'Unquestionably in violation': Judge says US government didn't follow court order on deportations

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House violated a court order on deportations to third countries with a flight linked to the chaotic African nation of South Sudan, a federal judge said Wednesday, hours after the Trump administration said it had expelled eight immigrants convicted of violent crimes but refused to reveal where they would end up. The judge's statement was a notably strong rebuke to the government's deportation efforts.

In an emergency hearing he called to address reports that immigrants had been sent to South Sudan, Judge Brian E. Murphy in Boston said the eight migrants aboard the plane were not given a meaningful opportunity to object that the deportation could put them in danger. Minutes before the hearing, administration officials accused “activist judges” of advocating the release of dangerous criminals.

“The department actions in this case are unquestionably in violation of this court’s order,” Murphy said Wednesday, arguing that the deportees didn’t have “meaningful opportunity” to object to being sent to South Sudan. The group was flown out of the United States just hours after getting notice, leaving them no chance to contact lawyers who could object in court.

Government attorneys argued that the men had a history with the immigration system, giving them prior opportunities to express a fear of being deported to a country outside their homeland. They also pointed out that the judge had not specified the exact time needed between notice and deportation, leaving room for misunderstanding.

The migrants’ home countries — Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, Vietnam and South Sudan — would not take them back, according to Todd Lyons, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who spoke to reporters in Washington. He later said the migrants either came from countries that often do not take back all their deported citizens or had other situations that meant they could not be sent home.

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Justice Department moves to cancel police reform settlements reached with Minneapolis and Louisville

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Justice Department moved Wednesday to cancel settlements with Minneapolis and Louisville that called for an overhaul of their police departments following the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor that became the catalyst for nationwide racial injustice protests in the summer of 2020.

The Trump administration also announced it was retracting the findings of Justice Department investigations into six other police departments that the Biden administration had accused of civil rights violations.

The moves represent a dramatic about-face for a department that under Democratic President Joe Biden had aggressively pushed for federal oversight of local police forces it accused of widespread abuses. The Trump administration accused previous Justice Department leadership of using flawed legal theories to judge police departments and pursuing costly and burdensome court-enforced settlements known as consent decrees to address alleged problems it argues are better dealt with at the local level.

“It’s our view at the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division under the Trump administration that federal micromanagement of local police should be a rare exception, and not the norm,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, the new leader of the division, told reporters.

The Justice Department announced its decision just before the five-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd. Then-officer Derek Chauvin used his knee on May 25, 2020, to pin the Black man to the pavement for 9 1/2 minutes in a case that sparked protests around the world and a national reckoning with racism and police brutality.

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Gilgeous-Alexander voted as the NBA's MVP, continuing run of international players winning the award

The case for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was simple. He's the best player on an Oklahoma City Thunder team that had the best record this season and set a league mark for margin of victory. If that wasn't enough, he also won the scoring title.

That's an MVP year.

Gilgeous-Alexander was announced Wednesday as the NBA's Most Valuable Player, his first time winning the award. It's now seven straight years that a player born outside the U.S. won MVP, extending the longest such streak in league history.

And when it happened, Gilgeous-Alexander said a life of moments — getting cut, traded, overlooked, celebrating, the wins, the good times — all flooded into his mind.

“I don't think there's enough emphasis on how much off the court influences on the court," Gilgeous-Alexander said. “And once I became better off the court my career started to skyrocket. It's no coincidence.”

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Trump confronts South African leader with baseless claims of the systematic killing of white farmers

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump used a White House meeting to forcefully confront South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, accusing the country of failing to address Trump's baseless claim of the systematic killing of white farmers.

Trump even dimmed the lights of the Oval Office to play a video of a far-left politician chanting a song that includes the lyrics “kill the farmer.” He also leafed through news articles to underscore his point, saying the country's white farmers have faced “death, death, death, horrible death.”

Trump had already cut all U.S. assistance to South Africa and welcomed several dozen white South African farmers to the U.S. as refugees as he pressed the case that a “genocide” is underway in the country.

The U.S. president, since his return to office, has launched a series of accusations at South Africa’s Black-led government, claiming it is seizing land from white farmers, enforcing antiwhite policies and pursuing an anti-American foreign policy.

Experts in South Africa say there is no evidence of whites being targeted for their race, although farmers of all races are victims of violent home invasions in a country with a high crime rate.

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Defense Department accepts Boeing 747 from Qatar for Trump's use

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has accepted a luxury Boeing 747 jet from Qatar for President Donald Trump to use as Air Force One, the Pentagon said Wednesday, despite ongoing questions about the ethics and legality of taking the expensive gift from a foreign nation.

The Defense Department will “work to ensure proper security measures” on the plane to make it safe for use by the president, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said. He added that the plane was accepted “in accordance with all federal rules and regulations.”

Trump has defended the gift, which came up during his recent Middle East trip, as a way to save tax dollars.

“Why should our military, and therefore our taxpayers, be forced to pay hundreds of millions of Dollars when they can get it for FREE,” Trump posted on his social media site during the trip.

Others, however, have said Trump's acceptance of an aircraft that has been called a “palace in the sky” is a violation of the Constitution’s prohibition on foreign gifts. Democrats have been united in outrage, and even some of the Republican president’s GOP allies in Congress have expressed concerns.

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Uncommon May nor'easter to bring rain, snow to New England states just before Memorial Day weekend

SCARBOROUGH, Maine (AP) — An unusual May nor'easter is set to wallop New England on Thursday, providing a soaking before the Memorial Day holiday weekend with weather more commonly associated with fall and winter.

Nor'easters usually arrive in the end of fall and winter and bring high winds, rough seas and precipitation in the form of rain or snow. This week's nor'easter could bring wind gusts over 40 mph (64 kph) and up to 2 inches (5 centimeters) of rain in some areas. Snow is even possible at high elevations.

The storm has New Englanders preparing for a messy couple of days during a time of year usually reserved for sunshine and cookouts.

A nor'easter is an East Coast storm that is so named because winds over the coastal area are typically from the northeast, according to the National Weather Service. The storms can happen at any time of the year, but they are at their most frequent and strongest between September and April, according to the service.

The storms have caused billions of dollars in damage in the past. They usually reach the height of their strength in New England and eastern Canada. The storms often disrupt traffic and power grids and can cause severe damage to homes and businesses.

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Wall Street tumbles under the weight of rising Treasury yields and US debt worries

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street slumped on Wednesday under the weight of pressure from the bond market, where Treasury yields climbed on worries about the U.S. government’s spiraling debt and other concerns.

The S&P 500 fell 1.6% for a second straight drop after breaking a six-day winning streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 816 points, or 1.9%, while the Nasdaq composite sank 1.4%.

Stocks had been drifting only modestly lower early in the day, after Target and other retailers gave mixed forecasts for upcoming profits amid uncertainty caused by President Donald Trump’s trade war. The market then turned sharply lower after the U.S. government released the results for its latest auction of 20-year bonds.

The government regularly sells such bonds, which is how it borrows money to pay its bills. In this auction, the U.S. government had to pay a yield as high as 5.047% to attract enough buyers to lend it a total of $16 billion over 20 years.

That helped push up yields for all kinds of other Treasurys, including the more widely followed 10-year Treasury. Its yield climbed to 4.59% from 4.48% late Tuesday and from just 4.01% early last month. That’s a notable move in the bond market.

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Measles is very contagious. Here's how to avoid it

New Jersey health officials are asking people who went to last week's Shakira concert at MetLife Stadium to monitor for measles symptoms because a person went to see the singer while infectious.

There is no confirmed outbreak in New Jersey, but the U.S. and North America are seeing high measles activity this year — including hundreds sickened by the highly infectious airborne virus in West Texas — and declining rates of people getting the vaccine, which is 97% effective after two doses.

Schools and daycares are among the most common places for measles exposures, like one that happened in three western North Dakota public schools in early May that led to all unvaccinated students being held at home for 21 days under state law.

Here’s what to know about the measles and how to protect yourself.

Most U.S. children get vaccinated against measles before entering public school, but increasing numbers of people skipping shots for religious or personal reasons have fueled outbreaks in the U.S. and abroad this year.

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NASA's Mars Perseverance snaps a selfie as a Martian dust devil blows by

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The latest selfie by NASA's Perseverance rover at Mars has captured an unexpected guest: a Martian dust devil.

Resembling a small pale puff, the twirling dust devil popped up 3 miles (5 kilometers) behind the rover during this month’s photo shoot. Released Wednesday, the selfie is a composite of 59 images taken by the camera on the end of the rover’s robotic arm, according to NASA.

It took an hour to perform all the arm movements necessary to gather the images, “but it's worth it,” said Megan Wu, an imaging scientist from Malin Space Science Systems, which built the camera.

“Having the dust devil in the background makes it a classic," Wu said in a statement.

The picture — which also shows the rover's latest sample borehole on the surface — marks 1,500 sols or Martian days for Perseverance. That's equivalent to 1,541 days on Earth.

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New Orleans Archdiocese agrees to pay nearly $180M to victims of clergy sexual abuse

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Archdiocese of New Orleans has agreed to pay nearly $180 million to victims of clergy sexual abuse under a settlement announced Wednesday, the latest in a string of settlements by the Catholic Church.

The archdiocese, its parishes and several insurers will pay $179.2 million into a trust to benefit survivors, according to a statement by the committee that negotiated the agreement. The money will be distributed after the church emerges from bankruptcy, it said.

But many of the survivors were not on board with the agreement, their lawyers said.

“This proposed settlement was made in a secret backroom deal that the Archdiocese, the creditors committees and the mediators knew the overwhelming majority of victim-survivors would never agree to and will undoubtedly vote down,” attorneys Soren Gisleson, Johnny Denenea and Richard Trahant said in a statement to The Associated Press. “It makes no sense and is a continuation of the lifetime of abuse the Archdiocese has inflicted on these folks.”

The agreement, which would settle a lawsuit filed in 2020, requires approval from the survivors as well as the bankruptcy court and other Archdiocese creditors.

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