PHOTO GALLERY: Ultra-Orthodox communities celebrate Purim in Israel

This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish kids wear costumes ahead of the Jewish holiday of Purim in Jerusalem, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men celebrate the Jewish festival of Purim in Mea Shearim, ultra-Orthodox neighborhood in Jerusalem, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men celebrate the Jewish festival of Purim in Mea Shearim, ultra-Orthodox neighborhood in Jerusalem, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men celebrate the Jewish festival of Purim in Mea Shearim, ultra-Orthodox neighborhood in Jerusalem, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men celebrate the Jewish festival of Purim in Mea Shearim, ultra-Orthodox neighborhood in Jerusalem, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish children and men , some dress up in , celebrate the Jewish holiday of Purim, Thursday, March 13, 2025, in Haifa, Israel. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Jewish ultra-Orthodox men and children, some wearing costumes read the Book of Esther, which tells the story of the Jewish festival of Purim, at a synagogue in Bnei Brak, Israel, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish children and men, some wearing costumes, celebrate the Jewish holiday of Purim, Thursday, March 13, 2025, in Haifa, Israel. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Jewish ultra-Orthodox men and children, some wearing costumes, read the Book of Esther, which tells the story of the Jewish festival of Purim, at a synagogue in Jerusalem, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men celebrate the Jewish festival of Purim in Mea Shearim, ultra-Orthodox neighborhood in Jerusalem, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men celebrate the Jewish festival of Purim in Mea Shearim, ultra-Orthodox neighborhood in Jerusalem, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Jewish ultra-Orthodox men and children, some wearing costumes, read the Book of Esther, which tells the story of the Jewish festival of Purim, at a synagogue in Jerusalem, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Jewish ultra-Orthodox men and children, some wearing costumes, read the Book of Esther, which tells the story of the Jewish festival of Purim, at a synagogue in Jerusalem, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish kids dress up in costumes during school ahead of the Jewish holiday of Purim in Jerusalem, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Jewish ultra-Orthodox men and children, some wearing costumes read the Book of Esther, which tells the story of the Jewish festival of Purim, at a synagogue in Bnei Brak, Israel, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish child walks through the streets in costume during the Purim festival celebrations in Bnei Brak, Israel, on Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would speak with U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday and expected to hear more about the American leader’s phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin about a ceasefire and to discuss the next steps.

Meanwhile, a federal judge has blocked enforcement of Trump's executive order banning transgender people from military service, the latest in a string of legal setbacks for his sweeping agenda.

Here's the latest:

“If you can’t keep your subway safe ... we’re going to pull your money,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said, adding that it’s not just New York City that’s at risk.

Subway systems in Chicago and Washington could lose the federal dollars they depend on to stay afloat if they also don’t clean up, he said.

Duffy, in the “Fox & Friends” interview, said, “just good government would dictate we have good, clean subways.”

Trump recently talked about crime in the subways of New York City, where he lived for most of his life.

He said he expects to hear more about Trump’s call with Putin about a ceasefire and to discuss the next steps.

But Zelenskyy said a vow by Putin not to attack energy infrastructure was “very much at odds with reality” following an overnight barrage of drone strikes across Ukraine.

“Even last night, after Putin’s conversation with ... Trump, when Putin said that he was allegedly giving orders to stop strikes on Ukrainian energy, there were 150 drones launched overnight, including on energy facilities,” Zelenskyy said at a news conference in Helsinki with Finnish President Alexander Stubb.

Russia said it had halted its targeting of Ukraine’s energy facilities and accused Kyiv of attacking equipment near one of its pipelines.

▶ Read more about the war in Ukraine

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said an announcement about upgrades to the decades-old system could come in the “next couple days.”

Duffy said the system is safe “but we’re seeing the cracks of age.”

Interviewed Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends,” Duffy said speed is “the key” and that “Congress has to give us all the money upfront.”

He didn’t provide a cost estimate but said he’d discuss the issue soon with Trump, share details with Congress and “hope we get the money quick.”

Air travelers have been spooked by a deadly mid-air collision over the Potomac River in Washington, other plane crashes and near-misses on airport runways.

According to the White House press office, Trump will receive an intelligence briefing at 11 a.m. ET.

Later this afternoon, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt will hold a press briefing at 1 p.m. ET.

The federal judge who ruled against Trump’s deportation plans and is now facing calls for his impeachment is no stranger to politically fraught cases — including ones involving the president.

In his 14 years on the federal bench, James “Jeb” Boasberg has resolved secret grand jury disputes that arose during the special counsel investigations into Trump, oversaw improvements after the Trump-Russia investigation in how the Justice Department conducts national security surveillance and handled his share of sentencings for rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

A former homicide prosecutor in the nation’s capital who played basketball at Yale University, where he also earned his law degree, Boasberg has cultivated a reputation among colleagues as a principled jurist with bipartisan respect — he was appointed to the federal bench in 2011 by President Barack Obama but was named a decade earlier to a seat on the D.C. Superior Court by President George W. Bush.

▶ Read more about Judge Boasberg

A federal judge blocked enforcement of Trump’s executive order banning transgender people from military service on Tuesday, the latest in a string of legal setbacks for his sweeping agenda.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington, D.C., ruled that Trump’s order to exclude transgender troops from military service likely violates their constitutional rights. She was the second judge of the day to rule against the administration, and both rulings came within hours of an extraordinary conflict as Trump called for impeaching a third judge who temporarily blocked deportation flights, drawing a rare rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts.

Reyes, who was nominated by President Joe Biden, delayed her order until Friday morning to give the administration time to appeal.

Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, posted about the ruling on social media, writing, “District court judges have now decided they are in command of the Armed Forces…is there no end to this madness?”

▶ Read more about the ruling on transgender troops

President Donald Trump stands in the presidential box as he tours the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, Monday, March 17, 2025. (Pool via AP)

President Donald Trump talks with reporters as he visits the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, Monday, March 17, 2025. (Pool via AP)