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Royal Oak musher Baker and rest of Iditarod field set out

By Mark Thiessen

Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The rugged Iditarod started Monday, but a dearth of snow forced the iconic dog sled race to start further north and added a new route that allows mushers to bypass barren land, lengthening by more than 100 miles (160.93 kilometers) an unforgiving journey often measured in grit and attrition.

The new course reroutes mushers and their dog teams around a difficult stretch of trail north of the Alaska Range, which is treacherous with snow and ice but mostly unpassable in dry conditions for sleds.

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is usually billed as a 1,000-mile (1,609-kilometer) race across Alaska. The route change means it’s now 1,128 miles (1,815 kilometers). Mushers began their trek to the finish line in Nome from Fairbanks, the fourth time this century the race has been forced north from the Anchorage area.

A lack of snow in the Anchorage area also caused headaches for race organizers Saturday during the ceremonial start. The parade-like route in Anchorage usually has mushers taking a leisurely course over 11 miles (17.70 kilometers) of city streets and trails with an auction winner riding in their sled.

However, weeks of little-to-no new snowfall and warm temperatures in Alaska’s largest city forced organizers to shorten the ceremonial start to less than 2 miles (3.22 kilometers), run over snow that was trucked in to cover downtown city streets.

There are 33 mushers in this year’s race, tied with the 2023 race for smallest field ever. Among them are two former champions, Ryan Redington and three-time winner Mitch Seavey. Dane Baker, a first-time competitor from Royal Oak was also among the field.

Mushers and their dog teams will battle the worst of what wild Alaska can throw at them — from bad trails, mushing on frozen rivers and sea ice and possible encounters with wildlife with the winner expected in the old Gold Rush town of Nome on the Bering Sea coast in about 10 days.

This year the Iditarod will honor another famous mushing event, the 1925 Serum Run, in which sled dog teams saved Nome from a deadly diphtheria outbreak.

Dane Baker (21), of Royal Oak mushes through downtown during the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Anchorage, Alaska., Saturday, March 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Amanda Loman)

Trump will stand before Congress and offer divided nation an accounting of his turbulent first weeks

By ZEKE MILLER, Associated Press White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will stand before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday to give an accounting of his turbulent first weeks in office as a divided nation struggles to keep pace, with some Americans fearing for the country’s future while others are cheering him on.

It will be the latest milestone in Trump’s total takeover of the nation’s capital where the Republican-led House and Senate have done little to restrain the president as he and his allies work to slash the size of the federal government and remake America’s place in the world. With a tight grip on his party, Trump has been emboldened to take sweeping actions after overcoming impeachments and criminal prosecutions.

The White House said Trump’s theme would be the “renewal of the American dream,” and he was expected to lay out his achievements since returning to the White House, as well as appeal to Congress to provide more money to finance his aggressive immigration crackdown.

“It’s an opportunity for President Trump, as only he can, to lay out the last month of record-setting, record-breaking, unprecedented achievements and accomplishments,” said senior adviser Stephen Miller.

Democrats, many of whom stayed away from Trump’s inauguration in January, were largely brushing aside calls for boycotts as they struggle to come up with an effective counter to the president.

Instead, they chose to highlight the impact of Trump’s actions by inviting fired federal workers as guests, including a disabled veteran from Arizona, a health worker from Maryland and a forestry employee who worked on wildfire prevention in California. They also invited guests who would be harmed by steep federal budget cuts to Medicaid and other programs.

“Rather than focusing on American families and kitchen table issues, President Trump’s first month in office has focused on tax cuts for billionaires, paid for by the very people he promised to help,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement.

Trump also planned to use his speech to address his proposals for fostering peace in Ukraine and the Middle East, where he has unceremoniously upended the policies of the Biden administration in a matter of just weeks. On Monday, Trump ordered a freeze to U.S. military assistance to Ukraine, ending years of staunch American support for the country in fending off Russia’s invasion.

Trump was tightening the screws after his explosive Oval Office meeting Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the U.S. leader tries to pressure the erstwhile American ally to embrace peace talks with its invader.

In the Middle East, negotiations to extend a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have stalled, with Trump floating the permanent displacement of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and a U.S. “takeover” of the territory, straining partnerships with countries in the region and undoing longtime American support for a two-state solution to end the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

The backdrop of Trump’s speech will also be new economic uncertainty unleashed after the president opened the day by placing stiff tariffs on imports from the country’s neighbors and closest trading partners. A 25% tax on goods from Canada and Mexico went into effect just after midnight Tuesday — ostensibly to secure greater cooperation to tackle illicit fentanyl trafficking — triggering immediate retaliation and sparking fears of a wider trade war. Trump also raised tariffs on goods from China to 20%.

The whole scene for Trump’s speech was a marked contrast to his final State of the Union address in his first term. Five years ago, Trump delivered his annual address just after the Senate had acquitted him during his first impeachment trial and before the COVID-19 pandemic had taken root across society. Tuesday’s address is not referred to as a State of the Union because he is still in the first year of his new term.

The president planned to use his high-profile moment to press his efforts to reshape the country’s approach to social issues, as he looks to continue to eradicate diversity, equity and inclusion efforts across the country and to roll back some public accommodations for transgender individuals.

Watching from the gallery will be first lady Melania Trump, who only Monday held her first solo public event since her husband returned to power. She pushed for passage of a bill to prevent revenge porn, and her guests in the chamber will include 15-year-old Elliston Berry, the victim of an explicit deepfake image sent to classmates.

The Democrats’ guests also include at least one government watchdog dismissed by Trump in his bid to emplace loyalists across positions of influence.

Republicans lawmakers, too, are trying to make a point with their invited guests.

Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa said she would host Scott Root, father of the late Sarah Root, who died on the night of her 2016 college graduation in a vehicle crash involving an immigrant who was in the country without legal authority.

Outside Washington, the latest round of public protest against Trump and his administration also was unfolding Tuesday. Loosely coordinated groups planned demonstrations in all 50 states and the District of Colombia timed to Trump’s address.

Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro and Darlene Superville in Washington and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.

The Capitol, Monday, March 3, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

US tariffs on Canada and Mexico kick take effect, as China takes aim at US farm exports

By JOSH BOAK, PAUL WISEMAN and ROB GILLIES, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s long-threatened tariffs against Canada and Mexico went into effect Tuesday, putting global markets on edge and setting up costly retaliations by the United States’ North American allies.

Starting just past midnight, 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%, and Beijing retaliated Tuesday with tariffs of up to 15% on a wide array of U.S. farm exports. It also expanded the number of U.S. companies subject to export controls and other restrictions by about two dozen.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country would slap tariffs on more than $100 billion of American goods over the course of 21 days. Mexico didn’t immediately detail any retaliatory measures.

President Donald Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, China's President Xi Jinping and Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum
This combination of file photos shows, from left, U.S. President Donald Trump in Palm Beach, Fla., Feb. 7, 2025, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Kyiv, Ukraine, June 10, 2023, China’s President Xi Jinping in Brasilia, Brazil, Nov. 20, 2024, and Mexico’s President in Mexico City, June 27, 2024. Claudia Sheinbaum (AP Photo)

The U.S. president’s moves raised fears of higher inflation and the prospect of a trade war even as he promised the American public that taxes on imports are the easiest path to national prosperity. He has shown a willingness to buck the warnings of mainstream economists and put his own public approval on the line, believing that tariffs can fix what ails the country.

“It’s a very powerful weapon that politicians haven’t used because they were either dishonest, stupid or paid off in some other form,” Trump said Monday at the White House. “And now we’re using them.”

U.S. markets dropped sharply Monday after Trump said there was “no room left” for negotiations that could lower the tariffs. Shares in Europe and Asia were mostly lower Tuesday after they took effect.

The Canada and Mexico tariffs were supposed to begin in February, but Trump agreed to a 30-day suspension to negotiate further with the two largest U.S. trading partners. The stated reason for the tariffs is to address drug trafficking and illegal immigration, and both countries say they’ve made progress on those issues. But Trump has also said the tariffs will only come down if the U.S. trade imbalance closes, a process unlikely to be settled on a political timeline.

The tariffs may be short-lived if the U.S. economy suffers. But Trump could also impose more tariffs on the European Union, India, computer chips, autos and pharmaceutical drugs. The American president has injected a disorienting volatility into the world economy, leaving it off balance as people wonder what he’ll do next.

“It’s chaotic, especially compared to the way we saw tariffs rolled out in the first (Trump) administration,” said Michael House, co-chair of the international trade practice at the Perkins Coie law firm. “It’s unpredictable. We don’t know, in fact, what the president will do.’’

President Donald Trump
President Donald Trump gestures as he walks across the South Lawn of the White House, Sunday, March 2, 2025, in Washington, after returning from a trip to Florida. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Democratic lawmakers were quick to criticize the tariffs, and even some Republican senators raised alarms.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she’s “very concerned” about the tariffs going into effect because of her state’s proximity to Canada.

“Maine and Canada’s economy are integrated,” Collins said, explaining that much of the state’s lobsters and blueberries are processed in Canada and then sent back to the U.S.

The world economy is now caught in the fog of what appears to be a trade war.

Even after Trump announced Monday that the tariffs were going forward, Canadian officials were still in touch with their U.S. counterparts.

“The dialogue will continue, but we are ready to respond,” Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair said in Ottawa as he went into a special Cabinet meeting on U.S.-Canada relations. “There are still discussions taking place.”

Shortly after Blair spoke, Trudeau said Canada would impose 25% tariffs on $107 billion U.S. worth of American goods, starting with tariffs on $21 billion U.S. worth of goods immediately and on the remaining amount on American products in three weeks.

“Our tariffs will remain in place until the U.S. trade action is withdrawn, and should U.S. tariffs not cease, we are in active and ongoing discussions with provinces and territories to pursue several non-tariff measures,” Trudeau said.

The White House would like to see a drop in seizures of fentanyl inside the United States, not just on the northern and southern borders. Administration officials say that seizures of fentanyl last month in everywhere from Louisiana to New Jersey had ties to foreign cartels.

Damon Pike, technical practice leader for customs and trade services at the tax and consulting firm BDO, suggested the responses of other countries could escalate trade tensions and possibly increase the economic pressure points.

“Canada has their list ready,” Pike said. “The EU has their list ready. It’s going to be tit for tat.’’

Tim Houston, the leader of Canada’s Atlantic coast province of Nova Scotia, said he would direct the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation to remove all U.S. alcohol from store shelves. Houston also said his government will limit access to provincial procurement for American businesses and double the cost for commercial vehicles from the United States on a tolled highway.

The Trump administration has suggested inflation will not be as bad as economists claim, saying tariffs can motivate foreign companies to open factories in the United States. On Monday, Trump announced that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the computer chipmaker, would be investing $100 billion in domestic production.

Still, it can take time to relocate factories spread across the world and train workers with the skills they need.

Greg Ahearn, president and CEO of The Toy Association, said the 20% tariffs on Chinese goods will be “crippling” for the toy industry, as nearly 80% of toys sold in the U.S. are made in China.

“There’s a sophistication of manufacturing, of the tooling,” he said. “There’s a lot of handcrafting that is part of these toys that a lot of people don’t understand … the face painting, the face masks, the hair weaving, the hair braiding, the cut and sew for plush to get it to look just so. All of that are very high hands, skilled labor that has been passed through generations in the supply chain that exists with China.”

For a president who has promised quick results, Ahearn added a note of caution about how quickly U.S. factories could match their Chinese rivals.

“That can’t be replicated overnight,” he said.

Gillies reported from Toronto. Associated Press writers Anne D’Innocenzio in New York and Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report.

FILE – Sunlight shines through the flags of Canada and the United States, held together by a protester outside on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Feb. 1, 2025.(Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

Today in History: March 4, Abraham Lincoln’s final inauguration

Today is Tuesday, March 4, the 63rd day of 2025. There are 302 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On March 4, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated for a second term of office. With the end of the Civil War in sight, and just six weeks before his assassination, Lincoln declared:

“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the fight as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan — to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

Also on this date:

In 1789, the Constitution of the United States went into effect as the first Federal Congress met in New York.

In 1801, Thomas Jefferson became the first president to be inaugurated in Washington, D.C.

In 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated for his first term as president; he was the last U.S. president to be inaugurated on this date. In his inaugural speech, Roosevelt stated, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

In 1966, John Lennon of The Beatles was quoted in the London Evening Standard as saying, “We’re more popular than Jesus now,” a comment that caused an angry backlash in the United States.

In 1987, President Ronald Reagan addressed the nation on the Iran-Contra affair, acknowledging that his overtures to Iran had “deteriorated” into an arms-for-hostages deal.

In 1998, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that workplace sexual harassment laws are applicable when the offender and victim are of the same sex.

In 2015, the Justice Department cleared Darren Wilson, a white former Ferguson, Missouri, police officer, in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, a Black 18-year-old, but also issued a scathing report calling for sweeping changes in city law enforcement practices, which it called discriminatory and unconstitutional.

In 2017, President Donald Trump wrote a series of Twitter posts accusing former President Barack Obama of tapping his telephones during the 2016 election; an Obama spokesman declared that the assertion was “simply false.”

Today’s birthdays:

  • Film director Adrian Lyne is 84.
  • Author James Ellroy is 77.
  • Musician-producer Emilio Estefan is 72.
  • Actor Catherine O’Hara is 71.
  • Actor Mykelti (MY’-kul-tee) Williamson is 68.
  • Actor Patricia Heaton is 67.
  • Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., is 67.
  • Actor Steven Weber is 64.
  • Rock musician Jason Newsted is 62.
  • Author Khaled Hosseini is 60.
  • Author Dav Pilkey is 59.
  • Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., is 57.
  • NBA forward Draymond Green is 35.

This photograph of a painting shows the second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln as he takes the oath of office as the 16th president of the United States in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington March 4, 1865. The oath is administered by Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, a former rival of Lincoln and the former Secretary of the Treasury. (AP Photo)

Michigan State women down a notch to No. 24; Texas still No. 1

By DOUG FEINBERG
The Associated Press

Southern California has its best ranking in 39 years after moving up to No. 2 in The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll on Monday.

The Trojans won the Big Ten regular-season title Saturday, beating then-No. 2 UCLA for the second time this year. That victory vaulted USC up two spots for its highest appearance in the poll since the team was second on Jan. 5, 1986. USC garnered six first-place votes from a 31-member national media panel.

“A goal was to come here and bring USC back to what it was at one point,” coach Lindsay Gottlieb said in a phone interview. “Recognition of our history and admiration of the history and its a neat feeling in the present moment.”

Texas remained the top choice after receiving the other 25 first-place ballots. The Longhorns beat Georgia, Mississippi State and Florida last week to wrap up a share of the SEC title with South Carolina.

The Bruins fell to fourth with UConn right in front of them. South Carolina, which won a coin flip to get the top seed in the SEC Tournament, was fifth. Notre Dame dropped three places to six after losing to Florida State last week.

North Carolina State and TCU were seventh and eighth. The Wolfpack shared the ACC regular season crown with Notre Dame while the Horned Frogs won their first Big 12 title after beating Baylor on Sunday.

LSU fell to ninth after the Tigers dropped both their games, losing to then-No. 20 Alabama in overtime and to Ole Miss. The Tigers also will be without star Flau’Jae Johnson for the SEC Tournament as she recovers from shin inflammation.

Oklahoma rounded out the top 10.

Michigan State slipped a notch to No. 24.

Ranked Rabbits

South Dakota State entered the poll for the first time this season, coming in at No. 25. It’s the first time the Jackrabbits are ranked since the preseason poll in 2022. The team went 16-0 in conference play and have gone undefeated in the Summit League three straight years. The Jackrabbits have won 63 straight regular season conference games and are 81-1 dating back to the beginning of the 2020-21 season. The team’s only three losses this season came to Duke, Georgia Tech and Texas.

Conference breakdown

The Southeastern Conference has seven ranked teams. The ACC, Big Ten and Big 12 each have five. The Big East has two and the Summit League one.

Games of the week

All four of the major conferences begin their tournaments this week with the championship games on Sunday.

Southern California head coach Lindsay Gottlieb, center, celebrates with her team after they defeated UCLA in an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, March 1, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Michigan State remains No. 8 in Top 25; Michigan slips to No. 17

By JOHN MARSHALL
The Associated Press

Auburn and Duke remain atop the AP Top 25. The rest of the poll was a big jumble.

Auburn was the unanimous pick at No. 1 for the second straight week, receiving all 61 votes from a media panel in the poll released on Monday. The Tigers held the top spot for the eighth straight week following lopsided wins over Ole Miss and then-No. 17 Kentucky.

Duke was No. 2 for the second straight week after blowing out Miami and Florida State despite playing without guard Tyrese Proctor due to a bone bruise in his left knee.

No. 3 Houston moved up a spot after beating Texas Tech and Cincinnati, while Tennessee climbed to No. 4 following Jahmai Mashack’s last-second 3-pointer from well beyond halfcourt to beat Alabama 79-76.

Florida rounded out the top five, dropping two places after losing to Georgia and beating Texas A&M.

No. 8 Michigan State joined Auburn and Duke as the only teams to have the same ranking as last week.

Rising Red Storm

St. John’s has pulled off quite the turnaround in its second season under coach Rick Pitino.

The Red Storm (26-4, 17-2Big East) have not been to the NCAA Tournament since 2019, but are pretty much a lock to end the drought after clinching their first Big East regular-season title in 40 years with Saturday’s 71-61 win over Seton Hall.

“We’re just getting started,” Pitino told the Madison Square Garden crowd after the win.

St. John’s also beat Butler last week and moved up a spot in this week’s poll to No. 6, its highest ranking reaching No. 5 in 1990-91.

In and out

No teams moved in or out of this week’s poll.

Rising and falling

No. 14 Louisville made the biggest move of the week, climbing five places following wins over Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh. No. 13 Maryland moved up three places after losing to Michigan State by three on Tre Holloman’s last-second heave from beyond midcourt and beating Penn State.

No. 22 Texas A&M had by far the biggest drop, losing 10 places after losing to Vanderbilt and Florida, stretching its losing streak to four straight.

Michigan fell from No. 15 to No. 17 following Sunday’s 20-point loss to Illinois.

Conference watch

The SEC continued its dominance with three of the top five and eight total in the Top 25 this week. The Big 12 has three teams in the top 10 and five ranked teams, while the Big Ten also had five teams in the poll. The ACC has three, the Big East two and the American and West Coast conferences have one ranked team apiece.

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, right, talks with guard Jeremy Fears Jr. during an NCAA college basketball game, Sunday, March 2, 2025, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)

Pentagon changes name of Georgia Army base back to Fort Benning, dumping Fort Moore

By LOLITA C. BALDOR

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has, for the second time, reversed the renaming of a U.S. military base, saying that Fort Moore in Georgia should revert back to being called Fort Benning.

The move reflects an ongoing effort by the Pentagon to overturn the Biden administration’s 2023 decision to remove names that honored Confederate leaders, including for nine Army bases. But the drive to revert to the former names means finding service members with the same name as the Confederate leaders.

Previously, Fort Benning was named for Brig. Gen. Henry L. Benning, a Confederate officer during the American Civil War who stridently opposed the abolition of slavery.

Now, Hegseth said, Fort Benning will be named in honor of Cpl. Fred G. Benning, a recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross who served in France during World War I. According to the Pentagon, Benning was honored for heroic actions in October 1918, when he led troops through heavy fire after his platoon leader was killed by the enemy.

The renaming of bases is resulting in decisions that insult the military heroes whose names were selected in the 2023 process, including Lt. Gen. Harold Gregory Moore Jr. and his wife, Julia.

FILE - The children of Lt. Gen. Hal and Julia Moore join the command team at what's now Fort Moore during the unveiling the new sign, May 11, 2023, in Fort Moore, Ga. (Mike Haskey/Ledger-Enquirer via AP, File)
FILE – The children of Lt. Gen. Hal and Julia Moore join the command team at what’s now Fort Moore during the unveiling the new sign, May 11, 2023, in Fort Moore, Ga. (Mike Haskey/Ledger-Enquirer via AP, File)

Moore is a revered military leader who earned the Distinguished Service Cross for valor and fought in the Battle of Ia Drang in the Vietnam War. And Julia Moore was key to the creation of teams that do in-person notifications of military casualties.

Hegseth last month signed an order restoring the name of a North Carolina base back to Fort Bragg, and warned that more changes were coming.

The North Carolina base had been renamed Fort Liberty in 2023. Its original namesake, Gen. Braxton Bragg, was a Confederate general from Warrenton, North Carolina, who was known for owning slaves and losing key Civil War battles, contributing to the Confederacy’s downfall.

Now, Bragg is named to honor Pfc. Roland L. Bragg, who the Army said was a World War II hero who earned a Silver Star and Purple Heart for exceptional courage during the Battle of the Bulge.

It’s not clear how much the renaming will cost, but the expense comes as the Trump administration is trying to find savings through Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

The Naming Commission in its August 2022 report estimated it would cost $4.9 million to rename Fort Benning as Fort Moore, but said there could be additional costs. It put the cost to rename Bragg at around $8 million. Updated costs were not available.

Hegseth said the original Bragg name is a legacy for troops who lived and served there and that it was a shame to change it. And he said he deliberately referred to Bragg and Fort Benning by those names as he entered the Pentagon on his first day in office.

“There’s a reason I said Bragg and Benning when I walked into the Pentagon on day one. But it’s not just Bragg and Benning,” he said. “There are a lot of other service members that have connections. And we’re going to do our best to restore it.”

The lower ranks of the new namesakes indicate the exhaustive research being done by Army and defense leaders to find service members with the same names who have also earned some type of award for their military action and bravery.

FILE – A bridge marks the entrance to the U.S. Army’s Fort Benning as the sun rises in Columbus, Ga., Oct. 16, 2015. (AP Photo/Branden Camp, File)

Hegseth orders suspension of Pentagon’s offensive cyberoperations against Russia

By LOLITA C. BALDOR and DAVID KLEPPER

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has paused offensive cyberoperations against Russia by U.S. Cyber Command, rolling back some efforts to contend with a key adversary even as national security experts call for the U.S. to expand those capabilities.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive operations, on Monday confirmed the pause.

Hegseth’s decision does not affect cyberoperations conducted by other agencies, including the CIA and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. But the Trump administration also has rolled back other efforts at the FBI and other agencies related to countering digital and cyber threats.

The Pentagon decision, which was first reported by The Record, comes as many national security and cybersecurity experts have urged greater investments in cyber defense and offense, particularly as China and Russia have sought to interfere with the nation’s economy, elections and security.

Republican lawmakers and national security experts have all called for a greater offensive posture. During his Senate confirmation hearing this year, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said America’s rivals have shown that they believe cyberespionage — retrieving sensitive information and disrupting American business and infrastructure — to be an essential weapon of the modern arsenal.

“I want us to have all of the tools necessary to go on offense against our adversaries in the cyber community,” Ratcliffe said.

Cyber Command oversees and coordinates the Pentagon’s cybersecurity work and is known as America’s first line of defense in cyberspace. It also plans offensive cyberoperations for potential use against adversaries.

Hegseth’s directive arrived before Friday’s dustup between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. It wasn’t clear if the pause was tied to any negotiating tactic by the Trump administration to push Moscow into a peace deal with Ukraine.

Trump has vowed to end the war that began when Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago, and on Monday he slammed Zelenskyy for suggesting the end to the conflict was “far away.”

The White House did not immediately respond to questions about Hegseth’s order.

Cyber warfare is cheaper than traditional military force, can be carried out covertly and doesn’t carry the same risk of escalation or retaliation, making it an increasingly popular tool for nations that want to contend with the U.S. but lack the traditional economic or military might, according to Snehal Antani, CEO of Horizon3.ai, a San Francisco-based cybersecurity firm founded by former national security officers.

Cyberespionage can allow adversaries to steal competitive secrets from American companies, obtain sensitive intelligence or disrupt supply chains or the systems that manage dams, water plants, traffic systems, private companies, governments and hospitals.

The internet has created new battlefields, too, as nations like Russia and China use disinformation and propaganda to undermine their opponents.

Artificial intelligence now makes it easier and cheaper than ever for anyone — be it a foreign nation like Russia, China or North Korea or criminal networks — to step up their cybergame at scale, Antani said. Fixing code, translating disinformation or identifying network vulnerabilities once required a human — now AI can do much of it faster.

“We are entering this era of cyber-enabled economic warfare that is at the nation-state level,” Antani said. “We’re in this really challenging era where offense is significantly better than defense, and it’s going to take a while for defense to catch up.”

Meanwhile, Attorney General Pam Bondi also has disbanded an FBI task force focused on foreign influence campaigns, like those Russia used to target U.S. elections in the past. And more than a dozen people who worked on election security at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency were put on leave.

These actions are leaving the U.S. vulnerable despite years of evidence that Russia is committed to continuing and expanding its cyber efforts, according to Liana Keesing, campaigns manager for technology reform at Issue One, a nonprofit that has studied technology’s impact on democracy.

“Instead of confronting this threat, the Trump administration has actively taken steps to make it easier for the Kremlin to interfere in our electoral processes,” Keesing said.

FILE – Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a media conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)

Prices rose along border ahead of Trump’s tariffs — now disruption looms

By FERNANDA FIGUEROA

As 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada are set to take effect on Tuesday, Hispanic-owned businesses and companies that depend on cross-border trade are already passing higher prices onto consumers and preparing to sharply reduce imports.

The prospect of a North American trade war has already thrown the global economy into turmoil, with consumer confidence tumbling, inflation worsening and the auto sector and other domestic manufacturers bracing for a downturn.

Trump dismissed concerns that tariffs are largely paid for by consumers through higher prices, saying: “It’s a myth.”

It is possible for a stronger U.S. dollar to offset some of the costs, but most economic modeling shows tariffs will effectively amount to billions of dollars in tax hikes nationwide. Along the border, the reality is that prices were already rising in anticipation of Trump’s announcement, and much more disruption now looms.

Chamberlain Distributing represents nine different Mexican farming companies that ship about 5 million boxes of produce every year through Nogales, Arizona, to retail, wholesale and foodservice customers across the U.S. Its owner, Jaime Chamberlain, said he would raise customer prices for all the products he imports, starting Tuesday.

And if the importers of record lack the resources to pay these higher prices, Chamberlain said he won’t be able to support the farmers for more than a week or two. They’ll have to sell at a loss, or not at all. Not everything will sell in Mexico, he said. The tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, beans, squash and other perishable vegetables will be left in the fields and in his two warehouses across the border.

He predicts similar dilemmas industry-wide: Supplies of produce coming into the U.S will decrease, and prices will increase.

Since January, retailers have been bracing for the impact on their bottom lines. Restaurants have already stockpiled non-perishable goods in anticipation of prices going up, said Raul Luis, who owns the Birrieria Chalio Mexican Restaurant with locations in Los Angeles and Fort Worth, Texas.

But Luis can’t do that with the meat and fruit he sources from suppliers in Canada and Mexico. And with event catering, he can’t provide customers with a set price because he does not know things will look like in a few months.

His restaurants already use menus without prices so that he can immediately reflect changing costs without printing new ones. He’s also considering reducing his menu options to avoid higher-priced ingredients. Closing either location is out of the question, he said.

“We have to figure out ways to become more efficient,” Luis said. “We learned from the pandemic that we have to pivot and do things differently and most of our customer base understands that.”

Small businesses are particularly vulnerable, said Ramiro Cavazos, CEO of the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

“They don’t have the operating revenue that larger companies have,” Cavazos said. “Small businesses would really be on the front lines of having to bear those costs and they would have no choice but to pass those costs to their consumers.”

The state of Arizona benefits from $20 billion in cross-border trade with Mexico — an economy now under stress, said Vanessa Nielsen, a spokesperson for the Arizona-Mexico Commission, which works to foster a collaborative partnership.

In fact, businesses in Mexico already raised their prices in anticipation of Trump’s tariffs, and “these prices are passed ultimately to the consumer,” she said. “Businesses, they want to have some certainty, so they raise them now just in case tariffs happen and they’re already prepared.”

That supply chain is now vulnerable and border relations have been strained, with higher prices a particular concern for people who live south of the border and come into Arizona to buy groceries, she said. Tariffs “would have a weakening effect on these communities at the border that depend on that traffic from Mexico and vice versa.”

Trump also set increased the minimum tariff on all steel and aluminum imports earlier this month from 10% to 25%. This could make housing more expensive and harm the already-low profit margins of small businesses, said George Carrillo, CEO of the Hispanic Construction Council.

Carrillo said construction businesses can only stockpile steel up to a point depending on the revenue and space they have. The fear is that future projects are going to be delayed as prices shift.

“Hispanic businesses, they typically underprice the market because they’re trying to be more competitive than larger companies,” Carrillo said. “Now they have a choice — do I pass this on to the consumer or do I eat this up myself?”

Raul Luis checks an order at his Birrieria Chalio Mexican Restaurant in Fort Worth, Texas, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Giant chipmaker TSMC to spend $100B to expand chip manufacturing in US, Trump announces

By DIDI TANG and MICHELLE L. PRICE

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. plans to invest $100 billion in the United States, President Donald Trump said Monday, on top of $65 billion in investments the company had previously announced.

TSMC, the world’s biggest semiconductor manufacturer, produces chips for companies including Apple, Intel and Nvidia. The company had already begun constructing three plants in Arizona after the Biden administration offered billions in subsidies. Its first factory in Arizona has started mass production of its 4-nanometer chips.

Trump, who appeared with TSMC’s chief executive officer C. C. Wei at the White House, called it a “tremendous move” and “a matter of economic security.”

“Semiconductors are the backbone of the 21st century economy. And really, without the semiconductors, there is no economy,” the president said. “Powering everything from AI to automobiles to advanced manufacturing, we must be able to build the chips and semiconductors that we need right here in American factories with Americans skill and American labor.”

Wei said the investment will be for three more chip manufacturing plants, along with two packaging facilities, in Arizona.

The $165 billion investment “is going to create thousands of high-paying jobs,” Wei said.

Former President Joe Biden in 2022 signed a sweeping $280 billion law, the CHIPS and Science Act, to try to reinvigorate chip manufacturing in the U.S., especially after the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the pandemic, chip factories, especially those overseas making the majority of processors, shut down. It had a ripple effect that led to wider problems, such as automobile factory assembly lines shutting down and fueled inflation.

Trump has criticized the law and taken a different approach, instead threatening to impose high tariffs on imported chips to bring chip manufacturing back to the U.S.

Trump also has said companies like TSMC do not need federal tax incentives.

When asked if the new investment could minimize impact on the U.S. should China either isolate or seize Taiwan, Trump said he couldn’t say “minimize” because “that would be a catastrophic event obviously.”

Taiwan is an island that broke away from mainland China in 1949 following a civil war. Beijing claims sovereignty over the island and has ratcheted up military and diplomatic pressure on its leaders.

“It will at least give us a position where we have, in this very, very important business, we would have a very big part of it in the United States,” Trump said of the chip manufacturing.

He did not say if the investment would provide security for the self-governed island that Beijing considers to be part of Chinese territory.

Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, the island’s de-facto embassy in the United States, said investments by Taiwanese businesses in the U.S. have exceeded 40% of the island’s total foreign investments and that the Taiwanese government is “glad” to see Taiwanese businesses to expand investments in the U.S. and to deep cooperation on supply chain between the two sides.

“It also brings the economic and trade relations closer,” the office said.

Trump has hosted multiple business leaders at the White House since he took office in January to tout a series of investments that aim to demonstrate his leadership is a boon for the U.S. economy. He’s also pointed to the tariff threats as prodding the investments.

“It’s the incentive we’ve created. Or the negative incentive,” Trump said.

In January, he appeared with the heads of OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank at the White House as they announced plans for a new partnership to invest up to $500 billion for infrastructure tied to artificial intelligence. He also announced in January a $20 billion investment by DAMAC Properties in the United Arab Emirates to build data centers tied to AI.

Last week, after Apple CEO Tim Cook met with Trump at the White House, the company announced plans to invest more than $500 billion in the U.S. over the next four years, including plans for a new server factory in Texas. Trump said after their meeting that Cook promised him Apple’s manufacturing would shift from Mexico to the U.S.

“I don’t have time to do all of these announcements,” Trump joked Monday as he listed some of the other investments.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the planned announcement Monday.

Associated Press writer Chris Megerian contributed to this report. Price reported from New York.

President Donald Trump walks before talking with reporters before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

How Trump’s history with Russia and Ukraine set the stage for a blowup with Zelenskyy

By ERIC TUCKER

WASHINGTON (AP) — As his White House meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart devolved into a stunning blowup, President Donald Trump leaned on a familiar refrain to explain his unique kinship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

“Putin went through a hell of a lot with me,” Trump said Friday, raising his voice and gesturing with his hands as he recounted the long-since-concluded saga of a federal investigation in which both he and the Russian president played starring roles.

“He went through a phony witch hunt where they used him and Russia. Russia, Russia, Russia, ever hear of that deal?” Trump said.

The reference to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election underscored the extent to which Trump’s lingering fury over an inquiry he has misleadingly branded a “hoax” remains top of mind more than eight years after it began.

It also showed that Trump’s view of a war Russia launched against Ukraine three years ago is colored not only by his relationship with Putin and the alliance he believes they share but also by his fraught past with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was a central player in the first of two impeachment cases against Trump during his first four years in office.

Here’s a look at what the American president means when he says “Russia, Russia, Russia”:

Investigations tied to Putin connections

Questions over Trump’s connections to Putin followed him into his first presidency and hung over him for most of his term, spurring investigations by the Justice Department and Congress and the appointment of a special counsel who brought criminal charges against multiple Trump allies.

While running for office, Trump cast doubt on the idea that Russian government hackers had stolen the emails of Democrats, including his 2016 rival Hillary Clinton, and orchestrated their public release in an effort to boost his candidacy and harm hers.

Then, as president, he broke with his own intelligence community’s firm finding that Russia and Russia alone was to blame for the hack. Even when he begrudgingly conceded that Russia might be responsible, he also suggested the culprit might be a “400-pound genius sitting in bed and playing with his computer.”

In July 2018, while meeting with Putin in Helsinki, Trump appeared to embrace the Russian leader’s protestations over the conclusions of U.S. intelligence officials by saying, “I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.”

He added that “I don’t see any reason why it would be” Russia.

All the while, he memorably raged against the investigation, calling it a “hoax” and “witch hunt” and, as he did at the White House last week, repeatedly deriding all the “Russia, Russia, Russia” attention.

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation wrapped up in 2019 and left no doubt that Russia had interfered in the election in sweeping and criminal fashion and that the Trump campaign had welcomed the help. But the inquiry did not find sufficient evidence to prove that the two sides had illegally colluded to tip the outcome of the election.

‘Do us a favor’

If Trump’s history with Russia appears to have contributed to his worldview of the current conflict, so too has his past with Ukraine.

He held a call in 2019 with Zelenskyy and pushed him to investigate corruption allegations against Democratic rival Joe Biden and Biden’s son Hunter ahead of the 2020 election, which Joe Biden went on to win.

The call — which included Trump’s memorable line: “I would like you to do us a favor, though” — was reported to congressional leaders and to a government watchdog by a CIA officer-turned-whistleblower who said the president appeared to be soliciting interference from a foreign country in the U.S. election.

After Trump’s call with Zelenskyy, the White House temporarily halted U.S. aid to the struggling ally facing hostile Russian forces at its border. The money was eventually released as Congress intervened.

Trump was subsequently impeached by the House but acquitted by the Senate.

The president’s skepticism of Ukraine went beyond the call. During his first term, he also seemingly bought into a long-discredited conspiracy theory that connects Ukraine, not Russia, to the 2016 political interference and the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and repeatedly accused the FBI of a lackluster investigation that led to the blaming of the Kremlin.

What happens next?

The long-term repercussions of the Oval Office spat, in which Trump called Zelenskyy “disrespectful” in the most hostile public exchange in memory between world leaders at the White House, remain to be seen.

But the immediate consequences are clear: Zelenskyy left Washington without signing a minerals deal that Trump said would have moved Ukraine closer to ending its war with Russia.

He’s not welcome back, Trump said on social media, until he’s “ready for Peace.” On Monday, the U.S. president again blasted the Ukrainian leader after Zelenskyy noted that a deal to end the war “is still very, very far away.”

With the U.S.-Ukraine relationship now in jeopardy, Zelenskyy has used a series of posts on X to express his thanks to the American people, Trump and Congress for “all the support.”

European leaders, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, have embraced Zelenskyy in the aftermath of the White House fight.

In Russia, officials are relishing the conflict, sensing an opportunity to move closer to the U.S. and bring about a halt in American aid for Kyiv. That window seemed to open last month when the U.S., in a dramatic reversal, split from European allies by refusing to blame Russia for its invasion of Ukraine in votes on U.N. resolutions seeking an end to the war.

In an interview with a Russian state TV reporter that aired Sunday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the new U.S. administration is “rapidly changing all foreign policy configurations.”

“This largely coincides with our vision,” he added.

President Donald Trump, right, meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office at the White House, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Mystyslav Chernov)

Trump says 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports will start Tuesday, with 'no room' for delay

President Donald Trump said Monday that 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada will start Tuesday, sparking renewed fears of a North American trade war.

Tomorrow tariffs 25% on Canada and 25% on Mexico. And thatll start, Trump told reporters in the Roosevelt Room. Trump has said the tariffs are to force the two U.S. neighbors to step up their fight against fentanyl trafficking into the U.S.

Trump provided a one-month delay in February as both countries promised concessions. But Trump said Monday that there was no room left for Mexico or for Canada to avoid the steep new tariffs.

U.S. stock markets moved sharply lower after Trumps comments.

Trump said he would also add on another 10% tariff on goods from China, on top of the initial 10% he put in place last month.

Today in History: March 3, Rodney King beaten by Los Angeles police

Today is Monday, March 3, the 62nd day of 2025. There are 303 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On March 3, 1991, motorist Rodney King was severely beaten by Los Angeles police officers after a high-speed chase; amateur video that captured the scene aired on local news that evening, sparking public outrage.

Also on this date:

In 1849, Congress established the U.S. Department of the Interior.

In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the act creating the National Academy of Sciences.

In 1931, President Herbert Hoover signed a bill making “The Star-Spangled Banner” the national anthem of the United States.

In 1943, in London’s East End, 173 people died in a crush of bodies at the Bethnal Green Tube station, which was being used as a wartime air raid shelter.

In 1945, Allied troops fully secured the Philippine capital of Manila from Japanese forces during World War II after a monthlong battle that destroyed much of the city.

In 1969, Apollo 9 blasted off from Cape Kennedy on a mission to test NASA’s lunar module.

In 2022, OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma reached a nationwide settlement over its role in the opioid crisis, with the Sackler family members who own the company boosting their cash contribution to as much as $6 billion in a deal intended to staunch a flood of lawsuits.

Today’s birthdays:

  • Filmmaker George Miller is 80.
  • Singer Jennifer Warnes is 78.
  • Author Ron Chernow is 76.
  • Football Hall of Famer Randy Gradishar is 73.
  • Musician Robyn Hitchcock is 72.
  • Actor Miranda Richardson is 67.
  • Radio personality Ira Glass is 66.
  • Olympic track and field gold medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee is 63.
  • Rapper-actor Tone Loc is 59.
  • Hockey Hall of Famer Brian Leetch is 57.
  • Actor Julie Bowen is 55.
  • Actor David Faustino is 51.
  • Actor Jessica Biel is 43.
  • Singer Camila Cabello is 28.
  • NBA forward Jayson Tatum is 27.

FILE – This file photo of Rodney King was taken three days after his videotaped beating in Los Angeles on March 6, 1991. The photo is one of three introduced into evidence by the prosecution in the trial of four LAPD officers in a Simi Valley, California Courtroom, March 24, 1992. The acquittal of four police officers in the videotaped beating of King sparked rioting that spread across the city and into neighboring suburbs. Cars were demolished and homes and businesses were burned. Before order was restored, 55 people were dead, 2,300 injured and more than 1,500 buildings were damaged or destroyed. (AP Photo/Pool,File)

Breakout star Mikey Madison wins best actress Oscar for ‘Anora’ over Hollywood veteran Demi Moore

By BETH HARRIS, Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mikey Madison won the best actress Oscar on Sunday for “Anora,” a role that catapulted the 25-year-old into a burgeoning film career after achieving initial success on television.

The Brooklyn-set comedy-drama had received six nominations.

Madison had been best known for playing a sullen teenager in the FX comedy series “Better Things,” which ended in 2022. She also appeared in the hit movies “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” and the fifth installment of the horror franchise “Scream.”

Those jobs attracted the attention of director-writer Sean Baker, who penned the title role in “Anora” for Madison. She studied Russian and did her own stunts in the film, in addition to learning to pole dance to play an exotic dancer who marries the son of a Russian oligarch.

The film debuted to critical acclaim at Cannes last year, winning the Palme d’Or. It has gained momentum ever since, with its box-office success easily outearning its $6 million budget.

Hollywood veteran Demi Moore of “The Substance” had been the Oscar front-runner, having won over Madison at the Golden Globes and SAG Awards. However, Madison beat out Moore for the BAFTA two days before Oscar voting ended, as well as at last weekend’s Independent Spirit Awards.

She was born Mikaela Madison Rosberg in Los Angeles, one of five children of psychologist parents. Her mother signed her up for an acting class in her mid-teens after Madison had trained in competitive horseback riding, which she found lonely compared to the collaborative nature of acting.

In addition to Moore, the other nominees were Cynthia Erivo for “Wicked,” Karla Sofía Gascón for “Emilia Pérez” and Fernanda Torres for “I’m Still Here.”

Mikey Madison arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Sean Baker wins best director Oscar for ‘Anora’

By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM, Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sean Baker won best director at the Oscars on Sunday for “Anora,” bookending a dominant awards season for the American filmmaker whose stories seek to humanize sex workers and immigrants.

Baker, 53, wrote, produced, directed and edited the film, which is also among the top contenders for best picture. The comedy-drama stars Mikey Madison as a Brooklyn exotic dancer who marries the impetuous son of a Russian oligarch. They impulsively tie the knot on a ketamine-induced Las Vegas getaway, angering his parents, who send their bumbling henchmen after the couple to force an annulment.

“If you didn’t cast Mikey Madison in ‘Once Upon a Time,’ there would be no ‘Anora,’” Baker told Quentin Tarantino, who presented the award.

Baker came into the night the favorite for the directing Oscar after earning the top prize from the Directors Guild of America, a win that historically all but guarantees an Oscars victory. He also took home the top awards at the Producers Guild and Independent Spirit Awards.

This year’s best director lineup featured five first-time nominees in the category for the first time in nearly three decades. All had writing credits on their respective films, demonstrating the academy’s growing preference for auteurs who can masterfully bring their own vision to life. For the Oscar, he beat out Brady Corbet of “The Brutalist,” James Mangold of “A Complete Unknown,” Jacques Audiard of “Emilia Pérez” and Coralie Fargeat of “The Substance.”

Going into the night, Baker had the potential to win a record four Oscars for “Anora,” which was nominated for six in total. He won for best original screenplay and best editing — a rarity as directors don’t typically cut their own films. He is also up for best picture.

“Anora” brings Baker’s signature style of provocative comedy from indie theaters into the mainstream, blending slapstick humor with social commentary in a way that makes lessons about marginalized groups palatable to a wider audience. He made the film on a modest budget of $6 million — an amount one producer joked is smaller than the catering budget of some of its competitors. Last year’s best picture winner, “Oppenheimer,” had a $100 million budget.

Baker has been vocal about the difficulty of making independent films and surviving as an indie filmmaker in an industry that increasingly supports big-budget spectacles. In a rousing speech at the Independent Spirit Awards, he said indies are in danger of becoming “calling card films” — movies made only as a means to get hired for projects at major studios. Without backing for independent films, he said, some of the most creative and innovative projects might never be made.

He exhorted filmmakers to keep moving films for the big screen, bemoaning the erosion of the theatergoing experience.

“Watching a film in the theater with an audience is an experience. We can laugh together, cry together, scream in fright together, perhaps sit in devastated silence together. In a time in which the world can feel very divided, this is more important than ever. It’s a communal experience you simply don’t get at home,” he said.

Baker has long been passionate about using his craft to help destigmatize sex work. His 2012 film “Starlet” follows a budding friendship between an adult film star and a crotchety widow who sells her a thermos full of cash at a yard sale. Baker said the connections he formed with sex workers involved in the project inspired him to feature them in several other films.

He received widespread praise for “Tangerine” (2015), in which he used three iPhone 5S smartphones to tell a story about transgender sex workers in Los Angeles. In “The Florida Project” (2017), a single mother living in an Orlando motel turns to sex work to provide for her daughter. And “Red Rocket” (2021) follows a retired porn actor’s journey back to his small Texas hometown.

Sean Baker, winner of the award for best film editing for “Anora,” poses in the press room at the Oscars on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Adrien Brody wins best actor for ‘The Brutalist,’ taking home his second career Oscar

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr., Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Adrien Brody clinched his second Oscar for best actor, winning Sunday for his role as a visionary Hungarian architect in “ The Brutalist ” and solidifying his legacy as one of Hollywood’s most compelling talents.

Brody took home best actor at the 97th Academy Awards for his powerful portrayal of Lázló Tóth, who escapes the Holocaust and sails to the United States to find his American Dream. The film spans 30 years in the life of Tóth, a fictional character whose unorthodox designs challenged societal norms, and his relentless pursuit of artistic integrity.

Brody triumphed over fellow nominees Timothée Chalamet, “A Complete Unknown,” Colman Domingo, “Sing Sing,” Ralph Fiennes, “Conclave,” and Sebastian Stan, “The Apprentice.”

“The Brutalist,” which is nominated for 10 Oscars including best picture, is Brady Corbet’s three-and-a-half-hour postwar American epic filmed in VistaVision. Brody starred in the film alongside Felicity Jones and Guy Pearce.

After winning best actor at the 78th British Academy Film Awards in February, Brody said “The Brutalist” carries a powerful message for divided times.

“It speaks to the need for all of us to share in the responsibility of how we want others to be treated and how we want to be treated by others,” he said. “There’s no place any more for antisemitism. There’s no place for racism.”

Brody won an Academy Award for best actor in 2003 for his role in “The Pianist.” His gap of 22 years would be the second longest between best actor wins. It was 29 years between wins for “Silence of the Lambs” and “The Father” for Anthony Hopkins.

Brody is also known for his performances “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “The Darjeeling Limited” and “Midnight in Paris.”

For Brody, his role in “The Brutalist” had obvious echoes with arguably his most defining performance. In Roman Polanski’s 2002 “The Pianist,” Brody also played a Jewish artist trying to survive during WWII.

Adrien Brody arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

‘I’m Still Here’ win best international film in Brazil’s first Oscar in the category

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr., Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “I’m Still Here,” a film about a family torn apart by the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil for more than two decades, gave Brazil’s first Oscars win on Sunday in the best international film category.

The Walter Salles film stars Fernanda Torres as Eunice Paiva, the wife of Rubens Paiva, a former leftist Brazilian congressman who, at the height of the country’s military dictatorship in 1971, was taken from his family’s Rio de Janeiro home and never returned.

Salles paid homage to Paiva’s bravery, and Torres for portraying her along with Fernanda Montenegro, the daughter of one of the country’s greatest stars. She appears late in the film as the older Eunice.

“This goes to a woman who after a loss suffered during a authoritarian regime decided not to bend and resist. This prize goes to her,” Salles said during his acceptance speech, as the audience gave a standing ovation. “And it goes to the two extraordinary women who gave life to her.”

“Today is the day to feel even prouder of being Brazilian,” Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wrote on X, “Pride for our cinema, for our artists and, primarily, pride for our democracy.”

The focus of “I’m Still Here,” based on the memoir by Paiva’s son Marcelo, is Eunice, the mother of five left to remake their family’s life with neither her husband nor any answers for his disappearance. It unfolds as a portrait of a different kind of political resistance — one of steadfast endurance.

Eunice refuses the military dictatorship’s attempt to break her and her family. When, in one scene, Eunice and her children — by then long without their disappeared father — pose for a newspaper photograph, she tells them to smile.

“The smile is a kind of resistance,” Torres told The Associated Press. “It’s not that they’re living happily. It’s a tragedy. Marcelo recently said something that Eunice said that I had never heard: ‘We are not a victim. The victim is the country.’”

“I’m Still Here” is a deeply Brazilian story, made by one of the country’s most acclaimed directors (Salles’ films include “Central Station” and “Motorcycle Diaries”) and Montenegro.

Also nominated for best international film were Denmark’s “The Girl with the Needle,” Germany’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” Latvia’s “Flow” and France’s “Emilia Pérez,” a onetime Oscars favorite marred by controversy.

FILE – Selton Mello, from left, Fernanda Torres, and director Walter Salles, pose for photographers upon arrival for the premiere of the film, “I’m Still Here”, during the 81st edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, Sept. 1, 2024. (Photo by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP, File)

Detroit OF Meadows out indefinitely with nerve issue in throwing arm

LAKELAND, Fla. (AP) — Detroit center fielder Parker Meadows is out indefinitely with a nerve issue in his throwing arm.

Manager A.J. Hinch said Saturday that there is no timetable for his return from the issue in his upper right arm. The Tigers haven’t yet ruled him out for Opening Day but for now he can’t do any baseball activities.

“My understanding is that we’re in a wait-and-see (situation),” Hinch told reporters. “We’ve got to get that nerve firing again for him to resume baseball activities. Could be short. Could linger a little bit. No one has a firm timetable on when that can be, but we feel like we’re on a really good path now that we have the diagnosis (and) we now have a treatment plan.”

Meadows was injured in Detroit’s spring training opener on February 22 on a throw from center field. It took some time to pinpoint what the problem was before the Tigers announced that he’d be out indefinitely.

The 25-year-old hit .244 with nine home runs and 28 RBIs in 82 games last season. He played well in the postseason, batting .269 with a hit in each of the team’s seven playoff games as the Tigers reached the American League Division Series.

FILE - Detroit Tigers' Parker Meadows takes a throw during warm ups before Game 2 of the AL Division Series against the Cleveland Guardians Monday, Oct. 7, 2024 in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Phil Long, File)

‘No Other Land’ wins Oscar for best documentary

By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM, Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “No Other Land,” the story of Palestinian activists fighting to protect their communities from demolition by the Israeli military, won the Oscar for best documentary on Sunday.

The collaboration between Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers follows activist Basel Adra as he risks arrest to document the destruction of his hometown, which Israeli soldiers are tearing down to use as a military training zone, at the southern edge of the West Bank. Adra’s pleas fall on deaf ears until he befriends a Jewish Israeli journalist who helps him amplify his story.

“About two months ago, I became a father, and my hope to my daughter that she will not have to live the same life I’m living now, always fearing settlers, violence, home demolitions and forcible displacements,” said Adra.

“No Other Land” came into the night a top contender after a successful run on the film festival circuit. It did not, however, find a U.S. distributor after being picked up for distribution in 24 countries. For the Oscar, it beat out “Porcelain War,” “Sugarcane,” “Black Box Diaries” and “Soundtrack to a Coup d’État.”

The documentary was filmed over four years between 2019 and 2023, wrapping production days before Hamas launched its deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel that started the war in Gaza.

In the film, Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham embeds in a community fighting displacement, but he faces some pushback from Palestinians who point out his privileges as an Israeli citizen. Adra says he is unable to leave the West Bank and is treated like a criminal, while Abraham can come and go freely.

The film is heavily reliant on camcorder footage from Adra’s personal archive. He captures Israeli soldiers bulldozing the village school and filling water wells with cement to prevent people from rebuilding.

Residents of the small, rugged region of Masafer Yatta band together after Adra films an Israeli soldier shooting a local man who is protesting the demolition of his home. The man becomes paralyzed, and his mother struggles to take care of him while living in a cave.

FILE – Palestinian Basel Adra, right, and Israeli Yuval Abraham receive the documentary award for “No Other Land” at the International Film Festival, Berlinale, in Berlin, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)
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