A version of this piece originally ran on DexDigi, Dexter Thomass newsletter, and a video version ran on his YouTube. Please consider subscribing to both.The Hollywood sign was on fire; or at least, it was online. Those images and videos were fake and AI-generated. Maybe you already knew this. But people made money off of them, anyway.At the beginning of January, the Instagram account FutureRiderUS was posting AI videos of a motorcycle riding through futuristic landscapes hence the name. Those videos usually would get anywhere from 20k to 30k views. But then, the fires started.The next day, FutureRiderUS posted its own flaming Hollywood sign video. That one got a million views.Next, they posted another AI video, this one focusing on firefighters rescuing baby animals.23 million views on that one. 78,000 comments, 2.5 million likes.How much money did they make? It's hard to say exactly, but we can estimate.Instagram pays people through programs where creators earn money based on how many views their Reels receive. The more viral a video, the longer users stay on the app, which allows Instagram to show more ads. Instagram then passes on some of the profit to the creator. How much? Meta doesnt publish those numbers, and it varies depending on the audience that is looking at them. But I asked a few influencers, and the recent rate seems to be around $100~$120 per million views. Jasons reporting shows that Facebook was paid out a few hundred dollars for single viral AI generated images, and Meta has paid out more than $2 billion through programs like Ads on Reels.Just look at FutureRiderUSs most popular posts from a roughly 24 hour stretch starting Jan 10:1m + 24m + 6m + 6m + 45m + 4m + 8m 94 million views.Thats 94 million views, from typing in some prompts. Conservatively, this is likely worth thousands of dollars. Not a bad days work.After that initial hit, FutureRiderUS started experimenting with different combinations of LA fire-themed AI slop, refining as they go. At first, their focus was on the firefighters holding baby animals. When the views on these started slowing down, the account shifted to videos showing animals running from fire; no firefighters needed. One features a swan bleeding out onto a freeway, with no visible fire at all.Its obvious what is going on here: FutureRiderUS realized that animals are a reliable attention-getter, but theyre experimenting to see which combination is the most profitable. Theyre A/B testing the AI slop to see what sticks.When I say slop, by the way, I partially mean that in a literal sense. In the most popular video, a man is inexplicably exuding smoke from under his jacket as he cradles an owl. Another firefighter, instead of saving a raccoon, instead appears to nudge it back into the flames. Its sloppy.Still, a lot of people seem to be genuinely unaware that these images are fake. Some people can tell, and have commented angrily or jokingly about it. (A third group: people who are initially fooled, but when another commenter tells them its fake, they get annoyed, saying that they appreciate seeing images of heroic firefighters or vulnerable animals, even if those specific ones are not real.)FutureRiderUS has addressed this, sort of.In the comments section of their most viral post (45 million views) featuring a firefighter carrying two baby bears to safety, they posted a response to angry commenters. Three days after the initial post, they commented, admitting that the post is AI-generated. They said, in part: (emphasis mine):In this video, I aimed to shed light on the reality of what is happening. These problems are very realanimals are dying, homes are being destroyed, and firefighters are risking their lives to save others. They dont have the time to produce visually stunning and powerful footage to raise awareness about these issues. Thats why I took the initiative to create something that could help people see and truly think about these tragedies. []Through art, even when created by AI, we can evoke emotions, raise awareness, and inspire change.The logic of their argument seems to be this (my paraphrase):If I don't post these provocative images, nobody will care about the brave firefighters or the people who lost their homes.This sort of defensive, it-doesnt-matter-if-its-fake stance is something that we are starting to notice more, as its used to justify the posting (and monetization) of everything from Palestinians to flood victims. But we shouldnt lose track of the context: the main purpose of this account is to make money. It says so right on the page.On January 18th, as the fires were still burning, FutureRiderUS posted a Reel advertising their $19.99 course on how to create viral content online by posting AI videos: Earn $5000 a Month with Viral Videos - Zero Experience Needed - Start Today and Watch Your Life Change.To be clear, the man in the video above isnt FutureRiderUS - the voice and video are AI-generated.The post also goes on to brag about how FutureRiderUS got 285 million views in one month. The post (as well as another earlier one) points viewers to the link in their bio, which takes you to the course that promises to teach you to replicate FutureRiderUS success. The landing page contains screenshots of the viral fire videos as proof of their virality.From their ad copy:This proves that anything is possible when you know how to create content that grabs attention.Again this is about creating content that grabs attention.Not raising awareness. And for the account owner to suggest that they are motivated by something other than money seems disingenuous. There are no donation links, no mention of local organizations. Instead, the only call to action is to click the link to buy their viral video course.I usually wouldnt do this, but for journalisms sake, I bought the course. The course contains two files. The first is a ten-page, wide-spaced PDF that is clearly ChatGPT-generated. If youre curious, heres a summary of the main points:Look online for what is already trending at the momenttype that into Sora.ai to generate a similar videoadd music, then post the video onlinerepeat multiple times a dayNothing you couldnt find online for free or perhaps guess yourself.Really the only unique parts of the guide are two rules it suggests: first, that you should clearly label the post as AI-generated. FutureRiderUS doesnt seem to follow this rule, but more on that in a moment.And then, it tells you to not spend too much time on any one video. Just 30 minutes are enough to move from concept to final upload, it advises. And to drive home this point, theres the second file: an .mp4 that is just a screen recording of an iPhone going from prompt to upload in seven minutes.Youre probably curious about who is behind the account. I was, too. So I asked them some questions via Instagram DM.Heres a summary of what they told me: Theyre Russian, and they only started doing this in December. OpenAIs Sora had been released that month, and they got an account and started posting AI videos. Success came pretty immediately. They proudly told me about their high follower count across multiple social media platforms, and how well their guide was selling. As they put it, the results speak for themselves.When I started asking about their LA fire videos, they started to get annoyed. I pointed out that most commenters clearly didnt understand it was AI. The ones who did seemed angry. FutureRiderUS said that they didnt see the problem, because they had added an AI label to their videos.Heres the thing: FutureRiderUS is right.On all of the fake fire videos FutureRiderUS has uploaded, there is an AI Info label. Not on the video itself, but in the Instagram interface. The trouble is that the label doesnt show up when youre watching the video normally. You can only see it if you tap the See More tag, and even then, space is prioritized for the song title, so sometimes the tag is pushed off of the screen.2Ive actually already shown an example in this article. Scroll back up and look at the screenshots of the fake burning Hollywood sign that went viral. That tiny A in the bottom right. Did you notice it?(I made a video that explains this interface part a bit more visually. Jump to 12:00).Below is the best-case scenario. The left image is what the 43-million view post looks like from the main grid; the center is what it looks like when youre scrolling this is where people spend most of their time. The right is what it looks like if you take the trouble to open the text description.It says AI Info in small text on the bottom right. Not AI Warning, not AI Caution. Just AI Info.Why would you click this?Meta has a page that makes a big deal about this tag. They primarily show what it looks like in the grid view. The issue is that its even more imperceptible there. Have a look at that Los Angeles, California tag in the leftmost image above. Up in the top left, under the username. When you first look at the post in the grid, thats what you see the location tag. And then, the music title scrolls into view for a few moments. Only after that, the text AI Info appears. By that time, youre watching the video, not looking at tiny text scrolls in the upper corner of your screen.You have to either wait for 5.5 seconds (I timed it) for the AI info to appear, or you have to search at the bottom of the screen.3In our conversation, FutureRiderUS said that it isnt the posters fault if people didnt notice the interface AI tag: it was Instagrams responsibility to make the tags bigger or more noticeable.FutureRiderUS insisted that they are following the rules as written. As I spoke to them, I realized that they were probably correct. But just to make sure, I sent an email to Metas press department, asking if simply adding the AI Info tag is enough.I never got a response, but Meta has indicated to 404 Media and to the general public more broadly that it has no problem with this type of content and that it expects to see more AI-generated content on its platforms moving forward.This all said, there are easy ways to make it clear that your post is not real. Some creators will do this by putting an #AI tag prominently at the beginning of the post, and then writing their caption below.FutureRiderUS, in their own guide they sell to customers, suggests going further and actually writing it in the post itself. I sent them a quote from their own guide:"Important: State that this content (or parts of it) is AI-generated (e.g., 'Created with AI' or 'AI-Generated Content')."(The bolded Important is in the original.)This really seemed to annoy FutureRiderUS, and they accused me of harassment:"Why should anyone pressure me or force me to do something beyond the established rules? I am following the platforms guidelines, and anything beyond that crosses a line. This kind of behavior can be considered harassment, as it unfairly targets and imposes additional expectations on me that are not required by the platform."If its not already obvious, everything FutureRiderUS wrote to me, as well as their captions and comments, is being copied and pasted from ChatGPT.To be clear, I am not really interested in criticizing any one individual here. In the absence of stronger rules on Instagram, this just comes down to a question of ethics. I am free to believe that what FutureRiderUS is doing is not ethical; they are free to disagree, or at least pretend to.But neither of our opinions matter, because of two facts: fake AI slop is profitable, and there are countless users doing the same thing. Theres absolutely nothing to stop them.That is: the Instagram platform doesnt just enable this behavior, it rewards it. So do other platforms. On Instagram and TikTok, FutureRiderUSs top hits are from fake LA fires; on YouTube, its three-hour long Christmas music compilations with slop visuals of families shopping. None are clearly labeled. Disaster porn is just another kind of #content.It doesnt really matter what that content is: as long as it is content that grabs attention, both sides can make money.For the slop creator and the platform, this is a clear win-win, at least in the short term. The only loser here is the audience, who is unable to recognize slop when they see it.Theres this thing that AI proponents like to say every time something new comes out: this is the worst it'll ever be. So far, they've been right, and they may well continue to be right. Its hard to predict what happens next with AI, but I have one prediction I feel fairly comfortable making: unaided, most of us will always struggle to reliably recognize AI when we see it.But its hard to blame us when two sides are conspiring against us: Instagrams interface makes it almost impossible to tell, and creators are incentivized to lie by omission.A few days after their viral successes, the viewcounts on FutureRiderUS fire content started to dwindle. The fires themselves were still burning in Los Angeles, but FutureRiderUS shifted focus. On January 14, as talks of a Gaza ceasefire started to circulate, the account anticipated interest in the trend, and made a post as their viral video guide suggests.This post is an AI slop collage of a Palestinian flag atop a spire, a woman crying as bodies and rubble lay in the street, children, bloody arms, doctors walking sideways. The caption is a vaguely worded, inoffensive block of text that says, in part, This is not about taking sides, its about humanity.This move is completely obvious to anyone who follows FutureRiderUS viral video guide or honestly, any of the tons of books, articles, LinkedIn posts or videos by content creators who teach you how to make content and grow your account.Again, its all about content. Content that grabs attention. Of course somebody was going to use those tools and strategies for something like this. As long as the platforms allow it and keep making money off of it there's no reason for it to stop.FutureRiderUS had decided that the algorithmic juice had been squeezed out of Los Angeles. Moving on to Palestine content is just a business decision.graph of Google Trends searches for la firesThe Palestine post got a few comments, which are of the usual sort: heart emojis, crying emojis, someone musing about a world war. One of the commenters seems completely uninterested in Palestine, humanity, or a ceasefire. Instead, they ask the real question:if i join your courses, what ill get from the courses?But after nearly a day, the Palestine video hadnt even broken 10k views. It was a flop.A few hours later, FutureRiderUS posted a video of a bear eating honey.

Nature, Published online: 15 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01128-6A powerful and unbiased way to identify links between genetic variants and biological traits has changed scientists understanding of complex diseases and how to treat them.

Nature, Published online: 15 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00918-2A 250,000-year-old footprint preserved in ash, and the effect of a polluted atmosphere on health and the economy, in our weekly dip into Natures archive.

Peeps marshmallow treats move through the manufacturing process at the Just Born factory in Bethlehem, Pa., Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)2025-04-15T05:01:05Z BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) Love them or hate them, those marshmallow Peeps that come in blindingly bright colors and an array of flavors are inescapable around the Easter holiday. Millions are made daily in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, by Just Born Quality Confections, a family-owned candy manufacturer that also churns out Hot Tamales, Mike and Ike fruit chews and Goldenbergs Peanut Chews.Peeps is Just Borns most recognizable brand and one of a handful of candies that evoke strong reactions good and bad. Some say an Easter basket isnt complete without Peeps while others deride them as being indestructible. Some use them in recipes or even artwork. Even if youre not usually one to gravitate to eating the Peeps, theres always so many other fun ways to include them in your celebrations, said Caitlin Servian, brand manager for Peeps. How many Peeps are made each year?On average, about 5.5 million are made each day.That adds up to 2 billion a year or roughly 6 Peeps for every man, woman and child across the U.S. How many different varieties and colors are there?First hatched in yellow, the sugary chicks and bunnies come in nine colors for this Easter season, including pink, blue and lavender. And there are even more flavors 14 for Easter from cookies and cream, to fruit punch and sour watermelon. The varieties and colors vary throughout the year with different holiday seasons. How long does it take to make a Peep?Before the early 1950s, making the candies by hand took 27 hours. Bob Born, who became known as the Father of Peeps, came up with a way to speed up the process. He and a company engineer designed a machine to make them in less than six minutes. The same process is used today. How are they made?The main ingredients sugar, corn syrup and gelatin are cooked and combined to create marshmallows, which are then shaped and sent through a sugar shower.A whopping 400 pounds (181 kilograms) of sugar is used per batch for Peeps colored sugars. Freshly made Peeps each chick weighs one-third of an ounce then move along a conveyor so that they can cool before being packaged. ___Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. TASSANEE VEJPONGSA Vejpongsa is a video journalist for The Associated Press in Philadelphia. She was previously based in Taipei and Bangkok. twitter JOHN SEEWER Seewer covers state and national news for The Associated Press and is based in Toledo, Ohio. twitter mailto

None of the frontier AI research labs have presented any evidence that they are on the brink of achieving artificial general intelligence, no matter how they define that goal, but Google is already planning for a Post-AGI world by hiring a scientist for its DeepMind AI lab to research the profound impact that technology will have on society.Spearhead research projects exploring the influence of AGI on domains such as economics, law, health/wellbeing, AGI to ASI [artificial superintelligence], machine consciousness, and education, Google says in the first item on a list of key responsibilities for the job. Artificial superintelligence refers to a hypothetical form of AI that is smarter than the smartest human in all domains. This is self explanatory, but just to be clear, when Google refers to machine consciousness its referring to the science fiction idea of a sentient machine.OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, Elon Musk, and other major and minor players in the AI industry are all working on AGI and have previously talked about the likelihood of humanity achieving AGI, when that might happen, and what the consequences might be, but the Google job listing shows that companies are now taking concrete steps for what comes after, or are at least are continuing to signal that they believe it can be achieved.Part of the problem is that AGI is a loosely defined term and goal. According to The Information, a 2023 document from OpenAI and Microsoft defined AGI as an AI system that can generate up to $100 billion in profit, which seems entirely removed from any scientific benchmark. Earlier this year, Altman wrote that OpenAI is confident it knows how to build AGI as we have traditionally understood it and that the company believes that in 2025 well see the first AI agents join the workforce. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella later downplayed this type of AGI definition, saying Us self-claiming some AGI milestone, thats just nonsensical benchmark hacking to me.As other critics have previously pointed out, AGI and the massive impact it could theoretically have on society is also a useful marketing strategy for AI companies, allowing them to hype up their value based on something that may or may not happen in the future, while distracting from the actual problems and harm their AI system are actively causing as they exist.Googles job listing appears to prepare the company for the most ambitious, science fiction-y interpretation of AGI. Other key responsibilities for the job include research projects exploring the influence of AGI on domains such as economics, law, health/wellbeing, AGI to ASI, machine consciousness, and education, conducting in-depth studies to analyze AGI's societal impacts across key domains, and building infrastructure and evaluation frameworks for a systematic evaluation of AI's societal effects.The job listing comes shortly after Deepmind published a report in early April about taking a responsible path to AGI. The report, which states that AI thats at least as capable as humans at most cognitive tasks, could be here within the coming years, details how Google is taking a systematic and comprehensive approach to AGI safety, exploring four main risk areas: misuse, misalignment, accidents, and structural risks, with a deeper focus on misuse and misalignment.Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Nature, Published online: 15 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01177-xTo combat long-overlooked fungal pathogens, researchers and regulators must embrace innovative science and policy.

Nature, Published online: 15 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01202-zScientists must regain trust

Former film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in court for his retrial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (Angela Weiss/Pool Photo via AP)2025-04-15T04:04:49Z NEW YORK (AP) The last time a New York City jury sat in judgment of Harvey Weinstein, the ex-movie studio boss was convicted of rape and sentenced to 23 years in prison.Five years later, that landmark #MeToo verdict is gone wiped away on appeal and Weinstein is set to go on trial again, beginning Tuesday with jury selection.New Yorks highest court, the Court of Appeals, overturned Weinsteins conviction and ordered a new trial, finding that improper rulings and prejudicial testimony tainted his original one in 2020.That ruling gave Weinstein a second chance to fight the charges and do so in a different atmosphere than his first trial, which was held in the middle of a global reckoning over sexual misconduct.Weinstein, 73, who has pleaded not guilty and denies that he raped or sexually assaulted anyone, is older and more frail, in and out of the hospital regularly for a variety of health problems. Hes now far removed from when he was among the most powerful men in the movie business. Even if he is acquitted, he will not walk free.Weinstein is also appealing a 2022 rape conviction in Los Angeles. His 16-year prison sentence in that case still stands, though his lawyers said he needs to be resentenced because the since-vacated New York conviction factored into how his punishment was calculated. Weinstein is being retried on two charges from his original trial. He is accused of raping an aspiring actor in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and performing a criminal sex act by forcing oral sex on a movie and TV production assistant in 2006. He is also charged with one count of criminal sex act based on an allegation from a woman who was not a part of the original trial. That woman, who has asked that she not be named publicly, alleges that Weinstein forced oral sex on her at a Manhattan hotel.Speaking outside the courthouse on Tuesday, that accusers lawyer, Lindsay Goldbrum, said one thing would become crystal clear from her clients upcoming testimony at the trial: This was not consensual. This was sexual assault with force. I am confident that there will be justice in this case, Goldbrum told reporters, adding that her client was resolved to testify. It is important for women everywhere and for people who are victims of sexual assault everywhere that others pave the way and show their dedication in this fight against sexual assault.Judge Curtis Farber has set aside at least four days for jury selection and expects opening statements and the start of testimony next week.The judge, prosecution and defense will work to whittle a massive pool of potential jurors down to the 18 people 12 jurors and six alternates needed for the trial by asking questions and seeking to eliminate anyone they feel cant judge the case fairly.Selecting a jury will involve bringing in around 80 potential jurors at a time for two basic screening questions. The first group was brought in late Tuesday morning after defense lawyers and prosecutors ironed out some last-minute loose ends. The judge will ask for a show of hands from anyone who has work, family or other obligations that will prevent them from serving. Hell then ask for a show of hands from anyone who feels they cant be impartial based on the nature of the charges or news coverage.Anyone who raises a hand will be sent home, Farber has said.Those who remain will be seated in or near the jury box, 24 at a time, and asked additional questions about things like their education, work, and whether anyone they know is in law enforcement or has been a victim of a crime.Prosecutors and Weinsteins lawyers will each have 40 minutes to question each subset of 24 potential jurors. Often, lawyers will use that time to follow up on things raised in earlier questioning or zero in on concerns about potential biases.Either side can ask the judge to dismiss a potential juror. If too many jurors are dismissed, another group will be brought in and the process will repeat until the full jury is seated. MICHAEL R. SISAK Sisak is an Associated Press reporter covering law enforcement and courts in New York City, including former President Donald Trumps criminal and civil cases and problems plaguing the federal prison system. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is using various artificial intelligence tools, including ones that can quickly identify people of interest by pulling data from social media, according to documents published by the agency last week and marketing material from the contractors.The documents follow others that 404 Media has previously obtained and published through the Freedom of Information Act and are more up to date.Fivecast ONYX supports the collection of publicly available, internet-based content in near real-time, quickly organizing the content to facilitate analysis and the surfacing of risks and threats against the homeland to enhance CBP tactical targeting, analysis and vetting capabilities while at the same time supporting CBPs strategic counter-network analysis, one of the documents says, referring to the Australian intelligence company Fivecast. CBP also published documents about Dataminr, another social media monitoring company.Do you work at Fivecast, Dataminr, or DHS? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at joseph.404 or send me an email at joseph@404media.co.CBP published the latest documents to its website which lists AI programs or tools related to the agency on April 7. Previous documents published in the last year include ones discussing an underwater inspection system, anomaly detection algorithms, and its use of autonomous surveillance towers.The release of these documents happened the same week that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it will Begin Screening Aliens Social Media Activity for Antisemitism. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a different branch of DHS, is conducting the antisemitism social media searches, according to the announcement. CBP told 404 Media in an email that Neither tool is used for vetting or travel application processing, referring to Dataminr and Onyx, but did not elaborate beyond that.The release of information about these tools comes in a climate of high-profile detainment of students who have criticized Israels indiscriminate bombing campaign in Gaza. Hundreds of students have had their visas revoked, many for protesting against Israel, and people who have criticized Israel have been detained on the street or at official appointments with DHS.A video on Fivecasts website says Onyx combines advanced data collection and AI-enabled analytics to rapidly identify people of interest. Some of those AI capabilities include object and concept recognition from images and videos; natural language processing that looks for risky keywords and phrases; a tool that looks for similar phrases across investigations; and user-trainable logo detector, according to the video.As 404 Media previously reported, Onyx also includes sentiment and emotion detection over time.Although published recently, the Fivecast documents date from May 2023. One of them, a statement of work, says CBP is proactively collecting, harnessing and applying the power of data, intelligence, and advanced analytics. This statement of work is similar to some 404 Media obtained from CBP through FOIA requests discussing the agencys bulk pilot of Fivecast in March 2021 and another from 2022. Journalist Todd Feathers also obtained what appears to be the May 2023 statement of work.The recently added documents to the AI section of CBPs website also includes Dataminr, a social media monitoring company that also claims to use AI, although the company has been around for years. In recent years, Dataminr has integrated Generative AI for real-time event description and launched ReGenAI (Regenerative AI), a breakthrough form of Generative AI that automatically regenerates in real time as events unfold. Dataminrs AI platform is powered by more than 50 proprietary LLMs and multi-modal foundation models, trained on Dataminrs 12+ year proprietary event archive, its website reads.That statement of work from September 2023 says OSINT Team analysts, working alongside CBPs tactical targeting/analytical units, intelligence support cells, and enforcement units, use a commercially available tools and analytical tradecraft methodologies to exploit asymmetric data sources to inform targeting, vetting, and network development and analysis workflows.The document adds DataMinr enables advanced search, collection, and analysis of publicly available information through a single user interface, facilitating the collection of information regarding people, places, and things across social media platforms, as well as general information held on the surface, deep, and dark web to inform situational awareness and to support CBP law enforcement and national security operations.I previously obtained a document which said CBP used another AI-powered monitoring tool called Babel X to screen travelers, including U.S. citizens.Neither Fivecast nor Dataminr responded to a request for comment.

Nature, Published online: 15 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01130-yFatal blood clots can arise in people who have cancer. The discovery of a cue that underlies these clots offers a therapeutic target and a way to assess clot risk.

The notorious imageboard 4chan is down following what appears to be a major hack of its backend. The hackers claim to have exposed code for the site, the emails of moderators, and a list of mod communications. This happened, it seems, as part of a five year long, inter-image board beef between users of 4chan and Soyjak, another image board that splintered off of 4chan.Its still unclear what the fallout of the hack will be, but the notorious image board remains down and a huge amount of data appears to have been leaked.Users struggled to load 4chan on the evening of April 14, 2025, according to posts on other imageboards and forums. A few hours before that, the banned board /qa/ reappeared on the site and someone using the hiroyuki account, named after 4chans owner Hiroyuki Nishimura, posted FUCKING LMAO and U GOT HACKED XD.Do you know anything else about this story? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at +1 347 762-9212 or send me an email at matthew@404media.co.The hiroyuki account was flagged in bold red as an admin, suggesting the person posting the messages had control over a real admin account. /qa/ was a questions and answer imageboard on 4chan. Pitched as a place to discuss concerns that affected the whole of 4chan, /qa/ was in practice a board where various factions fought.Soyjak is a popular meme youve probably seen before. Its a balding man with glasses and shaggy beard, his mouth agape in docile joy. He is now the name of a rival imageboard.At about the same time 4chan struggled to load, someone on the soyjak.st posted a thread that claimed to explain what happened. Tonight has been a very special night for many of us at the soyjak party, the thread said. Today, April 14, 2025, a hacker who has been in 4cucks system for over a year, executed the true operation soyclipse, reopening /qa/, exposing personal information of various 4cuck staff, and leaking code from the site.The thread shared images of the resurrected and defaced /qa/ board as well as what appear to be screenshots from 4chans internal moderation tools. The screenshots included discussion about why users had been banned from 4chan, pieces of its backend in phpMyAdmin (the infrastructure that runs 4chan and other forums and imageboards), and traffic stats for specific boards.Elsewhere on the internet, someone leaked an alleged list of moderator email addresses and a portion of what they described as the source code for the site. 404 Media reached out to an email in the leaked list that appeared to be for Nishimura but did not hear back.It appears that 4chan was susceptible to a hack because it was running very out of date code that contained various vulnerabilities, according to 404 Medias look at the code and people sorting through the hack online.So 4chan very likely got hacked because they were running on an extremely out of date version of PHP that has a lot of vulnerabilities and exploits and are using deprecated function to interact with there MySQL database.Web security 101: Keep your code and software up to date. pic.twitter.com/JFDOsbr5rt Yushe (@_yushe) April 15, 2025That starts to answer the question of how this happened. But why did it happen? This all has roots in a five year old meme fight.Soyjak.party, the site where a user began posting about the 4chan hack, was an offshoot of 4chan created as a joke about five years ago. Besides being a general cesspool,4chan has long been a place that incubates memes. lolcats, the NavySeal copypasta, and Pepe the Frog grew and spread on 4chans imageboards. From time to time a meme is overplayed or spammed and mods on the site get tired of it.Five years ago, users spammed the /qa/ board with soyjaks. Unable to quash the tide of soyfaced jpegs, 4chan shut down the entire /qa/ board. The soyajk loving exiles of 4chan started a new site called soyjak.party where they could craft open mouthed soyboy memes to their hearts content. When 4chan was hacked on the night of April 14, the /qa/ board briefly returned. /QA/ RETURNS SOYJAK.PARTY WON read a banner image at the top of the board.As of this writing, 4chan is still down. When you attempt to access a specific board, the connection times out. The initial connection between Cloudflare's network and the origin web server timed out. As a result, the web page can not be displayed, the error page says.

Nature, Published online: 15 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01231-8The fossil expert found love at first sight with trilobites.

Vehicles for export are parked at a port in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)2025-04-15T17:21:59Z DETROIT (AP) President Donald Trump hinted that he might temporarily relieve the auto industry from permanent tariffs he previously imposed on the business. The president didnt specify how long the potential pause would be or what it would entail, but the auto sector is awaiting how rules might change on 25% tariffs based on U.S. parts, if duties remain on assembled vehicles.Experts have said short pauses arent likely to give carmakers enough of an opportunity to adjust their vast global supply chains, though parts exemptions would certainly bolster the industry amid Trumps trade war whiplash. Trump told reporters Monday that automakers need a little bit of time because theyre going to make them here, but they need a little bit of time. So Im talking about things like that, referring to relocating production from Canada, Mexico and elsewhere. The news drove global auto stocks up Tuesday. Matt Blunt, president of the American Automotive Policy Council, which represents domestic auto companies Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, said in a statement: There is increasing awareness that broad tariffs on parts could undermine our shared goal of building a thriving and growing American auto industry, and that many of these supply chain transitions will take time. Trump first announced 25% automotive tariffs late March; the tariffs for completed vehicles took effect on April 3, while the parts tariffs were set to start 30 days later. The one-month delay is intended to give the U.S. government time to work out rules to exempt the value of automotive parts that contains U.S.-made materials, which will not be subject to the tariffs, according to insights from law firm Foley & Lardner, noting a carveout for parts certified under regional trade pact, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The Department of Commerce is expected to determine a system to calculate non-U.S. content by May 3. At the same time, automakers are navigating steel and aluminum imports levies of at least 25%; 25% duties on all goods from Canada and Mexico; 10% global tariffs and reciprocal tariffs around the world paused for 90 days, and both of which automotive is exempt from; and tariffs on China at 145%.The United Auto Workers labor union, and Autos Drive America, which represents foreign automakers, did not respond to requests for comment.The on-again, off-again tariffs have already wrought havoc for any number of global sectors but especially the auto industry, which relies on a complex network of parts from around the world. The American and European car industries are severely affected by tariffs. On top of the 25% tariff imposed on vehicles, we are impacted by layer upon layer of additional compounding tariffs including those on aluminum, steel, and parts, Stellantis Chairman John Elkann said in the companys annual general meeting Tuesday, noting at the same time, the Chinese auto markets potential for growth this year.But its not too late if the U.S. and Europe take the necessary urgent actions to promote an orderly transition, Elkann added. We are encouraged by what President Trump indicated yesterday on tariffs for the car industry. Though Trump says his tariffs are intended to bolster U.S. auto manufacturing, automakers arent able to reconfigure their sourcing in short periods of time, experts say. Because of the nature of the business and the length of time it takes to design product and get manufacturing up and running, it could take years to reevaluate sources of supply and establish new assembly operations. Flipping upside down a global supply chain that has been in place for decades cannot happen overnight for the auto industry, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said in a research note, and we strongly believe the clear right move would be to focus on finished cars made in the U.S. versus auto parts.The tariffs as they currently stand are sure to cost automakers billions of dollars, impact new and used vehicle supply and raise prices for car buyers at dealerships by thousands of dollars. Already, some auto manufacturers have paused operations in Canada and Mexico and temporarily laid off workers in the U.S.Some have also attempted to get ahead of the impact of tariffs through appeals to customers. In rare moves, Ford, Hyundai, Genesis and Jeep-maker Stellantis began offering employee pricing programs for a limited time to reach buyers before what will most likely be steep price hikes.Car buyers might be better positioned for an extra few weeks, depending on the latest policy change.___Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate reporter. Follow her on X: @alexa_stjohn. Reach her at [emailprotected]. ALEXA ST. JOHN St. John is a climate solutions reporter for The Associated Press, based in Detroit. She covers the ways people and communities create viable and scalable solutions to the planets warming. twitter mailto

Law enforcement officials talk outside the home of actor Gene Hackman on Feb. 27, 2025 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. (AP Photo/Roberto Rosales, file)2025-04-15T17:42:06Z ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) Authorities on Tuesday released a lengthy investigation report detailing some of the last emails and internet searches done by Gene Hackmans wife in the days before her death, indicating that she was scouring the internet for information on flu-like symptoms and breathing techniques. Betsy Arakawa died in February of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome a rare, rodent-borne disease that can led to a range of symptoms that include flu-like illness, headaches, dizziness and severe respiratory distress, investigators have said. Gene Hackman is believed to have died about a week later of heart disease with complications from Alzheimers disease.The partially mummified remains of Hackman, 95, and Arakawa, 65, were found in their Santa Fe home on Feb. 26, when maintenance and security workers showed up at the home and alerted police. According to the report released Tuesday, a review of the open bookmarks on Arakawas computer Feb. 8 and the morning of Feb. 12 indicated she was actively researching medical conditions related to COVID-19 and flu-like symptoms. The searches included questions about whether COVID could cause dizziness or nosebleeds. She also had mentioned in an email to her masseuse that Hackman had woken up Feb. 11 with flu or cold-like symptoms but that a COVID test was negative and she would have to reschedule her appointment for the next day out of an abundance of caution. Arakawas last search was the morning of Feb. 12 for a health care provider in Santa Fe.Investigators also reviewed a call history to the Hackmans home phone along with voicemails and security footage from stores that Arakawa had visited on Feb. 11.Authorities also are expected to release more redacted police body camera footage from inside the home as sheriffs deputies and investigators tried to piece together what had happened to the couple. The written report describes them going through rooms of the home and finding nothing out of the ordinary and no signs of forced entry. The materials were being released as the result of a recent court order that mandated any depictions of the deceased couple would have to be blocked from view. All photos, video and documents from the investigation had been restricted from release by an earlier, temporary court order.The Hackman estate and family members had sought to keep the records sealed to protect the familys constitutional right to privacy.A report obtained from the New Mexico Department of Health showed an environmental assessment of the Hackman property found rodent feces in several outbuildings but not inside the living quarters. A live rodent, dead rodent and a rodent nest were found in three detached garages.Nestled among the pion and juniper hills overlooking Santa Fe, the Hackman home is not unlike others in area as mice are common within the surrounding landscape.One of the couples three dogs also was found dead in a crate in a bathroom closet near Arakawa, while two other dogs were found alive. A state veterinary lab tied the dogs death to dehydration and starvation. An attorney for the estate, Kurt Sommer, argued during a hearing last month that the couple had taken great pains to stay out of the public light during their lifetimes and that the right to control the use of their names and likenesses should extend to their estate in death. Estate representative Julia Peters also emphasized the possibly shocking nature of photographs and video in the investigation and the potential for their dissemination by media. The Associated Press, CBS News and CBS Studios intervened in the matter, saying in court filings that they would not disseminate images of the couples bodies and would blur images to obscure them from other records.

A person walks through the Georgia Tech campus with the downtown skyline in the background, March 11, 2016, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)2025-04-15T17:56:55Z WASHINGTON (AP) At first, the bar association for immigration attorneys began receiving inquiries from a couple students a day. These were foreigners studying in the U.S., and theyd discovered in early April their legal status had been terminated with little notice. To their knowledge, none of the students had committed a deportable offense. In recent days, the calls have begun flooding in. Hundreds of students have been calling to say they have lost legal status, seeking advice on what to do next.We thought it was going to be something that was unusual, said Matthew Maiona, a Boston-based immigration attorney who is getting about six calls a day from panicked international students. But it seems now like its coming pretty fast and furious. _ The speed and scope of the federal governments efforts to terminate the legal status of international students have stunned colleges across the country. Few corners of higher education have been untouched, as schools ranging from prestigious private universities, large public research institutions and tiny liberal arts colleges discover status terminations one after another among their students. At least 600 students at more than 90 colleges and universities have had their visas revoked or their legal status terminated in recent weeks, according to an Associated Press review of university statements and correspondence with school officials. Advocacy groups collecting reports from colleges say hundreds more students could be caught up in the crackdown. Students apparently targeted over minor infractionsAround 1.1 million international students were in the United States last year a source of essential revenue for tuition-driven colleges. International students are not eligible for federal financial aid, and their ability to pay tuition often factors into whether they will be admitted to American schools. Often, they pay full price. Many of the students losing their legal status are from India and China, which together account for more than half the international students at American colleges. But the terminations have not been limited to those from any one part of the world, lawyers said.Four students from two Michigan universities are suing Trump administration officials after their F-1 student status was terminated last week. Their attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, Ramis Wadood, said the students never received a clear reason why.We dont know, and thats the scary part, he said.The students were informed of the terminations by their universities via email, which came as a shock, Wadood said. The reason given was that there was a criminal records check and/or that their visa was revoked, Wadood said, but none of them were charged or convicted of crimes. Some had either speeding or parking tickets, but one didnt have any, he said. Only one of the students had known their entry visa was revoked, Wadood said.Students have filed similar lawsuits in several other states, arguing they were denied due process. In New Hampshire, a federal judge last week granted a temporary restraining order to restore the status of a Ph.D. student at Dartmouth College, Xiaotian Liu, while he challenges the revocation of his visa. In a break from past, feds cancel students status directly At many colleges, officials learned the legal immigration status of some international students had been terminated when staff checked a database managed by the Department of Homeland Security. In the past, college officials say, legal statuses typically were updated after colleges told the government the students were no longer studying at the school.The system to track enrollment and movements of international students came under the control of Immigration and Customs Enforcement after 9/11, said Fanta Aw, CEO of NAFSA, an association of international educators. She said recent developments have left students fearful of how quickly they can be on the wrong side of enforcement.You dont need more than a small number to create fear, Aw said. Theres no clarity of what are the reasons and how far the reach of this is. Her group says as many as 1,300 students have lost visas or had their status terminated, based on reports from colleges.The Department of Homeland Security and State Department did not respond to messages seeking comment. Foreigners who are subject to removal proceedings are usually sent a notice to appear in immigration court on a certain date, but lawyers say affected students have not received any notices, leaving them unsure of next steps to take. Some schools have told students to leave the country to avoid the risk of being detained or deported. But some students have appealed the terminations and stayed in the United States while those are processed. Still others caught in legal limbo arent students at all. They had remained in the U.S. post-graduation on optional practical training, a one-year period or up to three for science and technology graduates that allows employment in the U.S. after completing an academic degree. During that time, a graduate works in their field and waits to receive their H-1B or other employment visas if they wish to keep working in the U.S. Around 242,000 foreigners in the U.S. are employed through this optional practical training. About 500,000 are pursuing graduate degrees, and another 342,000 are undergraduate students. Among the students who have filed lawsuits is a Georgia Tech Ph.D. student who is supposed to graduate on May 5, with a job offer to join the faculty. His attorney Charles Kuck said the student was likely targeted for termination because of an unpaid traffic fine from when the student lent his car to a friend. Ultimately, the violation was dismissed. We have case after case after case exactly like that, where there is no underlying crime, said Kuck, who is representing 17 students in the federal lawsuit. He said his law firm has heard from hundreds of students.These are kids who now, under the Trump administration, realize their position is fragile, he said. Theyve preyed on a very vulnerable population. These kids arent hiding. Theyre in school.Some international students have been adapting their daily routines.A Ph.D. student from China at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said she has begun carrying around her passport and immigration paperwork at the advice of the universitys international student office. The student, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being targeted by authorities, said she has been distressed to see the terminations even for students like her without criminal records.That is the most scary part because you dont know whether youre going to be the next person, she said. ___Seminera reported from Raleigh, N.C., and Keller reported from Albuquerque, N.M.___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. ANNIE MA Ma is an Associated Press national writer who covers K-12 education. twitter mailto MAKIYA SEMINERA Seminera is a state government reporter for The Associated Press. She is based in Raleigh, North Carolina. twitter mailto CHRISTOPHER L. KELLER Keller works with reporters and editors to find stories in data and documents and contributes context to spot and breaking news stories for The Associated Press. mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

A sign stands at an entrance to the main campus of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy, File)2025-04-15T18:38:55Z ATLANTA (AP) An estimated 1 in 31 U.S. children have autism, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday, marking another jump in a long string of increases. The CDCs data was from 14 states and Puerto Rico in 2022. The previous estimate from 2020 was 1 in 36. Boys continue to be diagnosed more than girls, and the highest rates are among children who are Asian/Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska Native and Black. To estimate how common autism is, the CDC checked health and school records for 8-year-olds, because most cases are diagnosed by that age. Other researchers have their own estimates, but experts say the CDCs estimate is the most rigorous and the gold standard.Heres what you need to know about the new numbers, as well as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s plan to do a massive testing and research effort around autism. What is autism?Autism is a developmental disability caused by differences in the brain. There are many possible symptoms, many of which overlap with other diagnoses. They can include delays in language and learning, social and emotional withdrawal and an unusual need for routine.For decades, the diagnosis was rare, given only to kids with severe problems communicating or socializing and those with unusual, repetitive behaviors. As late as the early 1990s, only 1 in 10,000 children were diagnosed with autism. Around that time, the term became a shorthand for a group of milder, related conditions known as autism spectrum disorders, and the number of kids labeled as having some form of autism began to balloon. In the first decade of this century, the estimate rose to 1 in 150. In 2018, it was 1 in 44. In 2020, it was up to 1 in 36. Why are autism numbers rising?Health officials largely attribute growing autism numbers to better recognition of cases through wide screening and better diagnosis. There are no blood or biologic tests for autism. Its diagnosed by making judgments about a childs behavior, and theres been an explosion in autism-related treatment and services for children.Roughly two decades ago, studies by the CDC and others ruled out childhood vaccines as a cause of autism. Since then, a lot of research has looked at variety of other possible explanations, including genetics, the age of the father, the weight of the mother and whether she had diabetes and exposure to certain chemicals. Some researchers have theorized it may be a series of things perhaps a biological predisposition set off by some sort of toxic exposure. Vaccines and autismKennedy and anti-vaccine advocates have remained fixated on childhood vaccines, pointing at a preservative called thimerosal that is no longer in most childhood vaccines or theorizing that autism may be the cumulative effect of multiple vaccinations. A number of studies, including some with CDC authors, have not found such links.Last week, Kennedy said HHS was launching a massive testing and research effort thats going to involve hundreds of scientists from around the world and identify what causes autism in less than six months. He also promised well be able to eliminate those exposures. Kennedy and President Donald Trump both referred to the 1-in-31 estimate that CDC released Tuesday during last weeks White House meeting, and Kennedy also repeated the statistic at a meeting with FDA officials on Friday, Kennedys statement followed reports that he had hired David Geier, a man who has repeatedly claimed a link between vaccines and autism, to lead the autism research effort. The hiring of Geier, whom Maryland found was practicing medicine on a child without a doctors license, was first reported by The Washington Post.___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. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia of Maryland, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, speaks during a news conference at CASA's Multicultural Center in Hyattsville, Md., April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, file)2025-04-15T18:36:55Z A federal judge in Maryland is expected to question the Trump administration Tuesday about its continued refusal to retrieve Kilmar Abrego Garcia from an El Salvador prison, even after the Supreme Court ordered his return to the U.S. The 4 p.m. hearing in a U.S. District Court comes a day after White House advisers repeated the claim that they lack the authority to bring back the Salvadoran national from his native country. The president of El Salvador also said Monday that he would not return Abrego Garcia, likening it to smuggling a terrorist into the United States. This undated photo provided by CASA, an immigrant advocacy organization, in April 2025, shows Kilmar Abrego Garcia. (CASA via AP) This undated photo provided by CASA, an immigrant advocacy organization, in April 2025, shows Kilmar Abrego Garcia. (CASA via AP) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Abrego Garcia, 29, lived in the U.S. for roughly 14 years, during which he worked construction, got married and was raising three children with disabilities, according to court records. A U.S. immigration judge had shielded Abrego Garcia from deportation to El Salvador in 2019, ruling that he would likely face persecution there by local gangs that had terrorized his family. He also was given a federal permit to work in the United States, according to Abrego Garcias lawyers. But the Trump administration expelled Abrego Garcia to El Salvador last month anyway. Administration officials later described the mistake as an administrative error but insisted that Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 in the U.S. Abrego Garcia was never charged with a crime and has denied the allegations, according to court records. The accusation stems from 2019, when Maryland police arrested Abrego Garcia while he was looking for work as a day laborer outside a Home Depot. The allegation was based on Abergo Garcia wearing a Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie and the word of a criminal informant who worked with police in Marylands Prince Georges County, court records state. Abergo Garcias attorneys have pointed out the criminal informant alleged he was a member of MS-13 in Long Island, New York, where Abrego Garcia has never lived. This undated photo provided by Murray Osorio PLLC shows Kilmar Abrego Garcia. (Murray Osorio PLLC via AP) This undated photo provided by Murray Osorio PLLC shows Kilmar Abrego Garcia. (Murray Osorio PLLC via AP) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More In this undated photo provided by the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in April 2025, a man identified by Jennifer Vasquez Sura as her husband, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, is forced to sit with other prisoners by guards in the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador. (U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland via AP) In this undated photo provided by the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in April 2025, a man identified by Jennifer Vasquez Sura as her husband, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, is forced to sit with other prisoners by guards in the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador. (U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland via AP) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More The allegation was enough for a U.S. immigration judge to keep Abrego Garcia in jail as his immigration case proceeded in 2019, court records state. And a board of appeals backed that judges decision. But the U.S. immigration court ultimately released Abrego Garcia from custody once he was granted protected status from being deported back to El Salvador, according to court records. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis had ordered the Trump administration in early April to bring Abrego Garcia back. And the U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Thursday that the U.S. government must facilitate Abrego Garcias release. But the White House has balked at trying to broker his return, arguing the courts cant intrude on the presidents diplomacy powers.Tuesdays hearing could include strong words from Xinis. She had lambasted a lawyer for the Trump administration at a court hearing on Friday when the attorney couldnt explain what, if anything, the administration has done to arrange Abrego Garcias return. Xinis ordered the U.S. on Friday to provide daily status updates on plans to return Abrego Garcia. The Trump administration responded Saturday that he was alive in the notorious El Salvador prison. But it has only doubled down on its decision not to tell a federal court whether it has any plans to repatriate Abrego Garcia. In its filing to the judge on Monday, the Trump administration repeated the statement made by El Salvador President Nayib Bukele. How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? Of course Im not going to do it. The question is preposterous, Bukele said. In a filing with the U.S. District Court on Tuesday, Abrego Garcias lawyers cited Thursdays order from the Supreme Court to facilitate his return. To give any meaning to the Supreme Courts order, the Government should at least be required to request the release of Abrego Garcia, the attorneys wrote. To date, the Government has not done so.The attorneys also rejected the idea that the U.S. lacks the authority to retrieve him. They noted that the U.S. is paying El Salvador to hold prisoners, including Abrego Garcia, and can exercise those same contractual rights to request their release.Bukele struck a deal under which the U.S. will pay about $6 million for El Salvador to imprison Venezuelan immigrants for a year. Trump has said openly that he would also favor El Salvador taking custody of American citizens who have committed violent crimes, which is likely illegal. Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia of Maryland, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, speaks during a news conference at CASAs Multicultural Center in Hyattsville, Md., Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia of Maryland, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, speaks during a news conference at CASAs Multicultural Center in Hyattsville, Md., Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More

Elon Musk speaks during an event with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)2025-04-15T19:12:29Z NEW YORK (AP) The latest government waste touted by billionaire Elon Musks cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency is hundreds of millions of dollars in fraudulent unemployment claims it purportedly uncovered. One problem: Federal investigators already found what appears to be the same fraud, years earlier and on a far greater scale.In a post last week on X, the social media site Musk owns, DOGE announced an initial survey of unemployment insurance claims since 2020 found 24,500 people over the age of 115 had claimed $59 million in benefits; 28,000 people between the ages of 1 and 5 collected $254 million; and 9,700 people with birthdates more than 15 years in the future garnered $69 million from the government.The tweet drew a predictable party-line reaction of either skepticism or cheers, including from Musk himself, who said what his team found was so crazy he re-read it several times before it sank in. Another incredible discovery, marveled Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who repeated DOGEs findings to President Donald Trump in a Cabinet meeting last week.Chavez-DeRemers recounting of the alleged fraud, including claims of benefits filed by unborn children, drew laughter in the Cabinet room and a reaction from Trump himself. Those numbers are really bad, he said.But Chavez-DeRemer neednt look further than her own departments Office of the Inspector General to find such fraud had already been reported by the type of federal workers DOGE has demonized. Theyre trying to spin this narrative of, Oh, government is inefficient and government is stupid and theyre catching these things that the government didnt catch, says Michele Evermore, who worked on unemployment issues at the U.S. Department of Labor during the administration of former President Joe Biden. Theyre finding fraud that was marked as fraud and saying they found out it was fraud. The Social Security Act of 1935 enshrined unemployment benefits in federal law but left it to individual states to set up systems to collect unemployment taxes, process applications and mete out support.Though states have almost complete control over their own unemployment systems, special relief programs most notably widely expanded benefits enacted by the first Trump administration at the outset of the COVID pandemic inject more direct federal involvement and a flood of new beneficiaries into the system.In regular times, state unemployment systems perform very well, not so well and terribly, according to Stephen Wandner, an economist at the National Academy of Social Insurance who authored the book Unemployment Insurance Reform: Fixing a Broken System. With COVID slamming the economy and creating a flood of new claims that states couldnt handle, Wandner says many more were quite terrible.Trump signed the COVID unemployment relief into law on March 27, 2020, and from the very start it became a magnet for fraud. In a memo to state officials about two weeks later, the Department of Labor warned that the expanded benefits had made unemployment programs a target for fraud with significant numbers of imposter claims being filed with stolen or synthetic identities. That same memo offered an option for states trying to protect a person whose identity was stolen to fraudulently collect unemployment benefits. To preserve a record of the fraud but keep innocent people from being linked to it, states could create a pseudo claim, the memo advises. Those pseudo claims led to records of toddlers and centenarians getting checks. The Labor Departments inspector general tallied some 4,895 unemployment claims from people over the age of 100 between March 2020 and April 2022, but another departmental memo explained that the filings stemmed from states changing dates of birth to protect people whose identities were used.Many of the claims identified ... were not payments to individuals over 100 years of age, but rather pseudo records of previously identified fraudulent claims, the 2023 memo says. A Labor Department spokeswoman did not respond to questions about Musks findings and DOGE gave no details on how it came to find the supposed fraud or whether it duplicates what was already found. Though DOGE ostensibly looked at longer timeframe than federal investigators previously had, it tallied just $382 million in fake unemployment claims, a tiny fraction of what investigators were already aware. In 2022, the Labor Department said suspected COVID-era unemployment fraud totaled more than $45 billion. The Government Accountability Office later said it was far worse, likely $100 billion to $135 billion.I dont think its news to anyone, says Amy Traub, an expert on unemployment at the National Employment Law Project. Its been widely reported. Thereve been multiple congressional hearings. If DOGEs newest allegations have an air of familiarity, its because they echo its prior findings of about Social Security payments to the dead and the unbelievably old. Those were false claims.That makes DOGE an imperfect messenger even when fraud has occurred, as with unemployment claims.Jessica Reidl, a senior fellow at the conservative think tank The Manhattan Institute, is a fiscal conservative who so champions rooting out federal waste she has written 600 articles on the subject. Though she believes unemployment insurance fraud is rife, she has trouble accepting any findings from DOGE, which she says has acted ineffectively and possibly illegally.When DOGE says impossibly old dead people are collecting unemployment in huge numbers, I become skeptical, Reidl says. DOGE does not have a good track record in that area.Traub said the burst of pandemic-era unemployment fraud led states to implement new security measures. She questioned why Musks team was trumpeting old fraud as if its new.Business leaders and economists are warning about a natural recession, so its natural to think about unemployment, says Traub. Its an attack on the image of a critically important program and perhaps an attempt to undermine public support on unemployment insurance when it couldnt be more important.___Matt Sedensky can be reached at [emailprotected] and https://x.com/sedensky. MATT SEDENSKY Sedensky is a national writer for The Associated Press. twitter mailto

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr speaks during a Make Indiana Healthy Again initiative event in Indianapolis, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)2025-04-15T17:20:13Z PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) When the nations top health official, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., endorsed the measles vaccine this month after an outbreak in Texas claimed the life of a second child, his comments made waves because he has spent 20 years making false claims that vaccines are unsafe.Many of Kennedys anti-vaccine allies stood by him anyway, trying to tamp down concerns from others who accused Kennedy of abandoning their movement. Thats because, according to doctors, public health experts and propaganda researchers who know Kennedys history well, the health and human services secretary is threading the needle between his agencys role as a neutral arbiter of science and the rhetoric of anti-vaccine activists. They say his word choices reflect that he is working from the anti-vaccine playbook he has used for much of his career in public life. Below, The Associated Press examines his comments about the measles outbreak that has infected more than 700 people nationwide and killed three, how his allies have interpreted them, and the facts according to scientists. A Kennedy spokesperson said the health secretary is not anti-vaccine and had responded to the measles outbreak with clear guidance that vaccines are the most effective way to prevent measles. He did not respond to questions about how Kennedys comments were being interpreted by his allies in the anti-vaccine movement. Endorsing vaccines, but then sowing doubtWHAT KENNEDY SAID: The federal governments position, my position, is people should get the measles vaccine, but the government should not be mandating those, Kennedy told CBS this month after an unvaccinated child in Texas died of measles. Later, in the same interview, Kennedy raised safety concerns about the measles vaccine, saying testing was inadequate. He also raised safety concerns about the vaccine for pertussis.WHAT HIS ALLIES HEARD: Charlene Bollinger, who runs a business selling anti-vaccine videos and other products, highlighted in a Substack post how Kennedy had raised safety concerns. In posts on X, she urged critics of his comments to Trust him. Trust me. Hes not walked through fire for years to abandon us now, then added, Read what he said carefully and with a critical spirit ... pay attention to the things he didnt say. There are clues.The group American Values, which was set up to support Kennedys presidential run, posted a thread on X that amplified Kennedys comments questioning vaccine safety.THE FACTS, ACCORDING TO SCIENTISTS: The measles vaccine is safe and effective, and protecting people from outbreaks requires nearly everyone to be vaccinated. Public schools in the United States generally require children to be vaccinated against measles to attend, though a growing number of parents have been avoiding those mandates for their children, in some cases by getting exemptions. That has fueled low vaccination rates in communities around the U.S., which has left them vulnerable to measles and other infectious diseases. Just 92.7% of kindergartners got their required shots in 2023, below the 95% threshold for preventing outbreaks. READING BETWEEN THE LINES: If Kennedy had truly changed his mind about the benefits of vaccines, he would have explained what he got wrong in the past, said Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. He didnt do that and instead immediately questioned how vaccines are safety tested.If someone like RFK Jr. with his record were going to make an about-face on his position on the measles vaccine, you would expect an essay, an articulation of what he got wrong in the past. Youre not seeing that, Adalja said. The fact that he undercuts it almost immediately speaks to that. Saying people who died of measles were already sickWHAT KENNEDY SAID: Health authorities have said the two children who died were both unvaccinated, that they died as a result of measles and that neither had any reported underlying conditions. But Kennedy suggested those who died during the outbreak were people who were already sick. He said the second child who died had various other health problems and asserted that the thing that killed her was not the measles, but it was a bacteriological infection.Her death was caused by pneumonia, Kennedy told Fox News. So, you know, her parents said that she was over measles two weeks before.Kennedys spokesperson did not respond to questions asking where he got his information about the childs medical history and to clarify why what he said conflicted with statements from health officials.WHAT HIS ALLIES HEARD: The anti-vaccine group Kennedy led for years, Childrens Health Defense, promoted his comments, posting a clip online and saying it shows that Kennedy confirms the so-called measles deaths are NOT actually measles deaths.American Values wrote that his comments constituted a bombshell because the child did not pass away from measles, despite what the media claimed. THE FACTS, ACCORDING TO SCIENTISTS: Pneumonia is a complication of measles, and is the most common cause of death from measles in young children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a subsidiary of HHS. READING BETWEEN THE LINES: Kennedys comments suggesting measles didnt kill the child reflect longstanding tactics used to create doubt about vaccines, said Renee DiResta, a professor at Georgetown University who researches propaganda and has studied the anti-vaccine movement. She said Kennedy and Childrens Health Defense have spent years telling people that measles is a routine and harmless childhood illness to justify the argument that a safe vaccine is somehow more risky than the disease.Reframing these deaths as something other than what they are deaths from measles, which is not harmless at all is necessary to prop up the dual pillars of anti-vaccine propaganda in play here, she said.It reflects a similar narrative that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, when people who wanted to minimize its seriousness suggested people were dying with COVID rather than from COVID, said Richard Carpiano, a professor of public policy at the University of California, Riverside, who has closely followed Kennedys anti-vaccine work. Its a way of minimizing the deadly nature of measles.Standing with the unvaccinated and personal choiceWHAT KENNEDY SAID: Kennedy attended the funeral of the 8-year-old girl who died, then posted online about meeting with her family and the family of a 6-year-old girl who died in February. In one post about the trip, he wrote that The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine. He also posted photos of himself with the families.WHAT HIS ALLIES HEARD: Kennedys positive comments about the measles vaccine prompted some criticism from his old group Childrens Health Defense. CEO Mary Holland said in a video that Kennedy no longer speaks for the group, and said he had put out what she called very partial information. She claimed that a vaccination for measles had caused her sons autism. But she went on to praise Kennedys actions.People should not get lost in Bobby Kennedy saying that the vaccine can prevent measles, Holland said, adding, Bobby went to stand with the unvaccinated. And he has said its a personal choice.Childrens Health Defense and Bollinger have sued a number of news organizations, among them the AP, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking action to identify misinformation, including about the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines. THE FACTS, ACCORDING TO SCIENTISTS: Scientists have ruled out any link between vaccines and autism. Vaccines have saved an estimated 154 million lives in the past 50 years, according to the World Health Organization, which says immunization has been the greatest contribution to ensuring babies live until their first birthday.READING BETWEEN THE LINES: Carpiano said Kennedy helped the anti-vaccine movement pivot to the idea that it is about personal rights, personal freedoms and medical freedom. While there is a libertarian bent to it, that framing leaves out an important piece.Its the freedom to do whatever you want. A libertarian would say, provided it doesnt hurt other people, he said. But when it comes to Kennedy and the anti-vaccine movement, the part about not hurting other people gets left out, Carpiano said. And so basically becomes a tyranny of the minority, Carpiano said. Its something that he helps to keep promoting and legitimating. MICHELLE R. SMITH Smith reports for APs global investigations team. She is based in Providence, Rhode Island. instagram mailto

Hundreds of demonstrators gather on Cambridge Common during a rally at the historic park in Cambridge, Mass., Saturday, April 12, 2025, calling on Harvard University to resist what organizers described as attempts by President Trump to influence the institution. (Erin Clark/The Boston Globe via AP, File)2025-04-15T17:01:09Z On one side is Harvard, the nations oldest and wealthiest university, with a brand so powerful that its name is synonymous with prestige. On the other side is the Trump administration, determined to go farther than any other White House to reshape American higher education.Both sides are digging in for a clash that could test the limits of the governments power and the independence that has made U.S. universities a destination for scholars around the world.On Monday, Harvard become the first university to openly defy the Trump administration as it demands sweeping changes to limit activism on campus. The university frames the governments demands as a threat not only to the Ivy League school but to the autonomy that the Supreme Court has long granted American universities.The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights, the universitys lawyers wrote Monday to the government. Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government. The federal government says its freezing more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard. The hold on funding marks the seventh time the Trump administration has taken such a step at one of the nations most elite colleges, in an attempt to force compliance with Trumps political agenda. Six of the seven schools are in the Ivy League. No university is better positioned to put up a fight than Harvard, whose $53 billion endowment is the largest in the nation. But like other major universities, Harvard also depends on the federal funding that fuels its scientific and medical research. Its unclear how long Harvard could continue without the frozen money. Already, Harvards refusal appears to be emboldening other institutions.After initially agreeing to several demands from the Trump administration, Columbia Universitys acting president took a more defiant tone in a campus message Monday, saying some of the demands are not subject to negotiation. In her statement, Claire Shipman said she read of Harvards rejection with great interest.Harvard is obviously a particularly powerful institution. And its decision has potential to galvanize other universities into some kind of collective pushback, said David Pozen, a Columbia law professor who argued that the governments demands are unlawful.Ultimately, the conflict could be settled in federal court. A faculty group has already brought a legal challenge against the demands, and many in academia expect Harvard to bring its own lawsuit.In its refusal letter, Harvard said the governments demands violate the schools First Amendment rights and other civil rights laws.For the Trump administration, Harvard presents the first major hurdle in its attempt to force change at universities that Republicans say have become hotbeds of liberalism and antisemitism. COLLIN BINKLEY Binkley covers the U.S. Education Department and federal education policy for The Associated Press, along with a wide range of issues from K-12 through higher education. twitter mailto

This image provided by Commonwealth Media Services shows damage after a fire at the Pennsylvania governors mansion while Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family slept inside on Sunday, April 13, 2025, in Harrisburg, Pa. (Commonwealth Media Services via AP)2025-04-15T21:12:53Z HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) A family member says the man charged with setting fire to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiros mansion has struggled with mental illness and was treated at a psychiatric hospital twice in recent years.The fire left significant damage and forced Shapiro, his family and guests to evacuate the building early Sunday during the Jewish holiday of Passover. No injuries were reported, but authorities were still working Tuesday to determine a possible motive, including whether it had anything to do with Shapiros politics or religious beliefs.The suspect, identified as Cody Balmer, 38, was arrested nearby later in the day, police said. Court records and interviews with family members show his life unraveled dramatically in recent years before authorities say he scaled an iron security fence in the middle of the night, eluded police and set the Democratic governors mansion ablaze. Suspect exhibited disturbing behavior, his brother saysDan Balmer, an electrical engineer who lives in the Harrisburg suburbs, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he had given Cody Balmer a place to live a couple years ago. He was involved in getting his brother treatment at the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute twice, saying Cody Balmer exhibited disturbing behavior.Hes had ups and downs his whole life with the bipolar, Dan Balmer said. He doesnt believe hes bipolar, so he doesnt take his medicine. Police call arson a planned attackCody Balmer allegedly scaled an iron security fence that stands about 7 feet (2.1 meters) tall and is monitored by security cameras, police said. Police became aware someone had climbed over the fence and began a pursuit on the grounds but initially didnt locate anyone.Police allege Balmer broke into the southern wing of the residence, entering a room often used to entertain crowds and display art, and set a fire using a homemade incendiary device. Police said two broken glass beer bottles containing gasoline were found. The fire left significant damage to the room, charring walls, tables, buffet serving dishes, plates and a piano. Window panes and brick around doors and windows were blackened. Balmer was inside for about a minute before he left and escaped the premises, authorities said. The home, built in 1968, did not have sprinklers, Harrisburg Fire Chief Brian Enterline said. He said the damage could be in the millions of dollars.Suspect faces chargesAuthorities said Balmer turned himself in after police received a call from his former partner, who said he confessed.Balmer, who had walked about an hour from his home to the governors residence, admitted to harboring hatred towards Governor Shapiro, according to a police affidavit. No reason was given. Balmer has faced criminal charges over the past decade including simple assault, theft and forgery, according to online court records. He drew a sentence of probation after guilty pleas to theft and forgery counts. Simple assault charges from 2023 appeared unresolved.In court Monday, he told the judge he did not have any drug or alcohol problems, but acknowledged missing a few court dates in the past. Balmers mother said Monday that she had tried in recent days to get him assistance for mental health issues, but nobody would help. She said her son had bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The AP was not able to verify that information.He wasnt taking his medicine, and thats all I want to say, Christie Balmer said, speaking at the family home in Harrisburg.However, in court Monday, Cody Balmer politely told a judge he did not suffer from any mental illness.Governor is a rising Democratic starShapiro, 51, is the first-term governor of the nations fifth most populous state, a presidential battleground that has helped make him a rising star in the Democratic Party and viewed as a potential White House contender in 2028.Shapiro said he, his wife, their four children, two dogs and another family had celebrated Passover at the residence Saturday and were awakened by state troopers pounding on their doors about 2 a.m. Sunday. Shapiro has been outspoken about his Jewish faith.He used his first ad in his campaign for governor in 2022 to tell family stories and describe his commitment to making it home Friday night for Sabbath dinner, complete with footage of him and his children at the table. Family and faith ground me, he said.In stump speeches and his election-night victory speech, Shapiro regularly quoted an ancient rabbinic maxim: No one is required to complete the task, but neither are we free to refrain from it.Attack happened during PassoverThe attack happened on the Jewish holiday of Passover, which began at sundown Saturday. The holiday commemorates the Israelites liberation from slavery in ancient Egypt, including their 40-year journey through the desert. It is one of the holiest days of the year for Jews and is celebrated with a special meal called a Seder, which includes the eating of matzah, a type of unleavened bread, and the retelling of the Exodus story. Shapiro had celebrated with a Seder at the official residence with his family and members of the Jewish community in the same room where authorities said the fire was set.___Follow Marc Levy on X at https://x.com/timelywriter. MARK SCOLFORO Scolforo is an Associated Press reporter in the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg. twitter mailto

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, pose for a photo during their meeting in Odesa, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 15, 2025.(Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)2025-04-15T16:32:39Z ODESA, Ukraine (AP) NATOs support for Ukraine remains unwavering, the alliances secretary-general said Tuesday, emphasizing that more than 20 billion euros in security assistance have already been pledged by NATO allies in the first three months of 2025.Mark Rutte visited Ukraine on Tuesday and met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the port city of Odesa.Im here today because I believe Ukraines people deserve real peace, real safety and security in their country, in their homes, the NATO official said during a joint press conference with Zelenskyy. Both visited the hospital in Odesa and met with wounded Ukrainian soldiers. His visit came days after two Russian ballistic missiles struck the heart of Sumy on Palm Sunday morning, killing at least 35 people, including two children, and injuring 119 others. The northeastern city lies about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from Ukraines border with Russia. It marked the second large-scale attack in just over a week to result in significant civilian casualties. This is also Ruttes first trip to Ukraine since U.S. President Donald Trump assumed the lead in ceasefire negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow, which have included several rounds of talks in Saudi Arabia. These discussions are not easy, not least in the wake of this horrific violence, the NATO official said, referring to the recent strikes. But we all support President Trumps push for peace. Ukraine has endorsed the broader U.S.-proposed cease-fire deal, though Russia has effectively stalled the process by attaching far-reaching conditions.Meanwhile, Ukraine and its European partners are continuing to develop the infrastructure for the coalition of the willing, which is expected to act as a long-term security guarantee aimed at deterring future Russian aggression after a ceasefire is in place.Amid that uncertainty and U.S. warnings that Europe must take care of its own security and that of Ukraine in the future, the multinational force is seen as a first test of the continents willingness to defend itself and its interests. Zelenskyy said Turkey could play a significant role in providing future Black Sea security guarantees for Ukraine.This is not about ending the war, unfortunately, Zelenskyy said, commenting on the security meeting being hosted by Turkey on Tuesday and Wednesday. Its about what comes after the security guarantees for Ukraine following a ceasefire.He said military representatives from Ukraine, France, the U.K. and Turkey are discussing the presence of a military contingent in the Black Sea as part of those guarantees. The fact that these talks are ongoing, that we are preparing for this hopeful, soon-to-be achieved eventuality NATO tries to steer that in the direction we think would be advisable, Rutte said.The meeting in Turkey comes less than a month after the United States announced that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to eliminate the use of force in the Black Sea. However, key details remained unresolved, and the Kremlin has tied the deal to the lifting of certain Western sanctions. Commenting on ongoing negotiations with the U.S. over a revised draft of an agreement that would give the U.S. access to Ukraines valuable mineral resources. Zelenskyy described last weeks technical talks in Washington as positive, with more consultations expected in the coming days.He said the meeting was a technical session for expert teams and that both sides concluded the meeting on a positive note. Zelenskyy added that discussions both online and in person will continue throughout the week, and once the teams are ready, they will present the outcomes of their work.___Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine___

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr speaks as Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz listens during a Make Indiana Healthy Again initiative event in Indianapolis, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)2025-04-15T14:53:40Z LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) Officials in Arkansas and Indiana moved Tuesday to ban soft drinks and candy from the program that helps low-income people pay for groceries, becoming the first states to ask the Trump administration to let them remove such items from the program long known as food stamps.Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said her states request is aimed at improving the health of nearly 350,000 residents who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. It is clear that the current system encourages and subsidizes the overconsumption of unhealthy, highly processed and addictive food and beverages, said Sanders, who announced the request at a Little Rock news conference with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.In Indianapolis, Gov. Mike Braun was joined by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mehmet Oz, who leads the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, to announce sweeping changes to put the focus back on nutrition not candy and soft drinks. The two states are among several taking steps to strip the purchase of certain foods that may contribute to poor health through the federal program that spent $100 billion to serve nearly 42 million Americans in 2024. The restriction has been a key goal for Rollins and Kennedy and his Make America Healthy Again agenda. They changed our food system in this country so that it is poison to us, Kennedy said Tuesday. We cant be a strong nation if we are not a strong people. The Arkansas plan, which would take effect in July 2026, would exclude soda, including no- and low-calorie soda; fruit and vegetable drinks with less than 50% natural juice; unhealthy drinks; candy, including confections made with flour, like Kit Kat bars; and artificially sweetened candy. It also would allow participants to use benefits to buy hot rotisserie chicken, which is excluded from the program now. The Indiana change would exclude candy and soft drinks from the list of foods eligible to be paid for with SNAP benefits. Braun also issued executive orders changing work requirements for SNAP participants; reinstating income and asset verification rules; and launching a review of improper payments and other administrative errors to ensure that SNAP meets federal goals. Antihunger groups oppose SNAP food restrictions, saying that research shows that program participants are no more likely than other low-income Americans to buy sugary drinks or snack foods. And they say that limiting food choices undermines the autonomy and dignity of people who receive a benefit of about $187 per month or about $6.20 per day. They just seem to be targeting a specific population without having data that says that they are the issue or that this is going to improve, said Gina Plata-Nino, a deputy director at the Food Research and Action Center, a nonprofit advocacy group. Trade groups representing beverage and candy makers criticized the effort, saying that they narrowly target SNAP participants. Representatives for American Beverage accused state and federal officials of choosing to be the food police rather than take truly meaningful steps to lift people off SNAP with good-paying jobs. Chris Gindlesperger, a spokesman for the National Confectioners Association, called the approach misguided. SNAP participants and non-SNAP participants alike understand that chocolate and candy are treats not meal replacements, Gindlesperger said. The SNAP program is run by the USDA and administered through individual states. It is authorized by the federal Food and Nutrition Act of 2008, which says that SNAP benefits can be used for any food or food product intended for human consumption, except alcohol, tobacco and hot foods. In general, benefits are available to households with gross income at or below 130% of the federal poverty level, or about $33,500 a year for three people.Excluding any foods would require Congress to change the law or for states to get waivers that would let them restrict purchases, said Katie Bergh, a senior policy analyst for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research group. Over the past two decades, lawmakers in several states and from both political parties have proposed halting SNAP payments for soda, chips, ice cream and luxury meats like steak, as well as bottled water and decorated birthday cakes. Since 2004, there have been six previous requests for waivers, including four that were not approved, one that was withdrawn and one request that was incomplete. In rejecting the waivers, the USDA said there was no clear standard to define certain foods as unhealthy and that restrictions would be difficult to implement, complicated, costly and might not change participants food purchases or improve health. ___ Aleccia reported from California. Associated Press writer Tom Murphy in Indianapolis 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. JONEL ALECCIA Aleccia covers food and nutrition at The Associated Press. She is based in Southern California. twitter mailto ANDREW DEMILLO DeMillo is a government and politics reporter for The Associated Press, based in Little Rock, Arkansas. He has worked for the AP since 2005. twitter mailto

Wink Martindale arrives at the International Myeloma Foundation 7th Annual Comedy Celebration at The Wilshire Ebell Theatre, Nov. 9, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)2025-04-15T23:42:27Z LOS ANGELES (AP) Wink Martindale, the genial host of such hit game shows as Gambit and Tic-Tac-Dough who also did one of the first recorded television interviews with a young Elvis Presley, has died. He was 91.Martindale died Tuesday at Eisenhower Health in Rancho Mirage, California, according to his publicist Brian Mayes. Martindale had been battling lymphoma for a year.He was doing pretty well up until a couple weeks ago, Mayes said by phone from Nashville.Gambit debuted on the same day in September 1972 as The Price is Right with Bob Barker and The Jokers Wild with Jack Barry.From the day it hit the air, Gambit spelled winner, and it taught me a basic tenant of any truly successful game show: KISS! Keep It Simple Stupid, Martindale wrote in his 2000 memoir Winking at Life. Like playing Old Maids as a kid, everybody knows how to play 21, i.e. blackjack. Gambit had been beating its competition on NBC and ABC for over two years. But a new show debuted in 1975 on NBC called Wheel of Fortune. By December 1976, Gambit was off the air and Wheel of Fortune became an institution that is still going strong today. Martindale bounced back in 1978 with Tic-Tac-Dough, the classic Xs and Os game on CBS that ran until 1985.Overnight I had gone from the outhouse to the penthouse, he wrote.He presided over the 88-game winning streak of Navy Lt. Thom McKee, who earned over $300,000 in cash and prizes that included eight cars, three sailboats and 16 vacation trips. At the time, McKees winnings were a record for a game show contestant. I love working with contestants, interacting with the audience and to a degree, watching lives change, Martindale wrote. Winning a lot of cash can cause that to happen.Martindale wrote that producer Dan Enright once told him that in the seven years he hosted Tic-Tac-Dough he gave away over $7 million in cash and prizes. Martindale said his many years as a radio DJ were helpful to him as a game show host because radio calls for constant ad-libs and he learned to handle almost any situation in the spur of the moment. He estimated that he hosted nearly two dozen game shows during his career.Martindale wrote in his memoir that the question he got asked most often was Is Wink your real name? The second was How did you get into game shows?He got his nickname from a childhood friend. Martindale is no relation to University of Michigan defensive coordinator Don Martindale, whose college teammates nicknamed him Wink because of their shared last name.Born Winston Conrad Martindale on Dec. 4, 1933, in Jackson, Tennessee, he loved radio since childhood and at age 6 would read aloud the contents of advertisements in Life magazine.He began his career as a disc jockey at age 17 at WPLI in his hometown, earning $25 a week.After moving to WTJS, he was hired away for double the salary by Jacksons only other station, WDXI. He next hosted mornings at WHBQ in Memphis while attending Memphis State. He was married and the father of two girls when he graduated in 1957. Martindale was in the studio, although not working on-air that night, when the first Presley record Thats All Right was played on WHBQ on July 8, 1954.Martindale approached fellow DJ Dewey Phillips, who had given Presley an early break by playing his song, to ask him and Presley to do a joint interview on Martindales TV show Top Ten Dance Party in 1956. By then, Presley had become a major star and agreed to the appearance.Martindale and Presley stayed in touch on occasion through the years, and in 1959 he did a trans-Atlantic telephone interview with Presley, who was in the Army in Germany. Martindales second wife, Sandy, briefly dated Presley after meeting him on the set of G.I. Blues in 1960.In 1959, Martindale moved to Los Angeles to host a morning show on KHJ. That same year he reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with a cover version of Deck of Cards, which sold over 1 million copies. He performed the spoken word wartime story with religious overtones on The Ed Sullivan Show. I could easily have thought, Wow, this is easy! I come out here, go on radio and TV, make a record and everybody wants to buy it! he wrote. Even if I entertained such thoughts, they soon dissipated. I learned in due time that what had happened to me was far from the ordinary.A year later he moved to the morning show at KRLA and to KFWB in 1962. Among his many other radio gigs were two separate stints at KMPC, owned by actor Gene Autry.His first network hosting job was on NBCs Whats This Song? where he was credited as Win Martindale from 1964-65.He later hosted two Chuck Barris-produced shows on ABC: Dream Girl 67 and Hows Your Mother-in-Law? The latter lasted just 13 weeks before being canceled.Ive jokingly said it came and went so fast, it seemed more like 13 minutes! Martindale wrote, explaining that it was the worst show of his career. Martindale later hosted a Las Vegas-based revival of Gambit from 1980-81.He formed his own production company, Wink Martindale Enterprises, to develop and produce his own game shows. His first venture was Headline Chasers, a coproduction with Merv Griffin that debuted in 1985 and was canceled after one season. His next show, Bumper Stumpers, ran on U.S. and Canadian television from 1987-1990.He hosted Debt from 1996-98 on Lifetime cable and Instant Recall on GSN in 2010.Martindale returned to his radio roots in 2012 as host of the nationally syndicated The 100 Greatest Christmas Hits of All Time. In 2021, he hosted syndicated program The History of Rock n Roll.In 2017, Martindale appeared in a KFC ad campaign with actor Rob Lowe.He is survived by Sandy, his second wife of 49 years, and children Lisa, Madelyn ad Laura and numerous grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his son, Wink Jr. Martindales children are from his first marriage which ended in divorce in 1972. 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Former U.S. President Joe Biden speaks at the Advocates, Counselors, and Representatives for the Disabled conference in Chicago, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)2025-04-15T04:07:24Z CHICAGO (AP) Former President Joe Biden warned on Tuesday that President Donald Trump has taken a hatchet to Social Security, weighing in on a critical issue for millions of Americans as the 82-year-old Democrat briefly returned to the national stage.Biden, who has largely avoided speaking publicly since leaving the White House in January, delivered his pointed message during an evening speech at the national conference of Advocates, Counselors and Representatives for the Disabled in Chicago. The former president, who was largely focused on his prepared remarks but rambled at moments, was speaking as Democrats across the nation offered similar warnings for what they described as a Social Security Day of Action. In fewer than 100 days, this new administration has done so much damage and so much destruction. Its kind of breathtaking, Biden charged during a speech that spanned just under a half hour. Theyve taken a hatchet to the Social Security Administration. It was no coincidence that Tuesdays appearance, which marked Bidens first major speech since leaving office, was focused on Social Security. Democrats have increasingly focused on Trumps turbulent leadership over the popular government agency that provides benefits to tens of millions of Americans. Both parties expect Social Security to emerge as a key issue in next years midterm elections. The appearance also marked the first time Biden has explicitly attacked Trump since becoming a private citizen, although Biden referred to the Republican president only as this guy on Tuesday. Trump, by contrast, continues to blame Biden for many of the nations problems and often attacks his predecessor by name.White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt took a shot at the former presidents age when asked about his speech earlier in the day.Im shocked that he is speaking at nighttime, Leavitt said during Tuesdays White House press briefing. I thought his bedtime was much earlier than his speech tonight. She said that Trump, who is 78 years old, would sign a presidential memorandum Tuesday afternoon aimed at stopping illegal aliens, and other ineligible people, from obtaining Social Security benefits. The memorandum will expand the Social Security Administrations fraud prosecutor program to at least 50 U.S. attorney offices, and establish Medicare and Medicaid fraud prosecution programs in 15 U.S. attorney offices, Leavitt said. Despite such moves, the Social Security Administration has been plagued by controversy under Trumps leadership. The Republican president almost immediately began slashing the government workforce upon his return to the White House, including thousands of employees at the Social Security Administration.Along with a planned layoff of 7,000 workers and contentious plans to impose tighter identity-proofing measures for recipients, the SSA has been sued over a decision to allow Trump adviser Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency to access individuals Social Security numbers and other personally identifiable information. Musk, the worlds richest man and one of Trumps most influential advisers, has called Social Security the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time. At the same time, Social Security recipients have complained about long call wait times as the agencys my Social Security benefits portal has seen an increase in outages. Individuals who receive Supplemental Security Income, including disabled seniors and low-income adults and children, also reported receiving a notice that said they were not receiving benefits. The agency said the notice was a mistake. And the White House has vowed that it would not cut Social Security benefits, saying any changes are intended to reduce waste and fraud. Biden seized on the problems during his remarks. Theyre shooting first and aiming later, the former president said. They want to wreck it so they can rob it. Why do they want to rob it? In order to give tax cuts to billionaires and big corporations. Bidens speech came as Democrats nationally sought to elevate Social Security as a key issue heading into the 2026 midterm elections, which will decide the balance of power in Congress for the last two years of Trumps final term.He is not expected to make frequent public appearances as he transitions into his post-presidency. Biden still maintains an office in Washington, but has returned to Delaware as his regular home base. Trump has revoked his security clearances. This is an all hands on deck moment, which is why President Bidens voice in this moment is so important, Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a call with reporters ahead of Bidens address. Biden was joined in Chicago by a bipartisan group of former elected officials, including former Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., former Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and former Social Security Administrator Martin OMalley. In introducing Biden, OMalley said that the Trump administration has gutted the Social Security Administration with a chainsaw. Among the conference attendees was Michigan-based attorney Jason Turkish, who leads one of the countrys largest disability law firms. He said Trumps presidency has caused anxiety for many of his 32,000 clients nationwide, who are worried about diminished benefits and uncertainty over agency changes.We go from Republican to Democrat, Democrat to Republican and theres always been a belief that Social Security is just something we do not touch, he said.Still, he said there are signs that Social Security Administration officials are open to change. He cited how the agency partly backtracked on plans to require beneficiaries to go to a field office to verify their identity. Turkish is also optimistic about agency modernization efforts.While Biden may be in a position to help his party with fundraising and messaging moving forward, he left the White House with weak approval ratings. Biden also faces blame from some progressives who argue he shouldnt have sought a second term. Biden ended his reelection bid after his disastrous debate performance against Trump and made way for then-Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost to Trump in the fall. Just 39% of Americans had a favorable opinion of Biden in January, according to a Gallup poll taken shortly after Trumps inauguration. Views of the Democratic former president were essentially unchanged from a Gallup poll taken shortly after the November election. They broadly track with the steadily low favorability ratings that Biden experienced throughout the second half of his presidential term.Indeed, while some Democratic leaders welcomed Bidens return this week, others were not pleased to see him.The best role that Biden could play going forward would be to stay off the public stage, said progressive activist Norman Solomon. That might sound harsh, but frankly, his self-centered mentality has already done so much damage to the Democratic Party and the country that he certainly owes us some belated humility.___Peoples reported from New York. Associated Press writers Sophia Tareen, Will Weissert and Linley Sanders contributed to this report. FATIMA HUSSEIN Hussein reports on the U.S. Treasury Department for The Associated Press. She covers tax policy, sanctions and any issue that relates to money. twitter mailto

A female African elephant named Pupy stands in her enclosure at the Ecoparque in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, March 25, 2025, as she is trained for her relocation to a sanctuary in Brazil. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)2025-04-16T00:49:34Z BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) An unusual convoy neared Argentinas lush border with Brazil on Tuesday, after snaking through traffic-snarled roads for hours. Inside the specialized iron crate strapped to a truck and flanked by vans full of caretakers and veterinarians was Pupy, a female African elephant.She is heading to a better life after spending more than 30 years in captivity as the last elephant of a Buenos Aires zoo that was often criticized for its conditions before it was turned into a nature preserve nine years ago. Pupy (pronounced POOH'-pee in Spanish) embarked on her arduous 2,700-kilometer (1,670-mile) journey on Monday, from the trendy neighborhood of Palermo in Argentinas capital of Buenos Aires to the Amazon rainforest of Mato Grosso state in Brazil. The 3.5-ton pachyderm is expected to arrive at her new home at Elephant Sanctuary Brazil, the first refuge for elephants in Latin America, later this week a voyage dependent on traffic, weather conditions and customs stops. As of late Tuesday, Pupy was traversing the verdant northern Argentine province of Misiones, near the border with Brazil. Standing upright in her crate during the rough road trip, Pupy sleeps and feeds on vegetables, fruit, grass and vitamin supplements. Brazilian park personnel and Argentine handlers monitor her condition during pre-scheduled breaks and through cameras inside the crate. It took months to prepare Pupy for so many hours of confinement. She is making the journey flawlessly, said Mara Jos Catanzariti, a veterinarian and operational manager at the Buenos Aires preserve. Sometimes in the first 24 hours these animals dont want to eat, but Pupy keeps eating.Pupy is just the latest in a series of over 1,000 wild animals elephants, as well as lions, tigers, bears and apes that the Buenos Aires ecopark has sent to sanctuaries abroad since its 2016 conversion from a ramshackle city zoo into a species conservation site. Free from confinement, the animals build new lives in greener pastures. An orangutan named Sandra traded her limited, lonely existence in the Argentine preserve in 2019 for more roaming space and 22 new friends from her own species at the Center for Great Apes in Wauchula, Florida. Already enjoying the Brazil Elephant Sanctuary are five Asian elephants including Mara, a former circus elephant that also ended up in the Argentine preserves enclosure and five years ago made the same highway trip to the refuge, where she now trudges at least 10 kilometers (6 miles) a day. The Brazilian elephant sanctuary offers newcomers space to adjust to life in the wild, regain behaviors intrinsic to their species and socialize with others after so many years often spent isolated and alone. Because Pupy can only fraternize with other African elephants, she will be alone adapting to her new habitat before the expected arrival of a fellow African elephant named Kenia.From a zoo in the city of Mendoza, western Argentina, with a history of similarly poor conditions, Kenia is now undergoing training before making the trip to the sprawling multi-acre refuge, which evokes an elephants natural home. ALMUDENA CALATRAVA Calatrava writes in Spanish about Argentina for The Associated Press, based in Buenos Aires mailto

A worker chats with a visitor at the booth for Exotica Freshener Co, a U.S. company selling fresheners, at the 137th Canton Fair in Guangzhou in southern China's Guangdong province, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)2025-04-16T02:11:30Z BANGKOK (AP) Chinas economy expanded at a 5.4% annual pace in January-March, supported by strong exports ahead of U.S. President Donald Trumps rapid increases in tariffs on Chinese exports, the government said Wednesday. Analysts are forecasting that the worlds second largest economy will slow significantly in coming months, however, as tariffs as high as 145% on U.S. imports from China take effect. Exports were a strong factor in Chinas ability to attain a 5% annual growth rate in 2024 and the official target for this year remains at about 5%. Beijing has hit back at the U.S. with 125% tariffs on American exports, while also stressing its determination to keep its own markets open to trade and investment. In the near term, the tariffs will put pressure on Chinas economy, but they wont derail long-run growth, Sheng Laiyun, a spokesperson for the National Bureau of Statistics, told reporters. Chinas economic foundation is stable, resilient and has great potential. We have the confidence, ability and confidence to cope with external challenges and achieve our established development goals, Sheng said. In quarterly terms the economy grew 1.2% in January-March, slowing from 1.6% in the last quarter of 2024. Chinese exports surged more than 12% from a year earlier in March and nearly 6% in U.S. dollar terms in the first quarter, as companies rushed to beat Trumps tariffs. That has supported robust manufacturing activity in the past several months. Much of this was front-loaded fueled by a burst of preemptive activity ahead of U.S. tariff escalations and an inventory binge stateside as importers scrambled to get ahead of the curve, Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.Industrial production rose 6.5% from a year earlier in the last quarter, led by a nearly 11% increase in output of equipment manufacturing. The strongest growth was in advanced technologies, such as production of battery electric and hybrid vehicles, which jumped 45.4% year-on-year. Output of 3D printers soared almost 45% and of industrial robots surged 26%. But despite relatively fast growth by global standards, the Chinese economy has struggled to regain momentum since the COVID-19 pandemic, partly due to a downturn in the property market resulting from a crackdown on excess borrowing by developers. Consumer prices fell 0.1% in the first quarter, suggesting that demand is not keeping up with supply for many industries. Investment in real estate also remained weak, falling nearly 10% from a year earlier despite government efforts to spur more lending for housing purchases. The tariffs crisis looms as another massive blow at a time when Beijing is striving to get businesses to invest and hire more workers and to persuade Chinese consumers to spend more.Those efforts appear to be bearing fruit. Retail sales rose 4.2% from a year earlierBoth private and public sector economists have remained cautious about what to expect, given how Trump has kept switching his stance on the details of his trade war. Given the events over the past two weeks, it is extremely difficult to predict how the U.S. and China tariffs on each other might evolve, Tao Wang and other UBS economists said in a report. The International Monetary Fund and Asian Development Bank have stuck with more optimistic forecasts of about 4.6% growth this year. After taking office, Trump first ordered a 10% increase in tariffs on imports from China. He later raised that to 20%. Now, China is facing 145% tariffs on most of its exports to the United States.UBS estimates that the tariffs, if they remain roughly as they are, could cause Chinas exports to the United States to fall by two-thirds in coming months and that its global exports could fall by 10% in dollar value. It cut its forecast for economic growth this year to 3.4% from an earlier 4%. It expects growth to slow to 3% in 2026. China has stepped up efforts to spur more consumer spending and private sector investment over the past seven months, doubling down on subsidies for auto and appliance trade-ins and channeling more funding for housing and other cash strapped industries. ___AP researchers Yu Bing and Shihuan Chen contributed. ELAINE KURTENBACH Based in Bangkok, Kurtenbach is the APs business editor for Asia, helping to improve and expand our coverage of regional economies, climate change and the transition toward carbon-free energy. She has been covering economic, social, environmental and political trends in China, Japan and Southeast Asia throughout her career. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Kyrylo Illiashenko, 13, sits on a hospital bed, Monday, April 14, 2025, after being injured on Sunday by a Russian missile strike on Sumy, Ukraine, while trying to help others evacuate a burning bus that he later exited through a shattered window. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)2025-04-15T20:10:46Z SUMY, Ukraine (AP) The humdrum of daily life in Sumy belies the constant threat of death its people have lived with since Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago.Days after Russia targeted the citys center in back-to-back missile strikes, killing 35 people and injuring more than 100 others in the deadliest attack on Ukrainian civilians this year, neighbors gossiped in front of their apartment block as children played soccer in the courtyard. They paused to look up only when hearing the buzzing of attack drones and familiar thud of Ukrainian air defenses before resuming what they were doing. Women put flowers on a site of a Russian missile strike in Sumy, Ukraine, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Women put flowers on a site of a Russian missile strike in Sumy, Ukraine, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More A woman cleans her window after a Russian missile strike on Sumy, Ukraine, Sunday April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Volodymyr Hordiienko) A woman cleans her window after a Russian missile strike on Sumy, Ukraine, Sunday April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Volodymyr Hordiienko) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Mother Natalia says goodbye to her daughter Olena Kohut, an orchestra musician who was killed in a deadly Palm Sunday Russian attack on Sumy on April 13, during a farewell ceremony in Sumy, Ukraine, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Mother Natalia says goodbye to her daughter Olena Kohut, an orchestra musician who was killed in a deadly Palm Sunday Russian attack on Sumy on April 13, during a farewell ceremony in Sumy, Ukraine, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Sumy is only about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the border of Russias Kursk region, where Ukrainian soldiers are defending the last sliver of territory they took in a surprise offensive last summer. Residents say there has been an uptick in attacks on Sumy in recent weeks, though none as bloody as Sundays airstrike, which targeted a busy intersection. The attack in Sumy, which had a prewar population of about 250,000, came just over a week after a Russian missile strike killed about 20 people, including nine children, in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih. Russia said it was targeting a meeting of soldiers, but there is no evidence to support the claim. The attacks on their cities has left many Ukrainians wondering where the next will occur and cast a shadow over the ongoing ceasefire talks being brokered by the United States. The talks have produced only muted results, as Russia insists on conditions Ukraine deems impossible and Kyiv believes Moscows forces are gearing up for a fresh offensive. The attack ended some lives and shattered othersTo the people of Sumy, the talks seem far-removed from their daily struggles.As some of the victims of Sundays attack were laid to rest on Tuesday, Viktor Voitenko, 56, described how he ended up paralyzed in a hospital bed. He was working as a security guard when the second missile hit and shattered his spine. As he spoke, his wife Hanna, 40, lovingly applied his deodorant a simple act he could no longer perform. Hanna seeks to her husband Victor Voitenko, injured in a deadly Palm Sunday Russian attack on Sumy on April 13, at a hospital in Sumy, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Hanna seeks to her husband Victor Voitenko, injured in a deadly Palm Sunday Russian attack on Sumy on April 13, at a hospital in Sumy, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Mention of the ceasefire negotiations conjured a weary smile from her. Its empty talks. They dont move anywhere. It seems to be public relations to me, Hanna Voitenko said. Nothing happens to bring comfort to regular people.Her husband offered his own take: They are stalling for time.Work, errands and planned family visits brought the victims of Sundays attack to the intersection of Petropavlivska Street and the state university on Sunday morning.Asia Pohorila, 20, was working at a cafe and thinking about whether to buy pastries after her shift when the first missile strike left her in shock and bleeding profusely from her legs. On Tuesday, the times 10:20 and 10:23" were still scrawled in marker on her thighs, noting when medics applied tourniquets to them. Asia Pohorila, 20, injured in a deadly Palm Sunday Russian attack on Sumy on April 13, lies on a bed at a hospital in Sumy, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Asia Pohorila, 20, injured in a deadly Palm Sunday Russian attack on Sumy on April 13, lies on a bed at a hospital in Sumy, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More A teen springs into actionMaryna Illiashenko and her 13-year old son, Kyrylo, heard the sound of that first blast ricochet across the center city as they waited for a bus.They were headed to visit his grandmother, but the teenager was more excited about wrestling practice later that afternoon. Undeterred, they boarded the bus when it arrived a few minutes later. One stop later, the second missile crashed a few feet from the vehicle, scorching nearby cars, burning passengers alive, killing the bus driver and causing shrapnel to rain down. Three fragments tore through Kyrylos scalp and scratched Marynas face. Kyrylo Illiashenko, 13, sits on a hospital bed, Monday, April 14, 2025, after being injured on Sunday by a Russian missile strike on Sumy, Ukraine, while trying to help others evacuate a burning bus that he later exited through a shattered window. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Kyrylo Illiashenko, 13, sits on a hospital bed, Monday, April 14, 2025, after being injured on Sunday by a Russian missile strike on Sumy, Ukraine, while trying to help others evacuate a burning bus that he later exited through a shattered window. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Enveloped in smoke and debris, the teen leaped out of the shattered bus window and pried open the locked door from outside, saving half a dozen trapped passengers, witnesses said.I dont want to think about this as a new type of reality for Sumy city. We can clearly see that our frontline cities are being erased, Oleh Strilka, a spokesperson for the citys State Emergency Service, said while standing outside the collapsed facade of the university building, where the second missile struck.The most painful thing for me is our children. Why do they need to suffer? he asked. I dont want our 13-year-old kids becoming heroes. Liudmyla Shelukhina, 70, was waiting in a neighbors house for a haircut. She was standing in line in the kitchen when the windows suddenly shattered.She said the fridge she was next to saved her life. I would have been decapitated.Dont be so dramatic, joked her husband, Viktor, a former soldier. Their son was hospitalized in the attack. A rescue worker rests near university building destroyed by a Russian missile strike on Sumy, Ukraine, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) A rescue worker rests near university building destroyed by a Russian missile strike on Sumy, Ukraine, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More A dead body lies on the ground after a Russian missile strike on Sumy, Ukraine, Sunday April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Volodymyr Hordiienko) A dead body lies on the ground after a Russian missile strike on Sumy, Ukraine, Sunday April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Volodymyr Hordiienko) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More A man cries as he leans on the bus that was hit by a Russian missile on Sumy, Ukraine, Sunday April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Volodymyr Hordiienko) A man cries as he leans on the bus that was hit by a Russian missile on Sumy, Ukraine, Sunday April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Volodymyr Hordiienko) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More No relief for first responders Rescue workers like Dmytro Shevchenko, 31, have to be prepared to head to the scene of the next attack at all times. He was among the first to arrive at the university grounds on Sunday. Most people he found were too badly injured to help, he said, wiping away tears.He holds on to little hope that ceasefire talks will bear fruit. I just dont believe in it, he said.The childrens hospital where Kyrylo Illiashenko is recovering bears the scars of repeated drone attacks. More than 100 windows were shattered only two weeks ago when a massive drone attack struck nearby, said Chief Dr. Ihor Zmislya. As workers cleared rubble from the sites of the missile strikes Tuesday and Kyrylo expounded on his favorite computer games, an explosion sounded in the distance. From the teens hospital window, plumes of smoke could be seen rising from a nearby railway line. This is our reality, said Zmislya. It happens all the time. SAMYA KULLAB Kullab is an Associated Press reporter covering Ukraine since June 2023. Before that, she covered Iraq and the wider Middle East from her base in Baghdad since joining the AP in 2019. twitter instagram mailto

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Tuesday, April 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)2025-04-16T03:08:58Z Fresh from a courtroom loss over The Associated Press access to the presidency, the White House on Tuesday put forward a new media policy that sharply curtails access to Donald Trump by news agencies that serve media outlets around the world. It was the latest attempt by the new administration to control coverage of its activities.The move would block the AP and other wire services that serve billions of readers through thousands of news outlets. It comes after a judge ruled the White House had violated the organizations free speech by banning it because it disagreed with the outlets decision not to rename the Gulf of Mexico.While outlining a new pool coverage policy for small spaces like the Oval Office and Air Force One, the White House also said it will ultimately give press secretary Karoline Leavitt the final say over who gets to question her boss, according to people who have seen the plan. The White House did not return messages for comment on Tuesday evening. A federal judge last week ruled the White House improperly punished the AP for refusing to rename the Gulf of Mexico by blocking its reporters and photographers from covering the events. U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden ordered the administration to treat the AP as it does other news organizations. Reframing who gets access to the president for questionsA day after defying McFaddens ruling and continuing APs ban when Trump and El Salvador President Nayib Bukele met with reporters in the Oval Office, the White House leaked a new policy to selected journalists.For many years, the White House Correspondents Association has run the pool for the limited space events, and each time it has included reporters from the wire services AP, Reuters and Bloomberg. One print reporter was also allowed, selected on a rotating basis from more than 30 news outlets.The White House now says it will lump the three wire services with print reporters for two slots meaning roughly three dozen reporters will rotate for two regular slots. Wire services typically report and write stories that are used in multiple locations around the country and the planet. Even with the rotation, the White House said Trumps press secretary shall retain day-to-day discretion to determine composition of the pool. The new policy says reporters will also be allowed in irrespective of the substantive viewpoint expressed by an outlet.In a statement, the APs Lauren Easton said the outlet was deeply disappointed that rather than restore the APs access, the White House instead chose restrictions over all of the wire services.The wire services represent thousands of news organizations across the U.S. and the world over, said Easton, an AP spokeswoman. Our coverage is used by local newspapers and television stations in all 50 states to inform their communities.The administrations actions continue to disregard the fundamental American freedom to speak without government control or retaliation, Easton said Tuesday night.The independent White House Correspondents Association said the administrations insistence on retaining control over who covers the president shows that it is unwilling to guarantee that it would not continue viewpoint discrimination.The government should not be able to control the independent media that covers it, said Eugene Daniels, the associations president. More access for Trump-friendly mediaUnder Leavitt, the White House has given greater access to news outlets friendly to Trump. That was visible Tuesday, when the first reporter Leavitt addressed during a briefing asked two questions while also praising Trump policy.At Mondays Oval Office meeting, Trump bristled at questions from CNNs Kaitlan Collins about a man deported to an El Salvador prison, at one point accusing CNN of hating our country. He made it a point to contrast her questions with a non-pointed one from another reporter.Despite the occasional fireworks, Trump has made himself accessible to the media more than his predecessor, former President Joe Biden. Cramped-quarters events, particularly in the Oval Office, are some of his favorite places to talk rendering the new access policy all the more impactful. The new policy advanced on Tuesday did not address access for photographers. At an earlier court hearing about the APs case, the outlets chief White House photographer, Evan Vucci, and correspondent Zeke Miller testified about how the ban has hurt the business of a news agency built to quickly get news and images to its customers.The dispute stems from APs decision not to follow the presidents executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico, although AP style does cite Trumps wish that it be called the Gulf of America. McFadden agreed with APs argument that the government cannot punish the news organization for what it says for exercising its right to free speech.The White House has argued that press access to the president is a privilege, not a right, that it should control much like it decides to whom Trump gives one-on-one interviews. In court papers filed last weekend, his lawyers signaled that even with McFaddens decision, the APs days of unchallenged access to open presidential events were over. No other news organization in the United States receives the level of guaranteed access previously bestowed upon the AP, the administration argued. The AP may have grown accustomed to its favored status, but the Constitution does not require that such status endure in perpetuity.The administration has appealed McFaddens ruling, and is scheduled to be in an appeals court on Thursday to argue that ruling should be put on hold until the merits of the case are fully decided, perhaps by the U.S. Supreme Court.The administration has not curtailed AP access to Leavitts briefings over the past two months. It has blocked access to events in the East Room to White House-credentialed AP reporters until Tuesday, when one was allowed into an event that involved the Navy football team.___David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social DAVID BAUDER Bauder is the APs national media writer, covering the intersection of news, politics and entertainment. He is based in New York. twitter mailto

The entrance of the Supreme Court in London, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)2025-04-16T04:18:26Z LONDON (AP) The U.K. Supreme Court is poised to rule Wednesday in a legal challenge focusing on the definition of a woman in a long-running dispute between a womens rights group and the Scottish government. Five judges at Britains highest court are scheduled to rule whether a transgender person with a certificate that recognizes them as female can be regarded as a woman under equality laws.While the case centers on Scottish law, the group bringing the challenge, For Women Scotland (FWS), has said its outcomes could have U.K.-wide consequences for sex-based rights as well as everyday single-sex services such as toilets and hospital wards. Whats the case about? The case stems from a 2018 law passed by the Scottish Parliament stating that there should be a 50% female representation on the boards of Scottish public bodies. That law included transgender women in its definition of women.The womens rights group successfully challenged that law, arguing that its redefinition of woman went beyond parliaments powers. Scottish officials then issued guidance stating that the definition of woman included a transgender woman with a gender recognition certificate.FWS sought to overturn that.Not tying the definition of sex to its ordinary meaning means that public boards could conceivably comprise of 50% men, and 50% men with certificates, yet still lawfully meet the targets for female representation, the groups director Trina Budge said. The challenge was rejected by a court in 2022, but the group was granted permission last year to take its case to the Supreme Court. What are the arguments? Aidan ONeill, a lawyer for FWS, told the Supreme Court judges three men and two women that under the Equality Act sex should refer to biological sex and as understood in ordinary, everyday language.Our position is your sex, whether you are a man or a woman or a girl or a boy is determined from conception in utero, even before ones birth, by ones body, he said on Tuesday. It is an expression of ones bodily reality. It is an immutable biological state.The womens rights group counts among its supporters author J.K. Rowling, who reportedly donated tens of thousands of pounds to back its work. The Harry Potter writer has been vocal in arguing that the rights for trans women should not come at the expense of those who are born biologically female.Opponents, including Amnesty International, said excluding transgender people from sex discrimination protections conflicts with human rights. Amnesty submitted a brief in court saying it was concerned about the deterioration of the rights for trans people in the U.K. and abroad.A blanket policy of barring trans women from single-sex services is not a proportionate means to achieve a legitimate aim, the human rights group said. SYLVIA HUI Hui, based in London, reports on UK news for The Associated Press with particular interest in foreign and social affairs and human rights. twitter mailto

A 52-year-old family matriarch, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisal, kisses a granddaughter in a wedding hall at a charity center that has been used as a temporary shelter for displaced people in the West Bank town of Anabta, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)2025-04-16T03:38:34Z TULKAREM, West Bank (AP) For weeks, the family had been on the move. Israeli troops had forced them from home during a military operation that has displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians across the occupied West Bank. After finding shelter in a wedding hall, they were told to leave again.We dont know where well go, said the familys 52-year-old matriarch, who did not want to be identified for fear of reprisal. She buried her face in her hands.The grandmother is one of more than 1,500 displaced people in and around the northern city of Tulkarem who are being pushed from schools, youth centers and other venues because the people who run them need them back. It was not clear how many displaced in other areas like Jenin face the same pressure. A youth sleeps at a local multipurpose hall that has been used as a temporary shelter for displaced people in the village of Kafr al-Labad, near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) A youth sleeps at a local multipurpose hall that has been used as a temporary shelter for displaced people in the village of Kafr al-Labad, near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Many say they have nowhere else to go. Israeli forces destroyed some homes.The cash-strapped Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank, has little to offer. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, the largest aid provider in the occupied territories, struggles to meet greater needs in the Gaza Strip while facing Israeli restrictions on its operations.Approximately 40,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes in January and February in the largest displacement in the West Bank since Israel captured the territory in the 1967 Mideast war.Israel says the operations are needed to stamp out militancy as violence by all sides has surged since Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, attack ignited the war in Gaza. Fears of long-term displacementIsraels raids have emptied out and largely destroyed several urban refugee camps in the northern West Bank, like Tulkarem and nearby Nur Shams, that housed the descendants of Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes in previous wars.Israel says troops will stay in some camps for a year.People with means are living with relatives or renting apartments, while the impoverished have sought refuge in public buildings. Now that the Muslim holy month of Ramadan has ended, many are being told to leave. Palestinian men talk as they stand in compound of a local multipurpose hall, that is been used as a temporary shelter for displaced people in the village of Kafr al-Labad, near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) Palestinian men talk as they stand in compound of a local multipurpose hall, that is been used as a temporary shelter for displaced people in the village of Kafr al-Labad, near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More This is a big problem for us, as the schools cannot be used for the displaced because there are students in them, and at the same time, we have a shortage of financial resources, said Abdallah Kmeil, the governor of Tulkarem.He said the Palestinian Authority is looking for empty homes to rent to families and plans to bring prefabricated containers for some 20,000 displaced. But its unclear when they will arrive.Seven minutes to packThe matriarch said Israeli troops gave the family seven minutes to pack when they evicted them from the Nur Shams camp in early February. They left with backpacks and a white flag to signal they werent a threat.Shelters were overcrowded. People slept on floor mats with little privacy, and dozens at times shared a few toilets and a shower.The family tried to return home when soldiers allowed people to go back and get their belongings. Days later, they were forced to leave again, and soldiers warned that their house would be burned if they didnt, the woman said.The family found a charity center that doubles as a wedding hall in a nearby town. Now, with the onset of wedding season, they have had to leave. Cars move along a damaged street of the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) Cars move along a damaged street of the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More When the family feels homesick, they walk to a hilltop overlooking Nur Shams.Palestinians sheltering in and around Tulkarem say they feel abandoned. Much of the aid they were receiving, such as food and clothes, came from the community during Ramadan, a time of increased charity. Now that has dried up.Israels crackdown in the West Bank has also left tens of thousands unemployed. They can no longer work the mostly menial jobs in Israel that paid higher wages, making it harder to rent scarce places to stay.Iman Basher used to work on a Palestinian farm near her house in Nur Shams. Since fleeing, the days walk there is too far to travel, she said. The 64-year-old was among dozens of people recently forced from another wedding hall. She now sleeps on a mat in another packed building.Basher said soldiers raiding her house stole about $2,000, money she had been saving for more than a decade for her childrens education. An Israeli military spokesperson said the army prohibits the theft or wanton destruction of civilian property and holds soldiers accountable for what it called exceptional violations. The army said militants fight and plant explosives in residential areas, and soldiers sometimes occupy homes to combat them.The scale of the displacement is beyond usAid groups said some displaced people are living in unfinished buildings, without proper clothes, hygiene, bedding or access to healthcare.Its hard to find where the need is ... The scale of the displacement is beyond us, said Nicholas Papachrysostomou, emergency coordinator in the northern West Bank for Doctors Without Borders.The charitys mobile clinics provide primary healthcare, but theres a shortage of medicine and its hard to get supplies because of Israeli restrictions and financial constraints by the West Banks health ministry, he said. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, plans to disburse $265 a month to about 30,000 of the most vulnerable displaced people, but there is enough money for only three months, said Hanadi Jaber Abu Taqa, head of UNRWA in the northern West Bank.The agencys money mostly goes to Gaza. Just over 12% of the funds it seeks from donors for this year will be allocated to the West Bank. Salha Farhat, 68, center, separates herbs for a meal as she sits with two Palestinian women at a youth center that has been used as a temporary shelter for displaced people in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) Salha Farhat, 68, center, separates herbs for a meal as she sits with two Palestinian women at a youth center that has been used as a temporary shelter for displaced people in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Portable housing for the many displaced would only be a temporary fix. Some Palestinians said they wouldnt accept it, worrying it would feel like giving up their right to return home.Isam Sadooq had been helping 60 displaced people staying at a youth center in Tulkarem. Last month, he was told, by the people who run the center, that they should consider evacuating so children can resume sports.If we cannot find them another place to live, what will be their fate? he said. They will find themselves in the street, and this is something we do not accept.___Follow APs war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war SAM MEDNICK Mednick is the AP correspondent for Israel and the Palestinian Territories. She focuses on conflict, humanitarian crises and human rights abuses. Mednick formerly covered West & Central Africa and South Sudan. twitter RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Nature, Published online: 16 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00967-7Graduate students are not machines. Behaving like one during your programme will leave you frustrated and unfulfilled, says Gauthier Weissbart.

Nature, Published online: 10 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01110-2Complex shapes made of a specially formulated resin are easily recycled into other, equally durable objects.

by Patricia Callahan ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as theyre published. Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has recalled two dozen generic medicines sold to American patients because the Indian factory that made them failed to comply with U.S. manufacturing standards and the Food and Drug Administration determined that the faulty drugs could harm people, federal records show.In February, the FDA found problems with cleaning and testing at the plant in Madhya Pradesh, India, which was the subject of a ProPublica investigation last year. The current recalls, listed in an FDA enforcement report last week, cover a wide range of commonly prescribed medicines, including ones that treat epilepsy, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, heart disease and high blood pressure, among other ailments. A full list of the recalled medications is available here. The agency determined that the drugs could cause temporary or reversible harm and that the chance of more serious problems was remote. However, the FDA didnt say what symptoms the flawed drugs could cause. ProPublica asked the FDA and Glenmark for more specifics, but neither responded. Records show that Glenmark first alerted wholesalers about the recalls in a March 13 letter. That letter suggests that Glenmark pulled the drugs because of potential cross-contamination. Thomas Callaghan, Glenmarks executive director of regulatory affairs for North America, wrote that 148 batches of the recalled medicines were made in a shared facility with two cholesterol-lowering drugs, ezetimibe and a combination of that drug and simvastatin. Thats a concern because the chemical structure of ezetimibe contains whats known as a beta-lactam ring. FDA safety experts pay attention to this because many beta-lactam drugs, particularly penicillin, can cause life-threatening allergies and hypersensitivity reactions. Its the most commonly reported drug allergy in the U.S. Because of that danger, the FDA requires manufacturers to follow special precautions to prevent cross-contamination with drugs that contain a beta-lactam ring, even if they arent antibiotics. The chemical structure of ezetimibe, Callaghan wrote to Glenmarks wholesalers, shows it is unlikely to cause such hypersensitivity reactions. Nevertheless, Glenmark was recalling the drugs based on risk assessment and out of an abundance of caution, Callaghan wrote. He added, This recall is being made with knowledge of the Food and Drug Administration.According to Callaghans letter, the potential problem dates back years. The executive wrote that Glenmark began shipping the drugs on Oct. 4, 2022.In December, ProPublica revealed that the Glenmark factory was responsible for an outsized share of U.S. recalls for pills that didnt dissolve properly and could harm people. At the time, the FDA hadnt inspected the plant since before the COVID-19 pandemic, even though one of those recalls had been linked to deaths of American patients. About two months after that investigation was published, FDA officials returned to the factory the agencys first inspection in five years. Inspectors discovered that Glenmark hadnt properly cleaned equipment to prevent contamination of medicines with residues from other drugs. The federal investigators also noted that Glenmark routinely released some drugs to the U.S. market using test methods that hadnt been adequately validated, according to the inspection report. Whats more, when some Glenmark tests found problems with a drug, the company at times declared those results invalid and retested with new samples to obtain passing results, the inspection report said. The batches were ultimately released to the US market.In their detailed report, the inspectors listed drugs shipped to U.S. customers who had been affected by the potential contamination and testing problems, but FDA censors redacted page after page, making it impossible to know which medicines may not be safe. An FDA attorney said the information was being withheld because it contained trade secrets or commercial information that was considered privileged or confidential.ProPublica first asked Glenmark about that inspection on March 7 after obtaining the FDA report through the Freedom of Information Act. Glenmark alerted wholesalers about the recalls less than a week later, but the company and the FDA didnt tell ProPublica. Instead, a Glenmark spokesperson sent a statement saying the company was committed to working diligently with the FDA to ensure compliance with manufacturing operations and quality systems. And the FDA said it could discuss potential compliance matters only with the company involved. The FDA first mentioned the recalls publicly in its April 8 enforcement report, which is like an electronic filing cabinet for recalls. The recalls do not appear on the FDAs recalls website, which compiles press releases written by pharmaceutical companies. ProPublica asked the FDA and Glenmark why they didnt alert the public last month that these medicines had been recalled, but neither responded. Glenmark is embroiled in a federal lawsuit that alleges recalled potassium chloride capsules made at its Madhya Pradesh factory caused the death of a 91-year-old Maine woman in June. The FDA had determined last year that more than 50 million of those recalled Glenmark extended-release capsules had the potential to kill U.S. patients because they didnt dissolve correctly and could lead to a perilous spike in potassium. In court filings, Glenmark has denied responsibility for the womans death.Since that potassium chloride recall, Glenmark has told federal regulators it has received reports of eight deaths in the U.S. of people who took the recalled capsules, FDA records show. Companies are required to file such reports so the agency can monitor drug safety. The FDA shares few details, though, so ProPublica was unable to independently verify what happened in each case. In general, the FDA says these adverse event reports reflect the opinions of the people who reported the harm and dont prove that the drug caused it.

The Oklahoma City National Memorial is seen Wednesday, April 9, 2025 in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nick Oxford)2025-04-16T04:06:42Z OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Thirty years after a truck bomb detonated outside a federal building in Americas heartland, killing 168 people in the deadliest homegrown attack on U.S. soil, deep scars remain.From a mother who lost her first-born baby, a son who never got to know his father, and a young man so badly injured that he still struggles to breathe, three decades have not healed the wounds from the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995.The bombers were two former U.S. Army buddies, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, who shared a deep-seated hatred of the federal government fueled by the bloody raid on the Branch Davidian religious sect near Waco, Texas, and a standoff in the mountains of Ruby Ridge, Idaho, that killed a 14-year-old boy, his mother and a federal agent. This aerial view shows the destroyed north side of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City after a massive bomb blast, April 19, 1995. (AP Photo, File) This aerial view shows the destroyed north side of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City after a massive bomb blast, April 19, 1995. (AP Photo, File) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Rescue workers dig through the rubble from the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building explosion in downtown Oklahoma City on April 20, 1995. (AP Photo/J.Pat Carter, File) Rescue workers dig through the rubble from the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building explosion in downtown Oklahoma City on April 20, 1995. (AP Photo/J.Pat Carter, File) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More And while the bombing awakened the nation to the dangers of extremist ideologies, many who suffered directly in the attack still fear anti-government rhetoric in modern-day politics could also lead to violence.A 30-year anniversary remembrance ceremony is scheduled for April 19 on the grounds of the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum. A baby killed and a mothers anguishLittle Baylee Almon had just celebrated her first birthday the day before her mother, Aren Almon, dropped her off at the Americas Kids Daycare inside the Alfred P. Murrah federal building. It was the last time Aren would see her first child alive.The next day, Aren saw a photo on the front page of the local newspaper of Baylees battered and lifeless body cradled in the arms of an Oklahoma City firefighter. I said: Thats Baylee. I knew it was her, Aren Almon said. She called her pediatrician, who confirmed the news. Aren Almon poses for a portrait at the Oklahoma City National Memorial on Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Nick Oxford) Aren Almon poses for a portrait at the Oklahoma City National Memorial on Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Nick Oxford) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Aren Almon poses for a portrait next to the memorial chair for her daughter, Baylee Almon, at the Oklahoma City National Memorial on Wednesday, April 9, 2025 in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nick Oxford) Aren Almon poses for a portrait next to the memorial chair for her daughter, Baylee Almon, at the Oklahoma City National Memorial on Wednesday, April 9, 2025 in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nick Oxford) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Aren Almon wears a button with a photo of her daughter Baylee Almon, who was killed in the Oklahoma City federal building bombing, at the Oklahoma City National Memorial on Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Nick Oxford) Aren Almon wears a button with a photo of her daughter Baylee Almon, who was killed in the Oklahoma City federal building bombing, at the Oklahoma City National Memorial on Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Nick Oxford) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More In the hauntingly iconic image, which won the amateur photographer who took it the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for spot news photography, firefighter Chris Shields came to symbolize all the first responders who descended on the bomb site, while Baylee represented the innocent victims who were lost that day.But for Aren, her daughter was more than a symbol.I get that (the photo) made its mark on the world, Almon said. But I also realize that Baylee was a real child. She wasnt just a symbol, and I think that gets left out a lot. A firefighter thrust into the spotlightThe Oklahoma City firefighter in the photograph was Chris Fields, who had been on the scene for about an hour when a police officer came out of nowhere and handed him Baylees lifeless body.Fields swept the infants airway and checked for any signs of life. He found none.He said the iconic photograph was snapped as he waited for a paramedic to find room for the baby in a crowded ambulance.I was just looking down at Baylee thinking, Wow, somebodys world is getting ready to be turned upside down today, Fields recalled. Former Oklahoma City firefighter Chris Fields looks at the Oklahoma City National Memorial in Oklahoma City on March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero) Former Oklahoma City firefighter Chris Fields looks at the Oklahoma City National Memorial in Oklahoma City on March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More While he tries to focus more on being a grandfather than politics, Fields said he has little doubt an attack motivated by radical political ideology could happen again.I dont worry about it, but do I think it could happen again? Without a doubt, he said. A badly injured child still scarredOne of the youngest survivors of the bombing was PJ Allen, who was just 18 months old when his grandmother dropped him off at the second-floor daycare. He still bears the scars from his injuries. Nine-year-old P.J. Allen plays in his backyard in Oklahoma City on April 17, 2003. One of the youngest survivors of the Oklahoma City bombing, Allen says he wants more than anything to be able to swim and wrestle with his friends without worrying about the tracheotomy in his throat getting dislodged. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File) Nine-year-old P.J. Allen plays in his backyard in Oklahoma City on April 17, 2003. One of the youngest survivors of the Oklahoma City bombing, Allen says he wants more than anything to be able to swim and wrestle with his friends without worrying about the tracheotomy in his throat getting dislodged. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Allen suffered second- and third-degree burns over more than half his body, a collapsed lung, smoke damage to both lungs, head trauma from falling debris and damage to his vocal chords that still affects the sound of his voice.Now an avionics technician at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City, Allen said he had to be homeschooled for years and couldnt go out in the sun because of the damage to his skin.Still, there doesnt seem to be any self pity when he speaks of the impact of the bombing on his life.Around this time of year, April, it makes me very appreciative that I wake up every day, he said. I know some people werent as fortunate. PJ Allen, the youngest survivor of the Oklahoma City bombing, poses for a photo where he works at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City on March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero) PJ Allen, the youngest survivor of the Oklahoma City bombing, poses for a photo where he works at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City on March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More A display at the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum shows items from the bombed Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero) A display at the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum shows items from the bombed Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More A son who didnt get to know his fatherAustin Allen was 4 years old when his father, Ted L. Allen, a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development employee, died in the bombing. He never truly got to know his dad.Although he remembers snippets of riding in his dads truck and eating Cheerios with him in the morning, most of his memories come from friends and family.Its just been little anecdotes, little things like that Ive heard about him over the years, that have painted a bigger picture of the man he was, Allen said. Austin Allen shows a photo of himself with his deceased father, Ted Allen, during an interview in Oklahoma City on March 12, 2025. Austin was 4 years old when his father died in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. (AP Photo/LM Otero) Austin Allen shows a photo of himself with his deceased father, Ted Allen, during an interview in Oklahoma City on March 12, 2025. Austin was 4 years old when his father died in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. (AP Photo/LM Otero) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Austin Allen touches a memorial for his deceased father, Ted Allen, in the Field of Empty Chairs section of the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum on March 12, 2025. Austin was 4 years old when his father died in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. (AP Photo/LM Otero) Austin Allen touches a memorial for his deceased father, Ted Allen, in the Field of Empty Chairs section of the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum on March 12, 2025. Austin was 4 years old when his father died in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. (AP Photo/LM Otero) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Austin Allen poses for a photo at the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum in Oklahoma City on March 12, 2025. Austin was 4 years old when his father died in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. (AP Photo/LM Otero) Austin Allen poses for a photo at the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum in Oklahoma City on March 12, 2025. Austin was 4 years old when his father died in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. (AP Photo/LM Otero) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Allen, who now has a 4-year-old of his own, acknowledges hes troubled by the anti-government vein in modern-day politics and wonders where it could lead.Its such a similar feeling today, where you have one side versus the other, he said. There is a parallel to 1995 and the political unrest. A workers life changed in an instantDennis Purifoy, who was an assistant manager in the Social Security office on the ground floor of the building, lost 16 co-workers in the bombing. Another 24 customers who were waiting in the lobby also perished.Although he doesnt remember hearing the explosion, a phenomenon he said he shares with other survivors, he remembers thinking the computer he was working on had exploded.Thats just one of the weird ways that I found out later our minds work in a situation like that, he said. This photo provided by Dennis Purifoy on Wednesday, April 9, 2025, shows Purifoy in 1995 at the Social Security office where he worked in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. (Dennis Purifoy via AP) This photo provided by Dennis Purifoy on Wednesday, April 9, 2025, shows Purifoy in 1995 at the Social Security office where he worked in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. (Dennis Purifoy via AP) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Bombing survivor Dennis Purifoy stands during an interview at the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum in Oklahoma City on March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File) Bombing survivor Dennis Purifoy stands during an interview at the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum in Oklahoma City on March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Purifoy, now 73 and retired, said the bombing and McVeighs anti-government motives were a reality check for an innocent nation, something he said he sees in our society today.I still think that our country is naive, as the way I was before the bombing, naive about the numbers of people in our country who hold far right-wing views, very anti-government views, Purifoy said. One thing I say to tell people is conspiracy theories can kill, and we saw it here. SEAN MURPHY Murphy is the statehouse reporter for The Associated Press in Oklahoma City. He has covered Oklahoma news and politics since 1996. twitter mailto

This aerial view shows the destroyed north side of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City after a massive bomb blast, April 19, 1995. (AP Photo, File)2025-04-16T04:07:48Z OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) EDITORS NOTE: On April 19, 1995, a former U.S. Army soldier parked a rented Ryder truck loaded with a powerful bomb made of fertilizer and fuel oil outside a federal office building in Oklahoma City. The blast at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building killed 168 people, including 19 children, and injured more than 500 others in what remains the deadliest homegrown attack on American soil.___ An unidentified woman calls out to friends as she waits for treatment following a bomb blast at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City, April 19, 1995. (AP Photo/David Longstreath, File) An unidentified woman calls out to friends as she waits for treatment following a bomb blast at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City, April 19, 1995. (AP Photo/David Longstreath, File) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More It was 9:02 a.m. in the Oklahoma City bureau of The Associated Press when a handful of staffers, some just getting to work, were startled by what felt like a small quake rattling the office.Some guessed it was a nearby gas explosion. Then reports started trickling in. It didnt take long at all for the gravity of the event to set in, said Linda Franklin, the APs Oklahoma City news editor at the time. An unidentified man, his face covered with blood, looks at the bombed Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. (AP Photo/David Longstreath, File) An unidentified man, his face covered with blood, looks at the bombed Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. (AP Photo/David Longstreath, File) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More She quickly dispatched reporters and photographers to the downtown Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building about 6 miles (10 kilometers) away. They would become among the first journalists on the scene of the deadliest homegrown attack in U.S. history: an explosion that killed 168 people, including 19 children, and left more than 500 others injured. Judy Gibbs Robinson, then a broadcast editor for the AP whose job was mostly filing brief stories for radio and TV, was the first AP reporter to arrive downtown. I still remember the dress shoes I was wearing, because they had fabric on the sides and I was stepping over glass, Gibbs Robinson said. A lot of people were just pointing and saying: Its downtown. Its downtown. The streets surrounding the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City are swamped with emergency vehicles and personnel on April 20, 1995, after a bomb tore through the building. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File) The streets surrounding the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City are swamped with emergency vehicles and personnel on April 20, 1995, after a bomb tore through the building. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More In some ways, Gibbs Robinson was prepared for the moment. A broadcast training she had recently attended urged reporters to record all the sights and sounds of a news event. As she made her way closer to the building, the AP veteran put those skills to work. I just started talking and watching and listening, describing what I was seeing, she said. Thirty years later, what Gibbs Robinson witnessed is still seared into her memory. Parents reuniting with their children at a YMCA daycare near the blast site. A man whose suit looked untouched from the front but was shredded in the back because his back was turned to a window when the blast erupted. Cellphones were not yet commonplace, but Gibbs Robinson needed to call the newsroom. She entered a bank, where employees had stretched a landline telephone out onto a ledge, making it available to anyone. Meanwhile, emergency responders streamed into the area. That was how I filed my first report, she said.Back in the newsroom, Franklin and other staffers pushed a steady stream of copy and photos onto the AP wire for newspapers and broadcasters around the world. The phones rang constantly, with other media outlets inquiring about AP copy or asking for the names of people killed or wounded.I remember feeling like an octopus that day. I just didnt have enough arms, said Lindel Hutson, the bureau chief in Oklahoma City. Rescue workers dig through the rubble from the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building explosion in downtown Oklahoma City on April 20, 1995. (AP Photo/J.Pat Carter, File) Rescue workers dig through the rubble from the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building explosion in downtown Oklahoma City on April 20, 1995. (AP Photo/J.Pat Carter, File) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More The newsroom was moving in a blur and, amidst it all, a stranger walked through the door. Hutson recalled almost being too busy to talk to the man, who said he was an amateur photographer and wanted to show the AP pictures he had snapped at the blast site. Hutson and David Longstreath, an AP staff photographer, took a moment to see what he had. One image jumped out immediately. It showed an Oklahoma City firefighter cradling a fatally wounded baby in his arms.I thought, Oh my God. This is it, Hutson recalled. On the spot, Hutson negotiated a deal with the photographer, Charles Porter, to purchase the image. The photo won Porter the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for spot news photography and remains one of the most defining images of the attack. A man stands in the blown-out doorway of a downtown business a few blocks from the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which was destroyed by a massive bomb, on April 19, 1995, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File) A man stands in the blown-out doorway of a downtown business a few blocks from the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which was destroyed by a massive bomb, on April 19, 1995, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More I think that picture probably said more than 1,000 words could about what happened down there, Hutson said.By the end of the night, the Oklahoma City bureau had become a cramped hotbed of activity. AP reporters, editors and photographers from across the country had descended on the small office for the story that would consume the staff in the months ahead.For everyone who had a role in the coverage, it was among the most significant event in their professional lives.This happened in our backyard, Hutson said. It took quite a mental toll on everyone.___Following is the story the AP published on the day of the bombing, Wednesday, April 19, 1995, before the true death toll was known.___Car Bombing Kills More Than 20; No Claim of Responsibility By JUDY GIBBSAssociated PressOKLAHOMA CITY A car bomb ripped deep into Americas heartland Wednesday, killing more than 20 people and leaving 300 missing in a blast that gouged a nine-story hole in a federal office building. Seventeen of the dead were children whose parents had just dropped them off at a day care center, a doctor said.Were sure that that (death toll) will go up because weve seen fatalities in the building, Fire Chief Gary Marrs said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, the deadliest U.S. bombing in 75 years.At least 200 people were injured 58 critically, Marrs said and dozens of others were feared trapped in the rubble of the Alfred Murrah Building. Family members wait for word about their missing relatives on April 19, 1995 at the First Christian Church in Oklahoma City, after a truck bomb exploded in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. (AP Photo/J. Pat Carter, File) Family members wait for word about their missing relatives on April 19, 1995 at the First Christian Church in Oklahoma City, after a truck bomb exploded in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. (AP Photo/J. Pat Carter, File) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More I dove under that table, said Brian Espe, a state veterinarian who was giving a slide presentation on the fifth floor. When I came out, I could see daylight if I looked north and daylight if I looked west.Attorney General Janet Reno refused to comment on who might have been behind the attack. President Clinton called the bombers evil cowards and Reno said the government would seek the death penalty against them.Their clothes torn off, victims covered in glass and plaster emerged bloodied and crying from the building, which looked as if a giant bite had been taken out of it, exposing its floors like a dollhouse.Cables and other debris dangled from the floors like tangled streamers in a scene that brought to mind car bombings at the U.S. Embassy and the U.S. Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983.Mayor Ron Norick said the blast was caused by a car bomb that left a crater 8 feet deep. He said the car had been outside, in front of the building.Obviously, no amateur did this, Gov. Frank Keating said. Whoever did this was an animal.Paramedic Heather Taylor said 17 children were dead at the scene. The children, all at the day care center, ranged in age from 1 to 7, and some were burned beyond recognition, said Dr. Carl Spengler, who was one of the first doctors at the scene. Medical assistants Janet Froehlich, Wilma Jackson and Kerri Albright run from the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building after being told another bomb device had been found on April 19, 1995, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File) Medical assistants Janet Froehlich, Wilma Jackson and Kerri Albright run from the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building after being told another bomb device had been found on April 19, 1995, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Reno said that 300 people were unaccounted for by late afternoon. About 20 of 40 children in the day-care center were missing.The explosion, similar to the terrorist car bombing that killed six people and injured 1,000 at New Yorks World Trade Center in 1993, occurred just after 9 a.m., when most of the more than 500 federal employees were in their offices.The blast could be felt 30 miles away. Black smoke streamed across the skyline, and glass, bricks and other debris were spread over a wide area. The north side of the building was gone. Cars were incinerated on the street.People frantically searched for loved ones, including parents whose children were in the buildings day-care center.Christopher Wright of the Coast Guard, one of those helping inside the building, said rescuers periodically turned off their chainsaws and prying tools to listen for calls of help, ``but we didnt hear anything just death.Youre helpless really, when you see people two feet away, you cant do anything, theyre just smashed, he said.The building has offices of such federal agencies as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Social Security, Veterans Affairs, the Drug Enforcement Administration and Housing and Urban Development, and a federal employee credit union and military recruiting offices.The office was built in 1974 and includes an underground parking garage.The bomb was perhaps 1,000 to 1,200 pounds, said John Magaw, ATF director. As for whether his agency suspected terrorists, he told CNN: I think any time you have this kind of damage, this kind of explosion, you have to look there first.More than two hours after the explosion, people were still trapped in the building.We have to crawl on our stomachs and feel our way and were talking to victims who are in there and reassuring them that were doing everything within the good Lords power to reach them and get to them, Assistant Fire Chief Jon Hansen said. Its going to be a very slow process.The explosion heightened U.S. fears of terrorism. Federal buildings in several cities were evacuated because of bomb threats, and the government ordered tightened security at federal buildings throughout the country.In 1920, a bomb blast in New Yorks Wall Street area killed 40 people and injured hundreds. Authorities concluded it was the work of anarchists and came up with a list of suspects, but all had fled to Russia. Television reporters report from the bombed Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, back right, on April 20, 1995, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan, File) Television reporters report from the bombed Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, back right, on April 20, 1995, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan, File) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Emergency crews set up a first aid center nearby, and some of the injured sat on the sidewalks, blood on their heads or arms, awaiting aid. St. Anthony Hospital put out a call for more medical help, and at midday, posted a list of more than 200 names of injured so worried relatives could look for loved ones.It was like Beirut; everything was burning and flattened, said Spengler, who arrived minutes after the blast.Carole Lawton, 62, a HUD secretary, said she was sitting at her desk on the seventh floor when all of a sudden the windows blew in. It got real dark and the ceiling just started coming down She then heard the roar of the whole building crumbling. She managed to crawl down some stairs and was not injured.The explosion occurred on the second anniversary of the fiery, fatal ending to the federal siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas. That siege began with a raid by ATF agents a month and a half earlier.Oklahoma City FBI spokesman Dan Vogel wouldnt speculate if there was a connection. The FBIs offices are about five miles away. Dick DeGuerin, who was cult leader David Koreshs lawyer, said any such link was just speculation.In the World Trade Center bombing in February 1993, a rented van blew up in a parking garage beneath the twin towers. Four Muslims were convicted. SEAN MURPHY Murphy is the statehouse reporter for The Associated Press in Oklahoma City. He has covered Oklahoma news and politics since 1996. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Nature, Published online: 16 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01107-xA genomic analysis of 84 species in the genus Rosa traces the evolutionary history of the beloved flower.

Nature, Published online: 15 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01249-yDocuments obtained by Nature reveal that the Trump administration intends to propose cuts to the 2026 budgets of NASA and NOAA. Plus, AI-enhanced glasses could help visually impaired people navigate their surroundings and the most-cited research papers of the twenty-first century.

by Anjeanette Damon, ProPublica, and Perla Trevizo, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, and photography by Cengiz Yar, ProPublica ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for Dispatches, a newsletter that spotlights wrongdoing around the country, to receive our stories in your inbox every week. This article is co-published with The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan local newsroom that informs and engages with Texans. Sign up for The Brief Weekly to get up to speed on their essential coverage of Texas issues. Within hours of taking office, President Donald Trump declared an emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border, giving him authority to unilaterally spend billions on immigration enforcement and wall construction. He has since reportedly urged Congress to authorize an additional $175 billion for border security, far exceeding what was spent during his first term.In the coming months, border towns in Texas and Arizona will receive more grants to fund and equip police patrols. New wall construction projects will fill border communities with workers who eat at restaurants, shop in stores and rent space in RV parks. And National Guard deployments will add to local economies.But if the president asked Sandra Fuentes what the biggest need in her community on the Texas-Mexico border is, the answer would be safe drinking water, not more border security. And if Trump put the same question to Jose Grijalva, the Arizona mayor would say a hospital for his border city, which has struggled without one for a decade.Although billions of state and federal dollars flow into the majority-Latino communities along the nearly 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, many remain among the poorest places in the nation. In many towns, unemployment is significantly higher and income much lower than their interior counterparts, with limited access to health care, underfunded infrastructure and lagging educational attainment. Security walls are erected next to neighborhoods without running water, and National Guard units deploy to towns without paved roads and hospitals. By some estimates, about 30,000 border residents in Texas lack access to reliable drinking water, among more than a million statewide. For 205,000 people living along Arizonas border with Mexico, the nearest full-service hospital is hours away.Such struggles arent confined to the border. But the region offers perhaps the most striking disparity between the size of federal and state governments investment there and how little its reflected in the quality of life of residents.The border security issue takes up all the oxygen and a lot of the resources in the room, said state Rep. Mary Gonzlez, a Democrat from El Paso County who has sponsored bills to address water needs. It leaves very little space for all the other priorities, specifically water and wastewater infrastructure, because most people dont understand what its like turning your faucet and therell be no water.Heres how residents in two border towns, Del Rio, Texas, and Douglas, Arizona, experience living in places where the government always seems ready to spend on border security while stubborn obstacles to their communities well-being remain. Nearly a fifth of the nearly 50,000 residents in Val Verde County, Texas, live in poverty, compared with the states 14% average. When Cierra Flores gives her daughter a bath at their home in Del Rio, she has to keep a close eye on the water level of the outdoor tank that supplies her house. Like any 6-year-old, her daughter likes to play in the running water. But Flores doesnt have the luxury of leaving the tap open. When the tank runs dry, the household is out of water. That means not washing dishes, doing laundry or flushing the toilet until the trip can be made to get more water.Flores lives on a ranch in Escondido Estates, a neighborhood where many residents have gone decades without running water. Flores family has a well on their property. But during the summer and prolonged droughts, as the region is now experiencing, their well runs dry.At those times, the family relies on a neighbor who has a more dependable well and is willing to sell water. Flores husband makes hourlong trips twice on weekends to fill the familys water tank. Their situation has felt even more tenuous lately, as her neighbors property was listed for sale, prompting worries about whether theyll continue to have access to his well. I have no idea where we would go here if that well wasnt there, Flores said. Its frustrating that we dont have basic resources, especially in a place where they know when the summer comes it doesnt rain. It doesnt rain, we dont have water.Val Verde County, where Del Rio is located, is three times the size of Rhode Island and hours from a major city. About a fifth of its nearly 50,000 residents live in poverty, a rate nearly twice the national average. Some live in colonias rural communities along the U.S.-Mexico border, including illegal subdivisions that lack access to water, sewers or adequate housing.The county has worked for years to bring water to residents, piecing together state and federal grants. Yet about 2,000 people more than 4% of the countys population still lack running water, according to a database kept by the Texas Office of the Attorney General. For those residents, it means showering at fitness centers and doing the dishes once a week with water from plastic jugs. Some neighborhoods along the Mexican border on the outskirts of Del Rio, such as the area where Cierra Flores and her 6-year-old daughter, Olivia, live, still lack infrastructure like paved roads and access to safe drinking water. In the early 1990s, then-Gov. Ann Richards, a Democrat, toured some of the states colonias along the border to assess the living conditions. After stepping into the mud on an unpaved street, shes said to have been so moved by the scene that she told a staffer, Whatever they want, give it to them.Fuentes, a community organizer, likes to tell that story because it drives home how long residents have fought for water and other improvements but been stymied by state and local politics and limited funds.Its going to be an uphill battle, but we are going to keep on battling, she said. What else is there to do? Over the past 30 years, the state has provided more than $1 billion in grants and loans to bring drinking water and wastewater treatment to colonias and other economically distressed areas. Texas 2036, a nonpartisan public policy think tank, estimates Texas needs nearly $154 billion by 2050 to meet water demands across the state amid population growth, the ongoing drought and aging infrastructure. Texas state leaders said they are committed to investing in water projects and infrastructure. Gov. Greg Abbotts office said he is calling on the Legislature to dedicate $1 billion a year for 10 years and is looking forward to working with lawmakers to ensure Texans have a safe, reliable water supply for the next 50 years. Kim Carmichael, a spokesperson for Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows, a Republican from Lubbock, said, Texas is at a critical juncture with its water supply, and every lawmaker recognizes the need to act decisively and meaningfully invest to further secure our water future. The Texas Houses base budget proposes $2.5 billion for water infrastructure.One of the challenges at the federal and state level is that infrastructure needs often exceed available funds, said Olga Morales-Pate, chief executive officer of Rural Community Assistance Partnership, a national network of nonprofits that works with rural communities on access to safe drinking water and wastewater issues. So it becomes a competitive process: Who gets there faster, who has a better application, who is shovel ready to get those funding opportunities out? she said. Community organizer Karen Gonzalez is frustrated that residents of the Del Rio area still lack water access while state leaders focus on border security. The plight of people without water often gets overlooked, said Karen Gonzalez, an organizer who used to work with Fuentes. Even though she grew up in Del Rio, it wasnt until she started to work with the community that she learned some county residents didnt have water.Every person that I come across that I tell that were working this issue is like, Theres people that dont have water? she said. Its not something that is known. Unlike border security, which is constantly in the spotlight.During his inauguration, Trump praised Abbott as a leader of the pack on border security. In 2021, Abbott launched Operation Lone Star, a multibillion-dollar effort aimed at curbing illegal immigration and drug trafficking. As part of the operation, the state has awarded Val Verde County and the city of Del Rio more than $10 million in grants, state data obtained by The Texas Tribune shows.A state-funded border wall that has gone up in the county a short distance from the Rio Grande stretches in fits and starts, including next to a neighborhood without running water. As of November, about 5 miles of it had cost at least $162 million, according to the Tribune. The state Legislatures proposed budget includes $6.5 billion to maintain current border security operations.Meanwhile, organizers, elected officials and residents say state and federal programs to fund water infrastructure will continue to fall short of the need. Last year, the state fund created by lawmakers in 1989 to help underserved areas access drinking water had $200 million in applications for assistance and only $100 million in available funding.When grants are awarded, water projects can take years to complete because of increasing costs and unforeseen construction difficulties like hitting unexpected bedrock while laying pipe, said Val Verde County Judge Lewis Owens. Project delays some of them, Owens acknowledged, the countys fault impede the ability to get future grants.Organizers like Fuentes and Karen Gonzalez said their frustration with the slow progress on water has grown as theyve watched the border wall go up and billions more dollars spent to deploy state troopers and the National Guard to aid federal border security officers.Its just infuriating, Karen Gonzalez said. She said she hopes elected officials focus on what our actual border community needs are. And for us, I feel like its not border security. Sections of the border wall are being built as part of Gov. Greg Abbotts Operation Lone Star on the outskirts of Del Rio, near neighborhoods without access to safe drinking water. Watch video As paramedics loaded her 8-year-old son into a helicopter in the Arizona border town of Douglas, Nina Nelson did her best to reassure him. Days earlier, Jacob and his father had been riding ATVs on their ranch in far southeastern Arizona, along the U.S.-Mexico border. Dust irritated Jacobs lungs, and over the next few days his breathing deteriorated until Nelson could see him fight for every breath.He needed care that isnt available in Douglas, a town of about 15,000. And he would have to make the trip without her.Buddy, youre gonna be OK, she recalled telling him. She knew it would take more than twice as long to drive the 120 miles to Tucson and the nearest hospital that could provide the care he needed. Im gonna be racing up there. Ill be there. Im gonna find you, she said.Douglas lost its hospital nearly a decade ago. Southeast Arizona Medical Center had struggled financially for years and by 2015 was staffed by out-of-state doctors. When it ran afoul of federal rules too many times, jeopardizing patient safety, the government pulled its ability to bill Medicare and Medicaid and it closed within a week. As her sons breathing took a turn for the worse, Nelson considered the variables everyone in Douglas confronts in a medical emergency. Should she go to the towns stand-alone emergency room, which treats only the most basic maladies? Drive the half hour to Bisbee or an hour to Sierra Vista for slightly higher levels of care? Or could Jacob endure the two hours it takes to drive to Tucson?That is the kind of game you play: How much time do I think I have? Nelson said. Nina Nelsons son Jacob has been transported twice by helicopter to get medical care because Douglas lacks a full-service hospital. Arizona hasnt been as aggressive as Texas in funding border security. But when concerns about the border surge, money often follows.In 2021, the state created the Border Security Fund and allocated $55 million to it. A year later, then-Gov. Doug Ducey asked state lawmakers for $50 million for border security. They gave him more than 10 times that amount, including $335 million for a border wall. The measure was proposed by Sen. David Gowan, a Republican who represents Douglas. In October 2022, crews began stacking shipping containers along the border in Cochise County, where Douglas is located. Gowans spokesperson said he wasnt available for comment.The container wall wasnt effective. Migrants slipped through gaps between containers, and a section toppled over. When the federal government sued, claiming the construction was trespassing on federal land, Ducey had the container wall removed.The cost of erecting, then disassembling the wall: $197 million. (The state recouped about $1.4 million by selling the containers.)Daniel Scarpinato, Duceys former chief of staff, said border security is a significant issue for nearby communities and requires resources, especially given the failures of the federal government. He noted that the Ducey administration didnt ignore other needs in the area, including spending to attract doctors to rural Arizona. But we will make no apologies for prioritizing public safety and security at our border, he said. Southeast Arizona Medical Center closed in 2015, leaving the Douglas area without a full-service hospital. Grijalva, a Douglas native, was sworn in as mayor in December with a list of needs he is determined to make progress on: a community center, more food assistance for the growing number of hungry residents and a hospital. Money the state spent on the container wall wouldve been better used on those projects, he said. I appreciate Doug Ducey trying that, but those resources could have gone into the community, he said.The median income in Douglas is $39,000, about half the states median income, and almost a third of the towns residents live in poverty. A shrinking tax base makes it difficult for Douglas to provide basic services. The town doesnt have enough money for street repairs, let alone to reopen a hospital. The backlog of repaving projects has climbed to $67 million, while Douglas nets only $400,000 a year for street improvements. Money for wall construction or National Guard units gives a short-term boost to the economy, but those efforts can also interfere with the economic lifeblood of towns like Douglas: cross-border traffic.Both Trump and Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, have deployed hundreds of guard members and active military personnel to the border. None have shown up in Douglas yet, Grijalva said. When they do, theyll spend money. But a couple dozen troops dont compare to the 3.6 million people who cross the border each year. The Walmart in Douglas, a stones throw from the port of entry, is packed daily with shoppers from Agua Prieta, Sonora, Grijalva said. More troops on both sides of the port bottleneck traffic and raise peoples fears of being detained, which may discourage them from crossing, even when they are doing so legally, he said.Shortly after Trumps inauguration, Grijalva declared a state of emergency, which could make the city eligible for federal aid if its economy takes a hit. I know the executive orders didnt do anything to stop the legal immigration, but its the perception, Grijalva said. If our economy dips in any way, they could give us some funding. Douglas new mayor, Jose Grijalva, declared a state of emergency in January over concerns that Trumps executive orders on border security and immigration will harm the border towns fragile economy. Attracting a new hospital is a longer-term effort. Construction alone could cost upwards of $75 million. But then it would have to be staffed. In its final years, the hospital in Douglas suffered from the shortage of health care professionals plaguing much of rural America. The year it closed, it had no onsite physicians, said Dr. Dan Derksen, director of the Arizona Center for Rural Health. The state has programs to address that problem, including helping doctors in rural areas repay school loans. But the shortage has persisted. If a hospital were to open again in Douglas, it could cost as much as $775,000 to launch a residency program there, according to Derksen and Dr. Conrad Clemens, who heads graduate medical education for the University of Arizona.Theres policy strategies that you can do at the state level that help, but theres no single strategy that is a cure-all, Derksen said. You have to do a variety of strategies.Border security funding, on the other hand, is easier to get.Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels is known for his aggressive border enforcement activities. His office soaks up state and federal grants to help with drug interdiction, human trafficking and surveillance equipment on the border. The state also awarded him $20 million for a new jail and $5 million to open a border security operations center, a base for various agencies enforcing the border, in Sierra Vista, about an hour from Douglas.At its grand opening in November, Dannels said all he had to do was ask for the money.I was speaking with Gov. Ducey and the governor asked me, What do you guys need? Dannels said. I said, We need a collective center that drives actions. Shortly after, the plan came together, he said.However, if Cochise Regional Hospital were still open, Dannels office would have one less security concern. The abandoned building, which is deteriorating in an isolated pocket of desert on the outskirts of Douglas, is a common waypoint for smugglers. Lexi Churchill of ProPublica and The Texas Tribune and Dan Keemahill of The Texas Tribune contributed research.

This is a locator map of Israel and the Palestinian Territories. (AP Photo)2025-04-16T07:44:48Z JERUSALEM (AP) Israels defense minister said Wednesday that troops will remain in so-called security zones in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Syria indefinitely, remarks that could further complicate talks with Hamas over a ceasefire and hostage release.Israeli forces have taken over more than half of Gaza in a renewed campaign to pressure Hamas to release hostages after Israel ended their ceasefire last month. Israel has also refused to withdraw from some areas in Lebanon following a ceasefire with the Hezbollah militant group last year, and it seized a buffer zone in southern Syria after rebels overthrew President Bashar Assad in December.Unlike in the past, the (Israeli military) is not evacuating areas that have been cleared and seized, Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement. The military will remain in the security zones as a buffer between the enemy and (Israeli) communities in any temporary or permanent situation in Gaza as in Lebanon and Syria. The Palestinians and both neighboring countries view the presence of Israeli troops as military occupation in violation of international law. Hamas has said it will not release dozens of remaining hostages without a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a lasting ceasefire. They promised that the hostages come first. In practice, Israel is choosing to seize territory before the hostages, the main organization representing families of the hostages said in a statement. There is one solution that is desirable and feasible, and that is the release of all the hostages at once as part of an agreement, even at the cost of ending the war, it said.Israel says it must maintain control of what it refers to as security zones to prevent a repeat of Hamas Oct. 7, 2023 attack, in which thousands of militants stormed into southern Israel from Gaza, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Israels offensive has killed over 51,000 Palestinians, according to Gazas Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants but says women and children make up more than half of the dead. Israel says it has killed some 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.Israels bombardment and ground operations have left vast areas of the territory uninhabitable and have displaced around 90% of the population of roughly 2 million Palestinians. Many have been displaced multiple times, and hundreds of thousands are crammed into squalid tent camps with dwindling food after Israel sealed off the territory from all imports more than a month ago.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to annihilate Hamas and return the 59 hostages still in Gaza 24 of whom are believed to be alive. He has said that Israel will then implement U.S. President Donald Trumps proposal for the resettlement of much of Gazas population in other countries through what Netanyahu refers to as voluntary emigration.Palestinians and Arab countries have universally rejected Trumps proposal, which human rights experts say would likely violate international law. Palestinians in Gaza say they dont want to leave, and fear another mass expulsion like the one that occurred during the war surrounding Israels creation in 1948. The Trump administration, which took credit for helping to broker the ceasefire that took hold in January, has since expressed full support for Israels decision to end it and to cut off all humanitarian aid. Trumps Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, has been trying to broker a new ceasefire agreement more favorable to Israel but those efforts appear to have made little progress.Netanyahu helms the most nationalist and religious government in Israels history, and his coalition partners have called for the reestablishment of Jewish settlements in Gaza. Israel withdrew its forces from Gaza and dismantled its settlements there in 2005, but it maintained control of most of Gazas land border, coastline and airspace, and joined Egypt in imposing a blockade on the territory after Hamas seized power in 2007. Israel seized Gaza, east Jerusalem and the West Bank territories the Palestinians want for a future state in the 1967 Mideast war. It also captured the Golan Heights from Syria in that conflict and annexed it in a move not recognized by any country except for the United States.___Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip.___Follow APs war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr speaks during a Make Indiana Healthy Again initiative event in Indianapolis, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)2025-04-16T04:02:32Z WASHINGTON (AP) As measles outbreaks popped up across the U.S. this winter, pediatricians waited for the nations public health agency to send a routine, but important, letter that outlines how they could help stop the spread of the illness. It wasnt until last week after the number of cases grew to more than 700, and a second young child in Texas had died from a measles infection that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finally issued its correspondence. The delay of that letter may seem minor. But it is one in a string of missteps that more than a dozen doctors, nurses and public health officials interviewed by The Associated Press identified in the Trump administrations response to the outbreak. Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s efforts to contain an epidemic in a tight-knit, religious community in West Texas have run counter to established public health strategies deployed to end past epidemics. What we are lacking now is one, clear strong voice from the federal to the state to the local saying that the vaccine is the only thing that will prevent measles, said Patricia Stinchfield, a nurse and infectious disease expert who helped stop a 2017 measles outbreak in Minnesotas Somali community. An extremely unusual approach to the outbreak Behind the scenes, Kennedy has not been regularly briefed in person on the outbreak by his own infectious disease experts at the CDC at least through March 21, according to Kevin Griffis, a career staffer who worked as the agencys communications director until he resigned that day. Even after the measles claimed its first young Texas victim in late February, Kennedy had still not been briefed by CDC staff, Griffis said. His account was confirmed by a second former federal health official, who resigned at the end of February. A spokesperson for Kennedy did not answer specific written questions about how he had been briefed or his communications with CDC staff. The spokesperson said the CDC activated an Atlanta-based response in early February to provide overall guidance on measles testing and vaccination strategy. An on-the-ground team was deployed to West Texas throughout most of March and withdrawn on April 1.It was a joint decision between state and federal officials to send the team home, CDC spokesman Jason McDonald said. Another team of seven was dispatched back to the region this week. In previous administrations, health secretaries held weekly briefings with CDC staff, lasting between 25 and 30 minutes, during infectious disease outbreaks, both former HHS officials said. Kennedy, instead, received updates on paper or through email, Griffis said. That is extremely unusual, said Griffis, who sat in on such briefings with the previous health secretary and said that none were held for Kennedy during his first month on the job. Ive never seen that before.In another irregularity, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the nations largest network of pediatricians, has not been tapped to work with the CDC on the outbreak, according to the organizations officials. Historically, the CDC and AAP have convened for monthly or biweekly briefings during outbreaks to share updates, which include details about what doctors are seeing and questions theyre fielding from parents in exam rooms. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss the health departments response. The only updates provided widely to pediatricians by the CDC have come from a health alert network update sent on March 7, a week after the first U.S. measles death in a decade, and the letter sent to providers last week, which, according to the pediatric academy officials, was late in the outbreak. Kennedy praised the CDC on Tuesday during an event in Indianapolis, saying it had done a very good job controlling the measles outbreak. Kennedy endorses vaccines, but still raises safety doubtsKennedys inconsistent and unclear message on the measles vaccines has also made the outbreaks difficult to contain, experts say.He has occasionally endorsed the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine as effective, but also continues to raise safety concerns about the shots in other statements. In a CBS interview last week, he claimed the vaccines were not safety tested. That approach has been the biggest flaw of the governments response, said Dr. Carlos del Rio, the president of the Infectious Disease Society of America. Imagine if the captain of the Titanic had told you that you need to be careful about lifeboats and think about other opportunities, del Rio said. Trials were conducted on thousands of children before the vaccine was approved for use in the 1960s. The federal government has since used medical records to continue to monitor for side effects from use in millions of people since. Health secretaries have typically delivered a clear message urging the public to get vaccinated during outbreaks, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, a former deputy director at the CDC who retired after 33 years at the agency in 2021. President Donald Trump and his first-term health secretary, Alex Azar, urged people to get shots during news conferences in 2019, when measles ripped through Brooklyn and infected more than 1,200 nationwide. You dont necessarily need the secretary of health to attend a funeral, OK, but you dont want to have mixed messages on vaccines, Schuchat said. Someone in a federal building in Washington can do a lot of harm from the way that they are messaging.Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also quiet on vaccinesLocal leaders have largely been left alone to urge the public to take up vaccinations.Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, has not urged the public to get vaccinated, either. He has not held any news conferences about the outbreak and posted just once on social media about measles since January. Any statements about the illnesses, which have also put 56 people in the hospital at some point, have been left to his aides.Abbotts office did not respond to questions about his response to the outbreak. Governors in other states have responded more forcefully to the growing measles case count. Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, a Democrat and a doctor, made front page news last week after urging Hawaiians to take up vaccines when the state recorded its first measles case in a year. Ahead of a busy travel week for the Easter holiday, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, a Republican, unequivocally called on people to vaccinate themselves and their children. There are no known measles cases in Nebraska, but an outbreak is active in neighboring Kansas. If youre not vaccinated, youre going to get measles, Pillen said last week.Those types of statements are important for the public to hear leaders say from the top down, said Dr. Oxiris Barbot, who was New York Citys health commissioner during the 2019 measles outbreak. Barbot worked with local rabbis, as well as doctors and nurses in the Jewish community, to send messages that encouraged vaccine uptake. Calls from Trump and Azar, who urged the public to vaccinate, helped her make the case, too. When national leaders distance themselves from that message, she said it starts to erode the effectiveness of people who are trying to convey those messages at the local level. ___Associated Press writers Paul Weber in Austin, Texas, Devi Shastri in Milwaukee and Margery Beck in Omaha contributed to this report. AMANDA SEITZ Seitz is an Associated Press reporter covering federal health care policy. She is based in Washington, D.C. twitter mailto

Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the deputy head of the military council speaks at a ceremony in the capital Khartoum, Sudan, on Aug. 4, 2019. (AP Photo, File)2025-04-16T08:27:10Z CAIRO (AP) A notorious paramilitary group fighting against the Sudanese military announced that it was forming a rival government, which will rule parts of the country controlled by the group including the western Darfur region where the United Nations says recent attacks by the group have killed over 400 people.Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the Rapid Support Forces, announced the move in a speech on Tuesday as the northeastern African nation marked two years of civil war.On this anniversary, we proudly declare the establishment of the Government of Peace and Unity, Dagalo said in a recorded speech, adding that other groups have joined the RSF-led administration, including a faction of the Sudans Liberation Movement, which controls parts of Kordofan region.Dagalo, who is sanctioned by the U.S. over accusations that his forces committed genocide in Darfur, said that he and his allies were also establishing a 15-member Presidential Council representing all of Sudans regions. The move came as the RSF suffered multiple battlefield setbacks, losing the capital, Khartoum and other urban cities in recent months. The paramilitary group has since regrouped in its stronghold in the sprawling region of Darfur. It raises concerns that Sudan is heading towards partition, or a prolonged conflict like that one in neighboring Libya where two rival administrations have been fighting for power for over a decade. The nation of South Sudan won independence from Sudan in a 2011 referendum that followed a war in which Janjaweed militias, a predecessor to the RSF, fought on behalf of the government. The Janjaweed were accused of mass killings, rapes and other atrocities.Many countries, including the U.S., have rejected the RSF efforts to establish an administration in areas they control.Attempts to establish a parallel government are unhelpful for peace & security for the country, and risk further instability & de facto partition of the country, the State Departments Bureau of African Affairs posted on X in March when the RSF and its allies signed what they called transitional constitution in a Kenya-hosted conference. Sudan was plunged into chaos on April 15, 2023 when simmering tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open warfare across the country.Since then, at least 24,000 people have been killed, though the number is likely far higher. The war has driven about 13 million people from their homes, including 4 million who have crossed into neighboring countries, and pushed parts of the country into famine.The fighting has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in Darfur, according to the U.N. and international rights groups.Dagalos announcement has come a few days after his forces and allied militias rampaged through two famine-hit camps, which shelter some 700,000 Sudanese who fled their homes, in North Darfur province.The multi-day attack on the Zamzam and Abu Shouk camps killed more than 400 people, including 12 aid workers and dozens of children, the U.N. humanitarian office said, citing local sources.U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Tuesday the attack forced up to 400,000 people to flee the Zamzam camp in recent days.He said the camp has become inaccessible after the RSF and its allied militias took control of it, restricting the movement of those remaining, especially young people. SAMY MAGDY Magdy is a Middle East reporter for The Associated Press, based in Cairo. He focuses on conflict, migration and human rights abuses. twitter facebook mailto

Nature, Published online: 16 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00721-zInked scientists choose scientific images to mark career accomplishments and illustrate their research passion.

Nature, Published online: 16 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01142-8Investors and the public should know what quantum devices can and, more importantly, cant do.

Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks with reporters at the White House, Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)2025-04-16T12:39:23Z WASHINGTON (AP) The Trump administration announced a lawsuit Wednesday against Maines education department for not complying with the governments push to ban transgender athletes in girls sports, escalating a dispute over whether the state is abiding by a federal law that bars discrimination in education based on sex.The lawsuit follows weeks of feuding between the Republican administration and Democratic Gov. Janet Mills that has led to threats to cut off crucial federal funding and a clash at the White House when she told the president: Well see you in court. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the legal action at a news conference in Washington alongside former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, who has emerged as a public face of the opposition to transgender athletes. Trumps departments of Education and Health and Human Services have said the Maine agency is violating the federal Title IX antidiscrimination law by allowing transgender girls to participate on girls teams. Maine officials have refused to agree with a settlement that would have banned transgender students from sports, arguing that the law does not prevent schools from letting transgender athletes participate. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

President Donald Trump speaks during the Commander-in-Chief trophy presentation to the Navy Midshipman football team in the East Room of the White House, Tuesday, April 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)2025-04-16T11:56:12Z SUN CITY, Ariz. (AP) Susan Hemphill said shes always been frugal with her spending. But the recent volatility in the stock market caused by President Donald Trumps on-again, off-again tariffs and an escalating trade war with China have made her even more cautious. These days, Hemphill is staying closer to home in Sun City, Arizona, a 55-and-older community near Phoenix. No more day trips to Sedona, the retired union organizer said, fighting tears as she wondered aloud whether she could run out of money.Im so tired of Trump playing with our lives, said Hemphill, who voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in November. Im too old for this. I just really want to be retired. I want to enjoy I dont want to worry. Trump was elected with a promise to improve the economy, lower taxes and control inflation, addressing voters who said overwhelmingly that the economy was the top issue facing the country. But for retirees like Hemphill, the Republican presidents economic stewardship has been defined by the roller coaster of the stock market and fears his tariffs will lead to higher inflation. Some are considering curtailing their spending, such as saving their tax refunds instead of spending them, while others are adjusting their investment strategies by moving money into more conservative allocations like bonds and gold, said Prudence Zhu, a Phoenix-area financial adviser, in an email. While this is often an emotional response, its not necessarily the optimal strategy in most cases.How all of those issues shake out could have a notable impact on the 2026 midterms and the 2028 presidential election, as the center of political gravity shifts increasingly toward battleground states in the South and the West, places like Arizona that are popular with retirees. Like other emerging political battlegrounds Nevada, Georgia and North Carolina, Arizonas population has exploded over the past half-century, welcoming newcomers who have transformed its politics. Though Arizona has moved from reliably Republican to a battleground, Trump enjoys overwhelming support in Sun City, where Hemphill is among the 40,000 residents in a community that sprouted from the desert in the 1960s. Trump won every precinct in Sun City, most of them by double digits. Trump supporters like Paul Estok said theyre confident that the president has a handle on the situation and that things will stabilize with time.Im real happy about whats going on, said Estok, who gets three pensions from the various government agencies where he worked as a union stationary engineer in the Chicago area. Hes confident the pensions are secure.The tariffs Trump announced on much of the world sparked turmoil in the stock market earlier this month, before the president abruptly hit pause on most of them. But the drama isnt over. Trump said the 90-day pause would be used to negotiate over tariffs with other countries, but he increased the tax rate on Chinese imports to 145%. Estok said hes thrilled to see a president tough enough to impose tariffs despite the economic consequences. Echoing Trump, he said other countries have been taking so much advantage of us. No ones ever stepped up and said, Hey, enoughs enough, Estok said, climbing into his truck after stopping at a grocery store on his way home from the golf course.Don Welling, an 82-year-old Trump voter, said those alarmed by the tariffs are misguided. He didnt enjoy seeing his portfolio take a dip, but he wasnt worried.If people would pay attention to what he said when he was campaigning, things would be better, Welling said as he loaded groceries into his golf cart.Some retirees said theyre worried about the effect Trumps federal cost-cutting is having on Social Security. While Trump insists he will not cut benefits, his administration has eliminated thousands of jobs at the Social Security Administration, leading to complaints about long call wait times.Karl Feiste winced to see his investments fall 20% in the days after Trump announced his tariffs, but he said, so far, his losses are only on paper. If that turns around, then I can still continue to do what Ive been doing, said Feiste, a Vietnam War veteran who voted for Harris. But Im not planning on buying a car. Im not planning on moving. Im not planning on taking extravagant vacations. Im wondering whats going to happen to the market because that basically dictates what leisure money I have.He worries his Social Security checks, which make up half his income, could eventually fall victim to Trumps aggressive government cost-cutting.That smarts, Feiste said. Because I cant live if he takes my Social Security.Trump carried Arizona voters who were age 65 or older, winning 52% of this group compared with Harris 47%, broadly in line with his national margin among seniors, according to AP VoteCast, an extensive survey of voters and nonvoters that aims to tell the story behind election results. Older Arizona voters were less likely than voters overall to consider the economy and jobs the most important issue facing the country, and they were more likely to consider immigration the top problem. About 3 in 10 seniors said the economy was the biggest problem, compared with about 4 in 10 Arizona voters overall.Hans Vinge, 62, took a prime golf cart parking spot during a grocery store run one recent morning. A former Republican disillusioned by the partys ideological shift under Trump, he thinks the president is doing too much, too fast, with unrealistic expectations for what his tariffs can accomplish.Were not ready right now. These companies arent going to come from offshore into America, Vinge said. Its going to take 10, 15 years to get these companies in to Americanize everything, which is great. But its just its too disruptive right now.Vinge, who is retired from the Air Force and splits his time between North Dakota and Arizona, said its too stressful to follow the news day to day, but its hard to avoid. When he last peeked at the balance of his retirement account, it had fallen $23,000 in one week, he said.Its disappointing to see something thats been doing well for you, Vinge said. I wish I wouldve invested more in gold.___Associated Press writer Linley Sanders in Washington contributed. JONATHAN J. COOPER Cooper writes about national politics from Arizona and beyond for The Associated Press. Now based in Phoenix, he previously covered politics in Oregon and California. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Last week Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) paid contracting giant Palantir tens of millions of dollars to make modifications to a powerful ICE database and search tool to allow complete target analysis of known populations and to update the tools targeting and enforcement priorities, according to procurement records reviewed by 404 Media.The records show that Palantir is actively working on, and making updates to, the technical infrastructure underpinning the Trump administrations mass deportation efforts. The news comes after ICE agents arrested a green card holding student at his interview to become a U.S. citizen; plainclothes officers picked up a student on the street for deportation despite the State Department finding no evidence she was linked to antisemitism or Hamas as claimed; and the American and El Salvadorian presidents deflecting when asked who was going to return a man who was mistakenly deported to a foreign mega prison. Trump has also called for deporting U.S. citizens to El Salvador.At the same time, Palantir is running adverts at U.S. colleges which say a moment of reckoning has arrived for the West. Our culture has fallen into shallow consumerism while abandoning national purpose. Too few in Silicon Valley have asked what ought to be builtand why. We did.Do you work at Palantir? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at joseph.404 or send me an email at joseph@404media.co.As a whole, extending Palantir's services with intentionally vague corporate-speak phrasing coupled with ICE's recent public escalation of violating people's rights via harassment, deportation without a basis, and terrorizing immigrants paints a clear picture: Palantir's engagement with ICE is facilitating and enabling abuses and violation of rightsrights like due process which, I want to note, extend to all in the US, regardless of citizenship status, Calli Schroeder, senior counsel and global privacy counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), told 404 Media in an email after reviewing screenshots of the records.This modification adds licenses, configuration, and engineering services for the Investigative Case Management system to deploy new Targeting and Enforcement Prioritization, Self-Deportation Tracking, and Immigration Lifecycle Process capabilities, one note on a contract between ICE and Palantir from April 11 for $29,898,236 reads. Another from March 14 says the award was for Modification for Data Analytics to support complete target analysis of known populations and populate lead tracking solutions.The Investigative Case Management system, or ICM, connects to other DHS and federal databases, including SEVIA which contains records about people who are inside the country on a student visa; real-time maps associated with ICEs location tracking tools; and other information from other federal agencies. The Intercept has previously reported that those agencies include the FBI, DEA, ATF, and CIA.A screenshot of one of the contract updates.ICM then allows ICE to search for and filter people by hundreds of highly specific categories. 404 Media viewed parts of the database last week, and saw those categories include a persons resident and entry status; physical characteristics such as tattoos or scars; race, hair, and eye color; place of employment; Social Security Number; drivers license status; bankruptcy status, and location and license plate reader data.The award is the continuation of an around $90 million, five year contract that started in September 2022, according to the procurement records. Records created during the Biden administration as part of that contract are much more generic, such as Investigative Case Management (ICM) Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Support Services and Custom Enhancements. Another mentions an implementation for ICEs Office of Professional Responsibility, which is tasked with conducting independent reviews of ICE activities.The two dating from March and April are much more explicit. Regarding the changes around targeting and enforcement prioritization mentioned in one of the contract notes, a previously published privacy impact assessment for the tool says that ICEs Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) uses ICM in a more limited way than HSI in support of its mission to enforce U.S. immigration laws by identifying, arresting, and removing aliens in a way that is consistent with current enforcement priorities.The terms used in these documents do nothing to further transparency as they raise more questions than answers. Palantir's technology and ICE's use of it further oppressive and unjust surveillance practices and we have to demand better accountability and transparency from both, Schroeder said.A screenshot of one of the contract updates.The phrases on this contract addition are a clear signal that Palantir stands ready to carry out the racist and lawless immigration policies of the current administration, Laura Rivera, an attorney at Just Futures Law, told 404 Media in an email.Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said at the recent Border Security Expo that his dream for the agency is squads of trucks rounding up immigrants in the same way that Amazon trucks are across the country delivering packages, the Arizona Mirror reported.Neither ICE nor Palantir responded to a request for comment.

This week we start with a couple of Jason and Joseph's stories about the tool ICE uses to lookup an incredible amount of information about people. After the break, Joseph explains how he tested an AI service that calls your parents in case you can't be bothered. In the subscribers-only section, our new regular contributor Matthew Gault tells us all about the hack of 4chan and how we got here.Listen to the weekly podcast onApple Podcasts,Spotify, orYouTube. Become a paid subscriber for access to this episode's bonus content and to power our journalism.If you become a paid subscriber, check your inbox for an email from our podcast host Transistor for a link to the subscribers-only version! You can also add that subscribers feed to your podcast app of choice and never miss an episode that way. The email should also contain the subscribers-only unlisted YouTube link for the extended video version too. It will also be in the show notes in your podcast player. Inside a Powerful Database ICE Uses to Identify and Deport PeopleI Tested The AI That Calls Your Elderly Parents If You Can't Be Bothered4chan Is Down Following What Looks to Be a Major Hack Spurred By Meme War

Nature, Published online: 16 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00839-0The World Health Organization accord promotes sharing scientific data in exchange for more equitable distribution of drugs and vaccines.

Nature, Published online: 16 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01178-wTreading familiar ground.