Trump calls for Ukraine and Russia to meet for 'very high level' talks, says they are close to deal

ROME (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday called for Ukraine and Russia to meet for “very high level talks,” saying they are “very close to a deal” on ending the bloody three-year war.

Trump posted on his Truth Social site shortly after arriving in Rome for Pope Francis’ funeral that it was a “good day in talks and meetings with Russia and Ukraine." His envoy, Steve Witkoff, had made a visit to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday,

“They are very close to a deal, and the two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to ‘finish it off,’” Trump wrote. “Most of the major points are agreed to. Stop the bloodshed, NOW. We will be wherever is necessary to help facilitate the END to this cruel and senseless war!”

Trump's announcement followed him saying in an interview published Friday that “Crimea will stay with Russia," the latest example of how he has been pressuring Ukraine to make concessions to end the war while the country remains under siege.

He also earlier demanded on social media that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “IMMEDIATELY” sign a long-delayed agreement giving the United States access to his nation's mineral resources.

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About 250,000 mourners pay last respects to Pope Francis over 3 days of public viewing

VATICAN CITY (AP) — More than 250,000 people paid their last respects to Pope Francis over three days of public viewing by ordinary mourners, church and political leaders that ended Friday, when his coffin was sealed ahead of his state funeral in St. Peter's Square and burial in a basilica outside the Vatican's walls.

World leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump and Argentine President Javier Milei, along with royalty, converged on Rome for the funeral. But the group of marginalized people who will meet his casket in a small crosstown basilica are more in keeping with Francis’ humble persona and disdain for pomp.

The Vatican said that 164 delegations are confirmed, including 54 heads of state and 12 reigning sovereigns. French President Emmanuel Macron, who will also attend the funeral, was among those who made it in time to pay last respects to the pope.

Tens of thousands of mourners waited hours in line over three days to bid farewell to Francis, who died Monday after suffering a stroke at the age of 88. A higher-than-expected turnout prompted the Vatican to extend the basilica’s opening hours overnight.

Angele Bilegue, a nun, was among the last mourners. It was her third time to pay her respects, including once inside the Vatican at his residence in the Santa Marta Domus, where she said she spent six hours praying at his coffin.

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Donald Trump's trip to Pope Francis' funeral puts a sharper focus on their clashes over the years

WASHINGTON (AP) — The day before he died, in his final public address, Pope Francis expressed an Easter Sunday message of unity and an appeal for the marginalized and migrants. “All of us,” he proclaimed, "are children of God!”

In a dramatically different message Sunday, President Donald Trump issued an insult-laced post wishing a happy Easter to his opponents, including “Radical Left Lunatics,” “WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials,” and former President Joe Biden, “our WORST and most Incompetent President."

Some of the fundamental differences between the U.S. president and the late pope — not only their divergent styles but their positions on migration, the environment and poverty — will come into sharper focus with Trump in Rome to attend Francis’ funeral, to be held Saturday morning in St. Peter’s Square.

Trump, as he prepared to leave Washington on Friday, said Francis “loved the world, actually, and he was just a good man.”

“I thought he was a fantastic kind of a guy,” Trump said.

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Trump keeps contradicting himself on tariffs, making a fragile world economy nervous

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump can't stop contradicting himself on his own tariff plans.

He says he's on a path to cut several new trade deals in a few weeks — but has also suggested it's “physically impossible" to hold all the needed meetings.

Trump has said he will simply set new tariff rates negotiated internally within the U.S. government over the next few weeks — although he already did that on his April 2 “Liberation Day,” which caused the world economy to shudder.

The Republican president says he's actively negotiating with the Chinese government on tariffs — while the Chinese and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have said talks have yet to start.

What should one believe? The sure bet is that uncertainty will persist in ways that employers and consumers alike expect to damage the economy and that leave foreign leaders scratching their heads in bewilderment.

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FBI arrests a Milwaukee judge accused of helping a man evade immigration authorities

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The FBI on Friday arrested a Milwaukee judge accused of helping a man evade immigration authorities, escalating a clash between the Trump administration and local authorities over the Republican president’s sweeping immigration crackdown.

Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan is accused of escorting the man and his lawyer out of her courtroom through the jury door last week after learning that immigration authorities were seeking his arrest. The man was taken into custody outside the courthouse after agents chased him on foot.

President Donald Trump's administration has accused state and local officials of interfering with his immigration enforcement priorities. The arrest also comes amid a growing battle between the administration and the federal judiciary over the president’s executive actions over deportations and other matters.

Dugan was taken into custody by the FBI on Friday morning on the courthouse grounds, according to U.S. Marshals Service spokesperson Brady McCarron. She appeared briefly in federal court in Milwaukee later Friday before being released from custody. She faces charges of “concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest” and obstructing or impeding a proceeding.

“Judge Dugan wholeheartedly regrets and protests her arrest. It was not made in the interest of public safety," her attorney, Craig Mastantuono, said during the hearing. He declined to comment to an Associated Press reporter following her court appearance.

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Justice Department says it will resume practice of obtaining reporters' records in leak inquiries

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is cracking down on leaks of information to the news media, with Attorney General Pam Bondi saying prosecutors will once again have authority to use subpoenas, court orders and search warrants to hunt for government officials who make “unauthorized disclosures” to journalists.

New regulations announced by Bondi in a memo to the staff obtained by The Associated Press on Friday rescind a Biden administration policy that protected journalists from having their phone records secretly seized during leak investigations — a practice long decried by news organizations and press freedom groups.

The new regulations assert that news organizations must respond to subpoenas “when authorized at the appropriate level of the Department of Justice” and also allow for prosecutors to use court orders and search warrants to “compel production of information and testimony by and relating to the news media.”

The memo says members of the press are “presumptively entitled to advance notice of such investigative activities,” and subpoenas are to be “narrowly drawn.” Warrants must also include "protocols designed to limit the scope of intrusion into potentially protected materials or newsgathering activities,” the memo states.

“The Justice Department will not tolerate unauthorized disclosures that undermine President Trump's policies, victimize government agencies, and cause harm to the American people,” Bondi wrote.

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ICE is reversing the termination of legal status for international students around the US

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The U.S. government is reversing the termination of legal status for international students around the country after many filed court challenges against the Trump administration crackdown, federal officials said Friday.

The records in a federal student database maintained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement had been terminated in recent weeks. Judges across the U.S. had already issued orders temporarily restoring students’ records in dozens of lawsuits challenging the terminations.

More than 1,200 students nationwide suddenly lost their legal status or had visas revoked, leaving them at risk for deportation. Many said they had only minor infractions on their record or did not know why they were targeted. Some left the country while others have gone into hiding or stopped going to class.

Word of the policy pivot came Friday from lawyers representing the government in several of the lawsuits.

A lawyer for the plaintiff in one of the lawsuits, Brian Green, provided The Associated Press with a copy of a statement a government lawyer emailed to him on the restoration of legal status for people whose records were recently terminated.

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Kennedy Center’s events scheduled for LGBTQ+ pride celebration canceled, organizers say

WASHINGTON (AP) — Organizers and the Kennedy Center have canceled a week’s worth of events celebrating LGBTQ+ rights for this summer’s World Pride festival in Washington, D.C., amid a shift in priorities and the ousting of leadership at one of the nation’s premier cultural institutions.

Multiple artists and producers involved in the center’s Tapestry of Pride schedule, which had been planned for June 5 to 8, told The Associated Press that their events had been quietly canceled or moved to other venues. And in the wake of the cancellations, Washington’s Capital Pride Alliance has disassociated itself from the Kennedy Center.

“We are a resilient community, and we have found other avenues to celebrate,” said June Crenshaw, deputy director of the alliance. “We are finding another path to the celebration … but the fact that we have to maneuver in this way is disappointing.”

The Kennedy Center’s website still lists Tapestry of Pride on its website with a general description and a link to the World Pride site. There are no other details.

The Kennedy Center did not respond to a request from the AP for comment.

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Luigi Mangione pleads not guilty to federal death penalty charge in UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killing

NEW YORK (AP) — Luigi Mangione pleaded not guilty Friday to a federal murder charge in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Prosecutors formally declared their intent to seek the death penalty, and the judge warned Justice Department officials to refrain from making public comments that could spoil his right to a fair trial.

Mangione, 26, stood between his lawyers and leaned toward a tabletop microphone as he entered the plea in Manhattan federal court. He responded “yes” when U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett asked if he understood the indictment that charges him with gunning down Thompson outside a midtown hotel last December.

Asked how he wished to plead, Mangione said simply “not guilty” and sat down.

A cause célèbre for people upset with the health insurance industry, Mangione’s federal arraignment drew dozens of people to court, including former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, who served prison time for stealing classified diplomatic cables.

Some lined up for hours in front of the courthouse steps, trying to snag a seat inside. Others rallied across the street as a pair of advertising trucks drove around playing videos denouncing the health insurance industry and the death penalty.

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Judge blocks Trump administration from nixing collective bargaining for most federal employees

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from implementing an executive order that a labor union says would cancel collective bargaining rights for hundreds of thousands of federal employees.

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman ruled that a key part of President Donald Trump’s March 27 order can’t be enforced at roughly three dozen agencies and departments where employees are represented by the National Treasury Employees Union.

The union, which represents nearly 160,000 federal government employees workers, sued to challenge Trump’s order. The union said it would lose more than half of its revenue and over two-thirds of its membership if the judge denied its request for a preliminary injunction.

Friedman said he would issue an opinion in several days to explain his two-page order. The ruling isn't the final word in the lawsuit. He gave the attorneys until May 2 to submit a proposal for how the case should proceed.

Union president Doreen Greenwald said the judge's order is “a victory for federal employees, their union rights and the American people they serve.”

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