Trump and Zelenskyy trade barbs as US-Ukraine relations sour over the war with Russia

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Relations between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump deteriorated rapidly Wednesday as Zelenskyy said Trump was living in a Russian-made “disinformation space" and Trump called Zelenskyy “a dictator without elections” in comments that were sure to complicate efforts to end the war.

Zelenskyy also said he would like Trump’s team “to be more truthful” as he offered his first response to a series of striking claims that Trump made a day earlier, including falsely suggesting that Kyiv was to blame for the war, which enters its fourth year next week.

The comments were a staggering back-and-forth between leaders of two countries that have been staunch allies in recent years under Trump’s predecessor. While former President Joe Biden was in the White House, the U.S. provided crucial military equipment to Kyiv to fend off the invasion and used its political weight to defend Ukraine and isolate Russia on the world stage.

The Trump administration has started charting a new course, reaching out to Russia and pushing for a peace deal. Senior officials from both countries held talks Tuesday to discuss improving ties, negotiating an end to the war and potentially preparing a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin after years of frosty relations.

Trump lashed out at Zelenskyy in a social media post that apparently referred to the fact that Ukraine has delayed elections because of the invasion and the subsequent imposition of martial law in accordance with the Ukrainian Constitution. Trump suggested Ukraine ought to hold elections.

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Trump and Musk say they like working together and will keep at it. Will it last?

WASHINGTON (AP) — It's been a burning political question for weeks: How long will President Donald Trump — who doesn’t like sharing the spotlight — be able to do just that with Elon Musk, a billionaire also overly fond of attention?

In a joint Fox News Channel interview that aired Tuesday, both insisted they like each other a lot and would stick with their arrangement despite what Trump said were attempts by the media to “drive us apart.”

At times, Trump sat back as Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity heaped praise on Musk in an attempt to counteract a Democratic narrative that he's a callous and unelected force out to destroy the government and upend civil society through sweeping cuts being imposed by the Department of Government Efficiency.

There were also moments when Trump and Musk were all but finishing each other's sentences, as if they were part of a buddy comedy and not the president and his most powerful aide.

Here's a look at how the friendship formed, what it means for them both and why Trump's history suggests it may not last:

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Italy PM Meloni visits pope in hospital, says he's in good spirits as tests show slight improvement

ROME (AP) — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni visited Pope Francis for 20 minutes in the hospital Wednesday and reported he was “alert and responsive” and full of good humor, despite his diagnosis of pneumonia and a complicated bronchial infection that has sidelined the 88-year-old pontiff for six days.

The Vatican said Francis' overall condition remained stationary, but that blood tests showed a “slight improvement" in key inflammation indices. Francis also worked in the afternoon with his collaborators, the Vatican said in a late statement.

Meloni said she wanted to bring get-well wishes to the pope on behalf of the government and entire nation. ”We joked around as always. He has not lost his proverbial sense of humor,” she said in a statement issued by her office.

Meloni is the first confirmed outside visitor known to have called on the pope, beyond his secretaries and medical team, since his admission Friday at Rome's Gemelli hospital, where popes have their own suite on the 10th floor. Her visit, announced only after it was over, appeared aimed at sending a reassuring message, especially to Italians who haven’t seen even a photograph of Francis since Friday.

The Vatican has said Francis was up, eating and had gotten out of bed after a tranquil night, a day after tests confirmed he had pneumonia in both lungs on top of asthmatic bronchitis.

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What's the key to surviving a plane crash? Skilled crew, strong seats and wings that detach

After watching videos of a Delta Air Lines jet catch fire upon landing and flip over on a Toronto runway, it's fair to wonder how anyone could have survived.

But aviation experts said it was not surprising that all 76 passengers and four crew walked away from Monday's disaster, with 21 people suffering minor injuries and only one still hospitalized on Wednesday. It's a credit, they said, to advances in plane design as well as a crew that flawlessly executed an evacuation plan.

"When I first saw (footage of) that aircraft upside down at the airport, I was like: ‘How can that happen? And how can anybody survive that?’” Michael McCormick, an assistant professor and program coordinator for air traffic management at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, said. “It was absolutely astounding to watch the people actually climbing out.”

McCormick and others said the fact that there were only minor injuries shows that passenger jet design and engineering have greatly improved over time.

Fuel tanks are stored in the wings, so the wings are designed to break off in a crash to remove a seriously explosive hazard, he said. The tail-like fin of a plane known as a vertical stabilizer is frangible — or easily broken — meaning an aircraft that has flipped over can stay flat on the ground and passengers and crew are able to evacuate, he said.

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DOGE notches courtroom wins as Elon Musk crusades to slash federal government

WASHINGTON (AP) — Although some parts of President Donald Trump ’s agenda are getting bogged down by litigation, Elon Musk ’s Department of Government Efficiency is having better luck in the courtroom.

Labor unions, Democrats and federal employees have filed several lawsuits arguing that DOGE is running roughshod over privacy protections or usurping power from other branches of government.

But judges appointed by Democratic and Republican presidents haven’t always gone along with those arguments, at least so far. Most notably, DOGE critics are failing to obtain temporary restraining orders that would prevent Musk’s team from accessing sensitive government databases.

“It is not the job of the federal courts to police the security of the information systems in the executive branch,” wrote U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss in a case involving the Office of Personnel Management. Moss was appointed by President Barack Obama.

The success is striking given the other challenges that Trump has faced in the judicial system, which has blocked — at least temporarily — his efforts to limit birthright citizenship, freeze congressionally authorized foreign aid and stop some healthcare services for transgender youth.

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Justice Department official urges quick dismissal of criminal case against New York City mayor

NEW YORK (AP) — In an extraordinary courtroom showdown, a federal judge pressed the Justice Department on Wednesday on its demand to throw out New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ corruption case, grilling a top official and putting the Democratic mayor under oath to answer concerns that the Trump administration’s lifeline came with strings attached.

“Not at all,” Adams responded stoically, his liberty and political future at stake.

Manhattan federal Judge Dale E. Ho declined to rule immediately, leaving in place for now charges that Adams accepted lavish travel perks and illegal campaign contributions from foreign interests seeking to buy his influence. Adams has pleaded not guilty and denies wrongdoing.

The Justice Department’s push to end the case has caused a rift between its leadership in Washington, who see him as an ally in pursuing President Donald Trump’s immigration goals, and the federal prosecutors’ office in Manhattan, which brought the charges and rebuffed commands to drop them. Seven prosecutors resigned in protest.

“I’m not going to shoot from the hip right here on the bench,” Ho said, sighing heavily as he closed the 80-minute proceeding.

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The white man who pleaded guilty to shooting a Black teen who rang a wrong doorbell dies

MISSION, Kan. (AP) — An 86-year-old Missouri man has died just days after pleading guilty to a lesser charge in the 2023 shooting of Ralph Yarl, a Black honor student who rang the white man’s doorbell by mistake, prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Andrew Lester of Kansas City was charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action in the shooting of the then-16-year-old, who survived and is now a freshman at Texas A&M. Before his trial was scheduled to begin, he pleaded guilty Friday to a lesser charge of second-degree assault, which carries up to seven years behind bars. He was scheduled to be sentenced on March 7.

Cher Congour, a spokeswoman for the Clay County prosecutor’s office, said Lester’s attorney informed them of his death.

“We have learned of the passing of Andrew Lester and extend our sincere condolences to his family during this difficult time,” the prosecutor’s office said in a news release. “While the legal proceedings have now concluded, we acknowledge that Mr. Lester did take responsibility for his actions by pleading guilty in this case.”

The news release offered no cause of death. Kansas City police said they weren't conducting a death investigation. And Sarah Boyd, a spokeswoman for the Clay County sheriff’s office, said she had no information on Lester’s cause of death since he wasn’t in custody, but noted that he was in "poor health” at last week’s plea hearing.

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Trump administration orders halt to NYC toll meant to fight traffic and fund mass transit

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump's administration on Wednesday ordered a halt to congestion pricing tolls in New York City, which thin traffic and fund mass transit by making people pay to drive into Manhattan's core.

Launched on Jan. 5, the city’s system uses license plate readers to impose a $9 toll on most vehicles entering Manhattan neighborhoods south of Central Park. In its early days, transit officials said the toll has brought modest but measurable traffic reductions.

The federal government has rescinded its approval of the program, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy announced Wednesday, calling the toll's financial burden “a slap in the face to working class Americans and small business owners.”

The Federal Highway Administration will work with the state on an “orderly termination of the tolls,” according to the statement.

Within minutes of the announcement, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a state agency that runs the New York City subway and other public transit, filed a federal lawsuit to keep congestion pricing alive.

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Brazil’s Bolsonaro slams 'vague' accusations after attempted coup indictment

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday dismissed as vague accusations that he orchestrated an attempted coup to stay in office despite his 2022 election defeat and said the charges were the result of an authoritarian regime manufacturing internal enemies.

Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet on Tuesday charged Bolsonaro with devising a multi-pronged scheme to remain in power despite his loss to current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, including a alleged plan to poison Lula and shoot dead Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, a foe of the former president.

Lula on Wednesday said the current stage was “only the indictment” and said Bolsonaro and the other 33 people facing charges of plotting a coup would have every right to defend themselves.

Bolsonaro took to X and Instagram say that “the trick of accusing democratic opposition leaders of plotting coups is not something new.”

“Every authoritarian regime, in its lust for power, needs to manufacture internal enemies to justify persecution, censorship and arbitrary arrests,” Bolsonaro said. He compared his legal woes with problems faced by opposition leaders in Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, all led by left-leaning leaders.

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Apple unveils a souped-up and more expensive version of its lowest priced iPhone

Apple has released a sleeker and more expensive version of its lowest priced iPhone in an attempt to widen the audience for a bundle of artificial intelligence technology that the company has been hoping will revive demand for its most profitable product lineup.

The iPhone 16e unveiled Wednesday is the fourth-generation of a model that’s sold at a dramatically lower price than the iPhone’s standard and premium models. The previous bargain-bin models were called the iPhone SE, with the last version coming out in 2022.

Like the higher-priced iPhone 16 lineup unveiled last September, the iPhone 16e includes the souped-up computer chip needed to process an array of AI features that automatically summarize text, audio and create on-the-fly emojis while smartening up the device’s virtual assistant, Siri. It will also have a more powerful battery and camera.

All those upgrades will translate into a higher starting price for an iPhone 16e at $600, a 40% increase from $430 for the last iPhone SE. But iPhone 16e will be more affordable than the cheapest standard iPhone 16 at $800. The new phone will be available in stores Feb. 28, but can be pre-ordered beginning Friday.

“We’re so excited for iPhone 16e to complete the lineup as a powerful, more affordable option to bring the iPhone experience to even more people,” said Kaiann Drance, an Apple vice president in charge of promoting a device lineup that accounts for more than half of the company's revenue.

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