Trump expresses hope Russia's war in Ukraine is nearing an endgame as he meets with France's Macron
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump expressed hope that Russia's war in Ukraine is nearing an endgame as he met Monday with French President Emmanuel Macron on the third anniversary of the invasion. But France's leader cautioned that it's crucial that any potential agreement with Moscow does not amount to surrender for Ukraine.
Their talks come at a moment of deep uncertainty about the future of transatlantic relations, with Trump transforming American foreign policy and effectively tuning out European leadership as he looks to quickly end the war in Ukraine.
While Macron and Trump made nice at the White House, their countries were at loggerheads at the United Nations over resolutions describing Russia as the aggressor in the war.
In broad comments on the state of the conflict, Trump said he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin would accept European peacekeepers in Ukraine.
“Yeah, he will accept it,” Trump told reporters. “I have asked him that question. Look, if we do this deal, he’s not looking for more war.”
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US refuses to blame Russia for Ukraine war, splitting with European allies in UN votes
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — In a dramatic shift in transatlantic relations under President Donald Trump, the United States split with its European allies by refusing to blame Russia for its invasion of Ukraine in votes on three U.N. resolutions Monday seeking an end to the three-year war.
The growing divide follows Trump’s decision to open direct negotiations with Russia on ending the war, dismaying Ukraine and its European supporters by excluding them from the preliminary talks last week.
In the U.N. General Assembly, the U.S. joined Russia in voting against a Europe-backed Ukrainian resolution that calls out Moscow’s aggression and demands an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops.
The U.S. then abstained from voting on its own competing resolution after Europeans. led by France, succeeded in amending it to make clear Russia was the aggressor. The voting was taking place on the third anniversary of Russia's invasion and as Trump was hosting French President Emmanuel Macron in Washington.
It was a major setback for the Trump administration in the 193-member world body, whose resolutions are not legally binding but are seen as a barometer of world opinion.
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Trump says Canada and Mexico tariffs are 'going forward' with more import taxes to come
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Monday that his tariffs on Canada and Mexico are starting next month, ending a monthlong suspension on the planned import taxes that could potentially hurt economic growth and worsen inflation.
“We’re on time with the tariffs, and it seems like that’s moving along very rapidly,” the U.S. president said at a White House news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron.
While Trump was answering a specific question about the taxes to be charged on America's two largest trading partners, the U.S. president also stressed more broadly that his intended “reciprocal” tariffs were on schedule to begin as soon as April.
“The tariffs are going forward on time, on schedule,” Trump said.
Trump has claimed that other countries charge unfair import taxes that have come at the expense of domestic manufacturing and jobs. His near constant threats of tariffs have already raised concerns among businesses and consumers about an economic slowdown and accelerating inflation. But Trump claims that the import taxes would ultimately generate revenues to reduce the federal budget deficit and new jobs for workers.
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Pope Francis shows slight improvement and resumes some work, while still critical, Vatican says
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis remained in critical condition Monday but showed slight improvement in laboratory tests and resumed some work, the Vatican said, including calling a parish in Gaza City that he has kept in touch with since the war there began.
The Vatican’s evening bulletin was more upbeat than in recent days, as the 88-year-old Francis battles pneumonia in both lungs at Rome's Gemelli hospital. It was issued shortly before the Vatican's No. 2 led the faithful in a somber night-time recitation of the Rosary prayer in St. Peter's Square that evoked the vigils when St. John Paul II was dying.
“For 2,000 years the Christian people have prayed for the pope when he was in danger or sick," Cardinal Pietro Parolin told the rain-dappled piazza. Standing on the same stage where Francis usually presides, Parolin said ever since Francis had been hospitalized, a chorus of prayers for his recovery had swelled up from around the world.
“Starting this evening, we want to unite ourselves publicly to this prayer here, in his house,” Parolin said, praying that Francis “in this moment of illness and trial" would recover quickly.
The Argentine pope, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, has been hospitalized since Feb. 14 and doctors have said his condition is touch-and-go, given his age, fragility and pre-existing lung disease.
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The fragile ceasefire in Gaza faces a key deadline. Will it last?
The first phase of the ceasefire that paused 15 months of brutal warfare between Israel and Hamas militants is set to end on Saturday — and it's unclear what comes next.
The two sides were supposed to start negotiating a second phase weeks ago in which Hamas would release all the remaining hostages from its Oct. 7, 2023, attack, which triggered the war, in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
But those negotiations have not begun — there have only been preparatory talks — and the first phase has been jolted by one dispute after another.
Hamas has freed all 25 living hostages included in the first six-week phase ending on March 1 in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. It has also released the bodies of four captives and is expected to turn over four more, though it's unclear if that will happen Thursday as planned.
That leaves it with more than 60 captives, around half of whom are believed to be dead. Israel has meanwhile delayed the release of some 600 Palestinian prisoners who were supposed to be freed last weekend over the treatment of the captives, who were paraded before crowds.
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Hegseth says he fired the top military lawyers because they weren't well suited for the jobs
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday that he was replacing the top lawyers for the military services because he didn't think they were “well-suited” to provide recommendations when lawful orders are given.
Speaking at the start of a meeting with Saudi Arabia's defense minister, Hegseth refused to answer a question about why the Trump administration has selected a retired general to be the next Joint Chiefs chairman, when he doesn't meet the legal qualifications for the job.
President Donald Trump on Friday abruptly fired the chairman, Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr., and Hegseth followed that by firing Navy Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the chief of naval operations, and Air Force Gen. James Slife, the vice chief of the Air Force. He also said he was “requesting nominations” for the jobs of judge advocate general, or JAG, for the Army, Navy and Air Force.
He did not identify the lawyers by name. The Navy JAG, Vice Adm. Christopher French, retired about two months ago, and there was already an ongoing effort to seek a replacement. The Army JAG, Lt. Gen. Joseph B. Berger III, and Air Force JAG, Lt. Gen. Charles Plummer, were fired.
The removals — which came without any specified reasons in terms of their conduct — sent a new wave of apprehension through the Pentagon. And they added to the broader confusion over the changing parameters of Elon Musk’s demand that federal employees provide recent job accomplishments by the end of Monday or risk getting fired, even though government officials later said the edict is voluntary.
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The FBI's new deputy director is a popular podcaster — who has had plenty to say about the agency
NEW YORK (AP) — The popular right-wing podcaster Dan Bongino has built a career of unleashing sometimes inflammatory rants against the media, Democrats and the federal government.
Now, the 50-year-old former New York police officer and U.S. Secret Service agent will return to the government he has so often criticized as President Donald Trump’s selection for deputy FBI director. He said Monday he'll soon leave his daily show to take on the new role.
Bongino, who will serve under FBI Director Kash Patel, does not have any experience at the premier federal law enforcement agency. Nonetheless, he has strong opinions about how it should be run.
A sampling of Bongino’s podcast commentary from the past year reveals he’s a loyalist to Patel and wants to see sweeping changes, from clearing the bureau of anyone he views as inappropriately political to redirecting investigations away from domestic extremism.
Here's a closer look at how Bongino views the FBI, in his own words:
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Federal workers return to offices amid threat from Elon Musk
Federal employees across the country, many of whom have worked from home since the COVID-19 pandemic, were back at agency offices Monday under President Donald Trump’s return-to-office mandate.
Billionaire Elon Musk, who is leading Trump's Department of Government Efficiency scouring government agencies for suspected waste, delivered a warning Monday to workers on his platform X.
“Starting this week, those who still fail to return to office will be placed on administrative leave,” Musk wrote.
Lee Zeldin, Trump's new administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said Monday on X, formerly Twitter, “Full-time, COVID-era remote work is DONE under @POTUS leadership.”
In a video he posted, Zeldin said average attendance at EPA headquarters on Mondays and Fridays last year was less than 9% of employees.
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In Rome, talks to protect Earth's biodiversity resume with money topping the agenda
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — An annual United Nations conference on biodiversity that ran out of time last year will resume its work Tuesday in Rome with money at the top of the agenda.
That is, how to spend what's been pledged so far — and how to raise a lot more to help preserve plant and animal life on Earth.
The talks in Colombia known as COP16 yielded some significant outcomes before they broke up in November, including an agreement that requires companies that benefit from genetic resources in nature — say, by developing medicines from rainforest plants — to share the benefits. And steps were taken to give Indigenous peoples and local communities a stronger voice in conservation matters.
But two weeks turned out to be not enough time to get everything done.
The Cali talks followed the historic 2022 COP15 accord in Montreal, which included 23 measures aimed at protecting biodiversity. Those included putting 30% of the planet and 30% of degraded ecosystems under protection by 2030, known as the Global Biodiversity Framework.
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Roberta Flack, Grammy-winning ‘Killing Me Softly’ singer with an intimate style, dies at 88
NEW YORK (AP) — Roberta Flack, the Grammy-winning singer and pianist whose intimate vocal and musical style made her one of the top recordings artists of the 1970s and an influential performer long after, died Monday. She was 88.
She died at home surrounded by her family, publicist Elaine Schock said in a statement. Flack announced in 2022 she had ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, and could no longer sing,
Little known before her early 30s, Flack became an overnight star after Clint Eastwood used “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” as the soundtrack for one of cinema’s more memorable and explicit love scenes, between the actor and Donna Mills in his 1971 film “Play Misty for Me.” The hushed, hymn-like ballad, with Flack’s graceful soprano afloat on a bed of soft strings and piano, topped the Billboard pop chart in 1972 and received a Grammy for record of the year.
“The record label wanted to have it re-recorded with a faster tempo, but he said he wanted it exactly as it was,” Flack told The Associated Press in 2018. “With the song as a theme song for his movie, it gained a lot of popularity and then took off.”
In 1973, she matched both achievements with “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” becoming the first artist to win consecutive Grammys for best record.
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