Nature, Published online: 19 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08728-2Germinal centre Bcells modify their mutation rate to preserve high-affinity receptors, thereby safeguarding high-affinity Bcell lineages and enhancing the outcomes of antibody affinity maturation.

Nature, Published online: 19 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00846-1The specialized cells that let lymph leak (and why that's a good thing)

Protestors demonstrating against the expansion of the Dakota Access Pipeline wade in cold creek waters confronting local police, near Cannon Ball, N.D., Nov. 2, 2016. (AP Photo/John L. Mone, File)2025-03-20T00:30:45Z A North Dakota jury on Wednesday found Greenpeace must pay hundreds of millions of dollars to a pipeline company in connection with protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline.The jury found Greenpeace liable for defamation and other claims and awarded Dallas-based Energy Transfer and subsidiary Dakota Access more than $650 million in damages.The lawsuit accused Netherlands-based Greenpeace International, Greenpeace USA and funding arm Greenpeace Fund Inc. of defamation, trespass, nuisance, civil conspiracy and other acts.Greenpeace said earlier that a large award to the pipeline company would threaten to bankrupt the environmental group. Following the nine-person jurys verdict, Greenpeaces senior legal adviser said the organizations work is never going to stop.The independent global campaigning network has been fighting for a wide array of environmental issues for more than half a century and has a long history of contentious legal battles.Here are some things to know: How was Greenpeace founded?Environmental activists founded the group in Vancouver, Canada, in 1971. The networks first action was to work to stop more nuclear weapons tests on Amchitka Island in the Aleutian island chain in southwest Alaska. They took a ship to the island to bear witness, which is a Quaker protest tradition.The U.S. later opted to abandon their nuclear testing grounds on the island, marking Greenpeaces first major victory. Where did the name Greenpeace come from?During initial work to stop the nuclear weapons tests on Amchitka, Canadian ecologist Bill Darnell was leaving one of the groups meetings when someone held up two fingers and said peace! according to Greenpeaces website. Darnell, who is now considered a founding member of Greenpeace, replied: Lets make it a Green Peace. The name was condensed into one word so it could fit on buttons for the groups first fundraiser. What does Greenpeace do today?Greenpeace describes itself as the largest environmental campaigning organization in the world. It is made up of dozens of independent national or regional organizations in more than 55 countries, according to its website. Its work to preserve and restore valuable ecosystems and push back on fossil fuel corporations is centered on nonviolent action. Its protests have ranged from efforts to stop Shell from drilling for oil in the Alaskan Arctic to demonstrations to put an end to Frances atmospheric tests in the South Pacific to campaigns to conserve Canadas coastal rainforest.Greenpeace and its activists have also been the target of charges and lawsuits, including in 2023 when four activists were arrested for scaling the country estate of former U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and draping it in black fabric to protest his plan to expand oil and gas drilling in the North Sea. They were later cleared of criminal charges. Who supports Greenpeace?Greenpeace is an independent network that does not take money from governments, corporations or political parties, according to its website. Its funding comes from individual contributions, along with foundation grants.In 2023, Greenpeace USA had about $40 million in revenue and support and about $38 million in expenses, according to its online financial statement. Its website says it does not consider anyone a permanent friend or enemy. If your government or company is willing to change, we will work with you to achieve your aims, its website states. Reverse course, and we will be back.

French wine grower David Levasseur opens a bottle of champagne in his wine making facility in Cuchery, eastern France, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)2025-03-20T04:04:16Z CHAMPAGNE, France (AP) Across wine country in France, Italy and Spain one number is top of mind: 200%.Thats because last week U.S. President Donald Trump threatened a tariff of that amount on European wine, Champagne and other spirits if the European Union went ahead with retaliatory tariffs on some U.S. products. The top wine producers in Europe could face crippling costs that would hit smaller wineries especially hard. Europes wine industry is the latest to find itself in the crosshairs of a possible trade spat with the U.S. Among those concerned is David Levasseur, a third-generation wine grower and owner of a Champagne house in Frances eponymous region.It means Im in trouble, big trouble. We hope its just, as we say, blah blah, Levasseur said, standing in his Champagne house as he swilled a flute of his vineyards bubbly. When someone speaks so loudly, he said of Trumps 200% threat, its about the media buzz. But in any case, we think there will be consequences. Like other wine sellers and exporters, Levasseur said that a 200% tariff on what he exports to the U.S. would essentially grind to a halt his business in that country. It could be a real disaster, Levasseur said.Italy, France and Spain are among the top five exporters of wine to the United States. Trump made his threat to Europes alcohol industry after the European Union announced a 50% tax on American whiskey expected to take effect on April 1. That duty was unveiled in response to the Trump administrations tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum. In France, a 4 billion euro marketGabriel Picard, who heads the French Federation of Exporters of Wines and Spirits, said 200% tariffs would be a hammer blow for Frances industry, whose wine and spirits exports to the U.S. are worth 4 billion euros ($4.3 billion) annually. With 200% duties, there is no more market, Picard said. Still, he understood why European leaders responded to Trumps initial tariffs.Theres no debate about that. We agree that Mr. Trump creates and likes to create contests of strength. We have to adapt to that, he said. For Italy, its the wine at high-end restaurants they worry most about losingIn Italy, the wine industry has called for calm, hoping that negotiators in Brussels and Washington can back down from the growing trade spat.The U.S. is Italys largest wine market, with sales having tripled in value over the past 20 years. Last year, exports grew by nearly 7% to over 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) according to Italys main farming lobby Coldiretti. Strong sales at high-end restaurants, in particular, make the U.S. market difficult to replace, said Piero Mastroberardino, vice president of the national winemakers association Federvini.Mastroberardinos Taurasi Radici red wine, for example, was rated the fifth-best wine in the world in 2023 by Wine Spectator, an American wine and lifestyle magazine. It sells for around $80 a bottle retail in the U.S., roughly twice how much it costs in Italy, so any tariffs would push it to an unthinkable price point, he said.In January, Mastroberardinos U.S. import partners increased orders by about 20% in January anticipating possible Trump tariffs. But the increase in orders would not offset the impact of tariffs, particularly that high, he said, for long. It is in everyones interest to maintain a united front at the negotiating table, Mastroberardino said, especially those who are being targeted. Smooth reds from Spain, as well as bubbly CavaWine producers and industry experts in Spain, whose smooth reds are savored by tens of millions of American tourists who visit the southern European country every year, shared similar concerns about prospective tariffs.We dont think they have much logic and we hope it never comes to fruition, said Begoa Olavarra, an economic analyst at the Interprofessional Wine Organization of Spain.Spain was the fourth-largest exporter of wine to the U.S. last year in sales, and the seventh-largest by volume, according to the trade group. Spanish wine exports to the U.S. grew by 7% last year. And the wine industry represents about 2% of the countrys overall economic output, the trade group said. For Spains producers of Cava, the threat of U.S. tariffs hit especially hard. The U.S. is the largest market for the Spanish bubbly wine, which like Champagne has a designation of origin meaning it can only be made in Spain. Mireia Pujol-Busquets is owner of the Alta Alella Bodega located in Cava country just south of Barcelona. Founded by her family in 1991, she said her business and its 40 employees immediately risk losing sales of some 25,000 bottles if the American market slams shut.We spent 10 years of effort opening the American market, finding distributors and building a brand, she told the AP by phone. While the Catalan bodega and its distributors in the U.S. were able to absorb the price increase induced by Trumps 25% tariff on wines during his first term, Pujol-Busquets said that it is completely irrational to consider eating a 200% hike. The situation is pretty desperate, she said. ___Naishadham reported from Madrid. Associated Press journalists Joseph Wilson in Barcelona, Spain; John Leicester in Paris; and Colleen Barry in Milan contributed to this report. SUMAN NAISHADHAM Naishadham is an Associated Press reporter covering Spain and Portugal. She is based in Madrid. twitter mailto

Nature, Published online: 19 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08662-3Spontaneous parametric down-conversion was used to generate narrowband photon pairs with a high spectral brightness in a high-Q silicon nitride microresonator.

Nature, Published online: 19 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00742-8Clean-energy research might be booming in Asia, but the energy transition has an uncertain future.

President Donald Trump greets Ireland's Prime Minister Michel Martin as he arrives at the West Wing of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)2025-03-20T04:01:12Z WASHINGTON (AP) Donald Trumps shoot-from-the-lip style kept Americans on the edge of their seats during last years campaign. But now that hes speaking as a president and not as a candidate, his words are being used against him in court in the blizzard of litigation challenging his agenda.The spontaneity is complicating his administrations legal positions. Nowhere has this been clearer than in cases involving Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, the driving force in Trumps efforts to downsize and overhaul the federal government.The latest example came earlier this week, when U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang ruled that Musk had likely violated the Constitution by dismantling the United States Agency for International Development. The lawsuit turned on the question of whether the billionaire entrepreneur had overstepped his authority. Justice Department lawyers and White House officials insist that Musk is merely a presidential adviser, not the actual leader of DOGE. But Trump has said otherwise in speeches, interviews and public remarks and Chuang quoted him extensively in his decision. Trump most notably boasted of creating DOGE during his primetime address to a joint session of Congress and said it was headed by Elon Musk. Republicans gave Musk a standing ovation, who saluted from the gallery above the House chamber.Trumps words were essential, central and indispensable, said Norm Eisen, one of the lawyers for USAID employees who filed the lawsuit. His admissions took what would have been a tough case and made it into a straightforward one. The looseness with words is a shift from predecessors like President Barack Obama, who used to say that he was careful because anything he said could send troops marching or markets tumbling. Trump has no such feeling of restraint, and neither do other members of his administration like Musk. Chuang, who is based in Maryland and was appointed by Obama, also cited social media posts from Musk, who writes frequently on X, the platform that he owns. For example, Musk posted we spent the weekend feeding USAID to the woodchipper on Feb. 3. The agency was being brought to a standstill at that time, with staff furloughed, spending halted and headquarters shut down.Musks public statements and posts ... suggest that he has the ability to cause DOGE to act, Chuang wrote in his ruling. Harrison Fields, principal deputy press secretary at the White House, said Trump was fulfilling his campaign promise to make the federal government more efficient and accountable to taxpayers.Rogue bureaucrats and activist judges attempting to undermine this effort are only subverting the will of the American people and their obstructionist efforts will fail, he said. Anthony Coley, who led public affairs at the Justice Department during President Joe Bidens administration, said statements involving civil litigation were always coordinated between his office and the West Wing. The words could be used to support what were doing or undermine what were doing, he said. Its a carefully choreographed effort to make sure there was no daylight between what was said in the court of public opinion and what could ultimately play out in the court of law. In comparison to how things were done in the past, Coley said, Trump has a ready-fire-aim approach of doing business. Trump doesnt usually let legal disputes force him to turn down the volume. During a criminal investigation over his decision to keep classified records at Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House following his first term, Trump spoke extensively about the case in an interview with Fox News. Longtime defense lawyers were startled defendants are usually encouraged to keep mum while facing an indictment. But the situation panned out for Trump. His legal team delayed the case, and the special counsels office dropped the charges after he won the election because presidents cant be prosecuted while in office. DOGE has been the focus of nearly two dozen lawsuits. Its often prevailed so far in cases involving access to government data, where several plaintiffs have struggled to convince judges to block the organizations actions. But its also run into challenges, such as a lawsuit over whether DOGE must comply with public records requests. The Trump administration asserted in court that DOGE is part of the White House, meaning its exempt. Judge Christopher Cooper, also appointed by Obama, disagreed, siding with a government watchdog group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW.Musk and the Presidents public statements indicate that USDS the original acronym for the organization that was renamed as DOGE is in fact exercising substantial independent authority, wrote Cooper, who is based in Washington. Cooper concluded that DOGE can identify and terminate federal employees, federal programs, and federal contracts. Doing any of those three things would appear to require substantial independent authority; to do all three surely does.He ordered DOGE to start responding to requests about the teams role in mass firings and disruptions to federal programs. The administration unsuccessfully asked the judge to reconsider, saying the judge fundamentally misapprehended the agencys structure. Just because Musk claims credit online for deep agency cuts, doesnt necessarily translate to DOGE having authority in the eyes of the law, Stanford Law School professor Michael McConnell argued in a recent debate on the issue.DOGE is recommending changes, he said, but its the agency heads who are actually putting them into effect. And thats all that the courts are going to care about as to what the Supreme Court is going to do, McConnell said at the debate hosted by the National Constitution Center. 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 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

Sri Indrayati, 52, removes the tattoo of the name of her first daughter that she got shortly after she gave birth to her at the age of 22, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)2025-03-20T03:59:11Z JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) Teguh Islean Septura groans in pain as each staccato rat-a-tat-tat of the laser fires an intense beam at the elaborate tattoos on his arm. But the former musicians determination to repent in the holy month of Ramadan is enough to keep him going.The 30-year-old guitarist got his back, arms and legs tattooed to look cool when he was performing in a band. But these days Septura has a newfound zeal for Islam, including the conviction that Muslims should not alter the body that God gave them. Teguh Islean Septura winces as his tattoo is removed by an Islamic charity organization to give practicing Muslims an opportunity to "repent" during Ramadan, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) Teguh Islean Septura winces as his tattoo is removed by an Islamic charity organization to give practicing Muslims an opportunity to "repent" during Ramadan, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Teguh Islean Septura has his tattoo removed during Ramadan in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) Teguh Islean Septura has his tattoo removed during Ramadan in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More As humans, sometimes we make mistakes. Now I want to improve myself by moving closer to God, Seputra said, as a health worker aimed the white laser wand at Septuras skin, blasting the red, green and black pigments with its penetrating light. God gave me clean skin and I ruined it, thats what I regret now.Septura is among a growing number of people in Indonesias capital who have signed up for free tattoo removal services offered by Amil Zakat National Agency, an Islamic charity organization, during Ramadan to give practicing Muslims an opportunity to repent. Launched in 2019, the tattoo removal program is now held every Ramadan, a month of fasting, increased worship, religious reflection and good deeds. Some 700 people have signed up for the services this year, and in total nearly 3,000 people have taken part. A Muslim displays his hand after having tattoos on his fingers removed in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) A Muslim displays his hand after having tattoos on his fingers removed in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More People take the service of a free tattoo removal service offered by an Islamic charity organization during Ramadan to give practicing Muslims an opportunity to "repent," in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) People take the service of a free tattoo removal service offered by an Islamic charity organization during Ramadan to give practicing Muslims an opportunity to "repent," in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More People wait to take the service for free tattoo removal offered by an Islamic charity organization during Ramadan to give practicing Muslims an opportunity to "repent," in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) People wait to take the service for free tattoo removal offered by an Islamic charity organization during Ramadan to give practicing Muslims an opportunity to "repent," in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More We want to pave the way for people who want to hijrah (to move closer to God), including those who want to remove their tattoos said Mohammad Asep Wahyudi, a coordinator of the event. He added that many people cannot afford to remove their tattoos or know where and how they can do so safely. Laser removal, which takes repeated treatment and may not be completely successful, could cost thousands of dollars for tattoos as extensive as Septuras. A Muslim has his tattoo removed through service provided by an Islamic charity organization during Ramadan to give practicing Muslims an opportunity to repent. in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) A Muslim has his tattoo removed through service provided by an Islamic charity organization during Ramadan to give practicing Muslims an opportunity to repent. in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Tattooing remains strongly associated with gangs and criminality in some Asian cultures. In addition to the religious prohibitions in Muslim-majority Indonesia, ideas about tattoos also reveal oppressive attitudes toward women, who if tattooed can be labeled as promiscuous or disreputable and not worth marrying.Sri Indrayati, 52, said she tattooed the name of her first daughter on her hand shortly after she gave birth to her at the age of 22. She said she regretted it when her two grandchildren kept asking her to erase it because it looked like dirty, thick marker writing.When I take my grandson to school, (the children) whisper to each other: look at that grandma, she has a tattoo! she said. Sri Indrayati, 52, left, recovers after removing the tattoo of the name of her first daughter that she got shortly after she gave birth to her at the age of 22, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) Sri Indrayati, 52, left, recovers after removing the tattoo of the name of her first daughter that she got shortly after she gave birth to her at the age of 22, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Another woman, Evalia Zadora, got a tattoo of a large star on her back and the words Hope, Love and Rock & Roll on her upper chest as a teen to gain acceptance into a gang. She wants to remove them now to move closer to God and out of consideration for her family. Bad image (against people with tattoos) is not a big deal for me, but it affected my husband and son, said Zadora, 36. They are not comfortable with my tattoos and I respect their feelings, so I want to remove it. Evalia Zadora leaves after having her tattoo removed during Ramadan in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) Evalia Zadora leaves after having her tattoo removed during Ramadan in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More

Nature, Published online: 19 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08695-8Using advanced brain-recording techniques, parrots were found to have a brain organization for vocal control similar to humans, making them an important model for studying speech and for developing potential treatments for communication disorders.

Nature, Published online: 19 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08730-8In mice, learning and performance on an auditory task is driven by higher-order signals in the auditory cortex that are no longer required when the mouse has achieved expert-level performance.

Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)2025-03-20T05:48:31Z DEIR-AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) Israeli strikes overnight and into Thursday struck several homes and killed at least 40 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, according to three hospitals.The strikes hit houses in the cities of Khan Younis and Rafah in southern Gaza and the northern town of Beit Lahiya, they said.Israel resumed heavy strikes across Gaza on Tuesday, shattering a ceasefire that had halted the war and facilitated the release of more than two dozen hostages. Israel blamed the renewed fighting on Hamas because the militant group rejected an Israeli-backed proposal that departed from their agreement.More than 400 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday alone, mostly women and children, according to Gazas Health Ministry. There have been no reports of Hamas firing rockets or carrying out other attacks.There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the latest strikes. The military says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it is deeply embedded in residential areas. The European Hospital in the southern city of Rafah said 26 people, mostly women and children, were killed in strikes on two family homes overnight. One of the strikes killed a father and his seven children, it said.The Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis received the bodies of seven people killed overnight in an attack on a home. In northern Gaza, the Indonesian Hospital said it had received the bodies of seven people killed in a strike on a home in Beit Lahiya, a town near the border. ___Follow APs war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

In this image made from an Associated Press video, Palestinians pray over the bodies of Afnan al-Ghanam and her 13-month old son, Mohammed, at their funeral in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. They were killed before dawn on Tuesday by an Israeli airstrike. (AP Photo/ Mohammad Jahjouh)2025-03-20T05:03:49Z KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) Afnan al-Ghanam of Gaza had her first child during war, 13 months ago, while the family was still living at home.She was about to give birth again in the spring this time, while living in a squalid tent camp. But at least a tenuous ceasefire had brought a relative calm.Then, before dawn on Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike smashed into the familys tent. Al-Ghanam, who was seven months pregnant, and Mohammed, her young son, were both killed.They were among more than 400 Palestinians, most of them women and children, killed when Israel launched a surprise bombardment across the Gaza Strip, according to the territorys Health Ministry. Israel said it struck Hamas targets to force the militant group to free hostages and relinquish control of Gaza.This is their bank of targets, said al-Ghanams husband, Alaa Abu Helal, as he held Mohammeds little body, wrapped in cloth, at the morgue of Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis. He was born during the war in difficult conditions and also martyred in the war. Their targets are innocents, pure. They have barely seen life, he said, fighting his tears. Israels aerial assault shattered the ceasefire that began in mid-January and stunned Palestinians who had finally had a breather to start trying to rebuild their lives after 15 months of bombardment, ground offensives, dispersal and hunger. Israel launched its campaign in Gaza in retaliation for Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in southern Israel. It says it does not target civilians, and blames Hamas for their deaths, saying it operates among the population.Abu Helal said he was visiting the familys home in Gazas southernmost city Rafah when the strike hit the familys tent in Muwasi, a sprawling camp for displaced families outside Khan Younis. Their home in Rafah had been damaged during the war, and he had wanted to check in on it to ensure it had not been looted. The 20-year-old al-Ghanam and Mohammed had stayed behind in Muwasi. They have gone and left me alone, he said. The unborn child is dead, too.Mohammed was born in Rafah. Soon after, the family was forced to flee the city in May, when Israeli troops ordered a mass evacuation and stormed the city. The offensive flattened much of the city as troops battled Hamas fighters.You flee during the war to keep your family and children safe. But then, here, hes dead, Abu Helal said. All of them are dead.___AP correspondents Lee Keath and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.

Nature, Published online: 19 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08738-0High spatiotemporal precision tracking using 3D MINFLUX shows that nuclear import and export occur in overlapping regions of the central pore, providing insight into transport across the nuclear pore complex.

Nature, Published online: 19 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08766-wCryo-electron microscopy structures of DNA helicases in various conformations provide insight into an ATP-hydrolysis-dependent entropy switch that drives unwinding of DNA for replication, with probable conservation across viral and eukaryotic systems.

Amadou Ndiaye holds a Braille tablet in Bamako, Mali, Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Moustapha Diallo)2025-03-20T05:10:52Z BAMAKO, Mali (AP) Amadou Ndiaye meticulously ran his fingers across bumps in a piece of paper, making sense of the world he can no longer see.Two hundred years have passed since the invention of braille, the tactile writing system that has transformed the lives of many blind and partially sighted people by offering a path to literacy and independence.Braille helped me live my life, said Ndiaye, a social worker in Mali who lost his eyesight as a child. Before, people asked themselves the question: Here is someone who cant see, how will he make it? How will he integrate into society?The West African country, with a population of over 20 million people, has long struggled to integrate blind and partially sighted people. According to eye care charity Sightsavers, around 170,000 people in Mali are thought to be blind.The 47-year-old Ndiaye was fortunate to attend the institute for the blind in Mali, where he learned to write in braille, and told himself: Really, everything that others do, I can do too. He later attended university. He said braille has allowed him to develop his main passion, playing the guitar, which also emphasizes the importance of touch. Each pressure on the strings, each movement of the finger on the neck, becomes a living note, loaded with meaning, Ndiaye said.The guitar is an integral part of Malis griot tradition, the cultural practice of storytelling through music. Musicians adapted the guitar to emulate the sounds of traditional string instruments like the kora. Local artists such as Ali Farka Tour have fused Malian melodies with elements of the blues, creating a soulful, hypnotic sound that has gained international acclaim. Iconic Malian musical duo Amadou and Mariam awakened Ndiayes passion for the instrument when he was a boy.One day, near a photography studio, I heard their music resonating through the window, which pushed me to discover this universe, he said. Known as the blind couple from Mali, the duo of Amadou Bagayoko, who lost his vision at age 16, and Mariam Doumbia, who became blind at age 5 as a consequence of untreated measles, rose to international fame in the 1990s with their fusion of traditional Malian music, rock, and blues.The couple met at Malis institute for the blind, where Doumbia was studying braille and teaching classes in dance and music.At such places, braille has allowed students to overcome educational barriers such as taking longer to learn how to read and write. They can then take the same exams as anyone else, which allows them to seek employment, said Ali Moustapha Dicko, who teaches at the institute for the blind in the capital, Bamako.Dicko is also blind. Using a special typewriter, he can create texts in braille for his students. But he says his students are still at a disadvantage.We have a crisis of teaching materials, Dicko said. He has one reading book in braille for his entire class of dozens of students.But with the development of new technologies, some blind and partially sighted people hope that educational barriers will continue to fall. There is software, there are telephones that speak, so there are many things that are vocal, said Bagayoko of the musical duo. This allows us to move forward.But Moussa Mbengue, the Senegal-based program officer for inclusive education at Sightsavers, said such advances still dont make the leap that braille did two centuries ago.It cannot replace braille. On the contrary, for me, technology complements braille, he said.___The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The 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.

A subway sign, center top, is seen at the Kodenmacho station, that was affected by a deadly sarin nerve gas attack 30 years ago, in Tokyo, as a passenger gets out of its exit Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)2025-03-20T03:40:32Z TOKYO (AP) Thirty years on from the fatal sarin nerve gas attack in Tokyos subway network, survivors and families who lost loved ones are still seeking justice. Thirteen people were killed and thousands were sickened when cult members released sarin nerve gas in the capitals subway trains on March 20, 1995. The attack remains one of the most shocking atrocities in Japan, a country known for its low crime rates.The cult, Aum Shinrikyo or Supreme Truth, has since disbanded. Its founder, Shoko Asahara, and 12 of his disciples were executed in 2018.But 1,600 former members still operate under renamed groups and have ignored an order to pay damages to survivors and bereaved families.Shizue Takahashi lost her husband, a deputy station master, in the attack. The couple was just starting to enjoy time to themselves after raising three children when tragedy struck.My life is still being ruined by Aum and its successor groups, said Takahashi, 78. We need to carry on and not let the memories fade. People gasped for air and collapsedAt 8 a.m. during the morning rush, five cult members got on separate train cars on three subway lines converging at Kasumigaseki, Japans government center, each dropping bags of sarin on the train floors. They punctured the bags with umbrellas, releasing the gas inside the train cars. Within minutes, commuters poured out of the trains onto the platforms, rubbing their eyes and gasping for air. Some collapsed. Others fled onto the streets where ambulances and rescue workers in hazmat suits gave first-aid.Kazumasa Takahashi didnt know the puddle he was cleaning on the subway car floor was sarin. He collapsed as he removed a bag a sacrifice some survivors say saved lives and never woke up.The attack sickened more than 6,000. A 14th victim died in 2020 after battling severe after-effects.The subway gassing happened after a botched police investigation failed to link the cult to earlier crimes, says Yuji Nakamura, a lawyer for the survivors and the bereaved families. It could have been prevented, he said.Two days after the gassing, Tokyo police, carrying a caged canary to detect poison, raided Aums headquarters near Mount Fuji, where the cultists lived together, trained and produced sarin. Asahara was found in a hidden compartment. Apocalyptic cultBorn Chizuo Matsumoto in 1955, Asahara founded Aum Shinrikyo in 1984. The cult combined Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and yoga, and attracted young people disillusioned with materialism. He taught that death could elevate their spirits and justified killing as a virtue.Followers paid to drink Asaharas bathwater and wore electrical head gear they believed synchronized their brain waves with the gurus. He prophesized an imminent apocalypse, which only true believers would survive.Asahara gathered doctors, lawyers and scientists from Japans top universities as his closest aides.Using donations from followers and earnings from yoga classes and health food businesses, they bought land and equipment. Asaharas scientists developed and manufactured sarin, VX and other chemical and biological weapons. In 1989, its members killed Tsutsumi Sakamoto, a lawyer who opposed the cult, his wife and baby boy. Their criminal activities escalated after their defeat in the 1990 parliamentary elections. A 1994 sarin attack in the central Japanese city of Matsumoto killed eight and injured more than 140 others.In all, Aum killed 27 people in more than a dozen attacks that culminated in the subway gassing. It was part of a plot by Asahara to hasten Armageddon, envisioning overthrowing the government. Still seeking redressShizue Takahashi attended most of the Aum criminal trials. She has lobbied for government support, winning the enactment of a law to support crime victims and government benefits of 3 billion yen ($20 million) for more than 6,000 survivors and bereaved families of the Aum crimes.The government has also enacted laws banning sarin production and possession, and restricted the activities of groups linked to mass killings. Police have since established nuclear, biological and chemical weapons units and beefed up training.Aums main successor, Aleph, has ignored a court order to pay 1 billion yen ($6.7 million) in compensation to survivors and bereaved families. The group has allegedly hidden billions of yen of income from yoga and spiritual seminars.Many of the subway gassing survivors still suffer health problems and trauma, according to support groups.Takahashi and others last week called on Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki to do more to accelerate compensation by Aleph and keep them under close watch.Survivors and their supporters say lessons have not been sufficiently shared with the public.Shoko Egawa, a journalist and expert on Aum crimes, says attention on the group has largely focused on its crimes rather than teaching people to stay away from dangerous cults. There is still a lot to learn from (the Aum problems), including how they attracted followers, so that we can prevent people from getting their lives ruined by cults, Egawa said.Takahashi recently launched a website that compiles articles and comments by survivors, lawyers and writers, including Haruki Murakamis 2007 article about his 1997 book Underground. Aums remnantsAt its peak, the cult boasted more than 10,000 followers in Japan and 30,000 in Russia and elsewhere. Aum has disbanded, but about 1,600 people belonging to Aleph and two smaller groups in Japan still practice Asaharas teachings, said the Public Security Intelligence Agency, which monitors the groups.Minoru Kariya, whose father was killed by Aum members in early 1995 while he was trying to get his sister to quit the cult, said authorities need to do much more to tackle the threat.Its scary that they still exist and are operating as organizations and recruiting new followers, he said.

Nature, Published online: 19 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08702-yRaman spectroscopy measurements of water at the interface with oil droplets show a perturbed hydrogen-bond network and evidence for a strong interfacial electric field.

Nature, Published online: 19 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08627-6Far-field mid-infrared spectroscopy reveals both the electroluminescence of hyperbolic phonon polaritons of hexagonal boron nitride excited by strongly biased graphene, and the associated radiative energy transfer through the material.

Jiang Hui, whose mother was on the missing MH370 Malaysia Airline passenger jet, wears a shirt "Remembering 239 Lives, MH370" checks his phone after talking to media on the 11th anniversary of the jet going missing Saturday, March 8, 2025, in Beijing, China. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)2025-03-20T02:58:14Z KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) Malaysias government has given final approval for a Texas-based marine robotics company to renew the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean more than a decade ago.Cabinet ministers agreed to terms and conditions for a no-find, no-fee contract with Texas-based Ocean Infinity to resume the seabed search operation at a new 15,000-square-kilometer (5,800-square-mile) site in the ocean, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said in a statement Wednesday. Ocean Infinity will be paid $70 million only if wreckage is discovered. The Boeing 777 plane vanished from radar shortly after taking off on March 8, 2014, carrying 239 people, mostly Chinese nationals, on a flight from Malaysias capital, Kuala Lumpur, to Beijing. Satellite data showed the plane turned from its flight path and headed south to the far-southern Indian Ocean, where it is believed to have crashed. An expensive multinational search failed to turn up any clues to its location, although debris washed ashore on the east African coast and Indian Ocean islands. A private search in 2018 by Ocean Infinity also found nothing. The final approval for a new search came three months after Malaysia gave the nod in principle to plans for a fresh search. Ocean Infinity CEO Oliver Punkett earlier this year reportedly said the company had improved its technology since 2018. He has said the firm is working with many experts to analyze data and had narrowed the search area to the most likely site. Loke said his ministry will ink a contract with Ocean Infinity soon but didnt provide details on the terms. The firm has reportedly sent a search vessel to the site and indicated that January-April is the best period for the search.The government is committed to continuing the search operation and providing closure for the families of the passengers of flight MH370, he said in a statement.

WWII veteran and Navajo Code Talker Peter MacDonald Sr. is photographed at his home on the Navajo reservation in Tuba City, Ariz., April 28, 2020. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)2025-03-20T01:04:51Z PHOENIX (AP) The Pentagon restored some webpages highlighting the crucial wartime contributions of Navajo Code Talkers and other Native American veterans on Wednesday, days after tribes condemned the action.The initial removal was part of a sweep of any military content that promoted diversity, equity and inclusion, or commonly referred to as DEI. Following President Donald Trumps broader executive order ending the federal governments DEI programs, the Defense Department deleted thousands of pages honoring contributions by women and minority groups. Department officials say the Navajo Code Talker material was erroneously erased.In the rare cases that content is removed either deliberately or by mistake that is out of the clearly outlined scope of the directive, we instruct the components and they correct the content so it recognizes our heroes for their dedicated service alongside their fellow Americans, period, Pentagon press secretary John Ullyot said in a statement. Several webpages on the Code Talkers landed on a 404 - Page not found message Tuesday. Some were back up Wednesday although any that also mention Native American Heritage Month remain down. Thousands of other pages deleted in the DEI purge are still offline. White House officials informed the Navajo Nation that an artificial intelligence-powered automated review process looking for content with DEI initiatives led to the elimination of anything mentioning Navajo, according to a statement from Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren. Nygren, who sent a letter to the Defense Department requesting clarity on the issue, said hes pleased by the resolution.I want to assure the Navajo people that we remain in close communication with federal officials to ensure the legacy of our cherished Navajo Code Talkers is never erased from American and Navajo history, Nygren said. He also pointed out the 574 federally recognized tribes across the U.S. are sovereign nations and not defined by DEI classifications, a stance broadly supported by other Native American leaders who also sent letters to the Trump administration.The U.S. Marine Corps initially recruited 29 Navajo men to develop a code based on the unwritten Navajo language in World War II. Using Navajo words for red soil, war chief, clan, braided hair, beads, ant and hummingbird, for example, they came up with a glossary of more than 200 terms, later expanded, and an alphabet. To convey the word send, Code Talkers would say the Navajo words for sheep, eyes, nose and deer.Hundreds of Navajos followed in their footsteps, sending thousands of messages without error on Japanese troop movements, battlefield tactics and other communications crucial to the wars ultimate outcome. The code stumped Japanese military cryptologists. The Code Talkers participated in all assaults the Marines led in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945 and are credited with helping the U.S. win the war. Hundreds of Native Americans from more than 20 tribes also served as code talkers during World War I and World War II, according to the Smithsonians National Museum of the American Indian. Among them were Choctaw, Cherokee, Osage, Chippewa and Hopi speakers. Among those alarmed to hear of the missing Navajo Code Talker webpages was Peter MacDonald, 96. He and Thomas H. Begay are the only two Navajo Code Talkers still living today. That code became a very valuable weapon and not only saved hundreds of thousands of soldiers, but it also helped win the war in the Pacific, MacDonald said by phone from his home in Tuba City in the Arizona portion of the Navajo Nation. And it has absolutely nothing to do with DEI.A Republican who voted for Trump, MacDonald said he thinks the current administration needs to better walk the line between getting rid of DEI and ignoring history.Thats why Im very concerned that communication from the Pentagon down to the various military units should be taught or learn that this information is history, and you dont want to hide history, MacDonald said. The Defense Department has had to issue reassurances that it is not omitting historic achievements by servicemen and women of color. Besides the Code Talkers, the agency also on Wednesday restored a webpage describing baseball and civil rights icon Jackie Robinsons military service after it was missing earlier in the day. Last week, pages honoring a Black Medal of Honor winner and Japanese American service members were also restored. Everyone at the Defense Department loves Jackie Robinson, as well as the Navajo Code Talkers, the Tuskegee airmen, the Marines at Iwo Jima and so many others we salute them for their strong and in many cases heroic service to our country, full stop, Ullyot said. We do not view or highlight them through the prism of immutable characteristics, such as race, ethnicity or sex. Michael Smith, whose father, Samuel Jesse Smith Sr., was a Navajo Code Talker, questioned why these pages were removed at all.I dont know how taking Navajo Code Talkers off the Department of Defense website is saving the United States any money because thats not consistent with the presidents order, said Smith, who helps organize annual celebrations of the Code Talkers.Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis of the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona also expressed disappointment, claiming there was missing content relating to all Native American veterans, including Ira Hayes. Hayes was an enrolled member of the tribe and one of six Marines featured in an iconic 1945 Associated Press photograph of U.S. forces raising an American flag during the Battle of Iwo Jima.Even with some being reposted, he remains worried web content removal is the tip of the iceberg.The way it looks in the (executive) order, this language is skewed and made to sound like the diversity programs are the ones that are unethical, Smith said. TERRY TANG Tang reports on race and ethnicity issues, including Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, for The Associated Press. She is based in Phoenix and previously covered breaking news in the Southwest. twitter mailto

Nature, Published online: 19 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08686-9All-electrical excitation of the hyperbolic phonon polaritons in hexagonal boron nitride by drifting charge carriers in nearby graphene results in electroluminescence at mid-infrared frequencies.

Nature, Published online: 19 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00680-5Neural recordings from parrots and songbirds reveal the ways in which vocal production is encoded in the brain, highlighting remarkable similarities between how parrots and humans learn to produce sounds.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks, during a joint press conference with Finland's President Alexander Stubb, at the Presidential Palace, in Helsinki, Finland, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (Heikki Saukkomaa/Lehtikuva via AP)2025-03-20T09:40:30Z KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Senior officers from countries across Europe and beyond were due to meet Thursday at a military headquarters on the outskirts of London to flesh out plans for an international peacekeeping force for Ukraine as details of a partial ceasefire are worked out.U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the coalition of the willing plan, led by Britain and France, is moving into an operational phase. But its unclear how many countries are willing to send troops, or whether there will be any ceasefire to protect.Ukraine and Russia agreed in principle Wednesday to a limited ceasefire after President Donald Trump spoke with the countries leaders this week, though it remained to be seen when it might take effect and what possible targets would be off limits to attack.The tentative deal to partially rein in the three-year war came after Russian President Vladimir Putin rebuffed Trumps push for a full 30-day ceasefire. The difficulty in getting the combatants to agree not to target one anothers energy infrastructure highlights the challenges Trump will face in trying to fulfill his campaign pledge to quickly end to the war. Despite the negotiations, hundreds of drone attacks were launched overnight by both sides, causing several injuries and damage to buildings. Ukraine said Russia had launched 171 long-range drones and it shot down 75 while another 63 decoy drones disappeared from radar after likely being jammed. Russia said it destroyed 132 Ukrainian drones in six Russian regions and the annexed Crimea. If peace comes to Ukraine, the size of any force that might help enforce it is vague. Officials have cited figures of between 10,000 and 30,000 troops. Only Britain and France have said they are willing to send troops, though countries including Australia, Canada, France and Finland say they are open to being involved in some way. Around 30 leaders were involved in a video meeting on Saturday including Macron, Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, leaders from Australia, Canada and New Zealand and officials from NATO and the European Union.Russia has said it will not accept any troops from NATO countries being based on Ukrainian soil. And Trump has given no sign the U.S. will guarantee reserve firepower in case of any breaches of a truce. Starmer says the plan wont work without that U.S. backstop.___Lawless reported from London.___Follow the APs coverage of the war 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 JILL LAWLESS Lawless is an Associated Press reporter covering U.K. politics and more. She is based in London. twitter mailto

Nature, Published online: 20 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00593-3Some early-career researchers report feeling pressure to use animal models to meet journal and grant requirements, even in disciplines and projects that dont require them.

Nature, Published online: 20 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08836-zAuthor Correction: Observation of an ultra-high-energy cosmic neutrino with KM3NeT

Former members of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) and police officers who allegedly surrendered to M23 rebels arrive in Goma, Congo, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa, file)2025-03-20T09:27:33Z GOMA, Congo (AP) Rwanda-backed M23 rebels entered the strategic town of Walikale in eastern Congo late Wednesday, according to residents and civil society leaders, a day after the Congolese and Rwandan presidents called for an immediate ceasefire.The information is confirmed: the rebels are visible at the monument and at the Bakusu group office, Prince Kihangi, a former provincial deputy elected for the Walikale territory told The Associated Press over the phone, referring to locations in the centre of Walikale. This confirms the presence of the M23 in the territorial capital.By taking control of Walikale, the M23 rebels seized a road linking four provinces in the east of the country: North Kivu, South Kivu, Tshopo and Maniema, cutting off Congolese armys positions.Heavy artillery fire could be heard throughout the day but ceased in the evening, giving way to sporadic gunfire, Fiston Misona, a civil society activist in Walikale, told the AP over the phone. Our Congolese army is no longer fighting, he said. Its as if we were being sacrificed.There was no immediate comment from the M23 or the Congolese government. The escalation in fighting comes a day after the presidents of Congo and Rwanda held unexpected talks in Qatar and called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire.The meeting followed a failed attempt to bring Congos government and M23 leaders together for ceasefire negotiations on Tuesday. The rebels pulled out Monday after the European Union announced sanctions on rebel leaders. The decades-long conflict in eastern Congo escalated in January when the Rwanda-backed rebels advanced and seized the strategic city of Goma, followed by Bukavu in February.M23 is one of about 100 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo near the border with Rwanda, in a conflict that has created one of the worlds most significant humanitarian crises. More than 7 million people have been displaced. The rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to U.N. experts, and at times have vowed to march as far as Congos capital, Kinshasa, about 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) to the east.The U.N. Human Rights Council last month launched a commission to investigate atrocities, including allegations of rape and killing akin to summary executions by both sides.The Walikale area is home to the largest tin deposits in Congo and to several significant gold mines. The Bisie tin mine, around 60 kilometers (35 miles) northwest of the town, accounts for the majority of tin exports from North Kivu province. Last week, its operator Alphamin Resources said it was temporarily halting mining operations due to the rebels advance.

Nature, Published online: 19 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00837-2Physicists had long assumed that the elusive force has constant strength. But the latest results from a project to map the Universes expansion challenge this idea.

Nature, Published online: 19 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00803-yComprehensive maps of mutations in healthy and diseased gastric tissue give clues about how cancer arises and could inform early-detection strategies.

Nature, Published online: 19 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00744-6Insights from the Nature Index show that the boom in research related to affordable and clean energy is not a global trend.

Nature, Published online: 19 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00831-8New metric assesses how AI is getting better at completing long tasks but some researchers are wary of long-term predictions.

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks to the media during a press conference at Canada House in London on Monday, March 17, 2025. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)2025-03-20T12:33:03Z TORONTO (AP) New Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will call an snap election on Sunday, a Canadian government official familiar with the matter said Thursday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly said the vote is expected to take place on April 28. The official says Carney will go to the governor-general on Sunday and request to dissolve Parliament. The governor-general holds a constitutional and ceremonial role as the representative of Canadas head of state, King Charles III. Carney was sworn in as Canadas new prime minister on Friday as the country faces a trade war brought by U.S. President Donald Trump and threats of annexation. Carney, 60, replaced Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who announced his resignation in January but remained in power until the center-left Liberal Party elected a new leader. The governing Liberals had appeared poised for a historic election defeat this year until Trump declared economic war. He has repeatedly said Canada should become the 51st state of the U.S. Now the party and its new leader could come out on top.Carney has not had a phone call yet with Trump despite being sworn in last Friday. He ha s said hes ready to meet with Trump if he shows respect for Canadian sovereignty.

Drake players warm up during practice for the first round of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Wednesday, March 19, 2025, in Wichita, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)2025-03-20T11:12:45Z WASHINGTON (AP) In East Lansing, Michigan, college sports often dominate conversations especially in March, when everyone seems to be filling out their NCAA brackets. Jessica Caruss would know; she has lived in the area for most of her life. She loves sports, and shes a Michigan State fan, but she wont be drawing up a March Madness bracket that shows her team (or any team) winning it all. Oh, Im aware. I just dont do brackets or anything, Caruss said. I dont gamble; I dont see the appeal of it. For me its not a rush. Its stressful.Shes far from alone in bypassing the brackets. As the annual tournament kicks off, some Americans skip the madness or at least they dont try to predict who will win. A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that about 7 in 10 U.S. adults say they never fill out a bracket for the NCAA mens or womens basketball tournament. This group leans more female: About 6 in 10 bracket avoiders are women.Im probably not going to watch. I have not really been into it in quite some time, Caruss said. Ive never understood the March madness. Other bracket avoiders plan to watch tournament games but wont predict winners. Chris Lara lives in Belvidere, Illinois, but supports UCLA because of his California roots. Both the UCLA womens and mens basketball teams will be competing in the NCAA tournament, and he plans to cheer them on. But he doesnt feel confident in his ability to determine the winners for every match-up in a bracket. I dont have the knowledge to pick the teams correctly or to know the ones that are the best, Lara said. I would just go with my heart and pick teams. ... And then it wouldnt work out well.For some people, the madness is barely registering.Justin Campbell, a 29-year-old from Brookhaven, Mississippi, said hes never followed sports closely. Hes not tracking the NCAA tournament, let alone making a bracket. He might tune into a game if its on at a restaurant hes at, but basketball takes a back seat to football in his corner of southern Mississippi. Im sure if I was in a different town where it was all we talked about, it might be different, Campbell said. But where I am, football is more the big thing.Even among the sliver of U.S. adults who fill out a mens or womens bracket at least some years, about two-thirds of that group say the fact that other people were doing it was a major or minor reason for their participation. In the suburbs of Seattle, Laura Edain said shes not interested in March Madness, either, and does not plan to seek out any games. Edain, 55, used to work in an office that may have had more discussion of March Madness and brackets as it happened or she would overhear references to Gonzaga Universitys many tournament runs but the bracket predictions have never appealed to her.I dont think I would have participated, even then, Edain said. And now, I just am not in any kind of circle that really talks about it at all. ___Visual Storytelling News Editor Panagiotis Mouzakis in London contributed to this report. ___The AP-NORC poll of 1,112 adults was conducted Feb. 6-10, using a sample drawn from NORCs probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 4.1 percentage points. LINLEY SANDERS Sanders is a polls and surveys reporter for The Associated Press. She develops and writes about polls conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, and works on AP VoteCast. twitter

Nature, Published online: 19 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08757-xIntegration of spatial transcriptomics data with data from genome-wide association studies enables spatially resolved mapping of cells associated with human diseases and other complex traits.

Nature, Published online: 19 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08717-5Results of a multicentre phase 1 clinical trial evaluating treatment with the engineered herpes simplex virus VG161 in advanced liver cancer indicate a good safety profile and promising efficacy.

This image provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech shows Venus taken from NASA's Mariner 10 spacecraft. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP)2025-03-20T13:45:01Z NEW YORK (AP) Venus will pass between the Earth and sun on Saturday during whats called an inferior conjunction. But dont plan on seeing the linkup. The sight is extremely difficult to spot without special equipment and a trained eye.The glare from the sun makes it really, really difficult to see, said Michelle Nichols with Chicagos Adler Planetarium.A conjunction happens when two celestial bodies appear close together in the sky. It could be two planets, or a planet and the sun. An inferior conjunction of Venus happens when the planet swings between the sun and Earth.Such an alignment happens about every 19 months because of how Venus and Earth orbit the sun. The moment of inferior conjunction happens around 9 p.m. EDT. Some people call that a Venus kiss because were extremely close together, said astronomer Geary Albright with James Madison University. Venus has phases just like the moon. Before and after the conjunction, Venus looks like a thin crescent though only telescopes can see it. Those looking for signs of the transition can watch Venus move from the evening to morning sky Sunday. In the nights leading up to the conjunction, find a flat area and look near the horizon just after sunset to glimpse Venus before it sets. It appears as one of the brightest objects in the sky.After the conjunction, Venus will be visible in the morning sky just before sunrise. Take precaution to not stare directly at the sun. While this weekends event isnt much of a visual spectacle, scientists say its an opportunity to track how the planets shift in space. Get a chance to get to know Venus, said Nichols.Paul McCartneys The Kiss of Venus was partly inspired by a book chapter describing the inferior conjunction. And two upcoming NASA missions will put a spotlight on Venus, investigating how it formed and why it turned out so different from Earth.-The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. ADITHI RAMAKRISHNAN Ramakrishnan is a science reporter for The Associated Press, based in New York. She covers research and new developments related to space, early human history and more. twitter mailto

Nature, Published online: 19 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08736-2GluA2-containing AMPA receptors (AMPARs) are not Ca2+ impermeable, and their ability to transport Ca2+ is shaped by the subunit composition of AMPAR tetramers as well as the orientation of transmembrane AMPAR regulatory proteins and cornichon auxiliary subunits.

Nature, Published online: 19 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08769-7An early Holocene sea-level curve based on data from the North Sea reveals two phases of accelerated sea-level rise owing to meltwater from the North American and Antarctic ice sheets.

This is a locator map for Afghanistan with its capital, Kabul. (AP Photo)2025-03-20T14:09:42Z WASHINGTON (AP) An American man who was abducted more than two years ago while traveling through Afghanistan as a tourist has been released by the Taliban in a deal with the Trump administration that Qatari negotiators helped broker, the State Department said Thursday.George Glezmann, an airline mechanic from Atlanta, is the third American detainee to be released by the Taliban since January. He was seized by the Talibans intelligence services in December 2022 and was designated by the U.S. government as wrongfully detained the following year.In a statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Glezmann was on his way back to the United States to be reunited with his wife, Aleksandra. He also praised Qatar for steadfast commitment and diplomatic efforts that he said were instrumental in securing Georges release.Georges release is a positive and constructive step. It is also a reminder that other Americans are still detained in Afghanistan. President Trump will continue his tireless work to free ALL Americans unjustly detained around the world, Rubio said. Glezmann was being accompanied back to the U.S., through Qatars capital, Doha, by Adam Boehler, who has been handling hostage issues for President Donald Trumps administration. Qatar has hosted negotiations between the U.S. and the Taliban over the years. The release of Glezmann is part of what the Taliban has previously described as the normalization of ties between the U.S. and Afghanistan following the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. Most countries still dont recognize the Talibans rule. Glezmanns release follows a separate deal, arranged in the final days of the Biden administration and also mediated by the Qataris, that secured the releases of Ryan Corbett and William McKenty. The Talibans Foreign Ministry in Kabul said at the time that those two U.S. citizens had been exchanged for Khan Mohammed, who was sentenced to two life terms in 2008 after being convicted under U.S. narco-terrorism laws. Unlike in that arrangement, the U.S. did not give up any prisoner to secure Glezmanns release, which was done as a goodwill gesture, according to an official briefed on the matter who insisted on anonymity due to the sensitivity of the negotiations.The Taliban disclosed earlier Thursday that Boehler had been meeting on hostage issues with a delegation that included Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.President Joe Biden contemplated before he left office an earlier proposal that would have involved the release of Glezmann and other Americans for Muhammad Rahim, one of the remaining detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But Biden told families during a call in January that he would not support trading Rahim unless the Taliban released Afghan-American businessman Mahmood Habibi. U.S. officials believe the Taliban is holding Habibi, but the Taliban has denied it.___Associated Press writers Victoria Eastwood in Cairo and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report. ERIC TUCKER Tucker covers national security in Washington for The Associated Press, with a focus on the FBI and Justice Department. twitter mailto

UNC Greensboro head coach Trina Patterson directs her team in the first half of a semifinal NCAA college basketball game for the Southern Conference tournament, March 6, 2020, in Asheville, N.C. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek, File)2025-03-20T10:00:07Z Follow APs full coverage of March Madness. Get the AP Top 25 womens college basketball poll delivered straight to your inbox with AP Top 25 Poll Alerts. Sign up here. CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) The Columbia womens basketball team plays in an intimate 2,700-seat gym nestled in Manhattan that is nowhere to be found on the national sports landscape. Now the Lions and all the other starry-eyed dreamers in the NCAA Tournament are being serenaded just like former national champions UConn, South Carolina or Tennessee.And this year, theyre all getting paid to be there.The star treatment this year goes beyond charter flights, hotel accommodations and coveted swag. For the first time, womens teams are getting an individual share of the profits, a perk mens teams have enjoyed for years.It should be this way. We should be able to fly charter, said UNC Greensboro coach Trina Patterson, whose Spartans will take a charter flight to play a game for the first time. We are all playing in the same March Madness, the treatment for the men and women should be equal. We get a unit! Thats correct, each womens team in the tournament will get a unit money that is paid to conferences when one of its teams appears in the NCAA Tournament. The formula and definition of a unit can be complicated, but the bottom line is conferences will receive $113,000 for each game one of its womens team plays in the tournament. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Columbia reached the tournament last year, but neither the Lions nor the Ivy League received money for the appearance.You got to start somewhere and I think weve been so far behind, said Columbia coach Megan Griffith. I think of Sedona Prince and its really cool to see that shes still able to play at a high level on a big stage. This is more like the whipped cream. I think the cherry on top is going to keep coming, but this its really good so far. Princes video from 2020 that shed light on the inequalities between the mens and womens tournament helped spearhead change in the tournament. Patterson is now with UNCG but she knows what its like to be one of the marquee teams. She played at Virginia in the 1980s when Geno Auriemma was an assistant at the school. Patterson then went on to be an assistant coach at Stanford for a few years under Tara VanDerveer.Her 16th-seeded team will enjoy the comforts of the cross-country charter flight from Greensboro to Los Angeles, where they will try to knock off JuJu Watkins and No. 1-seeded Southern California. Its UNCGs first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 1998.This is all new for William & Mary, which is making its first appearance but has the chance to earn two financial units. They are in the play-in game against High Point on Thursday with the winner facing No. 1 seed Texas. It should have always been that way. Womens basketball has been fighting for equality for a very long time, said William & Mary coach Erin Dickerson Davis, who was the associate head coach at Wake Forest, an assistant at Georgetown and has also coached at Towson, Illinois State, La Salle and Furman.Ive been in this business for many, many years, Davis said. I played college basketball, its a long time coming. It is the Tribes first trip to March Madness in either mens or womens basketball.Everyone is so excited about the experience, going from the bus directly to the plane, everyone was so happy, Davis said. Yes, were here on a business trip and we want to win. But just to be able to have these experiences for them that no one has done at William & Mary is special.Several of the players at Columbia can relate. They arent in Chapel Hill for spring break. They are here to win. But that doesnt mean they arent taking time to enjoy the moment.It was cool going to the charter and weve been taking it all in, junior Perri Page said. But its a business trip and we have a goal in mind.The Lions schedule this week has mirrored most schools travel itinerary. There was the building anticipation on the bus ride from their New York campus to Newark Airport for their pride-filled one-hour charter flight to Chapel Hill and the giddiness that comes with picking up that tournament swag on Wednesday. Yes, there is a game to be played Thursday night. A pretty big one at that.But what a ride to get here with a paycheck looming to top it off.Weve been enjoying the whole season, Page said, adding, Its great we can make money for the school now.Patterson, the former Virginia Cavalier, Stanford Cardinal and now UNCG Spartan summed it up when she said: Its great for womens basketball.___The Associated Press women in the workforce and state government coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. 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.___AP March Madness: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.

Nature, Published online: 19 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00851-4A geneticist gently prises open the branches of family trees to reveal hidden kinships. Plus, the world's oldest crater and a proposed energy plant in Chile threatens the dark skies over some of the world's most powerful telescopes.

Nature, Published online: 19 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08724-6Dynamic cytoskeletal regulation of lymphatic endothelial cell shape, induced by isotropic stretch and crucial for dermal lymphatic capillary function, is identified and found to result from continuous remodelling of cellular overlaps that maintain vessel integrity.

The National Institutes of Health's James Shannon building is seen on the agency's campus in Bethesda, Md., Friday, Oct. 24, 2014. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)2025-03-20T15:01:16Z A common blood test may miss ovarian cancer in some Black and Native American patients, delaying their treatment, a new study finds. Its the latest example of medical tests that contribute to health care disparities.Researchers have been working to uncover these kinds of biases in medicine. Recently, the Trump administrations crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion has jeopardized such research as universities react to political pressure and federal agencies comb through grants looking for projects that violate the presidents orders.Native American women have the highest rate of ovarian cancer. Black women with ovarian cancer have lower rates of survival compared to white women. Finding ovarian cancer early can lead to better chances of survival.The new study, supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute and published Thursday in JAMA Network Open, looked at a test called CA-125. The test measures a tumor marker in the blood, and doctors use it to determine if a woman with a suspicious lump should be referred to a cancer specialist. Doctors depend on the test during early evaluations, so understanding what the results mean for people of different races and ethnicities is critical, said Dr. Shannon Westin of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, who was not involved in the research. This is a perfect example of work that absolutely needed to be stratified based on race and ethnicity, Westin said. The findings alert doctors that they shouldnt be totally reassured by a normal test result, she said. So far, its unknown why the test doesnt perform uniformly across groups. The researchers suspect it has something to do with a harmless genetic variation that is more common in people of African, Caribbean, Middle Eastern and West Indian descent.Initial studies of the test, published in the 1980s, didnt record peoples races but were in mostly white populations. The test isnt perfect for white women either, said lead author Dr. Anna Jo Smith of the University of Pennsylvanias medical school. But if we have worse performance in certain groups, then we may be further contributing to disparities in referral, disparities in treatment, and ultimately we may be contributing to the lower survival in Black women with ovarian cancer, Smith said.The researchers analyzed data from more than 200,000 women with ovarian cancer from 2004 through 2020 whod had a CA-125 blood test.Black and Native American patients were 23% less likely to have an elevated CA-125 level at ovarian cancer diagnosis compared with white patients, suggesting the current thresholds are set too high.The researchers also found that patients with false negative results started chemotherapy on average nine days later than patients with elevated levels. That could make a difference for some patients, Smith said.Last week, Smith and her colleagues presented work at a Society of Gynecologic Oncology meeting proposing a new lower threshold for the blood test that would work better across all populations. The work could lead to changes in guidelines.New thresholds for referral will ensure that all patients get in for rapid care when ovarian cancer is suspected, Smith said. ___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. CARLA K. JOHNSON Johnson covers research in cancer, addiction and more for The Associated Press. She is a member of APs Health and Science team. twitter mailto

This photo provided by the The Crisis and Support Centre of the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs on Thursday, March 20, 2025 shows France's Olivier Grondeau sitting in a plane after being freed by Iran. (MEAE/CDCS via AP)2025-03-20T06:17:18Z DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) A French citizen imprisoned in Iran for over 880 days has been freed and is back home, as was another French citizen held under house arrest in Tehran, French officials said Thursday. Their liberation came as France and the rest of Europe are trying to jumpstart talks with Iran over its rapidly advancing nuclear program.U.S. President Donald Trump has sent a letter to Irans 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei seeking negotiations. Trump is also pressuring Tehran over its support of Yemens Iran-backed Houthi rebels as the American military carries out an intense new campaign of airstrikes targeting the group.French President Emmanuel Macron announced online that Frenchman Olivier Grondeau had been freed. The French Foreign Ministry said another French citizen who had been under house arrest in Tehran for more than four months was released Wednesday night. He asked to not be publicly identified, the ministry said. The release came ahead of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, when Iran has released prisoners in the past.In January, Grondeau spoke to a French broadcaster from prison, alluding at the time to the politics at play in his imprisonment. You become a human who has been stocked away indefinitely because one government is seeking to exert pressure on another, he said. His lawyer in France, Chirinne Ardakani, said he returned on Monday to Paris. Hes in good hands. Hes recovering, the attorney told The Associated Press. An Iranian court had sentenced Grondeau, a backpacker and world traveler, to five years in prison on espionage charges that he, his family and the French government vigorously denied. French Foreign Minister Jean-Nol Barrot said France did not provide anything in exchange for Grondeaus liberation. Barrot told French broadcaster TF1 on Thursday that he had initially discussed the situation with Irans foreign minister but when those discussions failed to secure a release, it was via different means that we obtained this result. He didnt elaborate. Iran isnt acknowledging the releaseReleases of Westerners in Iran typically come in exchange for something. Tehran did not immediately acknowledge Grondeaus release. Earlier this week, Irans Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said France had arrested an Iranian woman who supported Palestinians, but said Tehran was still trying to gather more details about her case.An image that circulated of Grondeau on a private jet flying home was a plastic-wrapped T-shirt with a photo of pop star Britney Spears. He put it on before getting off the plane and embracing his family on returning home, in footage aired by TF1.After the family and Grondeau went public about his detention, his mother had described the former youth Scrabble champion as a fan of Beyonc and karaoke in interviews with French media. Arrest came during Mahsa Amini protestsGrondeau was detained by Iranian authorities in October 2022 in the city of Shiraz. Though the exact details of what sparked Irans arrest of Grondeau remain unclear, his detention began in the chaotic aftermath of the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died after being detained over not wearing Irans mandatory headscarf, or hijab, to the liking of authorities.United Nations investigators later said Iran was responsible for the physical violence that led to Aminis death, which sparked months of protests and a bloody security force crackdown in the country. Most of the questions were, Did you take part in a demonstration, List all of the Iranians that you met during your trip, Why did you come to Iran? Youre not a tourist, Grondeau said in the January phone call with French broadcaster France 2.One day you think youre going to be freed very quickly, the next you think youll die here, he added.He described lights being shined on prisoners day and night, as well as being blindfolded each time he was being taken out of his cell while in solitary confinement for 72 days. He later shared a cell with over a dozen prisoners.Asked if he had suffered ill treatment, he said: If you look for bruises on my body you wont find any, because they are not that stupid.Grondeau was held at Tehrans notorious Evin Prison, which holds Westerners, dual nationals and political prisoners often used by Tehran as bargaining chips in negotiations with the West. France is trying to release others, tooBarrot said that France is keeping up pressure on Iran to release two other French citizens held in Iran, Ccile Kohler and Jacques Paris, imprisoned for more than 1,000 days.Macron also posted about the two, writing: All my thoughts are with them and their families on this day.Grondeaus lawyer said the news about his release was tempered by the continued detention of the two others. Were only half-relieved, she said.___Leicester reported from Le Pecq, France. Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran; and Lorian Belanger in Bangkok contributed to this report. 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

Nature, Published online: 19 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08597-9Long-term studies provide insights into the complex interplay between evolutionary process and pattern across multiple systems and timescales.

Kirsty Coventry gestures as she speaks after she was announced as the new IOC President at the International Olympic Committee 144th session in Costa Navarino, western Greece, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)2025-03-20T06:15:52Z COSTA NAVARINO, Greece (AP) Kirsty Coventry was elected president of the International Olympic Committee on Thursday and became the first woman and first African to get perhaps the biggest job in world sports.It is a signal that we are truly global, the Zimbabwe sports minister and two-time Olympic swimming gold medalist said.Hers was a stunning first-round win in the seven-candidate contest after voting by 97 IOC members.She gets an eight-year mandate into 2033 aged just 41 youthful by the historical standards of the IOC.It was the most open and hard-to-call IOC presidential election in decades with Coventry expected to lead the first round short of an absolute majority. Though several rounds of votes were widely predicted, she got the exact majority of 49 needed.Coventrys win also was a victory for outgoing IOC president Thomas Bach, who has long been seen as promoting her as his successor. He did not use his right to vote. I will make all of you very, very proud and hopefully extremely confident in the decision you have taken, Coventry said in her acceptance speech. Now we have got some work together. Walking to the podium, she was congratulated and kissed on both cheeks by Juan Antonio Samaranch, her expected closest rival who got 28 votes. Also in the race were four presidents of sports governing bodies: Track and fields Sebastian Coe, skiings Johan Eliasch, cyclings David Lappartient, and gymnastics Morinari Watanabe. Also contending was Prince Feisal al Hussein of Jordan. Coventry will formally replace her mentor Bach on June 23 officially Olympic Day as the 10th IOC president in its 131-year history. Bach reached the maximum 12 years in office.Key challenges for the 41-year-old Auburn University graduate will be steering the Olympic movement through political and sporting issues toward the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, including engaging in diplomacy with U.S. President Donald Trump. Coventrys IOC will also need to find a host for the 2036 Summer Games which could go to India or the Middle East.The strongest candidates in a five-month campaign with tightly controlled rules drafted by the Bach-led IOC seemed to be Coventry who gave birth to her second child IOC vice president Samaranch and Coe.Coventrys manifesto offered mostly continuity from Bach with little new detail, while her rivals had specifics to benefit Olympic athletes, which she was as recently as 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.Coes World Athletics broke an Olympic taboo by paying $50,000 to track and field gold medalists in Paris last year. Samaranch promised to relax strict IOC commercial rules and give athletes control of footage of their Olympic performances.Samaranch tried to follow his father, also Juan Antonio Samaranch, who was the IOCs seventh president from 1980 to 2001.Coe aimed to add to a remarkable career of Olympic triumphs: A two-time Olympic gold medalist in the 1,500 meters, he led a bidding team for the 2012 London Olympics, then worked for the next seven years to head the organizing team of those widely praised Games. He got just eight votes. It has been a stellar week for Bach, who greeted Coventry and shared warm smiles after her acceptance speech.Bach was feted on Wednesday in an emotional start to the IOC annual meeting, getting lavish praise and the title of honorary president for life. He repeated his wish to offer advice to the next president.His hands-on executive-style presidency will deliver over a financially secure IOC, on track to earn more than $8 billion in revenue through the 2028 LA Olympics, and with a slate of future hosts through 2034: in Italy, the United States, France, Australia and finally the U.S. again, when the Winter Games return to Salt Lake City.A signature Bach policy also has been gender parity, with equal quotas of men and women athletes at the 2024 Paris Olympics and giving a better balance of female members of the IOC and the executive board he chairs, which now has seven women among its 15 members, including Coventry. Her win on Thursday will only add to Bachs legacy for promoting women.Coventry won back-to-back titles in 200-meters backstroke at the 2004 Athens Olympics and Beijing four years later. She joined the IOC in 2013, almost one year after a disputed athlete election at the London Olympics. Her place among the four athletes elected was eventually awarded after Court of Arbitration for Sport rulings against two opponents. The next president can oversee the IOC making a statement choice for its host for the 2036 Summer Games.There is one and one only, Samaranch said on Wednesday when asked about challenges ahead. We must concentrate (on) successful and relevant Olympic Games. The rest comes with success in the Games.The voters in the exclusive invited club of IOC members include royal family members, former lawmakers and diplomats, business leaders, sports officials and Olympic athletes. Even an Oscar-winning actress, Michelle Yeoh.Members voted without hearing further presentations from the candidates in an election that swung on a discreet network of friendships and alliances largely forged out of sight. ___AP Olympics at https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games GRAHAM DUNBAR Dunbar is an Associated Press sports news reporter in Geneva, Switzerland. He focuses on the governing bodies, institutions and politics of international sports. twitter mailto

This Feb. 8, 2023 photo provided by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections shows Wendell Grissom. (Oklahoma Department of Corrections via AP)2025-03-20T04:03:39Z McALESTER, Okla. (AP) Oklahoma executed a man on Thursday for fatally shooting a woman during a home invasion and robbery 20 years ago.Wendell Grissom, 56, was declared dead by lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester at 10:13 a.m. It was Oklahomas first execution of 2025.Grissom and a co-defendant, Jessie Floyd Johns, were convicted of killing of Amber Matthews, 23, and wounding her friend, Dreu Kopf, at Kopfs Blaine County residence. Johns was sentenced to life in prison without parole.I apologize to all of you that Ive hurt, Grissom said while strapped to the gurney, an IV line affixed to his right arm. I regret so much that Ive put that hatred in your heart for me.A minister prayed at Grissoms feet as the lethal drugs began to flow. He exhaled forcefully several times and could be heard snoring when a doctor entered the execution chamber and declared him unconscious about five minutes later. He appeared to stop breathing at 10:09 a.m. and the color started to drain from his face. More than two dozen of Matthews friends and family witnessed Grissoms execution. Three other executions were scheduled this week around the United States. Louisiana put a man to death Tuesday using nitrogen gas for the first time as it resumed executions after a 15-year hiatus. A man who kidnapped and murdered his girlfriends ex-husband in Arizona was executed Wednesday by lethal injection. Another lethal injection is scheduled Thursday in Florida. Prosecutors said Grissom, who had a lengthy criminal record, picked up Johns, who was hitchhiking, and the two men were driving west on Interstate 40 when they decided to commit robberies. They randomly selected Kopfs home near Watonga, where Matthews was visiting Kopf and her two young daughters.Matthews was shot twice in the head and left clinging to life on the floor as Kopf, also shot twice and seriously wounded, managed to flee in Grissoms truck to get help, prosecutors said. Grissom and Johns also fled, on a stolen four-wheeler, but quickly ran out of gas and were captured after hitching a ride to a cafe in a nearby county. Authorities found Kopfs daughters still inside the home, physically unhurt. Matthews died after being flown by helicopter to an Oklahoma City hospital.Kopf and her daughters, now 19 and 20, also witnessed Grissoms execution. Kopf said she believed Grissoms apology was sincere but Its too late.It took him a total of 13 minutes to die, and it took him a total of two minutes to kill my best friend, Kopf said.Grissoms attorneys did not dispute his guilt but argued at a clemency hearing that he suffered from brain damage that was never presented to a jury. The states Pardon and Parole Board denied Grissoms request to recommend clemency.Grissoms attorneys told the board he always accepted responsibility and wrote an apology to Matthews family during his first interview with police.He cannot change the past, but he is now and always has been deeply ashamed and remorseful, said Kristi Christopher, an attorney with the federal public defenders office. Christopher said his legal team did not pursue a last-minute appeal, per Grissoms request.Kopf told the board that she still carries deep mental and physical scars from the attack, including bullet fragments still in her body. In the years since the attack, she said, she has called 911 when the doorbell rings unexpectedly or a stranger appears in her neighborhood.I lived in a heightened state of fear at all times, she said tearfully.Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has called Matthews killing a textbook death penalty case.The crimes committed by Grissom, random, brutal attacks on innocent strangers in the sanctity of their own home, are the very kind that keep people awake at night, Drummond said during last months hearing.Grissoms lethal injection is the 128th execution by the state of Oklahoma since the U.S. reinstated the death penalty in 1976, state prison records show. It was the first since Kevin Underwood was executed in December. 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 RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Ella Osama Abu Dagga, 25 days old, lies in a van after being pulled from the rubble following an Israeli army airstrike that killed her parents and brother in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Mariam Dagga)2025-03-20T12:52:13Z KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) As rescuers dug through the remains of a collapsed apartment building in Gazas Khan Younis on Thursday, they could hear the cries of a baby from underneath the rubble.Suddenly, calls of God is great rang out. A man sprinted away from the wreckage carrying a living infant swaddled in a blanket and handed her to a waiting ambulance crew. The baby girl stirred fitfully as paramedics checked her over.Her parents and brother were dead in the overnight Israeli airstrike.When we asked people, they said she is a month old and she has been under the rubble, since dawn, said Hazen Attar, a civil defense first responder. She had been screaming and then falling silent from time to time until we were able to get her out a short while ago, and thank God she is safe.The girl was identified as Ella Osama Abu Dagga. She had been born 25 days earlier, in the midst of a tenuous ceasefire that many Palestinians in Gaza had hoped would mark the end of a war that has devastated the enclave, killed tens of thousands and displaced nearly its entire population. Only the girls grandparents survived the attack. Killed were her brother, mother and father, along with another family that included a father and his seven children. Rescuers digging through the rubble could be seen pulling out the small body of a child sprawled on the mattress where he had been sleeping. It was not immediately clear who would take the rescued infant girl in. Israel resumed heavy strikes across Gaza on Tuesday, shattering the truce that had facilitated the release of more than two dozen hostages. Israel blamed the renewed fighting on Hamas because the militant group rejected a new proposal for the second phase of the ceasefire that departed from their signed agreement, which was mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.Nearly 600 people have been killed in Gaza since then, including more than 400 on Tuesday alone, according to Gazas Health Ministry. Health officials said most of the victims were women and children. The strike that destroyed the infant girls home hit Abasan al-Kabira, a village just outside of Khan Younis near the border with Israel, killing at least 16 people, mostly women and children, according to the nearby European Hospital, which received the dead.It was inside an area the Israeli military ordered evacuated earlier this week, encompassing most of eastern Gaza.The Israel military says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it is deeply embedded in residential areas. The military did not immediately comment on the overnight strikes.Hours later, the Israeli military restored a blockade on northern Gaza, including Gaza City, that it had maintained for most of the war, but which had been lifted under the ceasefire deal.Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had returned to what remains of their homes in the north after a ceasefire took hold in January.The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Israels blistering retaliatory air and ground offensive has killed nearly 49,000 Palestinians since then, more than half of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It does not say how many were militants. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.Associated Press staff writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

A woman enjoys a sunny and frosty day on the embankment of the South Harbour in Helsinki, Finland, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)2025-03-20T00:38:14Z HELSINKI (AP) Finland is the happiest country in the world for the eighth year in a row, according to the World Happiness Report 2025 published Thursday. People walk past a monument to poet and writer Johan Ludvig Runeberg in Helsinki, Finland, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) People walk past a monument to poet and writer Johan Ludvig Runeberg in Helsinki, Finland, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Other Nordic countries are also once again at the top of the happiness rankings in the annual report published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford. Besides Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden remain the top four and in the same order.Aino Virolainen, a digital commerce director, has lived abroad but always wants to return home to Finland.This is where I always want to come back to and where I want to, you know, grow my kids and grow old myself, Virolainen said Thursday. And I think its because, you know, the peace and the quietness and the trustworthiness. You know, how we speak directly and the nature, of course. Its clean and the air is fresh and whats there not to love? Country rankings were based on answers people give when asked to rate their own lives. The study was done in partnership with the analytics firm Gallup and the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network.Happiness isnt just about wealth or growth its about trust, connection and knowing people have your back, said Jon Clifton, the CEO of Gallup. If we want stronger communities and economies, we must invest in what truly matters: each other. Finnish final-year high school students paraded through downtown as part of the traditional annual Penkkarit in the center of Helsinki, Finland, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) Finnish final-year high school students paraded through downtown as part of the traditional annual Penkkarit in the center of Helsinki, Finland, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Sharing meals and having somebody to count onResearchers say that beyond health and wealth, some factors that influence happiness sound deceptively simple: sharing meals with others, having somebody to count on for social support, and household size. In Mexico and Europe, for example, a household size of four to five people predicts the highest levels of happiness, the study said. People enjoy a sunny and frosty day after sweating in the sauna of the public bath in Helsinki, Finland, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) People enjoy a sunny and frosty day after sweating in the sauna of the public bath in Helsinki, Finland, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Believing in the kindness of others is also much more closely tied to happiness than previously thought, according to the latest findings.As an example, the report suggests that people who believe that others are willing to return their lost wallet is a strong predictor of the overall happiness of a population. A man trying on a knitted hat with Finnish pattern on the Market Square in the center of Helsinki, Finland, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) A man trying on a knitted hat with Finnish pattern on the Market Square in the center of Helsinki, Finland, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Nordic nations rank among the top places for expected and actual return of lost wallets, the study found.Alexandra Peth, a managing director, said Finnish culture prioritizes trust and connection.People trust each other in Finland and I think on many levels in the society, we try to support each other, Peth said. So I think the system makes it kind of that you can trust it somehow.Overall, researchers said that global evidence on the perceived and actual return of lost wallets shows that people are much too pessimistic about the kindness of their communities compared to reality actual rates of wallet return are around twice as high as people expect. The U.S. falls to its lowest-ever position in the happiness rankingWhile European countries dominate the top 20 in the ranking, there were some exceptions. Despite the war with Hamas, Israel came in at eighth. Costa Rica and Mexico entered the top 10 for the first time, ranking at sixth and 10th respectively.When it comes to decreasing happiness or growing unhappiness the United States has dropped to its lowest-ever position at 24, having previously peaked at 11th place in 2012. The report states that the number of people dining alone in the United States has increased 53% over the past two decades.The United Kingdom, at position 23, is reporting its lowest average life evaluation since the 2017 report.Afghanistan is again ranked as the unhappiest country in the world, with Afghan women saying their lives are especially difficult.Sierra Leone in western Africa is the second unhappiest, followed by Lebanon, ranking third from the bottom. Almost one-fifth of young adults globally have no social supportIn a concerning development, the study said that 19% of young adults across the world reported in 2023 that they have no one they could count on for social support. That is a 39% increase compared to 2006.All countries are ranked according to their self-assessed life evaluations averaged over 2022 to 2024. Experts in economics, psychology, sociology and beyond then seek to explain the variations across countries and over time using factors such as gross domestic product per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, a sense of freedom, generosity and perceptions of corruption. Jouni Purhonen, a Helsinki resident, called Finns really calm.So we have the time to think about things like live our life really peacefully and I guess easily, if you will, Purhonen said.___Kirsten Grieshaber reported from Berlin. KIRSTEN GRIESHABER Grieshaber is a Berlin-based reporter covering Germany and Austria for The Associated Press. She covers general news as well as migration, populism and religion. mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

2025-03-20T18:19:56Z KYIV, Ukraine (AP) During a call between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, the U.S. leader apparently suggested Volodymyr Zelenskyy consider transferring ownership of Ukraines power plants to the U.S. for long-term security, according to a U.S. statement.Briefing the media later, Zelenskyy said the discussion with Trump had focused specifically on the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, ZNPP, in southern Ukraine.While the facility remains connected to Ukraines energy grid without producing electricity, it has been under Russian control since the early days of the war, making it unclear what future U.S. involvement could look like.Who controls the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant? The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is one of the worlds 10 largest and Europes biggest. Located in Ukraines southern Zaporizhzhia region, Russian forces occupied it shortly after Moscows February 2022 invasion. While Russia declared the region annexed in fall 2022, its largest city, Zaporizhzhia, remains under Ukrainian control.Ukraine has accused Russia of stationing troops and weapons at the plant and using it as a launchpad for attacks across the Dnipro River. Russia denies this, accusing Ukraine of shelling the facility. How many nuclear power plants does Ukraine have?Besides Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine operates three active nuclear power plants, which generate the majority of the countrys electricity following sustained Russian attacks on thermal and hydroelectric plants.These facilities are located in southern, western and northwestern Ukraine, away from frontline areas. What did Trump and Zelenskyy discuss and are there negotiations over Zaporizhzhias fate? During their call on Wednesday, Trump suggested that Zelenskyy should consider giving the U.S. ownership of Ukraines power plants to ensure their long-term security, according to a White House statement from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz.American ownership of those plants could be the best protection for that infrastructure, Trump suggested, according to the statement.Zelenskyy later told journalists their conversation focused on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and the following day, made it clear that the issue of ownership of the other three plants was never discussed.All nuclear power plants belong to the people of Ukraine, he said.Zelenskyy said that when they discussed Zaporizhzhia, the U.S. leader had inquired about the facilitys future. Trump asked my thoughts on the plant, Zelenskyy said. I told him that if it is not Ukrainian, it will not operate. It is illegal.Even though ZNPP is a state-owned plant, Zelenskyy acknowledged that if the U.S. were to claim it from Russian control, invest in it and modernize it, Ukraine might consider it. That is a separate question, an open one, he said.What is the current state of Zaporizhzhias nuclear plant?Since falling under Russian control, the plants conditions have deteriorated. While its six reactors have been shut down for years, they still require power and qualified staff to maintain cooling systems and safety features.Energoatom, Ukraines state nuclear operator, said that after Russian forces took over, Ukrainian personnel were forced to sign contracts with Russian authorities and take Russian citizenship. Those who refused faced abduction or threats, forcing thousands to flee, leaving the facility understaffed and harder to manage. The collapse of a dam in June 2023 further jeopardized the plants cooling systems, which relied on water from the reservoir. In response, plant administrators dug wells, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).Zelenskyy said extensive repairs would be needed before the plant could operate again, estimating the process could take at least two years.The IAEA has repeatedly warned the war could cause a radiation leak. While the plant no longer produces electricity, it still holds large amounts of nuclear fuel, requiring constant cooling.Regular blackouts caused by the fighting have disrupted the facility, though power has been quickly restored each time.IAEA experts permanently stationed there still face restricted access, with Russian authorities blocking some inspection requests, according to IAEA head Rafael Grossi. Is any kind of deal imminent? Zelenskyy said the discussions with Trump on restoring Zaporizhzhia were a positive step, but cautioned that no one would work at the plant if Russian forces remained stationed nearby.Control over the plant is likely to remain a legal and logistical challenge, intertwined with a highly divisive issue for both warring sides: control over the land itself. Russian troops hold the area, while Ukrainian forces are separated from it by the Dnipro River and more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) of terrain.Simply handing over the plant while everything within a meter of it remains occupied or armed by Russia no one will work under such conditions, Zelenskyy said after the call with Trump. Its impossible.He said there would be no way to operate securely in such a scenario. That would mean that the plant could start operating tomorrow, only to be blown up by the Russians the following day. ____Follow APs coverage of Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/ukraine and coverage of the war 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 RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Federal law enforcement agencies have turned to a variety of techniques and surveillance capabilities to identify people who have allegedly set fire to Tesla vehicles and property, including automatic license plate readers and social media crawling, according to newly unsealed court records obtained by 404 Media.The documents come from cases that Attorney General Pamela Bondi announced on Thursday. The charges also come as sentiment towards Tesla and Elon Musk is at an all time low. People have participated in regular, and largely non-violent, Tesla Takedown protests, and there have been multiple acts of vandalism around the country, which has captured the attention of Musk, Bondi, and Donald Trump, who are now all claiming that vandalizing Teslas will be treated as an act of domestic terrorism. On Monday 404 Media reported that a website called Dogequest had doxed some Tesla owners, and that the website included a Molotov cocktail as its cursor.Each of the arrests announced by Bondi happened earlier this month or last month, and new details about them are now available in court documents obtained by 404 Media. Details about the surveillance techniques used to identify the alleged vandals show that police used a combination of automatic license plate readers and social media monitoring to investigate two of the crimes. In the third, the suspect was identified based on a combination of license plate records and fingerprints left on a Molotov cocktail bottle.The first case relates to a March 7 arson of a set of Tesla charging stations in South Carolina. Witnesses said that a man used red spray to write Fuck Trump and Long Live Ukraine in a Tesla charging station parking spot, according to court records. The male then lit beer bottles on fire and threw them at the charging stations, with some setting on fire, the documents say.The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) collected evidence from the scene, including a charred piece of fabric suspected to be a wick and shards of glass bottle, the documents continue. Investigators reviewed surveillance video from a nearby restaurant and saw a white male in a grey sweater, black facemask, black shorts, and black shoes. During the footage, the man was carrying a green item, the documents say.ATF investigators then reviewed more footage from the North Charleston Police Department (NCPD). In that clip, the man was not holding the green item. Investigators then found it: a cardboard bottle carrier for Holland 1839 beer. More footage showed the man getting into a white van and leaving the area, a Tanger Outlet mall, the court documents say.Investigators then contacted the outlet malls security who said they had access to license plate reader (LPR) technology. LPR cameras are typically set up in a fixed area which continuously monitor which vehicles drive by and record their license plates. These systems are run by both government agencies and private businesses, and some surveillance contractors sell access to such data. The LPR footage identified the vehicle as a white 2006 Chrysler Town and Country van with South Carolina license plate 331ANL, according to the court documents.Investigators then queried the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles to find who the vehicle was registered to. That led to the name Clarke-Pounder. The Tanger Outlet mall security consultants were then also able to pull a photograph of the man without his mask from their surveillance cameras, the documents say.Authorities then performed open source research, including social media posts and app usage. The ATF says it obtained a phone number for Clarke-Pounder and found it was registered to a mobile payment application. That query provided the name Daniel Clarke-Pounder.Do you know anything else about these cases or others? We would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message Jason securely on Signal at jason.404. You can Signal Joseph at +44 20 8133 5190Investigators then searched for that name on another mobile payment app and reviewed the payments in that account. Some of those mentioned the user paying their rent, the document says. That led to an apartment address. To confirm it, authorities reviewed Clarke-Pounders Instagram and found a post in which he said Havent posted in 3 years whoops. Well Im a mechanic now, I live on James island with two of the best roommates and Im enjoying life see yall in another 5 years.Authorities then obtained search warrants for Clarke-Pounders home and vehicle. They found what appears to be the same sweatshirt worn by the man in the surveillance footage and a receipt for Holland Lager 1839.A screenshot of one of the court records.Within the bedroom, SAs located a purple composition notebook on a desk next to the bed. The notebook contained a three (3) page handwritten statement, which asserted anti-government believes [sic] and statements opposed to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the documents say.In another case in Oregon, police identified Adam Lansky through a mix of license plate lookups and fingerprints left on wine bottles used for Molotov cocktails. Lansky allegedly threw Molotov cocktails at Cybertrucks at a Tesla dealership in Salem on January 20 and allegedly shot at the same dealership on February 19 with a suppressed semi-automatic rifle.The federal affidavit claims that Lansky caused $500,000 worth of damage at the Tesla dealership by damaging a total of seven Teslas, with one vehicle destroyed. Screenshots of surveillance footage included in the affidavit shows a person wearing all black, a hood, and a mask holding a lit Molotov cocktail and an AR-15 style rifle with a suppressor.A section of the document reads:A review of the security footage showed the Subject traveling on foot from the east of the Tesla Center along Mission Street Southeast, pulling a black collapsible wagon. The Subject stopped behind the Tesla sign in front of the Tesla Center before moving toward the building. From there, the Subject can be seen lighting a Molotov Cocktail-style device and throwing it at a Tesla Cybertruck parked in front of the Tesla Center. The device bounces off the truck and does not ignite. The Subject then moves toward the showroom building. The Subject then lights two devices, throws one at the building and another at a red Tesla SUV parked in front of the showroom. The device bounces off the vehicle and breaks on the sidewalk. The Subject moves in between the Tesla SUV and showroom and lights another device and throws it to the north of the Subjects position. At this point in the security footage, the Subject sees the eyewitness driving away, and the Subject drops the ignited device in the Subjects hands and brandishes what appears to be an AR-15 style rifle with a suppressor and points it toward the eyewitness as the eyewitness drives away. The dropped device breaks near the Subject and ignites, and the Subject then takes his wagon and moves north to the front of the showroom. The Subject then throws a rock at the showroom window, shattering the glass and then throws an ignited device into the showroom. The Subject then throws two more ignited devices at two vehicles and takes off running toward the fence located to the west of the Tesla Center.In a third case, an agent with the ATF investigated a widely-reported case in Loveland, Colorado, where a woman named Lucy Nelson is accused of spray painting NAZI and FUCK MUSK on a Tesla dealership sign, vandalizing several vehicles, and throwing a Molotov cocktail at a cybertruck over the course of several days in late January and early February. An affidavit includes screen grabs of surveillance footage of a person wearing all black, a hoot, and a mask walking through the Tesla dealership parking lot, and screen grabs of fires in the lot. The affidavit states that Nelson was identified because surveillance footage captured a Toyota Prius leaving a nearby parking lot, and a Flock automated LPR captured its license plate and showed it was registered to Nelson. Flock is a particular brand of LPR that has spread across the U.S., and is often purchased by individual communities.Nelsons Prius was later flagged by a license plate reader as being mobile, and police followed her to the Tesla dealership.On February 24, 2025, Loveland Police Department advised that a license plate reader alerted investigators that the Toyota Prius registered to [Lucy] Nelson was mobile, and surveillance was established. Nelson was followed by investigators to the area of the Tesla dealership in Loveland, Colorado where Nelson was observed parking the Prius and walking toward the business wearing the same clothing as was seen on the suspect during the February 7th incident. Nelson was observed by law enforcement wearing a satchel similar to the incident on February 7th. After walking around near the Tesla dealership, Nelson walked back to the Prius vehicle. Before departing in the vehicle, LPD officers arrested Nelson after investigators observed the described activity, the document says.Tesla claimed to investigators that Nelson allegedly caused $5 million worth of damage to vehicles at the dealership.The Department of Justices announcement about the cases said that each defendant, if convicted, faces a minimum penalty of five years and up to 20 years in prison.