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AP News Summary at 3:45 p.m. ESTItaly, the Netherlands and Canada on Thursday said they would comply with the International Criminal Court's (ICC) arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The Hague-based court announced the warrants earlier in the day, accusing Netanyahu and Gallant of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the war in Gaza. It also issued a warrant for the Palestinian resistance group's military chief Mohammed Deif. Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said his country would be obliged to arrest Netanyahu if he visited. Crosetto – whose country holds the G-7 rotating presidency this year – told RAI television's Porta a Porta program that he believed the ICC was "wrong" to put Netanyahu and Gallant on the same level as Hamas. But he said that if Netanyahu or Gallant "were to come to Italy, we would have to arrest them." It was not a political choice but Italy was bound as a member of the ICC to act on the court's warrants, Crosetto said. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani had earlier been more cautious, saying: "We support the ICC, while always remembering that the court must play a legal role and not a political role. "We will evaluate together with our allies what to do and how to interpret this decision." The warrant marked the first time that a sitting leader of a major Western country has been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity by a global court of justice. The ICC panel said there were reasonable grounds to believe that both Netanyahu and his ex-defense minister bear responsibility for the war crime of starvation and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts. Israel's war has caused unprecedented destruction across Gaza, decimated parts of the territory and driven almost the entire population of 2.3 million people from their homes, leaving most dependent on aid to survive. More than 13 months into the war, Israel has killed over 44,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to local health authorities. The conflict started after Hamas' cross-border attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people. Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp, whose country hosts the International Criminal Court, has confirmed the Netherlands would arrest Netanyahu if he arrived on Dutch soil. "The line from the government is clear. We are obliged to cooperate with the ICC... we abide 100% by the Rome Statute," Veldkamp said in response to a question in parliament Thursday. Josep Borrell, the European Union's foreign policy chief, underlined that the arrest warrants are a legal and not political matter, and that they are binding on all 27 EU member countries and other signatories to the ICC to implement. "The tragedy in Gaza has to stop," Borrell told reporters during a visit to Jordan on Thursday. "It is not a political decision. It is the decision of an international court of justice, and the decision of the court has to be respected, and implemented." "This decision is a binding decision on all state parties of the court, which include all members of the European Union," he added. Separately, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau affirmed his country's support and compliance with the ICC warrants. "First of all, as Canada has always said, it's really important that everyone abide by international law. This is something we've been calling on from the beginning of the conflict," Trudeau told reporters in the Toronto area. Canada is one of the founding members of the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice. Asked whether Netanyahu and Gallant would be arrested if they stepped foot in Canada, Trudeau said, "We stand up for international law, and we will abide by all the regulations and rulings of the international courts." He noted the need to find a solution to the genocide in the Gaza Strip. "We need to see aid flowing into people who are facing famine and disease," he said. Urging that all hostages should be released, Trudeau stressed the importance of a cease-fire and to "get back on track towards a two-state solution, with a peaceful Israel living alongside a peaceful Palestinian state." The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) described Trudeau's remarks as "a serious and major step forward on the road to justice for Gaza and Palestine." "Today, the Prime Minister did that in accepting that Canada would recognize the arrest warrants. This means, in theory, that Netanyahu and Gallant could be arrested if they stepped foot in Canada," it said. Emphasizing that it is "an important moment," the Muslim group stated that "Canada has chosen to do the right thing." It is an important step forward and we must continue to uphold international law and our commitment to human rights," it added.

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Robert Lewandowski converted a first-half penalty kick to become the third player to score 100 goals or more in the Champions League, behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Lewandowski calmly sent a low shot into the net from the spot in the 10th minute to give Barcelona a 1-0 lead against Brest. He scored his 101st goal from inside the area in second-half stoppage time to seal the Catalan's club 3-0 victory. Lewandowski trails the 129 goals of Messi and the 140 of Ronaldo, according to UEFA. Lewandowski needed 125 games to reach his milestone — two more games than Messi and 12 fewer than Ronaldo, who also scored once in the qualifying round. “I'm delighted, it's a nice number,” Lewandowski said. “In the past I didn’t think I could score more than 100 goals in the Champions League." It was Lewandowski's sixth and seventh Champions League goals this season. It's the ninth season in which the Poland striker has scored six or more goals. The 36-year-old Lewandowski is having a standout campaign, having scored 22 goals for Barcelona in 19 appearances. He is the Spanish league’s scoring leader with 15 goals from 14 matches. ___ AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer The Associated Press

Foley Automotive Update 26 November 2024(CNN) — Donald Trump’s transition team is quietly strategizing how to assuage the anti-abortion wing of the Republican Party amid concerns that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s past comments supporting abortion access could complicate his confirmation as the president-elect’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Republican senators and anti-abortion leaders have already sounded the alarm about Kennedy, who was running as a Democrat as recently as last year, and his past support for abortion access until fetal viability, which Trump’s team sees as a key vulnerability. Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, a new member of Senate GOP leadership, recently told Fox News: “It’ll come up in the hearing 100%. There’s no question that this will be an issue. I will raise it if no one else does.” Trump’s team has already begun giving assurances to anti-abortion leaders that they plan to stack other top health care positions with anti-abortion advocates to help alleviate those concerns, two people with direct knowledge of the conversations said. “I made clear to them that this needs to be tended to,” one anti-abortion leader, who spoke with the transition team over their concerns, told CNN. “We have some serious policy and personnel concerns that have been propriety to our community for 30 years. The expectation they’ve given me is they will have an assistant HHS secretary who more aligns with us.” Few in Trump’s orbit were surprised by his decision to name Kennedy to the top health care role since he had repeatedly vowed on the campaign trail to give the former independent presidential candidate, who endorsed him in August, power over health policy. But questions over Kennedy’s ability to win over Senate Republicans vital to his confirmation arose with the transition team both before and after he was offered the position, two sources briefed on the matter told CNN. Even before Trump selected him, the team had discussed staffing HHS with deputies who are more conservative on reproductive rights to signal that the agency would not deviate from Trump’s position, sources briefed on the discussions said. Once those staffing decisions are made, Kennedy is expected to meet with anti-abortion rights senators on the Hill. Abortion opponents say they have two priorities they want Kennedy to address: installing anti-abortion advocates in top roles and restoring the anti-abortion policies enacted in Trump’s first term. “There’s no question that we need a pro-life HHS secretary, and of course, we have concerns about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. I believe that no matter who is HHS secretary, baseline policies set by President Trump during his first term will be re-established,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, told CNN. Some of the policies anti-abortion advocates, like SBA Pro-Life America, have said they want in a second Trump term are for HHS to revive restrictions on federal funding going to family planning organizations that provide information about abortion. One Republican senator, who spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity to speak freely, said Republican senators concerned about Kennedy’s position on abortion will expect him to commit to reintroducing the restrictions on federal funding when he meets with them privately ahead of his confirmation hearings. “My general sense is that those of us who are more on the pro-life side of the spectrum here certainly don’t want the federal government promoting abortions,” the Republican senator said. “I think it’s pretty simple, and I think that would be the expectation.” Anti-abortion groups are also calling for the Trump administration to bring back an expansive approach to enforcing so-called “conscience protections,” which allow doctors and even hospitals to opt out of performing the procedure, and pushing for a reversal of several Biden-era policies, including guidance instructing hospitals to perform abortion in medical emergencies, even in states that ban the procedure, as well as a policy that allows for abortion pills to be obtained without an in-person doctor’s visit. Trump, amid pressure from anti-abortion groups and allies, said in April he believes abortion policy should be left to the states to legislate and later vowed to veto a federal abortion ban as president should such a bill reach his desk. In a statement to CNN, Trump transition spokesperson Katie Miller said Kennedy “has every intention of supporting President Trump’s agenda to the fullest extent.” “This is President Trump’s administration that Robert F. Kennedy has been asked to serve in and he will carry out the policies Americans overwhelmingly voted for in President Trump’s historic victory,” Miller said. A spokesperson for Kennedy did not respond to requests for comment. But Kennedy himself is aware of the concerns about him, two people familiar with the discussions said, and plans to personally assure senators that he supports Trump’s view that abortion should be left to states. During the 2024 campaign, Kennedy adopted several different positions, drawing criticism at various points from both abortion rights organizations and anti-abortion groups. In August 2023, while still running in the Democratic primary, Kennedy said he would sign a law banning abortion after three months of pregnancy if he were elected, though his campaign walked back his statement at the time. During a podcast interview in May, when he was running as an independent, Kennedy said he opposed any government limits on abortion at the state or federal level but walked back his comment after blowback from anti-abortion advocates, including from inside his own campaign. In the final months of his campaign, before he suspended his bid and endorsed Trump, Kennedy advocated for abortion to be legal until fetal viability and endorsed the framework implemented under Roe v. Wade. But he often downplayed the importance of abortion access as a salient political issue for voters, minimizing it as one of several “culture war issues” that are less important than “existential issues” like the national debt, inflation, attacks on freedom of speech and the increase in diagnoses of chronic diseases. In recent conversations with Trump’s transition team, Kennedy has indicated that he has little interest in shaping abortion policy, even as his role as secretary would give him broad authority over abortion access, including access to abortion medication. Instead, he has said he plans to focus more of his efforts on his promises to curb obesity and upend the nation’s food industry, sources familiar with the talks said. There is also a general belief within Trump’s orbit that, despite being controversial, Kennedy may secure at least a couple of Senate Democratic votes. However, that sentiment is not strong enough to prevent the transition from working to reassure concerned Republicans. Kennedy’s wavering on the issue led Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence — who staunchly opposes abortion rights and declined to endorse Trump this year — to call on GOP senators to reject his nomination. “On behalf of tens of millions of pro-life Americans, I respectfully urge Senate Republicans to reject this nomination and give the American people a leader who will respect the sanctity of life as secretary of Health and Human Services,” Pence said in a statement following Trump’s selection of Kennedy for the HHS role, calling the pick “deeply concerning to millions of pro-life Americans.” South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who had lobbied Trump during his 2024 campaign to support a 15-week national abortion ban with exceptions, recently told The Dispatch of Kennedy: “I want to see what he has to say about abortion. ... That will matter a lot to me.” Some GOP senators, including those who sit on the chamber’s Pro-Life Caucus, said they are confident Kennedy will honor Trump’s position. “Being a Cabinet secretary is not an exercise in individuality, you know? These people serve the principal, the principal is the president,” Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley told CNN. “So, I assume that he will support the president’s policies, whatever his personal position is. You don’t get hired because of your personal positions.” Hawley added: “I don’t want to presume I know the answers, but I’d be really surprised if he didn’t say ‘I’ll support the president’s policies on this and faithfully execute those.’” Fellow Missouri Republican, Sen. Eric Schmitt, acknowledged he has concerns about Kennedy’s views on abortion but defended him nevertheless, arguing he was picked by Trump to shake things up and “challenge a lot of things that so-called scientists don’t seem to want to challenge anymore.” “So am I going to agree with him on everything? I am ardently pro life. Of course not. But again, I think the president deserves the opportunity to put people in place who are going to implement change within, within these agencies that got way too big, way too powerful and they’re not accountable to anyone,” Schmitt told reporters in the Capitol. CNN’s Tierney Sneed and Ted Barrett contributed to this report. The-CNN-Wire TM & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has promised to end birthright citizenship as soon as he gets into office to make good on campaign promises aiming to restrict immigration and redefining what it means to be American. But any efforts to halt the policy would face steep legal hurdles. Birthright citizenship means anyone born in the United States automatically becomes an American citizen. It's been in place for decades and applies to children born to someone in the country illegally or in the U.S. on a tourist or student visa who plans to return to their home country. It's not the practice of every country, and Trump and his supporters have argued that the system is being abused and that there should be tougher standards for becoming an American citizen. But others say this is a right enshrined in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, it would be extremely difficult to overturn and even if it's possible, it's a bad idea. Here's a look at birthright citizenship, what Trump has said about it and the prospects for ending it: What Trump has said about birthright citizenship During an interview Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Trump said he “absolutely” planned to halt birthright citizenship once in office. “We’re going to end that because it’s ridiculous,” he said. Trump and other opponents of birthright citizenship have argued that it creates an incentive for people to come to the U.S. illegally or take part in “birth tourism,” in which pregnant women enter the U.S. specifically to give birth so their children can have citizenship before returning to their home countries. “Simply crossing the border and having a child should not entitle anyone to citizenship,” said Eric Ruark, director of research for NumbersUSA, which argues for reducing immigration. The organization supports changes that would require at least one parent to be a permanent legal resident or a U.S. citizen for their children to automatically get citizenship. Others have argued that ending birthright citizenship would profoundly damage the country. “One of our big benefits is that people born here are citizens, are not an illegal underclass. There’s better assimilation and integration of immigrants and their children because of birthright citizenship,” said Alex Nowrasteh, vice president for economic and social policy studies at the pro-immigration Cato Institute. In 2019, the Migration Policy Institute estimated that 5.5 million children under age 18 lived with at least one parent in the country illegally in 2019, representing 7% of the U.S. child population. The vast majority of those children were U.S. citizens. The nonpartisan think tank said during Trump’s campaign for president in 2015 that the number of people in the country illegally would “balloon” if birthright citizenship were repealed, creating “a self-perpetuating class that would be excluded from social membership for generations.” What does the law say? In the aftermath of the Civil War, Congress ratified the 14th Amendment in July 1868. That amendment assured citizenship for all, including Black people. “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside,” the 14th Amendment says. “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.” But the 14th Amendment didn't always translate to everyone being afforded birthright citizenship. For example, it wasn't until 1924 that Congress finally granted citizenship to all Native Americans born in the U.S. A key case in the history of birthright citizenship came in 1898, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Wong Kim Ark, born in San Francisco to Chinese immigrants, was a U.S. citizen because he was born in the states. The federal government had tried to deny him reentry into the county after a trip abroad on grounds he wasn’t a citizen under the Chinese Exclusion Act. But some have argued that the 1898 case clearly applied to children born of parents who are both legal immigrants to America but that it's less clear whether it applies to children born to parents without legal status or, for example, who come for a short-term like a tourist visa. “That is the leading case on this. In fact, it’s the only case on this,” said Andrew Arthur, a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, which supports immigration restrictions. “It’s a lot more of an open legal question than most people think.” Some proponents of immigration restrictions have argued the words “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” in the 14th Amendment allows the U.S. to deny citizenship to babies born to those in the country illegally. Trump himself used that language in his 2023 announcement that he would aim to end birthright citizenship if reelected. So what could Trump do and would it be successful? Trump wasn't clear in his Sunday interview how he aims to end birthright citizenship. Asked how he could get around the 14th Amendment with an executive action, Trump said: “Well, we’re going to have to get it changed. We’ll maybe have to go back to the people. But we have to end it.” Pressed further on whether he'd use an executive order, Trump said “if we can, through executive action." He gave a lot more details in a 2023 post on his campaign website . In it, he said he would issue an executive order the first day of his presidency, making it clear that federal agencies “require that at least one parent be a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident for their future children to become automatic U.S. citizens.” Trump wrote that the executive order would make clear that children of people in the U.S. illegally “should not be issued passports, Social Security numbers, or be eligible for certain taxpayer funded welfare benefits.” This would almost certainly end up in litigation. Nowrasteh from the Cato Institute said the law is clear that birthright citizenship can’t be ended by executive order but that Trump may be inclined to take a shot anyway through the courts. “I don’t take his statements very seriously. He has been saying things like this for almost a decade," Nowrasteh said. "He didn’t do anything to further this agenda when he was president before. The law and judges are near uniformly opposed to his legal theory that the children of illegal immigrants born in the United States are not citizens." Trump could steer Congress to pass a law to end birthright citizenship but would still face a legal challenge that it violates the Constitution. __ Associated Press reporter Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report. Rebecca Santana, The Associated Press

US stock indices pushed to fresh records Tuesday, shrugging off tariff threats from President-elect Donald Trump while European equities retreated. Trump, who doesn't take office until January 20, made his threat in social media posts Monday night, announcing huge import tariffs against neighbors Canada and Mexico and also rival China if they do not stop illegal immigration and drug smuggling. Both the Dow and S&P 500 notched all-time highs, with investors regarding the incoming president's words as a bargaining chip. "In theory, higher tariffs should not be good news for stocks. But, you know, I think the market's chosen to think of (it) as a negotiating tactic," said Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers. "You have bullish sentiment," said LBBW's Karl Haeling. "People are tending to look at things as positively as possible." But General Motors, which imports autos from Mexico to the United States, slumped 9.0 percent, while rival Ford dropped 2.6 percent. Overseas bourses were also buffeted by the news. European stocks followed losses in Asia, despite Trump excluding Europe as an immediate target for tariffs. "These are his first direct comments on tariffs and tariff levels since becoming president-elect, and they have roiled markets," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB trading group, ahead of the Wall Street open. "It is early days, and there are plenty of opportunities for Trump to direct his attention to Europe down the line," Brooks added. The US dollar rallied against its Canadian equivalent, China's yuan and Mexico's peso, which hit its lowest level since August 2022. In other economic news, the Conference Board's consumer confidence index rose to 111.7 this month, up from 109.6 in October, boosted by greater optimism surrounding the labor market. "November's increase was mainly driven by more positive consumer assessments of the present situation, particularly regarding the labor market," said Dana Peterson, chief economist at The Conference Board. Pantheon Macroeconomics chief US economist Samuel Tombs added in a note that the increase in consumer confidence overall "likely was driven by euphoria among Republicans." "The index also jumped in late 2016, when Mr. Trump was elected for the first time," he said. Federal Reserve meeting minutes showed policy makers expect inflation to keep cooling, signaling a gradual approach to interest rate cuts if price increases ease further and the job market remains strong. New York - Dow: UP 0.3 percent at 44,860.31 (close) New York - S&P 500: UP 0.6 percent at 6,021.63 (close) New York - Nasdaq: UP 0.6 percent at 19,174.30 (close) London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.4 percent at 8,258.61 (close) Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.9 percent at 7,194.51 (close) Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 0.6 percent at 19,295.98 (close) Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.9 percent at 38,442.00 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: FLAT at 19,159.20 (close) Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.1 percent at 3,259.76 (close) Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0482 from $1.0495 on Monday Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2567 from $1.2568 Dollar/yen: DOWN at 153.06 yen from 154.23 yen Euro/pound: DOWN at 83.41 pence from 83.51 pence Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.3 percent at $72.81 per barrel West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.3 percent at $68.77 per barrel bur-jmb/stFIBRA Prologis announces successful settlement of its Tender Offer for Terrafina (TERRA 13)

Ransomware attack on software supplier disrupts operations for Starbucks and other retailers

Axos financial EVP David Park sells $121,651 in stockSAO PAULO -- SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s federal police said Thursday they indicted former President Jair Bolsonaro and 36 other people for allegedly attempting a coup to keep him in office after his defeat in the 2022 elections. Police said their findings were being delivered Thursday to Brazil's Supreme Court, which must decide whether to refer them to Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet, who will either formally charge Bolsonaro and put him on trial, or toss the investigation. The former right-wing president has denied all claims he tried to stay in office after his narrow electoral defeat in 2022 to his rival, leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Bolsonaro has faced a series of legal threats since then. Police said in a brief statement that the Supreme Court had agreed to reveal the names of all 37 people who were indicted “to avoid the dissemination of incorrect news.” The 700-page police document likely will take several days for the court to review, Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes said. Dozens of former and current Bolsonaro aides also were indicted, including Gen. Walter Braga Netto, who was his running mate in the 2022 campaign; former Army commander Gen. Paulo Sérgio Nogueira de Oliveira; Valdemar Costa Neto, the chairman of Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party; and his veteran former adviser, Gen. Augusto Heleno. The investigation started last year. On Tuesday, four military men and one federal police agent were arrested as part of the same probe . Other investigations focus on Bolosnaro's potential roles in smuggling diamond jewelry into Brazil without properly declaring them, and in directing a subordinate to falsify his and others’ COVID-19 vaccination statuses. Bolsonaro has denied any involvement in either. Another probe found that he had abused his authority to cast doubt on the country's voting system, and judges barred him from running again until 2030. The far-reaching investigations have weakened Bolsonaro's status as a leader of Brazil's right wing, said Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper University in Sao Paulo. “Bolsonaro is already barred from running in the 2026 elections,” Melo told the The Associated Press. "And if he is convicted he could also be jailed by then. To avoid being behind bars, he will have to convince Supreme Court justices that he has nothing to do with a plot that involves dozens of his aids. That's a very tall order,” Melo said. On Tuesday, the federal police arrested four military and a federal police officer accused of plotting to overthrow the government following the 2022 elections, including alleged plans to kill Lula and other top officials.

How Trump's bet on voters electing him managed to silence some of his legal woesNew York: In the Sotheby’s Auction House sale room - an intimate, carpeted seventh-floor auditorium on the Upper East Side - it’s not uncommon to see standing-room-only attendance. Or for the bidding crowd to crane their necks around one another to get a glimpse of what’s spotlighted against the richly blue wall at the front. But on Wednesday night, the typical low-volume chatter was punctuated by something unusual. One phrase kept leaping out of murmured conversations all over the room: "The banana ... ?” " ... the banana!” Occasionally, in a British accent: "The ba-na.” The live portion of Wednesday’s "The Now and Contemporary Evening Auction” featured works by some of the 20th and 21st century’s best-known artists - Cy Twombly, Ed Ruscha, Yayoi Kusama, Roy Lichtenstein and Jeff Koons among them. But the main attraction, indisputably, was Maurizio Cattelan’s "Comedian”: a work that consists of a single banana affixed to a wall by a diagonal slash of silver duct tape. Cattelan made headlines around the art world and the world when "Comedian” was first sold at Galerie Perrotin’s booth at Art Basel Miami in 2019. "Is this really art?” it invited people to ask, then wordlessly showed them the answer: Three editions sold for between $120,000 and $150,000 each. As The Washington Post’s Sebastian Smee wrote at the time, the immediate outcry over whether a banana taped to a wall was capital-A art or not was understandable. Still, he wrote, "Comedian” offered up "a sharp critique of how art is commodified” and uses "humor, theatricality and a sense of the absurd to do so.” The piece seems to have hit its target, raising questions about what it means for a work of art to so flagrantly mock the capitalism of the community from which it emerged. Like several other Cattelan works, "Comedian” has been called an "art prank.” But on Wednesday night at Sotheby’s, a buyer of one of the original "Comedian” editions sold it at auction for a whopping $6.24 million - and it became hard to tell who was in on the joke. Cattelan’s provocative works have a history of frustrating and delighting art lovers. Jerry Saltz of New York magazine wrote in 2011 that the artist’s work "is often dismissed as a bunch of sight gags, one-liners, and kitsch. He’s considered an entertainer more than an artist, a poseur joker who mocks the system that makes him able to be a millionaire poseur joker.” Smee wrote in 2019 that he didn’t "ultimately think Cattelan’s banana and tape is great art” and that it was "not as smart and challenging as other things he has done” - such as a statue of a small, frail Adolf Hitler, kneeling in prayer. Outside observers have noted that the extreme impermanence of "Comedian” tests the patience of a museum-going public trained to associate antiquity with prestige. The banana, by contrast, has more than once been unceremoniously eaten by a visitor and promptly replaced, with only a slight scuffle of reprimand. But David Galperin, the head of contemporary art for Sotheby’s U.S. operation, described "Comedian” as "universal in its instantaneity.” "It transcends geographies, language, understanding, cultural differences,” he said after Wednesday’s auction. "And the result today, I think, spoke to its universality, the way it kind of pierces through the cultural zeitgeist to the very center.” At Wednesday’s auction, "Comedian” sat 10th on the list of live-auction items, and when Lot No. 10 came up, so did almost every smartphone in the room. Bidding began at $800,000, and bids came "fast and furious,” as Galperin put it later. The auction house’s estimated range of $1 million to $1.5 million quickly faded into the rearview as seven bidders - a "very strong depth of bidding,” Galperin said - fought among themselves. Around the $5 million mark, bidding briefly stalled, and the murmurs rose to a buzz. "The hammer’s coming out. This is it, final time. Don’t let it slip away,” joked auctioneer Oliver Barker, to titters and groans throughout the room. "I’m selling it here, the world’s most expensive banana,” he added moments later, then clacked the hammer forthe winning bid: $5.2 million, before the addition of the buyer’s premium (a fee paid to the auction house on top of the sale price). A mild eruption of polite Upper East Side applause broke out; this was, after all, a room full of polished women in tall boots, long coats, pearls, headbands and lady jackets with gleaming round buttons (and a striking number of men in sneakers). The buyer, Sotheby’s later revealed, was Justin Sun, a Chinese collector and the founder of cryptocurrency firm Tron. Sun bought the piece by phone. Crypto bros, it turns out, love "Comedian.” "We were not surprised, but we were excited early on by the response and engagement that we had from the cryptocurrency community,” Galperin said. "It became very apparent very fast that the entire community was energized and aligned by the philosophy and the conceptual basis of ‘Comedian’ - the questions it asks around originality, uniqueness, authorship, the conceptual nature of a work of art, the value. All of these are questions that the cryptocurrency community has been, and is, really engaged with.” Indeed, there’s an argument to be made that "Comedian” is like a physical version of an NFT: easily reproducible, with only a certificate separating the original from the copycats. When Sun takes ownership of "Comedian,” what he’ll actually acquire "is a certificate of authenticity, along with detailed installation instructions, which grants [him] the right to reproduce that work,” Galperin explained. "The only material manifestation of it is in the certificate of authenticity.” And there, really, is the great joke of "Comedian” and its astronomical price tag: As Galperin put it, "Comedian” can consist of " banana, duct tape.” Sun’s new $6 million

If history is an indicator, Utah’s role in President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to deport undocumented immigrants isn’t likely to be a big part of the national effort, according to federal data. Gov. Spencer Cox pledged on Tuesday to support the new Trump administration in “deporting illegal immigrants who have committed crimes and pose a threat to public safety.” But deportions from Utah account for a minuscule portion of those by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Between December 2002 and February 2024, ICE deported 995 immigrants from Utah, according to federal data collected by the Transaction Records Access Clearinghouse , a data gathering and research tool from Syracuse University. That’s around 0.02% of the 5.5 million ICE deportations during that time. According to that federal data, the number of deportations dipped significantly since President Joe Biden took office, with 64 people deported since January 2021. That’s four fewer than in 2020 and about half of the 123 individuals deported by ICE in 2018. On average, ICE has deported two people from Utah a month since January 2021. The average from January 2018 to December 2020 was seven people a month — and as high as 22 in July 2018. [READ: Utah Gov. Cox plans to help Trump deport undocumented immigrants who commit crimes ] Deportations by ICE also have dropped nationally from more than 200,000 annually in 2018 and 2019 to fewer than 100,000 since 2021 — with the exception of 2023, when the federal agency deported 182,412 people. The data does not include deportations by Customs and Border Protection — of which there are millions each year — unless an individual was transferred into ICE custody. One piece of the Republican governor’s five-part plan to aid the Trump administration includes creating additional training and guidance to assist “local and state authorities as they attempt to identify criminal illegal immigrants who should be turned over to [ICE] for deportation proceedings.” “Federal immigration authorities have failed in their duty to the American people and they’ve left states and localities to independently manage the fallout of those failures,” Cox said in a statement Tuesday. “We’re grateful to have an administration coming in who will take these problems seriously.” Megan Banta is The Salt Lake Tribune’s data enterprise reporter, a philanthropically supported position . The Tribune retains control over all editorial decisions.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump loved to use tariffs on foreign goods during his first presidency. But their impact was barely noticeable in the overall economy, even if their aftershocks were clear in specific industries. The data show they never fully delivered on his promised factory jobs. Nor did they provoke the avalanche of inflation that critics feared. This time, though, his . The president-elect is talking about going much bigger — on a potential scale that creates more uncertainty about whether he’ll do what he says and what the consequences could be. “There’s going to be a lot more tariffs, I mean, he’s pretty clear,” said Michael Stumo, the CEO of Coalition for a Prosperous America, a group that has supported import taxes to help domestic manufacturing. The president-elect posted on social media Monday that on his first day in office he would impose 25% tariffs on all goods imported from Mexico and Canada until those countries satisfactorily stop illegal immigration and the flow of illegal drugs such as fentanyl into the United States. Those tariffs could essentially blow up the North American trade pact that Trump’s team negotiated during his initial term. Chinese imports would face additional tariffs of 10% until Beijing cracks down on the production of materials used in making fentanyl, Trump posted. Business groups were quick to warn about , while said she would counter the move with tariffs on U.S. products. House Democrats put together legislation to strip a president’s ability to unilaterally apply tariffs this drastic, warning that they would likely lead to higher prices for autos, shoes, housing and groceries. Sheinbaum said Wednesday that her administration is already working up a list of possible retaliatory tariffs “if the situation comes to that.” “The economy department is preparing it,” Sheinbaum said. “If there are tariffs, Mexico would increase tariffs, it is a technical task about what would also benefit Mexico,” she said, suggesting her country would impose targeted import duties on U.S. goods in sensitive areas. House Democrats on Tuesday introduced a bill that would require congressional approval for a president to impose tariffs due to claims of a national emergency, a largely symbolic action given Republicans’ coming control of both the House and Senate. “This legislation would enable Congress to limit this sweeping emergency authority and put in place the necessary Congressional oversight before any president – Democrat or Republican – could indiscriminately raise costs on the American people through tariffs,” said Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash. But for Trump, tariffs are now a tested tool that seems less politically controversial even if the mandate he received in November’s election largely involved restraining inflation. The tariffs he imposed on China in his first term were continued by President Joe Biden, a Democrat who even expanded tariffs and restrictions on the world’s second largest economy. Biden administration officials looked at removing Trump’s tariffs in order to bring down inflationary pressures, only to find they were unlikely to help significantly. Tariffs were “so new and unique that it freaked everybody out in 2017,” said Stumo, but they were ultimately somewhat modest. Trump imposed tariffs on at the start of 2018, moves that might have pushed up prices in those sectors even though they also overlapped with plans to open washing machine plants in Tennessee and South Carolina. His administration also levied tariffs on steel and aluminum, including against allies. He then increased tariffs on China, leading to a trade conflict and a limited 2020 agreement that failed to Still, the dispute changed relations with China as more U.S. companies looked for alternative suppliers in other countries. also found the United States may have sacrificed some of its “soft power” as the Chinese population began to watch fewer American movies. The Federal Reserve kept inflation roughly on target, but factory construction spending never jumped in a way that suggested a lasting gain in manufacturing jobs. found the tariff war with China did nothing economically for the communities hurt by offshoring, but it did help Trump and Republicans in those communities politically. When Trump first became president in 2017, the federal government collected $34.6 billion in customs, duties and fees. That sum more than doubled under Trump to $70.8 billion in 2019, according to Office of Management and Budget records. While that sum might seem meaningful, it was relatively small compared to the overall economy. America’s gross domestic product is now $29.3 trillion, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The total tariffs collected in the United States would equal less than 0.3% of GDP. The new tariffs being floated by Trump now are dramatically larger and there could be far more significant impacts. If Mexico, Canada, and China faced the additional tariffs proposed by Trump on all goods imported to the United States, that could be roughly equal to $266 billion in tax collections, a number that does not assume any disruptions in trade or retaliatory moves by other countries. The cost of those taxes would likely be borne by U.S. families, importers and domestic and foreign companies in the form of higher prices or lower profits. Former Biden administration officials said they worried that companies could piggyback on Trump’s tariffs — if they’re imposed — as a rationale to raise their prices, just as many companies after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 boosted food and energy costs and gave several major companies the space to raise prices, according to their own earnings calls with investors. But what Trump didn’t really spell out is what might cause him to back down on tariffs and declare a victory. What he is creating instead with his tariff threats is a sense of uncertainty as companies and countries await the details to figure out what all of this could mean. “We know the key economic policy priorities of the incoming Trump administration, but we don’t know how or when they will be addressed,” said Greg Daco, chief U.S. economist at EY-Parthenon.