In this photo taken on March 31, 2015 and provided by the French Interior Ministry, French emergency rescue services work among the debris of the Germanwings passenger jet at the crash site near Seyne-les-Alpes, France. (Yves Malenfer/Ministere de l'Interieur, File)2025-03-24T06:06:38Z BERLIN (AP) Hundreds of victims families will commemorate on Monday the 10th anniversary of the crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 in the French Alps, which killed all 150 people on board. The plane departed in the morning of March 24, 2015, in Barcelona, Spain and was supposed to land a few hours later in Duesseldorf, Germany. But it never arrived because, investigators said, the plane was deliberately downed by the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz. The victims included a group of 16 students and two teachers from a high school in the western German town of Haltern am See who were flying home from an exchange trip to Spain.Also killed were two babies, a pair of acclaimed German opera singers and a member of an Argentine rock band, three generations of the same family, a vacationing mother and son, a recently married couple, people on business trips and others going home. Memorial ceremonies are planned for 10:41 a.m. the moment of the crash at the German high school that lost so many students and also in the French village of Le Vernet, near the crash site in the mountains. In Haltern, high school students will lay down white roses for the victims and the towns church bells will ring. There was hardly a family that wasnt affected somewhere in their circle of friends or relatives, the high schools principal, Christian Krahl, told German news agency dpa. Many family members also traveled to Le Vernet. Lufthansa, which owned Germanwings, is inviting the victims relatives every year to the village near the crash site and is expecting around 300 mourners to attend this years memorial service, dpa reported.Commemorations are also planned at the airports in Dsseldorf and Barcelona. At Dsseldorf Airport, a book of condolences was available in the so-called Room of Silence for employees and travelers, dpa reported.The crash shocked and caused disbelief when investigators revealed that co-pilot Lubitz locked the flights captain out of the cockpit to deliberately set the plane on a collision course with a mountainside. Lubitz had in the past suffered from depression, but authorities and his airline later deemed him fit to fly. In the months ahead of the crash, Lubitz suffered from sleeplessness and feared losing his vision, but he hid that from his employer.This state of shock, the deeply felt sympathy of all the residents for the families and the question of why this happened are still with us today, Haltern Mayor Andreas Stegemann told dpa. The Germanwings crash is a permanent part of our towns history, he said. 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

Nature, Published online: 24 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00896-5One century after Edwin Hubble revealed his astonishing discovery of a cosmos beyond the Milky Way, the most precise measurements still cant agree on how fast galaxies are moving.

Nature, Published online: 24 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00920-8AlphaFolds highly accurate structural models transformed protein biology,but RNA lags behind.

Nature, Published online: 24 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00863-0Another man also regained some movement, but two others experienced minimal improvement.

Nature, Published online: 24 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00919-1Geophysicist Shiba Subedi combines science and songwriting to raise awareness and debunk earthquake myths.

A worker at The Pier, one of three restaurants in town, readjusts Canadian and American flags hanging outside the business, Monday, March 17, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)2025-03-24T10:00:08Z POINT ROBERTS, Wash. (AP) In the northwest corner of Washington state lies a quirky U.S. exclave so dependent on Canadas goodwill that the strain of President Donald Trumps tariff war is inescapable in the sole grocery store, at any of the three eateries, and for the many residents who never voted for him.Locals and visitors alike in Point Roberts, Washington, are increasingly worried about how this unusual waterfront border town that has embodied the two countries interdependency can survive the hostility brewing on both sides.This was really devastating, said Tamra Hansen, a longtime Point Roberts resident and business owner whose eyes welled with tears as she described her two restaurants on the brink. If we dont get the support from the Canadians, this town will die. Known as a geographic oddity since the boundary with Canada was drawn in 1846, this detached 5-square-mile community called an exclave because its completely separated from mainland America is surrounded by water on three sides. Its only land connection is to Canada and it takes one border crossing and about 25 miles north by car to get to downtown Vancouver, B.C.; or two border crossings and about 25 miles through Canada to re-enter the United States along Boundary Bay.The beaches, marina, golf course and hiking trails have long made Point Roberts a cherished getaway destination, but today locals say business has never been worse. Canadian visitors are staying away and some American residents say theyve even been harassed over their nationality. Towers in the water denote the international boundary line between Canada, at left, and the United States, at right, as a car approaches the border checkpoint heading into Canada, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Towers in the water denote the international boundary line between Canada, at left, and the United States, at right, as a car approaches the border checkpoint heading into Canada, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Point Roberts Fire Chief Christopher Carleton said Point Roberts is one the last remaining untouched natural gems of the United States, but the tight-knit community with no stop lights is now under threat by politicians who know nothing about their way of life. We need to take care of one another and have grace for one another and not allow people who dont even know we exist to disrupt the relationships we currently have, said Carleton, whose firefighters mostly live across the border. Tensions between the U.S. and Canada have spiked to a level not seen before in modern times thanks to Trumps on-again, off-again threat over the past two months to place taxes on a long list of goods going across the border. In response, Canada has promised retaliatory tariffs.For a population that has famously prided itself on being nice, polite and loyal allies, Canadians arent hiding their disgust for Trumps polarizing rhetoric, especially taking offense with the U.S. presidents claim that Canada could be the 51st state.Mark Nykolaichuk said he refuses to go to the mainland U.S. but describes Point Roberts as a unique exception because the border here has never felt like an actual divide for Canadians like him who grew up visiting. Point Roberts, Washington, is the rare U.S. exclave so dependent on Canadas goodwill that the strain of Trumps tariff war is inescapable in the grocery store, at the pub and for the majority of residents who never voted for the president. (AP Video: Manuel Valdes) Most of the property owners here are from Canada, and many of the 1,000 year-round residents have dual citizenship. Once a booming fishing town, the leading industry now, according to U.S. Census data, is retail primarily driven from tourism because of the number of vacation properties. The unincorporated Whatcom County community is now mostly home to retirees, though this year there are seven students nicknamed The Borderites at the lone public school.Nykolaichuk, who lives in the Vancouver, B.C. area, said he hopes he can help keep the Point Roberts International Marketplace open by shopping there, given that management reports business is down 20% to 30%. He depends on Point Roberts only grocery store to be able to cook at his vacation home because U.S. customs doesnt permit raw meat to enter its borders, for example, so he must buy it in town. A shopper at the Point Roberts International Marketplace inspects a bag of oranges Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) A shopper at the Point Roberts International Marketplace inspects a bag of oranges Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More A cash register at the Point Roberts International Marketplace has two trays for both Canadian and U.S. currencies, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) A cash register at the Point Roberts International Marketplace has two trays for both Canadian and U.S. currencies, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Nobody wants to see this place shut down, Nykolaichuk said. If this place goes, where are the U.S. citizens going to eat? Where are they going to get their food from?Many in Point Roberts dont blame the Canadians for their disdain over Trumps perceived sovereignty threat. Instead, theres a deep sadness for both sides.Weve always gotten along and its just nonsensical because now the U.S. is going to suffer too, said Hansen, who is a dual citizen. I definitely feel for the Canadian people at this time because theyve got their backs against the wall, really, and they have to retaliate.Like many locals, Larry Musselwhite, owner of Larrys Liquor Locker, is angry at Trump and blames the president for Point Roberts economic problems. The 75-year-old said he cant even think about retiring right now because of the economy. His liquor store was down 40% in sales last month. AP PHOTOS: U.S. border town dependent on Canada worries how it will survive Trumps tariff war 1 of 14| Brian Calder, a fourth-generation resident and former chamber of commerce president, talks with Rich Swanson, center, and Mark Nykolaichuk, right, at the Point Roberts International Marketplace, March 17, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Read More 2 of 14| A sign and boundary marker behind a house in Delta, British Columbia, denote the international boundary line between the United States and Canada, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, as seen from Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Read More 3 of 14| The international boundary line between Canada, at left, and the United States, at right, is marked by towers in the waters of Boundary Bay reaching to the Peace Arch border crossing and by clear cut trees in the North Cascade mountains, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, as seen from Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Read More 4 of 14| A pair of bald eagles rest in a tree Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Read More 5 of 14| A sea lion rests on a dock at the towns marina Monday, March 17, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Read More 6 of 14| A customized LED sign on the back of Ray Scott Capanis car scrolls with the message Trump is a buffoon, along with messages of support for Canada, Monday, March 17, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Read More 7 of 14| A Trump 2024 flag flies Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Read More 8 of 14| Community members gather after a morning walking group at the Point Roberts Community Center, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Read More 9 of 14| Tamra Hansen, a dual citizen of Canada and the United States, poses for a portrait at her restaurant The Pier, which is down over fifty percent in sales compared to last year, March 17, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Read More 10 of 14| A driver passes by a small Statue of Liberty replica outside a home Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Read More 11 of 14| People walk on the Canadian side of Maple Beach during low tide, with the international boundary line marked by a cement tower at left, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, as seen from Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Read More 12 of 14| Larry Musselwhite, owner of Larrys Liquor Locker, answers a call from a Canadian citizen asking if they could still buy alcohol from his store and bring it back to Canada, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Read More 13 of 14| Owner Beth Calder sorts packages at Point to Point Parcel, her shipping and receiving business that mostly caters to Canadians and has seen a significant downturn this year, Monday, March 17, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Read More 14 of 14| A bicyclist approaches the Nexus lane at the border crossing checkpoint into Delta, British Columbia, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Read More AP PHOTOS: U.S. border town dependent on Canada worries how it will survive Trumps tariff war 1 of 14| Brian Calder, a fourth-generation resident and former chamber of commerce president, talks with Rich Swanson, center, and Mark Nykolaichuk, right, at the Point Roberts International Marketplace, March 17, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Read More 1 of 14 Brian Calder, a fourth-generation resident and former chamber of commerce president, talks with Rich Swanson, center, and Mark Nykolaichuk, right, at the Point Roberts International Marketplace, March 17, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More 2 of 14| A sign and boundary marker behind a house in Delta, British Columbia, denote the international boundary line between the United States and Canada, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, as seen from Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Read More 2 of 14 A sign and boundary marker behind a house in Delta, British Columbia, denote the international boundary line between the United States and Canada, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, as seen from Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More 3 of 14| The international boundary line between Canada, at left, and the United States, at right, is marked by towers in the waters of Boundary Bay reaching to the Peace Arch border crossing and by clear cut trees in the North Cascade mountains, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, as seen from Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Read More 3 of 14 The international boundary line between Canada, at left, and the United States, at right, is marked by towers in the waters of Boundary Bay reaching to the Peace Arch border crossing and by clear cut trees in the North Cascade mountains, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, as seen from Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More 4 of 14| A pair of bald eagles rest in a tree Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Read More 4 of 14 A pair of bald eagles rest in a tree Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More 5 of 14| A sea lion rests on a dock at the towns marina Monday, March 17, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Read More 5 of 14 A sea lion rests on a dock at the towns marina Monday, March 17, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More 6 of 14| A customized LED sign on the back of Ray Scott Capanis car scrolls with the message Trump is a buffoon, along with messages of support for Canada, Monday, March 17, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Read More 6 of 14 A customized LED sign on the back of Ray Scott Capanis car scrolls with the message Trump is a buffoon, along with messages of support for Canada, Monday, March 17, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More 7 of 14| A Trump 2024 flag flies Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Read More 7 of 14 A Trump 2024 flag flies Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More 8 of 14| Community members gather after a morning walking group at the Point Roberts Community Center, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Read More 8 of 14 Community members gather after a morning walking group at the Point Roberts Community Center, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More 9 of 14| Tamra Hansen, a dual citizen of Canada and the United States, poses for a portrait at her restaurant The Pier, which is down over fifty percent in sales compared to last year, March 17, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Read More 9 of 14 Tamra Hansen, a dual citizen of Canada and the United States, poses for a portrait at her restaurant The Pier, which is down over fifty percent in sales compared to last year, March 17, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More 10 of 14| A driver passes by a small Statue of Liberty replica outside a home Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Read More 10 of 14 A driver passes by a small Statue of Liberty replica outside a home Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More 11 of 14| People walk on the Canadian side of Maple Beach during low tide, with the international boundary line marked by a cement tower at left, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, as seen from Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Read More 11 of 14 People walk on the Canadian side of Maple Beach during low tide, with the international boundary line marked by a cement tower at left, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, as seen from Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More 12 of 14| Larry Musselwhite, owner of Larrys Liquor Locker, answers a call from a Canadian citizen asking if they could still buy alcohol from his store and bring it back to Canada, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Read More 12 of 14 Larry Musselwhite, owner of Larrys Liquor Locker, answers a call from a Canadian citizen asking if they could still buy alcohol from his store and bring it back to Canada, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More 13 of 14| Owner Beth Calder sorts packages at Point to Point Parcel, her shipping and receiving business that mostly caters to Canadians and has seen a significant downturn this year, Monday, March 17, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Read More 13 of 14 Owner Beth Calder sorts packages at Point to Point Parcel, her shipping and receiving business that mostly caters to Canadians and has seen a significant downturn this year, Monday, March 17, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More 14 of 14| A bicyclist approaches the Nexus lane at the border crossing checkpoint into Delta, British Columbia, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Read More 14 of 14 A bicyclist approaches the Nexus lane at the border crossing checkpoint into Delta, British Columbia, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More This is because of our elected president, who really doesnt care about the common man and the struggles that we have to go through, Musselwhite said. It greatly affects how I live my life.About 75% of the Point Roberts precinct voted for a presidential candidate other than Trump, which is a higher percentage than across Whatcom County as well as the statewide turnout, according to the 2024 election results. Locals say one of the most frustrating things about the tit-for-tat is the way that the tariffs have abruptly started and stopped, creating an unsteady flow of changes to customs. The whiplash for residents who often cross the border multiple times a day leaves them unsure whether or when theyll be surprised with a new penalty.This fear over unexpected tariff fees has made people cautious about buying things in Point Roberts if theyre coming into town at all. Hugh Wilson, a real estate agent who also manages several local Airbnb listings, said properties have seen more cancellations than bookings lately. Real estate agent Hugh Wilson stands for a portrait at an Airbnb overlooking Boundary Bay and British Columbia in the distance on Maple Beach, Monday, March 17, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Real estate agent Hugh Wilson stands for a portrait at an Airbnb overlooking Boundary Bay and British Columbia in the distance on Maple Beach, Monday, March 17, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Nobody is sure of the rules at any one day here, Wilson said. The border agents do the best they can to stay up to date and they relay that to us as normal people crossing the border.With no end in sight, theres also a high-stakes fear that the dispute could escalate with Canada possibly imposing tariffs on the water and electricity that it supplies to Point Roberts, or even turning off the utilities altogether.If it gets more brutal, they can cut off the water just like that, or the power, said Brian Calder, a fourth-generation resident who was previously the president of the Point Roberts Chamber of Commerce. And it just depends how much more confrontation is fomented by Trumps office. Brian Calder, a fourth-generation resident and dual citizen, poses for a portrait at a historic international boundary marker between the United Sates and Canada, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Brian Calder, a fourth-generation resident and dual citizen, poses for a portrait at a historic international boundary marker between the United Sates and Canada, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Calder said he and other town leaders are trying to plead for help with the British Columbia premier and the governor of Washington state. He said the local Whatcom County leadership has all but abandoned this far-away community in a time of crisis.Jed Holmes, a spokesman for the county, said they are communicating with Washington states congressional delegation in D.C. to address the rapid deterioration in U.S.-Canada relations that has especially affected Point Roberts. I understand that folks want us to do more, but its really challenging to identify what meaningful things a county government can do to change this dynamic at the international level, Holmes said in an email. Tamra Hansen, a dual citizen of Canada and the United States who runs two of the three restaurants in town, poses for a portrait outside The Pier, Monday, March 17, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Tamra Hansen, a dual citizen of Canada and the United States who runs two of the three restaurants in town, poses for a portrait outside The Pier, Monday, March 17, 2025, in Point Roberts, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More For Hansen, shes asking herself how much more can she afford to lose personally while running the Saltwater Cafe breakfast spot and a restaurant called The Pier. She has 15 employees to pay but business was down 55% in February compared with last year. There have been times when her pub doesnt even net $100 a day.There are some businesses that are going out of business right now as we speak, Hansen said. Its very emotional for me because I care about everybody that lives here. SALLY HO Ho is an investigative and business news reporter for The Associated Press. Shes filed public records requests in all 50 U.S. states and covered a range of major world events. twitter mailto

Rep. Chuck Edwards talks during a town hall in Asheville, N.C., March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Makiya Seminera, File)2025-03-24T11:40:03Z WASHINGTON (AP) As congressional lawmakers scramble to respond to President Donald Trumps slashing of the federal government, one group is already taking a front and center role: military veterans.From layoffs at the Department of Veterans Affairs to a Pentagon purge of archives that documented diversity in the military, veterans have been acutely affected by Trumps actions. And with the Republican president determined to continue slashing the federal government, the burden will only grow on veterans, who make up roughly 30% of the federal workforce and often tap government benefits they earned with their military service.At a moment of crisis for all of our veterans, the VAs system of health care and benefits has been disastrously and disgracefully put on the chopping block by the Trump administration, said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the top Democrat on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, at a news conference last week. Most veterans voted for Trump last year nearly 6 in 10, according to AP Votecast, a nationwide survey of more than 120,000 voters. Yet congressional Republicans are standing in support of Trumps goals even as they encounter fierce pushback in their home districts. At a series of town halls this week, veterans angrily confronted Republican members as they defended the cuts made under Trump adviser Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency. Do your job! Jay Carey, a military veteran, yelled at Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards at a town hall in North Carolina. Im a retired military officer, an attendee at another forum in Wyoming told Republican Rep. Harriet Hageman before questioning whether DOGE had actually discovered any fraud.Although Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson advised his members to skip the town halls and claimed that they were being filled with paid protesters, some Republicans were still holding them and trying to respond to the criticism. It looks radical, but its not. I call it stewardship, in my opinion, Republican Rep. Gus Bilirakis of Florida said on a tele-town hall. I think theyre doing right by the American taxpayer. And I support that principle of DOGE.Still, some Republicans have expressed unease with the seemingly indiscriminate firings of veterans, especially when they have not been looped in on the administrations plans. At a town hall on Friday, Texas Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw told the audience, Were learning about this stuff at the speed of light, the way you are. I think theres been some babies thrown out with the bath water here, but were still gathering information on it.Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL, added, If youre doing a job that we need you to do, youre doing it well, yeah, weve got to fight for you.The Republican chair of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Rep. Mike Bost, assured listeners on a tele-town hall last week that he and Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins are talking regularly. As the VA implements plans to cut roughly 80,000 jobs, Bost has said he is watching the process closely, but he has expressed support and echoed Collins assurances that veterans health care and benefits wont be slashed. Theyve cut a lot, but understand this: Essential jobs are not being cut, Bost said, but then added that his office was helping alert the VA when people with essential jobs had in fact been terminated.Two federal judges this month ordered the Trump administration to rehire the probationary employees who were let go in the mass firings. At the VA, some of those employees have now been put on administrative leave, but a sense of dread and confusion is still hanging over much of the federal workforce.Were all kind of wondering whats next, said Dan Foster, a Washington state Army veteran who lost his job when the VA canceled a contract supporting a program that educates service members on how to access their benefits and VA programs.Others are angry they have been portrayed as deadweight and cut from jobs they felt played a direct role in helping veterans get health care. For somebody to go on the news and say we are incompetent or lazy that is just false, said Future Zhou, an Army veteran who had a job managing medical supply inventories for operating rooms at the VA facility in Puget Sound, Washington, before she was fired in February.As Democrats search for their political footing and a rallying point to unify them, they have zeroed in on the cause of protecting veterans. In both the House and the Senate, Democrats have introduced legislation that would shield veterans from the mass layoffs. And when Trump spoke to Congress this month, many lawmakers invited veterans as their guests.They are outraged, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat who is an Iraq War veteran and former assistant secretary at the VA. They said Donald Trump promised to watch out for them. And the first thing he does is fire them. Democrats are already pressing their Republican colleagues to show their support for veterans. In negotiations to allow passage of a Republican-backed government funding bill this month, Democrats secured a vote to amend the package to include language that would protect veterans from the federal layoffs. But it failed on party lines in part because the last-minute change would have ensured that Congress missed the deadline to avert a shutdown.With an eye on the midterm elections, VoteVets, a left-leaning veterans advocacy group, is already launching video ads that feature veterans sharing their stories of being fired and accusing congressional members of doing absolutely nothing. The ads are directed to five potential swing districts held by Republicans who are veterans themselves.Sen. Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat who is also a veteran, said he was unsure whether veterans would shift their political allegiance.But he said it is at least clear veterans are pissed.Gallego said theres an opportunity for Democrats to hammer home the message that Elon Musk and his buddies would rather just deal with the bottom line and try to save billions of dollars so they can have more tax cuts at the expense of veterans.___Associated Press writers Meg Kinnard in Chapin, S.C., and Kate Payne in Tallahassee, Fla., contributed. STEPHEN GROVES Groves covers Congress for The Associated Press. twitter mailto

23andMe filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Sunday, leaving the fate of millions of peoples genetic information up in the air as the company deals with the legal and financial fallout of not properly protecting that genetic information in the first place. The filing shows how dangerous it is to provide your DNA directly to a large, for-profit commercial genetic database; 23andMe is now looking for a buyer to pull it out of bankruptcy.23andMe said in court documents viewed by 404 Media that since hackers obtained personal data about seven million of its customers in October 2023, including, in some cases health-related information based upon the users genetics, it has faced over 50 class action and state court lawsuits, and that approximately 35,000 claimants have initiated, filed, or threatened to commence arbitration claims against the company. It is seeking bankruptcy protection in part to simplify the fallout of these legal cases, and because it believes it may not have money to pay for the potential damages associated with these cases.CEO and cofounder Anne Wojcicki announced she is leaving the company as part of this process. The company has the genetic data of more than 15 million customers.According to its Chapter 11 filing, 23andMe owes money to a host of pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies, artificial intelligence companies (including a company called Aganitha AI and Coreweave), as well as health insurance companies and marketing companies.The filing is a devastating reminder that once you give your genetic information to a company like 23andMe, there is no way to have any clue what is going to happen to that data, how it is going to be analyzed, how it is going to be monetized, how it is going to be protected from hackers, and who it is going to be shared with for profit. Sharing your own DNA with 23andMe also necessarily implicates your close family members, who may or may not want their genetic information submitted to a company that is financially precarious and sitting on a trove of highly sensitive information.On Friday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued an urgent alert to 23andMe customers telling them to ask the company to delete their data and destroy their genetic samples under a California privacy law: Given 23andMes reported financial distress, I remind Californians to consider invoking their rights and directing 23andMe to delete their data and destroy any samples of genetic material held by the company.Other genetic sequencing companies have shared customer information with police and governments, pharmaceutical companies, and health insurers. GED Match, a non-profit that once claimed it would protect customers genetic data, was sold to a for-profit company called Verogen, which works with the FBI and was later sold to a Dutch multinational conglomerate.Police now regularly attempt to identify suspects using information pulled from commercial genetic databases like the one that 23andMe has created.23andMes bankruptcy means that the company will be put up for sale, and theres no way of knowing who is going to buy it, why they will be interested, and what will become of its millions of customers DNA sequences. 23andMe has claimed over the years that it strongly resists law enforcement requests for information and that it takes customer security seriously. But the company has in recent years changed its terms of service, partnered with big pharmaceutical companies, and, of course, was hacked.In a letter to customers Sunday, 23andMe said Your data remains protected. The Chapter 11 filing does not change how we store, manage, or protect customer data. Our users privacy and data are important considerations in any transaction, and we remain committed to our users privacy and to being transparent with our customers about how their data is managed. It added that any buyer will have to comply with applicable law with respect to the treatment of customer data, which means essentially nothing because there are few laws that protect against the monetization of customer genetic data, as evidenced by the fact that other genetic databases proactively offer information to law enforcement and partner with big pharma.The company now could be sold to anyone, and there is no way to know what that buyer will want to do with the reams of genetic information it has collected. Customers, meanwhile, still have no way to change their underlying genetic data.

Dogequest, the recently launched website which is doxing some Tesla owners and members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and putting their personal information on a searchable map along with the location of Tesla charging stations, has published a version of its site on the dark web, potentially making it harder to shut down or investigate people who visit the site.The news shows the escalating dynamic between authorities and those who are engaged in, or facilitating, targeting of Tesla facilities or vehicles. Last week 404 Media reported on how authorities investigated three alleged Tesla vandals. In a press release announcing charges against those suspects, Attorney General Pamela Bondi said if you join this wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties, the Department of Justice will put you behind bars.The dark web site also comes with the backdrop of continued, mostly non-violent protests against Tesla, with this last weekend seeing more people gathering as part of the Tesla Takedown movement.The clear web version of Dogequest, which went down shortly after 404 Media reported on it, is back online. The sites cursor is still of a Molotov cocktail. After 404 Media spoke to one Tesla owner included in the data, multiple other outlets spoke to more.The site now refers to the dark web version as DOGEQUEST Unleashed.Disrupt the paradigm and accelerate to our decentralized, dark web hubwhere the synergies between Tesla evangelists and DOGE visionaries converge, fostering a revolutionary ecosystem that's off the chain, the website says, before providing the .onion URL for the dark web version.Image: a screenshot of the Dogequest site announcing its dark web version..onion sites use the Tor anonymity network, which routes a users traffic through multiple volunteer-run servers before they visit a website. Originally a creation of the U.S. Naval Research Lab, Tor is used by journalists, activists, and government officials globally. It is also a go-to tool for various stripes of criminal, including ransomware operators and drug traffickers.Do you know anything else about this site? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at +44 20 8133 5190. Otherwise, send me an email at joseph@404media.co.Tor onion services broadly benefit two groups of people. The first is the sites administrators, because Tor can hide the ultimate location of the server running the website, making it harder for authorities or internet companies to take down. In Dogequests case, however, the clear web version is also still available, undercutting that protection. The second group is visitors to the site. By forcing users to connect through Tor, the website itself is less likely to be able to collect identifying information about its visitors, such as a geolocatable IP address, and visitors get the usual protections of using the Tor network and Tor browser as well, such as their browsing activity not being logged by third-parties.The dark web site says DOGEQUEST values your privacy and does not collect any personal information about our users.The administrators of Dogequest did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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)2025-03-24T14:54:42Z WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump on Monday questioned the impartiality of the federal judge who blocked his plans to deport Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador, levelling his criticism only hours before his administration will ask an appeals court to lift the judges order.Just after midnight, President Donald Trump posted a social media message calling for Chief Judge James Boasberg to be disbarred. Trump reposted an article about Boasbergs attendance at a legal conference that purportedly featured anti-Trump speakers.The judge, meanwhile, refused Monday to throw out his original order before an appeals court hearing for the case. Boasberg ruled that the immigrants facing deportation must get an opportunity to challenge their designations as alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang. He said there is a strong public interest in preventing the mistaken deportation of people based on categories they have no right to challenge. The public also has a significant stake in the Governments compliance with the law, the judge wrote.Boasberg didnt immediately decide what form a challenge should take. The Trump administration has transferred hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador under an 18th century wartime law that hadnt been invoked since World War II. Flights already were in the air on March 15 when Boasberg agreed to bar the deportations temporarily and ordered planes to return to the U.S. with the deportees. That did not happen. The administration appealed the order. On Monday afternoon, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is scheduled to hear attorneys arguments.The Alien Enemies Act allows noncitizens to be deported without the opportunity to go before an immigration or federal court judge. Trump issued a proclamation calling the Tren de Aragua gang an invading force. Government attorneys argued in a court filing that Boasbergs order was an unprecedented intrusion upon the Executives authority to remove dangerous aliens who pose grave threats to the American people. And even if reviewable, the Presidents action is lawful and based upon a long history of using war authorities against organizations connected to foreign states and national security judgments, which are not subject to judicial second guessing, they wrote.Civil rights attorneys who sued to stop the deportations said the implications of the governments position are staggering.If the President can designate any group as enemy aliens under the Act, and that designation is unreviewable, then there is no limit on who can be sent to a Salvadoran prison, or any limit on how long they will remain there, they wrote. During a hearing Friday, Boasberg vowed to determine whether the government defied his oral order from the bench to turn at least two planes around. The Justice Department has said that the judges oral 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.Trump and some Republican allies have called for impeaching Boasberg, who was nominated by President Barack Obama, a Democrat. In a rare statement, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision.

A federal employee, who asked not to use their name for fears over losing their job, protests with a sign saying "Federal Employees Don't Work for Kings" during the "No Kings Day" protest on Presidents Day , Feb. 17, 2025, near the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)2025-03-24T14:24:11Z WASHINGTON (AP) The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday to halt a ruling ordering the rehiring of thousands of federal workers let go in mass firings aimed at dramatically downsizing the federal government.The emergency appeal argues that the judge cant force the executive branch to rehire some 16,000 probationary employees. The California-based judge found the firings didnt follow federal law, and he ordered reinstatement offers be sent as a lawsuit plays out. The appeal also calls on the conservative-majority court to rein in the growing number of federal judges who have slowed President Donald Trumps sweeping agenda, at least for now. Only this Court can end the interbranch power grab, the appeal stated.The courts have become ground zero for pushback to Trump with the Republican-led Congress largely supportive or silent, and judges have ruled against Trumps administration more than three dozen times after finding violations of federal law. The rulings run the gamut from birthright citizenship changes to federal spending to transgender rights. The order appealed Monday was one of two handed down the same day that both found separate legal problems with the way the Republican administrations firings of probationary employees were carried out. U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco ruled that the terminations were improperly directed by the Office of Personnel Management and its acting director. He ordered rehirings at six agencies: the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, the Interior and the Treasury. His order came in a lawsuit filed by a coalition of labor unions and nonprofit organizations. Alsup, who was appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton, also expressed frustration with what he called the governments attempt to sidestep laws and regulations governing a reduction in its workforce which it is allowed to do by firing probationary workers with fewer legal protections. He was appalled that employees were told they were being fired for poor performance despite receiving glowing evaluations just months earlier. ___Follow the APs coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court. LINDSAY WHITEHURST Whitehurst covers the Supreme Court, legal affairs and criminal justice for The Associated Press in Washington, D.C. Past stops include Salt Lake City, New Mexico and Indiana. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Nature, Published online: 24 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00921-7Juan Ramn Fernndez Cardenete tends the Alhambras many water features and gardens.

Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney gets a hug from Beulah Cooper as he arrives at her house in Gander, Newfoundland, Canada, Monday, March 24, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)2025-03-24T15:38:33Z TORONTO (AP) Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney lamented Canadas lost friendship with the United States as he visited the town that sheltered thousands of stranded American airline passengers after the 9/11 attacks. Carneys visit Monday to Gander, Newfoundland on the second day of a national election campaign comes against the backdrop of a trade war and sovereignty threats from U.S. President Donald Trump. Trumps almost daily attacks on Canadas sovereignty have left Canadians feeling betrayed. In this crisis caused by the U.S. president and those who are enabling him, we lament a friendship lost, Carney said. In Gander Canadians did extraordinary things for Americans when they needed it. Now, we need to do extraordinary things for ourselves.Gander opened its arms to nearly 6,600 airline passengers diverted there when the U.S. government shut down airspace during 9/11. In a matter of a few hours, the town population of 10,000 in 2001 was overwhelmed by 38 planeloads of travelers, yet locals went to work in their kitchens and cleaned up spare rooms to offer space and food to the newcomers. When more than 200 flights were diverted to Canada following the attacks on the United States, the Canadians shunted the traffic away from Toronto and Montreal to the eastern seaboard.Obscure, little-used Gander got to relive its glory days as a stopover point for trans-Atlantic aviation before long-distance flights became possible. Built in 1938 in anticipation of the coming world war, it had the worlds longest runway, and on 9/11 it was the second busiest, taking in 38 flights to Halifax, Nova Scotias 47. When people needed help, you gave itFlight crews quickly filled Ganders hotels, so passengers were taken to schools, fire stations, church halls. The Canadian military flew in 5,000 cots. Stores donated blankets, coffee machines, barbecue grills. Unable to retrieve their luggage, passengers became dependent on the kindness of strangers, and it came in the shape of clothes, showers, toys, banks of phones to call home free of charge, an arena that became a giant walk-in fridge full of donated food.Once all the planes had landed or turned back to Europe, Ganders air traffic controllers switched to cooking meals in the building nonstop for three days.On Monday, Carney visited the home of Beulah Cooper, who opened her home and comforted many including Dennis and Hannah ORourke, an elderly couple whose New York firefighter son, Kevin, went missing at the World Trade Center and was later confirmed to have died there.The ORourkes remained friends with Cooper long after and went back to Gander, saying they felt eternally indebted.More than 6,000 passengers. Overnight, the towns population almost doubled, Carney said during a speech to residents. You showed friendship to people who were fearful. In a crisis, you showed your character. When people needed help, you gave it.Carney noted the story of that day became legend, immortalized in the Canadian-made Broadway hit musical Come from Away.It became yet another example of the unbreakable bond between Canadians and Americans. Because when Americans are in need, Canadians have always shown up, Carney said. Carney says Canadians have to look out for themselves Carney noted Canadians have always been by Americans side whether it was during the Iranian hostage crisis, or more recently during the California wildfires or in Afghanistan, where Canada lost 158 members of the armed forces and seven civilians. Trump has declared a trade war on his northern neighbor and continues to call for Canada to become the 51st state, a position that has infuriated Canadians. The American president has threatened economic coercion in his annexation threats and suggested the border is a fictional line.Trump put 25% tariffs on Canadas steel and aluminum and is threatening sweeping tariffs on all Canadian products as well as all of Americas trading partners on April 2. Carney said Canadians are over the shock of the betrayal but now have to look out for themselves. He said Canadians and Americans have been traditionally been like brothers. But thats changed. And it wasnt us who did the changing. Unfortunately, President Trumps actions have put that kinship under greater strain today than at any point in our storied history, Carney said. Carney and his Conservative opponent, Pierre Poilievre, said Trump must respect Canadas sovereignty as they kicked off their election campaigns on Sunday. Carney announced a five-week election campaign before the vote on April 28.Carney still hasnt had a phone call with Trump and suggested that might not happen until after the election. Im available for a call. But you know we are going to talk on our terms as a sovereign country, not as what he pretends we are, Carney said.He said the Americans are making a fundamental mistake in the trade war. They think they will weaken us. They think that they can own us quite frankly, thats what they think, he said. We are going to get stronger. We are going to wait this out. They are going to come to the table and we are going to negotiate a good deal for Canadians.

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, File)2025-03-24T15:14:37Z A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked billionaire Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency from accessing peoples private data at the Education Department, the Treasury Department and the Office of Personnel Management. U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman issued a preliminary injunction in a case filed last month by a coalition of labor unions in federal court in Maryland. Led by the American Federation of Teachers, the plaintiffs allege Trumps administration violated federal privacy laws when it gave DOGE access to systems with personal information on tens of millions of Americans without their consent.Boardman, who was nominated to the federal bench by former President Joe Biden, had previously issued a temporary restraining order. The preliminary injunction offers longer-term relief blocking DOGE access as the case plays out. The judge found the Trump administration likely violated the law. She said the government failed to adequately explain why DOGE needed access to millions of records to perform its job duties.She also said the Trump administration can still carry out the presidents agenda without receiving unfettered access to a trove of personal data on federal employees and people with student loans and government benefits. That includes their income and asset information, Social Security numbers, birth dates, home addresses and marital and citizenship status. They trusted the federal government to safeguard their information. That public trust likely has been breached, Boardman wrote in her opinion. The lawsuit accused the Trump administration of handing over sensitive data for reasons beyond its intended use, violating the Privacy Act. Instead of carrying out the functions of the federal student loan program, the lawsuit says, DOGE has been accessing loan data for purposes of destroying the Education Department. President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week to dismantle the department, saying that student loans will be handled by the Small Business Administration and programs involving students with disabilities will be shifted to the Department of Health and Human Services.His administration says DOGE is targeting waste across the federal government by addressing alleged fraud and upgrading technology. One of the nations largest teachers unions, the American Federation of Teachers says it represents 1.8 million workers in education, health care and government. Also joining the suit were six people with sensitive information stored in federal systems, including military veterans who received federal student loans and other federal benefit payments.The suit also was backed by the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.The injunction, which could be challenged on appeal, is limited to protecting the personal information of the individual plaintiffs and members of the groups.No matter how important or urgent the Presidents DOGE agenda may be, federal agencies must execute it in accordance with the law, Boardman wrote. That likely did not happen in this case.In a separate Maryland case last week, a judge temporarily blocked DOGE from accessing Social Security databases that similarly contain vast amounts of personal information.

Nature, Published online: 24 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00787-9The worlds largest particle-physics laboratory is approaching a pivotal moment in its history.

Nature, Published online: 24 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00864-zMRI scans suggest runners brains might use the fatty substance myelin as fuel. The finding could lead to treatments for neurological diseases.

Will Smith poses for a portrait on Monday, March 17, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)2025-03-24T16:51:51Z LOS ANGELES (AP) Will Smith could have let his infamous Oscar slap be his cinematic fade out with a career bruised, marriage dissected and reputation in a free fall. But instead of retreating, he turned inward for self-reflection.In the process, Smith rediscovered a long-neglected creative outlet in music, using the mic as a vessel to voice his thoughts after years of prioritizing his Hollywood dominance.Ive taken the last couple of years to really do a deep dive on the parts of me that may or may not been in that level of certainty and asking those deep scary internal questions, said Smith, an Oscar and Grammy winner, who will release his fifth studio album Based on a True Story on Friday. Its his first music project in two decades since Lost and Found.It really is the result of my initial self-examination, he said. Every song is about some part of myself that I discovered or wanted to explore, something I wanted to share. Its the most full musical offering that Ive ever created. Smiths new offering features guest appearances from Big Sean, Teyana Taylor, DJ Jazzy Jeff, his son Jaden Smith, Jac Ross and Kanye Wests Sunday Service Choir. His album weaves in gospel melodies and messages, but he doesnt call it a full-blown gospel project, despite the success of You Can Make It, which soared to No. 1 on the Billboard Gospel Airplay chart. Still, Smith let his renewed faith take the lead, steering his creative direction. He plans to release three albums this year, shaping each project into what he calls seasons. The first season, Rave in the Wasteland, plays out across the 14 tracks of Based on True Story and represents his willingness to learn from lifes lessons.Ive come to some really beautiful answers for myself, Smith said. My perception of God and reality. Embracing adversity to fuel creativityThough Smith, 56, is still a bankable global star, rebuilding trust and momentum has been an uphill battle. Hes grappled with harsh realities while trying to move past the backlash from slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars in 2022 and his 10-year ban from the ceremony.Several entertainers including Zo Kravitz, Wanda Sykes and Rob Reiner criticized Smiths actions. Jim Carrey was particularly vocal, stating that Smith had been living beyond the bandwidth and cracked under the pressure.When asked about Carreys bandwidth remark, Smith agreed but reiterated that he needed to step back to gain a deeper understanding of himself and move beyond his own limitations.Theres a small self that the small concept of myself - can get to the end of his bandwidth, he said. And then, if I back up, theres like an infinite space, where my bandwidth is the bandwidth of life itself. Its like trying to not get stuck in having to be only a narrow band of things, to give myself permission to be wider in the truth of who and what I actually am.Smiths road to redemption grew tougher when Rocks comedy special reignited the controversy and his wife Jada Pinkett Smiths memoir Worthy put their marriage under fresh scrutiny, sparking headlines and endless social media memes. Smith said the adversity not only tested him but fueled his creativity.Theres a certain psychological and emotional fortitude that you cultivate from, leaning into the difficulty, not trying to run away, said Smith, who added he sought to build spiritual confidence inspired by the resilience of his late grandmother and Nelson Mandela. Along the way, he found Tibetan Buddhist Pema Chdrns teachings, embracing her mantra of leaning into the sharp points.These influences became pillars as Smith explored himself more deeply. The way his grandmother, Mandela and Chdrn approached life pushed him to channel his journey back into music.It is essentially learning how to accept and celebrate my challenges, recognizing that my challenges and my obstacles and my difficulties are actually divine curriculum, said Smith, a four-time Grammy winner, who is known for rap classics such as Summertime, Men in Black, Gettin Jiggy Wit It and Parents Just Dont Understand. Those tracks had a laid-back feel, but his new album strikes a more serious tone.Its what Ive been given to learn the truth, he continued. Theres a way that Im learning to be with hard times when things arise. Its like Good, yes, thank you. Im willing to learn these lessons.Will Smith: Greatest creative runBelieve it or not, Smith is set to embark on his first-ever headline tour this summer.He is structuring the shows around different phases of his life and career: One featuring Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff, another highlighting his film and TV journey and third act he calls the new phase, new energy, where Jeff and others will return to the stage.Smith will kick off his tour including festivals starting June 25 at the Mawazine festival in Morocco and expected to wrap up early September in Paris. Hell perform his past hits from Miami to Summertime along with songs from the new album across England, France and Germany. As Smith gears up for his tour, he also has several films in pre-production, including Fast and Loose, Hancock 2, I Am Legend 2 and Planes, Trains and Automobiles, according to IMDb. Hes embracing this next phase of his career with renewed energy.This is about to be the greatest creative run of my entire career, he said. The things that Im about to do in music and cinema, and just artistic expression and exploration. Its like, I cant sleep at night. Im so ready to go. JONATHAN LANDRUM JR. Landrum is an entertainment reporter based in Los Angeles. He reports on television, film and music for The Associated Press. twitter instagram mailto

An injured United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) worker is brought into al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital following what the U.N. described as a strike in which an explosive ordnance was "dropped or fired" in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)2025-03-24T17:11:46Z DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) The United Nations has said it will reduce its footprint in the Gaza Strip after an Israeli tank strike hit one of its compounds last week, killing one staffer and wounding five others.Israel has denied it was behind the March 19 explosion at the U.N. guesthouse in central Gaza. In a statement Monday, U.N. Secretary-General spokesman Stphane Dujarric said that based on the information currently available, the strikes on the site were caused by an Israeli tank.He said the U.N. has made taken the difficult decision to reduce the Organizations footprint in Gaza, even as humanitarian needs soar. He said the U.N. is not leaving Gaza but did not give details on the impact of the decision.

People watch an Emirates plane at Heathrow Airport in London on Saturday March 22, 2025, after flights resumed at the west London airport on Friday evening. (Maja Smiejkowska/PA via AP)2025-03-24T11:29:48Z LONDON (AP) Heathrow Airport executives on Monday defended their response to a fire that shut down Europes busiest air hub for almost a day, after Britains energy system operator suggested that the facility had enough electricity from other sources to keep running.More than 1,300 flights were canceled on Friday after a fire knocked out one of the three electrical substations that supply Heathrow with power. More than 200,000 passengers had journeys disrupted, and industry experts say the chaos will cost airlines tens of millions of dollars.The airport reopened after about 18 hours when Heathrow had reconfigured its power supply something Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said that required hundreds of systems to be safely powered down and then safely powered up with extensive testing.Heathrow said that it ran a full schedule on Saturday and Sunday, with 400,000 passengers passing through on 2,500 weekend flights. The fires huge impact raised concern about the resilience of Britains energy system to accidents, natural disasters or attacks. The government has ordered an investigation into any wider lessons to be learned on energy resilience for critical national infrastructure. Counterterrorism police initially led the investigation into the fire, which came as authorities across Europe gird against sabotage backed by Russia. The head of Britains MI6 spy agency has accused Moscow of mounting a staggeringly reckless sabotage campaign against allies of Ukraine, which has been trying to repel Russias full-scale invasion for more than three years. Police say they have found no indication of any foul play, and the London Fire Brigade said that its leading the investigation, which is focused on the substations electrical distribution equipment.Gareth Bacon, the transport spokesman of the opposition Conservative Party, said that malicious actors ... will undoubtedly have taken note of this weekends events. This episode underlines the urgent need to ensure that our critical infrastructure is safeguarded against both accidental incident and deliberate acts of sabotage by malign actors, he said in the House of Commons.Meanwhile, the utility company and airport executives are trading blame.John Pettigrew, chief executive of energy-supply network National Grid, told the Financial Times that each substation individually can provide enough power to Heathrow for the airport to stay open.Losing a substation is a unique event but there were two others available, he said. So that is a level of resilience.Heathrow said it had worked to reopen as soon as safely and practically possible.Hundreds of critical systems across the airport were required to be safely powered down and then safely and systematically rebooted, the airport said in a statement. Given Heathrows size and operational complexity, safely restarting operations after a disruption of this magnitude was a significant challenge.Heathrow CEO Thomas Woldbye is also facing questions about why he put the airports chief operating officer, Javier Echave, in charge of decision-making as the fire raged early Friday.Alexander declined to back Heathrow managements decision-making, saying, I dont have all the information that they had available when they made the decision.Safety should always be paramount, but, as I say, it was not my decision, she told the BBC. JILL LAWLESS Lawless is an Associated Press reporter covering U.K. politics and more. She is based in London. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

A firefighter looks on as the California Branch wildfire burns Saturday, March 22, 2025 in New Jersey's Wharton State Forest. (New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection via AP)2025-03-24T17:13:26Z Firefighters in North and South Carolina were battling multiple wind-driven wildfires Monday in rugged terrain that complicated containment efforts, officials said. Hundreds of miles north, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service was battling a blaze in the Wharton State Forest.Mandatory evacuations were announced over the weekend in parts of Polk County in western North Carolina about 80 miles (129 kilometers) west of Charlotte. The orders were still in place Monday morning for the 165 properties, according to county spokesperson Kellie Cannon. Three fires burned at least 7.5 square miles (19.5 square kilometers) in the county and the two larger blazes are completely uncontained, Cannon said in a social media update Monday morning. The Black Cove Fire, one of the larger ones, was moving toward neighboring Henderson County, Cannon said. Officials there recommended voluntary evacuations in some areas on Sunday night. A downed power line sparked the Black Cove Fire, but the causes of the other two fires in Polk County were under investigation, according to North Carolina Forest Service spokesperson Jeremy Waldrop. The state Department of Environmental Quality issued air quality warnings in Polk, Rutherford, Henderson and Transylvania counties due to smoke.The North Carolina Forest Service was responding to wildfires across the state, with the most severe activity in western North Carolina and especially in Polk County, according to agency spokesperson Philip Jackson. Were seeing several wildfires across the state at this time, which is why it is absolutely paramount that folks respect the statewide ban on all open burning, he said.A statewide outdoor burning ban was issued in South Carolina, too. Much of the Carolinas are abnormally dry or experiencing moderate drought. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster declared a state of emergency Saturday as crews in Pickens County fought the Table Rock Fire in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Winds and difficult mountainous terrain allowed that blaze and the Persimmon Ridge Fire in Greenville County to grow significantly on Sunday, according to the South Carolina Forestry Commission. The Table Rock Fire had expanded to more than 2 square miles (5.3 square kilometers) by Sunday evening, including several hundred acres that firefighters intentionally burned to reduce the possibility of the area burning out of control, the commission said. The Persimmon Ridge Fire, which started Saturday, spread to more than 1.25 square miles (3.2 square kilometers) despite many dozens of water drops, the commission said. Human activity ignited both the Table Rock and Persimmon Ridge fires, and both were uncontained Sunday evening. No injuries had been reported, and while no structures were imminently threatened, voluntary evacuations of about 100 homes remained in place on Sunday. A message was left Monday seeking updated information.A forest fire burning in New Jerseys million-acre Pinelands region was 100% contained on Monday morning, the New Jersey Forest Fire Services said in a post on X. The fire was first spotted Saturday and burned through about 3.5 square miles (5.8 kilometers). That blaze led authorities to evacuate two campgrounds in Wharton State Forest, officials said. The cause was under investigation. Forest fires are not uncommon in the area, especially in early spring when the forest canopy hasnt yet filled in and timber and brush can dry out in the sun. Despite recent rain, the region is undergoing an extreme drought, according to federal monitors.

Over the weekend, AI-generated audio of vice president JD Vance saying Elon Musk is cosplaying as a great American leader who is making the administration look bad circulated widely on social media. On Sunday, Vances communications director William Martin said on X that This audio is 100% fake and most certainly not the Vice President. Martins post had quoted another X post that shared the audio, but that post has since been deleted.While we dont know which specific piece of software was used to create the audio, deepfake and AI-generated disinformation firm Reality Defenders software detected the audio as likely fake."We ran it through multiple audio detection models and discovered it to be a likely fake, a Reality Defender spokesperson told me in a statement. The background noise and reverb were also likely added to deliberately mask the quality of the actual deepfaked audio for further obfuscation."Do you know anything else about how AI audio companies build safeguards? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at emanuel.404. Otherwise, send me an email at emanuel@404media.co.While Martin was reacting to the audio being shared on X, it appears to have circulated earlier on TikTok. One TikTok video of the audio posted yesterday and not labeled as being AI-generated, now has more than 2 million views and 8,000 comments, the first of which says With the rise of AI, I dont know what to believe.Technically speaking, the audio sounds entirely believable. The voice sounds exactly like Vance, and the static in the audio sounds much like other secretly recorded audio of politicians that have leaked to news organizations in the past. As Reality Defender notes, the added static also makes it more difficult for automatic deepfake detectors to recognize the audio as fake. The audio has also been reposted to TikTok dozens of times, as well as YouTube and X.This type of AI-generated content is rampant on TikTok despite the companys policies against sharing misinformation and asking users to label AI-generated content. In February, for example, I wrote about hundreds of videos that used an AI-generated voice of Donald Trump to promote various scams.TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.While we dont know exactly what software was used to create the audio, cloning peoples likeness with AI voice generation tools is extremely easy. Last year, I reported that the biggest company in this space, ElevenLabs, made it possible to clone the voices of celebrities and politicians even after the company introduced policies and safeguards against that practice. In March, a Consumer Reports assessment of six AI voice cloning products, including ElevenLabs, also found that there are no meaningful safeguards in those products to prevent people from misusing them.While the AI-generated Vance audio is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of all the misleading AI-generated media that exists on TikTok and other platforms, its not clear that this particular use of AI-generated audio has much of a political impact. As weve written for years, people tend to believe their priors whether the media they see online is authentic, a deepfake, or just crudely edited, and Vance has put out a clear denial. It is, however, a sign of how easy it is to produce AI-generated media that does cause true harm in the form of petty scams, an avalanche of AI Slop, and nonconsensual content.

Nature, Published online: 24 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00869-8Study dispels myth that order of names in a papers author list dictates perception of success.

Nature, Published online: 24 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08887-2Generalizing arene CH alkylations by radicalradical cross-coupling

Basel Adra, from left, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal, and Yuval Abraham, winners of the award for best documentary feature film for "No Other Land," pose in the press room at the Oscars on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)2025-03-24T19:15:07Z JERUSALEM (AP) Israeli settlers beat up one of the Palestinian co-directors of the Oscar-winning film No Other Land in the occupied West Bank on Monday, and he was then detained by the Israeli military, Jewish activists on the scene said.Dozens of settlers attacked the Palestinian village of Susiya in the Masafer Yatta area, destroying property, said the activist group Center for Jewish Nonviolence. They attacked Hamdan Ballal, one of the documentarys co-directors, leaving his head bleeding, the activists said. As he was being treated in an ambulance, soldiers detained him and a second Palestinian man, the group said.The Israeli military said it was looking into the episode but did not immediately comment.We dont know where Hamdan is because he was taken away in a blindfold, said 28-year-old Josh Kimelman, who was at the scene. A group of 10-20 masked settlers attacked him and other Jewish activists with stones and sticks, and smashed their car windows and slashed their tires. Video provided by the Center for Jewish Nonviolence showed a masked settler shoving and swinging his fists at two activists from the group in a dusty field at night. The activists rush back to their car. Get in, get in! one shouts, and they duck inside as the thuds of rocks being thrown can be heard. Car window was broken, the driver says as they drive off. No Other Land, which won the Oscar this year for best documentary, chronicles the struggle by residents of Masafer Yatta to stop the Israeli military from demolishing their villages. It has two Palestinian co-directors, Ballal and Basel Adra, both residents of Masafar Yatta, and two Israeli directors, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor.The joint Palestinian-Israeli production has won a string of international awards, starting at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2024. It has also drawn ire in Israel and abroad, as when Miami Beach briefly proposed ending the lease of a movie theater that screened the documentary.

Mia Love, Mayor of Saratoga Springs and candidate for Utah's 4th district congressional seat, gives a TV interview at the Republican election night party at the Hilton in Salt Lake City, Nov. 6, 2012. (Spenser Heaps/The Daily Herald via AP, File)2025-03-24T19:13:56Z SALT LAKE CITY (AP) The death Sunday of former U.S. Rep. Mia Love, the first Black Republican woman elected to the U.S. House, has brought renewed attention to an aggressive form of brain cancer that killed her at age 49.The former lawmaker from Utah had undergone treatment for glioblastoma, a malignant brain tumor, and received immunotherapy as part of a clinical trial. Her daughter said earlier this month that she was no longer responding to treatment.Love died at her home in Saratoga Springs, Utah, according to a statement shared by the family.Who was Mia Love?Love, born Ludmya Bourdeau, was a daughter of Haitian immigrants and a pioneering Republican congresswoman who represented Utah in the U.S. House from 2015 to 2019. She entered politics in 2003 after winning a seat on the city council in Saratoga Springs, 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Salt Lake City, and later became the citys mayor. While in that role, Love spoke at the 2012 Republican National Convention and drew rousing cheers with her criticisms of then-President Barack Obama. That year, she narrowly lost a bid for the House against the Democratic incumbent. She ran again two years later and defeated a first-time candidate by about 7,500 votes, becoming the first Black Republican woman elected to Congress. Love was briefly considered a rising star within the GOP, but her power within the party petered out as President Donald Trump took hold. Love kept her distance from Trump and called him out in 2018 for vulgar comments he made about immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and some African nations. Later that year, she lost in the midterm elections as Democrats surged. How did Love die?Love was diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2022. She said her doctors estimated she had only 10-15 months to live, but she surpassed that. She described during a speaking engagement in Salt Lake City how she discovered the tumor. Love said she was on vacation with her family and developed a bad headache when the plane landed. When she went to the beach, the suns reflection on the water made her headache unbearable. Her husband brought her to the hospital, and a series of X-rays revealed a tumor in her brain. Love rushed home to Utah and had surgery to remove about 95% of the tumor. Biopsy results revealed it was cancerous and likely to spread to surrounding brain tissue.She entered a clinical trial at Duke Universitys Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center in Durham, North Carolina, that involved using her bodys immune system to attack the tumor. At first, the tumor shrank, but eventually it stopped responding to treatments.What is glioblastoma?Glioblastoma is one of the most deadly and treatment-resistant cancers, according to the National Brain Tumor Society. It is a fast-growing glioma, a type of tumor that arises from glial cells, which protect nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. There is no cure for glioblastoma, but aggressive treatments such as surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and other targeted therapies may slow the growth of the tumor, according to Mayo Clinic. Its considered to be advanced by the time of diagnosis, meaning there is no way to eradicate all cancer cells. How common is it?More than 13,000 Americans are diagnosed with glioblastoma each year, accounting for almost half of all cancerous brain tumors, according to the Cleveland Clinic. And more than 10,000 people in the U.S. will succumb to the disease every year, the National Brain Tumor Society reports.Glioblastoma can occur at any age but is found more often in older adults. The average age at diagnosis is 64.Its the same type of brain cancer that killed former President Joe Bidens son Beau Biden in 2015 and Sen. John McCain in 2018.Can it be prevented?Researchers have not found a way to prevent glioblastoma, and the cause of most of these tumors is unknown. Glioblastoma occurs when glial cells in the brain or spinal cord mutate, altering their genetic makeup.People who have been exposed to significant amounts of radiation have an increased risk of developing glioblastoma. A family history and certain rare genetic syndromes may increase the risk of developing brain cancer. How long can you live with it?People diagnosed with glioblastoma typically have about 15-18 months to live, with only a 10% chance of survival after five years, according to the MD Anderson Cancer Center.With aggressive treatments, Love lived for about three years after receiving her diagnosis.My life has been extended by exceptional medical care, science and extraordinary professionals who have become dear friends, Love wrote in a recent op-ed in the Deseret News. My extra season of life has also been the result of the faith and prayers of countless friends, known and unknown. HANNAH SCHOENBAUM Schoenbaum is a government and politics reporter based in Salt Lake City, Utah. She also covers general news in the Rockies and LGBTQ+ rights policies in U.S. statehouses. twitter mailto

Nature, Published online: 24 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00804-xThe nuclear pore complex is the gateway to the nucleus of cells. Now an in vivo imaging technique can track the way in which molecules move through this complex.

Nature, Published online: 24 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00859-wSeveral high-profile incidents in the past month have scientists on edge.

Locals inspect the site reportedly struck by U.S. airstrikes overnight in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo)2025-03-24T19:02:02Z WASHINGTON (AP) Top national security officials for President Donald Trump, including his defense secretary, texted war plans for upcoming military strikes in Yemen to a group chat in a secure messaging app that included the editor-in-chief for The Atlantic, the magazine reported in a story posted online Monday. The National Security Council said the text chain appears to be authentic.The material in the text chain contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Iran-backed Houthi-rebels in Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing, editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg reported.It was not immediately clear if the specifics of the military operation were classified, but they often are and at the least are kept secure to protect service members and operational security. The U.S. has conducted airstrikes against the Houthis since the militant group began targeting commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea in November 2023. Just two hours after Goldberg received the details of the attack on March 15, the U.S. began launching a series of airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen. The National Security Council said in a statement that it was looking into how a journalists number was added to the chain in the Signal group chat. Trump told reporters he was not aware of the apparent breach in protocol. I know nothing about it, Trump said, adding that The Atlantic was not much of a magazine. He went on to say, I dont know anything about it. Youre telling me about it for the first time.Government officials have used Signal for organizational correspondence, but it is not classified and can be hacked. The sharing of sensitive information comes as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseths office has just announced a crackdown on leaks of sensitive information, including the potential use of polygraphs on defense personnel to determine how reporters have received information. Sean Parnell, a spokesman for Hegseth, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on why the defense secretary posted war operational plans on an unclassified app.The handling of national defense information is strictly governed by law under the century-old Espionage Act, including provisions that make it a crime to remove such information from its proper place of custody even through an act of gross negligence. The Justice Department in 2015 and 2016 investigated whether former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton broke the law by communicating about classified information with her aides on a private email server she set up, though the FBI ultimately recommended against charges and none were brought.In the Biden administration, some officials were given permission to download Signal on their White House-issued phones, but were instructed to use the app sparingly, according to a former national security official who served in the Democratic administration.The official, who requested anonymity to speak about methods used to share sensitive information, said Signal was most commonly used to communicate what they internally referred to as tippers to notify someone when they were away from the office or traveling overseas that they should check their high side inbox for a classified message.The app was sometimes also used by officials during the Biden administration to communicate about scheduling of sensitive meetings or classified phone calls when they were outside the office, the official said. TARA COPP Copp covers the Pentagon and national security for the Associated Press. She has reported from Afghanistan, Iraq, throughout the Middle East, Europe and Asia. twitter mailto AAMER MADHANI Madhani covers the White House for The Associated Press. He is based in Washington. twitter mailto ERIC TUCKER Tucker covers national security in Washington for The Associated Press, with a focus on the FBI and Justice Department. twitter mailto

From left, Duke guard Tyrese Proctor (5), forward Cooper Flagg (2), center Khaman Maluach (9), guard Sion James (14) and guard Kon Knueppel (7) react to their team's lead during the second half in the first round of the NCAA college basketball tournament against Mount St. Mary's, Friday, March 21, 2025, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)2025-03-24T18:18:22Z 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) Baylor coach Scott Drew knew beating No. 1 seed Duke would be a tough task considering the Blue Devils elite efficiency rankings at both ends of the court.The analytics showed they didnt have any weaknesses, Drew said Sunday after a 89-66 loss to Duke in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.And the Blue Devils have lived up to that heading into the Sweet 16.Sure, the point margins are impressive enough. But the underlying data for teams still alive in the Sweet 16 can indicate which teams fit the profile of those that reach the Final Four or cut down the nets, and the Blue Devils have been absolutely dominant notably at the offensive end behind junior Tyrese Proctor going on a sudden outside-shooting tear.First of all it helps when Tyrese is on the heater he was on, graduate guard Sion James quipped.But weve built this throughout the year. This isnt something that just kind of came on. Weve been building toward this for the season. And now were hoping for the next few weeks that we can keep it sustained. Profiles of a winnerGoing back to the 2001 tournament, 16 of 23 national champions were ranked inside the top 25 in both adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency for KenPom entering March Madness, with six owning top-10 status at both ends.Take a step back, and more than half of the Final Four teams (51 of 92) were inside the top 25 at both ends, with 18 of those being top 10 in both areas.As for the others, slightly more than half of the remaining teams held at least top-10 status at one end of the floor to offer one commonality. The tiersThat creates three tiers of Sweet 16 teams for this week:Five favorites who entered the tournament with top-25 rankings for both ends: the Blue Devils, fellow 1-seeds Florida, Houston and Auburn; and 2-seed Tennessee. Of that group, the Blue Devils are top 5 at both ends, while the Gators and Cougars are in the top 10.Six teams that ranked in the top 10 to offer elite play at one end of the court: 2-seeds Alabama and Michigan State; 3-seeds Kentucky and Texas Tech; and 4-seeds Purdue and Maryland. Of that group, the Spartans were the only top-10 defense and also flirted with joining the aforementioned top tier by entering the tournament ranked 27th offensively (118.1 points per 100 possessions).Five outliers: 4-seed Arizona, 5-seed Michigan, 6-seeds BYU and Mississippi; and 10-seed Arkansas. Of that group, BYU and Arizona were slightly outside of the top-10 offensively, while Michigan flirted with top-10 status defensively.Dukes startThe Blue Devils entered the tournament ranked third in KenPoms adjusted offensive efficiency (128.0 points per 100 possessions) and fourth in defense (89.8). They have started their push for a sixth national title with home-state romps against Mount St. Marys and Baylor as the headliner in the East Region, led by an offense exceeding its own elite season-long performance.Duke has scored on 79 of 123 possessions (64.2%) through two games and is averaging 1.48 points per possession. By comparison, UConn began its blowout-filled march last year to a second straight NCAA title by averaging 1.29 points per possession and scoring on 59.7% of its possessions in the opening weekend. Defensively, Duke has allowed 0.927 points per possession, a slight downtick from its regular-season numbers.When it comes to this years Sweet 16 teams, Dukes effective field-goal percentage which factors in the added value of 3-point shots was 67% through two games, according to Sportradar, with the Crimson Tide (61%) as the next-best team. The Blue Devils also have a Sweet 16-low eight turnovers through two games while posting a nearly 5:1 assist-to-turnover ratio.And Dukes 67-point victory margin through two games is 24 points better than Houstons as the next closest team, with the Blue Devils standing as the only member of the Sweet 16 to win both tournament games by at least 20 points. Tournament testsThe other 1-seeds offer statistical profiles close to Duke, but they also have faced something the Blue Devils havent: a test.The Gators entered the tournament ranked No. 1 in adjusted offensive efficiency (128.6) and No. 10 in defense (92.4), while the Cougars were the inverse by ranking 10th in offense (123.2) and second in defense (87.8). And No. 1 overall seed Auburn was slightly outside of that group by ranking third and 12th, respectively.Yet all three have encountered a bit more resistance, notably with Florida having to take over down the stretch to end UConns two-year title reign and Houston fending off Gonzaga in Round 2.Theres value in that, too, beyond the numbers.If youre going to make a deep run in March, youve got to catch some breaks, and youve got to win some games like this to be able to push through and stay alive, Florida coach Todd Golden said. Theoretically, beating a team like UConn, thats used to winning this time of year, in the fashion that we did should be really good for us moving forward.___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 RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrive at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela, Monday, March 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)2025-03-24T21:04:51Z SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) Lawyers hired by the Venezuelan government filed a legal action Monday in El Salvador aimed at freeing 238 Venezuelans deported by the United States who are being held in a Salvadoran maximum-security prison.Jaime Ortega, who says he represents 30 of the imprisoned Venezuelans, said they filed the habeas corpus petition with the Supreme Courts Constitutional Chamber. He said that by extension they requested that it be applied to all Venezuelans detained in El Salvador.The maneuver essentially compels the government to prove someones detention was justified.The Salvadoran government has been silent about the status of the Venezuelan prisoners since the U.S. government sent them more than a week ago, despite a U.S. federal judges verbal order to turn the planes around.The Trump administration is using an 18th-century wartime law to justify sending the Venezuelans, who it says were members of the Tren de Aragua gang, which the administration declared an invading force. We represent at this moment 30 Venezuelans who have given us the power to act, but by extension, we are asking for habeas corpus for the rest of the Venezuelan citizens who are detained in our country, Ortega said. Salvador Ros, another lawyer with the firm, said they were contracted by the Venezuelan government and the Families of Immigrants Committee in Venezuela. He said the Venezuelans they represent are not members of the Tren de Aragua and had migrated from their country and dont have any criminal record. In February, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele offered to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to imprison U.S. deportees or even U.S. citizens serving prison sentences. The U.S. is paying El Salvador to hold them for what both governments say is a cost savings.But lawyers in both countries have questioned the legal justification for sending migrants who have not been convicted or in many cases even charged with a crime to prison in a foreign country.

Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza, center, answers questions about the investigation into the deaths of actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa during a news conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Friday, March 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)2025-03-24T19:30:29Z ALBUQUERQE, N.M. (AP) Authorities have released body camera footage from outside the home of Gene Hackman, where the actor and wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in late February.The redacted footage shows deputies talking with the two workers who called authorities to report seeing someone lying on the floor inside the home. With no signs of forced entry or other evidence of suspicious circumstances, the deputies asked about the possibility of a gas leak or carbon monoxide poisoning, and the workers said they didnt see how that could have been the case.Somethings not right, one of the workers said. Authorities soon determined there were no leaks that could have been fatal, further fueling a mystery that captured the publics attention. It was solved about a week later when medical investigators confirmed that Hackman died of heart disease with complications from Alzheimers about a week after hantavirus pulmonary syndrome a rare, rodent-borne disease took the life of his wife. The Santa Fe County Sheriffs Office released only some of the footage from the investigation. A New Mexico court last week granted a temporary restraining order against the release of any photographs and video showing Hackman and his wife the inside of their home. Hackmans estate had filed the petition to withhold images, citing the need to protect the familys constitutional right to privacy in grief under the 14th Amendment. Workers who had maintained the property talked to investigators about respecting Hackman and Arawakas privacy. One worker described Arawaka as a private person. The body camera footage also shows brief sightings of one of the couples dogs running in the wooded hills on their property on the edge of Santa Fe. A man who identified himself to officers as a dog trainer who cared for the couples pet dogs said the couple were nuts about their dogs. Theres toys everywhere around the property, he said.In a separate video, Arakawas hairdresser told investigators that his client took the dogs with her everywhere and that the smallest one would often hang out inside the salon with them during her visits. That dog was found inside a crate, not far from Arakawas body. A report obtained by The Associated Press from the state Department of Agricultures veterinary lab states the dog likely died from dehydration and starvation. The actors daughter, Elizabeth Hackman, told authorities she wanted the dog that died to be cremated. Authorities put her in touch with the local animal shelter to talk about the options.___Associated Press writers Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix and Rio Yamat in Las Vegas contributed to this report.

A screenshot of the publication 'The Eagle' featuring an opinion piece by student Mari Santos, a political science student studying abroad for the semester in Scotland at the University of Glasgow. (Ethan Mahimainathan, The Eagle via AP)2025-03-24T20:05:08Z LONDON (AP) The urgent care doctor cocked an eyebrow at Mari Santos and her American accent.It was four days after President Donald Trumps inauguration, and Santos was a student with a stomach bug in the first weeks of an overseas semester in Glasgow, Scotland. A doctor arrived to see her after a six-hour wait. But before asking what ailed her, he said this: Interesting time to be an American, I suppose.Until then, Santos, 20, had not been thinking about Trump just her 104-degree fever and concern about being sick while abroad. But the president and his triumphant return to the White House, she says, were on her physicians mind, giving the American University student an instant education in geopolitics. The lesson, as she sees it: Theres a kind of chilling in the air. I knew that maybe that Europe is not in general big fan of American politics, Santos said, but I didnt expect it to be such like a personal thing. The United States and its center of gravity occupy a unique space in the international conversation. People the world over talk about America its policies, its proclivities, its place in the world. They have for generations. They did it during the Iraq War. They did it during the first Trump administration. And two months into Trump 2.0, at least in many European and English-speaking countries, its happening again sometimes even more intensely. People from other countries have questions about Trump and trustAnswering for America under the new Trump administration is becoming a delicate experience for some of the estimated 5 million U.S. citizens living in other countries.From Santos in Scotland to others in New Zealand, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Canada, Republican and Democratic expats alike told The Associated Press in recent weeks that the moment they are revealed to be American changes virtually every conversation to, in essence, What about Trump? At its root, this change is about whom to trust among those thought until now to be allies, in world politics and in life. Trump, known for insisting the truth is what he says it is, is now the voice of America not VOA, the independent news service that told the nations story for eight decades until he silenced it March 16. The president himself has set an example in which trust is almost beside the point. Who do I trust? I mean, who do you trust? Do you trust anybody? he said during an interview last month with The Spectator, when asked how much he trusts people like Jeff Bezos, owner of The Washington Post.What comes after the revelation that someone is American, U.S. citizens overseas say, are awkward questions, pauses and euphemisms but almost always a reference to America under Trump in 2025.Before this year, the typical follow-up would be asking where exactly Im from and what brought me to France, said Anthony Mucia, 31, a Nebraska native who lives in Toulouse, France and has been overseas for six years. Twice now, the first thing someone asked me was, Are you glad to be in France now? He also gets looks that he interprets as a bit of shock or uneasiness. Almost like it automatically turned into an embarrassing topic. Whats bending these interactions, expats say, is Trumps flurry of orders and statements that have upended 80 years of international order and spooked markets.Hes talked about how the U.S. will one way or the other capture Greenland from Denmark, take back Panama and make Canada the 51st U.S. state. He wants to empty and develop war-battered Gaza, and has cut off U.S. aid to the worlds neediest people. Hes falsely blamed President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for starting the Russian invasion and ended a White House meeting with Zelenskyy after berating the Ukrainian leader. Trump has let Europes leaders know that the U.S. is not a staunch ally in facing the Russian threat. And hes set off tariff wars with China, Canada and Mexico. Not smoothing the American experience overseas is the backlash developing against Trumps association with Elon Musk and Tesla, which has fueled growing boycott movements. People are joining Facebook groups to exchange ideas about how to avoid U.S. products. Feelings are especially strong across the Nordic region particularly Denmark, where Trumps moves have set the Danish Viking blood boiling, one man told The Associated Press.So far, the interactions are less hostile than wary, Americans overseas say. But anti-U.S. sentiment is emerging as a concern on the cusp of whats expected to be a record-setting international travel season for Americans. Prepare to talk about whats going onJake Lamb, 32, moved from Colorado to Auckland, New Zealand in 2023. He said says hes noticed a significant shift in the types and frequency of questions Im asked over the past year. Kiwis remain friendly about it, but theyve been saying they might have to hide Lamb or vouch that hes one of the good ones if Trump escalates conflicts with former allies. He thinks that the good humor belies wariness.I am concerned that it may become difficult for some not to hold individual Americans responsible, Lamb, a volunteer coordinator for a charity and who voted for Democrat Kamala Harris, said in an email.Elizabeth Van Horne, 33, has lived in France since 2013. For years, she said, people would ask why on Earth Id come to live in France if I could live in the U.S: Its so beautiful, theres so much potential, so much opportunity, like living in a TV show.Now, that romanticized image has completely changed, Van Horne, a Democrat, said in an email. Early in March, a postal worker told her its sad to watch.For me, she said, that conversation summed it up: Je suis desole pour vous Im sorry for you.For Trump supporters abroad, it can be complicatedGeorganne Burke, a Syracuse, N.Y., native living in Ottawa, supported Trump in all three elections and is the chairwoman of Republicans Overseas in Canada. Shes a dual citizen, which makes her something like the Peace Bridge that links the two nations in Buffalo, N.Y.Trumps tariff war, his manner and his provocative talk about how Canada only works as the 51st U.S. state has everybodys hair on fire, she said in an interview. Burke, 77, says shes received threats and had a tense talk with an anti-Trump co-worker. People ask her, How could anyone vote for him?An invitation to speak about trade near the end of March, she says, came with the organizer saying that he was pretty sure that most of the people will be polite. Burke accepted the invitation.She says anti-American sentiment was bad during the Iraq war under President George W. Bush in 2003. But now its different. Then, it was kind of more on the politicians, as the targets of public ire, Burke said in a recent interview. Now, its much more personal. Burkes counterpart in London, Greg Swenson of Republicans Overseas UK, says walking around as an American in another country remains more positive than negative. In interviews with media outlets, he readily acknowledges Trump can be obnoxious. But Swenson, 62, is an investment banker, and he says the president and America remain good for business. Greg Swenson of Republicans Overseas UK, poses for a photograph in London, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) Greg Swenson of Republicans Overseas UK, poses for a photograph in London, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More In the private capital world, which is not affected by day-to-day (market) volatility, there is just a huge amount of optimism, Swenson said. That means, he says, that investors want to work with U.S. vendors and customers, seeking American credibility through an affiliation with the president.As for what people overseas think of Americans right now: A survey of social media, neighbors and others shows plenty are curious and concerned. When an American dad posted on Reddit his worry that his family wont be welcomed in Ireland, an Irish dad who asked the AP to identify him by his Reddit handle responded this way:A lot of people like me are really, really alienated and angry at the US and Americans, wrote MDMB13. But the good news is were Irish so youll never know because (we) bury our feelings in a far-off place and let them fester over decades. He ended his comment with a smile emoji. LAURIE KELLMAN Kellman has covered U.S. politics and foreign affairs for the Associated Press, including 23 years reporting from Washington and three from Jerusalem. She is based in London. twitter facebook mailto

Salmon poached in green salsa and topped with baked chips are displayed for a photo in Concord, N.H. (AP Photo/Matthew Mead, File)2025-03-24T14:07:15Z LONDON (AP) You can have your cake and eat it too just do it slowly. Experts tend to focus on the kinds of foods you can eat to improve your health. But the speed at which you devour your dinner matters just as much. There are risks with eating too fast think stuck food and the potential to overeat before your brain tells you to stop. (Inhaling your food also risks annoying your slower-paced dining companions or the person who took the time to cook your meal.)Here are some tips from scientists on how to slow down and take a more mindful approach to consuming your diet.How fast is too fast?If youre the kind of person who can regularly polish off breakfast, lunch or dinner in less than 20-30 minutes, you are eating too fast.It takes about 20 minutes for the stomach to communicate to the brain via a whole host of hormonal signals that its full, said Leslie Heinberg, at the Center for Behavioral Health at the Cleveland Clinic. So when people eat rapidly, they can miss these signals and its very easy to eat beyond the point of fullness. Why is that a problem?People who eat quickly are likely to swallow more air, Heinberg said, which could lead to bloating or indigestion. Not chewing your food properly can also compromise digestion, meaning you wont get all of the nutrients from your food. Unchewed pieces of food also could get stuck in your esophagus.Some previous studies have suggested that people who eat quickly have the highest risk of obesity, while the slowest eaters were the least likely to be obese. How can you slow down when eating?For starters, turn off the TV and put down your phone. If youre eating while you watch TV, people tend to eat until theres a commercial or the show is over, Heinberg said, adding that people are less inclined to pay attention to the bodys own signals that its full. When we do things while were eating, were eating less mindfully. And that often causes us to eat more. She said that when people focus exclusively on eating, they tend to enjoy the meal more and eat less.Heinberg also acknowledged the pace at which you eat is often an ingrained habit, but said change is still possible. She suggested things like using your non-dominant hand to eat, trying utensils you might not ordinarily use like chopsticks or taking a deliberate break to drink water when your plate is partially empty.If you have a busy life, it might be unavoidable to eat lunch at a work meeting or snack while running errands. But Sarah Berry, chief scientist at the British nutritional company ZOE, said when possible, be mindful of what the food tastes and feels like. If were not fully present, its very easy to eat more quickly and not notice how much weve consumed, Berry said. Chew your food, just like mom told you toOne of the simplest things to do is to increase the number of bites you take, said Helen McCarthy, a clinical psychologist with the British Psychological Society. If you chew each mouthful a little bit longer, that will slow down your eating, she said. The kind of food you eat may also make a difference, pointing out that its much easier to eat ultraprocessed or fast foods quicker, because they typically have a softer texture.Its hard to eat vegetables and protein at the same rate as something thats highly processed and requires less chewing, McCarthy said.Some of her patients also reported an unintentional side effect once they began eating more slowly, referencing one woman who often ate a tube of potato chips every evening. When McCarthy told her to slow down and eat every single chip individually, her patient told her it was like having a mouthful of claggy chemicals. She didnt find (the chips) enjoyable anymore, McCarthy said.___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Southern California forward Kiki Iriafen, right, warms up behind guard JuJu Watkins, left, before a game against Mississippi State in the second round of the NCAA college basketball tournament Monday, March 24, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh)2025-03-25T02:39:51Z 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. LOS ANGELES (AP) JuJu Watkins was carried off the floor in the first quarter of top-seeded Southern Californias game against Mississippi State in the womens NCAA Tournament on Monday night.Watkins was driving to the basket when she went down between two Bulldogs defenders with 4:43 remaining. She grabbed her right knee with a pained expression on her face.The crowd in Galen Center went silent as coach Lindsay Gottlieb and two other USC staffers attended to Watkins, a 6-foot-2 sophomore who averages 24.6 points and is one of the biggest stars in the womens game. She was carried off the court by multiple people and the game went to a media timeout with the Trojans leading 13-2.The crowd loudly booed Mississippi State on its next possession.___AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-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.

Mariama Soriba undergoes a procedure for a contraceptive implant at the Marie Stopes Sierra Leone Reproductive Choices clinic in Njagbahun, Sierra Leone, Saturday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)2025-03-25T05:04:13Z FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) When she got pregnant at 16, Fatou Esther Jusu was terrified that it would derail her future.Abortion is illegal in Sierra Leone. Fearing judgment from her family, she took friends advice and bought misoprostol, a drug whose uses include abortion, from a local pharmacy. It didnt work. Desperate, she tried again and miscarried.I went to the toilet and the baby came out, she said. She fainted and was taken to a hospital, where she pleaded with doctors not to tell her parents.Now 21, Jusu considers herself lucky. One friend died after taking an expired version of the medication.With those experiences in mind, the nursing student is mobilizing others in support of a bill that would decriminalize abortion in the West African country.Even though I made a mistake, this mistake is saving other people, Jusu said. Fatou Esther Jusu poses at headquarters of feminist group Purposeful in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Thursday March 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly) Fatou Esther Jusu poses at headquarters of feminist group Purposeful in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Thursday March 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Sierra Leone could become the second country in West Africa to decriminalize abortion, which health workers say would significantly improve the safety of pregnant women, decrease the number of preventable deaths and bring an end to the current colonial-era law. Tens of thousands of women and girls attempt to self-terminate their pregnancies every year in Sierra Leone, where abortion is illegal in all circumstances.Supporters of the bill say unsafe abortions account for around 10% of maternal deaths. Healthcare workers are known to perform terminating procedures when the situation is incompatible with life of the woman, usually in the case of incomplete abortions. Because abortion is illegal, they cite other reasons for the termination. Sierra Leones President Julius Maada Bio pointedly introduced the Safe Motherhood Bill after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, stripping away womens constitutional protections for abortion.At a time when sexual and reproductive health rights for women are either being overturned or threatened, we are proud that Sierra Leone can once again lead with progressive reforms, Bio said. A pregnant patient consults with nurse Isha T Kamanda at the Marie Stopes Sierra Leone Reproductive Choices clinic in Njagbahun, Sierra Leone, Saturday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly) A pregnant patient consults with nurse Isha T Kamanda at the Marie Stopes Sierra Leone Reproductive Choices clinic in Njagbahun, Sierra Leone, Saturday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More A woman walks past a billboard promoting the Safe Motherhood Bill on Wilkinson Road, Freetown, Sierra Leone, Wednesday, 12 March, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly) A woman walks past a billboard promoting the Safe Motherhood Bill on Wilkinson Road, Freetown, Sierra Leone, Wednesday, 12 March, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More If approved, the bill would have been West Africas most progressive legislation on abortion, allowing the procedure for up to 14 weeks.But Sierra Leone since then has been torn apart by debate. Following opposition from religious leaders, the bill has been amended and now limits abortion to cases of life-threatening risk, fatal fetal abnormalities, rape or incest.The government says it expects a vote in parliament in the coming weeks. It is not clear whether it will be approved. They go to any lengthAn estimated 90,000 abortions are performed annually in Sierra Leone, a country of more than 8 million people, according to research by the African Population and Health Research Center. About 10% of the countrys maternal deaths affecting 717 of every 100,000 births are due to unsafe abortions, the center said.Health workers say the true number is likely much higher.Due to cost and stigma, many women and girls resort to unsafe methods like expired medication, laundry detergent, hangers or sharp instruments.On a recent morning at a clinic run by the MSI Sierra Leone nonprofit, dozens of women and girls waited nervously for consultations with nurse Hawanatu Samura. Hawanatu Samura or Nurse Awa instructs a patient to take medication ahead of an evacuation procedure at the Marie Stopes Sierra Leone Reproductive Choices clinic in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Thursday March 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly) Hawanatu Samura or Nurse Awa instructs a patient to take medication ahead of an evacuation procedure at the Marie Stopes Sierra Leone Reproductive Choices clinic in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Thursday March 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Nurse Isha T Kamanda consults a pregnant patient at the Marie Stopes Sierra Leone Reproductive Choices clinic in Njagbahun, Sierra Leone, Saturday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly) Nurse Isha T Kamanda consults a pregnant patient at the Marie Stopes Sierra Leone Reproductive Choices clinic in Njagbahun, Sierra Leone, Saturday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Mariama Soriba undergoes a procedure for a contraceptive implant at the Marie Stopes Sierra Leone Reproductive Choices clinic in Njagbahun, Sierra Leone, Saturday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly) Mariama Soriba undergoes a procedure for a contraceptive implant at the Marie Stopes Sierra Leone Reproductive Choices clinic in Njagbahun, Sierra Leone, Saturday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More MSI offers post-abortion care, including terminations in cases of incomplete miscarriage, often when people have tried and failed abortions themselves. The nonprofit is the largest individual service provider of family planning services in the country.If patients want an abortion, they go to any length, Samura said. She often sees damage caused by unsterilized instruments, leading to severe hemorrhages, especially in underage girls.Over 20% of girls between 15 and 19 in Sierra Leone get pregnant, according to the U.N. Population Fund, one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the world.Samura said a 13-year-old already mother to a 10-month-old recently arrived with severe pain after secretly taking unidentified pills to try to abort her pregnancy.In Sierra Leone, people are afraid of the stigma so they would prefer to die silently, she said. The patient did not understand her body, Samura said, and her dead fetus resulted in dangerous septicemia.The clinic has at least one such case a month, the nurse said. Women wait for consultations at the Marie Stopes Sierra Leone Reproductive Choices clinic in Njagbahun, Sierra Leone, Saturday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly) Women wait for consultations at the Marie Stopes Sierra Leone Reproductive Choices clinic in Njagbahun, Sierra Leone, Saturday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More A Marie Stopes Sierra Leone Reproductive Choices staff use a megaphone to announce their family planning services in the community, weaving through the stalls of the Luma market in Njagbahun, Sierra Leone, Saturday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly) A Marie Stopes Sierra Leone Reproductive Choices staff use a megaphone to announce their family planning services in the community, weaving through the stalls of the Luma market in Njagbahun, Sierra Leone, Saturday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More A debate over tradition and valuesMany women and girls who have had abortions fear speaking out, and the push for the bill in Sierra Leone has been led by womens rights groups and medical professionals.If you arent listening to your doctors, then who are you listening to? said lawyer and advocate Nicky Spencer-Coker. She has fought for reproductive rights alongside a coalition of womens rights organisations since 2015.At the time, parliament unanimously passed a first version of a bill allowing abortions for up to 12 weeks. But then-President Ernest Bai Koroma blocked the bill amid pressure from anti-abortion and religious groups. Some Muslim and Christian leaders have denounced the current bill as ungodly and hellish. Archbishop Edward Tamba Charles, head of the countrys Inter-Religious Council, said it contradicts citizens religious values and sensibilities.Sierra Leones current president has faced opposition from his own party members, including lawmaker Rebecca Yei Kamara.In our communities, children dont get pregnant they talk to them, they teach them how to grow up into womanhood, she said, and accused supporters of the bill of exaggerating the countrys abortion statistics.Government officials have called the bill a necessary response to the reality of high numbers of deaths among pregnant women.The number of girls that die every year thats the demonstration of peoples will, Chernor Bah, the information minister, told The Associated Press.Officials also say the bill is needed to strengthen gender reforms in Sierra Leone, which include last years ban on child marriage.The bill also would allow wider access to family planning and reproductive health services. Activists fear those will be lost if the bill fails. School girls walk home past a mural from womens organisation Plan International reading My Body, My Choice, My Rights in Freetown, Sierra Leone Thursday, March 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly) School girls walk home past a mural from womens organisation Plan International reading My Body, My Choice, My Rights in Freetown, Sierra Leone Thursday, March 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Allegations of foreign interferenceBoth sides in the debate have accused each other of being sponsored by foreign governments.Some conservative U.S. media have framed the bill in Sierra Leone as a Biden-backed push for abortion rights in Africa.The U.S. embassy in Freetown denied involvement in the bill.Sierra Leones Inter-Religious Council has cited the recent changes on abortion access in the U.S. as reference points in their position papers opposing the bill.Meanwhile, the reality for some pregnant women and girls remains harrowing.Many healthcare practitioners told the AP they want the bill to pass so they can save lives without fear.Samura the nurse recalled a mother who had traveled for hours in agony to the capital after drinking a concoction given to her by a traditional healer. Samura accompanied the patient to a hospital to seek treatment for a distended abdomen, severe septicemia and anemia.The mother of six died in the waiting room.Right there on the couch . everybody was crying, Samura said. Anytime I think of her, I wish the bill had been long passed.___For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse___The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

A boat rides though a frozen sea inlet outside of Nuuk, Greenland, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)2025-03-25T04:04:23Z NUUK, Greenland (AP) Lisa Slrun Christiansen gets up at 4 a.m. most days and gets to work knitting thick wool sweaters coveted by buyers around the world for their warmth and colorful patterns celebrating Greenlands traditional Inuit culture.Her morning routine includes a quick check of the news, but these days the ritual shatters her peace because of all the stories about U.S. President Donald Trumps designs on her homeland.I get overwhelmed, Christiansen said earlier this month as she looked out to sea, where impossibly blue icebergs floated just offshore. Lisa Solron Christiansen, 57, knits a sweater holding her grand daughter Siilia, 2, at her home in Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, March 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Lisa Solron Christiansen, 57, knits a sweater holding her grand daughter Siilia, 2, at her home in Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, March 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More The daughter of Inuit and Danish parents, Christiansen, 57, cherishes Greenland. It is a source of immense family pride that her father, an artist and teacher, designed the red-and-white Greenlandic flag.On his deathbed he talked a lot about the flag, and he said that the flag is not his, its the peoples, she said. And theres one sentence I keep thinking about. He said, I hope the flag will unite the Greenlandic people. Members of Inuit Ataqatigiit political party dance with national flags at a party after parliamentary elections in Nuuk, Greenland, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Members of Inuit Ataqatigiit political party dance with national flags at a party after parliamentary elections in Nuuk, Greenland, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More A boat rides though a frozen sea inlet outside of Nuuk, Greenland, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) A boat rides though a frozen sea inlet outside of Nuuk, Greenland, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Pieces of ice float on the sea in Nuuk, Greenland, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Pieces of ice float on the sea in Nuuk, Greenland, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Military vessel HDMS Ejnar Mikkelsen of the Royal Danish Navy patrols near Nuuk, Greenland, Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Military vessel HDMS Ejnar Mikkelsen of the Royal Danish Navy patrols near Nuuk, Greenland, Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Island of anxietyGreenlanders are increasingly worried that their homeland, a self-governing region of Denmark, has become a pawn in the competition between the U.S., Russia and China as global warming opens up access to the Arctic. They fear Trumps aim to take control of Greenland, which holds rich mineral deposits and straddles strategic air and sea routes, may block their path toward independence.Those fears were heightened Sunday when Usha Vance, the wife of U.S. Vice President JD Vance, announced she would visit Greenland later this week to attend the national dogsled race. Separately, National Security Adviser Michael Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright will visit a U.S. military base in northern Greenland. The announcement inflamed tensions sparked earlier this month when Trump reiterated his desire to annex Greenland just two days after Greenlanders elected a new parliament opposed to becoming part of the U.S. Trump even made a veiled reference to the possibility of military pressure, noting the U.S. bases in Greenland and musing that maybe youll see more and more soldiers go there. News of the visit drew an immediate backlash from local politicians, who described it as a display of U.S. power at a time they are trying to form a government. A crow flies over political placards for the upcoming elections in Nuuk, Greenland, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) A crow flies over political placards for the upcoming elections in Nuuk, Greenland, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More People cast their votes in parliamentary elections in Nuuk, Greenland, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) People cast their votes in parliamentary elections in Nuuk, Greenland, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More People stand in line outside a polling station to cast their vote in parliamentary elections, in Nuuk, Greenland, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) People stand in line outside a polling station to cast their vote in parliamentary elections, in Nuuk, Greenland, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More A woman casts her votes in parliamentary elections in Nuuk, Greenland, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) A woman casts her votes in parliamentary elections in Nuuk, Greenland, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Electoral workers prepare to count votes during parliamentary elections in Nuuk, Greenland, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Electoral workers prepare to count votes during parliamentary elections in Nuuk, Greenland, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More It must also be stated in bold that our integrity and democracy must be respected without any external interference,' outgoing Prime Minister Mte Boroup Egede said.Greenland, part of Denmark since 1721, has been moving toward independence for decades. Its a goal most Greenlanders support, though they differ on when and how that should happen. They dont want to trade Denmark for an American overlord.The question is whether Greenland will be allowed to control its own destiny at a time of rising international tensions when Trump sees the island as key to U.S. national security.David vs. GoliathWhile Greenland has limited leverage against the worlds greatest superpower, Trump made a strategic mistake by triggering a dispute with Greenland and Denmark rather than working with its NATO allies in Nuuk and Copenhagen, said Otto Svendsen, an Arctic expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.Trumps actions, he says, have united Greenlanders and fostered a greater sense of national identity.You have this feeling of pride and of self-determination in Greenland that the Greenlanders are not, you know, cowed by this pressure coming from Washington, Svendsen said. And theyre doing everything in their power to make their voices heard.Denmark recognized Greenlands right to independence at a time of its choosing under the 2009 Greenland Self-Government Act, which was approved by local voters and ratified by the Danish parliament. The right to self-determination is also enshrined in the United Nations charter, approved by the U.S. in 1945. Passengers ride on a boat outside of Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Passengers ride on a boat outside of Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More People listen speeches of candidates for upcoming parliamentary elections in Nuuk, Greenland, Tuesday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) People listen speeches of candidates for upcoming parliamentary elections in Nuuk, Greenland, Tuesday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Children stand in the snow as candidates pictures on boards are seen outside a polling station during parliamentary elections, in Nuuk, Greenland, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Children stand in the snow as candidates pictures on boards are seen outside a polling station during parliamentary elections, in Nuuk, Greenland, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More U.S. national securityBut Trump is more focused on the economic and security needs of the U.S. than the rights of smaller nations. Since returning to office in January, he has pressured Ukraine into giving the U.S. access to valuable mineral resources, threatened to reclaim the Panama Canal and suggested that Canada should become the 51st state.Now he has turned his attention to Greenland, a territory of 56,000 people, most from indigenous Inuit backgrounds.Greenland guards access to the Arctic at a time when melting sea ice has reignited competition for energy and mineral resources and attracted an increased Russian military presence. The Pituffik Space Base on the islands northwest coast supports missile warning and space surveillance operations for the U.S. and NATO. A boy throws ice into the sea in Nuuk, Greenland, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) A boy throws ice into the sea in Nuuk, Greenland, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Women carry political placards for the upcoming elections in Nuuk, Greenland, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Women carry political placards for the upcoming elections in Nuuk, Greenland, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Before Trumps re-election, Greenlanders hoped to leverage this unique position to help the country achieve independence. Now they fear it has made them vulnerable.Cebastian Rosing, who works for a water taxi firm that offers tours around the Nuuk fjord, said hes frustrated that Trump is trying to take over just as Greenland has begun to assert its autonomy and celebrate its Inuit origins.Its so weird to defend (the idea) that our country is our country because its always been our country, he said. Were just getting our culture back because of colonialism. Cebastian Rosing, 35, rides on a boat at the sea ilnet near Kapisillit village in Greenland, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Cebastian Rosing, 35, rides on a boat at the sea ilnet near Kapisillit village in Greenland, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Strategic importanceIts not that Greenlanders dont like the U.S. They have welcomed Americans for decades.The U.S. effectively occupied Greenland during World War II, building a string of air and naval bases.After the war, President Harry Trumans government offered to buy the island because of the extreme importance of Greenland to the defense of the United States. Denmark rejected the proposal but signed a long-term base agreement.When Trump resurrected the proposal during his first term, it was quickly rejected by Denmark and dismissed as a headline-grabbing stunt. But now Trump is pursuing the idea with renewed energy.During a speech earlier this month he told a joint session of Congress that the U.S. needed to take control of Greenland to protect its national security. I think were going to get it, Trump said. One way or the other. Passengers walk on a pier after arriving in Kapisillit village in Greenland, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Passengers walk on a pier after arriving in Kapisillit village in Greenland, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More A fisherman rides on a boat though a frozen sea inlet outside of Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) A fisherman rides on a boat though a frozen sea inlet outside of Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Seal heads are seen in a box at the market in Nuuk, Greenland, Friday, March 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Seal heads are seen in a box at the market in Nuuk, Greenland, Friday, March 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Sellers cut fish at the market in Nuuk, Greenland, Friday, March 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Sellers cut fish at the market in Nuuk, Greenland, Friday, March 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More A model in the Marshall Islands?Even so, Trump has his admirers in Greenland.And there is no greater fan than Jrgen Boassen. When he spoke to The Associated Press, Boassen wore a T-shirt featuring a photo of Trump with his fist in the air and blood streaming down his face after an assassination attempt last year. Underneath was the slogan, American Badass.Boassen works for an organization called American Daybreak, which was founded by former Trump official Thomas Dans and promotes closer ties between the U.S. and Greenland.The former bricklayer, who describes himself as 110% Inuit, has a litany of complaints about Denmark, most stemming from what he sees as mistreatment of local people during colonial rule. In particular, he cites Inuit women who say they were fitted with birth control devices without their permission during the 1970s. Juergen Boasson, Trumps fan posting for photo in his house in Nuuk, Greenland, Friday, March 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Juergen Boasson, Trumps fan posting for photo in his house in Nuuk, Greenland, Friday, March 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Trump must act to secure Americas back door, Boassen says, because Denmark has failed to guarantee Greenlands security.But even he wants Greenland to be independent, a U.S. ally but not the 51st state.What he has in mind is something more like the free-association agreement the Marshall Islands negotiated with the U.S. when it became independent in 1986. That agreement recognizes the Pacific archipelago as a sovereign nation that conducts its own foreign policy but gives the U.S. control over defense and security. Were in 2025, Boassen said. So I dont believe they can come here and take over.Whatever happens, most Greenlanders agree that the islands fate should be up to them, not Trump.We have to stand together, Christiansen said, her knitting needles clicking and clacking. Houses covered by snow are seen on the coast of a sea inlet of Nuuk, Greenland, Friday, March 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Houses covered by snow are seen on the coast of a sea inlet of Nuuk, Greenland, Friday, March 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More This story, supported by the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, is part of an ongoing Associated Press series covering threats to democracy in Europe.___

A doctor assists 13-year-old Palestinian Yamen Asfour as he learns to walk on a prosthetic leg at the Artificial Limbs and Polio Center in Gaza City on Tuesday, Feb. 18. 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)2025-03-25T06:07:20Z GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) Five-year-old Sila Abu Aqlan curled her lip in concentration as she practiced walking for the first time on a prosthetic leg at a clinic in Gaza City. The foot of the new leg had a little pink sneaker with a lacy frill, matching her pink hoodie.It has been nearly 15 months since the little girls leg was amputated after it was left severely burned from an Israeli airstrike. Finally, she is being fit for a prosthetic.One of the most shocking sights in Gazas war has been the thousands of children with amputated limbs from Israels bombardment. The U.N.s humanitarian aid organization OCHA called it the largest cohort of child amputees in modern history.Throughout the 17-month war, supplies and services for children and adults with amputations have fallen far short of demand. Gazas ceasefire that began in mid-January offered a window for aid agencies to bring in an increased number of prosthetic limbs, wheelchairs, crutches and other devices. Still, it only covered about 20% of the total need, said Loay Abu Saif, head of a disability program run by the aid group Medical Aid for Palestine, or MAP.The window slammed shut when Israel barred entry of all medical supplies as well as food, fuel and other aid on March 2. Israels resumpton of its military campaign last week, killing hundreds of Palestinians, has only added to the ranks of amputees. Children struggle with multiple traumasWith help limited, children wrestle with the psychological pain of losing a limb along with other traumas.Silas mother, father and sisters were all killed in an airstrike on her home in December 2023. Sila suffered severe burns to her right leg. A month of treatment had little effect, and Sila would scream in excruciating pain, her aunt Yasmine al-Ghofary said. Doctors amputated her leg above the knee.I try as much as I can to make her happy. But the truth is, theres only so much she can be happy. Pain is pain, and amputation is amputation, al-Ghofary said. Sila sees other girls playing and tries to keep up with them using her walker but falls down. She says, Why am I like this? Why am I not like them? said al-Ghofary.In October 2023, 11-year-old Reem lost her hand when an airstrike hit nearby as her family fled their home in Gaza City.Reem can no longer dress on her own, brush her hair or tie her shoes. She gets angry and hits her siblings if she cant find someone to help her, her mother said. Other times, she isolates herself and just watches other children playing.Once Reem told her dad that she wished to die, said her mother, who goes by the traditional name, Umm Reem. In another instance, we were talking about meat, and she said, Slaughter me like a sheep, and she was laughing. Thousands need helpSome 3,000 to 4,000 children in Gaza had suffered amputations as of November 2024, according to Jamal al-Rozzi and Hussein Abu Mansour, two prominent experts with rehabilitation programs in the territory who spoke with The Associated Press.Up to 17,500 adults and children suffered severe limb injuries, leaving them in need of rehabilitation and assistance, the World Health Organization estimated in September.Throughout the war, hospitals lacked medicines that could have averted amputations. Doctors describes cutting off limbs because of infections that should have been easily treated.In its campaign in Gaza, Israel has struck homes and shelters with families inside almost daily.Gazas Health Ministry on Monday put out a list of the names of more than 15,000 children, 17 and younger, killed by Israels offensive. The list included nearly 5,000 children younger than 6, including 876 infants who had not reached a year in age.Israels offensive has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians of all ages and wounded more than 113,000, according to the ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants. Nearly 90% of the population of some 2.3 million have been displaced, and vast areas of Gaza have been destroyed.Israel launched the campaign vowing to destroy Hamas after its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, in which militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 others. Israel says it is targeting Hamas and blames the group for civilian deaths because it operates in residential areas. Conditions in camps make it even harder for childrenLast May, 13-year-old Moath Abdelaals leg was amputated above the knee after an Israeli airstrike in the southern city of Rafah.The family had to flee to a tent camp outside the neighboring city of Khan Younis. During the ceasefire, they moved back to their hometown Jabaliya in northern Gaza, but their home had been destroyed, so they live in a tent by the ruins, said his father, Hussein Abdelaal.Moaths psychological state is worsening, his father said. Moving with crutches around the rubble is difficult. Doctors had to amputate more from his leg, almost up to his hip, because of complications. The boy learned that a number of his friends in the neighborhood had been killed, Abdelaal said.He has been having a hard time coping with his new situation. Hes not sleeping well next to his siblings. Its difficult to see our son like that, said Abdelaal. Aid agencies provide some servicesSila is being treated at the Artificial Limbs and Polio Center in Gaza City, a program launched by the International Committee of the Red Cross that has provided physical therapy, wheelchairs and prosthetics to hundreds of Palestinians suffering from amputations or paralysis. But supplies are limited. Wheelchairs are urgently needed, with 50 to 60 people a day asking for them in northern Gaza alone, said Mahmoud Shalabi with MAP. Al-Rozzi, executive director of the National Rehabilitation Society in the Gaza Strip, said Israel blocks materials to manufacture prosthetics from entering Gaza on grounds they could have dual or military uses. COGAT, the Israeli military body overseeing aid, said there have never been limitations on medical supplies to Gaza, including wheelchairs, prosthetics and crutches.Some hope for treatment abroadSome child amputees have been evacuated out of Gaza for treatment. But the pace of medical evacuations has remained slow, at a few dozen a day, and was reduced after Israels strikes last week. As many as 13,000 patients of all kinds are waiting their chance to get out. Asmaa al-Nashash wants nothing more than for her 11-year-old son Abdulrahman to go abroad for a prosthetic leg.The boy was selling items from a stand at a U.N. school-turned-shelter in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp when an airstrike hit, she said. Shrapnel tore through his leg, and doctors couldnt save it.Since then, he often sits alone playing games on her phone because he cant play football with other children, she said. Other kids bully him, calling him the one-legged boy.My heart gets torn into pieces when I see him like this and I can do nothing for him, she said.___Khaled reported from Cairo. Associated Press reporter Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.

Dr. Marwan al-Hams, director of the Field Hospitals Department in Gaza, surveys the destruction inside the surgical building of Nasser Hospital, a day after it was struck by an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, on Monday, March 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)2025-03-25T06:33:28Z Palestinian medics said Israeli strikes killed at least 23 people in the Gaza Strip overnight into Tuesday.The dead include three children and their parents, who were killed in a strike on their tent near the southern city of Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital, which has received a flood of dead and wounded since Israel resumed heavy bombardment of Gaza last week, shattering the ceasefire that had halted the 17-month war.Israels campaign in Gaza has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 113,000, according to the Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.Israel launched the campaign vowing to destroy Hamas after its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, in which militants killed some 1,200 people and abducted 251. Israel says it only targets militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths because it operates in densely populated areas. ___Heres the latest: Israeli strikes in Gaza kill 23Palestinian medics say Israeli strikes killed at least 23 people in the Gaza Strip overnight into Tuesday.Nasser Hospital said it received four additional bodies from two other strikes in addition to the family of five.In central Gaza, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said it received the bodies of six people who were killed in three separate strikes. Three others were killed in a strike on a house in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp, according to the Awda Hospital.In Gaza City, an Israeli strike on a residential building killed 5 people, according to the Health Ministrys emergency service. Another 12 people were wounded, it said.

The entrance of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, is seen on Nov. 7, 2023, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama, File)2025-03-25T06:28:46Z TOKYO (AP) A court ordered the dissolution of the Unification Church in Japan, upholding a government request for a revocation spurred by the investigation into the 2022 assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.The Tokyo District Courts revocation of the churchs legal status means it will lose its tax-exempt privilege and must liquidate its assets. However, the church can still appeal the decision to higher courts.The order follows a request by Japans Education Ministry in 2023 to dissolve the influential South Korea-based sect, citing manipulative fundraising and recruitment tactics that sowed fear among followers and harmed their families.The Japanese branch of the church had criticized the request as a serious threat to religious freedom and the human rights of its followers. The investigation into the 2022 assassination of Abe revealed decades of cozy ties between the South Korea-based church and Japans governing Liberal Democratic Party. The church obtained legal status as a religious organization in Japan in 1968 amid an anti-communist movement supported by Abes grandfather, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi. The man accused of killing Abe resented the church and blamed it for his familys financial troubles. The church, which officially calls itself the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, is the first religious group to face a revocation order under Japans civil code. Two earlier case involved criminal charges - the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult, which carried out a sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system, and Myokakuji group, whose executives were convicted of fraud.Japan has in place hurdles for restraining religious activities due to lessons from the prewar and wartime oppression of freedom of religion and thought.

In this July 10, 2013, file photo, prospective students tour Georgetown University's campus in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)2025-03-25T04:14:43Z Since plunging during the COVID-19 pandemic, international student enrollment in the U.S. has been rebounding a relief to American universities that count on their tuition payments. Two months into the new Trump administration, educators fear that could soon change. Unnerved by efforts to deport students over political views, students from other countries already in the U.S. have felt new pressure to watch what they say. A Ph.D. student at the University of Rochester from South Asia said it feels too risky to speak about LGBTQ+ causes she once openly championed or even be seen near a political demonstration. With reports of travel bans circulating, she likely wont fly home for the summer out of fear she would not be allowed back into the U.S. Youre here for an education so youve got to keep moving forward on that end, said the student, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being targeted by authorities. But also its very hard to, say, OK, Im at work. Ive got to zone out. I cant be thinking about the news. Educators worry its a balancing act that will turn off foreign students. As the U.S. government takes a harder line on immigration, cuts federal research funding and begins policing campus activism, students are left to wonder if theyll be able to get visas, travel freely, pursue research or even express an opinion. It has a chilling effect, said Clay Harmon, executive director of AIRC, a membership organization focused on recruiting and enrolling international students. Even if theres no direct consequence or direct limitation right now, all of this cumulatively produces an impression that the U.S. is not welcoming, its not open or that you may be in some kind of danger or jeopardy if you do come to the U.S. During a recent trip to India, the biggest sender of students to the U.S., the consensus among recruiting agencies was that far fewer of that countrys students are interested in American colleges than in recent years, Harmon said. Some students are waiting to see how policy changes will play out, while others already have deferred admission offers for fall 2025, he said. Student social networks are active, and news about immigration-related developments in America like a Republican proposal to prevent Chinese students from studying in the U.S. spreads quickly.Students in Canada, China, India and elsewhere have been seeking answers and advice on Reddit and other social media sites, wondering whether to move forward with U.S. plans, or choose a college in the United Kingdom, Germany or elsewhere in Europe.International students are coveted as an antidote to declining domestic enrollment and source of full-price tuition payments. In the 2023-2024 academic year, 1.1 million international students at U.S. colleges and universities contributed an all-time high $43.8 billion to the nations economy and supported more than 378,000 jobs, according to data released by NAFSA, an agency that promotes international education. International graduate students also play a large role in advancing research, said Fanta Aw, who heads NAFSA.Aw said universities must work to remind prospective students that detentions like those of a pro-Palestinian activist Columbia University and, more recently, a scholar at Georgetown University, still are not the norm, despite the attention they receive.We have international students at lots of universities, she said, and news coverage has focused on consequences for international students at just a couple of colleges. So we have to also put into perspective the fact that the vast majority of students are in universities where were not hearing anything.The messaging from colleges and universities on the changing political climate has varied. Some, including Northeastern University in Boston, have responded to Trumps directives with webpages to keep current and prospective students informed. Our global community will continue to be a welcoming place for admitted students from all corners of the world, spokeswoman Renata Nyul said via email. Others have gone further. Bunker Hill Community College in Boston has suspended its one- to two-week study abroad programs, citing concerns about potential travel restrictions. Administrators at Columbias Graduate School of Journalism have warned students who are not U.S. citizens about their vulnerability to arrest or deportation.Brown University has advised international students and staff, including visa holders and permanent residents, to postpone travel after a Brown professor was deported to Lebanon despite having a U.S. visa. Homeland Security officials later said she openly admitted to supporting a Hezbollah leader and attending his funeral. ___The Associated Press education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. CAROLYN THOMPSON Thompson is an Associated Press reporter based in Buffalo, New York. twitter mailto

A group of sheikhs call for the prayer during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria, Friday March 7, 2025.(AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)2025-03-25T05:59:06Z DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) Sahar Diab had visited Damascus famed Umayyad Mosque previously. But as the Syrian lawyer went there to pray during her countrys first Ramadan after the end of the Assad familys iron-fisted rule, she felt something new, something priceless: A sense of ease.The rituals have become much more beautiful, she said. Before, we were restricted in what we could say. ... Now, theres freedom.As Diab spoke recently, however, details were trickling in from outside Damascus about deadly clashes. The bloodshed took on sectarian overtones and devolved into the worst violence since former President Bashar Assad was overthrown in December by armed insurgents led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).This Ramadan the Muslim holy month of daily fasting and heightened worship such are the realities of a Syria undergoing complex transition. Relief, hope and joy at new openings after 53 years of the Assad dynastys reign, prolonged civil war and crushing economic woes intermingle with uncertainty, fear by some, and a particularly bloody and worrisome wave of violence. Some are feeling empowered, others vulnerable. Were not afraid of anything, Diab said. She wants her country to be rebuilt and to get rid of Assad-era corruption and bribery.At the Umayyad Mosque, the rituals were age-old: A woman fingering a prayer bead and kissing a copy of the Quran; the faithful standing shoulder-to-shoulder and prostrating in prayer; the Umayyads iconic and unusual group call to prayer, recited by several people. The sermon, by contrast, was fiery in delivery and new in message.The speaker, often interrupted by loud chants of God is great, railed against Assad and hailed the uprising against him.Our revolution is not a sectarian revolution even though wed been slaughtered by the sword of sectarianism, he said. This Ramadan, Syrians marked the 14th anniversary of the start of their countrys civil war. The conflict began as one of several popular uprisings against Arab dictators, before Assad crushed what started as largely peaceful protests and a civil war erupted.It became increasingly fought along sectarian lines, drawing in foreign powers and fighters. Assad, who had ruled over a majority Sunni population, belongs to the minority Alawite sect and had drawn from Alawite ranks for military and security positions, fueling resentment. That, Alawites say now, shouldnt mean collective blame for his actions.Many Syrians speak of omnipresent fear under Assad, often citing the Arabic saying, the walls have ears, reflecting that speaking up even privately didnt feel safe. They talk of hardships, injustices and brutality. Now, for example, many celebrate freedom from dreaded Assad-era checkpoints.They would harass us, said Ahmed Saad Aldeen, who came to the Umayyad Mosque from the city of Homs. You go out ... and you dont know whether youll return home or not.He said more than a dozen cousins are missing; a search for them in prisons proved futile. Mohammed Qudmani said even going to the mosque caused anxiety for some before, for fear of getting on security forces radar screen or being labeled a terrorist.Now, Damascus streets are bedecked with the new three-starred flag, not long ago a symbol of Assads opponents. It flutters from poles and is plastered to walls, sometimes with the words God is great handwritten on it.One billboard declares this the Ramadan of victory. On a government building, the faces of former presidents Bashar and Hafez Assad are partly cut off from a painting; in their place, The Freedom is scribbled in Arabic.Haidar Haidar, who owns a sweets shop, said he was touched that new security force members gave him water and dates while he was out when a call to prayer signaled that those fasting can eat and drink.We never saw such things here, he said, adding that he used to recite Quranic verses for protection before passing through Assads checkpoints.He said his business was doing well this Ramadan and ingredients have become more available. Still, challenges economic, geopolitical and otherwise abound.Many dream of a new Syria, but exactly how that would look remains uncertain.The situation is foggy, said Damascus resident Wassim Bassimah. Of course, theres great joy that weve gotten rid of the cancer we had, but theres also a lot of wariness.Syrians, he added, must be mindful to protect their country from sliding back into civil war and should maintain a dialogue that is inclusive of all.The external enemies are still there, he said. So are the enemies from within.The wars scars are inescapable.Just outside of Damascus, death and destruction are seared into some landscapes littered with pockmarked and ruined structures. Many Syrians grieve the missing and killed; many families have been divided by the exodus of millions as refugees. Ramadan typically sees festive gatherings with loved ones to break the daily fast. Some Syrians huddle around food and juices at restaurants or throng to Ramadan tents to break their fast and smoke waterpipes as they listen to songs.But this months violence in Syrias coastal region has stoked fears among some.The bloodshed began after reports of attacks by Assad loyalists on government security forces. Human rights and monitoring groups reported revenge killings in the counteroffensive, which they said saw the involvement of multiple groups. According to them, hundreds of civilians, or more, were killed; figures couldnt be independently confirmed. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said most of the killed civilians were Alawites in addition to a number of armed Alawites and security forces. Syrian authorities have formed a committee tasked with investigating the violence.Even before the bloodshed, while many celebrated the new government, others questioned what the ascent of the former insurgent forces would mean for freedoms, including of minorities and of those in the majority who are secular-minded or adhere to less conservative interpretations of Islam. The new authorities have made assurances about pluralism.Sheikh Adham al-khatib, a representative of Twelver Shiites in Syria, said many from the Shiite minority felt scared after Assads ouster and some fled the country. Some later returned, encouraged by a relative calm and the new authorities reassurances, he said, but the recent violence and some individual transgressions have rekindled fears.As the violence unfolded earlier this month, crowds gathered in Damascus.Some rallied to support security forces. Others, like Malak al Shanawani, participated in a different gathering, against the killing of the security forces and civilians. The bloodshed brought tears to her eyes.Its nightmarish, said the feminist and political activist. Its one of the worst moments.Under Assad, al Shanawani was arrested more than once. Among those killed in the violence, she said, were three brothers of an Alawite friend who was also arrested under Assad.When we used to hear that the Alawites would get slaughtered, wed say: No, we can protect you; we wouldnt allow this to happen, said al Shanawani, whos from the Sunni community. But it has happened.At the silent vigil, activists raised signs that called for de-escalation and denounced sectarian incitement. One read: Neither religion, nor sect will divide us. Another declared: The Syrian revolution doesnt accept injustice.But the gathering quickly deteriorated into shouting and shoving matches as some on the street appeared provoked by it.One man angrily asked participants where they were when it was the Sunnis who were suffering. Another furiously ripped a sign. A third insulted Alawites. Here and there, some attempted to discuss, to find common ground. Occasionally, people who started off arguing would agree on something and join each other in chants.One. One. One, they yelled. The Syrian people are one.As the chaos and friction continued, however, gunshots were fired into the air to disperse the crowds.___Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. MARIAM FAM Fam is a reporter with The Associated Press Global Religion team. She covers faith, and the many ways it intersects with culture and daily life, in the Middle East and beyond. mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Nature, Published online: 25 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00875-wInterventions involving bacteria or fungi could help to sequester greenhouse gases, create more sustainable products and clean up pollution in ways that are economically viable and safe.

Nature, Published online: 25 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00926-2Give grants to female scientists in war zones

Nature, Published online: 25 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00925-3How to get more women into mining

Nature, Published online: 25 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00927-1Lesotho matters

Actor Gerard Depardieu, left, arrives at his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, with his lawyer Jeremie Assous ,Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)2025-03-25T09:37:52Z PARIS (AP) Actor Grard Depardieu acknowledged Tuesday that he used crude and heated language around a woman who accuses him of sexual assault and grabbed her hips but denied assaulting her, as he testified for the first time at his landmark trial in Paris.I understand perfectly if shes a bit upset, he said of the set dresser he worked with on a movie in 2021. He acknowledged that he sometimes has a potty mouth, telling the court: I am capable of trash talk. And he admitted that he was wrong to use heated language with the woman when they had an on-set argument about a painting.I dont have to talk like that, get angry like that, voil, he said in his gruff, deep voice so familiar to global cinemagoers.The 76-year-old former Oscar nominee has denied sexual assault allegations filed by the 54-year-old set dresser and a 34-year-old assistant. The women allege that he groped them during filming in 2021 of Les Volets Verts (The Green Shutters). The actor faces up to five years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros ($81,000) if convicted. Depardieu acknowledged that he did grab the hips of the set dresser during their argument on set about whether a painting was good or bad art. But he said his gesture hadnt been ill-intentioned and argued that she hadnt appeared offended, saying: She didnt answer as if I was assaulting her. He acknowledged that sometimes his behavior is regarded as boorish. Ive always been told I have a Russian nature, I dont know if its because of the drinking or the vulgarity, he said.But he said hes not a predator. Im not touching the butts of women, he said.Because of Depardieus fame and impact on the French movie industry, his trial is seen as an important test of French willingness to confront sexual violence and hold influential men accountable. SYLVIE CORBET Corbet is an Associated Press reporter based in Paris. She covers French politics, diplomacy and defense as well as gender issues and breaking news. twitter

Luigi Mangione , accused of fatally shooting the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City and leading authorities on a five-day search is scheduled, appears in court for a hearing, Feb. 21, 2025, in New York. (Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP, Pool, File)2025-03-25T03:29:57Z NEW YORK (AP) Luigi Mangione is asking for a laptop in jail, but just for legal purposes not for communicating with anyone as he awaits trial in the killing of UnitedHealthcares CEO.In a court filing made public late Monday, Mangiones lawyers proposed that he get a laptop configured solely to let him view a vast amount of documents, video and other material in the case surrounding the shooting of Brian Thompson. Similar limited-laptop provisions have been made for some other defendants in the federal lockup where Mangione is being held.The Manhattan district attorneys office, which is prosecuting Mangione on a rare New York state charge of murder as an act of terrorism, didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. According to Mangiones lawyers, prosecutors are frowning on the laptop request, saying that some witnesses have been threatened. Defense lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo wrote that theres no connection to Mr. Mangione for any of said alleged threats.Mangione, 26, is accused of gunning down Thompson in December outside a Manhattan hotel where UnitedHealthcare was about to hold an investor conference. Thompson, who was 50 and had two children in high school, worked for decades within UnitedHealthcare and its parent company. Mangione, an Ivy League computer science graduate from a Maryland real estate family, has pleaded not guilty to the New York state charges. He also faces a parallel federal case that carries the possibility of the death penalty. He hasnt entered a plea to the federal charges or to state-level gun possession and other charges in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested days after Thompsons death. Thompsons killing alarmed the corporate world, where some health insurers hastily switched to remote work or online shareholder meetings.But at the same time, the case channeled some Americans frustrations with health insurance companies. Mangiones writings and words on bullets recovered from the scene reflected animus toward health insurers and corporate America, authorities have said. Some people have lionized the accused killer, donated money to his defense and even flocked to his court appearances. Others, including elected officials, have deplored the praise for what they cast as ideological violence and vigilante justice.Through his lawyers, Mangione has released a statement thanking supporters.If he does get a laptop, it would be unable to connect to the internet, run video games or play movies or other entertainment, his lawyers said in Mondays filing. But it would let him examine, from his jail cell, more than 15,000 pages of documents and thousands of hours of video that prosecutors gathered and were required to turn over to his attorneys.Otherwise, he can view the material when meeting with his lawyers. But they say there arent enough visiting hours in the day for him to do that and properly help prepare his defense.

Nature, Published online: 25 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00895-6Intermittent fasting has gained a following, in part because of tantalizing hints that it can boost cognition, fend off cancer and even slow ageing.

Nature, Published online: 25 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00928-0Lessons from Portugal on effects of cutting research funding

FBI Director Kash Patel speaks during a ceremony to raise the Hostage and Wrongful Detainee flag at the State Department, Thursday, March 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)2025-03-25T04:08:19Z WASHINGTON (AP) The Trump administrations top intelligence officials face Congress for back-to-back hearings this week, their first opportunity since being sworn in to testify about the threats facing the United States and what the government is doing to counter them.FBI Director Kash Patel, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, are among the witnesses who will appear Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee and Wednesday before the House Intelligence Committee.Tuesdays hearing will take place one day after news broke that several top national security officials in the Trump administration, including Ratcliffe and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, texted war plans for upcoming military strikes in Yemen to a group chat in a secure messaging app that included the editor-in-chief for The Atlantic. The annual hearings on worldwide threats will offer a glimpse of the Trump administrations reorienting of priorities, which officials across agencies have described as countering the scourge of fentanyl and fighting violent crime, human trafficking and illegal immigration. Former FBI Director Christopher Wray routinely has said he is hard-pressed to think of a time in his career when the United States faced so many elevated threats at once, but the concerns he more regularly highlighted had to do with sophisticated Chinese espionage plots, ransomware attacks that have crippled hospitals and international and domestic terrorism. We have to change to the dynamic threat landscape that is changing constantly not just in America but abroad, Patel said in a Fox News interview that aired Sunday night, citing the elevated threat from narco-traffickers. But, he added, were not going to forget or ignore national security never. The hearings are also unfolding against the backdrop of a starkly different approach toward Russia following years of Biden administration sanctions over its war against Ukraine. Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed during a lengthy call with President Donald Trump to an immediate pause in strikes against energy infrastructure in what the White House described as the first step in a movement to peace. ERIC TUCKER Tucker covers national security in Washington for The Associated Press, with a focus on the FBI and Justice Department. twitter mailto