A national redistricting battle over U.S. House seats swung toward Republicans on Friday, as a Virginia court invalidated a Democratic gerrymandering effort and Republicans in Alabama approved plans for new primary elections if courts allow GOP-drawn House districts to be used in the November midterm elections.

The Alabama legislation, which was signed quickly into law by Republican Gov. Kay Ivey, is part of an effort by Republicans in Southern states to capitalize on a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that significantly weakened Voting Rights Act protections for minorities.

At the Alabama Statehouse, a chaotic scene erupted as one protester was dragged from the packed House gallery by security officers. Republican lawmakers in Louisiana and South Carolina also faced staunch opposition from civil rights activists and Democrats as they presented plans Friday to redraw their congressional districts.

The action came just a day after Tennessee enacted new congressional districts that carve up a Democratic-held, Black-majority district in Memphis. The state Democratic Party sued on Friday, seeking to prevent the districts from being used until after this year's elections because of the tight time frame

Even before last week's Supreme Court ruling in a Louisiana case, Republicans and Democrats already were engaged in a fierce redistricting battle, each seeking an edge in the midterm elections that will determine control of the closely divided House. That battle tilted further toward Republicans when the Virginia Supreme Court ruled Friday that Democratic lawmakers had violated constitutional requirements when placing a redistricting amendment on the ballot.

Since President Donald Trump prodded Texas to redraw its congressional districts last summer, Republicans think they could gain as many as 14 seats from new districts in several states while Democrats think they could gain up to six seats. But the parties may not get everything they sought, because the gerrymandering could backfire in some highly competitive districts.

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Alabama primaries could be in flux

Demonstrators outside the Alabama Statehouse on Friday shouted fight for democracy and down with white supremacy.

I was out there in 1965 marching for the right to vote, and now we are back here in 2026 doing the same thing, Betty White Boynton said.

During debate inside the statehouse, Black lawmakers said the Republican legislation harks back to the states shameful Jim Crow history. The new law would ignore the May 19 primary results for some congressional seats and direct the governor to schedule a new primary under revised districts, if a court allows it. Lawmakers also approved a similar bill related to state Senate districts.

What happened here today is that we were set back as a people to the days of Reconstruction, Democratic state Sen. Rodger Smitherman said after the vote.

Senate Democrats shouted hell no and stop the steal as senators voted.

The special primary would happen only if the courts agree to lift an injunction that put a court-selected map in place until after the 2030 census. That order required a second district where Black voters are the majority or close to it, resulting in the 2024 election of Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures, who is Black. If a court lifts the injunction, Republican officials want to put in place a map lawmakers drew in 2023 which was rejected by a federal court that could allow them to reclaim Figures district.

With this special session successfully behind us, Alabama now stands ready to quickly act, should the courts issue favorable rulings in our ongoing redistricting cases," Ivey said in a statement.

Virginia ruling centered on timing of election

Democrats had hoped to gain as many as four additional U.S. House seats under new districts narrowly approved by voters in April. But the state Supreme Court invalidated the measure because it said the Democratic-led legislature violated procedural requirements.

To place a constitutional amendment before voters, the Virginia Constitution requires lawmakers to approve it in two separate legislative sessions, with a state election sandwiched in between. The legislatures initial approval of the redistricting amendment occurred last October while early voting was underway but before it concluded for the general election. The legislatures second vote on the amendment occurred after a new legislative session began in January.

The state Supreme Court said the initial legislative approval came too late, noting that more than 1.3 million ballots already had been cast, about 40% of the total votes ultimately cast.

Louisiana lawmakers look at map options

A Louisiana Senate committee considered several redistricting options Friday from Republican state Sen. John Jay Morris that would eliminate either both or one of the current Black-majority U.S. House districts.

Every one of these maps reduces Black voting power in every one of the districts. And I think thats a problem, Democratic state Sen. Sam Jenkins told Morris.

Morris denied that the proposed redistricting maps were racially discriminatory. He said his goal was to be respectful of the traditional boundaries of the states six congressional districts.

I dont think we should care that much about race, Morris said.

The only four Black congressmen who have represented Louisiana since the end of the Reconstruction era appealed to state senators to keep two majority-Black districts in a state where one-third of voters are Black.

Leona Tate said she was escorted as a 6-year-old girl by federal marshals through a racist white mob trying to prevent her from desegregating a New Orleans elementary school. She told lawmakers she felt they were taking a step backward in time by reducing Black political power.

You have a choice in front of you: You can draw a map that reflects what Louisiana actually is -- a state where Black voices belong in the halls of Congress," said Tate, 71. "Or you can draw a map that tells my grandchildren that their votes dont count, that their faces dont matter and that the progress I helped build with my own two feet as a 6-year-old can be erased at will.

South Carolina considers a House map

South Carolina lawmakers held a rare Friday meeting to discuss a proposed new congressional map intended to allow Republicans a clean sweep of the states seven U.S. House seats.

The House hearing was the first step in redistricting. But its future remains murky. The state Senate has yet to agree to consider new districts later this month, an action that requires a two-thirds vote.

The new map has some Republicans nervous. Breaking up the 6th District, represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, makes the other six districts less Republican.

At Fridays subcommittee meeting, lawmakers heard hours of testimony, almost all against the new map. The hearing included a consultant who reviewed the map, saying it appeared to be legal under the Supreme Court's decision in the Louisiana case.

I agree if the law allows us to do it, then we can do It, Democratic state Rep. Justin Bamberg said. But I can slap somebodys mama and its not the right thing to do.

Some absentee ballots already have been returned for the state's June 9 primary elections. The legislative subcommittee advanced a plan to delay the congressional primary to August and reopen a candidate filing period, if a new map is approved.

California families welcoming newborns will soon receive hundreds of free diapers before leaving the hospital under a first-in-the-nation program announced Friday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

During the programs first year, it will be offered at about 65 to 75 hospitals that handle about a quarter of births in the state and largely serve low-income patients, Newsom's office said. The initiative will expand to more hospitals statewide, though the governor's office did not say how many. The state has partnered with nonprofit Baby2Baby to manufacture the diapers under the label Golden State Start.

Newsom said the plan builds on California's effort to make living in the notoriously expensive state a little easier for families. He highlighted policies in recent years to provide students with free meals at school and make preschool free for all.

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Every baby born in California deserves a healthy start in life and that means making sure parents have the basics they need from day one, the Democrat said in a statement.

The state set aside $7.4 million in last year's budget to roll out the initiative, and this year's budget proposal includes an additional $12.5 million to implement the program for the upcoming fiscal year ending in June 2027.

It will allow each family to receive 400 diapers in sizes for newborns and babies up to 14 pounds (6 kilograms) when they are discharged from a hospital after birth. That's a little more than a months worth, since newborns on average require eight to 10 diapers a day.

Baby2Baby provides families in need with essential items. The nonprofit built a manufacturing system that allows them to produce diapers for 80% less than the retail price, co-CEO Kelly Sawyer Patricof said.

California is once again setting the standard of what it means to show up for mothers and babies, added co-CEO Norah Weinstein.

The announcement comes two years after Tennessee and Delaware became the first U.S. states to offer free diapers to families enrolled in their Medicaid programs, which provide healthcare to low-income families. Tennessee families can go to pharmacies to pick up 100 diapers per month for children under two. The Delaware program, which began as a pilot before the state extended it in 2024, provides individuals with up to 80 diapers and up to one pack of baby wipes per week in the first 12 weeks of life.

California's Medicaid system doesn't cover diapers for newborns, but it does cover the items for enrollees ages 5 and older if they have a medical need for them.

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Diapers are a large, ongoing expense for many families. They typically spend about $100 a month on the items per child, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank. The cost burden can lead some parents to leave their child's diapers on for too long or reuse disposable diapers, which can result in rashes and urinary tract infections, the center says.

California officials are touting the new effort as a way to ease that financial strain.

The first days at home with a newborn should be focused on the love, connection, and joy of an expanded family, not stress about affording diapers, said Kim Johnson, the state's health secretary. This program helps ensure families can begin that journey with greater stability and peace of mind.

The NFL and the NFL Referees Association agreed Friday on a new seven-year collective bargaining agreement that avoids a potential work stoppage and use of replacement officials.

The agreement, which was approved by the union's board of directors and ratified by a vote of the membership, runs through the 2032 NFL season.

We see this new CBA as a partnership with the league that benefits our membership but also seeks to make our game better. It is good to get these negotiations behind us so we can focus on preparing for the 2026 season, union President Carl Cheffers said.

The NFLs collective bargaining agreement with the referees association had been set to expire on May 31, and the two sides began negotiating in the summer of 2024.

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The league began the onboarding process for replacement officials last month because negotiations werent progressing. But they wont be necessary.

The league and the union said in a joint statement that the deal covers a wide range of issues including economics, performance and accountability.

This agreement is a testament to the joint commitment of the league and union to invest in and improve officiating, said Troy Vincent, NFL executive vice president of football operations. It also speaks to the game officials relentless pursuit of improvement and officiating excellence. We look forward to working together for the betterment of the game.

Detailed terms weren't released.

But two people with knowledge of the offer told The Associated Press in March that the NFL had increased its offer to a 6.45% annual growth rate in compensation over a six-year labor deal.

A stalemate in 2012 resulted in a 110-day lockout and replacement referees were used.

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That led to several high-profile mistakes, including the Fail Mary when Russell Wilson completed a desperation pass to Golden Tate in the closing seconds to lift Seattle over Green Bay in a Monday night game. Tate pushed off so he shouldve been penalized for offensive pass interference. He appeared to wrestle the ball away from a Packers defender and was given credit for a catch even though two officials had called it differently.

There werent as many glaring errors when the NFL also used replacement officials for one week of exhibition games and the opening week in 2001 before the labor dispute was resolved shortly after 9/11, and the regular officials returned in time when the season resumed following a one-week break.

The Trump administration's cancellation of more than $100 million in humanities grants to scholars, writers, research groups and other organizations was unconstitutional, and the Department of Government Efficiency had no authority to end the funding, a federal judge in New York ruled on Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon in Manhattan sided with The Authors Guild, several other groups and several people who had their grants canceled and sued DOGE and the National Endowment for the Humanities. McMahon permanently barred the administration from terminating the grants and criticized DOGE's use of artificial intelligence in nixing the funding.

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Government lawyers had argued that the cuts of more than 1,400 grants of congressionally approved funds were legal moves to implement President Donald Trump's directives, eliminate grants associated with diversion, equity and inclusion and reduce discretionary spending under the administration's priorities.

The White House and Department of Justice, which defended against the lawsuit, did not immediately return emails seeking comment Thursday evening. It was not immediately clear if an appeal was planned.

McMahon said the government violated the First Amendment and the Fifth Amendment's equal protection right, and DOGE did not have the lawful authority to cancel the grants. She wrote, for example, that it was a textbook example of unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination when officials canceled the grants based on DEI.

The public interest favors permanent relief, McMahon wrote in her ruling. The public has a strong interest in ensuring that federal officials act within the bounds set by Congress and the Constitution.

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Several groups that sued the government, including the American Council of Learned Societies, American Historical Association and Modern Language Association, hailed the decision in a joint statement.

This ruling in an important achievement in our effort to restore the NEHs ability to fulfill the vital mission with which Congress charged it: helping to create and sustain a climate encouraging freedom of thought, imagination, and inquiry through the humanities, said Sarah Weicksel, executive director of the American Historical Association.

Yinka Ezekiel Onayemi, an attorney for the Authors Guild, called the grant cancellations a direct assault on constitutional free speech and equal protection.

Were pleased with the Courts decision, which vindicates our clients: the brilliant academics, writers, and institutions doing work that is deeply important to our democracy, Onayemi said in a statement. It also reaffirms that Congresss 60 year old commitment to the humanities cannot be dismantled by an overreaching executive.

The judge scrutinized how government officials classified grant projects as DEI and used ChatGPT to target them for funding cuts. In one case, she said officials, using the AI platform, labeled as DEI an anthology titled In the Shadow of the Holocaust: Short Fiction by Jewish Writers from the Soviet Union. She also listed numerous other examples.

McMahon also rejected the government's argument that there was no constitutional problem because any viewpoint classification was ChatGPT's doing, and not the government's.

ChatGPT was the Governments chosen instrument for purposes of this project, and DOGEs use of AI to identify DEI-related material neither excuses presumptively unconstitutional conduct nor gives the Government carte blanche to engage in it, she wrote.

The grant cancellations were announced in April 2025, three months after Trump issued an executive order titled Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing. In February 2025, Trump issued another executive order implementing DOGE's cost efficiency initiative.

Michael McDonald, then the acting chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, sent letters to grant recipients informing them that their grants were canceled.

In a letter to one organization on April 1, 2025, he wrote, The NEH has reasonable cause to terminate your grant in light of the fact that the NEH is repurposing its funding allocations in a new direction in furtherance of the Presidents agenda.

Many of the canceled grants were awarded during the Biden administration, and only about 40 grants awarded by that administration were spared from the cuts, the judge wrote.

McMahon wrote that while a new administration may pursue lawful funding priorities, it has no license to suppress disfavored ideas.

In a temporary block of the grant cancellations issued last year that raised First Amendment and other issues, the judge said the defendants terminated the grants based on the recipients perceived viewpoint, in an effort to drive such views out of the marketplace of ideas."

The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday struck down a voter-approved Democratic congressional redistricting plan, delivering another major setback to the party in a nationwide battle against Republicans for an edge in this year's midterm elections.

The court ruled that the state's Democratic-led legislature violated procedural requirements when it placed the constitutional amendment on the ballot to authorize the mid-decade redistricting. Voters narrowly approved the amendment April 21, but the court's ruling renders the results of that vote meaningless.

This violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void, the court said in its opinion.

Democrats had hoped to win as many as four additional U.S. House seats under Virginia's redrawn U.S. House map as part of an attempt to offset Republican redistricting done elsewhere at the urging of President Donald Trump. That ruling, combined with a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision severely weakening the Voting Rights Act, has supercharged the Republicans' congressional gerrymandering advantage heading into this year's midterm elections.

Legislative voting districts typically are redrawn once a decade after each census to account for population changes. But Trump started an unusual flurry of mid-decade redistricting last year when he encouraged Republican officials in Texas to redraw districts in a bid to win several additional U.S. House seats and hold on to their party's narrow majority in the midterm elections.

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California responded with new voter-approved districts drawn to Democrats' advantage, and Utah's top court imposed a new congressional map that also helps Democrats. Meanwhile, Republicans stand to gain from new House districts passed in Florida, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio and Tennessee. They could add even more after the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in the Voting Rights Act case, which has prompted some other Republican states to consider redrawing their maps in time for this years elections.

Virginia currently is represented in the U.S. House by six Democrats and five Republicans who were elected from districts imposed by a court after a bipartisan redistricting commission failed to agree on a map after the 2020 census. The new districts could have given Democrats an improved chance to win all but one of the state's 11 congressional seats.

Under the Demcoratic-drawn map, five districts would have been anchored in the Democratic stronghold of northern Virginia, including one stretching out like a lobster to consume Republican-leaning rural areas. Revisions to four other districts across Richmond, southern Virginia and Hampton Roads would have diluted the voting power of conservative blocs in those areas. And a reshaped district in parts of western Virginia would have lumped together three Democratic-leaning college towns to offset other Republican voters.

The state Supreme Courts seven justices are appointed by the state legislature, which has toggled back and forth between Democratic, Republican and split control over recent years. Legal experts say the body doesnt have a set ideological profile

The case before the court focused not on the shape of the new districts but rather on the process the General Assembly used to authorize them.

Because the states redistricting commission was established by a voter-approved constitutional amendment, lawmakers had to propose an amendment to redraw the districts. That required approval of a resolution in two separate legislative sessions, with a state election sandwiched in between, to place the amendment on the ballot.

The legislatures initial approval of the amendment occurred last October while early voting was underway but before it concluded on the day of the general election. The legislatures second vote on the amendment occurred after a new legislative session began in January. Lawmakers also approved a separate bill in February laying out the new districts, subject to voter approval of the constitutional amendment.

Judicial arguments focused on whether the legislatures initial approval of the amendment came too late, because early voting already had begun for the 2025 general election.

Attorney Matthew Seligman, who defended the legislature, argued that the election should be defined narrowly to mean the Tuesday of the general election. In that case, the legislatures first vote on the redistricting amendment occurred before the election and was constitutional, he told judges.

An attorney for the plaintiffs, Thomas McCarthy, argued that an election should be interpreted to cover the entire period during which people can cast ballots, which lasts several weeks in Virginia. If thats the case, he told justices, then the legislatures initial endorsement of the redistricting amendment came too late to comply with the state constitution.

In January, a judge in rural Tazewell County, in southwestern Virginia, ruled that lawmakers failed to follow their own rules for adding the redistricting amendment to a special session last fall. Circuit Judge Jack Hurley Jr. also ruled that lawmakers failed to initially approve the amendment before the public began voting in last years general election and that the state had failed to publish the amendment three months before the election, as required by law. As a result, he said, the amendment is invalid and void.

The Virginia Supreme Court placed Hurleys order on hold and allowed the redistricting vote to proceed before hearing arguments on the case.

The Pentagon has begun releasing new files on UFOs, saying members of the public can draw their own conclusions on unidentified anomalous phenomena.

Besides the Pentagon, the effort is led by the White House, the director of national intelligence, the Energy Department, NASA and the FBI.

The Pentagon said Friday in a post on X that while past administrations sought to discredit or dissuade the American people, President Donald Trump is focused on providing maximum transparency to the public, who can ultimately make up their own minds about the information contained in these files. The Pentagon says additional documents will be released on a rolling basis.

Trump, a Republican, has been teasing the announcement since February. He has previously released records related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. that revealed little beyond what was already known.

The Pentagon has been working on declassifying documents related to UFOs for years, and Congress created an office in 2022 to declassify material. Its 2024 debut report revealed hundreds of new UAP incidents but found no evidence that the U.S. government had ever confirmed a sighting of alien technology.

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Congress ordered the Pentagon to begin releasing decades of files on UFO sightings in 2022 as some members of the military shared encounters with unexplained aircraft.

A small group of Republicans in Congress has pressed for further transparency, accusing the Pentagon of holding documents back. A March letter from Rep. Anna Paulina Luna demanded 46 UAP videos identified by whistleblowers. On social media on Friday, Luna said those videos are expected to be released in a later Pentagon release.

Rep. Tim Burchett thanked Trump for keeping his word on transparency and disclosure.

I would like to remind people that transparency wont all happen at once, it will take some time, Burchett said in a statement.

Experts have urged caution around the release of the new files, warning that UAP videos are often misinterpreted and mischaracterized by those unfamiliar with advanced military technology. The Pentagons 2024 report rebutted claims that the U.S. government has recovered alien technology or confirmed evidence of alien life.

Americas employers a delivered a surprising 115,000 new jobs last month despite an economic shock from the Iran war.

Hiring was better than the 65,000 forecasters had expected, though it decelerated from the 185,000 jobs created in March. The unemployment rate remained at a low 4.3%.

The Iran war has caused the biggest disruption of global oil supplies in history and sent average U.S. gasoline prices surging past $4.50 a gallon this week. But the conflict hasnt done much damage to the American job market so far.

Healthcare added 37,000 jobs last month and transportation and warehousing companies 30,000. However, manufacturers cut 2,000 jobs in April and have shed 66,000 jobs over the past year despite President Donald Trumps protectionist policies aimed at creating factory jobs.

Labor Department revisions shaved 16,000 jobs from February and March payrolls.

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Average hourly earnings rose 0.2% from March and 3.6% from April 2025, consistent with the Federal Reserves 2% inflation target.

The number of people in the U.S. labor force dropped last month, and the share of those working or looking for work the so-called labor force participation rate dropped to 61.8%, lowest since October 2021.

Baby Boomer retirements and Trumps immigration crackdown mean that fewer people are competing for work and that the economy doesnt need to generate as many jobs as it used to.

Matthew Martin of Oxford Economics says the so-called break-even point the number of new jobs required each month to keep the unemployment rate from rising is now near zero.

After the U.S. and Israel launched their attacks Feb. 28, Iran shut down the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the worlds oil and liquefied natural gas passes. The disruption has caused a painful increase in the price of energy and led many economists to downgrade their estimates for global and U.S. economic growth.

But the fallout isnt showing up yet in the U.S. job market.

Payroll processor ADP reported Wednesday that private employers added a solid 109,000 jobs in April. The ADP figure isn't a reliable guide to what the Labor Department will report Friday but the pace of hiring it showed was the fastest since January 2025. And on Tuesday the Labor Department reported that a measure of gross hiring before subtracting those who left or lost their jobs was stronger in March than it had been in more than two years.

The economy is getting a boost from big tax refund checks this spring, arising from Trumps tax cut legislation last year; the refunds allow consumers to spend more freely, giving companies an incentive to add workers in response to rising sales.

The job market is showing intermittent signs of recovery after a bleak 2025. Employers last year created just 9,700 jobs a month, fewest outside a recession year since 2002. High interest rates and uncertainty over Trumps economic policies held back hiring.

There's been progress this year, but it's been uneven strong growth (160,000 new jobs) in January, March (185,000) and April's 115,000 and one bad month (employers cut 156,000 jobs in February).

U.S. hiring, though, has been dominated by one industry: Healthcare companies, catering to an aging American population, have added 456,000 jobs over the past year; other employers have combined to cut 205,000 over the 12 months that ended in April.

Still, Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, noted that last month's job gains extended beyond healthcare. Retailers, for example, added 22,000 jobs and construction companies 9,000.

Americas hiring recession appears to be over,'' she wrote. "Average job gains in 2025 were an anemic 10,000 a month. So far in 2026, the average is 76,000. The bad news is inflation is eating up wage gains again. Wages grew at 3.6%. That certainly wont be enough at a time when inflation is expected to hit 4%. Americans still have jobs, but they are financially squeezed by surging gas prices and transportation costs.

The jobs data will likely keep the Federal Reserve on the sidelines, as it holds its key rate unchanged while evaluating the economic impact of the Iran war. Fed officials are increasingly focused on inflation, which has risen quickly since the war, driven higher by spikes in gasoline prices.

Inflation jumped to 3.3% in March, a two-year high and far above the Feds target. The Fed typically keeps its rate unchanged -- or even raises it -- to combat inflation, while it cuts rates to spur more growth and hiring. Early this year many Fed policymakers were worried the job market was stalling and leaned toward rate cuts. But in more recent months hiring has stabilized, undermining the case for cuts.

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A system that thousands of schools and universities use to support instruction was back online Friday after it went down during a cyberattack that created chaos as students tried to study for final exams.

The hacking group named ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for the breach at Canvas, said Luke Connolly, a threat analyst at the cybersecurity firm Emisoft. Instructure, the company behind Canvas, said in an update late Thursday that the system was available for most users.

Canvas is used to manage grades, course notes, assignments, lecture videos and more. The hacking group posted online that nearly 9,000 schools worldwide were affected, with billions of private messages and other records accessed, Connolly said.

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Screen shots Connolly provided showed that the group began threatening Sunday to leak the trove of data. By Friday, Instructure and Canvas had been removed from a dedicated leak site created by the ransomware group on the dark web to publish stolen data.

Canvas went down Thursday at the worst possible time. Students quickly took to social media, with many panicking that they could no longer view course materials housed within the platform to study for their final exams.

Teachers said they were having to find workarounds to help students study for exams and submit final assignments. And some schools, such as the University of Texas at San Antonio, announced they were pushing back finals scheduled for Friday in response to the outage.

Schools like Princeton University turned to X late Thursday to announce Canvas appears to be available again and that information technology staff was monitoring the situation.

Rich in digitized data, the nations schools are prime targets for far-flung criminal hackers, who are assiduously locating and scooping up sensitive files that not long ago were committed to paper in locked cabinets. Past attacks have hit Minneapolis Public Schools and the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Instructure has not posted about the attack on its social media. The company didnt immediately respond to emails from The Associated Press asking whether it paid a ransom and inquiring about what happened with the compromised data.

Connolly said the Canvas attack is strikingly similar to a breach at PowerSchool, which also offers learning management tools. In that case a Massachusetts college student was charged.

Connolly described ShinyHunters as a loose affiliation of teenagers and young adults based in the U.S. and the United Kingdom. The group also has been tied to other attacks, including one aimed at Live Nations Ticketmaster subsidiary.

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A federal court ruled Thursday against the new global tariffs that President Donald Trump imposed after a stinging loss at the Supreme Court.

A split three-judge panel of the Court of International Trade in New York found the 10% global tariffs were illegal after small businesses sued.

The court ruled 2-1 that Trump overstepped the tariff power that Congress had allowed the president under the law. The tariffs are invalid and unauthorized by law, the majority wrote.

The third judge on the panel found the law allows the president more leeway on tariffs.

If the administration appeals Thursdays decision, as expected, it would first turn to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, based in Washington, and then, potentially, the Supreme Court.

At issue are temporary 10% worldwide tariffs the Trump administration imposed after the Supreme Court in February struck down even broader double-digit tariffs the president had imposed last year on almost every country on Earth. The new tariffs, invoked under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, were set to expire July 24.

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The courts decision directly blocked the collection of tariffs from three plaintiffs the state of Washington and two businesses, spice company Burlap & Barrel and toy company Basic Fun! Its not clear whether other businesses would have to continue to pay the tariffs, said Jeffrey Schwab, director of litigation at the libertarian Liberty Justice Center, which represented the two companies.

We fought back today and we won, and were extremely excited, Jay Foreman, CEO of Basic Fun!, told reporters Thursday.

The ruling marked another legal setback for the Trump administration, which has attempted to shield the U.S. economy behind a wall of import taxes. Last year, Trump invoked the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to declare the nation's longstanding trade deficit a national emergency, justifying sweeping global tariffs.

The Supreme Court ruled Feb. 28 that IEEPA did not authorize the tariffs. The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to establish taxes, including tariffs, though lawmakers can delegate tariff power to the president.

Dave Townsend, a trade lawyer at Dorsey & Whitney, said the ruling will open the door for more companies to request that the tariffs be thrown out and that any payments they've made be refunded.

Other importers likely will now ask for a broader remedy that applies to more companies, Townsend said, though he cautioned the case could also reach the Supreme Court.

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Trump is already taking steps to replace the tariffs that were struck down by the Supreme Court in January. The administration is conducting two investigations that could end in more tariffs.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is looking into whether 16 U.S. trading partners including China, the European Union and Japan are overproducing goods, driving down prices and putting U.S. manufacturers at a disadvantage. It is also investigating whether 60 economies from Nigeria to Norway and accounting for 99% of U.S. imports do enough to prohibit the trade in products created by forced labor.

The NCAA announced Thursday that it will expand its two March Madness tournaments by eight teams each next season, a long-expected move that will drop more games into the first week of the highly popular and lucrative showcase without substantially changing its overall form.

The new, 76-team brackets will jam eight extra games for a total of 12 involving 24 teams into the front half of the first week of the men's and the women's tournaments. It will turn whats now known as the First Four into a bigger affair that will now be called the March Madness Opening Round.

The 12 winners will move into the main 64-team bracket that will begin, as usual, on Thursday for the men and Friday for the women.

It is the first expansion of the tournaments in 15 years, when they were bumped to 68 teams each.

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The NCAA said it will distribute more than $131 million in new revenue to schools that make the tournament. That money will come via expanded TV advertising opportunities for alcohol, the likes of which were previously restricted. It said the value of the rights agreement will increase $50 million each year on average over the course of the six years.

Most of the eight new slots are expected to go to teams from the power conferences that were already commanding the lion's share of entries in the bracket. Two years ago, the Southeastern Conference placed a record 14 teams in the mens bracket. Last season, the Big Ten had nine.

Keith Gill, the chairman of the Division I men's basketball committee, called the expansion a nice way to create some access but make sure we have the bracket we all love when we start Thursday at noon.

The move is a product of the times, which includes massive expansion the Atlantic Coast Conference, for instance, has grown from nine to 17 teams since 1996 and the reality that mid-major schools with top-notch players will often see them plucked away by programs with bigger budgets and the ability to pay them through revenue sharing.

Cinderella? There will still be room for those stirring runs in the tournaments, though not a single mid-major advanced past the first weekend of either tournament the last two seasons.

This is hardly a concern of the decision-makers anymore, who will point to TV ratings that traditionally spell out fans preference for the likes of Duke and North Carolina over St. Peters and San Diego State, especially once the Sweet 16 starts.

What matters more to the biggest schools is that their teams have a chance to compete in what remains the best postseason in college sports and that they aren't iced out by lower conference champions who earn automatic bids.

Youve got some really, really good teams who are going to end up in that 9, 10, 11 (seed) category that I think should be moved into the 64-team bracket, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said last year in discussing how he favored expansion.

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Also, the money. The new beer and wine money will add to what the NCAA can distribute in units that are earned for placing teams in the bracket and then for every round those teams advance. Last year, that amounted to about $350,000 per unit for the mens tournament. The Big Ten made nearly $70 million from both tournaments, won by conference members Michigan (men) and UCLA (women).

Leaders in the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC have all acknowledged that smaller programs help make March Madness what it is, all the while steadily expanding their own power in NCAA decision-making. That brings with it the tacit threat of fracturing the single thing the NCAA does best the basketball tournament.

This move might forestall that. What it isn't expected to do is drastically change the TV deal beyond the advertising.

The current deal for the men's tournament is worth $8.8 billion and runs through 2032. Adding a few extra games between mid-level Power Four teams on Tuesday and Wednesday won't change that much.

One reason this took as long as it did was the NCAA negotiations with CBS and TNT, which themselves have been in negotiations over their own ownership.

The more drastic option of expanding the tournament to 96 teams or beyond would involve adding an extra week to a tournament that has thrived in part because of the symmetry of a six-round bracket that gets whittled down over three weeks.

That basic shell began in 1985, with only slight tweaks, the latest of which came in 2011 when it was upped to 68.

Republican lawmakers in Tennessee approved a new U.S. House map Thursday that carves up a majority-Black district in Memphis, reshaping it to the GOPs advantage as part of President Donald Trumps strategy to hold on to a slim majority in the November midterm elections.

Protesters shouted No Jim Crow outside the House and Senate chambers as lawmakers convened to consider the legislation. As the Republican-led House voted for the new map, Democratic lawmakers locked arms at the front of the chamber while protesters in the gallery yelled, chanted and blew air horns. Shouts from protesters who flooded the halls, where Tennessee state troopers held them back, could be heard inside both chambers.

The new map now goes to Republican Gov. Bill Lee, who called lawmakers into special session.

The NAACP on Thursday sued Gov. Lee and the state assembly, alleging the redistricting was unlawful. The group asks a judge to prevent the state government from moving forward with the redisctricting plan.

Tennessee is the first state to pass new congressional districts since a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last week significantly weakened federal Voting Rights Act protections for minorities. But more Southern states could follow. Republicans in Louisiana, Alabama and South Carolina also have taken steps toward redistricting.

The court ruled that Louisiana relied too heavily on race when creating a second Black-majority House district as it attempted to comply with federal law. The high court's decision altered a decades-old understanding of the law, giving Republicans grounds to try to eliminate majority-Black districts that have elected Democrats.

Louisiana has postponed its congressional primary to give time for state lawmakers to craft a new House map. Legislation awaiting a final vote in Alabama also would upend the states congressional primaries if courts allow the state to change its U.S. House districts. In South Carolina, meanwhile, Republican lawmakers urged on by Trump have taken initial steps to add congressional redistricting to their agenda.

READ MORE | Florida legislature approves new congressional map intended to boost Republicans in midterms

The states are the latest to join an already fierce national redistricting battle. Since Trump prodded Texas to redraw its U.S. House districts last year, eight states have adopted new congressional districts. From that, Republicans think they could gain as many as 13 seats while Democrats think they could gain up to 10. But some competitive races mean the parties may not get everything they sought in the November elections.

Tennessee Republicans act despite protests

As a first step to adopting new House districts, Tennessee lawmakers gave final approval Thursday to legislation quickly signed into law by Lee that repealed a state law prohibiting mid-decade redistricting. They then passed a bill that would reopen candidate qualifying until May 15 to allow time for new people to enter the U.S. House primaries and existing candidates to switch districts or drop out.

The proposed House map would break up Tennessees lone Democratic-held district, centered on the majority-Black city of Memphis, creating a ripple effect of alterations to districts throughout the western and central parts of the state. The geographically compact 9th District that includes Memphis currently represented by Steve Cohen, who is white would stretch a couple hundred miles eastward before reaching north toward the Nashville suburbs.

Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton said the proposed districts were drawn based on population and politics, not racial data.

But Democrats dismissed such assertions.

These maps are racist tools of white supremacy at the behest of the most powerful white supremacist in the United States of America, Donald J. Trump, said state Rep. Justin Pearson, a Black Democrat from Memphis who is running for the U.S. House.

Republican state Sen. John Stevens defended the new districts he sponsored by noting that Democrats in Illinois, Massachusetts and other states also had drawn congressional districts to their advantage.

This bill represents Tennessees attempt to maximize our partisan advantage, he said.

It does so at the expense of both Memphis residents and democracy, said Sen. London Lamar, a Democrat from Memphis.

You cannot take a majority Black city, fracture its voting power and then tell us race has nothing to do with it," she said.

Democrats noted that the state Supreme Court in April 2022 rejected a challenge to the current congressional map, finding it was too close to the election to make changes. This year, theres even less time before the Aug. 6 primary, raising the potential of confusion for both candidates and voters, Democrats said.

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A plan for a new primary advances in Alabama

Protesters watching an Alabama legislative committee Thursday erupted in shouts of shame as Republican lawmakers advanced legislation to authorize special congressional primaries if the state can put a new congressional map in place for the November midterms.

In the wake of the Supreme Court decision arising from Louisiana, Alabama is seeking to overturn a court injunction that created a second U.S. House district with a substantial percentage of Black voters. That map led to the 2024 election of Rep. Shomari Figures, a Black Democrat. Republicans want instead to use a 2023 map drawn by state lawmakers that would give the GOP an opportunity to reclaim Figures district.

If a court grants Alabama's request, the legislation under consideration would ignore the May 19 primary results for congressional seats and direct the governor to schedule a new primary under the revised districts.

The House passed the legislation on a party-line vote Thursday after four hours of fiery debate. A final vote in the Senate is expected Friday.

South Carolina may add redistricting to its agenda

The South Carolina Senate could take up a resolution Thursday giving lawmakers permission to return later, after their regular work ends, to redraw congressional districts that could eliminate the states only Democratic-held district. The proposal, which passed the House on Wednesday, needs a two-thirds vote in both chambers.

Republican House leaders said after the vote that they plan to introduce a new map Thursday and hold committee meetings on Friday. But during debate Wednesday, Republicans fended off specific questions from Democrats, including why they were willing to stop the June 9 U.S. House primary elections well after candidates filed and how much a rescheduled primary could cost.

Democratic Rep. Justin Bamberg said he felt sorry for Republicans who, he said, were giving up their principles to follow the whims of Trump.

The president of the United States is a very powerful man, wields a heavy, heavy thumb Truth Social, X, Meta, Instagram. To be honest, I dont envy our Republican colleagues, Bamberg said.

Whirlpool appeared to be in a prime position to thrive, producing about 80% of its major appliances at American factories at a time when President Donald Trump has emphasized domestic manufacturing jobs and more production at home.

This week, however, the company said that revenue dropped nearly 10% in its most recent quarter and sales of major appliances in North America tumbled 7%.

The company that also produces KitchenAid and Maytag products said that the Iran war has led to a recession-level industry decline" that has shaken consumer confidence.

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Whirlpool announced a 10% price hike in April, its largest in a decade, and said that a separate 4% price increase will happen in July to address multiyear inflationary cost pressures.

The company had absorbed the higher costs, choosing not to pass them on to customers, but that must change after the company posted a first quarter loss of $82 million, reversing last year's gains.

CEO Marc Bitzer said Thursday that the North American slide in sales has a precedent.

This level of industry decline is similar to what we have observed during the global financial crisis and even higher than during other recessionary periods, he said during a conference call.

Whirlpool said that its performance has been impacted by the Supreme Court's recent decision to strike down Trump's emergency tariffs. Rival appliance makers are seeking refunds to reduce the impact of those tariffs, disrupting pricing in the industry further.

The Benton Harbor, Michigan, company estimated that the tariff impact on its competitors was about 10% to 15%, while the impact on its business was around 5%, according to details in its earnings presentation.

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But with consumers already worried about high grocery prices and escalating gas prices, many are holding off on big-ticket purchases like major appliances and instead trying to make due with what they already have.

People are looking at the price of replacing appliances and realizing its not something they want to deal with right now, Mark Stevenson, managing director and product designer at Stove Shield, said in a statement. Instead, theyre asking how to avoid the damage in the first place.

Whirlpool also announced that it is slashing its full-year earnings forecast to a range of $3 to $3.50 per share, from its prior outlook of $6 per share. Its also suspending its dividend while it looks to reduce its debt this year.

Shares tumbled more than 12% Thursday.

A man has been arrested on suspicion of possessing an offensive weapon after reports that the former Prince Andrew was threatened by a masked man while walking dogs near his home.

Norfolk Constabulary said that the arrest came Wednesday evening after a man was reported behaving in an intimidating manner near the home of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in eastern England.

Officers attended, and the man was arrested on suspicion of a public order offense and possession of an offensive weapon, the force said.

The suspect is being held for questioning at a nearby police station. The term offensive weapons covers knives, truncheons and other items used to cause injury. Police didn't specify what type of weapon was involved.

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The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that a man wearing a ski mask ran toward the former royal while shouting abuse. It said the incident occurred near the Sandringham Estate while the former prince was out walking his dogs, and that Andrew and his protection officer got in their car and sped away.

Mountbatten-Windsor, the younger brother of King Charles III, moved to the kings private Sandringham Estate, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of London, after he was evicted from his longtime home near Windsor Castle and stripped of his royal title following revelations about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.

Andrew now lives at Marsh Farm, a property on the Sandringham estate, after leaving Royal Lodge last year.

He was arrested and held for hours by British police in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office in a case related to his links to Epstein, an extraordinary move in a country where authorities once sought to shield the royal family from embarrassment.

Police previously said they were assessing reports that Mountbatten-Windsor sent trade information to Epstein, a wealthy investor and convicted sex offender, in 2010, when the former prince was the United Kingdom's special envoy for international trade.

Correspondence between the two men was released by the U.S. Justice Department along with millions of pages of documents from the American investigation into Epstein.

Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo will not run in the Preakness Stakes next weekend, trainer Cherie DeVaux announced Wednesday.

DeVaux and owners decided to skip the Preakness and set their sights on the Belmont Stakes on June 6 at Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York. DeVaux, who became the first woman to train a Derby winner, is from Saratoga Springs, which is hosting the Belmont for a third and final time this year.

We are incredibly appreciative of the excitement and support surrounding the possibility of a Triple Crown run, DeVaux said in a statement. Golden gave us the race of a lifetime in the Kentucky Derby, and we believe the best decision for him moving forward is to give him a little more time following such a tremendous effort. His health, happiness and long-term future will always remain our top priority.

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Golden Tempo is the third Derby winner in the past five years not to be entered in the Preakness. For various reasons, it is the sixth time in eight years the Preakness will happen with no chance of a Triple Crown on the line. American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify in 2018 are the only horses to sweep all three races over the past four decades.

The two-week turnaround from the Derby to the Preakness, which used to be commonplace, is considered a nonstarter for many trainers and owners given that most elite thoroughbreds now typically go a month or more between races. It has caused endless debate in horse racing circles about the spacing of the Triple Crown in modern times.

Maryland racing officials are considering moving the Preakness back from the third Saturday in May to the fourth to increase the chances of not just the winner but other horses from the Derby being considered for the second leg of the Triple Crown. None of the 18 who ran this year at Churchill Downs are heading to the Preakness, with Golden Tempo the only one considered.

The Preakness is taking place at Laurel Park between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., this spring while its longtime home, Pimlico Race Course, is rebuilt as part of a massive construction project that included demolishing the debilitating old structure. Pimlico is set to become the site for year-round racing in Maryland beginning next year when the state takes control from 1/ST Racing, with Laurel becoming a training venue.

Golden Tempo won the Kentucky Derby as a 23-1 long shot in spectacular fashion, making a charge from the back of the pack down the stretch to the finish line a neck ahead of morning line favorite Renegade. DeVaux and co-owner Daisy Phipps Pulito said they would see how the colt came out of the race before making any decisions.

They followed the lead of trainer Bill Mott and Godolphin Racing, which last year chose to bypass the Preakness with Derby champion Sovereignty to give him extra rest for the Belmont. Sovereignty rewarded them by winning the Belmont and the Travers Stakes and is back racing as a 4-year-old.

Powerful storms that included at least one confirmed tornado tore through parts of Mississippi, damaging nearly 500 homes, tearing up trees and downing power lines, authorities said Thursday.

There were no immediate reports of deaths from the storms that struck several counties Wednesday night. At least 17 people were injured, according to Scott Simmons, a spokesperson for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

He said 12 of those hurt were transported from the Wash Trailer Park in the small community of Bogue Chitto, in Lincoln County.

The park was severely damaged.

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I was just watching TikTok on my bed and thought it was thunder. I went to my living room. I went back to my room, and the rooms gone, resident Max Mahaffey told WAPT-TV.

He said he wasn't injured, but his grandmother hurt her ankle and some of his neighbors suffered cuts and bruises.

The National Weather Service said a very large and dangerous tornado moved from eastern Lincoln County into Lawrence County.

Gov. Tate Reeves said multiple tornadoes were reported throughout the central and western parts of the state and that the state Emergency Management Agency was coordinating response efforts.

Pray for Mississippi, he posted online.

Emergency officials in Lincoln County said the severe weather caused major damage and several injuries, but no deaths.

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Damage assessments are ongoing, there are multiple roads blocked in the county we ask that you please refrain from sightseeing as crews are working, the emergency management department posted early Thursday.

The county reported at least 200 homes were damaged. Lamar County to the southeast reported about 275 homes damaged, according to the state emergency management agency. Another 10 to 12 homes were damaged in Lawrence County.

More storms were expected Thursday with the possibility of tornadoes across parts of Alabama, Georgia and Florida, the weather service said. Strong storms also were possible for parts of the Carolinas and Texas.

The Vatican raised the need to work tirelessly in favor of peace in talks Thursday with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who came to Rome on a fence-mending visit after President Donald Trumps criticisms of Pope Leo XIV over the Iran war.

Both the Vatican and the U.S. State Department stressed that Rubios meetings with Leo and the Vaticans top diplomat underscored strong bilateral ties. Those relations, though, have been strained over Trumps repeated broadsides about Leos calls for peace and dialogue to end the U.S.-Israeli war.

Rubio, a practicing Catholic, has often been called on to tone down or explain Trumps harsh rhetoric. He had an audience first with Leo, which was complicated at the last minute by Trumps latest criticism of the Chicago-born pope. During a 2-hour visit, Rubio then met with the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who on the eve of his visit had strongly defended Leo and criticized Trumps attacks.

Attacking him like that or criticizing what he does seems a bit strange to me, to say the least, Parolin said Wednesday.

After the meetings, the U.S. State Department said that Rubio and Parolin discussed ongoing humanitarian efforts in the Western Hemisphere and efforts to achieve a durable peace in the Middle East. The discussion reflected the enduring partnership between the United States and the Holy See in advancing religious freedom.

In a separate statement about the audience with Leo, U.S. State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said that the two discussed the situation in the Middle East and the Western Hemisphere. The meeting underscored the strong relationship between the United States and the Holy See and their shared commitment to promoting peace and human dignity, he said.

The Vatican, for its part, said that during Rubios meetings with both Leo and Parolin, the shared commitment to fostering good bilateral relations between the Holy See and the United States of America was reaffirmed.

It said the two sides exchanged views on the current events with particular attention to countries marked by war, political tensions, and difficult humanitarian situations, as well as on the need to work tirelessly in favor of peace.

Rubio also has meetings Friday with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani. Those meetings might not be much easier for Washingtons top diplomat, given both have strongly defended Leo against Trumps attacks and have criticized the Iran war as illegal drawing the presidents ire.

A mission to smooth ties

The tensions began when Trump lashed out at Leo on social media last month, saying the pope was soft on crime and terrorism for comments about the administrations immigration policies and deportations as well as the Iran war. Leo then said that God doesnt listen to the prayers of those who wage war.

RELATED STORY | Pope Leo XIV: Not in my interest to engage Trump over Iran war

Later, Trump posted a social media image appearing to liken himself to Jesus Christ, which was deleted after a backlash. He has refused to apologize to Leo and has sought to explain away the post by saying that he thought the image was a representation of him as a doctor.

Rubio said that Trumps recent criticisms of Leo were rooted in his opposition to Iran potentially obtaining a nuclear weapon, which he said could be used against millions of Catholics and other Christians.

Leo has never said Iran should obtain nuclear weapons and that the Catholic Church for years has spoken out against all nuclear weapons, so there is no doubt there.

The mission of the church is to preach the Gospel, to preach peace. If someone wants to criticize me for announcing the Gospel, let him do it with the truth, Leo said late Tuesday, after Trump again accused him of being OK with Iran having a nuclear weapon.

By Thursday, tensions seemed to have eased.

Rubio gave Leo a small crystal football paperweight. He acknowledged Leos known allegiance to the Chicago White Sox, saying youre a baseball guy, but noted that the football had the seal of the State Department on it.

What to get someone who has everything? Rubio joked as he gave Leo the paperweight.

Leo, for his part, gave Rubio a pen apparently made of olive wood olive being of course the plant of peace, Leo said with his coat of arms on it and a picture book of Vatican artworks.

Trump also has criticized Meloni and other NATO allies for a lack of support for the Iran war, recently announcing plans to withdraw thousands of American troops from Germany in the coming months.

Vatican seen as willing to have dialogue

Giampiero Gramaglia, former head of the ANSA news agency and its onetime Washington correspondent, said that he didnt expect much to come out of Rubio's visit for Italian or Vatican relations. He, and other Italian commentators, believe Rubio instead was looking to smooth over relations with the pope for his own political ambitions, as well as the upcoming midterm U.S. congressional elections and 2028 presidential race.

I doubt Rubio has the role of conciliator for Trump, he told Italy's Foreign Press Association. I have the perception that Rubios mission is more about himself and his political ambitions as a prominent Catholic Republican.

The Rev. Antonio Spadaro, undersecretary in the Vaticans culture office, said that Rubios mission wasnt to convert the pope to Trumps side. Rather, Washington has come to acknowledge implicitly but legibly that (Leos) voice carries weight in the world that cannot simply be dismissed.

The situation created by President Trumps remarks required a high-level, direct intervention, conducted in the proper language of diplomacy: a semantic corrective to a narrative of frontal conflict with the church, he wrote in an essay this week.

President Donald Trump's administration is placing economic sanctions on a major China-based oil refinery and roughly 40 shipping companies and tankers involved in transporting Iranian oil.

The move, announced Friday and first reported by The Associated Press, makes good on Trump's threat to impose secondary sanctions on companies and countries that do business with Iran. It's also part of his Republican administration's overall ramped-up campaign to cut off Iran's key source of revenue its oil exports.

Concurrently, the U.S. this month imposed a physical blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf waterway that is crucial to global energy supplies.

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The sanctions, which cut off the companies from the U.S. financial system and penalize anyone who does business with them, come just a few weeks before President Donald Trump and China's Xi Jinping are due to meet in China.

Included in Friday's sanctions is Hengli Petrochemical's facility in the port city of Dalian, which has a processing capacity of roughly 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day, making it one of the biggest independent refineries in China.

The Treasury Department says Hengli has received Iranian crude oil shipments since 2023 and has generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for the Iranian military.

The advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran said in February 2025 that Hengli is one of dozens of Chinese purchasers of Iranian oil.

China is the biggest buyer of Iranian oil, importing 80% to 90% of Iranian oil before the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran broke out, though the crude transported by a shadow fleet of vessels often has its origin obscured but arrives in China as oil from countries such as Malaysia. Smaller refineries, known as teapot refineries, typically are the buyers of Iranian oil.

Iran has previously said that its demands for ending the war include the lifting of sanctions.

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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday that his agency "will continue to constrict the network of vessels, intermediaries and buyers Iran relies on to move its oil to global markets."

Earlier this month, Bessent's department sent a letter to financial institutions in China, Hong Kong, the UAE and Oman threatening to levy secondary sanctions for doing business with Iran and accusing those countries of allowing Iranian illicit activities to flow through their financial institutions.

Bessent said during a White House press briefing on April 15 that the administration has told countries "that if you are buying Iranian oil, that if Iranian money is sitting in your banks, we are now willing to apply secondary sanctions, which is a very stern measure."

The sanctions come as the global energy trade is in turmoil as war around the Persian Gulf chokes off oil and natural gas shipments, causing prices to soar.

Treasury has tried to quell the impact of rising oil prices issuing temporary sanctions waivers on Russia oil and a one-time waiver on Iranian oil already at sea.

The AP was making efforts to contact Chinese officials for comment on the sanctions.

China has disagreed with previous U.S. sanctions, but its major companies and banks still comply with U.S. sanctions because they are more exposed to the U.S.-dominated financial system.

After the U.S. earlier this month sanctioned a Chinese refinery accused of buying Iranian oil, Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for China's embassy in Washington, said the use of the sanctions "undermines international trade order and rules, disrupts normal economic and trade exchanges, and infringes upon the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies and individuals."

Airlines worldwide have begun canceling flights as the war in the Middle East strains jet fuel supplies and pushes up prices but the disruption doesn't end there.

For travelers, it can mean having to navigate a confusing web of passenger protections that vary widely depending on where they're flying.

And the timing is amplifying the impact.

"These pressures are arriving at a time when summer travel demand is ramping up, with major events such as the World Cup expected to put additional strain on airports," said Eric Napoli, chief legal officer at AirHelp, a company that helps travelers secure compensation for flight disruptions and advocates for passenger rights.

Here's what to know if your flight is canceled.

Are these cancellations happening at the last minute?

In most cases, no. At least for now, fuel-related cuts are often being made days or weeks in advance. Lufthansa Group, for example, said this week it is cutting 20,000 short-haul flights across its network through October.

That gives you more time to adjust plans than you'd typically get with weather-related disruptions, which tend to trigger last-minute cancellations.

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My flight was canceled. What should I do first?

Check your airline's app or website immediately for rebooking options. If you're flying on a U.S. carrier, that's often the fastest and easiest way to secure a new seat, according to Tyler Hosford, security director at International SOS, a global risk management and travel security company.

Non-U.S. carriers tend to have fewer digital tools, Hosford said, so it's worth trying multiple channels, including the airline's customer service lines or airport desks.

Do I have the right to a refund or a new flight?

In most cases, yes. Airlines typically offer either a refund or a rebooking on the next available flight. The exact rules vary by country, but those are the baseline options you can expect.

In the U.S., for example, if your flight is canceled and you choose not to travel, the airline must refund you, regardless of the reason. Airlines may offer travel credits instead, but you're entitled to a full refund for airfare and any extras you didn't use, such as baggage fees or seat upgrades.

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Are passenger rights the same everywhere?

No, and protections vary widely by region from the Montreal Convention, which governs airline liability across more than 140 countries, to specific consumer protection laws in the U.S., Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Turkey and Brazil.

Europe has some of the strongest protections, including compensation in certain cases. And they apply to any flight departing from an EU airport, regardless of the airline, as well as to passengers flying on an EU-based carrier into the EU even if the journey starts outside Europe. The United Kingdom maintains a similar framework.

The U.S. and Canada offer more limited protections. Policies vary widely across Asia, and in some cases travelers may need to rely more on airline policies than formal regulations.

To get a clearer picture, experts recommend searching the name of the country you're departing from and "passenger rights" before your trip.

What protections apply?

It depends.

Airlines may cite fuel shortages or rising fuel costs as the reason for cancellations. But whether you're entitled to compensation often comes down to if the disruption is considered within the airline's control under local laws.

Regardless of the cause, Napoli said, airlines in the European Union, for example, still have a "duty of care," meaning they must provide "necessary support" to travelers, including rebooking.

"While airlines are citing fuel shortages as a reason for upcoming cancellations, travelers need to know that this does not automatically waive their rights" under EU laws, Napoli said.

How can I prepare before a trip to avoid headaches?

A few steps can make disruptions easier to manage.

Sign up for flight alerts to stay informed, and book directly with the airline when possible it's much easier to resolve issues with the carrier directly than through a third-party booking site.

Knowing your options ahead of time and having a backup plan can make a significant difference if plans change.

What do I need for a claim or complaint?

Documentation is critical. Save everything: boarding passes, receipts, cancellation notices and any communication from the airline.

Take screenshots of app or website updates and any communication taking place online, and jot down key details from phone calls.

Napoli also recommends asking the airline for written confirmation of a flight disruption, including the stated reason.

Should I accept the first alternative flight the airline offers?

Not necessarily.

Experts say one of the most common mistakes travelers make is taking the first option without checking alternatives. Look at other flights, routes or even nearby airports because you may find a faster or more convenient way to reach your destination.

Can I book a different flight myself?

Yes, but proceed carefully.

If the airline's rebooking option doesn't meet your needs especially if your new flight isn't for several days you can look for alternatives and request a refund instead.

Just be aware you may need to pay any fare difference up front, and you might not be reimbursed later.

Any other tips to avoid getting stuck?

Book flights earlier in the day so you have more rebooking options if something goes wrong.

Set up flight alerts through tracking apps such as Flighty to get early notice of cancellations or delays. In some cases, Hosford said, notifications arrive before the airline's.

Consider nearby airports as backup options.

Be kind. Airline agents may be more willing to help when interactions stay calm and respectful.

"Ultimately, the shortage is squeezing the entire system, from travelers to airlines, and is something to watch as the industry looks for any relief ahead of the summer travel season," Napoli said.

Meta is laying off about 8,000 workers, or about 10% of its workforce, the company said Thursday as it continues to ramp up spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure and highly paid AI-expert hires.

The company said it was making the cuts for the sake of efficiency and to allow new investments in parts of its business, as first reported by Bloomberg, which also said the company will leave about 6,000 jobs unfilled.

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Also Thursday, Microsoft said it was offering voluntary buyouts to thousands of its U.S. employees.

The software giant plans to make the offers in early May to about 8,750 people, or 7% of its U.S. workforce, according to two people familiar with the plan who were not authorized to speak about it publicly.

While an alternative to the sudden layoffs removing tech workers from peers like Meta and Oracle, the savings are likely tied to a similar industry upheaval that is requiring huge spending on the costs of artificial intelligence. Meta has already warned investors that its 2026 expenses will grow significantly to the range of $162 billion to $169 billion driven by infrastructure costs and employee compensation, particularly for the artificial intelligence experts its been hiring at eye-popping pay levels.

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives welcomed Metas cuts in a note to investors Thursday.

He said he sees it as part of a strategy of using AI tools to automate tasks that once required large teams, allowing the company to streamline operations and reduce costs while maintaining productivity driving an increased need for a leaner operating structure.

Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, has spent billions of dollars operating an ever-expanding global network of data centers powering cloud computing services, AI systems and its own suite of productivity tools, including the AI assistant Copilot.

CNBC reported earlier Thursday on a memo from Microsoft's chief people officer, Amy Coleman, announcing the voluntary retirement plan.

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Our hope is that this program gives those eligible the choice to take that next step on their own terms, with generous company support, Coleman wrote, according to CNBC.