Today is Thursday, April 2, the 92nd day of 2026. There are 273 days left in the year. Today in history: On April 2, 2005, John Paul II, the Polish pope born Karol Józef Wojtyła, died in his Vatican apartment at age 84. The first non-Italian pope in over 450 years, John Paul II became one of the most influential leaders of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
NEW YORK (AP) – President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday that could slap long-threatened pharmaceutical tariffs of up to 100% on some patented drugs from companies that don’t reach deals with his administration in the coming months.
NEW YORK (AP) – Stocks recovered most of their earlier losses as volatility returned to Wall Street after two days of solid gains. The S&P 500 fell 0.2% after slumping as much as 1.5% in early trading Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 154 points, or 0.3% as of 12:35 p.m. Eastern. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.3%. Stocks in Europe pared their losses.
NEW YORK (AP) – A federal judge in New York tossed out actor Blake Lively’s sexual harassment claims Thursday against actor Justin Baldoni over their roles in the movie “It Ends With Us,” but he left intact two retaliation claims.
NEW YORK (AP) – Sales of Tesla vehicles rose in the past three months in a possible sign recovery is afoot after a brutal year of boycotts over Elon Musk’s politics but still fell short of expectations. The company Thursday said sales rose 6% to 358,023, the first time in three years it posted a first-quarter increase from the year-earlier period.
LONDON (AP) – Reports on April Fools’ Day of the death of the world’s oldest living land animal – a 193-year-old tortoise called Jonathan – were greatly exaggerated. Jonathan is still kicking – albeit slowly – on the island of St. Helena. “It was a hoax, I can just assure you that he is very much alive.”
Democrats sued Wednesday to block President Donald Trump’s latest executive order restricting mail voting, arguing that the U.S. Constitution empowers states and Congress, not the president, to determine who is eligible to vote by mail.
LONDON (AP) – U.S. President Donald Trump and his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have been damning of the U.K.’s naval capabilities. Their jibes may have stung in a country with a long and proud maritime history, but they do carry some substance.
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom is expected to win approval from a key agency on Thursday, days after a federal judge ordered a halt to construction unless Congress allows what would be the biggest structural change to the American landmark in more than 70 years.
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