WASHINGTON — The aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman was involved in a collision at sea with a merchant vessel near Port Said, Egypt, the Navy said Thursday.

The collision occurred late Wednesday while both ships were moving. It did not result in flooding or injuries aboard the carrier, and there was no damage to the ship’s propulsion systems, the Navy said in a statement.

None of the crew on the merchant ship, the Besiktas-M, were injured either, according to a defense official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that had not yet been made public.

The Truman, which is based in Norfolk, Virginia, deployed in September to the Mediterranean and the Middle East. It had just completed a port call in Souda Bay, Greece.
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Seoul — As a high school junior in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, Daneel Kutsenko never gave much thought to China.

Last month, though, as the U.S. government prepared to ban TikTok – citing national security concerns about its Chinese ownership – Kutsenko downloaded RedNote, another Chinese video-sharing app, which he felt gave him a new perspective on China.

“It just seems like people who live their life and have fun,” Kutsenko told VOA of RedNote, which reportedly attracted hundreds of thousands of U.S. users in the leadup to the now-paused TikTok ban.

Kutsenko’s move is part of a larger trend. Even as U.S. policymakers grow louder in their warnings about Chinese-owned apps, they have become a central part of American life.

TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, boasts 170 million U.S. users. China’s AI chatbot DeepSeek surged to the top of Apple’s App Store rankings, including those in the United States, for several days after its release last month.

Another major shift has come in online shopping, where Americans are flocking to digital Chinese marketplaces such as Temu and Shein in search of ultra-low prices on clothes, home goods, and other items.

According to a 2024 survey by Omnisend, an e-commerce marketing company, 70% of Americans shopped on Chinese platforms during the past year, with 20% doing so at least once a week.

Multifaceted threat

U.S. officials warn that Chinese apps pose a broad range of threats – whether to national security, privacy, human rights, or the economy.

TikTok has been the biggest target. Members of Congress attempting to ban the app cited concerns that China’s government could use TikTok as an intelligence-gathering tool or manipulate its algorithms to push narratives favorable to Beijing.

Meanwhile, Chinese commerce apps face scrutiny for their rock-bottom prices, which raise concerns about ethical sourcing and potential links to forced labor, Sari Arho Havrén, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based research organization, said in an email conversation with VOA.

“It raises questions of how sustainably these products are made,” Havrén, who focuses on China’s foreign policy and great power competition, said. Moreover, he said, “the pricing simply kills local manufacturers and businesses.”

Many U.S. policymakers also warn Chinese apps pose greater privacy risks, since Chinese law requires companies to share data with the government on request.

‘Curiosity and defiance’

Still, a growing number of Americans appear unfazed. Many young people in particular seem to shrug off the privacy concerns, arguing that their personal data is already widely exposed.

“They could get all the data they want. And anyway, I’m 16 – what are they going to find? Oh my gosh, he goes to school? There’s not much,” Kutsenko said.

Ivy Yang, an expert on U.S.-China digital interaction, told VOA many young Americans also find it unlikely that they would ever be caught up in a Chinese national security investigation.

“What they’re chasing is a dopamine peak. They’re not thinking about whether or not the dance videos or the cat tax pictures they swipe on RedNote are going to be a national security threat,” Yang, who founded the New York-based consulting company Wavelet Strategy, said.

Yang said the TikTok ban backlash and surge in RedNote downloads may reflect a shift in how young Americans see China – not just as a geopolitical rival, but as a source of apps they use in daily life.

She also attributes their skepticism to a broader cultural mindset – one shaped by a mix of curiosity, defiance, and a growing distrust of institutions, including conventional media.

Jeremy Goldkorn, a longtime analyst of U.S.-China digital trends and an editorial fellow at the online magazine ChinaFile, said growing disillusionment with America’s political turmoil and economic uncertainty has intensified these shifts.

“It makes it much more difficult for, particularly, young people to get worked up about what China’s doing when they feel so horrified about their own country,” Goldkorn said during a recent episode of the Sinica podcast, which focuses on current affairs in China.

Polling reflects this divide. A 2024 Pew survey found 81% of Americans view China unfavorably, but younger adults are less critical – only 27% of those under 30 have strongly negative views, compared to 61% of those 65 and older.

Digital barrier

While Chinese apps are expanding in the United States, in many ways the digital divide remains as impenetrable as ever.

China blocks nearly all major Western platforms and tightly controls its own apps, while the U.S. weighs new restrictions on Chinese tech.

Though President Donald Trump paused the TikTok ban, his administration has signaled broader efforts to curb China’s tech influence.

Trump officials have hinted they could take steps to regulate DeepSeek, the Chinese digital chatbot.

The Trump administration also recently signaled it intends to close a trade loophole that lets Chinese retailers bypass import duties and customs checks.

Broader challenges

Even as Washington debates how to handle the rise of Chinese apps, some analysts say the conversation risks obscuring the deeper issue of the broader role of social media itself.

Rogier Creemers, a specialist in digital governance at Leiden University, told VOA that while Chinese apps may raise valid concerns for Western countries, they are just one part of a larger, unaddressed problem.

“There’s a whole range of social ills that emerge from these social media that I think are far more important than anything the Chinese Communist Party could do,” he said, pointing to issues like digital addiction, declining attention spans, and the way social media amplifies misinformation and political unseriousness.

“And that would apply whether these apps are Chinese-owned or American-owned or Tajikistani-owned, as far as I’m concerned,” he added.

The United States, Creemer said, has taken a more hands-off approach to regulating online platforms, in part due to strong free speech protections and pushback by the tech industry.

Apps or influence?

For millions of Americans, the bigger debates about China and digital influence barely register when they open TikTok.

Kutsenko said neither he nor his friends have strong opinions about U.S.-China tensions. They just wanted an alternative to TikTok – one that felt fun, familiar, and easy to use.

It’s a sign that while policymakers see Chinese apps as part of a growing tech rivalry, for many Americans they’re just another way to scroll, shop, and stay entertained, no matter where they come from.
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U.S. Democratic lawmakers said Wednesday the Trump administration’s freeze of U.S. foreign assistance might permanently damage America’s security and standing abroad. Republicans counter that the review of U.S. Agency for International Development programs is necessary to combat waste and fraud. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson has more.
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washington — The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on Wednesday seeking access to dozens of migrants flown to a U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying they were being denied the right to an attorney. 

ACLU filed the complaint on behalf of families of detainees, who say the detainees themselves cannot sue because they are being held without the ability to communicate with the outside world. The suit seeks immediate phone and video access to detainees, as well as in-person visitation. 

President Donald Trump, a Republican, kicked off a wide-ranging immigration crackdown after taking office on Jan. 20, including the transfer of dozens of migrants to a detention site on Guantanamo Bay, which is best known for the separate high-security U.S. prison used for suspected foreign terrorists. 

The lawsuit follows a letter sent by ACLU and other civil and immigrant rights groups to top Trump officials last week, demanding a way to speak to detainees. 

“Shipping immigrants off to Guantanamo without access to lawyers or the outside world cannot be reconciled with our country’s laws or principles,” said Lee Gelernt, ACLU lawyer and lead counsel on the case. “It will now be up to the courts to reaffirm that the rule of law governs our nation.” 

The lawsuit cites the cases of three Venezuelan men believed to be detained at Guantanamo. 

Angela Carolina Sequera, one of the plaintiffs, said she was in almost daily contact with her son while he was in a Texas immigration detention center and last spoke to him on Saturday, the complaint stated. On Sunday, she received a call from the detention center saying her son would be sent to Guantanamo. 

“Ms. Sequera has made numerous calls to try to locate her son and speak to him, to no avail,” the complaint said. “She is distraught over the lack of information, and she desires that her son be provided with the ability to communicate with legal counsel regarding his detention at Guantanamo.” 

The plaintiffs also include four nonprofit legal service providers who said they were unable to represent migrants shuttled to the naval base. The providers have clients in Texas and Florida.

The Trump administration has provided few specifics about the detainees sent to Guantanamo Bay but said the first flight carried alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.  

Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said there is a system at the Guantanamo detention site for migrants to phone lawyers. She questioned the ACLU raising concerns about “highly dangerous criminal aliens including murderers and vicious gang members” rather than U.S. citizens.  

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who visited the base on Friday, said in a social media post that some of the detainees had allegedly been charged or convicted of homicide, robbery and other crimes.  

The ACLU lawsuit said the U.S. had never before moved migrants held on civil immigration charges from the U.S. to the Guantanamo Bay base and now held them “incommunicado, without access to attorneys, family or the outside world.” 

The complaint said that despite significant public concern, the Trump administration had offered no explanation of its legal authority to move the detainees.
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President Donald Trump announced Wednesday he and Russia’s leader agreed in a phone call to “immediately” begin negotiations with Ukraine’s leader to bring an end to the nearly three-year-conflict.  

“We will begin by calling President Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation, something which I will be doing right now,” Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social. “I have asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of the CIA John Ratcliffe, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, and Ambassador and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, to lead the negotiations which, I feel strongly, will be successful.”

Trump did not specify what the terms might be to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict. But Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, in Germany Wednesday for a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, ruled out a key demand by Ukraine’s: eventual membership in NATO.

“The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement,” Hegseth said.  

Trump’s top hostage negotiator on Wednesday credited Trump’s “great friendship” with Russia’s leader and with Saudi Arabia’s prince as key in releasing American teacher Marc Fogel from Russian custody late Tuesday.  

“I think that getting Mark Fogel out was critical and the Russians were very, very helpful in that effort and very accommodating,” Witkoff said, speaking to reporters at the White House. “And I think that’s maybe a sign about how that working relationship between President Trump and President Putin will be in the future and what that may portend for the world at large for conflict and so forth. I think they had a great friendship. And I think now it’s going to continue and it’s a really good thing for the world.”

Trump welcomed Fogel to the White House late Tuesday. He had been detained since August 2021 for bringing medically prescribed marijuana into the country.  

“I feel like the luckiest man on Earth right now,” Fogel said as he stood next to Trump at the White House late Tuesday.

Trump said he appreciated what Russia did in letting Fogel go home but declined to specify the details of any agreement with Russia beyond calling it “very fair” and very reasonable.”  

Trump also said another hostage release would be announced Wednesday.  

Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, said earlier Tuesday the United States and Russia “negotiated an exchange” to free Fogel but gave no details about what the U.S. side of the bargain entailed. In such deals in recent years, the U.S has often released Russian prisoners that Moscow wanted in exchange.  

Instead, Waltz cast the deal for Fogel’s release in broader geopolitical terms, saying it was “a show of good faith from the Russians and a sign we are moving in the right direction to end the brutal and terrible war in Ukraine,” an invasion Russia launched against its neighbor in February 2022, with hundreds of thousands killed or wounded on both sides.  

Trump had vowed to broker an end to Russia’s war on Ukraine before taking office January 20, but his aides more recently have said he hopes to do it within the first 100 days of his new administration, roughly by the end of April.  

“Since President Trump’s swearing-in, he has successfully secured the release of Americans detained around the world, and President Trump will continue until all Americans being held are returned to the United States,” Waltz said. The recent release of six Americans held in Venezuela and Fogel’s freeing are the only publicly known instances.  

Fogel had been traveling with a small amount of medically prescribed marijuana to treat back pain. Once convicted by a Russian court, he began serving his 14-year sentence in June 2022, with the outgoing administration of former President Joe Biden late last year classifying him as wrongfully detained. 
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Russian-born fashion designer Dasha Pomeranz tells stories with the clothing she creates. Her latest collection is a tribute to women who were forced to leave their native countries and start new lives in the United States. Karina Bafradzhian has the story. (Videographer: Sergii Dogotar ; Produced by: Sergii Dogotar, Anna Rice   ) 
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NEW YORK — A giant schnauzer named Monty won the top prize at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show Tuesday night.

Monty bested six other finalists to take best in show at Madison Square Garden. The award is considered the most prestigious prize in the U.S. dog show world.

Each dog is judged according to how closely it matches the ideal for its breed.

Winners get a trophy, ribbons and bragging rights, but no cash prize.

Other finalists included a bichon frisé called Neal, a Skye terrier named Archer, a whippet and repeat runner-up known as Bourbon, a shih tzu called Comet who’s been a finalist before, a German shepherd named Mercedes, who came in second last year, and an English springer spaniel called Freddie.

Monty made the finals for a third year in a row and won the huge American Kennel Club’s big show in December.

A Westminster win is considered the most prestigious award in the U.S. dog show world. Each dog is judged according to how closely it matches the ideal for its breed.

Winners get a trophy, ribbons and bragging rights, but no cash prize.

Every dog at Westminster is a titled champion, but they also are household pets. Some also do therapy work, search-and-rescue or other canine jobs.

“A good German shepherd is an all-purpose dog,” said co-breeder and co-owner Sheree Moses Combs of Wardensville, West Virginia. Some of her pups have become service dogs for wounded veterans, she said.

“Dog shows are fun, but that is what our breed is all about,” she said.

Big dogs had their day at Westminster on Tuesday, when “working” breeds had their turns in the ring. First-round competitor Brina, for instance, is a 71.6 kilogram Neapolitan mastiff.

“I’ve been struck by this breed since I was 12. … They’re so unique,” owner Yves Belmont, Ph.D., said as Brina napped in her crate, equipped with a 7.5-liter water bucket.

With their size, jowly heads and guard-dog history, the breed was developed to be imposing. But Belmont, who currently has several of them at his family’s Atlanta-area home, said he also is impressed by their intelligence.

A trip to Westminster is a reminder of dogs’ variety, even just among purebreds. The same day Brina competed, Tyra the miniature bull terrier also strutted her stuff. Formally called GCH CH Rnr’s Top Model, she’s named after fashion model Tyra Banks.

The hardy terrier breed is “a big dog in a small package, but they always keep you smiling,” said owner and co-breeder Jessica Harrison of Austin, Texas. Asked where the 2-year-old Tyra falls on the mischief meter, Harrison smiled, “like a nine, for sure.”

“You can’t be upset with them because they’re just so cute,” she said as Tyra rolled on her back to get a belly rub from a passerby at the Javits Center, the convention venue that hosted the first-round judging of each breed.

Regardless which dog gets the trophy at Westminster, others also have scored points with the crowd.

During two nights of semifinals, spectators shouted out breeds and names of canine competitors as if they played for one of the pro teams that call the Garden home, the NBA’s New York Knicks and NHL’s New York Rangers.

“Love you, Lumpy!” someone yelled to a Pekingese named Lumpy, who earned laughs for his ambling gait.

The arena erupted with cheers for a golden retriever named Tuffy, a representative of a popular breed that has never won. Calaco, a Xoloitzcuintli, got huge applause for a confident performance that also earned him some recognition from the judge. Xoloitzcuintlis, are hairless dogs with deep roots in Mexico.

A Doberman pinscher called Penny got whoops of approval from spectators, too. Despite her dignified, focused appearance, Penny can be “a mush,” breeder and co-owner Theresa Connors-Chan of Ontario, Canada, said earlier in the day.

Westminster also featured agility and obedience championships, held Saturday. The agility prize went to a border collie named Vanish, and an Australian shepherd called Willie triumphed in obedience.
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The latest offerings for electric vehicles take center stage at the 2025 Chicago Auto Show as some federal tax incentives could end. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh has more.
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The Trump administration last month paused funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development amid reports that it may be put under State Department control as the president seeks to align it with his “America First” policy. Britain’s recent similar move to restructure its foreign aid could offer lessons for Washington. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.
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Paris — U.S. Vice President JD Vance told Europeans on Tuesday their “massive” regulations on artificial intelligence could strangle the technology, and rejected content moderation as “authoritarian censorship.”

The mood on AI has shifted as the technology takes root, from one of concerns around safety to geopolitical competition, as countries jockey to nurture the next big AI giant.

Vance, setting out the Trump administration’s America First agenda, said the United States intended to remain the dominant force in AI and strongly opposed the European Union’s far tougher regulatory approach.

“We believe that excessive regulation of the AI sector could kill a transformative industry,” Vance told an AI summit of CEOs and heads of state in Paris.

“We feel very strongly that AI must remain free from ideological bias and that American AI will not be co-opted into a tool for authoritarian censorship,” he added.

Vance criticized the “massive regulations” created by the EU’s Digital Services Act, as well as Europe’s online privacy rules, known by the acronym GDPR, which he said meant endless legal compliance costs for smaller firms.

“Of course, we want to ensure the internet is a safe place, but it is one thing to prevent a predator from preying on a child on the internet, and it is something quite different to prevent a grown man or woman from accessing an opinion that the government thinks is misinformation,” he said.

European lawmakers last year approved the bloc’s AI Act, the world’s first comprehensive set of rules governing the technology.

Vance is leading the American delegation at the Paris summit.

Vance also appeared to take aim at China at a delicate moment for the U.S. technology sector.

Last month, Chinese startup DeepSeek freely distributed a powerful AI reasoning model that some said challenged U.S. technology leadership. It sent shares of American chip designer Nvidia down 17%.

“From CCTV to 5G equipment, we’re all familiar with cheap tech in the marketplace that’s been heavily subsidized and exported by authoritarian regimes,” Vance said.

But he said that “partnering with them means chaining your nation to an authoritarian master that seeks to infiltrate, dig in and seize your information infrastructure. Should a deal seem too good to be true? Just remember the old adage that we learned in Silicon Valley: if you aren’t paying for the product, you are the product.”

Vance did not mention DeepSeek by name. There has been no evidence of information being able to surreptitiously flow through the startup’s technology to China’s government, and the underlying code is freely available to use and view. However, some government organizations have reportedly banned DeepSeek’s use.

Speaking after Vance, French President Emmanuel Macron said that he was fully in favor of trimming red tape, but he stressed that regulation was still needed to ensure trust in AI, or people would end up rejecting it. “We need a trustworthy AI,” he said.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen also said the EU would cut red tape and invest more in AI.

In a bilateral meeting, Vance and von der Leyen were also likely to discuss Trump’s substantial increase of tariffs on steel.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was expected to address the summit on Tuesday. A consortium led by Musk said on Monday it had offered $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit controlling OpenAI.

Altman promptly posted on X: “no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.”

The technology world has closely watched whether the Trump administration will ease recent antitrust enforcement that had seen the U.S. sue or investigate the industry’s biggest players.

Vance said the U.S. would champion American AI — which big players develop — he also said: “Our laws will keep Big Tech, little tech, and all other developers on a level playing field.”
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A wintry mess was bearing down on mid-Atlantic states Tuesday with forecasts of significant snow and ice accumulations prompting warnings of potential power outages.

The National Weather Service said travel would become treacherous Tuesday through early Wednesday in much of Virginia and West Virginia.

Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Monday declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm, allowing state agencies to assist local governments. Schools and government offices throughout Virginia were set to be closed Tuesday.

The heaviest snow, up to 25.4 centimeters, was forecast in portions of northern and central Virginia and eastern West Virginia. Ice accumulations could range from a glaze in Kentucky and West Virginia to 1.3 centimeters in the Roanoke Valley of southwest Virginia, the weather service said. Power outages and tree damage were likely in places with heavy ice buildups.

“Did you think winter was over? Think again!” the weather service’s office in Blacksburg, Virginia, said in a post on the social media platform X.

Appalachian Power, which serves 1 million customers in West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee, said it has requested 700 additional workers from neighboring utilities to assist with problems by Tuesday morning.

In northern Virginia, the National Park Service closed a portion of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, a narrow highway that winds its way through woods along the Potomac River. The parkway connects multiple small national park sites and has historically been a trouble spot during winter storms for abandoned cars that created a slalom course for snowplows and other vehicles.

Winter storm warnings extended from Kentucky to southern New Jersey, and a flood watch was posted for a wide swath of Kentucky, Tennessee, southwest Virginia and northern Georgia. The snow-and-ice mix was expected to become all rain as temperatures climb by Wednesday afternoon.

A separate storm system is set to bring heavy snow from Kansas and Missouri to the Great Lakes on Wednesday, the weather service said.

Dangerous cold was forecast Tuesday from an Arctic air mass stretching from Portland, Oregon, to the Great Lakes.

The temperature was expected to bottom out Tuesday morning at minus 36 degrees Celsius in Butte, Montana, where over the past two winters at least five people died due to cold exposure, said Brayton Erickson, executive director of the Butte Rescue Mission. Advocates for the homeless in the city of about 35,000 planned to be out on the streets distributing sleeping bags, jackets, mittens and other cold weather gear to anyone who needs them, Erickson said.

“When it gets this cold, we kind of pull out all the stops,” he said. “Having all those resources available literally can save their life or keep them from frostbite.”

 
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U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday announced a 25% tariff on aluminum and steel tariffs that could hit Canada and Mexico, the top two exporters to the U.S., the hardest. Trump’s ongoing trade offensive also provoked chiding from the U.S.’ top competitor, China. VOA correspondent Anita Powell reports from the White House.
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FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA — Scientists have long suspected that Mexican long-nosed bats migrate through southeastern Arizona, but without capturing and measuring the night-flying creatures, proof has been elusive. 

Researchers say they now have a way to tell the endangered species apart from other bats by analyzing saliva the nocturnal mammals leave behind when sipping nectar from plants and residential hummingbird feeders. 

Bat Conservation International, a nonprofit group working to end the extinction of bat species worldwide, teamed up with residents from southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico and west Texas for the saliva-swabbing campaign. 

The samples of saliva left along potential migration routes were sent to a lab at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, where researchers looked for environmental DNA — or eDNA — to confirm that the bats cycle through Arizona and consider the region their part-time home. 

The Mexican long-nosed bat has been listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act since 1988, and is the only one in Arizona with that federal protection. It is an important species for pollinating cactus, agave and other desert plants. 

Officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Arizona Game and Fish Department announced the discovery in late January. While expanding Arizona’s list of bat species to 29 is exciting, wildlife managers say the use of this novel, noninvasive method to nail it down also deserves to be celebrated. 

“If we were trying to identify the species in the absence of eDNA, biologists could spend hours and hours trying to catch one of these bats, and even then, you’re not guaranteed to be successful,” said Angie McIntire, a bat specialist for the Arizona’s Game and Fish Department. “By sampling the environment, eDNA gives us an additional tool for our toolkit.” 

Every spring, Mexican long-nosed bats traverse a lengthy migratory path north from Mexico into the southwestern U.S., following the sweet nectar of their favorite blooming plants like breadcrumbs. They return along the same route in the fall. 

The bat conservation group recruited ordinary citizens for the mission, giving them kits to swab samples from bird feeders throughout the summer and fall. 

Inside the university lab, microbiology major Anna Riley extracted the DNA from hundreds of samples and ran them through machines that ultimately could detect the presence of bats. Part of the work involved a steady hand, with Riley using a syringe of sorts to transfer diluted DNA into tiny vials before popping them into a centrifuge. 

Sample after sample, vial after vial, the meticulous work took months. 

“There’s a big database that has DNA sequences of not every animal but most species, and so we could compare our DNA sequences we got from these samples to what’s in the database,” Riley said. “A little bit like a Google search — you’ve got your question, you’re asking Google, you plug it into the database, and it turns up you’ve got a bat, and you have this kind of bat.” 

Kristen Lear, of the conservation group, said the collection of eDNA has been used successfully for determining the presence of other kinds of wildlife in various environments, so the group proposed trying it with bats. 

“They do apparently leave behind a lot of spit on these plants and hummingbird feeders,” Lear said.
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President Donald Trump’s point person for making rapid changes at U.S. governmental agencies is Elon Musk, the chief executive of carmaker Tesla and aerospace company SpaceX. Congressional Democrats say that the Trump-backed multibillionaire’s attempt to reduce federal government spending is wrong. Michelle Quinn looks at what Musk has been doing in Washington.
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A federal court on Sunday blocked the Trump administration from sending three Venezuelan immigrants held in New Mexico to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba as part of the president’s immigration crackdown.

In a legal filing earlier in the day, lawyers for the men said the detainees “fit the profile of those the administration has prioritized for detention in Guantanamo, i.e. Venezuelan men detained in the El Paso area with (false) charges of connections with the Tren de Aragua gang.”

It asked a U.S. District Court in New Mexico for a temporary restraining order blocking their transfer, adding that “the mere uncertainty the government has created surrounding the availability of legal process and counsel access is sufficient to authorize the modest injunction.”

During a brief hearing, Judge Kenneth J. Gonzales granted the temporary order, which was opposed by the government, said Jessica Vosburgh, an attorney for the three men.

“It’s short term. This will get revisited and further fleshed out in the weeks to come,” Vosburgh told The Associated Press.

A message seeking comment was left for U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement.

The filing came as part of a lawsuit on behalf of the three men filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, and Las Americas Immigrant Advisory Center.

The Tren de Aragua gang originated in a lawless prison in the central Venezuelan state of Aragua more than a decade ago and has expanded in recent years as millions of desperate Venezuelans fled President President Nicolás Maduro ‘s rule and migrated to other parts of Latin America or the U.S.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said last week that flights of detainees had landed at Guantanamo. Immigrant rights groups sent a letter Friday demanding access to people who have been sent there, saying the base should not be used as a “legal black hole.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that more than 8,000 people have been arrested in immigration enforcement actions since Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration.

Trump has vowed to deport millions of the estimated 11.7 million people in the U.S. illegally.
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The Philadelphia Eagles dominated the Kansas City Chief in this year’s Super Bowl, defeating the reigning champions by a score of 40-22.

The Chiefs had been slightly favored to win the game, going into the American football showdown with hopes of winning their third consecutive National Football League title.

But the Eagles held the Chiefs scoreless until late in the third quarter. By that time, the Philadelphia team already had 34 points on the board at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts was named the game’s MVP.

President Donald Trump attended the matchup, the first sitting U.S. president to do so. Before the game, the president issued a press release stating that “football is America’s most popular sport—for good reason—it fosters a sense of national unity, bringing families, friends, and fans together and strengthening communities.”

“This annual tradition transcends our differences and personifies our shared patriotic values of family, faith, and freedom heroically defended by our military service members, law enforcement officers, and first responders,” he noted.

The Super Bowl was estimated to attract more than 120 million viewers, with 30-second advertisements costing a record $8 million. 

Before the kickoff, a ceremony honored those killed and wounded in a truck-ramming New Year’s Day terror attack in New Orleans on Bourbon Street, as well as first responders.
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New York — They’re at the top of their sport. They run, weave and go airborne. And they went all out for this weekend’s championship.

Sorry — no, they’re not the Chiefs or the Eagles. They’re the agility dogs at the Westminster Kennel Club show, which began Saturday by showcasing agility and other dog sports.

Dog folk often call Westminster the Super Bowl of dog shows, and the comparison might be especially fitting this year. The United States’ most prestigious canine competition opened on the same weekend as pro football’s Super Bowl, which features the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. The rare coincidence comes after both competitions’ dates shifted in recent years.

“I always said I wanted people to call the Super Bowl ‘the Westminster of football,’ ” quipped dog expert David Frei, who has a foot in both worlds: He used to work in publicity for the Denver Broncos and the San Francisco 49ers.

The Westminster of football? Well, Westminster is 90 years older than the Super Bowl, after all.

And there have been some other connections between the gridiron and Westminster’s green carpet. Los Angeles Chargers defensive end Morgan Fox co-owns a French bulldog who came within a smushy-nose length of winning at Westminster in 2022 and was a finalist the following year. (Many other NFL players also have dogs for fun, if not for show, including Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes.)

Whatever the analogy, being at Westminster was a triumph for Guster the rescue pug. He and owner Steve Martin took up agility after Guster started wagging his tail and tilting his head while they watched the Westminster agility contest on TV several years ago.

“We never thought we’d be here. And now we’re here,” Martin, of Austin, Texas, said Saturday.

A border collie named Vanish won the contest, which featured about 300 champion-level canines.

“She’s very intuitive, very natural — probably smarter than me,” handler Emily Klarman of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, told a Fox interviewer in the ring. While Klarman said the win initially left her speechless, Vanish had plenty to say, barking enthusiastically.

A special award for the best mixed-breed competitor went to Gable, handled by Kayla Feeney of Lima, New York.

Westminster added agility in 2014, marking the show’s first event with mixed-breed dogs since the 1800s. Last year saw the first mixed-breed agility winner, a border collie-papillon mix named Nimble, who competed again this year.

She’s an intentional blend of two top agility breeds. But the sport also draws rescue dogs such as an Australian cattle dog mix named Sawyer, or Soy Sauce for short.

His owner, Dr. Amy Ondeyka, has a complicated work schedule as a New Jersey emergency room doctor and EMS medical director. But she made time for agility after realizing she’d adopted a super-energetic dog who opens cabinets, unzips things and otherwise causes domestic mayhem when bored.

“He’s always exciting — he does ridiculous things,” Ondeyka said as he intermittently leaped into her arms during what was ostensibly down time between agility runs. “We have fun, regardless what happens.”

While some dogs do agility to burn off energy, the sport helps others come out of their shell. Tully, a lanky, shaggy, mostly Labradoodle mix, used to be “afraid of the world” but now is excited to go to agility classes and competitions, owner Carla Rash said.

Saturday’s competitors were a spectrum of dogdom, from a great Dane to a 7-pound (0.9-kilogramg) papillon, and they included such lesser-known breeds as a large Munsterlander and a Danish-Swedish farmdog.

They navigated jumps, tunnels, ramps and other obstacles as handlers gave hand and voice signals. The object is to be the fastest, without making mistakes.

Regardless of scores, some dogs won cheers from spectators. There was a bichon frise with its tail dyed blue, a standard poodle that took a leisurely trot across an A-frame ramp, and a curly-coated mix that apparently had second thoughts about the weave poles, circled around and went through them again.

Westminster’s traditional, breed-by-breed judging happens Monday and Tuesday, capped by the coveted best in show prize Tuesday night.

That’s for purebreds only, but mixed-breed dogs also were eligible for Saturday’s obedience competition, an event that Westminster added in 2016. The top prize went to Willie, an Australian shepherd who also won in 2022 with handler Kathleen Keller of Flemington, New Jersey.

Steve Wesler sported a Philadelphia Eagles sweatshirt as he cheered on partner Jennifer Weinik and Cookie, her Belgian Malinois. They came away with a ribbon, which Wesler deemed more exciting than the Super Bowl — because he was confident the Eagles would prevail.

There are no cash prizes at Westminster, but the agility and obedience winners each get to direct a $5,000 donation to a training club or the American Kennel Club Humane Fund.

The show also featured Westminster’s first demonstration of flyball, a canine relay race that involves retrieving a ball.

“It’s a lot of organized chaos,” Hillary Brown said after competing with her Boston terrier, Paxil. His teammates on a York, Pennsylvania-based squad called Clean Break were a standard poodle, a border collie and a whippet-border collie mix.

“It’s a blast. The dogs love it,” Brown said.
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New York — On a quiet winter weekend at the box office, DreamWorks Animation’s “Dog Man” chased its own tail, repeating as the top movie in theaters. 

The animated Universal Pictures release, adapted from Dav Pilkey’s popular graphic novel series, collected $13.7 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. Both new releases — the Ke Huy Quan action movie “Love Hurts” and the Valentine’s Day-themed slasher “Heart Eyes”— were left nipping at the heels of “Dog Man.” 

Hollywood often largely punts Super Bowl weekend to the small screen. Last year, Apple’s much-derided “Argylle” debuted on the same weekend. Instead, the movie industry spends more energy pitching its blockbusters in trailers for the huge football audience on TV. 

It wasn’t a banner weekend for “Dog Man.” It fell steeply, dropping 62% in it second weekend. But with a production budget of $40 million, “Dog Man” has already tallied $54.1 million domestically in two weeks. 

Coming in second was Spyglass Media Group’s “Heart Eyes,” released by Sony. The horror-rom-com mashup earned $8.5 million from 3,102 locations. Reviews have been good for the film, directed by Josh Ruben and starring Oliva Holt and Mason Gooding, though audiences were less impressed. Moviegoers gave it a “B-” CinemaScore. Spyglass made “Heart Eyes” for $18 million. 

“Love Hurts,” the action comedy from 87North Productions (“John Wick,” “The Fall Guy”), debuted with a paltry $5.8 million in 3,055 theaters. In his first big movie role since his Oscar-winning comeback in “Everything All at Once,” Ke Huy Quan stars as a mild-mannered realtor with a hitman past. Ariana DeBose co-stars. It, too, was modestly budgeted at $18 million. Audiences, however, mostly rejected the movie, giving “Love Hurts” a “C+” CinemaScore. 

Next weekend should bring Hollywood its biggest box-office weekend of the year with the release of Marvel’s “Captain America: Brave New World” and Sony’s “Paddington in Peru.” 

Final domestic figures will be released Monday. Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore: 

1. “Dog Man,” $13.7 million. 

2. “Heart Eyes,” $8.5 million. 

3. “Love Hurts,” $5.8 million. 

4. “Mufasa: The Lion King,” $3.9 million. 

5. “Companion,” $3 million. 

6. “One of Them Days,” $3 million. 

7. “Becoming Led Zeppelin,” $2.6 million. 

8. “Flight Risk,” $2.6 million. 

9. “Sonic the Hedgehog,” $1.8 million. 

10. “Moana 3,” $1.5 million.
    …

The Petersen family’s two-bedroom apartment in northern California is starting to feel small. 

Four-year-old Jerrik’s toy monster trucks are everywhere in the 1,100-square-foot unit in Campbell, just outside of San Jose. And it’s only a matter of time before 9-month-old Carolynn starts amassing more toys, adding to the disarray, said her mother, Jenn Petersen. 

The 42-year-old chiropractor had hoped she and her husband, Steve, a 39-year-old dental hygienist, would have bought a house by now. But when they can afford a bigger place, it will have to be another rental. Petersen has done the math: With mortgage rates and home prices stubbornly high, there’s no way the couple, who make about $270,000 a year and pay about $2,500 in monthly rent, can afford a home anywhere in their area. 

According to October data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, a San Jose family with a median income of $156,700 would need to spend 80% of their income on housing — including an $8,600 monthly mortgage payment — to own a median-priced $1.54 million home. That’s far higher than the general rule of thumb that people should pay no more than 30% of their income on a mortgage or rent. 

Moving out of state is out of the question for the Petersens — they have strong family ties to the area and their income would plummet if they move to a lower cost-of-living area. “I’m not willing to give up my job and close connections with my family for a house,” Petersen said. 

The issue is widespread and near historic highs nationally: As of last fall, the median homeowner in the U.S. was paying 42% of their income on homeownership costs, according to the Atlanta Fed. Four years ago, that percentage was 28% and had not previously reached 38% since late 2007, just before the housing market crash. 

“The American dream, as our parents knew it, doesn’t exist anymore,” Petersen said. “The whole idea that you get a house after you graduate college, get a steady job and get married? I’ve done most of those milestones. But the homeownership part? That just doesn’t fit financially.” 

Supply lags demand

First-time homeowners are getting older. The same is true for an increasing number of American families. 

In 2024, the median first-time homebuyer was 38 years old, a jump from age 35 the previous year, according to a recent report by the National Association of Realtors. That’s significantly above historic norms, when median first-time buyers hovered between 30 and 32 years old from 1993 to 2018. 

The biggest driver of this trend, experts said, is simple: There are far too few houses on the market to match pent-up demand, driving prices past the point of affordability for many people who are relatively early in their careers. Coupled with high mortgage rates, many have concluded that renting is their only option. 

“Wage growth hasn’t kept up with the increase in home prices and interest rates,” said Domonic Purviance, who studies housing at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta in Atlanta, Georgia. “Even though people are making more money, home prices are increasing at a faster rate.” 

That gap has left many out of the housing market, which for generations has been a way for Americans to build equity and wealth that they can pass down or leverage to buy a larger home. It’s also led to widespread worries about housing in the United States. About 7 in 10 voters under age 45 said they were “very” concerned about the cost of housing in their community, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters in the 2024 election. 

Is the dream going to fade? 

Brian McCabe, a sociology professor at Georgetown University, said he frequently tells his students that “there are few things that all Americans agree on, but one of them is that they’d rather own a home than rent.” 

McCabe said homeownership, especially as a wealth-building tool, is the right move for many, especially if the owner intends to be in one place for a long time. But he also said many are realizing that not owning a home has its advantages, too — it gives people more flexibility to move and allows them to live in exciting neighborhoods they would not be able to afford to buy property in. 

McCabe said millennials are getting married later, having children later, have a stronger desire to stay in cities and, especially due to remote work, value the flexibility of being able to move with ease — all of which he said could prompt an end to the notion that homeownership is the “apex of the American dream.” 

“The big question is whether we see the sheen of homeownership start to fade,” McCabe said. “It’s such an interesting cultural marker: Why is owning a home the pinnacle for so many people?” 

It’s a question Petersen wrestles with because she knows any three-bedroom home she found in her area would leave her family “house poor.” 

“I used to subscribe to the idea that owning a house is just a natural milestone you have to reach,” she said. “At some point, though, what are you sacrificing by just owning a house and gaining equity? I want to be able to travel with my kids. I want to be able to sign them up for extracurriculars. How are we supposed to do that if we’re paying a mortgage that’s most of our take-home pay?” 

Petersen said she’ll “always hold out a little bit of hope” that homeownership will be in her family’s future. But if they find a townhouse to rent that has space for her kids and fits within their $3,600 monthly rental budget? 

“I’d take that,” she said. 

Cities offer support

Some cities are providing crucial aid to first-time homebuyers 

Lifelong Boston resident Julieta Lopez, 63, spent decades hoping to buy a home but watched as prices became increasingly out of reach. 

“The prices in Boston just got higher and higher and higher and higher,” said Lopez, who works for the city traffic department issuing tickets for parking violations. 

Two years ago, furious to learn that her subsidized apartment’s monthly rent was being hiked to $2,900, Lopez, who earns about $60,000 annually, took out her phone and began searching for government programs that help first-time homebuyers. She was determined to finally own her own place. 

Within months, she had succeeded. Lopez qualified to receive $50,000 from the local Massachusetts Affordable Homeownership Alliance nonprofit and another $50,000 from the city of Boston’s Office of Housing — funds that helped her with a down payment on the $430,000 two-bedroom condominium she shares with her 30-year-old son. She now pays about $2,160 a month on her mortgage.

Lopez knows she is lucky the city has placed such a focus on aiding first-time buyers like herself — Boston has poured more than $24 million into its homeownership assistance programs since Mayor Michelle Wu took office in 2021, helping nearly 700 residents get their first homes. 

But Lopez also feels proud to have her own place after years of working — doing jobs that included everything from telecommunications to health care to electronics. 

“I was determined to have my piece of the pie,” she said. “I felt I deserved that. I’ve always worked. Always. Nonstop.” 
…

TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba expressed optimism on Sunday that his country could avoid higher U.S. tariffs, saying President Donald Trump had recognized Japan’s huge investment in the U.S. and the American jobs that it creates.

At his first White House summit on Friday, Ishiba told public broadcaster NHK, he explained to Trump how many Japanese automakers were creating jobs in the United States.

The two did not specifically discuss auto tariffs, Ishiba said, although he said he did not know whether Japan would be subject to the reciprocal tariffs that Trump has said he plans to impose on imports.

Tokyo has so far escaped the trade war Trump unleashed in his first weeks in office. He has announced tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China, although he postponed the 25% duties on his North American neighbors to allow for talks.

The escalating trade tensions since Trump returned to the White House on Jan. 20 threaten to rupture the global economy.

Ishiba said he believes Trump “recognized the fact Japan has been the world’s largest investor in the United States for five straight years and is therefore different from other countries.”

“Japan is creating many U.S. jobs. I believe (Washington) won’t go straight to the idea of higher tariffs,” he said.

Ishiba voiced optimism that Japan and the U.S. can avoid a tit-for-tat tariff war, stressing that tariffs should be put in place in a way that “benefits both sides.”

“Any action that exploits or excludes the other side won’t last,” Ishiba said. “The question is whether there is any problem between Japan and the United States that warrants imposing higher tariffs,” he added. 

Japan had the highest foreign direct investment in the United States in 2023 at $783.3 billion, followed by Canada and Germany, according to the most recent U.S. Commerce Department data.

Trump pressed Ishiba to close Japan’s $68.5 billion annual trade surplus with Washington but expressed optimism this could be done quickly, given a promise by Ishiba to bring Japanese investment in the U.S. to $1 trillion.

On Sunday, Ishiba identified liquefied natural gas, steel, AI and autos as areas that Japanese companies could invest in.

He also touched on Trump’s promise to look at Nippon Steel investing in U.S. Steel as opposed to buying the storied American company, a planned purchase opposed by Trump and blocked by his predecessor, Joe Biden.

“Investment is being made to ensure that it remains an American company. It will continue to operate under American management, with American employees,” Ishiba said. “The key point is how to ensure it remains an American company. From President Trump’s perspective, this is of utmost importance.”

On military spending, another area where Trump has pressed allies for increases, Ishiba said Japan would not increase its defense budget without first winning public backing.

“It is crucial to ensure that what is deemed necessary is something the taxpayers can understand and support,” he said. 
…

Ukrainians Yevhenia and Kostiantyn Mukhin fled Kherson in 2022 with nothing but a backpack. They made their way to Denver, Colorado, determined to rebuild their lives, but also to spread the joy of Ukrainian culture. Svitlana Prystynska reports the story narrated by Anna Rice.
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CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA — Groups representing some of South Africa’s white minority responded Saturday to a plan by President Donald Trump to offer them refugee status and resettlement in the United States by saying: thanks, but no thanks.

The plan was detailed in an executive order Trump signed Friday that stopped all aid and financial assistance to South Africa as punishment for what the Trump administration said were “rights violations” by the government against some of its white citizens.

The Trump administration accused the South African government of allowing violent attacks on white Afrikaner farmers and introducing a land expropriation law that enables it to “seize ethnic minority Afrikaners’ agricultural property without compensation.”

The South African government has denied there are any concerted attacks on white farmers and has said that Trump’s description of the new land law is full of misinformation and distortions.

On Saturday, two of the most prominent groups representing Afrikaners said they would not be taking up Trump’s offer of resettlement in the U.S.

“Our members work here, and want to stay here, and they are going to stay here,” said Dirk Hermann, chief executive of the Afrikaner trade union Solidarity, which says it represents about 2 million people. “We are committed to build a future here. We are not going anywhere.”

At the same news conference, Kallie Kriel, the CEO of the Afrikaner lobby group AfriForum, said: “We have to state categorically: We don’t want to move elsewhere.”

Trump’s move to sanction South Africa, a key U.S. trading partner in Africa, came after he and his South African-born adviser Elon Musk accused its Black leadership of having an anti-white stance. But the portrayal of Afrikaners as a downtrodden group that needed to be saved would surprise most South Africans.

“It is ironic that the executive order makes provision for refugee status in the U.S. for a group in South Africa that remains amongst the most economically privileged,” South Africa’s Foreign Ministry said.

There was “a campaign of misinformation and propaganda” aimed at South Africa, the ministry said.

Whites in South Africa still generally have a much better standard of living than Blacks more than 30 years after the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule in 1994. Despite being a small minority, whites still own about 70% of South Africa’s private farmland. A study in 2021 by the South Africa Human Rights Commission said 1% of whites were living in poverty compared with 64% of Blacks.

Trump’s action against South Africa has given international attention to a sentiment among some white South Africans that they are being discriminated against as a form of payback for apartheid. The leaders of the apartheid government were Afrikaners.

Solidarity, AfriForum and others are strongly opposed to the new land expropriation law, saying it will target land owned by whites who have worked to develop that land for years. They also say an equally contentious language law that’s recently been passed seeks to remove or limit their Afrikaans language in schools, while they have often criticized South Africa’s affirmative action policies in business that promote the interests of Blacks as racist laws.

“This government is allowing a certain section of the population to be targeted,” said AfriForum’s Kriel, who thanked Trump for raising the case of Afrikaners.

The South African government says the laws that have been criticized are aimed at the incredibly difficult task of redressing the wrongs of colonialism and then nearly a half-century of apartheid, when Blacks were stripped of their land and almost all their rights.
…

NEW YORK — A violin made in 1714 by the legendary luthier Antonio Stradivari sold for $11.3 million at an auction in New York on Friday, short of estimates that would have made it the most expensive instrument ever sold. 

Sotheby’s auction house had estimated that the “Joachim-Ma Stradivarius” violin could sell for between $12 million and $18 million, with the higher end of the range potentially eclipsing the record-breaking $15.9 million someone paid for another Stradivari violin at auction more than a decade ago. 

The “Joachim-Ma Stradivarius” is regarded as one of Stradivari’s best works, built during his “Golden Period” at the height of his craftsmanship and acoustic mastery, according to the auction house. 

Adding to the intrigue, the violin is believed to have influenced legendary composer Johannes Brahms when he wrote the famed “Violin Concerto in D Major” and was actually played during the concerto’s 1879 premiere. 

“This extraordinary violin represents the pinnacle of craftsmanship and classical music history, its unparalleled sound and storied provenance captivating collectors and musicians alike,” Mari-Claudia Jimenez, chair at Sotheby’s. “The Joachim-Ma Stradivarius garnered global attention, achieving one of the highest prices ever for a musical instrument — an acknowledgment of its rarity and historical importance.” 

$2M increase in seconds

Bidding at Sotheby’s began at $8 million and within seconds shot up to $10 million, as auctioneer Phyllis Kao scanned the room, looking for someone to put up $10.5 million. 

“Am I selling? At $10 million,” she said, looking to potential bidders. 

The room was quiet. 

“Last chance, at $10 million,” she said. “I can sell, and I will, at $10 million, unless you go on.” 

“Sold. $10 million,” she said, banging a gavel. 

The final price includes auction house fees. 

Sale funds scholarships

The name of the instrument comes from two of its famous violin virtuoso owners, Joseph Joachim of Hungary and Si-Hon Ma of China. Ma’s estate gifted the violin to the New England Conservatory in Boston after his death. 

The conservatory will use the proceeds to fund student scholarships. 

“The sale is transformational for future students, and proceeds will establish the largest named endowed scholarship at New England Conservatory,” said Andrea Kalyn, president of New England Conservatory. “It has been an honor to have the Joachim-Ma Stradivari on campus, and we are eager to watch its legacy continue on the world stage.” 
…

The wreckage of a small commuter plane missing in Alaska has been found, Coast Guard officials said Friday.  All 10 people aboard the plane – nine passengers and a pilot – are dead, according to media reports.

Coast Guard spokesman Mike Salerno said rescuers saw the crash from their helicopter as they flew over the Cessna 208 Caravan’s last known location. Two rescue swimmers were lowered to investigate the scene, Salerno said.

Several groups were involved in the search for the plane, including the Alaska State Troopers the U.S. Coast Guard, Alaska Air National Guard, Alaska Army National Guard and local search teams.

Authorities said a Jayhawk helicopter was brought in Friday morning to help with the search.

The FBI provided technical assistance, including cellphone analysis to help locate the aircraft.

The Bering Air flight was traveling in western Alaska, just south of the Artic Circle, from Unalakleet to Nome. Alaska State Troopers said they were notified Thursday at 4 p.m. about the missing plane.

The U.S. Coast Guard said on X the flight’s last known position was 19 kilometers offshore.

Early Friday, the Nome fire department posted on X that it was conducting a ground search, but weather and visibility conditions were hampering the department’s air search. The department urged people not to form their own search parties because of hazardous weather conditions in the region, which is prone to sudden snow squalls and high winds.

Airplanes are often the only method of transportation between rural Alaskan villages.

Nome is well-known as the last stop in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

This is the third major U.S. aviation incident in recent days. On Jan. 29, a commercial airliner and an Army helicopter collided near Reagan National Airport outside Washington. Two days later, a medical transport plane crashed into a Philadelphia neighborhood shortly after takeoff, killing six people onboard and another person on the street.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.
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