Nation and world at a glance
Trump: Ukraine-Russia talks
in Paris are ‘coming to a head’
PARIS — President Donald Trump said negotiations between Ukraine and Russia are “coming to a head” and insisted that neither side is “playing” him in his push to end the grinding war.
The comments from Trump came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned earlier Friday that the U.S. may “move on” from trying to secure a Russia-Ukraine peace deal if there is no progress in the coming days, after months of efforts have failed to bring an end to the fighting.
Rubio’s dour assessment came after landmark talks in Paris among U.S., Ukrainian and European officials produced outlines for steps toward peace and appeared to make some long-awaited progress. Another meeting is expected next week in London.
Death toll rises to at least 74
in US airstrikes on Houthis
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Yemen’s Houthi rebels say U.S. airstrikes targeting oil port killed at least 74 people and injured at least 171 others.
The overnight strikes on the Ras Isa port sent massive fireballs billowing skyward and left mangled fuel trucks burning. It was the deadliest known American attack yet in U.S. President Donald Trump’s military campaign against the Houthis, which began March 15. The U.S. military’s Central Command declined to comment on civilian casualties. Satellite images of the port provided by Planet Labs PBC and analyzed Friday by The Associated Press showed destroyed tanks and vehicles as oil leaked into the Red Sea.
Israeli strikes kill at least 25
in Gaza, including children
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli airstrikes across Gaza have killed at least 25 people including children as the new U.S. ambassador to Israel made his first public appearance in Jerusalem.
Gaza hospitals say among the dead early Friday were 10 people in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp, including eight from the same house.
The strikes came a day after more than two dozen people died in Gaza as Israel ramps up attacks to pressure Hamas to return the hostages and disarm.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee appeared at the Western Wall, the holiest Jewish prayer site in Jerusalem’s Old City, where he inserted a prayer handwritten by President Donald Trump.
Mass shooting at Florida State
lasted less than 5 minutes
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Police say the shooting at Florida State University that left two dead and wounded six others lasted less than five minutes. Tallahassee police say the gunman arrived on campus an hour before the shooting Thursday. They say he then walked in and out of buildings and green spaces, firing a handgun just before lunchtime.
Officers who arrived within minutes shot and wounded the suspect. Police have identified the gunman as a 20-year-old man who is the son of a sheriff’s deputy. All of those wounded in the rampage are expected to survive. Police have not released a motive.
More than 1,000 international
students have visas revoked
WASHINGTON — More than 1,000 international students at 128 colleges and universities have had their visas revoked or their legal status terminated since mid-March.
That’s according to an Associated Press review of university statements and correspondence with school officials. Several students who had their visas revoked in recent weeks have filed lawsuits against the Trump administration.
They argue the government denied them due process when it suddenly took away their permission to be in the U.S. The actions by the federal government to terminate students’ legal status have left hundreds of scholars at risk of detention and deportation. Colleges say some students are being singled out over infractions as minor as traffic violations.
The Associated Press
Nation and world at a glance
Reported intruder arrested near UnitedHealthcare HQ
MINNETONKA, Minn. — A person was arrested near UnitedHealthcare’s headquarters in Minnesota after reports of an intruder, months after the company’s CEO was killed, authorities said Monday.
Police in the Minneapolis suburb of Minnetonka said the suspect was arrested outside of the United Healthcare corporate campus.
The Minnetonka Police Department confirmed the arrest after initially tweeting just before 11:30 a.m. that there was a large police presence at the health insurance company. News helicopter video showed over a dozen law enforcement vehicles from multiple agencies at the scene, as well as an ambulance that was standing by. There were no reports of injuries.
The department later posted that a suspect was placed into custody without incident.
“There is no threat to the public,” the department said. “We are continuing to clear the scene at this time.”
Police did not immediately release further details on the incident.
UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot to death in New York City on Dec. 4 as he was walking to an investor conference in midtown Manhattan. The man accused of killing him, Luigi Mangione, 26, pleaded not guilty in December to state murder and terror charges.
Mangione also faces federal charges, and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said earlier this month she has directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty.
Despite ruling, AP barred from Oval Office event
Despite a court order, a reporter and photographer from The Associated Press were barred from an Oval Office news conference on Monday with President Donald Trump and his counterpart from El Salvador, Nayib Bukele.
Last week’s federal court decision forbidding the Trump administration from punishing the AP for refusing to rename the Gulf of Mexico was to take effect Monday. The administration is appealing the decision and arguing with the news outlet over whether it needs to change anything until those appeals are exhausted.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. circuit set a Thursday hearing on Trump’s request that any changes be delayed while case is reviewed. The AP is fighting for more access as soon as possible.
Since mid-February, AP reporters and photographers have been blocked from attending events in the Oval Office, where President Donald Trump frequently addresses journalists, and on Air Force One. The AP has seen sporadic access elsewhere, and regularly covers White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s briefings. Leavitt is one of three administration officials named in the AP’s lawsuit.
The dispute stems from AP’s decision not to follow the president’s executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico, although AP style does cite Trump’s wish that it be called the Gulf of America. The AP argued – and U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden agreed last week – that the government cannot punish the news organization for exercising its right to free speech.
5.2-magnitude earthquake rattles Southern California
SAN DIEGO — A 5.2-magnitude earthquake shook Southern California on Monday morning, sending boulders tumbling onto rural roadways outside San Diego and rattling items off shelves and walls, but officials reported no injuries or major damage.
The quake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, struck at 10:08 a.m. local time, and was centered in San Diego County only a couple miles from Julian, a mountain town of about 1,500 people that is known for its apple pie shops. It was felt as far north as Los Angeles County, about 120 miles away. The quake was followed by several aftershocks.
Transportation officials warned motorists to watch out for rocks that tumbled down hillsides and onto roads and highways, including State Route 76 northwest of Julian. Crews were assessing roadways for potential damage, the California Department of Transportation in San Diego County said.
Schoolchildren were escorted outside of buildings as a precaution when the ground started moving, said Capt. Thomas Shoots of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for San Diego County. He got a shake alert and then started feeling things rolling and banging.
The Associated Press
Nation and world at a glance
Columbia University activist Khalil can be deported, US judge rules
JENA, La. — A Louisiana immigration judge says Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil can be deported as a national security risk. Immigration Judge Jamee Comans ruled Friday. Khalil’s lawyers say he’ll appeal.
Khalil participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia. He was detained by federal immigration agents March 8 in New York and transferred to an immigration detention center in Jena, Louisiana. Khalil’s lawyers are challenging the legality of his detention.
They say the Trump administration is trying to punish free speech. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he can deport Khalil because his presence threatens U.S. foreign policy.
China hits back at US, will raise
tariffs on American goods to 125%
BEIJING — China has announced that it will raise tariffs on U.S. goods from 84% to 125%.
It was the latest salvo in an escalating trade war between the world’s two largest economies that has rattled markets and raised fears of a global slowdown. While U.S. President Donald Trump paused import taxes this week for other countries, he raised tariffs on China and they now total 145%. China has denounced the policy as “economic bullying” and promised countermeasures. The new tariffs begin Saturday.
A Chinese Finance Ministry spokesman said in a statement announcing the new measures Friday that Washington’s repeated raising of tariffs “will become a joke in the history of the world economy.”
Divers search for parts after NYC
helicopter crash kills family of 5
NEW YORK — Police and fire department divers are searching for the main and rear rotors of a sightseeing helicopter that broke apart in midair and crashed into the Hudson River between New York City and New Jersey, killing six people. Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, said at a news conference Friday that other important pieces were also still missing, including the transmission, the roof and tail structures.
She says the NTSB will not speculate on a cause of the crash so early in the investigation. A family of five from Spain and the pilot died in the wreck.
3 killed and 1 injured as plane
crashes in Florida near highway
BOCA RATON, Fla. — Officials say three people were killed and one was injured when a small plane crashed Friday morning in South Florida near a major interstate highway and pushed a car onto railroad tracks.
Boca Raton Fire Rescue officials say the plane crash that killed all three people on board emitted a fireball when it hit the ground, injuring a person in a nearby car. Several roads near the Boca Raton Airport will remain closed near Interstate 95. The FAA says the Tallahassee-bound Cessna aircraft went down about 10:20 a.m. after departing from Boca Raton Airport..
Judge rules Menendez brothers’
bid for freedom can continue
LOS ANGELES — Erik and Lyle Menendez will proceed with their resentencing hearings after spending 35 years behind bars for the 1989 killings of their parents, despite opposition from Los Angeles County’s district attorney.
A judge ruled Friday that the court will hold a resentencing hearing for the brothers. District
Attorney Nathan Hochman says the brothers haven’t admitted to lies told during the original case. Most of the brothers’ extended family have supported their release.
Doctors remove pig kidney from Ala. woman after a record 130 days
WASHINGTON — An Alabama woman who lived with a pig kidney for a record 130 days had the organ removed and is back on dialysis. Towana Looney’s doctors removed the organ on April 4 after her body began rejecting it.
Her doctors said Friday that she’s recovering well. While a disappointing development, that Looney’s gene-edited pig kidney lasted as long as it did is a boost to the quest for animal-to-human transplants after some earlier failures. A rigorous study of pig kidneys is set to begin this summer, an attempt to shore up the dire supply of transplantable organs.
Eric Dane, star of ‘Euphoria,’
‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ reveals he has ALS
“Euphoria” and former “Grey’s Anatomy” veteran Eric Dane has announced that he has ALS but will continue working. The 52-year-old revealed his diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, in an interview with People magazine Thursday.
The 52-year-old actor is married to Rebecca Gayheart and the couple share two teenage children. ALS gradually destroys the nerve cells and connections needed to walk, talk, speak and breathe. Most patients die within three to five years of a diagnosis.
“Euphoria” is set to resume shooting this month. Dane’s publicist did not immediately return a message from The Associated Press.
The Associated Press