By NICOLE WINFIELD

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis participated remotely in the Vatican’s spiritual retreat Tuesday after getting good news from his doctors: They upgraded his prognosis and say he is no longer in imminent danger of death as a result of the double pneumonia that has kept him hospitalized for nearly a month in the longest and gravest threat to his 12-year papacy.

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The 88-year-old pope isn’t out of the woods yet, however. Doctors are still cautious and have decided to keep him hospitalized for several more days to receive treatment, not to mention a period of rehabilitation he will likely need.

But the doctors said he remains stable and has consolidated improvements in recent days, according to blood tests and his good response to treatment. Francis, who has chronic lung disease, is still using supplemental oxygen during the day and a ventilation mask at night to help him breathe.

In an early update Tuesday, the Vatican said Francis was resuming his physical and respiratory physiotherapy after a quiet night. In a sign of his improved health, Francis also followed the Vatican’s weeklong spiritual retreat via videoconference for a third day, and spent some time in prayer in his private chapel, the Vatican said.

“It really makes me happy, because we were sad as it looked like he was not recovering,” said Sister Maria Letizia Salazar, a nun who was praying for Francis on Tuesday outside the Gemelli hospital. “But now that I’ve got this news I am very happy.”

This week also counts some important anniversaries for Francis: Tuesday is the 67th anniversary of his entry into the Jesuit religious order’s novitiate, and Thursday marks the 12th anniversary of his election as pope.

Doctors on Monday lifted their “guarded” prognosis for the pope, meaning they determined he was no longer in imminent danger as a result of the original respiratory infection he arrived with on Feb. 14. But their caution remained, given Francis’ fragility, the severity of the original infection and overall complexity of his condition.

Francis, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, had what was just a bad case of bronchitis when he was hospitalized last month. The infection progressed into a complex respiratory tract infection and double pneumonia that has raised questions about the future of his pontificate.

He was still keeping his eye on things, however. The Vatican said he had been informed about the floods in his native Argentina, sent a telegram of condolences and expressed his closeness to the affected population. In addition, a Vatican cardinal close to Francis spoke out Monday to deny some negative media reports that have circulated in his absence.

The Vatican development office released a letter written by Cardinal Michael Czerny to one of Francis’ close friends, the Argentine social justice activist Juan Grabois. Grabois had traveled to Rome to pray for Francis at Gemelli hospital, and some Italian media reported that he had tried to forcibly get into Francis’ 10th floor hospital suite, a claim he denied.

In the March 6 letter, Czerny told Grabois that Francis “knew of your presence in Rome and your daily vigils of prayer and spiritual solidarity at Gemelli Polyclinic and I’m sure this gave him a true comfort and support.”

“Additionally, I know that you join me in strongly repudiating the unfounded versions that have circulated in some media about alleged inappropriate behavior in the hospital,” Czerny wrote.

The Vatican is always abuzz with rumor but has gone into overdrive with speculation about Francis’ health and talk of conclaves, even though Francis is very much alive and in charge. The fact that Czerny felt it necessary to defend one of Francis’ friends suggested that the rumor and maneuvering in Francis’ absence had crossed a line.

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.

The Washington County Board approved a $4.5 million settlement in the case involving a sheriff’s deputy who fatally shot Benjamin Evans in 2018.

Benjamin Evans, 23, of Lake Elmo. (Courtesy of Benjamin Evans family)

According to the terms of a settlement, William Evans, acting as trustee and next-of-kin for Benjamin Evans will received the payment. Of the $4.5 million, $2 million will come from the Minnesota Counties Intergovernmental Trust while the remaining $2.5 million from Washington County.

On April 12, 2018 during a standoff in Lake Elmo with law enforcement, Benjamin Evans, who was suicidal and armed, was shot by Washington County Sheriff’s Deputy Brian Krook. Evans had turned his head and pointed a gun at himself, causing the weapon to be also pointed in the direction of law enforcement officers, according to Washington County.

In a statement on the settlement, Washington County officials said: “While (they stand) by the actions of (their) deputy as necessary to protect public safety, both parties recognized that a prolonged and costly trial could yield uncertain outcomes.”

Washington County’s statement also noted that the settlement “does not constitute admission of liability or wrongdoing by Washington County or Deputy Krook.”

Krook in 2020 was acquitted of manslaughter by a Washington County jury.

This story will update later today. 

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By HALELUYA HADERO

In less than a month, TikTok could have one or a few new owners, be banned again, or simply receive another reprieve to continue operating in the United States.

Questions about the fate of the popular video sharing app have continued to linger since a law requiring its China-based parent company to divest or face a ban took effect on Jan. 19. After taking office, President Donald Trump gave TikTok a 75-day reprieve by signing an executive order that delayed enforcement of the statute until April 5.

As he returned to Washington from his Florida home on Sunday, Trump told reporters that a deal could come soon. He did not offer any details on the interested buyers, but said the administration was in talks with “four different groups” about TikTok.

“A lot of people want it and it’s up to me,” Trump said aboard Air Force One.

A TikTok spokesperson declined to comment.

What will happen on April 5?

If TikTok is not sold to an approved buyer by April 5, the original law that bans it nationwide would once again go into effect. However, the deadline for the executive order doesn’t appear to be set in stone and the president has reiterated it could be extended further if needed.

Trump’s order came a few days after the Supreme Court unanimously upheld a federal law that required TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to divest or be banned in January. The day after the ruling, TikTok went dark for U.S. users and came back online after Trump vowed to stall the ban.

During his first term, Trump tried to ban TikTok on national security grounds, which was halted by the courts before his administration negotiated a sale of the platform that eventually failed to materialize. He changed his position on the popular app during last year’s presidential election and has credited the platform with helping him win more young voters.

The decision to keep TikTok alive through an executive order has received some scrutiny, but it has not faced a legal challenge in court.

Who wants to buy TikTok?

Although it’s unclear if ByteDance plans to sell TikTok, several potential bidders have come forward in the past few months.

Aides for Vice President JD Vance, who was tapped to oversee a potential deal, have reached out to some parties, such as the artificial intelligence startup Perplexity AI, to get additional details about their bids, according to a person familiar with the matter. In January, Perplexity AI presented ByteDance with a merger proposal that would combine Perplexity’s business with TikTok’s U.S. operation.

FILE – Alexis Ohanian poses for photos on the red carpet at the Women’s Sports Foundation’s Annual Salute to Women in Sports, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)

Other potential bidders include a consortium organized by billionaire businessman Frank McCourt, which recently recruited Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian as a strategic advisor. Investors in the consortium say they’ve offered ByteDance $20 billion in cash for TikTok’s U.S. platform. And if successful, they plan to redesign the popular app with blockchain technology they say will provide users with more control over their online data.

Jesse Tinsley, the founder of the payroll firm Employer.com, says he too has organized a consortium, which includes the CEO of the video game platform Roblox, and is offering ByteDance more than $30 billion for TikTok.

Trump said in January that Microsoft was also eyeing the popular app. Other interested parties include Trump’s former Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin and Rumble, the video site popular with some conservatives and far-right groups. In a post on X last March, Rumble said it was ready to join a consortium of parties interested in purchasing TikTok and serving as a tech partner for the company.

What could happen next?

Trump has said he is looking to have the U.S. government broker a deal for 50% control of TikTok. However, the administration hasn’t provided details on what exactly that would entail, or what role the U.S. government could play in the future of the short-form video app.

Some potential bidders have floated proposals that would allow the U.S. to invest or own a stake in the platform. Last month, Trump himself also said the U.S. could own part of TikTok through a new government-owned investment fund.

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Chinese officials, who would have to approve the deal, appear to have softened their stance on the issue compared to last year when Beijing called the push for divestment a “robbers” act.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said in January that business operations and acquisitions “should be independently decided by companies in accordance with market principles.”

“If it involves Chinese companies, China’s laws and regulations should be observed,” Mao said.

If ByteDance sits down to negotiate, the company would likely need to iron out major details with the U.S. over the proprietary algorithm that populates TikTok feeds as well as the flow of content between the U.S. and the rest of the world.

Associated Press reporters Michelle Price and Didi Tang contributed to this story from Washington.

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump overstepped his constitutional authority in freezing almost all spending on U.S. humanitarian and development work abroad, a federal judge ruled, saying the administration could no longer simply sit on the tens of billions of dollars that Congress has appropriated for foreign aid.

But Judge Amir H. Ali stopped short of ordering Trump officials to use the money to revive the thousands of contracts they have abruptly terminated for U.S. aid and development work around the world.

Ali’s ruling Monday evening came hours after Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the administration had finished what has been a six-week purge of programs of the six-decade-old U.S. Agency for International Development, cutting 83% of them. Rubio said he would move the remaining aid programs under the State Department.

Rubio made his announcement in a post on X, in one of his few public comments on what has been a historic shift away from U.S. foreign aid and development, executed by Trump political appointees at the State Department and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency teams.

Rubio in the post thanked DOGE and “our hardworking staff who worked very long hours to achieve this overdue and historic reform” in foreign aid.

Trump on Jan. 20 issued an executive order directing a freeze of foreign assistance funding and a review of all U.S. aid and development work abroad. Trump charged that much of foreign assistance was wasteful and advanced a liberal agenda.

Rubio’s social media post Monday said that review was now “officially ending,” with some 5,200 of USAID’s 6,200 programs eliminated. Those programs “spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States,” Rubio wrote. About 1,000 remaining contracts would now be administered by the State Department, he said.

Democratic lawmakers and others call the shutdown of congressionally funded programs illegal, saying such a move requires Congress’ approval.

In his preliminary injunction Monday, Ali said Trump could not simply ignore most of what is roughly $60 billion in foreign assistance funding that was given to USAID and State by Congress, which under the U.S. Constitution has the authority to spend money.

“The constitutional power over whether to spend foreign aid is not the President’s own — and it is Congress’s own,” Ali wrote, adding elsewhere that Trump officials “offer an unbridled view of Executive power that the Supreme Court has consistently rejected.”

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But Ali declined the request from nonprofit groups and businesses to revive the canceled contracts for foreign assistance work around the world, saying it was up to the administration to make decisions on specific contracts. The mass contract cancellations also were a separate matter than the funding freeze that two global health groups, the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition and the Global Health Council, had originally gone to court to challenge, he said.

Ali also ordered Trump officials to pay all of the roughly $2 billion it owed to aid groups and businesses up to mid-February, and ordered them to do it at a pace of at least 300 back payments a day.

Despite claims from the administration it was continuing to fund at least life-saving programs in its foreign aid freeze, USAID staffers and the agency’s nonprofit and business partners say all payments through USAID were cut off until recently, and that USAID’s payment system itself disabled by Musk’s DOGE.

Ali’s ruling came after the Supreme Court had rejected the Trump administration’s appeal in the case.

USAID supporters said the sweep of the cuts have made it difficult to tell what U.S. efforts abroad the Trump administration actually supports.

“The patterns that are emerging is the administration does not support democracy programs, they don’t support civil society … they don’t support NGO programs,” or health or emergency response, said Andrew Natsios, the USAID administrator for Republican former President George W. Bush.

“So what’s left”?” Natsios asked.

Republicans broadly have made clear they want foreign assistance that would promote a far narrower interpretation of U.S. national interests going forward.

The dismantling of USAID that followed Trump’s order upended decades of policy that humanitarian and development aid abroad advanced U.S. national security by stabilizing regions and economies, strengthening alliances and building goodwill.

The State Department said in a court filing earlier this month it was killing more than 90% of USAID programs. Rubio gave no explanation for why his number was lower.

In the weeks after Trump’s order, one of his appointees and transition team members, Pete Marocco, and Musk pulled USAID staff around the world off the job through forced leaves and firings, shut down USAID payments overnight and terminated aid and development contracts by the thousands.

The shutdown has left many USAID staffers and contractors and their families still overseas, many of them awaiting back payments and travel expenses to return home.

The Trump administration on Monday gave USAID staffers abroad until April 6 to move back to the United States if they want to do so on the government’s tab, according to a USAID email sent to staffers and seen by The Associated Press. Staffers say the deadline gives them scant time to pull children from school, sell homes or break leases, and, for many, find somewhere to live after years away from the United States.

Associate Press writer Lindsay Whitehurst contributed.