The Latest: US orders nonessential staff to leave Baghdad Embassy as Iran tensions rise

The United States is reducing the number of people deemed nonessential to operations in the Middle East, the State Department has announced. The U.S. is also authorizing nonessential personnel and family members to leave Bahrain and Kuwait, which will give them a choice on whether to leave those countries.

The State Department said it made the orders after evaluating recent tensions, which are on the rise in the region as high-stakes nuclear negotiations between the U.S. and Iran appear to have hit an impasse.

Meanwhile President Donald Trump announced that China will make it easier for American industry to obtain magnets and rare earth minerals, clearing the way for trade talks to continue between the world’s two biggest economies. Trump also said Wednesday that the U.S. will stop efforts to revoke the visas of Chinese nationals on U.S. college campuses.

Here's the latest:

Immigration officers intensify arrests in courthouse hallways on a fast track to deportation

Many asylum-seekers dutifully appeared at routine hearings before being arrested outside courtrooms last week, a practice that has jolted immigration courts across the country as the White House works toward its promise of mass deportations.

The large-scale arrests that began in May have unleashed fear among asylum-seekers and immigrants accustomed to remaining free while judges grind through a backlog of 3.6 million cases, typically taking years to reach a decision. Now they must consider whether to show up and possibly be detained and deported, or skip their hearings and forfeit their bids to remain in the country.

The playbook has become familiar. A judge will grant a government lawyer’s request to dismiss deportation proceedings. Moments later Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers — often masked — arrest the person in the hallway and put them on a fast track to deportation, called “expedited removal.”

▶ Read more about the courthouse arrests

Trump’s mass deportations leave Democrats more ready to fight back

California Gov. Gavin Newsom looked straight into the camera and staked out a clear choice for his Democratic Party.

The governor positioned himself as not only a leader of the opposition to Trump’s mass deportation agenda, but a de facto champion of the immigrants now being rounded up in California and across the country. Many of them, he said in the video address, were not hardened criminals but hard working people scooped up at a Home Depot lot or a garment factory, and detained by masked agents assisted by National Guard troops.

It’s a politically charged position for the party to take, after watching voter discontent with illegal immigration fuel Trump’s return to the White House. It leaves Democrats deciding how strongly to align with that message in the face of blistering criticism from Republicans who are pouring billions of dollars into supporting Trump’s strict immigration campaign.

▶ Read more about Democrats and deportations

Mix of applause and boos greet Trumps at Kennedy Center

The mixed reception came as an announcer said the Trump family had arrived.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump,” the announcer said at the 7:30 p.m. start of “Les Miserables.”

The audible reaction stopped after a round of chants of “USA.”

JD Vance made a brief trip to Montana to speak to Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, AP sources say

The vice president spoke to media mogul Rupert Murdoch; his son Lachlan Murdoch, the head of Fox News and News Corp.; and a group of other Fox News executives, according to two people familiar with the Tuesday trip.

They said Vance met with the group at the Murdoch family ranch in southwest Montana near Dillon. They confirmed the visit to AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about it.

It’s not clear why Vance addressed the group or what they spoke about.

A spokesperson for Fox News Channel did not respond to a message seeking comment.

The vice president’s office does not release a schedule for Vance and did not offer advance notice of the trip, so the surprise arrival of Air Force Two in Butte set off local speculation as his motorcade was seen driving away.

— Michelle L. Price

Trump plays ‘Les Miserables’ songs at his rallies

Trump is a huge fan of the musical. He often played songs from the soundtrack at Mar-a-Lago and at his rallies, particularly “Do You Hear the People Sing?”

EPA says power plant carbon emissions aren’t dangerous. We asked 30 scientists: Here’s what they say

The administration’s Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday proposed a new ruling that heat-trapping carbon gas “emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants do not contribute significantly to dangerous air pollution.’′

AP asked 30 different scientists, experts in climate, health and economics about the scientific reality behind this proposal. Nineteen responded, all saying the proposal was scientifically wrong, and many of them called it disinformation. Here’s what eight said.

“This is the scientific equivalent to saying that smoking doesn’t cause lung cancer,” said climate scientist Zeke Hausfather of the tech firm Stripe and the temperature monitoring group Berkeley Earth. “The relationship between CO2 emissions and global temperatures has been well established since the late 1800s, and coal burning is the single biggest driver of global CO2 emissions, followed by oil and gas. It is utterly nonsensical to say that carbon emissions from power plants do not contribute significantly to climate change.”

▶ Read more about the other scientists’ responses

A night out for the Trumps

A tuxedo-wearing president walked along the red carpet with first lady Melania Trump.

“We’re going to save the Kennedy Center,” he said. “We’re going to make it incredible.”

Trump brushed off reports of actors boycotting the performance because of his presence and his remaking of the arts institution: “I couldn’t care less.”

He said his first theatrical production was probably “Cats,” while Melania said hers was “Phantom of the Opera.”

Trump expected to sign measure blocking California’s vehicle emissions rules

The president is expected to sign the measure Thursday, a White House official told AP. It would block California’s rule banning the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035.

The resolution, which Congress approved last month, aims to quash the country’s most aggressive attempt to phase out gas-powered cars. He also plans to approve measures to overturn state policies curbing tailpipe emissions in certain vehicles and smog-forming nitrogen oxide pollution from trucks.

The timing of the signing was confirmed by a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity to share plans not yet public.

According to the official, Trump is expected to sign resolutions that block California’s rule phasing out gas-powered cars and ending the sale of new ones by 2035. He will also kill rules that phase out the sale of medium- and heavy-duty diesel vehicles and cut tailpipe emissions from trucks.

— Michelle L. Price and Sophie Austin

▶ Read more about Trump and California emissions rules

Senate Republicans block Democrats’ efforts to temporarily block arms sales to Qatar and UAE over Trump dealings in region

Democrats forced two procedural votes Wednesday to protest Qatar’s donation of a $400 million plane to be used as Air Force One and a $2 billion investment by a UAE-backed company using a Trump family-linked stablecoin, a form of cryptocurrency.

Sen. Chris Murphy, who led the Democratic effort, said the Senate should not “grease the wheels” for the president.

“We can do that by voting to block these two arms sales to Qatar and to the UAE — not permanently, but until both countries commit to deny Trump’s requests for personal enrichment as part of the bilateral relationship,” Murphy said.

Trump’s administration is still sorting out the legal arrangement for accepting a luxury jet from the Qatari royal family and how the plane would be modified so it is safe for the president, who has called the arrangement a “no brainer” as a new Air Force One has faced delays at U.S.-based Boeing.

About 500 National Guard troops in LA are trained to accompany agents on immigration raids

About 500 of the National Guard troops deployed to the Los Angeles protests have been trained to accompany agents on immigration operations, the commander in charge said Wednesday. And while some troops have already gone on such missions, he said it’s too early to say if that will continue even after the protests die down.

Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman, speaking in an interview with The Associated Press and ABC, also warned that he expects the protest situation will escalate. “We are expecting a ramp up,” he said, noting that protests across the nation are being planned and discussed now. “I’m focused right here in LA, what’s going on right here. But you know, I think we’re, we’re very concerned.”

Sherman, commander of Task Force 51 that is overseeing the more than 4,000 Guard troops and 700 Marines deployed, initially said that National Guard troops had already temporarily detained some civilians. He later said he was incorrect, and that he had based his comments on photos and footage he had seen that turned out to not be a representation of Guard members in Los Angeles.