A bucktoothed llama that spends his days comforting chronically ill children at a North Carolina camp founded by NASCAR royalty has been crowned the world’s oldest llama in captivity.
At 27 years and more than 250 days, the selfie- and snuggle-loving llama called Whitetop dethroned Dalai Llama, the Guinness World Records announced last week. Dalai lived on a ranch in Albuquerque and was announced as the oldest in 2023 shortly after his 27th birthday.
Whitetop was donated to the Victory Junction camp in 2006, just two years after race car driver Kyle Petty — the son of NASCAR great Richard Petty — and his family founded the camp in honor of Petty’s own son, Adam, who was 19 when he was killed in a 2000 crash while practicing for a race.
A bucktoothed llama that spends its days comforting chronically ill children at a camp founded by NASCAR royalty in North Carolina has been crowned the world’s oldest llama in captivity. (AP Video)
The year-round free camp sits on 84 acres (34 hectares) in the Petty hometown of Randleman, North Carolina, about 75 miles (121 kilometers) west of Raleigh. It’s designed for children with conditions that include cancer, kidney and heart disease, cerebral palsy, Spina Bifida and an array of neurological and physical disabilities.
Whitetop has become known for his relaxed, sweet and empathetic personality. His go-to move is to lie still while campers pet him, which can comfort children and give them important sensory input, said Billie Davis, the camp’s barn director.
“He really gets to help campers come out of their shell when they interact with him,” she said. “He can be kind of intimidating at first, but once they come over to him and love on him and pet on him, they just realize how sweet he is.”
One of his best friends is a miniature highland cow named Gus-Gus, who tends to forget Whitetop is a llama and enjoys jumping on him. Whitetop also likes to roll in fresh wood chippings, chomp on soaked alfalfa and pose for selfies.
“If you try to take a picture of him from the side, he’s not into it,” Davis said. “He will, like scoot in there and try to get his face from a side profile so that it’s like he’s cheesing.”
Davis attributes Whitetop’s long life to great veterinary care and exercise, as well as it simply loving his job.
The average life span for a llama is 15 years, according to the Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance.
Whitetop has developed arthritis in his twilight years but otherwise is very healthy, said Davis. And the only times the llama becomes upset is when Gus-Gus, along with two miniature donkeys named Jed and Jethro, leave him alone.
Stephanie Wilkerson, 33, first went to the camp’s family weekend in 2006 after she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. She said she was initially a little nervous around Whitetop but soon realized petting him and giving him hugs made her feel better.
“When I started stroking him more and more and more, I got more relaxed,” said Wilkerson, who lives in Thomasville, North Carolina.
With Whitetop’s newfound fame in longevity, the camp has started selling limited edition T-shirts displaying Whitetop with sunglasses and the words, “Still Spit’n.” The proceeds go to the camp.
Although Davis said Whitetop would like people to know not all llamas spit on you.
“Typically llamas only spit when they are scared, uncomfortable or territorial over something,” she said. “And he just loves his job so much that he doesn’t do it.”
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for coating the muffin tin
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Photo by Getty Images
Directions
Peel 1 pound Yukon gold potatoes. Using a very sharp knife or mandoline, cut the potatoes crosswise into very thin, 1/8-inch-thick slices. Place in a large bowl and add enough very cold water to cover. Let the potatoes soak for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and heat the oven to 400ºF. Coat 6 wells of a standard muffin tin with unsalted butter. Finely grate 2 garlic cloves. Melt 4 tablespoons unsalted butter in a small skillet over medium heat. (Alternatively, melt the butter in a small bowl in the microwave, about 30 seconds on high power.) Turn off the heat. Add the garlic, 2 teaspoons kosher salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper and stir to combine.
When the potatoes are done soaking, drain, pat them dry with a towel, and return to the bowl. The slices will feel firmer and less malleable.
Transfer the butter mixture onto the potatoes. Working quickly with your hands, separate the potato slices and rub with butter mixture. Depending on how cold the potatoes are, the butter may solidify; just rub the butter into the potato slices and it will melt as it bakes.
Build the potato roses, arranging the potato slices in one muffin well at a time: Working from the outside in and starting with the larger slices, press 5 slices against the sides of the well, shingling and bending them as needed. Repeat arranging and overlapping 5 more slices inside the first layer. Shingle 3 slices on a cutting board and roll them up together into a tight coil, then place in the center of the well. Repeat shingling and rolling 3 more slices, and place in the center of the well. Depending on what the rose looks like at this point, you may need to twist one or two more slices and place them in the center of the rose.
Repeat until you have 6 roses.
Bake until the edges of the potato roses are golden-brown and crispy, and the centers are tender, 30 to 35 minutes. While the pan is still warm, run a small offset spatula around each rose to loosen and remove from the pan. Leftovers can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
By ZEKE MILLER and MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump took credit for “swift and unrelenting action” in reorienting the nation’s economy, immigration and foreign policy Tuesday in an address to Congress and the American people about his turbulent first weeks in office, as Democratic legislators immediately registered their dissent with stone faces, placards calling out ’lies,” and one legislator’s ejection.
Trump’s joint address to Congress was the latest marker in Trump’s takeover of the nation’s capital, where the Republican-led House and Senate have done little to restrain the president as he and his allies work to slash the size of the federal government and remake America’s place in the world. With a tight grip on his party, Trump has been emboldened after overcoming impeachments in his first term and criminal prosecutions in between his two administrations to take sweeping actions that have featured a dismantling of the federal government, tensions with America’s allies and a trade war compounding economic uncertainty.
“It has been nothing but swift and unrelenting action,” Trump said of his opening weeks in office. “The people elected me to do the job, and I am doing it.”
Trump declares ‘America is back” as he opens his speech to a Joint Session of Congress. (AP Video)
Trump, who has billionaire adviser Elon Musk orchestrating his efforts to slash the size and scope of the federal government, said he is working to “reclaim democracy from this unaccountable bureaucracy” and threatened federal workers anew with firings if they resist his agenda.
Musk, who was seated in the House gallery, received a pair of standing ovations from Republicans in the chamber, as Trump exaggerated and shared false claims about alleged government “abuse” uncovered by the Tesla and SpaceX founder and his team of disrupters.
Trump repeated false claims that tens of millions of dead people over 100 years old are receiving Social Security payments, prompting some Democrats to shout, “Not true!” and “Those are lies!”
Trump spoke at a critical juncture in his presidency, as voters who returned him to the White House on his promise to fix inflation are instead finding economic chaos. All the gains the S&P 500 have made since Election Day are now gone, while consumer sentiment surveys show the public sees inflation as worsening. For a president who believes that announcements of corporate investments can boost attitudes about the economy, the speech was suddenly a test of his ability to rebuild confidence in his economic leadership.
“Among my very highest priorities is to rescue our economy and get dramatic and immediate relief to working families,” Trump said. He promised to organize the federal government to lower costs on eggs and energy, blaming his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden for the situation and offering scant details of his own plans.
Trump also called for the extension of his first-term tax cuts and additional federal funding for his border crackdown, including for his promised efforts at “mass deportation” of people in the U.S. illegally.
The backdrop was the new economic uncertainty unleashed after the president opened the day by placing stiff tariffs on imports from the country’s neighbors and closest trading partners. A 25% tax on goods from Canada and Mexico went into effect early Tuesday — ostensibly to secure greater cooperation to tackle fentanyl trafficking and illegal immigration — triggering immediate retaliation and sparking fears of a wider trade war. Trump also raised tariffs on goods from China to 20%.
Trump seemed prepared to double down on his trade war, which experts have warned will raise prices for consumers.
“Whatever they tariff us, we tariff them. Whatever they tax us, we tax them,” Trump said.
Republicans were boisterous as Trump stepped to the lectern in the House, chanting “USA! USA!” as the president basked in the cheers. The GOP lawmakers were jubilant, having won a trifecta of the White House, Senate and House in the elections. However, they face a high-stakes task of delivering on Trump’s agenda as well as avoiding a government shutdown later this month.
Across the aisle, out-of-power Democrats set the tone early, with most remaining seated without applauding or making eye contact with Trump as he was introduced in the chamber.
After several interruptions, House Speaker Mike Johnson jumped in and called for decorum to be restored in the chamber as Republicans shouted “USA” to drown out the cries from the other side of the aisle. Johnson then ordered Texas Rep. Al Green removed from the chamber.
Other Democrats held up signs criticizing like “Save Medicaid” and “Protect Veterans” during Trump’s remarks, seeking to drive public awareness to elements of Trump’s agenda they believed might offer them a pathway back to the majority.
Other Democrats in attendance chose to highlight the impact of Trump’s actions by inviting fired federal workers as guests, including a disabled veteran from Arizona, a health worker from Maryland and a forestry employee who worked on wildfire prevention in California. They also invited guests who would be harmed by steep federal budget cuts to Medicaid and other programs.
“It’s worth it to let people know that there are some people who are going to stand up” to Trump, Green told reporters after being thrown out of the chamber.
Trump used his speech to address his proposals for fostering peace in Ukraine and the Middle East, where he has unceremoniously upended the policies of the Biden administration in a matter of just weeks. On Monday, Trump ordered a freeze to U.S. military assistance to Ukraine, ending years of staunch American support for the country in fending off Russia’s invasion.
Trump was tightening the screws after his explosive Oval Office meeting Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the U.S. leader tries to pressure the erstwhile American ally to embrace peace talks with its invader.
Many Democratic lawmakers wore blue and yellow ties and scarves in a show of support for Ukraine.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, who was wearing a blue and yellow tie Tuesday, accused Trump and Vice President JD Vance of “bullying a statesman last week on behalf of a thug.”
In the Middle East, negotiations to extend a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have stalled, with Trump floating the permanent displacement of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and a U.S. “takeover” of the territory, straining partnerships with countries in the region and undoing longtime American support for a two-state solution to end the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
Trump and first lady Melania Trump were joined in the motorcade to the Capitol by billionaire presidential adviser Elon Musk, who is orchestrating Trump’s efforts to slash the size and scope of the federal government. Musk was seated in the House gallery overlooking where Trump spoke.
The whole scene for Trump’s speech was a marked contrast to his final State of the Union address in his first term. Five years ago, Trump delivered his annual address just after the Senate had acquitted him during his first impeachment trial and before the COVID-19 pandemic had taken root across society.
As he finished, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, stood and dramatically ripped up a copy of Trump’s speech.
Trump’s Tuesday’s address, which was not referred to as a State of the Union because he is still in the first year of his new term, will be received very differently, said Speaker Johnson.
“We will not be ripping up the speech tonight,” the Republican said. “I would like to frame it in gilded gold.”
Trump said he had ended a “weaponized government” that he said Democrats had wielded against him, referring to his legal troubles over the years, claiming they were political persecution.
The president also used his high-profile moment to press his efforts to reshape the country’s approach to social issues, as he looked to continue to eradicate diversity, equity and inclusion efforts across the country and to roll back some public accommodations for transgender individuals.
Trump said he ended the “tyranny” of diversity, equity and inclusion policies that he rolled back for the federal government and military, along with pushing similar moves in the private sector. “Our country will be woke no longer,” he declared.
Watching from the gallery with the first lady were guests including 15-year-old Elliston Berry, of Aledo, Texas, who was the victim of an explicit deepfake image sent to classmates.
Other White House guests included Stephanie Diller, the widow of New York Police Department Officer Jonathan Diller, who was killed in the line of duty during a traffic stop in March 2024; Marc Fogel, the Pennsylvania teacher who came home last month after years of detention in Russia, and his 95-year-old mother, Malphine; and relatives of Corey Comperatore, the former Pennsylvania fire chief who was killed as he protected his family during an assassination attempt on Trump last summer.
Trump was also expected to recognize additional guests in the room.
The Democrats’ guests also include at least one government watchdog dismissed by Trump in his bid to emplace loyalists across positions of influence.
Republicans lawmakers, too, are trying to make a point with their invited guests.
Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa hosted Scott Root, father of the late Sarah Root, who died on the night of her 2016 college graduation in a vehicle crash involving an immigrant who was in the country without legal authority.
Outside Washington, the latest round of public protest against Trump and his administration also unfolded Tuesday. Loosely coordinated groups held demonstrations at parks, statehouses and public grounds as protesters gathered in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
They condemned his presidency as dangerous and un-American, though they cited a wide variety of actions they wanted to push back against, including the government cuts, Trump’s tariffs and his stance on Ukraine.
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Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Stephen Groves and Kevin Freking in Washington, Darlene Superville in Kissimmee, Fla., and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — Ven-Allen Lubin collected his first double-double as a Tar Heel and Ian Jackson hit five of North Carolina’s season-high 15 3-pointers while scoring 19 points in a 91-59 victory over Virginia Tech on Tuesday night.
The Tar Heels (20-11, 13-6 ACC) extended their season-high win streak to six as they prepare to end the regular season at home against No. 2 Duke on Saturday. North Carolina won 20 games in a season for the 65th time.
Lubin, whose previous stops were at Notre Dame and Vanderbilt, had 10 points and 11 rebounds. Jackson was 5 of 8 from the arc. Seth Trimble scored 17 points, RJ Davis 15 and Drake Powell 13. Elliot Cadeau had 12 assists.
The Tar Heels made 15 of 28 3-pointers and shot 59% overall.
Jaydon Young and Ben Burnham scored 12 points each for the Hokies (13-17, 8-11), who shot 38%. Virginia Tech’s leading scorer and rebounder, Tobi Lawal, was on the bench with a lower leg injury. He also missed the Hokies’ previous game.
The Hokies led by two when North Carolina went on a 25-6 run over the final seven minutes of the first half, capped when Lubin fed Trimble in the lane for a dunk as time ran out for a 46-29 lead. Davis had nine of his 15 first-half points and Trimble seven of his 12 in that run.
Jackson made consecutive 3-pointers in a 15-0 run that produced a 34-point bulge with 12 minutes remaining.
The Tar Heels now prepare the Blue Devils, who they lost to 87-70 on Feb. 1 at Duke. Virginia Tech travels to play No. 11 Clemson, also Saturday.
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — An Australian man credited with saving 2.4 million babies through his record-breaking blood plasma donations over six decades, has died, his family said Tuesday. He was 88.
James Harrison, a retired state railway department clerk, died in a nursing home on the central coast of New South Wales state on Feb. 17, according to his grandson, Jarrod Mellowship.
Harrison’s plasma contained a rare antibody, known as anti-D, which is used to make injections that protect unborn babies from hemolytic disease of the newborn, in which a pregnant woman’s immune system attacks her fetus’ red blood cells. The disease is most common when a woman has an Rh negative blood type and her baby’s is Rh positive.
Australia has only 200 anti-D donors who help 45,000 mothers and their babies annually.
Despite an aversion to needles, Harrison made 1,173 donations after he turned 18 in 1954 until he was forced to retire in 2018, aged 81.
“He did it for the right reasons. As humble as he was, he did like the attention. But he would never do it for the attention,” Mellowship said, adding his grandfather had been surprised to be recognized by Guinness World Records in 2005 as the person who had donated the most blood plasma in the world.
The record was beaten in 2022 by American Brett Cooper from Walker, Michigan.
Australian Red Cross Blood Service pays tribute to donor
The Australian Red Cross Blood Service said Harrison was renowned as the “Man with the Golden Arm.”
He was credited with saving the lives of 2.4 million babies through his plasma donations, the national agency responsible for collecting and distributing blood products, also known as Lifeblood, said in a statement.
Lifeblood chief executive Stephen Cornelissen said Harrison had hoped that someone in Australia would one day beat his donation record.
“James was a remarkable, stoically kind and generous person who was committed to a lifetime of giving and he captured the hearts of many people around the world,” Cornelissen said in a statement.
“It was James’ belief that his donations were no more important than any other donors’ and that everyone can be special in the same way that he was,” Cornelissen added.
Antibody helps donor’s family
Mellowship said his mother, Tracey Mellowship, Harrison’s daughter, needed the treatment when he and his brother, Scott, were born.
Jarrod Mellowship said his own wife, Rebecca, also needed the treatment when three of their four children were born.
There is speculation that Harrison developed a high concentrations of anti-D as a result of his own blood transfusions during major lung surgery when he was 14.
“After the surgery, his dad, Reg, told grandad you’re only really alive because people donated blood,” Jarrod Mellowship said. “The day he turned 18, he started donating.”
The application of anti-D in fighting hemolytic disease of the newborn was not discovered until the 1960s.
Harrison, who was born in New South Wales, is survived by his sister, Margaret Thrift, his daughter, two grandsons and four great-grandchildren.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida’s attorney general announced Tuesday that his office has opened a criminal investigation into Andrew and Tristan Tate, who are charged with human trafficking in Romania, days after they returned to the U.S.
Attorney General James Uthmeier announced on social media that he directed his office to work with law enforcement to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the Tate brothers.
“Based on a thorough review of the evidence, I’ve directed the Office of Statewide Prosecution to execute search warrants and issue subpoenas in the now-active criminal investigation into the Tate brothers,” Uthmeier said.
After the Tates landed in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday, Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters that the brothers weren’t welcome in Florida and that he would have the attorney general examine whether the state may have any jurisdiction over their alleged crimes.
During an appearance Monday on the PPD Podcast, Andrew Tate said the governor was caving to media pressure. Tate said he has a U.S. passport and a right to visit his home country. He said he has broken no laws and that he has never even been tried, let alone convicted, of a crime.
The Tates, who are dual U.S.-British citizens, were arrested in late 2022 and formally indicted last year in Romania on charges they participated in a criminal ring that lured women to that country, where they were sexually exploited. Andrew Tate was also charged with rape. They deny the allegations.
Andrew Tate, 38, is a former professional kickboxer and self-described misogynist who is a hugely successful social media figure, attracting millions of followers, many of them young men and schoolchildren drawn in by the luxurious lifestyle the influencer projects online. He and his 36-year-old brother, Tristan, are vocal supporters of President Donald Trump.
Andrew Tate previously was banned from TikTok, YouTube and Facebook for hate speech and his misogynistic comments, including that women should bear responsibility for getting sexually assaulted.
The Tates left Romania after Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu said this month that a Trump administration official expressed interest in the brothers’ case at the recent Munich Security Conference.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina state Senate Republicans advanced a disaster recovery measure Tuesday to direct $533 million in additional spending to meet still-pressing needs from Hurricane Helene’s historic flooding and destruction last fall, but it also locates more relief funding for earlier storms.
The legislation that cleared the Senate’s budget-writing committee is wider in scope than a $500 million relief package approved unanimously last week by the House that focused on Helene’s destruction in western North Carolina.
Spending provisions within the Senate proposal locates an additional $217 million to complete lingering home construction projects for victims of Hurricanes Matthew in 2016 and Florence in 2018 in eastern North Carolina. The package also lays the groundwork to assist farmers who suffered agricultural losses last year — not just from Helene but also from drought and tornadoes.
“We feel that we need to move with urgency to get this bill across the finish line,” said Sen. Brent Jackson, a Senate Appropriations Committee chairman. “Citizens across all our 100 counties faced disasters in 2024.”
A Senate floor vote on the chamber’s bill was expected Wednesday. While House Republicans also are advancing agricultural assistance and Matthew and Florence relief in other measures, top House and Senate leaders later Tuesday said they believed they could agree upon a final supplemental disaster relief bill quickly — possibly by the end of the week — then send it to Democratic Gov. Josh Stein’s desk.
“Everybody wants the same thing — to get people help,” said state Rep. John Bell, who has been shepherding the House’s $500 million measure.
Last month, Stein offered his own $1.07 billion proposal for additional Helene relief. The amount would double the money already appropriated or made available by the General Assembly for Helene recovery activities since late last year. But GOP legislators seek to spend less now, saying they want to be careful about maximizing federal matching funds and avoiding mistakes after previous storms.
North Carolina state officials reported over 100 deaths from Helene, which caused a record $59.6 billion in damages and recovery needs. More than five months later, over 5,700 households in western counties are still receiving temporary housing assistance and more than 200 public roads in the region remain closed or just partially opened, according to state data.
Legislative leaders and Stein agree that more money will be allocated for Helene relief later this year in the state budget because the needs are so great, even with billions arriving from Washington.
“The underlying message I want to leave with people is we’re making progress but it’s just a start,” Stein said of Helene recovery at the monthly meeting of statewide elected officials earlier Tuesday. “This work is long term and it’s going to be hard, and we all have to be there together.”
Like the House legislation, the Senate proposal emphasizes repairs for damaged homes, private bridges and roads, assistance to farmers and rebuilding infrastructure adjacent to small businesses. The Senate plan omits a House provision that would allow $15 million to go to nonprofit organizations that could then offer grants to small businesses. Stein and fellow Democrats have pleaded for direct grants to help businesses already weighed down with loans.
The Senate plan does provide money — although not as much as Stein sought — for local school districts that closed for many weeks due to Helene to offer summer school instruction. The House plan left out the program.
Republican lawmakers have been angry with delays in the Florence and Matthew housing reconstruction program, which was created by then-Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration and funded with federal dollars.
While about 3,300 home construction projects have been completed through the state Office of Recovery and Resiliency, state funds are now needed to complete another 1,000 that remain in various stages of construction. Office leaders blamed the delays on the COVID-19 pandemic, rising construction costs, labor shortages and ultimately management mistakes. The agency’s chief operating officer left her job in November.
Both the Senate measure and a separate House bill also approved Tuesday in another committee provides the $217 million, but each bill requires significant monitoring and oversight requirements in how it’s spent. Language in both bills would ultimately shut down the Office of Recovery and Resiliency. Stein’s administration is handling Helene-related home reconstruction through a new agency.
By SAMYA KULLAB and HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that the Oval Office blowup with U.S. counterpart Donald Trump last week was “regrettable,” adding that he stands ready to work under Trump’s “strong leadership” to get a lasting peace.
Zelenskyy’s remarks — an apparent attempt to placate Trump — came in a social media post on X, hours after the White House announced a pause in military aid to Ukraine that is critical to fighting Russia’s invasion.
But later during his nightly address, Zelenskyy indicated that Ukraine didn’t receive direct notification from the U.S. that aid had been cut, and was seeking confirmation.
“I have instructed Ukraine’s Minister of Defense, the heads of our intelligence agencies, and our diplomats to contact their counterparts in the United States and obtain official information. People should not have to guess,” he said.
“Ukraine and America deserve a respectful dialogue and a clear position from one another. Especially when it comes to protecting lives during a full-scale war,” he added, saying that military aid had been cut once before in January for a brief period.
Zelenskyy also said Ukraine is ready to sign a lucrative deal on rare-earth minerals and security with Washington.
In an apparent reference to Trump’s criticism following the contentious White House meeting on Friday that Zelenskyy does not want a peace deal, the Ukrainian leader said: “None of us want an endless war.”
“Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than the Ukrainians. My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts,” he said.
Asked by reporters in Moscow about Zelenskyy voicing readiness for the resumption of talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “It’s good, it’s positive.”
In his post, Zelenskyy said the Oval Office meeting “did not go the way it was supposed to be.”
“It is regrettable that it happened this way. It is time to make things right,” he added. “We would like future cooperation and communication to be constructive.”
The pause of U.S. military aid catapulted Ukraine into alarm and apprehension. Zelenskyy’s statement came before Trump was expected to address the U.S. Congress later Tuesday.
“Regarding the agreement on minerals and security, Ukraine is ready to sign it in any time and in any convenient format,” Zelenskyy said. “We see this agreement as a step toward greater security and solid security guarantees, and I truly hope it will work effectively.”
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke by phone successively with Trump and Zelenskyy, Macron’s office said, and “welcomes” the Ukrainian’s “willingness to re-engage in dialogue with the U.S.” It released no details about the discussion with Trump.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer also spoke to the Ukrainian leader and “welcomed President Zelenskyy’s steadfast commitment to securing peace.”
Zelenskyy’s post came as officials in Kyiv said they were grateful for vital U.S. help in the war and want to keep working with Washington. Ukraine’s prime minister, though, said the country still wants security guarantees to be part of any peace deal and won’t recognize Russian occupation of any Ukrainian land. Those are potential stumbling blocks for Washington and Moscow, respectively.
Ukraine and its allies are concerned Trump is pushing for a quick ceasefire that will favor Russia, which Kyiv says cannot be trusted to honor truces.
A White House official said the U.S. was “pausing and reviewing” its aid to “ensure that it is contributing to a solution.” The order will remain in effect until Trump determines that Ukraine has demonstrated a commitment to peace negotiations, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the assistance.
The pause in U.S. aid isn’t expected to have an immediate impact on the battlefield. Ukrainian forces have slowed Russian advances along the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line, especially in the fiercely contested Donetsk region in the east. The Russian onslaught has been costly in troops and armor but hasn’t brought a strategically significant breakthrough for the Kremlin.
Ukraine needs help to fight Russia
Ukraine, which depends heavily on foreign help to hold back Russia’s full-scale invasion that began on Feb. 24, 2022, has feared that aid could be stopped since Trump took office.
U.S.-made Patriot air defense missile systems, for example, are pivotal to protecting Ukraine. Just as vital is U.S. intelligence assistance, which has allowed Ukraine to track Russian troop movements and select targets.
“I feel betrayed, but this feeling is not really deep for some reason. I was expecting something like that from Trump’s side,” said a Ukrainian soldier fighting in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukraine launched a daring incursion in August 2024 to improve its hand in negotiations. The soldier spoke by phone to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
On the front line, where Ukraine is struggling to fend off the larger and better-equipped Russian army, another soldier said the U.S. decision would allow further battlefield gains for Moscow.
“War is very pragmatic,” he told AP, speaking on condition of anonymity in compliance with military regulations. “If we have weapons, enough ammunition, infantry, armored vehicles and aviation — great. If not, then we’re done,” he said.
Olena Fedorova, 46, of the southern port city of Odesa, said she hoped Trump’s decision would be temporary because “we really need help.”
U.S. support is vital because Europe cannot fully provide what Ukraine needs in air defense systems, leading to increased civilian casualties, said lawmaker Yehor Chernov.
The suspension of U.S. military aid is already being felt at a hub in eastern Poland that has been used to ferry Western weapons into neighboring Ukraine, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.
The U.S.-Ukraine relationship has taken a downturn since Trump took office and his team launched bilateral talks with Russia.
Trump had vowed during his campaign to settle the war in 24 hours, but later changed that time frame and voiced hope that peace could be negotiated in six months.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said U.S. help is “vital” and has saved “perhaps tens of thousands” of civilian and military lives. But he emphasized that any peace agreement must be “on Ukraine’s terms, as the victim country.”
Ukraine wants “concrete security guarantees” from Washington, European countries and Group of Seven leading industrialized nations, he said. Giving up territory to Russia, which occupies nearly 20% of Ukraine, “is not possible” under the U.N. Charter, he said.
European allies stress support for Kyiv
Noting that the U.S. has been “the chief supplier” of aid to Ukraine, Peskov said that if Washington suspends these supplies, “it will make the best contribution to peace.”
Poland’s Foreign Ministry said the U.S. had not consulted with or informed NATO countries before announcing the pause.
Russia will likely try to use the halt in supplies to extend its territorial gains and strengthen its position in prospective peace talks.
Andrei Kartapolov, a retired general who heads a defense committee in parliament, told Russia’s state RIA news agency that Ukraine would exhaust its current ammunition reserves within months.
“We need to keep up the pressure and continue to target their bases and depots with long-range precision weapons to destroy the stockpiles,” he said.
Ukraine’s European allies, meanwhile, reaffirmed their commitment to Kyiv.
The chief of the European Union’s executive proposed an 800-billion-euro ($841 billion) plan to bolster defenses of EU nations and provide Ukraine with military muscle.
The U.K. government, which has been leading European efforts to keep Trump from pushing to end the war on terms that could favor Moscow, said it remains “absolutely committed to securing a lasting peace in Ukraine.”
Malcolm Chalmers, deputy director-general of the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based defense think tank, said Washington’s move could encourage Russia to seek more Ukrainian concessions, including demilitarization and neutrality.
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Volodymyr Yurchuk in Kyiv, Vanessa Gera in Warsaw, Poland, and Aamer Madhani, Zeke Miller and Lisa Mascaro in Washington, contributed to this report.
The Atlantic Coast Conference, Clemson and Florida State are ready to move forward together after legal fights that threatened the stability of the league.
Each approved a settlement Tuesday to end the crossfire of lawsuits between the member schools and the ACC, signing off on a deal that changes the revenue-distribution model in a way that would theoretically benefit both schools with marquee football brands. The deal also revises and clarifies the long-term costs for a school to leave the conference.
It doesn’t offer permanent security. Notably, the 2030-31 season now looms as a significant marker. But it does stabilize the coming years for a league that had heard doomsayers questioning its survival amid a growing revenue gap behind the Southeastern Conference and the Big Ten.
“Today’s resolution begins the next chapter of this storied league and further solidifies the ACC as a premier conference,” commissioner Jim Phillips said in a statement, noting the parties would dismiss pending lawsuits in Florida and the Carolinas.
“The settlements, coupled with the ACC’s continued partnership with ESPN, allow us to focus on our collective future — including Clemson and Florida State — united in an 18-member conference demonstrating the best in intercollegiate athletics.”
The approval came after the ACC’s Board of Directors — made up of university presidents and chancellors — gave its OK in a call Tuesday morning, followed by separate approval from trustees at Clemson and FSU.
Most notably, the revenue-distribution model will now incorporate TV viewership as a way for the league’s top programs to generate more revenue. That formula would see 60% of the league’s TV revenues go into a pot for distribution based on a rolling five-year formula tied to viewership ratings, while the remaining 40% would be distributed equally among the members.
The upside could be $15 million or more for top-earning schools, while it could also result in a decline of about $7 million for others, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Monday. That person spoke on condition of anonymity because neither the league nor the schools had publicly addressed the deal terms at the time.
It’s the latest in a series of what Phillips has previously called “aggressive” efforts to generate more revenue, which has included expansion to include California, Stanford and SMU, as well as this year’s launch of the “success initiative” that allows teams to keep money generated by their own postseason success.
A slideshow presentation for Clemson’s trustees, for example, projected that the viewership and postseason-incentives wrinkles could mean more than $120 million of new revenue for Clemson in the next six years.
“At the end of the day, this innovative distribution model which further incentivizes performance and investment will help strengthen the ACC,” Clemson athletic director Graham Neff told trustees before the vote. “A strong ACC is good for Clemson. And a strong Clemson is good for the ACC.”
The growing revenue gap — which amounted to roughly $6 million less per school than in the SEC and $15 million in the Big Ten according to tax documents from the 2022-23 season — had been at the root of the unrest. Schools had signed a grant-of-rights deal to give the ACC control of their media rights through the end of the league’s TV deal with ESPN in 2036, while the league could impose massive exit fees on any school that sought to leave for another league before the expiration of that deal.
Those costs had been a key subject of FSU’s December 2023 lawsuit and Clemson’s in March 2024, while the ACC had conversely sued both schools. The settlement now provides a roadmap to how any early exit might work.
Specifically, the slideshow at the Clemson trustee meeting reported the exit fee would be $165 million for the 2026 fiscal year, but would descend by $18 million per year until leveling off around $75 million for the 2030-31 season. And despite the grant-of-rights provision, any school that paid the exit fee would be allowed to exit with its media rights, according to that presentation.
That 2031 date would largely align with expiration of media deals for the Big Ten (2029-30 season) and the Big 12 (2030-31), while the SEC’s deal runs through 2033-34. And that could set up a potential countdown for massive realignment in the rapidly changing landscape of college athletics.
Then again, it’s hard to predict much beyond the immediate future. And that’s where the ACC has strengthened its footing.
It was roughly a month ago that ESPN exercised its option to extend its media base-rights agreement, aligning that deal with a separate one that covers their partnership for the ACC Network through 2036. The league is in its first year of expansion that has created $600 million in additional incremental revenue gains through the ACC’s ESPN deal, with the new arrivals agreeing to reduced or no TV money at all for the coming years.
The Phillips-championed “success initiative” could amount to about $25 million in a year for a school, tied mostly to performance in the expanded College Football Playoff. The viewership plan accomplishes a similar goal for Phillips: the additional money would theoretically be accessible to any league member, incentivizing a school to field a program that viewers want to watch because of its elevated success.
“I got hundreds of emails and text messages and phone calls from friends and people I didn’t know over the last 13 months encouraging us in this journey and I’m proud of where we’ve landed,” FSU trustee and former Seminoles quarterback Drew Weatherford said during that meeting.
“We made some commitments 14 months ago to make sure we could do everything in our power to compete at the highest level, and I think we’ve done that here.”
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AP Sports Writers Will Graves in Pittsburgh and Mark Long in Florida contributed to this report.
