LONDON (AP) — President Donald Trump is pushing Ukraine to cede territory to Russia to end the war, threatening to walk away if a deal becomes too difficult — and causing alarm bells in Europe about how to fill the gap.

Ukraine’s European allies view the war as fundamental to the continent’s security, and pressure is now mounting to find ways to support Kyiv militarily — regardless of whether Trump pulls out.

Trump has repeatedly lashed out at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, accusing him of prolonging the “killing field” by pushing back on his demand that Ukraine hand over occupied Crimea to Moscow.

Trump’s land-for-peace plan would mark a significant shift in the post-World War II order, ripping up conventions that have long held that borders should not be redrawn by force.

“It took a World War to roll back de jure annexations and 60 million people died,” said François Heisbourg, special adviser at the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris, referring to the pre-war annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany.

“Europeans will not accept it” and Ukraine will not either, he said.

Can Ukraine fight without U.S. support?

Diplomats and experts described various scenarios if the U.S. decides to walk. They range from the U.S. ceasing direct aid to Ukraine — but allowing European nations to pass on critical American intelligence and weapons to Kyiv — to Trump banning transfers of any American technology, including components or software in European weapons.

Any withdrawal of U.S. military aid to Ukraine could create serious difficulties for Europe, analysts and diplomats told The Associated Press. Kyiv’s ability to keep fighting would depend on European political will to muster money and weapons — and how quickly the gaps left by Washington can be filled.

If it were easy, Europe would “already be doing things without America,” said a European diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.

Where would the money come from?

No new U.S. aid package for Ukraine has been approved since Trump came into office, even as European nations have collectively provided Ukraine with more aid than Washington, according to the Keil Institute.

Europe has contributed around $157 billion, some $26 billion more than the U.S., although Washington slightly outpaces Europe when it comes to military aid, the Germany-based institute said.

It will be hard, but there are ways Europe can find cash to fund Ukraine — including seizing frozen Russian assets — but “money isn’t what you shoot bullets with,” Heisbourg said.

Europe’s “big mistake” was undertaking major military downsizing following the Cold War and thinking “this war started in February 2022 and not in February 2014,” when Moscow invaded and then annexed Crimea, said Thomas Gomart, director of IFRI, a French international affairs think tank.

Europeans are scrambling to acquire weapons for themselves and for Ukraine, while confronting constraints on production capacity, a fragmented defense industry and a decades-long reliance on the U.S.

Some extra production capacity could come from Ukraine, which has ramped up manufacturing of ammunition and drones since Russia’s invasion. Much harder to replace, experts said, are advanced American weapons, including air defenses.

Can U.S. weapons systems be replaced?

Russia has attacked Ukraine almost nightly since Putin’s forces invaded in February 2022, flooding the skies with missiles and drones, including dummy attack drones to exhaust Ukraine’s limited air defenses. In April, at least 57 people were killed in multiple strikes.

The death toll from the Russian attacks would “inevitably” be higher without the American Patriot air-defense missile systems protecting Ukraine’s skies, said Douglas Barrie, senior fellow for military aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

The Patriots can track and intercept Russian missiles, including the hypersonic Kinzhal, which Putin has boasted was unstoppable. Kyiv uses them to protect critical infrastructure, including the country’s energy grid.

Earlier this month, Zelenskyy asked to buy 10 Patriots, a request Trump dismissed. “You don’t start a war against someone 20 times your size and then hope that people give you some missiles,” he said, a day after a Russian strike on the Ukrainian city of Sumy killed 35 people.

France and Italy have given Ukraine their Aster SAMP/T air-defense system but the issue is not “quality, it’s quantity,” Barrie said, pointing to the larger U.S. defense industrial base and greater U.S. stockpiles.

Although Trump criticized Putin over the weekend for his missile strikes and suggested imposing more sanctions on Russia, for Europe it remains a wait-and-see game.

The whiplash of Trump’s aggressive foreign policy means nothing is off the cards, experts said.

A worst-case scenario could see a ban on American weapons exports and transfers to Ukraine, which would bar European nations from buying U.S. weapons to give to Kyiv or transferring weapons with American components or software, Barrie said.

That could mean countries, including Germany, that have already given American Patriots to Ukraine would be prohibited from doing so. Such a move would seriously hamper Europe’s ability to support Kyiv and mark a fundamental shift in America’s relationship with its allies.

“It’s one thing for the U.S. to cease to be an ally, it is another for the U.S. to be an enemy,” Heisbourg said, noting that such a step could also damage the U.S. defense sector if weapons purchases were perceived to be unusable on Trump’s political order.

Filling the gap on intelligence sharing

In March, the Trump administration suspended intelligence sharing with Ukraine in a bid to force Zelenskyy to accept a truce with Russia. The about weeklong suspension impacted Ukraine’s ability to track and target Russian troops, tanks and ships.

There are certain capabilities, including “higher-end” surveillance and reconnaissance using satellites that “only the United States can provide,” said Matthew Kroenig, vice president of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security in Washington.

While the extent of intelligence sharing between the U.S. and Ukraine is not known, experts said it likely shows Kyiv near real-time buildup of Russian troop deployments and helps target long-range strikes.

Ukraine’s allies do not have as much satellite capability as the U.S. but could launch more, or Ukraine could use commercial systems if Trump cuts off intelligence again, experts said. The latter would likely have to come from a European provider — in March, the American satellite imagery company Maxar Technologies confirmed it temporarily suspended access to unclassified satellite images following the administration’s decision to pull intelligence sharing.

Ukraine also needs an alternative to Elon Musk’s satellite network Starlink, which is critical for Ukrainian defensive and civilian communications. European defense companies are discussing creating a satellite alliance but don’t currently have an alternative on the same scale.

Would Ukraine collapse without U.S. support?

If Trump walks away, or if Kyiv rejects a deal and keeps fighting with European support, it won’t necessarily mean “the collapse of Ukraine” although more people will almost certainly die if the U.S. pulls its air defenses and intelligence-sharing capabilities, Heisbourg said.

Trump has jolted European leaders into awareness that they need to take responsibility for their own defense, regardless of who occupies the White House, experts said.

That means European nations need to invest more in defense, work together to scale up military production and build trust to share intelligence.

“This issue is not a question about the next two months or the next two years. This issue is about the next two decades,” Gomart said.

BANGKOK (AP) — They’d watched overnight as the bombardments grew closer, and observed through binoculars as the last U.S. Marines piled into a helicopter on the roof of the embassy to be whisked away from Saigon.

So when the reporters who had stayed behind heard the telltale squeak of the rubber sandals worn by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops in the stairs outside The Associated Press office, they weren’t surprised, and braced themselves for possible detention or arrest.

But when the two young soldiers who entered showed no signs of malice, the journalists just kept reporting.

Offering the men a Coke and day-old cake, Peter Arnett, George Esper and Matt Franjola started asking about their march into Saigon. As the men detailed their route on a bureau map, photographer Sarah Errington emerged from the darkroom and snapped what would become an iconic picture, published around the world.

Fifty years later, Arnett recalled the message he fed into the teletype transmitter to AP headquarters in New York after the improbable scene had played out.

“In my 13 years of covering the Vietnam War, I never dreamed it would end as it did today,” he remembers writing. “A total surrender following a few hours later with a cordial meeting in the AP bureau with an armed and battle-garbed North Vietnamese officer with his aide over warm Coke and pastries? That is how the Vietnamese war ended for me today.”

The message never made it: After a day of carrying alerts and stories on the fall of Saigon and the end of a 20-year war that saw more than 58,000 Americans killed and many times that number of Vietnamese, the wire had been cut.

The fall of Saigon ended an era

The fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975 was the end of an era for the AP in Vietnam. Arnett left in May, and then Franjola was expelled, followed by Esper, and the bureau wouldn’t be reestablished until 1993.

The AP opened its first office in Saigon in 1950 as the fight for independence from France by Viet Minh forces under communist leader Ho Chi Minh intensified.

The Viet Minh’s decisive victory over the U.S.-supported French at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 marked the end of French Indochina and sparked major changes in the region with the partitioning of Vietnam into Communist North Vietnam and U.S.-aligned South Vietnam. The official U.S. military engagement began in 1955 and slowly escalated.

Malcolm Browne took over as AP bureau chief in Saigon in November 1961 and was joined in June 1962 by Arnett and photo chief Horst Faas.

The trio soon won consecutive Pulitzer Prizes: Browne in 1964, Faas in 1965 and Arnett in 1966 — the first of five the AP would receive for its coverage from Vietnam.

Four AP photographers were killed covering the war, and at least 16 other AP journalists were injured, some multiple times, as they reported from the front lines, seeking to record the news as completely and accurately as possible.

From the start, a lot of the reporting contradicted the official version from Washington, revealing a deeper American commitment than admitted, a lack of measurable success against the Viet Cong guerillas, and a broad dislike of the ineffective and corrupt American-backed South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, Arnett said.

That prompted managers in New York to wonder why the Saigon staffers’ stories were sometimes “180 degrees” different from those AP reporters wrote from press conferences at the U.S. State Department, the Pentagon and the White House, he recalled.

“We had a strategic advantage because we were 12,000 miles away from our administration critics, with our boots on the ground,” said Arnett, 90, who lives in California today. “Within a year, our reporting was vindicated.”

At the height of the war there were roughly 30 staffers assigned to the bureau, divided between news, photos and administration, and the AP made regular use of freelancers as well, usually photographers. It was a diverse group that included people from 11 different countries, including many local Vietnamese.

During upticks in the fighting, staffers would rotate in from from other bureaus to help.

When the U.S. government took umbrage with AP’s coverage in 1966 and claimed its staffers were young and inexperienced, AP’s General Manager Wes Gallagher penned a salty reply, noting their combined decades as reporters.

“Three covered World War II and Korea. Two, Pulitzer Prize winners Peter Arnett and Horst Faas, have been in Vietnam four years each, which is longer than Ambassador (Henry Cabot) Lodge, General (William) Westmoreland and nine-tenths of the Americans over there,” Gallagher wrote.

In an attempt to manage the news reports out of Vietnam, the U.S. established a daily news conference in Saigon to feed information to the growing American press corps. They came to be colloquially known as the “Five O’clock Follies” because, as Esper reflected, “they were such a joke.”

Esper said in a 2005 interview that sometimes he’d show up to evening briefings the same day he had covered a battle firsthand and was left puzzled by the official version.

“I’m thinking to myself, ‘Is this the same battle I just witnessed?’” said Esper, who died in 2012. “So there was some confrontation at the ‘follies’ because we would question the briefer’s reports, and they also withheld tremendous amounts of information.”

Esper said it helped that Gallagher took a personal hand in Vietnam coverage, frequently calling and visiting in support of his journalists.

“He took a lot of heat from the Pentagon, from the White House, but he never faltered,” Esper said. “He always said to us: ‘I support you 100%. You know the press is under scrutiny, just make sure you’re accurate, just make sure your stories are fair and balanced,’ and we did.”

Reporting from the streets and rooftops

In 1969, the American commitment in Vietnam had grown to more than a half million troops, before being drawn down to a handful after the 1973 Paris Peace Accords in which U.S. President Richard Nixon agreed to a withdrawal, leaving the South Vietnamese to fend for themselves.

By 1975, the AP’s bureau had shrunk as well, and as the North Vietnamese Army and its allied Viet Cong guerrilla force in the south pushed toward Saigon, most staff members were evacuated.

Arnett, Esper and Franjola volunteered to stay behind, anxious to see through to the end what they had committed so many years of their lives to covering — and conspiring to ignore New York if any of their managers got the jitters and ordered them to leave at the last minute.

“I saw it from the beginning, I wanted to see the end,” Esper said. “I was a bit apprehensive and frightened, but I knew that if I left, the rest of my life I would have been second guessing myself.”

On April 30, 1975, the monsoon rains had arrived and Arnett watched in the early morning hours from the slippery roof of the AP’s building as helicopters evacuated Americans and selected Vietnamese from the embassy four blocks away.

After catching a few hours of sleep, he awoke at 6:30 a.m. to the loud voices of looters on the streets. An hour later, from the rooftop of his hotel, he watched through binoculars as a small group of U.S. Marines that had accidentally been left behind clambered aboard a Sea Knight helicopter from the roof of the embassy — the last American evacuees.

He called it in to Esper in the office, and the story was in newsrooms around the world before the helicopter had cleared the coast.

Franjola and Arnett then took to the streets to see what was going on, while Esper manned the desk. When they got to the U.S. Embassy, a mob of people were grinning and laughing as they looted the building — a sharp contrast to the desperation of people the day before hoping to be evacuated.

“On a pile of wet documents and broken furniture on the back lawn, we find the heavy bronze plaque engraved with the names of the five American soldiers who died in the attack on the Embassy in the opening hours of the Tet Offensive in 1968,” Arnett recalled in an email detailing the day’s events. “Together we carry it back to the AP office.”

At 10:24 a.m. Arnett was writing the story of the embassy looting when Esper heard on Saigon Radio that South Vietnam had surrendered and immediately filed an alert.

“Esper rushes to the teleprinter and messages New York, and soon receives the satisfying news that AP is five minutes ahead of UPI with the surrender story,” Arnett said, citing AP’s biggest rival at the time, United Press International. “In war or peace, the wire services place a premium on competition.”

Esper then dashed outside to try and gather some reaction from South Vietnamese soldiers to the news of the capitulation, and came across a police colonel standing by a statue in a main square.

“He was waving his arms, ‘fini, fini,’ you know, ‘it’s all over, we lost,” Esper remembered. “And he was also fingering his holstered pistol and I figured, this guy is really crazy, he will kill me, and after 10 years here with barely a scratch, I’m going to die on this final day.”

Suddenly, the colonel did an about-face, saluted the memorial statue, drew his pistol and shot himself in the head.

Shaken, Esper ran back to the bureau, up the four flights of stairs to the office and punched out a quick story on the incident, his hands trembling as he typed.

Stories flow as Saigon falls

Back on the streets, Franjola, who died in 2015, was nearly sideswiped by a Jeep packed with men brandishing Russian rifles and wearing the black Viet Cong garb. Arnett then saw a convoy of Russian trucks loaded with North Vietnamese soldiers driving down the main street and scrambled back into the office.

“’George,’ I shout, ‘Saigon has fallen. Call New York,’” Arnett said. “I check my watch. It’s 11:43 a.m.”

Over the next few hours, more soldiers, supported by tanks, pushed into the city, engaging in sporadic fighting while the AP reporters kept filing their copy.

It was about 2:30 p.m. when they heard the rubber sandals outside the office, and the two NVA soldiers burst in, one with an AK-47 assault rifle swinging from his shoulder, the other with a Russian pistol holstered on his belt. To their shock, the soldiers were accompanied by Ky Nhan, a freelance photographer who worked for the AP, who proudly announced himself as a longtime member of the Viet Cong.

“I have guaranteed the safety of the AP office,” Arnett recalled the normally reserved photographer saying. “You have no reason to be concerned.”

As Arnett, Esper and Franjola pored over the map with the two NVA soldiers, they chatted through an interpreter about the attack on Saigon, which had been renamed Ho Chi Minh City as soon as it fell.

The interview with the two soldiers turned to the personal, and the young men showed the reporters photos of their families and girlfriends, telling them how much they missed them and wanted to get home.

“I was thinking in my own mind these are North Vietnamese, there are South Vietnamese, Americans — we’re all the same,” Esper said.

“People have girlfriends, they miss them, they have the same fears, the same loneliness, and in my head I’m tallying up the casualties, you know nearly 60,000 Americans dead, a million North Vietnamese fighters dead, 224,000 South Vietnamese military killed, and 2 million civilians killed. And that’s the way the war ended for me.”

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Komor, the retired director of AP Corporate Archives, reported from New York.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico and the United States said Monday they had reached an agreement that involves Mexico immediately sending more water from their shared Rio Grande basin to Texas farmers after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened tariffs and sanctions earlier this month.

“Mexico has committed to make an immediate transfer of water from international reservoirs and increase the U.S. share of the flow in six of Mexico’s Rio Grande tributaries through the end of the current five-year water cycle,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement.

Bruce thanked Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum for her involvement in facilitating cross-border cooperation.

The countries’ joint statement Monday, while lacking specific details of the agreement, said both countries had agreed that the 1944 treaty regulating how the water is shared was still beneficial for both countries and not in need of renegotiation.

Under the treaty, Mexico must deliver 1,750,000 acre-feet of water to the U.S. from six tributaries every five years, or an average of 350,000 every year. An acre-foot is the amount of water needed to cover 1 acre of land to a depth of 1 foot.

But Mexico is at a high risk of not meeting that deadline as the end of the current cycle approaches in October.

The treaty allows Mexico to run a water debt in the first four years of each cycle, if it can make it up in the fifth.

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

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — The smells of crispy lumpia, caramelized plantains and other Filipino street foods beckoned attendees of a Vancouver festival as they flooded out of a concert on an unusually sunny spring day in the Canadian city.

As the sun set, lines for food trucks began to wrap around the block. A slow trickle of cars entered the closed street to replenish vendor supplies. Then, one driver hit the accelerator, killing 11 people and injuring dozens at the Lapu Lapu Day festival Saturday night. So far, none of the victims have been identified publicly.

Here is how people witnessed the tragedy.

Like a car racing

It sounded “like an F1 car about to start a race,” followed immediately by screams, clothing vendor Kris Pangilinan recalled. He said he will never forget the sound of bodies hitting the hood of the black Audi SUV as it rammed into the crowd.

“All I can remember is seeing bodies flying up in the air higher than the food trucks themselves and landing on the ground and people yelling and screaming,” Pangilinan said. “It looked like a bowling ball hitting bowling pins and all the pins are flying into the air.”

Adonis Quita pulled his 9-year-old son out of the way as the SUV plowed into the line of families waiting for their food.

For the young boy, who had just relocated to Vancouver from the Philippines, the festival celebrating British Columbia’s large Filipino population was his first taste of home away from home. But now, his father said the boy cannot close his eyes without seeing flashbacks of bloody bodies, some as young as age 5, hitting the pavement.

The ‘darkest day in Vancouver’s history’

A 30-year-old Vancouver man was arrested at the scene after initially being apprehended by bystanders. The British Columbia Prosecution Service charged Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, with eight counts of second degree murder on Sunday and said more charges were possible.

Investigators ruled out terrorism in what Interim Police Chief Steve Rai proclaimed “the darkest day in Vancouver’s history.” Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said the suspect has a “significant history of mental health issues.”

As Quita rushed his son away from the commotion, he said he was comforted to see festivalgoers circle the SUV and subdue the suspect. Video circulating on social media shows a man in a black hoodie with his back against a chain-link fence, surrounded by bystanders screaming and swearing at him.

“I’m sorry,” the man responds, holding his hand to his head.

Bodies covered in white tarps lined the row of food trucks as ambulances rushed injured people to the hospital. The victims range in age from 5 to 65, Rai said.

“Those families are living every family’s nightmare,” Prime Minister Mark Carney said. The car ramming occurred two days before the country’s federal election Monday.

Uncertainty for the injured

Carayn Nulada was in Vancouver General Hospital’s emergency room early Sunday morning trying to find news about her brother, who was run down in the attack and suffered multiple broken bones. Doctors identified him by presenting the family with his wedding ring in a pill bottle. He was stable but needed surgeries.

Nulada used her body to shield her granddaughter and grandson from the SUV as it barreled by. Her daughter, meanwhile, was struck in the arm and fell down but was able to get up quickly. The family recalled children screaming and pale-faced victims lying on the ground.

Of the more than two dozen injured, some remain in critical condition and others have not yet been identified, Rai said late Sunday.

Emily Daniels, 41, came to lay a bouquet at a vigil in Vancouver Sunday evening that drew hundreds of people. She saw a man who was injured in the attack when she was visiting her uncle at the hospital Sunday morning. The man was being rolled into the intensive care unit and still had blood on his arms, she said.

A scene ‘st
raight out of a horror movie’

Others who attended the festival are struggling to process the trauma.

Mohamad Sariman had been helping at his wife’s food truck when he heard a loud boom that he initially thought was an explosion. He looked out the truck’s window and saw a disfigured body on the ground. When he and his wife opened the door, he said they saw another body.

“It was really, really traumatic,” Sariman said.

Vincent Reynon, 17, was leaving the festival with his girlfriend after 8 p.m. when he saw fire trucks and police officers rushing to where the festival was being held. They decided to circle back to see what was going on. He said they saw people crying as he approached, then bodies on the ground when they arrived at the scene.

“It was horrible to see,” Reynon said. “It was like something straight out of a horror movie or a nightmare.”

Lorena Sales, 17, similarly ran back to the festival from the bus stop when she saw ambulances rushing to the scene. She and her friends arrived to find a sea of bodies laying in the street. The image of a woman who had her skull crushed in the collision is burned into Sales’ memory, she said.

A community in mourning

Vancouver’s Filipino community had been celebrating Lapu Lapu Day, which honors the Indigenous chieftain Datu Lapu-Lapu, who stood up to Spanish explorers when they arrived in the Philippines in the 16th century. Organizers of the Vancouver event said he “represents the soul of Native resistance.”

Community members gathered at Vancouver’s Filipino Fellowship Baptist Church on Sunday to mourn those who died in the attack and pray for the injured. Hundreds laid bouquets and lit candles at a vigil later Sunday.

“It hurts, it really hurts to see that someone could do this to a community of mine that’s known to be so kind and caring,” Sales said through tears.

Nathaly Nairn and her 15-year-old daughter brought flowers to the vigil after attending the festival the night before. She said police had to escort them through the crime scene so they could get back to their car, and that they were shocked by what they saw: a dented and bloodied SUV, and bodies on the ground.

“Now we’re just here supporting our community, trying to help my daughter process what we saw yesterday, trying to be there for the Filipino community that has been there for us so much,” Nairn said as she wiped away tears.

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Schoenbaum reported from Salt Lake City. Associated Press writers Jim Morris in Vancouver and Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — A 30-year-old man was charged with multiple counts of murder on allegations he killed 11 people when he rammed a crowd of people at a Filipino heritage festival in Vancouver, as hundreds attended vigils across the city for the victims and the Canadian prime minister visited the site on the eve of a federal election.

Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, was charged with eight counts of second degree murder in a video appearance before a judge on Sunday, hours after he was arrested at the scene, said Damienne Darby, spokeswoman for British Columbia prosecutors. Lo has not yet entered a plea.

Investigators ruled out terrorism as a motive and said more charges are possible. They said Lo had a history of mental health issues.

An attorney for Lo was not listed in online court documents and The Associated Press wasn’t immediately able to reach an attorney representing him.

Those killed were between the ages of 5 and 65, officials said. About two dozen people were injured, some critically, when the black Audi SUV sped down a closed street just after 8 p.m. Saturday and struck people attending the Lapu Lapu Day festival. Authorities had not released victims’ names by Sunday evening.

Nathaly Nairn and her 15-year-old daughter carried flowers to one of the vigils. They had attended the festival on Saturday, and Nairn recounted seeing the damaged SUV and bodies on the ground.

“Something really dark happened last night,” Nairn said, as she and her daughter wiped away tears.

Emily Daniels also brought a bouquet. “It’s sad. Really sad,” she said. “I can’t believe something like this could happen so close to home.”

Police Interim Chief Steve Rai called it “the darkest day in Vancouver’s history.” There was no indication of a motive, but Rai said the suspect has “a significant history of interactions with police and health care professionals related to mental health.”

Video of the aftermath showed the dead and injured along a narrow street in South Vancouver lined by food trucks. The front of the Audi SUV was smashed in.

Kris Pangilinan, who brought his pop-up clothing and lifestyle booth to the festival, saw the vehicle enter slowly past a barricade before the driver accelerated in an area packed with people after a concert. He said hearing the sounds of people screaming and bodies hitting the vehicle will never leave his mind.

“He slammed on the gas, barreled through the crowd,” Pangilinan said. “It looked like a bowling ball hitting bowling pins and all the pins are flying into the air.”

Suspect detained by bystanders before the police arrived

Rai said the suspect was arrested after initially being apprehended by bystanders.

Video circulating on social media showed a young man in a black hoodie with his back against a chain-link fence, alongside a security guard and surrounded by bystanders screaming and swearing at him.

“I’m sorry,” the man said, holding his hand to his head. Rai declined to comment on the video.

Prime Minister Mark Carney canceled his first campaign event and two major rallies on the final day of the election campaign before Monday’s vote.

“Last night families lost a sister, a brother, a mother, father, son or a daughter. Those families are living every family’s nightmare,” Carney said. “And to them and to the many others who were injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver, I would like to offer my deepest condolences.”

Carney joined British Columbia Premier David Eby and community leaders Sunday evening in Vancouver.

The tragedy was reminiscent of an attack in 2018, when a man used a van to kill 10 pedestrians in Toronto.

Witnesses describe how they leaped out of the way

Carayn Nulada said that she pulled her granddaughter and grandson off the street and used her body to shield them from the SUV. She said that her daughter suffered a narrow escape.

“The car hit her arm and she fell down, but she got up, looking for us, because she is scared,” said Nulada, who described children screaming, and pale-faced victims lying on the ground or wedged under vehicles.

“I saw people running and my daughter was shaking,” Nulada said.

Nulada was in Vancouver General Hospital’s emergency room Sunday morning, trying to find news about her brother, who was run down in the attack and suffered multiple broken bones.

Doctors identified him by presenting the family with his wedding ring in a pill bottle and said that he was stable, but would be facing surgery.

James Cruzat, a Vancouver business owner, was at the celebration and heard a car rev its engine and then “a loud noise, like a loud bang” that he initially thought might be a gunshot.

“We saw people on the road crying, others were like running, shouting, or even screaming, asking for help. So we tried to go there just to check what was really actually happening until we found some bodies on the ground. Others were lifeless, others like, you know, injured,” Cruzat said.

Vincent Reynon, 17, was leaving the festival when he saw police rushing in. People were crying and he saw scattered bodies.

“It was like something straight out of a horror movie or a nightmare,” he said.

Adonis Quita said when he saw the SUV ramming through the crowd, his first reaction was to drag his 9-year-old son out of the area. The boy kept saying “I’m scared, I’m scared,” Quita recalled. Later they prayed together.

His son had just relocated to Vancouver from the Philippines with his mother to reunite with Quita, who has lived here since 2024. Quita said he worries the child will struggle to adjust to life in Canada after witnessing the horrific event.

Vancouver Mayor Kenneth Sim said the city had “suffered its darkest day.”

“I know many of us are fearful and feel uneasy,” said the mayor. “I know it’s hard to feel this way right now, but Vancouver is still a safe city.”

Vancouver’s large Filipino population was honoring a national hero

Vancouver had more than 38,600 residents of Filipino heritage in 2021, representing 5.9% of the city’s total population, according to Statistics Canada, the agency that conducts the national census.

Lapu Lapu Day celebrates Datu Lapu-Lapu, an Indigenous chieftain who stood up to Spanish explorers who came to the Philippines in the 16th century. The organizers of the Vancouver event, which was in its second year, said he “represents the soul of native resistance, a powerful force that helped shape the Filipino identity in the face of colonization.”

Eby said the province won’t let the tragedy define the celebration. He urged people to channel their rage into helping those affected.

“I don’t think there is a British Columbian that hasn’t been touched in some way by the Filipino community,” he said. “You can’t go to a place that delivers and not meet a member of that community in the long-term care home or hospitals, childcare or schools. This is a community that gives and gives and yesterday was a celebration of their culture.”

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issued a statement expressing sympathy with the victims and their families.

“The Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver is working with Canadian authorities to ensure that the incident will be thoroughly investigated, and that the victims and their families are supported and consoled,” he said.

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Gillies reported from Toronto. Associated Press journalists Manuel Valdes and Lindsey Wasson in Vancouver; Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City, Utah, contributed to this report.

HONG KONG (AP) — Asian markets inched higher in cautious trading on Monday as investors watched to see what may come of negotiations over U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

U.S. futures fell and oil prices were little changed.

Shares in China fell despite more efforts by Beijing to boost the economy, as uncertainty persisted over the status of any talks between Washington and Beijing.

The president says he’s actively negotiating with the Chinese government on tariffs — while the Chinese and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have said talks have yet to start.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged 0.1% higher to 21,995.82 while the Shanghai Composite Index was nearly unchanged at 3,294.02.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 added 0.4% to 35,863.60 and the Kospi in South Korea added 0.1% to 2,5549.19.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.8% to 8,028.20. Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.6%

On Friday, Big Tech stocks helped Wall Street close a winning, roller-coaster week, one that saw markets swing from fear to relief and back to caution because of Trump’s trade war.

The S&P 500 rose 0.7% to 5,525.21 to add some more to a big three-day rally, and it’s back within 10.1% of its record set earlier this year. Spurts for Nvidia and other influential tech stocks sent the Nasdaq composite up a market-leading 1.3% to 17,382.94.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added only a modest 0.1% to 40,113.50.

Alphabet climbed 1.7% in its first trading after Google’s parent company reported late Thursday that its profit soared 50% in the beginning of 2025 from a year earlier, more than analysts expected.

Another market heavyweight, Nvidia, was also a major force pushing the S&P 500 index upward after the chip company rose 4.3%.

They helped offset a 6.7% drop for Intel, which fell even though its results for the beginning of the year also topped expectations. The chip company said it’s seeing “elevated uncertainty across the industry” and gave a forecast for upcoming revenue and profit that fell short of analysts’ expectations.

Despite last week’s rally, as talk of Trump firing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell receded and hints emerged of a selective softening of his stance on tariffs, not much has changed, Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

“But let’s not kid ourselves: this isn’t a clean pivot. It’s hope and narrative management, plain and simple. What’s really driving the bounce isn’t hard policy action — it’s the perception of de-escalation,” Innes said.

Trump says he’s on a path to cut several new trade deals in a few weeks — but has also suggested it’s “physically impossible” to hold all the needed meetings.

Roughly three out of every five stocks in the S&P 500 sank, including Eastman Chemical, which dropped 6.2% after it gave a forecast for profit this spring that fell short of analysts’ expectations.

Companies across industries have increasingly been saying the uncertainty created by Trump’s tariffs is making it difficult to give financial forecasts for the upcoming year.

The hope is that if Trump rolls back some of his stiff tariffs, he could avert a recession that many investors see as otherwise likely because of his trade war.

But the on-again-off-again tariffs may be pushing households and businesses to alter their spending and freeze plans for long-term investment because of how quickly conditions can change, sometimes seemingly by the hour.

A report Friday said sentiment among U.S. consumers sank in April, though not by as much as economists expected. The survey from the University of Michigan said its measure of expectations for coming conditions has dropped 32% since January for the steepest three-month percentage decline seen since the 1990 recession.

In other dealings early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil dropped 25 cents to $63.27 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude, the international standard, lost 24 cents to $66.04 per barrel.

The U.S. dollar rose to 143.62 Japanese yen from 143.60 yen. The euro edged lower, to $1.1358 from $1.1366.

MUSCAT, Oman (AP) — Iran and the United States prepared Saturday to start in-depth negotiations in Oman over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program, talks that likely will hinge on the Islamic Republic’s enrichment of uranium.

Iranian state television suggested the talks could start mid-day Saturday in Muscat, the mountain-wrapped capital of this sultanate on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula. However, neither Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi nor U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff offered any immediate specifics or details on the talks that they’ll lead.

Araghchi arrived Friday to Oman and met with Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, who has mediated the two previous round of talks in Muscat and Rome. Araghchi then visited the Muscat International Book Fair, surrounded by television cameras and photojournalists.

Witkoff was in Moscow on Friday meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin. He arrived Saturday to Oman, where the talks were expected to start in the coming hours, a source familiar with Witkoff’s travels told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations.

The talks seek to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions the U.S. has imposed on the Islamic Republic closing in on half a century of enmity.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s program if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.

Trump, traveling to Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis, again said he hoped negotiations would lead to a new nuclear deal. However, he still held out the possibility of a military strike if they didn’t.

“The Iran situation is coming out very well,” Trump said on Air Force One. “We’ve had a lot of talks with them and I think we’re going to have a deal. I’d much rather have a deal than the other alternative. That would be good for humanity.”

He added: “There are some people that want to make a different kind of a deal — a much nastier deal — and I don’t want that to happen to Iran if we can avoid it.” ___

Associated Press writer Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

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The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from and . The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Additional AP coverage of the nuclear landscape: https://apnews.com/projects/the-new-nuclear-landscape/

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis is being laid to rest Saturday in a ceremony reflecting his priorities as pope and wishes as pastor: Presidents and princes will attend his funeral in St. Peter’s Square, but prisoners and migrants will usher him into the basilica where he will be buried.

As many as 200,000 people are expected to attend the funeral, which Francis choreographed himself when he revised and simplified the Vatican’s rites and rituals last year. His aim was to emphasize the pope’s role as a mere priest and not “a powerful man of this world,” the Vatican said.

It was a reflection of Francis’ 12-year project to radically reform the papacy, to emphasize its pastors as servants, and to construct “a poor church for the poor.” It was a mission he articulated just days after his 2013 election and explained the name he chose as pope, in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, “who had the heart of the poor of the world,” according to the official decree of the pope’s life that was placed in his coffin Friday night.

Nevertheless, the powerful will be in attendance Saturday. U.S. President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, the U.N. chief and European Union leaders are joining Prince William and the Spanish royal family in leading official delegations. Argentine President Javier Milei had the pride of place given Francis’ Argentine nationality, even if the two didn’t particularly get along and Francis alienated many Argentines by never returning home.

Francis is breaking with recent tradition and will buried in the St. Mary Major Basilica, near Rome’s main train station, where a simple underground tomb awaits him with just his name: Franciscus. As many as 300,000 people are expected to line the 4-kilometer (2.5 mile) motorcade route that will bring Francis’ casket from the Vatican through the center of Rome to the basilica after the funeral.

Francis, the first Latin American and first Jesuit pope, died Easter Monday at age 88 after suffering a stroke while recovering at home from pneumonia.

With his funeral, preparations can now begin in earnest to host the centuries-old process of electing a new pope, a conclave that will likely begin in the first week of May. In the interim, the Vatican is being run by a handful of cardinals, key among them Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the 91-year-old dean of the College of Cardinals who is presiding at the funeral and organizing the secret voting in the Sistine Chapel.

Crowds waited hours in line to pay their respects to Francis

Over three days this week, more than 250,000 people stood for hours in line to pay their final respects while Francis’ body lay in state in St. Peter’s Basilica. The Vatican kept the doors open through the night to accommodate them.

“He was an excellent, humble person who changed many laws and always for the better,” said a pilgrim from his native Argentina, Augustin Angelicola, as he waited on line. “Now it is a sad thing for the whole world that all this has happened. We did not expect it, it had to happen but not so soon.”

But even with the expanded hours, it wasn’t enough. When the Vatican closed the doors to the general public at 7 p.m. on Friday, mourners were turned away in droves.

A special relationship with the basilica

Even before he became pope, Francis had a particular affection for St. Mary Major. It is home to a Byzantine-style icon of the Madonna, the Salus Popoli Romani, to which Francis was particularly devoted, such that he would go pray before it before and after each of his foreign trips as pope.

He decided to have his tomb located in a niche next to the chapel housing the icon, with a reproduction of his simple silver pectoral cross over the marble tombstone.

The choice of the basilica is also symbolically significant given its ties to Francis’ Jesuit religious order. St. Ignatius Loyola, who founded the Jesuits, celebrated his first Mass in the basilica on Christmas Day in 1538.

The Vatican said 40 special guests would greet his casket on the piazza in front of the basilica, reflecting the marginalized groups Francis prioritized pope: homeless people and migrants, prisoners and transgender people.

“The poor have a privileged place in the heart of God,” the Vatican quoted Francis as saying in explaining the choice. The actual burial will be private, presided over by cardinals and a few close aides.

Italy is deploying more than 2,500 police and 1,500 soldiers to provide security, which also includes stationing a torpedo ship off the coast, and putting squads of fighter jets on standby, Italian media reported.

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

MOSCOW (AP) — A senior Russian military officer was killed by a car bomb on Friday, Russia’s top criminal investigation agency said.

The Investigative Committee said that Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, a deputy head of the main operational department in the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, was killed by an explosive device placed in his car in Balashikha just outside Moscow.

The committee didn’t mention possible suspects.

The attack follows the killing of Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, who died on Dec. 17 when a bomb hidden on an electric scooter parked outside his apartment building exploded as he left for his office. The Russian authorities blamed Ukraine for the killing of Kirillov.

GENEVA (AP) — The Swiss president says Switzerland is among 15 countries with which the United States plans to conduct “privileged” negotiations to help reach a deal in the wake of sweeping U.S. tariffs on dozens of countries that have shaken global markets.

Karin Keller-Sutter, in an interview with broadcaster SRF published Friday, said she was “satisfied” with talks in Washington this week that included an International Monetary Fund conference and her one-on-one meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Keller-Sutter also serves as Switzerland’s finance minister.

“The United States has defined a group of 15 countries with which it wants to find … a quick solution in this tariff question. Switzerland is part of this group of these 15 countries,” she told reporters separately late Thursday in Washington.

It was not immediately clear which 14 other countries were included, but she told SRF that “the U.S. envisages conducting — I would say somewhat privileged — negotiations and finding solutions” with that group.

Before the Trump administration paused some of its most stringent tariff plans, products imported from Switzerland had been set to face tariffs of 31% — more than the 20% tariffs on goods from the European Union. Switzerland is not a member of the 27-country bloc.

According to figures published by the Swiss Embassy in Washington, the U.S. has been Switzerland’s most important goods export market worldwide since 2021, while Switzerland is the fourth most important export market for U.S. services. The bilateral trade volume in goods and services between Switzerland and the U.S. reached a total of $185.9 billion in 2023, the embassy says on its website.

Keller-Sutter said a memorandum of understanding was to be drawn up after which negotiations can begin. A document would also lay out the most important topics, and “we have also been assigned a specific contact person. This is not easy in the U.S. administration,” she was quoted as saying.

“The U.S. authorities have clearly expressed their desire to find a solution with Switzerland,” Keller-Sutter told SRF. She said no timetable had been set, but the two sides agreed to move forward quickly “because uncertainty is poison for the economy.”

Trump’s sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs on April 2 set off turmoil in world stock markets. A week later, Trump spoke by phone with Keller-Sutter in a conversation that her office said focused on tariffs. She emphasized the “important role of Swiss companies and investments” in the U.S.

Hours later, Trump announced the U-turn that paused the steep new tariffs on about 60 countries for 90 days, fanning speculation — which was not confirmed — in some Swiss media that her chat with Trump might have played a role in the change of course.

On Thursday, Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis, during a trip to Beijing, said the U.S. tariffs have thrust the affected countries into “a sort of coalition” to try to reach a deal with the United States. And on Monday, Swiss pharmaceuticals giant Roche announced plans to invest $50 billion in the U.S. over the next five years — an unspecified amount of which has already been under way.

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani was set to raise his country’s new flag at the United Nations headquarters in New York Friday and to attend a U.N. Security Council briefing, the first public appearance by a high-ranking Syrian government official in the United States since the fall of former President Bashar Assad in a lightning rebel offensive in December.

The three-starred flag that had previously been used by opposition groups has replaced the two-starred flag of the Assad era as the country’s official emblem.

The new authorities in Damascus have been courting Washington in hopes of receiving relief from harsh sanctions that were imposed by the U.S. and its allies in the wake of Assad’s brutal crackdown on anti-government protests in 2011 that spiraled into a civil war.

A delegation of Syrian officials traveled to the United States this week to attend World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington and U.N. meetings in New York. It was unclear if Trump administration officials would meet with al-Shibani during the visit.

The Trump administration has yet to officially recognize the current Syrian government, led by Ahmad al-Sharaa, an Islamist former insurgent who led the offensive that toppled Assad. Washington has also so far left the sanctions in place, although it has provided temporary relief to some restrictions. The militant group al-Sharaa led, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, remains a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.

Two Republican members of the U.S. Congress, Rep. Marlin Stutzman of Indiana and Rep. Cory Mills of Florida, arrived in Damascus last week on an unofficial visit organized by a Syrian-American nonprofit and met with al-Sharaa and other government officials.

Mills told The Associated Press before meeting with al-Sharaa that “ultimately, it’s going to be the president’s decision” to lift sanctions or not, although he said that “Congress can advise.”

Mills later told Bloomberg News that he had discussed the U.S. conditions for sanctions relief with al-Sharaa, including ensuring the destruction of chemical weapons left over from the Assad era, coordinating on counter-terrorism, making a plan to deal with foreign militants who fought alongside the armed opposition to Assad, and providing assurances to Israel that Syria would not pose a threat.

He also said that al-Sharaa had said Syria could normalize relations with Israel “under the right conditions,” without specifying what those conditions are.

Other Western countries have warmed up to the new Syrian authorities more quickly. The British government on Thursday lifted sanctions against a dozen Syrian entities, including government departments and media outlets, and the European Union has begun to roll back its sanctions.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Diana and Rick Bellamy initially planned to take a Caribbean cruise out of Houston before heading to Laurel, Mississippi, to visit the home of one of their favorite HGTV shows, “Home Town.”

The Calgary couple scrapped those plans and vacationed last month along Mexico’s Pacific coast instead, put off by U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada, the insults he’s hurled at their homeland, and stories about American border agents searching people’s phones and detaining foreigners for minor reasons.

She found it ironic that she felt more comfortable traveling to Mexico than the U.S.

“I never thought I would hear myself say that,” Diane Bellamy said.

Trump’s attacks on Canada’s economy and threats to make it the 51st state have infuriated Canadians, who are canceling trips to the U.S. in big numbers. They also seem to have also flipped the narrative heading into Canada’s parliamentary elections on Monday, with Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal Party surging after trailing far behind in the polls just a few months ago.

A steep decline

The U.S. gets more visitors from Canada each year than from any other country, according to the U.S. Travel Association, an industry trade group, which said the 20.4 million visits from Canada last year generated $20.5 billion in spending.

But there has been a big drop in foreigners traveling to the U.S. since Trump took office, and Canadians are no exception. There were more than 910,000 fewer land border crossings from Canada into the U.S. last month than in March of 2024 — a more than 22% drop — according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. An Air Canada spokesman, meanwhile, said Canada-U.S. flight bookings for April through September are down about 10%.

Trump brushed aside the decline in tourism to the United States on Wednesday, saying, “There’s a little nationalism there I guess, perhaps. It’s not a big deal.”

Traveler worries

Since Trump started his second term, there have been well-publicized reports of tourists being stopped at U.S. border crossings and held for weeks at immigration detention facilities before being allowed to fly home at their own expense.

On March 3, Canadian Jasmine Mooney, an actor and entrepreneur on a U.S. work visa, was detained by U.S. border agents in San Diego. She was released after 12 days detention.

Before Mooney’s release, British Columbia Premier David Eby expressed concern, saying: “It certainly reinforces anxiety that … many Canadians have about our relationship with the U.S. right now, and the unpredictability of this administration and its actions.”

The Canadian Association of University Teachers, which represents faculty and staff at Canadian universities, warned its members against nonessential travel to the U.S. due to the “political landscape” under Trump and reports of Canadians encountering difficulties crossing the border.

Academics who have expressed negative views about the Trump administration should be particularly cautious about traveling to the U.S., said the group.

“People are scared to cross the border. I don’t know what Americans are thinking, quite frankly. Are they that oblivious?” said former Quebec Premier Jean Charest, who has family in Florida.

Mike Sauer, who runs a community policing center in Vancouver, said he and his partner have no interest in traveling to the U.S. now because of Trump’s politics and border fears. One of Sauer’s concerns is that if a border guard were to check his cellphone, the guard might see his past purchases of marijuana, which is legal to buy in Canada and about half the 50 states but is still illegal under U.S. federal law.

“The States have a different view on drugs. They could certainly look at my phone and see I’m 420-friendly,” he said, meaning he’s marijuana-friendly. “I think it kind of depends on which border guard would have a problem with that and which ones wouldn’t.”

Dietra Wilson, 32, said when she was younger, she often visited Detroit, which is just across the border from Windsor, Ontario, where she and her husband, Ben, own a secondhand shop. She hasn’t visited much in recent years, though, and she said she’s heard of people’s worries about crossing the border since Trump moved back into the White House.

“It’s worrisome,” she said.

Ben Wilson, 37, also has qualms about trying to cross.

“Why would I want to?” he said. “Regardless of the tariffs, if I’m going to be stopped at the border for my phone or something somebody texted me, why go?”

Industry worries

The drop in Canadian tourism to the U.S. led California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a frequent target of Trump, to announce an ad campaign this month meant to lure Canadians back to his state, citing a 12% year-on-year drop in February.

McKenzie McMillan, a consultant with a Vancouver-based travel agency, The Travel Group, said the company’s bookings to the U.S. have dried up. “We have seen a near-total collapse of U.S. business,” he said. “Probably about a 90% drop since February.”

Lesley Keyter, the CEO and founder of the Travel Lady agency in Calgary, said she’s seen people actually forfeit money to cancel their U.S. trips.

“Even if they’re going on a Caribbean cruise, they don’t want to go down to Fort Lauderdale to get on the cruise ship,” she said.

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Gillies reported from Toronto. Associated Press reporter Corey Williams in Windsor, Ontario, contributed to this report.

MUSCAT, Oman (AP) — Negotiations between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program will return Saturday to the secluded sultanate of Oman, where experts on both sides will start hammering the technical details of any possible deal.

The talks seek to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions the U.S. has imposed on the Islamic Republic closing in on half a century of enmity. Trump repeatedly has threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s program if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.

Neither Iran nor the U.S. have offered any explanation on why the talks will return to the Omani capital of Muscat, nestled in the Hajar Mountains. Oman has been a mediator between the countries. Last weekend’s talks in Rome offered a more-equal flight distance between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, who are leading the negotiations.

But Rome remains in mourning after the death of Pope Francis, whose funeral will be Saturday. And Iranian state television, in covering last weekend’s talks, complained at length on air about the “paparazzi” gathered across the street from the Omani Embassy in Rome’s Camilluccia neighborhood.

“As you can see, unlike the first round of talks where the presence of journalists was limited and the Omanis had special management in place to prevent a large and chaotic media presence from disrupting the negotiations, this time in Rome, Italy, that kind of control hasn’t been applied,” said Hosnieh Sadat Shobeiri, an Iranian state TV journalist in gray, all-encompassing chador.

“Because of the crowd we’re seeing here, with media outlets from various countries — including some that are anti-Iran — it’s possible that we’ll hear more conflicting reports and news aimed at disrupting the talks coming out of Rome compared to Oman.”

Expert talks come as Iran lines up Chinese and Russian support

The Muscat talks come as Iran appears to have lined up Chinese and Russian support. Araghchi traveled to Moscow last week and this week visited Beijing.

On Thursday, Chinese, Iran and Russian representatives met the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog that likely will verify compliance with any accord like it did with Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. That deal included China and Russia, as well as France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

However, Iran has greatly restricted the IAEA’s inspections — leading to fears internationally that centrifuges and other nuclear material could be diverted.

The IAEA offered no readout from the talks, but China’s state-run Xinhua news agency on Friday described the three nations as saying the agency has “the necessary potential and expertise to contribute constructively to this process.”

“China, Russia and Iran emphasized that political and diplomatic engagement based on mutual respect remains the only viable and practical path for resolving the Iran nuclear issue,” the report said. It added that China respects Iran’s “right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy.”

The Trump administration has kept France, Germany and the U.K. out of its direct negotiations with Iran, something similarly reflected in Witkoff’s negotiations with Russia over ending its war on Ukraine.

Araghchi meanwhile has said he’s open to visiting Berlin, London and Paris to discuss the negotiations.

“The ball is now in the E3’s court,” Araghchi wrote on the social platform X on Thursday, using an acronym for the countries. “They have an opportunity to do away with the grip of Special Interest groups and forge a different path. How we act at this critical junction is likely to define the foreseeable future.”

U.S. hardens its stance on enrichment

The U.S. technical team was expected to arrive in Oman on Friday ahead of the talks Saturday. They’ll be led by Michael Anton, the director of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s policy planning staff. Anton does not have the nuclear policy experience of those who led America’s efforts in the 2015 talks. However, he was an early supporter of Trump, describing the 2016 election as a “charge the cockpit or you die” vote.

“A Hillary Clinton presidency is Russian Roulette with a semi-auto,” Anton wrote. “With Trump, at least you can spin the cylinder and take your chances.”

.

Rubio, speaking on a podcast released this week, also kept up a Trump line that Iran needed to stop its enrichment of uranium entirely.

“If Iran wants a civil nuclear program, they can have one just like many other countries can have one, and that is they import enriched material,” Rubio said.

But Iran has insisted that keeping its enrichment is key. Witkoff also has muddied the issue by first suggesting in a television interview that Iran could enrich uranium at 3.67%, then later saying that all enrichment must stop.

Meanwhile, one more wildcard is Israel, whose devastating war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip grinds on. Trump initially announced the Iran talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his side. But Israel, which for years has targeted Iran’s nuclear program with attacks on its facilities and scientists, has kept open the possibility of airstrikes to destroy Tehran’s enrichment sites.

On Monday, Israel’s military conducted drills preparing for possible new Iranian missile attacks, the country’s public broadcaster KAN reported.

“Our security services are on high alert given past instances of attempted sabotage and assassination operations designed to provoke a legitimate response,” Araghchi wrote Wednesday on X.

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The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from and . The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Additional AP coverage of the nuclear landscape: https://apnews.com/projects/the-new-nuclear-landscape/

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Heads of state and royalty will start converging on Rome on Friday for the funeral of Pope Francis in the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Square, but the group of poor people who will meet his casket in a small crosstown basilica are more in keeping with Francis’ humble persona and disdain for pomp.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Argentine President Javier Milei are among the leaders arriving Friday, the last day Argentine pope will lie in state in St. Peter’s Basilica before his coffin is sealed in the evening in preparation for his funeral Saturday.

The Vatican said 130 delegations are confirmed, including 50 heads of state and 10 reigning sovereigns.

Paying respects

Tens of thousands of mourners have waited hours in line to bid farewell to Francis, who died Monday after suffering a stroke at the age of 88. A higher-than-expected turnout prompted the Vatican to extend the basilica’s opening hours overnight.

By Thursday evening, more than 90,000 mourners had filed past Francis’ open coffin placed in front of the basilica’s main altar — at times praying, at times holding smart phones aloft for a photo of the late pontiff laid out in red robes, a bishop’s pointed miter and a rosary entwined in his hands.

Emanuela Bisco took the day off work to pay her last respects to Francis, as she had 20 years ago for St. John Paul II.

Francis “was the pope of the forgotten, who was close to the simplest people, the homeless who were not pushed away,’’ Bisco said. “I hope that the next pope will be at his level, and continue his struggles, his openness, everything that he did.”

Cardinals meet

The work of the conclave to choose a new pope won’t start until at least May 5, after nine days of public mourning.

Cardinals have been also been arriving in Rome, with 113 meeting Thursday morning to discuss church business. They will meet again Friday before taking a break for the weekend.

“We are getting ready, but we still have not entered into the more intense phase. We are in the organizational phase,” Italian Cardinal Fernando Filoni said Thursday.

Papal burial

In keeping with Francis’ embrace of the marginalized, the Vatican said a group of poor and needy people will meet the pope’s coffin to pay homage to him when it arrives at St. Mary Major basilica for burial on Saturday.

The tomb is being prepared behind a wooden barrier within the basilica that he chose to be near an icon of the Madonna that he revered and often prayed before.

Photos released by the Vatican on Friday show the marble tombstone flat against the pavement, with the simple engraving in Latin that he requested in his last testament: “Franciscus”

Delegations

Trump, who is traveling with first lady Melania Trump, is scheduled to arrive Friday, after Francis’ coffin has been sealed.

Among the other foreign dignitaries confirmed for the papal funeral are:

— Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and first lady Olena Zelenska

— French President Emmanuel Macron

— British Prime Minister Keir Starmer

— Prince William

— Spain’s King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia

— Hungarian President Viktor Orbán

— Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

HONG KONG (AP) — Asian markets were higher early Friday after Wall Street rallied for the 3rd day, driven by hopes for the Federal Reserve to cut rates.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 surged 1.9% to 35,701.38 and the Kospi in South Korea gained 1% to 2,547.39.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng picked up 1.4% to 22,226.19, while the Shanghai Composite Index was nearly unchanged at 3,297.36.

The rally was boosted by hopes that Trump was softening his approach on tariffs and his criticism of the Federal Reserve, but China denied Thursday it’s involved in active trade negotiations with the U.S.

Taiwan’s Taiex added 2.3%, while the market in Australia was closed because of Anzac Day.

Wall Street’s rally kept rolling Thursday as better-than-expected profits for U.S. companies piled up in reports mainly from tech companies like ServiceNow and Texas Instruments, offsetting the uncertainties in the retail sector.

Federal Reserve officials boosted expectations for interest rate cuts as they said that they would slash the rate as early as June if Trump’s tariffs hurt the U.S. economy and job market.

The S&P 500 charged 2% higher to 5,484.77 and pulled within 11% of its record set earlier this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.2% to 40,093.40, while the Nasdaq composite jumped 2.7% to 17,166.04.

In other moves early Friday, U.S. benchmark crude oil gained 13 cents to $62.92 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude, the international standard, added 22 cents to $66.77 per barrel.

The U.S dollar rose to 142.96 Japanese yen from 142.69 yen. The euro edged lower, to $1.1349 from $1.1391.

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AP Business Writers Stan Choe, Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.

BANGKOK (AP) — China on Thursday denied any suggestion that it was in active negotiations with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump over tariffs, saying that any notion of progress in the matter was as groundless as “trying to catch the wind.”

China’s comments come after Trump said Tuesday that things were going “fine with China” and that the final tariff rate on Chinese exports would come down “substantially” from the current 145%.

Guo Jiakun, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, said during a daily briefing on Thursday that, “For all I know, China and the U.S. are not having any consultation or negotiation on tariffs, still less reaching a deal.”

“China’s position is consistent and we are open to consultations and dialogues, but any form of consultations and negotiations must be conducted on the basis of mutual respect and in an equal manner,” Commerce Ministry spokesman He Yadong said.

“Any claims about the progress of China-U.S. trade negotiations are groundless as trying to catch the wind and have no factual basis,” the spokesman said.

Trump had told reporters earlier in the week that “everything’s active” when asked if he was engaging with China, although his treasury secretary had said there were no formal negotiations.

Trump had put 145% tariffs on imports from China, while China hit back with 125% tariffs on U.S. products. While Trump has given other countries a 90-day pause on the tariffs, as their leaders pledged to negotiate with the U.S., China remained the exception. Instead, Beijing raised its own tariffs and deployed other economic measures in response while vowing to “fight to the end.” For example, China restricted exports of rare earth minerals and raised multiple cases against the U.S. at the World Trade Organization.

China also made it clear that talks should involve the cancellation of all tariffs it currently faces.

“The unilateral tariff increase measures were initiated by the United States. If the United States really wants to solve the problem, it should face up to the rational voices of the international community and all parties at home, completely cancel all unilateral tariff measures against China, and find ways to resolve differences through equal dialogue,” said He, the Commerce Ministry spokesman.

Despite the economic measures leveled against China, Trump said Tuesday that he would be “very nice” and not play hardball with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“We’re going to live together very happily and ideally work together,” Trump said.

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Security has been beefed up across Indian-controlled Kashmir a day after an attack killed at least 26 people, most of them tourists, as Indian forces launched a manhunt for the perpetrators of one of the deadliest attacks in the restive Himalayan region.

As investigators began probing the attack, many shops and businesses in Kashmir closed to protest the killings following a call from the region’s religious and political parties.

Tens of thousands of armed police and soldiers fanned out across the region and erected additional checkpoints. They searched cars and in some areas summoned former militants to police stations for questioning, reports said.

Police called it a “terror attack” and blamed militants fighting against Indian rule. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Global condemnation for Tuesday’s rare attack on the tourists came swiftly, while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi cut short his two-day visit to Saudi Arabia and returned to New Delhi early Wednesday.

Officials said 24 of the people killed were Indian tourists, one was from Nepal and one was a local tourist guide. At least 17 others were injured.

Kashmir has seen tourism boom depite spate of attacks

Kashmir has seen a spate of deadly attacks on Hindus, including immigrant workers from Indian states, since New Delhi ended the region’s semi-autonomy in 2019 and drastically curbed dissent, civil liberties and media freedoms.

New Delhi has vigorously pushed tourism and claimed it as a sign of normalcy returning, and the region has drawn millions of visitors who enjoy its Himalyan foothills and exquisitely decorate houseboats amid a strange peace kept by ubiquitous security checkpoints, armored vehicles and patrolling soldiers. Until Tuesday, tourists were not targeted.

Following the attack, panicked tourists started to leave Kashmir.

Monojit Debnath, a tourist from Indian city of Kolkata, said Kashmir was undoubtedly beautiful but his family did not feel secure anymore.

“We are tourists, and we should think about what safety we have here for us,” Debnath told the Press Trust of India news agency as he was leaving Srinagar, the region’s main city, with his family.

Powerful home minister visits

On Wednesday, India’s powerful home minister Amit Shah attended a ceremony at a police control room in Srinagar, where the slain tourists were paid floral tributes. He also met families of several victims.

Shah vowed to “come down heavily on the perpetrators with the harshest consequences.”

Later, Shah visited the site of the killing at Baisaran meadow, some 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the resort town of Pahalgam.

The meadow in Pahalgam is a popular destination, surrounded by snow-capped mountains and dotted with pine forests. It is visited by hundreds of tourists every day.

Kashmir has been divided for decades

Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan each administer a part of Kashmir but both claim the territory in its entirety.

Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.

India describes militancy in Kashmir as Pakistan-backed terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and many Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.

India has used heavy-handed tactics to maintain its control over the region that include giving the armed forces widespread powers to arrest, torture and summarily execute suspects, human rights groups say.

In March 2000, at least 35 civilians were shot and killed in a southern village in Kashmir while then-U.S. President Bill Clinton was visiting India.

In 2019, months before New Delhi revoked the region’s autonomy, a militant attack killed at least 40 paramilitary soldiers that brought India and Pakistan close to a war.

Violence has ebbed in recent times in the Kashmir Valley, the heart of anti-India rebellion. Fighting between government forces and rebels has largely shifted to remote areas of Jammu region, including Rajouri, Poonch and Kathua, where Indian troops have faced deadly attacks.

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly rose Wednesday, with markets showing relief after President Donald Trump indicated he won’t dismiss the head of the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 1.7% in morning trading to 34,797.22. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 surged 1.6% to 7,943.00. South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.2% to 2,515.19. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1.7% to 21,927.92, while the Shanghai Composite was little changed, down less than 0.1% at 3,298.33.

Trump had previously said he could fire Fed chair Jerome Powell after the Fed paused cuts to short-term interest rates. But Trump told reporters Tuesday, “I have no intention of firing him.”

Investors were also cheered by comments from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a Tuesday speech. He said the ongoing tariffs showdown with China is unsustainable and he expects a “de-escalation” in the trade war.

U.S. stocks jumped in a widespread rally Tuesday, and other U.S. investments steadied a day after falling sharply. The S&P 500 climbed 2.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1,016 points, or 2.7%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 2.7%. All three indexes more than made up their big losses from the start of the week.

The only prediction many Wall Street strategists are willing to make is that financial markets will likely continue to veer up and down as hopes rise and fall that Trump may negotiate deals with other countries to lower his tariffs. If no such deals come quickly enough, many investors expect the economy to fall into a recession.

The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday slashed its forecast for global economic growth this year to 2.8%, down from 3.3%. A suite of better-than-expected profit reports from big U.S. companies, meanwhile, helped drive U.S. stocks higher.

Also helping market sentiment was the announcement from Elon Musk that he will spend less time in Washington and more time running Tesla after his electric vehicle company reported a big drop in profits. Its results have been hurt by vandalism, widespread protests and calls for a consumer boycott amid a backlash to Musk’s oversight of cost-cutting efforts for the U.S. government.

Tesla reported earnings after U.S. trading closed. Tesla’s quarterly profits fell from $1.39 billion to $409 million, far below analyst estimates.

Losers on Wall Street were the exceptions, however, as 99% of the stocks in the S&P 500 index rose. All told, the S&P 500 climbed 129.56 points to 5,287.76. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1,106.57 to 39,186.98, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 429.52 to 16,300.42.

In the bond market, longer-term yields eased following an unsettling run higher the day before. The yield on the 10-year Treasury pulled back to 4.39% from 4.42% late Monday.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude added $1.23 to $64.31 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard added 44 cents to $67.88 a barrel.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar declined to 141.85 Japanese yen from 142.37 yen. The euro cost $1.1397, up from $1.1379. ___

AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Costa Rica announced Tuesday it will allow some of the approximately 200 migrants deported from the United States and held in detention in the Central American country to stay and move about freely for three months.

The move comes just days after human rights lawyers sued Costa Rica, alleging the government violated the rights of 81 migrant children by detaining them in a rural camp without any legal recourse, access to education or psychological services.

There was no immediate word how many migrants — who are mostly from Afghanistan, Russia, China, Pakistan, India and other countries — would be given the permits but the children are expected to be among those allowed to stay.

The government said the permits would be given “for humanitarian reasons” and would last for three months while the migrants seek asylum in Costa Rica or look for ways to leave the country.

The migrants were deported to Panama and Costa Rica this year as the Trump administration sought to ramp up deportations. What was once said to be a temporary stay in Central America stretched on for months, fueling criticisms by rights groups as many of the deportees expressed fear over returning to their own countries.

Critics warned the U.S. was exporting its deportation process and that Panama and Costa Rica were becoming a “black hole” for deportees.

Migrants, whose passports were previously confiscated and who were detained in a former factory turned migrant camp along the Panama-Costa Rica border, were told they could have their passports returned upon signing a document accepting the government’s conditions, said Silvia Serna Roman, one of the attorneys that filed the lawsuit at the United Nations.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” the lawyer said.

The Associated Press has repeatedly been denied access to the camp since the deportees arrived.

In the past, when reporters in 2023 visited the camp — where migrants once sought shelter during their migration north to the U.S. — families were sleeping on cardboard or in tents on the ground with little food.

Costa Rica’s move follows similar steps taken by Panama, which last month released deportees from detention amid lawsuits and criticism. However, Panamanian authorities bussed the migrants from detention facilities and dropped most of them off on the streets of Panama City to fend for themselves. Some were told they wouldn’t be able to seek asylum in the country, effectively leaving them in limbo.

Serna Roman said the group of lawyers with Global Strategic Litigation Council, who filed the lawsuit still have concerns. She said the migrants, despite the permits to move around, are prohibited from seeking work in Costa Rica, which would complicate their efforts to find a path forward.

“If you have children and you’re not allowed to work,” how can you survive, she said.

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Follow AP’s global migration coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/migration

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Cardinals will meet Tuesday at the Vatican to begin scheduling Pope Francis’ funeral and burial, planning the conclave to elect his successor and making other decisions about running the Catholic Church as world leaders and the ordinary faithful grieve the pontiff’s death.

Most immediately, they will determine when his body can be moved into St. Peter’s Basilica for public viewing.

Francis died Monday at age 88 after suffering a stroke that put him in a coma and led his heart to fail. He had been recovering in his apartment after being hospitalized for five weeks with pneumonia. He made his last public appearance Sunday, delivering an Easter blessing and making what would be his final greeting to followers from his popemobile, looping around St. Peter’s Square.

In retrospect, his Easter appearance from the same loggia where he was introduced to the world as the first Latin American pope on March 13, 2013, was a perfect bookend to a 12-year papacy that sought to shake up the church and return it to its Gospel-mandated mission of caring for the poorest.

The Vatican announced that the first meeting of the Congregation of Cardinals, the gathering of the cardinals currently in Rome, would occur Tuesday at 9 a.m. in the Vatican’s synod hall.

They could decide to allow public viewing of Francis as soon as Wednesday morning in St. Peter’s Basilica. Under norms approved by Francis last year, the funeral and burial must occur between Friday and Sunday.

In his final will, Francis confirmed he would be buried at St. Mary Major basilica, which is outside the Vatican and home to his favorite icon of the Virgin Mary. After every foreign trip, Francis would go to the basilica to pray before the Byzantine-style painting that features an image of Mary, draped in a blue robe, holding the infant Jesus, who in turn holds a jeweled golden book.

Francis stopped by the basilica on his way home from the Gemelli hospital on March 23, after his 38-day hospital stay, to deliver flowers to be placed before the icon.

He returned April 12 to pray before the Madonna for the last time.

The world reacts

Bells tolled in chapels, churches and cathedrals around the world and flags flew at half staff in Italy, India, Taiwan and the U.S. after Francis’ death was announced by the Vatican camerlengo. Soccer matches in Italy and Argentina were suspended in honor of the Argentine pope who was a lifelong fan of the San Lorenzo soccer club.

World leaders praised Francis for his moral leadership and compassion, while ordinary faithful remembered his simplicity and humanity.

“Like every Argentine, I think he was a rebel,” said 23-year-old Catalina Favaro, who had come to pay her respects in the Buenos Aires church where Francis discovered his priestly vocation. “He may have been contradictory, but that was nice, too.”

In East Timor, where Francis’ final outdoor Mass drew nearly half of the population last September, President Jose Ramos-Horta praised Francis’ courage. “Papa Francisco was a brave man who was not afraid to speak out against the rulers of the world who seek war, but do not want to seek peace,” Ramos-Horta said.

“He challenged the powerful to act with justice, called nations to welcome the stranger, and reminded us that our common home — this Earth — is a gift we must protect for future generations,” said Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu, who is Muslim. Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country and has around 30 million Catholics, representing about 14% of the total population.

Viewing the pope’s coffin

The pope’s formal apartments in the Apostolic Palace were sealed Monday evening, following a centuries-old ritual. Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who as camerlengo had the task of announcing the death and confirming it once the cause was determined, presided over the ritual.

Francis chose not to live in the palace, though, but in the Domus Santa Marta hotel on the other side of Vatican City. He died there and his body was transferred to the hotel chapel in the lobby, where a private viewing was being held Tuesday for Vatican officials and members of the pontifical household.

In changes made by Francis last year, his body was not placed in three wooden coffins, as it had been for previous popes. Rather, Francis was placed in a simplified wooden coffin with a zinc coffin inside.

Once in St. Peter’s, his coffin will not be put on an elevated bier, but will just be be placed simply facing the pews, with the Pasqual candle nearby.

Funeral and burial

The burial must take place between the fourth and sixth day after his death, meaning a likely date is Saturday or Sunday. U.S. President Donald Trump has announced he and first lady Melania Trump plan to attend. Argentine President Javier Milei is also expected.

The funeral will be presided over by the dean of the College of Cardinals or, if that is not possible, by the vice dean or another senior cardinal. The current dean is Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 91. The vice dean is Argentine Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, 81.

Re and Farrell, the camerlengo, will have key roles in the coming days as they summon the cardinals and prepare for the conclave to elect Francis’ successor.

Choosing the next pope

After the funeral, there are nine days of official mourning, known as the “novendiali.”

During this period, cardinals arrive in Rome to participate in meetings before the conclave to elect the next pope.

To give everyone time to assemble, the conclave must begin 15-20 days after the “sede vacante” — the “vacant See” — is declared, although it can start sooner if the cardinals agree.

Once the conclave begins, cardinals vote in secret sessions. After voting sessions, the ballots are burned in a special stove. Black smoke indicates that no pope has been elected, while white smoke indicates that the cardinals have chosen the next head of the Catholic Church.

The one who has secured two-thirds of the votes wins. If he accepts, his election is announced by a cardinal from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica who announces “Habemus Papam,” Latin for “We have a pope.”

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.