DANY MAG

More than 50 million people across the Midwest and Plains are bracing forsevere weatheron Tuesday, a day after baseball-sized hail and multiple tornadoes were reported in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Kansas.

The threat of damaging storms has shifted slightly south from where strong winds blew the roofs off several buildings on Monday, including the collapse of a nursing home roof in Lodi, Wisconsin.

A level 3 out of 5 "enhanced risk" for severe storms is in place on Tuesday for parts of Iowa, southern Wisconsin, northern Illinois, far northern Indiana, far northwestern Ohio and southern Michigan. Strong tornadoes, damaging winds and large hail are possible for parts of the Midwest on Tuesday, including the cities of Chicago, Milwaukee, Des Moines, Iowa and Detroit.

A tornado watch has been issued until at least 10 p.m. CT on Tuesday for parts of Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois. Large hail and damaging winds are expected across that region.

A level 3 out of 5 "enhanced risk" for severe storms is also in place on Tuesday for parts of central Oklahoma. Some tornadoes, damaging winds and large hail are possible for parts of the south-central Plains on Tuesday, including Oklahoma City.

A widespread area from the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas to the U.S.-Canadian border in Michigan is under the threat of slightly less severe storms on Tuesday.

Tornadoes, especially in Oklahoma, are possible, along with large hail and damaging winds.

In the Northeast, severe weather threat alerts are in effect from northern Pennsylvania to southern Vermont until at least 10 p.m. ET Tuesday.

The storms are expected to pop up in the Northeast sometime after 3 p.m. ET on Tuesday and continue into the evening.

The severe weather comes after destructive storms hit on Monday in parts of rural Minnesota, Wisconsin and Kansas.

At least 14 tornadoes were reported on Monday across Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin.

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The National Weather Service (NWS) confirmed at least two tornadoes touched down in eastern Kansas on Monday. The NWS said one of the tornadoes, packing 125 mph winds, measured as an EF2 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale and cut a 7-mile path of destruction through the city of Ottawa, Kansas.

The sheriff's office in Franklin County, Kansas, reported that three people suffered minor injuries in Ottawa.

A second tornado, according to the NWS, hit the city of Quenemo in Osage County, Kansas, measured as an EF0 with winds of 65 mph.

Video taken by ABC Kansas City affiliate station,KMBC, showed the roofs ripped off several buildings in the Ottawa area, including a motel in the city.

In nearby Hillsdale, Kansas, in Miami County, the NWS is surveying storm damage from another suspected tornado. More than 50 homes were damaged, according to the Red Cross, which was providing support for displaced families.

On Wednesday, severe storms are expected to be in place from Oklahoma, including Oklahoma City and Tulsa, to southern Wisconsin. Parts of Kansas, Iowa, Pennsylvania and Ohio, including the cities of Pittsburgh and Cleveland, could also be in the path of severe weather on Wednesday.

In Michigan, heavy rains over the past few days, combined with snow melt, caused flooding on Monday when several rivers, including the Manistee River in northwest Michigan's Lower Peninsula, overflowed, officials said. Several roads and bridges were washed away in the flood and some homes were damaged by the floodwaters, authorities said.

Flooding threatens Hawaii, while dry and breezy conditions raise fire danger in the Northeast

The Manistee River, near Sherman, Michigan, reached a new record level on Monday and was still rising early Tuesday morning as heavy rain continued to fall. The river has surpassed 18 feet, topping its previous record of 16.9 feet set in April 2014, authorities said.

The US just had its warmest March ever, by a historic margin

Residents living downstream from two Michigan dams were advised to evacuate after seepage was found at the base of the Bellaire Dam in Antrim County. The Cheboygan Dam in Cheboygan County, near Lake Huron, was at risk of failing, authorities said Monday night.

Rain in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is expected to taper off on Tuesday afternoon, but another round of thunderstorms is expected to bring more rain to the area on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, increasing the flooding threat and adding pressure to the Bellaire and Cheboygan dams.

HONG KONG (AP) — China is poised to benefit from theIran waras global energy disruptions accelerate a shift away from fossil fuels and toward clean technologies and renewable power, industries that China dominates.

Iran Asia China Energy Future

Most of the oil and gas from the now mostly shut Strait of Hormuz was Asia-bound.Asian nations are scramblingto conserve energy and bolster dwindling reserves. As atemporary ceasefire teeters, gasoline prices in theU.S.andEuropeare spiking.

While most ofAsia is hit hard, China will likely benefit from the fossil fuel disruptions despite being the biggestpurchaser of Iranian oil. China leads the world in battery, solar and electric vehicle exports, and its industries are forecast to face a rise in demand for renewable products.

Before thestart of the Iran warin late February, China's lead in clean technologies was lengthening. The U.S. underPresident Donald Trumpscaled back on renewable energy and leaned on its vast oil and gas resources, promoting energy exports to achieve what Trump described as “energy dominance.”

Now Chinese industry giants like vehicle-maker BYD and battery-producer CATL are well-positioned to capitalize on growing interest in low-emissions energy products as the world confronts the fragility of fossil fuels.

“China’s approach to energy sector development and geopolitics has been completely validated by the Iran conflict,” said Sam Reynolds with the U.S.-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

Dueling visions for energy future

Over a decade ago, Chinese PresidentXi Jinpingmerged energy security with national security. China has since stepped up its focus on renewable energy, even though fossil fuels still dominate its domestic energy mix.

China makes over 70% of EV manufacturing and about 85% of battery cell production globally, according to the International Energy Agency. Its current five-year plan until 2030 continues to prioritize these industries.

“They are at the very forefront of this, more so than any other countries in the world, certainly more so than the United States," said Li Shuo, director of the Asia Society Policy Institute’s China Climate Hub.

The U.S. is the world’s top oil producer and haspushed liquefied natural gas. The American approach — summed up by Trump as “drill, baby, drill” — favors fossil fuels over renewables.

Markets were witnessing a “bifurcation” before the war, Reynolds said, with the superpowers pushing very different energy futures, leaving other countries with complex choices on which approach to back.

Investors bet on renewables' growth

The Iran war is driving demand for Chinese technology, whose exports of items such as solar panels, batteries and electric cars hit a record of almost $22.3 billion in December. That was up about 47% from the year before, with much going to Southeast Asia and Europe, according to the think tank Ember.

Investment in renewable power and battery storage — designed to save energy when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing — is expected to increase in nations heavily dependent on energy imports, including European countries, according to the credit rating firm Fitch Ratings.

Investors are betting the war will boost demand for renewables. In March, CATL and BYD’s Hong Kong traded shares rose roughly 24% and 11%, respectively.

Over the past few years, Chinese automakers were already expanding EV development and production while growing exports faster than American or European rivals, offering cheaper models and gaining ground in regions like Southeast Asia.

These trends are expected to accelerate.

The energy shock is “going to help the Chinese industry globally and hurt the American car industry globally,” said Amy Myers Jaffe of New York University’s Center for Global Affairs.

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Meanwhile, high U.S. tariffs have largely shut Chinese EVs out of the American market.

Rising fuel prices also may boost BYD growth in China, said Chris Liu with the research and advisory firm Omdia.

Even the world’s largest coal exporter makes a shift

Households facing higher energy costs are likely to move to clean power, said James Bowen of the Australia-based consultancy ReMap Research.

Pakistan offers an early example. Its renewable rollout in 2017 led to more than 50 gigawatts of Chinese solar panels imported by December 2025.

Pakistan still imports a third of its energy. About 80% of its oil flowed through the Strait of Hormuz, and Qatar had been supplying a quarter of its LNG. But “the shock isn’t as big as it would have been without solar,” said Nabiya Imran of Renewables First.

If prices remain high, solar could save Pakistan $6.3 billion in fossil fuel imports over the next year, according to think tanks Renewables First and the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

In the United Kingdom, EV leasing demand jumped by more than a third in the first three weeks of March compared to a similar period in February before the war, according to Octopus Energy, a renewable group. Octopus also reported increases in rooftop solar sales and solar-related inquiries.

In Southeast Asia, Vietnamese EV makerVinFastis offering discounts to offset fuel price shocks.

Prolonged fuel spikes may act as a future catalyst for EVs, but it will take time to see the trend reflected in purchases, partly because customers are likely waiting to see how the conflict plays out, said Patrick Tan, with the energy consultancy Aurora Research.

Even Indonesia, the world’s largest coal exporter, is recalibrating in ways that could make it a bigger customer for China's clean energy technology.

In March, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto announced a push into EVs, including plans to produce electric cars and expand charging infrastructure.

The dream of electrified transportation is gaining renewed attention, said Putra Adhiguna of the Jakarta-based think tank Energy Shift Institute.

Chinese firms play a major role in Indonesia’s clean energy supply chain. They signed more than $54 billion dollars' worth of deals with the state utility in 2023 and added a $10 billion pledge during Prabowo’svisit to Beijingin 2024.

“There will be direct financial benefits to Chinese companies,” said Reynolds of IEEFA.

Ghosal reported from Hanoi, Vietnam. Delgado reported from Bangkok. AP Business WriterPaul Wisemancontributed to this report.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’sstandardsfor working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas atAP.org.

LONDON, April 14 (Reuters) - Britain's national security is "in peril" because of political complacency and under-investment in defence, former NATO chief George Robertson will say on Tuesday, in a rare ‌public rebuke of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's handling of military spending.

Robertson, who helped draft a ‌Strategic Defence Review commissioned by Starmer when he came to power in 2024, is expected to say in a lecture that ​Britain has become increasingly exposed to external threats.

Robertson, who served in the 1990s as defence secretary from Starmer's Labour Party, told the Financial Times there was a gap between the prime minister's rhetoric and action on defence, and Starmer was "not willing to make the necessary investment".

In his lecture, to be delivered later on Tuesday ‌in Salisbury, southern England, he is ⁠expected to call out finance minister Rachel Reeves for devoting "only 40 words" to defence in a budget speech last autumn and not mentioning it at all in ⁠an update last month, the FT said.

"Britain's national security and safety is in peril," he is due to say, according to an excerpt reported by the FT and the BBC. "We are under-prepared. We are under-insured. We are ​under attack. ​We are not safe."

'CORROSIVE COMPLACENCY'

Robertson's office did not immediately ​respond to a request for comment. There ‌was no immediate response from Starmer's office.

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Starmer has blamed under-investment in the military on 14 years of rule by the rival Conservative Party, and has promised the largest sustained rise in defence spending since the Cold War, to reach 3% of national output in the next parliament.

The government has said it would publish a 10-year defence investment plan soon, aimed at meeting the ambitions set out in the 2024 ‌review co-written by Robertson, which called for a shift towards ​drones, digital warfare and data-driven combat systems reflecting lessons drawn ​from the war in Ukraine.

Starmer said last ​week that the war in Iran must be a turning point for Britain, pledging ‌to strengthen the economy and military to ​cope with a more "volatile and ​dangerous" world.

But Robertson will accuse Britain's political leadership of a "corrosive complacency" towards defence and describe decisions made by "non-military experts in the Treasury" as "vandalism".

"We cannot defend Britain with an ever-expanding welfare budget," ​he is expected to say.

He will ‌say the security outlook has deteriorated sharply following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and heightened tensions ​in the Middle East, calling it one of the most dangerous periods in decades.

(Reporting ​by Sam TabahritiEditing by Elizabeth Piper and Peter Graff)

The four Artemis II astronauts,freshly backfrom a historic trip around the moon, flew back to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston Saturday to cheers and applause from family members and hundreds of space center workers who gathered to welcome them home.

Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansensplashed down in the Pacific Oceansouthwest of San Diego Friday eveningto close outa nine-day mission, the first piloted flight to the moon and back since the end of the Apollo program a half century ago.

After medical checks and phone calls home to family and friends, all four boarded a NASA jet and flew back to Ellington Field a few miles from the space center. A raucous crowd awaited them in a nearby hangar, including the crew's families.

"After a brief 53-year intermission, the show goes on, and NASA is back in the business of sending astronauts to the moon and bringing them home safely," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told the cheering crowd.

Turning to the astronauts, he said, "Thank you for showing us the moon again. Thank you for showing us planet Earth again, and thank you for contributing to the greatest adventure in human history. Welcome home, Artemis II."

Wiseman stood up and after joking with his crewmates, said "I have absolutely no idea what to say. Twenty-four hours ago, the Earth was...out the window and we were doing mach 39 (times the speed of sound), and here we are back at Ellington at home."

Speaking with clear emotion, he said "before you launch, it feels like it's the greatest dream on Earth. And when you're out there, you just want to get back to your families and your friends. It's a special thing to be a human, and it's a special thing to be on planet Earth."

Glover, a deeply spiritual man who carried a Bible with him to the moon, said that when the mission started he wanted thank God in public.

"And I want to thank God again," he said Saturday. "Because even bigger than my challenge trying to describe what we went through, the gratitude of seeing what we saw, doing what we did and being with who I was with, it's too big to just be in one body."

Koch was equally moved by the experience of seeing Earth, suspended in the deep black of space, from the vantage point of the moon a quarter of a million miles away.

"When we saw tiny Earth, people asked our crew what impressions we had," she told the crowd. "And honestly, what struck me wasn't necessarily just Earth, it was all the blackness around it. Earth was just this lifeboat hanging undisturbingly in the universe.

"I know I haven't learned everything that this journey has yet to teach me. But there's one new thing I know, and that is planet Earth, you are a crew."

Strapped into an Orion crew capsule they named "Integrity,"the astronauts blasted offfrom the Kennedy Space Center on April 1 atop a Space Launch System rocket. They were the first to ride into space aboard the world's most powerful operational rocket, and the first to fly in an Orion capsule.

After spending a full day in Earth orbit checking out the Orion spacecraft's life support and other systems, they fired the capsule's service module engine to break away from Earth for a four-day flight to the moon.

It was NASA's first piloted moonshot since the final Apollo moon landing mission in 1972, and the first of what NASA envisions as a steady stream of flights while building a base near the lunar south pole.

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The Artemis II mission had more modest goals, simply swinging around the moon on a free-return trajectory back to Earth, giving Wiseman and his crewmates an unprecedented opportunity to observe nearly a quarter of the moon's far side while it was illuminated by the sun.

They also were able to enjoy aspectacular solar eclipsewhen the moon moved in front of the sun from the crew's perspective, creating a ghostly glow around the darkened moon, an ethereal sight that left the crew awestruck.

"This continues to be unreal," Glover told Houston. "The sun has gone behind the moon, and the corona is still visible, and it's bright, and it creates a halo almost around the entire moon...The Earth is so bright out there and the moon is just hanging in front of us, this black orb out in front of us. We can see stars and the planets behind it."

The Orion capsule entered the moon's gravitational sphere of influence early last Monday andflew aroundthe dark side of the moon about 14 hours later, passing within about 4,000 miles of the lunar surface at close approach.

Moments later, they set a new record for the maximum distance anyone has ever flown from planet Earth -- 252,756 miles -- about 4,100 miles farther than a record set in 1970 by the crew of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission during their emergency return to Earth.

The astronauts snapped thousands of photos during their historic pass around the moon, shot video and recorded their personal observations to give researchers insights based on the color sensitivity of the human eye.

"Your mission paves the way for America's return to the lunar surface very soon," President Trump radioed the astronauts. "We're going all out. We'll plant our flag once again, and this time we won't just leave footprints. We'll establish a permanent presence on the moon, and we'll push on to Mars. That'll be very exciting."

Before launch, the science team helped identify a few relatively fresh craters that had not been previously named. The crew proposed the name of their spacecraft for one.

"And the second one, especially meaningful for this crew, is a number of years ago, we...lost a loved one," Hansen said. "And there's a feature in a really neat place on the moon. And it is on the near-side/far-side boundary...And some times of the moon's transit around Earth we will be able to see this. So we lost a loved one, her name was Carroll, the spouse of Reid, the mother of Katey and Ellie...It's a bright spot on the moon. And we would like to call it Carroll."

"Integrity and Carroll Crater," Canadian astronaut Jenni Gibbons replied from mission control. "Loud and clear. Thank you."

At the welcome home ceremony Saturday, Hansen spoke last, saying the mission showed him a successful crew had three essential ingredients. The first is gratitude for the opportunity and the support of thousands who made the flight possible. The second was sharing the joy of the experience.

Then he called Wiseman, Glover and Koch to him for a group hug, adding, "The last one is love."

"What you saw was a group of people who loved contributing and extracting joy out of that," Hansen said. "And what we've been hearing is that was something special for you to witness. And the reason I had them form up here with me is because I would suggest to you that when you look up here, you're not looking at us. We are a mirror reflecting you. And if you like what you see, then just look a little deeper. This is you."

See the texts a man sent his friend after his wife's disappearance in the Bahamas

Risk on the Road | Sunday on 60 Minutes

Inflation skyrockets as Iran war impacts U.S. economy

A mother and her five children are hoping a federal judge releases them from immigration detention after being locked up for almost a year, an extraordinary length of time in custody for children.

They are the family of Mohamed Soliman, an Egyptian national accused of assembling Molotov cocktails last year and firebombing a group in Boulder, Colo., gathered to show support for Israeli hostages.

A woman died and 12 others were injured in what the U.S. government called a terrorist attack.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT |‘Most horrific thing’ I’ve ever seen: Witness describes attack on pro-Israel demonstrators in Boulder

Soliman was immediately arrested and the Department of Homeland Security also took his wife and children, who had been living in Colorado Springs, into custody. They have now filed another request in federal court to be released on bond.

Hayam El Gamal and her children are Egyptian citizens who DHS says are in the country illegally after overstaying a tourist visa in 2023. The family filed an asylum claim before their visa expired, according to their attorney.

Scripps News obtained letters the children have written to Congress, detailing their 10-month ordeal held at the Dilley immigration detention center in Texas.

The youngest of the children are 5-year-old twins, and their letters are written in colored pencil.

“When we will we go home?” One of the children wrote on a drawing of the family standing under birds and clouds in the sky.

A picture by the other 5-year-old says, “I want to go home ... I want to go to school ... I miss my bear.”

The oldest child, 18-year-old Habiba Soliman, graduated from high school weeks before her arrest.

“I would have never expected to go from a girl who was doing everything to achieve her dream to a girl that had her life destroyed just because of her father,” she writes in a letter.

She spoke to Scripps News on the phone from inside Dilley, where she has been separated from the rest of her family.

“It is too much,” she said. “I feel like I'm living in a nightmare and it just can't be true.”

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A letter from her 9-year-old sister says, “Every day we see people leave. But us, no. I want to get out and eat pizza and bananas.”

Her 16-year-old brother penned his own letter.

“This prolonged detention has and continues to destroy our lives,” he said, sharing details about delayed treatment for appendicitis.

“I cried and begged (a nurse) to help me ... I then fell to my hands and knees and threw up ... It was only then that I was taken seriously and transferred to a nearby ER.”

The family’s attorney said one of the five-year-olds has 13 untreated cavities.

“This family is being systematically denied medical attention,” Eric Lee said. “There's no question that this family has been specifically targeted. The idea that a five- year-old can be detained because they're suspected of assisting in a terrorist attack is absurd.”

Dilley is owned and operated by theCoreCivic companyunder contract with the U.S. government. DHS and CoreCivic dispute all claims about mistreatment and lack of or delayed care at the detention center.

In a statement, DHS says the El Gamals are in custody while the government investigates “to what extent the family knew about this heinous attack” in Colorado.

However, that contradicts what court records reviewed by Scripps News show. An FBI agent and a federal judge both found the family had no involvement or awareness of the plot.

"We, unfortunately, happen to be the family of somebody who committed a criminal act,” Habiba Soliman said. “I know what he did is awful. We didn't know anything. Our whole life (was) destroyed in seconds.”

The family hopes to return to Colorado Springs. Voluntarily going to Egypt is not an option, Lee said.

"The U.S. government has called them terrorists before the eyes of the world,” Lee said. “We know that when they go back to Egypt, they're on a list of people who are going to be arrested. They're going to get locked up in a dungeon in Egypt.”

The federal limit on children in U.S. detention is generally 20 days. The El Gamal children have been locked up at Dilley for more than 300 days.

“This place broke something in us,” Habiba Soliman wrote in her letter, “something that I don’t know if we will ever be able to fix.”

Local leaders in Pittsburgh voted unanimously to pass an ordinance that would block police and city government employees from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal immigration agencies, the latest city to reject PresidentDonald Trump'saggressive deportation agenda. On April 7, nine Pittsburgh City Council members voted to pass Bill 286, and none voted against it. The bill says that no city government employees may ask about a person's immigration or citizenship status, or cooperate with federal immigration agents. That includes detaining someone on the basis of their immigration status or the existence of an immigration detainer for them, or allowing ICE agents to access a person in detention, or providing information to ICE about someone's status. The vote comes just weeks ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh, which is expected to draw huge crowds of fans to the city April 23-25.

Pittsburgh won't cooperate with ICE

Supreme Courtbacks Bannon

TheSupreme Courton April 6 paved the way for the Trump administration to wipe out longtimeDonald TrumpallySteve Bannon'scontempt of Congress conviction. At therequest of the Department of Justice, the court effectively erased lower court rulings upholding the conviction and sent the case back to the district court, where the department has asked for the case to be dismissed. Bannon, now host of a popular MAGA podcast,was convictedin 2022 for defying a subpoena from the House committee that investigated theCapitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021.

American dream out of reach?

Is the American dream of homeownership still realistic? Perhaps not, according to many Americans. In a recent survey of more than 2,000 consumers, The Harris Poll found that many believe the dream is slipping further away. Across generations, respondents said that homeownership was too hard to break into  – and that once achieved, it was too challenging, expensive, or both to maintain. This was the third time the company polled Americans about housing, and the results are becoming increasingly sobering. “Among Americans earning over $200,000 a year, nearly half say you need a $300k income to afford a home. Not to afford a nice home. Just a home. This is the American Dream, frozen,” said Libby Rodney, futurist and chief strategy officer at The Harris Poll.

Ailing Lady Gaga cancels shows

Lady Gagais recovering at the urging of her doctor. The pop star took to social media to apologize to Montreal fans as she canceled what would have been her third and finalMayhem Ball Tourshow in Quebec. She wrote on herInstagramstories on April 6, "My doctor has strongly advised me not to perform today and to be honest I don't think I could give you the quality of a performance today that you deserve." The "Dead Dance" singer, 40, said she contracted an upper respiratory infection a few days prior and, although she was doing all she could to recover, it had "gotten worse."

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Michigan beats UConn for national crown

Michigan beat UConn 69-63in a defensive battle to complete a dominant run through the men's NCAA basketball tournament and capture the program’s second national championship. The Wolverines previously reached the championship game in 1965, 1976, 1989, 1992-93, 2013 and 2018, winning it all in 1989. Michigan is the first Big Ten team to win the title since Michigan State in 2000. The narrower victory against the Huskies came after the Wolverines had steamrolled into the game April 6, winning all five of their tournament games by an average of 21.6 points. This is coach Dusty May’s first national title. He previously reached the Final Four with Florida Atlantic in 2023.

UCLA beats South Carolina for national crown

Cori Closehad dreamt of this moment for the last 15 seasons as UCLA's women's basketball coach. The moment she had long coached to achieve finally came to fruition on April 5 when she ledNo. 1 seed UCLAto a dominant79-51 winvs. No. 1 South Carolina at the Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix. It is the program's first-ever Women's NCAA Tournament championship and first national title since the Bruins won the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) championship in 1978.

‒ Compiled by Michael B. Smith

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Lady Gaga sick, Michigan and UCLA win, rejecting ICE: This week's news

Customs and Border Protection officials lacked the authority to cancel a Harvard scientist's visa after she was detained last year forfailing to declare frog embryosat an airport security checkpoint, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

Kseniia Petrova, a Russian-born medical researcher at Harvard University, was stopped at Boston's Logan International Airport in February 2025 for carrying undeclared biological samples. Petrova was detained as the Trump administration moved to revoke hundreds of student visas as part of itsimmigration crackdown.

U.S. District Judge Christina Reiss granted Petrova's motion on Tuesday for partial summary judgment, declaring CBP's actions "arbitrary and capricious" and finding that officers lacked the legal authority to revoke her visa.

Judge orders release of Harvard researcher Kseniia Petrova while her case proceeds

In the 21-page ruling, Judge Reiss said the revocation was "not in accordance with law" and was "in excess of [CBP's] statutory jurisdiction, authority, or limitations."

"There is no other ground that would authorize the visa cancellation by a CBP officer," Reiss wrote. "This unlawful action violated the APA, and the CBP's cancellation of Ms. Petrova's J-1 visa must be set aside."

According to court documents, Petrova was transporting the samples at the request of the leader of her research group at Harvard Medical School.

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"Upon discovery [of] the samples following a search of her luggage, and despite her attempts to explain, the CBP officer failed to pursue the statutory and regulatory process for failure to declare an article in luggage," the original complaint states. "Rather, the officer marked [Petrova's] visa in her passport as canceled."

Petrova told the CBP officer she feared being returned to Russia, where she faced past persecution for her political activities. After being taken into custody, she requested to be returned to France -- at which point she washeld in a detention centerin Louisiana for four months, according to court documents.

"For over a year, Kseniia Petrova has maintained that CBP had no legal authority to cancel her visa on February 16, 2025," her attorney Gregory Romanovsky said in a statement.

A CBP spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

Romanovsky said that, since January, Petrova has beenback in her labat Harvard when he said she is "pursuing her life's calling and advancing important scientific research."

Petrova still faces separate criminal charges related to the airport incident, with a trial scheduled for later this year.

While she was in the Louisiana detention facility, Petrova told ABC News she believed her detainment was too harsh.

"I would like to say that something is completely, completely out of control here," Petrova said. "I think my case was an example of showing how really the system doesn't work."