Musk gives all federal workers 48 hours to explain what they did last week or face consequences

NEW YORK (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of federal workers have been given little more than 48 hours to explain what they accomplished over the last week, sparking confusion across key agencies as billionaire Elon Musk expands his drive to slash the size of federal government.

Musk, who serves as President Donald Trump's cost-cutting chief, telegraphed the extraordinary request Saturday on his social media network.

“Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week,” Musk posted on X, which he owns. “Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”

Shortly afterward, federal employees — including some judges, court staff and federal prison officials — received a three-line email with this instruction: “Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager."

The deadline to reply was listed as Monday at 11:59 p.m., although the email did not include Musk's social media threat about those who fail to respond.

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The Trump administration is putting USAID staffers on leave worldwide and firing at least 1,600

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration said Sunday that it was placing all but a fraction of staffers at the U.S. Agency for International Development on leave worldwide and eliminating at least 1,600 U.S.-based jobs.

The move was the latest and one of the biggest steps yet toward what President Donald Trump and cost-cutting ally Elon Musk say is their goal of gutting the six-decade-old aid and development agency in a broader campaign to slash the size of the federal government.

The move comes after a federal judge on Friday allowed the administration to move forward with its plan to pull thousands of USAID staffers off the job in the United States and around the world. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols rejected pleas in a lawsuit from employees to keep temporarily blocking the government’s plan.

“As of 11:59 p.m. EST on Sunday, February 23, 2025, all USAID direct hire personnel, with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and/or specially designated programs, will be placed on administrative leave globally,” according to the notices sent to USAID workers that were viewed by The Associated Press.

At the same time, the agency said in the notices to staffers that it was beginning a reduction in force that would eliminate 2,000 U.S.-based jobs. A version of the notice posted later on USAID's website put the number of positions to be eliminated lower, at 1,600.

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Conservative opposition wins German election and the far right is 2nd with strongest postwar result

BERLIN (AP) — The opposition conservatives led by Friedrich Merz won a lackluster victory in Germany's election Sunday and Alternative for Germany doubled its support in the strongest showing for a far-right party since World War II, projections showed.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz conceded defeat for his center-left Social Democrats after what he called “a bitter election result.” Projections for ARD and ZDF public television showed his party finishing in third place with its worst postwar result in a national parliamentary election.

Merz said he hopes to put a coalition government together by Easter. But that's likely to be challenging.

The election took place seven months earlier than planned after Scholz’s unpopular coalition collapsed in November, three years into a term that was increasingly marred by infighting. There was widespread discontent and not much enthusiasm for any of the candidates.

The campaign was dominated by worries about the yearslong stagnation of Europe’s biggest economy and pressure to curb migration — something that caused friction after Merz pushed hard in recent weeks for a tougher approach. It took place against a background of growing uncertainty over the future of Ukraine and Europe’s alliance with the United States.

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Pope Francis in critical condition with early kidney failure but remains alert as prayers pour in

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis remained in critical condition Sunday and blood tests showed early kidney failure but he remains alert, responsive and attended Mass, the Vatican said, as the 88-year-old pontiff battles pneumonia and a complex lung infection.

In a late update, the Vatican said Francis hadn’t had any more respiratory crises since Saturday night but was still receiving high flows of supplemental oxygen.

Some blood tests showed “initial, mild, kidney failure,” but doctors said it was under control.

“The complexity of the clinical picture, and the necessary wait for drug therapies to provide some feedback, dictate that the prognosis remains guarded,” Francis' doctors concluded.

Prayers for Francis, meanwhile, poured in from around the world, from his native Argentina to the seat of Sunni Islam in Cairo to schoolchildren in Rome.

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Zelenskyy says progress made on reaching an agreement with the US on rare minerals deal

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A contentious Trump administration proposal to give the U.S. $500 billion worth of profits from Ukraine's rare earth minerals as compensation for its wartime assistance to Kyiv has been taken off the table, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday, indicating a more equitable deal is in the works.

Zelenskyy had earlier declined a U.S. draft agreement on exploitation of his country's valuable minerals such as lithium used in the aerospace, defense and nuclear industries because it did not contain security guarantees and came with the $500 billion price tag.

“The question of $500 billion is no longer there,” Zelenskyy told a news conference at a forum of government officials in Kyiv marking the three-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian leader said considering aid as a debt to be repaid would be a “Pandora's box” that would set a precedent requiring Kyiv to reimburse all its backers.

“We do not recognize the debt," Zelenskyy said. "It will not be in the final format of the agreement.”

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US pressures Ukraine to nix its UN resolution demanding Russian forces withdraw

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.S. has pressured Ukraine to withdraw its European-backed U.N. resolution demanding an immediate withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine in favor of an American proposal that does not mention Moscow’s invasion, a U.S. official and a European diplomat said Sunday.

But Ukraine refused to pull its draft resolution, and the U.N. General Assembly will vote on it Monday, the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, two European diplomats said.

The 193-nation General Assembly then is expected to vote on the U.S. draft resolution, according to the diplomats and the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because private negotiations are still ongoing.

The Trump administration is also seeking a vote on its proposal in the more powerful U.N. Security Council. China, which holds the Security Council presidency this month, scheduled a vote on the U.S. resolution for Monday afternoon.

The dueling resolutions — the first since the invasion — highlight the tension between the U.S., Ukraine and European countries in the five weeks since President Donald Trump took office and has opened talks with Russia after years of isolation in a bid to end the war. European leaders were dismayed that they and Ukraine were left out of preliminary negotiations between the U.S. and Russia last week.

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Israel sends tanks into West Bank for first time in decades, says fleeing Palestinians can't return

JENIN, West Bank (AP) — Israeli tanks moved into the occupied West Bank on Sunday for the first time in decades in what Palestinian authorities called a “dangerous escalation,” after the defense minister said troops will remain in parts of the territory for a year and tens of thousands of Palestinians who have fled cannot return.

Associated Press journalists saw several tanks move along unpaved tracks into Jenin, long a bastion of armed struggle against Israel.

Israel is deepening its crackdown on the Palestinian territory and has said it is determined to stamp out militancy amid a rise in attacks. It launched the offensive in the northern West Bank on Jan. 21 — two days after the current ceasefire in Gaza took hold — and expanded it to nearby areas.

Palestinians view the deadly raids as part of an effort to cement Israeli control over the territory, where 3 million Palestinians live under military rule.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to “increase the intensity of the activity to thwart terrorism" in all refugee camps in the West Bank.

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Motive in Pennsylvania hospital shooting unclear, but officials say man had recent contact with ICU

YORK, Pa. (AP) — The man who authorities say entered a Pennsylvania hospital with zip ties and a pistol over the weekend had recent contact with the hospital's intensive care unit, where he took staff members hostage and was killed in a shootout that left a police officer dead and others injured.

Investigators released no new information Sunday about a possible motive for the shooting at UPMC Memorial Hospital in York on Saturday, in which a doctor, nurse, custodian and two other officers were injured.

But York County District Attorney Tim Barker said during a news conference Saturday that the man — identified as 49-year-old Diogenes Archangel-Ortiz — appeared to have had recent contact with the ICU “for a medical purpose involving another person.” He didn’t release any details or identify Archangel-Ortiz’s relationship to the person, citing privacy concerns.

While the investigation is in its early stages, Barker said after watching surveillance video and reviewing statements by police and workers that it appeared the shooter intentionally targeted the workers there.

The injured hospital workers were reported to be in stable condition Sunday, and UPMC officials said they were “progressing in their recovery.” The hospital remained closed to visitors.

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'Dark MAGA' spreads as conservatives embrace Musk's influence on Trump

OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — At an annual gathering of conservative activists, the signature red “ Make America Great Again ” hats popularized by President Donald Trump were interspersed with a noticeable number of the black “Dark MAGA” hats made popular by Elon Musk.

It was just one sign of Musk's emerging influence and how the world's wealthiest man — who once backed Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden — has become a conservative power center in his own right due to his connections to Trump.

“He is an authentic and unique individual. I am glad he is on the team,” said Whitney Mason, a 62-year-old real estate agent who was traveling from Seattle.

Musk was an unexpected guest of honor at the Conservative Political Action Conference, with his appearance announced hours before he took the stage wielding a chainsaw. The prop, and his comments, left little subtlety about his role or his influence, days after the Trump administration claimed in court that Musk was not in charge of his signature Department of Government Efficiency.

Speakers at CPAC frequently brought up DOGE, playfully named after a meme coin with the face of a Shiba Inu dog popularized by Musk in 2021. They variously referred to him as a “white knight,” a “hero of free speech,” and according to one of his harshest critics, Steve Bannon, “Superman.”

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'Conclave' triumphs at SAG Awards and Timothée Chalamet wins best actor, upending Oscar predictions

The papal thriller “Conclave” won best ensemble and Timothée Chalamet took best actor at the 31st Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday, a pair of twists that added a few final wrinkles to an unusually unpredictable awards season.

In winning the guild’s top award, Edward Berger’s Vatican-set drama triumphed just as the Catholic Church was praying for the health of Pope Francis, who remained in critical condition Sunday after an asthmatic respiratory crisis. “Conclave” dramatizes the fictional election of a new pope. Earlier in the evening onstage, Isabella Rossellini shared the cast's best wishes for Pope Francis.

All the momentum going into the SAG Awards was with Sean Baker’s “Anora,” which had won with the producers, directors and writers guilds. Now, with “Conclave” winning with the actors and at the BAFTAs, what will nab best picture in a week’s time at the Academy Awards is, again, anyone’s guess.

“Wow,” said “Conclave” star Ralph Fiennes taking the stage. “I’ve not been elected to speak. I’ve been designated to speak on behalf of our conclave, our ensemble.”

That wasn't the only surprise in the ceremony held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles and streamed lived by Netflix. Chalamet's best actor win upset “The Brutalist” star Adrien Brody and put the 29-year-old on course to possibly win his first Academy Award.

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