By SIBI ARASU and TAMMY WEBBER

Environmental groups are decrying an executive order signed by President Donald Trump to expedite deep-sea mining for ores and minerals, saying it could irreparably harm marine ecosystems and ignores an ongoing process to adopt international rules for the practice.

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Trump’s order Thursday directed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to fast track permits for companies to mine the ocean floor in both U.S. and international waters.

The move comes as China controls many critical minerals such as nickel, cobalt and manganese used in high-tech manufacturing, including for military uses. Trump said his order “establishes the U.S. as a global leader in seabed mineral exploration and development both within and beyond national jurisdiction.”

The order also comes after Canada-based The Metals Company said it would request approval through a U.S. subsidiary for mining in international waters.

The company issued a statement on its website Friday, saying it plans to apply for permits this year to mine nodules that contain valuable minerals “to strengthen U.S. critical mineral supply chains.”

“As always, we remain committed to acting in the best interests of our sponsoring states, partners, investors, and the planet,” said Gerard Barron, the company’s chairman and CEO.

But environmentalists worry it could harm fisheries and even affect oceans’ ability to absorb and store carbon dioxide, the main driver of global warming caused by the burning of coal, gas and other fossil fuels.

More than 30 countries, as well as fisheries trade groups, environmentalists and some auto and tech companies, have called for a moratorium on seabed mining.

“Scientists agree that deep-sea mining is a deeply dangerous endeavor for our ocean and all of us who depend on it,” said Jeff Watters, vice president for external affairs at the Ocean Conservancy. “The harm caused by deep-sea mining isn’t restricted to the ocean floor: it will impact the entire water column, top to bottom, and everyone and everything relying on it.’

Such concerns prompted most countries in the 1990s to join a United Nations-affiliated International Seabed Authority to govern seabed mining in international waters. But the U.S. never signed onto the effort, which has not yet adopted rules.

Watters warned that ignoring those efforts “is opening a door for other countries to do the same” before safeguards are adopted. The ramifications could resonate beyond deep-sea mining, affecting agreements on fishing, shipping, navigation and marine research, warned Duncan Currie, legal advisor for the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition.

“This is a clear case of putting mining companies’ greed over common sense,” said Katie Matthews, chief scientist at the advocacy group Oceana. “Any attempt to accelerate deep-sea mining without proper safeguards will only speed up the destruction of our oceans.”

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

By JANIE HAR and KATE BRUMBACK

The federal government is reversing the termination of legal status for international students after many filed court challenges around the U.S., a government lawyer said Friday.

Judges around the country had already issued temporary orders restoring the students’ records in a federal database of international students maintained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. The records had been suddenly terminated in recent weeks, often without the students or their schools being notified.

A lawyer for the government read a statement in federal court in Oakland that said ICE was manually restoring the student status for people whose records were terminated in recent weeks. A similar statement was read by a government attorney in a separate case in Washington on Friday, said lawyer Brian Green, who represents the plaintiff in that case. Green provided The Associated Press with a copy of the statement that the government lawyer emailed to him.

It says: “ICE is developing a policy that will provide a framework for SEVIS record terminations. Until such a policy is issued, the SEVIS records for plaintiff(s) in this case (and other similarly situated plaintiffs) will remain Active or shall be re-activated if not currently active and ICE will not modify the record solely based on the NCIC finding that resulted in the recent SEVIS record termination.”

Green said that the government lawyer said it would apply to all students in the same situation, not just those who had filed lawsuits.

SEVIS is the Student and Exchange Visitor Information Systems database that tracks international students’ compliance with their visa status. NCIC is the National Crime Information Center, which is maintained by the FBI. Many of the students whose records were terminated were told that their status was terminated as a result of a criminal records check or that their visa had been revoked.

International students and their schools were caught off guard by the terminations of the students’ records. Many of the terminations were discovered when school officials were doing routine checks of the international student database or when they checked specifically after hearing about other terminations.

By JON GAMBRELL

MUSCAT, Oman (AP) — Negotiations between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program will return Saturday to the secluded sultanate of Oman, where experts on both sides will start hammering out the technical details of a possible deal.

The talks seek to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions the U.S. has imposed on the Islamic Republic closing in on half a century of enmity. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s program if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.

Neither Iran nor the U.S. has offered any explanation on why the talks will return to Muscat, the Omani capital nestled in the Hajar Mountains. Oman has been a mediator between the countries. Last weekend’s talks in Rome offered a more-equal flight distance between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, who are leading the negotiations.

But Rome remains in mourning after the death of Pope Francis, whose funeral will be Saturday. And Iranian state television, in covering last weekend’s talks, complained at length on air about the “paparazzi” gathered across the street from the Omani Embassy in Rome’s Camilluccia neighborhood.

Iranians on Friday in Tehran remained hopeful the talks could be successful, as the Iranian rial has rebounded from historic lows.

“It’s OK to negotiate, to make the nuclear program smaller or bigger, and reach a deal,” Tehran resident Farzin Keivan said. “Of course we shouldn’t give them everything. After all, we’ve suffered a lot for this program.”

‘Peaceful use of nuclear energy’

The Muscat talks come as Iran appears to have lined up Chinese and Russian support. Araghchi traveled to Moscow last week and this week visited Beijing.

On Thursday, Chinese, Iranian and Russian representatives met the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog that likely will verify compliance with any accord like it did with Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. That deal included China and Russia, as well as France, Germany and the United Kingdom, in addition to Iran and the U.S.

However, Iran has greatly restricted the IAEA’s inspections — leading to fears internationally that centrifuges and other nuclear material could be diverted.

The IAEA offered no readout from the talks, but China’s state-run Xinhua news agency on Friday described the three nations as saying the agency has “the necessary potential and expertise to contribute constructively to this process.”

“China, Russia and Iran emphasized that political and diplomatic engagement based on mutual respect remains the only viable and practical path for resolving the Iran nuclear issue,” the report said. It added that China respects Iran’s “right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy.”

The Trump administration has kept France, Germany and the U.K. out of its direct negotiations with Iran, something similarly reflected in Witkoff’s negotiations with Russia over ending its war on Ukraine. Witkoff traveled Friday to Moscow ahead of Saturday’s meeting in Muscat.

Araghchi meanwhile has said he’s open to visiting Berlin, London and Paris to discuss the negotiations.

“The ball is now in the E3’s court,” Araghchi wrote on the social platform X on Thursday, using an acronym for the countries. “They have an opportunity to do away with the grip of Special Interest groups and forge a different path.”

U.S. stance on enrichment hardens

Two Iranian deputy foreign ministers, Majid Takht-e Ravanchi and Kazem Gharibabadi, are expected to lead Tehran’s expert team, the semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported. Takht-e Ravanchi took part in the 2015 nuclear talks, while Gharibabadi as well as been involved in atomic negotiations.

The U.S. technical team, which is expected to arrive in Oman on Friday, will be led by Michael Anton, the director of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s policy planning staff. Anton does not have the nuclear policy experience of those who led America’s efforts in the 2015 talks.

However, he was an early supporter of Trump, describing the 2016 election as a “charge the cockpit or you die” vote. “A Hillary Clinton presidency is Russian Roulette with a semi-auto,” Anton wrote. “With Trump, at least you can spin the cylinder and take your chances.” He also criticized “Iran sycophancy” in the same essay.

Rubio, speaking on a podcast released this week, also kept up a Trump line that Iran needed to stop its enrichment of uranium entirely.

“If Iran wants a civil nuclear program, they can have one just like many other countries can have one, and that is they import enriched material,” Rubio said.

However, former CIA director Bill Burns, who took part in the secret negotiations that led to the 2015 nuclear deal, expressed skepticism Iran would give up its program like Libya did in 2003.

“I don’t personally think that this Iranian regime is going to agree to … zero domestic enrichment,” Burns said in a talk Monday at the University of Chicago. “To hold out for the Libya model is virtually to ensure that you’re not going to be able to reach an agreement.”

Iran ‘on high alert’

But Iran has insisted that keeping its enrichment is key. Witkoff also has muddied the issue by first suggesting in a television interview that Iran could enrich uranium at 3.67%, then later saying that all enrichment must stop.

Meanwhile, one more wildcard is Israel, whose devastating war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip grinds on. Trump initially announced the Iran talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his side. But Israel, which for years has targeted Iran’s nuclear program with attacks on its facilities and scientists, has kept open the possibility of airstrikes to destroy Tehran’s enrichment sites.

On Monday, Israel’s military conducted drills preparing for possible new Iranian missile attacks, the country’s public broadcaster KAN reported.

“Our security services are on high alert given past instances of attempted sabotage and assassination operations designed to provoke a legitimate response,” Araghchi wrote on Wednesday in a post on X.

Associated Press writer Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Minnesota United vs. Vancouver Whitecaps

When: Allianz Field
Where: 2 p.m. Sunday
Stream: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV
Radio: KSTP-AM, 1500
Weather: 59 degrees, cloudy, 16 mph north wind
Betting line: MNUFC minus-120; draw plus-270; Vancouver plus-250

Form: The Loons’ current eight-match unbeaten streak matches the club record, and with 16 points they sit in a tie for second place in the Western Conference — yet they only come close to how hot Vancouver has been to start 2025. Even without Ryan Gauld, the Whitecaps lead the West with 20 points.

Broader form: Vancouver has knocked off Monterrey and Pumas in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, and beat Lionel Messi and Inter Miami 2-0 in the first leg of the continental tournament’s semifinals on Thursday. The Loons have never even played in CCC.

Recent matchups: Both teams won at the other’s home last season, with the Loons victorious 1-0 on Hassani Dotson’s penalty kick in British Columbia in October, and Vancouver coming out with a 3-1 victory in St. Paul in July.

Check-in: There was no indication late this week that the Loons’ deal to bring in Julian Gressel from Miami has fallen through. By nature of unique circumstances, it did not need it to be finished before the close of the MLS primary transfer window on Wednesday.

Update: With Vancouver’s second leg against Miami coming Wednesday, Loons head coach Eric Ramsay and Co., will have a “difficult read” on how the Whitecaps will set up until the team sheet comes out Sunday. Vancouver, which has used nearly the same starting XI all season, will be expected to rotate and put priority on being fresh for a crucial match in CCC next week.

Quote: “They have done exceptionally well to get to the point they’ve got to with two competitions,” Ramsay said. “… We can only pay them the utmost respect.”

Absences: Hassani Dotson (knee), Owen Gene (ankle), Kipp Keller (hamstring) are out. Gene is improving and was running on the side during Thursday’s training session.

Projected XI: In a 5-3-2 formation, FW Tani Oluwaseyi, FW Kelvin Yeboah; MF Joaquin Pereyra, MF Robin Lod, MF Wil Trapp; LWB Joseph Rosales, CB Nicholas Romero, CB Michael Boxall, CB Jefferson Diaz, RWB Bongi Hlongwane; GK Dayne St. Clair.

Key matchup: Yeboah and Oluwaseyi versus ‘Caps center backs Ranko Veselinovic and Tristan Blackmon. Yeboah hasn’t scored in four matches, Oluwaseyi in his past two. Opponents have slashed scoring chances for the Loons’ athletic center forwards in recent weeks, and the Whitecaps pair has been stingy all season.

Stats: Vancouver’s plus-11 goal differential is tops in MLS. They are second in the league with 17 goals scored and tied for first with only six conceded in nine matches.

Prediction: The Loons have played two straight scoreless matches, and Vancouver is coming off one of its own against St. Louis. Another one in this match between two top teams would be a massive disappointment. After Vancouver beat heavyweight Pumas in Mexico City this month, they smoked Austin FC 5-1 three days later. They are just too scorching hot right now to pick against. Vancouver 1, Minnesota 0.