Pope Francis is in critical condition after a long respiratory crisis, requiring oxygen at high flow
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis was in critical condition Saturday after he suffered a prolonged asthmatic respiratory crisis while being treated for pneumonia and a complex lung infection, the Vatican said.
The 88-year-old pope, who remains conscious, received “high flows” of oxygen to help him breathe. He also received blood transfusions after tests showed low counts of platelets, which are needed for clotting, the Vatican said in a late update.
“The Holy Father’s condition continues to be critical, therefore, as explained yesterday (Friday), the pope is not out of danger,” the statement said. It was the first time “critical” had been used in a written statement to describe Francis' condition since he was hospitalized Feb. 14.
The statement also said that the pontiff “continues to be alert and spent the day in an armchair although in more pain than yesterday." Doctors declined to offer a prognosis, saying it was “reserved.”
Doctors have said Francis' condition is touch-and-go, given his age, fragility and pre-existing lung disease.
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Israel delays release of Palestinian prisoners, citing 'humiliating' handovers of hostages
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel says the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners is delayed “until the release of the next hostages has been assured, and without the humiliating ceremonies” at handovers of Israeli captives in Gaza.
The statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office came early Sunday as military vehicles that normally move in advance of the buses carrying prisoners left the open gates of Ofer prison, only to turn around and go back in.
The release of 620 Palestinian prisoners had been delayed for several hours and was meant to occur just after six Israeli hostages were released on Saturday. It was meant to be the largest one-day prisoner release in the Gaza ceasefire’s first phase.
Israel’s announcement abruptly put the future of the truce into further doubt.
The Palestinian Authority’s commission for prisoners’ affairs confirmed the delay “until further notice.” Associated Press video in the West Bank showed prisoners’ families, waiting outdoors in near-freezing weather, apparently dispersing. One woman was shown walking away in tears.
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Trump-Putin summit preparations are underway, Russia says
Preparations are underway for a face-to-face meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia's deputy foreign minister said Saturday. It marked a clear departure from Western efforts to isolate Moscow over its war in Ukraine.
Speaking to Russian state media, Sergei Ryabkov said a possible Putin-Trump summit could involve broad talks on global issues, not just the war in Ukraine.
“The question is about starting to move toward normalizing relations between our countries, finding ways to resolve the most acute and potentially very, very dangerous situations, of which there are many, Ukraine among them,” he said.
But he said efforts to organize such a meeting are at an early stage, and that making it happen will require “the most intensive preparatory work."
Ryabkov added that U.S. and Russian envoys could meet within the next two weeks to pave the way for further talks among senior officials.
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Musk gives all federal workers 48 hours to explain what they did last week
NEW YORK (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of federal workers have been given little more than 48 hours to explain what they accomplished over the last week, sparking confusion across key agencies as billionaire Elon Musk expands his crusade to slash the size of federal government.
Musk, who serves as President Donald Trump's cost-cutting chief, telegraphed the extraordinary request on his social media network on Saturday.
“Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week,” Musk posted on X, which he owns. “Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
Shortly afterward, federal employees — including some judges, court staff and federal prison officials — received a three-line email with this instruction: “Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager."
The deadline to reply was listed as Monday at 11:59 p.m., although the email did not include Musk's social media threat about those who fail to respond.
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Officer killed after a gunman took hostages at a Pennsylvania hospital
YORK, Pa. (AP) — A man armed with a pistol and carrying zip ties entered a Pennsylvania hospital's intensive care unit Saturday and took staff members hostage before he was killed by police in a shootout that also left an officer dead, authorities said.
Three workers at UPMC Memorial Hospital, including a doctor, a nurse and a custodian, and two other officers were shot and wounded in the attack, York County District Attorney Tim Barker said. A fourth staffer was injured in a fall.
Gunfire erupted after officers went to engage the shooter, whom Barker identified as Diogenes Archangel-Ortiz, 49. He said Archangel-Ortiz was holding at gunpoint a female staff member who had her hands bound with zip ties when police opened fire.
“This is a huge loss to our community,” Barker said at a press conference following the shooting. “It is absolutely clear, and beyond any and all doubt, that the officers were justified in taking their action using deadly force.”
Barker added that while the investigation is in its early stages, it appears Archangel-Ortiz had previous contact with the hospital's ICU earlier in the week for “a medical purpose involving another individual” and he intentionally targeted the workers there.
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Shooting after pursuit at Air Force Base in New Mexico kills an airman and wounds another
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A shooting at a U.S. Air Force base in New Mexico early Saturday left one airman dead and another wounded, military officials said, adding that it was not an act of terrorism or an attack by an outsider.
A statement from Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque said security forces responded to a shooting near one of the entrances to the base at about 2 a.m. One airman died at the scene, and the other was taken to a hospital with a gunshot wound to a hand and later discharged, the statement said.
An update in the afternoon said the shooting occurred following “an off-base pursuit.” There was no threat to the public, it said.
The Air Force released few other details and did not immediately say whether anyone was in custody. A spokesperson declined to say whether the shooter or shooters also were airmen.
The names of the airmen who were shot were not immediately released.
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Trump moves with light speed and brute force in shaking the core of what America has been
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is moving with light speed and brute force to break the existing order and reshape America at home and abroad. He likes the ring of calling himself king.
No one can absorb it all. By the time you try to process one big thing — he covets Greenland, Canada, the Panama Canal and Gaza; he turns away from historic alliancesand Ukraine; fires many thousands of federal workers, then brings some right back; raises doubts whether he will obey laws he doesn't like; orders an about-face in the missions of department after department; declares there are only two genders, which federal documents will henceforth call sexes; announces heavy tariffs, suspends them, then imposes some — three more big things have happened.
Trump’s core supporters are thrilled with what they see. Those who don't like him watch in horror. The nation is far from any consensus on what makes America great and what may make it sink.
What’s undeniable is that Trump has ushered in the sharpest change of direction for the country at least since Franklin D. Roosevelt in the Great Depression. But the long-term implications of Trump's national reset, and by extension his own legacy, cannot yet be determined.
“Make American Great Again” figure Steve Bannon calls all this action “muzzle velocity” — firing every way at once to confuse the enemy. The barrage has left a variety of foreign leaders and many public servants picking figurative buckshot out of their backsides.
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Oscar favorite ‘Anora’ wins best film, director and actor at the Independent Spirit Awards
Sean Baker's “Anora” won best film, best director and best actor for Mikey Madison at the Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday in what could be a preview of next Sunday’s Oscars: The film about a Brooklyn sex worker and her whirlwind affair with a Russian oligarch’s son has emerged in recent weeks as an awards season front-runner.
The Spirit Awards, held in a beachside tent in Santa Monica, California, is the shaggier, more irreverent sister to the Academy Awards, celebrating the best in independent film and television.
Host Aidy Bryant called it “Hollywood’s third or fourth biggest night.”
In accepting the directing prize, Baker spoke passionately about the difficulty of making independent films in an industry that is no longer able to fund riskier films. He said indies are in danger of becoming calling card films — movies made only as a means to get hired for bigger projects.
“The system has to change because this is simply unsustainable,” Baker said to enthusiastic applause. “We shouldn't be barely getting by.”
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USDA scholarship for students at historically Black colleges suspended
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal scholarship aimed at boosting students from underserved and rural areas attending historically Black colleges and universities has been put on hold.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture suspended the 1890 Scholars Program, which provided recipients with full tuition and fees for students studying agriculture, food or natural resource sciences at one of 19 universities, known as the 1890 land grant institutions.
It’s not clear exactly when the program was suspended, but some members of Congress first issued statements criticizing the suspension of the program on Thursday.
“The 1890 Scholars Program has been suspended pending further review,” the Department of Agriculture said in a post on the program's website.
The suspension coincides with a funding freeze President Donald Trump's administration instituted. Administration officials had said the pause was necessary to review whether spending aligned with Trump’s executive orders on issues like climate change and diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
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Leading contenders make their final appeals to German voters before a landmark election
BERLIN (AP) — The contenders in Germany's election made their final appeals to voters Saturday, with opposition leader and front-runner Friedrich Merz vowing to revive the stagnant economy and defend Europe's interests in the face of a confrontational U.S. administration.
Chancellor OIaf Scholz, meanwhile, insisted that he still hopes for an improbable last-minute comeback.
Germans are electing a new parliament Sunday after a campaign focused on the state of Europe’s biggest economy and calls to curb migration, while uncertainty has grown rapidly about the future of Ukraine and the strength of Europe’s alliance with the United States.
It appears to have done little to shift parties' position in polls. They have consistently shown the center-right opposition, main challenger Merz's Union bloc, in the lead. It's ahead of the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany, which is on course for the strongest result for a far-right party since World War II, but has no other party willing to go into government with it.
Scholz's center-left Social Democrats have shown little sign of coming back from a large poll deficit after the chancellor's three-party coalition collapsed in November following a long-running argument about how to revitalize the economy. That led to the election being held seven months ahead of schedule.
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