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Associated Press News | 2025-05-08 03:24:16+00:00 | [
"United Kingdom",
"Federal Reserve System",
"Financial markets",
"Gavin Hattersley",
"Donald Trump",
"China",
"Switzerland",
"Economic policy",
"Finance Business",
"Business",
"Government policy",
"McDonalds Corp.",
"Axon Enterprise",
"Inc.",
"Economy",
"International trade",
"Recessions and depressions",
"Kate Spade",
"Krispy Kreme"
] | # stocks wall street tariffs china trump
By Stan Choe
May 8th, 2025, 03:24 AM
---
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rose Thursday after the United States and United Kingdom announced a deal on trade that would lower some tariffs between the two countries, the first of what Wall Street hopes will be enough agreements to keep a recession from hitting the economy.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.6% for its 11th gain in the last 13 days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 254 points, or 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 1.1%.
It wasn't just stocks. Bitcoin jumped back above $101,000, and crude oil prices climbed, while the price of gold eased back as investors felt less need for safety. Treasury yields rose on bets that more trade deals with other countries may mean the Federal Reserve won't need to cut interest rates as sharply as feared in order to prop up the economy.
Stocks and other financial markets have been swinging for weeks with hopes that President Donald Trump could reach such deals that would lower his tariffs, which many investors believe would cause a recession if left unchecked.
Trump on Thursday lauded what he called a "maxed-out trade deal" with the United Kingdom, which will keep 10% tariffs on U.K. products but would lower taxes on U.K. automobiles in exchange for greater access in the U.K. market for U.S. beef, ethanol and other products.
Trump said it may take weeks to finalize all the details in the U.K. deal, but he also gave potentially encouraging updates on talks pending with an even bigger trading partner, China.
The world's second-largest economy is set to meet with high-level U.S. officials in Switzerland this weekend. China has been calling for the United States to cancel its tariffs, while Trump has said that he wouldn't reduce his 145% tariffs on Chinese goods as a condition for negotiations.
Asked on Thursday whether he would consider lowering tariffs on Chinese imports if this weekend's talks go well, Trump said, "It could be. We're going to see. Right now, you can't get any higher. It's at 145. So we know it's coming down." He also said he expects the talks in Switzerland to be "substantive."
Besides hopes for deals on trade, strong profit reports from U.S. companies have also helped to drive the S&P 500 closer to its all-time high set in February. It's back within 7.8% after dropping nearly 20% below the mark a month ago.
Axon Enterprise, the company that sells Tasers, body cameras and other public safety equipment, jumped 14.1% after joining the list. It benefited from strong growth for its software and services, and it raised its forecast for revenue over the full year.
Tapestry rose 3.7% after the company behind the Coach and Kate Spade brands also reported better profit and revenue than expected. It credited new, younger customers in North America, among other things.
Molson Coors, though, described a different landscape when it released its latest quarterly results, which fell short of analysts' expectations. Its stock fell 4.5%.
"The global macroeconomic environment is volatile," CEO Gavin Hattersley said. "Uncertainty around the effects of geopolitical events and global trade policy, including the impacts on economic growth, consumer confidence and expectations around inflation, and currencies has pressured the beer industry and consumption trends."
It became the latest company to either lower or pull its financial forecasts for 2025 given the uncertainty.
Krispy Kreme tumbled 24.7% after withdrawing its forecasts for the full year. The doughnut seller said it made the move in part because of "macroeconomic softness" and because it's pausing the rollout of sales of its doughnuts at more McDonald's restaurants.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 32.66 points to 5,663.94. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 254.48 to 41,368.45, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 189.98 to 17,928.14.
The U.S. economy has remained OK so far, with the Federal Reserve saying Wednesday that it still looks to be running at a solid rate underneath the surface. But pessimism has soured sharply among U.S. households because of tariffs, and the fear is that all the uncertainty created by them could be enough to force the economy into a recession.
A couple reports on the economy Thursday came in mixed. One said slightly fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week. But another said productivity for U.S. workers slowed by more than economists expected at the start of the year. That could keep upward pressure on inflation, when tariffs could be set to raise prices for all kinds of imported products.
Treasury yields rose following the reports, and the 10-year yield climbed to 4.38% from 4.26% late Wednesday.
The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for action by the Fed, leaped to 3.89% from 3.78%. Traders pared back expectations for how many times the Fed may cut interest rates later this year.
In stock markets abroad, the FTSE 100 slipped 0.3% in London after the Bank of England cut its main interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point.
Indexes rose across much of the rest of Europe and Asia.
___
AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-09 16:45:23+00:00 | [
"Donald Trump",
"George H.W. Bush",
"Newt Gingrich",
"Ross Perot",
"Mike Crapo",
"Mike Johnson",
"U.S. Republican Party",
"Politics",
"Grover Norquist",
"Taxes",
"Elon Musk"
] | # Trump revives, then discards, then revives again the idea of taxing the rich in big GOP bill
By Lisa Mascaro and Seung Min Kim
May 9th, 2025, 04:45 PM
---
WASHINGTON (AP) — After musing publicly and privately with the idea of raising the top tax rate for wealthy millionaires as Republicans draft his big bill in Congress, President Donald Trump early Friday backed off that call — sort of.
Trump posted on social media that hiking taxes on anyone, even the rich, could stir a political backlash, reviving the "Read my lips: No new taxes" warnings of the Bush-era that helped topple a president. The post came days after he floated the idea of higher taxes on those single filers earning $2.5 million and above.
But this time, the president, didn't completely discourage GOP lawmakers from pursuing that option as they rush to finish their massive tax breaks and spending cuts package this weekend.
"The problem with even a 'TINY' tax increase for the RICH, which I and all others would graciously accept in order to help the lower and middle income workers, is that the Radical Left Democrat Lunatics would go around screaming, 'Read my lips,'" Trump wrote.
"In any event, Republicans should probably not do it, but I'm OK if they do!!!" Trump wrote Friday.
The last ditch-push by the president comes as Republicans are laboring to push his "big, beautiful bill" toward public hearings next week, on track for a House vote by Memorial Day. Divisions run strong in the party, and the president's on-again, off-again push for millionaires taxes complicates the outcome.
Over the past months, Trump has repeatedly brought up the idea of imposing a higher rate for millionaires and the president revived his request in private talks.
Trump told Speaker Mike Johnson again this week he wants to see a higher rate on the wealthy in the big bill coming from Congress, according to a person familiar with the conversations and granted anonymity to discuss the private talks.
The president sees higher taxes on millionaires as a way to clip the argument coming from Democrats that the GOP's big tax package only benefits his wealthy friends, including billionaire Elon Musk, the person said.
Thanks to Trump's 2017 tax cuts bill, the top rate is now a 37% bracket that expires at the end of the year. That rate is for incomes beyond about $600,000 for single filers. Trump would like to see that rate expire, reverting back to 39.6%, or 40%.
This week Trump pitched top rate on incomes of around $2.5 million for individuals and $5 million for couples.
The debate over millionaires has been raging with a robust collection of anti-tax activists led by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Grover Norquist at Americans for Tax Reform and others working vigorously to prevent any tax hikes.
Trump appeared Friday to have again heeded the message from Gingrich, who has warned that George H.W. Bush during the 1988 presidential campaign pledged to not to implement any new taxes as president.
Bush then faced an onslaught of criticism during his unsuccessful 1992 reelection campaign for breaking that promise. Trump posted a few weeks ago that Gingrich was correct. But on Friday the president said independent candidate Ross Perot had caused Bush's loss that year.
As the conversations swirl in public and private, they keep coming back to Trump's own politically-populist instincts, touching off the GOP divide.
"I'm not excited about the proposal, but I have to say, there are a number of people in both the house and the Senate who are," said Sen. Mike Crapo, the GOP chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said earlier this week on the Hugh Hewitt show, "and if the President weighs in in favor of it, then that's going to be a big factor that we have to take into consideration as well." |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-02 14:17:33+00:00 | [
"Minneapolis",
"Shootings",
"James Duane Ortley",
"Indigenous people",
"Crime",
"Law enforcement",
"Michael Berger",
"Joseph Douglas Goodwin",
"Evan Ramon Denny",
"Homicide",
"Gun violence",
"Race and ethnicity",
"Brian OHara",
"Garrett Parten",
"Race and Ethnicity"
] | # Minneapolis shooting suspect is charged in 4 homicides. The Native American community is shaken
By Steve Karnowski
May 2nd, 2025, 02:17 PM
---
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Six people who all knew each other were inside a vehicle when one, a man with an alleged gang connection, shot each of them in the head before fleeing, according to newly unsealed criminal charges in this week's mass shooting in Minneapolis.
Three victims died at the scene early Tuesday. Another succumbed to his wounds Thursday. One remains hospitalized after being shot in the face but was able to identify the shooter to police, according to the criminal complaint.
And investigators believe a fifth person was killed hours later in retaliation. A suspect in the first shooting was arrested Thursday and has been charged with murder.
Police say the victims were all Native Americans and the shooting was gang-related. The rash of violence has shaken one of the country's largest urban Indigenous communities.
## What do we know about the victims?
The first shooting happened on Tuesday just before midnight in a vehicle parked in the diverse residential and commercial neighborhood of Phillips in south Minneapolis. The county medical examiner's office on Friday said the three who died at the scene were Evan Ramon Denny, 27 of St. Paul; Joseph Douglas Goodwin, 17, of Minneapolis; and Merelle Joan White, 20, of Red Lake. Two had been shot multiple times.
A 20-year-old woman was shot in the face and hospitalized in critical condition, the complaint said. She said the shooter was sitting in the back seat when he opened fire on her and everyone else in the vehicle before fleeing on foot.
A 28-year-old man was hospitalized in grave condition but died shortly after the suspect was arrested on Thursday, police said. That victim's name was still being withheld Friday.
## A second shooting the next day
About 13 hours later and a few blocks away, a man was killed near an apartment building that happens to house the Minneapolis office of the Red Lake Nation, one of the state's largest tribes. The medical examiner identified him Friday as Tiago Antonio Gilbert, 34, of Minneapolis. He died of multiple gunshot wounds.
The Minneapolis police chief said Thursday it was "entirely probable" this second shooting was revenge for the first. But a police spokesman, Sgt. Garrett Parten, said investigators were still working to determine if there was a link.
Police have released few other details about that homicide.
## How have Minnesota's Native American communities reacted?
A makeshift memorial had sprung up by Friday at the site of the first shooting. Red, silver and black balloons were tied to a tree where a plush eagle toy was also attached. At the base were candles, fresh flowers and a bottle of tequila.
The state's 11 sovereign tribal nations issued a joint statement Thursday, mourning the deaths and urging anyone with information to contact city law enforcement or their own tribal police.
"As native peoples, we have always known grief," the statement said. "But we have also always experienced the strength that comes afterward. We are here because our ancestors cared for one another. That is how you are even here — because someone before you chose love, protection, and community over despair."
## Police say the shootings were gang-related
The complaint against James Duane Ortley, 34, of Minneapolis, alleges that he and members of his family are associated with a gang known as the Native Mob, which operates in the city's south and other parts of Minnesota.
The gang was the subject of a multiyear federal investigation over a decade ago that resulted in the convictions of 28 people. Its alleged leader at the time was sentenced in 2014 to 43 years in prison.
## The suspect is now charged with murder
The U.S. Marshals Service said its local fugitive task force and an FBI SWAT team arrested Ortley on Thursday afternoon. He was charged a day earlier with second-degree murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Ortley has a felony assault conviction on his record from 2021, which the complaint said prohibits him from possessing guns or ammunition. Court records show he completed his probation in 2023. When police interviewed him in 2023 in a separate homicide investigation, the complaint said, he acknowledged that his street name was "Baby James."
Ortley remained jailed Friday, and court records didn't list an attorney who could comment on his behalf. His first court appearance is scheduled for Monday. The chief public defender for Hennepin County, Michael Berger, said his office probably won't learn if it's representing Ortley until Monday. Messages were left with several potential relatives of Ortley's.
## What was the suspect's relationship to the victims?
The victim who survived told police the shooter went by the street names "Baby J," "Little J" and "Little James," and was a friend of one of the victims, according to the complaint filed in Hennepin County District Court.
Relatives of one victim told police that the victims were all together at a family friend's residence in Minneapolis but left around 9:30 p.m. with plans to pick up "Baby J," who was known to be a "close family friend" of the victims. The family member identified "Baby J" as the defendant.
Other law enforcement sources told investigators that Ortley was "an associate" of more than one victim, the complaint said.
A surveillance video was consistent with the survivor's account, the complaint said. It shows one person matching Ortley's description exiting the vehicle and fleeing before police arrived.
## The motive is still unknown
The complaint gave no details on what might have prompted the shootings.
"This is a bittersweet day," Police Chief Brian O'Hara said in a statement Friday. "While this arrest represents meaningful progress toward justice, that progress is overshadowed by the heartbreaking loss of another life. Our thoughts remain with the victims' families, their loved ones, and a community that continues to grieve."
___
This story had been updated to correct in the headline that he has been charged in four homicides, instead of charged with four homicides.
___
Associated Press reporters Mark Vancleave in Minneapolis and John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-05 08:26:52+00:00 | [
"Europe",
"Romania government",
"Bucharest",
"Romania",
"Donald Trump",
"Victor Ponta",
"George Simion",
"Run-off elections",
"European Union",
"Global elections",
"Politics",
"Cristian Andrei",
"Elections",
"Elena Lasconi",
"Voting",
"Business",
"Marcel Ciolacu"
] | # Romania's hard-right candidate to face a pro-EU reformist in presidential runoff
By Stephen Mcgrath
May 5th, 2025, 08:26 AM
---
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — After decisively winning the most votes in Romania's first-round presidential election redo, hard-right nationalist George Simion will face a pro-Western reformist in a pivotal runoff in two weeks that could reshape the European Union and NATO member country's geopolitical direction.
Simion, the 38-year-old leader of the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, or AUR, far outpaced all other candidates in the polls with 40.96% of the vote, according to official electoral data, after all votes were counted from Sunday's election. In second place was reformist Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan with 20.99%.
The runoff will be held on May 18 between the two staunchly anti-establishment candidates but ideological opposites, who have made their political careers railing against Romania's old political class.
Dan, a 55-year-old mathematician and former anti-corruption activist who founded the Save Romania Union party (USR) in 2016, ran on a pro-EU ticket, told the media early Monday that "a difficult second round lies ahead, against an isolationist candidate."
"This was a democratic process that Romania needed … this won't be a debate between individuals, it will be a debate between a pro-Western direction for Romania and an anti-Western one," he said. "I call on all Romanians to be part of this battle, and I am optimistic that we will win."
In third place was the governing coalition's joint candidate, Crin Antonescu, with 20.07%, and behind him Victor Ponta, a former prime minister from 2012-2015, with 13% of the vote, while Elena Lasconi, who came second in last year's first round ballot, only obtained about 2.6%.
In response to Antonescu's poor showing, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announced his resignation on Monday.
Final turnout stood at 9.57 million people — or 53.2% of eligible voters, according to data from the electoral authorities.
Last year's election was annulled after the far-right outsider Calin Georgescu topped the first round, following allegations of electoral violations and Russian interference, which Moscow has denied.
The election redo took place months after an annulled vote plunged the country into its worst political crisis in decades.
Simion, who came fourth in last year's race and later backed Georgescu, said in a prerecorded speech aired after polls closed Sunday that, "I am here to restore constitutional order. "
"I want democracy, I want normalcy, and I have a single objective: to give back to the Romanian people what was taken from them and to place at the center of decision-making the ordinary, honest, dignified people," he said.
After her poor showing in Sunday's vote, Lasconi announced her resignation on Monday as leader of the USR party, saying, "I fought with all my strength against a rotten, corrupt system that has kept us captive for 35 years."
"Our efforts must be directed toward supporting a pro-European path and accelerating the transformation of a system that has proven dysfunctional and not in the citizens' interest," she said.
The presidential role carries a five-year term and significant decision-making powers in national security and foreign policy.
Cristian Andrei, a Bucharest-based political consultant, said that Sunday's outcome will likely trigger a "crisis" within the mainstream parties, and the runoff will pit pro-Western ideas against "more conservative, patriotic messaging."
"We'll have two anti-establishment candidates, one that is anti-establishment with a more conservative view of how Romania should advance, and a pro-Western anti-establishment," he told The Associated Press. "This is the most important thing to say: that it will be like a total anti-establishment movement on both sides of the road."
In a speech conceding defeat, the governing coalition's candidate, Antonescu, distanced himself and didn't endorse either candidate in the runoff, saying, "I was not part of the coalition."
"I presented a program, some ideas, and some people voted for me. I urge them to decide for themselves which of the remaining candidates best aligns with the ideas I put forward," he said. "I encourage everyone who voted for me today to show up and vote."
Distrust in the authorities remains widespread, especially for those who voted for Georgescu, a sizable electorate that Simion has sought to tap into.
Simion said that his hard-right nationalist AUR party is "perfectly aligned with the MAGA movement," capitalizing on a growing wave of populism in Europe after U.S. President Donald Trump's political comeback. AUR rose to prominence in a 2020 parliamentary election, proclaims to stand for "family, nation, faith, and freedom," and has since doubled its support.
"The antiestablishment sentiment is not like an anarchic movement, but is against the people who destroyed this country," Simion told the AP days before the rerun. "We are not a democratic state anymore." |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-03 11:52:13+00:00 | [
"Serbia",
"New York City",
"Aleksandar Vucic",
"Donald Trump",
"Richard Grenell",
"Rudolph Giuliani",
"United States government",
"United States",
"Politics",
"Hypertension",
"Rail accidents"
] | # Serbia's President Vucic cuts short US visit and returns home after falling ill
May 3rd, 2025, 11:52 AM
---
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic has cut short a visit to the United States and returned to Serbia after feeling sudden chest pain apparently caused by high blood pressure, doctors said on Saturday.
Vucic, 55, suddenly fell ill during a meeting in the U.S. on Friday and decided to return home against the advice of U.S. doctors, said cardiologist Dragan Dincic, from Belgrade's Military Hospital, where Vucic was treated upon arrival.
Dincic said Vucic took additional therapy after the incident and was now in "stable and satisfactory condition." Dincic added that Vucic won't be hospitalized but "cannot be expected to return to his regular activities for several days."
Vucic was previously in Miami, Florida, where he had met with former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani. Vucic had said he also was hoping to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Richard Grenell, U.S. presidential envoy for special missions, expressed hope that Vucic would recover. "Sorry to miss you but hope all is ok," Grenell wrote on X.
Serbia's populist leader also has said he would travel to Russia later this month to attend a Victory Day parade in Moscow, despite warnings from European Union officials that this could affect Serbia's bid to join the bloc.
Vucic has refused to join Western sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. He also has been under pressure at home following six months of persistent anti-corruption protests triggered by the collapse of a roof at a train station in the country's north that killed 16 people. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-11 11:39:47+00:00 | [
"Donald Trump",
"Democracy",
"New Jersey",
"Joe Biden",
"Marco Rubio",
"Barack Obama",
"United States government",
"North Korea government",
"U.S. Department of State",
"Buffalo",
"United States",
"North Korea",
"Maria Salazar",
"U.S. Agency for International Development",
"Government and politics",
"Lisa Brakel",
"Barbara Wejnert",
"David Salvo",
"Iran government",
"Soviet Union",
"Germany government",
"District of Columbia",
"Tom Malinowski",
"Politics"
] | # US initiatives that promote democracy abroad are withering under Trump
By Christine Fernando
May 11th, 2025, 11:39 AM
---
CHICAGO (AP) — Growing up in the former Soviet Union, Pedro Spivakovsky-Gonzalez's father and grandparents would listen to Voice of America with their ears pressed to the radio, trying to catch words through the government's radio jamming.
The U.S.-funded news service was instrumental in helping them understand what was happening on the other side of the Iron Curtain, before they moved to the United States in the 1970s.
"It was a window into another world," Spivakovsky-Gonzalez said. "They looked to it as a sort of a beacon of freedom. They were able to imagine a different world from the one they were living in."
When Spivakovsky-Gonzalez and his family heard of President Donald Trump's attempts to dismantle the U.S. Agency for Global Media — the agency that oversees VOA, Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia –- he said it was a "gut punch."
The first months of the second Trump administration have delivered blow after blow to American efforts to promote democracy abroad and pierce the information wall of authoritarian governments through programs that had been sustained over decades by presidents of both political parties.
The new administration has decimated the Agency for Global Media, restructured the State Department to eliminate a global democracy office and gutted the U.S. Agency for International Development, which just last year launched an initiative to try to halt democratic backsliding across the globe. In all, the moves represent a retrenchment from the U.S. role in spreading democracy beyond its borders.
Experts say the moves will create a vacuum for promoting freedom and representative government, and could accelerate what many see as anti-democratic trends around the world.
"The United States has historically been the leading power in spreading democracy globally. Despite different administrations, that has remained the case –- until now," said Staffan Lindberg, a political science professor at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.
## Targeting a broad swath of democracy and civil society initiatives
David Salvo, managing director for the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund, said promoting democracy abroad has been "a pillar of American foreign policy in the last 50 years" as a means of ensuring more stable, peaceful relationships with other countries, reducing the threat of conflict and war, and fostering economic cooperation.
Yet among Trump's early actions was targeting democracy programs through the State Department and USAID, which had launched a new global democracy initiative at the tail end of Democrat Joe Biden's presidency. The Treasury Department halted funding to the National Endowment for Democracy, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in April he would shutter a State Department office that had a mission to build "more democratic, secure, stable, and just societies."
Funding cuts have hit the National Democratic Institute, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems and U.S. nonprofits that have worked for decades "to inject resources into environments so that civil society and democratic actors can try to effect change for the better," including through bolstering unstable democracies against autocrats, Salvo said.
Whether global democracy programs are worth funding was central to a hearing Thursday held by a U.S. House Foreign Affairs subcommittee as Rep. Maria Salazar, R-Fla., repeatedly asked how to "ensure our return on investment is really high."
About 1.2% of the federal budget went to foreign aid in the 2023 fiscal year, according to the Pew Research Center.
"I understand the committee is interested in how we can improve ... and get back to basics," Tom Malinowski, a former Democratic congressman from New Jersey and assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor under President Barack Obama, told lawmakers. "The problem is the administration is eliminating the basics right now."
Uzra Zeya, who leads the international nonprofit Human Rights First after serving in the Biden State Department, said it was "heartbreaking and alarming" to watch the U.S. essentially dismantle its democracy and human rights programs.
"The potential long-term impacts are devastating for U.S. national security and prosperity," she said.
## Diminishing the messaging pipelines for freedom
For more than 80 years, VOA and its related outlets have delivered news across the world, including to more than 427 million people every week in 49 languages, according to a 2024 internal report. The broadcaster began during World War II to provide Germans with news, even as Nazi officials attempted to jam its signals. The Soviet Union and China attempted to silence its broadcasts during the Cold War. Iranian and North Korean governments have also tried to block access to VOA for decades.
But the most successful attempt to silence VOA has been through its own government. It was effectively shut down in March through an executive order.
Lisa Brakel, a 66-year-old retired librarian in Temperance, Michigan, said VOA was a "mainstay" when she was a music teacher in Kuwait in the 1980s. She and her colleagues would listen together in the apartment complex where the American teachers were housed, using it as a way to stay up-to-date with U.S. news.
"When I saw the news, I thought, 'No, they can't shut this down. Too many people depend on that,'" Brakel said. "As a librarian, any cuts to free access to information deeply concern me."
## Cuts will likely embolden US competitors
The broadcaster's future remains in flux after a federal appellate court paused a ruling that would have reversed its dismantling. This was just a day after journalists were told they would soon return to work after being off the air for almost two months. Even if they are allowed back, it's not clear the mission would be the same. This past week, the Trump administration agreed to use the conservative and heavily pro-Trump media network OAN's feed on VOA and other services.
In Asia, dismantling Radio Free Asia would mean losing the world's only independent Uyghur language news service, closing the Asia Fact Check Lab as it reports on misinformation from the Chinese Community Party, and curbing access to information in countries such as China, North Korea and Myanmar that lack free and independent media, the broadcaster's president, Bay Fang, said in a statement.
"Their invaluable work is part of RFA's responsibility to uphold the truth so that dictators and despots don't have the last word," Fang wrote in May in The New York Times.
Experts who monitor global democracy said the information gap created by the administration will embolden U.S. competitors such as Russia and China, which already are at work trying to shape public opinion.
Barbara Wejnert, a political sociologist at the University at Buffalo, who studies global democracies, said diplomatic efforts through U.S. broadcasters and democracy nonprofits helped precipitate a "rapid increase in democratizing countries" in the late 20th century.
"Especially today when the truth is distorted and people don't trust governments, spreading the notion of freedom and democracy through media is even more vital," she said.
___
The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP's democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-05 14:28:52+00:00 | [
"Greece",
"Law enforcement",
"Poland",
"Crime",
"Homicide",
"Extradition",
"Teens"
] | # Polish teen arrested in Greece over the brutal killing of a 16-year-old girl
May 5th, 2025, 02:28 PM
---
THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A 17-year-old Polish high school student appeared in a Greek court on Monday after being arrested over the killing of a 16-year-old girl in Poland, authorities said.
The suspect, who was in Greece as part of a school exchange program, refused a voluntary extradition request during his court appearance in the northern city of Thessaloniki, citing concerns for his family's safety, according to court officials. He was taken into police custody pending a decision on extradition by a panel of judges.
Polish police discovered the victim's body on May 1 in shrubbery near railroad tracks in Mlawa, in northeastern Poland, ending a weeklong search that began after she went missing on April 23. The search operation involved drones and scent-tracking dogs.
The girl had told her mother she was meeting a friend who lived on a nearby street before she disappeared, police spokeswoman Katarzyna Kucharska said.
"We considered various scenarios — including the worst and most tragic possibility. Sadly, that's the one that turned out to be true," Kucharska said. "A breakthrough came on May 1, around 5 a.m., when a search-and-recovery dog led us to the location where officers discovered the body."
Despite being a minor, the 17-year-old suspect could face murder charges involving excessive brutality under Polish law. Authorities in Poland have launched formal extradition proceedings to bring the suspect back to face charges. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-14 23:36:20+00:00 | [
"Donald Trump",
"Cyril Ramaphosa",
"South Africa",
"Cape Town",
"Africa",
"United States government",
"2024-2025 Mideast Wars",
"United States",
"Diversity",
"equity and inclusion",
"Palestinian territories government",
"Humanitarian crises",
"Race and ethnicity",
"Genocide",
"Misinformation",
"Government policy",
"South Africa government",
"Politics",
"Israel government",
"Violence",
"Hamas",
"Political refugees"
] | # South African leader and Trump will meet next week after US took in white South Africans as refugees
By Gerald Imray and Darlene Superville
May 14th, 2025, 11:36 PM
---
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — President Donald Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa are scheduled to meet at the White House next week following allegations by Trump — and denied by South Africa — that "genocide" is being committed against white farmers in the majority Black country.
The meeting, announced Wednesday by the South African government and set for May 21, also comes after the U.S. welcomed 59 white South Africans as refugees this Monday, the start of what the Trump administration said is a larger relocation plan for minority Afrikaner farmers who Trump has claimed are being persecuted in their homeland because of their race. South Africa denies the allegations and says whites in the majority Black country are not being singled out for persecution.
Ramaphosa's office said he will be in the U.S. from Monday to Thursday of next week, and will meet with Trump on Wednesday at the White House. Ramaphosa's trip would aim to "reset the strategic relationship between the two countries," his office said.
The White House had no immediate comment on the meeting, which would be Trump's first with the leader of a nation in Africa since he returned to office in January.
Trump has criticized South Africa's Black-led government on multiple fronts and issued an executive order Feb. 7 cutting all U.S. funding to the country as punishment for what he said were its anti-white policies at home and anti-American foreign policy.
The Republican president has singled out South Africa over what the U.S. calls racist laws against whites and has accused the government of "fueling" violence against white farmers. The South African government says the relatively small number of killings of white farmers should be condemned but are part of the country's problems with violent crime and are not racially motivated.
Trump said Monday — the same day that the first batch of Afrikaner refugees arrived at Dulles International Airport in Virginia — that there was "a genocide taking place" against white farmers that was being ignored by international media.
The U.S. criticism of what it calls South Africa's racist, anti-white laws appears to refer to South Africa's affirmative action laws that advance opportunities for Black people, and a new land expropriation law that gives the government power to take private land without compensation. Although the government says the land law is not a confiscation tool and refers to unused land that can be redistributed for the public good, some Afrikaner groups say it could allow their land to be seized and redistributed to some of the country's Black majority.
Since returning to office in January, Trump has issued orders to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs across the federal government. The administration has also threatened nongovernmental institutions like colleges and universities with the loss of financial aid unless they do the same.
Trump also required government contractors and other recipients of federal funds to certify, under threat of severe financial penalties, that they do not operate DEI programs that violate anti-discrimination laws.
Afrikaners are descendants of mainly Dutch, French and German colonial settlers who first came to South Africa in the 17th century. They were the leaders of the country's previous apartheid system of racial segregation. There are around 2.7 million Afrikaners among South Africa's population of 62 million, which is more than 80% Black. There are also nearly 2 million other whites of British and other descent.
Trump has also accused South Africa of taking "aggressive positions towards the U.S. and its allies" in its foreign policy and of being a supporter of Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, and Iran.
Trump's executive order cited South Africa's decision to accuse U.S. ally Israel of genocide in Gaza in an ongoing case at the International Court of Justice as an example of its anti-American stance. Israel opened a military offensive in Gaza after Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people in an October 2023 intrusion into southern Israel.
The Israeli operation has killed over 52,928 Palestinians, many of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. Almost 3,000 have been killed since Israel broke a ceasefire on March 18, the ministry said.
Israel has resumed blocking food, fuel, medicine and all other supplies from entering Gaza for weeks, worsening a humanitarian crisis for 2.3 million Palestinians
Ramaphosa has spoken repeatedly of his desire to engage with Trump diplomatically and improve the relationship. He says Trump's criticism is based on false information he's being given about South Africa's laws and the attacks on farmers.
___
Superville reported from Washington. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-09 13:21:51+00:00 | [
"Sean Diddy Combs",
"Manhattan",
"Crime",
"Juries",
"Indictments",
"Legal proceedings",
"New York City Wire",
"Trials",
"Sexual misconduct",
"Arun Subramanian",
"Human trafficking",
"Entertainment",
"Courts"
] | # Judge rejects claim that Sean 'Diddy' Combs was treated differently because of his race
By Larry Neumeister
May 9th, 2025, 01:21 PM
---
NEW YORK (AP) — Sean "Diddy" Combs was not treated differently because of his race by prosecutors who brought racketeering and sex trafficking charges against him, a judge ruled Friday as he rejected a request to dismiss some charges three days before opening statements in the hip-hop mogul's trial.
Judge Arun Subramanian said Combs had shown no evidence of discriminatory effect or intent based on his race, when his lawyers made their arguments in Manhattan federal court in February. In a separate written opinion, the judge also refused to suppress evidence in the case.
The lawyers had written that the prosecution was unprecedented because, "most disturbingly, no white person has ever been the target of a remotely similar prosecution."
The judge agreed with arguments by prosecutors that the extent of criminal conduct by Combs from 2004 to 2024 — when he was alleged to have overseen a racketeering enterprise that enabled him to sexually abuse women — was enough to separate the case against him from other prosecutions.
"It's the severity of what Combs allegedly did — not his race — that mattered," the judge wrote.
Subramanian noted that lawyers for Combs had alleged that the government sought to humiliate him through its news releases, the way search warrants were executed at his home, the refusal to let him surrender and alleged leaks to the media.
"However, Combs doesn't point to any evidence that racial bias played a role in the Government's actions, that the prosecution team was responsible for any leaks to the press, or that the way Combs's homes were searched bespeaks a discriminatory purpose," the judge wrote.
He added that the government's press releases and refusal to allow Combs to self-surrender were in keeping with how it has handled cases with defendants of other races.
The ruling came as opening statements were scheduled to occur Monday immediately after the final stage of jury selection, which defense lawyers say will take only a matter of minutes.
Prosecutors allege that Combs, 55, used his fame and power at the top of the hip-hop world to sexually abuse women from 2004 to 2024. He pleaded not guilty after his September arrest and has been held without bail at a Brooklyn federal lockup.
At a hearing Friday, Subramanian cancelled plans to finish picking the jury for the trial, saying he was worried that some jurors might get "cold feet" and back out of the case by Monday if they had the weekend to think about it.
One juror who sent an email to the court's jury department on Thursday night expressing concern about her "well-being" was dismissed from the panel of 45 jurors, from which 12 jurors and six alternates will be chosen on Monday.
Combs was in the Manhattan courtroom on Friday, but jurors weren't required to be there. The trial is projected to last two months.
Would-be jurors were asked questions earlier in the week to help the judge and lawyers determine if they could be fair and impartial. And they were also questioned to ensure they could decide the case on the facts — even after seeing explicit videos of sexual activity that some might find disturbing.
If Combs is convicted on all charges — which include racketeering, kidnapping, arson, bribery and sex trafficking — he would face a mandatory 15 years in prison and could remain behind bars for life.
An indictment includes descriptions of "Freak Offs," drugged-up orgies in which women were forced to have sex with male sex workers while Combs filmed them.
The charges against him also portray Combs as abusive to his victims, sometimes choking, hitting, kicking and dragging them, often by the hair. Once, the indictment alleges, he even dangled someone from a balcony.
His lawyers say prosecutors are trying to criminalize sexual activity between consenting adults. They concede that Combs had abused various substances but say he has since undergone treatment.
A centerpiece of the evidence against him are recordings of Combs beating a longtime girlfriend in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016.
After a video of the encounter aired on CNN last year, Combs apologized, saying, "I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I was disgusted then when I did it. I'm disgusted now."
Numerous prospective jurors told the judge they'd seen the video and some were deemed too affected by it to be impartial. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-07 20:08:47+00:00 | [
"Animals",
"Environmental conservation",
"Brazil",
"Law and order",
"Legislation",
"Climate and environment",
"Politics",
"Alex Redano",
"Brazil government",
"Forests",
"Amazon River",
"Climate"
] | # Brazilian state's deforestation amnesty poses 'one of the greatest threats' to the Amazon
By Fabiano Maisonnave
May 7th, 2025, 08:08 PM
---
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) — With little fanfare and virtually no publicity, lawmakers in the Brazilian state of Rondonia have passed legislation in favor of hundreds of cattle ranchers who had illegally converted swathes of Amazon rainforest into pasture land.
The new legislation, which was passed April 28 and took effect immediately, also grants amnesty to slaughterhouses that purchased cattle illegally raised inside what had been the Jaci-Parana conservation area, which the new law effectively dissolves.
"All fines, notices of violation and other administrative penalties tied to the occupation and use of the area are automatically voided and carry no legal or financial consequences," declared the law.
One of the beneficiaries of the amnesty is likely to be JBS SA, the world's largest meatpacker, which is poised to start selling shares on the New York Stock Exchange in June. According to a 2023 audit by Brazil´s Federal Prosecution Service, 12% of cattle purchased by JBS in Rondonia came from illegally deforested areas.
In exchange for the amnesty, cattle ranchers must join Rondonia's environmental regularization program, which requires them to halt deforestation and submit a plan to reforest part of the area. The law does not give them the public land, but allows it to be used under concession for 30 years. They will also be allowed to sell cattle, despite a law forbidding commercial cattle in Brazil's protected areas. Around 216,000 head graze on pasture there, according to the state animal division.
"The law is an affront. If it's not declared unconstitutional, it will pose one of the greatest threats to the protection of all conservation areas facing land invasions," said Wellington Lamburgini, a coordinator with the local chapter of the Pastoral Land Commission, a nonprofit affiliated with the Catholic Church. "It sends the message that this crime is tolerated and will eventually be legalized."
State lawmaker Luís do Hospital, who sponsored the bill, Alex Redano, president of the state parliament, and JBS all declined to comment.
## Legal loopholes
The expectation that illegally used land will become sanctioned has been the main driver of deforestation in the Amazon.
Land-grabbers clear land in hopes it will eventually be legalized due to lax land laws or government amnesties. In most cases, the forest is cleared for pasture to show economic activity.
In recent years, Rondonia's attorney general's office, state prosecutor's office and environmental agency have fined and prosecuted hundreds of cattle ranchers and four slaughterhouses for causing damage inside the Jaci-Parana conservation area, where large-scale cattle raising is forbidden.
Fines and pending legal settlements total $280 million — a fraction of the more than $1 billion in damages estimated by Rondonia state. Many of the 778 identified land invaders have never been prosecuted. While several have been convicted, most have escaped punishment due to legal loopholes.
The state prosecutor's office told The Associated Press it is considering appealing the new law.
The attorney general's office declined to comment.
In December 2023, the state's attorney sued JBS and three other slaughterhouses for buying cattle raised in Jaci-Parana. Months later, two of the slaughterhouses — Distriboi and Frigon — were ordered, along with three cattle ranchers, to pay $764,000 for causing environmental damage. Neither company responded to requests for comment.
## 'Could cause immeasurable harm'
JBS is facing three lawsuits pending trial. In one of them, the company argued that it has an environmental monitoring program that has blocked over 20,000 farms in Rondonia alone, according to the company's defense included in the court filings. It also states that the lawsuit is based on purchasing only 73 heads of cattle, representing 0.0006% of the company´s purchases in the state.
According to the company, the transaction, which took place 12 years ago, involved fraud from the cattle rancher, as he used geographic coordinates outside the Jaci-Parana reserve to make the sale appear legal. The producer has since been blocked from further sales.
"The mere existence of this lawsuit — even if ultimately unsuccessful — could cause immeasurable harm to JBS and, by extension, to Brazil's economy, to which the company contributes significantly, accounting for roughly 2.1% of the national GDP," the company said in court filings.
In a statement to AP, the meatpacker said that starting Jan. 1, 2026, it will only buy cattle from producers enrolled in its Transparent Livestock Platform, which allows ranchers to register information about their own suppliers, who will also be subject to JBS's socio-environmental compliance criteria.
Last month, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved the listing of JBS on the New York Stock Exchange despite strong opposition from environmental groups.
____
The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-11 06:01:30+00:00 | [
"Suriname",
"Paramaribo",
"Lilly Duijm",
"Rosa de Jong",
"Political refugees",
"Data management and storage",
"Religion"
] | # Dutch-led Suriname team digitizes 100,000 documents to preserve Jewish history in the Caribbean
By Molly Quell
May 11th, 2025, 06:01 AM
---
AMSTERDAM (AP) — The fire that caused significant damage in April to historic buildings in Suriname's capital city was not the only threat facing the nearby Neveh Shalom Synagogue.
As firefighters battled to save the historic city center of Paramaribo — a UNESCO World Heritage site — the synagogue's volunteers were busy scanning thousands of archival documents in an effort to preserve the history of the thousands of Jews who have called the Surinamese capital home since the 1700s.
The blaze was contained before reaching the synagogue, but at the mercy of other threats, including the tropical climate, insects and time, it was a reminder of how fragile the 100,000 historic documents, kept on pages stored in filing cabinets for decades, were and how vital the preservation project was.
The operation to digitize the birth records, land sales and correspondence has been overseen by Dutch academic Rosa de Jong, who had used the archive as part of a PhD study on how Jewish refugees fled the horrors of World War II to the Caribbean, including the tiny South American country of Suriname.
"I felt that my work comes with an obligation to preserve the past that I'm building my career on," De Jong told The Associated Press.
When she finished her academic research, at the University of Amsterdam, last year, De Jong saw an opportunity to return to Suriname and safeguard the files that had been crucial to her work.
She raised the financing for cameras, hard drives and travel expenses and returned to Suriname with the aim of making high-quality scans of the hundreds of folios held by the synagogue.
The result is more than 600 gigabytes of data stored on multiple hard drives. One will be donated to the National Archives of Suriname to be included in their digital collections.
The archived documents show how Suriname was a hub of Jewish life for the Americas. The British who colonized the region gave Jews political and religious autonomy when they first moved to Suriname in 1639 to manage tobacco and sugar cane plantations.
When the Dutch took control of the colony, they continued this practice. When Jewish people were forced out of other places in the Americas, they often fled to Suriname.
On Christmas Eve in 1942, more than 100 Dutch Jewish refugees, fleeing the horrors of the Holocaust, arrived in Paramaribo.
Liny Pajgin Yollick, then 18, was among them. In an oral history project for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, she described the relief she felt when she arrived in Suriname to the sound of a familiar song.
"I remember it was morning and they played Dutch National Anthem for us when we arrived, and everybody was crying. We were very emotional when we heard that because many of us never thought we would ever hear it again," she said.
When the Netherlands was freed from Nazi German occupation three years later, Teroenga, the magazine published for the Jewish congregations in Suriname, ran with the headline "Bevrijding" ("Liberation"). The archive at Neveh Shalom has a copy of every edition of Teroenga.
Key to De Jong's preservation project has been 78-year-old Lilly Duijm, who was responsible for the archive's folders of documents for more than two decades.
Born in Suriname, when she was 14 she moved to the Netherlands where she eventually became a nurse. But she returned to her homeland in 1973, just before the colony got its independence, and her four children grew up in Paramaribo.
More than anyone, she knows how precious the archive was.
"I told the congregation, as long as the archive is still here, I will not die. Even if I live to be 200 years old," she tearfully told AP. "This is keeping the history of my people." |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-14 22:35:45+00:00 | [
"Israel government",
"Gaza Strip",
"Foreign aid",
"Israel",
"Humanitarian crises",
"United Nations",
"Aerospace and defense industry",
"Politics",
"Palestinian territories government",
"Israel-Hamas war",
"Jake Wood"
] | # New US-backed group says it will start aid operations in Gaza within weeks
By Ellen Knickmeyer and Farnoush Amiri
May 14th, 2025, 10:35 PM
---
WASHINGTON (AP) — A new humanitarian organization that has U.S. backing to take over aid delivery to starving civilians in Gaza said Wednesday that it expects to begin operations before the end of the month — after what it describes as key agreements from Israeli officials.
A statement from the group, called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, identified several U.S. military veterans, former humanitarian coordinators and security contractors that it said would lead the delivery effort. Many in the aid community believe it is meant to supplant the distribution system now run by the U.N. and other international aid agencies.
The foundation failed to address much of the criticism and unanswered questions that the international community has about the group, including who would fund the work and how much involvement the U.S., Israel or any other government or military would have in controlling life-saving aid for Palestinian civilians.
In an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press, Tom Fletcher, the U.N. humanitarian chief, said the U.S.-backed proposal is "far from being able to meet" the conditions of humanitarian law.
"That's why we need to stick to the better plan, our plan A, which is just let us in. We can make sure this aid doesn't get anywhere near Hamas," Fletcher said, referencing Israeli accusations that the militant group is diverting supplies. "We have our procedures. We care more than anyone about making sure that it gets to the children and civilians and women who need it most."
Israel has blocked food, fuel, medicine and all other supplies from entering Gaza for weeks, worsening a humanitarian crisis for 2.3 million Palestinians. Israel says the blockade aims to pressure Hamas to release the hostages it still holds and that it won't allow aid back in until a system is in place that gives it control over distribution.
The U.N. and many aid groups have rejected Israel's efforts to control aid distribution, saying it would be all but impossible for a new startup group to meet the humanitarian needs of Gaza civilians after 19 months of food shortages and war.
Aid groups say they also fear the attempt would violate humanitarian principles of operating independently with neutrality and impartiality.
In Wednesday's statement, foundation executive director Jake Wood, a U.S. military veteran and co-founder of an existing disaster relief group called Team Rubicon, said the commitment to starting operations within weeks follows discussions with Israeli officials.
Wood indicated Israelis had agreed to allow the foundation to deliver aid through existing systems in Gaza temporarily while the group builds new distribution sites that Israel has demanded for aid.
Israelis also have agreed to allow more sites to be constructed to allow aid distribution in all of Gaza, and look for ways to get aid to those too malnourished, maimed by fighting, too old or too young to travel long distances to one of the aid sides, the foundation's statement said.
The foundation was in the "final stages" of gathering enough aid to serve 300 million meals in the first 90 days of operation, Wood wrote.
Israel's mission to the United Nations didn't immediately respond to messages seeking comment about the foundation's statement.
___
Amiri reported from the United Nations. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-14 11:20:40+00:00 | [
"Jay Schottenstein",
"Pittsburgh",
"Paul Lejuez",
"Retail and wholesale",
"American Eagle Outfitters",
"Inc.",
"Business",
"Marketing and advertising"
] | # American Eagle tumbles after pulling financial guidance for 2025
By Michelle Chapman
May 14th, 2025, 11:20 AM
---
Shares of American Eagle Outfitters are tumbling Wednesday after the retailer withdrew its financial outlook for the year citing "macro uncertainty" and said it would write down $75 million in spring and summer merchandise.
American Eagle said late Tuesday that it expects first-quarter revenue to slide 5%, or more than $1 billion. Same-store sales, a key gauge of a retailer's health, are projected to fall about 3%.
The Pittsburgh company foresees a first-quarter adjusted operating loss of about $68 million due to the inventory write-down as well as heavier spending on promotions.
The company's stock slumped 7% early on Wednesday.
CEO and Executive Chairman Jay Schottenstein said the retailer is unhappy with its execution during the first quarter.
"Merchandising strategies did not drive the results we anticipated, leading to higher promotions and excess inventory," Schottenstein said in a statement. "As a result, we have taken an inventory write down on spring and summer goods."
A large number of companies across multiple sectors have withdrawn financial guidance this year as a U.S.-led trade war creates uncertainty about costs for imported goods. The massive shift in U.S. trade policy has unsettled consumers as well and there are early signs that may Americans are becoming more judicious about spending.
American Eagle cited macro uncertainty as it pulled it 2025 financial guidance as it reviews future plans.
Schottenstein said American Eagle is in a better position for the second quarter, with inventory more aligned to sales trends.
"Our teams continue to work with urgency to strengthen product performance, while improving our buying principles," he said.
Paul Lejuez of Citi Investment Research said in a note to clients that he expects American Eagle to aggressively cut its inventory plans for the second half of the year and to focus on cost control.
"With the demand picture less clear and margin pressure from tariffs, promos and freight, American Eagle is in a tough spot to navigate the current uncertain environment," he wrote.
American Eagle reports first-quarter financial results on May 29. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-02 21:24:21+00:00 | [
"District of Columbia",
"Donald Trump",
"Lawsuits",
"Shootings",
"2021 United States Capitol riot",
"United States government",
"Riots",
"Legal proceedings",
"United States",
"Capitol siege",
"Gun violence",
"Politics",
"U.S. Department of Justice",
"Law enforcement"
] | # US reaches settlement in Ashli Babbitt wrongful death lawsuit
By Alanna Durkin Richer
May 2nd, 2025, 09:24 PM
---
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has reached a preliminary agreement to settle a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of Ashli Babbitt over her shooting by an officer during the U.S. Capitol riot, attorneys said on Friday.
Lawyers for Babbitt's estate and the Justice Department told a judge in Washington's federal court that they have reached a settlement in principle, but the details are still being worked out and the final agreement has not yet been signed. The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed.
Babbitt's estate filed the $30 million lawsuit last year over her fatal shooting when she attempted to climb through the broken window of a barricaded door leading to the Speaker's Lobby inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The Capitol Police officer who shot her was cleared of wrongdoing, by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, which concluded that he acted in self-defense and in the defense of members of Congress. The Capitol Police also cleared the officer.
Babbitt, a 35-year-old Air Force veteran from San Diego, was unarmed when she was shot by the police lieutenant when she tried to climb through the door as others in the mob pressed to get into the lobby outside the House chamber.
The lawsuit alleges that the officer, who was not in uniform, failed to de-escalate the situation and did not give her any warnings or commands before opening fire. It also alleges negligence on the part of Capitol Police. The lawsuit says the department "should have known" that the officer was "prone to behave in a dangerous or otherwise incompetent manner."
"Ashli posed no threat to the safety of anyone," the lawsuit said.
The Capitol Police officer said in a televised interview that he fired as a "last resort." When he pulled the trigger, he said, he had no idea whether the person jumping through the window was armed.
Capitol Police officials and an attorney for Babbitt's estate didn't immediately respond to emails seeking comment on Friday.
President Donald Trump in January pardoned, commuted the prison sentences or ordered the dismissal of all of the cases of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes in the riot.
___ |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-16 12:57:47+00:00 | [
"Novo Nordisk AS",
"Denmark",
"Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen",
"Europe",
"Weight management",
"Frankfurt",
"Business",
"Eli Lilly",
"Prescription drugs",
"SAP SE"
] | # CEO of Novo Nordisk, maker of weight loss drug Wegovy, to step down in wake of share price drop
By David Mchugh
May 16th, 2025, 12:57 PM
---
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk A/S, maker of blockbuster weight loss drug Wegovy, said Friday its CEO was stepping down by "mutual agreement" with the company's board of directors, citing "recent market challenges" and a steep decline in the company's share price.
Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen's departure comes a week after the company downgraded its sales and profits forecast, and follows a more than 50% decline in the company's shares since mid-2024. Shares had skyrocketed after the introduction of Wegovy and diabetes medicine Ozempic, which are both based on the same basic ingredient, semaglutide.
At the peak, the company's market capitalization - or the combined price of all its shares - exceeded Denmark's annual gross domestic product and made it Europe's most valuable company, a title it has since lost to software maker SAP.
The company said May 7 that Wegovy sales in the U.S. had been undercut by cheaper replica drugs produced by so-called compounding pharmacies using active ingredients of patented drugs in case of shortage. The Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. drug regulator, has said however that the shortages have eased and the replicas will have to cease in the coming months.
The drugs are part of a wave of obesity medications known as GLP-1 receptor agonists that also includes another Novo weight loss drug, Saxenda. They have soared in popularity due to the amount of weight people lose while taking the injections.
On Sunday a study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine showing people lost more weight using competitor drug Zepbound, made by Eli Lilly of Indianapolis. The study, the first head-to-head comparison of the two, was funded by Lilly. Novo Nordisk's share price is down 54% from its peak in June 2024. Its U.S.-listed shares fell another 3% in morning trading Friday.
The company, headquartered in Bagsvaerd, Denmark, praised a "significant growth journey and transformation" led by Jorgensen during his eight years as CEO. He has been with the company since 1991.
"The changes are, however, made in light of the recent market challenges Novo Nordisk has been facing, and the development of the company's share price since mid-2024," the company said in a statement. The board and Jorgensen "have jointly concluded that initiating a CEO succession is in the best interest of the company and its shareholders."
Jorgensen will continue as CEO "for a period" to support a smooth transition.
—-
AP Health Writer Tom Murphy contributed from Indianapolis. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-13 10:49:30+00:00 | [
"Turkey",
"Abdullah Ocalan",
"Kurdistan Workers Party",
"Recep Tayyip Erdogan",
"Iraq",
"Turkey government",
"Syria",
"Islam",
"Syria government",
"Disarmament",
"Politics"
] | # Turkey says it is closely monitoring PKK disbandment to secure peace
By Suzan Fraser
May 13th, 2025, 10:49 AM
---
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey is closely monitoring any attempts to undermine its peace initiative with the PKK, a senior official said Tuesday, following the militant Kurdish group's announcement that it is dissolving and ending its decades-long armed conflict with the Turkish state.
The PKK, designated as a terrorist organization by several, announced the historic decision on Monday months after its imprisoned leader called for the group to formally disband and disarm — a move that could bring an end to one of the Middle East's longest-running insurgencies.
In making the call, the PKK leader stressed the need for securing Kurdish rights through negotiation rather than armed struggle.
Previous peace efforts with the group have failed, most recently in 2015. Given the past failures, a close aide to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed determination to uphold the current initiative and prevent any disruptions.
"We are closely following attempts to sabotage the process and we will not allow anyone to test our state's determination in this regard," Fahrettin Altun, the head of the Turkish presidential communications office said.
The PKK initially launched its struggle with the goal of establishing an independent Kurdish state. Over time, it moderated its objectives toward autonomy and greater Kurdish rights within Turkey. The conflict, which has spilled into neighboring Iraq and Syria, has claimed tens of thousands of lives since it began in the 1980s.
The latest peace effort, which the government has labeled "Terror-Free Turkey" was launched in October, after a key ally of President Recep Tayyip suggested parole for PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan if the PKK renounces violence and disbands.
Officials have not disclose details about the process that will follow the PKK's decision.
Media close to the government have reported that the PKK's disarmament process is expected to take three to four months, with weapons being collected at designated locations in northern Iraq under official supervision.
According to Hurriyet newspaper, the disarmament could be overseen jointly by Turkey and the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq or through a commission involving Turkey, the United States, European Union nations and Iraq.
The newspaper also suggested that high-ranking PKK members may be relocated to third countries, while lower-ranking militants without arrest warrants could return to Turkey once a legal framework is established to facilitate their reintegration.
Turkish officials have not responded to requests for comment on the report.
Analysts expect Ocalan to see improved prison conditions following the PKK's disbandment.
Erdogan said Monday the PKK's declaration should apply to all PKK-affiliated groups, including Kurdish groups in Syria.
The Kurdish fighters in Syria have ties to the PKK and have been involved in intense fighting with Turkish-backed forces there. The leader of the U.S.-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces previously said Ocalan's call for a dissolution does not apply to his group in Syria.
The group then reached an agreement with the central government in Damascus for a nationwide ceasefire and its merger into the Syrian army. Despite the deal, Kurdish officials in Syria later declared their desire for a federal state, sparking tensions with the Syrian government.
Some believe the main aim of the reconciliation effort is for Erdogan's government to garner Kurdish support for a new constitution that would allow him to remain in power beyond 2028, when his term ends. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-01 12:41:00+00:00 | [
"Labor",
"Meta Platforms",
"Inc.",
"U.S. Department of Labor",
"Southwest Airlines Co.",
"Donald Trump",
"Department of Government Efficiency",
"Business",
"Elon Musk",
"United States government",
"Starbucks Corp."
] | # The number of Americans filing for jobless claims jumps last week, but remains at healthy levels
By Matt Ott
May 1st, 2025, 12:41 PM
---
U.S. applications for jobless benefits jumped to their highest level in two months, but layoffs remain in a historically healthy range despite increasing fears of a tariff-induced economic slowdown.
Jobless claim applications jumped by 18,000 to 241,000 for the week ending April 26, the Labor Department said Thursday. That's more than the 225,000 new applications analysts forecast and the most since late February.
Weekly applications for jobless benefits are considered a proxy for layoffs, and have mostly stayed in a healthy range between 200,000 and 250,000 for the past few years.
The total number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits for the week of April 19 climbed to 1.92 million, the most since November of 2021.
Even though President Donald Trump has paused or pulled back on many of his tariff threats, concerns remain about a global economic slowdown that could upend what has been an historically resilient labor market.
According to the Commerce Department, contraction has already begun in the U.S.
Commerce reported Wednesday that the U.S. economy shrank at a 0.3% annual pace from January through March as Trump's trade wars disrupted business. First-quarter growth was slowed by a surge in imports as companies in the United States tried to bring in foreign goods before Trump imposed massive tariffs.
It was the first quarterly GDP decline in three years.
Like his pledge to institute tariffs, Trump's promise to drastically downsize the federal government workforce has occupied much of the early weeks of his presidency and is still in motion.
It's not clear when the job cuts ordered by the Department of Government Efficiency — or "DOGE," spearheaded by Elon Musk — will surface in the weekly layoffs data. However, the federal government staff reductions are already being felt, even outside of the Washington, D.C. area.
Federal agencies that have either announced layoffs or are planning cuts include the Department of Health and Human Services, IRS, Small Business Administration, Veterans Affairs and Department of Education.
Despite showing some signs of weakening during the past year, the labor market remains healthy with plenty of job openings and relatively few layoffs.
Earlier this month, the government reported that U.S. employers added a surprisingly strong 228,000 jobs in March. While the unemployment rate inched up to 4.2%, that's still a healthy figure by historical standards.
The Labor Department issues its April jobs report on Friday.
Some high-profile companies have announced job cuts already this year, including Workday, Dow, CNN, Starbucks, Southwest Airlines and Facebook parent company Meta.
The Labor Department also reported Thursday that the four-week average of applications, which softens some of the week-to-week volatility, rose by 5,500 to 226,000. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-03 06:51:58+00:00 | [
"Han Duck-soo",
"South Korea",
"Yoon Suk Yeol",
"Kim Moon Soo",
"Lee Jae-myung",
"Conservatism",
"South Korea government",
"Global elections",
"Elections",
"Government appointments and nominations",
"Impeachment",
"Politics",
"U.S. Democratic Party"
] | # South Korea's main conservative party nominates Kim Moon Soo as its presidential candidate
By Hyung-Jin Kim
May 3rd, 2025, 06:51 AM
---
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Former Labor Minister and staunch conservative Kim Moon Soo won the presidential nomination of South Korea's 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 and 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.
"I'll form a strong alliance with anyone to prevent a rule by Lee Jae-myung and his Democratic Party forces. I'll push for that in a procedure and method that our people and party members accept, and I'll ultimately win," Kim said in his victory speech.
The June 3 election is meant to find a successor to conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol, a People Power Party member who was impeached by the opposition-controlled National Assembly in mid-December and dismissed by the Constitutional Court in early April over his ill-fated imposition of martial law.
Yoon's impeachment is a major source of feuding at the PPP and a hot topic at the party's primary.
Kim, who served as labor minister under Yoon, has opposed parliament's impeachment of Yoon, though he said he disagreed with Yoon's decision to declare martial law on Dec. 3. Kim gained popularity among hardline PPP supporters after he solely defied a demand on Dec. 11. by an opposition lawmaker that all Cabinet members stand up and bow in a gesture of apology for Yoon's martial law enactment at the National Assembly.
Han Dong-hun, Kim's main contender in the PPP's primary, served as Yoon's first justice minister. Han leads a reformist yet minority faction at the PPP who joined the liberal opposition in voting to overturn Yoon's martial law decree and later impeach him. Without the support of Han's faction members, an opposition-led impeachment motion on Yoon couldn't have passed through the National Assembly because opposition parties were eight votes short of a two-thirds majority to approve it.
Shin Yul, a politics professor at Seoul's Myonggi University, said that public awareness of the conservatives' campaign could have risen more sharply if Han had won, as he could have appealed to moderate, swing voters more.
Kim, 73, was originally a prominent labor activist in the 1970-80s but joined a conservative party in the 1990s. Kim recently said he gave up his dream to become "a revolutionist" after observing the collapse of communist states. He has since served as a governor of South Korea's most populous Gyeonggi province for eight years and a member of the National Assembly for three terms.
Kim has said that if elected, he would push to fight corruption, overhaul financial regulations, reform pension systems and increase government spending on Artificial Intelligence infrastructure. He said he would maintain a solid military alliance with the U.S. and introduce nuclear-powered submarines as a way to increase deterrence against North Korean nuclear threats.
Lee, who won the Democratic Party nomination last Sunday, is the clear favorite to win the election. But Lee's campaign suffered a setback due to a recent Supreme Court decision to order a new trial on his election law charges. It's unclear if he will face a court sentence that requires the suspension of his campaign before the June 3 vote, but he'll likely grapple with an intense political offensive by his election rivals. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-07 20:28:35+00:00 | [
"Financial markets",
"Federal Reserve System",
"Economic policy",
"Business"
] | # How major US stock indexes fared Wednesday, 5/7/2025
By The Associated Press
May 7th, 2025, 08:28 PM
---
U.S. stocks ended a choppy day higher after the Federal Reserve left its main interest rate alone, as was widely expected, but also warned about rising risks for the U.S. economy.
The S&P 500 rose 0.4% Wednesday. The index is coming off a two-day losing streak that had snapped its nine-day winning run. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.3%.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank has time to wait before making any potential moves on rates, but he warned that sustained tariffs could both weaken the economy and trigger higher inflation.
On Wednesday:
The S&P 500 rose 24.37 points, or 0.4%, to 5,631.28.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 284.97 points, or 0.7%, to 41,113.97.
The Nasdaq composite rose 48.50 points, or 0.3%, to 17,738.16.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 6.47 points, or 0.3%, to 1,989.66.
For the week:
The S&P 500 is down 55.39 points, or 1%.
The Dow is down 203.46 points, or 0.5%.
The Nasdaq is down 239.57 or 1.3%.
The Russell 2000 is down 31.08 points, or 1.5%.
For the year:
The S&P 500 is down 250.35 points, or 4.3%.
The Dow is down 1,430.25 points, or 3.4%.
The Nasdaq is down 1,572.63 or 8.1%.
The Russell 2000 is down 240.50 points, or 10.8%. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-03 11:58:55+00:00 | [
"Damascus",
"Syria",
"Syria government",
"2024-2025 Mideast Wars",
"War and unrest",
"Israel",
"Sanaa",
"Israel government",
"Bashar Assad",
"International agreements",
"United Nations",
"Politics"
] | # UN envoy condemns intense wave of Israeli airstrikes on Syria
By Omar Sanadiki and Ghaith Alsayed
May 3rd, 2025, 11:58 AM
---
HARASTA, Syria (AP) — The United Nations special envoy for Syria on Saturday condemned an intense wave of Israeli airstrikes as Israel said its forces were on the ground in Syria to protect the Druze minority sect following days of clashes with Syrian pro-government gunmen.
The late Friday airstrikes were reported in different parts of the capital, Damascus, and its suburbs, as well as southern and central Syria, local Syrian media reported. They came hours after Israel's air force struck near Syria's presidential palace after warning Syrian authorities not to march toward villages inhabited by Syrian Druze.
Israel's military spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, wrote on X that the strikes targeted a military post and anti-aircraft units. He also said the Israeli troops in Southern Syria were "to prevent any hostile force from entering the area or Druze villages" and that five Syrian Druze wounded in the fighting were transported for treatment in Israel.
The Israeli military issued another statement later Saturday saying that 12 warplanes carried out dozens of airstrikes targeting infrastructure components and weapons across Syria, including anti-aircraft cannons and surface-to-air missile launchers.
Syria's state news agency, SANA, reported Saturday that four people were wounded in central Syria, and that the airstrikes hit the eastern Damascus suburb of Harasta as well as the southern province of Daraa and the central province of Hama.
U.N. Special Envoy for Syria, Geir O. Pedersen, denounced the strikes on X.
"I strongly condemn Israel's continued and escalating violations of Syria's sovereignty, including multiple airstrikes in Damascus and other cities," Pedersen wrote Saturday, calling for an immediate cease of attacks and for Israel to stop "endangering Syrian civilians and to respect international law and Syria's sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity, and independence."
Four days of clashes between pro-government gunmen and Druze fighters have left nearly 100 people dead and raised fears of deadly sectarian violence.
The clashes are the worst between forces loyal to the government and Druze fighters since the early December fall of President Bashar Assad, whose family ruled Syria with an iron grip for more than five decades.
Israel has its own Druze community and officials have said they will protect the Druze of Syria and warned Islamic militant groups from entering predominantly Druze areas. Israeli forces have carried out hundreds of airstrikes since Assad's fall and captured a buffer zone along the Golan Heights.
The Druze religious sect is a minority group that began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. More than half of 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.
____
Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-19 10:56:37+00:00 | [
"Donald Trump",
"Texas",
"Christianity",
"Dan Patrick",
"Joe Biden",
"Pam Bondi",
"Church and state",
"Paula White-Cain",
"Conservatism",
"United States government",
"Religion and politics",
"United States",
"Eric Metaxas",
"Politics",
"Taylor Rogers",
"Charles Haynes",
"Religion",
"Shannon Fleck",
"Oklahoma state government",
"Supreme Court of the United States"
] | # Critics say Trump's religion agenda will most benefit conservative Christians
By Peter Smith
May 19th, 2025, 10:56 AM
---
White House Faith Office. A Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias. A Religious Liberty Commission.
President Donald Trump has won plaudits from his base of conservative Christian supporters for establishing multiple faith-related entities.
"We're bringing back religion in our country," Trump said at a recent Rose Garden event, on the National Day of Prayer, when he announced the creation of the Religious Liberty Commission. "We must always be one nation under God, a phrase that they would like to get rid of, the radical left."
But others, including some Christians, are alarmed by these acts — saying Trump isn't protecting religion in general but granting a privileged status to politically conservative expressions of Christianity that happen to include his supporters.
## What's up with the 'separation of church and state' debate?
Critics are even more aghast that he's questioning a core understanding of the First Amendment. "They say 'separation between church and state,'" Trump said at the prayer day gathering, when he talked about establishing the White House Faith Office. "I said, all right, let's forget about that for one time."
Trump's creation of these various bodies is "definitely not normal, and it's very important to not look at them as individual entities," said the Rev. Shannon Fleck, executive director of Faithful America, a progressive Christian advocacy organization.
"They are indicative of an entire system that is being constructed at the national level," she said. "It's a system specifically designed to guide and shape culture in the U.S."
Fleck worries about the combined effect of Trump administration actions and a spate of decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court in recent years. The court, now with three Trump appointees, has lowered barriers between church and state in its interpretations of the First Amendment's ban on any congressionally recognized establishment of religion.
"My freedom of religion runs right up to the point when yours begins, and if I am then trying to establish something that's going to affect your right to practice your faith, that is against the First Amendment," Fleck said.
But religious supporters of Trump are happy with his expansion of religion-related offices.
"We were a nation birthed by prayer, founded on the Judeo-Christian ethic to ensure that people could worship as they wished," said Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican, at the Rose Garden ceremony where he was announced as chair of the Religious Liberty Commission. Many members are conservative Christian clerics and commentators; some have supported Trump politically. The event featured Christian praise music along with Jewish, Muslim and Christian prayers.
White House assistant press secretary Taylor Rogers, via email, said the commission is ensuring "that all Americans' God-given right is protected, no matter their religion." Rogers said the criticism is coming from anti-Trump advocacy groups that are trying to undermine his agenda.
## A closer look at the new religious entities
The three entities created under Trump overlap in their marching orders and, in some cases, their membership.
In February, Trump established the White House Faith Office, led by evangelist Paula White-Cain as a "special government employee," according to the announcement. She's resuming a similar role she held in the first Trump administration.
White-Cain — who also serves on the new Religious Liberty Commission — was one of the earliest high-profile Christian leaders to support Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and is considered Trump's spiritual adviser.
Her office is designed to consult "experts within the faith community" on "practices to better align with the American values." It also is tasked with religious-liberty training and promoting grant opportunities for faith-based entities; and working to "identify failures" in federal protection for religious liberty.
Also in February, Trump created a Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias, led by Attorney General Pam Bondi with representatives from several federal departments.
Its mandate is to expose and reverse what Trump claims were "egregious" violations of Christians' rights under former President Joe Biden. Many of those claims have been disputed, as has the need for singling out for protection the nation's largest and most culturally and politically dominant religious group.
A White House action focused on a specific religion is not unprecedented. The Biden administration, for example, issued strategy plans to combat antisemitism and Islamophobia. Both Trump administrations have issued executive orders on combating antisemitism.
An April hearing of the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias featured witnesses from across federal departments, alleging that Christians during the Biden administration faced discrimination for such things as opposing vaccine mandates or "DEI/LGBT ideology" on religious grounds. Some claimed that schools' legal or tax enforcement actions were actually targeted because of their Christian religion.
The State and Veterans Affairs departments have asked people to report alleged instances of anti-Christian bias.
The White House said the Justice Department formed specific task forces to respond to what it called a "concentration of bias" against Christians and Jews, but that it's committed to combating discrimination against Americans of any faith.
The latest entity to be created, the Religious Liberty Commission, has a mandate to recommend policies to protect and "celebrate America's peaceful religious pluralism."
Patrick, the chair, has supported legislation requiring Texas school districts to allow prayer time for students and says he wants his state to emulate Louisiana in requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in public school classrooms.
Among the commission's mandates: to look into "conscience protections in the health care field and concerning vaccine mandates" and government "displays with religious imagery."
Among the commissioners are Catholic bishops, Protestant evangelists, a rabbi and attorneys focused on religious liberty cases. Its advisory boards include several Christian and some Jewish and Muslim members.
A commission member, author and broadcaster, Eric Metaxas, supported its work in a column Friday for the conservative site Blaze Media.
"This commission's goal is to strengthen the liberty of every single American — regardless of that person's faith and even of whether that person has any faith," he wrote. "It also aims to restore those liberties attacked by hostile and misguided secularists."
## Fulfilling a priority for Trump's conservative Christian backers
Charles Haynes, senior fellow for religious liberty at the Freedom Forum, a nonpartisan foundation focused on First Amendment rights, said the various entities reflect Trump's attempt to fulfill an agenda priority of his conservative Christian supporters.
He said the entities' work reflects their long-standing contention that the First Amendment has "been misapplied to keep Christians out of the public square, to discriminate against Christianity, by which they mean their understandings of Christianity."
Trump's moves and recent Supreme Court cases are reversing a consensus dating at least to the 1940s that the First Amendment strictly prohibits government-sponsored religion at the federal and state levels, Haynes said.
He said the First Amendment actually provides broad protections for religious expressions in settings such as public schools. He helped write a Freedom Forum guide on religion in public schools, endorsed by groups across the ideological spectrum. It notes that within some limits, students can pray on their own time in schools, express their faith in class assignments, distribute religious literature, form school religious clubs and receive some accommodations based on religious belief.
But Haynes noted that the Supreme Court is now considering allowing Oklahoma to pay for a Catholic charter school, which he said could erase a long-standing standard that public-funded schools don't teach a particular religion.
"It's a very different day in the United States when both the Supreme Court and the president of the United States appear to be intent on changing the arrangement on religious freedom that we thought was in place," Haynes said. "It's a radical departure from how we've understood ourselves."
___
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-01 18:33:49+00:00 | [
"Tony Evers",
"Wisconsin",
"Milwaukee",
"Donald Trump",
"Josh Schoemann",
"Wisconsin state government",
"Eric Hovde",
"Government budgets",
"Elections",
"Politics",
"Tom Tiffany",
"Sarah Abel",
"Ben Voelkel",
"Bill Berrien",
"2020 United States presidential election"
] | # Republican county leader Josh Schoemann enters Wisconsin governor's race
By Scott Bauer
May 1st, 2025, 06:33 PM
---
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Republican Josh Schoemann, the top elected official in a suburban Milwaukee county, this week created a committee to run for governor in 2026, making him the first candidate from either major party to get into the race.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has not yet said whether he will seek a third term. Evers has repeatedly said he will announce his intentions after the state budget is passed and signed into law, which typically happens around early July. Asked for a reaction, a spokesperson for Evers referred to a comment from the Wisconsin Democratic Party.
"The Republican primary for governor is going to be a who's who of far-right extremists tripping over themselves to earn Donald Trump's favor — and all Josh Schoemann has going for him is that he's first off the starting line," said Sarah Abel, executive director of the Wisconsin Democratic Party.
Schoemann, 43, filed to create a campaign committee on Wednesday. He is the executive of Washington County, one of the deepest red counties in Wisconsin, which President Donald Trump won with 67% of the vote in 2024.
Schoemann has never run a statewide race before and is unlikely to be the only Republican candidate in the election that is 19 months away.
Bill Berrien, a Whitefish Bay manufacturing businessman, created a political action committee two weeks ago as he also considers a run. Berrien is a Navy SEAL veteran and CEO of Pindel Global Precision and Liberty Precision in New Berlin.
Others mentioned as potential candidates include U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who represents northern Wisconsin, and two-time losing U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde, a Madison businessman.
Schoemann was elected as county executive in 2020 after previously working six years as county administrator and county manager. He is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and received an honorable discharge in October 2008 from the Army National Guard, according to his biography on the county website.
Schoemann has a "historic summer kickoff cookout" scheduled for Sunday in West Bend where he is expected to formally announce his candidacy.
Ben Voelkel, a Schoemann spokesperson, declined to comment Thursday when asked if Schoemann would be launching his run on Sunday. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-06 12:25:38+00:00 | [
"New Jersey",
"Crime",
"Juries",
"Courts",
"Religion",
"Sexual assault",
"Joseph Williams",
"Sexual abuse",
"Anne Patterson",
"Mark Crawford"
] | # New Jersey Catholic bishop says diocese will no longer oppose investigation into abuse allegations
By Mike Catalini
May 6th, 2025, 12:25 PM
---
The Catholic bishop of a New Jersey diocese said he would no longer oppose a state grand jury investigation of clergy sexual abuse that the church has been fighting behind closed doors in court for years.
It's not clear, however, that the grand jury investigation will go forward because the state Supreme Court is already considering the diocese's earlier argument against seating one.
In a letter Monday to the state Supreme Court, an attorney for the diocese said Camden Bishop Joseph Williams wished to inform the seven justices that "the Diocese of Camden will not object to the empanelment of a grand jury for the purpose of considering a presentment."
Williams took over the diocese in March and first said in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer on Monday that the diocese no longer wished to prevent the attorney general's office from seating a grand jury to investigate allegations of sexual assault by priests and other religious officials.
Williams told the newspaper it was important to help those harmed by the church and that he doesn't want to stop their voices from being heard.
In a letter to parishioners posted on Tuesday, Williams said he met with stakeholders in the diocese and there was unanimous consent to end the church's opposition to the grand jury. The next day he went to the state attorney general's office and informed them of the decision, Williams wrote.
"We expressed our desire to be partners with them in this public service," Williams wrote.
Williams told the Inquirer: "Our people need to hear this, the clergy needs to hear this, so that it never happens again, first of all."
The change comes a week after attorneys for the diocese argued before the state Supreme Court that prosecutors did not have the authority under court rules to use a grand jury to investigate private church officials. Instead, the lawyers argued, the rule requires grand jury presentments to tackle public officials and government.
The high court has not yet issued an opinion on the arguments. It's not immediately clear how the bishop's new position would affect their ruling and whether the court might side with the diocese's previous position.
The state attorney general's office said in an emailed statement Tuesday that it welcomes the "introspection that produced this shift in the Diocese of Camden's position."
The statement pointed out that prosecutors are still subject to lower court orders that blocked the investigation.
Mark Crawford, state director of Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, said in a text message Tuesday that the change was "long overdue."
"We are cautiously optimistic as this is certainly the right thing to do and for the right reasons," he said. "This should have happened long ago and seeing Bishop Williams take a different approach is encouraging."
The issue dates to a Pennsylvania grand jury report in 2018 that found more than 1,000 children had been abused in that state since the 1940s, prompting the New Jersey attorney general to announce a similar investigation.
But the results of New Jersey's inquiry never became public partly because a legal battle led by the Diocese of Camden was unfolding behind closed doors amid sealed proceedings.
Then, this year the Bergen Record obtained records disclosing a trial court's judgment in favor of the diocese and revealing the diocese's objection to the grand jury. And in March, the Supreme Court ordered more documents in the case unsealed.
The core disagreement is over whether a court rule permits grand juries in New Jersey to issue findings in cases involving private individuals. Trial and appellate courts found for the diocese.
In oral arguments, Supreme Court justices at times sounded skeptical of the diocese's then-position that the grand jury investigation would amount to a condemnation of the church and its officials.
"We don't know what a grand jury would say, am I right?" Justice Anne Patterson asked at the time. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-17 09:13:37+00:00 | [
"Chris Brown",
"Lil Wayne",
"London",
"Manchester",
"Celebrity",
"Classical music",
"Indictments",
"Hip hop and rap",
"Law enforcement",
"Bryson Tiller",
"Jhene Aiko",
"Entertainment",
"Summer Walker",
"Hannah Nicholls",
"Abe Diaw"
] | # Musician charged with Chris Brown in alleged London nightclub assault
By Brian Melley
May 17th, 2025, 09:13 AM
---
LONDON (AP) — A fellow musician and friend of Chris Brown has been charged alongside the Grammy-winning singer on allegations they beat and seriously injured a music producer at a London nightclub in 2023, police said Saturday.
Omololu Akinlolu, 38, who performs under the name "Hoody Baby," was due to appear in Manchester Magistrates' Court on a charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
Brown, 36, was jailed without bail on the same charge Friday, throwing his upcoming tour into question. He is scheduled to appear at Southwark Crown Court in London on June 13, which is the third day of his world tour.
Akinlolu is a rapper from Dallas, Texas, who has collaborated with Brown and Lil Wayne. He also goes by the names "Fat Leopard" and "Super Hood."
Police gave no details on what role Akinlolu played in the alleged assault but said he was charged in connection with the same incident as Brown.
Brown was on tour in the U.K. in February 2023 when he launched an unprovoked attack on producer Abe Diaw, striking him several times with a bottle at the Tape nightclub in the swanky Mayfair neighborhood in London, prosecutor Hannah Nicholls said in court Friday.
Brown then chased Diaw and punched and kicked him in an attack caught on surveillance camera in front of a club full of people, she said.
Brown did not enter a plea and only spoke to confirm his name, birth date and gave his address as the Lowry Hotel, where he was arrested in Manchester early Thursday and taken into custody.
Brown's representative has not responded to multiple requests for comment from The Associated Press.
Brown, often called by his nickname Breezy, burst onto the music scene as a teen in 2005 and has become a major hitmaker over the years with notable songs such as "Run It," "Kiss Kiss" and "Without You."
He won his first Grammy for best R&B album in 2011 for "F.A.M.E." and then earned his second gold trophy in the same category for "11:11 (Deluxe)" earlier this year.
He is scheduled to launch an international tour next month with artists Jhene Aiko, Summer Walker and Bryson Tiller, opening with a European leg on June 8 in Amsterdam before starting North America shows in July.
___
Jonathan Landrum Jr. contributed to this report from Los Angeles.
___
This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of Akinlolu's first name, which had been misspelled by police. It is Omololu not Omolulu. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-02 22:38:15+00:00 | [
"Donald Trump",
"Russell Vought",
"Hillary Clinton",
"Executive orders",
"Government budgets",
"Legislation",
"DC Wire",
"Politics",
"Pam Bondi",
"United States government",
"Marc Elias"
] | # Judge blocks Trump executive order targeting elite law firm
By Eric Tucker
May 2nd, 2025, 10:38 PM
---
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Friday permanently blocked a White House executive order targeting an elite law firm, dealing a setback to President Donald Trump's campaign of retribution against the legal profession.
U.S. District Beryl Howell said the executive order against the firm of Perkins Coie amounted to "unconstitutional retaliation" as she ordered that it be nullified and that the Trump administration halt any enforcement of it.
"No American President," Howell wrote in her 102-page order, "has ever before issued executive orders like the one at issue in this lawsuit targeting a prominent law firm with adverse actions to be executed by all Executive branch agencies but, in purpose and effect, this action draws from a playbook as old as Shakespeare, who penned the phrase: 'The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.'"
The ruling was most definitive rejection to date of Trump's spate of similarly worded executive orders against some of the country's most elite law firms, part of a broader effort by the president to reshape American civil society by targeting perceived adversaries in hopes of extracting concessions from them and bending them to his will. Several of the firms singled out for sanction have either done legal work that Trump has opposed, or currently have or previously had associations with prosecutors who at one point investigated the president.
The edicts have ordered that the security clearances of attorneys at the targeted firms be suspended, that federal contracts be terminated and that their employees be barred from federal buildings. The punished law firms have called the executive orders an affront to the legal system and at odds with the foundational principle that lawyers should be free to represent whomever they'd like without fear of government reprisal.
In the case of Perkins Coie, the White House cited its representation of Democrat Hillary Clinton's campaign during the 2016 presidential race. Trump has also railed against one of the firm's former lawyers, Marc Elias, who engaged the services of an opposition research firm that in turn hired a former British spy who produced files of research examining potential ties between Trump and Russia. Elias left the firm 2021.
In her opinion, Howell wrote that Perkins Coie was targeted because the firm "expressed support for employment policies the President does not like, represented clients the President does not like, represented clients seeking litigation results the President does not like, and represented clients challenging some of the President's actions, which he also does not like."
"That," she wrote, "is unconstitutional retaliation and viewpoint discrimination, plain and simple."
The decision was not surprising given that Howell had earlier temporarily blocked multiple provisions of the order and had expressed deep misgivings about the edict at a more recent hearing, when she grilled a Justice Department lawyer who was tasked with justifying it. Her ruling Friday permanently bars enforcement of the executive order. She also directed Attorney General Pam Bondi and Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, to provide copies of her opinion to all government departments and agencies that had previously received the executive order.
The other law firms that have challenged orders against them —WilmerHale, Jenner & Block and Susman Godfrey — have succeeded in at least temporarily blocking the orders. '
But other major firms have sought to avert orders by preemptively reaching settlements that require them, among other things, to collectively dedicate hundreds of millions of dollars in free legal services in support of causes the Trump administration says it supports. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-14 16:10:26+00:00 | [
"Donald Trump",
"Hillary Clinton",
"Barack Obama",
"Movies",
"Rachel Feldman",
"Louisiana",
"Jackie Clarkson",
"Politics",
"Lilly Ledbetter",
"Jocelyn Samuels",
"Human rights",
"Louisiana state government",
"Civil rights",
"Business",
"Arts and entertainment",
"Democratic National Convention",
"Ruth Bader Ginsburg",
"Michelle Obama",
"Patricia Clarkson",
"Entertainment"
] | # Patricia Clarkson on playing her icon Lilly Ledbetter and the political moment greeting the movie
By Alexandra Olson
May 14th, 2025, 04:10 PM
---
NEW YORK (AP) — The film "Lilly," a biopic about the equal pay icon Lilly Ledbetter, lands in theaters at a difficult time for her biggest political and civil rights champions.
Many are gone or out of power, their hopes of building on Ledbetter's legacy interrupted by a more fundamental fight over President Donald Trump's shake-up of civil rights institutions.
It's difficult not to flashforward to the present as the most famous of those supporters appear in interspersed documentary footage: the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former first lady Michelle Obama and former President Barack Obama, who signed the 2009 Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which strengthened the right of workers to sue for pay discrimination.
Less well-known is Jocelyn Samuels, played as a key character by Deirdre Lovejoy. Back then, Samuels was an executive at the National Women's Law Center, guiding Ledbetter through the halls of Congress as they lobbied for the law. Currently, Samuels is one of two Democratic commissioners fired by Trump from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, an unprecedented power play she is fighting in a lawsuit.
Ledbetter died in October at the age of 86. The following month, Trump's election all but dashed Democratic hopes for passage any time soon of the more comprehensive Paycheck Fairness Act, which Ledbetter championed and would, among other measures, strengthen the ability of the EEOC to investigate pay discrimination.
Patricia Clarkson, who stars as Ledbetter in "Lilly," doesn't shy away from the politics of the film, directed by Rachel Feldman. The Academy Award-nominee shared the red carpet with Clinton, who made a surprise appearance at the film's May 7 premier in New York City. She often recalls how her own mother, the late former Louisiana state legislator Jackie Clarkson, cried for joy when learning her daughter would play Ledbetter.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Clarkson said the politics are a salient backdrop for what people should remember most: The resilience of a woman, who for most of her life, was an unknown working mother until an anonymous note tipped her off that her male co-workers were getting paid thousands of dollars more for the same job, and she decided to fight back.
The conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.
## Q: What did you do to prepare for the role? I understand you never met Lilly Ledbetter and it that it was an intentional choice.
A: I imprint very easily with people and so I was afraid if I met Lilly, I would try to imitate her, play her. I realized that I owed her the very best of me as an actress, as a woman and a person. And the way to do that is to bring the best of you and to bring the best of yourself emotionally and physically and intellectually. And you can't do that if you are living with such an image. And Lilly is a very powerful image in my life. And so I had to kind of just bring her back to an ordinary life.
## Q: Did you did you dig into her writings or her speeches?
A: I looked at a certain amount ... But I wanted her emotional life ever-present ... That's what's important because change is hard and people suffer to fight injustice .... I didn't care about mannerisms. I just wanted her emotional strife and struggle to be present.
## Q: It must have been hard to anticipate how different the political moment would be when the movie was released.
A: I literally and figuratively had dreams of being on a press tour with Lilly. It was going to be the highlight of my life to be with this remarkable human being ... but then she passed. But maybe right now, is the greatest time for this film because it's reminding people that there can be accomplishments.
## Q: Is it a more difficult political climate for a film like this?
A: I know the Democrats embraced her but let me tell you something: Lilly was not really a deeply political person, and that's something I held strong to ... And yeah, she spoke at the (Democratic National Convention) but she would have spoken at the (Republican National Convention) if she has been asked. Equal pay is equal pay. Whether you are North, South, East, West, whether you were red, blue or purple. She didn't care.
## Q: You also recently starred in 'She Said,' the 2022 film about the New York Times' uncovering of the sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein. What are the parallels with 'Lilly'?
A: It's all of a piece. It's a mindset of certain men we have had to work with, either in Hollywood or in the workforce ... Hollywood's come a long way because I've been in it since 1985, and I've spoken about this. We used to meet male producers and directors in hotel rooms and actors in hotel rooms, and we all thought that was fine. We were paid less throughout. I was paid less throughout the whole beginning of my career.
## Q: If there's one thing that you want the audience to take away about Lilly, what would it be?
A: She got back up, and you should be a proud American when you watch her.
_______
The Associated Press' women in the workforce and state government coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-11 11:43:27+00:00 | [
"Pope Francis",
"Pope Leo XIV",
"Nancy Pelosi",
"Catholic Church",
"Donald Trump",
"Joe Biden",
"Chris Smith",
"Reproductive rights",
"Vatican City",
"Abortion",
"United States government",
"United States",
"Papal conclave",
"LGBTQ",
"Steven Millies",
"Peru",
"Religion",
"Ellie Hidalgo",
"Robert Strickland",
"Salvatore Cordileone",
"Austen Ivereigh",
"San Francisco",
"Chad Pecknold",
"Chris Wimbush"
] | # Divided US Catholics hope Leo XIV fulfills their hopes
By David Crary and Tiffany Stanley
May 11th, 2025, 11:43 AM
---
NEW YORK (AP) — News that the global Catholic church would get its first-ever U.S.-born pope was welcomed by Catholics across the ideological spectrum in Pope Leo XIV 's homeland, raising the question of whether he might be able to ease some of the deep divisions within its ranks.
From U.S. Catholics to the left of the ideological center, there is optimism that Leo will carry on Pope Francis' outreach to poor and marginalized people, including migrants, and provide a counterweight to policies of the Trump administration that distress them. To the right, there is hope the new pope will faithfully uphold Catholic doctrine, including opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage and women's ordination.
One reason for optimism: The new pope has made clear — in his remarks and his choice of a motto — that unity within the global church will be a paramount priority.
"In these early days, he's still an empty vessel," said Steven Millies, a public theology professor at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. "Until we all get to know him better, we can pour our expectations into him."
Notre Dame Provost John McGreevy, a historian of Catholicism, said he was "completely stunned" after the papal announcement, having shared the conventional wisdom that a pope from the U.S. was a near-impossibility.
But Leo "is a global Catholic citizen," McGreevy said, citing the pontiff's time in Peru, at the Vatican and leading an international religious order.
"Even though he's an American, and we're super proud that he's American, it's hard to think of someone more embedded in a lot of the global church," he said.
## What will Pope Leo's relation with U.S. Catholics be?
It's too soon to tell what Leo's relationship will be with his fellow American prelates and the broader U.S. Catholic Church, McGreevy cautioned.
"The early indications are that there'll be some similarities to Pope Francis," he said – suggesting that differences with conservative U.S. bishops could continue.
McGreevy said he expects some tension between the Vatican and the White House over immigration and climate change, two of Francis' key priorities that are likely to be reaffirmed by Leo.
Chad Pecknold, a professor of systematic theology at the Catholic University of America, suggested that Francis either disliked or misunderstood the United States.
"With Leo XIV, it's clear he not only loves America, but he even loves the White Sox," Pecknold said via email. "That can only have a good effect, not only upon American Catholics, but also American bishops, and indeed, everyone. It's good to feel like the pope is on your side."
During the latter years of Francis' papacy, one of the most divisive issues among U.S. bishops was whether Catholic politicians who supported abortion rights — including then-President Joe Biden and then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — should be barred from receiving Communion.
Francis stressed he would not reject politicians who support abortion rights and Biden received Communion during a visit to Rome in 2021.
San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, who barred Pelosi from receiving Communion in the archdiocese, described Leo as a "bridge builder."
"He will be a good force for unity in the church," Cordileone told KPIX-TV in San Francisco. "Even with differences of opinion and different ideas of strategy and so forth, we can have unity in the church."
U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican and outspoken abortion opponent, took heart from a homily delivered early this year by Leo when he was Cardinal Robert Prevost. The passage cited by Smith: "God's mercy calls us to protect every life, especially those society overlooks — the child yet to be born and the elderly nearing their journey's end — because each bears Christ's face."
Smith depicted this remark as "underscoring the protection of the right to life as first among the many humanitarian responsibilities of the Church."
The interim president of Catholics for Choice, which supports abortion rights, acknowledged that Leo opposes abortion and said the group would send him letters from Catholics who disagree with that stance.
"We are praying that he will be a pope guided by a commitment to peace, justice, and inclusion," said Chris Wimbush. "The future of our church depends on greater inclusion and nuance on reproductive health decisions like abortion, contraception and IVF."
## Women and the church
Francis, during his papacy, took major strides to give women more senior leadership positions in the church. But he upheld the ban on female priests and tamped down hopes that women could be ordained as deacons.
Ellie Hidalgo of Discerning Deacons, which advocates for women deacons in the church, said she hopes Leo will support the church's ongoing review of women's participation in ministry. A years-long Vatican process left open the contentious question of whether women should be ordained as deacons.
Hidalgo, who lives in Miami, heard then-Cardinal Prevost speak in February when she was in Rome for a celebration of deacons.
"He was asking deacons to be humble in their service," Hidalgo said. "I could tell just from meeting him that that's something he really values himself ... that you are to be of service and you're there in a posture of humility."
The U.S.-based Women's Ordination Conference, which advocates for women to be accepted as priests, welcomed the inclusive tone of Leo's initial remarks.
"His clear emphasis on bridge-building and dialogue offer WOC hope that Pope Leo XIV might be a leader who will also build bridges to Catholic women," the group's statement said. It envisioned "a long-overdue day when women are recognized as equals in Christ."
## Called on by Pope Francis
Francis, in many ways, saw Robert Prevost as a possible successor, assigning him to positions in Peru that bolstered his global resume and later calling him to the Vatican to oversee the influential office that vets bishop nominations.
"Francis was paying close attention to new U.S bishops," said Millies, the public theology professor. "Prevost has been Francis' man overseeing the careful selection of a different sort of bishop to fill important posts in the U.S."
Millies said the top leadership of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops — which was sometimes at odds with Francis — remains relatively conservative.
But in the ranks of bishops below them, "the change has already happened," Millies said. "They are men who are more pastoral than focused on doctrine. The election of Leo means we are firmly in a different era."
Traditionally, the taboo against a U.S. pope reflected reluctance to give the world's No. 1 superpower even more influence. That shouldn't be a concern with Leo, according to Austen Ivereigh, a British-based journalist and author of two books on the Francis papacy.
"If anybody thinks he (Leo) is going to take a different line from Francis on migration or climate change, they're in for a surprise," Ivereigh said. "Francis was putting into practice church teaching, and Leo will do the same."
There was muted reaction to Leo's election from Bishop Robert Strickland, who was ousted by Francis in 2023 from leadership of the Diocese of Tyler in Texas. Strickland had been a fierce critic of Francis and came to symbolize the polarization within the U.S. hierarchy.
In social media posts after Leo assumed the papacy, Strickland expressed hope that he would faithfully uphold the sacred Scriptures and traditions known as the Deposit of Faith.
"With the heavy weight of the papacy now on his shoulders he needs our prayers," Strickland added.
___
Stanley reported from Washington. Associated Press journalists Nicole Winfield in Rome and Peter Smith in Pittsburgh contributed to this report.
___
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-13 08:10:40+00:00 | [
"Senegal",
"Animals",
"Migration",
"Environmental science",
"Spain government",
"Climate and environment",
"Hunting and fishing",
"Politics",
"Karim Sall",
"Business",
"Climate"
] | # Foreign overfishing in Senegal fuels migration to Spain, a report finds
By Jack Thompson
May 13th, 2025, 08:10 AM
---
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Overfishing by foreign vessels is decimating fish stocks in the West African country of Senegal, which is in turn fueling migration to Spain, according to a report released Tuesday.
The Environmental Justice Foundation, a London-based group specializing in environmental and human rights issues, said illegal overfishing and destructive practices by foreign vessels are responsible for increased irregular migration to Spain. It based its conclusions on interviews with fishermen in Spain and Senegal and its prior research on foreign overfishing.
The group found that 57% of fish stocks in Senegal are in a "state of collapse," with foreign vessels playing a significant role in declining numbers. Its analysis showed 43.7% of licensed vessels in Senegal are foreign-controlled, predominantly of Spanish and Chinese origin.
As fish populations dwindle, local fishermen are facing income loss, and many have turned to migration as a last resort. Fishing is an important economic sector in Senegal that employs 3% of the workforce.
Irregular migration to the Canary Islands almost doubled in 2024, according to the Spanish Interior Ministry, reaching 46,843. While exact figures aren't known due to a lack of information on departures from West Africa, Senegal is one of the top three nationalities of arrivals to the Spanish islands.
The Atlantic route from West Africa to the Canary Islands is one of the deadliest in the world. The Spanish migrant rights group Walking Borders estimates the victims were in the thousands last year.
Migrants and former fishermen in the Canary Islands told the Environmental Justice Foundation that the treacherous journey to Spain was a last resort, a way to provide for families when fishing in Senegal could no longer put food on the table.
"If I was able to gain enough money in fishing, I would never have come to Europe," said Memedou Racine Seck.
Local activists in Senegal have voiced their frustration with foreign overfishing and its contribution to the migration crisis. Karim Sall, President of AGIRE, a Senegalese organization operating in the Joal-Fadiouth marine protected area, condemned foreign nations for their role in the crisis.
"I get so angry when (foreign nations) complain about immigration because they are the real pirates and what they did is worse than clandestine immigration. It's theft, plundering our resources to feed their own inhabitants while we suffer," said Sall.
Industrial foreign fleets, many of which use bottom trawling techniques, are exacerbating the crisis. These vessels drag heavy nets across the seafloor, indiscriminately catching young fish and destroying marine ecosystems like seagrass and coral reefs, which are vital for fish reproduction. As a result, fish stocks are unable to recover, deepening the hardships of local fishing communities and eaters. Fish plays an important role in food security in Senegal, especially for protein consumption. Due to declining fish stocks, consumption per capita in Senegal has fallen from 29 kilograms per year to 17.8 kilograms per person.
The report also pointed to a lack of transparency in fishing licenses and inadequate government management of fisheries as contributing factors. Despite efforts by the Senegalese government to address the crisis, experts warn that without stricter regulations on industrial foreign fleets, the situation will worsen.
Migrant and former fisherman Souleymane Sady, who arrived in the Canary Islands in 2020, summed up the situation fishermen in Senegal face: "Since the government cannot regulate the boats and we cannot work normally, we choose to run away from the country to come for stability," he said.
____
Follow AP's Africa coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/africa |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-18 21:59:11+00:00 | [
"U.S. Department of Justice",
"Legal proceedings",
"Fraud",
"Accidents",
"Texas",
"Fort Worth",
"Corporate crime",
"Diversity",
"equity and inclusion",
"Race and ethnicity",
"Business",
"Indictments",
"The Boeing Co.",
"Paul Cassell",
"Race and Ethnicity"
] | # Justice Department says it may drop criminal prosecution of Boeing over Max crashes
By Alan Suderman
May 18th, 2025, 09:59 PM
---
The Justice Department may drop its criminal prosecution of Boeing for allegedly misleading U.S. regulators about the 737 Max jetliner before two of the planes crashed and killed 346 people, according to a weekend court filing.
The department said in a Saturday status report that two representatives had met with the families of some crash victims to discuss a potential pretrial resolution that would involve dismissing the criminal fraud charge against the aerospace company.
The Justice Department said no decision had been made and that it was giving the family members more time to weigh in. A federal judge in Texas has set the case for trial starting June 23.
Paul Cassell, an attorney for many of the families in the long-running case, said his clients strongly oppose dropping the criminal case.
"We hope that this bizarre plan will be rejected by the leadership of the department," Cassell said in a statement. "Dismissing the case would dishonor the memories of 346 victims who Boeing killed through its callous lies."
Many relatives of the passengers who died in the crashes, which took place off the coast of Indonesia and in Ethiopia less than five months apart in 2018 and 2019, have spent years pushing for a public trial, the prosecution of former company officials, and more severe financial punishment for Boeing.
Boeing was accused of misleading the Federal Aviation Administration about aspects of the Max before the agency certified the plane for flight. Boeing did not tell airlines and pilots about a new software system, called MCAS, that could turn the plane's nose down without input from pilots if a sensor detected that the plane might go into an aerodynamic stall.
The Max planes crashed after a faulty reading from the sensor pushed the nose down and pilots were unable to regain control. After the second crash, Max jets were grounded worldwide until the company redesigned MCAS to make it less powerful and to use signals from two sensors, not just one.
Boeing avoided prosecution in 2021 by reaching a $2.5 billion settlement with the Justice Department that included a previous $243.6 million fine.
A year ago, prosecutors said Boeing violated terms of the 2021 agreement by failing to make promised changes to detect and prevent violations of federal anti-fraud laws. Boeing agreed last July to plead guilty to the felony fraud charge instead of enduring a potentially lengthy public trial.
But in December, U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor in Fort Worth rejected the plea deal. The judge said the diversity, inclusion and equity or DEI, policies in the government and at Boeing could result in race being a factor in picking a monitor to oversee Boeing's compliance with the agreement.
Lawyers for the government and Boeing have spent months discussing a new deal. The Justice Department said in its latest filing that the two sides "discussed a possible framework for a nonprosecution agreement—but have not exchanged a draft written agreement—that would impose obligations on both parties," including Boeing paying an additional fine and compensation.
Lawyers for the families said they learned during Friday's meeting with the acting head of the Justice Department's criminal fraud section and the acting U.S. attorney for northern Texas that Boeing no longer was willing to plead guilty.
The Justice Department said it had agreed to consider any written submissions by the family members through May 22. After that, the department said it would notify O'Connor promptly about how it wants to proceed. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-14 20:15:46+00:00 | [
"Financial markets",
"NVIDIA Corp.",
"American Eagle Outfitters",
"Inc.",
"Business",
"China government",
"China"
] | # How major US stock indexes fared Wednesday, 5/14/2025
By The Associated Press
May 14th, 2025, 08:15 PM
---
Stocks drifted to a mixed close on Wall Street, holding on to most of the gains they made earlier in the week after the U.S. and China declared a temporary cease-fire in their trade war.
The S&P 500 edged up 0.1% Wednesday. Most stocks in the index lost ground, but solid gains for several heavyweight technology companies like Nvidia helped pull the index higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.7%.
American Eagle Outfitters sank 6.4% after becoming the latest company to pull its financial forecasts. Treasury yields rose in the bond market.
On Wednesday:
The S&P 500 rose 6.03 points, or 0.1%, to 5,892.58.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 89.37 points, or 0.2%, to 42,051.06.
The Nasdaq composite rose 136.72 points, or 0.7%, to 19,146.81.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 18.54 points, or 0.9%, to 2,083.80.
For the week:
The S&P 500 is up 232.67 points, or 4.1%.
The Dow is up 801.68 points, or 1.9%.
The Nasdaq is up 1,217.89, or 6.8%.
The Russell 2000 is up 60.73 points, or 3%.
For the year:
The S&P 500 is up 10.95 points, or 0.2%.
The Dow is down 493.16 points, or 1.2%.
The Nasdaq is down 163.98 or 0.8%.
The Russell 2000 is down 146.35 points, or 6.6%. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-19 15:29:34+00:00 | [
"Equatorial Guinea",
"Gabon",
"Courts",
"Business",
"France government",
"Julia Sebutinde",
"United Nations",
"International Court of Justice"
] | # Equatorial Guinea prevails in dispute with neighboring Gabon over oil-rich islands
By Molly Quell
May 19th, 2025, 03:29 PM
---
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Judges at the top U.N. court sided with the West African country of Equatorial Guinea in a fight with neighboring Gabon over which treaty settled the ownership of three largely uninhabited oil-rich islands.
The decision effectively hands the islands to Equatorial Guinea.
The countries brought their dispute to The International Court of Justice in 2021, asking judges to determine what legal agreement settles the possession of the oil-rich islands.
The 15-judge panel found a 1900 treaty between Spain and France, which divided up colonial holdings, to be the ultimate authority.
A later agreement, known as the 1974 Bata Convention, which gives the islands to Gabon, was dismissed as "not a treaty having the force of law," Judge Julia Sebutinde said.
The document was contested by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon did not produce an original copy for the court.
Equatorial Guinea had control of the territory until 1972, when Gabon took over the largest island, Mbanie, in a military skirmish. When oil was discovered in coastal waters, the dispute reignited.
The economies of both countries are highly dependent on oil, but production from existing areas has been in decline in recent years.
The countries asked the court to settle the ownership question after repeatedly failing in efforts to find a diplomatic solution. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-19 04:01:42+00:00 | [
"Russia",
"Volodymyr Zelenskyy",
"Donald Trump",
"Vladimir Putin",
"JD Vance",
"International agreements",
"Scott Bessent",
"Prisoner exchange",
"Ukraine",
"Karoline Leavitt",
"Ursula Von Der Leyen",
"Joe Biden",
"War and unrest",
"Russia Ukraine war",
"Yuri Ushakov",
"Pope Leo XIV",
"Ukraine government",
"Russia government",
"Politics"
] | # Trump says Russia-Ukraine ceasefire talks will begin immediately following call with Putin
By Josh Boak, Zeke Miller, and Katie Marie Davies
May 19th, 2025, 04:01 AM
---
WASHINGTON (AP) — Russia and Ukraine will "immediately" begin ceasefire negotiations, President Donald Trump said Monday after separate calls with the leaders of both countries meant to spur progress toward ending the three-year war. The conversations did not appear to yield a major breakthrough.
It was not clear when or where any talks might take place or who would participate. Trump's announcement came days after the first direct engagement between Russian and Ukrainian delegations since 2022. Those negotiations Friday in Turkey brought about a limited exchange of prisoners but no pause in the fighting.
Ahead of the calls, the White House said Trump had grown "frustrated" with both leaders over the continuing war. Vice President JD Vance said Trump would press Russian President Vladimir Putin to see if he was truly interested in stopping the fighting, and if not, that the U.S. could disengage from trying to stop the conflict. Trump later told reporters that he believed Putin was serious about wanting peace.
"The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of," Trump said in a social media post.
Trump said the call with Putin was "excellent," adding, "If it wasn't, I would say so now, rather than later."
Later, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, he noted the process has "got very big egos involved, I tell you."
"Big egos involved. But I think something's going to happen and, if it doesn't I'd just back away and they have to keep going," Trump said. "This was a European situation. It should have remained a European situation."
Trump also said he told Putin, "We've got to get going."
Trump has struggled to end a war that began with Russia's invasion in February 2022, a setback for his promises to quickly settle the conflict once he was back in the White House, if not before he took office.
## 'Weary and frustrated'
"He's grown weary and frustrated with both sides of the conflict," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday before the calls.
The Republican president is banking on the idea that his force of personality and personal history with Putin will be enough to break any impasse over a pause in the fighting. He dangled the prospect of reduced sanctions and increased trade with Russia should the war end.
After the call, Putin said Russia was ready to continue discussing an end to the fighting after a "very informative and very frank" conversation with Trump. Putin said the warring countries should "find compromises that would suit all parties."
Moscow, he said, will "propose and is ready to work with" Ukraine on a "memorandum" outlining the framework for "a possible future peace treaty."
But indicating that little had fundamentally changed about his demands, Putin said: "At the same time, I would like to note that, in general, Russia's position is clear. The main thing for us is to eliminate the root causes of this crisis."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that he reaffirmed to Trump that Ukraine is ready for a full and unconditional ceasefire. He urged the international community to maintain pressure on Moscow if it refuses to halt its invasion.
"Ukraine doesn't need to be persuaded — our representatives are ready to make real decisions. What's needed is mirrored readiness from Russia for such result-oriented negotiations." Zelenskyy said.
## Trump and Putin addressed each other by first names
Russian presidential adviser Yuri Ushakov, who previously served as Russian ambassador to the U.S., described the conversation as friendly, with Trump and Putin addressing each other by their first names.
"Trump said, 'Vladimir, you can pick up the phone at any time, and I will be happy to answer and speak with you,'" he said.
Ushakov also said Trump and Putin could meet face-to-face at some point, but no timeline was set.
Putin and Trump also talked about a Russia-U.S. prisoner exchange, which Ushakov said was "in the works" and envisioned Moscow and Washington releasing nine people each. Ushakov did not offer any other details.
Speaking before the call, Vance said Trump could walk away from trying to end the war if he feels Putin isn't serious about negotiation.
"I'd say we're more than open to walking away," Vance told reporters before leaving Rome after meeting with Pope Leo XIV. Vance said Trump has been clear that the U.S. "is not going to spin its wheels here. We want to see outcomes."
Zelenskyy, who spoke to Trump one-on-one before the Putin call and then jointly with European leaders after, told reporters that he emphasized to Trump that no decisions should be made about Ukraine without involving Kyiv. He also said that he discussed the potential for "serious sanctions" on Russia.
Trump said the Vatican expressed interest in hosting the negotiations, but there was no immediate confirmation that any talks had been scheduled.
## Trump tries the carrot — and stick — with Putin
Trump sought to use financial incentives to broker some kind of agreement after Russia's invasion led to severe sanctions by the United States and its allies that have steadily eroded Moscow's ability to grow.
"Russia wants to do largescale TRADE with the United States when this catastrophic "bloodbath" is over, and I agree," he said in a social media post. "There is a tremendous opportunity for Russia to create massive amounts of jobs and wealth. Its potential is UNLIMITED."
Trump's treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" that Trump had made it clear that a failure by Putin to negotiate "in good faith" could lead to additional sanctions against Russia.
Bessent suggested the sanctions that began during the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden were inadequate because they did not stop Russia's oil revenues, due to concerns that doing so would increase U.S. prices. The United States sought to cap Russia's oil revenues while preserving the country's petroleum exports to limit the damage from the inflation that the war produced.
Trump and Zelenskyy spoke with leaders from France, Italy and Finland, as well as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who have threatened tougher sanctions on Russia in a bid to force Putin into negotiations.
Putin recently rejected an offer by Zelenskyy to meet in-person in Turkey as an alternative to a 30-day ceasefire urged by Ukraine and its Western allies, including Washington. Instead, Russian and Ukrainian officials met in Istanbul for talks, the first such direct negotiations since March 2022.
Those talks ended Friday after less than two hours, without a ceasefire in place. But both countries committed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each, with Ukraine's intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, saying on Ukrainian television Saturday that the exchanges could happen as early as this week.
___
Davies reported from Manchester, England. Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price and Will Weissert in Washington; Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia; and Hanna Arhirova and Volodymyr Yurchuk in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-04 13:36:22+00:00 | [
"Donald Trump",
"Nicaragua",
"Freedom of the press",
"UNESCO",
"Audrey Azoulay",
"Joe Biden",
"Daniel Ortega",
"Kyaw Soe Oo",
"Wa Lone",
"Politics",
"Rosario Murillo",
"Guillermo Cano Isaza"
] | # Nicaragua is quitting a UN agency over a press freedom award. Here's a look at the issue
May 4th, 2025, 01:36 PM
---
PARIS (AP) — The United Nations agency that promotes education, science and culture and also works for the preservation of outstanding cultural and natural heritage around the world is abruptly losing one of its 194 member states. It marks a blow to the Paris-based body that is also in U.S. President Donald Trump 's crosshairs.
Nicaragua angrily announced its withdrawal from the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in a letter that UNESCO's director general, Audrey Azoulay, said she received Sunday morning.
In the letter seen by The Associated Press, Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Valdrack Jaentschke denounced the awarding of a UNESCO press freedom prize to a Nicaraguan newspaper, La Prensa.
The prize jury hailed the newspaper's work in the face of "severe repression" and reporting from exile that "courageously keeps the flame of press freedom alive" in the Central American country.
Nicaragua's government, led by President Daniel Ortega and his wife and co-president, Rosario Murillo, has been cracking down on dissent since it violently repressed protests in 2018, claiming they were backed by foreign powers that sought his overthrow.
In his letter to UNESCO, Jaentschke claimed La Prensa is a pro-U.S. media and "represents the vile betrayal against our Motherland."
Here's a look at the dispute:
## UNESCO's Guillermo Cano Prize
UNESCO member states created the World Press Freedom Prize in 1997. The only U.N. prize awarded to journalists, it is named after Colombian newspaper journalist Guillermo Cano Isaza, who was assassinated in Colombia's capital, Bogota, in 1986.
An international jury of media professionals that recommended La Prensa for the 2025 award on Saturday said through its chairman that the newspaper, founded almost a century ago in 1926, "has made courageous efforts to report the truth to the people of Nicaragua."
UNESCO said that "since 2021, following the imprisonment and expulsion of its leaders from the country as well as the confiscation of its assets, La Prensa has continued to inform the Nicaraguan population online, with most of its team in exile and operating from Costa Rica, Spain, Mexico, Germany and the United States."
Some other recent laureates included Belarus' top independent journalists' organization, recognized in 2022, and, in 2019, journalists Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone who were jailed in Myanmar for their reporting on the military's brutal crackdown on Rohingya Muslims.
## Nicaragua's fury
Jaentschke's letter said UNESCO recognition for La Prensa was "undeserved" and that the agency's actions were "unacceptable and inadmissible."
The minister alleged, without offering evidence, that La Prensa has promoted U.S. military and political intervention in Nicaragua.
"It is deeply shameful that UNESCO appears as the promoter, and obviously as an accomplice, of an action that offends and attacks the deepest Values of Nicaragua's National Identity and Culture," his signed and stamped letter said.
Nicaragua's government later issued a statement that echoed Jaentschke's claims.
"When UNESCO gives prominence to the traitors, slaves and lackeys of colonialism and imperialism, it totally abandons any sense of objectivity," it said.
## UNESCO's regret
In a statement announcing Nicaragua's decision to leave, Azoulay said "UNESCO is fully within its mandate when it defends freedom of expression and press freedom around the world."
"I regret this decision, which will deprive the people of Nicaragua of the benefits of cooperation, particularly in the fields of education and culture," she said.
## Trump's UNESCO review
In his first presidency, Trump looked dimly on Ortega's rule. In 2018, Trump signed into law a bill to cut off resources to the government of Nicaragua.
But he's also not been much of a fan of UNESCO.
In an executive order in February, Trump called for a review of American involvement in the agency. In his first presidency, Trump's administration in 2017 announced that the U.S. would withdraw from UNESCO, citing anti-Israel bias. That decision took effect a year later.
The United States formally rejoined UNESCO in 2023 after a five-year absence, under the presidency of Joe Biden. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-08 07:33:19+00:00 | [
"Crime",
"Christopher Frost",
"Smokey Robinson",
"Lawsuits",
"Los Angeles",
"Legal proceedings",
"Sexual assault",
"Assault",
"Frances Robinson",
"Herbert Hayden",
"Entertainment",
"John Harris"
] | # Smokey Robinson's lawyer says rape allegations against him are 'vile' and 'false'
By Andrew Dalton
May 8th, 2025, 07:33 AM
---
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Smokey Robinson's lawyer said allegations of rape and sexual assault against him in a lawsuit from four former housekeepers are "vile" and "false."
Attorney Christopher Frost said in a statement Wednesday that the evidence "will show that this is simply an ugly method of trying to extract money from an 85-year-old American icon."
The suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday against the Motown music luminary seeks at least $50 million in damages over the alleged assaults, which the women say took place between 2007 and 2024. Robinson's wife, Frances Robinson, is also named as a defendant for allegedly enabling his behavior and creating an abusive work environment.
"We will be addressing the numerous aspects of the complaint that defy credulity as well as issues relating to purported timelines, inconsistencies, and relationships between the plaintiffs and others," Frost's statement said.
The four women each allege that Smokey Robinson would wait until he was alone with them in his Los Angeles house and then sexually assault and rape them, in some cases for many years.
"We believe that Mr. Robinson is a serial and sick rapist, and must be stopped," the women's attorney John Harris said at a news conference Tuesday.
The Associated Press doesn't identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they publicly identify themselves. The women, whose names are withheld in the lawsuit, appeared with their lawyers at the news conference. They didn't speak, and they covered their faces with masks.
Frost called the news conference "bizarre theatrics," and an attempt to "enlist the public as an unwitting participant in the media circus they are trying to create. We ask anyone following this case to reserve judgment as the evidence comes to light and all the actual facts of the case unfold."
The plaintiffs' lawyers, Harris and Herbert Hayden, said in a statement Thursday in response to Frost, "We stand behind our four clients' truthful claims, which are neither false nor vile, but clearly describe Mr. Robinson's despicable criminal acts."
One woman said she worked for Robinson from 2012 until 2024 and was assaulted at least 20 times in that span. Another said she worked for him from 2014 until 2020 and was assaulted at least 23 times.
All of the accusers said they eventually quit over the assaults, though in some cases it took several years. And all said they feared coming forward over fears of retaliation, public shame and possible effects on their immigration status. The same fears have kept the women from going to police to report Robinson, their lawyers said, though they also said they believe criminal investigation is warranted.
The suit seeks damages based on sexual battery, assault, false imprisonment, gender violence and other allegations.
Frost said Robinson would soon address the allegations himself, and that they would be asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit.
Robinson, a member of both the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, was among the biggest hitmakers of the 1960s as a central part of the Motown Records machine — both with his group the Miracles and as a solo artist, with songs including "Tears of a Clown" and "The Tracks of My Tears." |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-17 17:39:43+00:00 | [
"Keir Starmer",
"United Kingdom",
"Crime",
"Fires",
"Law enforcement",
"Arson",
"Indictments",
"Airport security",
"Courts"
] | # A second suspect has been arrested over fires targeting UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's properties
May 17th, 2025, 05:39 PM
---
LONDON (AP) — A second suspect was arrested Saturday on arson charges in connection with a series of fires targeting property linked to U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, police said.
A 26-year-old man was arrested at Luton Airport on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life, police said.
The arrest came the day after a Ukrainian man appeared in court on charges of setting fire to Starmer's personal home, along with a property where he once lived and a car he had sold. Police didn't provide the nationality of the second suspect.
No injuries were reported from the fires, which occurred on three nights in north London between May 8 and May 12.
Roman Lavrynovych, 21, didn't enter a plea Friday in Westminster Magistrates' Court to three counts of arson with intent to endanger life.
Lavrynovych denied setting the fires and, at this point, there is no explanation for the crimes, a prosecutor said.
Starmer and his family had moved out of his home after he was elected in July, and they live at the prime minister's official Downing Street residence.
A Toyota RAV4 that Starmer once owned was set ablaze on May 8 — just down the street from his house. On Sunday, an apartment building where the politician once lived was set on fire. On Monday, the doorway of Starmer's home was charred after being set ablaze.
Counterterrorism detectives led the investigation because it involves the prime minister. The charges were authorized by the Crown Prosecution Service's Counter Terrorism Division, which is responsible for prosecuting offenses relating to state threats, among other crimes.
Starmer and leaders across the House of Commons condemned the fires earlier this week. Starmer called them "an attack on all of us, on democracy and the values that we stand for." |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-03 14:22:12+00:00 | [
"Benjamin Netanyahu",
"2024-2025 Mideast Wars",
"Gaza Strip",
"Israel-Hamas war",
"Middle East",
"Humanitarian crises",
"Israel",
"Israel government",
"Foreign aid",
"War and unrest",
"Hamas",
"Blockades",
"Politics",
"Louise Wateridge",
"Ahmed Abu Awad",
"United Nations",
"Yahya Youssef"
] | # Witnesses and aid groups report a surge in looting in desperate Gaza
By Sam Mednick and Samy Magdy
May 3rd, 2025, 02:22 PM
---
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Armed groups and others have looted warehouses of supplies in northern Gaza as desperation spikes after more than two months of Israel's blockade of the territory, locals and aid workers said Saturday as Israel's latest airstrikes killed more than a dozen people.
Unidentified people, both armed and unarmed, have been looting U.N. and aid groups' warehouses, as well as bakeries and shops since Wednesday, according to witnesses, organizations in Gaza and messages that were circulated among security officials for aid groups and were seen by The Associated Press.
Israel has blocked humanitarian aid from entering Gaza since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ended the latest ceasefire with Hamas in March, throwing the territory of over 2 million people into what is believed to be the worst humanitarian crisis in nearly 19 months of war.
Israel has said the blockade and its renewed military campaign are intended to pressure Hamas to release the remaining 59 hostages it still holds, most of them thought to be dead, and to disarm the Palestinian militant group.
The U.N. high commissioner for human rights previously warned that starving civilians as a military tactic is a war crime.
Aid groups have said Gaza's civilian population is facing starvation, and there is concern that the desperation could lead to a breakdown of law and order. Although there have been incidents of looting by armed gangs throughout the war, aid workers say this week's looting marks an escalation, as it was less organized and reached urban areas.
## Looting ramps up
The ransacking in Gaza City began Wednesday evening after reports that aid trucks had entered the north from the south, said one aid worker who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to address the media. A security report circulated among aid agencies that night saying a group of armed people had broken into a bakery, driven by rumors that it held food supplies.
The storage was empty and the group then looted a soup kitchen affiliated with an international aid group in the al-Shati camp, the report said.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency said its staff were safely evacuated on Wednesday after thousands of Palestinians breached its Gaza City field office and took medications. Louise Wateridge, a senior emergency officer at UNRWA, called the looting "the direct result of unbearable and prolonged deprivation."
The ransacking continued through Friday night. Three witnesses told the AP that dozens of armed men stormed into at least two U.N. warehouses, pushing past police and local security guards who were protecting the facilities. The warehouses were nearly empty before the men arrived.
"There were organized gangs," said Ahmed Abu Awad, a resident of western Gaza City, where some of the looting took place.
Yahya Youssef, another witness, said that for two straight nights on western Gaza City's streets, he saw dozens of men engaged in gunfights with police and security guards who protect U.N. and aid groups' facilities.
## Curfew is enforced
Both men said Israeli drones and aircraft were flying over the area while looting was underway.
An Israeli strike Friday night killed three people — two tasked with guarding the area in western Gaza City and a child — the Hamas-run interior ministry said in a statement. Staff at Shifa hospital, which received the bodies, confirmed the deaths.
The Israeli military said it couldn't comment on the strike without being provided with its exact coordinates.
Gaza's interior ministry said Saturday that over the past two days, it killed six suspects and wounded 13 others over looting activities. The ministry also enforced a curfew starting Friday along some of Gaza City's main streets.
The al-Najjar family, one of Gaza City's most prominent, condemned the pillaging and called for respect and the protection of public and private property. "We categorically reject the chaos that harms the interests of the nation and its citizens," it said in a statement.
In Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza, desperate families pushed and shoved at food distribution sites to reach steaming vats of soup.
"We are eight people. I need to provide them with a bite of food," said Faten Al-Sabbagh. "I wish I can find even bread, but there is nothing and we are unable to. The prices are high and there are no salaries."
The top U.N. court on Friday wrapped a week of hearings on what Israel must do to ensure that desperately needed humanitarian aid reaches Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Israeli strikes on Gaza continued overnight Friday, leaving at least 17 people dead, including children, in the southern city of Khan Younis, according to hospital records.
Among the dead were 11 people from the same family, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. Another strike killed two newly married couples, one of their families said.
——
Magdy reported from Cairo, Egypt. Associated Press reporter Wafaa Shurafa contributed from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip.
___
Follow AP's war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-12 10:14:27+00:00 | [
"Israel",
"2024-2025 Mideast Wars",
"Israel government",
"Gaza Strip",
"Famine",
"Humanitarian crises",
"War and unrest",
"Religion",
"Beth Bechdol",
"Health",
"Water shortages",
"Mahmoud Alsaqqa",
"Blockades",
"Chris Newton"
] | # Food security experts warn Gaza is at critical risk of famine if Israel doesn't end its blockade
By Sam Mednick
May 12th, 2025, 10:14 AM
---
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The Gaza Strip will likely fall into famine if Israel doesn't lift its blockade and stop its military campaign, food security experts said in a stark warning on Monday.
Nearly half a million Palestinians are facing possible starvation, living in "catastrophic" levels of hunger, and 1 million others can barely get enough food, according to findings by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a leading international authority on the severity of hunger crises.
The group said "there is a high risk" of outright famine if circumstances don't change.
Israel has banned all food, shelter, medicine and any other goods from entering the Palestinian territory for the past 10 weeks, even as it carries out waves of airstrikes and ground operations. Gaza's population of around 2.3 million people relies almost entirely on outside aid to survive, because Israel's 19-month-old military campaign has wiped away most capacity to produce food inside the territory.
Israel's Foreign Ministry rejected the findings, saying the IPC's previous forecasts had proven unfounded and that the group undercounted the amount of aid that entered Gaza during a ceasefire earlier this year.
## Desperate scenes as food is running out
Food supplies are emptying out dramatically. Communal kitchens handing out cooked meals are virtually the only remaining source of food for most people in Gaza now, but they too are rapidly shutting down for lack of stocks.
Thousands of Palestinians crowd daily outside the public kitchens, pushing and jostling with their pots to receive lentils or pasta.
"We end up waiting in line for four, five hours, in the sun. It is exhausting," said Riham Sheikh el-Eid, waiting at a kitchen in the southern city of Khan Younis on Sunday. "At the end, we walk away with nothing. It is not enough for everybody."
The lack of a famine declaration doesn't mean people aren't already starving, and a declaration shouldn't be a precondition for ending the suffering, said Chris Newton, an analyst for the International Crisis Group focusing on starvation as a weapon of war.
"The Israeli government is starving Gaza as part of its attempt to destroy Hamas and transform the strip," he said.
## Israel demands a new aid system
The Israeli military says enough aid entered Gaza during a two-month ceasefire that Israel shattered in mid-March when it relaunched its military campaign.
Israel says the blockade aims to pressure Hamas to release the hostages it still holds. It says it won't let aid back in until a new system giving it control over distribution is in place, accusing Hamas of siphoning off supplies. The United States says it is working up a new mechanism that will start deliveries soon, but it has given no timeframe.
The United Nations has so far refused to participate. It denies substantial diversion of aid is taking place and says the new system is unnecessary, will not meet the massive needs of Palestinians and will allow aid to be used as a weapon for political and military goals.
Monday's report said that any slight gains made during the ceasefire have been reversed. Nearly the entire population of Gaza now faces high levels of hunger, it said, driven by conflict, the collapse of infrastructure, destruction of agriculture, and blockades of aid.
Mahmoud Alsaqqa, food security and livelihoods coordinator for Oxfam, called on governments to press Israel to allow "unimpeded humanitarian access."
"Silence in the face of this man-made starvation is complicity," he said.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas after the group's Oct. 7, 2023, surprise attack on Israel, in which militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostage, most of whom have been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel's offensive has killed over 52,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, whose count does not distinguish between civilians or combatants.
## Three criteria for declaring famine
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, first set up in 2004 during the famine in Somalia, groups more than a dozen U.N. agencies, aid groups, governments and other bodies.
It has only declared famine a few times — in Somalia in 2011, and South Sudan in 2017 and 2020, and last year in parts of Sudan's western Darfur region. Tens of thousands are believed to have died in Somalia and South Sudan.
It rates an area as in famine when at least two of three things occur: 20% of households have an extreme lack of food, or are essentially starving; at least 30% of children six months to five years suffer from acute malnutrition or wasting, meaning they're too thin for their height; and at least two people or four children under five per every 10,000 are dying daily due to starvation or the interaction of malnutrition and disease.
The assessment on Monday found that the first threshold was met in Gaza, saying 477,000 people — or 22% of the population — are classified as in "catastrophic" hunger, the highest level, for the period from May 11 to the end of September.
It said more than 1 million people are at "emergency" levels of hunger, the second highest level, meaning they have "very high gaps" in food and high acute malnutrition.
The other thresholds were not met. The data was gathered in April and up to May 6. Food security experts say it takes time for people to start dying from starvation.
The report said if the blockade and military campaign continues, "the vast majority" in Gaza will not have access to food or water, civil unrest will worsen, health services will "fully collapse," disease will spread, and levels of malnutrition and death will cross the thresholds into famine.
It had also warned of "imminent" famine in northern Gaza in March 2024, but the following month, Israel allowed an influx of aid under U.S. pressure after an Israeli strike killed seven aid workers.
Aid groups now say the situation is the most dire of the entire war. The U.N. humanitarian office, known as OCHA, said Friday that the number of children seeking treatment at clinics for malnutrition has doubled since February, even as supplies to treat them are quickly running out.
Aid groups have shut down food distribution for lack of stocks. Many foods have disappeared from the markets and what's left has spiraled in price and is unaffordable to most. Farmland is mostly destroyed or inaccessible. Water distribution is grinding to a halt, largely because of lack of fuel.
Beth Bechdol, deputy director of the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization, said more than 75% of Gaza's farmland had been damaged or destroyed, and two-thirds of the wells used for irrigation were no longer operating.
The destruction, she said, is "driving these large numbers of people closer towards the famine numbers that we think are possible."
___
Follow AP's war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
___
AP correspondents Wafaa Shurafa in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Samy Magdy in Cairo and Sarah El Deeb in Beirut contributed to this report. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-20 11:08:08+00:00 | [
"Cambodia",
"Phnom Penh",
"Communism",
"Genocide",
"Politics",
"United Nations",
"Hun Manet"
] | # Cambodia's 'Day of Remembrance' marks the 50th anniversary of the Khmer Rouge genocide
By Sopheng Cheang
May 20th, 2025, 11:08 AM
---
CHOEUNG EK, Cambodia (AP) — About 2,000 people attended Cambodia's annual Day of Remembrance Tuesday to mark half a century since Cambodia's communist Khmer Rouge launched a four-year reign of terror that caused the deaths of about 1.7 million people.
Some three dozen student actors from a Phnom Penh art school re-enacted brutalities under the Khmer Rouge, which held power from 1975-1979, when an estimated one-quarter of Cambodia's population was wiped out due to tortures, executions, starvation and misrule.
The official ceremony honoring the victims of what a U.N.-backed tribunal judged to be genocide was held at Choeung Ek, site of a Khmer Rouge "Killing Field" about 15 kilometers (10 miles) south of the capital Phnom Penh. Several dozen Buddhist monks were among those attending.
Garbed in black, the Khmer Rouge's standard attire, the performers acted as executioners, swinging bamboo sticks at the heads of victims whose arms were bound behind their backs. The re-enactment was held near a memorial displaying victims' skulls and mass graves where thousands of others were buried.
"When I come here, it reminded me, and I will never forget, this Khmer Rouge regime because it was extremely cruel and barbaric," said 71-year-old Nhem Sovann, a Phnom Penh resident who said she lost six family members — her parents-in-law and two brothers and two sisters. She was put to work faming a rice field in the western province of Pursat.
"I saw with my own eyes that even children were taken and had their heads smashed against the trunk of a coconut tree," she said, sobbing.
For a younger generation, the "Day of Remembrance" is a learning experience.
Pen Kunthea, a 23-year-old art student who portrayed a government soldier who rescued fellow Cambodians from the Khmer Rouge as they were being chased from power in early 1979, said the more she performs, the more she learns.
She said she first learned about the Khmer Rouge regime from her parents and from her studies, and that one of her uncles died from illness during the Khmer Rouge's time in power.
"I feel scared, and I think the Khmer Rouge made our people afraid and I don't want that regime to happen again," Pen Kunthea said.
"When I perform, it makes me feel like I was in the middle of the story," she said, adding that she was excited to be able to portray the history of the regime.
The Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975 and immediately herded almost all the city's residents into the countryside, where they were forced to toll in harsh conditions until in 1979, when the regime was driven from power by an invasion from neighboring Vietnam.
In 1984, a new Cambodian government installed by the Vietnamese declared May 20, the day the genocide was said to begin, to be a "National Day of Hatred" for people to vent their anger against the Khmer Rouge and its backers.
At the time the Khmer Rouge were still trying to regain power by fighting a guerrilla war from the countryside, only to be finally subdued in 1997.
In 2018, the day was officially redesignated the National Day of Remembrance, with an emphasis on honoring the victims.
In a statement issued Tuesday, Prime Minister Hun Manet urged all Cambodians join in preserving and protecting peace.
"Even though these tragic events have passed, and the Cambodian people have been living in peace, political stability, and full of development in all fields, we must not let go or forget this bitter past," he said. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-05 11:23:20+00:00 | [
"Donald Trump",
"Jon Ossoff",
"Georgia",
"Brian P. Kemp",
"Marjorie Taylor Greene",
"Joe Biden",
"Bernie Sanders",
"U.S. Republican Party",
"U.S. Democratic Party",
"Stacey Abrams",
"David Perdue",
"Senate elections",
"Politics",
"Dan McLagan",
"Military and defense",
"Kate Denny",
"War and unrest",
"Raphael Warnock",
"Elections",
"Religion and politics",
"Kamala Harris",
"Lee Greenwood",
"Voting",
"Government policy"
] | # Ossoff seeks Georgia reelection balancing Trump criticism and bipartisanship
By Jeff Amy
May 5th, 2025, 11:23 AM
---
MARIETTA, Ga. (AP) — There's the Jon Ossoff who built his political career around criticizing Donald Trump.
There's also the Ossoff who works with Republicans, advancing the interests of Georgia's farmers and military bases.
But they're the same guy — a 38-year-old first-term U.S. senator from Georgia who says his race will be the "main event" in 2026. He's the only Democratic senator seeking reelection from a state Trump carried in winning last year's presidential election.
Ossoff is among many Democrats looking for the right way to challenge Trump and Republicans after the GOP won the White House and congressional majorities in 2024. While some Democrats may be eyeing the presidency in 2028, Ossoff has a more immediate goal -- retaining his seat in Georgia, where Republicans hope to pad their narrow Senate majority.
Still, midterm elections typically favor the party opposing the president. And Republicans in recent years have often nominated candidates seen by moderates as as too extreme, including in Georgia.
The senator got some good news Monday when Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, likely the strongest candidate the GOP could have nominated, announced he wouldn't run.
Ossoff, meanwhile, picks his spots carefully, challenging Trump vigorously on some fronts while still professing a willingness to work with him. In recent weeks, he launched his reelection bid with a blistering critique of Trump's second term, weathered criticism from Democrats that he wasn't fighting hard enough, and touted patriotism and service to potential military academy students at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta.
## Fighting Trump and working with him
Ossoff says there's no clash between bipartisanship and fighting Trump, but in this still-early stage of the second Trump administration, he's clearly looking to strike the right balance. Georgia voters returned to Trump in 2024 after narrowly choosing Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 and giving Democrats control of the Senate by electing Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in twin runoffs.
"My first and highest obligation is to deliver for the state of Georgia," Ossoff said in an interview with The Associated Press, vowing to pursue "opportunities to work with this administration or to continue to partner with Republicans in Congress."
But Ossoff isn't new to criticizing Trump. He became a resistance hero in his unsuccessful 2017 run in the first special election of Trump's first term, setting a then-record for spending on a House seat.
"We have never seen a president try to wield the federal government to crush his critics and political adversaries. That is something new in American history, and it is, in my view, un-American," Ossoff said. "And it's something that should chill us to the bone, no matter our politics, no matter our policy preferences."
At a recent town hall, some voters pressed Ossoff to more directly confront Trump.
"Do you think that there's nothing going to be done?" asked Kate Denny, of Avondale Estates. "No. Do something more."
While Ossoff told Denny that "there is no doubt that this president's conduct has already exceeded any prior standard for impeachment," he also said he has "no magic button" to stop Trump. The only reliable solution, he said, is reclaiming the House and the Senate.
Ossoff said he won't change his approach.
"I am who I am, and I speak directly, I speak candidly," Ossoff said. "I also think before I speak."
Democrats had hoped 2021 victories by Ossoff and Warnock signaled the party's resurgence in Georgia. But Kemp cruised to reelection in 2022 over Democrat Stacey Abrams. Warnock needed a runoff to dispatch the flawed Senate campaign of former football star Herschel Walker.
In 2024, Georgia voters favored Trump over then-Vice President Kamala Harris by 2 percentage points. Many Republicans bet Ossoff's election in 2020 was a fluke and aim to keep him from running to the center as Warnock did in 2022.
"Ossoff's far-left politics only worked in specific moment of GOP chaos," Republican political consultant Dan McLagan said. "Now it's like he's showing up at a Lee Greenwood Fourth of July concert with a 'Free Palestine' sign and a Che Guevara T-shirt. Everyone has already seen him, and it's too late to change his clothes."
## Moves have rankled some Democrats
Even within his own party, Ossoff's course hasn't always been smooth. Some Black Democrats took offense at his effort to oust U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams of Atlanta as chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia. The party changed its rules to make the position paid and full time, with Williams stepping down before Democrats elected a new chair Saturday. Ossoff said he asked Williams to quit, saying that to progress "Georgia Democrats need a statewide party organization with nationally unparalleled professionalism, resources and capabilities."
The first Jewish senator from Georgia, Ossoff also upset many Jewish voters when he supported a November resolution by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, to block the sale of some weapons to Israel.
The vote earned Ossoff a public letter of rebuke from many Jewish institutions, including The Temple, the historic Atlanta synagogue where he had his bar mitzvah. A second letter, first reported by The New York Times, was sent privately by top Jewish donors to Kemp urging him to seek Ossoff's seat.
In April, Ossoff voted against a new set of Sanders resolutions, and tensions have eased, said Alli Medof, a Democrat long active for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel group. "The temperature is lowered, but the trust level is not yet restored," she said.
Ossoff touts his success in getting India to lower tariffs on Georgia-grown pecans and has cultivated voters in Republican areas beyond Atlanta. He enthusiastically backed Biden's incentives to build electric vehicles and has competed with Kemp to take credit for investments.
Ossoff walks a finer line on immigration. He voted for the Laken Riley Act, which requires detention of immigrants who are in the U.S. illiegally and are accused of theft and violent crimes. The law is named after a slain Georgia nursing student whose case Republicans publicized. Ossoff said that Americans "deserve secure borders" and that "the Biden administration failed in its border policies," but he also says immigration policy must be "humane."
Republicans have already launched ads attacking Ossoff's opposition to a bill barring schools from allowing transgender women to participate in women's sports. Ossoff calls that an obsession most voters don't share.
## Ossoff the investigator
One of Ossoff's trademark moves is to announce investigations — a callback to his job producing documentaries examining corruption before he ran for the Senate.
"I think that in some ways, Congress has neglected now for decades the vigorous use of our oversight authorities," Ossoff said at the town hall.
One investigation led to the Federal Prison Oversight Act, which mandated prison inspections and created an ombudsman to investigate complaints. But not all reform moves have succeeded. After announcing a bipartisan agreement in July to ban congressional stock trading — a major theme of Ossoff's winning campaign against Republican Sen. David Perdue — the deal went nowhere.
With Kemp out, it's unclear who Ossoff's Republican opponent will be. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is one possible Republican candidate.
Greene could be Ossoff's dream opponent, and he has seemed to invite her entry — betting the north Georgia firebrand would repel swing voters who couldn't stomach Walker.
Either way, the race won't be cheap. Ossoff raised $11.2 million in 2025's first quarter and is already spending heavily.
Ossoff declines to discuss possible opponents but says he's ready.
"I welcome any challenger," he said, "and I am more than prepared for any challenger."
___
Follow the AP's coverage of Sen. Jon Ossoff at https://apnews.com/hub/jon-ossoff. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-07 18:16:00+00:00 | [
"Newcastle",
"Adam Carruthers",
"Andrew Gurney",
"Juries",
"Chris Knox",
"Richard Wright",
"Crime",
"Entertainment",
"Vandalism",
"Daniel Graham"
] | # Prosecutor says Sycamore Gap tree cutters committed 'arboreal equivalent of mindless thuggery'
By Brian Melley
May 7th, 2025, 06:16 PM
---
LONDON (AP) — Two men who cut down the beloved Sycamore Gap tree did it for a laugh, a prosecutor said Wednesday as he provided a motive for the first time to explain the senseless crime that shocked Britain.
Richard Wright told jurors in his closing argument that the men charged with criminal damage for the "arboreal equivalent of mindless thuggery" had badly misread their audience.
"They woke up the morning after and soon realized — as the news media rolled in, as the outrage of the public became clear … it must have dawned on them that they couldn't see anyone else smiling," Wright said. "Far from being the big men they thought they were, everyone else thought that they were rather pathetic."
Wright mocked the defense of the duo, saying common sense and a trail of evidence should lead jurors to convict them for their "moronic mission" to fell the famous tree that sat symmetrically in a dip between two hills along ancient Hadrian's Wall in northern England.
Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, both testified in Newcastle Crown Court that they did not take part in the crime that was carried out early the morning of Sept. 28, 2023.
They have pleaded not guilty to two counts each of criminal damage. Prosecutors said that the value of the tree exceeded 620,000 pounds (around $830,000) and damage to the wall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was assessed at 1,100 pounds (nearly $1,500).
The two men had been best friends, but those days are over.
Graham has blamed Carruthers and another man for cutting down the tree, saying they tried to frame him by taking his car to the scene of the crime and using his phone to shoot video of the tree being cut down.
Andrew Gurney, a lawyer for Carruthers, said Graham's story didn't add up and he was projecting his guilt on his former friend.
"Is that a plausible chain of events or is that the desperate story of a man caught out?" Gurney said.
Both men had said they were home that night — about a 40-minute drive away from the tree — as Storm Agnes battered the U.K. with rain and strong winds.
But prosecutors showed grainy video from Graham's phone of the tree being cut down — a video sent shortly afterward to Carruthers' phone. Metadata showed it was taken at the tree's location in Northumberland National Park on the night it was felled. Data showed Graham's Range Rover had traveled there.
Wright said he couldn't say who cut the tree and who held the phone, but the two were the only people in the world who had the video on their devices.
"What a coincidence," Wright said.
Text and voice messages exchanged the following day between Carruthers and Graham captured their excitement as the story took on a life of its own. They even appeared to boast about their feat.
In response to a critic on Facebook who called the vandals weak, Carruthers told Graham he'd like to see the man "launch an operation like we did last night."
Carruthers testified that what he said — or meant to say — was "he," not "we" on the voice message.
Carruthers said he didn't understand why people were upset because it was "just a tree" and said the amount of attention was "almost as if someone had been murdered."
Prosecutors said another video on Graham's phone showed a slice of wood from a tree and a chainsaw in the back of his vehicle taken at his home. A forensic botanist said there was "very strong evidence" it was the missing wedge cut from the Sycamore Gap tree to direct its fall properly.
The wedge has never been recovered, but Wright said it had been the trophy the two took from their caper.
Attorney Chris Knox, who represents Graham, acknowledged his client initially lied to police to cover up for Carruthers, who he said was obsessed with the tree.
Knox said his client may have been irritable in the witness box, but asked: "Does that make him the Sycamore Gap tree murderer?"
Jurors will begin deliberating on Thursday. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-10 17:02:10+00:00 | [
"Kinshasa",
"Floods",
"Democratic Republic of the Congo government",
"Natural disasters",
"Democratic Republic of the Congo",
"Politics"
] | # Flooding in eastern Congo kills 62 people with 50 missing
By Janvier Barhahiga
May 10th, 2025, 05:02 PM
---
BUKAVU, Congo (AP) — Heavy flooding following torrential rains in eastern Congo washed away several villages along the shores of Lake Tanganyika, leaving at least 62 dead and 50 missing, authorities said Saturday.
Witnesses described the floods surging at around 5 a.m. Friday and sweeping away the village of Kasaba on the edge of the lake in the Ngandja sector.
The South Kivu provincial health minister, Théophile Walulika Muzaliwa, said by phone that the rescue operation was hampered by a lack of services and a shutdown of telephone lines due to the flooding.
"Sector chiefs, village chiefs and locality chiefs, who are also members of the local government, are on site. The only humanitarian organization currently present is the Red Cross. It is not possible to give an assessment as body searches are continuing," he said.
Last month, flooding in the capital, Kinshasa, killed 33 people.
Decades of fighting between government troops and rebels in eastern Congo escalated in February, worsening what is already one of the world's largest humanitarian crises. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-08 16:12:15+00:00 | [
"Nashville",
"David Aaron Bloyed",
"Texas",
"Glenn Funk",
"Race and ethnicity",
"Indictments",
"Juries",
"Assault",
"U.S. Department of Justice",
"Criminal punishment",
"Robert E. McGuire",
"Race and Ethnicity"
] | # Texas man convicted of threatening to lynch Nashville DA
May 8th, 2025, 04:12 PM
---
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Texas man associated with a neo-Nazi group was convicted on Wednesday of posting threats to lynch and kill Nashville District Attorney General Glenn Funk after another group member was charged with attacking a downtown bar worker.
David Aaron Bloyed, 60, of Frost, Texas, was found guilty by a federal jury in Nashville of one count of communicating a threat in interstate commerce, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice. He faces up to five years in prison at sentencing.
Bloyed was found to have posted a photograph of Funk with the caption, "Getting the rope," and an emoji finger pointed towards Funk's image. A second post included a drawing of a person hanging by the neck from a gallows, with the phrase, "The 'Rope List' grew by a few more Nashville jews today," despite the fact that Funk is Presbyterian. Both included swastika symbols.
Funk was targeted after a group of white supremacist, antisemitic and neo-Nazi provocateurs came to Nashville last summer and began livestreaming antics for shock value — waving swastika flags through crowded streets, singing hate songs on the downtown courthouse steps, and even briefly disrupting a Metro Council meeting.
At one point, a fight broke out between a bar worker and a member of the group, who used metal flagpole with a swastika affixed to the top to hit the employee. The group member was charged with aggravated assault. The bar worker was also charged in the tussle.
"Antisemitic hate has no place in Nashville or anywhere, and this verdict shows these hateful threats for what they are: a crime," Acting U.S. Attorney Robert E. McGuire for the Middle District of Tennessee, said in a news release. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-13 12:16:11+00:00 | [
"Books and literature",
"Oprah Winfrey",
"Fiction",
"Entertainment",
"Poetry",
"Ocean Vuong"
] | # Ocean Vuong's new novel, 'The Emperor of Gladness,' is Winfrey's latest book club pick
By Hillel Italie
May 13th, 2025, 12:16 PM
---
NEW YORK (AP) — Oprah Winfrey's latest book club pick is a new novel from Ocean Vuong, one of the country's most admired young writers.
Winfrey announced Tuesday that she has chosen Vuong's "The Emperor of Gladness," in which the Vietnamese American author tells of the bond between a suicidal teen and an elderly widow with dementia. Winfrey's video podcast interview with Vuong can be seen on her YouTube channel, among other outlets. The interview was held in Chicago at a Starbucks, which is partnering with Winfrey for the current edition of her book club.
"Ocean draws from his own personal experiences of being born in Vietnam, raised in a working-class family in Connecticut, and working as a fast-food server as inspiration for this story, which features an unlikely cast of truly unforgettable characters," Winfrey said in a statement. "This award-winning author and acclaimed poet has written in stunning prose, a heartfelt and powerful examination of those living on the fringes of society, and the unique challenges they face to survive and thrive."
Vuong, 36, has received numerous honors, including the T.S. Eliot Prize and Pushcart Prize for his poetry, a MacArthur Fellowship and a Whiting grant awarded to promising writers. His other books include the novel "On Earth We Were Briefly Gorgeous" and the poetry collections "Night Sky with Exit Wounds" and "Time Is a Mother."
In a statement Tuesday, he said that receiving "the call" from Winfrey was one of the highlights of his life, with a poignant echo of his childhood.
"Sitting in my mother's nail salon, I watched women see Oprah featuring an author on her show, which played each day in the salon, and literally rise from their seats with poise and confidence, saying they're gonna walk to the Barnes and Noble across the street and buy a book, suddenly armed with access to the discourse, and thereby in possession of the cultural center," he said.
"To think of my book being invited to join such a profound lineage is truly awe-inspiring. I only wish my mother were alive to see it. Among all the literary achievements in an author's life, this would be the one she truly recognizes." |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-17 04:04:49+00:00 | [
"Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez",
"Bernie Sanders",
"Donald Trump",
"Vermont",
"U.S. Democratic Party",
"Elizabeth Warren",
"Hillary Clinton",
"Charles Schumer",
"Massachusetts",
"New Hampshire",
"New York City Wire",
"2024 United States presidential election",
"New York",
"Government and politics",
"Anna Bahr",
"Veterans",
"2020 United States presidential election",
"Elections",
"Kamala Harris",
"Joseph Crowley"
] | # Bernie Sanders and AOC are popular with Democrats
By Jonathan J. Cooper
May 17th, 2025, 04:04 AM
---
Among Democrats on Capitol Hill, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wields far more power than New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. But the progressive champions have the hearts of Democratic voters across the country.
About three-quarters of Democrats have a "somewhat" or "very" favorable view of Sanders, while about half have a favorable view of Ocasio-Cortez, according to a recent survey from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Compare them with Schumer, an establishment Democrat, who is viewed favorably by only about a third of Democrats.
Nearly the entire difference in favorability ratings between Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez can be explained by voters who said they don't know enough to form an opinion of AOC. Their unfavorable ratings among Democrats were essentially the same, around 15% for both.
Ocasio-Cortez, now 35, was an anonymous Sanders campaign volunteer a decade ago. Now she's perhaps the best positioned to be the 83-year-old Sanders' successor atop his progressive movement as the Democratic Partytries to position itself in Trump's America.
But that role comes with risks — President Donald Trump and Republicans have long made AOC a foil, and some Democrats, progressive and moderate alike, have argued she and Sanders are too disruptive and push for unrealistic policy ideas.
Sanders and AOC have long portrayed their political relationship as familial. She used to call him "Tio Bernie," Spanish for "Uncle Bernie." He recently held her hand onstage in front of a huge crowd and said, tongue in cheek, "I want to say a word about my daughter."
A spokesperson for Sanders, Anna Bahr, said Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez are "allies, collaborators and friends who built their relationship around a shared vision."
"In many ways, the congresswoman represents what Bernie has been advocating for decades: When working-class people in this country stand up against the entrenched political elite and fight to fix an economic system propelled by uncontrollable greed, they will win," Bahr said.
## 2018: AOC bursts onto the scene
Ocasio-Cortez returned home to the Bronx after graduating from Boston University in 2011. She was a volunteer organizer for Sanders' 2016 campaign, his first presidential run and one that built a national movement around his vision of democratic socialism, even as he lost to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
When she decided to run for office herself, AOC had virtually no money but was assisted by progressive organizations, among them Brand New Congress and Justice Democrats, with ties to veterans of Sanders' presidential campaign.
Sanders was quick to congratulate his virtually unknown protégé in June 2018 after she defeated Rep. Joe Crowley, a member of the Democratic leadership and potential future speaker, in the primary.
A month later, they campaigned together in Kansas for two progressive House candidates and sat for a joint interview on CBS' "Face the Nation."
"Just two years ago, we were both in St. Mary's Park in the South Bronx. I was in the crowd with thousands of other people across ages, races, creeds, incomes. And to be here two years later pushing that revolution in Kansas is pretty amazing," Ocasio-Cortez said during their joint Kansas appearance.
## 2019: AOC endorses Sanders over Warren
Ocasio-Cortez began her congressional career in 2019 by introducing the Green New Deal. The ambitious proposal called for transforming the U.S. economy by eliminating fossil fuels while creating national health care coverage and job guarantees, as well as high-quality education and affordable housing. It has been criticized by Republicans and many Democrats for its cost and the potential disruption that would be caused by a restructuring of the economy.
It was only a nonbinding resolution, but the Green New Deal became a major issue in the 2020 Democratic primary and a lightning rod for criticism on the right, further cementing Ocasio-Cortez as a power player in Democratic politics.
By late 2019, Sanders was struggling in his second White House campaign. Much of the Democratic field — notably Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren — had co-opted pieces of his agenda and split the progressive coalition.
Then, Sanders suffered an untimely heart attack while campaigning in Las Vegas. He needed a boost, and it came from Ocasio-Cortez.
She bestowed her endorsement during a rally at a park in her congressional district. She later campaigned with him in the crucial early states of Iowa and New Hampshire, and she seconded his nomination at the Democratic National Convention.
As the Sanders presidential campaign floundered, Ocasio-Cortez was conflicted about whether to endorse him, according to a book published years later. Just months into her first term in Congress and already one of the best-known members of the House, she was still uncomfortable speaking to crowds and still feeling out how to build and wield her influence, aides told the authors of "The Truce: Progressives, Centrists, and the Future of the Democratic Party." The book was published last year and excerpted in Vanity Fair magazine.
Corbin Trent, her first communications director in the House, threatened to quit when Ocasio-Cortez floated delaying the rally, according to the book. He told the authors he remembered a "big argument" about the episode. Even as she campaigned for Sanders, she worried she'd be outshined and her star power would evaporate as quickly as it arrived.
## 2023-24: Campaigning for Biden and then Harris
After Sanders lost the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, they continued occasional joint appearances, campaigning for progressive candidates or discussing topics such as the early response to COVID-19, union activism and climate change. As the 2024 election approached, they campaigned together for Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee who replaced Biden after his debate performance.
## 2025: The 'Fighting Oligarchy' tour
Trump's return to the White House left Democrats dejected and searching for a way forward. Sanders answered with a series of rallies he called his "Fighting Oligarchy" tour, an attempt to push the rebuilding party to lead the working class in existential struggle against wealthy elites.
After a few solo rallies, he invited AOC to come along.
She introduced him, as she had years prior, as the inspiration for her own political career. But she added more depth.
"I know that one of the things that inspired me to run for office for the first time is that when I saw Sen. Sanders on television, and I was wiping tables down and saw the TV on and saying, every person in this country deserves health care as a human right," she told a crowd in Tempe, Arizona, in March. "And I know it made me feel almost for the first time that this isn't something that we should earn. This is something that should be afforded to all of us because we are human. I just want to thank him, and so let's give him the most earthshaking round of applause."
Sanders has resisted talking publicly of naming a successor while noting that he will not run for president again in 2028, when he turns 87. But holding her hand in Salt Lake City last month, he told a roaring crowd that he considered AOC to be family.
"Now I want to say a word about my daughter. I want to say a word about Alexandria and why what she's doing is so important," he said. "Six years ago, what were you doing for a living? She was a waitress. But she looked around her and she saw a society that was fundamentally unjust and in many ways ugly to the people in the community in which she lived in New York City. She stood up and took on one of the most powerful people in the House of Representatives."
___ |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-19 23:49:40+00:00 | [
"Scott Adams",
"Prostate cancer",
"Joe Biden",
"Mens health",
"Health"
] | # 'Dilbert' cartoon creator says he has same prostate cancer as Joe Biden
By The Associated Press
May 19th, 2025, 11:49 PM
---
The creator of the Dilbert comic strip, which was canceled by most newspapers two years ago over the creator's racist comments, said Monday that he has been diagnosed with the same aggressive prostate cancer as former President Joe Biden.
"I have the same cancer that Joe Biden has," Scott Adams said Monday during an episode of his YouTube show, "Real Coffee with Scott Adams. "So, I also have prostate cancer that has also spread to my bones."
He made the announcement after extending his "respect and compassion and sympathy" for Biden and his family. Biden announced his diagnosis on Sunday and said he and his family were reviewing treatment options with his doctors.
Adams, 67, said he's always in pain, uses a walker to get around and that he expects to die sometime this summer.
"It's basically intolerable," he said of the pain.
Adams said he has had time to process his diagnosis and that it has given him time to say goodbyes, get his affairs in order and do all the things he needed to do.
Dilbert the comic strip first appeared in 1989, poking fun at office culture. It ran for decades in numerous newspapers but disappeared with lightning speed in 2023 following racist remarks by Adams.
On his YouTube show at the time, among other things, he described Black people as a "hate group" and said he would no longer "help Black Americans."
He later said he was being hyperbolic, yet continued to defend his stance.
Various media publishers across the U.S. denounced the comments as racist, hateful and discriminatory while saying they would no longer provide a platform for his work.
The editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, which dumped "Dilbert" in 2022, said the comic strip "went from being hilarious to being hurtful and mean." |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-09 19:48:53+00:00 | [
"Pope Leo XIV",
"Pope Francis",
"Scandals",
"Vatican City",
"Chicago",
"Peru",
"Catholic Church",
"Papal conclave",
"Sexual assault",
"Gemma Hickey",
"Religion",
"Ricardo Yesquen",
"James Ray",
"Anne Barrett Doyle",
"Sexual abuse"
] | # Advocates press for accounting of sex-abuse cases in new pope's past jurisdictions
By Peter Smith
May 9th, 2025, 07:48 PM
---
The new pope, Leo XIV, has this in common with many of his peers in the Catholic hierarchy: He's been in positions of authority when accusations of sexual abuse have arisen against priests under his supervision.
Now some advocates for victims say there needs to be an accounting of how Leo — the name taken by Cardinal Robert Prevost upon his election Thursday — handled such cases when he held positions of church authority in Chicago and Peru. And they hope that as pope, he will crack down on other bishops who they say are mishandling similar cases.
"Some might advise giving the new pontiff the benefit of the doubt. We disagree. It is on Pope Leo XIV to win the trust of victims and their families," Anne Barrett Doyle of the advocacy group BishopAccountability.org said in a statement.
In its statement, BishopAccountability.org contended that unlike many dioceses and religious orders, Prevost never published a list of accused abusers under his supervision.
The group also contended that under his most recent Vatican post, Prevost maintained "secrecy" in the disciplinary process for bishops. "Under his watch, no complicit bishop was stripped of his title," it said.
Some advocates, however, credit Prevost with supporting survivors of an abusive, Peru-based Catholic movement that was eventually dissolved by the late Pope Francis.
Prevost "stood with us when others didn't. That's why his election matters," said abuse survivor and journalist Predo Salinas, who helped found the group Ending Clergy Abuse.
No one has accused the pope of any act of abuse himself. Nor is he accused of what many Catholic bishops worldwide have done — knowingly keeping confirmed abusers in public ministry — in what has been the defining scandal of the Catholic Church in recent decades.
Rather, he's been accused of falling short in his responses to cases in Chicago and Peru.
## Survivors network filed complaint in March
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests filed a formal complaint on March 25 against then-Cardinal Prevost with the Vatican secretary of state, alleging he abused ecclesiastical power in his handling of two cases. The filing amounted to a formal call for an investigation under rules established by Pope Francis in 2023 for dealing with the hierarchy's handling of abuse cases.
One case involves the time when Prevost was based in Chicago as the Midwest regional leader of the Order of St. Augustine.
The case involved James Ray, then a priest in the Archdiocese of Chicago. The archdiocese placed him on restricted ministry in 1990 due to abuse allegations, according to a later report by the Illinois attorney general's office.
Bishops often imposed such restrictions — with varying levels of enforcement and typically without warning the public — until the explosive sex-abuse scandal exposed by the Boston Globe in 2002 in the Boston Archdiocese led to a nationwide policy of automatic removal from ministry.
According to the complaint, Ray — who was not an Augustinian — was allowed to live at an Augustinian friary in Chicago from 2000 to 2002.
The archdiocese, not the Augustinians, had ultimate responsibility for Ray as one of its priests, and there's no indication that anyone had a legal duty to inform neighbors that an accused abuser lived among them. But the complaint alleges that Prevost was aware of the arrangement, citing a 2000 internal archdiocesan memo, and should have informed the school.
"By doing so, Cardinal Prevost endangered the safety of the children," the complaint said.
Ray was moved out of the friary in 2002 and eventually left the priesthood. Prevost became worldwide leader of the Augustinians later that year.
## Second case arose during Prevost's time in Peru
The other case involves Prevost's tenure as bishop of Chiclayo, Peru.
In April 2022, three women came forward to accuse two priests — Eleuterio Vásquez Gonzales and Ricardo Yesquen — of sexually abusing them beginning in 2007, when they were minors, according to the complaint. The diocese, led by Prevost, forwarded information about the case to the Vatican office overseeing such complaints. It closed the case without a finding, though the diocese later reopened the investigation in 2023 after Prevost left for a Vatican post.
The complaint says the diocese suspended Gonzales from ministry pending investigation but that later photos allegedly showed him continuing to celebrate Mass publicly. It said the diocese reported that Yesquen was no longer in ministry due to his age and health.
According to the complaint, Prevost fell short because the diocese did not interview the women — depriving the Vatican investigators of potentially vital information — and failed to offer support to the accusers or to report the priests to civil authorities.
Bishop Edinson Farfán, Prevost's successor in Chiclayo, defended his predecessor's handling of the case, saying it's important to be sensitive to the alleged victims while also respecting the investigative process.
The Vatican investigation said Prevost acted correctly in imposing preliminary restrictions on Gonzales while Peruvian authorities conducted their own civil investigation, the typical way the church handles allegations that are also being investigated by secular authorities.
Nine days after Peruvian authorities closed the case because the statute of limitations expired, Prevost was publicly named to take over the Vatican's office for bishops, leaving the diocese. The Vatican's dicastery for the doctrine of the faith ultimately shelved the case, citing a lack of sufficient evidence to proceed with a canonical trial against Gonzales.
## His role in confronting abuse in Catholic movement
Some hoped Prevost's intervention in a scandal involving the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, a Catholic movement in Peru, was a sign of reforms to come. Salinas said in a statement that the new pope, then in his role as bishop of Chiclayo, played a pivotal role in confronting the case, which is considered one of the most egregious sex-abuse scandals in Latin America.
In a remarkable move, Pope Francis dissolved Sodalitium Christianae Vitae in January over alleged sexual and spiritual abuses and financial mismanagement.
"The world is waiting," said Gemma Hickey, president of Ending Clergy Abuse. "Let this pope be remembered not for the global abuse crisis he inherits, but for how he ends it."
In 2023, when he took the Vatican job of overseeing the selection of bishops, Prevost told Vatican News that there has been progress in how some bishops have handled abuse but that more work is needed with "bishops who have not received the necessary preparation" to deal with it.
He added: "Silence is not the solution. We must be transparent and honest, we must accompany and assist the victims, because otherwise their wounds will never heal."
Francis had a mixed record on responding to the clergy sexual abuse crisis. Most notably in 2018, he bungled a major case in Chile before reversing course, ordering an investigation and apologizing to the victims. Ultimately, it became a turning point for how he handled cases of priests sexually abusing children for the rest of his papacy.
___ Associated Press reporters Holly Meyer and Nicole Winfield contributed.
___
This version corrects the summary of a BishopAccountability.org statement.
___
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-08 13:05:06+00:00 | [
"Pakistan",
"United Kingdom",
"India",
"Pakistan government",
"India government",
"War and unrest",
"Syed Mohammed Ali",
"Donald Trump",
"Military and defense",
"South Asia",
"Nuclear weapons",
"Business"
] | # India and Pakistan don't fight wars like other countries. Here's why
By Riazat Butt
May 8th, 2025, 01:05 PM
---
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — India and Pakistan have fought three full-scale wars since they gained independence from Britain in 1947. They've also had dozens of skirmishes and conflicts, including one atop a glacier dubbed the coldest and highest-altitude battlefield in the world.
The latest escalation follows a deadly gun attack on tourists that India blames Pakistan for — Islamabad denies any connection. But they don't fight wars like other countries.
The dominant factor is their nuclear weapons arsenal, a distinct way of deterring major attacks and a guarantee that fighting doesn't get out of hand, even when the situation is spiraling.
Here's how — and why — India and Pakistan fight the way they do:
## Their nuclear arsenals can destroy each other
"Pakistan and India have enough nuclear weapons to wipe the other side out several times over," says security analyst Syed Mohammed Ali, who is based in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital. "Their nuclear weapons create a scenario for mutually assured destruction."
Both countries have "deliberately developed" the size and range of their stockpile to remind the other about the guarantee of mutually assured destruction, he adds.
Neither country discloses their nuclear capabilities but each is thought to have between 170 and 180 warheads that are short-, long- and medium-range. Both countries have different delivery systems — ways of launching and propelling these weapons to their targets.
The arsenals are a defensive move to prevent and deter further fighting, because "neither side can afford to initiate such a war or hope to achieve anything from it," Ali says.
It might not look this way to the outsider, but nuclear weapons are a reminder to the other side that they can't take things too far.
But the secrecy around their arsenals means that it's unclear if Pakistan or India can survive a first nuclear strike and retaliate, something called "second-strike capability."
This capacity stops an opponent from attempting to win a nuclear war through a first strike by preventing aggression that could lead to nuclear escalation.
Without this capability, there is, in theory, nothing to stop one side from launching a warhead at the other.
## Kashmir at the crux of the dispute
India and Pakistan have each laid claim to Kashmir since 1947, when both gained independence, and border skirmishes have created instability in the region for decades. Each country controls a part of Kashmir, which is divided by a heavily militarized border.
The two archrivals have also fought two of their three wars over Kashmir — a disputed Himalayan region divided between the them where armed insurgents resist Indian rule. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels' goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.
Border flare-ups and militant attacks in India-controlled Kashmir have prompted New Delhi to take an increasingly tough position on Islamabad, accusing it of "terrorism."
In the latest conflict, India punished Pakistan by hitting what it said were sites used by Pakistan-backed militants linked to a gun massacre last month.
## A conventional military imbalance
India is one of the biggest defense spenders in the world, with $74.4 billion in 2025, according to the Military Balance report from the International Institute for Strategic Studies. It's also one of the world's largest arms importers.
Pakistan is no slouch, spending $10 billion last year, but it can never match India's deep pockets. India also has more than double the number of active armed forces personnel than Pakistan does.
While India's armed forces are traditionally focused on Pakistan, it has another nuclear neighbor to contend with, China, and it is increasingly concerned with maritime security in the Indian Ocean. Those are two factors that Pakistan doesn't have to consider in its security paradigm.
Pakistan's long and narrow shape, together with the outsized role of the military in foreign policy, makes it easier to move the armed forces around and prioritize defense.
## A pattern of escalation and defusing
Neither Pakistan or India are in a hurry to announce their military moves against the other and, as seen in the current flare-up of hostilities, it can take a while for confirmation of strikes and retaliation to surface.
But both launch operations into territories and airspace controlled by the other. Sometimes these are intended to damage checkpoints, installations, or sites allegedly used by militants.
They are also aimed at embarrassing or provoking — forcing leaders to bow to public pressure and respond, with the potential for miscalculation.
Many of these activities originate along the Line of Control, which divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan. It's largely inaccessible to the media and public, making it hard to independently verify claims of an attack or retaliation.
Such incidents raise international alarm, because both countries have nuclear capabilities, forcing attention back to India and Pakistan and, eventually, their competing claims over Kashmir.
The fear of nuclear war has put the two countries at the top of the agenda, competing with the papal conclave, U.S. President Donald Trump's policies, and the Sean "Diddy" Combs trial in the news cycle.
## No desire for conquest, influence or resources
Pakistan and India's battles and skirmishes are away from the public eye.
Strikes and retaliation are late at night or early in the morning and, with the exception of the drone attacks on Thursday, they mostly take place away from densely populated urban centers. It shows that neither country has the desire to significantly harm the other's population. Attacks are either described as surgical or limited.
Neither country is motivated by competition for resources. Pakistan has huge mineral wealth, but India isn't interested in these and, while there are stark ideological differences between Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan, they don't seek control or influence over the other.
Other than Kashmir, they have no interest in claiming the other's territory or exercising dominance. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-19 08:08:29+00:00 | [
"Prabowo Subianto",
"Bangkok",
"Indonesia",
"Thailand government",
"Thailand",
"Indonesia government",
"Diplomacy",
"Business",
"Politics",
"Military and defense"
] | # Thailand and Indonesia announce strategic partnership, vow to boost economic and defense ties
By Jintamas Saksornchai
May 19th, 2025, 08:08 AM
---
BANGKOK (AP) — Indonesia and Thailand agreed Monday to elevate their relationship to a strategic partnership, during the first state visit by an Indonesian president in 20 years and agreed to push for greater trade and investment.
President Prabowo Subianto, who took power last year, was welcomed by Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra in intermittent rain at Government House in Bangkok. As is traditional, the two leaders reviewed an honor guard before heading inside to hold bilateral talks on the future shape of their relationship.
Subianto's visit also coincided with the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Paetongtarn said that the two countries agreed to boost cooperation in various fields including trade and investment, tourism, and food security.
The decision to elevate the two countries' relations to strategic partnership "reflects our shared commitment to strengthen cooperation in several aspects on issues of mutual interest to the people of both countries," Paetongtarn said in a statement.
They also discussed defense and security issues, which include "enhancing maritime security collaboration, strengthening counterterrorism efforts, bolstering cybersecurity cooperation, increasing joint military exercises and fostering defense industry partnerships," Subianto said in his speech.
Paetongtarn said Thai and Indonesian police will strengthen cooperation in suppressing transnational crimes, especially online scams, human trafficking and drug trafficking.
Dozens of Indonesians earlier this year were freed from scam centers in Myanmar and repatriated through Thailand, in part of a large-scale regional crackdown effort. Hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been lured to work in the region to commit global scams through false romances, bogus investment pitches and illegal gambling schemes. Many of the workers were recruited under false pretenses, only to find themselves trapped in virtual slavery.
Ministers from both countries also signed a memorandum of understanding on health cooperation in a number of fields including prevention and control of communicable diseases and medical tourism.
They also discussed the ongoing crisis in Myanmar, and Subianto praised Thailand's constructive role, especially in engaging neighboring countries to seek a peaceful solution in Myanmar and facilitating dialogue between all parties.
"We emphasized the importance of an inclusive national dialogue that can achieve peace and stability in Myanmar," Subianto said, "We also emphasized the importance of maintaining the unity and centrality of ASEAN."
The crisis in Myanmar has emerged as one of the bloc's biggest challenges since a military coup ousted an elected civilian government in February 2021, plunging the country into conflict. It has sparked an armed resistance movement, with rebel forces now controlling large parts of the country. The war has killed tens of thousands of people, and displaced millions.
___
Associated Press journalists Jerry Harmer in Bangkok and Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-12 15:46:11+00:00 | [
"Georgia",
"Brian P. Kemp",
"Agriculture",
"Future of food",
"Business",
"U.S. Environmental Protection Agency",
"Government regulations",
"Brian Naber",
"Lawsuits",
"Legislation",
"Bayer AG",
"Lymphoma"
] | # Georgia becomes second state to shield Roundup maker from some cancer claims
By David A. Lieb
May 12th, 2025, 03:46 PM
---
In a victory for global agrochemical maker Bayer, Georgia has become the second state to shield pesticide manufacturers from some lawsuits claiming that they failed to warn customers of potential dangers.
The legislation signed Friday by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is designed to protect Bayer from lawsuits claiming that it failed to tell customers that its popular weed killer Roundup could cause cancer. It's written broadly enough to provide legal protection in Georgia to any pesticide manufacturer that follows federal labeling requirements.
North Dakota's governor signed the first such law last month, and similar measures have been considered this year in at least nine other states.
Bayer, based in Germany, acquired Roundup with the 2018 purchase of St. Louis-based Monsanto. But it quickly was hit with an onslaught of lawsuits alleging that Roundup's key ingredient, glyphosate, causes non-Hodgkin lymphoma. More than 67,000 of a total 181,000 claims involving Roundup remain outstanding, but a Bayer spokesperson said Monday that he didn't have specifics about how many of those are in Georgia.
Though some studies associate glyphosate with cancer, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said it is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans when used as directed.
Bayer insists glyphosate is safe. But it has stopped using the ingredient in its residential version of Roundup and has set aside $16 billion to settle cases. It continues to use glyphosate in its agricultural version of Roundup but has warned that it might have to stop doing so if the legal costs keep mounting.
The new Georgia law is to take effect Jan. 1. That means it won't effect existing cases, such as a March decision by a Georgia jury to award nearly $2.1 billion in damages to a man who alleged Roundup caused his cancer.
Kemp decided to sign the legislation after hearing from farmers and others in the agricultural community, spokesperson Garrison Douglas said Monday.
Bayer has teamed up with a coalition of agricultural industry groups to mount a multiprong campaign. In addition to pursuing legislation in states and Congress, it also has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene and has run ads on billboards, newspapers, TV and radio stations and internet sites touting the importance of glyphosate in agriculture.
Glyphosate has for decades been used an efficient way to control weeds with less tilling, which helps prevent soil erosion. For some crops, such as corn, soybeans and cotton, Roundup is designed to work with genetically modified seeds that resist glyphosate's deadly effect.
Without glyphosate, weeds could become harder to control, crop yields could decline and groceries could become more costly, Bayer said.
The new law "demonstrates that Georgia stands with its farmers, who work tirelessly to produce safe and affordable food," said Brian Naber, president of Bayer's crop sciences in North America, Australia and New Zealand.
___
Associated Press writer Jeff Amy contributed to this report. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-15 13:22:20+00:00 | [
"Germany",
"Friedrich Merz",
"Europe",
"Asylum",
"Political refugees",
"Alexander Dobrindt",
"Immigration",
"Germany government",
"Migration",
"Politics"
] | # 45% more people rejected at German border after checks were stepped up, minister says
By Associated Press
May 15th, 2025, 01:22 PM
---
BERLIN (AP) — Germany's interior minister said Thursday that the number of people turned back at the country's borders increased by nearly half in the new government's first week in office after it stepped up police checks at its frontiers, and that those rejected included asylum-seekers.
The government under Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who made tougher migration policy a central plank of his campaign for Germany's election in February, took office on May 6. The following day, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said more police would be stationed at the border to curb irregular migration and some asylum-seekers trying to enter Europe's biggest economy would be turned away.
Speaking on Thursday as he visited the Kiefersfelden crossing on Germany's southern frontier with Austria, Dobrindt said 739 people were turned back at the borders over the past seven days, a 45% increase over the previous week's figure of 511.
Of the 51 people who sought asylum at the border in the past week, 32 were rejected while the rest were identified as belonging to "vulnerable groups" and allowed into Germany, he said. The previous week, all 44 people who sought asylum at the border were allowed in.
"I want to break the logic of criminal gangs and smugglers who promise people that, in exchange for paying 5,000 ($5,607), 10,000 or 20,000 euros, they will bring them into the German welfare system," Dobrindt said. "This logic must be broken and it must be clear that if you are standing at Germany's border you don't automatically come into our country."
Germany's previous government already had introduced checks at the country's borders with neighboring nations, which the new administration is stepping up.
Merz told lawmakers on Wednesday that Germany is and will remain "a country of immigration."
"But the development of the last 10 years also has shown that we allowed too much uncontrolled immigration, and too much low-qualified migration into our labor market and above all into our social security systems," he said. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-19 14:59:12+00:00 | [
"Connecticut",
"Virginia",
"Strikes",
"Labor unions",
"Business",
"General Dynamics Corp.",
"William Louis",
"United Auto Workers",
"Labor"
] | # Strike averted as submarine designers in Connecticut agree to contract with Electric Boat
May 19th, 2025, 02:59 PM
---
GROTON, Conn. (AP) — The union for about 2,500 submarine designers at Electric Boat in Connecticut has tentatively agreed to a new contract with the company, averting a strike that would have begun Monday.
The Marine Draftsmen's Association-United Auto Workers of America, Local 571, essentially the workers responsible for designing the U.S. Navy's nuclear submarine fleet, had threatened to strike earlier this month if the company did not make greater wage and benefit concessions.
The local's negotiating committee announced the tentative contract agreement late Sunday, saying it contains "unprecedented" wage increases of more than 30% over the five-year term as well as increased retirement security. The deal now goes up for a vote by union members. Union officials did not say when the vote would be.
"We've been saying it all along: The company didn't want a work stoppage, we did not want a work stoppage," William Louis, president of Local 571, said in a video posted on union social media sites Sunday night. "And as we've been telling you for a long time, we have been working endlessly to get to the table with the company and have something put together that we both agree on."
Electric Boat, a subsidiary of Reston, Virginia-based General Dynamics, was recently awarded a contract worth more than $12.4 billion by the Navy for the construction of two Virginia-class submarines. The funding also covers improved pay for workers including the Marine Draftsmen's Association.
"This package recognizes the essential role of the MDA members in the production of submarines for the U.S. Navy," Electric Boat said in a joint statement with the union.
The union's contract expired April 4, but leadership had agreed to continue bargaining with EB.
Electric Boat employs more than 23,000 people at his shipyard in Groton, Connecticut, engineering facilities in New London, Connecticut, and operations in Quonset Point, Rhode Island.
The company said its earlier offer included a 23.3% general wage increase over the life of the contract, plus benefits and an increased retirement package. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-08 12:29:48+00:00 | [
"Artificial intelligence",
"Greece",
"Orthodox Church",
"Christianity",
"Athens",
"Technology",
"Religion",
"Kyriakos Mitsotakis",
"Pope Francis",
"Spirituality"
] | # Orthodox Church leader says faith is humanity's safeguard against the 'impending robotocracy'
By Derek Gatopoulos and Petros Giannakouris
May 8th, 2025, 12:29 PM
---
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians has said that religious faith should serve as humanity's safeguard amid rapidly advancing technology and what he described as the "impending robotocracy."
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, 85, said that Orthodox tradition preserves "valuable human-centric wisdom" essential for navigating a world of accelerating technological change and automation.
His comments during an event at Athens University reflect growing concerns across major branches of Christianity — and ongoing dialogue between them — about artificial intelligence's potential impact on human dignity and social structures, as well as the dangers posed by autonomous weapons systems.
"In a world of rapid change, an upheaval of values, and dizzying technological advances — from artificial intelligence to the impending robotocracy — our Church proclaims that 'there is nothing more sacred than the human being, with whom God Himself shared His nature,'" Bartholomew said.
The patriarch, who is based in Istanbul, Turkey, made the remarks late Wednesday in a speech published on Thursday.
Religious tradition, the patriarch said, "upholds the absolute priority of the person over systems … and the need for an education that cultivates and supports the spiritual nature of humanity."
While not opposing technological advancement, Bartholomew emphasized the need for innovation to remain human-centered.
The comments echo similar concerns raised by other Christian leaders, who increasingly frame their responses to AI and robotics through theological perspectives on human uniqueness, free will, and spiritual nature.
In guidance issued by the Vatican in January, the Catholic Church said applications of AI "must all be evaluated to ensure they respect human dignity and promote the common good."
The head of the Anglican Church traveled to Rome last year to sign the Call for AI Ethics — an initiative backed by the Italian government and supported by tech giants IBM and Microsoft.
Bartholomew, who is on a weeklong visit to Greece, met Thursday with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis days after they both attended the funeral of Pope Francis. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-08 21:57:05+00:00 | [
"District of Columbia",
"Lawsuits",
"Legal proceedings",
"Children",
"Immigration",
"United States government",
"Neha Desai",
"U.S. Department of Health and Human Services",
"Courts",
"Race and ethnicity",
"Race and Ethnicity"
] | # Suit challenges new rules on children in federal custody who crossed into US
By Valerie Gonzalez
May 8th, 2025, 09:57 PM
---
McALLEN, Texas (AP) —
Two advocacy groups filed a federal lawsuit Thursday asking the courts to halt new Trump Administration vetting procedures for reuniting children who crossed into the U.S. without their parents, saying the changes are keeping families separated longer and are inhumane.
The lawsuit was filed by the National Center for Youth Law and Democracy Forward in federal court in the District of Columbia. It names the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and its Office of Refugee Resettlement and seeks a return to prior reunification procedures.
Critics note the government data shows the average time that the children are held in custody before release by the Office of Refugee Resettlement to their sponsors grew from 37 days in January to over 112 days by March.
In February, the Trump administration changed the way it reviews sponsors who want to care for migrant children in government custody, whether parents or relatives of the minors -- or others. More changes followed in March and April when the government started to require identification or proof of income that only those legally present in the U.S. could acquire. Advocates for the families affected are asking a judge to declare the changes unlawful and return the agency to the policies in place before that.
"The government has dramatically increased the burden on families in a way that deeply undermines children's safety. These policy changes are part of a broader unraveling of a bi-partisan, decades-long commitment to support the best interests of unaccompanied children," said Neha Desai, a managing director at National Center for Youth Law.
Attorneys said they had heard from families who were moments away from receiving their children back when the rules were abruptly changed. Now, many say they are left waiting indefinitely.
"The administration has reversed years of established children's welfare protections and replaced them with fear, prolonged detention, and bureaucratic cruelty," said Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward in a statement.
One Mexican woman who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of fears of deportation said she and her 8-year-old son were led to believe repeatedly that they would be reunited, only to find out the new policy changes would derail their plans.
The mother, who arrived first across the border from Mexico, has noticed her son lose hope over the last 11 months, even refusing to unpack after the last time he thought his release from a government-run shelter was imminent.
"He's seen so many children who have come, leave, and he's stayed behind," said the mother, who wasn't part of the lawsuit.
The Trump administration says it is increasing scrutiny of parents and other sponsors before giving them custody of their children who have crossed the border as unaccompanied minors.
HHS did not immediately respond to emails from AP seeking comment in response to the lawsuit filed Thursday afternoon.
Similar restrictions were imposed in 2018 under Trump's first presidency during the rollout of a zero-tolerance policy that separated families and required fingerprinting for all members of a household receiving a child. The administration scaled back the requirements after custody times increased.
____
This story has been updated to correct that the Department of Homeland Security was not named in the lawsuit as previously stated. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-07 00:15:33+00:00 | [
"Tara Comonte",
"Bankruptcy",
"Recessions and depressions",
"WW International",
"Inc.",
"Business",
"Prescription drugs",
"Sima Sistani",
"Corporate management",
"Shake Shack",
"New York"
] | # WeightWatchers files for bankruptcy protection to eliminate debt burden
May 7th, 2025, 12:15 AM
---
NEW YORK (AP) — WeightWatchers said Tuesday it is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to eliminate $1.15 billion in debt and focus on its transition into a telehealth services provider.
Parent WW International Inc. said it has the support of nearly three-quarters of its debt holders. It expects to emerge from bankruptcy within 45 days, if not sooner.
WeightWatchers, which was founded more than 60 years ago, has struggled recently. In 2023, the company moved into the prescription drug weight loss business — particularly with the $106 million acquisition of Sequence, now WeightWatchers Clinic, a telehealth service that helps users get prescriptions for drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Trulicity.
Its latest earnings report Tuesday showed that first-quarter revenue declined 10% while its loss on an adjusted basis totaled 47 cents per share. However, clinical subscription revenue — or weight-loss medications — jumped 57% year over year to $29.5 million.
In September, WW International CEO Sima Sistani resigned, and the New York company named Tara Comonte, a WeightWatchers board member and former Shake Shack executive, interim chief executive.
Comonte, now CEO, said in a statement Tuesday that, "As the conversation around weight shifts toward long-term health, our commitment to delivering the most trusted, science-backed, and holistic solutions —grounded in community support and lasting results — has never been stronger, or more important."
Shares of the company have traded at under $1 since early February. In after-hours trading, the stock plunged by half to 39 cents.
The bankruptcy filing was made in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-03 14:27:16+00:00 | [
"Donald Trump",
"Joe Biden",
"Indigenous people",
"Montana",
"Columbus",
"DC Wire",
"Christopher Columbus",
"Jonathan Nez",
"Montana state government",
"Activism",
"Bryan Newland",
"Shane Morigeau",
"United States government",
"Politics",
"Race and ethnicity",
"Benjamin Harrison",
"Philip Deloria",
"Trump Media Technology Group",
"Race and Ethnicity"
] | # Indigenous activists see Trump's Columbus Day rhetoric as cause for continued advocacy
By Graham Lee Brewer
May 3rd, 2025, 02:27 PM
---
This week, President Donald Trump announced he won't recognize Indigenous Peoples Day and will bring Columbus Day "back from the ashes" — another sign some Native leaders say that advocacy for Indigenous representation must continue during Trump's second term in the White House.
Columbus Day, celebrated annually in October, venerates the accomplishments of Italian explorer Christopher Columbus.
Native Americans have been lobbying local and federal governments for decades to replace celebrations of Columbus with a holiday that recognizes the contributions of Indigenous peoples. For many, the goal was to not only create a celebration of the beauty of Indigenous cultures and experiences but to also recast Columbus' historical framing.
Instead of focusing on his navigation to the Americas, many Native people want to increase awareness of the role Columbus played in the mass atrocities and deaths inflicted upon Indigenous peoples.
Democrat Joe Biden was the first president to mark Indigenous Peoples Day, issuing a proclamation in 2021 that celebrated "the invaluable contributions and resilience of Indigenous peoples" and recognized the sovereignty and self-determination of tribal nations. The proclamation did not establish Indigenous Peoples Day as a federal holiday, nor did it remove Columbus Day as one.
Trump said he would not follow his predecessor's practice of recognizing Indigenous Peoples Day alongside Columbus Day, accusing Democrats of denigrating the explorer's legacy as he pressed his campaign to restore what he argues are traditional American icons.
However, Trump has previously acknowledged National Native American Heritage Month, which is celebrated in November. "As business owners, artists, teachers, writers, courageous members of our Armed Forces, and so much more, (Native American) contributions to our society are cause for celebration and appreciation by all Americans," reads a 2020 heritage month proclamation issued by Trump.
In 2020, the Trump administration awarded $30,000 for the restoration of a Columbus statue in Baltimore torn down by protesters. That same year, during the presidential election, the administration released a policy vision for Indian Country entitled "Putting America's First Peoples First — Forgotten No More!" in which the president pledged to "honor the storied legacy of American Indians and Alaska Natives."
But on Sunday on his Truth Social site, Trump insinuated that Columbus's legacy was another victim of wokeness. "The Democrats did everything possible to destroy Christopher Columbus, his reputation, and all of the Italians that love him so much," Trump wrote.
Former president of the Navajo Nation, Jonathan Nez, was with Biden when he signed the Indigenous Peoples Day proclamation. He said it was an acknowledgment that generations of Native Americans fought and died for their right to be recognized as citizens of sovereign nations and the nation-to-nation relationship they have with the U.S.
"We have this special relationship with the federal government, but yet actions like this, it just takes us back in time, to a time where Indigenous peoples were not respected and were not seen as human beings," Nez said.
Although the first official Indigenous Peoples Day celebration began in the 1990s, it didn't gain widespread momentum until the last decade, with an uptick in state and local governments recognizing the holiday. At the same time, as a broad reckoning on racial injustice swept across the U.S., statues of Columbus have been ripped down by activists and protesters — part of a generations-long push to have more honest conversations about the history of the country and its founding.
Columbus Day first gained traction in the 1890s after the lynching of several Italian men in New Orleans. President Benjamin Harrison used it as a way to both quell anti-immigrant sentiments against Italians and to court their votes in the presidential election. Since then, Columbus Day has not only become tied to Italian American ethnicity but has also been a part of American nationalism identity, said Philip Deloria, a Harvard historian and member of the Dakota Nation.
"It's pretty clear that Trump is seeing the ethnic strain — he said as much — but not really seeing the American nationalist strain," Deloria said. "It's a history he doesn't want to hear. It seems like it might play into the kind of grievance politics he typifies. So it's not at all surprising."
During the Biden administration, the necessity for Indigenous Peoples Day was something that most Americans understood and respected, said Bryan Newland, former assistant secretary of the Department of the Interior under Biden and a citizen of the Bay Mills Indian Community (Ojibwe).
The work Native people have done to push the federal government to recognize Indigenous peoples' dignity doesn't end with an administration, Newland said. It's generational work.
"As you go through four-year presidential terms and two-year election cycles it's going to ebb and flow, but that toothpaste isn't going back in the tube," he said.
"Once you know the historical record of Columbus' impact on Indigenous peoples, you can't unlearn it," said Montana state Sen. Shane Morigeau, a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation who has a bill in the state legislature to recognize Indigenous Peoples Day alongside Columbus Day.
"It's not like you're trying to erase him from history. What you're trying to do is teach through history, an accurate history, and not ignore it," he said. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-07 17:01:00+00:00 | [
"Donald Trump",
"China",
"Scott Bessent",
"International trade",
"China government",
"Government policy",
"Economic policy",
"Tariffs and global trade",
"Chad Bown",
"Business",
"William Reinsch",
"United States government",
"United States Senate",
"Government and politics",
"Mark Carney",
"Taxes",
"Canada government",
"Lin Jian",
"Politics"
] | # Trump is big on making trade deals, but his definition keeps changing
By Josh Boak
May 7th, 2025, 05:01 PM
---
WASHINGTON (AP) — The more President Donald Trump talks about his efforts to reach deals with America's trading partners, the more confusing the tariff picture gets. His team seems good with that, saying Trump is using "strategic uncertainty" to his advantage.
Trump says the United States does not have to sign any agreements, and that it could sign 25 of them right now. He says he is looking for fair deals on all sides, and that he does not care about other countries' markets. He says his team can sit down to negotiate the terms of a deal, and that he might just impose a set of tariffs on his own.
"I am struggling to make sense of it," Chad Bown, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, wrote in an email.
Late Wednesday on his social media site, Trump wrote that he'll be holding a news conference Thursday morning concerning a "MAJOR TRADE DEAL WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF A BIG, AND HIGHLY RESPECTED, COUNTRY." He added that it would be "THE FIRST OF MANY!!!"
Although Trump's team holds up his best-selling book "The Art of the Deal" as proof that he has a master plan, much of the world is on tenterhooks. That has meant a volatile stock market, hiring freezes and all kinds of uncertainty even as Trump continues to promise that new factories and jobs are on the horizon.
A look at how the trade talks may play out:
## Trump still wants tariffs
As part of any deal, Trump wants to keep some of his tariffs in place. He believes the import taxes can generate massive revenues for a heavily indebted federal government even though other countries see the whole point of striking a deal as getting rid of tariffs.
"They're a beautiful thing for us," Trump said recently about tariffs. "If you can use them, if you can get away with using them, it's going to make us very rich. And we'll be paying off debt, we'll be lowering your taxes very substantially because so much money will be taken in that we'll be able to lower your taxes even beyond the tax cut that you're going to be getting."
So far this year, the U.S. government has collected $45.9 billion from tariffs, about $14.5 billion more than last year, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. Those revenues could escalate sharply given the 10% baseline tariffs, the 145% rate being charged on Chinese goods and rates as high as 25% on steel, aluminum, auto and Mexican and Canadian imports.
To reach Trump's stated goals of repaying the $36 trillion debt and reducing income taxes, his tariffs would need to raise at least $2 trillion annually without causing the economy to crash in ways that lead to lower overall tax revenues. That would be close to impossible mathematically.
## How do negotiations work?
The Republican administration has said 17 of its major 18 trading partners have essentially presented them with term sheets, which list the possible compromises that they are prepared to make. Agreeing to a mutual understanding of the terms would be only the start of any trade talks.
But foreign leaders have said it is unclear exactly what Trump wants or how deals could be codified into a durable agreement. They also know Trump approved the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement in 2020, only to charge new tariffs on those same two trading partners this year.
While meeting with Trump on Tuesday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney suggested the next version of that agreement would need to be strengthened to prevent a repeat of the fentanyl-related tariffs imposed this year by Trump that Canada saw as arbitrary.
'Some things about it are going to have to change," Carney said.
## Can the US reach a deal with China?
The 145% tariffs on China — and the 125% tariffs on the U.S. that Beijing imposed in response — hang over the entire negotiating process. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent acknowledges that those tariffs are not "sustainable."
The first talks between the U.S. and China are set to begin this weekend in Switzerland, but they will likely be limited to finding ways to de-escalate tensions enough for meaningful negotiations to take place.
The key issue is that China is the world's dominant manufacturer, which makes also makes it a leading exporter in ways that can supplant domestic industries. Because China suppresses domestic consumption and focuses on production, the rest of the world buys what it makes because there is not enough internal demand. The U.S. wants to rebalance trade, but it has done so also through tariffs on countries that could be its natural allies in defending their auto and tech industries against China.
"Obviously in this trade puzzle, China is the biggest piece," Bessent said this week. "Where do we end up with China?"
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian has suggested that a meaningful way for the Trump administration to jump-start talks would be to pull back on its rhetoric and punitive import taxes.
"If the U.S. truly wants to resolve the issue through dialogue and negotiation, it should stop threatening and pressuring and engage in dialogue with China on the basis of equality, respect and mutual benefit," Lin said Tuesday.
Asked on Wednesday whether he would reduce the tariffs on China as a condition for negotiations, Trump said, "No."
The president also disputed statements by the Chinese government that his administration sought the talks in Geneva. "Well, I think they ought to go back and study their files," Trump said.
## Would Congress need to approve any deals?
Not necessarily.
Trump unilaterally imposed his universal tariffs without Congress, using the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to do so, which has led to multiple lawsuits. The administration also maintains that any agreements to change the rates would not need congressional approval.
Previously, presidents, including Trump in his first term with his "Phase One" China deal, could negotiate only "more limited agreements that have focused on select bilateral trade and tariff issues," according to a Congressional Research Service report updated this April. Other examples of limited deals include a 2023 agreement on critical minerals and a 2020 deal on digital trade with Japan.
The challenge is that Trump has also made nontariff barriers such as safety regulations for autos and the value added taxes charged in Europe part of his talks. He wants other countries to change their nontariff policies in exchange for the U.S. reducing the new tariffs he introduced. Other countries, in return, might object to U.S. subsidies to its companies.
In theory, it would take House and Senate approval to complete a deal that would address "non-tariff barriers and require changes to U.S. law," the Congressional Research Service report said.
## Is it really a deal if Trump just imposes it?
If other countries fail to satisfy him, Trump has suggested he will just do some kind of internal deals and set a tariff rate, although he technically already did that with his April 2 "Liberation Day" tariffs. The import taxes announced by Trump then led to a financial market sell-off that caused him to pause some of his new tariffs for 90 days and charge the lower 10% baseline rate while negotiations take place.
It appears Trump will agree not to impose the originally threatened tariffs if he thinks other countries are making adequate concessions, essentially meaning that the U.S. gives up nothing because the tariffs are new. But Trump might also pull back his tariffs without necessarily getting much in return.
"Trump is notorious for making maximalist demands and then retreating as negotiations go on, so we'll see how long he sticks with his formula," said William Reinsch, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. "But so far it is pretty clear that countries coming in and wanting a 'normal' trade negotiation with both sides making substantive concessions are being rebuffed." |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-05 14:23:17+00:00 | [
"Chicago",
"Comedy",
"Books and literature",
"Streaming media",
"Book Reviews",
"Tennessee",
"Rob Merrill",
"Christianity",
"Arts and entertainment",
"Nate Bargatze",
"Netflix",
"Inc.",
"Entertainment"
] | # 'Big Dumb Eyes' review: Nate Bargatze brings his comedy to a book
By Rob Merrill
May 5th, 2025, 02:23 PM
---
It's a rite of passage for all comedians: Work like crazy on the stand-up circuit, hit it big, record live specials for a streaming platform, and then write a book that can never quite measure up to your live act.
Consider "Big Dumb Eyes: Stories from a Simpler Mind" by Nate Bargatze. I laughed so hard I cried during parts of his Netflix special "Your Friend, Nate Bargatze." But I can count on two hands the laugh-out-loud moments I experienced as I read "Big Dumb Eyes." That's not because Mr. Bargatze isn't funny. Books just aren't the funniest mediums for stand-up comics. Bargatze's live act flows from his droll, self-deprecating delivery. And while he tries right there in the book's subtitle — "Stories from a Simpler Mind" — the humor just doesn't have the same impact on the page as it does the screen.
Bargatze seems to realize this, writing in his introduction that he is "very on the record about not liking to read books." Alas, the publisher, and good ol' fashioned capitalism, apparently convinced him that he should write one.
All that said, for super fans or anyone who would rather read funny stories than watch Bargatze tell them on TV, "Big Dumb Eyes" is a quick read. There are even grainy, black and white photos of Bargatze through the years with his family. If you haven't already watched his specials, you'll learn a lot about his upbringing — from the sense of humor and theatrical nature he inherited from his father, the greatest clown and magician to ever work in Old Hickory, Tennessee, to the role his decade-younger sister, Abigail, played in keeping him from being completely self-centered growing up.
My favorite chapter, the one with the most LOL moments, is called "My Sister the Alien" and recounts the time when Nate, his brother Derrick and their dad forgot to bring Abigail home from church one Wednesday night. They all realize when they get home that Abigail isn't with them and dad's first words are "Do not tell your mother." When they drive back to the church, Abigail is with a couple, who found her in the church cemetery "passing from tombstone to tombstone communing with the dead like the devil's phantasm."
Bargatze tells quite a few stories about his wife, Laura, as well, and near the end Laura even chimes in via footnotes, as if she's reading the book along with you. "Obviously I knew about this, too. Now that I think about it, go ahead and tell Nate. I can't wait to see the look on his face," reads one after Nate shares how he had to ask his parents to pay for her engagement ring.
At the end, in a two-page "Conclusion," Nate offers his congrats to readers who make it that far, scolding anyone who got through all 222 pages in one sitting. "You should probably move around some more. Or sprinkle in some other healthier activities, like watching TV," he writes. It's good advice. I suggest "Your Friend, Nate Bargatze."
___
AP book reviews: https://apnews.com/hub/book-reviews |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-04 04:07:31+00:00 | [
"Vatican City",
"George Pell",
"Maria Lia Zerbino",
"Scandals",
"LGBTQ",
"Catholic Church",
"Pope Leo XIV",
"Sexual abuse",
"Rodney Muhumuza",
"Religion",
"James Martin",
"Pope Benedict XVI",
"Peter Isely",
"Gervase Ndyanabo",
"Steven Millies",
"Pope Francis"
] | # 4 key challenges await the next pope
By Nicole Winfield
May 4th, 2025, 04:07 AM
---
VATICAN CITY (AP) — While Pope Franci s accomplished a lot in his 12-year papacy, he left much unfinished business and many challenges for his successor — from the Vatican's disastrous finances to the wars raging on multiple continents and discontent among traditionalists about his crackdown on the old Latin Mass.
When the conclave's cardinals finish casting their ballots under Michelangelo's frescoed ceilings of the Sistine Chapel, the 267th pope will have to decide whether to continue Francis' policies, tweak them, or abandon them altogether. Will he prioritize migrants, the environment and the social justice policies that Francis championed, or give precedence to other issues?
Among the challenges facing the new pope:
## The role of women
Francis did more to promote women to leadership positions in the Vatican than any pope before him, and his successor will have to decide whether to continue that legacy, accelerate it or back down and change course.
The issue isn't minor. Catholic women do much of the church's work in schools and hospitals and are usually responsible for passing the faith to the next generation. But they have long complained of second-class status in an institution that reserves the priesthood for men.
Some are voting with their feet.
Nuns are leaving in droves, either through attrition or simply quitting, leading to questions about the future of female religious orders.
The Vatican says the number of nuns globally has been hemorrhaging about 10,000 per year for over a decade, with their numbers at 599,229 at the end of 2022, the last year for which there are statistics. In 2012, there were 702,529 nuns globally.
The new pope will have to address women's expectations for not only a greater say in church governance, but greater recognition.
"We are the great majority of the people of God," said Maria Lia Zerbino, an Argentine named by Francis to advise the Vatican on bishop nominations, a first for a woman. "It's a matter of justice. It's not an achievement of feminism, it's in the church's interest."
Women's Ordination Conference, which advocates for female priests, goes further. "The exclusion of women from the conclave, and from ordained ministry, is a sin and a scandal," it said.
Gervase Ndyanabo, a prominent lay leader in Uganda, said there should be more participation of the laity and women in the administration of parishes and decision-making at all levels. Progress, he said, has come "at a snail's speed."
## Polarization of progressives and traditionalists
An anonymous letter circulated among Vatican officials in 2022, highlighting what it called Francis' "disastrous" pontificate and what a new pope must do correct the "catastrophe" he had wrought. Its author was Australian Cardinal George Pell, but that fact emerged only after his death in 2023. Once a close adviser to Francis but always conservative, Pell grew increasingly disillusioned with his papacy, signing the letter with the pen name, "Demos" — the common people.
Last year, a screed by another anonymous cardinal circulated, signed by "Demos II." It resumed where Pell left off, denouncing what it called Francis' "autocratic, at times seemingly vindictive style of governance; a carelessness in matters of law; an intolerance for even respectful disagreement; and – most seriously – a pattern of ambiguity in matters of faith and morals causing confusion among the faithful."
It blamed polarization in the church on the confusion Francis had sown and urged the next pope to focus on "recovery and reestablishment of truths that have been slowly obscured or lost among many Christians."
Those letters underscored the age-old divisions between traditionalists and progressives in the Catholic Church that were exacerbated during Francis' pontificate. He emphasized inclusion and "synodality," or listening to the faithful, and cracked down on traditionalists by restricting their celebration of the old Latin Mass. While the conservatives may not have enough votes to elect one of their own, a new pope will have to try to restore unity.
The polarization is keenly felt in the United States, where anyone using social media can challenge the Vatican or even the local church's perspective, said professor Steven Millies of Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.
Such forms of communications "can have a narrative of what Catholicism is that doesn't come from any ordained minister, from any bishop, and can, night after night, the world over, suggest that the pope is wrong," he said.
## Clergy sexual abuse
While many church leaders would like to think clergy sexual abuse scandals are in the past, survivors and their advocates want the new pope to address it as a top priority.
Francis and Pope Benedict XVI took steps to end decades of abuse and cover-ups, changing church laws to punish abusers and their clerical superiors who hid their wrongdoing.
But a culture of impunity still reigns, and church authorities have barely begun to deal with other forms of spiritual and psychological abuse that have traumatized generations of faithful. Twenty years after the sex abuse scandal first erupted in the U.S., there is still no transparency from the Vatican about the depth of the problem or how cases have been handled.
The new pope must deal with not only the existing caseload but continued outrage from rank-and-file Catholics and ongoing revelations in parts of the world where the scandal hasn't yet emerged.
Ahead of the conclave, groups of survivors and their advocates held news conferences in Rome to publicize the problem. They created online databases to call out cardinals who botched cases and demanded the Vatican finally adopt a zero-tolerance policy to bar any abuser from priestly ministry.
Peter Isely of the U.S. group SNAP said it was "crazy and bizarre" that the church doesn't apply the same rigor to abusers that it does to establishing criteria for ordination.
"You can't be a married man and a priest," he said. "You can't be a woman and a priest. … But you can be a child molester and a priest."
## LGBTQ+ outreach
Francis famously said, "Who am I to judge?" when asked in 2013 about a purportedly gay monsignor at the Vatican. Francis sought to assure gay people that God loves them as they are, that "being homosexual is not a crime," and that everyone is welcome in the church.
His successor must decide whether to follow in that outreach or pull back. There's plenty of support for rolling it back. In 2024, African bishops issued a continent-wide dissent from Francis' decision allowing priests to bless same-sex couples, and bishops from around the world attending his synod on the church's future backed off language explicitly accepting LGBTQ+ people.
"We want a united Catholic Church, but we must stay with the fundamentals," said Ndyanabo, the Ugandan lay leader. "The gospel should not change at all because of our own human weakness."
The Rev. James Martin, who seeks to build bridges with LGBTQ+ Catholics, knows the degree of opposition but remains hopeful.
"The challenge for the new pope is to continue Francis' legacy of reaching out to a group who has felt excluded from their own church," Martin said. "Based on the synod, I would say that many cardinals feel that there needs to be welcome of LGBTQ+ people because they know their dioceses. But how far that goes is up in the air."
___
Rodney Muhumuza in Kampala, Uganda, and Giovanna Dell'Orto in Vatican City contributed.
___
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-09 19:06:04+00:00 | [
"Christopher Nassetta",
"Canada",
"Travel and tourism",
"Hospitality and leisure industry",
"Bank of America Corp.",
"Scott Schenkel",
"Corporate management",
"United States government",
"Expedia Group",
"Inc.",
"Business",
"Ellie Mertz",
"Lifestyle",
"Mexico",
"Economy",
"Ariane Gorin",
"Canada government",
"Donald Trump"
] | # More warning signs emerge for US travel industry as summer nears
By Dee-Ann Durbin
May 9th, 2025, 07:06 PM
---
Expedia Group said Friday that reduced travel demand in the United States led to its weaker-than-expected revenue in the first quarter, and Bank of America said credit card transactions showed spending on flights and lodging kept falling last month.
The two reports add to growing indications that the U.S. travel and tourism industry may see its first slowdown since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic fueled a period of "revenge travel" that turned into sustained interest in getting away.
Expedia, which owns the lodging reservation platforms Hotels.com and VRBO as well as an eponymous online travel agency, was the latest American company to report slowing business with both international visitors and domestic travelers.
Airbnb and Hilton noted the same trends last week in their quarterly earnings reports. Most major U.S. airlines pulled their full-year financial guidance in April and said they planned to reduce scheduled flights, citing an ebb in economy passengers booking leisure trips.
The U.S. Travel Association has said that economic uncertainty and anxiety over President Donald Trump's tariffs may explain the pullback. In April, Americans' confidence in the economy slumped for a fifth straight month to the lowest level since the onset of the pandemic.
Bank of America said Friday that its credit card holders were willing to spend on "nice to have" services like eating at restaurants in March and April, but "bigger ticket discretionary outlays on airfare and lodging continued to decline, possibly due to declining consumer confidence and worries about the economic outlook."
Abroad, anger about the tariffs as well as concern about tourist detentions at the U.S. border have made citizens of some other countries less interested in traveling to the U.S., tourism industry experts say.
The U.S. government said last month that 7.1 million visitors entered the U.S. from overseas this year as of the end of March, 3.3% fewer than during the first three months of 2024.
The numbers did not include land crossings from Mexico or travel from Canada, where citizens have expressed indignation over Trump's remarks about making their country the 51st state. Both U.S. and Canadian government data have shown steep declines in border crossings from Canada.
Expedia Chief Financial Officer Scott Schenkel said the net value of the travel technology company's bookings into the U.S. fell 7% in the January-March period, but bookings to the U.S. from Canada were down nearly 30%.
In a conference call with investors Friday, Expedia CEO Ariane Gorin said U.S. demand was even softer in April than March.
"We're still continuing to see pressure on travel into the U.S., but we've also seen some rebalancing," Gorin said. "Europeans are traveling less to the U.S., but more to Latin America."
Seattle-based Expedia said its revenue rose 3% to $2.99 billion for the quarter. That was lower than the $3 billion Wall Street was expecting, according to analysts polled by FactSet.
Expedia shares were down than 7% in mid-day trading Friday.
Airbnb said last week that foreign travel to the U.S. makes up only 2% to 3% of its business. But within that category, it's seeing declining interest in the U.S. as a destination.
"I think Canada is the most obvious example, where we see Canadians are traveling at a much lower rate to the U.S. but they're traveling more domestically, they are traveling to Mexico, they are going to Brazil, they're going to France, they're going to Japan," Airbnb Chief Financial Officer Ellie Mertz said in a conference call with investors.
Meanwhile, Hilton lowered its full-year forecast for revenue per available room, a key industry metric. The company said in late April that it now expects growth of 0% to 2% for the year, down from 2% to 3%.
Hilton President and CEO Christopher Nassetta told stock analysts the company saw international travel to its U.S. hotels fall throughout the first quarter, particularly from Canada and Mexico.
But Nassetta said he remained optimistic for the second half of this year.
"My own belief is you will see some of — if not a lot of — that uncertainty wane over the next couple of quarters, and that will allow the underlying strength of the economy to shine through again," he said. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-09 19:22:07+00:00 | [
"Measles",
"Disease outbreaks",
"Texas",
"Ohio",
"Montana",
"North Dakota",
"Oklahoma",
"Manisha Patel",
"Robert F. Kennedy Jr.",
"Health",
"Bill Christian",
"Centers for Disease Control and Prevention"
] | # Texas' measles outbreak is starting to slow
By Devi Shastri
May 9th, 2025, 07:22 PM
---
Texas' measles outbreak shows signs of slowing, with fewer than 10 newly reported cases in the last week, but experts say it's not fully over.
"This outbreak does appear to be leveling off, but the affected states remain hypervigilant, and that's because it's travel season," U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention incident manager Dr. Manisha Patel said Thursday of the southwestern outbreak, which also affects New Mexico and Oklahoma. "There is a lot of global measles activity right now."
Across the U.S., there are 1,024 confirmed measles cases as of Friday — an increase of 23 in a week. Texas still accounts for the vast majority of cases.
There are three other major outbreaks in North America. One in Ontario, Canada, has resulted in 1,622 cases from mid-October through May 13, which rose by 182 cases in a week. Another in Alberta, Canada, has sickened 409 as of Thursday. And the Mexican state of Chihuahua had 1,306 measles cases and one death as of Friday, according to data from the state health ministry.
Since the outbreak in the Southwest U.S. began, two elementary school-aged children in the epicenter in West Texas and an adult in New Mexico have died of measles. All were unvaccinated.
Other states with active outbreaks — which the CDC defines as three or more related cases — include Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.
Measles is caused by a highly contagious virus that's airborne and spreads easily when an infected person breathes, sneezes or coughs. It is preventable through vaccines, and has been considered eliminated from the U.S. since 2000. Here's what else you need to know about measles in the U.S.
## How many measles cases are there in Texas?
There are a total of 718 cases across 32 counties, most of them in West Texas, state health officials said Friday. The state confirmed only one more case since its update Tuesday.
Hospitalizations were steady at 93 throughout the outbreak.
State health officials estimated about 1% of cases — fewer than 10 — are actively infectious. Fifty-seven percent of Texas' cases are in Gaines County, population 22,892, where the virus started spreading in a close-knit, undervaccinated Mennonite community. The county has had 406 cases since late January — just over 1.7% of the county's residents.
The April 3 death in Texas was an 8-year-old child, according to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Local health officials said the child did not have underlying health conditions and died of "what the child's doctor described as measles pulmonary failure." A unvaccinated child with no underlying conditions died of measles in Texas in late February; Kennedy said the child was 6.
## How many measles cases are there in New Mexico?
New Mexico added two new measles cases Thursday for a total of 73. They are the first cases in Sandoval County, north of Albuquerque.
Seven people have been hospitalized since the outbreak started. Most of the state's cases are in Lea County. Three are in Eddy County, two in Doña Ana County and Chaves and Curry counties have one each.
An unvaccinated adult died of measles-related illness March 6. The person did not seek medical care.
## How many cases are there in Oklahoma?
Oklahoma held steady with a total of 14 confirmed and three probable cases on Friday.
The state health department is not releasing which counties have cases, but Cleveland, Oklahoma and Sequoyah counties have had public exposures in the past couple of months.
## How many cases are there in Kansas?
Kansas has a total of 56 cases across 10 counties in the southwestern part of the state, with two hospitalizations. All but two of the cases are connected, and most of the cases are in Gray County.
## How many cases are there in Indiana?
Indiana has eight cases, all of them in Allen County in the northeast part of the state. The cases have no known link to other outbreaks, the Allen County Department of Health has said.
## How many cases are there in Michigan?
Michigan has eight confirmed cases of measles, with an outbreak of four connected cases in Montcalm County in the western part of the state that health officials say is tied to the Ontario outbreak.
State health officials said Wednesday that what they thought was a ninth case wasn't after further testing; a child had an unrelated illness but initially tested positive for measles because they recently got the vaccine.
Vaccination does not cause measles and people who are recently vaccinated are not contagious. The measles vaccine contains a weakened form of the live virus that can trigger an immune system response that shows up on early tests.
## How many cases are there in Montana?
Montana has eight measles cases as of May 5. The state's outbreak started in mid-April in southwestern Gallatin County — Montana's first measles cases in 35 years.
Health officials said there is no known local spread of measles, but did note the outbreaks in neighboring North Dakota and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan.
## How many cases are there in North Dakota?
North Dakota, which hadn't seen measles since 2011, is up to 12 cases as of Thursday.
There are two cases in Cass County on the eastern side of the state. The rest are in Williams County in western North Dakota on the Montana border and are not linked to Cass County.
The state health department says three of the confirmed cases in Williams County are linked to the first case — an unvaccinated child who health officials believe got it from an out-of-state visitor.
The other five cases were people who were not vaccinated and did not have contact with the other cases, causing concern about community transmission. The state health department said four people diagnosed with measles attended classes while infectious at a Williston elementary school, middle school and high school.
## How many cases are there in Ohio?
Ohio remained steady Thursday at 34 measles cases and one hospitalization, according to the Ohio Department of Health. That count includes only Ohio residents.
The state has two outbreaks: Ashtabula County near Cleveland has 16 cases, and Knox County in east-central Ohio has 20 — 14 among Ohio residents and the rest among visitors.
Allen, Cuyahoga, Holmes and Defiance counties have one case each.
## How many cases are there in Pennsylvania?
Pennsylvania has 15 cases overall in 2025 as of Friday, including international travel-related cases in Montgomery County and one in Philadelphia.
There outbreak of eight measles cases in Erie County in far northwest Pennsylvania has remained steady since it began in mid-April.
## How many cases are there in Tennessee?
Tennessee has six measles cases as of early May. Health department spokesman Bill Christian said all cases are the middle part of the state, and that "at least three of these cases are linked to each other" but declined to specify further. The state also did not say whether the cases were linked to other outbreaks or when Tennessee's outbreak started.
## Where else is measles showing up in the U.S.?
Measles cases also have been reported in Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.
Cases and outbreaks in the U.S. are frequently traced to someone who caught the disease abroad. The CDC says more than twice as many measles have come from outside of the U.S. compared to May of last year, and most of those are in unvaccinated Americans returning home. In 2019, the U.S. saw 1,274 cases and almost lost its status of having eliminated measles.
## What do you need to know about the MMR vaccine?
The best way to avoid measles is to get the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. The first shot is recommended for children between 12 and 15 months old and the second between 4 and 6 years old.
Getting another MMR shot as an adult is harmless if there are concerns about waning immunity, the CDC says. People who have documentation of receiving a live measles vaccine in the 1960s don't need to be revaccinated, but people who were immunized before 1968 with an ineffective vaccine made from "killed" virus should be revaccinated with at least one dose, the agency said.
People who have documentation that they had measles are immune, and those born before 1957 generally don't need the shots because so many children got measles back then that they have "presumptive immunity."
Measles has a harder time spreading through communities with high vaccination rates — above 95% — due to "herd immunity." But childhood vaccination rates have declined nationwide since the pandemic and more parents are claiming religious or personal conscience waivers to exempt their kids from required shots.
## What are the symptoms of measles?
Measles first infects the respiratory tract, then spreads throughout the body, causing a high fever, runny nose, cough, red, watery eyes and a rash.
The rash generally appears three to five days after the first symptoms, beginning as flat red spots on the face and then spreading downward to the neck, trunk, arms, legs and feet. When the rash appears, the fever may spike over 104 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the CDC.
Most kids will recover from measles, but infection can lead to dangerous complications such as pneumonia, blindness, brain swelling and death.
## How can you treat measles?
There's no specific treatment for measles, so doctors generally try to alleviate symptoms, prevent complications and keep patients comfortable.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-14 02:40:45+00:00 | [
"Associated Press"
] | # The top photos of the day by AP's photojournalists
By The Associated Press
May 14th, 2025, 02:40 AM
---
May 13, 2025
From front-page news to powerful moments you may have missed, this gallery showcases today's top photos chosen by Associated Press photo editors.
____
Follow AP visual journalism:
AP Images blog: http://apimagesblog.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apnews |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-19 15:04:47+00:00 | [
"Mexico",
"New York",
"Boat and ship accidents",
"National",
"New York City Wire",
"Sailing",
"Michael Graham",
"Brian Young"
] | # Radio calls asked tugs for help 45 seconds before Mexican ship hit Brooklyn Bridge, officials say
By Susan Haigh
May 19th, 2025, 03:04 PM
---
The Mexican navy tall ship that struck the Brooklyn Bridge was underway for less than 5 minutes before its masts crashed into the historic span, and radio calls indicating it was in distress went out only 45 seconds before the deadly collision, according to a timeline laid out by U.S. investigators Monday.
With the help of a tugboat, the Cuauhtemoc training vessel backed away from a Manhattan pier filled with cheering people at 8:20 p.m. on Saturday, officials said.
Videos showed the ship moving slowly at first, its rigging filled with white lights and naval cadets balanced high on the ship's yards — the spars that hold the sails. The tugboat nudged the ship along, keeping it from drifting upstream toward the bridge in the current as it backed up into the East River toward Brooklyn.
But after a few minutes, the ship separated from the tug and picked up speed, still moving in reverse, heading for the bridge.
Four minutes after the ship left the pier, a radio call went out asking for help from any additional tugboats in the area, followed by other requests for assistance, National Transportation Safety Board investigator Brian Young said at a media briefing Monday. Officials did not say whether those radio calls originated from the ship, the tug, or somewhere else.
Forty-five seconds after the first call, the ship, struck the bridge, snapping its three masts. Young said it had reached 6 knots, or nearly 7 mph (11 Kilometers per hour), at the time of the crash. The Cuauhtemoc kept going, passing beneath the bridge and bumping against a pier before ultimately coming to a stop at around 8:27 p.m., Young said.
Footage of the collision shot by horrified onlookers show the ship moving swiftly backwards and then grinding beneath the 142-year-old bridge as its topmasts snapped off. Multiple cadets in the ship's crew were aloft, standing on the ship's yards when the collision happened. Several were left dangling by safety harnesses as the masts partially collapsed. Two cadets died.
The tugboat that had helped the ship get out of its berth could be seen on video trying to get ahead of the vessel as it headed toward the bridge but couldn't overtake it in time.
It remains unclear whether a mechanical problem played a role. NTSB officials said they have not yet been granted permission to board the ship and they have not yet interviewed the captain or the tugboat and harbor pilots who were assisting the vessel as it tried to depart New York for a trip to Iceland.
"This is a start of a long process. We will not be drawing any conclusions. We will not speculate," said NTSB Board Member Michael Graham. Officials said the investigation could take months to fully complete.
Many crew members on the tall ship flew home to Mexico Monday, officials said.
Seven officers and 172 cadets who were aboard the Cuauhtemoc arrived early Monday at the port of Veracruz, where Mexico's naval school is, the Mexican navy said in a post on X. Two cadets remained in New York getting medical treatment. They were in stable condition, the navy said.
The crippled Cuauhtemoc remained at a dock in Manhattan on Monday. Officials said preparations were being made to move it to a salvage yard.
The Brooklyn Bridge escaped major damage but at least 19 of the ship's 277 sailors needed medical treatment, according to officials. Among those killed was América Yamilet Sánchez, a 20-year-old sailor who had been studying engineering at the Mexican naval academy. Her family has said she died after falling from one of the Cuauhtemoc's masts.
The Cuauhtemoc arrived in New York on May 13 as part of a global goodwill tour. The vessel, which sailed for the first time in 1982, had been docked and welcoming visitors in recent days at the tourist-heavy South Street Seaport.
The ship's main mast has a height of 160 feet (50 meters), far too high for the span of the Brooklyn Bridge at any tide.
___
Associated Press reporter Fabiola Sánchez in Mexico City contributed to this story. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-02 04:01:06+00:00 | [
"Donald Trump",
"Jobs and careers",
"Elon Musk",
"Federal Reserve System",
"Spartanburg",
"Labor",
"International trade",
"Economy",
"Boston",
"Tariffs and global trade",
"Department of Government Efficiency",
"Allen Jacoby",
"Christopher Rupkey",
"Economic policy",
"Business",
"Trump Media Technology Group",
"Brian Bethune",
"Jerome Powell",
"Jason Schunkewitz",
"Bill Adams"
] | # Employers added a surprising 177,000 jobs as job market shows resilience. Unemployment stays at 4.2%
By Paul Wiseman
May 2nd, 2025, 04:01 AM
---
WASHINGTON (AP) — American employers added a surprising 177,000 jobs in April as the job market showed resilience in the face of President Donald Trump's trade wars.
Hiring fell slightly from a revised 185,000 in March, but that is above economist projections of 135,000 jobs. The unemployment rate remained at a low 4.2%, the Labor Department reported Friday.
Trump's aggressive and unpredictable policies – including massive import taxes – have clouded the outlook for the economy and the job market and raised fears that the American economy is headed toward recession.
Friday's report showed employment, one of the strongest aspects of the U.S. economy, remains solid, yet many economists anticipate that a negative impact from trade wars will materialize this year for American workers and potentially, President Trump.
"Politicians can count their lucky stars that companies are holding on to their workers despite the storm clouds forming that could slow the economy further in the second half of the year," said Christopher Rupkey, chief economist at fwdbonds, a financial markets research firm.
Transportation and warehousing companies added 29,000 jobs last month, suggesting companies have built up inventory before imported goods are hit with new tariffs. Healthcare companies added nearly 51,000 jobs and bars, restaurants almost 17,000 and construction firms 11,000. Factories lost 1,000 jobs.
Labor Department revisions shaved 58,000 jobs from February and March payrolls.
Average hourly earnings ticked up 0.2% from March and 3.8% from a year ago, nearing the 3.5% that economists view as consistent with the 2% inflation the Federal Reserve wants to see.
Trump's massive taxes on imports to the U.S. are likely to raise costs for Americans and American businesses that depend on supplies from overseas. They also threaten to slow economic growth. His immigration crackdown threatens to make it more difficult for hotels, restaurants and construction firms to fill job openings. By purging federal workers and cancelling federal contracts, Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency risks wiping out jobs inside the government and out.
The drastic changes have shaken markets and consumers. The Conference Board, a business group, reported Tuesday that Americans' confidence in the economy fell for the fifth straight month to the lowest level since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Still, Bill Adams, chief economist at Comerica Bank, called the jobs report "reassuringly normal. The fears of a softer labor market due to tariff uncertainty went unrealized last month ... There are signs that businesses are reining in plans for hiring and capital spending and that consumers are turning more cautious toward discretionary spending.''
American workers have at least one thing going for them. Despite the uncertainty about fallout from Trump's policies, many employers don't want to risk letting employees go – not after struggling to bring people back from the massive but short-lived layoffs from the pandemic.
"For now, the unemployment rate and the number of people filing claims for jobless benefits every week remain low by historical standards," Boston College economist Brian Bethune said this week.
The federal government's workforce fell by 9,000 on top of 17,000 job losses in February and March, The full effect of Musk's DOGE cuts may yet to be seen. Bethune noted job cuts by the billionaire's DOGE are still being challenged in court. Also, some of those leaving federal agencies were forced into early retirement and don't count as unemployed.
After the jobs numbers were released, Trump repeated his call for the Federal Reserve to lower its benchmark short-term interest rate, which it raised to combat inflation. Trump said on social media platform Truth Social that there is "NO INFLATION" and "employment strong."
Yet as long as the job market remains healthy, the Fed will likely stay on the sidelines as it takes time to evaluate the impact of tariffs. Fed chair Jerome Powell has underscored that the duties are likely to push up prices in the coming months, making the central bank wary of the potential for higher inflation.
The Fed typically fights inflation with higher interest rates, so it is unlikely to cut its key short-term rate anytime soon. It may change course if layoffs spike and unemployment rises.
Some U.S. companies stand to benefit from Trump's protectionist policies.
Allen Jacoby, executive vice president of textile division at Milliken & Co., said that cheap Chinese imports have hurt business at the Spartanburg, South Carolina, manufacturer. His division makes Polartec fabric for brands such as North Face and Patagonia and has closed six plants and reduced its payrolls 12% since 2019.
Trump's tariffs, he said, could improve Milliken's sales and hiring. "It's too early to tell, but there's more optimism than pessimism," he said.
Most Americans still enjoy job security, yet many who have lost jobs say that it's now harder to find work.
Jason Schunkewitz, 33, was laid off by a startup that uses virtual reality to train caregivers. Single and debt free, the Denver resident took some time off before beginning the job search in earnest.
He has a background in jobs training and economic development – a field heavily reliant on government grants. Trump spending cuts have eliminated some grants and generated uncertainty about others. Schunkewitz now says many nonprofits have postponed hiring.
"It's just been silent in some cases,'' he said. "It's very tricky to navigate.'' He's now focusing his job search on private companies, which might be more secure.
Schunkewitz is also developing a business making charcuterie-to-go packs – cured salami, aged cheese, dried fruit – for skiers, hikers and other adventurers. The business is in the early stages, but he said: "I hope it becomes a full-time job.''
____
AP Economics Writer Christopher Rugaber and AP Retail Writer Anne D'Innocenzio contributed to this story. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-12 04:01:00+00:00 | [
"Television",
"Alicia Rancilio",
"Adrien Brody",
"Eddie Murphy",
"Lou Kesten",
"Stanley Tucci",
"The Stream",
"Owen Pallett",
"Alexander Skarsgard",
"Brady Corbet",
"J. J. Abrams",
"Rachel Hilson",
"Josh Holloway",
"Italy",
"Kyla Pratt",
"Lindsey Bahr",
"Britney Spears",
"Maria Sherman",
"Lido Pimienta",
"Prince Royce",
"Roberta Flack",
"Sally Hawkins",
"Entertainment",
"Dougal Wilson",
"Jake Coyle",
"Wes Anderson",
"Jocelyn Noveck",
"Paul King",
"Lifestyle",
"Emily Mortimer",
"Technology"
] | # Streaming in mid May 2025: 'Paddington in Peru' and 'Mormon Wives'
By The Associated Press
May 12th, 2025, 04:01 AM
---
NEW YORK (AP) — Paddington bear going on an Indiana Jones-style adventure in "Paddington in Peru" and Alexander Skarsgard playing a robot with free will in Apple TV+'s series "Murderbot" are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you.
Also among the streaming offerings worth your time, as selected by The Associated Press' entertainment journalists: The Dominican-American singer Prince Royce covers hit songs on "Eterno," the surprise Bravo hit "Mormon Wives" returns for Season 2 and there's a new gaming chapter in the groundbreaking Doom series, Doom: The Dark Ages.
## New movies to stream from May 12-18
— Brady Corbet's epic "The Brutalist" is finally making its way to Max on Friday, May 16. The three-and-a-half-hour postwar saga won Adrien Brody the best actor Oscar earlier this year for his portrayal of László Tóth, a fictional architect and Holocaust survivor who attempts to build a new life in America. It was also awarded the best score (Daniel Blumberg) and best cinematography prizes. Director of photography Lol Crawley shot in VistaVision, a 70-year-old format famously utilized in films like "Vertigo" and "North by Northwest." In her review, AP's Jocelyn Noveck wrote, "It's about the immigrant experience, and it's about what happens when the American dream beckons, then fails. It also explores a different dream: the artist's dream, and what happens when it meets opposing forces, be they geographic displacement or cold economic calculus."
— Paddington bear and the Brown family go on an Indiana Jones-style adventure in "Paddington in Peru," streaming on Netflix on Thursday. This third installment in the charming series has a few changes from its predecessors — in the filmmaker (Dougal Wilson taking over for Paul King) and Mrs. Brown (Emily Mortimer subbing in for Sally Hawkins). In his review, AP Film Writer Jake Coyle wrote that Wilson "can't quite summon the same comic spirit" as King, but added that "bright and buoyant, will do. If some of King's Wes Anderson-inspired pop-up book designs and skill with fine character actors is missing, the bedrock earnestness and unflaggingly good manners of its ursine protagonist remain charmingly unaltered."
— In March 1988, the students of Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. staged a historic protest over the appointment of a hearing president instead of one who was deaf. "Deaf President Now!," a documentary streaming on Apple TV+ on Friday, May 16, chronicles that moment and examines its broader impact, like how it helped pave the way for the Americans with Disabilities Act. The film's visuals and soundscape were also designed to bring audiences into the Deaf experience.
— AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr
## New music to stream from May 12-18
— Somehow, some way it has been 25 years since Britney Spears first put on a red latex catsuit and sang "Oops!... I Did It Again" through her singular breathy tone, the title track of her sophomore album. Across the album – which includes other hits "Lucky" and "Stronger" – she ushered in new millennium as a zeitgeist-shaping pop superstar. Her influence in the decades that followed is unimpeachable, and on Friday, Sony will release a 25th anniversary edition of the record, complete with bonus tracks.
— Colombian-Canadian singer-songwriter Lido Pimienta returns with an ambitious new album, "La Belleza." It arrives five years after her breakout "Miss Colombia," and features the inventive artist veering into new, classical influences while maintaining her interest in Afro-Indigenous polyrhythms; the record was co-orchestrated with skilled arranger Owen Pallett. It's a step up for an artist whose embrace of the past has always placed her squarely in the future.
— The Dominican American singer Prince Royce covers hit songs on "Eterno" – offering Spanglish, bachata-infused reimaginations of tracks like "Killing Me Softly" as made famous by Roberta Flack, the Beatles' "Yesterday," Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling In Love," The Temptations' "My Girl" and more.
— Music Writer Maria Sherman
## New television to stream from May 12-18
— With shows like "The Kardashians," "Vanderpump Villa" and "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives," Hulu is building a roster of reality TV that's quite Bravo-esq. "Mormon Wives" was a surprise hit when it debuted last year. It's back for a second season on Thursday. The show follows the drama among a group of Mormon women living in the Salt Lake City area who have built a following on TikTok. They call their group of friends MomTok.
— After scoring big with "The Pitt," Max is looking to keep the momentum going with "Duster." Co-created by JJ Abrams, the show stars Josh Holloway of "Lost" as a getaway driver in the '70s who gets flipped by a rookie FBI agent, played by Rachel Hilson. Holloway has described the show as a throwback to when TV was less dark and more fun. It also has a groovy soundtrack. "Duster" premieres Thursday.
— "The Chi," a drama about a young Black community living in Chicago's South Side returns Friday. Critics and fans have praised its portrayal of life as a Black person growing up in a rough neighborhood faced with systematic racism, violence, incarceration, and poverty. Kyla Pratt — known for playing the daughter of Eddie Murphy's character in the "Dr. Dolittle" films and as the voice of Penny in "The Proud Family" — joins the cast for season seven. The Chi" streams on Paramount+ with Showtime.
— We've seen Alexander Skarsgård as a tech bro on "Succession" and an abusive husband on "Big Little Lies." Next, we get to see his comedic chops as a robot who gains free will in "Murderbot" for Apple TV+. Premiering Friday, May 16, the show is based on a book series.
— Stanley Tucci is once again roaming through Italy. The Golden Globe- and Emmy-winning actor eats and meets in National Geographic's new food-travel series "Tucci in Italy," which premieres Sunday, May 18 and streams on Disney+ and Hulu the next day. Each episode of the first season of "Tucci in Italy" explores a different region in Italy — from Tuscany to Trentino-Alto Adige, Lombardy, Abruzzo and Lazio. CNN canceled his "Searching for Italy" in 2022.
— Alicia Rancilio
## New video games to play week of May 12-18
— If you like your games big, noisy and unabashedly gory, id Software's groundbreaking Doom series is hard to beat. Doom: The Dark Ages, the new chapter from publisher Bethesda Softworks, takes the demon-hunting space marine — now known as the Doom Slayer — back in time, sort of. His bosses have hauled the big lug to a quasi-medieval planet that's riddled with hell portals and under siege by the most bloodthirsty monsters yet. The Slayer has his usual arsenal of spectacular weapons, including a "saw shield" he can fling like a deadly Frisbee, and some levels let him saddle up on a cybernetic dragon. It's like a heavy metal album cover come to life, and it arrives Thursday on Xbox X/S, PlayStation 5 and PC.
— Lou Kesten |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-13 16:42:57+00:00 | [
"Adelaide Faith",
"Books and literature",
"Psychotherapy",
"Book Reviews",
"Arts and entertainment",
"Health",
"Helen Wieffering",
"Fiction",
"Entertainment"
] | # 'Happiness Forever' review: Debut novel is set on a therapy couch
By Helen Wieffering
May 13th, 2025, 04:42 PM
---
Do we get to choose who we love? For Sylvie, the protagonist of Adelaide Faith's "Happiness Forever," the answer is surely an emphatic "No." That's because Sylvie is in love with her therapist, an older woman with peach-colored hair who lives within walking distance of Sylvie's home. After 13 sessions, Sylvie spends her weeks counting down the hours until she and her therapist meet again. She can't decide whether she wants the therapist to adopt her or simply hold her hand.
The question of what to do about this inconvenient obsession carries through Faith's endearing debut novel. Sylvie knows she must respect the boundaries of the therapy room, but feeds her obsession in other ways — adopting her therapist's style of dress; studying therapy on her work breaks at the vet clinic; staying alert for a chance encounter in the neighborhood dog park. If the therapist only loved her, Sylvie believes all her problems would be solved. "There might be no need to worry about carrying on when somebody else had already worked out the meaning of life," Sylvie thinks.
What might in another book veer into unsettling territory is kept here in a lighthearted realm that deepens with meaning as we learn more about Sylvie's reasons for being in therapy and her shy attempts outside those sessions toward a fuller, healthier life. Sylvie makes a new friend; goes on a trip; and searches for ways to feel "like a person" with a "real" and meaningful life. As the book goes on, Sylvie must find out if she has healed enough to release herself from the therapist's grip.
___
AP book reviews: https://apnews.com/hub/book-reviews |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-01 12:29:40+00:00 | [
"Recipes",
"Shellfish",
"Lifestyle",
"Food and drink",
"Katie Workman"
] | # Umami's an old flavor but still a new concept for many cooks
By Katie Workman
May 1st, 2025, 12:29 PM
---
You know that burst of flavor you experience when you take a bite of certain savory foods, such as meat, fish, mushrooms or miso? That sensation of "whoa, that is just delicious!" In all likelihood, you are tasting umami.
Umami, which translates to "delicious savory taste, " was identified as a distinct flavor in 1908 by Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda. It's now recognized as the fifth taste, joining sweet, salty, bitter and sour.
The concept of this fifth taste has been embraced in the East for a long time, before it had an official name. But it's still a relatively new idea to many home cooks in the West.
If you've ever wondered why sprinkling Parmesan on your pasta made it just so much more satisfying, why the exterior of a roasted pork shoulder has so much flavor, why miso soup tastes so luxurious, why bacon is so freaking delicious, why an anchovy-laded Caesar salad dressing makes you want to wriggle with joy, why caramelized onions have so much depth — the answer is umami.
Umami flavor comes from glutamate, a common amino acid or protein building block found in many foods. The most familiar is monosodium glutamate, or MSG. In the U.S., it was once believed that MSG wasn't good for you, but it's now generally recognized as a safe addition to food. Many Asian chefs have worked to reintroduce MSG into daily cooking.
## Umami can be found in many ingredients in many cuisines
Foods rich with umami flavor include:
Aged cheeses: Blue cheese, gouda and cheddar are some of the most umami-packed cheeses due to the breakdown of proteins that takes places during the aging process. Parmesan cheese is widely recognized as an umami bomb.
Tomato products: The more cooked down, the more concentrated the umami — think tomato paste, sundried tomatoes and ketchup.
Mushrooms: In particular, shiitake, oyster and portobello mushrooms. Also, make use of dried mushrooms.
Meat and meat broths: Roasted and grilled meats are examples of umami richness. A roasted chicken, pan-seared steak. Cured meats like prosciutto and bacon are also umami powerhouses. So are ramen, udon soup and other foods made with rich savory broths.
Fish and seafood: Especially varieties like sea urchin, shrimp and scallops. You will also find high levels of umami flavor in fish and fish broths, especially little oily fish like sardines and anchovies.
Bonito flakes: These tissue-thin, fluffy shards of cooked and dry-smoked tuna are used as the base of dashi, a seasoning blend at the base of much Japanese cooking. Dashi also usually includes shiitake mushrooms and kombu (seaweed).
## Many fermented things have umami taste
Soy sauce, or shoyu, is one of the pillars of umami flavor in Asian cooking. Fermentation breaks down the proteins in the soybeans and wheat used to make soy sauce into amino acids, glutamic acid in particular. Tamari is a gluten-free version of this condiment.
Fish sauce is another source of umami, used often in Southeast Asian cooking. The basic ingredients are anchovies and salt. The salt pulls out the liquid from the fish and creates a dark, potent amber sauce. This is one of the reasons that Thai, Vietnamese and Philippine food, to name a few, taste so distinctively and pungently savory.
## Non-meat options
Vegetarians and vegans might think that elusive fifth taste is hard to achieve without meat or other animal products, but there is much good news!
Seaweed: Another big source of umami (and not coincidentally the other main ingredient in dashi).
Yeast enhancers and spreads: Umami is the leading flavor note of marmite and nutritional yeast.
Miso paste, made from fermented soybeans, is high in umami, whether you are using white miso, brown rice miso, red miso or yellow miso.
## A few of many interesting accents from the pantry...
An online store called Umami Mart makes an umami salt that contains salt, black, garlic and shiitake mushrooms.
Red Boat makes excellent fish sauce and also has as a seasoned salt made with anchovies, a dry way to add pungent flavor.
Fan favorite Kewpie Mayonnaise is rich in umami thanks to the combo of egg yolks, vinegar and MSG.
Cabi makes an umami dashi soy sauce, which packs a serious umami punch.
A company called Muso makes organic umami purees from soy sauce and koji-cultured rice designed to add flavor and tenderize foods.
Yamaki makes dashi sachets and various sized packages of bonito flakes.
Kayanoya is a Japan-based company known for its line of dashi products ranging from dashi, kelp and mushroom stock powders to ramen and udon broth mixes.
Vumami makes a line of condiments called Umami Bomb, made with fermented soy beans, tamari and shiitake mushrooms. They can be added to stir-fries or soups, and used as a dumpling dip.
Now that you know what you're tasting, you'll be looking for ways to incorporate more of this fifth dates into your cooking. It's truly as easy as knowing what ingredients to reach for!
___
Katie Workman writes regularly about food for The Associated Press. She has written two cookbooks focused on family-friendly cooking, "Dinner Solved!" and "The Mom 100 Cookbook." She blogs at https://themom100.com/. She can be reached at [email protected].
___
For more AP food stories, go to https://apnews.com/hub/recipes. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-17 12:00:39+00:00 | [
"Be Well",
"Health",
"Michael Ziffra",
"Stacey Nye",
"Cindy Lustig"
] | # Tips for improving your focus
By Devi Shastri and Laura Bargfeld
May 17th, 2025, 12:00 PM
---
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Feel like you can't focus? Like you'll never finish a book again? Like the only way to keep your mind and hands busy is to scroll on social media for hours?
You're far from alone. One body of decades-long research found the average person's attention span for a single screen is 47 seconds, down from 2.5 minutes in 2004. The 24/7 news cycle, uncertainty about the state of the world and countless hours of screen time don't help, experts say.
"When my patients talk to me about this stuff there is often a feeling of helplessness or powerlessness," said Dr. Michael Ziffra, a psychiatrist at Northwestern Medicine. "But you can change these behaviors. You can improve your attention span."
Here are ways to start that process. As you read, challenge yourself to set a 2.5 minute timer and stay on this article without looking at another device or clicking away.
## How did we lose focus?
A shifting attention is an evolutionary feature, not a bug. Our brains are hardwired to quickly filter information and hone in on potential threats or changes in what's happening around us.
What's grabbing our attentions has changed. For our ancestors, it might have been a rustle in the bushes putting us on guard for a lurking tiger. Today, it could be a rash of breaking news alerts and phone notifications.
The COVID-19 pandemic warped many people's sense of time and increased their screen usage like never before, said Stacey Nye, a clinical psychologist at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Technology isn't the only thing that influences our attention, experts say, but the effects of those pinging notifications or hours scrolling through 30-second long videos can build up over time.
"Our attention span has really been trained to only focus in those little, small blips and it interrupts our natural focus cycles," she said.
## Give your wandering mind 'active breaks'
Experts say "active" breaks are among the best way to retrain your mind and your attention. They only take about 30 minutes, Nye said, and can be as simple as taking a walk while noticing things around you or moving to another room for lunch.
Don't be afraid to get creative. Develop a list of alternative activities or randomly choose ideas out of a fish bowl. Try craft projects, a short meditation, fixing a quick meal or talking a walk outside. All the better if you can involve a friend as well.
The break needs to be a physical or mental activity — no passive phone-scrolling.
When the brain is understimulated and looking for change, it'll usually grab onto the first thing it sees. The smartphone, an "ever-producing change machine," is an enticing option, said Cindy Lustig, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Michigan.
Turn off unnecessary notifications and put that "do not disturb" mode to good use, especially before bedtime. Better yet, put your phone in a whole different room, Lustig said.
## Say no to multitasking
Multitasking may make you feel like you're getting more done, but brain experts recommend against it.
"Be a single tasker," Nye said. "Work on one thing at a time, for a specified period of time and begin to work your way up."
Lustig is a big fan of the "Pomodoro technique," in which you set a timer and work on something for 25 or 30 minutes before taking a five-minute break.
She tells herself: "I can do anything for this amount of time," and the world will still be waiting for her at the end.
## Start with something you actually like and set a goal
It's not enough to just have a hobby, Lustig said. It helps to choose hobbies that include deliberate practice and a goal to strive toward, whether it's playing guitar for an audience or improving in a sport.
It helps to pick something that you enjoy as well.
"You don't want to start with the heavy nonfiction or like 'War and Peace,'" Lustig said. "If you need to start with the romance novel, then start with the romance novel. You can work your way up."
It's also important to be kind to yourself. Everyone has good and bad days, and attention needs are different — and even vary from task to task.
The key is to make an intentional effort, experts say.
"It is in many ways similar to a muscle in the sense that we can build it up with practice and exercises," Ziffra said. "Conversely, it can weaken if we're not exercising it."
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-17 07:55:49+00:00 | [
"London",
"Tehran",
"Yvette Cooper",
"United Kingdom",
"Iran government",
"Espionage",
"Iran",
"Dominic Murphy",
"Courts",
"Farhad Javadi Manesh",
"Violence",
"Government surveillance",
"Mostafa Sepahvand",
"Indictments"
] | # 3 alleged Iranian spies face charges in London on plan to target journalists
By Brian Melley
May 17th, 2025, 07:55 AM
---
LONDON (AP) — Three alleged Iranian spies faced charges in a London court Saturday that they conducted surveillance on and plotted violence against U.K.-based journalists for an Iranian news outlet.
Mostafa Sepahvand, 39, Farhad Javadi Manesh, 44, and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 55, were charged with engaging in conduct likely to assist Iran's foreign intelligence service between Aug. 14, 2024 and Feb. 16, 2025.
Sepahvand was also charged with engaging in "surveillance, reconnaissance and open-source research," intending to commit serious violence against a person in the United Kingdom. The others are charged with engaging in surveillance and reconnaissance with the intention serious violence would be committed by others.
Iran International, a Persian-language TV channel based in London that is critical of the theocratic government in Tehran, reported that the defendants were trying to locate and target its journalists. The Iranian government has called the news outlet a terrorist organization.
All three men were living in London after entering the U.K. through unauthorized means between 2016 and 2022. They have been in custody since their arrests on May 3. A fourth man arrested in the same investigation was released without charge.
The three did not enter pleas during a brief hearing in Westminster Magistrates' Court. They confirmed their identities through a Farsi interpreter.
They were held in custody awaiting a hearing June 6 at the Central Criminal Court.
Britain's domestic intelligence service has warned of a growing threat from attackers linked to Tehran.
On the day the men were arrested two weeks ago, police took four other Iranian nationals into custody on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act in a separate investigation. They were released from custody Saturday, though counterterror police said that investigation continues.
"We are working very closely with the premises we identified as the suspected target of the alleged plot, and we continue to provide them with support," said Cmdr. Dominic Murphy of the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command. "This has been, and continues to be, a highly complex investigation, and we will not hesitate to take further action if we believe there is any imminent threat to the public."
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the government plans to publish a review next week of how to apply the U.K.'s counterterrorism approach to state threats.
"Iran must be held to account for its actions," Cooper said. "We must also strengthen our powers to protect our national security as we will not tolerate growing state threats on our soil." |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-07 16:04:30+00:00 | [
"Atlanta",
"Shootings",
"Crime",
"Brandon Criss",
"Law enforcement",
"Gun violence"
] | # Gang rivalry led to deadly shooting at motorcycle gathering south of Atlanta, police say
May 7th, 2025, 04:04 PM
---
FOREST PARK, Ga. (AP) — A dispute between rival gangs led to a shooting at a large gathering of motorcycle riders just south of Atlanta that left two people dead, police said Wednesday.
Forest Park police identified two suspects in the April 27 shooting and said one has been taken into custody. The suspects were part of the Outcast Motorcycle Gang, and the two victims were in the rival Wheels of Soul Motorcycle Club, according to police.
Investigators believe the shooting stemmed from a dispute over territory, Forest Park police Chief Brandon Criss said at a news conference.
The suspects were also shot, but survived. Forest Park is about 12 miles (19 km) south of Atlanta.
Numerous motorcyclists were speeding away when officers arrived, and police had to navigate a "large and chaotic crowd" of 100 to 150 people to reach the victims, police have said.
The business where the shooting occurred has been cited, and the property owner has been issued a cease and desist order, Criss said. More arrests were likely, he said. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-01 11:46:21+00:00 | [
"Matt Baier Organizing",
"Renee Brown Organizing",
"British Columbia",
"Be Well",
"JWD-evergreen",
"Email and messaging",
"Lifestyle",
"Amazon.com",
"Inc.",
"E-commerce",
"Business",
"Jenny Albertini"
] | # How to clear out clutter in your workspace
By Cathy Bussewitz
May 1st, 2025, 11:46 AM
---
NEW YORK (AP) — It starts with a Post-it note scrawled with a reminder. Then a chocolate bar you'll probably eat later. An extra charging cord or two find their way into the mix, along with a laptop, a folder full of projects, a lanyard from a recent conference and a permission slip sent home from school.
And soon, the pile of things on your desk that are set aside for later becomes a giant, overwhelming stack.
The chaos of modern life and the ease of accumulating cheap items through online shopping have contributed to an abundance of clutter. That's true in home offices and traditional workspaces alike. And those jumbles of misplaced belongings can drain our mental resources, distracting us from work and dragging down our productivity.
"Clutter reduces our bandwidth. It negatively affects our perception of our environment or ourselves," said Marietta Van Den Berg, psychiatrist and medical director for Surrey Memorial Hospital in British Columbia. "It influences whether we make good choices or not. And it even influences our levels of stress and our levels of sleep."
Researchers at UCLA found that women who were living with a high density of household objects had high levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
As households and workplaces embark on spring cleaning, it's possible to reduce clutter and find more mental peace.
"Things circulate into our lives all too easily. We need a competitive plan for things to circulate out," said Matt Baier, owner of Matt Baier Organizing in Stamford, Connecticut. "A good example of that is buying on Amazon. It's so easy. Boxes come in. We have so many houses that are just piled with boxes, opened and unopened, things that need to be returned, boxes that need throwing out."
## A pile of postponed decisions
There are many reasons we accumulate clutter. Sometimes we don't know where to put whatever's landed in our hands. Other times a paper represents a task — whether it's paying a bill or making a phone call — that we can't tackle right away.
"Clutter is actually just a postponed decision or action," Van Den Berg said. "It's things we pick up and put down. So we're not making a decision about that piece of paper on your desk, or that book."
Taking a minute to put an item away in its proper place can save time in the long run. The paper that requires a phone call can go into a bin labeled "Action Items."
"If everything's chaotic and you can't find anything, you're not bringing your best self to work," said Renee Brown, owner of Renee Brown Organizing, based in Minneapolis.
## Making time for decluttering
A messy workspace can be intimidating. But you don't have to tackle it all in one day, Brown said. Committing to small decluttering sessions over the course of a week or months can make a difference.
" Look at your schedule. Can you find 15 minutes or 30 minutes and block it?" Brown asked. If you have more time, spend an hour. Set a timer and see how much you can get done, she advised.
Some workplaces are setting aside time for employees to declutter their files and email inboxes weekly or quarterly, said Jenny Albertini, owner of Decluttered by Jenny, who works with individual and corporate clients.
"It's OK to spend an hour a week or however much you need to declutter your inboxes, organize your files," Albertini said. "Having that time scheduled in is what makes people feel accountable."
Employees can gather on Zoom to support each other while decluttering, she said.
## Start by sorting
Many professional organizers suggest sorting objects of the same category together. That way, you can see how much of each group you have and let go of any extras. After gathering office supplies, you may find you have more staplers or charging cords than you'll ever need.
And with the full picture, Albertini said, "we can suddenly say, 'Oh, I didn't realize I kept buying extra pens, because some were in this drawer, and some were over in this cup, and some were in that shopping bag on the floor.'"
Baier, who demonstrates decluttering strategies on YouTube, recommends sorting on a clean surface such as a folding table. Set up bins for trash, recycling and papers to shred. Bankers boxes are convenient for sorting, and you can label them with sticky notes for categories such as electronics, office supplies and keepsakes, he said.
Label one box "elsewhere" for items that belong in a different room; but distribute them later so you don't get distracted, Baier said.
Once you've sorted items into categories, then go through each box to eliminate what you don't need.
## Tackling piles of papers
When facing a mass of paperwork, consider whether you're legally required to keep certain files, and then ask, "when was the last time you used this document?" Albertini said.
"Do you have anything coming up that you know you need it for? Is this hard copy the only one? Would you be able to do your work or task if you didn't have this anymore?" she said.
Baier recommends dividing papers into four groups: running files, which you need to act on; sitting files, which you need to access regularly; sleeping files, which you need to keep just in case but can store remotely; and dead files, which you no longer need.
"Identify why you keep the files, because when you're clear on why you keep something, it takes you to where it should go," Baier said.
With a paper decluttering system in place, you can repeat it annually and it should only take about 20 minutes, he said.
## Digital decluttering
When organizing digital files, take the same approach as paper: Sort into categories, then reduce. Work in short bursts of time to prevent decision fatigue, Albertini said.
"We're really looking to deduplicate items or reduce the number that you have that really aren't that special," Albertini said.
With presentations, delete drafts and keep the final product. If you have photos of an event, choose the best two or three and delete the rest. With email, ask yourself, "Will I need this email again to get my job done? Will it provide knowledge or motivation for future work?" If the answer is no, delete it, Albertini said.
In some email programs, you can automatically send mail from a specific client or team into a folder. If you have thousands of unread emails, you can move those to a digital archive at the end of the year, Brown said.
## Think before you buy
One obvious way to reduce office clutter is to buy fewer things. It can be tempting to buy drawer dividers or trays to organize pens and scissors. But another route is to reuse cardboard iPhone or greeting card boxes.
"You don't have to go out and get expensive items," Brown said. "Let's find what you already have in the house and use it instead."
___
Share your stories and questions about workplace wellness at [email protected]. Follow AP's Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health at https://apnews.com/hub/be-well. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-03 14:11:58+00:00 | [
"Rio de Janeiro",
"Lady Gaga",
"Madonna",
"Brazil government",
"Censorship",
"Ricardo Filho",
"Hospitality and leisure industry",
"Entertainment",
"Ingrid Serrano",
"Rod Stewart",
"Eve"
] | # Lady Gaga rocks Copacabana Beach with a free concert for more than 2 million fans
By Eléonore Hughes
May 3rd, 2025, 02:11 PM
---
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Lady Gaga gave a free concert Saturday night in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach for the biggest show of her career.
"Tonight, we're making history. (...) Thank you for making history with me," Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd.
The Mother Monster, as she is known, kicked off the show at around 22:10 p.m. local time with her 2011 song "Bloody Mary." Cries of joy rose from the tightly-packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand.
Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show.
Lady Gaga performed her classic hits, including "Poker Face" and "Alejandro," switching between an array of dresses including one with the colors of the Brazilian flag.
Some fans - many of them young - arrived on the beach at the crack of dawn to secure a good spot, armed with snacks and drinks. They spent the day under a blazing sun, while others perched in trees, determined to get a panoramic view.
"Today is the best day of my life," said Manoela Dobes, a 27-year-old designer who was wearing a dress plastered with a photograph from when she met Lady Gaga in the United States in 2019. "It's surreal to be here."
Madonna also turned Copacabana Beach into a massive dance floor last year.
The large-scale performances are part of an effort led by City Hall to boost economic activity after Carnival and New Years' Eve festivities and the upcoming month-long Saint John's Day celebrations in June.
"It brings activity to the city during what was previously considered the low season – filling hotels and increasing spending in bars, restaurants, and retail, generating jobs and income for the population," said Osmar Lima, the city's secretary of economic development, in a statement released by Rio City Hall's tourism department last month.
Rio's City Hall said in a recent report that the show should inject at least 600 million reais (some $106 million) into Rio's economy.
Similar concerts are scheduled to take place every year in May at least until 2028.
Lady Gaga arrived in Rio in the early hours of Tuesday. The city has been alive with Gaga-mania since, as it geared up to welcome the pop star for her first show in the country since 2012. Rio's metro employees danced to Lady Gaga's 2008 hit song "LoveGame" and gave instructions for Saturday in a video. A free exhibition celebrating her career sold out.
While the vast majority of attendees were from Rio, the event also attracted Brazilians from across the country and international visitors.
More than 500,000 tourists poured into the city in the days leading up to the show, more than double the initial forecast, according to data from the local bus station and Tom Jobim airport, Rio's City Hall said in a statement on Friday.
Ingrid Serrano, a 30-year-old engineer, made a cross-continent trip from Colombia to Brazil to attend the show.
"I've been a 100% fan of Lady Gaga my whole life," said Serrano, who was wearing a T-shirt featuring Lady Gaga's outlandish costumes over the years.
For her, the mega-star represents "total freedom of expression - being who one wants without shame."
Rio officials have a history of organizing huge concerts on Copacabana Beach. Madonna's show drew an estimated 1.6 million fans last year, while 4 million people flooded onto the beach for a 1994 New Year's Eve show by Rod Stewart in 1994. According to Guinness World Records, that was the biggest free rock concert in history.
To ensure fans could hear the songs, sixteen sound towers were spread along the beach.
Rio state's security plan included the presence of 3,300 military and 1,500 police officers, and 400 military firefighters.
Among those present were Lady Gaga admirers who remember their disappointment in 2017, when the artist canceled a performance scheduled in Rio at the last minute due to health issues.
Ricardo Filho, who has been a fan since childhood, said it was worth the wait.
"She's the best artist in the world," the 25-year-old said, as chants of "Gaga, I love you" in Portuguese rose from the crowd behind him.
____
Follow AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-02 11:15:42+00:00 | [
"Voting",
"Cincinnati",
"Ohio",
"JD Vance",
"Donald Trump",
"Brian Frank",
"Associated Press",
"Decision notes",
"Politics",
"Kamala Harris",
"David Mann",
"U.S. Democratic Party",
"Elections"
] | # What to expect in Ohio's primary and special election
By Robert Yoon
May 2nd, 2025, 11:15 AM
---
WASHINGTON (AP) — Cincinnati's mayor faces a primary challenge Tuesday from two first-time candidates, including the half brother of Vice President JD Vance. Meanwhile, voters across the state will decide the fate of a 10-year, $2.5 billion infrastructure spending ballot measure.
The notable contests top the list of races on the ballot in Ohio's off-year municipal primaries.
In Cincinnati, the state's third largest city, Mayor Aftab Pureval seeks a second term. Pureval, a Democrat, had been running unopposed for reelection in the Democratic stronghold until Republicans Cory Bowman and Brian Frank entered the race earlier in the year. Bowman, who shares a father with Vance, is an evangelical pastor and cafe owner. Frank is a procurement specialist. The mayor's office is a nonpartisan position, so all candidates compete on the same ballot in the primary, with the top two vote-getters advancing to the November general election.
Cincinnati is located in Hamilton County, which Democrat Kamala Harris carried in the 2024 presidential election with about 57% of the vote. Republican Donald Trump received 42% of the Hamilton vote but won Ohio with 55% of the statewide vote. The city's Democratic bent should benefit Pureval in a primary contest with no other Democrats on the ballot.
Pureval placed first in the 2021 primary with 39% of the vote in a six-person field. He won the general election with about 66% of the vote over fellow Democrat David Mann, a former mayor and U.S. representative.
On the statewide ballot, the proposed constitutional amendment known as Issue 2 would authorize the state to issue bonds to finance local infrastructure initiatives dealing with roads, bridges, water systems, waste disposal and other projects. Near-unanimous bipartisan majorities in the state Senate and House voted in December to put the measure before voters in Tuesday's special election, although one Republican state senator and four Republican state representatives opposed the measure.
If it passes, Issue 2 would continue a funding program that was first enacted in 1987 with support from about 71% of voters. It was renewed in 1995 with about 62% in favor, then again in 2005 with 54% and most recently in 2014 with 65%.
Turnout tends to be relatively low in off-year Ohio elections. A recent exception was in 2023, when a pair of ballot measures motivated voters on both sides of the abortion debate to head to the polls. This year's infrastructure bond proposal has a much lower profile than the two 2023 measures.
Another complicating factor comes from an unlikely source — the state's two National Football League franchises. Tuesday's infrastructure bond vote has nothing to do with the ongoing debate among state and local officials over stadium funding for the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals. But voters unfamiliar with the details of Issue 2 could potentially conflate the two matters at the ballot box.
The Associated Press does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it's determined there is no scenario that would allow the trailing candidates to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.
Recounts in Ohio are automatic if the margin is less than 0.25% of the total vote in statewide races or 0.5% in district races. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is eligible for a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.
Here's a look at what to expect on Tuesday:
## Election day
Ohio's primary and special election will be held Tuesday. Polls close at 7:30 p.m. ET.
## What's on the ballot?
The Associated Press will provide vote results and declare a winner in the Cincinnati mayoral primary and the proposed constitutional amendment known as Issue 2. The ballot measure is the only statewide contest on the ballot. Primaries for local offices will be held across the state, but the AP will not be providing vote coverage.
## Who gets to vote?
Any voter registered in Ohio may participate in the statewide ballot measure special election.
## What do turnout and advance vote look like?
As of April 16, there were about 8.2 million registered voters in Ohio. Voters in Ohio do not register by party.
About 3.1 million votes were cast in the statewide ballot measure special election in August 2023. That was about 39% of registered voters at the time. Roughly a quarter of the votes were cast before Election Day.
More than 42,000 ballots were cast in the 2021 Cincinnati mayoral primary, roughly 16% of registered voters at the time. Pre-Election Day voting made up about 19% of the total vote.
As of Thursday, nearly 122,000 ballots had been cast statewide before Election Day. More than 2,200 ballots had already been cast in Hamilton County.
## How long does vote-counting usually take?
In the 2024 general election in Ohio, the AP first reported results at 7:36 p.m. ET, or six minutes after polls closed. The election night tabulation ended at 2:49 a.m. ET with about 98% of total votes counted.
Votes in Hamilton County were first reported at 7:57 p.m. ET. The final election night update was at 11:54 p.m. ET with about 96% of total votes counted. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-18 12:17:56+00:00 | [
"Donald Trump",
"Karoline Leavitt",
"Joe Biden",
"JD Vance",
"Mike Waltz",
"South Carolina",
"Karine Jean-Pierre",
"Kamala Harris",
"North Atlantic Treaty Organization",
"Politics",
"India"
] | # On the White House website under Trump, there's a sporadic commitment to documentation
By The Associated Press
May 18th, 2025, 12:17 PM
---
A look at some of what's missing from the Trump White House's website:
— On whitehouse.gov under "Remarks," the last posting is from April 22 and is Vice President JD Vance's comments while he traveled in India. There has been nothing posted for President Donald Trump since his comments on March 13 while meeting with NATO's secretary-general.
— The last transcription of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt's briefings with reporters was on Feb. 20, and that one featured national security adviser Mike Waltz, who has since left that job. Leavitt generally has held a briefing about once a week since Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, and sometimes conducts multiple ones in a week.
— The lack of transcriptions stands in contrast to pages on the White House of President Joe Biden, which are maintained by the National Archives. There, under a heading marked "The Briefing Room," is Biden's last major speech as president, which he made in South Carolina on Jan. 19, and numerous other comments he offered right up to the end of his term on Jan. 20. The last statement from former Vice President Kamala Harris was posted on Jan. 17. The transcript of White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre's final briefing appears on Jan. 15.
— In all, there are 1,247 webpages of speeches, remarks and presidential actions in that section of the Biden archives alone. The current Trump White House lists only 10 page of briefings and statements in total. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-15 06:43:42+00:00 | [
"Gaza Strip",
"Middle East",
"Donald Trump",
"War and unrest",
"Benjamin Netanyahu",
"Persian Gulf",
"Israel",
"Israel government",
"2024-2025 Mideast Wars",
"Israel-Hamas war",
"Hamas",
"Associated Press",
"Palestinian territories government",
"Religion",
"David Mencer",
"Imad al-Hout"
] | # 54 people killed in overnight airstrikes on southern Gaza city, hospital says
By Mohammad Jahjouh and Tia Goldenberg
May 15th, 2025, 06:43 AM
---
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Multiple airstrikes hit Gaza's southern city of Khan Younis overnight into Thursday, killing more than 50 people in a second consecutive night of heavy bombing, while another airstrike in the north of the Palestinian territory left more than a dozen people dead, authorities said.
The strikes come as U.S. President Donald Trump visits the Middle East, visiting Gulf states but not Israel. There had been widespread hope that Trump's regional visit could usher in a ceasefire deal or renewal of humanitarian aid to Gaza. An Israeli blockade of the territory is now in its third month.
An Associated Press cameraman in Khan Younis counted 10 airstrikes on the city overnight into Thursday, and saw numerous bodies taken to the morgue in the city's Nasser Hospital. It took time to identify some of the bodies due to the extent of their injuries. The hospital's morgue confirmed 54 people had been killed.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes.
It was the second night of heavy bombing, after airstrikes Wednesday on northern and southern Gaza killed at least 70 people, including almost two dozen children.
Another strike in Jabaliya in northern Gaza hit a complex including a mosque and a small medical clinic, killing 13 people, said the Civil Defense, a first responder agency operating under Gaza's Hamas-run government.
## Mourning for the dead in Khan Younis
In Nasser Hospital, Safaa Al-Najjar, her face stained with blood, wept as the shroud-wrapped bodies of two of her children were brought to her: 1 1/2-year-old Motaz Al-Bayyok and 1 1/2 month-old Moaz Al-Bayyok.
The family was caught in the overnight airstrikes. All five of Al-Najjar's other children, ranging in ages from 3 to 12, were injured, while her husband was in intensive care.
One of her sons, 11-year-old Yusuf, his head heavily bandaged, screamed in grief as the shroud of his younger sibling was parted to show his face.
"I gave them dinner and put them to sleep as usual, it was a normal day. Suddenly I don't know what happened, the world went upside down," she said as others tried to comfort her. "I don't know, I don't know … what is their fault? What is their fault?"
Outside the hospital, mourners gathered to pray as the dead, laid out in rows in white body bags, were loaded onto a truck to be taken for burial.
## Israel has vowed to escalate the war
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed earlier in the week to push ahead with a promised escalation of force in Israel's war in the Gaza Strip to pursue his aim of destroying the Hamas militant group, which governs Gaza.
In comments released by Netanyahu's office Tuesday, the prime minister said Israeli forces were days away from entering Gaza "with great strength to complete the mission ... It means destroying Hamas."
International rights group Human Rights Watch said Thursday that Israel's stated plan of seizing Gaza and displacing hundreds of thousands of people "inches closer to extermination," and called on the international community to speak out against it.
The war began when Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people in an Oct. 7, 2023 intrusion into southern Israel. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. Almost 3,000 have been killed since Israel broke a ceasefire on March 18, the ministry said.
The Health Ministry said Thursday morning that the bodies of 82 people killed in Israeli strikes, including the 54 in Khan Younis, had been brought to hospitals in the past 24 hours. The overall Palestinian death toll rose to 53,010, with another 119,998 people wounded.
Hamas still holds 58 of the roughly 250 hostages it took during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel, with 23 believed to still be alive, although Israeli authorities have expressed concern for the status of three of those.
## Gaza's only hospital providing cancer treatments out of service due to Israeli strikes
Gaza's Health Ministry said Thursday that Israeli strikes have rendered the European Hospital Khan Younis — the only remaining facility providing cancer treatments in Gaza — out of service due to severe damage to its infrastructure and access roads.
The shutdown halts all specialized treatments, including cardiac surgeries and cancer care, the ministry added.
The Israeli military conducted two airstrikes against the European Hospital on Tuesday, saying it was targeting a Hamas command center beneath the facility. Six people were killed in the strike.
European Hospital director Imad al-Hout told AP there had been 200 patients in the hospital at the time of Tuesday's strikes. They were all gradually evacuated, with the last 90 transferred to other hospitals, including Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, on Wednesday morning. Efforts were now underway to coordinate repairs to the facility, he added.
## Israeli blockade of aid into Gaza in its third month
Palestinians in northern Gaza lined up Thursday near areas under Israeli bombardment in a desperate attempt to obtain food, as Israel's aid blockade entered its third month.
At the charity kitchen set up atop piles of rubble in Beit Lahia, dozens of Palestinians stood in a crowded line, pressing against one another, holding empty pots and plastic containers high in the air in hopes of receiving vegetable soup.
Um Abed, who is displaced with 20 family members, waited in line from 9 a.m. and went home empty-handed for the second day in a row as the number of people far exceeded the available food.
"I have a 3-year-old child who's crying all day because he wants to eat … we want them to stop the war and to allow food in," Um Abed cried and yelled as she held up her empty pot to the camera.
Israel's offensive has obliterated vast swaths of Gaza's urban landscape and displaced 90% of the population, often multiple times. It halted the entry of all aid, including food and medication, into the territory on March 2, and international food security experts have warned that Gaza will likely fall into famine if Israel doesn't lift its blockade and stop its military campaign.
Nearly half a million Palestinians are facing possible starvation while 1 million others can barely get enough food, according to findings by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a leading international authority on the severity of hunger crises.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer on Thursday denied there was a food shortage in Gaza and claimed Hamas was "holding onto it ... they need to open up the food to the people."
Human Rights Watch said Israel's plan to seize Gaza and remain there, coupled with the "systematic destruction" of civilian infrastructure and the block on all imports into the territory, were cause for signatories to the Genocide Convention to act to prevent Israel's moves. The group also called on Hamas to free the hostages it still holds.
Israel vehemently denies accusations that it is committing genocide in Gaza.
___
Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel.
___
This story has been corrected to delete reference to a journalist for Al Araby TV being killed. The network says it does not employ a journalist of that name. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-13 01:38:10+00:00 | [
"Senegal",
"Public health",
"Metals and mining",
"Poisoning",
"Mali",
"Guinea",
"Children",
"Womens health",
"AFRICA PULSE",
"Climate Featured",
"Annika Hammerschlag",
"Climate and environment",
"Duke University-led",
"Health",
"Semiconductor manufacturing",
"Technology"
] | # Mercury fuels gold mining in Senegal. And it's poisoning the people who use it
By Annika Hammerschlag
May 13th, 2025, 01:38 AM
---
KEDOUGOU, Senegal (AP) — The quickest way to separate gold from rock, Sadio Camara says, is with a drop of mercury. She empties a dime-sized packet of the silvery liquid into a plastic bucket of muddy sediment outside her home in southeastern Senegal. With bare hands and no mask, she swirls the mixture as her children look on.
"I know mercury isn't good for your health — that's why I don't drink the water it comes into contact with," she said. "I only process small amounts of gold, so there's no danger."
But even small-scale exposure can carry serious risks.
Across West Africa, mercury — a potent neurotoxin — remains the dominant method for extracting gold from ore in the region's booming informal mining sector, much of it illegal and unregulated. In Senegal's gold-rich Kedougou region, women like Camara use the metal regularly, often without protective gloves and masks, to make a living.
Mercury exposure can cause irreversible brain damage, developmental delays, tremors and loss of vision, hearing and coordination. Once released, it spreads easily through air, water and soil. Particularly after heavy rains, it contaminates rivers, poisons fish and accumulates up the food chain.
A 2018 Duke University-led study found mercury levels in soils, sediments and water near artisanal gold mining villages in southeastern Senegal that exceeded safety thresholds set by the World Health Organization and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by 10 to 100 times.
In artisanal mining, mercury is prized for its ability to bind quickly and easily to gold. Miners mix the liquid metal into crushed ore, and the mixture is then heated — often over open flames — to evaporate the mercury and leave behind a lump of gold. The process is cheap, effective and dangerous.
"If it hurt right away, like a knife, people would stop. But the issue is that it takes years for the dangers to manifest," said Doudou Dramé, president of the Observatoire Territoriale du Secteur Extractif, an organization that advocates for safer conditions for gold miners in Kedougou. "People are dumping it directly into the river. They're burning it in the open, releasing toxic smoke into the air. It's extremely dangerous."
Artisanal and small-scale gold mining is the largest global source of mercury emissions, even more than the burning of coal, according to the UN Environment Programme. In Senegal alone, artisanal mines are estimated to release between 12 and 16 metric tons of mercury each year.
"Kedougou has rich land — very rich land," Dramé said. "Now mercury is everywhere. Our animals consume it, and it comes back to us. Even the soil is no longer fertile."
## For women, a life that puts them in mercury's way
Along the muddy banks of a rust-colored pond, dozens of women wade knee-deep as they rinse piles of sediment in search of gold. Children dart between mounds of earth while the runoff pools around their feet. With little access to clean water, many women spend long hours in local waterways to work, bathe their children, wash clothes and clean dishes.
"Women are much more exposed than men," said Modou Goumbala, the monitoring and evaluation manager at La Lumiere, an NGO that supports community development in southeastern Senegal.
That exposure can be especially dangerous for pregnant and nursing women. Mercury can cross the placenta, putting fetuses at risk of developmental delays and birth defects. Infants may also absorb the toxin through contaminated breast milk.
Inside her kitchen hut not far from the stream, Camara heats a nugget of mercury-laced sediment with a metal spoon over an open flame. The toxic metal evaporates and leaves behind a kernel of gold. There's no mask, no gloves — just the raw materials and her bare hands. Her children stand just a few feet away, watching and breathing the fumes.
Camara said she doesn't usually handle the burning herself; that task is typically left to men. But she and other women regularly mix and shape the mercury amalgam with no protection. One of her children suffers from frequent stomachaches, though she hasn't noticed any other symptoms. Still, the risks loom.
## Why take the risks? Because gold pays
"The easiest way to earn money today is gold mining," Camara said. "Subsistence agriculture will not provide you enough for food or other needs."
In Senegal, gold processors like Camara typically process between 5 and 10 grams of gold per month, earning the equivalent of $370 to $745 — more than double the national average salary of about $200.
Senegal ratified the Minamata Convention on Mercury in 2016, pledging to reduce mercury use and pollution. But the substance remains widely accessible. Most of the country's supply comes from Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana, with smaller amounts smuggled from dental clinics in Dakar, according to a 2022 report by the Institute for Security Studies.
In 2020, the government promised to build 400 mercury-free gold processing units. So far, only one has been constructed — in Bantaco, about 15 miles from Camara's home. The facility uses gravity to separate gold from ore, eliminating the need for mercury by relying on sluices and shaking tables.
During a recent visit, the rusting slab of metal sat unused beneath a corrugated roof.
"People used it for a while, but then they stopped, because one single unit can't cover an entire community," Goumbala said. "Naturally, those who were nearby could use it. But for those who are very far away, they can't afford to transport the ore all the way, process it and then go back. It's extra work. That's a problem."
Camara said she tried the unit, but in addition to being far away, it was less effective at isolating gold – some was lost in the process.
Repeated efforts to schedule an interview with Senegal's director of artisanal and small-scale mining were unsuccessful. The director later said the department had been suspended. He did not provide a reason.
Senegal swore in a new president in 2024, but residents say the problems remain.
"There's a new administration in place, but promises are still just promises," Goumbala said. He believes the lack of progress is due to limited funding.
In an effort to curb pollution, authorities temporarily suspended mining within 500 meters (1,640 feet)of the Faleme River, which cuts through Senegal's gold belt and forms part of the border with Mali.
But enforcement is weak as officials struggle to stem the influx of informal miners, many of whom arrive from neighboring countries. Critics say the measure barely scratches the surface of the problem.
"The solution is to install the gold processing units within the communities — at least one per village," Goumbala said.
Even so, he acknowledged the challenges: The machines are expensive, difficult to maintain and require replacement parts that are only available abroad.
There's also resistance among miners, who say mercury is more efficient and profitable.
"We need to convince communities that even if they make more money using mercury, in the end, they'll spend that profit on treating illnesses caused by it," Goumbala said. "The long-term consequences are far worse."
___
Follow Annika Hammerschlag on Instagram @ahammergram.
___
The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP's environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-08 04:59:09+00:00 | [
"Xi Jinping",
"Taiwan",
"Taipei",
"China",
"Vladimir Putin",
"Russia",
"Taiwan government",
"War and unrest",
"Lin Chia-lung",
"Russia Ukraine war",
"Politics",
"Japan government",
"Communism",
"Democracy",
"China government",
"Government programs",
"Tsai Ing-wen",
"Russia government",
"International agreements",
"Lin Jian",
"European Union"
] | # Taiwan marks 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day by highlighting threats from China
By Christopher Bodeen
May 8th, 2025, 04:59 AM
---
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan marked the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day on Thursday by making broad comparisons between threats to European peace and aggression from China, whose leader Xi Jinping was in Russia for commemorations as Moscow continues its invasion of Ukraine.
"Peace is priceless, and war has no winners. History has taught us that no matter the driving reason or ideology, military aggression against another country is an unjust crime that is bound to fail," Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te told diplomats in Taipei.
"Authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy, and greater inequality," he added.
Turning more directly to China's threats, Lai said that both Taiwan and Europe were "now facing the threat of a new authoritarian bloc."
"We are seeing our decades-old undersea cables, crucial for communications and cybersecurity, being sabotaged. We are seeing external interference in our elections, crucial for healthy democratic development, through the spread of misinformation and disinformation, sowing intentional division in society," Lai said.
He added that democratic, rules-based markets are threatened by "all manner of gray-zone activities, dumping, pressures and intrusions."
Lai's remarks came during Taiwan's first-ever official commemoration of VE Day and at a time when Taiwan is making a diplomatic push for closer ties with fellow democracies that nevertheless have no formal ties with the island in deference to Beijing. Former President Tsai Ing-wen is visiting Lithuania and Denmark from Friday, while Foreign Affairs Minister Lin Chia-lung is visiting the U.S. state of Texas.
China, under the Nationalist regime of former strongman Chiang Kai-shek, fought alongside the Allies in Asia during World War II and received some military assistance from the then-USSR.
China claims Taiwan as part of its territory to be annexed by force if necessary and says it has no right to international recognition. Just 12 countries, mostly small island nations in the South Pacific and Caribbean, have official diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
Lai said that those who cherish peace "cannot sit idly by and allow aggression."
"The outbreak of the war in Europe certainly had much to do with an authoritarian regime seeking to satisfy its expansionary ambitions, but its wider spread throughout Europe had much more to do with a lack of vigilance toward acts of aggression," he said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian maintained Thursday that Taiwan is "part of China's territory."
Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party has "always used the pretext of democracy and freedom to conceal the separatist nature of Taiwan independence," Lin said at a daily briefing in Beijing.
## Putin lauds Xi in Moscow
China's Xi, who has said Taiwan's absorption by his authoritarian Communist regime is inevitable, was meanwhile lauded by Russian President Vladimir Putin as "our main guest" at the Victory Day festivities. The Russian leader noted that he and Xi would discuss bilateral and global issues at their summit in Moscow.
Xi is visiting for four days at a time when fighting with Ukraine, which Russia invaded more than three years ago, has closed airports in the Moscow region. The two leaders will also discuss Russia's supply of oil and gas to China, as well as cooperation within BRICS — the bloc of developing economies that initially included Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa but has since expanded to more countries.
Putin and Xi have met over 40 times as their governments align their foreign policies to challenge the Western-led liberal democratic world order.
China has offered strong diplomatic support to Moscow since the 2022 invasion and has emerged as a top market for Russian oil and gas, helping fill the Kremlin's war chest. Russia also has relied on China as the main source of machinery and electronics to keep its drones and other parts of its military machine running after Western sanctions curtailed high-tech supplies.
Beijing hasn't provided weapons to use in Ukraine, but has backed the Kremlin diplomatically, blaming Western threats against Russia's security for sparking the war. China also has strongly condemned Western sanctions against Moscow, while Russia has consistently voiced support for Beijing on issues related to Taiwan.
Taiwan's government is the inheritor to Chiang's Nationalist regime, which battled Japanese invaders throughout the 1930s and up to the war's end in 1945. It was ultimately driven from China by Mao Zedong's Communist forces in 1949 and has since transitioned to a full multi-party democracy with strong but unofficial ties to the U.S., the EU, Japan and other industrialized democracies.
Chiang's regime also provided visa-free entry for thousands of European Jews, who settled in Shanghai during the war years, saving them from the Holocaust. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-14 16:12:26+00:00 | [
"Montevideo",
"Uruguay",
"Jos Mujica",
"Luiz Incio Lula da Silva",
"Julio Mara Sanguinetti",
"Gabriel Boric",
"Politics",
"Hispanics",
"Rebellions and uprisings",
"Luis Alberto Lacalle",
"Luca Topolansky",
"Estela Piriz",
"Beatriz Benzano"
] | # Mourners from all corners of Uruguay bid farewell to iconic former President José Mujica
By Nayara Batschke
May 14th, 2025, 04:12 PM
---
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — Crowds poured into the streets of Uruguay's capital on Wednesday to bid a poignant farewell to former President José Mujica, a former guerrilla who became a pioneering leader and icon of the Latin American left, remembered most for his humility, simple lifestyle and ideological earnestness.
Thousands of people mourning the death of their former leader, affectionately known as "Pepe," joined the procession as Mujica's flag-furled coffin, borne on a gun carriage, made its way through downtown Montevideo.
The cortege culminated nearly four hours later at the country's parliament, where banners, wreaths, handwritten notes and portraits littered the lawn and emotions ran high. "Farewell, Pepe" was painted across the walls of the historic Legislative Palace.
## Died days before his 90th birthday
Mujica died Tuesday at the age of 89, just days before his 90th birthday, in his home on the outskirts of Montevideo — a three-room farmhouse where he lived throughout his life and during his presidency (2010-2015), in rejection of Uruguay's opulent presidential mansion. Mujica was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in April 2024.
His coffin will lie in state before the funeral on Thursday, which is expected to draw an array of sympathetic left-wing leaders, from Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to Chilean President Gabriel Boric, Uruguay's presidency said.
Chants of "Pepe, dear, the people are with you!" rose as the horse-drawn hearse passed through the streets on Wednesday. Uruguayans applauded from balconies, packed the sidewalks along the route and formed snaking lines outside the parliamentary seat of Uruguay, waiting to pay their respects to Mujica's closed casket. Some were wiping tears and others somberly bowing their heads.
"It's like losing a family member," said Estela Piriz, a 69-year-old nurse among those gathered for the wake. "I have come to say my final goodbye."
That slow and steady stream of regular people — as well as lawmakers, ministers and former officials — seemed a fitting tableau for the lying-in-state of the humble chrysanthemum farmer whose folksy maxims on excessive consumerism and bold progressive policies earned him admiration at home and cult status abroad.
Among those paying tribute to the late leader in the echoey, stained glass hall were Mujica's rivals and critics in a sign that the leftist leader's legacy transcended his politics.
## Legalized marijuana and same-sex marriage
During his tenure, as Mujica legalized marijuana and same-sex marriage, enacted the region's first sweeping abortion rights law and established Uruguay as a leader in alternative energy, he also won respect for meeting with his political foes despite polarization across the continent.
"We had many disagreements, but in life it's always better to focus on the good things," former conservative President Luis Alberto Lacalle de Herrera, who governed from 1990-1995, told reporters as well-wishers slowly processed around the coffin.
Another former right-wing president, Julio María Sanguinetti, now 89, acknowledged that he and Mujica were often "on opposite sides" of issues. But he said their bond went beyond partisan loyalties.
"We are the same generation that lived through all the ups and downs of the country in the last 70 years," he said. "Peace is made with your adversaries."
## Wednesday-to-Friday days of mourning
Uruguay's president, Yamandú Orsi, Mujica's protégé from his left-wing Broad Front party, declared Wednesday-to-Friday national days of mourning in a presidential decree that praised Mujica's "humanist philosophy," closing the government to all but necessary operations while flags dropped to half-staff.
Orsi and Lucía Topolansky, Mujica's life partner and fellow guerilla-turned-politician, launched the funeral procession together from the government headquarters. After privately saying farewell to Mujica's casket, Topolansky emerged from the Legislative Palace with a stunned expression, leaving quickly before speaking to reporters.
A former mayor and history teacher, Orsi has, like his mentor, shunned the pomp and circumstance of the presidential palace in favor of commuting from his family home. Mujica made some of his last public appearances campaigning and casting his ballot for Orsi last fall.
Before overseeing the transformation of his small South American nation into one of the world's most socially liberal democracies as president, Mujica robbed banks, planted bombs and abducted businessmen as the leader of a violent leftist guerrilla group in the 1960s known as the Tupamaros.
A former activist who worked with Mujica and his wife during the country's 1985 transition from dictatorship to democracy, Beatriz Benzano recalled how her colleague's revolutionary fervor transformed into a spirit of compromise once he assumed office.
"Pepe had his days as a former guerrilla, but he always said that you had to make room for young people and be open to dialogue, even if you don't share the same ideas," Benzano, now in her 90s, said as she passed through the parliament to pay tribute. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-09 17:55:53+00:00 | [
"Donald Trump",
"Beijing",
"Switzerland",
"China",
"Xi Jinping",
"China government",
"United States government",
"Karoline Leavitt",
"Scott Bessent",
"David Perdue",
"United States",
"Craig Singleton",
"Politics",
"International trade",
"Lin Jian",
"Daniel Russel"
] | # China and US go back and forth about who called the other first
By Didi Tang
May 9th, 2025, 05:55 PM
---
WASHINGTON (AP) — Who called first?
It's the question that has put Beijing and Washington in a verbal sparring match even as the two countries are heading into a weekend meeting in Switzerland to discuss lowering sky-high tariffs that they slapped on each other in heated moments that have shaken financial markets and stirred worries about the global economy.
"The meeting is being held at the request of the U.S. side,'' Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said Wednesday.
President Donald Trump disagreed. "They said we initiated it? Well, I think they ought to go back and study their files," Trump said Wednesday when swearing in David Perdue as the new U.S. ambassador to China. That followed weeks of each side suggesting the other side had reached out first, including Trump implying Chinese President Xi Jinping had called him, only to be refuted by Beijing.
When it comes to the world's two largest economies readying themselves for what is expected to be tough trade talks, the public back-and-forth is no trivial matter.
"The obsession with who reached out first is a proxy fight over leverage," said Craig Singleton, senior director of the China program at the Washington-based think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies. "For Washington, signaling that Beijing initiated the meeting reinforces the narrative that the tariffs are working. For Beijing, denying outreach preserves the illusion of parity and avoids domestic perception of weakness."
## Jockeying for dominance
Daniel Russel, a former U.S. diplomat who oversaw East Asian and Pacific affairs, called the exchange "part diplomatic stalemate and part dominance display worthy of a nature documentary."
In his decades-long career as a diplomat, Russel said he is unaware of a single instance where a Chinese leader initiated a call with a U.S. president. "It may be pride, it may be protocol, but for Beijing, being the demandeur is to show weakness — and that's something the Chinese system is hardwired to avoid," said Russel, now vice president for international security and diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute.
The Trump's administration is less accommodating. "Their position is: 'If Xi wants the tariffs lifted, he knows how to reach us,'" Russel said.
Not long after Trump raised tariffs on Chinese goods to 145% and Beijing retaliated with 125% tariffs on U.S. goods, Trump suggested that China, like many other countries, was in talks with his administration. On April 22, he apparently directed White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt to say "we're doing very well" regarding a potential trade deal with China.
"I think it's a process that's going to go pretty quickly with China," Trump said on the same day. "I think we're going to live together very happily and ideally work together."
## Back and forth ... and back again
Yet China quickly denied any talk towards a deal. When asked about such negotiations, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun responded: "All is fake news." The next day, Guo asked the U.S. to "stop creating confusion" on tariff talks.
Then came a TIME magazine interview when Trump claimed Xi had called him. Details? None provided. When? Trump didn't say. "He's called. And I don't think that's a sign of weakness on his behalf," Trump said in the interview published on April 25. Beijing dismissed it, saying there was no recent leadership phone call.
Yet soon the word started to spread on China's social media that the Trump administration was contacting Beijing, and it was confirmed a few days later by the Chinese Commerce Ministry.
The U.S. had "repeatedly" and "proactively" conveyed messages to China recently to express the hope to engage in negotiations with China, the ministry said on May 2. "In this regard, the Chinese side is assessing it," the ministry said, in an apparent off-ramp move climbdown that prepared the public opinion for the announcement a few days later that Vice Premier He Lifeng would meet U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Switzerland this weekend.
Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center, said the reality is more complicated when the two governments have been in regular contact and each side may have its own understanding what constitutes "reaching out" for tariff talks. "Technically," Sun said, "both sides are correct."
By Thursday, Trump appeared ready to move on. "We can all play games — who made the first call, who didn't make them. Doesn't matter," Trump said.
Referring to the upcoming tariff talk this weekend in Switzerland, Trump said: "It only matters what happens in that room." |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-05 19:04:59+00:00 | [
"Seattle",
"Transportation",
"Airport security",
"Perry Cooper",
"Business"
] | # Police search for fugitive who escaped from Seattle's airport in handcuffs
May 5th, 2025, 07:04 PM
---
SEATTLE (AP) — A man fled custody inside Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and was able to take a light rail train into the city, authorities said.
Port of Seattle police were notified around 11 a.m. Sunday that a man had escaped from the airport while he was being taken to Kentucky, where he was wanted on warrants. In a statement, airport spokesperson Perry Cooper said a "contracted agent" lost control of the suspect during the check-in process at the ticket counter and that he fled toward the light rail station.
Cooper referred additional questions to authorities in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The Seattle Times reported the man fled in handcuffs.
Officials said Port of Seattle police confirmed through video camera images that the man had boarded the train headed north, and security with Sound Transit confirmed he was seen leaving a station in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood.
Authorities searched baggage claim and other parts of the airport, and operations at the airport weren't affected, the statement says. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-12 13:07:48+00:00 | [
"Movies",
"Television",
"SciFi and fantasy",
"Entertainment",
"Forest Whittaker",
"Genevieve OReilly",
"Tony Gilroy",
"Injuries",
"Diego Luna",
"Trauma"
] | # 'Andor' is ending. It brought untold stories of trauma and humanity to 'Star Wars'
By Andrew Dalton
May 12th, 2025, 01:07 PM
---
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The complex effects of personal trauma have not traditionally been the stuff of sci-fi and fantasy. They tend to get in the way of the quest.
"Game of Thrones" made a meal of it. "Battlestar Galactica" tried to consider the effect on survivors of losing a planet of people. But it hasn't fit in the swashbuckling world of "Star Wars." How could the mission to destroy the Death Star have quickly concluded if Princess Leia needed to mourn the loss of nearly all her loved ones on Alderaan?
"Andor" changed all that. Coping with inner pain has been a theme throughout its two-season run, which comes to a close Tuesday when Disney+ releases a series-finale trilogy of episodes. It starts with its title character, who is left rootless by the deaths and destruction around him.
"Everything has been taken away from him since day one," Diego Luna, who plays Cassian Andor, said in an interview with The Associated Press. "And he has to understand that home is inside. That he can be home. That home can be there. And therefore there's a reason to fight."
## Trauma runs through everything on "Andor," even dancing
The three final episodes take Andor and the rest of the characters up to the events of "Rogue One," the 2016 film that spawned the streaming prequel series. Tony Gilroy, who wrote "Rogue One" and is the show runner for "Andor," has loved playing in the Star Wars galaxy, but he's made it clear his real mission is to tell universal stories of the effects of war, revolution and colonization on human (and occasionally non-human) souls.
Nearly every character he's created is ravaged in one way or another, and even the lighthearted moments of the series are fraught with emotional pain. (Spoilers ahead for episodes 1-9 of Season 2.)
When Andor goes undercover as a moussed-and-mulleted fashion designer named Varian Skye and makes small talk with a hotel staffer, he learns the man's family was killed in a notorious massacre by Grand Moff Tarkin, the imperial leader who would later order the destruction of Leia's world.
And in a widely-memed moment of drunken techno dancing by senator and secret rebel Mon Mothma at her daughter's wedding, she is, as Genevieve O'Reilly who played her said, "dancing to stop herself from screaming" after tacitly agreeing to have an old friend murdered for the cause.
## Bix Caleen's struggles — and her the end of her arc
No one on "Andor" undergoes more trauma than Bix Caleen, played by Adria Arjona. While still dealing with the fallout of being tortured by an imperial doctor in the first season, she is nearly raped early in the second and has been surrounded by death. Arjona said seeing the script was daunting.
"She has to go from PTSD to sort of being addicted to droppers, which help her sleep and get over the nightmares, to then her last final decision," Arjona told the AP. "It's a lot. And reading it was incredibly scary."
An utterly new for "Star Wars" set of scenes between Cassian and Bix explore both the explicit and subtle difficulties of intimate relationships amid trauma. Cassian must comfort Bix, but she doesn't want her pain to define her.
The two try to take a trip to the neighborhood bodega, but even that is subsumed by his fear for her.
Cassian and Bix also must deal with the difficulty of the lives they take for the cause.
Han Solo never mourned the stormtroopers he blasted, but the "Andor" duo killed a young imperial soldier during a mission and it haunts the home life they're trying to build.
"I can't stop seeing his face," Bix says.
"It fades," Cassian replies. "I want to tell you it goes away forever, but I'd be lying."
"We're in a war," he says.
"I wonder if he knew," she says.
"He knows now," Cassian says.
Bix is among the major characters who won't go on to "Rogue One" or other existing "Star Wars" stories. "Andor" lets her complete her emotional arc with a tear-jerking but well-earned set of scenes.
"The last speech, I still haven't been able to watch it," she told the AP. "I was a mess! It took me takes and takes of me absolutely just bawling through that scene until finally it gets to what I believe they used."
## Turning trauma into fuel
The show's revolutionary leaders, just as those in history have done, try to take their followers' trauma, and their own, and use it to drive the movement.
Saw Gerrera, the radical rebel played by Forest Whittaker who has a key role (and one less leg) in "Rogue One," gave a call-to-arms in a recent episode that is already being celebrated among fans as the "revolution is not for the sane" speech. The theme: pain as power.
He tells a young prospective follower about his youthful enslavement in a brutal imperial work camp, and the toxic leak there of a fuel called rhydo.
"They worked us naked. Two, three hundred men. Boys really. Back and forth until the only thing you could remember was back and forth. Then one day, everyone started to itch. Everyone, all at once. Even the guards. You could feel your skin coming alive," Saw says, his raspy voice rising. "It was the rhydo. They had a leak."
He tells the young man, "We're the rhydo, kid. We're the fuel. We're the thing that explodes when there's too much friction in the air. Let it in, boy! That's freedom calling! Let it in! Let it run! Let it run wild!" |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-12 19:19:57+00:00 | [
"California",
"Ivory Coast",
"Law enforcement",
"San Jose",
"Teens",
"Crime",
"Corruption",
"Indictments",
"Corporate crime",
"Suicide",
"Ryan Last",
"Money laundering",
"Sexual misconduct",
"Online safety",
"Technology"
] | # Four men arrested in West Africa for extortion scheme linked to California teen's suicide
May 12th, 2025, 07:19 PM
---
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Three years after a California teenager died by suicide, four men in West Africa have been arrested on suspicion of participating in "international sextortion scheme," according to federal investigators.
The 2022 death of Ryan Last, a 17-year-old high school senior, prompted a lengthy international investigation, according to a statement Friday from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Last had corresponded online with someone on a Meta social media platform he believed to be a young woman who sent him explicit photos. The teen reciprocated with similar photos of himself and was immediately hit with a blackmail demand. Terrified the photos would be exposed, Last died by suicide, the statement said.
In April, the blackmailer was arrested in Cote d'Ivoire, officials said. At the time of his arrest, the suspect "still had the sextortion messages he sent to the 17-year-old victim in February 2022 on his phone," the DOJ said. The teen, from San Jose, had paid him $150. The city is around 42 miles (68 kilometers) southeast of downtown San Francisco.
Three other men in Cote d'Ivoire were arrested on money laundering charges. The DOJ said the men targeted "thousands of victims" in the U.S., Canada and Europe.
Because Cote d'Ivoire does not extradite citizens, the four men will face cybercrime charges in their own country, officials said. A fifth man arrested in Los Angeles in Dec. 2022 was convicted of extortion and was sentenced to 1 1/2 years in jail.
In the U.S., the case was investigated by the FBI, the San Jose Police Department and the tech company Meta, which the DOJ credited for providing critical information to help identify the suspects.
In a similar case, two brothers from Nigeria were sentenced in 2024 to 17 1/2 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to sexually extorting teenage boys and young men across the U.S., including a 17-year-old from Michigan who took his own life. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-01 04:06:32+00:00 | [
"Donald Trump",
"Arizona",
"Colleges and universities",
"Education funding",
"U.S. Department of Education",
"Diversity",
"equity and inclusion",
"Long Beach",
"Aaron Thomas",
"Education",
"Craig Trainor",
"United States government",
"Austin Kissinger",
"Race and ethnicity",
"Jim Milbury",
"Martin Harvier",
"Government budgets",
"Politics",
"Jay Blanton",
"LGBTQ",
"Race and Ethnicity"
] | # Graduation: Trump crackdown on DEI cancels some college ceremonies
By Cheyanne Mumphrey and Carolyn Thompson
May 1st, 2025, 04:06 AM
---
PHOENIX (AP) — As a first-generation college student, Austin Kissinger was looking forward to celebrating graduation with others of similar backgrounds who helped each other find their way at the University of Kentucky. Typically, Kentucky students who are the first in their family to graduate from college pick a faculty member to join them in a special ceremony.
Earlier this month, the university canceled the ceremony, along with other convocations that recognize Black and LGBTQ+ students, citing the Trump administration's campaign to rein in diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Those student groups pooled resources for a celebration together off campus — without the school's involvement — but Kissinger said the about-face left him and others feeling unsupported.
"It's kind of like you're taking away our celebration, like you're not letting us embrace who we want to be," said Kissinger, a graduating senior who leads the university's First Generation Student Organization. "You're not letting us represent what we do at the university."
President Donald Trump's calls to eliminate any program that treats students differently because of their race have brought new scrutiny of affinity graduation ceremonies. The events have long been a way to build community and recognize the achievements and unique experiences of underrepresented students.
Many affinity ceremonies are on track to proceed as usual around the country, with colleges saying the events comply with new guidance.
But some colleges are pulling back support. Those include Harvard University, which is battling the Trump administration over demands related to campus activism and diversity efforts on campus. Despite suing the administration over some of its attempts to force changes on campus, Harvard told students it would no longer provide funding, staffing or spaces for affinity celebrations, the Harvard Crimson student newspaper reported.
## Some colleges act to comply with Trump administration guidance
At the University of Kentucky, spokesperson Jay Blanton said the main commencement celebrates all students. He said the university did away with others to comply with the law and "how we believe it is being interpreted by the administration."
"The success and support of our students is a principle and purpose that is incredibly important to us. Everything we do on this campus, we do with that in mind as our goal," Blanton said. "At the same time, we believe we must comply with the law and are doing so here."
Around the country, universities have come under increasing pressure to get in line with the political agenda of Trump's administration, which already has frozen billions of dollars in grants for Harvard, Columbia University and other colleges over allegations they have not done enough to counter antisemitism.
The Education Department directed colleges to distance themselves from DEI with a "Dear Colleague" letter in February. It said a 2023 Supreme Court decision outlawing the use of racial preferences in college admissions also applied to things like hiring, scholarships and graduation ceremonies. The administration contended American educational institutions have been discriminating against students, including white and Asian American students.
"In a shameful echo of a darker period in this country's history, many American schools and universities even encourage segregation by race at graduation ceremonies and in dormitories and other facilities," read the letter, which was signed by Craig Trainor, the Education Department's acting assistant secretary for civil rights.
The practice has roots in the era of segregation at some schools, but organizers of Black convocations today say they are a way to celebrate the accomplishments of diverse student populations that were once overlooked. Many colleges also have "Lavender graduations," which celebrate LGBTQ+ students and grew out of a time decades ago when many lacked support from their families.
For students who are the first in their families to attend college, it can be easy to feel out of place or unsure of where to turn for help, Kissinger said. At Kentucky, he said he often felt like he had to figure out everything on his own. The affinity ceremony, he said, was intended as a celebration of resilience and pride that they reached graduation.
## With ceremonies canceled, some find other ways to keep up traditions
Arizona's Maricopa County Community Colleges called off all its cultural and special interest convocations, citing in a statement "enforcement priorities" set by the U.S. Education Department. But the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community volunteered to hold a convocation ceremony for American Indian graduates.
"While we are deeply disappointed by the cancellation of convocation ceremonies for minority students, we believe it is important to come together as a community to honor our graduates and their families," community President Martin Harvier said in a statement.
At Ohio University, Aaron Thomas arranged for his alma mater's Black alumni weekend to go forward this spring after the university canceled it to comply with a state prohibition on DEI, which echoes the federal directive. Thomas, who runs a production company near the university's campus in Athens, Ohio, planned to foot the bill for an alumni barbecue until the mayor's office, nonprofits and restaurants pitched in to organize a weekend of events.
Among the schools with affinity events planned over the next few weeks is California State University, Long Beach, which says its celebrations for Pacific Islander and Cambodian students, among others, comply with the administration's guidance because they are open to anybody.
"Our students are looking forward to these celebrations, which are open to all and are consistent with guidance from the Department of Education," spokesperson Jim Milbury said.
On its website, a statement included with information about the cultural celebrations acknowledges the changing college landscape:
"Particularly as federal immigration policies evolve, there may be concerns that representatives and officers from U.S. immigration enforcement agencies may visit university campuses across the country," it says. "While we have no knowledge of any planned visit to our campus, we offer this information."
___ Thompson reported from Buffalo, N.Y. Associated Press writer Collin Binkley in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report. ___
The Associated Press' education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-01 20:59:08+00:00 | [
"Apple",
"Inc.",
"Tim Cook",
"China",
"Vietnam",
"United States government",
"Economic policy",
"International trade",
"Government policy",
"Tariffs and global trade",
"United States",
"Technology",
"Business",
"Financial markets",
"Thomas Monteiro",
"Artificial intelligence",
"United States Congress"
] | # Apple posts stronger-than-expected Q2 results, says majority of US iPhones sold will come from India
By Michael Liedtke and Barbara Ortutay
May 1st, 2025, 08:59 PM
---
Apple CEO Tim Cook said Thursday that the majority of iPhones sold in the U.S. in the current fiscal quarter will be sourced from India, while iPads and other devices will come from Vietnam as the company works to avoid the impact of President Trump's tariffs on its business.
Apple's earnings for the first three months of the year topped Wall Street's expectations thanks to high demand for its iPhones, and the company said tariffs had a limited effect on the fiscal second quarter's results.
Cook added that for the current quarter, assuming things don't change, Apple expects to see $900 million added to its costs as a result of the tariffs, but Cook said the company remains "confident" in this business.
The Cupertino, California-based company earned $24.78 billion, or $1.65 per share, in the first three months of the year, up 4.8% from $23.64 billion, or $1.53 per share, in the same period a year earlier.
Revenue rose 5.1% to $95.36 billion from $90.75 billion.
Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $1.62 per share on revenue of $94.19 billion, according to a poll by FactSet.
The numbers for the January-March period provide a snapshot of how Apple was faring before President Trump's unveiling of sweeping tariffs in April that rattled the financial markets amid fears a trade war would reignite inflation and shove the U.S. economy into a recession.
"While it is likely that some of the sales growth was driven by consumers accelerating purchases ahead of expected tariff increases, margins remained healthy on the other side of the balance sheet," said Thomas Monteiro, an analyst at Investing.com. He added that the company "still has room for maneuver" regardless of the economic backdrop and will "likely not need to significantly deplete cash reserves to keep moving the needle."
Apple's reliance on Chinese factories to make its iPhones and other devices thrust the technology trendsetter into the crosshairs of Trump's trade war. The exposure caused Apple's stock price to plunge 23% shortly after the president announced the severity of the reciprocal tariffs, temporarily erasing $773 billion in shareholder wealth in the process.
Most of those losses have since been recovered after Trump temporarily exempted iPhones and other electronics from the reciprocal tariffs, but Apple's stock remains down by nearly 5% since the April fusillade of tariffs.
Besides the trade war, Apple has been hurt by its inability to live up to its own hype surrounding artificial intelligence features on the iPhone 16 lineup that came out last fall.
The technology wasn't ready when the iPhone 16 went on sale. Some AI features have rolled out in parts of the world as part of software updates, but Apple still hasn't been able to live up to its original promise to make Siri smarter and more versatile. The missteps prompted Apple to pull advertising campaigns promoting AI breakthroughs on the iPhone, although the company still intends to release more features powered by the technology at some point.
Apple had been counting on its late entry into the AI craze to revive demand for the iPhone after last year's sales dipped 2% from 2023's levels. Apple said Wednesday that its phone sales climbed 1.9% to $46.84 billion for the first three months of the year. Wall Street had expected iPhone sales of $45.62 billion.
But the company continues to see its China business decline, with revenue from the Greater China region down 2.3% to $16 billion for the quarter. Other regions, including the Americas, Europe and the rest of Asia, saw sales increases.
When Trump initially indicated his 145% tariffs on Chinese-made goods would apply to the iPhone, U.S. consumers rushed to stores to buy new devices rather than risk prices spiking higher after the duties began driving up costs. But the flurry of panic buying won't show up until Apple reports its results for the April-June quarter this summer.
Trump's trade war has ramped up the pressure on Cook to work the same diplomatic sleight of hand that enabled the iPhone to avoid being stung by the China tariffs that the president imposed during his first administration.
Cook signaled his intention remain on good terms with Trump by arranging private meetings with him and personally donating $1 million to the president's second inauguration ceremony before sitting on the dais when Trump was sworn into office on January 20. Apple subsequently announced plans to invest $500 billion in the U.S. while hiring 20,000 workers during the next four years.
Trump's trade war also is prompting a push to Apple to shift all the production of the iPhones that it sells in the U.S. from China to India, where the company has been building up its supply chain for the past seven years, according to a recent story in the Financial Times. But the complicated logistics of making such a huge move likely couldn't be completed until next year, at the earliest, leaving Apple vulnerable to the vagaries of Trump's trade war.
Apple's stock fell $5.81, or 2.7%, to $207.51 in after-hours trading. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-19 22:43:25+00:00 | [
"Texas",
"Shootings",
"Law enforcement",
"Greg Abbott",
"School shootings",
"Schools",
"Gun violence",
"Adrian Gonzales",
"Don McLaughlin",
"Education",
"Politics"
] | # Texas lawmakers OK former Uvalde mayor's effort to fix police failures in Robb Elementary attack
By Jim Vertuno
May 19th, 2025, 10:43 PM
---
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas lawmakers on Monday passed a plan sponsored by Uvalde's former mayor to fix police failures laid bare by the hesitant law enforcement response to the Robb Elementary School shooting in 2022, sending the bill to the governor days ahead of the third anniversary of the massacre.
Nineteen students and two teachers were killed and 18 people were injured in one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history. Saturday is the anniversary of the attack.
The measure given final approval by the state Senate and sent to Gov. Greg Abbott is dubbed the "The Uvalde Strong Act" and is meant to correct the problems in the slow and often chaotic law enforcement response that day with better training and coordination between agencies and basic equipment requirements.
Nearly 400 local, state and federal officers waited more than an hour to force their way into a classroom where the gunman was before killing him. Terrified students inside the classroom called 911 as parents begged officers — some of whom could hear shots being fired while they stood in a hallway — to go in.
The bill's author, first-year Republican state Rep. Don McLaughlin, was Uvalde mayor at the time and was critical of the law enforcement response that day.
"The Uvalde Strong Act is aimed at fixing the breakdowns in communication and coordination that were exposed in the Robb Elementary shooting," McLaughlin said. "This is about keeping our schools safer. ... We owe it to the families to take action that really matters."
The bill requires school districts and law enforcement to meet annually to develop active shooter response plans, and mandates officers be trained on how to respond to an active shooter at primary and secondary schools.
The measure also requires enhanced incident command training and mutual aid agreements among agencies.
School districts would be required to have at least one breaching tool and ballistic shield available at each campus. And the bill requires emergency medical service providers to file reports if they are called to an active shooter scene.
Multiple investigations into the law enforcement response found cascading problems in training, communication, leadership and technology, and questioned whether officers prioritized their own lives over those of children and teachers.
Former Uvalde school district police chief Pete Arredondo and former school police officer Adrian Gonzales have been charged with multiple counts of child endangerment and abandonment. Both have pleaded not guilty and are scheduled for trial in October.
The families of the victims have several lawsuits pending in federal and state courts, including a $500 million lawsuit against Texas state police officials and officers. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-11 20:09:41+00:00 | [
"Newark",
"New Jersey",
"Donald Trump",
"Robert Menendez",
"Phil Murphy",
"Ras Baraka",
"Prisons",
"Immigration",
"New York City Wire",
"United States government",
"U.S. Democratic Party",
"Bonnie Coleman",
"The GEO Group",
"Inc.",
"Politics",
"Race and ethnicity",
"Ned Cooper",
"Tricia McLaughlin",
"Delaney Hall",
"U.S. Department of Homeland Security",
"Alina Habba",
"Race and Ethnicity"
] | # What to know about the Newark mayor's arrest at an immigration detention center
May 11th, 2025, 08:09 PM
---
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — An immigration detention center in New Jersey is at the center of tensions between three congressional Democrats and the Trump administration after the arrest of Newark's mayor set off a scrum outside the complex.
Federal prosecutors charged Newark Mayor Ras Baraka with trespassing after agents arrested him outside the fence of the Delaney Hall detention center on Friday. The interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey says Baraka, a Democrat who is running for governor, ignored warnings to leave while he was there with three members of New Jersey's congressional delegation at the 1,000-bed Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility.
The arrest escalated into a brief but tense confrontation in the parking lot that included the members of Congress and federal agents, some of whom wore masks. Department of Homeland spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin has accused Baraka of playing "political games" and said over the weekend that an investigation is ongoing and that more actions could be taken.
The three members of Congress — Reps. LaMonica McIver, Bonnie Watson Coleman and Robert Menendez Jr. — have accused federal agents of escalating the situation by arresting the mayor.
Here's what to know:
## Why were members of Congress at the facility?
The representatives have said they went to the facility to inspect it as a matter of congressional oversight.
"We were able to get in, speak to detainees, check out the facilities, and make sure everything was OK there," Rep. Watson Coleman told CNN in an interview Sunday that also included her two New Jersey colleagues. "We were there almost two hours before the confrontation took place, but ICE kept giving us the run-around and kept saying that they needed to talk to someone else."
Department of Homeland Security officials have said that lawmakers had not asked for a tour of Delaney Hall and that the agency would have facilitated one. Watson Coleman spokesperson Ned Cooper has said the three lawmakers went there unannounced because they planned to inspect it, not take a scheduled tour.
## Why was the mayor of Newark arrested?
Alina Habba, interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey, said on the social media platform X that Baraka was arrested after the mayor allegedly trespassed at the detention facility. She accused him of ignoring warnings to leave the facility, which he has denied.
Baraka was arrested, booked and released the same day. He said he has a court appearance scheduled for Thursday.
In video reviewed by The Associated Press, a federal official in a jacket with the logo of the Homeland Security Investigations can be heard telling Baraka he could not enter the facility because "you are not a congress member." He was arrested after returning to the public side of the gate at the facility where protesters were gathered, video shows.
Baraka, who is running to succeed term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy, has argued against the opening of the center, citing building permit issues. The facility, located along an industrial stretch of Newark Bay, opened on May 1.
## What is this Newark detention center, and why has it been in the news?
Delaney Hall is a two-story building next to a county prison in Newark Bay that operated as a halfway house in previous years. In February, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that it and the GEO Group reached a $1 billion, 15-year deal for the detention center. The deal is significant for its size and duration, and GEO officials cited it in messages to investors as a big revenue generator
The 1,000-bed capacity is also significant in advancing President Donald Trump's goals of expanding detention capacity in the U.S. beyond the previous 41,000 beds, in New Jersey, Michigan, and other states to 100,000 beds.
Democrats, including Baraka, have opposed the opening of the facility. As mayor, Baraka sued to block the opening of the detention center, saying it hadn't completed all building requirements.
DHS has said that the facility has the proper permits and completed the proper inspections. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-19 14:57:06+00:00 | [
"Maurizio Cattelan",
"Oxford",
"Crime",
"Frederick Doe",
"Frederick Sines",
"James Sheen",
"Donald Trump",
"Burglary",
"Theft",
"London",
"New York City Wire",
"Oddities",
"Ian Pringle",
"Legal proceedings",
"Entertainment",
"Prisons",
"Michael Jones"
] | # Man who tried to sell $6.4m gold toilet stolen from English country house is spared jail
By Brian Melley
May 19th, 2025, 02:57 PM
---
LONDON (AP) — A man who tried to help a burglar cash in from the theft of a golden toilet valued at 4.74 million pounds ($6.4 million) was spared jail on Monday after a British judge said he had been taken advantage of by the thieves.
Frederick Doe, 37, also known as Frederick Sines, was given a suspended sentence at Oxford Crown Court for his role in helping to sell the 18-carat gold fully functioning toilet which was taken in 2019 from Blenheim Palace — the country mansion where British wartime leader Winston Churchill was born.
"Those responsible for this audacious heist, five individuals could be seen on CCTV, were clearly intent on disposing of their ill-gotten gains quickly," Judge Ian Pringle told Doe. "You foolishly agreed to assist."
The toilet was part of a satirical art installation, titled "America," by Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan, whose work of a banana duct-taped to a wall was sold in 2024 for $6.2 million at auction in New York.
The toilet weighed just over 215 pounds (98 kilograms). The value of the gold at the time was 2.8 million pounds and it was insured for 4.74 million pounds.
The piece that poked fun at excessive wealth had previously been on display at The Guggenheim Museum, in New York, which had offered the work to U.S. President Donald Trump during his first term in office after he had asked to borrow a Van Gogh painting.
The theft of the toilet — which has never been recovered and is believed to have been cut up and sold — caused considerable damage to the 18th-century property, a UNESCO World Heritage site filled with valuable art and furniture that draws thousands of visitors each year.
Of the group who smashed a window to get into the palace before dawn on Sept. 14, 2019, only two have been charged and convicted.
James Sheen, 40, previously pleaded guilty to burglary, conspiracy and transferring criminal property. Michael Jones, 39, was convicted of burglary at the trial where Doe was convicted. Sheen and Jones will be sentenced June 13.
Doe punched his fist in the air as he emerged from court, saying he was a good person who "got caught up in something I should not have."
The judge said Sheen approached Doe because he had contacts in London's jewelry district.
In a WhatsApp message, Doe told Sheen he could "sell the gold in a second." Doe said he had no idea the gold was looted and wouldn't have sold stolen gold "in a million years."
Doe, who was convicted of conspiracy to transfer criminal property, was given a two-year suspended term and ordered to perform 240 hours of unpaid work.
"You agreed to assist Mr. Sheen without any hope or expectation of a reward for yourself," the judge said. "You no doubt, for the last five-and-a-half years, regret doing (that) for James Sheen every day since your arrest." |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-12 16:45:31+00:00 | [
"Donald Trump",
"Sean Rowe",
"Desmond Tutu",
"United States government",
"Anglicanism",
"South Africa",
"U.S. government shutdown",
"District of Columbia",
"Racism",
"Afghanistan",
"Iraq",
"Discrimination",
"National",
"United States",
"DC Wire",
"Politics",
"Mariann Budde",
"Religion",
"Rick Santos",
"Political refugees"
] | # Episcopal refugee agency won't help resettle white South Africans in US
By Peter Smith
May 12th, 2025, 04:45 PM
---
The Episcopal Church's migration service is refusing a directive from the federal government to help resettle white South Africans granted refugee status, citing the church's longstanding "commitment to racial justice and reconciliation."
Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe announced the step Monday, shortly before 59 South Africans arrived at Dulles International Airport outside Washington on a private charter plane and were greeted by a government delegation.
Episcopal Migration Ministries instead will halt its decades-long partnership with the government, Rowe said.
President Donald Trump opened a fast-tracked refugee status to white South Africans, accusing their government of discrimination, even as his administration abruptly shut down the overall U.S. refugee program. The South Africans jumped ahead of thousands of would-be refugees overseas who had been undergoing years of vetting and processing.
Episcopal Migration Ministries has long resettled refugees under federal grants. Rowe said that about two weeks ago, the government contacted it and said it expected the ministry to resettle some of the South Africans under terms of its grant.
"In light of our church's steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and our historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, we are not able to take this step," Rowe said. "Accordingly, we have determined that, by the end of the federal fiscal year, we will conclude our refugee resettlement grant agreements with the U.S. federal government."
Another faith-based group, Church World Service, said it is open to helping resettle the Afrikaners.
South Africa's government has vehemently denied allegations of discriminatory treatment of its white minority residents.
"It has been painful to watch one group of refugees, selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years," Rowe said. "I am saddened and ashamed that many of the refugees who are being denied entrance to the United States are brave people who worked alongside our military in Iraq and Afghanistan and now face danger at home because of their service to our country."
He also said many refugees, including Christians, are victims of religious persecution and are now denied entry.
He said the church would find other ways to serve immigrants, such as those already in this country and those stranded overseas.
The move marks the end of a ministry-government partnership that, for nearly four decades, has served nearly 110,000 refugees from countries, including Ukraine, Myanmar and Congo, Rowe said.
It's not the first high-profile friction between the Episcopal Church and the Trump administration. Bishop Mariann Budde of Washington drew Trump's anger in January at an inaugural prayer service in which she urged "mercy" on those fearing his actions, including migrants and LGBTQ+ children.
The Anglican Church of Southern Africa includes churches in South Africa and neighboring countries. It was a potent force in the campaign against apartheid in the 1980s and 1990s, an effort for which the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.
Another faith-based refugee agency, Church World Service, says it is open to serving the South African arrivals.
"We are concerned that the U.S. Government has chosen to fast-track the admission of Afrikaners, while actively fighting court orders to provide life-saving resettlement to other refugee populations who are in desperate need of resettlement," Rick Santos, CWS president and CEO, said in a statement.
He added that the action proves the government knows how to screen and process refugees quickly.
"Despite the Administration's actions, CWS remains committed to serving all eligible refugee populations seeking safety in the United States, including Afrikaners who are eligible for services," he said. "Our faith compels us to serve each person in our care with dignity and compassion."
The Episcopal ministry and CWS are among 10 national groups, most of them faith-based, that have partnered with the government for refugee resettlement.
___
Associated Press writer Tiffany Stanley contributed reporting.
___
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-02 04:59:30+00:00 | [
"Donald Trump",
"Government programs",
"Children",
"U.S. Department of Health and Human Services",
"Subsidies",
"Iowa",
"Iowa City",
"Business",
"Medical research",
"Education funding",
"Politics",
"Ares Capital Corp.",
"Education",
"Naomi Goldstein",
"Health",
"Katie Hamm",
"Andrew Nixon"
] | # Email discloses HHS plans to cut research of child welfare programs
By Ryan J. Foley
May 2nd, 2025, 04:59 AM
---
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The Trump administration could gut research on the effectiveness of child welfare programs, with plans to terminate dozens of university grants studying improvements to Head Start and child care policy, according to a spreadsheet mistakenly made public this week.
The document listed more than 150 research projects under consideration for termination by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It covered grants funded by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, which says it "builds evidence to improve lives" by helping policymakers evaluate programs that help low-income children and families.
"These grants are aimed at learning how to make programs more effective at pursuing goals like healthy child development, reducing abuse and neglect and promoting economic self-sufficiency," said Naomi Goldstein, who led the office for nearly two decades before she retired in 2022. "It's hard to see why they would want to cancel these efforts."
The grant cancellations would add to deep cuts already enacted at HHS' Administration for Children and Families, which plans to close five regional offices and abruptly fired hundreds of workers one month ago. Its staffing has dropped from approximately 2,400 in January to 1,500, former employees say, and the administration has said it will fold ACF into other parts of HHS.
Other HHS divisions, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health, have already cut billions of dollars in grants, including those related to public health, gender, race and other subjects opposed by President Donald Trump's administration. The document released Wednesday marked the first news of plans for the possible mass terminations of ACF grants, although a department spokesperson later said it was only an outdated draft.
The proposed terminations would further undercut Head Start, the 60-year-old program overseen by ACF that supports preschool and services for hundreds of thousands of low-income children. Head Start has faced mass layoffs and a plan to eliminate its funding altogether in recent months. The grants facing termination included studies intended to answer key questions and improve its operations, such as how to retain more educators at local Head Start programs.
The spreadsheet also listed for termination grants worth millions of dollars for first-of-their-kind centers dedicated to better serving low-income Black and Hispanic children and families, located, respectively, at Morehouse College in Atlanta and at a nonprofit in Maryland.
Dozens of grants related to child care policy, child development, foster care, preventing child abuse, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program and more were also listed as set for cancellation, reflecting ACF's widespread portfolio.
Those studies help policymakers understand what works, a former administration official said.
"Ending these projects without explanation not only wastes taxpayer dollars, it also threatens the evidence base behind key safety net programs," said Katie Hamm, who was ACF's deputy assistant secretary for early childhood development until January. "It's alarming that grantees and contractors had to find out this way, through an accidental email, rather than a transparent process."
The information was mistakenly included in an email sent Wednesday to grant recipients at universities and nonprofits by an HHS employee, who asked them to review and update their contact information.
HHS recalled the message only after the spreadsheet, which had a column on whether funding would "terminate" or "continue" for each grant, had been downloaded by recipients. A department spokesperson said the document contained "outdated and predecisional information" but did not rule out that research inside the ACF could be cut.
"ACF is committed to ensuring that government funds are used in alignment with Administration priorities and are in the best interest of the American people," spokesperson Andrew Nixon said.
Goldstein, the former research office director, said the situation "does appear to reflect a level of haste and chaos" at the agency.
Only 21 out of 177 listed grants were marked with a note to "continue" funding in the document. A small number had already ended, and some were marked for termination "at the end of budget period."
The document didn't list how much funding in all would be cut, but the office was responsible for $154 million in grants and contracts in fiscal year 2024.
More than 50 universities were listed as having grants terminated. Several other state agencies and nonprofits would also be affected.
A follow-up email told recipients to disregard the spreadsheet, but again asked for updated contact information. One researcher who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation said they were expecting to receive formal notification soon that their grants would be ending. Several other grant recipients declined to comment. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-12 05:13:10+00:00 | [
"Iran",
"Donald Trump",
"Middle East",
"Persian Gulf",
"Israel",
"2024-2025 Mideast Wars",
"Mike Huckabee",
"Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah",
"Israel government",
"Iran government",
"United States government",
"United States",
"Abbas Araghchi",
"Politics",
"Ahmad Khatami",
"Houthis",
"Government programs",
"Hamas",
"Jon B. Alterman",
"International agreements",
"Saudi Arabia government",
"Diplomacy",
"Humanitarian crises",
"Simon Henderson",
"Nuclear weapons"
] | # Trump visiting the Mideast as regional crises flare
By Jon Gambrell and Tia Goldenberg
May 12th, 2025, 05:13 AM
---
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — On his trip this week to the Middle East, U.S. President Donald Trump will visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, though his most pressing regional challenges concern two other countries: Israel and Iran.
After ending a ceasefire two months ago, Israel is intensifying the war in the Gaza Strip, where a blockade on food, medicine and other supplies is worsening a humanitarian crisis. And Iran, an enemy of Israel and a rival of Saudi Arabia, stands on the cusp of being able to develop nuclear weapons.
Yet Trump will focus his attention on three energy-rich nations home to existing or planned Trump-branded real estate projects — places where he aims to leverage American economic interests to do what he personally revels in: making business deals.
"This is his happy place," said Jon B. Alterman, a senior vice president at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. "His hosts will be generous and hospitable. They'll be keen to make deals. They'll flatter him and not criticize him. And they'll treat his family members as past and future business partners."
Trump said Sunday he was ready to accept a luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet as a gift from the ruling family of Qatar, prompting criticism from some Democrats and allies of the president.
Trump won't be able to avoid diplomacy on Gaza or Iran: The Gulf countries hosting him are also interested in easing the regional tensions that emanate from these two places.
"Trump can easily score a win by reassuring them of America's strategic commitment to the region, demonstrating consistent messaging and generally rising above the fray," analysts Elizabeth Dent and Simon Henderson of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy wrote Friday.
## Trump doesn't plan to visit Israel
By not scheduling a trip to Israel during his first trip to the region during his second term as president, Trump is reinforcing a feeling in Israel that its interests may not be top of mind for him.
That sense intensified last week, when Trump announced that the U.S. would halt its strikes on the Houthis, an Iran-backed rebel group in Yemen that agreed to stop its attacks on American vessels in the Red Sea.
The Houthis' attacks on Israel did not appear to be covered by that deal, which came as a surprise to Israel, according to an Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive diplomatic issue. Days after the deal between the U.S. and the Houthis — and despite a two-day Israeli assault on Houthi targets — a missile from Yemen again set off air raid sirens in Israel. Then Israel's military warned Sunday that Houthi-controlled ports in Yemen could be targeted again.
Trump's move to launch negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program also jarred Israel, which fears a deal that would not be strict enough to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon or rein in its support for regional militant groups.
Israel had hoped that Trump might provide military assistance in any strike it carried out on the country's nuclear facilities — an action that is unrealistic so long as there are negotiations, or if they reach a deal.
That has raised questions in Israel over Trump's reliability on other major issues, like a long-sought normalization deal with Saudi Arabia as part of any defense pact the administration may reach with the kingdom. Saudi Arabia has said it would only normalize ties with Israel in exchange for significant concessions for the Palestinians toward statehood, something the current Israeli government is unlikely to agree to.
Israel has said it will hold off on expanding the war in Gaza until after Trump's visit, leaving the window open for a new ceasefire deal to materialize. On Monday, an Israeli-American held hostage for more than 19 months in the Gaza Strip was released by Hamas in a goodwill gesture toward the Trump administration.
Still, Trump has given Israel free rein in Gaza and, like Israel, blames Hamas for any civilian casualties.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee played down any significance to Trump's decision not to visit Israel, saying in interviews with Israeli media that his visit to the region was focused on economic issues.
## No major breakthrough in Iran nuclear talks
For Iran, much depends on the talks it is having with the U.S. over its rapidly advancing nuclear program. A reported two-month deadline to reach a deal likely has passed as U.S. officials signal America may push for Iran to give up enrichment entirely — something Tehran has insisted is a red line.
Although four rounds of talks mediated by Oman have not led to a major breakthrough, they have gone into the so-called "expert level" — meaning specifics about any possible accord likely have been discussed.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi traveled over the weekend to both Saudi Arabia and Qatar ahead of Trump's trip. Iran likely is trying to pass messages to the U.S. while signaling its interest in continuing the talks. Iranian officials increasingly threaten to pursue a nuclear weapon, while Trump and Israel have both threatened to strike Iranian nuclear sites if a deal isn't reached.
The Islamic Republic is running out of options. Its economy has cratered since Trump in 2018 unilaterally pulled America out of their initial nuclear deal with world powers. And Iran's self-described "Axis of Resistance" — a group of aligned nations and militant groups, including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon — has been mauled since the Israel-Hamas war began.
Iran also faces internal political pressure, including from women increasingly refusing to wear the state-mandated headscarf, or hijab.
There is one thing that unites most Iranians, however — pride over the Persian Gulf. Trump's consideration of having America uniformly call the body of water the "Arabian Gulf" instead drew fierce criticism from across the country.
"This gulf has always been the Persian Gulf — and it will forever remain the Persian Gulf," Tehran's Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said.
## Trump's 2017 trip still haunts the Gulf
After starting his trip in Saudi Arabia, Trump will then go to Qatar, which recently announced plans for a Trump-branded development there.
This tight embrace of the president comes after his first trip to the Middle East — in 2017 — apparently sparked what became known as the Qatar crisis. That is when Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE boycotted Qatar over its support of Islamists in the region and its ties to Iran, with which it shares a massive offshore natural gas field.
The dispute grew so serious that Kuwait's ruling emir at the time, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, suggested on a visit to the White House there could have been "military action."
Trump initially criticized Qatar as having "historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level" at the start of the boycott. Less than a year later, he praised Qatar and rolled that back. The four nations ended their boycott just before Biden took office.
Any plane gifted to the U.S. by Qatar could be converted into a potential presidential aircraft, U.S. officials said — which would amount to the president accepting an astonishingly valuable gift from a foreign government. "This was just a gesture of good faith" from Qatar, which knew that Boing had encountered delays building the next generation of the Air Force One aircraft, Trump said Monday at the White House.
___
Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. AP reporter Darlene Superville in Washington contributed. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-01 18:02:27+00:00 | [
"Robotics",
"Boston",
"Tesla",
"Inc.",
"China",
"Donald Trump",
"Production facilities",
"Economic policy",
"Government policy",
"Steve Crowe",
"Business",
"Tony Yang",
"Francesca Torsiello",
"Technology",
"Schaeffler AG",
"Elon Musk",
"Aaron Saunders"
] | # US robot makers hope to beat China in humanoid race. Tariffs could affect their ambitions
By Matt O'Brien
May 1st, 2025, 06:02 PM
---
BOSTON (AP) — Tariffs weren't on the agenda of this week's Robotics Summit, where thousands of tech industry workers mingled with humanoid and other robot varieties and talked about how to build and sell a new generation of increasingly autonomous machines.
Not on the official agenda, at least.
"Jump up to the microphones," said keynote speaker Aaron Saunders, chief technology officer of Boston Dynamics, inviting a standing-room-only crowd to ask him questions. "And I'm the CTO, so don't ask me about tariffs."
The crowd laughed and complied. But as they streamed onto the show floor at Boston's convention center, greeted by a remote-controlled humanoid made by Chinese company Unitree, it was hard to ignore the shadow of President Donald Trump's far-reaching global tariffs and retaliatory measures from Trump's biggest target, China.
Tariffs are the "No. 1 topic that we're discussing in the hallways and at the water cooler with people that I've known for a long time," said event organizer Steve Crowe, chair of the annual Robotics Summit & Expo. "I think it's definitely top of mind, because there's so much uncertainty about what is going to come."
That concern is rooted in a robot's complex anatomy of motors and actuators to move their limbs, computers to power their artificial intelligence, and sensing devices to help them react to their surroundings. Sensors, semiconductors, batteries and rare earth magnets are among the array of components most sensitive to global trade disputes.
Tesla CEO and billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk warned investors last week that China's countermeasures restricting shipments of rare earth magnets will delay Tesla's development of its Optimus humanoid robots.
At the summit on Wednesday and Thursday, some humanoid makers were looking at a potential bright side to the geopolitical shifts as American businesses look harder for domestic supplies of parts and the development of U.S.-based robots that can automate factories and warehouses.
"It's added some inconveniences to our own supply chain. But it's also opened up opportunities," said Pras Velagapudi, chief technology officer at Oregon-based Agility Robotics, in an interview. The company is starting to deploy its humanoid robot, called Digit, at a U.S. plant run by German manufacturer Schaeffler, a maker of ball bearings and other components key to the auto industry.
Al Makke, a director of engineering for Schaeffler's chassis systems, said tariffs could push many companies toward onshoring production of a variety of items in the U.S.
"And if that does happen, then local companies have to deal with high labor costs and a shortage of labor and so automation gets pushed further," Makke said. "And one of those faces of automation is humanoids."
Most of the big industrial robots employed in the U.S. are used to help make cars, and are imported from countries such as Japan, Germany or South Korea.
Automakers in the U.S. installed 9.6% more robots in their plants than a year before, according to new data from the International Federation of Robotics, a trade group.
For now, humanoids are still a niche but one that invites intense curiosity, in part thanks to popular science fiction. Saunders, of Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics, presented an update Wednesday on the development of its Atlas humanoid robot but didn't bring a physical prototype, instead showing off a more familiar pack of its four-legged Spot robots contained in a pen on the show floor.
One humanoid at the conference was Unitree's G1. Marketed for $16,000 and remote-controlled by an employee standing nearby, the robot fluidly shook hands, waved back at people and walked around the show floor, but it won't be moving totes or working in a factory anytime soon.
Its main customers outside China are academic researchers and some social media influencers, and Trump's current tariffs totaling 145% on China would raise its cost to American buyers to roughly $40,000, said Tony Yang, a Unitree vice president of business development who manages its North American sales. Nevertheless, Unitree's strategy to rapidly develop its hardware and software is a long-term one.
"It's still a very narrow market, but I think there's still a huge potential market on the industry side, like for manufacturing and factory and even home use," Yang said.
At a full pickleball court on the show floor, some conference attendees took a break to grab a racket and swing at balls tossed by a wheeled robot. Asked to describe what's inside the Tennibot robot, its maker also had tariffs on the mind.
"Injection molded parts, rivets, screws, nuts, wheels, motors, batteries," said Haitham Eletrabi, co-founder and CEO of Tennibot, based in Auburn, Alabama. "The supply chain gets very complex. We get parts from all over the world. Tariffs are adding a lot of uncertainty."
It's not just the U.S.-China trade rivalry that was weighing on some attendees. Francesca Torsiello, of the recruitment firm Adapt Talent, said she's also hearing more wariness from Canadian robotics and engineering candidates about taking jobs in the U.S. amid a tense political environment.
"In the past, people in Canada found it attractive to come and work for U.S. companies; right now they're being very hesitant," Torsiello said.
————-
AP video journalist Rodrique Ngowi contributed to this report. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-04 19:31:46+00:00 | [
"Pope Francis",
"Rome",
"Catholic Church",
"Papal conclave",
"Immigration",
"Lisa Remondino",
"Religion",
"Roberto Cassano",
"Marta Finati",
"Mathieu Dansoko",
"Matteo Zuppi",
"Pope Benedict XVI",
"Elisabetta Bonifazi",
"Michele Cufaro",
"Santa Maria",
"Ida Di Giovannantonio",
"Poverty",
"Oswald Gracias"
] | # At Mass in housing projects and tourist hotspots, Romans pray next pope focuses on poverty and peace
By Giovanna Dell'Orto
May 4th, 2025, 07:31 PM
---
ROME (AP) — At Masses in Rome's housing projects and in the heart of its tourist district, the faithful prayed Sunday for the upcoming conclave that will elect Pope Francis ' successor.
Whether in the squat 1980s concrete church of San Paolo della Croce, next to a notorious public housing project, or facing millennium-old golden mosaics in Santa Maria in Trastevere, Catholics shared two main hopes for the church's future.
Young and old, Romans and migrants alike said they would like the next pontiff to make faith accessible to those on the margins and help bring peace to a world they see as teeming with dangers.
## Next pope should focus on poor
Michele Cufaro said he prays the next pope will "focus on the poor, poverty, eliminate hatred, meanness and wars, and re-educate the youth … who are getting totally lost."
The glass and metalworker first lived in the Corviale projects across the street – a multistory grey public housing block that snakes on a hilltop for more than 3,100 feet (1 km) – when it was built in the early 1980s. He said he knows firsthand the reality of poverty, addiction and exclusion that continues to plague many of its residents.
"I come to entrust myself to a higher power, for the things that I can't solve myself," Cufaro said after Mass at San Paolo as tears welled in his eyes remembering Francis' outreach.
The pontiff, who died on April 21 at age 88, visited the parish in 2018, and comforted a child worried about whether his recently deceased atheist father would be in in heaven.
## 'We need a pope who comes to visit us'
"We need a pope who comes to visit us, to see the situation," said Ida Di Giovannantonio, who recalled meeting Francis on that visit.
She said she cried every day when she moved to the projects four decades ago, when she was in her 40s, and only felt safe going to the parish.
"It's been a place of refuge. The poor need welcoming and love," said Di Giovannantonio, who's also volunteered with the church's food bank. On Sunday, a shopping cart stood by the church's entrance with a sign encouraging the faithful to leave food donations.
## Continuing Francis' legacy
Less than 10 kilometers (6 miles) away but in a different socioeconomic world, at Santa Maria in the riverside neighborhood of Trastevere, Lisa Remondino said she hopes the next pope will continue Francis' legacy, especially in helping migrants.
"I hope it will be a welcoming pope, and also a pope who has the courage to fight for peace. He was the only voice we had against war, the powerful, and arms," said the kindergarten teacher, who belongs to the Catholic charity Sant'Egidio that has worked closely with Francis to help migrants and refugees.
One of the cardinals considered top contenders to succeed him, the Rev. Matteo Zuppi of Rome, has served in various capacities both at Sant'Egidio and close-by Santa Maria, whose foundation dates to the 3rd century.
In the outside portico decorated with ancient marble inscriptions and swarming with tourists, Marta Finati said she hoped that the church would continue to respect dogmas, but also be open to the wider society.
The next pope should embrace a moral and political leadership for peace that would provide a "reference point" for non-Catholics too, she added.
Rushing to change into an altar server robes at Sunday afternoon's Mass at Santa Maria, Mathieu Dansoko, who came to Italy from Mali a decade ago, said coming to church is "like being with your family."
"The next pope should have the basic courage to bring the neediest from the peripheries to the center," he said.
## Losing Francis a 'big blow'
Back on the periphery of Corviale, the parish priest, the Rev. Roberto Cassano, said losing Francis was "a big blow" for his congregation because Pope Francis' visit had "interrupted for a moment the marginalization of these people."
"We need to get back a bit to God," he added in the tidy rose garden between the church and the housing block that packs in more than 1,500 families. "So much meanness, so much egoism, so much selfishness is the fruit also of the lack of God's presence in people's lives. … Different social problems would still exist, but a little less acute."
At Sunday morning Mass, several faithful stopped by the last pew to greet an occasional visitor – Cardinal Oswald Gracias of India, who was in Rome for the conclave gatherings, though having turned 80 at the end of last year, he can no longer cast a vote.
Upon election, each cardinal gets a "titular" parish in Rome, and on Sunday many celebrated Mass at theirs. In his homily, Gracias mentioned the different legacies of the last three popes – St. John Paul II's "world-changing" geopolitical impacts, Benedict XVI's scholarship, and Francis' pastoral care. He urged the more than 100 faithful to "pray that the Holy Spirit may give us a pope who meets the needs of the times."
Elisabetta Bonifazi, who finds in San Paolo her "point of reference," said in a world rife with "wars and contradictions," the new pope will need all the divine guidance and prayers.
"He will have to keep carrying this burden forward," she said. "We're in an extremely difficult moment."
___
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-05 18:08:51+00:00 | [
"Yemen",
"Israel",
"Israel government",
"War and unrest",
"2024-2025 Mideast Wars",
"Houthis",
"Donald Trump",
"Benjamin Netanyahu",
"Military and defense",
"Rebellions and uprisings",
"Traffic",
"Ahmed Saleh"
] | # Israel launches airstrikes on Yemen a day after Houthi rebels strike Israeli airport
By Melanie Lidman and Samy Magdy
May 5th, 2025, 06:08 PM
---
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's military targeted Houthi rebels in Yemen's Red Sea province of Hodeida on Monday with a punishing round of airstrikes, killing at least one person and wounding 35. The strikes came a day after the Iranian-backed rebels launched a missile that hit Israel's main airport.
The rebels' media office said at least six strikes hit the crucial Hodeida port Monday afternoon. Other strikes hit a cement factory in the Bajil district, located 55 kilometers (34 miles) northeast of Hodeida city, the rebels said. The extent of damage at the two facilities wasn't immediately clear.
The Israeli military said more than 20 Israeli fighter planes took part in the operation, dropping more than 50 munitions on dozens of targets.
Hodeida residents said they heard explosions at the port, with flames and smoke seen rising over the area. Ambulance sirens were also heard across the city, they said.
"It was very strong," Ahmed Saleh, who lives close to the port, said of the explosions.
In Bajil, fires and thick columns of smoke were seen over the cement factory, which the Houthis said was hit by both U.S. and Israeli strikes. Ambulances also rushed to the area, said resident Khalid Seif.
The Houthi-run health ministry said at least one person was killed and 35 others were wounded in the Israeli strikes on the factory. It said rescuers were still searching for missing people.
On Sunday, the Houthis launched a missile from Yemen that struck an access road near Israel's main airport, briefly halting flights and commuter traffic. Four people were lightly injured. It was the first time a missile struck the grounds of Israel's airport since the start of the war.
The Houthis claimed that the strikes were a joint Israeli-American operation. However, a U.S. defense official said U.S. forces did not participate in the Israeli strikes on Yemen on Monday. The strikes were not part of Operation Rough Rider, which is the ongoing U.S. military operation against the Houthis in Yemen to prevent them from targeting ships in the Red Sea that started March 15. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
Separately, the U.S. military launched multiple strikes Monday on Sanaa, another U.S. official said. That official also spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.
Nasruddin Amer, head of the Houthi media office, said the Israeli strikes won't deter the rebels, vowing they will respond to the attack.
"The aggressive Zionist-American raids on civilian facilities will not affect our military operations against the Zionist enemy entity," he said on social media.
He said the Houthis will escalate their attacks and won't stop targeting shipping routes and Israel until it stops the war in Gaza.
The Houthis have targeted Israel throughout the war in solidarity with Palestinians, raising their profile at home and internationally as the last member of Iran's self-described "Axis of Resistance" capable of launching regular attacks on Israel. The U.S. military under President Donald Trump has launched an intensified campaign of daily airstrikes targeting the Houthis since March 15.
Houthi rebels have fired at Israel since the war with Gaza began on Oct. 7, 2023. The missiles have mostly been intercepted, although some have penetrated Israel's missile defense systems, causing damage. Israel has struck back against the rebels in Yemen.
The Israeli military said it targeted the Hodeida port because Houthi rebels were using it to receive weapons and military equipment from Iran. Rebel-held Hodeida, about 145 kilometers (90 miles) southwest of the capital Sanaa, has been key for food shipments into Yemen as its decade-long war continues.
Israel has struck Yemen, and specifically the port city of Hodeida, multiple times. It previously struck Hodeida and its oil infrastructure in July after a Houthi drone attack killed one person and wounded 10 in Tel Aviv. In September, Israel struck Hodeida again, killing at least four people after a rebel missile targeted Israel's Ben Gurion airport as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was arriving back to the country. In December, Israeli strikes killed at least nine people in Hodeida. The Houthis have launched multiple missiles toward Israel in the past week.
The attack on Ben-Gurion International Airport on Sunday came hours before Israeli Cabinet ministers voted to expand the war in Gaza, including to seize the Gaza Strip and to stay in the Palestinian territory for an unspecified amount of time. While air traffic resumed after an hour, the attack could lead to cancelations of many airlines, which had recently resumed flights to Israel.
___
Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Tara Copp and Lolita Baldor contributed from Washington. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-01 14:28:08+00:00 | [
"Justin Bieber",
"Christianity",
"Walton Goggins",
"Kathryn Lofton",
"Jim Bakkers",
"Eli Gemstone",
"Danny McBride",
"Deon Gibson",
"Arts and entertainment",
"Joel Osteen",
"Paula White",
"John Goodman",
"Religion",
"Carl Lentz",
"T.D. Jakes",
"Sexual assault",
"Adam Devine",
"Donald Trump",
"Entertainment"
] | # 'Righteous Gemstones' embraced depravity even as it appealed to Christians
By Krysta Fauria
May 1st, 2025, 02:28 PM
---
LOS ANGELES (AP) — For a show about a Christian megachurch pastor and his nepo baby children — between the sex, violence and full-frontal nudity courtesy of Walton Goggins — the final season of "The Righteous Gemstones" is rife with its trademark depravity.
But Danny McBride, who stars in and created the HBO series, has always hoped it would speak to people of faith, even as he acknowledged his crude sense of humor might not be for everyone.
"My hope honestly with creating the show was that people who were religious would watch it. That, ultimately, they would understand that this isn't making fun of them, but it's probably making fun of people that they identify and are annoyed by," he told The Associated Press ahead of the fourth and final season's finale on Sunday. "A lot of people who come up to me, honestly, their first thing will be like, 'I go to church and I think it's funny.'"
McBride grew up in a devout Christian household in the South. His mom even led a puppet ministry when he was a kid. At some point, though, the 48-year-old decided churchgoing wasn't for him. But his interest remained, particularly as he began to learn more about megachurches after moving to Charleston, South Carolina.
"I felt like it kind of was reflective of America in a way that everything is sort of turned into a money game," he said. "The idea that like we could take something like religion and ultimately turn it into a corporation."
McBride's series follows widowed patriarch Eli Gemstone (John Goodman) and his three adult children, the eldest of whom is played by McBride. Although the series is steeped in modern evangelical culture, McBride said, in general, people of faith were not meant to be the target of his satire.
"It was more about hypocrites and people who were saying one thing and living another," he said.
Celebrity preachers like Joel Osteen and T.D. Jakes have been fixtures of evangelical culture since the early aughts thanks to their massive congregations and strategic media presence, not to mention the Billy Grahams, Jerry Fallwells and Jim Bakkers that preceded them. But a new generation of Instagram-savvy preachers has made its way into pop culture, like Hillsong's now-disgraced Carl Lentz and Justin Bieber's pastor, Judah Smith.
With that fame comes scrutiny and the charge that their celebrity and wealth stand in contrast to the message of Jesus. But that disaffection with religious leaders that McBride exploits isn't new, says Kathryn Lofton, a professor of religious studies and American studies at Yale University.
"There's not a lot of very positive depictions of evangelists in American media in the last 50 years," Lofton said.
The Christianity of the Gemstone empire is anything but austere. The second episode of this season, for example, closes with Eli's kids hosting their extravagant annual give-a-thon in honor of their late mother's birthday.
"If the line's busy, call back. Somebody's gonna pick up. It might just be God," implores Uncle Baby Billy (Goggins). And what's a church service without a choir, dancing and, of course, jet packs?
For Deon Gibson, a graphic artist who used to work for pastor Paula White before she became the head of Donald Trump's White House Faith Office, the show is right on the nose.
"I knew those characters while I worked in the megachurches," he said. "Aside from the Hollywood theatrics, it is spot on. The conversations they have, the switching around of power and positions."
McBride did admit it was a difficult subject to satirize considering the viral videos that often surface showing similarly extravagant stunts and rock concerts being performed at church.
One comment on the show's subreddit shares a video clip of James River Church's annual Stronger Men's Conference in Missouri. "Thought this was a scene from the show at first," the commenter says of the massive pyrotechnics, monster trucks and acrobats descending from the ceiling.
"My biggest fear would be that we would put stuff in the show and then like months later before the show comes out you would like see a church actually doing something we were doing," McBride said. "You're like, 'I just hope people don't think we're ripping them off.'"
Adam Devine said he thinks making satire in general is a challenge right now.
"Some of the headlines in the news, you're like, well, that wouldn't even work because people would be like, 'That's too crazy,'" Devine said.
For all its critique and humor though, the series also infuses moments of tenderness and poignancy. One storyline that culminates in the series finale is Kelvin's struggle with his queer identity and his relationship with his partner.
"I hope that some kids who feel like hopeless and they're battling over whether they're gay or not, that this gives them a sense of hope that you can come out and be accepted by your family, by people within your church," Devine said. "Not everyone is going to turn their backs on you."
But Gibson, who still identifies as a believer but is no longer part of a congregation, thinks the show's depictions of the megachurch world might be a tough hurdle for some people to get over.
"I think it would offend some people, the honesty of some of the characters. But I like the show because I saw both sides. I saw that side of the ministry corruption, but at the end of the day, they were people," he said. "They were regular people who just got caught up in the fame and the money." |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-14 18:37:18+00:00 | [
"Harvey Weinstein",
"Kaja Sokola",
"Crime",
"Legal proceedings",
"Poland",
"Indictments",
"New York City Wire",
"Mike Cibella",
"Jessica Mann",
"Miriam Haley",
"Entertainment",
"Sexual assault"
] | # Weinstein accuser rips defense lawyer: 'You should be ashamed of yourself'
By Jennifer Peltz
May 14th, 2025, 06:37 PM
---
NEW YORK (AP) — A former model reproached one of Harvey Weinstein 's lawyers for suggesting that her sexual abuse allegations against the ex-studio boss are lies.
"You should be ashamed of yourself," Kaja Sokola retorted. In her fifth and final day of testimony at Weinstein's sex crimes retrial, she maintained that she was telling the truth and that Weinstein's alleged conduct in her teens had changed the course of her life.
"It changed the course of your life in that you got $3.5 million from false accusations?" defense lawyer Mike Cibella pressed, referring to compensation she was awarded through civil proceedings in recent years.
"No. That's very unfair," Sokola said softly. "That's not true."
During her days on the witness stand, she said Weinstein repeatedly offered to foster her acting ambitions but then made unwanted physical advances, beginning when she was 16 in 2002.
Weinstein, 73, faces a sexual assault charge related solely to her allegation that he forced oral sex on her when she was 19. He also faces charges based on two other women's claims. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges, and his attorneys assert that his accusers had consensual sexual encounters with the Oscar-winning producer because they wanted movie and TV work.
Weinstein's lawyers grilled Sokola about her requests for career help from him after the alleged assault, her motives for her civil lawsuits and criminal trial testimony, as well as her personal struggles, and even a private journal she kept for an alcohol-abuse program in her native Poland.
After apparently getting the decade-old writings via the witness' sister, the defense was allowed to bring up portions in which Sokola said two other men had sexually assaulted her over the years but didn't say the same about Weinstein. Instead, she wrote that he promised her help but didn't deliver.
Sokola testified Wednesday that she had left out Weinstein's alleged sexual abuse partly because she couldn't come to terms with it at the time. Also, she said, her sponsor was in the film business in Poland and knew who Weinstein was.
Cibella questioned that explanation, noting that the text mentioned only "Harvey W" and nothing about his profession. Sokola said her sponsor nonetheless knew his identity because they talked about it.
Tearing up as she spoke, she said she hadn't seen the black notebook for 10 years, never gave anyone permission to share it and was stunned and appalled to be confronted with it in court.
"I felt very violated," said Sokola, now 39 and a psychotherapist.
She was the second of Weinstein's accusers to testify at the retrial, and the only one who wasn't involved in his first trial in 2020. That proceeding led to a landmark #MeToo-era conviction that was subsequently overturned, setting up the retrial. Prosecutors decided to add Sokola's allegations to it.
Another woman, Miriam Haley, already has told jurors at the retrial that Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her in 2006. The third accuser, Jessica Mann, is expected to testify in the coming days or weeks. She alleges that Weinstein raped her in 2013.
The Associated Press generally does not name people who allege they have been sexually assaulted unless they give permission to be identified. Haley, Mann and Sokola have done so. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-16 16:17:10+00:00 | [
"Oklahoma",
"United Arab Emirates",
"Kevin Stitt",
"United States Congress",
"Business",
"United States government"
] | # Oklahoma inks deal with UAE company to build $4B aluminum smelting facility
By Associated Press
May 16th, 2025, 04:17 PM
---
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma state officials announced a deal Friday with a private company in the United Arab Emirates for the construction of a $4 billion aluminum manufacturing facility in northeast Oklahoma.
Gov. Kevin Stitt and Oklahoma Department of Commerce officials say the deal with Emirates Global Aluminum would result in the first new aluminum smelting facility to be built in the U.S. in 45 years.
The annual capacity of the smelter would be about 600,000 tons (544,000 metric tons) of primary aluminum, according to a memorandum of understanding signed by Stitt and the company's CEO.
The project is expected to create about 1,000 direct jobs and 1,800 indirect jobs, commerce officials said. The facility would be constructed on more than 350 acres (140 hectares) at the Port of Inola, east of Tulsa. The agreement is contingent upon the Oklahoma Legislature approving a package of financial incentives that includes $275 million from the state, as well as state property, sales and inventory tax exemptions. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-20 13:00:38+00:00 | [
"Utilities",
"Don Moul",
"Nuclear power",
"Government regulations",
"U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission",
"Tennessee",
"Corporate management",
"Energy industry",
"Hitachi Ltd.",
"United States",
"Construction and engineering",
"Oak Ridge",
"Renewable energy",
"Technology",
"Climate and environment",
"Production facilities",
"GE Aerospace",
"Christopher Wright",
"Alex Formuzis"
] | # First US utility seeks permit for a small nuclear reactor
By Jennifer Mcdermott
May 20th, 2025, 01:00 PM
---
For the first time in the United States, a utility is asking federal regulators for a permit to build a small nuclear reactor.
The nation's largest public power company, the Tennessee Valley Authority, announced Tuesday it submitted a construction permit application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a small, modular nuclear reactor. It wants to develop next-generation nuclear power in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, at its Clinch River site.
TVA President and CEO Don Moul said that by going first, they can show other utilities a way to accelerate the development of small nuclear reactors.
"Nuclear is very reliable, very resilient. It is carbon free," he told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview Monday. "It is, what I would consider, one of the highest quality generating sources we have. And so starting a path forward not only helps others in America follow, but it can also help America lead the world in the new technology."
The federally owned utility provides electricity to seven states and operates three traditional, large nuclear power plants, which provide 40% of the Tennessee Valley's power. The region's population is growing, industries are replacing fossil fuels with electric alternatives and there's more manufacturing. The TVA expects to need up to 26 gigawatts of power by 2035, enough to power roughly 15 million homes, to meet the growing demand for electricity and replace retiring power plants.
Its board launched a program in 2022 to develop and fund small modular nuclear reactors as part of its strategy to dramatically reduce planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, and has provided $350 million for it so far.
U.S. electric utilities have been reluctant to invest in new nuclear construction because of large cost overruns and delays in Georgia, as Georgia Power Co.'s Plant Vogtle was expanded from two of the traditional large reactors to four, said Jacopo Buongiorno, professor of nuclear science and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The TVA decision is meaningful because it may be the start of a trend, Buongiorno added.
The United States does not have any next-generation reactors operating commercially. The NRC is currently reviewing applications from companies that want to build these reactors to begin providing power in the early 2030s. A project to build the first was terminated in 2023, as costs increased and not enough local power providers signed up to be part of it.
This month, the power company in Ontario, Canada, began building the first of four small nuclear reactors. Ontario Power Generation chose the same reactor the TVA wants to build, GE Hitachi's design that uses light water like all large U.S. commercial reactors.
In Ontario, they're expecting the first to cost $6.1 billion Canadian dollars ($4.4 billion), along with $1.6 billion Canadian dollars ($1.1 billion) for equipment to build all four. The cost is expected to decline with each subsequent reactor. TVA's cost estimates are in the same range, Moul said, but he declined to give specifics and said the utility is looking for partners to help with the initial costs.
The nonprofit Environmental Working Group says far cheaper, safer and cleaner electricity can be delivered much faster through investments in proven renewable sources like solar rooftops, battery storage and wind power. There's "no bigger example of a money pit than the fantasy of small modular reactors" as a viable source of energy in the U.S., said Alex Formuzis, spokesperson for the research and advocacy organization.
The Biden administration announced a $900 million investment in these reactors last year. The Trump administration also supports building small modular reactors for flexible, reliable power for energy-intensive sectors like industry and data centers as electricity demand soars. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in March that the $900 million would be awarded, but applicants had to submit new proposals to be judged solely on technical merit, without consideration for past diversity, equity and inclusion practices.
The TVA and its industry partners applied for $800 million in federal funding, which they say will help speed up the development of the technology by about two years.
The NRC has already said the Clinch River site is suitable for a new nuclear plant. There's enough room for a total of four small reactors. If the NRC and the TVA board approve the plans to build the first reactor there, it could begin operating around 2032, providing 300 megawatts of power, which is enough for about 175,000 homes.
___
The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-06 05:05:22+00:00 | [
"Germany",
"Poland",
"War and unrest",
"Berlin",
"Germany government",
"Dirk Backen",
"Lukasz Karol",
"Martina Seiger",
"Werner Novak",
"Wolfgang Bartsch",
"Adolf Hitler"
] | # 80 years after World War II, Germany is still painstakingly searching for its fallen soldiers
By Kirsten Grieshaber and Vanessa Gera
May 6th, 2025, 05:05 AM
---
HALBE, Germany (AP) — In a forest near Berlin, the remains of 107 fallen Wehrmacht soldiers were ceremoniously interred last week. High school students placed white gerbera daisies on small black coffins, and German soldiers lowered them respectfully into a large, freshly dug grave as a military band played a solemn tune.
Hundreds of villagers and relatives of the fallen watched silently, some wiping tears off their cheeks, as the soldiers who died in one of the last large World War II battles fighting for Adolf Hitler's army got their final resting place.
The gestures of remembrance are part of a long, complicated — and sometimes controversial — effort to bring the German dead to rest, 80 years after a war that Nazi Germany started.
It's still not the end — much work remains to identify the dead and notify any surviving family members.
Across Europe, in forests, fields and beneath old farmland, the remains of German soldiers are still being found, exhumed and reburied by teams from a nonprofit organization called the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge, or German War Graves Commission, which has been doing this work for decades.
## A search for the dead
As the world pauses this week to mark the 80th anniversary of the war's end, the continued search for soldiers' remains is a reminder that the conflict's legacy is not only historical or political, but also physical and unfinished, still unfolding across Europe.
"It's very, very important that this is still being done," said Martina Seiger, 57, whose grandfather's bones were found and buried a few years ago.
Seiger and her family make a point of attending the burials of other soldiers who died in the battle of Halbe in 1945. It's as close as they can get to some kind of funeral for her grandfather, Werner Novak.
Novak was 21 when he was killed. He had already been injured and sent back from the front to Berlin. He was planning to marry his pregnant fiancée and hoped for a more peaceful future, Seiger said.
Instead, as the Soviet's Red Army was approaching Berlin in the last weeks of war, he was back into battle.
## Lost in the chaos of war
The process of finding and identifying the remains is slow — many of the missing were buried hastily during retreat or combat, with no markers or records. Some sites are remembered only vaguely, passed down through local knowledge.
Others are beyond reach, beneath modern infrastructure or the front line in eastern Ukraine.
Still, the Volksbund works on, searching across Europe's old battlefields, following tips, checking old military maps and missing soldiers lists. The work continues even in western Ukraine, away from the raging fighting in the country's east.
When possible, the organization brings the remains to cemeteries maintained specifically for German soldiers who died abroad. It says its goal is humanistic: to offer a dignified burial to every person who died in the war, regardless of the role they played. That includes soldiers who served in a military responsible for some of the worst atrocities of the 20th century.
The Volksbund does not frame its mission as one of honoring the fallen, but of identifying them and ensuring they are not left to vanish into the earth, without a name.
## A missing father
Wolfgang Bartsch, 83, stood on a small hill near the open graves as the soldiers' bones were laid to rest.
Bartsch has never been able to bury his own father, who died in January 1942 fighting on the front in Russia. He was just three weeks old. Days earlier his mother was killed in an Allied bomb raid on Berlin. He was raised by his grandmother but always felt the pain of growing up without parents.
"My dad is buried somewhere in a nameless grave in Oryol in Russia," he said. "The Volksbund will never be able to recover his bones because I know that lots of settlements were built on top of those graves."
By the Volksbund's estimate, more than 2 million German soldiers remain unaccounted for. Over the past 30 years, since gaining access to former Eastern Bloc territories, the Volksbund has recovered and reburied the remains of a million people.
## Work that can be controversial
In some parts of Europe, resentment lingers toward anything perceived as rehabilitating the Nazi military past. But many accept that efforts to find the dead could help close this chapter of history.
"I don't want to rule out the possibility that we have a large number of war criminals in our war graves. We also know that some of them have even been proven to have committed the most serious war crimes," said Dirk Backen, the secretary general of the Volksbund.
"Behind every dead person is a human destiny and that is our main focus," he said. "When you stand in front of the grave of an 18-year-old young Wehrmacht soldier, you naturally ask yourself whether he may have had other plans in life and a different dream than to give his life at the age of 18 for a cause that was also criminal."
Weeks before the burial in Halbe, an exhumation took place in the Polish city of Ostrołęka, where Volksbund employees and local Polish archaeologists dug for the remains of German soldiers in a Polish cemetery wherever it would not involve disturbing a marked grave.
The skeletons were documented that day, March 19, and the bones of each person were sealed into a black bag. Dog tags were saved in the hope the remains can one day be identified. The group plans to rebury them later this year at a military ceremony in Poland.
## They deserve to be buried
Łukasz Karol, a Polish archaeologist working on the exhumation, acknowledges having had ethical concerns as he considered the job of unearthing soldiers of an army that invaded Poland and killed some 6 million Polish citizens over the course of the war.
But he said the work has moral significance and uncovers important scientific information.
"These are also people and they also deserve a burial," Karol said.
Unlike in the immediate postwar years, few families today are actively searching for lost relatives. In many cases, the emotional and generational distance is too great; there is no one left to remember the missing, or the need for closure has faded with time.
For Bartsch, the 83-year-old who attended the burial in Halbe, there is no closure.
"I still can't find peace when I think that so many people are still buried here in the ground without a proper funeral," he said. "My heart would rejoice if only I could bury my father too, but that won't happen."
___
Gera reported from Ostrołęka, Poland. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-04 13:18:13+00:00 | [
"Xi Jinping",
"Waterways",
"China",
"Storms",
"Weather",
"Yangtze River",
"Technology",
"Climate and environment",
"Boat and ship accidents",
"Natural disasters"
] | # Tourist boats capsize in sudden storm in southwest China, leaving 10 dead
May 4th, 2025, 01:18 PM
---
BEIJING (AP) — Four boats capsized in a sudden storm at a tourist spot in southwestern China, killing 10 people, state media said Monday.
More than 80 people fell into a river when strong winds hit the scenic area in Guizhou province late Sunday afternoon, state broadcaster CCTV said.
The boats capsized after a sudden rain and hail storm on the upper reaches of the Wu River, a tributary of the Yangtze, China's longest river. In one video shared by state media, a man could be seen performing CPR on another person, while one of the vessels drifted upside down.
Initial reports said two tourist boats had capsized, but state media said on Monday that four boats were involved. The other two boats had no passengers, and the seven crew members were able to save themselves, CCTV said.
Guizhou's mountains and rivers are a major tourism draw, and many Chinese were traveling during a five-day national holiday that ended Monday.
Chinese President Xi Jinping called for all-out efforts to find the missing and care for the injured, the official Xinhua News Agency said on Sunday. Seventy people were sent to a hospital, most with minor injuries.
Noting a recent series of fatal accidents, Xi underscored the importance of strengthening safety at tourist attractions, large public venues and residential communities, as well as for the rush of people returning at the end of major holidays.
CCTV said the capsized boats had a maximum capacity of about 40 people each and were not overloaded.
An eyewitness told state-owned Beijing News the waters were deep but that some people had managed to swim to safety. However, the storm had come suddenly and a thick mist obscured the surface of the river. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-17 00:52:05+00:00 | [
"Evo Morales",
"La Paz",
"Bolivia",
"Luis Arce",
"Violence",
"Courts",
"Protests and demonstrations",
"Latin America",
"Eduardo del Castillo",
"Juan Russo",
"Oscar Hassentoufel",
"Chemical weapons",
"Politics",
"David Ochoa",
"Elections"
] | # Supporters of Bolivia's ex-leader Morales clash with police in push to secure his candidacy
By Paola Flores
May 17th, 2025, 12:52 AM
---
LA PAZ, BOLIVIA (AP) — Hundreds of supporters of ex-President Evo Morales marched toward Bolivia's top electoral court on Friday to push for their leftist leader's candidacy in presidential elections later this year, a rally that descended into street clashes as police tried to clear out a group of demonstrators.
The confrontations come in response to a ruling by Bolivia's Constitutional Court that blocks Morales, the nation's first Indigenous president who governed from 2006 until his ouster in 2019, from running again in Aug. 17 elections.
The turmoil escalates political tensions as Bolivia undergoes its worst economic crisis in four decades.
As the march arrived in Bolivia's capital of La Paz, protesters seeking to register Morales' candidacy surged toward the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, chanting, "Comrades, what do we want? For Evo to come back!"
Security forces barricading a road to the court held them back. Police reported that the clashes between rock-throwing protesters and tear gas-lobbing police forces injured two officers, a journalist and a local merchant.
"They're using firecrackers and rocks that are hurting our forces," said police Commander Juan Russo. "This is not a peaceful march."
The authorities did not report on any injuries among the protesters, who were seen being pushed onto the ground, shoved into police cars and blasted with tear gas. Morales had promised to attend the march Friday but did not show up.
The court's unanimous decision Wednesday upheld an earlier ruling that bans presidents from serving more than two terms. Morales has already served three, and, in 2019, resigned under pressure from the military and went into exile as protests erupted over his bid for an unprecedented fourth term.
Morales returned to Bolivia a year later as the 2020 elections vaulted to power his preferred candidate, President Luis Arce, from his long-dominant Movement Toward Socialism, or MAS, party.
Arce, who announced earlier this week that he would not seek re-election, insisted that the Constitutional Court had disqualified Morales, his mentor-turned-rival, from running in 2025.
But many experts doubt the legitimacy of that decision in a country where political conflicts undermine the courts and presidents have maneuvered to get their allies on the bench.
"The Constitutional Court issues unconstitutional arbitrary rulings at the whim of those in power," said Morales, who himself reaped the benefits of favorable judges while seeking to run for a fourth consecutive term in 2017.
After Morales lost a referendum seeking to do away with term limits while still in power, the Constitutional Court ruled it would be against Morales' human rights to stop him from running for another term.
That 2017 ruling allows Morales to register his candidacy, said Oscar Hassentoufel, the president of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. "Then the tribunal will decide whether he's eligible or not."
In defiance of the latest court ruling, Morales called a mass march that marshaled his loyal supporters in the rural tropics. They long have championed the Indigenous coca-grower for transforming the country during his tenure — redistributing Bolivia's natural gas wealth and seeking greater inclusion for its Indigenous majority.
Although he had earlier promised to participate, it appeared that Morales remained holed up in his stronghold for fear of arrest on human trafficking charges that he claims are politically motivated.
The government confirmed that fear Friday. "We ask Mr. Morales to surrender voluntarily," said Eduardo del Castillo, a key minister in Arce's government whom the MAS party endorsed for president later Friday in place of Arce. "If we find him walking the streets, we will arrest him."
Instead, scores of his supporters walked the capital's streets on Friday wearing masks of Morales' face.
"Evo Morales is each and every one of us. If they want to detain Evo Morales they would need to take every one of us, too," said David Ochoa, a representative of the marchers. |
Associated Press News | 2025-05-07 14:04:32+00:00 | [
"North Carolina",
"Eric Holder",
"Donald Trump",
"Voting",
"Allison Riggs",
"Courts",
"2024 United States presidential election",
"National",
"Politics",
"Richard Myers",
"U.S. Democratic Party",
"Josh Stein",
"Elections"
] | # Republican concedes long-unsettled NC court election to Democratic incumbent
By Gary D. Robertson
May 7th, 2025, 02:04 PM
---
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Republican challenger for a North Carolina Supreme Court seat conceded last November's election on Wednesday to Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs, two days after a federal judge ruled that potentially thousands of disputed ballots challenged by Jefferson Griffin must remain in the final tally.
In a statement provided by his campaign, Griffin said he would not appeal Monday's decision by U.S. District Judge Richard Myers, who also ordered that the State Board of Elections certify results that after two previous recounts showed Riggs is the winner by 734 votes from over 5.5 million ballots cast in the race.
Griffin's decision sets the stage for Riggs to be officially elected to an eight-year term as an associate justice in the nation's ninth-largest state.
The state board plans to issue Riggs' certificate of election on May 13, a board spokesperson said.
"While I do not fully agree with the District Court's analysis, I respect the court's holding — just as I have respected every judicial tribunal that has heard this case," Griffin said. "I will not appeal the court's decision."
## The nation's last undecided 2024 race is settled
Myers delayed carrying out his order for seven days in case Griffin wanted to ask the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review his decision. Democrats had called on Griffin for months to accept defeat, with party officials and allies holding pro-Riggs rallies and entering the litigation. They celebrated Riggs' victory.
"North Carolina can finally turn the page on the 2024 election," Democratic Gov. Josh Stein wrote on the social platform X.
Riggs is one of two Democrats on the seven-member state Supreme Court, and winning improved the party's efforts to retake a court majority later in the decade. Riggs was appointed to the court in 2023 and has remained on the job while the election was unresolved. Griffin is a state Court of Appeals judge whose term ends in 2028.
"I look forward to continuing to serve the people of North Carolina," Griffin said.
While The Associated Press declared over 4,800 winners in the 2024 general election, the North Carolina Supreme Court election was the last race nationally that was undecided.
Riggs said in a news release Wednesday that she was "glad the will of the voters was finally heard."
"It's been my honor to lead this fight — even though it should never have happened — and I'm in awe of the North Carolinians whose courage reminds us all that we can use our voices to hold accountable any politician who seeks to take power out of the hands of the people," she said.
## Judge said disputed ballots had to remain in tally
Myers ruled that Griffin's efforts after the Nov. 5 election to remove from the election total ballots that state appeals courts agreed were ineligible under state law would have damaged voters' federal due process or equal protection rights had they been implemented.
Griffin filed formal protests that initially appeared to cover more than 65,000 ballots. Ensuing state court rulings whittled the total to votes from two categories, covering as few as 1,675 ballots to as many as 7,000, according to court filings. Griffin hoped that removing ballots he said were unlawfully cast would flip the outcome to him.
Democrats and voting rights groups had raised alarm about Griffin's efforts, which in one category of ballots had only targeted six Democratic-leaning counties. They called it an attack on democracy that would serve as a road map for the GOP to reverse election results in other states if successful.
"Make no mistake, the delay in the certification of this free and fair election was completely unnecessary," former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in a news release.
Griffin said Wednesday that his legal efforts were always "about upholding the rule of law and making sure that every legal vote in an election is counted."
## Two categories of ballots at issue
Most of the ballots that state appeals courts found ineligible came from military or overseas voters who didn't provide copies of photo identification or an ID exception form with their absentee ballots. The appeals courts had permitted a 30-day "cure" process for those voters so their ballots could still count if they provided ID information.
Myers, who was nominated to the bench by President Donald Trump, agreed with Riggs and her allied litigants that the "retroactive invalidation" of those ballots violated the rights of service members, missionaries, or others working or studying abroad who cast their ballots under the rules for the 2024 election.
"You establish the rules before the game. You don't change them after the game is done," Myers wrote in his order.
The other category of ballots was cast by overseas voters who have never lived in the U.S. but whose parents were declared North Carolina residents. A state law had authorized those people to vote in state elections, but state appeals courts said it violated the state Constitution. Myers wrote that there was no process for people mistakenly on the list to contest their ineligibility, representing "an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote."
## Top Republican says legislation may be ahead
Griffin said the rulings of state appeals judges still recognized that the state election board failed to follow the law and the state constitution. Lawyers for the board have said it carried out election rules properly.
State House Speaker Destin Hall, a Republican, told reporters later Wednesday that Griffin's protests and litigation may prompt legislation to address problems that surfaced.
"The issues raised by Judge Griffin in that case were completely legitimate," Hall said, but Myers' ruling that in part found it was too late to do anything about them for a 2024 election is "a tough pill to swallow."
__
Associated Press writer Makiya Seminera contributed to this report. |
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