China on Thursday denied any suggestion that it was in active negotiations with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump over tariffs, saying that any notion of progress in the matter was as groundless as “trying to catch the wind.”

China’s comments come after Trump said Tuesday that things were going “fine with China” and that the final tariff rate on Chinese exports would come down “substantially” from the current 145%.

Guo Jiakun, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, said during a daily briefing on Thursday that, “For all I know, China and the U.S. are not having any consultation or negotiation on tariffs, still less reaching a deal.”

“China’s position is consistent, and we are open to consultations and dialogues, but any form of consultations and negotiations must be conducted on the basis of mutual respect and in an equal manner,” Commerce Ministry spokesman He Yadong said.

“Any claims about the progress of China-U.S. trade negotiations are groundless as trying to catch the wind and have no factual basis,” the spokesman said.

Trump had told reporters earlier in the week that “everything’s active” when asked if he was engaging with China, although his treasury secretary had said there were no formal negotiations.

DNC rebukes official over primaries plan

A brewing weeklong fight inside the Democratic National Committee burst into the open Thursday as the party’s chair, Ken Martin, rebuked one of his vice chairs and moved to stop him from intervening in Democratic primary races while serving as a top party official.

The vice chair, David Hogg, 25, had announced last week that he planned to spend money in Democratic primaries through his outside group, Leaders We Deserve, and that he hoped to raise $20 million for the effort. That set off a storm of criticism from Democrats angry at the idea that a top party official would be putting his finger on the scale in primary contests. On Thursday, Martin responded publicly for the first time, declaring: “No DNC officer should ever attempt to influence the outcome of a primary.”

Martin said he had “great respect” for Hogg and understood his goals, yet he issued what amounted to an ultimatum: Hogg was “more than free” to fund primary challenges, just not as an officer of the DNC.

Tennessee confirms measles outbreak

Tennessee health officials confirmed a measles outbreak on Thursday, bringing the number of U.S. states with outbreaks to 10.

Nearly a week ago, the U.S. was up to 800 cases of measles nationwide. Texas has more than 600 known cases with the outbreak in the western part of the state approaches the three-month mark.

Two unvaccinated elementary school-aged children died from measles-related illnesses in the epicenter in West Texas, and an adult in New Mexico who was not vaccinated died of a measles-related illness.

Other states with active outbreaks — defined as three or more cases — include Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, Oklahoma, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Mexico. The U.S. has more than double the number of measles cases it saw in all of 2024.

North America has two other outbreaks. One in Ontario, Canada, and one in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. The World Health Organization has said cases in Mexico are linked to the Texas outbreak.

N.Y. financier accused of serial rape of women

A lawyer with a background in private equity lured women he met online to his apartment near the Empire State Building, prosecutors said. There, they say, he raped, drugged and tortured them for hours, sometimes using a shock collar and a cattle prod.

When he was done, prosecutors said, he threatened the women to keep them from reporting the violent encounters.

The attorney, Ryan Hemphill, was arraigned Thursday afternoon in Manhattan Criminal Court on a 116-count indictment accusing him of sexually assaulting six women over five months, though prosecutors said there could be scores of additional victims.

Hemphill, 43, was escorted into the Manhattan courtroom Thursday afternoon in handcuffs. He pleaded not guilty and was ordered held without bail.

Texas lawmakers OK school voucher plan

Texas lawmakers on Thursday passed a $1 billion education bill that allows families to use public money to pay for private school tuition, a major victory for school voucher proponents nationwide that was cheered on by President Donald Trump.

The measure won final approval from the state Senate and now heads to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who had muscled the GOP-majority Legislature to pass the bill and has vowed to quickly sign it into law.

More than 30 states have implemented some sort of voucher program in the U.S., and about a dozen states in recent years have launched or expanded programs that make most students eligible. Texas’ version will be among the largest in the nation and is seen as a major victory for proponents who hope to push a similar effort on the federal level.

Trump pardons Nevada pol convicted of fraud

President Donald Trump has pardoned a Nevada Republican politician who was awaiting sentencing on federal charges that she used money meant for a statue honoring a slain police officer for personal costs, including plastic surgery.

Michele Fiore, a former Las Vegas city councilwoman and state lawmaker who ran unsuccessfully in 2022 for state treasurer, was found guilty in October of six counts of federal wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She was out of custody ahead of her sentencing, which had been scheduled for next month.

In a lengthy statement Thursday on Facebook, the loyal Trump supporter expressed gratitude to the president while also accusing the U.S. government and “select media outlets” of a broad, decade-long conspiracy to “target and dismantle” her life.

The pardon, issued Wednesday, comes less than a week after Fiore lost a bid for a new trial.

U.S. blames deadly blast on Houthi missile

A deadly blast on Sunday near a UNESCO world heritage site in Yemen’s capital was caused by a Houthi missile, not a U.S. airstrike, a spokesperson for U.S. Central Command said Thursday.

The Health Ministry of the Houthi-led government said this week that an American airstrike had hit a densely populated neighborhood of Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, killing 12 people and injuring 30 others. The blast struck an area adjacent to Sanaa’s old city, a UNESCO world heritage site filled with ancient towers.

Dave Eastburn, a spokesperson for U.S. Central Command, which oversees operations in the Middle East, said in a statement that while the damage and casualties described by local health officials most “likely did occur,” they were not the result of an American attack. While the United States had conducted military operations over Sanaa that night, the closest American strike was more than 3 miles away, he added.

Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthis’ Politburo, said in a phone interview that the American denial was an attempt to smear the Houthis.

Houthis have destroyed $200M in U.S. drones

Houthi rebels in Yemen have shot down seven U.S. Reaper drones in less than six weeks, a loss of aircraft worth more than $200 million in what is becoming the most dramatic cost to the Pentagon of the military campaign against the Iran-backed militants.

According to defense officials, three of the drones were shot down in the past week — suggesting the militants’ targeting of the unmanned aircraft flying over Yemen has improved. The drones were doing attack runs or conducting surveillance, and they crashed both into the water and onto land, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.

The U.S. has increased its attacks on the Houthis, launching daily strikes since March 15, when President Donald Trump ordered a new, expanded campaign. He promised to use “overwhelming lethal force” until the Houthis cease their attacks on shipping along a vital maritime corridor.

Amsterdam apologizes for its Holocaust role

Eighty years since the end of World War II, Mayor Femke Halsema of Amsterdam apologized Thursday for the city’s role in the persecution of its Jewish residents during the Holocaust, in a rare acknowledgment of a collective moral failure by a city leader.

“Amsterdam’s government was, when it mattered, not heroic, not determined and not merciful,” she said. “And it horribly abandoned its Jewish residents.”

Halsema issued the apology in a speech at a Holocaust commemoration at the Hollandsche Schouwburg, a theater that the Nazis turned into a major deportation center from which many of Amsterdam’s Jews were sent to concentration camps in the Netherlands and other parts of Europe.

Before the Holocaust, Amsterdam, the Dutch capital, had 80,000 Jewish residents. The Nazis, with help from local officials, deported and killed more than 60,000 of them.

Man, 19, charged with sparking N.J. wildfire

A man set a bonfire using wooden pallets in New Jersey’s Pine Barrens and left them without fully extinguishing the blaze, sparking a quick-moving wildfire with smoke affecting air quality in New York City, authorities said Thursday.

Authorities arrested Joseph Kling, 19, of Waretown, N.J., and charged him with arson and aggravated arson in the fire that’s still burning in southern New Jersey. The wildfire was described as starting with “an improperly extinguished bonfire.”

Judge James Gluck told Kling during a brief court appearance Thursday the state sought to have him detained pending trial and he wouldn’t be released. Kling spoke briefly, only to clarify that his next court appearance was set for Tuesday. “Thank you. Have a good day,” he said when the judge dismissed him.

James’ lawyer alleges Trump retribution

A lawyer for New York Attorney General Letitia James sent a lengthy letter to the Justice Department on Thursday, attacking President Donald Trump for “improper political retribution” as the government scrutinizes her real estate transactions.

Abbe Lowell, a high-profile lawyer retained by James, was responding to a criminal referral letter sent to the Justice Department last week by Bill Pulte, head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Pulte’s letter focused on two houses that James owns in Virginia and New York. It said she “appeared to have falsified records” related to the properties, which might have allowed her to receive favorable loan terms.

But Lowell, in his letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Pulte’s allegation lacked “any credible foundation.” He characterized them as “the next salvo in President Trump’s revenge tour against Attorney General James.”

— News service reports