Vice President JD Vance arrives at Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, Friday, March 28, 2025. (Jim Watson/Pool via AP)2025-03-29T10:56:02Z NUUK, Greenland (AP) The Danish foreign minister on Saturday scolded the Trump administration for its tone in criticizing Denmark and Greenland, saying his country is already investing more into Arctic security and remains open to more cooperation with the U.S.Foreign Minister Lars Lkke Rasmussen, make the remarks in a video posted to social media after U.S. Vice President JD Vances visit to the strategic island.Many accusations and many allegations have been made. And of course we are open to criticism, Rasmussen said speaking in English. But let me be completely honest: we do not appreciate the tone in which it is being delivered. This is not how you speak to your close allies. And I still consider Denmark and the United States to be close allies.Vance on Friday said Denmark has underinvested in Greenlands security and demanded that Denmark change its approach as President Donald Trump pushes to take over the Danish territory. Vance visited U.S. troops on Pituffik Space Base on mineral-rich Greenland alongside his wife and other senior U.S. officials for a trip that was ultimately scaled back after an uproar among Greenlanders and Danes who were not consulted about the original itinerary. Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland, Vance said Friday. You have underinvested in the people of Greenland, and you have underinvested in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful landmass filled with incredible people. That has to change. Vance said the U.S. has no option but to take a significant position to ensure the security of Greenland as he encouraged a push in Greenland for independence from Denmark.I think that they ultimately will partner with the United States, Vance said. We could make them much more secure. We could do a lot more protection. And I think theyd fare a lot better economically as well. The reaction by members of Greenlands parliament and residents has rendered that unlikely, with anger erupting over the Trump administrations attempts to annex the vast Arctic island. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen pushed back on Vances claim that Denmark isnt doing enough for defense in the Arctic, calling her country a good and strong ally.And Greenlandic lawmakers on Thursday agreed to form a new government, banding together to resist Trumps overtures. Four of the five parties elected to Greenlands parliament earlier this month have agreed to form a coalition that will have 23 of 31 seats in the legislature.Lkke Rasmussen, in his video, reminded viewers of the 1951 defense agreement between Denmark and the United States. Since 1945, the American military presence in Greenland has decreased from thousands of soldiers over 17 bases and installations on the island, he said, to the remote Pituffik Space Base in the northwest with some 200 soldiers today.The 1951 agreement offers ample opportunity for the United States to have a much stronger military presence in Greenland, the foreign minister said. If that is what you wish, then let us discuss it.Lkke Rasmussen added that Denmark has increased its own investment into Arctic defense. In January, Denmark announced 14.6 billion Danish kroner (US$2.1 billion) in financial commitments for Arctic security covering three new naval vessels, long-range drones and satellites. __Grieshaber reported from Berlin and Madhani from Washington. Associated Press writer Stefanie Dazio in Berlin contributed to this report. KIRSTEN GRIESHABER Grieshaber is a Berlin-based reporter covering Germany and Austria for The Associated Press. She covers general news as well as migration, populism and religion. mailto AAMER MADHANI Madhani covers the White House for The Associated Press. He is based in Washington. twitter mailto

Truth and Reconciliation Commission Chairperson Park Sun Young, right, comforts adoptee Yooree Kim during a press conference in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)2025-03-29T12:11:06Z A South Korean commission found the country violated its childrens human rights by facilitating a foreign adoption program rife with fraud and abuse.The landmark report released Wednesday followed complaints from hundreds of adoptees in Europe, the United States, and Australia, and represented the most comprehensive investigation into a foreign adoption program that sent some 200,000 South Korean children abroad.The report aligns with what The Associated Press documented in an investigation last year. That investigation described how birth mothers were pressured or deceived into giving up their children while adoption agencies bribed hospitals to route babies their way. Fabricated documents and stolen children Many adoptees have grown up to discover their documents were fabricated, the AP found. Some whod been told they were abandoned learned that they had actually gone missing or been taken, and their parents back in Korea had searched for them for decades without knowing they were sent abroad. The reporting showed t hat Koreas government worked to make foreign adoptions as easy as possible to offload its social welfare costs. Humanitarian workers warned in real time that adoption agencies were aggressively competing for babies. Yet Western nations ignored these problems sometimes even pressuring South Korea to keep the kids coming as they focused on satisfying intense domestic demands for babies. The commission determined that the state violated the human rights of adoptees protected under the constitution and international agreements, by neglecting its duty to ensure basic human rights, including inadequate legislation, poor management and oversight, and failures in implementing proper administrative procedures while sending large numbers of children abroad, the commission said in a statement. Adoptees search for truth The AP has heard from dozens of adoptees since the project published, including a documentary made with Frontline (PBS), and many of them asked for help finding their own origin story. The AP has compiled some resources here.The search for many is an intimidating and emotional ordeal. Both the AP investigation and the commissions report this week found that children were routinely listed as abandoned, even when they had known family. Childrens identities were often switched: if a child intended for adoption died, became too sick to travel or was taken back by their birth family, agencies would swap in another child to avoid starting the process from scratch. Those practices often make family roots difficult or impossible to trace. Government data obtained by The Associated Press shows less than a fifth of 15,000 adoptees who have asked South Korea for help with family searches since 2012 have managed to reunite with relatives.Whats next Multiple European countries have launched investigations into their own culpability in abuse in the Korean adoption system. The United States, which has taken in more children than any other nation, has not yet done so.Sang Hoon Lee, one of the Korean commissions standing commissioners, told the AP that a more systemic evaluation would require a closer look at adoptions to the United States, which by far was the largest recipient of Korean children. U.S. adoptees accounted for a smaller number of complaints received by the commission, most of which were filed by adoptees in Europe. The Korean commission recommended the country, among other things, apologize to the children it sent away. Some experts, including lawyer Choi Jung Kyu, who has handled various human rights lawsuits against the government, criticized the commissions recommendations as too vague and lacking specific measures for reparations. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Welcome back to the Abstract!Youve probably been reading a lot about humans this week. Most of the news seems to revolve around humans. Fair enough, we do seem to get up a lot of hijinx.But now, were going to check in on what some other Earthlings have been doing with their time. Some are eating bat poop in the dark underwater caves. Some are getting swole to fight viruses in ponds. Some are literally attracting lightning strikes on purpose. As bizarre as our own antics have been of late, we have nothing on the adaptive genius of our planetary fellows.Then, once youve walked in the shoes (or fins, or branches) of these species, its time to get obliterated. Oh, not in a celebratory way. In a torn-into-cosmic-oblivion way. Have fun!All Hail the Blind Grumpy Poop-Eating Fish HermitSekulovski, Britney and Miller, Noam. Mechanisms of social behaviour in the anti-social blind cavefish (Astyanax mexicanus). Proceedings of the Royal Society B.Sometimes in life, it can seem tempting to retreat from all social activity and hole up in a cave alone for the rest of your mortal existence. I wouldnt recommend this path for a human, given that social isolation is as deadly to us as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. But solitary life has worked out very well for the Mexican tetra (Astyanax mexicanus), also known as the blind cave fish, which split off from its more gregarious relatives about 20,000 years ago by opting for a quiet life alone in pitch-black underwater caves.Eyes? Who needs them? Not the Mexican tetra, which navigates instead with lateral sensory lines along its sides. Friends? Nah. More trouble than they're worth. In fact, according to a new study this week, the Mexican tetra is not just an asocial loner, but an actively anti-social curmudgeona finding that provides new insights into the benefits and drawbacks of various social structures in the wild.The evolution of social behavior in Astyanax mexicanus (AM), which exists as a sighted, surface-dwelling morph and a blind, cave-dwelling morph, provides a model for understanding how environmental pressures shape social behaviors, said authors Britney Sekulovski and Noam Miller of Wilfrid Laurier University.To investigate whether the loss of shoaling in blind AM represents an adaptive strategy rather than a physiological constraint, we examined the shoaling tendencies of surface-dwelling and cave-dwelling AM morphs alongside zebrafisha well-studied schooling species used as a control, the team said.In other words, the researchers wanted to probe whether blind tetras avoid their own kin because they have lost the ability to detect and coordinate with them (physiological constraint hypothesis) or because they simply dont want to hang (adaptive strategy hypothesis). To assess the difference, the team studied the three species under various laboratory conditions, including when they were hungry, fed, and dosed with prosocial hormones that are analogous to oxytocin in humans.The results revealed that the blind cavefish not only fail to form shoals, but actively avoid conspecifics, with hunger further diminishing their social cohesion. While dosing the blind fish with certain hormones made them slightly more approachable, the findings in total suggest that the loss of shoaling in blind AM results more from a decrease in their motivation to shoal than an inability to aggregate. In other words: They just dont wanna.Overall, the study validates the hypothesis of adaptive strategy over physiological constraint in explaining the antisocial behavior of blind tetras. But it is also filled with other amazing details about this aquatic introvert and its unusual approach to life.Blind AM populations underwent a host of morphological, physiological, and behavioral adaptationsthat are believed to have been driven not only by the complete absence of light but also by the lack of predators and extreme scarcity of food in their cave habitats, note Sekulovski and Miller.In such habitats, blind AM feed on low-nutrition organic matter that occasionally drifts into the caves, such as detritus, algae, fungi, bat guano, and the remains of other cave-dwelling organisms, they added. Many populations of blind AM, such as Pachn cave populations, are characterized by their relentless pursuit of food and have been suggested to be insatiable.Delightfully disgusting diets? Insatiably ravenous? Shunning all light? Truly, these are the fish versions of Dracula. And as the chefs kiss (performed with guano-tinged fingers), it turns out that the mechanism that drives their eyes to atrophy is named the sonic hedgehog (Shh) gene. What more could you want? The next time you feel like you need some time to yourself, this is the spirit animal to channel.They Grow Up So Fast (Infected Tadpoles, Obviously)Billet, Logan and Skelly, David. Sublethal effects of a mass mortality agent: pathogen-mediated plasticity of growth and development in a widespread North American amphibian. Frontiers in Amphibian and Reptile Science.Tadpoles are incredibly adaptable swimmers that are highly sensitive to their environments. Indeed, scientists have presented new evidence that tadpoles can fight deadly pathogenslike the tadpole-killing ranavirusby growing much faster to try to stave off infection.A team studied hundreds of wood frog tadpoles in a sample of Connecticut ponds with different levels of ranavirus load. The results revealed that tadpoles from Infected ponds were larger at the time of the initial sample and maintained this difference through time, hinting that the tadpoles in infected ponds can sense they are in a survivalist race against time.Our study provides evidence that the presence of ranavirus affects the growth, development, and resource allocation of wood frog tadpoles, said authors Logan Billet and David Skelly of Yale University. Specifically, relative to ponds without ranavirus infection, the presence of ranavirus infection in a pond was associated with modest increases in tadpole allocation (size per developmental stage), tadpole growth (size per unit time), and tadpole development (developmental stage per unit time) early in the larval period.Locations of ponds (a), dead and dying tadpoles during a ranavirus die-off event (b) Redness in the legs (c) and the body cavity (d) of dead tadpoles caused by hemorrhaging due to ranavirus. Image: Billet, Logan and Skelly, David (2025).Its yet another reminder that tadpoles are blessed with all kinds of inbuilt evasive maneuvers. The study also gets bonus points for the real scientific term explosive breeders to describe the prolific reproductive capacity of wood frogs. Imagine being so good at producing offspring, it can only be described as some kind of pyrotechnic denotation. Respect.These Trees Are in for a ShockGora, Evan et al. How some tropical trees benefit from being struck by lightning: evidence for Dipteryx oleifera and other large-statured trees. New Phytologist.Most living things would prefer not to be struck by lightning. It is, after all, an efficient way to become a dead thing. But it turns out theres an exception to even this rule: The large rainforest tree Dipteryx oleifera, also known as the eboe, choib, Tonka Bean or almendro tree, which may have actually evolved to be living lightning rods.Reaching heights of 130 feet, these trees are not only robust enough to survive direct lightning strikes, they can actually benefit as the bolts kill off competitors and lianas (a type of vine) that infest the trees.Lightning strikes are exceptionally powerful phenomena that kill hundreds of millions of trees annually, said researchers led by Evan Gora of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. Here, we use data from a unique lightning location system to show that some individual trees counterintuitively benefit from being struck by lightning.A Dipteryx oleifera tree struck by lightning in 2019 (left) not only survived, it had lost many of its parasitic vines and neighbors by 2021 (right). Evan Gora / Cary Institute of Ecosystem StudiesThe team identified 93 trees that were struck by lightning in Panamas Barro Colorado Nature Monument, including nine D. oleifera individuals. All nine survived their strikes with minimal damage, whereas 64 percent of the other tree species died within two years. The strikes on D. oleifera also reduced the number of parasitic lianas infesting their crowns by 78% and killed multiple rival trees around them.Not only do D. oleifera trees apparently benefit from lightning, but their unusual heights and wide crowns increase the probability of a direct strike by 49-68% relative to trees of the same diameter with average allometries, the team said. These patterns suggest that lightning plays an underappreciated role in tree competition, influencing selection on tree life histories and tree allometries with implications for species coexistence.In other words, getting hit by lightning is a spa day for these trees. Its also a reminder that, though forests seem peaceful, they are actually arboreal combat zones where trees wage war against each other with ingenious weapons. I mean, D. oleifera has learned how to reach up into the sky to deliberately attract bolts of plasma to zap its parasites and rivals. In the immortal words of Werner Herzog, the harmony of the rainforest is a harmony of overwhelming and collective murder.Welcome to the STAR GRINDERHaas, Jaroslav et al. The star grinder in the Galactic centre Uncovering the highly compact central stellar-mass black hole cluster. Astronomy & Astrophysics.Time to journey to the center of the galaxy. Its crazy there! Theres a supermassive black hole, called Sagittarius A*, with the mass of four million Suns! Its orbited by a bunch of smaller black holes, dust clouds, and stars, all in close proximity! Were sitting out here on the galactic exurbs, but its downtown rush-hour all the time around the galactic core. And it turns out the congestion price in this region is death by STAR GRINDER.Yes, in what may be the most epic term coined this week, researchers proposed the existence of a star grinder at the galactic core. This grinder is powered by a speculative population of black holes that were formed from the deaths of massive stars, known as O-type and B-type stars, that are tens of times more massive than the Suns. Stars that enter this region of densely packed black holes risk being torn asunder by the corpses of the old stars (ie. the black holes).A population of stellar-mass black holes surrounding Sagittarius A* thus acts like a star grinder, with any new star being destroyed by collisions with the black holes, said researchers led by Jaroslav Haas of Charles University. We find that the collisions of the stars and the black holes can lead to the depletion of the most massive starson a timescale of a few million years.The star grinder is basically the stellar version of those gorey scenes showing zombies ripping humans to pieces. Life on Earth can seem pretty chaotic at times, but the universe, as always, is great at providing some perspective.Thanks for reading! See you next week.

Photo by Rebecca Lai, Modern-Day Debate, Anything Goes With James English. Design by Sam Donndelinger.Subscribe nowOn Nov. 5, 2024, shortly after Donald Trump won the election, Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist Holocaust denier, posted to X, Your body, my choice. Forever.Over 100 million people saw the post. It was part of a surge of sexist and abusive hate and harassment toward women, LGBTQ people and other minorities that came after Trumps reelection.In a similar post the next day, far-right influencer Andrew Tate responded to a user who asked for a president that is not a rapist. REQUEST DENIED, responded Tate. In another response to a left-wing influencer who posted that American decency was destroyed tonight, Tate responded by writing, Crying faggot alert.Tate, an influencer with more than 10 million followers on X, has compared women to dogs, believes it should be illegal for them to drive and thinks they should bear some responsibility for being raped. He himself is currently under criminal investigation over a string of allegations, including human trafficking and sex with a minor.Tate and Fuentes may seem like extreme examples, but theyre far from alone when it comes to far-right male influencers, or manfluencers, who find internet fame by hating on minority groups.Adin Ross, who has 2.6 million followers on X, went on a homophobic rant on the streaming service Kick: Youre wearing a pink beanie. Youre a grown man. Kill yourself. Kill yourself, fag. Please die. Nobody will care. Please do the world a favor, he said, at a time when 41% of LGBTQ kids in the U.S. considered suicide. Matt Walsh, who boasts 3.6 million followers on X, has profited from bullying trans kids, writing a childrens book that compares being trans to being a walrus. And Joe Rogan, who has the third most popular podcast on Spotify, has said trans people will cause societal collapse and has used vile language to describe trans people using the bathroom: You cant just put lipstick on and now you can shit in the womens room!Photo by Steven Crowder, B.Lou and Anything Goes With James English.While narratives about LGBTQ people grooming and indoctrinating kids are pervasive in far-right spaces, there is increasing evidence that suggests so-called far-right manfluencers are pushing the next generation of men to more extreme positions that many experts warn are contributing to a rise in domestic abuse, physical violence and even terrorism.These online spaces that are much, much more accessible, particularly to young boys, they're sort of grooming kids. Right? says Gretchen Baldwin, a senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Maybe they're not directly sending these kids to the more extreme dark corners of the Internet, but they're preparing them. They're laying the groundwork for kids to then go toward these more extreme movements.But whats making far-right manfluencers so successful in 2025? And what tactics are they using to lure in young men and boys and keep them watching?Subscribe for LGBTQ-focused, accountability journalism. Loneliness and DespairOne reason far-right manfluencers are seeing such success today is because they are capitalizing off of a loneliness epidemic. According to a 2021 study by the Survey Center on American Life, the percentage of men who report having no close friends has risen fivefold since 1990, with 15% of men reporting having no close friendships. In addition, the male suicide rate was four times higher than that of females in 2022.Weve lost a lot of third spaces, says Baldwin, referring to spaces outside the home and work that we can socialize in, such as coffee shops, malls and bowling alleys. So now the Internet in many ways [has become] that third space.Baldwin says these far-right manfluencers offer an online place that feels traditionally masculine where boys can connect with other guys. Some aspects of these communities are innocuous: Tate provides his followers with workout routines and motivational speeches. He also offers a program called The Real World, that aims to teach young menfor $49.99 a monthabout cryptocurrency and e-commerce, with a focus on Tate's "41 Tenets for men."Screenshot via CobratateBut much of these influencer's rhetoric is rooted in ideals of Christian nationalism, white nationalism and misogyny. In 2021, Fuentes created his own streaming platform, Cozy.tv, with far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Since then, Fuentes has called for holy wars against Jewish people; professed his love for Hitler; encouraged a Catholic Taliban-style government in the U.S.; labeled homosexuality disgusting; and has said women shouldnt be allowed to vote.One of their tools is emphasizing that [young men] are being left out. You're being left behind. You're being pushed out of the center by women, gay people, immigrants, Black people, Brown people, is what they tell them, says Baldwin.They feel kicked while they're down, she says.Men are indeed struggling, with millions of them having dropped out of the workforce and women continuing to outpace them in college enrollment and graduation. These manfluencers recognize this struggle and blame minorities for their hardships. In doing this, they reaffirm a traditional male privilege.If things arent working out for you, then packaging that entitlement and the grievances that come from it and harnessing it against women and against LGBTQ people allows them to take advantage of things that men and boys in our society have been socialized into thinking that they're entitled to, says Rachael Fugardi, senior program manager of partnerships at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).Share Uncloseted MediaActivating Hate That Already ExistsAnother reason far-right manfluencers see such success is because many Americans approve of this extreme rhetoric. A 2023 study found that 56% of fathers aged 35 and younger and 23% of teen boys had a favorable view of Andrew Tate. Additionally, Tates brand of hate has spread to impressionable young boys in classrooms across the U.S. and the United Kingdom. And teachers around the world have shared on social media that theyve seen an uptick in male students repeating sexist vitriol in class to get a rise from their classmates and teachers.In 2023, Tate had become such a problem that the UK government asked teachers not to discuss him in class. Despite this, a primary school had to call in a charity to talk to students after four 9-year-old boyssome of whom said they had no problem with Tates viewslocked a girl in a cupboard, threatened to fuck her in the throat and then made her watch porn video clips. One teacher said that during the harassment workshop, one student frequently referenced Tate, saying: You shouldnt take no for an answer [from a girl] as that shows weakness.In America today, Fugardi says the political climate is only making things worse. We're seeing rhetoric that is hard to imagine showing up in classrooms after Trump was elected, she says, noting that men under 30 were one of the groups that swung sharply toward Trump in the 2024 election, with more than half of them voting for him.Trump himself engages with these manfluencers and made it integral to his campaign. And his actions have echoed the ideology of many popular manfluencers. He has dined with Fuentes at Mara-Lago, has been accused by at least 26 women of sexual misconduct and rape, has been found liable in court for sexual abuse and has said he will protect women whether they like it or not.I think these influencers become a lot more normalized when it is endorsed in the highest levels of American government, says Lydia Bates, a program manager at SPLC who works alongside Fugardi.Subscribe for LGBTQ -focused journalism.A Helping Hand from Big Techs AlgorithmIn addition to feeling emboldened by the current political climate, far-right manfluencers bad behavior is rewarded by algorithms created by big tech companies. The things that Andrew Tate is saying [are] not new. What's new is the platform that he has [and] his ability to manipulate algorithms and poorly enforced social media policies that gets into all of our homes, says Fugardi.A 2024 study by the University of Kent found that after only 5 days on TikTok, users were subjected to a fourfold increase in the level of misogynistic content being presented on the platform's For You page.And a 2024 study from Dublin City Universitys Anti-Bullying Centre found that YouTubes recommended video feature was also responsible for quickly pushing manosphere, or alpha male and anti-feminist, content to accounts. All of the male-identified accounts were fed masculinist, anti-feminist and other extremist content, irrespective of whether they sought [it] out. They all received this content within the first 23 minutes, the study found.Once the user showed interest, the amount of content rapidly increased. By the last round of the studys experiment, 78% of the YouTube videos and 76% of the TikTok videos being recommended were toxic, primarily falling into the manosphere category. The authors of the study described the content as rail[ing] against equality and promot[ing] the submission of women. Much of this was anti-transgender content.YouTube did not respond to a request for comment. In an email statement, TikTok told Uncloseted Media that misogyny has long been prohibited on their platform. They referenced their Community Guidelines that call misogyny a hateful ideology.Not Just A Joke: Irony PoisoningAs young men are fed this content, a key tool used by far-right manfluencers is irony poisoning. [Tapping into humor] helps normalize that way of talking and behaving, says Lucas Gottzn, a professor of child and youth studies at Stockholm University, whose research focuses on mens studies and violence. They hide behind trolling and minimizing the hate by saying, I didnt mean it, its just for fun.One viral example of irony poisoning is when Fuentes did a Rumble livestream in 2024. He told his 234,000 viewers that hes part of Trumps paramilitary wing and if Donald Trump called me up and said, Look, we need to capture my political enemies and torture them I would be like, sir, yes. After he was done with his monologue, he told his viewers, I'm kidding, kidding, kidding, kidding. Dude, listen, we're just having fun with it, OK? It's all jokes. Don't worry. I'm just kidding. OK?Bates and her team at the SPLC dont think its funny. In a 2024 report they wrote titled Not Just a Joke: Understanding & Preventing Gender- & Sexuality-Based Bigotry, the SPLC team connected irony poisoning to more extremist behavior.Edgy humor, the not just a joke thing, is a massive segue into male supremacist content. They're also preying on young men and boys' insecurities in terms of their physical appearances, their romantic relationships, their finances, Bates told Uncloseted Media.Connections to Violence Against Women And TerrorismOne 2023 study by Womens Aid found that children and young people exposed to misogynistic content were more likely to think there should be a more dominant person in a relationship and also viewed hurting someone physically as more acceptable. In addition, the Department of Homeland Security says, The threat of violence from violent extremists radicalized in the United States is high.According to the Global Terrorism Index published on March 5, Western countries in 2024 saw their first major rise in terrorist incidents since 2017, with lone-wolf attacks accounting for 93% of fatalities over the past five years. In the UK, minors accounted for 42% of terror arrests last year, reflecting a broader Western trend where youths account for one in five terror suspects.Subscribe for LGBTQ journalism. On top of all of this, the percentage of hate crimes against all minorities continues to rise year after year.We have proof that a number of mass casualty events, gun violence events in the U.S. were carried out by men who have frequented far-right chat rooms, says Baldwin.And even for the many folks who dont take it to the extreme of terrorism, there are some alarming implications to this rhetoric. Research shows that young boys who are consuming misogynistic content online are more likely to respond to surveys saying that violence [in a relationship] can be okay if you say sorry afterward. So there's a direct link between this kind of rhetoric and real-world violence, says Fugardi, adding that one in three women have experienced physical or sexual violence, often by an intimate partner.What Can Be Done?Gottzn says calling out hateful behavior doesnt go far enough and that we have a responsibility to understand the issues young men and boys face in today's world to combat this crisis. It's very easy to say, Yeah, this [is] misogynistic. But you have to actually try to counteract that, he says. I think that it's good to criticize men, and these influencers, but you also need to understand and listen to the issues of the young heterosexual men who follow them and get into that loop.We really need men in young people's lives to engage in these spaces. And it doesn't just have to be dads. It can be male coaches. It can be any man in a young person's life, says Baldwin.If parents are concerned their boys could be experiencing online radicalization, Baldwin points to resources like Equimundo, which provides resources that give more information on the manosphere. If a child requires deradicalization, she recommends programs like Life After Hate.Fugardi and Bates agree that focusing on the struggles men face is critical. We do need to be addressing loneliness and mental health and all these things, but we need to address that for its own good. And we need to [independently] address misogyny and perceptions of entitlement and sexual aggression, dominance and supremacism.Tate and Fuentes did not respond to Uncloseted Medias request for comment.If objective, nonpartisan, rigorous, LGBTQ-focused journalism is important to you, please consider making a tax-deductible donation through our fiscal sponsor, Resource Impact, by clicking this button:Donate to Uncloseted Media

President Donald Trump, left, greets justices of the Supreme Court, from left, Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, before addressing a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)2025-03-29T12:52:51Z WASHINGTON (AP) As losses mount in lower federal courts, President Donald Trump has returned to a tactic that he employed at the Supreme Court with remarkable success in his first term.Three times in the past week, and six since Trump took office a little more than two months ago, the Justice Department has asked the conservative-majority high court to step into cases much earlier than usual.The administrations use of the emergency appeals, or shadow docket, comes as it faces more than 130 lawsuits over the Republican presidents flurry of executive orders. Many of the lawsuits have been filed in liberal-leaning parts of the country as the court system becomes ground zero for pushback to his policies.Federal judges have ruled against the administration more than 40 times, issuing temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions, the Justice Department said Friday in a Supreme Court filing. The issues include birthright citizenship changes, federal spending, transgender rights and deportations under a rarely used 18th-century law. The administration is increasingly asking the Supreme Court, which Trump helped shape by nominating three justices, to step in, not only to rule in its favor but also to send a message to federal judges, who Trump and his allies claim are overstepping their authority. Only this Court can stop rule-by-TRO from further upending the separation of powers the sooner, the better, acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris wrote Friday in the deportations case, referring to the temporary restraining orders. Stephen Vladeck, the Georgetown University law professor who chronicled the rise of emergency appeals in his book, The Shadow Docket, wrote on the Substack platform that these cases, especially together, reflect the inevitable reckoning just how much is the Supreme Court going to stand up to Trump? In the first Trump administration, the Justice Department made emergency appeals to the Supreme Court 41 times and won all or part of what it wanted in 28 cases, Vladeck found.Before that, the Obama and George W. Bush administrations asked the court for emergency relief in just eight cases over 16 years.Supreme Court cases generally unfold over many months. Emergency action more often occurs over weeks, or even a few days, with truncated briefing and decisions that are usually issued without the elaborate legal reasoning that typically accompanies high court rulings.So far this year, the justices have effectively sidestepped the administrations requests. But that could get harder as the number of appeals increase, including in high-profile deportation cases where an extraordinary call from the president to impeach a judge prompted a rare rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts. Heres a look at the appeals on the courts emergency docket: Trumps deportation order will be a critical test Immigration and the promise of mass deportations were at the center of Trumps winning presidential campaign, and earlier this month, he took the rare step of invoking an 18th-century wartime law to speed deportations of Venezuelan migrants accused of belonging to the Tren de Aragua gang.Lawyers for the migrants, several of whom say they are not gang members, sued to block the deportations without due process. U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg, the chief judge at the federal courthouse in Washington, agreed. He ordered deportation flights to be temporarily halted and planes already making their way to a prison in El Salvador be turned around. Two planes still landed, and a court fight over whether the administration defied his order continued to play out even as the administration unsuccessfully asked the appeals court in the nations capital to lift his order. In an appeal to the Supreme Court filed Friday, the Justice Department argued that the deportations should be allowed to resume and that the migrants should make their case in a federal court in Texas, where they are being detained. Mass firings of federal workers have generated lawsuitsThousands of federal workers have been let go as the Trump administration seeks to dramatically downsize the federal government.The firings of probationary workers, who usually have less time on the job and fewer protections, have drawn multiple lawsuits. Two judges have found the administration broke federal laws in its handling of the layoffs and ordered workers reinstated. The government went to the Supreme Court after a California-based judge said some 16,000 workers must be restored to their positions. The judge said it appeared the administration had lied in its reasons for firing the workers. The administration said he overstepped his authority by trying to force hiring and firing decisions on the executive branch. Anti-DEI teacher training cuts have been blocked, at least temporarily Trump has moved quickly to try and root out diversity, equity and inclusion programs across the government and in education. Eight Democratic-led states argued in a lawsuit that the push was at the root of a decision to cut hundreds of millions of dollars for teacher training. A federal judge in Boston has temporarily blocked the cuts, finding they were already affecting training programs aimed at addressing a nationwide teacher shortage. After an appeals court kept that order in place, the Justice Department went to the Supreme Court. The administration argues that judges cant force it to keep paying out money that it has decided to cancel. Trump wanted to end birthright citizenship. So far, courts have disagreed On Inauguration Day, Trump signed an executive order that, going forward, would deny citizenship to babies born to parents in the country illegally.The order restricting the right enshrined in the Constitution was quickly blocked nationwide. Three appeals court also rejected pleas to let it go into effect while lawsuits play out. The Justice Department didnt appeal to the Supreme Court to overturn those rulings right away, but instead asked the justices to narrow the court orders to only the people who filed the lawsuits. The government argued that individual judges lack the power to give nationwide effect to their rulings, touching on a legal issue thats concerned some justices before. LINDSAY WHITEHURST Whitehurst covers the Supreme Court, legal affairs and criminal justice for The Associated Press in Washington, D.C. Past stops include Salt Lake City, New Mexico and Indiana. twitter mailto

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump walks after a news conference at Trump National Golf Club, Aug. 15, 2024, in Bedminster, N.J. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)2025-03-29T12:58:54Z TRENTON, N.J. (AP) The most important Republican in New Jerseys race for governor this year might well be a part-time resident of Bedminster who burnished his reputation and his brand near the Atlantic City Boardwalk.Donald Trump is the X factor in this GOP primary, said Ben Dworkin, director of the Rowan Institute for Public Policy & Citizenship. His endorsement right now could make or break, depending on to whom he gives it.But in a state that has long leaned Democratic, the presidents endorsement in the June 10 primary could complicate things in a general election, where the winner of a six-person Democratic field awaits. That may explain why one Republican candidate, state Sen. Jon Bramnick, has criticized Trump over his pardons for those involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, and why two other leading contenders have sought the presidents support without much fanfare. Still, in one of only two states with a race for governor this year Virginia is the other the general election will be closely watched for clues about whether blue state voters have been won over or repelled by Trumps leadership. Trump, who built his brand as an Atlantic City casino owner and still owns property in New Jersey, including the Bedminster golf club, narrowed the margin between 2020 and 2024 but still lost the state, and Democrats maintain firm control. Some Republicans think thats changing. The GOP field dwindled from five candidates to four this past week when Ed Durr, a former state senator and vocal Trump supporter, dropped out. Durr made national news in 2021 when he shocked state Senate President Steve Sweeney, a Democrat, by winning in their southern New Jersey district. A furniture truck driver new to elected office, Durr said in a statement he was ending his campaign so radio host and fellow Trump supporter Bill Spadea could defeat never Trumpers in the race. Both Spadea and Jack Ciattarelli, the 2021 GOP nominee for governor who lost by roughly three percentage points to term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, have said critical things of Trump in the past, but both have embraced him lately.Ciattarelli met with the president last week. Chris Russell, his campaign strategist, declined to discuss details of the meeting, but said Ciattarelli welcomes the presidents support if he should give it. A message seeking comment was left with Spadeas campaign.Mario Kranjac, the former two-term mayor of the suburban New York City town of Englewood Cliffs and a recent entrant into the race, said he thinks he is the most Trump-aligned candidate because he never wavered in his support for Trump during the presidents first term.The residents and citizens and taxpayers of New Jersey need a governor with fixed values and beliefs, and thats me -- in terms of everything that I stand for and that President Trump stands for, he said in a phone interview. They shouldnt have to worry that when something happens, their candidate is going to abandon President Trump, which I would never do. Part of the challenge for Republicans is that the value of Trumps support is a moving target. The first two months of his second term as president may have alienated some voters but won others over. Anticipating how much value Trump could add to the campaign when voters cast their primary ballots is guesswork, with circumstances changing by the day. In the pre-Trump era, some Republicans successfully navigated the shoals between the primary and the general elections. While Republicans have not won a U.S. Senate seat in New Jersey in more than five decades, they have enjoyed more success in governors races. The last three Republicans elected governor Thomas Kean Sr., Christine Todd Whitman and Chris Christie all won two consecutive terms. But their brand of politics included business-friendly conservatism, hardly the same as Trumps aggressive populism.Democrats remain the dominant party in the state, but some Republicans say that hold is slipping. Russell, Ciattarellis strategist, points to the registration gains the GOP has made, shaving the Democrats advantage from 1 million more voters to 834,000 more. He said Democrats should not be overconfident in their traditional advantages.I think theyre missing the lesson of the 2024 election in New Jersey, which is Donald Trump did exceedingly well in New Jersey, he said.The weight of Trumps influence lingers as one of the lessons the GOP took from 2024. That much seemed evident in Durrs withdrawal from the race.In his statement announcing the decision, Durr said he was ending his campaign so Spadea could prevail. Soon after, Durr said his statement was not actually an endorsement. Steve Kush, a Durr spokesperson, explained the distinction and, in the process, reflected who the big dog is in the primary.He doesnt want to use the word endorse because he doesnt want to get ahead of President Trump, Kush said. MIKE CATALINI Catalini covers government, elections and news primarily in New Jersey for The Associated Press. He focuses on accountability and how policy affects people. twitter RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Pope Francis gestures as he appears at a window of the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome, Sunday, March 23, 2025, where he has been treated for bronchitis and bilateral pneumonia since Feb. 14. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)2025-03-29T14:10:26Z ROME (AP) Pope Francis has shown a truly surprising improvement since returning to the Vatican to convalesce after surviving a life-threatening bout with double-pneumonia, the doctor who coordinated the pontiffs five-week hospitalization said Saturday.I find him very lively, Dr. Sergio Alfieri said, after visiting the pope at his apartment in the Santa Marta Domus on Wednesday, three days after his release from Romes Gemelli hospital. I believe that he will return if not to 100%, 90% of where he was before.Francis appeared frail and weak as he greeted a crowd of well-wishers from a hospital balcony on Sunday. His voice was waning as he praised a woman in the crowd for bringing yellow flowers. He was able to only partially lift his arm to bless the people and he gasped for air as he was wheeled back inside.Alfieri said the popes voice was regaining strength, and that his reliance on supplemental oxygen has decreased. The limited mobility of his arm was due to an unspecified trauma he sustained before being hospitalized, and that will take time to heal, Alfieri said. The 88-year-old pope was hospitalized on Feb. 14 after a long bout with bronchitis that left him breathless at times, and which quickly developed into double pneumonia and revealed a polymicrobial (viral, bacterial and fungal) respiratory infection. Throughout the ordeal, doctors emphasized the complexity of his condition, given his age, lack of mobility requiring a wheelchair, and the removal of part of a lung as a young man. Alfieri repeated that he didnt think the pope would make it after a severe respiratory crisis a week after being hospitalized, and he informed the pope that a decisive treatment necessary to save him would put his organs at risk. He gave his consent, and then he looked a Massimiliano Streppetti, whom he named his personal health assistant who assumed the responsibility, to say, We approve everything, also at the price of coming out with damaged kidneys or bone marrow that produces damaging red blood cells, said Alfieri. Alfieri preferred to describe the treatment as decisive, and not aggressive, and emphasized that no extraordinary, life-extending measures were ever taken. The Feb. 22 incident was one of several critical moments when the popes life hung in the balance, the doctor said. While Francis beat the double pneumonia in the hospital, Alfieri said he is continuing to treat the fungal infection, which he said will take months to resolve. The pope is also receiving physical, respiratory and speech therapy.Alfieri continues to consult the popes personal medical team daily, and will visit Francis in the Vatican every week.The pope demonstrated his trademark humor in this weeks visit, responding to a comment by Alfieri that the 88-year-old pontiff had the mentality of a 50- or 60-year-old. As I leaned in, he said, Not 50, 40, Alfieri recalled. So his good sense of humor is back.Doctors have ordered the pope to rest for at least two months and to avoid crowds. But after seeing the popes improvements and knowing his work ethic, Alfieri warned that if he recovers so quickly, they will have to put on the brakes. TRISHA THOMAS Thomas covers events throughout Southern Europe, Italy, and the Vatican for The Associated Press based in Rome. twitter instagram mailto

A perfectly executed inbounds play gave No. 1 Houston a 62-60 win over Purdue and a spot in the Elite Eight.

Lauren Betts had 31 points and 10 rebounds as UCLA rolled past Ole Miss 76-62 to advance to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2018.

Christopher Prue, president of the Registrars of Voters Association of Connecticut, right, moves new voting tabulators out of his office at the Registrars of Voters to be redistributed to other towns, Thursday, March 27, 2025, in Vernon, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)2025-03-29T14:51:49Z ATLANTA (AP) President Donald Trumps executive order seeking to change how U.S. elections are run is creating uncertainty for state and local election officials and worries about voter confusion before the next federal election, the 2026 midterms.Election officials were already dealing with the loss of some cybersecurity assistance from the federal government and now face the potential for major changes that include a new voter registration requirement, decertification of certain voting systems and stricter ballot deadlines for many states.In Connecticut, Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas is hopeful that ballot scanners the state just bought for $20 million will be acceptable under the executive order, but she worries about other states.Its not like states have millions and millions of dollars that they can just upgrade their election equipment every couple of years, said Thomas, a Democrat. Imagine people purchased new equipment and now it no longer can be used. There is no remedy for that in the order. Because Trumps order is likely to face legal challenges, its unclear what will be required and when. That means more uncertainty for election officials.I have no idea what the timeline is for things in the executive order, said Joseph Kirk, who oversees elections in Bartow County, Georgia. I really hope we have some clarity on some of this stuff soon because no matter what the answers are, I need to take care of my voters. Order inserts the federal government into state election operationsIn the order Tuesday, Trump criticized the work of election officials across the country and praised how other nations conduct their elections. Trump has long questioned the integrity of U.S. elections, falsely claiming after his White House win in 2016, when the Republican won the Electoral College but lost the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton, that his support would have been higher if not for large numbers of noncitizens voting in California.Trump continues to claim his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden was the result of a rigged election. There is no evidence of widespread fraud and no evidence that voting systems were manipulated, with multiple reviews in the states where Trump challenged the outcome confirming his loss.In the years since, election officials in many parts of the U.S. have endured harassment and threats, a barrage of record requests by groups skeptical of their work and legislative changes pushed by state lawmakers who argue new restrictions are necessary to restore public confidence.Trumps order, combined with recent decisions by his administration to pause certain cybersecurity work and pull funding for a dedicated information-sharing network for election offices, have prompted concern about the role of the federal government in elections moving forward.States run our elections, but the federal government has been an important partner in assisting election officials, said Larry Norden, an election security expert with the Brennan Center for Justice. To be a partner, you have to be trusted. You have to provide consistency and certainty. The last few months have utterly destroyed that. Concerns about requirement to prove US citizenshipOne of the major changes outlined in the executive order is a requirement for people to show documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when they register to vote. That is something Republicans in Congress pushed last year at Trumps urging, but the effort stalled amid Democratic opposition in the Senate.House Republicans plan to try again with the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, known as the SAVE Act. A House committee is scheduled to discuss the bill on Monday.After the executive order, several Republicans who are top state election officials issued statements praising provisions that direct federal agencies to help states verify voter eligibility and citizenship. Their Democratic counterparts have been more critical.Voting rights groups are raising concerns about the citizenship requirement. They say millions of Americans do not have easy access to their birth certificates, only about half have U.S. passports, and married women would need multiple documents if they have changed their name. While voting by noncitizens does occur, it typically involves a tiny fraction of ballots and is more often an individual mistake rather than an intentional and coordinated attempt to subvert an election. It also can lead to felony charges and deportation. Under Trumps order, the burden would fall to election officials to implement this requirement. Experts say that would be expensive and theres no additional federal money to help pay for it.Its creating an entirely new bureaucracy in every single state for the collection of that data, for the storage of that data, and for the retrieval of that data, said David Becker, a former Justice Department lawyer who leads the Center for Election Innovation & Research. You dont wave a magic wand and do that. Increasing risk of voter confusionKate Sweeney Bell, who oversees elections in Indianas Marion County, said she does not expect major problems in her state because it has restrictive voting laws that she says have resulted in some of the lowest voter turnout in the country. She worries, though, about the rest of the U.S. and the amount of public education that will be needed to ensure voters are aware of whatever changes are made.I feel for every other state that doesnt have the prohibitive laws that Indiana does, because its a rough couple of election cycles when changes like this are made, Sweeney Bell said.One challenge is the likelihood that protracted legal battles will delay clarity for both election officials and the public.If election officials are uncertain about the rules, there is no doubt that voters will not understand them creating distrust in the process and ultimately in the validity of the outcome, said Ryan Macias, an election security and voting systems expert.The uncertainty comes as election officials are preparing for the 2026 elections. Dean Logan, who oversees elections in Los Angeles County, said running a successful election depends on extensive planning, a trained workforce and proper equipment.Last-minute changes or unilateral mandates significantly increase the risk of voter confusion and operational inconsistencies and can erode voter confidence, he said.Order could lead to changes in voting machines, without paying for itTrumps order also targets voting systems in a way that could require some counties to change machines without offering additional money to help them pay for it. It directs the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, an independent and bipartisan agency created by Congress, to amend voluntary standards for voting systems to prohibit devices that use a barcode or QR code on ballots, with an exception for ones designated for voters with disabilities.The order calls for the commission within 180 days to review, recertify where appropriate and rescind all previous certifications of voting equipment based on prior standards. Beyond the legality of the order, experts say federal law outlines specific procedures and public comment periods for updating the standards.While there are voting systems that do not use barcodes, the process for states to replace equipment takes time, said Mark Lindeman, policy and strategy director with Verified Voting, which focuses on election technology. Election offices must get approval to spend for new voting systems, go through a procurement process, wait for manufacturers to deliver the equipment and eventually train workers on how to use it.Its hard for any state to procure and obtain and test new voting systems, and if there was some mad rush for many states to replace their voting systems at once, we dont know how many systems manufacturers could supply, Lindeman said.___Associated Press writer Susan Haigh in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this story.

The emotions spilled out of Mookie Betts following Friday's walk-off homer, which capped an emotional start to the season in which an illness caused him to shed almost 20 pounds.

Follow along as we track the first four games of the Sweet 16 in the women's NCAA tournament.

Alan Mentser, in foreground at left, from West Palm Beach, Fla., joins other supporters of President Donald Trump outside the Trump International Golf Club, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in West Palm Beach. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)2025-03-29T16:28:07Z WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) The sun was shining outside President Donald Trumps West Palm Beach golf course on Saturday morning when Alan Mentser got a call letting him know that police were shutting down a road nearby. It was almost time to show the boss a little love.Mentser, 65, and a group of hard-core supporters have spent years gathering at the same spot to welcome Trump when he comes to play golf, and they have the routine down. They monitor flight trackers to know when Air Force One arrives and traffic cameras to see if the presidential motorcade is on the move. Its an intense commitment of time and resources for a brief glimpse of their political hero. Mentser pointed to a gigantic banner showing Trump giving a thumbs up against an American flag backdrop. He said each one costs $300, and he has about eight of them.But Mentser said its worth it at a time when supporters view Trump as a man under siege from his enemies and fabricated controversies. It might give him 30 seconds of seeing, theres my people, he said. But that 30 seconds matter.Now it was time to do it again. The cue was a siren as a police vehicle blocked the road in front of the golf club. Here we go! Mentser said. When he glimpsed the motorcade in the distance, he announced, attention on deck.A member of the group switched the soundtrack on a portable speaker from country music to YMCA, the Trump campaign anthem. The convoy of black cars rolled down the street and turned into the golf club. Trump was wearing his typical red Make America Great Again hat and white polo shit, and he reached across his chest to wave to the crowd with his left hand.President Trump! We love you! shouted Brady Collier, 31, who wore the same hat as the president.It was over in less than 30 seconds. A woman with white hair pulled up shortly afterward with her windows down and a dog in the passenger seat. She waved one middle finger at the golf club and another at Trumps supporters. Someone called her a baby killer before she drove off. The moment didnt dampen Colliers enthusiasm. Despite all the times that hes witnessed Trumps motorcade, he said today was special. This time, the limo seemed to roll slower and closer to the sidewalk, giving Collier a better glimpse of the president. Theres nothing cooler than that, he said. Other than Jesus Christ.Collier, 31, is from Indiana but spent the winter in Florida, where hes doing landscaping and food deliveries. Its also an opportunity to show his support for Trump as often as possible.Jared Petry, 24, has been doing the same thing. Hes from Ohio and is one of the Front Row Joes, a group of superfans that traveled the country supporting Trump at campaign rallies. Petry was in Butler, Pennsylvania, last summer when the president was fired upon in an assassination attempt.I heard popping. I didnt know what was going on, he said.Petry was near the front of the audience, and he captured video of Trump, surrounded by Secret Service agents, lurching to his feet and pumping his fist in the air. I knew he was OK, he said.Now, Petry is outside the golf course every weekend. He never forgets his supporters, he said. He waves at us.The group chatted about going to a nearby restaurant where Fox News host Sean Hannity is sometimes spotted, but something different happened this time. A group of staff members from the golf club came over to invite them in for a meal.Mentser said that had never happened before. They ate freshly made omelets and blueberry muffins and walked out to the veranda, where they could see Trump playing one of the holes on his golf course.The group refrained from trying to get Trumps attention, Mentser said.You dont want to have the president post on Truth Social that I was lining up my putt and my supporters threw off my game, he joked. The whole experience, Mentser said, was tremendous.Its a small way for him to say thank you, I see you, he said. ___ CHRIS MEGERIAN Megerian covers the White House for The Associated Press. He previously wrote about the Russia investigation, climate change, law enforcement and politics in California and New Jersey. twitter mailto

Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola said he is happy at the south coast side amid speculation linking the Spaniard with a move to Tottenham Hotspur.

RB Leipzig striker Benjamin Sesko has caught the eye of Arsenal, Man United, Milan and Bayern. Transfer Talk has the latest news, gossip and rumors.

Dr. Peter Marks, Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research within the Food and Drug Administration testifies during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions hearing to examine an update from Federal officials on efforts to combat COVID-19, Tuesday, May 11, 2021 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool via AP, File)2025-03-29T16:12:19Z WASHINGTON (AP) The top vaccine official with the Food and Drug Administration has resigned and criticized the nations top health official for allowing misinformation and lies to guide his thinking behind the safety of vaccinations. Dr. Peter Marks sent a letter to Acting FDA Commissioner Sara Brenner on Friday saying that he would resign and retire by April 5 as director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. In his letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press, Marks said he was willing to work to address the concerns expressed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., about the safety of vaccinations. But he concluded that wasnt possible.It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies, he wrote.The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to a request for comment. Marks was offered the choice of resigning or being fired by Kennedy, according to a former FDA official familiar with the discussions, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he didnt have permission to discuss the matter publicly. Kennedy has a long history of spreading anti-vaccine misinformation, although during his Senate confirmation hearings he seemed to say he would not undermine vaccines. He promised the chair of the Senate health committee that he would not change existing vaccine recommendations. Since becoming secretary, Kennedy has vowed to scrutinize the safety of childhood vaccinations, despite decades of evidence they are safe and have saved millions of lives.Marks oversaw the agencys rapid review and approval of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments during the pandemic.Marks is credited with coining the name and concept for Operation Warp Speed, the effort under President Donald Trump to rapidly manufacture vaccines while they were still being tested for safety and efficacy. The initiative cut years off the normal development process. Despite the projects success, Trump repeatedly lashed out at the FDA for not approving the first COVID shots even sooner. Trump told confidants after his 2020 loss that he would have been re-elected if the vaccine had been available before Election Day.Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, criticized what he called the firing of Marks.RFK Jr.s firing of Peter Marks because he wouldnt bend a knee to his misinformation campaign now allows the fox to guard the hen house, Offit said. Its a sad day for Americas children.Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf said the issues raised in Marks resignation letter should be frightening to anyone committed to the importance of evidence to guide policies and patient decisions.I hope this will intensify the communication across academia, industry and government to bolster the importance of science and evidence, he wrote. The resignation follows news Friday that HHS plans to lay off 10,000 workers and shut down entire agencies, including ones that oversee billions of dollars in funds for addiction services and community health centers across the country. In a post on social media Thursday, Kennedy criticized the department he oversees as an inefficient sprawling bureaucracy. He also faulted the departments 82,000 workers for a decline in Americans health.The resignation is the latest blow to the beleaguered health agency, which has been rocked for weeks by layoffs, retirements and a chaotic return-to-office process that left many staffers without permanent offices, desks or other supplies. Last month, Jim Jones, the FDAs deputy commissioner for foods, resigned, citing the indiscriminate firing of nearly 90 staffers in his division, according to a copy of his resignation letter obtained by the AP. Marks, who could not be reached for comment, also raised concerns in his letter about efforts currently being advanced by some on the adverse health effects of vaccination are concerning as well as the unprecedented assault on scientific truth that has adversely impacted public health in our nation. He went on to detail the historic benefits of vaccinations dating back to George Washington and pointed to the ongoing measles outbreak as proof of what can happen when doubts about science take hold.The ongoing multistate measles outbreak that is particularly severe in Texas reminds us of what happens when confidence in well-established science underlying public health and well-being is undermined, he wrote.The measles outbreak, which could go on for months, has now spread to Kansas and Ohio after sickening more than 370 in Texas and New Mexico. If it hits other unvaccinated communities across the U.S., as may now be the case in Kansas, the outbreak could endure for a year and threaten the nations status as having eliminated the local spread of the vaccine-preventable disease, public health experts said.___Casey reported from Boston. Perrone reported from Washington, D.C. MICHAEL CASEY Casey writes about the environment, housing and inequality for The Associated Press. He lives in Boston. twitter mailto

Telekom Bonn coach Tuomas IIsalo directs his team during the final of the Champions League Final Four Basketball tournament between Telecom Baskets Bonn and Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem in Malaga, Spain, Sunday, May 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Gregorio Marrero, File)2025-03-29T17:17:25Z MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) Memphis general manager Zach Kleiman said Saturday the decision to fire coach Taylor Jenkins with nine games remaining in the regular season with the franchise firmly in the playoff chase was mine and mine only and in the Grizzlies best interests.Kleiman spoke to reporters after the Grizzlies pregame shootaround for Saturday nights game against the Los Angeles Lakers barely 24 hours after Memphis announced firing Jenkins in his sixth season with the Grizzlies. Memphis named Tuomas Iisalo as the interim coach with the Helsinki, Finland, native in his first season coaching in the NBA.I came to the conclusion this was in the best interest of the team, and urgency is a core principle of ours so decided to go on with the move, Kleiman said.The Memphis GM spoke for less than three minutes, and no Grizzlies spoke after the shootaround. They wont be available until later Saturday at the usual pregame open locker room session when Iisalo speaks to the media for the first time in his new role. Asked if he hopes making this move now with the Grizzlies currently fifth in the Western Conference starting a stretch with eight of the final nine opponents either playoff clubs or contending for a play-in spot helps Memphis salvage the season, Kleiman said he is focused on how the Grizzlies operate. Its still possible, at least mathematically, that Memphis could get back to No. 2 in the West, and its highly unlikely that the Grizzlies will fall into the play-in tournament range. Im responsible for everything, Kleiman said. Im responsible for coaching. Im responsible for the roster. Im not trying to absolve myself of anything. Im excited to see what this team can do the rest of the way, but this was the conclusion that I came to that this was in the best interest of the team and we push forward with this group. Kleiman said no players were consulted about the move to fire Jenkins. Kleiman helped hire Jenkins in June 2019 after his own promotion to executive vice president of basketball operations. The GM also did not answer a question about what he wants from Memphis next coach. Jenkins had been the fifth longest-tenured coach with his current club in the league, behind only San Antonios Gregg Popovich, Miamis Erik Spoelstra, Golden States Steve Kerr and Denvers Michael Malone all of them having won NBA titles. In this season with a maturing roster, the Grizzlies results against the NBAs best werent good.The Grizzlies were 0-4 against Oklahoma City, losing those games by 24, 13, 17 and 21 points. Theyre 3-6 so far this season against Houston, Denver and the Lakers, the next three teams ahead of them in the West. All season, the Grizzlies were 33-9 against teams at or below .500 and 11-20 against winning clubs.Jenkins, with a career record of 250-214, was the winningest coach in franchise history for a team that launched in 1995. He had the longest tenure for a Grizzlies coach since Lionel Hollins took over in the 2008-09 season before his contract was not renewed after reaching the Western Finals in 2013 with a 56-26 record. But Jenkins has been criticized for continuing to use too many players at a point in the schedule when the rotation needed to be tightened and questioned for his late-game timeouts and other decisions. Asked about reports of two-time All-Star Ja Morants frustration over the Memphis offense, Kleiman repeated this was his decision.Morant, who has missed the last six games with a left hamstring strain, now is listed as questionable for Saturday nights game with the Lakers.Now Iisalo takes over after coming to the NBA as a Grizzlies assistant for this season, becoming the first Finnish-born coach in the NBA. Iisalo played and coached in Europe, including in 2024 when he was head coach of Paris Basketball, winning the EuroCup and honors as that leagues coach of the year. He also coached Telekom Baskets Bonn between 2021-23 and Crailshem Merlins between 2016 and 2021.Looking forward to seeing what hes able to do with this group, Kleiman said of Iisalo. Theres realistic expectations. Theres not going to be time to install a bunch of things this time of year. My expectations are clarity of direction and well see what we can do, well see what we can execute.___AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

Eberechi Eze grabbed a goal and an assist as Crystal Palace beat London rivals Fulham 3-0 on Saturday to book their place in the FA Cup semifinals.

Jean-Philippe Mateta made his first appearance since his ear was "destroyed" when he was named in Crystal Palace's starting XI on Saturday.

Andrew Tate reacts while speaking to media after checking in at a police station as part of his judicial control, which requires him to appear before judicial authorities in Romania when summoned, after returning from the United States, in Voluntari, Romania, Monday, March 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)2025-03-29T16:55:10Z Andrew Tate, a hugely successful social media influencer known for expressing misogynistic views online, is facing a new lawsuit filed by his ex-girlfriend accusing him of sexual assault and battery.It adds to existing legal trouble for Tate, whos charged with human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women in Romania. His brother, Tristan Tate, is also accused in that case.In her complaint, Tates ex-girlfriend, Brianna Stern, argues that his abusive treatment of her follows a long pattern of making blatant misogyny part of his brand. She said he initially acted effusively loving and generous to lure her into a relationship that later turned abusive.The lawsuit, which was filed Thursday in Los Angeles, details an encounter earlier this month at the Beverly Hills Hotel when Tate choked and beat her, according to the complaint. Stern said she was later diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome. Tates attorney, Joseph McBride, said his client denies all allegations of violence. McBride accused Stern and her lawyers of taking advantage of the recent controversy surrounding Tate, hoping it could win them a lucrative payout. This is a money grab, McBride said in a phone interview Saturday morning. This is the weaponization of the court system against an innocent man.The Tate brothers, who are dual U.S. and British citizens, were arrested in Romania in late 2022 and formally indicted last year. Andrew Tate was also charged with rape. They deny all the allegations against them. Stern met Tate in July 2024 after the brothers invited her to Romania because they were looking for models to help promote their cryptocurrency meme coin, according to her lawsuit. She said he convinced her the media portrayals of him were untrue, that he was actually a supporter of women. It seemed like a dream come true, she said in the complaint. After she returned to the U.S., Tates communications became threatening and manipulative, including calling her his property, Stern alleges. He sent messages saying he wanted to beat and impregnate her: You have an attitude because youre not hit enough, he once wrote, according to the complaint.Tates attorney, however, called the messages doctored, edited and falsified, saying he doesnt believe theyll be admissible in court.None of it is true, McBride said. All of it is a lie.During their last encounter at the hotel, Stern alleges, Tate beat and choked her during sex.While doing so, Tate told her repeatedly that if she ever crossed him, he was going to kill her, the lawsuit says.Tate, 38, is a former professional kickboxer and self-described misogynist who has amassed millions of followers online, many of them young men and boys drawn in by the luxurious lifestyle he projects. He previously was banned from TikTok, YouTube and Facebook for hate speech, including that women should bear responsibility for getting raped. He and his brother are vocal supporters of President Donald Trump.The Tate brothers checked in at a police station near Romanias capital last Monday, complying with judicial control requirements in the human trafficking case that ordered them to return after weeks in the U.S. The American trip was possible because a travel ban against them was lifted last month after a Romanian court found multiple legal and procedural irregularities a significant blow to the prosecution and a win for the Tates. Tate has repeatedly claimed that prosecutors in Romania have no evidence against him and claimed theres a political conspiracy to silence him.Days after they arrived in Florida, the states attorney general opened a criminal investigation into the brothers.Four British women are suing Tate in the U.K. after the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to prosecute him on sexual violence and other abuse charges. Last March, the brothers appeared at the Bucharest Court of Appeal in a separate case after U.K. authorities issued arrest warrants over allegations of sexual aggression dating back several years. The appeals court granted the U.K. request to extradite them, but only after legal proceedings in Romania have concluded. Stern said in a statement posted to social media that shes terrified of how Tate will respond to her public accusations.I considered many times just silently leaving Andrew and saying nothing, doing nothing, because I was scared and because it was honestly hard for me to accept that I was being abused, she wrote. But I can now see that doing so would be the cowardly approach.Her attorney, Tony Buzbee, praised her incredible courage to come forward and make her voice heard. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

A protester holds a placard during a Tesla Takedown Global Day protest in front of a Tesla dealership, in Berlin, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)2025-03-29T18:13:54Z SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Crowds protesting billionaire Elon Musks purge of the U.S. government under President Donald Trump began amassing outside Tesla dealerships throughout the U.S. Saturday in the latest attempt to dent the fortune of the worlds richest man.The protesters are trying to escalate a movement targeting Tesla dealerships and vehicles in opposition to Musks role as the head of the newly created Department of of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, where hes gained access to sensitive data and shuttered entire agencies as he attempts to slash government spending. Most of Musks estimated $340 billion fortune consists of the stock he holds in the electric vehicle company that he continues to run while also working alongside Trump.Earlier protests have been somewhat sporadic. Saturday marked the first attempt to surround all 277 of the automakers showrooms and service centers in the U.S. in hopes of deepening a recent decline in the companys sales. By early afternoon, crowds ranging from a few dozen to hundreds of protesters had flocked to Tesla locations in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, Minnesota and the automakers home state of Texas. Pictures posted on social media accounts showed protesters brandishing signs such as Honk if you hate Elon and Fight the billionaire broligarchy. The Tesla Takedown movement also hoped to rally protestors at more than 230 Tesla locations in other parts of the world. Although the turnouts in Europe werent as large as the crowds in the U.S., the anti-Musk sentiment was similar. About two dozen protesters held signs lambasting Musk outside a Tesla dealership in London as passing cars and trucks tooted horns in support.One of the signs displayed at the London protest showed a photo of Musk next to an image of Adolf Hitler making the Nazi salute a gesture that Musk has been accused of reprising shortly after Trumps Jan. 20 inauguration. A person in a tyrannosaurus rex costume held another sign with a picture of Musks straight-arm gesture that said, You thought the Nazis were extinct. Dont buy a Swasticar. We just want to get loud, make noise, make people aware of the problems that were facing, said Cam Whitten, an American who showed up at the London protest.Tesla Takedown was organized by a group of supporters that included disillusioned owners of the automakers vehicles, celebrities such as actor John Cusack, and at least one Democratic Party lawmaker, Rep. Jasmine Crockett from Dallas.Im going to keep screaming in the halls of Congress. I just need you all to make sure you all keep screaming in the streets, Crockett said during a Tesla Takedown organizing call held earlier this month.Some people opposed to Musk have gone beyond protests and set the automakers vehicles on fire and committed other acts of vandalism that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has decried as domestic terrorism. Musk indicated he was dumbfounded by the attacks during a March 20 company meeting and said the vandals should stop acting psycho. Crockett and other Tesla Takedown supporters have been stressing the importance for Saturdays protests to remain peaceful. But police were investigating a fire that destroyed seven Tesla vehicles in northwestern Germany early Saturday morning. It was wasnt immediately clear if the blaze, which was extinguished by firefighters, was related to the Tesla Takedown protests. A growing number of consumers who bought Tesla vehicles before Musk took over DOGE have been looking to sell or trade in their cars while others have slapped on bumper stickers seeking to distance themselves from the billionaires efforts to prune or shut down government agencies.But Musk didnt appear concerned about an extended slump in sales of new Tesla cars in his March 20 address to employees. He reassured the workers that the companys Model Y, which is undergoing a refresh, would remain the best-selling car on Earth again this year. He also predicted Tesla will have sold more than 10 million cars worldwide by next year, up from about 7 million cars now. There are times when there are rocky moments, where there is stormy weather, but what I am here to tell you is that the future is incredibly bright and exciting, Musk said.After Trump was elected last November, investors initially saw Musks alliance with the president as a positive development for Tesla and its long-running efforts to launch a network of self-driving cars.That optimism helped lift Teslas stock by 70% in the period between Trumps Nov. 5 election and his Jan. 20 inauguration, creating an additional $560 billion in shareholder wealth. But virtually all those gains have evaporated amid investor worries about the Tesla backlash, lagging sales in the U.S., Europe and China, and Musk spending time overseeing DOGE.This continues to be a moment of truth for Musk to navigate this brand tornado crisis moment and get onto the other side of this dark chapter for Tesla, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said in a research note leading up to Saturdays protests. ___The Associated Press reporters Mustakim Hasnath contributed from London and Stefanie Dazio contributed from Germany. MICHAEL LIEDTKE Liedtke has been covering technology and wide range of other business topics for The Associated Press since the turn of the century. twitter mailto

NC State has been eliminated. From portal priorities to incoming recruits, we look ahead to the Wolfpack next season.

Follow along as the Elite Eight is set in the women's NCAA tournament.

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Captain Javi Puado scored from the penalty spot to cancel out a first-half strike by Cesar Azpilicueta as relegation-threatened Espanyol held third-placed Atletico Madrid to a 1-1 draw in LaLiga on Saturday.

The headquarters of the United States Institute of Peace are seen Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein).2025-03-29T20:06:49Z WASHINGTON (AP) Most employees at the U.S. Institute of Peace, a congressionally created and funded think tank now taken over by Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency, received email notices of their mass firing, the latest step in the Trump administrations government downsizing.The emails, sent to personal accounts because most staff members had lost access to the organizations system, began going out about 9 p.m. Friday, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of fear of reprisal. One former senior official at the institute said among those spared were several in the human resources department and a handful of overseas staffers who have until April 9 to return to the United States. The organization has about 300 people.Others retained for now are regional vice presidents who will be working with the staff in their areas to return to the U.S., according to one employee who was affected. An executive order last month from President Donald Trump targeted the organization, which seeks to prevent and resolve conflicts, and three other agencies for closure. Board members, who are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, and the institutes president were fired. Later, there was a standoff between employees who blocked DOGE members from entering the institutes headquarters near the State Department. DOGE staff gained access in part with the help of the Washington police. A lawsuit ensued, and U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell chastised DOGE representatives for their behavior but did not reinstate the board members or allow employees to return to the workspace. A White House spokeswoman, Anna Kelly, said in an email Saturday that the institute has failed to deliver peace and that Trump is carrying out his mandate to eliminate bloat and save taxpayer dollars. The letter to employees said that as of Friday, your employment with us will conclude, according to one longtime employee who shared part of the communication. A second email, obtained by the AP, said the terminations were at the direction of the president.Workers were given until April 7 to clear out their desks.Mary Glantz, a former foreign service officer who was working as a senior adviser at USIP, said she was not surprised by the late night firings, calling it part of DOGEs playbook.Glantzs studied how Russia has fomented conflicts around the world and analyzed options for resolving them. She hoped her research could be continued and used elsewhere. She said USIP plays a unique role because of its narrow focus on conflict resolution. We are the other tool in the tool box, she said. We do this work, so American soldiers dont have to fight these wars.George Foote, a former institute lawyer fired this month who is with one of the firms providing counsel in the current lawsuit, said lawyers were consulting Saturday to discuss possible next steps. He said employees are not part of the pending lawsuit, so they would have to file a separate case. ___Associated Press writers Ellen Knickmeyer and Matthew Lee contributed to this report. CHRIS MEGERIAN Megerian covers the White House for The Associated Press. He previously wrote about the Russia investigation, climate change, law enforcement and politics in California and New Jersey. twitter mailto

In this undated handout photo released by the Qatar Ministry of Foreign Affairs, American Faye Dail Hall is pictured after being released Thursday, March 27, 2025, by the Taliban in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Qatar Ministry of Foreign Affairs via AP)2025-03-29T18:49:42Z WASHINGTON (AP) An American woman detained for weeks in Afghanistan by the Taliban has been released from custody, according to a person familiar with the matter and a social media post Saturday from a longtime U.S. diplomat.Faye Dail Hall, who was detained in February on charges of using a drone without authorization, was released as part of a deal that Qatari negotiators helped broker, said the person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the negotiations.The person said that Hall was taken to the Qatari Embassy in Kabul, thhe Afghan capital, and was in good health, and that arrangements were being made for her to return to the U.S.In a post on X, a former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, confirmed Halls release with a photograph of her and said she would soon be on her way home. He posted that she was now in the care of our friends, the Qataris in Kabul, and will soon be on her way home. Few details about Halls case or the release were immediately available Saturday, including why she was in Afghanistan or how long or the circumstances of her detention. The State Department did not immediately comment. Hall is believed to be the fourth American released from Afghanistan since January.Earlier this month, George Glezmann, an airline mechanic from Atlanta, was freed after more than two years in custody. That release follows a separate deal, executed on the final day of the Biden administration and also mediated by the Qataris, that secured the releases of Ryan Corbett and William McKenty. Officials in Kabul said recently that the United States had lifted bounties on three senior Taliban figures, including the interior minister, who also heads a powerful network blamed for attacks against Afghanistans former Western-backed government.A Foreign Ministry official, Zakir Jalaly, has said the Talibans release of Glezmann and the removal of bounties showed both sides were moving beyond the effects of the wartime phase and taking constructive steps to pave the way for progress in bilateral relations.___AP Middle East News Director Victoria Eastwood in Cairo contributed to this report. ERIC TUCKER Tucker covers national security in Washington for The Associated Press, with a focus on the FBI and Justice Department. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Newcastle are celebrating the end of their 70-year weight for a major domestic trophy with an open-top bus parade through the city.

Former New Zealand international Jake Gleeson has won a medical malpractice lawsuit against Portland Timbers team doctor Richard H. Edelson, with a jury awarding him over $20 million.

People take part in a protest demanding the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)2025-03-29T21:00:55Z CAIRO (AP) The Hamas militant group said Saturday it has accepted a new Gaza ceasefire proposal from mediators Egypt and Qatar, but Israel said it has made a counter-proposal in full coordination with the third mediator, the United States.Egypt early in the week made a proposal to get the troubled ceasefire back on track, following Israels surprise resumption of fighting. It was not immediately clear whether the proposal changed before Khalil al-Hayyah, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, announced it had been accepted.Early in the week, an Egyptian official described the proposal to The Associated Press, saying Hamas would release five living hostages, including an American-Israeli, from Gaza in return for Israel allowing aid into the territory and a weekslong pause in fighting. Israel would release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media on the closed-door talks. On Saturday, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave no details about Israels counter-proposal, which it said was offered after Netanyahu held consultations on Friday. Israel a week and a half ago ended its ceasefire with Hamas by launching a surprise wave of strikes that killed hundreds of people. The White House blamed Hamas for the renewed fighting.Israel has vowed to escalate the war until Hamas returns the 59 hostages it still holds 24 of them believed to be alive. Israel also wants Hamas to give up power, disarm and send its leaders into exile. On Saturday, Israel widened its ground operations in Gazas southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt. Hamas has said it will only release the remaining captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.Frustrated by the threat to remaining hostages in Gaza, families and others rallied again Saturday evening to call for a deal that would bring everyone home. The price of your war is the life of the hostages! some protesters chanted in Tel Aviv. Minor scuffles broke out with police.War will not bring our hostages home, it will kill them, Naama Weinberg, cousin of deceased hostage Itay Svirsky, told a weekly gathering of families in Tel Aviv.The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, attack into Israel, in which Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251.Israels retaliatory offensive has killed over 50,000 people, according to Gazas Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants. Israels bombardment and ground operations have caused vast destruction and at their height displaced some 90% of Gazas population of over 2 million people.Early this month, Israel again cut off all supplies to Gaza to pressure Hamas to accept new terms to the ceasefire that started in mid-January.Israel had balked at entering negotiations over the truces second phase, which were meant to begin in early February. Under the agreement, phase two was meant to bring the release of the remaining 24 living hostages, an end to the war and full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.___Frankel reported from Jerusalem.___Follow APs war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war 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 JULIA FRANKEL Frankel is an Associated Press reporter in Jerusalem. twitter mailto

USWNT star Trinity Rodman has given a sober assessment of her ongoing back issues, saying she doesn't think it will ever be fully healthy again.

Grizzlies general manager Zach Kleiman says he did not speak to anyone on the roster before firing Taylor Jenkins as coach.

Florida vs. Texas Tech. Duke vs. Alabama. Follow along as we track all the action in Saturday night's games.

Aryna Sabalenka, a three-time Grand Slam champion, defeated Jessica Pegula on Saturday to cap off an impressive run at the Miami Open with a title, as the No. 1 seed from Belarus rolled to a 7-5, 6-2 victory in a rematch of the 2024 US Open final.

2025-03-29T20:22:21Z BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. (AP) At least one person in a small plane traveling from Iowa to Minnesota died after the aircraft crashed into a house in a Minneapolis suburb Saturday, a city official said. The residents of the home were not hurt, Brooklyn Park spokesperson Risikat Adesaogun said. But the house was destroyed.It was not yet known how many people were aboard the single-engine SOCATA TBM7, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.The agency said the aircraft departed from the Des Moines International Airport with a destination of the Anoka County-Blaine Airport, located in another Minneapolis suburb. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.

Will Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes replace Luka Modric in Real Madrid's midfield? Transfer Talk has the latest news, gossip and rumors.

Paige Bueckers became the first UConn player to score 40 in an NCAA tournament game, carrying UConn to an 82-59 rout over Oklahoma in the Sweet 16.

President Donald Trump waves to supporters from his limousine as he arrives at Trump International Golf Club, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)2025-03-30T00:03:57Z WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) President Donald Trump on Saturday made his clearest commitment to not fire anyone over an embarrassing accidental leak of his administrations plans for an airstrike against the Houthis in Yemen.I dont fire people because of fake news and because of witch hunts, Trump said in an interview with NBC News Kristen Welker.He also said that he had confidence in Mike Waltz, his national security adviser, and Pete Hegseth, his Pentagon chief.Waltz inadvertently added Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of The Atlantic magazine, to a group text using the Signal encrypted messaging service where top officials were discussing plans to attack the Houthis.During the chat, Hegseth included details on how the strike would unfold before it took place.Afterwards, The Atlantic published an article on the internal exchange, shocking the national security establishment. Trump is eager to avoid repeating some of the turnover that characterized his first term. Mike Flynn, his first national security adviser, was pushed out after only a few weeks during the early phase of the Russia investigation. Hes also shown resistance to bowing to outside pressure, especially if it comes from the news media.Asked if there were conversations about firing Waltz, Trump insisted, Ive never heard that. And nobody else makes that decision but me, and Ive never heard it. CHRIS MEGERIAN Megerian covers the White House for The Associated Press. He previously wrote about the Russia investigation, climate change, law enforcement and politics in California and New Jersey. twitter mailto

Who has the edge in this week's UFC Fight Night? An MMA coach and betting insider make their picks.

TCU star Hailey Van Lith scored 26 points to lead the Horned Frogs to a 71-62 win over Notre Dame in the Sweet 16 of the women's NCAA tournament.

Water runs out of a drain under an agricultural field, Tuesday, April 9, 2024, in Sabina, Ohio. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel, File)2025-03-29T13:51:45Z KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) In Ugandas Mbale district, famous for its production of arabica coffee, a plague of plastic bags locally known as buveera is creeping beyond the city. Its a problem that has long littered the landscape in Kampala, the capital, where buveera are woven into the fabric of daily life. They show up in layers of excavated dirt roads and clog waterways. But now, they can be found in remote areas of farmland, too. Some of the debris includes the thick plastic bags used for planting coffee seeds in nurseries.Some farmers are complaining, said Wilson Watira, head of a cultural board for the coffee-growing Bamasaba people. They are concerned those farmers who know the effects of buveera on the land, he said.Around the world, plastics find their way into farm fields. Climate change makes agricultural plastic, already a necessity for many crops, even more unavoidable for some farmers. Meanwhile, research continues to show that itty-bitty microplastics alter ecosystems and end up in human bodies. Scientists, farmers and consumers all worry about how thats affecting human health, and many seek solutions. But industry experts say its difficult to know where plastic ends up or get rid of it completely, even with the best intentions of reuse and recycling programs. According to a 2021 report on plastics in agriculture by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, soils are one of the main receptors of agricultural plastics. Some studies have estimated that soils are more polluted by microplastics than the oceans.These things are being released at such a huge, huge scale that its going to require major engineering solutions, said Sarah Zack, an Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant Great Lakes Contaminant Specialist who communicates about microplastics to the public. Why researchers want to study plastics in farm fields Water runs out of a drain under an agricultural field, Tuesday, April 9, 2024, in Sabina, Ohio. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel, File) Water runs out of a drain under an agricultural field, Tuesday, April 9, 2024, in Sabina, Ohio. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel, File) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Micro-particles of plastic that come from items like clothes, medications and beauty products sometimes appear in fertilizer made from the solid byproducts of wastewater treatment called biosolids which can also be smelly and toxic to nearby residents depending on the treatment process used. Some seeds are coated in plastic polymers designed to strategically disintegrate at the right time of the season, used in containers to hold pesticides or stretched over fields to lock in moisture. But the agriculture industry itself only accounts for a little over 3% of all plastics used globally. About 40% of all plastics are used in packaging, including single-use plastic food and beverage containers.Microplastics, which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration defines as being smaller than five millimeters long, are their largest at about the size of a pencil eraser. Some are much smaller.Studies have already shown that microplastics can be taken up by plants on land or plankton in the ocean and subsequently eaten by animals or humans. Scientists are still studying the long-term effects of the plastic thats been found in human organs. Early findings suggest possible links to a host of health conditions including heart disease and some cancers. A crew applies biosolids, also known as sewage sludge, to a field, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, in Wellston, Okla. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel) A crew applies biosolids, also known as sewage sludge, to a field, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, in Wellston, Okla. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Despite significant research gaps, the evidence related to the land-based food chain is certainly raising alarm, said Lev Neretin, environment lead at the FAO, which is currently working on another technical report looking deeper into the problem of microplastic pollution in soils and crops.A study out this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that microplastics pollution can even impact plants ability to photosynthesize, the process of turning light from the sun into energy. That doesnt justify excessive concern but does underscore food security risks that necessitate scientific attention, wrote Fei Dang, one of the studys authors.Climate change making matters worse Alexandra Water Warriors volunteers cleanup the Juksei river in the heart of Alexandra township from plastic pollution in Johannesburg, South Africa, Nov. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File) Alexandra Water Warriors volunteers cleanup the Juksei river in the heart of Alexandra township from plastic pollution in Johannesburg, South Africa, Nov. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More The use of plastics has quadrupled over the past 30 years. Plastic is ubiquitous. And most of the worlds plastic goes to landfills, pollutes the environment or is burned. Less than 10% of plastics are recycled.At the same time, some farmers are becoming more reliant on plastics to shelter crops from the effects of extreme weather. Theyre using tarps, hoop houses and other technology to try to control conditions for their crops. And theyre depending more on chemicals like pesticides and fertilizers to buffer against unreliable weather and more pervasive pest issues.Through global warming, we have less and less arable land to make crops on. But we need more crops. So therefore the demand on agricultural chemicals is increasing, said Ole Rosgaard, president and CEO of Greif, a company that makes packaging used for industrial agriculture products like pesticides and other chemicals.Extreme weather, fueled by climate change, also contributes to the breakdown and transport of agricultural plastics. Beating sun can wear on materials over time. And more frequent and intense rainfall events in some areas could drive more plastic particles running into fields and eventually waterways, said Maryam Salehi, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Missouri.Can agriculture escape the plastic problem? Muddy plastic bottles have flowed downstream and become lodged against fallen trees and within the dense foliage in Tisza River near Tiszaroff, Hungary, Aug. 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos, File) Muddy plastic bottles have flowed downstream and become lodged against fallen trees and within the dense foliage in Tisza River near Tiszaroff, Hungary, Aug. 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos, File) Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More This past winter, leaders from around the world gathered in South Korea to produce the first legally binding global treaty on plastics pollution. They didnt reach an agreement, but the negotiations are scheduled to resume in August.Neretin said the FAO produced a provisional, voluntary code of conduct on sustainable management of plastics in agriculture. But without a formal treaty in place, most countries dont have a strong incentive to follow it.The mood is certainly not cheery, thats for sure, he said, adding global cooperation takes time, but the problem does not disappear.Without political will, much of the onus falls on companies.Rosgaard, of Greif, said that his company has worked to make their products recyclable, and that farmers have incentives to return them because they can get paid in exchange. But he added its sometimes hard to prevent people from just burning the plastic or letting it end up in fields or waterways. We just dont know where they end up all the time, he said.Some want to stop the flow of plastic and microplastic waste into ecosystems. Boluwatife Olubusoye, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Mississippi, is trying to see whether biochar, remains of organic matter and plant waste burned under controlled conditions, can filter out microplastics that run from farm fields into waterways. His early experiments have shown promise.He said he was motivated by the feeling that there was never any timely solution in terms of plastic waste ending up in fields in the first place, especially in developing countries.Even for farmers who care about plastics in soils, it can be challenging for them to do anything about it. In Uganda, owners of nursery beds cannot afford proper seedling trays, so they resort to cheaply made plastic bags used to germinate seeds, said Jacob Ogola, an independent agronomist there.Farmers hardest hit by climate change are least able to reduce the presence of cheap plastic waste in soils. That frustrates Innocent Piloya, an agroecology entrepreneur who grows coffee in rural Uganda with her company Ribbo Coffee. Its like little farmers fighting plastic manufacturers, she said.___Walling reported from Chicago.___The Associated Press climate and environmental 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. MELINA WALLING Walling covers the intersections of climate change and agriculture in the Midwest and beyond for The Associated Press. She is based in Chicago. twitter instagram facebook mailto

Florida All-American guard Walter Clayton Jr. caught fire late, leading a comeback over Texas Tech that has the Gators in the Final Four.

Auburn coach Bruce Pearl says he won't let Michigan State play the underdog role given the program's history of success in the NCAA tournament.

Ilia Malinin defended his world title with a free skate that earned a standing ovation inside TD Garden on Saturday night.

Lionel Messi scored two minutes after coming off the substitutes' bench as Inter Miami beat the Philadelphia Union 2-1 at Chase Stadium on Saturday.

Community members fish along the Hartbeespoort Dam in South Africa, on March 17, 2025, near Hyacinth plants in the water. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)2025-03-30T02:32:32Z HARTBEESPOORT, South Africa (AP) Dozens of tiny black weevils cling onto a fern plant as it is tossed onto a leafy green mat coating the surface of South Africas Crocodile River.Those weevils arent tossed into the river by accident: scientists hope that the insects and their larvae will munch their way through the green mat, which is made up of an unwanted, invasive South American aquatic plant called Salvinia minima.The plant is steadily taking over freshwater bodies in the northern region of South Africa, suffocating aquatic life, including on the Crocodile River and the Hartbeespoort Dam it flows into.The weevils, which have been used effectively elsewhere in the world to fight water weeds, are now leading South Africas charge against the life-sucking plants threatening ecosystems in at least three northern provinces and creeping into neighboring countries. After the weevils helped control the spread of salvinia in parts of the United States, scientists from both countries worked together on a project to gather a starter population in South Africa. The 1-millimeter-long (0.03 inches) insects were brought over 8,700 miles from Louisiana. Rearing stations are being set up near several dams to grow the weevil population. Once released at an infested site, the beetles make themselves at home on the salvinia, the only thing they eat, without damaging the local ecosystem, scientists say. They lay eggs on this plant, feed on this plant and die on this plant. If this plant dies, they will die as well, said professor Julie Coetzee, the principal scientist at the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity. They damage certain tissues, those tissues become waterlogged and then those plants sink to the bottom. A floating menaceHartbeespoort Dam north of Johannesburg, the location for the pilot project, is an important source of irrigation for nearby farms and a popular recreation site.When we bought the property there was this beautiful little floating plant on the dam and I thought well thats quite nice, said 53-year-old resident and business operator Max Moller. Little did I realize this little floating fern was an absolute menace.Moller, the owner of Mogis hiking trail, said the salvinia have clogged up and damaged boat engines and also hurt fishing communities over the nine years that he has lived in the area.South Africas already vulnerable freshwater systems face a significant threat from salvinia, scientists say. The plants have had two major growth spurts in 2021 and 2022, surviving on the high nitrate contents in the water.The plant initially surfaced more than a decade ago at the dam, which has also long been battling with a water hyacinth invasion, another problematic species.If you pull the hyacinth away, this plant is lurking, said Coetzee. The invasive plants block out the sunlight, which means no oxygen in the water, she said. If there is no oxygen, theres no fish, theres no crab, theres no insects and so you completely destroy or alter the aquatic ecosystem, she said. Salvinia has a rapid growth rate and its spread has been most notable across Gauteng province, where South Africas biggest city of Johannesburg and its capital, Pretoria, are located. The plant is compounding existing water supply problems by depleting the oxygen and sapping the supply in a country thats already struggling with increasing demand and deteriorating water infrastructure.Concerns over the weevils impactWhile releasing the weevils will help combat salvinia, experts warn that there could be unintended side-effects.Anthony Turton, a water expert and researcher at South Africas University of the Free State, cautioned that their introduction could turn rivers and dams into more suitable homes for bacteria and dangerous organisms.That includes poisonous blue-green algae, known as cyanobacteria, which flourish in nutrient-rich, contaminated waterways and already affect almost 60% of the nations dams.With more light and less competition for nutrients, those cyanobacteria will go into a condition known as a bloom, he said. This is exponential population growth that radically populates the entire water column. Turnton said simultaneous action to repair damaged sewage systems and limit agriculture fertilizer runoff are essential for a lasting solution.Unless there are efforts to reduce the inflow of nutrients from sewage flows, then we are only creating space for cyanobacteria to grow without competition from floating weeds, he said. Threat of spreading to other countriesThe weevils arent the first insects to be introduced to curb an invasive threat in South Africa. The country brought in a bug in the 1930s to control the spread of a hardy cactus native to Mexico that was hurting ecosystems. That project was viewed as a success.The speedy growth of the salvinia has put pressure on the government to act, particularly as researchers warn that neighboring countries also now face an invasion.Coetzee said that salvinia was popping up on the confluence of the Crocodile and Limpopo rivers in the far north of South Africa.That now poses a huge threat to our neighbors because this plant has been transported by our rivers onto our borders, she said. It is likely to go all the way along the Limpopo, along Botswana and Zimbabwes borders and into Mozambique.We really have a responsibility to control this plant, she added.___AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

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