Trump places 25% tariff on imported autos, expecting to raise $100 billion in tax revenues

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday he was placing 25% tariffs on auto imports, a move the White House claims would foster domestic manufacturing but could also put a financial squeeze on automakers that depend on global supply chains.

“This will continue to spur growth,” Trump told reporters. “We'll effectively be charging a 25% tariff.”

The tariffs, which the White House expects to raise $100 billion in revenue annually, could be complicated as even U.S. automakers source their components from around the world. The tax hike starting in April means automakers could face higher costs and lower sales, though Trump argues that the tariffs will lead to more factories opening in the United States and the end of what he judges to be a “ridiculous” supply chain in which auto parts and finished vehicles are manufactured across the United States, Canada and Mexico.

To underscore his seriousness about the tariffs directive he signed, Trump said, “This is permanent.”

Shares in General Motors fell roughly 3% in Wednesday trading. Ford's stock was up slightly. Shares in Stellantis, the owner of Jeep and Chrysler, dropped nearly 3.6%.

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Trump says Signal chat isn't 'really an FBI thing.' The FBI has a long history of such inquiries

WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI Director Kash Patel was not part of a Signal chat in which other Trump administration national security officials discussed detailed attack plans, but that didn't spare him from being questioned by lawmakers this week about whether the nation's premier law enforcement agency would investigate.

Patel made no such commitments during the course of two days of Senate and House hearings. Instead, he testified that he had not personally reviewed the text messages that were inadvertently shared with the editor-in-chief for The Atlantic who was mistakenly included on an unclassified Signal chat.

That Patel would be grilled on what the FBI might do was hardly surprising.

Even as President Donald Trump insisted "it's not really an FBI thing,” the reality is that the FBI and Justice Department for decades have been responsible for enforcing Espionage Act statutes governing the mishandling — whether intentional or negligent — of national defense information like the kind shared on Signal, a publicly available app that provides encrypted communications but is not approved for classified information.

The Justice Department has broad discretion to open an investigation, though it remains unclear whether Attorney General Pam Bondi, who introduced Trump at a Justice Department event this month, would authorize such an inquiry. Trump administration officials insist that the details shared were not classified, though the Espionage Act technically criminalizes the mishandling of any information deemed to be closely held national defense information even if not classified.

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Homeland Security Secretary Noem visits the El Salvador prison where deported Venezuelans are held

TECOLUCA, El Salvador (AP) — U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday visited the high-security El Salvador prison where Venezuelans who the Trump administration alleges are gang members have been held since their removal from the United States. The tour included two crowded cell blocks, the armory and an isolation unit.

Noem's trip to the prison — where inmates are packed into cells and never allowed outside — comes as the Trump administration seeks to show it is deporting people it describes as the “worst of the worst.”

The Trump administration is arguing in federal court that it was justified in sending the Venezuelans to El Salvador, while activists say officials have sent them to a prison rife with human rights abuses while presenting little evidence that they were part of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang.

Noem notably dodged questions by the press about if the Venezuelan deportees were going to be in the prison indefinitely and if the Venezuelans could ever be brought back to the U.S. if a court orders the administration to do so.

“We're going to let the courts play out,” she told reporters following the visit.

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Middle East latest: Israeli strikes kill a family of 6 and a Hamas spokesman in Gaza

Israeli strikes overnight and into Thursday killed a family of six and a Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip.

A strike hit the tent where Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua was staying in the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza, killing him, according to Basem Naim, another Hamas official.

Another strike near Gaza City killed four children and their parents, according to the emergency service of Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas last week, launching a surprise wave of strikes that killed hundreds of Palestinians. It has vowed to escalate the offensive if Hamas does not release hostages, disarm and leave the territory.

Hamas has said it will only release the remaining 59 hostages — 24 of whom are believed to be alive — in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal.

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South Korea struggles to contain wildfires that have killed 26

CHEONGSONG, South Korea (AP) — Helicopters dumped water over a burning forest in South Korea on Thursday as fire crews struggled to contain the country's worst-ever wildfires, which have killed 26 people, forced at least 37,000 others to flee their homes and destroyed more than 300 structures.

Multiple wildfires fueled by strong winds and dry weather have been raging across South Korea's southeastern regions since last Friday. The government has mobilized thousands of personnel, dozens of helicopters and other equipment to extinguish the blazes, but gusty winds are hampering their efforts.

Rain was expected later Thursday. But Korea Forest Service chief Lim Sang-seop said the amount — less than 5 millimeters (0.2 inches) is forecast — likely won't help much in extinguishing the wildfires.

The fatalities include a pilot whose helicopter crashed during efforts to contain a fire Wednesday and four firefighters and other workers who died earlier after being trapped by fast-moving flames.

Authorities haven't disclosed details of the civilian dead, except that they are mostly in their 60s or older who found it difficult to escape quickly or who even refused orders to evacuate. They suspect human error caused several of the wildfires, including cases where people started fires while clearing overgrown grass from family tombs or with sparks during welding work.

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North Korea sent 3,000 more troops to Russia, according to South's assessment

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea sent around 3,000 additional troops to Russia in January and February in continued support for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine, South Korea’s military said Thursday in its latest assessment.

The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea has also been sending more missiles, artillery equipment and ammunition to help Russia and that North Korea could increase its weapons supplies further depending on the war situation. Russia and Ukraine recently agreed on a limited ceasefire, though both sides have accused each other of violations.

The military equipment North Korea has sent to Russia includes a “considerable amount” of short-range ballistic missiles, 170 millimeter self-propelled howitzers and around 220 units of 240 millimeter multiple rocket launchers.

North Korea has sent approximately 11,000 military personnel to fight in the war against Ukraine in its first involvement in a large-scale conflict since the 1950-53 Korean War, and the Joint Chiefs assessed that around 4,000 of them have been killed or wounded.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service previously attributed the high North Korean casualties to the troops’ likely struggles in adapting to drones and other elements of modern warfare. North Korean troops are further disadvantaged by the crude tactics of their Russian commanders, who have sent them into assault campaigns without providing rear-fire support, the spy agency told lawmakers in January.

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Police use force to break up protests at a university in Turkey's capital

ISTANBUL (AP) — Police used pepper spray, plastic pellets and water cannon against protesters in Turkey's capital early Thursday, potentially reigniting tensions after two days of relative calm in the country's biggest anti-government protests in over a decade.

The demonstrations began last week following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a key rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Imamoglu, jailed pending trial on corruption charges many see as politically motivated, is also accused of supporting terrorism. The government insists the judiciary is independent, but critics say the evidence is based on secret witnesses and lacks credibility.

Early Thursday, student demonstrators tried to march and gathered to read a statement near the gates at Middle East Technical University, pro-opposition broadcaster Halk TV and local media reported. They were met by security forces who deployed pepper spray, water cannon and plastic pellets. A standoff ensued where the students hid behind a barricade of dumpsters until the police charged to detain them.

Melih Meric, a legislator with Imamoglu's Republican People’s Party or CHP, was seen soaked with water and suffering from pepper spray exposure. “My student friends only wanted to make a press statement, but the police strictly did not allow it, this is the result," Meric said in social media videos.

Officials have not said how many people were detained.

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Turkish student at Tufts University detained, video shows masked people handcuffing her

SOMERVILLE, Mass. (AP) — A Turkish national and doctoral student at Tufts University has been detained by U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents without explanation, her lawyer said Wednesday.

Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, had just left her home in Somerville on Tuesday night when she was stopped, lawyer Mahsa Khanbabai said in a petition filed in Boston federal court.

Video obtained by The Associated Press appears to show six people, their faces covered, taking away Ozturk's phone as she yells and is handcuffed.

“We’re the police,” members of the group are heard saying in the video.

A man is heard asking, “Why are you hiding your faces?”

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Mali embraces solar power for rural areas but the challenges are still vast

KARAN, Mali (AP) — A solar power plant in this rural corner of Mali has jolted a village to life and awakened dreams of steady power in other areas of this West African nation as it sees unprecedented growth in renewable energy.

The border village of Karan and its 3,000 people used to go days without electricity. Now, enough power is available around the clock to run small video gaming centers and boost commercial activities.

The electricity comes from a mini-grid of dozens of panels and storage batteries operated by WeLight, a Madagascan rural electrification startup, since 2021.

“Before the solar power came to the village, I ran my bakery with a generator,” said Samba Diakité. Running the diesel-powered generator used to cost $100 a day. He said he now saves more than half of that amount and has a daily income of $124.

But experts say the rest of Mali — and much of West Africa — has a long way to go before seeing similar progress. Many rural areas remain without electricity, affecting everything from students' evening homework to business investment.

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Climate change and overfishing threaten Vietnam’s ancient tradition of making fish sauce

DA NANG, Vietnam (AP) — Bui Van Phong faced a choice when the Vietnam War ended 50 years ago: Stay in his small village, helping his parents carry on the family’s centuries-old tradition of making fish sauce, or join the hundreds of thousands of people fleeing his country for a better life.

Phong chose to stay behind and nurtured a business making the beloved condiment, known as nuoc mam in Vietnam, that is now in its fourth generation with his son, Bui Van Phu, 41, at the helm. Fish sauce from the village has been recognized by Vietnam as an indelible part of the country's heritage and the younger Bui is acutely aware of what that means.

“It isn’t just the quality of fish sauce. It is also the historical value,” he said.

But that heritage is under threat, and not only from giant conglomerates that mass-produce fish sauce in factories. Climate change and overfishing are making it harder to catch the anchovies essential to the condiment that underlies so much of Vietnam and southeast Asia's food.

Anchovies thrive in large schools in nutrient-rich waters near the shore. But climate change is warming the oceans, depleting oxygen levels in the water. Scientists have long feared that this would lead to smaller fish, as large fish that need more oxygen may migrate or adapt over time by shrinking. Renato Salvatteci, who studies fisheries at the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel in Germany, said his research into warmer periods millenia ago found support for this in the fossil record.

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