Judge finds cause to hold Trump administration in criminal contempt for violating deportation order

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday said he has found probable cause to hold the Trump administration in criminal contempt of court and warned he could seek officials' prosecution for violating his orders last month to turn around planes carrying deportees to an El Salvador prison.

The ruling from U.S District Judge James E. Boasberg, whom President Donald Trump has said should be impeached, marks a dramatic battle between the judicial and executive branches of government over the president’s powers to carry out key White House priorities.

Boasberg accused administration officials of rushing deportees out of the country under the Alien Enemies Act last month before they could challenge their removal in court, and then willfully disregarding his order that planes already in the air should return to the United States.

The judge said he could hold hearings and potentially refer the matter for prosecution if the administration does not act to remedy the violation. If Trump's Justice Department leadership declines to prosecute the matter, Boasberg said he will appoint another attorney to do so.

“The Constitution does not tolerate willful disobedience of judicial orders — especially by officials of a coordinate branch who have sworn an oath to uphold it," wrote Boasberg, the chief judge of Washington's federal court.

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Maryland Sen. Van Hollen meets with El Salvador's vice president in push for Abrego Garcia's release

SAN SALVADOR (AP) — Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador on Wednesday and met with the country's vice president to push for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who was sent there by the Trump administration in March despite an immigration court order preventing his deportation.

Van Hollen said at a news conference in San Salvador that Vice President Félix Ulloa said his government could not return Abrego Garcia to the United States and declined to allow Van Hollen to visit him in the notorious gang prison where he is being held.

“Why is the government of El Salvador continuing to imprison a man where they have no evidence that he’s committed any crime and they have not been provided any evidence from the United States that he has committed any crime?” Van Hollen told reporters after the meeting. “They should just let him go.”

Van Hollen’s trip became a flashpoint in the U.S. The Trump administration sharply criticized it, while Democrats have rallied around Abrego Garcia.

President Donald Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said this week that they have no basis to send him back, even as the U.S. Supreme Court has called on the administration to facilitate his return.

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US stocks drop as Nvidia slides and the fog of Trump's trade war thickens

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks fell Wednesday after Nvidia warned new restrictions on exports to China will chisel billions of dollars off its results, while companies around the world said President Donald Trump’s trade war is clouding forecasts for how they and the economy will do this year.

The S&P 500 sank 2.2% after falling as much as 3.3% earlier. Such an amount would have vied for one of its worst losses in years before the historic, chaotic swings that have upended Wall Street in recent weeks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 699 points, or 1.7%, and the Nasdaq composite sank a market-leading 3.1%.

Losses accelerated after the head of the Federal Reserve said again that Trump’s tariffs appear to be bigger than it expected, which could in turn slow the economy and raise inflation more than it had earlier thought. But Jerome Powell also said again that the Fed will need more time before deciding whether to lower interest rates, which could help the economy but make inflation worse, or to do the opposite.

“All of this is highly uncertain,” Powell said. “We’re thinking now, really before the tariffs have their effects, (about) how they might affect the economy. That’s why we’re waiting really to see what the policies ultimately are, and then we can make a better assessment of what the economic effects will be.”

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Trump joins tariff talks with Japan as US seeks deals amid trade wars

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday inserted himself directly into trade talks with Japanese officials, a sign of the high stakes for the United States after its tariffs rattled the economy and caused the administration to assure the public that it would quickly reach deals.

The Republican president attended the meeting alongside Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, top economic advisers with a central role in his trade and tariff policies.

“Hopefully something can be worked out which is good (GREAT!) for Japan and the USA!” Trump wrote in a social media post ahead of the meeting.

Afterward, he posted: “A Great Honor to have just met with the Japanese Delegation on Trade. Big Progress!”

The president's choice to get directly involved in negotiations points to his desire to quickly finalize a slew of trade deals as China is pursuing its own set of agreements. It's an open test of Trump's reputation as a dealmaker as countries around the world seek to limit the potential damage unleashed by his import taxes.

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NY prison guards beat an inmate to death then tried to cover it up, prosecutors say

UTICA, N.Y. (AP) — Ten New York prison guards were charged Wednesday in connection with the fatal beating of a 22-year-old inmate last month — including two charged with murder. It's the second time a group of correctional officers in the state was indicted for a death behind bars this year.

Messiah Nantwi, a prisoner at the Mid-State Correctional Facility, died March 1 from injuries he sustained in a series of beatings by guards that began in his room and continued even when he was lying handcuffed on the floor of the infirmary, the indictment says.

Six of the officers charged Wednesday were accused of assaulting Nantwi, while the other four were accused of participating in a cover-up that included filing false reports, plotting to plant a makeshift knife and cleaning up blood in Nantwi’s room in an effort to destroy evidence. All entered not guilty pleas.

Nantwi’s death came several months after Robert Brooks was fatally beaten at the Marcy Correctional Facility just across the street from the Mid-State prison. Six guards have pleaded not guilty to murder charges in Brooks’ death and other prison employees have been charged.

The Utica-area facility was one of many state prisons struggling to function during a three-week wildcat strike by guards upset over working conditions, which forced the governor to send in National Guard troops to maintain operations. Incarcerated people and their advocates complained that services and conditions deteriorated during the walkout, while the indictment notes the guards had little training on how to deal with prisoners.

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Trump administration sues Maine over participation of transgender athletes in girls sports

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Wednesday sued Maine for not complying with the government's push to ban transgender athletes in girls and women's sports, escalating a dispute over whether the state is abiding by a federal law that bars discrimination in education based on sex.

The lawsuit follows weeks of feuding between the Republican administration and Democratic Gov. Janet Mills that has led to threats to cut off crucial federal funding and a clash at the White House when she told President Donald Trump: “We’ll see you in court.”

The political overtones of the moment were clear, with Attorney General Pam Bondi — and one of the athletes who joined her on stage at the Justice Department — citing the matter as a priority for Trump. Bondi said other states, including Minnesota and California, could be sued as well.

"President Trump, before he was elected, this has been a huge issue for him,” Bondi said. “Pretty simple: girls play in girls' sports, boys play in boys' sports. Men play in men's sports, women play in women’s sports.”

Trump campaigned against the participation of transgender athletes in sports in his 2024 race. As president, he has signed executive orders to prohibit that and to use a rigid definition of the sexes, rather than gender, for federal government purposes. The orders are being challenged in court.

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Island-wide blackout hits Puerto Rico as residents prepare for Easter weekend

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — An island-wide blackout hit Puerto Rico on Wednesday as the largely Catholic residents of the U.S. territory prepared to celebrate the Easter weekend, officials said.

All 1.4 million clients on the island were without power, Hugo Sorrentini, spokesman for Luma Energy, which oversees the transmission and distribution of power, told The Associated Press. “The entire island is without generation,” he said.

Hotels were at near-capacity, with thousands of tourists celebrating Easter vacations on the island. Tourism officials rushed to reassure them, saying that many hotels and other businesses were operating with generators.

Meanwhile, at least 328,000 clients were without water, with officials warning that power likely won't be fully restored for another 48 to 72 hours.

“This is unacceptable,” said Josué Colón, the island's so-called energy czar and former executive director of Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority.

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Israeli defense minister says troops will remain in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria indefinitely

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s defense minister said on Wednesday that troops will remain in so-called security zones in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Syria indefinitely, remarks that could further complicate talks with Hamas over a ceasefire and hostage release.

Meanwhile, Israeli strikes across Gaza killed another 22 people, according to local health officials, including a girl who was not yet a year old. The girl’s mother, who was wounded, embraced her daughter, still wearing a bloodied blue dress, before she was taken for burial.

Israeli forces have taken over more than half of Gaza in a renewed campaign to pressure Hamas militants to release hostages after Israel ended their ceasefire last month. Israel has also refused to withdraw from some areas in Lebanon following a ceasefire with the Hezbollah militant group last year, and it seized a buffer zone in southern Syria after rebels overthrew Syrian President Bashar Assad in December.

“Unlike in the past, the (Israeli military) is not evacuating areas that have been cleared and seized,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement. The military “will remain in the security zones as a buffer between the enemy and (Israeli) communities in any temporary or permanent situation in Gaza — as in Lebanon and Syria.”

The Palestinians and both neighboring countries view the presence of Israeli troops as military occupation in violation of international law.

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UK's top court says definition of a woman is based on biological sex and excludes transgender people

LONDON (AP) — The U.K. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a woman is someone born biologically female, excluding transgender people from the legal definition in a long-running dispute between a feminist group and the Scottish government.

The court said the unanimous ruling shouldn't be seen as victory by one side, but several women's groups that supported the appeal celebrated outside court and hailed it as a major win in their effort to protect spaces designated for women.

“Everyone knows what sex is and you can’t change it,” said Susan Smith, co-director of For Women Scotland, which brought the case. “It’s common sense, basic common sense, and the fact that we have been down a rabbit hole where people have tried to deny science and to deny reality, and hopefully this will now see us back to reality.”

Five judges ruled that the U.K. Equality Act means trans women can be excluded from some groups and single-sex spaces such as changing rooms, homeless shelters, swimming areas and medical or counseling services provided only to women.

The court said the ruling did not remove rights for trans people still protected from discrimination under U.K. law. But it said certain protections should apply only to biological females and not transgender women.

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Dog reunites with Israeli family after disappearing for 18 months in Gaza

BINYAMINA, Israel (AP) — Rachel Dancyg never thought she would see her dog again after it disappeared in the Hamas attack that sparked the ongoing war with Israel.

Her ex-husband and brother were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel and killed. She thought her beloved pet had suffered the same fate. So when a soldier called the family on Tuesday night, telling them that Billie had been found alive in Gaza, it was hard to believe.

“It's a miracle,” Dancyg told The Associated Press on Wednesday, hours after being reunited with her now 3 1/2-year old Cavalier King Charles spaniel. “It doesn’t make sense ... People didn’t survive. How did she?"

The reunion brought a rare touch of joy in Israel after 18 months of devastating war.

The Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack killed some 1,200 people and resulted in more than 250 others being kidnapped. Nearly 60 hostages remain in Gaza, more than half of whom are believed to be dead.

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