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The Associated Press news agency will continue to credit one of its most distinctive photos, “Napalm Girl” taken during the Vietnam War, to photographer Nick Ut despite questions about who took it, the wire said Tuesday.The black and white photo of a severely burned Vietnamese girl, running naked down a road after a 1972 napalm attack in southern Vietnam helped alter perceptions of the war and remains a potent reminder of its devastation. Vietnamese American AP photographer Huynh Cong Ut, better known as Nick Ut, won a Pulitzer Prize and a World Press Photo award for the image. Ut claims the photo as his own.The photo’s subject, Kim Phuc Phan Thi, who became Canadian, has continued to bear witness to her ordeal as an adult. But in January, “The Stringer” documentary screened at the Sundance Film Festival credited the image to Vietnamese freelance journalist Nguyen Thanh Nghe. After a nearly year-long investigation, the news agency published a 97-page report Tuesday concluding “it is possible Nick Ut took the photo.””However, that cannot be proven definitively due to the passage of time, the death of many of the key players involved and the limitations of technology. New findings uncovered during this investigation do raise unanswered questions and AP remains open to the possibility that Ut did not take this photo,” it said.”The AP has concluded that there is not the definitive evidence required by AP’s standards to change the credit of the 53-year-old photograph.”The agency concluded it is “likely” the photo was taken with a Pentax camera, while Ut stated in interviews he carried two Leica and two Nikon cameras that day.In “The Stringer,” Carl Robinson the AP’s former photo editor in Saigon claimed he lied and altered the caption of the image under orders from Saigon photo chief Horst Faas.”Nick Ut came with me on the assignment. But he didn’t take that photo… That photo was mine,” said Nguyen Thanh Nghe, who stated in the film that he was certain he took the photo.AP insisted in its report “no proof has been found that Nguyen took the picture.”Ut remained with the AP for 45 years, leaving Saigon to later work for the wire in Los Angeles, until his retirement in 2017.

A US jury on Tuesday handed WhatsApp a major victory in its cyberespionage suit against NSO Group, ordering the Israel-based firm to pay some $168 million in damages.Meta-owned WhatsApp sued NSO in late 2019 in federal court in Northern California, accusing it of planting Pegasus spy software on the smartphones of targets using the messaging app.”This trial put spyware executives on the stand and exposed exactly how their surveillance-for-hire system –- shrouded in so much secrecy –- operates,” Meta said in a blog post.”Put simply, NSO’s Pegasus works to covertly compromise people’s phones with spyware capable of hoovering up information from any app installed on the device.”Pegasus software also enables smartphone cameras or microphones to be remotely turned on without letting users know, according to Meta.WhatsApp accused NSO of cyberespionage targeting journalists, lawyers, human rights activists and others on the Facebook-owned messaging service.A jury on Tuesday found that NSO should pay WhatsApp $444,719 in compensatory damages and another $167,254,000 in punitive damages intended to discourage repeating the behavior that landed it in court.”We will carefully examine the verdict’s details and pursue appropriate legal remedies, including further proceedings and an appeal,” NSO vice president for global communication Gil Lainer said in response to an AFP inquiry.”We firmly believe that our technology plays a critical role in preventing serious crime and terrorism and is deployed responsibly by authorized government agencies.”Evidence presented at the trial said NSO had spyware installation methods to exploit the technology of companies other than Meta, spending tens of millions of dollars annually on ways to install malicious code through messaging, browsers and operating systems, according to Meta.In 2016, Apple rushed out a security update after researchers said prominent Emirati rights activist Ahmed Mansoor was targeted by UAE authorities using Pegasus spyware.The software has been pinpointed by independent experts as likely being used in a number of countries with poor human rights records.”Given how much information people access on their devices, including through private end–to-end encrypted apps like WhatsApp, Signal and others, we will continue going after spyware vendors indiscriminately targeting people around the world,” Meta said in the blog post.”These malicious technologies are a threat to the entire ecosystem and it’ll take all of us to defend against it.”The legal complaint said the attackers “reverse-engineered the WhatsApp app and developed a program to enable them to emulate legitimate WhatsApp network traffic in order to transmit malicious code” to take over the devices.Infecting smartphones or other gadgets being used for WhatsApp messages meant the content of messages encrypted during transmission could be accessed after they were unscrambled for recipients.Founded in 2010 by Israelis Shalev Hulio and Omri Lavie, NSO Group is based in the Israeli seaside hi-tech hub of Herzliya, near Tel Aviv.

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that all fans from across the globe would be welcome at the 2026 World Cup despite concerns over his border crackdown impacting the tournament.Trump, who has appointed himself chairman of the White House task force for the tournament, said visitors to the United States could expect a “seamless” experience.The United States is co-hosting the 2026 World Cup with neighboring Canada and Mexico.”We can’t wait to welcome soccer fans from all over the globe,” Trump said at a White House briefing alongside FIFA president Gianni Infantino.”Every part of the US government will be working to ensure that these events are safe and successful, and those traveling to America to watch the competition have a seamless experience during every part of their visit.”Foreign traveler arrivals in the United States are expected to decline by 5.1 percent in 2025, according to one recent study by Tourism Economics.  The World Tourism Forum Institute has said a mix of stringent US immigration policies and global political tensions could “significantly affect” international arrivals.Vice President JD Vance, the vice-chair of the World Cup task force, said while foreign visitors would be welcome they would have to leave at the end of the tournament.”I know we’ll have visitors, probably from close to 100 countries. We want them to come. We want them to celebrate. We want them to watch the game,” Vance told Tuesday’s briefing. “But when the time is up, they’ll have to go home.”Infantino, the president of football’s world governing body, said his organization had “full and entire” confidence in the Trump administration to help deliver a successful tournament.”The entire world will focus on the United States of America, and America welcomes the world,” Infantino told the meeting. “Everyone who wants to come here to enjoy, to have fun, to celebrate the game will be able to do that.Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said US officials were using next month’s FIFA Club World Cup as a testing ground for the World Cup, stating that the US expected two million overseas visitors.”We’re processing those travel documents and visa applications already … that is obviously going to be a precursor to what we can do next year for the World Cup as well,” Noem said. “It is all being facilitated.”Trump meanwhile said he was confident of working closely with Canada and Mexico despite his broiling trade disputes with the two World Cup co-hosts.”I don’t see any tension either,” Trump said, shortly after meeting Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney. “We get along very well with both.” 

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he hoped clashes between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan end “very quickly,” after New Delhi’s forces launched strikes and Islamabad vowed retaliation.”It’s a shame, we just heard about it,” Trump said at the White House, after the Indian government said it had hit “terrorist camps” on its western neighbor’s territory following a deadly attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir.”I guess people knew something was going to happen based on the past. They’ve been fighting for many, many decades and centuries, actually, if you really think about it,” he added.India and Pakistan have fought three full-scale wars since gaining independence from the British in 1947. Both claim Kashmir in full but administer separate portions of the disputed region. “I just hope it ends very quickly,” said Trump.India had been widely expected to respond militarily since gunmen shot dead 26 people in Indian-administered Kashmir, mostly Hindus. New Delhi has blamed militants that it has said were from Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba, a UN-designated terrorist organization.Pakistan’s army said the Indian strikes targeted three sites in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and two in Punjab province, the country’s most populous. Islamabad said that three civilians, including a child, had been killed in Indian strikes.The Indian strikes came just hours after the US State Department issued a fresh call for calm.”We continue to urge Pakistan and India to work towards a responsible resolution that maintains long-term peace and regional stability in South Asia,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters.Her statement came after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned of stopping water from flowing across borders following the Kashmir attack.

A divided US Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender military personnel to take effect while litigation plays out, putting thousands of troops at risk of dismissal.The ruling — which the court’s three liberal justices opposed — is a significant victory for Trump, who has made rolling back transgender rights a major part of his second term in office, and has railed against judges who blocked parts of his agenda.Lambda Legal and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation — which filed the lawsuit that had resulted in a lower court temporarily blocking the implementation of the ban — slammed the Supreme Court’s decision.The ruling “is a devastating blow to transgender servicemembers who have demonstrated their capabilities and commitment to our nation’s defense,” the organizations said in a statement .”Transgender individuals meet the same standards and demonstrate the same values as all who serve. We remain steadfast in our belief that this ban violates constitutional guarantees of equal protection and will ultimately be struck down,” they said.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt hailed the ruling as “another MASSIVE victory in the Supreme Court,” saying in a post on X that Trump and Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth “are restoring a military that is focused on readiness and lethality — not DEI or woke gender ideology.”Hegseth meanwhile responded to the news with a post on his personal X account that said: “No More Trans @ DoD.”In a January 27 executive order, Trump stated that “expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service.”- Shifting policies -The Pentagon followed that up with a memo issued in late February stating that it would remove transgender troops from the military unless they obtain a waiver on a case-by-case basis, as well as prevent transgender people from joining.The Supreme Court’s decision to allow the ban to take effect means thousands of currently serving troops could be removed from the ranks.The restrictions in the Pentagon memo are aimed at those who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria — of whom there were 4,240 serving in the military as of late last year, according to a senior defense official — as well as those who have a history of the condition or exhibit symptoms of it.Transgender Americans have faced a roller coaster of changing policies on military service in recent years, with Democratic administrations seeking to permit them to serve openly, while Trump has sought to keep them out of the ranks.The US military lifted a ban on transgender troops in 2016, during Democrat Barack Obama’s second term as president.Under that policy, trans troops already serving were permitted to do so openly, and transgender recruits were set to start being accepted by July 1, 2017.But the first Trump administration postponed that date to 2018 before deciding to reverse the policy entirely.Trump’s restrictions on transgender military service — which underwent changes in response to various legal challenges — eventually came into force in April 2019 following a protracted legal battle that went all the way to the nation’s top court.His Democratic successor Joe Biden moved to reverse the restrictions just days after he took office in 2021, but Trump was reelected last year after making clear he would again seek to target transgender rights.Transgender issues have roiled US politics in recent years, as states controlled by Democrats and Republicans have moved in opposite directions on policies ranging from medical treatment to what books on the topic are allowed in public or school libraries.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told US President Donald Trump on Tuesday that his country would be “never for sale” as they met at the White House amid tensions on tariffs and sovereignty.In their first Oval Office meeting, Trump insisted to the recently elected Carney that it would be a “wonderful marriage” if Canada agreed to his repeated calls to become the 51st US state.But afterward both leaders hailed the talks as having made progress — even if Carney said he had asked Trump in private to stop calling for Canada to join the United States.”As you know from real estate, there are some places that are never for sale,” Carney told property tycoon Trump, comparing Canada to the Oval Office itself and to Britain’s Buckingham Palace.”Having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign in the last several months, it’s not for sale. It won’t be for sale, ever.”Trump then replied: “Never say never.”Liberal leader Carney, 60, won Canada’s April 28 election on a pledge to stand up to Republican Trump, 78, warning that ties between the North American neighbors could never be the same.Trump has sparked a major trade war with Canada with his tariffs while repeatedly making extraordinary calls for the key NATO ally and major trading partner to become part of the United States.- ‘Very constructive’ -Carney at points gripped his hands tightly together and his knee jiggled up and down while Trump spoke.Trump, when asked if there was anything Carney could say in the meeting that would persuade him to drop tariffs, replied bluntly: “No. It’s just the way it is.”The US president even referenced his blazing Oval Office row with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky in February — if only to insist that there would be no repeat.”We had another little blow-up with somebody else, that was much different — this is a very friendly conversation,” Trump said. Yet after the two-hour meeting both leaders struck a positive tone.Carney told a press conference that the trade talks were “complex” but that his two-hour discussions with Trump were “very constructive.””He’s willing to have that negotiation,” Carney said when asked if Trump would be ready to drop tariffs as part of a deal.But he added that he had called on Trump to stop urging Canada to become its 51st state.”I told him that it wasn’t useful to repeat this idea, but the president will say what he wants,” said Carney, speaking in French.For his part, Trump said there was “no tension” during the “very great” meeting with Carney.”We want to do what’s right for our respective peoples,” he said at an event on the 2026 World Cup, which the United States will co-host with Canada and Mexico.- ‘Cherished’ -The meeting was highly anticipated after a Canadian election during which Carney vowed that the United States — Canada’s biggest trading partner — would never “own us.”Carney has since vowed to remake NATO member Canada’s ties with the United States in perhaps its biggest political and economic shift since World War II.Trump has slapped general tariffs of 25 percent on Canada and Mexico and sector-specific levies on autos, some of which have been suspended pending negotiations. He has imposed similar duties on steel and aluminum.He has also more broadly accused Canada of “ripping off” the United States and treating it unfairly on trade, while also calling on both Canada and Mexico to stop the cross-border flow of the deadly drug fentanyl.The US president inserted himself into Canada’s election early on by calling on Canada to avoid tariffs by becoming the “cherished 51st state.”Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party had been on track to win the vote but Trump’s attacks, combined with the departure of unpopular premier Justin Trudeau, transformed the race.Carney, who replaced Trudeau as prime minister in March, convinced voters that his experience managing economic crises made him the ideal candidate to defy Trump.The political newcomer previously served as governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX on Tuesday received approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to increase the number of annual Starship rocket launches from five to 25 at its Texas base, marking a major boost for the company’s ambitions.Following a multi-year environmental review, the FAA concluded that the expanded cadence of launches and landings would not significantly affect the environment, overruling objections from conservation groups who warned the move could endanger species such as sea turtles and shorebirds.Musk’s massive campaign donations and close ties to US President Donald Trump have raised concerns over possible conflicts of interest, particularly given the influence of the Department of Government Efficiency — an entity Musk led — which exerts significant sway over federal agencies.”The purpose of SpaceX’s proposed action is to provide greater mission capability to NASA and the Department of Defense,” the FAA said in its finding.”SpaceX’s activities would continue to fulfill the US expectation that increased capabilities and reduced space transportation costs will enhance exploration (including within the Artemis and Human Landing System programs), support US national security, and make space access more affordable.”The agency reviewed SpaceX’s application across multiple criteria, including air quality, noise pollution, and impacts on historic buildings, as well as biological effects at the company’s Starbase facility in southern Texas.A couple weeks after winning the election, Trump visited the facility built by Musk, the world’s richest person, who donated more than $270 million to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.That facility officially became Starbase City on Saturday, following an election involving 283 eligible voters — most of whom were SpaceX employees or connected to the company.The FAA noted that SpaceX was back in compliance after previous unpermitted water discharges associated with launch operations, which made it subject to state and federal enforcement.It further stated that while launches and sonic booms could “startle” sensitive species, including shorebirds, the overall impact would be minimal.Ahead of the decision, the public and environmental groups submitted numerous objections.”In April 2023, a Super Heavy exploded during a failed launch attempt, raining boulder-sized chunks of concrete and flaming debris onto the wildlife refuge,” Defenders of Wildlife and Audubon Texas wrote in a joint letter.”Even a relatively uneventful launch in June 2024 propelled a high-velocity gravel plume that destroyed bird nests.”The groups also flagged potential impacts to critically endangered Rice’s whales — of which only a few dozen are thought to remain — stemming from ocean landings.Starship is key to Musk’s long-term goal of colonizing Mars, and NASA is relying on a modified version of the vehicle to land astronauts on the Moon under its Artemis 3 mission.To date, Starship has completed eight integrated test flights atop the Super Heavy booster, with four successes and four failures ending in explosions.

For residents of Colombia’s largest migrant camp, an already tough life is getting tougher thanks to Donald Trump’s aid cuts.Eight months pregnant and 20 years old, Astrid lives on an abandoned dust-blown airstrip in Colombia’s Guajira desert.Home is a lean-to shack, cobbled together from tin sheets and lumber.It is not much, but it protects her and her five-year-old son — who is paralyzed with encephalopathy — from the blistering equatorial sun.”What do I lack? Everything,” the Venezuelan single mother tells AFP. “Nothing here is mine.”Like many of La Pista’s 10,000-14,000 residents, Astrid fled nearby Venezuela, where poverty, hardship and organized crime are endemic.Without running water, a bathroom, or even money to attend prenatal checkups, Astrid dreams of working and giving her children “a home.”But in La Pista malnutrition is common and many depend on aid handouts to survive. Since Trump returned as US president in January, cuts to aid arm USAID have been keenly felt in this ad-hoc settlement, where children skip barefoot past dogs and cows rummaging in the garbage for food.Trump and his cost-cutting sidekick Elon Musk have argued that the US federal budget is bloated, that spending is unsustainable and that Americans, not foreigners, should benefit from any tax-payer largesse.USAID was effectively shuttered and its annual budget of close to $43 billion — providing more than 40 percent of the world’s humanitarian aid — was decimated.Local mayor Miguel Aragon said the US cuts felt like “a cold bucket of water.” Of the 28 non-governmental groups that existed in the area last year, only three remain today, he said.”Today we feel alone,” says the 37-year-old politician, who fears disaster is on the way.- ‘Rice with cheese’ – Inside a local medical center, several women with babies wait to be attended. Luz Marina, a 40-year-old Colombian, is there with her five-year-old son who is underweight. She has experienced US politics first-hand. Earlier this year, she was chosen to receive aid, only to be told it was cancelled due to decisions in Washington.”I didn’t get to receive anything,” she says through tears. “It’s so sad, it was something I truly needed.” With the help of nutritional supplements, Luz Marina’s son had managed to gain some weight.But that progress is now at risk due to a lack of food.”It’s not the same to eat rice with chicken as it is to eat rice with cheese,” she told AFP. Humanitarian groups have tried to alleviate some of the hardships, and the Colombian state provides potable water once a week to households. But even rich Western aid groups are also feeling the pain of US spending cuts.At a local school, until recently kids played instruments, sang and took workshops.But the Save the Children-run project closed after the cuts reduced its Colombia budget by 40 percent.Country director Maria Mercedes Lievano fears that the closure of such projects will create a “greater risk of people entering criminal groups.””Having to turn our backs on the people we were supporting is very difficult,” Lievano says, her voice choking. “It hurts a lot.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney held highly anticipated talks with Donald Trump at the White House Tuesday amid tensions over the US president’s tariffs and threats of annexation.Trump slammed Canada on Truth Social for effectively freeloading off the United States just minutes before greeting the recently reelected Carney outside the West Wing.Liberal leader Carney, 60, won the Canadian election on a pledge to stand up to Trump, saying the United States would never “own us” and warning that ties between the North American neighbors could never be the same.Republican Trump, 78, has sparked a major trade war with Canada with his tariffs while repeatedly making extraordinary calls for the key NATO ally and major trading partner to become the 51st US state.Trump said ahead of Carney’s arrival that “I very much want to work with him” but pointed to a possibly tense meeting.”Why is America subsidizing Canada by $200 Billion Dollars a year, in addition to giving them FREE Military Protection, and many other things?” Trump posted on Truth Social.”We don’t need ANYTHING they have, other than their friendship, which hopefully we will always maintain. The Prime Minister will be arriving shortly and that will be, most likely, my only question of consequence.”After his tough talk on the campaign trail, Carney will meanwhile be seeking to cool the temperature and move towards a trade deal.”Canada and the United States are strongest when we work together — and that work starts now,” Carney said on X as he arrived in Washington on Monday night.Trump slapped general tariffs of 25 percent on Canada and Mexico and sector-specific levies on autos, some of which have been suspended pending negotiations. He has also imposed similar duties on steel and aluminum.Carney has vowed to remake NATO member Canada’s ties with the United States in perhaps its biggest political and economic shift since World War II.- ‘Old relationship’ -“Our old relationship based on steadily increasing integration is over. The questions now are how our nations will cooperate in the future,” Carney said in his first post-election press conference on Friday.The Canadian leader said he would also “fight to get the best deal” on the tariffs.But Trump’s ultra-loyal Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said it would be “really complex” to reach a deal.”They have their socialist regime and it’s basically feeding off of America,” he told Fox Business on Monday. “I just don’t see how it works out perfectly.”The US president inserted himself into Canada’s election early on with a social media post saying Canada would face “ZERO TARIFFS” if it “becomes the cherished 51st state.”Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party had been on track to win the vote but Trump’s attacks, combined with the departure of unpopular former premier Justin Trudeau, transformed the race.Carney, who replaced Trudeau as prime minister in March, convinced voters that his experience managing economic crises made him the ideal candidate to defy Trump.The political newcomer previously served as governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, and in the latter post he played a key role reassuring markets after the 2016 Brexit vote.Carney is known for weighing his words carefully but he will face a challenge dealing with the confrontational Trump on the US president’s home turf.”This is a very important moment for him, since he insisted during the campaign that he could take on Mr Trump,” Genevieve Tellier, a political scientist at the University of Ottawa, told AFP.The Canadian premier would also have to avoid the fate of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who walked into a brutal tongue-lashing from Trump and Vice President JD Vance in February, said Tellier.But one point in Carney’s favor is that he is not Trudeau, the slick former prime minister whom Trump famously loathed and belittled as “governor” of Canada, she added.

There are currently no signs that the United States has entered a recession despite the world’s largest economy recording a contraction in the first quarter, the US Treasury Secretary said Tuesday. “I believe in data, and there is nothing in the data that shows that we are in a recession,” Scott Bessent told lawmakers during an appearance in Congress. Bessent’s remarks contrast with those of Trump, who was asked in a recent interview if the United States could enter a recession. “Anything can happen,” he told NBC in the interview, which was broadcast on Sunday. “But I think we’re going to have the greatest economy in the history of our country. I think we’re going have the greatest economic boom in history.”The technical definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of economic contraction, although the National Bureau of Economic Research uses a slightly broader metric when making official judgements about the US economy. “As a matter of fact, the jobs report had a surprise to the upside,” Bessent said, referring to the better-than-expected April jobs report published last week.Since taking office, US President Donald Trump has rolled out steep tariffs against top trading partners, leading to a surge in volatility in the financial markets and causing analysts to predict higher inflation and slower growth this year.Growth in the first quarter of 2025 unexpectedly contracted, according to initial government estimates, as consumers and businesses rushed to import more goods ahead of the rollout of Trump’s sweeping “liberation day” tariffs in early April.Bessent told lawmakers the administration was making good progress with top trading partners ahead of a self-imposed July deadline to reach a deal or face the prospect of higher tariffs — with the exception of China, with which the United States has not yet begun talks. “Perhaps as early as this week we will be announcing trade deals with some of our largest trading partners,” he said, echoing recent remarks from the US president.”And what I will tell you is that in negotiating with some of them, they may not like the tariff wall that President Trump has put up, but they have them,” he added. “So if tariffs are so bad, why do they like them?”Once the negotiations conclude, Bessent said he expects the United States would “see a substantial reduction in the tariffs that we are being charged, as well as non-tariff barriers, currency manipulation, and the subsidies of both labor and capital investment.”