By BERNARD CONDON

NEW YORK (AP) — Europeans still aren’t buying Teslas with figures out Wednesday showing sales plunged for a fifth month in a row in May, a blow to investors who had hoped anger toward Elon Musk would have faded by now.

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Tesla sales fell 28% last month in 30 European countries even as the overall market for electric vehicles expanded sharply, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association. The poor showing comes after Tesla’s billionaire CEO had promised a “major rebound” was coming last month, adding to a recent buying frenzy among investors.

They were selling on Wednesday, pushing the prices down more than 4% in early afternoon trading.

Musk had said Tesla was sure to get a boost once the company was done retooling its factories to produce a new version of its biggest seller, the Model Y. But that was finished months ago, and the new models are widely available. Investors are now hoping that a cheaper Tesla expected to be out later year will help reverse the sales decline.

Overall, battery electric vehicle sales rose 25% in Europe compared to a year earlier. The market for EVs was particularly strong in Germany, where Musk has angered potential buyers by publicly supporting the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party in elections. Overall EV sales there leapt 45%.

China’s SAIC Motor was the big winner for the month with its European sales of EVs and other kinds of cars jumping 38%. That has allowed the company to leapfrog Tesla, which a year ago was selling more cars in the region.

SAIC sold 18,716 vehicles last month versus Tesla’s 8,729.

The sales drop for Tesla comes at a crucial time for the company as it launches a test run of its driverless ‘robotaxis’ service in Austin, Texas. Musk says that if goes well, he expects to introduce the service in several other cities in quick succession and have as many as a million of the automated cabs on roads by the end of the year.

Reviews so far have been mostly good, but the service is limited to a dozen or so cars and some passengers have circulated videos of problems during their rides, including one showing a robotaxi heading down a lane for opposing traffic.

Federal traffic safety regulators said Tuesday they were looking into the videos.

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic efforts in the Senate to prevent President Donald Trump from further escalating with Iran fell short Friday, with Republicans opposed to a resolution marking Congress’ first attempt to reassert its war powers following U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.

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The resolution, authored by Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, aimed to affirm that Trump should seek authorization from Congress before launching more military action against Iran. Asked Friday if he would bomb Iranian nuclear sites again if he deemed necessary, Trump said, “Sure, without question.”

Passage of the resolution was seen as a long shot. Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and have overwhelmingly stood with the president in support of his decision to strike Iran.

Most say that Iran posed an imminent threat that required decisive action from Trump, and they backed his decision to bomb three Iranian nuclear sites last weekend without seeking congressional approval.

“Of course, we can debate the scope and strategy of our military engagements,” said Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn. “But we must not shackle our president in the middle of a crisis when lives are on the line.”

Democrats cast doubt on that justification, arguing the president should have come to Congress first. They also said the president did not update them adequately, with Congress’ first briefings taking place Thursday.

“The idea is this: We shouldn’t send our sons and daughters into war unless there’s a political consensus that this is a good idea, this is a national interest,” Kaine said in a Thursday interview with The Associated Press.

The resolution did not aim to limit the president’s ability to defend against a threat, Kaine said. But, added, “If it’s offense, let’s really make sure we’re making the right decision.”

Almost all Democrats were expected to vote for the resolution. Their case centers on the War Powers Resolution, passed in the early 1970s, which requires the president “in every possible instance” to “consult with Congress before introducing United States Armed Forces.”

Speaking on the Senate floor ahead of Friday evening’s vote, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., announced he would support the resolution — and urged fellow Republican senators to do the same.

Trump is just the latest in a line of presidents to test the limits of the resolution — though he’s done so at a time when he’s often bristling at the nation’s checks and balances.

Trump on Monday sent a letter to Congress — as required by the War Powers Resolution — that said strikes on Iran over the weekend were “limited in scope and purpose” and “designed to minimize casualties, deter future attacks and limit the risk of escalation.”

But following classified briefings with top White House officials this week, some lawmakers remain skeptical about how imminent the threat truly was.

“There was no imminent threat to the United States,” said Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, after Friday’s classified briefings.

“There’s always an Iranian threat to the world. But, I have not seen anything to suggest that the threat from the Iranians was radically different last Saturday than it was two Saturdays ago,” Himes said.

Despite Democratic skepticism, nearly all Republicans applauded Trump’s decision to strike Iran. And for GOP senators, supporting the resolution would have meant rebuking the president at the same time they’re working to pass his major legislative package.

Kaine proposed a similar resolution in 2020 aimed at limiting Trump’s authority to launch military operations against Iran. Among the eight Republicans who joined Democrats in approving the resolution was Indiana Sen. Todd Young.

After Thursday’s classified briefing for the Senate, Young said he was “confident that Iran was prepared to pose a significant threat” and that, given Trump’s stated goal of no further escalation, “I do not believe this resolution is necessary at this time.”

“Should the Administration’s posture change or events dictate the consideration of additional American military action, Congress should be consulted so we can best support those efforts and weigh in on behalf of our constituents,” Young said in a statement.

Trump has said that a ceasefire between Israel and Iran is now in place. But he and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have verbally sparred in recent days, with the ayatollah warning the U.S. not to launch future strikes on Iran.

White House officials have said they expect to restart talks soon with Iran, though nothing has been scheduled.

Associated Press reporter Leah Askarinam contributed to this report.

By TIFFANY STANLEY

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — They are a day away from becoming Catholic priests, rehearsing for their ordination Mass under the gothic cathedral’s arches.

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It’s a balmy Friday afternoon in June, and they are practicing where to stand, when to kneel. The weekend’s rituals will be the culmination of six years of seminary and a lifetime of discernment.

There are so many of them — more than their diocese has ordained at one time in nearly 30 years — that it’s a challenge to fit the whole group in front of the altar.

Their bishop likes to call them “the 12.” Like the 12 apostles of Jesus, their number has become a mantra and a prayer. It offers hope there can still be joy and renewal in a church riven by division, crises and abuse.

Among the group there are engineers, a tech company founder and two future military chaplains. They range in age from 28 to 56. Most are U.S.-born, but some trace their roots to faraway countries with a strong Catholic presence: Cameroon, Mexico, Peru, Haiti.

They are entering the priesthood at an exciting time, just as the first U.S.-born pope begins his papacy. Yet, there remains an acute shortage of clergy like them. In the U.S., the number of priests has declined by more than 40% since 1970, according to CARA, a research center affiliated with Georgetown University.

During their final year of seminary, these 12 men have served as transitional deacons, offering baptisms, homilies and promising to live in obedience and celibacy. “We’ve already made the promises that are, I guess, ‘the scariest,’” said the Rev. Ricky Malebranche, one of the ordinands.

Soon they will be entrusted with more sacraments. As ordained priests, they will work at parishes around northern Virginia, with the ability to consecrate the Eucharist, hear confessions and anoint the sick.

For now, they shuffle side to side until they can fit in a row. Carefully they lie down to practice the act of prostration — arguably the most dramatic moment during an ordination ceremony. Elbows bent, hands cradling their heads, the men press their faces to the cold, marble floor.

It’s a position of vulnerability that signals absolute surrender.

“We’re laying before the Lord,” the Rev. Mike Sampson, an ordinand, explained before the rehearsal. “We’re laying our lives down.”

Searching for something more

While neighboring dioceses have shuttered parishes and face dire budget shortfalls, the Diocese of Arlington is opening new churches. Its finances are solid.

This year’s class of new priests is the second largest in the diocese’s 50-year history. The reasons behind that success “are a little bit mysterious,” said the Rev. Michael Isenberg, the diocese’s outgoing vocations director.

He points to one factor helping the recruiting pool: vibrant parishes, full of young professionals drawn to jobs around Washington, D.C.

Sampson, 42, was a government lawyer and raised a Protestant before he was baptized as a Catholic in 2013. Six years later, he enrolled in seminary to become a priest.

The Rev. Tim Banach, 31, worked as a consultant in the same office complex as Sampson. “I enjoyed the work I was doing, but there was something more that I desired.”

“I had the dream job,” said the Rev. Alfredo Tuesta, 40, who earned a doctorate in engineering and was working at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory when he felt called to the priesthood. “I had the job that I had trained many years to achieve — and it wasn’t enough.”

At a Sunday family dinner two weeks before ordination, Malebranche’s father, Jacques, talked up these “12 great guys.”

“This kid already had two master’s degrees,” he said, pointing to his son Ricky, 37, who worked as a counselor and coach at a Catholic high school before seminary.

“They had good lives. When they say they received a call, they mean it,” he said. “They gave up a lot, and this is not easy.”

A higher barrier to entry

Prospective priests undergo a rigorous screening process.

“This is going to sound crazy, but they’re normal,” said the Rev. Donald J. Planty Jr., who mentored several of this year’s ordinands. “They can talk to anyone.”

In the wake of the clergy sex-abuse crisis, there is a greater emphasis on applicants’ psychological health and emotional well-being. They go before an admissions board that includes women and laypeople, and as ordinands, meet with abuse survivors.

They ultimately answer to Bishop Michael Burbidge, the diocese’s avuncular prelate.

“A thing that has changed for the positive in the church is that bishops really know their men,” said Burbidge, who calls, texts and meets with seminarians regularly. “When I was in seminary, there was no expectation that you would know the bishop.”

Politically and theologically, young U.S. priests are more likely to identify as conservative or moderate than their clerical elders who came of age in the 1960s and 1970s, according to a 2023 report from the Catholic Project at Catholic University.

For these men in Virginia, the rightward tilt of the U.S. Catholic Church is not a deciding factor in their priesthoods. They have pledged, though, to uphold the church’s teachings, which remain conservative on issues such as gender identity, sexual orientation, contraception and abortion.

“I look at the young adults in our parishes, growing up in a world where in many ways the sacred has been removed,” Burbidge said. “They’re looking for something more. ‘Give me beauty. Give me truth. Give me clarity.’ I see that in young adults in our church, and these men are products of that.”

The sacrifices of priestly life

For many of the men, priesthood means forgoing dreams of an ordinary family life.

“I thought I was going to be a great dad and have a wonderful family,” Malebranche recalled. “And I was like, ‘Lord, why would you not want that for me?’”

For many, there’s a grieving process in letting go of that vision, even for deeply Catholic families.

“Every parent wants grandkids,” said Banach, whose career change initially surprised his supportive Catholic parents. Priests give up biological children, he said, but are privileged to raise “spiritual children.”

His fellow ordinand Malebranche ministers to families out of what he calls a “deep love of my own for a family.”

Two weeks before ordination, Malebranche channeled that love into a baptism conducted in Spanish, the parents’ native tongue.

He was nervous beforehand. A gregarious, gifted speaker, he is less confident in Spanish — though it’s necessary in a diocese where nearly half the parishioners are Latino.

“It was a beautiful ceremony,” Gloria Marquez told him after, beaming and holding her 9-month-old. She said she and her husband had tried for nearly 20 years to have a baby.

Malebranche teared up, grateful to be part of the longed-for moment.

He wants the Catholic Church to be welcoming, especially for those who have been hurt. “I really just want to make Catholicism warm,” he said.

Like all the ordinands, he is very aware that in his clerical garb, he represents the church and the presence of Jesus.

“I have to be on every time I’m in this collar,” Malebranche said. “That is a fitting weight for the gift of the priesthood, but it is a weight nonetheless.”

A new chapter

Ordination-day morning had the nervous energy of a wedding, an apt parallel for the impending commitment and pageantry. Anxious parents took their places in pews alongside friends and family who traveled from around the world to witness the ceremony.

The evening would bring receptions in honor of the new priests, who would then have two weeks off before their new ministry assignments began.

Sampson was going to Italy with a priest friend. Banach was hiking part of the Appalachian Trail with a small kit for the Eucharist in his pack. Tuesta was flying to Lima, Peru, his birthplace, to celebrate with family.

Malebranche planned to visit loved ones in his native Virginia. “I’m kind of looking to show off,” he said, laughing. “I’ll have my confessional stole on me at all times.”

When their ordination Mass got underway, it was standing room only, with more than 1,200 well-wishers crowded into the cathedral.

As part of the three-hour service, nearly 200 priests lined up to embrace and welcome into the fold their new brothers, now cloaked in ivory and blue robes.

At the close of Mass, they walked down the aisle to cheers and applause, and the 12 priests were sent out, like the apostles who had come before them.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

By CHINEDU ASADU, MATTHEW LEE and ELLEN KNICKMEYER

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda on Friday signed a peace deal facilitated by the U.S. to help end the decadeslong deadly fighting in eastern Congo while helping the U.S. government and American companies gain access to critical minerals in the region.

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“Today, the violence and destruction comes to an end, and the entire region begins a new chapter of hope and opportunity, harmony, prosperity and peace,” President Donald Trump told the foreign ministers of the two countries at a White House meeting.

The agreement was signed earlier at the State Department’s Treaty Room beneath a portrait of Colin Powell, the first African American to hold the job of top U.S. diplomat. There, Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it “an important moment after 30 years of war.”

The Central African nation of Congo has been wracked by conflict with more than 100 armed groups, the most potent backed by Rwanda, that has killed millions since the 1990s.

While the deal is seen as a turning point, analysts don’t believe it will quickly end the fighting because the most prominent armed group says it does not apply to it. Many Congolese see it mainly as an opportunity for the U.S. to acquire critical minerals needed for much of the world’s technology after their government reached out to Trump for support in fighting the rebels.

Trump has pushed to gain access to such minerals at a time when the United States and China are actively competing for influence in Africa.

Congo and Rwanda send top diplomats to sign

Congo’s Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner invoked the millions of victims of the conflict in signing the agreement with Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe. Both expressed optimism but stressed significant work still to do to end the fighting.

“Some wounds will heal, but they will never fully disappear,” Wagner said. “Those who have suffered the most are watching. They are expecting this agreement to be respected, and we cannot fail them.”

Nduhungirehe noted the “great deal of uncertainty” because previous agreements were not put in place.

“There is no doubt that the road ahead will not be easy,” he said. “But with the continued support of the United States and other partners, we believe that a turning point has been reached.”

They, along with Rubio, lauded the support of the Gulf Arab nation of Qatar in facilitating the agreement, which Doha has been working on for months at the request of the U.S. and others.

The agreement has provisions on territorial integrity, prohibition of hostilities and the disengagement, disarmament and conditional integration of non-state armed groups.

Asked in the Oval Office about violations of the agreement, Trump said he didn’t think that would happen but also warned of “very severe penalties, financial and otherwise,” if it did.

The peace deal is not likely to quickly end the conflict

The Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group is the most prominent armed group in the conflict, and its major advance early this year left bodies on the streets. With 7 million people displaced in Congo, the United Nations has called it “one of the most protracted, complex, serious humanitarian crises on Earth.”

Congo hopes the U.S. will provide it with the security support needed to fight the rebels and possibly get them to withdraw from the key cities of Goma and Bukavu, and from the entire region where Rwanda is estimated to have up to 4,000 troops. Rwanda has said that it’s defending its territorial interests and not supporting M23.

M23 rebels have suggested that the agreement won’t be binding for them. The rebel group hasn’t been directly involved in the planned peace deal, although it has been part of other ongoing peace talks.

Corneille Nangaa, leader of Congo River Alliance — known by its French acronym AFC — which includes M23, told The Associated Press in March that direct peace talks with Congo can only be held if the country acknowledges their grievances and that “anything regarding us which are done without us, it’s against us.”

An M23 spokesperson, Oscar Balinda, echoed that to the AP this week.

Nduhungirehe pointed to separate talks happening in Qatar that are meant to get both Congo and the M23 rebels to agree among themselves how they will end the fighting. He also said Rwanda agreed to lift its “defensive measures.” It was not clear if he meant withdrawing the troops that Rwanda has said are defending its territorial interests.

Rwanda also has been accused of exploiting eastern Congo’s minerals, used in smartphones, advanced fighter jets and much more. Rwanda has denied any involvement, while analysts say that might make it difficult for Rwanda not to be involved in the region.

The deal is at the heart of the U.S. government’s push to counter China in Africa. For many years, Chinese companies have been a key player in Congo’s minerals sector. Chinese cobalt refineries, which account for a majority of the global supply, rely heavily on Congo.

What the US role looks like in ending the conflict

Analysts say the U.S. government’s commitment might depend on how much access it has to the minerals being discussed under separate negotiations between the American and Congolese governments.

The mostly untapped minerals are estimated to be worth as much as $24 trillion by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Christian Moleka, a political scientist at the Congolese think tank Dypol, called the deal a “major turning point” but said it could “in no way eliminate all the issues of the conflict.”

“The current draft agreement ignores war crimes and justice for victims by imposing a partnership between the victim and the aggressor,” he said. “This seems like a trigger-happy proposition and cannot establish lasting peace without justice and reparation.”

In Congo’s North Kivu province, the hardest hit by the fighting, some believe that the peace deal will help resolve the violence but warn justice must still be served for an enduring peace.

“I don’t think the Americans should be trusted 100%,” said Hope Muhinuka, an activist from the province. “It is up to us to capitalize on all we have now as an opportunity.”

The conflict can be traced to the aftermath of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, where Hutu militias killed between 500,000 and 1 million ethnic Tutsi, as well as moderate Hutus and Twa, Indigenous people. When Tutsi-led forces fought back, nearly 2 million Hutus crossed into Congo, fearing reprisals.

Rwandan authorities have accused the Hutus who fled of participating in the genocide and alleged that elements of the Congolese army protected them. They have argued that the militias formed by a small fraction of the Hutus are a threat to Rwanda’s Tutsi population.

Since then, the ongoing conflict in east Congo has killed 6 million people, in attacks, famines and unchecked disease outbreaks stemming from the fighting.

Asadu reported from Dakar, Senegal. AP writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, Justin Kabumba in Goma, Congo, and Ignatius Ssuuna in Kigali, Rwanda, contributed to this report.