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Naomi Girma set to return home to San Jose for USWNT match against Japan

By
The Associated Press
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Naomi Girma is going to play at home in Northern California with the U.S. national team later this month for the first time since a send-off game for the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

Coach Emma Hayes announced Wednesday that Girma, who was born in San Jose and played at nearby Stanford, will be on the roster when the U.S. plays the first of three matches against Japan on April 11 at San Jose’s Pay Pal Park.

Her last U.S. national team appearance in her hometown was in a 2-0 victory over Wales ahead of the 2023 World Cup.

“Playing for the national team in the Bay always just feels like kind of surreal, and seeing a lot of people who come to support me, who were there when I was playing club soccer, just playing for fun, and being like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe that we’re all here and we’ve made it this far.’ So it always is really special for me,” Girma said.

Girma’s Stanford teammate Sophia Wilson was named to her first roster in 15 months after taking last year off for the birth of her daughter. Defender Tierna Davidson, who tore her ACL last season, will also return.

“I think it’s a great test for us,” Girma said about Japan. “They’re a great side, just won the Asian Cup. And I think they’re very organized in their defense, but then also in their attack and they bring something different to a lot of other opponents that we play. So I think it’s always a good test for us to measure ourselves against them.”

Girma plays professionally in England for Chelsea. She joined the Women’s Super League club in early 2025 on a $1.1 million transfer from the San Diego Wave. This past weekend the defender scored her first WSL goal in a 4-3 victory over Aston Villa to move the Blues in to second in the standings behind Manchester City.

She made her debut for the national team in 2022. She has appeared in 52 games with the United States and played on the squad that won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics.

Wilson was left off the U.S. roster for the recent SheBelieves Cup as she worked her way back from maternity leave with her club team, the Portland Thorns. Wilson has played in 58 games for the national team, scoring 24 goals, including three at the Olympics in France.

After the match in San Jose, the series against Japan will move to Seattle’s Lumen Field on April 14. The final game is set for April 17 at Dick’s Sporting Good’s Park in Commerce City, Colorado.

The roster by position with club affiliation:

Goalkeepers: Jane Campbell (Houston Dash), Claudia Dickey (Seattle Reign), Phallon Tullis-Joyce (Manchester United).

Defenders: Tierna Davidson (Gotham FC), Emily Fox (Arsenal), Naomi Girma (Chelsea), Avery Patterson (Houston Dash), Lilly Reale (Gotham FC), Emily Sams (Angel City), Emily Sonnett (Gotham FC), Gisele Thompson (Angel City), Kennedy Wesley (San Diego Wave).

Midfielders: Sam Coffey (Manchester City), Lindsey Heaps (OL Lyonnes), Claire Hutton (Bay FC), Rose Lavelle (Gotham FC), Olivia Moultrie (Portland Thorns), Jaedyn Shaw (Gotham FC), Lily Yohannes (OL Lyonnes).

Forwards: Michelle Cooper (Kansas City Current), Jameese Joseph (Chicago Stars), Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit), Emma Sears (Racing Louisville), Ally Sentnor (Kansas City Current), Alyssa Thompson (Chelsea), Sophia Wilson (Portland Thorns).

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Reporter who was kidnapped in Baghdad was known for pursuing gutsy, low-budget assignments

By
The Associated Press
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BAGHDAD (AP) — American freelance journalist Shelly Kittleson often worked without formal assignments from editors and on a shoestring budget, taking shared taxis to lawless corners of Iraq where militia rule outweighs government control.

Kittleson, 49, had lived abroad for years, using Rome as her base for a time and building a respected journalism career across the Middle East. On Tuesday, she vanished after being forced into a car by two men at a busy Baghdad intersection, surveillance camera footage showed.

“She is a great reporter and always wants to go to areas where no one wants to go,” said Patrizio Nissirio, a former editor at Italian news agency ANSA, who has known Kittleson since 2011, when she worked as a translator for the agency.

“I said to her, ‘You don’t need to be in a war zone to do good journalism,’ and she told me, ‘I think my work is worth something when I am in those areas,’” Nissirio said.

Curious reporter often worked alone

Friends and fellow journalists describe Kittleson as a determined, gutsy reporter who had spent over a decade reporting from Iraq, Syria and the wider Middle East for a variety of news outlets including Al-Monitor, a regional news site.

Deeply curious and self-directed, she often embedded herself in local communities, sometimes staying with families rather than in hotels.

Her independence meant she often worked alone, traveling long distances and carrying heavy belongings with her at all times, while operating without the backing of a larger news organization that might have offered some protection.

The Wisconsin native was kind and spiritual, friends say, and had embraced Islam.

She left Wisconsin in 1995, when she was 19, and headed first to Italy, where she went to school and worked as a nanny, according to her mother, Barb Kittleson. She spent about 10 years in Italy before eventually settling in Iraq, she added.

Kittleson’s mother said she had not seen her daughter in person since 2002, but they exchanged emails a couple of times a week, including on Monday, when her daughter sent her a couple of pictures.

“She said, ‘Here’s a current picture of me,’” her mother told The Associated Press. “That’s what she does a lot of times, quickly.”

She was a vegetarian, a lifestyle her close Iraqi friends said was often difficult to accommodate in meat-heavy Middle Eastern countries, and she was frequently teased for her backbreaking bags. She distrusted leaving them behind at the modest hotel in Baghdad where she stayed.

Three Iraqi friends and acquaintances of Kittleson spoke about her on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisal from armed groups if they were publicly linked to her.

In her final conversations before the abduction, she asked colleagues and friends about transport routes between cities while continuing to seek access to do stories.

US officials warned her about militia threat

Hours before she was kidnapped, Kittleson met a friend in Baghdad’s Karrada neighborhood and said she had received a warning: U.S. officials had told her a militia group intended to target her. She did not believe the threat was credible.

Kittleson had been stopped before by security forces and militias at checkpoints, Iraqi colleagues said, and had always managed to secure her release. “They will not hurt me,” she told her friend that afternoon before she was taken.

Instead, she spoke of mounting financial strain, saying she had no assignments while in Baghdad. She had long struggled financially, living a frugal existence.

As a freelancer, she often relied on the support of Iraqi journalists.

On March 9, Kittleson was in Syria, seeking to enter Iraq at the border crossing in al-Qaim. Border police gave her a visa, but she was soon stopped by Iraqi intelligence officers, who turned her back, citing kidnapping threats, according to three different accounts from people she called that day.

Kittleson then went to Jordan and entered Iraq from there with little issue.

“She always complained of the treatment of freelance journalists, saying they are not paid enough. She was always trying to make ends meet and said she would sleep on any couch she could find, unlike the big foreign correspondents that sleep in fancy hotels,” Nissirio said.

“Her job has always been difficult, but she had a burning passion for it that I respect and appreciate.”

Kittleson published her last story with Il Foglio on Monday, March 31. The story focused on the effect of the Iran war on Iraq’s Kurdish region.

“Journalism is what she wanted to do so bad,” Kittleson’s mother said. “I wanted her to come home and not do it, but she said, ‘I’m helping people.’”

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Associated Press writers Trisha Thomas in Rome and Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed to this report.

Italian coast guard finds 19 migrants dead and rescues 58 from dinghy off Lampedusa

By
The Associated Press
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ROME (AP) — The Italian coast guard found 19 people dead and rescued 58 others after intercepting a dinghy filled with migrants that was in distress about 80 nautical miles from the southern Italian island of Lampedusa on Tuesday night.

The Italian coast guard operated in the Libyan search and rescue zone amid rough weather conditions, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.

“We were the only ones able to intervene, as there were no other ships or rescue teams in the area. Sea conditions were pretty extreme, with waves of more than 6-7 meters (20-23 feet),” said coast guard spokesperson Roberto D’Arrigo.

D’Arrigo said the migrants had probably departed from Libya and the victims likely died of hypothermia, but the cause of the deaths still needs to be verified.

The survivors were brought to Lampedusa after a 10-hour trip and are now in the care of local health services, the coast guard said.

The tiny island of Lampedusa is the main entry point to Europe for migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa, with thousands dying during the perilous journey.

Most of the deaths have been attributed to small boats setting off from the coasts of Tunisia and Libya.

The most recent deadly shipwreck off Lampedusa happened in August last year, when a boat carrying nearly 100 migrants capsized in international waters, killing at least 26 people.

Hershey says it will shift back to classic recipe for all Reese’s products after criticism

By
The Associated Press
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Hershey said Wednesday it will use classic recipes for all Reese’s products starting next year, a change that comes after the grandson of Reese’s founder criticized the company for shifting to cheaper ingredients.

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups have always been made with real milk chocolate or dark chocolate and peanut butter. But a small portion of Hershey’s and Reese’s products, like mini Easter eggs, are now made with a coating that contains less chocolate.

Hershey said that in 2027, it will shift those products to “their classic milk chocolate and dark chocolate recipes.”

The Hershey, Pennsylvania-based company said it will also be making other changes to its sweets portfolio next year, including transitioning to natural colors and enhancing Kit-Kat’s recipe to make it creamier. The company said it plans to increase its research and development funding by 25% next year.

“Hershey is committed to making products consumers love and that means continually reviewing our recipes to meet evolving tastes and preferences,” the company said in a statement.

Brad Reese, the grandson of the inventor of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, ignited the controversy in a public letter he sent to Hershey’s corporate brand manager on Valentine’s Day.

“How does The Hershey Co. continue to position Reese’s as its flagship brand, a symbol of trust, quality and leadership, while quietly replacing the very ingredients (Milk Chocolate + Peanut Butter) that built Reese’s trust in the first place?” Reese wrote in the letter, which he posted on his LinkedIn profile.

Hershey acknowledged some recipe changes but said it was trying to meet consumer demand for innovation. High cocoa prices also have led Hershey and other manufacturers to experiment with using less chocolate in recent years.

The Associated Press left a message with Brad Reese on Wednesday seeking comment.

Brad Reese is the grandson of H.B. Reese, who spent two years at Hershey before forming his own candy company in 1919. H.B. Reese invented Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups in 1928; his six sons eventually sold his company to Hershey in 1963.

A speech from a British monarch returns to Capitol Hill as US-UK tensions simmer

By
The Associated Press
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WASHINGTON (AP) — King Charles III will deliver an address to Congress during his visit to Washington in late April, becoming the first British monarch to give a speech to a joint meeting of U.S. lawmakers in more than three decades.

The joint address was announced on Wednesday by congressional leaders, who said it was part of the 250th anniversary of the U.S. declaring independence from Britain. The speech also comes at a time of friction between the two nations, which have since become close allies.

President Donald Trump’s “America First” foreign policy has called into question the U.S. commitment to European allies, and Britain has declined to support the U.S. involvement in the war in Iran.

Still, congressional leaders emphasized the close relationship between the U.S. and Britain.

“The American experiment endures in no small part because of the British tradition from which it sprang,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer in a letter addressed to Charles. “We believe an Address to Congress will provide a unique opportunity to share your vision for the future of our special relationship and reaffirm our alliance at this pivotal time in history.”

In Britain, some members of Parliament have called on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to cancel the state visit by Charles in retaliation for Trump lashing out at them for declining to support the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. Starmer decided to proceed with the state visit, which could potentially ease the tensions caused by the war.

The pomp and circumstance of state visits by the British monarch have been used for years to bolster relations with countries around the world. Queen Elizabeth II was the last British monarch to deliver a joint address to Congress, in 1991.

But some lawmakers also want to use the occasion to press forward their investigation into sexual abuse by New York financier Jeffrey Epstein. Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna wrote to Charles to request a meeting between him and survivors of abuse from Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.

“I respectfully ask that you privately meet with survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s and Ghislaine Maxwell’s abuse, so they may speak to you directly about the ways powerful individuals and institutions failed them. Survivors want this meeting,” Khanna said in the letter.

In Britain, there has been intense scrutiny of Epstein’s ties to powerful figures in the British government. Last year, Charles stripped the former Prince Andrew, his brother, of his royal titles and evicted him from his royal residence after weeks of pressure to act over his relationship with Epstein.

Some U.S. lawmakers have bemoaned the fact that the reckoning over Epstein has extended further in Britain and other parts of Europe than it has in the U.S.

Epstein died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial. Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking but has sought to be freed from her 20-year prison sentence, saying new evidence proves constitutional violations spoiled her trial.

The former Prince Andrew, now known simply as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, has repeatedly denied committing any crimes.

Jennings County teen accused of rape to take stand in trial

By
Andy East
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Doty

JENNINGS COUNTY — A 15-year-old boy accused of raping a special needs student on a school bus last year is expected to testify in his own defense at his criminal trial.

The teenager, Landon Doty, is expected to take the stand this afternoon in Jennings Circuit Court, officials said. His trial began Monday, with a jury being seated that afternoon. Both sides delivered opening statements on Tuesday.

The state continued presenting its case on Wednesday, with one more witness to be called before video footage from the bus is played for jurors, said Jennings County Prosecutor Brian Belding.

Doty was arrested this past June and pleaded not guilty to 12 charges, including four felony counts of rape, two felony counts of child molesting, four felony counts of sexual battery, one count of criminal confinement and one misdemeanor count of public indecency.

Doty was initially scheduled to go to trial in October, but the trial was delayed as the judge considered a motion to dismiss the charges.

Three days after the initial trial date, Doty’s attorney, Bradley Kage, asked Bright to dismiss the charges, citing what he describes in the motion as a lack of evidence.

In a motion to dismiss filed in October, Kage states that the bus driver and monitor on board the bus where the incidents allegedly took place testified in depositions last month that “they did not see any sexual acts between the defendant and the alleged victim and that they saw nothing alarming.”

Additionally, Kage states in the motion that the videotapes taken from cameras on board the bus “do not show the defendant committing any of the charged acts,” the motion states.

“The state assumes that they show crimes were committed,” according to the motion. “… (T)he defendant respectfully requests that the court dismiss the information and the counts against him and for all other relief proper in the premises.”

Last month, Bright denied the motion to dismiss, finding that the video footage “is an issue of fact and is for the jury to determine,” according to Jennings County Prosecutor Brian Belding.

The motion to dismiss stands in contrast with claims about the video footage made by Jennings County officials and law enforcement.

In June, Doty was booked into the Jennings County Jail after a magistrate judge ordered the teenager to be tried as an adult, citing “heinous” conduct and a “repetitive pattern of delinquent acts” that was allegedly captured on the Jennings County School Corp. school bus’s camera “over a period of several weeks,” according to court records.

A probable cause affidavit alleges that the Jennings County Middle School principal showed North Vernon police video from the school bus’s camera that was taken after school the day before as the students were on their way home.

In June, Jennings Circuit Magistrate Judge Christopher Doran ordered Doty to be tried as an adult, stating in a court order that “the alleged delinquent’s conduct was captured on video cameras on the bus. …The alleged delinquent’s criminal conduct appears to be calculated, indicating that he knew what he was doing was wrong. It appears in the videos that he would stop his criminal conduct anytime he thought someone may observe him, then continue his criminal conduct when he felt safe to continue without detection.”

While the motion to dismiss claims that Jennings County prosecutors’ case “rests primarily with the videotapes,” it is currently unclear precisely what other evidence investigators have gathered.

A witness and exhibit list filed by Jennings County prosecutors in August includes, among other people, two physicians, one nurse and one forensic scientist. It also includes laboratory reports and the alleged victim’s medical records.

The probable cause affidavit filed in Jennings Circuit Court alleges that North Vernon police were dispatched to Jennings County Middle School, located at 820 W. Walnut St. in North Vernon, on April 17 regarding “an unknown issue at the school’s transportation building.”

When the officers arrived, the school’s principal allegedly showed them video from the school bus’s camera that was taken after school the day before as the students were on their way home, the probable cause affidavit states.

The probable cause affidavit describes the alleged sexual assault and includes investigators describing incidents of oral sex and rape.

At one point, the bus monitor allegedly walked over to Doty and asked what was going on. The bus monitor then allegedly told the bus driver to pull over and “stated that the bus video needs to be reviewed.” The students were then separated.

Doty was allegedly taken from class and his guardian, his maternal grandmother, was called to come to the school. She allegedly said her brother would come because she was in Indianapolis.

When her brother arrived, the principal allegedly advised that “an incident took place and is being handled by the police department.”

Doty was placed into handcuffs and escorted inside a patrol car. Once the officer got into the car, Doty allegedly said, “I’m basically screwed,” according to information in the probable cause affidavit.

The judge’s order states that the victim suffers from moderate to severe autism and is non-verbal. The order also states that Doty is allegedly of “normal intelligence” and is not a special needs student, raising questions about why he was allowed to ride the special needs school bus.

Macron calls for ceasefire in Mideast during visit to Japan

By
The Associated Press
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TOKYO (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron called for a ceasefire in the Middle East during a visit to Japan on Wednesday.

Macron, who held talks with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, said they both believe in international law, the international order and the democratic values, adding: “This is why … we both advocate for a return to peace, a ceasefire, calm, and free passage through the Strait of Hormuz.”

Takaichi said the two leaders agreed on the importance of quickly de-escalating the conflict and to secure the safety of the vital waterway and the stable supply of goods.

“With the international environment increasingly severe, I believe it is especially meaningful for the Japanese and French leaders to deepen our friendship and cooperation,” Takaichi said at a joint news conference at the Akasaka Palace in Tokyo.

The leaders said they also agreed to deepen their cooperation in defense, rare earths development, nuclear energy, space and other areas.

Japan and France have in recent years bolstered their defense cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, where France, which has troops, citizens and resources across the region, seeks to protect its interests and show its presence alongside like-minded democracies concerned about China’s growing influence.

Earlier Tuesday, Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and his French counterpart, Catherine Vautrin signed a road map of defense cooperation between the two countries through increased joint exercises and exchanges in the Indo-Pacific.

Separately, the Japanese and French trade ministers signed a deal in a joint rare earths project.

China controls most of the global production of rare earths, which are used for making powerful, heat-resistant magnets in industries such as defense and electric vehicles.

Macron and Takaichi said the two sides agreed to cooperate in the development of a fast reactor and nuclear fuel recycling program in which Japan has been struggling.

Macron was in Japan as U.S. President Donald Trump said overnight that the responsibility for keeping the Strait of Hormuz open would be on countries that rely on it, saying “That’s not for us. That’ll be for France” and “whoever’s using the strait.”

Trump has been seen as increasingly annoyed about Europe’s lack of support for the U.S.-Israeli war. He lashed out at France, saying it has been “very unhelpful.”

Macron did not mention Trump or his comment at the news conference, where reporters were not allowed to ask questions.

On Thursday, Macron and Takaichi are scheduled to visit a company specializing in space debris removal technology as part of the two countries’ cooperation in the area of space. Macron will then have a courtesy meeting with Emperor Naruhito and a palace lunch before heading to South Korea.

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Associated Press video journalist Ayaka McGill contributed to this report.

Search for missing 11-year-old resumes, now in recovery mode

By
Staff Reports
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Photos by Mike Wolanin | The Republic First responders from the Department of Natural Resources, Columbus Fire Department, Columbus police and the Bartholomew County Water Rescue Team search near the low-head dam in the East Fork White River on Wednesday, April 1, 2026. Copyright The Republic, all rights reserved

10:30 a.m. update

COLUMBUS, Ind. — Searchers are utilizing boats, underwater and air drones and side scan sonar to find a missing 11-year-old girl who disappeared in the East Fork White River at about 6:39 p.m. Tuesday near Mill Race Park.
Lt. Angie Goldman, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, said there are currently seven boats in the water searching for the girl. The search is in a recovery mode at this point.
Agencies assisting the DNR include the Bartholomew County Water Rescue team, Columbus Fire Department, Columbus Township, Harrison Township and Wayne Township fire departments, the Columbus Police Department and the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office providing support with drones.
Searchers are combing the low-head dam area near Columbus’ two bridges downtown and also areas in the river that have log jams or other barriers.
Goldman said the river is at an average depth for this time of year, not at flood stage, although the water depth does fluctuate based on the river bottom.
The area where the girl disappeared is believed to be about 10 feet deep.
This story will be updated.
9:30 a.m. update
COLUMBUS, Ind. — Searchers are continuing to search the East Fork White River near Mill Race Park Wednesday morning in a recovery mission to find a missing 11-year-old who disappeared in the river at about 6:39 p.m. Tuesday.
Some of the first responders are focusing on the area of the low-head dam near the State Road 46 bridges, in which part of the dam’s deteriorating structure is visible above the water.
This story will be updated
ORIGINAL STORY
COLUMBUS, Ind. — The search of the East Fork White River near Mill Race Park for a missing 11-year-old girl is set to resume this morning, according to first responders. Search efforts have now transitioned to a recovery, according to searchers. Mill Race Park will be closed to the public Wednesday during search operations.
At approximately 6:39 p.m. Tuesday, first responders were called to Mill Race Park for a water rescue involving a missing child last seen in the East Fork of the White River. Columbus Police officers arrived on the scene and were advised by bystanders that a child was swept away and bystanders lost sight of her.
Columbus firefighters and the Bartholomew County Water Rescue Team soon arrived on the scene and launched three boats to search the river. Search operations were conducted into the dark over a period of four hours and including dive operations.
Columbus firefighters, police, the Department of Natural Resources and the Bartholomew County Water Rescue team worked at the scene Tuesday night.
First responders said the family of the 11-year-old is from Columbus, and also told the searchers the girl did not know how to swim. She was not wearing a life jacket, according to information first responders received.
On Tuesday night, first responders received information about the location of the last known point where the child was last seen. First responders noted the river water is murky and those who enter the river often cannot see the bottom of the river. The bottom of the river as it goes through Mill Race Park has shallow areas that give way to deep pools of water that individuals can lose contact with the bottom with one step. It also has trees and other debris along the bottom that cannot be seen from the surface.
The river currently does have some current, and the area where the child disappeared is believed to be about 10 feet deep, first responders said.
A Columbus Regional Health ambulance did assist an adult male who was at the scene searching for the child after she disappeared and he is in stable condition, according to first responders.

Trump isn’t immune from civil claims his Jan. 6 rally speech incited riot, judge says

By
The Associated Press
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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is not immune from civil claims that he incited a mob of his supporters to attack the Capitol on Jan, 6, 2021, a federal judge has ruled in one of the last unresolved legal cases stemming from the riot.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled Tuesday that Trump’s remarks at his “Stop the Steal” rally, held on the Ellipse near the White House shortly before the siege began, “plausibly” were inciting words that are not protected by the First Amendment right to free speech.

The Republican president is not shielded from liability for much of his Jan. 6 conduct, including that speech and many of his social media posts that day, according to the judge. But Mehta said Trump cannot be held liable for his official acts that day, including his Rose Garden remarks during the riot and his interactions with Justice Department officials.

“President Trump has not shown that the Speech reasonably can be understood as falling within the outer perimeter of his Presidential duties,” Mehta wrote. “The content of the Ellipse Speech confirms that it is not covered by official-acts immunity.”

Not the first court ruling on presidential immunity

The decision is not the court’s first ruling that Trump can be held liable for the violence at the Capitol and it is unlikely to be the last given the near-certainty of an appeal. But the 79-page ruling sets the stage for a possible civil trial in the same courthouse where Trump was charged with crimes for his Jan. 6 conduct, before his 2024 election ended the prosecution.

Mehta previously refused to dismiss the claims against Trump in a February 2022 ruling that Trump was not entitled to presidential immunity from the claims brought by Democratic members of Congress and law enforcement officers who guarded the Capitol on Jan. 6. In that decision, Mehta also concluded that Trump’s words during his rally speech plausibly amounted to incitement and were not protected by the First Amendment.

The case returned to Mehta after an appeals court ruling upheld his 2022 decision. He said Tuesday’s ruling on immunity falls under a more “rigorous” legal standard at this later stage in the litigation.

Mehta, who was nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama, said his latest decision is not a “final pronouncement on immunity for any particular act.”

“President Trump remains free to reassert official-acts immunity as a defense at trial. But the burden will remain his and will be subject to a higher standard of proof,” the judge wrote.

Official capacity vs. office-seeker

Trump spoke to a crowd of his supporters at the rally before the mob’s attack disrupted the joint session of Congress for certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory over Trump. Trump closed out his speech by saying, “We fight. We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”

Trump’s lawyers argued that Trump’s conduct on Jan. 6 meets the threshold for presidential immunity.

The plaintiffs contended that Trump cannot prove he was acting entirely in his official capacity rather than as an office-seeking private individual. They also said the Supreme Court has held that office-seeking conduct falls outside the scope of presidential immunity.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., who at that time led the House Homeland Security Committee, sued Trump, Trump’s personal attorney Rudolph Giuliani and members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers extremist groups over the Jan. 6 riot. Other Democratic members of Congress later joined the litigation, which was consolidated with the officers’ claims.

‘Victory for the rule of law’

The civil claims survived Trump’s sweeping act of clemency on the first day of his second term, when he pardoned, commuted prison sentences and ordered the dismissal of all 1,500-plus criminal cases stemming from the Capitol siege. More than 100 police officers were injured while defending the Capitol from rioters.

The plaintiffs’ legal team includes attorneys from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Damon Hewitt, the group’s president and executive director, praised the ruling as a “monumental victory for the rule of law, affirming that no one, including the president of the United States, is above it.”

“The court rightly recognizes that President Trump’s actions leading to the January 6 insurrection fell outside the scope of presidential duties,” Hewitt said in a statement. “This ruling is an important step toward accountability for the violent attack on the Capitol and our democracy.”

Russia claims full control of Ukraine’s Luhansk region but Kyiv denies it ahead of US envoy talks

By
The Associated Press
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Russia’s armed forces have taken control of the entire Luhansk region of Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed Wednesday, but a Kyiv military official denied the claim as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy prepared for talks with U.S. envoys trying to mediate an end to Moscow’s invasion.

“Units of the Group of Forces West have completed the liberation of the Luhansk People’s Republic,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

However, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s Joint Forces grouping, Viktor Trehubov, said there were no changes to report in that region.

“Unfortunately, we only hold small patches there (in Luhansk), but those positions have been held by 3rd brigade for a long time,” Trehubov told The Associated Press by phone.

Russian claims of battlefield progress have in the past shown discrepancies. The Moscow-appointed head of Luhansk announced its full capture last June.

Ukrainian officials have in the past said that Moscow makes false claims of advances to persuade U.S. negotiators that a Russian victory in Ukraine is inevitable.

U.S.-led diplomatic efforts over the past year to stop the fighting, now in its fifth year, have so far failed to break the deadlock on key sticking points, and Washington’s attentions are currently focused on the Iran war.

Zelenskyy said he would hold a video call later Wednesday with U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to discuss the possibility of further trilateral negotiations.

Russia illegally annexed four eastern regions of Ukraine — Luhansk as well as Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — in September 2022, but it never fully controlled them.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said last October that Ukrainian forces still held 0.13% of Luhansk. He has demanded that Ukrainian troops withdraw from the four eastern regions as a key condition for a peace deal. Ukraine has rejected that demand.

Zelenskyy said Wednesday that front-line combat is fierce amid a Russian spring offensive, but claimed that Ukrainian forces are holding their ground.

“The situation on the frontline is currently quite tense — the Russian army is trying to step up its assault activity,” he said on X.

It was not possible to independently verify either side’s battlefield claims.

The Institute for the Study of War said Ukrainian tactics are likely disrupting efforts to advance by Russia’s bigger army.

The Washington-based think tank also said late Tuesday that in recent months Ukrainian forces have made “their most significant gains on the battlefield” since an incursion into Russia’s Kursk region in August 2024 and a 2023 counteroffensive.

Russia’s invasion has also taken a heavy toll on Ukrainian civilians, with more than 15,000 killed in the war so far, according to the United Nations.

A Russian drone strike killed four people in Ukraine’s central Cherkasy region Wednesday, regional governor Ihor Taburets said. The attack hit an open area in Zolotonosha, some 150 kilometers (90 miles), southeast of the capital.

Russian drones also damaged sites in western Ukraine near the Polish border early Wednesday, including an industrial facility in the city of Lutsk, some 400 kilometers (250 miles) west of Kyiv.

Mayor Ihor Polishchuk said a postal sorting center and food distribution site were damaged, while falling drone debris also set fire to a residential building. Emergency services reported no casualties.

Ukraine’s air force said it downed 298 drones – mostly Iranian-designed Shahed drones and cheaper variants – in overnight attacks launched from multiple areas in western Russia and Crimea, while 20 drones hit 11 sites nationwide.

Ukraine has developed advance drone technology to counter Russian barrages and is offering to help Gulf countries block Iranian drone attacks.

Zelenskyy said Wednesday on X that Ukraine is “engaged in substantive cooperation” with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar amid the Middle East conflict.

Officials are also in consultations with Jordan and are in contact with Bahrain, Kuwait, and Iraq, he said.

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