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Galápagos park releases 158 juvenile hybrid tortoises on Floreana to restore the ecosystem

By
The Associated Press
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FLOREANA ISLAND, Ecuador (AP) — Nearly 150 years after the last giant tortoises were removed from Floreana Island in Ecuador’s Galápagos archipelago, the species made a comeback Friday, when dozens of juvenile hybrids were released to begin restoring the island’s depleted ecosystem.

The 158 newcomers, aged 8 to 13, have begun exploring the habitat they are destined to reshape over the coming years. Their release was perfectly timed with the arrival of the season’s first winter rains.

“They are large enough to be released and can defend themselves against introduced animals such as rats and cats,” said Fredy Villalba, director of the Galápagos National Park breeding center on Santa Cruz Island, noting that the best specimens with the strongest lineage were selected specifically for Floreana.

These released juvenile specimens, out of a total of 700 planned for Floreana, will be introduced gradually. According to Christian Sevilla, director of ecosystems of the Galapagos National Park, they carry between 40% and 80% of the genetic makeup of the Chelonoidis niger —a species that has been extinct for 150 years.

The lineage of these hybrids traces back to Wolf Volcano on Isabela Island, a discovery that still puzzles scientists today. By selecting adults with the strongest genetic makeup, said Sevilla, the breeding program aims to gradually bring the extinct Floreana species back to its former purity.

Two centuries ago, Floreana was home to approximately 20,000 giant tortoises. However, whaling, a devastating fire, and relentless human exploitation eventually led to their complete extinction on the island.

“In genetic terms, reintroducing a species to that island with a significant genetic component of the original species is vital,” biologist Washington Tapia told The Associated Press.

Tapia, a researcher and director of Biodiversa-Consultores — a firm specializing in the Galápagos Islands — emphasized that this process is about more than just numbers; it is about restoring a lost lineage.

Floreana, an island spanning approximately 173 square kilometers (67 square miles), is a volcanic landmass and the southernmost point of the Galápagos archipelago. Situated in the middle of the Pacific Ocean — roughly 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) from the mainland coast — it remains a remote and vital ecological site.

The tortoises reintroduced to Floreana will share their territory with a diverse population of nearly 200 people alongside flamingos, iguanas, penguins, sea gulls and hawks. However, they must also contend with introduced plant species such as blackberry and guava, as well as animals like rats, cats, pigs and donkeys. These non-native species, introduced by human activity, represent potential threats to the island’s newest inhabitants.

Floreana resident Verónica Mora described the release of the turtles as a dream come true. “We are seeing the reality of a project that began several years ago,” she said, adding that the community feels immense pride in the return of the giant tortoises.

The United Nations designated the Galápagos Islands as a Natural World Heritage Site in 1978. This honor recognizes the islands’ unique abundance of terrestrial and marine species found nowhere else on the planet.

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Associated Press Gonzalo Solano contributed from Quito, Ecuador.

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Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Nebraska coach Hoiberg says part of the reason he swiped at fan’s phone is because of his pacemaker

By
The Associated Press
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LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said Friday there were circumstances surrounding his altercation with a court-storming Iowa fan that people viewing viral social media videos might not fully understand.

The videos showed Hoiberg making a swiping motion at a person pointing a camera toward him during the handshake line after his ninth-ranked Cornhuskers lost 57-52 to the Hawkeyes on Wednesday night. In doing so, Hoiberg accidentally struck a member of Iowa’s staff.

Hoiberg said he fully relies on a pacemaker. He said his reaction stemmed from awareness that close contact with cell phones can interfere with the heart device.

“I am 100% reliant on a pacemaker,” Hoiberg said. “I’ll never forget a conversation with my doctor. A cell phone can put it off. If anything ever happens, I’m done. I will not survive if something ever happens to a pacemaker. I’m very cognizant of that, so when somebody rushes up on me with a cell phone, of course I’m going to react.”

Hoiberg said the probability of anything happening was unlikely, but the chance of him developing heart block in his first open heart surgery was also slim.

He recounted the situation and explained that while he doesn’t have a problem with court storms, he’s against putting players and coaches in danger.

“It was a heated moment,” Hoiberg said. “I was going through the handshake line congratulating Iowa coaches on a hard-fought win, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, this kid rushes up on me, and I reacted to it. I think anybody in my position, after a game like that, would’ve reacted in a similar way.”

The seventh-year Nebraska coach said he apologized to the Iowa staff member whom he struck both in the moment and in the days following. The staff member was understanding and said he would’ve done the same, Hoiberg said.

Iowa released a statement apologizing for the lack of security.

“We apologize for this incident and will conduct a review of our procedures and security measures to determine what adjustments may be needed to further strengthen our protocols and help prevent similar incidents in the future,” the statement reads.

Hoiberg said he appreciated Iowa’s statement and that it’s a learning opportunity.

Nebraska hosts Penn State on Saturday.

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Member of Zizians group linked to deaths in several states bailed out in Maryland

By
The Associated Press
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CUMBERLAND, Md. (AP) — A member of a group known to outsiders as Zizians that is linked to six deaths was bailed out of jail in Maryland on Friday.

Police in Maryland connected Jack “Ziz” LaSota, Michelle Zajko and Daniel Blank to homicide investigations in California, Pennsylvania and Vermont after a landowner found them living in box trucks at the end of a snow-covered dirt road last February, according to court documents and pretrial testimony.

Blank was bailed out Friday at about noon after posting $15,000. Blank’s attorney Rebecca Lechliter declined comment. Zajko and LaSota remain in custody and are being held without bail.

Blank’s release includes conditions that he must live alone and submit to GPS tracking.

The deaths linked to the group reached six last year when a U.S. border agent was killed in Vermont. The three members were later arrested on trespassing and gun charges in the woods of western Maryland. Seven of the group’s members are jailed in three states, all awaiting trial.

Maryland state Trooper Brandon Jeffries wrote after their Feb. 16, 2025 arrests that all the “suspects involved are to be questioned regarding other crimes that have occurred across the country and have ties with the Zizians Cult.”

Called “Zizians” by outsiders, the young, highly intelligent computer scientists appear to share radical beliefs about veganism, animal rights, gender identity and artificial intelligence. Since 2022, members have been tied to the death of one of their own during an attack on a California landlord, the landlord’s subsequent killing, the shooting deaths of Zajko’s parents in Pennsylvania, and a highway shootout in Vermont that left the border agent and another Zizian dead.

Jury selection was supposed to start recently in Cumberland, Maryland, where LaSota, Zajko and Blank are charged with possession of LSD and possession with intent to deliver LSD, multiple gun violations, trespassing and hindering a police officer.

The trial was delayed until June, however, after Zajko, who also is charged with resisting arrest, fired her attorney, briefly represented herself and hired a new lawyer.

US sets up gold-medal game against Canada at the Olympics by cruising past Slovakia

By
The Associated Press
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MILAN (AP) — The much-anticipated but never guaranteed U.S.-Canada showdown for gold in men’s hockey at the Olympics is on.

Jack Hughes scored two goals, including one with a highlight-reel individual effort, and the Americans rolled into the final by routing Slovakia 6-2 in the semifinals on Friday night.

They’ll meet tournament favorite and top-seeded Canada on Sunday for the title, a year since the North American rivals played two memorable games against each other at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

That NHL-run event ended a drought of nearly a decade without an international tournament featuring the best hockey players in the world. Three fights in the first nine seconds in the first meeting put the 4 Nations in the spotlight, and their epic final won by Canada in overtime only built the anticipation for the Olympics.

After Canada did its part by rallying to beat Finland earlier in the day, the U.S. had no trouble against the Slovaks, who made an improbable run and were simply overmatched. They’ll face the Finns for bronze on Saturday night, looking for just the second hockey medal in the country’s history after getting the first with a third-place finish in Beijing in 2022.

The U.S. is playing for gold after the semifinals were a much easier go than the quarterfinals against Sweden, when overtime was needed to survive a scare. Dylan Larkin, Tage Thompson, Hughes and Eichel scored the four goals on 23 shots that chased Samuel Hlavaj out of Slovakia’s net past the midway point of the second period.

Thompson, one of just a handful of newcomers who did not play at the 4 Nations, exited later in the second after blocking a shot. He was held out the rest of the way, according to the NBC broadcast.

Hughes got his second just after a power play expired, and Brady Tkachuk scored on a breakaway with just over nine minutes left to provide some more breathing room.

Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck did his job as his teammates outshot Slovakia by a substantial margin. Everything he has done at the Olympics has validated coach Mike Sullivan’s decision to go with Hellebuyck as the U.S. starter over Jake Oettinger and Jeremy Swayman.

The U.S. last reached the final in 2010 when it lost to Canada in overtime on Sidney Crosby’s famous golden goal. Crosby’s status is uncertain this time after getting injured in the quarterfinals Wednesday and not playing Friday against Finland.

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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Judge weighs Washington Post’s demand for government to return devices seized from reporter’s home

By
The Associated Press
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ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — The federal government is asking a court to “run roughshod” over the First Amendment after seizing electronic devices from a Washington Post reporter’s Virginia home last month, an attorney for the newspaper argued Friday.

U.S. Magistrate Judge William Porter didn’t rule from the bench on the newspaper’s request for an order requiring authorities to return the devices taken from the Virginia home of Post reporter Hannah Natanson. Porter had authorized the search by FBI agents investigating allegations that a Pentagon contractor illegally leaked classified information to Natanson.

Porter said he intends to issue a decision before a follow-up hearing scheduled for March 4.

“I have a pretty good sense of what I’m going to do here,” the magistrate said without elaborating.

Pentagon contractor Aurelio Luis Perez-Lugones was arrested on Jan. 8 and charged with unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents. Perez-Lugones is accused of taking home printouts of classified documents from his workplace and later passing them to Natanson.

Federal agents seized a phone, two laptops, a recorder, a portable hard drive and a Garmin smart watch when they searched Natanson’s home in Alexandria, Virginia, on Jan. 14. Last month, Porter agreed to temporarily bar the government from reviewing any material from Natanson’s devices.

Post attorney Simon Latcovich said the information contained on Natanson’s devices could expose hundreds of confidential sources who routinely provided her with dozens, if not hundreds, of tips every day.

“Since the seizure, those sources have dried up,” he said.

If Porter intends to privately review the material contained on Natanson’s devices before deciding what can be shown to the government, Latcovich asked him to allow attorneys for the Post and the reporter to see it first so they can argue for keeping at least some of it under wraps.

Justice Department attorney Christian Dibblee said the government recognizes that Porter didn’t authorize a “fishing expedition.”

“The government does take that seriously,” he said.

The newspaper’s attorneys accused authorities of violating legal safeguards for journalists and trampling on Natanson’s First Amendment free speech rights.

Justice Department attorneys argued that the government is entitled to keep the seized material because it contains evidence in an ongoing investigation with national security implications.

The case has drawn national attention and scrutiny from press freedom advocates who say it reflects a more aggressive posture by the Justice Department toward leak investigations involving journalists.

“There is a pattern here, your honor, that this is a part of,” Latcovich said.

US makes plans to reopen embassy in Syria after 14 years

By
The Associated Press
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has informed Congress that it intends to proceed with planning for a potential re-opening of the U.S. Embassy in Damascus, Syria, which was shuttered in 2012 during the country’s civil war.

A notice to congressional committees earlier this month, which was obtained by The Associated Press, informed lawmakers of the State Department’s “intent to implement a phased approach to potentially resume embassy operations in Syria.”

The Feb. 10 notification said that spending on the plans would begin in 15 days, or next week, although there was no timeline offered for when they would be complete or when U.S. personnel might return to Damascus on a full-time basis.

The administration has been considering re-opening the embassy since last year, shortly after longtime strongman Bashar Assad was ousted in December 2024, and it has been a priority for President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack.

Barrack has pushed for a deep rapprochement with Syria and its new leadership under former rebel Ahmad al-Sharaa and has successfully advocated for the lifting of U.S. sanctions and a reintegration of Syria into the regional and international communities.

Trump told reporters on Friday that al-Sharaa was “doing a phenomenal job” as president. “He’s a rough guy. He’s not a choir boy. A choir boy couldn’t do it,” Trump said. “But Syria’s coming together.”

Last May, Barrack visited Damascus and raised the U.S. flag at the embassy compound, although the embassy was not yet re-opened.

The same day the congressional notification was sent, Barrack lauded Syria’s decision to participate in the coalition that is combating the Islamic State militant group, even as the U.S. military has withdrawn from a small, but important, base in the southeast and there remain significant issues between the government and the Kurdish minority.

“Regional solutions, shared responsibility. Syria’s participation in the D-ISIS Coalition meeting in Riyadh marks a new chapter in collective security,” Barrack said.

The embassy re-opening plans are classified and the State Department declined to comment on details beyond confirming that the congressional notification was sent.

However, the department has taken a similar “phased” approach in its plans to re-open the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela, following the U.S. military operation that ousted former President Nicolás Maduro in January, with the deployment of temporary staffers who would live in and work out of interim facilities.

Poland’s Kamila Sellier stretchered off after opponent’s blade slices over her eye in Olympic 1500

By
The Associated Press
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MILAN (AP) — Short-track speedskater Kamila Sellier of Poland was immobilized on a stretcher and wheeled out of the Milano Ice Skating Arena on Friday night after a competitor’s blade sliced her over her left eye during the women’s 1500 meters at the Milan Cortina Olympics.

Sellier went down along with 15-time Olympic medalist Ariana Fontana of Italy and American skater Kristen Santos-Griswold, who was penalized for an illegal lane pass that contributed to the accident. That kept her from advancing through the quarterfinal round.

The race was paused while Sellier received attention, a large white sheet blocking her from the crowd that was packed into the arena to see the final night of short-track speedskating. She eventually gave a thumbs-up to the crowd as she was taken away.

There was a trail of blood on the ice that workers had to clean during the break.

Fontana’s skinsuit was nicked up and she received some help from her physiotherapist on her left hip during the pause. She wound up finishing second to Hanne Desmet of Belgium, sending her through to the semifinal round.

Fontana, the reigning Olympic silver medalist in the 1500, was trying to break a tie with Norwegian cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen as the most decorated Winter Olympian. They are tied with 15 medals, including gold that Fontana won in the 2000 meter mixed relay and the silver medals she won in the 500 meters and 3000 meter relay earlier in the Milan Cortina Games.

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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Scientists change how El Nino is labeled to keep up with spike in temperature

By
The Associated Press
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The natural El Nino cycle, which warps weather worldwide, is both adding to and shaped by a warming world, meteorologists said.

A new study calculated that an unusual recent twist in the warming and cooling cycle that includes El Nino and its counterpart La Nina can help explain the scientific mystery of why Earth’s already rising temperature spiked to a new level over the past three years.

Separately, scientists have had to update how they label El Nino and La Nina because of rapid weather changes cause by global warming. Increasingly hot waters globally have caused the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration this month to alter how it calculates when the weather pattern has flipped into a new cycle. It’s likely to mean that more events will be considered La Nina and fewer qualify as an El Nino for warming tropical waters.

Earth’s average monthly temperature took a noticeable jump up from the long-term upward trend connected to human-caused climate change in early 2023, and that increase continued through 2025. Scientists have many theories about what’s happening, including an acceleration of greenhouse gas warming, a reduction in particle pollution from ships, an underwater volcano eruption and increased solar output.

In a new study in Nature Geoscience this month, Japanese researchers look at how the difference in energy coming to and leaving the planet — called Earth’s energy imbalance — increased in 2022. An increased imbalance, or more trapped heat, then leads to warmer temperatures, scientists said. The researchers calculate that about three-quarters of the change in Earth’s energy imbalance can be attributed to the combination of long-term human-caused climate change and a shift from a three-year cooling La Nina cycle to a warm El Nino one.

What’s El Nino vs. La Nina

El Nino is a cyclical and natural warming of patches of the equatorial Pacific that then alters the world’s weather patterns, while La Nina is marked by cooler than average waters.

Both shift precipitation and temperature patterns, but in different ways. El Ninos tend to increase global temperatures and La Ninas depress the long-term rise.

La Ninas tend to cause more damage in the United States because of increased hurricane activity and drought, studies have shown.

Why weather cycles switch from warm to cool

From 2020 to 2023, Earth had an unusual “triple dip” La Nina without an El Nino in between. In a La Nina, warm water sticks to a deeper depth, resulting in a cooler surface. And that reduces how much energy goes out into space, said study co-author Yu Kosaka, a climate scientist at the University of Tokyo.

She compared it to what happens when people have fevers.

“If our body’s temperature is high then it tends to emit its energy out, and the Earth has the same situation happening. And as the temperatures increase, it acts to emit more energy outward. And for three-year La Nina, it’s opposite,” Kosaka said.

So more energy — which becomes heat — is trapped on Earth, she said. La Ninas more typically correspond to a one- or two-year buildup of extra energy imbalance, but this time it was longer so the difference was more noticeable and included hotter temperatures, Kosaka said.

“When there is a transition from La Nina to El Nino, it’s like the lid is popped off,” releasing the heat, explained former NOAA meteorologist Tom Di Liberto, who’s now with Climate Central.

About 23% of the energy imbalance driving the recent higher temperatures comes from this unusually long La Nina pattern, with slightly more than half coming from gases from the burning of coal, oil and gas, the study authors said. The rest can be other factors.

Scientist Jennifer Francis of the Woodwell Climate Research Center, which wasn’t involved in the study, said the research makes sense and explains an increase in energy imbalance that some scientists were attributing to accelerated warming.

Changing how El Ninos and La Ninas are labeled

For 75 years when meteorologists calculated El Ninos and La Ninas, it was based on the difference in temperature in three tropical Pacific regions compared to normal. An El Nino was 0.5 degrees Celsius (0.9 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than normal and La Nina was cooler than normal by the same amount.

The trouble in a warming world is what’s considered normal keeps shifting.

Until now, NOAA used the 30-year average as normal. It updated the 30-year average every decade, which is how often it updates most climate and weather measurements. Then the water warmed so much for El Ninos and La Ninas that NOAA updated its definition of normal every five years, but that wasn’t enough either, said Nat Johnson, a meteorologist at NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Lab.

So NOAA came up with an El Nino index that’s relative, starting this month. This new index compares temperatures to the rest of Earth’s tropics. Recently that difference between the old and new methods has been as much as half a degree Celsius (0.9 degrees Fahrenheit), and “that’s enough to have an impact,” Johnson said.

That’s because what really matters with El Ninos and La Ninas is the way the waters interact with the atmosphere. And recently the interactions didn’t match the old labeling, but they do match the new method, Johnson said.

This will likely mean a bit more La Ninas and fewer El Ninos than in the old system, Johnson said.

Here comes another El Nino

NOAA’s forecast is for an El Nino to develop later this year in the late summer or fall. If it comes early enough, it could dampen Atlantic hurricane activity. But it would also mean warmer global temperatures in 2027.

“When El Nino develops, we’re likely to set a new global temperature record,” Woodwell’s Francis said in an email. “’Normal’ was left in the dust decades ago. And with this much heat in the system, everyone should buckle up for the extreme weather it will fuel.”

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Twins ace Pablo López is set for season-ending Tommy John elbow surgery as expected

By
The Associated Press
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FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — Minnesota right-hander Pablo López will have season-ending Tommy John elbow surgery, expected once the Twins discovered their ace’s torn ulnar collateral ligament.

The team said Friday that López’s surgery will be performed next week in Texas by Rangers team physician Dr. Keith Meister. López turns 30 early next month.

It will be the second Tommy John surgery for López. He had the procedure as a minor leaguer with the Seattle organization and missed the 2014 season.

López ended a bullpen session early during the Twins’ first full-squad workout Monday. First-year manager Derek Shelton said he was hopeful the move was precautionary, but a day later general manager Jeremy Zoll told reporters of the UCL tear.

López was the Twins’ opening-day for the past three years and was planning to pitch for Venezuela in next month’s World Baseball Classic.

López made his major league debut with the Miami Marlins in 2018 and spent five seasons with them, then was traded to the Twins.

He made the All-Star team in his first year with Minnesota and helped the franchise end a record 18-game postseason losing streak for North American professional sports, going 2-0 with an 0.71 ERA in two starts in the 2023 playoffs.

López is making $21.75 million this season and is signed through next year.

A shoulder injury limited him to 14 starts last season after he made 32 in each of three consecutive 10-win seasons, the first in his final season with the Marlins. López was 5-4 with a 2.74 ERA in 2025 and is 59-53 with a 3.81 ERA for his career.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Melania Trump donates her white and black-trimmed inaugural ball gown to the Smithsonian

By
The Associated Press
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Melania Trump said “it’s incredible” to see her white and black-trimmed inaugural ball gown on display at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History.

It’s the second inaugural gown she has turned over to the First Ladies Collection at the museum, following the donation of her 2017 gown.

On Friday, Melania Trump continued the long-standing tradition of first ladies donating their inaugural gowns when she handed over the strapless white and black-trimmed sheath and a black neckpiece adorned with a reproduction of a Harry Winston diamond brooch she wore on the night of Jan. 20, 2025. The ensemble was on display on a mannequin on stage.

She gave brief remarks about the gown, its meaning and her love of fashion design, and described it as more than a dress.

“This is more than 50 years of education, experience, and wisdom realized with each thread, each stitch, each sharp edge,” she said. “The meticulously formed black shape ‘Z’ on the front bodice summons decades of my early memories, life experiences, and influences. And, all of these stories are tucked deep within its crisp, strong seams — forever.”

The first lady, a former fashion model, said fashion design is another form of creative expression and that the black and white in the gown “sets a mood rich with emotion.”

“This dress speaks with a distinct point of view, a modern silhouette, bold and dignified, and ruthlessly chic,” she said.

After a short program, the mannequin was taken upstairs and added to the first ladies’ exhibit, which features more than two dozen of their gowns. Melania Trump and Herve Pierre, her longtime stylist and the designer of both of her gowns, came to see the gown in its see-through case.

“It’s incredible. It’s a historic moment,” she said when a reporter asked how it felt to see the gown on display. The museum was reopening to the public Friday afternoon.

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