When Warsh last spoke, in a press conference in late July, he sowed confusion about his willingness to lift interest rates to combat stubbornly high inflation. Longer-term borrowing costs rose on fears that inflation could worsen.

What many economists and Wall Street analysts are hoping for is a clear signal on how he thinks the Fed should respond to the ongoing price increases that have caused pervasive gloom for many Americans.

Warsh has said he doesn’t want to provide what analysts call “forward guidance” about whether the Fed will hike or cut rates or stay on hold at upcoming meetings. He argues that it limits the Fed’s flexibility by committing it to a specific policy. He also thinks financial markets have become too dependent on such guidance.

Yet some economists argue that he could say more about his views on Fed policy without tipping his hand about future actions. The stakes are high for Warsh, who took over the Fed chairmanship May 22 after his predecessor, Jerome Powell, completed his term.

Previous Fed chairs have often used speeches at Jackson Hole to address broad questions about interest-rate policy and the economy, or to signal upcoming changes in their approach. In his first Jackson Hole speech in 2018, former chair Jerome Powell discussed the shortcomings behind central banking concepts such as “neutral” interest rates, that neither support nor hinder growth, or maximum employment.

By 2022, with pandemic-era inflation having soared to 9.1%, Powell signaled the Fed would continue to sharply raise interest rates in a fight against runaway prices, and he acknowledged that such maneuvers would bring “pain” to consumers and businesses.

Most analysts expect the Fed will keep rates unchanged when it meets next in mid-September. Wall Street investors, however, are betting the central bank will hike rates by December, according to futures pricing tracked by CME Fedwatch.

Inflation cooled in June and July after spiking in May from soaring gas prices, yet it remains above the central bank’s 2% target. According to the Fed’s preferred measure, it was 3.7% in July.

Questions swirling around Warsh have also been intensified by President Donald Trump’s continued calls for lower interest rates. While Trump has continued to defend Warsh, whom he appointed and who took office May 22, the president has criticized other Fed officials for supporting higher rates.

Trump has also renewed his efforts to remove Fed governor Lisa Cook, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden. Replacing Cook would enable Trump to appoint a majority of the seven-member board. Trump tried to fire her last year but was temporarily blocked by the Supreme Court.

If Warsh does assuage some of these concerns, longer-term interest rates could decline slightly. Those rates have steadily risen in recent weeks because of a range of factors, including burgeoning U.S. government deficits and outsize borrowing by tech firms building AI infrastructure.

The rate on the 30-year Treasury bond reached the highest level in 19 years last week, prompting an unusual effort by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to buy back bonds and push the yields lower.

According to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, the incident occurred Aug. 14 inside the Ross store off Southwest 137^th Avenue and Miller Drive.

Deputies said a store employee witnessed Sean Edward Uribe, of southwest Miami-Dade, walking back and forth “aimlessly in a suspicious manner.”

The witness told deputies that she saw Uribe grabbing his penis on the outside of his clothing and “massaging it,” an arrest report stated.

According to the report, the witness said she then saw that Uribe’s penis had become fully erect as he positioned himself behind another store employee, who was working in an aisle, and had both of his hands in front of him near his crotch area.

Deputies said the witness saw Uribe possibly spraying the victim’s shirt with an “unknown liquid” as he walked away.

When the witness approached her co-worker to alert her about what had occurred, she saw that the back of the victim’s shirt and pants had a “cloudy, sticky substance from an unknown liquid,” the arrest report stated.

According to the report, detectives were able to identify Uribe from surveillance video due to previous knowledge about him and his “modus operandi.”

A records check also revealed that Uribe had two prior battery convictions in Miami-Dade County.

Deputies said the witness identified Uribe in a photo lineup on Aug. 19 and he was taken into custody Monday on a charge of battery with two prior convictions.

According to the report, Uribe invoked his right to remain silent.

As of Friday morning, Uribe was being held at the Metrowest Detention Center. Online jail records listed his bond as “to be set.”

Records show he was on probation at the time of his arrest for battery and attempting to tamper with physical evidence. In addition to the latest battery charge, he also faces a charge of probation violation.

Chaminade-Madonna went up 7-0 before Amos Bradford got into the end zone to tie the game.

From there, it was all Sierra Canyon.

Sierra Canyon took care of business and pulled away for a 24-7 win.

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Judge questions why Kennedy Center is moving so quickly to return Trump’s name to building

A judge on Thursday expressed skepticism about the Kennedy Center’s intention to return Trump’s name to the historic performing arts venue by early next month, challenging the board’s insistence on moving forward even in the face of a court ruling that blocked and reversed a previous effort.

Just seconds after the Trump administration’s lawyer, Brantley Mayers, began making his case at a nearly two-hour hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper interrupted to ask why the center needed to begin inscribing the president’s name on the institution’s facade as soon as Sept. 8.

“What’s magic about that date?” Cooper asked, quipping that sometimes judges travel over the Labor Day holiday.

Mayers responded that the timeline was in accordance with a vote earlier this month by the Trump-aligned board. As he returned to his arguments that renovations at the Kennedy Center require energy and talent, Cooper interjected again.

“That’s all fine and good,” the judge said. “What does that have to do with what Congress intended in these statutes? That’s really what’s before me.”

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Judge again blocks Trump mail ballot executive order in ruling that’s likely to be swiftly appealed

A federal judge on Thursday halted — at least for now — attempts to implement Trump’s executive order limiting mail voting.

The move stalled the directive for a second time only about a week before the first mail ballots are due to be sent out for the rapidly approaching midterm elections. U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani blocked the government from implementing the order for two weeks.

The case could soon be appealed back to the Supreme Court, days after the justices handed down a procedural decision that allowed the administration to move ahead.

The ruling Thursday came after Democrats and voting rights groups refiled their lawsuits to comply with the recent Supreme Court decision. The high court’s conservative majority did not rule on the legality of Trump’s executive order, instead saying Talwani had acted too soon.

Judge says Pentagon’s measures against Anthropic were ‘illegal and baseless’

A federal judge has ruled in favor of artificial intelligence company Anthropic in its legal battle against the Pentagon after the government labeled the company as a supply chain risk earlier this year.

U.S. District Judge Rita Lin issued a written order Thursday night that the Pentagon acted illegally by punishing the AI company for its criticism of the Department of Defense’s views on AI use. The government is expected to fight the ruling.

The dispute between the AI company and the government broke out in February when Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth accused Anthropic of endangering national security and designated the company a supply chain risk. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei refused to back down over concerns the company’s products could be used for mass surveillance or autonomous armed drones.

Lin wrote that the government’s actions “were based on a desire to make a public example out of Anthropic for its ‘arrogance’ in criticizing the government, not based on any articulable basis to believe that Anthropic would actually sabotage its model.”

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Trump used to say he saw a quick end to his Iran war. Six months later, he claims he’s in no hurry

President Donald Trump arrives at an awkward moment for his presidency on Friday as the U.S.-Israel war against Iran reaches the six-month mark, a notable milestone for a conflict that the Republican leader repeatedly assured Americans would be a “little excursion” lasting a matter of weeks.

The war isn’t over, though Trump claims that through bombs and blockade, he has already devastated Iran’s leadership, military and economy.

And this week his administration said it would turn its focus to increasing economic pressure — rather than military action — to try to finish off Iran. The shifting strategy centers on threats to punish any country or entity that continues to conduct business with Tehran.

The turn to using sanctions as the cudgel of choice comes as the administration weighs diminished munitions stockpiles after months of war, sparking concerns that the prolonged conflict could undermine U.S. military readiness in other parts of the globe.

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Julie Pierre, the 21-year-old owner of Roll and Dough Bakery in Sunrise, initially believed an Uber courier had stolen about $3,000 worth of cinnamon rolls she was sending to a farmers market.

Her story went viral on social media after she reported the rolls missing on Saturday.

But the courier never took off with the order.

A U.S. Border Patrol spokesperson identified the courier as Ivan Dario Rico Molano. According to the agency, he was arrested Saturday during a traffic stop in Hollywood.

A CBP spokesperson said Molano, a citizen of Colombia, admitted to being in the United States without legal authorization. Records indicate he entered the U.S. legally in May 2021 but remained beyond his authorized period of stay.

“We found out that he was pulled over in Hollywood by Border Patrol,” Pierre said. “When he was pulled over by Border Patrol, they called a family member and the family member was able to pick up the vehicle and the car still had the containers in the vehicle.”

Pierre said police recovered the vehicle and found the cinnamon rolls still inside the containers.

“Did the family member know there were cinnamon (rolls in there)?” Local 10’s Rosh Lowe asked Pierre. “How’d they find out?”

“So I think the police were the ones who contacted his family,” Pierre said.

She said the cinnamon rolls remained in containers in the vehicle, but she would not take a chance on anyone eating them and threw them away.

A police report was filed with the Sunrise Police Department after Pierre initially believed the cinnamon rolls had been stolen, and a GoFundMe page was created to help Pierre cover the lost expenses. She confirmed, however, that Uber has since fully reimbursed her for her loss.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board’s update about the May 26 failure in Longview, which expelled enough caustic liquid to blow out building walls, is part of an ongoing investigation. The federal agency said it is still determining the cause of the failure.

The board found that the contractor provided Nippon Dynawave Packaging Company with recommendations for internal inspections and shell repairs, but the company did none between a July 2025 inspection and the May 2026 failure.

An email seeking comment was sent to Nippon Dynawave. A person who answered the phone at Nippon’s plant in Longview declined to comment, and a message was left seeking comment.

Multiple inspections found safety problems before tank failure

In July 2025, the contractor found “significant thinning” below the minimum safe thickness in the lower regions of the tank after an external inspection, according to the board's report. The minimum safe thickness is a threshold that measures a tank’s ability to contain the pressure of the liquid and support the tank’s weight, the report said.

The same contractor inspected the exterior of the tank in October 2025 and February 2026 and both times identified that “large portions of the tank remained thinner than the calculated minimum safe wall thickness.”

“The company also did not remove the tank from operation or derate the tank for reduced service,” the board said.

The tank failure released roughly 900,000 gallons (3.4 million liters) of a liquid known as white liquor that is used to break down wood for making paper products and is capable of causing severe burns. In addition to the workers killed, several others and one firefighter were injured.

Official questions why paper company didn't act

The board's Chairperson Steve Owens said in a statement “we are greatly concerned that the tank was not promptly removed from service or properly repaired after the clear findings in the inspection report.”

In an excerpt of the July 2025 inspection included in the board's update, the recommendations were noted as “Priority 1: Not fit for continued service unless corrected,” with a “high likelihood/consequence of failure (or) critical code/standard deficiency.”

“Owner should plan to have an internal inspection performed in order to determine the extent of the required repairs. It’s likely that the entire shell course should be replaced,” the inspection excerpt says.

The inspection was completed by Applied Technical Services LLC. The federal report did not specify why the company was conducting the inspections.

A message was left seeking comment from Applied Technical Services.

Tank failure occurred as employees started to arrive to work

The catastrophic failure hit just minutes after employees began arriving around 7 a.m., the board’s report said.

Shortly before 2 a.m., a vessel at the facility called a digestor was removed from service for repairs. As a result, the tank stopped sending white liquor into the digestor. But more white liquor continued to flow into the tank, causing it to approach full capacity around 6:20 a.m. It failed less than an hour later, the report said.

After flooding the courtyard, crushing vehicles and destroying part of one of the surrounding buildings, the liquid flowed into the buildings’ lower floors, where workers were holding morning meetings.

All eight workers in the electrical maintenance shop as well as a worker in the courtyard were killed. In the mechanical maintenance shop, five employees and the foreman escaped, but two were killed from exposure to the chemical, the report said. Two of the people who escaped were seriously injured due to chemical burns.

The company radioed for its medical emergency response team but didn’t explain that white liquor had been released, according to the report. A member of the team waded into a pool of white liquor to try to rescue an employee, thinking it was water, and was seriously injured from chemical burns.

Earlier this week, the Washington Department of Ecology issued notice of 35 environmental violations to Nippon Dynawave. The state agency oversees the facility’s air and water quality permits and compliance with environmental waste laws.

The board said its investigation is ongoing and that its complete findings will be included in its final investigation report.

___

Associated Press writers Hallie Golden and Dave Collins contributed to this report.

Inside the Assembly Food Hall in downtown Nashville, Dolly Parton’s big blonde wig greets everyone, along with her signature smile.

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“She’s America’s fairy godmother and she’s just the kindest person and did so much for the world,” said Pamela Corris.

Since her passing, fans have posted messages there, sharing their love for her music and some of her best quotes, including: “It costs a lot of money to look this cheap.”

Everywhere you go in Nashville, sign after sign shows just how much she meant to Music City.

“She was amazing and this speaks for itself,” said Haley Minoske.

Tributes continue to pour in for the “9 to 5” singer.

Flags throughout the country are being flown at half-staff in honor of Dolly until Sept. 1.

In her hometown of Sevierville, Tennessee, a memorial keeps growing.

As fans continue to mourn, we’re learning more about Dolly’s final days. Her sister, Stella, posted on social media:

“My sister was one of the most generous, thoughtful and kind people I’ve ever known. What the world saw is exactly who she was, so much so, she told me recently that if there was no hope for her, she would still allow her medical team to try experimental drugs in the hope of helping others in the future.”

A private funeral for close friends and family will take place before she is laid to rest next to her husband, Carl Dean, at Woodlawn Memorial Park.

Flock is a brand of license plate readers. But unlike license plate readers that simply take pictures of cars and their license plates, Flock cameras can use artificial intelligence to record and track vehicles.

The details are stored in a searchable database.

Supporters say the technology can help track bad guys, notably the suspect in the Brown University shooting last year.

In Volusia County, the cameras were also used to track someone fleeing from police after allegedly attempting to carjack someone by force.

But critics say there is room for misuse.

They point to arrests of police officers accused of using the cameras to stalk exes, as well as broader privacy concerns.

“If you’re looking for a specific license plate related to a crime, you would make a match,” said Juliette Kayyem, a national security analyst. “Instead, deployed to 7,000 police departments with no training, no guidance.”

The cameras are now used across 49 states.

There are reportedly 120,000 Flock cameras, including more than 7,500 in Florida alone.

The debate has now entered the governor’s race, where both sides have issues with the technology.

Democrat David Jolly says he wants to call a special session to address concerns, saying reforms or outright elimination should be considered.

Republican Byron Donalds touts his support from law enforcement, which uses the technology, but supports criminal penalties if it is used for spying.

Small children were among those who deboarded the plane with adults.

Local 10 News got exclusive video of Haitian nationals landing at the airport.

Last week, a plane carrying 160 people arrived at the same airport. That group included a mixture of TPS holders and others who had previously faced legal troubles in the United States.

Around 7 p.m. Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security posted a video on its social media pages showing a group of Haitian nationals in the rain, shackled as they boarded a plane earlier in the day. A Haitian song played underneath the video.

One of the passengers was a man who made it back to Haiti.

Speaking in Haitian Creole, he said he left Haiti 10 years ago. The Port-au-Prince native said he did not enter the U.S. through the humanitarian parole program created in January 2023.

Asked how it feels to be back in Haiti, he said he hasn’t felt Haiti’s sunlight in a while.

He described the moment as both good and bad, saying he had wanted to return to Haiti, but not like this.

He said he would have preferred to arrive with a happy heart, enjoying the country with his friends and family.

Local 10 News reached out to the Department of Homeland Security with several questions about the group that landed. DHS had not responded as of Thursday night.

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Online jail records show Tanyla Christyanna Gamble, 25, faces charges of battery/dating violence and battery causing bodily harm.

According to an arrest report, officers were called to Fire Station 107, located at 11811 Miramar Parkway, at about 11:40 p.m. Wednesday regarding a physical altercation between two firefighters who had previously been involved in a romantic relationship for about two years before breaking up about a month ago.

Police said Gamble entered the victim’s room at the fire station and initiated an argument, which escalated into a physical altercation.

According to the report, Gamble repeatedly punched the victim, including once in the back of the head, which caused a visible bump.

Police said Gamble did not sustain any physical injuries during the incident.

The victim provided a sworn statement to detectives, detailing what occurred, but Gamble declined to provide a statement, according to the report.

A spokesperson for Miramar Fire Rescue released a statement to Local 10 News Thursday, saying Gamble has been placed on administrative leave.

“Miramar Fire Rescue is aware of the arrest of one of our employees,” the statement read. “The Department takes matters involving the conduct of its personnel seriously. The allegations are currently being handled by the appropriate law enforcement agency and remain part of an ongoing investigation. Miramar Fire Rescue is cooperating as appropriate and will also address this matter in accordance with City and Department policies and applicable personnel procedures.

“To protect the integrity of the ongoing investigation and the rights of everyone involved, the Department will not comment on the specific circumstances of the case at this time.

“Currently the individual in question is on administrative leave until the conclusion and outcome of all investigations.”

Gamble bonded out of jail Thursday evening.

Today, that decision continues to have an impact on a family that might not otherwise exist.

“My aunt donated her bone marrow to my mom, and that’s the reason that I’m here today,” said Vianca Perez, an advocate for bone marrow donations.

Perez’s mother, Liudmila Esquerdo, was just 19 years old when she was diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia, a rare and potentially life-threatening blood disorder.

Doctors initially tried treatments to get her bone marrow to respond.

“That did not work, and that’s when they were looking for a donor,” Esquerdo said.

Her younger sister, Ivette Esquerdo, turned out to be a perfect match.

“I was blessed that my sister — all 10 of those components — were 100% matched,” Liudmila Esquerdo said.

Ivette agreed to donate her bone marrow. She was just 16.

Before the transplant, Liudmila endured lengthy hospital stays and difficult treatments as her family stayed close and hoped for a successful outcome.

Even after the transplant, there was no guarantee it would work.

“July 24, 1995, it was the very last day and my bone marrow wasn’t reacting,” Liudmila recalled.

Her family began to lose hope.

Then, at the last moment, something changed.

“We had lost hope, and that last minute the bone marrow started to work,” she said.

For Liudmila, it became a second birthday.

“It’s the day their body accepted that bone marrow,” she said.

The transplant did more than save Liudmila’s life. It allowed her to go on to have a family, including daughter Vianca and younger son Gabriel.

Liudmila never forgot the other patients she met during her treatment who did not survive.

“While I was going through this process, so many people passed away in the bone marrow transplant center that I knew for sure that if I lived, I needed to pay it forward,” she said.

In 2018, she decided how she would do it: by starting the Get Redd Foundation.

The nonprofit works with people affected by rare blood disorders, providing support while also raising awareness about stem cell and bone marrow donation.

“We find out how we can help, but more than anything, how can we give you the hope that healing is possible and that miracles are for today,” Liudmila said.

Get Redd hosts an annual wellness event featuring fitness and nutrition workshops while educating attendees about becoming potential donors.

Registration to become a stem cell or bone marrow donor can begin with a simple cheek swab.

“There’s no price to knowing that you were part of someone staying alive and on this earth,” Liudmila said.

The foundation also holds celebration dinners honoring survivors of rare blood disorders.

Among those honored this year was Jeff Budnechky, owner of Apocalypse BBQ in Kendall.

Budnechky is a bone marrow recipient and said his donor gave him far more than additional years of life.

“If someone didn’t take the time to donate bone marrow, if somebody hadn’t swabbed for me to have a match, there would be no Apocalypse,” Budnechky said. “There would be no Lala’s Burgers. My daughter, Eli, wouldn’t exist. There would have never been a marriage to my wife, Laura.”

It is a message Perez hopes will inspire others to consider registering.

“How people not only can save one life, but they can save a family, a lineage,” Perez said. “It’s generations really who you’re impacting.”

Local 10, Get Redd and Apocalypse BBQ are now making it easier — and tastier — for South Floridians to take the first step toward potentially becoming a donor.

People 18 and older can register below.

The first 100 people to sign up will be invited to Apocalypse BBQ in Kendall to have their cheeks swabbed and join the donor registry. In return, each participant will receive a free pulled pork sandwich.

Additional details will be sent to the first 100 people who register.

For Liudmila and her family, the hope is that a simple decision today could have the same lasting impact as the one Ivette made 31 years ago — saving not just one life, but potentially generations to come.

• To donate: If you’d like to make a monetary donation toward a Good News South Florida story or project, click here. Local 10 has established the Local 10 Fund with The Miami Foundation and 100% of your donation will go toward the cause you designate in the “additional information” box.
• To volunteer or submit a story idea: If you’d like to volunteer for a Good News South Florida project or would like to submit a story for consideration, email goodnews@local10.com.

Good News South Florida airs Fridays on the Local 10 morning news at 10 a.m. It will encore Fridays at 3:30 p.m. and Sunday mornings, beginning at 6 a.m.

Job Listing: Assignment Editor

Responsibilities included but are not limited to manning assignment desk in various capacities. Setting up interviews and following-up on viewer phone calls. Researching information and leads, making agency checks, handling news tips and story ideas, phone calls. Edits, or assists in writing, editing and posting on all multimedia platforms.

Engages users through social media, responds to reader comments and pursues other avenues for integrating with audiences. Knows how to play big and win weather and breaking news. Asks tough questions, demands accurate answers, and exhibits extraordinary poise and ethical decision-making skills under pressure. Other duties as assigned

Minimum 2 years news assignment editor experience. A college degree in Journalism, Communications or a related field is preferred. Must be able to work well under pressure and deal effectively with last minute deadlines. Grasp of Spanish/Creole languages helpful.

***All of the essential functions of this position are not necessarily described in this posting.

***We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and will consider all qualified candidates regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, age gender, marital status, disability, matriculation or political affiliation. Any offer of employment is conditioned on successful completion of a pre-employment drug screen, investigative background check, employment/education verifications and reference checks. A valid driver’s license is required.

Please follow link below to apply for Assignment Editor Position:

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The MDSO Organized Crimes Bureau dubbed the investigation “Operation Sundown.”

According to investigators, the primary subject in the case, Juan Awais, 60, owned a property management company and allegedly used companies he owned, along with affiliated vendors, to exert undisclosed control over associations managed by his company.

Investigators said elderly, primarily Spanish-speaking association board members were allegedly misled into signing documents they did not fully understand.

According to MDSO, those documents allowed the subjects to gain control over association operations and finances for their own benefit.

The two-year investigation included seven search warrants and extensive digital forensic examinations, according to MDSO.

Investigators said they uncovered an alleged racketeering enterprise involving family members, employees and several affiliated companies whose connections were not disclosed.

According to the sheriff’s office, the group allegedly diverted association dues, insurance and loan proceeds, and collection revenues while concealing company ownership and the flow of money.

Investigators also alleged there were efforts to obstruct the investigation, including providing incomplete or newly created documents and discouraging association board members from speaking with law enforcement.

MDSO identified the subjects as Awais; Juliet Ramos, 37; Johana Perez Tapia, 31; Delma Alonso, 53; Cynthea Louise Waltz and Michael Irizarry.

Awais faces charges including racketeering, money laundering, organized fraud, grand theft and accepting or soliciting a kickback.

Ramos, Perez Tapia and Alonso also face racketeering, money laundering and multiple organized fraud charges, according to a press release from MDSO.

The sheriff’s office did not provide information on the charges against Waltz or Irizarry, noting that both were arrested by the Pembroke Pines Police Department.

MDSO said the investigation remains ongoing.

More than 170 restaurants are participating in this year’s promotion, offering prix-fixe menus and special dining experiences across Greater Fort Lauderdale through Sept. 30.

The annual event was created to help restaurants attract customers during the traditionally slower season while giving diners a chance to experience new spots at discounted prices.

One of this year’s newcomers is The Wagyu House at Atlantic Village in Hallandale Beach.

The restaurant grew out of a butcher shop, and meat remains at the center of its menu. Despite its name, JP Abbas of The Wagyu House said customers shouldn’t assume everything comes with a luxury price tag.

“Most of the people that think because our name is the Wagyu, they think that we are a very expensive restaurant,” Abbas said. “So we have dishes from $22 or $20 up to $300.”

Its Dine Out Lauderdale selections offer a mix of dishes, including burrata with passion fruit, Mediterranean branzino and ribeye.

There’s also a Wagyu picanha crostini torched tableside.

Sakana Nikkei is another first-time participant, offering diners a taste of Nikkei cuisine, which combines Japanese techniques with Peruvian flavors.

“I welcome all the food lovers. They’re not going to regret (it),” owner Rosemary Batzel said.

For $60, the restaurant’s Dine Out dinner includes choices such as classic ceviche and house-made dumplings, along with a welcome cocktail.

Diners looking for Italian cuisine can head to Vitolo inside the Conrad Fort Lauderdale Beach.

Chef Anthony Vitolo partnered with Rob Crosoli to bring the popular New York restaurant to South Florida.

“We came together to do something a little more family-oriented,” Crosoli said.

Through Sept. 30, Vitolo is offering a four-course, $60 menu Sunday through Thursday, featuring dishes including house-made Bolognese and lobster ravioli.

“Food is love to me, so that’s what you get when you come here,” Vitolo said.

Casa Sensei on Las Olas Boulevard is returning to the promotion with its Pan-Asian and Latin fusion cuisine.

“We have a little bit of everything here for everybody,” chef Will Reyes said. “We have prime steaks, we have seafood, we have many different options you can choose from, and everything is made from scratch.”

The restaurant is putting several of its popular dishes on its prix-fixe menu, including kimchi fried rice made with Korean beef and its signature Red Dragon Roll.

Reyes said the promotion allows diners to sample several dishes for less than they might normally spend ordering individually.

“Just one roll is like $20, $22,” Reyes said. “You can get three things for $35 for lunch, $45 for dinner.”

Dine Out Lauderdale continues through Sept. 30, with three-course prix-fixe menus available at participating restaurants throughout Greater Fort Lauderdale.

Lunch menus start at $35, while dinner options are available for $45 or $60. The promotion also includes $75 luxury dining experiences.

Special events are being held throughout the promotion, including immersive dining experiences.

A full list of participating restaurants, events and additional information about Dine Out Lauderdale is available by clicking here.

With all the political instability around the world that the U.S. is dealing with, you begin to wonder where is our Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco Rubio?

Trump’s son-in-law and businessman Jared Kushner; businessman and U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff; and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, have traveled overseas on numerous diplomatic missions and most recently CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin after traveling to Cuba months ago and meeting with the Minister of the Interior, General Julio Casas.

There is no doubt in my mind that Marco Rubio is qualified and has the experience for the positions he holds. He also has a very good senior staff around him. Maybe his absence during these diplomatic missions is the fact that he knows very well that Trump’s foreign policy lacks clear strategical purpose and could backfire on him as they have on Trump, indicated by the polls.

Many in the Cuban-American community raised their hopes that given that we have a Cuban-American secretary of state, that Cuba would finally be free from their totalitarian government by the end of 2026 -- now it’s looking that we will have to wait until 2029. Regime change certainly did not happen in Venezuela.

If Rubio is going to run for president next time around, he does not need to be blamed for these foreign policy failures around the world. But eventually, he will have to explain to the American people what his role was.

The question remains whether or not he will remain in the Trump administration after the mid-term elections this coming November?

Aug. 26: For many young Cubans on the island, time has run out

Years ago, a young Cuban man sat one morning in the famous Malecon of Havana, looking at the ocean and said to himself “Either they kill me or I will kill myself,” feeling the frustration of living and surviving each day in Cuba.

On July 11, 2021, many young Cubans took to the streets of the island nation after years of frustration to protest the living conditions they faced each day. There were many expectations that change was not far away. As a result, many of the protesters were thrown in jail or kicked out of the country.

Five years later, with the many sanctions that have been placed by the U.S. on the Cuban government and their leaders, many of these same youngsters felt the end of the regime was near. In South Florida, the feeling was mutual. Politicians in South Florida said the regime would fall by the end of 2026. Now the same politicians say that Cubans on the island and Miami need to be patient. Change could come by 2029.

For many young Cubans on the island, time has run out. There is no more waiting. No more suffering. No more empty promises. Many of them have started to leave Cuba to anywhere around the world. For Cuban-Americans in South Florida, it is just one more disappointment.

Aug. 25: What will happen when Raul Castro dies?

Washington, D.C. keeps sanctioning the Cuban government and members of the elite. The Cuban government has shown their capability to survive at the cost of the Cuban people. The question I ask myself is what will happen when Raul Castro dies?

Will those Cuban military officers that have not benefited from the economic corruption within the government be willing to support someone Castro picks to succeed him? Or will they challenge the new leadership?

Aug. 21: CEPAL releases economic performance indicators for 2026, predicting Cuba’s economy will slow down 10.3%

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL) just came out with their economic performance indicators for 2026. It predicts that Cuba’s economy will slow down 10.3%, which is the worse performance in all of Latin America.

How much more will the Cuban people be able to take is anybody’s guess.

Aug. 20: Cuba’s president says health system on verge of total collapse

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel admitted earlier this week that the health system, one of the so-called “great accomplishments” of the Cuban revolution, is on the verge of total collapse. There are thousands of Cubans on the island waiting for surgeries that cannot be performed due to the lack of doctors, medicines, equipment and poor hospital conditions.

For years, Cuba has been sending medical brigades around the world to help pay-off their debt and export the ideals of their revolution. The U.S. government has accused Cuba of human trafficking for these actions.

Aug. 18: Trump’s Cuba strategy: Is there really a plan?

Does the Trump administration really have a plan for Cuba?

After months of rhetorical back-and-forth, you begin to wonder whether the Trump administration really knows what to do with Cuba. We keep hearing that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was given the responsibility to deal with Cuba and the rest of Latin America, which he knows extremely well. But from what I hear, White House senior staff keeps getting in the way.

Continuing to sanction operations and individuals in Cuba will not bring down the government. Now we hear from Secretary Rubio and members of our Cuban-American congressional delegation that the target date has been moved back, and they hope that by 2029, changes in Cuba will have taken place, which is absolutely ridiculous.

Aug. 14: Cuba turns to global investors as US sanctions and property claims raise risks

The Cuban government has realized that efforts to attract investment from U.S. and Cuban-American businesses have largely failed because of the many sanctions imposed by the United States and the fact that the risks still outweigh the opportunities.

However, the Cuban government is trying very hard to attract companies from around the world to take over many operations and businesses in Cuba. With many European hoteliers and other companies having recently left Cuba, it will still be a challenge to attract new investors.

One thing these companies should keep in mind before starting operations in Cuba is that they could be operating in properties that were confiscated by the Cuban government in the early 1960s. They could potentially face legal challenges in the future as a result.

For American companies alone, there are 5,913 businesses and properties that were confiscated and registered with the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Aug. 13: Fidel Castro’s 100th birthday prompts reflection on his legacy in Cuba

Thursday marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Fidel Castro, a man whose narcissistic personality took control of Cuba after overthrowing Fulgencio Batista on Jan. 1, 1959. He made promises to the Cuban people that he later betrayed for his own selfish ambitions and thirst for power.

At his trial on Oct. 16, 1953, following the failed attack on the Moncada military barracks in Santiago de Cuba, he famously said, “History will absolve me.”

In the end, history will judge him as a ruthless dictator who destroyed Cuba, impoverished its people and inflicted tremendous suffering on an entire nation.

Aug. 12: Cuba poses a tough foreign policy challenge for Rubio

“Who is on first, what is on second, I don’t know is on third.”

The famous comedy routine by Abbott and Costello can be compared to the Trump administration’s foreign policy strategies these days. Diplomatic negotiations are complex and complicated, especially when dealing with countries, governments, and individuals with whom the United States has not had good relationships.

Reliable sources tell me there are tremendous differences between the staffs at the White House and the Department of State over how to handle negotiations involving Ukraine, Russia, Israel-Gaza, Iran, Venezuela, and Cuba. It does not help when those negotiating on behalf of the United States have limited to no diplomatic experience.

For now, let’s stay within the area of expertise: Cuba. While President Trump thinks Cuba can be resolved in two months, Secretary of State Marco Rubio knows very well, as does his senior staff, that negotiating with Cuba is not easy.

The Cuban government is willing to continue introducing cosmetic changes to its moribund economy without relinquishing political control. The United States can continue to sanction everyone on the island, and the Cuban government could not care less. All the while, the people of Cuba continue to suffer tremendous hardships. Yet the people are unlikely to turn against the government. The consequence of doing so can mean spending years in jail.

Meanwhile, in Miami, the guessing game continues over who will replace Raúl Castro when he dies, along with preparations for possible transition plans for Cuba. A transition to a democratic system of government in Cuba will take time. A civil society cannot be built overnight. It is also important to remember that Cuba did not have a democratic government before 1959.

For Rubio, expectations from the Cuban American community are high. Yet most in the community understand that it will not be easy to get the Cuban government to make political changes short of a U.S. military invasion. However, Rubio needs a win, especially if he is considering another presidential run. The failures of the Trump administration’s foreign policies around the world could affect Rubio’s future presidential campaign.

So, what will be Rubio’s next step on Cuba? The clock is ticking.

Aug. 10: Will the cat catch the mouse this time?

While U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio continues to put pressure on the Cuban government to change, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel went on Cuban television this past weekend and announced to the Cuban people that the government was making major “transformational changes” to the economy.

Díaz-Canel also told the Cuban people that it would take time and patience -- two things the Cuban people do not have anymore. Díaz-Canel went on to say that the benefits of these changes will begin to show by 2029.

Sources in Washington, D.C. have told me that the Trump administration is looking to see if there is someone in the Cuban government, like Delcy Rodriguez in Venezuela, to hand over Raul Castro or even take over the current government and be willing to negotiate with the U.S.

The Miami Herald reported this weekend that General Lazaro Alberto Alvarez Casas, currently the Cuban Minister of the Interior, may be acceptable to the U.S. General Casas is considered a hardliner and therefore unlikely to break with the Cuban leadership.

As I have said before, the case of Venezuela is quite different than Cuba. While Raul Castro is alive, I believe the Cuban government will continue in power and make promises to the Cuban people they cannot keep.

Aug. 8: Cuban opposition leader says Cuba’s transformation must include those on the island

According to Cuban opposition leader Jose Daniel Ferrer, any plans to transform Cuba must include Cubans on the island.

But do Cubans on the island have the capacity and capabilities to participate in such a process? After living for almost 68 years under a totalitarian system that has shaped the population’s personal values and attitudes, it could take time not only to change it but, more importantly, to sustain those changes.

Democracies are not built in one day. It will take time and patience. Let’s also remember that before the Cuban Revolution, Cuba had a dictatorship under Batista.

Aug 6: US announces new set of economic sanctions against Cuba; 2 of Cuba’s top generals also sanctioned

The U.S. State Department announced a new set of economic sanctions against Cuba on Thursday. At the same time, two of Cuba’s top generals were also sanctioned, Alvaro Lopez Miera, Minister of Defense; and General Roberto Sotolongo, head of the armed forces.

Aug. 5: CIA Task Force on Cuba created, per report

The New York Times has reported the creation of a CIA Task Force on Cuba with the purpose of putting additional pressure on the Cuban government to make political and economic changes to their system.

This news will probably be received by Cuba as an additional threat by the U.S.

Aug. 5: Cuban president confirms ongoing conservations between Havana, US

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel confirmed today that there are ongoing conversations between Havana and DC for the purpose of avoiding a military confrontation and trying to find solutions to the issues between both nations.

The Cuban government understands that they are running out of options and most likely will need to reach an agreement with the U.S. Will it include regime change?

Aug. 3 update: Rubio speaks about Cuba’s ongoing espionage activities in the US

This past weekend, in an interview with Fox News, U.S. Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco Rubio spoke about Cuba’s ongoing espionage activities in the U.S.

Rubio went on to say that Cuban spies continue to infiltrate the U.S. government, financial institutions, organizations, and academic institutions. Rubio claimed that Cuba continues to be a national security threat to the U.S.

Dr. Andy S. Gomez is Local 10’s Cuba Analyst. Gomez is considered one of the leading scholars on Cuba. He worked in higher education for 32 years before retiring from the University of Miami in 2012.

“It costs me $73 to fill up our minivan right now," she said. "This is just not acceptable for working families.”

Some 600 miles away, political extremism is exactly what Republican Rep. Mike Lawler wants to talk about in his New York battleground district. He said the Democratic Socialists of America “is going to be a big issue, in part because that’s the platform that Democrats are running on.”

A transition is underway over these final days of summer as Democrats and Republicans push past internal fights over the direction of their parties and begin a two-month sprint to the general election. As they turn to the fall, a rigid split screen has emerged featuring fundamentally different campaign messages to win over voters. Which version they choose will decide whether Republican President Donald Trump and his party maintain full control of Washington for the next two years.

Specifically, Democrats are working to refocus on the economy, which voters say is their top concern as the cost of everyday goods remains high, even though inflation has fallen from the peak of Democratic President Joe Biden's term. Republicans, unwilling or unable to challenge Trump's policies, are fighting to keep the focus on Democrats' lurch to the left, warning nonstop about socialism or even communism.

Republican strategist David Urban, a Trump ally, acknowledged that the message “has limits.”

“That’s not going to work everywhere,” he said. Meanwhile, he described the war in Iran and the related economic fallout as “a mess.”

“Right now I think people see the war as a drag on the economy and therefore they don’t like it,” Urban said, warning that the road ahead for the Republican Party may be painful. “Do I have a rosy scenario where I think Republicans roll strong and keep the House and everything? I’m not naive enough to think that’s a likely scenario.”

Republicans still want to blame Biden for prices

The Republican Party is struggling to settle on a message to address voters' economic concerns.

The word “gasoline” is mentioned only one time across more than a dozen separate talking points released by the Republican National Committee this month, according to documents reviewed by The Associated Press. That is as the average price of gasoline was $4.18 last week — the fifth consecutive week that national gas prices exceeded $4.

While largely ignoring the issue, the talking points encourage Republicans to blame high costs generally on Biden.

“President Trump is fixing what Biden broke,” they say.

Meanwhile, the word “Democrat” is cited 73 times in this month’s RNC talking points.

Vice President JD Vance did not address gas prices when he visited Ohio last week, touching on affordability in general only briefly.

“We got a lot of work to do, but we’re finally seeing that American dream of homeownership become accessible again to our young people,” he said.

Vance also ignored the Trump administration's war in Iran, which has now been going on for six months and has a direct impact on the rising cost of gas. He was eager to attack the rise of Democratic socialists, however.

“If these radicals take control of Congress, they’re going to pass the craziest agenda America has ever seen,” the vice president said.

Ideological fractures linger among Democrats

Some Democratic officials worry that the rise of democratic socialists within the party presents a political problem for candidates in swing districts.

At least eight DSA members or DSA-backed candidates secured Democratic nominations for Congress this primary season. That includes seven for the House, in addition to Democratic Senate nominee Angie Nixon in Florida. There are no DSA-affiliated nominees for governor after Wisconsin's Francesca Hong lost her primary bid this month.

While such candidates represent only a fraction of the 257 seats Democrats currently hold in Washington, Democrats know they cannot ignore the issue altogether.

In an interview, Michigan Democrat Hines refused to endorse two DSA-affiliated House candidates in her state or Michigan's Democratic Senate nominee, Abdul El-Sayed. El-Sayed is not affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America, although he is a vocal ally of Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who is a progressive champion.

Without naming them, Hines condemned those in her party whom she does not view as sufficiently patriotic.

“I love my country,” she said. “It drives me crazy when some members of my party, particularly on the far left, don’t act like that.”

The Democratic Socialists of America are still far from a household name for most voters.

Only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults had a favorable view of the DSA, according to a CNN/SSRS poll conducted in July, while about one-third had an unfavorable opinion and the rest have not heard of the organization or do not have an opinion. About 7 in 10 Democrats or people who lean toward the Democratic Party said they would feel “enthusiastic” or “okay” about their party nominating a candidate who describes themselves as a democratic socialist.

Trump remains deeply unpopular

Polling consistently shows that voters are far more concerned about costs and the economy.

A Washington Post/Ipsos poll conducted in July found that most registered voters, about 6 in 10, mentioned something related to the economy or high prices when they were asked to share the most important factors for their midterm vote in their own words. About 3 in 10 mentioned immigration.

Very few mentioned anti-communism or socialism as a top factor for their vote, although cultural issues have been an effective wedge for Republicans in recent contests.

Still, Trump's weak standing represents another hurdle for Republicans. Only about one-third of U.S. adults approve of how the Republican is handling the presidency, according to Associated Press polling, down slightly from 37% in June.

Lawler said he would campaign with Trump again if the president returned to his district this fall, but the congressman also sought to create some distance from Trump.

“If he comes back that’s fine, but ultimately this race is going to be decided by my record and my vision,” he said. “It’s going to be an interesting fight to the finish.”

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Trump’s former personal attorney has stepped into the commanding role facing a challenge that other leaders of the Republican president’s Department of Justice could not overcome: threading the needle between Trump's boundary-busting demands and a prosecutor’s duty to uphold the rule of law. At the same time, Blanche must try to stabilize a workforce shaken by an exodus of experienced lawyers and an erosion of trust in the judicial branch.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press during a trip to Puerto Rico this week, Blanche promised to lead the department with integrity, dismissing concerns from critics who say his actions so far — including an indictment against longtime Trump foe and former FBI Director James Comey — call into question whether Blanche is still functioning as Trump’s personal lawyer.

A slew of ongoing politically charged investigations under Blanche’s watch could force him to choose between his long-standing loyalty to the president and the foundational principles of the Cabinet agency he leads. At stake is the fate of a department already reeling under a president who has made clear his desire for retribution over the criminal scrutiny he faced.

“My integrity, my commitment to the rule of law is the same today that it was the day I graduated,” Blanche told the AP when asked where he would draw the line on requests from the White House. “I would never do anything unethical or improper or violate my oath, no matter the circumstances.”

Critics disagree.

As acting attorney general, Blanche came under fire from lawmakers, including many Republicans, for signing off on a $1.8 billion fund meant to compensate Trump's allies who believed they were politically prosecuted. He also greenlit a deal that granted Trump, the Trump Organization, and two of his sons immunity from tax audits. Those moves, unusual steps aimed at granting the president and his allies far-reaching benefits, put Blanche's confirmation at risk, prompting key senators to express concern.

Blanche, like Trump's other attorneys general, walks a tightrope

In the AP interview, Blanche addressed criticism of the department under his leadership, his priorities as attorney general and losses the administration has had in high-profile cases. He also depicted the Justice Department as an institution whose independence had eroded long ago — a characterization at odds with decades of fierce autonomy that challenged the highest echelons of power in Washington and beyond.

Blanche, a former federal prosecutor in New York, is walking the same tightrope as Trump’s three other Senate-confirmed attorneys general. They found their pledges to uphold the rule of law and the department’s ethical norms at odds with the president’s demands to bend the institution to his will.

During Trump’s first term, one attorney general infuriated Trump over his withdrawal from an investigation into Trump's winning White House campaign and was forced out. Another submitted his resignation weeks after breaking with Trump over Trump's false claims of election fraud. Blanche’s immediate predecessor, Pam Bondi, was ousted in April after failing to deliver successful prosecutions against the president’s political enemies.

Blanche's narrow confirmation this month over opposition from two Republican senators underscored growing concerns about the dismantling of the Justice Department's long-standing tradition of independence from the White House, which is meant to protect the impartiality of politically sensitive investigations and prosecutions.

Concerns that the Justice Department is being weaponized

Blanche bristles at the suggestion that the Justice Department should be independent of the president and he has made clear his view that the executive has both the power and the right to shape and control the law enforcement agency.

He has staunchly defended the integrity of cases the administration has brought against the president's perceived political opponents, often pointing to his own experience representing Trump in criminal cases brought by Democratic President Joe Biden's Justice Department. Blanche and the president have characterized those cases as politically motivated.

“I think attorneys general and others have said, ‘Oh, we’re independent.’ I don’t think that’s actually true,” Blanche told the AP.

Blanche claimed the Justice Department was not truly independent when he was a federal prosecutor or during the Biden administration. But that characterization ignores the fact that under Biden, the Justice Department investigated Biden himself over his handling of classified documents and secured felony charges in two separate cases against his son Hunter before Biden pardoned him.

The two criminal cases filed by special counsel Jack Smith against Trump were based on allegations, supported by long-running investigations, that Trump had classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and obstructed government efforts to get them back, and conspired to overturn the 2020 election.

Growing distrust of the Justice Department among judges

Blanche has sought to highlight the administration's focus on tackling illegal immigration, violent crime and drug-trafficking cartels, spotlighting cases such as the takedown of a Puerto Rican gang that he announced during his visit to the U.S. island territory.

But Blanche's policy priorities are often overshadowed by a growing number of investigations that have drawn criticism that the department is being used as a weapon in the president's campaign of retribution.

Blanche's supporters have argued that the close relationship he developed with Trump while serving as his criminal defense lawyer can make him more effective at pushing back on or explaining the legal constraints of the president's demands. Others wonder whether he will fare any better than Bondi up against the same skeptical court system, and factual and legal hurdles, that impeded efforts to deliver the sought-after results.

Blanche is also confronting growing distrust of the Justice Department among judges, who in multiple cases have accused government lawyers of withholding information or misleading courts. Courts in some cases have quashed subpoenas or ordered the review of grand jury transcripts, and the criminal cases against Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James were dismissed after a judge found the prosecutor who brought them was illegally appointed.

But Blanche played down concerns that the erosion of judicial trust could impede his efforts to advance his agenda.

“The isolated incidents that make the news are not reflective of the way the bench feels in my view, or the way prosecutors are doing their job around the country,” Blanche said.

___

Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.

There were setbacks, surgeries and moments when the 23-year-old questioned whether he could keep going. There were three torn anterior cruciate ligaments, five knee surgeries and roughly three seasons spent away from the field.

But there was also a dream.

In 2026, Fray is a Major League Soccer champion with Inter Miami CF. He is still only beginning to write his professional story, and his goal remains the same one he had as a kid: playing in Europe.

Soccer in the Blood

Fray’s connection to soccer began before he ever stepped onto the pitch.

“My mom and dad both met playing soccer at Hartford University,” Fray said. “My dad was on the men’s team, my mom was on the women’s team, and then they got married, had kids, and all three of us played soccer.”

Raised in Coconut Creek, Fray started out close to home.

“They had a rec league in Coconut Creek right next to my house, so I played there growing up as a really young kid,” he said.

However, Fray’s path through the academy system wasn’t smooth.

“I played for Weston FC when I was a little younger,” he said. “And then they actually ended up cutting me from the team. They cut me from the academy.”

Instead of walking away, Fray landed with a new club.

“I ended up finding a new team in Miramar. So, I played for Miramar for a bit, two years, and then Inter Miami opened up — there were tryouts — and then ever since then I was in the academy, and then up from there,” he said.

The Work Behind the Dream

Fray’s rise wasn’t built on talent alone. He describes his development as years of work, often with his father taking him back to the field after club practices.

Eventually, soccer became a bigger priority than school.

“I dropped out of high school in my junior year,” he said. “It was just always — my dad was taking me to the field after my practices with my club team. It was a lot of work, but I loved doing it. It was something I enjoyed doing more than school at the time...That was just really healthy for me.”

The mentality for Fray after dropping out was pro or bust, and that’s how he stayed focused and driven.

Three ACLs, One Comeback

If Fray’s rise had one true test, it wasn’t a tryout — it was his knees. Five knee surgeries. Three torn ACLs. Roughly three full seasons lost to recovery. During one stretch, he was out for 15 months, only for the injury to strike again almost immediately after his return.

“I have a really good circle around me, close friends and family — and that was the most important thing that got me through,” he said. “Anytime I felt doubts, or there were times where in my head you tell yourself a bunch of things — I told myself, ‘I can’t do this again. This is gonna be too difficult.’ And then the words of affirmation from my friends and family, like, ‘You can’t give up, this is your dream, this is what you want to do,’ that just kept me going throughout the whole time.”

There were moments when the thought of quitting almost came true.

“I would say initially when the injury would first happen — like when it happened the third time, and because I just came back from being out for 15 months and then it happened again — it was initially like, ‘I can’t do this again, I don’t want to do this again,’” he said. “And then, after the next day, I had to talk to the surgeon. I was like, ‘No, I’m gonna get back to it.’”

Inter Miami backed that resolve.

“It was actually a week after, I think, I tore my ACL — they re-signed me, they re-signed me to a new contract through my option year, and that just spoke volumes [about] how much trust they had in me,” Fray said. “They were by my side the whole time. I thank them for that a lot.”

When health finally returned, so did the fire.

“It was just, it felt like a fire, you know — I was out for so long,” he said. “I was out for 12 months at a time, three separate times.”

“When I finally got back on the pitch, it was like, this is what I love to do,” Fray added. I’ve been watching the game for so long, seeing other people play in the position I wanna play in, knowing I could be there and help the team and build my career. It was really tough for me, so when I finally got the chance to go on the field, it was just like — it all happened. It was amazing, super quick.”

The Debut and the Climb

Fray’s MLS debut came in 2023 against Nashville SC, when he came on as a substitute and played right center back under then-coach Phil Neville.

“It was a surreal moment for me,” he said. “I’ll never forget that day. It was really important.”

His first professional goal came against D.C. United.

“I received the ball at the top of the box, one touch, and then hit it to the far-left side in this beautiful stadium (Chase Stadium),” he recalled. “A lot of memories.”

Even after everything, the MLS Cup wasn’t something Fray let himself picture during the injury years.

“Honestly, that’s not something I thought about when I was going through the injuries,” he said. “It was just like; I was just happy to play. My main goal was just getting back on the field, staying healthy, and the MLS Cup came along the way — it was just the cherry on top.”

Sharing a locker room with some of the sport’s most decorated professionals, like Lionel Messi, raised his own bar.

“It’s with a lot of things. Most of the things are also off the pitch, how he (Messi) eats, how he trains his body. He’s in the gym all the time, and his mentality,” he said.

One memory involving Messi particularly stayed with him.

Fray recalled Messi returning to training almost immediately after winning the Ballon d’Or in 2023.

It was a reminder that greatness doesn’t eliminate the need to work.

“He’s still doing it,” Fray said. “It shows how much he loves the game and respects everyone.”

Playing alongside soccer legends like Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets and Casemiro also helped the Jamaican National player improve his play on the pitch.

“When you lose the ball, they give you slack, and you just have to kind of deal with that. I think that was the biggest issue for me at first — dealing with that type of criticism, which makes you learn,” he said. “They obviously want the best, and they hold you to their standard, which has made me grow so much as a player — not wanting to miss a pass, not wanting to miss a tackle.”

“They’ve instilled that in a lot of the guys here.”

What’s Next

Inter Miami’s 2026 season has had its ups and downs, including an eight-match unbeaten streak followed by a five-game winless run, but Fray isn’t rattled.

“We’re the MLS champs,” he said. “We’re still second place in the league, which could tell you a lot. We’re gonna bounce back, and it’s not a problem.”

Looking further out, Fray’s ambitions point toward Europe.

“That’s my end goal, to go play in Europe,” he said. “I always — that’s my dream since I was a kid, and I’ve communicated that to the club. But I’m very happy here right now. It’s just in the future — that’s where I wanna be.”

Asked where he sees himself in five years, the answer came quickly: “Champions League.”

It’s a career defined by more than talent. It’s defined by refusal to quit after being cut, to quit after a third ACL tear, or to let go of a dream of playing in Europe that remains ahead of him. Fray’s story isn’t finished.

Hundreds are dead or missing after a deadly torrent of water and mud several stories high swept through communities Wednesday following a glacier collapse.

The Nepalese army has been using helicopters to rescue people because so many roads and bridges have been washed out.

Dan Hovey, vice president of emergency response at Direct Relief, which provides medicines and healthcare to disaster-struck areas, said his organization had already pre-positioned emergency supplies in Nepal for the upcoming monsoon season. That preparation has enabled Direct Relief to help quickly during these unexpected floods.

“Nepal is a very disaster-prone country,” he said. “On the disaster vulnerability indexes, it’s one of the highest – from earthquakes, floods, drought, wildfires.”

In addition to the medicines and supplies already in Nepal, Direct Relief was readying more shipments to send to Nepal Thursday, said Hovey, adding that new donations would allow the nonprofit to provide more support in the months to come.

“This is going to be a long recovery process,” Hovey said.

Responding organizations say giving cash is currently most needed to provide local agencies and nonprofits flexible funding to continue their relief efforts.

Here are some organizations aiding those on the Nepal-China border, including U.S. groups responding on the ground.

U.S.-based organizations already operating in Nepal

All Hands & Hearts, the disaster recovery nonprofit, says it is currently providing emergency relief in Nepal, where it has worked since 2015 and plans to continue its work of rebuilding schools and homes.

Catholic Relief Services, the international humanitarian agency, has partnered with Caritas Nepal to provide aid and social services, while also working to deploy its own teams to help relief efforts.

Global Giving, the support nonprofit, has launched the Nepal Flood Relief Fund that it hopes will raise $1.5 million to provide flexible funding for search and rescue efforts and other emergency responses, as well as infrastructure rebuilding and other recovery projects.

Humanity & Inclusion, the international victim assistance nonprofit, says it is already distributing emergency supplies and providing rehabilitation support inside local hospitals.

Save the Children, the international nonprofit, says it is already delivering cooking kits, mosquito nets and blankets to 1,000 households in the region and coordinating with national and local authorities to determine how to scale its response.

World Central Kitchen, Chef Jose Andres’ humanitarian nonprofit, says it is already feeding those in the region through its local partners. It plans to activate its distribution network to bring more food to the affected area.

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Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

Meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza killed three people from the same family as the county continues its attacks despite a monthlong ceasefire brokered by the United States.

Here’s a look at the latest developments Friday in the Iran war and the wider Middle East. Full coverage can be found here.

UK says it is committed to Gaza peace plan

The U.K. government said on Thursday that it remains committed to implementing the 20-point Gaza peace plan, and any move to remove its officials would “undermine shared efforts.”

The comments came in response to reports that Israel is considering expelling officials from Britain and other European nations from the monitoring center. The U.K. remains committed to “playing our part in improving the situation on the ground,” the British government told The Associated Press.

The Dutch Foreign Ministry on Thursday said Israel was removing two Dutch diplomats from the ceasefire center. Israel's Foreign Ministry said the decision was in response to a Dutch ban on the trade of Israeli products from the occupied West Bank and other “ anti-Israel measures.”

Israeli strike in Gaza kills 3

Two brothers and another relative were killed on Friday in an Israeli strike on the family’s home outside Khan Younis, officials at Nasser Hospital said. Israel's military said it was not aware of a strike in Khan Younis.

The three deaths were the latest in Gaza since an October ceasefire deal attempted to halt a more than two-year war between Israel and Hamas.

While the heaviest fighting has subsided, Israeli forces have carried out repeated airstrikes, killing at least 1,303 Palestinians, according to health officials in Gaza. The agency's casualty records are generally considered reliable but don't provide a breakdown of civilians and militants.

Iran objects to US economic pressure

Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Friday condemned a new round of U.S. economic measures against the country, calling them “economic terrorism” and saying Tehran would use all available means to counter them.

The ministry said the sanctions violated international law and called on other countries to refrain from implementing them. It accused Washington of using the U.S. dollar to pressure other countries into complying with its policies.

Earlier this week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent vowed to fully sever Iran from the global economy and threatened countries that continue to do business with Iran with secondary sanctions. It was part of the U.S. campaign to use economic pressure to try and wring concessions from Iran.

Prolonged air raids in Kyiv on Thursday essentially locked down the Ukrainian capital for 15 hours, the Foreign Ministry said, choking the economy and severely disrupting civilian life more than 4½ years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor. Even longer alerts are a daily reality in regions closer to the front line, the ministry said.

Russian drone and missile attacks are also taking aim at the power grid in what Ukrainian officials say is an annual campaign to “weaponize winter.” In Ukraine’s southern Kherson region on the Black Sea, where glide bombs a day earlier forced a combined heat and power plant to shut down, officials predicted a winter of extended outages and told people to move elsewhere if they could.

Russian attacks aim to paralyze Kyiv, Ukraine says

Russian strikes in the Kyiv region damaged 14 warehouses, 16 private houses, three apartment buildings and 16 vehicles, Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv regional military administration, said Friday.

A second drone hit one location after emergency crews were deployed, the State Emergency Service said, in what is termed by the military as a “double tap” that targets first responders.

The attacks killed one person and wounded two others, according to officials.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that its forces overnight struck a warehouse in the Kyiv region that stores Ukraine’s Flamingo cruise missiles and fuel for rocket boosters.

Ukrainian officials didn't immediately confirm the Russian claim, and The Associated Press couldn't verify it. Recent strikes have damaged numerous warehouses across Kyiv and the wider region, including facilities storing books, food and other consumer goods.

The attacks stretched into daylight hours, and Tkachenko urged residents to stay in safe locations and heed air raid alerts.

Russia is launching small numbers of fast-moving jet-powered drones in waves in an attempt to paralyze the capital, according to Andrii Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council.

“The goal is to exhaust air defenses and the population,” he said on social media on Friday.

Kyiv region authorities said that air quality worsened because of the attacks and warned people in some areas to keep their windows closed and limit their time outdoors.

Four Russian glide bombs destroyed a sorting center belonging to the postal service Nova Poshta in the northern Sumy region, and a drone smashed one of its depots in the Kyiv region, the company said.

Kherson officials advise residents to move away from the region

In the southern Kherson region, which is about 70% under Russian control, officials urged tens of thousands of residents to move to safer regions because of the possibility of prolonged power and heating outages this winter.

“Kherson may be without electricity and heat not for hours or days, but for a long time. And we need to prepare for this now,” said Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson regional military administration, in a social media post late Thursday.

Russia has intensified attacks on critical infrastructure in the region, with 170 glide bombs dropped on the Kherson region since July 1 — more than in the first six months of the year, Prokudin said.

Russia has also launched more than 1,700 attack drones over the past two months, increasingly using jet-powered Shahed and Gerbera drones against critical infrastructure, he said, and attacks by smaller drones rose to 6,500 in the past week alone.

Authorities will offer help with evacuation, transportation, resettlement and social support for those who decide to leave, he said.

Russia and Ukraine keep up their dueling aerial attacks

Russia fired 164 drones at Ukraine overnight, Ukraine’s air force said. It didn’t mention missiles, which usually are part of Russia’s aerial attacks.

A 61-year-old man was killed and seven other people were wounded Friday in a Russian glide bomb attack on the northern Sumy region, said Oleh Hryhorov, head of the Sumy regional military administration.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that its air defenses overnight shot down 512 Ukrainian drones over 18 Russian regions, as well as over the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula and the waters of the Black Sea.

Ukrainian forces struck the Slavneft-YANOS refinery in Russia’s Yaroslavl region overnight, causing a fire, Ukraine’s General Staff said, as Ukraine continued its campaign against the Russian oil sector.

A fire broke out at the site, which is around 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) from the border with Ukraine, the General Staff said. The plant produces gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel, fuel oil, lubricants and other petroleum products, it added.

A Ukrainian drone attack on Friday morning in the Yaroslavl region killed one person and wounded 27 other people, Gov. Mikhail Yevrayev said. Ten of those were wounded when drone debris fell on a bus, he said.

He said that unspecified “industrial infrastructure,” residential areas and unidentified retail facilities were hit.

In the Moscow region that surrounds but doesn't include the Russian capital, a drone hit a supermarket, damaging it and shattering windows in a nearby outpatient clinic, Gov. Andrei Vorobyov said on Telegram.

In the port city of Sevastopol in Crimea, a five-story residential building suffered significant damage from a drone, according to the Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhayev. Four people were wounded, he said. He posted images of a charred building with windows and balconies knocked out.

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Barry Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

The two new zones affected are Biena and Manguredjipa in Congo’s North Kivu province, where the case fatality rate is much higher than the overall rate of 48%, due in part to delayed response efforts, according to Congo’s Ministry of Health data.

It said the outbreak has recorded 5,794 confirmed cases, including 2,786 deaths, as it is spreading at an unprecedented speed, faster than efforts to track and slow it.

The outbreak is spreading under extremely difficult conditions, fueled by insecurity, displacement, a health workers’ strike and intense population movements. The World Health Organization has said that it remains out of control and is on track to surpass the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak, the deadliest on record, which killed more than 11,000 people, primarily in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

On Thursday, Congo began vaccinating health workers and other front-line workers with the Ervebo vaccine that was effective in past Ebola outbreaks caused by a different, more common type called Zaire.

Clinical trials are underway to find a licensed vaccine for the rare Bundibugyo virus that is causing the current outbreak and which has no approved vaccines or treatments.

Although the current outbreak was declared in mid-May, officials believe it had been spreading since February. It has spread from three health zones to nearly 60, with most cases and deaths occurring outside the network of monitored contacts and within communities.

Efforts to bring the outbreak under control — from limited public gatherings to social distancing and airport closures — have disrupted life in the six affected provinces, particularly Ituri, which has been ravaged by rebel violence.

The government has introduced measures, including installing health and sanitary equipment at some locations, but advocacy groups say more needs to be done to build trust within the community.

The majority of cases are concentrated in the northeastern Ituri province, which accounts for more than 83% of cases, according to the latest government figures.

While neighboring Uganda declared itself free of Ebola last month, the risk of further cross-border spread remains, WHO said Wednesday.

WHO expert Marie Roseline Belizaire said that the Central African Republic is now considered the country at highest risk of spillover, followed closely by South Sudan, as the outbreak in eastern Congo has expanded toward border areas.

“It's a complete retranslation. It's not a revision of the old version,” Wilson told The Associated Press during a recent Zoom interview from her home in Philadelphia, where she is a professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania. “I'm about halfway through.”

Regarded as the first major English-language translation of Homer’s epic by a woman, her book was already a bestseller and a culture-wars flashpoint before the release of Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster adaptation. But she says her translation methods have become more sophisticated and that enough time has passed for her to see some flaws in her work — as an example, she overused the word “slave” when ancient Greek had different terms for different categories of enslaved people. The new edition will be longer, she says, and will better reflect the differing social worlds of Homer’s poem.

Fiction writers and poets, from Henry James to Walt Whitman, have revised and reissued early works. But translators rarely start over on a full-length text — especially not within a decade of the original work's completion, and not when the translation has had the success of Wilson's “Odyssey.”

“I can’t really come up with a previous example of this situation,” says Kate Deimling, who oversees the literary division of the American Translators Association. “It’s not unheard of for translators to go back and make some corrections or edits in subsequent editions, but that’s not the same as a retranslation.”

Asked how her publisher responded, Wilson says her decision was “very controversial.” She says she’s “very much aware” that having two recent editions by the same translator would be a challenge for teachers, and hopes they won’t “curse” her name. Her editor at Liveright Publishing, Peter Simon, said in a statement that since she “has poured so much of her life and scholarship into ‘The Odyssey’ ... her new approach is bound to be thrilling.”

Fame was of prime importance to the ancient Greeks, and Wilson is the rare classical scholar who has firsthand knowledge of a public life. Wilson's 2017 translation was praised by many critics for making “The Odyssey” feel more modern and accessible, but also faced criticism online for making the story “woke.” Her “Odyssey” has now sold more than a million copies, and Wilson has again become a reason to argue.

Nolan had cited her translation and its opening sentence, “Tell me about a complicated man,” as inspiration for his epic film. Wilson, who says she will “probably” leave the line unchanged in the next edition, did not return his admiration. In interviews with the AP and other media outlets, and in an assessment for the London Review of Books, she called the movie grandiose and superficial, and at times incoherent.

Her reaction to the film has been extensively — even obsessively — defended and denounced, including by Joyce Carol Oates, who faulted her “haughty superiority.” Nolan has yet to respond directly, although, while being interviewed by podcaster Zhong Shu, he did speak out against “amateur criticism” for lacking the cinematic background essential for understanding the language of movies.

Wilson's current prominence aligns with the release of her new collection of essays, conceived well before Nolan's movie came out: “Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea,” a book that arrives Tuesday with blurbs from Salman Rushdie and “Song of Achilles” novelist Madeline Miller. It features a long section on translating “The Odyssey,” with tough assessments of modern editions by Daniel Mendelsohn and the late Robert Fagles. Other chapters take on the “slut-shaming” of Helen of Troy, offer tribute to the Roman poet Catullus and point to how some of the most famous words ever spoken by Robert F. Kennedy — his quoting Aeschylus in the aftermath of the Rev. Martin Luther King's assassination — echoed author Edith Hamilton's mistranslation.

During her interview, Wilson also discussed her feelings about celebrity, her disdain for Rick Riordan's “Percy Jackson” books (Riordan, through a spokesperson at Penguin Random House, declined to comment) and her renewed appreciation for Stoic philosophy.

This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.

AP: In your essay on translating “The Odyssey” you write that Robert Fagles' translation is “very loud, lively and chatty, so it’s not surprising that it has remained a bestseller in the U.S.” As you are also a bestseller, what qualities do you think you were able to bring to your book?

WILSON: I was going for the ancient idea of “enargeia,” vividness, that sort of emotional impact, emotional directness, the narrative pacing, the sense you can fully understand how does this character feel every time she or he is speaking.

AP: One theme of your essays is how wrong we can be about the Greeks, like Robert Kennedy misquoting Aeschylus because he had been reading Edith Hamilton’s popular writings, which themselves have many inaccuracies.

WILSON: Part of the theme of the book is not just that we make mistakes — maybe we can fix them — but that the particular kinds of mistakes those scholars and translators and popularizers or teachers like Hamilton make are very much determined by their own time. Obviously, I make mistakes, too. I’m obviously going to come to Homer and to the whole of antiquity with particular preoccupations which are going to be different from the preoccupations of a Homerist or a translator some 50 or 100 years ago.

AP: In a lot of these essays, you're very conscious of bringing the ancient world into the present. In your essay on Stoicism (“Chill Out with the Stoics”), you start out by writing, “Stoicism is having a moment.” Are you more of a Stoic now than you were a month ago?

WILSON: I'm quite suspicious that through philosophy you can have security. The last few weeks have been a clear illustration of how I’m not in control of the reception of my work. I can write an essay; people will do whatever they want. They will have their own opinions of me. I have zero control. I actually think in some ways there’s a useful reminder about the powerlessness that comes with the awareness that “I’m going to be misunderstood. I’m going to be misread. People are going to hate me.” I’ve got to accept that.

AP: What is it about ancient Greece that made you study it, as opposed to Elizabethan England or 18th century France?

WILSON: I see it as a kind of intellectual greed. Through studying ancient Greece and Rome, I’m also interested in studying how did these cultures get reinvented, reimagined in each of these later periods.

AP: In your book, you criticize Rick Riordan's “Percy Jackson” books. You find an ideology that puts you off.

WILSON: Many of my students love them so much. I think if I had read them as a child, I might have been a fan. They're not designed for an adult literary reader. I think especially in the first Percy Jackson book, “The Lightning Thief,” there’s very much an ideology of: “Here’s this white boy in America who’s going to gather the whole of Western civilization, and there’ll be a hero’s journey, which will really be the heroism of American exceptionalism.” And I just think that is ideologically and historically quite questionable.

AP: In your chapter on comedy in ancient Greece, you begin with a reference to Cardi B's (and Megan Thee Stallion's) “WAP.” Does this happen to you a lot, where things pop up in the culture and it just resonates and you’re thinking, “Oh, that reminds me of something from classical times”?

WILSON: It happens to me all the time. Yes. This is not necessarily an explicit trope in the book, but I very much want to be constantly doing that, suggesting that we can find echoes of antiquity in places we might not expect. I use the discussion of “WAP” and of hip-hop as a way of talking about ancient comic poetry. My main point is not just that there's lots of obscenity in both, but also lots of poetics in both. And if we somehow turn around our expectations about antiquity, we can turn around our expectations about modernity.

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Hundreds of people remain missing as the death toll climbed above 540 and Nepali and Chinese authorities warned of further risk of flooding from a new lake that has formed upstream following Wednesday’s disaster. Those still in the potentially affected areas at risk were warned to move to safer ground.

More than 3,700 people have been rescued in Nepal so far, but 977 people remain unaccounted for in the country. China’s state media previously said 558 people were missing on the Chinese side.

Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said the latest death toll had risen to 538. Nepali police later put the number of deaths higher at 547.

China state broadcaster CCTV said five people had died in flooding along Tibet’s border with Nepal and 558 remained missing. Tibet is a region in China.

Here is the latest:

Nepal does not need foreign search and rescue teams ‘for now’

Nepal said it does not require foreign search and rescue teams at this time.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lok Bahadur Poudel Chhetri said domestic personnel are managing the immediate crisis but remain open to targeted international technical support.

“Our security agencies are handling the rescue operations well, so for now, we do not need any rescue teams from other countries,” he said. “But it doesn’t mean that we don’t need any kind of support. We might need expertise and based on the specific requirements, we will take it.”

China says water level of barrier lake drops

The water level of a barrier lake that was formed in the wake of the floods has fallen, the state broadcaster China Central Television reported, citing data by China’s Ministry of Water Resources.

The water level has dropped 10 meters (32 feet) from the high point on Thursday morning, the state broadcaster said.

India says 320 citizens remain missing

Randhir Jaiswal, Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman, told reporters that 320 Indian nationals remain uncontactable.

He said 96 Indians who were stranded on the Chinese side have crossed over to Nepal by land and efforts were being made to evacuate them.

India also will send another flight with relief supplies along with a tunnel rescue team, Jaiswal said.

One portable, prefabricated bridge has been sent to Nepal to help restore connectivity in the flood-affected areas, he said.

Japan's foreign minister says relief team starting operations

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Friday that two members of an emergency relief team were set to start their operations at the disaster site in Nepal.

Japan also has decided to provide emergency relief goods at the request of Nepal and will provide additional support as needed, Motegi said.

Nepal death toll rises to 538

Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority says the death toll in flash floods has risen to 538.

Nepali police later put the number of deaths higher at 547.

The authority said in an update Friday that the number of missing people remained at 977 while 3,742 people have been rescued.

The authority said 14,829 security personnel have been mobilized for search and rescue operations.

Pakistan sending emergency relief assistance

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif says his country is dispatching emergency relief assistance to support ongoing relief efforts following catastrophic flash floods.

Sharif gave the assurances while speaking to Nepalese Prime Minister Balen Shah on Friday.

Sharif’s office in Islamabad said he conveyed to Shah his “heartfelt condolences over the tragic loss of precious lives and widespread devastation caused by the recent flash floods and landslides.”

Sharif told Shah that Pakistan stood in complete solidarity with the government and people of Nepal during this difficult time.

“I assured Prime Minister Shah of our full support and conveyed that Pakistan is dispatching emergency relief assistance to contribute to the ongoing relief efforts,” Sharif said in the statement from his office.

Red Cross says at least 93,000 people ‘in great need’

The International Red Cross said it estimates at least 93,000 people “have been affected and are in great need.”

David Fisher, head of delegation in Nepal for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, told reporters in Geneva that some areas are still accessible only by helicopter and it hasn’t yet been possible to complete initial assessments.

UNICEF said at least 17,000 children are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance while 18 schools have been completely destroyed and another 20 damaged.

The World Health Organization said six health facilities have been damaged and eight health workers are missing.

Nepal's PM and cabinet to donate salaries to relief fund

Nepal Prime Minister Balen Shah and members of his cabinet will donate one month’s salary and remuneration to the Natural Disaster Relief Fund for flood victims, the government said Friday.

The decision was made during a cabinet meeting a day after Shah’s inspection of areas in Nuwakot hit by the flood.

Government spokesperson Sasmit Pokharel said the Finance Ministry also has been directed to prepare a relief and rehabilitation package for those affected.

The government is in contact with China through the Foreign Ministry over potential risks in the region, Pokharel said.

Rescuers arrive in hardest-hit zone on Chinese side of border

China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported Friday afternoon that 680 rescuers arrived at the hardest-hit zone in China’s Gyirong border area.

Video showed the rescuers arriving in an inflatable raft in rapids and flown in by a drone.

Footage shows that the road leading to the border was destroyed and flooded areas have become a river.

China says 5 people died in flooding

China state broadcaster CCTV says five people died in flooding along Tibet’s border with Nepal and 558 remain missing.

Tibet is a region in China.

China says glacier collapse in Nepal may have trigged disaster

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said analysis showed the disaster may have been triggered by a high-altitude glacier collapse in Nepal.

Lin Jian told reporters Thursday that the assessments were made by experts and official institutions from China and Nepal.

Nepal police say water dam on the Tibet side has burst again

All security personnel, rescue workers and members of the public deployed in rescue and relief efforts were told to remain on high alert and immediately move to a safe location if necessary.

No further details were provided.

“It hasn’t stopped,” Nepal police spokesperson Abi Narayan Kafle told The Associated Press, noting that the rescue operation is continuing but with a high alert.

Floods highlight growing glacier risks in warming Himalayas

The flooding was likely caused by a huge chunk of a glacier that broke off and temporarily dammed a river, according to preliminary investigations by scientists. That may have led to the backed-up water surging downstream with enormous force a few hours later, they suggested.

Scientists are still piecing together information from satellite and ground-level data to figure out exactly what happened to cause the flood.

The U.S. Geological Survey on Wednesday reported a magnitude 5.2 glacier collapse that sent debris flowing downstream with catastrophic impact on communities. It said its determination was based on data from nearby seismic stations, long period seismic waves and satellite imagery.

Scientists said it is too early to draw a direct connection between global warming and Wednesday’s catastrophe.

However, they said that as Earth’s temperature rises because of human activities such as burning oil, gas and coal, the chances of such disasters increase, especially in the Himalayan mountains, which are warming considerably faster than many other parts of the world.

But behind the scenes, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration alleged in court filings, Rubinger secretly doled out illegal prescriptions for hundreds of thousands of highly addictive painkillers to clients in more than 20 states. Authorities allege she issued controlled substances without a legitimate medical purpose and instructed clients on how to avoid scrutiny from federal investigators.

The DEA last month revoked the nurse practitioner’s authority to prescribe controlled substances, citing what an administrative law judge found to be egregious conduct. Rubinger also agreed in March to pay $1.4 million to settle a Justice Department civil complaint in which she didn't admit any wrongdoing.

Rubinger has not been criminally charged. Her spokesperson, Erick Mullen, stressed that the Justice Department pursued a civil case and suggested she had been threatened and pressured by dangerous clients.

“Joan’s case was not a criminal matter but a civil action,” Mullen wrote in an email. “No raids with blue windbreakers carrying agency initials, and no loss of liberty at stake.”

Federal prosecutors declined to explain why they did not bring criminal charges despite alleging in court filings that Rubinger violated federal drug laws and regulations 900 times.

Court papers unsealed at the request of The Associated Press reveal new details about Rubinger’s prescribing and the prominent athletes who helped build her public profile. Here are the takeaways from those records and interviews:

Sports stars helped build Rubinger’s reputation

Rubinger, 49, was an accomplished athlete from an early age, competing internationally in gymnastics as a child. She later rowed and pole-vaulted at Syracuse University.

The nurse practitioner's life took a near tragic turn in 2015, when she fell 20 feet from a cliff while mountain biking, suffering spinal cord injuries that left her in a wheelchair.

She returned to work within three months. NBA players like Dwyane Wade wore orange wristbands in her honor, and athletes celebrated her as an inspirational figure and an important aid in their own recovery from injury.

Rubinger filled her website and social media accounts with testimonials from dozens of professional athletes.

The DEA says Rubinger created rules to avoid detection

The DEA alleges Rubinger’s illegal prescribing operation expanded over the years from professional athletes to clients who included members of an Ohio street gang, a confessed New Jersey drug trafficker and a New York City model.

New clients were required to follow instructions contained in a document Rubinger called “THE RULES,” court records show. The guidelines were intended “to minimize the attention we attract from the DEA,” she told one prospective client, according to a DEA seizure affidavit.

Investigators said Rubinger collected hundreds of thousands of dollars through a digital payment app, distributed a price list for painkillers and required clients to pay before receiving prescriptions.

Getting medication was “like at McDonald’s,” she told clients. “You gotta pay for your burger before they hand it to you.”

Authorities also allege Rubinger coached clients over an encrypted messaging app on how to prevent pharmacies from flagging their prescriptions. The DEA affidavit described the operation as “covert and slinking.”

An NFL player’s wife sounded the alarm

The DEA began investigating Rubinger in 2022 after Kelly Davis, then the wife of former Carolina Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis, visited a North Carolina emergency room with chest pains.

A doctor told Kelly Davis that she had been flagged for receiving excessive pain medication. She later learned Rubinger had written 23 oxycodone prescriptions using her name, even though the medication was intended for her husband, according to the DEA and Kelly Davis.

Authorities allege Thomas Davis received more than 13,000 oxycodone and Percocet pills from Rubinger between November 2019 and March 2024.

Kelly Davis confronted Rubinger over Instagram. “This is insane,” she wrote Rubinger in a direct message, according to DEA records. “You clearly know he has a problem. Why would you do this?”

Kelly Davis reported Rubinger to the DEA, the NFL Players Association and the California Board of Registered Nursing. She said her husband’s opioid use contributed to the collapse of their marriage.

Thomas Davis did not respond to requests for comment. In a May podcast interview, however, he blamed opioid abuse for damaging his family life.

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See AP’s full sports coverage here

Crown Prince Haakon, 53, became King Haakon VIII when his father, Harald V, died Friday at 89. Haakon adopted the motto, “All for Norway,” that dates back to his great-grandfather. His wife became Queen Mette-Marit, while his oldest child became Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra and the heir to the throne.

Haakon knows the ropes. As his father aged and his health began to fail in recent years, the prince stepped in as the country’s regent on several occasions.

Norway’s monarchy has old roots, tracing its origins to King Harald Fairhair in the ninth century. When Norway regained its independence from Sweden in 1905, three-quarters of voters in a national plebiscite approved restoring the monarchy. Today, the role is largely symbolic as the power lies with an elected parliament, but the country's royal family retains celebrity and a role in promoting the wealthy nation around the world.

Haakon is the younger child of Harald, born two years after his sister, Princess Märtha Louise. As the oldest male, however, he became heir to the throne when his grandfather, King Olav, died in 1991. The Norwegian Constitution was altered in 1990 to allow future firstborns — regardless of gender — to take precedence in the line of succession. However, it was not applied retroactively.

Haakon said in a 1998 book that as a child he dreamed of owning a toy shop, but he soon realized that his path was already paved and one day he would become king.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California at Berkeley and a master’s degree in development studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science, with a specialization in international trade and Africa. In 1995, he graduated from the Royal Norwegian Naval Academy, and he also completed the Foreign Ministry’s trainee program for diplomats.

An avid surfer, skier and sportsman, he told Norwegian broadcaster NRK that if he hadn’t been a royal, he would have been a surfer. A music lover — he likes rock and rap — he attended festivals across Europe as a youth.

Haakon sought the king's permission to marry

Haakon knew his relationship would face an uphill battle for acceptance when he met Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby at a popular music festival in Norway in 1999. She was a single mother whose son’s father had been sentenced to prison for cocaine possession, and she had been seen at parties where illegal drugs were used.

The country was divided. Some cheered for love, others were skeptical. The Norwegian newspaper VG wrote in 2000 that Haakon “lives closer to the people than any other heir to the throne before him.”

In a May 2000 interview with NRK, Haakon said that in the early 1990s, “a youth culture emerged in Oslo” and he acknowledged that Mette-Marit was “an active part of this environment at the time.”

“It is clear that there is relatively extravagant partying there,” Haakon said.

Nevertheless, he won permission from his father, who had also married a commoner, to wed Mette-Marit. And despite her background, the Norwegian people found much to like about this statuesque blond woman with striking eyes and a ready smile, a down-to-earth manner and an undisguised love for Haakon.

They wed in August 2001 at the Oslo Cathedral. The couple's popularity soared thanks to a carefully cultivated blend of the common touch and the glamour and grace demanded of royalty. They were constantly on the covers of gossip magazines, yet tried to live relatively normal and private family lives.

They have two children, Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus. Haakon also became the stepfather of Mette-Marit’s son, Marius Borg Høiby, who has no royal title.

Royal family's reputation took a hit from Høiby's trial

In June, Høiby was sentenced to four years in prison after being convicted of rape. He was found guilty of two of the four rape charges he was facing and acquitted of the other two. He was also convicted of assault and abuse in a close relationship. Høiby’s lawyers said he will appeal the convictions.

The trial unfolded amid renewed scrutiny of the royal family following disclosures about Mette-Marit’s past contacts with Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased sex offender. She has publicly apologized for the association and said she exercised poor judgment in maintaining contact with him. She isn’t accused of any wrongdoing.

In a television interview in March, she said she was manipulated and deceived by Epstein and felt unsafe during a 2013 encounter with him at his Palm Beach, Florida, mansion.

In 2018, the royal palace announced that Mette-Marit had been diagnosed with a rare form of chronic pulmonary fibrosis, meaning she sometimes must take a break from her official duties. The incurable condition made breathing increasingly difficult, and she had a dry cough and fatigue, weight loss and loss of appetite. She received a lung transplant in June.

In connection with the couple's 50th birthdays in 2023, NRK interviewed Haakon and aired an old video of him playing guitar, with Ingrid Alexandra and Mette-Marit singing, and another one where he and his children mimic the moves of a Norwegian rapper. He watched the clips and burst into laughter, saying that they showed that “I am all in.”

One task for the new king will be to shore up popular support for the royal family. While a majority of people still support it, the proportion has declined in recent years and took a battering this year as Høiby's trial played out. Critics of Haakon's sister, Märtha Louise, who has written books in which she claimed to have contact with angels, also blame her for the family's reputational troubles.

Märtha Louise, who was previously married for 14 years, in 2024 wed Durek Verrett, an American who describes himself as a shaman and a healer on his website. In 2022, she announced that she would no longer officially represent the Norwegian royal house, following “many questions relating to me and my fiancé’s role.”

A poll published by Norway’s Dagbladet newspaper in late 2022 showed 68% of respondents saying they wanted to keep the monarchy. When NRK asked the same question in 2017, support for the royal house stood at 81%.

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Dazio reported from Berlin. Olsen, a former AP journalist, contributed reporting previously for this story.

The palace said he died at the National Hospital in Oslo at 6:35 a.m.

Harald was Europe’s oldest monarch. The popular king modernized the royal house but refused to follow in the footsteps of other aging monarchs who have abdicated in recent times. His son automatically became King Haakon VIII.

Like other royal houses in Europe, the Norwegian monarchs serve a largely symbolic role, enjoying celebrity status while real power in the democracy of 5.5 million rests with an elected parliament. Harald was crowned after his British-born father, King Olav V, died in January 1991, and reigned during an oil-and-gas-driven economic boom in his country.

“A whole nation is in mourning and the people of Norway are left with a deep sense of gratitude for a long life in the service of Norway,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said in a statement. “For more than three decades as monarch, Harald V demonstrated an unwavering faith in the Norwegian people. He helped us to see the best in ourselves — and in one another.”

Funeral arrangements were not immediately released.

Royal family fled Norway during World War II

Harald was born in 1937 in Asker, near Oslo, becoming the first Norwegian prince to be born in the country since King Olav IV in 1370. In the following centuries, Norway didn't have a king of its own until Harald's grandfather, Haakon VII, was elected king following the 1905 dissolution of the union between Sweden and Norway.

Harald was 3 years old when the Nazis occupied Norway at the start of World War II. To avoid capture, his mother fled with him and his sisters, Ragnhild and Astrid, first to Sweden and then by boat to the U.S., while Harald’s father and grandfather went into exile in Britain with Norway’s government.

Haakon’s refusal to go along with German demands garnered respect among his people.

During their time in the U.S., the Norwegian royals were often guests at the White House. Harald was 6 when he carried out his first official duty, christening new warplanes at a Norwegian air base in Canada.

The family was reunited in Norway in June 1945, shortly after the end of the war in Europe. Harald attended public schools, the Norwegian military college and Oxford University.

Like his father — an Olympic champion sailor in 1928 — Harald loved the sea and sailboats. He represented Norway at several Olympics, and in 1987 he skippered his yacht to gold in the World Championships.

Harald married his longtime sweetheart

As a young man, Harald was urged to find a bride among Europe's noblewomen and princesses. For nine years he shunned a series of prospects, holding out until he finally won his father’s permission to marry his longtime sweetheart, Sonja Haraldsen, the daughter of a successful businessman.

King Olav had feared the marriage would weaken Norway’s still-young monarchy. Instead, Norwegians greeted the Aug. 29, 1968, wedding with jubilation, and later embraced Sonja as their queen. The couple had two children, Haakon and his older sister, Märtha Louise.

The Norwegian Constitution was altered in 1990 to allow the first born, regardless of gender, to take precedence in the line of succession. However, it was not applied retroactively, meaning that Haakon continued to take precedence over his sister.

When Harald assumed the throne on Jan. 21, 1991, he adopted the same motto his father and grandfather had used: “All for Norway.” He spent the next years trying to modernize the monarchy.

“It has been my experience that the monarchy stands strong,” he once said. “This is not least because my father and grandfather did most things right. That puts me under pressure, but I take it as a challenge.”

Harald won the praise of the country with an emotional speech at a memorial service after a right-wing extremist, Anders Behring Breivik, killed 77 people in bomb and gun attacks in Norway in 2011.

“I remain convinced that the belief in freedom is stronger than fear. I remain convinced in the belief of an open Norwegian democracy and society. I remain convinced in the belief in our ability to live freely and safely in our own country," the king said.

In 2016, Harald gave an unexpected and impassioned speech in support of LGBTQ+ equality, refugees and religious tolerance, saying “Norwegians are girls who love girls, boys who love boys, and girls and boys who love each other.” He added that many Norwegians have emigrated from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Poland and other countries and that they “believe in God, Allah, the universe and nothing.”

The public speech extolled the diversity of the Scandinavian nation and was viewed on social media by millions.

Recent scandals have put royal family under scrutiny

Scandal and serious allegations have hung over the Norwegian royal family this year. Harald’s daughter-in-law, now-Queen Mette-Marit, faced renewed scrutiny over her connections with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. That raised questions over her judgment, though she is not accused of any wrongdoing. Mette-Marit apologized for the situation she put the royal family in, part of a broader apology for all those she had “disappointed.”

At around the same time, her eldest son, Marius Borg Høiby, was convicted of rape in a high-profile trial and sentenced to four years in prison. Høiby, Mette-Marit's son from a previous relationship before she met Haakon, has no royal titles or official duties.

In 2022, Harald’s daughter Princess Märtha Louise gave up royal duties after raising eyebrows by saying she could communicate with angels and becoming engaged to an American man who identifies as a shaman. They married two years later.

In January 2024, after the abdication of Denmark’s Queen Margrethe — his second cousin — Harald said that he stood by the oath he made when ascending the throne: “It lasts for life.”

However, he was hospitalized twice on foreign trips after that, including during a 2024 vacation in Malaysia when he was fitted with a pacemaker and during a February 2026 holiday on the Spanish island of Tenerife when he had a skin infection.

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Jan M. Olsen, a former AP journalist, contributed reporting previously for this story from Copenhagen, Denmark. Stefanie Dazio in Berlin contributed to this report.

Lee Cheuk-yan, Chow Hang-tung and Albert Ho, former leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, were charged in 2021 under the law that has effectively stifled the city’s previously thriving pro-democracy movement.

Lee and Chow, who pleaded not guilty, were convicted Aug. 21. Ho earlier entered a guilty plea, which often can result in a reduced sentence.

They face a maximum prison term of 10 years and are expected to be sentenced at a later date. Alex Lee, one of the judges, said they would be sentenced within two weeks.

The disbanded alliance also was found guilty on the same charge. It was best known for organizing the only large-scale public commemoration in China that drew tens of thousands of people annually for three decades to remember the 1989 crackdown’s victims.

The verdict has drawn concerns from foreign governments. Critics say the case illustrates a decline in freedoms Beijing promised to maintain when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997. But the Hong Kong government insisted the court only considered the laws and evidence and that many rights and freedoms are not absolute.

Chow argues they did not deserve prison term

Three government-approved judges ruled the trio of former vigil organizers had intentionally encouraged supporters of the alliance to wait for the right time to carry out “end one-party dictatorship,” one of the group’s core demands, through unlawful means.

The judges said the call carried the notion of overthrowing or undermining the ruling Communist Party’s leadership status, adding that the defendants have long held enmity against the party and they did not genuinely believe their words and deeds would not violate the security law.

Erik Shum, a lawyer representing Lee and Ho, told the judges that China’s fundamental system did not change because of the alliance members' promotional work and the Communist Party was still stable and carrying out its duties, while the defendants’ advocacy work did not involve violence.

Chow, a barrister who represented herself, insisted she did not do anything wrong and did not deserve even one day in prison. She argued the verdict was saying that pursuing democracy is a crime.

“If the law truly has no room for our beliefs, then I would rather be a criminal than be a fake person,” she said.

In a post Friday on social media site Patreon, Chow said regardless of whether she is in or outside prison, she would persistently strive to vindicate the 1989 pro-democracy movement, end one-party dictatorship and build a democratic Hong Kong and China, among other goals.

The security law calls for sentences of between five and 10 years for convictions of inciting subversion, if the offense is deemed serious. If the circumstances are considered minor, sentences should not be more than five years, short-term detention or other restrictions.

Many leading activists have been jailed under the security law, including former media tycoon Jimmy Lai. But China said the security law was necessary for Hong Kong’s stability.

Hong Kong played key role in Tiananmen remembrance

Hundreds and possibly thousands of people were killed as military tanks rolled into the center of Beijing and troops opened fire to end the student-led pro-democracy protests in the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown.

The bloody event soon became a political taboo in mainland China. But vigils in Hong Kong helped keep the memories alive under the greater freedom granted by Beijing's “one country, two systems” governing principle for the city.

The vigil organized by the alliance was banned in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic. After COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, the former vigil site was occupied by a carnival each year.

The court hearing the former vigil organizers’ case also is expected to decide the future of the Pillar of Shame, a memorial sculpture commemorating the Tiananmen crackdown that was removed from a university campus in late 2021, and whether it could be returned to its owner.

They finished off the preseason with a 20-18 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers on Thursday night. Two weeks from now, they'll hop on a 16-hour flight to open the season against the San Francisco 49ers in Australia.

“And now here we go,” Rams coach Sean McVay said. "We know what a great challenge it’s going to be."

Ty Simpson threw a go-ahead touchdown in the second quarter and Harrison Mevis kicked two 27-yard field goals for the Rams, who won all three of their preseason games. Simpson finished 18 of 23 for 119 yards.

“I thought he had good command,” McVay said. “He’s got a great game-day demeanor.”

The Rams didn’t play any starters in keeping with McVay’s approach to games that don't count in the standings. Even backup quarterback Stetson Bennett was held out.

The Rams added a familiar face earlier Thursday, bringing back wide receiver Tutu Atwell while sending running back Jarquez Hunter to the Miami Dolphins. Atwell was drafted by the Rams in 2021. He signed as a free agent with Miami in March but didn't play a regular-season game there.

“He adds depth. It gives us an opportunity to be able to have that speed element, and he can do some different things,” McVay said, denying the move had anything to do with a potential league suspension of star wide receiver Puka Nacua.

The Chargers went 1-2 in the preseason, coming off a 41-17 loss to the 49ers last week.

“I liked the response of the entire team from week two to week three of the preseason,” coach Jim Harbaugh said. “Many of the things we were working on I saw some real strides. Offensive line would be a big one. Really like the way it’s coming together.”

Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert played just two series. His fumble led to Mevis' first 27-yard field goal early in the first quarter.

Herbert bounced right back, throwing a 65-yard TD pass to Quentin Johnston — the second-longest catch of the receiver's career — on the second play of a drive that lasted 14 seconds and gave the Chargers a 7-3 lead.

“It was double-wow — the route, the throw, the protection,” Harbaugh said.

New defensive coordinator Chris O'Leary chest-bumped safety Tony Jefferson after the Chargers forced the Rams to turn the ball over on downs inside the 1-yard line on a drive that lasted 9:41.

Trey Lance took over for Herbert in the second quarter, with his first series ending on a shanked 20-yard punt by JK Scott. The Rams quickly took the lead for good on third-stringer Simpson's 11-yard TD pass to fourth-string receiver Brennan Presley for a 10-7 lead.

Cameron Dicker missed a 49-yard field goal just before halftime, leaving the Chargers trailing 13-7. Known as the most accurate kicker in NFL history, he also whiffed on two extra-point attempts in three preseason games.

Dicker cut the deficit to 13-10 in the third, hitting a 34-yard field goal.

The Rams extended the lead to 20-10 in the fourth on Matthew Caldwell's 8-yard TD pass to Dean Connors.

The Chargers closed to 20-18 on Gregory Desrosiers' 34-yard TD run and third-string quarterback DJ Uiagalelei's 2-point conversion pass to Evan Svoboda.

Injury report

Rams: QB Caldwell (knee) went out after being hurt on a keeper late in the fourth quarter.

Chargers: WR Dalevon Campbell appeared to hurt his foot in the third quarter.

Up next

Rams: Open Sept. 10 against the San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne, Australia.

Chargers: Open Sept. 13 against the Arizona Cardinals at SoFi Stadium.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

As the DJ prepared his set and attendants arranged bottles of expensive liquor on tables, Vincent Tabat joined those streaming into the venue, which is one of a handful along a street in Sokoto state.

It was an ironic scene given that the conservative Sokoto is known as the “seat of the caliphate” for its storied place in the birth and propagation of Islam in West and Central Africa. Despite its reputation, there is a thriving nightlife alongside strict religious codes, a morality police, and security challenges fueled by attacks by jihadi groups.

“This is nearly 2 a.m., and as you can see, everyone is outside to have fun,” Tabat told The Associated Press. Tabat was fired up by the booming music all night, dancing with female companions as he portioned out drinks into emptying cups on the table.

Partygoers shun regulated daily life

At the center of northern Nigeria's strict religious code is the local Islamic police, known as the Hisbah force, whose personnel are tasked with upholding public morals across some of the region's 19 states.

They often patrol cities and raid key spots to enforce Shariah and local laws, such as dress codes, haircuts and alcohol bans, with seized bottles often destroyed. Partygoers, however, say they are not deterred.

For frequent reveler Benjamin Danjuma, weekend outings are nearly sacrosanct. The few clubs and bars in Sokoto city are his haunts, and the scene for him is no different from those in the more liberal southern Nigeria.

“We are living our life more than anybody’s expectation in this state,” he said. “There is so much groove going on. We are not left behind.”

Gone are the days when nightlife and partying were considered taboo in conservative Nigerian society, as people have been partying for a long time, said Oluwamayowa Idowu, founder of Culture Custodian, a leading culture publication based in Lagos.

Amid the security crisis and its fallout of economic hardship in the region, nightlife offers people an escape from the tough realities, said Idowu. “The north has been ravaged by insecurity, but people still live there, and people still participate in life there daily,” he said.

Social division runs along religious lines

Both Tabat and Danjuma said they are not bound by Hisbah's rules as non-Muslims, but they acknowledged that there have been run-ins with the group.

This represents the dynamics of Nigeria’s religious composition in one of the few places in the world where the population is almost evenly split between Christians, who live predominantly in the south, and Muslims, mostly in the north.

For decades, non-Muslims have been caught up in Hisbah's enforcement, which the force says is to promote morality.

Following the return of Nigeria to democracy in 1999, several states in the northern region advocated for Shariah, revealing the fault lines of Nigeria’s federalism and status as a secular state. The matter was not resolved at the Supreme Court, leaving it as an open-ended legal question to date, and subsequent governments have not sought legal means to resolve it.

Hisbah is often accused of extreme policies and abuses

In many northern states, the laws being applied in Islamic courts are enforced by Hisbah. The group was disbanded in Sokoto in 2017, in part due to public complaints about alleged high-handed practices, before being reestablished in 2024.

The morality police, which are often accused of extreme policies, recently announced a statewide ban in Sokoto on the use of DJs at events, as well as inappropriate haircuts, extravagant bridal gifts and playing music on public transport.

Hisbah members also face widespread allegations of rights abuses in their enforcement operations, including subjecting offenders to dehumanizing punishments such as public beatings or shaming.

Fu’ad Lawal, executive director at Archivi.ng, a Lagos-based digital historical database, said the force altered the meaning of Nigeria's federalism and its secular nature.

“When it (Shariah) became a law, it basically extended (beyond) criminal law and, perhaps more consequential, led to the regulation of public life,” said Lawal.

The morality police say they only seek to ensure “peace and stability through moral justice” and are not “enforcing Sharia law per se.”

“Every citizen needs to fulfill his or her moral obligation,” Usman Abdullahi Jatau, commander of the Sokoto State Hisbah, told the AP.

Delicate balance sought between religion and nightlife

The nightclub where Tabat was partying has posted a list of banned items, including veils, and it turns away women wearing them.

Almost everywhere else in the city, women would need one — except at this venue, which tries to not upset the precarious balance of the religion-nightlife cohabitation.

The strict social codes can eventually wear on a society battling yearslong jihadi and rebel violence, analysts say.

Ibrahim Nuhu, a banker who was transferred from the more cosmopolitan Plateau state to Sokoto, has seen the city evolve in recent years from a drab scene to a lively experience on weekends. At first, he was worried about leaving his more cosmopolitan life behind, but admits he has grown enamored of the growing nightlife in Sokoto.

“People see Sokoto from outside; I see it from the inside,” he said.

Vaidyanathan, a yoga instructor, helped her grieving sister get face time with a high-profile guru who she hoped would help.

“But he told her this was the work of karma and she should use this opportunity to connect with her inner nature,” she said. “I understand how karma works, but saying that was cruel and extremely unhelpful to someone who was freshly grieving the loss of a child.”

That’s when they turned to artificial intelligence chatbots.

“It was a lot easier trying to get answers and peace of mind because ChatGPT is not judging you,” Vaidyanathan said. “We've found a compassionate guru now, but even he only has limited time. AI is accessible anytime.”

AI offers access and advice without judgment

This unfettered access — which can be challenging to find among human gurus — is what’s drawing more people to AI for spiritual guidance. This is a big step, particularly in Hinduism, where gurus are part of culture and deemed necessary to attain moksha — liberation from the cycle of birth, death and reincarnation. The word guru in Sanskrit means “dispeller of darkness.”

These chatbots are powered by large language models, AI systems that generate responses by using advanced statistics and troves of text, including sacred ones like Hinduism's Bhagavad Gita. Users can explore spiritual answers to personal problems and existential questions at anytime, without the typical hurdles of connecting with an in-demand guru and paying for their services.

AI's rising popularity has encouraged some successful gurus to launch their own chatbots.

In India, Jaggi Vasudev, also known as Sadhguru, has launched his Miracle of the Mind app with an interactive AI feature that answers questions using a database of his teachings. California-based self-help guru Deepak Chopra has an AI platform where “Digital Deepak” answers questions drawing from his decades of talks and writings.

Critics argue that AI cannot truly replace the lived experience, wisdom and ethical accountability of a human guru. Researchers also note that AI often validates and agrees with the user rather than posing those challenging questions needed for real spiritual and personal growth.

Lord Krishna’s AI avatar takes on guru’s role

Vikas Sahu, founder of GitaGPT — a platform he calls an “AI spiritual companion” — says he wouldn’t deter anyone from finding a human guru. But he says his free chatbot puts the Bhagavad Gita’s wisdom at the fingertips of those who might desperately need it.

On his platform, AI avatars of Lord Krishna, the sacred text's protagonist, offer advice. Sahu, based in Gurugram south of New Delhi, says he gets hundreds of messages about how it’s helpful. While he has a full-time job building websites, he says GitaGPT is his way of giving back.

“A lot of people don’t have anyone to talk to when they are in distress,” he said. “This app is giving them the encouragement a guru might give them. But a lot of gurus want your money and you can’t really talk to them openly like you can talk to a chatbot.”

Sahu said he trusts GitaGPT because it’s based on the word of God.

“How could Krishna steer anyone wrong?” he asks. “It’s impossible.”

Experts say a human soul is necessary for true connection

Liz Bucar, a religion professor at Northeastern University in Boston, is skeptical of chatbots based on religious texts.

“A sacred text needs a community and a context that interprets it,” she said. “Without the teaching of how to interpret the text, it’s just words on a page. Someone could feed in the text, but what answers will the bot spit out?”

But she does believe there is widespread distrust of institutional expertise that gurus and clergy represent, in some cases fueled by sex abuse scandals.

“Because religion has this PR problem, people tend to see chatbots as less biased and less likely to do bad things,” Bucar said. “I don’t know if we’re ready to replace gurus, but we are definitely in a shifting religious landscape, especially with” younger generations of AI users.

Noreen Herzfeld, a professor at St. John’s School of Theology and Seminary in Collegeville, Minnesota, said people could easily get straightforward answers from AI.

“But if they are looking for spiritual awakening, I think it takes physical presence,” she said. “In Christianity and in Hindu tradition, there is the belief that the eyes are windows to the soul and you can’t get that by looking at an avatar.”

AI chatbots can also be too eager to agree with you, serving as a cheerleader rather than a guide, Herzfeld said.

“In situations where you’re looking to grow or evolve, you need a teacher who can disagree with you and challenge you,” she said. “But even if you are just looking for affirmation, who are you being affirmed by? There’s no one on the other side.”

Vy Le, a mindfulness instructor in San Diego, sees AI as a “channeling” tool, using it as a mirror or collaborator to gain intuitive or mystical insights.

“If you are attuned to it, you can sense if a certain AI is connected to you,” she said. “My dad took his life 16 years ago. I felt his presence when I was engaging with AI.”

Le maintains that the era of gurus is over.

“AI is helping us find that inner guru,” she said.

Human gurus and organizations are getting in the game

Real-life gurus like the India-based Sadhguru, who has a global following of millions, have recognized AI's potential. David Nussbaum, founder of Proto Hologram in Los Angeles, is helping Sadhguru create a three-dimensional AI avatar that appears in a display box and can interact with devotees in several languages.

During a March festival, he created a Sadhguru hologram that took selfies with people.

“You basically have Sadhguru's hologram taking out his phone, turning around and taking a picture of you from his phone inside the display,” Nussbaum explained.

Shivaram K R, CEO of India-based Hue Learn, oversees a nonprofit initiative called Innerverse 360 that merges AI and spirituality. His platform features a portal where real monks and gurus can come online and do live sessions with devotees. It also has an “Ask AI” feature.

Shivaram doesn’t believe AI will replace gurus.

“The process of finding a guru in itself is a journey, but a guru is also not for everyone,” he said. “If you’re looking for practical advice on everyday spirituality, this app can also help you understand concepts such as the meaning of yoga.”

AI cannot replace ‘humans and souls’

One of the organizations Shivaram liaises with is the Los Angeles-based Self-Realization Fellowship, founded in 1920 by Paramahansa Yogananda, who brought ancient spiritual practices from India to the West.

Brother Govindananda, a monk with the order, said his organization sees AI simply as the next step to helping people access the late guru’s teachings through an online teaching portal — just as books did for previous generations.

“We’re taking our time with it because we want to make sure it has guardrails to safeguard from AI hallucinating answers instead of drawing from Yogananda’s teachings,” he said.

But Govindananda says a chatbot could never provide what a guru — whether living or not — can give to the disciple.

“We are humans and souls,” he said. “Technology cannot replace that.”

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

All those victories and trophies he piled up alone would have made Federer remembered forever in tennis, but they were only part of the reason he enjoyed playing. He liked traveling to tournaments, meeting people and making new friends, whether they were on the other side of the net or sitting in the stands.

Only after he finished competing did Federer realize how much that impacted his legacy in the sport.

“I think when you retire, I think I said it before, that there was a lot of talk also about maybe my personality and what I brought to the game overall when I wasn’t on court, which I was a little surprised,” Federer said. "I thought it was about, in the moment, forehands and backhands and saving break points and victories and all that stuff.

"But actually it becomes a little bit, not irrelevant eventually, but it’s about what were you remembered for, how did you behave in the locker rooms or in the corridors or maybe with the media, or with the tournament directors, the ball kids."

Federer will have a chance to reflect back on it all Saturday when he is enshrined in the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island.

The 45-year-old from Switzerland, who will be honored along with broadcaster and former player Mary Carillo, said it would be his first trip to Newport. That seemed surprising, given how many places he's gone for his tennis.

Sure, there was regular stops such as New York and London and Paris for Grand Slam tournaments, but there were also cities like Cape Town, South Africa, for an exhibition match against Rafael Nadal that drew nearly 52,000 fans; or Mexico City, for one against Alexander Zverev that drew more than 42,000.

Those were near the end of his career, when Federer was forced to limit his schedule for health reasons. He hated having to do so, because he liked going too many places, even ones that didn't host the biggest events.

“For me, if I look back, that’s kind of what I’m very happy about, that I went through 25 years on tour, and actually felt like I made a lot of friends and a lot of people miss me,” Federer said. "Same with fans. They come up to me and say, ‘What a shame you’re not playing anymore.’

“Then I get a flashback saying it was an amazing time, and I say it every time. I loved it, and it’s a shame I can’t be on the tour anymore. But it was a great, great time and I miss it dearly.”

The fans clearly miss Federer. When he returned to the U.S. Open this week for an exhibition, his first time playing in Flushing Meadows since 2019, the lines of fans waiting to get into Arthur Ashe Stadium resembled a night in the second week of the tournament, not well before it even began.

Federer won five straight U.S. Open titles from 2004-08, during a stretch when he compiled a 247-15 record from 2004-06 and reached a record 10 consecutive Grand Slam finals from 2005-07, winning eight. He went on to win 1,251 matches and 103 tournaments, including 20 Grand Slams.

“He’s the best I’ve ever played against,” Andre Agassi, Federer's opponent in the 2005 final, said in a video the U.S. Open showed before Federer took the court Tuesday.

The way he won, with far more flair than some stuffy champions of the past but without the temper tantrums of others, earned him accolades that his skills alone couldn't. He won the ATP Tour's sportsmanship award every year from 2004-09, and again from 2011-17, and the fan favorite award every year from 2003-21. Those came while earning prize money of nearly $130.6 million.

Federer hits sometimes with his children — he and wife Mirka are parents of two sets of twins — and tries to attend a few events a year to keep him connected to the sport.

“I’m in a very comfortable place today, but I’m still happy to be out there and being in the tennis world from time to time, because it is the glue to everything that surrounds me still today,” Federer said.

“I had the best time, had a lot of friends on tour, from players to people who were organizers, et cetera. So I hope that a lot of the players who retire also feel the same way about the game, because I care dearly.”

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See AP’s full tennis coverage here

The play “Odysseus, Maeotis” is ready to open in the Ukrainian capital as the ancient tale enjoys a global moment with Christopher Nolan’s IMAX spectacle and box-office hit “The Odyssey” starring Matt Damon.

In Kyiv, the story is performed by professional actors and active-duty soldiers, including Daniil Mireshkin, a serviceman who plays the warrior king Odysseus

“I think this combination of myth and modernity allows us to draw parallels and understand just how critical the question of return is: the return of military personnel to civilian life, the return of our territories and the return of ourselves to our true identity as Ukrainians,” Mireshkin said.

The actor spoke to The Associated after a final rehearsal Tuesday, ahead of a premiere that has been repeatedly delayed due to successive Russian attacks.

“This story helps us talk about these topics, which, as it turns out, haven’t lost any of their relevance,” Mireshkin said.

Drones and killing machines as modern monsters

The staging at the Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theater is designed to be austere and unsettling.

Against a darkened set laced with neon light bars, projections wash over the actors themselves. The monsters of the original — the Cyclops and the sirens — are replaced by drones that buzz across the stage and models of robotic war machines.

The play unfolds in parallel: Odysseus’ punishing journey and the long wait at home by his wife, Penelope.

Director Ivan Uryvskyi is candid about how the play recasts the ancient poem’s themes of return and those trapped in exile and captivity.

“Of course, very little of Homer’s original text remains here, because the play was written from scratch. We simply took the core narrative arc — Odysseus’ return home,” he said.

At the edge of the known world

An additional Greek reference is carried in the play’s title: “Maeotis” is an ancient name for the Sea of Azov, taken from the people who lived along its shores, a place once considered to be the edge of the known world.

The sea is home to Mariupol, the port city seized by Russia after a 2022 siege, and the play is based on accounts by its defenders from the Azov brigade, now part of the 1st Corps Azov — a part of the National Guard of Ukraine.

Mireshkin, the lead actor, and playwrite Oleksii Dorychevskyi are members of the 1st Corps Azov. Dorychevskyi drew on a year of interviews with former prisoners of war for the production. According to the Corps, an estimated 600 Azov brigade servicemen are among the thousands still in Russian captivity.

For Daryna Leheida, who plays Penelope, the ancient queen’s plight resonates with the stories of women in Ukraine who wait for loved ones to return.

“It’s about the fate of Ukrainian women who wait, believe and hope, but who can also feel powerless, hopeless and stripped of faith,” Leheida said.

“It’s about the temporarily occupied land waiting to come back home,” she said. “It’s about the children and people who are waiting, what we face during this waiting and the toll that war takes on us.”

The massive hospital, a New Orleans landmark that long cared for the city's most vulnerable residents, was shuttered after the last patients and staff were rescued in 2005. Now, as Louisiana marks the storm's 21st anniversary Saturday, the long-vacant storm-damaged building is on the brink of new life.

New Orleans landmark is to become a medical research hub

Tulane University announced this summer that it is spearheading a $500 million effort to convert Charity Hospital into a pioneering medical research facility, transforming the 1930s-era art deco building into a downtown hub of biomedical innovation. Construction is expected to start this fall.

Local leaders have embraced the project in a city where some hospitals have haunted New Orleans since Katrina. Dozens of patients died at the former Memorial hospital, now known as the Ochsner Baptist Medical Center, after floodwaters trapped them inside in sweltering conditions without power. Demolition crews this month began tearing down another complex, the Lindy Boggs Medical Center, which had sat blighted and vacant for more than 20 years after Katrina.

One of the deadliest and most destructive hurricanes in U.S. history, Katrina killed nearly 1,400 people across five states and racked up an estimated $200 billion in damage, flattening homes along the nearby Gulf Coast and swamping entire neighborhoods with ruinous floods.

Tulane leaders say reviving the iconic landmark marks a major stride in putting behind the hurricane's dark days.

Charity Hospital “reflected the sort of commitment of New Orleans to the healthcare of the community,” Tulane President Michael Fitts said. “Now it’s being brought back in a way that makes the same commitment to the community.”

Past moves to redevelop the art deco building fizzled

For generations, the Charity Hospital system served as New Orleans' safety net, treating all patients regardless of whether they had health insurance. The million-square-foot (93,000-square-meter) main building has remained empty since Katrina. In the intervening decades, various redevelopment gambits have fizzled.

The hospital was run by Louisiana State University, which determined that Katrina left the building too damaged to reopen — an assessment that was disputed by some hospital staff and community members. Instead, LSU used federal disaster relief funding to open a new hospital.

After Katrina made landfall in Louisiana, the failure of New Orleans’ federal levee system inundated about 80% of the city in floodwaters.

A doctor recalls canoeing through the flooded city to check on hospital patients

Dr. Lee Hamm, dean of the Tulane University School of Medicine, recalled canoeing through the submerged city to check on the welfare of patients and health care staff.

“Everyone was exhibiting a lot of courage at the moment,” Hamm said. “People were going about doing what they needed to do.”

The new medical research hub is scheduled to be completed in 2029.

Plans include providing space for medical and public health programs as part of what Fitts called “the largest, most significant initiative in the history of Tulane.” The new accommodations will also include labs for hundreds of researchers, space for biomedical startups, and classrooms.

Hamm said he hopes the hub will spur medical advancements that benefit the entire Gulf South.

Anticipating a bright, new future for the Charity Hospital building, New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno called the redevelopment “a welcome step forward and an opportunity to put this historic property back to productive use.”

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Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Clancy admits she strangled her children, but her lawyer said she did it because she had lost her grip on reality due to postpartum psychosis, a rare mental illness that can follow childbirth. In the months before the killings, Clancy sought treatment for her worsening mental health, including a stay in a psychiatric hospital.

Prosecutors said Clancy knew what she was doing. They say she killed the children because she was depressed and tired of living, and made a conscious choice to take her children with her before killing herself.

The jury met for a few hours Thursday without reaching a verdict. Members of the panel could find her guilty of murder or the lesser crime of manslaughter, or acquit her if they decide she wasn't in control of herself due to her psychiatric problems.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988.

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Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility. She did not testify during the trial, but jurors heard at length from medical professionals who treated her, as well as from friends and relatives she had told about her mental health problems.

Jurors also heard from medical experts called by prosecutors and the defense who disagreed about her likely state of mind when she killed her children, Cora, Dawson and Callan Clancy, ages 5, 3 and 8 months, at their Massachusetts home.

The killings happened less than three weeks after Clancy was discharged from a psychiatric hospital. She jumped from a second-floor window after strangling the children, but survived. She remains paralyzed from the waist down.

Despite pressure to provide guidance on U.S. policy, Warsh has made clear he intends to provide fewer clues about how the Fed intends to control inflation.

Many economists and investors want a clear signal on how Warsh thinks the Fed should handle stubbornly elevated prices that have caused pervasive gloom among many Americans. At his last press conference, he avoided providing direct answers about whether the Fed would hike its benchmark interest rate if inflation remained above the Fed's target.

The futures for the S&P 500 declined slightly on Friday, while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.1%. Nasdaq futures fell 0.3%.

One wild card for inflation has been oil prices, which have been volatile due to uncertainty about the war in Iran. It is still not known when the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's crude passes on a typical day, will re-open to tanker traffic

The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, rose 0.2% Friday to $88.68. U.S. benchmark crude oil fell 0.1% to $83.46 per barrel.

Brent’s price zigzagged between $72 and $102 last month as hopes rose and fell that the United States and Iran could reach an agreement to end hostilities and the threat to oil tankers in the strait.

In the bond market, Treasury yields ticked higher as markets grow increasingly uneasy about the long-term economic trajectory of the U.S.

In early trading, Gap's stock surged more than 17% before the market opened after it posted strong quarterly earnings late last night and it said that Michael Francis will become CEO of its struggling Old Navy brand later this year. Shares of PayPal slid more than 17% on a report from Bloomberg that Advent and Stripe are dropping plans for a potential buyout of the online payments company.

In Europe, Germany's DAX rose 0.6% to 26,522.87, while the CAC 40 in Paris climbed 1% to 8,401.67. Britain's FTSE 100 climbed 0.2% to 10,81473. Asian markets were mixed.

In other dealings Friday, the U.S. dollar rose to 159.63 Japanese yen from 159.39 yen. The euro dropped to $1.1649 from $1.1652.

Three weeks into his career, however, the rookie set a dubious mark by committing an error for the sixth straight game in Thursday night’s 5-1 loss to the Houston Astros.

Lombard has seven errors in his first 20 games and, after his latest miscue, the 21-year-old said his defense was not acceptable.

“It’s something we’re trying to figure out,” Lombard said. “It’s not acceptable. It can’t happen at this level. If you make your pitchers have to get extra outs it just makes it way harder on us, and teams are going to capitalize. So it’s something that we’re definitely going to have to clean up and I've got to be better tomorrow.”

With Christian Walker on second base in the eighth inning, Yainer Diaz hit a grounder that caromed off Lombard’s glove. The ball ricocheted to third baseman José Caballero and he was charged with a throwing error for his wild toss to first as Walker scored Houston’s fifth run.

“The one today, it’s kind of that in-between ball. So you’re like, is the third baseman getting there?” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Is he not? There’s a little indecisiveness there. So I think that played into that a little bit.”

Lombard became the first Yankees shortstop since Roger Peckinpaugh in 1915 to commit an error in six consecutive games. On Wednesday night, Lombard misplayed a grounder by Walker in the seventh that allowed the tying run to score before the Yankees pulled away for a 9-3 victory.

Lombard has a .925 fielding percentage and has turned 15 double plays after the Yankees used Anthony Volpe and Caballero at shortstop until calling up their top prospect. New York shortstops have combined to make 16 errors overall.

Last season, Volpe led American League shortstops with 19 errors while playing with a torn labrum in his shoulder for the final four months.

“The good thing about George is you know he’s so skilled and gifted out there and foundationally he’s really good, too," Boone said. “So he will get through it.”

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

The 2026 “Defend the Vote” March on Washington, organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III, will echo the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 march. The event follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark April decision in Louisiana v. Callais that reinterpreted key provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, allowing Southern states to redraw their congressional maps in a way that erodes equal representation in Black communities.

“We’ve been doing these marches for years, but this is probably the most important because this is the first year we are marching that the voting rights bill has been nullified by the Supreme Court,” Sharpton, founder of the National Action Network, said in an interview with The Associated Press.

“Marches are designed to grab attention and then go into the trenches and organize around that,” he said.

This year’s march, which Sharpton's group is co-hosting with King's Drum Major Institute, a progressive think tank and community action group, will feature dozens of speakers, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

Thousands of civil rights activists from across the southeastern U.S. are traveling to the capital by bus for the rally, Sharpton said.

Event echoes iconic rally at Lincoln Memorial

The event harkens back to King Jr.’s historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, when more than 200,000 people gathered at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial. That march, an inflection point in the Civil Rights Movement, also came at a fraught moment for the country, when economic headwinds, civil unrest, political division and the war in Vietnam bitterly divided Americans.

For this year's march, Sharpton said the Trump administration’s immigration policy for Haitians and white South Africans, as well as cuts to social programs like Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act’s health subsidies, are unifying policies for ideologically diverse march attendees. But the unusual redistricting efforts by Republican-led states set to reduce the number of Black lawmakers in Congress loom large over Friday's march.

“This march is about people who refuse to be counted out. When the courts and the legislature broke apart District 6, they did not just redraw lines,” Rep. Cleo Fields, D-La., said in a texted statement. “They told hundreds of thousands of Black families from Baton Rouge up through the Delta that their voice could be taken away at any moment.”

Fields was the central character in the April Supreme Court decision that hollowed out the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The court ruled that his district, created just one term ago to permit a second majority-Black district in a state where Blacks make up 33% of the population, was unconstitutional because it relied too heavily on race.

The court has held that maps can be redrawn for partisan reasons.

Louisiana's state legislature rushed to redraw the district after the high court's decision. The new map redraws Fields’ district to cluster it around predominantly white communities in the Baton Rouge area and southern Louisiana.

Fields has opted not to seek reelection to Congress and instead is pursuing a seat in the state Senate.

“The people taking part in this historic march are answering back, and history will remember that they did,” Fields said.

Embattled Black lawmakers see need for continued rights push

Rep. Shomari Figures, an Alabama Democrat whose majority-Black district was targeted by the state’s Republican-led redistricting effort, said the original voting rights fight required local movements, national figures, lots of coordination and strategy. He sees this year's march as a continuation of that legacy.

“My district includes Montgomery, which was the birthplace of it all. It started with a bus boycott in 1955 and that, ultimately, morphed into a broader struggle for civil rights and led to a more broad Civil Rights Movement,” Figures told the AP.

“It led to a Civil Rights Act, led to the Fair Housing Act, led obviously to the Voting Rights Act, and the voting rights movement,” Figures added.

Ahead of Friday, organizations participating in the march, including the NAACP, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and Black Voters Matter, filed new claims in federal court as part of their existing lawsuit against President Donald Trump's executive order restricting mail-in voting. The Supreme Court cleared a path Monday for possible implementation of the order, though it remains unclear how much can be put in place before the midterms.

“We will not stand idly by while the voices of the people are silenced,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement Thursday. “We must protect every eligible citizen’s right to cast their ballot.”

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Associated Press writers Gary Fields in Washington and Kimberly Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama, contributed.

The war isn't over, though Trump claims that through bombs and blockade, he has already devastated Iran’s leadership, military and economy.

And this week his administration said it would turn its focus to increasing economic pressure — rather than military action — to try to finish off Iran. The shifting strategy centers on threats to punish any country or entity that continues to conduct business with Tehran.

The turn to using sanctions as the cudgel of choice comes as the administration weighs diminished munitions stockpiles after months of war, sparking concerns that the prolonged conflict could undermine U.S. military readiness in other parts of the globe.

As the conflict grinds on, Trump's talk of finding a quick end to the war also appears to be fading. He stressed this week that he's “not in a hurry” to get Iran back to the negotiating table, and he continues making the case that the Islamic Republic's leadership is on the ropes.

“They’re not paying their troops. They’re in deep trouble. They have very little capacity,” Trump told reporters Thursday. “We don’t want to speak to them. We’re not looking to meet or anything,” he said.

It's unclear how — or if — Trump will address the six-month anniversary of a conflict that has already cost the United States more than $37.5 billion and done damage to his popularity ahead of critical November elections for his party. The president is spending Friday in Houston, where he'll honor the Artemis II NASA crew for their 10-day mission around the moon earlier this year.

Trump is declaring ‘mission accomplished' — a phrase that hurt a Republican predecessor

On its face, the moment is complicated for the “America First” leader who fiercely criticized his White House predecessors for wasting American taxpayer money and U.S. troops' lives in Middle East conflicts and vowed on the campaign trail to keep the military out of “endless wars.”

But Trump has bristled at suggestions that this war — in which no American troops have deployed into Iran — can be compared to the yearslong wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in which more than 7,000 Americans were killed.

His Republican predecessor, President George W. Bush, was widely mocked for a 2003 speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln beneath a White House-produced banner that read “Mission Accomplished.” It came to symbolize a premature declaration of victory for the Iraq War, which would go on for nearly nine more years. More than two decades later, there are still U.S. troops stationed in Iraq.

Trump’s war has stretched on far longer than he told Americans it would. It didn't stop him from sharing a social media post this week declaring “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED 2026.” The AI-generated image features Trump against a backdrop of U.S. fighter jets, a warship and American flags above smaller images of Bush and former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an Israeli strike in the opening salvos of the war.

Trump has consistently emphasized that the U.S. and Israel campaign has been devastating for Iran's navy and air force. Iranian officials have said the country has suffered $270 billion in direct and indirect damage. Israeli military strikes in the first weeks of the war wiped out much of the theocratic government's leadership structure, including Khamenei.

But Iran has found leverage through its own strikes in the critical Strait of Hormuz, where relatively few vessels carrying oil and liquefied natural gas are risking passage. Trump again declared Thursday that the “Strait of Hormuz is open,” saying 24 vessels passed through a day earlier. That's a fraction of the roughly 130 vessels that passed through the vital waterway daily before the war began.

Trump is showing little interest in talks

Mediators Qatar and Pakistan continue to press for a diplomatic off-ramp from the two sides. Qatar's prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, was in Tehran on Thursday to discuss a proposed plan between Iran and Oman to boost traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

But in Washington, Trump has shown little interest in getting back to the preliminary deal reached in June that aimed to reopen the strait and launch talks about Iran’s nuclear program. That deal fell apart within weeks after Iran started attacking ships.

At the same time, Trump says the U.S. effort to economically choke off Tehran is working, with a U.S. naval blockade preventing Iranian oil from making it to market as the trickle of vessels carrying oil from other Gulf nations pass through.

“We have control and we have the blockade,” Trump said. "Iran is not getting anything. Nothing is going through.”

Iran is badly battered, but has a history of showing resilience

There's no doubt that the strikes combined with decades of international sanctions have battered Iran, said Aarathi Krishnan, a geopolitical risk analyst at RAKSHA Intelligence Future.

But as Trump tries to turn to a new chapter in the war, Krishnan argues the Republican may be misguided in concluding that more pressure on Tehran — which has spent decades adapting to international economic sanctions — will produce the political outcome he wants.

Indeed, Iran’s economy in the run-up to the start of the war was mired in surging inflation, according to the International Monetary Fund. National income per person had fallen from about $8,000 in 2012 to $5,000 in 2024, according to World Bank data.

But Tehran has also shown resilience, selling discounted oil and establishing opaque shipping and financial networks, Krishnan said.

“This administration has completely underestimated the Iranian resolve,” Krishnan said. “This is not new to the Iranian regime.”

Trump must decide how far he's willing to go with sanctions

Richard Goldberg, who served as a senior adviser on Iran at the National Security Council during Trump's first White House term, argues that Iran now finds itself in “uncharted waters” if the administration follows through with a truly biting campaign to pressure Iranian trade partners.

“What we should be seeing is an attempt to seal off every escape hatch the regime has left,” said Goldberg, who is now at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish Washington think tank. “Use the economic power of the United States to layer a naval blockade with an air and land embargo while dropping the hammer on anyone who gives the regime access to hard currency — whether that’s in the Middle East, China or even Europe.”

But it remains to be seen how far the administration is willing to go.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent this week unveiled a campaign the White House calls “Operation Economic Outcast,” but only issued warnings to nations to cut trade and has yet to announce any secondary sanctions. Bessent told reporters the administration wanted countries to have a chance to shift away from Iran before it was too late — and acknowledged there was economic risk to the U.S., too, in moving ahead.

China, which is Iran's biggest trade partner and oil buyer, responded by expressing its opposition to “illegal unilateral sanctions.”

Pressed Thursday about why he wasn't already sanctioning Chinese banks, Trump offered a cryptic response.

“Who said I’m not? You don’t know if I’m doing it,” Trump said. "I don’t have to announce everything, do I?”

Atlanta Braves manager Walt Weiss had relievers ready in the bullpen for the ninth.

Even so, both knew Sale was not coming out Thursday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers. After learning before the game about the death of a friend, Sale had extra motivation to finish the shutout in Atlanta's 1-0 win for a series sweep.

“He was on a mission,” Weiss said. “You could see it. He was attacking from the first pitch. And not that he doesn’t do that, but you can see he had a different look in his eye. And the look in the eye is always pretty good. But it was even a little bit different tonight.”

That different look meant Weiss already was planning to have Sale return to the mound for the ninth. Then, he said, Sale walked into the dugout after the eighth and announced, `This is mine.'"

Weiss wasn't about to argue.

Sale said he received a text message before the game saying his friend, Ashley Foss, a financial advisor who worked with Sale's agent, B.B. Abbott, had died. Sale provided no details.

“If you ever needed more incentive, that's all you're going to need right there,” Sale said.

The 37-year-old lefty was dominant in throwing only 60 pitches through five innings and 81 through seven. He allowed just five hits with no walks, throwing 80 of his 109 pitches for strikes.

Sale fanned 11 for his fourth double-digit strikeout game this season and the 95th of his career. The 10-time All-Star ranks seventh all-time. Sandy Koufax is sixth with 97.

Weiss said it was a Hall of Fame-caliber performance by Sale.

“I always talk about how the Hall of Famers are just different, and that’s a perfect example right there,” Weiss said. “Chris knew that we were really thin tonight in the bullpen, so he puts a team on his back and throws a complete-game shutout against the world champions.”

Weiss stuck with Sale even after Freddie Freeman singled to open the Dodgers ninth.

Teoscar Hernández popped out, pinch-runner Alek Thomas was out at second on Miguel Rojas’ fielder’s-choice grounder and Sale struck out Alex Call for his 17th complete game and first since 2019 with Boston at Kansas City.

It was Sale’s fourth career shutout and first since that three-hitter against the Royals on June 5, 2019. Sale threw a 100.1 mph fastball to Shohei Ohtani in the third, reaching triple digits on a pitch for the first time since July 2018 with the Red Sox.

Sale (13-9) lowered his ERA to 2.06 with the overpowering outing in a matchup of National League division leaders. He trails only Milwaukee ace Jacob Misiorowski (1.73) among qualified major league pitchers.

“I’m just thankful to get through it, man,” Sale said. “Like I said, I pride myself on working hard and I pride myself on going out there and giving my team a chance to win.”

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

The development further dims prospects for an early resumption of diplomacy between North Korea and the U.S., despite President Donald Trump’s recent decision to scale back a major bilateral military drill with South Korea in an apparent goodwill gesture toward the North.

South Korea's military said in a statement the Freedom Edge exercise will start on Sept. 7 for a five-day run in the waters off South Korea's southern Jeju Island.

It said the exercise is defensive in nature and meant to respond to North Korean nuclear and missile threats as well as promote regional peace and stability.

North Korea has previously slammed the trilateral drill as a “reckless show of strength" that showed its adversaries' confrontational stance against it. Pyongyang has also said the drill contained a U.S. intention to lay siege to China and exert pressure on Russia.

Launched in 2024, the Freedom Edge drill is designed to increase the sophistication of previous exercises with simultaneous air and naval drills geared toward improving joint ballistic missile defense, anti-submarine warfare, surveillance and other capabilities.

Last week, the U.S. and South Korean militaries ended their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise six days earlier than originally planned, after Trump said he had ordered the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” the drill. Trump cited what he described as a good relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who views the drill as an invasion rehearsal.

But North Korea rebuffed Trump's overture, saying just shortening the drill won’t change its “provocative, aggressive nature.” North Korea launched about 10 short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea, apparently delivering on its previous threat to respond to the U.S.-South Korean drill.

Pyongyang has previously said it won’t resume diplomacy with the U.S. unless it drops its demand for a North Korean denuclearization as a precondition for talks.

Since his earlier diplomacy with Trump collapsed in 2019, Kim has boosted his military and diplomatic credentials by enlarging his nuclear arsenal and aligning with Russia over its war against Ukraine. With greater leverage now, experts say Kim would likely aim to win major U.S. concessions like an international recognition of North Korea as a nuclear state and sweeping sanctions relief in return for a partial surrender of his nuclear arsenal.

On Thursday, North Korea's Foreign Ministry accused the U.S. of engaging in “a series of hostile moves” targeting the North, including a possible sale of air-to-air missiles to South Korea. It said North Korea “will make a serious, immediate and powerful response."

The scaling back of the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise caused worries about a joint South Korean-U.S. defense readiness.

Earlier this week, South Korea’s Marine Corps said that a biennial joint amphibious landing drill with the U.S. will likely not take place in September as previously scheduled. It said the U.S. Marine Corps in June informed it of a constraint in the operational capability of its forces during the drill's planned period due to the situation in the Middle East, an apparent reference to the Iran war.

In response to questions by The Associated Press, the U.S. Marine Corps said Thursday that its “participation level” in the Ssangyong drill was determined in coordination with South Korea and was unrelated to decisions regarding other exercises. It said it “remains firmly committed to its longstanding partnership” with South Korea.

Rescue teams were put on high alert for more flooding from a new lake that has formed high up on the Himalayan mountains after the initial floods on Wednesday. Experts warn that the lake, formed after the glacier collapse that triggered the floods, was starting to overflow.

Nepal's army was deployed to help rescue more than 100 people believed trapped inside a tunnel at a hydropower plant located in the country's worst-hit district. Like elsewhere in the disaster zone, their work was complicated by thick layers of mud that covered the site.

The floods have killed 538 in Nepal, the country's disaster management authority said Friday. Nepali police later put the number of deaths higher at 547. There was little information on survivors on the Chinese side, where the death toll rose to five Friday as state media showed evacuations of villages and leaders’ efforts to direct the relief response.

More than 3,700 people have been rescued in Nepal so far, but 977 people remain unaccounted for in the country. China's state media previously said 558 people were missing on the Chinese side. Hundreds of the missing are foreigners in the area to work, trek or make a pilgrimage to a sacred peak.

Authorities warn of further flooding from a new lake

Nepali police issued a fresh alert Friday after receiving information that a dam on the Tibet side has burst. Security personnel and rescue and relief workers were told to stay on high alert and immediately move to a safe location if necessary.

It is unclear if the dam bursting is related to flooding concerns over a barrier lake that formed after the initial flash floods. Chinese broadcaster CCTV said the newly-formed lake, located more than 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Gyirong Port, the hard-hit border crossing with Nepal, sits at an elevation of 2,950 meters (9,680 feet.)

Nepali and Chinese authorities earlier warned of further flooding from the barrier lake, which was already overflowing. Rescue workers heading to the disaster zone were ordered to stop temporarily Friday morning due to concern the lake would release more torrents of water and debris, and people in potentially affected areas were urged move to safer ground.

Some 680 rescuers eventually reached the hardest-hit area at Gyirong by foot and via rafts after much effort. Some were dropped down from drones flown to the area, CCTV footage showed.

Nepali police spokesperson Abi Narayan Kafle told The Associated Press that the rescue operation was continuing but with high alert. “It hasn’t stopped,” he said.

Thousands of people have been evacuated, others await rescue

In Nepal's Rasuwa district, Nepali Army rescuers were struggling to help more than 100 people believed trapped by thick mud in a tunnel that's part of the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project. The army said it has rescued 350 people from the tunnel so far.

Video from the scene show rescuers helping a man, covered in dark brown mud, out of the tunnel by pulling and pushing.

Army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Raja Ram Basnet told the AP the focus was on survivors.

“It is complicated to find the entry and exit points of the tunnel because everything has been covered by mud,” Basnet said. “Our first priority is rescuing the stranded people.”

Nepal’s disaster management authority said 3,253 people had been airlifted by helicopter from the disaster area. Survivors, including injured people, were taken to Kathmandu and other locations.

Some felt the ground shake, then saw a ‘black storm’

Scientists who’ve studied satellite images said bedrock underneath a glacier high in the Himalayan region had collapsed, taking part of the glacier with it. The rockfall was so extreme that it reached a magnitude 5.2 seismic measurement. The rocks and melted water then swelled the rivers in the valleys below, causing a torrent of water that swept buildings, bridges and earth downstream in Tibet and Nepal.

Customs officer Karbir Gaire was among some of the survivors in Timure, the closest Nepalese village to the border with China, where some 1,500 people had lived.

Gaire reached his office around 8 a.m. Wednesday and was working on his computer when he first felt the ground shake.

“Right after the shake, I noticed a black storm coming towards us,” he recalled from Kathmandu, where he is back with family. “We all immediately started running out, and within a few seconds, we were climbing uphill on the opposite side of our office building. I think those 10 or so seconds saved some of us.”

Gaire doesn’t remember exactly how many people were in the office when the disaster struck, but 15 colleagues have gone missing. “It was like a Hollywood movie scene. I don’t call it a flood, it was a tsunami.”

Families around the world hope for news of loved ones

Nepal’s tourism board has said that among the missing are more than 500 foreigners.

About 90 Americans were unaccounted for. U.S. President Donald Trump said the flooding was terrible to see, and he told reporters in the Oval Office he offered to provide Nepal's leaders “anything they want.”

Rajan Tamang, a restaurant owner in New York City, said he learned from family in Kathmandu that his mother and sister were among those who died, while many other relatives and friends remained missing.

“My family was just waking up, and they didn’t even get any information, and suddenly this flood came. Some of them are missing, some of them lost their life and only a few is alive,” he told the AP after a vigil in New York.

Some of the missing may have been on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in Tibet, a sacred site for Hindus, Buddhists and others.

Vishnuram Ramaswamy, who works at a private company in the southern Indian city of Puducherry, said that he last spoke to his mother and two sisters who were on that pilgrimage Wednesday morning. It was a highly anticipated trip, something his mother had always wanted to do, he said.

“My mother said they were on their way towards the border area and said they’ll reach their hotel and call us,” he said. While he's in touch with government officials, and the travel agency, there's been no news.

“This was the last we spoke to them. They have been unreachable since.”

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Associated Press journalists Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Sibi Arasu in Bengaluru, India; Huizhong Wu in Bangkok; Upendra Mansingh in Nuwakot district, Nepal; Aijaz Hussain in Srinagar, India; Rod McGuirk in Melbourne, Australia; Ali Swenson and Edith Lederer in New York; Matthew Lee, Collin Binkley and Fu Ting in Washington, and Hannah Schoenbaum in Utah contributed to this report.

U.S. District Judge Rita Lin issued a written order Thursday night that the Pentagon acted illegally by punishing the AI company for its criticism of the Department of Defense’s views on AI use. The government is expected to fight the ruling.

The dispute between the AI company and the government broke out in February when President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth accused Anthropic of endangering national security and designated the company a supply chain risk. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei refused to back down over concerns the company’s products could be used for mass surveillance or autonomous armed drones.

Lin wrote that the government's actions “were based on a desire to make a public example out of Anthropic for its ‘arrogance’ in criticizing the government, not based on any articulable basis to believe that Anthropic would actually sabotage its model.”

An Anthropic spokesperson said in a statement that they welcome the judge's ruling: "We remain focused on working productively with the government to harness AI for our national security so all Americans benefit from this technology.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the 59-page ruling, Lin, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, wrote that neither the Constitution nor the federal statute the government invoked allows them to “impose sweeping penalties based principally on Anthropic’s critique of the Administration’s views.”

Anthropic sued the Pentagon over the supply chain risk designation in March for what it called an “unlawful campaign of retaliation” over its refusal to allow unrestricted military use of its technology.

The legal challenge intensified an unusually public dispute over how AI can be used in warfare and mass surveillance. Anthropic’s primary tech industry rival, ChatGPT maker OpenAI, made its own deal to work with the Pentagon just hours after the government punished Anthropic for its stance.

Anthropic and OpenAI are each ramping up for buzzy initial public offerings.

Anthropic has also filed a separate and narrower case that is still pending in the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. That case involves a different rule the Pentagon is using to try to declare Anthropic a supply chain risk.

Earlier in the legal proceedings, Lin had temporarily blocked the Pentagon from labeling the company as a supply chain risk and blocked enforcement of Trump’s social media directive ordering all federal agencies to stop using Anthropic and its chatbot Claude.

In a hearing July 30, Lin had said that the government's position was “really troubling” to her and that it seemed “at odds to me with the First Amendment.” She also said she believed the record had “gotten worse for the government” over time.

In that same hearing, Department of Justice lawyers argued that the nature of AI models is “so staggeringly enormous and opaque” that the Defense Department cannot evaluate it in the same way it would a physical piece of hardware.

Anthropic lawyer Michael Mongan said in that hearing that the government's actions “profoundly harm Anthropic” and that they “threaten more broadly to chill speech and debate on a very important issue.”

“It's the NFL, there are monsters on the other side of the ball and you need to get the ball out quick,” Mendoza said. “It teaches you, you need to play on time, and there's less margin for error. So I think it's a great experience having that heat and duress because diamonds are built under pressure.”

Eddy Piñeiro made all six field goal attempts, including 51- and 54-yarders in the final 1:51 for the 49ers (2-1). Las Vegas' Matt Gay, who played briefly for San Francisco last season, made 4 of 5 field goals, his miss coming from 54 yards in the third quarter.

Mendoza completed 7 of 14 passes for 57 yards, making him 25 of 40 for 240 yards with a touchdown, two interceptions and four sacks for the three preseason games. He led five drives against the 49ers, one ending in a field goal and another in the missed attempt.

It wasn't quite the exclamation point the top overall draft pick wanted to put on the preseason, and now he will have to search for practice repetitions with Kirk Cousins expected to be the starter when the season begins. Cousins took the vast majority of snaps in training camp for the Raiders (1-2), who now go full time into game planning.

“(Mendoza) needs another three preseason games, and all those rookies do," Raiders coach Klint Kubiak said. “Now that the season is starting, the practice reps get smaller and that's just life. But us as coaches, we've got to get them ready to play and keep developing.”

Both coaches took notably different approaches to this preseason finale, with Kubiak playing almost his entire starting offense and defense for two series and the Niners' Kyle Shanahan going with backups the entire game.

Now both coaches have serious decisions to make before the rosters are cut to 53 on Sunday.

“I’m looking forward to figuring out exactly our final team here over these next three days," Shanahan said. "We got a lot of tough decisions; they’re not easy ones. I want to see how the practice squad pans out and really what our opening day roster is going to be. I just like when the season starts. Preseason gets a little bit old, and I like when it gets real and it’s going to get real, real fast.”

Cousins directed two drives, both ending in field goals. He completed 8 of 11 passes for 51 yards.

Mike Washington Jr., who could open the season as the starting running back with Ashton Jeanty out with an undisclosed injury. rushed for 49 yards on eight carries. Washington rushed for 168 yards in the preseason, averaging 7.3 per carry.

49ers backup quarterback Mac Jones and what was mostly the second-team offense was held to one first down and 20 yards on two drives against the Raiders' starting defense, minus pass rusher Maxx Crosby who didn't play in any preseason games. Jones finished 1 of 5 for 7 yards.

The Raiders went with Mendoza for the third period and gave him the starting offense, except for rookie Trey Zuhn III taking over for Tyler Linderbaum at center. Mendoza threw high to Jalen Nailor on his second play, and the ball popped into the air into the hands of San Francisco linebacker Tatum Bethune for an interception.

Injury report

49ers: CB Ephesians Prysock (shoulder) and TE Brayden Willis (concussion) were injured. LB Jalen Graham was evaluated for a concussion and cleared.

Raiders: DE Keyron Crawford (ankle) was hurt late in the third quarter.

Up next

49ers: Open Sept. 10 against the Los Angeles Rams in Melbourne, Australia.

Raiders: Open Sept. 13 against Miami at home.

___

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Records show rodent problems were reported at Eat and Run Subs, Seph Restaurant & Bakery, CM Chicken and Boardwalk Bar & Grill.

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Inspectors found dozens of rodent droppings at several of those businesses, including more than 50 at Seph, where additional droppings were found during a reinspection.

Roach activity was reported at LongHorn Steakhouse, Moonlite Diner, Eat and Run Subs, El Machetico, Family Kitchen Restaurant and Catering, The Licking South Beach and CM Chicken.

At Moonlite, inspectors found numerous live and dead roaches along with food being held at unsafe temperatures.

El Machetico had 18 violations, including live and dead roaches and employee handwashing violations, while Family Kitchen had dozens of live roaches and food held at temperatures as high as 65 degrees.

Inspectors also found dozens of flying insects landing directly on food at Chill N Kendall Place.

Below is a list of the establishments and some of the violations inspectors documented. All were ordered closed and later allowed to re-open following a cleanup and re-inspection.

**LONGHORN STEAKHOUSE

6225 N. ANDREWS AVE

FORT LAUDERDALE

INSPECTION BASED ON COMPLAINT

ORDERED SHUT 8/21

5 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found. Observed 1 live roach on cart in prep area. Operator removed cleaned and sanitized Observed 1 live roach on top of three compartment sink in ware washing area with cut lettuce being prepared in three compartment sink. Cross contamination not observed. Observed approximately 15 live roaches behind 3 compartment sink on wall Observed 2 live roaches in between cove molding and wall in ware washing area Observed 1 live roach on wall in ware washing area. Observed 1 live roach on pipe in prep area next to ware washing area Observed 1 live roach on ground in dry produce storage area.”

“Dead roaches on premises. Observed 2 dead roaches on ground in prep area. Repeat Violation.”

“Interior of oven has accumulation of black substance.”

**MOONLITE DINER

6201 N ANDREWS AVE.

FORT LAUDERDALE

ORDERED SHUT 8/20

15 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found. Observed 1 live roach on wall behind flip top cooler on cook line in kitchen Observed 1 live roach on ground in ware washing area in kitchen Observed approximately 12 live roaches on wall behind flip top cooler on cook line in kitchen Observed 2 live roaches on ground behind chest freezer on cook line in kitchen Observed 1 live roach under wait station flip top cooler.”

“Dead roaches on premises. Observed 1 dead roach on wall above wait station hand wash sink in kitchen area Observed 1 dead roach on wall under shelf in on cook line in kitchen Observed 3 dead roaches inside of reach in cooler at front counter.”

“Stop Sale issued on time/temperature control for safety food due to temperature abuse. Time/temperature control for safety food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. right to left: cut tomatoes (45F); diced tomatoes (49F); turkey (44F); feta (46F); hard boiled eggs (45F); shredded cheese (51F); sliced cheese (48F); cooked meatloaf (46F); turkey (53F); raw shrimp (44F); tuna (46F); egg whites (50F); liquid eggs (62F). Per operator items being held in unit for more than 4 hours.”

“Stop Sale issued. Fish reduced oxygen packaged on premises, or commercially processed reduced oxygen packaged fish labeled with instructions to remain frozen until time of use, not held frozen. Commercially processed reduced oxygen packaged fish bearing a label indicating that it is to remain frozen until time of use no longer frozen and not removed from reduced oxygen package. Raw salmon stored fully thawed commercially packaged reduced oxygen packaging.”

“Dish machine chlorine sanitizer not at proper minimum strength. Discontinue use of dish machine for sanitizing and set up manual sanitization until dish machine is repaired and sanitizing properly. Operator set up three compartment sink and called for service.”

“Proof of required state approved employee training not available for some employees.”

“Required employee training expired for some employees.”

**EAT AND RUN SUBS

16775 N. MIAMI AVE.

NORTH MIAMI BEACH

ORDERED SHUT 8/20

10 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Rodent activity present as evidenced by rodent droppings found. Observed 5 rodent dropping on top of water heater, 20+ rodent droppings on the floor under the fryers, 20+ rodent droppings on the floor under the display case at the front counter handwashing, and 5 droppings on the floor under mop sink.”

“Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found. Observed 2 live roaches crawling on the curtain in the entrance of the kitchen.”

“Roach excrement and/or droppings present. Observed 25+ droppings on the floor under the 3 compartment sink, 10+ droppings on the floor under the bread shelves.”

“Food-contact surface soiled with food debris, mold-like substance or slime. Observed slicer with old food debris.”

“Handwash sink used for purposes other than handwashing. Observed kitchen handwashing sink with old food debris.”

**EL MACHETICO

9674 NW 25TH ST.

DORAL

ORDERED SHUT 8/20

18 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found. Observed 1 live roach crawling inside of the handwash sink in the kitchen. Also observed 1 live roach inside of sanitizer water at the triple sink. Observed 1 live roach crawling on floor under the steam table. Observed 1 live roach crawling on black cabinet at front counter coffee and pastry area. Observed 2 live roach crawling inside of dry coffee cabinet at front counter coffee and pastry area.”

“Dead roaches on premises. Observed approximately 7+ dead roaches under preparation table in the kitchen. Employee started cleaning under preparation table at time of inspection. Observed 4 dead roaches on floor at front counter. Observed 5 dead roaches inside of clean container inside of dry coffee cabinet at coffee and pastry area.”

“Server handled soiled dishes or utensils and then picked up plated food, served food, or prepared a beverage without washing hands. Observed employee began making coffee without first washing her hands after handling dirty dishes from customers table.”

“Employee began working with food, handling clean equipment or utensils, or touching unwrapped single-service items without first washing hands.”

“Food not stored at least 6 inches off of the floor. Observed 1 box of sweet plantains store on floor under prep table in the middle of the kitchen. Also observed 1 box of onions store on floor under prep table in the middle of the kitchen.”

“No soap provided at handwash sink. Operator provided soap at time of inspection.”

**CHILL N KENDALL PLACE

9065 SW 107TH AVE

KENDALL

ORDERED SHUT 8/20

9 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Live, small flying insects found. Observed 15+ live flying insects flying and landing inside containers directly touching chocolate crunch bar, graham crackers, gummy worms, chopped pecans, Oreo cookies, chocolate chip cookie, Kit Kats, peanut butter cup, containers at front counter. Observed 2 live flying insects flying and landing inside containers directly touching white chocolate chips and mini chocolate chips at front counter. Observed 5+ live flying insects flying under front counter landing on brownie and cookie sheet tray. Observed 3+ live flying insects flying and landing on top of toppings reach in cooler at front counter. Observed 5+ live flies flying around dish machine. Observed 3+ live flying insects near reach in freezer in back prep area. Observed 5+ flying insects flying and landing on clean equipment at triple sink. Observed 20+ live flying insects landing on sponges at triple sink.”

“Stop Sale issued due to food not being in a wholesome, sound condition. Live, small flying insects found. Observed 15+ live flying insects flying and landing inside containers directly touching chocolate crunch bar, graham crackers, gummy worms, chopped pecans, Oreo cookies, chocolate chip cookie, Kit Kats, peanut butter cup, containers at front counter. Observed 2 live flying insects flying and landing inside containers directly touching white chocolate chips and mini chocolate chips at front counter.”

“Insect control device installed over food preparation area. Observed bug zapper hanging on dry food rack in back prep room. Observed bug zapper installed over prep table at front counter.”

“Employee began working with food, handling clean equipment or utensils, or touching unwrapped single-service items without first washing hands. Observed employee begin to prepare customer order without first washing hands.”

“Accumulation of debris on exterior of ware washing machine.”

**FAMILY KITCHEN RESTAURANT AND CATERING

3134 WEST COMMERCIAL BLUD.

TAMARAC

ORDERED SHUT 8/18

12 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found. Observed 1 live roach on ground at front door in dining room Observed approximately 15 live roaches in between wall and reach in cooler in dry storage area Observed approximately 20 live roaches on ground and behind chest freezers in dry storage area. Observed approximately 2 live roaches on ground under oven in kitchen. Observed approximately 5 live roaches on ground under 2 door stainless reach in cooler in kitchen.”

“Dead roaches on premises. Observed 1 dead roach on oven in kitchen Observed 1 dead roach in 1 door stainless reach in cooler in kitchen.”

“Stop Sale issued on time/temperature control for safety food due to temperature abuse. Time/temperature control for safety food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. 2 door stainless: pickles (59F); cooked pork (59F); cooked beans (59F); raw chicken wings (59F); cooked gravy (60F); raw turkey wings (65F); operator states items have been held in unit overnight. Items not prepared or portioned today 1 door stainless: cooked chicken (48F); cooked pork (49F). operator states items have been held in unit overnight. Items not prepared or portioned today 1 door glass in dry storage: cooked chicken (51F); cooked turkey (48F); cooked goat (46F) operator states items have been held in unit overnight. Items not prepared or portioned today. pickles (80F) being held at front counter. Unknown time out of temperature.”

“No dishwashing facilities of any kind provided. No 3 compartment or ware washing machine provided in establishment.”

“Required employee training expired for all employees.”

**THE LICKING SOUTH BEACH

754-758 WASHINGTON AVE.

MIAMI BEACH

ORDERED SHUT 8/19

11 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found. Observed at ware washing area two live roaches crawling on the ground. Observed a live roach crawling on the wall next to prep sink at prep area. Observed one live roach crawling on the floor at cook line.”

“Dead roaches on premises. Observed two dead roaches on the floor next to prep sink at prep area.”

“Stop Sale issued due to food not being in a wholesome, sound condition. Observed MAC AND CHEESE (50F - Cooling) at walk in cooler, as per chef made the day prior.”

“Time/temperature control for safety food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. Observed buttermilk marinade (70F - Cold Holding) at kitchen area.”

“Bowl or other container with no handle used to dispense food. Observed at walk in cooler a plastic tray with no handle used to portion pasta sauce.”

“Manager or person in charge lacking proof of food manager certification.”

“No proof of required state approved employee training provided for employee hired more than 60 days ago.”

**SEPH RESTAURANT & BAKERY

1362 NE 163RD ST

NORTH MIAMI BEACH

ORDERED SHUT 8/19

10 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Presence of insects, rodents, or other pests. Observed a potato with gnaw bites by the hot water heater.”

“Rodent activity present as evidenced by rodent droppings found. Observed approximately 50+ rodent droppings on the floor under kitchen handwashing sink, 5+ dropping on top shelves where clean utensils are stored, 10+ rodent droppings on the floor by hot water heater, 3 rodent droppings on the shelves where chemicals are stored, 20+ rodent droppings on the floor under seasoning shelves and 25+ rodent droppings on the floor under the front counter steam table.”

“Food-contact surface soiled with food debris, mold-like substance or slime. Observed hot holding box in the front counter soiled.”

“Worn, torn and/or soiled floors/carpeting. Observed floors under 3 compartment sink, reach in coolers, steam table, fryers and stove heavily soiled.”

“Handwash sink not accessible for employee use at all times. Observed front counter handwashing sink blocked by plates.”

RE-INSPECTION 8/20

“Observed 10+ rodent droppings on the floor under reach in cooler in the kitchen and 4 rodent droppings on the floor behind reach in freezer.”

**CM CHICKEN

1256 NE 163RD ST.

NORTH MIAMI BEACH

ORDERED SHUT 8/19

8 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Rodent activity present as evidenced by rodent droppings found. Observed approximately 10+ rodent droppings on the floor under the fryers and 3+ rodent droppings on the back door window.”

“Roach excrement and/or droppings present. Observed 15+ dropping on the floor under the 3 compartment sink, 5+ droppings by the back door window, 20+ droppings on the floor at the front counter, 5+ droppings on the floor under the boba station,”

“Dead roaches on premises. Observed 2 dead roaches on the floor next to oil filter in the back.”

“Food-contact surface soiled with food debris, mold-like substance or slime. Observed kitchen storage shelves soiled.”

**FAMILY KITCHEN RESTAURANT AND CATERING

3134 W. COMMERCIAL BLVD.

FORT LAUDERDALE

ORDERED SHUT 8/18

12 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found. Observed 1 live roach on ground at front door in dining room Observed approximately 15 live roaches in between wall and reach in cooler in dry storage area Observed approximately 20 live roaches on ground and behind chest freezers in dry storage area. Observed approximately 2 live roaches on ground under oven in kitchen. Observed approximately 5 live roaches on ground under 2 door stainless reach in cooler in kitchen.”

“Dead roaches on premises. Observed 1 dead roach on oven in kitchen Observed 1 dead roach in 1 door stainless reach in cooler in kitchen.”

“Stop Sale issued on time/temperature control for safety food due to temperature abuse. Time/temperature control for safety food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. 2 door stainless: pickles (59F); cooked pork (59F); cooked beans (59F); raw chicken wings (59F); cooked gravy (60F); raw turkey wings (65F); operator states items have been held in unit overnight. Items not prepared or portioned today 1 door stainless: cooked chicken (48F); cooked pork (49F). operator states items have been held in unit overnight. Items not prepared or portioned today 1 door glass in dry storage: cooked chicken (51F); cooked turkey (48F); cooked goat (46F) operator states items have been held in unit overnight. Items not prepared or portioned today. pickles (80F) being held at front counter. Unknown time out of temperature.”

“Required employee training expired for all employees.”

**BOARDWALK BAR & GRILL

31044 AVENUE A

BIG PINE KEY

ORDERED SHUT 8/19

11 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Rodent activity present as evidenced by approximately 10 rodent droppings found on top of dish machine.”

“Food-contact surface soiled with food debris, mold-like substance or slime. Potato cuter blade is soiled.”

“Accumulation of mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine/bin.”

“In walk-in cooler Time/temperature control for safety food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. Cooked rice 56F, cooked broccoli 52F, shredded lettuce 53F items were transfer to another walk-in cooler that is cold holding at 42F or below as per operator these items were in the beer cooler under 4 hours.”

Gabriel threw three touchdown passes and Green directed a 98-yard touchdown drive to help the Browns beat the New England Patriots 37-13 on Thursday night in the final preseason game for both teams.

With Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders getting the night off — along with the other starters on both teams — Gabriel and Green got extended looks. Gabriel got the start and played the first half while Green saw the second-half snaps.

“I thought they both did some really good things,” Monken said. “Dylan really within himself, and then Taylen was going to have some splash plays and some plays where you get him on the perimeter and use athleticism as you keep working to refine his passing. It was fun to watch him play, but just like every position, we’re going to have to cut it down.”

Gabriel, in his second year after being a third-round pick in the 2025 draft, completed 12 of 15 passes for 186 yards and a 157.9 passer rating as he led the Browns (1-2) to points on the first five drives.

Green showed off his dual-threat ability during his four possessions. He was 5 of 7 passing for 27 yards along with eight rushing attempts for 66 yards.

All teams have to cut down to their 53-man rosters by 6 p.m. EDT on Sunday. Gabriel provides the Browns with a veteran with starting experience, a vital factor considering they have started at least three quarterbacks the past three seasons. Green has plenty of potential and could land on the Browns' practice squad, but would have to clear waivers first.

Tough night for Patriots

Tommy DeVito started for New England (1-1-1) and was in for two drives and was 2 of 4 for 55 yards. He led the Patriots to their only touchdown on their opening possession, connecting with Kyle Williams for a 45-yard score in the first quarter to tie it at 7.

“Kyle is just so good running that (pattern), he makes it easy for me," DeVito said.

Behren Morton played the rest of the game and led the Patriots on two scoring drives that ended with field goals by Andy Borregales. Morton completed 18 of 28 passes for 123 yards with two interceptions.

Coach Mike Vrabel was not pleased with his defense, who forced the Browns to punt only twice in 10 drives and had only one three-and-out.

“Not good enough We couldn't match the speed of the quarterback in the zone read and some of those things,” he said. "We’ve got a lot of work to do, like everyone else. It’s a journey and the next step in the journey is cutdown day. But we also need a couple of days away from each other.”

Nice showing by Gabriel

Gabriel started six games as a rookie last season with seven touchdowns and two interceptions He did not factor in the starting quarterback competition where Deshaun Watson beat out Shedeur Sanders.

Gabriel saw spot action in the fourth quarter in the first two preseason games, but looked more comfortable on Thursday night. He connected with Luke Floriea for 6- and 14-yard touchdown receptions in the first quarter, and Ahmani Marshall had a 7-yard score on a screen pass late in the second quarter to extend Cleveland's lead to 27-10.

“At some point you want to see your hard work coming to fruition,” Gabriel said. “Of course it wasn’t exactly what I wanted in the first two preseason games and that’s probably frustrating on my end. But then being able to go out today and make the most of it, that's what it is about.”

Gabriel also had a nice 52-yard completion to Ben Patterson up the left sideline to the Patriots 21 on the first play of the third drive, which resulted in the first of Andre Szmyt's three field goals. There was also a 29-yard throw to Kole Wilson midway through the second quarter to get the Browns back in the red zone.

Green provides excitement

Green had a 4.36 second, 40-yard dash at the combine, the fastest run by a QB since at least 2003. The sixth-round pick showed off that speed on second-and-9 from the Browns 3 when he avoided being tackled in the back of the end zone and scrambled around left end for a 30-yard gain.

That was the second play of a 15-yard, 98-drive that took 9:26. It was capped by Davon Booth's 9-yard TD run.

On the drive, Green had 5 carries for 46 yards and completed all four of his passes for 27 yards.

“We had a quick-game concept. I was about to throw it and saw the nickel (cornerback) bounce back, so I didn't feel comfortable with it, especially being backed up,” Green said. “After that, it was just trusting my legs and at that point trusting my instincts. I didn't really see much — I saw green grass and went.”

Injuries

Browns: LB Edefuan Ulofoshio (bicep) and DT Elijah Chatman (quadriceps) did not return after being injured in the first half.

Up next

Patriots: Open the season at Seattle on Sept. 9 in a Super Bowl 60 rematch.

Browns: Have a Week 1 matchup at Jacksonville on Sept. 13.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Now comes the next challenge for Brady, as the 36-year-old enters the season as the NFL’s youngest coach and overseeing a team with Super Bowl aspirations.

For a moment, all that could wait, with Brady instead savoring the closing minutes of a 28-27 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday night. With 1:06 left, Ian Wheeler scored on a 2-yard run and the Bills went ahead on Steve Buechele off-balance completion to Dante Pettis for a 2-point conversion.

“There’s so much to be proud of for those guys,” Brady said.

“Some of those guys might not ever play football again and I wanted to make sure they did everything they can to play good football,” he added, referring to NFL teams making their final cuts this weekend. “I learned a lot about just the mindset of both our starters, just how they were on the sidelines, (and) the makeup of the football team.”

As for Allen’s involvement, Brady said he welcomed the opportunity to have Allen on the headset sharing his thought process with the game on the line.

“Usually the first things that come to his head are the things that I probably should be calling. So I’ve had a lot of fun with it,” Brady said.

The Bills closed the preseason 3-0, while the Steelers finished 1-2 and face a few injury questions.

Second-year quarterback Will Howard, who started the game, was being evaluated for an undisclosed injury and not made available to reporters, the team announced.

Also, special teams ace Ben Skowronek appeared to hurt his head while tackling Mecole Hardman on a kickoff return in the first half. Skowronek was escorted up the tunnel and coach Mike McCarthy did not have an update on the player's status.

The Steelers’ last chance to pull ahead ended at Pittsburgh’s 38, with Drew Allar’s pass sailing behind tight end Lake McRee on fourth-and-7 with 44 seconds remaining. It was a disappointing finish for Allar in an outing the rookie was attempting to separate himself from Howard in the competition for the Steelers’ third-string job.

“I feel good about everything that I put on tape,” Allar said. “I think the biggest thing is I have a lot of great mentors, between players and coaches to learn from. From the things I’ve done well and also the mistakes I’ve made.”

With Rodgers back home resting in Pittsburgh, and primary backup Mason Rudolph watching from the bench, Howard and Allar finished with mixed results.

Allar finished 9 of 18 for 88 yards and oversaw one touchdown drive that was capped by Elie Heidenreich scoring on a 9-yard run to open the second half.

Howard, a sixth-round pick in 2025, started and went 9 of 15 with two touchdowns — both on drives starting inside Buffalo’s 30 — and an interception on seven possessions in the first half. The interception was Howard’s third of the preseason, after being picked off twice in a 17-0 loss to the New York Jets last weekend.

Howard completed a 13-yard touchdown pass to Germie Bernard to open the scoring, and also hit McRee for a 5-yards touchdown.

Kaden Wetjen also scored on a 45-yard punt return that put the Steelers ahead 27-17 four minutes into the fourth quarter.

With Kyle Allen appearing to have locked up the primary backup job behind Josh Allen, Buechele handled the quarterback duties in finishing 26 for 38 for 196 yards. After Wheeler scored on third down, Buechele back-pedaled in the face of pressure before getting off a pass to Pettis, who was open along the left side of the goal line.

“I thought this was one of my best preseasons, if not the best,” said Buechele, who has split his first five NFL years between Kanas City and Buffalo, and made his first game appearance last season with the Chiefs. “I don’t know how this thing is going to roll, but just staying in prayer and seeing what happens.

Frank Gore Jr. scored on a 1-yard run for Buffalo, and receiver Skyler Bell also found the end zone on a 28-yard scamper off a reverse.

Up next

Steelers: Open regular season hosting Atlanta on Sept. 13.

Bills: Open regular season at Houston on Sept. 13.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Sale (13-9) threw 80 of his 109 pitches for strikes and did not walk a batter, lowering his ERA to 2.06 with his first complete game in more than seven years. The 10-time All-Star posted his fourth double-digit strikeout game this season and the 95th of his career, which ranks seventh in major league history.

Fans in the sellout crowd of 39,650 cheered when the left-hander strolled out to the mound for the ninth inning even though relievers were ready in the Atlanta bullpen. Braves manager Walt Weiss stuck with his 37-year-old ace after Freddie Freeman singled leading off the ninth.

Teoscar Hernández popped out, pinch-runner Alek Thomas was out at second on Miguel Rojas' fielder's-choice grounder and Sale struck out Alex Call for his 17th complete game and first since 2019 with Boston at Kansas City.

It was Sale's fourth career shutout and first since that three-hitter against the Royals on June 5, 2019. Sale threw a 100.1 mph fastball to Shohei Ohtani in the third, reaching triple digits on a pitch for the first time since July 2018 with the Red Sox.

Baldwin lined the first pitch from Yamamoto (12-8) into the right-field Chop House restaurant. It was Baldwin's fourth leadoff shot this season and 22nd homer overall. Yamamoto allowed only four hits with eight strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.

The NL East-leading Braves won the season series 5-1 against the Dodgers, who sit atop the NL West.

Braves shortstop Ha-Seong Kim, hitting .078, was rewarded with a start after his game-winning, pinch-hit single with two outs in the ninth inning of Wednesday night's 6-5 win over the Dodgers. Kim singled and stole second base in the third.

Up next

Dodgers: LHP Tarik Skubal (8-7, 2.91 ERA) will make what is expected to be an emotional Detroit homecoming when he starts Friday night's series opener at the Tigers.

Braves: RHP Grant Holmes (8-5, 3.64 ERA) is scheduled to start when the Braves open a three-game series against RHP Tomoyuki Sugano (12-7, 4.96) and the Colorado Rockies.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

The move stalled the directive for a second time only about a week before the first mail ballots are due to be sent out for the rapidly approaching midterm elections. U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani blocked the government from implementing the order for two weeks.

The case could soon be appealed back to the Supreme Court, days after the justices handed down a procedural decision that allowed the the administration to move ahead.

The ruling Thursday came after Democrats and voting rights groups refiled their lawsuits to comply with the recent Supreme Court decision. The high court's conservative majority did not rule on the legality of Trump’s executive order, instead saying Talwani had acted too soon.

Now the administration has issued a formal rule governing whether the U.S. Postal Service will deliver states’ mail ballots, effectively restarting the legal fight.

The whipsawing legal battle has major ramifications for the midterms. Nearly one-third of Americans vote by mail and election officials contend there isn’t enough time to revise their systems to comply with the new Postal Service directives.

The Postal Service says it won’t deliver mail ballots unless states provide a list of voters who should receive them and format the envelopes in a certain way.

“Plaintiff states have neither time nor funds to design new mail ballots, seek approval of the new designs, order production of mail ballots, update their own election management systems, train election officials to use the USPS portal and upload citizen data to the portal, all before the midterms," Talwani wrote Thursday.

The White House did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. A hearing in the case is set for Sept. 3.

“This rule is a clear attempt by the federal government to interfere in elections it has no power to control. Today, a federal court halted it before this administration could wreak havoc on our elections,” New York Attorney General Letitia James, one of two dozen Democratic attorneys general who filed one of the suits, said in a statement after the order.

Democrats and voting rights groups contend the Postal Services' demand is unconstitutional. The Constitution, they note, grants states and, in some cases, Congress the power to make election rules — not the president or Postal Service.

That reasoning led courts to block Trump’s first executive order, issued last year, that sought to change election procedures, such as requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register.

The president has long targeted mail voting, which he falsely blames for his 2020 election loss even though he himself uses it to cast his ballot.

A report by the Brookings Institution published in 2025 found that mail voting fraud occurred in only about four cases out of every 10 million mail ballots cast.

Trump issued the executive order targeting mail voting, his second one related to elections since he returned from office, in March.

Opponents quickly sued, but the administration argued the claims were premature because it hadn’t issued rules outlining how it would implement the order. The administration won an initial case in Washington, D.C., with that reasoning, but Talwani placed injunctions against implementing the order for the November midterms in two separate cases she heard in Boston.

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority on Monday struck down one of those holds.

Talwani, nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama, reluctantly removed the second injunction shortly after. The plaintiffs then moved to refile their cases, citing the Postal Service’s publishing of its final rule, in hopes of winning a more durable victory.

The 4-3 vote by the Tampa City Council came three months after a tentative agreement was reached for a stadium, which would include $967 million in tax money.

Rays Chief Executive Officer Ken Babby said in a statement that the stadium project will “deliver lasting benefits” for the region.

“The Tampa Bay Rays are grateful for the leadership and support of the City Council members to approve an investment that, when accompanied by the private funding guaranteed by the Rays, will secure the future of Major League Baseball in Tampa Bay while creating a landmark destination neighborhood that will serve our region for generations,” Babby said Thursday.

Hillsborough County Commissioners will vote on the project Friday morning.

The Rays ownership reached an agreement earlier this year with Hillsborough College to build the stadium and mixed-use entertainment district on the campus and to renovate some of the school's buildings. The property is located next to the New York Yankees’ spring training facility and across a highway from Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Rays have said they hope to have the new stadium built within three years.

Since the team took the field in 1998, the Rays have played at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, except for moving home games to the Yankees' George M. Steinbrenner Field in 2025 following hurricane damage at the Trop. The Rays' lease runs through at least the 2028 season. The team returned to the Trop last month for the start of this season.

A proposed $1.3 billion redevelopment deal for a new ballpark adjacent to the Trop fell through last year, raising new questions about the future of the team, which was bought last September by Patrick Zalupski’s ownership group.

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U.S. Customs and Border Protection says the area is a dangerous smuggling route and that building the wall will close a longstanding security gap. But members of the Tohono O'odham Nation, whose membership spans both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, have accused the administration of trespassing and say the construction will damage land sacred to the tribe.

The wall segment is part of a $46 billion effort by the Trump administration to fill the border with 30-foot (9-meter) steel bollard walls, vehicle barriers, and technology designed to stop undocumented immigration and smuggling.

But as building efforts have ramped up, the administration has run into opposition from landowners, environmental groups, and Native American tribes who say construction is violating property rights and desecrating sacred Indigenous sites.

The Tohono O'odham Nation said in a statement Tuesday that about 20 Customs and Border Protection officers, working with contractors, went onto the tribe's land early that morning to begin construction.

Drone videos published by nation officials show roughly 14 vehicles and an industrial drill at one of the sites.

A federal judge permitted the government to move forward with construction earlier this month, but the tribe says the contractors are violating tribal codes and trespassing to access the border wall site.

The Tohono O’odham Nation, which has 37,000 members including thousands who live in Mexico, sued the federal government in June in an attempt to block construction of the border wall. The tribe argued that the wall would cause “significant devastation” on the reservation, including the destruction of mountain peaks sacred to the tribe, and would alter boundaries of their nation.

US District Judge Richard Leon in Washington, D.C., an appointee of former President George W. Bush, ruled in favor of the government, noting that the border wall would be built on a 60-foot (18-meter) wide buffer zone of federally owned land called the Roosevelt Reservation.

“Defendants have not yet articulated plans to construct outside the Roosevelt Reservation,” the judge wrote in his opinion.

The Tohono O'odham Nation said that even if construction were contained to the Roosevelt Reservation, driving onto tribal land to access the area still constitutes trespassing.

“The contractors, who are on the Nation illegally, were accompanied by agents as they worked on three separate locations near the border with drill trucks to conduct soil sampling and other activities,” tribal officials said in a statement.

The CBP agents were masked, armed, and set up a vehicle blockade to stop tribal police from removing the contractors, according to Tohono O’odham officials. The nation had set up “No Trespassing” signs before Tuesday.

So far, no physical confrontations between police or members of the Tohono O’odham Nation have been reported.

CBP defended the need for the wall in a statement Tuesday, saying the desert spanning the Tohono O’odham Nation is a corridor for drug smuggling.

“The project will close one of the most dangerous smuggling and trafficking corridors on the Southwest border: remote desert that has facilitated decades of drug loads, migrant deaths, and cartel activity,” said CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott.

Tribal officials said they’re exploring further legal actions in an effort to remove contractors.

SLSCO Ltd., the Texas-based construction company building the section in Arizona, has secured over $390 million in funding from the Department of Homeland Security to build the border wall since 2023.

Skubal says he hopes to focus on representing the Dodgers instead of dwelling on his memories with the Tigers at Comerica Park. He acknowledged it may not be easy to keep his emotions in check.

“We'll see, right?” Skubal told SI.com on Wednesday. “The whole process was emotional. I have a lot of respect for those guys over there. I'm just going to go play baseball.”

Overall this season, Skubal is 8-7 with a 2.91 ERA. In four starts for the Dodgers since the Aug. 1 trade, Skubal is 1-2 with a 3.38 ERA. He is coming off his first win for the Dodgers. The left-hander had 11 strikeouts in seven innings in a 4-3 win over Pittsburgh in Los Angeles on Saturday night.

Skubal, 29, made his major league debut with Detroit in 2020 and had played for no other team before the trade. The deal sent the two-time defending AL Cy Young winner to the two-time defending World Series champions.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he believes Skubal has the right temperament to handle the emotions which will come with his Detroit homecoming.

“I think, you know, that whole ‘be where your feet are’ adage, I think that’s just who he is,” Roberts said Wednesday. “Some people have a hard time letting go, but I think that Tarik is a guy that, wherever he’s at, he’s all in.”

Roberts said he expects Skubal “is going to try to engage guys and immerse himself with coaches, with his teammates, the best he can. That’s a good trait. Like I said, I’ve only known him a short time, but I’m really, really fortunate we got him on our club. Not even just for the pitching, just beyond.”

Skubal said he is “sure it will be emotional there just because of the history.” The emotions will be fresh because he has had less than one month to adjust to his new Los Angeles home before making his return to Detroit.

“But at the end of the day, I’ve got to go play baseball," Skubal said. “I’ve got to compete and do what I do well, what makes me a good pitcher. I’ll probably handle the emotions after.”

The Tigers are expected to have right-hander Drew Anderson (4-5, 4.09 ERA) face Skubal in the opener of the three-game series.

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AP Sports Writer Maura Carey contributed to this report.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

A pair of runner-up finishes this year, at Pebble Beach and the Scottish Open, made Lee a lock to be among the top 30 players who get a shot at the FedEx Cup, the $10 million prize and a five-year exemption on the PGA Tour. He just hasn't felt like a top-30 player in recent weeks.

“Very average two weeks the last two weeks. It was probably the saddest I’ve been on the golf course, which is not good,” Lee said. “We’re really lucky to be out here and play some good golf to get into the playoffs. It just felt so hard.”

There was no such feeling in the opening round of the final event of the FedEx Cup season. He rarely was under stress to make par, made four of his eight birdies from outside 10 feet and wound up with a lead over Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa and Chris Gotterup.

Scottie Scheffler started his day with a 6-foot par putt and never came close to another bogey in his round of 65. He also was nearly recovered from the hand, foot and mouth disease he picked up last week that gave him blisters on his feet, hands and throat. The hands were the biggest problem. Those are fine. There's still a few in his throat, and he sounded much better than a week ago.

The greatest testament came from Matt Fitzpatrick, who also played with him in the opening round at Bellerive last week.

“I played with him last week and he said, ‘Man, I thought I pissed you off or something. You didn't talk to me for two days,'” Scheffler said. “I was like, ‘No, man, I just couldn’t speak.'”

Scheffler is No. 1 in the FedEx Cup — he picked up a $23 million bonus last week — but that doesn't matter at East Lake. Under the current format, any of the 30 players who win the Tour Championship are deemed the FedEx Cup champion.

Tommy Fleetwood, who opened with a 66 in his title defense, was the FedEx Cup champion despite not winning all year until the Tour Championship. Lee is in the same situation this year. Only one other — Ludvig Aberg — from the eight players at 65 or better has yet to win this year.

The immediate payoff for Lee was changing to a slightly heavier shaft in his irons after his coach felt he was swinging faster than usual. The shaft helped to slow it down, and it worked.

He birdied the par-5 18th for a 62, matching the score he shot at the Nicklaus Tournament course at PGA West to start the year. That was the California desert at The American Express, a tournament known for its low scoring. This one might have been easier given the conditions.

Rain about an hour before the first tee time made the greens softer, and it showed in the scoring. All 29 players in the field were at even par or better, and the course played to 66.7

Missing from the field was 2025 U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun, who withdrew after five holes because of a shoulder injury.

Spaun said he felt a sharp pain in his right shoulder blade on Tuesday and he spent two days trying to manage it.

“Today it felt a lot better, like mobility-wise,” he said. “But I think with the torque and the amount of force in a golf swing, it just doesn’t feel very comfortable. I’m nowhere in my game health-wise to be able to compete at the highest level.”

BMW Championship winner Wyndham Clark birdied two of his last three holes to salvage a 67.

Gary Woodland, back at the Tour Championship for the first time since 2019, Adam Scott and British Open champion Ryan Fox were among those joining the group of players at 68. Rory McIlroy, the only three-time FedEx Cup champion, opened with a 68.

Russell Henley, who grew up just over an hour south in Macon, had 18 pars in his round of 70.

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See AP’s full golf coverage here

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🚨Cristian González es el nuevo entrenador de Inter Miami.
🤝 Más detalles de la exclusiva de @tribuna_ftbl ⬇️https://t.co/4krRBXuNiM pic.twitter.com/IMGkIYfoQN

— César Luis Merlo (@CLMerlo) August 27, 2026

The news comes on Thursday after Major League Soccer suspended Hoyos for one match for violating the MLS’s Late Kickoff Policy. The punishment comes after Miami would take too long to return to the field following breaks.

Hoyos will serve his suspension Saturday but will not return to the club as head coach.

Inter Miami was also fined by MLS.

Gonzalez, 52, played for Argentine clubs Rosario Central and Boca Juniors, Spanish clubs Zaragoza and Valencia, and Italian giants Inter Milan during his playing career from 1993 to 2011.

He has coached three clubs, all in Argentina: Rosario Central, Unión and Platense.

He comes to Miami after the club has failed to win its last five matches.

La mujer de 24 años, ingresada en la cárcel principal de Broward en Fort Lauderdale, es el sexto miembro de su familia en ser arrestado, y el quinto implicado directamente, en relación con lo que la policía dijo que fueron años de tortura contra su prima, quien tenía 15 años cuando se realizaron los primeros arrestos en octubre de 2023.

Esos arrestos, de los tutores Latricia Elizabeth Crawley y Benjamin Deztuan Lockett, se produjeron después de que la adolescente denunciara el abuso a un instructor en línea, quien luego informó a la policía de Margate, dijeron las autoridades.

Las autoridades dijeron que Crawley, de 49 años, y Lockett, de 46, tía y tío de la adolescente, respectivamente, la sometieron a diversas formas de tortura en una vivienda ubicada en la cuadra 200 de Northwest 79th Terrace, entre ellas golpearla, ponerle aceite en las rodillas y obligarla a arrodillarse sobre arroz, atarla con una cuerda, arrojarle agua hirviendo y echarle agua fría mientras dormía, “solo para verla despertar”.

Documentos de acusación modificados también indican que Crawley insertó tachuelas debajo de las uñas de la adolescente, utilizó una pistola de grapas en su espalda, le roció gas pimienta en el rostro y le frotó una “mezcla de sal de Epsom y acondicionador” en los ojos.

La adolescente, según la policía, fue encerrada en dos armarios diferentes y obligada a orinar y defecar en un balde.

Los agentes dijeron que cuando la encontraron, presentaba múltiples señales de desnutrición e inanición.

Posteriormente se produjeron otros arrestos, entre ellos el de la hermana de la adolescente, Shankyria Clayton, y otra prima, Treaunshae Gibbons.

Clayton, de 23 años, está acusada de estar al tanto del abuso y no denunciarlo, además de participar junto con su tía, tío y prima en encerrar y privar de alimentos a su hermana.

Gibbons, de 32 años, está acusada de estar al tanto del abuso y no denunciarlo, a pesar de que en ese momento trabajaba para una organización sin fines de lucro dedicada a combatir el abuso infantil. La policía dijo que utilizó su conocimiento del sistema para ayudar a Crawley a lidiar con los investigadores, actuando como “intermediaria”.

La policía dijo que la adolescente también vivía con un familiar que era un delincuente sexual. Horace Crawley, quien entonces tenía 74 años, fue arrestado en noviembre de 2023 por dos cargos relacionados con no volver a registrarse. Sin embargo, nunca ha sido implicado en el abuso.

Los registros judiciales de Broward muestran que no refutó los cargos relacionados con el registro y recibió libertad condicional.

Graham es ahora la persona más reciente arrestada en el caso.

Según los procedimientos judiciales, ella sabía que la policía la estaba buscando y se entregó el miércoles.

Las autoridades dijeron que uno de los armarios donde la víctima permanecía encerrada estaba en la habitación de Graham mientras ella vivía con la familia y que Graham, quien en ocasiones tenía la tarea de vigilar a la víctima, solo la dejaba salir del armario para defecar.

Ahora enfrenta cargos de abuso infantil agravado, negligencia infantil y no denunciar abuso infantil.

En el tribunal el jueves, un juez ordenó que Graham permaneciera detenida sin derecho a fianza.

Una audiencia en el caso de los otros familiares está programada para el 14 de septiembre y se cree que Graham también formará parte de ella.

🚨Cristian González es el nuevo entrenador de Inter Miami.
🤝 Más detalles de la exclusiva de @tribuna_ftbl ⬇️https://t.co/4krRBXuNiM pic.twitter.com/IMGkIYfoQN

— César Luis Merlo (@CLMerlo) August 27, 2026

La noticia llega el jueves después de que la Major League Soccer suspendiera a Hoyos por un partido por violar la Política de Inicio Tardío de la MLS. El castigo llega después de que Miami tardara demasiado en regresar al campo tras los descansos.

Hoyos cumplirá su suspensión el sábado, pero no regresará al club como director técnico.

Inter Miami también fue multado por la MLS.

González, de 52 años, jugó para los clubes argentinos Rosario Central y Boca Juniors, los clubes españoles Zaragoza y Valencia, y el gigante italiano Inter de Milán durante su carrera como jugador de 1993 a 2011.

Ha dirigido a tres clubes, todos en Argentina: Rosario Central, Unión y Platense.

Llega a Miami después de que el club no lograra ganar sus últimos cinco partidos.

Friday will feature sunshine, scattered clouds and light east-southeast winds. There may be a few showers around in the morning, followed by “pop-up” storms over inland areas during the afternoon. Indeed, it will be another hot day. Temperatures are forecast to reach the low 90s, with heat indexes topping 100 degrees.

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Jose Bravo surrendered to Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies at noon on Thursday at the Broward County Main Jail in Fort Lauderdale, records show.

Bravo, who lives in Hialeah, was driving a black Chevrolet pickup truck when he stole fuel on July 6 from the 7-Eleven at 6460 Pines Boulevard, according to Pembroke Pines police officers.

“The eight separate incidents cost the victim business approximately 1,500 gallons of diesel fuel, totaling approximately $8,000,” a police officer wrote, according to the arrest report.

A detective accused Bravo of stealing fuel on July 6, on July 9, on July 14, on July 21, on July 24, on July 27, on Aug. 5, and on Aug. 7, according to the report.

A Hialeah detective also arrested Bravo over nine fuel thefts at other 7-Eleven gas stations in Hialeah and seized Bravo’s truck with a 150-diesel fuel tank, records show.

West Palm Beach police officers arrested Bravo after a detective accused him of stealing about $1,090 in fuel in July 2024 from a Wawa gas station at 2370 45th St., records show.

The 44 charges

In Miami-Dade County, Bravo faced 11 charges: Nine counts of petit theft, a misdemeanor; and two felonies, obtaining fuel fraudulently and transporting fuel without a license. His bond was $14,500.

Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge David H. Young was presiding over the case.

In Broward County, Bravo faced 33 charges: Grand theft of $5,000 or more, a third-degree felony; eight counts of obtaining fuel by fraud, a third-degree felony; eight counts of unlawful conveyance of fuel, a third-degree felony; eight counts of transporting fuel without a license, a first-degree misdemeanor; and eight counts of larceny - motor vehicle drive off, a second-degree misdemeanor.

Broward County Circuit Judge Lorena V. Mastrarrigo was presiding over the case.

Jose Bravo se entregó a agentes de la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward al mediodía del jueves en la cárcel principal del condado Broward en Fort Lauderdale, según muestran los registros.

Bravo, quien vive en Hialeah, conducía una camioneta Chevrolet negra cuando robó combustible el 6 de julio del 7-Eleven ubicado en 6460 Pines Boulevard, según agentes de la policía de Pembroke Pines.

“Los ocho incidentes separados le costaron al negocio afectado aproximadamente 1,500 galones de combustible diésel, por un total de aproximadamente $8,000 USD”, escribió un agente de policía, según el reporte de arresto.

Un detective acusó a Bravo de robar combustible el 6 de julio, el 9 de julio, el 14 de julio, el 21 de julio, el 24 de julio, el 27 de julio, el 5 de agosto y el 7 de agosto, según el reporte.

Un detective de Hialeah también arrestó a Bravo por nueve robos de combustible en otras gasolineras 7-Eleven en Hialeah e incautó la camioneta de Bravo, que tenía un tanque de combustible diésel de 150 galones, según muestran los registros.

Agentes de la policía de West Palm Beach arrestaron a Bravo después de que un detective lo acusara de robar alrededor de $1,090 USD en combustible en julio de 2024 de una gasolinera Wawa ubicada en 2370 45th St., según muestran los registros.

Los 44 cargos

En el condado Miami-Dade, Bravo enfrentaba 11 cargos: nueve cargos de hurto menor, un delito menor; y dos delitos graves, obtener combustible de manera fraudulenta y transportar combustible sin licencia. Su fianza era de $14,500 USD.

El juez de circuito del condado Miami-Dade David H. Young presidía el caso.

En el condado Broward, Bravo enfrentaba 33 cargos: hurto mayor de $5,000 USD o más, un delito grave de tercer grado; ocho cargos de obtener combustible mediante fraude, un delito grave de tercer grado; ocho cargos de transporte ilegal de combustible, un delito grave de tercer grado; ocho cargos de transportar combustible sin licencia, un delito menor de primer grado; y ocho cargos de hurto por abandonar una gasolinera en un vehículo sin pagar, un delito menor de segundo grado.

La jueza de circuito del condado Broward Lorena V. Mastrarrigo presidía el caso.

During a county commission meeting on Aug. 25, Marchesani said 46 out of the 5,000 were credible enough to prompt investigations. Joseph Abruzzo, the county administrator, said the comments and complaints had been received since Jan. 1.

“The County has not been advised by law enforcement that any of those communications has been determined to constitute a credible threat,” Abruzzo said in a statement.

Marchesani also said there was a concern about a need for more security, and about the costs of renaming the airport. He said the state had provided half of the $5.5 million estimated cost and the county was seeking the other half.

Julie Pierre, la propietaria de 21 años de Roll and Dough Bakery en Sunrise, inicialmente creyó que un mensajero de Uber había robado alrededor de $3,000 USD en rollos de canela que estaba enviando a un mercado de agricultores.

Su historia se volvió viral en las redes sociales después de que reportara la desaparición de los rollos el sábado.

Pero el mensajero nunca se fue con el pedido.

Un portavoz de la Patrulla Fronteriza de Estados Unidos identificó al mensajero como Ivan Dario Rico Molano. Según la agencia, fue arrestado durante una parada de tráfico en Hollywood.

Un portavoz de CBP dijo que Molano, ciudadano de Colombia, admitió estar en Estados Unidos sin autorización legal. Los registros indican que ingresó legalmente a Estados Unidos en mayo de 2021, pero permaneció más allá de su período de estadía autorizado.

“Nos enteramos de que fue detenido en Hollywood por la Patrulla Fronteriza”, dijo Pierre. “Cuando fue detenido por la Patrulla Fronteriza, llamaron a un familiar y el familiar pudo recoger el vehículo, y el auto todavía tenía los recipientes dentro”.

Pierre dijo que la policía se comunicó con la familia del mensajero, que recuperó el vehículo y encontró los rollos de canela todavía dentro.

“¿El familiar sabía que había rollos de canela allí?”, preguntó Rosh Lowe de Local 10. “¿Cómo se enteraron?”

“Entonces, creo que la policía fue la que se comunicó con su familia”, dijo Pierre. “Y encontraron los recipientes allí”.

Los rollos de canela permanecieron en recipientes dentro del vehículo, pero Pierre dijo que no se arriesgaría a comerlos.

Uber reembolsó a Pierre por su pérdida, dijo.

El caso comenzó a principios de esta semana cuando Pierre dijo que había perdido alrededor de $3,000 USD en rollos de canela después de utilizar el servicio de mensajería de Uber para entregarlos en un mercado de agricultores.

El pedido nunca llegó a su destino previsto, lo que la llevó a publicar sobre el incidente en las redes sociales.

Se presentó un reporte policial ante el Departamento de Policía de Sunrise y se creó una página de GoFundMe para ayudar a Pierre a cubrir los gastos perdidos.

Mientras tanto, los rollos de canela recuperados no serán vendidos.

Health workers and other frontline workers in the Ebola response are being prioritized to receive the Ervebo vaccine that was effective in past Ebola outbreaks caused by a different, more common type. Clinical trials are going on to find a licensed vaccine for the current outbreak.

“We have decided to use the Ervebo vaccine to protect first those who are on the front line,” Health Minister Roger Kamba said at the launch of the vaccination campaign in Kisangani, the capital of Tshopo, which is one of the six provinces affected by Ebola in the east.

As of Tuesday, the country had recorded 5,713 confirmed cases, including 2,744 deaths, according to government figures. It is concentrated in Ituri province and is known to be the deadliest of all past 17 Ebola outbreaks in the country.

The outbreak is spreading under extremely difficult conditions, fueled by insecurity, displacement, a health workers’ strike and intense population movements. The World Health Organization has said it remains out of control and is on track to surpass the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak, the deadliest on record, which killed more than 11,000 people, primarily in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

More than 50,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine have been received, according to Congo’s state news agency.

The World Health Organization said last week that 70,000 doses of Ervebo had been approved for use in Congo.

About 50,000 doses are intended for frontline and health workers, while 20,000 doses will be used in a clinical trial to study whether the vaccine protects against Bundibugyo virus, which is causing the current outbreak and has no licensed vaccine nor treatment.

The vaccine is being used under a compassionate-use program, which allows a medical product to be used in a serious disease situation even though it has not been specifically approved for that particular use.

Health authorities said Ervebo could offer some protection against the Bundibugyo virus because the two viruses are related. But whether the vaccine can actually prevent illness in people infected with Bundibugyo Ebola is still being studied.

Placide Mbala Kingebeni, Africa CDC’s director for research, clinical trials and innovation, said data will be collected during the vaccination campaign to measure how well the vaccine works.

The campaign is expected to cover 14 health zones in Tshopo, Bas-Uele and Haut-Uele provinces.

Kamba strongly encouraged health workers to get vaccinated, saying the vaccine could protect them from the disease and help prevent them from carrying the virus into their communities.

The crash happened at about 9:43 p.m. near 71st Street and Bay Drive East, according to Miami Beach police.

Authorities said a blue Jeep was exiting the Marathon gas station at 875 71st St. and turning right to head west on 71st Street when it struck the woman, who was riding an e-scooter eastbound on the sidewalk.

Police said the impact threw the woman from the scooter, and she became pinned beneath the Jeep several feet away from where the crash occurred.

They said responding officers worked together to lift the vehicle while others spoke with the injured woman and tried to keep her calm. The officers were eventually able to free her.

She was taken by Miami Beach Fire Rescue to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center with injuries that were not considered life-threatening, authorities confirmed.

“These officers demonstrated exactly what we expect from those who wear the MBPD badge — courage, compassion and a commitment to protecting life,” said Miami Beach Police Department Chief Wayne Jones. “They recognized the urgency of the situation, acted without hesitation and worked together to free a woman trapped beneath a vehicle. I am incredibly proud of their swift and selfless response.”

Police confirmed that the driver of the Jeep was cited for causing the crash.

Federal prosecutors say the gang known as “Los Baja Deo” for years trafficked fentanyl, cocaine and other illegal drugs from the west coast city of Mayagüez, generating nearly $50 million in proceeds. The group is also responsible for shootings, killings, kidnappings and assaults and the distribution of at least 340 kilograms of fentanyl or fentanyl-laced narcotics, Blanche said.

“Our Homeland Security Task Forces around the country are unified and they’re unified to end the presence of criminal cartels, foreign gangs and transnational criminal organizations around the United States,” the newly confirmed attorney general told reporters from the U.S. attorney’s office in San Juan.

Blanche’s presence in the U.S. Caribbean territory for the announcement underscores the Trump administration’s efforts to put a spotlight on its work tackling cartels and gangs that fuel drug trafficking and violence in communities across the U.S. The Trump administration has dramatically reshaped the Justice Department to make tackling illegal immigration and violent crime a top priority.

“These 81 violent gang members will now face justice and so will any other that try to take their place,” said Héctor Ramírez-Carbó, the acting U.S. attorney for Puerto Rico. “Today, the families of Mayagüez can peacefully enjoy what their communities have to offer without fear of harm.”

Barcelona's match was supposed to feature a tribute to Spain’s World Cup champions but instead it became an act of support for the “estelada” flag, Catalonia’s pro-independence symbol.

Rodri's first minutes with Barcelona

Rodri, signed from Manchester City after captaining Spain to the World Cup title, came off the bench in the 62nd minute to a warm welcome from the Camp Nou crowd.

“I'm happy to play my first game with Barcelona, happy for the victory, the second in a row for the team,” Rodri said. “It's important to start gaining rhythm. I felt good with my first minutes.”

Rodri is one of eight World Cup winners in Barcelona's squad, but the planned tribute for them ahead of the match didn't take place after one of the club's fans had an estelada flag taken away from him by police before the team’s game at Elche last weekend. He confronted the officers and ended up being hit and detained.

Instead of the tribute, an act supporting the estelada organized by a local group took place with Camp Nou laden with some 10,000 small flags that were handed to fans.

Raphinha and Fermín López scored a goal in each half to give Barcelona its second straight win to start the defense of its Spanish league title.

Athletic goalkeeper Unai Simón — Spain's starter at the World Cup — made a series of outstanding saves to keep Barcelona from scoring more goals.

In the other La Liga game, Osasuna came from behind to win 2-1 at 10-man Celta Vigo.

No Enzo for Chelsea in League Cup win

Danny Welbeck's goal and an own-goal by Hakeem Odoffin gave Chelsea a 2-0 win over third-division Luton in the second round of the English League Cup.

Chelsea coach Xabi Alonso fielded a strong lineup following a 3-2 win at Fulham in the Premier League on Monday, but Enzo Fernandez — reportedly of interest to Man City — was not in the squad.

Luton is coached by 34-year-old Jack Wilshere, the former Arsenal and England midfielder.

In the other League Cup game, Fulham defeated third-tier Wimbledon 3-0 with goals by Emile Smith Rowe, Rodrigo Muniz and Gonzalo García. It was coach Álvaro Arbeloa's first win in charge of the London club.

Europa League: Salah's Trabzonspor out

Mohamed Salah's Trabzonspor was eliminated by Ferencvaros 5-0 on aggregate following a 4-0 away loss in the second leg.

Trabzonspor finished the game with nine men after having Ruslan Malinovskyi sent off in the 13th minute and Sidny Lopes Cabral in the 57th.

Salah, who scored his first goals with his new club over the weekend, was substituted in the second half.

Portugal's Benfica beat Danish side AGF 3-1 on the road to advance 6-2 on aggregate. Gianluca Prestianni, who was disciplined for verbally abusing Vinícius Júnior in the Champions League last season, scored twice for Benfica.

In the Conference League playoffs, Rangers fell to Czech Republic side Jablonec in a penalty shootout.

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See AP’s full soccer coverage here

Stars and Stripes publisher Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Erik Slavin and Middle East reporter Lara Korte are named as plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit filed Thursday in Washington, D.C.

The Pentagon, which partially funds the news outlet, fired them last week. A Pentagon spokesperson declined to comment on the suit’s allegations.

Slavin says he was dismissed for insubordination after giving an interview to CBS News in which he objected to potential censorship by the U.S. military. Korte participated in the same interview. Their lawsuit says they were punished in retaliation for publishing a report on deteriorating conditions aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln.

“Stripes’ historical editorial independence is critical to its core mission of gathering and providing unbiased, credible journalism to the U.S. military community, particularly servicemembers and their families stationed overseas,” the suit says.

Lederer was dismissed shortly after announcing his impending retirement, effective at the end of September. He said the Pentagon had installed a new deputy publisher, an active duty service member, under him at the newspaper without his prior knowledge.

The suit's plaintiffs are represented by attorneys from Democracy Defenders Fund, Lawyers for Good Government, Government Accountability Project and a Yale Law School clinic.

The Defense Department and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are among the named defendants.

El ministro de la Presidencia, Fernando Aramayo, en una reunión con alcaldes, dijo que el FMI estableció como uno de los “condicionamientos” la liberación de precios de los hidrocarburos para acceder a un crédito de 1.900 millones de dólares.

El gobierno afirma que recurre a los organismos internacionales como el FMI para respaldar su programa de reformas económicas con el fin de salir de la peor crisis en cuatro décadas.

El pasada semana el gobierno decretó la suba del diésel —el carburante más escaso— de un 0,85 a 1,56 dólares por litro para empresas corporativas, exportadores, compañías mineras y la gran industria. El aumento no alcanzó a la gasolina.

La persistente escasez del combustible genera largas filas en las gasolineras. Los alcaldes y productores agrícolas rechazan la suba del diésel debido a que ha encarecido mucho más este carburante y pidieron la anulación de la medida.

Paralelamente, la policía boliviana despejó la ruta que une a las regiones orientales de Santa Cruz y Beni, donde productores arroceros instalaron en la víspera un punto de bloqueo en contra de la medida desafiando así el estado excepción que se estableció tras las protestas de 53 días entre mayo y junio que asfixiaron principalmente a las ciudades de La Paz y El Alto.

Los policías usaron gases lacrimógenos para despejar la ruta y dejaron pasar a decenas de automóviles, camiones y buses varados.

Mientras los alcaldes en la reunión pidieron la anulación del decreto al presidente Rodrigo Paz, quien respondió que en este momento no aplican las medidas con “anestesia” porque la situación económica es compleja.

“Si Rodrigo Paz mañana está o no está, es lo de menos, el que venga igual va a tener que tomar la misma decisión”, señaló.

Aramayo agregó que “no es sostenible que el Estado financie una partida que ha tenido un componente de corrupción muy grande… y está desangrando el Tesoro General del Estado”.

Por su parte, los productores de soja y arroz de la localidad de Yapacaní, Santa Cruz, le dieron al gobierno hasta el viernes para anular la medida y amenzaron con instalar puntos de bloqueo.

En tanto, Klauss Frerking, de la Cámara Agropecuaria del Oriente (CAO), señaló que el decreto no ha solucionado el problema del desabastecimiento y lo que ha generado es un mercado paralelo con altos costos para los productores.

El gobierno argumenta que una de las razones principales del incremento a las grandes compras de diésel obedece a que como Bolivia importa la mayor parte del carburante que consume, mantener un subsidio para todos los sectores se volvió financieramente difícil para el Estado debido al agotamiento de las reservas internacionales. Cobrar un precio real a las grandes industrias permite aliviar la presión sobre las finanzas, sostiene.

Karina se ubicaba a unos 1.330 kilómetros (825 millas) al sur del extremo sur de la península mexicana de Baja California, con vientos máximos sostenidos de unos 75 kilómetros por hora (45 millas por hora), según un aviso del NHC (siglas en inglés del centro de huracanes, ubicado en Miami). Por su parte, la tormenta tropical Lowell se situaba a unos 2.840 kilómetros (1.765 millas) al oeste-suroeste del extremo de Baja California, con vientos máximos sostenidos de alrededor de 65 km/h (40 mph).

No había avisos preventivos en vigor para ninguna de las dos tormentas, aunque el NHC advirtió que la marejada de Karina podría provocar oleaje peligroso y corrientes de resaca potencialmente mortales en partes del suroeste de México y de Baja California el fin de semana.

Más temprano el jueves, la tormenta tropical Dolly se formó en el océano Atlántico lejos de tierra, y los meteorólogos indicaron que podría llevar fuertes lluvias a partes del Caribe.

La tormenta se encontraba a unos 2.500 kilómetros (1.555 millas) al este de las Islas de Barlovento norteñas, y tenía vientos máximos sostenidos de 64 km/h (40 mph), informó el NHC. Dolly se desplazaba hacia el oeste.

La tormenta y su nombre no tenían ninguna conexión con la muerte de la cantante Dolly Parton el martes.

Los sistemas de tormentas reciben nombres mediante procedimientos establecidos por la Organización Meteorológica Mundial, y las listas de nombres se reutilizan cada seis años. Para la región del Atlántico, las listas son alfabéticas y alternan nombres masculinos y femeninos.

Dolly fue la cuarta tormenta con nombre de la temporada de huracanes del Atlántico de 2026.

No había avisos preventivos en vigor, pero el centro indicó que las Islas de Barlovento norteñas podrían recibir fuertes lluvias el sábado y el domingo. Las Islas Vírgenes, Puerto Rico y La Española podrían registrar fuertes lluvias el domingo y el lunes.

Se pronostican pocos cambios en la intensidad durante los próximos días, agregó el centro, pero podría haber inundaciones repentinas.

La temporada de huracanes del Atlántico comenzó cuando la tormenta tropical Arthur tocó tierra en junio en la costa estadounidense del Golfo de México, y la tormenta tropical Bertha arrojó lluvias en Luisiana y Texas en julio. La tormenta tropical Cristóbal se formó y se disipó rápidamente en el Atlántico previamente en agosto.

La Oficina Nacional de Administración Oceánica y Atmosférica (NOAA, por sus siglas en inglés) ha pronosticado una temporada de huracanes del Atlántico por debajo del promedio debido al fenómeno de El Niño. Vaticinó de ocho a 14 tormentas con nombre, de las cuales tres a seis de ellas alcanzarán fuerza de huracán y de una a tres de esas se intensificarán a huracanes de categoría 3 o superior.

El NHC y otras agencias meteorológicas le dan nombre a las tormentas para comunicarle fácilmente a la gente las advertencias sobre ellas y para evitar confusiones. La OMM dice que se eligen nombres cortos, fáciles de pronunciar y familiares para las regiones del mundo donde se utilizan. El organismo se reúne periódicamente con el fin de evaluar posibles nombres, y algunos de ellos se retiran por razones de sensibilidad, especialmente en el caso de tormentas que causan muertes y destrucción.

En la temporada de 2025 se retiró el nombre de Melissa, pues fue un huracán de categoría 5 que causó devastación en el Caribe.

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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.

The Food and Drug Administration said government scientists have now identified cases in three additional states: Georgia, Tennessee and Texas.

The tally of people sickened by the parasite is now 11,458, up from about 10,900 reported last week.

The FDA, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health officials have focused their investigation on lettuce grown at a farm in central Mexico operated by Taylor Farms, a major U.S. produce supplier.

The FDA said its staffers are continuing to inspect and test produce at the farm, in cooperation with officials from the Mexican government. The U.S. agency said it “remains confident that all recalled iceberg lettuce related to this specific cyclospora outbreak is off the market.”

Cyclospora is a microscopic parasite that commonly causes watery diarrhea “with frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements,” according to the CDC. Outbreaks tend to occur most often in the late spring and summer.

The heat-loving parasite infects the bowels and spreads through feces. The illness, called cyclosporiasis, is less common than foodborne illnesses caused by other germs, including salmonella and E. coli. Many cyclospora cases are never linked to a specific food or other source.

Earlier this week, the CDC reported that there have been about 29,000 confirmed or suspected cyclospora cases in the U.S. this year. There have been 922 hospitalizations, according to the agency. Previously, the worst year in the U.S. for infections was 2019, when about 4,700 illnesses were reported nationally.

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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.

DeSantis on Thursday did not dispute the legitimacy of the secret grand jury report obtained and published online by CBS News Miami, but he insisted no laws were broken and said whoever leaked the sealed documents would face “consequences.”

The Leon County grand jury completed its report in January on investigations into Hope Florida, the charity started in 2021 by Florida first lady Casey DeSantis. Despite the lack of charges, the report ignited a new round of criticism aimed at DeSantis and other top state Republicans over the charity receiving $10 million from a state Medicaid settlement intended to help poor children get health insurance.

David Jolly, the Democratic nominee for governor, called for the grand jury probe to be reopened. He faces Republican Byron Donalds in November. DeSantis, under Florida law, cannot seek a third term.

The Hope Florida charity is supposed to help financially struggling families connect with churches and aid groups to help keep them off publicly-financed assistance programs. The $10 million was instead moved to political action committees that used the money to oppose a 2024 statewide ballot measure that would have legalized marijuana for adults in the state.

DeSantis opposed the measure, and it fell just short of the 60% supermajority it needed to become law.

“Despite our finding that the money was misappropriated, we find insufficient evidence to charge anyone criminally,” the report concluded.

The grand jury said no one would take responsibility for sending the money to the charity or had any memory of who did.

“We recognize that this would be an impediment to criminal prosecution,” the report noted. “While we can’t prove who is responsible, we can plainly see that taxpayer money was misused for political purposes and we would like to see changes made to prevent this from happening again.”

The grand jury report concluded that James Uthmeier, who was DeSantis' chief of staff at the time, “was in a position of authority over those involved in settling,” and that his Keep Florida Clean PAC was the prime recipient of the $10 million. The grand jury said then-state Attorney General Ashley Moody's office knew of the plans to divert the money. She was later appointed by DeSantis to the U.S. Senate.

Uthmeier and Moody are both seeking reelection.

In a news conference Thursday, Uthmeier suggested Democrats were behind the grand jury report leak and called renewed interest in its findings “a politically motivated hoax.”

In a post on X on Thursday, Moody said her office was only one of several agencies that signed off on the initial settlement, and “had no knowledge of how funds would be spent" by Hope Florida, state lawmakers or any other group.

Jacobs was arrested May 26 after police were called to his home to investigate a disturbance and was released from jail the next day. The charges were announced Thursday by Brown County District Attorney David Lasee.

“Our office sought to ensure a fair and complete review of available evidence, some of which only recently became available to our office due to significant, ongoing forensic efforts by law enforcement,” Lasee said in a statement. “A criminal complaint is nothing more than a written, formal accusation against a defendant alleging the commission of criminal offenses and does not raise any inference of guilt. Mr. Jacobs is presumed innocent of these charges.

“As this is an ongoing criminal case, and out of respect for the rights of all parties, our office will not have further comment on the matter at this time.”

Jacobs’ lawyers — David Z. Chesnoff, Richard A. Schonfeld, and Clarence F. Duchac III — issued a statement acknowledging the charges, noting they “do not include domestic violence.”

“The allegations will be addressed in court, and not in the media," they said. "Mr. Jacobs respects the District Attorney’s office and the process it followed.”

Jacobs was back on the field with the Packers for organized team activities less than a week after the arrest and has been with the team for training camp, though he’s been limited by a groin injury.

Jacobs was initially arrested on five criminal charges, including a felony count of strangulation and suffocation as well as battery, criminal damage to property, disorderly conduct and intimidation of a victim. The only charges filed Thursday involved the misdemeanor counts of battery and disorderly conduct.

Incident started with dispute regarding phone

According to the criminal complaint, the Hobart-Lawrence Police Department responded to a report of a disturbance involving a man and a woman on the morning of May 23. Police said Jacobs’ girlfriend told them she had a lump on her head as a result of Jacobs’ actions.

Police said the woman said she had been looking through Jacobs’ phone and saw he was talking to other women, and that she threw the phone in anger without breaking it.

She told police that Jacobs had her phone and she told him he could look through it.

Police said the woman indicated she tried to retrieve her phone from Jacobs, but he didn’t return it and instead grabbed her arm and began a struggle that lasted several minutes.

Police said the two of them then left in separate vehicles, with the woman following Jacobs to try to get her phone back.

They eventually returned to the home, and the woman said she was going to call police to get her phone back. Police said Jacobs called the woman a derogatory name and said he would “do something to her” as she grabbed a second phone from a duffle bag.

According to police, the woman was trying to exit a garage door to get outside when Jacobs grabbed her and threw her to the ground, causing her to hit her head. Police said Jacobs also took the phone from her while she was on the ground.

Police said they noticed redness on her face and neck and could feel a bump on the back of her head. According to police, the woman said Jacobs hadn’t returned her primary phone, and that her second phone was damaged as a result of the incident.

According to the criminal complaint, surveillance footage from the camera system in the garage corroborated the woman’s statement.

The maximum possible sentence for each of the two charges filed against Jacobs includes nine months in jail and a $10,000 fine.

The NFL said it is monitoring the case. The Packers said they were aware of the charges and would continue to cooperate with the NFL.

Loss of Jacobs would challenge Packers

Jacobs rushed for 929 yards and 13 touchdowns last season. That followed a 2024 season in which Jacobs ran for 1,329 yards and 15 touchdowns while earning his third Pro Bowl selection.

The 28-year-old has rushed for 7,803 yards and 74 touchdowns in his seven-year career, which included five seasons with the Raiders. He earned All-Pro honors and had an NFL-leading 1,653 yards rushing with Las Vegas in 2022.

Running back is a position in which the Packers don't have much depth.

Injuries have caused 2024 third-round draft pick MarShawn Lloyd to play just one game over the past two seasons, though he has been healthy throughout training camp. Pierre Strong Jr. spent last season on Green Bay's practice squad but has 499 career yards rushing with the New England Patriots (2022) and Cleveland Browns (2023-2024). Chris Brooks ran for 106 yards on 27 carries last season while contributing primarily on special teams.

During a news conference Wednesday, Green Bay general manager Brian Gutekunst was asked if the Packers would need to add another running back in the event Jacobs faced charges and got suspended.

“Yeah, I’m pretty confident we can sustain it, but it doesn’t mean we wouldn’t do that,” Gutekunst said about adding a player. “We’ll deal with that when that comes, but we’ve obviously prepared for that in case that happens. But at the same time, I feel really good about the guys we’ve got in that room and I think we can survive that.”

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La policía dijo que el ataque mortal fue reportado en la cuadra 6200 de Southwest 64th Court. Hasta el momento, no han divulgado información sobre el perro.

Indicaron que se pide a residentes y visitantes del área de South Miami que mantengan a niños y mascotas alejados de canales, vías fluviales, estanques y otras áreas donde pueda haber un cocodrilo.

La policía también advirtió al público que no se acerque, alimente, acose ni intente capturar a un cocodrilo que se encuentre cerca.

Los cocodrilos están protegidos por las leyes de Florida y federales.

Cualquier persona que vea al animal debe mantener una distancia segura y reportar el avistamiento a las autoridades de vida silvestre correspondientes, dijo la policía.

La policía también pidió a los residentes que compartan la advertencia con sus vecinos, particularmente con aquellos que tienen mascotas y viven o caminan por el área.

Los residentes o visitantes que tengan inquietudes sobre un cocodrilo en su área pueden comunicarse con la Comisión de Conservación de Pesca y Vida Silvestre de Florida al 866-392-4286.

Dentro del Assembly Food Hall, en el centro de Nashville, la gran peluca rubia de Dolly Parton recibe a todos, junto con su característica sonrisa.

“Es el hada madrina de Estados Unidos y es simplemente la persona más amable e hizo tanto por el mundo”, dijo Pamela Corris.

Desde su muerte, los fanáticos han publicado mensajes aquí compartiendo su amor por su música y algunas de sus mejores frases, entre ellas: “Cuesta mucho dinero verse así de barata”.

Dondequiera que vayas en Nashville, un letrero tras otro muestra cuánto significó para la Ciudad de la Música.

“Fue increíble y esto habla por sí solo”, dijo Haley Minoske.

Continúan llegando homenajes para la cantante de “9 to 5”.

Las banderas en todo el país ondean a media asta en honor a Dolly hasta el 1 de septiembre.

En su ciudad natal de Sevierville, Tennessee, este monumento conmemorativo sigue creciendo.

Mientras los fanáticos continúan de luto, estamos conociendo más sobre los últimos días de Dolly. Su hermana, Stella, publicó en redes sociales:

“Mi hermana fue una de las personas más generosas, consideradas y amables que he conocido. Lo que el mundo vio es exactamente quien ella era, tanto así que recientemente me dijo que si no había esperanza para ella, aun así permitiría que su equipo médico probara medicamentos experimentales con la esperanza de ayudar a otros en el futuro”.

Se realizará un funeral privado para amigos cercanos y familiares antes de que sea sepultada junto a su esposo, Carl Dean, en Woodlawn Memorial Park.

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The 24-year-old, booked into the Broward Main Jail in Fort Lauderdale, is the sixth member of her family to be arrested ― and the fifth to be directly implicated ― in connection with what police said was years of torture of her cousin, who was 15 when the first arrests were made in October 2023.

Those arrests, of guardians Latricia Elizabeth Crawley and Benjamin Deztuan Lockett, came after the teenager reported the abuse to an online instructor, who then informed Margate police, authorities said.

Authorities said Crawley, 49, and Lockett, 46, the girl’s aunt and uncle respectively, subjected her to various forms of torture in a home in the 200 block of Northwest 79th Terrace, including beatings, oiling the girl’s knees and forcing her to kneel on rice, binding her with rope, throwing boiling water on her and pouring cold water on her while she slept, “just to see her wake up.”

Amended charging documents also state that Crawley inserted thumbtacks through the girl’s fingernails, used a stapler gun on her back, pepper-sprayed her face and rubbed a “mixture of Epsom salt and conditioner” in the girl’s eyes.

The girl, police said, was caged in two different closets and was forced to urinate and defecate in a bucket.

Officers said when they found her, she showed multiple signs of malnutrition and starvation.

Other arrests followed, including the girl’s sister, Shankyria Clayton, and another cousin, Treaunshae Gibbons.

Clayton, 23, is accused of being aware of the abuse and not reporting it — and joining her aunt, uncle and cousin in caging and starving her sister.

Gibbons, 32, is accused of being aware of the abuse and not reporting it ― despite working for a child abuse nonprofit at the time. Police said she used her knowledge of the system to help Crawley deal with investigators, acting as a “middleman.”

Police said the girl was also living with a relative who was a sex offender. Horace Crawley, then 74, was arrested in November 2023 on two counts pertaining to failing to re-register. He has never been implicated in the abuse, however.

Broward court records show he pleaded no contest on the registry-related charges and received probation.

Graham is now the latest arrest in the case.

Authorities said one of the closets the victim was caged in was in Graham’s room while she was living with the family and Graham, tasked at times with watching the victim, would only let her out of the closet to defecate.

She is now facing charges of aggravated child abuse, child neglect and failing to report child abuse.

In court on Thursday, a judge ordered Graham held without bond.

That came after prosecutors said she was aware police were looking for her and turned herself in on Wednesday.

“This defendant has been evading arrest on this arrest warrant since it was initially signed on November of 2023,” a prosecutor said in court. “We recently got information as to where she was staying and I believe that is why she self-surrendered.”

A hearing in the case for the other relatives is scheduled for Sept. 14 and it’s believed that Graham will be part of that as well.

In the meantime, if she eventually gets a bond, she’ll have to wear an ankle monitor and have no contact with the victim or any children.

It was the latest piece of news in what has turned into a breakneck week of legal wrangling over the NCAA's new five-year eligibility rule. The rule does not apply to college players who exhausted their fourth year of eligibility last spring; many are suing across the country for that fifth year.

“As long as they would have been eligible to continue playing college sports in the following semester if they had a fifth year of eligibility, they are eligible today,” Dallas County Judge Martin Hoffman wrote in the temporary restraining order.

Two of the plaintiffs are former SMU receiver Jordon Hudson of the Cowboys and former Miami linebacker Wesley Bissainthe of the Chiefs. Neither played in the SEC, though the judge ordered the NCAA to open the transfer portal for a week, meaning either could play for a new school if one wanted to sign them.

The order said nothing of the other Power 4 Conferences, all of which have passed similar rules that went beyond the NFL to include basketball, as well. The Atlantic Coast Conference became the last of the four to pass a rule Thursday. The Mountain West, a Group of Six conference, passed a similar prohibition hours after the ACC announcement.

This lawsuit named the NCAA, the SEC and its commissioner, Greg Sankey, as defendants.

At least two players who signed with NFL teams as undrafted free agents this offseason were hoping to play for No. 11 LSU.

The ACC's plan lays out guidelines for ineligibility

Under the ACC resolution, a school is not permitted to include an individual on its football or men’s or women’s basketball roster when he or she:

— Has previously declared for an NFL, NBA, or WNBA draft and did not appropriately withdraw consistent with NCAA requirements to retain eligibility;

— Signed a contract with the NFL (or other professional football league), NBA/G-League, WNBA (or affiliate) or any team that is a member of any such league.

— Been listed on any roster for an NFL (or other professional football league), NBA/G-League, or WNBA (or affiliate) team.

“Just to me, that’s kind of a cutoff, when a guy goes pro,” N.C. State football coach Dave Doeren said after Thursday’s practice and before the ACC adopted its policy. “And we say ‘Goodbye, good luck,’ and we move on. And there shouldn’t be the ability to come back. If it’s the Big Ten, SEC — it doesn’t matter to me: it’s an amateurism rule.”

On Wednesday, the NFL made it clear that players who leave the NFL to return to college won’t be allowed to come back to the league this season.

Conference-level rules differ from those implemented broadly by the NCAA

The question now is how many more players and their attorneys will decide to challenge rules being set at a conference level.

Though the NCAA has notched court wins on appeals of a few of the eligibility cases, the Texas decision punctures, for now, some experts' belief that league rules had a better chance of staying intact than the one passed by the NCAA.

“From an antitrust perspective, as long as conferences aren’t colluding, they can make their own rules about allowing, or not allowing, former professional players to compete," Rick Karcher, a faculty athletics representative at Eastern Michigan and former practicing attorney in sports law, said before Thursday night's ruling came out. “And regardless of any injunction order that may be issued, it doesn’t require any school to allow any player to compete on the field and I highly doubt that any schools are going to violate conference rules.”

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AP College Football Writer Eric Olson contributed to this report.

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The owner, Enrique Pomares, told Local 10’s Hannah Yechivi that he let his three dogs outside around 8 a.m., as he does each morning, when the crocodile entered the property and attacked Kygo, the larger dog.

Pomares said he spent about 10 minutes trying to fend off the crocodile and save his dog. he said the crocodile killed Kygo and dragged him toward a nearby canal.

“This morning, our Dutch Shepard got grabbed by a crocodile that was swimming in the canal in the back,” Pomares said. “The dog was trying to get away. I pulled him down several times. (It was) just horrific watching this whole thing go down and ultimately, he killed the dog.”

Pomares said he even threw a kayak into the water in an attempt to distract the crocodile.

“They are known to be back here,” he added. “I have seen them when I go kayaking. They don’t usually bother anybody, but today, I guess it was hungry.”

Pomares said the crocodile then began moving toward him.

“Then he started coming towards me and at that point, all bets were off,” he said. “It was just horrific. He killed the dog and brought it back. We have a little dog in the backyard, and he brought it back in his mouth like (a) trophy to show it to me.

Pomares, who described Kygo as a family member, was able to photograph the crocodile shortly after the attack.

South Miami police detectives and a sergeant were investigating the incident.

Police said residents and visitors in the South Miami area are urged to keep children and pets away from canals, waterways, ponds and other areas where a crocodile may be present.

They also warned the public not to approach, feed, harass or attempt to capture a nearby crocodile.

Crocodiles are protected under Florida and federal law.

Anyone who spots the animal should maintain a safe distance and report the sighting to the appropriate wildlife authorities, police said.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials urged the public to never feed crocodiles, as it is illegal and can make them associate people with food.

They also recommend keeping pets leashed and children away from the water’s edge, and swimming only in designated areas during daylight hours, since crocodiles are most active from dusk to dawn.

Police also urged residents to share the warning with neighbors, particularly those who have pets and live or walk in the area.

Residents or visitors with concerns about a crocodile in their area can contact the FWC at 866-392-4286.

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Stinley Jean Jacques, 27, of Pompano Beach, was identified by BSO as a suspect in the Aug. 16 home invasion incident “following days of intensive investigation” by the agency’s Special Victim’s Unit and their Pompano Beach Crime Suppression Team.

According to investigators, a woman was asleep at her home in the 2900 block of Northeast Seventh Avenue when she awoke to find a man touching her before he fled the scene.

Detectives said they used “a variety of investigative methods” to develop Jean Jacques as a possible suspect in that case.

They said a BSO deputy attempted to stop Jean Jacques while he was driving a white 2026 Nissan Altima. Jean Jacques then refused to stop, leading deputies on a pursuit, according to investigators.

The report states that Jean Jacques ran a red light at Opa-locka Boulevard and Northwest Sixth Court before crashing into a 2011 silver Mercedes-Benz.

The driver of the Mercedes suffered multiple injuries, including injuries to her lip, chest and ankle, according to the report. The vehicle sustained approximately $10,000 in damage, deputies said.

Investigators said Jean Jacques then fled the crash scene on foot, leaving the injured driver behind without providing his information or rendering aid.

They said he was later arrested by a Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputy in the area of Northwest Seventh Avenue.

The crash victim identified Jean Jacques as the driver during a show-up identification, according to his arrest report.

The report states that Jean Jacques’ driver’s license had been expired since Feb. 14, 2026, and that his driving privilege had been suspended for several reasons, including previous traffic-related cases.

Jail records show Jean Jacques was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on charges of leaving the scene of a crash involving no serious injury, leaving the scene of an accident involving property damage, driving with an expired license for more than six months and knowingly driving with a suspended license.

He has not yet been charged in connection with the alleged Aug. 16 home invasion.

However, BSO officials said he is expected to be brought to Broward County to face additional charges related to that investigation, including burglary, battery, stalking and voyeurism.

Anyone with information about the case or similar incidents is asked to contact BSO Detective Kristy Fleming at 954-321-4875.

Stinley Jean Jacques, de 27 años y residente de Pompano Beach, fue identificado por la BSO como sospechoso del incidente de invasión de vivienda del 16 de agosto “tras días de investigación intensiva” por parte de la Unidad de Víctimas Especiales de la agencia y su Equipo de Supresión del Crimen de Pompano Beach.

Según los investigadores, una mujer dormía en su casa en la cuadra 2900 de Northeast Seventh Avenue cuando despertó y encontró a un hombre tocándola antes de que huyera del lugar.

Los detectives dijeron que utilizaron “una variedad de métodos de investigación” para identificar a Jean Jacques como posible sospechoso en ese caso.

Dijeron que un agente de la BSO intentó detener a Jean Jacques mientras conducía un Nissan Altima blanco 2026. Jean Jacques se negó a detenerse, lo que llevó a los agentes a perseguirlo, según los investigadores.

El informe señala que Jean Jacques se pasó una luz roja en Opa-locka Boulevard y Northwest Sixth Court antes de chocar contra un Mercedes-Benz plateado 2011.

La conductora del Mercedes sufrió múltiples lesiones, incluidas heridas en el labio, pecho y tobillo, según el informe. El vehículo sufrió aproximadamente $10,000 USD en daños, dijeron los agentes.

Los investigadores dijeron que Jean Jacques huyó a pie del lugar del accidente, dejando atrás a la conductora herida sin proporcionar su información ni prestarle ayuda.

Dijeron que posteriormente fue arrestado por un agente de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade en el área de Northwest Seventh Avenue.

La víctima del accidente identificó a Jean Jacques como el conductor durante un procedimiento de identificación, según su informe de arresto.

El informe señala que la licencia de conducir de Jean Jacques había vencido desde el 14 de febrero de 2026 y que su privilegio para conducir había sido suspendido por varias razones, incluidos casos previos relacionados con infracciones de tránsito.

Los registros de la cárcel muestran que Jean Jacques fue ingresado en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight por cargos de abandonar el lugar de un accidente sin lesiones graves, abandonar el lugar de un accidente con daños a la propiedad, conducir con una licencia vencida por más de seis meses y conducir a sabiendas con una licencia suspendida.

Aún no ha sido acusado en relación con la presunta invasión de vivienda del 16 de agosto.

Sin embargo, funcionarios de la BSO dijeron que se espera que sea trasladado al condado Broward para enfrentar cargos adicionales relacionados con esa investigación, incluidos robo, agresión, acoso y voyeurismo.

Se pide a cualquier persona que tenga información sobre el caso o incidentes similares que se comunique con la detective de la BSO Kristy Fleming al 954-321-4875.

Good Good, among the most popular in the YouTube Golf space, has said the video was meant to be a spinoff from the movie, “Obsession.” But the criticism was immediate and relentless, and the pressure began mounting by the day.

The video was deleted the same day it was posted on Aug. 20, but it continued to make the rounds on social media and apologies from Good Good and Callaway had little effect.

“We were disappointed with what we saw,” PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp said Tuesday of the response from Good Good. He said its role as a title sponsor was a “fluid situation.”

“We agree with their decision to use this time to focus on their organization and the work ahead,” the tour said in a statement Thursday. “The PGA Tour believes in golf’s ability to bring people together and create a welcoming environment for all.”

The tournament already was changed on the PGA Tour's website to “Austin Championship.”

Golf Channel postponed a Good Good reality show Wednesday — “Big Break x Good Good” — because a sponsor, reported to be Galaxy Golf, wanted its brand scrubbed from the telecast. Dick's Sporting Goods removed the apparel from its stories. And then Callaway said it was ending the three-year sponsorship.

The PGA Tour confirmed Good Good said it would pull out as title sponsor of the new Nov. 12-15 tournament in Austin, Texas. The tour said the tournament still would be played.

“After thoughtful discussions with the PGA Tour and careful reflection, we have decided to step away as sponsor of the tour event in Austin this fall,” Good Good said in a social media post. “We recognize that we have work to do as an organization, and our focus right now is on our team, our culture and ensuring we will learn from this situation.”

Golf Channel announced Friday afternoon the Big Break x Good Good series would be scrapped this year. The winner was to have received a sponsor exemption to the Austin tournament.

“Following recent developments involving Good Good, and including the fact that the intended outcome of the series can no longer be fulfilled, Golf Channel will not be able to complete this season of Big Break as planned,” Golf Channel said in a statement.

It said Big Break would return next year.

In the 60-second video for Callaway’s new driver co-branded with Good Good, Garrett Clark shoves Alexis Miestowski to the ground as she reaches for the driver. As she is on the ground he leans over tells her, "Do not touch my new driver.”

Clark and Miestowski work for Good Good.

The video was pulled the night it was posted, and it was followed by apologies by Good Good Golf and Callaway Golf the next day. But then Callaway added another layer of apologies, this one from CEO Chip Brewer, who conceded that while Good Good produced the video, Callaway approved it before it was posted.

Brewer said the approval never should have happened and the company would investigate.

Callaway posted to its social media channels on Thursday that it has ended its relationship with Good Good effective immediately; has taken “appropriate internal corrective actions” and strengthened approval procedures to avoid another mistake; and has committed $1 million to support organizations working to prevent violence against women.

“These actions do not undo the harm caused or excuse our role in it,” the statement said. “We sincerely apologize to everyone who was hurt, disappointed, or offended by this incident.”

Good Good Golf was launched as a YouTube channel in 2020 and now is among the largest content creators in the sport, featuring eight men and four women competing in golf and various challenges. It has made-for-TV shows, apparel and other merchandise.

Clark, one of the Good Good founders, posted an eight-minute video Wednesday evening in which he called it “the worst ad known to man” and the reaction to the ad was “not what we stand for.”

“I do not support DV (domestic violence) or abuse or any of that of any kind," he said.

The PGA Tour has embraced such content creators over the last several years, even staging exhibitions during the week of The Players Championship and Tour Championship.

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See AP’s full golf coverage here

Smith suffered the non-contact injury at the 3:15 mark of the third quarter in Sunday's 88-78 win over the the Toronto Tempo.

Smith has averaged 11.8 points and 6.4 rebounds over 37 games this season and was leading the league in field goal percentage at 63.8%.

The loss of Smith will put a lot more on the shoulders of Aces star A'ja Wilson, who is in the mix to win her fifth MVP trophy while averaging 26 points and and two blocks per game this season.

The Aces entered Thursday with a 26-13 record, the third-best mark in the Western Conference behind Minnesota (31-8) and Golden State (27-11).

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Just seconds after the Trump administration's lawyer, Brantley Mayers, began making his case at a nearly two-hour hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper interrupted to ask why the center needed to begin inscribing the president's name on the institution's facade as soon as Sept. 8.

“What’s magic about that date?” Cooper asked, quipping that sometimes judges travel over the Labor Day holiday.

Mayers responded that the timeline was in accordance with a vote earlier this month by the Trump-aligned board. As he returned to his arguments that renovations at the Kennedy Center require energy and talent, Cooper interjected again.

“That’s all fine and good,” the judge said. “What does that have to do with what Congress intended in these statutes? That’s really what’s before me.”

By late Thursday, the administration informed the court that it wouldn't proceed with changes at the Kennedy Center before Oct. 8 to allow Cooper more time to consider the case.

Trump has spent much of his second term reshaping Washington to his liking, demolishing the East Wing of the White House to make way for a ballroom, planning a triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery and a renovated golf course along the Potomac River. The Kennedy Center is a rare stumbling block in that effort after Cooper ruled in May that Trump's name was added to the building illegally, ordering it to be removed.

Trump and his allies, however, have refused to let that be the final word.

The Trump-aligned board at the Kennedy Center voted earlier this month to inscribe his name on the venue’s facade so it would read “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump.” If the Trump Kennedy Center Fund reached $100 million, another inscription would be added reading: “Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.”

The plaza in front of the Kennedy Center would also be renamed in Trump's honor.

Mayers argued that the moves amount to a recognition of Trump, not the renaming of the institution that was sought earlier. The institution no longer calls itself the Trump-Kennedy Center or focuses on such branding, and there's no effort to return to that argument.

The government's lawyer also encouraged Cooper not to rule on the inscription related to the endowment because no money has been raised, essentially leaving it a theoretical possibility for now.

Despite Cooper's skepticism about the developments, he also questioned whether he had the authority to block the moves, as the administration appeals his earlier ruling. He pressed a lawyer for Rep. Joyce Beatty on whether that appeal undermined his jurisdiction in the case.

“I want to make sure I have the jurisdiction to do whatever I did,” Cooper said of an eventual ruling in the case.

Beatty is an ex officio member of the board who has led the effort to block Trump's moves to put his stamp on the institution. Her lawyer, Nathaniel Zelinsky, warned Cooper that failing to act “would create this black hole where there’s no way to enforce” the earlier decision.

Hanging over the hearing was the prospect that the administration may seek to demolish the Kennedy Center. In a filing earlier this week, administration lawyers told the court that absent recognition of the president, the Kennedy Center would struggle to raise money for renovations. Without that money, they suggested, the building may need to be demolished, a prospect that alarmed some given Trump’s swift moves last year to dismantle the East Wing.

The Kennedy Center, the lawyers argued, “will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down, with a determination to follow on what to build on the site, such as a large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River that has been proposed, by some, for many years.”

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who attended the hearing, seemed to downplay that possibility.

“What was pointed out,” he told reporters, “was that if you do nothing, bad things happen. But they’re not going to happen on Thursday.”

___

This story has been updated to correct the spelling of the first name of the Trump administration’s lawyer. It is Brantley Mayers, not Bradley.

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The city released renderings on Friday showing a memorial wall displaying the 98 names, near a water feature, and a graphic of clasped hands with a written message: “Love Lives On.”

“For five years, this community has carried the weight of remembering 98 friends and neighbors without a permanent place to do so,” Mayor Shlomo Danzinger said in a statement. “This memorial gives us that place.”

The memorial will be at the end of 88th Street and Collins Avenue, and the budget is about $3.5 million, including a $1 million grant from the state, according to city officials.

“It is tasteful, it is dignified, and it was shaped by the very people who loved them most,” Danzinger said. “A memorial cannot undo what happened here, but it can give a town a way forward. Now we have a permanent place to hold our neighbors in our hearts, and to heal together as a community.”

The city has yet to announce when the memorial will be unveiled.

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El viernes, la ciudad publicó imágenes que muestran un muro conmemorativo con los 98 nombres, cerca de una fuente de agua, y un gráfico de manos entrelazadas con el mensaje escrito: “El amor perdura”.

“Durante cinco años, esta comunidad ha cargado con el peso de recordar a 98 amigos y vecinos sin un lugar permanente para hacerlo”, dijo el alcalde Shlomo Danzinger en un comunicado. “Este monumento nos brinda ese lugar”.

El monumento conmemorativo estará ubicado al final de la calle 88 y la avenida Collins, y el presupuesto ronda los 3,5 millones de dólares, incluyendo una subvención de 1 millón de dólares del estado, según informaron funcionarios de la ciudad.

“Es un monumento de buen gusto, digno y diseñado por las personas que más los amaban”, dijo Danzinger. “Un monumento no puede deshacer lo sucedido aquí, pero puede ofrecerle a la ciudad un camino hacia el futuro. Ahora tenemos un lugar permanente para honrar la memoria de nuestros vecinos y sanar juntos como comunidad”.

La ciudad aún no ha anunciado cuándo se inaugurará el monumento conmemorativo.

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Atwell, 26, had signed a one-year deal with Miami this offseason after spending his first five NFL seasons with the Rams.

He was expected to compete for a bigger role with the Dolphins, but the team’s three drafted rookies, Caleb Douglas, Chris Bell and Kevin Coleman Jr., appeared to move ahead of him on the depth chart, making Atwell, who is a South Florida native, expendable.

Hunter, 23, joins a running back room that consists of De’Von Achane, Ollie Gordon II and Jaylen Wright.

Hunter played college football at Auburn, where he rushed for 3,371 yards and 25 touchdowns while averaging 6.3 yards per carry. He also caught 68 passes for 558 yards and four touchdowns.

The Rams selected him in the fourth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, but he appeared in only five games as a rookie, playing 22 snaps, all on special teams.

It is not immediately known if Hunter will see playing time in Miami’s final preseason game when the Atlanta Falcons visit Hard Rock Stadium and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa makes his return to Hard Rock Stadium on Friday night.

The flooding Wednesday killed hundreds of people in Nepal and Tibet, and hundreds more are missing, including foreigners and pilgrims.

Geomorphologists Kristen Cook and Dan Shugar said initial images from Nepal were obscured by clouds and dust from the debris, so they could only see that part of a glacier had broken off from Langtang Lirung peak, near the border with Tibet. In clearer images from Thursday, they said they could see that the bedrock underneath the glacier had collapsed, taking the massive chunk of ice down with it and sending boulders and ice into the valley.

“It shows the whole area without anything hidden, and we could see that, yes, it looked like there was not only this glacier that had failed, but a much larger chunk of the bedrock of the mountainside itself that had given way,” said Shugar, associate professor at the University of Calgary. “You have this big bedrock failure that took part of the glacier with it.”

Shugar said it’s heart-wrenching to look downstream from there on the images, to where people were living, and see how the debris has buried villages.

After slamming to the valley floor, the debris maintained its momentum through the steep, narrow valley as ice melted, said Cook, at the Université Grenoble Alpes in France. Water and mud several stories high swept through communities.

The Trishuli River surged during the flooding. Before and after satellite images of the Kolpurtar, Betrawati and Syapru Besi areas of Nepal show that the river is now much wider, and brown and black, because it overtopped its banks in some areas and filled with debris in others. The change in the color of the water shows how much sediment the flow was carrying, turning from greenish to very brown because it's full of mud, Cook said.

Towns and villages that were devastated along the river banks are submerged in debris and mud. They appear as areas of brown. Some houses are still poking through in an image of the Betrawati area.

The flooding toppled and swept away buildings in Syapru Besi, a popular tourist spot where a famous trek to Langtang begins. In before and after images, a side river is now wider too, because the flow was so powerful it pushed upstream.

The flooding “left a wasteland in its wake” that will take many years to recover from, said Alton Byers, a mountain geographer at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Byers lived in Nepal and now returns there yearly to study glacial hazards and work with communities to prepare. This is the largest glacier flood he has seen, by far.

Byers, faculty research scientist at the university's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, said he thinks Wednesday's flooding is related to climate change. The Earth's warming is melting glaciers and permafrost, causing instability and the breakage of massive amounts of snow and ice at high altitudes. That can be a catalyst for a series of cascading events, he said.

“All the indicators, to me, point to the impacts of warming trends,” he said. “In this case, the permafrost that for millennia has helped to hold together high-altitude rock and ice and soil and glaciers is now weakening and becoming unstable."

Cook and Shugar said that at this point, they can't say for sure there's a direct link to climate change. Slopes fail and landslides happen, Cook said, though permafrost is melting and that is destabilizing mountainsides.

“While we cannot at this point directly link this collapse to climate change, it is not unexpected to see more events of this type with a warming climate,” Cook said. “Not this big, hopefully not this big.”

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También se contará con el apoyo de padres y vecinos para proporcionar ayuda alimentaria en las jornadas y se buscarán alternativas para el transporte de educandos y maestros que vivan alejados, dijo el jueves durante una conferencia de prensa la ministra de Educación, Naima Trujillo Barreto. Las clases iniciarán el 1 de septiembre.

“El sistema educativo cubano es consciente de las dificultades tremendas de los impactos extraordinarios que para nuestras infancias, niños, adolescentes, tiene la asfixia colectiva que nos han impuesto”, señaló la ministra. Se hará “un grandísimo esfuerzo”.

Recordó que en Cuba la educación es universal y pública y el Estado históricamente proporcionó además de las clases y los sueldos docentes, la alimentación, uniformes escolares o libros, entre otros.

El sistema educativo cubano siempre fue exhibido como uno de los logros más importantes de la revolución por su masividad y gratuidad total, aunque en las últimas semanas muchas familias se preguntaban en redes sociales sin este ciclo iniciaría.

Aunque los apagones eran frecuentes en la isla, sumida hace un lustro en una profunda crisis económica, la caída en la calidad de vida se profundizó a partir del cerco petrolero impuesto por el presidente Donald Trump en enero para presionar por un cambio en el modelo político de Cuba.

La matrícula esperada para el nuevo curso es de 1.4 millones de estudiantes para los niveles iniciales, primaria, secundaria y preuniversitario. Los universitarios son regidos por otro ministerio, el de Educación Superior, que también anunció el inicio de clases en septiembre, aunque hizo énfasis que se buscarán alternativas no presenciales.

Para el caso de estos niveles de educación general, la ministra sí defendió la necesidad de la presencialidad como un indicador de “calidad”, pese a que el ciclo escolar anterior –en Cuba va de septiembre a julio—debió recortarse desde junio debido a los apagones y la falta de condiciones —como agua— en las escuelas en medio del calor extremo del verano.

Barreto reconoció, además, que otro de los problemas del sistema educativo es la falta de maestros –muchos de los cuales dejaron las aulas debido a los bajos salarios o salieron del país-- y que se había logrado hasta ahora cubrir el 73% de las plazas.

La situación más grave la enfrenta La Habana, la capital del país y a donde se traerán unos 300 docentes de otras provincias. Además se buscará alternativa como contar con estudiantes universitarios para que apoyen las clases en los niveles iniciales.

The six-team NSL, co-founded by former Canada national team player Diana Matheson, announced this summer that it will add a team in Winnipeg in 2027.

The league also announced that London-based sports investment firm APEX will invest up to $30 million in the women's league. And that's in addition to the $5.45 million that the Canadian government pledged on the day of the league's first championship last year.

“I know my first season in the NWSL was nothing compared to where the NSL is now,” said midfielder Quinn, who was an early signing for the Vancouver Rise after playing for the Seattle Reign in the United States. “I think it’s just set a really amazing standard at the very beginning, and I think the crowds that we have, the resources that every team has, it’s really set a great bar for what it can look like."

The league's growth reflects a global trend in the women's game. The National Women's Soccer League expanded this season with two teams, the Boston Legacy and the Denver Summit, with two additional teams in Atlanta and Columbus, Ohio, coming on board in 2028.

The English Women's Super League added two teams — Birmingham City and Crystal Palace — this coming season, pulling them both from the second-tier league to bring the WSL to 14 teams.

Canada was one of only two countries that played in the 2023 Women’s World Cup without a domestic professional league. The other was Haiti.

Players for the Canadian national team had long lamented the lack of a professional league in their home country. It became a reality last year, when the league kicked off with six teams: the Halifax Tides, Montreal Roses, Calgary Wild, Ottawa Rapid, AFC Toronto and the Vancouver Rise. Sponsors of the startup league included Coca-Cola, Toyota and DoorDash.

Quinn, who won a gold medal with Canada at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, scored the league’s first goal, converting a penalty for a 1-0 Vancouver victory over Calgary in front of more than 14,000 fans at BC Place.

The Rise would go on to win the championship, defeating AFC Toronto 2-1 before 12,429 fans at Toronto’s BMO Field. On the same day as the title match, the Canadian government pledged up to $5.45 million to help grow the league.

“We set ourselves some pretty high ambitions, and by the end of the season had hit all the the metrics that we were looking for in terms of attendance and corporate support, our broadcast deals, ratings and those other kind of metrics,” NSL president Christina Litz said. “So I would say the theme of Year 2 has been the long-term growth and stability of this league and making sure that we’re moving from startup to being able to scale in the way we need to continue on those ambitions.”

Canada Soccer this summer announced the W Canadian Championship, which gives teams a pathway to the 2027 CONCACAF W Champions Cup and the 2028 Women’s Club World Cup. The quarterfinals conclude in October with the semifinals and final set for next year.

Next year Winnipeg will join in.

Former Canada national team player Desiree Scott, who was on the gold-medal winning Canadian team in Japan, is co-founder of the new Winnipeg team and will serve as the club's vice president of community and player experience. Former Portland Thorns coach Rob Gale is the team's chief sporting officer.

Currently, the Ottawa Rapid lead the NSL standings by two points over the Montreal Roses. The two-legged semifinals start on Oct. 31 and the final is set for Nov. 14.

Rise midfielder Nikki Stanton has played in both the NWSL and the NSL.

“Last year blew all my expectations out of the water. ... This entire country was ready for a women's sports team. Everyone I meet and I say a play for the Rise they're like, Oh, you guys won the championship,” Stanton said. "I can only see it growing up from here and I'm already loving it and it's one of the best things to be involved in this league."

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Atwell, de 26 años, había firmado un contrato de un año con Miami durante esta temporada baja después de pasar sus primeras cinco temporadas en la NFL con los Rams.

Se esperaba que compitiera por un papel más importante con los Dolphins, pero los tres novatos seleccionados por el equipo en el draft, Caleb Douglas, Chris Bell y Kevin Coleman Jr., parecieron superarlo en la tabla de posiciones, lo que hizo prescindible a Atwell, quien es oriundo del sur de Florida.

Hunter, de 23 años, se une a un grupo de corredores integrado por De’Von Achane, Ollie Gordon II y Jaylen Wright.

Hunter jugó fútbol americano universitario en Auburn, donde corrió para 3,371 yardas y 25 touchdowns, con un promedio de 6.3 yardas por acarreo. También atrapó 68 pases para 558 yardas y cuatro touchdowns.

Los Rams lo seleccionaron en la cuarta ronda del Draft de la NFL de 2025, pero apareció en solo cinco partidos como novato, disputando 22 jugadas, todas en equipos especiales.

No se sabe de inmediato si Hunter tendrá tiempo de juego en el último partido de pretemporada de Miami, cuando los Atlanta Falcons visiten el Hard Rock Stadium y el mariscal de campo Tua Tagovailoa regrese el viernes por la noche.

Según un informe de arresto de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade, el pasajero viajó en un vuelo de American Airlines desde Carolina del Norte a Miami el 8 de junio.

Después de llegar al MIA, el pasajero dejó accidentalmente una bolsa cruzada de cuero negro valorada en $260 USD, dijeron los investigadores.

La bolsa contenía aproximadamente $12,377.90 USD en objetos de valor, incluido un reloj Cartier Santos y unos AirPods, según el informe.

El pasajero dijo a los investigadores que inicialmente pudo rastrear sus AirPods alrededor del Aeropuerto Internacional de Miami durante varios días mediante una aplicación antes de que la ubicación dejara de actualizarse.

Luego, el 1 de julio, descubrió lo que creía que era su reloj Cartier desaparecido anunciado para la venta en DannysVintageWatches.com, un sitio web con sede en Nueva York, según el informe.

Los investigadores dijeron que el pasajero pudo identificar el reloj debido a una marca distintiva en la parte superior izquierda de su bisel. Proporcionó a los investigadores varias fotografías en las que aparecía usando el reloj con la misma marca.

Los detectives comenzaron entonces a rastrear cómo el reloj terminó a la venta.

Según el informe, los registros obtenidos mediante una citación del 7 de agosto mostraron que Danny’s Vintage Watches compró el reloj a Brickell Watches, un intermediario con sede en Miami.

El informe indicó que una segunda citación mostró que Brickell Watches lo había adquirido de otro intermediario de joyería de Miami, Consistent Luxury LLC, sin embargo, un representante de Consistent Luxury proporcionó a Local 10 una factura que muestra que en realidad habían comprado el reloj a Brickell Watches.

Según el informe, el rastro documental finalmente llevó a los detectives hasta Vera Jewelry, ubicada en 12260 SW Eighth St.

El informe señala que los registros proporcionados por Vera Jewelry mostraron que el sospechoso, Carlos Elky Penton, de 45 años y residente de Hialeah, había vendido allí el reloj el 11 de junio, tres días después de que el pasajero dejara su bolsa, por $1,500 USD, una cantidad que los investigadores describieron como sustancialmente inferior a su valor justo de mercado.

Los investigadores determinaron que el sospechoso trabajaba para Eulen en el Aeropuerto Internacional de Miami. Según el informe de arresto, Eulen tiene un contrato para prestar servicio a las aeronaves después de que los pasajeros desembarcan, y la compañía prestó servicio a la aeronave utilizada para el vuelo del pasajero el 8 de junio.

Agentes localizaron a Penton el jueves detrás de una residencia en Hialeah y lo detuvieron. 

Diccionario Local10.txt

Después de renunciar a sus derechos Miranda, el sospechoso dijo a los investigadores que no estaba trabajando el día en que desapareció la bolsa, pero afirmó que otro empleado de Eulen le había dado el reloj, según el informe.

Los investigadores dijeron que reconoció que el reloj no le pertenecía y que no conocía a su propietario.

Penton fue arrestado por un cargo de tráfico de propiedad robada y fue trasladado al Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight para ser procesado.

Hasta la tarde del viernes, Penton permanecía detenido en TGK con una fianza de $7,500 USD.

No está claro si el reloj fue devuelto alguna vez a la víctima.

Nota del editor: Un informe de arresto de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade señala que Brickell Watches había adquirido el reloj Cartier de otro intermediario de joyería de Miami, Consistent Luxury LLC, sin embargo, un representante de Consistent Luxury proporcionó a Local 10 una factura que muestra que en realidad habían comprado el reloj a Brickell Watches.

The plan offered to the players’ association Thursday is contingent on adoption of the salary cap system MLB proposed in May, which the union has vowed never to accept.

“A cap-and-floor system would unlock additional opportunities to improve the game for players and fans, creating more stability in rosters, getting the best players to the major leagues more quickly, and accelerating the pace of the offseason,” MLB spokesman Glen Caplin said in a statement. “In our current economic system, these changes would be too harmful to competitive balance and would not be practical.”

Union head Bruce Meyer immediately criticized the plan.

“Their latest proposals regarding free agency would eliminate player rights by establishing an artificial free agency window, subject to a salary cap, which would reduce player leverage and create a game of musical chairs pitting player vs. player,” he said in a statement. “The suggestion that the only way to limit roster churn, or incentivize earlier free agent signings is with a salary cap is entirely unserious.”

Management's prior cap proposal led to a 7 1/2-month strike in 1994-95 and the first cancellation of the World Series in 90 years.

Under the current rules, players can become free agents starting the day after the World Series but may not negotiate money terms with new teams until the end of the “quiet period” at 5 p.m. Eastern time on the fifth day after the World Series ends.

MLB proposed extending the quiet period until noon Eastern on the Monday of the winter meetings, usually held in early December. Management said the additional time would be needed for revenue and salary cap figures to be finalized ahead of the business season.

MLB would allow negotiations during the quiet period but would not permit any contracts to be finalized.

Free agents could sign through 5 p.m. Eastern on Dec. 21 and then wouldn’t be allowed to until noon Eastern on the first Monday in February, just ahead of spring training.

“In the draft, we used to have no signing limitation. We’ve all seen what that’s done to player values in the draft, which has dramatically cut in at least half the value of drafted players,” agent Scott Boras said. “It’s just another attempt to apply something like that to free-agent major league players. It doesn’t help the game, doesn’t help the competitiveness of the game. The only thing it does, it reduces the value of players in the market. It doesn't allow evaluation, reflection, adjustment for the teams that don’t sign a particular player.”

During the December-to-February period in which players would not be allowed to sign, there would be a prohibition on trades, similar to the current ban from early August through the end of the postseason.

MLB proposed to cap spending in 2027 at $245.3 million, using figures for luxury tax payrolls that include $20.1 million for benefits and the pre-arbitration bonus pool. It also would establish a payroll floor of $171.2 million, forcing some teams to spend more.

Free-agent eligible players would be limited to deals of $265 million and six years. Under the current rules, outfielder Juan Soto negotiated a record $765 million, 15-year deal with the New York Mets after the 2024 season.

“MLB expressly conditioned these proposals on the players’ agreement to a salary cap system, which would drastically reduce overall player compensation, eliminate fully guaranteed contracts through escrow, and turn back the clock on fundamental player rights," Meyer said of Thursday's plan.

MLB also proposed lowering the maximum in-season options to the minor leagues from five to four and adopting a system of weekly rosters. Teams would be allowed 14 pitchers, up from the current limit of 13 when the 26-man roster limit is in effect from the season’s start through Aug. 31.

Players have proposed optional assignments be cut to three.

“The league is not interested in any changes that don’t directly reduce the rights of all players and shift leverage to the owners,” Meyer said.

Teams would be limited to making callups from the minors and demotions to the period after Sunday’s games and before Monday’s contests, with exceptions for injured list decisions and moves to replace those who got hurt.

Option and injured list periods would be changed from 10 days to one week for position players and from 15 days to two weeks for pitchers, but those periods would start with the first full week after a player goes on the IL. For instance, a pitcher going on the IL or optioned on a Wednesday would have to spend at least 19 days on the IL: the five remaining days that week plus an additional 14 days.

MLB proposed what currently is the 60-day IL, which doesn’t count against the 40-man roster, increase to 12 weeks.

MLB would drop the period by one year for having to protect a player from the Rule 5 draft, to the fourth draft for players who signed their initial contract under age 20 and to three for those 20 and over at the time of their first deal.

Management would allow players selected in the draft to be optioned. Under the current rule, a selected player must be offered back to his former team before he can be assigned to the minors.

___

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

The all-caps headline on Texas Republican congressional candidate Carlos De La Cruz's website used to align him with President Donald Trump. Not anymore.

“NATIVE TEXAN. AIR FORCE VETERAN. SMALL BUSINESSMAN. PROVEN CONSERVATIVE,” it reads now.

De La Cruz's campaign rejected any suggestion he was backing away from the president, whose knack for mobilizing his loyalists remains critical for Republicans in this fall's midterm elections. The overwhelming majority of Republicans on the ballot this fall are embracing Trump despite his dismal approval ratings, an unpopular war with Iran and lingering inflation.

However, as the two-month sprint to Election Day begins, a small collection of Republican candidates have quietly begun to distance themselves in subtle ways from Trump now that they've won contested primaries in which his endorsement was often the most coveted prize. The shift is easy to miss, often only a few words or new pictures. And Republicans insist there is no shift at all.

Mike Marinella, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, called it a “manufactured storyline.”

“President Trump and House Republicans have delivered historic results for the American people, and our candidates are eager to take that record directly to voters alongside the President on the campaign trail,” he said.

But from California to Texas and Kentucky to Alaska, candidates in recent weeks have tweaked their campaign messaging to downplay their connection to Trump. A handful of others have highlighted their opposition to his policies.

It's an extremely delicate balance for vulnerable Republican candidates, who must expand their appeal beyond Trump's MAGA base to win in the general election this fall, but are also afraid to trigger a backlash from Trump or his hard core supporters if they create too much distance.

Trump's unpopularity could weigh down his party

Most candidates are still wrapping their arms around Trump.

Republican allies of the president argue there is little upside for candidates to turn away from Trump, despite his weak polling numbers. Democrats will try to cast every Republican running as a Trump acolyte, regardless of their actual stances, they said, and midterm successes typically depend on turning out base voters. Trump remains the Republican Party's best motivator.

“The whole Republican brand is that we’re aligned with Trump so you gain nothing from it,” said Jason Roe, a Republican who advises Rep. Tom Barrett, who is fighting for reelection in a competitive mid-Michigan district race.

It is typical for candidates from both sides to tweak their messages after primary elections. Some Democrats, for example, have begun pitching themselves as moderates after highlighting endorsements from progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders during their primaries.

Still, the slight shift among at least a half-dozen Republican congressional candidates could signal the beginning of a more significant move within the party as the weight of Trump's unpopularity with the general public comes into view at a critical moment. Just 33% of adults approve of Trump's job performance, according to Associated Press-NORC polling from July. And Trump gets relatively poor ratings on his handling of the economy, immigration and foreign policy.

Meanwhile, Trump will not make it easy for vulnerable Republicans to avoid him. As voters typically begin paying much closer attention to politics after Labor Day, the president will headline a two-day Republican convention in Dallas as he urges voters to act as if he were on the ballot.

“The problem that we have is they say that Trump does great when he’s on the ballot, but when he’s not on the ballot, his people don’t come,” Trump said as he recently stumped in South Carolina.

“So what I really want you to do is pretend, please, that I’m on the ballot,” he went on. “Just say that I’m on the ballot one more time.”

Shifting emphasis moving into the general election

A number of Republicans have removed or downplayed references to Trump from their websites after winning their primaries.

Eric Flores, a former assistant U.S. Attorney and Texas Army National Guard infantry captain running against Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez Jr. in South Texas, once featured “SUPPORT PRESIDENT TRUMP’S AGENDA” as No. 2 in his list of priorities on his campaign homepage.

That item has now been replaced with “ LOWER THE COST OF LIVING,” a top issue for voters. Trump does not appear anywhere else on the website, aside from a list of endorsements that previously appeared on the homepage but has been moved to a separate page.

Flores' campaign declined to comment.

In Kentucky, Ralph Alvarado, running to represent the overwhelmingly Republican 6th Congressional District, removed all references to Trump from his campaign homepage, as well as a photo of the two of them together after winning his primary in May. He now promises to offer “INDEPENDENT LEADERSHIP” after previously running as an “AMERICA FIRST FIGHTER.”

NBC News first reported the changes to Alvarado’s website. Campaign manager Andy Westberry noted Trump's photo still appears elsewhere in a media gallery. “The socialists are going to have to do a lot better than this nonsense to win this district,” he said in a statement.

Some changes do not mean Trump has been erased.

While De La Cruz no longer touts himself as a “TRUMP CONSERVATIVE” at the top of his homepage, a video that is embedded lower down features the Air Force veteran speaking at a Trump rally.

He still calls himself a “TEXAS TRUMP CONSERVATIVE” on his bio page and lists “Supporting President Trump’s America First Agenda” as among his priorities on a “Mission” page.

But the bio section has also been tweaked. It once described him as “ready to be President Trump’s wingman in Congress.” That section now says he is running because he “believes America needs more servant leaders and fewer corrupt politicians” and “because he’s not finished serving the country he loves.”

De La Cruz campaign manager Jordan Pawlicki said in a statement that, during the primary, several candidates were claiming the president’s endorsement, so the campaign “put it front and center.”

“Carlos is honored to have President Trump’s support, which is why the President is featured prominently across our website,” Pawlicki said.

Republicans downplay any changes to their messaging

In Nevada, Republican congressional candidate Marty O'Donnell's website featured Trump prominently in June. The very first thing visitors saw was a pop-up with a large picture of Trump and a smiling O'Donnell standing side by side. The words “President Trump endorsed Marty O'Donnell” were written beneath the image.

Two months later, the photo does not appear on the website. O'Donnell's campaign said the photo was not intentionally removed; the change was simply the standard rotation of the “splash page.”

O'Donnell adviser Keith Schipper noted that O'Donnell, a music composer best known for his work on the “Halo” video game series, has not deviated from his steadfast support for Trump.

“Republicans are embracing President Trump on the campaign trail because they know he is the key to getting his voters out in November,” Schipper said. “The president has delivered on the agenda he promised voters in 2024 and Republicans are smartly using it to win this year.”

There was another subtle shift in Alaska's House race, where Republican Rep. Nick Begich is running for reelection.

In June, he highlighted his relationship to Trump on the homepage of his website: “Alongside President Trump, we have made great gains for Alaska, putting us on a path to self-determination and generational success.”

This week, nothing in that section has been changed, except for the opening line that previously mentioned Trump. Now, that line reads, “We have delivered for Alaska, putting us on a path to self-determination and generational success.”

Begich's campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Some are emphasizing their independence

Rep. Mike Lawler, a New York Republican who represents a district carried by Kamala Harris in the last election, appeared on stage with the president during a rally in his district just three months ago. But does he want Trump to return before Election Day?

“If he comes back, that’s fine, but ultimately this race is going to be decided by my record and my vision,” Lawler said in an interview.

Lawler supported Trump’s so-called “big, beautiful bill,” but he’s quick to highlight policy differences, especially on taxes. Trump does not appear on Lawler’s campaign website.

On Thursday, Tom Tiffany, the Republican candidate for governor in Wisconsin who is closely aligned with Trump, publicly criticized the president's decision to sign an order renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America” as part of his trade war with Canada.

“I believe the Great Lakes are the Great Lakes and should stay Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Ontario,” he said, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Earlier this week, he came out against Trump’s plan to import cheaper ground beef in an effort to reduce prices.

Others want distance from Trump's unpopular war with Iran.

In Michigan, Rep. Barrett, who flipped a Lansing-area district two years ago, has been highlighting his vote against Trump’s war in Iran on the campaign trail as he competes against William Lawrence, a self-described democratic socialist.

Barrett this year has repeatedly broken ranks with Republicans to join Democrats in voting for the War Powers Resolution to rein in Trump’s military campaign in Iran. And he has been promoting those votes, promoting a recent town hall with constituents, by saying he would “be having a discussion about the War Powers Act and my efforts to place congressional limits on the war in Iran.”

Roe, the Republican who advises Barrett, said the vote was not about some major break from Trump but a difference over a policy-specific issue. Barrett served in the U.S. Army for over two decades.

“He’s willing to be at odds with the White House on this issue,” Roe said. “It’s important to him.”

___ Associated Press writer Joey Cappelletti reported from St. Joseph, Michigan.

Los fenómenos de El Niño son más de un 36% más fuertes de lo que eran antes de que comenzara la era industrial a mediados del siglo XIX, con un salto del 16% solo en los últimos 40 años, lo que muestra que el aumento se está acelerando, según un estudio publicado el jueves en la revista Science. Los hallazgos llegan en medio de pronósticos según los cuales El Niño que se formó hace un par de meses será el mayor registrado en los próximos meses. El fenómeno, que consiste en un calentamiento temporal de partes del Pacífico ecuatorial, distorsiona el clima en todo el mundo e incrementa los eventos extremos, incluidas olas de calor, inundaciones en algunos lugares y sequías en otros. Pueden costar billones de dólares en daños.

“Eso es importante porque los El Niño fuertes tienen impactos mucho mayores en los peligros climáticos y los extremos en todo el mundo. Cuando nos propusimos responder a la pregunta de por qué esto podría estar ocurriendo, comparamos nuestros datos con un registro de la temperatura global y encontramos que el aumento en la fuerza de El Niño se asemeja estrechamente al incremento de la temperatura global que se debe a causas humanas como la quema de combustibles fósiles”, explicó Julia Cole, autora principal del estudio y científica del paleoclima en la Universidad de Michigan.

Su estudio analiza los fenómenos de El Niño de hace unos 900 años.

El Niño ya era terrible y ahora está empeorando

“El Niño es el aspecto más violento de la variabilidad climática a nivel mundial, con efectos que van desde el colapso de pesquerías locales, hasta mortandades masivas de corales, pasando por sequías severas y escasez de alimentos en todo el mundo”, aportó Boris Worm, científico marino de la Universidad de Dalhousie que no participó en el estudio.

Worm citó al fallecido científico del clima Wallace Broecker, según el cual “el sistema climático es una bestia enojada y la estamos pinchando con palos”. Añadió Worm: “Las emisiones humanas son el palo y El Niño es uno de esos estallidos ‘furiosos’ que pueden ser tan amenazantes para nuestra seguridad colectiva”.

La fuerza de un fenómeno de El Niño se determina midiendo la temperatura del agua en una región del Pacífico central alrededor del ecuador y comparando un promedio de tres meses con lo normal. Si está 0,5 grados Celsius (0,9 grados Fahrenheit) por encima de lo normal, se convierte en un El Niño. La parte superior de la escala es 2 grados Celsius (3,6 grados Fahrenheit) y se denomina “muy fuerte”. La cifra semanal más reciente de El Niño es de 2,7 grados (4,9 grados Fahrenheit) y está prevista a seguir aumentando durante otros dos a cuatro meses, según el rastreador de El Niño de la Universidad de Columbia.

Desde hace tiempo, los científicos han teorizado que, a medida que el mundo se calienta, los fenómenos de El Niño se volverían más fuertes porque se basan en diferencias de temperatura del océano en comparación con el promedio. Pero los registros observacionales solo se remontan a unos 75 años, por lo que los científicos han dicho anteriormente que los datos son demasiado irregulares como para establecer una tendencia. Así que han buscado indicios que señalen un El Niño sin medir directamente las temperaturas del agua. Por ejemplo, han revisado registros históricos de cambios del tiempo en todo el mundo y han identificado El Niño del pasado —como el de tamaño descomunal de 1877— a partir de los cambios que provocan a escala global.

Uso de fósiles de coral para estudiar la temperatura

El equipo de Cole adoptó un enfoque novedoso al observar lo que les ocurrió a los corales a lo largo de los siglos para “mirar al pasado”, afirmó. Cole indicó que las mediciones de la proporción de calcio y estroncio en los esqueletos de coral y de distintos isótopos de oxígeno generan dos lecturas independientes del agua de mar en la que se formó el coral. Otra medición de uranio y torio indica cuándo se formaron esos esqueletos.

Cole examinó 29 fósiles de coral en las islas Galápagos: 14 de antes de la era industrial, 14 de después de que comenzara la era moderna y uno más de aproximadamente la época en que la era industrial estaba iniciándose. El más antiguo era de alrededor del año 1100.

Las temperaturas que obtuvo a partir de los fósiles a lo largo de más de 900 años son irregulares, con vacíos, pero al graficarlas, dijo, se parecen a un palo de hockey, la misma descripción utilizada para un estudio emblemático de la década de 1990 sobre temperaturas globales del pasado.

Ella y otros científicos sostienen que esto solo va a empeorar.

“Plantea el espectro de un futuro en el que eventos más grandes de El Niño y La Niña estén acelerando el ritmo y la severidad de los extremos meteorológicos y climáticos”, advirtió Kim Cobb, científica de corales y clima en la Universidad de Brown que no participó en el estudio.

Científicos externos divididos sobre la investigación

Científicos ajenos al estudio están divididos sobre la investigación: algunos la celebran como importante y confiable, y otros dicen que no les convence porque choca con algunas observaciones recientes.

“Los corales son el estándar de oro para reconstruir El Niño, y esto aporta una mina de oro de nuevo material", declaró Cobb. " Podemos esperar muchas, muchas décadas a que el registro instrumental sea lo suficientemente largo como para detectar un cambio en las propiedades de El Niño, o podemos usar siglos de reconstrucciones de El Niño proporcionadas por registros paleoclimáticos. En conjunto, los datos paleoclimáticos que tenemos, de todo el Pacífico, son bastante consistentes al señalar una intensificación de los El Niño con el calentamiento global”.

Tanto el científico del clima Michael Mann, de la Universidad de Pensilvania —creador del fenómeno “palo de hockey” de la temperatura—, como el científico marino John Bruno, de la Universidad de Carolina del Norte, dijeron que los datos de coral entran en conflicto con observaciones recientes de la temperatura del agua en las Galápagos. Los datos muestran “una disminución sustancial en décadas recientes” de las variaciones relacionadas con El Niño cerca de las Galápagos durante el periodo en que los gases de efecto invernadero elevaron más las temperaturas, indicó Mann.

Bruno sostuvo que lo que refleja el coral no es tanto un cambio en El Niño como el calentamiento por los gases de efecto invernadero.

Cole explicó que el enorme El Niño de 1997-1998 y luego los pequeños hasta 2023-24 crearon una situación en la que parece que los El Niño no se están fortaleciendo porque las mediciones se basan en un periodo de 20 años y hubo algunos años entre fenómenos graves que sesgaron los datos. Señaló que El Niño varía en intensidad y que esa naturaleza de subidas y bajadas no desaparece solo porque esté respondiendo a condiciones más cálidas.

Pero todos los científicos coincidieron en que el cambio climático es un problema, con o sin un empeoramiento de El Niño.

“Es importante señalar esto como una razón más por la que necesitamos dejar los combustibles fósiles", subrayó Cole. "No existe una solución mágica para resolver el problema de El Niño”.

_________________________________

Julian Trejo Bax contribuyó desde Nueva York.

_________________________________

La cobertura climática y ambiental de The Associated Press recibe apoyo financiero de múltiples fundaciones privadas. La AP es la única responsable de todo el contenido. Encuentra los estándares de la AP para trabajar con organizaciones filantrópicas, una lista de las fundaciones y las áreas de cobertura que financian en AP.org.

_________________________________

Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.

In a statement released by his agent, Ray Petkau, Hellebuyck said he made the request several months ago and “tried to handle the situation quietly and respectfully while giving the organization time to explore its options.”

Hellebuyck said he felt it was important to go public because training camp is fast approaching. Camps are set to open in roughly three weeks.

“My position has not changed, and I believe moving on is the best path forward for me and my family,” Hellebuyck said. “(I) hope a resolution can be reached soon.”

Hellebuyck, 33, has played his entire NHL career with the Jets and was voted MVP in the 2024-25 season. He backstopped the U.S. to the gold medal at the Olympics in February.

General manager Kevin Cheveldayoff acknowledged he's been working to trade the player, but otherwise had no update.

“Connor has been open with us about his desire for a change. He has been an important part of the Winnipeg Jets organization for many years, and we have tremendous respect for what he has accomplished here,” Cheveldayoff said in a statement released by the team. “While we continue to work through the situation in a thoughtful manner, there is no update at this time.”

Trade rumors swirled about Hellebuyck in late June around the draft, but nothing came to fruition. The Michigan native missed time because of injury and had a career-worst .895 save percentage last season as Winnipeg underachieved expectations and missed the playoffs.

But his track record and body of work are among the best at the position over the past decade. His 345 wins, 2.58 goals-against average and .916 save percentage since entering the league in 2015 are second only to Tampa Bay two-time Stanley Cup champion Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Hellebuyck has not enjoyed the same postseason success as Vasilevskiy and the Lightning. He's 24-34, with the Jets only making it past the second round and into the Western Conference final once, back in 2018.

He signed an eight-year, $59.5 million extension with Winnipeg in October 2023. He's under contract through 2031 at a salary cap hit of $8.5 million.

“Winnipeg has been my home for my entire NHL career, and I will always be grateful for my time there,” Hellebuyck said. “I appreciate everything Winnipeg Jets fans have meant to me throughout my career.”

___

See AP’s full NHL coverage here

Dirigiéndose a un público joven que abarrotó varios espacios de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) el miércoles por la noche, Davis habló sobre la urgencia de la organización colectiva para lograr cambios sociales.

“El primer trabajo del activismo radical es generar esperanza, es persuadir a la gente de que un mejor mundo es posible”, afirmó Davis. “La desesperanza no es una opción”, enfatizó.

Algunos asistentes al conversatorio habían esperado durante horas en las puertas del recinto para poder ver de cerca a la mujer que simbolizó la lucha por los derechos civiles en Estados Unidos durante los años 60 y 70.

La breve visita de Davis y su compañera de lucha durante 30 años, la también académica Gina Dent, se enmarcó en la presentación de la edición en español del libro “Abolición, feminismo, ¡ahora!”, un texto escrito por ellas y otras dos autoras —Erica R. Meiners y Beth E. Richie— en el que instan a la acción urgente en favor de una justicia transformadora, el cuidado comunitario y el fin de la violencia de género, económica y de raza.

El libro explora el feminismo abolicionista, un marco teórico que vincula la lucha por desmantelar las prisiones y otros sistemas punitivos con el combate al racismo, la desigualdad económica y otras formas de opresión.

La misma Davis, que de joven apoyó al movimiento Panteras Negras, fue encarcelada por asesinato y secuestro en 1972 y luego absuelta y liberada gracias a la presión de la gente, lo que —dijo durante el conversatorio— demostró la importancia de la fuerza colectiva. Actualmente, a los 82 años, sigue siendo una voz reconocida entre los movimientos antirracistas y feministas en numerosos lugares del mundo.

En México, un país que no pisaba desde hace casi seis décadas a pesar de sus numerosos viajes por América Latina, instó a la acción, pero con optimismo ante un público que mayoritariamente la escuchaba por primera vez.

La conversación empezó con retraso luego de que cuatro jóvenes estudiantes tomaran el escenario para denunciar la violencia contra las mujeres presas en cárceles mexicanas y exigir la liberación de un compañero detenido recientemente por cargos relacionados con una ocupación estudiantil y protestas contra la violencia de género.

Davis dijo sentirse impresionada por la energía de la protesta y del auditorio que mientras la esperaba no dejó de corear consignas sobre los desaparecidos en México y en contra de la violencia de género. La filósofa deseó que esa energía se pueda canalizar en lograr “cambios reales, como poner fin a las cárceles, avanzar en la abolición del capitalismo o acabar con los femicidios en México”.

Durante la conversación Davis destacó la importancia de las líderes latinoamericanas y dijo sentirse “americana” no por ser estadounidense sino por estar al lado de otras mujeres del continente como la exvicepresidenta colombiana Francia Márquez o la activista y política brasileña Marielle Franco, asesinada en 2018.

Hacia el final de la charla una estudiante le lanzó una bandera palestina a Davis, quien se levantó de su asiento para recogerla y la mostró al público y la prensa.

Davis vinculó la lucha palestina con movimientos más amplios contra el racismo, el colonialismo y la violencia estatal.

“Palestina representa a personas de todo el mundo… y representa la capacidad de imaginar la victoria y seguir luchando por ella aún bajo las peores circunstancias”, dijo Davis.

En los últimos años, Davis se unió a la propuesta de hacer una gran huelga feminista en 2017, acompañó al movimiento “Black Lives Matters” y se sumó a peticiones en favor de presos políticos de distintos países, como una este mes por los encarcelados en Irán.

Leer en español

According to a Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office arrest report, the passenger flew on an American Airlines flight from North Carolina to Miami on June 8.

After arriving at MIA, the passenger accidentally left behind a black leather crossbody bag valued at $260, investigators said.

The bag contained approximately $12,377.90 worth of valuables, including a Cartier Santos watch and AirPods, according to the report.

The passenger told investigators he was initially able to track his AirPods around Miami International Airport for several days using an app before the location stopped updating.

Then, on July 1, he discovered what he believed was his missing Cartier watch listed for sale on DannysVintageWatches.com, a New York-based website, according to the report.

Investigators said the passenger was able to identify the watch because of a distinctive gash on the upper-left portion of its bezel. He provided investigators with several photographs showing him wearing the watch with the same mark.

Detectives then began tracing how the watch ended up for sale.

According to the report, records obtained through an Aug. 7 subpoena showed that Danny’s Vintage Watches purchased the watch from Brickell Watches, a Miami-based broker.

The report stated that a second subpoena showed Brickell Watches had acquired it from another Miami jewelry broker, Consistent Luxury LLC, however a representative of Consistent Luxury provided Local 10 with an invoice that shows they had actually purchased the watch from Brickell Watches.

According to the report, the paper trail eventually led detectives to Vera Jewelry, located at 12260 SW Eighth St.

The report states that records provided by Vera Jewelry showed the suspect, Carlos Elky Penton, 45, of Hialeah, had sold the watch there on June 11 — three days after the passenger left his bag behind — for $1,500, which investigators described as substantially below its fair market value.

Investigators determined that the suspect worked for Eulen at Miami International Airport. According to the arrest report, Eulen is contracted to service aircraft after passengers get off, and the company serviced the aircraft used for the passenger’s flight on June 8.

Deputies located Penton Thursday behind a residence in Hialeah and took him into custody.

After waiving his Miranda rights, the suspect told investigators he was not working on the day the bag went missing but said another Eulen employee had given him the watch, according to the report.

Investigators said he acknowledged that the watch did not belong to him and that he did not know its owner.

Penton was arrested on a charge of dealing in stolen property and was transported to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center for processing.

As of Friday afternoon, Penton remained held at TGK on a $7,500 bond.

It’s unclear whether the watch was ever returned to the victim.

Editor’s note: An arrest report from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office states that Brickell Watches had acquired the Cartier watch from another Miami jewelry broker, Consistent Luxury LLC, however a representative of Consistent Luxury provided Local 10 with an invoice that shows they had actually purchased the watch from Brickell Watches.

Los fiscales federales afirman que la pandilla conocida como “Los Baja Deo” durante años traficó fentanilo, cocaína y otras drogas desde la ciudad costera occidental de Mayagüez, generando casi 50 millones de dólares en ganancias. El grupo también es responsable de tiroteos, asesinatos, secuestros y agresiones, así como de la distribución de al menos 340 kilogramos de fentanilo o narcóticos adulterados con fentanilo, manifestó Blanche.

“Nuestras Fuerzas de Tarea de Seguridad Nacional en todo el país están unificadas, y están unificadas para poner fin a la presencia de cárteles criminales, pandillas extranjeras y organizaciones criminales trasnacionales en todo Estados Unidos”, expresó el secretario de Justicia, recientemente confirmado, a los reporteros desde las oficinas de la agencia federal en San Juan:

La presencia de Blanche en el territorio caribeño estadounidense para el anuncio subraya los esfuerzos del gobierno de Trump por poner el foco en su labor contra los cárteles y las pandillas que alimentan el tráfico de drogas y la violencia en comunidades de todo Estados Unidos. El gobierno de Trump ha reconfigurado drásticamente el Departamento de Justicia para convertir la lucha contra la inmigración ilegal y el crimen violento en una prioridad máxima.

Héctor Ramírez-Carbó, secretario de Justicia interino para Puerto Rico, afirmó que “estos 81 miembros violentos de la pandilla ahora enfrentarán a la justicia, y también lo hará cualquier otro que intente ocupar su lugar”. Añadió que “hoy, las familias de Mayagüez pueden disfrutar en paz de lo que sus comunidades tienen para ofrecer sin temor a sufrir daños”.

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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.

In a statement, the U.S. State Department said it is not aware of any U.S. deaths, but three Americans have been rescued.

Many of the missing were on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in Tibet, a sacred site for Hindus, Buddhists and others.

Social media posts were surfacing Thursday from loved ones pleading for people to provide updates or circulate information about Americans they had lost contact with — a Virginia woman traveling with a tour group, a Texas couple on a birthday trip and a mother accompanying her 14-year-old daughter.

Ohio man missing

Among those on a guided tour was Venus Rajnikant Patel, a 45-year-old Indian-born U.S. citizen who recently moved from St. Louis to Cincinnati to help his family.

Patel’s brother, Dennis, said Venus called him and their parents a few hours before the floods, showing them his hotel room on the Nepalese side of the border and talking about how excited he was to cross into Tibet. He had been planning the pilgrimage for two years, his brother said.

Patel’s friend Jolene Gosha said she and her friends knew Patel was in Nepal and were devastated when they realized his hotel was right along the border where the floods swept through.

“We’re just hoping, hoping that by some chance he was able to climb his way out of it,” Gosha said. “I don’t want to give myself false hope because I know the reality is that he's probably not with us.”

Gosha described Patel as an avid traveler who loves dancing and frequently organizes surprise “flash mob” performances for his friends’ weddings and birthdays.

“He’s always smiling from ear to ear,” Gosha said. “He’d dance so goofily and didn’t care who was watching.”

Long Island man described as ‘life of the party’

Another American who is missing is 72-year-old Jitendra Patel, a Long Island resident who was with a tour group on a Hindu pilgrimage to Mount Kailash, according to his son, Sunny Patel. Jitendra last called Wednesday morning local time on WhatsApp to say that he had crossed the border into Tibet.

When Sunny first saw video of the flooding he thought no one could survive it, Sunny said. He then contacted his mother to ask about his father’s whereabouts. His mother said Jitendra was in the exact same area as the flooding.

“My heart sank,” Sunny said, adding that he “didn’t think it was possible that my dad would be there at ground zero.”

Sunny described his father as the “life of the party” who loves playing golf and socializing. Jitendra is retired but drives Uber for fun because he can talk to people.

Sunny and his family are somber but “maybe hopeful,” Sunny said. But they haven’t heard from Jitendra. WhatsApp messages sent to him aren’t being delivered, Sunny said.

“It gets worse by every hour, obviously,” he added.

Indian spiritual guru Jaggi Vasudev, also known as Sadhguru, said in a post on X that 77 people returning from Mount Kailash with groups organized by his Isha Foundation were at an immigration center in Gyirong, Tibet, when the floods struck. Leslie Crespi, a community liaison for the foundation's U.S. campus, said that 22 of them were Americans affiliated with the foundation and that three volunteers supporting the trekkers were also at the immigration center when the floods hit.

“We had communication with the coordinator of the group at about 9:05 Nepalese time saying that they had arrived there. And then by 9:14 is when this flash flood hit,” Crespi said.

The trekkers were “like family,” Crespid said. And for many people that go on the treks to Nepal, it’s a “lifelong dream to go and be there,” she added.

The Isha Foundation is a spiritual organization based in India and its U.S. campus, the Isha Institute of Inner-sciences, is a yoga and meditation retreat center located in the mountains near McMinnville, Tennessee.

At a candlelight vigil in New York City on Thursday, Tak Ruwali, a Long Island resident who is from one of the Nepalese districts affected by the flooding, said that he is talking with people in Nepal and many regional tourist guides are “out of contact now."

“It means they are probably gone,” Ruwali added.

Talking to reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, President Donald Trump said U.S. officials have spoken with Nepalese leaders and offered to provide “anything they want.”

Trump said there were 50 or 60 Americans in the area but added that a full accounting hasn’t been completed.

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Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Collin Binkley in Washington and Josh Kelety in Phoenix contributed to this report.