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For decades, former President Donald Trump has seemed to shake off allegations, investigations and even impeachments. Now his “Teflon Don” reputation is about to face a new test: a jury of average citizens in a lawsuit accusing him of rape. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Tuesday in a trial over former advice columnist's E. Jean Carroll's claim that Trump raped her nearly three decades ago in a department store dressing room. He denies it. The trial is in a federal civil court, meaning that no matter the outcome, Trump isn't in danger of going to jail. He isn't required to be in court, either, and his lawyers have indicated he most likely won't testify. But the trial, which comes as Trump is again running for president, still has the potential to be politically damaging for the Republican. The jury is poised to hear a reprisal of stories of sexual misconduct that rocked his 2016 presidential campaign, allegations he claimed were falsehoods spun up to try to stop him from winning. Also Read: Biden review of chaotic Afghan withdrawal blames Trump The trial also comes a month after he pleaded not guilty in an unrelated criminal case surrounding payments made to bury accounts of alleged extramarital sex. Carroll, who seeks unspecified damages, is expected to testify about a chance encounter with Trump in late 1995 or early 1996 that she says turned violent. The trial will also include Carroll's defamation claim against Trump over disparaging remarks he made about her in response to the rape allegations. She's seeking a retraction. She says that after running into the future president at Manhattan's Bergdorf Goodman, he invited her to shop with him for a woman's lingerie gift before they teased one another to try on a garment. Carroll says they ended up alone together in a store dressing room, where Trump pushed her against a wall and raped before she fought him off and fled. Since Carroll first made her accusations in a 2019 memoir, Trump has vehemently denied that a rape ever occurred or that he even knew Carroll, a longtime columnist for Elle magazine. Trump has labeled Carroll a “nut job” and “mentally sick.” He claimed she fabricated the rape claim to boost sales of her book. Also Read: Never thought this could happen in America: Trump says after being charged “She’s not my type,” he has said repeatedly, although during sworn questioning in October, he also misidentified her in a photograph as his ex-wife Marla Maples. Carroll didn't stop to speak with reporters as she arrived at the courthouse Tuesday morning. Jurors are also expected to hear from two other women who say they were sexually assaulted by Trump. Jessica Leeds is set to testify that Trump tried to put his hand up her skirt on a 1979 flight on which the two were assigned neighboring seats. Natasha Stoynoff, a former People magazine staff writer, will testify that Trump pinned her against a wall and forcibly kissed her at his Florida mansion when she went there in 2005 to interview Trump and his then-pregnant wife Melania Trump. Also Read: Trump's day in court as criminal defendant: What to know Jurors will also see the infamous 2005 “Access Hollywood” video in which Trump is heard making misogynistic remarks about women, including an assertion that celebrities can grab, even sexually, women without asking. Carroll's allegations normally would be too old to bring to court. But in November, New York state enacted a law allowing for suits over decades-old sexual abuse claims. The jurors' names will be withheld from both the public and the lawyers, to protect them against possible harassment. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who will preside over the trial, rejected a request by Trump's lawyers that jurors be told that the ex-president wanted to spare the city the disruption his presence might cause. Kaplan noted that Trump has a New Hampshire campaign event scheduled for Thursday, the third day of the trial. “If the Secret Service can protect him at that event, certainly the Secret Service, the Marshals Service, and the City of New York can see to his security in this very secure federal courthouse,” Kaplan wrote in an order. Trump could still decide to attend the trial and testify. If he does not, the jury might be shown excerpts from his deposition, which was recorded on video. On Monday, Kaplan instructed lawyers on both sides not to say anything in front of prospective jurors Tuesday about who is paying legal fees. Earlier this month, the judge let Trump's lawyers question Carroll for an extra hour after it was revealed that her lawyers had received funding from American Future Republic, an organization funded by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. In earlier questioning, Carroll said the lawyers were relying solely on contingency fees. The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Carroll, Leeds and Stoynoff have done.

President Joe Biden has formally announced he's seeking reelection. But he's also still the president, with roughly 20 months left in his term regardless of whether he wins a second one on Election Day 2024. With Tuesday's campaign video release, Biden is following through on months of saying he intended to seek reelection. Top Democrats have remained solidly unified behind the president, despite his low approval ratings and many Americans saying they'd rather not see the 80-year-old Biden try for four more years in the White House. But all that has meant Biden faced relatively little pressure to make his 2024 bid official. Here's a look at why he announced now and how things will, and won't, change for him going forward: ___ WHY NOW? A formal reelection announcement means the president is now allowed to raise money directly for his campaign. It's a change from his speeches at donor events benefiting the Democratic National Committee or other outside political groups that he has given since entering the White House. Also Read: Joe Biden announces 2024 reelection bid Biden will spend campaign funds on salaries and logistics building out a 2024 staff and holding events outside his official presidential business. He plans to have dinner in Washington on Friday with leading Democratic donors and DNC leaders, paying special attention to those who write big checks to ensure his reelection campaign stays well funded. Some party donors and organizers had begun grumbling about a lack of movement on the reelection front, and the announcement, followed by Friday's gathering, will allow the president to reassure them. Another reason why Biden waited until April was that it allowed him to avoid releasing publicly how much his reelection campaign raised during the year's first quarter. That's when donors typically slow down their contributions — and some top Democratic givers wanted a break after a busy election season during last fall's midterms and before next year's presidential race kicks into high gear. President Barack Obama waited to announce his 2012 reelection bid until early April of the previous year. Tuesday also marks the fourth anniversary of Biden's announcement of his 2020 presidential campaign. Also Read: Biden to unveil new efforts to protect S. Korea from nukes President Donald Trump, meanwhile, first filed for reelection on Jan. 20, 2017, the day of his inauguration, and held his first campaign rally in February 2017. But his second White House campaign didn't formally kick off until June 2019 with an Orlando, Florida, rally that fell roughly four years after he first entered the 2016 presidential race. ___ WHAT ABOUT HIS AGE? Biden is the oldest president in U.S. history and would be 86 by the end of a second term. He has acknowledged that age is a “legitimate" concern but scoffed at questions about whether he will have the stamina for another campaign, much less four more years in the White House. “Watch me," he has repeatedly declared. Voters will now get the chance to do just that — but that is unlikely to make such questions go away. Republicans have often highlighted Biden's age, and even some Democrats have questioned whether the president is living up to promises he made during the 2020 campaign to be a “bridge” to a new generation of leadership. One Republican running for president, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, has called for mental competency testing for candidates over 75 — a category that would include both Biden and Trump, who announced his own 2024 campaign in November. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre brushed aside such testing, noting that Biden helped lead Democrats to a surprisingly strong midterm showing. “Maybe they’re forgetting the wins the president got over the past few years, but I’m happy to remind them anytime,” Jean-Pierre said in February. ___ WILL SEEKING REELECTION CHANGE HOW BIDEN HANDLES BEING PRESIDENT? There won't be big changes, Biden aides insist, at least for now. The president is still hosting South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol at the White House for a state dinner on Wednesday and planning overseas travel later this summer. As he has done in recent months, Biden also will continue to hit the road domestically to highlight legislation his administration helped push through Congress. Biden has already visited many parts of the country, highlighting how a bipartisan public works package will help repair roads, highways, bridges, ports and train tunnels and how increased federal spending approved as part of other legislation will bolster U.S. manufacturing, lower prescription drug prices and improve broadband internet access in rural areas. Such events often blur the line between official business and promoting the president and his party politically, and the distinction will only get murkier going forward. Since the weeks leading up to the midterms, Biden has frequently denounced “extreme" Republicans loyal to Trump's “Make America Great Again” movement as posing a threat to America's core democracy. It's a message he will continue to champion as the 2024 race begins heating up. ___ WILL BIDEN HAVE TO COMPETE FOR THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION? Probably not much. Self-help author Marianne Williamson and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are the only Democrats to challenge the president. Neither of them presents the type of primary opposition that wounded previous incumbents, such as Sen. Ted Kennedy's campaign against President Jimmy Carter in 1980 or Pat Buchanan's run against President George H.W. Bush in 1992. The DNC is so fully committed to Biden this year that it is not planning to schedule primary debates, sparing the president from sharing a stage with Williamson, Kennedy or any other potential challenger. Also benefiting Biden is the fact that South Carolina's primary is set to replace Iowa's caucuses in leading off the Democratic primary voting next year. Biden revived his 2020 campaign after losing the first three contests with a resounding South Carolina primary victory, and he personally directed that the state go first in 2024 — solidifying his popularity among Democrats there. That may counterbalance Democrats' deep ambivalence to Biden elsewhere. An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll last week found that only 26% of Americans — and only about half of Democrats — said they wanted to see Biden run again. But the poll found that 81% of Democrats said they would at least probably support the president in a general election. ___ WHO WILL BIDEN'S REPUBLICAN OPPONENT BE? Trump is the 2024 Republican presidential field's early leader, setting up a potential general election rematch with Biden. Although Trump announced his bid back in November, the rest of the 2024 Republican primary field has been slow to form around him. The only other declared GOP candidates in the race include Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchison, businessman Perry Johnson, “Woke, Inc.” author Vivek Ramaswamy and radio host Larry Elder. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is widely expected to be a leading Trump alternative but is in no hurry to announce his campaign. Also expected to join the race but not officially in yet are former Vice President Mike Pence and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina. Biden's political team has for months been preparing to face Trump again. But even if an alternative like DeSantis wins the GOP nomination, Biden's aides argue, many of the same criticisms about adherence to MAGA extremism apply since so many top Republicans agree with Trump on key policy and social issues.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday formally announced that he is running for reelection in 2024, asking voters to give him more time to “finish the job” he began when he was sworn in to office and to set aside their concerns about extending the run of America’s oldest president for another four years. Biden, who would be 86 at the end of a second term, is betting his first-term legislative achievements and more than 50 years of experience in Washington will count for more than concerns over his age. He faces a smooth path to winning his party’s nomination, with no serious Democratic rivals. But he’s still set for a hard-fought struggle to retain the presidency in a bitterly divided nation. The announcement, in a three-minute video, comes on the four-year anniversary of when Biden declared for the White House in 2019, promising to heal the “soul of the nation” amid the turbulent presidency of Donald Trump — a goal that has remained elusive. “I said we are in a battle for the soul of America, and we still are," Biden said. “The question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom. More rights or fewer.” Also Read: Biden to unveil new efforts to protect S. Korea from nukes While the question of seeking reelection has been a given for most modern presidents, that’s not always been the case for Biden, as a notable swath of Democratic voters have indicated they would prefer he not run, in part because of his age — concerns Biden has called “totally legitimate” but ones he did not address head-on in the launch video. Yet few things have unified Democratic voters like the prospect of Trump returning to power. And Biden’s political standing within his party stabilized after Democrats notched a stronger-than-expected performance in last year’s midterm elections, as the president set out to run again on the same themes that buoyed his party last fall, particularly on preserving access to abortion. Also Read: Biden says US embassy evacuation in Sudan has been completed “Freedom. Personal freedom is fundamental to who we are as Americans. There’s nothing more important. Nothing more sacred,” Biden said in the launch video, which painted the Republican Party as extremists trying to roll back access to abortion, cut Social Security, limit voting rights and ban books they disagree with. “Around the country, MAGA extremists are lining up to take those bedrock freedoms away.” “This is not a time to be complacent,” Biden added. “That’s why I’m running for reelection." As the contours of the campaign begin to take shape, Biden plans to campaign on his record. He spent his first two years as president combating the coronavirus pandemic and pushing through major bills such as the bipartisan infrastructure package and legislation to promote high-tech manufacturing and climate measures. With Republicans now in control of the House, Biden has shifted his focus to implementing those massive laws and making sure voters credit him for the improvements, while sharpening the contrast with the GOP ahead of an expected showdown over raising the nation's borrowing limit that could have debilitating consequences for the country's economy. Also Read: Biden 2024 splits Democrats, but most would back him in November: AP-NORC poll But the president also has multiple policy goals and unmet promises from his first campaign that he’s pitching voters on giving him another chance to fulfill. “Let’s finish this job. I know we can,” Biden said in the video, repeating a mantra he said a dozen times during his State of the Union address in February, listing everything from passing a ban on assault-style weapons and lowering the cost of prescription drugs to codifying a national right to abortion after the Supreme Court's ruling last year overturning Roe v. Wade. Buoyed by the midterm results, Biden plans to continue to cast all Republicans as embracing what he calls “ultra-MAGA” politics — a reference to Trump’s “Make America Great Again" slogan — regardless of whether his predecessor ends up on the 2024 ballot. He’s spent the last several months road-testing campaign themes, including painting Republicans as fighting for tax cuts for businesses and the wealthy while trying to cut social safety net benefits relied on by everyday Americans and roll back access to abortion services. Also Read: Biden aide, Saudi prince see ‘progress’ toward Yemen war end Biden, speaking over brief video clips and photographs of key moments in his presidency, snapshots of diverse Americans and flashes of his outspoken Republican foes, including Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, exhorted supporters that “this is our moment” to “defend democracy. Stand up for our personal freedoms. Stand up for the right to vote and our civil rights.” Biden also plans to point to his work over the past two years shoring up American alliances, leading a global coalition to support Ukraine’s defenses against Russia’s invasion and returning the U.S. to the Paris climate accord. But public support in the U.S. for Ukraine has softened in recent months, and some voters question the tens of billions of dollars in military and economic assistance flowing to Kyiv. The president faces lingering criticism over his administration's chaotic 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan after nearly 20 years of war, which undercut the image of competence he aimed to portray to the world, and he finds himself the target of GOP attacks over his immigration and economic policies. As a candidate in 2020, Biden pitched voters on his familiarity with the halls of power in Washington and his relationships around the world as he promised to return a sense of normalcy to the country amid Trump’s tumultuous presidency and the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. But even back then, Biden was acutely aware of voters’ concerns about his age. Also Read: Biden review of chaotic Afghan withdrawal blames Trump “Look, I view myself as a bridge, not as anything else,” Biden said in March 2020, as he campaigned in Michigan with younger Democrats, including now-Vice President Kamala Harris, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. “There’s an entire generation of leaders you saw stand behind me. They are the future of this country.” Three years later, the president now 80, Biden allies say his time in office has demonstrated that he saw himself as more of a transformational than a transitional leader. Still, many Democrats would prefer that Biden didn’t run again. A recent poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows just 47% of Democrats say they want him to seek a second term, up from 37% in February. And Biden’s verbal — and occasional physical — stumbles have become fodder among the GOP, which has sought to cast him as unfit for office. Biden, on multiple occasions, has brushed back concerns about his age, saying simply, “Watch me.” During a routine physical in February, his physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, declared him “healthy, vigorous” and “fit” to handle his White House responsibilities. Aides acknowledge that while some in his party might prefer an alternative to Biden, there is anything but consensus within their diverse coalition on who that might be. And they insist that when Biden is compared with whomever the GOP nominates, Democrats and independents will rally around Biden. For now, the 76-year-old Trump is the favorite to emerge as the Republican nominee, creating the potential of a historic sequel to the bitterly fought 2020 campaign. But Trump faces significant hurdles of his own, including the designation of being the first former president to face criminal charges. The remaining GOP field is volatile, with DeSantis emerging as an early alternative to Trump. DeSantis' stature is also in question, however, amid questions about his readiness to campaign outside of his increasingly Republican-leaning state. To prevail again, Biden will need to revive the alliance of young voters and Black voters — particularly women — along with blue-collar Midwesterners, moderates and disaffected Republicans who helped him win in 2020. He'll have to again carry the so-called “blue wall” in the Upper Midwest, while protecting his position in Georgia and Arizona, longtime GOP strongholds that he narrowly won in his last campaign. Biden’s reelection bid comes as the nation weathers uncertain economic crosscurrents. Inflation is ticking down after hitting the highest rate in a generation, driving up the price of goods and services, but unemployment is at a 50-year low, and the economy is showing signs of resilience despite Federal Reserve interest rate hikes. Presidents typically try to delay their reelection announcements to maintain the advantages of incumbency and skate above the political fray for as long as possible while their rivals trade jabs. But the leg up offered by being in the White House can be rickety — three of the last seven presidents have lost reelection, most recently Trump in 2020. Biden’s announcement is roughly consistent with the timeline followed by then-President Barack Obama, who waited until April 2011 to declare for a second term. Trump launched his reelection bid on the day he was sworn in in 2017. Biden is not expected to dramatically alter his day-to-day schedule as a candidate — at least not immediately — with aides believing his strongest political asset is showing the American people that he is governing. And if he follows the Obama playbook, he may not hold any formal campaign rallies until well into 2024. Obama didn't hold a reelection rally until May 2012. On Tuesday, Biden named White House adviser Julie Chávez Rodríguez to serve as campaign manager and Quentin Fulks, who ran Sen. Raphael Warnock's reelection campaign in Georgia last year, to serve as principal deputy campaign manager. Reps. Lisa Blunt-Rochester, Jim Clyburn and Veronica Escobar; Sens. Chris Coons and Tammy Duckworth; entertainment mogul and Democratic mega-donor Jeffrey Katzenberg; and Whitmer will serve as campaign co-chairs. On the heels of the announcement Tuesday, Biden was set to deliver remarks to union members before hosting South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol for a state visit at the White House. He plans to meet with party donors in Washington later this week. Biden’s formal go-ahead comes after months of public incredulity that the president would seek another term despite plentiful signs that he was intent on doing so. Ahead of the president’s announcement, first lady Jill Biden expressed disbelief at the persistent questions about her husband’s intent to run. “How many times does he have to say it for you to believe it?” she told The Associated Press in late February. “He says he’s not done."

A mob in the Haitian capital beat and burned 13 suspected gang members to death with gasoline-soaked tires Monday after pulling the men from police custody at a traffic stop, police and witnesses said. The horrific vigilante violence underlined public anger over the increasingly lawless situation in Port-au-Prince where criminal gangs have taken control over an estimated 60% of the city since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. Six more burned bodies were laid in a nearby neighborhood later Monday, and some witnesses said that police killed them and residents set them on fire, but the AP could not verify the accounts independently. Haiti National Police said in a brief statement that officers in the city’s Canape Vert section stopped and searched a minibus for contraband early Monday, and had confiscated weapons from suspects before they were “unfortunately lynched by members of the population.” The statement did not elaborate on how members of the crowd were able to take control of the suspects. A witness who gave his name as Edner Samuel told The Associated Press that members of the crowd took the suspected gangsters away from police, beat them and stoned them before putting tires on them, pouring gasoline over them and burning them. An AP reporter at the scene saw 13 bodies burning in a street. The fires drew hundreds of onlookers in the hilly suburb of the city, many of them shielding their noses from the fumes. The Canape Vert neighborhood so far has managed to evade control by the criminal gangs. Samuel said the suspects were believed to have been heading to another area to join a group of gang members who were battling police. Another witness, Jean Josue, said there had been a lot of shooting in the area since the early morning. The situation in the capital was tense, and shots could be heard ringing out from several neighborhoods. In the nearby area of Turgeau, a few minutes drive from Canape Vert, witnesses said that police had killed six gang suspects in a firefight, and that local residents dragged the bodies from where they fell to a central location and lit them on fire. An AP reporter saw the six burned bodies. Police did not immediately release any statements about the violence in Turgeau. Prime Minster Ariel Henry tweeted that his government expresses its sympathy to the police officers injured in recent operations. “I applaud the considerable and meritorious efforts of the National Police to restore order and peace in our cities and neighborhoods,” he tweeted. “There is still a lot to do.” Witnesses in Canape Vert said the suspects there were believed to have been members of the Kraze Barye gang, which translates to “Breaking Barriers.” Authorities say the group is led by Vitel’Homme Innocent, who is accused of helping kidnap 17 U.S. missionaries in October 2021 and also is linked to the assassination of Moïse.  

Fox News said Monday it has "agreed to part ways" with Tucker Carlson, its popular and controversial host, less than a week after settling a lawsuit over the network's 2020 election reporting. The network said in a press release that the last program of "Tucker Carlson Tonight" aired on Friday. "We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor," the press release from the network said. Carlson became Fox's most popular personality after replacing Bill O'Reilly in Fox's prime-time lineup in 2016. He's also consistently drawn headlines for controversial coverage, including most recently airing tapes from the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection to minimize the impact of the deadly attack. There was no immediate explanation from Fox about why Carlson was leaving. A text message to Carlson seeking comment was not immediately returned. Fox agreed last week to pay Dominion Voting Systems more than $787 million and acknowledged that some of its reporting following the 2020 election — which allowed former President Donald Trump's aides to amplify false charges of election fraud — was incorrect. But that reporting mostly concerned other shows, not Carlson's. His name did come up during the case, primarily because of emails and text messages that were revealed as part of the lawsuit. Carlson and other Fox hosts were caught in private messages doubting their own network's allegations about Dominion's role in the supposed election fraud, while also being concerned that Fox was losing audience among Trump fans at the time. In some of them, Carlson privately criticized Trump, saying he hated him passionately. A few weeks ago, Carlson devoted his entire show to an interview with Trump. "Fox News Tonight" will air in Carlson's 8 p.m. ET prime-time slot, hosted by a rotating array of network personalities, for the time being.  

One of the most important munitions of the Ukraine war comes from a historic factory in this city built by coal barons, where tons of steel rods are brought in by train to be forged into the artillery shells Kyiv can’t get enough of — and that the U.S. can’t produce fast enough. The Scranton Army Ammunition Plant is at the vanguard of a multibillion-dollar Pentagon plan to modernize and accelerate its production of ammunition and equipment not only to support Ukraine, but to be ready for a potential conflict with China. But it is one of just two sites in the U.S. that make the steel bodies for the critical 155 mm howitzer rounds that the U.S. is rushing to Ukraine to help in its grinding fight to repel the Russian invasion in the largest-scale war in Europe since World War II. The invasion of Ukraine revealed that the U.S. stockpile of 155 mm shells and those of European allies were unprepared to support a major and ongoing conventional land war, sending them scrambling to bolster production. The dwindling supply has alarmed U.S. military planners, and the Army now plans to spend billions on munitions plants around the country in what it calls its most significant transformation in 40 years. It may not be easy to adapt: practically every square foot of the Scranton plant's red brick factory buildings — first constructed more than a century ago as a locomotive repair depot — is in use as the Army clears space, expands production to private factories and assembles new supply chains. There are some things that Army and plant officials in Scranton won’t reveal, including where they get the steel for the shells and exactly how many more rounds this factory can produce. “That’s what Russia wants to know,” said Justine Barati of the U.S. Army’s Joint Munitions Command. So far, the U.S. has provided more than $35 billion in weapons and equipment to Ukraine. The 155 mm shell is one of the most often-requested and supplied items, which also include air defense systems, long-range missiles and tanks. The rounds, used in howitzer systems, are critical to Ukraine’s fight because they allow the Ukrainians to hit Russian targets up to 20 miles (32 kilometers) away with a highly explosive munition. “Unfortunately, we understand that the production is very limited and it’s been more than a year of war,” Ukraine parliamentary member Oleksandra Ustinova said at a German Marshall Fund media roundtable in Washington on Monday. “But unfortunately we are very dependent on 155.” The Army is spending about $1.5 billion to ramp up production of 155 mm rounds from 14,000 a month before Russia invaded Ukraine to over 85,000 a month by 2028, U.S. Army Undersecretary Gabe Camarillo told a symposium last month. Already, the U.S. military has given Ukraine more than 1.5 million rounds of 155 mm ammunition, according to Army figures. But even with higher near-term production rates, the U.S. cannot replenish its stockpile or catch up to the usage pace in Ukraine, where officials estimate that the Ukrainian military is firing 6,000 to 8,000 shells per day. In other words, two days' worth of shells fired by Ukraine equates to the United States' monthly pre-war production figure. “This could become a crisis. With the front line now mostly stationary, artillery has become the most important combat arm,” said a January report by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. Currently, the metal bodies for the 155 mm shells are made at the Army's Scranton plant, operated by General Dynamics, and at a General Dynamics-owned plant in nearby Wilkes-Barre, officials say. Together, the plants are under contract for 24,000 shells per month, with an additional $217 million Army task order to further boost production, although officials won't say how many more 155 mm shells are sought by the task order. The Russians are firing 40,000 shells per day, said Ustinova, who serves on Ukraine's wartime oversight committee. “So we’re doing five times less than they do and trying to keep it up. But if we don’t start the production lines, if you don’t warm it up, it is going to be a huge problem,” Ustinova said. The obstacles the U.S. faces in ramping up production can be seen at the Scranton plant. The factory — built for the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad just after 1900, when the city was a rising coal and railroad powerhouse — has produced large-caliber ammunition for the military going back to the Korean War. But the buildings are on the National Historic Registry of Historic Places, limiting how the Army can alter the structures. Inside, the floor is crowded with piles of shells, defunct equipment and production lines where robotic arms, saws, presses and other machines cut, heat, forge, temper, pressure test, wash and paint the shells. The plant is in the midst of $120 million in modernization plans and the Army hopes to open a new production line there by 2025. Still, clearing space for it has been a complicated task while the military adds newer machinery to make existing lines more efficient. “There’s a lot going on,” said Richard Hansen, the Army commander’s representative at the plant. Meanwhile, the Army is expanding supply chains for parts — metal shells, explosive fill, charges that shoot the shell and fuses — and buying the massive machines that do the work. The Army has new contracts with plants in Texas and Canada to make 155 mm shells, said Douglas Bush, an assistant Army secretary and its chief weapons buyer. The U.S. is also looking overseas to allies to expand production, Bush said. Once the shells are finished in Scranton, they are shipped to the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant, where they are packed with explosives, fitted with fuses and packaged for final delivery. The Scranton plant is ill-suited for that task: an accident with an explosive could be devastating. “If we had a mishap here,” Hansen said, “we take half of the city with us.”

The United States on Friday returned several Peruvian antiquities, including the intricate knotwork artifacts known as khipus, in a ceremony at the Los Angeles consulate. The brief event came amid a push in recent years to have museums, universities and governments worldwide return cultural pieces to their home countries and tribal nations. Indigenous and African communities, in particular, have pressed institutions to reckon with their colonialist pasts and repatriate stolen or looted antiquities. The items returned to the Peruvian consul general included two khipus, intricately knotted and colored sets of cords that experts believe were used by the Incas to count and keep records. The repatriated khipus were turned over to federal investigators two years ago by a private art gallery. They may have been donated to the gallery or abandoned there sometime between 2005 and 2012, authorities said. Also repatriated were several sculptures that Los Angeles-based agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had seized in a since-closed investigation dating back 15 years. The FBI last year repatriated several Peruvian artifacts that had been voluntarily surrendered to federal agents. Those antiquities included historical documents and a 17th century painting stolen from a Peruvian church in 1992. They also included a painting stolen from a different church in 2002 that was hand-carried into the United States by an art dealer, sold to an art gallerist in Santa Fe and later sold in 2016 to a buyer in California. In 2021, the San Francisco Asian Art Museum returned two hand-carved religious artifacts — sandstone lintels dating back to the 9th and 10th centuries — to the Thai government. The antiquities had been stolen and exported from Thailand — a violation of Thai law — about 50 years ago and donated to the city of San Francisco, which owns the art museum.

Only about half of Democrats think President Joe Biden should run again in 2024, a new poll shows, but a large majority say they'd be likely to support him if he became the nominee. The poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that 26% of Americans overall want to see Biden run again — a slight recovery from the 22% who said that in January. Forty-seven percent of Democrats say they want him to run, also up slightly from only 37% who said that in January. The ambivalence among Democratic voters comes as Biden is preparing to formally announce his 2024 reelection campaign as soon as next week, according to people briefed on the discussions. The president has been eyeing Tuesday, April 25 — four years to the day since he entered the 2020 race — although no final decisions have been made. Despite the reluctance of many Democrats to see Biden run for another term, 78% of them say they approve of the job he's doing as president. And a total of 81% of Democrats say they would at least probably support Biden in a general election if he is the nominee — 41% say they definitely would and 40% say they probably would. Interviews with poll respondents suggest that the gap reflects concerns about Biden's age, as well as a clamoring from a younger generation of Democrats who say they want leadership that reflects their demographic and their values. Biden, now 80, would be 82 on Election Day 2024 and 86 years old at the end of a second presidential term. He is the oldest president in history. Jenipher Lagana, 59, said she likes Biden, calling him an "interesting man" who has had an "incredible political career." She praised Biden for providing a "breath of fresh air" and said she approves of how he's been doing his job as president. But "my problem with him running in 2024 is that he's just so old," said Lagana, who is retired and lives in California. "I would love to see somebody younger, like (Transportation Secretary Pete) Buttigieg or (California Gov. Gavin) Newsom be able to get in there and handle things maybe a little differently just because they're a younger person." Donna Stewart, 48, a program director for a nonprofit in New York, also pointed to Biden's age as a concern. "I voted for him. I like him as a person. I like him as a leader for the country," she said. "However, I just feel that he's still lacking the up-to-date knowledge of what needs to be done." During the 2020 presidential campaign, Biden appeared to hint that he would limit himself to just one term in the White House, framing his candidacy as a bridge to a new generation of Democratic leaders. But while in office, Biden has made his intentions clearer that he would run again for a second term, saying as recently as last week in Ireland that he's "already made that calculus" and that the announcement will happen "relatively soon." With only nominal primary challengers and a chaotic Republican field, the president and his senior aides have felt little pressure to formalize a reelection campaign. Instead, Biden has focused on governing, holding events at the White House and traveling across the country to sell his top legislative achievements such as a bipartisan infrastructure law and a sweeping climate, health care and tax package. The president and his senior political advisers are meeting with Democratic donors in Washington next week in an event meant to energize the party's top contributors ahead of Biden's expected reelection campaign. Biden has also batted away questions about his age, saying that voters simply need to "watch me" to determine whether he's up to the job as president. And while many Democrats remain tepid on Biden because of his age, others said it was actually an asset. Stephen Foery, 47, said Biden's decades in Washington — first in the Senate and then as vice president — proved to be valuable in the first two years of his presidency "because he's done a lot to fix the country in a very short amount of time." "I think that one of the benefits of living a long life is that you have a lot of wisdom to impart," said Foery, a creative services manager in Pennsylvania. "If you gain as much experience as Biden has throughout his life, it would be a shame to simply disregard him because of his age." Biden's job approval rating stands at 42%, a slight improvement from 38% in March. The March poll came after a pair of bank failures rattled an already shaky confidence in the nation's financial systems, and Biden's approval rating then was near the lowest point of his presidency. Thirty percent of Americans call the national economy good, a slight improvement from 25% a month ago. Younger Democrats remain a reluctant part of Biden's coalition — just 25% of those under age 45 say they would definitely support Biden in a general election, compared with 56% of older Democrats. Still, an additional 51% of younger Democrats say they would probably vote for Biden in a 2024 general election. "It's really hard to support somebody who is such a career politician, who has a vested interest in maintaining the status quo when the status quo doesn't work for me," said Otis Phillips, 20, who lives in Washington state. Phillips, a student, said he has been pleased with some of Biden's initiatives, including his student loan forgiveness program and his focus on climate policy. But he emphasized: "I don't like maintaining the status quo. And so I want things to change, and I don't think Biden's how we're going to get that in the next four years." Both the current and former president could face resistance from the public as a whole in a general election. A total of 65% of U.S. adults say they would definitely or probably not support former President Donald Trump if he is nominated in a general election, including 53% who say they definitely would not. Biden's obstacles are smaller by comparison but still substantial: 56% of Americans say they would be unlikely to support Biden in a general election, including 41% who say they would definitely not. Biden has long bet that once voters are presented with a binary choice — either him or a Republican candidate, particularly if it is Trump — that a majority of the electorate will side with Democrats. He often quotes his father, Joseph R. Biden Sr., in his public remarks: "Joey, don't compare me to the Almighty. Compare me to the alternative." "The only reason why I would not want him to run is because of his age. Like, that's the only thing," said Shakeen Magee, 45, a self-employed Georgia resident. But she said that if Biden does officially become the Democratic nominee in 2024, she would definitely support him "because we can't take another Trump." Magee added that "if we were to get another Republican in that office, it would just undo the little progress that Biden has been able to make."  

Transgender athletes whose biological sex assigned at birth was male would be barred from competing on girls or women’s sports teams at federally supported schools and colleges under legislation pushed through Thursday by House Republicans checking off another high-profile item on their social agenda. The bill approved by a 219-203 party-line vote is unlikely to advance further because the Democratic-led Senate will not support it and the White House said President Joe Biden would veto it. Supporters said the legislation, which would put violators at risk of losing taxpayer dollars, is necessary to ensure competitive fairness. They framed the vote as supporting female athletes disadvantaged by having to compete against those whose gender identify does not match their sex assigned at birth. The House action comes as at least 20 other states have imposed similar limits on trans athletes at the K-12 or collegiate level. The bill would amend landmark civil rights legislation, known as Title IX, passed more than 50 years ago. It would prohibit recipients of federal money from permitting a person “whose sex is male” to participate in programs designated for women or girls. The bill defines sex as “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.” The sponsor, Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., highlighted the case of Emma Weyant, a resident of his district and a 2020 member of the U.S. Olympic swimming team who finished second in the NCAA women’s 500-yeard freestyle championship last year. She was defeated by Lia Thomas, who had competed for three years on the University of Pennsylvania men’s swimming team before joining the women’s team. “The integrity of women’s sports must be protected,” Steube said. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said it was a “great day for America, a great day for girls and women and for fairness in sports.” Democrats said every child regardless of gender identify deserves the opportunity to belong to a team and that preventing competitors from doing so sends the message that they don’t matter. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., who has a transgender daughter, said Republicans were cruelly scapegoating transgender children to score political points. She said three-quarters of transgender students report having experienced harassment or discrimination at school and many have considered suicide. “These bills tell some of the most vulnerable children in our country that they do not belong,” Jayapal said. “Shame on you.” Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., said most people in the United States don’t know anyone who is transgender and that can create fear for politicians to exploit. The bill, he said, does nothing to address the severe inequities in the resources dedicated to men’s and women’s sports. He highlighted the stance taken by Gov. Spencer Cox, R-Utah, who last year vetoed a bill banning transgender students from playing girls sports. Cox said: “I struggle to understand so much of it and the science is conflicting. When in doubt however, I always try to err on the side of kindness, mercy and compassion.” Pocan noted that in Utah at the time of the veto there were four transgender players out of 85,000 competing in high school sports, with only one competing in girls sports. “There’s your raging national problem,” Pocan said. “What’s the Republicans response to this nonexistent issue? Hurt kids for being kids.” In a message this week threatening a veto, the White House said that being part of a team is an important part of growing up, staying engaged in school and learning leadership and life skills. It said a national ban that does not account for competitiveness or grade level targets people for who they are and is discriminatory. The administration also has issued a proposed rule that would prevent any school or college that receives federal money from imposing a “one-size-fits-all” policy that categorically bans trans students from playing on sports teams consistent with their gender identity. Such policies would be considered a violation of Title IX. Any limits would have to consider the sport, the level of competition and the age of students. Elementary school students would generally be allowed to participate on any teams consistent with their gender identity, for example. More competitive teams at high schools and colleges could add limits, but those would be discouraged in teams that don’t have tryouts or cuts. “We don’t want biological men taking away the achievements of women who fought so hard to get where they are today,” said Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., the first woman to graduate from The Citadel military college. It was the latest proposal by newly empowered Republicans to win over parents concerned about what their children are experiencing in school. But Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, assessing Thursday’s action, said, “Make no mistake, this is not a culture war.” She spoke of those who “are trying to diminish and erase who we are as women and I will not stand for it.” Last month, the House passed a measure that would require schools to publish course studies and a list of books kept in libraries, as well as affirm parents’ ability to meet with educators, speak at school board meetings and examine school budgets. That legislation is also not expected to advance, though it gives House supporters the chance to promote their vote for it during next year’s election. The American Civil Liberties Union condemned the vote and said that so far this year, more than 450 bills attacking the rights of transgender people have been introduced in state legislatures. “Why are Republicans in Congress spending their time bullying children? This is not what voters elected them to do,” said Deirdre Schifeling, the ACLU’s national political director.

In suburban Detroit, it was a lost 14-year-old looking for directions. In Kansas City, it was a 16-year-old who went to the wrong house to pick up his younger brothers. There was the 12-year-old rummaging around in a yard in small-town Alabama, the 20-year-old woman who found herself in the wrong driveway in upstate New York and the cheerleader who got into the wrong car in Texas. All of them, and dozens more across America, were met by gunfire. Some were injured, some killed. In a nation where strangers are all too often seen as threats and fear has been politicized, honest mistakes and simple acts like going to the wrong address or car in a parking lot, or even just ringing the wrong doorbell, can seem like a fateful question of trust. It is a tension not lost on Jae Moyer, who was at a rally at the federal courthouse in Kansas City on Tuesday, demanding a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the shooting of Ralph Yarl, the Black teenager shot last week when he went to the door of an elderly white man while looking for his brothers. Yarl, who was shot in the head and arm, is recovering at home. “I want to be welcoming and inviting to anyone that comes to my home. Even if they are asking for help and I can’t help them I’m going to be kind to them. I think that’s the way everyone should be,” Moyer said. “But I don’t think that’s the culture we have right now,” Moyer said. “There’s a lot of fear in our country.” There is also plenty of mistrust. AMERICAN SUSPICION In the early 1970s, surveys showed that about half of America believed most people were trustworthy. By 2020, that number had fallen to less than one-third. Meanwhile, Americans have believed for decades that crime is going up — even in years when it is going down — and also wildly overestimate their chances of being a crime victim. “Part of that is you guys,” said Warren Eller, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, referring to the media’s relentless focus on crime. “We get 24 hours a day of all the dangers out there.” That’s hardly surprising. Politicians have long used crime as a wedge issue to gain footholds. Neighborhood message boards foment paranoia about suspicious outsiders. And local and national newscasts bombard TV viewers daily with images of grainy surveillance videos showing a variety of crimes and provocative headlines about cities in decay. That includes shootings where innocent victims are shot by people who wrongly believe that they are under threat. While there are few statistics on these shootings, they appear to make up a very small percentage of the more than 15,000 people killed every year in the U.S. in firearm homicides. And yet in just six days in April, four young people across the U.S. were shot — and the woman in New York killed — for being at what someone decided was the wrong place. Just Tuesday, a man shot and wounded two cheerleaders in a Texas supermarket parking lot after one said she mistakenly got into his car thinking it was her own. One cheerleader was grazed by a bullet and treated at the scene. Her teammate was shot in the leg and back. This American mistrust has settled in as something that, while not normal, is less surprising than ever. And when mixed with legal confusion, easy access to weapons, poor firearms training and sometimes outright racism, it has produced a string of shootings like these that never seems to end. Take the legal issues. Shooters in incidents like these often use defenses based on “stand-your-ground” laws, which have broadened people’s rights to defend themselves if they are threatened. But those laws, which have spread across America in the last 25 years, may have actually driven up violence. A study published in 2022 by the JAMA Network Open, a peer-reviewed medical journal, found that monthly homicide rates increased between 8% and 11% in states with stand-your-ground laws. “I think it has commonly become known of as a license to use deadly force whenever someone feels threatened,” said Geoffrey Corn, the chair of criminal law at the Texas Tech University School of Law. He has extensively studied such laws, which he believes are deeply misunderstood by the public. “The fear has to be justified by the circumstances,” he said. “You don’t get to kill somebody just because you fear them.” AGGRAVATING FACTORS Legal experts expect Andrew Lester, the 84-year-old man who shot Yarl, to claim self-defense and cite Missouri’s stand-your-ground law. On Wednesday, he pleaded not guilty in Yarl’s shooting. Corn, a 22-year-military veteran, also wonders about America’s recent boom in firearm sales and whether it has combined with insufficient training to compound the problem. “What troubles me isn’t that there are a lot of firearms, it’s that nothing is required of someone who takes on the awesome responsibility” of wielding them, Corn said. Even in states that require firearms training, he says training is often insufficient, with poor explanations of self-defense laws. When he was in the military, he had weeks of training before he was even allowed to touch a bullet. “I was always conscious of the awesome killing power of a firearm,” he said. Then there is the unavoidable question of race, a central pillar of American distrust across the centuries. False notions about threats posed by nonwhite people have played out repeatedly in modern American history, including in a number of high-profile cases when assailants attacked Black or Hispanic people who they believed meant them harm, even when no threat was apparent. Yarl’s shooting has drawn comparisons to the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin, 17, a Black teenager visiting his father’s home in a gated Florida community when George Zimmerman, a volunteer neighborhood watchman, decided he looked suspicious and shot him to death. Zimmerman was acquitted after a trial in which his attorneys essentially used the state’s stand-your-ground law as a defense. It also echoes the case of Renisha McBride, a Black woman who knocked on doors in a Detroit-area community in 2013, seeking help after a car accident. She was fatally shot by a white resident who fired through his screen door, saying he feared she meant him harm. These cases, said Ibram X. Kendi, the bestselling author of books on racism and founder of the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University, occurred because people of all races and backgrounds are groomed to fear Black people as more prone to criminality and violence. “No one is born fearing another person because of their skin color,” Kendi said. “There’s so many different ways in which people are taught that Black people are dangerous, and those ideas actually create all sorts of dangers for Black people, including Black teenagers.” “The more we unlearn that idea and realize that we can’t attach danger to skin color in any way,” he said, “the less likely people are going to be to use lethal force against a 16-year-old child who is ringing their doorbell.”