe Bibas familys struggle became a rallying cry for protesters demanding the hostages be freed. Concern for their well-being emerged during a November 2023 ceasefire, when most women and children were freed, and grew in recent weeks when living women hostages were freed.At just 9 months old, Kfir was the youngest of about 30 children taken hostage Oct. 7. The infant with red hair and a toothless smile became an icon across Israel and his ordeal was raised by Israeli leaders on podiums around the world.The extended Bibas family has been active at protests, branding the color orange as the symbol of their fight for the ginger babies. They marked Kfir Bibas first birthday with a release of orange balloons and lobbied world leaders for support.Family photos aired on TV and posted across social media created a national bond with the two boys and made them familiar faces. Israelis learned of Ariel Bibas love for Batman and photos from a happier time showed the entire family dressed up as the character. The Hostages Families Forum said there were more hostages in Gaza whose lives could still be saved, and called for an extension to the ceasefire.There is no more time to waste, it said in a statement.The fate of the young boys and their mother was unclearThe lack of information about Shiri Bibas and her children created uncertainty and ambiguity, including among their relatives.Shiri Bibas sister, Dana Silberman-Sitton, has said she did not believe her sister or the children were still alive. She told Israeli news site Ynet that she decided to tell her children in December 2023 that Aunt Shiri and their cousins had died, after Hamas claimed they were killed by Israeli airstrikes.I created a defense mechanism for myself: Because I cannot live with uncertainty anymore, I live with the knowledge that Shiri and the kids are dead, she told Ynet in September.Silberman-Sittons parents, Yossi and Margit Silberman, were also killed on Oct. 7, 2023, at Kibbutz Nir Oz.Yarden Bibas sister, Ofri Bibas Levy, took the opposite approach: She insisted that Shiri and the children were still alive, traveled abroad on missions and gave numerous interviews to ensure their story was constantly being mentioned. The story of the family captured Israels attention and much of the world because it encapsulated many of the worst aspects of Hamas attack, explained Ruth Pat-Horenczyk, a professor at the Hebrew University school of social work who specializes in trauma.The graphic scene of the mother trying to protect the two babies was burned into the mind in the country, she said. Everything together created a kind of capsulated example of pain that really became the most dramatic symbol of Oct. 7. MELANIE LIDMAN Lidman is an Associated Press reporter based in Tel Aviv, Israel.

People walk in front of the main entrance of the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, where the Pontiff is hospitalized since Friday, Feb. 14. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)2025-02-20T07:44:31Z ROME (AP) Pope Francis is continuing his recovery from pneumonia, eating breakfast out of bed on Thursday morning after a sixth peaceful night at the hospital, the Vatican said.Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni issued a new update after confirming late Wednesday that new blood tests showed a slight improvement in some inflammation indices for the 88-year-old pontiff, who had an acute case of pneumonia in 2023 and is prone to respiratory infections in winter. Francis was visited Wednesday by Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, his first known VIP visitor. She reported after their 20-minute visit that Francis was in good spirits and had joked around as always.Francis was admitted to Romes Gemelli hospital Feb. 14 after a bout of bronchitis worsened. Doctors on Tuesday diagnosed pneumonia in both lungs, on top of a polymicrobial infection in his respiratory tract, meaning a combination of bacteria, viral and other organisms. He is taking a combination of antibiotics and cortisone for what doctors also diagnosed as asthmatic bronchitis. Doctors say pneumonia in such a fragile, elderly patient makes him particularly prone to complications given the difficulty in being able to effectively expel fluid from his lungs. While his heart is strong, Francis isnt a particularly healthy 88-year-old. He isnt physically active, uses a wheelchair because of bad knees, had part of one lung removed as a young man, and has admitted to being a not-terribly-cooperative patient in the past.___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.

A bus, believed to be carrying Chinese nationals who have worked at scam centers in eastern Myanmar, crosses the 2nd Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge in Mae Sot in Thailand's Tak province before being flown back to China on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Sarot Meksophawannakul)2025-02-20T09:32:41Z BANGKOK (AP) An airlift carrying more than 1,000 Chinese nationals who had worked at online scam centers in eastern Myanmar began Thursday, after the rescued workers were taken across the border to Thailand and put on chartered flights to China.Thailand, China and Myanmar have coordinated efforts over the past month to shut down the scam centers that bilked victims around the world out of billions of dollars through false romantic ploys, bogus investment pitches and illegal gambling schemes.Hundreds of thousands of people from Southeast Asia and elsewhere are estimated to have worked at such centers in Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, and many were recruited under false pretenses for other jobs and found themselves trapped in virtual slavery.Thai officials said recently that as many as 10,000 people may be repatriated from Myanmar from the online scam centers. So far, 16 flights, or about four a day, have been scheduled to repatriate the Chinese nationals, accompanied by police. Because of the large number of Chinese the projected number so far is 1,041 Thailand is allowing Beijing to handle most of their processing and investigations on their return to China. Thai officials told reporters on Thursday the rescued workers were being taken in batches of 50 across a bridge from Myanmars Myawaddy to Thailands Mae Sot, where they were processed including with biometric scans and sent on by bus to Mae Sots airport. There they boarded China Southern Airlines planes, whose destination was shown by flight tracking websites as Jinghong in southwestern Chinas Yunnan province.Thai authorities are overseeing the evacuation and processing of scam center workers from other nations. Last week, some 260 people from 20 nations, including many from Africa, crossed from Myanmar into Thai custody after they were reportedly rescued from scam centers. The organized repatriation of freed scam workers from nations other than China will begin on Sunday, Thai PBS reported.Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra on a visit to Beijing earlier this month told Chinese leader Xi Jinping that Thailand would crack down on the scam networks. Just ahead of her visit, Thailand cut off electricity, internet and gas supplies to several areas in Myanmar hosting scam centers along the border, citing national security and the damage that Thailand has suffered from the operations.Thailand wants to cooperate with China since reports about scam workers being trafficked through Thailand have circulated widely on Chinese social media. The Thai government and others fear it will discourage the lucrative market of inbound Chinese tourists.The Border Guard Force in Myawaddy, a militia of the Karen ethnic minority that controls the area, has organized the repatriation of foreign workers from Myanmar. But critics have accused the group of involvement in the criminal activities by providing protection to the scam centers. It denies the accusations.An earlier crackdown on scam centers in Myanmar happened in late 2023, after China expressed embarrassment and concern over illegal casinos and scam operations along its border in Myanmars northern Shan state.Ethnic guerrilla groups with close ties to Beijing shut down many operations, and an estimated 45,000 Chinese nationals suspected of involvement were repatriated.___Associated Press journalist Jutarat Skulpichetrat reported from Chiang Mai, Thailand.

David Boren, president of the University of Oklahoma, speaks during the unveiling of a statue of former head football coach Bob Stoops in Norman, Okla., Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)2025-02-20T12:25:05Z OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Former Oklahoma Gov. David Boren, who became one of the nations youngest governors in the 1970s at age 33 and later helped shape national intelligence as a U.S. senator, has died. He was 83. Boren, who went on to serve as president of the University of Oklahoma after retiring from politics, died early Thursday at his home near Newcastle, said Bob Burke, a longtime family friend. He said Borens death was the result of complications from diabetes. The son of a Democratic congressman, Boren quickly followed in his fathers footsteps into elected office and oversaw a dramatic downsizing of government in Oklahoma, where over decades in legislative corridors and university offices he became one of the states most influential figures. His son, Dan Boren, also served four terms as an Oklahoma congressman. In 2019, David Boren cut ties with the university he had led for 24 years amid a probe into allegations that he had sexually harassed male subordinates. Boren denied wrongdoing and the allegations never resulted in charges or civil litigation. He was the smartest person I ever knew, Burke, an attorney and author who managed Borens first campaign for the U.S. Senate in 1978. He was a Rhodes Scholar, yet he could communicate with a farmer in overalls on the Main Street of a small Oklahoma town. No Oklahoman had more influence on the states progress in its first century than David Boren, he said. Boren served in the U.S. Senate between 1979 and 1994 and was the longest-serving chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He became president of Oklahomas largest public university after leaving the Senate and held the position until stepping down in 2018.He saw public service as a noble calling and dedicated his life to it, Borens son, Dan Boren, said in a statement. The countless heartwarming stories I hear almost daily from people across this state who he helped are reminders of his remarkable life. We shall cherish the memory of his service and remarkable life. A year after leaving the University of Oklahoma, a former student alleged he was touched and kissed inappropriately by Boren on several occasions about a decade earlier, allegations that Boren repeatedly denied. An investigation into Borens alleged misconduct by the Jones Day law firm, which ended when Boren severed ties to the university in 2019, was never publicly released. The allegations against Boren tarnished his reputation and led him to withdraw from public life.Boren served four terms in the Oklahoma House before being elected governor at the age of 33 in 1974, which at the time made him the youngest governor in the country. He ran a reformist campaign that became known as the Boren Broom Brigade to demonstrate his pledge to sweep out the old guard.As governor, Boren worked to eliminate the inheritance tax, cut the state income tax and reorganize a state government he described as cluttered with 214 boards, agencies and commissions.This excessive red tape in government is a constant drain on taxpayer dollars, Boren once said, adding that the government needed to get out of the horse and buggy era. While in the U.S. Senate, Boren forged close relationships with the leaders of the nations intelligence community, including former CIA Director George Tenet, whom Boren tapped as the Intelligence Committees chief of staff prior to Tenets appointment as CIA director.On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Boren was having breakfast with Tenet at a Washington hotel when Tenet, then CIA director, learned that an aircraft had flown into the World Trade Center tower in New York City. Boren later recalled that neither he nor Tenet was totally shocked by the terrorist attack because the two men had spoken frequently about the possibility of international terrorists launching an attack in the U.S.I thought George was obsessed with Osama bin Laden and terrorism around the world, Boren told The Oklahoman months after the attacks. I dont think everything changed Sept. 11; only our perception and understanding changed. In the Senate, Boren also helped build bipartisan support to oppose South Africas oppressive racial apartheid regime ahead of Nelson Mandelas release from prison in 1990. Shortly after his release, Mandela traveled to the U.S. and appeared as a guest on an ABC News town hall moderated by Ted Koppel. Boren was in the audience and Mandela led a standing ovation after Boren summed up the evils of apartheid and called for its end.He has said all the things that are required to be said in regards to the problems of South Africa, Mandela said.During his tenure in the U.S. Senate, Boren also said he was heavily involved with helping influence U.S. policy in Central America, particularly in Nicaragua, during conflict in that country between the right-wing Contras and the leftist Sandinistas, working as an informal emissary for former President George H.W. Bush. The fact that I was in a different party and the fact that we trusted each other -- was a big benefit, Boren told The Oklahoman in 1994.In 2016, Boren spearheaded a campaign in Oklahoma to adopt a 1 percent sales tax increase that would have raised about $550 million annually for public education, including pay raises for school teachers who were at the time among the lowest paid in the nation. But it was defeated in a statewide referendum.David Lyle Boren was born on April 21, 1941, in Washington, the son of U.S. Rep. Lyle Hagler Boren and the former Christine McKown. He was married twice, to the late Janna Little Robbins and then to Molly Shi Boren, a former judge, English teacher and president emeritus of the Oklahoma Arts Institute.Boren suffered from a minor stroke at a statue dedication ceremony in April 2018 and was hospitalized for several days. Boren also underwent heart bypass surgery in March 2017.Boren is survived by two children, including Dan Boren, the former Oklahoma congressman who is currently secretary of commerce for the Chickasaw Nation.___Retired Associated Press journalist Tim Talley was the principal writer of this obituary. SEAN MURPHY Murphy is the statehouse reporter for The Associated Press in Oklahoma City. He has covered Oklahoma news and politics since 1996. twitter mailto

President Donald Trump waves as he walks from Marine One after arriving on the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)2025-02-20T03:30:42Z WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump said Wednesday he is considering buying used Boeing aircraft perhaps from an overseas seller to use as Air Force One when hes aboard, as he fumes over the U.S. plane-makers delays in producing two specially modified ones for presidential use.Speaking to reporters aboard one of the two nearly 35-year-old Boeing 747-200 aircraft in current use, Trump said, Were looking at alternatives, because its taking Boeing too long.We may go and buy a plane, Trump said, adding that he could then convert it. He later clarified that he was ruling out purchasing aircraft of Airbus, the European company that is the only other global supplier on large wide-body aircraft, but would consider a second-hand Boeing plane. I would not consider Airbus. I could buy one from another country perhaps or get one from another country. Boeing has the contract to produce updated versions, based on the more modern Boeing 747-8, but delivery has been delayed while the aircraft maker has lost billions of dollars on the deal, which was negotiated by Trump during his first term in office. Its not the planes, rather the heavy modification to make them suitable for the requirements of presidential travel and the top-level security clearances required for those involved, that has added to the cost and delays. Trump already dropped a requirement for the new generation of planes, which will be known as the VC-25B, to be capable of air-to-air refueling, like the pair of existing VC-25As, which were designed during the Cold War. Other modifications include highly classified communications equipment suitable for the countrys commander-in-chief, survivability enhancements for a range of contingencies, and self-contained air-stairs, allowing for their use in austere landing environments. Delivery initially was set for 2024, but has been pushed to some time in 2027 for the first plane and in 2028 Trumps final year in office for the second, according to the U.S. Air Force. Trump on Saturday toured a newer Boeing 747-800 airplane to check out new hardware and technology features and highlight the aircraft makers delay in delivering updated versions of the Air Force One presidential aircraft, the White House said Saturday. Trump visited the 13-year-old private aircraft that had been owned by the Qatari royal family while it was parked at Palm Beach International Airport.The New York Times was first to report that Trump was considering purchasing and modifying used aircraft to serve as new presidential aircraft.

An axolotl swims around in an aquarium at a museum in Xochimilco Ecological Park, in Mexico City, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)2025-02-20T13:08:20Z MEXICO CITY (AP) Legend has it the axolotl was not always an amphibian. Long before it became Mexicos most beloved salamander and efforts to prevent its extinction flourished, it was a sneaky god.Its an interesting little animal, said Yanet Cruz, head of the Chinampaxchitl Museum in Mexico City.Its exhibitions focus on axolotl and chinampas, the pre-Hispanic agricultural systems resembling floating gardens that still function in Xochimilco, a neighborhood on Mexico Citys outskirts famed for its canals.Despite there being many varieties, the axolotl from the area is a symbol of identity for the native people, said Cruz, who participated in activities hosted at the museum to celebrate Axolotl Day in early February.While there are no official estimates of the current axolotl population, the species Ambystoma mexicanum endemic of central Mexico has been catalogued as critically endangered by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species since 2019. And though biologists, historians and officials have led efforts to save the species and its habitat from extinction, a parallel, unexpected preservation phenomenon has emerged. Axolotl attracted international attention after Minecraft added them to its game in 2021 and Mexicans went crazy about them that same year, following the Central Banks initiative to print it on the 50-peso bill. Thats when the axolotlmania thrived, Cruz said. All over Mexico, the peculiar, dragon-like amphibian can be spotted in murals, crafts and socks. Selected bakeries have caused a sensation with its axolotl-like bites. Even a local brewery Ajolote in Spanish took its name from the salamander to honor Mexican traditions. Before the Spaniards conquered Mexico-Tenochtitlan in the 16th century, axolotl may not have had archeological representations as did Tlloc god of rain in the Aztec worldview or Coyolxauhqui its lunar goddess but it did appear in ancient Mesoamerican documents. In the Nahua myth of the Fifth Sun, pre-Hispanic god Nanahuatzin threw himself into a fire, reemerged as the sun and commanded fellow gods to replicate his sacrifice to bring movement to the world. All complied but Xlotl, a deity associated with the evening star, who fled.He was hunted down and killed, said Arturo Montero, archeologist of the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas. And from his death came a creature: axolotl.According to Montero, the myth implies that, after a gods passing, its essence gets imprisoned in a mundane creature, subject to the cycles of life and death. Axolotl then carries within itself the Xolotl deity, and when the animal dies and its divine substance transits to the underworld, it later resurfaces to the earth and a new axolotl is born.Axolotl is the twin of maize, agave and water, Montero said.Current fascination toward axolotl and its rise to sacred status in pre-Hispanic times is hardly a coincidence. It was most likely sparked by its exceptional biological features, Montero said. Through the glass of a fish tank, where academic institutions preserve them and hatcheries put them up for sale, axolotl are hard to spot. Their skin is usually dark to mimic stones though an albino, pinkish variety can be bred and they can stay still for hours, buried in the muddy ground of their natural habitats or barely moving at the bottom of their tanks in captivity.Aside from their lungs, they breathe through their gills and skin, which allows them to adapt to its aquatic environment. And they can regenerate parts of its heart, spinal cord and brain.This species is quite peculiar, said biologist Arturo Vergara, who supervises axolotl preservation efforts in various institutions and cares after specimens for sale at a hatchery in Mexico City.Depending on the species, color and size, Axolotls prices at Ambystomania where Vergara works start at 200 pesos ($10 US). Specimens are available for sale when they reach four inches in length and are easy pets to look after, Vergara said. While they regularly have a 15-years life span (in captivity), weve had animals that have lived up to 20, he added. They are very long-lived, though in their natural habitat they probably wouldnt last more than three or four years.The species on display at the museum one of 17 known varieties in Mexico is endemic to lakes and canals that are currently polluted. A healthy population of axolotl would likely struggle to feed or reproduce.Just imagine the bottom of a canal in areas like Xochimilco, Tlahuac, Chalco, where theres an enormous quantity of microbes, Vergara said. Under ideal conditions, an axolotl could heal itself from snake or heron biting and survive the dry season buried in the mud. But a proper aquatic environment is needed for that to happen.Efforts to preserve axolotl go hand in hand with preserving the chinampas, Cruz said at the museum, next to a display featuring salamander-shaped dolls. We work closely with the community to convince them that this is an important space. Chinampas are not only where axolotl lay its eggs, but areas where pre-Hispanic communities grew maize, chili, beans and zucchini, and some of Xochimilcos current population grow vegetables despite environmental threats.Many chinampas are dry and dont produce food anymore, Cruz said. And where some chinampas used to be, one can now see soccer camps.For her, like for Vergara, preserving axolotl is not an end, but a means for saving the place where the amphibian came to be.This great system (chinampas) is all thats left from the lake city of Mexico-Tenochtitlan, so I always tell our visitors that Xochimilco is a living archeological zone, Cruz said. If we, as citizens, dont take care of whats ours, it will be lost.____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. MARA TERESA HERNNDEZ Hernndez is a reporter on the APs Global Religion team. She is based in Mexico City and covers Latin America. twitter mailto

Police officers stand guard in a shopping area in Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic, at the site where two women have died in a knife attack, Thursday, Feb 20, 2025. (Josef Costarek/CTK via AP)2025-02-20T09:43:29Z PRAGUE (AP) Two women have died in a knife attack on Thursday at a shopping center in the Czech Republic, officials said.Police say they detained a teenage suspect in connection with the stabbings in a store in the city of Hradec Kralove, some 100 east of Prague.Reports initially said the victims had been injured, one of them seriously, but police later said both had died. They were not identified.A 16-year-old Czech national was detained by police about one 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from the scene, shortly after the attack. A knife was found nearby.Prime Minister Petr Fiala offered his condolences to the relatives of the dead.What has happened in Hradec Kralove today is an absolutely incomprehensible and horrible act, he posted on X.The motive for the attack was not immediately known.Police say the situation was under control and there was no danger to the public. No other details were immediately available.

This article was produced in collaboration with Court Watch, an independent outlet that unearths overlooked court records. To subscribe to Court Watch, click here.A Beverly Hills plastic surgeons patients filed a class action lawsuit against him earlier this month after they say he didnt tell them that his patient information database had been hacked twice, and that their personal information and nude photos of themselves undergoing surgery had been posted online.The lawsuit alleges that the surgeon, Dr. Jaime Schwartz, did not secure his patients information with industry-standard safety protocols, and that he lied about the scope of the first hack when patients asked him about it. Schwartz may also be familiar to some reality TV viewers, having appeared on shows such as Botched, according to his website.Despite charging clients thousands of dollars and having access to their deeply private medical information, Dr. Schwartz disregarded basic security measures necessary to protect that information from malicious cyberattacks, the lawsuit states. As a result of his negligence, he allowed his network to be compromised twice in less than a year [emphasis in original].In both cases, Dr. Schwartz did not notify his patients of a hack until some of them found their informationincluding nude photos of themselves with their faces visibleonline, according to the lawsuit.The lawsuit alleges that Dr. Schwartz was first notified of a hack of his patient database in October of 2023, when the hacking group Hunter International posted that it had access to his data.The hackers had exfiltrated 1.1 terabytes of data from Dr. Schwartz, consisting of 248,245 files, the lawsuit states. The dark web posting included four patient photos, including one nude photo with the patients face visible.Schwartz refused to pay the ransom, according to the lawsuit. One month later, the hackers updated the post with a note to him.Seems like you dont want to protect your data at all, the lawsuit quotes the note as reading. More than 30 days had passed already since your network has been breached. You have been provided with everything you have asked aboutBut you keep begging for proofs [sic]. This is not the way we going to make business with you. Maybe you will do us a favor and transfer half of the money to prove that you can pay for your data?The lawsuit does not specify how much money the hackers had asked for as part of the extortion. About two weeks after the note was posted, the lawsuit states, the hackers put up another update including nude photos of patients. If you find your private data here just email us and we will let you know how to proceed further with actions against this DOCTOR! the last update read, according to the lawsuit.The lawsuit alleges that Schwartz did not notify his patients of the hack until some of them found information about it online. One plaintiff reached out to him to ask whether her data was compromised as part of the breach.Thereafter, a person claiming to be in charge of cybersecurity for Dr. Schwartz called [the plaintiff], the lawsuit states. [She] is informed and believes that the person was Dr. Schwartzs brother.According to the lawsuit, the head of cybersecurity told the plaintiff that the breach had only affected six people, that her data was not included, and that Schwartz was working with the FBI and had completely overhauled the computer system to prevent future cyberattacks.The medical world is not new to this kind of extortion. Both major hospitals and private clinics have suffered data breaches in recent years, and over 500 breaches of varying degree were reported to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2024. The American Medical Association found in 2019 that 83 percent of doctors in the U.S. had experienced some kind of cyber attack.Plastic surgeons, however, have recently become a popular target because of the kind of data they retain. A patients file includes not only their medical and financial information, but also photographs taken as part of the treatment process. Depending on the surgery, many of those photographs are taken nude. Even as far back as 2017, hackers targeted a plastic surgeon whose clients allegedly included royal families and stole a wealth of highly personal photos.Seems like you dont want to protect your data at all.This information is particularly valuable for purposes of sale on the dark web to facilitate identity theft and for purposes of ransom/extortion against physicians and patients, the lawsuit states.In October of 2023, the FBI released a public service announcement that hackers were targeting plastic surgeons. The announcement said that hackers would phish plastic surgeons offices to get access to their patient information databases, then use open-source information like patients social media profiles as leverage.Once successful, cybercriminals use social engineering techniques to enhance the harvested data and extort individuals for cryptocurrency, the announcement stated.Yet the lawsuit alleges that Schwartz did not take any extra precautions after his October hack. And, in March of 2024, it claims, he was hacked a second time. In this breach, the lawsuit alleges, The entirety of Dr. Schwartzs patient data was compromised.[Schwartz] failed to notify his patients as required by federal and state law, the lawsuit states. He waited to do so until after the hackers posted a public website announcing the hack and leaking patients names, contact information, and nude photographs, and began contacting his patients directly. Despite knowing that his patients most private medical data was in the hands of malicious actors, Dr. Schwartz waited almost 10 months to notify them [emphasis in original].Maybe you will do us a favor and transfer half of the money to prove that you can pay for your data?Schwartz sent his patients a generic message about the second hack in January of 2025. He wrote that, An unauthorized third party utilized a third-party vendors credentials to access the practices medical billing and practice management systemIt was determined that some of your personal information was present in the impacted data set. We then took steps to notify you of the incident as quickly as possible.Despite the head of cybersecuritys promise of a full system overhaul, the lawsuit alleges that Schwartzs team did not sufficiently secure its network-connected devices, did not train its staff to avoid phishing emails, and did not properly vet or secure its third-party vendors with access to sensitive patient data. It also claims Schwartz did not adequately monitor its network activity or implement appropriate network traffic controls to prevent the exfiltration of large amounts of data. The lawsuit additionally claims Schwartz did not have appropriate anti-malware software or firewalls in its system.The lawsuit also alleges that, when it was filed, Schwartz had not yet contacted the California attorney general or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service about either hack.To date, the hackers have posted approximately 30 patient files, the lawsuit states. They have warned that they will continue releasing patient files, in alphabetical order, until Dr. Schwartz contacts them to address the matter.The plaintiffs are demanding damages of up to $3,000 per violation per person, amounting to more than $5 million, as well as a potential jury trial.Schwartzs office did not respond to a request for comment.

Hoopla, a service that provides public libraries around the country with ebooks, announced that it will do more to prevent the spread of low quality AI-generated books after a 404 Media investigation showed that they were common on its platform.At hoopla, customer satisfaction is at the core of everything we do, and we deeply appreciate the feedback weve received regarding our content, including AI-related titles, Ann Ford, VP of Sales & Customer Support at Hoopla, said in an email sent to librarians on February 10, which 404 Media then obtained. We want to assure you that we take your concerns very seriously. Your input is invaluable in helping us learn, grow, and continuously improve. In response, our senior management has come together to develop a thoughtful and comprehensive plan of action. While the exact details of the plan Hoopla is putting together to prevent low quality AI-generated books from flooding its platform are still not clear, Hoopla emailed librarians again on February 14 to share more information on actions it has already implemented. This includes revising its collection development policy to ensure we adhere to and evolve with industry best practices, offering librarians better ways to manage the Hoopla catalog by contacting Hoopla directly, and the removal of all summary titles from all vendors, with some exceptions, such as HMH Books, the publisher of the popular CliffNotes series. 404 Media also obtained a copy of this second email.As 404 Medias investigation into Hoopla showed, books that seemingly use AI to summarize existing, human-written books, are some of the most common low quality content on Hoopla as well as other ebooks providers, including Amazon. For example, one publisher called IRB Media had hundreds of summaries available to lend via Hoopla when I published my story on February 4. At the time of writing IRB Media still has about a dozen summaries I could find on Hoopla, but most of its books had been removed.Hooplas second email to librarians also announced that the company has removed some publishers and authors it identified as providing poor-quality and/or poor-quality AI-generated content using industry metadata standards to identify AI-generated content. Some of the low quality AI-generated books I highlighted in my story, like a fatty liver diet cookbook by an author that doesnt appear to exist and has an AI-generated headshot, were removed. Other books, like an AI-generated book about Elon Musk, are still on Hoopla but cant be borrowed. Other books by the same author of the Elon Musk book, Bill Tarino, have been removed as well.It is important to note that libraries may still choose to opt out of all publisher-tagged AI-generated content by contacting their sales representative, Ford said in one of the emails to librarians. It is our hope that you are already noticing the positive impact of these actions.While its notable that Hoopla is actively removing AI-generated books on its platform that it previously ignored, librarians think the company still has a lot of work to do.Librarians select, purchase, and lend materials in service to the public, and they put their trust in hoopla to provide a curated and high-quality catalog of materials, Jennie Rose Halperin, executive director at Library Futures, an organization of librarians, told me in an email. Hoopla has broken this trust in favor of a profit-motivated, exploitative model that flies in the face of professional values. This statement, which is very light on details, continues to avoid accountability for the expensive and shoddy product they are vending. Around the country, libraries are under attack by censors and book banners for simply providing access to quality resources that serve the needs of their communities, and hooplas model puts them further at risk. The misalignment of values between big vendors and libraries has never been clearer.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko talk during a signing ceremony in Minsk, Belarus, Dec. 6, 2024. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)2025-02-20T16:06:01Z MOSCOW (AP) Russia and Belarus will hold a joint military exercise in September, officials said Thursday, part of efforts by the two neighbors and allies to expand their military ties amid the fighting in Ukraine.The Zapad, or West, 2025 drill will involve over 13,000 troops, said Valery Revenko, a Belarusian defense official. He added that observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a top trans-Atlantic security and rights group, will be invited to monitor the drills.Belarus authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus with an iron hand for over 30 years and has relied on Kremlin subsidies and support, allowed Russia to use his countrys territory to send troops into neighboring Ukraine in 2022 and to host some of its tactical nuclear weapons.Russian troops rolled into Ukraine from Belarus on Feb. 24, 2022, after a joint drill with the Belarusian army. Ukraine and Belarus share a 1,084-kilometer (672-mile) border. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier this month that a Russian military buildup in Belarus, which borders NATO members Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, could set the stage for a potential attack. Russia has repeatedly denied allegations that it could attack NATO members. Revenko said that Belarus is open for mutual military inspections with Poland 80 kilometers (50 miles) deep into each others territory something he said would signal Polands intention to pursue good neighborly ties. If Poland rejects or ignores such action, we will have a different opinion, Revenko said.The United States and the European Union have imposed sweeping sanctions on Belarus over its massive crackdown on protests following the 2020 presidential election and Lukashenkos move to allow Russia to use his countrys territory to send troops into Ukraine.In December, Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty giving security guarantees to Belarus, Moscows closest ally, including the possible use of Russian nuclear weapons to help repel any aggression. At the time, Lukashenko asked Putin to deploy more advanced weapons in Belarus, including the nuclear-capable Oreshnik intermediate range ballistic missile that Russia used for the first time in November against Ukraine.Putin responded that Oreshnik missiles could be deployed to Belarus in the second half of 2025, adding that they will remain under Russian control but Moscow will allow Minsk to select the targets.The signing followed Moscows revision of its nuclear doctrine, which for the first time placed Belarus under the Russian nuclear umbrella amid the tensions with the West over the conflict in Ukraine.Russia hasnt disclosed how many tactical nuclear weapons it has deployed to Belarus, but Lukashenko said in December that his country currently has several dozen of them. The deployment extends Russias capability to target several NATO allies in Eastern and Central Europe.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at his office in the Capitol, Nov. 6, 2023 in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)2025-02-20T16:15:47Z LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell is announcing on Thursday that he wont seek reelection next year, ending a decadeslong tenure as a power broker who championed conservative causes but ultimately ceded ground to the fierce GOP populism of President Donald Trump.McConnell, the longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history, chose his 83rd birthday to share his decision not to run for another term in Kentucky and to retire when his current term ends. He informed The Associated Press of his decision before he was set to address colleagues in a speech on the Senate floor.His announcement begins the epilogue of a storied career as a master strategist, one in which he helped forge a conservative Supreme Court and steered the Senate through tax cuts, presidential impeachment trials and fierce political fights. Seven times, my fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate, McConnell said in prepared remarks provided in advance to the AP. Every day in between Ive been humbled by the trust theyve placed in me to do their business here. Representing our commonwealth has been the honor of a lifetime. I will not seek this honor an eighth time. My current term in the Senate will be my last. McConnell, first elected in 1984, intends to serve the remainder of his term ending in January 2027. The Kentuckian has dealt with a series of medical episodes in recent years, including injuries sustained from falls and times when his face briefly froze while he was speaking. The senator plans to deliver his speech in a chamber the famously taciturn McConnell revered as a young intern long before joining its back benches as a freshman lawmaker in the mid-1980s. His dramatic announcement comes almost a year after his decision to relinquish his leadership post after the November 2024 election. South Dakota Sen. John Thune, a top McConnell deputy, replaced him as majority leader. McConnells looming departure reflects the changing dynamics of the Trump-led GOP. Hes seen his power diminish on a parallel track with both his health and his relationship with Trump, who once praised him as an ally but has taken to criticizing him in caustic terms.In Kentucky, McConnells departure will mark the loss of a powerful advocate and will set off a competitive GOP primary next year for what will now be an open Senate seat. Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, seen as a rising star in his party for winning statewide office in Republican territory, has said he has no interest in the Senate, though he is widely viewed as a contender for higher office.McConnell, a diehard adherent to Ronald Reagans brand of traditional conservatism and muscular foreign policy, increasingly found himself out of step with a GOP shifting toward the fiery, often isolationist populism espoused by Trump.McConnell still champions providing Ukraine with weapons and other aid to fend off Russias invasion, even as Trump ratchets up criticism of the country and its leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The senator plans to make it clear Thursday that national defense remains at the forefront of his agenda. Thanks to Ronald Reagans determination, the work of strengthening American hard power was well underway when I arrived in the Senate, McConnell said in his prepared remarks. But since then, weve allowed that power to atrophy. And today, a dangerous world threatens to outpace the work of rebuilding it. So, lest any of our colleagues still doubt my intentions for the remainder of my term: I have some unfinished business to attend to.McConnell and Trump were partners during Trumps first term, but the relationship was severed after McConnell blamed Trump for disgraceful acts in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack by his supporters. A momentary thaw in 2024 when McConnell endorsed Trump didnt last. Last week, Trump referred to McConnell as a very bitter guy after McConnell, who battled polio as a child, opposed vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s confirmation as the nations top health official. McConnell referred to Trump as a despicable human being and a narcissist in a biography of the senator by The Associated Press deputy Washington bureau chief, Michael Tackett. Before their falling out, Trump and McConnell pushed through a tax overhaul largely focused on reductions for businesses and higher-earning taxpayers. They joined forces to reshape the Supreme Court when Trump nominated three justices and McConnell guided them to Senate confirmation, tilting the high court to the right. McConnell set a new precedent for hardball partisan tactics in 2016 by refusing to even give a hearing to Democratic President Barack Obamas pick of Merrick Garland to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Putting the brakes on the Senates advise and consent role for judicial nominees, McConnell said the vacancy should be filled by the next president so voters could have their say. Trump filled the vacancy once he took office, and McConnell later called the stonewalling of Garlands nomination his most consequential achievement. Later, when liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died weeks before the 2020 presidential election won by Democrat Joe Biden, McConnell rushed Amy Coney Barretts confirmation through the Senate, waving off allegations of hypocrisy.McConnell also guided the Senate and Trump through two impeachment trials that ended in acquittals.In the second impeachment, weeks after the deadly Capitol attack by a mob hoping to overturn Trumps 2020 reelection defeat, McConnell joined all but seven Republicans in voting to acquit. McConnell said he believed Trump couldnt be convicted because hed already left office, but the senator also condemned Trump as practically and morally responsible for the insurrection.McConnell over the years swung back and forth from majority to minority leader, depending on which party held power. He defended President George W. Bushs handling of the Iraq war and failed to block Obamas health care overhaul.McConnell, the longest-serving senator ever from Kentucky, ensured that the Bluegrass State received plenty of federal funding. Back home he was a key architect in his partys rise to power in a state long dominated by Democrats.He is married to Elaine Chao, and they have long been a power couple in Washington. In his prepared remarks Thursday, the senator referred to her as his ultimate teammate and confidante. Chao was labor secretary for Bush and transportation secretary during Trumps first term, though she resigned after the Capitol insurrection, saying it had deeply troubled her.McConnells parting words reflected his devotion to the Senate and his disdain for his detractors.The Senate is still equipped for work of great consequence, he said. And, to the disappointment of my critics, Im still here on the job.___Follow the APs coverage of Mitch McConnell at https://apnews.com/hub/mitch-mcconnell. 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Rabbi Yusuf Hamra, left, and his son Henry take pictures as they visit the Al-Raqi synagogue in the old city of Damascus Feb. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)2025-02-20T14:51:10Z DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) As Rabbi Yusuf Hamra and his son Henry were visiting Damascus this week for the first time since emigrating from Syria to the United States more than three decades ago, they were met by former neighbors offering embraces and gossip . The Syrian-American Jewish family returned as part of a delegation organized by the Syrian Emergency Task Force, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization, in the wake of the fall of the government of former President Bashar Assad.Although they had not met in more than 30 years, the familys Christian neighbors spotted Yusuf on the street and remembered him from when he was a teacher in the local school. An excited exchange of reminiscences ensued to catch up on the decades, with gossip about who had married who, who was still living and who had emigrated. Rabbi Yusuf Hamra, right, is greeted by neighbours in the old city of Damascus Feb. 18, 2025.(AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki) Rabbi Yusuf Hamra, right, is greeted by neighbours in the old city of Damascus Feb. 18, 2025.(AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More I left from Syria, but Syria never left us, said Henry, who was 15 when his family left for New York. During the visit, the Hamras prayed in the long-neglected al-Franj synagogue where Yusuf used to serve as a rabbi, in what is still known as the Jewish quarter, in the old city of Damascus, although only a small handful of Jews remain. They also visited the historic synagogue in the suburb of Jobar, which was heavily damaged and looted during Syrias nearly 14-year civil war.May God help us, this wont be rebuilt for decades, Yusuf said as he surveyed the destruction. Syrian-American Rabbi Yusuf Hamra visits a synagogue destroyed during the war at the Jobar district in the outskirts of Damascus Feb. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki) Syrian-American Rabbi Yusuf Hamra visits a synagogue destroyed during the war at the Jobar district in the outskirts of Damascus Feb. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Travel restrictions lifted in 1992 Even before mass anti-government protests in 2011 were met by a brutal authoritarian crackdown that eventually spiraled into a civil war, Syrias once-sizeable Jewish population had dwindled to almost nothing. The community in Syria numbered about 100,000 at the start of the 20th century. A wave of emigration had already begun at that time and accelerated in the years surrounding Israels creation in 1948, Syrian Jews faced increased tensions and restrictions. Many emigrated to Israel, the United States and other countries.Under the Assad familys 54-year authoritarian rule, Jews in Syria were free to practice their religion, but community members faced suspicion of being Israeli spies or collaborators and were banned from traveling outside the country to prevent them from going to Israel until the early 1990s. Rabbi Yusuf Hamra, right, and his son Henry lookout an old scripture at the Efranj synagogue in the old city of Damascus Feb. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki) Rabbi Yusuf Hamra, right, and his son Henry lookout an old scripture at the Efranj synagogue in the old city of Damascus Feb. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Rabbi Yusuf Hamra, center left, prays the Al-Raqi synagogue in the old city of Damascus Feb. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki) Rabbi Yusuf Hamra, center left, prays the Al-Raqi synagogue in the old city of Damascus Feb. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Once travel restrictions were lifted in 1992 after Arab-Israeli peace talks started, most of the remaining population of about 4,500 left - including the Hamra family - with many of them landing in New York, where they formed a close-knit community.Henry Hamra recalled that his family had lived in constant fear of the draconian Syrian intelligence services - a common experience for Syrians of all religions during the Assad dynastys rule, but even more so because they were Jewish and subject to extra scrutiny. At the same time, he remembered the familys close bond with their Muslim and Christian neighbors. Syrian-American Henry Hamra takes pictures at a synagogue destroyed during the war at the Jobar district in the outskirts of Damascus Feb. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki) Syrian-American Henry Hamra takes pictures at a synagogue destroyed during the war at the Jobar district in the outskirts of Damascus Feb. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Plans for rebuilding and reconstructionMouaz Moustafa, executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, said he hoped that the Jewish delegation would encourage more Syrian Jews to return - and would help make the case for Washington to lift sanctions that had been imposed during Assads era. Moustafa said he also hoped that the visit would also show that the countrys new authorities - led by interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, who was formerly the leader of the Islamist insurgent group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS - are serious in their public statements about inclusivity and protection of minorities and would lead the U.S. and others to remove the terrorist designation from the group.The Jewish delegation met with Syrias deputy foreign minister, and Yusuf Hamra sent a letter to al-Sharaa in which he said that the Syrian Jewish community abroad continues to cherish its deep-rooted connection to Syria, its motherland. American-Jewish visitors hold Torah scrolls at a synagogue in the old city of Damascus Feb. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki) American-Jewish visitors hold Torah scrolls at a synagogue in the old city of Damascus Feb. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Throughout history, this community has been an integral part of the Syrian national fabric, Hamra wrote. We look forward to rebuilding bridges of communication and to actively participating in the reconstruction of our homeland, standing side-by-side with our fellow Syrians. The return of the Syrian Jews was widely welcomed in Damascus but some questioned the delegation political motives and whether it was meant as a precursor for normalization of relations with Israel. Moustafa said that was not the case. The goal of this visit has no relationship to any country in the region except for Syria, he said. Rabbi Yusuf Hamra, left, leaves after visiting a Jewish school in the old city of Damascus Feb. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki) Rabbi Yusuf Hamra, left, leaves after visiting a Jewish school in the old city of Damascus Feb. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Hard to move back hereAs emotional as the homecoming was, the Hamras said they are not ready to think about a permanent return to Damascus, where more than a decade of war has left the infrastructure battered.You cannot stay with no electricity, you cannot stay with no water, and when youre living in New York and you have 24 hour electricity and internet... its very, very, very hard to move back here, Henry said. Rabbi Yusuf Hamra prays at the al-Franj synagogue where he used to serve as a rabbi in the old city of Damascus Feb. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki) Rabbi Yusuf Hamra prays at the al-Franj synagogue where he used to serve as a rabbi in the old city of Damascus Feb. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More ABBY SEWELL Sewell is the Associated Press news director for Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. She joined the AP in 2022 but has been based in the region since 2016, reporting and guiding coverage on some of its most significant news stories. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

FILE - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during his briefing in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)2025-02-20T15:01:08Z KYIV, Ukraine (AP) A planned news conference after talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trumps Ukraine envoy was canceled Thursday as political tensions deepened between the two countries over how to end the almost three-year war with Russia.The format of the press event, which was to include comments to the media by Zelenskyy and retired U.S. Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, was changed at the last minute so that the two did not deliver statements or field questions from journalists. The change was requested by the U.S. side, Ukrainian presidential spokesman Serhii Nikiforov said.Kelloggs trip to Kyiv coincided with recent feuding between Trump and Zelenskyy that has bruised their personal relations and cast further doubt on the future of U.S. support for Ukraines war effort.Nikiforov gave no other reason other than that the cancellation was in accordance with U.S. wishes. The U.S. delegation made no immediate comment. The White House did not immediately respond to questions about why the news conference was called off.When the meeting began, photographers and video journalists were allowed into a room where the two men shook hands before sitting across from each other at a table at the presidential office in Kyiv. The two men were due to speak about Trumps efforts to end the war. Zelenskyy had previously said he looked forward to explaining what was happening in Ukraine and showing it to Kellogg. Kellogg, one of the architects of a staunchly conservative policy book laying out an America First national security agenda, has long been Trumps top adviser on defense issues.Zelenskyy and Trump have traded rebukes in recent days.The spat erupted after Russia and the U.S. agreed Tuesday to start working toward ending the war in Ukraine and improving their diplomatic and economic ties. With that, Trump abruptly reversed the three-year U.S. policy of isolating Russia. Zelenskyy was unhappy that a U.S. team opened the talks without inviting him or European governments that have backed Kyiv.When Trump claimed Zelenskyy was deeply unpopular in Ukraine, the president said Trump was living in a Russian-made disinformation space, suggesting he had been duped by Putin.But Zelenskyy retains a fairly high level of public trust about 57 percent according to a report released Wednesday by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.Trump accused Zelenskyy of being A Dictator without Elections!! Due to the war, Ukraine did delay elections that were scheduled for April 2024.Trump also suggested that Ukraine was to blame for the war.Russias army crossed the border on Feb. 24, 2022, in an all-out invasion that Putin sought to justify by falsely saying it was needed to protect Russian-speaking civilians in eastern Ukraine and prevent the country from joining NATO.On Wednesday, Trump warned Zelenskyy that he better move fast to negotiate an end to Russias invasion of Ukraine or risk not having a nation to lead.European leaders also commented on the feud, throwing their support behind Zelenskyy. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz whose country has been Kyivs second-biggest weapons supplier after the U.S., said it was wrong and dangerous to deny Zelenskyys democratic legitimacy.Ukraine has been defending itself for nearly three years against a merciless war of aggression day after day, Scholz told news outlet Der Spiegel.British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke to Zelenskyy on Wednesday and expressed support for him as Ukraines democratically elected leader, Starmers office said, adding that it was perfectly reasonable to postpone elections during wartime.Russian officials, meanwhile, are basking in Washingtons attention and offering words of support for Trumps stance.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the rhetoric of Zelenskyy and many representatives of the Kyiv regime in general leaves much to be desired a veiled reference to Ukrainian criticism of Putin.Representatives of the Ukrainian regime, especially in recent months, often allow themselves to make statements about the heads of other states that are completely unacceptable, Peskov said in a conference call with reporters. Amid the diplomatic clamor, Ukrainian civilians continue to endure Russian strikes. Russia fired 161 Shahed and decoy drones and up to 14 missiles of various types at Ukraine overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, according to military authorities.A Russian glide bomb struck an apartment block in the southern city of Kherson on Wednesday night, killing one person and wounding six, including 14-year-old twins, authorities said.The southern port city of Odesa also came under a Russian drone attack for the second consecutive night, leaving almost 50,000 homes without electricity in freezing winter temperatures, officials said.___Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine JUSTIN SPIKE Spike is an Associated Press reporter based in Budapest, Hungary. twitter mailto

Ziff Davis, the $2 billion media conglomerate that owns dozens of sites including PCMag, Lifehacker, IGN and CNET, is quietly taking diversity, equity, and inclusion information off of its website, 404 Media has learned.In the past month, the company removed information about diversity-focused employee resource groups, inclusion-based hiring goals, and diversity training for its workers and managers from its corporate website.The changes were first spotted by a Ziff Davis employee. 404 Media granted the employee anonymity to speak candidly.An archived version of Ziff Daviss DEI webpage saved on January 19 states, Ziff Davis is proud to offer Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), voluntary employee-led groups mentored by executive sponsors and overseen by our Global DEI and HR Programs team. They represent seven identity groups: Asian, Black, 2SLGBTQIA+, Latinx/Hispanic, family of all kinds, women and gender minorities, and interfaith.On the same page at time of writing, and as early as February 12, the description of employee resource groups had been changed to remove specific mentions of those groups. It now says, All employees are welcome to create or join Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), which are voluntary employee-led groups mentored by executive sponsors.The page as it appeared January 29The page as it appears todayInternal HR reps assure us all is well, that DEI programs and employee resource groups will remain unchanged, the employee told 404 Media. But theyre still concerned about the changes to the website. The internal reassurances, public silence, and website changes leaves me feeling gaslighted about our companys commitment to DEI.Other sections have been removed from the website entirely. On the archived version of the page from January, the company stated that it gave senior leadership bonuses depending on how well they met its diversity goals.In 2023, we activated 100% of the $1 million committed to hiring POC freelancers by year-end, the January webpage said. Another ongoing action listed included adding non-financial DEI targets, based on internal talent goals, to the annual compensation plans of executives with substantial hiring oversight. The bonus plans of certain senior executives include a hiring, retention, and leadership component based on the achievement of Ziff Davis diversity and inclusion objectives.On the current version of the page, this paragraph is completely gone.A short section of the page dedicated to employee training has also lost any mention of Diversity and Inclusion training since January.The page as it appeared on January 25The page as it appears todayOn another page detailing its Five Pillars of Purpose, Ziff Davis lists Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as one of these pillars. An archived version of this page from January describes this pillar as the companys intent to reinforce our diverse workforce, reflect our diverse audiences, and expand upon our inclusive culture.According to the current description, the company must ensure we avail ourselves of the best talent in the marketplace, to hire top employees and address the needs of a large and diverse customer base.Ziff Davis has also made changes to its Community page, which talks about volunteering and donations to non-profit organizations. Since January, the company has fully removed paragraphs about its partnership with the Black Game Developer Fund, as well as its pro bono ad campaigns for NAACP and Sandy Hook Promise. (Sandy Hook Promise is still mentioned as one of the recipients for approximately $1.3 million in ad space via our Employee Resource Groups.)The company has also removed mention of the $10 million it has deposited in Black-owned banks, to help the institutions originate loans that foster economic opportunity within underserved Black communities, according to the archived version of the page.A section of the community page as it appeared on January 19The same section as it appears todayThe current community page also no longer lists Ziff Davis CEO Vivek Shah as a part of CEOs for Gun Safety, which the archived page describes as a coalition of CEOs who believe gun violence in the U.S. is not inevitable and are urging elected officials to help prevent it. CEOs for Gun Safetys list of signatories still lists Shah as of February.Internal messages in a company-wide group chat about diversity obtained by 404 Media, however, show the company claiming no change to its commitment to DEI.One message, for example, encouraged employees to Celebrate Black History Month with [employee resource group] Black@ZD, and invited them to a series of enriching events that celebrate our achievements, honor our history, and strengthen our community at Ziff Davis, as we explore this year's theme of African Americans and Labor.Another message from a member of the companys DEI council said, DEI isnt just a statement at ZD, its part of who we are and how we operatethe impact of our work speaks louder than any headline or inclusion on a list could. In my humble opinion, I dont believe that we need to shout it from the rooftops because our actions consistently reflect our values.Multiple employees in the group chat asked whether Ziff Daviss approach to DEI was changing based on President Trumps executive orders about it. On Wednesday morning, the companys CEO Vivek Shah posted a video about DEI and environmental sustainability to a company Facebook group.Our commitment to both is not changing, Shah says in the video, which 404 Media viewed. Simply put, DEI at Ziff Davis helps us drive the best possible business outcomesWe must ensure that everyone understands what DEI and ESG [environmental, social, and governance] mean at our company. Ive asked our teams to ensure that were clear in our language.Ziff Davis did not respond to 404 Media's request for comment.In the last yearand increasingly since Trumps election and executive order demanding federal agencies scrub their websites of mentions of diversity, equity and inclusionmultiple organizations and companies including Meta, Target, Google, and the Smithsonian Institution have rolled back or ended their diversity targets and programs. The Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Disease Control, and Food and Drug Administration all removed webpages and data related to adolescent health and HIV. Some of those pages are now back online after a judge ordered that they return to their previous statebut now, a note at the top of the pages says, Any information on this page promoting gender ideology is extremely inaccurate, and disconnected from the immutable biological reality that there are two sexes, male and female.Its scary enough when a Walmart or Hobby Lobby caters to the right, but when a massive media company starts complying in advance with Orwellian Newspeak the potential ripple effects feel extra scary, the employee who spoke to 404 Media said.

This undated photo provided by Hostage's Family Forum shows Israeli hostage Oded Lifshitz who was abducted and brought to Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023. (Hostage's Family Forum via AP)2025-02-20T09:30:13Z JERUSALEM (AP) The bodies of four Israelis taken captive by Hamas, including those said to be of the last female and child hostages in Gaza, were released Thursday, bringing to 28 the number of captives freed since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began on Jan. 19. The bodies returned to Israel are presumed to include Shiri Bibas and her two sons, Ariel and Kfir, whose plight has captivated Israelis since they were taken during Hamas deadly attack on Oct. 7, 2023. The body of one of the oldest hostages held was also returned, his family confirmed Thursday. The remains of all four still await formal identificationIn the first phase of the ceasefire deal, a total of 33 hostages in Gaza eight of whom are dead are supposed to be freed in exchange for almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Five Thai citizens who were working in Israel on the day of the attack were freed last month as part of a separate deal. Hamas-led militants took 251 hostages during their Oct. 7, 2023, attack that launched the war in Gaza. More than 60 hostages remain in Gaza, although about half are believed to be dead. The others were released, rescued, or their bodies recovered. Israels military campaign has killed over 48,000 Palestinians, according to Gazas Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters but says more than half were women or children.Heres a look at the hostages returned so far: Shiri, Ariel and Kfir BibasThe bodies said to be of Shiri Bibas and her two sons, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, were returned Thursday. They were abducted along with Shiris husband, Yarden, from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, 2023. Hamas said the three were killed in an Israeli airstrike. Yarden Bibas was released earlier this month during the ceasefire deal. A video capturing their abduction showed a terrified Shiri Bibas swaddling her two redheaded sons in a blanket and being carried away by militants. The footage ricocheted around the world in the hours after the attack began.Ariel was 4 years old at the time of the attack and his brother, Kfir, was 9 months old, making him the youngest captive taken by Hamas. Ariel Bibas loved Batman and family photos showed the four Bibases dressed as the character. Kfir, the infant with red hair and a toothless smile, became a symbol across Israel for the feelings of helplessness and anger over the hostages captivity.Oded Lifshitz, 84The body of Oded Lifshitz, one of the oldest hostages held by the militants, was returned Thursday, his family confirmed in a statement hours after the exchange. He was taken captive from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, along with his wife, Yocheved Lifshitz, who was freed during a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023. Oded Lifshitz was shot in the hand in the attack. In their Thursday statement after his release, his family said they had hoped and prayed so much for a different outcome.Now we can mourn the husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather who has been missing from us since October 7, they said. Our familys healing process will begin now and will not end until the last hostage is returned. Oded and Yocheved Lifshitz are among the founders of Nir Oz. Oded, a journalist, campaigned for the recognition of Palestinian rights and peace between Arabs and Jews. In retirement, he drove to the Erez border crossing on the northern edge of the Gaza Strip once a week to ferry Palestinians to medical appointments in Israel as part of a group called On the Way to Recovery.Oded took pride in his work helping the traditionally nomadic Bedouin people of the Negev Desert, his daughter told The Associated Press, describing a case that went to Israels High Court and resulted in the return of some of their land.Sagui Dekel Chen, 36An Israeli-American, Chen was working outside on his pet project, bus conversions, when militants stormed his kibbutz. He instructed his wife, Avital, to hide in the safe room with their two daughters. Chen, one of the first people to raise alarm of the infiltration on the kibbutz, was taken captive.Avital was seven months pregnant at the time of the attack; she gave birth to a third daughter, Shachar Mazal, in December 2023.Chen is an avid tennis player who co-founded an arts center for young people in southern Israel, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, an advocacy group representing the families of hostages, Iair Horn, 46Horn is an Israel-Argentinian who was taken captive along with his brother, Eitan Horn, who was staying with him at the time. Eitan Horn remains in captivity and his name is not on the list of hostages to be released during the ceasefires first phase. Iair Horn managed the kibbutz pub and is a fan of the local soccer team in Beer Sheba, according to the hostages forum. Friends gathered at the kibbutz pub on Nir Oz to watch Horns release from captivity and to toast his return, according to Israeli media. Alexander (Sasha) Troufanov, 29Sasha Trufanov, an Israeli-Russian, was taken hostage along with three members of his family: grandmother Irena Tati, mother Yelena (Lena) and girlfriend Sapir Cohen. His father, Vitaly Trufanov, was killed on Oct. 7, 2023. The rest of his family was freed during a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023.Sasha Troufanov works as an engineer for Amazon, according to the hostages forum. His family immigrated to Israel from the Soviet Union 25 years ago.He was believed to be held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another militant group in Gaza, which has released multiple videos of him in captivity, including one just hours before his release. Eli Sharabi, 52Eli Sharabi was taken captive by the militants from Kibbutz Beeri, a communal farm that was one of the hardest hit in the Hamas attack. His British-born wife, Lianne, and their teenage daughters, Noiya and Yahel, were killed by militants while hiding in their safe room. His brother, Yossi Sharabi, who lived next door, was killed in captivity. Hamas militants are holding his body, according to the Hostages Forum.Eli Sharabis home bore marks from the attack months later. AP journalists saw bullet holes in the walls and the shattered oven and TV screens. Nearby homes were torched by militants and their roofs blasted off during fighting on Oct. 7.Ohad Ben Ami, 56Ohad Ben Ami, a father to three, was taken captive with his wife, Raz, from Kibbutz Beeri, where he was an accountant. Raz Ben Ami was released during the weeklong ceasefire in November 2023.The hostages forum described Ohad Ben Ami as a passionate nature enthusiast and the cornerstone of his family.Or Levy, 34Or Levy was pulled out by the militants from a bomb shelter near the Nova music festival in southern Israel. His wife, Einav Levy, was killed during the attack. Their son Almog, now 3, has been in the care of relatives since the assault. Levy was taken captive alongside American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin as well as two other hostages Eliya Cohen and Alon Ohel. Goldberg-Polin, whose parents staged a high-profile campaign for his release, was killed in Hamas captivity. Or Levy is from the city of Rishon Lezion, where he worked as a computer programmer for a startup. Yarden Bibas, 35The release of Yarden Bibas dimmed hopes that his wife and children were still alive in Gaza. Hamas has claimed that the three were killed in an Israeli airstrike. Israel has not confirmed that, but a military spokesperson said last month that the government was extremely concerned about their welfare.Yarden Bibas was taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7. Photos from the abduction show him wounded, bleeding from the head.Keith Siegel, 65Keith Siegel, from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was abducted with his wife, Aviva Siegel, from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, a communal farming village heavily damaged by the attack. She was freed during the November 2023 ceasefire deal, and has campaigned across the world for the release of her husband and other hostages.Aviva Siegel said that she was held hostage with her husband during her 51 days in captivity. She said she took comfort from having her husband by her side as they were moved from tunnel to tunnel, the two given almost no food or water. Her parting words to him were, Be strong for me.Ofer Kalderon, 54Ofer Kalderon, a French-Israeli hostage, was taken captive from Kibbutz Nir Oz. His teenage children, Sahar and Erez, were also abducted, but they were freed during the weeklong ceasefire in 2023.Arbel Yehoud, 29Arbel Yehoud was taken hostage with her boyfriend, Ariel Cunio, from Kibbutz Nir Oz. A third-generation resident of the kibbutz, she loves science and space, and her friends held a public star gazing to mark her birthday in captivity.Her brother, Dolev Yehoud, was killed on Oct. 7. Agam Berger, 20In videos of Agam Bergers abduction, her face is covered in blood, though it unclear if it is from her own wound or those of other soldiers.Berger is a violin player from a suburb of Tel Aviv who enlisted in the army just two months before the attack.Gadi Moses, 80Gadi Moses was one of the oldest hostages who remained in captivity in Gaza. He was taken from his home on Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the communities hardest-hit in the Hamas-led attack. The hostages forum described Moses as an expert agronomist who lectured on agriculture and helped maintain the kibbutzs community vegetable garden. Moses partner, Efrat, was killed during the attack. Watchara Sriaoun, 33In the Oct. 7 attack, militants overran the compound where agricultural workers lived on Kibbutz Nir Oz. Out of the 16 Thai workers living there, 11 were killed and five, including Watchara Sriaoun, were abducted. They were among at least 31 Thai workers taken in the assault. In the November 2023 ceasefire, 23 were released in a deal negotiated between Thailand and Hamas, with assistance from Qatar and Iran.Sathian Suwannakham, 35Sathian Suwannakham was also taken from Nir Oz. The kibbutz has continued to advocate for the release of the Thai workers by posting regularly about them on social media, in addition to the Israeli hostages. Surasak Rumnao, 32Surasak Rumnao was abducted from the town of Yesha, located near the southern Gaza Strip. His mother, Khammee Lamnao, said the Thai Embassy in Israel called her to let her know her son would be released.Pongsak Thaenna, 36 Pongsak Thaenna was also taken from the town of Yesha. Thais make up the largest group of foreigners held in Gaza. In the early days after the Oct. 7 attack, then-Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in phone conversations to assist the Thai hostages.Bannawat Saethao, 27Bannawat Saethao was also abducted from the town of Yesha. Liri Albag, 19Liri Albag, who was among those abducted from the Nahal Oz military base, was featured in a video Hamas released in early January, filmed under duress. Her family said the video was difficult to watch because of Albags clear emotional distress. They were particularly active in the protest movement pushing for a deal with Hamas to bring the hostages home.Liri, if youre hearing us, tell the others that all the families are moving heaven and earth and want their children home, and we will fight until all hostages are returned, her father said in a statement after the video was released.Karina Ariev, 20Karina Ariev was also taken from Nahal Oz.Just before she was abducted, she she sent a message to her family, saying: If I dont live, take care of mom and dad all their lives. Dont give up, live, according to Israeli media. Her family said she loves to cook, sing, dance and write poetry.Daniella Gilboa, 20Also taken from Nahal Oz, Daniella Gilboa was originally named Danielle. Her parents changed it after she was taken captive, in line with a Jewish tradition that is believed to bring Gods protection.Gilboa, from Petah Tikva, a suburb of Tel Aviv, played piano and studied music in high school. She dreams of being a singer, according to Israeli media.Naama Levy, 20The footage from Naama Levys abduction, in which she is wearing gray sweatpants covered in blood, was shown around the world. Levy, among those taken from Nahal Oz, is a triathlete. When she was younger, she participated in the Hands of Peace delegation, which brings together Americans, Israelis and Palestinians to work on coexistence.Romi Gonen, 24Romi Gonen was taken from the Nova music festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. She spoke to her family for nearly five hours as militants marauded through the festival grounds. She told them that roads clogged with abandoned cars made escape impossible and that she would seek shelter in some bushes. Her father, Eitan Goren, said she survived in part by learning Arabic, as it was the only way to communicate with her captors. I just enjoy being with her even in silence, touching, hugging, watching her, he said, a week after her release. I missed it so much.Emily Damari, 28Emily Damari is a British-Israeli citizen abducted from her apartment on Kibbutz Kfar Aza. She lived in a small apartment in a neighborhood for young adults, the closest part of the kibbutz to Gaza. Militants broke through the border fence of the kibbutz and ransacked the neighborhood.The day after her release, Emilys mother, Mandy, said her daughter was in high spirits and on the road to recovery.Doron Steinbrecher, 31Doron Steinbrecher is a veterinary nurse who loves animals, and a neighbor to Damari in Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Steinbrecher holds both Israeli and Romanian citizenship. Steinbrecher was featured in a video released by Hamas in January 2024, along with two female Israeli soldiers. Her brother said the video gave them hope that she was alive but sparked concern because she looked tired, weak and gaunt.___Associated Press writer Haruka Nega in Bangkok, Thailand, contributed to this report.___Follow APs war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg testifies to a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Committee hearing, May 2, 2024, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)2025-02-20T14:07:45Z TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) Some believe the Democratic Partys next savior is living here, huddled with family, in the relative obscurity of a small city on the shores of Lake Michigan.Pete Buttigieg has yet to decide if thats a responsibility he wants.For now, Buttigieg, the 43-year-old former U.S. transportation secretary, is discussing his future with party officials, labor leaders and top strategists. He must decide soon whether he wants to return to the national spotlight as a candidate in Michigans U.S. Senate race or step aside to instead seek a much bigger role as his partys next presidential nominee.Prominent allies believe Buttigieg cannot feasibly do both, even as others raise the comparison to Barack Obama, who was elected president just four years after becoming a U.S. senator.I dont think you can run for Senate in 2026 and run for president in 2028 ... I would think that would be very, very hard, said Obamas former chief strategist David Axelrod, who met briefly with Buttigieg last week ahead of a joint appearance at the University of Chicago. The Democratic Party may be hurting more at this moment than it was two decades ago, when voters turned to that first-term senator from Illinois over more established candidates to lead their comeback from the Bush years. Indeed, Democrats, demoralized and afraid, are crying out for strong new leadership with President Donald Trump and his allies, notably Elon Musk, racing to transform Washington while gutting key federal agencies. Buttigieg has the tools to lead his party on a national scale if he wants. More than four years after the little-known mayor outperformed far more experienced Democrats in the Iowa presidential caucuses, he remains one of the partys best communicators, boasting a massive social media following, a national donor network and a Midwestern charm he displays in Fox News Channel interviews and smaller settings alike. More than anything, allies say, Buttigiegs decision will be guided by the impact on his young family at a difficult cultural moment in Trumps America. The Republican president has targeted LGBTQ+ initiatives and inclusion programs. Buttigieg is the openly gay father of 3-year-old twins. Axelrod complimented Buttigieg as one of the most talented people in the party.He would be a frontline candidate in any race that he ran, Axelrod said. Life in the Cherry Capital of the World Buttigieg has lowered his profile since leaving the Biden administration last month. He hasnt done any media interviews. He declined to speak to The Associated Press for this story. And he has challenged Trump only with a handful of social media posts, notably pushing back on the Republican presidents blaming of diversity hiring for the deadly midair collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.But based on the response, Democrats like what he has to say. His posts on X frequently garner millions of views. And just over a week after joining the newer social media platform Bluesky, he has quickly become one of its most-followed Democrats. Buttigieg, a former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has been a more visible presence around his new home of Traverse City, a lakeside resort town that calls itself the Cherry Capital of the World. His husband, Chasten Buttigieg, grew up in Traverse City.Chasten actually was a speaker at our last Obama dinner; he sat at my table, said Lauren Flynn, a local county commissioner. I always get text messages from folks saying, Oh, my gosh, I saw Pete shopping downtown or running by the bay.Its much the same at the local coffee shop, Higher Grounds Trading Co., which features a pride flag out front and progressive messages on the walls. One barista described the shop as a low-profile spot where most customers dont disturb the towns highest-profile resident.Hes been coming in more frequently, barista Sydney Hall said recently, noting shed served Buttigieg and his husband earlier that day.The coffee shop may be a welcoming environment, but some warn of safety concerns for members of the LGBTQ+ community and other prominent Democrats in the current political environment. Aaron Wright, president of the Traverse City-based Up North Pride, praised Buttigieg and his family for sacrificing their physical safety for the betterment of their local area, the state and society. He noted Traverse City is just 20 minutes from where members of a local militia plotted to kidnap Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.Thats the No. 1 thing that I would imagine theyre considering is the physical safety of being where they are, as the people that they are, because people are drinking out of the firehose of misinformation and disinformation, Wright said. Malignant groups that want to see people like me suffer.Wrights husband, Trenton Lee, chair of the local Democratic Party, said his political opponents in local campaigns often focus on his sexuality rather than policies. Pete offers that challenge to the other side, where if you took out his sexual orientation, the way hes able to articulate issues and then actually work on them, hes a shoo-in for whatever he runs for, Lee said. It forces them to be like, The only issue I have is that hes gay.Buttigieg is already facing allegations from some critics that he moved to the state solely to help his political career.Its not just that he carpet-bagged to Michigan a few years ago after being the mayor of South Bend. Its that he did it in the most unrelatable enclave in the entire state, said Jason Roe, a Republican strategist and former executive director of the state party.Traverse City, Roe said, is an elite bubble that only underscores an elitism that was one of the problems in the Democratic Party. Roe added that hell be surprised if Buttigieg enters the race, because if he runs and loses, he could be done.A plum opportunity in a key stateThere may be no better staging ground for an ambitious Democrat in 2025 than Michigan.Democratic Sen. Gary Peters unexpected retirement created a rare Senate vacancy ahead of next years midterms. A Republican hasnt been elected to the U.S. Senate in Michigan this century, although Mike Rogers came within less than 1 percentage point last fall and is planning to run again.Michigan also offers a home state advantage to any prospective presidential candidate in 2028. The state is expected to host one of the nations opening presidential primaries. And in the general election, Michigan will be a premier swing state. Buttigieg is leaning on powerful allies to help make his decision.Longtime Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who retired in January and considers Buttigieg a close friend, attended his twins birthday party and visited him at home recently. She said she doesnt expect to endorse in the Senate primary, but she told him directly hed be a very strong candidate. If he announced now, hed be the front-runner, Stabenow told the AP. Hes a Midwesterner, and he talks like a Midwesterner. Hes somebody I think people really relate to. Stabenow said she dares Buttigiegs opponents to try to use his limited time in Michigan as a political weapon. We have thousands of people that marry into Michigan every year, Stabenow said. We have a great (former) governor who was born in Canada. If thats the best theyve got, great.Buttigieg has recently spoken with labor leaders across Michigan and met with Whitmer and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, a Democrat expected to enter the Senate race soon. Veteran Democratic strategist Lis Smith, a key adviser on Buttigiegs 2020 presidential campaign and a close ally, has also worked with McMorrow in the past.Exploring his appeal beyond MichiganBut Buttigieg is also looking beyond Michigan. Former Rep. Annie Kuster, D-N.H., who left Congress in January, said she speaks to Buttigieg semi-regularly and recently encouraged him to run for the Senate. Like other Buttigieg allies, she said his young family remains his chief concern as he navigates his options.Hes hugely talented, Kuster said. And he has a tremendous ability to communicate and communicate with the very people that were missing: the middle of the country, small towns. Whether he runs for the Senate or not, Kuster said, there are plenty of New Hampshire Democrats whod welcome him back to the states high-profile presidential primary in 2028. Buttigieg finished second in New Hampshire during his underdog 2020 presidential bid. Kuster pointed to Obama as an example of someone who ran for the Senate and then president a few years later. These are all of the things he and his team are navigating, Kuster said. He obviously has a ton of choices. ___Peoples reported from New York. JOEY CAPPELLETTI Cappelletti covers politics and state government for The Associated Press in Michigan. He is based in Lansing. twitter mailto

Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump's nominee for Secretary of Education, arrives for a hearing of the Health, Education, and Labor Committee on her nomination, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)2025-02-20T15:42:08Z WASHINGTON (AP) A Senate committee voted Thursday to advance Linda McMahons nomination to serve as President Donald Trumps education secretary, bringing her closer to leading an agency the Republican president wants to shut down.The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions voted 12-11 along party lines to send her nomination to be considered by the full Senate.At her confirmation hearing, McMahon said she wants to reorient the Education Department. Since his campaign, Trump has called for the department to be abolished, but McMahon acknowledged that only Congress could shut it down completely.Wed like to make sure that we are presenting a plan that I think our senators could get on board with, she said.Pressed on the fate of the agencys core initiatives, McMahon said Trump wants them to be more efficient but isnt out to defund them. She suggested certain roles could be moved to other agencies, saying the departments civil rights arm could go to the Justice Department. She pledged to preserve federal Title I money for low-income schools, Pell grants for low-income college students and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, all of which were created by Congress. At the same time, McMahon promised to cut off federal money from schools that defy Trumps orders against transgender athletes in womens sports, campus antisemitism and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across the country. Democrats were alarmed by McMahons response to questions about Trumps order to ban DEI programs in schools. Asked if African American history classes could trigger a loss of federal money, McMahon said she wasnt certain and needed to look into it.McMahon, a billionaire Trump ally and former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, brings less experience in education than many others in the role. She was a member of the Connecticut board of education for about a year in 2009, and shes a longtime trustee at Sacred Heart University. She left the WWE in 2009 and led two unsuccessful bids for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut. Republicans were mostly unified behind McMahon at the hearing, though Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska raised concerns that Trump would ask McMahon to overstep her authority and interfere with local control of schools.The White House is considering an order that would direct the education secretary to dismantle the Education Department while urging Congress to fully abolish it. Even without the order, the Trump administration has fired or suspended more than 100 Education Department employees. Dozens of contracts have been canceled by Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency.The latest cuts, announced late Wednesday, involve grants totaling $226 million for a program designed to help schools improve outcomes and the quality of instruction, particularly for students with the greatest need. An Education Department news release said the program has been promoting race-based discrimination and gender identity ideology. ___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 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 RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

FILE New York mayor Eric Adams, right, and New York governor Kathy Hochul attend a ceremony in honor of the New York Liberty's WNBA championship at City Hall in New York, Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)2025-02-20T18:45:02Z NEW YORK (AP) Gov. Kathy Hochul wont immediately remove New York City Mayor Eric Adams from office, but will instead push for increased oversight of City Hall as he faces intense scrutiny over his relationship with the Trump administration. Hochul will announce Thursday that she has, for now, decided against removing Adams from office, according to three people familiar with the governors plan who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they werent authorized to disclose its details.The decision came after she solicited opinions this week from a roster of New York political figures over questions about whether Adams could independently govern after the Justice Department moved to drop his corruption case so he could help with Republican President Donald Trumps immigration agenda. Rather than remove Adams, Hochul plans to propose legislation that would require City Hall to operate within new guardrails. Two of the sources familiar with the strategy said the proposals include establishing a new deputy inspector focused on New York City, a fund for the citys comptroller, public advocate and council speaker to launch lawsuits against the federal government, and more money for the state comptroller to investigate the citys finances. Hochul a centrist Democrat, as is Adams has faced questions about the mayors future since his indictment in September on bribery and other charges. He has pleaded not guilty and said at a court hearing Wednesday that he hadnt committed a crime. Hochul has been reluctant to oust him, arguing that doing so would be undemocratic, while thrusting the city into a complex, court-like removal process that has never been used before against a sitting mayor of the countrys most populous city. But after four of Adams top deputies quit on Monday, the governor said she had serious questions about the long-term future of this mayoral administration. The deputies resigned after an extraordinary series of developments in Adams federal criminal case.First, Justice Department leaders ordered prosecutors to drop it, saying it was impeding the mayors ability to help with the Trump administrations immigration enforcement push.Then, some prosecutors and supervisors resigned rather than follow what they saw as an improper order, and the acting top prosecutor in Manhattan said Adams lawyers had offered to exchange his cooperation on immigration for a dismissal of his case. The mayor and his lead lawyer said they did no such thing.Then, after some Justice Department figures finally filed paperwork to get the case dismissed, a judge summoned Adams and everyone else involved to court Wednesday to discuss the matter. The judge hasnt ruled yet on the governments request to close out the case.Adams has been set to go on trial in April on charges of taking illegal campaign contributions and getting breaks on travel in exchange for doing favors for the Turkish government. In one episode, his indictment alleges, the then-mayor-elect pushed fire officials to let a Turkish consular building open without passing a fire inspection.Adams has said there was nothing improper about his trips. He has characterized any help he provided to Turkish officials in dealing with the diplomatic building as just the routine work of an elected official helping people navigate bureaucracy. JAKE OFFENHARTZ Offenhartz is a general assignment reporter in the New York City bureau of The Associated Press. twitter mailto

In this photo reviewed by U.S. military officials, the Office of Military Commissions building used for Periodic Review Board hearings stands, on April 18, 2019, in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)2025-02-20T20:29:02Z JERUSALEM (AP) Israeli police on Thursday reported a series of explosions on buses in central Israel in what they said appeared to be a militant attack. No injuries were reported.Police spokesman Asi Aharoni told Channel 13 TV that explosives were found on two other buses. He called on the public to be alert and report any suspicious objects to authorities.The explosions took place just hours after Hamas released the bodies of four Israeli hostages held in Gaza the first of eight hostages that Israel believes are dead and to be returned during the current phase of the ceasefire. Police rushed forces to the scene in Bat Yam, a Tel Aviv suburb, as they searched for suspects. Police spokesman Haim Sargrof says drivers have scanned all buses and trains, and those scans are complete.We need to determine if a single suspect placed explosives on a number of buses, or if there were multiple suspects, he said. Tzvika Brot, mayor of Bat Yam, said it was a miracle that no one was hurt. He said the buses had finished their routes and were in a parking lot. He said one of the unexploded bombs was being defused in the nearby town of Holon. Sargrof said the explosives matched explosives used in the West Bank, but he declined to elaborate.Israel has repeatedly carried out army raids on suspected Palestinian militants in the West Bank since Hamas Oct. 7 attack. As part of that crackdown, it has greatly restricted entry into Israel for Palestinians from the occupied territory.Since the ceasefire in Gaza took effect on Jan. 19, Israel has been conducting a broad military offensive against Palestinian militants in the West Bank. In the past, militants have entered Israel and carried out shootings and bombings in Israeli cities.

San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama reacts after a missed a free throw during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Chicago Bulls in Chicago, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)2025-02-20T21:33:38Z Victor Wembanyama is one of the faces of the NBA, the star of the San Antonio Spurs and already one of the biggest names in basketball.And his season is likely over, after the Spurs announced Thursday that he has been diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder.The 7-foot-3 center from France was averaging 24.3 points, 11 rebounds, 3.8 blocks and 3.7 assists this season. Since blocked shots became an official statistic, only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar nearly a half-century ago finished a season with those numbers or better.Some questions and answers about Wembanyamas situation:What is deep vein thrombosis?By the Mayo Clinics definition, deep vein thrombosis or DVT occurs when a blood clot forms in one or more of the deep veins in the body, usually in the legs. The Spurs say Wembanyama was diagnosed with DVT in his right shoulder, and doctors will now work to determine how and why that happened before coming up with a plan for treatment.Among the major risks of DVT: Clots breaking loose, traveling through the bloodstream and reaching the lungs. That does not appear to have happened to Wembanyama, at least based on the diagnosis the team provided Thursday. How will Wembanyama be treated?Doctors who spoke Thursday to The Associated Press none of them involved in Wembanyamas treatment said its a virtual certainty that the French star will be prescribed blood-thinning medication to address the clot.The longstanding thinking was that athletes who participate in contact sports like basketball should not play while on blood thinners, or anticoagulants, because of the risk of bleeding. However, an article published Thursday by the American College of Cardiology hours before the news about Wembanyama broke said playing competitive sports may be reasonable for athletes receiving full anticoagulation or partial anticoagulation. What does this mean for the Spurs?In short, its not good. The Spurs are not currently in the playoff picture and faced an uphill fight just to get into the play-in tournament and now will have to finish the season without their best player.San Antonio still has talent: Chris Paul, Harrison Barnes and newly acquired DeAaron Fox are a formidable veteran trio. But everything is built around Wembanyama.And the Spurs will be without their biggest star while also missing the franchises leader. Coach Gregg Popovich had a stroke in November and has been away from the team for nearly the entire season.What does this mean for the NBA?The leagues MVP for each of the last six years has been a player born somewhere other than the U.S. and that streak is likely to extend to seven this season with Canadas Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the stellar Oklahoma City guard, and Serbias Nikola Jokic, the three-time MVP from Denver, expected to be the favorites.But it robs the league of one of its brightest stars for the stretch run.Everything Wembanyama does is huge news in France and in San Antonio, and hes already one of the leagues most popular players. If he and the Spurs had made a playoff run, his star would have only shined brighter. Why cant he win an NBA award now?The league is in its second year of whats commonly called the 65-game rule, which basically means a player has to appear in at least 65 games to be eligible for most end-of-season awards like MVP.It also applies to defensive player of the year, which Wembanyama was favored to win. He has played in only 46 games, meaning he will not be on the NBAs ballot for that trophy when the voting is conducted in April.Wembanyama won rookie of the year last season. If this situation happened then, he still could have won the rookie honor that one doesnt fall under the 65-game-minimum policy.___AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA TIM REYNOLDS Reynolds is an Associated Press sports writer, based in South Florida. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

This photo provided by Caitlin Mandracchi shows a Scottish Highland bull on the loose in New Milford, Conn., on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. (Caitlin Mandracchia via AP)2025-02-20T20:06:04Z KENT, Conn. (AP) A Scottish Highland bull is the talk of the town in the rural hills of western Connecticut, where it has been roaming for over a month in the frigid winter weather after escaping from its confines.Local residents have reported sporadic sightings, including a few over the past week, said Lee Sohl, the animal control officer in Kent. It was recently seen just over the town line in New Milford.People keep spotting it and they dont know that people are looking for it, Sohl said in a phone interview Thursday. If somebody calls me about a sighting, then I tell the owner and theyve been doing their best. They run right out and try to get to it. But its hard. Its hard in this weather, and its very scared.The owner, Jo Ann Joray, said there have been people out looking for the bull, but they havent been able to catch it. Photos posted on social media by people who have spotted the bull have drawn a range of comments, from ones expressing sympathy for its plight, to others saying the bull is adorable to one saying it would produce good steaks.Stray farm animals are nothing new in the area. Cows, horses and goats get loose on occasion, Sohl said. Thats just where we live, she said.The bulls story evoked memories of Buddy the beefalo, a bison hybrid who roamed the woods in central Connecticut for months in 2020 and 2021 after escaping on the way to the slaughterhouse. Buddy was eventually caught and moved to a Florida animal sanctuary.Scottish Highland cattle are known as a hardy breed that can live outside all year, according to the Highland Cattle Society in Scotland. Thats good for the Connecticut bull because temperatures have been below freezing for several days. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

President Donald Trump arrives to speak at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute summit in Miami Beach, Fla., Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)2025-02-20T05:14:14Z WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump marked Black History Month at the White House on Thursday by making an appearance at a celebratory reception with a surprise guest, golf legend Tiger Woods, while calling out other athletes in attendance and marveling at the size of the crowd.Trump also announced he planned to bring Alice Johnson, a prison reform advocate whom he pardoned in 2020, into his administration to work on clemency issues. The White Houses Black History Month reception preserved a tradition, but it comes in the wake of Trump issuing a wide-ranging executive order ending the federal governments diversity, equity and inclusion programs has disrupted its observance elsewhere.Today, we pay tribute to the generations of Black legends, champions, warriors and patriots who helped drive our country forward to greatness. And you really are great, great people, Trump said. Trump didnt mention his anti-DEI crusade in as he addressed hundreds of guests in a reception in the East Room, though he did make a brief reference of the The New York Times 1619 Project, which highlights the lasting consequences of slavery in America. Trump objected to the project during his first term, and in response created a commission to promote so-called patriotic education dubbed the 1776 Commission.The last administration tried to reduce all of American history to a single year, 1619. But under our administration, we honor the indispensable role black Americans have always played in the immortal cause of another day, 1776, Trump said. We like 1776. Trump has called DEI programs discrimination and pushed to eradicate diversity programs from the government, directed that DEI workers eventually be laid off and exerted similar pressure on the private sector to shift to an exclusive focus on merit.The sweeping effort has sown discord and confusion across federal agencies, which have variously interpreted the order to limit how they can acknowledge race in history and culture or report demographic data on race and gender. Joining Trump were Black political figures and activists who have been his vocal supporters. Invited guests, according to a White House official, included Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina; Republican Rep. John James of Michigan; Alveda King, a niece of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.; Herschel Walker, the football legend who is Trumps choice as U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas; and prison reform advocate Alice Johnson, whom he pardoned in 2020.Other invited guests included figures from sports and entertainment, including former ESPN host Sage Steele; former NFL player Jack Brewer; and rap stars Kodak Black, Lil Boosie and Rod Wave, according to the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.In the wake of his executive order, the Defense Department issued guidance declaring identity months dead and said that working hours would no longer be used to mark cultural awareness months such as Black History Month, Womens History Month and National Disability Employment Awareness Month. That seemed to clash with a National Black History Month proclamation signed the same day by Trump, which called for public officials, educators, librarians, and all the people of the United States to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.While the White House has issued its position, agencies of the government have discretion on whether to continue to recognize Black History Month, according to the official.On Feb. 1, the first day of Black History Month, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that his department will no longer participate in celebrations based on immutable traits or any other identity-based observances. And in a diplomatic cable, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the agencys removal of DEI policies would dovetail with eliminating our focus on political and cultural causes that are divisive at home and deeply unpopular abroad. The administration has issued a deadline to schools and universities to eliminate diversity initiatives or risk losing federal money. Major corporations have backtracked on DEI policies in hiring, promotion and workplace culture in recent months, with many citing potential legal challenges from the administration.Black History Month has been recognized by every U.S. president since 1976, including Trump during his first term. Black History is American history. And similar to the story of our nation, it is a story of strength, resilience, and dogged perseverance, said CJ Pearson, a national co-chair of the Republican National Committees youth advisory council. Pearson, who is Black, has been an outspoken defender of Trump against Black civic leaders, civil rights advocates and Democrats who lambast the president as racist. President Trumps anti-DEI policies arent promoting racism but what they are doing is manifesting the dream of the great Martin Luther King, Jr.: a nation where one isnt judged by the color of their skin but instead by the content of their character, said Pearson, who will attend the White House event.Other Black Republicans arent so sanguine about the administrations current course or what it portends for the GOPs nascent inroads with Black voters or other communities of color. Trump can build upon the coalition he pulled together in November with Blacks and Asians and Hispanics and young folks, said Raynard Jackson, a Republican strategist. But if they leave it the way it stands right now, Trump is going to destroy the very coalition he so marvelously brought to the table in November.To Jackson, DEI is a catch-all for liberal policies that are unrecognizable from the original intent of civil rights laws meant to promote the social and economic progress of Black Americans. But in removing and denigrating the policies, Jackson said, the White House risked being labeled as discriminatory by offering no alternative framework for how disadvantaged communities can get ahead. How do you have diversity without it being a mandated bean-counting situation? Jackson asked. Theyve done a masterful job at telling me what theyre against. Im waiting to hear what theyre for.During the 2024 campaign, Trump tried to reach Black voters through in-person events in Atlanta, Chicago and New York. His campaign courted Black celebrities and media personalities to boost his message. Trumps Black conservative allies, including Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., conducted roundtables at Black barbershops and bus tours through majority-Black cities. But Trump also frequently denigrated Black communities in his pitch and made claims that pitted voters of color against immigrants, who he said were taking Black jobs and Hispanic jobs.The efforts to boost support among Black voters seemed to have some success. He won a larger share of Black voters than he did in 2020, particularly among young Black men, according to AP VoteCast, a nationwide survey of more than 120,000 voters in the 2024 election.Overall, about 16% of Black voters supported Trump in November, while about 8 in 10 voted for Democrat Kamala Harris. But that represented an improvement for Trump from 2020, when only 8% of Black voters backed him and about 9 in 10 went for Democrat Joe Biden.___Price reported from New York. MATT BROWN Brown is a reporter covering national politics, race and democracy issues. twitter instagram mailto MICHELLE L. PRICE Price is a national political reporter for The Associated Press. She is based in New York. 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)2025-02-20T21:49:10Z WASHINGTON (AP) An idea first proposed on social media has bubbled up to the White House and received President Donald Trumps enthusiastic endorsement: Take some of the savings from billionaire Elon Musks drive to cut government spending and return it to taxpayers.I love it, Trump said late Wednesday on Air Force One, when asked about the proposal. If Musks target of $2 trillion in spending cuts is achieved by next year, supporters of the idea say that about one-fifth of those funds could be distributed to taxpaying households in checks of about $5,000. But before you start planning for a windfall, budget experts say such huge savings nearly one-third of the federal governments annual spending are highly unlikely. And sending out a round of checks similar to the stimulus payments distributed by Trump and then President Joe Biden during the pandemic could fuel inflation, economists warn, though White House officials dismiss that concern. With the annual budget deficit at $1.8 trillion last year and Trump proposing extensive tax cuts, there will also be significant pressure to use all the savings to reduce that deficit, rather than pass on part of it. Heres what to know about the proposal: Where is this coming from? James Fishback, founder of investment firm Azoria Partners which he launched at Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, promoted the idea Tuesday on X, formerly known as Twitter, prompting Musk to respond that he would check with the president. Fishback said there have also been behind the scenes conversations about the issue with White House officials.Musk has estimated that his Department of Government Efficiency has cut $55 billion so far a tiny fraction of the $6.8 trillion federal budget. But DOGEs public statements so far havent verified the presumed savings, and its claims that tens of millions of dead people are fraudulently receiving Social Security have been disproven. Fishback supports having the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office determine how much DOGE saved. If DOGE cuts $500 billion by July 2026, he said, then the checks would be $1,250, rather than $5,000. We uncovered enormous waste, fraud and abuse, Fishback said in an interview with The Associated Press. And we are going to make good and pay restitution and then rewrite the social contract between the taxpayer and the federal government.Fishback supports sending out checks, rather than using all the money to reduce the deficit, because it would encourage Americans to seek out wasteful government spending in their communities, and report it to DOGE.When am I going to get my check?OK, lets slow down. According to the proposal, DOGE must first complete its work, slated to be done by July 2026. Once that happens, one-fifth of any savings could be distributed later that year to the roughly 79 million households that pay income taxes. About 40% of Americans dont pay such taxes, so they wouldnt get a check. How much can DOGE really save? Color most economists and budget experts skeptical that its focus on waste, fraud, and abuse can actually reduce government spending by much. Budget-cutters from both parties have sought to eliminate waste which doesnt have much of a political constituency for decades, with little success in reducing the deficit. One of the biggest moves by the Trump administration so far has been to fire tens of thousands of government workers, but such changes arent likely to produce big savings. Only a small share of total spending goes to federal employees, said Douglas Elmendorf, former director of the Congressional Budget Office. The big money is in federal benefits and in federal taxes and those are not in DOGEs purview. In November, John DiIulio Jr., a political scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote in an essay for the Brookings Institution that eliminating the entire federal civilian workforce would leave in place about 95% of all federal spending and the $34 trillion national debt. DiIulio noted that government contractors and nonprofits that receive government funds now employ three times as many people as the federal governments 2.2 million employees. Wouldnt another round of government checks contribute to higher inflation? Trump and his economists blame Bidens $1,200 stimulus checks, distributed in the spring of 2021, for fueling the worst spike in inflation in four decades. Yet they maintain that sending checks stemming from reduced government spending wouldnt boost inflation. Kevin Hassett, director of the White Houses National Economic Council, said Thursday that since the money would have been spent by the government anyway, having it spent by consumers would be a wash. Biden and Trumps stimulus checks during the pandemic were deficit-financed, which can be more inflationary. But Ernie Tedeschi, director of economics at the Yale Budget Lab, and an economist in the Biden White House, said that more government checks are the last thing we need economically right now. The U.S. unemployment rate is now much lower than in 2021, Tedeschi said, which means that businesses could struggle to hire enough workers to meet the additional demand created by a round of checks. Worker shortages can push up prices. Yet some Democrats agree with Hassett, but for different reasons. I cant imagine theyd be inflationary because I cant imagine theyd be big enough, said Elaine Kamarck, senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution. Kamarck, who worked with Vice President Al Gore to cut government waste in the Clinton administration, dismissed the DOGE dividend as ridiculous.Theres no money there, and certainly not enough money to make a big contribution to taxpayers, she said. The guy just says things, she added, referring to Musk. CHRISTOPHER RUGABER Rugaber has covered the Federal Reserve and the U.S. economy for the AP for 16 years. He is a two-time finalist for the Gerald Loeb award for business reporting. twitter mailto

The White House is seen as the snow falls, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (Photo/Alex Brandon, File)2025-02-20T22:13:00Z WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) The moment that local officials in Washington have been dreading for months is finally here. President Donald Trump, one month into his second term, has publicly returned to one of his longtime talking points: a federal takeover of the District of Columbia. It would take some doing, though including, literally, an act of Congress. But the issue bubbled up again this week, the latest in the blizzard of initiatives that have surfaced since Trump took the oath of office Jan. 20. Whether it was just a reminder that the president possesses the power to set off alarms with an off-the-cuff remark or by directing his administration to take concrete steps to make it happen remains to be seen. As with efforts to rename the Gulf of Mexico, make Canada the 51st state or make Greenland a U.S. territory, a lot depends on what happens next.Heres a look at some of the questions surrounding the issue: Could this really happen?Yes, but Trump cant do it alone. Congress, with both houses controlled by Republicans, could absolutely vote to repeal the 1973 Home Rule Act. That would be a deeply controversial vote which would likely test the strength of the three-seat GOP majority in the House of Representatives. Why now?Thats a bit of a mystery. Mayor Muriel Bowser has set a conciliatory tone ever since Trump was elected again. She traveled to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump, and said she looked forward to working with the new administration and emphasized the common-ground issues such as their mutual desire to get federal workers back to their offices. Trump, in his brief comments on Air Force One, said he and Bowser get along great. Bowser responded with a posting on X, declaring D.C. a world-class city and listing the Districts virtues. Trump was also responding to a specific question from a reporter, so its possible this was an off-the-cuff comment and not indicative of an immediate priority issue for him. What can Trump do unilaterally?Local government officials have been quietly predicting some sort of executive order imposing stiffer criminal penalties or a crackdown on homeless encampments, but a full takeover would still require an act of Congress.He could theoretically take over the Metropolitan Police Department something that was considered during the 2020 mass protests over the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. Justin Hansford, a professor at D.C.'s Howard University School of Law, said such a step would need some sort of justifying emergency. Trumps perspective on what constitutes such an emergency, Hansford said, would absolutely be challenged in court. How bad are the problems he mentioned?Violent crime rates, particularly homicide and car jacking, legitimately spiked in 2023, leaving officials publicly scrambling for answers. Those numbers came down significantly in 2024, in the face of a new public safety bill and a concerted MPD crackdown. Theyre up a bit so far in 2025 but still down from their recent peak but also well below the late 1990s when D.C. regularly led the nation in per-capita homicides. Graffiti in D.C. is common but not exactly a civic crisis. The city has worked to both clean up graffiti hotspots and transform young taggers into publicly sponsored muralists. Multiple homeless encampments are a fact of life in Washington, but the District government is partially handcuffed by the fact that large swaths of the public greenspace, including many parks and traffic circles, are under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service. The last few years have settled into a cyclical dynamic, with homeless encampments slowly growing into mini tent cities on NPS land, followed by a mass clearing with bulldozers once or twice a year. Whats the history between Trump and DC?Its not positive. During Trumps turbulent first term, he and the local government publicly sparred multiple times in tones ranging from playful to deeply personal. When Trump floated the idea of a massive July 4 military parade complete with tanks rolling through the streets, the D.C. Council publicly mocked him.Trump accused Bowser of losing control of her city during protests over the murder of George Floyd. He backed down from a threat to take over the MPD, and eventually declared his own multi-agency lockdown that included low-flying helicopters buzzing protesters. Bowser responded by having Black Lives Matter painted on the street in giant yellow letters one block from the White House. Trumps feelings remained intense during the four years after leaving office. He repeatedly promised a federal takeover while on the campaign trail as part of an effort to stoke fears about violence in U.S. cities generally. In August 2023, when he briefly came to town to plead not guilty on charges of trying to overturn his 2020 electoral loss to former President Joe Biden, Trump blasted the capital city on social media, calling it a filthy and crime ridden embarrassment to our nation. What about Congress?Activist Republicans in Congress have long used the House Oversight Committee as a forum to employ their power over the local government. During the crime spike in 2023, Bowser and members of the D.C. Council were regularly summoned for inquiries before the committee. That year, Congress also, for the first time in decades, fully overturned a D.C. law when it repealed a rewrite of the D.C. criminal code. But that required Congressional Democrats to join in, and then-President Biden to sign off on it. Members of Congress have also repeatedly used budget riders to alter D.C. laws in minor ways, targeting everything from marijuana legalization to the citys use of traffic cameras. As an indication of just how personal and petty this dynamic has become, the bill previously introduced in Congress proposing to repeal D.C. home rule was titled to produce an antagonistic acronym. Its called the Bringing Oversight to Washington and Safety to Every Resident Act or the BOWSER Act.Is there any silver lining for D.C.?Perhaps the most optimistic interpretation among D.C. officials is a quiet belief that Trump and Congress have no actual interest in the hassle that comes with managing a city of 700,000 residents more populous that two U.S. states. They expect a wave of budget riders from GOP members of Congress emboldened by Trumps statements. But some observers believe Congress will stop short of assuming the responsibility and liability that would come with a full federal takeover. As a lawyer, Im thinking about who I would sue if theres a police brutality case, said Hansford, the Howard law professor. I dont think Congress wants to deal with all that. ASHRAF KHALIL Khalil writes about local issues in Washington, D.C., for The Associated Press and covers the social safety net around the country. twitter instagram mailto

The United States Depository for gold reserves stands in Fort Knox, Kentucky, in 1974. (AP Photo, File)2025-02-20T19:36:27Z LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) President Donald Trump says Elon Musk will be looking at Fort Knox, the legendary depository in Kentucky for American gold reserves, to make sure the gold is still there.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says there is an audit every year and that all the gold is present and accounted for.The United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox has stored precious metal bullion reserves for the United States since 1937 and has become synonymous for secure and well protected. Along with protecting gold reserves, Fort Knox is currently also used as the Armys human resources command center, and it hosts the Armys largest annual training event each summer.Fort Knox history and locationThe Army post is about 35 miles south of Louisville and encompasses 109,000 acres in three Kentucky counties Bullitt, Hardin, and Mead. Camp Knox was established during World War I and became an artillery training center, according to the Army posts website. It was made a permanent installation in 1932 and has been known since then as Fort Knox. The first gold arrived at Fort Knox in 1937 with the 1st Cavalry Regiment called on to guard the shipment. With the outbreak of World War II in Europe, the Army created the Armored Force at Fort Knox, and thousands of soldiers were ordered there and introduced to the tank. For nearly 80 years, the post was known as the Home of Cavalry and Armor. In 2005, the Army decided to move the Armor Center and School to Fort Benning, Georgia, and the Human Resource Command Center of Excellence was established at Fort Knox. In 2013, ROTC Cadet Summer Training was consolidated at Fort Knox. The post hosts the Armys largest annual training event each summer. How much gold is stored at Fort KnoxAccording to the U.S. Mint, current gold holdings at the US Bullion Depository at Fort Knox are 147.3 million ounces. About half of the Treasurys stored gold is kept at Fort Knox. Has the gold ever been removed? The Mint says only very small quantities have been removed to test the purity of the gold during regularly scheduled audits. Except for these samples, no gold has been transferred to or from the depository for many years. The golds book value is $42.22 per ounce. Just how secure is Fort KnoxThe depository is very secure. The actual structure and content of the facility is known by only a few, and no one person knows all the procedures to open the vault. What is known publicly is that the facility was built in 1936 using 16,000 cubic feet of granite, 4,200 cubic yards of concrete, 750 tons of reinforcing steel and 670 tons of structural steel. The facility is heavily guarded and has broken its strict policy of not allowing visitors only three times.Has anyone been allowed to see the gold reserves?In 1974, the US Mint opened the vaults to a group of journalists and a congressional delegation so they could see the gold reserves. The Treasury secretary allowed the visit after persistent rumors that the gold had been removed. Until then, the only person other than authorized personnel to access the vaults was President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Since then, the vaults have been opened one other time: In 2017, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin visited with Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin and congressional representatives. Current Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said he would happily arrange an inspection for any senator who is interested in seeing the vaults. Fort Knox in popular lexiconThe gold depository at Fort Knox has a reputation for being impenetrable, which has gained it a place in popular culture. As early as 1952, a Looney Tunes cartoon featured Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam digging for gold Fort Knox. Fort Knox has also been featured in the plot of movies such as the 1964 James Bond spy thriller Goldfinger and the 1981 comedy Stripes, which was partially filmed at the post.

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)2025-02-20T23:55:45Z WASHINGTON (AP) The Trump administration has kept withholding foreign aid despite a court order and must at least temporarily restore the funding to programs worldwide, a federal judge said Thursday.Judge Amir H. Ali declined a request by nonprofit groups doing business with the U.S. Agency for International Development to find Trump administration officials in contempt of his order, however.The Washington, D.C., district court judge said administration officials had used his Feb. 13 order to temporarily lift the freeze on foreign aid to instead come up with a new, post-hoc rationalization for the en masse suspension of funding.Despite the judges order to the contrary, USAID Deputy Secretary Pete Marocco, a Trump appointee, and other top officials had continued their blanket suspension of funds, Ali said.The ruling comes in a lawsuit by the nonprofit groups challenging the Trump administrations month-old cutoff of foreign assistance through USAID and the State Department, which shut down $60 billion in annual aid and development programs overseas almost overnight. Even after Alis order, USAID staffers and contractors say the State Department and USAID still have not restored payments even on hundreds of millions of dollars already owed by the government. Marocco and other administration officials defended the nonpayment in written arguments to the judge this week. They contended that they could lawfully stop or terminate payments under thousands of contracts without violating the judges order. The Trump administration says it is now doing a program-by-program review of all State Department and USAID foreign assistance programs to see which ones meet the Trump administrations agenda.Aid organizations, and current and former USAID staffers in interviews and court affidavits, say the funding freeze and deep Trump administration purges of USAID staffers have brought U.S. foreign assistance globally to a halt, forced thousands of layoffs and is driving government partners to financial collapse. 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 RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Pete Carlson, third from left, a passenger on the Delta flight that crashed in Toronto on Monday, holds a certificate of recognition for his actions in helping evacuate the plane and help fellow passengers, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025 in Toronto, Canada. (AP Photo/John Wawrow)2025-02-20T20:27:56Z TORONTO (AP) Former paramedic Peter Carlson is still having difficulty putting into perspective the shuddering jolt he and 79 others aboard Delta Air Lines flight 4819 experienced earlier this week.One moment, the 40-year-old was looking forward to arriving in Toronto where he was speaking at an Ontario paramedic chiefs convention. The next, he was hanging strapped only by his seatbelt looking down at the airplanes ceiling, attempting to assess the chaos around him.As blood flowed from a gash on the back of Carlsons head, he noticed other injured passengers, including one pinned beneath a seat behind him. There was an overwhelming smell of jet fuel as it streamed down the window next to his seat by the planes right wing which was sheared off during Mondays crash landing at Torontos Pearson International Airport. This image taken from video released by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, shows the crashed plane of Delta flight 4819 at Toronto Pearson International Airport, in Mississauga, Ontario, on Tuesday, Feb. 18. (Transportation Safety Board of Canada via AP) This image taken from video released by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, shows the crashed plane of Delta flight 4819 at Toronto Pearson International Airport, in Mississauga, Ontario, on Tuesday, Feb. 18. (Transportation Safety Board of Canada via AP) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More It was a forceful impact, a sideways movement and suddenly just inverted, Carlson told The Associated Press on Wednesday. And the only mission was to get out. Carlsons friend and convention chairman Michael Nolan, 53, was waiting to pick him up when he spotted a plume of black smoke in the distance.Are you OK? Somethings going on on the runway, Nolan texted Carlson, not realizing it was his plane.Carlson responded that he was on the tarmac.At first, Nolan thought it meant Carlsons plane had landed. Then his friend sent a follow-up text with a picture of his fellow passengers evacuating the upside-down plane. My heart just sank ... knowing that was his reality was absolutely shocking to me and really brought it home, said Nolan, a paramedic chief in a county north of Ottawa.Instead of just attending a convention about the role paramedics play in the world, the two men found themselves in the middle of a real-life emergency.Nolan rushed to a triage area to assist in treating injured passengers, greeting his friend of over a decade with a big hug. Carlsons paramedic instincts also kicked in, even though hes held a so-called desk job for the past decade.I was comfortable with how my body and mind empowered me to do what I needed to do at that point, he said. I was able to see the objective nature of the challenge in front of us, which was to get away from the threat.Though credited for helping in the evacuation, Carlson deferred praise to the four crew members who shepherded the passengers to safety. That everyone survived astounds him, especially after seeing videos posted online of the Mitsubishi CRJ-900 jet touching down heavily and skidding down the runway before flipping over.Even without seeing that, its remarkable, Carlson said, noting he bruised his ribs and has several cuts and bruises on his legs.I dont know if Im deserving of going into miracle territory, but it sure feels ... he added, before pausing to find the appropriate word. Its amazing. Its amazing.The last of the 21 injured passengers was released from the hospital on Thursday. Cranes lift the wreckage of Delta flight 4819 from the runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport, in Mississauga, Ontario, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press via AP) Cranes lift the wreckage of Delta flight 4819 from the runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport, in Mississauga, Ontario, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press via AP) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More The cuts and bruises will heal, but the mental trauma left Carlson wondering whether he could muster enough resolve on Wednesday to still deliver his address. It took me a lot of personal motivation to leave my room, he said. This morning, I just couldnt. I was quite emotional about this whole thing and just really want to be home.And yet, deliver Carlson did giving a 20-minute speech in which he outlined his background and influences in paramedicine, the significance of the job and the difference paramedics can make.Whatever anxieties he felt didnt show.Though Carlson longed to be back home in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with his wife and three children, his nerves were eased being among his working family of paramedics and Nolan.National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Cindy Woodhouse welcomed Carlson on Tuesday into a drumming circle of healing.A day later, Ontario paramedic chiefs association president Greg Sage honored Carlsons efforts on the airplane with a certificate. Pete Carlson, third from left, a passenger on the Delta flight that crashed in Toronto on Monday, holds a certificate of recognition for his actions in helping evacuate the plane and help fellow passengers, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025 in Toronto, Canada. (AP Photo/John Wawrow) Pete Carlson, third from left, a passenger on the Delta flight that crashed in Toronto on Monday, holds a certificate of recognition for his actions in helping evacuate the plane and help fellow passengers, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025 in Toronto, Canada. (AP Photo/John Wawrow) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More I think every single one of us in this room would hope that if we personally were faced with what Pete was, that we would respond in a similar manner, Sage said. I think hes inspired all of us. Carlsons trip to Toronto began with a hug with Nolan during a very trying time. Two days later, the two shared a more joyous hug onstage after Carlson accepted his award to a standing ovation.I was not as present the last couple of days as I had hoped to be, Carlson apologized to the crowd.Given the events as theyve played out, I cant think of a better group of people in terms of taking care of one another in their community and myself, Carlson said. So just a very big thank you.