Harry Moon, the president of NSU, recently reported that one of the students named in a Sept. 16 civil lawsuit alleging seven students had raped a 20-year-old sophomore at a fraternity house in Ithaca, New York, had transferred to the private university in Davie.

“At the time of admission, the university was not aware of allegations subsequently reported in media,” Moon recently wrote in a letter to students. “Once we learned of the reported incident, we acted immediately on behalf of the safety and well-being of our students and the NSU community.”

Moon did not identify the NSU student, who had allegedly been a member of Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity chapter and was a suspect in the alleged October 2024 rape in the 100 block of Edgermoor Lane in Ithaca.

Public civil litigation prompted a grand jury review and the reopening of the criminal investigation.

NSU doesn’t have a Chi Phi fraternity chapter.

“Because this matter involves federal law regarding an individual student, the university is legally restricted by federal regulations that limit what the university can share,” Moon wrote in the letter to NSU students.

Mars Rivera was among the NSU students who said they felt uneasy about Moon’s letter.

“Obviously, it doesn’t say if he’s been removed or if he’s still here or any of that,” Rivera told Local 10 News.

Sally Yates, who was a deputy attorney general in the Obama administration, will spearhead the review, the trustees said in an announcement. The assessment is to include how the Ivy League university investigates reports of sexual assault and sexual harassment, what support students get, how the disciplinary process works, campus police responses and oversight of fraternities, sororities and other student organizations.

The announcement comes after days of outrage and demonstrations over Cornell’s response to a complaint from a woman known publicly only as Jane Doe, who told campus police in November 2024 that she had been sexually assaulted by multiple Chi Phi fraternity brothers the month before after being pressured into drinking and taking drugs.

No criminal charges have been filed. The Chi Phi chapter at Cornell was shut down, and the Ivy League university has said it expelled some students and suspended others.

She sued the university, seven former students, the fraternity and others last month. The suit put a new, nationwide spotlight on the allegations and how the campus police, university and local prosecutor had reacted.

New York’s attorney general is now conducting a criminal investigation, and the state’s governor called for an independent review of Cornell’s handling of the matter — the review that Yates now will lead.

Cornell students, professors and others thronged a campus plaza Monday to protest the university’s response to the matter.

The league on Monday suspended line judge Jeff Seeman for two games for swearing at Arizona’s Trey McBride and referee Adrian Hill for one game for yelling and gesturing at Minnesota’s Eric Wilson.

"NFL officials have a responsibility to conduct themselves professionally on the field, and the actions in these incidents fell short of that standard," Referees Association executive director Scott Green said in a statement. “Accountability matters, but that should not result in discipline that is excessive or inconsistent with established precedent.”

Seeman was caught on camera cursing at McBride during the Cardinals’ loss at the New York Giants. Hill yelled at Eric Wilson and pointed for him to get away after the Vikings linebacker tried to help him to his feet after a collision knocked him over.

“Officials are routinely subjected to highly charged interactions and, at times, verbal abuse from players and coaches," Green said. “While that never excuses misconduct by an official, it shouldn’t be dismissed as simply part of the game. The League expects the highest level of professionalism from its officials, and it should demand the same from everyone on the field.”

The NFLRA said it would meet with the league's officiating department to discuss disciplinary standards and with Players Association leadership to address on-field conduct and the growing levels of confrontations between players and officials.

“We will defend the principle that discipline must be fair, consistent and proportionate," Green said. “Holding officials accountable while ignoring or minimizing the conduct directed at them is neither fair nor an effective way to address this issue.”

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Opa-locka police identified the suspect in an arrest report as Arlande Delius Sylvestre.

According to the arrest report, officers responded to a home in reference to a reported battery with injuries at approximately 5:40 a.m. Monday.

When officers arrived, they found the victim with visible injuries to his forehead and other parts of his body, police said. Officers searched the surrounding area but did not find Sylvestre, who the victim said had fled on foot before police arrived.

The victim told investigators that he had been sleeping on a couch inside the home when the smell of smoke woke him.

According to the report, the victim saw Sylvestre setting the couch on fire and yelled at him.

Police said Sylvestre then struck the victim in the forehead with a machete, causing a deep cut.

The victim told police Sylvestre then got on top of him, pinned him against the couch and grabbed one of his arms while repeatedly striking him with the machete.

During the attack, Sylvestre allegedly yelled, “I’m going to kill you!”

The victim fought back and was eventually able to break free, according to the report. Police said Sylvestre chased him while still armed with the machete and attempted to strike him again.

The victim managed to get away and call 911 as Sylvestre fled the scene, according to police.

The report states that Sylvestre returned to the scene with the machete before officers arrived and again confronted and chased the victim.

The victim fled because he feared he would be injured again, according to the report.

He described the machete to investigators as approximately 24 inches long and black and blue with lettering on it. Police said the victim’s injuries were consistent with being caused by a machete.

The arrest report also states that Sylvestre is subject to a non-expiring protection order issued in January 2024 involving his girlfriend after he allegedly stabbed her. Police said that after leaving the scene Monday, Sylvestre called his girlfriend and located her in person, violating that protection order.

Police said Sylvestre was read his Miranda rights and invoked his right to remain silent.

He was arrested and transported to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center where he was booked on charges of arson, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault and violation of an injunction.

A motive for the alleged attack is unclear.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Sylvestre remained at TGK. Online jail records listed his total bond as “to be set.”

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According to the Miami Police Department, officers responded to the area of Northwest Seventh Avenue and Northwest Seventh Street at approximately 4 a.m. after receiving reports of a man down in the roadway.

When officers arrived, Miami Fire Rescue medics were already transporting the victim to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, where he was initially listed in critical condition, authorities confirmed. The victim later died from his injuries.

“Our detectives are reviewing cameras in the area,” Officer Mike Vega said. “They’re talking to witnesses, there was a Good Samaritan that was traveling southbound, saw a body in the middle of the street and stopped to render aid, and also contacted police.”

A preliminary investigation determined that the victim had been riding a scooter when he was struck by a vehicle whose driver fled the scene, police said.

“This is advice to people that are driving and either hit a person, hit something, and they get scared because they don’t have insurance, or they don’t have a driver’s license, or they don’t have the registration with them. If you don’t have all these things, stay on the scene, do the right thing, and then eventually, all you’re going to get is a ticket or a citation,” Vega said. “But in this case, since the driver fled the scene, now he’s facing a more serious charge of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death.”

Police have not released additional information about the vehicle or driver involved.

The investigation remains ongoing.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Miami Police Department or Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.

“Yes, he did,” Umar Kremlev told an International Boxing Association press conference in Istanbul on Tuesday. “He did repay the money I spent on the present.” Still, he said he felt the repayment was unnecessary.

“Frankly speaking, I do not understand why he decided to do so,” he went on. “There are all kinds of events organized by all kinds of people. It is as if I invite you to come and visit my country house. Would you expect me to issue an invoice to them afterward?" Speaking through an interpreter, he said that would be "ridiculous.”

ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative website, reported last month that Kremlev, who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, “footed the bill for hundreds of thousands of dollars of wedding expenses” when Trump Jr. married socialite Bettina Anderson in the Bahamas in May. That included paying to rent one of two private islands where the three-day party was held.

In a subsequent post on her Instagram page signed by the couple, Bettina Trump wrote that they had been married “surrounded ONLY by our family,” but that Kremlev, head of the boxing association, was a “dear friend” who “very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations for us AFTER our wedding.”

President Donald Trump, who did not attend the nuptials, previously defended the arrangement but told reporters that the money would be paid back.

“It’s totally allowed," he said. “But, as I understand it, he paid them back.”

“That’s very common,” he added, “I’ve given wedding parties to numerous people.”

Kremlev, who was recently honored with the Order of Friendship by Putin, also played down the significance, saying the celebration was “a shared event" and "people blew it out of proportion.”

“I mean, why can’t we be friends? We are just friends,” he went on. “We are simply friends and what unites us is love for sports."

The focus on Kremlev comes as Russia remains at war with Ukraine following its invasion in 2022 and as Trump has failed to broker a promised peace deal between the nations.

Trump Jr. has previously been scrutinized over his ties to Russia. During the 2016 campaign, his meeting with a Russian attorney in Trump Tower to discuss potentially incriminating information about his father's then-Democratic opponent was a critical element of investigations into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to meddle in the election to help Trump win.

Reed hasn't been on a Ryder Cup team since those 2018 matches, another debacle for the U.S. team that ended with Reed telling The New York Times he should have been partners with Jordan Spieth and Furyk should not have benched him twice that week.

Reed, among the first to defect to LIV Golf in 2022, chose not to renew his LIV contract this year and leads the European tour points list, assuring him a return to the PGA Tour next year.

“We are going to put the best 12 guys, the best team of 12, on this team,” Furyk said from Adare Manor during a news conference with European captain Luke Donald to mark the matches being one year away. “If Patrick Reed is one of those, that's great. It's been a long time since he's been in our team room.”

Steve Stricker left Reed off the team for the 2021 Ryder Cup the Americans won at Whistling Straits. He was not seriously considered for the Rome matches in 2023 or the Bethpage Black matches in 2025, even though he had top-5 finishes at the Masters both those years.

Furyk already has changed U.S. qualifying for Adare Manor so that no one begins earning points until the 2027 season. Reed, who is No. 29 in the world ranking as he closes out his European tour schedule, could be eligible for signature events if he's in the top 30 at the time of those events.

His last time in the U.S. team room was at Royal Melbourne in 2019 for the Presidents Cup, where he was heckled by the Australian gallery a week after he was penalized in the Bahamas for improving his lie in a sandy waste area.

Six players qualify and Furyk will have six captain's picks for the Sept. 17-19 matches.

“Patrick and I will have that conversation," Furyk said. “And I'm looking forward to welcoming our best team of 12.”

Furyk's more immediate concern was finding a solution for the recent trend of abysmal U.S. play in foursomes. The Americans have been outgained 26-8 in foursomes in the last two Ryder Cups and Presidents Cups. The deficit is 13-3 to Europe in the Ryder Cup.

They have been blanked in three sessions — the opening session at Marco Simone in 2023, and each of the last two times in the Presidents Cup.

“I know those numbers very, very well. I’ve lived them the last four,” Furyk said. "It's not an anomaly. There's some issues — we understand that. I plan on making some changes. As captains, we need to do a better job, not only put the folks into good pairings in good positions, but I don’t think we are preparing for those matches in a proper way.

“And I promise you, we will be prepared,” he said. “I'm going to ask this team to do more than any other United States team has in the past. We’ll be prepared. We’ll be ready to go in that format, and hopefully we can showcase our talent. We have too much depth to have that poor record in alternate shot.”

Furyk said he will ask prospective players to go to Adare Manor next summer around the two-week stretch of the Scottish Open and British Open.

He was in a tough spot as 2018 captain for the Ryder Cup at Le Golf National. The course was set up tight with deep rough. Some players suited for the course were not in great form. Tiger Woods had just won the Tour Championship and Bryson DeChambeau won two playoff events. They combined to go 0-7-0 for the week.

Donald returns as captain for the third time, bidding to become the first captain in Ryder Cup history to lead three teams to victory.

“I have zero complacency about how strong the U.S. are going to be. They always are. On paper, they tend to be stronger than us through the world rankings,” Donald said. "Obviously we have a great record at home, but again, zero complacency. I’ve seen what Jim has been doing behind the scenes, changing the stats, changing the qualification system. He is very, very motivated to come here and put up a good fight.

“Certainly I’m just as motivated to sort of keep finding those edges for my team.”

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See AP’s full golf coverage here

The original deadline was Sept. 30, but the U.S. Department of Education extended it to give borrowers more time to enroll. The rate reduction will last through June 2028.

Borrowers who currently use auto pay already receive an interest-rate discount of 0.25%, so the new reduction takes off just 0.75%.

This temporary benefit is meant to support borrowers, along with those who are returning to repayment, and ensure they can stay on top of the new Repayment Assistance Plan that requires on-time payments, according to the Education Department.

The interest reduction can benefit borrowers who have large balances and are on fixed payments, said Lesley J. Turner, associate professor of public policy at the University of Chicago.

“For a limited time, borrowers are now able to get a full percentage point reduction in their interest rate if they sign up for auto debit," Turner said. “So this is a quadrupling of the earlier benefit. It’s a pretty big benefit, especially for borrowers who have large balances.”

Since the interest reduction was announced this summer, nearly 2 million borrowers have enrolled in auto pay.

Around 9 million Americans are in default on their federal student loans as of June, according to the Education Department. Hundreds of thousands more are behind on loan payments and at risk of default this year.

If you're looking to enroll your student loans in auto pay, here's what you need to know:

If you're new to auto pay, enroll by the end of the year

In order to get the 1% interest reduction, you must enroll in auto pay by Dec. 31.

First, log in to your student loan servicer account and select auto pay. You'll need to enter your bank information to automatically withdraw the monthly payment from your checking or savings account.

Even without the rate reduction, auto pay is a good way to stay on top of your student loans, Turner said.

“We all know life gets busy and if you have to log in every month and manually make your payment there may be a chance that you forget and then you end up having your loans go delinquent," she said.

If you're already enrolled, you already have the reduction

Borrowers who were enrolled in auto pay before the announcement in July have had their interest rate automatically reduced by 1%, according to the Education Department.

If you're currently in default, consolidate your loans

If your student loans are in default, you must log in to studentaid.gov and consolidate your eligible loans in order to sign up for auto pay.

Involuntary collections on federal student loans remain on hold. The Trump administration announced earlier this year that it is delaying plans to withhold pay from student loan borrowers who default on their payments. Borrowers are considered in default when they are at least 270 days behind on payments.

The online application for loan consolidation is available at studentaid.gov/loan-consolidation. If you have multiple federal student loans, you can combine them into a single loan with a fixed interest rate and a single monthly payment. The consolidation process typically takes around 60 days to complete. You can only consolidate your loans once.

If your student loans are in default, you can also contact your loan holder to apply for a loan rehabilitation program. Through this program, borrowers are enrolled in a reduced payment plan and, after five successful payments, wage garnishment ends.

Borrowers can find more information about loan rehabilitation here.

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The Associated Press receives support from Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. The AP is solely responsible for its journalism.

He came with the Everglades Trust, which endorsed his plans for Everglades restoration.

He said he remembered what happened on Florida’s West Coast, where he lives: blue-green algal blooms along the Caloosahatchee in 2014.

“You finish the work. You finish the projects,” Donalds said. “You make sure that the work that we’ve been planning ― and, by the way, Everglades restoration is something that was planned back in 2000 ― the execution is happening now. You execute the work plan. You do that.”

He and the Everglades Trust said water mismanagement was the reason behind the past blooms.

Local 10 News asked him about Democratic challenger David Jolly’s visit to South Florida in Coconut Creek on Monday, where he said he would not debate Donalds ahead of the election.

Jolly said, “Well, you can’t really debate a liar. I think what we learned from Donald Trump is they can repeat the same lies a dozen times, and in some circles of the world, it becomes the truth.”

Donalds said he was willing to debate Jolly anytime.

“David Jolly’s a fraud,” Donalds said. “He knows if he is on a debate stage with me, that fraud will be exposed to the people of Florida, so he hides. This guy’s been on every side of politics the last 10 years.”

Election Day is on Nov. 3.

View Local 10’s voter guide for the midterm elections.

Videos also captured the sound of about a dozen gunshots fired, and two men jumping out of a third-floor window at Aliro, at 14040 Biscayne Boulevard. One of the men appeared to have dropped cash on the floor as he ran away.

Hours after the shooting and abduction at Aliro, a captain found Eddrick Malik Bethune dead on the side of the road in the area of Southwest 216th Street and 189th Avenue, in Redlands, according to MDSO detectives.

A wounded victim arrived at a nearby hospital after the shooting at Alir, according to the North Miami Police Department. MDSO homicide detectives reported not being able to speak to the wounded victim because of “his medical status.”

Detectives were also investigating a vehicle arson in southern Miami-Dade that was related to the murder investigation.

Detective J. Rodriguez asked anyone with information about the case to call 305-471-2400.

Detectives also asked anyone with information about this or other cases to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477 to remain anonymous.

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MDSO flyer

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which first reported the news, said Franchione’s family confirmed his death Tuesday, adding that he battled cancer for a decade. He was diagnosed with cancer in 2016 and 2021, but it had been in remission. Family friends said the cancer returned earlier this year and Franchione recently went into hospice, the newspaper reported.

Franchione worked his way up the college football coaching ranks during a career that spanned more than 30 years. Beginning as an assistant at Kansas State in 1978, he coached at New Mexico, TCU, Alabama, Texas A&M and Texas State.

He compiled a 213-135-2 record before stepping down from Texas State in 2015 and retiring from coaching. Franchione led his teams to nine conference championships, nine bowl games, four NAIA playoff games and one NCAA Division II playoff appearance.

“TCU mourns alongside the Franchione family at the passing of ‘Coach Fran,’” TCU athletic director Mike Buddie said in a statement. “Our fortunes as a department would not be what they are today without the efforts of Coach Franchione, his staff, and players. Beyond his talent as a football coach, he was a beloved father, mentor, and friend to so many. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Kim, and the entire Franchione family.”

TCU was coming off a 1-10 season when Franchione left New Mexico after six years to take over the Horned Frogs, who in his debut season in 1999 had a 7-5 record capped by a Sun Bowl win over Southern California. With future Pro Football Hall of Fame running back LaDainian Tomlinson, TCU finished tied atop the Western Athletic Conference standings each of the next two seasons, going 8-4 with another bowl win in 1999 before a 10-1 regular season in 2000 that led to him being hired by Alabama.

Franchione was replaced at TCU by his defensive coordinator, Gary Patterson, who had winning records in 15 of his 22 seasons as head coach and six times was top 10 in the final AP Top 25 poll. That included an undefeated 13-0 season in 2010 when the Frogs finished second after a win over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl.

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Authorities said Yansel Hernandez, 34, and Rene Quintana, 31, were taken into custody on Friday and the victim was rescued on Saturday.

Court documents in the case were made public on Tuesday. The two men face kidnapping conspiracy charges.

The kidnapping

Authorities said the kidnapping took place just before noon last Tuesday after the victim made a purchase at Pinch A Penny Pool Patio Spa at 11035 Bird Road in Miami-Dade’s unincorporated Westchester area.

According to a federal criminal complaint, surveillance video showed a gray sedan arriving shortly after the victim. Authorities said video showed the victim walking out of the store and the sedan leaving the lot ― but the victim’s truck was left behind.

Authorities said a license plate reader on Bird Road captured a gray Chrysler 200 traveling about a half mile west of the store about two minutes after the kidnapping.

Calls and text messages

Later that evening, agents said the victim’s son received a call from a blocked number with garbled audio, but in which he could hear a man, speaking in a hurried tone and referencing the words “$3 million,” “dad” and “child.”

According to the complaint, the victim’s son then began receiving text messages from various phone numbers.

Authorities said eight minutes later, the victim received a Spanish-language text message stating that the texter “had” the victim. According to the complaint, the texter “also referred to a 15-year debt.”

Just after 8:15 p.m., authorities said the victim’s son received a text from a phone with a 615 area code, which requested $3 million and stated that the texter “knew (the victim’s) businesses, properties, and family members.” According to the complaint, the texter also told the victim’s son “he would be contacted within 48 hours to meet in West Palm Beach.”

A third text message, sent on Thursday, stated that “because (the victim’s son) contacted the police,” the ransom was now $4 million and “that the (victim) loves (him) and knows the money can be obtained,” agents said.

According to the complaint, the victim’s son was told he “must arrive in a blue Hyundai to deliver the money in West Palm Beach.” Agents said the victim’s son owns a blue Hyundai.

On Thursday evening, agents said the victim’s son received a call from a number agents were later able to trace, in which the caller made a “demand for money” in Spanish and said that the victim’s son would receive a “proof of life” of his father, so long as he “had the money.”

Tracing the phones

Investigators said they were eventually able to trace two of the numbers to the purchase of burner phones at a Walmart at 9300 NW 77th Ave. in Hialeah Gardens on June 30 and July 1.

According to the complaint, surveillance video showed three men arriving in a black Honda Accord on June 30; one of them went into Walmart to buy one of the phones with cash, while the other two visited a nearby pizza shop.

Investigators said they were able to obtain a receipt from the pizza shop showing a purchase tied to a man named “Rene” with a phone number that led investigators to Quintana.

According to the complaint, cellphone data placed both Quintana and Hernandez near the Pinch A Penny at the time of the kidnapping and showed the two were communicating with one another in the days leading up to the crime, including calling each other the day before.

Surveillance, arrests and rescue

Investigators said they surveilled Quintana’s home on Friday and saw a second gray Honda Accord ― which was registered to a person who had left the country before the kidnapping and which had been seen parked at Quintana’s home on Wednesday ― circling the block.

“Law enforcement followed the Honda through the surrounding neighborhood,” an FBI agent wrote in the complaint. “Law enforcement confirmed the vehicle was occupied by two Hispanic males. The vehicle stopped and the occupants exited the vehicle. While setting up a perimeter to find the occupants of the vehicle, law enforcement observed Hernandez and Quintana walking on foot.”

Authorities said they searched the two after taking them into custody and did not find any cellphones.

Federal investigators said a search of Quintana’s bag had a “SIM card holder with a phone number” and what was described in the complaint as a “receipt” ― though a photo attached in the complaint shows what appears to be the back of a Powerball ticket or play slip ― with the phone number used to make Thursday’s ransom call written on it.

Agents said law enforcement officers “rescued” the victim the next day, though they did not say where they found him.

Records show Hernandez and Quintana were being held in the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami as of Tuesday morning.

The online federal court docket did not list any upcoming hearings.

If convicted of conspiracy to kidnap, each man could spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Other highlights include Kubrick’s director’s chair, the matching blue dresses worn by the twin girls in “The Shining,” costumes used in “Eyes Wide Shut” and Kubrick's annotated scripts for several of his films, Bonhams said.

“We are proud to be able to share with you some of the items from this unique collection, which we hope will find new homes and be cherished until it is time to pass them on to the next generation of film lovers,” the director's stepdaughter, Katherina Kubrick, said in a statement.

The star item is the original “Star Child” prop, which appears as a glowing fetus in the final scene of “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Bonhams said that it's expected to fetch up to 800,000 pounds ($1.06 million).

The axe in “The Shining” — used by Jack Nicholson as he delivered his famous line “Here’s Johnny!” — is estimated to sell for 30,000 to 50,000 pounds ($39,851 to $66,410).

The auction will take place in London in February, and will be preceded by a free public exhibition.

Claire died Monday, on his 91st birthday, in Pasadena, the team announced Tuesday. Claire had entered hospice care recently.

In January 2015, at age 80, Claire was diagnosed with squamous cell skin cancer on his lip. He had the cells removed, but the cancer later returned in his jaw and again in his neck. He had surgery to remove a nerve on the left side of his face along with several lymph nodes. He underwent radiation, chemotherapy and immunotherapy as part of his 11-year journey with cancer.

He would jog regularly during his years on the road as the Dodgers general manager and said he was diligent about wearing sun screen except on his lips.

“Fred brought many victories and Dodger legends to our franchise, as well as the 1988 World Series title,” team president and CEO Stan Kasten said in a statement, “and we are forever grateful for his leadership during such a memorable era.”

From sports writing to public relations

Claire was covering the Dodgers during spring training in Florida for the Long Beach Press-Telegram in 1969 when one of the team’s public relations assistants was fired.

He expressed interest in the job and was hired that July. He was promoted to vice president of public relations and promotions in 1975.

During his tenure, Claire was instrumental in creating the Dodger Blue branding and Think Blue campaign. The club drew 3.3 million fans in 1978, the first MLB team to exceed 3 million. He also hired announcer Ross Porter, who worked for the team from 1977 until being let go in 2004.

In 1976, Chicago Cubs outfielder Rick Monday ran over and saved an American flag from being burned on the Dodger Stadium field by two spectators. Claire directed the message board operator to type the words: “Rick Monday......You Made a Great Play” on the board.

Becoming Dodgers GM after a scandal

In April 1987, a public relations firestorm occurred over comments 70-year-old general manager Al Campanis made on ABC’s “Nightline.”

Campanis, who was white, was asked by host Ted Koppel about the lack of Black people in significant positions of authority in baseball.

“I truly believe they may not have some of the necessities to be, let’s say, a field manager, or perhaps, a general manager,” Campanis said. “Why are Black people not good swimmers? Because they don’t have buoyancy.”

Campanis had agreed to the interview without telling anyone in the Dodgers organization. Claire awoke the next day to a story about Campanis’ comments in the newspaper.

“I couldn’t believe what I was reading,” he wrote in his 2004 memoir.

Campanis had been Jackie Robinson’s roommate when the two were in the minor leagues in 1946, and he tutored Robinson in transitioning from shortstop to second base. Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.

“Those who knew Al expressed shock. There had never been a hint of bigotry in anything he had ever said or done,” Claire wrote. “In my view, what Al had attempted to do that night was to defend his beloved game of baseball in an area where there was no defense.”

Campanis was fired after two decades as GM. Team owner Peter O’Malley handed control of one of the most storied teams in baseball to Claire. He accepted on the condition that he would have total and complete responsibility for baseball operations.

Claire wasn’t intimidated, either, having been involved in discussions regarding free agents, arbitration and team payroll since becoming a team vice president in 1975.

In Claire’s first full season as GM, the Dodgers finished with a 73-89 record in 1987. O’Malley informed Claire he was considering bringing in a more experienced person for the job. He called the New York Mets and asked for permission to speak to Joe McIlvaine, but was denied. O’Malley decided to stick with Claire.

“Fred was a talented team player and everyone in the organization enjoyed working with him,” O’Malley said in a statement.

Winning 1988 World Series

In January 1988, Claire signed Kirk Gibson and the outfielder made a huge difference in the Dodgers winning the World Series in five games over the heavily favored Oakland Athletics that fall. An injured Gibson hobbled to the plate as a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the ninth inning with the Dodgers trailing 4-3 in Game 1. He launched a two-strike, two-run homer — one of the most dramatic moments in baseball history — off closer Dennis Eckersley into the right field seats to win the game, 5-4.

Claire was named baseball’s executive of the year, an award previously won by such Dodger greats as Larry MacPhail, Branch Rickey, Walter O’Malley and Buzzie Bavasi.

The Dodgers returned to the playoffs just twice over the next decade, losing in the first round both times. It would be another 32 years before the Dodgers won the World Series again.

Good trades and bad ones, too

Among the trades that Claire was most proud of during his tenure as GM were those that brought John Shelby, Tim Belcher, Alfredo Griffin, Jay Howell, Jesse Orosco and John Tudor to Los Angeles — all of which had a connection with the 1988 World Series championship. He also traded for future Hall of Famer Eddie Murray in 1988 and again in 1997.

Two trades that Claire regretted were sending pitcher Pedro Martinez to the Montreal Expos and acquiring Eric Davis from Cincinnati. Martinez went on to win three Cy Young Awards with the Boston Red Sox, while Davis played two injury-plagued seasons in Los Angeles.

Dodgers sold, Piazza traded behind Claire’s back

The O’Malley family sold the team to Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Entertainment Group in March 1998.

Two months later, future Hall of Fame catcher and fan favorite Mike Piazza was traded to the Florida Marlins in a stunning seven-player deal struck without Claire’s knowledge. It was pulled off by Fox television executive Chase Carey, who Claire said, was pursuing a regional TV sports channel in Florida and wanted the Marlins to be part of it.

“The seven-player trade was, first and foremost, a television deal. The new team owner simply did not understand the structure of a baseball team and the importance of a franchise player,” Claire wrote. “My reaction to the trade cost me my position with the Dodgers.”

Claire, along with manager Bill Russell, was fired by Fox on June 21, 1998, the same day Campanis died. Former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda took over as interim GM.

Claire never took another full-time job in baseball but stayed connected with the sport through a column and radio show for MLB.com, as a consultant for sports-related companies and by co-founding a baseball analytics company. He taught sports business courses at Caltech, the University of Southern California and Long Beach State.

Love of baseball began as a kid in Ohio

Born Fredic Marston Claire on Oct. 5, 1935, in Jamestown, Ohio, he cultivated his love of baseball while attending Cincinnati Reds games with his family at Crosley Field. He moved to Torrance, California, at age 15. He graduated from Torrance High, where he played junior varsity baseball and basketball. He graduated from San Jose State University with a journalism degree.

His first job out of college was as a sports writer for the Whittier Daily News at $65 a week. During his time with the Progress-Bulletin in Pomona, he wrote the game story on the Dodgers winning Game 3 of the 1959 World Series against the Chicago White Sox, the team’s first World Series win after moving to Los Angeles.

He later covered the then-California Angels for the Long Beach Press-Telegram and became the paper’s beat writer for the Dodgers in 1969.

He is survived by wife Sheryl and children Jeff, Jennifer and Kim.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

The attorneys for David Hearn said in a letter to the inspectors general for the departments of Justice and Interior that “incompetence and misconduct" were committed by government officials operating under pressure from President Donald Trump, and that watchdog investigations were needed “to determine what happened inside their agencies that led to the shocking and indefensible treatment” of their client.

The letter was filed days after a District of Columbia judge permanently dismissed the case, ending a brief prosecution derided by defense lawyers and other critics as an abuse of government power pushed by a president who insisted vandalism, not human error, was to blame for damage at the landmark. The request indicates that Hearn's lawyers see an additional need for accountability even after the dismissal of the legal proceedings.

“In light of these findings and the government’s own admissions, a critical purpose of the requested investigations is to collect the facts — through witness interviews and the collection and analysis of electronic media and documents — necessary to hold accountable the individuals and groups who failed Mr. Hearn, the criminal justice system, and the public,” the lawyers wrote.

“These events," they said, "demand accountability and full and unconstrained investigations by your offices.”

Spokespeople for the U.S. attorney's office, which brought the case, and the Interior Department did not immediately return emails seeking comment. Representatives of the two inspectors general offices also did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment on whether they would act on the lawyers' request.

Defense lawyers say prosecutors ignored exculpatory evidence

D.C. Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman on Thursday dismissed the case with “prejudice,” which would block U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office from refiling the felony charge against him. He said the decision was warranted by the case's “exceptional circumstances” and agreed with defense attorneys that the government “shot first and asked questions later” by charging Hearn in a "lightning-fast indictment process.”

Pirro moved to dismiss the case in July weeks after it was brought, saying newly produced evidence from the Interior Department showed Hearn was not responsible for damage to the pool’s lining. She attributed the damage instead to a botched installation by a contractor as well as a rush to complete the project in time for this summer’s America 250 celebration in Washington.

But Hearn's lawyers say in their letter that the evidence that established their client's innocence had been in the Justice Department's possession for weeks and was “simply ignored.” They asked the department's inspector general to investigate why prosecutors “rushed to indict” under what they said was political pressure from Trump, who had launched a massive renovation project before the anniversary celebrations and later accused Pirro of having “choked” and “folded like an umbrella" when she dismissed the case.

The attorneys also called on the watchdog to investigate, among other things, whether prosecutors had failed to disclose exculpatory information in their possession; whether prosecutors relied on a grand jury witness who presented an unsupported figure on monetary damages to the pool; whether comments Pirro made at the indictment press conference violated Justice Department policy; and whether Pirro also violated policy by approaching and questioning a defense expert.

“The record reflects an indictment obtained through unusual haste and a prosecution shaped from the outset by political pressure and built on an inadequate investigation," they said, adding, “The sprint to charge Mr. Hearn mirrored the rushed renovation itself, which the President had publicly committed to completing by a fixed deadline.”

Questions are also raised about the Interior Department

Hearn, 67, of Bethesda, Maryland, competed in three Summer Olympics, earning his best finish, ninth, at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee says on its website.

He has said he was on a bike ride on June 19 when he reached in to examine the pool’s newly peeled coating and briefly touched a chunk attached to the side of the pool. But he said he obeyed a park worker’s command to let go of it. He was nonetheless stopped by police officers, arrested and detained for nearly five hours.

He was later indicted on one count of property destruction, a charge carrying a maximum 10-year prison sentence.

His lawyers questioned whether prosecutors properly presented the grand jury with adequate evidence to support the charge and the amount of damage alleged by the government. They said prosecutors failed to “critically examine” allegations of a supposedly key witness whose claims about her interactions with Hearn were contradicted by video evidence, and withheld from the defense team body-worn camera recordings and other evidence from the case.

And they also challenge Pirro herself over her actions, saying that she approached a defense expert at the pool on July 17 and asked about his conclusions and the results of his work. No report of that interaction has been produced to defense lawyers, they say.

“A U.S. Attorney who personally interrogates a represented defendant’s testifying expert, in the field, surrounded by her own staff and without notice to counsel, is not gathering evidence — she is testing how the defense intends to prove its case, and doing so in a setting that essentially held the expert captive,” the letter states.

The letter also urges the Interior Department's inspector general to investigate who made the decision “to proceed with an unqualified contractor;" why work on the pool proceeded despite known risks; why the department relied on National Guardsmen to detain Hearn; and why officials made “publicly defamatory” statements even after learning of the dismissal of the case.

La Oficina del Sheriff del Condado de Monroe identificó al sospechoso como Anley Olicier.

Según la oficina del sheriff, Olicier enfrenta cargos de allanamiento de morada con arma, robo y obstrucción de la justicia.

Los agentes dijeron que el hecho ocurrió el 21 de septiembre en una casa de West Circle Drive, en Saddlebunch Keys.

Alrededor de las 8:43 p.m., la oficina del sheriff recibió una llamada al 911 que se cortó y envió agentes al lugar.

Según los investigadores, Olicier entró a la casa con un cuchillo de cocina y una espátula. Las autoridades dijeron que se negó a irse cuando la mujer le pidió que saliera.

La oficina del sheriff indicó que Olicier le quitó el teléfono a la mujer mientras ella llamaba al 911. La mujer gritó para alertar a los operadores mientras forcejeaba con él por el aparato, dijeron las autoridades.

Durante el enfrentamiento, la mujer golpeó a Olicier varias veces, incluso con una barra de cortina de baño, indicaron los agentes. Al final logró recuperar su teléfono.

De acuerdo con la oficina del sheriff, las lesiones de la mujer coincidían con su versión de los hechos. No se reportaron heridas que pusieran en peligro su vida.

Las autoridades obtuvieron órdenes de arresto contra Olicier, quien fue ingresado en la cárcel el lunes.

“Era mi bebé, el más pequeño, con apenas 13 años. Tenía toda la vida por delante”, dijo Valladares. “Solo quería jugar y, por desgracia, jugando perdió la vida”.

La mañana del 25 de septiembre, Olvin debía estar en la escuela.

En cambio, según su madre, se fue en su scooter unas 2 millas al sur, hasta el Shenandoah Park, ubicado en el 1800 SW 21st Ave. Ella cuenta que supo lo que pasó después por un hombre que llegó más tarde ese día al parque con sus hijos. Fue él quien encontró a Olvin atrapado dentro del tobogán.

“Me dijo que lo jaló, pero estaba enganchado en un tornillo”, contó. “Volvió a jalarlo y mi hijo cayó. Tenía el brazo metido dentro de la camiseta y la camiseta le apretaba el cuello”.

El tobogán tiene tornillos a lo largo de todo el tubo.

Los que Local 10 News pudo ver con su cámara estaban planos. Sin embargo, el testigo le dijo a la madre de Olvin que el joven colgaba en medio del tubo por el cuello de la camiseta. Según su relato, la prenda se enganchó en un tornillo y lo asfixió.

Olvin fue trasladado de urgencia al hospital, donde lo conectaron a soporte vital.

Una semana después, fue declarado con muerte cerebral.

“Como madre, es muy duro perder a un hijo”, dijo Valladares. “Nunca pensé que iba a perder a mi hijo”.

El día en que encontraron a Olvin, la ciudad de Miami cerró el parque por lo que describió como una “investigación no criminal”.

Sky 10 sobrevoló el lugar y captó un área de juegos rodeada de cinta amarilla.

Ni el Departamento de Policía de Miami ni la ciudad han confirmado la secuencia de hechos que relata la familia.

No está claro si el tobogán fue inspeccionado o reparado después del incidente. Pero al día siguiente el parque ya había reabierto y el tobogán volvía a usarse.

“Tengo un mensaje para los padres”, dijo Valladares. “Tengan cuidado cuando lleven a sus hijos a estos parques. Miren la tragedia que le pasó a mi hijo”.

Local 10 News pidió comentarios o una entrevista a la alcaldesa de Miami, Eileen Higgins, al comisionado de Miami Rolando Escalona y al Departamento de Parques y Recreación de la ciudad.

Un portavoz de la ciudad respondió por correo electrónico: “El asunto está bajo investigación y la ciudad no puede hacer más comentarios”.

La madre de Olvin intenta recaudar dinero para cubrir los gastos de un funeral para el que la familia no estaba preparada, y abrió una página de GoFundMe.

But last week the leader of the “Make America Healthy Again” movement threw his support behind an unlikely industry: artificial intelligence.

At a MAHA summit featuring AI and Silicon Valley executives, Kennedy declared that the technology would free Americans from “medical tyranny” by allowing them to “fact check their own medical advice.”

“We’re never ever again going to be able to be dominated by public officials who tell us: ‘Trust the experts,’” Kennedy told the invite-only audience.

Some prominent MAHA voices quickly criticized Kennedy’s embrace of AI, saying the movement's leaders are increasingly cozying up to the corporate interests they once scrutinized.

At the same time, medical experts say Kennedy’s vision of AI as a check against the medical establishment is fundamentally flawed.

“He obviously doesn’t understand how AI works,” said Dr. Zeke Emanuel, a cancer specialist and bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania. “AI aggregates the information we have in the medical literature and in case studies. And that means what you’re actually getting is medical expertise.”

Both OpenAI and Anthropic offer health-focused chatbots that can analyze users' medical records and answer their healthcare questions. Their models are trained on thousands of peer-reviewed medical papers and professional guidelines and incorporate feedback from doctors.

“He wants AI to mimic what he says,” Emanuel said. “But that’s not what good AI is going to do.”

HHS spokesperson Emily Hilliard said Emanuel was describing “one narrow use” of the technology.

Kennedy wants to give Americans more control of their own health data by using AI “to help them understand it, interrogate it, compare it with the evidence, and make better decisions with their doctors,” Hilliard said. The technology will help doctors work faster, giving them “more time to treat and care for patients,” she added.

MAHA leader defends corporate sponsorships

OpenAI and Anthropic were among the sponsors of last week’s MAHA Summit. So were more than a dozen other companies with pending business before the U.S. government, including developers of psychedelic drugs, fitness wearables and an experimental cancer test.

Sponsors paid up to $300,000 and many received speaking slots on panels that included some of the administration’s top health officials, including Dr. Mehmet Oz of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

“It was classic pay-to-play,” said Dr. Robert Malone, a vaccine researcher who has questioned the safety of mRNA shots and recently served on a federal vaccine panel under Kennedy.

Malone and other figures in the MAHA movement say the summit showed how big companies are replacing the “MAHA moms” and other grassroots activists who originally powered the movement.

“There was no representation of people that have been at the core of MAHA and its creation, whether it be physicians or patients or patient advocates,” Malone said.

The summit was organized by MAHA Center Inc., one of a number of nongovernment groups run by Kennedy associates that are dedicated to promoting his agenda. Others include the MAHA Institute, a think tank, and MAHA PAC, a political fundraising operation.

Tony Lyons, a publisher who runs the MAHA Center, MAHA PAC and several related groups, addressed criticisms about corporate sponsorships at a reception ahead of the summit.

“The truth is we’re trying to build the biggest movement we can possibly build to actually get things done,” Lyons said.

The Trump administration has embraced AI

Kennedy's alliance with Silicon Valley is consistent with broader efforts across the Trump administration.

President Donald Trump has vigorously resisted efforts to bring greater oversight to AI companies, who have helped drive the stock market to record highs. One of Trump’s first actions after returning to the White House was revoking a Biden administration executive order on AI oversight. It took the administration more than 16 months to replace it with its own order.

In recent weeks, Trump announced a move to let the AI industry police itself, tried to rebrand the technology as “super intelligence” and brushed aside bipartisan concerns about the impacts of data centers on nearby residents.

Meanwhile, Dr. Oz and other administration officials have touted AI as the answer to a litany of U.S. health problems, including rising medical costs, healthcare fraud, physician shortages and the shuttering of rural hospitals.

Medicare officials have been in discussions with several medical chatbot companies, including one behind a Utah program that provides AI-enabled refills of prescriptions.

The remarks from Kennedy and other officials last week reflect a “techno-utopian” view of AI’s potential benefits, says Glenn Cohen, a Harvard Law School bioethics expert.

Cohen notes that much of RFK’s agenda over the past year has focused on trying to curb food industry practices he views as harmful to consumers, including the use of artificial colors and undeclared chemical additives. Given Kennedy's skepticism of “big food,” Cohen said he was surprised the health secretary didn't see “the risk that market incentives may diverge from the public good.”

Some of the most prominent MAHA organizations are actively organizing against AI interests.

For example, Moms Across America operates local and national campaigns warning against pollution, water use and electricity costs associated with data center construction. The group was founded by Zen Honeycutt, a former staffer for Kennedy’s presidential campaign.

Moms Across America did not respond to a request for comment.

It's not yet clear how AI will integrate into US healthcare

AI experts don’t dispute that the technology will fundamentally change how doctors and patients approach medical decisions.

Kennedy is correct when he says AI will empower patients with more insights about their health, says Dr. Robert Wachter, a medical technology expert at University of California, San Francisco. But AI adoption is likely to further bolster the recommendations of medical professionals, rather than the contrarian views often favored by Kennedy, according to Wachter.

“Democratization is good,” Wachter said. “But that means disseminating the best science we have, which generally means science created by people who know what they’re talking about.”

Experts disagree over how soon AI may be able to take over decision-making from physicians.

Several recent studies have found that AI alone outperformed doctors working alone or doctors working with AI on critical decisions. But those studies generally presented AI with detailed, written scenarios to solve — the equivalent of a medical exam.

When researchers looked at how patients interact with AI in real-time they found a number of problems: People often don’t provide enough information for the AI to correctly diagnose their medical issue and chatbots often respond with a combination of good and bad advice.

“We need to figure out in real life: Do these things actually work?” Wachter said. “What actually happens when they’re used in circumstances where people are under stress or don’t know how to interpret the outputs?”

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The Associated Press’ health and science coverage receives financial support from the AP Fund for Journalism and private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

El Arapiuns desemboca en el Tapajós, uno de los principales afluentes del río Amazonas, a través de vías fluviales tan vastas que navegar por ellas puede sentirse como cruzar mar abierto. Sin embargo, durante una sequía histórica en 2024, los habitantes de Nova Sociedade tuvieron que caminar hasta 20 kilómetros (12,4 millas) en busca de agua.

“Al amanecer, empezaba nuestra lucha. Niños cargando agua, ancianos cargando agua. Todos sufrimos”, relató Tiago Silva, líder indígena arapium de Nova Sociedade.

Dos años después, la comunidad está mejor preparada para El Niño de este año, el fenómeno climático natural que eleva las temperaturas globales y puede agravar la sequía en el Amazonas.

Nova Sociedade instaló paneles solares en junio para alimentar bombas de agua que llenan tanques de almacenamiento y proporcionan agua limpia a las 36 familias del poblado. La organización sin fines de lucro Saude e Alegria, con sede en el Amazonas, proporcionó el sistema y ha equipado a otras 29 comunidades con tecnología similar ante otra posible sequía.

Antes de que llegara la energía solar, Nova Sociedade dependía de generadores diésel para contar con electricidad básica. El combustible es costoso y contaminante, y los generadores ofrecen energía limitada y poco confiable.

En todo el Amazonas, la expansión de la energía solar no vinculada a compañías de servicios públicos está ayudando a comunidades remotas a reducir su dependencia del diésel, al tiempo que mejora el acceso a agua limpia y a electricidad en hogares, escuelas y centros de salud.

El mes pasado, cada hogar de Nova Sociedade recibió su propio sistema de energía solar donado por Schneider Electric a través de Saude e Alegria. Los kits, fáciles de instalar, incluyen baterías para alimentar luces por la noche y suficiente electricidad para cargar teléfonos y otros dispositivos pequeños.

“Esta tecnología usa la fuerza del sol y puede reemplazar otras formas de generar electricidad que a menudo requieren talar el bosque o quemar combustible, precisamente las prácticas que impulsan el calentamiento global”, explicó Caetano Scannavino, ambientalista y director de Saude e Alegria, a los residentes mientras recibían los kits solares. Advirtió también que probablemente llegue otra sequía severa en octubre y noviembre.

Mientras los líderes comunitarios llamaban a los jefes de hogar, los residentes se levantaban sonriendo para recoger sus kits.

Algunos describieron la tecnología como una bendición. Mujeres artesanas señalaron que una mejor iluminación les permitirá seguir tejiendo joyería tradicional y canastas después del atardecer, ampliando las horas que pueden dedicar a producir una importante fuente de ingresos.

La mayoría de quienes aún no tienen electricidad vive en el Amazonas

Nova Sociedade ilustra cómo la energía solar fuera de la red está cambiando la vida diaria en comunidades amazónicas aisladas. Más allá de proporcionar agua y electricidad en los hogares, la tecnología está respaldando cada vez más a escuelas, centros de salud y negocios locales.

Según datos oficiales, el número de sistemas instalados en zonas remotas del Amazonas aumentó de apenas 105 en 2020 a más de 11.000 en 2022. Para 2026, había superado los 100.000.

“Es justo decir que casi todos estos son instalaciones solares”, afirmó Fabio Galdino dos Santos, investigador del Instituto de Energía y Medio Ambiente, o IEMA, una organización brasileña sin fines de lucro enfocada en energía sostenible.

Más del 99% de los 214 millones de habitantes de Brasil tenía acceso a electricidad según el censo de 2022. La mayoría de quienes aún no cuentan con energía vive en el Amazonas, donde el aislamiento y los altos costos de infraestructura han dificultado la electrificación. Alrededor de 1 millón de personas en la región todavía carece de acceso a electricidad, de acuerdo con el IEMA.

Muchas comunidades desvinculadas han dependido durante mucho tiempo de generadores diésel costosos y contaminantes. En Nova Sociedade, comprar combustible requiere un viaje en bote de casi tres horas hasta Santarém, la ciudad más cercana.

Incluso cuando hay combustible disponible, la electricidad es limitada. Por lo general, los generadores se apagan poco después de las 10 de la noche y a menudo no tienen capacidad suficiente para hacer funcionar refrigeradores. Las temperaturas allí superan con regularidad los 35 grados Celsius (95 grados Fahrenheit).

Mejor atención médica y escuelas más silenciosas

En todo el Amazonas, iniciativas públicas y filantrópicas están ampliando el acceso a la electricidad, a menudo priorizando infraestructura que sirve a comunidades enteras.

En una clínica de salud pública en Ana, otra comunidad a lo largo del río Arapiuns, paneles solares instalados recientemente permiten al personal refrigerar vacunas, realizar consultas de telemedicina y operar equipos médicos básicos, incluidos nebulizadores, que son esenciales cuando el humo de los incendios forestales cubre la región.

En Surucuá, una comunidad a orillas del río Tapajós, la llegada de la energía solar se nota sobre todo en el silencio.

Hasta el año pasado, la escuela São Benedito, que atiende a los 116 estudiantes de la comunidad, dependía únicamente de un ruidoso generador diésel.

“Hoy, lo único que se escucha son los niños y los pájaros", comenta Rosenilce Cruz, directora de la escuela. "No podíamos trabajar al aire libre porque el generador era demasiado ruidoso. Ahora, los niños pueden leer afuera. Podemos realizar proyectos allí, y se escucha perfectamente tanto a los niños como al maestro”.

El suministro limitado de electricidad también dejaba las aulas con poca luz e impedía que la escuela usara refrigeradores. Luego, el gobierno municipal de Santarém renovó la escuela e instaló paneles solares.

“Hoy, las comidas de nuestros niños ya no se basan en alimentos enlatados, sino en fuentes frescas de proteína. Ahora tenemos un lugar para almacenar esa comida porque hay electricidad las 24 horas del día”, añadió Cruz.

La energía solar también empieza a respaldar a negocios locales. En el vecino estado de Amazonas, una planta de procesamiento de açaí en la comunidad de Bela Conquista, un poblado remoto a lo largo del río Solimões, recientemente dejó de depender de electricidad generada con diésel.

La energía diésel limitaba la producción y hacía que la fruta cosechada se echara a perder. La Fundación para la Sostenibilidad del Amazonas instaló un sistema solar con baterías en alianza con la Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet y el Ministerio de Minas y Energía de Brasil. Los socios planean desarrollar 20 proyectos piloto durante los próximos dos o tres años, apoyando negocios de pesca sostenible, agricultura y procesamiento de frutas.

El Amazonas, la selva tropical más grande del mundo, es vital para el clima global. Almacena enormes cantidades de carbono, y la humedad de sus árboles regula las temperaturas y moldea el clima en Sudamérica y más allá.

Proteger los territorios indígenas y tradicionales es una de las formas más efectivas de preservar la selva. Según MapBiomas, una organización que monitorea el uso del suelo, más del 80% de las áreas protegidas en el Amazonas brasileño —incluidos 330 territorios indígenas— no registró deforestación en la primera mitad de este año.

Fortalecer a esas comunidades tradicionales, incluidas las que ahora funcionan con energía solar, podría ayudar a mantener el bosque en pie, sostuvo Lázaro Silva, profesor de ingeniería y coordinador del laboratorio de energía renovable de la Universidad Federal del Oeste de Pará, en Santarém.

Silva y sus estudiantes han instalado 40 sistemas solares en 27 comunidades remotas del Amazonas desde 2022.

“Estas comunidades han demostrado un nivel de organización que las hace más resilientes, ayudándolas a reconocer su papel protagónico en la protección del bosque”, expresó.

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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.

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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.

Según las autoridades, la jueza federal de distrito Melissa Damian sentenció a Michael Ridley, de 34 años y residente de Fort Lauderdale. Ridley se había declarado culpable de tres delitos:

• posesión de armas siendo un delincuente convicto
• intento de obtener contrabando mientras estaba encarcelado
• conspiración para poseer una sustancia controlada con intención de distribuirla

De acuerdo con la fiscalía, Ridley era uno de los líderes de los Eastside Gangsta Bloods (EGB), un grupo vinculado a la United Blood Nation.

Los fiscales dijeron que el caso comenzó el 12 de junio de 2025. Ese día, Ridley publicó en redes sociales un video en el que aparecía con dos pistolas en un campo de tiro.

La publicación incluía la sigla “TTB”, también conocida como “train to bag”. Según el comunicado del Departamento de Justicia, las autoridades la asocian con deshacerse del cuerpo de una víctima de homicidio.

Los investigadores dijeron que Ridley fue arrestado el 23 de julio de 2025. Llevaba un arma que había sido reportada como robada y un cargador extendido.

Tras su arresto, Ridley quedó bajo custodia federal en dos centros de detención del condado de Broward mientras esperaba el juicio, indicaron.

Según la fiscalía, Ridley siguió dirigiendo actividades delictivas desde la cárcel.

Los investigadores dijeron que trabajó con personas de afuera, entre ellas otros pandilleros, para meter drogas sintéticas en la cárcel. Las drogas llegaban disfrazadas de correspondencia legal dirigida a él.

Los fiscales explicaron que el método, conocido a veces como “paper dope”, consiste en empapar hojas de papel con drogas sintéticas en forma líquida.

La Oficina de Campo del FBI en Miami investigó el caso con ayuda de la Oficina del Sheriff del Condado de Broward, señalaron.

Leer en español

Regina Deshazior was convicted of leaving the scene of a crash involving death after she struck a man on March 15, 2023, at Northwest 22 Avenue and 79 St., in Gladeview. She started her probation sentence last year, according to court records.

Deshazior “confessed ... she panicked and fled the scene of the crash because her driver’s license was suspended,” a Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputy wrote, according to the report of her arrest on March 18, 2023.

On Monday, police officers arrested Deshazior, who lives in Overtown, at 4:20 p.m. at Burger King, at 3601 NW 27 Ave., in Miami’s Allapattah, according to a Miami Police Department officer’s arrest report.

DTiQ, a loss prevention contractor that operates software to detect inconsistencies at Burger King restaurants, “flagged” some of Deshazior’s transactions at the restaurant in Allapattah, according to the police report.

“The inconsistencies were verified through store video surveillance,” a police officer wrote, according to the arrest report.

Burger King’s asset protection staff investigated the reports by DTiQ and identified 215 “fraudulent” transactions by Deshazior that represented a “loss” of about $770, according to the police officer’s report.

“She admitted to committing the theft,” a police officer wrote, according to the arrest report.

Miami-Dade corrections booked Deshazior shortly after 7:30 p.m. on Monday at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center near Doral, according to inmate records.

Deshazior appeared in Miami-Dade bond court on Tuesday morning. She faced a charge of organized fraud involving an aggregate value of less than $20,000, a third-degree felony, according to Miami-Dade court records.

A judge ordered Deshazior to stay away from the restaurant and set her bond at $2,500. She had a hold because of her probation for the fatal hit-and-run crash, which was set to end on Dec. 17, 2032, court records show.

Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Jason Bloch was presiding over both cases.

Regina Deshazior fue declarada culpable de abandonar la escena de un accidente con víctima mortal. El 15 de marzo de 2023 atropelló a un hombre en la avenida 22 y la calle 79 del noroeste, en Gladeview. Según registros judiciales, comenzó a cumplir su probatoria el año pasado.

Deshazior “confesó... que entró en pánico y huyó del lugar del choque porque tenía la licencia de conducir suspendida”. Así lo escribió un agente de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade, según el informe de su arresto del 18 de marzo de 2023.

El lunes, agentes de policía arrestaron a Deshazior, residente de Overtown, a las 4:20 p.m. Fue en el Burger King ubicado en el 3601 NW 27 Ave., en Allapattah, según el informe de arresto de un agente del Departamento de Policía de Miami.

DTiQ es una empresa contratista de prevención de pérdidas. Opera un software que detecta irregularidades en los restaurantes Burger King. Según el informe policial, el sistema “marcó” algunas de las transacciones de Deshazior en el local de Allapattah.

“Las irregularidades se confirmaron con los videos de vigilancia del local”, escribió un agente, según el informe de arresto.

El personal de protección de activos de Burger King investigó los reportes de DTiQ. Identificó 215 transacciones “fraudulentas” hechas por Deshazior, que representaron una “pérdida” de unos $770, según el informe del agente.

“Admitió haber cometido el robo”, escribió un agente, según el informe de arresto.

El Departamento de Corrección de Miami-Dade ingresó a Deshazior poco después de las 7:30 p.m. del lunes en el Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, cerca de Doral, según los registros de reclusos.

Deshazior compareció el martes por la mañana ante el tribunal de fianzas de Miami-Dade. Según registros judiciales, enfrenta un cargo de fraude organizado por un valor total de menos de $20,000. Es un delito grave de tercer grado.

Un juez le ordenó mantenerse alejada del restaurante y fijó su fianza en $2,500. Sin embargo, seguía retenida por la probatoria del choque fatal, que debía terminar el 17 de diciembre de 2032, según registros judiciales.

El juez de circuito del condado Miami-Dade Jason Bloch preside ambos casos.

Authorities said Michael Ridley, 34, of Fort Lauderdale, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Melissa Damian after pleading guilty to being a convicted felon in possession of guns, attempting to obtain contraband while incarcerated and conspiring to possess a controlled substance with the intent to distribute it.

Prosecutors said Ridley was a leader of the Eastside Gangsta Bloods, or EGB, a group associated with the United Blood Nation.

They said the case began after Ridley posted a video on social media on June 12, 2025, showing him with two handguns at a shooting range.

The post included the phrase “TTB,” also known as “train to bag,” which authorities said referred to a term associated with disposing of a homicide victim’s body, the DOJ news release states.

Investigators said Ridley was arrested July 23, 2025, while possessing a gun that had previously been reported stolen, along with an extended magazine.

They said after his arrest, Ridley was held as a federal detainee at two facilities in Broward County while awaiting trial.

Prosecutors said Ridley continued directing criminal activity from jail.

Investigators said he worked with people outside the facility, including other gang members, in an effort to bring synthetic drugs into the jail disguised as legal mail addressed to him.

The method, sometimes called “paper dope,” involves soaking sheets of paper in liquid synthetic drugs, prosecutors said.

They said the FBI’s Miami Field Office investigated the case with assistance from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office.

Busch died in May from hemorrhagic shock and disseminated intravascular coagulation after complications from bacterial pneumonia led to sepsis, according to the former NASCAR star’s death certificate.

CMS said the event will allow the NASCAR community to come together to celebrate Busch through stories, memories, iconic moments and the lasting impact he made on the sport and at the 1 1/2-mile track oval. Busch’s widow, Samantha, will be a part of the program, along with team owner Joe Gibbs and Cup Series drivers Christopher Bell, Noah Gragson, Daniel Suárez, Kyle Larson and Austin Dillon.

The ceremony, which is free to fans, will conclude with a performance by country musician Cole Swindell.

“I have so many great stories with Kyle," said Suárez, who drives for Spire Motorsports. “He went from being an idol to being a mentor to being a teammate and then he became a friend.”

Busch was a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and the winningest driver at Charlotte Motor Speedway across all three series. His 69 Truck Series victories remain the most in series history and drivers say that his legacy extends far beyond the record book.

Suárez recalled that Busch helped him navigate his rookie season and regularly gave him advice on the phone.

When Suárez passed Busch to win his first NASCAR race in Michigan in 2016, Busch was one of the first to meet him in victory lane and offer a congratulatory hug.

“He said, ‘Hey, no more calls anymore,’” Suárez recalled. "And I thought that was very funny. I know he was joking, but sometimes he was being real. So that was, that’s something I always loved about Kyle, that he was funny. But he was very straightforward, and I really love that.”

Trucks Series driver Layne Riggs, who races for Front Row Motorsports, said Busch is on the “pedestal” of racing.

“Everybody wants to be him,” Riggs said. "Everybody wants to have the stats, the wins that he had, and we know we’ll never have a chance to do that. But he’s always going to be the goal. That’s what we always shoot and strive for and he was always the mentor and the person that we all looked up to. We’re all going to miss him dearly and can’t wait to see the tribute.”

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The next name on the list is Isaias (pronounced ees-ah-EE-ahs).

While the exact details and nature of the threat later this week still need to be ironed out, the odds of a stronger and more coherent tropical system continue to rise and interests from Louisiana through Florida’s Big Bend should check back frequently on the forecasts this week.

At a minimum, a heavy rain and flash flood threat is all but baked in across a wide swath of the northern Gulf and into the Deep South, where double-digit rainfall totals are possible later this week and into the upcoming holiday weekend.

For now, the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center (WPC) is forecasting a slight risk of flash flooding (flood threat level 2 of 4) for most of the southeast U.S. from North Florida westward to Louisiana this weekend.

It wouldn’t be surprising to see these flood threat levels increase for areas closer to the coast as confidence in the forecast grows tomorrow and Thursday.

92L’s early clues

Invest 92L had a healthy collection of showers and thunderstorms wrapping around its developing center early Tuesday as it organized only about 100 miles east of Tampico, Mexico, over the southwestern Gulf.

A buoy located about 125 miles east of 92L’s estimated center found lowering pressures down to about 1008 millibars Tuesday morning, a meaningful fall relative to surrounding stations and an indication that 92L is becoming better organized.

As we discussed in Monday’s newsletter, this early organization is critical to the system’s future, with a better-formed and stronger system over the next few days feeling the tug of higher-up jet stream winds which would whisk it farther northeast (toward Alabama or Florida rather than Louisiana) and position it in a more conducive environment for continued strengthening.

This is generally what the AI models have been advertising, with Google DeepMind’s ensemble system continuing to favor a stronger track toward South Alabama or the western Florida Panhandle.

On the other hand, the traditional physics-based European model keeps 92L (future Isaias?) weaker initially, which takes it on a slower track northward toward Louisiana, battling a less conducive configuration of upper-level winds on approach to the northern Gulf in the vicinity of southern Louisiana by this weekend.

Will we see a hurricane threat to the northern Gulf later this week?

It’s certainly possible that 92L clears the bar and becomes the first hurricane (and latest first hurricane on record) of the Atlantic hurricane season as it approaches the northern Gulf Coast later this week.

While at the pre-genesis stage – that is before a bona fide tropical depression or tropical storm has formed – we should take intensity guidance with a healthy dose of skepticism, our most reliable consensus aids – those like HCCA (the HFIP Corrected Consensus Approach) that blend our best-performing models and correct for their biases – suggest this is at least a borderline hurricane by Friday as it closes in on the northern Gulf.

It’s worth noting that the early morning cycle of Google’s DeepMind 1,000-member ensemble put the odds of 92L peaking as a hurricane at north of 80%, with about 40% of the ensembles climbing to Category 3 or stronger (see earlier plot). As we’ve discussed in previous newsletters, we should be a little wary of DeepMind’s intensity guidance before we have a defined depression or storm, but it’s a noticeable uptick from earlier cycles from one of our better performing models.

That said, by the time the system reaches the coast, it could be feeling the toll of strong jet stream winds advancing quickly from the west which might weaken it as it moves ashore but would also act to widen the heavy rainfall footprint and flood threat well inland across the southern U.S.

We’ll also need to monitor for the possibility of severe weather (severe thunderstorms and tornadoes) later this week into this weekend along the northern Gulf.

Bottom line

Based on current trends, there’s a growing threat of a strong tropical storm or hurricane approaching the north-central or northeast Gulf Coast from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle by Friday into the weekend.

It’s too early to know how strong the system will be once it moves ashore, but model guidance right now ranges from a tropical storm to a low-end hurricane.

Regardless of development, a widespread heavy rain event will accompany the system across much of the southeast U.S. this weekend, with especially high rainfall totals nearing or eclipsing double digits along and to the east of where the system moves inland. The heaviest rain should begin in earnest for coastal areas on Friday and extend inland through the weekend.

In the short-term, we’ll be watching to see how organized 92L gets over the next 24 to 36 hours, with faster organization favoring a stronger storm a little farther east later this week.

El próximo nombre de la lista es Isaias.

Todavía hay que precisar los detalles y el alcance de la amenaza. Pero las probabilidades de que se forme un sistema tropical más fuerte y mejor definido siguen aumentando. Quienes estén entre Luisiana y la región del Big Bend de Florida deben revisar los pronósticos con frecuencia esta semana.

Como mínimo, es prácticamente un hecho que habrá lluvias intensas y riesgo de inundaciones repentinas. La amenaza abarca una amplia franja del norte del Golfo y del Sur Profundo. Allí podrían acumularse 10 pulgadas de lluvia o más entre finales de esta semana y el fin de semana largo del feriado.

Por ahora, el Centro de Predicción del Tiempo (WPC) del Servicio Nacional de Meteorología pronostica un riesgo leve de inundaciones repentinas (nivel 2 de 4) para este fin de semana. Ese riesgo abarca la mayor parte del sureste de EE.UU., desde el norte de Florida hasta Luisiana.

No sería raro que ese nivel de riesgo suba en las zonas más cercanas a la costa, a medida que el pronóstico gane certeza el miércoles y el jueves.

Las primeras señales del 92L

El martes temprano, el Invest 92L tenía un buen conjunto de aguaceros y tormentas eléctricas alrededor de su centro en formación. Se organizaba sobre el suroeste del Golfo, a apenas unas 100 millas al este de Tampico, México.

Una boya ubicada unas 125 millas al este del centro estimado del 92L registró el martes por la mañana una presión de unos 1008 milibares. Es una caída importante frente a las estaciones cercanas y una señal de que el sistema se organiza mejor.

Como explicamos en el boletín del lunes, esta organización temprana será clave para el futuro del sistema. Un sistema mejor formado y más fuerte en los próximos días sentiría el empuje de los vientos de la corriente en chorro en niveles altos. Ese empuje lo llevaría más hacia el noreste, rumbo a Alabama o Florida y no a Luisiana. Además, lo ubicaría en un entorno más favorable para seguir fortaleciéndose.

Eso es, en general, lo que vienen anticipando los modelos de inteligencia artificial. El sistema de ensambles de Google DeepMind sigue favoreciendo un ciclón más fuerte con trayectoria hacia el sur de Alabama o el oeste del Panhandle de Florida.

En cambio, el modelo europeo tradicional, basado en la física, mantiene al 92L (¿el futuro Isaias?) más débil al principio. Eso lo llevaría más despacio hacia el norte, en dirección a Luisiana. En su camino enfrentaría vientos en altura menos favorables al acercarse al norte del Golfo, cerca del sur de Luisiana, este fin de semana.

¿Habrá amenaza de huracán en el norte del Golfo esta semana?

Es muy posible que el 92L alcance la categoría de huracán al acercarse a la costa norte del Golfo a finales de semana. Sería el primer huracán de la temporada atlántica y el primero en formarse tan tarde desde que hay registros.

En la etapa previa a su formación, es decir, antes de que exista una depresión o tormenta tropical como tal, conviene tomar con bastante cautela los pronósticos de intensidad. Aun así, nuestras herramientas de consenso más confiables apuntan a que sería al menos un huracán en el límite de esa categoría para el viernes, al acercarse al norte del Golfo. Entre ellas está el HCCA (HFIP Corrected Consensus Approach), que combina los modelos de mejor desempeño y corrige sus sesgos.

Vale la pena destacar el ciclo de la madrugada del conjunto de 1,000 miembros de Google DeepMind. Situó en más del 80% la probabilidad de que el 92L alcance su punto máximo como huracán. Además, cerca del 40% de los miembros lo llevaron a categoría 3 o superior. Como hemos dicho en boletines anteriores, hay que desconfiar un poco de los pronósticos de intensidad de DeepMind mientras no exista una depresión o tormenta definida. Pero se trata de un aumento notable respecto a ciclos anteriores en uno de nuestros modelos más confiables.

Dicho esto, al llegar a la costa el sistema podría resentir los fuertes vientos de la corriente en chorro que avanzan rápido desde el oeste. Esos vientos podrían debilitarlo al tocar tierra. Sin embargo, también ampliarían la zona de lluvias intensas y el riesgo de inundaciones, que llegarían bastante tierra adentro en el sur de EE.UU.

También habrá que vigilar la posibilidad de tiempo severo, con tormentas eléctricas fuertes y tornados, en el norte del Golfo entre finales de esta semana y el fin de semana.

En resumen

Según las tendencias actuales, crece la amenaza de una tormenta tropical fuerte o un huracán. Podría acercarse a la costa centro-norte o noreste del Golfo, entre Luisiana y el Panhandle de Florida, entre el viernes y el fin de semana.

Es muy pronto para saber qué tan fuerte llegará el sistema a tierra. Por ahora, los modelos van desde una tormenta tropical hasta un huracán de baja categoría.

Se desarrolle o no, el sistema traerá lluvias intensas y generalizadas a gran parte del sureste de EE.UU. este fin de semana. Los acumulados más altos, cercanos o superiores a 10 pulgadas, se esperan en la zona por donde toque tierra y al este de ella. Las lluvias más fuertes comenzarían el viernes en las zonas costeras y se extenderían tierra adentro durante el fin de semana.

A corto plazo, estaremos atentos a cuánto se organiza el 92L en las próximas 24 a 36 horas. Una organización más rápida favorecería una tormenta más fuerte, con trayectoria un poco más al este a finales de semana.

One thing he was sure of, though, was that he wanted to let his “clubs do the talking” and earn his way back instead of having a spot given to him.

And in a “huge year” on the European tour, Reed is closer to completing his comeback and achieving his goal.

“The biggest thing for me at the start of the year when I decided not to re-sign with LIV was to try to make my way back to the PGA Tour," he said Tuesday ahead of this week’s Spanish Open in Madrid. "The way to do that I felt was to try to play our way on.

“To be able to have the start of the season I did and to basically earn my way back to the PGA Tour meant a lot to me.”

The 36-year-old American split victories in Dubai and Qatar with a runner-up finish in Bahrain in February. He enters the final stretch of the year leading Rory McIlroy in the season-long Race to Dubai. The leading 10 players from the European tour not already exempt earn PGA Tour cards for 2027.

“This was a huge year to me,” Reed said. “Not just for my career, but also for my family, because I had to go earn my spot back, and to be able to go out there and earn it back and play the way I’ve been playing, means a lot. And to hopefully play well these last couple of events, and hopefully hold everyone off and win the Race to Dubai would mean a lot.”

Excited by Race to Dubai

The 2018 Masters champion said the “only way” back for LIV players to the PGA Tour should be on merit through results.

“I’m a firm believer that if you earn your right to play somewhere you should be able to play, but you have to earn it," he said. "You have to go out there and do the work, you know, go out there and not only just work hard but also play well.

“I’ve always wanted to earn my spot rather than having a spot given. Those guys on LIV, there are pathways to whether it’s to here on the DP (European tour), whether it’s to the PGA Tour. ... I feel like that’s the only way that you should be able to get back is by going out there and letting the clubs do the talking.”

Reed is part of a strong field in Spain, returning to action after withdrawing from the BMW PGA Championship with a hand injury and pulling out of the French Open. He is trying to become the second American to win the Race to Dubai, after Collin Morikawa in 2021.

“It’s one of those things that I’ve always prided myself as being that American that likes to play around the world," he said. "To have the opportunity to come over here, not only just play on this tour, but also to have a chance to win the Race to Dubai, it would mean a lot.”

Reed said it was Gary Player who advised him, in one of the first times that they met, to play more abroad.

“He told me, ‘Well, if you want to be a worldwide player, you’ve got to go out and play outside of not just the PGA Tour, you've got to play elsewhere,'" Reed said. “And once I got the opportunity to come over and play, I really enjoyed it and hopefully, hopefully, I can bring more Americans over and more of the top players to come out and play around the world, help grow the game.”

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The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office identified the suspect as Anley Olicier.

According to the sheriff’s office, Olicier faces charges of armed burglary, robbery and obstructing justice.

Deputies said the incident happened Sept. 21 at a home on West Circle Drive in the Saddlebunch Keys.

The sheriff’s office responded at approximately 8:43 p.m. after receiving a 911 hang-up call.

According to investigators, Olicier broke into the woman’s home using a kitchen knife and a putty knife. Authorities said he refused to leave after the woman told him to get out.

The sheriff’s office said Olicier grabbed the woman’s phone while she was calling 911. The woman screamed in an effort to alert 911 dispatchers as she and Olicier struggled over the phone, authorities said.

During the confrontation, the woman struck Olicier multiple times, including with a shower rod, deputies said, adding that she was eventually able to get her phone back.

According to the sheriff’s office, the woman suffered injuries that were consistent with her account of what happened. No life-threatening injuries were reported.

Authorities obtained warrants for Olicier’s arrest, and he was booked into jail Monday.

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Jail records show Diego Alfredo Medina Acosta, 37, of West Miami, was arrested Monday by the Coral Gables Police Department and faces one count of first-degree grand theft of $100,000 or less.

The investigation began after police said they responded to the Biltmore Hotel, located at 1200 Anastasia Ave., on Sept. 16 in reference to a suspected employee theft.

During a follow-up investigation on Oct. 5, an officer spoke with the hotel’s director of security and its head chef, according to the report.

They reported that numerous food products were missing from the hotel’s kitchen and storage areas and identified Medina Acosta as the suspected employee, according to police.

The head chef told investigators that the kitchen maintains an Excel inventory log that is updated every Sunday. Through the inventory process, he noticed “significant quantities of food were unaccounted for,” the report states.

Police said the missing items included 192 lobster tails valued at $6,525, 116.7 pounds of pork belly valued at $637.18, 30 center-cut snapper portions valued at $273, 11 quantities of cleaned calamari valued at $137.40, raw shrimp valued at $89.30, Argentine chorizo sausage valued at $54.28, gnocchi valued at $39.88 and a can of coconut milk valued at $98.32.

The total value of the reported missing property was approximately $7,854.36, according to the arrest report.

Investigators said they also reviewed surveillance video showing Medina Acosta arriving at the hotel before his scheduled work hours and entering areas where the missing food was stored.

He was also “routinely observed entering and exiting the hotel through different entrances and exits” rather than using the designated employee entrance, the report states.

Police said in one instance, surveillance video showed Medina Acosta removing a cart containing a large quantity of lobster from a storage area. When he returned the cart, some of the lobster that had previously been visible on the bottom of the cart was no longer there, according to the report.

Investigators later interviewed Medina Acosta after reading him his Miranda rights.

Medina Acosta told investigators that he would clock in before his scheduled shift “because he wanted to get a head start on his work,” according to the report.

However, hotel personnel told police employees were not permitted to clock in and begin working before their scheduled shifts, the report states.

Medina Acosta also said that after being at work for about 10 minutes, he would leave the hotel and return home to drop off dirty laundry before coming back to work, the report states.

When questioned about the surveillance video showing him removing the lobster cart, Medina said he had removed the lobster “in order to allow it to thaw.”

However, when investigators asked why he returned the cart to the storage area and why some of the lobster that had previously been visible was no longer there, Medina Acosta was “unable to provide a direct explanation,” according to the report.

Medina Acosta resigned from the hotel before management could terminate him in connection with the investigation, the report states.

Investigators said the head chef told them that after Medina Acosta left the hotel, the kitchen began having substantially more food remaining at the end of its inventory periods compared with the shortages that had previously been documented.

As of Tuesday morning, the Uruguayan national was being held on an immigration hold at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. His bond amount was listed as “to be set.”

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Doral police identified the suspect in an arrest report as Juan Leonel Jimenez Silva, who is from Venezuela but is currently living in northwest Miami-Dade.

According to the arrest report, the investigation began after a private citizen created an online persona posing as a 15-year-old boy. Police emphasized that the citizen was not acting at the direction of the Doral Police Department or any other law enforcement agency.

The citizen was using the Grindr dating app at about 8 p.m. last Thursday when Jimenez Silva contacted the account, according to police.

Investigators said the conversation moved to WhatsApp shortly afterward, where the person told Jimenez Silva that he was 15 years old.

Police said Jimenez Silva continued communicating with the person after learning the purported age.

According to the report, the conversation became sexual, with Jimenez Silva allegedly sending sexually explicit images and messages to the “teen.” Police said he also asked the person for nude photographs and discussed sexual acts.

Investigators said Jimenez Silva repeatedly expressed interest in meeting the person, invited him to his home and provided his home address.

The two eventually agreed to meet at BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse near Miami International Mall, according to the report.

Confronted at Doral restaurant

Police said Jimenez Silva arrived at the restaurant believing he was meeting the 15-year-old, but instead encountered two adult men.

According to the report, one of the men had been posing as the teenager while the other was recording the encounter.

The men confronted Jimenez Silva inside the restaurant about why he had come to meet the purported teenager, police said.

Investigators said Jimenez Silva then left the restaurant, ran through the parking lot, got into a white Toyota SUV registered to him and drove away.

The following day, the two men went to the Doral Police Department and provided sworn statements, screenshots of the WhatsApp conversation and a recording of the confrontation at the restaurant, according to the report.

Police said both men also identified Jimenez Silva in a photographic lineup.

Arrested days later

Jimenez Silva was taken into custody Monday night at his home.

Investigators said he agreed to speak with detectives after being read his Miranda rights and admitted that the conversation began on Grindr before moving to WhatsApp.

According to police, Jimenez Silva told investigators that he initially did not believe he was doing anything wrong because Grindr users are required to be adults. However, he acknowledged that the person told him early in their WhatsApp conversation that he was 15, the report states.

Police said Jimenez Silva told investigators he was attracted to the purported teenager and believed the person appeared older than 15.

According to the arrest report, Jimenez Silva confirmed that the WhatsApp account belonged to him and acknowledged sending the sexual messages and images described by investigators. Police said he also identified two clothed selfies of himself and confirmed sending four images depicting sexual activity.

Jimenez Silva was ultimately arrested on charges of electronic transmission of material harmful to a minor; using a computer to travel to meet a minor; using a computer to seduce, solicit or lure a child to engage in sexual conduct and attempted lewd and lascivious assault on a child.

As of Tuesday morning, Jimenez Silva remained held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

Online jail records show the Venezuelan national has an immigration hold, and is therefore unable to bond out of jail.

La Union Restaurant, en Margate, acumuló 44 violaciones, y The Knife Steak House, en Doral, 38. En varios locales hubo problemas de cucarachas. Entre ellos está Sawa, en Coral Gables, que ya había sido clausurado por el mismo motivo en 2018 y 2019.

Según los registros de la cárcel, el Departamento de Policía de Coral Gables arrestó el lunes a Diego Alfredo Medina Acosta, de 37 años y residente de West Miami. Enfrenta un cargo de hurto mayor en primer grado por $100,000 o menos.

La investigación comenzó el 16 de septiembre, cuando la policía acudió al Biltmore Hotel por un posible robo de un empleado. El hotel está en el 1200 de Anastasia Ave.

Según el informe, en una investigación de seguimiento el 5 de octubre, un agente habló con el director de seguridad y con el jefe de cocina del hotel.

Ambos reportaron que faltaban numerosos productos en la cocina y en los almacenes del hotel. También señalaron a Medina Acosta como el empleado sospechoso, de acuerdo con la policía.

El jefe de cocina explicó que la cocina lleva un inventario en Excel que se actualiza cada domingo. Al revisarlo, notó que “faltaban cantidades importantes de comida”, indica el informe.

La policía dijo que entre los artículos desaparecidos había:

• 192 colas de langosta valoradas en $6,525
• 116.7 libras de panceta de cerdo por $637.18
• 30 porciones de filete de pargo por $273
• 11 unidades de calamar limpio por $137.40
• camarones crudos por $89.30
• chorizo argentino por $54.28
• ñoquis por $39.88
• una lata de leche de coco por $98.32

El valor total de lo reportado fue de aproximadamente $7,854.36, según el informe de arresto.

Los investigadores también revisaron videos de vigilancia. En ellos se ve a Medina Acosta llegar al hotel antes de su horario y entrar a las áreas donde se guardaba la comida que faltaba.

Además, “se le veía con frecuencia entrar y salir del hotel por distintas puertas” en lugar de usar la entrada designada para empleados, señala el informe.

Según la policía, en una ocasión las cámaras captaron a Medina Acosta sacando de un almacén un carrito con una gran cantidad de langosta. Cuando lo devolvió, ya no estaba parte de la langosta que antes se veía en la parte de abajo del carrito, indica el informe.

Más tarde, los investigadores le leyeron sus derechos Miranda y lo entrevistaron.

Medina Acosta dijo que marcaba su entrada antes de su turno “porque quería adelantar trabajo”, según el informe.

Sin embargo, el personal del hotel le explicó a la policía que los empleados no podían marcar entrada ni empezar a trabajar antes de su turno, añade el informe.

Medina Acosta también dijo que unos 10 minutos después de llegar salía del hotel. Según su versión, iba a su casa a dejar ropa sucia y luego regresaba al trabajo, de acuerdo con el informe.

Le preguntaron por el video en el que aparece sacando el carrito de langosta. Medina respondió que lo había hecho “para que se descongelara”.

Pero los investigadores le preguntaron por qué devolvió el carrito al almacén y por qué faltaba parte de la langosta que antes se veía. Medina Acosta “no pudo dar una explicación directa”, según el informe.

Medina Acosta renunció antes de que la gerencia pudiera despedirlo por la investigación, indica el informe.

Según los investigadores, el jefe de cocina les contó que tras la salida de Medina Acosta cambió la situación. Desde entonces, la cocina terminaba cada período de inventario con mucha más comida que en los meses de faltantes.

Hasta la mañana del martes, el ciudadano uruguayo seguía en el Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center con una retención migratoria. Su fianza figuraba como “por determinar”.

En un informe de arresto, la policía de Doral identificó al sospechoso como Juan Leonel Jimenez Silva. Es originario de Venezuela y vive en el noroeste de Miami-Dade.

Según el informe, la investigación comenzó cuando un ciudadano creó un perfil en internet y se hizo pasar por un muchacho de 15 años. La policía recalcó que esta persona no actuaba por orden del Departamento de Policía de Doral ni de ninguna otra agencia del orden.

De acuerdo con la policía, el ciudadano usaba la aplicación de citas Grindr el jueves pasado. Alrededor de las 8 p.m., Jimenez Silva contactó la cuenta.

Los investigadores dijeron que poco después la conversación pasó a WhatsApp. Allí, la persona le dijo a Jimenez Silva que tenía 15 años.

Según la policía, Jimenez Silva siguió comunicándose con él aun después de conocer la supuesta edad.

El informe indica que la conversación se volvió sexual. Jimenez Silva presuntamente envió imágenes y mensajes sexualmente explícitos al “adolescente”. La policía añadió que también le pidió fotos desnudo y le habló de actos sexuales.

Los investigadores dijeron que Jimenez Silva insistió varias veces en conocerlo en persona. También lo invitó a su casa y le dio su dirección.

Finalmente, ambos acordaron reunirse en BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse, cerca del Miami International Mall, según el informe.

Confrontado en un restaurante de Doral

La policía dijo que Jimenez Silva llegó al restaurante creyendo que vería al joven de 15 años. En cambio, se encontró con dos hombres adultos.

Según el informe, uno de ellos se había hecho pasar por el adolescente y el otro grababa el encuentro.

Dentro del restaurante, los hombres le preguntaron a Jimenez Silva por qué había ido a encontrarse con el supuesto menor, indicó la policía.

De acuerdo con los investigadores, Jimenez Silva salió del restaurante y cruzó corriendo el estacionamiento. Luego se subió a una SUV Toyota blanca registrada a su nombre y se marchó.

Al día siguiente, los dos hombres fueron al Departamento de Policía de Doral, según el informe. Allí entregaron declaraciones juradas, capturas de pantalla de la conversación de WhatsApp y el video de la confrontación en el restaurante.

La policía dijo que ambos también identificaron a Jimenez Silva en una rueda de reconocimiento fotográfico.

Arrestado días después

Jimenez Silva fue detenido el lunes por la noche en su casa.

Según los investigadores, le leyeron sus derechos Miranda y aceptó hablar con los detectives. Admitió que la conversación comenzó en Grindr y luego pasó a WhatsApp.

De acuerdo con la policía, Jimenez Silva dijo que al principio no creyó estar haciendo nada malo, porque los usuarios de Grindr deben ser adultos. Sin embargo, reconoció que la persona le dijo que tenía 15 años al comienzo de la conversación por WhatsApp, señala el informe.

La policía indicó que Jimenez Silva dijo sentirse atraído por el supuesto adolescente y que le parecía mayor de 15 años.

Según el informe de arresto, Jimenez Silva confirmó que la cuenta de WhatsApp era suya. También reconoció haber enviado los mensajes e imágenes sexuales que describieron los investigadores. La policía añadió que identificó dos selfis suyas en las que aparece vestido y confirmó haber enviado cuatro imágenes de actividad sexual.

Finalmente, Jimenez Silva fue arrestado por cuatro cargos:

• transmisión electrónica de material dañino para un menor
• uso de una computadora para viajar a encontrarse con un menor
• uso de una computadora para seducir, solicitar o atraer a un menor a cometer actos sexuales
• intento de agresión lasciva contra un menor

Hasta la mañana del martes, Jimenez Silva seguía detenido en el Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

Según los registros de la cárcel, el venezolano tiene una retención migratoria y por eso no puede salir bajo fianza.

San Francisco led the major leagues with 2,379 days on the injured list and 44 IL placements, according to Major League Baseball. After topping the big leagues in lost days in 2023, 2024 and 2025, the Dodgers were second with 2,318.

Cleveland had the fewest days at 470.

MLB's overall IL days increased to 47,699 days from 44,372 last year and 43,253 in 2024. Placements rose to 854 from 826 last year.

Giants players with lengthy IL stays included right-handers Hayden Birdsong, Randy Rodríguez and Roman Wick (187 days each), José Buttó (179), Joel Peguero (160) and Jason Foley (109), outfielder Harrison Bader (140) and left-hander Matt Gage (101).

Los Angeles had 34 IL placements, down from 37 placements and 2,585 days in 2025 before the Dodgers got healthier for the postseason and won their second straight World Series title. They totaled 2,465 days in 2024 and 2,219 in 2023.

Detroit was third at 2,216 days, followed by Toronto (2,206), the Chicago Cubs (2,160) and Boston (2,009).

Others below 1,000 days in addition to the Guardians were St. Louis (606), Pittsburgh (768) and Philadelphia (809).

San Francisco had the biggest increase at 1,630 days, followed by the Chicago Cubs (1,080), Colorado (707 to 1,873) and Toronto (698 to 2,206).

Cleveland experienced the largest drop at 1,041 days, ahead of the New York Mets (651 to 1,628), Houston (624 to 1,686), Cincinnati (574 to 1,105) and Pittsburgh (567 to 768).

The Guardians had the fewest IL placements with 14. St. Louis had 16, Washington 18 and Philadelphia 19.

___

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Leer en español

“Are you aware you are currently under arrest for the murder of Gladys, Julia, Daniela?” Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office Detective Juan Carlos Chaidez asked.

“Yes,” Sierra said. “I tied her hands behind her back.”

The 42-year-old already pleaded guilty in connection with the killings. A Miami-Dade jury is deciding whether life or death is an appropriate punishment.

“You tied her wrists together?” Chaidez asked.

“Yeah, with white nylon rope,” Sierra said.

Sierra delivered heart-wrenching details about the horrific way he said he killed his estranged wife, Gladys Machado.

“A plastic shopping bag?” Chaidez asked. “Yeah,” Sierra said. “And you place it over her face?” Chaidez asked. “Yeah,” Sierra said.

“I was devastated because of what I had done, so I was crying,” Sierra said.

Sierra also described killing Machado’s two young daughters, 6-year-old Julia Padrino and 3-year-old Daniela Padrino.

5:30 REPORT:

“She saw that her mom was dead and she started crying and screaming,” Sierra said. “I grabbed the Sedano’s bag and I put it over her face.”

He said, “I went to the kids’ room, and Daniela was sleeping, and I sat on top of her and did the same thing.”

He said he used a yellow Sedano’s plastic bag to kill them.

“And then, I don’t know, I went crazy,” Sierra said.

Sierra also described violating the bodies of Machado and Julia, delivering the account in a matter-of-fact tone that belied the brutality of the grim murders.

He explained how he worked to cover it up. “Can you tell me what areas of the house you mopped?” Chaidez asked.

“The master room, the closet, the bathroom, the kitchen, the living room, (inaudible) to the family room,” Sierra said.

Sierra said the violence that November day started after they left the mall.

“I was furious,” Sierra said.

“At Mall of the Americas, what did you do there?” Chaidez asked.

“We got an ice cream for the kids,” Sierra said.

He said he became jealous when Machado received a phone call.

“You got into an argument with her because she received a phone call from another man?” Chaidez asked. “Yeah,” Sierra said.

Prosecutors said Sierra kidnapped them at knifepoint and took them to the home where, days later, a neighbor who noticed the smell of decomposition found the three bodies in a master bedroom closet.

“You exit the home through what door?” Chaidez asked. “The front door,” Sierra said.

On cross-examination, defense attorney Joyce Brenner questioned Chaidez about his calm approach during the interview.

“You kept this whole thing as calm as you possibly could so you could build a rapport with Mr. Sierra so you could get at the truth, right?” Brenner asked.

“I already had a rapport with Mr. Sierra from our first interaction and our second interaction,” Chaidez said. “His behavior when it came to his wife’s infidelity and affairs, I thought he was a bit too calm and relaxed for his responses. I am not saying someone wouldn’t have a problem with their wife having an affair, but the way he was reacting to those questions didn’t sit right with me.”

On redirect, lead prosecutor Abbe Rifkin asked what prompted Sierra to stop providing the same false information.

“When he was confronted about the DNA evidence found on the victims,” Chaidez said.

Chaidez also described Sierra’s demeanor when he was confronted with that evidence.

“When he was confronted with that information, he clasped his hands, he stared down at the table for several seconds, he began to shake or quiver, and that is when he said something to the effect of, ‘I am going to tell you what happened,’ and all that,” Chaidez said.

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said on social media Tuesday that the president's comments have been misunderstood and misrepresented in a “media freakout” that is “not rooted in reality.”

Trump was discussing the Iran war and the resulting high gas prices that have become a midterm liability for Republicans during his remarks in Nebraska when he mentioned the possibility of an Iranian attack on U.S. soil.

“It’s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe,” he said of the war and its economic fallout. “They can take out a city. Let ’em take out Los Angeles, let ’em take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay.”

The commentary, including Trump's casual mention of the two California cities, was delivered in the familiar meandering style that he uses at campaign rallies, when he speaks for extended periods — often an hour or more — and is only occasionally following prepared remarks on a teleprompter.

Critics, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, seized on his statements. The governor, a Democrat who could run for president in 2028, called Trump “deranged and dangerous” for, in Newsom's framing, “saying our foreign enemies should ‘take out’ Los Angeles and San Diego.”

Cheung, in his response Tuesday, said it was obvious that Trump was not calling for such an attack.

“The media freakout over President Trump’s comments is not rooted in reality,” he said. “He was clearly stating U.S. cities would have been threatened if a nuclear Iran hadn’t been stopped. America is safer because of the President.”

Cheung added that Iran “has no nuclear, no navy, no air force, and no money.”

Still, at least one Republican politician shared Newsom’s interpretation.

“As a Navy veteran, I served to protect Americans, not write off American cities as an acceptable price of war,” Jim Desmond, the Republican congressional nominee in a metro San Diego district, wrote on social media, adding that “no American family should ever be treated as collateral damage.”

Trump has often criticized U.S. cities as he campaigns, especially the largest areas that lean heavily Democratic. At a recent North Carolina rally, he described the state's cities as “blood-soaked killing fields.” North Carolina's violent crime rate ranks in the middle third of states, according to FBI statistics.

Iran has said that it’s not pursuing nuclear weapons, but has enriched uranium to near-weapons-grade levels that have no civilian purpose.

One restaurant had a staggering 44 violations, while another had 38.

And there were roach problems at several locations including Sawa in Coral Gables, which was ordered shut for the third time after inspectors found live and dead roaches in the kitchen.

Below is a list of places and some of their violations.

**SAWA

360 SAN LORENZO AVE (MERRICK PARK)

CORAL GABLES

ORDERED SHUT 10/5

15 VIOLATIONS FOUND

ALSO ORDERED SHUT 9/18/19 (ROACH ISSUE)

ALSO ORDERED SHUT 12/19/18(ROACH ISSUE)

“Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found. Observed 2 live roaches on prep counter crawling under rice cooker. Observed 2 live roaches in gaskets at standing reach in cooler unit next to ware washing area. Observed 1 live roach under reach in cooler unit at coffee area of kitchen.”

“Dead roaches on premises. Observed 4 dead roaches at corner prep area floor where sushi rice is stored. Observed approximately 11 dead roaches between cooling units and wall mounted shelves. Observed 1 dead roach under three compartment sink.”

“Food with mold-like growth. See stop sale. Observed 2 strawberries in container with mold like growth.”

“Ceiling/ceiling tiles/vents soiled with accumulated food debris, grease, dust, or mold-like substance. Observed ceiling and vents throughout kitchen soiled. Repeat Violation.”

“Equipment in poor repair. Observed flip top cooler handle and lid detached from cooler.”

“Interior of refrigerator or freezer in disrepair/has exposed insulation. Observed at standing reach in cooler next to dish washing area. Repeat Violation.”

“Unclean building components, attachments or fixtures. Observed hood filters at cook line soiled with grease build up Repeat Violation.”

“Stop Sale issued due to food not being in a wholesome, sound condition. 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. See stop sale. Observed 2 packages of minced tuna at reach in cooler still in packaging thawing.”

“Operating with an expired Division of Hotels and Restaurants license.”

“Stop Sale issued due to food not being in a wholesome, sound condition. 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. See stop sale. Observed 2 packages of minced tuna at reach in cooler still in packaging thawing.”

**THE KNIFE STEAK HOUSE

MIAMI INTERNATIONAL MALL

1455 NW 107TH AVE

DORAL

ORDERED SHUT 10/5

38 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found. Observed 20 plus live roaches crawling at dishwasher machine electric box at kitchen area.”

“Wall soiled with accumulated grease, food debris, and/or dust. Observed soiled walls all over kitchen cooking area and ware washing.”

“Food-contact surface soiled with food debris, mold-like substance or slime. Observed can opener blade soiled, also mixer heavily soiled.”

“Accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine/bin.”

“Ceiling/ceiling tile shows damage or is in disrepair. Observed at several spot at kitchen prep and cook line area.”

“Ceiling/ceiling tiles/vents soiled with accumulated food debris, grease, dust, or mold-like substance. Observed all throughout the establishment including dining room area.”

“Cutting board has cut marks and is no longer cleanable. Observed at cook line area.”

“Floor soiled/has accumulation of debris. Observed floor under equipment heavily soiled with old rotten cardboard boxes and a mold like substance under equipment use to hold food to buffet line. Observed soiled floor all throughout the ware washing and cooking area.”

“Food stored on floor. Observed bucket with eggs and mayo stored on the floor at walk in cooler.”

“Interior of oven/microwave has accumulation of black substance/grease/food debris.”

“Displayed food not properly protected from contamination. Observed croutons and chips at salad bar uncovered exposed to contamination.”

“Nonfood-contact surface soiled with grease, food debris, dirt, slime or dust. Observed soiled gaskets at all reach in coolers units, also heavily soiled equipment under buffet line with presence of substance like mold, all rotten cardboard boxes. Observed walk in cooler fan dusted.”

“Time/temperature control for safety food, other than whole meat roast, hot held at less than 135 degrees Fahrenheit. Observed Grill Station: provolone (93/95F - Hot Holding); cooked sweet potatoes (103/112/91F - Hot Holding); sausages (125/117/132F - Hot Holding); blood sausage (108F - Hot Holding); grilled chicken (131/116F - Hot Holding); beef ribs (153F - Hot Holding); pork ribs (123/108/99F - Hot Holding) at grill station area, also sweet breads (84F - Hot Holding); tripe (83F - Hot Holding); beef (91F - Hot Holding); sausage (88F - Hot Holding); beef steaks (87/86/84F - Hot Holding) at holding station at cook line. As per management all products less than four hours, staff was instructed to move to the cooler or back to grill station to bring products into compliance.”

“Time/temperature control for safety food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. Observed cooked pork (78F - Cold Holding); beef (75F - Cold Holding); raw beef (48F - Cold Holding); grilled chicken (69F - Cold Holding); sausage (56F - Cold Holding) at small reach in cooler unit.”

“Ready-to-eat, time/temperature control for safety food prepared onsite and held more than 24 hours not properly date marked. Observed some cooked at establishment food at walk in cooler not dated, as per staff for less than 7 days as per staff.”

“Equipment in poor repair. Observed walk in cooler door in disrepair.”

“Employee with no hair restraint while engaging in food preparation. Observed employees at cook line and not hair restraint.”

**SUSHI SAKE SUNSET

9565 SUNSET DR.

KENDALL

ORDERED SHUT 10/5

14 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Live, small flying insects found. Observed 20 live flies landing and crawling inside bag of onions underneath prep table across cook line. Observed 10 live flies flying and landing on top of rice cookers with rice inside and on wall on prep table next to cook line. Observed 25 live flies flying and landing on trays of soy sauce and eel sauce, on boxes of single service cups in wait station area next to walk in cooler. Observed 5 live flies flying and landing on clean bowls and equipment under prep table next to cook line. Observed 5 live flies landing on top of squeeze bottles of soy sauce and oil under prep table across cook line. Observed 6 live flies flying and landing on top of clean cutting board in kitchen area. Observed 15 live flies flying and landing on vegetable chopper and sanitizer bucket on prep table underneath dish machine. Observed 10+ live flies in dry storage area flying and landing on top of bags of rice and sugar. Observed 10 live flies flying in bar area, landing on beer taps, liquor bottles, and on top of garnish containers. Observed 8 live flies flying and landing on top of container of lychees at bar area. Observed 1 live fly inside container of lychees at bar area.”

“Stop Sale issued due to food not being in a wholesome, sound condition. Live, small flying insects found. Observed 20 live flies landing and crawling inside bag of onions underneath prep table across cook line. Observed 1 live fly inside container of lychees at bar area.”

“Time/temperature control for safety food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. Observed garlic butter (44F - Cold Holding) at cook line, as per operator for less than 1 hour. Repeat Violation.”

“Employee began working with food, handling clean equipment or utensils, or touching unwrapped single-service items without first washing hands. Observed chef put on pair of gloves and begin to prepare customer order without first washing hands.”

“Accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine/bin. Observed interior of ice machine soiled.”

**LA UNION RESTAURANT

SUN PLAZA

998 SOUTH STATE ROAD 7

MARGATE

ORDERED SHUT 10/5

44 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found. Approximately 7 live roaches crawling on wall and shelves around 3 compartment sink.”

“Dead roaches on premises. Approximately 1 dead roach in bucket inside hand washing sink. Approximately 6 dead roaches on floor around hot water heater. Approximately 1 dead roach on side of Reach in cooler at dish washing area. Discussed with operator to clean and sanitize areas.”

“Roach excrement and/or droppings present. At dish washing area buildup of roach excrement along shelves and wall.”

“Live, small flying insects found. Approximately 7 small live flying insects by back door landing on old equipment. Approximately 5 small live flying insects landing on walls surrounding hot water heater. Approximately 25 small live flying insects landing on dirty and clean dishes at dish washing area. Approximately 4 small live flying insects on walls in women& men’s restroom. Approximately 25 small live flying insects landing on walls in dining room behind reach in coolers where large puddle of water is on floor.”

“Objectionable odors in bathroom or other areas of the establishment. In bathroom strong odor of urine, discussed with operator to clean and sanitize bathroom.”

“Nonfood-contact surface soiled with grease, food debris, dirt, slime or dust. Sides of cooking equipment soiled with thick build up of grease and food debris, discussed with operator to clean and sanitize.”

“Accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine/bin.”

“Food stored on floor. In dish washing area bucket of raw chicken stored on floor.”

“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. In reach in cooler at front counter milk (51F - Cold Holding) per server milk held in unit for unknown amount of time see stop sale. In walk in cooler pork tamales (48F - Cold Holding); cheese (48F - Cold Holding); pasteurized eggs (50F - Cold Holding); coleslaw (51F - Cold Holding); sliced ham (48F - Cold Holding); cooked beans (49F - Cold Holding) per chef products not portioned or prepared today and held in cooler for more than 6 hours, see stop sale.”

“Time/temperature control for safety food thawed in an improper manner. Frozen Raw chicken thawing at room temperature, discussed with operator who moved product to walk in cooler to thaw.”

“Food being cooled by nonapproved method as evidenced by inadequate rate of cooling during time of inspection. In walk in cooler plastic wrapped pan of marinated portioned steak (52F - Cooling) at 10:20 per operator since 7:00 to 53F at 10:40, at this current rate of cooling product will not reach 41F within 4 hours, discussed with operator who moved product to reach in freezer.”

“Food manager certification expired.”

“No hot running water at three-compartment sink. Hot water maximum temperature 81F discussed with operator who used lighter to reignite hot water heater, at retest hot water reached 104F. Repeat Violation.”

“No soap provided at handwash sink.”

“Employee with no hair restraint while engaging in food preparation.”

“Employee cracked raw shell eggs and then handled ready-to-eat food and/or clean equipment or utensils without washing hands. Employee cracked raw shell eggs and after without washing hands employee handled plate and utensils assembly meal, discussed with operator employee washed hands.”

“Employee handled soiled equipment or utensils and then engaged in food preparation, handled clean equipment or utensils, or touched unwrapped single-service items without washing hands. Employee handled container of raw chicken and without washing hands employee handled clean plates and utensils, discussed with employee who washed hands.”

“Employee touched soiled surface and then engaged in food preparation, handled clean equipment or utensils, or touched unwrapped single-service items without washing hands. Employee pulled up pants and after without washing hands resumed cooking eggs, discussed with employee who washed hands.”

“Raw animal food stored over/not properly separated from ready-to-eat food. In reach in cooler raw shell eggs stored above cooked plantains, discussed with operator who corrected storage of products.”

“Raw animal foods not properly separated from each other in holding unit based upon minimum required cooking temperature. In walk in cooler raw chicken stored above raw steak, discussed with operator who corrected storage of products.”

“Floor area(s) covered with standing water. In customer dining area large puddle of standing water behind reach in coolers, discussed with operator to clean and sanitize area.”

“Floor tiles missing and/or in disrepair. Throughout kitchen multiple floor tiles missing and in disrepair with food and standing water, discussed with operator to repair. Repeat Violation.”

“Required employee training expired for all employees.”

Storms will be even more widespread tomorrow and could develop at any point in the day. Expect more of the same on Thursday as we will firmly be in a wet weather pattern.

Time was scarce, so the chance to make wontons with her became special mother-daughter moments for us. She always had all the fillings ready to go — my favorite was and still is pork, shrimp and vegetables. I’d carefully scoop a bit of filling onto the wonton wrapper and do my best to fold it as neatly as possible.

Years later, I’ve continued the tradition with my own children, and together as a family we make Popo’s wontons (“Popo” is the Chinese word for “maternal grandmother”). Just as it was for my mother and me, making wontons gives me and my kids the opportunity to escape the chaos of daily life and bond while we fold 34 together.

It also gives me the chance to share more about our heritage. For example, the Chinese revere wealth (like most people!). Wontons are a symbol for gold — when folding, your goal is to create a wonton shaped like a Chinese gold ingot. I suppose that’s one way of getting rich. My kids thought it was the silliest, most fun thing to eat “gold.”

Popo's Wontons

Servings: Makes about 60

Ingredients

1 (3-inch) nob peeled ginger, minced

½ pound large (31 to 40) raw shrimp, shelled and deveined

2 tablespoons cornstarch, divided

2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided

1 pound frozen shepherd’s purse, defrosted (or 2 bunches fresh watercress)

2 tablespoons light soy sauce

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

½ teaspoon ground white pepper

1 pound ground meat (pork, turkey or chicken)

1 large egg

2 (12-ounce) packages square, thin wonton wrappers (you won’t use them all)

Directions

In a small bowl, soak the ginger in ¼ cup of water for 15 minutes.

Rinse the shrimp with cold water. Drain them and place in a medium bowl with 1 tablespoon of the cornstarch, massaging it gently into the shrimp to further clean them. Rinse the shrimp again with clean, cold water. Drain them, then toss with ½ teaspoon of the salt. Finely chop the shrimp. Set aside.

Rinse the defrosted shepherd’s purse with cold water, then squeeze out the excess water. Finely chop the greens, then toss them with ½ teaspoon of the salt. Set aside. (If using watercress, boil 2 bunches for 3 minutes, then drain and rinse with cold water. Squeeze out the excess water and finely chop.)

Remove the ginger from the water and squeeze it over the water to retain as much of the ginger-scented soaking water as possible. Discard the ginger, keeping only the ginger water.

In a medium nonreactive bowl, combine the ginger water, soy sauce, the remaining 1½ teaspoons of salt, oil, the remaining 1 tablespoon of cornstarch, and the white pepper. Add the ground meat and thoroughly mix it with the seasoning. Add the shrimp and greens and mix everything together. Allow it to marinate, covered in the refrigerator, for 30 minutes. Take a small piece and cook the meat mixture in boiling water until the meat floats, about 3 minutes. Taste it to see if it’s seasoned well. If not, then add another teaspoon of salt to the meat and mix well.

In a small bowl, whisk the egg so that it can be used to seal the wonton skins.

Fan the stack of skins out to create a pinwheel of skins. This separates the skins, making them easier to pick up. Take one wonton skin and place a dollop of meat mixture (about ½ tablespoon) in the center.

Using the tip of a butter knife dipped in the egg, brush the top and side edges of the skin. Fold the square in half and gently press edges together. The wonton is now a rectangle. Brush the bottom corners with egg. Holding the rectangle in your palm, bend the left and right corners together toward the center of the wonton. Squeeze the corners together to seal.

On a tray or plate lined with parchment paper, place the wontons in rows with a bit of separation between them so that they do not stick together. Make sure the tray or plate will fit in your freezer. Once the tray is full, freeze the wontons until the skin feels solid and frozen, about 1 hour. You can then place the wontons in a plastic freezer bag without worrying about them sticking together. Place the bag immediately back into the freezer to further freeze the wontons. Remember to write a date on the bags. They will keep for 3 to 4 months.

If you’re starting with fresh wontons, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Leave enough room in the pot for 1 to 2 cups of additional water. Add the wontons. When the water boils again, add ½ cup cold water. When the water boils again, add another ½ cup of cold water. When wontons float to the top, they are done. Adding cold water in steps like this keeps the skin of the wontons from overcooking and becoming too soft.

With frozen wontons, repeat the above, but add ½ cup cold water one more time because the frozen meat needs a bit longer to cook through.

___

Ming-Na Wen is an actor and author of the cookbook “Have You Eaten Yet: Family Recipes From a Restaurant Daughter."

___

Excerpted from “Have You Eaten Yet? Family Recipes From a Restaurant Daughter.” Copyright 2026 by Ming-Na Wen. Reproduced by permission of Simon Element, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. All rights reserved.

“Whenever anyone comes to the house, it’s always, ‘Have you eaten yet?’” Wen told The Associated Press. “So that was how I came up with the title, because I wanted that as a greeting for my fans.”

Wen, who found fame in the 1993 film adaptation of Amy Tan's novel “The Joy Luck Club” and went on to star in “Mulan,” is wading into the cookbook market. “Have You Eaten Yet? Family Recipes From a Restaurant Daughter,” out Tuesday, is sprinkled with Chinese and Western recipes and first-person anecdotes.

The recipes parallel Wen's evolution from immigrant kid helping out at her parents' restaurant to working actor cooking for her own children.

For generations of Asian Americans, Wen became an icon for validating the bicultural experience as June in “The Joy Luck Club.” The first big studio feature with an all-Asian cast was praised for depicting Chinese characters and Chinese food in a non-demeaning way.

Despite being more prevalent now than ever, Chinese cuisine is still at times stereotyped or devalued. Wen might be an ideal ambassador to share experiences of growing up eating Chinese and American food.

“I didn’t want it to just be about Chinese food,” said Wen, 62. “I wanted it to be about the Asian American experience.”

The cookbook is a way to honor her family

The idea for a cookbook began with Wen's Instagram cooking videos, posted from her Los Angeles home. Fans urged “The Mandalorian” star to write a cookbook, but she didn't feel qualified — until she learned there are “many celebrities who would write a book who didn't cook, which to me was such a no-no.”

“It took a couple of years before my literary agent came up with this wonderful idea that we write the cookbook as my journey through food,” Wen said.

She ended up whittling a list of a hundred recipes down to 70. Among those that made the cut are Popo's (Cantonese for grandmother) Wontons, and Chestnut Chicken, both reminiscent of her childhood in Hong Kong.

She also wanted to honor her stepfather, or “Chef Baba (Cantonese for father),” who taught her to cook Western dishes he had learned cooking in the army. He could pivot from making clam chowder to winter melon soup.

At age 7, Wen rode in an airplane for the first time when her stepfather sponsored her, her mother and brother to come to the U.S. They lived in New York City for three years before moving to Pittsburgh. There, her parents opened the Chinatown Inn restaurant. A good “restaurant daughter,” Wen helped set tables, wash dishes and other tasks.

“Being a restaurant kid was something that I sort of was either embarrassed about or rejected or didn’t like because it took time away from hanging out with my friends,” Wen said. “Looking back … it makes me so much more aware of how much that restaurant’s given and provided for my family and for shaping who I am.”

Having to cook far from home reawakened old skills

It wasn't until the Carnegie Mellon University alum moved to New York to pursue acting that she found she had a knack for cooking. She was on a shoestring budget, and the necessity of cooking awoke all those kitchen-prep skills she had seen as a child.

“It’s interesting how all those things that I observed growing up became second nature when I did start cooking, like really feverishly,” Wen said.

She went from making ramen and eggs to Cornish game hens with Chinese plum sauce.

Wen kept up cooking even after scoring a part on “As the World Turns” in 1988, making her the first Asian American actor on contract with a soap.

The cookbook has compelled her to revisit dishes she made back then, as well as those from Chinatown Inn, which her brother and sister-in-law run today. She felt like a “mad chemist” at times since her family cooks on instinct, not written recipes.

“The egg rolls — my brother was just like, ‘OK, these are the ingredients.’ I’m like, ‘Well, how much to how much? He’s like, 'I don’t know,’” Wen said. “I had to measure and measure and remeasure and taste-test and taste-test until I got it right.”

By all means, get a wok

Nowadays, cookbooks on Asian cuisine make up a crowded field, including niche volumes, such as vegan or noodle dishes, or ones influenced by a region of the U.S.

“In a weird way, my cookbook is going back to the basics, and yet expanding on it through other foods that people are familiar with,” Wen said.

She is eager for readers to try more challenging recipes like wontons and “lion’s head,” meatballs with napa cabbage. Wen also cannot recommend a wok enough.

“If there was ever an apocalyptic situation in L.A. and I have to leave with some essentials, I would grab my wok and my spatula, because you can cook anything in a wok,” she said.

Eddie Lin, a Los Angeles-based food writer and past “MasterChef” TV judge, was also a production assistant on “The Joy Luck Club.” Chinese food was “all over the place” in many big scenes, he recalls. So, he sees it as a nice full-circle moment that Wen is again bringing attention to the Asian American experience.

Her cookbook will stick out, he thinks, because she is willing to be so personal.

“I feel that Ming-Na’s book is probably her story on a plate or in a bowl,” Lin said.

Despite the popularity of Asian foods, there are still instances of ugly stereotypes on social media that have resulted in real harm to a restaurant's reputation.

“It does irk me quite a bit,” Wen said. “I know how difficult it is to keep a restaurant afloat, especially these days. All we can do is just ignore the negative, ignore the toxic and just try to find joy and harmony. Food is the universal love language. So, I will go with that thought instead.”

The ski racer from Colorado announced her strategy Tuesday in what she describes as a season of "exploration.” It's part of her plan to push herself coming off a season where she won her second Olympic gold in slalom at the Milan Cortina Games and earned her ninth World Cup season title in the discipline.

The season kicks off on Oct. 24 with a giant slalom race in Soelden, Austria. Shiffrin said her first slalom race is expected to be in Killington, Vermont, over Thanksgiving weekend and she will proceed from there.

“I’m not trying to do less because I care less. I’m trying to do something different because I still care SO much,” the 31-year-old Shiffrin said in a statement. ”The joy for me has never been about medals or records.

"This season is an exploration. We’re calling it the exploration season.”

Shiffrin won her sixth overall World Cup title by 87 points over Emma Aicher of Germany. Shiffrin also won the crystal globe in the slalom by beating Camille Rast of Switzerland.

In the giant slalom standings Shiffrin was fourth, while winding up outside the top 30 in the super-G. Her last World Cup win in the super-G, an event that blends the speed of a downhill with the turns of a GS, was in December 2022. She won a downhill event in 2023.

“Racing slalom underprepared would be like jumping into a giant blender and just trying to avoid the blades,” Shiffrin said. "I’m trying a little bit more to live in the gratitude of it and ski because I want to ski. ... I’m not looking for less commitment. I’m not looking for actually even less effort.”

She added: “I feel ambitious. I still feel competitive. I feel like I have a desire to ski fast. I feel like those things haven’t changed. I’m really just giving myself permission to be curious about where that takes me, and that’s the exploration.”

Shiffrin also plans to continue to work on her podcast, “What’s the Point with Mikaela Shiffrin.”

___

See AP’s full Alpine skiing coverage here

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Eddrick Malik Bethune vanished after a shooting shortly after midnight on Sunday at Aliro, an apartment complex at 14040 Biscayne Boulevard, according to detectives.

Cellphone video shows two men beating someone before throwing him in the backseat of a gray car.

The car then drives away with its door still open.

Before all that took place, another video captured the moments when about a dozen shots ran out at the apartment complex.

A shooting victim arrived at a nearby hospital shortly afterward, police said.

“Due to his medical status, detectives have not been able to speak with this person to determine his involvement, if any,” an MDSO spokesperson told Local 10 News.

A witness’s video showed two men jumping from a third-floor window after the shooting.

The MDSO captain found Bethune’s body at about 7:25 a.m. on Sunday outside of plant nurseries in the area of Southwest 216th Street and 189th Avenue, according to detectives.

Near Bethune’s body, deputies also found a sports utility vehicle that had been set on fire.

Detective J. Rodriguez asked anyone with information about the case to call 305-471-2400.

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The agreement announced Tuesday means a shift to the streaming services that have come to utterly dominate the prestige categories at the Emmys.

The show has aired on one of the four broadcast networks every year since 1955. NBC was first to air it nationally, and was the last to host it last month. For the past three decades it has been in a yearly rotation between ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC in what was known as the “Wheel Deal.”

Having a single, long-term home starting with next September's 79th Primetime Emmy Awards may be the biggest change.

“Continuity is a big part of what we're looking for because the rotating part of it basically meant in many ways that we were starting over every year,” Cris Abrego, chairman of the Television Academy, told The Associated Press. “With one partner over six years, we can really learn together and build from year to year together.”

The Emmys will continue to air free of charge as it always has, a demand the Academy made from the start to its suitors. No Prime Video subscription will be required to watch.

The move echoes the Oscars’ deal announced in December sending them to YouTube and ending their own, just-as-long relationship with broadcast networks. But unlike that agreement, announced in 2025 and starting in 2029, this one is effective immediately.

“We’re on the clock, we gotta get rolling,” Mike Hopkins, head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, told the AP.

Nearly all awards shows have seen steep drops in viewership in a more segmented culture, and the Emmys have consistently lagged behind the Oscars, Grammys and Golden Globes even as the acclaim for the shows they honor has grown. At its peak, the show drew more than 20 million viewers. The figure now hovers around 7 million.

Both the Academy and Amazon said Prime Video might be in a position to change that as a place where so much of the Emmys programming can be viewed, whether it's a Prime production or a streaming partnership. The biggest winners at the last two Emmys, “Widow's Bay” and “The Studio,” can both be watched on Prime Video through its partnership with Apple TV.

“I think we’re going to be able to increase the viewership over time on this show, age it down, actually bring in a younger audience, which I think is a catalyst to growing,” Hopkins said. “We will have the opportunity throughout the year to be promoting Emmy nominees to our customers as a way of saying ‘Hey, watch these shows, but also watch the Emmys.’”

Abrego said this approach, and Prime Video's role as a television hub, was a major consideration in taking the show there.

“They really support all television,” he said. “We want reach, we want access, and we felt Amazon was in line with that.”

And while Abrego acknowledged the significance of the move to streaming and its implications, he said the content is far more important than how it's delivered.

“The Academy has never defined television by how it reaches your screen or even which screen it reaches,” he said. “The goal is to consistently want to recognize excellence wherever it comes from.”

Live events on Amazon have not been a novelty for a long time. It's been nearly a decade since it first aired an NFL game and many other major sports and other events have followed.

“We look at our service as something that’s a hybrid between live and on-demand, and we’ve made live a real priority,” Hopkins said.

Football has always been a problem for the Emmys. Its time slots on Sunday or Monday nights in September nearly always lead to a clash with the rating monolith of the NFL.

This year’s show was trounced by the first Monday Night Football game of the year between the Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos on ESPN.

The ceremony will stay in September in 2027, but that doesn't mean it is set for the run of the agreement.

“We had conversations with Amazon, if we wanted to change that date moving forward with time, we could explore it and we would be open to it,” Abrego said, acknowledging that it would have repercussions with deadlines and voting.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is calling Trump “deranged and dangerous” for suggesting in a campaign speech Monday night that Iran could attack cities in his Democrat-led state. “Let ’em take out Los Angeles. Let ’em take out San Diego,” Trump said. “This is a very small price to pay.”

And Paramount closed its $81 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery, the companies announced Tuesday — forming a new Hollywood giant now called Skydance that brings two of America’s oldest moviemaking studios together along with streaming services, CNN and CBS. Many industry figures warned the merger would lead to American voices being silenced, but Trump promoted it while attacking network reporting.

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Senate Leadership Fund putting $5M behind Darline Graham in South Carolina

The super PAC supporting Republicans in Senate races still projects confidence about the interim senator’s bid to win a full term in her late brother Lindsey Graham’s seat.

The money, according to a person familiar with the plans and not authorized to speak about them publicly, is intended as an insurance policy to shore up Darline Graham in her general election against Democrat Annie Andrews.

The move, first reported by Axios, comes several days after news that SLF was pulling back in North Carolina and pouring money into Kansas, as Republicans’ plan to maintain their majority has become a defensive fight ahead of November’s midterms.

Trump rallied with Graham days before she won a GOP runoff in the Senate race and is expected to return to South Carolina in the coming weeks.

Inspector general investigations sought in Reflecting Pool investigation

Lawyers for a former Olympian the Justice Department charged with intentionally damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, only to abruptly drop the case after determining he was not responsible, urged two government watchdogs on Tuesday to examine what they say was a flawed investigation and prosecution.

The attorneys for David Hearn said in a letter to the inspectors general for the departments of Justice and Interior that “incompetence and misconduct” were committed by government officials operating under pressure from President Donald Trump, and that watchdog investigations were needed “to determine what happened inside their agencies that led to the shocking and indefensible treatment” of their client.

The letter was filed days after a District of Columbia judge permanently dismissed the case, ending a brief prosecution derided by defense lawyers and other critics as an abuse of government power pushed by a president who insisted vandalism, not human error, was to blame for damage at the landmark.

White House clarifies Trump’s comments about Iran attacking US cities

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said Tuesday that the president’s comments have been misunderstood and misrepresented in a “media freakout.”

Trump was discussing the Iran war and the resulting high gas prices Monday night when he mentioned the possibility of an Iranian attack. “It’s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe,” Trump said. “They can take out a city. Let ’em take out Los Angeles, let ’em take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay.”

“He was clearly stating U.S. cities would have been threatened if a nuclear Iran hadn’t been stopped. America is safer because of the President,” Cheung said on social media.

At least one Republican running for Congress sees it differently, saying “no American family should ever be treated as collateral damage.”

“As a Navy veteran, I served to protect Americans, not write off American cities as an acceptable price of war,” posted Jim Desmond, a GOP nominee in San Diego.

US military cancels off-base privileges in Okinawa after Marine accused of strangling woman in Japan

The U.S. military in Okinawa, Japan, is pausing all operations and halting off-base privileges for two days and ordering training for troops after a Marine was arrested on suspicion of killing a Japanese woman.

Lt. Gen. Benjamin Watson, commander of III Marine Expeditionary Force, said the case demands “we pause for reflection” and that serving on Okinawa “comes with responsibility.”

The 48-hour pause, which is standard after such incidents, halts operations Wednesday through Friday, also bans drinking alcohol on and off base. Service members will receive training on standards, discipline and “our responsibilities as members of the Okinawan community.”

Lance Cpl. Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, has denied allegations that he strangled Anna Yagi, 39, at a hotel early Saturday, according to Japanese media.

Filmmaker: Israel needed US technology and military funding to destroy Gaza

The Associated Press also has reported on Israel’s use of AI models developed by U.S. tech giants in the war in Gaza and its occupation of the West Bank, part of a package that won the Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting. Microsoft later reduced the Israeli military’s access to its products.

The film’s Israeli directors, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, want Americans to see the film and to understand their government’s role. An academic study found that the Biden and Trump administrations provided at least $21.7 billion in military assistance to Israel in the first two years of the war.

“Much of what is being described was done with American taxpayer money,” Abraham said.

Israel’s military has ‘categorically’ denied the filmmakers’ findings

The military threatened to track down the soldiers who describe alleged atrocities in the documentary. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “NAZA” is antisemitic, and a Cabinet minister threatened to strip the filmmakers of their citizenship.

The documentary is based on interviews with over 100 confidential sources, in collaboration with The Guardian. Soldiers describe using an AI tool to create tens of thousands of targets with Hamas connections across the crowded Gaza strip. One soldier said approval was given to target a single militant even though the operation anticipated 500 civilian deaths.

In a lengthy rebuttal, Israel’s military said targeting orders “explicitly, comprehensively and clearly distinguish” between militants and civilians and that it strives to minimize civilian harm “to the greatest extent feasible.”

Israel has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, in response to the killing of some 1,200 people and the abduction of 251 others in Israel by Hamas-led militants on Oct. 7, 2023.

Israeli documentary ‘NAZA’ stirs Gaza debate ahead of US elections

The opening in U.S. theaters of the “NAZA” documentary, in which Israeli military insiders describe what they say was the reckless killing of civilians in Gaza, is likely to rekindle the searing debate over America’s military support for Israel ahead of congressional elections.

Israel’s wartime conduct has sparked global outrage, as have the billions of dollars in American military support provided by the Biden and Trump administrations. The war has bitterly divided Democrats and some Republicans.

The film received a record 25-minute standing ovation when it debuted at the Venice Film Festival. The backlash in Israel, which holds its own elections at the end of this month, has been just as thunderous.

“NAZA,” the Hebrew acronym for collateral damage, contends that Israel used artificial intelligence and other sophisticated systems to kill suspected militants in strikes the military knew would kill large numbers of civilians.

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Democrat responds to Arkansas governor’s Medicaid moocher ad

Despite the welfare queen trope, there are more white Americans than Black Americans using social service programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps. The persistent right-wing rhetoric about Black Americans and public assistance often ignores how generations of structural racism have produced economic disparities that contribute to their disproportionate participation in these programs.

The bigger question, Arkansas Democratic congressional candidate Chris Jones said, is not race but “why so many people who are working hard still struggle to afford groceries, housing, health care and the basic necessities of life.”

Jones, who is Black, grew up in a family relying on food stamps. A welfare recipient is not “looking for a way out of work,” but “for a way forward,” he told AP in a statement.

Arkansas campaign ad sparks conservative backlash for portraying lazy welfare recipient as white

A new video from Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders was standard-issue Republican messaging for promoting her state’s stricter rules for people on Medicaid: No more could able-bodied people lounge around while receiving taxpayer-funded healthcare, she said — they needed to work.

But the decision to portray an unemployed moocher as a young, white, cheeseball-chomping gamer named Brad has upset some commentators who said the video should have featured a Black woman instead.

“Republicans don’t have the balls to do this ad with ‘Shaniqua’ as the villain,” posted Matt Walsh, a conservative writer.

Sean Davis, co-founder of the Federalist website, wrote that “our government has systematically discriminated against white men for decades now, and yet now has the audacity to dishonestly mock young white men as welfare queens.”

In fact, when it comes to Medicaid expansion in Arkansas, the state says about 60% of recipients are white and around 18% are Black.

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U.S. trade deficit hits 17-month high on AI investment boom

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services widened to $105.6 billion in August, biggest gap between what America imports and what it exports since March 2025, as booming investment in artificial intelligence drew in foreign computer chips and equipment.

The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that the August trade gap was up from $92.8 billion in July. President Donald Trump has imposed sweeping tariffs – import taxes – in an attempt to reduce the longstanding U.S. trade deficit.

So far this year, the U.S. trade deficit is down nearly 20% from January-August 2025. But the gap hit bottom at $52.9 billion in April before heading up as the AI investment surge sharply increased imports. Semiconductor imports, for instance, jumped 18% in August and are up 84% this year compared to January-August 2025.

Many Hollywood stars lobbied against the merger, but Trump cheered it

Thousands of movie stars, writers, directors and other professionals announced their “unequivocal opposition” to the Paramount-Warner merger in an open letter that warned of fewer jobs and “less choice for audiences in the United States and around the world.” Sally Field said while accepting her Emmy award that “unique storytelling matters” and “we can’t let those voices be silenced, or compromised or merged.”

But Tom Cruise and James Cameron were among those backing the merger as David Ellison reiterated his commitment to filmmaking and said CNN would maintain editorial independence.

Trump has regularly attacked CNN’s reporting, attempting to bar the outlet from the White House altogether. Days after Paramount launched its hostile bid for Warner, the president said that CNN spread “poison and lies” and added that “it’s imperative that CNN be sold.” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told reporters after the launch of the Iran war that “the sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better.”

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A new Hollywood giant: Skydance completes its $81B takeover of Warner Bros Discovery

Paramount closed its $81 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery, the companies announced Tuesday — forming a new Hollywood giant now called Skydance.

The merger promoted by the Trump administration brings two of America’s oldest moviemaking studios together — along with HBO Max, titles ranging from “Harry Potter” to “Sinners” and even networks like CNN will soon find themselves under the same roof as Paramount+, CBS and the likes of “Top Gun” and “The Godfather.”

“Today is a historic day, not just for Skydance but for our entire industry,” CEO David Ellison, who will lead the company alongside his new co-CEO Ynon Kreiz, said in a statement.

Taxpayers have paid some $11m for ads Trump says he’ll tap super PAC to cover

The government-funded television ads glorifying the president that have drawn a sharp bipartisan backlash have cost more than $11 million in federal money as of Tuesday, according to estimates from AdImpact, which tracks media spending.

Trump said Monday night he would stop using taxpayer funds to pay for the ads, instead tapping MAGA Inc, his super PAC, to cover the costs going forward. The president provided no details on whether taxpayers would be reimbursed for ads that already aired, nor how he would go about having his political organization pay for such future advertising.

The ads were slated to cost up to $20 million, with money coming from the Department of Homeland Security.

The White House has defended the ads as public service announcements.

Expert cast doubt on effectiveness of Trump’s order on diesel prices

AAA says the average price of diesel gas in the United States Tuesday is $6.32 a gallon. That’s below diesel’s all-time record of $6.53 in September, but still far above the $3.68 a gallon it was a year ago, before Trump launched his war on Iran.

Trump signed an executive order at his Nebraska rally Monday night that he claimed would bring down sky-high diesel prices by allowing anyone to purchase red-dyed diesel tax-free. Diesel fuel prices have spiked due to the war in Iran, but dyed diesel fuel is cheaper because it’s exempt from federal and state excise taxes. Trump called his order an “unprecedented step to bring down costs” amid escalating pressure to address surging prices ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

But Patrick De Haan of GasBuddy, which monitors national gasoline and diesel prices, noted ahead of Trump’s order that it won’t help farmers, who already use red-dyed diesel. “Taxes aren’t the problem, supply is,” De Haan wrote on X.

Trump draws cheers, then criticism for musing about Iran taking out US cities

During his rally Monday night in Nebraska, Trump was going through his usual insistence that gas prices are only temporarily high and worth it as part of his war on Iran.

Then he added a new wrinkle, floating the idea that Tehran could “take out” two major American cities.

“They could take out a city,” he said. "Let ‘em take out Los Angeles. Let ’em take out San Diego.”

He continued as the crowd laughed and cheered: “This is a very small price to pay, and it’s going to be over with very soon.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who may run for president in 2028, answered on X, calling Trump “deranged and dangerous.”

Trump has a history of denigrating U.S. cities, especially the largest ones that lean heavily Democratic. Los Angeles was among the cities where Trump deployed federal military personnel for what he said was a crackdown on crime, despite local authorities not wanting the troops.

At a recent North Carolina campaign rally, Trump said the state’s cities are “blood-soaked killing fields.” North Carolina’s violent crime rate ranks in the middle third of states, according to FBI statistics.

Cold War memories stir Rubio in Iceland as he hails diplomacy for conflict resolution

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio hailed the role of diplomacy in resolving conflicts as he began a three-nation tour of NATO allies in Iceland, where concerns over the Trump administration’s often brusque approach to traditional friends and partners have stirred unease.

Rubio met Tuesday with Icelandic Foreign Secretary Thorgerdur Katrín Gunnarsdóttir at Reykjavik’s Hofdi House, the site of the 1986 summit between former U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that is widely regarded as the beginning of the end of the Cold War.

“The house symbolizes diplomacy’s role in ending the Cold War and defeating communism,” Rubio posted on social media after the talks that took place just days before the 40th anniversary of the landmark Oct 11-12 meeting.

Despite an agreement signed last month between the U.S., Denmark and Greenland that eased fears of Trump taking over Greenland. Iceland has been uneasy about Trump’s intentions toward it after posting a map showing the colors of the U.S. flag sprawling across all of North America and including Iceland and Greenland.

Republicans return to tough-on-crime message ahead of difficult midterm elections

Political advertising warns about Democratic plots to defund the police. Campaign events feature law enforcement unions and tough talk about law and order. Stump speeches boast about record low levels of violent crime.

From coast to coast, Republicans are focusing on public disorder, illegal immigration and violent crime in midterm campaigns as voters sour on their party’s handling of the cost of living and the war with Iran.

The messaging reflects a belief that lawlessness is safer political ground in the midterms despite Donald Trump’s own criminal record for paying hush money to a porn star, making him the only president to be convicted of a felony. Democrats have tried to counter the attacks by recruiting candidates with law enforcement backgrounds and emphasizing their own anti-crime plans, but Republicans believe it’s a rare opportunity to go on the offensive in an otherwise challenging year.

Trump returned to the topic on Monday night in Nebraska, warning about how the country used to be before he returned to the White House.

“We had a border with people pouring in, crime like nobody’s ever seen,” he said.

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Trump approves firing squad execution for Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan

Trump has approved the execution by firing squad of Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan for the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas.

The U.S. military has not carried out the death penalty since 1961. The Army secretary will decide a time and place for the execution, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell wrote in a post on X.

Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, walked into a medical building where soldiers were getting medical checkups, shouted “Allahu akbar” — Arabic for “God is great!” — and opened fire with a laser-sighted handgun. Thirteen people were killed and more than 30 injured.

He said it was an effort to stop them from going to Afghanistan and killing his fellow Muslims and made almost no effort to defend himself at trial. He told jurors that evidence would show he was the shooter and described himself as a soldier who had “switched sides.”

Trump’s approval triggers a series of procedural steps toward carrying out the execution, but Hasan could put them on hold — potentially for years — with a habeas corpus appeal in the civilian federal court system, according to an article published in May in the magazine Army Lawyer.

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Trump criticizes election officials in Arizona’s Maricopa County over error affecting 3,000 ballots

Trump on Monday criticized election officials in Arizona’s Maricopa County after about 3,000 ballots were mistakenly mailed early to voters.

The miscue, blamed on a vendor error, would have no effect on the voters who received the ballots, the county recorder’s office said. Maricopa County has about 2.5 million registered voters.

The president, as he typically does ahead of an election, has been ramping up his rhetoric around voting as Election Day draws near in this year’s midterm elections, with control of Congress at stake.

His latest comments referred to a vendor error that came to light over the weekend. The Maricopa County Recorder’s Office, which is run by Republican Recorder Justin Heap, said Sunday that Runbeck Election Services told the office that it “mistakenly mailed 3,126 early ballots the previous day,” six days before they were scheduled to be sent to voters for this year’s midterm elections.

The ballots were mailed to the correct voters, are still valid and can be completed and returned normally by those voters, the recorder’s office said in a statement.

Jeff Ellington, president and CEO of Runbeck Election Services, said Monday that Maricopa County was not at fault in the snafu.

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Trump says his super PAC will pay for taxpayer-funded ads that sparked backlash for glorifying him

President Donald Trump said Monday that he will stop using taxpayer funds for television advertisements glorifying himself, which sparked a major backlash, and instead tap his super PAC to cover costs going forward.

In a post on his social media site, Trump defended the ads, which cost at least $1.5 million in federal funds and have drawn intense criticism. Trump said they were “positive promotion for our Great U.S.A.”

“This is a rather standard thing to do,” the president wrote, while blaming intense criticism for using taxpayer funds on the ads on the “Radical Left.” But the president added that he’d “decided to do the Patriotic Ads, among others, and pay for them myself, and with money I raised for MAGA, Inc.”

That is Trump’s political war chest, which had amassed more than $400 million by the end of July. Trump has begun to tap it to boost Republican candidates around the country ahead of midterm elections.

Trump provided no details on reimbursing taxpayers for ads that already aired, nor how he would go about having his political organization pay for such future advertising.

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The merger brings two of America’s oldest moviemaking studios together under a new name: Skydance. The deal, which followed a tumultuous, roughly yearlong fight, further concentrates power in an industry already run by just a handful of major players.

HBO Max, titles ranging from “Harry Potter” to “Sinners” and networks such as CNN now find themselves under the same roof as Paramount+, CBS and the likes of “Top Gun” and “The Godfather.” All are under the helm of billionaire David Ellison and his new co-CEO Ynon Kreiz.

“Today is a historic day, not just for Skydance but for our entire industry,” Ellison said in a statement. “We couldn’t be more excited to get to work.”

Including billions of dollars in debt, the Warner acquisition amounts to nearly $111 billion.

Ellison’s Skydance bought Paramount for $8 billion last year before setting its sights on Warner. What followed was one of the biggest tie-ups ever in the media and entertainment industry.

Netflix gets into a bidding war with Paramount for Warner

The early days of Paramount's quest for Warner turned into a messy bidding war.

Months after disclosing it was open to selling all or part of its business, Warner initially struck a studio and streaming deal with Netflix in December.

But Paramount said it also had made offers that Warner management “never engaged meaningfully” with. It soon launched a hostile counterbid.

The Hollywood giants spent much of early 2026 in a heated back-and-forth over who had a stronger offer, with Warner leadership repeatedly backing Netflix as its preferred suitor. But Netflix bowed out after Paramount eventually upped its offer to buy all of Warner for $31 per share.

Warner and Paramount inked a mutual merger agreement in late February.

Hollywood stars made their thoughts known

Hollywood was closely watching the fight over Warner's future. From awards shows to online petitions, A-list celebrities and other creatives made their voices known.

In April, thousands of movie stars, writers, directors and other professionals announced their “unequivocal opposition” to the Paramount-Warner merger. An open letter — which was signed by long-outspoken critics of the deal like Jane Fonda and Mark Ruffalo, as well as Hollywood heavyweights from Denis Villeneuve to J.J. Abrams — warned of fewer jobs and “less choice for audiences in the United States and around the world.”

Others lined up to back Paramount as Ellison reiterated his commitments to the movies. At CinemaCon, the company debuted a glossy mini movie about the studio directed by Jon M. Chu and narrated by Tom Cruise — who ended the spot atop the iconic Paramount water tower, with the words “the future is paramount and the future looks pretty great from here.” Director James Cameron also doubled down on his support of Ellison.

The prospect of a new Warner owner also loomed over awards season, from #BlockTheMerger pins to more subtle nods in acceptance speeches. When accepting her Emmy last month, “Remarkably Bright Creatures” actor Sally Field — who also signed the open letter in opposition to the Paramount-Warner deal — stressed that “unique storytelling matters” and “we can’t let those voices be silenced, or compromised or merged.”

Many industry critics were also outspoken when Netflix's studio and streaming deal was on the table, with a particular focus on the future of movies staying in theaters.

Trump has attacked CNN

President Donald Trump has regularly attacked reporting he deems unfavorable at CNN (most recently attempting to bar the outlet from the White House altogether). Over the course of the Warner buyout, his administration chimed in about hopes for a new owner.

Days after Paramount launched its hostile bid for Warner last year, Trump said that CNN spread “poison and lies,” adding that “I think the people who have run CNN for the last long period of time are a disgrace” and “it’s imperative that CNN be sold.”

The White House took aim again at CNN in March, over the network's coverage of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told reporters that “the sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better.”

Ellison has said editorial independence will be maintained at CNN. Skydance is retaining Mark Thompson as CNN’s editor-in-chief.

Under a settlement finalized last month with states that had sued over the takeover, the company agreed to form a “News Editorial Independence Board.”

Critics point to turmoil already seen at CBS under Skydance ownership and aren’t convinced this new body will move the needle much, because Ellison is set to have ample oversight over appointments.

Trump has continued to criticize CBS coverage under Skydance ownership. Still, the president has held a long relationship with the Ellison family.

Paramount's chief reportedly hosted a dinner in Washington in Trump’s honor in April, on the same day Warner shareholders gave their green light for the merger. In June, just two days after the Justice Department said it wouldn't intervene in the deal, Ellison attended an Ultimate Fighting Championship match on the White House lawn for Trump’s 80th birthday (streamed by Paramount+).

3 Gulf countries helped back the deal

To help fund its Warner buyout, Paramount racked up billions of dollars in financial backing from three Gulf countries: Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The Federal Communications Commission approved the company’s request for sizable indirect ownership from those foreign investors.

Paramount previously disclosed it expected those funds to indirectly own nearly 50% of equity interests — but no voting rights — of Skydance. But the company asked for clearance of up to 100% to account for potential future investments, which the FCC granted, citing in part that access to more capital would strengthen the broadcast industry and was therefore “in the public interest.”

The FCC’s sole Democratic commissioner, Anna Gomez, and other critics have called the move alarming and unprecedented. They argue that amount of money opens the door to behind-the-scenes influence.

Legal fights stalled the deal

Paramount cleared antitrust hurdles for its Warner acquisition from the Justice Department and regulators worldwide over the summer.

But in July, Democratic attorneys general from 12 states — led by California's Rob Bonta — sued to block the merger, alleging the combined company would “extinguish competition” and lead to fewer choices for consumers, particularly movie theatergoers and cable customers across the U.S.

The Writers Guild of America followed suit.

Settlements emerged in September. The states' terms, eventually approved by a judge, include pledges from the company to increase film production in the U.S. over the next five years, commit millions of dollars to a fund aimed at supporting workers displaced by the merger and again establish new editorial monitoring of CNN and CBS.

Critics said the remedies were too weak, but the settlements cleared the way for the deal to close.

On Tuesday, Winfrey announced that she had chosen Amanda Rizkalla's “Hungered,” which came out in May. Winfrey said in a statement that the 28-year-old Rizkalla had written a “riveting novel” about “families who live outside the margins, living unhoused” and “their hopes, dreams, and the perseverance it takes to face another day.”

Rizkalla, a Los Angeles native who now lives in the Bay Area, was an undergraduate student at Stanford University and received a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Like so many authors since Winfrey launched her club 30 years ago, she learned she had been selected after receiving a surprise call from Winfrey herself.

“I was so stunned I could hardly believe it was real, and there are still moments where it all feels like one big daydream,” Rizkalla said in a statement.

The Oprah Podcast conversation with Rizkalla can be seen on Winfrey's YouTube channel and through other outlets.

The arrest is the seventh in connection with a suspected plot against RAF Fairford, located 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of London, which has been used by American planes to strike Iran during this year's war.

Police have released few details of their investigation into an incident that sparked speculation and concern — and was followed days later by the removal of U.S. bombers from the base.

Five British men in their 20s were detained near the perimeter of the base in the early hours of Sept. 27, and a 25-year-old British-Iranian man was arrested in London on Thursday. All six have been released on bail under investigation.

Counter Terrorism Policing said a British national was detained Tuesday in the Westminster area of central London on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts.

Vicki Evans, the senior national coordinator for counterterrorism policing, said detectives “remain committed to investigating all possible angles.”

“We’re acutely aware of the public interest in this investigation, and we are working around the clock, and at pace, to identify the motivation behind events in Gloucestershire," she said.

Scores of residents were evacuated from their homes near the base as armed police officers and army bomb-disposal experts swooped on the rural area late at night. Police later said they had found a quantity of an accelerant — gasoline — in three vans linked to the five suspects, but no explosives.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the United Kingdom saw “strong indications” that Iran played a part in the incident, without saying why or what the nature of the suspected plot was.

Iran has denied involvement, but it has previously said it considers any base used to attack its territory a legitimate target.

The U.K.-owned base has been used by American B-1 and B-52 bombers during the ongoing Iran war. The British government allowed the U.S. military to use RAF Fairford for what it called defensive strikes on Iranian missiles and their launch sites following Iranian attacks on U.K. interests and Britain’s allies in the Gulf.

The United States moved its B-1 bombers from RAF Fairford on Sunday, and the Pentagon said all American bombers at the facility had been redeployed to their home bases in the U.S.

It's unclear whether the move is connected to the arrests. U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that he didn’t want to tempt “the enemy” by having the bombers there.

“We had a threat, and if we’re going to be threatened, we would just move them, and that sort of alleviates that,” he said in Washington. He said that the people who made the threat “would be linked to Iran,” but he didn’t offer details.

British officials have declined to comment on reports that the bombers were moved because of fears of a drone attack on the base.

The prime minister's spokesman, Tom Wells, said Monday he was "not going to comment on foreign nations’ military operations.” But he insisted that RAF Fairford is safe.

The mysterious incident near the base came at a time of heightened tensions around the threat from hostile states, with British security services saying Russia and Iran have both used proxies to commit crimes on U.K. soil. British officials have said the number of national security cases involving activity by hostile states, including Iran, increased by 50% in the six months to December 2025.

U.K. officials also say proxies linked to Iran have been behind a string of arsons and other attacks in the U.K. and other countries, many of them targeting the Jewish community and intended to sow fear. They have previously warned that Tehran could expand its targets in the U.K. if conflicts in the Middle East continue.

The U.N. health agency said Tuesday that it has been in contact with Russian authorities following reports of the death last week of a woman who worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East.

The case and the investigation, led by Russian officials, have revived memories of the COVID-19 pandemic and allegations the coronavirus may have emerged at a Chinese lab. WHO has not provided a definitive answer to how the pandemic began.

“There is currently no indication that we are dealing with anything similar to the pandemic," WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told The Associated Press, referring to the woman's illness.

Here's what to know about the case and how experts are mobilizing after her death:

Pneumonic plague is a form of the disease that affects the lungs

The incubation period for pneumonic plague — which means lung-based, and is the most virulent form of the disease — can be as short as 24 hours, according to WHO. It’s a less common but severe form that can spread between people through respiratory particles.

If untreated, the illness can be fatal, but recovery rates are high if detected and treated in time, WHO says.

Symptoms include shortness of breath and coughing, often involving the coughing up of blood.

The more common form of plague — bubonic plague — is caused by the bite of an infected flea, and can develop into open sores filled with pus.

Pneumonia is a form of acute respiratory infection that is mostly caused by viruses or bacteria, and is spread generally through contact with infected people or from airborne droplets. WHO says pneumonia is the single largest infectious cause of death in children worldwide.

What Russian officials are saying about the case

Through an international health alert system, Russian health officials on Tuesday said a full range of preventive measures had been carried out — including tracing of the deceased woman's contacts, medical monitoring and lab tests.

“Test results showed no presence of dangerous infectious disease pathogens in any of the contacts,” said the note from Russian authorities, which was relayed to The Associated Press by WHO.

"Based on available data, laboratory test results, and health status, medical monitoring for 100% of the contacts has now been concluded," it said. “The epidemiological situation is stable and remains under monitoring.”

The woman died at a hospital in Shelekhov, a town just outside the city of Irkutsk, and its mayor said the hospital was placed under quarantine. The top officials from Russia’s national public health watchdog traveled to the region Friday.

On Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov advised the public to follow official statements from the watchdog agency, Rospotrebnadzor, rather than “rumors or speculation.”

WHO has mobilized its own experts to look into the case

Lindmeier, the WHO spokesman, told a U.N. briefing Tuesday that the institute where the woman worked “studies dangerous pathogens,” including plague in a part of Siberia where the disease "occurs naturally in wild animals.”

He said Russian officials have not yet asked for WHO experts to deploy to Russia, where authorities are "looking into whether pneumonic plague caused her death.”

Russian authorities later told WHO that no case of plague has been recorded in Irkutsk, Lindmeier said.

“According to the authorities, the woman’s illness initially presented as a typical acute respiratory viral infection," he said. “No case of plague or other high threat pathogen has been found."

Trump and Rubio comment on the case

U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that he was watching the situation with concern and that the United States would be willing to help, though he said he had not spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the case.

Asked about Trump’s remarks, Kremlin spokesman Peskov said Tuesday that “it is always very good when mutual assistance is offered.” He wouldn’t elaborate further, deferring to Rospotrebnadzor.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Russian authorities to share more information.

“Maybe there’s nothing there. Maybe it’s bigger than we thought. We don’t know,” he said at a news conference in Iceland.

“We encourage Russia to be more transparent and share more information with the world,” Rubio said, adding this has so far been “quite limited, but hopefully that will change in the next few hours and days.”

Ian Jones, professor of virology at the University of Reading, said that “plague carries a huge history and is still present in many parts of the world, including Russia,” although because of modern living conditions and antibiotics, its potential was limited.

Dr. Glenn Wortmann, at the MedStar Washington Hospital Center, said the bacteria that cause plague don't “travel very far” and a person would “really need to be face-to-face” with an infected person to get pneumonic plague.

“The chance of this spreading widely in Russia and then extending here to the U.S. will not happen, not with this type of bacteria, because it’s not spread easily and we have antibiotics to stop it from spreading,” he added.

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Associated Press writers Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia, and Matthew Lee in Reykjavik, Iceland, contributed to this report.

The government is moving to vacate a preliminary injunction put in place by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis preventing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from detaining and deporting Ábrego Garcia to the West African country of Liberia. His legal team is seeking to make the injunction permanent. The judge left previous orders in place last December and ordered him released from custody.

The Salvadoran national’s case became a focal point in the immigration debate after he was mistakenly deported to his home country last year. Since his return, he has been fighting a second deportation to an African country as proposed by Department of Homeland Security officials.

Ábrego Garcia argued that if he were going to be deported, it should be to Costa Rica, which previously agreed to take him. But Todd Lyons, the former acting director of ICE, said in a March 2026 memo that deporting Ábrego Garcia to Costa Rica would be “prejudicial to the United States," because the U.S. had expended resources and political capital negotiating with Liberia to accept third-country nationals.

The push for deportation to Liberia continued even after the U.S. signed an agreement with Costa Rica to accept deportees who cannot legally be returned to their home countries.

“The government is leading the same rodeo as many times before. Sending Kilmar to Costa Rica is on the table. However, the government continues to punish him for pursuing his constitutional rights and seeks to ship him to Liberia," said Jossie Flor Sapunar, the national communications director for We Are CASA, an activist group that has supported Ábrego Garcia and his family and intends to be at the courthouse. “Kilmar has become an international symbol of due process, a symbol which the Trump administration wants to silence.”

She added in an email that the family deserves privacy, either at home in Maryland or in Costa Rica.

Ábrego Garcia, 31, has an American wife and child and has lived in Maryland for years, but he immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager. In 2019, an immigration judge ruled that he could not be deported to El Salvador because he faced danger there from a gang that had threatened his family.

He was arrested in Baltimore in March 2025 after picking up his then-5-year-old son, who has autism and other disabilities, from his grandmother’s house, according to court papers.

Ábrego Garcia was then sent to a mega-prison in El Salvador known as CECOT, which activists say is rife with abuses and where inmates are packed into cells and never allowed outside. ICE officials admitted in court filings that his deportation there was an “administrative error.”

Facing public pressure and a court order, President Donald Trump's Republican administration brought him back in June 2025, but only after securing an indictment charging him with human smuggling in Tennessee. A federal judge dismissed that case in May 2026, finding that the Justice Department’s pursuit of criminal charges was designed to punish Ábrego Garcia for challenging his deportation. The government is appealing.

Según el Departamento de Policía de Miami, los agentes llegaron alrededor de las 4 a.m. a la zona de la avenida 7 y la calle 7 del noroeste. Habían recibido reportes de un hombre tendido en la calle.

Cuando llegaron, los paramédicos de Miami Fire Rescue ya llevaban a la víctima a un hospital, donde ingresó en estado crítico, confirmaron las autoridades. El hombre murió más tarde a causa de sus heridas.

Según la policía, una investigación preliminar determinó que el hombre iba en scooter cuando lo impactó un vehículo. El conductor huyó del lugar.

La policía no ha divulgado más información sobre el vehículo ni sobre el conductor.

La investigación continúa.

Cualquier persona con información puede comunicarse con el Departamento de Policía de Miami o con Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers al 305-471-8477.

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Video shows a dark-colored SUV that crashed into the valet ramp at Oceanside Plaza Condominium.

The building is located at 5555 Collins Ave. on Mid-Beach.

Following the crash, the SUV could be seen wedged in the concrete of the ramp and hanging off the side.

According to authorities, a senior couple was inside the SUV at the time of the crash, but no major injuries were reported.

Police said one of them “mistakenly pressed the accelerator instead of the brake, causing the vehicle to strike a structural column of the condominium building.”

Both “sustained minor injuries and were transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center as a precaution due to their age,” police said.

Dubbed “Operation Pink Panther,” police said the investigation resulted in the seizure of more than 70 pounds of illegal drugs and nearly $50,000 in suspected drug proceeds.

Police said the case began as a narcotics investigation in 2025 when detectives “infiltrated a private WhatsApp group used to advertise and sell wholesale quantities of narcotics.”

Determining there was a larger distribution network operating throughout the county, detectives said they found another WhatsApp group which featured a Pink Panther logo in April. That group chat, investigators said, “was being used to arrange narcotics transactions.”

Police said four people were arrested in the operation, and they were identified as Jhon Ramirez, 39, Santiago Lujan, 25, Cesar Suppa, 30, and Matias Serrano, 29.

Body camera footage showing how the suspects were apprehended was among the information released by authorities on Monday.

“‘Operation Pink Panther’ involves multiple subjects with one ringleader, and not only targeted nightclubs in the EDM space within Miami Beach, but they also targeted visitors, residents, and others who would purchase from them,” said Miami Beach Police Public Information Officer Christopher Bess.

The drugs seized included cocaine, mushrooms, ketamine, LSD, and meth, police said.

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According to the Florida Department of Health in Broward County, the case of dengue was locally-acquired.

The DOH in Broward County, along with Broward County Mosquito Control, said Monday that they, “are coordinating surveillance, prevention, and control efforts.”

Broward County officials said they have sprayed the area where the case was located, but they wouldn’t disclose a location.

“Dengue can present as a flu-like illness with severe muscle aches and joint pain, fever, and sometimes a rash,” the FDOH stated in a news release. “Usually, there are no respiratory symptoms. Symptoms of dengue will appear within 14 days after being bitten by an infected mosquito. Dengue fever is not contagious but is transmitted by the bite of an infected Aedes aegypti mosquito.”

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Late Friday night, Shaquille Palmer turned himself in at the Miramar Police Department.

Body camera footage of his arrest was obtained by Local 10 News, which shows him being escorted out of the lobby in handcuffs and walked outside.

Palmer, 33, of Oakland Park, is accused of stealing more than $250,000 in pricey handbags from the woman he worked for, social media influencer Stormy Wellington.

Initially, authorities arrested the wrong person in the case.

When the mugshot of the alleged suspect was released, Wellington told Local 10 News that wasn’t the person who stole from her.

“That’s not the gentleman,” she said. “They arrested the wrong guy.”

That person was released, leading to a manhunt on Friday that ended later that evening when Palmer walked into the Miramar police headquarters.

He explained his side to investigators, but that body camera footage has not been released.

Palmer appeared in court over the weekend and was granted a $150,000 bond. As of Monday afternoon, he remained behind bars at the Broward Main Jail.

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The “Cornell 7″ are a group of Chi Phi fraternity members at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, who are accused of drugging and gang-raping a female student in 2024.

One of them, according to Local 10 News sources, attended prep school at NSU University School before going to Cornell and then coming to NSU.

In a letter to NSU students, faculty and staff, President and CEO Harry Moon confirmed the allegations “may involve a student who later transferred to NSU.”

“At the time of admission, the university was not aware of allegations subsequently reported in media,” Moon said in a statement Monday. “Once we learned of the reported incident, we acted immediately on behalf of the safety and well-being of our students and the NSU community. Because this matter involves federal law regarding an individual student, the university is legally restricted by federal regulations that limit what the university can share.”

Moon did not name the student involved, but added in his statement that the university is monitoring the situation and will stay vigilant while making it clear that he is not aware of any current threat to the university’s community.

Some students on campus Monday told Local 10 News they were frustrated that the president didn’t confirm whether the student was expelled or suspended.

They said they want to know for sure that he’s gone.

“Obviously, it doesn’t say if he’s been removed or if he’s still here or any of that,” said NSU student Mars Rivera.

In the Cornell case, the woman known as Jane Doe filed a civil lawsuit against the men, her sorority and Cornell University last month, among others, sparking a nationwide conversation about sexual assault, campus safety and institutional accountability.

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Olvin Cabrera Valladares loved soccer and was a student at Miami’s Citrus Grove K-8 Center. His mother told Local 10 News the 13-year-old died last week after a freak accident at a Miami park.

“He was my baby, my youngest, just 13 years old. He had his whole life ahead of him,” said Valladares. “He just wanted to play, and sadly, it was playing that took his life.”

On the morning of Sept. 25, Olvin was supposed to be at school.

Instead, his mom says he rode his scooter 2 miles south to Shenandoah Park, located at 1800 SW 21st Ave. She says she learned what happened next from a man who came to the park later that day with his kids and discovered Olvin stuck inside the slide.

“He told me he pulled on him, but he was caught on a screw,” she said. “He pulled again, and my son fell out. His arm was inside of his shirt, and his collar was tight around his neck.”

The slide is lined with screws.

The ones Local 10 News could observe with our camera were flat, but the witness told Olvin’s mother he was hanging in the middle of the tube by his T-shirt collar, which became caught on a screw and choked him.

After being rushed to the hospital, Olvin was placed on life support.

One week later, he was declared brain dead.

“As a mother, it’s very hard to lose a son,” said Valladares. “I never thought I would lose my son.”

The day Olvin was found, the city of Miami closed the park for what it called a “non-criminal investigation.”

Sky 10 flew over the scene and could see a playground surrounded by yellow tape.

Neither the Miami Police Department nor the city have confirmed the alleged chain of events.

It’s unclear whether the slide was inspected or repaired after the incident, but by the next day, the park was back open and the slide was back in use.

“I have a message for parents,” said Valladares. “Be careful taking your children to these parks. Look at the tragedy that happened to my son.”

Local 10 News reached out to Miami Mayor Eileen Higgins, Miami Commissioner Rolando Escalona and the city’s Parks and Recreation Department for a comment or an interview.

A city spokesperson responded via email, saying, “The matter is under investigation, and the city cannot comment further.”

Olvin’s mother is trying to raise money to pay for his unexpected funeral and has started a GoFundMe page.

The number of petitions asking the justices to intervene quickly has skyrocketed during President Donald Trump's second administration, putting the court at the center of hotly debated issues such as the Republican president's new ballroom construction and his proposed restrictions on mail ballots in the midterm elections.

The number of emergency applications now rivals the annual tally of cases the justices consider with full briefing and oral arguments, Alito wrote in a new book released Tuesday.

The justice told The Associated Press in a rare interview that the rhetoric about the court from Trump and his administration doesn't sit well with him.

“I personally am not pleased with that," he said. “Everybody in this country has the right to criticize what we do. The substance of their criticism can be quite harsh. If we deserve it, then that’s fine. But rhetoric is a different story."

Alito spoke in connection with his first book, “So Ordered: An Originalist’s View of The Constitution, The Court and Our Country.”

Coming 20 years after he was confirmed to the court after his nomination by President George W. Bush, a Republican, the book is a collection of speeches the 76-year-old has given over the years on religious liberty, his judicial philosophy and constitutional rights.

Alito calls it ‘offensive’ to cast his opinions as MAGA

Alito is perhaps best known for writing the decision that reversed Roe v. Wade and ended abortion as a nationwide right, and he has been one of the most consistent members of the court’s conservative bloc. He’s also voted in favor of some of Trump’s signature policies, even those the rest of the conservative wing has struck down. But he rejects the idea that his decisions are in the “Make America Great Again” camp.

“It’s offensive," he said. “I honestly try to decide every single case on the merits, every single application on the merit. And that’s true whether the president is Donald Trump or Joe Biden or Barack Obama or anybody else.”

Trump, for his part, has cheered Alito as “one of the Greatest of All Time” even as he maligned justices whom he appointed as “unpatriotic” and “merely a shell of their original selves." Alito said the harsh rhetoric from across the spectrum doesn’t affect how the justices rule but does play a role in the public’s declining trust in the court.

“The terms used by presidents and by members of their administration, Cabinet officers, other high-ranking officers in describing the Supreme Court and their decisions, and sometimes individual justices, is far different from what we saw 15 years ago," Alito said.

Much of the president’s frustration has come after the court ruled against him on some of his central initiatives, including tariffs and birthright citizenship. Those decisions have been handed down after months of consideration, including oral arguments.

Surge in court's emergency decisions is likely ‘going to continue’

In emergency decisions, by contrast, the president has a much stronger track record of wins.

Typically made in days or weeks, emergency orders are designed to be temporary, lasting only as cases continue to play out in lower courts. But since that process can take years, those decisions can still have important real-world consequences.

Critics, including Alito's liberal-leaning colleague Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, have complained about the court's recent handling of the emergency docket and outlined proposed steps the justices could take.

Alito, though, said there's little the court can do to stem the tide. Presidents have increasingly used executive orders to enact their policies rather than passing laws through Congress, leading to lawsuits and “robust” decisions from lower-court judges that send a case quickly to the Supreme Court, he said.

“Unless something changes there, and I don’t foresee it right now, I’m afraid this is going to continue,” he said. “An application is something that I think we have to rule on."

Alito says recusal from climate change case wasn't required but a ‘judgment call’

Alito also detailed his decision to step away from hearing a climate change case that opened the term. Dozens of similar lawsuits have been filed on whether cities can sue oil and gas companies over damage linked to global warming. Billions of dollars could be at stake, a potentially serious threat to the industry, according to court documents.

Alito had faced calls to recuse himself because he owns stock in oil companies. He told the AP that the stock came from an inheritance his wife received from her father that she doesn’t want to sell.

He initially stayed on the case because he doesn't have stock in the companies involved, he said, adding that the court’s legal office agreed that he could hear the case under its ethics code.

But as he delved deeper into the substance of the case, he decided to step aside.

“This particular decision was a judgment call,” he said. “I gave it very, very serious consideration.”

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

Unconfirmed media reports said a major fuel depot in the Moscow region was on fire after the attack that killed two people.

Ukraine’s domestically developed long-range drones and, increasingly, missiles have allowed Kyiv to hit Russian soil during the more than 4 ½ years since Moscow’s forces launched a full-scale invasion. It has hit targets as far east as the Urals and Siberia.

The bigger Russian military’s air superiority during the war has made aerial attacks on civilian areas of Ukraine routine.

Ukrainian officials are now bracing for what President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Tuesday is an upcoming “massive” aerial attack by Russia.

“Today, we received updated intelligence on Russia’s preparations for a massive strike. We are preparing countermeasures,” Zelenskyy said on social media. “We set deadlines for a significant part of the tasks, and the highest-priority ones are already being implemented.”

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said last week that Kyiv estimates Russia is holding 600 ballistic missiles in reserve and can produce up to 140 ballistic missiles per month. Without ammunition for its U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems, which is in short supply, Ukraine is at the mercy of Russia's ballistic weapons.

Ukraine fires more than 700 drones toward the Moscow region

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 650 drones flew toward the capital region between Monday evening and Tuesday morning. Most were destroyed far away, and 105 were downed as they approached the city, he said.

Sobyanin later reported 68 more drones targeting Moscow were downed during daylight on Tuesday morning.

Ukraine has regularly targeted Russian oil refineries and storage depots, claiming last weekend that it had disabled 51% of Russia’s oil refining capacity. The claim could not be independently verified. Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that the attacks had cost Russia roughly 1% of its gross domestic product.

Russia has traditionally been the world’s third-largest producer of refined fuel products from crude oil, after the U.S. and China. The Kremlin has banned diesel exports due to the Ukrainian strikes, pushing global prices higher. That prompted U.S. President Donald Trump last month to urge Ukraine to stop hitting Russia’s refineries.

After hitting Kyiv bridges, Russia targets a bridge in southern Ukraine

After several days of targeting bridges in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, as part of a campaign to make civilian life difficult, Russia attacked one of the bridges over the Dnipro River in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, according to Mykhailo Semikin, the regional military administration chief.

Traffic across the bridge was temporarily suspended, he said.

A nighttime Russian attack on a Zaporizhzhia residential building wounded five people and a daylight strike on a warehouse in the city caused a large fire, Semikin said.

Russian forces are also trying to choke shipping in Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea, denying Kyiv vital grain export revenue.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces overnight struck targets in Ukraine's southern Odesa region on the Black Sea coast with drones. An ammunition depot was hit, as were a bulk carrier in the Chornomorsk port carrying dual-use goods and port infrastructure in Izmail, the ministry said.

A Russian drone strike in the Black Sea hit a cargo ship flying the flag of the Marshall Islands, killing one person and wounding seven others, Odesa regional governor Oleh Kiper said. The vessel was carrying rapeseed oil, he said.

Moscow warns against a bigger US presence in Lithuania

A senior Russian official criticized developments in Lithuania, saying they would escalate tensions in the region. The Baltic nation has offered to host a U.S. military base and the Lithuanian parliament is voting on a bill to allow the deployment of American nuclear weapons.

“If military infrastructure belonging to a key NATO member moves closer to our borders, then naturally, this can only be perceived as a step toward escalating tensions, just like the deployment of nuclear weapons on the territory of a neighboring state,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Trump said Monday he would consider establishing a permanent U.S. military base in Lithuania, one of three small Baltic states seen as particularly vulnerable to Russia.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned last month that Moscow is planning hybrid strikes with drones or rockets on European countries supporting Ukraine, which include Poland and Lithuania.

Meanwhile, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Tuesday his country will deploy Patriot air-defense systems and about 100 troops to Poland to help protect the airport in Rzeszow, which is the main logistics hub for military aid deliveries to Ukraine.

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AP reporter Claudia Ciobanu in Warsaw, Poland contributed to this story.

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

The friendly against Benin in Buenos Aires has been dubbed “The Night That No One Wants to End” as Messi plays for his country one last time.

The 39-year-old soccer icon announced his international retirement in the weeks following the World Cup final loss to Spain, saying, “The time has come.”

The Argentine Football Association tempted him to make one last appearance for “the farewell he deserves” and thousands of fans are expected to show their appreciation at Estadio Monumental.

AFA said the match will “transcend sports” and be “full of emotion.”

Messi posted on social media pictures of him arriving to join the national team for the last time and his final training sessions.

“Special moments I know I will miss,” he wrote.

Messi just fell short of winning back-to-back World Cups when defending champion Argentina was beaten by Spain 1-0 in the final in July in New Jersey.

He achieved his ultimate ambition of leading his country to victory four years earlier in Qatar — emulating fellow Argentine great Diego Maradona.

Messi has played 207 games for Argentina and finishes as its all-time leading scorer with 125 goals, 21 of them in World Cups. He appeared in a record-tying six World Cups along with his great rival Cristiano Ronaldo.

He briefly retired from Argentina duty in 2016 then enjoyed his most successful period with the national team, winning Copa Américas in 2021 and ’24, as well as the '22 World Cup.

He's continuing at club level with Inter Miami, and recently won the Campeones Cup, his fourth trophy with the team.

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See AP’s full soccer coverage here

They are now in a formal contest with five other bidders, including one that would take the Summer Games for the first time to Africa. The International Olympic Committee set an Oct. 31 deadline for late arrivals to the contest.

India and Qatar have long been seen as favored candidates in a hosting contest the IOC aims to decide in 2029 by a contested vote of its 100-plus members. Those members include Nita Ambani from India's richest family, and the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

South Africa, South Korea, Germany, Hungary and Turkey also are bidders in an open-ended process with the IOC that also lets them target future Summer Games in 2040 and 2044.

“But wherever the Games take place, one thing must never change: Athletes have to be at the heart of everything we do,” said IOC President Kirsty Coventry, a two-time swimming gold medalist.

The IOC also published a 30-page document on Tuesday to guide bidders over the next 2 1/2 years when key decisions will be taken by the Coventry-chaired IOC executive board. Its 15 members include NBA great Pau Gasol representing athletes.

Main cities of the seven bids

India’s bid plan centers on the city of Ahmedabad, which will host the multi-sport Commonwealth Games in 2030, and has the world’s largest cricket stadium which is named for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Qatar has hosted world championships in most top-tier Olympic sports, including soccer’s 2022 World Cup. Its bid could yet expand from Doha to send some events to Gulf neighbors.

A Qatar-hosted Olympics should require the Summer Games to move to later in the year from the July-August slot it has occupied at each edition from 2004 in Athens through 2032 in Brisbane.

A South Korean bid would be anchored in Seoul, which hosted the 1988 Summer Games, and spread across the country.

German Olympic officials last month picked Munich, which previously hosted in 1972.

South Africa’s bid shapes to be national and centered on Cape Town, and would be a first African host of the Summer Games since the modern Olympics was created in 1896.

Hungary and Turkey propose Budapest and Istanbul, respectively.

The key date is in March, the IOC said, when the board will approve a shortlist of candidates to develop detailed projects.

Campaign of 2 1/2 years to pick 2036 host

The 2029 target date for a contested vote is a return to the IOC’s previous long-time schedule and process to pick Summer Games hosts.

It is also later than seemed likely last year when Coventry was elected, and both India and Qatar seemed poised to push for a quick decision. They and other national Olympic officials promoted their bid plans in Paris during the 2024 Olympics.

Coventry’s first big decision on taking office in June 2025 was to pause the fast-track process, and more secretive one, which allowed Brisbane to be picked as the 2032 host fully 11 years in advance and without a contested vote.

IOC members want choice of candidates

IOC members stressed to Coventry they wanted to be more involved in the choice than was the case under her predecessor Thomas Bach, and to get a choice of multiple candidates on the ballot instead of simply confirming the board's preferred choice.

The invited group in the exclusive IOC membership club includes sports officials, current and retired athletes, members of royal families, politicians including former heads of states, business leaders and Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh.

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• ‘Cornell 7′ member ‘later transferred’ to Nova Southeastern; school won’t say if he’s still there
• Deputies: 22-year-old man found dead in Redlands had been abducted from North Miami
• Mourning mother claims son died after shirt caught on screw inside Miami playground slide

You can watch a live feed of our news broadcast at Local10.com/Live.

Police identified 39-year-old Luu Thanh Binh as the alleged leader of the network. He and 11 others were being investigated for theft, state media said Monday.

Investigators said Binh bought stolen cats, kept them at a facility in the city’s north and resold them for meat. He worked with suppliers who recruited others to ride motorcycles through residential neighborhoods between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m., hunting for cats and trapping four to 10 cats each night.

Eating dog and cat meat is not unique to Vietnam and has been practiced in parts of Asia, though it is not common practice. In Vietnam, cat meat traditionally is more commonly consumed in the north, among older generations.

The practice has declined with growing pet ownership and urbanization, and younger Vietnamese are more likely to regard dogs and cats as companion animals.

In 2024, more than 250,000 people signed a petition calling for an end to Vietnam’s dog and cat meat trade. The city of Hoi An also pledged in 2021 to end the sale and consumption of dog and cat meat.

Some believe eating cat meat brings good luck, though there is no scientific evidence for such claims.

Police raided the network on July 8 and found about 50 cats and dozens of traps, state media reported.

The suspects told investigators they had stolen and sold about 2,700 cats, the reports said. Police did not say how long the operation had been running.

Police returned 13 of the cats confiscated in the raid to their owners. A nonprofit animal rights group was caring for the others while authorities sought to identify their owners.

Under Vietnamese law, dogs and cats are considered private property, and stealing them is considered theft. Criminal prosecution generally applies when the value of the stolen property exceeds 2 million dong ($77).

In a separate raid in June, police reported they had rescued more than 400 cats. At least 40 were reunited with their owners, but dozens of dead cats were found packed in ice.

Nearly three years after the Palestinian militant Hamas group’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel, conflict in the Middle East has persisted almost without interruption, spreading across the region, including to Iran, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Tuesday. Full coverage is available here.

Saudis say 2 airports were hit as fighting grinds on with Houthis

Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civ il Aviation said airports in the cities of Najran and Jizan were hit on Monday, damaging both facilities and leaving three lightly injured. The statement didn't say who was responsible, but followed an announcement by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels that they fired missiles and drones at the kingdom.

Houthi Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said in a statement on Tuesday they had fired toward a third airport on Tuesday. The Associated Press could not confirm whether the Houthis had hit Abha International Airport. Saudi authorities did not immediately comment.

Saudi Arabia and its allies in Yemen’s internationally recognized government have launched a military campaign to reclaim Houthi-controlled territory near the southern tip of the Red Sea to prevent disruptions to oil being exported out of the region.

Tanker hit in Strait of Hormuz

An outbound tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz was struck by an “unknown projectile” on Monday, the British military said in a late report Tuesday. There were no immediate reports of casualties or environmental impact.

Even as Iran has lost its near-complete chokehold on the strait, the ongoing risk of Iranian attacks keeps overall ship traffic well below prewar levels.

2 killed in Israeli strike in Gaza

Two Israeli airstrikes killed two people in Gaza City, health officials at the city’s Shifa Hospital said. Israel's military said it targeted militants in both strikes.

It was the latest deadly attack since a ceasefire took effect nearly a year ago. More than 1,460 Palestinians have been killed since then, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, maintains detailed records and is seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. It does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its toll but says women and children make up around half the dead.

Netanyahu warns of potential attack related to Israel's upcoming vote

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas could attack Israel in a bid to influence the outcome of the country's elections later this month. Netanyahu, who is locked in a tough battle for re-election, did not publicly provide evidence for the claim.

At a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, he said Israel would “respond with tremendous force if they make that mistake.”

In recent days, Netanyahu's political opponents have pointed to the thwarted FlyDubai cockpit attack as the latest example of his government's failure to manage security threats.

AFP photojournalist says Israeli settlers beat him in olive harvest season attack

Jaafar Ishtyeh, a veteran Palestinian photojournalist for Agence France-Presse, said he was filming the olive harvest in the village of Aqraba when he heard shooting by Israeli settlers. He said they later encircled him, took his camera as he was filming the attack and beat him, causing injuries that required hospitalization.

The Palestinian Authority said settlers in the area also shot one man in the leg and severely beat two others in the town south of Nablus. Israel’s military did not provide immediate comment on the attack.

The attack was the latest this harvest season, during which four Palestinians have been killed and more than 100 injured, according to Palestinian officials.

Israel demolishes Palestinian apartments in east Jerusalem

Israeli authorities tore down a five-story building in east Jerusalem on Tuesday, the latest in a string of home demolitions to hit predominantly Palestinian neighborhoods in the city.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir attended the demolition and said that Israeli authorities had demolished more than 10,000 structures built without permits over the past year and a half.

Palestinians say the process of procuring construction permits is nearly impossible for them in east Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in the 1967 Mideast war and is home to almost 400,000 Palestinians.

“This has become political ... a displacement process," said Fayez Saeed Khalafawi, an apartment owner in the demolished building. "They demolish our house so we put up a tent. Where are we supposed to go?” he said.

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This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.

Sinner has not played since July when he beat Alexander Zverev in the Wimbledon final. He withdrew from the U.S. Open because of a right knee injury.

“Me, together with the doctors, have decided that I need a course of treatment for my knee, which means that the 2026 season is officially over,” Sinner said on Tuesday in a video message on Instagram. “I also need to think about my long-term career so I will do everything possible to get back 100%.”

Sinner risks losing the No. 1 ranking while he’s out.

Sinner had already announced he would miss the upcoming Shanghai Masters. Now he’ll also miss the Paris Masters and the ATP Finals in November. Plus, he won’t be able to play for host and three-time defending champion Italy in the Davis Cup Final 8.

But if Sinner does return at the start of next year he could play the Australian Open — the next Grand Slam — which starts Jan. 17.

“On the advice of his medical team, Jannik Sinner will follow a course of treatment for inflammation in his knee,” a statement from Sinner’s management team said. “The decision has been made to have the treatment now to give Jannik the necessary time to recover before beginning preparations for 2027."

The 25-year-old Sinner has won five Grand Slam titles. He also had a 30-match winning streak this year before his meltdown in a second-round defeat at the French Open amid a Paris heat wave.

Carlos Alcaraz, Sinner's main rival, missed 4 ½ months this year due to a right wrist injury.

Meanwhile, Alexander Zverev won two of the four Grand Slam titles and is nearing the No. 1 ranking.

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The man had been residing in Congo for the past seven years and fell ill about a month ago. He was treated at various hospitals before traveling by road to Kampala, Uganda, where he boarded a flight to the Kenyan capital, arriving on Saturday afternoon, Health Minister Aden Duale said.

Health authorities in Kenya have placed the country’s border points on high alert and are monitoring for possible additional cases.

Duale said that the man had been isolated and treated at Nairobi Hospital, where he tested positive for the Ebola virus and died late Monday.

Ebola is highly contagious and spreads in the human population through contact with bodily fluids such as vomit, blood or semen, and with contaminated surfaces and materials such as bedding and clothing.

The current outbreak was declared in mid-May, months after it had been spreading in a remote part of eastern Congo. At least 8,400 cases have been recorded, including more than 4,000 deaths, according to government data, making it the fastest-growing outbreak of the disease in history.

Kenya has never had an outbreak of Ebola, according to the Kenya Medical Research Institute.

The country hosts a United States-funded isolation center for American citizens exposed to Ebola to quarantine for 21 days before traveling back to the U.S. The isolation facility faced legal battles and deadly protests by locals who feared it was exposing them to the virus.

Dozens of contacts have either been identified or are being traced

Kenya is the fourth country to record an Ebola case in the current outbreak, which was declared in eastern Congo in mid-May. Uganda has recorded 20 cases and France one. Before Kenya reported its case, there had been no active cases outside Congo since Uganda declared its outbreak over in late August.

Duale said that 28 contacts of the man who had returned on Saturday, including family members and health workers who cared for the patient, had been identified. Another 23 passengers on the flight and four crew members, who traveled on the same plane from Uganda, were being traced.

The contacts will remain in isolation for 21 days and will be released after testing negative for the virus, said the ministry’s director-general, Dr. Patrick Amoth.

After the man arrived in Nairobi, his relatives later took him in a private vehicle to Nairobi Hospital, where he was immediately isolated. He will be buried within 24 hours in accordance with recommended public safety protocols.

The minister said that Kenya had tested 267 samples at five laboratories across the country since May before this first case was detected.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday commended the “rapid identification, isolation and testing of the patient” and said a high-level team had been dispatched to Kenya to offer support.

Ebola outbreak in Congo is spreading quickly in difficult conditions

In Congo, where the outbreak has spread to seven provinces, conditions are difficult. Responders have faced attacks on health teams, misinformation about the virus, a failure by locals to report symptoms and rebel violence that has limited access to treatment centers.

While cases have slowed in Ituri province, the epicenter, the outbreak is spreading in emerging hot spots in North Kivu and South Kivu provinces.

“It is like fighting a megafire. Multiple outbreaks are developing at the same time, with varying intensity and in different locations,” Stéphanie Hoffmann with Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, said in a statement.

The World Health Organization has warned that it could surpass the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history, which erupted more than a decade ago and killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa.

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Chinedu Asadu contributed to this report from Abuja, Nigeria.

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The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

As pupils again blockaded high schools, large crowds waving flags and placards gathered in Marseille, Strasbourg and other cities. The demonstrations showed how protests that began at a high school in the Paris region in mid-September have grown into a nationwide movement — the latest of many that have marked Macron’s nearly decade-long tenure.

“We need to listen to them,” said Léa Monimart, a demonstrator in the northern city of Lille. “They are 17 years old; they are not completely clueless, and they know what they are talking about. It’s important to show that there are adults who support them.”

The Interior Ministry estimated that 256,000 people took part in demonstrations across the country on Tuesday, including 56,000 in Paris, where small groups of protesters clashed with riot officers at a city square during a largely peaceful march through the city.

The widespread use of arrests, tear gas and riot-control weapons against teenagers is fueling defiance and angering some parents and teachers.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the police response had been proportionate in “almost all cases” and that the protests had at times turned into riots, requiring police intervention.

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said the government and school leaders must listen to students’ concerns and find solutions.

Questioned in parliament on Tuesday about the protest movement, Lecornu denounced “ultra violence” threatening schools. Responding to criticism of police tactics, he pledged that any “accidents” would be investigated and described allegations that the police are racist as a “lie.”

Class boycotts with police making thousands of arrests

More than two weeks of class boycotts and school blockades, and policing that has led to more than 6,100 arrests, mostly of minors, have become a flashpoint in the early days of the presidential election campaign.

Felix Barney, a university student, described the police response as disproportionate, saying it doesn't make “any sense to hit minors.”

“Riot police, batons, rubber bullets, tear gas,” said Aurélien Le Coq, a lawmaker with the far-left France Unbowed party. Its presidential candidate is strongly backing the protests.

The violence is “absolutely unbearable,” Le Coq said.

Nuñez defended police tactics despite a growing number of severe injuries blamed on officers’ riot-control weapons. In the latest case, a 15-year-old boy lost a hand Monday in an incident involving a police stun grenade. He said 715 officers had been injured.

The teenage protesters have struck a chord amid widespread discontent in France. Frustrations extend beyond immediate difficulties, such as fuel prices that have soared because of the Iran war, to broader concerns about constraints on public spending, rising poverty and wealth inequality under Macron, who can't run for a third consecutive term.

Against that backdrop, pupils’ complaints that education funding shortfalls are endangering their futures have found a sympathetic audience.

“You say ‘young people are the future,’ so listen to them,” read a handwritten placard attached to a metal barrier outside a Paris school.

Ministry offers online portal for complaints

At the Hélène Boucher lycée, or high school, in Paris' 20th district, protesters tipped over trash cans and bicycles onto their sides to create a makeshift barricade.

Like hundreds of others around the country, the school was closed. Authorities began shutting schools last week to take some steam out of the demonstrations after widespread damage to schools and mounting injuries among staff, students and police. Classes were totally or partially suspended on Tuesday at 891 schools, according to the Education Ministry.

Facing accusations that it was ignoring protesters, the ministry launched an online portal inviting high school students to anonymously describe the difficulties they face at school and the changes they want to see.

Student protests have drawn attention to rundown classrooms

At Hélène Boucher, parents and other adults positioned themselves on Tuesday between protesters and police keeping watch.

“They are our children. Teachers, parents, federations, we all share the same goal: the protection of children’s rights, and it is a legitimate right to demonstrate and to make demands,” said Emilia Sichili Suriam, who is a member of an association of parents.

Demonstrators have voiced a range of grievances, often centering on a lack of resources and opportunities for students in disadvantaged schools, despite the promise of France’s national motto: “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.”

Students have drawn attention to rundown classrooms that lack basics such as desks and chairs, become sweltering in summer without air conditioning and, in some cases, are infested with rats. Other common complaints include staff shortages and exhausting workloads. French high school students’ compulsory classroom hours are among the highest in Europe.

Suzanne Nijdam, president of the federation of student associations, vowed that demonstrations would continue until authorities address the complaints.

“So, we really need to act now, and it’s in the government’s hands, to see these demands through to the end,” she said. “It’s a matter of political priority, a matter of prioritizing the youth and the future of our country.”

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John Leicester, Masha Macpherson and Catherine Gaschka in Paris, Mark Carlson in Lille, and Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, contributed to this report.

Gauff stopped a rally after electronic advertising boards lining the court flickered during a point late in the first set of her 7-5, 6-1 third-round victory over Sun, a 16-year-old who recently won the U.S. Open junior title.

“Hey everyone, you can dislike me or disagree about what happened without being racist,” Gauff, who is Black, said in a reply on X. “The amount of racist comments/dms I’ve received in the last few hours is insane. Lastly, I‘m not a cheater or a thief.”

Sun appeared about to win the point when Gauff stopped playing. The chair umpire then ordered the point to be replayed.

Gauff, a two-time Grand Slam champion ranked No. 4, went on to take control of the match on Monday.

“Xinran is (an) incredible talent and player, I apologized for the situation at the end of the match and she completely understood,” Gauff added in another post.

Sun, who was given a wild-card entry by tournament organizers and was making her WTA Tour debut, appeared distraught after the loss.

Gauff, who reached the fourth-round of Wimbledon as a 15-year-old in 2019, sympathized with Sun.

“I did not like to see her so emotional as I’ve been there and I really understand what it is like but this is just the beginning of an incredible career,” Gauff said. “It was an honor to share the court in front of her home crowd.”

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“It was a great surprise, and I obviously didn’t expect it,” Halzen said, speaking to the Nobel Physics Committee by phone from Italy, in a call broadcast at the news conference to announce the winner.

Halzen, a physicist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the U.S., said the work was a massive collaborative effort. He was working on a research proposal when the Nobel committee called just before lunchtime.

“I hope that this prize will help getting it approved,” he said to chuckles from the audience.

Halzen paved the way for a new kind of astronomy

Neutrinos are tiny cosmic particles with no electric charge and extraordinarily small mass, making them difficult to detect. Yet they are everywhere: They spew from stars like the sun, and trillions zip through our bodies every second.

Scientists cannot glimpse the mysterious ghost particles zooming around on their own, so they measure what happens when the particles collide with other bits of matter. Neutrinos bump into other particles only rarely, so scientists build large detectors to improve their odds of catching collisions.

Halzen had the idea to turn the vast Antarctic ice into such a detector. The Nobel committee said his work was instrumental to the construction of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica, which glimpsed the first high-energy neutrinos from faraway galaxies.

“This experiment in the Antarctic is a revolutionary way of understanding the universe that we didn’t have before,” said Michael Moloney, chief executive officer for the American Institute of Physics.

When a neutrino interacts with ice in the detector, it produces a flash of light that’s picked up by sensors. The transparent ice makes it easier for scientists to pick up on faint signals from the particles, and the sensors are buried about 8,200 feet (2,500 meters) deep to protect against interference from cosmic rays and radiation.

“People always thought this was a cute idea, right, but it would never work,” Halzen said at a news conference hosted by his university, which also operates the observatory. “The greatest surprise is that we did make it work.”

Neutrinos can help scientists understand the universe

The 82-year-old scientist helped pull back the curtain on an elusive crew of neutrinos that scientists say carry clues about the development of other galaxies and the universe as a whole.

“It’s all part of working out the story of where we are in the universe, what’s our place in the universe, how did our galaxy form?” said Jonathan Bagger, chief executive officer of the American Physical Society.

Supported by the National Science Foundation, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory involves more than 400 scientists in 14 countries.

“IceCube is like no other telescope in the world,” the university’s interim chancellor, Eric M. Wilcots, said in a news release. “And there is no other scientist quite like Francis Halzen, whose idea to create a neutrino detector under almost a mile of ice has led to a remarkable multinational and multi-institutional scientific collaboration and a fundamental shift in how we think about the universe.”

In a post on social media, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said Halzen is the 11th Belgian to win a Nobel Prize. De Wever called the award “impressive recognition for a lifetime dedicated to shedding light on the great mysteries of the cosmos through its smallest components.”

Prize money is about $1.2 million

Ellen Moons, secretary-general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, announced the award Tuesday in Stockholm. She is the first woman to head the prestigious academy and present the award.

The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million), whether for an individual, a small group of laureates or an organization.

Last year, three scientists won the Nobel Prize in physics for research on the strange behavior of subatomic particles called quantum tunneling that enabled the ultrasensitive measurements achieved by MRI machines and laid the groundwork for better cellphones and faster computers.

The announcements of this year's prizes began Monday with the Nobel Prize in medicine being awarded to three scientists whose work led to a tool that uses light to help unravel how the brain works.

This week's awards continue Wednesday with the chemistry prize and literature on Thursday. After Friday’s peace prize is awarded, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced Monday.

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Dazio reported from Berlin, and Ramakrishnan reported from New York. Associated Press writers Alexa St. John in Detroit and Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed to this report.

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AP Nobel Prizes: https://apnews.com/hub/nobel-prizes

On Monday night, he sent New York home in a huge playoff hole.

Palacios laced a two-run single to cap a four-run fifth inning that propelled the Tampa Bay Rays to a 5-2 victory and a 2-0 lead over the sloppy Yankees in their best-of-five AL Division Series.

“When I’m getting clutch hits, it doesn’t really matter who I’m playing against,” Palacios said. “But it’s very special to do this in a postseason against a team I grew up watching.”

The 29-year-old second baseman, who also doubled off Gerrit Cole in the series opener, came to bat with two outs in the fifth against left-handed reliever Brent Headrick.

With his parents in the stands and runners on second and third, Palacios got a green light from manager Kevin Cash on a 3-0 count and fouled off a 90 mph fastball. The left-handed hitter then fouled off three more pitches before lining a base hit to center field that gave Tampa Bay a 5-1 cushion.

“Probably the biggest hit in the game for us,” Cash said.

A fired-up Palacios gestured toward his teammates in the dugout as he celebrated at first base.

“If I got a green light with a 3-0,” Palacios said, “that means Cashy probably wants me swinging if it’s a pitch over the plate. Swung at one, missed it, and then just locked back in. Was able to relax myself and get a hit there.”

Game 3 is Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium, where the Rays will try for a series sweep.

It will be a homecoming of sorts for Palacios, who is playing in his first postseason. Palacios attended The Berkeley Carroll School in the New York City borough of Brooklyn and then Towson University in Maryland before getting selected by Cleveland in the third round of the 2018 amateur draft.

He was acquired by the St. Louis Cardinals for cash in June 2023 and then traded to Tampa Bay for reliever Andrew Kittredge in January 2024.

The 5-foot-8 Palacios batted .235 with 10 home runs, 57 RBIs and a .704 OPS in 124 games this season. He also stole 17 bases, and rewarded the AL East champion Rays for their confidence in him by hitting .283 with five homers, 18 RBIs, six steals and a .981 OPS over 20 games in September.

“Look, we’re seeing a healthy player. We’ve seen Richie in the past when, before his knee injuries, where he could really help us on both sides of the ball. There’s a lot of versatility there with outfield, infield. Really stayed in the infield throughout the course of this season,” Cash said.

“But, I mean, he seems as much as anybody in our lineup to really rise to the occasion when we need him to come through. He’s come through so many times for us.”

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AP Baseball Writer Mike Fitzpatrick in New York contributed to this report.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

The S&P 500 climbed 0.8% and is on track to finish the day above its record closing level set in August. Even with worries about war, high inflation and cranked-up pressure from the bond market continuing to weigh on it, the backbone of many 401(k) accounts has soared nearly 24% since hitting a bottom in late March.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 343 points, or 0.7%, as of noon Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was adding 0.8% to its own all-time high set the day before. The record-high stock prices are helping investors feel better about their finances, or at least less bad, when Americans are generally feeling more discouraged about keeping up with the fast-rising cost of living.

Many of the fears that sent the U.S. stock market to its bottom in March, sparked by the war with Iran, have indeed come true. Oil prices have jumped, which has made inflation worse. That in turn helped send yields higher in bond markets worldwide, which is threatening to slow the economy by making it more expensive for everyone to borrow money and by making investors less willing to pay high prices for stocks.

But despite all those challenges, one vital source of support has remained resolute for the U.S. stock market: the relentless ability for U.S. companies to make bigger profits.

Lamb Weston, which sells frozen fries and other potato products, said on Tuesday that its profit and revenue during its latest quarter topped its projections, for example. The results also beat analysts’ expectations, and its stock rallied 11.9%.

CEO Mike Smith said the company continues to deal with unexpected increases in freight and other expenses as inflation remains high. But the company nevertheless raised its forecast for an underlying measure of profit for its full fiscal year.

It's not just potato products proving to be more profitable. All kinds of companies are lining up to report soon how much profit they made from July through September, and expectations are high.

Analysts expect companies in the S&P 500 to deliver overall growth of nearly 30% in earnings per share from a year earlier, according to FactSet. If they’re correct, it would be the third straight quarter of growth better than 25%.

And along with interest rates, how much profit companies are making are the big levers that help to set prices for stocks.

Delta Air Lines will report its third-quarter results on Friday, with several of the country’s biggest banks headlining the following week.

Stocks also got a boost Tuesday after the price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, dropped 1.1% to $99.19 per barrel. That’s down from nearly $110 a few weeks ago, and the easing removes some of the pressure from inflation.

It also helped send the yield on the 10-year Treasury down to 5.26% from 5.31% late Monday. Yields worldwide have recently been hitting their highest levels in years or even decades.

On Wall Street, stocks involved in the artificial-intelligence frenzy have been behind much of the market's record-setting run, and Constellation Energy jumped 14% on Tuesday amid the tidal wave.

It announced a long-term deal to supply Google with about as much electricity as a new nuclear reactor makes. The boom in AI data centers has made not just electricity more in demand but also construction crews and materials throughout the economy.

Elsewhere on Wall Street, Option Care Health soared 32.9% after CD&R and McKesson said they’re buying the provider of infusion services. The two are paying $32.05 for each Option Care Health share, valuing it at roughly $5.8 billion.

CDR is a private investment firm. Shares of McKesson, the healthcare services company, added 0.4%.

In stock markets abroad, indexes ticked higher in Europe as yields continue to swing in their bond markets amid concerns about high government debts and tight budgets.

In France, tens of thousands of demonstrators marched in support of protests by students demanding more funding for schools.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.1%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 1%, but South Korea’s Kospi dropped 0.9%.

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AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

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An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Constellation Energy.

The 27-year-old has served about 18 months of a three-year sentence for assault and is due to be released in November 2027.

During a break in the prison yard, he considers his next move: a pawn, perhaps, or a knight. The break isn't long, but if he finishes the game quickly he may have time to face one of the skilled guards.

But it is unwise to rush or act impulsively — in chess as in life, he has learned.

“Chess has taught me a lot,” Gatonye said. “It has taught me (about) being calm, choosing my decisions wisely. Before doing an act, I have to think first of what the repercussions are — and then I move.”

Gatonye is among a growing number of Kenyan prisoners who have taken up chess in recent years. The game has become part of rehabilitation programs in the country’s prisons, where officials and participants say it encourages patience, problem-solving and interaction between prisoners and guards.

At Maranjau, which holds about 450 prisoners according to Superintendent Humphrey Young, some choose chess over resting or playing soccer during their free time. They are drawn by the competition and what they say the game does for their state of mind.

“Chess has become one of our integral programs,” Young said. “Some of the skills chess teaches our offenders as they reintegrate back to society is how they can improve their problem-solving processes, and how they can think around issues that affect them once they’re out.”

Chess programs have operated in some Kenyan prisons since at least 2022. The government has supported the initiative alongside the International Chess Federation, known as FIDE, Chess Kenya and The Gift of Chess, a nonprofit organization that distributes chess sets.

The game is now played in all 134 prisons in Kenya, according to Phylis Ngigi, global outreach director for The Gift of Chess.

Kenya participated for the first time in FIDE’s Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners in 2024. Competitions are also held between Kenyan prisons, while some guards have been trained as chess coaches and play alongside prisoners.

At Maranjau, Young said the games create opportunities for prisoners and guards to interact in a less formal setting.

Supporters say chess offers more than recreation. Responsibility and the ability to work with others are important elements of prison rehabilitation, said Monica Njoroge, a project officer at Resources Oriented Development Initiatives.

The Kenyan nonprofit runs farming programs in prisons, where participants tend communal gardens while learning agricultural skills that could help them find work after their release.

Njoroge is not involved in the chess program, but she frequently visits Maranjau and has watched prisoners play.

“It is a game that trains patience and also having a clear mind in making decisions, being keen on what your next move is and the consequences that will come,” she said.

Kenya’s prison chess program has not been independently studied, and its long-term effects on behavior or reoffending are unknown.

For the prisoners gathered around the boards at Maranjau, there is a simpler attraction: They enjoy the game.

“It is a social game,” said Edwin Raj Walukaya, a 31-year-old prisoner. “It gives us friends and occupies our minds.”

For Gatonye, chess has become something he hopes to carry with him beyond prison.

“After being released, I hope to continue playing chess,” he said. “It brings peace inside my mind and heart.”

——

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Bakker died Monday, his second wife, Lori Bakker, said in a statement. The cause of death was not provided.

“He was a pioneer of Christian television, but to me, he was my husband, my best friend, and the man I was honored to walk beside through so many seasons of life and ministry,” she said.

The pair lived near Branson, an entertainment destination in Missouri, where they had filmed their TV show “The Jim Bakker Show” since its launch in 2003. Bakker suffered a stroke in 2020.

But it was the “The PTL Club,” which at its peak in the mid-1980s drew 13 million nightly TV viewers, that made Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker cultural icons — so much so that they were often skewered in the 1980s and '90s by late-night comedians and parodied on “Saturday Night Live.”

The couple also built Heritage USA, a Christian theme park and hotel in Fort Mill, South Carolina, and a movie about their lives, “ The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” was released in September 2021.

Bakker rose to prominence alongside other televangelist titans of the 1980s. His death and that of Jimmy Swaggart last year mark the end of an era. Their legacy lives on in prosperity gospel preachers that still fill the airwaves.

Bakker starts out as a traveling preacher

Bakker was born in Muskegon, Michigan, and attended North Central Bible College in Minneapolis, where he met Tammy Faye. They married in 1961 and dropped out of college to start their own traveling ministry. He preached and she sang and played the accordion in churches and tent revivals across the country.

They caught the attention of televangelist Pat Robertson, and in 1965 launched a children’s show on Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network. By 1966, Bakker was hosting “The 700 Club,” a Christian talk show.

Bakker left CBN in 1972 and two years later formed the PTL Satellite Network. “The PTL Club” — PTL stands for “Praise the Lord” — became its signature show.

In its heyday in the 1980s, “The PTL Club” attracted millions of viewers and brought in millions of dollars annually.

The show featured chats with guests and Christian entertainers. Bakker offered upbeat sermons and Tammy Faye — charismatic and always wearing her trademark heavy mascara — sang. Most episodes were taped at their sprawling complex just south of Charlotte, North Carolina.

They were often parodied by TV comedians, mocked for their lavish lifestyle and Tammy Faye’s abundant makeup.

Sex scandal and financial crimes damage his empire

Their standing began to crumble in March 1987, when Bakker admitted to a sexual encounter with church clerk Jessica Hahn. Hahn alleged that Bakker sexually assaulted her; Bakker maintained that the encounter was consensual.

Bakker was forced to resign from his empire, turning over operations to pastor and broadcaster Jerry Falwell.

Tammy Faye stuck by Bakker, often seen with mascara-stained tears running down her face.

Bakker was indicted in 1988 for mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy after an investigation of PTL’s finances. He was convicted the following year and sentenced to 45 years in federal prison. The sentence was later reduced to eight years.

At a news conference after he was found guilty, Tammy Faye sang the hymn, “On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand.”

Their marriage fell apart and Tammy Faye divorced the still-incarcerated Bakker in 1992, just short of their 31st anniversary. She later married Roe Messner, a building contractor whose projects included the Heritage USA theme park. Messner was convicted of bankruptcy fraud in 1995 and spent about two years in prison.

Tammy Faye died of colon cancer in 2007.

Bakker was released on parole in 1994 and married Lori in 1998. They launched “The Jim Bakker Show” on the PTL Satellite Network five years later.

In June 2021, Bakker and his Morningside Church Productions Inc. settled a lawsuit accusing him of falsely claiming the health supplement Silver Solution could cure COVID-19. The settlement called for $156,000 in refunds to people who paid money or gave contributions to obtain the product in the early days of the pandemic.

The lawsuit said Bakker and a guest made the cure claim during 11 episodes in February and March 2020.

One of Bakker's sons became a progressive Christian pastor

Bakker and Tammy Faye had two children. He and Lori Bakker adopted five children in 2002.

Jay Bakker, the 50-year-old son of Bakker and Tammy Faye, posted about his father’s death on social media.

“We had a very complicated relationship and he was also my father and a grandfather and I need to mourn in my own time,” he wrote. “I need the freedom to feel anger and feel loss ...”

The younger Bakker has spoken about the toll his parents’ scandals had on him. He became a progressive Christian pastor, critical of the Christian right and an advocate for LGBTQ+ inclusion.

In February, he told television station WCNC Charlotte that he and his father “have very different opinions on things like theology and politics, but we do try to maintain a relationship.”

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Salter, a former Associated Press journalist, was the main author of this obituary. Associated Press reporter Tiffany Stanley contributed from Washington, D.C.

But the decision to portray an unemployed moocher as a young, white, cheeseball-chomping gamer named Brad upset some conservative commentators last week. Five decades after Ronald Reagan popularized the “welfare queen” trope about people living luxuriously while not working, they wanted to know why the video wasn't featuring a Black woman instead.

“Republicans don’t have the balls to do this ad with ‘Shaniqua’ as the villain,” posted Matt Walsh, a conservative writer. “Even though that would actually be an accurate portrayal of the problem at hand.”

Sean Davis, co-founder of the Federalist website, wrote that “our government has systematically discriminated against white men for decades now, and yet now has the audacity to dishonestly mock young white men as welfare queens.”

Never mind that the video was about Medicaid, not welfare, or that most Medicaid recipients in Arkansas are white. The outrage was a reminder of how old tropes are “chronically accessible” images in some voters’ minds, said Ange-Marie Hancock, author of “The Politics of Disgust and the Public Identity of the ‘Welfare Queen.’”

She thinks the Arkansas video was supposed to appeal to older voters living with unemployed adult children. But conservatives could only focus on race, Hancock said, because the idea of a Black welfare abuser has worked for them for decades.

“The longer race and gendered history really points to ideas that African Americans are lazy, they don’t do the right thing,” she said.

The debate that streaked across social media was the latest example of how conservatives have recently wrestled with racist views. Last month, a Texas political candidate named Bo French posted a picture of nonwhite students cheering at a University of Texas football game, saying “the problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.” Some Republicans denounced French's post, while it was embraced by those who fear the country's changing demographics.

Sanders, who is running for reelection this year, “stands by the ad,” said Jordan Powell, her campaign manager.

“We should never confiscate money from hard-working Arkansans to give it away to those who simply choose not to work at all,” Powell told The Associated Press in an emailed statement.

Origins of the ‘welfare queen’ trope in American politics

The “welfare queen” trope is often used to advance restrictions on public assistance programs.

While unsuccessfully running for president in 1976, Reagan complained about a woman in Chicago who was using “80 names, 30 addresses, 12 Social Security cards” to game the system. The story was embellished, but Reagan worked to reshape public assistance programs after winning the White House in 1980.

Allison Butler, author of “The Judgment of Gender: How Women are Centered and Silenced in Pop Culture," said the debate perpetuated a powerful myth that women of color were siphoning government assistance.

“When you deconstructed that narrative and actually tried to find the source of it ... there was no woman of color who wouldn’t get a job and had multiple televisions and a Mercedes-Benz,” Butler said.

Barry Jefferson, president of the NAACP Arkansas State Conference, has condemned the Sanders ad for reducing low-income people to a stereotype where poverty is seen as a flaw. It ignores the complexities that make it harder for low-income people, regardless of race, to support themselves, he said.

“We shouldn’t betray anyone because they are asking for help and they don’t meet your standards,” Jefferson said.

Breaking down the demographics of Medicaid

Created in 1965 as a joint federal and state health insurance program, Medicaid offers free or low-cost medical coverage to people with limited income, including the elderly, children or adults with disabilities who cannot work. Nearly 66 million people were enrolled in Medicaid as of June, according to the Medicaid.gov website.

Over 38% of beneficiaries between the ages of 0-64 are white, according to 2024 data from research organization KFF. Nearly 19% are Black.

More work requirements for some Medicaid beneficiaries kicked in across the U.S. this year under President Donald Trump's big 2025 tax cut and policy law. A handful of Republican-led states, including Arkansas, are going beyond what the law calls for to prevent fraud, including demanding more documentation if someone is too medically frail to work.

In July, Sanders soft-launched mandating that healthy people ages 19 to 64 find work, volunteer or attend school at least 80 hours per month to stay in the Arkansas Health and Opportunity for Me Medicaid program, or ARHOME.

Robert Coon, managing partner at Impact Management Group, a political consulting and public-opinion firm with an Arkansas office, said that welfare work requirement policy is generally favored in Arkansas.

But suggestions the person in the ad should be Black are “overtly racist” and “inaccurate,” Coon said.

About 60% of ARHOME recipients are white and around 18% are Black, according to recent data from the state Department of Human Services.

Why Black people often experience need at a higher rate

Right-wing rhetoric about Black Americans and public assistance often ignores how generations of structural racism have produced economic disparities that contribute to their disproportionate participation in these programs.

Fewer Black people than white people overall use social service programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps. But at roughly 13% of the U.S. population, Black people make up the largest overrepresentation of any racial group. They are 18.5% and 25%, respectively, of Medicaid and SNAP recipients.

Those statistics reflect an extremely difficult road for poor Black communities looking to rise out of poverty and build generational wealth.

Arkansas Democratic congressional candidate Chris Jones, who is Black, grew up in a family relying on food stamps. A welfare recipient is not “looking for a way out of work,” but “for a way forward,” he told AP in a statement.

The bigger question, Jones said, is not race but “why so many people who are working hard still struggle to afford groceries, housing, health care and the basic necessities of life."

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Tang reported from Phoenix.

From coast to coast, Republicans are focusing on public disorder, illegal immigration and violent crime in midterm campaigns as voters sour on their party's handling of the cost of living and the war with Iran.

Democrats have tried to counter the attacks by recruiting candidates with law enforcement backgrounds and emphasizing their own anti-crime plans, but Republicans believe it's a rare opportunity to go on the offensive in an otherwise challenging year.

“Do you know that right now we have the lowest violent crime rate in 126 years in America right now? Because we emphasize the rule of law,” House Speaker Mike Johnson recently told an audience at Louisiana State University. Crime rates have generally trended down since the 1990s with a brief spike during the COVID pandemic. “We have the most secure border we have had in the past half century."

President Donald Trump returned to the topic Monday night in Nebraska, warning about how the country used to be before he returned to the White House.

"We had a border with people pouring in, crime like nobody’s ever seen," he said.

Republicans say Democrats will ‘defund the police’

In Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Texas and Wisconsin, Republican candidates for governor have attacked their Democratic rivals as weak on crime or warned they could cut police funding. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, for instance, has lambasted Democratic nominee and state Rep. Gina Hinojosa for not supporting legislation that would require judges to deny bail to illegal immigrants charged with a violent crime.

Hinojosa has campaigned on her tenure as a civil rights lawyer and criticized Abbott's crime policies as violating civil liberties.

Rick Jackson, a billionaire healthcare executive running in Georgia, has repeatedly attacked Democratic opponent Keisha Lance Bottoms over her tenure as Atlanta mayor.

“I grew up in the type of neighborhood Keisha Lance Bottoms abandoned," Jackson said at a summer campaign rally. “I know who gets hurt when politicians defund the police.”

In an interview with Atlanta station 11Alive, Bottoms emphasized that her administration gave pay raises to police and firefighters, and said she called for increased federal funding for public safety during her time as mayor.

Crime warnings pervade congressional races

It's a similar story in U.S. House races.

In Virginia’s first congressional district, Rep. Rob Wittman has attacked his Democratic opponent, prosecutor Shannon Taylor, over her allegedly “soft on crime" record in office. In Michigan’s 10th district, Republican Michael Bouchard is running on his service as a Bronze Star Army captain and son of a longtime local sheriff. He's claimed his Democratic opponent, former prosecutor Christina Hines, supports “woke, soft on crime, socialist policies."

In Colorado’s eighth district, Rep. Gabe Evans touts his time as a police officer against Democratic challenger Manny Rutinel. And in Wisconsin’s third district, Rep. Derrick Van Orden hopes to win a third race against Democratic nominee Rebecca Cooke by painting her as a communist who wants to defund the police.

Republicans hope that by reprising warnings of crime and disorder the party can reenergize their disillusioned base and win back skeptical moderate voters who have drifted over concerns like affordability.

Democratic rivals have responded in kind. Taylor aired an ad featuring 13 local sheriffs who endorsed her campaign. Rutinel aired ads with local police and rolled out a safety plan that called for greater police funding and drug prevention programs. Hines said she'll continue to prioritize public safety and prosecute corruption in Washington. Cooke has vowed to fully fund police departments in Congress.

Not all Republicans see crime as a winning issue

It's yet to be seen if the strategy will prove effective.

“We’ve got to talk about it. I think that in many ways, we are the victim of our own success because it’s off the headlines a little bit more,” said Sen. Eric Schmitt, a Missouri Republican and former state attorney general. “Having a completely secure border now, no one even talks about it. But that’s a huge accomplishment from where we were at before.”

An AP-NORC poll conducted in September found that border security — which Trump and Republicans often link to crime — was a relative strength for the Republican president, with 48% of U.S. adults saying they approved of his performance on the issue. But that was still a decline from a year ago, when his approval on border security was at 55%.

Not everyone in the party is sold on Republicans rehashing the crime message.

“I don’t see that bubbling up as a major issue for the voters,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who chose not to seek reelection this year. Aiming to make the race to succeed Tillis a referendum on crime, Republicans have run ads claiming that Democratic nominee Roy Cooper went easy on convicts during his two terms in the governor’s mansion.

Black political leaders have criticized the ads as racist and reminiscent of past Republican campaigns that used dog whistles to appeal to suburban white voters. Trump made the message explicit when he invoked the infamous 1988 “Willie Horton” ad and displayed dozens of mugshots of men of color on a jumbotron during a rally stumping for Michael Whatley, Cooper’s Republican rival.

In contrast to his party’s messaging, Tillis noted his state’s safety in recent years.

“Frankly, when I hear somebody talking about crime in Charlotte, I live 25 minutes from downtown. I’m not worried about walking through Charlotte at night,” said Tillis.

Democrats accuse Trump of corruption

National Democrats contend that Republicans’ message on violent crime is undercut by the Trump administration’s hardline immigration enforcement actions, which resulted in the killing of two American protesters in January and the fatal shootings of multiple undocumented people. They accuse Trump of corruption and have hammered Republicans for alleged complicity in the president’s self-dealing.

“This is the biggest criminal organization that we’ve ever seen,” said Sen. Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat, of the current White House.

He added that, “Democrats should be pushing back with the fact that, if not for the fact that he was president, this guy would be leading some type of mafia right now.”

Lauren Bis, a White House spokeswoman, said “extreme Democrats are trying to deflect from their radical soft on crime agenda.”

Israel’s wartime conduct has sparked global outrage, as have the billions of dollars in American military support provided by the Biden and Trump administrations. The war has bitterly divided Democrats and some Republicans.

The film received a record 25-minute standing ovation when it debuted at the Venice Film Festival. The backlash in Israel, which holds its own elections at the end of this month, has been just as thunderous.

“NAZA,” named for the Hebrew acronym for collateral damage, contends that Israel used sophisticated systems -- some operated by artificial intelligence -- to hunt and kill suspected militants, carrying out strikes the military knew would kill large numbers of civilians.

The Israeli military has “categorically” denied the filmmakers’ findings and threatened to track down the soldiers who spoke to them. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the film was antisemitic, and a Cabinet minister threatened to strip the filmmakers of their citizenship. Yuval Abraham, one of the co-directors, fears he won’t be able to return home.

At the New York Film Festival premiere last month, a few dozen protesters gathered outside showing images of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. Abraham acknowledged the “massacre” and said it was “completely unjustified.”

“But it also cannot justify what you’ve seen in the film … (the) slaughter of so many civilians in Gaza, the massacres at food sites,” he said.

Soldiers describe alleged atrocities

Abraham and co-director Rachel Szor knew the documentary would spark controversy. Their previous film, “No Other Land,” made with two Palestinian filmmakers about the struggles faced by Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, got a similar split-screen reception – winning an Oscar but infuriating many in Israel.

For all the bombastic claims surrounding it, “NAZA” is stark in its minimalism. There are no talking heads, no file footage of airstrikes – just interviews at night on Tel Aviv rooftops with individuals whose faces and voices are obscured. Some use pen and paper to draw what they are describing.

One recalls targeting people on their way to a food distribution site, while another likens the remote killings to playing a video game. The filmmakers say the subjects spoke anonymously for fear of retaliation and that their claims were carefully vetted.

“We wanted it to be a simple film,” said Szor. “There is something very scary about someone drawing systems that are causing mass killing.”

The subjects talk about developing and using an AI tool to process surveillance in Gaza and suggest targets with Hamas connections, creating a database of tens of thousands. Another AI tool recommends buildings and structures to target, they say.

The interviewees say the systems make mistakes. One subject said approval was given for an operation targeting one Hamas militant that anticipated 500 civilian deaths. The military has denied that claim, but Israeli strikes on senior militants often killed large numbers of civilians.

Most of the key reporting done by the “NAZA” filmmakers has been published before, by the Israeli-Palestinian +972 Magazine, the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call and The Guardian, which produced the film.

The Associated Press has reported on Israel’s use of AI models developed by U.S. tech giants in the war in Gaza, part of a package that won the Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting. Microsoft later reduced the Israeli military’s access to its products.

The military has issued a lengthy rebuttal

The Israeli military has condemned the film. It says orders “explicitly, comprehensively and clearly distinguish” between militants and civilians and that it strives to minimize civilian harm “to the greatest extent feasible.”

It acknowledged using AI but said the selection of targets is done by intelligence officers and the decision to strike is made by operational commanders. It said many of the interviewees did not seem to be aware of the larger targeting process.

The reporting overall is based on interviews with over 100 confidential sources, done in collaboration with The Guardian’s investigation desk between 2023 and 2025.

“After you watch the film, it becomes much harder to doubt that these are real people,” Abraham said at the New York premiere. “It’s all truthful, it’s all vetted and we feel very, very confident about it.”

Experts and major rights groups have accused Israel of genocide over the killing of civilians, the destruction of most of Gaza and aid restrictions that fueled widespread hunger. Israel adamantly denies the allegations, saying it tried to spare civilians as it responded to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack and fought to uproot the militants from dense residential areas.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 other people in the Oct. 7 attack, all of whom have since been recovered, alive or dead.

Israel’s offensive killed over 74,000 Palestinians, including more than 1,400 since a fragile ceasefire took hold a year ago, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Part of the Hamas-run government, the ministry maintains detailed records seen as generally reliable by independent experts and U.N. agencies. Its figures do not distinguish between militants and civilians, but it says women and children make up around half the dead.

The film’s rollout will be limited

“NAZA” is arriving in theaters without a traditional distributor in the U.S. It’s now playing at New York’s IFC Center, and abroad with the help of independent film studio mk2.

On Oct. 9 it opens in more cities, including Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles and Seattle. In late November, it will be available to stream free on The Guardian’s website.

“No Other Land” was also self-distributed in the U.S. and became a modest success following its Oscar win, with over $2.5 million in domestic ticket sales.

The Committee to Protect Journalists and the International Documentary Association have released statements condemning threats against the filmmakers. Over 2,000 people, including prominent Israeli filmmakers, have also signed a petition supporting Szor and Abraham.

The filmmakers say the goal from the beginning was to disseminate information, which is why they didn’t sit on the reporting ahead of the film’s release. They hope for a wider viewership in Israel, where the focus is still on the Oct. 7 attack with little discussion of the plight of ordinary Palestinians.

But they also want Americans to see the film and to understand the role their own government played. An academic study published last year found that the Biden and Trump administrations provided at least $21.7 billion in military assistance to Israel in the first two years of the war.

“Much of what is being described was done with American taxpayer money,” Abraham said. “My country did it, but they would never have been able to do it without (American) diplomatic (and) military support.”

Rubio hailed the role of diplomacy in resolving conflicts as he began a three-nation tour of NATO allies in the capital of Iceland, where concerns over the Republican administration’s often brusque and sometimes rude approach to traditional friends and partners have stirred unease.

Rubio, whose tour of NATO members will include Greece and Portugal, met on Tuesday with Iceland's minister for foreign affairs, Thorgerdur Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, at Reykjavik’s Hofdi House, the site of the 1986 summit between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that is widely regarded as the beginning of the end of the Cold War.

“The house symbolizes diplomacy’s role in ending the Cold War and defeating communism,” Rubio posted on social media after the talks that took place just days before the 40th anniversary of the landmark meeting.

However, both Rubio and Gunnarsdóttir downplayed differences between the allies and said both countries were committed to deepening and expanding military and commercial ties. Rubio made clear that the United States would not do anything in Iceland without Iceland's consent.

“We would be open to having those conversations to see what we can do together,” he said, noting that the U.S. had a decades-long permanent military presence in Iceland until 2006, when shifting priorities caused it to close its Keflavik base outside of Reykjavik. He noted that priorities have shifted again.

And, he went out of his way to praise Iceland: “We have tremendous respect for the people. We have respect for the country in the role it plays, and it has for a very long time,” he said.

Iceland's foreign minister says she's ‘focused on the future’

Iceland has been uneasy about Trump’s intentions toward it after the posting of a map showing the colors of the U.S. flag sprawling across all of North America and extending to Iceland and Greenland. The unease has persisted despite an agreement reached last month to increase the U.S. presence in the neighboring Danish territory of Greenland that appears to have ended Trump’s earlier demand for the U.S. to take full control.

But on Tuesday, after Rubio's talks with Gunnarsdóttir and Iceland's Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir, those tensions appeared to be on the wane.

Gunnarsdóttir said the matter had been largely, if not entirely, resolved. “We remain focused on the future," she said. Rubio, meanwhile, said he was not in Iceland to talk about social media posts. “Everything is very positive,” he said.

Rubio talks up ‘shared priorities’

Before leaving Washington on Monday, Rubio said the visit is intended to “advance our shared priorities: a secure Arctic, stronger commercial and energy ties, and closer defense cooperation.” He offered no hint of tensions with the island that, while a NATO member, has no standing army.

The map incident, however, alarmed Icelanders, and in response, Gunnarsdóttir summoned U.S. Ambassador Billy Long to a meeting at which she made it clear the post was unacceptable.

Iceland, which is just 180 miles (290 kilometers) from Greenland, had already been on edge after Trump mistakenly named the country four times while speaking about Greenland.

Iceland hasn't seen eye to eye with US ambassadors

Long, a colorful former Missouri congressman, IRS commissioner and professional auctioneer, also has made waves in Iceland. Before he took up his post in August, thousands of Icelanders signed a petition urging the prime minister to reject him after he made a crack earlier this year about Iceland becoming the 52nd U.S. state and making him governor. He has since apologized for the quip.

Long is not the first Trump ambassador to Iceland to have raised concerns with the host government. In Trump’s first term, Ambassador Jeffrey Ross Gunter left locals in relatively crime-free Reykjavik aghast over his request to hire armed bodyguards, which prompted complaints.

US ambassador to Greece faces misconduct allegations

At Rubio’s next stop in Athens, he may be dealing with another ambassador controversy. Rep. Gregory Meeks, a New York Democrat who is the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said last week that he would investigate allegations of misconduct and impropriety by the U.S. ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle.

In a letter to Rubio, Meeks said that he wanted answers following the allegations reported by The Wall Street Journal last month and that he would call for Guilfoyle’s dismissal if the behavior outlined in the news report was true.

The Journal reported that Guilfoyle told guests at a reception that the U.S. could undermine the Greek government if it chose to, promoted the business interests of one particular Greek construction and energy company, and allowed its lobbyist into private diplomatic meetings.

Some Greek opposition parties have called for an inquiry into the allegations, but it's unclear if they will proceed.

Guilfoyle, a former Fox News Channel host and California prosecutor who was once engaged to Trump’s son Donald Jr., has denied any wrongdoing, and Rubio has defended her before.

Guilfoyle, Rubio said after the Journal story appeared, “has been an incredible advocate for the president’s agenda in Greece and across Europe.” Rubio said he and Trump greatly value the ambassador’s “pivotal work and leadership,” notably on energy issues.

The Trump administration sees Greece as key to advancing the promotion and export of U.S.-produced liquefied natural gas to Southeastern and Central Europe.

Brian Robinson ran for three short touchdowns for the Falcons (2-2), who never trailed and controlled the line of scrimmage while outgaining the Saints (1-3) on the ground, 207 yards to 50.

Atlanta continued rolling behind quarterback Michael Penix Jr., who returned to the lineup for a 35-14 victory at Green Bay. Penix was an efficient 15 of 20 for 223 yards and a touchdown. His 31-yard scoring strike to Jahan Dotson in fourth quarter sent Saints fans toward the exits en masse.

Saints running back Alvin Kamara scored his first two touchdowns of the season, the second cutting Atlanta's lead to 31-17 early in the fourth quarter.

Tyler Shough passed for 286 yards and a late touchdown to Devaughn Vele.

The game kicked off following festivities commemorating the Saints' return to the Superdome after Katrina had displaced the team from New Orleans for the entire 2005 season. In addition to causing levee breaks and a storm surge that flooded about 80% of the city, the hurricane also ripped a hole in Superdome’s roof while evacuees sheltered there.

Ignited by Steve Gleason’s punt block for a touchdown following the 2006 game’s opening possession, the Saints beat the Falcons 23-3 in that Week 3, Monday night matchup.

Like that meeting two decades ago, the Falcons, wearing red, received the opening kickoff. This time, however, there would be no punt to block. Bijan Robinson burst through a hole on the left side of the line and raced 59 yards for a touchdown.

For a fourth time in four games, the Saints were playing from behind early — a challenge made more difficult by Daniel Carlson’s missed 52-yard field goal attempt and running back Kendre Miller’s lost fumble on the New Orleans 22-yard line one possession later.

Atlanta cashed in on the turnover when Bijan Robinson made it 14-0 on a 4-yard power run, set up in part by cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry’s third-down defensive holding penalty.

Pregame ceremonies feature 2006 Saints players

Wearing white jerseys, retired players Drew Brees, Scott Fujita, Scott Shanle, Deuce McAllister, Devery Henderson and Curtis Deloatch joined Gleason on the field before kickoff to lead fans in the club’s familiar “Who dat!” chant. Gleason, using a wheelchair because of ALS, was joined by his son, Rivers, who raised his father's arm and then pulled it down to signal the start of the chant.

Irma Thomas, a New Orleans native and resident who sang the national anthem when the dome reopened, returned to perform it again.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell attended, spending pregame warmups on the home sideline conversing with Saints owner Gayle Benson and other dignitaries.

Before the game, Gleason shared a moment with former Falcons punter Michael Koenen outside the dome at the “Rebirth” statue that depicts both players at the moment of the punt block.

Earlier in the day, New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno gave Gleason a key to the city.

Injuries

Falcons: Defensive end Za’Darius Smith received several minutes of attention on the field, but was able walk to the sideline after a stretcher had been brought out for him. Left tackle Jake Matthews (groin) left the game in the first quarter.

Saints: The Saints began without two key defensive starters: end Carl Granderson (ankle) and linebacker Kaden Ellis (calf), who were ruled out on Saturday. Tight end Noah Fant (abdomen) was a game-night scratch.

Up next

Falcons: Host Baltimore on Sunday night.

Saints: Host Minnesota on Sunday.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Richie Palacios hit a two-run single in a four-run fifth inning and Tampa Bay took advantage of New York's sloppy defense, beating Cam Schlittler and the Yankees 5-2 on Monday night to take a 2-0 lead in their AL Division Series.

The Rays are one victory from reaching the American League Championship Series. Game 3 in the best-of-five playoff is Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium.

“That’s a byproduct of having a really good clubhouse and a bunch of selfless teammates,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “They don’t care who gets it done. They just want to get it done. The biggest cheerleaders are coming from the guys within the dugout. Good teams do not rely on just one or two people. We rely on all nine in the lineup, the guys on the bench and certainly our entire pitching staff.”

Ben Rice homered twice for the Yankees, who are on the verge of elimination — which would extend their drought without a World Series championship to 17 seasons. They were dominated by Drew Rasmussen in the series opener and have scored just two runs in two playoff games against the AL East champion Rays with three-time AL MVP Aaron Judge out of the lineup due to a calf injury.

“Well, we’ve got to win. We’ve got to play the first inning of Game 3,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “We’ve got to come out and play well. So we’ve responded all year. We need to do it again. Obviously, we need to play better and it starts with just one at a time. I don’t even get ahead of myself and win three. We’ve got to go win one and we’ve got to play better Wednesday night to make that happen.”

The small-ball Rays chased Schlittler, the likely AL Cy Young Award winner, in the fifth aided by New York's defensive miscues.

Jonathan Aranda lined a single to start the inning and Junior Caminero ripped a double to right-center. With the infield drawn-in except second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr., who was standing several feet further back on the dirt, Liam Hicks hit a slow bouncer to second that scored Aranda for a 2-1 lead. Chisholm's only play was at first because he wasn't all the way in like the rest of the infielders.

Chandler Simpson then hit a grounder that shortstop George Lombard Jr. flubbed, scoring Caminero to make it 3-1. It was initially ruled a hit and then changed to an error and eventually a fielder's choice. Brent Headrick replaced Schlittler and struck out Victor Mesa Jr. After Simpson stole second, Jonny DeLuca reached on a grounder when Lombard's throw to first was wide for New York's fourth error.

Palacios followed with a hard single to center that increased Tampa Bay's lead to 5-1.

“It was just one of those games things kind of compiled and stacked up on top of each other," Lombard said. “It wasn't ideal. We put ourselves in a bad spot.”

That was plenty of support for one of the best bullpens in the majors.

Freddy Peralta allowed one run and three hits in 4 2/3 innings, Cam Booser pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth and Ian Seymour gave up one run in three innings. Bryan Baker finished with a perfect ninth for his second save in two games.

Schlittler, who was 14-6 with a 1.95 ERA and dominated Boston in the opener of the wild-card round, lasted 4 1/3 innings. He allowed four runs — two earned — and six hits while striking out only two.

Rice sent a 2-2 changeup into the right-field seats to tie it at 1 in the fourth, ending New York's scoreless drought in the ALDS. Rice hit 41 homers in the regular season. His drive awakened Yankees fans in the ballpark, who were drowned out by Rays fans until that point.

But a sellout crowd of 40,226 was mostly full of cowbell-ringing Rays fans who reveled in New York's misery.

Peralta retired the first two batters in the fifth before Austin Wells ripped a double and Ryan McMahon walked. Booser replaced Peralta and walked Rice to load the bases, but the lefty escaped when Cody Bellinger flied out to the warning track in center.

The Yankees made three errors in the first inning but Schlittler limited the Rays to one run. New York became the first team to commit three errors in the first inning of a postseason game since the Oakland Athletics in Game 1 of the 1975 AL Championship Series against Boston, according to Sportsnet Stats.

Off the catwalk

Yankees rookie Spencer Jones hit a towering flyball off a catwalk at quirky Tropicana Field that was caught by Mesa for an out in the second inning. Jones kept running around the bases as the ball rattled around and fell to Mesa, who ran over from right field to make the catch in center. DeLuca thought he was camped under it in center but started pointing upward when the ball hit one of the two rings high above the field and below the roof. Mesa caught it several feet in front of DeLuca. Umpires conferred and confirmed the out, per the stadium’s ground rules.

Up next

Yankees LHP Max Fried (5-5, 2.80 ERA) and Rays RHP Nick Martinez (15-6, 3.10) are the projected starters for Game 3.

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Allen Lok was last seen wearing a black shirt, black shorts, and dark sneakers on Oct. 3, at the Pier Point Community, according to the Pembroke Pines Police Department.

Police officers also searched for Lok — who weighs about 155 pounds and is 5-foot, 7-inches tall — in the area of Johnson Street and Colony Point Drive.

Also in Pembroke Pines, police officers found a person dead on Monday in the area of South Palm Avenue, near 11 Street, according to Amanda Cowell, a PPPD spokeswoman.

“This is not related to our missing person case from yesterday, but our investigation remains active & ongoing,” Cowell wrote in a statement.

PPPD Detective Dana DeFalco asked anyone with information about Lok’s whereabouts to call 954-860-2883.

Detectives also asked anyone with information about this or other cases who wants to remain anonymous to call Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.

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Manager Stephen Vogt's squad had one of the worst offenses in the American League before turning it on after the Aug. 3 trade deadline en route to winning its third straight AL Central title.

The offensive surge hasn't carried into the postseason.

Cleveland had only four hits in Monday's 4-3 loss to the Chicago White Sox in Game 2 of their AL Division Series. The Guardians managed just three hits in Saturday's 3-0 loss.

The Guardians had a .231 batting average before the trade deadline, second-worst in the American League. But from Aug. 3 until the end of the regular season, they batted .255, which ranked third.

They don't have much time to get things back on track, with Game 3 on Wednesday in Chicago as Cleveland tries to avoid getting swept in a Division Series for the first time since 2018 against Houston.

“I think we’ve done a really good job of flushing games. Have the day off tomorrow, make sure we have some good focus, but obviously, yeah, not how you wanted to finish Game 2,” outfielder Steven Kwan said.

It is only the fourth time since Division Series started in 1995 that a team has had seven or fewer hits over the first two games. The others were the 2008 Milwaukee Brewers, 2010 Cincinnati Reds (who were no-hit by Philadelphia in Game 1) and 2018 Cleveland Indians.

Cleveland's leadoff hitter has reached base only twice in the two games and the team is 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position.

The White Sox going with bullpen games in the first two games of the series has also put Cleveland hitters off balance.

“They made great pitches and we battled and we haven’t given any at-bats away. And I think the name of the game is, `Who Lands a Pitch?’ And when they made those mistakes, we just weren’t able to capitalize maybe in the way we wanted to, but that’s part of the game," outfielder Jo Adell said.

Adell gave Cleveland some fleeting hope in the eighth with an RBI triple to get the Guardians within one run. But then Nathaniel Lowe flied out to end the inning.

“We put good swings up (in the late innings) and I think that’s what we’re capable of,” Adell said. “We had a lot of those balls that, mine included, I for sure though it was out and it’s one of those days where it didn’t travel that way and that’s the way the game is. But we’re convicted in our approach and our at-bats and we have a bunch of really good players in here, so we’re going to continue to fight.”

Cleveland's struggles on offense wasted a strong start from Gavin Williams, whose 11 strikeouts were tied for second-most in team history in a postseason game.

The right-hander — who led the AL in strikeouts this season — struck out eight in the first three innings and became the first pitcher in franchise history to whiff five straight in a postseason game. He also had 16 pitches over 100 mph, the fourth-most by an AL pitcher in a playoff game since tracking started in 2008.

His 0-2 fastball to Munetaka Murakami in the fourth inning registered 101.2 mph, which was the hardest pitch of his career.

“I feel like I’ve been doing it all year. It just wasn’t today. I know I’ve hit 101 a couple times this year, but could be the juices, too,” Williams said. “I don’t think I was too worried about the strikeouts. Just trying to put the team in a good position to win.”

Williams — who allowed two runs and four hits — came out in the sixth after allowing a leadoff single to Miguel Vargas. The White Sox scored three times that inning off Erik Sabrowski and Hunter Gaddis to take the lead.

“We couldn’t have asked any more from Gavin other than maybe a few more pitches. He did his job and then some. That is a big-time performance by a big-time pitcher,” Vogt said.

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Tras desembarcar en Managua del vuelo de deportación la semana pasada, las autoridades trasladaron a Jeffrey Jarquín, de 35 años, a la misma prisión donde alguna vez fue torturado, según confirmó un familiar.

El familiar habló con The Associated Press a condición de guardar el anonimato, por temor a ser perseguido por el gobierno. Medios locales informaron primero sobre la deportación y detención de Jarquín.

Jarquín fue un personaje destacado en las protestas antigubernamentales de 2018, que desencadenaron una campaña de años por parte de los copresidentes, los esposos Daniel Ortega y Rosario Murillo, para aplastar a la disidencia.

La represión del gobierno contra críticos, la sociedad civil, grupos religiosos y prácticamente cualquiera que alzara la voz ha azuzado la huida de más de 800.000 personas del país, según cifras de la ONU.

Osley Sallent, abogado de Jarquín en Estados Unidos, confirmó que éste fue deportado después de solicitar asilo en territorio estadounidense.

Jarquín fue detenido en 2018 junto con otros manifestantes y enviado a una prisión de máxima seguridad conocida como El Modelo. Hasta que fue liberado un año después y huyó a Estados Unidos, él y otros fueron torturados en cámaras conocidas como “infiernitos”, según un informe de la Organización de los Estados Americanos divulgado en 2019.

Sallent indicó que Jarquín vivía en Miami cuando fue detenido. Antes de que un tribunal de Luisiana rechazara en julio su caso de solicitud de asilo, el abogado señaló que el exiliado nicaragüense estuvo recluido en Alcatraz de los Caimanes, el centro de detención migratoria de Florida en los Everglades, del que se ha reportado que sus condiciones son inadecuadas para los internos. Sallent no pudo aportar más detalles sobre el caso de asilo.

El Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas (ICE, por sus siglas en inglés) no respondió de momento a una solicitud de comentarios. Tras una petición de la AP para obtener más detalles sobre por qué Jarquín fue encarcelado por segunda vez, un portavoz del gobierno de Nicaragua respondió: “¡Muchas gracias! Abrazos”.

Desde hace tiempo el gobierno del presidente estadounidense Donald Trump ha criticado al gobierno nicaragüense y lo ha calificado de dictadura, especialmente después de que las autoridades allí cancelaran las elecciones previstas para el próximo año. Apenas la semana pasada, el subsecretario de Estado de Estados Unidos, Christopher Landau, afirmó en declaraciones ante la OEA que lo que estaba ocurriendo en Nicaragua era “intolerable”.

“La dictadura de Murillo y Ortega no tiene lugar en nuestro hemisferio”, añadió.

A pesar de ello, el ICE ha intensificado las deportaciones al país centroamericano en los últimos meses, según un informe reciente de Human Rights Watch, que indicó que el gobierno de Trump deportó a 6.300 nicaragüenses entre enero y julio de 2026.

La organización documentó que el ICE había detenido al menos a ocho exiliados nicaragüenses, a quienes se les privó de obtener su ciudadanía, una medida que, según observadores, estaba dirigida a castigar a los críticos, señaló el informe. Algunos de los detenidos tenían solicitudes de asilo pendientes.

Juan Pappier, subdirector para las Américas de Human Rights Watch, dijo que las críticas al gobierno de Nicaragua y a la vez efectuar las deportaciones de quienes se vieron obligados a huir de su represión “hacen que Washington parezca hipócrita”.

“Nicaragua tiene el gobierno más brutal del hemisferio occidental, y cualquier crítico del gobierno que sea enviado de regreso corre un riesgo real de (padecer) tortura o persecución”, manifestó Pappier.

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La periodista Gisela Salomón de The Associated Press contribuyó a este despacho desde Miami.

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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.

Now, local chefs are taking that reputation to global screens on season two of the hit Apple TV docuseries Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars .

The region’s top culinary talent gathered for an exclusive celebration at Calusso at Pier Sixty-Six in Fort Lauderdale.

Executive Chef Jonathan Kaiser, whose quest for the elusive honor continues, played host to his fellow culinary trailblazers, opening the doors to Calusso for an evening highlighting the expanding prestige of the region’s food scene.

Local 10’s Jason Carter was also there, and his full report can be seen at the top of this page.

Four errors and another defensive miscue led to three unearned runs that a lineup missing three-time AL MVP Aaron Judge couldn't overcome during a 5-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 2 of their AL Division Series on Monday night.

The Yankees are one defeat from falling short of a 28th World Series title for the 17th straight season.

“Obviously, a really rough night to say the least for us,” manager Aaron Boone said. “We’ve got to get over it. We’ve responded all year to difficult times, and we’ve got to do that again. We’ve got to get ourselves up off the mat.”

Even with likely AL Cy Young Award winner Cam Schlittler on the mound, the Yankees couldn't even the best-of-five series against the pesky Rays.

The small-ball Rays chased Schlittler in the fifth, aided by New York’s miscues in the field as the Yankees' defense unraveled the same way it did in the team's most recent World Series game two years ago against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“I'm not disappointed in the defense. I'm not disappointed in the offense,” Schlittler said. “I'm disappointed in myself.”

Jonathan Aranda lined a single off Schlittler to start the bottom of the fifth and Junior Caminero ripped a double to right-center. With the infield drawn-in except second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr., who was standing several feet further back on the dirt, Liam Hicks hit a slow bouncer to second that scored Aranda for a 2-1 lead. Chisholm’s only play was at first because he wasn’t all the way in like the rest of the infielders.

Chandler Simpson then hit a grounder that rookie shortstop George Lombard Jr. flubbed, scoring Caminero to make it 3-1. It was initially ruled a hit and then changed to an error and eventually a fielder’s choice. Brent Headrick replaced Schlittler and struck out Victor Mesa Jr. After Simpson stole second, Jonny DeLuca reached on a grounder when Lombard’s throw to first was wide for New York’s fourth error.

Richie Palacios followed with a two-run single to center that increased Tampa Bay’s lead to 5-1.

“It was just one of those things that it all happened back-to-back-to-back,” Lombard said.

Ben Rice connected for his second homer of the game in the eighth, but that wasn't enough. New York's Nos. 3 through 7 batters are 0 for 33 in the two games.

“You've got to be confident even when you go down 2-0,” Rice said. “You've got to take it game by game, at-bat by at-bat.”

The night started poorly for the Yankees. New York became the first team to commit three errors in the first inning of a postseason game since the Oakland Athletics in Game 1 of the 1975 American League Championship Series against Boston, according to Sportsnet Stats.

Third baseman Ryan McMahon misplayed a bouncer by Yandy Díaz to begin the bottom of the first. After Aranda singled, Caminero hit a bouncer up the middle. Lombard fielded the ball behind the bag and flipped to second for a forceout, but Chisholm’s ill-advised, off-balance throw to first sailed wide, allowing Díaz to score and Caminero to reach second.

Hicks struck out but reached on catcher’s interference, with an error charged to Austin Wells. The 21-year-old Lombard then saved Chisholm from another error when he extended to catch a high toss to second following a sharp grounder by Simpson. Lombard came off the bag and quickly reached back with his leg to beat Hicks and get the second out.

Schlittler retired Mesa on a grounder to prevent more damage.

“Some good defenders that didn’t make a couple plays,” Boone said. “We've got to get over it, though. As simple as that. I mean, we can’t dwell on what just happened to us. We’ve got to come ready, again playing for our lives on Wednesday night, and I expect this team to do that.

“We’ve stared a lot of uncertainty in the face all year and these guys have responded time and time again and we need to do that again right now.”

The Yankees infamously fell apart on defense in the fifth inning of Game 5 in the 2024 World Series. Leading 5-0 with Gerrit Cole on the mound, New York committed two errors and a mental lapse while allowing five unearned runs to score, and the Dodgers went on to win the game and clinch the championship.

“It didn’t seem like we really showed up today,” Schlittler said before walking that statement back and reiterating his frustration over the way he pitched.

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MDSO deputies took at least one person into custody in connection with the case.

According to an arrest report, FBI agents conducting a raid at the property, located at 12300 SW 51st St., notified MDSO at around 1 p.m. Saturday that they found a possible animal fighting operation. The report doesn’t make clear whether the federal search had anything to do with suspected animal fighting.

An MDSO detective responded and conducted a walkthrough of the 10-acre property and “observed several thousand game fowl roosters” and “numerous” enclosed cockfighting training rings, along with “vitamins, syringes, medication and rooster agitators,” the report states.

Authorities said detectives received a search warrant at around 8:40 p.m., but left the property under the watch of patrol deputies and returned the next morning to further search it.

Deputies said while searching the property Sunday morning, they found two men “who breached the secured perimeter of the property.”

Both men ran and jumped a fence, but deputies said they were able to find one of them, Carlos Rafael Lezcano, walking at a nearby nursery.

What the 52-year-old said to deputies was redacted from the publicly-released arrest report, but investigators noted that one of the items they found was “a ledger with his name on it.”

They arrested Lezcano, who lives about a mile away from the site, on charges of animal cruelty, evidence tampering, animal fighting and resisting without violence.

Records show Lezcano was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $10,500 bond as of Monday morning.

The U.S. military has not carried out the death penalty since 1961. The Army secretary will decide a time and place for the execution, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell wrote in a post on X.

“Judgement day for Hasan has finally come,” Parnell wrote.

Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, walked into a medical building where soldiers were getting medical checkups, shouted “Allahu akbar” — Arabic for “God is great!” — and opened fire with a laser-sighted handgun. Thirteen people were killed and more than 30 injured.

He said it was an effort to stop them from going to Afghanistan and killing his fellow Muslims and made almost no effort to defend himself at trial. He told jurors that evidence would show he was the shooter and described himself as a soldier who had “switched sides.”

Trump’s approval triggers a series of procedural steps toward carrying out the execution, but Hasan could put them on hold — potentially for years — with a habeas corpus appeal in the civilian federal court system, according to an article published in May in the magazine Army Lawyer.

Death sentences are extremely rare in the military justice system, and executions even rarer. Four men, including Hasan, are currently on the military's death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. President George W. Bush approved the execution Army Spc. Ronald Gray in 2008 but it was put on hold by a judge and he remains at Leavenworth.

The last man executed in the military system was Pvt. John Bennett, hanged in 1961 for raping an 11-year-old girl.

Trump approved the firing squad execution days after a failed attempt to execute Christa Pike by lethal injection pushed Tennessee’s governor to halt further executions this year and order an independent review.

Trump resumed the federal death penalty after an informal moratorium during previous administrations. The federal government executed 13 people between 2020 and early 2021, contributing to making Trump the most prolific execution president in over 130 years.

Asked whether the botched execution in Tennessee would lead him to seek changes to capital punishment, Trump said it was “an interesting situation.”

“It shouldn’t be very difficult,” Trump said of carrying out lethal injections.

Yankees rookie Spencer Jones hit a towering flyball off a catwalk at quirky Tropicana Field that was caught by Rays right fielder Victor Mesa Jr. for an out in the second inning of New York's 5-2 loss to Tampa Bay in Game 2 of their AL Division Series on Monday.

Jones kept running around the bases as the ball rattled around and fell to Mesa, who ran over to make the catch in center. Center fielder Jonny DeLuca thought he was camped under it but started pointing upward when the ball hit one of the two rings high above the field and below the roof. Mesa caught it several feet in front of DeLuca.

Umpires conferred and confirmed the out, per the stadium's ground rules.

The Rays lead the best-of-five series 2-0 and can close it out Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium.

It wasn't the first time a roof impacted play this postseason.

In the ninth inning of Milwaukee's 3-2 win over the Padres in Game 1 of their NL Division Series on Saturday night, San Diego's Ty France hit a high drive that appeared it might be headed over the left-field wall for a go-ahead homer until it struck a cable on the retractable roof of American Family Field in Milwaukee.

The ball then fell into the glove of Brewers left fielder Jackson Chourio on the warning track to retire the hitter.

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The announcement comes two days before the first of several hearings related to the bankruptcy filing from Sept. 8.

The financing by funds advised on the BC Partners Credit platform requires bankruptcy court approval. It would allow LIV to start planning on a 2027 season, which includes a 10-tournament schedule, half of them at international sites.

"Our goal is to facilitate LIV Golf’s emergence from the restructuring process on sound financial footing and with renewed momentum heading into the 2027 season,” said Ted Goldthorpe, partner and head of BC Partners Credit, the credit arm of BC Partners.

“Just as importantly, we want the players who make this league what it is to share in what they help build,” he said. "Giving players real and actionable ownership in the league and the teams is a unique opportunity in professional golf, and it aligns everyone around the long-term success of the product for the game and for the fans.”

LIV players still have a few weeks to decide if they want to be part of LIV Golf 2.0 now that the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia withdrew its massive funding of more than $5 billion since it launched in 2022. That funding included signing bonuses — nine figures in some cases — and the $20 million prize funds for individual play.

Sergio Garcia last week asked the court to clarify the status of his LIV contract, whether it is terminated because of the bankruptcy filing or if he can terminate the contract himself.

Adrian Meronk, who joined LIV Golf in 2024, won the Dunhill Links Championship on Sunday which paves the way for him to have European tour status next year.

“It’s been a very strange year on LIV, obviously finding about Saudis backing off and finding new investors,” Meronk said after he won. "There’s still a lot of unknowns that we are not sure of. And to be honest, it’s hard from a player’s perspective to make a decision. So I’ll just wait and see. We still have a couple weeks but as I said, this helps a lot.

“I have to really reconsider and see what’s going to happen.”

LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil said the investment was an important step, thanking Goldthorpe and BC Partners “for their conviction in what we're building.”

“We believe deeply in the future of this league and in the opportunity to build something distinctive alongside our players,” O'Neil said in a statement. "We’re delivering on our major milestones, and while there is still work ahead, today marks meaningful progress toward a player-owned, team-focused, truly global league that complements the wider game and creates new opportunities for players, fans, partners, and the next generation of golfers.”

The PGA Tour has not indicated if it will create an instant path back for LIV players, similar to what it did for Brooks Koepka at the start of this year. Much of the attention focuses on LIV's top players, such as Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton and Joaquin Niemann.

“We are excited about what this next phase can mean for the players who compete in the League,” Goldthorpe said. “We invite those who want to help build a strong, sustainable, team golf league to join us.”

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The miscue, blamed on a vendor error, would have no effect on the voters who received the ballots, the county recorder's office said. Maricopa County has about 2.5 million registered voters.

The president was responding to a reporter’s question when he said Maricopa, the most populous county in the battleground state and home to Phoenix, should “be ashamed of themselves.”

“Now they’re saying it was an error,” Trump said. “Maricopa is a very, very dishonest county.”

The president, as he typically does ahead of an election, has been ramping up his rhetoric around voting as Election Day draws near in this year's midterm elections, with control of Congress at stake.

His latest comments referred to a vendor error that came to light over the weekend. The Maricopa County Recorder’s Office, which is run by Republican Recorder Justin Heap, said Sunday that Runbeck Election Services told the office that it “mistakenly mailed 3,126 early ballots the previous day,” six days before they were scheduled to be sent to voters for this year's midterm elections.

Runbeck said the ballots were “processed separately from the primary mailing” because they did not qualify for automated mail processing from the U.S. Postal Service. The pallet containing the ballots was “included with mail released that evening,” which resulted in them reaching the Postal Service six days early, the company said.

The ballots were mailed to the correct voters, are still valid and can be completed and returned normally by those voters, the recorder’s office said in a statement.

Judy Keane, a spokesperson for the recorder's office, did not offer a response to the president’s comments and referred to statements issued by her office and Runbeck.

Jeff Ellington, president and CEO of Runbeck Election Services, said Monday that Maricopa County was not at fault in the snafu.

“It was pure accident, just a human error,” Ellington said in an interview. “We regret it. But it was by no means intentional.”

Maricopa County, which is crucial for deciding statewide races in Arizona, has been a regular target of election conspiracy theories. Trump has frequently focused false claims of a stolen election in 2020 on the county.

Heap and the Republican-controlled county of board of supervisors had been entangled for months in a prolonged legal battle over how to jointly run elections. Heap and the board eventually reached a settlement in July.

Upon climbing off the U.S. deportation flight in Managua, Nicaragua's capital, last week, 35-year-old Jeffrey Jarquín was taken by authorities back to the same prison where he was once tortured, confirmed one family member.

The family member spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity, fearing persecution by the government. Local media first reported on Jarquín’s deportation and detention.

Jarquín was a prominent figure in anti-government protests in 2018, which set off a yearslong campaign by husband-and-wife co-Presidents Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo to crush dissent.

The government’s crackdown on critics, civil society, religious groups and virtually anyone who raised their voice has fueled the flight of more than 800,000 people from the country, according to U.N. figures.

Osley Sallent, Jarquín’s lawyer in the U.S., confirmed the Nicaraguan exile was deported after seeking asylum in the United States.

Jarquín was detained in 2018 with other protesters and thrown into a maximum-security prison known as El Modelo. Until he was released a year later and fled to the U.S., Jarquín and others were tortured in chambers known as “tiny hell,” according to a 2019 report by the Organization of American States.

Sallent said Jarquín was living in Miami when he was detained. Before Jarquín's asylum case was rejected by a Louisiana court in July, Sallent said he was held in Alligator Alcatraz, the Florida immigration detention center in the Everglades plagued by reports of harsh conditions. Sallent wasn't able to provide more details of the asylum case.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Following a request by the AP for more details on why Jarquín was imprisoned for a second time, a spokesperson for Nicaragua's government responded: “Thank you very much! Hugs."

The Trump administration has long criticized the Nicaraguan government and labeled it a dictatorship, especially after authorities there canceled elections scheduled for next year. Just last week, Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Christopher Landau said in remarks before the OAS that what was happening in Nicaragua was “intolerable.”

“Murillo and Ortega’s dictatorship has no place in our hemisphere,” he added.

Despite that, ICE has ramped up deportations to the Central American country in recent months, according to a recent Human Rights Watch report, which said the Trump administration had deported 6,300 Nicaraguans between January and July 2026.

The organization documented that ICE had detained least eight Nicaraguan exiles who were stripped of their citizenship in a move observers say was intended to punish critics, the report said. Some of those detained had pending asylum applications.

Juan Pappier, deputy director of the Americas for Human Rights Watch, said the simultaneous criticisms of Nicaragua's government and deportations of those forced to flee its repression “makes Washington look hypocritical.”

“Nicaragua has the most brutal government in the Western Hemisphere, and any government critic who is sent back is at real risk of torture or persecution," Pappier said.

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Associated Press reporter Gisela Salomon contributed to this report from Miami.

Braden Montgomery lined a two-run double down the right-field line in the sixth inning for the go-ahead runs and Sean Burke allowed one hit in 5 1/3 innings of impressive relief as the White Sox rallied past the Cleveland Guardians 4-3 on Monday to take a 2-0 lead in their AL Division Series.

Game 3 is Wednesday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field, where the White Sox have two chances to do something they haven't done since 1906 — clinch a postseason series at home.

“They've been waiting 120 years, so maybe we can do it this year,” said Grant Taylor, who worked 1 1/3 innings and allowed one hit as he got his second straight save. "I think it’s going to be unbelievable. Those fans deserve it. They’ve been with us for three years of 100 losses and they’ve been with us a good bit this year giving us a lot of support as we’ve gone through this. So being able to give them a postseason game is going to be pretty special."

The surprising White Sox improved to 4-0 in these playoffs — all on the road — and are one win from reaching the ALCS for the first time since winning the World Series in 2005. Chicago became the first team to reach the postseason after three straight 100-loss seasons, including a post-1900 record 121 defeats in 2024.

“Our club has been confident the entire year, regardless of the previous result,” manager Will Venable said. “They come in ready to play and turn the page. Now, we’re really excited to get playoff baseball to our fans.”

Munetaka Murakami hit an RBI single in the fourth to get Chicago within 2-1. Chase Meidroth added an RBI single to extend the lead to 4-2.

Jo Adell hit an RBI triple in the eighth and Chase DeLauter had two hits for the Guardians.

Gavin Williams struck out 11, tied for second-most by a Cleveland pitcher in a postseason game. But the offense failed to produce for the second straight game.

“We have had two-game stretches like this all year and we come right back. I've got a lot of faith in this offense. I have a lot of faith in this team,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. “We've got our work cut out for us. Like I said, this team plays its best with its back against the wall.”

3-run sixth propels the White Sox

The White Sox went ahead with a three-run sixth.

Miguel Vargas led off with a base hit to chase Williams and advanced to second on a groundout. Randal Grichuk drew a walk before a wild pitch by losing pitcher Erik Sabrowski with Tommy Pham at the plate advanced the runners to second and third. Pham flied out to shallow left before Montgomery jumped on a first-pitch fastball to drive in the go-ahead runs.

Montgomery celebrated at second base before scoring on Meidroth’s single to right.

“I was just ready for something to attack, and I was ready for his hardest stuff. I gave myself my best chance to succeed," Montgomery said. “I can’t even describe how it felt. It’s exhilarating. I was just taking it all in.”

Burke silences Cleveland's bats

Burke came on with one out in the third. After Travis Bazzana walked with one out in the fourth, the right-hander retired 13 straight batters until DeLauter got a base hit to end Burke's night.

Burke struck out six and threw 83 pitches, including 53 strikes, to earn the win.

“I was able to settle in and find my groove,” Burke said. “I’ve had openers before, but not in this situation, so I talked with a lot of guys. It’s just normal baseball when you get into that game.”

Taylor entered and allowed an RBI triple to Adell before Nathaniel Lowe flied out to end the eighth.

Guardians get on the board quickly

After getting shut out Saturday, the Guardians struck quickly with a pair of runs in the first.

Steven Kwan led off with a single and José Ramírez walked before Chase DeLauter's grounder off opener Anthony Kay moved the runners to second and third. Sean Newcomb came on and intentionally walked Adell to load the bases. Lowe hit a high chopper to drive in Kwan, but Newcomb threw it wide of the bag at first, allowing Ramírez to score on the error.

It marked the first time in four games this postseason the White Sox were behind.

Kay faced three batters and threw 17 pitches, including eight strikes.

Williams strong early

Williams didn’t allow a hit until Kyle Teel led off the fourth with a single.

The right-hander allowed two runs and four hits in five-plus innings. He had eight strikeouts in the first three innings and became the first Cleveland pitcher to strike out five straight in a postseason game.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

In a post on his social media site, Trump defended the ads, which cost at least $1.5 million in federal funds and have drawn intense criticism. Trump said they were “positive promotion for our Great U.S.A.”

“This is a rather standard thing to do,” the president wrote, while blaming intense criticism for using taxpayer funds on the ads on the “Radical Left.” But the president added that he’d “decided to do the Patriotic Ads, among others, and pay for them myself, and with money I raised for MAGA, Inc."

That is Trump's political war chest, which had amassed more than $400 million by the end of July. Trump has begun to tap it to boost Republican candidates around the country ahead of midterm elections.

Trump provided no details on reimbursing taxpayers for ads that already aired, nor how he would go about having his political organization pay for such future advertising.

The White House — which had fiercely defended using taxpayer money on spots meant to promote the president — said Monday night that MAGA Inc. will pay for such ads going forward. It did not answer questions on how it or Trump might prove that his political funds were being used on such future advertising.

Trump's abrupt about-face came after leaders from both parties criticized using taxpayer funds for the ads.

Legal experts said the ads might even violate federal statutes, including a law against congressionally appropriated funds being used for “publicity or propaganda” and one limiting the partisan political activities of government employees.

The spots began airing in late September

The first ad featured clips of Trump talking about defeating communism interspersed with onscreen text promoting the “largest tax cuts in history,” “reigniting American manufacturing” and a call to “defend law and order and police.”

Later the same week, a second ad began running. It showed scenic videos of Mount Rushmore with quotes and clips from Trump’s Fourth of July weekend speech there honoring the country’s 250th anniversary.

A third, more recent one was virtually identical to an ad for Trump’s Republican reelection campaign in 2024 and showed him walking down a hallway as his voice can be heard warning of a “final battle” against “globalists” and “warmongers.”

All ended with a message: “Paid for by the U.S. Government.”

According to AdImpact, which tracks media spending, the spots had cost at least $1.4 million by the end of September. The actual amount spent could be far more, depending on whether networks classified the ad as a political ad.

Federal prosecutors initially accused Marimar Martinez, then 30, of using her vehicle to strike and box in agent Charles Exum’s SUV on Chicago’s southwest side on Oct. 4, 2025, during “Operation Midway Blitz.” Exum then exited his car and opened fire, leaving Martinez with seven gunshot wounds.

In the month after the shooting, prosecutors filed to dismiss the charges in a dramatic reversal of the closely watched case in the nation's third-largest city.

Agent fired into rear of car, attorneys say

Her lawyers said Monday that they commissioned an expert to analyze bullet trajectories and her injuries and determined Exum wasn't in the path of her car when he opened fire. They said he had walked several feet toward her car, contrary to statements he made to the FBI, and fired off five shots in less than a second, the last from the rear side of her vehicle.

“Charles Exum told the FBI agent on that day, within hours of the shooting, that Marimar was driving her car directly at him, that he shot her five times through the windshield, and that he ceased firing once he was no longer in the path of the vehicle. Those are three objective lies that you’ll see here today,” said one of her attorneys, Chris Parente.

Parente said there were only three bullet holes in Martinez’ windshield on the right passenger side, which indicated Martinez wasn't driving toward the agent. He said the fourth shot was fired through the front passenger side window, adding another bullet hole in the back of Martinez’ car seat showed the agent fired the fifth shot from behind her.

“In what world can a U.S. law enforcement officer stand behind a car and fire his Glock service weapon through the rear passenger window at a young woman who’s crouched over the steering wheel?” Parente said.

CBP said in a statement to The Associated Press in response to the suit that Exum had been placed on administrative leave. Use-of-force incidents are “thoroughly investigated, reviewed, and presented” to an independent board, it added.

Exum is not a defendant in the lawsuit against the federal government, which was filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act and does not allow for lawsuits against individual agents. It was not known where Exum could be reached.

Body-worn camera footage from another agent in Exum's vehicle before the shooting captured the agents saying it was “time to get aggressive” and making other profanity-laced comments encouraging violence, according to the complaint.

Martinez taken from hospital with bullet holes ‘leaking blood,' suit says

The FBI arrested Martinez, taking her out of the hospital just hours after the shooting when she was “wheelchair bound and her bullet holes were leaking blood through her bandages,” according to the lawsuit. A judge ordered her release two days after her arrest.

Messages released by Martinez’ attorneys in February showed that former head of Border Patrol Greg Bovino had praised Exum for his “excellent service in Chicago” after the shooting. Other messages they released showed agents in a group chat congratulating Exum and calling him a “legend.”

Martinez was one several people shot in their cars by federal agents during President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. An immigration agent shot a Venezuelan delivery driver in his car in Austin, Texas, last month, and another shot a Colombian driver in Biddeford, Maine, in July. The Trump administration has at times justified such shootings as self-defense against people allegedly weaponizing their vehicles.

Martinez appeared with her attorneys at a news conference Monday, saying the various shootings spurred her to file suit.

“If I don’t, then who else, you know? Look at what happened to Renee and all these victims,” she said, referring to Renee Good, a woman shot dead in her vehicle by a federal agent in Minneapolis in January.

“What’s happening is not normal. We shouldn’t stay here and normalize what’s happening,” she said.

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Mayes-Osterman 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.

Police officers and fire rescue personnel responded to the area of Northwest 56th Avenue and West Sunrise Boulevard.

Local 10 News Assignment Editor Carson Merlo contributed to this report.

Location

Tree planting and flooding prevention are among the top issues Desulme said his administration is addressing.

“I want another two years to continue and finish that work,” Desulme said.

Morgan, an engineer, said he wants to bring a different approach to City Hall.

“I am looking for new things that we can do, things that we haven’t done before, thinking outside the box, talking with developers, contractors,” Morgan said.

Desulme said addressing the lack of affordable housing is among the priorities of the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency.

“I think we can do that also by looking at how our structure of taxes are, ”Morgan said. “It’s going to take a lot of work, but I believe we need to ask the questions.”

To address the cost of living, Desulme said the city has hosted several food distribution programs.

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, the state’s Republican candidate for governor, said Pike’s unsuccessful execution last week “should not be grounds to halt carrying out the death penalty.” Rather, she said, Tennessee needs to reevaluate the way it does executions.

“If it’s lethal injection, if it is electric chair, what we do know is we have to find a way to do this — and do it successfully,” Blackburn told The Associated Press.

Top legislative leaders have already spoken with Blackburn about potential changes to state execution laws during their 2027 session.

“We want to broaden it, include more methods," House Speaker Cameron Sexton said. "What those are as of today, I’m not sure. But I don’t think there’s any method that’s off the table at this point.”

Most U.S. states that allow executions use lethal injection as their primary means, though South Carolina sets its default as electrocution and Idaho the firing squad, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Some states give prisoners a choice of execution methods. Death by electricity or gas is authorized in nine states, including five that specify nitrogen gas, the center said. Five states authorize a firing squad.

Florida, which leads the nation in executions this year, uses a three-drug lethal injection that includes a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart.

Tennessee's execution procedures have been in the national spotlight since Wednesday, when prison officials gave Pike two doses of a barbiturate that were supposed to be lethal but didn't ultimately kill her. Pike has remained hospitalized under guard, left unconscious and on a ventilator with blisters and burns on her arms from the drug, her lawyers have said.

Pike, now 50, was sentenced to death for the 1995 torture and slaying of a classmate, Colleen Slemmer. Pike was age 18 at the time and became one of the youngest women sent to death row.

Republican Gov. Bill Lee, whose term ends in January, halted the one remaining execution scheduled for this year and ordered an independent investigation into the state’s capital punishment system after Pike's failed execution. He said Saturday the commissioner of the Department of Correction will step down.

Blackburn said comprehensive change is needed — “it is personnel, processes, procedures, protocols that are all going to need to be addressed.”

Tennessee law already allows electrocution if the department is unable to carry out a lethal injection despite reasonable efforts to do so. State law also gives people who committed crimes before 1999 the option of choosing electrocution.

Between 2018 and 2020, five Tennessee prisoners chose electrocution. That could remain an option for about two dozen of the 40 people on death row.

Sexton said the legislature could consider amending the law to give the state a choice of execution methods.

House Majority Leader William Lamberth said he is open to making electrocution the state's primary means of execution. But no matter the method, Lamberth said he doesn't want any changes to take too long to implement.

“We want these sentences to be carried out effectively, efficiently and humanely," he said, adding: "Whatever we do, I do not want it to delay justice for these victims’ families.”

Republican state Sen. Todd Gardenhire, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he expects a deliberate review of what went wrong and what can be done to improve the execution process.

“I think the electric chair is the quickest and simplest way to do it,” he said.

Leer en español

The statistics are sobering, but there is good news. When breast cancer is found early, it’s not only treatable. It’s beatable.

During Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, Local 10’s Kristi Krueger will file health reports that focus on breast cancer detection and prevention.

It’s all part of a new Local 10 campaign called “Proactively Pink.” The goal is to raise awareness that early detection saves lives and significantly improves treatment outcomes. Adopting a healthier lifestyle that includes maintaining a healthy weight and exercising regularly can lower the risk of the disease.

“Proactively Pink” runs every Thursday in October, beginning Oct. 1, during the 5:30 p.m. newscast.

Brasil, la cuarta democracia más grande del mundo y hogar de aproximadamente el 60% de la selva amazónica, llevó a cabo elecciones el domingo para elegir presidente, Congreso y gobernadores. La contienda presidencial sigue sin definirse: el senador Flávio Bolsonaro —hijo del expresidente de extrema derecha Jair Bolsonaro— se enfrentará al presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva en una segunda vuelta el 25 de octubre.

El Partido Liberal de Bolsonaro ganó cerca de un tercio de los escaños del Senado y casi una cuarta parte de los de la Cámara de Diputados, lo que lo convierte en el partido con mayor número de miembros en ambas cámaras.

“Las elecciones ya han producido un cambio significativo en el Congreso”, señaló en un comunicado Amazon Watch, una organización sin fines de lucro enfocada en la protección ambiental y los derechos indígenas. “El nuevo equilibrio de poder fortalece a grupos que respaldan la minería en tierras indígenas y cambios a las protecciones territoriales y ambientales, independientemente de quién gane la segunda vuelta”.

Las preocupaciones por la deforestación van más allá del partido de Bolsonaro

Varios legisladores electos en estados amazónicos han respaldado la minería, incluso en tierras indígenas, o un debilitamiento de las protecciones ambientales. Fernando Máximo, senador electo del Partido Liberal por Rondonia, ha desestimado como “falsedades” los hallazgos científicos sobre contaminación por mercurio derivada de la minería ilegal de oro.

Esas posturas se extienden más allá del partido de Bolsonaro. El senador Plínio Valério, del Partido de la Social Democracia Brasileña, de centroderecha —quien fue reelegido en Amazonas—, ha pedido legalizar la minería y ha criticado los operativos de fiscalización.

“Brasil sale de estas elecciones con un Congreso aún más agresivo hacia los derechos indígenas”, denunció la Articulación de los Pueblos Indígenas de Brasil (APIB), la principal organización indígena del país.

La minería en territorios indígenas requiere aprobación del Congreso

En general, la protección de los territorios indígenas es considerada una forma eficaz de frenar la deforestación en la Amazonía, la selva tropical más grande del mundo y un regulador clave del clima global. Un análisis de la red de monitoreo MapBiomas efectuado en 2022 concluyó que los territorios indígenas en Brasil perdieron apenas el 1% de su vegetación nativa en tres décadas, frente al 20% en tierras privadas a nivel nacional.

Según la legislación brasileña, cualquier investigación mineral o actividad minera en territorios indígenas requiere la aprobación de los legisladores, además de una consulta a las comunidades locales. El próximo Congreso, que asumirá el 1 de febrero de 2027, inevitablemente se pronunciará sobre la minería en tierras indígenas, ya que en febrero el juez Flávio Dino, del Supremo Tribunal Federal, les ordenó a los legisladores aprobar una ley que regule el tema.

“Se prevé que el debate sobre la minería en tierras indígenas avance, independientemente del resultado electoral. Y los resultados de las elecciones plantean mayores riesgos de que las normas presten poca atención a los derechos indígenas”, manifestó Márcio Santilli, miembro fundador de la organización sin fines de lucro Instituto Socioambiental de Brasil y expresidente del organismo brasileño de asuntos indígenas.

Marcos Sabaru, estratega político indígena de la APIB, indicó que la promesa de Bolsonaro de permitir que los indígenas exploten minería en sus tierras enfrentaría importantes obstáculos legales, ya que, técnicamente, las tierras indígenas y sus recursos minerales pertenecen al gobierno federal.

“Si abren las tierras indígenas y dejan de pertenecer al gobierno federal, entonces ¿a quién pertenecen? ¿A los ganaderos y a las empresas mineras? ¿A los pueblos indígenas?”, planteó Sabaru. “Estaríamos sentando un precedente sin saber adónde conduciría”.

Los precios récord del oro, impulsados en gran medida por la demanda de los inversionistas de activos seguros en medio del incremento de los riesgos globales, han alimentado un renovado auge minero en la Amazonía, disparando la deforestación y la contaminación por mercurio en comunidades ribereñas e indígenas. Un análisis reciente del Instituto de Investigación Ambiental de la Amazonía —una organización sin fines de lucro en Brasil— encontró que la minería de oro se expandió casi siete veces en estas tierras entre 2016 y 2024.

El Partido Liberal de Bolsonaro no respondió a una solicitud de comentarios que le hizo The Associated Press.

El gobierno de Lula ha reducido el repunte de la deforestación, pero no ha cumplido algunas metas

Durante su campaña, Flávio Bolsonaro indicó que abriría las tierras indígenas a actividades económicas, sin aclarar si establecería normas de deforestación para esos territorios.

“Si quieren cultivar o arrendar su territorio, serán libres de hacerlo. Si quieren autorizar la minería en sus tierras, también podrán hacerlo”, declaró Bolsonaro al podcast Market Makers. “Todo esto se hará de manera responsable y con salvaguardas ambientales, respetando sus deseos”.

Desde 2023, el gobierno de Lula ha revertido el incremento de la deforestación en la Amazonía ocurrido durante el mandato de Jair Bolsonaro, intensificó las labores contra la minería ilegal de oro, creó un Ministerio de los Pueblos Indígenas y reconstruyó el organismo de asuntos de dichos pueblos. Pero no ha cumplido algunas promesas, incluida la demarcación de tierras indígenas, observó Sabaru. Aun así, la APIB respalda a Lula para su reelección.

“Se nos dificulta defender al gobierno de Lula. Realmente así es”, expresó Sabaru. “Pero lo hacemos porque la otra parte no es una opción”.

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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de la AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.

The blue-eyed rabbit became something of a Local 10 mascot after employees spotted him hopping around the property, often alongside a flock of chickens. Staff members began feeding and looking out for him, but eventually realized the domestic rabbit needed more help than they could provide.

That’s when Southwest Florida House Rabbit Rescue stepped in.

“We got a message from somebody from the news station that there was a bunny that had been running around for quite some time, and they were a little concerned if he might need help,” founder Jennifer Macbeth said.

Macbeth has spent years helping domestic rabbits. She founded the nonprofit about a decade ago after recognizing what she described as a lack of advocacy for the animals.

“There’s not a lot of advocacy for domestic rabbits,” Macbeth said. “They’re sort of the underdog out there and sort of misunderstood.”

The organization uses Macbeth’s home along with a network of about two dozen foster homes to rescue rabbits from across South Florida. Macbeth said the nonprofit takes in about 1,500 rabbits annually and receives at least five calls a day about stray rabbits needing help.

According to Macbeth, domestic rabbits face significant challenges when left outside.

“Prey animals like domestic rabbits; they are in survival mode,” she said. “I mean, they are just constantly scared essentially. They are always looking for shelter, for food, monitoring for traffic and predators.”

Local 10 employees had been providing the rabbit with food, helping him survive while he was living on the property.

Eventually, the rescue was able to trap him and bring him to safety.

“Right away, he knew that he was safe, and he loves being here,” Macbeth said. “He loves all his things; he likes being around the other rabbits.”

From Sheridan to Duke

While Local 10 employees had called the bunny Sheridan, his rescuers gave him a new name: Duke.

He quickly began making himself comfortable in his new surroundings.

“He’s adventurous, he’s already got out a few times and run around the house and introduced himself to everybody,” Macbeth said with a laugh.

The Animal Advocate team traveled to Bonita Springs to check on Duke and joined him for a trip to the veterinarian before he was neutered.

Dr. Linda Kitchen, an exotic veterinarian at Animal Hospital of Bonita, determined Duke is a 1-year-old Dutch rabbit weighing about 3 1/2 pounds.

“He’s been a good survivor,” Kitchen said. “He looks good, no mites, he hasn’t had any eye trouble, and his teeth are still doing really well, and he’s not underweight.”

Kitchen said Duke’s coloring could have made surviving outdoors especially dangerous.

“He wouldn’t be able to survive outside with this white stripe on him,” she said. “It’s just like a target, like a beacon to someone, another animal to grab him.”

What to know before bringing home a bunny

Macbeth and Kitchen also stressed that owning a rabbit comes with significant responsibilities and expenses.

Spaying or neutering a rabbit can cost between $600 and $800, while initial supplies can add another $200. Food can cost at least $100 a month.

Rabbits are classified as exotic pets and can live between 10 and 14 years with proper care.

Spaying and neutering are also important because of how quickly rabbits can reproduce.

“Rabbits breed like rabbits, so every 31 days they can give birth to up to 10 rabbits,” Macbeth said. “They get pregnant immediately after giving birth.”

Macbeth said thousands of rabbits are dumped on South Florida streets, including unwanted pets and rabbits that had previously been used for breeding.

Duke, however, now has a much different future ahead of him.

He has been neutered and is available for adoption through Southwest Florida House Rabbit Rescue.

Information for anyone interested in adopting Duke is available by clicking here.

Los Cornell Seven son un grupo de miembros de la fraternidad Chi Phi de Cornell University en Ithaca, Nueva York, acusados de drogar y violar en grupo a una estudiante en 2024.

Uno de ellos, según fuentes de Local 10 News, asistió a NSU University School antes de ir a Cornell y luego llegar a NSU.

En una carta dirigida a estudiantes, profesores y empleados de NSU, el presidente y CEO Harry Moon confirmó que las acusaciones “pueden involucrar a un estudiante que posteriormente se transfirió a NSU”.

“Al momento de la admisión, la universidad no estaba al tanto de las acusaciones reportadas posteriormente en los medios”, dijo Moon. “Una vez que nos enteramos del incidente reportado, actuamos de inmediato en nombre de la seguridad y el bienestar de nuestros estudiantes y de la comunidad de NSU. Debido a que este asunto involucra la ley federal relacionada con un estudiante en particular, la universidad está legalmente restringida por regulaciones federales que limitan lo que la universidad puede compartir”.

Moon no identificó al estudiante involucrado, pero agregó en su declaración que la universidad está monitoreando la situación y permanecerá vigilante, al tiempo que dejó claro que no tiene conocimiento de ninguna amenaza actual para la comunidad universitaria.

Algunos estudiantes en el campus el lunes dijeron a Local 10 News que estaban frustrados porque el presidente no confirmó que el estudiante hubiera sido expulsado o suspendido.

Dijeron que quieren saber con certeza que se fue.

“Obviamente, no dice si fue removido o si todavía está aquí o nada de eso”, dijo Mars Rivera, estudiante de NSU.

En el caso de Cornell, la mujer conocida como Jane Doe presentó el mes pasado una demanda civil contra los hombres, su hermandad y Cornell University, lo que desató una conversación a nivel nacional sobre agresión sexual, seguridad en los campus y responsabilidad institucional.