US judge presses Trump administration on its refusal to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia
GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — A federal judge said Tuesday that she will order sworn testimony by Trump administration officials to determine if they complied with her orders to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to a notorious El Salvador prison.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland issued her order after Trump officials continually refused to retrieve Abrego Garcia. She said they defied a “clear” Supreme Court order.
She also downplayed Monday's comments by White House officials and El Salvador's president that they were unable to bring back Abrego Garcia, describing their statements as “two very misguided ships passing in the night.”
“The Supreme Court has spoken,” Xinis said, adding that what was said in the Oval Office on Monday “is not before the court.”
In her written order published Tuesday evening, Xinis called for the testimony of four Trump administration officials who work for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department.
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Harvard's challenge to Trump administration could test limits of government power
On one side is Harvard, the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university, with a brand so powerful that its name is synonymous with prestige. On the other side is the Trump administration, determined to go further than any other White House to reshape American higher education.
Both sides are digging in for a clash that could test the limits of the government’s power and the independence that has made U.S. universities a destination for scholars around the world.
On Monday, Harvard became the first university to openly defy the Trump administration as it demands sweeping changes to limit activism on campus. The university frames the government’s demands as a threat not only to the Ivy League school but to the autonomy that the Supreme Court has long granted American universities.
“The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” the university’s lawyers wrote Monday to the government. “Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government.”
The federal government says it’s freezing more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard. The hold on funding marks the seventh time the Trump administration has taken such a step at one of the nation’s most elite colleges, in an attempt to force compliance with Trump’s political agenda. Six of the seven schools are in the Ivy League.
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As Trump considers auto tariffs pause, parts exemptions could be key for US industry
DETROIT (AP) — President Donald Trump hinted that he might temporarily relieve the auto industry from “permanent” tariffs he previously imposed on the business. The president didn't specify how long the potential pause would be or what it would entail, but the auto sector is awaiting how rules might change on 25% tariffs based on U.S. parts, if duties remain on assembled vehicles.
Experts have said short pauses aren't likely to give carmakers enough of an opportunity to adjust their vast global supply chains, though parts exemptions would certainly bolster the industry amid Trump's trade war whiplash.
Trump told reporters Monday that automakers “need a little bit of time because they’re going to make them here, but they need a little bit of time. So I’m talking about things like that,” referring to relocating production from Canada, Mexico and elsewhere. The news drove global auto stocks up Tuesday.
Matt Blunt, president of the American Automotive Policy Council, which represents domestic auto companies Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, said in a statement: “There is increasing awareness that broad tariffs on parts could undermine our shared goal of building a thriving and growing American auto industry, and that many of these supply chain transitions will take time.”
Trump first announced 25% automotive tariffs late March; the tariffs for completed vehicles took effect on April 3, while the parts tariffs were set to start 30 days later.
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China's economy grows at a 5.4% annual pace in Jan-March quarter
BANGKOK (AP) — China's economy expanded at a 5.4% annual pace in January-March, supported by strong exports ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s rapid increases in tariffs on Chinese exports, the government said Wednesday.
Analysts are forecasting that the world’s second largest economy will slow significantly in coming months, however, as tariffs as high as 145% on U.S. imports from China take effect.
Exports were a strong factor in China’s ability to attain a 5% annual growth rate in 2024 and the official target for this year remains at about 5%.
Beijing has hit back at the U.S. with 125% tariffs on American exports, while also stressing its determination to keep its own markets open to trade and investment.
In the near term, the tariffs will put pressure on China's economy, but they won't derail long-run growth, Sheng Laiyun, a spokesperson for the National Bureau of Statistics, told reporters.
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In the Ukrainian city of Sumy, life goes on despite the constant threat of attack
SUMY, Ukraine (AP) — The humdrum of daily life in Sumy belies the constant threat of death its people have lived with since Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago.
Days after Russia targeted the city's center in back-to-back missile strikes, killing 35 people and injuring more than 100 others in the deadliest attack on Ukrainian civilians this year, neighbors gossiped in front of their apartment block as children played soccer in the courtyard. They paused to look up only when hearing the buzzing of attack drones and familiar thud of Ukrainian air defenses before resuming what they were doing.
Sumy is only about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the border of Russia's Kursk region, where Ukrainian soldiers are defending the last sliver of territory they took in a surprise offensive last summer. Residents say there has been an uptick in attacks on Sumy in recent weeks, though none as bloody as Sunday's airstrike, which targeted a busy intersection.
The attack in Sumy, which had a prewar population of about 250,000, came just over a week after a Russian missile strike killed about 20 people, including nine children, in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih. Russia said it was targeting a meeting of soldiers, but there is no evidence to support the claim.
The attacks on their cities has left many Ukrainians wondering where the next will occur and cast a shadow over the ongoing ceasefire talks being brokered by the United States. The talks have produced only muted results, as Russia insists on conditions Ukraine deems impossible and Kyiv believes Moscow's forces are gearing up for a fresh offensive.
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Israeli airstrike hits hospital entrance in Gaza, killing medic and wounding 9 other people
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli airstrike hit the northern gate of a field hospital in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, killing a medic and wounding nine other people, a hospital spokesman said.
The strike hit the Kuwaiti Field Hospital in the Muwasi area, where hundreds of thousands have sought shelter in sprawling tent camps. The wounded were all patients and medics, and two of the patients were in critical condition after the strike, said Saber Mohammed, a hospital spokesman.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
On Tuesday, a spokesman for Hamas said that strikes had caused them to lose contact with the unit guarding Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander. Hamas released a video of the 21-year-old soldier days earlier, likely speaking under duress.
Hamas said a direct strike hit the location where Alexander was being held and they were trying to reach them.
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What to know about Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and the arson at his official residence
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A family member says the man charged with setting fire to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s mansion has struggled with mental illness and was treated at a psychiatric hospital twice in recent years.
The fire left significant damage and forced Shapiro, his family and guests to evacuate the building early Sunday during the Jewish holiday of Passover. No injuries were reported, but authorities were still working Tuesday to determine a possible motive, including whether it had anything to do with Shapiro’s politics or religious beliefs.
The suspect, identified as Cody Balmer, 38, was arrested nearby later in the day, police said. Court records and interviews with family members show his life unraveled dramatically in recent years before authorities say he scaled an iron security fence in the middle of the night, eluded police and set the Democratic governor’s mansion ablaze.
Dan Balmer, an electrical engineer who lives in the Harrisburg suburbs, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he had given Cody Balmer a place to live a couple years ago. He was involved in getting his brother treatment at the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute twice, saying Cody Balmer exhibited disturbing behavior.
“He’s had ups and downs his whole life with the bipolar,” Dan Balmer said. “He doesn’t believe he’s bipolar, so he doesn’t take his medicine.”
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The White House is starting a new media policy that restricts wire services' access to the president
Fresh from a courtroom loss over The Associated Press' access to the presidency, the White House on Tuesday put forward a new media policy that sharply curtails access to Donald Trump by news agencies that serve media outlets around the world. It was the latest attempt by the new administration to control coverage of its activities.
The move would block the AP and other wire services that serve billions of readers through thousands of news outlets. It comes after a judge ruled the White House had violated the organization’s free speech by banning it because it disagreed with the outlet’s decision not to rename the Gulf of Mexico.
While outlining a new “pool coverage” policy for small spaces like the Oval Office and Air Force One, the White House also said it will ultimately give press secretary Karoline Leavitt the final say over who gets to question her boss, according to people who have seen the plan.
The White House did not return messages for comment on Tuesday evening.
A federal judge last week ruled the White House improperly punished the AP for refusing to rename the Gulf of Mexico by blocking its reporters and photographers from covering the events. U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden ordered the administration to treat the AP as it does other news organizations.
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Wink Martindale, the genial game show host and an early TV interviewer of Elvis Presley, dies at 91
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Wink Martindale, the genial host of such hit game shows as “Gambit” and “Tic-Tac-Dough” who also did one of the first recorded television interviews with a young Elvis Presley, has died. He was 91.
Martindale died Tuesday at Eisenhower Health in Rancho Mirage, California, according to his publicist Brian Mayes. Martindale had been battling lymphoma for a year.
“He was doing pretty well up until a couple weeks ago,” Mayes said by phone from Nashville.
“Gambit” debuted on the same day in September 1972 as “The Price is Right” with Bob Barker and “The Joker’s Wild” with Jack Barry.
“From the day it hit the air, ‘Gambit’ spelled winner, and it taught me a basic tenant of any truly successful game show: KISS! Keep It Simple Stupid,” Martindale wrote in his 2000 memoir “Winking at Life.” “Like playing Old Maids as a kid, everybody knows how to play 21, i.e. blackjack.”
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Pupy the elephant heads to a vast Brazilian sanctuary after 30 years in an Argentine zoo
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — An unusual convoy neared Argentina's lush border with Brazil on Tuesday, after snaking through traffic-snarled roads for hours. Inside the specialized iron crate strapped to a truck and flanked by vans full of caretakers and veterinarians was Pupy, a female African elephant.
She is heading to a better life after spending more than 30 years in captivity as the last elephant of a Buenos Aires zoo that was often criticized for its conditions before it was turned into a nature preserve nine years ago.
Pupy (pronounced POOH'-pee in Spanish) embarked on her arduous 2,700-kilometer (1,670-mile) journey on Monday, from the trendy neighborhood of Palermo in Argentina’s capital of Buenos Aires to the Amazon rainforest of Mato Grosso state in Brazil.
The 3.5-ton pachyderm is expected to arrive at her new home at Elephant Sanctuary Brazil, the first refuge for elephants in Latin America, later this week — a voyage dependent on traffic, weather conditions and customs stops.
As of late Tuesday, Pupy was traversing the verdant northern Argentine province of Misiones, near the border with Brazil.
The Associated Press
