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The president has yet to make an endorsement in the contest between John Cornyn and Ken Paxton as he tries to push the Senate to pass a bill requiring voters to show identification at the polls.

Maxx Crosby made his first public comments since the Ravens backed out of a trade that would've sent him to Baltimore, writing on X on Wednesday night, "I'm a Raider. I'm back."

Isnt this how Ironman 3 started? Kimmel said after the F.B.I. warned state officials tobb prepare for a retaliatory Iranian drone strike on the West Coast ahead of Sundays Academy Awards.

A man inspects a car damaged in an Israeli airstrike at the Ramlet al-Baida public beach in Beirut, Lebanon, early Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)2026-03-12T05:44:16Z DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) Unrelenting Iranian attacks on shipping traffic and energy infrastructure pushed oil above $100 a barrel Thursday, as American and Israeli strikes pounded the Islamic Republic with no sign of an end to the war in sight.Iran hit a container ship off the coast of Dubai, caused a blaze near Bahrains international airport, targeted a major Saudi oil field with a drone and forced Iraq to halt operations at all of its oil terminals after attacking its port of Basra on the Persian Gulf. Iran flouted a U.N. Security Council resolution from the previous day demanding that it halt strikes on its Gulf neighbors with new attacks also reported in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. Sirens wailed before dawn in Jerusalem after Israel said it was working to intercept missiles launched from Iran. The country also said it began a wide-scale wave of strikes on Tehran. In Lebanon, where Israel says it is targeting Iran-linked Hezbollah militants, 11 people were killed in two early morning strikes. Since the United States and Israel started the war with a Feb. 28 attack on Iran, Tehran has focused on inflicting enough global economic pain to pressure them to halt their attacks. U.S. President Donald Trump suggested that was not imminent, however, promising to finish the job even though he claimed Iran is virtually destroyed.We dont want to leave early do we? Weve got to finish the job, he said at an event Wednesday in Kentucky. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei hasnt yet made a statement or been seen since being chosen to succeed his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the opening day of the conflict. But Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian suggested online Thursday that for the war to end, the world would need to recognize Irans legitimate rights, pay reparations and offer guarantees against future attacks. In addition to attacking energy infrastructure around the region, Iran has a stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway leading from the Persian Gulf toward the Indian Ocean through which a fifth of the worlds oil is transported.With traffic in the strait effectively stopped, the price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose another 9% to more than $100 a barrel, up some 38% over what it cost when the war started. Iran fires at Gulf Arab countries and hits ship in Persian GulfThe U.N. Security Council voted Wednesday to approve a resolution demanding a halt to Irans egregious attacks on its Gulf neighbors, but Tehran showed no signs of changing its strategy.As the day began Thursday, a container ship in the Persian Gulf was hit with a projectile off the coast of Dubai, sparking a small fire, according to British militarys United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center. It said the crew of the vessel were safe. In Bahrain, an Iranian attack sparked a major fire on Muharraq Island, home to the countrys international airport. The airport has jet fuel tanks, and other tanks in the area serve the kingdoms oil industry.Kuwaits Defense Ministry said an Iranian drone smashed into a residential building, wounding two people. The UAE said it had activated air defenses twice to protect Dubai from attacks, and firefighters extinguished a blaze at a tower in Dubai Creek Harbor after a drone hit. Saudi Arabia said it shot down a drone targeting the diplomatic quarter of the capital, Riyadh, and also reported downing drones inthe kingdoms east, including at least one trying to target its Shaybah oil field.Following an attack on Iraqs Basra port Wednesday that killed at least one person, officials said Thursday that operations were halted at all the countrys oil terminals. Farhan al-Fartousi, the director-general of the General Company for Ports of Iraq, said the attack targeted a vessel in a ship-to-ship transfer area of the Persian Gulf port. Explosions rock Jerusalem while Lebanon and Tehran are hit by Israeli strikesSirens wailed and loud explosions were heard shortly after midnight in Jerusalem and other parts of Israel. The Israeli military said it was responding with another wide-scale wave of strikes in Tehran.Overnight missile launches from Iran and Hezbollah also sent Israelis to shelters in multiple other areas, including Tel Aviv and the northern border with Lebanon. An Israeli strike hit a car Thursday in Ramlet al-Bayda, a major seaside tourist area of Beirut where dozens of displaced people have been sheltering. Eight people were killed and 31 others were wounded, the Lebanese Health Ministry said. The Israeli military press office told The Associated Press it was not aware of a strike at that location.In Aramoun, a town about 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of Beirut, another three people were killed and a child was wounded in another early Israeli attack. In Tehran, security force checkpoints came under attack for the first time on Wednesday night, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported. At least 10 people were killed in the suspected drone assaults. Israel and the U.S. militarys Central Command did not immediately respond to requests for comment over whether they were behind the attacks. Casualties continue to climb as conflict continuesAt least 634 people have been killed in Lebanon since the latest fighting began, the Lebanese Health Ministry said Wednesday.The U.N. refugee agency said at least 759,000 people have been internally displaced in Lebanon.Iranian authorities say more than 1,300 people have been killed there, and Israel has reported 12 people dead. The U.S. has lost seven soldiers while another eight have suffered severe injuries.___Abou AlJoud reported from Beirut and Rising from Bangkok. Associated Press writer Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, also contributed to this report, along with AP journalists around the world. JON GAMBRELL Gambrell is the news director for the Gulf and Iran for The Associated Press. He has reported from each of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Iran and other locations across the world since joining the AP in 2006. twitter instagram mailto DAVID RISING Rising covers regional Asia-Pacific stories for The Associated Press. He has worked around the world, including covering the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Ukraine, and was based for nearly 20 years in Berlin before moving to Bangkok. twitter mailto

Gas prices are displayed at a station Wednesday, March 11, 2026, in Evanston Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)2026-03-12T03:08:02Z BANGKOK (AP) The price of a barrel of Brent crude oil briefly topped $100 a barrel early Thursday, just days after it spiked near $120 in the latest jolts to financial markets and the global economy as a whole. Oil prices initially shot more than 9% higher as supply concerns worsened with Iranian attacks on commercial shipping around the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. campaign of airstrikes in Iran is now in its 13th day. U.S. benchmark crude oil jumped 6.5% to about $93 a barrel. Brent, the international standard, was trading 6.6% higher at about $98 per barrel. Iran has escalated its attacks aimed at generating enough global economic pain to pressure the United States and Israel to end the war. But there were no signs the conflict was subsiding.Iran has targeted oil fields and refineries in Gulf Arab nations and effectively stopped cargo traffic through the narrow Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of all traded oil passes. In response, the International Energy Agency agreed Wednesday to release 400 million barrels of oil, the largest volume of emergency oil reserves in its history, in a bid to counter the wars effects on energy markets. The U.S. planned to release 172 million barrels of oil next week from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve to combat steep prices. The IEAs announcement came a day after energy ministers from the Group of Seven the leading industrialized nations of Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan, Germany and Britain met in Paris to look at ways to bring down prices. But the continued strife and uncertainty have fueled speculation prices could push still higher. Markets in Asia fell back, with Tokyos Nikkei 225 losing 1% to 54,452.96. In South Korea, the Kospi lost 0.5% to 5,583.25, while Hong Kongs Hang Seng gave up 0.9% to 25,678.92. The Shanghai Composite index shed 0.1% to 4,129.10 and in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 dropped 1.3% to 8,529.00. U.S. futures declined.The dollar fell to 158.84 Japanese yen from 158.95 yen. The euro fell to $1.1553 from $1.1566.On Wednesday, U.S. stocks were little changed as the S&P 500 edged 0.1% lower for a second day of modest moves following a wild stretch caused by the war with Iran. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.6%, to its lowest level this year, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.1%.Since the start of the war, sharp moves for oil prices have triggered swings up and down for financial markets worldwide, sometimes by the hour. Oil prices briefly spiked to their highest levels since 2022 this week because of the possibility that production in the Middle East could be blocked for a long time, which in turn raised worries about a surge of debilitating inflation for the global economy.In a report, Oxford Economics said the swings in Brent crude oil prices over the past several days are eye-catching and odds are volatility will remain because of the absence of a timeline for when the conflict will de-escalate and when the Strait of Hormuz, which is effectively closed, will see traffic begin to recover. It said the volatility suggests that depending on news developments, oil prices could spike as high as $140 per barrel. A report released Wednesday showed U.S. consumers paid prices for groceries, gasoline and other costs of living that were 2.4% higher in February than a year earlier.Thats the same level as the month before and better than the 2.5% that economists expected, but it remains above the Federal Reserves 2% target and doesnt include the spike in gasoline prices this month due to the war. High inflation combined with a stagnating economy would create a worst-case scenario called stagflation that the Federal Reserve has no good tools to fix. Stagflation fears are rising not just because of higher oil prices but also because of weakness in hiring by U.S. employers.Because of the spike for oil prices, traders have pushed back forecasts for when the Fed could resume its cuts to interest rates. President Donald Trump has been angrily calling for such cuts, which would give the economy and job market a boost but also potentially worsen inflation. ELAINE KURTENBACH Based in Bangkok, Kurtenbach is the APs business editor for Asia, helping to improve and expand our coverage of regional economies, climate change and the transition toward carbon-free energy. She has been covering economic, social, environmental and political trends in China, Japan and Southeast Asia throughout her career. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

A student prepares to leave school, Aug. 13, 2014, southeast of Brookhaven, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)2026-03-12T04:03:23Z Like many school systems facing teacher shortages, South Carolinas Allendale County has looked overseas for help. A quarter of the teachers in the rural, high-poverty district come from other countries.The superintendent praises the international educators mostly from Jamaica and the Philippines for their skill and dedication, but she is preparing to lose some of them as the Trump administration reshapes visa programs.Facing higher visa sponsorship costs and uncertain immigration policies, Superintendent Vallerie Cave said it feels too risky to extend some international teachers whose contracts are up or bring on others. Some of my very best teachers are having to return to their countries, Cave said.For rural schools especially, President Donald Trumps immigration crackdown is pinching a pipeline used widely to fill staffing shortages that worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rural districts can struggle to attract American teachers to remote areas that lack plentiful housing, shopping and services such as health care, especially for lower salaries than some bigger districts offer. Cave is hoping to hire local teachers to fill the gaps left by several teachers impending departures. If she cant, she may expand the districts use of online teachers. Elsewhere, districts are considering hiring uncertified instructors, combining classes or dropping course offerings. In September, the White House announced a $100,000 fee on H-1B visas, which allow highly skilled foreign workers to be employed in the U.S. The Trump administration argued American employees were being replaced, particularly in highly paid roles at tech companies. Critics have argued the fee will worsen labor shortages outside of tech. More than 2,300 people with H-1B visas work as educators across 500 school districts, according to an analysis by the National Education Association teachers union. In a December lawsuit challenging the fee, a coalition of 20 states argued that the fees would effectively prevent school districts from hiring international teachers. The Trump administration has provided a form to request exemptions on the fee, and educators and advocacy groups have argued its in the publics interest for teachers to be exempted. Teachers also can come to the U.S. on the more common J-1 visa, which allows short-term stays for cultural exchange programs and is not subject to the new fee. In rural Oregon, the Umatilla School District recruited two teachers from Spain for math and science instruction. The teachers were phenomenal, Superintendent Heidi Sipe said, but they returned home in the summer.Unfortunately, due to some things at home and then the stress of the unknown, they did choose to go back, Sipe said.The district did not look for international candidates to replace them because of the cost and uncertainty, but it was able to advertise early and found local candidates for the openings, Sipe said. Other school leaders are not optimistic they will have the same success. In Allendale County, the international teachers on a mix of H-1B and J-1 visas have taught subjects including math, science and language arts, plus special education. Even before the hike in fees, it would cost between $15,000 to $20,000 to sponsor a single teacher every year, Cave said.School leaders agree hiring in-person, certified staff is the best option teachers who can sit with students to explain a concept and build closer relationships throughout the school day. When that option fails, they weigh tradeoffs. Cave said she will look to introduce more virtual teachers through Fullmind, a company the district already is using to provide three state-certified instructors. Students meet in a classroom, and their teacher joins them via video chat. Fullmind announced Thursday it had acquired Elevate K-12 and now provides the remote instruction for more than 225 school systems. South Carolina lets districts hire non-certified teachers to meet staffing needs, but Cave said she would bring in more online teachers before pursuing that option. Her challenges with teacher shortages, she said, have not let up since the pandemic, when many school districts used federal relief money to post new positions, then had difficulty finding enough teachers. I cant really do competitive pay, she said. For rural America, impoverished America, it is still a problem recruiting teachers. At Halifax County Schools in rural North Carolina, 103 of the 159 teachers are from other countries. For the longer term, the district is pursuing ways to recruit future educators as early as their junior and senior years in high school.More immediately, the district is hoping to hire international teachers coming from other districts who want to have their J-1 visas changed to H-1B visas, which could allow the school system to avoid the $100,000 fee, said Carolyn Mitchell, the districts executive director of human resources. You have to try to figure out every alternative way when you know that you may need people, Mitchell said.___The Associated Press education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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The Trump administration is backing off a rule aimed at stopping commercial space companies from leaving rocket bodies in Earths orbit, a practice that experts say could threaten public safety and telecommunications.The Federal Aviation Administration first proposed the measure in 2023, under the Biden administration, in hopes of curbing the growing junkyard of debris circling the planet. It would have required companies like Elon Musks SpaceX to safely remove such spacecraft within 25 years of launch, saying they pose a significant risk to people on the ground due to their mass and the uncertainty of where they will land.Officials cited examples such as a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket reentering Earths atmosphere over the Pacific Northwest in March 2021, which created streaks of lights across the night sky and dropped a tank on a farm in Washington state.SpaceX and other companies, however, criticized the proposal, citing concerns that included its cost, and in January, the FAA nixed the rule, saying the agency needs more time to research it.FAA intends to review the space launch industry cost inputs and expectations with respect to debris mitigation activities, the FAA said, adding it would also look at the agencys authority to enact such regulations. In response to questions for this story, an agency spokesperson reiterated that rationale.The White House did not respond to requests for comment about the withdrawal.The action is a concession to the commercial space industry and follows moves by President Donald Trumps administration last year to roll back regulations meant to protect the environment and the public during rocket launches. The Trump administration is committed to cementing Americas dominance in space without compromising public safety or national security, a White House spokesperson said last summer.Critics, however, said the government was missing an opportunity to control debris and endangering the public in the process. Rockets can be hundreds of feet tall and typically are made up of multiple parts, known as stages. After any lower stages fall away, the upper stage continues on into space to deploy payloads such as satellites or to perform other missions.Instead of requiring companies to responsibly dispose of these upper stages, the U.S. has decided to roll the dice on a person or a plane getting hit by falling debris, said Ewan Wright, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of British Columbia and junior fellow at the Outer Space Institute, a nonprofit that supported the rule.Wrights research with colleagues found a 20% to 29% chance that debris from a reentering rocket would kill at least one bystander sometime in the next decade.No deaths have occurred from falling space debris yet. But minor injuries have been documented, including a boy in China whose toe was broken and a woman who was hit on the shoulder in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 2024, a piece of metal from the International Space Station crashed through the roof of a home in Naples, Florida.The explosions of two SpaceX Starship megarockets last year that rained debris over the Caribbean brought new attention to the danger to airplanes as spacecraft reenter the atmosphere sometimes in an uncontrolled way. After ProPublica wrote about the Starship mishaps, the FAA issued a new warning to airlines, saying that rocket launches could significantly reduce safety and that pilots should prepare for the possibility that catastrophic failures could create dangerous debris.Space junk also adds to the threat, experts said, for both the space program and daily life on Earth.If the growing debris field above the planet is left unchecked, the FAA said in 2023, it could clutter orbits used for human spaceflight and increase the chance of collisions causing damage to satellites that support communications, weather forecasting and global positioning systems. The FAA said at the time that the rule was an attempt to bring the evolving commercial space industry in line with national practices that are followed by NASA and with international guidelines.Wright said that about half of all launches leave the rockets upper stage in orbit. There, it can pose a risk to crewed space stations and interfere with astronomers research before crashing to earth.In the last three years, U.S. rocket companies, including SpaceX and United Launch Alliance, have abandoned 41 upper stage rockets in orbit, Wright said. Thirty-three are still there now. Abandoning truck-sized upper stages in orbit is an irresponsible act, he said.In response, SpaceX pointed to a statement posted on its website, saying it has been working to reduce and ultimately eliminate space debris left behind by Falcon, which regularly deploys new Starlink satellites.In 2024, 13 out of 134 upper Falcon 9 stages remained on-orbit after successful payload deploys, the company said. In 2025, we reduced this number to three out of a total of 165 launches.United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing, said through a spokesperson that it disposes of its upper stage rockets safely by placing them in a graveyard orbit or conducting a controlled reentry where most of the stage disintegrates over the remote, deep ocean.A piece of space debris has fallen to Earth every day on average for the last 50 years, the FAA said when it proposed the rule. Last year, an eight-foot, 1,100-pound ring from a rocket fell on a remote Kenyan village, and fragments of a Falcon 9 were found in a forest, warehouse and field in Poland.The FAAs proposal would have required launch companies to submit a plan for how they would remove debris prior to launch and would apply to any pieces of debris larger than five millimeters. Acceptable options for disposing of used rockets that couldnt burn up in the atmosphere would include pushing them out to a higher disposal orbit or navigating them to splashdown in a broad ocean area, the FAA wrote.Read MoreWere Too Close to the DebrisIn comments responding to the proposal, commercial space companies challenged the FAAs authority to implement the rule and said they were concerned about issues including cost. SpaceX said the proposal grossly underestimates the costs and impacts of the proposed rule and overstates the benefits.Experts worry that a debris collision could create a chain reaction that would be hard to stop, rendering large areas unnavigable a phenomenon known as Kessler syndrome. In 2009, a U.S. satellite and a defunct Russian satellite collided above northern Siberia, generating more than 2,300 pieces of debris large enough to be tracked.The problem complicates SpaceXs work, too. As the New Scientist reported in January, the companys Starlink satellites regularly maneuver to avoid colliding with objects such as other satellites or space debris performing about 300,000 such actions last year alone.The post Amid Crowded Skies, FAA Kills Rule Aimed at Regulating Space Junk appeared first on ProPublica.

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A sign in a Kwik Trip store shows the store will no longer be using pennies to give change, on Oct. 23, 2025, in Yorkville, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)2026-03-12T04:05:57Z Months after the last of the United States 1-cent coins were pressed, some states are beginning to offer their own 2 cents on the penny problem by setting rounding guidance for cash purchases.President Donald Trump announced early last year an end to penny production, saying it was wasteful. It cost 3.7 cents to make each 1-cent coin in 2024, according to the U.S. Mint. The move led to a shortage of pennies in cash registers last summer, forcing consumers and businesses to confront a penniless future in which making exact change would be difficult.The Treasury Department has said it will continue circulating the roughly 114 billion pennies that exist for as long as possible. Pennies must still be accepted as payment.One solution to the penny problem is rounding to the nearest nickel, using a practice called symmetrical rounding. If the final price, after taxes, ends in one, two, six or seven cents, payment in cash rounds down. For example, $1.91 or $1.92 becomes $1.90. If the price ends in three, four, eight or nine, cash payment rounds up. For $1.98 or $1.99, the consumer pays $2. A bill introduced last year in Congress and passed out of the House financial services committee would apply symmetrical rounding across the country. U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., said in an email the federal law is important to prevent a confusing patchwork of state policies.The bill hasnt been voted on in the House and would still need to move through the U.S. Senate before reaching Trumps desk. Some states are looking to whats nextIn the meantime, bills to deal with penniless cash transactions have passed both chambers and await the governors signature in Arizona, Florida, Oregon, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington. Some states are proposing to allow businesses to round cash purchases, while others consider requiring it.In Indiana, a bill signed into law this month by Republican Gov. Mike Braun tells businesses they must round cash purchases for all transactions that do not end in a zero or five. Lawmakers revised that provision in a second bill that makes rounding optional, which would take effect Sunday if Braun signs it into law. In both bills, Indiana businesses can choose to always round cash purchases up to the nearest nickel, always round down or round up or down depending on the amount. In Republican-led Tennessee, legislation makes symmetrical rounding exempt from legal claims under a state consumer protection law but does not require rounding. It is to provide safe harbor for private businesses, said Republican Rep. Charlie Baum, the bill sponsor in Tennessee, during floor debate.Rounding bills have been introduced in about two dozen states since late last year, according to an Associated Press analysis using the bill-tracking service Plural. Outside of lawmaking bodies, some state agencies have published guidelines to advise that rounding should happen after tax, and that businesses must make sure the full taxed amount still goes to the state. Will consumers pay more with rounding?Cash isnt used as ubiquitously since the rise in electronic payment methods. Still, about 8 in 10 U.S. adults said they recently used cash in a 2024 survey conducted by the Federal Reserve. Cash was more often used by older adults and those in lower-income households.The Treasury wrote online that prices would be rounded down just as often as they will be rounded up, so there should be no overall effect on consumer prices.But researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond used a 2023 survey to show prices that didnt end in zero or five were especially likely to end in eight or nine. Payment amounts could be different when multiple items are purchased or depending on the tax rate, but overall, prices more often being rounded up would lead to millions of dollars gained by businesses and lost by consumers collectively, amounting to a few pennies lost per person.Do people think its fair?As businesses have introduced rounding, some Americans have taken to social media to say they feel scammed, even if it is a penny or two at a time.Nikki Capozzo-Hennessy, 50, said she tends to pay in cash because it makes her more conscious of her spending. The Trumbull, Connecticut, resident posted her grocery store receipt online when she noticed the rounding adjustment on a purchase of $8.73, with tax. The store chose to round down and she gained three cents. Capozzo-Hennessy said it might feel taxing if she had to hand over extra pennies every time, but she also thinks its practical to stick with one rule. She runs a food truck business and said theyd likely use symmetrical rounding to be consistent.At the end of the day its three cents, but I can imagine with all the purchases that you make, it can add up, Capozzo-Hennessy said.Washington state Rep. April Berg, who introduced a rounding bill there, said she understands people who feel frustrated losing a penny but that the elimination of the hard currency leaves little option.We did make sure that everyone is allowed to pay exactly what they owe, Berg said of her legislation. What about the nickel? The Treasury says ceasing penny production will save $56 million annually, but rounding could increase demand for nickels. The 5-cent coins also are costly to make, reaching nearly 14 cents each in 2024, according to the Mint.The proposed federal legislation currently includes a potential cost-saving solution, allowing the Treasury to adjust the coins composition to use cheaper zinc and nickel instead of copper and nickel. HANNAH FINGERHUT Fingerhut is a government and politics reporter based in Des Moines, Iowa. mailto

As Jason Beaman recounts his long slog searching for mental health therapy last year, he sounds defeated.The first therapist assigned to him by the Department of Veterans Affairs told him at their initial meeting that she was leaving the agency. A few months later, his second therapist told him she was also leaving. An appointment with a third counselor was canceled with no explanation.These were huge setbacks for the 54-year-old veteran of the Navy and Army Reserve. Nearly a decade ago, a spiral of depression and anxiety left him homeless and living on the streets of Spokane, Washington. A VA social worker threw him a lifeline, helping him apply for benefits, find housing and get into therapy.He still needs mental health care, he and his physician say. But bouncing from therapist to therapist has left him exhausted.I just quit. I dont want to mess with the therapist anymore, Beaman said. He spends much of his time now alone playing video games or walking with his dogs.Beaman, a veteran of two military branches, gave up searching for a new therapist after attempting to meet regularly with several different providers after his move to Nebreska. He eventually met with a therapist in January, after months of false starts.After President Donald Trump returned to office last year, his administration announced plans to overhaul the VA, one of the largest health care systems in the country, to deliver the highest quality care.This administration is finally going to give the veterans what they want, VA Secretary Doug Collins said last March, as the department announced tens of thousands of job cuts.But in interview after interview, veterans across the country told ProPublica that one year into the second Trump administration its become more difficult to get treatment, as hundreds of therapists and social workers have left the VA. Many of them have not been replaced.While front-line mental health care workers were largely exempted from the job cuts, hundreds chose to leave anyway. Some cited disagreements with new administration policies, including several targeting the LGBTQ+ community, while others, facing diminished ranks, said they simply could no longer provide proper care.In January, the department had around 500 fewer psychologists and psychiatrists than it had at the same time last year, ProPublica found.Although the losses represent a relatively small number about 4% of psychologists and 6% of psychiatrists they are notable for an agency that has long struggled with inadequate mental health staffing. For years, administrators have listed psychologists in particular among their most severe staffing shortages.Mental health is not the only area where the VA has lost medical staff. The agency has eliminated more than 14,000 vacant health care positions across the system, according to data first reported by The New York Times.Data published by the VA going back to May 2023 shows that the agency was adding psychologists every quarter until Trumps return to the White House. Then, the trend flipped, with departures outpacing hires in all four quarters of last year.Compounding the losses, the agencys cohort of social workers, some of whom are licensed therapists who provide mental health counseling, declined by nearly 700 staffers over the year.To better understand the departures and their impact on veterans care, ProPublica interviewed dozens of former and current VA staffers as well as patients.ProPublica also examined a previously unreported internal employee exit survey, which included hundreds of responses from mental health care workers.Mental Health is understaffed, burned out, and there is not enough mental health care for the Veterans who need the services, wrote one New York-based former employee, according to the records.Support is no longer there to provide ethical and good care for these Veterans, wrote a second, based in Indiana. Scheduling issues are incredibly high due to poor staff hiring and retainment.Yet another wrote that the number of new patients seeking help at their Kansas facility was far too high, making it unethical to accept more veterans in our clinics.Many of those vacated positions have gone unfilled due to a yearlong hiring freeze, which was only lifted in January.After Hiring Spree Under Biden, VA Lost Mental Health Staff When Trump Returned to OfficeThe losses under the new administration amount to 4% of the agencys psychologists, 6% of psychiatrists and 3% of social workers.Note: Quarters are labeled by calendar, not fiscal, year. Source: VA workforce dashboard, internal data. Echoing the exit survey, many who remain on staff describe crushing workloads as they struggle to fill the gaps. Those reached by ProPublica, who agreed to speak only under the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, said that as staffing losses mount, theyve seen their patient loads increase, while administrators shorten their appointments and pack more and more clients into group therapy sessions.It was always bad, said one VA psychologist, referring to staffing at a facility in Arizona. And now its at a breaking point.The therapist described being stretched so thin that schedulers replaced some one-on-one sessions with online group sessions that included as many as 35 veterans. The therapist said despite that they were still overloaded with individual sessions and had to limit each one to as little as 16 minutes.The VA declined ProPublicas request to interview an official familiar with its mental health programs. In an email, VA spokesperson Peter Kasperowicz accused ProPublica of attempting to mislead the public by cherry picking issues that are limited to a handful of sites and in many cases were worse under the Biden Administration.He argued that the agencys performance around mental health has improved since Trump took office, citing more than 15.5 million direct mental health care appointments in the most recent fiscal year (Oct. 1, 2024, to Sept. 30, 2025), a 4% increase from the previous fiscal year. He did not say whether those additional appointments were for individual therapy. Kasperowicz also noted that the administration has opened 25 new health care clinics.After ProPublica shared its findings and the names of veterans who would appear in this story, the agency reached out to several to inquire about their care and offer help. The veterans told ProPublica they remained skeptical that the VA would consistently respond to their mental health needs.As the ranks of mental health care providers at the VA have shrunk, the department has proposed shifting billions of dollars into community care, a program in which veterans obtain health care via private physicians and other providers. But the program has been stretched thin amid the loss of administrative staff and ongoing issues finding private therapists, ProPublica found, with veterans encountering longer delays as they seek help.In December, patients waited an average of around 25 days just to receive a confirmed appointment date, nearly four times the VAs stated goal for scheduling community care.Collins has disputed assertions that theres a systemwide problem with access to mental health care. And if you need emergency care, or are in a crisis situation, you have immediate care, he told a Senate committee in January.He said the VAs average wait time for new patients seeking mental health care appointments was less than 20 days, the number it has set as its goal. But other VA officials have acknowledged problems with access.There are wait times at some facilities that are beyond what our expectations and standards would be, Dr. Ilse Wiechers, assistant undersecretary for health for patient care services, told senators at a separate hearing.ProPublicas analysis found that wait times fluctuate dramatically, and fast access to care can depend on location. For example, the small clinic near Beamans home in rural Nebraska, with its comparatively small staff, saw appointment wait times for new mental health clients climb as high as 60 days in December and drop to 20 days in February, according to the VA figures.But a closer look at the entire VA system reveals that a large number of facilities are struggling. In early February, more than half of its hospitals and clinics reported one-on-one mental health appointment wait times for new patients that were longer, and in some cases far longer, than the VAs 20-day goal, according to a ProPublica analysis of data published on the agencys website.In late December, Beaman said he received an email from the VA saying hed been approved for additional therapy. He was able to meet with a therapist in January after about six months of waiting and going more than a year without a session. In the interim, he said, he relied on prescription medications, video games and his therapy dogs to keep him steady. Still, his anxiety worsened, he said, and now he often feels so uncomfortable around others that he rarely leaves his home except to walk his dogs while wearing headphones so no one speaks to him.Kasperowicz, the VA spokesperson, wrote in his email to ProPublica that Beaman had more than a dozen mental health visits at VA between late 2024 to mid-2025 through the Cheyenne VA clinic in Wyoming, which is about an hour-and-a-half trip for Beaman. Kasperowicz declined, however, to say whether those appointments involved the one-on-one mental health counseling Beaman had requested. Beaman said he only had two sessions for one-on-one therapy in 2025 meetings that were truncated because of the therapists impending departures.Kasperowicz also said that one of Beamans appointments didnt occur because he had moved. Beaman, however, said he has lived at only one address in Nebraska.Experts warn that the exodus of mental health care providers from the VA has hurt the agencys ability to meet veterans unique needs.VA psychologists are best in class, said Russell Lemle, former chief psychologist for the San Francisco VA Health Care System and a senior policy analyst at the Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute. They have research and training and decades-long experience working with veterans.When you lose them, the veterans are the ones who pay the price, he said.Michelle Phillips, a Navy veteran, received a pink toy soldier at a Department of Veterans Affairs event.It Could Mean Life or DeathMichelle Phillips, 56, a Navy veteran from Ohio, saw her therapist in remote sessions once a week for two years for her PTSD. Then, in December, Phillips therapist told her that she was quitting the VA because of Trumps policies.The change, Phillips said, could mean life or death.Years of depression have led Phillips to isolate. Inside her small home about an hour outside of Columbus, the city where she enlisted in 1988, the walls are filled with reminders of brighter times photos of family members and military paraphernalia from her time in the service. Her only real company is an aging dog, and she almost never leaves.Her virtual therapy sessions were the only contact that I had coming in my home to talk to me every week, she said. And I would sit and just wait for that appointment.Phillips said the counselor requested that the VA continue her one-on-one remote counseling with a new therapist which totaled about four hours per month. The agency initially offered her virtual group therapy, an option that her previous therapist dismissed as inappropriate. In the third week of January, the VA told Phillips she could have an appointment for one-on-one sessions in March. She later declined the appointment because she didnt want to face starting over with a new therapist.Phillips, who is disabled and doesnt work, said she will try to pay for one-on-one therapy out of pocket with the same therapist who left the VA but will likely only be able to afford one, possibly two, sessions a month.Phillips was sent an iPad by the VA for her remote therapy sessions. It sits unused since Phillips VA therapist told her that she was quitting.James Jones said his close connection to his VA therapist, who was trained in combat trauma, helped him control his PTSD-fueled episodes of anger and alcohol abuse. Now the 54-year-old Gulf War veteran, who lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, has seen his care cut in half after his therapist told him colleagues had quit and he had to pick up the load.His sessions went from an hour every week to half an hour every two weeks. I can tell its rushed, said Jones, a maintenance mechanic with the National Park Service. Im not able to work through something.Others have found it difficult to establish care in the first place.Last summer, George Retes, 26, who left the Army in 2022 after serving for four years, was driving to work in Camarillo, California, when he was suddenly caught between immigration agents and protesters. Retes said the agents broke his car window, pepper-sprayed him and detained him for days. The incident, which ProPublica detailed last fall, left him shaken and exacerbated the PTSD that was first sparked after he faced missile attacks in Iraq, Retes said. (The Department of Homeland Security has not responded to ProPublicas questions about Retes.)Following his release, Retes found himself withdrawing from the world. I wasnt texting anyone or talking to anyone, he said. Not even my kids.A few weeks after being arrested, Retes sought help from the VA clinic in Ventura, California, where staffers told him theyd be in touch for an appointment. But Retes said he never heard back, even after he called to follow up. His incident with Immigration and Customs Enforcement was in July. Retes is still waiting.According to data on the VAs website, new patients seeking individual therapy at the Ventura clinic had to wait an average of two and a half months in early February.The VA said it could not discuss Jones or Retes accounts because the veterans declined to waive their privacy rights.Strains on the SystemThe VA overhaul has also taken a toll on mental health providers, many of whom quit after spending years at the agency.Natalie McCarthy worked as a social worker and mental health therapist for a decade before quitting the VA in May. Like many others working in mental health, she did all of her work remotely; from her Ohio home she saw vets mostly from the Washington, D.C., area.But McCarthy and her colleagues faced pressure to return to agency offices after the VA issued new restrictions on telehealth workers. She was uneasy about the prospect of having to conduct sessions in makeshift spaces like conference rooms filled with other counselors a situation that raised widespread ethical concerns over the legally mandated privacy for medical conversations.Complicating matters, McCarthy said, were Trumps orders eliminating diversity and equity initiatives within the federal government. She said she began to worry that therapists would no longer be able to discuss the subject of race with their patients or document patients thoughts on the topic in their session notes. So she quit.I was angry that veterans were in that position, said McCarthy, who started her own practice. I was angry that I was in that position. It just felt like an unnecessary thing to have to navigate.Psychologist Mary Brinkmeyer quit working with the VA last February after her superiors began enforcing the Trump administrations anti-diversity agenda.Psychologist Mary Brinkmeyer found herself in a similar situation. She started at a VA facility in metropolitan Norfolk, Virginia, in 2022 after seeing a posting for an LGBTQ+ care coordinator, which oversees support programs for LGBTQ+ veterans and helps navigate their care. She quit last February after her superiors began enforcing Trumps anti-diversity orders.Brinkmeyer said she was told to stop conducting training for physicians and other staff on best practices for caring for LGBTQ+ patients. Then, she said, staff members were ordered to remove all LGBTQ+ paraphernalia from the facility such as rainbow flags, identity-affirming literature and program brochures. Also, an edict was issued directing people to use the bathroom of their gender assigned at birth, Brinkmeyer said.Thats when the VA stopped feeling like a welcoming place. There was a failure of empathy, she said.The VA did not respond directly to either Brinkmeyers or McCarthys accounts of how the administrations policies had impacted the quality of mental health care.Much like those seeking mental health care directly from the VA, veterans referred to community care are also struggling to secure appointments.Gwyn Bourlakov, 58, enlisted in the Army National Guard in 1998 and over the following 21 years she was awarded a Bronze Star for her service in the invasion of Iraq, climbed the ranks to become a major and won a Fulbright scholarship to study Russian history.Today, after a series of professional setbacks, Bourlakov works as a museum security guard. Lingering PTSD from her time in the service, coupled with deep bouts of depression over her current circumstances, have kept her seeking the VAs help despite long-standing frustrations with its services.After she began looking for a new therapist last year following a move to Colorado, officials at her local VA clinic in Golden said at her intake appointment that its in-house providers were swamped and could not see new patients for at least six months.She asked if she could get help through community care, but staffers told her that the system was so overwhelmed that it would be a nightmare, she recalled. Veterans living in eastern Colorado waited 57 days on average to get a community care appointment scheduled in December, VA figures show.Bourlakov said she tried to get help through a separate VA clinic, but when her phone calls went unanswered, she finally gave up.I dont have time for all of that, she explained. Its just like shouting into the wind.Gwyn Bourlakov gave up looking for care through the VA after a series of unanswered calls and attempts to find help went nowhere. After inquiries by ProPublica, VA authorities reached back out to offer her assistance.Following inquiries from ProPublica, VA officials reached out to Bourlakov and other veterans interviewed for this story to offer additional assistance with their mental health care. The calls left several frustrated, saying it shouldnt take questions from the media for them to get help from the VA.Though skeptical, Bourlakov decided to move forward. She was contacted by three separate VA representatives in February asking about her health and if she needed help scheduling a therapy appointment.The earliest telehealth appointment they offered was not until June, she said. The next available in-person slot was not until July. Bourlakov opted for June.The post Veterans Who Depend on Mental Health Care Keep Losing Their Therapists Under Trump appeared first on ProPublica.

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An instructor from the Ukrainian company General Cherry demonstrates the operation of an anti-air interceptor drone designed to destroy Russian attack drones in Kyiv region, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)2026-03-12T10:34:22Z KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Ukraine is awaiting White House approval for a major drone production agreement proposed by Kyiv last year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday, as countries scramble to modernize their air defenses after the Iran war exposed shortcomings.The proposed U.S.-Ukraine deal would cover various types of drones and air defenses that operate as a single system capable of protecting against swarms of hundreds or even thousands of Iranian-designed Shahed drones and missiles, Zelenskyy said in a message on social media.We have not yet had the opportunity to sign this document, he said.Russia has fired tens of thousands of Iranian-designed Shahed drones at Ukraine since it invaded its neighbor just over four years ago. It launched a swarm of more than 800 drones and decoys in its biggest nighttime barrage. Iran has responded to joint U.S.-Israeli strikes by firing the same type of drones at targets in the Middle East. Ukraine has pioneered the development of cut-price drone killers, some of which cost a few thousand dollars, that have rewritten the air defense rule book. The conflict unfolding in the Middle East might prompt American officials to sign the drone production proposal, Zelenskyy said.Ukraine is keen to lock in future foreign support for its ongoing effort to thwart Russias invasion, and drone production agreements could bring Kyiv some diplomatic leverage in negotiations with Moscow. U.S.-mediated talks seeking to stop Europes biggest conflict since World War II are on hold due to the Iran war. Zelenskyy arrived in NATO member Romania on Thursday, a day before he visits French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, as new research indicated Russian oil revenue that helps drive its invasion of Ukraine has risen since the Iran war began.Russias daily revenue from oil sales during the Middle East conflict, which has brought a sharp increase in the price of crude, has been on average 14% higher than in February, according to the nonprofit Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. Oil revenue is crucial for Moscows war effort. Macrons office said his talks with the Ukrainian leader will focus on efforts to counter Russias so-called shadow fleet of tankers that are shipping oil in violation of international sanctions but are hard to stop.Zelenskyy was to meet in Bucharest with Romanian President Nicuor Dan, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan and visit a training center for Ukraines F-16 pilots.Ukraine has exported a significant amount of its grain through Romania during the war, and Bucharest has provided energy support to Kyiv as Moscows forces blast Ukraines power grid.___Associated Press writer Samuel Petrequin in Paris contributed to this story.___Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine HANNA ARHIROVA Arhirova is an Associated Press reporter covering Ukraine. She is based in Kyiv. twitter instagram mailto

Electric vehicles charge at a station Wednesday, March 11, 2026, in Lincolnwood, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)2026-03-12T07:19:08Z When Kevin Ketels bought an electric 2026 Chevrolet Blazer last year, he wasnt thinking about the cost of gas. He just thought EVs were better and wanted to be part of the future. Now that the Iran war is spiking prices at the pump, the Detroit man is happy he is no longer filling up his 11-year-old gas-powered SUV.Electricity can go up, but it wont go up nearly as much as gas will and it wont go up nearly as fast, either, said Ketels, 55, an assistant professor of global supply chain management at Wayne State University.Experts say prolonged high gas prices may drive some EV interest and sales, especially if drivers assume their electricity prices wont be affected by the crises. But many factors influence consumer EV purchases and electricity rates. Are EV owners truly insulated from price hikes?Drivers of gas-powered vehicles are much more vulnerable to fluctuating prices that result from global conflict than those who charge their cars. The national average for a gallon of regular gas this week was $3.57, up from $2.94 a month ago, according to AAA.Meanwhile, residential electricity prices are regulated and are much less volatile than gasoline prices, said University of California, Davis economics professor Erich Muehlegger. As a result, EV owners are largely unaffected by oil price shocks.But experts say electricity prices have been increasing nationally for a variety of reasons, including surging power demand from new data centers. This is an inflationary event, Holt Edwards, principal in Bracewells Policy Resolution Group, said of the war. Is this the driver in electricity prices? I think probably not. But its certainly a contributing factor.To what extent oil and gas conflicts could translate to the electricity sector is yet to be seen. What about h ow different grids are powered?When it comes to the electricity an EV owner is tapping, much of the cost depends on which sources of electricity are in a local grids power mix, experts say.Because regulators set residential electricity prices annually, most households are sheltered from month-to-month changes in natural gas costs. Though experts say higher natural gas prices can increase the cost of generating electricity, natural gas prices havent risen as quickly or as much as oil prices have recently.Those are just two of many energy sources including coal, nuclear and renewables that power the electric grid.The energy component varies depending on the energy youre using and the price of the energy that youre using to generate electricity, said Pierpaolo Cazzola, an energy expert at Columbia Universitys Center on Global Energy Policy. What happens is that in the U.S., the variation of the price of the energy component is smaller than it is elsewhere.The experts said persistent war could affect electricity bills in the future. And that is all the more reason for countries to transition to clean power, they said.Clean power and electrification combined is what provides the most security, said Euan Graham, an analyst at energy think tank Ember.Michael B. Klein, a 56-year-old software developer in Evanston, Illinois, has driven EVs for the past eight years to save on fuel costs and because of environmental concerns. Every time electrical grid efficiency improves especially as renewables are added I get that benefit no matter what, said Klein, who drives a Chevy Bolt. They can improve the efficiency of gas engines, but you have to get a new car in order to reap the benefit of that. So will EV demand rise?Several experts say high gasoline prices are a strong driver of EV sales, particularly if high prices persist. Drivers also consider more gasoline-efficient hybrid vehicles during these times.Car-shopping resource Edmunds analyzed consumer shopping data for the week starting March 2, after the Iran war had begun. They found that interest in hybrids, plug-in hybrids and battery EVs accounted for 22.4% of all vehicle research activity on their site that week, up from 20.7% the previous week. Analysts also looked back at the last major nationwide fuel price surges in 2022, and they saw that consideration of electrified vehicles consideration rose sharply then, too. But whether this means more EV purchases depends on whether buyers expect to save not just now but in the future, experts say. Adding to the complexity: A sudden increase in EV demand could drive up prices, Graham said.I think the real step change would be in whether this causes governments to shift tax, tariff policies around EVs, Graham said. Doing so would help reduce fossil fuel dependence, he said.Does driving electric really save money?Pretty much.People who buy EVs have a really substantial gas savings over the life of their vehicles even without government tax credits, said Peter Zalzal, an attorney with Environmental Defense Fund.Were talking about thousands and thousands of dollars in savings, Zalzal said. And as gas prices increase, those savings are only greater. Fuel costs are a big piece of overall vehicle costs, and increases in fuel prices have significant impacts on people. However, the upfront cost of a new EV is still more than that of a gasoline-powered vehicle; new EVs sold for an average of $55,300 last month, while new vehicles overall sold for an average $49,353, according to auto-buying resource Kelley Blue Book. Some experts also expressed national security concerns with EVs because China dominates significant parts of the EV supply chain.Ketels, the EV owner and professor, said he believes EVs and renewable energy should be a strategic priority for individuals and the U.S. because they could be produced domestically and we dont have those fluctuations and those worries.But because the federal government has withdrawn many incentives for both, it puts us at a disadvantage globally, Ketels said. I think its been a terrible mistake to withdraw these incentives and to attack the sustainable energy industry, and the war is just making it that much more obvious.___Read more of APs climate coverage.___The Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. ALEXA ST. JOHN St. John is a climate reporter for The Associated Press based in Detroit. She covers environmental and energy policy, breaking climate news and extreme weather. twitter mailto

Delegates leave after the closing ceremony of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), in Beijing, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)2026-03-12T07:21:29Z BEIJING (AP) While much of the worlds attention is on the Iran war, that hasnt stopped China from moving ahead with national priorities with global repercussions.Not that China doesnt care about the war and its impact on energy supplies and geopolitics. But for the worlds second largest economy, its growing rivalry with the United States revolves around a different battle: the development of the cutting-edge technologies shaping the 21st century.That message came through in a five-year plan formally endorsed Thursday by the National Peoples Congress at the end of its annual meeting, the nations biggest political event of the year. If anything, China is doubling down on a push to transform its economy and be at the forefront of technology. State media described Chinas determination to stay the course on economic development as a force for stability in an uncertain world. A stable and developing China injects more stability and certainty into a world fraught with change and turbulence, the official Peoples Daily newspaper said in a front-page column on Wednesday. Other state-media echoed that view. The commentaries and official statements didnt mention U.S. President Donald Trump, whose tariffs and use of military force from Venezuela to Iran are shaking up the global order that has governed international relations in the post-World War II era. China publicly defends that system, while calling for making it more equitable to reflect the interests of developing countries as well as rich ones. Trump is due to visit Beijing in three weeks to hold talks with his counterpart, Chinese leader Xi Jinping.The National Peoples Congress also rubber-stamped three laws, including one governing ethnic minorities, at its closing session. The votes are ceremonial and nearly unanimous, designed to show unity behind the ruling Communist Partys vision for the nation. The five-year plan was approved with 2,758 votes in favor, one against, and two abstentions.We are forging ahead at full speed in building a great country, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at an annual news conference during the Congress. Banking on tech for growthMany economists believe that China needs to do more to put more money into the hands of consumers to boost domestic spending and reduce its dependence on export-led growth. Chinas leaders agree in concept, but the five-year plan puts technology front and center, confirming it remains the top priority. Analysts expect any steps to boost consumption to happen only gradually, such as expanding social security and health care benefits, while government funds are poured into artificial intelligence, robotics and other areas.Chinese Premier Li Qiang announced an economic growth target of 4.5% to 5% for 2026 at the start of the Congress, a level that gives the government more leeway to focus on the longer-term goals of the five-year plan rather than meeting a higher target this year. Staying conservative on climateThe five-year plan doesnt pledge to reduce carbon emissions overall, but only to reduce emissions intensity how much pollutants are emitted relative to the size of the economy. That means emissions could still grow as the economy does.The target for a reduction in intensity was set at 17%, a level that could allow emissions to rise 3% or more, analysts said. International good practice is to move away from intensity targets towards absolute emission reduction targets, said Niklas Hohne of the NewClimate Institute in Germany. China has a history of setting conservative targets and its rapid expansion in solar and other clean energies may drive emissions down anyway. The country is the worlds No. 1 emitter of greenhouse gases, but leaders have long argued that the size of its population and economy must be considered when evaluating its pollution levels.Regulating ethnic groupsA sweeping ethnic minorities law endorsed by the Congress solidifies what critics say is a government policy of assimilation, emphasizing the creation of a common consciousness of the Chinese nation.The government said it is meant to foster a stronger sense of community and shared economic development among its ethnic groups. The law encapsulates an approach under Xi that has promoted unity over ethnic cultures and their languages.It puts a death nail in the partys original promise of meaningful autonomy, said James Leibold, a professor at Australias LaTrobe University who has studied Chinas changing policies towards its ethnic minorities. Seeking a right to rest for workersFormal proposals and other suggestions to reduce work hours in a variety of ways were among those that got the most attention on social media during this years Congress. Many focused on a right to rest, including calls to give employees the right not to respond to work messages after hours. Many Chinese workers get only five days of paid vacation a year. Yu Miaojie, an economist and deputy to the Congress, proposed raising the minimum statutory annual leave from five to 10 days. The popularity of the proposals reflects concern about the intense workplace competition in China. Giving workers more leisure time is also seen as a way to boost consumption by giving them more free time to spend.___Associated Press writers Huizhong Wu and Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report. KEN MORITSUGU Moritsugu covers political, economic and social issues from Beijing for The Associated Press. He has also reported from New Delhi, Bangkok and Tokyo and is the APs former news director for Greater China and for Japan and the Koreas. twitter

Noma's chef Ren Redzepi prepares a vegetarian burger in a restaurant, in Copenhagen, Nov. 24, 2024. (Soeren Bidstrup/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)2026-03-12T10:30:37Z COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) Ren Redzepi, founder and celebrity chef at the iconic Danish restaurant Noma that won three Michelin stars and other international accolades for its innovative New Nordic cuisine, has stepped down from his post following allegations of abuse and assault at the Copenhagen landmark.Redzepi has been dogged for years by reports of mistreatment of his staff as well as his yearslong use of unpaid interns to staff the pricy restaurant, which was ranked first on the Worlds 50 Best Restaurants List five times. But the criticism recently came to a head on social media, and an article in the New York Times detailed former employees accounts of abuse just days ahead of the opening of a Noma Los Angeles pop-up.Sponsors have since pulled their funding for the Southern California residency, which opened Wednesday to a small gathering of protesters and where a meal will cost $1,500. Redzepi announced his resignation on Instagram soon after. I have worked to be a better leader and Noma has taken big steps to transform the culture over many years, he wrote on Thursday. I recognize these changes do not repair the past. An apology is not enough; I take responsibility for my own actions.Redzepi was knighted in 2016 to Denmarks Order of Dannebrog by then-Queen Margrethe II. Noma, Redzepi and the Danish royal familys press department did not immediately return requests for comment Thursday. __Dazio reported from Berlin. STEFANIE DAZIO Dazio covers Northern Europe from Berlin for The Associated Press. She previously covered crime and criminal justice from Los Angeles.

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Locals search for the bodies of mudslide victims in the Gacho Baba district of the Gamo Zone in southern Ethiopia on Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (Gacho Baba District Government Communication Affairs Department via AP)2026-03-12T10:42:34Z ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) At least 50 people have died and 125 others are missing after landslides hit three districts in southern Ethiopia following a week of heavy rains, a local official said Thursday.The landslides happened in Gamo Zone and affected the Gacho Baba District, Kamba District and Bonke District, according to Gamo Zone director of disaster response Mesfin Manuqa.Manuqa said that one person was pulled out of the mud alive during the rescue operation.The Gacho Baba District communication chief, Abebe Agena, said most of those who died were found buried in the mud. It is not yet clear how many households were affected.Tilahun Kebede, president of the South Ethiopia Regional State, expressed his sorrow over the disaster and urged residents to move to higher ground as rains continue.Given that it is the rainy season and these types of disasters could happen again, I am calling on communities living in the highlands and flood-prone areas to take the necessary precautions, he said.Mudslides and floods caused by heavy rainfall are common in Ethiopia, especially during the rainy season.In July 2024, a deadly mudslide caused by heavy rain claimed the lives of 229 people in southern Ethiopia.

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Damage caused by U.S. and Israeli strikes is seen on the facade of the Qajar-era Golestan Palace in Tehran, Iran, March 3, 2026. (ISNA via AP)2026-03-12T04:07:19Z UNITED NATIONS (AP) U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran have damaged at least four cultural and historical sites, including palaces and an ancient mosque, raising alarms about the impact of the widening war on protected landmarks that are important to Iranian identity and world history.The speed and extent of the damage have so concerned Iran and Lebanon that they sent a request to the United Nations cultural agency, UNESCO, this week to add more sites to its enhanced protection list.UNESCO confirmed that it has verified damage to the lavish Qajar-era Golestan Palace in Tehran as well as the 17th century Chehel Sotoun palace and the Masjed-e Jme, the countrys oldest Friday mosque, both in Isfahan. There also was verified damage at buildings close to the Khorramabad Valley, which includes five prehistoric caves and one rock shelter providing evidence of human occupation dating to 63,000 B.C. At Golestan Palace, shattered glass from the mirrored ceilings blanketed the floors alongside broken archways, blown-out windows and damaged molding scattered below its glass-mosaic walls, according to Associated Press video taken March 3. UNESCO said it provided all parties to the conflict with the geographical coordinates of the heritage sites ahead of time, to take all feasible precautions to avoid damage. The impact to cultural sites has not been isolated to Iran but has been felt across the Middle East and beyond, with UNESCO tracking damage to the White City in Israel, Tyre in Lebanon and elsewhere. Collateral damage to such places has been part of the fabric of war for decades, including in conflicts between Russia and Ukraine as well as Israel and Hamas, in which dozens of sites have been damaged or destroyed.What is happening is clear to all: In these increasingly modern conflicts, its civilians who pay the price, its civilian infrastructure that pays the price, and weve all seen the destruction of priceless historical heritage, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said this week. Damage to historyHuman rights advocates are echoing that sentiment, warning that the Iran war not only has killed more than 1,000 people but upended the institutions and historical places that communities rely on.It causes harm to civilians because it damages or destroys a piece of their history that can be significant both to the world and also to a specific region or community, said Bonnie Docherty, senior researcher in the arms division at Human Rights Watch. It undermines the sort of shared identity of a local community, which can often be important for bringing people together.Arash Azizi, who grew up in Iran before moving to the U.S. as an adult, said that because his family couldnt afford to travel abroad when he was a child, they visited historical sites across the country. This, he says, is how he learned about his cultural identity and history. At times where school kids are killed, when human life is at stake, when the stakes are very high, people might think, What are a couple of broken tiles or broken glasses? the 38-year-old New York resident said. I think this is the wrong attitude, he added. We need a cultural context. We need to know who we are, and where we come from, and what does it all mean? Iranian American sees one damage site as deeply personalFor Shabnam Emdadi, a 35-year-old Iranian American also in New York, the damage to the Safavid-era Chehel Sotoun Palace in Isfahan is deeply personal. She traveled there with her dad a few years before he died.Those Iran trips with him were my most fond memories of him at his happiest, where he felt most at home and alive, and Ill never forget them, Emdadi said. Which is why every day when I see the damage of these sites that are the core of my memories, I feel like I am also losing a piece of him. It was unclear if it was U.S. or Israeli strikes that caused the damage. The Pentagon did not provide comment. The Israeli Defense Forces said it was unfamiliar with claims of damage to UNESCO sites.One nonprofit group pointed to U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth saying last week that Americas approach to the war would not include stupid rules of engagement. Thats an extremely important statement because its those rules of engagement that embody international humanitarian law, which is not just the protection of cultural heritage, but the protection of all civilian populations and structures, including your hospitals, your schools, etc., said Patty Gerstenblith, president of the U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield, an international organization dedicated to protecting heritage in conflict, disaster and crisis. UNESCOs protectionsThe affected sites are among the nearly 30 Iranian sites designated as under special protection as part of UNESCOs World Heritage list.Other notable landmarks on the list include the Great Wall of China, the Egyptian pyramids, the Taj Mahal and the Statue of Liberty. The agencys World Heritage Committee annually designates sites considered of outstanding value to humanity and intervenes when sites are in danger of destruction or damage. The program provides countries with technical assistance and professional training to preserve the sites.The Trump administration announced last July that it would once again withdraw from UNESCO as it distances the U.S. from some international organizations.The White House cited similar concerns as it did in 2018, saying it believes U.S. involvement is not in its national interest and accusing the agency of promoting anti-Israel speech. The decision wont go into effect until December.___Associated Press writer Giovanna DellOrto in Minneapolis contributed to this report. FARNOUSH AMIRI Amiri covers foreign policy and the United Nations as a correspondent for The Associated Press, based in New York. twitter mailto

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