NEW DELHI (AP) — Recent remarks about pollution from two Indian officials have increased frustration among residents who say policymakers are unwilling to acknowledge the severity of India's air quality crisis.
When Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav told Parliament earlier this month that India’s capital, New Delhi, has seen 200 days with good air quality readings, pollution experts and opposition leaders said he chose a figure that overlooked the worst pollution months.
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FILE - People walk through an overhead bridge amidst morning smog in New Delhi, India, Oct. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)
FILE - A cyclist pedals through morning smog near the India Gate monument as he transports used home appliances in New Delhi, India, Oct. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)
FILE - A person holds a sign during a protest against what they called the government's lack of action to combat air pollution in New Delhi, India, Nov. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)
FILE - People walk through smog in New Delhi, India, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Piyush Nagpal, File)
A week later, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the air quality index — a measure of air pollution — was similar to a temperature reading and could be dealt with by spraying water. Crowds jeered her at a subsequent public event, shouting “AQI” in reference to the city's poor air quality readings.
Gupta had also greenlit a controversial cloud seeding program earlier this year, saying it could produce rain that would lower pollution — despite lack of evidence that the approach would work.
Residents in New Delhi and surrounding areas engulfed in toxic smog over the last few months said these are just the latest examples of officials denying the severity of air quality problems.
“Instead of doing cloud seeding, I hope the government will wake up and take some real action,” said Anita, a 73-year-old New Delhi resident who goes by only one name. “It’s a shame."
Environmentalists and data experts said India’s air quality measurement standards are looser than in countries such as the United States, so moderate readings often mask dangerous pollution levels. India's government air quality standards are also less stringent than World Health Organization guidelines.
Experts said these gaps can erode public trust, even as few residents fully grasp how harmful polluted air is.
India’s air quality is measured through a nationwide network of monitors and sensors, as well as satellite data.
The monitors collect robust data, but there are too few of them, said Ronak Sutaria, CEO of Respirer Living, which builds machines and software for air quality monitoring. He said that the system falls short of letting citizens know how polluted the air in their neighborhoods really is.
In 2019, India launched the National Clean Air Program, which set targets aiming to reduce pollution by up to 40% in 131 cities by 2026.
The program has seen relative success, providing millions of dollars for monitors and water-spraying machines to reduce dust generated from vehicles plying the roads, construction activity and winds that blow desert sand into the cities.
However, air pollution experts said the program has done little to reduce pollution from carbon-spewing industries or vehicle emissions, which are among the biggest sources of dirty air. Other sources include the burning of crop stubble on farms, use of wood and cow dung as cooking fuel and burning of garbage.
A 2024 report by the Centre for Science and Environment, a New Delhi-based think tank, found that 64% of funds under the program went toward reducing dust and only 12% to reducing pollution from vehicles and less than 1% to bringing down industrial air pollution.
“We are making huge investments in air quality monitoring. And so when we are expanding, then it also becomes an imperative that we should be focusing on the quality,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director at the think tank.
A study last year by the medical journal Lancet linked long-term exposure to polluted air to 1.5 million additional deaths every year in India, compared to a scenario where the country would have met WHO standards.
Yet earlier this month, Prataprao Jadhav, India’s junior health minister, said there is no conclusive data available in the country to establish a direct correlation of death or disease exclusively to air pollution.
Shweta Narayan, a campaign lead at the Global Climate and Health Alliance, said that air pollution is still not taken seriously as a public health issue.
“Deaths related to air pollution are not being counted. And the reason why it’s not being counted is because there are no systematic mechanisms to do so,” Narayan said.
Narayan said pollution causes long-term health problems for everyone exposed, but that it's especially bad for pregnant women, the elderly and children.
“As a consequence of exposure to air pollution, we see a lot of preterm births, miscarriages, low birth weight. Exposure at this stage has a lifelong consequence,” she said.
Earlier this month, New Delhi residents took to the streets to protest against dirty air and demand immediate government action in a relatively rare instance of public demonstrations.
“We do not know whether ... citizens will be able to link air pollution to elections, but perhaps that’s where India is moving toward,” environmentalist Vimlendu Jha said in an interview. “Citizens are fed up.”
Jha said authorities are not being honest about the problem and that there is a lack of political will to address the issue.
“There’s more headline and image management than pollution management,” he said, adding that the high levels of pollution have been treated as normal by political leaders.
“The first thing that the government needs to do is to be honest about the problem that we have," he said. "The right diagnosis is extremely critical.”
Regardless of whether policymakers act, the consequences of dirty air for the residents of India’s capital are evident.
“Everyone feels the pollution. People are not able to work or even breathe,” said Satish Sharma, a 60-year-old auto rickshaw driver.
Sharma said he has reduced his work hours as his health has deteriorated in the last few weeks because of the pollution.
“I want to tell the government to please do something about this pollution," he said. "Otherwise, people will move away from here.”
Follow Sibi Arasu on X at @sibi123.
Arasu reported from Bengaluru, India. AP journalists Piyush Nagpal in New Delhi and Aniruddha Ghosal in Hanoi, Vietnam, contributed to this report.
The Associated Press’ climate and environmental 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.
FILE - People walk through an overhead bridge amidst morning smog in New Delhi, India, Oct. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)
FILE - A cyclist pedals through morning smog near the India Gate monument as he transports used home appliances in New Delhi, India, Oct. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)
FILE - A person holds a sign during a protest against what they called the government's lack of action to combat air pollution in New Delhi, India, Nov. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)
FILE - People walk through smog in New Delhi, India, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Piyush Nagpal, File)
President Donald Trump is delivering a speech live from the White House, where he is expected to discuss his achievements and preview his agenda for next year and beyond. His remarks are coming at a crucial time as he tries to rebuild his steadily eroding popularity.
Public polling shows most U.S. adults are frustrated with his handling of the economy as inflation picked up after his tariffs raised prices and hiring slowed.
Trump’s mass deportations of immigrants have proved unpopular even as he is viewed favorably for halting crossings along the U.S. border with Mexico. The public has generally been unmoved by his income tax cuts and globe-trotting efforts to end conflicts, attack suspected drug boats near Venezuela and attract investment dollars into the U.S.
Trump has said he thinks more Americans would back him if they simply heard him describe his track record.
Here’s the latest:
The president’s predecessor, whom Trump continues to lambaste regularly, figured prominently at the start of his address.
Trump pointed to the immigration situation under former President Joe Biden’s presidency, as well as inflation and culture issues.
“This is what the Biden administration allowed to happen to our country,” he said, adding: “When I took office, I inherited a mess, and I’m fixing it.”
U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon has formally denied a request from historic preservationists to immediately halt Trump’s construction of a ballroom at the White House.
Leon said Wednesday that he is reserving judgment on a motion by the National Trust for Historic Preservation for a block until a hearing he’s scheduled for Jan. 15.
The organization unsuccessfully argued at a hearing Tuesday that the ballroom plans must go through multiple independent reviews, including by the public and Congress, before construction begins.
Leon sided with the government, which said the ballroom plans haven’t been finalized and above-ground construction won’t start until April of next year at the earliest.
The administration has said it will submit the plans to review panels before the end of December. Leon warned of consequences for the government if that doesn’t happen.
The U.S. military said Wednesday that it attacked a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing four people on the same day the House rejected efforts to limit Trump’s power to use military force against drug cartels.
U.S. Southern Command stated on social media that the vessel was operated by narco-terrorists along a known trafficking route. The military didn’t provide evidence behind the allegations. It posted a video of a boat moving through water before there was an explosion.
The attack brought the total number of known boat strikes to 26 while at least 99 people have been killed, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration.
Venezuela’s U.N. Ambassador Samuel Moncada said in a letter to the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday that no head of state or government had ever come up “with the deranged idea that the Venezuelan national territory, including its oil fields and other assets, belonged to them.”
“The delirium increases with the ultimatum that if Venezuela does not surrender to its will, our nation will then be attacked by their military forces,” he said.
Moncada cited Trump’s post on Truth Social on Tuesday and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller’s statement Wednesday that Venezuela’s entire oil industry belongs to the U.S. and demanding its return.
“This means that the U.S. government is claiming the world’s largest oil reserves as its own, in what would be one of the greatest acts of plunder in human history,” Moncada said.
He called it “a confession of a crime of aggression on a large scale” and “a grotesque offense that violates every norm of civilization” and the U.N. Charter.
The former special counsel fielded rounds of questions that Democrats said reinforced his case against Trump’s handling of the 2020 elections and the Jan. 6. 2021, attack on the Capitol. But the daylong session left some Republicans with more to understand about his investigations.
Smith’s attorney Lanny Breuer said afterward that any “person who listened today to the deposition would know without any doubt that Jack Smith’s investigation was based purely on the facts and the law and the evidence, nothing more and nothing less.”
Smith’s team abandoned the cases after Trump was elected to the White House last year, citing Justice Department legal opinions that say a sitting president cannot be indicted.
Dina Qiryaqoz, daughter of the civilian interpreter who was killed in Syria on Saturday, said she and two of her siblings met with Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth privately Wednesday.
She described the meeting as comforting and assuring, with both strongly condemning the attack and expressing gratitude for her father’s service.
“He seemed like he really cared about my dad and the other soldiers that were unfortunately killed during this attack,” she said of Trump in an interview Wednesday following the dignified transfer, a ritual honoring U.S. service members killed in action, at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
Trump joined families members there as the remains of the two Iowa National Guard members and the interpreter, Ayad Mansoor Sakat, were brought to the U.S.
“I honestly have felt his presence with us through this whole day,” Qiryaqoz said of her father.
Bongino says he’ll resign from the bureau next month, ending a brief tenure in which he clashed with the Justice Department over the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
He was also forced to reconcile the realities of his law enforcement job with provocative claims he made in his prior role as a popular podcast host.
The departure, which has been expected, would be among the highest-profile resignations of the Trump administration. It comes as FBI leadership has been buffeted by criticism over Director Kash Patel’s use of a government plane for personal purposes and social media posts about active investigations.
▶ Read more about the FBI deputy director’s departure
Jeffrey Epstein’s ex-girlfriend and longtime associate says “substantial new evidence” has emerged to prove there were constitutional violations at her trial that prevented her exoneration on sex trafficking charges.
The request in the form of a habeas petition in Manhattan federal court comes just two days before evidence gathered for her trial four years ago is set to be released publicly as a result of the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
Epstein, a millionaire financier, was arrested in July 2019 on sex trafficking charges. A month later, he was found dead in his cell at a New York federal jail, and the death was ruled a suicide.
Maxwell, a British socialite, was arrested a year later and was convicted of sex trafficking in December 2021.
Federal health officials have canceled millions of dollars in grants to the American Academy of Pediatrics — a strong and steady critic of Trump administration vaccine policies.
Leaders of the medical organization learned this week that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services are ending seven grants. The money funded work on adolescent health, mental health, early identification of autism and other topics.
A HHS spokesman said the grants were terminated “because they no longer align with the Department’s mission or priorities.” AAP officials say they are considering legal action or other possible responses.
The Washington Post first reported the funding terminations.
Under Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan government seized assets from some American oil companies after the country nationalized oil fields in 2007.
Trump on Wednesday assailed his White House predecessors for not pushing back against Venezuela earlier and that his intention is “getting land, oil rights, whatever we had” returned by the government in Caracas.
“They took it away because we had a president that maybe wasn’t watching. But they’re not going to do that again,” He added, “We want it back. They took our oil rights—we had a lot of oil there. As you know they threw our companies out, and we want it back.”
Trump has signaled that FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino intends to leave his position soon.
Asked Wednesday about reports that Bongino intended to resign, Trump said, “Dan did a great job. I think he wants to go back to his show,” referring to Bongino’s prior career as a popular conservative podcaster.
Trump also insisted that he has confidence in FBI Director Kash Patel, who has faced criticism in recent weeks over his use of a government plane for personal purposes and social media posts about active investigations.
A federal judge in the nation’s capital has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from enforcing policies limiting members of Congress’ access to immigration detention facilities.
The judge ruled on Wednesday that it is likely illegal for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to demand a week’s notice from members of Congress seeking to visit and observe conditions in ICE facilities.
U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb, who was nominated to the bench by Democratic President Joe Biden, concluded that the seven-day notice requirement also likely exceeds the Department of Homeland Security’s statutory authority.
Twelve members of Congress sued in Washington, D.C., in July to challenge ICE’s amended visitor policies after they were denied entry to detention facilities.
Government attorneys argued that the plaintiffs don’t have legal standing to bring their claims.
Just over a minute in length, the trailer opens with a scene from Inauguration Day as she waited to be escorted into the Capitol Rotunda for the ceremony.
She then turns, looks into the camera and in a low voice says, “Here we go again.”
The clip from “Melania: Twenty Days to History” shows her giving the president advice as he practices his speech, reviewing sketches of her inaugural gown and appearing with their son, Barron, among many other scenes from the 20 days before she resumed the role of first lady.
The documentary was directed by Brett Ratner and distributed by Amazon Prime Video. The trailer says it will be exclusively in theaters on Jan. 30.
▶Read more about the film
White House budget director Russ Vought described the National Center for Atmospheric Research as “one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country″ and said a comprehensive review is underway. Vital activities such as weather research will be moved to another entity or location.
The research lab, which houses the largest federal research program on climate change, supports research to predict, prepare for and respond to severe weather and other natural disasters.
A senior White House official accused the lab of a “woke direction” that wastes taxpayer funds on what the official called frivolous pursuits and ideologies, including one project that aimed to make the sciences more inclusive and “justice-centered.”
Katharine Hayhoe at Texas Tech University said that for climate scientists, the lab “is quite literally our global mothership.”
An internal watchdog in the U.S. Department of Energy will investigate the Trump administration’s termination of nearly $8 billion in grants for clean energy projects across more than a dozen states.
Sarah Nelson, assistant inspector general for the Energy Department’s Office of Inspector General, said in a letter to members of Congress on Wednesday that the audit “will help ensure that these activities are conducted consistently with applicable laws, regulations, and Departmental policies and procedures.”
The Energy Department announced in October that 321 funding awards across 223 projects were canceled across 16 targeted states, all of which supported former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
Several Democratic members of Congress from California later requested the acting inspector general launch an investigation on the basis of “significant unlawful bias” across the cuts.
Trump and military officials offered a final salute to the fallen guardsmen and interpreter as the solemn ritual ended.
The president, who traveled to Dover several times in his first term, once described the dignified transfer as “the toughest thing I have to do” as president.
Trump, with head bowed, briefly stood with other military officials at the foot of the ramp of the C-17 as the ritual began.
The president and other military officials saluted as the flag-draped cases holding the two Iowa guardsmen, Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, as well as interpreter, Ayad Mansoor Sakat, were transferred from the belly of the aircraft to awaiting vehicles on the Dover tarmac.
There’s been no change Wednesday to the list of foreign terrorist organizations after Trump said the “Venezuelan Regime” has been designated as one.
Trump said that when announcing a blockade on “sanctioned oil tankers” into and out of Venezuela.
Officials at several national security agencies were told not to take Trump’s remarks about the designation literally and that they should be treated as a figure of speech, according to one U.S. official involved in the discussions.
That official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal interagency communications, also stressed that the “blockade” Trump announced on Venezuelan oil tankers applies only to previously sanctioned vessels against which certain actions are already authorized, such as the seizure last week of one such ship.
The State Department, which oversees the foreign terror list, didn’t respond to requests for clarification. The list most recently was updated with Colombia-based drug cartel Clan del Golfo.
A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found that Republicans are much more divided on U.S. military action inside Venezuela than U.S. military attacks to kill suspected drug smugglers on boats in international waters.
About half of Republican voters support U.S. military action inside Venezuela, while about 8 in 10 support military attacks on suspected drug smugglers in international waters.
Democrats and independents are broadly opposed to U.S. military action in both international waters and inside Venezuela, but there aren’t major partisan differences in how closely voters are following the news related to Venezuela.
U.S. military action targeting Venezuela isn’t broadly popular, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.
The survey found that about half of registered voters oppose U.S. military attacks to kill suspected drug smugglers on boats in international waters, while about 4 in 10 are in support.
Military action inside Venezuela is even more unpopular, with about 6 in 10 voters opposed and only about one-quarter in support.
About 4 in 10 voters are following news about the U.S. military buildup and actions in the Caribbean and Pacific targeting Venezuela “very” closely. About one-third are following it “somewhat” closely and about one-quarter are following “not too” closely.
Kevin McCarthy, who served as speaker for nearly 10 months in 2023, flew aboard Air Force One with Trump to Dover Air Force Base.
Trump and McCarthy, a Republican from California, were on the books to meet on Wednesday at the White House before the dignified transfer was scheduled to discuss the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, according to a White House official.
Rather than cancel, Trump invited McCarthy to come along and conduct their meeting on the plane, according to the official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Casey Wasserman, who is heading the organizing committee for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, also joined Trump for the trip to Dover
“The plaques are eloquently written descriptions of each President and the legacy they left behind. As a student of history, many were written directly by the President himself,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in a statement.
The plaques frequently use phrases, punctuation and the capitalization of words similar to the president’s writing style in his social media posts.
Smith has been testifying for more than three hours behind closed doors at the House Judiciary Committee, and he’s being asked and answering questions about his investigations into Trump, particularly over election interference in the run-up to the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol.
Smith wanted to appear publicly and Democrats say there’s a reason Republicans are keeping his deposition private.
“It would have been absolutely devastating to the president and all the president’s men involved in the insurrectionary activities of January the 6th,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the panel.
Democrats are demanding that Smith’s testimony be made public, along with his full report on the investigation.
“The American people should hear for themselves,” said Rep. Dan Goldman, D-NY.
A couple months ago, Trump refashioned the colonnade that runs from the West Wing to the residence into what he calls the “ Presidential Walk of Fame.”
Now, there are new plaques underneath each portrait describing each leader in rather Trumpian terms.
Former President Barack Obama is labeled “one of the most divisive political figures in American history.”
Former President Joe Biden’s plaque repeats false claims that Biden took office “as a result of the most corrupt election ever.”
And the plaque below former President George W. Bush’s portrait decries that Bush “started wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, both of which should not have happened.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about how and why the new plaques were developed.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ focus is on avoiding any escalation of situation, U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said Wednesday when asked about the legality of Trump’s order of a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” into Venezuela.
“We are looking at what the applicable laws are … but certainly the parties have to abide by the U,N. Charter,” Haq told U.N. reporters. The Charter requires all 193 U.N. member nations – including the an d United States and Venezuela – to refrain from the use of force against all other nations and settle all disputes peacefully.
“We want any escalatory steps to be avoided,” Haq said. “At this stage, it’s critical to continue diplomatic engagement and pursue a peaceful way forward through dialogue.”
He said Guterres is following the situation very closely and engaging “with relevant parties.”
Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley gave a classified briefing and showed video of a Sept. 2 strike that killed two survivors of an initial attack on an alleged drug boat to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees.
Several Republican senators emerged from the meeting backing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his decision not to release the video publicly, but other GOP lawmakers stayed silent on their opinion of the strike.
Democrats are calling for part of the video to be released publicly and for every member of Congress to have access to the full footage.
The United State and Qatar held annual strategic dialogue talks as Trump continues to press for the full implementation of his peace plan to end the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani led Wednesday’s discussions at the State Department, which came as Qatar is playing an increasingly important role in organizing Trump’s so-called “Board of Peace” for the territory and an international force to provide security there.
The two men “reaffirmed the strategic partnership between the United States and Qatar, and discussed opportunities to deepen cooperation on shared economic and security goals,” the State Department said in a statement after the meeting.
Rubio “expressed appreciation for Qatar’s role in supporting American objectives in the Middle East, Africa, and the Western Hemisphere, and reiterated both countries’ desire for close collaboration on shared goals,” it said.
In late September, Trump signed an executive order committing the U.S. to broad security guarantees for Qatar’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. That took place after Israel launched military strikes against Hamas operatives in Doha, outraging the Qataris and other Arab nations.
Senate Democrats told FCC leader Brendan Carr that his testimony Wednesday that the agency wasn’t independent conflicted with the agency’s own website, which described it as an “independent U.S. government agency overseen by Congress.”
Soon after, the FCC’s website changed, removing “independent” from a section describing its mission.
The Senate gave final passage to an annual military policy bill Wednesday that will authorize $901 billion in defense programs while pressuring Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to provide lawmakers with video of strikes on alleged drug boats in international water near Venezuela.
The annual National Defense Authorization Act, which raises troop pay by 3.8%, gained bipartisan backing as it moved through Congress, and the White House has indicated that it is in line with Trump’s national security priorities. However, the legislation, which ran over 3,000 pages, revealed some points of friction between Congress and the Pentagon as the Trump administration reorients its focus away from security in Europe and toward Central and South America.
The bill pushes back on recent moves by the Pentagon. It demands more information on boat strikes in the Caribbean, requires that the U.S. keep its troop levels in Europe at current levels and sends some military aid to Ukraine.
But overall, the bill represents a compromise between the parties.
FILE - Special counsel Jack Smith speaks about an indictment of President Donald Trump, Aug. 1, 2023, at a Department of Justice office in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
President Nicolas Maduro addresses supporters during a rally marking the anniversary of the Battle of Santa Ines, which took place during Venezuela's 19th-century Federal War, in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
President Donald Trump speaks during a Hanukkah reception in the East Room of the White House, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
