Category: Associated Press

The disappearance of the 84-year-old mother of Today show host Savannah Guthrie over the weekend is being investigated as a crime based on what authorities saw at her home, an Arizona sheriff said Monday.

Speaking during a news conference, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said there are signs at the home indicating Nancy Guthrie did not leave on her own.

“I need this community to step up and start giving us some calls,” Nanos said.

Asked to explain why investigators believe it’s a crime scene, Nanos said Nancy Guthrie has limited mobility and said there were other things that indicated she did not leave on her own, but declined to further elaborate.

The sheriff said Nancy Guthrie, who lived alone, was of sound mind. “This is not dementia related. She’s as sharp as a tack. The family wants everyone to know that this isn’t someone who just wandered off,” Nanos said. He said she needs her daily medication.

Nanos said at a news conference Sunday night that Nancy Guthrie was last seen around 9:30 p.m. Saturday at her home in the Tucson area. Her family reported her missing around noon Sunday.

Nanos said a family member received a call from someone at church saying Nancy Guthrie wasn’t there, leading family to search for her at her home and then calling 911.

Searchers were using drones and search dogs to look for Nancy Guthrie, Nanos said. Search and rescue teams were supported by volunteers and Border Patrol and the homicide team was also involved, he said. It is not standard for the homicide team to get involved in such cases, Nanos said.

“This one stood out because of what was described to us at the scene and what we located just looking at the scene,” Nanos said Sunday. He was not ruling out foul play.

On Monday morning, Nanos said search crews worked hard but have since been pulled back. “We don’t see this as a search mission so much as it is a crime scene,” the sheriff said.

Savannah Guthrie issued a statement on Monday, NBC’s Today show reported.

“On behalf of our family, I want to thank everyone for the thoughts, prayers and messages of support,” she said. “Right now, our focus remains on the safe return of our dear Nancy.”

Today opened Monday’s show with the disappearance of the co-anchor’s mother, but Savannah Guthrie was not at the anchor’s desk. Nanos said during the Monday news conference that Savannah Guthrie is in Arizona. Savannah Guthrie grew up in Tucson and graduated from the University of Arizona.

Nancy Guthrie appeared in a November 2025 story her daughter did about her hometown. Over a meal, Savannah asked her mother what made the family want to plant roots in Tucson in the 1970s.

“It’s so wonderful. Just the air, the quality of life,” Nancy said. “It’s laid back and gentle.”

She said she likes to see the javelinas, a piglike wild animal, eat her plants.

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — A federal judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration from ending temporary protections that have allowed roughly 350,000 Haitians to live and work in the U.S.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington granted to pause the termination of temporary protected status for Haitians while a lawsuit challenging it proceeds. The TPS designation for people from the Caribbean island country was scheduled to end on Feb. 3.

“During the stay, the Termination shall be null, void, and of no legal effect,” the judge said in her two-page order.

Temporary Protected Status can be granted by the Homeland Security secretary if conditions in home countries are deemed unsafe for return due to a natural disaster, political instability, or other dangers. While it grants TPS holders the right to live and work in the U.S., it does not provide a legal pathway to citizenship.

The Trump administration has aggressively sought to remove the protection, making more people eligible for deportation. The moves are part of the administration’s wider mass deportation effort.

In addition to the migrants from Haiti, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has terminated protections for about 600,000 Venezuelans; 60,000 people from Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal; more than 160,000 Ukrainians; and thousands of people from Afghanistan and Cameroon. Some have pending lawsuits in federal courts.

Haiti’s TPS status was initially activated in 2010 after a catastrophic earthquake and has been extended multiple times. The country is racked by gang violence that has displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

“If the termination stands, people will almost certainly die,” attorneys for Haitian TPS holders wrote in a court filing in December. “Some will likely be killed, others will likely die from disease, and yet others will likely starve to death.”

They say the decision to end Haiti’s status was motivated by racial animus, and Noem failed to consider whether there was an ongoing armed conflict that would pose a “serious threat” to personal safety, as required by law.

The Department of Homeland Security said conditions in Haiti had improved. In a court filing in December, attorneys for the administration said the plaintiffs’ claims of racial animus were based on statements “taken out of context, often from other speakers and from years ago, and without direct links to the Secretary’s determinations.”

“Rather, Secretary Noem provided reasoned, facially sufficient explanations for her determinations.” they said.

A government notice in November announcing the termination said there had been some positive developments for Haiti, including authorization of a new, multinational force to combat gangs. Noem determined allowing Haitians to remain in the U.S. was against the national interest, the notice said.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Monday that he plans to lower tariffs on goods from India to 18%, from 25%, after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to stop buying Russian oil.

The move comes after months of Trump pressing India to cut its reliance on cheap Russian crude. India has taken advantage of reduced Russian oil prices as much of the world has sought to isolate Moscow for its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Trump said that India would also start to reduce its import taxes on U.S. goods to zero and buy $500 billion worth of American products.

“This will help END THE WAR in Ukraine, which is taking place right now, with thousands of people dying each and every week!” Trump said in a Truth Social post announcing the tariff reduction on India.

Modi posted on X that he was “delighted” by the announced tariff reduction and that Trump’s “leadership is vital for global peace, stability, and prosperity.”

“I look forward to working closely with him to take our partnership to unprecedented heights,” Modi said.

Trump has long had a warm relationship with Modi, only to find it complicated recently by Russia’s war in Ukraine and trade disputes.

Trump has struggled to make good on a campaign pledge to quickly end the Russia-Ukraine war and has been reluctant since his return to office to place pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has simultaneously imposed tariffs without going through Congress to achieve his economic and foreign policy aims.

The announcement of the agreement with India comes as his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law Jared Kushner are expected to hold another round of three-way talks with Russian and Ukrainian officials in Abu Dhabi later this week aimed at finding an endgame to the war, according to a White House official who requested anonymity to describe the upcoming meeting.

Trump has voiced that he believes that targeting Russia’s oil revenue is the best way to get Moscow to end its nearly four-year war against Ukraine, a view that dovetails with his devotion to tariffs.

In June, Trump announced the United States would impose a 25% tariff on goods from India after his administration felt the country had done too little to narrow its trade surplus with the U.S. and open up its markets to American goods. In August, Trump imposed additional import taxes of 25% on Indian products because of its purchases of Russian oil, putting the combined rate increase at 50%.

With the commitment to stop buying Russian oil and the lower rate, the tariff rate on Indian products could fall to 18%, which is close to the 15% rate charged on goods from the European Union and Japan, among other nations.

Historically, India’s relationship with Russia revolves more around defense than energy. Russia provides only a small fraction of India’s oil but the majority of its military hardware.

But India, in the aftermath of the Russian invasion, used the moment to buy discounted Russian oil, allowing it to increase its energy supplies while Russia looked to cut deals to boost its beleaguered economy and keep paying for its brutal war.

The announced tariff reduction comes days after India and the European Union reached a free-trade agreement that could affect as many as 2 billion people after nearly two decades of negotiations. That deal would enable free trade on almost all goods between the EU’s 27 members and India, covering everything from textiles to medicines, and bringing down high import taxes for European wine and cars.

The deal between two of the world’s biggest markets also reflected a desire to reduce dependence on the U.S. after Trump’s import tax hikes disrupted established trade flows. While the cost of Trump’s tariffs have largely been borne by American businesses and consumers, the taxes can reduce trade volumes among countries.

In recent months, India has accelerated a push to finalize several trade agreements. It signed a deal with Oman in December and concluded talks for a deal with New Zealand.

Trump seemed to hint at a positive call with Modi on Monday morning, posting to social media a picture of the two of them on a magazine cover.

When the pair met last February, the U.S. president said that India would start buying American oil and natural gas. But the talks proved frustrating and the tariffs imposed last year by Trump did little to initially change India’s objections.

While the U.S. has been seeking greater market access and zero tariff on almost all its exports, India has expressed reservations on throwing open sectors such as agriculture and dairy, which employ a bulk of the country’s population for their livelihood, Indian officials said.

The Census Bureau reported that the U.S. ran a $53.5 billion trade imbalance in goods with India during the first 11 months of last year, meaning it imported more than it exported.

At a population exceeding 1.4 billion people, India is the world’s most populous country and viewed by many government officials and business leaders as geopolitical and economic counterbalance to China.

CAIRO — The first medical evacuees from Gaza entered Egypt on Monday as the Rafah border crossing reopened. It marked a key step in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire but a mostly symbolic one, as few people will be allowed to travel in either direction and no goods will pass through.

Ambulances waited for hours at the border before ferrying patients across after sunset, Egypt’s state-run Al-Qahera News satellite television channel showed. The crossing had been closed since Israeli troops seized it in May 2024.

About 20,000 Palestinian children and adults needing medical care hope to leave the devastated territory via the crossing, according to Gaza health officials. Thousands of other Palestinians outside the territory hope to enter and return home.

The number of travelers is expected to increase over time if the system is successful. Israel has said it and Egypt will vet people for exit and entry.

The office of the North Sinai governor confirmed that the first Palestinian patient crossed into Egypt.

Before the war, Rafah was the main crossing for people moving in and out of Gaza. The territory’s handful of other crossings are all shared with Israel. Under the terms of the ceasefire, which went into effect in October, Israel’s military controls the area between the Rafah crossing and the zone where most Palestinians live.

Violence continued across the coastal territory Monday, and Gaza hospital officials said an Israeli navy ship had fired on a tent camp, killing a 3-year-old Palestinian boy. Israel’s military said it was looking into the incident.

Egypt prepares to receive the wounded

Rajaa Abu Mustafa stood Monday outside a Gaza hospital where her 17-year-old son Mohamed was awaiting evacuation. He was blinded by a shot to the eye last year as he joined desperate Palestinians seeking food from aid trucks east of the southern city of Khan Younis.

“We have been waiting for the crossing to open,” she said. “Now it’s opened and the health ministry called and told us that we will travel to Egypt for (his) treatment.”

About 150 hospitals across Egypt are ready to receive Palestinian patients evacuated from Gaza through Rafah, authorities said. The Egyptian Red Crescent said it has readied “safe spaces” on the Egyptian side of the crossing to support those evacuated from Gaza.

Israel has banned sending patients to hospitals in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem since the war began, cutting off what was previously the main outlet for Palestinians needing medical treatment unavailable in Gaza.

The Rafah crossing will be supervised by European Union border patrol agents with a small Palestinian presence.

Historically, Israel and Egypt have vetted Palestinians applying to cross. Fearing that Israel could use the crossing to push Palestinians out of the enclave, Egypt has repeatedly said it must be open for them to enter and exit Gaza.

Palestinian toddler killed by Israeli fire

A 3-year-old Palestinian was killed when Israel’s navy hit tents sheltering displaced people in Khan Younis, Palestinian hospital authorities said.

According to Nasser hospital, which received the body, the attack happened in Muwasi, a tent camp area on Gaza’s coast.

More than 520 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire went into effect on Oct. 10, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The casualties since the ceasefire are among the over 71,800 Palestinians killed since the start of Israel’s offensive, according to ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians.

The ministry, which is part of Gaza’s Hamas-led government, keeps detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.

Rafah’s opening represents ceasefire progress

Israeli troops seized the Rafah crossing in May 2024, calling it part of efforts to combat arms smuggling for the militant Hamas group. The crossing was briefly opened for the evacuation of medical patients during a ceasefire in early 2025.

Israel had resisted reopening the Rafah crossing, but the recovery of the remains of the last hostage in Gaza cleared the way to move forward.

The reopening is seen as a key step as the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement moves into its second phase.

The truce halted more than two years of war between Israel and Hamas that began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Its first phase called for the exchange of all hostages held in Gaza for hundreds of Palestinians held by Israel, an increase in badly needed humanitarian aid, and a partial pullback of Israeli troops.

The second phase of the ceasefire deal is more complicated. It calls for installing the new Palestinian committee to govern Gaza, deploying an international security force, disarming Hamas and taking steps to begin rebuilding.