Maryland Sen. Van Hollen meets with Abrego Garcia in El Salvador amid court fight over US return

SAN SALVADOR (AP) — Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen met Thursday in El Salvador with 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 posted a photo of the meeting on X, saying he also called Abrego Garcia's wife “to pass along his message of love.” The lawmaker did not provide an update on the status of Abrego Garcia, whose attorneys are fighting to force the Trump administration to facilitate his return to the U.S., saying he would have more details Friday.

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele posted images of the meeting minutes before Van Hollen shared his post, saying, “Now that he’s been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody." The tweet ended with emojis of the U.S. and El Salvador flags, with a handshake emoji between them.

A spokeswoman for El Salvador’s presidency said she had no further information.

The meeting came hours after Van Hollen said he was denied entry into an high-security El Salvador prison Thursday while he was trying to check on Abrego Garcia's well-being and push for his release.

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Florida State gunman used deputy mom's former service weapon to kill 2 and wound 6, authorities say

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The 20-year-old son of a sheriff’s deputy opened fire Thursday at Florida State University with his mother’s former service weapon, killing two men and wounding at least six others, investigators said.

Officers quickly arrived and shot and wounded the shooter after he refused to comply with commands, said Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell.

Authorities have not yet revealed a motive for the shooting, which began around lunchtime just outside the student union, sending frightened students and parents hiding for cover in a bowling alley and a freight elevator inside the building.

The shooter, identified by police as Phoenix Ikner, is believed to be a Florida State student, investigators said. The two men who died were not students, said Florida State University Police Chief Jason Trumbower, adding that he would not release additional information about the victims.

The shooter obtained access to a weapon that belongs to his mother, who has been with the sheriff’s office for over 18 years and has been a model employee, said Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil. Police said they believed Ikner shot the victims using his mother's former service handgun, which she had kept for personal use after the force upgraded to new weapons.

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Trump officials' defiance over Abrego Garcia's deportation is 'shocking,' appeals court says

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration’s claim that it can't do anything to free Kilmar Abrego Garcia from an El Salvador prison and return him to the U.S. “should be shocking,” a federal appeals court said Thursday in a blistering order that ratchets up the escalating conflict between the government's executive and judicial branches.

A three-judge panel from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously refused to suspend a judge's decision to order sworn testimony by Trump administration officials to determine if they complied with her instruction to facilitate Abrego Garcia's return.

Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, who was nominated by Republican President Ronald Reagan, wrote that he and his two colleagues “cling to the hope that it is not naïve to believe our good brethren in the Executive Branch perceive the rule of law as vital to the American ethos.”

“This case presents their unique chance to vindicate that value and to summon the best that is within us while there is still time,” Wilkinson wrote.

The seven-page order amounts to an extraordinary condemnation of the administration’s position in Abrego Garcia’s case and also an ominous warning of the dangers of an escalating conflict between the judiciary and executive branches the court said threatens to “diminish both.” It says the judiciary will be hurt by the “constant intimations of its illegitimacy” while the executive branch “will lose much from a public perception of its lawlessness.”

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US airstrikes targeting a Yemeni oil port killed 20 people, Houthis say

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. airstrikes targeting the Ras Isa oil port held by Yemen’s Houthi rebels killed 20 people and wounded 50 others, the group said early Friday.

The strikes, confirmed by the U.S. military’s Central Command, represent one of the highest reported death tolls so far in the campaign launched under President Donald Trump that has involved hundreds of strikes since March 15.

The Houthis’ al-Masirah satellite news channel aired graphic footage of the aftermath of the attack, showing corpses strewn across the site. It said paramedic and civilians workers at the port had been killed in the attack, which sparked a massive explosion and fires.

In a statement, Central Command said that “U.S. forces took action to eliminate this source of fuel for the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists and deprive them of illegal revenue that has funded Houthi efforts to terrorize the entire region for over 10 years.”

“This strike was not intended to harm the people of Yemen, who rightly want to throw off the yoke of Houthi subjugation and live peacefully,” it added. It did not acknowledge any casualties and declined to comment when asked by The Associated Press regarding civilians reportedly being killed.

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Supreme Court keeps hold on Trump’s restrictions on birthright citizenship but sets May arguments

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday kept on hold President Donald Trump’s restrictions on birthright citizenship but agreed to hear arguments on the issue in May.

Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship for the children of people who are in the U.S. illegally has been halted nationwide by three district courts around the country. Appeals courts have declined to disturb those rulings.

The Republican administration had sought to narrow those orders to allow for the policy to take effect in parts or most of the country while court challenges play out. That is expected to be the focus of the high court arguments on May 15.

Birthright citizenship automatically makes anyone born in the United States an American citizen, including children born to mothers in the country illegally. The right was enshrined soon after the Civil War in the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.

Trump and his supporters have argued that there should be tougher standards for becoming an American citizen, which he called “a priceless and profound gift” in the executive order he signed soon after becoming president again in January.

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A US man hijacks a small plane in Belize and stabs people. He is fatally shot and plane lands safely

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A U.S. man hijacked a small plane in Belize on Thursday, stabbing two passengers and a pilot, before one of the stabbed passengers fatally shot him, officials in Belize and the United States said. The plane then landed safely.

The Tropic Air plane was carrying 14 passengers and two crew members, and was flying from Corozal, a small town near Belize's border with Mexico, heading to the popular tourist destination of San Pedro when it was hijacked.

The plane circled in random directions for nearly two hours as the drama unfolded in the skies. The plane was tailed by a police helicopter before touching down at an airport in the coastal town of Ladyville.

Belize authorities declared a full emergency immediately after the incident started, around 8:30 a.m. local time, according to a statement by the Belize Airport Concession Company.

“In the face of incomprehensible pressure, our pilot acted with extraordinary courage and calm, guiding the aircraft to a safe landing. His actions were nothing short of heroic,” said Maximillian Greif, the CEO of the airline company.

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The Menendez brothers' bid for a shorter sentence and possible release is delayed again

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Erik and Lyle Menendez's bid for shorter sentences and a shot at freedom has again been delayed due to disputes among prosecutors and the brothers' lawyers.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic on Thursday set a new hearing for May 9 to tackle two issues in the brothers' resentencing case: whether material from risk assessments completed by the state parole board at the governor's order can be used in court, and whether the Los Angeles County district attorney should be removed as prosecutor in the case. The resentencing hearings will be on pause until those issues are resolved next month.

The brothers were sentenced in 1996 to life in prison without the possibility of parole for fatally shooting their entertainment executive father Jose Menendez and mother Kitty Menendez in their Beverly Hills home in 1989. The brothers were 18 and 21 at the time of the killings. Defense attorneys argued the brothers acted out of self-defense after years of sexual abuse by their father. Prosecutors said the brothers killed their parents for a multimillion-dollar inheritance.

The case has captured the public’s attention for decades, and the Netflix drama “ Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story ” and a subsequent documentary brought new attention. Reporters from dozens of media outlets crowded outside the courthouse Thursday and vied for space inside.

Gov. Gavin Newsom's office notified the district attorney's office and the court earlier this week that part of the risk assessment he recently ordered had been completed. Prosecutors filed a motion late Wednesday to delay the resentencing hearings so the court could obtain those reports and consider them in its decision.

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UnitedHealthcare killing suspect Luigi Mangione indicted as prosecutors push for death penalty

NEW YORK (AP) — Luigi Mangione was indicted Thursday on a federal murder charge in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a required step as prosecutors work to make good on the Trump administration’s order to seek the death penalty for what it called a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.”

Mangione’s indictment, returned by a federal grand jury in Manhattan, includes a charge of murder through use of a firearm, which carries the possibility of the death penalty. The indictment, which mirrors a criminal complaint brought after Mangione’s arrest last December, also charges him with stalking and a gun offense.

Mangione’s lawyers have argued that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi's announcement this month ordering prosecutors to seek the death penalty was a “political stunt” that corrupted the grand jury process and deprived him of his constitutional right to due process.

Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family, faces separate federal and state murder charges after authorities say he gunned down Thompson, 50, outside a Manhattan hotel on Dec. 4 as the executive arrived for UnitedHealthcare’s annual investor conference.

Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting Thompson from behind. Police say the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were scrawled on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase commonly used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.

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Pennsylvania intruder faced little resistance as Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family slept

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The arsonist who broke into the Pennsylvania governor’s residence while Gov. Josh Shapiro and his extended family slept upstairs on the first night of Passover encountered little resistance as he scaled a security fence, smashed windows with a hammer, ignited two Molotov cocktails and crawled inside before slipping off into the night minutes later.

That suggests multiple security failures, according to a former FBI agent who wondered why burglar alarms, motion detectors and other devices did not thwart the intruder sooner.

“He never should have gotten over the fence. He never should have gotten across the yard and to the house. He never should have broken the window. He never should have gotten inside,” said retired FBI Special Agent J.J. Klaver, now a security consultant.

The arson early Sunday occurred just hours after Shapiro hosted a Seder for his family and members of the Jewish community. No one was injured, but the fire caused, by one official’s estimate, millions of dollars in damage.

“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t jarring, scary to see that in the light of day, to see the areas where we’d either make memories privately up in the residence with our kids -- hanging out, laughing, enjoying ourselves — or in the more public spaces where we've been able to welcome so many people to our home,” Shapiro said Thursday. “But we’re going to rebuild from that. We’re going to be stronger.”

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Trump says he's in 'no rush' to end tariffs as he meets with Italy's Meloni

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday he is in “no rush” to reach any trade deals because he views tariffs as making the United States wealthy. But he suggested while meeting with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni that it would be easy to find an agreement with the European Union and others.

Trump played down the likelihood of an accelerated timeline to wrap up deals, saying other countries “want to make deals more than I do.”

“We're in no rush,” said Trump, hinting he has leverage because other countries want access to U.S. consumers.

Even though Trump has a warm relationship with Meloni, she was unable in their meeting to change his mind on tariffs.

“No, tariffs are making us rich. We were losing a lot of money under Biden,” Trump said of his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden. “And now that whole tide is turned.”

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