By ERIC TUCKER

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ten Chinese hackers have been charged alongside two Chinese law enforcement officers in a global hacking campaign that targeted dissidents, news organizations and U.S. agencies, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.

The hacking by workers of I-Soon was done in some cases at the direction of China’s Ministry of Public Security, which received the stolen information and selected targets for the intrusions as part of what U.S. officials say was a massive intelligence-gathering operation.

Among the targets of the hacking was the U.S. Treasury Department, which disclosed a breach by Chinese actors late last year.

I-Soon is part of a sprawling industry in China, documented in an Associated Press investigation last year, of private hacking contractors are companies that steal data from other countries to sell to the Chinese authorities.

Over the past two decades, Chinese state security’s demand for overseas intelligence has soared, giving rise to a vast network of these private hackers-for-hire companies that have infiltrated hundreds of systems outside China.

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TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is not willing to lift Canada’s retaliatory tariffs if Trump leaves any tariffs on Canada, a senior government official told The Associated Press.

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The official confirmed the stance on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

Trump imposed tariffs against Washington’s three biggest trading partners, drawing immediate retaliation from Mexico, Canada and China and sending financial markets into a tailspin. President Donald Trump put 25% taxes, or tariffs, on Mexican and Canadian imports, though he limited the levy to 10% on Canadian energy.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said there might be carveouts coming — a softening of the U.S. position after Tuesday’s tax hike hurt the stock market, worried consumers and started a trade war.

In a Wednesday interview with Bloomberg Television, Lutnick said that Trump would update his tariff plans with an afternoon announcement, possibly sparing sectors such as autos from the import taxes.

“There are going to be tariffs, let’s be clear,” Lutnick said. “But what he’s thinking about is which sections of the market that can maybe — maybe — he’ll consider giving them relief until we get to, of course, April 2.”

On April 2, Trump plans to announce what he calls “reciprocal” tariffs to match the tariffs, taxes and subsidies provided by other countries. That could dramatically increase the tariff rates charged globally while maintaining the risk of a broader tariff.

Lutnick said he would talk on Wednesday morning with Trump about the possible options regarding Canada and Mexico, saying that both countries are working to address the U.S. president’s concerns about drug trafficking. Lutnick said to expect Trump to announce his decision Wednesday afternoon.

The Canadian government indicated that nothing less than the removal of the tariffs was acceptable.

“We’re not interested in meeting in the middle and having some reduced tariff. Canada wants the tariffs removed,” Canadian Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

By JEFF MARTIN and JACK BROOK, Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Powerful storms that killed two people in Mississippi and ripped roofs from buildings in a small Oklahoma town charged across the nation, threatening more communities Wednesday in the central to eastern United States with wide-ranging weather.

Meanwhile, forecasters warned that a Pacific storm was expected to bring widespread rain and mountain snow across California and other parts of the West from Wednesday into Friday.

A tornado watch was issued Wednesday morning for parts of North and South Carolina until early afternoon. Tornado warnings were issued in Florida and South Carolina on Wednesday morning.

Snow blows during a blizzard warning in Omaha, Neb., Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (Chris Machian/Omaha World-Herald via AP)

On Tuesday, high winds forced some changes to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, which moved up and shortened the two biggest parades to wrap them up ahead of the bad weather. Tornadoes touched down Tuesday in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, according to preliminary information from the National Weather Service.

In Mississippi, two people died due to the severe weather, Gov. Tate Reeves said Tuesday in a social media post without going into detail. WAPT-TV reported that one person died from a falling power line in Madison County, while a driver in the same county was killed by a tree falling on his car.

On Wednesday morning, Nebraska officials warned that travel was not advised in the eastern part of the state, where high winds were limiting visibility. A 130-mile (209-kilometer) stretch of Interstate 80 was closed from Greenwood to Grand Island, according to the Nebraska Department of Transportation.

Blizzard conditions in parts of southern Minnesota made travel there dangerous Wednesday morning, the weather service office in the Twin Cities warned on social media. Heavy snow and strong northerly winds slowed travel across much of the Twin Cities, southern Minnesota and western Wisconsin, the weather service said.

The storms have left hundreds of thousands of people without electricity service on Wednesday morning across the central and southeastern United States, including more than 111,000 customers in Texas, about 54,000 in Tennessee and about 53,000 in Alabama, according to PowerOutage.us.

After more than 850 flights were canceled nationwide on Tuesday, the storm was beginning to snarl traffic at some of the nation’s busiest airports on the East Coast, which typically causes ripple effects throughout the nation’s commercial aviation system. Nearly 500 flights scheduled to fly into or out of U.S. airports on Wednesday have been canceled, according to FlightAware.com, which tracks cancelations and delays nationwide.

Martin reported from Atlanta. Associated Press journalists from across the country contributed.

PANAMA CITY (AP) — Panama President José Raúl Mulino on Wednesday accused U.S. President Donald Trump of lying when he said in his address to Congress that his administration was “reclaiming” the Panama Canal.

Trump was referencing a deal announced Tuesday for a consortium led by the U.S. investment management company BlackRock Inc. to buy a controlling stake in the company held by a Chinese group that operates ports at both ends of the Panama Canal.

Panama maintains that it has full control over the canal and that the Hong Kong-based group’s operation of the ports did not amount to Chinese control over the waterway, and that therefore the sale to a U.S.-based company would not represent any U.S. “reclaiming” of the canal. Panama’s government on Tuesday called the sale a private transaction.

Mulino in a message posted to X on Wednesday, rejected that the deal came about because of U.S. pressure. “I reject in the name of Panama and all Panamanians this new affront to the truth and our dignity as a nation,” he wrote. He accused Trump of “lying again.”

Trump has talked about retaking the Panama Canal since his campaign, arguing that the U.S. should have never turned control over to the Panamanians and that the U.S. was being overcharged for using it.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Mulino in early February and insisted that China was exerting influence over the canal’s operations. The focus was the Chinese consortium running the ports. Panama rejected that China had any influence over canal operations.

“Cooperation between our governments passes through clear understandings in terms of issues of mutual interest,” Mulino wrote. “It doesn’t have anything to do with ‘reclaiming the canal’ nor with tarnishing our national sovereignty.”

In a filing, CK Hutchison Holding said Tuesday that it would sell all shares in Hutchison Port Holdings and in Hutchison Port Group Holdings to the BlackRock consortium in a deal valued at nearly $23 billion, including $5 billion in debt.

The deal has to be approved by Panama’s government.

The United States built the canal in the early 1900s as it looked for ways to facilitate the transit of commercial and military vessels between its coasts. Washington relinquished control of the waterway to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999, under a treaty signed in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter. Trump has claimed that Carter “foolishly” gave the canal away.

Frank Sixt, co-managing director of CK Hutchison, said in a statement that the transaction was “the result of a rapid, discrete but competitive process in which numerous bids and expressions of interest were received.”

“I would like to stress that the transaction is purely commercial in nature and wholly unrelated to recent political news reports concerning the Panama Ports,” Sixt said.