Robert Prevost, first pope from US in history of the Catholic Church, takes the name Leo XIV

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Catholic cardinals broke with tradition Thursday and elected the first U.S. pope, making Chicago-born missionary Robert Prevost the 267th pontiff to lead the Catholic Church in a moment of global turmoil and conflict.

Prevost, a 69-year-old member of the Augustinian religious order who spent his career ministering in Peru, took the name Leo XIV.

In his first words as Pope Francis’ successor, uttered from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, Leo said, “Peace be with you," and emphasized a message of "a disarmed and disarming peace" dialogue and missionary evangelization.

He wore the traditional red cape and trappings of the papacy — a cape that Francis had eschewed on his election in 2013 — suggesting a return to some degree of tradition after Francis' unorthodox pontificate. But in naming himself Leo, the new pope could also have wanted to signal a strong line of continuity: Brother Leo was the 13th century friar who was a great companion to St. Francis of Assisi, the late pope's namesake.

“Together, we must try to find out how to be a missionary church, a church that builds bridges, establishes dialogue, that’s always open to receive — like on this piazza with open arms — to be able to receive everybody that needs our charity, our presence, dialogue and love,” Leo said in near-perfect Italian.

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Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, known as the 'saint of the north' in Peru for his closeness to poor

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Robert Prevost may have made history Thursday by becoming the first pope from the United States. But in Peru, he is known as the saintly missionary who waded through mud after torrential rains flooded the region, bringing help to needy people, and as the bishop who spearheaded the life-saving purchase of oxygen production plants during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“He worked so hard to find help, that there was not only enough for one plant, but for two oxygen plants,” said Janinna Sesa, who met Prevost while she worked for the church’s Caritas nonprofit in Peru.

“He has no problem fixing a broken-down truck until it runs,” she added.

Pope Francis, history's first Latin American pope, clearly saw something in Prevost early on.

He first sent him to Chiclayo in 2014, then brought him to the Vatican in 2023 as the powerful head of the office that vets bishop nominations, one of the most important jobs in the Catholic Church.

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Catholic Chicagoans celebrate as native son Pope Leo XIV becomes first American pope

CHICAGO (AP) — After white smoke billowed Thursday from the Sistine Chapel, signaling that a pope had been chosen, students in every classroom at The Frances Xavier Warde School in Chicago had their eyes glued to TV screens.

As the image of the new pope, Chicago native Cardinal Robert Prevost, appeared onscreen, cheers erupted through the hallways. Children jumped out of their seats, pumping their hands in the air.

“Our students are just beside themselves," said Mary Perrotti, director of advancement at the school. “They’re beyond excited and can’t believe a Chicagoan is their new pope. They were in awe.”

Prevost, 69, took the name Leo XIV and replaced Pope Francis, who died last month. The first American elected pontiff, Pope Leo XIV was born and raised in Chicago before undertaking his ministry in Peru. Catholic Chicagoans gathered in churches and celebrated from their homes as the historic decision was announced.

“Our young people have a model now of a leader with justice and compassion at the heart of his ministries — and who is from their home,” Perrotti said. "It’s such a deep feeling of connection for them.”

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Trump keeps 10% tariffs on UK but cuts taxes on British autos, steel and aluminum with trade deal

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump agreed Thursday to cut tariffs on U.K. autos, steel and aluminum in a planned trade deal but played down the possibility of other nations getting similarly favorable terms on his import taxes, which are roiling the global economy.

Under the framework agreement, the United Kingdom is to buy more American beef and ethanol and streamline its customs process for goods from the United States. But Trump's baseline 10% tariffs against British goods are to stay in place, and the Republican president suggested that even higher import taxes would be charged on other countries trying to reach deals with the U.S.

“That's a low number,” Trump said of the U.K.'s 10% tariff rate, adding that other countries would face higher tariff rates in their deals because the U.S. runs trade deficits with them and “in many cases they didn't treat us right.”

The announcement provided a political victory for U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and offered a degree of validation for Trump's claims that his turbulent approach on trade may be able to rebalance the global economy on his preferred terms. While the deal should improve Britain's situation relative to when Trump began imposing new tariffs, the world economy is still mired in the confusion and uncertainty unleashed by the president's import taxes. The deal with the U.K. would be a resonant but small step toward greater clarity given that Britain represents a fraction of U.S. imports.

The U.S. president talked up the framework to reporters in the Oval Office, although the fine print remains in flux.

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Up to 1,000 transgender troops are being moved out of the military in new Pentagon order

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon will immediately begin moving as many as 1,000 openly identifying transgender service members out of the military and give others 30 days to self-identify under a new directive issued Thursday.

Buoyed by Tuesday’s Supreme Court decision allowing the Trump administration to enforce a ban on transgender individuals in the military, the Defense Department will begin going through medical records to identify others who haven’t come forward.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who issued the latest memo, made his views clear after the court’s decision.

“No More Trans @ DoD,” Hegseth wrote in a post on X. Earlier in the day, before the court acted, Hegseth said that his department is leaving wokeness and weakness behind.

“No more pronouns,” he told a special operations forces conference in Tampa. “No more dudes in dresses. We’re done with that s---.”

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Trump says he is naming Fox News host and former judge Jeanine Pirro as top federal prosecutor in DC

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday that he is naming Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, a former county prosecutor and elected judge, to be the top federal prosecutor for the nation’s capital after abandoning his first pick for the job.

Pirro, who joined Fox News in 2006, cohosts the network’s show “The Five” on weekday evenings. She was elected as a judge in New York’s Westchester County Court in 1990 before serving three terms as the county’s elected district attorney.

Trump tapped Pirro to at least temporarily lead the nation’s largest U.S. Attorney’s office after pulling his nomination of conservative activist Ed Martin Jr. for the position earlier Thursday. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he was naming Pirro as the interim U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., but didn't indicate whether he would nominate her for the Senate-confirmed position on a more permanent basis.

"Jeanine is incredibly well qualified for this position, and is considered one of the Top District Attorneys in the History of the State of New York. She is in a class by herself," Trump wrote.

Trump withdrew Martin from consideration after a key Republican senator said he could not support Martin for the job due to his defense of rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

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White House overhaul of troubled US air traffic control system will cost 'lots of billions'

The Trump administration on Thursday proposed a multibillion-dollar overhaul of a U.S. air traffic control system that it said still relies on floppy disks and replacement parts found on eBay and has come under renewed scrutiny in the wake of recent deadly plane crashes and technical failures.

The plan calls for six new air traffic control centers, along with an array of technology and communications upgrades at all of the nation’s air traffic facilities over the next three or four years, said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

“We use radar from the 1970s,” said Duffy, who compared the proposal with upgrading from a flip phone to a smartphone. “This technology is 50 years old that our controllers use to scan the skies and keep airplanes separated from one another.”

How much it will all cost wasn’t immediately revealed. Duffy said he'll work with Congress on the details.

“It’s going to be billions, lots of billions,” he said.

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Ex-model testifies Weinstein sexually assaulted her at 16 and 19, says ‘my soul was removed from me'

NEW YORK (AP) — A former model tearfully testified Thursday that Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted her when she was 16 years old, calling it the most “horrifying thing I ever experienced” to that point.

Four years later, she said, Weinstein assaulted her again.

Kaja (KEYE’-ah) Sokola detailed the allegations in front of a jury for the first time as she testified at Weinstein’s #MeToo retrial. She is the second of three accusers to testify, and the only one who wasn't part of the onetime Hollywood honcho’s first trial in 2020.

Weinstein faces a criminal sex act charge based on the later allegation — forcibly performing oral sex on Sokola at a Manhattan hotel in 2006, just before her 20th birthday. The earlier alleged assault was beyond legal time limits for a potential criminal charge.

Weinstein has pleaded not guilty and denies sexually assaulting anyone.

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Reports of Trump deportation plans highlight abuse of migrants in Libya

CAIRO (AP) — Reports of plans to deport migrants from the U.S. to Libya, a country with a documented history of serious human rights violations and abuse of migrants, have spotlighted the difficulties they face in the lawless North African nation.

Migrants in Libya are routinely arbitrarily detained and placed in squalid detention centers where they are subjected to extortion, abuse, rape and killings.

A U.N.-backed, independent fact-finding mission found evidence that crimes against humanity had been committed against migrants in Libya. Victims were subjected to enslavement, forced disappearance, torture and murder, among other crimes, the investigators found. Dead migrants have been found in mass graves across the country, while tens of thousands of others have drowned trying to escape Libya on smugglers' boats.

“It’s hell on earth for migrants,” said Tarek Megerisi, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

“All they will have are different forms of abuse — if they are lucky enough, they will end up on a rickety boat in the Mediterranean,” added Megerisi, who is Libyan.

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Alan Jackson stuns and Ella Langley wins at the 60th Academy of Country Music Awards

NEW YORK (AP) — Somewhere in the middle of the 60th annual Academy of Country Music Awards, first-time nominee Ella Langley's duet with Riley Green, the ubiquitous “You Look Like You Love Me,” was named single for the year.

Both Langley and Green used their acceptance speech to shout out classic country — songs with talking in them — that inspired their modern hit.

A revisitation of the past might have been a theme Thursday night, because the moment everyone was waiting for arrived right at the top of the 60th annual Academy of Country Music Awards: a 14-minute medley of six decades of country classics, performed by giants of the genre.

Host Reba McEntire launched into Merle Haggard's “Okie from Muskogee,” followed by Clint Black with Glen Campbell's “Rhinestone Cowboy" and Wynonna Judd with The Judds' “Why Not Me." LeAnn Rimes returned to the ACM Awards stage for her 1997 ballad “Blue." Little Big Town tackled their 2014 track “Girl Crush” and Dan + Shay delivered their “Tequila.”

It was an exciting way to kick off the 2025 ACM Awards, live from the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas, just north of Dallas.

News from © The Associated Press, 2025