A western lowland gorilla ‘Nyati’ born at Como Zoo in October 2017 has died, according to zoo officials.

Nyati was euthanized on Tuesday following what zoo officials say was “a significant decline in her quality of life due to long-term neurological complications.”

The gorilla’s medical issues started in 2020 with a diagnosis of Baylisascaris procyonis — a parasitic infection likely contracted at a young age. It was successfully treated but the parasite caused permanent brain lesions leading to gradual degeneration that affected her coordination, mobility, and motor skills.

For the last five years, veterinary and animal care staff at the zoo provided the gorilla with support such as medications, physical therapy, environmental modifications, and consultations with specialists.

“Nyati was deeply loved, not just by her care team, but by everyone who came to know her,” said Wes Sims, director of Animal Care and Health at Como Zoo, in a statement. “Her life was shaped by medical challenges, but also by resilience, thoughtful care, and compassion. The decision to let her go was extremely difficult, but it was the most humane option for her.”

Nyati was a member of Como Zoo’s family troop of western lowland gorillas. She was the daughter of Schroeder and Alice, and lived alongside her parents and fellow troop members.

Western lowland gorillas originate in central and western Africa and are critically endangered. In the wild, they face threats such as habitat loss, poaching, and disease outbreaks.

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By BIANCA VÁZQUEZ TONESS, AP Education Writer

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — In a high-stakes standoff, President Donald Trump’s administration says it will freeze $2.2 billion in federal research grants for Harvard University, which is pushing back on demands for changes to campus policy.

The feud between the Republican administration and the nation’s wealthiest college will be closely watched across higher education as the White House uses federal funding as leverage to pursue compliance with its political agenda.

But the impact will be felt most immediately by researchers at the Ivy League school and its partner institutions. While some have cheered Harvard’s stand against demands to crack down on protesters and pursue more viewpoint diversity among faculty, others worry life-saving scientific research will be endangered.

Across the university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, federal money accounted for 10.5% of revenue in 2023, not counting financial aid such as grants and student loans.

What research will be affected?

Harvard has not released a list of affected grants, and it’s possible the university doesn’t yet have a clear idea of what might be frozen.

At other campuses hit with funding freezes, the details of the cuts only became clear over time as work orders were halted. At Brown University, a White House official said it was planning to freeze half a billion dollars in federal money on April 3, but university officials said Tuesday they still did not know which programs might be targeted.

At Harvard, an Education Department official said hospitals affiliated with the university will not be affected.

Five Boston-area teaching hospitals affiliated with Harvard Medical School, considered among the world’s top medical institutions, operate as financially independent non-profits. Their staff often have teaching appointments at Harvard Medical School and their research is funded largely by federal grants.

But the work that could be vulnerable to cuts includes research at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, which says 46% of its budget last year was funded through federal grants. Among other things, this paid for research on cancer, Alzheimer’s, stroke and HIV.

Why doesn’t Harvard use its sizable endowment to pay for research?

Harvard has a $53 billion endowment, the largest in the country. But Harvard leaders say the endowment is not an all-purpose account that can be used for anything the university pleases.

Many donors earmarked their contributions for a specific goal or project. And Harvard has said it relies on some of the endowment to help subsidize tuition costs for middle class and low-income students.

Last week, Harvard started working to borrow $750 million from Wall Street to help cover general expenses. The university has described the effort as part of contingency planning for a range of possible scenarios

What will this mean for undergraduate students?

Losing federal research grants could mean fewer research opportunities for Harvard undergraduate students. If the funding cuts drive away faculty, it could also mean less exposure to top-tier researchers.

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Just last month Harvard had expanded financial aid so middle class families wouldn’t have to pay as much for tuition, room and board. It’s not clear whether losing federal grants might affect those plans.

Outsiders have suggested Harvard and other universities should cut back on top-tier amenities to students to free up money for research.

Harvard enrolls about 7,000 undergraduate students and around 18,000 students in graduate programs.

Associated Press writers Cheyanne Mumphrey in Phoenix and Collin Binkley in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

The Associated Press’ education 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 MATTHEW LEE

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s special envoy, will travel to Paris this week for talks with European allies on U.S. efforts to negotiate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

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The State Department said Rubio and Witkoff would be in the French capital Thursday for the meetings. The officials will have “talks with European counterparts to advance President Trump’s goal to end the Russia-Ukraine war and stop the bloodshed,” department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement Wednesday.

Rubio also will “discuss ways to advance shared interests in the region,” she said.

French President Emmanuel Macron will meet Rubio and Witkoff, according to Macron’s office. They also will hold talks with Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on the war in Ukraine, the Middle East and the Iranian nuclear program.

Vice President JD Vance is visiting Italy later in the week, meeting with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. She is scheduled to visit the White House on Thursday.

The meetings come as concerns grow about Trump’s readiness to draw closer to Russia as the U.S. seeks to broker a ceasefire in Ukraine. There is wariness about other Trump administration moves, from tariffs on some of its closest partners to rhetoric about NATO and Greenland.

Rubio and Witkoff have helped lead U.S. efforts to seek peace more than three years after Russia launched the war. Several rounds of negotiations have been held in Saudi Arabia, and Witkoff met last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Moscow and Kyiv agreed last month to implement a 30-day halt on strikes on energy facilities, but Russia has kept up daily strikes.

Both parties have differed on the start time for stopping strikes and alleged daily breaches by the other side. Moscow has effectively refused to accept a comprehensive ceasefire that Trump has pushed and Ukraine has endorsed. Russia has made it conditional on a halt in Ukraine’s mobilization efforts and Western arms supplies, which are demands rejected by Ukraine.

In a sign of Witkoff’s broad portfolio as Trump seeks to broker peace deals from Ukraine to the Middle East, the envoy held negotiations last weekend with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi over Tehran’s advancing nuclear program. More talks are expected Saturday.

By JON GAMBRELL and NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran confirmed Wednesday that the next round of nuclear talks with the United States this weekend will be held in Rome after earlier confusion over where the negotiations would be held.

The announcement by Iranian state television came as Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian formally approved the resignation of one of his vice presidents who served as Tehran’s key negotiator in its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency, also arrived in the Islamic Republic on Wednesday. His talks may include negotiations over just what access his inspectors can get under any proposed deal.

The state TV announcement said Oman will again mediate the talks on Saturday in Rome. Oman’s foreign minister served as an interlocutor between the two sides at talks last weekend in Muscat, the sultanate’s capital.

Officials initially on Monday identified Rome as hosting the negotiations, only for Iran to insist early Tuesday they would return to Oman. American officials so far haven’t said publicly where the talks will be held, though Trump did call Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq on Tuesday while the ruler was on a trip to the Netherlands.

The stakes of the negotiations couldn’t be higher for the two nations closing in on half a century of enmity. U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly has threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s nuclear 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.

Pezeshkian praises former vice president while acknowledging his resignation

The former vice president, Mohammad Javad Zarif, served as a key supporter of Pezeshkian in his election last year but drew criticism from hard-liners within Iran’s Shiite theocracy, who long have alleged Zarif gave away too much in negotiations.

FILE – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, meets with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at United Nations headquarters, on Sept. 26, 2015. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle, File)

In March, Zarif tendered his resignation to Pezeshkian. However, the president did not immediately respond to the letter. Zarif has used resignation announcements in the past in his political career as leverage, including in a dispute last year over the composition of Pezeshkian’s Cabinet. The president had rejected that resignation.

But on late Tuesday, a statement from the presidency said Pezeshkian wrote Zarif a letter praising him but accepting his resignation.

“Pezeshkian emphasized that due to certain issues, his administration can no longer benefit from Zarif’s valuable knowledge and expertise,” a statement from the presidency said.

The president in a decree appointed Mohsen Ismaili, 59, to be his new vice president for strategic affairs. In Iran’s political system, the president has multiple vice presidents. Ismaili is known as a political moderate and a legal expert.

Grossi visit comes as Iran has restricted IAEA access

Grossi arrived in Tehran for meetings with Pezeshkian and others, which likely will be held Thursday as his previous visits saw the engagements the following morning after his arrival.

Since the nuclear deal’s collapse in 2018 with Trump’s unilateral withdraw of the U.S. from the accord, Iran has abandoned all limits on its program, and enriches uranium to up to 60% purity — near weapons-grade levels of 90%.

Surveillance cameras installed by the IAEA have been disrupted, while Iran has barred some of the Vienna-based agency’s most experienced inspectors. Iranian officials also have increasingly threatened that they could pursue atomic weapons, something the West and the IAEA have been worried about for years since Tehran abandoned an organized weapons program in 2003.

Any possible deal between Iran and the U.S. likely would need to rely on the IAEA’s expertise to ensure Tehran’s compliance. And despite tensions between Iran and the agency, its access has not been entirely revoked.

Iran’s foreign minister questions contradictory responses from US envoy

Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday warned the U.S. about taking contradictory stances in the talks.

That likely refers to comments from U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, who this week initially suggested a deal could see Iran go back to 3.67% uranium enrichment — like in the 2015 deal reached by the Obama administration. Witkoff then followed up with saying “a deal with Iran will only be completed if it is a Trump deal.”

“Iran must stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weaponization program,” he wrote on the social platform X. “It is imperative for the world that we create a tough, fair deal that will endure, and that is what President Trump has asked me to do.”

Araghchi warned America about taking any “contradictory and opposing stances” in the talks.

“Enrichment is a real and accepted issue, and we are ready for trust building about possible concerns,” Araghchi said. But losing the right to enrich at all “is not negotiable.”

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