A Republican, he imposed a moratorium on capital punishment, saying he could not support a death-row system so fraught with error that it might end an innocent life.

Also, universal antivenom may grow out of a Wisconsin man. Heres the latest at the end of Friday.

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Nature, Published online: 30 April 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08930-2In response to phage infection, the Toll/interleukin-1 receptor (TIR) domain protein ThsB of the type II Thoeris defence system produces histidine conjugated to ADP-ribose, which stimulates bacterial defence by interacting with the Macro domain of the ThsA membrane effector protein.

Nature, Published online: 30 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01278-7A droid by any other name.

Staffing shortages at an air traffic control center have added to the effects of a runway closure, prompting United Airlines to cut flights at the hub.

Kennedy has warned of an epidemic of chronic disease, but the budget blueprint would close the C.D.C. center focused on prevention.

Esta fotografa muestra a Kilmar brego Garcia, que por error fue deportado por el gobierno estadounidense a una prisin salvadorea. Foto sin fecha suministrada por Murray Osorio PLLC. (Murray Osorio PLLC va AP)2025-05-02T20:44:09Z NASHVILLE (AP) Authorities in Tennessee have released video of a 2022 traffic stop involving Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland construction worker who became the face of U.S. immigration policy after his erroneous deportation to El Salvador. The body-camera footage shows a calm and friendly exchange between officers with the Tennessee Highway Patrol and Abrego Garcia. He was pulled over for speeding in a vehicle with eight passengers and said theyd been working in Missouri. Officers then discussed among themselves their suspicions of human trafficking because nine people were traveling without luggage. One of the officers said: Hes hauling these people for money. Another said he had $1,400 in an envelope. Abrego Garcia was never charged with a crime, while the officers allowed him to drive on with only a warning about an expired drivers license, according to a report about the stop released last month by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The report said he was traveling from Texas to Maryland, via Missouri, to bring in people to perform construction work. The Trump administration has been publicizing Abrego Garcias interactions with police over the years, despite a lack of corresponding criminal charges, while it faces a federal court order and calls from some in Congress to return him to the U.S. An attorney for Abrego Garcia, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said in a statement Friday that he saw no evidence of a crime in the released footage. But the point is not the traffic stop its that Mr. Abrego Garcia deserves his day in court. Bring him back to the United States, Sandoval-Moshenberg said. When details of the Tennessee traffic stop were first publicized, Abrego Garcias wife said he sometimes transported groups of fellow construction workers between job sites. Unfortunately, Kilmar is currently imprisoned without contact with the outside world, which means he cannot respond to the claims, Jennifer Vasquez Sura said in mid-April. Abergo Garcia fled his native El Salvador to the U.S. when he was 16 and lived in Maryland for roughly 14 years, court documents state. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported him in March to a Salvadoran prison over a 2019 accusation that he was in the MS-13 gang. Police in Maryland had identified Abrego Garcia as an MS-13 gang member based on his tattoos, Chicago Bulls hoodie and the word of a criminal informant. But he was never charged. His lawyers say the informant claimed Abrego Garcia was in an MS-13 chapter in New York, where hes never lived. Abrego Garcias expulsion to El Salvador also violated a U.S. immigration judges order in 2019 that shielded him from deportation to his native country. The judge had determined that Abrego Garcia would likely face persecution there by local gangs that had terrorized him and his family. After Abrego Garcias family filed a lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the Trump administration to return Abrego Garcia on April 4. The Supreme Court ruled April 10 that the administration must work to bring him back. Xinis then lambasted a government lawyer who couldnt explain what, if anything, the Trump administration has done. She ordered officials to provide sworn testimony and other information to document their efforts. The Trump administration appealed. But a federal appeals court backed Xinis order for information in a blistering ruling. The case is ongoing. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump acknowledged to ABC News on Tuesday that he could call El Salvadors president and have Abrego Garcia sent back. But Trump doubled down on his claims that Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang. Attorney Sandoval-Moshenberg said Friday that Abrego Garcia should be able to answer the allegations himself before the U.S. immigration judge who heard his case in 2019. I have represented Kilmar Abrego Garcia for more than a month, and this bodycam video is the first time Ive heard his voice, Sandoval-Moshenberg said. He has been denied the most basic protections of due process no phone call to his lawyer, no call to his wife or child, and no opportunity to be heard. ___Finley reported from Norfolk, Virginia.

Nature, Published online: 30 April 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08935-xTotal cell cycle duration is a key hallmark of cancer initiation, and determines whether defects in apoptosis, senescence, immune surveillance, angiogenesis, DNA repair, polarity and proliferation lead to cancer development.

Nature, Published online: 30 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01391-7Researchers have identified a suite of risk factors that contribute to the chance of developing several conditions related to damaged blood vessels in the brain. Plus, dopamine helps the brain overwrite fearful memories and how we might salvage progress in the global fight against AIDS.

Voters will decide who can turn Australia around from the throes of inflation and a housing crisis, and navigate relations with a volatile Washington.

Water supplies ran dry in the Pacific Palisades fire, in part because a reservoir was shut down for repairs. Records show the city had tried and failed to prepare an alternative reservoir.

Nature, Published online: 30 April 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08879-2A size-sieved complex precipitation in Sc-added AlMg alloys achieves a high-density dispersion of both fine Al3Sc nanoprecipitates and in situ formed core-shell Al3(Mg,Sc)2/Al3Sc nanophases with high hydrogen-trapping ability.

Nature, Published online: 30 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00691-2Two scientist parents who often help their children with homework deal with acceptable and unacceptable errors in course materials.

James B. Milliken will lead the California system, relinquishing his position as the chancellor of the University of Texas system.

Miriam Haley and a defense lawyer clashed repeatedly as the disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinsteins retrial on sex crime charges continued.

Nature, Published online: 30 April 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08791-9A collaborative study initiated by the sovereign nation of Picuris Pueblo in the Northern Rio Grande region of New Mexico addresses gaps in traditional knowledge and furthers understanding of their population history and ancestry.

Nature, Published online: 30 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01361-zMove by US biomedical agency jeopardizes thousands of projects on infectious diseases, cancer and more.

The episode followed a fatal collision between a military helicopter and a commercial jet in January, and prompted concern and outrage among officials.

In a BBC interview, Harry said he didnt know how long King Charles, who has cancer, had left to live, and he expressed a desire to make peace with his family.

Nature, Published online: 30 April 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08940-0An analysis of data from 522 population-based studies encompassing 82 global regions and spanning more than a century (19202024) shows spatiotemporal transitions across epidemiologic stages 1 to 3 of inflammatory bowel disease, and models stage 4 progression.

Nature, Published online: 29 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01323-5Over time, young fringe-lipped bats learn how to distinguish the calls of palatable frogs from those of toxic ones.

For Meta, Alphabet and other platforms, the elimination of the tariff exemption for inexpensive goods is already cutting into advertising revenue.

The nation had grand plans for a national cathedral designed by a celebrity architect. The $400 million project became a political battleground.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance speaks to media as he departs Agra, India en route to Jaipur, India after visiting the Taj Mahal on Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Agra, India. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times via AP, Pool)2025-05-03T04:01:11Z WASHINGTON (AP) When JD Vance was running for vice president, he walked across an airport tarmac in Wisconsin one August day when his campaign travels happened to intersect those of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and approached Air Force Two. Besides wanting to take a poke at Republican Donald Trumps rival for avoiding the press, Vance said, I just wanted to check out my future plane.Its an aircraft he now knows well.In the opening months of Trumps term, Vice President Vance has traveled all over the globe family in tow to conduct top-level diplomacy for the administration, in addition to taking a number of domestic trips. His international forays have featured a mix of meetings with world leaders, sharply crafted speeches advancing U.S. policy, soft power appearances to build goodwill and family time at tourist sites along the way. Diplomacy before family and cultural sights Vances trips have included a five-day trip to Europe in February, a hastily reorganized trek to Greenland in March and a tour of Italy and India in April that was notable for the vice presidents brief meeting with Pope Francis the day before the pontiff died.In his first big moment on the world stage in February, Vance pressed Trumps America first message at an artificial intelligence summit in Paris and spoke of maintaining U.S. dominance in the surging industry. From there, he attended a security conference in Munich, where the vice president left his audience stunned with his lecturing remarks about democracy and scant focus on Russias war against Ukraine. In March, Vance delivered pointed remarks while in Greenland, scolding Denmark for not investing more in the security of its territory and demanding a new approach. Trump has upset many Greenlanders with his aggressive claims that the U.S. needs to take control of the island away from Denmark.Theres been dealmaking, too. In India last month, Vance announced after meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that they had agreed on a negotiating framework for a U.S.-India trade deal. In Italy, he held talks with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, in addition to his separate audiences with the pope and a top Vatican official.Family time follows Vances diplomatic work Vance has been accompanied on his overseas trips by his wife, Usha, and their 7- and 5-year-old sons and 3-year-old daughter. The kids are usually in pajamas as they board Air Force Two for the overnight flights. The Vances have gazed aloft at the newly restored Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City and been photographed, with the children in traditional Indian dress, in front of the Taj Mahal in Agra. Without their children, the Vances also visited Dachau in Germany.Brad Blakeman, a former senior official in George W. Bushs administration who has provided planning advice to Vances office for some of his foreign travel, said that, while some personal time is woven in, these are not vacations.You try and balance the policy with the culture aspect of the trip so that youre honoring the customs and culture of the places that you are visiting, he said. Visiting iconic cultural sites while abroad shows respect and builds rapport with host nations that can enhance diplomacy. Its also important to be mindful that the president and vice president travel at the publics expense, he said.Thats the balancing act that always has to be done because of the stewardship of the taxpayers money, he said.Joel Goldstein, a law professor at Saint Louis University who specializes in the U.S. vice presidency, said the journeys also could be intended to build Vances foreign policy chops.Part of foreign travel for a vice president is establishing a national security and diplomatic credential, he said, noting that its particularly important for Vance. At age 40, Vance served just two years in the Senate before ascending to the office. Vance displays the habits of a millennialVance is also the second-youngest person and the first of the millennial generation to hold the job.Generations author Jean Twenge, a San Diego State University psychology professor who studies generational differences, said the ease with which Vance moves between work and leisure is emblematic of his generation.The research suggests that, just with internet use and social media use, the lines between work time and family time blur, that you switch tasks much more quickly than, say, Gen Xers or boomers, she said. Vance frequently switches gears on the road. Last week, he wedged in a quick beer with service members in Germany and autographed the kegerator built by one airman after days of wall-to-wall official and cultural activities throughout Italy and India. Some of the Vances activities have been unwelcomeUsha Vance was originally slated for a solo trip to Greenland with one of their sons to attend a dogsled race. But that plan was scrapped amid growing discontent from the governments of Greenland and Denmark over the visit and Trumps tough talk of the U.S. taking the territory away from a NATO ally. Instead, the vice president joined the trip, and their visit was limited to a U.S. military base there.On his Italy trip, Vance took heat on X for being photographed inside the Sistine Chapel. Photography there is usually forbidden, but the session turned out to have been sanctioned by the Vatican, as has happened on past visits by U.S. dignitaries. A decision during the same trip to close the Roman Colosseum to the public so Usha Vance and the children could take a tour drew some grumbling from tourists stranded outside. A consumer group has since filed a legal complaint. In India, the Taj Mahal, normally swarming with tourists, was also closed to visitors to accommodate the Vances, according to local media reports.American officials are often formally invited to make such cultural diversions, and its not unusual for the U.S. Secret Service, which provides protection for top U.S. officials, to ask for the sites to be closed to the public for security reasons during presidential and vice presidential tours.The Vances appear to have tried on occasion to avoid such disruptions. In France, the family visited the Louvre on a Tuesday, a day when the museum is closed to the public.Such trips have a long historyOther recent vice presidents also have taken family members along on trips. Presidents do, as well.As vice president, Democrat Joe Biden often took one of his older granddaughters on trips, a practice he continued as president. Presidents children, including Malia and Sasha Obama and Chelsea Clinton, went along on some trips with their parents, too.Practices differ, but the idea is the same: Time in office is short, so make the most of it and expose your children to the world.Usha Vance said as much during the family visit to India, where her parents were born. She hadnt visited in decades, and her husband and children had never been there. In an interview with Indias NDTV, she said shed been anxious to make the trip of a lifetime with them.Its been something that Ive wanted to share with my new nuclear family, the U.S. second lady said, adding that they knew Vance would have a chance to visit India as vice president. We always knew that, when that opportunity arose, we would all come with him.We think of it as sort of a gateway, the first of many trips to come, I hope, she said.Soft diplomacy is another goal One aim of vice presidential travel abroad is often soft diplomacy, or the building of favorable attitudes toward the U.S. through imagery and symbolism.When Vance, with his wife of Indian descent and their children, is photographed at the Taj Mahal, it sends a message of solidarity with that nation. When he visits the Vatican and worships there, it emphasizes common ground with Catholics around the world. Likewise, when Vance appears in public with his children, it could help drive home his quest to encourage large families and build goodwill among American voters, said University of Dayton political scientist Christopher Devine, co-author of Do Running Mates Matter? I wonder, with JD Vance, if its an effort to soften his image, Devine said. Hes someone who has not been particularly popular ever since he entered the national scene, and appearing with family tends to make people a little more likable, harder to hate.___Smyth reported from Columbus, Ohio. DARLENE SUPERVILLE Superville covers the White House for The Associated Press, with a special emphasis on first ladies and first families. JULIE CARR SMYTH Smyth has covered government and politics from Columbus, Ohio, for The Associated Press since 2006. twitter mailto

Nature, Published online: 29 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01366-8Receiving a COVID-19 booster vaccine in the same arm as the first vaccine dose leads to a more effective immune response. Plus, how the sounds spiders are used to can shape their webs and whether US science can survive a second Trump term.

World, a start-up backed by Sam Altman, has launched in the United States with the goal of verifying your humanity.

Tariffs on imported parts will have a broad impact because all vehicles use components made abroad.

Palestinians clamber to receive donated food at a distribution center in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)2025-05-03T05:15:33Z TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) Israel has blocked aid from entering Gaza for two months and says it wont allow food, fuel, water or medicine into the besieged territory until it can prevent Hamas and other militants from siphoning it away from Palestinian civilians.But officials from the U.N. and aid groups say proposals Israel has floated to use its military to distribute vital supplies are untenable. These officials say they would allow military and political objectives to impede humanitarian goals, put restrictions on who is eligible to give and receive aid, and could force large numbers of Palestinians to move which would violate international law.Israel has not detailed any of its proposals publicly or put them down in writing. But aid groups have been documenting their conversations with Israeli officials, and The Associated Press obtained more than 40 pages of notes summarizing Israels proposals and aid groups concerns about them. Aid groups say Israel shouldnt have any direct role in distributing aid once it arrives in Gaza, and most are saying they will refuse to be part of any such system. Israel has the responsibility to facilitate our work, not weaponize it, said Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the U.N. agency that oversees the coordination of aid Gaza.The humanitarian community is ready to deliver, and either our work is enabled ... or Israel will have the responsibility to find another way to meet the needs of 2.1 million people and bear the moral and legal consequences if they fail to do so, he said. None of the ideas Israel has proposed are set in stone, aid workers say, but the conversations have come to a standstill as groups push back.The Israeli military agency in charge of coordinating aid to Gaza, known as COGAT, did not respond to a request for comment and referred AP to the prime ministers office. The prime ministers office did not respond either. Since the beginning of March, Israel has cut off Gaza from all imports, leading to what is believed to be the most severe shortage of food, medicine and other supplies in nearly 19 months of war with Hamas. Israel says the goal of its blockade is to pressure Hamas to free the remaining 59 hostages taken during its October 2023 attack on Israel that launched the war. Aid workers deny there is a significant diversion of aid to militants, saying the U.N. strictly monitors distribution.Alarm among aid groupsOne of Israels core proposals is a more centralized system made up of five food distribution hubs that would give it greater oversight, aid groups say.Israel has proposed having all aid sent through a single crossing in southern Gaza and using the military or private security contractors to deliver it to these hubs, according to the documents shared with AP and aid workers familiar with the discussions. The distribution hubs would all be south of the Netzarim Corridor that isolates northern Gaza from the rest of the territory, the documents say.One of the aid groups greatest fears is that requiring Palestinians to retrieve aid from a small number of sites instead of making it available closer to where they live would force families to move to get assistance. International humanitarian law forbids the forcible transfer of people. Aid officials also worry that Palestinians could end up permanently displaced, living in de facto internment conditions, according to a document signed by 20 aid groups operating in Gaza.The hubs also raise safety fears. With so few of them, huge crowds of desperate Palestinians will need to gather in locations that are presumably close to Israeli troops. I am very scared about that, said Claire Nicolet, emergency coordinator for Doctors Without Borders.There have been several occasions during the war when Israeli forces opened fire after feeling threatened as hungry Palestinians crowded around aid trucks. Israel has said that during those incidents, in which dozens died, many were trampled to death.Given Gazas population of more than 2 million people, global standards for humanitarian aid would typically suggest setting up about 100 distribution sites or 20 times as many as Israel is currently proposing aid groups said. Aside from the impractical nature of Israels proposals for distributing food, aid groups say Israel has yet to address how its new system would account for other needs, including health care and the repair of basic infrastructure, including water delivery.Humanitarian aid is more complex than food rations in a box that you pick up once a month, said Gavin Kelleher, who worked in Gaza for the Norwegian Refugee Council. Aid boxes can weigh more than 100 pounds, and transportation within Gaza is limited, in part because of shortages of fuel. Private military contractorsAs aid groups push back against the idea of Israel playing a direct distribution role within Gaza, Israel has responded by exploring the possibility of outsourcing certain roles to private security contractors.The aid groups say they are opposed to any armed or uniformed personnel that could potentially intimidate Palestinians or put them at risk.In the notes seen by AP, aid groups said a U.S.-based security firm, Safe Reach Solutions, had reached out seeking partners to test an aid distribution system around the Netzarim military corridor, just south of Gaza City, the territorys largest.Aid groups urged each other not to participate in the pilot program, saying it could set a damaging precedent that could be repeated in other countries facing crises.Safe Reach Solutions did not respond to requests for a comment.Whether Israel distributes the aid or employs private contractors to it, aid groups say that would infringe on humanitarian principles, including impartiality and independence. A spokesperson for the EU Commission said private companies arent considered eligible humanitarian aid partners for its grants. The EU opposes any changes that would lead to Israel seizing full control of aid in Gaza, the spokesperson said.The U.S. State Department declined to comment on ongoing negotiations.Proposals to restrict who can deliver and receive aidAnother concern is an Israeli proposal that would allow authorities to determine if Palestinians were eligible for assistance based on opaque procedures, according to aid groups notes.Aid groups, meanwhile, have been told by Israel that they will need to re-register with the government and provide personal information about their staffers. They say Israel has told them that, going forward, it could bar organizations for various reasons, including criticism of Israel, or any activities it says promote the delegitimization of Israel.Arwa Damon, founder of the International Network for Aid, Relief and Assistance, says Israel has increasingly barred aid workers from Gaza who had previously been allowed in. In February, Damon was denied access to Gaza, despite having entered four times previously since the war began. Israel gave no reason for barring her, she said.Aid groups are trying to stay united on a range of issues, including not allowing Israel to vet staff or people receiving aid. But they say theyre being backed into a corner. For us to work directly with the military in the delivery of aid is terrifying, said Bushra Khalidi, Oxfams policy lead for Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory. That should worry every single Palestinian in Gaza, but also every humanitarian worker.___AP reporter Sarah El Deeb in Beirut contributed to this report. SAM MEDNICK Mednick is the AP correspondent for Israel and the Palestinian Territories. She focuses on conflict, humanitarian crises and human rights abuses. Mednick formerly covered West & Central Africa and South Sudan. twitter LEE KEATH Keath is the chief editor for feature stories in the Middle East for The Associated Press. He has reported from Cairo since 2005. twitter mailto

Susana Moreira, 41, a degenerative muscular dystrophy patient, looks at her husband in her bedroom in Santiago, Chile, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)2025-05-03T05:08:24Z SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) As a child, Susana Moreira didnt have the same energy as her siblings. Over time, her legs stopped walking and she lost the ability to bathe and take care of herself. Over the last two decades, the 41-year-old Chilean has spent her days bedridden, suffering from degenerative muscular dystrophy. When she finally loses her ability to speak or her lungs fail, she wants to be able to opt for euthanasia which is currently prohibited in Chile.Moreira has become the public face of Chiles decade-long debate over euthanasia and assisted dying, a bill that the left-wing government of President Gabriel Boric has pledged to address in his last year in power, a critical period for its approval ahead of Novembers presidential election.This disease will progress, and I will reach a point where I wont be able to communicate, Moreira told The Associated Press from the house where she lives with her husband in southern Santiago. When the time comes, I need the euthanasia bill to be a law. A debate spanning more than 10 yearsIn April 2021, Chiles Chamber of Deputies approved a bill to allow euthanasia and assisted suicide for those over 18 who suffer from a terminal or serious and incurable illness. But it has since been stalled in the Senate.The initiative seeks to regulate euthanasia, in which a doctor administers a drug that causes death, and assisted suicide, in which a doctor provides a lethal substance that the patients take themselves.If the bill passes, Chile will join a select group of countries that allow both euthanasia and assisted suicide, including the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Spain and Australia. It would also make Chile the third Latin American country to rule on the matter, following Colombias established regulations and Ecuadors recent decriminalization, which remains unimplemented due to a lack of regulation. As long as my body allows meWhen she was 8 years old, Moreira was diagnosed with shoulder-girdle muscular dystrophy, a progressive genetic disease that affects all her muscles and causes difficulty breathing, swallowing and extreme weakness.Confined to bed, she spends her days playing video games, reading and watching Harry Potter movies. Outings are rare and require preparation, as the intense pain only allows her three or four hours in the wheelchair. As the disease progressed, she said she felt the urgency to speak out in order to advance the discussion in Congress.I dont want to live plugged into machines, I dont want a tracheostomy, I dont want a feeding tube, I dont want a ventilator to breathe. I want to live as long as my body allows me, she said.In a letter to President Boric last year, Moreira revealed her condition, detailed her daily struggles and asked him to authorize her euthanasia.Boric made Moreiras letter public to Congress in June and announced that passing the euthanasia bill would be a priority in his final year in office. Passing this law is an act of empathy, responsibility and respect, he said.But hope soon gave way to uncertainty.Almost a year after that announcement, multiple political upheavals have relegated Borics promised social agenda to the background. A change in moodChile, a country of roughly 19 million inhabitants at the southern tip of the southern hemisphere, began to debate euthanasia more than ten years ago. Despite a predominantly Catholic population and the strong influence of the Church at the time, Representative Vlado Mirosevic, from Chiles Liberal Party, first presented a bill for euthanasia and assisted dying in 2014.The proposal was met with skepticism and strong resistance. Over the years, the bill underwent numerous modifications with little significant progress until 2021. Chile was then one of the most conservative countries in Latin America, Mirosevic told the AP.More recently, however, Chilean public opinion has shifted, showing greater openness to debating thorny issues. There was a change in the mood, and today there is a scenario where we have an absolute major support (of the population) for the euthanasia bill, Mirosevic added. Indeed, recent surveys show strong public support for euthanasia and assisted dying in Chile.According to a 2024 survey by Chilean public opinion pollster Cadem, 75% of those interviewed said they supported euthanasia, while a study by the Center for Public Studies from October found that 89% of Chileans believe euthanasia should always be allowed or allowed in special cases, compared to 11% who believed the procedure should never be allowed. Suffering, the only certaintyBorics commitment to the euthanasia bill has been welcomed by patients and families of those lost to terminal illnesses, including Fredy Maureira, a decade-long advocate for the right of choosing when to die.His 14-year-old daughter Valentina went viral in 2015, after posting a video appealing to then-President Michelle Bachelet for euthanasia. Her request was denied, and she died less than two months later from complications of cystic fibrosis.The commotion generated both inside and outside Chile by her story allowed the debate on assisted death to penetrate also into the social sphere.I addressed Congress several times, asking lawmakers to put themselves in the shoes of someone whose child or sibling is pleading to die, and theres no law to allow it, said Maureira.Despite growing public support, euthanasia and assisted death remains a contentious issue in Chile, including among health professionals.Only when all palliative care coverage is available and accessible, will it be time to sit down and discuss the euthanasia law, Irene Muoz Pino, a nurse, academic and advisor to the Chilean Scientific Society of Palliative Nursing, said. She was referring to a recent law, enacted in 2022, that ensures palliative care and protects the rights of terminally ill individuals.Others argue that the absence of a legal medical option for assisted dying could lead patients to seek other riskier, unsupervised alternatives.Unfortunately, I keep hearing about suicides that could have been instances of medically assisted death or euthanasia, said Colombian psychologist Monica Giraldo.With only a few months remaining, Chiles leftist government faces a narrow window to pass the euthanasia bill before the November presidential elections dominate the political agenda.A sick person isnt certain of anything; the only certainty they have is that they will suffer, Moreira said. Knowing that I have the opportunity to choose, gives me peace of mind.___Follow APs coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america NAYARA BATSCHKE Batschke writes about Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay for The Associated Press, based in Santiago. Before moving to South America in 2024, she covered Southeast Asia reporting from Bangkok; Latin America from Sao Paulo, and European affairs reporting from Madrid. twitter mailto

The agency plans, for now, to use attrition, including retirements and voluntary resignations, to reduce the size of the C.I.A. instead of more mass firings.

Politics has no place at universities or in the classroom.

A Druze man, center, stands next to Syrian security forces who reached a deal with Druze gunmen to deploy around the southern Damascus suburb of Jaramana that has witnessed fighting earlier this week in Damascus, Syria, early Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)2025-05-02T17:56:02Z BEIRUT (AP) Four days of clashes between pro-government gunmen and members of a minority sect in Syria have left nearly 100 people dead and raised fears of deadly sectarian violence. The country is deeply divided as it tries to emerge from decades of dictatorship.The clashes are the worst between forces loyal to the government and Druze fighters since the fall of President Bashar Assad in early December whose family ruled Syria with an iron grip for more than five decades.The situation between the two sides has been tense for weeks and a smaller clash broke out in March in a suburb of Damascus.Here are the main reasons the clashes expanded in recent days and background on the two sides: Who are the Druze?The Druze religious sec t is a minority group that began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. More than half the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria. Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981. In Syria, they largely live in the southern Sweida province and some suburbs of Damascus, mainly in Jaramana and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya to the south. The transitional government has promised to include the Druze, but has so far kept authority in the hands of the Islamist former insurgents who toppled Assad in December Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS.The new 23-member government in Syria announced in late March only has one Druze member, Minister of Agriculture Amjad Badr. Under the Assad familys tight rule, religious freedom was guaranteed as the country then boasted about its secular and Arab nationalist system.The Druze have been slightly divided over how to deal with their issues with the new status quo in the country. Most Druze support a dialogue with the government while others support a more confrontational approach, so the reactions have differed while they are all concerned about the safety of their people. What is behind the tension between the two sidesSyrias religious and ethnic communities are worried about their place in Syrias new system that is mostly run by Islamists including some who have links to extremist groups.The countrys new President Ahmad al-Sharaa himself is a former militant who once was a member of al-Qaida and was held for years in jails in neighboring Iraq for his role in the anti-American insurgency. Although al-Sharaa had said that the right of ethnic and religious minorities will be protected, there have been several rounds of sectarian killings since Assads fall.The Assad family rule that was dominated by members of the Alawite sect had oppressed much of the countrys Sunni majority while giving minorities some powers. Being a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, the largest Islamic group in the country decades ago, was punishable by death as of the 1980s.The Druze have major concerns about Muslim groups since they came under attack by members of the Islamic State group in 2018 in the southern Sweida province. It left dozens killed or wounded and more than two dozen people were taken hostage for nearly four months. Muslim extremists consider the Druze heretics.During Syrias 14-year conflict, the Druze had their own militias. What triggered the clashes?The clashes broke out around midnight Monday in the southern Damascus suburb of Jaramana after an audio clip circulated on social media of a man criticizing Islams Prophet Muhammad. The audio was attributed to a Druze cleric. But cleric Marwan Kiwan said in a video posted on social media that he was not responsible for the audio, which angered many Sunni Muslims.The fighting later spread to the outskirts of the southern town of Sakhnaya triggering the first Israeli airstrike against pro-government gunmen. Israeli officials, whose country has its own Druze community, have vowed to protect the Druze of Syria and warned Islamic groups form entering predominantly Druze areas.The clashes have pulled Israel further into the conflict with the airstrike two days ago and Friday marked a major increase in tensions with an attack close to the presidential palace in Damascus in what Syrias presidency called a major escalation. Israel does not want what it calls Islamic extremists near the countrys northern border. Since Assads fall, Israel has carved a buffer zone in southern Syria and has destroyed much of the Syrian armys assets so they dont fall into the hands of groups that removed him from power.Israel had been warning for decades that Iran and its proxies pose a danger along its northern border, and now it is doing the same with the new authorities in Syria who are backed by Turkey.Other sporadic attacks in different areas as well as an ambush on the Damascus-Sweida highway made the situation worse until a deal was reached early Friday after which Interior Ministry forces and local Druze gunmen deployed in different areas.The Britain-based war monitor The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 99 people were killed over the past four days, of which 51 were killed in Sakhnaya and the Druze-majority Damascus suburb of Jaramana. Among them were local gunmen and security forces. What are the main concerns?The clashes near Damascus and in southern Syria came nearly two months after an ambush by fighters loyal to Assad triggered days of sectarian and revenge attacks. The fighting in the countrys coastal region left more than 1,000 people dead. Many of the dead were civilians who were gunned down because they belonged to the minority Alawite sect that Assad belongs to.Security forces deployed in the coastal province of Latakia and Tartus but activists say that sectarian killings against Alawites are still taking place albeit at a much slower pace when compared to the early March attacks.Members of religious minorities in Syria such as Alawites, Christians and Druze fear persecution by the main Sunni Muslim groups. Videos have circulated on social media showing Islamist fighters insulting Druze detainees and humiliating them such as shaving their mustaches.___Associated Press writer Ibrahim Hazboun contributed to this report from Jerusalem.

A Druze man, center, stands next to Syrian security forces who reached a deal with Druze gunmen to deploy around the southern Damascus suburb of Jaramana that has witnessed fighting earlier this week in Damascus, Syria, early Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)2025-05-03T06:02:17Z THIMISTER-CLERMONT, Belgium (AP) The memory of blood dripping from trucks loaded with the mangled bodies of U.S. soldiers arriving at a nearby war cemetery straight from the battlefield in 1945 still gives 91-year-old Marcel Schmetz nightmares.It also instilled a lifelong sense of gratitude for the young soldiers from the United States and around the world who gave their lives battling the armies of Adolf Hitler to end World War II in Europe. Schmetz even built a museum at his home in the Belgian Ardennes to honor their sacrifice.If the Americans hadnt come, we wouldnt be here, the Belgian retiree said.That same spirit also pervades Normandy in northern France, where the allied forces landed on June 6, 1944, a day that became the tipping point of the war. Eternal gratitudeIn Normandy, Marie-Pascale Legrand is still taking care of the ailing Charles Shay, a 100-year-old American who stormed the bloodied beaches on that fateful D-Day as a teenager and fought to help liberate Europe for many more months.Gratitude for me means that I am eternally indebted, because I can live free today, Legrand said.After D-Day, it would take almost another year of fierce fighting before Germany would finally surrender on May 8, 1945. Commemorations and festivities are planned for the 80th anniversary across much of the continent for what has become known as Victory in Europe Day, or V-E Day, one of the most momentous days on the continent in recent centuries. Fraying bondsEver since, for generation upon generation in the nations west of the Iron Curtain that sliced Europe in two, it became a day to confirm and reconfirm what were long seen as the unbreakable bonds with the United States as both stood united against Soviet Eastern Europe.No more. Over the past several months, the rhetoric from Washington has become increasingly feisty.The Trump administration has questioned the vestiges of the decades-old alliance and slapped trade sanctions on the 27-nation European Union and the United Kingdom. Trump has insisted that the EU trade bloc was there to screw the United States from the start. The wartime allies are now involved in a trade war.After all that has happened, it is bound to leave scars, said Hendrik Vos, European studies professor at Ghent University. Honoring the fallenYet deep in the green hills and Ardennes woods where the Battle of the Bulge was fought and Schmetz lives, just as along the windswept bluffs of Legrands Normandy, the ties endure isolated from the tremors of geopolitics.For all those that criticize the Americans, we can only say that for us, they were all good, Schmetz said. We should never forget that. After watching the horrors of the dead soldiers at the nearby Henri-Chapelle cemetery as an 11-year-old, Schmetz vowed he would do something in their honor and gathered war memorabilia.A car mechanic with a big warehouse, he immediately started to turn it into the Remember Museum 39-45 once he retired more than three decades ago.I had to do something for those who died, he said. And for the treasure trove of military artifacts, what truly stands out is a long bench in the kitchen where U.S. veterans, their children, and even their grandchildren come and sit and talk about what happened, and the bonds uniting continent, memories all meticulously kept by his wife Mathilde, to pass on to new visitors and new generations of schoolkids. The Big Red OneIn the coming weeks, she will be going out to put 696 roses on the graves of soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division nicknamed The Big Red One, or BRO who lie buried among 7,987 headstones at Henri Chapelle. Charles Shay, who is now bedridden in Normandy, was also part of the 1st Infantry Division and came through the Ardennes region too before heading to Germany. He survived the Korean War too and started making visits to the D-Day beaches around two decades ago. Over the years, he became increasingly sick and Legrand, who has helped veterans in one way or another for more than 40 years, took him in to her home in 2018.He has been living there ever since. Reagans impactThe moment everything changed for Legrand was listening to then U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1984 speaking on a Normandy bluff of the sacrifice and heroism of American soldiers.Barely in her 20s, she realized that their blood is in our soil and we have to show gratitude. We have to do something. I didnt know what at the time, but I knew I would do something to show it.She had long volunteered to help Allied veterans before she met Shay. He was lonely, sick and frail when she took him in and began caring for him at her Normandy home. It is a strong symbol, which takes on a new dimension in this day and age, she said, referring to the tumultuous trans-Atlantic relations that have put the bonds between allies that Trump called unbreakable only six years ago, under extreme pressure. Once an ally, always an ally?Central in Trumps criticism of European NATO allies is that they have happily hunkered far too long under U.S. military supremacy since World War II and should start paying much more of their own way in the alliance. He has done so in such terms that many Europeans sincerely fear the breakup of the trans-Atlantic bonds that were a core of global politics for almost a century.The naive belief that the Americans will, by definition, always be an ally once and for all, that is gone, said Vos. It also raises a moral question for Europeans now.Are we doomed to be eternally grateful? Vos asked.

Russia lacks any formal, organized effort to account for legions of missing soldiers. That often leaves relatives in limbo, fending for themselves with scant government information.

Decades of research have turned up no miracle treatment for measles, but studies show the M.M.R. shot is 97 percent effective in preventing the disease.

A Druze man, center, stands next to Syrian security forces who reached a deal with Druze gunmen to deploy around the southern Damascus suburb of Jaramana that has witnessed fighting earlier this week in Damascus, Syria, early Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)2025-05-03T06:04:23Z CAIRO (AP) Umm al-Kheir Bakheit was 13 when she first came to Zamzam Camp in the early 2000s, fleeing the janjaweed, the infamous Arab militias terrorizing Sudans Darfur region. She grew up, married and had three children in the camp.Now 31, Bakheit fled Zamzam as the janjaweeds descendants a paramilitary force called the Rapid Support Forces stormed into the camp and went on a three-day rampage, killing at least 400 people, after months of starving its population with a siege. Bakheit and a dozen other residents and aid workers told The Associated Press that RSF fighters gunned down men and women in the streets, beat and tortured others and raped and sexually assaulted women and girls.The April 11 attack was the worst ever suffered by Zamzam, Sudans largest displacement camp, in its 20 years of existence. Once home to some 500,000 residents, the camp has been virtually emptied. The paramilitaries burned down large swaths of houses, markets and other buildings.Its a nightmare come true, Bakheit said. They attacked mercilessly. The attack came after months of famineThe attack on Zamzam underscored that atrocities have not ended in Sudans 2-year-old war, even as the RSF has suffered heavy setbacks, losing ground recently to the military in other parts of the country.Throughout the war, the RSF has been accused by residents and rights groups of mass killings and rapes in attacks on towns and cities, particularly in Darfur. Many of RSFs fighters originated from the janjaweed, who became notorious for atrocities in the early 2000s against people identifying as East or Central African in Darfur. Targeting civilians and using rape as a war weapon and destroying full villages and mass killing, all that has been the reality of the Sudan war for two years, said Marion Ramstein, MSF emergency field coordinator in North Darfur. Zamzam Camp was established in 2004 to house people driven from their homes by janjaweed attacks. Located just south of el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur province, it swelled over the years to cover an area 8 kilometers (5 miles) long by about 3 kilometers (2 miles) wide. In the spring of 2024, the RSF clamped a siege around Zamzam as it moved against el-Fasher, one of the last strongholds of the Sudanese military in Darfur.Many have died of starvation under the siege, Bakheit and others said. For too long, there was no option but to eat grass and tree leaves, she said.Famine was declared in the camp in August after RSF attacks forced the U.N. and aid groups to pull out of Zamzam. A comprehensive death toll from the famine is not known.Ahlam al-Nour, a 44-year-old mother of five, said her youngest child, a 3-year-old, died of severe malnutrition in December.The RSF has repeatedly claimed Zamzam and nearby Abu Shouk Camp were used as bases by the military and its allied militias. It said in a statement that it took control of the camp on April 11 to secure civilians and humanitarian workers. It denied its fighters targeted civilians. The RSF did not reply to APs questions on the attack. The janjaweed are comingBakheit, who lived on the southern edge of Zamzam, said she heard loud explosions and heavy gunfire around 2 a.m. April 11. The RSF started with heavy shelling, and people panicked as the night sky lit up and houses burst into flames, Bakheit said.By sunrise, the RSF-led fighters broke into her area, storming houses, kicking residents out and seizing valuables, Bakheit and others said. They spoke of sexual harassment and rape of young women and girls by RSF fighters.The children were screaming, The janjaweed are coming, Bakheit said.About two dozen women who fled to the nearby town of Tawila reported that they were raped during the attack, said Ramstein, who was in Tawila at the time. She said the number is likely much higher because many women are too ashamed to report rapes.Were talking about looting. Were talking about beating. Were talking about killing, but also about a lot of rape, she said.The paramilitaries rounded up hundreds of people, including women and children. Bakheit said fighters whipped, beat, insulted and sexually harassed her in front of her children as they drove her family from their home. She said she saw houses burning and at least five bodies in the street, including two women and a boy, the ground around them soaked in blood.The fighters gathered Bakheit and about 200 other people in an open area and interrogated them, asking about anyone fighting for the military and its allied militias.They tortured us, said al-Nour, who was among them.Al-Nour and Bakheit said they saw RSF fighters shoot two young men in the head during the interrogation. They shot a third man in the leg and he lay bleeding and screaming, they said.One video shared online by RSF paramilitaries showed fighters wearing RSF uniforms by nine bodies lying motionless on the ground. A fighter says he is inside Zamzam and that they would kill people like this, pointing to the bodies on the ground. Much of the camp was burnedThe RSF rampage, which also targeted Abu Shouk Camp north of el-Fasher, went on for days. The paramilitaries destroyed Zamzams only functioning medical center, killing nine workers from Relief International. They killed at least 23 people at a religious school, mostly young students studying the Quran, according to the General Coordination for Displaced Persons and Refugees in Darfur.Much of the south and east of the camp was burned to the ground, the General Coordination said.Satellite imagery from April 16 showed thick black smoke rising from several active fires in the camp. At least 1.7 square kilometers (0.65 square miles) appeared to have been burned down between April 10-16, said a report by the Yale School of Public Healths Humanitarian Research Lab, which analyzed and published the imagery. That is about 10% of the camps area.The imagery showed vehicles around the camp and at its main access points, which HRL said were probably RSF checkpoints controlling entry and exit.By April 14, only about 2,100 people remained in the camp, according to the U.N.s International Organization for Migration.An arduous journeyAfter being detained for three hours, Bakheit, al-Nour and dozens of other women and children were released by the paramilitaries.They walked for hours under the burning summer sun. Bakheit and al-Nour said that as they passed through the camp, they went by burning houses, the destroyed main market and bodies of men, women, children in the streets, some of them charred.They joined an exodus of others fleeing Zamzam and heading to the town of Tawila, 64 kilometers (40 miles) west of El Fasher. Al-Nour said she saw at least three people who died on the road, apparently from exhaustion and the effects of starvation and dehydration.The janjaweed, once again, kill and torture us, Bakheit said. Like my mother did about 20 years ago, I had no option but to take my children and leave. 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

This image provided by Ubisoft shows a scene from the new Assassin's Creed Shadows video game. (Ubisoft via AP)2025-05-03T04:43:47Z HANOVER, N.H. (AP) Sachi Schmidt-Hori has never played Assassins Creed Shadows, but facing an onslaught of online harassment from its fans, she quickly developed her own gameplay style: confronting hate with kindness.Schmidt-Hori, an associate professor of Japanese literature and culture at Dartmouth College, worked as a narrative consultant on the latest installment in the popular Ubisoft video game franchise. The game launched March 20, but the vitriol directed at Schmidt-Hori began in May 2024 with the release of a promotional trailer.Once I realized that I was by myself nobody was defending me I just decided to do what I knew would work, she said. Its very difficult to hate someone up close.Ancient history sparks modern-day harassmentSet in 16th century Japan, the game features Naoe, a Japanese female assassin, and Yasuke, a Black African samurai. Furor erupted over the latter, with gamers criticizing his inclusion as wokeness run amok. They quickly zeroed in Schmidt-Hori, attacking her in online forums, posting bogus reviews of her scholarly work and flooding her inbox with profanity. Many drew attention to her academic research into gender and sexuality. Some tracked down her husbands name and ridiculed him, too.Imagine that! Professional #WOKE SJW confirms fake history for Ubisoft, one Reddit user said, using an acronym for social justice warrior. Another user called her a sexual degenerate who hate humanity because no man want her. Learning Yasuke was based on a real person did little to assuage critics. Asian men in particular argued Schmidt-Hori was trying to erase them, even though her role involved researching historical customs and reviewing scripts, not creating characters.I became the face of this backlash, she said. People wanted to look for who to yell at, and I was kind of there.Ubisoft told her to ignore the harassment, as did her friends. Instead, she drew inspiration from the late civil rights leader and congressman John Lewis.I decided to cause good trouble, she said. I refused to ignore. Turning the tables on the trollsSchmidt-Hori began replying to some of the angry emails, asking the senders why they were mad at her and inviting them to speak face-to-face via Zoom. She wrote to an influencer who opposes diversity, equity and inclusion principles and had written about her, asking him if he intended to inspire the death threats she was getting. If somebody said to your wife what people are saying to me, you wouldnt like it, would you? she asked.The writer didnt reply, but he did take down the negative article about Schmidt-Hori. Others apologized.It truly destroyed me knowing that you had to suffer and cancel your class and received hate from horrible people, one man wrote. I feel somehow that you are part of my family, and I regret it. Im sorry from the bottom of my heart.Anik Talukder, a 28-year-old south Asian man living in the United Kingdom, said he apologized at least 10 times to Schmidt-Hori after accepting her Zoom invitation to discuss his Reddit post about her. On May 16, feeling surprised and disappointed about Yasuke as a protagonist, he posted a screenshot that included photos of Schmidt-Hori, her professional biography from the Dartmouth website and a description of a book she wrote.I felt like maybe they were doing too much of like racial inclusion and changing things, he said in an interview. An Asian male could have been the role model for so many people.Though he didnt criticize Schmidt-Hori directly, others responded negatively and the image was picked up and shared in other forums. He was shocked the professor reached out to him and hesitant to speak to her at first. But they ended up having a thoughtful conversation about the lack of Asian representation in Western media and have stayed in touch ever since.I learned a massive lesson, he said. I shouldnt have made this person a target for no reason whatsoever. Ubisoft defends choices and commends its consultantUbisoft officials declined to be interviewed about the criticism of the game or the harassment Schmidt-Hori faced. In a statement, the company said it carefully researches historical settings and collaborates with internal and expert witnesses, but the games remain works of fiction and artistic liberties are taken.We do not condone harassment or bullying in any form, the company said. We are committed to creating a supportive and collaborative environment and were constantly learning how we can improve this process. We commend and appreciate Sachi Schmidt-Hori for addressing these topics directly and are grateful for her approach and expertise.Unlike the professor at Dartmouth, in Hanover, New Hampshire, most people who become the target of online hate end up retreating to protect themselves, said Kate Mays, an assistant professor of public communication at the University of Vermont. Online forums allow people to post anonymously without seeing how their words are received and algorithms boost more aggressive content, she said, creating a perfect storm for people to become hateful. The intervention that she did was pretty brilliant in terms of sort of stopping that toxic train in its tracks and putting another spin on how people are engaging with her, Mays said. Shes sort of breaking the spell of that online disinhibition community involvement and forcing people to address her as a human and an individual.____Associated Press video journalist Amanda Swinhart contributed to this report from Burlington, Vermont.

House Republicans are planning to include several of President Trumps campaign promises in the first draft of the bill, which they hope to release soon.

The university, like many colleges and charities, is exempt from federal income and property taxes, saving it billions of dollars. President Trump has questioned whether it should enjoy that status.

Indian security officers inspect the site a day after where militants indiscriminately opened fire at tourists in Pahalgam, Indian controlled Kashmir, Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (AP Photo, File)2025-05-03T08:21:05Z ISLAMABAD (AP) Pakistan test-fired Saturday a ballistic missile as tensions with India spiked over last weeks deadly attack on tourists in the disputed Kashmir region.The surface-to-surface missile has a range of 450 kilometres (about 280 miles), the Pakistani military said.The launch of the Abdali Weapon System was aimed at ensuring the operational readiness of troops and validating key technical parameters, including the missiles advanced navigation system and enhanced manoeuvrability features, according to a statement from the military. Pakistans President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated the scientists, engineers and those behind the successful missile test.The countrys Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said days before Pakistan had credible intelligence that India was planning to attack it within days. Tarar vowed in a statement to respond very strongly if Pakistan comes under attack by its nuclear rival. Pakistan asked Gulf allies on Friday to help ease tensions with India after the April 22 attack in Indian-administered Kashmir, where 26 people, mostly Hindus, were killed. India has blamed Pakistan for the attack, a charge Islamabad strongly rejects.The disputed region is split between India and Pakistan and claimed by both in its entirety. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

People wait before the funeral of Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)2025-05-03T05:58:47Z ROME (AP) Next weeks conclave to elect the successor to Pope Francis as leader of the worlds 1.4 billion Catholics is a solemn affair steeped in centuries-old traditions.But far from the Sistine Chapel where cloistered cardinals will cast votes, people are placing bets on who will be chosen as the next pope. From cash bets on websites to online games modeled after fantasy football leagues and casual wagers among friends and families, the popularity of guessing and gambling on the future of the papacy is increasing worldwide, experts and participants say. Its even topped the Europa League soccer tournament and Formula One drivers championship, said Sam Eaton, U.K. manager for Oddschecker, a leading online platform analyzing odds across sports, events and other betting markets. Theres a huge level of interest globally, he said. I dont think weve had a market like this where weve had so many countries interested in seeing odds. Around the world, thousands of bets on the next pope Hundreds of thousands of people from some 140 countries have visited Oddschecker to review each cardinals chances of becoming the next pope, Eaton said. He noted special eagerness in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the United States. In the U.K., about 30,000 pounds (almost $40,000) have been wagered with one leading online betting platform as of this week, Eaton said a far cry from 1.2 million pounds on the singing contest Eurovision but still noteworthy as a trend, with the conclave days away. Betting on the next pope is definitely a niche market in the grand scheme of things, but it generates global interest, said Lee Phelps, a spokesman for William Hill, one of the U.K.s biggest bookmakers.Since April 21, weve taken thousands of bets, and its the busiest of all our non-sports betting markets, said Phelps, who expects a surge in interest once the conclave begins Wednesday.Betting on elections, papal conclaves and all manner of global events is almost a tradition of its own in the U.K., but such betting is not legal in the United States. BetMGM, one of the worlds top sports-betting companies, said it would not have any bets up.But Eaton noted that in the unregulated, illegal space, one of the biggest sites has $10 million wagered so far in pope bets. Fantasy teams of cardinals In Italy, betting on the papal election and all religious events is forbidden. Some people in Rome are making friendly, informal wagers the equivalent of $20 on a favorite cardinal, with the loser pledging to host a dinner or buy a pizza night out.Others are turning to an online game called Fantapapa, or Fantasy Pope, which mimics popular fantasy football and soccer leagues. More than 60,000 people are playing, each choosing 11 cardinals as if for a soccer team whom they believe have the best shot at becoming the next pope. They also draft the top contender, or captain. As with online wagers, the No. 1 choice for fantasy players has been Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, closely followed by Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle.Its a really fun game to play with friends and have a laugh, Italian student Federico La Rocca, 23, said. Initially my dad sent it to me ironically, but now that its going to be the conclave, I decided to have a go and try it. La Rocca said he chose Tagle because he looks like a nice guy and fun person. Players selections determine the number of points they rake in. But whats the jackpot? Eternal glory, joked Mauro Vanetti, who created the game when Francis was hospitalized earlier this year. Vanetti said he and his co-founder are against gambling, but they wanted to create something fun around the event. It seems like in Italy theres a certain inquisitiveness about the mechanisms of the Catholic hierarchy, but its a critical curiosity, a sarcastic and playful curiosity, so we were interested in this jesting spirit for such a solemn event, Vanetti said. In some ways it deflates the sacredness, in a nonaggressive way. Some concerns about betting on a solemn eventBeyond simply picking who the next pope will be, players and gamblers also can guess how many tries it will take the cardinals to choose the leader, which day of the week hell be elected, what new name he will decide on, or where his priorities will land on the progressive-conservative scale. While the game and some of the bets have a novel or fun nature, anti-gambling advocates have raised overall concerns about legal gaming and the growing popularity of wagering on all manner of events. A study published last fall found that 10% of young men in the U.S. show behavior that indicates a gambling problem, which is a rising concern in other parts of the world, too.And for gambling around the papacy in general, some have raised religious concerns. Catholic teaching doesnt go so far as to call games of chance or wagers sinful, but its Catechism warns that the passion for gambling risks becoming an enslavement. It says gambling becomes morally unacceptable if it gravely affects a persons livelihood. ___Hui reported from London. AP writers Giovanna DellOrto in Rome and Mark Anderson in Las Vegas contributed.___Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. SYLVIA HUI Hui, based in London, reports on UK news for The Associated Press with particular interest in foreign and social affairs and human rights. twitter mailto

Determined to cut costs and manage communications, the Trump administration is moving too slowly to contain the virus, experts say.

South Korea's former Labor Minister Kim Moon Soo celebrates after winning the nomination as the presidential election candidate during the People Power Party's convention in Goyang, South Korea, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)2025-05-03T06:51:58Z SEOUL, South Korea (AP) Former Labor Minister Kim Moon Soo won the presidential nomination of South Koreas main conservative party, facing an uphill battle against liberal front-runner Lee Jae-myung for the June 3 election.Observers say Kim will likely try to align with other conservative forces, such as former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, to prevent a split in conservative votes in a bid to boost prospects for a conservative win against Lee.In a party primary that ended Saturday, Kim won 56.5% of the votes cast, beating his sole competitor, Han Dong-hun, the party said in a televised announcement. Other contenders have been eliminated in earlier rounds.Ill form a strong alliance with anyone to prevent a rule by Lee Jae-myung and his Democratic Party forces. Ill push for that in a procedure and method that our people and members accept, and Ill ultimately win, Kim said in his victory speech. Kim, 73, served as a governor of South Koreas most populous Gyeonggi province and a member of the National Assembly for three terms. Kim was originally a pro-democracy and labor activist but joined a conservative party in the 1990s. The June 3 election is meant to find a successor to conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol, a PPP member who was impeached and removed from office in early April over his ill-fated Dec. 3 imposition of martial law. Stay up to date with similar stories by signing up to our WhatsApp channel. Kim has opposed parliaments impeachment of Yoon, though he said he respects a Constitutional Court ruling that formally dismissed Yoon as president in early April. Yoons impeachment is a major source of feuding at the People Power Party and a hot topic at the partys primary.Han, Kims main contender in Saturdays party election, served as Yoons first justice minister. He leads a reformist yet minority faction at the PPP who joined the liberal opposition in voting to overturn Yoons martial law decree and later impeach him. Without the support of Hans faction members, an opposition-led impeachment motion on Yoon couldnt have passed through the National Assembly because opposition parties were eight votes short of a two-thirds majority to approve it. Lee is the clear favorite to win the election, but he stands a total of five criminal trials over corruption and other charges. If Lee becomes president, those trials will likely stop as he will enjoy presidential immunity from most criminal prosecutions.Lees campaign suffered a setback due to a recent Supreme Court decision to order a new trial on his election law charges. Its unclear if he will face a court sentence that requires the suspension of his campaign before the June 3 vote, but hell likely grapple with an intense political offensive by his election rivals. HYUNG-JIN KIM Hyung-jin is an Associated Press reporter in Seoul, South Korea. He reports on security, political and other general news on the Korean Peninsula. twitter mailto

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)2025-05-03T07:24:19Z KYIV, Ukraine (AP) A Russian drone strike on Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city, wounded 47 people, local officials said.Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said drones hit 12 locations in the city late Friday. Residential buildings, civilian infrastructure and vehicles were damaged in the assault, according to Kharkiv regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov.Following the attack on Kharkiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged stronger, more decisive support from the countrys allies.While the world hesitates with decisions, nearly every night in Ukraine turns into a nightmare, costing lives. Ukraine needs strengthened air defense. Strong and real decisions are needed from our partners the United States, Europe, all our partners who seek peace, he wrote on X in the early hours of Saturday. The Ukrainian Air Force said Saturday that Russia fired 183 exploding drones and decoys overnight. Of those, 77 were intercepted by Ukrainian defenses, while a further 73 were lost, likely having been electronically jammed. The Air Force also reported that Russia launched two ballistic missiles. Meanwhile, Russias Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 170 Ukrainian drones overnight. The ministry said eight cruise missiles and three guided missiles were also intercepted. In southern Russia, four people were injured in a drone strike on the Black Sea port city of Novorossiysk overnight, according to Krasnodar Region Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev. The latest wave of attacks comes after the U.S. and Ukraine on Wednesday signed an agreement granting American access to Ukraines vast mineral resources, finalizing a deal months in the making that could enable continued military aid to Kyiv amid concerns that President Donald Trump might scale back support in ongoing peace negotiations with Russia.

Memorizing a poem is like taking a work of art that you love and letting it live and bloom inside of you.

As cardinals gather to elect Pope Francis successor, they are facing debates over whether the church most needs change or constancy.

Cardinal Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij arrives at the Vatican, Saturday, May 3, 2025, to attend the General Congregation of cardinals in the New Synod Hall where they are preparing for the upcoming conclave starting on May 7, to elect the 267th Roman pontiff. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)2025-05-03T06:16:12Z VATICAN CITY (AP) Vatican workers installed the simple stove in the Sistine Chapel where ballots will be burned during the upcoming conclave to elect a new pope, as jockeying continued outside over who among the cardinals is in the running.The Holy See released a video Saturday of the preparations for the May 7 conclave, which included installing the stove and a false floor in the frescoed Sistine Chapel to make it even. The footage also showed workers lining up simple wooden tables where the cardinals will sit and cast their votes starting Wednesday, and a ramp leading to the main seating area for any cardinal in a wheelchair.On Friday, fire crews were seen on the chapel roof attaching the chimney from which smoke signals will indicate whether a pope has been elected.The preparations are all leading up to the solemn pageantry of the start of the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis, historys first Latin American pope, who died April 21 at age 88. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni issued a net denial Friday of reports that one of the leading candidates, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, had suffered health problems earlier in the week that required medical attention. The reports, which spoke of a blood pressure issue, were carried by Italian media and picked up by Catholicvote.org, the U.S. site headed by Brian Burch, the Trump administrations choice to be ambassador to the Holy See. Speculation about a papal candidates health is a mainstay of conclave politics and maneuvering, as various factions try to torpedo or boost certain candidates. Francis experienced the dynamic firsthand: When the votes were going his way in the 2013 conclave, one breathless cardinal asked him if it was true that he had only one lung, as rumors had it. (Francis later recounted that he told the cardinal he had had the upper lobe of one lung removed as a young man.) He was elected a short time later. Bruni also confirmed the names of two cardinal electors who will not be participating, bringing the number down to 133 with four more still due to arrive in Rome: Cardinal Antonio Caizares Llovera, the retired archbishop of Valencia, Spain, and the retired archbishop of Nairobi, Kenya, Cardinale John Njue. Both said they couldnt participate due to health reasons. What happens in the conclave? Wednesday morning begins with a Mass in St. Peters Basilica celebrated by the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, after which the cardinal electors are sequestered from the rest of the world. In the afternoon, they will process into the Sistine Chapel, hear a meditation and take their oaths before casting their first ballots.If no candidate reaches the necessary two-thirds majority, or 89 votes, on the first ballot, the papers will be burned and black smoke will indicate to the world that no pope was elected. The cardinals will go back to their Vatican residence for the night and return to the Sistine Chapel on Thursday morning to conduct two votes in the morning, two in the afternoon, until a winner is found. After every two rounds of voting, the ballots are burned in the stove. If no pope is chosen, the ballots are mixed with cartridges containing potassium perchlorate, anthracene a component of coal tar and sulfur to produce black smoke out the chimney. If there is a winner, the ballots are mixed with potassium chlorate, lactose and chloroform resin to produce the white smoke.The white smoke came out of the chimney on the fifth ballot on March 13, 2013, and Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was introduced to the world as Pope Francis a short time later from the loggia of St. Peters Basilica. The preparations are underway as the cardinals meet privately in more informal sessions to discuss the needs of the Catholic Church going forward and the type of pope who can lead it.___Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. NICOLE WINFIELD Winfield has been on the Vatican beat since 2001, covering the papacies of St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and the Francis pontificate and traveling the world with them.

A Star Wars supporter poses for a photo during a fan convention called the Star Wars Celebration Japan in Chiba, near Tokyo, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae, File)2025-05-03T04:04:51Z It didnt begin a long time ago or in a galaxy far far away, but every May 4 it feels like images, memes and promotional deals involving Star Wars have an inescapable gravity.May 4 or May the 4th, as fans say has evolved over the years into Star Wars Day, an informal holiday celebrating the space epic and its surrounding franchise. What is Star Wars Day?Star Wars Day was created by fans as a sly nod to one of the films most popular catchphrases, May the force be with you. Get it? Good, now May the 4th be with you too.Its not an official holiday but has become so well-known that even former President Joe Biden marked it last year when Star Wars actor Mark Hamill dropped by the White House a day beforehand.I think its a very clever way for fans to celebrate their passion and love for Star Wars once a year, said Steve Sansweet, founder and executive chairman of Rancho Obi-Wan, a nonprofit museum in California that has the worlds largest collection of Star Wars memorabilia. How did it begin?The phrase May the 4th be with you was used by fans in the years after the first film was released in 1977, and even appeared in a British political ad in 1979 celebrating Margaret Thatchers victory as prime minister on May 4 that year.For some fans, the official Star Wars Day comes on May 25, the date of the first films release. The Los Angeles City Council even declared the date to be Star Wars Day in 2007, although the California Legislature voted in 2019 to designate May 4 as Star Wars Day. How has it spread?May the 4th caught on informally among fans through inside jokes shared on social media and viewings of the films to mark the occasion. Businesses eventually joined in on the fun, with brands ranging from Nissan to Jameson Whiskey running ads or posting on social media about it.Disney, which acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, embraced the day as a way to further promote the franchise with merchandise, special screenings and other events surrounding the brand.Not all Star Wars fans are enthused about how ubiquitous the once-underground joke has become. Chris Taylor, a senior editor at Mashable and author of How Star Wars Conquered the Universe, labels himself a May the 4th grinch in part because of its commercialization.I love a good dad joke as much as anyone, but my God you can take it too far, Taylor said.How is it being celebrated this year?The day is being celebrated on a large and small scale this year. Disney+ is launching the new series Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld on the date, and it comes as the second season gets underway for another franchise series, Andor.It also follows the announcement that a new stand-alone Star Wars film installment starring Ryan Gosling will be released in 2027.Disney marks the day with the launch of new Star Wars merchandise, ranging from lightsaber sets to jewelry.Most Major League Baseball teams have marked the day in recent years with special events incorporating Star Wars characters. For example, the San Francisco Giants sold special tickets for Saturdays game that included a bobblehead portraying pitcher Logan Webb as Obi-Webb Kenobi. Its hard to find a place where May the 4th celebrations arent occurring, from bakeries serving cookies with a Star Wars theme to concerts featuring the memorable scores of the films.Its a town-wide celebration in New Hope, Pennsylvania, which shares its name with the subtitle of the first Star Wars film. The town of about 2,600 people, located 30 miles (50 kilometers) northeast of Philadelphia, plans to have costumed characters throughout town with restaurants serving themed items like a YodaRita.I would always joke around and wish people May the 4th but taking it to this level, Ive definitely upped my Star Wars nerdiness, said Michael Sklar, president of the Greater New Hope Chamber of Commerce. ANDREW DEMILLO DeMillo is a government and politics reporter for The Associated Press, based in Little Rock, Arkansas. He has worked for the AP since 2005. twitter mailto