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.

Nature, Published online: 20 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00855-0MRI scans show that the brains of infants and toddlers can encode memories, even if we dont remember them as adults.

Demonstrators gather outside of the Edward A. Garmatz United States District Courthouse in Baltimore, on Friday, March 14, 2025, before a hearing regarding the Department of Government Efficiency's access to Social Security data. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)2025-03-20T20:00:32Z Follow live updates on President Donald Trump and his administration WASHINGTON (AP) A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked Elon Musk s Department of Government Efficiency from Social Security Administration systems that hold personal data on millions of Americans.The decision from U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander in Maryland also requires the team to delete any personally identifiable data they may have. It comes after labor unions and retirees asked for an emergency order limiting DOGE access to the agency and its vast troves of personal data. They said DOGEs nearly unlimited access violates privacy laws and presents massive information security risks. A recently departed Social Security official who saw the DOGE team sweep into the agency said she is deeply worried about sensitive information being exposed.The Trump administration says DOGE has a 10-person team of federal employees at the Social Security Administration, seven of whom have been granted read-only access to agency systems or personally identifiable information. The administration has said DOGE is targeting waste and fraud in the federal government. Hollander, though, found that the ends may not justify the means. The DOGE Team is essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion, she wrote. Attorneys for the government argued the DOGE access doesnt deviate significantly from normal practices inside the agency, where employees are routinely allowed to search its databases. But attorneys for the plaintiffs called the access unprecedented. DOGE has gotten at least some access to other government databases, including at the Treasury Department and IRS. At SSA, DOGE staffers swept into the agency days after Trumps inauguration and pressed for a software engineer to quickly get access to data systems that are normally carefully restricted even within the government, a former official said in court documents. The team appeared to be searching for fraud based on inaccuracies and misunderstandings, according to Tiffany Flick, the former acting chief of staff to the acting commissioner. Hollander, who is based in Baltimore and was nominated by President Barack Obama, is the latest judge to consider a DOGE related case. The team has drawn nearly two dozen lawsuits, some of which have shed light on staffing and operations that have largely been kept under wraps. Several judges have raised questions about DOGEs sweeping cost-cutting efforts, but they have not always agreed that the risks are imminent enough to block the team from government systems.___Associated Press writer Lea Skene in Baltimore contributed reporting. 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

Duke forward Cooper Flagg celebrates after their win against Louisville after an NCAA college basketball game in the championship of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)2025-03-20T17:28:28Z Follow APs full coverage of March Madness.Get the AP Top 25 mens college basketball poll delivered straight to your inbox with AP Top 25 Poll Alerts. Sign up here. RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) Duke freshman star Cooper Flagg says hell be ready to play fully in Fridays NCAA Tournament opener against Mount St. Marys as he recovers from a sprained ankle.I feel very good, he said Thursday. Im very confident moving forward.The unanimous Associated Press first-team All-American rolled his left ankle during the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament quarterfinals and missed the Blue Devils wins in the semifinals and title game. That sent Duke into March Madness with the No. 1 seed in the East Region bracket.The school posted on social media Thursday that Flagg would be active for Fridays game. After that, Flagg attended a players news conference and said he been able to return to full practice Wednesday.Flagg said he hated every second of not being able to play during the ACC Tournament after the injury, but X-rays and an MRI both came back with encouraging results to indicate his absence wouldnt be long. Ive rolled my ankle a good amount of times growing up playing basketball, Flagg said. Usually Im able to just tie my shoe and walk it off. It was definitely a little bit of a different feeling as soon as I rolled my ankle this time, I knew it was a little bit more severe and a little more serious. The Blue Devils first-round game in their home state is one of six games in the East bracket on Friday. The list includes No. 8 seed Mississippi State facing Baylor, also in Raleigh, North Carolina. In Cleveland, No. 2 seed Alabama will face 15-seed Robert Morris, while 7-seed Saint Marys will meet 10-seed Vanderbilt.And in Seattle, No. 4 seed Alabama meets 13-seed Akron, while No. 5 seed Oregon meets 12th-seeded Liberty.___This story has been corrected to show Dukes first game is Friday, not Thursday.___AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AARON BEARD Beard covers sports in North Carolina for The Associated Press with an emphasis on college basketball. His coverage includes ACC sports and the NHLs Carolina Hurricanes. twitter mailto

Nature, Published online: 20 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08886-3Author Correction: Spatially resolved multiomics of human cardiac niches

Nature, Published online: 20 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08897-0End-to-end data-driven weather prediction

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, stands for a portrait at E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington, March 16, 2023. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via AP, File)2025-03-20T21:31:30Z WASHINGTON (AP) A federal judge instructed the Trump administration on Thursday to explain why its failure to turn around flights carrying deportees to El Salvador did not violate his court order in a growing showdown between the judicial and executive branches. U.S. District Judge Jeb Boasberg demanded answers after flights carrying Venezuelan immigrants alleged by the Trump administration to be gang members landed in El Salvador after the judge temporarily blocked deportations under an 18th century wartime law. Boasberg had directed the administration to return to the U.S. planes that were already in the air when he ordered the halt.Boasberg had given the administration until noon Thursday to either provide more details about the flights or make a claim that it must be withheld because it would harm state secrets. The administration resisted the judges request, calling it an unnecessary judicial fishing expedition. In a written order, Boasberg called Trump officials latest response woefully insufficient. The judge said the administration again evaded its obligations by merely repeating the same general information about the flights. And he ordered the administration to show cause, as to why it didnt violate his court order to turn around the planes, increasing the prospect that he may consider holding administration officials in contempt of court. The Justice Department has said the judges verbal directions did not count, that only his written order needed to be followed and that it couldnt apply to flights that had already left the U.S. A Justice Department spokesperson said Thursday that it continues to believe that the courts superfluous questioning of sensitive national security information is inappropriate judicial overreach. A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official told the judge Thursday the administration needed more time to decide whether it would invoke the state secrets privilege in an effort to block the informations release. Boasberg ordered Trump officials by Friday to submit a sworn declaration by a person with direct involvement in the Cabinet-level discussions about the state secrets privilege and to tell the court by next Tuesday whether the administration will invoke it. In a deepening conflict between the judicial and executive branch, Trump and many of his allies have called for impeaching Boasberg, who was nominated to the federal bench by Democratic President Barack Obama. In a rare statement earlier this week, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts rejected such calls, saying impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. ___ ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Richer is an Associated Press reporter covering the Justice Department and legal issues from Washington. twitter mailto

McNeese State head coach Will Wade calls to his players during the first half in the first round of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)2025-03-20T21:57:34Z Follow APs full coverage of March Madness.Get the AP Top 25 mens college basketball poll delivered straight to your inbox with AP Top 25 Poll Alerts. Sign up here. PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) McNeese coach Will Wade and his boombox-toting manager are moving on in March Madness after the 12th-seeded Cowboys held off late-charging No. 5 seed Clemson 69-67 on Friday in the first bracket buster of the NCAA Tournament.Brandon Murray scored 14 of his 21 points in a stifling first half, when the Southland Conference school from Lake Charles, Louisiana, held Clemson to 13 points. After falling behind by as many as 24 in the second, the Tigers rallied, erasing most of a 12-point deficit in the final minute before running out of time. With its first NCAA Tournament victory, McNeese earned a second-round matchup on Saturday with fourth-seeded Purdue, a 75-63 winner over High Point.Chris Shumate added 13 points and 11 rebounds for McNeese, which has been best-known this March for its viral, rapping manager and a renegade coach who has reportedly already lined up his next job at NC State. The Wolfpack will have to wait at least another 48 hours, because Wade is still needed in Providence.A 7-point underdog, McNeese (28-6) held the Tigers to one basket over almost eight minutes during a 17-2 first-half run that turned a tie game into a 23-8 lead. After Clemson (27-7) scored the first three points of the second, the Cowboys ran off nine in a row and led by as many as 24 points.Jaeden Zackery scored 24 points, Chase Hunter had 21 and Viktor Lakhin grabbed 10 rebounds for Clemson before fouling out with six minutes left in the game. TakeawaysThe once-feared Atlantic Coast Conference is down to two teams: No. 1 seed Duke and North Carolina, one of the last teams in. No. 8 seed Louisville lost to ninth-seeded Creighton in another of the tournaments first games. ComebacksWith 70 seconds left, Javohn Garcia blocked Zackery twice on the same shot and Shumate streaked toward the basket for the long pass and reverse dunk that gave the Cowboys a 12-point lead.But Zackery hit a 3-pointer with 45 seconds left to make it a nine-point game, Jake Heidbreder hit one to cut the deficit to six, and then, after Sincere Parkers reverse dunk brought the crowd to its feet, Zackery hit another 3 to make it 67-62.After McNeese missed a free throw one of six missed foul shots in the final six minutes -- Chauncey Wiggins hit a long 3 to make it a 3-point game. Another missed free throw gave Clemson the ball with 10 seconds left, down four.Hunter drove to the basket, but scored as time expired.Coaching carouselWade was fired from LSU amid an investigation into recruiting violations, and he took a year off before returning to Louisiana at McNeese. In two seasons, he has led the Cowboys to their first back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances.Gone coldTeams have gone cold before 11 of them have been held to a bakers dozen or fewer points in the first half but Clemson is just the second one to do it when seeded fifth or better since the shot clock era began in 1986.Clemson was 1 for 15 from 3-point range in the first half and made just five baskets before the break.Up nextThe Cowboys head into the Purdue game with a 9-5 record in nonconference games this year, including two losses to SEC teams in the regular season. Under Wade, they are 1-0 against the Big Ten, beating Michigan in Ann Arbor last year.___AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. JIMMY GOLEN Golen covers Boston sports for The Associated Press, with a little bit of sports law and Olympic beach volleyball and curling mixed in. twitter mailto

Nature, Published online: 20 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08893-4Bulk superconductivity near 40 K in hole-doped SmNiO2 at ambient pressure

Nature, Published online: 19 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08727-3Transcriptomic and proteomic analyses of cells and matrix along the fibrotic trajectory in mouse lung identified PI16 as an anti-fibrotic factor with potential for therapeutic application in humans.

This Nov. 22, 1963 file photo shows President John F. Kennedy riding in motorcade with first lady Jacqueline Kenndy in Dallas, Texas. (AP Photo, file)2025-03-20T22:54:57Z A key adviser warned President John F. Kennedy after the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961 that the agency behind it, the CIA, had grown too powerful. He proposed giving the State Department control of all clandestine activities and breaking up the CIA.The page of Special Assistant Arthur Schlesinger Jr.'s memo outlining the proposal was among the newly public material in documents related to Kennedys assassination released this week by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. So, too was Schlesingers statement that 47% of the political officers in U.S. embassies were controlled by the CIA. Some readers of the previously withheld material in Schlesingers 15-page memo view it as evidence of both mistrust between Kennedy and the CIA and a reason the CIA at least would not make Kennedys security a high priority ahead of his assassination in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. That gave fresh attention Thursday to a decades-old theory about who killed JFK that the CIA had a hand in it. Some Kennedy scholars, historians and writers said they havent yet seen anything in the 63,000 pages of material released under an order from President Donald Trump that undercuts the conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald, a 24-year-old Marine and onetime defector to the Soviet Union, was a lone gunman. But they also say they understand why doubters gravitate toward the theory. You have this young, charismatic president with so much potential for the future, and on the other side of the scale, you have this 24-year-old waif, Oswald, and it doesnt balance. You want to put something weightier on the Oswald side, said Gerald Posner, whose book, Case Closed, details the evidence that Oswald was a lone gunman. The first big event in the US to spawn conspiracy theoriesBut Jefferson Morley said the newly released material is important to the JFK case. Morely is vice president of the Mary Ferrell Foundation, a repository for files related to the assassination, and editor of the JFK Facts blog, and he rejects the conclusion that Oswald was a lone nut. Morley said that even with the release of 63,000 pages this week, there is still more unreleased material, including 2,400 files that the FBI said it discovered after Trump issued his order in January and material held by the Kennedy family.Kennedy was killed on a visit to Dallas, when his motorcade was finishing its parade route downtown and shots rang out from the Texas School Book Depository building. Police arrested Oswald, who had positioned himself from a snipers perch on the sixth floor. Two days later Jack Ruby, a nightclub owner, fatally shot Oswald during a jail transfer broadcast live on television. It was the first big event that led to a series of events involving conspiracy theories that have left Americans believing, almost permanently, that their government lies to them so often they shouldnt pay close attention, said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics and author of The Kennedy Half-Century The Bay of Pigs fiasco prompts an aides memoMorley said Schlesingers memo provides the origin story of mutual mistrust between Kennedy and the CIA.Kennedy had inherited the Bay of Pigs plan from his predecessor, President Dwight Eisenhower, and had been in office less than three months when the operation launched in April 1961 as a covert invasion to topple Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Schlesingers memo was dated June 30, 1961, a little more than two months later.Schlesinger told Kennedy that covert all operations should be cleared with the U.S. State Department instead of allowing the CIA to largely present proposed operations almost as accomplished tasks. He also said in some places, such as Austria and Chile, far more than half the embassies political officers were CIA-controlled.Ronald Neumann, former US ambassador to Afghanistan, Algeria and Bahrain, said most American diplomats now are non-CIA, and in most places, ambassadors do not automatically defer to the CIA.CIA station chiefs also have an important function for ambassadors, because the station chief is usually the senior intelligence officer at a post, Neumann said, adding that ambassadors see a CIA station chiefs as providing valuable information. But he noted: If you get into the areas where we were involved in covert operations in supporting wars, youre going to have a different picture. Youre going to have a picture which will differ from a normal embassy and normal operations. A proposal to break up the CIA that didnt come to fruitionSchlesingers memo ends with a previously redacted page that spells out a proposal to give control of covert activities to the State Department and to split the CIA into two agencies reporting to separate undersecretaries of state. Morley sees it as a response to Kennedys anger over the Bay of Pigs and something Kennedy was seriously contemplating.The plan never came to fruition. Sabato said that Kennedy simply needed the CIA in the Cold War conflict with the Soviet Union and its allies like Cuba, and a huge reorganization would have hindered intelligence operations. He also said the president and his brother, U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, wanted to oust Castro before JFK ran for reelection in 1964.Lets remember that a good percentage of the covert operations were aimed at Fidel Castro in Cuba, Sabato said.Timothy Naftali, an adjunct professor at Columbia University who is writing a book about JFKs presidency, discounts the idea of tensions between the president and the CIA lasting until Kennedys death. For one thing, he said, the president used covert operations avidly.I find that the more details we get on that period, the more it appears likely that the Kennedy brothers were in control of the intelligence community, Naftali said. You can you can see his imprint. You can see that there is a system by which he is directing the intelligence community. Its not always direct, but hes directing it.___Associated Press writer David Collins in Hartford Connecticut, contributed to this report. JOHN HANNA Hanna covers politics and state government in Kansas for The Associated Press. Hes worked for the AP in Topeka since 1986. twitter mailto

Nature, Published online: 20 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00850-5The document asks US-funded scientists in Australia, the UK and the EU to declare links to China or projects on diversity, equity and inclusion.

Nature, Published online: 19 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08708-6Whole-gene sequencing of microdissected gastric glands from individuals with and without gastric cancer reveals distinct patterns of somatic mutations and provides insights into influences on the somatic evolution of the gastric epithelium.

Nature, Published online: 19 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00748-2A description of the terminology and methodology used in this supplement, and a guide to the functionality that is available free online at natureindex.com.

Nature, Published online: 19 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00710-2Through the subscribe to open model, libraries annual subscriptions ensure that paywalled journals become freely accessible, benefiting researchers and the public alike.

Nature, Published online: 19 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00845-2Laser-based system allows quantum-encrypted information to be beamed across the globe, plus an AI that can improve other AIs via written feedback, and an update on science in the US in the wake of Trump teams cuts.

Nature, Published online: 19 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08703-xPair density modulation, an unusual superconducting state whose superconducting gap is modulated by the wavelength corresponding to the lattice periodicity, is described and observed in exfoliated thin flakes of the iron-based superconductor FeTe0.55Se0.45.

Israeli captive Eli Sharabi, who had been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, is escorted by Hamas fighters before being handed over to the Red Cross in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Feb. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)2025-03-20T23:57:07Z UNITED NATIONS (AP) Freed Israeli hostage Eli Sharabi, who was beaten, chained and starved while held for 491 days by Hamas, expressed his anger during an appearance at the U.N. Security Council on Thursday for having to suffer for so long and worry every day about being killed.Where was the United Nations? Where was the Red Cross? Where was the world? Sharabi asked.He challenged the U.N.s most powerful body: If you stand for humanity prove it by bringing home the 59 hostages still in Gaza, many of whom are believed to be dead. The fate of the remaining hostages became more uncertain after Israel on Tuesday ended a six-week break in the fighting that had allowed for the return of some hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Sharabi said the council talked about the need to get humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, but he saw Hamas militants eating stolen food from dozens of boxes marked with U.N. emblems while the hostages starved. They were given maybe a piece of pita and a sip of tea a day, and an occasional dry date, he said. When he was released on Feb. 8, Sharabi said he weighed 44 kilos (about 97 pounds) less than the weight of his youngest daughter, who was killed along with his wife and older daughter in Hamas surprise attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, along with about 1,200 others. He was among 251 people taken hostage. The United States in November vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in Gaza because it was not linked to an immediate release of the hostages. The Palestinians and their supporters then went to the 193-member General Assembly, which adopted a resolution in December demanding a ceasefire and reiterating its demand for the release of the hostages. Unlike Security Council resolutions, though, those passed by the General Assembly are nonbinding. The ceasefire that went into effect in January was shattered on Tuesday with surprise airstrikes on Gaza that killed more than 400 Palestinians, one of the highest death tolls in the nearly 18-month war. Gazas Health Ministry said most victims were women and children.Sharabis appearance before the council, the second by a freed hostage, followed an Israeli request last week for a meeting on the plight of the hostages.Britains deputy ambassador James Kariuki called Sharabis suffering beyond the imagination and said Hamas must be held accountable for their despicable actions.But Kariuki also said the U.K. condemns Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katzs warning of the total destruction of Gaza. Britain calls for the rapid resurgence of aid to Gaza, an investigation into allegations of sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinian detainees by Israeli forces, and an urgent return to the ceasefire deal, he said.Frances new U.N. ambassador, Jrme Bonnafont, expressed his countrys deepest condolences to Sharabi but also condemned the resumption of Israels bombing, saying it will not ensure the release of hostages, and demanded an end to Israels humanitarian blockade of Gaza. Russias deputy U.N. ambassador Dmitry Polyansky told the council, Our hearts were filled with sorrow as we listened to the tragic story of Mr. Eli Sharabi, adding such brutality can have no justification.Polyansky criticized Israels leaders for not moving to phase 2 of the ceasefire deal, which calls for the release of all hostages and a permanent end to the fighting. He said its difficult to discuss the future when Israels military and political leaders appear to have made the choice in favor of war.Algerias U.N. Ambassador Amar Bendjama, representing the Arab world on the council, called Sharabi a representative of civil society, and said no civilian, irrespective of their background, should endure suffering.He then accused Israel of cherry-picking international law. He pointed to Israels ban on humanitarian aid, fuel and electricity entering Gaza since March 2, its killing of civilians, and the cutoff of the International Committee of the Red Cross access to over 9,500 Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons since Oct. 7. After all council members spoke, Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, sent our condolences to Sharabi over the killing of his loved ones and his prolonged captivity. He said Palestinians understand this pain because we live it.Sharabi made no mention of Israeli actions, except to say that on the morning of Oct. 7, when he heard that militants were inside Kibbutz Beeri where he lived, he reassured his wife not to worry: The army will come, they always come. That morning, they never came.He told the council he came to speak for 24-year-old Alon Ohel, a fellow hostage whom he left behind in the tunnel, and all others, including his older brother, Yossi, who was killed but whose body remains in Gaza.Bring them all home. Now! Sharabi said.

Drake head coach Ben McCollum talks to his players during the first half of the first round against Missouri of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Wichita, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)2025-03-21T02:19:31Z WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Bennett Stirtz scored 21 points and No. 11 seed Drake, a team relying heavily on Division II transfers, held on after blowing most of a 15-point lead to beat sixth-seeded Missouri 67-57 on Thursday night in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.Tavion Banks added 15 points and nine rebounds for the Bulldogs (31-3), who along with first-year coach Ben McCollum advanced to a second-round matchup with third-seeded Texas Tech or No. 14 seed UNC Wilmington on Saturday.Caleb Grill had 14 points for Missouri (22-12). Tamar Bates had 10 before fouling out.As expected, the game was a stylistic clash: Drake and its nation-leading scoring defense trying to force a rock fight, and Missouri with its top-10 scoring offense trying to push the tempo whenever it had the chance.There were very few until the second half.The Bulldogs made every shot a chore, and at the other end, they patiently probed for openings. Usually it was Stirtz one of the Northwest Missouri State quartet who followed McCollum to Drake who was knocking down a 3 or driving to the rim. The Missouri Valley champs forged a 30-23 halftime lead. And it appeared as if the small school from Des Moines, Iowa with an enrollment of 4,774 would be able to put the game away, extending the advantage to 43-28 with 12:40 to go. Thats when Missouri began to press in an attempt to push the pace, and the Bulldogs struggled to deal with it. At one point, the Tigers ripped off 10 consecutive points, closing within 52-51 on Mark Mitchells free throw with 4:28 remaining.Drake answered with six consecutive points to restore its cushion, and the Tigers were unable to finish their comeback. TakeawaysDrake went 12 of 24 from the foul line but survived to snap a four-game losing streak in first-round NCAA Tournament games.Missouri had lost four of its last five entering the tournament, and the Tigers sure looked like a slumping team in the first half. The result was a deficit that they were simply unable to overcome.Up nextThe Bulldogs will play Saturday for a spot in their first Sweet 16 since 1971.___AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. DAVE SKRETTA Skretta is a Kansas City-based sports writer for The Associated Press. He covers the Royals, the Chiefs and college sports along with auto racing, the Olympics and other sports.

Nature, Published online: 21 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00769-xA crackdown on sulfur in ship fuel are linked to a steep drop in thunderclouds in the Indian Ocean and South China Sea.