By MICHAEL BIESECKER

WASHINGTON (AP) — New satellite images taken Thursday show the scale of the demolition of the White House East Wing as President Donald Trump moves forward with the construction of a new ballroom at the White House.

See the change in images from Oct. 23 and Sept. 26, 2025 in images from Planet Labs PBC:

This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows the White House in Washington, Sept. 26, 2025, with the East Wing intact before demolition began. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows demolition of the East Wing of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

East Wing demolished, photos show

The East Wing, where first ladies created history, planned state dinners and promoted causes, is now history itself. The two-story structure of drawing rooms and offices, including workspace for first ladies and their staffs, has been turned into rubble, demolished as part of the Republican president’s plan to build what he said is now a $300 million ballroom nearly twice the size of the White House.

Trump said Wednesday that keeping the East Wing would have “hurt a very, very expensive, beautiful building” that he said presidents have wanted for years. He said “me and some friends of mine” will pay for the ballroom at no cost to taxpayers.

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Trump allowed the demolition to begin this week despite not yet having approval from the relevant government agencies with jurisdiction over construction on federal property.

Preservationists have also urged the Trump administration to halt the demolition until plans for the 90,000-square-foot (8,361-square-meter) ballroom can go through the required public review process.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation said the review process, including time for members of the public to comment on plans for the ballroom, would “provide a crucial opportunity for transparency and broad engagement — values that have guided preservation of the White House under every administration going back to the public competition in 1792 that produced the building’s original design.”

The Trust also expressed concern to the National Capital Planning Commission, the National Park Service and the Commission of Fine Arts that the size of the proposed ballroom will overwhelm the Executive Mansion, which stands at 55,000 square feet “and may permanently disrupt the carefully balanced classical design of the White House.”

Both commissions have jurisdiction over changes to the White House. The park service manages the White House grounds and has a role in the process as several trees on the South Lawn have been cut down as part of the construction. Both agencies currently are closed because of the government shutdown. Trump installed top aide Will Scharf as chairman of the planning commission.

The National Park Service said in August, after the White House announced the ballroom project, that it had provided historic preservation guidance and support as part of a broader consultation process. It said final decisions are made by the Executive Office of the President.

By ADITHI RAMAKRISHNAN, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Researchers have unearthed a spooky pair of dinosaur mummies that seem to have been preserved in an unexpected way.

These dinosaur remains are different from the wrapped mummies of Egypt or natural human mummies that get accidentally preserved in bogs or deserts. Mummified dinosaurs are so old that their skin and soft tissues fossilize. Scientists use these rare remnants, along with dinosaur bones, to recreate what these prehistoric creatures may have looked like.

Scientists have been uncovering dinosaur mummies for over a century. Some were buried quickly after dying, while others sank into bodies of water or dried out.

This image provided by the University of Chicago shows impressions of a mummified dinosaur’s foot. (Tyler Keillor/The University of Chicago via AP)

Many of them — including a duck-billed dinosaur mummy discovered in 1908 — hail from an area in eastern Wyoming. In the new study, scientists returned to this so-called mummy zone and found new remains, including the mummy of a duck-billed dinosaur that was only a few years old when it died.

“This is the first juvenile of a dinosaur that really is mummified,” said Paul Sereno, a University of Chicago paleontologist who was involved in the discovery.

Surprisingly, the new mummies seem to have been preserved without any evidence of fossilized skin. Instead, they left impressions of their skin and scales on a thin layer of clay that hardened with help from microbes.

This image provided by the University of Chicago shows the scaly skin of a young mummified dinosaur found in Wyoming. (Tyler Keillor/University of Chicago via AP)

This style of mummification has preserved other organisms before, but scientists didn’t think it could happen on land. It’s possible that other mummies found at the Wyoming site could have formed in a similar way, Sereno said.

Scientists used these clay templates to paint a clearer picture of what the duck-billed dinosaurs might have looked like when they were alive, including spikes on their tail and hooves on their feet. The new findings were published Thursday in the journal Science.

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Understanding how dinosaur mummies form can help scientists uncover more of them. It’s important to look not just for dinosaur bones, but also for skin and soft tissue impressions that could go unstudied or even picked away, said Mateusz Wosik, a Misericordia University paleontologist who wasn’t involved with the discovery.

More mummies offer more insights into how these creatures grew and lived.

“Every single time we find one, there’s such a treasure trove of information about these animals,” said Stephanie Drumheller, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, who wasn’t part of the study.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

By CHRISTINA LARSON, Associated Press

Scientists have long debated whether dinosaurs were in decline before an asteroid smacked the Earth 66 million years ago, causing mass extinction.

New research suggests dinosaur populations were still thriving in North America before the asteroid strike, but it’s only one piece of the global picture, independent experts say.

“Dinosaurs were quite diverse and now we know there were quite distinct communities” roaming around before being abruptly wiped out, said Daniel Peppe, a study co-author and paleontologist at Baylor University.

In this photo provided by researchers, Caitlin Leslie collects paleomagnetic samples in the San Juan Basin of northwestern New Mexico in May 2016. (Daniel J. Peppe via AP)

The latest evidence comes from analyzing a portion of the Kirtland Formation in northern New Mexico that’s been known for around 100 years to contain several interesting dinosaur fossils.

Scientists now say those fossils and the surrounding rocks date from around 400,000 years before the asteroid struck, which is considered a short interval in geologic time. The age was determined by analyzing small particles of volcanic glass within sandstone and by studying the direction of magnetic minerals within mudstone of the rock formation.

The results show “the animals deposited here must have been living close to the end of the Cretaceous,” the last dinosaur era, said Peppe.

In this photo provided by researchers, Daniel Peppe, Utanah Denetclaw, Anne Weil and Blake Gorman collect paleomagnetic samples in the De-Na-Zin Wilderness area of the San Juan Basin in northwestern New Mexico in May 2011. (Steven L. Brusatte via AP)

The findings were published Thursday in the journal Science.

Differences between the dinosaur species found in New Mexico and those found at a site in Montana that were previously dated to the same time frame “run counter to the idea that dinosaurs were in decline,” he said.

The fossils previously found at the New Mexico site include Tyrannosaurus rex, a huge, long-necked dinosaur, and a Triceratops-like horned herbivore.

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Scientists who weren’t involved in the study cautioned that evidence found at a single location might not point to a broader trend.

“This new evidence about these very late-surviving dinosaurs in New Mexico is very exciting,” said University of Bristol paleontologist Mike Benton, who was not involved in the study. But he added, “This is just one location, not a representation of the complexity of dinosaur faunas at the time all over North America or all over the world.”

Although scientists have found dinosaur fossils on every continent, accurately dating them can be a challenge, said paleontologist and study co-author Andrew Flynn of New Mexico State University. Easily datable material such as carbon doesn’t survive in fossils, so scientists must look for surrounding rocks with precise characteristics that can be used to determine ages.

Further research might help complete the picture of what range of dinosaur species was alive globally on the eve of the asteroid crash, said Flynn.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

By GABRIELA SÁ PESSOA

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Thursday he will run for reelection next year, seeking a fourth nonconsecutive term.

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“I’m turning 80, but you can be sure I have the same energy I had when I was 30. And I’m going to run for a fourth term in Brazil,” Lula told reporters during his official visit to Indonesia.

The Brazilian leader is traveling across Asia. After his visit to Indonesia, where he met with President Prabowo Subianto, Lula will head to Malaysia to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit.

Brazilian media reported that he is expected to meet for the first time with U.S. President Donald Trump in Malaysia on Sunday, following a conciliatory phone call earlier this month. The two leaders are expected to discuss the 50% trade tariff Trump imposed on Brazil.

Brazil’s constitution allows presidents to serve only two consecutive terms. Lula returned to office in 2023 after 13 years out of power and remains eligible to run again.

Before defeating Jair Bolsonaro in 2022 to win a third nonconsecutive term, Lula had said that would be his final campaign both because of his age and because he believed the country needed political renewal. But early in his current term, he began hinting that he might run again.

In February 2023, the president said he could seek reelection in 2026, adding that his decision would depend on the country’s political context and his health.

A dominant figure on Brazil’s left, Lula is the country’s longest-serving president since its return to democracy 40 years ago.

Some Brazilian politicians have expressed concern about Lula’s age and recent health issues. He underwent emergency surgery to treat a brain bleed late last year after a fall in the bathroom. Still, Lula frequently insists he remains healthy and energetic, often sharing workout videos on social media.

Lula currently leads all polls for the 2026 election, though roughly half of voters say they disapprove of him. Trump’s tariffs re-energized the Brazilian leader and pushed his popularity up.

His main political rival, Bolsonaro, has been barred from running for office and sentenced to 27 years in prison for attempting a coup. While no strong opposition candidate has yet emerged, analysts say a viable contender is likely to depend on Bolsonaro’s backing as he serves his sentence under house arrest.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america