Russian aerial attacks kill 2; countries work on prisoner exchange

Russian aerial attacks on civilian areas of Ukraine killed two people and wounded at least three, officials said Thursday, as the warring countries work on a prisoner exchange for Easter.

Periodic prisoner exchanges have been one of the few positive outcomes of otherwise fruitless months-long, U.S.-brokered negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv. The talks have delivered no progress on key issues to end Russia’s invasion of its neighbor, now in its fifth year.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offered a ceasefire for the Easter period, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said this week that Moscow wants a lasting peace settlement, not a temporary truce.

President Vladimir Putin unilaterally declared a 30-hour ceasefire last Easter, but each side accused the other of breaking it.

Leaders seek to oust system president who refuses to quit

The president of the University of Wisconsin system said in letters obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday that he has been told to resign or be fired, that he has been given no reason and that he won’t step aside.

Jay Rothman, president of the multicampus 165,000-student university system since 2022, said in a letter addressed to the leader of the Board of Regents dated March 26 that he has been given no reason why regents want him to leave.

Rothman said he has been told that his options are to resign or retire and that if he doesn’t then the board “was prepared to terminate my employment despite all that has been accomplished.”

Judge blocks deportation of man detained by ICE

An immigration judge on Thursday ruled against the deportation of a Pennsylvania man who had spent 43 years in prison and was set to be freed after his murder conviction was overturned, only to be picked up by immigration agents immediately after.

Subramanyam Vedam, 64, was a green card holder who came to the United States with his parents from India when he was 9 months old. He was exonerated in October, after a judge vacated his murder conviction based on ballistics evidence that prosecutors had failed to disclose during his trials.

The day after the charges were dropped, Vedam was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. At the time, the agency cited a 1999 deportation order tied to a felony drug conviction and described Vedam as a career criminal. He has been held at a facility in central Pennsylvania for the past six months.

On Thursday, Judge Adam G. Panopoulos ruled that Vedam could remain in the United States, finding that he was a “person of good moral character” and that he did not pose a threat. The judge pointed to Vedam’s efforts to create a literacy program while in prison and his close ties to family members in the United States.

FBI team arrives in Cuba to investigate fatal shooting

FBI agents have arrived in Cuba to investigate the fatal shooting of five men aboard a U.S.-flagged speedboat in February that the Cuban government said was carrying suspects who were trying to infiltrate the island.

Five other men on the boat were wounded in an exchange of fire with the Cuban Border Patrol on Feb. 25 in what the Cuban government has called a terrorist attack by Cuban expatriates who had been living in the United States. The U.S. government has disavowed any connection to the group and said it wants to investigate Cuba’s claims fully.

The FBI technical team arrived Tuesday to conduct a thorough and independent investigation, a U.S. diplomatic official who is close to the matter told The Associated Press on Thursday. The official, who spoke on condition they not be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter, did not provide details on how many FBI agents arrived or how long they would remain on the island.

Rubio accuses China of ‘bullying’ for holding up ships

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday accused China of “bullying” by detaining or holding up dozens of Panamanian-flagged ships — although for a short time — after the Central American country seized control of two critical ports on the Panama Canal this year from a subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based company.

China denies the allegations. Panama has been caught in a broader rivalry between the United States and China after U.S. President Donald Trump accused Beijing last year of running the Panama Canal. The Trump administration sees the critical maritime trade route as strategically important, both commercially and militarily, and Trump has talked about retaking the Panama Canal.

Of the 124 ships detained in Chinese ports for inspection in March, 92 — or nearly 75% — were Panamanian-flagged, according to public data from Tokyo MOU, a regional port state control organization comprising 22 member authorities in the Asia-Pacific region. The Panamanian-flagged ships typically were detained for a few days — as short as one day or as long as 10 days — before being released.

Troopers plead not guilty to charges over recruit’s death

A supervisor and two instructors with a Massachusetts State Police tactical unit plead not guilty Thursday in connection with the death of a recruit who suffered a concussion during a sparring session and blunt force injuries a day later in what investigators called an “unapproved and unsafe” boxing match.

Enrique Delgado-Garcia, 25, died at a hospital on Sept. 13, 2024, a day after undergoing a “medical crisis” and becoming unresponsive during a defensive tactics exercise in the boxing ring, authorities said at the time. Charges in these types of cases are exceedingly rare.

Pakistan says new round of peace talks is underway

Pakistan on Thursday confirmed it was holding peace talks with Afghanistan’s Taliban government in China, where Beijing is trying to broker a lasting ceasefire after weeks of fighting that have killed hundreds, disrupting trade and cross-border travel.

Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi said in a post on X that “a mid-level delegation” from his country had traveled to Urumqi for the negotiations following a request from China.

— Denver Post wire services