Trump signs order renaming Lake Ontario as 'Lake America' in the United States

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday he is renaming Lake Ontario to be known as “Lake America” in the United States as he escalates his trade war with Canada.

The Republican president signed an executive order directing the Interior Department to update the lake's name in the U.S. geographic naming service. Trump cannot force Canada to follow along, however.

Trump has been floating the idea of the name change in recent days as the U.S. announced it was imposing 50% tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods over the weekend after talks between the countries broke down. Trump has been needling America’s northern neighbor since he returned to the White House last year, suggesting the ally with whom the U.S. once had warm relations should instead be absorbed as the 51st state.

Canada responded to Trump’s import taxes this week by imposing retaliatory tariffs on $20 billion worth of American goods, including steel, dairy products, appliances and farm equipment.

Trump, who signed the order as he was sitting at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, had a large sign behind him propped on a stand with a map of the Great Lakes. Over Lake Ontario, in big red letters, the map read “Lake America.”

Catastrophic floods kill over 390 in Nepal and Tibet, with more than 1,400 missing

DEVIGHAT, Nepal (AP) — Rescue teams and military helicopters searched Thursday for hundreds of missing people along the mountainous Nepal-China border, where a deadly torrent of water and mud several stories high swept through communities a day earlier following a glacier collapse.

Videos of the disaster showed people running before the floodwaters swallowed them up and washed out buildings and bridges. More than 390 people were killed, according to authorities in Nepal and China, and more than 1,400 were missing, including hundreds of foreigners and pilgrims. Hundreds of others were displaced across the Himalayan region.

The lush valleys of the Himalayan mountain range — home to many of the world’s highest peaks and remaining glaciers — are especially vulnerable to flooding and landslides. Melting glaciers have become more common because of human-caused climate change.

Images showed buildings and streets in Nepal’s hard-hit Nuwakot district slathered in mud, debris hanging from trees and stunned survivors caked in mud. In Tibet’s Shigatse prefecture, a two-lane road running along a river was completely buried. Aerial footage also showed a lake had formed and expanded on the China-Nepal border, with authorities warning of a possible dam break.

Rajan Tamang, a restaurant owner in New York City, said he learned from family in Kathmandu that his mother and sister were among those who died, while many other relatives and friends remained missing.

Nepal floods highlight growing glacier risks in warming Himalayas

BENGALURU, India (AP) — The deadly flash flood in Nepal on Wednesday was likely caused by a huge chunk of a glacier that broke off and temporarily dammed a river, according to preliminary investigations by scientists. That may have led to the backed-up water surging downstream with enormous force a few hours later, they suggested.

Scientists are still piecing together information from satellite and ground-level data to figure out exactly what happened to cause the flood, which killed hundreds and left many more missing, including foreigners and pilgrims.

The U.S. Geological Survey on Wednesday reported a magnitude 5.2 glacier collapse that sent debris flowing downstream with catastrophic impact on communities. It said its determination was based on data from nearby seismic stations, long period seismic waves and satellite imagery.

“A lower part of a glacier has really come off,” said Jakob Steiner, a geoscientist at the University of Graz in Austria who is currently based in Bangladesh. “If you look at the imagery it’s like someone cut with a huge knife through the whole lower part and it fell off.”

Steiner said a mass of glacial ice dropping from a great height could have felt like a bomb exploding, resulting in the chaos that followed.

Exclusive: RFK Jr. said a Samoa trip had nothing to do with vaccines. New documents refute that

NEW YORK (AP) — Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. repeatedly told lawmakers who held the key to his confirmation last year that a 2019 visit to Samoa before a deadly measles outbreak had “nothing to do with vaccines.”New documents obtained by The Associated Press and The Guardian refute that testimony.

Kennedy, then a prominent anti-vaccine activist, preceded the visit with a letter to the Samoan prime minister requesting to study the Pacific island nation’s measles, mumps and rubella vaccines after the deaths of two children who had received them. In the letter, he used the words vaccine or vaccination eight times.

The letter raises questions about how truthful Kennedy was in testimony before Congress. During an arduous confirmation process where he needed the support of some skeptical Republican lawmakers to advance, Kennedy also pledged to maintain vaccine policies that, once in office, he moved to change.

“I am writing this letter to you in the hope that we might be helpful to the people of your great nation,” Kennedy wrote, adding that he believed the deaths of the two children could have resulted from manufacturing issues.

“I would propose my team conduct detailed health informatics assessment in Samoa of what happened with your MMR vaccines,” he continued.

Exclusive: US Patriot missile stocks in Europe are 'beyond critical' due to Iran war, officials say

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military is experiencing a “beyond critical” shortage of advanced missile interceptors in Europe largely driven by President Donald Trump’s war with Iran, a U.S. defense official in Europe and a NATO official told The Associated Press, raising concerns about vulnerabilities in NATO countries to a potential Russian attack.

The U.S. defense official said the most concerning shortfall involves Patriot missile interceptors, which can shoot down Russia’s high-speed ballistic missiles. The NATO official confirmed the low inventories of Patriots among American and NATO forces in Europe. Both spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters.

In the event of a Russian ballistic missile assault on, for example, a military headquarters or power plant, NATO could be in a similar position to Patriot-starved Ukraine and be forced “to take punch after punch in the mouth,” the U.S. defense official said.

In Europe, the American military “definitely” does not have enough Patriots to stop any possible sustained ballistic missile attack and would have “very limited” capability to defend against a single ballistic missile strike or a stray Russian missile that goes off course, the U.S. official said.

It illustrates the cascading fallout from Trump’s decision to launch a war against Iran, a conflict that reaches the six-month mark on Friday. U.S. missile stocks in Europe have been moved to the Middle East, where U.S. and Gulf allies have fired off significant numbers of interceptors, including Patriots, to thwart Iran’s drones and missiles. Some of those attacks have killed and wounded American troops.

ICE officer's release from Texas jail opens a new front in the escalating fight over extradition

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) — The release of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer from a Texas jail on Thursday despite Minnesota’s request for his return could set a dangerous precedent, increasing friction between states and helping criminal defendants avoid justice, legal experts said.

Christian Castro was released from a detention center in Brownsville after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declined to immediately sign his extradition warrant. A federal judge also declined to block Castro’s release or order Abbott to sign the warrant.

Minnesota officials say they believe Castro could flee to Mexico to avoid prosecution on charges he shot a man and lied about it during an immigration crackdown in Minneapolis in January. Extradition from Mexico would require action by the Trump administration, which opened an investigation into Castro's actions but also has argued ICE agents have “absolute immunity” for their actions on duty.

The standoff between the two states is highly unusual. Under federal law, states have little discretion to reject extradition requests from fellow states. Thousands of fugitives are sent to other states each year as a matter of routine.

But Abbott, a Republican, said last week he would not respond to Minnesota’s extradition request, citing the ongoing investigation into fraud in government social service programs in the state, which President Donald Trump used to justify his immigration crackdown there.

Ratko Mladic, ex-Bosnian Serb warlord who oversaw atrocities, dies as a prisoner at 84

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Ratko Mladic, the bullish Bosnian Serb general whose forces besieged the Bosnian capital for several years in the 1990s and carried out the worst massacre in Europe since World War II, died Thursday while serving a life sentence for his crimes, U.N. officials said. He was 84.

Mladic died at a hospital in The Hague, Netherlands, U.N. court officials said. A Mladic relative who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation confirmed the reports and said Mladic’s son, Darko Mladic, was on his way to the Dutch city.

The U.N. tribunal for war crimes committed during the wars in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s sentenced Mladic to life in prison in 2017 in what was considered a key step toward bringing justice to the victims. He had been in custody since 2011 after many years on the run.

The ruthless, blue-eyed former communist officer-turned nationalist warlord was one of the most notorious figures of the conflict that left more than 100,000 people dead and over 1 million homeless. He commanded his troops to “scorch the brains” of the Bosnian Muslims and boasted of being a “Serbian God.”

When the ethnic war in Bosnia and Herzegovina started in 1992, Mladic became the commander of the Bosnian Serb troops and took control of large swaths of the country to form a Serb mini-state.

Tropical Storms Karina and Lowell form in the Pacific Ocean as Dolly churns in the Atlantic

MIAMI (AP) — Tropical Storms Karina and Lowell formed Thursday in the Pacific Ocean, both of which were expected to become hurricanes in the next few days, the National Hurricane Center said.

Tropical Storm Karina was located about 825 miles (1,330 kilometers) south of the southern tip of Baja California, with maximum sustained winds of around 45 mph (75 kph), according to an advisory from the Miami-based hurricane center. Tropical Storm Lowell was about 1,765 miles (2,840 kilometers) west-southwest of the tip of Baja California, with maximum sustained winds of around 40 mph (65 kph).

There were no coastal watches or warnings in effect for either storm, though the hurricane center warned swells from Karina could bring life-threatening surf and rip currents to portions of southwest Mexico and the Baja California Peninsula over the weekend.

Earlier Thursday, Tropical Storm Dolly formed in the Atlantic Ocean far from land, and forecasters said it could bring heavy rain to portions of the Caribbean.

The storm was about 1,555 miles (2,500 kilometers) east of the Leeward Islands and had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (64 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said. Dolly was moving west.

Republicans face a midterm verdict as Iran war drags on months longer than Trump promised

BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) — Mike Gibbons sat out the presidential election two years ago, frustrated that Democrat Kamala Harris did not take a stronger stand against Israel's war in Gaza and unable to bring himself to cast a vote for Republican Donald Trump.

That is not his plan this year.

The 33-year-old restaurant server in this eastern Pennsylvania town that once housed one of the world's largest steelmakers is eager to vote for any Democrat he can in November. As the war with Iran that Trump initially said would last weeks surpasses six months on Friday, Gibbons is feeling the fallout every time he fills his tank at nearly $1 per gallon more than last year.

“The price of gas affects the price of everything and the price of everything's up and my pay hasn't gone up,” he said. “I'm doing blue no matter who this time.”

The Iran war has reshaped the rapidly approaching midterm elections, undermining Trump's campaign pledge to steer clear of foreign conflicts and challenging Republicans who would rather focus on their tax cuts as they cling to narrow majorities in Congress.

UEFA prepares criminal complaint in Swiss courts against FIFA's Infantino over World Cup sell-off

MONACO (AP) — UEFA is preparing a criminal complaint against FIFA President Gianni Infantino in Swiss courts for possible financial mismanagement over his failed plan to sell future World Cup profits to private investors.

The governing body of European soccer announced its intentions in court documents filed Thursday in the U.S. seeking access to possible evidence related to the sell-off plan, which was withdrawn after a furious backlash by UEFA and other global soccer leaders.

The move increases the pressure on Infantino, who is facing the biggest crisis in his 10 years as FIFA's leader.

UEFA filed documents in a Manhattan court requesting discovery of potential evidence from the New York investment fund, Thrive Capital Management, founded by Josh Kushner — the younger brother of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

UEFA also filed a request in a southern Florida district for authorization of discovery “in a foreign proceeding” against FIFA itself, which has offices in the Miami suburb of Coral Gables.