The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to allow restrictions on birthright citizenship to partly take effect while legal fights play out.

In emergency applications filed at the high court on Thursday, the administration asked the justices to narrow court orders entered by district judges in Maryland, Massachusetts and Washington that blocked the order President Donald Trump signed shortly after beginning his second term.

Three federal appeals courts have rejected the administration's pleas.

The order would deny citizenship to those born after Feb. 19 whose parents are in the country illegally. It also forbids U.S. agencies from issuing any document or accepting any state document recognizing citizenship for such children.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Demonstrators from a Jewish group filled the lobby of Trump Tower on Thursday to denounce the immigration arrest of Mahmoud Khalil. a pro-Palestinian activist who helped lead protests against Israel at Columbia University.

The Jewish Voice for Peace protesters, who carried banners and wore red shirts reading Jews say stop arming Israel, chanted Bring Mahmoud home now!"

After warning the protesters to leave the Fifth Avenue building or face arrest, police put at least 65 of them in zip ties and loaded them into a police van and city bus about an hour into the demonstration.

Khalil, a permanent U.S. resident who is married to an American citizen and who hasn't been charged with breaking any laws, was arrested outside his New York City apartment on Saturday and faces deportation. President Donald Trump has said Khalils arrest was the first of many to come and vowed on social media to deport students who he said engage in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity.

Among the protesters was actor Debra Winger, who has discussed her Jewish faith and upbringing over the years.

Winger accused the Trump administration of having no interest in Jewish safety and co-opting antisemitism.

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Im just standing up for my rights, and Im standing up for Mahmoud Khalil, who has been abducted illegally and taken to an undisclosed location," she told The Associated Press. "Does that sound like America to you?

Protester Sophie Edelhart, who studies Yiddish at a school in Canada, said she took part in the demonstration because she didn't want to cede ground to Trump and fascism. She said the building, with its golden elescalator that Trump rode before announcing his 2016 presidential run, was a symbolic target.

Khalils supporters say his arrest is an attack on free speech and have staged protests elsewhere in the city and around the country. Hundreds demonstrated Wednesday outside a Manhattan courthouse during a brief hearing on his case.

Trump Tower serves as headquarters for the Trump Organization and is where the president stays when he is in New York. The skyscraper often attracts demonstrations, both against and in support of its namesake, though protests inside are less common. The buildings main entrance opens to a multi-story atrium that is open to the public and connects visitors to stores and eateries such as the Trump Grill.

Khalil, 30, was being detained at an immigration detention center in Louisiana, where he has remained after a brief stop at a New Jersey lockup.

Columbia was a focal point of the pro-Palestinian protest movement that swept across U.S. college campuses last year and led to more than 2,000 arrests.

Khalil, whose wife is pregnant with their first child, finished his requirements for a Columbia masters degree in December. Born in Syria, he is a grandson of Palestinians who were forced to leave their homeland, his lawyers said in a legal filing.

A federal judge on Thursday ordered President Donald Trump's administration to reinstate thousands if not tens of thousands of probationary workers let go in mass firings across multiple agencies last month, saying that the terminations were directed by a personnel office that had no authority to do so.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco ordered the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, the Interior and the Treasury to immediately offer reinstatement to employees terminated on or about Feb. 13 and 14 using guidance from the Office of Personnel Management and its acting director, Charles Ezell.

Alsup directed the agencies to report back within seven days with a list of probationary employees and an explanation of how the departments complied with his order as to each person.

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The temporary restraining order came in a lawsuit filed by a coalition of labor unions and organizations as the Republican administration moves to dramatically downsize the federal workforce.

The White House and the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

Alsup expressed frustration with what he called the government's attempt to sidestep laws and regulations governing a reduction in its workforce which it is allowed to do by firing probationary workers who lack protections. He was appalled that employees were fired for poor performance despite receiving glowing evaluations just months earlier.

"It is sad, a sad day, when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that's a lie," he said. "That should not have been done in our country."

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Lawyers for the government maintain the mass firings were lawful because individual agencies reviewed and determined whether employees on probation were fit for continued employment.

But Alsup has found that difficult to believe. He planned to hold an evidentiary hearing Thursday, but Ezell, the OPM acting director, did not appear to testify in court or even sit for a deposition. The judge encouraged the government to appeal.

There are an estimated 200,000 probationary workers across federal agencies. They include entry-level employees but also workers who recently received a promotion.

About 15,000 are employed in California, providing services ranging from fire prevention to veterans' care, according to the lawsuit filed by the coalition of labor unions and nonprofit organizations.

The plaintiffs said in their complaint that numerous agencies informed workers that the personnel office had ordered the terminations, with an order to use a template email informing workers their firing was for performance reasons.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he will double his planned tariffs on steel and aluminum from 25% to 50% for Canada, escalating a trade war with the United States' northern neighbor.

Trump said on social media that the increase of the tariffs set to take effect on Wednesday is a response to the price increases that the provincial government of Ontario put on electricity sold to the United States.

"I have instructed my Secretary of Commerce to add an ADDITIONAL 25% Tariff, to 50%, on all STEEL and ALUMINUM COMING INTO THE UNITED STATES FROM CANADA, ONE OF THE HIGHEST TARIFFING NATIONS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD," Trump posted Tuesday on Truth Social.

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The U.S. president has given a variety of explanations for his antagonism of Canada, saying that his separate 25% tariffs are about fentanyl smuggling and voicing objections to Canada putting high taxes on dairy imports that penalize U.S. farmers. But he continued to call for Canada to become part of the United States as a solution, a form of taunting that has infuriated Canadian leaders.

"The only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State," Trump posted on Tuesday. "This would make all Tariffs, and everything else, totally disappear."

The U.S. stock market promptly fell following his social media post, triggering more concerns after a brutal selloff on Monday that puts Trump under pressure to show he has a legitimate plan to grow the economy instead of perhaps pushing it into a recession.

Trump was set to deliver a Tuesday afternoon address to the Business Roundtable, a trade association of CEOs that during the 2024 campaign he wooed with the promise of lower corporate tax rates for domestic manufacturers. But his tariffs on Canada, Mexico, China, steel, aluminum with plans for more to possibly come on Europe, Brazil, South Korea, pharmaceutical drugs, copper, lumber and computer chips would amount to a massive tax hike.

The stock market's vote of no confidence over the past two weeks puts the president in a bind between his enthusiasm for taxing imports and his brand as a politician who understands business based on his own experiences in real estate, media and marketing.

Harvard University economist Larry Summers, a former treasury secretary for the Clinton administration, on Monday put the odds of a recession at 50-50.

"All the emphasis on tariffs and all the ambiguity and uncertainty has both chilled demand and caused prices to go up," Summers posted on X. "We are getting the worst of both worlds - concerns about inflation and an economic downturn and more uncertainty about the future and that slows everything."

The investment bank Goldman Sachs revised down its growth forecast for this year to 1.7% from 2.2% previously. It modestly increased its recession probability to 20% "because the White House has the option to pull back policy changes if downside risks begin to look more serious."

Trump has tried to assure the public that his tariffs would cause a bit of a "transition" to the economy, with the taxes prodding more companies to begin the years-long process of relocating factories to the United States to avoid the tariffs. But he set off alarms in an interview broadcast on Sunday in which he didn't rule out a possible recession.

"I hate to predict things like that," Trump said on Fox News Channel's "Sunday Morning Futures." "There is a period of transition, because what we're doing is very big. We're bringing wealth back to America. That's a big thing. And there are always periods of it takes a little time. It takes a little time. But I don't I think it should be great for us. I mean, I think it should be great."

The promise of great things ahead did not eliminate anxiety, with the S&P 500 stock index tumbling 2.7% on Monday in an unmistakable Trump slump that has erased the market gains that greeted his victory in November 2024. The S&P 500 index fell roughly 0.4% in Tuesday morning trading.

The White House after the markets closed on Monday highlighted that the tariffs were prompting companies such as Honda, Volkswagen and Volvo to consider new investments in U.S. factories.

It issued a statement that Trump's combination of tariffs, deregulations and increased energy production had led industry leaders to promise to "create thousands of new jobs."

The significance of thousands of additional jobs was unclear, as the U.S. economy added 2.2 million jobs last year alone, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Pope Francis woke up Tuesday to good news from his doctors: They upgraded his prognosis and say he is no longer in imminent danger of death as a result of the double pneumonia that has kept him hospitalized for nearly a month in the longest and gravest threat to his 12-year papacy.

The 88-year-old pope isnt out of the woods yet, however. Doctors are still cautious and have decided to keep him hospitalized for several more days to receive treatment, not to mention a period of rehabilitation he will likely need.

But the doctors said he remains stable and has consolidated improvements in recent days, according to blood tests and his good response to treatment. Francis, who has chronic lung disease, is still using supplemental oxygen during the day and a ventilation mask at night to help him breathe.

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In an early update Tuesday, the Vatican said Francis woke up around 8 a.m. after a quiet night. The Argentine Jesuit has regularly been sleeping in while at Gemelli hospital; his usual wakeup time at the Vatican is around 4:30 a.m.

Late Monday, doctors lifted their guarded prognosis for the pope, meaning they determined he was no longer in imminent danger as a result of the original respiratory infection he arrived with on Feb. 14. But their caution remained, given Francis fragility and risks of other complications.

In view of the complexity of the clinical picture and the important infectious picture presented on admission, it will be necessary to continue medical drug therapy in a hospital setting for additional days, the Vatican statement said.

In a sign of his improved health, Francis followed the Vaticans weeklong spiritual retreat via videoconference on Monday in both the morning and afternoon sessions, something he was likely to continue to do through the week.

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This week also counts some important anniversaries for Francis: Tuesday was the 67th anniversary of his entry into the Jesuit religious order's novitiate, and Thursday marks the 12th anniversary of his election as pope.

Francis, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, had what was just a bad case of bronchitis when he was hospitalized last month. The infection progressed into a complex respiratory tract infection and double pneumonia that has raised questions about the future of his pontificate.

He was still keeping his eye on things, however. The Vatican said he had been informed about the floods in his native Argentina, sent a telegram of condolences and expressed his closeness to the affected population. In addition, a Vatican cardinal close to Francis spoke out Monday to deny some negative media reports that have circulated in his absence.

The Vatican development office released a letter written by Cardinal Michael Czerny to one of Francis close friends, the Argentine social justice activist Juan Grabois. Grabois had traveled to Rome to pray for Francis at Gemelli hospital, and some Italian media reported that he had tried to forcibly get into Francis 10th floor hospital suite, a claim he denied.

In the March 6 letter, Czerny told Grabois that Francis knew of your presence in Rome and your daily vigils of prayer and spiritual solidarity at Gemelli Polyclinic and Im sure this gave him a true comfort and support.

Additionally, I know that you join me in strongly repudiating the unfounded versions that have circulated in some media about alleged inappropriate behavior in the hospital, Czerny wrote.

The Vatican is always abuzz with rumors but has gone into overdrive with speculation about Francis health and talk of conclaves, even though Francis is very much alive and in charge. The fact that Czerny felt it necessary to defend one of Francis friends suggested that the rumor and maneuvering in Francis absence had crossed a line.

The Senate voted Monday to confirm Lori Chavez-DeRemer as U.S. labor secretary, a Cabinet position that puts her in charge of enforcing federally mandated worker rights and protections at a time when the White House is trying to eliminate thousands of government employees.

Chavez-DeRemer will oversee the Department of Labor, one of several executive departments named in lawsuits challenging the authority of billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency to order layoffs and access sensitive government data.

The Labor Department had nearly 16,000 full-time employees and a proposed budget of $13.9 billion for fiscal year 2025. Some of its vast responsibilities include reporting the U.S. unemployment rate, regulating workplace health and safety standards, investigating minimum wage, child labor and overtime pay disputes, and applying laws on union organizing and unlawful terminations.

Several prominent labor unions, including the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, endorsed Chavez-DeRemer's nomination. The former Republican congresswoman from Oregon is the daughter of a Teamster, and during her one term in the House earned a reputation as pro-labor.

The Senate voted to confirm Chavez-DeRemer 67-32, with 17 Democrats voting yes and three Republicans voting no.

The Senate has now confirmed all but one of Trumps picks for his Cabinet. Its Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions had voted 14-9 in favor of her nomination last week, with all Republicans except Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky giving Chavez-DeRemer their support. Three Democrats on the committee Sens. John Hickenlooper of Colorado, Tim Kaine of Virginia and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire voted with the majority.

During her confirmation hearing before the committee, several Republican senators grilled Chavez-DeRemer about her decision to co-sponsor legislation that would have made it easier for workers to unionize and penalized employers who stood in the way of organizing efforts.

She declined to explicitly state whether she still backed the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, also known as the PRO Act.

Chavez-DeRemer explained she had signed on as a co-sponsor because she wanted a seat at the table to discuss important labor issues. Under further questioning, she walked back some of her support of the bill, saying that she supported state right to work laws, which allow employees to refuse to join a union in their workplace.

The PRO Act did not come up for a vote during her time in Congress, but the legislation was reintroduced in the House and Senate last week.

As we speak, Donald Trump and his billionaire buddies are stealing the American dream away from working families, rigging every lever of society in favor of the billionaire class, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. Thats why we need the PRO Act, to empower hardworking Americans to bargain for better wages, benefits, and safer working conditions."

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During her time in Congress Chavez-DeRemer also co-sponsored legislation which sought to protect public-sector workers from having their Social Security benefits docked because of government pension benefits. That bill also stalled because it didn't have enough Republican support.

Chavez-DeRemer walked a fine line during her confirmation hearing, attempting to appeal to both Democrats and Republicans. On the subject of whether the federal minimum wage was overdue for an increase, she said she recognized it hadn't been raised from $7.25 an hour since 2009 but that she would not want to shock the economy.

Some Democratic senators and workers rights advocates have questioned how much independence Chavez-DeRemer would have as President Donald Trump's labor secretary and where her allegiance would lie in an administration that has fired thousands of federal employees.

Once again, most Americans will set their clocks forward by one hour this weekend, losing perhaps a bit of sleep but gaining more glorious sunlight in the evenings as the days warm into summer.

Where did this all come from, though?

How we came to move the clock forward in the spring, and then push it back in the fall, is a tale that spans over more than a century one that's driven by two world wars, mass confusion at times and a human desire to bask in the sun for a long as possible.

There's been plenty of debate over the practice, but about 70 countries about 40% of those across the globe currently use what Americans call daylight saving time.

While springing the clocks forward "kind of jolts our system," the extra daylight gets people outdoors, exercising and having fun, says Anne Buckle, web editor at timeanddate.com, which features information on time, time zones and astronomy.

"The really, really awesome advantage is the bright evenings, right?" she says. "It is actually having hours of daylight after you come home from work to spend time with your family or activities. And that is wonderful."

Here are some things to know so you'll be conversant about the practice of humans changing time:

How did this all get started?

In the 1890s, George Vernon Hudson, an astronomer and entomologist in New Zealand, proposed a time shift in the spring and fall to increase the daylight. And in the early 1900s, British homebuilder William Willett, troubled that people weren't up enjoying the morning sunlight, made a similar push. But neither proposal gained enough traction to be implemented.

Germany began using daylight saving time during World War I with the thought that it would save energy. Other countries, including the United States, soon followed suit. During World War II, the U.S. once again instituted what was dubbed "war time" nationwide, this time year-round.

In the United States today, every state except Hawaii and Arizona observes daylight saving time. Around the world, Europe, much of Canada and part of Australia also implement it, while Russia and Asia don't currently.

Inconsistency and mass confusion

After World War II, a patchwork of timekeeping emerged across the United States, with some areas keeping daylight saving time and others ditching it.

"You might have one town has daylight saving time, the neighboring town might have daylight saving time but start it and end it on different dates and the third neighboring town might not have it at all," says David Prerau, author of the book "Seize the Daylight: The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time."

At one point, if riders on a 35-mile (56-kilometer) bus ride from Steubenville, Ohio, to Moundsville, West Virginia, wanted their watches to be accurate, they'd need to change them seven times as they dipped in and out of daylight saving time, Prerau says.

So in 1966, the U.S. Congress passed the Uniform Time Act, which say states can either implement daylight saving time or not, but it has to be statewide. The act also mandates the day that daylight saving time starts and ends across the country.

Confusion over the time change isn't just something from the past. In the nation of Lebanon last spring, chaos ensued when the government announced a last-minute decision to delay the start of daylight saving time by a month until the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Some institutions made the change and others refused as citizens tried to piece together their schedules. Within days, the decision was reversed.

"It really turned into a huge mess where nobody knew what time it was," Buckle says.

What would it be like if we didn't change the clocks?

Changing the clocks twice a year leads to a lot of grumbling, and pushes to either use standard time all year, or stick to daylight saving time all year often crop up.

During the 1970s energy crisis, the U.S. started doing daylight saving time all year long, and Americans didn't like it. With the sun not rising in the winter in some areas till around 9 a.m. or even later, people were waking up in the dark, going to work in the dark and sending their children to school in the dark, Prerau says.

"It became very unpopular very quickly," Prerau says.

And, he notes, using standard time all year would mean losing that extra hour of daylight for eight months in the evenings in the United States.

A nod to the early adopters

In 1908, the Canadian city of Thunder Bay then the two cities of Fort William and Port Arthur changed from the central time zone to the eastern time zone for the summer and fall after a citizen named John Hewitson argued that would afford an extra hour of daylight to enjoy the outdoors, says Michael deJong, curator/archivist at the Thunder Bay Museum.

The next year, though, Port Arthur stayed on Eastern time, while Fort William changed back to central time in the fall, which, predictably, "led to all sorts of confusion," deJong says.

Today, the city of Thunder Bay is on Eastern time, and observes daylight saving time, giving the area, "just delightfully warm, long days to enjoy" in the summer, says Paul Pepe, tourism manager for Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Commission.

The city, located on Lake Superior, is far enough north that the sun sets at around 10 p.m. in the summer, Pepe says, and that helps make up for their cold dark winters. Residents, he says, tend to go on vacations in the winter and stay home in the summer: "I think for a lot of folks here, the long days, the warm summer temperatures, it's a vacation in your backyard."

Women across the world will call for equal pay, reproductive rights, education, justice and decision-making jobs during demonstrations marking International Women's Day on Saturday.

Officially recognized by the United Nations in 1977, International Women's Day is commemorated in different ways and to varying degrees in places around the world. Protests are often political and at times violent rooted in women's efforts to improve their rights as workers.

Demonstrations are planned from Tokyo to Mexico City, and this year's global theme is "Accelerate Action," coming at a moment where many activists worry that the current political environment may result in a backsliding on many of the rights they've long fought for. One in four countries reported a backlash against women's rights last year, according to U.N. data.

Here is what to know about the March 8 global event:

What is International Women's Day?

International Women's Day is a global celebration and a call to action marked by demonstrations, mostly of women, around the world, ranging from combative protests to charity runs. Some celebrate the economic, social and political achievements of women, while others urge governments to guarantee equal pay, access to health care, justice for victims of gender-based violence and education for girls.

It is an official holiday in more than 20 countries, including Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Ukraine, Russia and Cuba, the only one in the Americas.

As in other aspects of life, social media plays an important role during International Women's Day, particularly by amplifying attention to demonstrations held in countries with repressive governments toward women and dissent in general.

When did it start and why does it fall on March 8?

While the idea behind a women's day originated in the U.S. with the American Socialist Party in 1909, it was a German feminist who pushed for a global commemoration during an international conference of socialist women held in 1910 in Copenhagen. The following year, events across Europe marked the day, and during World War I, women used it to protest the armed conflict, which lasted from 1914 to 1918.

International Women's Day is observed on March 8 after a massive protest in Russia on Feb. 23, 1917, that led to the country's eventual withdrawal from the war. At the time, Russia had not adopted the Gregorian calendar and still used the Julian calendar.

"On Feb. 23 in Russia, which was March 8 in Western Europe, women went out on the streets and protested for bread and peace," said Kristen Ghodsee, professor and chair of Russian and East European studies at the University of Pennsylvania. "The authorities weren't able to stop them, and then, once the men saw that the women were out on the streets, all of the workers started coming and joining the women."

The U.N. began commemorating the holiday in 1975, which was International Women's Year, and its General Assembly officially recognized the day two years later.

How is it celebrated across the world?

Women in Eastern Europe have long received flowers on March 8 and sometimes even gotten the day off from work. But chocolates and candy can come across as belittling gestures, showing a lack of understanding of the struggles driving women to protest, particularly in regions where protests have been combative.

In Turkey, women in 2023 braved an official ban on an International Women's Day march in Istanbul and protested for about two hours before police used tear gas to disperse the crowd and detain dozens of people.

In Mexico, which hosts one of the region's biggest marches, celebrations this year are marked by sharp contrasts. While the country celebrates its first female president, many also mourn victims of stark violence against women including femicide. In Mexico and Latin America, soaring rates of violence against women and persistent machismo often leave tension simmering on March 8 as protesters demand justice.

Globally, a woman or girl is killed every 10 minutes by a family member or partner, according to U.N. figures, and women being exposed to conflict has significantly jumped over the past decade.

What does the future hold for March 8?

Ghodsee said commemorating International Women's Day is now more important than ever, as women have lost gains made in the last century, chief among them the 2022 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a nationwide right to abortion, which ended constitutional protections that had been in place nearly 50 years.

The U.S. decision on abortion has reverberated across Europe's political landscape, forcing the issue back into public debate in some countries at a time when far-right nationalist parties are gaining influence.

A South Carolina man who killed his ex-girlfriends parents with a baseball bat was executed by firing squad Friday, the first U.S. prisoner in 15 years to die by that method, which he saw as preferable to the electric chair or lethal injection.

Three volunteer prison employees used rifles to carry out the execution of Brad Sigmon, 67, who was pronounced dead at 6:08 p.m.

Sigmon killed David and Gladys Larke in their Greenville County home in 2001 in a botched plot to kidnap their daughter. He told police he planned to take her for a romantic weekend, then kill her and himself.

Sigmon's lawyers said he chose the firing squad because the electric chair would cook him alive, and he feared that a lethal injection of pentobarbital into his veins would send a rush of fluid and blood into his lungs and drown him.

The details of South Carolina's lethal injection method are kept secret in South Carolina, and Sigmon unsuccessfully asked the state Supreme Court on Thursday to pause his execution because of that.

On Friday, Sigmon wore a black jumpsuit with a hood over his head and a white target with a red bullseye over his chest.

The armed prison employees stood 15 feet from where he sat in the states death chamber the same distance as the backboard is from the free-throw line on a basketball court. Visible in the same small room was the states unused electric chair. The gurney used to carry out lethal injections had been rolled away.

The volunteers all fired at the same time through openings in a wall. They were not visible to about a dozen witnesses in a room separated from the chamber by bullet-resistant glass. Sigmon made several heavy breaths during the two minutes that elapsed from when the hood was placed to the shots being fired.

The shots, which sounded like they were fired at the same time, made a loud, jarring bang that caused witnesses to flinch. His arms briefly tensed when he was shot, and the target was blasted off his chest. He appeared to give another breath or two with a red stain on his chest, and small amounts of tissue could be seen from the wound during those breaths.

A doctor came out about a minute later and examined Sigmon for 90 seconds before declaring him dead.

Witnesses included three family members of the Larkes. Also present were Sigmons attorney and spiritual advisor, a representative from the prosecuting solicitor's office, a sheriff's investigator and three members of the news media.

Sigmon's lawyer read a closing statement that he said was one of love and a calling to my fellow Christians to help us end the death penalty.

Prison spokeswoman Chrysti Shain said Sigmons last meal was four pieces of fried chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes with gravy, biscuits, cheesecake and sweet tea.

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The firing squad is an execution method with a long and violent history in the U.S. and around the world. Death in a hail of bullets has been used to punish mutinies and desertion in armies, as frontier justice in Americas Old West and as a tool of terror and political repression in the former Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.

Since 1977 only three other prisoners in the U.S. have been executed by firing squad. All were in Utah, most recently Ronnie Lee Gardner in 2010. Another Utah man, Ralph Menzies, could be next; he is awaiting the result of a hearing in which his lawyers argued that his dementia makes him unfit for execution.

In South Carolina on Friday, a group of protesters holding signs with messages such as All life is precious and Execute justice not people gathered outside the prison before Sigmon's execution.

Supporters and lawyers for Sigmon asked Republican Gov. Henry McMaster to commute his sentence to life in prison. They said he was a model prisoner trusted by guards and worked every day to atone for the killings and also that he committed the killings after succumbing to severe mental illness.

But McMaster denied the clemency plea. No governor has ever commuted a death sentence in the state, where 46 other prisoners have been executed since the death penalty resumed in the U.S. in 1976. Seven have died in the electric chair and 39 others by lethal injection.

Gerald Bo King, chief of the capital habeas unit in the federal public defenders office, said Sigmon used his final statement to call on his fellow people of faith to end the death penalty and spare the lives of the 28 men still locked up on South Carolinas death row.

It is unfathomable that, in 2025, South Carolina would execute one of its citizens in this bloody spectacle, King said in a statement. But South Carolina has ended the life of a man who has devoted himself to his faith, and to ministry and service to all around him. Brad admitted his guilt at trial and shared his deep grief for his crimes with his jury and, in the years since, with everyone who knew him.

In the early 2000s, South Carolina was among the busiest death penalty states, carrying out an average of three executions a year. But officials suspended executions for 13 years, in part because they were unable to obtain lethal injection drugs.

The state Supreme Court cleared the way to resume them in July. Freddie Owens was the first to be put to death, on Sept. 20, after McMaster denied him clemency. Richard Moore was executed on Nov. 1 and Marion Bowman Jr. on Jan. 31.

Going forward the court will allow an execution every five weeks.

South Carolina now has 28 inmates on its death row including two who have exhausted their appeals and are awaiting execution, most likely this spring. Just one man has been added to death row in the past decade.

Before executions were paused, more than 60 people faced death sentences. Many of those have either had their sentences reduced to life or died in prison.

President Donald Trump is ordering changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program that would disqualify workers of nonprofit groups deemed to have engaged in improper activities.

An executive order being signed Friday directs the Education Department to modify the program to deny loan relief to some borrowers. It would exclude loan forgiveness for people whose work is tied to illegal immigration, foreign terrorist groups or other illegal activity, White House officials said.

Congress created the program in 2007 to encourage careers in the government or nonprofit groups. It offers to cancel any remaining student debt after borrowers make 10 years of payments while working in public service. Its open to government workers, teachers, police, religious pastors and certain nonprofit employees, among others.

More than 2 million Americans have eligible employment and open student loans, according to December data from the Education Department.

At her Senate confirmation hearing, Education Secretary Linda McMahon pledged to continue Public Service Loan Forgiveness as ordered by Congress. Thats the law, she said in response to questions from Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va.

Under current rules, nonprofits are eligible if they focus on certain areas including public interest law, public health or education. Trumps order appears to target those who work in certain fields at odds with his political agenda, including immigration.

Advocates have gone to court to defend the program in the past, and Trumps action is almost certain to face legal challenges. It drew quick backlash from advocates.

Threatening to punish hardworking Americans for their employers' perceived political views is about as flagrant a violation of the First Amendment as you can imagine, said Aaron Ament, president of the National Student Legal Defense Network.

Updating eligibility rules typically requires the Education Department to go through a lengthy federal rulemaking process. Any new regulation that started this year would usually not take effect until 2027.

The forgiveness program has been the subject of a political tug of war since Trumps first term, when borrowers first started hitting the 10-year finish line.

The vast majority who applied for relief in 2017 were rejected because they were found to have enrolled in ineligible payment plans or failed to meet other criteria. An investigation by a federal watchdog group concluded the Education Department had failed to make the program's eligibility rules clear.

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Under President Joe Biden, the Education Department loosened the programs rules through a federal rulemaking process, expanding eligibility to people who would have been denied previously.

In its final weeks, the Biden administration announced it had granted relief to more than 1 million people through the program, up from 7,000 who were granted cancellation during Trumps first term.

The Biden administration changes were assailed by Republican lawmakers who said only Congress had the authority to change the programs rules.

Biden also pushed for broader student loan cancellation but was blocked by the Supreme Court and by repeated legal challenges from Republican-led states.

Republicans have been sharply opposed to student loan cancellation, saying it unfairly passes the cost to taxpayers who already repaid their loans or didn't go to college.

Authorities revealed Friday that actor Gene Hackman died of heart disease and showed severe signs of Alzheimer's disease a full week after his wife died of hantavirus in their home.

Authorities initially ruled out foul play after the bodies were discovered Feb 26. Immediate tests for carbon monoxide poisoning were negative.

Arakawa, 65, was found with an open prescription bottle and pills scattered on the bathroom counter. Authorities linked her death to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.

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Hackman, 95, was found in the home's entryway. His death was tied to heart disease with Alzheimer's disease contributing.

Hantavirus is a rare but potentially fatal disease spread by infected rodent droppings. It is typically is reported in spring and summer, often due to exposures that occur when people are near mouse droppings in homes, sheds or poorly ventilated areas.

Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza made the announcement alongside state fire and health officials at a news conference.

Investigators earlier retrieved personal items from the couple's home, including a monthly planner and two cellphones.

Ten Chinese hackers have been charged alongside two Chinese law enforcement officers in a global hacking campaign that targeted dissidents, news organizations and U.S. agencies, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.

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The hacking by workers of I-Soon was done in some cases at the direction of China's Ministry of Public Security, which received the stolen information and selected targets for the intrusions as part of what U.S. officials say was a massive intelligence-gathering operation.

Among the targets of the hacking was the U.S. Treasury Department, which disclosed a breach by Chinese actors late last year.

I-Soon is part of a sprawling industry in China, documented in an Associated Press investigation last year, of private hacking contractors are companies that steal data from other countries to sell to the Chinese authorities.

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Over the past two decades, Chinese state securitys demand for overseas intelligence has soared, giving rise to a vast network of these private hackers-for-hire companies that have infiltrated hundreds of systems outside China.

Powerful storms that killed two people in Mississippi and ripped roofs from buildings in a small Oklahoma town charged across the nation, threatening more communities Wednesday in the central to eastern United States with wide-ranging weather.

Meanwhile, forecasters warned that a Pacific storm was expected to bring widespread rain and mountain snow across California and other parts of the West from Wednesday into Friday.

A tornado watch was issued Wednesday morning for parts of North and South Carolina until early afternoon. Tornado warnings were issued in Florida and South Carolina on Wednesday morning.

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On Tuesday, high winds forced some changes to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, which moved up and shortened the two biggest parades to wrap them up ahead of the bad weather. Tornadoes touched down Tuesday in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, according to preliminary information from the National Weather Service.

In Mississippi, two people died due to the severe weather, Gov. Tate Reeves said Tuesday in a social media post without going into detail. WAPT-TV reported that one person died from a falling power line in Madison County, while a driver in the same county was killed by a tree falling on his car.

On Wednesday morning, Nebraska officials warned that travel was not advised in the eastern part of the state, where high winds were limiting visibility. A 130-mile stretch of Interstate 80 was closed from Greenwood to Grand Island, according to the Nebraska Department of Transportation.

Blizzard conditions in parts of southern Minnesota made travel there dangerous Wednesday morning, the weather service office in the Twin Cities warned on social media. Heavy snow and strong northerly winds slowed travel across much of the Twin Cities, southern Minnesota and western Wisconsin, the weather service said.

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The storms have left hundreds of thousands of people without electricity service on Wednesday morning across the central and southeastern United States, including more than 111,000 customers in Texas, about 54,000 in Tennessee and about 53,000 in Alabama, according to PowerOutage.us.

After more than 850 flights were canceled nationwide on Tuesday, the storm was beginning to snarl traffic at some of the nations busiest airports on the East Coast, which typically causes ripple effects throughout the nations commercial aviation system. Nearly 500 flights scheduled to fly into or out of U.S. airports on Wednesday have been canceled, according to FlightAware.com, which tracks cancelations and delays nationwide.

Stocks racked up more losses on Wall Street Tuesday as a trade war between the U.S. and its key trading partners escalated, wiping out all the gains since Election Day for the S&P 500.

The benchmark index fell 1.2% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 670 points, or 1.6%, The Nasdaq slipped 0.4% despite a rebound in big tech stocks such as Nvidia.

The burgeoning trade war between the U.S., China, Canada and Mexico is helping to extend a recent slump for U.S. stocks.

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The Trump administration imposed tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico starting Tuesday and doubled tariffs against imports from China. All three countries announced retaliatory actions, sparking worries about a slowdown in the global economy.

The tariffs are prompting warnings from retailers, including Target and Best Buy, as they report their latest financial results. Target fell 2.4% despite beating Wall Streets earnings forecasts, saying there will be meaningful pressure on its profits to start the year because of tariffs and other costs.

Best Buy plunged 12.1% for the biggest drop among S&P 500 stocks after giving investors a weaker-than-expected earnings forecast and warning about tariff impacts.

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International trade is critically important to our business and industry, said Best Buy CEO Corie Barry, claiming China and Mexico are the top two sources for products that Best Buy sells.

Imports from Canada and Mexico are now to be taxed at 25%, with Canadian energy products subject to 10% import duties. The 10% tariff that Trump placed on Chinese imports in February was doubled to 20%.

Retaliations were swift.

China responded to new U.S. tariffs by announcing it will impose additional tariffs of up to 15% on imports of key U.S. farm products, including chicken, pork, soy and beef, and expanded controls on doing business with key U.S. companies. Canada plans on slapping tariffs on more than $100 billion of American goods over the course of 21 days. Mexico also plans tariffs on goods imported from the U.S.

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Companies in the S&P 500 are wrapping up the latest round of quarterly financial reports. They've posted broad earnings growth of 18% for the fourth quarter. But Wall Street has already trimmed expectations for the current quarter to about 7% growth from just over forecasts of 11% at the beginning of the year.

Concerns about profits follow a series of economic reports with worrisome signals that include U.S. households becoming more pessimistic about inflation and pulling back on spending. Consumer spending has essentially driven U.S. economic growth in the face of high interest rates.

Wall Street has been hoping that the Federal Reserve would continue lowering interest rates in 2025. The central bank has signaled more caution, though, partly because of uncertainty surrounding the economic impact of tariffs. The Fed is expected to hold rates steady at its upcoming meeting later in March.

The Fed raised interest rates to their highest level in two decades in order to tame inflation. It started cutting its benchmark rate in 2024 as the rate of inflation moved closer to its target of 2%. But inflation remains stubbornly just above that target and tariffs threaten price increases that could fuel inflation.

The Supreme Court seemed likely Tuesday to block a $10 billion lawsuit Mexico filed against top firearm manufacturers in the U.S., alleging the companies have fueled cartel gun violence.

Both liberal and conservative justices appeared skeptical that the claims could clear hurdles in U.S. law that largely shield gun makers from lawsuits when their products are used in crime.

Big-name manufacturers like Smith & Wesson appealed to the justices after a lower court let the suit go forward under an exception for situations where gun companies are accused of violating the law.

An attorney for Mexico argued the case over economic harm linked to gun violence is was still in its early stages and should be allowed go forward.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, though, pointed to arguments that many products can be misused, and a flood of lawsuits could hurt the U.S. economy. That's a real concern, I think, for me, about accepting your theory, he said.

Justice Samuel Alito raised questions about whether the U.S. could file suit against Mexico for illegal conduct it links to activities there.

The arguments coincidentally come as President Donald Trumps long-threatened tariffs against Mexico and Canada go into effect. Trump has said the tariffs are aimed in part at forcing the two U.S. neighbors to step up their fight against fentanyl trafficking and stop illegal immigration.

The case began four years ago, when the Mexican government filed its blockbuster suit against some of the biggest gun companies, including Smith & Wesson, Beretta, Colt and Glock Inc.

Mexico has strict gun laws and has just one store where people can legally buy firearms. However, thousands of guns are smuggled in by the countrys powerful drug cartels every year.

The Mexican government says 70% of those weapons come from the United States. The lawsuit claims that companies knew weapons were being sold to traffickers who smuggled them into Mexico and decided to cash in on that market.

The companies reject Mexico's claims, arguing the country comes nowhere close to showing they're responsible for a relatively few people using their products to commit violence.

A federal judge tossed out the lawsuit under a 2005 law that protects gun companies from most civil lawsuits, but an appeals court revived it. They found it fell under an exception to the shield law for situations in which firearm companies are accused of knowingly violating the law in their sales or marketing.

That exception has come up in other cases.

The victims of the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook, for example, argued it applied to their lawsuit because the gun maker had violated state law in the marketing of the AR-15 rifle used in the shooting, in which 20 first graders and six educators were killed.

The Supreme Court's eventual ruling, expected by late June, could also affect other similar lawsuits stemming from mass shootings. That aspect of the case didn't appear to be a heavy focus during oral arguments, however. Smith & Wesson attorney Noel Francisco said in a statement that the exceptions aren't relevant because Mexico can't show a direct connection between the companies' business practices and cartel violence.

Carl Dean, Dolly Parton's devoted husband of nearly 60 years who avoided the spotlight and inspired her timeless hit Jolene, died Monday. He was 82.

According to a statement provided to The Associated Press by Parton's publicist, Dean died in Nashville, Tennessee. He will be laid to rest in a private ceremony with immediate family attending.

Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can't do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy," Parton wrote in a statement.

The family has asked for respect and privacy. No cause of death was announced.

Parton met Dean outside the Wishy Washy Laundromat the day she moved to Nashville at 18.

I was surprised and delighted that while he talked to me, he looked at my face (a rare thing for me)," Parton described the meeting. "He seemed to be genuinely interested in finding out who I was and what I was about.

They married two years later, on Memorial Day May 30, 1966 in a small ceremony in Ringgold, Georgia.

Dean was a businessman, having owned an asphalt-paving business in Nashville. His parents, Virginia Ginny Bates Dean and Edgar Ed Henry Dean, had three children. Parton referred to his mother as Mama Dean.

Dean is survived by Parton and his two siblings, Sandra and Donnie.

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He inspired Partons classic, Jolene. Parton told NPR in 2008 that she wrote the song about a flirty a bank teller who seemed to take an interest in Dean.

She got this terrible crush on my husband, she said. And he just loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention. It was kinda like a running joke between us when I was saying, Hell, youre spending a lot of time at the bank. I dont believe weve got that kind of money. So its really an innocent song all around, but sounds like a dreadful one.

Parton and Dean kept strict privacy around their relationship for decades, Parton telling The Associated Press in 1984: A lot of people say theres no Carl Dean, that hes just somebody I made up to keep other people off me.

She joked that shed like to pose with him on the cover of a magazine So that people could at least know that Im not married to a wart or something.

In 2023, Parton told AP Dean helped inspired her 2023 Rockstar album.

Hes a big rock and roller, she said. The song My Blue Tears, which was written when Parton was with The Porter Wagoner Show in the late 1960s and early 70s, is one of my husbands favorite songs that I ever wrote, she said. I thought, Well, I better put one of Carls favorites of mine in here. She also covered a few of his favorites on the temporary detour from country music: Lynard Skynyrd s Free Bird and Led Zeppelin s Stairway to Heaven.

President Donald Trump on Monday directed a pause to U.S. assistance to Ukraine after a disastrous Oval Office meeting as Trump seeks to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to engage in peace talks with Russia.

A White House official said Trump is focused on reaching a peace deal to end the more than three-year war sparked by Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine, and wants Zelenskyy committed to that goal. The official added that the U.S. was pausing and reviewing its aid to "ensure that it is contributing to a solution. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the assistance.

The pause comes as prominent Trump allies escalate pressure on Zelenskyy to dramatically change his approach to the U.S. president, who has made quickly ending the war a top priority, or step aside.

The long, complicated relationship between the leaders has reached a nadir following a disastrous White House meeting in which Trump and Vice President JD Vance excoriated Zelenskyy for not being sufficiently thankful for U.S. support for Ukraine since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the February 2022 invasion.

This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelenskyy, and America will not put up with it for much longer! Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform about the comments Zelenskyy made late Sunday while speaking to reporters in London.

Trump at an event at the White House later on Monday referred to Zelenskyy's reported comments, and asserted the Ukrainian leader better not be right about that.

If somebody doesnt want to make a deal, I think that person wont be around very long, Trump added. "That person will not be listened to very long.

Trump took issue with Zelenskyy suggesting it would take time to come to an agreement to end the war. The Ukrainian leader also tried to offer a positive take on the U.S.-Ukraine relationship in the aftermath of last week's White House meeting.

Asked by a reporter about the outlines of a new European initiative to end Russias war, Zelenskyy said: We are talking about the first steps today, and, therefore, until they are on paper, I would not like to talk about them in great detail.

An agreement to end the war is still very, very far away, and no one has started all these steps yet," he added.

But Trump was only further irritated by Zelenskyys suggesting it will take time for the conflict to come to a close.

It is what I was saying, this guy doesnt want there to be Peace as long as he has Americas backing and, Europe, in the meeting they had with Zelenskyy, stated flatly that they cannot do the job without the U.S. Probably not a great statement to have been made in terms of a show of strength against Russia, Trump added in his post. What are they thinking?

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Zelenskyy took to social media soon after Trump's latest criticism. He did not directly refer to Trump's comments, but underscored that it is very important that we try to make our diplomacy really substantive to end this war the soonest possible.

We need real peace and Ukrainians want it most because the war ruins our cities and towns, Zelenskyy added. We lose our people. We need to stop the war and to guarantee security.

Trump's national security adviser said Zelenskyys posture during Fridays Oval Office talks put up in the air whether hes someone the U.S. administration will be able to deal with going forward.

Is he ready, personally, politically, to move his country towards an end to the fighting? Mike Waltz said on Fox News' "Americas Newsroom" earlier Monday. "And can he and will he make the compromises necessary?

Waltz added another layer of doubt about U.S. support as other high-profile Trump allies have suggested that the relationship between Trump and Zelenskyy is becoming untenable.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday that Zelenskyy needs to come to his senses and come back to the table in gratitude or someone else needs to lead the country for Ukraine to continue pursuing a peace deal negotiated by the United States.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally who has been a vociferous supporter of Ukraine, said soon after the Oval Office meeting that Zelenskyy either needs to resign and send somebody over that we can do business with, or he needs to change.

Angela Stent, a former national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at the National Intelligence Council, said Putin is likely in no rush to end the war amid the fissures between Trump and Zelenskyy and Europe and the U.S. about the way ahead.

He is not interested in ending the war, said Stent, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. He thinks Russia is winning. ... And he thinks that as time goes on, the West will be more fractured.

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Trump administration and Ukrainian officials had been expected to sign off on a deal during Zelenskyy's visit last week that would have given the U.S. access to Ukraine's critical minerals in part to pay back more than $180 billion in aid the U.S. has sent Kyiv since the start of the war. The White House has also billed such a pact as a way to tighten U.S.-Ukrainian relations in the long term.

The signing was scrapped after the leaders' Oval Office talks went off the rails and White House officials asked Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian delegation to leave.

Trump on Monday, however, suggested he hasn't given up on the economic pact, calling it a great deal. He added that he expected to speak to the deal during his Tuesday address before a joint session of Congress.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican who co-chairs the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, spoke with Zelenskyy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, on Monday about getting the mineral rights deal back on track.

Fitzpatrick after the lengthy call predicted the deal will be signed in short order.

The Senate voted 51-45 Monday to confirm Linda McMahon as the Secretary of Education.

McMahon now faces the competing tasks of winding down the Education Department while also escalating efforts to achieve Trumps agenda. Already the Republican president has signed sweeping orders to rid Americas schools of diversity programs and accommodations for transgender students while also calling for expanded school choice programs.

At the same time, Trump has promised to shut down the department and said he wants McMahon to put herself out of a job.

A billionaire and former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, McMahon, 76, is an unconventional pick for the role. She spent a year on Connecticuts state board of education and is a longtime trustee at Sacred Heart University but otherwise has little traditional education leadership.

McMahon's supporters see her as a skilled executive who will reform a department that Republicans say has failed to improve American education. Opponents say shes unqualified and fear her budget cuts will be felt by students nationwide.

At her confirmation hearing, McMahon distanced herself from Trumps blistering rhetoric. She said the goal is to make the Education Department operate more efficiently, not to defund programs.

She acknowledged that only Congress has the power to close the department, and she pledged to preserve Title I money for low-income schools, Pell grants for low-income college students, and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Yet she suggested some operations could move to other departments, saying Health and Human Services might be better suited to enforce disability rights laws.

Weeks before McMahon's confirmation hearing, the White House was considering an executive order that would direct the education secretary to cut the agency as much as legally possible while asking Congress to shut it down completely. Some of McMahons allies pressed the White House to hold the order until after her confirmation to avoid potential backlash.

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Created by Congress in 1979, the Education Departments primary role is to disburse money to the nations schools and colleges. It sends billions of dollars a year to K-12 school and oversees a $1.6 trillion federal student loan portfolio.

Trump argues the department has been overtaken by liberals who press their ideology on Americas schools.

Schools and colleges have been navigating a demand to eliminate diversity programs or risk having their federal funding pulled. The Trump administration gave them a Feb. 28 deadline to comply. The Education Department addressed questions about its guidance in a document released Saturday, saying in part that changing names that reference diversity or equity alone is not enough if programs treat students differently by race.

During the presidential campaign, Trump vowed to close the department and grant its authority to states. Schools and states already wield significantly greater authority over education than the federal government, which is barred from influencing curriculum. Federal money makes up roughly 14% of public school budgets.

Already, the Trump administration has started overhauling much of the departments work.

Trump adviser Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency has cut dozens of contracts it dismissed as woke and wasteful. It gutted the Institute of Education Sciences, which gathers data on the nations academic progress, and the administration has fired or suspended scores of employees.

Some of the cuts have halted work thats ordered under federal law. At her hearing, McMahon said the agency will spend money thats directed by Congress, and she played down DOGEs cuts as merely an audit.

McMahon is a longtime Trump ally who left WWE in 2009 to launch a political career, running unsuccessfully twice for the U.S. Senate. She has given millions of dollars to Trumps campaigns and served as leader of the Small Business Administration during his first term.

Crowds protesting Vice President JD Vance the day after an Oval Office blowout over Ukraine lined roadways Saturday near a Vermont ski resort where he planned a weekend vacation with his family.

Many of the hundreds of demonstrators held signs in support of Ukraine, while other anti-war protesters waved Palestinian flags or signs in support of immigrant rights. Protesters showed up at several locations in the area, including both sides of Route 100 in Waitsfield.

Though demonstrations were planned days in advance, they were energized Saturday morning by a heated Oval Office exchange a day earlier between Vance, President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Vance berated Zelenskyy for challenging Trump's assertions that Russian President Vladimir Putin could be trusted.

"Ski Russia because JD Vance has no friends in Vermont, but he's got lots of friends in Russia, so he should go there for vacation," Tekla Van Hoven of Waterbury told WCAX-TV.

Vance and his family arrived in Vermont ahead of the weekend, with plans to ski at Sugarbush Resort in Warren.

A few protested at the resort on Saturday.

"There were a handful of protestors at the resort throughout the day, but all were peaceful and none were disruptive," resort spokesman John Bleh said in an email Sunday. He declined further comment, referring reporters to the White House.

Messages left Sunday for White House officials weren't immediately returned.

Republican Gov. Phil Scott issued a statement on Thursday welcoming Vance and his family to the state, and asked Vermont residents to do the same even if they have political differences with the vice president.

"I hope Vermonters remember the vice president is here on a family trip with his young children and, while we may not always agree, we should be respectful," the statement said.

A smaller number of protesters in support of Vance and President Donald Trump also showed up with a "welcome rally."