AP Top News at 1:09 p.m. EDT

Trump national security adviser Waltz is out in a major staff shake-up after his Signal chat blunder

WASHINGTON (AP) — White House national security adviser Mike Waltz is leaving the administration just weeks after it was revealed he added a journalist to a Signal chat being used to discuss military plans, according to two people familiar with the matter Thursday, marking the first major staff shake-up of President Donald Trump’s second term. Waltz came under searing scrutiny in March after revelations that he added journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to a private text chain on the encrypted messaging app Signal, which was used to discuss planning for a sensitive March 15 military operation against Houthi militants in Yemen. A far-right ally of the president, Laura Loomer, has also targeted Waltz, telling Trump in a recent Oval Office conversation that he needs to purge aides who she believes are insufficiently loyal to the “Make America Great Again” agenda.

Judge bars deportations of Venezuelans from South Texas under 18th-century wartime law

A federal judge on Thursday barred the Trump administration from deporting any Venezuelans from South Texas under an 18th-century wartime law and said President Donald Trump’s invocation of it was “unlawful.” U.S. District Court Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. is the first judge to rule that the Alien Enemies Act cannot be used against people who, the Republican administration claims, are gang members invading the United States. “Neither the Court nor the parties question that the Executive Branch can direct the detention and removal of aliens who engage in criminal activity in the United States,” wrote Rodriguez, who was nominated by Trump in 2018.

From Tokyo to Turin to LA, Trump’s policies loom over May Day marches

PARIS (AP) — French union leaders condemned the “Trumpization” of world politics, while in Italy, May Day protesters paraded a puppet of the American president through the streets of Turin. Across continents, hundreds of thousands turned out for Thursday’s rallies marking International Workers’ Day, many united in anger over U.S. President Donald Trump’s agenda — from aggressive tariffs stoking fears of global economic turmoil to immigration crackdowns. In the United States, organizers framed this year’s protests as a pushback against what they called a sweeping assault on labor protections, diversity initiatives and federal employees. In Germany, union leaders warned that extended workdays and rising anti-immigrant sentiment were dismantling labor protections.

Trump’s health agency urges therapy for transgender youth, not broader gender-affirming health care

President Donald Trump’s administration released a lengthy review of transgender health care on Thursday that advocates for a greater reliance on behavioral therapy rather than broad gender-affirming medical care for youths with gender dysphoria. The 409-page Health and Human Services report questions standards for the treatment of transgender youth issued by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and is likely to be used to bolster the government’s abrupt shift in how to care for a subset of the population that has become a political lightning rod. Medical experts sharply criticized it as inaccurate. This new “best practices” report is in response to an executive order Trump issued days into his second term that says the federal government must not support gender transitions for anyone under age 19.

Weekend round of nuclear talks between US and Iran has been postponed

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Planned negotiations between Iran and the United States this weekend over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program have been postponed, Oman announced Thursday. A message online from Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi made the announcement in a post on the social platform X. “For logistical reasons we are rescheduling the US Iran meeting provisionally planned for Saturday May 3rd,” he wrote. “New dates will be announced when mutually agreed.” Al-Busaidi, who has mediated the talks through three rounds so far, did not elaborate. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei issued a statement describing the talks as being “postponed at the request of Oman’s foreign minister.” He said Iran remain committed to reaching ”a fair and lasting agreement.” Meanwhile, a person familiar with the U.S.

Sex assault reports in the US military fell last year, fueled by a big drop in the Army

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of sexual assaults reported across the U.S. military dipped by nearly 4% last year, fueled by a significant drop in the Army, according to a new Pentagon report. It was the second year in a row with a decrease, reversing a troubling trend that has plagued the Defense Department for more than a decade. Senior defense officials said that while the decline is a good sign, the number of reported assaults is still too high and the military needs to do more to get victims to report the often undisclosed crime. According to the report, there were 8,195 reported sexual assaults in 2024 involving members of the military, compared with 8,515 in 2023.

Measles jumps borders in North America with outbreaks in Canada, Mexico and US

Dr. Hector Ocaranza knew El Paso would see measles the moment it began spreading in West Texas and eastern New Mexico. Highways connect his border city with the epicenter of Texas’ massive outbreak, which is up to 663 cases. They’re the same roads used by thousands of families and commercial truckers who cross into Mexico and back each day. “Diseases know no borders,” said Ocaranza, El Paso’s top public health doctor, “so as people are mobile, they’re going to be coming and receiving medical attention in El Paso but they may be living in Juarez.” It took a couple of months, but El Paso now has the highest measles case count in the state outside of West Texas with 38.

NASA astronauts step outside space station to perform the 5th all-female spacewalk

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — An astronaut who missed out on the first all-female spacewalk because of a spacesuit sizing issue got her chance six years later on Thursday. NASA’s Anne McClain emerged from the International Space Station alongside Nichole Ayers. Both military officers and pilots, they launched to the orbiting lab in March to replace NASA’s two stuck astronauts, who are now back home. Minutes before floating out, McClain noticed strands of string on the index finger of her right glove. Mission Control briefly delayed the start of the spacewalk to make sure her glove was safe. During their spacewalk, the pair will prepare the space station for another new set of solar panels and move an antenna on the 260-mile-high (420-kilometer-high) complex.

Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers get their turn to question accuser Miriam Haley at #MeToo retrial

NEW YORK (AP) — Harvey Weinstein ’s lawyers got their turn Thursday to question a woman who alleges the one-time Hollywood heavyweight held her down on a bed and forced oral sex on her nearly two decades ago. Miriam Haley, testifying for a third day at Weinstein’s retrial, was grilled about her decision to hire a lawyer and go public with her allegations as the #MeToo movement exploded in October 2017. Defense attorney Jennifer Bonjean sparred with Haley over the details of her early statements to the press about the alleged assault, getting her to admit that she didn’t give interviewers back then a full picture of her relationship with Weinstein.

Scientists once thought only humans could bob to music. Ronan the sea lion helped prove them wrong

Ronan the sea lion can still keep a beat after all these years. She can groove to rock and electronica. But the 15-year-old California sea lion’s talent shines most in bobbing to disco hits like “Boogie Wonderland.” “She just nails that one,” swaying her head in time to the tempo changes, said Peter Cook, a behavioral neuroscientist at New College of Florida who has spent a decade studying Ronan’s rhythmic abilities. Not many animals show a clear ability to identify and move to a beat aside from humans, parrots and some primates. But then there’s Ronan, a bright-eyed sea lion that has scientists rethinking the meaning of music.