AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EDT
A total solar eclipse races across North America as clouds part along totality
MESQUITE, Texas (AP) - A chilly, midday darkness fell across North America on Monday as a total solar eclipse raced across the continent, thrilling those lucky enough to behold the spectacle through clear skies.
Eclipse mania gripped all of Mexico, the U.S. and Canada, as the moon swept in front of the sun, blotting out daylight. Almost everyone in North America was guaranteed at least a partial eclipse, weather permitting.
It was the continent´s biggest eclipse audience ever, with a couple hundred million people living in or near the shadow´s path, plus scores of out-of-towners flocking in.
Clouds blanketed most of Texas as the total solar eclipse began its diagonal dash across land, starting along Mexico´s mostly clear Pacific coast and aiming for Texas and 14 other U.S. States, before exiting into the North Atlantic near Newfoundland.
Just east of Dallas, the hundreds gathered at Mesquite´s downtown area cheered and whistled as the clouds parted in the final minutes before totality. As the sun finally became cloaked, the crowd grew louder, whipping off their eclipse glasses to soak in the unforgettable view of the sun´s corona, or spiky outer atmosphere, and Venus shining brilliantly off to the right.
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AP PHOTOS: Total solar eclipse sweeps across North America
DALLAS (AP) - Millions across North America witnessed the moon block out the sun during a total solar eclipse Monday.
The eclipse´s path of totality stretched from Mazatlán, Mexico to Newfoundland, an area that crosses 15 U.S. states and is home to 44 million people. Revelers were engulfed in darkness at state parks, on city rooftops and in small towns.
Most of those in North America, but not in the direct path, still witnessed a partial eclipse, with the moon transforming the sun into a fiery crescent.
Totality's first stop on land cast Mazatlán's sparkling beaches into darkness before continuing northeast toward Eagle Pass, Texas, one its first stops in the U.S.
Total solar eclipses happen somewhere around the world every 11 to 18 months, but they don't often cross paths with millions of people. The U.S. last got a taste in 2017, and won´t again see a coast-to-coast spectacle until 2045.
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New York appeals judge rejects Donald Trump´s request to delay his April 15 hush money trial
NEW YORK (AP) - A New York appeals court judge on Monday rejected Donald Trump's bid to delay his April 15 hush money criminal trial while he fights to move the case out of Manhattan - foiling the former president´s latest attempt to put off the historic trial.
Justice Lizbeth González of the state´s mid-level appeals court made her ruling after an emergency hearing where Trump's lawyers asked to postpone the trial indefinitely while they seek a change of venue. Trump was seeking an emergency stay, a court order that would prevent the trial from starting on time.
The hush money trial is the first of Trump's his four criminal indictments slated to go to trial and would be the first criminal trial ever of a former president.
Trump lawyer Emil Bove argued that the presumptive Republican nominee faces "real potential prejudice" as a defendant in heavily Democratic Manhattan. Citing defense surveys and a review of media coverage, Bove argued that jury selection, scheduled to start next Monday, "cannot proceed in a fair manner."
Trump has suggested on social media that the trial should be moved to Staten Island, the only New York City borough he won in 2016 and 2020.
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Palestinians returning to Khan Younis after Israeli withdrawal find an unrecognizable city
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) - Stunned Palestinians found their home city unrecognizable Monday as they filtered in to salvage what they could from the vast destruction left by Israeli troops who withdrew from southern Gaza's Khan Younis a day earlier after months of fighting and bombardment.
With thousands of buildings destroyed or damaged, families tried to find their homes along streets bulldozed down to the dirt, surrounded by landscapes of rubble and debris that were once blocks of apartments and businesses. On other blocks, buildings still stood but were gutted shells, scorched and full of holes, with partially shattered upper floors dangling off precipitously.
The scenes in Khan Younis underscored what has been one of the world´s most destructive and lethal military assaults in recent decades, leaving most of the tiny coastal territory unlivable for its 2.3 million people. It also portended what is likely to happen in Gaza´s southernmost town of Rafah, where half of Gaza´s uprooted population is now crowded, if Israel goes ahead with plans to invade it.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu escalated his pledge to take the offensive to Rafah, declaring in a video statement Monday, "It will happen. There is a date," without elaborating. He spoke as Israeli negotiators were in Cairo discussing international efforts to broker a cease-fire deal with Hamas.
Magdy Abu Sahrour was shocked to see his house in Khan Younis flattened.
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NAIA all but bans transgender athletes from women's sports. NCAA vows to ensure 'fair competition'
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics announced a policy Monday that all but bans transgender athletes from competing in women's sports at its 241 mostly small colleges across the country.
The NAIA Council of Presidents approved the policy in a 20-0 vote at its annual convention in Kansas City, Missouri. The NAIA, which oversees some 83,000 athletes competing in more than 25 sports, is believed to be the first college sports organization to take such a step.
According to the transgender participation policy, which goes into effect in August, all athletes may participate in NAIA-sponsored male sports but only athletes whose biological sex assigned at birth is female and have not begun hormone therapy will be allowed participate in women´s sports.
A student who has begun hormone therapy may participate in activities such as workouts, practices and team activities, but not in intercollegiate competition.
NAIA programs in competitive cheer and competitive dance are open to all students. The NAIA policy notes every other sport "includes some combination of strength, speed and stamina, providing competitive advantages for male student-athletes."
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Vatican blasts gender-affirming surgery, surrogacy and gender theory as violations of human dignity
VATICAN CITY (AP) - The Vatican on Monday declared gender-affirming surgery and surrogacy as grave violations of human dignity, putting them on par with abortion and euthanasia as practices that it said reject God´s plan for human life.
The Vatican´s doctrine office issued "Infinite Dignity," a 20-page declaration that has been in the works for five years. After substantial revision in recent months, it was approved March 25 by Pope Francis, who ordered its publication.
From a pope who has made outreach to the LGBTQ+ community a hallmark of his papacy, the document was received as a setback, albeit predictable, by trans Catholics. But its message was also consistent with the Argentine Jesuit's long-standing belief that while trans people should be welcomed in the church, so-called "gender ideologies" should not.
In its most eagerly anticipated section, the Vatican repeated its rejection of "gender theory," or the idea that one´s biological sex can change. It said God created man and woman as biologically different, separate beings, and said people must not tinker with that or try to "make oneself God."
"It follows that any sex-change intervention, as a rule, risks threatening the unique dignity the person has received from the moment of conception," the document said.
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Trump declines to endorse a national abortion ban. He says limits should be left to the states
NEW YORK (AP) - Former President Donald Trump said Monday he believes abortion limits should be left to the states, outlining his position in a video in which he declined to endorse a national ban after months of mixed messages and speculation.
"Many people have asked me what my position is on abortion and abortion rights," Trump said in the video posted on his Truth Social site. "My view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both. And whatever they decide must be the law of the land - in this case, the law of the state."
Trump, in the video, did not say when in pregnancy he believes abortion should be banned - declining to endorse a national cutoff that would have been used as a cudgel by Democrats ahead of the November election. But his endorsement of the patchwork approach leaves him open to being attached to the strictest proposed state legislation, which President Joe Biden and his reelection campaign have already been working to do.
Anti-abortion activists expressed keen disappointment that Trump didn't go further.
In the video, he again took credit for the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to end Roe v. Wade, saying that he was "proudly the person responsible for the ending" of the constitutional right to an abortion and thanking the conservative justices who overturned it by name.
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Biden promotes 'life-changing' student loan relief in Wisconsin as he rallies younger voters
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - President Joe Biden said Monday that more than 30 million borrowers would see "life-changing" relief from his new plan to ease their student loan debt burdens, a fresh attempt by the Democratic president to follow through on a campaign pledge that could buoy his standing with younger voters.
Biden detailed the initiative, which has been in the works for months, during a trip to Wisconsin, one of a handful of battleground states that could decide the outcome of Biden's likely November rematch with Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.
Biden said he wanted to "give everybody a fair shot" and the "freedom to chase their dreams" as he lamented the rising cost of higher education.
"Even when they work hard and pay their student loans, their debt increases and not diminishes," he said. "Too many people feel the strain and stress, wondering if they can get married, have their first child, start a family, because even if they get by, they still have this crushing, crushing debt."
Biden's trip comes a week after primary voting in Wisconsin highlighted political weaknesses for him as he prepares for the general election.
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Iran's foreign minister accuses U.S. of giving Israel 'green light' to attack consulate in Syria
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - Iran's foreign minister Monday accused the United States of giving Israel the "green light" for a strike on its consulate building in Syria that killed seven Iranian military officials including two generals.
Hossein Amirabdollahian reiterated Tehran's vows that it will respond to the attack, widely blamed on Israel, that appeared to signify an escalation of Israel´s targeting of military officials from Iran, which supports militant groups fighting Israel in Gaza, and along its border with Lebanon.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an address Monday reiterated the Iran-backed group's support for a Tehran military response to the attack that killed Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior military official in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard´s Quds Force, and worsened fears of the war spiraling into the rest of the Middle East.
Since the war in Gaza began six months ago, clashes have increased between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah. Hamas, which rules Gaza and attacked Israel on Oct. 7, is also backed by Iran, as well as an umbrella group of Iraqi militias targeting U.S. military bases and positions in Syria and Iraq.
Though Israel has regularly conducted strikes targeting Iranian military officials and allies, Zahedi´s death was the most significant blow for Tehran since a U.S. drone targeted and killed Quds Force chief Gen. Qassim Soleimani in 2020 in Baghdad.
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UConn, Purdue set to collide in NCAA title game after dominating in a romp-filled March Madness
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) - The NCAA Tournament has reached its finish line, down to one game pairing the two best teams that routinely win in romps and boasting a marquee post matchup that features a two-time national player of the year.
Maybe that will make this version of March Madness something to remember after all.
Reigning champion UConn meets Purdue on Monday night in a matchup of top seeds that have combined to win their first five tournament games by an average margin of 22.3 points. They have been at the center of a tournament lacking in drama, with its second-highest average margin of victory since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985, only one last-second winning shot and few of the highlight-reel thrills that had become a staple of the event.
Don't expect the Huskies or Boilermakers to feel the least bit bothered by their dominance, either.
"People that love basketball and people that really know the game, you watch good basketball," Purdue guard Fletcher Loyer said Sunday. "Obviously the upsets are fun and real cool and they get attention. But real basketball, you like to see the two best teams go at it. And I think that´s what we have here."
