The winner of this year's West Virginia Coal Festival teen beauty pageant walks among the ruins of a community abandoned 70 years ago and imagines the rusted remains of coal tipples and processing plants coming back to life.

Ava Johnson knows West Virginia coal will not ever be what it once was. But as she makes her way along overgrown railroad tracks near the abandoned Kay Moor mine in the New River Gorge National Park looking for spikes for her collection, the 16-year-old history buff says she has heard people talking with hope about the future of an industry that has brought good-paying jobs to her state for the better part of two centuries.

“You can’t appreciate being a true West Virginian unless you realize that people risk their lives every single day to make ours better,” she said.

Much of that renewed sense of hope is based on the actions of President Donald Trump, who earlier this month issued new executive orders aimed at reviving an energy source that has long been flagged by scientists as the world's most polluting fossil fuel, one that directly contributes to the warming of the planet.

Trump, who has pledged since his first run for the presidency in 2016 to “save coal,” issued orders to allow mining on federal land and to loosen some emissions standards meant to curb coal’s environmental impact.

“All those plants that have been closed are going to be opened, if they're modern enough,” Trump said at the signing ceremony. “(or) they’ll be ripped down and brand-new ones will be built.”

The news was met with enthusiasm in West Virginia, where residents like Johnson say the coal industry is misunderstood and that they are tired of feeling unheard by their fellow Americans. But others do not think Trump will be able to fulfill promises he has made to some of his most loyal constituents.

Trump and his allies are “spinning a false narrative," said Tyson Slocum, who teaches energy and climate policy at the University of Maryland Honors College and is the energy program director for the nonprofit Public Citizen. He said market forces have shifted away from coal in ways that cannot be reversed, an opinion widely shared among economists.

“There’s nothing that Trump can do that’s going to materially impact the domestic coal market,” Slocum said in a telephone interview. “The energy markets, the steel markets, have fundamentally changed. And learning how to adapt and how to provide the real solutions to the concerns and fears in coal communities would be a more effective strategy than promising them a return that isn’t going to happen.”

At a coal exposition, renewed optimism

That was not the prevailing mood at a recent coal exposition in Charleston, attended by Johnson and many others who found encouragement in the Republican president's words, even if some expressed skepticism about his ability to make coal great again.

“For years, our industry has felt like it’s been a little bit of a whipping boy, like a political, sacrificial pawn,” said Steven Tate of Viacore, a company that makes an apparatus that helps mine operators limit the amount of coal dust in a mine. “We feel like we’re finally starting to get the recognition that our industry deserves.”

Some said Trump's orders demonstrated respect for workers who gave their lives in the mines — 21,000 in West Virginia, the most out of any state — and for a resource that helped build America.

“Trump stood his ground all the way through," said Jimbo Clendenin, a retired mine equipment specialist whose grandson started working in coal mining three years ago. "He said he was for coal. And a lot of people — even a couple of them here in West Virginia — said, ’I just think he said that to get into office.′

"Now, nobody’s got any doubt. He’s for coal.”

In recent decades, the Democratic Party’s aggressive push toward clean energy led to the installation of more renewable energy and the conversion of coal-fired plants to be fueled by cheaper and cleaner-burning natural gas.

In 2016, Trump seized on the issue, promising to end what he described as Democratic President Barack Obama’s “war on coal” and to save miners’ jobs. It helped in West Virginia, where a majority of voters in every county supported Trump in three presidential elections.

Trump did not bring the industry back during his first term. In West Virginia, which employs the most miners of any state, the number of coal jobs fell from 11,561 at the start of his presidency to 11,418 at the end of 2020, perhaps slowing coal’s steep decline but not stopping it.

Slocum said Trump can defang the federal Environmental Protection Agency and deregulate mining, but he cannot save coal.

“It's not the EPA, it’s not Democrats that declared this war on coal,” Slocum said. “It was capitalism and natural gas. And being honest about the reasons for coal’s decline is the least we can do for coal-dependent communities instead of lying to them, which the Trump administration is doing. Sometimes people want to believe a lie, because it’s easier than facing a hard truth.”

A steady decline in jobs

In 2009, the EPA found that planet-warming greenhouse gases put public health and welfare in danger, a determination that new EPA chief Lee Zeldin has urged Trump to reconsider. Scientists oppose Zeldin’s push, and Slocum said the endangerment finding and the need to move away from coal dependence “is not a theoretical debate. It is a factual, scientific one, albeit one that does not occur within the current Trump administration.”

Still, there is no doubt that the culture of coal is woven into the fabric of West Virginia. A miner can be a coal industry worker, but also a sports team mascot, an image emblazoned on the state flag or the name of a breakfast sandwich at Tudor’s Biscuit World.

In the 1950s, more than 130,000 West Virginians worked in the industry, which then had a population of around 2 million. Production peaked in 2008, a year before Johnson was born. But by then, the number of coal workers had dropped to 25,000, mostly due to mechanization.

Heather Clay, who runs West Virginia Coal Festival’s beauty pageant and social media, said losing coal jobs — often six-figure incomes — was especially significant in a state with one of the nation’s highest poverty rates.

“It’s so much more than what people outside of West Virginia understand,” she said. ’They’re always saying, ‘Shut down coal,’ ‘Shut down coal.’ So you want to shut down our economy? You want to shut down our families? You want to shut down our way of life? And it has, for a lot of people.”

Innovation, not elimination

Trump and coal industry advocates say keeping coal in the U.S. energy portfolio is essential for maintaining the power grid, servicing growing demand from innovations like artificial intelligence centers and keeping America energy-independent.

But John Deskins, director of the West Virginia University Bureau of Business and Economic Research, said it would take a significant shift in the underlying economics for it to make financial sense for utilities to build new coal-fired plants.

Natural gas is cleaner and cheaper, he said, and it’s the direction most utilities are moving in. Earlier this year, First Energy announced plans to convert its two remaining coal-fired power plants to natural gas.

Johnson wears the sash and crown from her pageant victory over a black dress and sneakers as she traipses through the ruins of the abandoned Kay Moor mine. She talks enthusiastically about the industry's past, but also, occasionally, about what she thinks could be a brighter future for coal in West Virginia because of what Trump has done.

“I think that it will positively impact not just the industry," she said, “but people's lives.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© AP Photo/Leah Willingham

Elon Musk spent years building cachet as a business titan and tech visionary, brushing aside critics and skeptics to become the richest person on the planet.

But as Musk gained power in Washington in recent months, his popularity has waned, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Just 33% of U.S. adults have a favorable view of Musk, the chain-saw-wielding, late-night-posting, campaign-hat-wearing public face of President Donald Trump’s efforts to downsize and overhaul the federal government. That share is down from 41% in December.

“It was a shame that he crashed and burned his reputation,” said Ernest Pereira, 27, a Democrat who works as a lab technician in North Carolina. “He bought into his own hype.”

The poll found that about two-thirds of adults believe Musk has held too much influence over the federal government during the past few months — although that influence may be coming to an end. The billionaire entrepreneur is expected to leave his administration job in the coming weeks.

Musk is noticeably less popular than the overall effort to pare back the government workforce, which Trump has described as bloated and corrupt. About half of U.S. adults believe the Republican president has gone too far on reducing the size of the federal workforce, while roughly 3 in 10 think he is on target and 14% want him to go even further.

Retiree Susan Wolf, 75, of Pennsylvania, believes the federal government is too big but Musk has “made a mess of everything.”

“I don’t trust him,” she said. “I don’t think he knows what he’s doing.”

Wolf, who is not registered with a political party, said Musk’s private sector success does not translate to Washington.

“He thinks you run a government like you run a business. And you don’t do that,” she said. “One is for the benefit of the people, and the other is for the benefit of the corporation.”

Much of the downsizing has been done through so-called the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which was Musk’s brainchild during last year’s campaign. Thousands of federal employees have been fired or pushed to quit, contracts have been canceled and entire agencies have been brought to a standstill.

Musk has succeeded in providing a dose of shock therapy to the federal government, but he has fallen short of other goals. After talking about cutting spending by $1 trillion, he has set a much lower target of $150 billion. Even reaching that amount could prove challenging, and DOGE has regularly overstated its progress.

He is expected to start dedicating more time to Tesla, his electric automaker that has suffered plummeting revenue while he was working for Trump. Musk told investors on a recent conference call that “now that the major work of establishing the Department of Government Efficiency is done,” he expects to spend just “a day or two per week on government matters.”

Musk, in his work for the administration, has continued a political evolution toward the right. Although the South African-born entrepreneur was never easy to categorize ideologically, he championed the fight against climate change and often supported Democratic candidates.

Now he criticizes “the woke mind virus” and warns of the collapse of Western civilization from the threats of illegal migration and excess government spending.

Musk’s increasingly conservative politics are reflected in the polling. Only about 2 in 10 independents and about 1 in 10 Democrats view Musk favorably, compared with about 7 in 10 Republicans.

In addition, while about 7 in 10 independents and about 9 in 10 Democrats believe Musk has too much influence, only about 4 in 10 Republicans feel that way.

Mark Collins, 67, a warehouse manager from Michigan who has leaned Republican in recent years, said Musk “runs a nice, tight ship” at his companies, “and the government definitely needs tightening up.”

“He’s cleaning up all the trash,” he said. “I love what he’s doing.”

Republicans are much less likely than Democrats to be worried about being affected by recent cuts to federal government agencies, services or grants. Just 11% said they are “extremely” or “very” concerned that they or someone they know will be affected, while about two-thirds of Democrats and 44% of independents have those fears.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

A man drove a vehicle into a crowd at a Filipino heritage festival in the Canadian city of Vancouver, killing at least nine people and injuring an unknown number of others, police said Sunday.

The vehicle entered the street at 8:14 p.m. on Saturday and struck people attending the Lapu Lapu Day festival, the Vancouver Police Department said in a social media post.

Several other people were injured, but the exact number of casualties wasn't immediately available.

A 30-year-old Vancouver man was arrested at the scene and the department’s Major Crime Section is overseeing the investigation, police said.

“At this time, we are confident that this incident was not an act of terrorism,” the police department posted early Sunday.

Interim Vancouver Police Chief Steve Rai told a news conference that the man was arrested after initially being apprehended by bystanders.

Video circulating on social media shows a young man in a black hoodie with his back against a chain-link fence, alongside a security guard and surrounded by bystanders screaming and swearing at him.

“I’m sorry,” the man says, holding his hand to his head.

Rai declined to comment on the video, but said the person in custody was a “lone male” who was “known to police in certain circumstances.”

The festival was being held in a South Vancouver neighborhood. Video posted on social media showed victims and debris strewn across a long stretch of road, with at least seven people lying immobile on the ground. A black SUV with a crumpled front section could be seen in still photos from the scene.

Carayn Nulada said that she pulled her granddaughter and grandson off the street and used her body to shield them from the SUV. She said that her daughter suffered a narrow escape.

“The car hit her arm and she fell down, but she got up, looking for us, because she is scared,” said Nulada, who described children screaming, and pale-faced victims lying on the ground or wedged under vehicles.

“I saw people running and my daughter was shaking.”

Nulada was in Vancouver General Hospital’s emergency room early Sunday morning, trying to find news about her brother, who was run down in the attack and suffered multiple broken bones.

Doctors identified him by presenting the family with his wedding ring in a pill bottle and said that he was stable, but would be facing surgery.

James Cruzat, a Vancouver business owner, was at the event and heard a car rev its engine and then “a loud noise, like a loud bang” that he initially thought might be a gunshot.

“We saw people on the road crying, others were like running, shouting, or even screaming, asking for help. So we tried to go there just to check what was really actually happening until we found some bodies on the ground. Others were lifeless, others like, you know, injured,” Cruzat said.

Nic Magtajas described an SUV roaring through the crowd at high speed.

“I saw a bunch of people go over, go high up from the impact of hitting the car,” said Magtajas, 19.

Vancouver Mayor Kenneth Sim said in a social media post that the city would provide more information when possible.

“I am shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific incident at today’s Lapu Lapu Day event,” Sim said. “Our thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouver’s Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time."

Vancouver had more than 38,600 residents of Filipino heritage in 2021, representing 5.9% of the city’s total population, according to Statistics Canada, the agency that conducts the national census.

Lapu Lapu Day celebrates Datu Lapu-Lapu, an Indigenous chieftain who stood up to Spanish explorers who came to the Philippines in the 16th century. The organizers of the Vancouver event said that he “represents the soul of native resistance, a powerful force that helped shape the Filipino identity in the face of colonization.”

Prime Minister Mark Carney and other political leaders on the final day of the election campaign posted messages expressing shock at the violence, condolences for victims and support for the community celebrating its heritage.

“I offer my deepest condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver. We are all mourning with you,” Carney wrote.

Carney delayed his campaign events.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issued a statement expressing sympathy with the victims and their families.

“The Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver is working with Canadian authorities to ensure that the incident will be thoroughly investigated, and that the victims and their families are supported and consoled,” he said.

The country's Department of Foreign Affairs said that “we remember the 1 million strong Filipino community in Canada and pray for their continued strength and resilience.”

In 2018, a man used a van to kill 10 pedestrians in Toronto. Eight women and two men died. Alek Minassian, who was found guilty, told police that he belonged to an online community of sexually frustrated men, some of whom have plotted attacks on people who have sex.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© Photo by DON MACKINNON/AFP via Getty Images

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Coal-fired power plants, long an increasingly money-losing proposition in the U.S., are becoming more valuable now that the suddenly strong demand for electricity to run Big Tech's cloud computing and artificial intelligence applications has set off a full-on sprint to find new energy sources.

President Donald Trump — who has pushed for U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market and suggested that coal can help meet surging power demand — is wielding his emergency authority to entice utilities to keep older coal-fired plants online and producing electricity.

While some utilities were already delaying the retirement of coal-fired plants, the scores of coal-fired plants that have been shut down the past couple years — or will be shut down in the next couple years — are the object of growing interest from tech companies, venture capitalists, states and others competing for electricity.

That’s because they have a very attractive quality: high-voltage lines connecting to the electricity grid that they aren’t using anymore and that a new power plant could use.

That ready-to-go connection could enable a new generation of power plants — gas, nuclear, wind, solar or even battery storage — to help meet the demand for new power sources more quickly.

For years, the bureaucratic nightmare around building new high-voltage power lines has ensnared efforts to get permits for such interconnections for new power plants, said John Jacobs, an energy policy analyst for the Washington, D.C.-based Bipartisan Policy Center.

“They are very interested in the potential here. Everyone sort of sees the writing on the wall for the need for transmission infrastructure, the need for clean firm power, the difficulty with siting projects and the value of reusing brownfield sites,” Jacobs said.

Rising power demand, dying coal plants

Coincidentally, the pace of retirements of the nation's aging coal-fired plants had been projected to accelerate at a time when electricity demand is rising for the first time in decades.

The Department of Energy, in a December report, said its strategy for meeting that demand includes re-using coal plants, which have been unable to compete with a flood of cheap natural gas while being burdened with tougher pollution regulations aimed at its comparatively heavy emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases.

There are federal incentives, as well — such as tax credits and loan guarantees — that encourage the redevelopment of retired coal-fired plants into new energy sources.

Todd Snitchler, president and CEO of the Electric Power Supply Association, which represents independent power plant owners, said he expected Trump's executive orders will mean some coal-fired plants run longer than they would have — but that they are still destined for retirement.

Surging demand means power plants are needed, fast

Time is of the essence in getting power plants online.

Data center developers are reporting a yearlong wait in some areas to connect to the regional electricity grid. Rights-of-way approvals to build power lines can also be difficult to secure, given objections by neighbors who may not want to live near them.

Stephen DeFrank, chairman of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, said he believes rising energy demand has made retiring coal-fired plants far more valuable.

That's especially true now that the operator of the congested mid-Atlantic power grid has re-configured its plans to favor sites like retired coal-fired plants as a shortcut to meet demand, DeFrank said.

“That’s going to make these properties more valuable because now, as long as I’m shovel ready, these power plants have that connection already established, I can go in and convert it to whatever," DeFrank said.

Gas, solar and more at coal power sites

In Pennsylvania, the vast majority of conversions is likely to be natural gas because Pennsylvania sits atop the prolific Marcellus Shale reservoir, DeFrank said.

In states across the South, utilities are replacing retiring or retired coal units with gas. That includes a plant owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority; a Duke Energy project in North Carolina; and a Georgia Power plant.

The high-voltage lines at retired coal plants on the Atlantic Coast in New Jersey and Massachusetts were used to connect offshore wind turbines to electricity grids.

In Alabama, the site of a coal-fired plant, Plant Gorgas, shuttered in 2019, will become home to Alabama Power’s first utility-scale battery energy storage plant.

Texas-based Vistra, meanwhile, is in the process of installing solar panels and energy storage plants at a fleet of retired and still-operating coal-fired plants it owns in Illinois, thanks in part to state subsidies approved there in 2021.

Nuclear might be coming

Nuclear is also getting a hard look.

In Arizona, lawmakers are advancing legislation to make it easier for three utilities there — Arizona Public Service, Salt River Project and Tucson Electric Power — to put advanced nuclear reactors on the sites of retiring coal-fired plants.

At the behest of Indiana's governor, Purdue University studied how the state could attract a new nuclear power industry. In its November report, it estimated that reusing a coal-fired plant site for a new nuclear power plant could reduce project costs by between 7% and 26%.

The Bipartisan Policy Center, in a 2023 study before electricity demand began spiking, estimated that nuclear plants could cut costs from 15% to 35% by building at a retiring coal plant site, compared to building at a new site.

Even building next to the coal plant could cut costs by 10% by utilizing transmission assets, roads and buildings while avoiding some permitting hurdles, the center said.

That interconnection was a major driver for Terrapower when it chose to start construction in Wyoming on a next-generation nuclear power plant next to PacifiCorp’s coal-fired Naughton Power Plant.

Jobs, towns left behind by coal

Kathryn Huff, a former U.S. assistant secretary for nuclear energy who is now an associate professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said the department analyzed how many sites might be suitable to advanced nuclear reactor plants.

A compelling factor is the workers from coal plants who can be trained for work at a nuclear plant, Huff said. Those include electricians, welders and steam turbine maintenance technicians.

In Homer City, the dread of losing its coal-fired plant — it shut down in 2023 after operating for 54 years — existed for years in the hills of western Pennsylvania’s coal country.

“It’s been a rough 20 years here for our area, maybe even longer than that, with the closing of the mines, and this was the final nail, with the closing of the power plant,” said Rob Nymick, Homer City's manager. “It was like, ‘Oh my god, what do we do?’”

That is changing.

The plant's owners in recent weeks demolished the smoke stacks and cooling towers at the Homer City Generating State and announced a $10 billion plan for a natural gas-powered data center campus.

It would be the nation’s third-largest power generator and that has sown some optimism locally.

“Maybe we will get some families moving in, it would help the school district with their enrollment, it would help us with our population,” Nymick said. “We’re a dying town and hopefully maybe we can get a restaurant or two to open up and start thriving again. We’re hoping.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© Gene J. Puskar—AP Photo

VATICAN CITY (AP) — World leaders and Catholic faithful bade farewell to Pope Francis in a funeral Saturday that highlighted his concern for people on the “most peripheral of the peripheries” and reflected his wishes to be remembered as a simple pastor. Though presidents and princes attended the Mass in St. Peter’s Square, prisoners and migrants welcomed Francis' coffin at his final resting place in a basilica across town.

According to Vatican estimates, some 250,000 people flocked to the funeral Mass at the Vatican and 150,000 more lined the motorcade route through downtown Rome to witness the first funeral procession for a pope in a century. They clapped and cheered “Papa Francesco” as his simple wooden coffin travelled aboard a modified popemobile to St. Mary Major Basilica, some 6 kilometers (3.5-miles) away.

As bells tolled, the pallbearers brought the coffin past several dozen migrants, prisoners and homeless people holding white roses outside the basilica. Once inside, the pallbearers stopped in front of the icon of the Virgin Mary that the church is famous for and that Francis deeply revered. Four children deposited the roses at the foot of the altar before the burial ceremony began.

“I’m so sorry that we’ve lost him,” said Mohammed Abdallah, a 35-year-old migrant from Sudan who was one of the people who welcomed Francis to his final resting place. “Francis helped so many people, refugees like us, and many other people in the world.”

Earlier, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re eulogized Francis during the Vatican Mass as a pope of the people, a pastor who knew how to communicate to the “least among us” with an informal, spontaneous style.

“He was a pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone,” the 91-year-old dean of the College of Cardinals said in a highly personal sermon. He drew applause from the crowd when he recounted Francis’ constant concern for migrants, exemplified by celebrating Mass at the U.S.-Mexico border and travelling to a refugee camp in Lesbos, Greece, and bringing 12 migrants home with him.

“The guiding thread of his mission was also the conviction that the church is a home for all, a home with its doors always open,” Re said, noting that with his travels, the Argentine pontiff reached “the most peripheral of the peripheries of the world.”

An extraordinary meeting about Ukraine on the sidelines

Despite Francis’ focus on the powerless, the powerful were out in force at his funeral. U.S. President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer joined Prince William and continental European royals leading more than 160 official delegations. Argentine President Javier Milei had pride of place given Francis’ nationality, even if the two didn’t particularly get along and the pope alienated many in his homeland by never returning there.

In an extraordinary development, Trump and Zelenskyy met privately on the sidelines of the funeral. A photo showed the two men sitting alone, facing one another and hunched over on chairs in St. Peter’s Basilica, where Francis often preached the need for a peaceful end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Tens of thousands flocked before dawn to the Vatican

Francis choreographed the funeral himself when he revised and simplified the Vatican’s rites and rituals last year. His aim was to emphasize the pope’s role as a mere pastor and not “a powerful man of this world.”

It was a reflection of Francis’ 12-year project to radically reform the papacy, to stress priests as servants and to construct “a poor church for the poor.” He articulated the mission just days after his 2013 election and it explained the name he chose as pope, honoring St. Francis of Assisi “who had the heart of the poor of the world,” according to the official decree of the pope's life that was placed in his coffin before it was sealed Friday night.

The white facade of St. Peter's glowed pink as the sun rose Saturday and throngs of mourners rushed into the square to get a spot for the Mass. Giant television screens were set up along the surrounding streets for those who couldn't get close.

Police helicopters whirled overhead, part of the massive security operation Italian authorities mounted, including more than 2,500 police, 1,500 soldiers and a torpedo ship off the coast, Italian media reported.

Many mourners had planned to be in Rome anyway this weekend for the now-postponed Holy Year canonization of the first millennial saint, Carlo Acutis. Groups of scouts and youth church groups nearly outnumbered the gaggles of nuns and seminarians.

“He was a very charismatic pope, very human, very kind, above all very human," said Miguel Vaca, a pilgrim from Peru who said he had camped out all night near the piazza. "It’s very emotional to say goodbye to him.”

A special relationship with the basilica

Francis, the first Latin American and first Jesuit pope, died Easter Monday at age 88 after suffering a stroke while recovering from pneumonia.

Even before he became pope, Francis had a particular affection for St. Mary Major, home to a Byzantine-style icon of the Madonna, the Salus Populi Romani. He would pray before the icon before and after each of his foreign trips as pope.

The popemobile that brought his coffin there was made for one of those trips: Francis' 2015 visit to the Philippines, and was modified to be able to carry a coffin.

The choice of the basilica was also symbolically significant given its ties to Francis’ Jesuit religious order. St. Ignatius Loyola, who founded the Jesuits, celebrated his first Mass in the basilica on Christmas Day in 1538.

The basilica is the resting place of seven other popes, but this is the first papal burial outside the Vatican since Pope Leo XIII, who died in 1903 and was entombed in another Roman basilica in 1924.

Following the funeral, preparations can begin in earnest to launch the centuries-old process of electing a new pope, a conclave that will likely begin in the first week of May. In the interim, the Vatican is being run by a handful of cardinals, key among them Re, who is organizing the secret voting in the Sistine Chapel.

Crowds waited hours to bid farewell to Francis

Over three days this week, more than 250,000 people stood for hours in line to pay their final respects while Francis’ body lay in state in St. Peter’s Basilica. The Vatican kept the basilica open through the night to accommodate them, but it wasn’t enough. When the doors closed to the general public at 7 p.m. on Friday, mourners were turned away in droves.

By dawn Saturday, they were back, some recalling the words he uttered the very first night of his election and throughout his papacy.

“We are here to honor him because he always said ‘don’t forget to pray for me,’” said Nigerian Sister Christiana Neenwata. “So we are also here to give to him this love that he gave to us.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© Office of the President of Ukraine—Getty Images

MUSCAT, Oman (AP) — Iran and the United States held in-depth negotiations in Oman over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program on Saturday, talks that likely will hinge on the Islamic Republic's enrichment of uranium.

Iranian state television reported the talks had begun in Muscat, the mountain-wrapped capital of this sultanate on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula. A person close to U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks, also acknowledged the meeting had started.

However, neither Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi nor Witkoff offered any immediate specifics or details on the talks that they'll lead.

Araghchi arrived Friday in Oman and met with Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, who has mediated the two previous round of talks in Muscat and Rome. Araghchi then visited the Muscat International Book Fair, surrounded by television cameras and photojournalists. Video late Saturday morning showed Araghchi heading to the talks.

Witkoff was in Moscow on Friday meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin. He arrived Saturday to Oman, where the talks were expected to start in the coming hours, a source familiar with Witkoff's travels told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations.

Meanwhile Saturday, a massive explosion rocked a port in southern Iran just after the talks began, injuring at least 516 people. Authorities offered no immediate cause for the blast, which appeared to have been caused by a highly combustible material — though officials ruled out its oil and gas industry.

Nuclear talks come after decades of tensions

The talks seek to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions the U.S. has imposed on the Islamic Republic closing in on half a century of enmity.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s program if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.

Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers did limit Tehran's program. However, Trump unilaterally withdrew from it in 2018, setting in motion years of attacks and tensions. The wider Middle East also remains on edge over the devastating Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

Trump, traveling to Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis, again said he hoped negotiations would lead to a new nuclear deal. However, he still held out the possibility of a military strike if they didn't.

“The Iran situation is coming out very well,” Trump said on Air Force One. “We've had a lot of talks with them and I think we're going to have a deal. I'd much rather have a deal than the other alternative. That would be good for humanity."

He added: “There are some people that want to make a different kind of a deal — a much nastier deal — and I don’t want that to happen to Iran if we can avoid it.”

Talks turn to experts

While Araghchi and Witkoff are again expected to speak through the Omanis, experts on both sides also will begin negotiating details of a possible deal.

From the Iranian side, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-e Ravanchi will lead Tehran’s expert team, said Mohammad Golzari, an Iranian government official. Takht-e Ravanchi took part in the 2015 nuclear talks.

The U.S. technical team, which is expected to arrive in Oman on Friday, will be led by Michael Anton, the director of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s policy planning staff. Anton does not have the nuclear policy experience of those who led America’s efforts in the 2015 talks.

Iran has insisted that keeping its enrichment is key. But Witkoff has muddied the issue by first suggesting in a television interview that Iran could enrich uranium at 3.67%, then later saying that all enrichment must stop. That demand all enrichment stop also has been repeated by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

However, Iranians remain hopeful the talks could be successful, as the Iranian rial has rebounded from historic lows during which it took over 1 million rial to buy $1.

“It’s OK to negotiate, to make the nuclear program smaller or bigger, and reach a deal,” Tehran resident Farzin Keivan said. “Of course we shouldn’t give them everything. After all, we’ve suffered a lot for this program.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© Iranian Foreign Ministry—AP Photo

WASHINGTON (AP) — Many Americans do not agree with President Trump’s aggressive efforts to quickly enact his agenda, a new poll finds, and even Republicans are not overwhelmingly convinced that his attention has been in the right place.

Americans are nearly twice as likely to say Trump has been mostly focusing on the wrong priorities as to say he has been focusing on the right ones, according to the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Further, about 4 in 10 Americans say Trump has been a “terrible” president in his second term, and about 1 in 10 say he has been “poor.” In contrast, about 3 in 10 say he has been “great or ”good,” while just under 2 in 10 say he has been “average.”

Most haven’t been shocked by the drama of Trump’s first 100 days. About 7 in 10 U.S. adults say the first few months of Trump’s second term have been mostly what they expected, and only about 3 in 10 say the Republican president’s actions have been mostly unexpected.

But that does not mean they are pleased with how those opening months have gone.

In fact, Democrats seem even unhappier with the reality of the second Trump term than before he was sworn in on Jan. 20. About three-quarters of Democrats say Trump is focused on the wrong topics and about 7 in 10 think he has been a “terrible” president so far. That is an increase from January, when about 6 in 10 anticipated that he would be “terrible.”

Rahsaan Henderson, a Democrat from California, said “it has been one of the longest 100 days I’ve ever had to sit through.”

“I think the next four years will be a test of seeing who can resist the most and continue defying whatever he’s trying to do, since he defies everything, including the Supreme Court,” said Henderson, 40.

Republicans are largely standing behind the president, but are ambivalent about what he has chosen to emphasize. About 7 in 10 say he has been at least a “good” president. But only about half say he has mostly had the right priorities so far, while about one-quarter say it has been about an even mix and about 1 in 10 said Trump has mostly had the wrong priorities.

“He’s really doing the stuff that he said he was going to do,” said Tanner Bergstrom, 29, a Republican from Minnesota. He is “not making a bunch of promises and getting into office and nothing happens. ... I really like that. Even if it’s some stuff I don’t agree with, it’s still doing what he said he was going to do.”

Those who were surprised by Trump’s first few months seem to have had a rude awakening. The people who say Trump’s actions were not what they expected — who are mostly Democrats and independents — are more likely to say Trump has had mostly the wrong priorities and that he has been a poor or terrible president, compared with the people who mostly expected his actions.

About 4 in 10 in the survey approve of how Trump is handling the presidency overall. The issue of immigration is a relative strength. According to the poll, 46% of U.S. adults approve of his handling of the issue, which is slightly higher than his overall approval. But there are also indications that foreign policy, trade negotiationsand the economy could prove problematic as he aims to prove his approach will benefit the country.

Trump’s approval on those issues is much lower than it is on immigration. Only about 4 in 10 U.S. adults approve of how he is handling each. Republicans are less likely to approve of Trump’s approach to trade and the economy than immigration.

There are additional signals that some Trump supporters may not be thrilled with his performance so far. The share of Republicans who say he has been at least a “good” president has fallen about 10 percentage points since January. They also have grown a bit more likely to say Trump will be either “poor” or “terrible,” although only 16% describe his first few months that way.

Republican Stephanie Melnyk, 45, from Tennessee, is supportive of Trump’s handling of the presidency more broadly but said she did not approve of his handling of foreign affairs, particularly on the war in Ukraine. Melnyk’s family emigrated from Ukraine and she said Trump is “trying for a quick fix that’s not going to last” and that Russian President Vladimir Putin “is not to be trusted.”

Melnyk, who voted for Trump largely for his positions on immigration, said she wished the president would stay on script.

“He sounds like he can be very condescending, and it sounds like my way or the highway,” Melnyk said. “It’s like, dude. You’re not 12.”

It’s common, though, for a president’s standing to be at its best before taking office and beginning the work of governing. And Trump continues to hold high approval from Republicans.

About 4 in 10 Americans have a favorable opinion of Trump, roughly in line with his approval number. Among Republicans, the figure is about double: About 8 in 10 Republicans have a positive view of the president, and about the same share approves of how he is handling the presidency. About one-third of U.S. adults have a favorable opinion of Vice President JD Vance, including about 7 in 10 Republicans.

Those Republicans interviewed were particularly fond of efforts to scale back the size of the federal government led by billionaire outside adviser Elon Musk and Trump’s cost-cutting initiative, the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE.

“Overall, I would have to say that I’m happy with the Trump presidency,” said Matthew Spencer, 30, a Republican from Texas. “I think that the Department of Government Efficiency has made great strides in reducing our spending, and I also agree with putting America first. I agree with the policies he’s put in as far as border protection and America standing for itself again as far as the tariffs.”

“We’re only three months in, but so far, so good,” said Carlos Guevara, 46, who lives in Florida. Guevara, a Republican, said DOGE has been a “smash hit” and on tariffs, and while there may be short-term pain, “if that does encourage businesses to start manufacturing here ... then that’ll wash out over time.”

Democrats have a much bleaker outlook on the economy than they held before Trump took office. The poll also found that the vast majority of Democrats think he has “gone too far” on deportations and tariffs.

Gabriel Antonucci, 26, a Democrat who recently moved to South Carolina, said Trump’s second term is “just a lot more ridiculous” than he had anticipated.

“It really seems like he is doing everything he can to make the wrong decisions,” Antonucci said. “Things are probably going to be worse in four years than they are right now.”

___

The AP-NORC poll of 1,260 adults was conducted April 17-21, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© Alex Brandon—AP Photo

Virginia Giuffre, who accused Britain's Prince Andrew and other influential men of sexually exploiting her as a teenager trafficked by financier Jeffrey Epstein, has died. She was 41.

Giuffre died by suicide Friday at her farm in Western Australia, her publicist confirmed.

“Virginia was a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking. She was the light that lifted so many survivors,” her family said in a statement. “Despite all the adversity she faced in her life, she shone so bright. She will be missed beyond measure.”

Her publicist Dini von Mueffling described Giuffre as “deeply loving, wise and funny."

“She adored her children and many animals. She was always more concerned with me than with herself," von Mueffling wrote in a statement. "I will miss her beyond words. It was the privilege of a lifetime to represent her.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in Australia is available by calling 13 11 14. In the U.S., it is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org

The American-born Giuffre, who lived in Australia for years, became an advocate for sex trafficking survivors after emerging as a central figure in Epstein's prolonged downfall.

The wealthy, well-connected New York money manager killed himself in August 2019 while awaiting trial on U.S. federal sex trafficking charges involving dozens of teenage girls and young women, some as young as 14. The charges came 14 years after police in Palm Beach, Florida, first began investigating allegations that he sexually abused underage girls who were hired to give him massages.

Giuffre came forward publicly after the initial investigation ended in an 18-month Florida jail term for Epstein, who made a secret deal to avoid federal prosecution by pleading guilty instead to relatively minor state-level charges of soliciting prostitution. He was released in 2009.

In subsequent lawsuits, Giuffre said she was a teenage spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago — President Donald Trump's Palm Beach club — when she was approached in 2000 by Epstein's girlfriend and later employee, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Giuffre said Maxwell hired her as a masseuse for Epstein, but the couple effectively made her a sexual servant, pressuring her into gratifying not only Epstein but his friends and associates. Giuffre said she was flown around the world for assignations with men including Prince Andrew while she was 17 and 18.

The men denied it and assailed Giuffre's credibility. She acknowledged changing some key details of her account, including the age at which she first met Epstein.

But many parts of her story were supported by documents, witness testimony and photos — including one of her and Andrew, with his his arm around her bare midriff, in Maxwell’s London townhouse.

Giuffre said in one of her lawsuits that she had sex with the royal three times: in London during her 2001 trip, at Epstein’s New York mansion when she was 17 and in the Virgin Islands when she was 18.

“Ghislaine said, ‘I want you to do for him what you do for Epstein,’” Giuffre told NBC News’ “Dateline” in September 2019.

Andrew categorically rejected Giuffre’s allegations and said he didn't recall having met her.

His denials blew up in his face during a November 2019 BBC interview. Viewers saw a prince who proffered curious rebuttals — such as disputing Giuffre's recollection of sweaty dancing by saying he was medically incapable of perspiring — and showed no empathy for the women who said Epstein abused them.

Within days of the interview, Andrew stepped down from his royal duties. He settled with Giuffre in 2022 for an undisclosed sum, agreeing to make a “substantial donation” to her survivors' organization. A statement filed in court said that the prince acknowledged Epstein was a sex trafficker and Giuffre “an established victim of abuse.”

She also filed, and in at least some cases settled, lawsuits against Epstein and others connected to him. In one case, she dropped her claims against a prominent U.S. attorney, saying she might have erred in identifying him as one of the men to whom Epstein supplied her.

Epstein's suicide put an end to his accusers' hopes of holding him criminally accountable.

Maxwell was convicted in 2021 on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. She said she wasn’t to blame for Epstein’s abuse.

Prosecutors elected not to include Giuffre's allegations in the Maxwell case, but Giuffre later told the court that the British socialite had "opened the door to hell.”

Giuffre, born Virginia Roberts, told interviewers that her childhood was shattered when she was sexually abused as a grade-schooler by a man her family knew. She later ran away from home and endured more abuse, she said.

She said she met her now-husband in 2002 while taking massage training in Thailand at Epstein's behest. She married, moved to Australia and had a family.

Giuffre founded an advocacy charity, SOAR, in 2015.

Giuffre separated from her husband and children this year. She had been charged with breaching a family violence restraining order over an incident in February, and was set to apepar in court in June in the city of Perth, where her estranged husband and children live.

She had yet to enter a plea to the charge. A conviction would have carried a potential maximum sentence of two years in prison.

Giuffre was hospitalized after a serious accident, her publicist said last month. She didn’t answer questions at the time about the date, location, nature or other specifics of the accident and about the accuracy of an Instagram post that appeared to come from Giuffre. The post said she had been in a car that was hit by a school bus and her prognosis was dire.

She is survived by her three children, whom the statement described as the “light of her life.”

Sigrid McCawley, an attorney for Giuffre, said in a statement, “Her courage pushed me to fight harder, and her strength was awe-inspiring. The world has lost an amazing human being today. Rest in peace, my sweet angel.”

The AP does not identify people who say they were victims of sexual assault unless they have come forward publicly.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© Bebeto Matthews—AP Photo

The first foreigner tapped to head 7-Eleven expressed confidence Friday the Japanese convenience store chain will continue to attract thrifty customers, even in an economic slowdown.

But Stephen Hayes Dacus, an American with a Japanese mother, declined to comment on the specifics of the various investment plans now being studied, including an acquisition proposal by Alimentation Couche-Tard of Canada.

A special company committee, which he isn’t part of, is charged with studying the options “totally objectively,” he said.

“The process is moving forward very constructively,” Dacus, who is currently a director, told a small group of reporters at the Tokyo headquarters of Seven & i Holdings Co., which operates 7-Eleven.

His appointment as chief executive still needs shareholders’ approval, set for May. Seven & i shares have risen more than 2% in the past year.

Fluent in Japanese and English, Dacus said he was determined to build a culture of leadership that he’s learned to admire from his experience working at Walmart, Uniqlo and other retailers.

“If you’re not humble, you’re not listening to your customers. You’re not learning. But if you’re not aggressive, you’re going to get beat by your competitors,” he said.

Dacus stressed the 7-Eleven chain was growing globally. But the stores were different by nation, and his intent was not to duplicate everywhere the Japanese-style “conbini,” as they are known here.

Lowering costs can be delivered with a better supply chain, for instance, leveraging the chain’s global reach, while a cheaper recipe for a food item will merely drive customers away, said Dacus.

“This business in Japan has been built on innovation,” he said.

While declining to comment on U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies, he acknowledged buyers will likely tighten their purse strings in a slowdown.

The answer is to be the first choice for where they shop, Dacus said, noting that his mother and Japanese relatives he watched growing up never wasted anything. They would wrap leftover dinner rolls at restaurants in paper to take home, he recalled.

“If you want to talk to some tough customers, you go talk to my aunts,” he said.

“Japanese customers are incredibly demanding. That’s something that really resonates with me. And that forms the way I think about retail.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg via Getty Images

X Corp., the social media platform owned by Trump adviser Elon Musk, is challenging the constitutionality of a Minnesota ban on using deepfakes to influence elections and harm candidates, saying it violates First Amendment speech protections.

The company's federal lawsuit filed this week also contends that the 2023 state law is preempted by a 1996 federal statute that shields social media from being held responsible for material posted on their platforms.

“While the law's reference to banning ‘deep fakes’ might sound benign, in reality it would criminalize innocuous, election-related speech, including humor, and make social-media platforms criminally liable for censoring such speech," the company said in a statement. “Instead of defending democracy, this law would erode it.”

Minnesota's law imposes criminal penalties — including jail time — for disseminating a deepfake video, image or audio if a person knows it's fake, or acts with reckless disregard to its authenticity, either within 90 days before a party nominating convention, or after the start of early voting in a primary or general election.

It says the intent must be to injure a candidate or influence an election result. And it defines deepfakes as material so realistic that a reasonable person would believe it's real, and generated by artificial intelligence or other technical means.

“Elon Musk funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into the 2024 presidential election and tried to buy a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat," said the law's author, Democratic state Sen. Erin Maye Quade.

"Of course he is upset that Minnesota law prevents him from spreading deepfakes that meant to harm candidates and influence elections. Minnesota’s law is clear and precise, while this lawsuit is petty, misguided and a waste of the Attorney General Office’s time and resources,” her statement said.

Democratic Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison's office, which is legally obligated to defend the constitutionality of state laws in court, said in a statement that it's “reviewing the lawsuit and will respond in the appropriate time and manner.”

The Minnesota law was already the subject of a constitutional challenge by Christopher Kohls, a content creator, and GOP state Rep. Mary Franson, who likes to post AI-generated parodies of politicians. That case is on hold while they appeal to overturn a judge's denial of their request to suspend the law.

The attorney general's office argues in that case that deepfakes are a real and growing threat to free elections and democratic institutions, that the law is a legitimate and constitutional response to the problem, and that it contains important limitations on its scope that protect satire and parody.

X, formerly known as Twitter, said it's the only social media platform challenging the Minnesota law, and that it has also challenged other laws it considers infringements of free speech, such as a 2024 California political deepfakes law that a judge has blocked.

X said in its statement that its “Community Notes” feature allows users to flag content they consider problematic, and that it's been adopted by Facebook, YouTube and TikTok. The company's lawsuit said its “Authenticity Policy” and “Grok AI” tool provide additional safeguards.

Alan Rozenshtein, a University of Minnesota law professor and expert on technology law, said in an interview Friday that it's important to separate the free-speech issues from whatever one thinks about the controversial Musk.

“I'm almost positive that this will be struck down,” Rozenshtein said.

There's no exception under the First Amendment for false or misleading political speech, even lies, he said. And the potential for criminal penalties gives social media companies like X and Facebook “an incentive to take down anything that might be a deepfake. ... You're going to censor a massive amount to comply with this law.”

Deepfakes aren't good, but it would be nice to get evidence that they're causing actual problems before imposing such limits on free speech, the professor said. And while it's easy to focus on the supply of misinformation, the large demand for it is the problem.

“People want to be fooled, and it's very bad for our democracy, but it’s not something I think can be solved with a deepfakes ban," he said.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© AP Photo/Alex Brandon

President Donald Trump can't stop contradicting himself on his own tariff plans.

He says he's on a path to cut several new trade deals in a few weeks — but has also suggested it's “physically impossible" to hold all the needed meetings.

Trump has said he will simply set new tariff rates negotiated internally within the U.S. government over the next few weeks — although he already did that on his April 2 “Liberation Day,” which caused the world economy to shudder.

The Republican president says he's actively negotiating with the Chinese government on tariffs — while the Chinese and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have said talks have yet to start.

What should one believe? The sure bet is that uncertainty will persist in ways that employers and consumers alike expect to damage the economy and that leave foreign leaders scratching their heads in bewilderment.

And the consequences of all this tariffs turmoil are enormous.

Trump placed tariffs totaling 145% on China, leading China to retaliate with tariffs of 125% on the U.S. — essentially triggering a trade war between the world's two largest economies with the potential to bring on a recession.

Trump's negotiating trade deals with himself

The president told Time magazine in an interview released Friday that 20%, 30% or 50% tariffs a year from now would be a “total victory,” even though a financial market panic led him to temporarily reduce his baseline import taxes to 10% for 90 days while talks take place.

“The deal is a deal that I choose,” Trump said in the interview. “What I’m doing is I will, at a certain point in the not too distant future, I will set a fair price of tariffs for different countries.”

If that is confusing for the nation's trading partners, it's also sowing anxiety at home.

The Federal Reserve’s beige book, a compilation of anecdotes from U.S. businesses prepared eight times a year, on Wednesday reported a huge spike in uncertainty among American companies that has caused them to pull back on hiring and investment in new projects. The word “uncertainty” cropped up 80 times, compared with 45 in early March and just 14 in January.

Beyond the idea that Trump plans to keep some level of tariffs in place, the world finance ministers and corporate executives who gathered this past week in Washington for the International Monetary Fund conference said in private discussions that the Trump administration was providing no real clarity on its goals for substantive talks.

"There’s not a coherent strategy at the moment on what the tariffs are supposed to achieve," said Josh Lipsky, senior director of the GeoEconomics Center at The Atlantic Council. “My conversations with the ministers and governors this week at the IMF meetings have been they don’t understand completely what the White House wants, nor who they should be negotiating with.”

Other countries trying to get talks going

Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter, in an interview with broadcaster SRF released Friday, said after a meeting with Bessent that Switzerland would be one of 15 countries with which the United States plans to conduct “privileged” negotiations. But she said a memorandum of understanding would have to be reached for talks to formally begin.

She was happy to at least know whom to talk to, saying that “we have also been assigned a specific contact person. This is not easy in the U.S. administration.”

Nations are deploying various negotiating tactics.

The South Korean officials who met with their U.S. counterparts this week say they specifically asked for the tariffs to be lifted with the goal of working toward an agreement by July. The European Union has pushed for cutting tariffs to zero for both parties, though Trump objects to European countries charging a value-added tax, which is akin to a sales tax that he says hurts U.S. goods.

Trump continues to radiate optimism that negotiated deals with other countries will occur despite his claims that he will set his own deals and a lack of clarity about how the process goes forward.

“I’m getting along very well with Japan,” Trump told reporters on Friday. “We’re very close to a deal.”

As part of a deal with Japan, the Trump administration has publicly called on the Japanese government to change its auto safety standards that put a greater focus on pedestrian safety. But the steering wheels on autos sold in Japan are on the right-hand side, while U.S. automakers put their steering wheels on the left.

“I don’t think left-hand drive cars sell in Japan,” Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told a parliamentary session this week.

“We want to make sure we aren’t seen as being unfair,” Ishiba said, suggesting a possibility of reviewing Japanese car safety standards.

Higher prices and shortages are likely

As Trump continues to make conflicting statements about tariffs, companies are actively looking at higher prices, lower sales and possibly bare shelves in stores due to fewer shipments from China.

Ryan Petersen, CEO of Flexport, a supply chain company, said on the social media site X: “In the 3 weeks since the tariffs took effect, ocean container bookings from China to the United States are down over 60% industry wide.”

Consumers are getting notices via email and social media from retailers that lamps, furniture and other housewares will now include tariff-related charges.

The showerhead company Afina on Wednesday reported on a test to see if people would buy an American-made product that cost more than an import. Their Chinese-made filtered showerhead retails for $129, but to manufacture the same product domestically would take the price up to $239.

When customers on the company's website were given a choice between a showerhead made in the USA or a cheaper one made in Asia, there were 584 purchases of the $129 model made abroad and not one sale of the domestically produced showerhead.

Ramon van Meer, Afina's founder, concluded in his written analysis: “If policymakers and pundits want to rebuild American industry, they need to grapple with this truth: idealism doesn’t always survive contact with a price tag.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Luigi Mangione pleaded not guilty Friday to a federal murder charge in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson as prosecutors formally declared their intent to seek the death penalty against him.

Mangione, 26, stood with his lawyers as he entered the plea, leaning forward toward a microphone as U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett asked him if understood the indictment and the charges against him.

Mangione said, “yes.” Asked how he wished to plead, Mangione said simply, “not guilty" and sat down.

Mangione’s arraignment for the killing last December attracted several dozen people to the federal courthouse in Manhattan, including former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, who served about seven years in prison for stealing classified diplomatic cables.

Mangione, who has been held in a federal jail in Brooklyn since his arrest, arrived to court in a mustard-colored jail suit. He chatted with one of his lawyers, death penalty counsel Avi Moskowitz, as they wanted for the arraignment to begin.

Late Thursday night, federal prosecutors filed a required notice of their intent to seek the death penalty.

That came weeks after U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that she would be directing federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for what she called “an act of political violence" and a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.”

It was the first time the Justice Department said it was pursuing capital punishment since President Donald Trump returned to office Jan. 20 with a vow to resume federal executions after they were halted under the previous administration.

Mangione’s lawyers have argued that Bondi’s announcement was a “political stunt” that corrupted the grand jury process and deprived him of his constitutional right to due process. They had sought to block prosecutors from seeking the death penalty.

Mangione’s federal indictment includes a charge of murder through use of a firearm, which carries the possibility of the death penalty. The indictment, which mirrors a criminal complaint brought after Mangione’s arrest also charges him with stalking and a gun offense.

Mangione, an Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family, faces separate federal and state murder charges after authorities say he gunned down Thompson, 50, outside a Manhattan hotel on Dec. 4 as the executive arrived for UnitedHealthcare’s annual investor conference.

The state murder charges carry a maximum punishment of life in prison.

Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting Thompson from behind. Police say the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were scrawled on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase commonly used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.

The killing and ensuing five-day search leading to Mangione’s arrest rattled the business community, with some health insurers deleting photos of executives from their websites and switching to online shareholder meetings. At the same time, some health insurance critics have rallied around Mangione as a stand-in for frustrations over coverage denials and hefty medical bills.

Prosecutors have said the two cases will proceed on parallel tracks, with the state case expected to go to trial first, but Mangione lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo said his defense team would seek to have the federal case take precedent because it involves the death penalty.

Mangione was arrested Dec. 9 in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of New York City and whisked to Manhattan by plane and helicopter.

Police said Mangione had a 9mm handgun that matched the one used in the shooting and other items including a notebook in which they say he expressed hostility toward the health insurance industry and wealthy executives.

Among the entries, prosecutors said, was one from August 2024 that said “the target is insurance” because “it checks every box” and one from October that describes an intent to “wack” an insurance company CEO. UnitedHealthcare, the largest U.S. health insurer, has said Mangione was never a client.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — Disgraced former U.S. Rep. George Santos, who lied about his life story and defrauded donors, arrived Friday at a federal court to face sentencing.

The New York Republican, who served in Congress for barely a year before his House colleagues ousted him in 2023, pleaded guilty last summer to federal wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

He admitted to deceiving donors and stealing the identities of nearly a dozen people, including his family members, to fund his winning campaign. As part of a plea deal, Santos has agreed to pay roughly $580,000 in penalties in addition to prison time.

The 36-year-old didn't respond to reporters' shouted questions as he walked into a Long Island courthouse, but he told The Associated Press on Thursday that he’s resigned to his fate.

“I’m doing as well as any human being would be doing given the circumstances,” Santos wrote in a text message on Thursday, adding that he was “ready to face the music.”

Prosecutors are seeking seven years in federal prison for Santos, arguing in recent court filings that he “remains unrepentant” and has not shown genuine remorse, despite what he claims.

They cite recent comments Santos has made on social media in which he casts himself as a victim of prosecutorial overreach.

In a letter to the court this week, Santos stressed that he remains “profoundly sorry” for his crimes but said prosecutors' proposed sentence is too harsh.

Santos’ lawyers have called for a two-year prison stint, which is the mandatory minimum sentence for aggravated identity theft.

They argue such a penalty is comparable to sentences handed to former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and other political figures convicted of similar financial crimes.

Santos was elected in 2022, flipping a wealthy district representing parts of Queens and Long Island for the GOP.

Soon after, it was revealed that the political unknown had fabricated much of his life story, painting himself as a successful business owner who worked at prestigious Wall Street firms and held a valuable real estate portfolio.

In reality, Santos was struggling financially and even faced eviction. The revelations led to congressional and criminal inquiries into how he had funded his campaign.

As his sentencing approached, Santos was reflective in social media posts, thanking his supporters and detractors alike.

“I learned that no matter left, right or, center we are all humans and for the most part Americans (LOL) and we have one super power that I cherish and that is compassion,” he wrote Thursday on the social platform X. “To the trolls… well you guys are an impactful part of how people shape themselves, and y’all made me much stronger and made my skin thicker!”

He also made one final plug for his Cameo account, where he records personalized video messages for $100.

“Think ahead and of any celebration or event coming up later this year. Book them today,” Santos wrote, ending the post with a series of heart emojis.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© Yuki Iwamura / Bloomberg—Getty Images

President Donald Trump is badgering the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, but even if the Fed gave in to the pressure, it wouldn't necessarily lead to lower borrowing costs for consumers.

In fact, economists say, Trump's ongoing attacks on Fed Chair Jerome Powell and his tariff policies could keep the longer-term interest rates that matter for consumers and businesses higher than they otherwise would be. A less-independent Fed can lead, over time, to higher borrowing costs, as investors worry that inflation may spike in the future. As a result they demand higher yields to own Treasury securities.

Trump has repeatedly urged Powell to cut the short-term interest rate that the central bank controls. The Fed typically reduces its rate during an economic downturn to encourage more borrowing and spending, and raises it to cool the economy and fight inflation when prices rise.

But long-term rates on things like mortgages, auto loans, and credit cards are largely set by market forces. And in recent weeks, fears that Trump's sweeping tariffs could raise inflation, along with the administration's threats to the Fed's independence, have led markets to push those longer term rates higher. It's not clear that the Fed can fully reverse those trends by itself.

“It’s not automatically true that even if the Fed were to cut rates, that you would see a measured decline in long-term interest rates,” Francesco Bianchi, an economist at Johns Hopkins University, said. “This kind of pressure on the Fed might backfire...if markets don't believe the Fed has inflation under control."

Trump renewed calls on Wednesday and Thursday for Powell to reduce the Fed's short-term rate, telling reporters that the chair is “making a mistake” by not doing so.

And last week, Trump suggested he could fire Powell, while a top aide said that the White House was “studying” whether it could do so.

Stock markets plunged in response, the yield on the 10-year Treasury bond rose, and the dollar fell, an unusual combination that suggested investors were selling most American assets. Markets recovered those losses after Trump said on Tuesday that he had “no intention” of firing the Fed chair.

Still, the threats to the Fed's independence unnerved Wall Street investors, because they see a Fed free from political pressure as critical to keeping inflation in check. An independent Fed can take unpopular steps, such as raising rates, to fight inflation.

“Threatening the Fed doesn’t soothe markets — it spooks them,” said Lauren Goodwin, chief market strategist at New York Life Investments. “And the result is often the opposite of what any administration wants to see: higher rates, weaker confidence, and more market turmoil.”

Since Trump began imposing tariffs in early March, when he slapped duties on Canada and Mexico, the 10-year Treasury yield has risen from 4.15% to about 4.3%. The yield is a benchmark for mortgage rates and other borrowing. Mortgage rates, in turn, have increased during that time, from 6.6% to 6.8%.

While Trump says he is negotiating over tariffs with many countries, most economists expect some level of duties to remain in place for at least this year, including his 10% duties on nearly all imports.

The 10-year yield did fall Thursday when two Federal Reserve officials said that rate cuts are possible as soon as this summer, should the economy falter and unemployment rise.

Yet last fall, longer-term interest rates also fell in anticipation of rate cuts, but then rose once the Fed cut in September and then continued to rise as the central bank reduced its rate again in November — two days after the election — and in December. Mortgage rates are now higher than they were when the Fed cut.

A range of factors can affect longer-term Treasury rates, including expectations for future growth and inflation, as well as the supply and demand for government bonds. Bianchi worries that stubbornly high government budget deficits — which are financed by trillions of dollars of Treasurys — could also lift long-term rates.

Should the Fed cut rates now, llonger-term borrowing costs “would move in the opposite direction, absolutely,” Goodwin said, “because the threat of inflation is so palpable -- that move would call their credibility into question."

Trump said in a social media post this week that there is “virtually No Inflation” and as a result, the Fed should lower its key rate, from its current level of about 4.3%. Many economists expect the central bank will do so this year. But Powell has underscored that the central bank wants to evaluate the impact of Trump's policies before making any moves.

Inflation has fallen in recent months, dropping to 2.4% in March, the lowest level since last September. Yet excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core inflation was 2.8%. Core prices often provide a better signal of where inflation is headed.

A key issue for the Fed is that the economy is very different now than it was during Trump's first term. Back then inflation was actually below the Fed's target. At that time, it was a “no-brainer” to cut rates, Bianchi said, if there was a threat of a recession, because inflation wasn't an issue.

But now, tariffs will almost certainly lift prices in the coming months, at least temporarily. That raises the bar much higher for a Fed rate cut, Bianchi said.

Still, once there are clear signs the economy is deteriorating, such as a rising unemployment rate, the Fed will cut rates, regardless of what Trump does, economists said.

Trump on Monday accused Powell of often being “too late” with his rate decisions, but ironically the Fed may move more slowly this time because of the threat of higher prices from tariffs. Without clear evidence of a downturn, Fed officials would worry about being seen as giving in to political pressure from Trump if they cut.

“Powell knows the irreparable damage that would occur if it was perceived that he cut because he was forced to by Trump,” said Tom Porcelli, chief U.S. economist at PGIM Fixed Income.

The Fed now “will be even more delayed because I think you’re going get more of an inflation lift initially, before you get the more pronounced slowing in growth," Porcelli said.

Either way it may take more than a Fed cut or two to bring down longer-term borrowing costs, Bianchi said.

“To really lower long-term rates you need to provide a stable macroeconomic environment, and right now we are not there yet," he added.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Why not tax the millionaires?

As Congress begins drafting a massive package for President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” with trillions of dollars in tax breaks and federal program cuts, it’s a question that won’t seem to go away.

Trump himself has mused he'd “love” to tax wealthier Americans a little bit more, but the Republican president has also repeatedly walked it back. This week, the president dismissed a tax hike as “disruptive” when asked about it at the White House.

But still it swirls.

And it’s setting up a potential showdown between the old guard of the Republican Party, which sees almost any tax hike as contrary to the GOP goal of slashing government, and its rising populist-nationalists, who view a millionaire's tax as championing working-class voters who helped deliver the White House.

“Bring it, baby,” said former Trump strategist Stephen Bannon on his podcast.

Think of it as Bannon on the one side, versus Newt Gingrich, anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist and others on the other — a debate that once seemed unfathomable for Republicans who have spent generations working to lower taxes and reduce the scope of the federal government.

“I don’t think we’re raising taxes on anybody,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said this week on Fox News Channel.

Johnson said there have been lots of ideas thrown out but the Republicans are working against the idea of a tax on millionaires. “I’m not in favor of raising the tax rates because our party is the group that stands against that, traditionally,” he said.

This spring and summer, the Republican-led Congress is determined to make progress on the package, which is central to the party’s domestic policy agenda. It revolves around extending many of the GOP tax cuts that Congress approved in 2017, during Trump’s first term, but are expiring later this year.

As it stands, the top individual tax rate is now 37%, on annual incomes above $611,000 for single filers and $767,000 for married couples. If Congress fails to act, that rate is set to revert to what it was before the 2017 tax law, 39.6%, on top filers.

It seems impossible that Republicans in Congress will purposefully wade into the debate. They are striving to keep all the existing tax brackets in place, while adding new tax breaks the president campaigned on during the 2024 election — including no taxes on tips, Social Security income, overtime pay and others. It's a potentially $5 trillion-plus package.

But the Bannon wing is working to force the issue, saying it’s time to raise that top rate on the wealthier households, at least $1 million and above.

Sounding at times more like progressive Democrats, Bannon's flank sees a tax hike as a way not only to ensure wealthy Americans pay their fair share but to generate federal revenue. With federal debt at $36 trillion, they say it can help counter annual deficits that cannot be offset by budget cuts alone.

“The current system we have is not sustainable,” Bannon said at Semafor’s World Economy Summit on Wednesday in Washington. “You have to go to an alternative. I think the alternative is budget cuts. And … it has to be tax increases on the wealthy.”

That’s drawing fierce blowback from the traditional tax-cutters, who have gone into overdrive, warning of nothing short of a political shattering of GOP orthodoxy, and the party itself, if Republicans entertain the idea.

“Madness,” Gingrich, the former Republican House speaker, told Fox News’ Larry Kudlow.

Gingrich warns of a George Bush-style political implosion similar to his “Read my lips: No new taxes” pledge, which contributed to his failed 1992 presidential reelection bid.

“It would be a disaster,” Gingrich said.

Trump appears to be weighing the arguments, sending mixed messages about what he prefers.

“Newt is quite possibly right on this,” the president said in a note Gingrich said he received from the president and reposted Tuesday on social media.

“While I love the idea of a small increase,” Trump said in the note, “the Democrats would probably use it against us, and we would be, like Bush, helpless to do anything about it.”

Trump went on to counsel that if they can do without it, they're probably better off. “We don't need to be the ‘READ MY LIPS’ gang who lost an election,” he posted.

Asked about a tax hike on millionaires Wednesday in the Oval Office, Trump was more definitive.

“I think it would be very disruptive,” he said, suggesting wealthy Americans would simply leave the country, rather than pay the higher tax, and end up costing in lost revenues.

Yet in a Time magazine interview posted Friday, Trump said of a millionaires' tax: “I actually love the concept, but I don’t want it to be used against me politically.”

As Republicans in Congress work behind the scenes crafting the tax bill — and at least $1.5 trillion in government spending cuts to help cover the lost revenues — it seems highly unlikely enough of them would agree to a tax hike.

Most of the congressional Republicans have signed a no-taxes pledge from Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform group, even as others signal some interest.

With Democrats prepared to oppose the package altogether because of its expected steep cuts to federal programs, the Republicans will need to keep all their lawmakers in line if they hope to pass the bill through the House and the Senate with their narrow majorities.

Yet, as Republicans are scrounging for ways to pay for their tax bill, they face potential resistance within their own ranks to reductions in Medicaid, food stamps or other federal programs.

Even an accounting measure preferred by the Senate Republicans, which would count the 2017 tax breaks as current policy rather than a new one requiring an offset, still comes up short for covering the full price tag of the new package, which could swell beyond $5 trillion over 10 years.

Setting the new top rate at about 40% for those earning $1 million or above would bring in some $300 billion in revenue over the decade, analysts have said.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s handling of immigration remains a point of strength as he takes wide-ranging actions to ramp up deportations and target people in the U.S. illegally, according to a new poll.

The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that 46% of U.S. adults approve of Trump’s handling of immigration, which is nearly 10 percentage points higher than his approval rating on the economy and trade with other countries.

While Trump’s actions remain divisive, there’s less of a consensus that the Republican president has overstepped on immigration than on other issues. Still, there’s little appetite for an even tougher approach. About half of Americans say he’s “gone too far” when it comes to deporting immigrants in the U.S. illegally. They’re divided on the deportation of Venezuelan immigrants who are accused of being gang members to El Salvador, and more oppose than support revoking foreign students’ visas over their participation in pro-Palestinian activism.

Here’s what the poll shows about how Americans are viewing the Trump administration’s actions on immigration.

Immigration is a point of strength for Trump, particularly with Republicans

Immigration was a major factor for voters in last November’s election, particularly for Trump’s supporters, and they were more open to tough stances on the issue than they’d been four years earlier. And even though many of Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts are currently mired in battles with federal judges, it’s remained an issue of relative strength in the court of public opinion.

Similar to an AP-NORC poll conducted in March, nearly half of Americans approve of Trump’s immigration approach, while about 4 in 10 approve of how he’s handling the presidency.

This higher approval on immigration comes primarily from Republicans. About 8 in 10 Republicans approve of Trump’s handling of immigration, higher than the roughly 7 in 10 Republicans who approve of how he’s handling the economy or trade negotiations with other countries.

Other groups are less enthusiastic about Trump’s approach. About 4 in 10 independents and only about 2 in 10 Democrats approve of Trump on immigration.

Relatively few Americans are concerned they’ll know someone who is directly affected by increased immigration enforcement, according to the poll. About 2 in 10 Americans say they are “extremely” or “very” concerned that they or someone they know will be directly affected.

Democrats are more likely than Republicans to worry they’ll be affected, and Hispanic adults are more likely than white or Black adults to be concerned.

About half say Trump has ‘gone too far’ on deportations

About half of Americans say Trump has “gone too far” when it comes to deporting immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. About one-third say his approach has been “about right,” and about 2 in 10 say he’s not gone far enough.

They’re unhappier, generally, with how he’s approaching trade negotiations. About 6 in 10 say he’s “gone too far” in imposing new tariffs on other countries.

There is not a strong desire for more aggressive action on immigration, though, even among the people who approve of what’s Trump doing. Among the Americans who approve of how Trump is handling immigration, about 6 in 10 say his approach has been “about right,” and roughly 3 in 10 say he hasn’t gone far enough.

Americans are split on sending Venezuelans to El Salvador but oppose revoking student visas

There is a deep divide on whether and how the Trump administration should undertake large-scale deportations, according to the survey, which was conducted in mid-April, while Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., was on a trip to El Salvador to demand the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported there in what officials later described as an “administrative error.”

The poll found that 38% of Americans favor deporting all immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, down slightly from an AP-NORC poll conducted just before Trump took office in January. About the same share of Americans are opposed, and about 2 in 10 are neutral.

The findings are very similar for Trump’s policy of sending Venezuelan immigrants in the U.S. who authorities say are gang members to a prison in El Salvador.

But the public is more opposed, broadly, to revoking foreign students’ visas over their participation in pro-Palestinian activism, which has emerged as another flashpoint.

About half of U.S. adults oppose this, and about 3 in 10 are in support. This action is particularly unpopular among Americans with a college degree. About 6 in 10 strongly or somewhat oppose it, compared with about 4 in 10 Americans who aren’t college graduates.

___

The AP-NORC poll of 1,260 adults was conducted April 17-21, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© Jacquelyn Martin—AP Photo

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The FBI on Friday arrested a Milwaukee judge accused of helping a man evade immigration authorities, escalating a clash between the Trump administration and the judiciary over the Republican president’s sweeping immigration crackdown.

FBI Director Kash Patel announced on social media the arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan, who he said “intentionally misdirected” federal agents away from a man they were trying to take into custody at her courthouse.

“Thankfully our agents chased down the perp on foot and he’s been in custody since, but the Judge’s obstruction created increased danger to the public,” Patel wrote.

The arrest comes amid a growing feud between the Trump administration and the judiciary over the White House’s immigration enforcement policies. The Justice Department had previously signaled that it was going to crack down on local officials who thwart federal immigration efforts.

Court documents detailing the case against the judge were not immediately available, and the Justice Department didn't immediately have a comment Friday.

A person answering the phone Friday at Dugan’s office said he could not comment. The Associated Press left an email and voicemail Friday morning seeking comment from Milwaukee County Courts Chief Judge Carl Ashley.

The Justice Department in January ordered prosecutors to investigate for potential criminal charges against state and local officials who obstruct or impede federal functions. As potential avenues for prosecution, a memo cited a conspiracy offense as well as a law prohibiting the harboring of people in the country illegally.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© Alex Brandon—AP Photo

The Swiss president says Switzerland is among 15 countries with which the United States plans to conduct “privileged” negotiations to help reach a deal in the wake of sweeping U.S. tariffs on dozens of countries that have shaken global markets.

Karin Keller-Sutter, in an interview with broadcaster SRF published Friday, said she was “satisfied” with talks in Washington this week that included an International Monetary Fund conference and her one-on-one meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Keller-Sutter also serves as Switzerland’s finance minister.

“The United States has defined a group of 15 countries with which it wants to find ... a quick solution in this tariff question. Switzerland is part of this group of these 15 countries,” she told reporters separately late Thursday in Washington.

It was not immediately clear which 14 other countries were included, but she told SRF that “the U.S. envisages conducting — I would say somewhat privileged — negotiations and finding solutions” with that group.

Before the Trump administration paused some of its most stringent tariff plans, products imported from Switzerland had been set to face tariffs of 31% — more than the 20% tariffs on goods from the European Union. Switzerland is not a member of the 27-country bloc.

According to figures published by the Swiss Embassy in Washington, the U.S. has been Switzerland’s most important goods export market worldwide since 2021, while Switzerland is the fourth most important export market for U.S. services. The bilateral trade volume in goods and services between Switzerland and the U.S. reached a total of $185.9 billion in 2023, the embassy says on its website.

Keller-Sutter said a memorandum of understanding was to be drawn up after which negotiations can begin. A document would also lay out the most important topics, and “we have also been assigned a specific contact person. This is not easy in the U.S. administration,” she was quoted as saying.

“The U.S. authorities have clearly expressed their desire to find a solution with Switzerland,” Keller-Sutter told SRF. She said no timetable had been set, but the two sides agreed to move forward quickly “because uncertainty is poison for the economy.”

Trump’s sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs on April 2 set off turmoil in world stock markets. A week later, Trump spoke by phone with Keller-Sutter in a conversation that her office said focused on tariffs. She emphasized the “important role of Swiss companies and investments" in the U.S.

Hours later, Trump announced the U-turn that paused the steep new tariffs on about 60 countries for 90 days, fanning speculation — which was not confirmed — in some Swiss media that her chat with Trump might have played a role in the change of course.

On Thursday, Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis, during a trip to Beijing, said the U.S. tariffs have thrust the affected countries into “a sort of coalition” to try to reach a deal with the United States. And on Monday, Swiss pharmaceuticals giant Roche announced plans to invest $50 billion in the U.S. over the next five years — an unspecified amount of which has already been under way.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© Hollie Adams/Bloomberg via Getty Images

A federal judge on Thursday blocked Trump administration directives that threatened to cut federal funding for public schools with diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by the National Education Association and the American Civil Liberties Union, which accused the Republican administration of giving “unconstitutionally vague” guidance and violating teachers’ First Amendment rights.

A second judge in Maryland on Thursday postponed the effective date of some U.S. Education Department anti-DEI guidance, and a third judge in Washington, D.C., blocked another provision from taking effect.

In February, the department told schools and colleges they needed to end any practice that differentiates people based on their race. Earlier this month, it ordered states to gather signatures from local school systems certifying compliance with civil rights laws, including the rejection of what the federal government calls “illegal DEI practices.”

The directives do not carry the force of law but threaten to use civil rights enforcement to rid schools of DEI practices. Schools were warned that continuing such practices “in violation of federal law” could lead to U.S. Justice Department litigation and a termination of federal grants and contracts.

U.S. District Court Judge Landya McCafferty in New Hampshire said the April letter does not make clear what the department believes a DEI program entails or when it believes such programs cross the line into violating civil rights law. “The Letter does not even define what a ‘DEI program’ is,” McCafferty wrote.

The judge also said there is reason to believe the department's actions amount to a violation of teachers' free speech rights.

“A professor runs afoul of the 2025 Letter if she expresses the view in her teaching that structural racism exists in America, but does not do so if she denies structural racism’s existence. That is textbook viewpoint discrimination,” McCafferty wrote.

An Education Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

States were given until the end of Thursday to submit certification of their schools’ compliance, but some have indicated they would not comply with the order. Education officials in some Democratic-led states have said the administration is overstepping its authority and that there is nothing illegal about DEI.

The Feb. 14 memo from the department, formally known as a “Dear Colleague” letter, said schools have promoted DEI efforts at the expense of white and Asian American students. It dramatically expands the interpretation of a 2023 Supreme Court decision barring the use of race in college admissions to all aspects of education, including, hiring, promotion, scholarships, housing, graduation ceremonies and campus life.

In the ruling in Maryland, U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher postponed that memo. She found it was improperly issued and forces teachers to choose between “being injured through suppressing their speech or through facing enforcement for exercising their constitutional rights.” That suit was filed by the American Federation of Teachers, one of the nation's largest teachers' unions.

“The court agreed that this vague and clearly unconstitutional requirement is a grave attack on students, our profession, honest history and knowledge itself,” Randi Weingarten, president of the AFT, said in a statement.

A judge in Washington, D.C., granted a preliminary injunction against the certification letter after the NAACP argued it failed to identify specific DEI practices that would run afoul of the law.

All three lawsuits argue that the guidance limits academic freedom and is so vague it leaves schools and educators in limbo about what they may do, such as whether voluntary student groups for minority students are still allowed.

The April directive asked states to collect the certification form from local school districts and also sign it on behalf of the state, giving assurance that schools are in compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

President Donald Trump’s education secretary, Linda McMahon, has warned of potential funding cuts if states do not return the form by Friday.

In a Tuesday interview on the Fox Business Network, McMahon said states that refuse to sign could “risk some defunding in their districts.” The purpose of the form is “to make sure there’s no discrimination that’s happening in any of the schools,” she said.

Schools and states are already required to give assurances to that effect in separate paperwork, but the new form adds language on DEI, warning that using diversity programs to discriminate can bring funding cuts, fines and other penalties.

The form threatens schools’ access to Title I, the largest source of federal revenue for K-12 education and a lifeline for schools in low-income areas.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© Alex Brandon—AP

Houthi rebels in Yemen have shot down seven U.S. Reaper drones in less than six weeks, a loss of aircraft worth more than $200 million in what is becoming the most dramatic cost to the Pentagon of the military campaign against the Iran-backed militants.

According to defense officials, three of the drones were shot down in the past week — suggesting the militants' targeting of the unmanned aircraft flying over Yemen has improved. The drones were doing attack runs or conducting surveillance, and they crashed both into the water and onto land, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.

The U.S. has increased its attacks on the Houthis, launching daily strikes since March 15, when President Donald Trump ordered a new, expanded campaign. He promised to use “overwhelming lethal force” until the Houthis cease their attacks on shipping along a vital maritime corridor.

Central Command spokesman Dave Eastburn said Thursday night that the U.S. has struck more than 800 Houthi targets. “These strikes have destroyed multiple command-and-control facilities, air defense systems, advanced weapons manufacturing facilities, advanced weapons storage locations, and killed hundreds of Houthi fighters and numerous Houthi leaders,” Eastburn said.

Another defense official said that although hostile fire is likely the cause of the drone losses, the incidents are still under investigation. The official noted that the increase in U.S. strikes can add to the risk to aircraft, but said the U.S. will take every measure possible to protect troops, equipment and interests in the region. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to comment on sensitive military issues.

The sophisticated drones, built by General Atomics, cost about $30 million each, and generally fly at altitudes of more than 40,000 feet (12,100 meters). Houthis leaders have consistently touted the strikes in public statements. One of the defense officials said the U.S. lost Reaper drones on March 31 and on April 3, 9, 13, 18, 19 and 22.

U.S. senators, meanwhile, are raising concerns about civilian casualties caused by the American strikes in Yemen. Democratic Sens. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Tim Kaine of Virginia wrote to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday questioning whether the Trump administration is “abandoning the measures necessary to meet its obligations to reducing civilian harm.”

Specifically, they questioned reports that U.S. strikes at the Ras Isa fuel terminal in Yemen last week potentially killed more than 70 civilians.

“Military leaders agree that ingraining civilian harm mitigation practices within U.S operations leads to better outcomes and that civilian casualties actually undermine the mission that the military has been sent in to do,” their letter said.

In addition to downing the drones, the Houthis have been persistently firing missiles and one-way attack drones at U.S. military ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. They haven't hit any.

The U.S. has been using an array of warships, fighter jets, bombers and drones to strike the Houthis, and aircraft can now launch from two Navy carriers in the region.

Hegseth decided in March to beef up the Navy warship presence in the Middle East, ordering the USS Harry S. Truman to extend its deployment there, as the USS Carl Vinson steamed toward the area.

The Truman, along with two of the destroyers and a cruiser in its strike group, is now in the Red Sea. And the Vinson, along with two destroyers and a cruiser, is in the Gulf of Aden.

The third destroyer assigned to the Truman is in the Mediterranean Sea. And two other U.S. Navy destroyers are in the Red Sea, but aren't part of the Truman's group.

Hegseth is weighing whether to grant a request by U.S. Central Command to once again extend the Truman's deployment. A decision to do that could keep the Truman and at least some of its strike group in the region for several more weeks.

It has been rare in recent years for the U.S. to have two aircraft carriers in the Middle East at the same time. Navy leaders have generally been opposed to the idea because it disrupts ship maintenance schedules and delays time at home for sailors strained by the unusually high combat tempo.

Last year, the Biden administration ordered the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier to remain in the Red Sea for an extended time, as U.S. warships waged the most intense running sea battle since World War II.

Prior to that it had been years since the U.S. had committed that much warship power to the Middle East.

The Houthis have been waging persistent missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in the region in what the group's leadership has described as an effort to end the Israeli war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

From November 2023 until this January, the Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors. That has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees $1 trillion of goods move through it annually.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© Osamah Abdulrahman—AP