The travel industry is on edge after Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin reiterated his threat to withdraw U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers from airports in so-called “sanctuary cities” in a move that could jeopardize international flights.

The U.S. Travel Association said that Mullin confirmed he is considering withdrawing CPB officers in a meeting where the trade group was pressing its concerns about other proposals the Trump administration is considering that could hamper travel. U.S. Travel and the major airlines quickly condemned the idea, and even Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said it doesn’t make sense to him.

“U.S. Travel believes such a move would have devastating consequences for the travel industry and communities that depend on international visitation,” the industry group said Friday in a statement.

Details of the meeting were first reported by The Atlantic.

Duffy told a Congressional hearing earlier this week that he wasn’t familiar with Mullin’s remarks, and he’d like to learn more about the context and maybe ask Mullin a question about what he meant. But Duffy said it would be a bad idea to start restricting travel based on political views. After all, at some point Democrats will be in charge and “you will all switch spots at one point — hopefully not too soon Mr. Chairman,” Duffy said.

“We have people from around the world and around the country that need to be able to fly into all different kinds of places. We shouldn’t shut down air travel in a state that doesn’t agree with our politics,” Duffy said.

So it’s not clear how much support this idea has within the administration, though President Donald Trump has previously threatened to withhold funding from sanctuary cities.

There is no strict definition for sanctuary policies or sanctuary cities, but the terms generally describe limited cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. And courts have rejected the idea of pulling funding from them in the past.

In Trump’s first term in office, in 2017, courts struck down his effort to cut funding to the cities.

It’s not clear exactly which cities and airports Mullin might target, but the Justice Department last year published a list of three dozen states, cities and counties that it considers to be sanctuary jurisdictions.

The Airlines for America trade group was quick to say the idea would hurt the economy and disrupt travel.

“Reducing CBP staffing at major airports would have a devastating effect on the airline and tourism industries, causing a significant operational disruption to carriers, travelers and the flow of international cargo.”

Evacuation centers remained open in Southern California on Saturday as authorities worked to cool an overheated chemical storage tank and keep it from exploding less than a mile from Disneyland’s two theme parks.

No injuries were reported after the pressurized tank overheated Thursday and began venting vapors in Garden Grove, according to the Orange County Fire Authority. Evacuation orders were issued for 40,000 people, and several shelters were opened by Friday night, including at three high schools.

The main concern was that the tank could fail and crack, releasing the chemical onto the ground, or it could explode, said Orange County Fire Authority Division Chief Craig Covey. The tank is located at GKN Aerospace, which makes parts for commercial and military aircraft. The tank holds between 6,000 and 7,000 gallons (22,700 and 26,500 liters) of methyl methacrylate, used to make plastic parts.

Drones are monitoring the tank’s temperature, and by Friday evening, efforts to cool the tank were working, Covey said.

“It is not OK with me just to sit back and watch this thing blow up or fail. That is not acceptable to me,” Covey said in an update posted on social media. “Our group is going to do everything they can to come up with a third, a fourth, a fifth option that is not that, that is not failure, and we can get all of you back home as soon as possible. I ask you to continue to be patient.”

That included asking the public not to call 911 for nonemergency issues. especially with suggestions about solving the problem, Covey said

“I know that everybody’s thinking they’re going to give us some really good ideas on how to fix that,” he said. “While we really appreciate the intent of that, trust me, I have the best people around working on solutions.”

Initially, residents in Garden Grove were ordered to leave. Evacuation orders were expanded Friday to some residents of five other Orange County cities — Cypress, Stanton, Anaheim, Buena Park and Westminster.

Garden Grove is about 38 miles (61 kilometers) south of downtown Los Angeles and less than a mile from Disneyland’s two theme parks, which were not under evacuation orders. The city is known for its vibrant Vietnamese community, one of the largest of any U.S. city. Local Vietnamese television stations translated updates from officials and urged residents to take the situation seriously.

Covey said crews used sandbags to create containment barriers to prevent the toxic chemical from getting into storm drains or reaching creeks or the nearby ocean in the event of a spill.

If the chemical heats up, it can release a vapor that is harmful to people’s health. It can cause respiratory issues, itching and burning eyes, nausea and headaches, said Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong, the Orange County health officer.

Crews were initially successful and were able to neutralize one of two damaged tanks, but Covey said they determined Friday morning that the remaining tank was “in the biggest crisis.”

In a statement, GKN Aerospace said it was “fully focused on working with emergency services, specialized hazardous material teams and the relevant authorities to ensure the safety of the local community, our employees and everyone else involved.”

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — The United States and Iran are close to agreeing on a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war, two regional officials and a diplomat said Saturday, as the United States has weighed a new round of attacks on the Islamic Republic.

Iran signaled “narrowing differences” in negotiations with the U.S. after Pakistan’s army chief held more talks in Tehran, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told journalists in India that “there’s been some progress made” and “there may be news later today.”

The officials and diplomat expressed hope that a final decision on the Pakistan-prepared draft could come within 48 hours as both sides review it. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

They said Vice President JD Vance and envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner played significant roles in helping bridge remaining gaps, and that Qatar played a key role by sending a senior official to Tehran to support Pakistan’s mediation efforts.

Still, both Iran and the U.S. emphasized their key positions and have warned of the risks of resuming attacks.

Iran state TV quoted Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei as describing the draft as a “framework agreement” and adding: “We want this to include the main issues required for ending the imposed war and other issues of essential importance to us. Then, over a reasonable time span, between 30 to 60 days, details are discussed and ultimately a final agreement is reached.”

He said the Strait of Hormuz is among the topics discussed.

Positions have moved closer in recent days, Iran’s official IRNA news agency quoted Baghaei as saying.

“Over the past week, the trend has been toward narrowing differences,” he said. “We will have to wait and see what happens over the next three or four days.”

Baghaei said nuclear issues are not part of the current negotiations, as Tehran first seeks to end the war before discussing its nuclear program that has long been at the heart of international tensions.

“Our focus at this stage is on ending the war on all fronts, including Lebanon,” Baghaei said, adding that lifting sanctions on Tehran “has explicitly been included in the text and remains our fixed position.”

Rubio, in New Delhi, said that “even as I speak to you now there is some work being done. There is a chance that whether it’s later today, tomorrow, in a couple days we may have something to say.”

Rubio repeated the U.S. stance that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon and must turn over its highly enriched uranium, and the Strait of Hormuz must be open.

Iran has rebuilt military assets after weeks of war and then a fragile ceasefire, parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said after the meeting with Pakistan’s Field Marshal Asim Munir, state TV reported.

Qalibaf, the lead negotiator in historic face-to-face talks with the U.S. last month, also said the result would be “more crushing and more bitter” than at the start of the war if U.S. President Donald Trump resumes attacks.

Trump earlier said he was holding off on a military strike against Iran because “serious negotiations” were underway, and at the request of allies in the Middle East. Trump has repeatedly set deadlines for Tehran and then backed off.

The U.S. and Israel sparked the war with attacks on Feb. 28, cutting short talks with Iran. Tehran retaliated by effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for the region’s oil, natural gas and fertilizer, causing global economic pain.

The U.S. then blockaded Iranian ports, and the U.S. Central Command on Saturday said U.S. forces had turned away more than 100 commercial vessels and disabled four since the blockade began April 13.

On his visit to Tehran, Pakistan’s army chief also met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior officials, the two officials said, adding that Islamabad continues efforts to arrange a second round of direct negotiations.

It was not clear whether Munir met with Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, who heads Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, has become a major player in formulating Iran’s tough stance in talks.

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Lee reported from Washington.

WASHINGTON, May 23 (Reuters) – Americans coming back from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda or South Sudan now have a second entry point for returning to the United States, with the CDC on Saturday expanding its enhanced Ebola screening to include Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

• Hartsfield-Jackson has previously been used to screen passengers and has established operational procedures in place, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

• Washington’s Dulles International Airport was designated this week to screen returning citizens for the Ebola virus.

• Enhanced public health entry screening is one component of CDC’s Ebola approach, which also includes overseas exit screening, airline illness reporting, and post-arrival public health monitoring.

• The World Health Organization says 82 cases have been confirmed so far in the DRC, ​with seven confirmed deaths, 177 suspected deaths ​and almost 750 suspected cases linked to the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola.

• Earlier this week, the Trump administration banned non-citizens who had traveled to the DRC, Uganda or South Sudan in recent weeks from ​entering the United States.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani in Washington; Editing by Sergio Non and Matthew Lewis)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Justice is acknowledging it has removed from its website news releases about criminal cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, calling the information about the prosecutions “partisan propaganda.”

The purge of news releases documenting criminal charges, convictions and sentencings is the latest step by the Trump administration to dramatically rewrite the history of the assault on the Capitol, when hundreds of supporters of Republican President Donald Trump stormed the building in an effort to halt the congressional certification of his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump, on his first day back in office in January 2025, pardoned, commuted the prison sentences or vowed to dismiss the cases of all of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes during the Capitol assault, including those convicted of attacking officers with makeshift weapons such as flagpoles, a hockey stick and crutch.

On Monday, the Justice Department announced the creation of a $1.776 billion fund meant to compensate Trump allies who feel they were unjustly investigated and prosecuted. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has not ruled out that rioters convicted of violence will be eligible for payouts, prompting bipartisan anger in Congress.

After a journalist on Friday observed on the social media platform X that the Justice Department was “quietly” removing news releases on its website that were related to the Jan. 6 attack, including about a Texas man who pleaded guilty to assault and also faced separate state charges of soliciting a minor, the department responded through its “rapid response” account that there was “nothing ‘quiet’ about it.”

“We are proud to reverse the DOJ’s weaponization under the Biden administration. We will do everything in our power to make whole those who were persecuted for political purposes,” the post said. “This includes stripping DOJ’s website of partisan propaganda.”

Among the releases removed from the site were those concerning seditious conspiracy cases against members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, far-right extremist groups. The Justice Department, in an unopposed motion last month, asked a federal appeals court to vacate those seditious conspiracy convictions, a request that was granted Thursday. The department on Friday moved to dismiss the cases against the group members.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The congressman returned home last Fourth of July to startling stories in Southern California as immigration patrols swept through communities and one constituent told him about starting to carry a passport as proof of the right to be in the country.

Rep. Mark Takano, whose American-born parents were both incarcerated as young children with their families during the forced relocation of Japanese Americans during World War II, could not help but see the parallels between that chapter of American history and this one.

“I do feel like there’s a similarity of circumstance of my own 2-year-old father and my 1-year-old mother being labeled as enemy aliens and they’re considered a danger to national security,” he told The Associated Press in an interview.

“They’re put into these incarceration camps,” he said. “Similar arguments have been made by this administration — that immigrants pose a grave danger to our country and it’s for the security of our country that we’re doing this.”

President Donald Trump’s campaign promise of the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history is at an inflection point. Americans are seeing what it looks like to round up, detain and deport thousands of people, particularly in the aftermath of the deaths this year of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, U.S. citizens protesting the actions in Minneapolis.

The White House changed the leadership at the Department of Homeland Security as it reframes its approach. New Secretary Markwayne Mullin promised to keep the department off the front pages.

But Trump is also under mounting pressure from conservative groups not to let up on the goal of deporting 1 million people a year. The president’s Republican allies in Congress are fueling the immigration and deportation actions with billions of dollars in special funds.

Takano, the ranking Democrat on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, has drawn from his own family history — and the country’s eventual redress to Japanese Americans who were detained — to challenge Trump’s approach.

“We look back on that era of history as a shameful one, as a time when our political leaders failed the Constitution, failed the American people,” he said.

A former high school history teacher before being elected to Congress in 2012, Takano grew up in Southern California and came to understand the family stories.

His grandfather Isao Takano arrived in the U.S. from Hiroshima and married Kazue Takahashi, a U.S.-born citizen. Together they settled in Bellevue, Washington, and launched a business growing tomatoes, strawberries and chrysanthemums for the marketplace in Seattle.

When the U.S. entered the war after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, they were among some 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry, immigrants and those born in the U.S., forcibly relocated.

His father, William, was 2 years old when his family was sent in 1942 to the incarceration camp at Tule Lake in California. His mother, Nancy Tsugiye Sakamoto, born in California to American-born parents, was a year old when she was relocated to the detention facility in Heart Mountain, Wyoming.

Then, as now, he said, people are being swept up in the anti-immigrant detentions.

“Will Americans generations from now visit Alligator Alcatraz and think to themselves, How could our government do this?” Takano said during a House floor speech, referring to the Trump-era immigration detention facility in Florida.

“These future generations of Americans will look to us, the Congress, to see what we did to try to stop it.”

Takano remembers his father taking him to see the land the family once owned. He learned about his great uncles who served in the Army’s 442nd Regimental Combat Team of Japanese American soldiers; one was killed in action in Italy. He recalls his own father later collected donations for the national redress campaign.

In 1988 Congress passed the Civil Liberties Act, which sought to apologize for the “grave injustice” that had been done and provide $20,000 to each person detained. Republican President Ronald Reagan signed it into law.

Takano’s parents were among those who received a letter of apology from the federal government, he said, and a payment.

Talks are underway among some in Congress, he said, for a similar redress to the people who have had their car windows smashed in, their homes raided and livelihoods upended as part of Trump’s immigration enforcement operations.

“Remarkably the country did come to realize the mistake,” he said. “I believe we’re living through one of those eras of mistakes and I believe we can come out of this moment stronger.”

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — It looked like progressive Chris Rabb had a mountain to climb to win the Democratic nomination for a congressional district in Philadelphia.

The mayor and the city’s Democratic Party had endorsed another candidate in this week’s primary. So had members of Pennsylvania’s delegation in the U.S. House. One Rabb rival was backed by millions of dollars. A second benefited from a get-out-the-vote operation run by the influential local building trades unions.

But Rabb finished 15 percentage points ahead of his closest competitor in Tuesday’s election, and the state representative is likely on his way to Washington because no Republican sought the GOP nomination.

Rabb was propelled by a constellation of progressive groups, charting a path to victory partly by assailing his own party as listening more to donors than voters. He credited a grassroots movement inspired by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, alarmed by Republican President Donald Trump and hungry for a government responsive to their needs.

“That was at the heart of why I was running and that is what I built my campaign around and that, I believe, is a chord we struck in this electorate that showed up and came out like gangbusters,” Rabb said in an interview with The Associated Press.

The progressive left counts Rabb’s success as one of its biggest victories of the year and the latest warning sign that Democratic voters see the party’s leadership as weak and feckless in countering Trump. Progressives are also running for House seats in New York, California and Michigan where they are challenging Democratic incumbents or aiming to take on vulnerable Republicans.

Rabb, 55, is a self-described Democratic socialist and “proud troublemaker” who reliably supported the most progressive causes in the state House during his five terms. His backers said voters sent an important signal this week.

“They want someone who knows what they stand for and is ready to fight, whether it’s fighting Donald Trump now or fighting an economy and political system rigged for billionaires in years ahead,” said Adam Green, a co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.

Traction by progressives in midterm races has stoked concerns from moderates that far-left candidates will alienate middle-of-the-road voters and squander a politically advantageous year to unseat Republicans, retake control of Congress and block Trump’s agenda during his last two years in office.

Mike Mikus, a Pittsburgh-based Democratic strategist, said progressives could be a problem down the road for the Democratic Party, but not this year.

“Regardless of who we nominate, gas prices are still too high, grocery prices are too high and people generally think the economy is not in a good place,” Mikus said. “And voters will vote for change.”

Perhaps Rabb’s biggest supporter was the Working Families Party, which says the Democratic and Republican establishments have sold out to powerful interests. The organization has backed several members in Congress, and Analilia Mejía became the newest addition after winning a special election in New Jersey on April 16.

Rabb does not know what he might be able to expect in Washington. “Will we have a razor-thin majority? Will we be in a razor-thin minority?”

He sees Congress as a place where most are not willing to take bold steps because of money in politics. In his victory speech, Rabb showed the fire that his progressive backers say helped win over voters.

“I have been critiqued along this campaign for being too radical, too bold,” Rabb told the crowd. “They ain’t seen nothing yet.”

Rabb’s positions on many issues raised during the campaign were not dramatically different from his rivals’, such as supporting Trump’s impeachment, abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, imposing a moratorium on data centers or championing “Medicare for All.”

He was distinct in stressing his support for government-run grocery stores — to wipe out “food deserts” — and an expansive minimum wage law that eliminates a lower tipped minimum wage and covers independent contractors such as gig workers.

Perhaps most notably, Rabb was a strident critic of establishment politics, including his own party’s.

He said people are sick of insider politicians and big-donor politics. That leads to lackluster voter turnout, even while Trump is president and there is strong antipathy against “MAGA extremism and corporate greed,” he said, referring to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement.

“We can learn lessons from this victory because, if establishment politics was as effective and productive as people would have us think, then I would have been blown out of the water,” Rabb said.

Sharif Street, a state senator and former state party chair, finished second on Tuesday. U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker campaigned for him and building trades unions kicked in more than $600,000.

Dr. Ala Stanford was third, getting support from the retiring incumbent, Dwight Evans, and $3.5 million in spending by 314 Action, a left-leaning political action committee aimed at electing scientists to Congress.

The state’s most prominent Democrat, Gov. Josh Shapiro, did not endorse a candidate. He did call after the election to congratulate Rabb.

Rabb was boosted by at least $1.8 million in spending help by allied progressive groups, according to federal campaign disclosures. U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., campaigned for him four days before the primary date.

Backers celebrated his triumph over the city party’s “machine.”

“The fact that Chris was able to win in machine territory is significant and should send a shock wave to the Democratic establishment that base voters are upset and want transformational change,” said Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution, which was founded by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

While progressive groups are making deeper inroads into Philadelphia, some Democrats pointed out that Rabb captured just 45% of the vote, meaning that perhaps a candidate with unified establishment backing could have prevailed. Others suggested Rabb was helped by a low-turnout election in which fewer than one-third of registered Democrats voted.

“Momentum, the vibes, how people feel about a candidate are going to make a difference,” said Mustafa Rashed, a Democratic political consultant in Philadelphia.

Rabb said he almost didn’t see the race to its conclusion and considered quitting after reporting his campaign treasurer for stealing money.

He felt such a sense of betrayal, combined with the stress of being outspent by his rivals, that he worried it would derail his candidacy.

“There was a lot of internal talk about what is the path forward for me,” Rabb said. “I had to dig down and just reaffirm that I’m walking in my purpose and this is exactly what I’m supposed to be doing, irrespective of the adversities.”

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Follow Marc Levy at http://twitter.com/timelywriter

CINCINNATI (AP) — Facility dogs are bringing moments of comfort and joy to children’s hospitals, offering far more than a friendly face. Unlike volunteer therapy dogs, these specially trained, full-time working dogs can enter sensitive areas and support patients throughout their hospital experience.

Experts say the use of facility dogs is growing at children’s hospitals nationwide as research continues to show benefits for young patients. Studies suggest even brief interactions can improve well-being, lower stress and pain levels, and help children feel more at ease in unfamiliar medical settings.

At places like Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, dogs such as Hadley provide emotional support during difficult procedures, encourage kids to stay active and add a sense of normalcy to hospital life. Their popularity extends beyond patient rooms, with photos decorating hallways, television appearances and mailboxes where children can send letters and drawings.

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This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

Faisal Rashid and his wife jumped out of bed at 3 a.m. in a scramble to secure spots for this year’s Hajj before packages sold out. Adrenaline was running high as he tried to navigate the digital booking platform from their Pasadena, California, home.

The moment, back in February, when the couple learned they had spots in the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia was so emotional that recalling it still brings them to tears.

“It was a very, very joyful experience,” said 35-year-old Rashid, his voice wavering. “My wife was already crying, praying. We were very grateful that this happened,” he added, a tear rolling down his face.

A lot has changed since that day — the Iran war erupted and widened before a tenuous ceasefire was reached. The couple’s resolve to perform the pilgrimage hasn’t, however.

They are among U.S. Muslims who are joining a sea of pilgrims converging on Saudi Arabia from around the world for a Hajj that this year has been approaching against the backdrop of regional tensions and uncertainty about the conflict. The Hajj will officially start on Monday.

At the Hajj, Muslims unite in religious rituals and acts of worship as they fulfill one of the Five Pillars of Islam. A religious obligation for Muslims who are physically and financially able to do it, Hajj can be the spiritual experience of a lifetime for the pilgrims and a chance to seek God’s forgiveness and the erasure of past sins.

Some Muslims spend many years saving up money and waiting for a permit to embark on the journey.

“It’s not something you just get,” said Rashid, a doctoral candidate and a Los Angeles Police Department reserve officer. “It’s something that if God invites you, then you’re able to go.”

At one point, his father asked how the war affected their Hajj plans; an aunt wondered if he could get a refund if things escalated.

He figured others had previously endured far worse to make the journey. “You’re brought up to think about how this is a very physically and emotionally enduring expedition,” he said.

A planner by nature, Rashid began following a flight tracker and registered for a program that sends updates and alerts from U.S. embassies and consulates abroad.

But instead of worrying, he has been leaning on his faith.

“In Islam we’re taught that you’re supposed to do your very best effort but then let go of the things that … you don’t have control over,” he said. “I need to let go and feel that, ‘Hey, you know what, God is the best of planners.’ ”

On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there was “slight progress” during talks with Iran over a potential peace deal. He spoke days after U.S. President Donald Trump said he was holding off on a military strike against Iran because “serious negotiations” were underway. Trump has been threatening for weeks that the ceasefire reached in April could end if Iran does not make a deal.

Following the eruption of the Iran war, the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh in April advised Americans to reconsider participating in this year’s Hajj, citing then the “security situation and intermittent travel disruptions.”

Ahmed Sufyan, a surgeon in Michigan, has been concerned about potential flight disruptions on his way back from the pilgrimage. His round trip includes stops in Gulf countries that had been embroiled in the war, which started on Feb. 28 with joint U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran and drew retaliatory strikes by Iran.

“There is some uncertainty with the war,” he said. “That does add a level of concern.”

Still, he said, “the faith is what drives us.”

If this were for vacation, he couldn’t have justified it. But Hajj is different, he said.

“I feel really lucky that I have this opportunity,” he said. “I personally know people who have attempted to go for many years, and it’s not easy to secure a spot.”

“Hajj,” he said, “transcends politics and conflict.”

His goal? To return a better person.

“To fulfill the Hajj requirements, you have to stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about your creator and putting things into perspective,” he said. “It teaches you patience and humility.”

Hajj brings together large numbers of Muslims of diverse races, ethnicities, languages and economic classes from around the world, leaving many feeling unity and connection.

In India, home to a large Muslim minority, pilgrimage planning has proceeded largely as normal, but high fuel prices have pushed up travel costs for this year’s pilgrims from the country.

Back in the U.S., the uncertainty upended Noor-e-ain Shahid’s plans for her children’s care while she and her husband go to Hajj.

The Texas neurologist had planned for her children to stay with family in Dubai. Tickets were bought; then the war erupted.

By late April, Shahid decided there was too much unpredictability: What if things flare up in the region? What if flight delays leave her kids stuck in Dubai?

Her in-laws offered to stay with the children in the U.S. while she and her husband are away. She is not worried about her own safety on the journey.

“If Allah has invited me, then Allah will take care of me,” she said. “And if Allah has decided my end is there in this situation, then, I mean, I accept that.”

She has been overwhelmed by emotions. High among them is feeling fortunate.

“It’s considered as rebirth,” she said. “You go there and you have an opportunity to become new when you come back and start over.”

In California, ahead of the Hajj, Rashid and his wife have prepared for the physically demanding pilgrimage by going to the gym and on walks. New shoes, he said, must be broken in. He has been spiritually preparing and getting guidance.

The couple also collected prayer requests that others would like them to make during Hajj.

“You want to go in spiritually with a clean slate, not with any kind of ill hearts or bitterness,” he said. “You don’t want to feel anxious about worldly things.”

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Associated Press writer Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi, India, contributed to this report.

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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.

Republicans are rushing to redraw congressional districts to their advantage ahead of the midterm elections following a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that weakened minority protections under the federal Voting Rights Act.

In a matter of just weeks, new U.S. House districts already have been enacted in Tennessee and Alabama and have cleared at least one legislative chamber in Louisiana and South Carolina. But hurdles remain in courthouses and capitols before the new maps can be used in the November elections.

Voting districts typically are redrawn after a census at the start of a decade. But President Donald Trump has urged Republican-led states to redistrict now to try to hold on to the GOP’s narrow House majority in the face of political headwinds. A president’s party typically loses congressional seats in the midterms, and Trump’s approval ratings are in the negative.

Republicans stand to gain seats from the aggressive redistricting. Since Trump first urged Texas to redraw its voting districts last year, Republicans think they could win as many as 15 additional seats from new House districts in seven states. Democrats have countered only partially, hoping to pick up six seats from new districts in two states.

Here’s a look at where things stand on the most recent redistricting efforts:

Republican Gov. Henry McMaster called lawmakers into special session to consider congressional redistricting. The Republican-led House passed a plan early Wednesday that would improve the party’s chances of winning the state’s only Democratic-held seat.

Senators are to meet Saturday — for the third straight day — to consider the redistricting plan. But passage is not guaranteed.

Democrats are opposed, and some Republicans also have reservations. Some GOP senators fear that their attempt to win the district held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn could backfire by spreading so many Democrats into Republican-held districts that they become susceptible to being lost.

South Carolina’s primaries are set for June 9. The legislation revising the districts would set a new congressional primary for August.

The Supreme Court struck down Louisiana’s congressional map, which contains two majority-Black districts held by Democrats, as an illegal racial gerrymander. The state House is expected to debate a revised map next week that would significantly reshape one of those districts while giving Republicans an improved chance to win it.

Although Republicans who dominate the state Legislature are aligned on the broad contours of the new map, the House and Senate have competing visions for how to divvy up certain localities, including which parishes will be kept whole and which will be sliced up.

A House committee tweaked a map previously passed by the Senate. If the House and Senate pass different versions, a joint committee of lawmakers could try to negotiate a compromise before the session is set to end June 1.

Republican Gov. Jeff Landry postponed Louisiana’s May 16 congressional primary until later this summer to allow time for redistricting.

A federal court heard arguments Friday on a request to block Alabama from using congressional districts that could help Republicans gain an additional seat in the midterm elections. It’s the latest twist in a long-running legal case.

Republican state lawmakers in 2023 approved a map with one majority-Black district. The court previously blocked that map and ordered a new one that resulted in Democrats winning two seats in which Black residents comprise a majority or close to it.

But the U.S. Supreme Court recently overturned that order and directed the lower court to reexamine the case in light of the Louisiana decision.

Attorneys for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the ACLU, which are representing Black voters, want a three-judge panel to prevent the state from using the 2023 map. They contend a preliminary injunction is warranted, because the Louisiana decision should not affect a separate finding that Alabama’s map was intentionally discriminatory against Black voters.

Alabama’s primary elections were May 19. But new congressional primaries are scheduled for August for the districts that are different under the 2023 map.

A state court panel heard arguments Thursday in another NAACP lawsuit seeking to invalidate Tennessee’s new congressional map, which carves up a Memphis-based, majority-Black district represented by a Democrat. The new map could give Republicans an improved chance to sweep all nine of the state’s seats.

The lawsuit contends the General Assembly included provisions in the redistricting legislation that weren’t specifically authorized or necessary under a proclamation by Republican Gov. Bill Lee that set the agenda for the special session. Among those is a provision repealing a state law that prohibits mid-decade redistricting.

If the legislature exceeded its authority, then the lawsuit asserts that the new map cannot be used.

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Associated Press writers Jack Brook, Kim Chandler and Jeffrey Collins contributed.