Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil can be deported, immigration judge rules
JENA, La. (AP) — Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil can be forced out of the country as a national security risk, an immigration judge in Louisiana ruled Friday after lawyers argued the legality of deporting the activist who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
The government’s contention that Khalil’s presence in the U.S. posed “potentially serious foreign policy consequences” satisfied requirements for deportation, Immigration Judge Jamee E. Comans said at a hearing in Jena.
Comans said the government had “established by clear and convincing evidence that he is removable.”
After the immigration court hearing, Khalil attorney Marc Van Der Hout told a New Jersey federal judge that Khalil will appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals within weeks.
“So nothing is going to happen quickly,” he said.
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US stocks jump and the bond market swings to cap Wall Street’s chaotic and historic week
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks jumped Friday in another manic day on Wall Street, while the falling value of the U.S. dollar and other swings in financial markets suggested fear is still high about escalations in President Donald Trump’s trade war with China.
The S&P 500 rallied 1.8%, after veering repeatedly between gains and losses, to cap a chaotic and historic week full of monstrous swings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average went from an early loss of nearly 340 points to a gain of 810 before settling at a rise of 619 points, or 1.6%, while the Nasdaq composite jumped 2.1%.
Stocks kicked higher as pressure eased a bit from within the U.S. bond market. It’s typically the more boring corner of Wall Street, but it’s been flashing serious enough signals of worry this week that it’s demanded investors’ and Trump’s attention.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury topped 4.58% in the morning, up from 4.01% a week ago. That’s a major move for a market that typically measures things in hundredths of a percentage point. Such jumps can drive up rates for mortgages and other loans going to U.S. households and businesses, which would slow the economy, and they can indicate stress in the financial system.
But Treasury yields eased back as the afternoon progressed, and the 10-year yield regressed to 4.48%. That’s still higher than the day before, but not by as eye-wateringly much.
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China hits back at US and will raise tariffs on American goods from 84% to 125%
BEIJING (AP) — China announced Friday that it will raise tariffs on U.S. goods from 84% to 125% — the latest salvo in an escalating trade war between the world’s two largest economies that has rattled markets and raised fears of a global slowdown.
While U.S. President Donald Trump paused import taxes this week for other countries, he raised tariffs on China and they now total 145%. China has denounced the policy as “economic bullying” and promised countermeasures. The new tariffs begin Saturday.
Washington’s repeated raising of tariffs “will become a joke in the history of the world economy,” a Chinese Finance Ministry spokesman said in a statement announcing the new tariffs. “However, if the U.S. insists on continuing to substantially infringe on China’s interests, China will resolutely counter and fight to the end.”
China’s Commerce Ministry said it would file another lawsuit with the World Trade Organization against the U.S. tariffs.
“There are no winners in a tariff war,” Chinese leader Xi Jinping said during a meeting with the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, according to a readout from state broadcaster CCTV. “For more than 70 years, China has always relied on itself … and hard work for development, never relying on favors from anyone, and not fearing any unreasonable suppression.”
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Trump opens window for a deal with Iran but issues warning if things don’t work out
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is betting that a beleaguered Iran is so vulnerable following a tumultuous 18 months in the Middle East that it might finally be ready to abandon its nuclear program.
The renewed push to solve one of the most delicate foreign policy issues facing the White House and the Mideast will begin in earnest Saturday when Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi gather in Oman.
Trump says he prefers a diplomatic solution, even as he warns that Iran will face “great danger” if talks don’t go well. But Iran’s nuclear advances since Trump scrapped an Obama-era agreement during his first term make finding a pathway to a deal difficult, and experts warn that the prospects of U.S. military action on Iranian nuclear facilities appear higher than they have been in years.
“I want Iran to be a wonderful, great, happy country, but they can’t have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said Friday night aboard Air Force One as he flew to Florida for the weekend.
The moment is certainly fraught, but the White House is seeing hopeful signs that the timing might be right. The push comes as Iran has faced a series of enormous setbacks that has ostensibly left Tehran in a weaker negotiating position.
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From classifying immigrants as dead to deportation: A guide to actions on Trump immigration policies
President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda is playing out in numerous ways Friday, from hearings in key cases on the government’s power to deport people to the start of a registry required for all those who are in the country illegally.
And on Thursday, immigration developments came on multiple fronts as federal officials work on the president’s promise to carry out mass deportations and double down on his authority to do so. The Supreme Court ruled in the case of a mistakenly deported man, and the administration’s classification of thousands of living immigrants as dead came to light.
Here is a breakdown of some of what has happened so far and what is ahead.
An immigration judge in Louisiana decided Friday that Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil can be kicked out of the U.S. as a national security risk.
Immigration Judge Jamee E. Comans presided over a hearing over the legality of deporting the activist who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
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Divers search for parts after NYC helicopter crash killed a family of five and the pilot, a Navy vet
NEW YORK (AP) — Divers using sonar searched Friday for key pieces of a sightseeing helicopter that broke apart in midair and plunged into the Hudson River between Manhattan and New Jersey. All six people aboard were killed — a family of five from Spain and the pilot, a 36-year-old U.S. Navy veteran.
The main and rear rotors, main transmission, roof structure and tail structure were still missing a day after Thursday’s crash, National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said. Witnesses said they saw the main rotor detach and spin away, and bystander video showed parts of the aircraft tumbling through the air.
Homendy said investigators had only just begun looking at the wreckage, flight logs and other material and would not speculate on the cause. The agency, which has been spared from the Trump administration’s job-cutting measures, deployed 17 people to the crash scene, including 10 investigators.
“Everything is on the table. We don’t rule anything out,” Homendy said. “We take a very detailed and comprehensive view, and it’s way too early in the investigation.”
The helicopter crashed around 3:15 p.m. Thursday, about 15 minutes after departing from a lower Manhattan heliport. It flew up the west side of Manhattan, turned around near the George Washington Bridge and was heading south when it plummeted upside down into a shallow stretch of the river near Jersey City, New Jersey.
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3 killed and 1 injured when plane crashes in South Florida near a major highway
BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) — Three people were killed and one was injured when a small plane crashed Friday morning in South Florida near a major interstate highway and pushed a car onto railroad tracks, officials said.
Boca Raton Fire Rescue assistant chief Michael LaSalle said the plane crash that killed all three people on board emitted a fireball when it hit the ground, injuring a person in a nearby car. LaSalle said several roads near the Boca Raton Airport will remain closed near Interstate 95.
The Federal Aviation Administration identified the plane as a Cessna 310 with three people on board. It went down about 10:20 a.m. after departing from Boca Raton Airport bound for Tallahassee, the FAA said in an email.
Fire officials told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that the aircraft appeared to have pushed a car onto the railroad tracks, leading to the tracks’ closure.
Josh Orsino, 31, said he was stopped at a red light at a nearby overpass when he heard a loud explosion and saw a huge fireball come toward him.
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Trump proclaims himself ‘in good shape,’ but the results of his physical aren’t immediately released
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump had an annual physical on Friday and concluded, “I did well,” praising his own heart, soul and cognitive ability while noting medical reports from White House doctors may not be ready until the weekend.
The 78-year-old, who in January became the oldest in U.S. history to be sworn in as president, spent nearly five hours at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center undergoing what he called “every test you can imagine.”
“I was there for a long time,” Trump said. “I think I did very well.”
Despite long questioning predecessor Joe Biden’s physical and mental capacity, Trump has routinely kept basic facts about his own health shrouded in secrecy — shying away from traditional presidential transparency on medical issues. He said he believes the doctor’s report on his latest physical would be ready on Sunday — though, if history is any indication, that may offer little more than flattery with scarce detail.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said while Trump was still being examined that a “readout from the White House physician” on his health that would be released “as soon as we possibly can” and suggested it’d be comprehensive.
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Judge rules Menendez brothers’ bid for freedom through resentencing can continue
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Erik and Lyle Menendez’s resentencing hearings can continue despite opposition from the Los Angeles County district attorney, a judge ruled Friday.
They were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole at ages 18 and 21 after being convicted of murdering their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills home in 1989.
While defense attorneys argued the brothers acted out of self-defense after years of sexual abuse by their father, prosecutors said the brothers killed their parents for a multimillion-dollar inheritance.
The case has captured the public’s attention for decades, and the Netflix drama “ Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story ″ and the documentary “The Menendez Brothers,” released in the fall of 2024, have been credited for bringing new attention to the case. Supporters of the brothers have flown in from across the country to attend rallies and hearings in the past few months.
Former Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón asked a judge last year to change the brothers’ sentence from life without the possibility of parole to 50 years to life. That would make them immediately eligible for parole because they committed the crime when they were younger than 26.
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Doctors remove pig kidney from an Alabama woman after a record 130 days
WASHINGTON (AP) — An Alabama woman who lived with a pig kidney for a record 130 days had the organ removed after her body began rejecting it and is back on dialysis, doctors announced Friday – a disappointment in the ongoing quest for animal-to-human transplants.
Towana Looney is recovering well from the April 4 removal surgery at NYU Langone Health and has returned home to Gadsden, Alabama. In a statement, she thanked her doctors for “the opportunity to be part of this incredible research.”
“Though the outcome is not what anyone wanted, I know a lot was learned from my 130 days with a pig kidney – and that this can help and inspire many others in their journey to overcoming kidney disease,” Looney added.
Scientists are genetically altering pigs so their organs are more humanlike to address a severe shortage of transplantable human organs. More than 100,000 people are on the U.S. transplant list, most who need a kidney, and thousands die waiting.
Before Looney’s transplant only four other Americans had received experimental xenotransplants of gene-edited pig organs – two hearts and two kidneys that lasted no longer than two months. Those recipients, who were severely ill before the surgery, died.
