By FATIMA HUSSEIN

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is auctioning off the $325 million yacht Amadea, its first sale of a seized Russian luxury ship since the start of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

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The auction, which closes Sept. 10, comes as President Donald Trump seeks to increase pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war. The U.S. has said it’s working with allies to put pressure on Russian oligarchs, some of whom are close to Putin and have had their yachts seized, to try to compel him to stop the war.

The 348-foot-long yacht, seized three years ago and currently docked in San Diego, was custom built by the German company Lürssen in 2017. Designed by François Zuretti, the yacht features an interior with extensive marble work, eight state rooms, a beauty salon, a spa, a gym, a helipad, a swimming pool and an elevator. It accommodates 16 guests and 36 crew members.

Determining the real ownership of the Amadea has been an issue of contention because of an opaque trail of trusts and shell companies. The yacht is registered in the Cayman Islands and is owned by Millemarin Investments Ltd., also based in the Cayman Islands.

The U.S. contends that Suleiman Kerimov, an economist and former Russian politician, who was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2018 for alleged money laundering, owns the yacht. Meanwhile, Eduard Khudainatov, a former chairman and chief executive of the state-controlled Russian oil and gas company Rosneft, who has not been sanctioned, claims to own it.

U.S. prosecutors say Khudainatov is a straw owner of the yacht, intended to conceal the yacht’s true owner, Kerimov. Litigation over the true ownership of the yacht is ongoing.

A representative of Khudainatov said in an emailed statement Wednesday that the planned sale of the yacht is “improper and premature” since Khudainatov is appealing a forfeiture ruling.

“We doubt it will attract any rational buyer at fair market price, because ownership can, and will, be challenged in courts outside the United States, exposing purchasers to years of costly, uncertain litigation,” said the representative, Adam Ford.

The yacht has been virtually untouched since the National Maritime Services took custody of it in 2022. To submit a sealed bid on it, bidders must put in a 10 million euro deposit, the equivalent of roughly $11.6 million, to be considered.

Ford said Khudainatov would go after any proceeds from the sale of the yacht, estimated to be worth $325 million.

“Should the government press ahead simply to staunch the mounting costs it is imposing on the American taxpayer, we will pursue the sale proceeds, and any shortfall from fair market value, once we prevail in court,” Ford said.

A U.S. aid package for Ukraine signed into law in May 2024 gave the U.S. the ability to seize Russian state assets located in the U.S. and use them for the benefit of Kyiv, which was attacked by Russia in February 2022.

By KAREL JANICEK

DVUR KRALOVE, Czech Republic (AP) — Four Barbary lion cubs were born recently in a Czech zoo, a vital contribution for a small surviving population of the rare lion that is extinct in the wild.

The three females and one male were seen playing in their outdoor enclosure at Dvůr Králové Safari Park on Wednesday, enjoying themselves under the watchful eyes of their parents, Khalila and Bart.

That will change soon. As part of an international endangered species program that coordinates efforts for their survival in captivity, the cubs will be sent to other participating parks, including the Beersheba zoo in Israel.

Chances are that might not be the end of the story for the animal.

Dvůr Králové Deputy Director Jaroslav Hyjánek said that while preliminary steps have been taken for a possible reintroduction of the Barbary lion into its natural habitat, it’s still a “far distant future.”

The majestic member of the Northern lion subspecies, the Barbary lion once roamed freely its native northern Africa, including the Atlas Mountains.

A symbol of strength, they were almost completely wiped out due to human activities. Many were killed by gladiators in Roman times, while overhunting and a loss of habitat contributed to their extinction later.

The last known photo of a wild lion was taken in 1925, while the last individual was killed in 1942.

It’s believed the last small populations went extinct in the wild in the middle of the 1960s.

Fewer than 200 Barbary lions are currently estimated to live in captivity.

Hyjánek said that after initial talks with Moroccan authorities, who have not rejected the idea of their reintroduction, a conference of experts has been planned to take place in Morocco late this year or early 2026 to decide whether it would make sense to go ahead with such a plan in one of the national parks in the Atlas Mountains.

Any reintroduction would face numerous bureaucratic and other obstacles. Since the lion has not been present in the environment for such a long time, the plans would have to ensure their protection, a sufficient prey population and cooperation and approval from local communities.

Hyjánek said such a move is still worth trying if it turns out to be sustainable.

“It’s important to have such a vision for any animal, “ he said. “Without it, the existence of zoos wouldn’t make sense.”

By KONSTANTIN TOROPIN

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Restoring a memorial to the Confederacy that was removed from Arlington National Cemetery at the recommendation of Congress will cost roughly $10 million total, a U.S. Army official said Wednesday — the latest development in a Trump administration effort to combat what it calls “erasing American history.”

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Once back in the cemetery, the monument — described a few years ago as “problematic from top to bottom” — will also feature panels nearby that will offer context about its history, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity about a project still in progress.

The Pentagon expects it to take about two years to restore the monument to its original site, the official told The Associated Press. The base that it sat on needs to be replaced and the monument itself will be refurbished as well.

On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the Pentagon would reinstall the memorial at Arlington — an expanse just outside Washington that once contained the land of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee — less than two years after it was removed on the recommendation of an independent commission.

On social media Tuesday, Hegseth said the Arlington statue “never should have been taken down by woke lemmings. Unlike the Left, we don’t believe in erasing American history — we honor it.”

It was erected more than a century ago

The Confederate monument, erected in 1914, was the creation of sculptor and Confederate veteran Moses Ezekiel. It features a classical female figure, crowned with olive leaves, representing the American South, alongside sanitized depictions of slavery.

In 2022, a congressionally mandated commission recommended that the memorial, along with scores of other military assets that bore Confederate references, be either removed or renamed. Retired Army Brig. Gen. Ty Seidule, the vice chair of the commission, said that the group found that Ezekiel’s memorial was “problematic from top to bottom.”

Arlington National Cemetery’s page on the memorial noted that aside from the sanitized depictions of enslaved people, the statue featured a Latin phrase that equated the South’s secession to a noble “lost cause.” That’s a false interpretation of the Civil War that glorifies the conflict as a struggle over the power of the federal government and not the institution of slavery.

Hegseth has made a point of circumventing the will of the commission several times now by reverting the names of several Army bases back to their original, Confederate-linked names, though by honoring different figures.

For example, following the recommendations of the commission, officials renamed Fort Bragg, a name that honored Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg, a slave owner who lost several key Civil War battles, to Fort Liberty. In February, Hegseth reverted the name back to Fort Bragg but honoring Army Pfc. Roland L. Bragg, a World War II soldier who earned a Silver Star and Purple Heart for exceptional courage during the Battle of the Bulge.

The effort is part of a larger Trump initiative

In March, President Donald Trump issued an executive order entitled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” It decried efforts to reinterpret American history, stating, “rather than fostering unity and a deeper understanding of our shared past, the widespread effort to rewrite history deepens societal divides and fosters a sense of national shame.”

The order targeted the Smithsonian network of museums as having “come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.” It also instructed the Interior Department to restore any statue or display that was “removed or changed to perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other improper partisan ideology.”

This has been an active week when it comes to the dispute over how American history and culture are portrayed. On Monday, the National Park Service announced that the statue of Albert Pike, a Confederate brigadier general and a revered figure among Freemasons, would resume its previous position in Washington’s Judiciary Square, a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol. It was the only outdoor statue of a Confederate military leader in the nation’s capital.

And late last week, the Smithsonian Museum of American History announced that it would revert an exhibit on the presidency to the 2008 era, eliminating any mention of the two Trump impeachments.

After that move sparked discussion about how history is portrayed by government-backed institutions, the Smithsonian said it had come under no pressure from the White House and had been planning all along to update that part of the exhibit, which it said was temporary, to 2025 specifications.

By TAMMY WEBBER

The Trump administration is moving to shut down two NASA missions that monitor a potent greenhouse gas and plant health, potentially shutting off an important source of data for scientists, policymakers and farmers.

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President Donald Trump’s budget request for fiscal year 2026 includes no money for the Orbiting Carbon Observatories, which can precisely show where carbon dioxide is being emitted and absorbed and how well crops are growing.

NASA said in an emailed statement Wednesday that the missions were “beyond their prime mission” and being terminated “to align with the President’s agenda and budget priorities.”

But the missions — a free-flying satellite launched in 2014 and an instrument attached to the International Space Station in 2019 that include technology used in the Hubble Space Telescope — still are more sensitive and accurate than any other systems in the world, operating or planned, and a “national asset” that should be saved, said David Crisp, a retired NASA scientist who led their development.

They helped scientists discover, for example, that the Amazon rain forest emits more carbon dioxide than it absorbs, while boreal forests in Canada, Russia and places where permafrost is melting absorb more than they emit, Crisp said.

They also can detect the “glow” of photosynthesis in plants, which helps monitor drought and predict food shortages that can lead to civil unrest and famine, he said.

“This is really critical,” Crisp said. “We’re learning so much about this rapidly changing planet.”

The decision to end the missions is “extremely shortsighted,” said Jonathan Overpeck, a climate scientist at the University of Michigan.

“The observations provided by these satellites … (are) critical for managing growing climate change impacts around the planet, including in the U.S.,” he said.

Looking to Congress

Crisp and others hope Congress will vote to preserve funding for the missions, which are funded through the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30.

A bill in the House closely aligns with the president’s request and would eliminate the missions, while a Senate version preserves them. But with Congress in recess, it is unclear whether a budget will be adopted before the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1.

If it doesn’t, Congress could adopt a resolution to continue current funding until a budget is passed, though some lawmakers fear the Trump administration could try to delay or withhold that money.

Congressional Democrats warned acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy last month that it would be illegal to terminate missions or impound funds already appropriated by Congress.

Experts said the administration’s move to eliminate funding aligns with other actions to cut or bury climate science.

“The principle seems to be that if we stop measuring climate change it will just disappear from the American consciousness,” said University of Pennsylvania climate scientist Michael Mann.

Backup plan

Crisp and others also are trying to put together a coalition of outside partners — including from Japan and Europe — that could fund and operate the instrument attached to the space station. NASA said it will accept outside proposals through Aug. 29.

The free-flying satellite, though, is at risk of being brought down, meaning it would burn up in the atmosphere. National Public Radio first reported that NASA employees were making plans to end the missions.

Crisp said advocates are hoping NASA also allows outside control of that satellite, which covers more of the globe, but there are legal hurdles to overcome because it would mean giving control of a U.S. satellite to a group that could include foreign partners.

“We’re going out to billionaires. We’re going out to foundations,” Crisp said. “But … it’s a really, really bad idea to try and push it off onto private industry or private individuals or private donors. It just doesn’t make sense.”

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.