TORONTO (AP) — Canada’s outgoing prime minister and the leader of the country’s oil rich province of Alberta are both confident Canada can avoid the 25% tariffs President Donald Trump says he will impose on Feb. 1.

Justin Trudeau and Danielle Smith will argue that Canada is the energy super power that has the oil and critical minerals that America needs to feed what Trump vows will be a booming U.S. economy.

But Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, the manufacturing hub of Canada, said a trade war is 100% coming.

Trump “declared an economic war on Canada,” Ford said in an interview with The Associated Press. “And we are going to use every tool in our tool box to defend our economy.”

Trudeau said Canada will retaliate if needed but noted Canada has been here before during the first Trump presidency when they successfully renegotiated the free trade deal.

Ford said as soon as Trump applies tariffs he will instruct Ontario’s liquor control board to pull all American-made alcohol from shelves.

“We are the largest purchaser of alcohol in the world. And I’m going to encourage all the premiers to do the exact same,” Ford said, adding there will be a dollar-for-dollar tariff retaliation on American goods entering Canada.

“We are going to target Republican held areas as well. They are going to feel the pain. Canadians are going to feel the pain, but Americans will feel the pain as well,” he said. “A message to the countries around the world: if he wants to use Canada as an example you are up next. He’s coming after you as well.”

Trump pledged in his inaugural address that tariffs would be coming in a speech in which he promised a golden era for America. He later said Canada and Mexico could be hit with the tariffs as soon as Feb. 1, though he signed an executive order requesting a report coordinated by the Secretary of Commerce by April. 1.

About 60% of U.S. crude oil imports are from Canada. Despite Trump’s claim that the U.S doesn’t need Canada, nearly a quarter of the oil America consumes per day comes from Canada. America’s northern neighbor also has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon is eager for and is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium to the U.S.

Nearly $3.6 billion Canadian dollars ($2.7 billion) worth of goods and services cross the border each day. Canada is the top export destination for 36 U.S. states.

“Trump wants to usher in a golden age for the U.S,” Trudeau said at a Cabinet retreat in Quebec called to deal with Trump’s threats.

“If the American economy is going to see the boom that Donald Trump is predicting they are going to need more energy, more steel and aluminum, more critical minerals, more of the things that Canada sells to the United States every single day.”

On Tuesday, Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum stressed the need to keep “cool heads” and look at the wording of what Trump signed, rather than listen to the discourse surrounding it.

On the threat of tariffs, Sheinbaum took solace in that the “ America First Trade Policy ” order that Trump signed Monday talks about the free trade agreement signed with Mexico and Canada during Trump’s first term, which lays out clear processes for disputes. She noted that a formal revision of the agreement is scheduled for July 2026.

“Right now, what President Donald Trump signed is that the commercial treaty continues,” Sheinbaum said when asked if Mexico was still open to retaliating with its own tariffs at her daily press briefing.

Smith, the premier of Canada’s oil rich province of Alberta, said the April 1 deadline gives Canadians time to make case to the Trump administration that Canada should be exempted from tariffs.

“With the energy emergency that they declared and with their desire for critical minerals Canada is the answer,” Smith told The AP. Canada can get a “total carve out” from the tariffs, she said.

Smith noted Canada is the world’s biggest supplier of uranium and an important source of critical minerals that the U.S. is desperate for. She said both Canadians and Americans would be harmed by a trade war but said Canadians can’t afford it in particular.

“We have to be realistic. We are talking about a $21 trillion economy and the amount of product that we sell into the United States is somewhere in the order of $300 billion,” Smith said.

“We don’t have the same kind of market power that they do as an economy. We are one 10th their size. We have to be realistic about what a trade and tariff war looks like. We would be more harmed by that than them.”

Smith said Americans in some states could pay more than a dollar per gallon more for gas.

“Americans will pay more in the states that are reliant on Canadian goods and Canadians will just pay more in return,” Smith said. “We could spend the next four years fighting over that or we can spend the next four years building pipeline access and making sure that we develop critical minerals for our joint benefit. I’d rather have the second conversation.”

Associated Press writer María Verza in Mexico City contributed to this report.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s top general resigned Tuesday, taking responsibility for security failures tied to Hamas’ surprise attack that triggered the war in Gaza and adding to pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has delayed any public inquiry that could potentially implicate his leadership.

While a fragile new ceasefire in the Gaza Strip held, Israel launched a large operation in the occupied West Bank, killing at least nine people and injuring 40, Palestinian officials said.

Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi is the most senior Israeli figure to resign over the security and intelligence breakdown on Oct. 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists carried out a land, sea and air assault into southern Israel, rampaging through army bases and nearby communities. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

The attack — the single deadliest on Israel in its history — killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and the terrorists abducted another 250. More than 90 captives are still in Gaza, around a third believed to be dead.

Halevi’s resignation came days into the ceasefire with Hamas that could lead to an end to the 15-month war and the return of remaining captives. Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, head of Israel’s Southern Command, which oversees operations in Gaza, also resigned.

Their resignations will likely add to calls for a public inquiry into the Oct. 7 failures, something Netanyahu has said must wait until the war is over.

Halevi had appeared to be at odds with Israel’s new defense minister, Israel Katz, over the direction of the war. He said Israel had accomplished most of its goals, while Katz echoed Netanyahu’s vow to keep fighting until “total victory” over Hamas. Katz replaced the popular Yoav Gallant, who Netanyahu dismissed in a surprise announcement in November after growing disagreements over the war.

Halevi’s resignation letter said the military, under his command, had “failed in its mission to defend the State of Israel” and noted that the military’s investigations into those failures were “currently in their final stages.” He said his resignation would go into effect March 6.

Another major operation in the West Bank

The ceasefire that started Sunday does not apply to the West Bank, where Israel announced a “significant and broad military operation” against Palestinian fighters in Jenin, without details. The city has seen repeated Israeli incursions and gunbattles with militants in recent years.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek an independent state encompassing all three territories.

The West Bank has seen a surge of violence during the war in Gaza. Israeli troops have carried out near-daily raids that often ignite gunbattles. There has also been a rise in attacks on Palestinians by Jewish extremists — including a rampage in two Palestinian villages overnight Monday — and Palestinian attacks on Israelis.

Hamas condemned the Israeli operation in Jenin, calling on Palestinians in the West Bank to step up attacks. The smaller and more radical Islamic Jihad militant group called it a “desperate attempt” by Netanyahu to save his governing coalition.

Netanyahu faces domestic criticism over ceasefire

In addition to pressure over the military resignations, Netanyahu faces criticism from far-right allies over the ceasefire. The deal requires Israeli troops to pull back from populated areas in Gaza and envisions the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including fighters convicted of involvement in deadly attacks on Israelis.

The ceasefire’s first phase is to last for six weeks, with 33 hostages gradually released. Three hostages and 90 prisoners were released on Sunday, when it took effect. The next release is Saturday. Talks on the far more difficult second phase begin in two weeks.

Hamas has already returned to the streets, showing that it remains in control of the territory despite the war killing tens of thousands of Palestinians — including some Hamas leaders — and causing widespread devastation.

One of Netanyahu’s erstwhile partners, Itamar Ben-Gvir, quit the government the day the ceasefire went into effect, weakening the coalition but still leaving Netanyahu with a parliamentary majority. Another, far-right leader, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, has threatened to leave if Israel does not resume the war after the ceasefire’s first phase.

Inside Gaza

With the calm of the ceasefire, emergency responders looked through rubble for bodies they had been unable to reach before.

“We retrieved 120 decomposed bodies over the past two days,” civil defense worker Haitham Hams told The Associated Press in the southern city of Rafah, as colleagues unearthed a thigh bone and a pair of pants.

Israel’s military campaign has killed over 47,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to local health authorities, who say women and children make up more than half of the fatalities but do not say how many of the dead were fighters. Israel says it killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said 72 bodies had been taken to hospitals in the past 24 hours, almost all of them recovered from attacks before the ceasefire. An unknown number of bodies remain unreachable because they are in northern Gaza, where access remains restricted, or in buffer zones where Israeli forces are.

Over 900 trucks of aid entered Gaza on the second day of the ceasefire Monday, the United Nations said — significantly higher than the 600 trucks called for in the deal — in a rush to supply food, medicines and other needs it has described as “staggering” for the population of over 2 million people.

“Most importantly, we want things that will warm us in winter,” one of the many displaced Palestinians, Mounir Abu Seiam, said Tuesday as people gathered in the southern city of Khan Younis to receive food.

Tufaha reported from Jenin, West Bank. Associated Press writer Natalie Melzer in Nahariya, Israel, contributed to this report.

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinians in Gaza are confronting an apocalyptic landscape of devastation after a ceasefire paused more than 15 months of fighting between Israel and Hamas.

Across the tiny coastal enclave, where built-up refugee camps are interspersed between cities, drone footage captured by The Associated Press shows mounds of rubble stretching as far as the eye can see — remnants of the longest and deadliest war between Israel and Hamas in their blood-ridden history. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

“As you can see, it became a ghost town,” said Hussein Barakat, 38, whose home in the southern city of Rafah was flattened. “There is nothing,” he said, as he sat drinking coffee on a brown armchair perched on the rubble of his three-story home, in a surreal scene.

Critics say Israel has waged a campaign of scorched earth to destroy the fabric of life in Gaza, accusations that are being considered in two global courts, including the crime of genocide. Israel denies those charges and says its military has been fighting a complex battle in dense urban areas and that it tries to avoid causing undue harm to civilians and their infrastructure.

Military experts say the reality is complicated.

“For a campaign of this duration, which is a year’s worth of fighting in a heavily urban environment where you have an adversary that is hiding in amongst that environment, then you would expect an extremely high level of damage,” said Matthew Savill, director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute, a British think-tank.

Savill said that it was difficult to draw a broad conclusion about the nature of Israel’s campaign. To do so, he said, would require each strike and operation to be assessed to determine whether they adhered to the laws of armed conflict and whether all were proportional, but he did not think the scorched earth description was accurate.

International rights groups. including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, view the vast destruction as part of a broader pattern of extermination and genocide directed at Palestinians in Gaza, a charge Israel denies. The groups dispute Israel’s stance that the destruction was a result of military activity.

Human Rights Watch, in a November report accusing Israel of crimes against humanity, said “the destruction is so substantial that it indicates the intention to permanently displace many people.”

From a fierce air campaign during the first weeks of the war, to a ground invasion that sent thousands of troops in on tanks, the Israeli response to a Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, has ground down much of the civilian infrastructure of the Gaza Strip, displacing 90% of its population. The brilliant color of pre-war life has faded into a monotone cement gray that dominates the territory. It could take decades, if not more, to rebuild.

A U.N. assessment from satellite imagery showed more than 60,000 structures across Gaza had been destroyed and more than 20,000 severely damaged in the war as of Dec. 1, 2024. The preliminary assessment of conflict-generated debris, including of buildings and roads, was over 50 million tons. It said the analysis had not yet been validated in the field.

Airstrikes throughout the war toppled buildings and other structures said to be housing fighters. But the destruction intensified with the ground forces, who fought Hamas fighters in close combat in dense areas.

If fighters were seen firing from an apartment building near a troop maneuver, forces might take the entire building down to thwart the threat. Tank tracks chewed up paved roads, leaving dusty stretches of earth in their wake.

The military’s engineering corps was tasked with using bulldozers to clear routes, downing buildings seen as threats, and blowing up Hamas’ underground tunnel network.

Experts say the operations to neutralize tunnels were extremely destructive to surface infrastructure. For example, if a 1.5-kilometer (1-mile) long tunnel was blown up by Israeli forces, it would not spare homes or buildings above, said Michael Milshtein, a former Israeli army intelligence officer.

“If (the tunnel) passes under an urban area, it all gets destroyed,” he said. “There’s no other way to destroy a tunnel.”

Cemeteries, schools, hospitals and more were targeted and destroyed, he said, because Hamas was using these for military purposes. Secondary blasts from Hamas explosives inside these buildings could worsen the damage.

The way Israel has repeatedly returned to areas it said were under its control, only to have fighters overrun it again, has exacerbated the destruction, Savill said.

But the destruction was not only caused from strikes on targets. Israel also carved out a buffer zone about a kilometer inside Gaza from its border with Israel, as well as within the Netzarim corridor that bisects north Gaza from the south, and along the Philadelphi Corridor, a stretch of land along Gaza’s border with Egypt. Vast swaths in these areas were leveled.

Amir Avivi, a retired Israeli general, said the buffer zones were an operational necessity meant to carve out secure plots of land for Israeli forces. He denied Israel had cleared civilian areas indiscriminately.

The destruction, like the civilian death toll in Gaza, has raised accusations that Israel committed war crimes, which it denies. The decisions the military made in choosing what to topple, and why, are an important factor in that debate.

“The second militants move into a building and start using it to fire on you, you start making a calculation about whether or not you can strike,” Savill said. Downing the building, he said, “still needs to be necessary.”

In Jabaliya, Nizar Hussein hung a sheet over the shattered remains of his family’s home, stepping gingerly around a large, leaning concrete slab.

“At the very least, we need years to get a house,” he said. “It is a feeling that I cannot describe. Thank God (for everything).”

Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A fire raged through a 12-story hotel at a popular ski resort in northwestern Turkey early Tuesday during a school holiday, killing at least 66 people — at least two of them when they jumped from the building to escape the flames, officials said.

At least 51 people also were injured in the fire at the Grand Kartal hotel in Kartalkaya, in Bolu province’s Koroglu mountains, some 300 kilometers (185 miles) east of Istanbul, said Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya. The fire occurred near the start of a two-week winter break for schools, when hotels in the region are packed.

“We are in deep pain. We have unfortunately lost 66 lives in the fire that broke out at this hotel,” Yerlikaya told reporters after inspecting the site.

Atakan Yelkovan, a hotel guest staying on the third floor, told the IHA news agency there was chaos on the upper floors as other guests tried to escape the fire, including by trying to climb down from their rooms using sheets and blankets.

“People on the upper floors were screaming. They hung down sheets … Some tried to jump,” Yelkovan said.

Health Minister Kemal Memisoglu said at least one of the injured was in serious condition, while 17 other people were treated and released.

The hotel had 238 registered guests, Yerlikaya said. The fire was reported at 3:27 a.m. and the fire department began to respond at 4:15 a.m., he told reporters.

The government appointed six prosecutors to lead an investigation into the blaze, which is believed to have started in the hotel’s restaurant section. Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said four people, including the hotel’s owner, were detained for questioning as part of the investigation.

At least two of the victims died when they jumped from the building in panic, Gov. Abdulaziz Aydin told the state-run Anadolu Agency earlier. Those killed included Nedim Turkmen, a columnist for Sozcu newspaper, his wife and two children, the newspaper announced.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a day of national mourning to be observed on Wednesday. All flags at government buildings and Turkish diplomatic mission abroad would be lowered to half-staff, he said.

Necmi Kepcetutan, a ski instructor at the hotel, said he was asleep when the fire erupted and he rushed out of the building. He told NTV television that he then helped some 20 guests out of the hotel.

The hotel was engulfed in smoke, making it difficult for guests to locate the fire escape, he said.

“I cannot reach some of my students. I hope they are OK,” the ski instructor told the station.

Television images showed the roof and top floors of the hotel on fire.

Witnesses and reports suggested that the hotel’s fire detection system failed to operate.

“My wife smelled the burning. The alarm did not go off,” said Yelkovan, the guest interviewed by IHA. “We tried to go upstairs but couldn’t, there were flames. We went downstairs and came here (outside),” he said.

Yelkovan said it took about an hour for the firefighting teams to arrive.

NTV television suggested that the wooden cladding on the exterior of the hotel, in a chalet-style design, may have accelerated the spread of the fire.

Part of the 161-room hotel is on the side of a cliff, hampering efforts to combat the flames.

“Because the rear side is on a slope, intervention could only be made from the front and sides,” Yerlikaya confirmed.

Earlier, in an address in Ankara, Erdogan said: “Unfortunately, we received very sad news this morning from Bolu, Kartalkaya. Our brothers and sisters were killed and injured in a fire that broke out in a hotel.”

“All necessary steps will be taken to shed light on all aspects of the incident and to hold those responsible accountable,” he added.

NTV showed a smoke-blackened lobby, its glass entrance and windows smashed, its wooden reception desk charred and a chandelier crashed to the ground.

Aydin’s office said 30 fire trucks and 28 ambulances were sent to the site.

Other hotels at the resort were evacuated as a precaution and guests were placed in hotels around Bolu.

Meanwhile, a gas explosion at a hotel at another ski resort in central Turkey injured four people.

The explosion took place at the Yildiz Mountain Winter Sports Center in Sivas province. Two skiers and their instructor were slightly injured while another instructor received second-degree burns to the hands and face, the Sivas governor’s office said.

PANAMA CITY (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump’s insistence Monday that he wants to have the Panama Canal back under U.S. control fed nationalist sentiment and worry in Panama, home to the critical trade route and a country familiar with U.S. military intervention.

“American ships are being severely overcharged and not treated fairly in any way, shape or form, and that includes the United States Navy. And above all, China is operating the Panama Canal,” Trump said Monday.

In the streets of the capital, some Panamanians saw Trump’s remarks as a way of applying pressure on Panama for something else he wants: better control of migration through the Darien Gap. Others recalled the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama with concern.

Panama President José Raúl Mulino responded forcefully Monday, as he did after Trump’s initial statement last month that the U.S. should consider repossessing the canal, saying the canal belongs to his country of 4 million and will remain Panama’s territory.

Luis Barrera, a 52-year-old cab driver, said Panama had fought hard to get the canal back and has expanded it since taking control.

“I really feel uncomfortable because it’s like when you’re big and you take a candy from a little kid,” Barrera said.

At a rally in Phoenix in December, Trump said he might try to get the canal back after it was “foolishly” ceded to Panama. He complained that shippers were overcharged and that China had taken control of the key shortcut between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

Earlier this month, Trump wouldn’t rule out using military force to take it back.

The United States built the canal in the early 1900s as it looked for ways to facilitate the transit of commercial and military vessels between its coasts. Washington relinquished control of the waterway to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999, under a treaty signed in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter.

The canal is a point of pride for Panamanians. On Dec. 31, they celebrated the 25th anniversary of the handover, and days later they commemorated the deaths of 21 Panamanians who died at the hands of the U.S. military decades earlier.

On Jan. 9, 1964, students protested in the then-U.S. controlled canal zone over not being allowed to fly Panama’s flag at a secondary school there. The protests expanded to general opposition to the U.S. presence in Panama and U.S. troops got involved. A group of protesters this year burned an effigy of Trump.

The canal’s administrator, Ricaurte Vásquez, said this month that China is not in control of the canal and that all nations are treated equally under a neutrality treaty.

He said Chinese companies operating in the ports on either end of the canal were part of a Hong Kong consortium that won a bidding process in 1997. He added that U.S. and Taiwanese companies operate other ports along the canal as well.

Omayra Avendaño, who works in real estate, said Trump’s threat should be taken seriously.

“We should be worried,” she said. “We don’t have an army and he’s said he would use force.”

On Dec. 20, 1989, the U.S. military invaded Panama to remove dictator Manuel Noriega. Some 27,000 troops were tasked by then-President George H.W. Bush with capturing Noriega, protecting the lives of Americans living in Panama and restoring democracy to the country that a decade later would take over control of the Panama Canal.

Avendaño said she was 11 years old the last time the U.S. invaded her country and hoped Panama’s current government would seek international support to head off Trump’s designs on the canal.

“I remember the disaster that it was,” she said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A prisoner swap between the United States and Afghanistan’s Taliban freed two Americans in exchange for a Taliban figure imprisoned for life in California on drug trafficking and terrorism charges, officials said Tuesday.

The release of two Americans freed in the swap, Ryan Corbett and William McKenty, was brokered before President Joe Biden left office Monday, according to a Trump administration official who was not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity.

The Taliban’s Foreign Ministry in Kabul said the two U.S. citizens had been exchanged for Khan Mohammed, who was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment in 2008.

Biden, who oversaw the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, on Monday handed power to President Donald Trump. The Taliban praised the swap as a step toward the “normalization” of ties between the U.S. and Afghanistan, but that likely remains a tall order as most countries in the world still don’t recognize their rule and another two Americans are believed held.

The Trump White House cheered the release and thanked Qatar for its assistance facilitating the deal, but also pressed the Taliban to free other Americans held in Afghanistan.

“The Trump Administration will continue to demand the release of all Americans held by the Taliban, especially in light of the billions of dollars in U.S. aid they’ve received in recent years,” White House National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes said in a statement.

U.S., Taliban and Qatar all involved in the swap

Corbett, who had lived in Afghanistan with his family at the time of the 2021 collapse of the U.S.-backed government, was detained by the Taliban in August 2022 while on a business trip.

“Our hearts are filled with overwhelming gratitude and praise to God for sustaining Ryan’s life and bringing him back home after what has been the most challenging and uncertain 894 days of our lives,” the family’s statement said. They thanked both Trump and Biden, as well as many government officials, for their efforts in freeing him.

Corbett’s family also praised the Middle Eastern nation of Qatar “for their vital role in facilitating Ryan’s release, and for their visits to Ryan as the United States’ Protecting Power in Afghanistan.” Energy-rich Qatar has hosted negotiations between the U.S. and the Taliban over the years.

A statement from the Qatar Foreign Ministry acknowledged the country’s role in the swap, saying all those traded passed through Doha on their way to their own countries.

Qatar hopes “that this agreement would pave the way for achieving further understandings as a means to resolve disputes through peaceful means,” the statement said.

It was unclear what McKenty was doing in Afghanistan.

Taliban prisoner first convicted of narco-terrorism

Mohammed, 55, was a prisoner in California after his 2008 conviction. The Bureau of Prisons early Tuesday listed Mohammed as not being in their custody.

Hafiz Zia Ahmad Takal, a Taliban Foreign Ministry deputy spokesperson, said Mohammed had arrived in Afghanistan and was with his family. Photos released by the Taliban showed him being welcomed back in his home province of Nangarhar, in the country’s east, with multicolored garlands.

Mohammed told Taliban-controlled media he had spent time behind bars in Bagram and also Washington, D.C.

“It’s a joy seeing your family and coming to your homeland. The greatest joy is to come and join your Muslim brothers,” he said.

The Justice Department at the time referred to Mohammed as “a violent jihadist and narcotics trafficker” who “sought to kill U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan using rockets.” He was the first person to be convicted on U.S. narco-terrorism laws.

Ahmed Rashid, the author of several books about Afghanistan and the Taliban, described Mohammed as the “biggest drugs smuggler the U.S. had to deal with and key funder of the Taliban.”

Before Biden left office, his administration had been trying to work out a deal to free Corbett, as well as George Glezmann and Mahmood Habibi, in exchange for Muhammad Rahim, one of the remaining detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

Glezmann, an airline mechanic from Atlanta, was taken by the Taliban’s intelligence services in December 2022 while traveling through the country. Habibi, an Afghan-American businessman who worked as a contractor for a Kabul-based telecommunications company, also went missing in 2022. The Taliban have denied they have Habibi.

Habibi’s family welcomed the exchange and said they were confident the Trump administration would make a “greater effort” to free him, expressing their frustration with the Biden team.

“We know they have evidence my brother is alive and in Taliban hands and it could have been influential in encouraging the Taliban to admit they have him,” Habibi’s brother Ahmed said in a statement shared by the nonprofit Global Reach.

Biden officials “refused to use” the evidence, he claimed. “We know Trump is about results and we have faith he will use every tool available to get Mahmood home.”

Taliban try to gain international recognition

For their part, the Taliban called the exchange the result of “long and fruitful negotiations” with the U.S. and said it was a good example of solving problems through dialogue.

“The Islamic Emirate looks positively at the actions of the United States of America that help the normalization and development of relations between the two countries,” it said.

The Taliban have been trying to make inroads in being recognized, in part to escape the economic tailspin caused by their takeover. Billions in international funds were frozen, and tens of thousands of highly skilled Afghans fled the country and took their money with them.

However, some nations have welcomed Taliban officials, like the United Arab Emirates, home to Abu Dhabi and Dubai. On Tuesday, Emirati leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan again welcomed Taliban Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, who also heads the Haqqani network, a powerful force within the group blamed for some of the bloodiest attacks against Afghanistan’s former Western-backed government.

Haqqani is still wanted by the U.S. on a bounty of up to $10 million over his involvement in an attack that killed an American citizen and other assaults. The meeting came even as the UAE maintains a close relationship with the U.S.

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Najib Jobain in Doha, Qatar, contributed to this report.

CHESSY, France (AP) — A cutting-edge nighttime show at Disneyland Paris featuring lasers used at the Paris Games is heralding a bold new chapter for Europe’s most-visited theme park, as a raft of ambitious developments comes to fruition under a 2 billion euro ($2.05 billion) expansion plan.

The overhaul includes the completed revamp of the luxury Disneyland Hotel, the upcoming renaming and doubling in size of Walt Disney Studios Park, and the much-anticipated arrival of The World of Frozen and a first-of-its-kind The Lion King land — cementing the resort’s gains after the wilderness years for theme parks during the pandemic.

Disney Tales of Magic

Disney Tales of Magic, an immersive 20-minute spectacle blending mind-boggling drones, synchronized fountains, high-definition projections and ultra-bright lasers, was unveiled this month, wowing crowds.

The show’s standout feature — ultra-bright lasers — has been used only once before, at the Paris 2024 Olympics at the Eiffel Tower during the iconic opening ceremony featuring a performance by Celine Dion. The lasers, which travel 23 miles (37 kilometers), deliver extraordinary power while remaining safe near crowds.

“The Paris Olympics used it first. But we saw it first,” said Dana Harrel, executive entertainment director at Disneyland Paris.

Featuring Disney and Pixar tales brought to life amid drone-made 3D figures dazzling the night sky, synchronized fountains and a 100-piece orchestra, the show is elevated further by the original anthem “Live in Magic.”

Audiences of any age have been awestruck. “It’s marvelous. We’ve never seen such a beautiful light show,” said Sacha Tellier, a 33-year-old mother visiting with her family. “It gave me goosebumps,” added Nathan Ruiz, a graphic designer from Madrid. “The combination of music, lights, and the drones felt like pure magic. I’ve been to Disney before, but this show is on another level.”

“For the very first time, not only will we be projecting onto Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, but also Main Street USA,” said Tim Lutkin, artistic director of the production, referring to the park’s main commercial artery lined with boutiques and merchandise.

The spectacle also reflects Disney’s storytelling evolution. Lutkin noted the shift from classic ballgown tales to modern narratives like “Encanto” and “Inside Out 2,” which delve into deeper themes such as anxiety and depression. The level of the latter’s box office success, Lutkin said, “was a big surprise for everybody.”

It was “an indicator the world and its relationship with Disney are ready to embrace more complex stories.”

This shift is mirrored in the show’s selection of movies, spanning Disney’s timeless classics and emotionally resonant modern hits.

Disney Adventure World

At the heart of Disneyland Paris’ expansion is the transformation of Walt Disney Studios Park, doubling in size and reimagined as Disney Adventure World. Opening in spring 2025, a new park entrance, World Premiere, will greet visitors with the glamour of a Hollywood film premiere, leading them into immersive themed areas.

“These projects reflect our commitment to innovation and storytelling,” said Natacha Rafalski, head of Disneyland Paris, adding that they will further strengthen it as Europe’s top tourist destination.

Already Europe’s most-visited theme park and France’s top tourist attraction outdrawing the Louvre, Disneyland Paris welcomed over 10 million visitors in 2023.

The expansion includes two eagerly awaited themed lands. The World of Frozen, debuting in 2026, will transport guests to Arendelle with a central lake hosting water performances and the Frozen Ever After boat ride, alongside themed dining, shopping, and accommodations. Meanwhile, The Lion King land will bring the Pride Lands to life with a log flume cascading from Pride Rock and encounters with beloved characters like Simba and Timon.

Life after the pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic delivered one the toughest challenges to Disneyland Paris, as with all resort parks around the world, forcing an eight-month closure in 2020 and another in 2021.

But Disney doubled down.

The ongoing €2 billion expansion is part of a $60 billion global investment announced in September 2023, aiming to redefine Disney parks, cruises and attractions over the next decade.

A centerpiece of the Paris overhaul is the revamped Disneyland Hotel, with suites themed around classic Disney royalty.

Birth and evolution

Disneyland Paris opened in 1992 under its original name, Euro Disney Resort. Situated just outside Paris in Marne-la-Vallée, it marked Disney’s first foray into Europe. However, the park’s early years were fraught with challenges, including cultural missteps, financial struggles and lower-than-expected visitor numbers. Critics in France derided it as an American cultural invasion, dubbing it a “cultural Chernobyl.”

To reverse its fortunes, the park underwent significant rebranding, changing its name to Disneyland Paris in 1994 to emphasize its French location and connection to the capital. Over time, strategic changes, including the addition of new attractions and a shift in marketing, helped the resort recover. It is now a cornerstone of Disney’s global operations.

Today in history:

On Jan. 21, 2020, the U.S. reported its first known case of the 2019 novel coronavirus circulating in China, saying a Washington state resident who had returned the previous week from the outbreak’s epicenter was hospitalized near Seattle.

Also on this date:

In 1793, during the French Revolution, King Louis XVI, condemned for treason, was executed by guillotine.

In 1924, Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin died at age 53.

In 1950, former State Department official Alger Hiss, accused of being part of a Communist spy ring, was found guilty in New York of lying to a grand jury. (Hiss, who proclaimed his innocence, served less than four years in prison.)

In 1976, British Airways and Air France inaugurated scheduled passenger service on the supersonic Concorde jet.

In 1977, on his first full day in office, President Jimmy Carter pardoned almost all Vietnam War draft evaders.

In 2010, a deeply divided U.S. Supreme Court, in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, vastly increased the influence of big business and labor unions by allowing unlimited contributions to political campaigns.

In 2017, a day after Donald Trump’s first presidential inauguration, an estimated 3 million to 5 million people rallied at Women’s March demonstrations across the U.S. to support civil rights and to protest Trump’s rhetoric and policies.

Today’s birthdays:

• Golf Hall of Famer Jack Nicklaus is 85.
• Opera singer Plácido Domingo is 84.
• Singer-songwriter Billy Ocean is 75.
• Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is 74.
• Artist Jeff Koons is 70.
• Actor-director Robby Benson is 69.
• Actor Geena Davis is 69.
• Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., is 64.
• Basketball Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon is 62.
• Singer Emma Bunton (Spice Girls) is 49.
• Actor Luke Grimes is 41.

LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry’s mission to put the British tabloids on trial for decades of alleged unlawful snooping into his life was in question Tuesday as last-minute settlement talks delayed the start of a high-stakes trial pitting him against Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers.

Harry, 40, the younger son of King Charles III, and one other claimant are the only two remaining who have not joined the hundreds of others who have settled lawsuits against News Group Newspapers over allegations their phones were hacked and investigators unlawfully snooped on their lives.

In more than 1,300 claims brought against the publisher since a widespread phone hacking scandal forced Murdoch to close News of the World in 2011, Harry’s case is the closest to get to trial.

The trial, which was due to start Tuesday morning, was delayed for a day after an unusual series of events in court that revolved around private out-of-court settlement discussions.

When Judge Timothy Fancourt refused to allow a further delay until Wednesday, attorneys on both sides said they would go to the Court of Appeal to challenge his ruling, effectively stalling the trial start.

News Group attorney Anthony Hudson said there had been productive discussions and said there was a “very substantial sum” on the line if the trial began before they could complete “very intense negotiations.”

The trial was due to be the Duke of Sussex’s second in London’s High Court in his long-running feud with the press that he blames for the death of his mother, Princess Diana, who was killed in a car crash in 1997 while being chased by paparazzi in Paris. He also blames them for persistent attacks on his wife, actor Meghan Markle, that led them to leave the royal life and flee to the U.S. in 2020.

Harry has said his battle with the media has led to a rift with his family, but it’s one he feels compelled to carry out to expose wrongdoing.

He won a similar case against the publisher of the Daily Mirror newspaper in 2023 and he has another case pending against the Daily Mail’s publisher.

Allegations aimed at editors and executives

Harry claims News Group journalists and private investigators they hired violated his privacy by using unlawful tactics to dig up dirt on him and his family between 1996 and 2011.

His fellow claimant, Tom Watson, a former deputy leader of the Labour Party, said his voicemails were intercepted during a period when he was investigating the hacking scandal.

Their lawyer said the newspapers had a widespread practice of using deception to obtain medical, phone and flight records, bugged homes and placed listening devices in cars.

They allege that executives concealed the skullduggery through means that included destroying documents.

“This allegation is wrong, unsustainable, and is strongly denied,” News Group said in a statement.

Former executives accused of playing a role include Will Lewis, now CEO of the Washington Post, and Rebekah Brooks, CEO of News UK, a division of News Corp. They have denied wrongdoing.

Brooks was acquitted of phone hacking conspiracy charges in a criminal trial in 2014, though her former colleague, Andy Coulson, who was later spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron, was jailed.

News Group strongly denies the allegations and it said Harry failed to bring his lawsuit within the required six-year limit.

News Group apologized to News of the World phone hacking victims in 2011. The Sun has never accepted liability.

Litigation, a source of family friction

The trial, expected to last 10 weeks, would put Harry back in the witness box for several days in February.

In 2023, Harry became the first senior member of the royal family to testify in court since the late 19th century, when Queen Victoria’s eldest son, Prince Albert Edward, testified twice.

That has put Harry at odds with a family famous for a “never complain, never explain” attitude.

Harry revealed in court papers that his father opposed his litigation. He also said his older brother William, Prince of Wales and heir to the throne, had received a “huge sum” to settle a complaint against News Group.

Harry said his tabloid war was central to his fallout with his family.

“The mission continues, but it has, yes, it’s caused, as you say, part of a rift,” Harry said in the documentary “Tabloids On Trial.”

Harry said he wished his family had joined him in making a stand against media offenses.

“But, you know, I’m doing this for my reasons,” he said.

Strong incentive to settle

Actor Hugh Grant had been one of Harry’s remaining co-claimants, but said he was forced to accept “an enormous sum of money” to settle because he could have faced a legal bill of 10 million pounds ($12.3 million) even if he won at trial.

Under English civil law, a claimant who wins a court judgment that is lower than what they were offered to settle, has to pay the legal bills for both sides. The law is intended to discourage lengthy trials.

Despite the grave financial risk, Harry told The New York Times Dealbook Summit in December that he was not going to fold.

“They’ve settled because they’ve had to settle,” he said of other claimants. “One of the main reasons for seeing this through is accountability, because I’m the last person that can actually achieve that.”

Unexpected delay at the 11th-hour

The trial’s delay was unremarkable, but the sequence of events leading to it was unusual.

After an adjournment through the lunch hour expired, attorneys donned their wigs again and sought another postponement as they verbally danced around the settlement that was on everyone’s mind.

But Fancourt, who noted their use of “code” words to discuss the matter, said that while he understood the “settlement dynamic,” the parties had months to reach an agreement.

“I am not persuaded that if there is a real will to settle this, first that it could not have been achieved by today,” Fancourt said. “These parties have had a very long time to come to terms in this matter.”

After reluctantly granting a 10-minute break ostensibly to give Harry’s lawyer David Sherborne time to remove anything provocative from his opening statement that could affect the ongoing talks, the parties returned to court and said they would appeal.

Fancourt, who was not happy, said they had ultimately achieved the delay they sought by deciding to go to a higher court.

“I’m not going to stand in the way of access to justice if the parties wish to go to the Court of Appeal,” Fancourt said.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s executive order moving toward designating drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations would only impact Mexico if there’s close coordination between the two governments.

“We all want to fight the drug cartels,” Sheinbaum said at her daily press briefing. The U.S. “in their territory, us in our territory.”

Trump’s order highlighted Mexican drug cartels and other Latin American criminal groups like Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and Salvadoran gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). The order says they “threaten the safety of the American people, the security of the United States, and the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere.”

The order did not list any Mexican cartels by name but said Cabinet secretaries would recommend groups for designation as terrorist organizations in the next 14 days. It was among a slew of executive orders Trump signed Monday to kick off his administration, several of which focus on securing the southern border.

“The Cartels have engaged in a campaign of violence and terror throughout the Western Hemisphere that has not only destabilized countries with significant importance for our national interests but also flooded the United States with deadly drugs, violent criminals, and vicious gangs,” the order reads.

It was unclear what the impact could be for fighting the cartels, but there was concern it could be another way to make it more difficult for people from the countries where those groups operate to access the U.S.

In came in addition to measures including the declaration of an emergency on the U.S. southern border, a promise to slap 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada on Feb. 1 and ending the use of the CBP One app, which allowed migrants to apply for asylum appointments before reaching the border.

Trump has also promised to carry out mass deportations and threatened military intervention in Mexico to fight cartels, something sharply rejected by Sheinbaum.

Many have voiced concern the terrorist designation could provide the U.S. justification to take military action against cartels.

Vanda Felbab-Brown, an organized crime expert at the Brookings Institution, said the order could have “huge implications from trade to migrants.”

As cartels have gained a firm grip on control of the lucrative migrant smuggling trade in recent years, it’s virtually impossible for migrants and asylum seekers to pass through Mexico and other Latin American countries without paying some sort of fee to cartels.

The moment they do, Felbab-Brown said, it could disqualify them from seeking asylum.

“Trump can essentially prevent the vast majority of undocumented migrants trying to cross the U.S. border from getting asylum,” she said.

Mike Vigil, a former head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s foreign operations, said he expected any terrorism designation to have very little impact on day-to-day operations against cartels because many of the same anti-terrorism powers American authorities would be granted are already employ in counter-narcotics efforts.

“It’s already been done. This is nothing new,” Vigil said. “It’s all political theater and tossing a piece of stale salami to (Trump’s) base.”

He said logistically the order would likely allow the U.S. to seize assets of groups in the U.S., sanction U.S. citizens that do business with terrorist organizations and block members of those groups from entering the U.S.

“It’s not going to allow the U.S. to send troops into Mexico like so many people think simply because people forget that Mexico is a sovereign country and it would be an act of war,” he said.

The move comes as cartel violence has intensified in northern Mexican states after the kidnapping and detention of kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada sparked an all-out war between rival factions of the Sinaloa cartel. Gunmen continue to leave mutilated bodies scattered across the state and kidnap people even from hospitals.

It’s part of a larger shifting dynamic in cartel warfare in the Latin American nation. Years ago, a handful of criminal organizations headed by a few key capos controlled large parts of Mexico. Now, many more factions have violently fought for power, as they’ve become more agile and harder to pin down.

They’ve used more sophisticated tools like bomb-dropping drones, improvised explosive devices and rigged armored vehicles, and have expanded into migrant trafficking and the avocado trade. Meanwhile, thousands of Mexican citizens have gotten caught in the crossfire, having been slain or gone missing.

Some relatives of cartel victims in violence-torn areas of Mexico hoped that designating the cartels as terrorist organizations could help their quest for justice.

Adrián LeBarón, whose daughter was killed in a 2019 massacre in northern Mexico, said he hoped it could raise visibility for victims of violence in Mexico, one of the most violent countries in the world that is not actively at war.

LeBarón, who has called the massacre a terrorist attack, said the designation could pressure authorities to bring justice to victims of violence.

“An investigation into terrorism is justice not only for us, but also for every town and corner of the country where a family has been destroyed and terror is sown in its wake,” he wrote on a post on the social media platform X.

Associated Press writer María Verza contributed to this report from Mexico City.