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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA began another practice launch countdown Tuesday for its first moonshot in decades with astronauts after making repairs to fixdangerous fuel leaksthat already have bumped the flight into March.

Thefirst fueling testwas halted two weeks ago by the same kind of liquid hydrogen leaks that disrupted the Artemis program'sfirst flightwithout anyone aboard three years ago.

Launch teams replaced a pair of seals and a clogged filter at the Kennedy Space Center pad wherethe giant moon rocket standsbefore starting the countdown clocks back up. The two-day test will culminate Thursday with the attempted fill-up of the rocket's fuel tanks. The four Artemis II astronauts will monitor the crucial dress rehearsal from afar.

A successful, leak-free test is needed before NASA will set a launch date. The earliest the Space Launch System, or SLS, rocket could blast off is March 6. Officials had considered moving it up by three days, but said the extra time was needed to analyze the fueling test results.

The last time astronauts blasted off for the moon was in 1972 during NASA's Apollo program.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota and federal authorities are investigating the alleged beating of a Mexican citizen by immigration officers last month, seeking to identify what caused the eight skull fractures that landed the man in the intensive care unit of a Minneapolis hospital.

REP-INM EEUU-REDADAS-MINNESOTA-FRACTURA CRÁNEO

Investigators from the St. Paul Police Department and FBI last week canvassed the shopping center parking lot where Alberto Castañeda Mondragón says Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents wrested him from a vehicle, threw him to the ground andrepeatedly struck him in the headwith a steel baton.

ICE has blamed Castañeda Mondragón for his own injuries, saying he attempted to flee while handcuffed and "fell and hit his head against a concrete wall."

But hospital staff who treated the man told The Associated Press such a fallcould not plausibly accountfor the man's brain hemorrhaging and fragmented memory. A CT scan showed fractures to the front, back and both sides of his skull — injuries a doctor told the AP were inconsistent with a fall.

Earlier this month, the AP published an interview with Castañeda Mondragón in which he said the arresting officers had been "racist" and "started beating me right awaywhen they arrested me." His lawyers have contended ICE racially profiled him.

In separate visits to the shopping center last week, local and federal investigators requested surveillance footage from at least two businesses, whose employees told the AP their cameras either did not capture the Jan. 8 arrest or the images had been overwritten because more than a month passed before law enforcement asked for the video.

Johnny Ratana, who owns Teepwo Market, an Asian grocery store that faces the parking lot where the arrest occurred, said St. Paul police twice sent investigators to the business in recent days. The second time, he said, a data technician sought to recover images automatically overwritten after 30 days.

Ratana said he also was visited by FBI agents interested in the same footage.

The St. Paul Police Department did not respond to requests for comment. The FBI declined to comment.

The investigations come amid another federal probe into whether two ICE officerslied under oathabout a shooting in Minneapolis. Federal prosecutors dropped charges against two Venezuelan men — who had been accused of attacking one of the officers with a snow shovel and broom handle — after video evidence contradicted the officers' sworn testimony.

The FBI, meanwhile, notified Minnesota authorities last week it would not share any information or evidence it collected in the Jan. 24 fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal immigration officers. That killing is the subject of a Justice Departmentcivil rights investigation.

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For weeks, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security refused to discuss any aspect of Castañeda Mondragón's injuries. It has not answered detailed questions from the AP, including whether its officers recorded body-worn camera footage of the arrest.

Agency insists man injured himself

But the agency last week doubled down on its claim that Castañeda Mondragón injured himself.

"On January 8, 2026, ICE conducted a targeted enforcement operation to arrest Alberto Castaneda Mondragon, a 31-year-old illegal alien from Mexico who overstayed his visa," said Tricia McLaughlin, the department's assistant secretary for public affairs "While in handcuffs, Castaneda attempted to escape custody and ran toward a main highway. While running, Castaneda fell and hit his head against a concrete wall."

McLaughlin's assertion that Castañeda Mondragón had been targeted for removal was contradicted by a Jan. 20 court filing in which ICE said officers only determined the man overstayed his work visa after he was in custody. McLaughlin did not respond to questions about which account was correct.

Castañeda Mondragón's lawyers declined to comment on ICE's statement.

Delay could affect investigations

The criminal investigations could be complicated by the amount of time it took law enforcement to look into the arrest, even as several elected officials called for answers.

St. Paul police told the AP on Feb. 5 that it was aware of "the serious allegations" surrounding the arrest but that it could not begin investigating Castañeda Mondragón's injuries until he filed a police report — a step that was delayed weeks because of the man's hospitalization and uncertainty over his immigration status. Police finally took his statement a week ago at the Mexican consulate.

By that point, at least one nearby business had overwritten its surveillance footage.

"It is my expectation that we will investigate past and future allegations of criminal conduct by federal agents to seek the truth and hold accountable anyone who has violated Minnesota law," John Choi, the chief prosecutor of Ramsey County, said in a statement.

Castañeda Mondragón has been summoned to meet with ICE on Feb. 23 at its main detention facility in Minneapolis, raising the potential he could be taken back into custody and deported.

___ Biesecker reported from Washington and Brook from New Orleans. AP reporter Cedar Attanasio contributed from Seattle.

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Conservation organizations and an Iñupiat group filed legal challenges Tuesday to theTrump administration's renewed pushfor oil and gas development in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and an upcoming lease sale that they say improperly makes available ecologically sensitive lands that have been long protected.

At least two lawsuits challenging the March 18 lease sale were filed. One, in federal court in Alaska, was brought by Earthjustice on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Earth. Another, in federal court in the District of Columbia, was filed by The Wilderness Society and Grandmothers Growing Goodness, a group seeking to draw attention to the impacts of oil and gas development on Iñupiat communities.

The sale would be the first in the reserve since 2019 and the first under a law passed by Congress last year calling for at least five lease sales there over a 10-year period. The reserve covers an area on Alaska's North Slope that's roughly the size of Indiana and provides habitat for an array of wildlife, including caribou, bears, wolves and millions of migratory birds.

Both lawsuits list as defendants the U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Bureau of Land Management and top agency officials. The Earthjustice complaint additionally includes the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. An email seeking comment was sent Tuesday to an Interior Department spokesperson. The land management and fish and wildlife agencies fall under Interior.

This is the latest in a long-running debate overhow much of the reserve should be openfor development. A plan adopted by the Trump administration would make about 80% of the reserve available for oil and gas leasing.

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Supporters say the petroleum reserve's name suggests it's a place where drilling should occur, while critics argue the law balances allowances for drilling with a need to protect sensitive areas. There also are differing views among Alaska Natives about development. A group representingmany North Slope leadershas supported drilling in the reserve, while others have raised concerns that projects could negatively impact communities.

The lawsuits say next month's planned lease sale includes tracts of lands in areas near Teshekpuk Lake and the Colville River previouslydesignated as specialfor their wildlife, subsistence or other values. They say sales notices provide no rationale for why those tracts were included and no acknowledgment by the Bureau of Land Management of prior findings that lands in those areas should be off limits to leasing.

The case filed by Earthjustice said a management plan for the reserve underpinning the lease sale "unlawfully removes lands from the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area and eliminates the Colville River Special Area." A longstanding federal law pertaining to oil and gas development in the reserve gives the Interior secretary authority "to designate special areas for maximum protection of identified significant resource values," the lawsuit states. "Congress has not authorized the Secretary to remove lands from or eliminate special areas, especially where those lands still contain the significant resource values that supported their designation."

Teshekpuk Lake is the largest lake in Alaska's arctic region. The Colville River and associated wetlands provide habitat for nesting raptors and supports subsistence activities for residents on Alaska's North Slope, the lawsuit says.

It asks a judge to invalidate any leases issued in the upcoming sale and to block future sales based on what the plaintiffs argue are flawed environmental reviews and land management plans.

The other lawsuit asks a judge to declare as arbitrary and improper a decision by an Interior Department official canceling a right-of-way issued during the Biden administration that was aimed at protecting the Teshekpuk caribou herd and habitat across roughly 1 million acres within the special area. It also challenges the validity of the tracts offered for lease that fall within the now-canceled right of way and other tracts nearby that overlap with caribou habitat and that the Bureau of Land Management has classified as having high oil and gas development potential.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA began another practice launch countdown Tuesday for its first moonshot in decades with astronauts after making repairs to fixdangerous fuel leaksthat already have bumped the flight into March.

Thefirst fueling testwas halted two weeks ago by the same kind of liquid hydrogen leaks that disrupted the Artemis program'sfirst flightwithout anyone aboard three years ago.

Launch teams replaced a pair of seals and a clogged filter at the Kennedy Space Center pad wherethe giant moon rocket standsbefore starting the countdown clocks back up. The two-day test will culminate Thursday with the attempted fill-up of the rocket's fuel tanks. The four Artemis II astronauts will monitor the crucial dress rehearsal from afar.

A successful, leak-free test is needed before NASA will set a launch date. The earliest the Space Launch System, or SLS, rocket could blast off is March 6. Officials had considered moving it up by three days, but said the extra time was needed to analyze the fueling test results.

The last time astronauts blasted off for the moon was in 1972 during NASA's Apollo program.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota and federal authorities are investigating the alleged beating of a Mexican citizen by immigration officers last month, seeking to identify what caused the eight skull fractures that landed the man in the intensive care unit of a Minneapolis hospital.

REP-INM EEUU-REDADAS-MINNESOTA-FRACTURA CRÁNEO

Investigators from the St. Paul Police Department and FBI last week canvassed the shopping center parking lot where Alberto Castañeda Mondragón says Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents wrested him from a vehicle, threw him to the ground andrepeatedly struck him in the headwith a steel baton.

ICE has blamed Castañeda Mondragón for his own injuries, saying he attempted to flee while handcuffed and "fell and hit his head against a concrete wall."

But hospital staff who treated the man told The Associated Press such a fallcould not plausibly accountfor the man's brain hemorrhaging and fragmented memory. A CT scan showed fractures to the front, back and both sides of his skull — injuries a doctor told the AP were inconsistent with a fall.

Earlier this month, the AP published an interview with Castañeda Mondragón in which he said the arresting officers had been "racist" and "started beating me right awaywhen they arrested me." His lawyers have contended ICE racially profiled him.

In separate visits to the shopping center last week, local and federal investigators requested surveillance footage from at least two businesses, whose employees told the AP their cameras either did not capture the Jan. 8 arrest or the images had been overwritten because more than a month passed before law enforcement asked for the video.

Johnny Ratana, who owns Teepwo Market, an Asian grocery store that faces the parking lot where the arrest occurred, said St. Paul police twice sent investigators to the business in recent days. The second time, he said, a data technician sought to recover images automatically overwritten after 30 days.

Ratana said he also was visited by FBI agents interested in the same footage.

The St. Paul Police Department did not respond to requests for comment. The FBI declined to comment.

The investigations come amid another federal probe into whether two ICE officerslied under oathabout a shooting in Minneapolis. Federal prosecutors dropped charges against two Venezuelan men — who had been accused of attacking one of the officers with a snow shovel and broom handle — after video evidence contradicted the officers' sworn testimony.

The FBI, meanwhile, notified Minnesota authorities last week it would not share any information or evidence it collected in the Jan. 24 fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal immigration officers. That killing is the subject of a Justice Departmentcivil rights investigation.

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For weeks, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security refused to discuss any aspect of Castañeda Mondragón's injuries. It has not answered detailed questions from the AP, including whether its officers recorded body-worn camera footage of the arrest.

Agency insists man injured himself

But the agency last week doubled down on its claim that Castañeda Mondragón injured himself.

"On January 8, 2026, ICE conducted a targeted enforcement operation to arrest Alberto Castaneda Mondragon, a 31-year-old illegal alien from Mexico who overstayed his visa," said Tricia McLaughlin, the department's assistant secretary for public affairs "While in handcuffs, Castaneda attempted to escape custody and ran toward a main highway. While running, Castaneda fell and hit his head against a concrete wall."

McLaughlin's assertion that Castañeda Mondragón had been targeted for removal was contradicted by a Jan. 20 court filing in which ICE said officers only determined the man overstayed his work visa after he was in custody. McLaughlin did not respond to questions about which account was correct.

Castañeda Mondragón's lawyers declined to comment on ICE's statement.

Delay could affect investigations

The criminal investigations could be complicated by the amount of time it took law enforcement to look into the arrest, even as several elected officials called for answers.

St. Paul police told the AP on Feb. 5 that it was aware of "the serious allegations" surrounding the arrest but that it could not begin investigating Castañeda Mondragón's injuries until he filed a police report — a step that was delayed weeks because of the man's hospitalization and uncertainty over his immigration status. Police finally took his statement a week ago at the Mexican consulate.

By that point, at least one nearby business had overwritten its surveillance footage.

"It is my expectation that we will investigate past and future allegations of criminal conduct by federal agents to seek the truth and hold accountable anyone who has violated Minnesota law," John Choi, the chief prosecutor of Ramsey County, said in a statement.

Castañeda Mondragón has been summoned to meet with ICE on Feb. 23 at its main detention facility in Minneapolis, raising the potential he could be taken back into custody and deported.

___ Biesecker reported from Washington and Brook from New Orleans. AP reporter Cedar Attanasio contributed from Seattle.

HAVANA - Garbage has begun to pile up on street corners in the Cuban capital of Havana, attracting hordes of flies and reeking of rotten food, in one of the most visible impacts of the U.S. bid topreventoil from reaching the Caribbean's largest island.

State-run news outlet Cubadebate reported this month that only 44 of Havana's 106 rubbish trucks were able to keep operating due to fuel shortages, slowing garbage collection.

Cardboard boxes, used bags, plastic bottles and rags have piled up on street corners across the seafront capital, as some residents sorted through the waste looking for scraps they could re-use, while motorists, pedestrians and bikers are forced to circumvent the imposing heaps.

"It's all over the city," said Jose Ramon Cruz, a local resident. "It's been more than 10 days since a garbage truck came."

In other towns on the island - home to around 11 million people - residents took to social media to warn of the risks to public health.

Cuba's communist government has implemented rationing measures toprotect essential servicesin a country that was already suffering from severe shortages of food, fuel and medicine.

The national oil supply has fallen off dramatically in two months.

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Venezuela - once Cuba's top supplier - effectively stopped sending shipments in mid-December. Mexico's government also said it was halting shipments after Washington threatened tariffs against countries that send supplies to Cuba.

A Russian newspaper last week reported that Russia was preparing to send crude and fuel cargoes to Cuba in the near future, without giving a specific date.

The U.S. has maintained an embargo on Cuba since 1960, but in recent months PresidentDonald Trump's administration has hardened its stance, sanctioning vessels shipping oil to the island and threatening tariffs on suppliers.

The U.S. administration argues the measures will increase pressure forpolitical changein Cuba. The United Nations has long voted for the U.S. to end its embargo, and leaders from Mexico and Venezuela said blocking fuel could have serious humanitarian impacts.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is "very concerned" about the situation, his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Feb. 16, adding that U.N. teams were working with the Cuban government to help support humanitarian relief efforts.

"The secretary-general would like to see all parties pursue dialogue and respect for international law yet again," he said.

(Reporting by Alien Fernandez and Mario Fuentes; Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom; Writing by Sarah Morland; Editing by Dave Sherwood, Nick Zieminski and Paul Simao)

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Trash piles up in Havana as US oil chokehold halts garbage trucks

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez gives a speech during the World Governments Summit in Dubai on February 3, 2026. Credit - Fadel Senna—AFP/Getty Images

The Spanish government has called for an investigation into social media giants X, Meta, and TikTok over their alleged role in producing and spreading AI-generated child sexual abuse material.

"The Council of Ministers will invoke Article 8 of the Organic Statute of the Public Prosecution Service to request that it investigate the crimes that X, Meta and TikTok may be committing through the creation and dissemination of child pornography by means of their AI," Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchezwroteon X on Tuesday. Sánchez accused the platforms of "attacking the mental health, dignity and rights of our sons and daughters," saying that "the impunity of the giants must end."

The call comes as Spain moves to crack down on social media more broadly. While speaking at the World Government Summit in Dubai earlier this month, Sánchezannouncedplans to ban social media for kids under the age of 16, among a series of other measures aimed at social media platforms. The proposed ban, which still needs parliamentary approval, comes after Australia became thefirst country in the worldto implement such a prohibition in December, and as other nations including France and Denmark have made moves to enact similar measures.

Read more:Where Efforts to Ban Social Media for Kids are Taking Place

Sánchez criticized tech giants at the time for failing to censor—or even generating—illegal sexualized content, and called social media "a failed state, a place where laws are ignored, and crime is endured, where disinformation is worth more than truth, and half of users suffer hate speech."

Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who owns X, has called the efforts to ban social media for users under a certain age "madness" anddescribedSánchez as "a tyrant and traitor to the people of Spain" following his remarks in Dubai.

Meta declined to comment on Sánchez's call for prosecutors to investigate the companies, but told TIME that its AI tools are trained not to comply with requests to generate nude images; that it prohibits so-called "nudify" apps, which can be used to create explicit images of individuals, from advertising on its platforms; and that it has strict policies against child exploitation.

A spokesperson for TikTok said in a statement to TIME: "[Child sexual abuse material] is abhorrent and categorically prohibited on our platform. TikTok has robust systems in place to thwart attempts to exploit or harm young people, and we continue to prioritize and invest in advanced technologies to stay one step ahead of bad actors."

TIME has reached out to X for comment.

xAI's Grok, an AI chatbot that can be used to generate and alter images, has in particular faced mounting scrutiny in recent months over the proliferation of sexualized AI-generated images. Following an update to the chatbot in December, theCenter for Countering Digital Hatefound that Grok had generated an estimated 3 million sexualized images, including 23,000 that seemed to show minors. X announced in January that it had introduced measures to prevent Grok from editing images of real people to show them in "revealing clothing." ButReutersreported earlier this month that Grok was still generating sexualized images of people in response to prompts from users, including when users explicitly told the chatbot the people in question did not consent. xAI repeatedly responded to requests for comment on that finding that "Legacy Media Lies," according to Reuters.

Other European countries have also launched probes into X over Grok's reported creation of sexually explicit content.

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Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC)announcedon Tuesday that it had formally opened an investigation into X for the apparent use of people's personal data—including that of children—to produce "potentially harmful, non-consensual intimate and/or sexualised images." X's European headquarters is located in Dublin, which means the DPC acts as the lead supervisory body over the company for the European Union.

The DPC stated in its press release that X had been notified of the investigation on Monday.

DPC Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle said that the regulator "has commenced a large-scale inquiry" into X's "compliance with some of their fundamental obligations" under the the General Data Protection Regulation, a sweepingEU data privacy law.

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, alsoopenedan investigation into Grok's alleged dissemination of illegal sexualized content on Jan. 26.

The previous month, the EU separately fined X roughly 120 million euros—the equivalent of roughly $140 million—for violations to its Digital Services Act, a landmark law that requires companies to regulate illicit content and disinformation on their platforms. Regulators said X's blue checkmark system and ad database had been found to breach the law's transparency requirements, and that the company imposed "unnecessary barriers" to researchers accessing public data.

Read more:'This Is a Political Attack': Musk Responds After French Prosecutors Raid X Offices and Summon Him for Questioning

On Feb. 3, French authoritiesraided the Paris offices of Xin an escalation of another ongoing investigation into the company over allegations involving Grok-generated content and suspected algorithm abuses. Musk and former X CEO Linda Yaccarino have been summoned for "voluntary interviews" in the French investigation on April 20.

X lambasted the raid in a statement, calling it a "politicized criminal investigation" and denying any wrongdoing.

"The Paris Public Prosecutor's office widely publicized the raid—making clear that today's action was an abusive act of law enforcement theater designed to achieve illegitimate political objectives rather than advance legitimate law enforcement goals rooted in the fair and impartial administration of justice," X's Global Government Affairs teamwrote.

On the same day as the raid in Paris, the United Kingdom Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)announcedthat it was formally investigating X and xAI for "covering their processing of personal data in relation to the Grok artificial intelligence system and its potential to produce harmful sexualised image and video content." The ICO cited reports of the tool's use in generating non-consensual sexual imagery, including of children.

The United Kingdom's Office of Communications, or Ofcom, the country's independent online safety watchdog, previouslyopened an investigationinto X on Jan. 12 following reports that Grok was being used to "create and share undressed images of people – which may amount to intimate image abuse or pornography – and sexualised images of children that may amount to child sexual abuse material."

TikTok and Meta have not faced the same degree of official scrutiny over AI-generated imagery in recent months, though both companies have been rebuked by the EU over separate matters this month. The European Commission issued a preliminary finding in aprobeinto TikTok on Feb. 5 determining that the platform was in violation of the Digital Services Act for its "addictive design." Days later, the commission said it had notified Meta of a "preliminary view" that the companybreached EU antitrust rulesby excluding third-party AI assistants from being accessed by or interacting with users on WhatsApp.

Contact usatletters@time.com.