Sometimes it is just a few drops. But on this August afternoon, the monsoon kicked into high gear, setting its sights on a remote section of the Grand Canyon's North Rim. Down below, dozens of hikers were setting up camp along Bright Angel Creek and admiring the towering walls they eventually would have to traverse on the way back up.

It wasn't long before muddy water came rushing down the creek. The sound was deafening as it crashed against the rocks, carrying with it tree branches, sediment and other debris.

Violent thunderstorms and subsequent flash flooding are nothing new during the summer months in the southwestern United States. Those in the canyon last Saturday knew the risks, but this storm packed an extra punch, washing out key footbridges and doing more damage to infrastructure than previous decades of turbulent water.

Two people died and at least one is still missing. More than 80 people were airlifted out of the canyon, and the National Park Service is assessing the damage.

Forecasts warned of severe storms and flood risks

A storm of generational proportions — that is how some of the hikers described it in interviews with The Associated Press. Some talked about scrambling to higher ground as the rushing water approached. Others hunkered down under a ledge to avoid falling rocks.

“It was for sure some of the worst acute fast-forming weather I have ever seen in my time, whether it’s in the mountains or marine environments or in the desert Southwest,” said Drew Harrell, an emergency medicine physician with University of New Mexico Hospital who was on a training mission at the time as medical director for Grand Canyon National Park.

Harrell is no stranger to working in austere environments and has hiked rim-to-rim more than a dozen times. He and his team had checked the weather before starting their annual trip. They were more worried about afternoon temperatures stretching into the triple digits rather than rain.

But this storm, Harrell said, seemed to come out of the blue just as his six-member group entered “The Box,” the final 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) before Phantom Ranch, an oasis at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

“It went from relatively clear skies to blowing winds in the time frame of about a minute,” he said, estimating the gusts at 40 mph (64 kph).

Hikers had little time to act

Within minutes, torrential rains, gusting winds and even hail enveloped hikers along the creek.

“We were concerned that there would be rocks and just flooding coming down from both sides of the canyon on top of us,” said Parth Desai, another physician who was with the group.

As emergency room doctors do, they weighed their options and calculated the risks as conditions changed around them.

“We saw basically the flood, waterfalls coming up out of nowhere, boulders, mud, landslides happening everywhere,” Desai said. “And then we were concerned about a lightning strike.”

They made another run for it, heading down the trail toward Phantom Ranch. They maneuvered around cottonwood trees brought down by the first microburst when they saw more debris rushing toward them. They scrambled through cactus to reach higher ground.

Floodwaters overtake what is usually a shady oasis

Up the creek at the Cottonwood Campground, Mike Sumaruk and his friend were relaxing after a nearly 7-mile (11-kilometer) hike down into the canyon. The wind started howling, and the rain intensified.

“I jumped into my tent because I thought it was going to blow away and was trying to hold it down,” he said in a phone interview Tuesday.

Then he heard this roar.

“I thought it was like thunder in the distance, but it wasn’t going away. And I said, that’s not thunder, and I unzipped the tent and got out and saw the huge wall of water,” Sumaruk said. “We just left everything.”

The Tulsa, Oklahoma, resident has hiked plenty of mountain peaks over the years, but this was his first time in the Grand Canyon. It was gorgeous, he said, lamenting that he wasn't able to see more of the natural wonder.

Sumaruk used an emergency phone at an unstaffed ranger station to contact park authorities, telling them he and about a dozen others were stranded. A park ranger traveling on foot eventually reached the group, and they waited until Sunday to be airlifted to the South Rim, where the Red Cross was waiting and counselors were on hand to help.

Harrell shared Sumaruk's appreciation for the park staff, particularly the rangers down in the canyon. He credited them with moving dozens of people at Phantom Ranch to safer areas before water took out the bridges.

“They mitigated the opportunity for there to have been more serious loss of life or injuries,” Harrell said.

The trail turned into a river

Tom Monroe and two friends set out early Saturday from the North Rim. Knowing it was monsoon season, and after seeing light rain the day before, they tried to keep an eye on the weather — though scant cellphone reception made that difficult.

Monroe said they decided to proceed after one hiker they met told them the forecast looked mild. Another who had just climbed the trail reported the way was clear.

They were aiming for Cottonwood Campground. In the first mile, it started sprinkling.

“Then it started just opening up, holy hell raining on us,” said Monroe, 59, of Flagstaff, Arizona, who runs a business making custom food-storage bags for campers.

The trio kept going, figuring it would let up. The downpour continued, mixed with thunder and lightning. Runoff started funneling down the trail. It looked almost like a river, Monroe said.

One friend took shelter in a small alcove in the canyon wall. Monroe huddled under an overhang that protected him — not just from the water but also from sand, mud and rocks falling with it.

“On either side you could see rocks the size of footballs or beach balls coming down the cliffs from the top,” he said.

The friend who was farther ahead had to scramble up a steep slope, where he grabbed tree roots to keep from getting swept away.

The 20-minute downpour seemed to last forever, Monroe said.

“None of us can really stop thinking about it,” Monroe said in a phone interview Wednesday, safely back home in Flagstaff.

Flooding doesn't dampen hikers' outdoor plans

Monroe and his friends already were planning to head outdoors again this weekend, just staying a little closer to home and doing some car camping.

And Sumaruk is thinking about a return trip to the Grand Canyon whenever hikers are allowed again. He will be watching and waiting as the National Park Service begins the arduous process of rebuilding a key water-supply line that was severely damaged, fixing the miles of trail that were washed out and replacing the footbridges.

He said he understands “weather happens” and it will take time for the canyon to recover. Years of research went into his first trip along with months of planning and training, and he is not giving up.

“I'm definitely going to give it another shot,” he said.

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Associated Press writers Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, and Jamie Stengle in Dallas, contributed to this report. Montoya Bryan reported from Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The man, identified as Malek Ghazi, was handed over to the Lebanese army via the ICRC, one of the Lebanese security officials said. The other official said they were anticipating the release of another prisoner. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that Ghazi was handed over to the ICRC at the border crossing in the coastal town of Naqoura on Lebanon's southern frontier and was then transferred to a Lebanese army intelligence office in the city of Tyre.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Dozens of Lebanese prisoners are believed to be held in Israeli detention centers, including civilians as well as Hezbollah militants captured during fighting in southern Lebanon. The circumstances of Ghazi’s capture were not immediately clear, but one of the Lebanese officials said he was a civilian.

The prisoner release came as talks between Lebanese and Israeli officials had appeared to reach an impasse. Lebanon and Israel in June signed a framework deal under which Israeli forces were to withdraw from areas they are occupying in southern Lebanon in exchange for disarmament of Hezbollah, but little progress has been made in implementation on the ground.

Another round of talks is expected to take place in Rome later this month.

The discovery by Shirakawa and two fellow American scientists, Alan Heeger and Alan MacDiarmid, demonstrated that plastic could conduct electricity like metal and be used in applications such as electronics.

Shirakawa died on Aug. 24, according to the University of Tsukuba, where he taught and researched after joining in 1979. The university did not specify a cause of death. Japan's largest newspaper, the Yomiuri, said Shirakawa died at a hospital in Yokohama, west of Tokyo.

Born in Tokyo in 1936, Shirakawa earned a doctoral degree in engineering at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1966. Ten years later, he became a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, where he worked with McDiarmid and Heeger.

The three scientists' findings that defied common sense that plastics are not conductive paved the way for the development of inexpensive conductive materials that are lighter and more flexible than metals and used in solar cells and mobile phone screens.

It happened on Aug. 21 outside the McDonald’s at 1310 S. Federal Highway in Dania Beach.

“They basically jumped an old man,” said parent Yanelle Perez, who witnessed the fight. “My children are saying it’s a new trend that’s happening after school.”

Perez, a mother of two children who attend nearby Olsen Middle School, was there to pick up her kids when the fight broke out, so she started filming.

“I don’t know what happened inside the McDonald’s, I just see this whole gang of kids, as you can tell in the video, and this one man. It’s only one man,” she said. “This lady is running for her life, an older woman. These kids are just attacking him and you can tell he can’t help himself. It’s disgusting.”

When asked why she was sharing her video and story, she said, “I just feel like parents need to be aware.”

Olsen Middle School Principal Janet Giancarli sent a message to parents in regard to the incident, which stated:

“An adult male approached the students and initiated a physical confrontation outside of the restaurant. The Broward Sheriff’s Office responded and investigated. No one was injured.

“We understand that a video of this incident is now circulating on social media and is concerning. While the incident did not occur on school grounds or during the school day, we take any situation involving our students seriously and we will continue to work closely with law enforcement regarding this matter. The safety and well-being of our students remain our highest priority.”

The principal did not state how she claims to know the man started the fight and Perez disputed the principal’s characterization of what happened.

“I can’t see that happening,” she said. “He was basically begging them to leave him alone.”

Miramar city commissioners discussed the Pembroke Road Expansion Project Wednesday night during the regular city commission meeting.

The meeting included a necessary step to approve a construction agreement with the Florida Department of Transportation, which owns the right of way along U.S. 27.

The assistant city manager said plans are anticipated in the first quarter of 2027.

Pembroke Road stretches for miles from U.S. 1 on the east side of Broward County until it dead-ends along a field a couple of miles short of the Everglades.

The plan calls for widening Pembroke Road into a four-lane divided road. It also includes extending Miramar Parkway to the south, shifting it to a two-lane undivided street from Southwest 192nd Terrace to Pembroke Road.

The project was approved unanimously.

Construction could cause some temporary traffic headaches, but the project could also cut travel time by as much as a third for people traveling along Pembroke Road to and from busy U.S. 27.

The EPA proposal would eliminate a federal requirement that states notify the public and seek comment before issuing air pollution permits for data centers and other industrial facilities. States could still offer opportunities for public comment, but the EPA would no longer mandate them as a condition for states to grant permits.

Critics say the move could thwart local residents from learning about proposed data centers or making their voices heard before projects are approved and construction begins. The move comes during a widespread backlash as tech giants build hundreds of massive server warehouses to fuel artificial intelligence and cloud computing.

“By eliminating the long-standing federal requirement for public notice, this proposal continues efforts by the Trump administration to turn its back on the fundamental EPA principle of transparency,” said Mike Koerber, a former deputy director of EPA’s air quality office.

If made final, the plan could create “an unlevel playing field where citizens in one state are kept completely in the dark about new data centers and heavy industrial emissions in their backyards, while neighboring states maintain oversight,” he said.

Under the EPA plan, states with weak or no requirements for public comment could speed permits for data centers, power plants and other pollution sources without consulting the public or even informing communities where the facilities are located, Koerber and other critics said.

Communities deserve a chance to weigh in, advocates say

“Data centers and other industrial sources should not be able to get their air pollution permits in secret,” said Keri Powell, senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, an advocacy organization that leads a coalition of nearly 200 environmental, health and community groups that filed comments with the EPA opposing the plan. “Communities deserve a chance to weigh in" before potentially harmful projects are approved.

An EPA spokesperson called that a false narrative.

“In our proposal we are saying that states get to pick how they want their permitting process to go for minor sources” of air pollution, spokesperson Carolyn Holran said.

The EPA proposal does not specifically identify data centers, she said, noting that the plan also would apply to laundromats, car repair shops and even landfills and steel mills that are considered “minor” pollution sources under the federal Clean Air Act.

The proposal does not demand that states make particular changes to their programs, nor does it alter federal emission standards or weaken environmental protections, Holran said. “Rather, the proposal simply aligns the national program with the Clean Air Act language to ensure that states are in the lead regarding their programs."

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, who has made U.S. leadership in AI a top agency priority, said in a statement that the plan is aimed at “cutting unnecessary and burdensome red tape, unleashing American energy and advancing cooperative federalism” with states. The EPA is expected to make the rule final next year.

President Donald Trump continues to stick up for data centers, even as politicians from both parties criticize them and many communities try to block them. Trump said on social media this week that U.S. communities that don’t have data centers will “end up being backwards and poor.”

Trump says data centers are crucial in the AI race against China

Trump has acknowledged that data centers need “a little public relations help” and has pushed tech companies to generate their own electricity to shield consumers from higher utility bills. The Republican president calls data centers critical to winning the AI race against China.

Environmental groups and other critics say the EPA proposal ignores the reality that many states, particularly in the South and Midwest, don't require public notice or hearings beyond those set by federal agencies. The federal plan would leave many communities in the dark before data centers show up in their backyards, they said.

“It’s beyond cruel for Trump’s EPA to silence front-line communities who bear the brunt of unhealthy air,” said Brandon Jones-Cobb, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, another environmental group.

The EPA “has already turned its back on science, cut enforcement against industrial polluters and eliminated life-saving air pollution measures," he said. “Now it wants to shut the public out of decisions to build or expand facilities that expose communities to dangerous air pollution, including data centers.”

Powell, whose organization focuses on six Southern states from Virginia to Alabama, said many states “only do what is required by federal law” when it comes to public notice of land-use projects and other environmental concerns.

"We rely on a minimum federal requirement to ensure we have environmental protections and a voice,'' she said in an interview, calling regulation of data centers a crucial issue in a region where the energy-hungry behemoths are proliferating. Virginia and Georgia are both among states with the highest concentration of current and proposed data centers.

Americans worry data centers could cause pollution, job losses

Besides powering AI and cloud computing, data centers are often sources of nitrogen oxide, which helps form ozone, as well as carbon monoxide and other air pollutants. Local communities also have expressed concerns about excessive water use and noise from data centers. Many Americans worry that AI could increase economic disparities and cause widespread job losses.

Data center advocates stress that local taxes paid by the centers can help fund public schools, reducing the financial burden on homeowners.

Jane Williams, executive director of California Communities Against Toxics, said even if data centers ultimately are approved, "every community should be able to participate robustly in governmental decisions that can pollute our air.''

Rolling back the EPA rule “pulls a dark cloud, filled with soot and toxic chemicals, over communities’ right to know what polluting facilities are planned in their community,” she said.

The crash happened around 7:40 p.m. near Northwest 51st Terrace and Northwest 33rd Avenue.

According to MDSO, deputies with the agency’s Robbery Intervention Detail (RID) conducted a traffic stop on one of the vehicles shortly before the crash.

Deputies said they confirmed during that stop that the driver had an outstanding warrant, but the driver fled from them.

“As additional RID units responded to the area the driver entered a dead-end street,” an MDSO spokesperson told Local 10 News in an email Thursday. “After turning around, the driver ran a stop sign, colliding with a civilian vehicle causing it to flip. The impact caused the vehicles to subsequently collide with an unmarked MDSO vehicle occupied by an RID deputy who was in the area searching for the subject.”

A picture obtained by Local 10 shows the flipped vehicle. A person can also be seen on the ground in the area, apparently in handcuffs.

“I seen him hit the car, and I seen him flip over in the air. And that’s when I ran over there,” one witness said. “I seen it while it happened. I seen it -- pieces of the car flying in the air.”

The driver of the civilian vehicle was taken by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center in critical condition, but later died, authorities confirmed.

Deputies said the suspect was taken into custody and transported to a local hospital to be evaluated, and the deputy was treated at the scene by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.

The investigation remains ongoing. The suspect’s identity has not yet been released.

Los incendios se han extendido por varias provincias, creando un vasto frente que se extiende desde el centro hasta el extremo oriental de la nación norteafricana. Efectivos de Protección Civil, apoyados por escuadrones del ejército, seguían combatiendo rebrotes en las provincias de Sétif y Guelma esta semana, donde se han quemado grandes extensiones de bosque.

En Jijel, una provincia a 200 kilómetros (125 millas) al este de Argel conocida por sus playas de arena fina, aguas turquesas y colinas de olivos y árboles frutales y cedros, ha sufrido los mayores daños.

No quedaba nada de los 1.200 kilómetros cuadrados (460 millas cuadradas) de bosques, solo cenizas humeantes y tocones carbonizados. La cifra oficial de muertos en Jijel era de 12, según uno de los primeros comunicados del Ministerio del Interior al inicio de la crisis a finales de agosto.

Pero la situación es mucho más trágica: en redes sociales circulan videos que muestran decenas de ataúdes alineados junto a fosas comunes, a la espera de ser enterrados antes de que los cuerpos se descompongan por el calor.

“He trabajado en Protección Civil durante 40 años. Hemos enfrentado incendios, pero es la primera vez que nos enfrentamos a una catástrofe humana, ambiental y material de esta magnitud. Hay cientos de muertos”, declaró el teniente Djabri Said a The Associated Press.

Cifra de muertos podría superar los reportes oficiales

Abdelwahab Boukrouh, periodista de la Dirección de Comunicación de la Presidencia, anunció en su página de Facebook que su familia, que vive en Ouled Riyah, un pueblo de montaña, perdió a 12 miembros durante la noche del 22 al 23 de agosto, y hay otros tres desaparecidos, incluyendo mujeres, menores y personas mayores que se vieron sorprendidas por las llamas en sus modestas viviendas.

Miles de cabezas de ganado, entre vacas, ovejas, cabras, mulas y burros, no pudieron escapar. Sus cadáveres calcinados cubren los empinados caminos que conducen a las aldeas, mientras que las viviendas han quedado reducidas a poco más que montones de cenizas humeantes.

Los medios privados y públicos —todos ellos bajo control estatal— se han ceñido a la cifra de 12 fallecidos en sus informaciones, al tiempo que han destacado la presencia de ministros sobre el terreno y los esfuerzos de las instituciones estatales para ayudar a las víctimas.

Ante la catástrofe, el presidente, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, interrumpió sus vacaciones para visitar personalmente los hospitales especializados de Argel donde se atendía a las víctimas con quemaduras graves. Declaró tres días de luto y convocó una reunión especial del Consejo de Ministros para declarar la región de Jijel “zona de desastre” y asignar recursos para afrontar la crisis.

Una ola espontánea de solidaridad nacional ha derivado en interminables convoyes de camiones cargados con alimentos, medicamentos, paquetes de agua y ropa que se dirigen a las aldeas arrasadas por el fuego. Tebboune anunció indemnizaciones para las familias afectadas, y el Estado se comprometió a reconstruir sus viviendas.

Las autoridades han priorizado la rehabilitación de las escuelas para garantizar que los alumnos puedan regresar al inicio del curso escolar, previsto para el 21 de septiembre.

Llamado a restablecer la pena capital deja reacciones encontradas

Tebboune ha rechazado lo que calificó de “teorías conspirativas” sobre los incendios y, en su lugar, apuntó a explicaciones relacionadas con el clima. Citó a otros países mediterráneos azotados por el fuego este verano, como Francia, Portugal, España e Italia. Los científicos advierten que el cambio climático está agravando la frecuencia e intensidad del calor y la sequía.

Pero Tebboune también hizo referencia a “manos criminales” y anunció que hay investigaciones en curso.

Afirmó que los responsables de los incendios “serán condenados a muerte”, al tiempo que anunció el levantamiento de la moratoria sobre la pena capital, vigente desde 1993. En ese año se produjeron las últimas ejecuciones en el país: tres insurgentes islamistas condenados por un sangriento ataque en el Aeropuerto Internacional de Argel.

Los partidos que respaldan la presidencia de Tebboune, así como las formaciones islamistas, han apoyado su postura. Pero los vinculados al movimiento democrático de Argelia y algunas organizaciones de derechos humanos se han opuesto con firmeza al regreso de la pena de muerte, calificándolo como “un retroceso de Argelia hacia la barbarie” y como un intento de quienes están en el poder de eludir la responsabilidad por el fracaso de su gestión.

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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.

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His first day comes as the district faces several challenges, including a proposal to potentially close more than two dozen schools because of declining enrollment.

Villalobos says under-enrolled schools can struggle to offer students a wide range of programs.

“When you have schools that are under enrolled, there are programs that are lacking that ultimately students are suffering because they are not receiving them,” Villalobos said.

He said schools operating at full capacity are more likely to have stronger elective programs, including music, art and physical education.

The possible school consolidations are raising concerns among parents.

Villalobos says the list of schools being considered for closure is preliminary. He is pausing community meetings to give the proposal a closer look.

“I wanna make sure that we have a proper set of research and communication, not only for my purposes as the new superintendent coming in, but also making sure that the board members have a better understanding of why those schools were selected, the process in which they were selected,” Villalobos said.

He says community meetings are expected to resume sometime after the second week of October.

The hearing in the closely watched case comes the day before the first state begins sending mail ballots to voters.

U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani is considering whether to order a preliminary injunction that would bar the Postal Service from requiring the new system to be used for the midterms. Last week, she imposed a 14-day temporary restraining order to keep it from being used. That order expires next week as more states begin sending out mail ballots.

Talwani has been here before. In June, she prohibited the administration from trying to implement Trump's order for the November election, ruling the changes came too close to the election for the federal government to embark on such a project. But the Supreme Court late last month ruled that Talwani's order was premature because the Postal Service had not yet published regulations governing how it would apply Trump's order. The agency did so just before the high court ruling came down, prompting Democrats and voting rights groups to swiftly re-file their lawsuits.

They counter that the president has no authority to set election rules, which is a power designated in the Constitution to the states and in some cases Congress.

They won an initial victory with Talwani's restraining order, which has already been appealed by the administration. It's likely the case will again end up before the Supreme Court.

Trump has long opposed mail voting and falsely blamed it for his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, even though he often uses that method to cast his own ballot.

Election officials say there's simply no way they can comply with the Postal Service directives, which could require a complete overhaul of their operations. Before it delivers mail ballots for any state, the Postal Service would have to approve the design of the envelopes that contain them and have the state upload a list of voters receiving them to an online portal.

Some ballots have already gone out. A few municipalities in Wisconsin opted to send mail ballots to voters earlier this week, but Friday marks the full kickoff of voting as North Carolina starts shipping its mail ballots to all voters who requested them.

The administration has contended the changes are relatively minor and legal. But the portal was still not active this week, and most election offices have already printed their envelopes and ballots.

A whistleblower report made public this week warns that the postal system's requirements could lead to millions of mail ballots never being sent. The new rule requires all ballots to be physically brought to post offices before being mailed to voters, but if a single one's bar code registers an error, the whole batch gets thrown out, even if it contains tens of thousands of legitimate ballots.

With her trademark streaked hair parted down the middle and large aviator glasses, Steinem, a co-founder of Ms. Magazine, was a hugely recognizable presence wherever she went. And she went everywhere: Much of her life as an advocate was spent on the road, speaking at college campuses and community centers, at rallies and marches.

She died Wednesday at her home in New York City, according to her and her foundation’s social media pages.

“Gloria’s greatest gift was her ability to listen to others, to make others feel seen and heard,” the posts said. “Her words, actions, and example gave people permission to be their truest selves. Gloria lived true to her independent spirit, always with curiosity and a great sense of humor.”

Steinem enjoyed writing and spending time in the community in recent years, the posts said. She also hosted talking circles for hundreds of people in her home. She died just before a planned memoir was to be released this fall.

“You can’t do it on the phone or on the web,” she told The Associated Press in a 2015 interview. “You have to be there with all five senses. It should be obvious that people can’t empathize with each other unless we’re in the same room.”

Steinem changed her career path after a start as a journalist

She began her career as a journalist, notably one who reported, in 1963, on degrading conditions in Hugh Hefner’s Playboy empire, an undercover assignment she came to later regret. She credits a meeting six years later, where women spoke out boldly in favor of abortion rights, with changing her career path.

“That speak-out was the beginning of activism for me,” Steinem, who had undergone a secret illegal abortion herself at age 22, told the AP in an email in 2022, reflecting on the reversal of Roe v Wade. “Either our control over our own bodies is equal, regardless of sex or race, or we’re not living in a democracy.”

Though she soon became a known activist, those who watched Steinem denounce discrimination for so many years likely never suspected that she’d had to overcome a deep fear of public speaking. She would have simply stuck to writing, she said, if only editors at the time had been willing to let her write about the women’s movement.

But they weren’t interested, she told the AP in 2015. “So I ended up going out and speaking, which was my nightmare,” she said. “I mean, I was terrified. But I’m grateful, even though I still get scared even now.”

Steinem's visibility endured throughout her life

Time hardly slowed Steinem down; well into her 80s she was traveling the globe and speaking out on issues of importance to her. These included everything from genital mutilation to Korean reconciliation, but it was equality for women that took precedence. “Being a feminist means that you see the world as whole instead of half,” she once said. “It shouldn’t need a name, and one day it won’t.”

As the years went on, Steinem’s visibility endured. At 83, she sat in the front row of her first fashion show, guest of designer Prabal Gurung. A few days after her 85th birthday, she was leading a women’s “talking circle” at an off-Broadway play celebrating her life, where one by one, women in the audience — many fighting tears — rose to thank her and tell their own stories of discrimination. In 2020, her life was the subject of a feature film, “The Glorias, A Life on The Road,” based on her 2015 memoir and starring Julianne Moore.

And at 91, she collaborated on a picture book with Liberian peace activist and Nobel laureate Leymah Gbowee aimed at inspiring young people to change the world. “Rise, Girl, Rise: Our Sister-Friend Journey. Together for All” was published in February.

The constant visibility came with a price; even into her older years, Steinem expressed frustration that despite her accomplishments, she was often described as beautiful or glamorous (A 1992 Vanity Fair profile even noted her “spectacular racehorse legs.”) It was a label she said unfairly detracted from her message.

“Nobody ever called me beautiful until I was publicly a feminist, and that was in my mid-30s,” she told AP in a 2011 interview. “It was clear that label was being assigned to me. The most hurtful part is that you work very hard, and people say it’s because of your looks.”

Steinem dealt with hostility from many directions

Of course, Steinem also had to deal with hostility. Sometimes it came from surprising places. Appearing on Larry King’s talk show on CNN in 1990, she was visibly stunned when a female caller greeted her cheerfully, then told her to “rot in hell” because she had ruined “the beautiful American family.”

But by then, she noted, at least people were taking feminists seriously. That wasn’t the case in 1972 when she co-founded Ms. Magazine and many commentators — especially male — dismissed it as ridiculous, predicting an early demise. (The magazine continues to this day, published by the Feminist Majority Foundation.)

Among Steinem’s detractors was President Richard Nixon, who was caught on an Oval Office tape ridiculing both her and the “Ms.” title. The ridicule was mutual: In a 1972 National Press Club speech, Steinem called Nixon “the most sexually insecure chief of state since Napoleon.”

It was just one example of Steinem’s trademark wit. Before she married at 66, she often explained her singlehood by saying “I can’t mate in captivity.” Laughter, she wrote, was “the only free emotion — the only one that can’t be compelled.”

In 2013, Steinem was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. “Because of her work across America and around the world, more women are afforded the respect and opportunities that they deserve,” he said, “but she also changed how women thought about themselves.”

Steinem ‘read everything I could get my hands on’ growing up

Gloria Marie Steinem was born on March 25, 1934, in Toledo, Ohio. Her father was a traveling antique salesperson; she spent her early years on the road with her parents, not attending regular school. “I just read everything I could get my hands on,” she told an audience at Manhattan’s 92Y in 2026. “Which was frequently completely unsuitable ... just everything and anything. I also was in love with the movies — my idea of heaven was a movie and a malted.”

In 1944 her parents divorced, and 10-year-old Gloria was left to take care of her mother. a once-promising journalist who struggled to combine her work with running a household, and eventually suffered a nervous breakdown.

As a young girl she excelled at tap dancing — it was even going to be her “ticket out of Toledo,” she said. Although she remained a good dancer, that particular career didn’t materialize. She attended Smith College in the ’50s, a time when, she has said, women were being educated to be mothers and wives.

But marriage was not on Steinem’s mind. “I was engaged to a very nice man. It wasn’t his fault, but I just didn’t want to get married,” she told her 2026 audience. Instead, she took advantage of a modest fellowship to travel to India. After that, Steinem headed to Manhattan, where she couldn’t rent her own apartment because, she said, landlords avoided single women, assuming “if you could earn enough, you must be a hooker.”

The aspiring journalist wanted to write about politics. But editors gave her assignments on food, fashion, and, in what she jokingly called “the lowpoint of my life,” an article about textured stockings. Even more demoralizing was her experience with an editor who, she said, gave her a choice one day: Spend the afternoon in a hotel with him, or mail his letters on the way out.

She chose to mail the letters. “There was no word for sexual harassment then,” she has said. “It was just life.”

But one assignment in 1963 sounded compelling: posing as a Playboy Bunny, for an exposé in the now-defunct Show magazine. Steinem went through the audition process, assuming she’d be weeded out. But she was given her bunny costume — “so tight, it would give a man a cleavage,” she joked — and worked in the job for about a month.

“I could not have made a bigger mistake,” she told the AP in 2011. “It was personally and professionally a disaster. In the short term, it was much harder to get assignments, and in the long term it’s been used to ridicule me.”

Steinem's writing became more political in her 30s

Steinem was in her 30s when she joined the editorial board of New York magazine, and her writing became more political. In 1969, she went to cover an abortion rights hearing. She had never told anyone about her illegal abortion at 22, in London. That was the moment, she has said, that triggered her career as a women’s rights activist. “I don’t think I had ever felt part of a group before,” she said in a 1970 TV interview.

Steinem founded the National Women’s Political Caucus in 1971 along with Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm and Bella Abzug. The latter became a dear lifelong friend — “the woman I wished I had had as a mother,” she said at Abzug’s funeral.

Unlike Abzug, Steinem was naturally reserved, not comfortable in front of a crowd. Gradually, with her early speaking partner Dorothy Pitman Hughes, a Black feminist and child welfare advocate, she found her footing. The two formed a powerful partnership at a time when feminism was viewed as largely a white, middle-class movement. In an iconic photo, the two raise their right arms together in the Black Power salute.

As she grew more famous, Steinem drew attention not just for her work but for a glamorous Manhattan life. Asked once about her streaked hair and aviator glasses, she explained that the hair was inspired by Holly Golightly, the free-spirited character played by Audrey Hepburn in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” The glasses? They were “more about hiding,” she said.

When reaction was hostile, Steinem would try to reason that it was a step above ridicule. But sometimes it stung, like a snarky Esquire profile in the early ’70s, so hurtful that she cried, and colleagues called a news conference to defend her.

Steinem co-founded Ms. Magazine and stayed with it as an adviser

Then came Ms. Magazine in 1972, a magazine by women, for women. “I was so obsessed with the fear that it would fail and be a disgrace to the movement,” Steinem, age 37 when it launched, told the AP in 2011. And opponents hoped that would happen. TV newsman Harry Reasoner, an especially tart critic, later apologized on air. Steinem continued with Ms. until it was bought in 2001 by the Feminist Majority Foundation, and remained an adviser.

By 1977, numerous gains had been made for women, including Roe in 1973. But the Equal Rights Amendment, which had passed the House and Senate in 1972 but needed to be ratified by three-quarters of state legislatures, remained elusive. The issue was front and center at the 1977 National Women’s Conference, convened on a congressional mandate to examine women’s rights.

“If they want us to become the radicals that they fear we are, just let them stop the ERA and we will become those radicals,” Steinem said there.

Among groups Steinem co-founded were the Women’s Action Alliance, which was active through the 1990s; the Women’s Media Center in 2004, the Voters for Choice political action committee in 1977, and the Ms. Foundation for Women. She also helped establish the Take Our Daughters to Work Day.

Steinem never had her own children, and said she never regretted it. “No, not for a millisecond,” she told the AP, describing an incident in which she was afraid to answer that question in front of a group of women in India, fearing they wouldn’t like the answer. “But they applauded,” she said. “It’s important that some of us not have children, to show that we have a choice.”

In 2000, Steinem she did something she’d never planned to: She got married, at 66, to British activist and businessman David Bale, whom she met at a fundraiser (Bale was the father of actor Christian Bale.)

“I thought, ‘I haven’t changed, marriage had changed,’” Steinem said. “David and I wanted to be together, we loved each other. He needed a green card.” They married at a Cherokee ceremony in Oklahoma. Several years later, he became ill with brain lymphoma, and Steinem cared for him until his death in 2003.

Steinem said she had few regrets in life, but did miss being present when her father died. She received word that he’d been in a serious car accident, but did not respond in time, and he died alone. “I had taken care of my mom as a child, and I feared I’d never come back,” she explained. She was also sorry that she didn’t become closer to her mother. “I was so fearful of becoming her,” she said in an HBO documentary, “Gloria: In Her Own Words.”

Steinem’s books included ‘A Life on the Road’

Steinem’s books included the 2015 road memoir “A Life on the Road” — but she wryly noted at the time that she’d actually never learned to drive. It would have taken away, she said, from her ability to converse with her hosts, who would pick her up from airports or train stations. And, she noted, she always loved to chat with taxi drivers.

On Jan. 21, 2017, when hundreds of thousands of women gathered in Washington in their pink “pussy hats” for the historic Women’s March, it surprised nobody that the keynote speaker, and the most rousing, was Steinem.

“We are linked,” she told the crowd. “And this is a day that will change us forever because we are together.”

For many women, Steinem was the galvanizing voice that day. She would go on to advocate fiercely. But, though many saw her as a singular figure in history, she often liked to say that if she hadn’t come along, someone else would have accomplished the same things.

By the same token, she said, it was less important that younger people listen to her, and more important that they listen to themselves.

“The primary thing is not that they know who I am,” she said, “but that they know who THEY are.”

In an unusually candid summary by a soccer official about an aborted transfer, Thiago Scuro held a news conference and gave — in English — a detailed, step-by-step laydown on how Balogun’s proposed move to Everton for a reported 40 million pounds ($54 million) fell apart with the clock ticking on deadline day.

According to Scuro, Balogun underwent a medical examination at Everton on Tuesday afternoon. Three hours later — and with four hours left until the deadline — Everton contacted Monaco raising questions about the results of the medical “which, for our medical staff, as well as for the player’s personal medical staff, made no sense at all,” Scuro said.

There followed discussions between the clubs and medical departments, before Everton contacted Monaco again to say it was ready to complete the signing of Balogun, according to Scuro.

“At the last moment, the player decided not to sign,” Scuro continued in the news conference held Wednesday. “And basically, the allegation of Balogun is that, ‘I’m not feeling well by the way the club treated me, I’m not feeling well by the way the medical department of Everton brought doubts about my future or my health. I have nothing (wrong with his health), so I’m not comfortable to sign a long contract here.'”

There was no immediate response from Everton about Scuro’s comments when contacted by the Associated Press. The Premier League club’s leadership — its owners are the Texas-based Friedkin Group — is being criticized by its fans for the way the Balogun deal was handled, as it leaves the team with just one senior striker — Thierno Barry — since his backup, Beto, was sold to Fiorentina on deadline day.

There has been no public comments from Balogun, either, following the latest fiasco surrounding the New York-born striker.

During the World Cup, Balogun was the star player for the U.S. team but was red-carded during the round-of-32 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

His one-game suspension was deferred by FIFA after U.S. President Donald Trump intervened, calling Gianni Infantino — president of soccer's world governing body — to see if the red card could be reviewed.

Balogun was, therefore, allowed to play in the round of 16 and had a forgettable performance as the U.S lost to Belgium 4-1. The intervention prompted a formal complaint to FIFA's ethics investigator and led to a general outcry in the soccer world, with Balogun later acknowledging FIFA’s decision to suspend his ban created “outside noise” that affected the U.S. team mentally.

Balogun could still leave Monaco

Scuro has left open the possibility of Balogun, who has two years left on his contract at Monaco, still leaving the club, saying: “We still have markets that have the financial capacity to do something.”

Among the leagues whose transfer windows are still open are Turkey (closes on Friday) and Saudi Arabia (closes on Oct. 12).

Monaco is under pressure to sell Balogun or another of its top players because it needs to generate money to comply with the French league’s financial rules.

When it first appeared that Balogun’s move to Everton was off, Monaco began negotiating with Chelsea over the sale of midfielder Lamine Camara and they reached an agreement, Scuro said.

However, that deal was also scrapped when Everton reversed its decision on Balogun and attempted to get it over the line.

In the end, neither player moved.

“Balo leaving was the trigger for everything to be OK,” Scuro said. “Basically, our financial plan was working almost perfectly until 7 p.m. (on Tuesday).

“Now we have to face this situation and find solutions in different ways.”

___

See AP’s full soccer coverage here

Almost immediately, it went viral. The early trailer rapidly gained more than 90 million views on YouTube, galvanized by people awed by the apparent scale and emotional depth of Laika’s most ambitious film yet. Sample comment: “AI is the future. Laika: Hold my meticulously handcrafted stop motion beer.”

“People that I worked with — hardened industry folks with wizened black husks of hearts — were sending me text messages: ‘Jesus Christ, your trailer just made me cry,’” Knight says, chuckling.

Why did Knight's strange, indie stop-motion animated movie resonate so strongly?

“The making of the art leaves fingerprints on the art,” Knight surmises. “And I think people feel that.”

There’s no shortage of people proclaiming that AI is the future. There are significantly fewer proselytizing about stop-motion animation’s assured destiny. But Laika, the Portland, Oregon-based studio, has for two decades tried to keep an old movie art form alive while mixing in more modern, computer-generated advances. (“We’re not Amish,” promises Knight.)

The studio’s first release in 2009, Henry Selick’s “Coraline,” is still its most beloved. But Laika’s commitment to handcrafted filmmaking and darkly gothic tales has won a loyal following over the years, even though its last release was the 2019 flop “Missing Link.”

Yet “Wildwood” might always have been what Laika was building toward. The film, which opens in theaters Oct. 23, is based on Colin Meloy’s 2011 fantasy novel, illustrated by Carson Ellis. Set in Portland, it’s about a teenage girl named Prue McKee (voiced by Peyton Elizabeth Lee) whose infant brother is kidnapped by a flock of crows and taken into an enchanted forest. The voice cast includes Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Jake Johnson and Jacob Tremblay.

The film, heavy with grief and radiant with adventure, isn’t just in Laika’s tonal sweet spot. It’s set in its backyard.

“It’s everything I love in one film,” Knight said in a recent exclusive interview. “I think it’s the best thing we’ve ever done at Laika.”

Stop-motion animation as 'a quiet act of rebellion'

It was also the biggest challenge. Knight, the son of Nike co-founder Phil Knight (who’s chairman of Laika and has helped bankroll it), acquired the rights to “Wildwood” before it was released. The adaptation is some 16 years in the making.

“I felt like we had to develop the tools, the tricks, the technologies to actually do justice to this story. We built on all of our learnings from our earlier movies and stood on those shoulders. I felt like: OK, I think we’re ready to do it,” Knight says before laughing. “And we were not.”

At 139 minutes, “Wildwood” is uncommonly long for an animated film, let alone a stop-motion animated one. Its staggering production included 136 sets and 231 practical puppets. One character, a golden eagle known as The General, took some 3,000 hours to make.

“These are great acts of care and devotion,” Knight says. “In this modern era where everything is so rapid pace, where entire worlds can be generated with a click of a mouse, the idea of taking your time, and with great devotion and care coaxing life out of something, is very special. I like to call it a quiet act of rebellion.”

Laika isn’t the only big stop-motion company still around. The Bristol, U.K.-based Aardman Animations remains a free-flowing font of pastoral whimsy. (It releases “Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom” on Sept. 18.) But it’s a precarious business. And it’s easy to wonder if Laika could have kept such long-term productions going without the Knight family wealth.

Focus Features exited its pact with Laika after the release of 2016’s Oscar-nominated “ Kubo and the Two Strings.” Fathom Entertainment, the distributor owned by theater chains, is stepping in to release “Wildwood.” Laika and Fathom have enjoyed unique success in rereleases of “Coraline.” A 2024 rerelease generated an astounding $52.4 million worldwide, fresh evidence of audiences' yearning for something tactile and soulful.

Embracing the ‘cobwebbed corners of yourself'

Laika was born in 2003 when Philip Knight acquired Vinton Studios, the company founded by animator Will Vinton. Travis Knight was then an animator there. The name, Laika, comes from the dog launched into space in 1957.

From the start, Knight envisioned an animation studio where darkness and light weren't treated as opposites. Laika has since carved out a sensibility more surreal and more idiosyncratic than the output of animation factories like Pixar or Illumination. “Wildwood,” notably, is rated PG-13.

“When you devote this much of your life to something, you don’t want it to be some candy-colored confection, a bit of pop culture fun,” Knight says. “You want it to be meaningful.”

To a large degree, “Wildwood” is about grief and the heavy cost of carrying it. For Knight, whose older brother, Matthew, died a few years before he encountered Meloy's book, the story is tinged with personal experience.

“You want the stories you tell to be about something. That often involves climbing into the darkened, cobwebbed corners of yourself and pulling those things out,” Knight says. “I did lose my brother. He was too young. A handful of years ago, my wife lost her brother and her nephew. These things are seismic in families. So the movie does wander, sometimes generally and sometimes not, through the corridors of grief.”

That a movie like “Wildwood” is so labored over, Knight believes, gives it its magic. That doesn't mean he doesn't see the inherent absurdity of an arduous process that, he says, moves at the speed of “continental drift.”

“You build thousands of tiny things. You put them under lights. You move them microscopic distances. You take a picture,” says Knight. “And then you repeat that process over and over and over again until you finish the movie or society collapses.”

But as “Wildwood” nears its release, Knight firmly believes it's all worth it — that something in the making of the movie comes across to moviegoers.

“There is a yearning for something that’s handmade, for something that someone has cared into existence,” he says. “It’s always been rare, it’s always been special. But it’s even more so now.”

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The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency referred Bang to the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office on Thursday, asking him to be indicted on a charge of violating the capital markets act, according to the police agency and the prosecutor’s office.

Police have been investigating Bang, the billionaire founder and chairperson of Hybe, over allegations that he misled investors in 2019 by indicating that Hybe had no immediate plans to go public, prompting them to sell their shares to a private equity fund shortly before the company proceeded with an initial public offering.

Police earlier said that the fund may have paid Bang somewhere around 200 billion won ($147 million) in a side deal that promised him 30% of post-IPO stock sale profits.

South Korean media reported that police referred four other people, including Hybe executives and private equity fund officials, to prosecutors on Thursday as well, asking for their indictment.

Hybe officials have said Bang denies any wrongdoing.

“We have consistently responded to the allegations with objective evidence and facts," Bang's legal team said in a statement Thursday. "We expect the allegations to be fully and transparently resolved through the legal process.”

Police earlier sought Bang’s arrest twice in April and May. But prosecutors rejected those requests, saying police failed to provide sufficient grounds for his arrest and failed to comply with prosecutors' demand for further investigation of Bang.

Observers say prosecutors could again ask for further police investigation, rather than indicting Bang immediately.

News of Bang’s legal troubles flared after BTS returned and launched a much-awaited world tour earlier this year after a nearly four-year musical hiatus due to the band members’ mandatory military service in South Korea.

The Lincoln was supporting the U.S. war against Iran, and its deployment included a record-setting uninterrupted time at sea of more than 260 days. Its lengthy deployment drew concerns last month about deteriorating mental health among the crew as well as shortages of key food supplies aboard.

The Navy downplayed any problems, and President Donald Trump commented that the deployment was “not nearly long enough.”

The ship has been deployed for a total of 286 days, according to the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok. Its total uninterrupted time at sea before Wednesday’s arrival in Chonburi province was 264 days.

The ship is expected to depart Thailand this weekend and continue its journey back to the U.S.

After clambering down from buses, laden with luggage, several service members told The Associated Press they were excited to be in Thailand.

Vendors and travel agents gathered outside the Hard Rock Hotel, the designated pickup and drop-off point for troops traveling from the Lincoln, which is docked nearby at Laem Chabang port.

They swarmed service members as they arrived, offering a range of souvenirs and services. Many sailors waved them away while waiting for their rides.

Two other ships from the Lincoln’s strike group are docked elsewhere in Thailand, with the destroyer USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. at Chonburi’s Sriracha port and the cruiser USS Robert Smalls in Map Ta Phut in neighboring Rayong province.

A-ngoon Sombat traveled 200 kilometers between Pattaya and the central province of Ayutthaya to sell colorful braided bracelets to the visiting crew, as she does every time she hears a U.S. ship is coming for a port call in Chonburi province.

She set up opposite the hotel entrance and had managed to make some sales, but said she is still unsure if business will be good this week.

“There are many vendors around. It’s really up to how lucky each of us are,” she said.

Ship crews take shelter from heat in a mall

Dozens of service members could be spotted strolling around Pattaya's Terminal 21 mall with shopping bags in their hands as the afternoon sun was blazing outside.

A 20-year-old serving as a navigator aboard the Petersen, who declined to give his name because he was told not to speak to media while ashore, said the morale among his crew members was really high now that they had arrived in Thailand.

The sailor said it was his first deployment for the U.S. Navy. He said it was a bit of an ordeal but he was happy to finally be on his way home.

He declined to comment when asked about the reports about the conditions on the Lincoln.

Small crowd gathers to spot the Lincoln

A spot just outside the Laem Chabang port had turned into a small attraction by Wednesday evening, as people gathered to catch a glimpse of the Lincoln.

People arrived by car and motorcycle to peer through a mesh fence at the ship, which is as long as about three American football fields. They took photos and videos, excitedly chatted with strangers about their chance to see the vessel.

American Keith Eldridge, who has lived in Thailand for five years, traveled from the neighboring province of Chachoengsao just to see the ship. He was too late to catch the Lincoln docking but found the viewing spot through a recommendation from other enthusiasts he met along the way.

He said it was impressive for him to get to lay his eyes on this “engineering marvel.”

“When you get to look at something so big, wrapped up with so much technology, the radars, the sonars, the weapon systems, the propulsion systems, it is truly amazing that we can build it, float it, and we fight from it,” he said.

The Lincoln’s commanding officer, Capt. Dan Keeler, said the ship will be heading home soon, but may make further supply stops. He declined to comment on the exact date the strike group is expected back in the U.S.

The shortages are adding to the hardships of those living in temporary shelters after having lost homes and belongings.

Suresh Kumar Karanjit, who has been staying at a relief center in Devighat, a town in one of the worst-affected areas in Nuwakot district, lost his younger brother in the floods last week. He said the camp did not have the exact medicine prescribed for his heart condition.

Karanjit only managed to get the cash he needed to buy his regular medicine after selling a carton of noodles he received as relief for 400 rupees ($2.60). “We have been living here for a week. The relief materials are being provided, which is good. But there is a lack of medicine,” he said.

Nepal’s disaster chief, Dharam Raj Uprety, said health centers staffed by doctors and stocked with medicine have been set up at each shelter. Uprety said authorities were also focusing on hygiene and sanitation to reduce the risk of disease.

The Aug. 26 floods that were likely caused by a glacier collapse devastated towns and valleys in Nepal, destroying homes, roads, bridges and other critical infrastructure. At least 1,252 people were killed and more than 4,200 remain missing, according to the country’s disaster management agency. China as of late Wednesday said 21 people were killed and 541 were missing on the Tibet side of the border.

Nearly 4,000 people displaced in Nepal are staying in 34 relief centers.

In some of the worst-affected areas, residents were finding other ways to navigate after floodwaters left communities cut off from regular routes.

In Bidur town, along the Trishuli River, residents used a temporary zip line to cross between the riverbanks. Army personnel helped people onto the makeshift crossing and assisted them as they reached the opposite bank, while others waited along the riverbank for their turn.

Meanwhile, rescue efforts have increasingly focused on tunnels at several hydroelectric projects where workers are believed to be trapped. About 900 workers remain missing, while specialized rescue teams from India, China and the United States are involved in efforts to reach those trapped in the tunnels.

It was unclear whether workers feared to be trapped in the tunnels were alive.

At the Trishuli-3A tunnel, workers began manually opening the upper section of the passage, according to lawmaker Ram Neupane. An access road was built over the past week to reach the excavation site, but more rock blasting and debris clearing will be needed before heavy machinery can reach the area, he said.

A young American roster led by the trio of Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers and Angel Reese now complement U.S. stalwart Breanna Stewart as the team looks to win its fifth straight championship.

The Americans will be missing four-time WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson, who the team announced Monday would miss the World Cup along with Kelsey Plum. They were replaced by newcomers Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen.

The world has been catching up to the Americans with France coming within a point the U.S. in the gold medal game at the 2024 Paris Olympics. That's the closest any team has come to beating the U.S. in either the Olympics or World Cup since the Americans last lost in the semifinals of the 2006 World Cup to Russia.

“I think there’s no question that the world is improving at a rapid rate. It’s so exciting to see, and I see it at every level,” U.S. coach Kara Lawson said Tuesday. “There’s more depth to the teams at the World Cup. Now when you look at rosters, there’s a number of just high-quality players. ... I think it’s going to be the most difficult World Cup to win that we’ve had because of that.”

The Olympic loss is still on the mind of the French team, which has more than a half-dozen WNBA players on its roster, including Gabby Williams, Marine Johannes and Dominique Malonga.

“We sure still do think about it,” Malonga said. “We know we were right there against the best team in the world.”

Other top teams that could reach the podium are Australia, Spain and China.

Moving the calendar date of 2030 World Cup

The next World Cup, which will be held in Japan, will move to Nov. 26-Dec. 8 in 2030 and won't potentially conflict with the WNBA schedule.

“I would I would call it one of the most significant decisions by the central boards in this decade,” FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis told The Associated Press. “We understood that, the women’s game needs its own dedicated spot in the world calendar and in particular in the basketball calendar.”

The women's World Cup used to be the same year as the men's tournament until 2014. Now the tournaments are held in different years with the men's championship a year before the Olympics and the women's tourney two years before the Games.

“It's a major decision because it creates a big window for essentially every league in the world,” Zagklis said.

With no major men's tournaments this year, Zagklis said that FIBA sponsors could focus more on the women this time.

It will also help with ease the challenges for the WNBA, which this has suspended play in the league during the tournament. Play in the WNBA will resume on Sept. 17 after stopping on Aug. 31. There are over 50 current WNBA players competing in the World Cup.

More teams in this World Cup tournament

The format of the tournament has changed for the betterment of the players, with the addition of four teams in Germany. The 16-team format is not new; it was used from 1990-2018. Now teams will play three pool games in four days as opposed to the five games in six days — which they did in the 2022 World Cup when only 12 teams went to Australia.

The top teams will then earn a break before the quarterfinals begin while the second and third-place teams in each group will play to reach the elimination round. Instead of playing eight games, teams will potentially only need six to win the title.

Zagklis said this could be an extremely competitive tournament.

“Within the top 10, virtually everyone can beat anyone,” he said. “We saw that in 2022 where Nigeria beat in the group Australia and then Australia got the bronze medal. We saw it in the qualifier, where USA was trailing Belgium for 39 minutes.”

WNBA coaching tree in Berlin

Many current and former WNBA coaches are heading up teams in the World Cup.

Mike Thibault is in charge of Belgium while Sandy Brondello is heading up Australia again. Her husband, Olaf Lange, took over Germany and will lead the host nation. Former Phoenix Mercury coach Corey Gaines is leading Japan and Chicago Sky assistant Rena Wakama is once again in charge of Nigeria.

The Americans are led by Lawson with WNBA head coaches Nate Tibbetts, Natalie Nakase and Stephanie White serving as assistants. Jose Fernandez is a scout for the team.

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See AP’s full WNBA coverage here

Inside, in what is normally a sports hall, hundreds of people are sleeping overnight on trestle beds.

More than 2,000 people including volunteers and students are taking part in the biggest civil defense exercise in Europe since the end of World War II. In the scenario, critical infrastructure in the central Finnish city of Kuopio, including power and water, has been disrupted by cyberattacks and there’s the threat of missile strikes from Finland’s neighbor, Russia.

The goal is for local authorities and ordinary people to rehearse what they would do if they came under attack for real.

But while underground bunkers and shelters may offer some protection from missiles, they are no defense against the campaign of sabotage and disruption that Western officials say Russia is carrying out across Europe. That has involved setting fires, attacking water facilities and power stations, and sending drones for sabotage into European Union airspace.

Finland's border with Russia stretches more than 830 miles (1,300 kilometers) from the Baltic Sea up to the Arctic Circle. In 2024, along with Sweden, Finland joined NATO, following Russian President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Until then, Finns were prepared to defend themselves against Russia largely alone.

Finland looks to Ukraine for lessons

Finland’s defense, said retired Army Colonel Asko Muhonen, relies not only on the military but on the “mindset” of ordinary Finns who are ready to take responsibility for their country’s security.

Muhonen, who organized the exercise in Kuopio, said that comes partly from the system of conscription which continued in Finland, even after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Not everyone is happy about doing national service but “it’s our duty to serve and protect this country like people have before us. That’s why we have our independence,” said Jyry Pietikainen, 23, a conscript who was taught how to run the Kuopio shelter overnight.

Finland also needs to learn lessons from Ukraine, Muhonen said.

While the biggest shelter in Kuopio can fit 7,000 people, Ukrainians sometimes only have a few minutes to run to a subway station or underground parking lot. That means people need a shelter they can reach easily that offers some form of protection — not necessarily one that can withstand a nuclear attack, he said.

Dmytro Untila, 20, a Ukrainian student at the university in Kuopio, was at home in Odesa when Russian missiles struck his city on Feb. 24, 2022, the first day of the war. He sheltered in the entrance hall of his building because he didn’t have anywhere else to go, he said.

Training for such a situation would have definitely helped in Ukraine, he said, “because nobody knew this could happen.”

The biggest threat to energy infrastructure in the Kuopio region is heavy snowfall, storms and bad weather, said Juha Räsänen, CEO at the Savon Voima electricity company.

But since the invasion of Ukraine, and the company’s decision to stop buying Russian biofuel, the number of cyberattacks against the network has significantly increased, Räsänen said.

Last year, engineers also found at least 10 stickers placed on particularly vulnerable parts of the energy network infrastructure. Other energy companies in Finland have also found them and don’t know where they came from, he said.

“If there was an explosion at that point, it could destroy a whole dam,” Räsänen said. Drones have also been spotted over power lines but those responsible have not been identified, he said.

It is not possible to guard against all threats, Räsänen said, which is why it’s important people are prepared to look after themselves without help for at least 72 hours — if the power supply goes out, or if water becomes undrinkable.

The Finnish Security and Intelligence Service said it investigated “a wide range of observations” and found nothing of concern.

Since 2022, people have been more vigilant because of the security situation and therefore have reported things like reflective stickers related to land survey works, it said in a statement. Drone sightings, it said, have “largely been explained by everyday occurrences.”

“Small things are happening all the time,” including Russian jamming of GPS signals, said Vuokko Lahtinen, 32, who was visiting a sauna in Kuopio.

For that reason, “the best defense of Finland is to make it not worth attacking,” she said.

That relies on the country’s military and defense forces but also Finnish people who feel like “we have something we want to fight for,” she said.

In Finland, she said, there is a “general feeling of responsibility,” which has grown out of local community groups and even initiatives such as recycling.

“On a very simple daily level, if you do things that matter, then it has a butterfly-wing effect,” Lahtinen said.

Finland fought several wars with the Soviet Union

In its wars with the Soviet Union, Finland lost around 11% of its territory, and more than 400,000 people, around 12% of the population, fled their homes from an area that is now in western Russia.

At Kuopio's veterans’ museum, Risto Mönkkönen, 95, showed AP a piece of paper on which he had written down the dates the city was bombed and who died.

“I cannot forget it,” he said explaining how, as a child, he and his father ran into a shelter just as a bomb hit, killing five of his father’s friends.

Pirkko Naukkarinen, 102, recalled how, aged 16, she worked in a field kitchen by the front lines, sometimes sharing dugouts with soldiers and diving for cover in ditches as the Soviet air force attacked the retreating Finnish army.

Aili Toivanen, 92, told AP she was forced to leave her home twice over the various wars. Both times, her family was told by Finnish soldiers that they had one hour to pack their belongings.

The first time, she looked back and saw her home burning — set on fire by Finnish soldiers who did not want to leave anything behind, she said. The second time, she said, the Soviet air force bombed the family’s departing train and they jumped out, hiding in ditches before they took refuge in Kuopio.

When Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022, she said, with tears in her eyes, that she worried she would have to leave her home for a third time.

Finns feel their country is worth fighting for

At the shelter in Kuopio, thousands of people filed in, including schoolchildren and university students.

“Kids would need to know this, because they might have to do something alone. The adults can’t always help,” said Amanda Hill, 11, whose school studied in the shelter for the day.

Sitting on the floor of the shelter with his fellow conscripts, Pietikainen explained why it’s not crazy to practice what happens in a crisis.

“We’re Finns, so we’re kind of pessimistic about life in a way,” but history shows what can happen with Russia, he said.

When it comes to the threats from Moscow, Muhonen said, “don’t believe what they say but observe what they do.”

Lavrov's announcement came after Berlin blamed Moscow for an attempted attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport. Germany said Wednesday it was consequently closing both the Russian Consulate in Bonn and the Russian House cultural center in the German capital.

Western officials have repeatedly accused Moscow of running a campaign of sabotage and disruption in their countries with the aim of undermining support for Ukraine and destabilizing European nations, something Russian officials deny.

Europe increasingly views itself as facing what it calls a hybrid war with Russia, marked by tools such as cyberwarfare and disinformation as well as a conventional military threat. Each side accuses the other of state terrorism.

The tension has continued for months and grown into one of the greatest foreign and defense policy challenges for countries in the European Union. Russian President Vladimir Putin is testing the West with tactics that fall “just below the threshold of war” and is determined to “harass NATO members,” the head of Britain’s MI6 spy agency said at the end of last year.

European countries take steps to counter Russia's threat

The British government summoned the top Russian diplomat in London on Thursday to protest what it called Russia’s “egregious and reckless attack” on the German airport last month. The U.K. government called the incident the “latest in a clear pattern of attempts by Russia” to undermine European security.

In Finland on Thursday, more than 2,000 people took part in the biggest civil defense exercise in Europe since the end of World War II. Among the threats envisaged were missile strikes from neighboring Russia.

Meanwhile, Norwegian authorities seized a Russian vessel in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard on Wednesday at the request of Ukraine’s Naftogaz.

The seizure was part of a global effort to enforce a $4.22 billion arbitration award and comes after a European push to seize vessels belonging to Russia's so-called shadow fleet, which officials say contravenes international sanctions.

Russia says German cultural presence is over

Lavrov said that cultural centers belonging to Germany’s Goethe-Institut would be closed in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, adding that any other response would show a lack of “self-respect” on Russia’s part.

Speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Lavrov said that Germany “could not have failed to understand” that the closure of Russian House would “signify the end of their cultural presence in Russia.”

A drone laden with explosives was found near a Ukrainian plane at Leipzig/Halle Airport on Aug. 4 and later defused. The airport is a major international freight hub used for providing support to Ukraine.

Putin has dismissed the allegations, saying Berlin wants to distract from its own failings and dissatisfaction among voters. Any proof being offered “has been planted,” Putin said.

EU working on response after attempted Russian attack

European Union ministers on Wednesday weighed how best to respond to the attempted drone attack but struggled to find new ways to meet the challenge without resorting to military means.

The EU has slapped almost two dozen packages of sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine, hitting more than 3,000 officials, oligarchs and entities including banks, energy companies and drone makers.

Germany insisted it was “not at war” but had become a “daily target” of the Kremlin’s hybrid campaign.

Putin dismissed the allegations, saying Berlin aims to distract from its own failings and dissatisfaction among voters. Any proof being offered “has been planted,” Putin said.

Denmark sounds alarm about Russian sabotage plans

Danish security services are warning that Russian acts of sabotage against the country’s defense industry may be imminent.

Danish intelligence services have seen signs of very specific planning by Russia to conduct sabotage operations in the country, Emil Græsholm, head of counterintelligence at the Danish national security and intelligence service PET, told the Berlingske newspaper.

The targets are primarily companies in the defense industry and especially those associated with delivering military components to Ukraine, he said.

Italy’s Defense Minister Guido Crosetto told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the Leipzig/Halle Airport incident was “a very serious act that could have very grave consequences.”

But he said the threats aren't discouraging Italy from providing further help to Kyiv as Rome weighs whether to send SAMP/T air defense batteries. As in other Western countries, limited weapons production capacity is hampering efforts to supply more to Ukraine, he said.

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Davies reported from Manchester, England.

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

Founded in 1919, Bauhaus blurred lines between art and industry, influencing global design to this day. It remains a cultural icon that attracts a steady stream of visitors to its iconic school building and the museum in Dessau in Saxony-Anhalt.

Attacks on Bauhaus by Alternative for Germany, also known as AfD, come as Saxony-Anhalt in eastern Germany is about to vote in an election that could see a far-right party take control of one of the country’s states for the first time since World War II.

AfD hopes to gain an absolute majority in the state legislature in the election on Sunday, an outcome that would shake German politics and possibly have repercussions for the region's cultural freedom.

AfD says Bauhaus violates the ‘human need for security’

In its election program, the party slams the Bauhaus as a school that “always strove to avoid any sign of national rootedness.”

AfD says its plans after a victorious election include implementing the slogan “Think German” to replace the state’s current advertising tagline “Think Modern,” which it has denounced as a “policy of a lack of identity.”

In 2024, AfD attacked the Bauhaus in Saxony-Anhalt’s Parliament as an “aberration of modernism.”

In that debate, Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, the AfD cultural policy spokesperson in the state legislative body, claimed “the Bauhaus violated the human need for security and comfort in every conceivable way.”

The lead AfD candidate in the upcoming election, Ulrich Siegmund, recently tried to tone down some of the more radical attacks by his party. He told The Associated Press at a campaign event in Moeser that Bauhaus itself wasn’t a problem but “we just mustn’t limit our culture and our history to it. We are much, much more than just the Bauhaus.”

If AfD wins the election and takes control of the state Parliament, the party could theoretically cut the state funding for Bauhaus.

German culture minister vows to fight for Bauhaus

The AfD attacks have led to a clash with Germany's cultural establishment and the country's culture minister, who is leading the defense of the Bauhaus.

“The AfD is attacking the Bauhaus, using the very same words the Nazis used 100 years ago,” Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer said in a recent AP interview. “And that is why democrats, whether they lean conservative or left, are fighting back against it.”

Bauhaus changed the world when it was founded in Germany 100 years ago and has become a global brand icon of “new design, new architecture, and the creative industries,” Weimer said.

“And this idea, which is very modern, of bringing together elements from different disciplines has always been hated by the far right,” he added. “The Nazis banned and persecuted it. And today we have new Nazis … growing stronger, and attacking the Bauhaus all over again.”

Weimer vowed that Germany's national government would continue to finance the Bauhaus Foundation in Dessau to ensure its independence and survival even if AfD win the Saxony-Anhalt election.

Bauhaus school blurred lines between artistic and industrial

The Bauhaus was founded in 1919 by Walter Gropius and others as an art school in Weimar and later moved to Dessau. Its artistic approaches and design styles continue to influence art and architecture to this day.

The Bauhaus school blurred the lines between the artistic and the industrial, producing some of the precursors of modern mass design and helping make its design influential far beyond its relatively brief existence.

After the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, the school closed and many Bauhaus teachers and students left the country, spreading its style around the globe from Chicago to Tel Aviv.

Architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the last Bauhaus director, emigrated to the United States in the late 1930s. His famous buildings in the minimalist style with sleek glass and metal facades continue to impress Bauhaus fans to this day.

Bauhaus still attracts visitors from around the globe

Up to 150,000 visitors, including many from abroad, come to Dessau every year to see the original, iconic Bauhaus building and visit the Bauhaus museum, which is a testament to the enduring fascination and relevance of the Bauhaus to this day, said Barbara Steiner, the director and CEO of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation.

She welcomed a pro-Bauhaus manifesto that was initiated in August by Weimer, the culture minister, and signed by more than 2,500 groups and individuals in reaction to the AfD's attacks on Bauhaus.

The manifesto includes pledges to defend the Bahaus from anti-democratic attacks by a broad alliance of cultural and architectural institutions and churches, saying they “reject nationalism that is hostile to culture.”

“The Bauhaus stands for intellectual, social, and aesthetic openness and continuous renewal. It stands for exchange, transnational networking, and mutual inspiration. This openness is a great strength of German culture and enriches Germany,” the manifesto says.

“Ultimately, the AfD’s accusations are very stereotypical,” she said. “They have in mind a version of the Bauhaus that never existed historically and, of course, doesn’t exist today either.”

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Geir Moulson and Fanny Brodersen in Moeser, Germany, and Markus Schreiber in Dessau, Germany, contributed to this report.

“We keep telling the legislature we need to move inward,” said Bol Sebalt, 43, who was born and raised on the low-lying beachfront. “But because of a shortage of funding we cannot.”

The fate of Melekeok, a chiefdom of 300 people, is echoed by stories from many island nations in remote parts of the vast Pacific Ocean. Their leaders, gathered for a summit in Palau this week, are wrestling once more with the question of how tiny countries with little global power can use major polluters’ geopolitical interest in their region to secure a chance of survival.

Some hope for funding to help them adapt to changes they can’t reverse. Sebalt, a legislative clerk, is also a trained volunteer for her local disaster readiness team, making her one of 200 people across the western Pacific country now prepared to shepherd their communities through events such as catastrophic typhoons that have struck before.

Almost a year ago, Sebalt moved to a subdivision being prepared inland for Melekeok’s people, where she’s the only resident so far. Sebalt said funding for plumbing, sewage and enough street light poles for others to move in was sourced in small chunks and much too slowly.

“We cannot move faster than climate change,” she said.

Pacific officials warn of no way out but curbing emissions

About 32 kilometers (20 miles) across the volcanic island, down winding roads fringed by tropical jungle, leaders from some of the small Pacific nations most imperiled by rising seas renewed dire warnings Wednesday about their expected fate.

The officials standing in sweltering, wet heat outside the annual Pacific Islands Forum summit were responding to a bleak first-of-its-kind report issued by the United Nations, which said Earth would soon exceed the safe temperature threshold agreed upon in the 2015 Paris climate accord because of warming from the burning of coal, oil and gas.

“Loss and damage is a reality that currently exists in my country,” Vanuatu Climate Adaptation Minister Ralph Regenvanu said.

“It will only accelerate with any overshoot, encompassing economic and non-economic losses that no finance can fully restore,” he said, adding that the loss encompassed “our ancestral lands, our heritage, our identity.”

For years, Regenvanu and other Pacific leaders have urged action from major polluters that would limit global warming to an accepted goal of 1.5 Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above mid-19th century temperatures, which scientists said could avoid the dramatic impacts on people and the planet expected at 2 C.

Wednesday’s report finally admitted that the world would cross the 1.5 threshold “in the next few years,” while recommending efforts to bring down the temperature. The leaders gathered in Palau said that would be too late.

Warmer seas would devastate the Pacific’s tuna fisheries, which produce 30% of the world’s catch, and the mangroves where fish hatch, according to the regional scientific organization SPC. This year’s El Nino chaos has left parts of the Pacific in drought while others flooded, and such events would only intensify, the body added.

“There is no other way out,” said Maina Talia, Tuvalu’s minister for climate change. “The only way out for us is to ensure that we continue to push for 1.5, to stay alive, to stay in our countries.”

The summit’s host urged climate funding instead of geopolitics squabbles

Ahead of each year’s Pacific leaders summit, many of the 18 member states and territories cite climate change as the most pressing discussion topic.

But it’s often swept aside by geopolitical jostling from major powers on the sidelines of the event as they seek to shore up more influence in the strategically important region than their rivals. Palau’s President Surangel Whipps Jr., suggested this week that countries who sought involvement in the region could instead do so by funding climate projects, including his push to see the sunny region become the first in the world powered entirely by renewable energy.

A geopolitical sideshow between China and Taiwan promptly erupted, however, when envoys from Beijing and Taipei were seated in the same row at the summit’s opening ceremony. But there are other obstacles to the leaders’ ambitions.

A Pacific-managed fund created by the summit’s members and intended to finance grassroots adaptation projects across the region has so far faltered because major donors haven’t pledged the hoped-for amounts. While some have cited governance concerns with the Pacific Resilience Facility, due to be headquartered in Tonga, the model is also new for an aid-dependent region where donors are used to controlling where money goes.

“International financial institutions have very lengthy, long processes to deliver the direct access funding that we require in the Pacific,” Tonga’s Prime Minister Fatafehi Fakafanua told The Associated Press.

“The PRF was purposefully designed to work immediately for the urgent needs of the Pacific Island people,” he added. “That is something that differentiates the PRF from the existing financial models that we are using here in the Pacific.”

Small island states are questioning larger forum members’ commitment

Then there are the tensions between small island nations who make up the majority of the Forum and its two largest powers and biggest donors, Australia and New Zealand, about their climate efforts.

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters in Palau on Wednesday that Pacific leaders understood his country’s transition away from fossil fuels couldn’t “happen overnight,” and required greater capacity for renewable power generation.

“Australia is highly regarded when it comes to climate change and the talking down of Australia doesn’t happen from outside Australia, I make that point,” he said.

An hour later, Regenvanu of Vanuatu told reporters that Australia was not doing enough.

“Australia is a major producer of fossil fuels,” he said. “The very least a country like Australia should be doing is stopping future expansion and it’s not doing that.”

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Associated Press writer Rod McGuirk in Melbourne, Australia, contributed to this report.

Iran fired at Kuwait on Thursday in retaliation for U.S. bombardments earlier in the week. Fighting between the U.S. and Iran intensified after the U.S. hit Iranian rocket launchers Sunday on an island in the Strait of Hormuz, saying Iran was planning to use them to send mines into the waterway.

S&P 500 futures fell 0.1%, and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were little changed. Nasdaq futures slipped 0.2%.

The renewed fighting has sent U.S. crude prices sharply higher this week, up 11%, a trend that continued Thursday. Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 1.8% to $97.33 per barrel. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 2.1% to $92.92 a barrel.

Rising oil prices have added to existing inflationary pressures and the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury is up 0.94% this week, although it fell to around 4.77% early Thursday. The yield hovered around 4.81% Wednesday, its highest level since 2023. The 2-year Treasury slipped Thursday to 4.36% after reaching 4.41% a day earlier, its highest mark in more than a year and a half.

On Friday, the crucial U.S. employment report for August is released.

In Europe, Germany’s DAX lost 0.1% to 25,819.38, while the CAC 40 in Paris declined 0.3%, to 8,257.47. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.2% to 10,775.13. Asian markets were mixed.

The Japanese yen strengthened sharply against the U.S. dollar, with the dollar trading at 156.07 yen Thursday, down from 158.71 yen late Wednesday. The dollar had surged to above 160 yen earlier in the week, raising expectations that regulators might intervene to prevent the yen from falling further.

The euro traded at $1.1612, up from $1.1588.

Cardinal Joseph Zen, a retired bishop and vocal advocate for democracy in the city, was a trustee of the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which helped pay medical and legal fees for arrested protesters until it ceased operations in October 2021. The other defendants — singer Denise Ho, scholar Hui Po Keung, and former pro-democracy lawmakers Margaret Ng and Cyd Ho — also served as trustees.

The five were found guilty and fined 4,000 Hong Kong dollars ($512) each in 2022 for breaching the Societies Ordinance, which requires local organizations to register or apply for an exemption within a month of their establishment. Their convictions were the first of their kind.

Observers say the case was significant to the city's freedom of association and it has been closely watched amid the city's drastic political changes following massive anti-government protests in 2019.

Judges Jeremy Poon, Aarif Barma and Derek Pang said the fund did not apply for registration or exemption within one month following its establishment. They said the five former trustees had intended to use the fund as a vehicle to appeal for, collect and apply donations for supporting the 2019 protests.

The fund is more than “mere sum of moneys held by the appellants on trust,” they said.

“Nothing in the evidence suggests that any individual including the appellants would be subject to an unacceptably harsh burden by the restrictions imposed by the registration scheme on their exercise of the right to freedom of association,” they wrote in their judgment.

After the hearing, Ng told reporters that the defendants would appeal to the city's top court. She said the top court needed to clarify what counted as a “society” and whether people would need to register with police or apply for exemption when taking part in any activity with others.

“It has a great impact on Hong Kong's civil society,” she said.

Zen appeared in court with a walking stick in his hand. He and the four others were first arrested in 2022 on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces under a Beijing-imposed national security law, although they were not charged under that law. Zen's arrest at that time sent shock waves through the Catholic community.

After he was convicted in 2022, Zen said his case should not be seen as connected to the city’s religious freedoms.

The 2019 protests were sparked by a since-withdrawn bill that would have allowed criminal suspects to be extradited to mainland China, and evolved into months of violent unrest.

The security law has crippled Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement since its enactment in 2020, with many activists being jailed under it. The impact of the law has also damaged faith in the freedoms of the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Beijing and Hong Kong authorities insist the law is necessary for the city's stability.

The National Capital Planning Commission, which this spring approved Trump's White House ballroom proposal after he razed the Executive Mansion's East Wing without authorization, will discuss a proposed fence around Lafayette Park in front of the White House.

The panel also will review a proposed underground security screening center for White House visitors. It's the first time the commission will take up either idea, and votes are not expected. But the commission and the separate U.S. Commission of Fine Arts thus far have not been an obstacle for Trump's plans for the capital.

The fine arts panel, which is controlled by Trump appointees, approved the visitors' center plans at its July meeting. It heard a presentation on the Lafayette Square fencing but took no action. The fencing also carries the most potential for controversy and opposition on Thursday.

The planning commission is not as dominated by Trump appointees but still has a clear tilt in the Republican president's favor. The 12 members include three presidential appointees, plus Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, General Services Administrator Ed Forst and, from Congress, Sen. Rand Paul and Rep. James Comer, both Republicans. The new chairman, Mark Paoletta, will chair his first meeting. White House Counsel Will Scharf previously held the role.

Both proposals come at a time when security for the president is a top concern. The administration says the projects would be an improvement over temporary structures that have long been used for security, such as bicycle racks fashioned into barriers.

Trump has been the target of multiple assassination attempts, including two during the 2024 campaign and a third this past April as he attended a Washington dinner with White House journalists. Those concerns were heightened in May after U.S. Secret Service officers fatally shot a man who opened fire near a White House security checkpoint.

But Lafayette Square fencing still would be a marked permanent change to the usual access and appearance of the grounds in front of the White House. The square last had permanent fencing in the late 1800s.

The administration’s 79-page proposal for the 8-acre (3-hectare) park calls for fencing all the way around with larger gates at the north and south entrances. Options call for either including or excluding monuments located at each of the park’s four corners.

The White House Visitor Screening Facility, meanwhile, has been viewed as a noncontroversial part of the administration's call for increased security measures.

The administration says the permanent facility, which it wants open by July 2028, would replace a series of temporary tents that have been used for years, in a bid to improve security on the White House complex and enhance the experience for visitors. The original design had it being built underground near the southern end of Sherman Park, just southeast of the White House. But consultations with other entities led to it being moved to the western edge, away from utility infrastructure.

But Democrats are dreaming of pulling off upsets in what might be called “reach” House districts, where Republicans usually win and likely will again — but where races could tighten if a rare political wave gains strength in November.

The party in power traditionally suffers losses during midterm elections. Democrats managed to avoid a predicted 2022 “red wave,” but they saw Republicans flip both chambers when President Donald Trump was reelected last cycle.

Now, with an unpopular war in Iran and lingering concerns about inflation, Democrats are hoping that this year could be a replay of 2018, when a backlash against Trump changed the balance of power in Congress.

“House Democrats are expanding the battlefield deep into Trump terrain,” said Washington Rep. Suzan DelBene, chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Mike Marinella countered that “national Democrats can keep throwing darts at the map and calling wherever they land a battleground, but nobody is buying it."

Here are some long-shot races, where stronger Democratic performances might signal an especially good election nationally for the party.

A candidate moved back to Nebraska after DOGE cuts

While all eyes are on the open seat in Nebraska's hotly contested "blue dot” 2nd Congressional District in Omaha, another race in the nearby, but more rural, more conservative, 1st District might be heating up.

The seat hasn't gone blue since President Lyndon B. Johnson topped the ticket in 1964, but the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee added the race to its list of those “in play," meaning national party support.

Hoping to break the losing streak is Chris Backemeyer, a former senior State Department official who said he left Washington after the Elon Musk-ledDepartment of Government Efficiency “came in and just wanted me to fire a lot of people."

Born and raised in the college town of Lincoln, the bluest part of an otherwise Republican district, Backemeyer quit his job and embarked on a cross-country road trip with his wife and three children, before eventually attending a town hall last summer hosted by Republican Rep. Mike Flood.

The line to get into the event stretched for blocks, Backemeyer recalled, and the atmosphere turned tense as audience members pressed Flood on cuts to Medicaid and reductions in federal veterans benefits. Backemeyer said he remembers thinking Nebraskans “deserve better.”

Flood was first elected in 2022, and won by 20-plus points two years ago. A former state legislator and owner of a broadcast communications company, he has continued to hold town halls with constituents — despite many of his House Republicans refraining from doing so.

As he campaigns in conservative areas, Backemeyer said “I've never been run out of town anywhere." But he also knows that making it to Congress won't be easy.

“I've had to convince just Democrats here that I can win," he said.

Democrats seek another Kentucky bump

Rep. Andy Barr’s seat in Kentucky’s 6th District is open as he runs to succeed retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell. Barr is one of 36 Republican House members not seeking reelection this cycle, compared to 23 Democrats.

Former federal prosecutor and Navy veteran Zach Dembo is the Democratic nominee against Republican Ralph Alvarado, a physician and ex-state senator endorsed by Trump in the primary.

The central Kentucky district has remained solidly red since Barr defeated incumbent Democratic Rep. Ben Chandler in 2012, and the National Republican Congressional Committee said it now has the advantage in voting registrations.

But Dembo’s party sees hope in the fact that the district easily backed Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear during an off-year gubernatorial contest in 2023.

During that race, its largest county, Fayette — which includes Lexington — voted Democratic by more than 40 percentage points. A year later, however, the district easily reelected Barr as Trump carried Kentucky.

Trump's primary endorsement may scramble a Nevada race

In the 2nd District of northern Nevada's high desert, Republican Rep. Mark Amodei is retiring after 15 years in Congress. But his chosen successor, rancher and former state Sen. James Settelmeyer, didn't win their party's nomination to succeed him.

Trump endorsed small business owner and retired Air Force Lt. Col. David Flippo, who won the primary despite Amodei calling the president's choice “a mistake.”

Flippo faces Teresa Benitez-Thompson, a social worker, former majority leader of the Nevada legislature and onetime Miss America contestant who left her seat in 2024 due to term limits.

The district, which includes Reno and the state capital of Carson City, has never elected a Democrat. Trump improved his vote share in all three of his presidential runs from 2016 to 2024, and his party holds a sizable, districtwide voter registration advantage.

Benitez-Thompson is arguing that she can push back on federal overreach. Flippo says he would solidify the district's place in Trump's “Make America Great Again” movement.

Will Mace's leaving jeopardize her Republican seat?

Rep. Nancy Mace is vacating her seat in South Carolina's 1st District after finishing a distant fifth in the state’s Republican primary for governor. She has a history of on-and-off feuding with Trump, and he opposed her campaign after she pushed to release files related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Now Republicans have nominated Jenny Costa Honeycutt, an attorney and Charleston County councilwoman, to run against Democrat Nancy Lacore, a retired Navy vice admiral who was fired by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during a larger purge at the Pentagon last year and later won a tough primary fight.

Trump easily carried the district in 2024, but having no incumbent could change the dynamics. Democrat Joe Cunningham flipped the seat during Trump's first term, though Mace won it back for Republicans in 2020 and redistricting has likely made the seat more red since then.

A redrawn Texas district that may not be so reliably red

Texas' 35th district was once safe blue territory stretching from San Antonio to Austin. But its boundaries were significantly redrawn by the state's Republican-controlled Legislature.

The new district encompasses an electorate that is majority Hispanic and backed Trump by double digits in 2024. But Democrat Johnny Garcia, former sheriff of Bexar County, which includes San Antonio, has tried to woo disillusioned former Trump voters by campaigning as a “law-and-order" candidate who also opposes the president's sweeping tariffs.

Garcia is facing Republican Carlos De La Cruz, brother of Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz, who could potentially have her own, even tighter race for reelection in another part of the state, South Texas' District 15.

A retired Air Force veteran in a district with a heavy Air Force presence, Carlos de la Cruz was endorsed by Trump in a crowded primary. The field he bested included Republican state Rep. John Lujan, who helped pass the new district's boundaries.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson recently campaigned in the district, bringing national party presence that might yet prove necessary if Garcia can keep things closer than expected.

On Thursday, after 1,413 days — nearly four years — Meloni’s conservative administration became Italy’s longest-serving uninterrupted government since World War II, surpassing the record set by the late Silvio Berlusconi between 2001 and 2005.

None of Italy’s 68 governments in the country's 80 years as a republic has yet to complete a five-year term without interruption. Berlusconi came closest, but a government crisis forced him to resign briefly in 2005 before forming a new Cabinet.

Meloni and her party will celebrate their feat on Friday with a large preelection rally in the southern city of Bari.

Meloni, straightforward and pragmatic, has managed to stave off the crises and defections that have toppled past governments. The results — or lack of results — from this uncharacteristic period of stability may ultimately define Meloni’s legacy and her odds of winning another term.

“If you have five years in office and not much to show when you go back to voters, it can weigh against you,” said Nathalie Tocci, an international relations expert and professor at Johns Hopkins University.

From outsider to insider

When Meloni took office in October 2022, she was Italy's first female prime minister. Her government was also the first led by a party with neo-fascist roots, and European allies and financial markets viewed her with unease.

But Meloni has largely governed pragmatically. She maintained steadfast support for Ukraine following Russia's full-scale invasion, worked within European institutions and embraced fiscal discipline.

Her relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump became one of her most notable foreign policy assets — at least initially.

While political instability has reshaped governments elsewhere in Europe — including the United Kingdom and France — Meloni has kept the same coalition in place since taking office, a rarity in modern Italian politics and a central pillar of her reelection bid.

“Meloni has reaped a part of what she sowed, because I know few people so determined, so hardworking, so precise, so meticulous, who have sacrificed both their human and private spheres in order to serve the institutions,” Defense Minister Guido Crosetto told The Associated Press in an interview on Wednesday.

“For this she is now reaping exactly what she deserves in terms of international credibility,” he said, speaking in a room in the ministry filled with photos of his predecessors. “She is not reaping the same on the Italian level.”

Heading toward the next election, due by the end of 2027, there is no longer any debate that Meloni can govern. The question is whether voters believe her government delivered enough to deserve another term.

Making the economic case

Supporters point to tighter public finances, the rollback of costly measures, more than 1 million additional jobs, unemployment below 6% and youth unemployment at new lows. They also cite a sharp decline in the arrival of migrants.

“Duration is not synonymous with results,” Crosetto said, referring to the government’s record, “but these are important ones.”

Meloni says those gains resulted from policies supporting businesses and job creators.

“The government’s strategy has focused on supporting those who create wealth and jobs,” Meloni said at a recent labor event. “We have reached a record high in employment.”

While she and her supporters point to jobs, fiscal discipline and political durability, her critics counter that many of Italy’s persistent problems remain. Weak productivity, demographic decline and long-standing inefficiencies in healthcare, education and public administration remain largely unaddressed.

“The Meloni government has been certainly stable and long-running, but it hasn’t achieved much in terms of structural reforms,” political analyst and pollster Lorenzo Pregliasco said.

Opposition leaders say Meloni's government has yet to find concrete ways to stimulate long-term economic growth beyond just controlling public debt and state deficits.

Former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, leader of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and a possible rival at the polls, pointed to the higher cost of living.

“The government is celebrating, but Italians are not,” Conte said in a recent speech outside parliament.

Turning global standing into political capital

Meloni’s transformation from nationalist outsider to establishment figure has reassured investors and European leaders.

“Italy has somewhat lost its role as Europe’s black sheep,” said Stefano Manzocchi, an international economics expert and professor at Rome's LUISS University.

Her knack for the balancing act was highlighted during recent tensions with Trump.

After Trump claimed that she had “begged” him for a photo at a Group of Seven summit in France, Meloni shot back: “Italy doesn’t beg.” It won her points with Italians who saw it as evidence that she could maintain relations with Washington while publicly defending Italy and Europe.

“I like Meloni, I like her character because she is authoritative and doesn’t let anyone walk on her,” said David Del Sarto, a 52-year-old taxi driver in Rome.

A challenger on her right

Tocci, the Johns Hopkins professor, noted that by pairing nationalist positions on migration and identity with tactical ability, Meloni helped accelerate the mainstreaming of Europe’s hard right. Once viewed with suspicion by much of the political establishment, nationalist parties have increasingly gained influence within governments and European institutions.

Meloni's supporters see her evolution as proof that nationalist conservatives can govern responsibly while remaining committed to democratic institutions and Western alliances.

But Meloni’s willingness to become more moderate has also been viewed as a weakness by some — and it has opened room for more conservative challengers.

Retired army Gen. Roberto Vannacci — known for hard-line positions on immigration and national identity — has emerged as a prominent voice on Italy’s far right, threatening Meloni by launching his own political party. He argues that Meloni has abandoned many of the combative promises that energized her political base, choosing instead to project an institution-friendly image to European and U.S. allies.

He may succeed in siphoning off conservative voters and lawmakers who feel Meloni moderated too much in her pursuit of stability.

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AP videojournalists Paolo Santalucia and Trisha Thomas contributed to this report.

It's been a difficult summer for Russians — a season of almost daily turmoil, frustration and anxiety.

The war that President Vladimir Putin unleashed on Ukraine 4½ years ago has come home and is harder to ignore. Nightly swarms of drones closed Russian airports, struck oil refineries or set ablaze the warehouses of retail giants Wildberries and Ozon.

Over 43,300 Ukrainian drones were intercepted over Russia and illegally annexed Crimea in June, July and August, according to Defense Ministry data compiled by The Associated Press, although some clearly hit their targets. In the same period last summer, about 7,700 were intercepted, the ministry said.

“We were living a normal life, and then suddenly it’s like this,” retiree Margarita Terekhova said about waiting in line to refuel her car in Moscow, part of the nationwide gas crisis from refinery attacks that persisted into August.

As the calendar turns toward autumn, increased awareness of the war and its consequences comes at a challenging time for the Kremlin. A parliamentary election takes place Sept. 18-20 — the first since the full-scale invasion.

While there's little doubt about the outcome of the tightly controlled balloting that features few opposition candidates, analysts say it still holds potential for political volatility.

“Elections are a time when people should reflect on themselves, the country, where it’s going and what to do about it,” said Nikolay Petrov, senior research fellow at the NEST Centre, founded by exiled tycoon and opposition figure Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Even in a strictly controlled environment, “things that are unexpected, inconvenient (and) painful for the authorities” can happen, Petrov said.

Russia's mood shifts

The summer's first major attack came June 3, when an oil terminal outside St. Petersburg was struck just as Putin's signature economic forum there got underway. Since then, Ukraine hit refineries, along with Wildberries and Ozon warehouses — from Moscow to Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains, to Omsk in Siberia.

That intensified campaign — with its expanded geography and a growing number of drones — shocked Russians, says Denis Volkov, director of the country’s top independent pollster, the Levada Center.

Ukraine has not disclosed how many drones it launches, but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has talked about expanding the strikes, which he calls “long-range sanctions.” Officials in Kyiv say they will continue trying to pressure Russia into ending the war, even as Moscow intensifies its bombardment of Ukraine.

The attacks have remained the most noteworthy topic for two months this summer, Volkov told AP.

Social media documented gas station queues or travelers stranded by canceled flights. Tearful entrepreneurs told followers their inventory was destroyed at the stricken warehouses.

Images of massive fires at oil refineries and warehouses showed up online despite restrictions on publication of content detailing the attacks.

Asked if Russians should get used to fuel shortages, Putin said Thursday in Vladivostok that “we must be prepared for anything, and our preparedness for everything will signal to those who want to harm us that it's better not to do it.”

While the shock over this summer's events has since eased, Volkov said, there is a longer-term downward trend that sociologists have tracked since last year: a worsening assessment of Russia’s economic situation and declining approvals of top politicians.

Putin’s traditionally high approval rating has fallen somewhat this year. Data from the Levada Center showed it at 76% in August, down from 87% in September 2025.

Chris Weafer, CEO of the Macro-Advisory Ltd. consultancy that works in Moscow, said there's more awareness of the war and less complacency about it.

“People are grumbling more, they’re talking more,” he said, with a striking level of pessimism, especially in the business community, about the prospects for its end.

Rumors of a possible mobilization

There also appears to be nervousness fueled by persistent rumors of an impending troop mobilization — like the widely unpopular one in September 2022 that drafted 300,000 men.

Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials maintain Russia is planning another mobilization after the State Duma election. Putin rejected the claims, saying they were “an information attack by the enemy.”

Still, the prospect has prompted some Russians to leave the country. One 23-year-old Muscovite told AP she left last month with her husband, worried he might be drafted.

The young woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of concerns for her safety, also mentioned fear of Ukrainian attacks. She believes many feel exhaustion from the war, which now can affect “the life of any person in any corner of the country,” she said.

Volkov said worries over a new mobilization have long lurked in the background but flared up slightly last year after U.S.-led peace efforts stalled with no end to the war in sight.

People “don’t want (the conflict) to expand and more people to be dragged into it against their will, and this breeds certain concern, anxiety,” he said.

Authorities don't want a war debate

Volkov and Weafer said this increased awareness and the dampened mood aren't translating into anti-war demonstrations, public unrest or even enough protest votes to affect the balloting.

But things like turnout and “debate ahead of the election” still matter to authorities, Weafer said, even with an all-but-certain outcome.

Petrov pointed to the Yabloko party, the longtime voice of the liberal opposition that campaigns for an end to the war. It initially was allowed onto the ballot, and its young supporters flooded social media with videos promoting the party.

But on Aug. 10, the Supreme Court kicked Yabloko off the ballot, leaving it to compete only in single constituency races. Ten days later, the head of its Moscow office, Kirill Goncharov, said the party, with about 4,000 members, got 8,000 new applications.

“The context of the summer of 2026 is that there is a demand for peace,” Goncharov said.

Yabloko’s slogans resonated with young voters, and that “upended the Kremlin’s calculation” of giving people a relatively safe outlet for their discontent, Petrov said.

Tatiana Stanovaya of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center said Yabloko's removal showed that authorities did not want the election to become a debate “for and against peace.”

Petrov said the Kremlin needs elections “as a demonstration of its great legitimacy.” It doesn’t care so much about the results, since it largely controls all the parties.

“Elections, like in Soviet times, should demonstrate the complete loyalty of all citizens," he said, adding that the vote should signal that Putin and the Kremlin have everything under control, and that people are ready to do “whatever authorities ask of them.”

Ukraine plans more turmoil for Russia

Russians interviewed in Moscow this week about how they spent their summer recounted contented moments, but they also described living with the effects of daily drone attacks.

Natalya Bazhenova from Chita in Siberia told AP she waited two full days in line for gasoline. Visiting the Voronezh region near the Ukrainian border, she got constant texts warning of drones but heard no explosions.

Ksenia Smirnova said her family canceled a flight to a Black Sea resort and is going by train instead.

On Tuesday, Zelenskyy ominously warned airlines in Russia that the risks could continue.

“Although the Russian authorities are not properly informing people about this, Russian airspace will effectively be closing — the war started by Russia is closing its skies,” he said. “For now, the skies over Russia are for drones — not for civilian aviation.”

There’s the baby who remained in foster care, even after his mother completed the steps to bring him home. She had found a job, as the state required, but couldn't afford his childcare.

It’s hardly news that childcare is expensive, straining the budget of even middle-class parents. But these families all qualify for government-funded childcare assistance, intended to drastically reduce the childcare bills of needy parents so they can work or go to school. Instead, Indiana's program, which had run short on funds, waitlisted them.

Hundreds of thousands of children were sitting on childcare assistance waitlists in 23 states and the District of Columbia as of this spring, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. In three more states, many eligible families who applied were simply turned away.

Childcare assistance, funded by the federal government with help from states, is supposed to aid working parents who are low-income, homeless or caring for foster children. But waitlists have ballooned since 2023, when eight states had them, according to the AP analysis. Reporters collected waitlist and enrollment data from 47 states and the District of Columbia.

Long waitlists often force parents to make financial tradeoffs

Many of the waitlists first started after $28 billion in pandemic aid expired in the fall of 2024. The Republican-led Congress declined to extend the extra money. Some states have increased funding to try to fill the gap, but families' need for childcare assistance has only grown, as they've faced mounting costs for food and gas.

While eligible families sit on waitlists, untold numbers of adults are sidelined from education or the workforce because they can't afford childcare. Those parents who remain in school or keep working make difficult tradeoffs. In interviews, parents described forgoing necessities, falling behind on bills or relying on acquaintances to watch their children. Unable to find viable childcare, some have resorted to bringing their children with them to work or class.

For Meygan Maloney's family in rural Indiana, waiting for childcare assistance means month after month of falling short financially. Maloney was working as a caregiver for disabled adults before she had her second child in 2023. Around the same time, the family took emergency custody of a close relative’s newborn daughter.

The next three years were marked by deepening financial struggles. Maloney only received $300 a month to care for her foster daughter, and both toddlers were put on a waitlist when she applied for childcare vouchers for 2025.

While the girl returned to her family in the fall, Maloney and her husband are still behind on bills. They recently refinanced their home, and her husband is working seven days a week as a tire technician and delivery driver. A local childcare provider gave her a steep discount, allowing her to leave her son four mornings a week to clean at a local hospital.

“I felt useless as a stay-at-home mom. I felt like I wasn’t contributing to our household,” Maloney said, her voice cracking. “We’re trying to get out. But for us to get out, we need the assistance."

Foster parents left to pay for childcare in Indiana

Indiana started its waitlist in December 2024, a few months after pandemic aid ran out and it became clear the state would struggle to support families already in the program. Until May of this year, it put virtually everyone who applied on the waitlist, including foster parents. By spring 2026, nearly 37,000 children were waiting for assistance.

Maloney and other foster families feel like they were misled by the state, which had for many years paid for childcare for foster children. Malinda Cox, an Indianapolis mom who took in a newborn last year, said she was forced to dip into her family’s savings to pay for the baby boy's childcare so she could return to work. At one point, she considered giving up custody of the boy because her family could not afford his childcare bill.

In the meantime, the boy’s biological mother was completing the requirements she had to satisfy to take him home. She had taken parenting classes and gotten a job. But she could not afford daycare, and because the boy could not get childcare assistance, he had to remain with Cox.

“We started to feel, like, guilty. He should be home with his mom, but (because of) this massive system upset, he’s not,” Cox said.

In April, Indiana Gov. Mike Braun, a Republican, announced the state would send $200 million in surplus funds to the state’s childcare assistance program, which would allow it to move roughly 8,000 children off the waitlist.

Even before the recent growth in waitlists, federal funding for childcare assistance has always fallen short of providing for every needy family, providing enough money to serve a fraction of those eligible. Experts say waitlists represent the tip of the iceberg, because many eligible families who need the help don't know about the program or haven't applied, daunted by tales of long waitlists.

The origins of the funding shortfall are cultural, said Ruth Friedman, who headed the Office of Child Care under Democratic President Joe Biden. For decades, “childcare was the responsibility of the family,” she said. “The system is fundamentally broken, and if the government doesn’t help fix the system … it will not be affordable for families.”

There are stark differences of opinion on whether the government should provide help — or how much. This year, 40 congressional Republicans called for “robust” funding of the federal program that underwrites childcare assistance. Instead, it received the same money as the year before. President Donald Trump said during his campaign that he could make childcare more affordable by using tariff revenue, but this spring he told a White House audience that paying for childcare should be up to the states.

“We’re fighting wars. We can’t take care of daycare. You got to let a state take care of daycare, and they should pay for it, too,” Trump told people gathered for an Easter luncheon.

His administration has largely focused on allegations of fraud in the program, at one point halting funding to five Democratic-led states. After a lawsuit, a judge ordered Trump's administration to restart the funding.

Moms bring babies to college or work

Without affordable childcare options, parents have resorted to bringing their children with them to work or school.

In Minnesota, Deaira Gresham's 1-year-old daughter has been on the waitlist for childcare assistance since birth, one of 9,000 children in her state awaiting aid as of this spring. Gresham, who works as an in-home health aide and takes a full load of classes at a chiropractic school, had some help with the baby from her mother. But often, she was forced to take her daughter with her to class and to her clients’ homes. It took a toll — Gresham failed several classes juggling school and caring for a baby.

This fall, she lucked out, getting a childcare grant for parenting students, allowing her to put the little girl in full-time care.

“Parents are in desperate need,” Gresham said. “We need that break. We need to be able to go to school, go to work and know that our kids are in good hands.”

It’s not just their work or college classes that parents worry about. Research has shown that high-quality childcare can boost a child's social-emotional and academic development.

Carmen Perez, who lives north of San Francisco, has applied for childcare help for all four of her children. Her eldest son never received it before aging out of the program. He struggled academically in ways that his sisters, who attended subsidized preschool, did not.

Now her 2-year-old son is one of 380 kids on a waitlist for assistance in Marin County, California. She fears he will face the same challenges as his older brother. “It makes me sick.”

On a rainy May day in Indianapolis, Cox bundled up her foster son and delivered him to a social worker. She packed up her own car with the boy’s things — clothes, diapers and a small changing table. The boy’s biological mother still had not gotten childcare assistance, but Cox had negotiated a deal with a childcare provider to offer a massive discount. When even that was out of the mother’s reach, Cox agreed to pay half.

She arrived at the boy’s new home to watch him reunite with his mother. She felt a mix of grief over parting with him and elation over seeing his delight with his mother.

Three weeks later, the mother got notice: He had finally been approved for a voucher.

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The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple 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.

Clancy, a 36-year-old former labor and delivery nurse, doesn’t deny strangling her children in the basement of their home in 2023. Her attorney argues that postpartum psychosis led to her actions, while prosecutors say she knew what she was doing when she killed Cora, Dawson and Callan Clancy, ages 5, 3 and 8 months.

Clancy’s livestreamed trial has generated intense interest, with reporters and spectators packing the courtroom. The case has also sparked deep public divisions over her culpability and the issues around maternal mental health after childbirth.

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

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Lindsay Clancy's reaction to the jury

Clancy stared at the jury with no expression on Wednesday as Judge William Sullivan explained to the courtroom that jurors were at an impasse — a sign there’s a growing chance of a hung jury and the trial ending without a resolution.

Sullivan told the jurors not to abandon their own convictions just to reach a verdict, but urged them to seriously consider opposing views and reassess their positions if appropriate.

No one knows, he said, that another jury would be “more intelligent, more impartial or more competent to decide it than you are.”

Lindsay Clancy could go on trial again

If the jury ultimately can’t agree on a verdict, the judge could declare a mistrial. Prosecutors would then have to decide whether to put Clancy on trial again, drop the charges or try to negotiate a plea deal with her lawyer.

If the jury decides Clancy was criminally responsible for her actions, it could convict her of either murder or manslaughter. If she is acquitted, a judge could still order her confined to a mental health facility if an evaluation determines that she poses a danger to the public.

The evidence against Lindsay Clancy

Jurors have heard testimony from relatives and doctors about how Clancy’s mental health declined in the months before the killings and how her treatment included several medications and a short stay in a psychiatric hospital.

Medical experts hired by the prosecution and the defense reached sharply different conclusions about her psychiatric state when she killed the children.

Patrick Clancy has said in interviews that he forgives his now ex-wife, whom he views as ill rather than evil.

Clancy strangled the children with exercise bands in their home’s basement, then jumped from a second-floor window. She remains paralyzed from the waist down. Her lawyers say she heard a voice telling her to kill the children so she could end her own life.

The prosecution argues she deliberately sent her then-husband on errands to get him out of the house, and prosecutors have questioned the seriousness of her suicide attempt.

A series of small, pro-Netanyahu parties are competing in the run-up to the Oct. 27 vote. But instead of strengthening the Israeli leader, these parties — including hard-line blocs led by polarizing Cabinet ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich — risk weakening his chances for reelection by splitting the vote among Netanyahu’s base.

The election is largely a referendum on Netanyahu’s nearly uninterrupted 17-year rule and his handling of a turbulent period marked by mass protests, Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and nearly three years of war. A victory would mark a stirring comeback for the embattled leader, while a loss would likely end the reign of a man who has shaped Israeli politics for three decades.

With his legacy on the line, Netanyahu is imploring his erstwhile allies to unite into larger parties that have a better chance of entering parliament.

“When we unite, we win. When we split up, we lose,” Netanyahu told Channel 14, a TV station that serves as an unofficial mouthpiece for the prime minister.

Here’s a closer look at Netanyahu's situation:

Forming a government is tricky

Israeli voters choose between political parties, not individual candidates.

Parties that receive the most votes secure the most seats in the 120-member parliament. But any party that can muster just 3.25% of the vote wins representation. That means that more than a dozen parties can be part of any given parliament.

No single party has ever captured the parliamentary majority needed to form a government. Instead, a party leader — usually the head of the largest party — forms a coalition with smaller partners to secure a 61-seat majority.

Netanyahu currently heads a coalition of religious and ultranationalist parties.

The outgoing coalition faces an uphill battle

Opinion polls have indicated that Netanyahu and members of his outgoing coalition are facing broad public unhappiness as they seek reelection.

The government’s popularity has suffered following the Hamas attacks — the deadliest in Israel’s history — and the subsequent, inconclusive wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.

Now Netanyahu’s prospects could be further weakened by divisions in his hard-line base.

Two parties that ran together in the 2022 elections — Smotrich's Religious Zionism and Ben-Gvir's Jewish Power — have so far rejected Netanyahu’s calls to merge again due to rocky relations between the two men.

At the same time, smaller parties led by former members of Netanyahu’s Likud party and another list formed by a hard-line retired military general find themselves competing for the same voters. These parties are differentiated more by the personalities of their leaders than their ideologies.

Falling short of the threshold could be devastating for Netanyahu

If any of these smaller parties fail to enter parliament, their votes would be lost and Netanyahu’s reelection prospects dimmed. The failure of small parties to cross the threshold contributed to Netanyahu’s defeat in a 2021 election, while rivalries among his opponents led to Netanyahu’s return to power in 2022.

For this reason, Netanyahu has been urging his ideological brethren to join together into larger blocs. That would require some individual sacrifices but improve their chances of crossing the threshold and being part of another Netanyahu-led government. In a small boost for Netanyahu, one of the small parties agreed Wednesday to be folded into Smotrich's list.

The parties have until Sept. 8 to consolidate, pull out of the race or continue on their own. Their decision could seal his fate.

With time running out, Netanyahu has been stepping up his calls with increasingly alarmist language.

In his Channel 14 interview, he told a cheering studio audience that only he could defeat Hamas and prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state. He warned that victory by his opponents, whom he derisively calls “the left,” would be disastrous for the country.

“The left is ready,” he said. “If we don’t unite, we will lose.”

“Wild Horse Nine,” which was written and directed by Martin McDonagh, is one of the higher-profile films launching at the 83rd edition of the festival. The film stars Sam Rockwell and John Malkovich as CIA agents who are dispatched to Easter Island shortly before the 1973 Chilean coup. It will have a theatrical release later this fall, and, if McDonagh’s track record is any indication, might be an awards player.

McDonagh’s previous two films, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” and “The Banshees of Inisherin” both bowed at Venice and went on to receive multiple Oscar nominations, including best picture. “Three Billboards” won two, for Rockwell and Frances McDormand.

“Bucking Fastard” is more of a mystery. The Werner Herzog-directed film features Rooney Mara and Kate Mara as twin sisters whose physical and mental codependency becomes a source of public fascination. A synopsis says “they speak in unison, love the same man, and have the same dreams.”

Both films are competing for the Golden Lion, along with Danny Boyle’s Rupert Murdoch film “Ink” and the Gaza-focused documentary “NAZA.”

The Maggie Gyllenhaal-led jury will announce the winners in a Sept. 12 ceremony.

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For coverage of the 2026 Venice Film Festival, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/venice-film-festival

When it happened in his second match this year, Alcaraz tried to look at the positives. After missing four months with a right wrist injury, the extra work might help.

“I wanted to be quick, to be honest. I’m not going to lie,” Alcaraz said. “But at the end, I realized that just playing four sets, it was really good for me to test everything physically, to test my body, how I feel, and tomorrow how I’m going to feel after this match.”

The defending champion rebounded from a quick deficit by winning eight straight games and beat Jaime Faria 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, 6-2 on Wednesday night.

The No. 2-seeded Alcaraz dropped his serve midway through the first set but soon was back to playing long stretches of flawless tennis.

“After that I just tried to be focused, tried to stay calm and I’m thinking that good things are going to happen again,” Alcaraz said.

He didn't drop a set last year until the final against Jannik Sinner, becoming the first man since Roger Federer in 2015 to go through his first six matches without doing so. He then beat Sinner in four sets for his second U.S. Open title.

The 23-year-old Alcaraz then picked up his seventh major title at this year's Australian Open and is on a 16-match winning streak in Grand Slam tournaments.

But after missing the French Open and Wimbledon during his absence, even Alcaraz said he didn't know what to expect in Flushing Meadows, where he won his first major title in 2022 at 19.

Daniil Medvedev, the U.S. Open champion the year before that, said a player of Alcaraz’s caliber is always a top contender any time he is in the field.

“We have no idea how Carlos’ wrist is going to feel, body is going to feel going later into the tournament, but he’s definitely a top favorite for the title,” Medvedev said.

Faria, three months younger than Alcaraz, broke for a 4-3 lead in the first set and used a powerful serve to stay ahead. Alcaraz felt after getting broken that he was rushing too much.

“After that I just wanted to play short points, which was a mistake for me,” he said. “I just needed to play patient, to play long rallies, three, four, five shots, and then go for it.”

Alcaraz stressed again that he is no longer in pain and has been hitting his forehand without any restrictions in practice.

“I know once I step on the court, I've just got to go for it every time. I've got to feel normal,” Alcaraz said. “I have to hit like I was hitting before the injury, and let’s see what happens after that.

“I’m just feeling great,” he added. “There is no reason to be afraid and not hitting normal.”

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See AP’s full tennis coverage here

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Police arrested Michelle Luchau-Rebora, 32, of Pinecrest, on Wednesday after she turned herself in at the Homestead Police Department, which investigated the case alongside the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office.

According to official documents, Luchau-Rebora was working as an intern at the New Home CORPS alcohol and drug treatment facility, located at 1020 N. Krome Ave., “in the capacity of a mental health therapist”, when, in June of last year, she started a sexual relationship with a client.

Authorities said Luchau-Rebora would engage in sexual activity during therapy sessions while at the facility, adding that she also “facilitated alibis on his behalf, which allowed him authorization to leave the restricted facility and engage in sexual intercourse on multiple occasions,” at several locations, including her home, her mother’s home in Key Biscayne and at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

According to deputies, Luchau-Rebora “demanded that he not tell anyone about their relationship because it will affect her ability to work as a therapist.”

Based off Luchau-Rebora’s arrest reports, the victim reported the inappropriate affair to the facility after she ended the relationship and she was subsequently fired.

She is now facing felony charges of sexual misconduct by a psychotherapist.

As of Wednesday morning, she was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $5,000 bond.

Local 10 News reached out to New Hope CORPS for comment, and they responded with the following statement:

“This is an unfortunate situation involving allegations concerning an individual who was serving as an intern with New Hope CORPS. Upon becoming aware of the allegations, New Hope promptly reported the matter to the appropriate authorities and agencies, terminated the individual’s internship, and fully cooperated with the subsequent investigation.”

Stephen Alvarez, Executive Director of New Hope CORPS

Luchau-Rebora bonded out of jail Wednesday evening, and refused to speak about the incident.

On Sept. 14, one of the most consequential changes takes effect: eliminating the longstanding definition of what it means to “harm” an endangered species.

The clock is ticking, but the fight is far from over.

In less than two weeks, the Trump administration is set to eliminate a key protection that has allowed the federal government to consider destruction of an endangered species’ habitat as “harm” to the animal itself.

Environmental groups are pushing back.

“So if we don’t speak and say no, then they’ll just do it,” one protester said.

“These changes take the teeth out of this law. And what is the value of listing a species if you can’t protect its home?” said Nora Ives of Oceana.

The administration says the change corrects decades of regulatory overreach. But environmental groups say it could open the door to development and other activities in some of the very places endangered wildlife need to survive.

“We need to preserve our natural treasures,” said Mary Lou Cristino Flores of the Florida Keys Surfrider Foundation. “We need to protect what we love, and we need to say no to offshore drilling projects that could continue to harm our Florida Keys economy and our natural wildlife.”

Here in Florida — home to more than a hundred federally protected species — the fight is intensifying.

“Protect gulf species, protect gulf lives!!” protesters chanted.

Over the weekend, that battle reached the Florida Keys, where environmental groups took to the streets to warn that what happens in Washington could soon be felt in their own backyard — and in their waters.

“This proposal is reckless. It puts our environment, our economy, and our way of life at risk,” one protester said.

“And so we want to call attention to that and call for restoring those endangered species act protections,” said Jewel Tomasula, national policy director of the Endangered Species Coalition.

But the fight is moving beyond protests.

Multiple federal lawsuits are challenging the rollbacks, with Earthjustice, Oceana and other conservation groups asking the courts to stop the new rules from taking effect.

“There’s no need to dismantle something that has worked for 50 plus years. And additionally, it allows human activity to go forward safely while protecting the species we all rely on for our ecological and our climate health,” Ives said.

The fight has reached Capitol Hill, too.

A bipartisan House bill would preserve the ESA’s longstanding definition of “harm.” Senators Adam Schiff and Sheldon Whitehouse have introduced a separate resolution to overturn the administration’s new rule.

“Right now there is a direct threat to Florida. Offshore drilling is being proposed right off our coastline, and the Trump administration needs to reverse plans and and not drill in the Eastern Gulf,” said Hunter Miller, deputy field director for Oceana Florida.

But conservation groups say getting lawmakers on board will take a groundswell of public pressure: loud enough that Washington can’t ignore.

“Our community is not going to be silenced. We want to be heard. These are the things that matter to us, and we’re going to let you know that we’re here,” one protester said.

“We will not be silent, and we will not allow anyone to play God with the endangered species of the Florida Keys. Wooooo!!!!” another protester said.

Conservation groups are now urging the public to make their voices heard — contact their lawmakers and tell them where they stand.

And with an election looming, how those lawmakers respond could have consequences at the ballot box.

El mandatario designó a la abogada Ilva Myriam Hoyos como nueva ministra de esa cartera a partir del 7 de septiembre, día en que Morales dejará el cargo, según su carta de renuncia divulgada por De la Espriella en la red social X, en la que indica que tuvo una “situación familiar inesperada”.

Morales sólo estuvo tres semanas en el cargo, el mismo tiempo que lleva el conservador De la Espriella en el poder tras suceder al progresista Gustavo Petro (2022-2026). En estos días el mandatario ha enfocado su agenda en atender las necesidades de miles de estudiantes que quedaron sin escuelas seguras tras el terremoto del 10 de agosto.

De la Espriella indicó que a Hoyos, doctora en derecho, “su talante, fortaleza, honradez y firme defensa de los valores la preceden”.

Tras la designación, sectores opositores criticaron la elección de Hoyos, recordando que trabajó en la Procuraduría cuando la dirigía el conservador Alejandro Ordónez. Ella estuvo encargada de investigar y sancionar disciplinariamente a funcionarios públicos.

La congresista María Fernanda Carrascal, del opositor Pacto Histórico, hizo notar que Hoyos tiene una “larga historia en las batallas jurídicas del conservadurismo colombiano”, entre ellas intentar "revertir decisiones judiciales relacionadas con el aborto”.

La oposición también había cuestionado a Morales por el hecho de que hace una década impulsó un fracasado referendo para limitar la adopción de niños por parte de personas de la comunidad LGBTIQ+.

Misiorowski struggled in hot and humid conditions on Wednesday night, surrendering five runs and five hits in four innings against the Chicago Cubs. But Milwaukee rallied for a 9-5 victory at Wrigley Field.

“He’s going to learn a lesson from this,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “He didn't command his fastball. And he just had to bob and weave. He was slipping on the mound again early. ... He didn’t have his perfect delivery, and that’s going to be a key going forward.”

Misiorowski struck out five and walked four in his 26th start this season and No. 40 for his career. The five earned runs and four walks matched Misiorowski’s career highs.

The 6-foot-7 right-hander surrendered three earned runs or fewer in his first 25 starts this year, becoming the favorite for the NL Cy Young Award. His ERA rose to 1.97, which still leads the majors. He also has an MLB-best 227 strikeouts in 155 innings in his second big league season.

“Didn’t feel wonderful, didn’t feel great,” Misiorowski said. “Obviously it felt soggy the whole time. The weather played a factor in that, so lost grip, but, you know, had to make it work.”

The 24-year-old Misiorowski, who has a long extension with his pitching motion, said a soft mound is a significant challenge.

“You start second-guessing everything, start trying to make pitches too big, and start trying make things too spot-on,” he said, “so (you) start leaking places, and you got to calm yourself down and figure out a way to get through it.”

Misiorowski's trouble began in the first inning. He issued a leadoff walk to Pete Crow-Armstrong and surrendered a two-run homer by Alex Bregman with one out.

The Cubs added three more in the second. Tyrone Taylor hit an RBI single before Misiorowski walked Crow-Armstrong and Seiya Suzuki, loading the bases. One batter later, Bregman grounded a two-run single up the middle for a 5-3 lead.

“His delivery's got to be right,” Murphy said. “He’s got to command his fastball. If he doesn’t command his fastball, he’s good, but he’s not ... you saw what happened tonight, and he walks people.”

Misiorowski worked around Ian Happ's one-out single in the third. Seiya Suzuki walked with two down in the fourth, but Misiorowski retired Bregman on a popup to shortstop.

He threw 92 pitches, 53 for strikes, and the NL Central-leading Brewers had a 6-5 lead when he departed.

“Today didn’t happen to be the best day for him on the mound,” Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio said through an interpreter. “But again, the group here was able to pick him up and do our part to be able to get us a win.”

Chourio hit his 21st homer, part of a four-hit night. JoJo Romero, Antonio Senzatela, Abner Uribe, Aaron Ashby and Trevor Megill each pitched a scoreless inning out of the bullpen, finishing a six-hitter.

Milwaukee won for the sixth time in eight games.

“Electric. ... Awesome to have guys like that behind you,” Misiorowski said of the bullpen's performance. “You know, I have a rough start and they figure out a way to get through it with me.”

___

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Sorsby played the 2024 and '25 seasons for the Bearcats before transferring to Texas Tech. He was ruled permanently ineligible by the NCAA in April after he placed thousands of impermissible sports bets over the past four years at Indiana and Cincinnati.

“Earlier this summer, NCAA enforcement staff completed an inquiry into a former Cincinnati student-athlete’s prohibited betting activity during his time at the university. The inquiry is now closed and the student-athlete was found to have committed a Level III violation,” Cincinnati senior associate athletic director for communications Zach Stipe said in a statement. “Cincinnati worked closely with the NCAA throughout the process, which began when the initial reports of impermissible sports wagering began.”

The Cincinnati Enquirer was the first to report on the university being cleared.

The NCAA sent an official letter of inquiry to the school regarding Sorsby in early July. That came after Sorsby’s agent, Ron Slavin, said during a radio interview in Dallas that Cincinnati was aware of Sorsby’s gambling.

NCAA Level III violations are attributed to Sorsby and not Cincinnati or its coaching staff. The violation was when the ProhiBet app on Sorsby's phone flagged him trying to make a bet, but he was denied access to the betting site.

UC's compliance department told Sorsby of gambling restrictions by student-athletes.

The NCAA declared Sorsby ineligible for making bets worth at least $90,000 during his college career.

Sorsby made at least 40 bets on Indiana while he was a freshman there in 2022, but none of those bets came on games in which he played. He acknowledged placing at least 165 impermissible bets on college and professional sports totaling at least $38,000 in 2024, including three wagers on Cincinnati men’s basketball made on a FanDuel account he shared with a friend. He provided more than $60,000 to the friend to deposit in the shared account between December 2023 and June 2025.

Sorsby passed for 2,800 yards with 27 touchdowns and five interceptions last season. He also ran for 580 yards and nine TDs. The Bearcats started 7-1 before losing their final five games.

Cincinnati still has a pending federal lawsuit against Sorsby, accusing him of breaching his name, image and likeness contract following his transfer to Texas Tech.

___

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The league also is determined to play those games at Australia's biggest stadium during the first week of the NFL's regular season — even with a major scheduling problem obstructing that goal in 2027.

The 100,000-seat MCG could be unavailable to the NFL at this time next year because it will be occupied by the Australian Football League postseason, which begins in early September. The AFL accommodated the NFL this year, but doesn't intend to do the same in 2027, according to Australian media reports.

Without going into details, NFL executive vice president Peter O'Reilly downplayed the potential for disruption caused by this scheduling conflict during a conference call Wednesday to highlight the league's upcoming Australian debut.

“We have great partners in the MCG and the AFL, and I know we’ll work to a good solution there that allows the NFL to continue to play in Australia on an ongoing basis,” O'Reilly said.

The entire 2027 AFL season has been pushed back a week, with the postseason-ending AFL Grand Final at the MCG moved to October, because the arena is booked in early March for a landmark cricket test match — the 150th anniversary Ashes between Australia and England.

O’Reilly confirmed the NFL wants its Australia games to happen in the first week of its regular season because of the major travel commitment involved. The Melbourne game is farther from the U.S. than any previous international game, with the teams required to take 15-hour flights from California.

The NFL also wants to play in the MCG, Australia's premier venue and the largest stadium on the NFL schedule this season. The 49ers-Rams matchup appears to be on the verge of being a complete sellout.

But the 172-year-old MCG is vital to the AFL, which added a wild-card round of postseason games this year.

Nine of the AFL’s 18 current teams are based in the Melbourne metropolitan area, and those clubs' postseason home matches have all been played at the MCG in recent years. The AFL plays nearly a quarter of its total matches at the MCG — even with the 56,000-seat Marvel Stadium, which also hosts many regular-season AFL matches, less than three miles away.

O'Reilly didn't go into the potential solutions to the distant scheduling problem while touting the excitement of the NFL's first game in Australia and the promise of many more.

“This is not the circus coming to town,” O’Reilly said. “This is not just us coming for one game. This is part of a long-term commitment to Australia and the region of bringing games (and) year-round activation. ... We want to be there with games on a regular, annual basis. We see it as a long-haul partnership, for sure.”

The NFL opened an office in Australia in 2022, and it has a multi-year deal with Visit Victoria, the official state tourism company, to stage games in Melbourne.

Charlotte Offord, the NFL general manager for Australia and New Zealand, didn’t rule out the possibility for future NFL games to be played elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region.

“Never say never in terms of where games could go in the future across Australia or even across wider APAC,” Offord said. “So certainly it's not off the table in terms of where we could go, but this is a long-term commitment to the market, and we want to see us continue to be playing games across the market for years to come.”

___

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En un comunicado firmado por el Frente de Guerra Urbano, el ELN indica que el lunes cerca de la medianoche “atacó bajo modalidad de vehículo con explosivos” la estación de policía de Los Patios, parte del área metropolitana de Cúcuta, la capital del departamento de Norte de Santander.

Sin mostrar evidencias señalaron a esa estación de “convertirse en un centro de tortura para las personas que allí han sido detenidas”. Mientras que reconocieron y lamentaron la muerte de un venezolano que pasaba por el lugar en el momento de la activación de la carga explosiva.

La guerrilla, alzada en armas desde 1964, reclamó al presidente Abelardo de la Espriella cerrar las posibilidades de buscar una "solución política y negociada al conflicto armado en Colombia”.

El conservador De la Espriella, posesionado el 7 de agosto, dio fin a las mesas de negociación de paz abiertas por su predecesor, el progresista Gustavo Petro (2022-2026), mientras que advirtió a los grupos ilegales combatirlos a menos que se sometan a la justicia.

La mesa de diálogo con el ELN ya estaba suspendida desde enero de 2025 como reproche del gobierno de Petro a una ola de violencia en la zona fronteriza con Venezuela que terminó por afectar gravemente a la población civil.

Tras el ataque a la estación de policía de Los Patios, De la Espriella lideró un consejo de seguridad junto a la cúpula militar y las autoridades locales, en el que prometió perseguir a los responsables.

“Vamos a perseguir con mano de hierro a quienes atenten contra los colombianos, hasta capturarlos, desmantelar sus estructuras y devolverles la tranquilidad a nuestras comunidades”, indicó De la Espriella en la red social X.

Presidente muestra cuerpos tras operación militar

De la Espriella suele dar reportes constantes de las operaciones militares que ejecuta contra los grupos armados ilegales, incluyendo bombardeos, uno de ellos cuestionado por sectores opositores por cobrar la vida de tres menores reclutados forzosamente.

El miércoles dio un nuevo parte sobre un bombardeo realizado el fin de semana en Guaviare, en el centro-sur del país, contra disidencias de las extinta guerrilla Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia que no se acogieron al acuerdo de paz firmado hace una década con el Estado.

Detalló que fue “dado de baja el narcoterrorista alias 'Tigre' o 'Pintado'” y otras 22 personas más, mientras mostraba en un video en X sus cuerpos sin vida envueltos en bolsas blancas y expuestos en el suelo junto a las municiones incautadas.

El senador opositor y excandidato presidencial Iván Cepeda criticó en X a De la Espriella por no tener “el más mínimo sentido de humanidad” al pasear entre “las bolsas con los cadáveres. Casi los pisa con desprecio”.

He plans to have a conversation with the training staff and Ohtani on Thursday to “really try to figure out where he's at physically” and weigh giving him a day off, although Roberts said he doesn't think a stint on the injured list is necessary.

“I saw the same thing that everyone saw,” Roberts said after an 8-6 loss in 10 innings to the St. Louis Cardinals. “You could see the swing wasn’t the swing that we’re used to seeing. He's not close to optimal.”

The two-way superstar hasn't pitched in a game since July 3 because of lingering pain in his left knee and right biceps, which may be affecting his offense. He is hitting .279 after striking out four consecutive times for the first time this season.

“I know he feels that he needs to post and be in the lineup and if he's upright he should play,” Roberts said. “I respect that, but if he’s feeling the way that he visibly looks, then it's really not helping anyone.”

Earlier Wednesday, Roberts had said he had no indication that Ohtani was physically ailing.

After the game, the manager said, “I’ve seen it over the last couple weeks where he hasn’t been who he is.”

Ohtani hasn't spoken to the media in two weeks.

“I still feel there’s enough days on the calendar of the season that we have plenty of time to make whatever decision we make and to have him come out of it in a better spot,” Roberts said.

The Dodgers remain uncertain whether Ohtani will pitch again this season.

He threw a 20-pitch bullpen session last Friday but was scratched from a potential start at Detroit two days later. Roberts said that until he sees Ohtani throw another bullpen he won't know the next step in his pitching progression.

Asked if it's possible Ohtani won't pitch again this season, Roberts said, “It's an option.”

Before being shut down, Ohtani was 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA in 14 starts.

If Ohtani can't start on the mound, would he be a candidate to play at an outfield corner?

“Not on the table right now,” Roberts said.

Ohtani hasn't played the outfield in the major leagues since 2021, when he appeared there in seven games for the Los Angeles Angels.

If Ohtani isn't physically capable of starting a game, it's possible he could enter as a reliever.

If he starts as the designated hitter and then moves to the mound, the so-called Ohtani Rule would kick in and the Dodgers would lose their DH for the rest of the game. But if he moves from the mound to the outfield, he could remain in the lineup.

___

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Voters' dim views of the economy and the war in Iran have put Republicans in a tough spot as the midterm election season enters its final stretch. But during a dinner in the Rose Garden, one of the spaces he has controversially renovated since returning to office last year, the president told his party's most vulnerable lawmakers that they had a triumphant story to tell voters.

“All you have to do is talk about it, and you’re going to win and you’re going to win big,” Trump said a week before the party gathers in Dallas for an unusual midterm convention.

The audience of Republican lawmakers listened quietly to Trump through his speech, occasionally offering applause as many sipped on cocktails ahead of their dinner. Menus checkered in yellow gingham called it an “end of summer BBQ" featuring cheeseburgers.

Trump talked up economic investment in the United States and lower drug prices, using significantly inflated figures, as well as diminished border crossings.

Control of Congress will come down to about 35 races, Trump said. He pledged to spend the 30 days before the election campaigning hard in those battlegrounds, recalling his aggressive travel schedule ahead of his own White House victory two years ago.

“I’m going to go to every one of those 35 places, and we’re going to see if we can get everyone elected,” Trump said. His focus, he added, would be on House and Senate races.

He specifically listed Senate races in Alaska, where Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan faces Democratic former Rep. Mary Peltola, and Texas, where Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton is running against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico.

Trump backed Paxton in this year's primary despite a scandal-plagued past, but he poked fun at his style of dress and presence on the campaign trail on Monday.

“You might not love his look. You might not love his television interviews," he said. "But he was the best attorney general in the country, perhaps. He was one of the best in the entire country. And that speaks a lot louder than the suit he’s wearing that doesn’t look so great.”

Republicans' midterm struggles, he suggested, were simply following a pattern that virtually all modern presidents have faced.

“Whether you’re a good president or a great president, you lose the midterms,” Trump said. “We’re going to turn that around because there’s no reason for it.”

U.S. District Judge Deborah L. Boardman in Maryland on Wednesday issued the injunction until a class-action lawsuit brought by immigrant families and advocacy groups is resolved.

“The Supreme Court has spoken: Children in the certified class are ‘citizens at birth,’” Boardman, appointed by President Joe Biden, wrote in Wednesday's ruling.

Birthright citizenship is guaranteed under current law for anyone who is born on U.S. soil, with a few exceptions. The law stretches back to 1868, when the 14th Amendment was ratified in the aftermath of the Civil War.

But Trump has long wanted to end birthright citizenship, issuing a previous executive order declaring that children born to people who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens. The Supreme Court struck down that attempt in June.

In August, the president tried again with a narrowed executive order that appeared to restrict automatic citizenship for specific categories of people, including children born to adults with connections to foreign embassies or organizations or to anyone considered an “alien enemy” of the United States.

The order defined birth tourism as someone who enters the United States on a “nonimmigrant visa for the purpose of giving birth on American soil.” Birth tourism is already considered fraud and grounds to restrict a visa if someone seeks one specifically to obtain U.S. citizenship for a child.

The order sought to deny citizenship to children born to adults who “engaged in a commercial transaction to purchase or access birthright citizenship,” and some families said they feared their children could be denied citizenship simply because they purchased airfare to come to the U.S. and got pregnant after they arrived.

Families and organizations who sued over the birthright citizenship restrictions told the court that the executive branch has taken a broad view of who qualifies as an alien enemy, sometimes relying on speculation or misinformation to make that determination.

Others said they feared their children would be denied citizenship because a member of the parents' extended family was connected to a gang in their home country, even though the parents were not gang members.

Uncertainty surrounding the order left them with confusion and fear, the families said.

They were joined in the lawsuit by We Are CASA, the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project and the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection.

The administration's attorneys argued that the request to block the order was premature and said the federal agencies tasked with enforcing it would use “appropriate measures” to do so, relying on official guidance that hasn't been issued yet.

The judge rejected that argument.

“No matter what the guidance says, the 2026 Executive Order commands agencies to deny citizenship documents to several broad categories of children,” Boardman wrote.

“The White House must recognize it will not succeed in stripping children of their right to citizenship, evading binding court decisions or placing the president’s anti-immigrant agenda above the Constitution,” Shana Khader, legal director at We Are CASA, said in a prepared statement.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

___ Associated Press reporter Valerie Gonzalez contributed.

Políticos, ministros del gobierno, periódicos y expertos jurídicos examinaron minuciosamente el miércoles la actuación del juez Alexandre de Moraes, luego de que documentos de la Policía Federal —dados a conocer por uno de sus pares— mostraran que el desacreditado banquero Daniel Vorcaro, propietario de Banco Master, intentó obtener repetidamente asesoramiento de una persona que las autoridades dicen era De Moraes.

Según los documentos, los investigadores creen que Vorcaro actuó en distintas ocasiones con base en consejos de De Moraes. El banquero también agradeció al juez en respuestas a mensajes que la policía no pudo leer, y habló de las presuntas conversaciones en otros mensajes con sus amigos.

Los 10 integrantes del Supremo Tribunal Federal se reunieron el miércoles en Brasilia, menos de 24 horas después de las revelaciones, pero ninguno abordó la situación. Como de costumbre, De Moraes se sentó junto al juez André Mendonca, quien desprecintó los documentos. Ambos no hablaron durante la sesión, que se centró en otros casos.

Pero la presión sobre De Moraes se sintió fuera del tribunal.

“Mientras el juez permanezca en el cargo, la deshonra y el descrédito seguirán acumulándose sobre el tribunal. El camino más digno y rápido sería que el juez renuncie. Eso evitaría a las instituciones del país un daño innecesario y prolongado”, señaló el diario Folha de S. Paulo, y añadió que el Senado debería hacerle un juicio político al juez si no decide irse.

Las acusaciones, que llevaron al cierre del Banco Master y al encarcelamiento de Vorcaro mientras aguarda ser enjuiciado, han puesto bajo escrutinio a varios políticos de cara a las elecciones de octubre. Diversos legisladores, entre ellos el senador Flávio Bolsonaro —candidato opositor—, y un aliado histórico del presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva han quedado inmersos en el escándalo.

Lula no ha hecho comentarios sobre el caso, pero el senador Bolsonaro, quien admitió haber recibido al menos 12 millones de dólares de Vorcaro para patrocinar una película sobre la vida de su padre, dijo que De Moraes “cometió varios delitos”.

“No es aceptable, con todo lo que se ha revelado, que siga siendo juez del Supremo Tribunal Federal”, expresó el senador Bolsonaro durante un acto de campaña en el estado sureño de Río Grande do Sul.

Otros candidatos también dijeron que quieren que De Moraes deje el tribunal.

Los documentos desprecintados por Mendonca, quien fue nombrado por el expresidente Jair Bolsonaro, también mostraron que De Moraes revisó un contrato entre Vorcaro y su esposa, Viviane Barci de Moraes, por un valor de 130 millones de reales brasileños (unos 26 millones de dólares), que ya era público.

Los abogados de la esposa de De Moraes indicaron en un comunicado el martes que el juez del Supremo Tribunal Federal sí revisó el documento para asegurarse de que no hubiera conflicto de intereses con su cargo. Los abogados añadieron que De Moraes nunca emitio fallos en casos que involucraran a Banco Master ni a Vorcaro.

El propio De Moraes no ha hecho comentarios sobre los hallazgos.

Carlos Fávaro, exministro de Agricultura durante el gobierno de Lula y a menudo considerado una voz del sector empresarial, manifestó en redes sociales que De Moraes tiene dos opciones: aclarar lo ocurrido o renunciar. Los ministros actuales del gobierno han permanecido en silencio.

El Supremo Tribunal Federal tendría que votar para determinar si De Moraes puede ser investigado formalmente y cuándo. Esas decisiones quedarían en manos de Mendonca, quien preside el caso, y del presidente del tribunal, Luiz Edson Fachin.

Durante una ceremonia previa a la sesión vespertina del tribunal, Fachin indicó que anunciará las próximas medidas en los días venideros tras analizar los hechos y seguir los procedimientos correctos.

“En momentos de particular gravedad, es deber de todos preservar la integridad del Supremo Tribunal Federal, la autoridad de sus decisiones, el respeto a sus normas y, sobre todo, la confianza de la sociedad en la institución”, declaró Fachin.

———

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

Wright and Rodríguez were overseeing the signing of deals with Chevron and Italy’s Eni to increase oil output at Venezuela’s oil Orinoco Belt.

“Today is a transformative day,” Wright said during his speech at the palace. He had told reporters at the airport that the “deals will lead to a more than doubling of Venezuelan oil production in the next few years.”

Chevron announced plans to invest more than $7 billion through 2031 with the aim of increasing production in the Orinoco Belt to about 600,000 barrels a day. ENI announced a 25-year contract with rights to explore the Junin 5 oil field.

“Chevron’s history in Venezuela spans more than a century, and our expanded position reflects our confidence in the country’s deep resource potential,” Mike Wirth, Chevron’s chief executive officer, said in a statement.

GE Vernova, an energy company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, signed a deal to improve some of the electrical infrastructure in Venezuela.

“We saw three large corporate deals signed today. That’s fantastic, but the U.S. partnership with the largest local Venezuelan producer, I think, will supercharge confidence,” Wirth said while visiting earthquake damage in La Guaira.

President Donald Trump and Rodríguez recently announced the deal involving the Pentagon and North American Blue Energy Partners, owned by Venezuelan billionaire Alejandro Betancourt, who has been the subject of money laundering probes in the U.S., Switzerland, and Spain.

Betancourt, 46, has denied the accusations. In Caracas, the Venezuelan National Assembly approved the deal with NABEP — in which the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital has a 35% ownership stake. Venezuela granted NABEP concessions to 17 oilfields for 100 years.

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Rystad Energy analysts project that it will take an investment of more than $183 billion for more than a decade to get to producing about 3 million barrels a day in Venezuela.

Gutiérrez-Boronat was a boy when his family was among those pushed into exile by the Soviet-aligned communists’ obsession with the elimination of private enterprise.

“When Raúl Castro dies, the last remaining authority figure of the Castro dictatorship dies,” Gutiérrez-Boronat said on Wednesday.

Gutiérrez-Boronat went on to earn degrees from Florida International University and the University of Miami, and he co-founded the Directorio Democratico Cubano, a nongovernmental organization pushing for change since 1990.

Fidel Castro died on Nov. 25, 2016, at 90 years old. At 95, Raúl Castro still has the Cuban military rank of “General of the Army” and a symbolic seat as a deputy in the National Assembly.

“Raúl Castro is the glue of the regime,” Gutiérrez-Boronat said. “Whether the regime can be dismantled depends on the amount of pressure for change inside.”

Related story: Cubans in Miami stop to ponder the island’s future without Raúl Castro

Raúl Castro, who served as Cuba’s president for about a decade and as the defense minister for about 50 years, was hospitalized, according to sources in communication with Local 10 News Analyst Andy Gomez, the former director of the University of Miami’s Institute for Cuban Studies.

“The death of Raúl is much more complicated within Cuba than Fidel’s was ... It’s definitely the end of the revolution, a revolution that promised a lot and delivered very little,” Gomez said on Wednesday.

Cuban officials remained silent on the subject after the Diario Las Américas, a Miami-based newspaper in Spanish, reported on Tuesday that Castro, who formally retired in April 2021, had suffered a stroke and was on life support.

Castro’s last public appearance was on June 6 at a ceremony to commemorate the 62nd anniversary of Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior. He did not attend the official annual event to commemorate the historic assault of July 26, 1953.

Related report: Rubio accuses Cuban officials of selling Venezuelan oil for cash that was ‘going into their pockets’

Before communism

Castro was born on June 3, 1931, in the village of Birán, in Cuba’s Holguín province. His father, Angel Castro, was born in Spain, and his mother, Lina Ruz González, was born in Cuba.

Castro was the youngest of seven: Two brothers, Fidel and Ramon, and four sisters, Angela, Juana, Emma, and Agustina. He was a student at Catholic Jesuit schools, the Colegio Dolores in Santiago and the Colegio de Belén in Havana.

Castro attended the University of Havana. He was a member of the Socialist Youth, a group of the Popular Socialist Party, and participated in the guerrilla campaign in the Sierra Maestra.

Related story: Cuban ‘intelligence asset’ lived in Miami-Dade to spy on exiles, feds say

Guerrilla fighter

Castro was arrested after the guerrilla attack on the Moncada military barracks on July 26, 1953, and was sentenced to 13 years in prison, but he only served 22 months.

Castro received then-Cuban President Fulgencio Batista’s amnesty, and he was released from the Presidio Modelo prison on May 15, 1955, at the Isle of Pines.

Castro went into exile in Mexico. In 1956, in Mexico City, Castro met Ernesto “Che” Guevara, who had graduated from the University of Buenos Aires Medical School in 1953.

Castro, his brother Fidel, and Guevara were on board the yacht Granma that landed with dozens of guerrilla fighters on Dec. 2, 1956, in eastern Cuba’s Playas Las Coloradas.

Castro joined his brother, Guevara, and fellow guerrilla fighters in the Sierra Maestra mountains. The group overthrew Batista, who then fled Cuba on Jan. 1, 1959.

Castro married Vilma Lucila Espín Guillois, a fellow guerrilla fighter who was born in Santiago de Cuba, on Jan. 26, 1959. The couple had four children: Three daughters, Déborah in 1960; Mariela in 1962; and Nilsa; and one son, Alejandro, in 1965.

Rise to power

As his brother rose to power, Castro was named Cuba’s minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces in 1959.

In 1996, Castro ordered the shootdown of civilian aircraft with Brothers to the Rescue pilots and crew members. The Cuban Air Force struck and killed Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre, Jr., Mario de la Peña, and Pablo Morales.

Castro became Cuba’s provisional head of state on July 31, 2006. His wife, Espín Guillois, died on June 18, 2007.

Castro also served as the acting president of Cuba’s Council of State and the Council of Ministers from 2006 to 2008. The National Assembly elected him president on Feb. 24, 2008.

In 2011, Castro was elected as the first secretary of the Communist Party. In 2013, the National Assembly elected him to a second five-year term.

In 2014, Castro announced the start of normalizing relations with the U.S., and negotiated with Russia to cancel 90% of a debt that had started with the Soviet Union.

Castro welcomed then-U.S. President Barack Obama and then First Lady Michelle Obama to Havana on March 20, 2016.

Castro served as president until April 19, 2018, when Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, his handpicked successor, replaced him.

In 2021, Castro stepped down as the leader of the Communist Party, and Díaz-Canel Bermúdez also replaced him.

While wielding power behind the scenes, Castro has continued to make public appearances in his military uniform.

On April 23, a U.S. federal grand jury in Miami indicted Raúl Castro for his role in the 1996 Cuban military strikes on two unarmed Cessnas with four members of Brothers to the Rescue.

On May 20, the U.S. Justice Department unsealed the charges: Conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, four counts of murder, and two counts of destruction of an aircraft.

Castro did not make or release a statement about the charges.

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Como expresara el General Ejército Raúl Castro en Belgrado, el 5 de septiembre de 1989, durante la IX Cumbre del Movimiento de Países No Alineados #MNOAL:

"La seguridad y la paz de los ricos no son aquellas por las cuales luchamos los países pobres. Queremos paz con soberanía,… pic.twitter.com/nRHUq5271Z

— Bruno Rodríguez P (@BrunoRguezP) September 1, 2026

Thursday will feature a mix of sun and clouds, with showers and storms developing as the day unfolds, particularly inland. Temperatures are expected to be seasonable, with highs around 90 degrees.

“It is up to Congress to define ‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof,’ to put a stop to birth tourism,” said Republican Rep. Chip Roy.

Members of both major political parties participated in a heated hearing on Capitol Hill.

“Nothing more than a desperate and bigoted attempted to fabricate an endrin around birthright citizenship,” said Democratic Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon.

The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that, with very few exceptions, children born in the U.S. are American citizens, and most recently it struck down an executive order from Trump that sought to limit birthright citizenship.

Since that ruling, the president and Republicans on Capitol Hill have narrowed their focus to so-called birth tourism, issuing new executive orders aimed at cracking down on the practice of traveling to the U.S. for purpose of having a child on American soil.

“Wealthy people are building businesses around birthright citizenship,” said Trump. “That’s not the way it’s support to work.”

For months, Local 10 News has been investigating one of those businesses in South Florida.

A company called Have My Baby in Miami billed itself as a concierge service for women worldwide looking to give birth in the states.

The company’s social media pages highlight pediatrician Dr. Wladimir Lorentz, saying he’ll love helping you become a mom in the United States.

Earlier this year, Lorentz was nowhere to be found when a Local 10 crew stopped by his clinic in North Miami Beach.

But this week, Lorentz was in Washington D.C., repeatedly taking the Fifth Amendment in front of the House Oversight Committee that had taken notice of Local 10’s reporting and launched an investigation.

“‘Now the dream of having a child in the United States is closer to reality than you ever imagined.’ Is this your website, Dr. Lorentz?” asked Republican Rep. Brandon Gill.

“I respectfully decline to answer the question on the grounds that a truthful answer may tend to incriminate me, and I invoke my right under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States,” Lorentz replied.

He was later excused from Tuesday’s hearing after repeatedly refusing to answer questions.

Late Wednesday afternoon, a federal judge struck down Trump’s executive order targeting birth tourism, ruling it violates the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold birthright citizenship.

It will be interesting to see how the Trump administration.

The five wounded by gunfire included two Minneapolis police officers, while a sixth person, another officer, suffered other injuries, police Sgt. Garrett Parten said at a news conference. All three officers are in stable condition, according to Hennepin County Medical Center.

A 911 call about shots fired at the building came in just after 4:30 p.m. Officers were dispatched and less than two minutes later they were inside the building and quickly found victims, said Interim Police Chief Bill Peterson.

Officers heard more gunshots and followed them to a higher floor, where they found “a haze that significantly limited their visibility,” he said. Peterson did not provide additional details about the haze.

One officer was shot in the leg and another was shot twice in the abdomen, he said. All three injured officers were expected to make a full recovery, he said.

Authorities did not provide any details about the suspected shooter but said they were familiar with the person before the shooting.

“I’m truly sickened by this level of violence,” Peterson said. “That feeling is tempered only by the courageous actions of the Minneapolis police officers, who responded without hesitation, confronted an extraordinarily dangerous situation and worked to end the violence and restore safety.”

One of the victims was fatally shot at the scene, and one died after arriving at the hospital, he said.

Parten said it was not immediately clear how the shooter died.

Hennepin County Medical Center said it received seven patients but didn’t share additional information about their conditions.

Julius Bailey was sitting outside his apartment building when he heard gunshots and saw a man he recognized as a resident of the building holding a pistol. Bailey said he heard a woman screaming and immediately started running away. He said he counted eight shots.

Bailey said that he recognized the man holding the gun because he was someone who was known for showing off his weapon. Bailey said he has tried to avoid the man since moving into the building in June.

“I could tell he was trouble,” he said.

Chris Miller, who also lives in the apartment building, said he heard a rapid succession of gunshots and quickly ran outside for safety. He said he believed he knew who carried out the shooting and that he encountered someone in the hallway with a handgun earlier this week and reported that person to management.

Video posted to social media showed police aiming rifles upward at an apartment tower near the Minneapolis Convention Center. Officials warned residents to avoid the densely populated Loring Park neighborhood nearby.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said in a post on social media that state officials were on the ground helping local law enforcement respond to the shooting.

“Grateful to law enforcement actively working to ensure the safety of our neighbors in Downtown Minneapolis this afternoon,” Walz said. “Minnesota is praying for our first responders.”

The FBI was responding to the shooting and “will offer any and all resources necessary to assist local authorities,” Director Kash Patel said in a post on the social platform X.

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Golden reported from Seattle and Riddle from Los Angeles. Associated Press journalist Josh Kelety in Phoenix contributed.

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According to Hialeah police, the shooting was reported shortly after 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Aquabella community in the area of Northwest 91st Avenue and 170th Street.

Hialeah police officers and Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to the scene.

Police said detectives learned that multiple people met at the location for a “pre-arranged physical fight” in order to “resolve an ongoing dispute.”

“During the confrontation, a handgun was produced and multiple shots were fired,” Lt. Eddie Rodriguez told Local 10 in an email Wednesday. “Witness statements and physical evidence revealed that the gunshots were directed at a victim who was fleeing on foot, as well as toward an occupied black Chevy Tahoe attempting to leave the scene. A round did (strike) the driver’s side of the vehicle.”

Rodriguez confirmed that no one was injured by the gunfire.

He identified the suspects as Luis Padilla Delatorre and Michael Isaac Delgado, both of whom are 17. He said both teens could be facing anywhere between 15 to 20 years of prison.

Delatorre and Delgado both face felony charges of attempted second-degree murder with a deadly weapon/firearm and shooting/throwing a deadly missile.

They were both transported to the Juvenile Assessment Center.

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At the time of landfall, its tropical storm winds (winds exceeding 39 mph) extended out only about 25 miles from its center but the punchy storm brought wind gusts of 60 to 70 mph, with gusts as high as 90 mph, to the coastal town of Port Arthur south of Beaumont.

Significant flash flooding continues through early Thursday

As we’ve discussed in the newsletter this week, the primary threat from Edouard is flash flooding, which was ongoing for parts of southeastern and east-central Texas Wednesday morning.

Radar estimates show rain totals approaching almost 20 inches along a narrow corridor just north of Kountze in central Hardin and south-central Tyler counties about 30 miles northwest of Beaumont, where a flash flood emergency was in effect early Wednesday.

Additionally, the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center upgraded its flash flood threat level mid-Wednesday morning to high (threat level 4 of 4) for the Big Thicket to Piney Woods region of southeastern Texas. High risk days are very rare – occurring on only about 4% of days – but account for about 1 in 3 flood-related deaths and 80% of flood-related damages.

The highest rainfall total officially observed so far is around 18 inches near Little Pine Island Bayou, Texas, within this high risk zone. Widespread totals of 4 to 8 inches have been recorded elsewhere across southeastern Texas and east of the Houston-Galveston proper, which largely avoided any heavy rain and flood issues.

The flood threat will inch farther inland, stretching into communities of east-central Texas, southeast of Dallas-Fort Worth, through Thursday morning. The National Weather Service is forecasting another 4 to 8 inches possible on Wednesday into early Thursday along Edouard’s path.

Despite weakening to a tropical depression, Edouard maintained a coherent circulation on radar while over 100 miles inland over Texas Wednesday morning. What’s left of Edouard’s remnant spin should wash out quickly by late Thursday into early Friday over north Texas and southern Oklahoma.

Nothing brewing behind Edouard

As we discussed in Tuesday’s newsletter, the Atlantic basin will stay eerily quiet into what is traditionally the peak week of the hurricane season.

The only dark-horse contender shown by forecast models is mid-to-late next week from low pressure along a washed out frontal boundary over the northern Gulf, a familiar story this season. For now, the odds of anything happening here are very low but we’ll watch the trends in the week ahead.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington on behalf of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, alleges that DHS and the U.S. Justice Department are interfering with fair elections by using inaccurate federal databases in an attempt to buttress allegations of voter fraud.

The federal government is engaging in an “attack on the freedom to vote,” Angelica Salas, the coalition’s executive director, said at a downtown Los Angeles news conference. “This is voter intimidation.”

The lawsuit — filed on behalf of the coalition by the UCLA Voting Rights Project — becomes part of a swirl of legal moves that states, including California, have taken to fend off federal actions that threaten to create confusion during the midterms.

“It's not an accident the federal government is trying to interfere with the right to vote. ... They believe they can intimidate naturalized U.S. citizens,” said Xavier Becerra, the Democratic nominee for California governor who is acting as a senior adviser to the voting project.

Part of a broader effort to search for noncitizens on voter rolls

The lawsuit alleges that the administration might be comparing voter rolls with undisclosed government databases. Those systems can include outdated information and be riddled with errors, it said, and could produce inaccurate results that disproportionately affect naturalized voters.

“Comparing government databases to try and arrive at a list of noncitizen registrants has been shown to result in erroneous data,” the lawsuit said. “Congress has never authorized such activities and in fact has ... prohibited invasion of voter privacy through government data matches in this way.”

The Trump administration has been targeting noncitizen voting to allege it could be a source of significant fraud during the midterm elections, even though actual voting by people who are not citizens is rare. He is pushing for the U.S. Postal Service to send mail ballots only to voters verified as U.S. citizens, and his Justice Department has sued to force the release of detailed voter data in 30 states and the District of Columbia, though it has not yet succeeded in those cases.

Asked to respond to the lawsuit, a DHS spokesperson said in an email: “The department accessed publicly available data from states’ voter rolls and cross referenced them with known illegal aliens in our systems. It’s not rocket science; it’s an easy step to secure our elections.”

“DHS is laser focused on prosecuting and removing aliens who vote and preventing the dilution of the votes of U.S. citizens,” the statement added.

Judge had previously halted use of a federal citizenship database

In June, a federal judge ruled that a recently revamped version of a federal tool can no longer be used, which critics had referred to as an unlawful centralized federal database of voter information.

U.S. District Court Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan sided with advocacy groups that argued the recent upgrades to the program, called Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, aggregated Americans’ sensitive personal data in a way that could result in voters being wrongly purged from voter rolls.

The lawsuit said it isn’t clear if the administration used that system to generate projections about noncitizens on voting rolls in the states or if other unknown datasets were involved.

By May, the Trump administration had run millions of voter registrations through government databases to determine their eligibility, a process that critics feared could purge valid voters from the rolls before the November elections. At least 67 million registrations, primarily from Republican-controlled states, have gone through a beefed-up verification program, or SAVE, at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and tens of thousands of those have been flagged as potential noncitizens or people who have died.

State officials push back against DHS noncitizen claims

Specifically, the lawsuit by the immigrant rights group asks the court to stop the administration from pursuing a review of California’s voter list and to rescind the letter sent to the state requesting voter information. It also asks the court to declare the administration’s actions unconstitutional.

Trump’s Department of Homeland Security is claiming without providing evidence that 250,000 noncitizens might be on the rolls in just four states, including 190,832 in California.

California’s secretary of state, Democrat Shirley Weber, said in response, “I have serious doubts about the reliability of your data and accuracy of your claims, since my office has not shared our statewide voter registration list with DHS or any other federal agency or official.”

According to the lawsuit, federal officials have not disclosed evidence supporting those figures.

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Ronald Jeffery Johnson was arrested Saturday following the incident at Broward Health Medical Center, located at 1600 S. Andrews Ave., according to an arrest report from the Fort Lauderdale Police Department.

Police said an officer was working an off-duty detail in full uniform at the hospital when medical staff asked him to respond to the waiting room.

According to the report, the officer found Johnson yelling at medical staff from across the registration desk. Police said Johnson’s behavior was causing a disturbance and “creating fear” among other patients in the waiting room.

Police said when they intervened, Johnson ― who has a Georgia arrest warrant connected to a terroristic threats case ― looked at one of them and stated, “I want to fight you,” before charging toward the officer.

A struggle followed, with police saying Johnson grabbed the officer and resisted efforts to restrain him.

“I physically subdued his intentional, aggressive and violent behavior towards me and he was taken into custody,” the officer wrote in the report.

The officer suffered a cut to his left hand during the struggle that required multiple stitches, the report states.

Police said Johnson was first treated at the hospital for facial injuries before being taken to the Broward County Main Jail for booking.

Jail records show he is facing charges including aggravated battery on a first responder, resisting an officer with violence, assault on an officer, firefighter or emergency medical technician, and disorderly conduct.

Records show Johnson remained in custody Wednesday at the Broward County Main Jail, where his bond was set at $8,500.

According to a local news outlet in north Georgia, Johnson was arrested in 2023 on a terroristic threats charge after being accused of threatening to beat someone with a boat paddle at a park in Cave Spring, Georgia.

That threat, authorities said, happened in front of the victim’s 8-year-old, earning him a cruelty to children charge.

Ronald Jeffery Johnson fue arrestado el sábado tras el incidente en Broward Health Medical Center, ubicado en 1600 S. Andrews Ave., según un informe de arresto del Departamento de Policía de Fort Lauderdale.

La policía dijo que un agente estaba trabajando fuera de servicio, completamente uniformado, en el hospital cuando el personal médico le pidió que acudiera a la sala de espera.

Según el informe, el agente encontró a Johnson gritándole al personal médico desde el otro lado del mostrador de registro. La policía dijo que el comportamiento de Johnson estaba causando un disturbio y “generando temor” entre otros pacientes en la sala de espera.

La policía dijo que cuando intervinieron, Johnson, quien tiene una orden de arresto de Georgia relacionada con un caso de amenazas terroristas, miró a uno de ellos y declaró: “Quiero pelear contigo”, antes de abalanzarse contra el agente.

Luego se produjo un forcejeo, y la policía dijo que Johnson agarró al agente y se resistió a los intentos de inmovilizarlo.

“Sometí físicamente su comportamiento intencional, agresivo y violento hacia mí y fue detenido”, escribió el agente en el informe.

El agente sufrió una cortada en la mano izquierda durante el forcejeo que requirió varios puntos de sutura, señala el informe.

La policía dijo que Johnson fue atendido primero en el hospital por lesiones faciales antes de ser trasladado a la cárcel principal del condado Broward para ser fichado.

Los registros de la cárcel muestran que enfrenta cargos que incluyen agresión agravada contra un socorrista, resistencia a un agente con violencia, agresión contra un agente, bombero o técnico de emergencias médicas, y alteración del orden público.

Los registros muestran que Johnson permanecía detenido el miércoles en la cárcel principal del condado Broward, donde su fianza fue fijada en $8,500 USD.

Según un medio de noticias local del norte de Georgia, Johnson fue arrestado en 2023 por un cargo de amenazas terroristas después de ser acusado de amenazar con golpear a alguien con un remo de bote en un parque de Cave Spring, Georgia.

Las autoridades dijeron que esa amenaza ocurrió frente al hijo de 8 años de la víctima, lo que le valió un cargo de crueldad contra menores.

Multiple explosive devices were found Tuesday morning at a substation near the Jänschwalde coal-fired power plant in Brandenburg in northeastern Germany. Hours later, a short circuit knocked power lines out of service at the Bergheim power substation near Cologne in western Germany — an incident described by security officials as a deliberate act.

Neither incident affected the general power supply in their areas. Authorities are investigating the incidents but have not named any suspects, nor have they said if they could be connected. They say possible suspects could include a foreign power or left-wing extremists.

The developments come as Germany is on high alert after the government on Tuesday blamed Russia for an attempted attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport on Aug. 4 using a drone laden with explosives.

“A substation is the nerve center of our daily lives. Anyone who attacks it isn’t just attacking a tin roof — they’re attacking our country, our economy, our daily lives, and all of us,” said Herbert Reul, the interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia state, where Bergheim is located. “Critical infrastructure is the Achilles’ heel of our society. Perhaps we haven’t taken this issue seriously enough over the years.”

Authorities suspect ‘terrorism’ in the incident in eastern Germany

Brandenburg police said Wednesday on X that they had launched an investigation into the suspected formation of a terrorist organization “in conjunction with causing an explosion involving explosives and the destruction of important work equipment.”

“What we are currently experiencing is a hybrid threat and we therefore cannot rule out the possibility that foreign powers are behind it,” Brandenburg Interior Minister Jan Redmann told public broadcaster ARD.

Emergency responders searched the area for evidence, prompting road closures, authorities said Wednesday. Large groups of investigators combed through the area for clues.

Officials described the explosives as “rocketlike objects equipped with a propellant charge” similar to fireworks. They said there were more than a dozen, but that only one managed to carry a cable into the high-voltage power line to establish a conductive connection to the ground, the German news agency dpa reported.

Short circuit in western Germany was caused deliberately, officials say

Bright flashes of light could be seen along several power lines at the Bergheim power substation near Cologne in western Germany on Tuesday evening, said Reul.

“It wasn’t a broken switch, it was intentional. It was a criminal act,” Reul said. “We are investigating two possibilities: sabotage directed by a foreign government and left-wing extremism. We cannot rule out either possibility at this time.”

RWE, the company that operates the power substation, said five coal-fired power plant units with a combined capacity of 4,200 megawatts were taken offline after the incident.

Police said investigators found six launch devices in a nearby cornfield. Chief Detective Michael Esser told reporters that the devices were supposedly designed to use pyrotechnic devices to lift a wire high above the power lines.

The investigation has so far found that “the perpetrators deliberately caused a short circuit by placing conductive material — presumably cables — over the overhead line.”

Security officials from both regions were in contact and closely checking for possible connections between the Brandenburg and Bergheim incidents, Reul said.

Two power plant units were running again by Wednesday afternoon; another one was expected to go back online later on Wednesday. Work is underway to bring the two remaining units back online by the weekend.

German power infrastructure has previously been affected under similar circumstances. Suspected left-wing extremists set fire to high-voltage lines near a power plant in southwest Berlin in January.

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Ciobanu reported from Warsaw.

So it's not a shock there is some preseason commentary that the Cowboys could be in line for a strong season.

Longtime handicapper Bruce Marshall is one of those who argue this season is indeed different, saying the NFC East shapes up well for “America's Team” as well the New York Giants under new coach John Harbaugh.

Philadelphia won the division at 11-6 last season while the Cowboys (7-9-1) and Giants (4-13) struggled.

“Maybe this is the year Dallas does something because I think the Eagles are very vulnerable and Washington was sort of proven a one-year fluke,” Marshall said. “I think the NFC East could almost be turned sort of upside down. I have a lot upside, I think, in (Giants quarterback) Jaxson Dart, but (the) Giants (are) interesting and Dallas (is) kind of interesting.

“Dallas almost fits the Seattle thing.”

The Seahawks went 10-7 in 2024 and then went 14-3 last season and won the Super Bowl.

Bookmakers aren't quite buying the Cowboys yet. They are 20-1 at Caesars Sportsbook to win the Super Bowl and 25-1 at BetMGM Sportsbook and DraftKings Sportsbook.

The Eagles remain in the favorites in that division to go all the way, receiving 17-1 odds at Caesars and DraftKings and 18-1 at BetMGM.

No change in the Rams' chances

Bookmakers and handicappers had already counted on defensive tackle Aaron Donald returning to the Los Angeles Rams, so his announcement Sunday didn't change the odds because it already was priced in.

The Rams remain substantial, consensus favorites at 5-1 to win the Super Bowl, and much of that has to do with the arrival from Cleveland of pass rusher Myles Garrett, the AP Defensive Player of the Year last season.

Given that LA also has the reigning MVP in quarterback Matthew Stafford as well as a strong roster and one of the game's most creative coaches in Sean McVay, it's hardly a surprise the Rams are such big favorites.

“They deserve to be the favorite,” said Johnny Avello, director of race and sports for DraftKings. “They have the quarterback, they have the running back, they have the defense. Now, are they a shoo-in to get there? No, they are not. Last year, they could've won it all with the team they had.”

Since 1996, according to Pro Football Reference, the Rams are the 29th team with 5-1 odds are better. The previous 28 failed to win the Super Bowl.

“I'm a Rams fan, so I'm usually going to be negative going into a season,” said Joey Feazel, head of football at Caesars. But he added, “They do look from top to bottom like one of the most impressive teams on paper.”

Odds are against the Seahawks again

Depending on the sportsbook, the defending champion Seahawks have 11-1 or 12-1 odds to win the Super Bowl. That puts them behind only the Rams in the NFC.

But the Seahawks were 80-1 at one point last season at BetMGM.

“They're similar to the Ravens, where they've taken action, of course, but not to the degree that some of these other teams have,” BetMGM sports trader Christian Cipollini said.

High hopes for the Ravens and Bills

Baltimore and Buffalo, as usual, are expected to contend to come out of the AFC and win the Super Bowl.

Both teams have new coaches, but they bring back franchise quarterbacks: Josh Allen for the Bills and Lamar Jackson for the Ravens.

The Bills are 10-1 across the board and the Ravens are 10-1 to 13-1, which includes 11-1 at BetMGM

“Similar stories, but the betting public at least likes the Bills a lot more than the Ravens this year,” Cipollini said. “A lot of these teams are kind of in the same range, but we're protecting ourselves a bit just because of the amount of action that we've taken on the Bills. So we'd rather be a little bit longer on the Ravens.”

Waiting and watching for Fernando

Kirk Cousins will start at quarterback for Las Vegas, but it seems a matter of time before No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza gets his chance.

The uncertainty of when Mendoza will play has hurt his odds for rookie honors. He is +550 at DraftKings, 6-1 at BetMGM and 7-1 at Caesars for Offensive Rookie of the Year. Arizona running back Jeremiyah Love is favored at all three books.

“I would think it's Love ... because you know he's going to be the guy,” Marshall said. “I don't know how much Mendoza's going to play. ... Mendoza hasn't looked that great. Quarterbacks, it's hard to make an impact like that, especially coming into a bad team.”

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

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According to an arrest report from the Miami-Dade Schools Police Department, Carlos Martinez, 15, was initially attacked by two students during a fight at the school on Monday.

Cellphone video circulating on social media appears to show two people punching, kicking and at one point body-slamming Martinez.

Martinez’s arrest report states that he later retrieved a knife and sprinted down the hallway in efforts for “retaliation on his attackers.”

Investigators said surveillance video showed Martinez “reaching into his pants and retrieving a light-colored blade shaped object.”

The report states that the video shows that he later returns to retrieve his belongings and “places the light-colored blade shaped object into his pants pocket before attempting to flee the scene.”

According to the report, the 18-year-old student who was injured told investigators, “I don’t know that kid at all.” He said Martinez was being “jumped by two random kids” and that he was watching the fight when everyone suddenly started running, according to investigators.

The report states the 18-year-old student told investigators he felt a push in his back, but initially thought one of the students running away had pushed him. Another student then told him, “Yo, you’re bleeding.” He said that was when he felt something dripping down his back, according to police.

Police said that the 18-year-old student told them that he “has never had any interaction, conversation or encounter” with Martinez.

The student suffered a puncture wound to the right side of his back that required stitches, according to the arrest report.

Police said Martinez also suffered injuries during the incident. The report states that he suffered “multiple self-inflicted lacerations” to the index and middle fingers of his right hand, which also required stitches.

The report states that an assistant principal later saw Martinez “fleeing the scene of the incident into the schools parking lot.”

Police said the assistant principal stopped Martinez and asked why he was bleeding. According to the report, Martinez admitted to having a knife in his rear pants pocket on the right-hand side, and the assistant principal confiscated it.

Investigators described the knife as having a 5-inch blade and being 10 inches long overall.

Police said the incident prompted a lockdown at the school. According to the arrest report, multiple Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office units responded to help maintain order while parents arrived at the school to pick up their children.

Martinez appeared in court Tuesday, where prosecutors said they intend to charge him as an adult. A judge ordered him to remain in secure detention and prohibited him from having contact with the other students involved in the incident.

Martinez’s parents told Local 10’s Trent Kelly after Tuesday’s court hearing that their son had been mistreated and threatened by other students for days.

“He was threatening my son, mistreating him,” his father said.

Jail records show Martinez is facing charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, possession of a weapon on school property and interference with an educational institution.

Local 10 has reached out to MDSPD for information on the identities of the other two students arrested and the charges they are facing.

That ride included Lane Kiffin’s closely watched move from Ole Miss to LSU.

A slew of schools were desperate to find the right man to help them win games and generate revenue for athletic departments that have a lot of bills to pay in the new era of college athletics.

Michigan coach Sherrone Moore's firing and arrest created a job opening with college football's winningest program and Kyle Whittingham took the job, shortly after stepping down at Utah.

Here's a look at some notable first-year coaches at Power Four schools:

Lane Kiffin, LSU

Kiffin expects his sixth head-coaching job — the fifth at the college level after one in the NFL — will define his legacy. He knows he’ll have the resources needed to win big at a school that won three national championships from 2003 to 2019.

Kiffin said he recently stopped using social media, helping him focus on his high-pressure job that is watched carefully and influenced not just by LSU's athletic administration, but also top politicians in Louisiana.

“I don’t know that you could ever predict there would be a job taken with so much stuff around it,” Kiffin said this month, alluding to Gov. Jeff Landry’s role in an athletic department shakeup that paved the way for LSU to hire him away from College Football Playoff-bound Ole Miss last November.

LSU agreed to pay Kiffin $91 million over seven years after firing Brian Kelly with $54 million and six years still remaining on his contract.

“The magnitude of being LSU, and then the leaving (from Ole Miss) and the timing of it — it’s been a lot,” Kiffin conceded.

The Tigers, No. 11 in the AP Top 25, open at home against Clemson on Saturday night.

Kyle Whittingham, Michigan

Whittingham's success in Year 1 with the Wolverines may be determined by Bryce Underwood's development. The second-year quarterback threw for 11 touchdowns with nine interceptions last year, a far cry from what was expected from the nation's top-ranked recruit.

In Underwood's defense, Moore didn't have a QB coach working him as a freshman. He does now and much more additional support, including virtual reality goggles that he wears to get mental repetitions.

“We’re pulling out all the stops to try to help Bryce become the player we feel he can be," Whittingham said in an interview with The Associated Press. "He’s so eager and has a great work ethic. He’s a leader and he wants to be great.”

The 16th-ranked Wolverines host Western Michigan on Saturday night.

Jon Sumrall, Florida

Sumrall led Troy (2022-23) and Tulane (2024-25) to four straight conference championship games. No one expects him to do the same with the Gators, who have endured four losing seasons in five years, but his passion, approach and charisma have players and fans believing a turnaround is on the horizon.

“This is a sleeping giant,” Sumrall said. “I’m telling you right now: It ain’t a matter of if we’re going to win here. It’s how fast we’re going to win. It’s coming.”

Florida, which is second among unranked teams receiving votes in the AP Top 25, opens at home Saturday night against Florida Atlantic.

James Franklin, Virginia Tech

The Hokies have not had sustained success since Frank Beamer retired in 2015. Brent Pry was fired after an 0-3 start in his fourth season that dropped his record at Virginia Tech to 16-24.

Franklin was let go at Penn State with a 3-3 mark last year and 104-45 record overall. He is aiming to bounce back at Virginia Tech.

“I want the people that love Virginia Tech to watch us and say, ’That’s what Virginia Tech football’s supposed to look like,” Franklin said.

The Hokies, who received six votes in the AP Top 25, are 55-point favorites against Virginia Military Institute on Saturday night at home.

Matt Campbell, Penn State

The former Iowa State coach has been busy rebooting a program that started last year No. 2 in the preseason AP Top 25 and fell apart in Franklin's final season.

With 50 players back from last season’s roster, Campbell added transfers from 16 different schools, including 24 from Iowa State.

“This year’s so uniquely different,” Campbell said. “Everybody’s in an earn-it position. Everybody’s either in a new scheme at a new place, got new coaches and everybody’s going in with kind of the same starting line."

The 18th-ranked Nittany Lions host Marshall on Saturday.

Alex Golesh, Auburn

The Tigers were national champions 16 years ago and have fallen from the ranks of college football's elite with only one double-digit win season, going 12-2 in 2013.

Auburn is hopeful hiring Golesh, who was 23-15 in three years at South Florida, can restore the program's stature.

“We’ve stripped it all the way down and have tried to rebuild it from the ground up,” Golesh said in a telephone interview. “When you're taking over program that hasn’t had recent success, the biggest thing we’ve tried to do is establish an identity. We want to be something people can point to and say what you are and we want to be known for being physically and mentally tough.”

The Tigers, who have three votes in the preseason poll, play Baylor on Saturday at home.

Eric Morris, Oklahoma State

Mike Gundy, one of football’s most colorful coaches, was fired with a 1-2 record last season and a 170-90 mark overall at his alma mater. Gundy was replaced by a man whose mentor was one of the most unfiltered coaches of all time.

Morris played for the late Mike Leach at Texas Tech and coached for him at Washington State.

“Of all of Mike's guys, I've probably stayed as true to him as anyone day to day," Morris said in a telephone interview. “I psychologically build up these kids and build tough teams, believing in accountability and discipline.”

The Cowboys, who received eight votes in the poll, host Tulsa on Saturday.

Bob Chesney, UCLA

The Bruins bailed on Deshaun Foster with an 0-3 record in his second season and are hoping Bob Chesney is the next Curt Cignetti.

Chesney sustained the success Cignetti had at James Madison before becoming a breakout star in coaching at Indiana. He's got quite a challenge at UCLA, leading a program with three winning records in the 10 years and an 8-16 conference mark in the Big Ten.

Chesney has actively engaged the campus and community in effort to stir up interest in the moribund program and help increase attendance at the Rose Bowl.

“Our record will be a direct result of what we do on a day-to-day basis," said Chesney, who overhauled the roster with 40 transfers including key players from James Madison. "I think our guys understand that and believe in the standards we have, believe in the way we do things, and ultimately hold each other accountable."

UCLA opens on the road Saturday night at California.

Pat Fitzgerald, Michigan State

Fitzgerald and the Spartans seem to be a perfect fit because both have a lot to prove. The former Northwestern coach was fired four years ago due to a hazing scandal. He sued the school and agreed to a settlement after the institution said evidence did not establish any player reported hazing to Fitzgerald or that he condoned or directed hazing.

Michigan State is desperately hoping Fitzgerald, its third coach since 2023, can fix a program that has won five or fewer games in each of the past four seasons.

“I wouldn’t say I have a chip on my shoulder. I wouldn’t say our program has a chip on our shoulder,” Fitzgerald said. “I’d say we have a bag of chips on our shoulder."

The Spartans kick off the Fitzgerald era on Saturday night against Toledo.

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AP Sports Writers Brett Martel, Mark Long, Beth Harris and freelance reporter Travis Johnson contributed.

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Platner, who won the nomination in June but dropped out in July after Politico reported that a former girlfriend said he sexually assaulted her, had been scheduled to speak Monday at the rally in Ellsworth, near his hometown of Sullivan. He has denied the allegations.

Platner was expected to speak about labor history and the importance of unions in the U.S. Event organizers were urged not to let him speak by the former girlfriend and another woman who has accused him of domestic abuse.

Organizers said Wednesday that the planned speech was drawing negative media attention, and he will instead lead a veterans' march after the rally.

“Graham is not speaking,” said Carol Leonard of Hancock County Activists, a progressive group organizing the rally. “The media frenzy got just too insane, and we became concerned about safety.”

Platner is an oyster farmer and combat veteran who filled theaters around Maine during a barnstorming campaign that resulted in a decisive win over Gov. Janet Mills, who suspended her campaign before the primary.

He has no experience in elected office but fashioned a campaign focused on working-class issues such as the high costs of housing and healthcare.

Platner’s campaign was frequently interrupted by scandals, such as the emergence in late May of media reports that he previously exchanged sexually explicit text messages with several women while he was married.

High-profile backers including independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders stood by him in the wake of those allegations, but his support crumbled after the sexual assault allegations surfaced.

Platner also had a tattoo recognized as a Nazi symbol, though he said he did not realize its association with Nazism until he was several weeks into the campaign. He later had the tattoo covered up with a different design.

Platner also apologized for old online comments that included insulting language about women, police and rural residents.

After he dropped out of the race, Democrats held a nominating convention in July in which they chose former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson to run against Collins.

Jackson, who got the Senate nomination after losing a gubernatorial primary, campaigned with Platner in the spring but has distanced himself from him following the sexual assault allegations.

The Ellsworth event is scheduled for midday and will include speakers, live music and the veterans' march.

Su primer día llega mientras el distrito enfrenta varios desafíos, incluida una propuesta para posiblemente cerrar más de dos docenas de escuelas debido a la disminución de la matrícula.

Villalobos dice que las escuelas con baja matrícula pueden tener dificultades para ofrecer a los estudiantes una amplia variedad de programas.

“Cuando tienes escuelas con baja matrícula, hay programas que hacen falta y, en última instancia, los estudiantes están sufriendo porque no los están recibiendo”, dijo Villalobos.

Dijo que las escuelas que operan a plena capacidad tienen más probabilidades de contar con programas electivos más sólidos, incluidos música, arte y educación física.

Las posibles consolidaciones de escuelas están generando preocupación entre los padres.

Villalobos dice que la lista de escuelas que están siendo consideradas para el cierre es preliminar. Está pausando las reuniones comunitarias para analizar más detenidamente la propuesta.

“Quiero asegurarme de que tengamos un conjunto adecuado de investigaciones y comunicación, no solo para mis propósitos como el nuevo superintendente que está llegando, sino también para asegurarme de que los miembros de la junta tengan una mejor comprensión de por qué se seleccionaron esas escuelas y el proceso mediante el cual fueron seleccionadas”, dijo Villalobos.

Dice que se espera que las reuniones comunitarias se reanuden en algún momento después de la segunda semana de octubre.

La policía arrestó el miércoles a Michelle Luchau-Rebora, de 32 años y residente de Pinecrest, después de que se entregara en el Departamento de Policía de Homestead, que investigó el caso junto con la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade.

Según documentos oficiales, Luchau-Rebora trabajaba como pasante en el centro de tratamiento de alcohol y drogas New Home CORPS, ubicado en 1020 N. Krome Ave., “en calidad de terapeuta de salud mental”, cuando, en junio del año pasado, comenzó una relación sexual con un cliente.

Las autoridades dijeron que Luchau-Rebora mantenía actividad sexual durante las sesiones de terapia mientras se encontraba en el centro y agregaron que también “facilitaba coartadas en su nombre, lo que le permitía obtener autorización para salir del centro restringido y mantener relaciones sexuales en múltiples ocasiones”, en varios lugares, incluida su casa, la casa de su madre en Key Biscayne y Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Según los agentes, Luchau-Rebora “le exigió que no le contara a nadie sobre su relación porque afectaría su capacidad para trabajar como terapeuta”.

Según los informes de arresto de Luchau-Rebora, la víctima reportó la relación inapropiada al centro después de que ella terminara la relación y posteriormente fue despedida.

Ahora enfrenta cargos graves de conducta sexual inapropiada por parte de una psicoterapeuta.

Hasta la mañana del miércoles, permanecía detenida en el Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center con una fianza de $5,000 USD.

“Esta es una situación lamentable relacionada con acusaciones contra una persona que se desempeñaba como pasante en New Hope CORPS. Al tener conocimiento de dichas acusaciones, New Hope informó de inmediato el asunto a las autoridades y organismos correspondientes, dio por terminada la pasantía de esta persona y cooperó plenamente con la investigación posterior.”

Stephen Alvarez, director ejecutivo de New Hope CORPS.

But the driver of the No. 22 Penske Racing Ford said nothing would make him appear cooler in the eyes of his five children than securing a cameo in the upcoming sequel to “Days of Thunder,” which will star Tom Cruise and Anne Hathaway and is set for release in 2028.

“Yeah, are you kidding me — that's like wicked cool dad points to be in ‘Days of Thunder,’” Logano said Wednesday at the NASCAR playoff media day.

Logano isn't the only driver pushing for a role in the follow-up to the 1990 movie starring Cruise as fictional NASCAR driver Cole Trickle.

Chase Briscoe wants in, too.

“Absolutely, I would love to be,” Briscoe said. “I would think they are going to use some of the drivers. Maybe our car will just be in it, but I would love to be in there.”

Kyle Larson thinks it would be cool to be around while the movie is in production, but joked, “I’m not an actor, so I don’t want to make the film worse.”

Filming is scheduled to begin early next year.

Logano said he has watched “Days of Thunder” numerous times, often alongside his children, who love the movie.

NASCAR drivers Richard Petty, Rusty Wallace, Neil Bonnett and Harry Gant all appeared in “Days of Thunder,” so Logano is hopeful he might be able to pull some strings and get a small part in the sequel.

“Hopefully that happens,” Logano said with a laugh. “I wouldn’t say no, that's for sure. Absolutely I'd do it.”

Cruise surprised drivers last weekend when he showed up for the Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway, emerging from a black Chevy Suburban and attending the drivers' council meeting.

He and some of the screenwriters spoke to drivers and team owners to get a feel for their routines and how the sport has changed since the original movie's debut 36 years ago.

“It was really neat,” Briscoe said. “All of a sudden, Tom Cruise walked in and none of us knew that was happening. And he’s just sitting there and talked with us for like 20, 25 minutes about his goal of what to do with the movie and how he wants to paint us out to be.”

Briscoe described Cruise as “super nice.”

Charlotte-based Hendrick Motorsports had an instrumental role in the first movie, helping build, prepare and repair the stock cars used during the production. Trickle’s primary car included a sponsorship from City Chevrolet, a real-life car dealership owned by Rick Hendrick.

It's unclear at this point if Hendrick Motorsports will be involved again, but Larson is hoping it works out.

There is a good chance it will.

Four-time Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon, now vice chairman at Hendrick Motorsports, openly lobbied for Cruise to make a “Days of Thunder” sequel. Over the years, Gordon and Cruise have developed a friendship, with Cruise showing up at a 2015 NASCAR banquet to honor the retiring Gordon.

Larson said meeting Cruise was cool, and he can't wait to learn about the moviemaking process.

“He’s a celebrity like I’ve never met before in my life,” Larson said. “You could tell he was different from the rest of us, in a cool way, like really, really cool. He kind of already knows a little bit about us, so I thought that was neat.”

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AP Sports Writer Mark Long in Jacksonville, Florida, contributed to this report.

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See AP’s full auto racing coverage here

Dubbed America's best singer by Time magazine in 2001, Wilson was best known for her genre-bending voice, which expanded the boundaries of traditional blues-based jazz and worked effortlessly across folk, pop, R&B, country and beyond. At the heart of all her work was her idiosyncratic contralto, a soulful sound distinctly tied to her roots.

As Jon Batiste put it in a eulogy on Wednesday, Wilson sounded like the South.

She died in her native Jackson, Mississippi, on Tuesday morning, the Hinds County Coroner Jeramiah Howard confirmed.

“It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Cassandra Wilson, the Grammy Award-winning and legendary jazz artist. Cassandra Wilson transitioned peacefully at home, surrounded by family, close friends, and her manager,” said a statement from her manager to jazz radio station WBGO.

From Jackson to the world

Born and raised in Jackson to musician Herman B. Fowlkes and teacher Mary Fowlkes, Wilson showed an early love of music listening to Motown, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. At 6, she started piano lessons. She played clarinet in marching bands. She performed at coffeehouses and in cover bands while studying at Millsaps College and Jackson State University.

In the early ‘80s, she mentored under jazz greats in New Orleans before moving to New York City and joining Steve Coleman’s M-Base Collective — eventually becoming its main vocalist.

Her instantly recognizable voice earned her four Grammy nominations and two wins for best jazz vocal album. Those were in 1997 for “New Moon Daughter” and 2009 for “Loverly.”

In 2015, it was Wilson who gave a special concert at the famed Apollo Theater to commemorate the 100th birthday of blues singer Billie Holiday, the legendary American jazz vocalist who died in New York City at age 44. That same year, Wilson released her last album, “Coming Forth by Day,” an homage to Holiday.

In 2022, Wilson was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, one of the highest honors awarded to jazz musicians in the United States.

Tributes pour in

“She had an unmistakable vocal tone, phrasing and her approach of weaving folkloric, R&B and diasporic music together with experimental and popular genres had a major impact on me,” Batiste said in his tribute to Wilson on Instagram.

“Her Mississippi heritage was always present in everything no matter how expansive her artistry evolved,” he wrote in the caption of a clip showing them together on Brazilian TV in 2009. “She was one of the first people to take me on tour around the world, the great Cassandra Wilson.”

Jackson Mayor John Horhn said the city “has lost an extraordinary native daughter, and the world has lost a singular musical voice.”

“Cassandra Wilson carried the sound, spirit and history of Mississippi with her wherever her music reached,” said the mayor's statement, shared with WJTV. “Her work had rare depth of character and a profound understanding of how music moves people, tells stories and connects generations.”

Also, two-time NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard was hit with a $700,000 penalty, president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank was banned for six months and team president of business operations Gillian Zucker was suspended for one year.

The Clippers will give up one first-round pick in each draft from 2029-2033.

The league came down hard on the organization after a nearly yearlong investigation led by an outside law firm.

The Clippers had said multiple times that they had done nothing wrong and expected to be exonerated.

“I think that we’re going to be in the clear,” Leonard said in April, “so I’m not stressing it.”

At the same time, Frank said, “If you know Steve and know Steve’s integrity, you know there’s nothing to it. We believe and we’ve very confident we’re on the right side of this.”

The team maintained that stance Wednesday.

“We vehemently reject the NBA’s findings, which are the result of a heavily biased investigation seeking to justify a predetermined narrative rather than facts and evidence,” the team said in a statement. “What the league told us privately differs from what it announced today publicly, and they have not held themselves close to the standard Commissioner (Adam) Silver set at the start of this investigation to ensure its fairness and accuracy.”

The Clippers said they will “now fight just as hard to demonstrate our innocence. We intend to vigorously challenge these findings and penalties through every avenue available to us and look forward to an ethical and impartial arbitration process.”

The league said it and the players' union agreed to confirm the penalties as final and binding on all parties. It said the outside law firm continues to receive information involving the investigation, and the league “will consider further action as appropriate.”

“I am deeply disappointed by the flagrant violations of our rules and by the Clippers' institutional and leadership failures that led to this misconduct,” Silver said in a statement. “The severity of the penalties reflects the seriousness of the violations.”

The NBA began investigating in September 2025 whether a $28 million endorsement contract between Leonard and Aspiration Fund Adviser LLC — a company that filed for bankruptcy last year — broke league rules, following a report by journalist Pablo Torre. Earlier this year, Aspiration co-founder Joseph Sanberg was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to defrauding investors and lenders of at least $248 million.

The Clippers released a letter from Ballmer's attorney David Kelley to Silver in which he described the investigation as “a witch hunt” and the subsequent penalties as a “gross injustice.”

Kelley accused Silver of not keeping his promises that the investigation would be governed by due process and fundamental fairness as well as the burden being on the league to prove any violations through evidence.

“League counsel has acknowledged in our discussions that the league does not believe there was an agreement between the Clippers and Aspiration to funnel money to Kawhi Leonard. League counsel also agreed with the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and a federal judge that Mr. Ballmer was a victim of Joe Sanberg’s fraud — not a participant,” wrote Kelley, a partner in the firm O'Melveny and Myers.

“Mr. Ballmer’s reputation has been irreparably damaged as he now finds himself embroiled not only in this heavily biased investigation, but in civil litigation, the Aspiration bankruptcy proceeding, and more,” Kelley wrote.

Kelley wrote that no league rule prohibits team personnel making introductions to both sponsors and vendors in response to player requests.

“Retroactively punishing the Clippers for violating a rule that never existed is hardly consistent with due process,” Kelley wrote.

The league said Ballmer knowingly sought to help Leonard obtain off-court income deals, approved a business deal that he knew was a precondition for Aspiration to enter into an endorsement contract with Leonard, and for failing to create conditions under which his team followed league rules.

“I accept full responsibility for lapses in judgment by people within my inner circle and regret the distraction this situation has caused the fans and my family,” Leonard said in a statement issued through his new agent, Harrison Gaines.

The NBA said Leonard, through his former business manager and uncle Dennis Robertson, “violated the circumvention rules by pressuring the Clippers to assist him in obtaining off-court income opportunities, successfully obtaining those opportunities, and failing to reimburse payments by the Clippers for personal expenses.”

“I entered into my contract with the Clippers as well as the agreements in question in good faith, fully committed to fulfilling my obligations and with no knowledge of any intent on anyone’s part to circumvent the salary cap,” Leonard said in his statement.

The league said Ballmer was suspended for “knowingly seeking to help Mr. Leonard obtain off-court income opportunities,” among other issues.

Leonard's trade to the Toronto Raptors has been on hold pending the outcome of the investigation. The Raptors had said they still want Leonard, and he apparently is just as eager to return to the team where he won an NBA title and was Finals MVP in 2019.

“As I return to Toronto, I am focused on what I can control, closing this chapter, and moving forward with a clean slate,” Leonard said in his statement.

The Clippers and their personnel will be under a compliance and monitoring program by the league for five years and Robertson was banned from doing business with NBA teams for five years.

The league penalized Frank for his involvement with the impermissible endorsement arrangements and for approving impermissible expenses incurred by Leonard and his family. Zucker was banned for being primarily and directly culpable for the illegal endorsement arrangements and for lying to investigators. Both will lose their salaries during their bans.

It's not the first time the Clippers have run afoul of NBA rules under Ballmer, who bought the team for $2 billion in August 2014.

They were fined $250,000 a year later for violating rules against offering unauthorized business or investment opportunities to players during their courting of free agent DeAndre Jordan. A presentation to him improperly included a $200,000-per-year deal with luxury carmaker Lexus.

Ballmer, 70, was CEO of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014.

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See AP’s full NBA coverage here

Medvedev protested a decision Wednesday during his second-round victory at the U.S. Open after the umpire ordered a point to be replayed because two birds sat on top of the net during multiple shots of a rally.

Medvedev led 4-1 in the second set with Sebastian Gorzny serving. Two small birds sat atop the net in Louis Armstrong Stadium during the middle of a point and play continued, with both players hitting multiple shots before Medvedev angled a forehand toward the corner that caused one of the birds to fly up. Umpire Timo Janzen quickly signaled for play to stop as Gorzny began to hit a shot that would not have gotten back into play.

“This is the most ridiculous decisions I’ve seen in my life,” Medvedev said. “This is very bad.”

Medvedev, no stranger to chaotic moments in Armstrong, was asked following his 6-1, 6-3, 7-5 victory where that one ranked.

“This would be definitely in the top five,” he said. “But the thing is that when they came in, I thought, OK, the referee is going to stop the point, and he let it play, like, ‘OK, let’s play.’ And the moment I hit the winner, he was, like, ‘Stop! Stop! Stop!’”

Medvedev lost his first-round match in Armstrong last year, when his meltdown after the umpire allowed Benjamin Bonzi a second serve because a photographer mistakenly entered the court too soon led to a delay of more than six minutes. His antics on the same court in 2019, followed by a postmatch interview in which he encouraged fans to continue raining down boos on him, led to a $9,000 fine.

He quickly let go of Wednesday's incident.

“It’s OK,” the 2021 champion said. “It happens.”

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See AP’s full tennis coverage here

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The giveaway, featuring the Miami Beach Senior High School graduate and sponsored by sports betting site DraftKings, took place at the Sunoco at 15290 NW Seventh Ave. in northwest Miami-Dade’s Biscayne Gardens area.

About 3,500 gallons of gas were made available to local drivers. One of them, Anthony Celestino, said it usually costs him about $100 to fill his tank.

He said the 45-minute wait was “worth it.”

“Come get your 100 bucks,” Celestino said. “It’s free.”

Johnson, known during a portion of his playing days as Chad Ochocinco for his jersey number of 85, spoke to Local 10 News reporter Jolena Esperto.

The former wide receiver said he’d like to make a television career at Local 10 his second act.

“I can actually start tomorrow,” he said, later adding, “I assume I’m pretty OK in front of the camera. I tend to be shy at times, but I’m a hard worker.”

The giveaway was set to stretch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

La entrega, que contó con la participación del graduado de Miami Beach Senior High School y fue patrocinada por el sitio de apuestas deportivas DraftKings, se realizó en la gasolinera Sunoco ubicada en 15290 NW Seventh Ave., en el área de Biscayne Gardens, al noroeste de Miami-Dade.

Unos 3,500 galones de gasolina estuvieron disponibles para los conductores locales. Uno de ellos, Anthony Celestino, dijo que normalmente le cuesta alrededor de $100 USD llenar su tanque.

Dijo que la espera de 45 minutos “valió la pena”.

“Vengan a buscar sus 100 dólares”, dijo Celestino. “Es gratis”.

Johnson, conocido durante parte de su carrera como jugador como Chad Ochocinco por el número 85 de su camiseta, habló con la reportera de Local 10 News, Jolena Esperto.

El ex receptor abierto dijo que le gustaría que una carrera en televisión en Local 10 fuera su segunda etapa profesional.

“De hecho, puedo comenzar mañana”, dijo, y luego agregó: “Supongo que me desenvuelvo bastante bien frente a la cámara. Tiendo a ser tímido a veces, pero trabajo duro”.

La entrega estaba programada de 10 a.m. a 2 p.m.

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Rubio described the alleged corruption scheme during an interview that aired on Fox News Radio on Wednesday. The U.S. Department of State released the transcript.

Nicolás Maduro was “stealing the oil of the people of Venezuela and giving it for free to Cuba. Cuba would take that oil, and they weren’t using it to benefit the Cuban people. They were selling the majority of that oil for cash, and that cash was going into their pockets,” Rubio told Brian Kilmeade, a political commentator with Fox News.

Rubio said the power outages have nothing to do with U.S. sanctions, but with Cuban officials’ mismanagement.

“These blackouts are not new; they’ve been having blackouts for five or seven years. You know why? Because their system doesn’t function; it doesn’t work. They have equipment from the 1940s and ’50s, and they haven’t re-upped it or invested in it at all, because the economic model doesn’t work,” Rubio told Kilmeade.

Rubio described the solution to U.S.-Cuba relations as codified in the federal law that established the U.S. embargo.

“Normalization between our countries cannot fully happen ... unless there’s a functioning democracy, or at least steps towards a functioning democracy. So in many ways, when it comes to Cuba policy, it’s governed not simply by the desires of an administration; it’s governed by law,” Rubio said.

Miguel Díaz-Canel, who assumed the Cuban presidency in 2019, making him the island nation’s 17th president, has denied accusations of corruption and claimed that the U.S. has been waging “psychological warfare” and an “energy blockade” against the Cuban people.

Raúl Castro, who served as Cuba’s president for about a decade and as the defense minister for about 50 years, was hospitalized, according to sources in communication with Local 10 News Cuba Analyst Andy Gomez, the former director of the University of Miami’s Institute for Cuban Studies.

Cuban officials remained silent on Wednesday after the Diario Las Américas, a Miami-based newspaper in Spanish, reported on Tuesday that Castro, 95, who formally retired in April 2021, had suffered a stroke and was on life support.

Related links

• The transcript of Rubio’s interview recorded on Tuesday and aired on Wednesday
• The interview on YouTube
• Rubio’s statement on Nicaragua

Related story: Cubans in Miami stop to ponder the island’s future without Raúl Castro

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Officers with the Miami-Dade Schools Police Department took Malachie Forestal, 40, into custody on a felony charge Tuesday at the Dr. Henry W. Mack/West Little River K-8 Center, located at 2450 NW 84th St. in unincorporated Miami-Dade County’s West Little River neighborhood.

According to an arrest form, Forestal and the victim got into an argument at the school over the victim’s unfinished work, which the victim attributed to the aforementioned weed-whacker failure.

The argument between the two eventually escalated into a physical fight, police said.

According to the victim, he told police that Forestal “spoke to him disrespectfully” when informed the work wasn’t completed, authorities said.

Later that morning, police said the victim began picking up trash in the school’s cafeteria when Forestal became upset about where the victim had left his keys.

When the victim attempted to walk away, police said Forestal blocked his path, so the victim walked around him and into a hallway, after which Forestal followed the victim, “then entered the hallway, struck him, and grabbed him,” according to an arrest report.

Arriving officers spoke to Forestal, who told them “he did not swing at or strike the victim, claiming instead that he only physically grappled with him” after alleging “the victim spoke disrespectfully to him, stating, ‘I’ll f--- you up, b---,’” per official documents.

However, investigators reviewed surveillance video which contradicted Forestal’s account, instead revealing that he “did swing at and grab the victim in the hallway before school staff members intervened and separated them,” according to an arrest form.

Forestal is now facing a felony charge of battery on a specified official or employee.

As of Wednesday morning, he was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center with bond listed as “to be set.”

Agentes del Departamento de Policía de las Escuelas de Miami-Dade detuvieron el martes a Malachie Forestal, de 40 años, por un cargo grave en el Dr. Henry W. Mack/West Little River K-8 Center, ubicado en 2450 NW 84th St., en el vecindario de West Little River, en una zona no incorporada del condado Miami-Dade.

Según un formulario de arresto, Forestal y la víctima discutieron en la escuela por un trabajo que la víctima no había terminado, lo que atribuyó a la falla de la desbrozadora mencionada anteriormente.

La discusión entre ambos finalmente se convirtió en una pelea física, dijo la policía.

Según la víctima, dijo a la policía que Forestal “le habló de manera irrespetuosa” cuando le informó que el trabajo no estaba terminado, indicaron las autoridades.

Más tarde esa mañana, la policía dijo que la víctima comenzó a recoger basura en la cafetería de la escuela cuando Forestal se molestó por el lugar donde la víctima había dejado sus llaves.

Cuando la víctima intentó alejarse, la policía dijo que Forestal le bloqueó el paso, por lo que la víctima lo rodeó y entró a un pasillo, tras lo cual Forestal lo siguió, “luego entró al pasillo, lo golpeó y lo agarró”, según un informe de arresto.

Los agentes que llegaron al lugar hablaron con Forestal, quien les dijo que “no lanzó golpes ni golpeó a la víctima, afirmando en cambio que solo forcejeó físicamente con él”, después de alegar que “la víctima le habló de manera irrespetuosa, diciéndole: “Te voy a j—, p—””, según documentos oficiales.

Sin embargo, los investigadores revisaron un video de vigilancia que contradijo la versión de Forestal y reveló que “sí lanzó un golpe y agarró a la víctima en el pasillo antes de que miembros del personal de la escuela intervinieran y los separaran”, según un formulario de arresto.

Forestal ahora enfrenta un cargo grave de agresión contra un funcionario o empleado especificado.

Hasta la mañana del miércoles, permanecía detenido en el Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center con una fianza que figuraba como “por determinar”.

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Davie Fire Rescue personnel responded to the crash in the area of Southwest 130th Avenue and Griffin Road.

Police officers closed the eastbound lane of Griffin Road at Southweest 130th Avenue.

This is a developing story.

Related social media

Avoid the area of SW 130th Ave and Griffin Rd, all eastbound Traffic on Griffin Rd is shutdown due to a crash. pic.twitter.com/ocTzuketOr

— Davie Police Dept. (@DaviePolice) September 2, 2026

Local 10 News Assignment Editor Carson Merlo contributed to this report.

Personal de Davie Fire Rescue respondió al accidente en el área de Southwest 130th Avenue y Griffin Road.

Agentes de policía cerraron el carril en dirección este de Griffin Road a la altura de Southwest 130th Avenue.

Esta es una noticia en desarrollo.

Redes sociales relacionadas

Avoid the area of SW 130th Ave and Griffin Rd, all eastbound Traffic on Griffin Rd is shutdown due to a crash. pic.twitter.com/ocTzuketOr

— Davie Police Dept. (@DaviePolice) September 2, 2026

El editor de asignaciones de Local 10 News, Carson Merlo, contribuyó a este informe.

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“Saying this plainly: If you are a senior who takes the bus that’s free, this matters to you,” Miami-Dade Commissioner Oliver Gilbert said. “If you are someone who is going to call (the) police and want them to get there in a reasonable time, this matters to you.”

Championing the concept is Gov. Ron DeSantis, which, if approved by at least 60% of voters, would increase the exemption on homesteads ― primary residences owned by a permanent resident.

The ballot measure would raise the homestead exemption for non-school property taxes to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028. It would be subsequently adjusted for inflation.

“It is deceiving. Amendment 3 is deceptive,” Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said. “It is being presented like a simple tax cut, but it doesn’t eliminate the cost of providing services that our communities depend on.”

Miami Commissioner Damian Pardo said the measure has “a lot of unintended consequences.”

“It strikes me like a payday loan,” he said. “You have no idea what the interest is, what the charges are.”

DeSantis has brushed off some concerns from local leaders as scare tactics.

“I think what people are saying, if this passes, ‘Oh my gosh, you are not going to have law enforcement or any services or anything like that,’ and that is just not true,” DeSantis said.

But critics argue that, as a budgetary gut-punch, Amendment 3 would result in local leaders facing tough choices — from cutting services to potentially raising taxes or fees elsewhere to make up for the revenue shortfall. For most municipalities, police and fire comprise a significant portion of local budgets.

“And if communities are forced to raise taxes or fees to make up some of that lost revenue, then renters and small businesses would likely end up paying more, even though they never received the tax break in the first place,” Levine Cava said.

DeSantis has argued cities and counties “are still getting way more property tax revenue than they were getting 7 to 8 years ago.”

A recent report by Miami-Dade County’s property appraiser found that while estimated taxable value countywide increased year-over-year, the annual rate of growth is cooling.

According to the Tax Foundation, homestead property accounts for a sizable share of Florida’s property tax base.

According to the group, if voters approve the proposed constitutional amendment, a legislative fiscal analysis “estimates local government revenues could be reduced by $4.6 billion in the first year and by $8.4 billion in the second year, but the constitutional amendment includes no plan for how to pay for such a large tax cut.”

“There is definitely a theory to the case that, yes, they are definitely not going to be able to raise spending. That is just true,” DeSantis said.

That phrasing from the governor — a “theory to the case” — is in part what alarms some local leaders.

“Without studying how it is going to affect our local communities, I can tell you in our Village of Pinecrest, over the first five years our revenue will be decreased by $15 million, and there is discussion on how will replace that revenue,” Pinecrest Mayor-elect Shannon del Prado said. “Will it come from Tallahassee? If a stop sign is down, will Tallahassee have to come and fix it for us? If we have a pothole, will we have to call Tallahassee to get it repaired?”

According to the Tax Foundation, “While intended to relieve the growing property tax burden on Florida residents, drastically reducing and potentially even eliminating property taxes on the primary residences of most Florida homeowners would shift property tax burdens in highly distortionary ways and make Florida’s tax code far less stable and competitive.”

According to the Florida Policy Institute, “The loss of property tax dollars under Amendment 3 would ultimately shift costs onto renters, consumers and small businesses as local governments look to generate revenue.”

Voters will be able to weigh in on the measure on Nov. 3.

“Para decirlo claramente: si usted es una persona mayor que usa el autobús gratuito, esto le importa”, dijo el comisionado de Miami-Dade Oliver Gilbert. “Si usted es alguien que va a llamar a la policía y quiere que llegue en un tiempo razonable, esto le importa”.

El gobernador Ron DeSantis promueve la propuesta que, si es aprobada por al menos el 60% de los votantes, aumentaría la exención para viviendas principales propiedad de residentes permanentes.

La medida electoral aumentaría la exención de vivienda para impuestos a la propiedad no destinados a las escuelas a $150,000 USD en 2027 y $250,000 USD en 2028. Posteriormente, se ajustaría según la inflación.

“Es engañosa. La Enmienda 3 es engañosa”, dijo la alcaldesa de Miami-Dade, Daniella Levine Cava. “Se presenta como una simple reducción de impuestos, pero no elimina el costo de proporcionar los servicios de los que dependen nuestras comunidades”.

El comisionado de Miami, Damian Pardo, dijo que la medida tiene “muchas consecuencias no intencionadas”.

“Me parece un préstamo de día de pago”, dijo. “No tienes idea de cuáles son los intereses ni cuáles son los cargos”.

DeSantis ha desestimado algunas preocupaciones de líderes locales calificándolas de tácticas para infundir miedo.

“Creo que lo que la gente está diciendo es que, si esto se aprueba, “Dios mío, no habrá fuerzas del orden ni ningún servicio ni nada por el estilo”, y eso simplemente no es cierto”, dijo DeSantis.

Pero los críticos argumentan que, como un duro golpe presupuestario, la Enmienda 3 haría que los líderes locales enfrentaran decisiones difíciles, desde recortar servicios hasta posiblemente aumentar impuestos o tarifas en otros sectores para compensar la pérdida de ingresos. Para la mayoría de los municipios, la policía y los bomberos representan una parte significativa de los presupuestos locales.

“Y si las comunidades se ven obligadas a aumentar impuestos o tarifas para compensar parte de esos ingresos perdidos, entonces los inquilinos y las pequeñas empresas probablemente terminarían pagando más, aunque nunca recibieron la reducción de impuestos en primer lugar”, dijo Levine Cava.

DeSantis ha argumentado que las ciudades y los condados “siguen recibiendo muchos más ingresos por impuestos a la propiedad de los que recibían hace 7 u 8 años”.

Un informe reciente del tasador de propiedades del condado Miami-Dade encontró que, aunque el valor imponible estimado en todo el condado aumentó en comparación con el año anterior, la tasa anual de crecimiento se está desacelerando.

Según la Tax Foundation, las propiedades con exención de vivienda representan una parte considerable de la base de impuestos a la propiedad de Florida.

Según el grupo, si los votantes aprueban la enmienda constitucional propuesta, un análisis fiscal legislativo “estima que los ingresos de los gobiernos locales podrían reducirse en $4.6 mil millones USD durante el primer año y en $8.4 mil millones USD durante el segundo año, pero la enmienda constitucional no incluye ningún plan sobre cómo pagar una reducción de impuestos tan grande”.

“Definitivamente existe una teoría para sostener que, sí, definitivamente no podrán aumentar el gasto. Eso simplemente es cierto”, dijo DeSantis.

Esa expresión del gobernador, una “teoría para sostener el caso”, es en parte lo que alarma a algunos líderes locales.

“Sin estudiar cómo va a afectar a nuestras comunidades locales, puedo decirles que en nuestra Villa de Pinecrest, durante los primeros cinco años, nuestros ingresos disminuirán en $15 millones USD, y se está discutiendo cómo reemplazaremos esos ingresos”, dijo la alcaldesa electa de Pinecrest, Shannon del Prado. “¿Vendrán de Tallahassee? Si una señal de alto se cae, ¿Tallahassee tendrá que venir a repararla por nosotros? Si tenemos un bache, ¿tendremos que llamar a Tallahassee para que lo reparen?”

Según la Tax Foundation, “Aunque pretende aliviar la creciente carga de los impuestos a la propiedad sobre los residentes de Florida, reducir drásticamente y potencialmente incluso eliminar los impuestos a la propiedad sobre las residencias principales de la mayoría de los propietarios de viviendas de Florida trasladaría la carga de los impuestos a la propiedad de maneras altamente distorsionantes y haría que el código tributario de Florida fuera mucho menos estable y competitivo”.

Según el Florida Policy Institute, “La pérdida de ingresos por impuestos a la propiedad bajo la Enmienda 3 terminaría trasladando los costos a los inquilinos, consumidores y pequeñas empresas mientras los gobiernos locales buscan generar ingresos”.

Los votantes podrán pronunciarse sobre la medida el 3 de noviembre.

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Jail records show Fredi Benjamin Darmon is facing one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill.

Deputies said they responded July 28 to a reported road rage incident in the 1700 block of Stirling Road.

The victim told deputies he was driving westbound in the 1200 block of Stirling Road when he was cut off by Darmon, who was driving a Mercedes-Benz, according to an arrest report.

The two men argued, and Darmon allegedly pulled out a gun and pointed it directly at the victim, the report states.

Deputies said the victim told them he was “100% certain” the object was a gun and that he feared for his life and safety.

The victim said he pulled out his cellphone and began recording after Darmon displayed the gun, but he did not capture the entire incident, according to the report.

The victim later described the weapon to deputies and flagged down a BSO deputy, the report states.

Deputies searched the area but were unable to locate the vehicle or Darmon at the time, according to the report.

On July 29, the victim identified Darmon from a photo lineup, deputies said.

As of Wednesday, he was no longer listed as an inmate in the Broward County jail records system.

Los registros de la cárcel muestran que Fredi Benjamin Darmon enfrenta un cargo de asalto agravado con un arma mortal sin intención de matar.

Agentes dijeron que respondieron el 28 de julio a un reporte de un incidente de ira al volante en la cuadra 1700 de Stirling Road.

La víctima dijo a los agentes que conducía hacia el oeste por la cuadra 1200 de Stirling Road cuando Darmon, quien conducía un Mercedes-Benz, se le atravesó, según un informe de arresto.

Los dos hombres discutieron y Darmon presuntamente sacó un arma y apuntó directamente a la víctima, indica el informe.

Agentes dijeron que la víctima les aseguró que estaba “100% seguro” de que el objeto era un arma y que temió por su vida y seguridad.

La víctima dijo que sacó su teléfono celular y comenzó a grabar después de que Darmon mostró el arma, pero no captó todo el incidente, según el informe.

Posteriormente, la víctima describió el arma a los agentes y detuvo a un agente de la BSO, indica el informe.

Agentes registraron el área, pero en ese momento no pudieron localizar el vehículo ni a Darmon, según el informe.

El 29 de julio, la víctima identificó a Darmon en una rueda de reconocimiento fotográfica, dijeron agentes.

Hasta el miércoles, ya no figuraba como recluso en el sistema de registros de la cárcel del condado Broward.

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For decades, Valdes, 61, also known as Fernando Armando Valdes Perez, pretended to oppose communism on the island, according to the feds.

Cuba had tasked him with “infiltrating and reporting on Cuban exile and dissident communities in Latin America and the United States as early as the mid-1990s,” according to Nestor Yglesias, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman.

“Valdes gained the trust and confidence of late anti-Castro dissident Luis Posada Carriles and remained in close proximity to other well-known Cuban and Cuban American figures in South Florida until his arrest,” Yglesias wrote in a statement released on Wednesday afternoon.

Valdes, a Cuban national and Guatemalan citizen, had permanent U.S. residency status, according to Yglesias. It was done fraudulently, according to Matthew Elliston, the director of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations’ Miami Field Office.

 “Individuals who conceal ties to foreign intelligence services and exploit our immigration system pose a serious threat to the integrity of that system and to our national security,” Elliston said in a statement. “ICE will continue working with our federal partners to identify, arrest and remove those who obtain immigration benefits through fraud.”

ICE worked with FBI Miami and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to arrest Valdes on July 10 at Miami International Airport, and he was deported on Aug. 7, according to Yglesias.

“Following his arrest, Valdes was processed, placed in removal proceedings and removed,” Yglesias wrote in a statement.

Durante décadas, Valdes, de 61 años, también conocido como Fernando Armando Valdes Perez, fingió oponerse al comunismo en la isla, según las autoridades federales.

Cuba le había encomendado “infiltrarse e informar sobre las comunidades de exiliados y disidentes cubanos en América Latina y Estados Unidos desde mediados de la década de 1990”, según Nestor Yglesias, portavoz del Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas de Estados Unidos (ICE).

“Valdes se ganó la confianza del fallecido disidente anticastrista Luis Posada Carriles y permaneció muy cerca de otras figuras cubanas y cubanoamericanas conocidas en el sur de Florida hasta su arresto”, escribió Yglesias en un comunicado divulgado la tarde del miércoles.

Valdes, ciudadano cubano y guatemalteco, tenía estatus de residente permanente en Estados Unidos, según Yglesias. Lo obtuvo de manera fraudulenta, según Matthew Elliston, director de la Oficina de Operaciones de Detención y Deportación de ICE en Miami.

“Las personas que ocultan vínculos con servicios de inteligencia extranjeros y se aprovechan de nuestro sistema de inmigración representan una grave amenaza para la integridad de ese sistema y para nuestra seguridad nacional”, dijo Elliston en un comunicado. “ICE continuará trabajando con nuestros socios federales para identificar, arrestar y deportar a quienes obtengan beneficios migratorios mediante fraude”.

ICE trabajó con el FBI de Miami y la Oficina de Aduanas y Protección Fronteriza de Estados Unidos para arrestar a Valdes el 10 de julio en el Aeropuerto Internacional de Miami, y fue deportado el 7 de agosto, según Yglesias.

“Tras su arresto, Valdes fue procesado, puesto en proceso de deportación y deportado”, escribió Yglesias en un comunicado.

Rubio describió el presunto esquema de corrupción durante una entrevista con Fox News Radio el miércoles. El Departamento de Estado de Estados Unidos publicó la transcripción.

Nicolás Maduro estaba “robando el petróleo del pueblo de Venezuela y entregándoselo gratis a Cuba. Cuba recibía ese petróleo y no lo utilizaba para beneficiar al pueblo cubano. Vendían la mayor parte de ese petróleo a cambio de dinero en efectivo, y ese dinero iba a parar a sus bolsillos”, declaró Rubio a Brian Kilmeade, comentarista político de Fox News.

Rubio afirmó que los cortes de electricidad no tienen nada que ver con las sanciones de Estados Unidos, sino con la mala gestión de los funcionarios cubanos.

“Estos apagones no son algo nuevo; llevan cinco o siete años padeciéndolos. ¿Saben por qué? Porque su sistema no funciona, simplemente no sirve. Tienen equipos de las décadas de 1940 y 1950, y no los han renovado ni han invertido en ellos en absoluto, porque el modelo económico no funciona”, declaró Rubio a Kilmeade.

Rubio señaló que la solución para las relaciones entre Estados Unidos y Cuba está establecida en la legislación federal que instauró el embargo estadounidense.

“La normalización entre nuestros países no puede producirse plenamente […] a menos que exista una democracia funcional, o al menos se den pasos hacia una democracia funcional. Así que, en muchos sentidos, la política hacia Cuba no se rige simplemente por los deseos de una administración; está regida por la ley”, afirmó Rubio.

Miguel Díaz-Canel, quien asumió la presidencia de Cuba en 2019, convirtiéndose en el decimoséptimo presidente de la nación insular, ha negado las acusaciones de corrupción y ha afirmado que Estados Unidos libra una “guerra psicológica” y mantiene un “bloqueo energético” contra el pueblo cubano.

Raúl Castro, quien se desempeñó como presidente de Cuba durante aproximadamente una década y como ministro de Defensa durante cerca de 50 años, fue hospitalizado, según fuentes que mantienen comunicación con Andy Gomez, analista de temas cubanos de Local 10 News y exdirector del Instituto de Estudios Cubanos de la Universidad de Miami.

Los funcionarios cubanos permanecieron en silencio el miércoles después de que Diario Las Américas, un periódico en español con sede en Miami, informara el martes que Castro, de 95 años, quien se retiró formalmente en abril de 2021, había sufrido un derrame cerebral y se encontraba conectado a equipos de soporte vital.

Enlaces relacionados

• La transcripción de la entrevista de Rubio
• La entrevista en YouTube
• La declaración de Rubio sobre Nicaragua

Nota relacionada: Cubanos en Miami se detienen a reflexionar sobre el futuro de la isla sin Raúl Castro

Redes sociales relacionadas

SECRETARY RUBIO: The only solution and answer to Cuba, and we're prepared to play a productive role in this, is to place itself on an irreversible path toward becoming a normal, functioning state. pic.twitter.com/jHmrsWK9Lr

— Department of State (@StateDept) September 2, 2026

The Cuban regime has spent decades using front groups to infiltrate, corrupt, and radicalize Americans. Today, I'm sanctioning the leadership of ICAP, which is one of the primary organizations involved in these efforts—including convicted Cuban spy Fernando González Llort—and…

— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) August 20, 2026

Protección social es sostener, en medio del bloqueo energético, las conquistas de la #RevoluciónCubana.

Es que más de un millón y medio de estudiantes inicien hoy otro curso escolar que el imperio pretendió impedir con su plan de asfixia.#CubaNoEsUnaAmenaza, el Bloqueo sí https://t.co/LxGEcdSl5G

— Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez (@DiazCanelB) September 1, 2026

Por videoconferencia, realizamos Reunión Virtual de Jefes de Misiones Diplomáticas de #Cuba en el exterior.

Compartimos detalles de la situación actual del país, provocada por el cerco energético, el recrudecimiento del bloqueo y las sanciones secundarias impuestas por el… pic.twitter.com/nUH9IFxMCG

— Bruno Rodríguez P (@BrunoRguezP) September 2, 2026

Por videoconferencia, realizamos Reunión Virtual de Jefes de Misiones Diplomáticas de #Cuba en el exterior.

Compartimos detalles de la situación actual del país, provocada por el cerco energético, el recrudecimiento del bloqueo y las sanciones secundarias impuestas por el… pic.twitter.com/nUH9IFxMCG

— Bruno Rodríguez P (@BrunoRguezP) September 2, 2026

His death became intertwined with the killing of Christopher Wallace, better known as The Notorious B.I.G., six months later. Together, the deaths of two of rap’s biggest stars came to symbolize a combustible era commonly reduced to three words: East versus West. The mystery was compounded by reluctant witnesses, distrust of law enforcement and questions about why police in Las Vegas and Compton hadn't pursued charges until now.

Now, a Las Vegas jury has delivered something that seemed elusive for decades: a conviction.

Duane “Keffe D” Davis was found guilty Monday of first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon in Shakur’s 1996 killing. Jurors deliberated for less than three hours. Davis was the only person ever charged in the case.

The verdict provides a legal answer to one of hip-hop’s most enduring mysteries. But after decades of books, documentaries and podcasts on theories about Shakur’s death, another question remains: Can a conviction bring closure — and if so, for whom?

The emotion of that long wait was visible in the courtroom on Monday. Shakur’s sister, Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur, cried after the verdict was read and reached back toward someone sitting behind her. She and other members of Shakur’s family later embraced prosecutors.

When Davis was charged in 2023, Shakur's sister called the development “a pivotal moment,” while making clear that accountability remained the goal.

“It’s important to me that the world, the country, the justice system, and our people acknowledge the gravity of the passing of this man, my brother, my mother’s son, my father’s son,” she said at the time.

Prosecutor Binu Palal echoed that distinction after Monday’s verdict.

“To all of us, to me, Tupac Shakur was an icon or an idea,” Palal said. “But to the family, Tupac Shakur was a brother, a son, a cousin, a loved person ripped from them 30 years ago.”

Can a verdict bring closure?

Chuck Creekmur, co-founder of the hip-hop website AllHipHop, said he believes Shakur’s family may finally find some measure of closure, but he expects questions and theories surrounding the rapper’s death to persist.

“I thought it was a closing chapter,” he said. “But now, I realize I’m pretty convinced it’s just opening another chapter.”

For some, the verdict may provide a sense of resolution — or at least accountability — but closure might still be out of reach.

On “The Breakfast Club” Tuesday, Charlamagne tha God also reflected on what the verdict could mean for Shakur’s family.

“Nothing brings your loved one back,” he said. “All you think about is what his life would have been like the past 30 years, and you’re constantly reminded of him because he’s such an iconic figure. So you’ll never truly have, you know, peace.”

It was never simply about East vs. West

The prosecution’s case against Davis centered on an individual act of retaliation rather than a sweeping, coast-to-coast battle between gangs and their associated record labels.

Hours before Shakur was shot on Sept. 7, 1996, he and members of his entourage were captured on surveillance video beating Davis’ nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, inside the MGM Grand after a Mike Tyson fight. Prosecutors said Davis then obtained a gun, gathered a group that included Anderson and went looking for Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight.

Davis was not accused of firing the fatal shots. Prosecutors argued he provided the weapon and helped orchestrate the attack.

For Creekmur, the trial exposed how inadequate the familiar East-West label has always been. He pointed to the fractured friendships, gang affiliations, street politics, business interests and media amplification.

“This trial really peeled back the layers on how deep this really goes, and how far from hip-hop it really was,” he said. “It just really wasn’t about hip-hop at all.”

Creekmur said that if the conflict had truly been about hip-hop, the rivalry would have played out through diss records rather than escalating into street violence.

“If it was hip-hop, it would have ended with a few songs,” he said.

‘They just happened to be on two different coasts’

For those who lived through the era, the reality was more complicated than the East-West label suggested. Shakur was born in New York, maintained friendships there and had close relationships that didn’t fit neatly along geographic lines.

“That was Bad Boy and Death Row,” said veteran hip-hop journalist Dave “Davey D” Cook, who wrote about Shakur during his years in Oakland. “They just happened to be on two different coasts.”

The trial presented a collision of personal feuds, record-label allegiances and evolving street-gang relationships. Shakur and Death Row had associations with Mob Piru, while Davis was a leader in the South Compton Crips.

“I think the public missed the nuance and the accuracy of what was really going on,” he said. “It was being sensationalized on radio and in magazines.”

He remembers how charged the atmosphere became in the '90s. After Shakur’s death, Wallace appeared on a Bay Area radio program and said, “We’re not that powerful, yo.” Some listeners heard the last word as “yet,” Cook recalled, interpreting the remark as provocative.

Years later, he listened again and heard it differently.

“Tensions were so high, and there was so much angst in the air that we didn’t even hear him clearly,” he said.

Keffe D’s own words caught up with him

Davis, 63, spent years publicly talking about a killing that was never prosecuted — and those words ultimately became central to the case against him.

Prosecutors pointed to his accounts in interviews with investigators, documentaries, online appearances and his 2019 memoir, “Compton Street Legend.” His defense argued the stories were exaggerated or fabricated for money and notoriety.

“The strength of our case was Mr. Davis … and his mouth,” Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said after the verdict.

Charlamagne made a similar point while giving Davis “Donkey of the Day” on the popular radio show.

“If you give a man enough microphones, he’ll create Exhibit A,” Charlamagne said. “There was a time when investigators had to interrogate suspects. Now all you gotta do is give a brother a podcast setup.”

But Charlamagne saw a larger lesson in Davis’ decades of public storytelling.

“Sometimes surviving consequences for too long convinces you that consequences no longer exist,” he said.

What mysteries remain after the verdict?

Wallace’s 1997 killing remains unsolved, while speculation about who else might have been involved in Shakur's killing persists, along with more outlandish theories questioning whether he died at all.

For prosecutors, the verdict closes the case — at least for now.

“At this point, we don’t believe we have sufficient evidence to charge anyone else with the death of Tupac Shakur,” Wolfson said.

Creekmur expects it to be harder to put some larger questions to rest.

“The fact that there were no convictions, it allowed conspiracy theories to fester,” he said, “just like an open wound.”

Creekmur said the verdict may provide “a certain kind of closure,” though he doubts it will settle all of the questions surrounding Shakur's death.

Cook offered a similar assessment.

“I think that’s one chapter in this larger narrative that has been closed,” he said.

Sevierville, in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, will also be placing markers throughout the city for a self-guided walking tour of places that were important to the singer, actor and philanthropist. She grew up in rural Sevier County and transformed the theme park into the county's largest employer and a major tourist destination.

In a press conference held Wednesday, park officials announced plans to add a new character to the park called the Dream Maker, inspired by Parton's Imagination Library, as well as adding a waterfall and stained glass windows to a chapel inside the park to reflect her deep faith.

The park will add kiosks for visitors to share their thoughts about Parton and new additions are also coming to The Dolly Parton Experience, a multibuilding section that includes exhibits about her life and career.

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They said it happened around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday in the area of Northwest Seventh Street and 12th Avenue.

According to police, officers responded to the scene after receiving reports of a crash involving an underage pedestrian.

Miami Fire Rescue crews rushed the girl to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center in serious but stable condition, authorities said.

Police did not say whether the driver would be facing any charges, but did indicate that the investigation remained active and ongoing.

Las autoridades informaron que el incidente ocurrió alrededor de las 2:30 p. m. de este miércoles, en la zona de Northwest Seventh Street y 12th Avenue.

Según la policía, los agentes acudieron al lugar después de recibir reportes de un accidente en el que estaba involucrada una peatona menor de edad.

Paramédicos del Departamento de Bomberos y Rescate de Miami trasladaron de urgencia a la menor al Centro de Trauma Ryder del Jackson Memorial Hospital, donde se encuentra en condición grave pero estable, informaron las autoridades.

La policía no indicó si el conductor enfrentará algún cargo, pero señaló que la investigación continúa activa y en curso.

This may be the 45-year-old's best chance based on his overall body of work this season.

Hamlin enters NASCAR's modified 10-race playoff format known as “The Chase” with a 25-point cushion over second-place Ryan Blaney and an even bigger advantage over the rest of the 16-driver field after finishing the regular season with the most driver points.

The new format — which was last used in 2013 — is designed to reward performance throughout the entire season and provide a larger sample size to determine a champion. Fans have been clamoring for its return because of its simplicity.

And the drivers love it.

Hamlin, speaking at Wednesday's playoff media day in Charlotte, called it a “giant leap forward in crowning a champion."

“I think all of the drivers would tell you it’s a more fair way to do it,” Hamlin added.

Chase Briscoe agreed.

He said the format feels like it will produce a more “legitimate” champion.

“I'm not saying the past champions weren't legit, but before, you could win the first 35 races and go to Phoenix (for the season championship) and blow up and finish fourth in points,” Briscoe said. “It’s not going to be like that anymore. I think this says so much more about your body of work.”

Unlike previous years, there will be no elimination rounds. That means no points “reset” midway through the playoffs.

The champion will be determined by which driver amasses the most points over the final 10 races.

Hamlin begins with 2,100 points, 25 more than Blaney and 35 better than third-place Tyler Reddick based on the new format.

Fourth place starts 40 points behind Hamlin, fifth is 45 points back and so on in descending 5-point increments down to 16th-place Ryan Preece, who starts 100 points behind.

Kyle Larson, who starts in seventh place, won last year's Cup championship. But even he is good with the change.

“For the sport, I'm happy with the change for sure, and I think this format has proven to be very exciting," Larson said referring to Preece's dramatic win last weekend at Daytona, which allowed him to qualify for The Chase.

Larson is more concerned with catching up to the speed of the Toyota cars, which have been running faster all season than the Fords and Chevrolets. Of the top six cars entering the playoffs, five are Toyotas.

One notable change to this year's format is that wins are weighted heavier.

Drivers get 55 points for a race win, a substantial increase from the previous structure of 40 points.

The remaining positions pay the same points as the regular season (35 for second, 34 for third, 33 for fourth, etc.) and stage points also are the same (10 points for first, nine points for second, eight points for third, etc.).

While wins are rewarded, consistency is the key to winning a championship, Christopher Bell believes.

“The previous format and system, it was just three races at a time,” Bell said. "And if you had a bad race, it’s like just survive. Just gotta get above the cut line. Once you get above the cut line, you're like, ‘OK, we’re in great shape now.' Whereas now, there are no freebies. You can’t have a bad race and get a reset in three weeks. So, you’re going to have to perform every week.”

The Chase begins Saturday at Darlington.

Hamlin and Joey Logano are the only drivers still on the Cup Series circuit who were around the last time NASCAR used this playoff format 13 years ago.

Logano said there isn't much he can take overall from the experience. But he said it harkens back to something seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson once told him.

“Jimmie would say, 'It's 10 weeks of hell,'” said Logano, who is going for his fourth Cup title after a late-season push to make the playoffs. "And it's pretty true. It's a grueling 10 weeks. But hey, there is a pretty cool trophy at the end of it.

“The feeling of winning the whole thing is worth the grind,” he added with a smile.

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A mass exodus of 10 schools in 15 months left the Pac-12 in tatters, dimming the future of a conference that was once the proud home of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Cheryl Miller, Tiger Woods, Jackie Robinson, Lisa Leslie, Jackie Joyner-Kersey and many more.

League brass and the two remaining schools worked behind scenes to pull the conference out of a death spiral and now, more than four years since the first two schools left, the Pac-12 is back as something of a startup.

“We’re literally launching a new league,” Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould said. “We've been doing all the things that are already established in a traditional conference, but we wound ours down. So now we’re winding it back up and it’s a fun time.”

The new version of this venerable old conference officially launched on July 1, when seven new members joined Oregon State and Washington State. The soccer, volleyball and cross-country seasons kicked off last month.

Next gen Pac-12 kicks off in full force this week with the start of the football season.

Newcomer Fresno State gets it started at No. 14 Southern California on Thursday night with all eight teams, capped by Washington State's Apple Cup rivalry game against former Pac-12 member No. 17 Washington on Sunday.

“It's really exciting,” said Kirby Moore, the first-year Washington State coach and Washington state native. “Very few times do you get to be a part of history and be the first in the Pac-12 Conference coming back together.”

There were plenty of doubts it would ever happen.

Losing USC and UCLA in 2022 was a big blow to the conference, yet one it could possibly recover from. Once eight more schools bolted over a span of about six weeks, it appeared as if the lights would go out on “Pac-12 After Dark.”

The once-powerful conference jokingly became the “Pac-2,” but no one with remaining ties to the league was laughing as staff were laid off and the future looked bleak. There were lots of discussions and legalities to sort through over money for the former members as well as complications over new membership

“I guess when I accepted this position in February of 2024, the idea or possibility that the conference wouldn't survive was certainly swirling in the back of my mind because there was just so much uncertainty at that time,” Gould said.

Within a few months, the conference began showing signs of life.

The Pac-12 worked out a deal for Oregon State and Washington State to play Mountain West Conference schools for the 2024 season, with deals for other sports in separate scheduling agreements.

Behind the scenes, the league was working on a re-expansion.

Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State became the first new members in late 2024 after bolting the Mountain West. Utah State joined the Pac-12 not long after that and powerhouse Gonzaga gave the league a higher national profile by joining as a basketball-only member.

Texas State's addition in 2025 was the final piece, giving the conference an FBS-mandated eight football schools.

“Things shifted very, very fast,” Gould said.

There were still hurdles to clear.

The Pac-12 and Mountain West became embroiled in legal wrangling over “poaching” fees and three of the conference's new members filed a separate lawsuit over exit fees from the Mountain West. Both lawsuits were settled earlier this year.

Gould and the Pac-12 also had to negotiate new media rights deals, a massive stumbling block under previous commissioners that, in large part, led to the exodus to other leagues. The Pac-12 worked that out by negotiating deals with CBS, USA Network and The CW, ensuring all its football games and many basketball games will be on linear TV — meaning no more fumbling through the channels to find "Pac-12 After Dark."

“We are super, super fortunate that we have that kind of reach and that kind of accessibility for all of our football games and the majority of our basketball games, because it’s more important than ever, given that we’re launching this new league,” Gould said.

The Pac-12 also had to address its College Football Playoff chances.

As a Power Five (now Four) league, the conference would have had an automatic bid under the new 12-team format. Because the re-imagined conference dropped into the Group of Six conference category, the trajectory to a playoff spot is no longer a straight line.

The Pac-12 hopes to boost its CFP chances by scheduling “flex” games during the final week of the regular season, creating the best possible rematches to enhance its postseason chances.

“We’ve gotten a lot of other conferences that have said, ‘Hey, that’s a really interesting way of thinking about this opportunity or solution,’” Oregon State athletic director Kevin Griffin said “There may be some challenges as we actually execute, but what I’m most proud of as a conference is the ability to think differently and have a different type of solution.”

The Pac-12 spent four years searching for solutions to prevent the conference's extinction.

The result is an old conference with a new look and feel.

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AP Sports Writer Anne Peterson contributed to this report.

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MCSO Sheriff Rick Ramsay said major crimes detectives, working with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, identified David Allen Snyder, formerly of Key West, as the man responsible for the 1973 killings of sisters Marguerite “Maggie” Jenkins, 18, and Mary Jenkins, 16.

He said Snyder died of natural causes Oct. 28, 2008, in Mountain View, Idaho. He was 57.

The sisters had traveled from New Jersey to the Florida Keys for vacation in April 1973. according to Ramsay.

Investigators said they were last seen hitchhiking on Stock Island on May 2, 1973. The next day, a resident discovered their bodies in a wooded area about 100 yards from U.S. 1 near Mile Marker 99.5, according to Ramsay.

Investigators determined the sisters had been severely beaten and appeared to have suffered gunshot wounds. The case remained unsolved for decades, with investigators unable to identify a suspect.

A breakthrough came years later as investigators revisited evidence using newer forensic technology.

In 2018, sheriff’s detectives and FDLE developed additional markers from a partial male DNA profile recovered from a bloodstain on one of the victims’ underwear, according to Ramsay.

Ramsay said updated profile was entered into a national DNA database, but it did not produce a match at the time.

Authorities said FDLE investigators continued working the case and in 2023 began using genetic genealogy and family-tree research alongside DNA databases. That work eventually pointed investigators toward Snyder.

Earlier this year, authorities obtained a DNA sample from one of Snyder’s relatives and submitted it to the FDLE crime laboratory for testing. The laboratory results confirmed Snyder as the source of the DNA profile, according to MCSO officials.

Investigators also determined that Snyder lived in several locations in Key West between 1972 and 1974, placing him in the area around the time of the killings.

Ramsay credited the investigators and FDLE with pursuing the case despite the passage of more than 50 years.

“I want to thank the Detectives of our Major Crimes Division for their hard work alongside the FDLE in bringing closure to the family of these two victims,” Ramsay said in a statement. “This case highlights the importance of our law enforcement partnership with the FDLE and our commitment to solving crimes no matter how long it may take.”

El sheriff del condado de Monroe, Rick Ramsay, informó que detectives de la División de Delitos Mayores, en colaboración con el Departamento de Aplicación de la Ley de Florida (FDLE), identificaron a David Allen Snyder, quien anteriormente residió en Key West, como el responsable de los asesinatos ocurridos en 1973 de las hermanas Marguerite “Maggie” Jenkins, de 18 años, y Mary Jenkins, de 16.

Ramsay señaló que Snyder murió por causas naturales el 28 de octubre de 2008 en Mountain View, Idaho. Tenía 57 años.

Las hermanas habían viajado desde Nueva Jersey hasta los Cayos de Florida para pasar unas vacaciones en abril de 1973, según Ramsay.

Los investigadores indicaron que fueron vistas por última vez pidiendo aventón en Stock Island el 2 de mayo de 1973. Al día siguiente, un residente encontró sus cuerpos en una zona boscosa, a unos 90 metros de la carretera U.S. 1, cerca del marcador de milla 99.5, de acuerdo con Ramsay.

Los investigadores determinaron que las hermanas habían sido brutalmente golpeadas y aparentemente también habían sufrido heridas de bala. El caso permaneció sin resolver durante décadas, ya que los investigadores no lograron identificar a ningún sospechoso.

Años después se produjo un avance importante cuando los investigadores volvieron a analizar las evidencias utilizando tecnologías forenses más modernas.

En 2018, detectives de la Oficina del Sheriff y especialistas del FDLE lograron obtener marcadores adicionales a partir de un perfil parcial de ADN masculino recuperado de una mancha de sangre encontrada en la ropa interior de una de las víctimas, según Ramsay.

Ramsay explicó que el perfil actualizado fue ingresado en una base de datos nacional de ADN, pero en ese momento no se encontró ninguna coincidencia.

Las autoridades señalaron que los investigadores del FDLE continuaron trabajando en el caso y, en 2023, comenzaron a utilizar técnicas de genealogía genética e investigación de árboles genealógicos en combinación con bases de datos de ADN. Ese trabajo finalmente condujo a los investigadores hasta Snyder.

A principios de este año, las autoridades obtuvieron una muestra de ADN de uno de los familiares de Snyder y la enviaron al laboratorio criminalístico del FDLE para su análisis. Los resultados confirmaron que Snyder era la fuente del perfil de ADN, según funcionarios de la Oficina del Sheriff del Condado de Monroe.

Los investigadores también determinaron que Snyder vivió en distintos domicilios de Key West entre 1972 y 1974, lo que confirma que se encontraba en la zona durante la época en que ocurrieron los asesinatos.

Ramsay reconoció el trabajo de los investigadores y del FDLE por continuar con el caso a pesar de que habían transcurrido más de 50 años.

“Quiero agradecer a los detectives de nuestra División de Delitos Mayores por su arduo trabajo junto con el FDLE para brindar respuestas y un cierre a la familia de estas dos víctimas”, declaró Ramsay. “Este caso pone de manifiesto la importancia de nuestra colaboración con el FDLE y nuestro compromiso de resolver los crímenes sin importar cuánto tiempo haya transcurrido.”

They were given advice on how to eat and hydrate, what to do after arriving and the best options of when to sleep on the approximately 8,000-mile flight that will take about 16 hours and cross the international dateline that will make a Wednesday departure turn into a Friday arrival.

Niners defensive lineman and avid world traveler Keion White has a simple approach.

“I don’t know if you can OD on melatonin, but I’m going to try,” he said. “Take five melatonins, go to sleep on the plane. As soon as I wake up, I’m taking five more. Just keep rolling like that.”

While some members of the 49ers organization, including coach Kyle Shanahan, have been lamenting the season-opening trip, White is embracing it after already playing games in Germany and London earlier in his career.

He plans to watch TikTok before he arrives to get ideas of what to do and then get on public transportation and explore after team meetings on the first day to help make sure he stays up all day and gets onto a normal sleep schedule as quickly as possible.

“I’m an experience guy,” he said. “If I’m up, walking around, just going to go do stuff, I’ll be up. Just go explore. We will have meetings and everything like that, but once I do that, I’m out exploring Melbourne and getting around town.”

Both the 49ers and Rams studied the process intently in the offseason, even sending advance staffers to Australia to report back on how long it took to adjust to the time change. But they came up with far different answers leading up to the game on Sept. 11.

The Niners will leave Wednesday night in California, arrive in Melbourne on Friday morning and then take time to adjust to the new time zone. They will hold a light practice on Saturday, take Sunday off and then have a normal stretch of three practices on Monday through Wednesday before playing the opener on Friday morning.

They will leave right after the game and are expected to land back in the Bay Area on Friday afternoon. They then will be able to take the weekend off before preparing for the Week 2 game against Miami on Sept. 20.

“It’s a big adjustment on the body,” Shanahan said. “So, the recommendation for everybody has been to tell us when to go, and it’s made a lot of sense. I know how our players feel also. I was a little bit on the fence. Science wasn’t and what I was reported on and our players weren’t at all. So that helped me get off the fence.”

The Rams consulted with their own scientists and came up with the opposite approach. They will do most of their practice at home and aren’t expected to arrive in Australia until about 24 hours before the game, hoping the short stay leads to no jet lag.

The better option might not be known until after the game.

The approach by the Niners has made the past few days a whirlwind. The players got the weekend off after playing the final exhibition game on Thursday night in Las Vegas and resumed practice on Monday — the day after the roster was reduced to 53 players.

The front office had to make those cuts, put together a practice squad and figure out which players would be healthy for Week 1 to make sure they had the correct roster in place before departing.

“There’s a lot behind the scenes,” general manager John Lynch said. “Our logistics folks, our folks that work in the cafe, have just gone to tremendous lengths, our health and performance team, to make sure that we’re giving our players the best opportunity to feel right when they play down there in Australia. Everything from getting visas, which much more complicated than I ever knew, and they’ve been outstanding. ... Hats off to those guys for pulling off a monumental task, and it’s not done yet.”

Lynch said he had to make sure all the practice squad players he wanted to sign had passports with one needing his parents to send it overnight. It was an even bigger scramble for offensive lineman Jarrett Patterson, who was acquired in a trade from Houston on Sunday.

“They were like, hey, do you have a passport? We're leaving for Australia in three days,” he said. “I was like, ‘Whoa!’ It's obviously a quick turnaround getting here a couple hours after I found out and now getting ready for Australia.”

But in all, the players are welcoming the challenge and opportunity. Cornerback Deommodore Lenoir said he'd travel 30 hours if needed to play in an NFL game and rookie De'Zhaun Stribling has a must-see item on his to-do list before making his debut.

“I kind of want to see a kangaroo, just because," he said. "To see how big they are.”

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In court papers filed Tuesday, the Justice Department supported OpenAI's argument that training its models on troves of writings found on the internet is protected by the “fair use” doctrine of copyright law.

The Justice Department wrote that “the creative possibilities and public benefits” of training large language models on such content “far outweigh any competitive harm.”

It told the court that siding with The New York Times and other publishers who argue OpenAI's practice violates copyright law would thwart “creative and scientific progress while hindering American prosperity and economic mobility.”

“The entire reason that AI models are rapidly reshaping the economy and national security is that they help people, including those working in creative fields, make things and get things done,” Justice Department attorneys wrote. The “creative benefits often overlap with national security interests,” the department added, because AI models can “help national security officials analyze and draw inferences from (unprotected) real-world facts such as those conveyed in New York Times articles.”

The Times criticizes the government's position

The lawsuit, and the government's involvement in it, are symptoms of something happening all over the world, particularly in recent months: the rush to keep up with the rapid rise of AI tools over the past five years. In many cases, disputes about AI and its practices are winding their way through courts that still lack precedents — and in some cases language — to match the subject matter.

The New York Times said Wednesday that the administration “is siding with a handful of trillion-dollar AI companies at the expense of the countless American creators whose work they stole.”

“Both AI and creators can thrive — AI companies simply need to pay fairly for the content that makes their products possible, as copyright law requires,” Graham James, a spokesperson for the paper, said in an emailed statement. “The Administration’s proposal to let companies take that content without permission or compensation would undermine the sustainability of the human-created content that a healthy society depends on, and which AI needs to function.”

The New York Times says OpenAI threatens its financial livelihood

The Times sued OpenAI in 2023, arguing that the company was threatening its journalists’ livelihoods by effectively stealing billions of dollars’ worth of their work, in some cases spitting out The Times’ material verbatim to people seeking answers from generative artificial intelligence like ChatGPT. The threat to news publications became even more apparent when, in 2024, Google introduced AI-generated summaries at the top of online search results, cutting off the advertising dollars that come when people click a link to the information’s original source.

The Times has since been joined by other news organizations, including MediaNews Group-owned newspapers the New York Daily News and the Chicago Tribune, digital media publisher Ziff Davis and the nonprofit Center for Investigative Reporting. The company has been sued by several writers — including comedian Sarah Silverman — who say their books were ingested to train OpenAI’s AI models without their permission.

The Times’ arguments differ from those brought by book authors. In its original lawsuit and an amended complaint filed earlier this year, it focused on the unfair competition of companies that “seek to free-ride on The Times’s massive investment in its journalism by using it to build substitutive products without permission or payment.”

Cousins ran the first-team offense nearly the entire preseason with rookie and No. 1 overall draft pick Fernando Mendoza working mostly with the second unit.

The Raiders kept three quarterbacks; Aidan O'Connell returns for his fourth season.

“I’m really happy with all three of our quarterbacks," Kubiak said. "Kirk’s had a really good offseason, a very good (training) camp, and he’s earned it.”

The Raiders signed Cousins, who enters his 15th season, to a two-year deal with $20 million in guaranteed money. His previous club, the Atlanta Falcons, is responsible for $8.7 million this season.

Acquiring Cousins was a way to ease Mendoza into the NFL without expecting him to try to lead the offense right away. But Cousins wasn't brought to Las Vegas to simply be a mentor. He has experience in Kubiak's system and is expected to carry what has been a positive training camp into the season.

He is 88-77-2 as a starter with Washington, Minnesota and Atlanta. His greatest success came in 2022 when Cousins quarterbacked the Vikings to a 13-4 record.

“I think you can see the constant things in ... film study,” Kubiak said. "Where I’ve seen him grow is in his leadership and his command.”

Though this announcement was hardly a surprise, it's unclear when and if Mendoza will see the field this season. The Heisman Trophy winner, who also led Indiana to the national championship, showed flashes of why the Raiders took him at the top of the draft. He also exhibited the inconsistencies of someone who has never taken a snap in an NFL regular-season game.

Now the challenge will be to make sure Mendoza gets the necessary preparation for when he is called to go into a game. That won't be easy with Cousins receiving the first-team repetitions as the Raiders go into regular-season mode.

“Every player that is not starting the first game, then they’re helping us on the (scout) team,” Kubiak said. "We’re just trying to find every edge we can find to continue to get him better and his teammates better.”

When asked if Mendoza would play this season, Kubiak was succinct.

“We'll get to Miami first,” he said.

Jeanty might play in opener

Running back Ashton Jeanty, who suffered an injury in practice Aug. 23, could be ready to go in the opener.

When asked if he was optimistic that Jeanty would play against the Dolphins, a smiling Kubiak said, “Yes."

Should Jeanty not be ready, rookie Mike Washington Jr. will start. He had a promising preseason, and general manager John Spytek said Kubiak “stood on a table” to argue that Washington should be drafted in the fourth round.

“I’ve been wrong about a lot of players too, and Mike is a rookie, hasn’t played one game,” Kubiak said. "Our scouting department has done a phenomenal job bringing in these young guys, and I know we talk a lot about Mike, but our entire draft class, I’m extremely excited about. We’re counting on those guys.”

Rookie DE out for the season

Defensive end Keyron Crawford, selected in the third round this year, is out for the season because of an Achilles injury. He worked his way into the rotation and appeared set to receive significant playing time.

“He’s come a long way,” Kubiak said. "He’s an extremely hard worker, a guy that has a bright future ahead of him, and he’ll continue to develop even this year. When he’s rehabbing, he’s going to be dialed into the meetings and he’ll still improve. But I’m excited about getting him healthy for next season.”

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She heads to the third round looking every bit ready for a three-peat.

The top-seeded Sabalenka overwhelmed Polina Iatcenko 6-1, 6-1 in 53 minutes on Wednesday night, putting on a power-hitting display that made it seem her recent problems are in the past.

“Happy with the level I played today, happy with the focus and happy to be through this match,” Sabalenka said.

A number of players have only finished one match.

Another rainy afternoon in New York suspended play for a time on outside courts, allowing action only under the roofs in Arthur Ashe Stadium and Louis Armstrong Stadium to continue uninterrupted. So the players scheduled there avoided the starts and stops that others faced.

Carlos Alcaraz was one, following Sabalenka with a 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Jaime Faria. The defending champion rebounded after dropping a set, which he didn't do until last year's final, by winning the next eight games to seize control.

Jessica Pegula needed only 56 minutes to defeat Sofia Kenin 6-3, 6-1. Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion, beat Venus Williams in her first match.

“To be out of there in under an hour, it doesn’t always happen,” Pegula said. “So I think I’m just going to take that one and run, I guess, until the next round.”

No. 8 seed Ben Shelton followed Pegula on Ashe and beat Hubert Hurkacz 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (3), 7-5, while No. 7 Daniil Medvedev raced past Sebastian Gorzny — except for a brief delay to protest the chair umpire’s decision to replay a point when two birds sat on the net — 6-3, 6-3, 7-5.

Sabalenka says she was struggling but now feels better

Sabalenka is trying to become the first player to win three in a row in Flushing Meadows since Serena Williams from 2012-14, but arrived after losing in the fourth round of her past three tournaments. She needs help to stay atop the WTA rankings even if she wins the title.

She won 15 of 16 points on first serve in the first set and only dropped off a little in the second, finishing 21 for 28 in the match, against an opponent who is playing in her first Grand Slam tournament.

“I think I struggled a little bit in the middle of the season. Once again, I’m not going to defend myself or explain why, what happened, but I’m happy with my level,” Sabalenka said. “I can definitely say that mentally I’m way stronger than I was in the middle of the season, and physically I also feel stronger. So I feel like I’m on my level of play.”

A three-day first round stretches into a fourth

When the U.S. Open switched to a Sunday start last year, it spread out the first round over the first three days, so Wednesday would have arrived with everyone playing in the second round had the weather cooperated.

It didn't.

Alex de Minaur, the No. 6 seed from Australia, said with all the juggling his match was moved twice from the court where he was originally scheduled. He finally started his U.S. Open on Wednesday on Court 11 and beat Italy's Andrea Guerrieri 6-2, 6-2, 6-4.

“It’s been a couple tough days. But I mean, these tournaments, it's all about adapting and that’s the name of the game,” de Minaur said. “There’s too much to play for to let something like this affect you.”

Paula Badosa said she didn't even know how to prepare for the resumption of her match against Daria Kasatkina, which was halted Tuesday with her one game from winning to set up a second-round match against No. 4 Coco Gauff.

“I didn’t know if I was going to play just two points or six, or I don’t know how much, how many I play or one more set,” the Spaniard said Wednesday after finishing off her 6-1, 6-4 victory.

“So I knew that if I was winning this match, I’m playing the next day. So, yeah, it was everything a bit different. I was very nervous that I even couldn’t eat, so a lot of different stuff I did today, but sometimes it is how it is, and I tried to play with the things I had there.”

At least she got through. No. 12 Rafael Jodar, the 19-year-old from Spain who came in after a strong summer, was routed 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 by Bu Yunchaokete of China when his first-round match was finally completed.

“I knew it wasn’t going to be easy because I was waiting a lot yesterday and today as well, but it is what it is,” Jodar said. “We cannot control the rain, so it’s difficult for both players.”

The first round was finally completed late Wednesday, a day when 25 men’s singles matches were scheduled to get the tournament back on track.

Alex Michelsen pulled off an upset in one of them by ousting fellow American Brandon Nakashima, the No. 16 seed, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. No. 11 Frances Tiafoe beat Japanese qualifier Rei Sakamoto in straight sets, and Argentina's Mariano Navone backed up his upset of Novak Djokovic by beating Matteo Berrettini 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (4).

Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova and runner-up Karolina Muchova advanced to the third round, while No. 11 Marta Kostyuk got past 2017 U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens 6-1, 7-5. No. 31 seed Leylah Fernandez set up a matchup of past U.S. Open runners-up against Pegula, with the winner to meet either No. 16 Sorana Cirstea or No. 19 Jasmine Paolini.

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The suspect, 44-year-old Ousman Ceesay, was new to the Tucson area and did not know the victims, the Tucson Police Department said in a news release Tuesday night.

While searching his home, detectives found a note that “indicated he acted alone and that this shooting was a targeted attack motivated by hate toward the LGBTQIA+ community,” the department said.

Shooter confronted the victims in a parking lot outside bar

Vincent Anthony Siqueiros, 42, and Cameron Davis Capara, 33, were in the parking lot of the Venture-N bar around 12:30 a.m. Monday when they were confronted and then shot by Ceesay, police said. Ceesay then shot himself with a 9mm handgun and never tried to enter the bar, police said.

Both Siqueiros and Capara died at the scene, and Ceesay was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. Police said Ceesay was carrying a note with a list of other LGBTQIA+-associated businesses in the region.

He had no prior contacts with the police department and was not prohibited from possessing firearms, the police department said.

Police say there is no active threat to LGBTQIA community

Police officers have contacted each of the businesses on the list, and the department said there is no known active threat to the community. The department is working with community organizations to provide support, and officers were expected to staff a candlelight vigil for Siqueiros and Capara set for Wednesday evening at a local park.

Rainbow-colored candles, flowers and photos honoring the pair lined the exterior wall of the Venture-N, a cozy neighborhood bar not far from the University of Arizona campus. The shooting rocked the LGBTQIA+ community in a city normally known as an affirming place to live.

Vigil organizers say the bar has been ‘a steadfast safe place’ for community

Tucson Queerstory, one of several groups organizing the candlelight vigil, wrote on social media that Venture-N has been “a steadfast safe place for Tucson's queer community,” and encouraged people to show support as the bar works to recover and re-open.

“Tucson has long been known for its welcoming environment and strong queer community. To now add another hate crime to that history is heartbreaking and infuriating,” the organization wrote.

The group urged people to “remind ourselves that we need one another, and to remind the larger community that we are united in our right to exist.”

Family members of Capara and Siqueiros have expressed gratitude and are “overwhelmed by the outpouring of love,” Tucson Queerstory wrote in a separate social media post.

The spinning, meandering decagon appears to be even bigger and more unstable than the hexagon of clouds around Saturn’s north pole that was spied by NASA’s twin Voyagers in the 1980s, the Spanish-led team reported Wednesday.

This new jet stream formation popped up in the Hubble Space Telescope’s sights in 2023 after earlier observations came up empty. The researchers suspect the bizarre atmospheric phenomenon may have formed between 2017 and 2023, when Saturn’s south pole was tilted away from Earth and therefore out of view.

It could still be evolving, with a single side of the decagon already exceeding 10,000 miles (16,700 kilometers).

The findings are significant because it shows “the ‘unique’ hexagon is not as extraordinary as we thought," lead author Agustin Sanchez-Lavega with the University of the Basque Country said in an email.

The findings were published in the journal Science Advances.

Although all of the solar system’s planets with atmospheres have wave-spawning disturbances, only Saturn churns them out looking like polygons, geometric shapes bounded by straight lines.

Both sit on jet streams, but the hexagon is practically stationary whereas the decagon migrates eastward at a tame 6 mph (10 kph).

“Saturn still has the ability to surprise us," the University of Leicester's Leigh Fletcher said in a statement. He measured the wind in the decagon as part of the study using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile.

By comparing these two formations on opposite ends of Saturn, scientists can learn more about the weather patterns of giant gas planets, according to Sanchez-Lavega.

“This is a highly interesting phenomenon that appears to be unique to Saturn, and we want to know why,” he said.

Sanchez-Lavega wonders whether they might be related to the cyclones on Jupiter that are arranged in polygonal shapes. Improving views of Saturn's southern hemisphere over the next several years should allow astronomers to capture more details of the decagon and perhaps solve “this intriguing atmospheric mystery,” he said.

It’s unclear whether the decagon will last as long as the hexagon, which has been visible by spacecraft for more than 40 years. That is longer than a Saturnian year, which is equivalent to 30 Earth years.

“For the time being, all I can confirm is that the decagon is still there,” Sanchez-Lavega said.

___

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The two-time MVP has stated ever since he underwent surgery in December to repair torn ligaments in his left knee that his goal was to be on the field when the season begins.

And while doctors initially cautioned Mahomes that it could be October before he was ready to play, the quarterback surged past all expectations in his rehab, working with the first team throughout training camp.

Mahomes did not play in any preseason games. But that was always by design.

“He's going to keep practicing just like he's been doing,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Wednesday, after their first practice following roster cuts. “These are more like practice here, a lot of one-versus-one play these next couple of days. That's a good thing.”

The Chiefs will practice again Thursday before a long weekend, then resume work Monday. After that, they'll be into their game-week schedule, pointed toward a Monday night showdown between two of the favorites to win the AFC West this season.

One question looming over Mahomes' return: Will not playing in a preseason game affect his performance? The only other time he has gone an entire preseason without a game snap came during the pandemic, when all of the exhibition games were canceled.

“Me and Pat, we've kind of been working this offseason, the timing and stuff you need to work on,” Chiefs wide receiver Xavier Worthy said, when asked about the rapport with his quarterback. “I feel like when it's time to play, we'll all be ready.”

Worthy always thought Mahomes would be ready for the start of the season. In fact, he returned to Kansas City early this summer to work out with Mahomes, who was spending his days rehabbing his knee while watching World Cup games on TV.

“His will and want-to is beyond anything I've ever seen,” Worthy said. “He kind of leads the team in that way. You have your leader leading like that and guys fall behind. He's just a ‘will’ guy, always willing to work.”

Exactly who is protecting Mahomes should he play Week 1 is another question mark.

Left tackle Josh Simmons remained out of practice Wednesday with a lingering back injury, forcing Kansas City to shuffle the offensive line. Undrafted rookie Kahlil Benson has been moving around in his absence, while Jaylon Moore has also gotten first-team reps.

Perhaps wary of the injury woes up front — guard Trey Smith has been dealing with a hip injury — the Chiefs made a couple of moves to build their depth in recent days. They sent a conditional sixth-round pick to Baltimore for undrafted rookie Diego Pounds, and they acquired Joshua Ezeudu from the Giants for a seventh-round selection.

“It's just a matter of them getting adjusted to everything, from the snap count to the plays to the calls to the pass protection,” Reid said. “It was great to get them in there. There were a couple of hiccups in there but for the most part they did a great job.”

___

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Caruana Galizia’s killing shocked Europe, led to protests that toppled a prime minister and exposed a culture of impunity in the European Union’s smallest state.

Yorgen Fenech, a prominent Maltese businessman, was indicted in 2021 on charges of complicity and criminal conspiracy. Prosecutors accused him of being the mastermind of the slaying and of having ordered and paid for it.

He pleaded not guilty and the jury on Wednesday, in an 8-1 vote, found him not guilty on both counts. Fenech was greeted with jeers outside the courtroom and the opposition Nationalist Party organized a demonstration late Wednesday to demand justice.

Fenech was the last of a half-dozen people charged in the plot to be prosecuted.

A woman targeted for her anti-corruption investigations

Caruana Galizia, 53, was killed on Oct. 16, 2017, by a car bomb that was detonated while she was driving near her home.

She had written extensively about suspected corruption in political and business circles in Malta, with investigative reports targeting people in then-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s inner circle whom she accused of having offshore companies in tax havens disclosed in the Panama Papers leak. She also targeted the opposition and business leaders in Malta.

At the time of her death, she was facing more than 40 libel suits.

An independent inquiry into the killing published in 2021 concluded that the Maltese state “has to bear responsibility” for the assassination due to a culture of impunity that emanated from the highest levels of government.

The case forces a prime minister to resign

Fenech was involved in a consortium that won a controversial contract with the Maltese government to build a power station.

His arrest in 2019, as he was sailing away from Malta on his yacht, sparked a series of mass protests in the country that culminated with Muscat’s resignation.

After he was acquitted of all charges Wednesday, he walked out of the Valletta courtroom to a chaotic scene outside, with hecklers yelling as he walked away.

One of his lawyers, Gianella De Marco, expressed satisfaction with the verdict.

“We are happy that justice has prevailed,” she told reporters. She said the outcome showed that the jury didn't believe a key prosecution witness who was granted a presidential pardon in exchange for his testimony.

Caruana Galizia's children were at the forefront in demanding accountability and justice over her death. Her sons were in the courtroom when the verdict was read out but left without commenting to reporters.

In a statement later posted to Facebook, the family said the verdict denied Caruana Galizia the “justice she deserves."

“Nine years after Daphne’s brutal assassination, the institutional failures that enabled her murder remain unaddressed and unreformed. Lasting justice means no person should ever face the same risks again," the statement said. "Our country failed to protect Daphne. It owes it to her to prevent other lives being lost.”

The opposition Nationalist Party organized a silent march late Wednesday, saying in a statement that it respected the verdict but demanding accountability over who ordered her assassination.

“After years of investigations, inquiries and judicial proceedings, justice has still not reached where it needed to reach – neither for Daphne’s family nor for our country,” the party said in a statement.

The government, for its part, said it had always provided the needed support and resources for the investigation and remained committed to seeing justice through. It noted in a statement that a number of people had already been sentenced to lengthy prison terms over the case.

No cameras were allowed in the courtroom, as is typical in Maltese criminal trials.

A half-dozen other people implicated

In 2022, George Degiorgio and his brother Alfred Degiorgio both pleaded guilty to carrying out the slaying. They were each sentenced to 40 years in prison.

In 2025, two other men were sentenced to life in prison, the maximum penalty possible, after being convicted of complicity in the murder. Jamie Vella and Robert Agius were accused of supplying the bomb that killed Caruana Galizia.

Another man, Vincent Muscat, pleaded guilty in 2021 for his role in the slaying, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

A self-confessed middleman, taxi driver Melvin Theuma, was granted a presidential pardon in 2019 in exchange for testimony.

The slaying, and the culture it exposed, led to calls for reforms of Malta's judicial and legal systems and greater protection for journalists. Tim Gibson, the deputy advocacy director for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said Wednesday that the group would continue to seek justice.

He said Wednesday's verdict was ”heartbreaking for her family, who - almost nine years after her death - are still waiting for justice. We will continue to stand by them, and to seek accountability for all those involved in her murder.”

The initial two-page decision by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Virginia marks the second time in a year that Google has received a reprieve from a Justice Department proposal to dismantle its internet empire. Meanwhile, what courts have described as the company's anti-competitive practices have enriched Google's corporate parent, Alphabet Inc., which has a market value of $4.11 trillion.

The judge's full opinion, which includes the specific remedies, will remain under seal for 14 days to allow the parties to review it and propose any necessary redactions.

“We’re very pleased the Court rejected the DOJ’s proposal to break apart tools that help small businesses reach new customers and grow,” said Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google's vice president for regulatory affairs.

After a judge declared Google's ubiquitous search engine as an illegal monopoly in 2024, the Justice Department pushed for a penalty that would have required the company to sell its popular Chrome web browser. But it was rebuffed last September by another federal judge overseeing that case.

Now Brinkema has also rejected the government's argument that Google should be forced to sell parts of the technology underlying a Byzantine system that generates a significant portion of the company's nearly $400 billion in annual ad sales.

Critics of Big Tech condemned the ruling.

“It takes an Olympic level of mental gymnastics to find that Google is operating an illegal monopoly and then decide to do nothing about it," said Sacha Haworth, executive director of The Tech Oversight Project. “With Big Tech continuing to suffocate new and innovative businesses from gaining traction, Judge Brinkema, like (U.S. District Judge Amit) Mehta before her, is sending the wrong message at the wrong time.”

Brinkema is adopting an approach that the Justice Department adamantly opposed last November when the judge heard closing arguments during the trial’s remedy phase. The ad tech case dates back to the government’s 2023 filing of an antitrust lawsuit that resulted last year in an illegal monopoly judgment.

Justice Department lawyers warned Brinkema in court documents that if Google is allowed to hold on to all its ad technology, the company will still be able to find ways to “manipulate computer algorithms that are the engine of its monopolies in ways too difficult to detect.”

In its counterarguments, Google contended would be unduly harsh to break up a complex network that distributes ads that online publishers depend upon to help finance digital services used by millions of consumers.

The technology underlying advertising exchange targeted in the case handles 55 million requests per second, according to estimates provided by Google in court filings. “This is technology that absolutely has to keep working for consumers,” Google had warned leading up to Brinkema’s ruling.

In her decision, Brinkema said she agreed to most of the remedies suggested by the two sides.

Even though the changes ostensibly will shake up the status quo in ways that could decrease Google’s revenue or at least slow its future growth, the ruling seems likely to be viewed by most investors as the equivalent of speed bump for a company that has recently been turbocharged by AI technology.

That has been the prevailing perspective about the punishment handed down by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in the search monopoly case. Since that decision came down in Washington D.C., Alphabet’s stock price has surged 45% to create an additional $1.3 trillion in shareholder wealth.

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The Cuban Americans took a moment to ponder the island’s future without Raúl Castro, who still has the Cuban military rank of “General of the Army” and a symbolic seat as a deputy in the National Assembly.

“They are going to do a beautiful funeral, and then Donald Trump will handle the rest,” Hernandez said.

Castro, 95, who served as Cuba’s president for about a decade and as the defense minister for about 50 years, was hospitalized, according to sources in communication with Local 10 News Analyst Andy Gomez, the former director of the University of Miami’s Institute for Cuban Studies.

Cuban officials remained silent on Wednesday after the Diario Las Américas, a Miami-based newspaper in Spanish, reported on Tuesday that Castro, who formally retired in April 2021, had suffered a stroke and was on life support.

“The more things change, the more they remain the same, so I don’t think there is going to be much of a change in Cuba. That’s the sad part,” Robert said. “I still have family members there and I don’t think they are going to see any benefit out of this.”

Castro’s last public appearance was on June 6 at a ceremony to commemorate the 62nd anniversary of Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior. He did not attend the official annual event to commemorate the historic assault of July 26, 1953.

Related report: Cuban officials remain silent despite reports of Raúl Castro being hospitalized

Before communism

Castro was born on June 3, 1931, in the village of Birán, in Cuba’s Holguín province. His father, Angel Castro, was born in Spain, and his mother, Lina Ruz González, was born in Cuba.

Castro was the youngest of seven: Two brothers, Fidel and Ramon, and four sisters, Angela, Juana, Emma, and Agustina. He was a student at Catholic Jesuit schools, the Colegio Dolores in Santiago and the Colegio de Belén in Havana.

Castro attended the University of Havana. He was a member of the Socialist Youth, a group of the Popular Socialist Party, and participated in the guerrilla campaign in the Sierra Maestra.

Guerrilla fighter

Castro was arrested after the guerrilla attack on the Moncada military barracks on July 26, 1953, and was sentenced to 13 years in prison, but he only served 22 months.

Castro received then-Cuban President Fulgencio Batista’s amnesty, and he was released from the Presidio Modelo prison on May 15, 1955, at the Isle of Pines.

Castro went into exile in Mexico. In 1956, in Mexico City, Castro met Ernesto “Che” Guevara, who had graduated from the University of Buenos Aires Medical School in 1953.

Castro, his brother Fidel, and Guevara were on board the yacht Granma that landed with dozens of guerrilla fighters on Dec. 2, 1956, in eastern Cuba’s Playas Las Coloradas.

Castro joined his brother, Guevara, and fellow guerrilla fighters in the Sierra Maestra mountains. The group overthrew Batista, who then fled Cuba on Jan. 1, 1959.

Castro married Vilma Lucila Espín Guillois, a fellow guerrilla fighter who was born in Santiago de Cuba, on Jan. 26, 1959. The couple had four children: Three daughters, Déborah in 1960; Mariela in 1962; and Nilsa; and one son, Alejandro, in 1965.

Rise to power

As his brother rose to power, Castro was named Cuba’s minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces in 1959.

In 1996, Castro ordered the shootdown of civilian aircraft with Brothers to the Rescue pilots and crew members. The Cuban Air Force struck and killed Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre, Jr., Mario de la Peña, and Pablo Morales.

Castro became Cuba’s provisional head of state on July 31, 2006. His wife, Espín Guillois, died on June 18, 2007.

Castro also served as the acting president of Cuba’s Council of State and the Council of Ministers from 2006 to 2008. The National Assembly elected him president on Feb. 24, 2008.

In 2011, Castro was elected as the first secretary of the Communist Party. In 2013, the National Assembly elected him to a second five-year term.

In 2014, Castro announced the start of normalizing relations with the U.S., and negotiated with Russia to cancel 90% of a debt that had started with the Soviet Union.

Castro welcomed then-U.S. President Barack Obama and then First Lady Michelle Obama to Havana on March 20, 2016.

Fidel Castro died on Nov. 25, 2016, at 90 years old.

Castro served as president until April 19, 2018, when Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, his handpicked successor, replaced him.

In 2021, Castro stepped down as the leader of the Communist Party, and Díaz-Canel Bermúdez also replaced him.

While wielding power behind the scenes, Castro has continued to make public appearances in his military uniform.

On April 23, a U.S. federal grand jury in Miami indicted Raúl Castro for his role in the 1996 Cuban military strikes on two unarmed Cessnas with four members of Brothers to the Rescue.

On May 20, the U.S. Justice Department unsealed the charges: Conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, four counts of murder, and two counts of destruction of an aircraft.

Castro did not make or release a statement about the charges.

Related report: Latest updates from Local 10 Cuba Analyst Dr. Andy Gomez

Related social media

Como expresara el General Ejército Raúl Castro en Belgrado, el 5 de septiembre de 1989, durante la IX Cumbre del Movimiento de Países No Alineados #MNOAL:

"La seguridad y la paz de los ricos no son aquellas por las cuales luchamos los países pobres. Queremos paz con soberanía,… pic.twitter.com/nRHUq5271Z

— Bruno Rodríguez P (@BrunoRguezP) September 1, 2026

Los cubanoamericanos se tomaron un momento para reflexionar sobre el futuro de la isla sin Raúl Castro, quien aún ostenta el rango militar cubano de “General del Ejército” y un puesto simbólico como diputado en la Asamblea Nacional.

“Van a celebrar un funeral precioso, y luego Donald Trump se encargará del resto”, dijo Hernández.

Castro, de 95 años, quien se desempeñó como presidente de Cuba durante aproximadamente una década y como ministro de Defensa durante unos 50 años, fue hospitalizado, según fuentes en comunicación con el analista de noticias de Local 10, Andy Gómez , exdirector del Instituto de Estudios Cubanos de la Universidad de Miami.

Los funcionarios cubanos guardaron silencio el miércoles después de que el Diario Las Américas, un periódico en español con sede en Miami, informara el martes que Castro, quien se retiró formalmente en abril de 2021, había sufrido un derrame cerebral y estaba conectado a un respirador artificial.

“Cuanto más cambian las cosas, más permanecen igual, así que no creo que vaya a haber muchos cambios en Cuba. Esa es la parte triste”, dijo Robert. “Todavía tengo familiares allí y no creo que vayan a beneficiarse de esto”.

La última aparición pública de Castro fue el 6 de junio en una ceremonia para conmemorar el 62.º aniversario del Ministerio del Interior de Cuba. No asistió al acto oficial anual para conmemorar el histórico asalto del 26 de julio de 1953.

Informe relacionado : Funcionarios cubanos guardan silencio a pesar de los informes sobre la hospitalización de Raúl Castro.

Antes del comunismo

Castro nació el 3 de junio de 1931 en la localidad de Birán, en la provincia cubana de Holguín. Su padre, Ángel Castro, nació en España, y su madre, Lina Ruz González, nació en Cuba.

Castro era el menor de siete hermanos: dos hermanos, Fidel y Ramón, y cuatro hermanas, Ángela, Juana, Emma y Agustina. Estudió en colegios católicos jesuitas, el Colegio Dolores en Santiago y el Colegio de Belén en La Habana.

Castro estudió en la Universidad de La Habana. Fue miembro de la Juventud Socialista, un grupo del Partido Socialista Popular, y participó en la campaña guerrillera en la Sierra Maestra.

guerrillero

Castro fue arrestado tras el ataque guerrillero al cuartel militar Moncada el 26 de julio de 1953 y fue condenado a 13 años de prisión, pero solo cumplió 22 meses.

Castro recibió la amnistía del entonces presidente cubano Fulgencio Batista y fue liberado de la prisión del Presidio Modelo el 15 de mayo de 1955, en la Isla de Pinos.

Castro se exilió en México. En 1956, en la Ciudad de México, Castro conoció a Ernesto “Che” Guevara, quien se había graduado de la Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad de Buenos Aires en 1953.

Castro, su hermano Fidel y Guevara viajaban a bordo del yate Granma, que desembarcó con decenas de guerrilleros el 2 de diciembre de 1956 en Playas Las Coloradas, al este de Cuba.

Castro se unió a su hermano Guevara y a otros guerrilleros en la Sierra Maestra. El grupo derrocó a Batista, quien huyó de Cuba el 1 de enero de 1959.

Castro se casó con Vilma Lucila Espín Guillois, una compañera guerrillera nacida en Santiago de Cuba, el 26 de enero de 1959. La pareja tuvo cuatro hijos: tres hijas, Déborah en 1960; Mariela en 1962; y Nilsa; y un hijo, Alejandro, en 1965.

Ascenso al poder

Cuando su hermano ascendió al poder, Castro fue nombrado ministro de las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Cuba en 1959.

En 1996, Castro ordenó el derribo de aeronaves civiles con pilotos y tripulantes de Hermanos al Rescate a bordo. La Fuerza Aérea Cubana derribó y mató a Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr., Mario de la Peña y Pablo Morales.

Castro se convirtió en jefe de Estado provisional de Cuba el 31 de julio de 2006. Su esposa, Espín Guillois, falleció el 18 de junio de 2007.

Castro también se desempeñó como presidente interino del Consejo de Estado y del Consejo de Ministros de Cuba entre 2006 y 2008. La Asamblea Nacional lo eligió presidente el 24 de febrero de 2008.

En 2011, Castro fue elegido primer secretario del Partido Comunista. En 2013, la Asamblea Nacional lo reeligió para un segundo mandato de cinco años.

En 2014, Castro anunció el inicio de la normalización de las relaciones con Estados Unidos y negoció con Rusia la cancelación del 90% de una deuda que se había originado con la Unión Soviética.

Castro dio la bienvenida al entonces presidente de Estados Unidos, Barack Obama, y ​​a la entonces primera dama, Michelle Obama, en La Habana el 20 de marzo de 2016.

Fidel Castro falleció el 25 de noviembre de 2016, a los 90 años de edad.

Castro ejerció como presidente hasta el 19 de abril de 2018, cuando Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, su sucesor elegido personalmente, lo reemplazó.

En 2021, Castro renunció como líder del Partido Comunista, y Díaz-Canel Bermúdez lo reemplazó.

Si bien ha ejercido el poder entre bastidores, Castro ha seguido haciendo apariciones públicas con su uniforme militar.

El 23 de abril, un gran jurado federal estadounidense en Miami acusó formalmente a Raúl Castro por su participación en los ataques militares cubanos de 1996 contra dos avionetas Cessna desarmadas en las que viajaban cuatro miembros de Hermanos al Rescate.

El 20 de mayo, el Departamento de Justicia de Estados Unidos hizo públicos los cargos: conspiración para asesinar a ciudadanos estadounidenses, cuatro cargos de asesinato y dos cargos de destrucción de una aeronave.

Castro no hizo ni emitió ninguna declaración sobre los cargos.

Informe relacionado: Últimas actualizaciones del Dr. Andy Gomez, analista de Local 10 Cuba.

Redes sociales relacionadas

Como expresara el General Ejército Raúl Castro en Belgrado, el 5 de septiembre de 1989, durante la IX Cumbre del Movimiento de Países No Alineados #MNOAL:

"La seguridad y la paz de los ricos no son aquellas por las cuales luchamos los países pobres. Queremos paz con soberanía,… pic.twitter.com/nRHUq5271Z

— Bruno Rodríguez P (@BrunoRguezP) September 1, 2026

El martes se llevó a cabo una votación en la Cámara de Representantes de Estados Unidos, luego de que el alcalde de North Miami Beach, Michael Joseph, y Hector Roos, quien trabajó anteriormente en las campañas de Cherfilus-McCormick para el Congreso, fueran acusados de no cumplir con múltiples citaciones.

Desde entonces, el asunto ha sido remitido al Departamento de Justicia de Estados Unidos en relación con un posible procesamiento penal.

Las condenas por desacato al Congreso pueden conllevar una multa de hasta $100,000 USD y una sentencia de un año de prisión.

Cherfilus-McCormick renunció al Congreso en abril, poco antes de que el Comité de Ética de la Cámara de Representantes se dispusiera a votar sobre su posible expulsión.

Esto ocurrió después de que el comité la declarara culpable de 25 violaciones éticas y de financiamiento de campaña.

Cherfilus-McCormick está acusada de robar o utilizar indebidamente alrededor de $5 millones USD en fondos federales de ayuda por COVID-19 que estaban destinados a un negocio de atención médica administrado por su familia.

Anteriormente se declaró no culpable de cargos penales relacionados con los fondos de ayuda.

La votación del martes se realizó verbalmente, lo que significa que no existen registros de los votos individuales de los legisladores.

Local 10 News se comunicó con Joseph para solicitar comentarios y actualizará esta historia si/cuando responda.