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.

RELATED STORY | Amazon cuts 16,000 jobs, just months after 14,000 layoffs

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.

Millions more Americans might qualify for dual Canadian citizenship under a recent change to Canada's requirements that has led to a surge in applications from its southern neighbor.

For people like Zack Loud of Farmington, Minnesota, it was a surprise to learn that under a new law, Canada already considered him and his siblings citizens because their grandmother is Canadian.

"My wife and I were already talking about potentially looking at jobs outside the country, but citizenship pushed Canada way up on our list," he said.

Since the new law took effect Dec. 15, immigration lawyers in the United States and Canada say they have been overwhelmed by clients seeking help submitting proof of citizenship applications. Driven by politics, family heritage, job opportunities and other factors, thousands of Americans are exploring whether the easier process makes now the right time to gain dual citizenship.

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Nicholas Berning, an immigration attorney at Boundary Bay Law in Bellingham, Washington, said his practice is "pretty much flooded with this."

"We've kind of shifted a lot of other work away in order to push these cases through," he said.

Immigration attorney Amandeep Hayer said his Vancouver, British Columbia-area practice went from about 200 citizenship cases a year to more than 20 consultations per day.

How the new law works

Canada has been changing its citizenship laws for decades, whether to update historic interpretations of law or to address discrimination issues.

Previously, Canadian citizenship by descent could only be passed down to one generation, from a parent to a child. But the new law opened up citizenship to anyone born before that date who could prove they have a direct Canadian ancestor a grandparent, great-grandparent or even more distant ancestor.

Those born on or after Dec. 15 need to show that their Canadian parent lived in Canada for 1,095 days.

Under the new law, descendants of Canadians are already considered citizens but must provide proof to obtain a certificate of citizenship. Hayer estimated that there are millions of Americans who are Canadian descendants.

"You are Canadian, and you're considered to be one your whole life," said Hayer, who advocated for the new law in parliament. "That's really what you're applying for, the recognition of a right you already have vested."

"The best way I can put it is like, if a baby's born tomorrow in Canada, the baby's Canadian even though they don't have the birth certificate," he said.

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Americans interested in dual citizenship

American applicants have different motivations, but many say President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown and other topics have led them to seek dual citizenship.

Michelle Cunha, of Bedford, Massachusetts, said she decided to move to Canada after reflecting on decades of political activism and deciding she had "nothing left to give."

"I put in my best effort for 30 years. I have done everything that I possibly can to make the United States what it promises the world to be, a place of freedom, a place of equality," Cunha said. "But clearly we're not there and we're not going to get there anytime soon."

Troy Hicks, who had a great-grandfather born in Canada, said he was spurred by an international trip.

"I recently went to Australia and you know, first words out of the first person I talked to in Australia was basically an expletive about Trump and the U.S.," said Hicks, of Pahrump, Nevada. "It was just like, whoa, I walked off a 20-hour flight and literally the first words of somebody's mouth to me were that. ... So the idea of doing that with a Canadian passport just seemed easier, better, more palatable."

Maureen Sullivan, of Naples, Florida, said she was motivated by the immigration crackdown in Minnesota, which hit home when her teenage nephew encountered federal officers near his high school in St. Paul. Sullivan, whose grandmother was Canadian, said she sees citizenship in Canada as an option in case things in the U.S. "really go south."

"When I first heard about the bill, I couldn't believe it. It was like this little gift that fell in my lap," Sullivan said. "There was kind of this collective excitement amongst the (family) who just felt like, we wanted to feel like we were doing something to take care of our security in the future if needed."

RELATED STORY | Appeals court stops Trumps effort to cut off asylum at border

How much will Canadian citizenship cost?

For those with documentation ready at hand, the proof of citizenship application fee is a relatively inexpensive 75 Canadian dollars ($55).

But costs will climb for those seeking help from an attorney or genealogist to locate records like birth, death and marriage certificates that can establish the lineage to a Canadian ancestor.

Cunha said she used an attorney and estimates the cost will be about $6,500.

However, Mary Mangan, of Somerville, Massachusetts, filed her application in January using advice from online forums.

"There are some situations where a lawyer might be the right thing, but for many people, I would guess 90% of people can probably do this on their own," Mangan said.

The website for the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada office, which processes applications, says processing times for a certificate is around 10 months, with more 56,000 people awaiting a decision.

The agency said that from Dec. 15 to Jan. 31, it confirmed citizenship by descent for 1,480 people, though not all were Americans. Last year, 24,500 Americans gained dual U.S.-Canada citizenship.

What's the reaction in Canada?

Fen Hampson, professor of international affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa, said Canadians are generally a "welcoming people."

Hampson said some also worry a surge of interest from Americans could delay efforts by refugees and asylum-seekers fleeing vulnerable situations.

"I think where people start looking askance is someone who's never been to Canada, who has very thin ties. They can get a passport, becoming Canadians of convenience. People don't like that," he said.

An appeals court on Friday blocked President Donald Trumps executive order suspending asylum access, a key pillar of the Republican presidents plan to crack down on migration at the southern border of the U.S.

A three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found that immigration laws give people the right to apply for asylum at the border, and the president cant circumvent that.

The panel concluded that the Immigration and Nationality Act doesnt authorize the president to remove the plaintiffs under procedures of his own making, allow him to suspend plaintiffs right to apply for asylum or curtail procedures for adjudicating their anti-torture claims.

The power by proclamation to temporarily suspend the entry of specified foreign individuals into the United States does not contain implicit authority to override the INAs mandatory process to summarily remove foreign individuals, wrote Judge J. Michelle Childs, who was nominated to the bench by Democratic President Joe Biden.

The White House didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

RELATED STORY | Judge rules family should be released from ICE detention to pursue asylum case

ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt said in a statement that the appellate ruling is essential for those fleeing danger who have been denied even a hearing to present asylum claims under the Trump administrations unlawful and inhumane executive order.

Judge Justin Walker, a Trump nominee, wrote a partial dissent. He said the law gives immigrants protections against removal to countries where they would be persecuted, but the administration can issue broad denials of asylum applications.

Walker, however, agreed with the majority that the president cannot deport migrants to countries where they will be persecuted or strip them of mandatory procedures that protect against their removal.

Judge Cornelia Pillard, who was nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama, also heard the case.

RELATED STORY | Why the Trump administration is struggling to deport migrants to unfamiliar countries

The Food and Drug Administration said Friday it will offer ultra-fast review to three psychedelic drugs being developed to treat mental health conditions, including depression, the latest step by the Trump administration toward possible approval of the experimental treatments.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order last weekend directing the FDA and other federal agencies to speed research and loosen restrictions on psychedelics, a class of hallucinogenic drugs, which remain illegal under federal law.

The FDA said it awarded priority review vouchers to two companies studying psilocybin the active ingredient in magic mushrooms for hard-to-treat forms of depression. A third company received a voucher for methylone, a drug related to MDMA, for post-traumatic stress disorder. The FDA did not name the companies in a press release announcing the news.

RELATED STORY | Trump orders $50M research into psychedelic drugs, including ibogaine, for PTSD, TBI

"We owe it to our nation's veterans and all Americans who are suffering from these conditions to evaluate these potential therapies with urgency," FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said in a statement.

The vouchers don't guarantee approval, but instead mean that regulators will try to shorten their reviews from a period of months to weeks.

The recent moves on psychedelics reflect growing popular support for the mind-altering substances among Trump's supporters, including combat veterans and followers of the Make America Healthy Again movement spearheaded by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Last July, Kennedy told members of Congress his department aimed to make psychedelics available for hard-to-treat psychiatric conditions within one year. Some of Kennedy's top allies and staffers are proponents of the drugs.

Calley Means, a former Kennedy campaign staffer now serving as a senior health adviser, has previously written about the "mind-blowing" power of psychedelics and his plans to invest in companies developing the drugs.

FDA's special treatment for psychedelics is likely to renew scrutiny of its program for speeding up drug reviews, known as the Commissioner's National Priority Voucher program.

Democratic members of Congress have noted that vouchers have gone to companies that are politically favored by the White House, including those that have agreed to cut prices on their medications.

In a separate move, the FDA authorized initial testing of a drug related to ibogaine, a powerful psychedelic made from an African shrub, for people with alcohol use disorder. Ibogaine is known to sometimes cause dangerous heart rhythms but has been embraced by combat veterans as a way to treat trauma and addiction.

The drugmaker, DemeRx, is led by a Florida-based researcher who first began studying ibogaine as a treatment for cocaine addiction in the 1990s, before federal health officials pulled funding for the work.

"Every grant proposal that I submitted to (the National Institute on Drug Abuse) was rejected," Deborah Mash, a neurologist and founder of DemeRx, told The Associated Press. "I couldn't get that funding and that's why ibogaine didn't advance in the 1990s."

Ibogaine is known to cause intense hallucinations, nausea, vomiting, tremors and sometimes dangerous irregular heart rhythms. Mash says DemeRx's drug is a metabolite of ibogaine, and doesn't carry the same hallucinogenic effects or risks as the original drug.

Saturday's White House event on psychedelics suggested Trump's political allies had a role in pushing the drugs to the top of his agenda.

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Joe Rogan, the podcaster who appeared at the Oval Office event, said he texted Trump about the psychedelic ibogaine, which he's repeatedly discussed on his show. According to Rogan, the president quickly responded: "Sounds great. Do you want FDA approval? Let's do it."

Rogan's endorsement of Trump days before the November 2024 election was seen by White House aides as a key factor in his election victory.

On his show earlier this week, Rogan said he learned about ibogaine from his friend Ed Clay, a mixed martial arts trainer and entrepreneur who runs retreats making use of it in Mexico.

Virtually all psychedelics, including LSD, psilocybin and MDMA are classified as Schedule I substances, a category for high-risk drugs that have no medically accepted use.

For decades, drugmakers steered clear of the substances due to the difficulties of studying drugs that are illegal under federal law.

But dozens of small drugmakers, many fueled by Silicon Valley investors, have recently jumped into the race to win FDA approval for various psychedelics. For example, tech billionaire Peter Thiel who has made political donations to both Trump and Vice President JD Vance has invested in AtaiBeckley, a company studying MDMA and other psychedelic compounds.

A powerful tornado in Oklahoma ripped roofs off buildings and reduced others to rubble, knocked down power poles and sent emergency crews rushing into a rural community near Vance Air Force Base, officials said.

The confirmed tornado Thursday moved across parts of Enid, a city of about 50,000 people near the state's northern border, according to the National Weather Service. Video showed a rapidly rotating column of air touching down along with totaled homes.

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There were no immediate reports of fatalities and only minor injuries hours after the tornado passed through, according to the Garfield County Sheriff's Office. Authorities were going door-to-door in some neighborhoods to check on residents.

Enid Mayor David Mason said some residents were trapped in their homes by debris and had to be rescued.

Some of the worst damage happened in Gray Ridge, a neighborhood on the south side of the city, he said. We have quite a few homes knocked down in there, he told KOCO-TV.

Video from the scene showed piles of rubble where homes once stood. Other buildings appeared to be leveled.

Amy Kuntz, who was driving home to Enid, was calming her daughter over the phone during the storm.

She said, I dont know what to do, And then I was like, Get in the bathtub. So she got in the bathtub and not even a minute later, she's like, Mom, the roofs gone, Kuntz told KFOR-TV.

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Fences and some equipment were knocked down at Vance Air Force Base, about 80 miles (129 kilometers) north of Oklahoma City. The base closed until further notice due to ongoing power and water restoration efforts, it posted online Friday.

Please join me in praying for the Enid community, which has been severely impacted by tonights tornado, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt posted on social media.

More storms are possible through Friday night across south-central and southeast Oklahoma, the National Weather Service in Norman said. Strong to severe thunderstorms are expected to develop Saturday, including in the Enid area.

It was a stormy night for other states, too. In Kearney, Missouri, north of Kansas City, officials reported downed trees, debris blocking roadways and damage to homes on Thursday night after storms passed through the area. Officials said in a social media post that no injuries had been reported. Crews worked to make roads passable by early Friday and were expected to continue cleanup efforts during the day.

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he was weighing a taxpayer-funded takeover of Spirit Airlines with the intent of reselling the struggling budget carrier after oil prices drop.

The president confirmed his continued interest in offering Spirit a financial lifeline after a lawyer told a U.S. Bankruptcy Court that the airline was in advanced talks with the U.S. government on a financing deal that would allow Spirit to emerge from Chapter 11 protection.

They have some good aircraft and good assets, and when the prices of oil goes down, well sell it for a profit, Trump said, speaking at an unrelated Oval Office event. Id love to be able to save those jobs. Id love to be able to save an airline.

RELATED STORY | Spirit Airlines files for bankruptcy protection again

Trump stoked speculation of a deal to save Spirit on Tuesday when he encouraged a buyer to rescue the airline and suggested the federal government could help keep it afloat.

The White House has attempted to blame Spirits predicament on the Biden administration, which in 2023 sued to stop JetBlue Airways from buying Spirit for $3.8 billion. A little more than a year before Trump replaced Joe Biden as president, a federal judge in Dallas blocked a proposed Spirit-JetBlue merger, saying it would drive up airfares for passengers.

Trump said he had a smart person in mind who could potentially run Spirit and that he believed the airline could get back on solid financial footing.

And they have some very good slots too, which are pretty valuable, the president added, referring to scheduled times allocated for airlines to take off or land at airports when demand exceeds available capacity.

Spirit has struggled with losses for years. The airline filed for Chapter 11 protection in November 2024 and again in August 2005. With the Iran war driving up jet fuel costs for all airlines, creditors earlier this month expressed doubts about Spirits ongoing viability, raising the possibility the airline recognized for its bright yellow planes would be forced to sell its assets and cease operating.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | Spirit Airlines cancels routes in 11 cities amid financial struggles

Before Trump's comments about the government buying the airline outright, Marshall Huebner, a lawyer with Davis Polk who is representing Spirit, said during a U.S. Bankruptcy Court hearing in New York that government financing would a reorganization possible and help Spirit be more competitive.

Details of a potential deal were shared with all three of the companys primary creditor groups, Huebner said.

It was not immediately clear how a federal acquisition would differ from the terms that were under discussion. The size and terms of the financing aid were not shared publicly. The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources, both reported an amount of $500 million that would give the government an option to acquire a sizable stake in the airline, which has its headquarters in Florida.

Earlier this week, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy voiced skepticism about the government stepping in to keep Spirit alive. In a CBS interview that aired Tuesday night, Duffy questioned whether a deal would set a broader precedent.

Then who else comes to my door? he said, referring to other airlines potentially requesting government aid. The question will be, can we do anything to save Spirit and make it viable, or would we be putting good money into a company that inevitably is going to be liquidated?

Several lawmakers, both Republican and Democrats, also balked at the idea of a bailout. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas wrote on X on Wednesday that a deal for Spirit would be a terrible idea.

If Spirits creditors or other potential investors dont think they can run it profitably coming out of its second bankruptcy in under two years, I doubt the US Government can either, Tom Cotton, a senator from Arkansas, posted. Not the best use of taxpayer dollars.

The union that represents the airline's pilots, on the other hand, voiced strong support for a rescue deal.

Spirit is the reason so many Americans can afford to visit family, travel for work, or take a vacation, said Capt. Ryan P. Muller, chair of the Spirit Airlines ALPA Master Executive Council. When Spirit enters a market, fares go down.

Spirits relatively young fleet has made it an attractive acquisition target. But previous buyout attempts from budget rivals like JetBlue and Frontier were unsuccessful both before and during Spirits first bankruptcy.

A U.S. special forces soldier involved in the military operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro has been charged with using classified information about the mission to win more than $400,000 in an online betting market, federal officials announced Thursday.

Gannon Ken Van Dyke was part of the operation to capture Maduro in January and used his access to classified information to make money on the prediction market site Polymarket, the federal prosecutor's office in New York said.

He has been charged by the Justice Department with unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud and making an unlawful monetary transaction. He could face years in prison.

Van Dyke, 38, was involved in the planning and execution of capturing Maduro for about a month beginning Dec. 8, 2025, according to the federal prosecutor's office. Even though he signed nondisclosure agreements promising to not divulge "any classified or sensitive information" related to the operations, prosecutors say the Army soldier used this information to make a series of bets related to Maduro being out of power by Jan. 31, 2026.

"This involved a U.S. soldier who allegedly took advantage of his position to profit off of a righteous military operation," FBI Director Kash Patel said in a post to social media.

RELATED STORY | Timeline: From boat strikes to Caracas raid how U.S. forces captured Maduro

A telephone number listed for Van Dyke in public records was not in service. There was not yet an attorney listed for him in court documents.

Polymarket, one of the largest prediction markets in the world, said it had found someone trading on classified government information, alerted the U.S. Department of Justice and "cooperated with their investigation."

"Insider trading has no place on Polymarket," the company said in a statement.

Second complaint filed against the soldier

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the federal agency that regulates prediction markets, announced Thursday it had filed a parallel complaint against Van Dyke.

That complaint alleges that Van Dyke moved $35,000 from his personal bank account into a cryptocurrency exchange account on Dec. 26 a little over a week before U.S. forces would fly into Caracas and seize Maduro.

Van Dyke used more than $32,500 to make a series of bets on when Maduro might be removed from power, according to the complaint. He placed those bets between Dec. 30 and Jan. 2, with the vast majority occurring the night of Jan. 2 just hours before the first missiles would fall on Caracas.

In the early hours of Jan. 3, President Donald Trump posted on his social media platform a photo of the now-captured Venezuelan leader, wearing a gray sweatsuit, headphones and a blindfold.

The bets Van Dyke made on Maduro leaving power resulted in "more than $404,000 of profits," the complaint said. Bets on three other Venezuela-related contracts netted the soldier more than $5,000, according to the document.

"The defendant was entrusted with confidential information about U.S. operations and yet took action that endangered U.S. national security and put the lives of American service members in harm's way," said Michael Selig, the commission's chairman.

The massive profits from the well-timed bets aroused public attention days after the raid and brought bipartisan calls for stricter regulation of the markets where people can wager on just about anything.

Officials allege that shortly after the operation, Van Dyke put most of the money he won in a foreign cryptocurrency vault and then into a new brokerage account. He also asked Polymarket to delete his account, saying he had lost access to his email associated with the account, according to the federal prosecutor's office.

Trump, when asked about the case Thursday, drew parallels between the embattled soldier and late professional baseball player Pete Rose, who was banned from the sport amid accusations that he placed bets on his own team.

"The whole world, unfortunately, has become somewhat of a casino, and you look at what's going on all over the world and Europe and every place, they're doing these betting things," Trump told reporters.

The Trump administration has been a key ally of the growing prediction market industry in a critical legal fight with states seeking to ban the platforms. The president's eldest son is an adviser for both Polymarket and its competitor, Kalshi, and a Polymarket investor. Trump's social media platform Truth Social is also launching its own cryptocurrency-based prediction market called Truth Predict.

Nearly two decades in the Army

Van Dyke joined the Army in 2008 and, in 2023, was promoted to the rank of master sergeant, the second-highest enlisted rank in the Army, according to the indictment. Federal prosecutors said he was part of the special forces community and was stationed at Fort Bragg near Fayetteville, North Carolina, but their indictment offered little other details about his military service.

The document said Van Dyke was photographed following the raid on the deck of a ship "wearing U.S. military fatigues, and carrying a rifle, standing alongside three other individuals wearing U.S. military fatigues."

The Pentagon referred questions on the case to the Army and the Justice Department.

Army officials declined to provide Van Dyke's service record. Typically, the military services are reticent to offer details about members of the special forces and take measures to keep their identities secret.

Bets on geopolitical tensions draw scrutiny

The high-profile indictment comes as bipartisan lawmakers are considering legislation to ban prediction markets from allowing bets on war, assassinations or terrorist attacks.

Earlier this month, The Associated Press reported that a group of new accounts on Polymarket made highly specific, well-timed bets on whether the U.S. and Iran would reach a ceasefire on April 7, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits for the new customers. On the same day the AP published the report, the White House warned staff against using private information to trade on prediction markets.

On Wednesday, Kalshi fined and suspended three congressional candidates who the company said wagered on the outcome of their own elections.

Pope Leo XIV urged the United States and Iran to return to talks to end the war Thursday and condemned capital punishment, in a wide-ranging press conference en route home from his trip to Africa.

Leo also asserted that countries have the right to control their borders but mustnt treat migrants worse than animals, and lamented that the churchs morality teaching is often reduced to sexual issues.

On Iran, capital punishment and peace

After a trip that was dominated by the very public back and forth between Leo and U.S. President Donald Trump over the war, Leo urged the United States and Iran to return to negotiations.

He called for a new culture of peace to replace the recourse to violence whenever conflicts arise.

He said the question wasnt whether the Iran regime should change or not. The question should be about how to promote the values we believe in without the deaths of so many innocents.

He revealed that he carries with him the photo of a Muslim Lebanese boy who had been killed in Israels recent war with Hezbollah. The boy had been photographed holding a sign welcoming the pope when he visited Lebanon last year.

As a pastor I cannot be in favor of war, he told reporters aboard his plane. I would like to encourage everyone to find responses that come from a culture of peace and not hatred and division.

Asked if he condemned Irans recent executions, Leo said he condemned all actions that are unjust and included capital punishment in the list.

I condemn the taking of peoples lives. I condemn capital punishment. I believe human life is to be respected and that all people from conception to natural (death), their lives should be respected and protected.

So when a regime, when a country takes decisions which take away the lives of other people unjustly, then obviously that is something that should be condemned, he said.

Pope Francis changed the churchs social teaching to declare capital punishment immoral in all cases.

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

On migration and the rights of states

Leo affirmed the right of countries to impose immigration controls on their borders and acknowledged that uncontrolled migration had created situations that are sometimes more unjust in the place where they arrive than from where they left.

I personally believe that a state has the right to impose rules for its frontiers, he said. But saying this, I ask: What are we doing in the wealthier countries to change the situation in poorer countries to provide opportunities so that people arent compelled to leave?

Regardless, he said migrants are human beings and deserve to be respected in their human dignity and not be treated worse than house pets, animals.

On LGBTQ+ blessings and morality

Leo was asked about the recent invitation by Cardinal Reinhard Marx, archbishop of Munich, for the priests and pastoral workers in his archdioceses to adopt a set of guidelines formalizing and ritualizing blessings of same-sex couples.

The guidelines were approved last year by a controversial German church governing body made up of the German bishops conference and a Catholic lay group that has been working to have a greater say in church decision-making.

The Vatican in 2023 allowed for such blessings, but it made clear that they were not to be formalized or ritualized. The Vatican allowed them to be offered spontaneously and informally, as a priest gives a final blessing to all people at the end of Mass.

Leo said the Holy See had made clear to German bishops that we do not agree with the formalized blessing of gay couples or couples in other irregular situations.

The Vaticans 2023 declaration allowing an informal blessing, promulgated with virtually no consultation outside the Vatican, sharply divided the church, with African bishops delivering a continent-wide dissent and refusing to implement it. Homosexual activity is criminalized in several African countries.

Asked how he would handle keeping the church unified over such a divisive issue, Leo spoke broadly about how culture war questions of sexual morality had dominated church discourse, particularly in the West, far too much.

I think its very important to understand that the unity or division of the church should not revolve around sexual matters, he said. We tend to think that when the church is talking about morality, that the only issue of morality is sexual.

And in reality, I believe that there are much greater and more important issues such as justice, equality, freedom of men and women, freedom of religion that would all take priority before that particular issue.

The comment was significant because it suggested that even though he is American, Leo believes the church in the U.S. and the West has excessively reduced its moral teachings to revolve only around sex at the expense of other pressing issues.

RELATED STORY | Pope Leo says he does not fear Trump, citing Gospel as he pushes back in feud over Iran war

A pope who keeps on eye on how hes being covered

Historys first U.S. pope showed himself keenly aware of how his Africa trip had been reported and interpreted, including about his sometimes tame public addresses to African leaders who are accused of corruption or authoritarianism.

With a few notable exceptions, Leo kept his political remarks to the leaders largely diplomatic, using a language of encouragement and subtle messaging rather than headline-grabbing condemnations.

He also allowed some of the circumstances of his visit to speak louder than his words: a choreographed song and dance routine by prisoners in a country known for gross human rights abuses, or the extravagant luxury of a presidents hometown in a country where more than half the population lives in poverty.

Leo insisted that his primary reason for visiting Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea was as a pastor, to accompany his flock in their faith.

He added that the Holy See can sometimes achieve more behind the scenes via its diplomatic work, including through the release of political prisoners, than with great proclamations criticizing, judging or condemning.

Singer D4vd has been charged with murder in the death of a 14-year-old girl whose dismembered and decomposed body was found in September in his apparently abandoned Tesla, prosecutors said. Friday.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said the 21-year-old D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, was charged with first-degree murder; lewd and lascivious acts with an individual under 14; and mutilating a body in the killing of Celeste Rivas Hernandez. She was reported missing by her family in 2024, when she was 13. Authorities say she was 14 when she died.

The murder charges included special circumstances lying in wait, committing crime for financial gain and murdering the witness in an investigation that could carry the death penalty. Prosecutors haven't announced whether they will seek it.

Attorneys for the Houston-born alt-pop singer said he was innocent in a statement released after homicide detectives arrested him on Thursday at a home in Hollywood.

"Let us be clear the actual evidence in this case will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez and he was not the cause of her death," the lawyers said.

The long-dead body of Rivas Hernandez was found inside a Tesla that was towed from the Hollywood Hills on Sept. 8, a day after she would have turned 15. Her family had reported her missing from her hometown of Lake Elsinore, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles.

RELATED STORY | Teen girl's body found in impounded car registered to the singer d4vd

Authorities did not publicly name Burke as a suspect until his arrest. And his lawyers' statement last week, in which said they "will vigorously defend David's innocence," was the first time they weighed in publicly.

The singer had been under investigation by an LA County grand jury looking into the death. The probe was officially secret, but its existence and his designation as its target was revealed in February when his mother, father and brother objected in a Texas court to subpoenas demanding they testify.

The 2023 Tesla Model Y was registered in the singer's name at the Texas address of his subpoenaed family members, according to court filings from prosecutors. It had been towed from an upscale Hollywood Hills neighborhood where it had been sitting as though it was abandoned.

Police investigators searching the Tesla in a tow yard found a cadaver bag "covered with insects and a strong odor of decay," court documents said. Detectives partially unzipped a bag and found a head and torso.

Investigators from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office removed the bag and "discovered the arms and legs had been severed from the body," according to court documents. A second black bag was found under the first, and dismembered body parts were inside it. No cause of death has been publicly revealed, and police got a judge to block the release details of the autopsy. On Friday, the medical examiner told The Associated Press the court order remained in place after Burke's arrest, and suggested to ask the police whether they would ask to lift it.

The family of Rivas Hernandez has remained private and has not made any public statements on her death or the case.

D4vd, pronounced "David," gained popularity among Gen Z for his blend of indie rock, R&B and lo-fi pop. He went viral on TikTok in 2022 with the hit "Romantic Homicide," which peaked at No. 4 on Billboard's Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. He then signed with Darkroom and Interscope Records and released his debut EP "Petals to Thorns" and a follow-up, "The Lost Petals," in 2023.

When the body was discovered, the singer continued his North American tour, but when reports of his possible involvement spread widely, he canceled the final two shows and a European tour that was to follow.