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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, right, talk after a welcoming ceremony with a guard of honor at Buda Castle in Budapest, Hungary, on Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)2025-04-03T09:06:15Z BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Hungarys capital early Thursday to red carpet treatment despite a warrant for his arrest issued by the worlds top war crimes court.Hungarys government, led by its populist prime minister and Netanyahu ally, Viktor Orbn, used the occasion of the Israeli leaders visit to announce it will begin the procedure of withdrawing from the International Criminal Court.Just as Netanyahu met with Orbn for a welcome with full military honors in Budapests Castle District, Orbns chief of staff, Gergely Gulys, wrote in a brief statement that the government will initiate the withdrawal procedure on Thursday, in accordance with the constitutional and international legal framework. At the welcoming ceremony kicking off Netanyahus visit, only his second foreign trip since the ICC issued the warrant against him in November, he stood alongside Orbn as a military band played and processions of soldiers on horseback and carrying swords and bayoneted rifles passed by. The two leaders were set to hold talks later on Thursday. Netanyahu will spend several days in Hungary before departing on Sunday. The ICC, based in The Hague, Netherlands, said when issuing its warrant there was reason to believe Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant used starvation as a method of warfare by restricting humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, and intentionally targeted civilians in Israels campaign against Hamas charges that Israeli officials deny. Member countries of the ICC, such as Hungary, are required to arrest suspects facing a warrant if they set foot on their soil, but the court has no way to enforce that and relies on states to comply.After the ICC issued the warrant in November, Orbn accused the worlds only permanent global tribunal for war crimes and genocide of interfering in an ongoing conflict for political purposes, saying the move undermined international law and escalated tensions. His invitation to Netanyahu was in open defiance of the courts ruling. Hungary joined the court in 2001 during Orbns first term as prime minister. Reacting to Hungarys decision to leave the court, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar thanked Orbn for the move, writing on X: I commend Hungarys important decision to withdraw from the ICC.The so-called International Criminal Court lost its moral authority after trampling the fundamental principles of international law in its zest for harming Israels right to self-defense, Saar wrote. Thank you Hungary for your clear and strong moral stance alongside Israel and the principles of justice and sovereignty!Netanyahu in February met U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, where Trump suggested that displaced Palestinians in Gaza be permanently resettled outside the war-torn territory and proposed the U.S. take ownership in redeveloping the area into the Riviera of the Middle East.Neither the United States or Israel are signatories to the ICC. Trump in February issued sanctions against the court for its investigations into Israels conduct of the war in Gaza which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, many of them children. The ICC has criticized Hungarys decision to defy its warrant for Netanyahu. The courts spokesperson, Fadi El Abdallah, said its not for parties to the ICC to unilaterally determine the soundness of the Courts legal decisions. JUSTIN SPIKE Spike is an Associated Press reporter based in Budapest, Hungary. twitter mailto

2025-04-03T08:15:41Z BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) Hungary said Thursday it will begin the procedure of withdrawing from the worlds only permanent global tribunal for war crimes and genocide.Hungary will withdraw from the International Criminal Court, Gergely Gulys, who is Prime Minister Viktor Orbn chief of staff wrote in a brief statement. The government will initiate the withdrawal procedure on Thursday, in accordance with the constitutional and international legal framework.The announcement came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, despite an international arrest warrant against him over his conduct of the war in the Gaza Strip.Hungarys government, led by right-wing populist Orbn, extended the invitation to Netanyahu in November after the ICC, based in the Hague, Netherlands, issued the warrant accusing him of crimes against humanity. Orbn, a close Netanyahu ally, has called the arrest warrant outrageously impudent and cynical. Member countries of the ICC, such as Hungary, are required to detain suspects facing a warrant if they set foot on their soil, but the court has no way to enforce that and relies on states to comply with its rulings.

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Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani hits a walk-off solo home run against as Atlanta Braves catcher Atlanta Braves' Chadwick Tromp looks on during the ninth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)2025-04-03T06:07:41Z LOS ANGELES (AP) Shohei Ohtani met the moment again, and his latest theatrics have the Los Angeles Dodgers perfect to start the season.The Japanese superstar hit a tiebreaking home run in the ninth inning on his bobblehead night, lifting the Dodgers over the winless Atlanta Braves 6-5 on Wednesday.If I didnt get a good pitch to hit, I was willing to walk, Ohtani said through a translator. Coming into the inning, tied in that last at-bat, it just felt like we really had a good shot to win.At 8-0, the Dodgers are off to the best start ever by a defending World Series champion. Theyve trailed in six of those games, but they already have two walk-off wins. And Ohtani has scored in every game.Overall, not just tonight, there is a really good vibe within the team, he said, so I just think thats allowing us to come back in these games to win. A crowd of 50,281 roared as Ohtanis 399-foot shot sailed into center field and he rounded the bases. You just feel hes going to do something special, manager Dave Roberts said.It was hardly a surprise coming from last years NL MVP. In 2024, his first season with the Dodgers, Ohtani hit a game-ending grand slam on his first bobblehead night. He had a walk-off homer on another of his giveaway nights. He keeps getting into these situations and moments where youre expecting the unthinkable out of him and he rarely disappoints. Thats really saying something, said teammate Max Muncy, whose two-run double tied the game in the eighth and set the stage for Ohtani. Dodgers starter Blake Snell said: When he was coming up and its his bobblehead night everyone knew. We knew. Its just what he does.Thousands lined up hours before first pitch to secure the first of four Ohtani bobbleheads this season. As like last year, traffic snarled around the stadium with helicopters showing the chaos on local television. Just grateful as a player to just be able to perform and have an opportunity like this, said Ohtani, who finished 3 for 5. I think the credit really goes to Max Muncy to be able to pull through and tie the game.Muncy ditched the new torpedo bat he had used earlier in favor of his usual lumber.I do think there was some good to using the torpedo bat, just in BP and everything, he said. It might be something that I use as a practice bat and then go back to my bat for the game. It seemed to work that last at-bat.The Dodgers rallied from a 5-0 deficit after Muncys two early errors at third base led to five unearned runs by the Braves against Snell, a two-time Cy Young Award winner making his second start for his new team.I was dumbfounded with the way we were playing. I didnt recognize that club in the first couple of innings, Roberts said. We had no business winning that game, but to our guys credit we just kept fighting.The bullpen picked up Snell, allowing just three hits over the final five innings. Rookie reliever Jack Dreyer earned his first major league win with two hitless innings.We all believe, Snell said. We got each others backs, and its a good feeling to have. For Muncy, it seems similar to last years never-say-die attitude that helped the Dodgers to their eighth World Series title.Weve been carrying it into this season. Its been fun to watch, he said. The guys dont give up. No ones really been down or out on themselves. Just seeing the guys in the clubhouse come together like that, its a pretty cool moment.___AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

New York mayor Eric Adams speaks at the Metropolitan Museum of Art during a task force meeting addressing retail theft, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Joseph Frederick)2025-04-03T11:12:56Z New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday said he will pull out of the citys Democratic primary and instead run for reelection as an independent candidate, arguing that his federal bribery charges had made it impossible to mount a primary campaign.In a video, Adams, whose criminal case was dismissed Wednesday, said he will not run in the Democratic primary in June because the case dragged on too long while the false accusations were held over me.I firmly believe that this city is better served by truly independent leadership, not leaders pulled at by the extremists at the far left or the far right, but instead those rooted in the common middle, the place where the vast majority of New Yorkers are firmly planted, Adams said.The decision came after intense speculation over whether Adams would remain in the Democratic primary, which has attracted a several serious opponents, including former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.Adams announcement was first reported by Politico.

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A cow rests near a park bench and trash bins on August 12, 2002 on Australia's remote Norfolk Island. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, File)2025-04-03T13:26:40Z MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) The Trump administration appears to be leaving no stone unturned with its sweeping tariffs around the globe, from rocky outcrops home to polar bears in the Arctic to tiny tropical islands to a former British penal colony whose leader is befuddled that it was targeted.The American president rattled markets, manufacturers and more Wednesday announcing a baseline of 10% tariffs on imports into the United States and far higher on goods from some places, notably those with high trade surpluses with the United States.A few countries like Russia, which is facing U.S. sanctions, and Canada and Mexico which face separate U.S. tariff measures were left off. The Holy See, for example, got a pass too from being listed among the dozens of countries and territories targeted by U.S. President Donald Trump.Heres a look at some target territories that have little to no production, exports or role in the global economy. There was no immediate explanation as to why these places made the cut in a list presented on the White House-affiliated Rapid Response 47 account on the X social media platform. Jan Mayen This small Arctic island, possibly featuring more polar bears than people, figures among the more peculiar places on the U.S. target list.The only inhabitants on Jan Mayen, part of Norway since 1930, are staff of the Norwegian military and the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. The island 600 kilometers (370 miles) northeast of Iceland is partly covered by glaciers.The Norwegian militarys main role there is to oversee Norways claim to sovereignty over the island, it flies C-130 Hercules cargo planes to Jan Mayen about a dozen times a year from Norway. The planes are able to land only if visibility is good as the airport doesnt have any instrument landing capabilities.Norways Foreign and Environment Ministries did not immediately reply to requests for comment Thursday from The Associated Press. TokelauThe nation made up of three tropical coral islands and home 1,500 people on a combined land area of 4 square miles (10 sq. km), is also facing 10% U.S. tariffs.One of the smallest economies in the South Pacific, Tokelau survives on subsistence agriculture, fishing, and finance from New Zealand, which counts the islands as one of its territories.Roland Rajah, lead economist at the Lowy Institute, an Australian foreign policy think tank, said officials in small island nations would likely struggle to change Washingtons mind.If those countries didnt get much consideration in terms of what tariffs were imposed on them given their size and obscurity to the Trump administration, that also could make it difficult for them to do anything about negotiating their way out of those tariffs, he said. Christmas IslandThe leader of Christmas Island, which has fewer that 2,000 people, said the Indian Ocean atoll exported nothing to the United States.Theres no trade between Christmas Island and America except that we do buy mining equipment through Tractors Singapore, said Christmas Island Shire President Gordon Thomson, referring to the regional dealer for the Texas manufacturing giant Caterpillar Inc.The Australian outpost located 360 kilometers (225 miles) south of the Indonesian capital Jakarta has used U.S. heavy machinery to mine phosphate for decades. The trade, if anything, is U.S. product into Christmas Island. The only thing that we export is phosphate and that goes to Malaysia, Indonesia, maybe Thailand and a bit to the Australian mainland, Thomson said.Heard and McDonald IslandsThe Heard and McDonald Islands in the remote Antarctic, which together form another Australian territory this one uninhabited is also on the list and subject to 10% tariffs. The mostly barren islands between Madagascar and Antarctica have two active volcanoes and can only be reached by sea.Contacted by the AP, the Australian governments Antarctic Division did not immediately respond when asked about how the tariff might affect its operations in the islands. Norfolk IslandNorfolk Island in the Pacific, another Australian territory with a population of around 2,000 people, received more severe tariff treatment.The Trump administration, in its calculation, said the former British penal colony charges the United States 58% tariffs and it responded with a tariff rate of 29% on Norfolk Island, whose economy revolves around tourism. Its about 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) east of Sydney.Norfolk Island Administrator George Plant, the Australian governments representative on the island, was looking into what was behind it.To my knowledge, we do not export anything to the United States, he told the AP. We dont charge tariffs on anything. I cant think of any non-tariff barriers that would be in place either, so were scratching our heads here.Speaking to reporters, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese quipped: Im not quite sure that Norfolk Island, with respect to it, is a trade competitor with the giant economy of the United States.But that just shows, I think, exemplifies, the fact that nowhere on Earth is exempt from this. ___Keaten reported from Geneva. Charlotte Graham-McLay in Wellington, New Zealand, and Vanessa Gera in Warsaw, Poland, contributed to this report. ROD MCGUIRK McGuirk covers Australian and South Pacific news for The Associated Press. He is based in Melbourne. mailto JAMEY KEATEN Keaten is the chief Associated Press reporter in Geneva. He previously was posted in Paris and has reported from Afghanistan, the Middle East, North Africa and across Europe. twitter

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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, center, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, left, poses with counterparts during a group photo of NATO foreign ministers at NATO headquarters Brussels, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)2025-04-03T06:49:17Z BRUSSELS (AP) U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Trump administrations new envoy to NATO are seeking to reassure wary members of the U.S. commitment to the alliance. Rubio on Thursday decried hysteria and hyperbole in the media about U.S. President Donald Trumps intentions, despite persistent signals from Washington that NATO as it has existed for 75 years may no longer be relevant. Rubio and newly confirmed U.S. ambassador to NATO Matt Whitaker are in Brussels for a meeting of alliance foreign ministers at which many are hoping Rubio will shed light on U.S. security plans in Europe. The United States is as active in NATO as it has ever been, Rubio told reporters as he greeted NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte before the meeting began. And some of this hysteria and hyperbole that I see in the global media and some domestic media in the United States about NATO is unwarranted. President Trumps made clear he supports NATO, Rubio said. Were going to remain in NATO.We want NATO to be stronger, we want NATO to be more visible and the only way NATO can get stronger, more visible is if our partners, the nation states that comprise this important alliance, have more capability, he said. Whitaker said in a statement that under President Trumps leadership, NATO will be stronger and more effective than ever before, and I believe that a robust NATO can continue to serve as a bedrock of peace and prosperity. But he added: NATOs vitality rests on every ally doing their fair share. Concerns about US commitment to allies Despite those words, European allies and Canada are deeply concerned by Trumps readiness to draw closer to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who sees NATO as a threat as the U.S. tries to broker a ceasefire in Ukraine, as well as his rhetorical attacks and insults against allies like Canada and Denmark.Rubio and Danish Foreign Affairs Minister Lars Lkke Rasmussen met on the sidelines of the meeting. They didnt respond to a shouted question about Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark which Trump has his eye on, but they smiled and shook hands in front of U.S. and Danish flags. Trumps imposition of new global tariffs, which will affect allies, have also added to the uncertainty and unease.French Foreign Minister Jean-Nol Barrot warned that NATOs unity is being tested by the decisions taken and announced yesterday (Wednesday) by President Trump.Asked about concerns among European allies about a possible U.S. troop drawdown and the importance of getting clear messages from the Trump administration, Rutte said: These issues are not new. There are no plans for them to all of a sudden draw down their presence here in Europe.Indeed, the Trump administration hasnt made its NATO allies aware any plans that it might have. But several European countries are convinced that U.S. troops and equipment will be withdrawn, and they want to find out from Rubio how many and when so they can fill any security gaps.We need to preempt a rapid retreat, but weve had nothing precise from the U.S. yet, a senior NATO diplomat said before the meeting, briefing reporters on his countrys expectations on condition that he not be named. Ruttes dilemma NATOs secretary-general is in a bind. European allies and Canada have tasked him with keeping the United States firmly in NATO. Around 100,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Europe along with the Navys 6th Fleet and nuclear warheads. U.S. firepower ensures that NATOs ability to deter Russia is credible.This means he cant openly criticize Trump, who is commander in chief of the United States, NATOs biggest and best-equipped armed forces.What is clear is that U.S. allies must ramp up defense spending even more than they already have since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago, so that they can defend Europe with less American help and keep Ukraines armed forces in the fight.The U.S expects European allies to take more responsibility for their own security, Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said, which means that European NATO countries rapidly have to strengthen the European pillar of NATO and have to increase their defense spending. Since U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned last month that American security priorities lie elsewhere in Asia and on the United States own borders the Europeans have waited to learn how big a military drawdown in Europe could be and how fast it may happen.In Europe and Canada, governments are working on burden shifting plans to take over more of the load, while trying to ensure that no security vacuum is created if U.S. troops and equipment are withdrawn from the continent.

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One as he travels from Las Vegas to Miami on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)2025-04-03T13:41:27Z ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) The acting chief of the top federal agency for protecting worker rights has signaled a pivot toward prioritizing President Donald Trumps campaign to stamp out diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the private and public sectors.The initial steps taking by Andrea Lucas, acting chief of the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, have earned her strong backing from the Trump administration, which has moved against DEI through embattled executive orders that dismantled programs at federal agencies and threatened investigations and stiff financial penalties for federal contractors that engage in illegal diversity-related practices. Trump recently nominated Lucas to a new five-year term as commissioner. But former Democratic EEOC officials and prominent civil rights groups have accused Lucas of taking shortcuts that supersede her authority and they have urged employers to be wary of her directives and guidance, if not altogether ignore them. The most recent flashpoint involves two technical assistance documents issued by the EEOC along with the Department of Justice attempting to clarify what might constitute DEI-related Discrimination at Work and providing guidance on how workers can file complaints over such concerns. The documents take broad aim at practices such as training, employment resources group and fellowship programs, warning such programs depending on how theyre constructed could run afoul of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race and gender. The documents followed letters that Lucas sent to 20 prominent law firms demanding information about diversity fellowships and other programs she claimed could be evidence of discriminatory practices.A group of 10 former Democratic commissioners and counsels released its own letter Thursday warning the legal community the DEI documents give the misleading impression that common programs are fraught with legal peril and dismissed them as reflecting Lucass personal opinion. The letter offered counter-guidance on how employers should continue implementing training and other practices that EEOC policy documents encourage to prevent discrimination. Last month, seven of the same former EEOC officials sent Lucas a letter warning that she appeared to exceed her authority with her demands for information from the 20 law firms without first launching a formal investigation. A group of prominent civil rights organizations went a step further in their own letter to Lucas, urging the law firms to ignore her demands because they have no legal obligation to reply.This isnt how the EEOC works. No single commissioner not even the Chair has the authority to send threatening letters demanding private information from employers, said Noreen Farrell, director of Equal Rights Advocates, one of the civil rights organizations that signed onto the response led by the National Womens Law Center. The EEOC Chair cant just rewrite decades of settled civil rights law with a hastily written memo. Jenny Yang, a former EEOC commissioner under President Barack Obama, said Lucas letters to the 20 law firms were without precedent at the EEOC, which initiates most investigations in response to complaints filed by workers. In very rare cases, a commissioner can file their own charge against an employer but it wouldnt be made public and would require the commissioner to provide evidence of possible discrimination under penalty of perjury, Yang said. Law firms including some of the 20 targeted by Lucas are already coming under pressure to change their approach to diversity and inclusion in response to separate Trump executive orders designed to punish them for taking on the presidents rivals as clients and other actions that have angered him. For example, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom recently learned that the president intended to issue an order targeting it over its pro bono legal work and its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The firm has consequently agreed to review its hiring practices, among other things. The 20 law firms targeted in Lucas letters did not respond to questions from The Associated Press about whether they intended to respond to her demands. Lucas did not respond to request for comment on the DEI technical assistance documents, and the EEOC declined to say whether the law firms have any legal obligation to respond to her letters or whether they would face any penalty for not doing so.But Lucas, a Republican who was first appointed to the EEOC in 2020, has long argued that she is not reinterpreting civil rights laws but rather sounding the alarm that many companies have adopted DEI practices that cross the line into discrimination. Lucas has argued the EEOC has turned a blind eye to risky company practices, which she said proliferated especially after the 2020 racial justice protests that followed the police killing of George Floyd. Far too many employers defend certain types of race or sex preferences as good, provided they are motivated by business interests in diversity, equity, or inclusion., Lucas said in a statement announcing the new technical assistance on DEI.Many employers are likely to take heed of her warnings as the EEOC signals that it will be become a powerful ally to workers claiming discrimination stemming from DEI practices. Anuradha Hebbar, president of CEO Action for Inclusion & Diversity, an arm of the influential Society for Human Resource Management, said the EEOC has especially makes clear that companies should avoid fellowships, internships and other programs that are only open to women or certain racial groups. Stefan Padfield of conservative think tank National Center for Public Policy Research praised the EEOCs the shift as a much-needed course correction that will open the floodgates for complaints against DEI practices that should be deemed illegal. Lucas has acknowledged that she cannot unilaterally change some of the agencys guidelines and policies that may contradict Trumps slew of executive orders, though the EEOC has already moved to drop seven lawsuits alleging discrimination against transgender and nonbinary people in response to a presidential order declaring the government would only recognize the male and female genders. Changing such policies including the EEOCs five-year strategic enforcement plan that pledges support for DEI would require a majority vote by the agencys five commissioners. But Trump recently fired two of those commissioners both Democrats before their terms expired in a move that upended 60 years of precedent for an agency established by Congress as independent and bipartisan.In their letter Thursday, the former EEOC officials accused Lucas of cherry-picking rare instances of discrimination to convey the message that training and other DEI practices are inherently risky when in fact most are legally sound. Our federal civil rights offices and officials should not be intimidating or discouraging employers who are working to advance these goals, the letter said.________The Associated Press women in the workforce and state government coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. ALEXANDRA OLSON Olson is a business reporter for The Associated Press, focusing on women in the workplace. She has spent many years as a correspondent in Latin America. twitter mailto CLAIRE SAVAGE Savage is a national reporter for the APs Business team. She covers women in the workforce and is based in Chicago. twitter instagram mailto

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President Donald Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)2025-04-03T15:31:56Z WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump has moved to fire several senior White House National Security Council officials soon after he was urged by far-right activist Laura Loomer to purge staffers she deemed insufficiently committed to his Make America Great Again agenda, several people familiar with the matter said Thursday.Loomer presented her research to Trump in an Oval Office meeting on Wednesday, making her case for the firings, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters. Vice President JD Vance, chief of staff Susie Wiles, national security adviser Mike Waltz and Serio Gor, the director of the Presidential Personnel Office, took part in the meeting, the people said.NSC spokesman Brian Hughes declined to comment on the meeting or the firings, insisting that the White House does not discuss personnel matters. Loomer, who has promoted 9/11 conspiracy theories, was a frequent presence on the campaign trail during Trumps 2024 successful White House run. More recently, shes been speaking out on social media about some members of Trumps national security team that she insists cant be trusted. The move by Trump to push out staff comes at a moment when his national security adviser Mike Waltz is fighting back criticism over using the publicly available encrypted Signal app to discuss planning for the sensitive March 15 military operation targeting Houthi militants in Yemen. A journalist, The Atlantic magazines Jeffrey Rosenberg, was mistakenly added to the chain and revealed that Trumps team used it to discuss precise timing of the operation, aircraft used to carry out the strikes and more.Waltz has taken responsibility for building text chain, but has said he does not know how Rosenberg ended up being included. AAMER MADHANI Madhani covers the White House for The Associated Press. He is based in Washington. twitter mailto ZEKE MILLER Miller leads coverage of the president and the presidency for The Associated Press. He is based in Washington. twitter mailto

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks at a news conference in Dallas, June 22, 2017. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)2025-04-03T12:08:33Z WASHINGTON (AP) The Justice Department quietly decided in the final weeks of the Biden administration not to prosecute Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, effectively ending the corruption investigation that cast a long shadow over the political career of a close ally of President Donald Trump, The Associated Press has learned. The decision not to bring charges which has never been publicly reported resolved the high-stakes federal probe before Trumps new Justice Department leadership could even take action on an investigation sparked by allegations from Paxtons inner circle that the Texas Republican abused his office to aid a political donor.The move came almost two years after the Justice Departments public integrity section in Washington took over the investigation, removing the case from the hands of federal investigators in Texas who had believed there was sufficient evidence for an indictment. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton makes a statement at his office, May 26, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File) Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton makes a statement at his office, May 26, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Two people familiar with the matter, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, confirmed the departments decision to decline to prosecute. Though the date of the decision was not immediately clear, it was made in the final weeks of the President Joe Bidens presidency, one of the people said. Politically appointed Justice Department leadership was not involved in the decision, which was recommended by a senior career official who had concerns about prosecutors ability to secure a conviction, according to another person briefed on the matter. Political appointees are not typically involved in public integrity section matters to avoid the appearance of political interference. One of Paxtons lawyers, Dan Cogdell, told the AP on Wednesday night that he had not been informed by the Justice Department of any decision in the investigation but noted: I never thought they had a case they could make. The Department of Justice declined to comment.Paxton is weighing a run for the U.S. Senate next year, setting up a potential primary against Republican Sen. John Cornyn, ambitions that reflect his political durability despite spending years under clouds that also included felony securities fraud charges and an investigation by the Texas state bar over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost to Biden. The federal investigation had been the most serious inquiry still facing Paxton, who settled the securities fraud case and was acquitted of corruption charges in the Texas Senate in 2023 following a historic impeachment. Paxton agreed last year to pay nearly $300,000 in restitution under a deal to end criminal securities fraud charges over accusations that he duped investors in a tech startup near Dallas.The allegations against Paxton were stunning in part because of who made them. Eight of his closest aides reported him to the FBI in 2020, accusing him of bribery and abusing his office to help one of his friends and campaign contributors, Nate Paul, who also employed a woman with whom Paxton acknowledged having had an extramarital affair. The same allegations led to Paxtons impeachment on articles of bribery and abuse of public trust, but he was acquitted by the Republican-led Texas Senate, where his wife is a senator but did not cast a vote during the trial. Paul pleaded guilty in January to a federal charge after he was accused of making false statements to banks to obtain more than $170 million in loans.After the November election, the DOJ accepted a guilty plea from Nate Paul and is apparently letting Ken Paxton escape justice, TJ Turner and Tom Nesbitt, attorneys for two of the whistleblowers, said in a statement to the AP. DOJ clearly let political cowardice impact its decision. The whistleblowers all strong conservatives did the right thing and continue to stand by their allegations of Paxtons criminal conduct.The Justice Departments public integrity section, which oversees public corruption cases, took over the Paxton investigation in 2023. The Justice Department has never publicly explained its decision to recuse the federal prosecutors in west Texas who had been leading the investigation. The move was pushed for by Paxtons attorneys. Paxton said last year that he would not contest whistleblowers claims in a lawsuit that they were improperly fired for reporting Paxton to the FBI. His push to end the whistleblowers lawsuit came as he faced the likelihood of having to sit for a deposition and answer questions under oath. Paxton has become one Trumps most loyal supporters and defenders in recent years, and his name had been floated as a contender to lead the Justice Department under Trumps second term. Paxton went to court in a show of support last year when Trump stood trial in his New York hush-money case, which ended in a conviction. And he was among several Republican attorneys general who traveled to Washington last month for Trumps campaign-style speech at the Justice Department in which the president vowed retribution for what he described as the lies and abuses that have occurred within these walls. There had been investigative activity in the corruption probe as late as last August. Aaron Reitz, who was recently confirmed as Trumps pick to lead the Justice Departments Office of Legal Policy, was questioned that month before a grand jury about Paxtons firing of the whistleblowers in 2020, Bloomberg Law reported.Reitz, who served as a Paxton aide, was asked by members of Congress weighing his Justice Department nomination to detail what he told the grand jury. Reitz declined to answer in a questionnaire sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee in February, stating the federal investigation was ongoing. I believe that Attorney General Paxton is innocent and has committed no crimes, Reitz told the committee. Grand jury records from 2021 obtained by The Texas Newsroom last year showed that federal authorities were investigating Paxton for several potential crimes, including bribery and witness retaliation. Its unclear whether the scope or focus of the investigation changed when the public integrity section in Washington took it over. During Paxtons impeachment trial, former advisers testified that he pressured them to help the campaign donor, Paul, who was under FBI investigation. The testimony included arguments over who paid for home renovations, whether Paxton used burner phones and how his alleged extramarital affair became a strain on the office. Paxton decried the impeachment effort as a politically motivated sham. ERIC TUCKER Tucker covers national security in Washington for The Associated Press, with a focus on the FBI and Justice Department. twitter mailto

Last week, the Financial Times reported that Nintendo shifted half of its production capabilities for the upcoming Switch 2 to Cambodia and Vietnam, in part to avoid Donald Trumps trade war on China. Wednesday morning, Nintendo formally announced the Switch 2, and its $449 price, which is $150 more than the Switch. A few hours later, Trump announced tariffs on the entire world, with particularly large fees on China, Vietnam, and Cambodia.There are going to be far more important and damaging impacts of Trumps unilateral trade war on everyone than the price of an already expensive game console likely going up. The U.S. stock market has already plunged. But the timing and narrative around the Switch 2the successor to one of the most popular games consoles of all timehighlights how destabilizing this is likely to be, the interconnectedness of the global economy, and the fact that Trump cannot just snap his fingers and onshore manufacturing to the United States without massive pain. Gamers, understandably, are pissed, and award-winning economists say they are right to be. I thought it'd be useful to discuss the broader impact of the tariffs with leading economics by focusing on the Switch 2, because it's such a high-profile item.The policy announcement is astonishing for its stupidity, Gene Grossman, a global trade expert and Princeton professor who won the Onassis Prize in International Trade, told 404 Media. It seems like a joke! He added that it is hard to know exactly what will happen given the overall sea of idiocy brought on by the tariffs.Since Trumps announcement, it has become clear that the administration calculated the tariffs for each country based on a crude formula that takes each countrys trade deficit with the United States, divides it by two, and sticks a percent sign at the end. This means new tariffs on Vietnamese-made goods will be 46 percent and new tariffs on Cambodian-made goods will be 49 percent.If [the Switch 2] is something that consumers are dying to have at any price, then the price will go up. If consumers can readily switch to something else, then if Nintendo wants to sell these things, it will have to lower the price, Grossman said. Yes, I think it is quite possible that the price will go even higher than $449.99. Some expectations of a tariff may have been built into this price, as you suggest, but I dont think anyone expected a 46% tariff on Vietnam, not even close.Kimberly Clausing, a professor of tax law and policy at UCLA School of Law, told 404 Media that the tariffs announced will definitely increase prices further over what is baked into price levels currently, and that Nintendo will have other markets they can sell to tariff-free, so they have no reason to sell at a special low price in the United States, certainly not enough to offset the full tariff.Felix Tintelnot, an associate professor of economics at Duke University, told 404 Media it can be costly for companies to change their publicly announced prices."I think two things are true at the same time: 1. It is likely that Nintendo did not expect the tariff on Vietnam to be 46%," Tintelnot told 404 Media. "2. It is costly for firms to change prices, particularly after publicly announcing one. So I would think it is somewhat uncertain what they will do. One possibility would be for the price to remain unchanged, but the price of complementary goods to increase, such as games."Jason Cherubini, an executive in residence of finance at Loyola University Maryland, said its possible Nintendo had already priced in some unknown level of tariffs prior to the announcement, and that he thinks the price for the Switch 2 is unlikely to change because video game companies have historically sold consoles at a loss and then made money back on the sale of games.Nintendo started to diversify their manufacturing away from China with the impending threat of tariffs but also to move away from geopolitical concentration in China. But these tariffs were not wholly unexpected, he said. I think the price they announced is the price thats going to stick, because with consoles a lot of pricing is strategic pricing as opposed to being based on the true cost of manufacturing it especially Nintendo, who really keeps all of their IP, their games, so much of that is in-house, its probably even more important for Nintendo to get people to have the console, so that way they're buying Zelda, they're buying Mario, they're buying all of these IP that Nintendo then profits off of. Getting people to purchase it is more important than them making money on the console itself.We dont know what is actually going to happen with the Switch 2 yet, but prices are almost definitely going to go up for almost everything across the entire economy, Grossman said.While I cant say confidently about this item, I can say that prices will go up for a whole range of goods, starting with cars and right on down to clothing, he said.Trump has announced these tariffs with the nominal goal of moving manufacturing to the United States. Reshoring manufacturingespecially of high tech goodshas been a goal of various administrations over the years, and was a goal of Joe Bidens CHIPS Act, which the Trump administration has sought to gut.There are numerous practical problems with trying to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States. They include the fact that lots of factory work is so underpaid and grueling that people in China dont even want to do it anymore; the average age of factory workers in China is rising and companies there have begun shifting jobs to more developing nations like Vietnam and Cambodia.Many of the raw materials and components needed for tech manufacturing are not mined or made in the United States, meaning those components and rare earth metals are going to be subject to tariffs. American companies do not have the expertise or ability to build lots of products in the United States, and setting up factories and supply chains to do so is not going to be an overnight process, it will be one that takes years or decades depending on the product.Nintendo would need to spend billions to open a factory in the US, Daniel Ahmad, director of research and insights at Niko Partners and a video game market analyst, tweeted. It'd probably take 4-5 years to complete this. Not to mention the time and cost to rebuild supply chain infrastructure and source components (which would be subject to tariffs because they're made outside the US). Nintendo would have to pay each worker about 10x to 15x more than they would for a worker in Vietnam. Then after you add up the initial capital expenditure, labor cost, supply chain cost, operational costs etc... you'd be able to buy a US manufactured Nintendo Switch 2 in 5 years for a significantly higher price than $450. And the kicker is that by the time they've done all that, the US will have a new president who most likely removes all the reciprocal tariffs anyway.Cherubini said that reshoring electronics manufacturing is not something you can just flip a switch on. Optimistically youre looking at a year for simpler manufacturing, but a lot of it is a multi-year process.I have covered attempts by the electronics industry to create high tech factories and mining operations in the United States; many of them are not going particularly well. The United States has only one rare earth minerals mine (in California), which has been mining for less than 10 years. Foxconn and TSMC factories in the United States have had a mixed record and do not have anywhere near the sophistication or capacity as their factories in Taiwan and China.This is all to say that, based on where things stand this morning, we are in for a world of economic pain.

Nature, Published online: 03 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01010-5Dozens of problematic papers remain in the literature, after a publication hit by fraudsters pledged to tackle the issue.

Nature, Published online: 03 April 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08954-8Hidden states and dynamics of fractional fillings in twisted MoTe2 bilayers

The Zambia women's national team have removed their four U.S.-based players from the squad for the Yongchuan International Tournament in China due to concerns over U.S. travel measures, the Zambia FA said on Wednesday.

Spain's sports ministry (CSD) have ruled that Dani Olmo and Pau Vctor can continue to play for Barcelona until the end of the season.

Southern California guard JuJu Watkins goes to the basket against Notre Dame forward Liatu King as guard Olivia Miles (5) looks on during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer, File)2025-04-03T16:01:47Z 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. TAMPA, Fla. (AP) JuJu Watkins, the sensational sophomore who led Southern California to its best season in nearly 40 years, was honored Thursday as The Associated Press womens college basketball Player of the Year.Watkins, whose Trojans won the Big Ten regular-season title for its first conference crown in 31 years, received 29 votes from the 31-member national media panel that votes on the AP Top 25 each week. Notre Dames Hannah Hidalgo got the other two. Both were first-team AP All-Americans. I think whats so significant about this award is that this was a year that didnt have an absence of talent and stars, and JuJu found a way to elevate herself and her team, USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. Watkins became just the fourth player to win the award in her sophomore year, joining Oklahomas Courtney Paris (2007) and UConn stars Maya Moore (2009) and Breanna Stewart (2014). The AP first started giving out the award in 1995 and Watkins is the first Trojans player to win it. She makes a lot of things that arent easy look easy, Gottlieb said. Its one thing to say shes a generational talent, but another to actually do it and put yourself up with names like Stewie, Maya and Courtney Paris. Watkins is already in the top 10 on USCs all-time scoring list, ranking sixth in just two years. She was averaging 23.9 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists before her season was cut short in the NCAA Tournament with an ACL injury suffered in the second round against Mississippi State. Watkins raised her game against the best opponents. In the six games against teams in AP top 10, she averaged 26.2 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.4 blocks while shooting 35.4% from behind the 3-point line.She performed her best at the biggest moments, Gottlieb said. I thought she really throughout the course of the year learned how to dominate and empower the others. Watkins is already one of the top draws in the sport with endorsement deals to match and seeing her in person has become a hotter ticket.The Trojans average home attendance rose to 5,932 this season from last years 4,421. Celebrities like Snoop Dogg, Kevin Hart, Jason Sudeikis, Michael B. Jordan and Sanaa Lathan, who starred in Love & Basketball, one of Watkins favorite movies, have shown up. The year before she arrived attendance averaged 1,037.Its hard to miss Snoop Dogg in his custom JuJu jacket, Gottlieb said. This happened organically and authentically. She decided to stay home and cares about her city and has the magnetism to attract people. Its the way she carries herself. Shes confident, but very humble and true to her community. Its amazing to see her impact.___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.

Jason, Sam, and Emanuel talk about Miyazaki being turned into a meme, the guys suing OnlyFans after being surprised to learn they were not actually talking to models, and the depravity of "brainrot" AI. Articles discussed: Hayao Miyazaki, Who Said AI Is Insult to Life Itself, Reduced to AI-Generated Meme by OpenAIOnlyFans Sued After Two Guys Realized They Might Not Actually Be Talking to Models 'Brainrot' AI on Instagram Is Monetizing the Most Fucked Up Things You Can Imagine (and Lots You Can't)Subscribe to 404 Media to get access to the full podcast including a bonus segment each week, which you can find below:

How the players, fans and staff handled the first of many games in their minor league stadium residency.

Eric Karabell looks into the crystal ball to tell fantasy managers what might come to pass.

Stacks of lumber are set up on shelves at a local Lowes store Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Tempe, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)2025-04-03T16:53:16Z WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trumps expansive new tariff regime flips on its head a decades-long global trend of lower trade barriers and is likely, economists say, to raise prices for Americans by thousands of dollars each year while sharply slowing the U.S. economy. The White House is gambling that other countries will also suffer enough pain that they will open up their economies to more American exports, leading to negotiations that would reduce the tariffs imposed Wednesday. Or, the White House hopes, more companies both American and foreign will reverse their moves toward global supply chains and bring more production to the United States to avoid higher import taxes.But a key question for the Trump administration will be how Americans react to the tariffs. If prices rise noticeably and jobs are lost, voters could turn against the duties and make it harder to keep them in place for the length of time needed to encourage companies to return to the U.S. The Yale Budget Lab estimates that all the Trump administrations tariffs would cost the average household $3,800 in higher prices this year. The figure includes the impact of the 10% universal tariff announced Wednesday, plus much higher tariffs on about 60 countries, as well as previous import taxes on steel, aluminum, and cars. Inflation could top 4% this year, from 2.8% currently, while the economy may barely grow, according to estimates by Nationwide Financial. The average U.S. tariff could rise to nearly 25% when the tariffs are fully implemented April 9, economists estimate, higher than it has been in more than a century and higher than the 1930 Smoot-Hawley tariffs that are widely blamed for worsening the Great Recession. The president just announced the de facto separation of the U.S. economy from the global economy, Mary Lovely, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Relations, said. The stage is set for higher prices and slower growth over the long term. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, in an interview on CNBC Thursday, said the policies will help open markets overseas for U.S. exports.I expect most countries to start to really examine their trade policy towards the United States of America, and stop picking on us, he said. This is the reordering of fair trade.Americans, a day after the announcement, have mixed feelings. Bob Lehmann, 73, stopped by a Best Buy in Portland, Oregon to buy a keyboard Wednesday. He opposed the tariffs. Theyre going to raise prices and cause people to pay more for daily living, he said.Mathew Hall, a 64-year-old paint contractor, said he thought the tariffs were a great idea and that potential price increases in the short term were worth it.I believe in the long term, its going to be good, he said, adding that he felt the U.S. had been taken advantage of.Outside a Tractor Supply store in Castle Rock, a town south of Denver, two family members on opposite sides of the political spectrum debated the tariffs. Chris Theisen, 62 and a Republican, was enthused about the tariffs, arguing the measures could bring jobs to America. I feel a good change coming on, I feel its going to be hard, but you dont go to the gym and walk away and say, God, I feel great, he said. Nayen Shakya, a Democrat and Theisens great nephew, said higher prices are already a hardship. At the restaurant where he works, menu prices have been raised to account for higher cost of ingredients, specifically rice, in recent weeks. Its really easy sometimes to say some things in a vague way that everyone can agree with that is definitely more complex under the surface, said Shakya. The burden of the increased prices is already going to the consumer.Listening to his nephew, Theisen added, I understand this side of it, too, he said, motioning to Shakya. I aint got no crystal ball. I hope it works out good.___AP Writers Paul Wiseman, Jesse Bedayn, and Claire Rush contributed to this report. Rush reported from Portland and Bedayn from Colorado. CHRISTOPHER RUGABER Rugaber has covered the Federal Reserve and the U.S. economy for the AP for 16 years. He is a two-time finalist for the Gerald Loeb award for business reporting. twitter mailto

Nature, Published online: 03 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01031-0The new administration is reshaping the research landscape in the United States in profound ways. What do you think of all the changes?

Nature, Published online: 03 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00971-xLunar soil processed to form moonglass allows the creation of efficient, radiation-resistant solar panels.

Star shortstop Gunnar Henderson is expected to return to the Orioles on Friday at Kansas City.

Ohio State landed the commitment of four-star defender Simeon Caldwell on Wednesday, multiple sources told ESPN, securing coach Ryan Day and the Buckeyes a pledge from the nation's No. 34 overall prospect in the 2026 cycle.

President Donald Trump walks to the Oval Office after signing an executive order during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden of the White House, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)2025-04-03T18:10:24Z WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump promised tariffs that would raise U.S. import taxes high enough to mirror what other assess as trade penalties on American goods.What hes actually imposing is based on far more complicated math. Heres a look at how the White House got its numbers: Why do the new tariff rates often differ by country? The Trump administration has declared an economic emergency to bypass Congress and impose a 10% tariff on nearly all countries and territories. It has set even higher levies for about 60 nations that it says are the worst offenders. The 10% global tariffs take effect at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. The higher tariffs set for specific countries are due to kick in at one minute past midnight on April 9. Among the so-called worst offenders is China, which Trump argues protect its producers through malicious trade practices in addition to tariffs. Those efforts include actions such as imposing value added taxes on all goods, dumping overproduced products on markets to artificially deflate prices, or manipulating currency. To determine how much higher those nations rates should be, the White House says it calculated the size of each countrys trade imbalance on goods with the United States and divided that by how much America imports from that nation. It then took half that percentage and made it the new tariff rate. Why not just charge reciprocal rates? The White House says its calculations kept new tariffs from going even higher for many countries and demonstrate that Trump is being kind to global trading partners. The administration maintains that creating a baseline levy with few exemptions is necessary to keep China and others from skirting the new tariffs by manufacturing goods and then shipping them to Vietnam, Cambodia, Mexico or elsewhere to then be sent to the U.S.Thats why the White House list of tariffed locations includes obscure places like the Heard and McDonald Islands, which are uninhabited. They are 2,550 miles (4,100 kilometers) from the coast of mainland Australia, which claims them as a territory. Is every country affected? No. Canada and Mexico are excluded because they already are facing 25% taxes on most imported goods that Trump announced last month, in an attempt to force both to crack down on fentanyl smuggling into the U.S.The White House originally said all others would be affected by at least the 10% tariff. But administration officials clarified on Thursday that countries already subject to stiff U.S. sanctions for example, Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine, as well as Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Belarus and Venezuela will not face the new, 10% global base tariff. Official said that is because sanctions and other existing barriers mean the U.S. has so little trade with those places that deficits are minimal. Why is Trump doing this? The president has spent months insisting America was at its wealthiest at the end of the Gilded Age in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when it imposed high tariffs as the key means to generating revenue for the federal government. Trump even suggested Wednesday that the U.S. moving away from higher tariffs and toward a federal income tax in 1913 helped trigger the Great Depression of the 1930s a claim that economists and historians roundly reject. A more contemporary explanation might be found in Project 2025, a comprehensive blueprint compiled by leading conservatives about how to shrink the federal workforce and push Washington further to the right. It spelled out how Trump might impose high tariffs around the globe, giving his administration more room to negotiate lower levies with trading partners in exchange for U.S. priorities.White House officials insist the new tariffs are more about closing trade deficits, stimulating U.S. manufacturing and generating government revenue than eventually negotiating new trading deals.But Trump has shown he is willing to back off on threats of tariffs in exchange for offers of concessions. His administration has said the president is always ready to make deals, a sign the new tariffs may prove to be more bargaining chip than permanent policy. Why do US trade imbalances matter? American trade policy created a U.S. trade imbalance worth $1.2 trillion last year, a gap that some experts believe should be addressed in order to ensure the countrys long-term economic strength. But many economists say the trade imbalances that Trump is looking to correct are based on more than countries just using high tariffs or protectionist trade practices to boost their own exports. Basing the White Houses tariff math solely on trade deficits, for instance, fails to take into account U.S. consumer demand. Americans relish buying BMWs assembled in Germany, as well as French wine and coffee beans from Guatemala, and their spending can fuel trade imbalances regardless of the tax and tariff policies of the countries producing those goods. That means any attempt to close U.S. trade gaps by tariffs will likely mean increasing the cost of imported goods that Americans are buying, which in turn could hurt the economy because of increased inflationary pressures.___Associated Press writers Josh Boak and Zeke Miller contributed to this report. WILL WEISSERT Weissert covers national politics and the White House for The Associated Press. He is based in Washington. twitter mailto

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth attends a joint news conference with Japan's Defense Minister Gen Nakatani at the Ministry of Defense in Tokyo Sunday, March 30, 2025. (Kiyoshi Ota/Pool Photo via AP)2025-04-03T18:37:12Z WASHINGTON (AP) The Pentagons acting inspector general announced Thursday that he would review Defense Secretary Pete Hegseths use of the Signal messaging app to convey plans for a military strike against Houthi militants in Yemen.The review will also look at other defense officials use of the publicly available encrypted app, which is not able to handle classified material and is not part of the Defense Departments secure communications network.Hegseths use of the app came to light when a journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, was added to a Signal text chain by national security adviser Mike Waltz. The chain included Hegseth, Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and others, brought together to discuss military operations against the Iran-backed Houthis. The objective of this evaluation is to determine the extent to which the Secretary of Defense and other DoD personnel complied with DoD policies and procedures for the use of a commercial messaging application for official business. Additionally, we will review compliance with classification and records retention requirements, the acting inspector general, Steven Stebbins, said in a notification letter to Hegseth. 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 RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Nature, Published online: 03 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01021-2In a world of constant stimulation, the thalamus filters which thoughts we become aware of and which we dont.

Nature, Published online: 03 April 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08951-xStrategic atom replacement enables regiocontrol in pyrazole alkylation

PGMOL has admitted that Everton defender James Tarkowski should have been sent off through a VAR review in the Merseyside derby on Wednesday night.

Grizzlies guard Ja Morant and Warriors guard Buddy Hield were both issued warnings for mimicking shooting a gun during Tuesday's game, sources told ESPN

Jared Smith speaks about torpedo baseball bats during an interview at Victus Sports in King of Prussia, Pa., Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)2025-04-03T18:38:32Z KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. (AP) A 70-year-old man who plays in an area senior hardball league popped into Victus Sports this week because he needed bats for the new season. Plus he just had to take some cuts with baseballs latest fad and see for himself if there really was some wizardry in the wallop off a torpedo bat.Ed Costantini, of Newtown Square, picked up the custom-designed VOLPE11-TPD Pro Reserve Maple, and took his hacks just like MLB stars and Victus customers Anthony Volpe or Bryson Stott would inside the companys batting cage and tracked the balls path on the virtual Citizens Bank Park on the computer screens.Most big leaguers use that often indistinguishable feel as a qualifier as to how they select a bat.Costantini had a similar process and thought the hype surrounding the torpedo since it exploded into the baseball consciousness over the weekend was a hoax. But after dozens of swings in the cage, where he said the balance was better, the ball sounded more crisp off the bat, the left-handed hitter ordered on the spot four custom-crafted torpedo bats at $150 a pop. The litmus test that I used was, I could see where the marks of the ball were, Costantini said. The swings were hitting the thickness of the torpedo as opposed to the end of the bat. More than just All-Stars want a crack at the torpedo a striking design in which wood is moved lower down the barrel after the label and shapes the end a little like a bowling pin and Costantinis purchase highlighted the surge of interest in baseballs shiny new toy outside the majors. Think of home runs in baseball, and the fans mind races to the mammoth distances a ball can fly when slugged right on the nose, or a history-making chase that captivates a nation.Of lesser interest, the ol reliable wood bat itself.That was, of course, until Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger hit back-to-back homers for the New York Yankees last Saturday to open a nine-homer barrage. Victus Sports, known as much for their vibrant bats painted as pencils or the Phillie Phanatic dressed as a Kings Guard, had three employees at the game and they started a text thread where they hinted to those back home that, perhaps more than home runs were taking off. Business was about to boom, too.Yankees crowed about the torpedo-shape concept that had baseball buzzing -- and pitchers grumbling. The scuttlebutt and headlines stoked their super curious peers, most with an eye out for any legal, offensive edge, into asking Victus and other bat manufacturers about the possibility of taking a swing with the most famous style of bat since Roy Hobbs grabbed a Wonderboy.Torpedo bats are driving an unprecedented surge in lumber curiosityVictus spent most of the last 14 years trying to help shape the future of baseball. The companys founders just never imagined that shape would resemble a bowling pin.It was the most talked about thing about bats that we ever experienced, Victus co-founder Jared Smith said.Victus isnt the only company producing the bulgy bats, but they were among the first to list them for sale online after the Yankees made them the talk of the sports world. The torpedo bat took the league by storm in only 24 hours, and days later, the calls and orders, and test drives -- from big leaguers to rec leaguers -- are humming inside the companys base, in a northwest suburb of Philadelphia. The amount of steam that its caught, this quickly, thats certainly surprising, Smith said. If the Yankees hitting nine home runs in a game doesnt happen, this doesnt happen.Victus was stamped this season as the official bat of Major League Baseball and business was already good: Phillies slugger Bryce Harper is among the stars who stick their bats on highlight reels.But that torpedo-looking hunk of lumber? It generated about as much interest last season in baseball as a .200 hitter. Victus made its first torpedoes around 2024 spring training when the Yankees reached out about crafting samples for their players. Victus, as dialed-in as anyone in the bat game, only made about a dozen last season, and about a dozen more birch or maple bats this spring. This week alone, try hundreds of torpedoes.Every two minutes, another one comes out of the machine, Smith said.Who knew there would be a baseball bat craze?On a good day, Victus makes 600-700 bats, but the influx of pro orders -- the company estimates at least half of every starting lineup uses Victus or Marucci bats -- has sent production into overdrive. The creation of a typical bat is usually a two-day process, but one can be turned around without a finish in about 20 minutes. Victus crafted rush-order bats Monday morning for a few interested Phillies and dashed to Citizens Bank Park for delivery moments before first pitch. All-Star third baseman Alec Bohm singled with one. Stott tested bats at the Marucci hit lab down in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, churning through styles until the company found the right fit.They connect all these wires to you, and you swing 1,000 bats, Stott said. And they kind of tell you where youre hitting the ball mostly. Rookie of the year?Heres the surprising part of the torpedo bat: For all its early hype, the bat is no rookie in the game.The lethal lumber has been used by some sluggers in baseball for at least a year or two only, well, no one really noticed. Giancarlo Stanton and Francisco Lindor used torpedoes last season. Other players experimented with it and no one not the bulk of other players or journalists or fans ever really picked up on the newfangled advance in hitting innovation.Smith said only a few baseball junkies inquired about the bats.I think its just one of those things that until youre looking for it, you might not see it, Smith said. Now when you look at pictures, youre like, oh yeah, its a torpedo.Aaron Leanhardt, a former Yankees front-office staffer who now works for the Miami Marlins, was credited as the one who developed the torpedo barrel to bring more mass to a bats sweet spot.A member of Victus parent company, Marucci Sports, worked with Leanhardt in a Louisiana branch of their hit lab last year to get the bat off the ground and into the hands of big leaguers.I think getting past the shape being different was the hardest barrier, Smith said. Then the team goes out and hits those home runs like they did and everyone is willing to try it.Before last weekend, Victus had no plans to mass produce the bat, making it only available to professionals.Now, Smith said, I think its our job to kind of educate the public in whats out there.The odd shape off the bat like making a sausage, the meat is simply pushed down the casing has little to no effect at Victus on the dynamics of making a baseball bat. The cost is the same as a standard bat, too, with a sticker price starting at around $200. Only the slogan is punched up: Get your hands on the most-talked about bat in the game.The bat kings deliver their biggest hit yetVictus was created by Smith and Ryan Engroff in a Blackwood, New Jersey, garage in 2012 and exploded in popularity over the last decade thanks in the large part to its bat art. Bruce Tatum, an in-house artist known as The Bat King, calls his memorable designs such as the No. 2 pencil and crayon bats notably used in the Little League Classic swingable art. The Victus walls look straight out of an art gallery, only instead of classic paintings, rows and rows of colorful bats emblazoned with everything from Harpers face to Grittys eyes are on display.Normally people are here to talk about the Bat King, Smith said, laughing.He was busy, sketching ideas for next years bats for the baseball All-Star game in Philadelphia.Bruces cheesesteak bat, Im just telling you, is going to be the talk of the town, Smith said. I guarantee it.Victus has over 300 employees and 60 alone inside their King of Prussia headquarters. The company has outgrown its base and is busting at the seams, and when a bat suddenly goes viral, all our seams are exposed.The folks at Victus who previously have experimented with axe handle and puck knobs have no fear the bat will become the baseball equal to the NFLs tush push, a fresh wrinkle that some might try to legislate out of the game.MLB has relatively uncomplicated bat rules, stating under 3.02: The bat shall be a smooth, round stick not more than 2.61 inches in diameter at the thickest part and not more than 42 inches in length. The bat shall be one piece of solid wood. It goes on to state there may be a cupped indentation up to 1 1/4 inches in depth, 2 inches wide and with at least a 1-inch diameter, and experimental models must be approved by MLB.The torpedo is 100% legal.Year after year, Victus bat business has picked up. Jonny Gomes used a Victus bat when he went deep in the 2013 World Series and Harper stamped the company as a major player when he played for Washington and swung a We The People bat and tossed it in the air to win the 2018 Home Run Derby.Our product kept getting better and it got to the point where he probably felt like we had the best bat, and we felt like we had the best bat, Smith said.Does it work?Theres not enough data yet to truly know how much oomph or hits and homers a torpedo bat may help some hitters. Cincinnatis Elly De La Cruz picked one up for the first time Monday and had a single, double and two home runs for a career-high seven RBIs.Not all hitters are believers - or at least feel like they need to tinker with their lumber.Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who hit an AL-record 62 homers in 2022 and 58 last year en route to his second AL MVP award, declined to try the new bat, asking, Why try to change something? Phillies All-Star shortstop Trea Turner said the hoopla was blown out of proportion.Youve still got to hit the ball, Turner said.Turner, though, said he was open to trying the torpedo.Arizona pitcher Zac Gallen grew up a Mark McGwire fan and compared the fad to the bloated barrel used by the retired St. Louis Cardinals sluggers old Nerf bat.The concept seems so simple. For it to take this long is wild, Gallen said.No matter. The bat is here today and not going anywhere except perhaps flying off the shelves. For bats to be the hot topic out in the zeitgeist is cool, Smith said. Its kind of like our time to shine, in a way.___AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb DAN GELSTON Gelston is an an Associated Press sports writer covering major college and pro sports in Philadelphia, including the 76ers, Flyers, Eagles, Phillies and Villanova. twitter mailto

The Raiders have agreed to a two-year, $75 million extension with quarterback Geno Smith, a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

76ers star Tyrese Maxey is expected to be ruled out for the rest of the season with a finger tendon injury.

A push to expand the men's 2030 World Cup to 64 teams is "a bad idea," UEFA president Aleksander eferin said on Thursday.

Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes requires surgery on his hamstring injury and will miss the rest of the season as a result.

Lynn Sokler, who retired from the CDC three weeks ago after working there almost two decades, protests with others in support of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in front of the headquarters in Atlanta, on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Gray)2025-04-03T21:11:31Z A federal judge will temporarily block President Donald Trumps administration from cutting billions in federal dollars that support COVID-19 initiatives and public health projects throughout the country.U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy in Rhode Island said Thursday that she plans to grant the court order sought by 23 states and the District of Columbia. They make a case, a strong case, for the fact that they will succeed on the merits, so Im going to grant the temporary restraining order, said McElroy, who plans to issue a written ruling later.New York Attorney General Letitia James tweeted about the judges decision immediately after the hearing, saying: Were going to continue our lawsuit and fight to ensure states can provide the medical services Americans need.Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Kane objected to the temporary restraining order in court, but she said she was limited in the argument she could make against it, adding that her office was unable to thoroughly review the thousands of documents under the time limitation. The states lawsuit, filed Tuesday, sought to immediately stop the $11 billion in cuts. It said the loss of money which was allocated by Congress during the pandemic and mostly used for COVID-related initiatives, as well as for mental health and substance use efforts will devastate U.S. public health infrastructure, putting states at greater risk for future pandemics and the spread of otherwise preventable disease and cutting off vital public health services. The U.S. Health and Human Services Department has defended the decision, saying that the money was being wasted since the pandemic is over. State and local public health departments already have laid off people, including nearly 200 employees at the Minnesota Department of Health. North Carolina says it stands to lose about $230 million, and California officials put their potential losses at $1 billion. The temporary block on chopping health funding is the latest in a series of legal setbacks for the Trump administration, which is facing some 150 lawsuits on issues ranging from immigration to deep financial and job cuts at federal agencies to transgender rights. Federal judges have issued dozens of orders slowing at least for now the presidents ambitious conservative agenda.___AP reporter Lindsay Whitehurst in Washington contributed to this report.___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. DEVNA BOSE Bose is a public health reporter for The Associated Press, based in Jackson, Mississippi. She covers hospitals, rural health access and disparities, public health funding and other topics that broadly intersect with the health of communities. twitter mailto

Nature, Published online: 03 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01029-8After cancelling nearly all NIH projects studying transgender health, Trumps team instructs the US biomedical agency to study negative consequences of transitioning.

Javier Mascherano questioned the decision to not send off Nathan Ordaz, saying it would have prompted a red card "here and in China and the moon."

With baseball now underway, how much has changed since our preseason rankings?