Deputies identified the suspects as David Williams, 44, of Miami, and Alexander Oscar, 46.

According to the report, surveillance video captured Williams and Oscar entering MIA through the curbside arrivals area on multiple occasions and walking to baggage carousels, where the pair removed luggage before leaving the terminal and entered “waiting vehicles.”

Investigators said the thefts happened in April and involved multiple cases at MIA.

They said in one case, Williams and Oscar allegedly stole luggage valued at $6,305 from Carousel 26.

In another case, the pair allegedly took luggage valued at approximately $4,000 from that same carousel, according to deputies.

The report also states Williams was captured on surveillance video in several other incidents, allegedly removing luggage from carousels 22, 23 and 25 at MIA.

Investigators said the total value of property stolen in all cases was listed at $27,205.

Jail records show Williams is facing six counts of third-degree grand theft, while Oscar is facing two counts of the same charge.

Records show Williams was previously arrested on one count of armed robbery with a deadly weapon in an unrelated case.

As of Friday afternoon, both men were being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, with Williams’ bond set at $20,000 and Oscar’s set at $7,500.

The Trump administration has faced pushback from some European allies over the use of air bases in support of its war with Iran.

But lawmakers in Bulgaria — a member of NATO and the European Union — voted earlier in July to allow the deployment of up to eight U.S. KC-135 refueling aircraft, as well as 250 personnel with personal weapons and ammunition and airfield equipment, at Bezmer Air Base.

Under a 2006 U.S.-Bulgaria defense agreement, the Bezmer facility, about 260 kilometers (160 miles) southeast of the capital, Sofia, is a joint-use facility. Any new use of the base requires parliamentary approval.

The deployment, requested by the U.S. Embassy in Bulgaria, is authorized until Oct. 1, 2026.

U.S. President Donald Trump thanked Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev in a Truth Social post for allowing the deployment “despite Iran’s threats.”

On Thursday, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Velislava Petrova assured her Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, that the deployment “in no way means a change in Bulgaria’s approach toward Iran." The two countries are important trade partners.

A Bulgarian Foreign Ministry statement quoted Petrova as saying “it was out of the question" that any direct military actions linked to the conflict in the Middle East would be carried out from Bulgarian territory.

The statement did not indicate what Araghchi said. But the Bulgarian state news agency, BTA, said Araghchi protested to Petrova over Bulgaria’s support for U.S. military operations against Iran during a telephone conversation initiated by the Bulgarian side. The report cited a report from Iran's state-run IRNA news agency.

Residents of the village of Bezmer and nearby settlements, including the regional capital Yambol, have staged peaceful protests in recent days against the deployment of the U.S. aircraft.

Government officials visited the region to address people’s fears, assuring them that the deployment is solely for logistical missions involving in-flight refueling outside Bulgarian airspace.

The Democrat's office released more than 700 pages of tax filings spanning four years for reporters to review, offering a window into Newsom's finances as he prepares to leave office and considers a 2028 presidential bid. Newsom’s office did not release returns for 2025, because the couple filed for an extension and will complete those returns in October.

The returns show the Newsoms' income has remained relatively consistent since when he took office in 2019, when the couple reported $1.7 million in annual income. The exception was in 2021, when the family sold a house for nearly $6 million in Marin County, making roughly $800,000 from the sale. That year, they made $4.2 million and paid more than $1 million in federal and state taxes. They earned roughly $2 million in 2022.

The release of the couple's tax filings comes as their finances have been under scrutiny after the U.S. Justice Department launched investigations into the Newsoms, the governor announced last month. Newsom has blasted the probes as politically motivated.

It was the first time Newsom released returns since 2022.

Newsom made nearly $200,000 annually from serving as governor, but most of his income comes from winery and restaurant businesses that he put in a blind trust when he took office. The returns don’t name each individual business, making it impossible to know which ones gained and lost money.

The PlumpJack Group, a company he owns that includes a suite of wineries and restaurants, is now run by his sister and cousin.

His wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom, a film director, lost money most years from Girls Club Entertainment, a production company she founded. The business produced “Miss Representation,” a 2011 documentary about disparaging portrayals of women and girls in media, and two other films.

The Newsoms paid between roughly $14,000 and $44,000 a year for childcare for three of their four children, according to the tax filings.

They gave between $40,000 and $65,000 in gifts to charity each year, mostly through monetary donations. They also donated thousands of dollars worth of clothing, toys and other items to thrift stores and nonprofits, including in 2022, when they gave away Armani business wear they originally bought for $45,000 to a racial justice organization in Oakland.

La propuesta de la Oficina de Reclamación exime por ahora a Colorado, Utah, Nuevo México y Wyoming de enfrentar recortes obligatorios. Pero se trata de una solución temporal, mientras los estados que dependen del río siguen enfrentados por un plan de gestión a largo plazo para el recurso menguante que abastece de energía a enormes extensiones del oeste norteamericano.

Según el plan, los estados de la Cuenca Baja podrían afrontar recortes colectivos de hasta 3 millones de acres-pie (130.000 millones de pies cúbicos) hasta 2036, “sujeto a la hidrología”, de acuerdo con un comunicado de prensa del Departamento del Interior. Eso equivale aproximadamente a suficiente agua para abastecer a más de 25 millones de personas al año.

El plan también permitiría liberaciones anuales de entre 5 millones y 12 millones de acres-pie desde el lago Powell, el segundo embalse más grande de la cuenca. En el marco federal de 10 años, las decisiones de gestión del agua se tomarán cada dos años.

“Este marco proporciona la flexibilidad para responder a condiciones hidrológicas cambiantes, al tiempo que preserva la oportunidad de que los estados de la cuenca sigan trabajando hacia soluciones duraderas por consenso”, declaró el secretario del Interior, Doug Burgum, en un comunicado.

Los recortes propuestos en los estados de la Cuenca Baja —California, Arizona y Nevada— serían los mayores hasta la fecha y podrían tener enormes impactos en ciudades y granjas: precios del agua más altos, mayor dependencia del agua subterránea, más tierras agrícolas fuera de producción y mandatos de conservación en lugares donde antes no existían.

El plan federal llega tras años de negociaciones estancadas y un invierno con sequía récord que llevó los embalses del río Colorado a mínimos históricos combinados. Se espera que los funcionarios federales finalicen el plan en los próximos días.

Más de 40 millones de personas en siete estados, varias naciones tribales y México, así como agricultores, fauna silvestre, industrias y la energía hidroeléctrica, dependen del menguante río Colorado, de 2.334 kilómetros (1.450 millas). Años de uso excesivo, combinados con el aumento de las temperaturas y la sequía, han reducido gravemente los caudales del Colorado en comparación con décadas pasadas.

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The Associated Press recibe apoyo de la Walton Family Foundation para la cobertura de políticas ambientales y sobre agua. La AP es la única responsable de todo el contenido. Encuentra los estándares de la AP para trabajar con organizaciones filantrópicas, una lista de las fundaciones y las áreas de cobertura que financian en AP.org.

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

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According to the Florida Lottery, the case stemmed from a joint investigation by the agency’s Division of Security and the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General.

Investigators said the investigation began after a Florida Lottery player reported that a winning Pick 4 ticket she mailed through the U.S. Postal Service never arrived at its intended destination.

According to an arrest report, the winning ticket was purchased at a Publix store in Tampa and was worth $2,600. Because the prize exceeded the $599 maximum payout that can be claimed at a lottery retailer, the terminal instructed that the ticket be returned to the player, investigators said.

They said the winner later mailed the ticket to a relative in Fort Lauderdale to help pay for another person’s funeral expenses, but the ticket was never successfully delivered.

A Florida Lottery inspector determined the ticket was instead redeemed June 19 at the Florida Lottery’s Miami District Office by 28-year-old Lakaysha Kenya Lockhart. Investigators later identified Lockhart as a USPS letter carrier assigned to the Oakland Park post office.

According to her arrest report, Lockhart, who has listed addresses in Lauderhill and Hollywood, “was not known to, approved or authorized by the ticket owner” to redeem the winning ticket.

Authorities said Florida Lottery special agents and USPS OIG investigators conducted a joint operation that led to Lockhart’s arrest on July 23. They said Lockhart admitted after her arrest to stealing the winning lottery ticket and redeeming it at the Miami District office.

“Our players deserve confidence that every Lottery prize is protected through strong security measures and diligent oversight,” Florida Lottery Secretary Reginald D. Dixon said in a statement. “I commend our Division of Security for their outstanding investigative work and thank our partners at the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General and the Broward County Sheriff’s Office for their collaboration in protecting the integrity of Florida Lottery games and bringing this case to a successful resolution.”

Jail records show Lockhart is facing one count of grand theft, dealing in stolen property, filing a false claim for payment, and two counts of unlawful use of a two-way communications device and mail theft.

Florida Lottery officials said that because the offenses occurred in multiple judicial circuits, the cases will be prosecuted separately.

Lockhart was not listed as an inmate in Broward County jail records as of Friday morning.

A USPS spokesperson told Local 10 News that Lockhart joined the agency on April 21, 2025, and remains employed by USPS but is currently off duty.

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Daniel Ramirez, 47, of Lubbock, Texas, was taken into custody by the Miami Police Department Friday morning at a Royal Caribbean cruise terminal at PortMiami. He’s facing a felony battery charge.

Miami police said the incident happened on Sunday evening after the employee spotted Ramirez “inside an employee-only area consuming garnishes” and told him not to eat them.

Authorities said Ramirez responded, “B----, what do you want me to do, spit it out?” and both left the bar area.

However, according to an MPD arrest report, the server’s manager called her back over after Ramirez made a complaint.

“According to the victim, (Ramirez) told the manager that no woman was allowed to tell him what to do and that the victim needed to be reprimanded,” the arrest report states.

Police said the manager told the server to pretend like she was being reprimanded.

Authorities said later, after the victim went inside through the front entrance to talk to another employee, Ramirez “forcefully shoved her, causing her to fall into a metal garment rack.”

“As a result of the fall, the victim struck her (head) and chipped one of her front teeth,” the report states.

She was able to snap photos of him before he left, police said, but when Ramirez “realized she was photographing him, he turned around, struck the cellular phone out of her hand, pushed her in the face and caused her to fall to the ground” and lose consciousness. Ramirez fled, police said.

According to the report, an MPD officer “attempted to interview the family who had remained at the table with the defendant in an effort to obtain (Ramirez’s) identity,” but they all refused to cooperate or provide information.

Police said after receiving the Crime Stoppers tip, they were able to identify Ramirez and the victim picked him out of a lineup.

At around 6:40 a.m. Friday, police said U.S. Customs and Border Protection informed MPD that they apprehended Ramirez at the port.

Investigators said Ramirez, upon being apprehended, “spontaneously stated that he had ‘run into a lady.’”

Police said he later declined to speak with MPD investigators.

As of Friday afternoon, Ramirez was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center with a bond listed as “to be set” in online jail records.

Daniel Ramirez, de 47 años y residente de Lubbock, Texas, fue arrestado la mañana del viernes por el Departamento de Policía de Miami en una terminal de cruceros de Royal Caribbean en PortMiami. Enfrenta un cargo grave de agresión.

La Policía de Miami informó que el incidente ocurrió el domingo por la noche después de que la empleada sorprendiera a Ramirez “dentro de un área exclusiva para empleados consumiendo guarniciones” y le pidiera que dejara de hacerlo.

Las autoridades indicaron que Ramirez respondió: “Perra, ¿qué quieres que haga, que lo escupa?”, y ambos abandonaron el área del bar.

Sin embargo, según el informe de arresto del Departamento de Policía de Miami, el gerente de la mesera la llamó nuevamente después de que Ramirez presentara una queja.

“Según la víctima, (Ramirez) le dijo al gerente que ninguna mujer podía decirle qué hacer y que la víctima debía ser reprendida”, señala el informe de arresto.

La Policía informó que el gerente le pidió a la mesera que fingiera que estaba siendo reprendida.

Las autoridades indicaron que más tarde, después de que la víctima entró por la puerta principal para hablar con otro empleado, Ramirez “la empujó con fuerza, provocando que cayera contra un perchero metálico”.

“Como resultado de la caída, la víctima se golpeó la cabeza y se fracturó uno de los dientes frontales”, señala el informe.

La Policía informó que la víctima logró tomarle fotografías antes de que se marchara, pero cuando Ramirez “se dio cuenta de que ella lo estaba fotografiando, se dio la vuelta, le golpeó el teléfono celular de la mano, la empujó en el rostro y provocó que cayera al suelo” y perdiera el conocimiento. Luego, Ramirez huyó, según la Policía.

Según el informe, un agente del Departamento de Policía de Miami “intentó entrevistar a la familia que permanecía en la mesa con el acusado para obtener la identidad de (Ramirez)”, pero todos se negaron a cooperar o proporcionar información.

La Policía informó que, tras recibir la pista de Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers, logró identificar a Ramirez y la víctima lo reconoció en una rueda de reconocimiento.

Alrededor de las 6:40 a.m. del viernes, la Policía indicó que la Oficina de Aduanas y Protección Fronteriza de Estados Unidos (CBP) informó al Departamento de Policía de Miami que había detenido a Ramirez en el puerto.

Los investigadores señalaron que, al ser detenido, Ramirez “de manera espontánea manifestó que había ‘chocado con una mujer’”.

La Policía indicó que posteriormente se negó a hablar con los investigadores del Departamento de Policía de Miami.

Hasta la tarde del viernes, Ramirez permanecía detenido en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight y, según los registros de la cárcel en línea, su fianza figuraba como “pendiente de fijarse”.

A key area of the Pacific Ocean used to measure the strength of El Nino this week reached its warmest and most intense level ever recorded for the 15th week since it formed, which is early in its lifetime, scientists at Columbia University reported.

El Nino — a natural warming of the Pacific near the equator that warps weather patterns worldwide — won't peak for several months and should last through spring 2027. The World Meteorological Organization, a U.N. agency, cautioned on Friday that it will likely trigger extreme heat, drought and rainfall well into next year.

“Two months ago, I warned that El Nino was arriving on our doorstep. Now it is inside the house — and turning up the heat,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters Friday. “We have already endured a summer of extremes — record-shattering heat domes; apocalyptic wildfires raging in Spain, France and far beyond; thousands of lives lost in the scorching conditions.”

“But according to the latest science, this is only a warm-up act,” Guterres said, saying as the El Nino strengthens it will be “adding fuel to a planet already on fire.”

“We are in uncharted territory,” he said. “The climate crisis is in overdrive.”

Most computer forecast models are showing that this El Nino will likely break the all-time record for intensity when it peaks, sometime late fall or so, but that's not guaranteed, scientists said.

Chaotic extremes in rain, drought and unheard of heat coming

It's still early in the nearly yearlong life of a typical El Nino to see many direct effects yet, but they are coming, scientists said, agreeing with Guterres’ warnings. El Nino's effects will combine with the long-term global warming from the burning of coal, oil and gas.

“We’re seeing something that is the warmest July ever recorded for that specific region," used as an El Nino indicator, Columbia University climate scientist Jeffrey Shaman said. "A year from now, it’s going to be very hot in the Northern Hemisphere. And we’re going to possibly have a summer like we’ve never experienced globally."

But before then, the strong El Nino is likely to cause changes in rainfall patterns that will bring chaotic extremes to different parts of the world in fall and winter. There's a strong chance of drought and wildfires in Indonesia, India and other parts of Asia, south and east Australia, chunks of South America and southern regions in Africa, the WMO warned. Other areas, including much of the United States and fire-struck Southern Europe will get above average rain.

“This El Nino, developing against the backdrop of unprecedented ocean heat and rising temperatures, provides governments and communities with a window of opportunity to anticipate risks and act before impacts unfold,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo.

El Nino amplifies human-caused warming

While El Nino and climate change are separate phenomena, their effects create a harmful combination — and people aren't taking the connection seriously enough, Guterres said.

“We hear much about record heat, drought and wildfires — but not enough about the real change that is driving these events: the accelerating climate crisis powered by fossil fuels," Guterres said.

Guterres said the world gets too absorbed by dramatic wars in Ukraine, the Middle East and Sudan to notice the dangers of climate change. On top of that, “there is a deliberate campaign, namely by the fossil fuel industry and some countries in order to pretend that that the problems that we are witnessing indeed do not exist.”

The U.N. must be more active and mobilize public opinion “to tell governments it’s time to recognize this threat as an existential threat to us all,” he told reporters.

Much of the heat from the burning of fossil fuels gets trapped in the oceans, but “during an El Nino the ocean in some sense gets to return some of the heated buildups of global warming back to the atmosphere,” Shaman said. Even though this El Nino will end, the released heat sticks around in the air, along with the higher temperatures, which will jump up again the next El Nino, he added.

Guterres called for more early warning systems and cooling systems to handle extreme heat. He said industry and governments need to make work safer, highlighting the garment industry, which has 90 million workers, most of them women. In 17 of the 23 biggest clothing making hubs, dangerously hot days jumped by more than 10% in the past 20 years, “yet most global brands set no heat standard for the factories that supply them.”

But mostly, Guterres said, “the world must stop fueling the crisis.... More coal, oil and gas will lead to a more combustible future."

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Borenstein reported from Washington.

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Sin embargo, el funcionario —que habló durante la conferencia presidencial matutina— no quiso dar por cerrado el caso ocurrido en plena celebración del Día de Muertos en el occidente de México y que tuvo un fuerte impacto en todo el país.

García Harfuch dijo que todavía tiene que declarar el pricipal inculpado, el jefe de una célula muy violenta del cártel llamada “Los Rs” que fue detenido el jueves y quien presuntamente ordenó y financió el asesinato del alcalde.

El capturado es Ramón Ángel Álvarez Ayala, alias “R1”, y con su arresto suman 31 las personas detenidas por el homicidio de Manzo, entre ellas integrantes del círculo de seguridad que lo custodiaba el día en que fue asesinado.

Álvarez Ayala ya había sido detenido por el Ejército junto con dos hermanos en 2012 acusado de provocar incendios y narcobloqueos en Guadajalara, la capital de Jalisco. Las autoridades de entonces lo consideraban el número dos del Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación, detrás de "El Mencho".

Todos obtuvieron su libertad en 2022 y siguieron delinquiendo en el occidente de México financiándose con el tráfico de drogas y la extorsión a productores de limón, aguacate, ganaderos y a comerciantes y transportistas.

García Harfuch dijo ya se puso en contacto con agencias de Estados Unidos para saber las imputaciones que R1 tiene en ese país, donde el cártel es uno de los ocho designados por el gobierno estadounidense como organizacines terroristas. El secretario subrayó que aunque el intercambio de información con los estadounidenses es permanente, la acción fue una investigación del gabinete de Seguridad mexicano.

En la operación para su captura llevada a cabo en Atotonilco —Jalisco— por fuerzas federales, fue detenida otra persona y un sospechoso murió.

García Harfuch señaló que de acuerdo con la evidencia —comunicaciones y transferencias bancarias— R1 fue el principal autor intelectual de la muerte de Manzo, pero “los indicios que tenemos por dos testimonios y por intervenciones telefónicas autorizadas por un juez es de que ('El Mencho') tenía conocimiento del homicidio”. “El Mencho” fue muerto en un operativo en febrero.

“Ya se irá acreditando exactamente el móvil", agregó, pero algunos detenidos dijeron sentir “una provocación del presidente municipal (Manzo) hacia el grupo criminal” porque cuando las fuerzas federales hacían alguna detención, el alcalde estaba presente y hacía alusiones al cártel, explicó el secretario.

Manzo, exdiputado del oficialista Morena y luego uno de sus críticos, era visto como el único político que intentaba limpiar de narcos su territorio. Había depurado a la policía municipal, presumía las capturas en redes y visitaba a los vecinos en las zonas más complicadas. En octubre de 2025, un mes antes de su asesinato, había pedido ayuda al gobierno federal.

Su homicidio y el de un popular líder limonero, también en Michoacán, provocó que el gobierno de Claudia Sheinbaum incrementara sus efectivos en el estado, azotado por el crimen organizado desde hace décadas y donde tienen presencia numerosos grupos criminales.

La balacera fue reportada en el área de Northwest Second Avenue y la calle 12.

Según la agente Kenia Fallat, de la Policía de Miami, la víctima recibió un disparo en el torso.

Fallat indicó que un equipo de Miami Fire Rescue respondió al lugar y trasladó a la víctima al Centro de Trauma Ryder del Hospital Jackson Memorial, donde permanece en estado crítico.

La investigación continúa en curso.

No se divulgaron de inmediato más detalles.

Cualquier persona con información sobre la balacera debe comunicarse con el Departamento de Policía de Miami o con Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers al 305-471-8477.

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Deputies said Sandra Elvira-Paez, 44, was also illegally giving patients massages and injections.

Arrest records show Elvira-Paez was taken into custody at the home, located in the 8900 block of Southwest 215th Lane, on Thursday afternoon. She faces four felony charges.

According to an MDSO arrest report, deputies found Elvira-Paez and three post-operative patients at the home. Deputies said there were also two employees, one of whom was her son.

Those patients told deputies that they were receiving care out of the home and paid up to $450 per night for services. They additionally told deputies, according to the report, that Elvira-Paez had given them “numerous” massages and “also injects them with their anti-coagulant medication.”

According to the report, Elvira-Paez told deputies that she’s licensed to give massages in her native Colombia, but deputies said she’s not licensed to give massages ― or provide “any type of medical services” ― in Florida.

Authorities said Elvira-Paez was also improperly disposing medical waste.

Deputies arrested her on charges including practicing medicine without a license and operating an assisted living facility without a license, plus felony and misdemeanor charges related to improper waste disposal.

Records show she was set to be released from the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a nearly $11,000 bond Friday.

Los agentes informaron que Sandra Elvira-Paez, de 44 años, también realizaba masajes y aplicaba inyecciones a los pacientes de manera ilegal.

Los registros de arresto muestran que Elvira-Paez fue detenida el jueves por la tarde en la vivienda, ubicada en la cuadra 8900 de Southwest 215th Lane. Enfrenta cuatro cargos graves.

Según el informe de arresto de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade, los agentes encontraron a Elvira-Paez y a tres pacientes en recuperación tras cirugías en la vivienda. También había dos empleados, uno de ellos su hijo.

De acuerdo con el informe, los pacientes dijeron a los agentes que recibían atención en la vivienda y pagaban hasta $450 USD por noche por los servicios. También afirmaron que Elvira-Paez les había realizado “numerosos” masajes y que “además les aplicaba su medicamento anticoagulante”.

Según el informe, Elvira-Paez dijo a los agentes que cuenta con licencia para dar masajes en su natal Colombia, pero los agentes indicaron que no tiene licencia para realizar masajes ni para prestar “ningún tipo de servicio médico” en Florida.

Las autoridades informaron que Elvira-Paez también desechaba de manera inadecuada los residuos médicos.

Los agentes la arrestaron por cargos que incluyen ejercer la medicina sin licencia y operar un centro de residencia asistida sin licencia, además de cargos graves y menores relacionados con la eliminación inadecuada de residuos.

Los registros muestran que estaba previsto que fuera liberada el viernes del Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight tras pagar una fianza de casi $11,000 USD.

Según la Lotería de Florida, el caso surgió de una investigación conjunta entre la División de Seguridad de la agencia y la Oficina del Inspector General del Servicio Postal de Estados Unidos.

Los investigadores informaron que la investigación comenzó después de que una jugadora de la Lotería de Florida reportó que un boleto ganador de Pick 4 que había enviado por correo a través del Servicio Postal de Estados Unidos nunca llegó a su destino.

Según el informe de arresto, el boleto ganador fue comprado en una tienda Publix de Tampa y tenía un valor de $2,600 USD. Debido a que el premio superaba el límite máximo de $599 USD que puede cobrarse en un establecimiento autorizado de la lotería, el sistema indicó que el boleto debía ser devuelto a la jugadora, informaron los investigadores.

Indicaron que la ganadora posteriormente envió el boleto por correo a un familiar en Fort Lauderdale para ayudar a cubrir los gastos funerarios de otra persona, pero el boleto nunca fue entregado.

Un inspector de la Lotería de Florida determinó que el boleto fue cobrado el 19 de junio en la oficina del Distrito de Miami de la Lotería de Florida por Lekaysha Kenya Lockhart, de 28 años. Posteriormente, los investigadores identificaron a Lockhart como una cartera del USPS asignada a la oficina postal de Oakland Park.

Según el informe de arresto, Lockhart, quien tiene direcciones registradas en Lauderhill y Hollywood, “no era conocida por la propietaria del boleto ni estaba autorizada o aprobada por ella” para cobrar el premio.

Las autoridades informaron que agentes especiales de la Lotería de Florida e investigadores de la Oficina del Inspector General del USPS realizaron una operación conjunta que condujo al arresto de Lockhart el 23 de julio. Indicaron que, tras su arresto, Lockhart admitió haber robado el boleto ganador y haberlo cobrado en la oficina del Distrito de Miami.

“Nuestros jugadores merecen la confianza de que cada premio de la Lotería está protegido mediante sólidas medidas de seguridad y una supervisión rigurosa”, dijo en un comunicado el secretario de la Lotería de Florida, Reginald D. Dixon. “Reconozco el extraordinario trabajo investigativo de nuestra División de Seguridad y agradezco a nuestros socios de la Oficina del Inspector General del Servicio Postal de Estados Unidos y de la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward por su colaboración para proteger la integridad de los juegos de la Lotería de Florida y lograr una resolución exitosa de este caso”.

Los registros de la cárcel muestran que Lockhart enfrenta un cargo de hurto mayor, uno por tráfico de propiedad robada, uno por presentar un reclamo falso de pago y dos cargos por uso ilegal de un dispositivo de comunicación bidireccional y robo de correspondencia.

Funcionarios de la Lotería de Florida informaron que, debido a que los delitos ocurrieron en múltiples circuitos judiciales, los casos serán procesados por separado.

Hasta la mañana del viernes, Lockhart no figuraba como reclusa en los registros de la cárcel del condado Broward.

Local 10 solicitó una declaración al Servicio Postal de Estados Unidos sobre su arresto.

La investigación se desarrolla en el centro comercial Palm Gardens, ubicado junto a North Andrews Avenue y Northeast 26th Drive.

Michaila Hightower, de Local 10, se encontraba en el lugar cuando un hombre fue detenido y colocado en la parte trasera de una patrulla.

En el suelo del centro comercial se podían observar lo que parecía ser sangre y prendas de vestir.

Dwayne Lewis, quien presenció la balacera, dijo a Hightower que una mujer había recibido un disparo en una pierna, aunque la Policía no confirmó de inmediato esa información.

“La víctima estaba justo a mi lado. Estaba perdiendo mucha sangre”, dijo.

Lewis contó que esperaba en una parada de autobús cercana cuando ocurrió la balacera.

“Desde el auto, probablemente escuché unos tres o cuatro disparos”, dijo.

Lewis señaló que parecía haber una pelea en el centro comercial antes de la balacera.

“Solo estaban discutiendo y escuché a una mujer decir: “Cariño, no; cariño, no”. Entonces él simplemente comenzó a disparar”, dijo Lewis. “Luego, las dos personas a las que les disparaba corrieron hacia una pequeña oficina, la oficina de impuestos. El tirador se dio la vuelta y regresó a su auto”.

Además del concreto manchado de sangre, también se observó un impacto de bala en la ventana del lado del conductor de un Honda Accord.

“Lo único que decía era: “Por favor, llamen a una ambulancia”. Estaba hablándole a una joven”, dijo Lewis.

A pesar de haber recibido un disparo en una pierna, Lewis dijo que la víctima permanecía tranquila y consciente.

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The shooting was reported at about 5:15 a.m. at the Palm Gardens shopping center off North Andrews Avenue and Northeast 26^th Drive.

Surveillance video shows a group of people scrambling and running for cover after the shooting.

Local 10’s Michaila Hightower was at the scene as a man was detained and placed in the back of a patrol car, but police said the suspect they are looking for fled the scene in a white, four-door vehicle.

What appeared to be blood and pieces of clothing could be seen on the ground in the shopping center after the shooting.

Dwayne Lewis, who witnessed the shooting, told Hightower that a woman had been shot in the leg, which was later confirmed by police.

“The victim -- she was lying right next to me. She was bleeding out,” he said.

Lewis said he was waiting at a nearby bus stop when the shooting occurred.

“From the car, I probably heard about three or four (gunshots),” he said.

Lewis said there appeared to be a fight in the shopping center before the shooting.

“They were just arguing and I heard a woman say, ‘Baby, no; baby, no.’ Then he just let off some shots,” Lewis said. “Then the two he was shooting at just ran inside the little office area there -- the tax office. The shooter turned around and went away to his car.”

In addition to the blood-stained concrete, a bullet hole was also spotted in the driver’s-side window of a Honda Accord.

“All she said was, ‘Please call the ambulance.’ She was talking to a girl,” Lewis said.

Despite being shot in the leg, Lewis said the victim was calm and alert after the shooting.

Police said officers rendered aid to the victim at the scene before Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue medics transported her to Broward Health Medical Center.

The suspect’s identity has not been released and it’s unclear whether police know who they are looking for.

Anyone with information about the shooting or suspect is asked to call the Wilton Manors Police Department or Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.

At a televised news conference, military spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry said Pakistan had targeted only hideouts and infrastructure used by the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, during that period, and said those killed in the strikes were militants.

He said the operations were carried out in self-defense to protect the lives of people in Pakistan.

Chaudhry questioned recently released reports by the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, or UNAMA, and Amnesty International, saying they relied largely on accounts from Afghans despite what he described as restrictions on freedom of expression under Taliban rule.

He also accused Afghanistan’s Taliban government of sheltering militants responsible for attacks inside Pakistan and said international rights organizations had failed to document such violence.

“These are double standards,” Chaudhry said, asking how many times rights groups had documented civilian casualties caused by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes during the war in Afghanistan.

Chaudhry’s remarks came days after UNAMA, in a report on the human rights situation in Afghanistan, said it had documented 499 civilians killed and 1,216 wounded in fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan despite international efforts to reduce tensions.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have exchanged fire intermittently for months, but tensions escalated sharply in February, when Afghan forces launched a cross-border raid into Pakistan in retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghanistan. Islamabad later declared it was in “open war.”

Pakistan often accuses Afghanistan of harboring militants who carry out deadly attacks inside Pakistan, especially the Pakistani Taliban. The group is separate from, but allied with, the Afghan Taliban, which has ruled Afghanistan since it returned to power in the country in 2021 amid the chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-led troops. Afghanistan denies providing sanctuary to militants.

In the deadliest reported attack in the recent fighting, a Pakistani airstrike struck a drug-treatment center in the Afghan capital Kabul in March, killing hundreds of civilians. Amnesty International said last week the bombing should be investigated as a possible war crime.

Chaudhry defended the strikes, saying Pakistan had carried out operations in Kabul and elsewhere with precision to target militant infrastructure supporting attacks inside Pakistan. He said Pakistan is also continuing operations inside the country against “Khawarij,” a term Pakistan uses for TTP and affiliated groups.

According to Chaudhry, Pakistan has recorded 3,145 “terrorism incidents” since January.

He said Pakistan had killed 2,084 militants since January, while 819 Pakistanis, including soldiers, police officers and civilians, had been killed. He said security forces had carried out 40,348 intelligence-based operations across the country during the same period.

Chaudhry also said Afghanistan-based militants had carried out 28 suicide attacks in Pakistan since January and alleged that most were carried out by Afghan nationals or people associated with Afghanistan’s security forces. He alleged that drug addicts had been recruited to carry out suicide bombings.

“Not every drug addict is a terrorist, but every suicide bomber was a drug addict,” he said.

Chaudhry said Pakistan launched a new counterterrorism operation earlier this year following a surge in militant violence and would continue the campaign. “We will continue these operations,” he said, adding that Pakistan was winning the fight against terrorism and, “God willing, we will win.”

He also accused the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army and TTP of directing attacks in Pakistan’s insurgency-hit southwestern Balochistan province from Afghanistan. Balochistan has long faced a separatist insurgency led by BLA that accuses the government of discrimination and exploiting the province’s natural resources. The government denies the allegations.

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The shooting was reported in the area of Northwest Second Avenue and 12^th Street.

According to Miami police Officer Kenia Fallat, the victim was shot in the torso.

She said a Miami Fire Rescue crew responded to the scene and transported the victim to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, where he is listed in critical condition.

The investigation remains ongoing.

No other details were immediately released.

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

CBS Sports announced Friday that the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback was on leave “until further notice.” JJ Watt will join Jim Nantz and Tracy Wolfson as CBS Sports’ lead NFL team during Romo’s absence.

Romo, 46, was arrested July 23 after he was stopped while driving south on Interstate 43 in Wisconsin. According to the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office report, Romo performed poorly on field sobriety tests before getting taken into custody, booked and released.

He has a court date set for Sept. 21.

CBS Sports’ announcement comes after citations released by the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office indicated an open bottle of an alcoholic beverage was found in the passenger’s side of Romo’s black Jeep during an inventory before it was towed.

According to the citations, police stopped Romo after he was seen passing cars in a gore area, which separates interstate traffic from cars entering from an on-ramp. Police said Romo questioned what a gore area was during the stop.

Body camera footage released earlier this week showed Romo telling deputies he had been coming from a golf course and was on his way “to visit grandma and grandpa” when he was stopped. A deputy told Romo he suspected him of being impaired because he had “red glassy eyes” and an “odor of an intoxicating alcoholic beverage.”

Romo went to high school about 35 miles from Milwaukee in Burlington, Wisconsin.

He has been the lead game analyst for CBS’ NFL coverage since 2017 after making four Pro Bowl appearances during an NFL career that ran from 2004-16 and was spent entirely with Dallas.

Romo remains the Cowboys’ franchise leader in career touchdown passes with 248. He held the franchise record for career passing yards (34,183) until Dak Prescott overtook him last season.

Watt joined CBS in 2023. He was an analyst on “The NFL Today” for two seasons before teaming with Ian Eagle on the network’s No. 2 crew beginning last season.

Romo wasn’t expected to have his first game until the opening Sunday of the regular season on Sept. 13. CBS will air a preseason game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Philadelphia Eagles on Aug. 28.

CBS likely will reveal its game assignments and announcer pairings for the first three weeks of the regular season in the next couple of weeks.

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Indiana Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray drew the ire of Trump in December when he voted against the redistricting plan after saying for weeks that it didn't have enough support to pass. The rejection came after intense lobbying from Trump, Vice President JD Vance, national conservative groups and others.

Bray, who has held his leadership position since 2018, said in a statement Friday that he would not seek reelection to the post when Senate Republicans choose their leaders in November. His current Senate term runs through 2028 and he will remain in office, albeit not as the Republican Senate leader.

Trump reacted to the news in a social media post by saying Bray had “foolishly led,” the state Senate, noting the May primary defeats of those who defied him on the redistricting plan.

Bray did not mention Trump or the redistricting fight in his statement announcing his position to step down from the leadership position. Bray said holding the job “has been among the most significant honors of my life, but it’s time for the Senate to choose another leader."

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The sheriff’s office says the free event will take place on Aug. 4 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and will bring together enforcement, first responders, military personnel and community members.

The agency says National Night Out helps strengthen neighborhood partnerships and raise crime prevention awareness.

The sheriff’s office said attendees will have the opportunity to meet deputies, police officers, firefighters and members of the military, while learning about the agencies and organizations that help keep the Keys safe. Food and refreshments will also be provided.

The agency says the National Night Out events will be held in four locations spread across the Keys:

• Key Largo Community Park in Key Largo

• Founders Park in Islamorada

• Monroe County Sheriff’s Office Aviation Hangar at the Florida Keys Marathon International Airport in Marathon

• Truman Waterfront in Key West

Depending on the location, the sheriff’s office says visitors can explore displays from specialized units, including the Dive Team, SWAT, and Crime Scene Investigation.

Also expected to participate are representatives from the U.S. Coast Guard, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida Highway Patrol, Monroe County Fire Rescue, and other fire districts, Monroe County schools, chambers of commerce and more.

La Oficina del Sheriff informó que el evento gratuito se llevará a cabo el 4 de agosto de 5:30 p.m. a 7:30 p.m. y reunirá a agentes del orden, socorristas, personal militar y miembros de la comunidad.

La agencia indicó que National Night Out ayuda a fortalecer las alianzas entre los vecindarios y las autoridades, además de crear conciencia sobre la prevención del crimen.

La Oficina del Sheriff señaló que los asistentes tendrán la oportunidad de conocer a agentes, policías, bomberos y miembros de las Fuerzas Armadas, mientras aprenden sobre las agencias y organizaciones que ayudan a mantener seguros los Cayos de Florida. También habrá comida y refrigerios.

La agencia informó que los eventos de National Night Out se realizarán en cuatro lugares de los Cayos:

• Key Largo Community Park, en Key Largo

• Founders Park, en Islamorada

• Hangar de Aviación de la Oficina del Sheriff del condado Monroe, en el Aeropuerto Internacional Florida Keys Marathon, en Marathon

• Truman Waterfront, en Key West

Dependiendo del lugar, la Oficina del Sheriff indicó que los visitantes podrán recorrer exhibiciones de unidades especializadas, entre ellas el Equipo de Buceo, SWAT y la Unidad de Investigación de la Escena del Crimen.

También se espera la participación de representantes de la Guardia Costera de Estados Unidos, la Comisión de Conservación de Pesca y Vida Silvestre de Florida (FWC), la Patrulla de Carreteras de Florida, Monroe County Fire Rescue, otros distritos de bomberos, escuelas del condado Monroe, cámaras de comercio y otras organizaciones.

El programa gastronómico anual incluye restaurantes participantes que ofrecen menús especiales para el brunch, el almuerzo y la cena hasta septiembre, con varias novedades que se suman a la lista de este año.

Entre los restaurantes que debutan en Miami Spice se encuentran Daniel’s Miami, Yamashiro, Maple & Ash y Zuma.

Daniel’s Miami ofrece cuatro experiencias gastronómicas Miami Spice, que incluyen menús de brunch y almuerzo por 40 dólares y opciones de cena que oscilan entre los 65 y los 95 dólares.

Los comensales pueden elegir entre platos como empanadas de carne Wagyu, lubina a la parrilla, costillas de ternera Wagyu estofadas y mero con costra de sémola de maíz de Florida, además de cócteles especiales creados para Miami Spice.

Yamashiro también participa por primera vez con un brunch dominical de 40 dólares y un menú de cena de 95 dólares que incluye platos de inspiración japonesa, entre ellos su característico bacalao negro.

Maple & Ash también se une a Miami Spice por primera vez, brindando a los comensales la oportunidad de experimentar el servicio de mesa y los platos estrella de este lujoso restaurante de carnes a precios especiales.

“Lo diseñamos todo en torno a la diversión”, dijo Kam Losonsky, chef ejecutivo de Maple & Ash. “Disfrutarás de una experiencia de lujo”.

El menú Miami Spice del restaurante incluye tartar de atún y filete mignon con trufa.

“Estás obteniendo opciones que realmente no vas a encontrar en ningún otro lugar, especialmente a este precio”, dijo Losonsky.

Entre los demás restaurantes participantes se encuentra Jaya at The Setai , que ofrece menús de almuerzo y cena de inspiración asiática con platos como Pad Thai, curry Panang y costillas cortas galbi a la barbacoa coreana.

Zuma ofrece menús de almuerzo y cena con precios de $35 y $60, respectivamente. Durante el Miami Spice, los comensales podrán disfrutar del famoso pastel de queso con arce de Zuma Vail, junto con otros platos favoritos del público del año pasado, entre los que se incluyen:

1. Pollo karaage con aderezo de limón y chile
2. Gyoza de gambas y bacalao negro
3. Salsa teriyaki de salmón y pepinillos encurtidos.

CATCH Miami Beach ofrece un menú de cena de 65 dólares con opciones de mariscos, sushi y carnes, mientras que Le Jardinier, galardonado con una estrella Michelin , regresa con almuerzos y cenas de tres platos de inspiración francesa.

También participan Stubborn Seed , restaurante con estrella Michelin , donde los comensales pueden disfrutar de una cena de tres platos con delicias como pollo con trufa y pavlova de cítricos, y Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink , que ofrece almuerzos y cenas de tres platos con menús que varían a lo largo de la temporada para mostrar ingredientes frescos de origen local.

Miami Spice, que se extiende hasta finales de septiembre, no solo ofrece a los comensales la oportunidad de probar nuevos restaurantes, sino que también ayuda a los restaurantes a darse a conocer a nuevos clientes.

Para obtener más información sobre Miami Spice y una lista de los restaurantes participantes, haga clic aquí.

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The annual dining program features participating restaurants offering special brunch, lunch and dinner menus through September, with several newcomers joining this year’s lineup.

Among the restaurants making their Miami Spice debut are Daniel’s Miami, Yamashiro, Maple & Ash and Zuma.

Daniel’s Miami is offering four Miami Spice dining experiences, including $40 brunch and lunch menus and dinner options ranging from $65 to $95.

Diners can choose from dishes including Wagyu beef empanadas, grilled branzino, braised Wagyu beef short rib and Florida grits-crusted grouper, along with specialty cocktails created for Miami Spice.

Yamashiro is also participating for the first time with a $40 Sunday brunch and $95 dinner menu featuring Japanese-inspired dishes, including its signature black cod.

Maple & Ash is also joining Miami Spice for the first time, giving diners the chance to experience the luxury steakhouse’s tableside service and signature dishes at special prices.

“We build everything around fun,” said Maple & Ash executive chef Kam Losonsky. “You’re getting a luxurious experience.”

The restaurant’s Miami Spice menu includes tuna tartare and filet mignon with truffle.

“You’re getting options you really aren’t gonna get anywhere else, especially for this price point,” Losonsky said.

Other participating restaurants include Jaya at The Setai, which is offering Asian-inspired lunch and dinner menus featuring dishes such as Pad Thai, Panang curry and Korean barbecue galbi short rib.

Zuma is offering lunch and dinner menus priced at $35 and $60. During Miami Spice, guests can enjoy the restaurant’s signature Maple Cheesecake from Zuma Vail, along with fan favorite dishes from last year, including:

1. Chicken karaage with chili lemon dressing
2. Prawn and black cod gyoza
3. Salmon teriyaki sauce and pickled cucumber

CATCH Miami Beach is serving a $65 dinner menu with seafood, sushi and steak selections, while Michelin-starred Le Jardinier returns with French-inspired three-course lunches and dinners.

Also participating are Michelin-starred Stubborn Seed, where diners can enjoy a three-course dinner featuring dishes such as truffle chicken and citrus pavlova, and Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink, which is offering three-course lunches and dinners with menus that rotate throughout the season to showcase fresh, locally sourced ingredients.

Miami Spice, which lasts through the end of September, not only gives diners a chance to try new restaurants, but also helps restaurants introduce themselves to new customers.

For more information on Miami Spice and a list of participating restaurants, click here.

After being driven past two businesses relevant to the narrative of the January 2023 killings, jurors were escorted in groups of six to view the inside of the house, including the basement where the children died. During the roughly 40-minute visit, the jury also saw the yard where Clancy was found after jumping from a second-story window.

Journalists were kept away by a police barricade, but court officers could be seen through the trees escorting jurors to and from the bus along the site of the Clancy family’s former driveway. The home now has a new owner.

Clancy herself did not attend the visit to the home, which she hasn't seen since the day of the killings. Her lawyers argue she was in the grip of postpartum psychosis, a rare mental illness linked to the stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes that follow childbirth.

___

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.

___

Jurors in U.S. criminal cases often are expressly told not to visit the scene of the events in question. There are a number of rationales for not doing so — among other things, the site may have changed in the interim between an alleged crime and a trial.

But courts sometimes allow juries to make a supervised excursion as a group, for reasons that can include assessing distances or features that aren’t thought to come across fully in photos.

Such excursions have happened in a number of high-profile cases, including the 2023 murder trial of South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh, the 2022 sentencing trial of Parkland, Florida, school shooter Nikolas Cruz, the 2015 Massachusetts murder trial of former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez and the 1995 murder trial of O.J. Simpson.

Jurors in Clancy's trial retraced the route her then-husband, Patrick Clancy, took when she asked him to pick up takeout food and medicine for Cora on the night of the killings. He returned to find the children dead and his then-wife badly injured and bleeding in the yard.

The panel was driven past the restaurant — about 5.5 miles (9 kilometers) from the family’s former home in Duxbury, a town south of Boston — and the pharmacy, about a mile (1.6 km) from the house.

Prosecutors say the errands were a ruse to get her husband out of the house. They say Lindsay Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse, acted intentionally and is criminally responsible for the deaths of children Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and Callan, 8 months.

Her lawyers don't dispute that she killed the children, but they say she had bipolar disorder and her condition worsened while she was on antidepressants prescribed after the birth of her third child. She believed a voice was telling her to “kill the children so you can kill yourself,” according to her lawyers.

Lindsay Clancy remains paralyzed from the waist down after using multiple methods to try to end her life that night.

If convicted of murder, she faces life in prison without parole. If found not guilty due to a lack of criminal responsibility, she would be committed to a state mental health facility.

___ Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz contributed from New York.

El gobierno cubano anunció ayer, al cierre de la reunión anual de la Asamblea Nacional, que está considerando permitir que los exiliados cubanos visiten la isla, permanezcan el tiempo que deseen e inviertan en Cuba.

Sin embargo, los exiliados cubanos con ciudadanía estadounidense aún enfrentan algunas restricciones impuestas por el Departamento del Tesoro de Estados Unidos.

30 de julio: Cuba crea su primer banco privado bajo el Banco Central de Cuba, dice el primer ministro

El primer ministro de Cuba, Manuel Marrero, anunció esta semana que Cuba está creando su primer banco privado bajo el Banco Central de Cuba, que es administrado por el gobierno cubano y cuyo presidente forma parte del Consejo de Ministros del gobierno.

¿Por qué querría un inversionista extranjero invertir en un sistema así, sin protección para su dinero?

Actualización del 29 de julio: Cinco destacados economistas en Cuba publican informe titulado “Una propuesta para transformar la economía cubana”

Cinco destacados economistas en Cuba acaban de publicar un informe titulado “Una propuesta para transformar la economía cubana”. El documento presenta un diagnóstico estructural de la actual crisis económica que enfrenta el país y propone, como objetivo estratégico, la creación de una economía social de mercado sustentada por un Estado democrático regido por el Estado de derecho.

Aunque el informe es positivo, el problema que observo es la creación de un Estado democrático. Debemos recordar que Cuba no tenía una democracia antes del inicio de la Revolución Cubana en 1959. La transición de un Estado totalitario que ha tenido una economía centralizada durante casi 68 años podría tomar tiempo. Un tiempo que Cuba y su población no tienen debido a la actual crisis económica.

Actualización del 27 de julio: 73 años del inicio de la Revolución Cubana

Ayer se conmemoró el 73 aniversario desde que Fidel Castro, Raúl Castro y su grupo de rebeldes atacaron el Cuartel Moncada en Santiago de Cuba. El 26 de julio de 1953 es considerado el inicio de la Revolución Cubana.

Al igual que en el poema de Robert Frost, “El camino no tomado”, la Revolución Cubana tomó un rumbo que destruyó al país y “nunca miró atrás”. Hoy, Cuba se encuentra al final de lo que Fidel llamó sus días de gloria.

Actualización del 24 de julio: La Administración Trump anuncia una serie de nuevas sanciones contra Cuba

El jueves, la Administración Trump anunció una serie de nuevas sanciones contra Cuba dirigidas al conglomerado militar del gobierno, GAESA. Sin embargo, esta vez también incluye a empresas como Coral S.A., que asumieron operaciones de algunos sectores de GAESA para evitar las sanciones de Estados Unidos y mantener en funcionamiento las operaciones de importación en Cuba.

La pregunta que muchos académicos que seguimos a Cuba nos hacemos es si la estrategia de Estados Unidos en adelante es obligar a Cuba a vender eventualmente algunos de los activos de GAESA a Estados Unidos.

Actualización del 23 de julio: Estados Unidos continúa enviando señales contradictorias sobre lo que hará con Cuba

El pasado lunes, el Departamento de Estado de Estados Unidos emitió un informe de 100 páginas titulado “Cuba: La capital del comunismo del siglo XXI”, en el que expone por qué Cuba representa una amenaza para la seguridad nacional no solo de Estados Unidos, sino del mundo entero. El gobierno cubano reaccionó de inmediato y no solo criticó el informe, sino que acusó al secretario de Estado, Marco Rubio, de amenazar a la isla.

El miércoles, durante una conferencia de prensa en Filipinas, Rubio, al ser consultado por un periodista sobre cuál era el plan de Estados Unidos para Cuba, utilizó un tono mucho más diplomático y dijo que Estados Unidos sigue dispuesto a negociar con Cuba.

Washington continúa enviando señales contradictorias sobre lo que hará con Cuba. Lo que sí sabemos es que la estrategia utilizada en Venezuela no produjo un cambio de régimen.

Actualización del 21 de julio: Llegará a Cuba la primera ayuda humanitaria desde Estados Unidos

Hoy llegará a Cuba la primera ayuda humanitaria como parte del ofrecimiento del secretario de Estado, Marco Rubio, para ayudar al pueblo cubano mientras enfrenta la peor situación económica desde principios de la década de 1990. El cargamento de hoy incluye 700 kits de higiene y 700 paquetes de alimentos que serán distribuidos directamente al pueblo cubano por Catholic Relief Services Caritas Cuba y otras organizaciones religiosas.

El secretario Rubio quiere dejar claro al pueblo cubano que Estados Unidos lo respalda y está dispuesto a seguir ayudándolo como parte del compromiso de $100 millones USD en ayuda humanitaria.

Actualización del 20 de julio: Cuba libera al artista Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara

El pasado sábado, Cuba liberó al artista y líder opositor Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara tras cumplir cinco años en prisión. Otero Alcántara fue uno de los líderes del Movimiento San Isidro, que impulsó grandes protestas en toda la isla hace cinco años.

Al llegar a Miami, Otero Alcántara agradeció a la comunidad cubanoamericana por su apoyo y pidió a Cuba liberar a todos los presos políticos.

Actualización del 16 de julio: Departamento de Defensa de Estados Unidos paga $3 millones USD a personal afectado por el Síndrome de La Habana

El Departamento de Defensa de Estados Unidos ha pagado $3 millones USD en compensación al personal estadounidense afectado por la misteriosa condición conocida como Síndrome de La Habana, realizando el primer pago bajo la Ley de La Habana de 2021.

El Síndrome de La Habana apareció por primera vez en 2016, cuando diplomáticos y oficiales de inteligencia estadounidenses en La Habana, Cuba, reportaron síntomas inusuales, entre ellos intensa presión en la cabeza, mareos, náuseas, alteraciones auditivas y problemas de memoria.

Actualización del 14 de julio: Nuevas sanciones de Estados Unidos aumentan la presión sobre la economía controlada por los militares en Cuba

El lunes, Estados Unidos impuso nuevas sanciones dirigidas a empresas controladas por GAESA, el conglomerado económico militar de Cuba, así como a algunas de las brigadas militares responsables de reprimir protestas como las que vimos recientemente.

¿Cuánto tiempo más podrá resistir el gobierno cubano? Continúa llegando información a funcionarios estadounidenses que indica que hay sectores dentro del gobierno cubano cada vez más preocupados por cuánto tiempo más podrán sobrevivir sin negociar con el gobierno de Estados Unidos antes de enfrentar un colapso total de su sistema.

Actualización del 10 de julio: ¿Tiene el nieto de Raúl Castro plena autoridad para negociar por el gobierno cubano?

Como esperaba, parece haber una pequeña grieta dentro del círculo más cercano del gobierno cubano. Algunos han criticado a Raulito, el nieto de Raúl Castro, por ofrecer negociar directamente con el presidente Trump. La crítica se centra en si realmente tiene plena autoridad para negociar en nombre del gobierno cubano o si solo negocia en representación de la familia Castro.

Ayer, el Partido Comunista de Cuba (PCC) respaldó los esfuerzos de Raulito, pero la cúpula militar ha permanecido en silencio.

Actualización del 8 de julio: Las Naciones Unidas no tienen derecho legal para levantar el embargo de Estados Unidos a Cuba

Cada año, Cuba argumenta ante las Naciones Unidas que el embargo económico de Estados Unidos es la causa de sus problemas económicos. Cada año, Cuba pierde más apoyo para ese argumento. Las Naciones Unidas no tienen un derecho legítimo ni legal para levantar el embargo. Solo el Congreso de Estados Unidos puede hacerlo.

La maquinaria de propaganda del gobierno cubano ha fracasado. La mayoría de los cubanos en la isla, incluidos economistas cubanos, responsabilizan al gobierno cubano por las actuales malas condiciones económicas.

Actualización del 6 de julio: Nieto de Raúl Castro dice que Cuba está dispuesta a negociar con Estados Unidos

Reuters informó esta mañana que Raulito, nieto de Raúl Castro y conocido como “El Cangrejo”, anunció que Cuba está dispuesta a negociar con Estados Unidos. La pregunta que debemos hacernos es si Raulito negocia en nombre de la familia Castro o del gobierno cubano.

Sabemos que Cuba ha estado vendiendo algunos de sus activos, incluidos algunos pertenecientes al conglomerado económico militar GAESA, durante las últimas semanas. El intento de Cuba por atraer inversión extranjera no ha despertado mucho interés debido al temor de perder el dinero invertido.

Actualización del 2 de julio: La cultura del miedo en Cuba complica una transición democrática

Cuando hablamos de Cuba, normalmente nos concentramos en su sistema político y económico centralizado. Sin embargo, no reconocemos que las personas que han vivido bajo regímenes totalitarios han tenido que sobrevivir dentro de una cultura del miedo. Ese sistema de gobierno crea un conjunto psicológico de actitudes y valores que ayudan a definir el comportamiento diario para alinear los deseos y necesidades de la población con las restricciones impuestas por el gobierno.

Romper esos comportamientos podría requerir años de preparación y cambio psicológico. Por lo tanto, la transición de un Estado totalitario hacia alguna forma de gobierno democrático podría tomar tiempo.

Las actualizaciones de junio del Dr. Andy S. Gomez pueden consultarse haciendo clic aquí.

El Dr. Andy S. Gomez es el analista de Cuba de Local 10. Gomez es considerado uno de los principales expertos sobre Cuba. Trabajó en educación superior durante 32 años antes de retirarse de la Universidad de Miami en 2012.

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Pembroke Pines police said Antonio Lee Rogers, 27, claimed the girl had choked on formula.

According to an arrest warrant authored on July 22, Rogers called 911 on Oct. 10, 2025 to report the “choking,” saying that the 4-month-old “was not breathing and her mouth was turning blue.”

Medics took the girl to Memorial Hospital Miramar in critical condition, the warrant states. Police said she was “lifeless” upon arriving at the emergency room but doctors were able to intubate and revive her.

According to the warrant, she was later taken to Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital and doctors determined that the girl’s injuries, which included a traumatic brain injury with a brain bleed, were not consistent with Rogers’ claim that she choked on formula.

Authorities said medical imaging showed that she older brain bleed injuries that indicated a prior incident of shaking.

Now under the care of her grandmother, the girl still requires “extensive medical treatment due to her injuries,” including “home health nursing,” according to police.

Records show police took Rogers into custody on Wednesday on charges of aggravated child abuse and child neglect with great bodily harm.

As of Friday, he was being held without bond in the Broward Sheriff’s Office’s Paul Rein Detention Facility in Pompano Beach.

La Policía de Pembroke Pines informó que Antonio Lee Rogers, de 27 años, afirmó que la niña se había atragantado con fórmula.

Según una orden de arresto redactada el 22 de julio, Rogers llamó al 911 el 10 de octubre de 2025 para reportar que la bebé se estaba “atragantando”, diciendo que la menor de 4 meses “no estaba respirando y que su boca se estaba poniendo azul”.

Los paramédicos trasladaron a la niña al Memorial Hospital Miramar en estado crítico, según la orden de arresto. La Policía indicó que la menor llegó “sin signos de vida” a la sala de emergencias, pero los médicos lograron intubarla y reanimarla.

De acuerdo con la orden de arresto, posteriormente fue trasladada al Hospital Infantil Joe DiMaggio, donde los médicos determinaron que las lesiones de la niña, que incluían una lesión cerebral traumática con una hemorragia cerebral, no eran compatibles con la versión de Rogers de que se había atragantado con fórmula.

Las autoridades informaron que los estudios médicos también revelaron hemorragias cerebrales antiguas que indicaban un incidente previo de sacudidas.

Ahora bajo el cuidado de su abuela, la niña aún requiere “tratamiento médico especializado debido a sus lesiones”, incluido “servicio de enfermería a domicilio”, según la Policía.

Los registros muestran que la Policía arrestó a Rogers el miércoles por cargos de abuso infantil agravado y negligencia infantil que causó lesiones corporales graves.

Hasta el viernes, permanecía detenido sin derecho a fianza en el Centro de Detención Paul Rein de la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward en Pompano Beach.

The retreat, about an hour northwest of Washington, has been the backdrop for presidential summits and smaller-scale meetings since Franklin Roosevelt established it during World War II. Friday’s meeting isn’t Trump’s first at Camp David, but he has spent less time at the compound than other presidents, and typically spends weekends at his own properties, including Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, and his golf courses in New Jersey and Virginia.

Here's a look at some key dates and prominent visitors in the camp's history, assembled using archival material from The Associated Press, the National Archives, and presidential libraries.

1942 — Roosevelt established the camp as Shangri-La, a reference from James Hilton's novel “Lost Horizon.” Roosevelt had liked to relax on a presidential yacht, but the military and Secret Service started to worry about his safety on the open water during World War II. Roosevelt asked the National Park Service to identify sites within 100 miles of the White House that he could use for rest and picked what is now known as Camp David.

1943 — Roosevelt hosted Winston Churchill, who went on a fishing trip with the president and discussed the Normandy invasion at the retreat.

1953 — Dwight Eisenhower renamed the facility Camp David after his grandson and father.

1959 — Eisenhower hosted Nikita Khrushchev, the first time a Soviet leader had come to the United States.

1971 — Richard Nixon met with economic advisers amid inflation and a looming run on gold, leading eventually to an announcement ending the gold-backed dollar.

1973 — Nixon hosted his Soviet counterpart, Leonid Brezhnev.

1978 — Jimmy Carter hosted Egypt’s Anwar Sadat and Israel’s Menachem Begin, resulting in the Camp David Accords signed in 1979. Unlike at the White House, where journalists come and go, the news media are barred from Camp David, unless they are invited to cover an event, like Friday’s summit.

1984 — Ronald Reagan, the president who spent the most time at Camp David, hosted British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher for the first time.

1990 — George H.W. Bush hosted Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

1992 — Camp David's only wedding occurred when Bush’s daughter, Dorothy, married Bobby Koch at Evergreen Chapel at the facility.

2000 — Bill Clinton hosted a summit with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.

2001 — George W. Bush met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair early in the year and held post 9/11 meetings ahead of the Afghanistan invasion later in the year.

2003 — Bush hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin.

2012 — Barack Obama hosted the G8 Summit.

2015 — Obama hosted Persian Gulf nations for a summit.

2019 — Trump canceled a secret weekend meeting at Camp David with Taliban and Afghanistan leaders after a bombing in Kabul that killed 12 people, including an American soldier. ———

Associated Press journalist Darlene Superville contributed archival reporting for this timeline.

Según el departamento, los nuevos oficiales penitenciarios elegibles en instituciones seleccionadas también podrían calificar para un bono de retención existente de $5,000 USD, lo que eleva el total de incentivos disponibles hasta $6,000 USD.

Las instituciones con un bono de $6,000 USD incluyen:

• Apalachee CI (Sneads)
• Florida State Prison (Raiford)
• Franklin CI (Carrabelle)
• Gulf CI (Wewahitchka)
• Hamilton CI (Jasper)
• Jackson CI (Malone)
• Liberty CI (Bristol)
• Northwest Florida Reception Center (Chipley)
• Okeechobee CI (Okeechobee)
• Santa Rosa CI (Milton)
• Taylor CI (Perry)

El departamento informó que los oficiales serán elegibles para recibir los bonos después de obtener la certificación de la Comisión de Normas y Capacitación en Justicia Penal de Florida.

“El Departamento Penitenciario de Florida está comprometido con invertir en los hombres y mujeres que deciden servir y apoyar la misión de seguridad pública de Florida”, dijo en un comunicado Hope Gartman, subsecretaria adjunta de Instituciones.

Gartman agregó que una carrera en el sistema correccional ofrece un salario competitivo, beneficios para empleados, oportunidades de ascenso y la posibilidad de generar un impacto significativo en la seguridad pública.

Según el Departamento de Correcciones de Florida (FDC), los oficiales penitenciarios recién contratados reciben un salario inicial de $22 USD por hora y cuentan con capacitación remunerada, beneficios de jubilación por trabajo de alto riesgo, beneficios para empleados del estado de Florida y oportunidades de desarrollo profesional.

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According to the department, eligible new correctional officers at select institutions may also qualify for an existing $5,000 retention bonus, bringing the total available incentives to as much as $6,000.

Institutions with a $6,000 bonus include:

• Apalachee CI (Sneads)
• Florida State Prison (Raiford)
• Franklin CI (Carabelle)
• Gulf CI (Wewahitchka)
• Hamilton CI (Jasper)
• Jackson CI (Malone)
• Liberty CI (Bristol)
• Northwest Florida Reception Center (Chipley)
• Okeechobee CI (Okeechobee)
• Santa Rosa CI (Milton)
• Taylor CI (Perry)

The department said officers become eligible for the bonuses after receiving certification through the Florida Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission.

“The Florida Department of Corrections is committed to investing in the men and women who choose to serve and support Florida’s public safety mission,” Assistant Deputy Secretary of Institutions Hope Gartman said in a statement.

Gartmen added that a career in corrections offers competitive pay, employee benefits, opportunities for advancement, and the chance to make a meaningful impact on public safety.

According to the FDC, newly hired correctional officers earn a starting salary of $22 per hour and receive paid training, high-risk retirement benefits, State of Florida employee benefits, and opportunities for career advancement.

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Rosemary Carrera, founder of 305 Pink Pack, created the nonprofit after her own battle with Stage 2 breast cancer. Following months of chemotherapy and radiation, she said she wanted to ensure others wouldn’t have to navigate treatment alone.

“Unless you’ve been through a cancer diagnosis, you have no idea what it’s like,” Carrera said.

A licensed optometrist, wife and mother, Carrera founded 305 Pink Pack in 2020 to help bridge the gap between a cancer diagnosis and everyday life. The organization connects patients with essential resources, including transportation to treatments, childcare assistance and practical support during recovery.

“We will connect you to what you need and what can help you during this time,” Carrera said.

In addition to support services, the nonprofit provides cancer patients with “chemo kits” filled with items designed to ease the side effects of treatment, including lip balm, personal care products and other comfort items.

“We are always in need of more chemo kits,” Carrera said. “We just went through our last batch.”

That need prompted a surprise partnership.

During a recent visit, Local 10 Community Relations Director Mayte Padron introduced Carrera to Renee De Bien, manager of Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy, a division that helps patients manage chronic and complex medical conditions.

“We just hold their hand throughout their journey, at least so they are just able to focus on healing,” De Bien said.

Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy donated enough supplies to replenish the nonprofit’s chemo kits, providing every item on Carrera’s wish list. The donation included essentials such as cough drops, moisturizing products, socks and other comfort items frequently requested by patients undergoing treatment.

The surprise didn’t end there.

On behalf of Local 10 viewers and Good News South Florida, Padron also presented Carrera with a $500 donation to support the organization’s mission.

Carrera said community support allows 305 Pink Pack to continue serving cancer patients when they need it most, helping them focus less on daily challenges and more on healing.

The nonprofit is seeking additional volunteers and donations. Community members can support the organization by hosting fundraisers, volunteering to drive cancer patients to treatment appointments or donating supplies for future chemo kits.

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

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

Rosemary Carrera, fundadora de 305 Pink Pack, creó la organización sin fines de lucro después de su propia lucha contra un cáncer de mama en etapa 2. Tras meses de quimioterapia y radioterapia, dijo que quería asegurarse de que otras personas no tuvieran que enfrentar solas el tratamiento.

“A menos que hayas pasado por un diagnóstico de cáncer, no tienes idea de cómo es”, dijo Carrera.

Carrera, optometrista con licencia, esposa y madre, fundó 305 Pink Pack en 2020 para ayudar a cerrar la brecha entre un diagnóstico de cáncer y la vida cotidiana. La organización conecta a los pacientes con recursos esenciales, incluido transporte a sus tratamientos, asistencia para el cuidado de niños y apoyo práctico durante la recuperación.

“Los conectaremos con lo que necesiten y con lo que pueda ayudarlos durante este proceso”, dijo Carrera.

Además de los servicios de apoyo, la organización entrega a los pacientes con cáncer “kits de quimioterapia” con artículos diseñados para aliviar los efectos secundarios del tratamiento, incluidos bálsamo labial, productos de cuidado personal y otros artículos de comodidad.

“Siempre necesitamos más kits de quimioterapia”, dijo Carrera. “Acabamos de entregar el último lote”.

Esa necesidad dio lugar a una alianza sorpresa.

Durante una visita reciente, la directora de Relaciones Comunitarias de Local 10, Mayte Padron, presentó a Carrera con Renee De Bien, gerente de Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy, una división que ayuda a los pacientes a manejar enfermedades crónicas y afecciones médicas complejas.

“Los acompañamos durante todo su proceso para que puedan concentrarse únicamente en sanar”, dijo De Bien.

Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy donó suficientes suministros para reabastecer los kits de quimioterapia de la organización, proporcionando todos los artículos que figuraban en la lista de deseos de Carrera. La donación incluyó productos esenciales como pastillas para la tos, productos humectantes, calcetines y otros artículos de comodidad que con frecuencia solicitan los pacientes durante el tratamiento.

La sorpresa no terminó ahí.

En nombre de los televidentes de Local 10 y de Good News South Florida, Padron también entregó a Carrera una donación de $500 USD para apoyar la misión de la organización.

Carrera afirmó que el apoyo de la comunidad permite que 305 Pink Pack continúe ayudando a pacientes con cáncer cuando más lo necesitan, permitiéndoles concentrarse menos en los desafíos diarios y más en su recuperación.

La organización busca más voluntarios y donaciones. Los miembros de la comunidad pueden apoyar la organización organizando actividades de recaudación de fondos, ofreciéndose como voluntarios para transportar a pacientes con cáncer a sus citas médicas o donando suministros para futuros kits de quimioterapia.

• Para donar: Si desea hacer una donación monetaria para una historia o proyecto de Good News South Florida, haga clic aquí. Local 10 ha creado el Fondo Local 10 con The Miami Foundation y el 100% de su donación se destinará a la causa que usted indique en el apartado de “información adicional”.
• Para ser voluntario o enviar una propuesta de historia: Si desea participar como voluntario en un proyecto de Good News South Florida o presentar una historia para su consideración, envíe un correo electrónico a goodnews@local10.com.

Good News South Florida se transmite los viernes durante el noticiero matutino de Local 10 a las 10 a.m. También se retransmite los viernes a las 3:30 p.m. y los domingos por la mañana a partir de las 6 a.m.

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According to BSO, detectives are investigating a recent scam attempt in which a resident was contacted and falsely told they had missed federal jury duty and an arrest warrant had been issued.

Investigators said the scammer instructed the victim to deposit $15,000 into a kiosk as bail to avoid being arrested. The victim was also told to participate in a video conference with someone posing as a member of the Broward County judiciary.

BSO says the victim became suspicious of the activity and did not send any money nor provide personal information, ended the call and notified law enforcement.

The sheriff’s office is working with the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit and the Broward Clerk of Courts to remind residents that law enforcement agencies, the courts and the clerk’s office will never call to threaten anyone with arrest or demand payment to avoid jail.

Authorities say scammers often use high-pressure tactics, spoofed phone numbers and names of real government employees to make their schemes appear legitimate.

BSO is also urging residents to never send money, gift cards, or cryptocurrency after receiving an unsolicited phone call, text message or email. Officials also advise against sharing personal or financial information with unexpected callers and recommend verifying any requests by contacting the agency using an official phone number or website.

Anyone who believes they have been targeted by a scam is encouraged to contact local law enforcement. Residents living in Broward Sheriff’s Office jurisdictions can report suspicious activity through BSO’s non-emergency phone number at 954-764-HELP (4357).

Según la BSO, los detectives investigan un intento reciente de estafa en el que un residente fue contactado y falsamente informado de que había faltado a un servicio de jurado federal y que se había emitido una orden de arresto en su contra.

Los investigadores informaron que el estafador instruyó a la víctima a depositar $15,000 USD en un quiosco como fianza para evitar ser arrestada. También le indicó que participara en una videoconferencia con una persona que se hacía pasar por un miembro del sistema judicial del condado Broward.

La BSO informó que la víctima sospechó de la situación y no envió dinero ni proporcionó información personal, puso fin a la llamada y notificó a las autoridades.

La Oficina del Sheriff trabaja junto con el Décimo Séptimo Circuito Judicial y la Secretaría de los Tribunales del condado Broward para recordar a los residentes que las agencias del orden público, los tribunales y la Secretaría nunca llamarán para amenazar a alguien con arrestarlo ni exigirán pagos para evitar la cárcel.

Las autoridades indicaron que los estafadores suelen utilizar tácticas de alta presión, números telefónicos falsificados y nombres de empleados reales del gobierno para hacer que sus fraudes parezcan legítimos.

La BSO también insta a los residentes a nunca enviar dinero, tarjetas de regalo o criptomonedas después de recibir una llamada telefónica, mensaje de texto o correo electrónico no solicitado. Además, recomienda no compartir información personal o financiera con personas que llamen de forma inesperada y verificar cualquier solicitud comunicándose directamente con la agencia mediante un número de teléfono o sitio web oficial.

Cualquier persona que crea haber sido víctima de una estafa debe comunicarse con las autoridades locales. Los residentes que viven en jurisdicciones de la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward pueden reportar actividades sospechosas llamando al número de no emergencias de la BSO, 954-764-HELP (4357).

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Early voting for Florida’s Aug. 18 primary starts Monday in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.

Broward County early voting begins Saturday, Aug. 8.

For specific hours and locations, check your county’s election website or view Local 10’s 2026 Voter Guide.

Voter turnout for recent primary elections has been dismal in South Florida.

Your vote is your voice. Don’t stay silent. Vote by mail, vote early or vote on Aug. 18. Just make sure you vote.

What is the deadline to drop off my vote-by-mail ballot?

Before 7 p.m., on Aug. 18.

In Miami-Dade, sign inside the red box on the back of the vote-by-mail envelope. If you forgot to sign the envelope or the signature does not match, Florida law allows you to submit an affidavit to cure your vote-by-mail ballot. The affidavit must be completed and submitted to the Elections Department along with a copy of your identification by 5 p.m. on the second day after the election.

· Vote-by-Mail Ballot - Signature Cure Affidavit (English)

· Vote-by-Mail Ballot - Signature Cure Affidavit (Español & Kreyòl)

Useful contacts

• For more information on early voting in Broward, click here or call 954-357-7050
• For more information on early voting in Miami-Dade, click here or call 305-499-8683
• For more information on early voting in Monroe, click here or call 305-292-3416

La votación anticipada para las primarias de Florida del 18 de agosto comienza el lunes en los condados de Miami-Dade y Monroe.

La votación anticipada en el condado de Broward comienza el sábado 8 de agosto.

Para conocer los horarios y lugares específicos, consulte el sitio web electoral de su condado o vea la Guía del votante de Local 10 para 2026.

La participación electoral en las recientes elecciones primarias ha sido pésima en el sur de Florida.

Tu voto es tu voz. No te quedes callado. Vota por correo, vota anticipadamente o vota el 18 de agosto. ¡Lo importante es que votes !

¿Cuál es la fecha límite para entregar mi boleta de voto por correo?

Antes de las 19:00 horas del 18 de agosto.

En Miami-Dade, firme dentro del recuadro rojo en el reverso del sobre de voto por correo . Si olvidó firmar el sobre o la firma no coincide, la ley de Florida le permite presentar una declaración jurada para subsanar el error en su voto por correo. La declaración jurada debe completarse y presentarse al Departamento de Elecciones junto con una copia de su identificación antes de las 5 p. m. del segundo día después de las elecciones.

• Boleta de voto por correo - Declaración jurada para la subsanación de errores de firma (inglés)

· Boleta de Voto por Correo - Declaración Jurada de Cure con Firma (Español y Kreyòl)

Contactos útiles

• Para obtener más información sobre la votación anticipada en Broward , haga clic aquí o llame al 954-357-7050.
• Para obtener más información sobre la votación anticipada en Miami-Dade , haga clic aquí o llame al 305-499-8683.
• Para obtener más información sobre la votación anticipada en Monroe , haga clic aquí o llame al 305-292-3416.

La Policía confirmó el miércoles el arresto de Jean Carlo Rojas, de 27 años, en relación con los daños al monumento ubicado en el 806 de la avenida 13 del suroeste.

Según los investigadores, un empleado del Departamento de Parques de la Ciudad de Miami reportó los daños después de ser notificado el domingo por la mañana de que el monumento había sido vandalizado.

Los detectives informaron que la parte dañada, descrita como el misil gris del monumento, ya había sido reparada tras un acto anterior de vandalismo. Las autoridades estimaron los nuevos daños en $1,000 USD.

Indicaron que el video de vigilancia muestra a un hombre con una camiseta blanca sin mangas, pantalones cortos negros y zapatos negros subiéndose sobre la parte del misil del monumento alrededor de las 9:18 p.m. del sábado, provocando que se rompiera.

Tras revisar las imágenes y buscar videos adicionales en la zona, los detectives informaron que identificaron al sospechoso por su vestimenta y sus tatuajes distintivos. Mientras recopilaba videos de vigilancia de un negocio cercano, el detective principal vio a Rojas de pie en la acera cerca del monumento y solicitó a los agentes que lo detuvieran.

Según el informe de arresto, Rojas renunció a sus derechos Miranda y aceptó hablar con los detectives. Una declaración que hizo durante la entrevista fue censurada en la versión pública del informe.

Rojas, identificado en el informe como trabajador de la construcción y en situación de calle, enfrenta un cargo grave de daños criminales contra un monumento o propiedad histórica.

Los registros de la cárcel muestran que ya se encontraba en libertad bajo fianza por un caso separado en el que enfrenta cargos por agresión contra un agente del orden público y resistencia a un agente sin violencia.

Hasta la mañana del viernes, Rojas permanecía detenido en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight con una fianza de $2,500 USD.

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Police confirmed the arrest of 27-year-old Jean Carlo Rojas on Wednesday in connection with the damage to the monument at 806 SW 13th Ave.

According to investigators, a city of Miami parks employee reported the damage after being notified Sunday morning that the monument had been vandalized.

Detectives said damaged portion, described as the monument’s gray missile, had previously been repaired following an earlier act of vandalism. Officials estimated the new damage at $1,000.

They said surveillance video shows a man wearing a white tank top, black shorts and black shoes stepping on the missile portion of the monument around 9:18 p.m. Saturday, causing it to break.

After reviewing the footage and canvassing the area for additional video, detectives said they identified the suspect by his clothing and distinctive tattoos. While retrieving surveillance footage from a nearby business, the lead detective spotted Rojas standing on the sidewalk near the monument and called for officers to detain him.

According to an arrest report, Rojas waived his Miranda rights and agreed to speak with detectives. A statement he made during the interview was redacted from the publicly released report.

Rojas, who is identified in the report as a construction worker who is homeless, is charged with felony criminal mischief involving a memorial or historic property.

Jail records show he was already out on felony bond in a separate case involving charges of battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting an officer without violence.

As of Friday morning, Rojas was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $2,500 bond.

The proposal from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation spares Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming from facing mandatory cuts for now. But it’s a temporary fix as the states that rely on the river still fight over a long-term management plan for the dwindling resource that powers huge swaths of the Western U.S.

Under the plan, the Lower Basin states could face collective cuts up to 3 million acre-feet (130 billion cubic feet) through 2036, “subject to hydrology,” according to a press release by the Department of the Interior. That’s about enough water to serve more than 25 million people a year.

The plan would also allow annual releases between 5 million and 12 million acre-feet from Lake Powell, the basin’s second-largest reservoir. Under the 10-year federal framework, water management decisions will be made every two years.

“This framework provides the flexibility to respond to changing hydrologic conditions while preserving the opportunity for the Basin States to continue working toward durable, consensus-based solutions,” said Secretary of the Interior Dough Burgum in the press release.

The proposed cuts in the Lower Basin states of California, Arizona and Nevada would be the biggest to date and could have huge impacts across cities and farms — higher water prices, increased groundwater reliance, more agriculture out of production and conservation mandates in places where none have existed before.

The federal plan comes after years of deadlocked negotiations and a record-dry winter that tipped Colorado River reservoirs to combined record lows. Federal officials are expected to finalize the plan in the coming days.

More than 40 million people in seven U.S. states, several tribal nations and Mexico, as well as farmers, wildlife, industries and hydropower, rely on the dwindling 1,450-mile (2,334-kilometer) Colorado River. Years of overuse combined with rising temperatures and drought have severely depleted flows in the Colorado today than in decades past.

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The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

Here are the most important developments across the Middle East today:

Gaza: Deal reached for Hamas to disarm, Israel to withdraw

Hamas said it will begin disarming as part of a deal announced by U.S. President Donald Trump that also requires Israel to end its strikes and withdraw from Gaza.

Hamas also said that laying down its heavy weapons, which would come later in the process, was contingent on the creation of a Palestinian state, something Israel’s current government adamantly rejects.

Israel has not officially commented on the deal, which is part of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire announced last October. That agreement called for Hamas to disarm and hand over power to an independent Palestinian administration. Israel was to withdraw, and an International Stabilization Force was to deploy.

But progress stalled, with Israel saying everything hinged on Hamas disarming, and Hamas accusing Israel of violating the agreement by continuing to carry out regular strikes on Gaza.

The war in Gaza began after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killed around 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians, including those killed since the ceasefire, Gaza’s Health Ministry says.

The Associated Press is tracking the progress of Trump's plan to end the Israel-Hamas war.

Latest developments on the Iran conflict

No U.S. strikes were reported in Iran on Friday. Iran fired drones at Kuwait, a Gulf country hosting U.S. forces, and said it had also fired at oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for global oil and gas shipments, which has been largely closed by the fighting.

1. Kuwait's Defense Ministry said Friday its armed forces had shot down drones inside Kuwaiti airspace. It said the Iranian attacks had targeted several vital military facilities, causing material damage from falling shrapnel but no casualties. It did not specify how many drones were intercepted. Iranian state media said Iran had targeted an air base in Kuwait with drones, in retaliation for U.S. strikes on Thursday. 2. Iran's Revolutionary Guard claimed to have hit two oil tankers attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian state media said four other tankers had turned around. The report did not provide further details on which flags or ownership the tankers were sailing under, or say whether there were any casualties.

Elsewhere in the region:

3. Saudi Arabia has announced a plan for a defense alliance of 14 countries to strengthen maritime security, safeguard freedom of navigation and secure international trade routes and energy supply corridors in the Red Sea region. The Iran war has severely disrupted global shipping. Yemen's Houthi rebels have declared a blockade on Saudi Arabia over a separate but related conflict, putting at risk another major trade corridor. 4. Saudi Arabia's Defense Ministry said Thursday that the coalition is “defensive in nature,” and that access “remains open to all willing countries.” Oman and the United Arab Emirates were the only two Gulf countries that did not back Saudi Arabia’s statement. Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan were among those that joined the proposed alliance.

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Becatoros contributed to this report from Athens, Greece

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Not surprisingly, Florida has recorded more hurricane landfalls in August than any other state. As we’ve discussed in previous newsletters, Florida is the undisputed hurricane heavyweight, doubling the number of total landfalls recorded for its closest competitors (Louisiana and Texas). That said, Texas edges out Florida in the early months of the season, historically recording more hurricane landfalls in June and July than the Sunshine State.

Texas’s big hurricane month

Texas is also unique in that hurricane landfalls typically peak in August (rather than September for most other states) and the risk for hurricanes drops dramatically by October.

Florida isn’t as lucky, with historical hurricane activity nearly as high in October as it is during September. This is especially true for South Florida, which has recorded as many October hurricanes as it has September hurricanes.

So unlike its counterpart in the western Gulf, South Florida often gets the late season stuff, especially from systems being pulled out of the Gulf and western Caribbean.

In August, we typically look east for hurricane threats to South Florida. August and September tend to be the months when the risk for a head-on strike to southeast Florida is most likely, so we keep an eye out for what’s coming east of the Bahamas or south of Cuba from the central Caribbean.

Watching the trends off the southeast U.S. late next week

Tomorrow marks the first day of August, but as we’ve discussed all week, things will stay quiet to open the month.

Models do show a small development window for a disturbance moving westward through the subtropics – a preferred zone for development this season – late next week. Friday morning’s single track run of the American GFS, which shows a hurricane approaching the southeast a week from this upcoming Saturday, is on an island with its usual outlier-GFS scenario (other model camps and their ensembles do not show a credible hurricane threat). Generally, models suggest a low chance (around 10%) of the disturbance trying to develop as it rounds the subtropical high pressure into next weekend (weekend of August 8^th). For now, it’s nothing to worry about, but it’s worth checking back on the trends next week.

Otherwise, models still show the possibility of some development with a tropical wave moving through the Atlantic Main Development Region (between Africa and the Caribbean) as we approach the middle part of August. With that development window being so far out, odds remain low for now.

No sorprende que Florida haya registrado más huracanes que han tocado tierra en agosto que cualquier otro estado. Como hemos comentado en boletines anteriores, Florida es, sin discusión, el estado más afectado por los huracanes, con el doble del número total de impactos registrados que sus competidores más cercanos, Luisiana y Texas. Dicho esto, Texas supera a Florida durante los primeros meses de la temporada, ya que históricamente registra más huracanes que tocan tierra en junio y julio que el Estado del Sol.

El gran mes de los huracanes en Texas

Texas también es único porque los huracanes que tocan tierra suelen alcanzar su punto máximo en agosto, en lugar de septiembre, como ocurre en la mayoría de los demás estados, y el riesgo de huracanes disminuye drásticamente para octubre.

Florida no tiene la misma suerte, ya que históricamente la actividad de huracanes en octubre es casi tan alta como en septiembre. Esto es especialmente cierto en el sur de Florida, donde se han registrado tantos huracanes en octubre como en septiembre.

Así que, a diferencia de su contraparte en el oeste del Golfo, el sur de Florida suele recibir los sistemas de finales de temporada, especialmente aquellos que son arrastrados desde el Golfo de México y el oeste del Caribe.

En agosto, normalmente miramos hacia el este en busca de amenazas de huracanes para el sur de Florida. Agosto y septiembre suelen ser los meses en los que existe la mayor probabilidad de un impacto directo en el sureste de Florida, por lo que mantenemos la vista puesta en los sistemas que avanzan al este de las Bahamas o al sur de Cuba desde el Caribe central.

Vigilan las tendencias frente al sureste de Estados Unidos para finales de la próxima semana

Mañana comienza agosto, pero, como hemos comentado durante toda la semana, el inicio del mes se mantendrá tranquilo.

Los modelos muestran una pequeña ventana de desarrollo para una perturbación que se desplazará hacia el oeste a través de los subtrópicos, una zona favorable para el desarrollo durante esta temporada, hacia finales de la próxima semana. La corrida de trayectoria única del modelo estadounidense GFS del viernes por la mañana, que muestra un huracán acercándose al sureste de Estados Unidos una semana después del próximo sábado, es un escenario aislado y corresponde al habitual comportamiento atípico del GFS (otros modelos y sus conjuntos no muestran una amenaza creíble de huracán). En términos generales, los modelos sugieren una baja probabilidad, de alrededor del 10%, de que la perturbación intente desarrollarse al rodear el área subtropical de alta presión hacia el próximo fin de semana (el fin de semana del 8 de agosto). Por ahora, no es motivo de preocupación, pero vale la pena seguir de cerca las tendencias la próxima semana.

Por lo demás, los modelos siguen mostrando la posibilidad de cierto desarrollo de una onda tropical que se desplazará por la Región Principal de Desarrollo del Atlántico (entre África y el Caribe) a medida que nos acerquemos a mediados de agosto. Como esa posible ventana de desarrollo aún está muy lejana, por ahora las probabilidades siguen siendo bajas.

“Hi,” she said softly as she sat down across from Leo at his desk in the Apostolic Palace.

Wearing a crucifix necklace and hair in her trademark braids, Smith has become an increasingly visible presence at the Vatican thanks to her friendship with the Rev. Antonio Spadaro, undersecretary in the Vatican’s culture ministry.

She has said that while she is not Catholic, she was drawn in particular to Pope Francis and his “gentle, open, and steadfast sense of humanity.”

She also had a thing for Pope John Paul I: Her 1979 tune “Wave,” is about a make-believe conversation with the pope who had just died after a 33-day papacy. It begins “Hi. Hi” uttered in the same breathy voice Smith used with Leo on Friday.

The pope clearly was familiar with the tune. “That was marvelous,” he said.

Earlier this year, Smith performed during the inauguration of the Holy See’s pavilion at the Venice Biennale contemporary art fair. The occasion, May 8, was the anniversary of Leo’s election.

Spadaro, who joined Smith at Friday’s audience, said the encounter between the two Chicago natives was around 40 minutes long. In a text message, he said it “felt more like a conversation between two people discovering they were old friends, sharing memories woven from words and music, dreams, visions, and hopes — both from yesterday and for today.”

He said at the end, Smith said “Bye. Bye.”

Smith met Francis in 2013 and sang for him in 2014. When he died, on April 21, 2025, she wrote a poem on social media, comparing Francis to a dandelion, “humble yet strong.”

“Nature and poetry and the suffering shall miss their champion,” she wrote.

It was Leo's second encounter with a music legend this week. On Wednesday, Leo attended a concert in his honor by tenor Andrea Bocelli.

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

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the Superior Court of Delaware, is the latest in a flurry of suits filed against the social media giants that alleges their platforms are addictive and dangerous.

The complaint was filed on behalf of four families from Texas, North Carolina, Minnesota and Tennessee whose children died over a 14-month period starting in July 2024 through September 2025.

The Social Media Victims Law Center is bringing the suit on behalf of the families, and its founding attorney, Matthew Bergman, said it's “particularly salient” that the children in this case died “long after” similar suits had been filed.

“These platforms continue to kill kids, despite the platitudes of their executives,” Bergman said in an interview. “This is a clear and present danger to the health and safety of children, not just in the United States but around the world.”

The four teens who died by suicide each experienced harms including social media addiction, severe sleep deprivation, depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation after years of using the social platforms, the complaint states. Livi Castro died at age 13, Riv Kelleher at 14, Nathaniel Chambers at age 17 and Dawson Holden at 18.

The complaint alleges the social media companies knew they were causing harm to young users.

A spokesperson for Google, which owns YouTube, said in a statement that “providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work. In collaboration with mental health and parenting experts, we’ve built services and policies to provide young people with age-appropriate experiences, and parents with robust controls. We send our deepest sympathies to the families and are reviewing the claims in this lawsuit.”

Representatives for Meta, TikTok and Snap did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Sacha Haworth, executive director of The Tech Oversight Project, said in a statement that parents, activists and whistleblowers have come forward and met with lawmakers for years and “while Congress has dragged its feet, more children have died."

Federal legislation of social media has moved at a glacial pace. The Senate passed the Kids Online Safety Act — which had the support of parents’ groups and children’s advocacy organizations — exactly two years before this lawsuit was filed. The House of Representatives never voted on that version of the legislation, and the House and Senate are currently disagreeing on key provisions they think should be included.

“Livi, Nathaniel, Dawson, and Riv’s stories are proof that Big Tech companies continue to lie about the safety of their products, choosing instead to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into false advertising, deceptive paid partnerships with trusted education programs and political lobbying,” Haworth's statement continued.

Meta, YouTube, TikTok and Snap are facing numerous state and federal lawsuits over harms to minors. Meta is on trial in Tennessee this week for a lawsuit brought by the state attorney general claiming that the company deliberately designed its platforms, notably Instagram, to make them addictive to young people, and did not warn them of its dangers. And in August, Meta is heading to trial in federal court in Oakland, California to face four of dozens of states that sued the company in 2023. That lawsuit says the company is contributing to the youth mental health crisis by designing addictive features and violated federal law by collecting data on kids under 13 without parental consent.

Not all lawsuits are successful, and many are settled out of court. Last week, a Florida teenager dropped his case against Meta that was set to go to trial in state court in Los Angeles, without receiving any payment from the company. Meta had argued that the teen only used his Instagram and Facebook for just minutes a day, on average, and created most accounts only after hiring a lawyer in his case.

Still, the mounting court cases can get expensive, even for a company like Meta Platforms. Earlier this week Meta said it had $2.4 billion in legal expenses in the second quarter, which contributed to a relatively unusual 14% profit decline.

Según la policía de North Miami, el accidente se reportó poco después de las 3 pm en Lost City Brewing Company , ubicada en 12207 NE 13th Court.

Según la policía, el conductor, Eros Emanuel Gehrig, de 53 años, perdió el control del vehículo y chocó contra cinco coches antes de estrellarse contra la fachada del edificio.

“La estructura fue evaluada y se determinó que era segura y que no representaba ningún peligro para la seguridad”, dijo un portavoz del Departamento de Policía Metropolitana de Nuevo México (NMPD) a Local 10 News en un correo electrónico.

El propietario de la cervecería, Chris Campos, declaró a Local 10 News que es un milagro que no hubiera nadie dentro del local en ese momento.

“Falta una hora para que abramos, media hora después de que estuviéramos haciendo algunas reparaciones al refrigerador que está en esta pared”, dijo Campos. “Fue un momento realmente fortuito en el que no había nadie y, la verdad, si hubiera habido gente, habría sido terrible”.

Según el informe de detención, una revisión de los registros reveló que la licencia de conducir de Gehrig en Florida había sido suspendida indefinidamente el 12 de septiembre de 2012.

Fue arrestado bajo el cargo de conducir con la licencia suspendida.

La policía informó que Gehrig fue trasladado al Hospital HCA Florida Aventura para ser evaluado antes de ser ingresado en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight.

Gehrig fue puesto en libertad el jueves por la mañana tras pagar la fianza.

Según la Oficina del Sheriff de Broward (BSO), la balacera fue reportada alrededor de las 10:12 p.m. en los condominios Windward Lakes, cerca de la cuadra 4000 de Southwest 15th Street.

La portavoz de la BSO, Gerdy St. Louis, informó que mientras los agentes y los paramédicos de Pompano Beach Fire Rescue se dirigían al lugar, les notificaron que los padres de la víctima habían trasladado al niño a una estación de bomberos cercana.

Las autoridades informaron que los paramédicos le brindaron atención al menor antes de trasladarlo a un hospital local para recibir tratamiento.

Vecinos que hablaron con Local 10 News describieron los momentos de desesperación mientras el padre del niño se apresuraba a conseguir ayuda para su hijo.

“Corrían hacia el auto y él no dejaba de decir: “Suban al auto, suban al auto””, dijo un residente.

Los vecinos dijeron que vieron a la familia cargar al menor hasta su vehículo antes de salir rápidamente para buscar ayuda médica.

“Los vimos con el niño, cargándolo”, dijo un residente. “La madre estaba muy alterada, todos subieron al auto y salieron a toda velocidad, y a los pocos minutos la Policía ya estaba aquí”.

Hasta el jueves, el niño permanecía en estado crítico.

St. Louis informó que detectives de las unidades de Escena del Crimen y Crímenes Violentos de la BSO investigan las circunstancias que rodean la balacera.

The agreement announced by Trump late Thursday could pave the way for ending the latest Israel-Hamas war that broke out on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants stormed southern Israel killing over 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians, including hundreds who perished after a ceasefire went into effect in Oct. 10.

Few places in the Palestinian territory of over 2 million people have been left unscathed, and the United Nations, World Bank and European Union estimate that reconstruction will cost $70 billion.

Hamas officials said the group has agreed to the disarmament agreement. Israel has not commented.

The Board of Peace will have a major role in overseeing the deal's implementation.

Here's what the group is and what it is expected to do:

What is the Board of Peace

The Board of Peace was first mentioned in September when the White House released Trump’s plan to end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan called on Hamas to surrender its weapons and destroy its vast network of tunnels. It also envisions Israeli forces withdrawing from Gaza, the arrival of a new technocratic Palestinian government, deployment of an international security force and the rebuilding of the battered Palestinian enclave after more than two years of war.

More than two dozen nations signed on as the board's founding members, including Israel and other regional heavyweights, as well as countries from outside the Middle East such as Indonesia, Paraguay and Vietnam.

Germany, Italy, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom are among more than a dozen countries that have not joined the board but took part in a February meeting as observers.

Israelis are suspicious of the involvement of Qatar and Turkey, which have longstanding relations with Hamas. Earlier this year, Palestinians objected because their representatives weren’t invited to the board, even as it weighs the future of a territory that is home to some 2 million of them.

A $1 billion contribution secures permanent membership on the board instead of a three-year appointment, which has no contribution requirement.

During the first meeting of the board in February in Washington, members pledged $7 billion in aid for Gaza — just a fraction of the $70 billion that international bodies say is needed to rebuild the territory. The board also announced plans for international troops and police, and for reconstruction. But no timeline was given.

How the board is involved in the new deal

The agreement was reached after months of “very difficult negotiations,” Nickolay Mladenov, the director-general of the Board of Peace in Gaza, said in comments posted on X. “There were several points when I did not believe we would make it,” he added.

Mladenov, a former Bulgarian defense and foreign minister who served as the U.N. envoy to Iraq before being appointed as the U.N. Mideast peace envoy from 2015-2020, added, “Implementation and verification have to be real” and “withdrawal must move in lockstep with decommissioning.”

The National Committee for The Administration of Gaza, a Palestinian technocratic body that operates under the supervision of the Board of Peace, is tasked with administering Gaza in the interim period after Hamas gives up control.

That includes setting up a new police force to replace the one previously run by Hamas and implementing the disarmament process - the details of which are not yet clear.

The NCAS said in a statement Friday that it is ready to assume responsibility for governing Gaza and restoring public services and the rule of law.

Ambitious Plans

In November, the Trump administration’s blueprint to secure and govern Gaza won strong approval at the United Nations.

Israel and the U.S. say Hamas’ disarmament is key to progress on the other fronts. Arab and Muslim members of the Board of Peace have accused Israel of undermining the ceasefire with its daily strikes and want the U.S. to rein in its close ally. They have called on Hamas to disarm but say Israel’s withdrawal is just as important.

Senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad, who is a member of the group’s negotiating team, told Qatar's Al Jazeera TV on Friday that the agreement is a “full package” of which Hamas’ disarmament is a part.

“Hamas and Palestinian factions are making concessions for the sake of our Palestinian people in Gaza,” Hamad said. He added that Hamas will not take any step unless they are sure that Israel will implement the deal from its side.

Israel defines demilitarization as extending from heavy weapons like rocket-propelled grenades all the way down to roughly 60,000 rifles that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says would have to be given up.

Trump — along with son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff — has laid out ambitious plans for rebuilding Gaza with international investment.

In Davos last year, Kushner suggested reconstruction could be complete in a matter of three years, even though U.N. forecasts suggest that clearing rubble and demining alone could take much longer.

Kushner’s slides showed a reconstructed Gaza with a coastal tourism strip, industrial zones and data centers. He conceded that rebuilding would begin only in demilitarized areas and that security would be essential to attract investment.

A stabilization force

The ceasefire deal also calls for a temporary International Stabilization Force made up of soldiers from Arab and Muslim-majority countries. Its mandate is not spelled out in detail, but would include securing aid deliveries, preventing weapons smuggling and vetting and training a Palestinian police force.

Maj. Gen. Jasper Jeffers, who is leading the effort, said in February the plans call for 12,000 police and 20,000 soldiers for Gaza.

Indonesia, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo and Albania have pledged to send troops for the force, while Egypt and Jordan have committed to train police.

Troops will initially be deployed to Rafah, a heavily damaged and largely depopulated city under full Israeli control, where the U.S. administration hopes to first focus reconstruction efforts.

The biggest blow to the planned force came about a week after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, when Indonesia put its commitment of 8,000 troops on indefinite hold. Some 1,000 were to have been sent in April, followed by the remainder in June.

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According to the Broward Sheriff’s Office, the shooting was reported at about 10:12 p.m. at the Windward Lakes Condominiums near the 4000 block of Southwest 15th Street.

BSO spokeswoman Gerdy St. Louis said as deputies and Pompano Beach Fire Rescue medics were heading to the scene, they were advised that the victim’s parents had transported the boy to a nearby fire station.

Medics there provided aid to the victim before he was transported to a local hospital for treatment, authorities said.

Neighbors who spoke to Local 10 News described the frantic moments as the boy’s father rushed to get his son help.

“They were running to the car and he just kept saying, ‘Get in the car, get in the car,’” one resident said.

Neighbors said they saw the family carrying the child to their vehicle before rushing away to get medical help.

“We saw them with the child, like, carrying him,” one resident said. “The mother was very upset and they all go in the car and sped away, and within minutes the police were here.”

As of Thursday, the boy was listed in critical condition.

St. Louis said detectives with BSO’s Crime Scene and Violent Crimes units are investigating the circumstances surrounding the shooting.

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Deputies on Friday said the man, who has not been identified, was stabbed at an unknown time and in an unknown location before he was eventually found outside of Northside Supermarket, located at 7990 NW 32nd Ave.

Authorities said Miami-Dade Fire Rescue medics transported him to a nearby hospital for treatment.

They said MDSO detectives responded to the scene and are investigating the circumstances surrounding the stabbing.

No other details about the stabbing were immediately released.

Anyone with information is urged to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.

Agentes informaron el viernes que el hombre, cuya identidad no ha sido revelada, fue apuñalado en un momento y lugar aún desconocidos antes de que finalmente lo encontraran afuera del Northside Supermarket, ubicado en el 7990 de la avenida 32 del noroeste.

Las autoridades informaron que paramédicos de Miami-Dade Fire Rescue lo trasladaron a un hospital cercano para recibir tratamiento.

Indicaron que detectives de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade respondieron al lugar e investigan las circunstancias que rodean el apuñalamiento.

No se divulgaron de inmediato más detalles sobre el apuñalamiento.

Cualquier persona con información debe comunicarse con Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers al 305-471-8477.

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The stabbing was reported at an apartment complex in the 12800 block of Vista Isles Drive.

According to Sunrise police, the victim sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to a local hospital for treatment.

A motive for the stabbing remains unclear.

No other details were immediately released.

El apuñalamiento fue reportado en un complejo de apartamentos ubicado en la cuadra 12800 de Vista Isles Drive.

Según la Policía de Sunrise, la víctima sufrió heridas que no ponen en peligro su vida y fue trasladada a un hospital local para recibir tratamiento.

El motivo del apuñalamiento aún no está claro.

No se divulgaron de inmediato más detalles.

The 19-year-old Agbayani, who is the son of former Mets fan favorite Benny Agbayani, is a middle infielder who hit .268 in 10 games for Fort Myers in low Class A this season. The sixth-round 2025 draft pick, a native of Hawaii, has been limited by injuries.

The 23-year-old Amick batted .217 with 23 homers in 86 games for Double-A Wichita this season, playing first and third base. He was a second-round draft pick in 2024.

Minter had a 2.35 ERA in 23 innings with 20 strikeouts and only two walks. He didn't make his season debut until May 26, going more than a year between major league appearances. His 2025 season ended after 13 appearances when he injured his left lat muscle in his back and needed surgery.

Minter signed a two-year, $22 million contract with the Mets in 2025. His 2024 season with the Atlanta Braves also was cut short by a torn labrum in his left hip, but when he's been healthy he's been one of baseball's most effective late-game lefties. The 33-year-old, who was a second-round 2015 draft pick by the Braves, has a 3.18 ERA with 456 strikeouts in 382 2/3 innings over 420 career appearances.

Minter likely will be the first of multiple Mets players moved before the trade deadline on Monday. They have the second-worst record in the National League.

The Twins, who started a nine-game road trip at Seattle on Friday, have a 4.92 relief ERA that ranks fifth worst in the major leagues. They lead the American League in runs scored and entered Friday one game out of a wild card spot.

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Las negociaciones son encabezadas por miembros de la actual Asamblea Nacional de Venezuela, de abrumadora mayoría oficialista, y un grupo de exlegisladores opositores que en su momento intentaron destituir al entonces presidente Nicolás Maduro y cuenta con la mediación de Estados Unidos.

“Espero que finalmente esta gente (el gobierno) entienda que con las arbitrariedades de siempre no vamos a salir adelante, deben respetar los acuerdos”, dijo Soraida Martínez, un ama de casa de 58 años. “Los dos deben ceder por el bien del país”, agregó.

El primer encuentro se realizará casi siete semanas después de una reunión en Caracas entre el presidente del Legislativo, Jorge Rodríguez —hermano de la presidenta encargada Delcy Rodríguez— y la exdiputada Dinorah Figuera, quien regresó brevemente al país luego de casi ocho años en el exilio. Washington fue el principal impulsor de la iniciativa.

Figuera anticipó que la prioridad es desarrollar una agenda institucional por encima de los intereses de las distintas organizaciones políticas del país, como lo ha planteado la administración de Donald Trump.

Después de que fuerzas estadounidenses capturaran a Maduro y a su esposa en enero, el gobierno de Trump propuso un plan de tres fases para Venezuela que incluye la estabilización, recuperación y transición democrática.

La administración de Trump entiende que la agenda debe contemplar prioridades como la reconstrucción de las instituciones democráticas de Venezuela, el fortalecimiento del Consejo Nacional Electoral (CNE), de mayoría oficialista; el restablecimiento de garantías duraderas para la participación política y la salvaguarda de las libertades cívicas “esenciales para un debate político abierto”, destacó el Departamento de Estado en un comunicado emitido luego de la reunión Rodríguez y Figuera.

Los negociadores han dicho que además van a convocar a la unidad nacional para enfrentar las consecuencias de los dos potentes terremotos que sacudieron el país en 24 de junio y dejaron más de 5.500 fallecidos, 16.700 heridos y más de 20.000 personas sin hogar, según el más reciente reporte oficial.

En 2023 Figuera fue escogida para representar a los exlegisladores opositores de la Asamblea Nacional de 2015. Ese Poder Legislativo, de mayoría opositora, fue considerado ampliamente como la última institución de Venezuela elegida democráticamente.

Pese al fracaso de los cuatro anteriores procesos de diálogo —entre 2017 y 2024— una gran mayoría espera un buen resultado de la negociación dada la inédita situación política del país tras la destitución de Maduro (2013-2026) y la influencia estadounidense en el gobierno de Rodríguez.

Muchos consideran que esta vez sería posible lograr acuerdos mínimos que permitan mejorar la situación del país.

Los analistas, sin embargo, coinciden también en que una transición a la democracia luce todavía lejana y advierten que una elección libre será el final de un largo proceso. La fijación de un calendario y condiciones electorales no parece algo inmediato.

La transición a la democracia “no arranca con el inicio de un proceso de diálogo, se inicia con un reconocimiento y una restitución de garantías que han sido violadas”, dijo John Magdaleno, consultor político y profesor de la Universidad Católica Andrés Bello.

Según Magdaleno, primero deben restituirse libertades civiles y derechos políticos como la libertad de opinión y expresión, de prensa, de reunión y de asociación, la inviolabilidad de las comunicaciones privadas y otras garantías que protegen, aseguran y hacen cumplir los derechos humanos.

The Cuban government announced yesterday at the closing of the annual National Assembly meeting that they are considering allowing Cuban exiles to visit the island, stay as long as they want and invest in Cuba.

However, Cuban exiles with U.S. citizenship still face some U.S. restrictions imposed by the U.S. Treasury Department.

July 30: Cuban government announces elimination of 92,000 government jobs

The Cuban government announced this morning the elimination of 92,000 government jobs. A state worker in Cuba makes on the average $16-$18 per month.

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Meanwhile, Cuba’s Prime Minister Manuel Marrero announced this week that Cuba was creating its first private bank under the Central Bank of Cuba, which is run by the Cuban government, and its president serves on the Council of Ministers of the government.

Why would any foreign investor want to invest in such a system with no protection for their money?

July 29 update: 5 leading economists in Cuba release report entitled ‘A Proposal to Transform the Cuban Economy.’

Five leading economists in Cuba just released a report entitled “A Proposal to Transform the Cuban Economy.” The document lays out a structural diagnosis of the current economic crisis facing the nation and proposes, as a strategic goal, the creation of a social market economy underpinned by a democratic state governed by the rule of law.

While the report is good, the problem that I see is the creation of a democratic state. We must remember that Cuba did not have a democracy before the start of the Cuban Revolution in 1959. To transition a totalitarian state that has had a centralized economy for almost 68 years could take time. Time that Cuba and its population do not have given the current economic crisis.

July 27 update: 73 years after start of Cuban Revolution

Yesterday marked the 73^rd anniversary since Fidel Castro, Raul Castro and their group of rebels attacked the Moncada Military Barracks in Santiago de Cuba. July 26, 1953 is considered the start of the Cuban Revolution.

Like Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken”, the Cuban revolution took a path that destroyed the country and “never looked back.” Today, Cuba is at the end of what Fidel called its glory days.

July 24 update: Trump Administration announces series of new sanctions against Cuba

On Thursday, the Trump Administration announced a series of new sanctions against Cuba targeting the government’s military conglomerate Gaesa. However, this time it includes companies like Coral S. A. that took over operations from some sectors of GAESA to avoid U.S. sanctions and keep import operations in Cuba functioning.

The question many academics that follow Cuba like me are asking is whether the U.S. strategy moving forward is to force Cuba to eventually sell some of GAESA’s assets to the U.S.

July 23 update: US continues to send mixed signals as to what will be done with Cuba

This past Monday, the U.S. Department of State issued a 100-page report entitled “Cuba: The Capital of 21^st Century Communism” that outlined why Cuba is a national security threat not only to the U.S., but to the entire world. The Cuban government reacted at once and not only criticized the report but blamed Secretary of State Marco Rubio with threatening the island nation.

On Wednesday at a press conference in the Philippines, Rubio, when asked by a reporter what the U.S. plan was for Cuba, used a much more diplomatic tone and said the U.S. is still willing to negotiate with Cuba.

Washington continues to send mixed signals as to what will be done with Cuba. What we do know is that the strategy used in Venezuela did not bring about regime change.

July 21 update: First humanitarian aid from US will arrive in Cuba

Today, the first humanitarian aid will arrive in Cuba as part of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s offer to help the Cuban people as they experience the worst economic situation since the early 1990’s. Today’s cargo includes 700 hygiene kits and 700 food items to be distributed directly to the Cuban people by Catholic Relief Services Caritas Cuba and other faith-based organizations.

Secretary Rubio wants to let the Cuban people clearly know that the U.S. stands behind them and is willing to continue to help them as part of the U.S. commitment of $100 million in humanitarian aid.

July 20 update: Cuba releases artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara

This past Saturday, Cuba released artist and opposition leader Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara after serving five years in jail. Otero Alcantara was one of the leaders of the San Isidro movement that led to large protests across the island nation five years ago.

Upon arriving in Miami, Otero Alcantara thanked the Cuban American community for its support and asked Cuba to release all political prisoners in jail.

July 16 update: US Department of Defense pays $3 million to US personnel affected by Havana Syndrome

The U.S. Department of Defense has paid $3 million in compensation to U.S. personnel affected by the mysterious condition known as Havana Syndrome, making the first payment under the 2021 Havana Act.

Havana Syndrome first appeared in 2016 when U.S. diplomats and intelligence officers in Havana, Cuba reported unusual symptoms, including intense head pressure, dizziness, nausea, hearing disturbances and memory problems.

July 14 update: New U.S. sanctions increase pressure on Cuba’s military-run economy

The United States on Monday introduced new sanctions targeting companies controlled by GAESA, Cuba’s military economic conglomerate, as well as some of the military brigades responsible for suppressing protests like the ones we saw the other day.

How much longer can the Cuban government hold on? Information continues to reach U.S. officials indicating that there are sectors within the Cuban government that are increasingly concerned about how much longer they can survive without negotiating with the U.S. government before facing a complete collapse of their system.

July 10 update: Does Raul Castro’s grandson have the full authority to negotiate for the Cuban government?

As I expected, there seems to be a small crack within the inner circle of the Cuban government. Some have criticized Raulito (Raul Castro’s grandson) for offering to negotiate directly with President Trump. The criticism comes as to whether he has the full authority to negotiate for the Cuban government or is he just negotiating for the Castro family?

Yesterday, the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) backed Raulito’s efforts, but the military leadership has remained quiet.

July 8 update: United Nations has no legal right to lift U.S. embargo on Cuba

Every year, Cuba argues in front of the United Nations that the U.S. economic embargo is the cause for their economic problems. Each year, Cuba loses more support for their argument. The United Nations has no legitimate or legal right to lift the embargo. The U.S. Congress can only lift the embargo.

The Cuban government propaganda machine has failed. Most Cubans on the island, including economists on the island, blame the Cuban government for their current poor economic conditions.

July 6 update: Raul Castro’s grandson says Cuba is willing to negotiate with US

Reuters reported earlier this morning that Raul Castro’s grandson Raulito, known as “El Cangrejo,” announced that Cuba is willing to negotiate with the U.S. The question we need to ask ourselves is whether Raulito is negotiating on behalf of the Castro family or the Cuban government?

We know that Cuba has been selling some of their assets, including some belonging to the military economic conglomerate GAESA in the last couple of weeks. Cuba’s attempt to invite foreign investment has not attracted many takers for the fear of losing their money.

July 2 update: Cuba’s culture of fear complicates a Democratic transition

When we talk about Cuba, we usually concentrate on their centralized political and economic system. However, we fail to recognize that individuals that have lived under totalitarian regimes have had to survive under a culture of fear. Such system of government creates a psychological set of attitudes and values that help define the daily behavior in order to align the people’s wants and needs to the restrictions imposed by the government.

To break such behaviors could take years of psychological training and change. Therefore, transitioning a totalitarian state to support a transition to some form of a Democratic government could take time.

Dr. Andy S. Gomez’s June updates can be viewed by clicking here.

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

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Claudia Caglianone’s family said she was detained earlier this month at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

“When people hear about detainees, the picture that comes to mind is somebody that they’ve been told to fear,” said her cousin, Gabriel Dominguez. “When I think of that, I think of a young woman who spent the majority of her life trying to do the right thing.”

The family said Caglianone moved to the United States in 2017, applied for asylum shortly after arriving and received Temporary Protected Status in 2023 while her asylum case remains pending.

“So here we are, standing together and doing the very thing for her that she’s done for so many of us — to show up,” Dominguez said.

He also called his cousin “living proof that the reality is much more complicated than any narrative that could be painted.”

The family said Caglianone spent time at the Miramar detention facility before being transferred to the Pompano Beach facility.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz visited the facility on behalf of the family.

She said she had no concerns about the conditions inside but remains worried about those being held there.

“I am very concerned that there are 671 people in this facility that shouldn’t be here, that should not have been detained in the first place,” Wasserman Schultz said.

“We’ll continue to show up until we bring her home,” Dominguez said.

“(The) Jackson leadership team tells me there’s about 50 Haitian employees who are subject to be terminated due to the TPS (Temporary Protected Status) being revoked by Washington, and it puts a wear and tear on the remaining staff,” she said. “Missed lunches, double shifts; it puts a financial burden on the hospital.”

In a statement provided to Local 10 News, a spokesperson for Jackson Health System said contingency staffing plans to prevent disruptions to patient care are in place, including overtime.

“You know, to pay overtime alone is silly when you just had somebody yesterday who was well-trained,” said Baker. “At Jackson, with our mission to take care of all residents regardless of your ability to pay, it’s just a shame that we would put more stress on the system. Jackson struggles every day to break even.”

The hospital group added that 50 employees affected is a small fraction of their 15,000 employees.

There was a similar sentiment from the spokesperson for Broward Health who told Local 10 News that the 47 staff members impacted there represents less than 1% of their total workforce.

A spokesperson for Memorial Healthcare System told Local 10 News they had 27 impacted employees out of 17,000.

“While it may seem like a small number with only 50 being affected, 50 is a big number,” said Baker. “That’s a big number to hire.”

That is especially true for those with specialized nursing skills, like the two she says who worked in the transplant unit.

“Almost similar to an ICU or a step down unit because these patients are so sick and it takes so long, not everybody can work that floor unless you’ve been properly trained,” said Baker. “Two of our Haitian nurses are being sent back.”

She added that filling those vacancies can also take a financial toll.

“They say for every nurse you lose, you lose $100,000, and that’s the cost it takes to hire, to train, to process, to precept, and when they’re what we call non-productive while they’re training for eight to 12 weeks, we’re paying them,” said Baker. “Those dollars add up, all the way back to advertising for a vacancy, and interviewing, adding all the time put together -- it’s a significant cost and loss to the system.”

This is happening at a time the Jackson Health System is experiencing patient growth and is actively hiring.

Baker also responded to the the claim that TPS beneficiaries with work permits take jobs away from American citizens.

“That’s a myth in healthcare because there’s too many vacancies in healthcare,” she said. “The problem is, can we survive the shortages we’re challenged with? So I can’t believe anybody would be turned away from a job in healthcare because some immigrant got it over them. That’s kind of, I think, more politics at its worst. A divisiveness.”

Baker made a plea to those in Congress who have the power to make a difference.

“Do your job,” she said. “We love our Haitian members in our community and at Jackson. It’s disgusting that our senators are allowing this to happen. We are sending our Haitian teammates back to what is probably one the most dangerous countries on Earth today.”

Baker also offered advice for the people being impacted by the loss of TPS.

“Everyone asking, what should I do? Should I show up to work? The main thing I tell them is to speak with your employer,” she said. “You are not allowed to work while unauthorized in the country, but there are different cases, some TPS recruitments who have filed for other forms of relief, so those individuals are a little safer, but it is up to your employer. The employer knows the law, that they cannot have someone working who is unauthorized to do so in the United States. So when I say don’t panic, make sure that you have all your affairs in order, get all your immigration affairs in order, all your personal affairs in order.”

She went on to say that many still feel they are in “legal limbo” because lower courts still need to weigh in on an exact timeline for executing final administrative orders.

“This is not the time to be missing any immigration hearings, any appointments, any ICE check-ins, and I understand there’s a well-founded fear of being arrested, and I can’t guarantee, no attorney can guarantee that that’s not going happen,” Baker said. “But I would rather you proceed with the proper procedures than for you to sit here and then there’s a final order of removal because now it just becomes more issues for you.”

Full statement from Jackson Health System:

Jackson Health System recognizes that the expiration of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is a difficult and uncertain time for affected employees and their families. Jackson has worked closely with these employees to submit any documentation that could establish continued work authorization. Federal law requires that employees whose work authorization expires and who cannot provide alternative eligibility documentation can no longer remain employed. Jackson has continued to employ affected team members for as long as federal TPS extensions remained in effect, and we would welcome them back should they regain work authorization.

Approximately 50 employees are affected, a small fraction of our 15,000+ team members. We have contingency staffing plans, including per diem staff, agency personnel, and overtime, to ensure uninterrupted, high-quality patient care throughout this transition.

Krysten Brenlla, Media Relations & Branded Content Manager, Jackson Health System

U.S. Army veteran and nurse Cynthia Dominique described how she would tackle the district’s severe financial challenges if elected.

“I believe we have to take a holistic approach,” she said. “We have to find a way to pay our teachers more, including the staff who make learning possible -- the bus drivers, the cafeteria workers, the custodian staff.”

Candidate Rochelle “Shelly” Soffer is a school speech language pathologist and former teacher.

“When we get the budget, we have to scrutinize the budget,” she said. “Where are we over-spending? Where are we under-spending when we make these allocations? When we make these projections, where are the projections not aligning?”

Both candidates detailed how they would address the district’s declining enrollment as families opt out of traditional public school.

“Why are they looking at these other avenues? What is it that we are not doing as a county that would make them come back?” asked Soffer. “Now we’ve heard safety and security, but we also gotta look at programming.”

Said Dominique: “The programs that we implement, the technology that we implement, we should be scrutinizing everything to make sure it’s actually improving student outcomes and we’re getting a return on our investment.”

School board elections are nonpartisan.

While you do have to be registered to vote, you are not required to be registered with a political party in order to vote for who you want to see represent your district on the school board.

The election is set for Aug. 18.

Trump is taking Friday’s Cabinet meeting on the road — to the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland. It's the first Cabinet meeting at Camp David in Trump’s second term after an earlier attempt in May was scuttled because of bad weather.

Trump said Thursday he may pull acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination for the full-time post to avoid conceding to Senate Republicans’ demands over a sweeping tax audit immunity deal benefiting the president and members of his family.

Here's the Latest:

Trump has wrapped up the public portion of his Cabinet meeting

The president gave a lengthy opening statement, heard from top officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and answered questions on Iran and array of other topics.

He has now asked the press and cameras to leave, meaning the rest of the meeting’s proceedings won’t happen in view of the public.

Trump steps back from pledge to let Ukraine make Patriot interceptors

Asked about his previous commitment to give Ukraine a license to make Patriot air defense systems to counter Russian missiles, Trump said, “We have not agreed to that.”

“We’re talking about it. But it’s a hard thing to give away that kind of technology,” Trump said at his Cabinet meeting on Friday.

“I don’t think this would ever happen, but you know there’s people that, you give that technology, they can someday turn on you,” Trump added. “You look at war, that’s happened a couple of times over the years, right? So we have to be very careful.”

It was a contrast to earlier remarks from the sidelines of the NATO summit this month, where Trump said, “We’ll give them the right to make Patriots.”

Trump said he discussed the topic with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy when they met in Washington on Tuesday. Zelenskyy also met with senators to make a case for why Ukraine needs the interceptors.

Trump claims Iran war helped drive Hamas to disarmament agreement

The president during his Cabinet meeting said the newly-minted agreement aimed at leading to disarmament of the Palestinian group Hamas and Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and transition of oversight of the territory to a civilian body will have “ups and downs.”

Still, he said this week’s agreement is a “great breakthrough” that has been helped along by the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran, which has served as Hamas’ prime backer.

“Nobody’s ever thought that would be possible to disarm Hamas,” Trump said. “That shows you how much success we’re having with Iran, because if you go four months ago or five months ago, a deal like that would have been impossible.”

RFK Jr talks about first visiting Camp David 6-plus decades ago

Trump health chief Robert Kennedy Jr. said he was visiting the presidential retreat on Friday for the first time in about 62 years.

“My father loved this place, my uncle loved this place,” said Kennedy, who is the son of former Attorney General and New York Sen. Robert Kennedy.

He said that his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, was resentful of his predecessor, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, for naming it Camp David after Eisenhower’s grandson.

Kennedy said that had his uncle lived to a second term, he planned to rename the retreat Shangri-La, which was its original moniker before Eisenhower changed it.

Kennedy also cheered Trump for allowing reporters in the compound, saying Trump had opened “inner sanctum” of the presidency.

Trump later pointed to a picture of John F. Kennedy on the wall and said he was a “handsome guy.”

Trump says the anti-weaponization fund is ‘dead’

The comments came after the president spent the morning defending the $1.8 billion fund on social media.

“It is dead,” Trump said. “But I wish it weren’t, to be honest with you.”

Trump continued to defend the people who could potentially benefit from the fund, mainly those who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

“Their families have been ruined,” Trump said. Those people “wanted to go to a rally or an event and ended up spending the rest of their lives in horror.”

Trump acknowledged that Blanche, his attorney general pick, has been a “pawn in this whole thing.”

Trump says ‘we just want to win’ in Iran

The president has previously insisted that Iran has been “completely defeated” militarily. But in his engagement with reporters at Camp David on Friday, he acknowledged that he expects U.S. military action will likely continue for some time.

“We’ll be hitting them very hard,” Trump said. “You know, at some point they’re going to say, ‘We just can’t take it anymore.’”

Trump cheers Clayton for first Cabinet meeting

Jay Clayton, confirmed earlier this week as the new director of national intelligence, is at Camp David for his first formal Cabinet meeting.

Clayton was confirmed by the Senate on party lines earlier this week.

“He’s with us today, as you know,” Trump said. “He’s had a big victory.”

Trump said of Clayton, a former federal prosecutor and chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission: “His whole life has been about doing a fantastic job.”

Trump says he doesn’t think International Criminal Court is targeting him but ‘it could happen’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio complained that the international court based in the Hague was very arrogant and had unfairly targeted leaders around the world.

That prompted the president to interject: “There’s no indication they’re after me. It could happen.” He didn’t elaborate, but his suggestion drew laughter from Cabinet members.

Trump said Rubio wasn’t trying to defend him personally, but instead wanted to shield other court targets. He said that could include people like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“There is no indication that I’m one of them, at this moment,” Trump added again for emphasis, drawing still more laughter.

Trump says US could see surge of migrants like Spain if Republicans don’t win midterms

Spain is grappling to respond after some 60,000 migrants crossed from Morocco into Spain’s tiny Ceuta territory in the past 24 hours.

Roughly half of them have already made their way back voluntarily, according to the Spanish government, but Trump suggested the moment should be taken as a warning to U.S. voters as midterm elections near.

“You know I saw Spain yesterday and I watched the catastrophe that took place. It looks like an invasion of a country by hundreds of thousands of people,” Trump said. “And that same thing is going to happen to us if the Republicans don’t get elected. Except worse, much bigger.”

Trump also criticized Spain’s left wing government led by Pedro Sánchez, claiming the country’s “weak law, bad management” is to blame.

US to make visa bond requirements permanent, affecting mostly African countries

The State Department is making permanent a pilot program under which citizens from 50 countries, mainly in Africa, are required to post bonds to apply for a U.S. visa, and it’s raising the cost as well, to as much as $20,000.

A draft notice published Friday in the Federal Register says a review “provided sufficient data” to suggest the bond program effectively enforces compliance, and would be made permanent by the end of August. The notice is to be formally published on Monday. Additional countries may be added to the list, found here.

The program requires holders of passports from the affected countries to pay the bond when being interviewed for business and tourist visas. The regulation says the bond will be refunded if the application is denied or after the person leaves the United States.

The Trump administration rolled out the program as a way of cracking down on visa overstays.

Trump starts Cabinet meeting at Camp David

The president began his Cabinet meeting Friday by saying his team was meeting in a “very special room.”

The White House has tried to highlight that this was the first televised Cabinet meeting at the presidential retreat.

Trump said he invited the news media to watch because he believes in “transparency,” before turning to his standard talking points about the economy and border security, among other issues.

CEO defends Exxon’s performance at a time of global supply shortages

American refineries are running at near-full capacity and poised to benefit because some refineries in the Middle East and Russia were damaged. And Asia can’t get the amount of Middle East oil needed for refining.

“Penalizing the businesses who stood by those countries and provided that product going forward is very short-sighted,” Exxon CEO Darren Woods said in a call with investors Friday. “We canceled investments that we had planned for Europe based on the last time they passed a windfall profits tax.”

Lawmakers propose taxing the war profits of major oil producers

Exxon and Chevron don’t set the price of American oil, which has ricocheted between $68 and $115 a barrel, driven by supply and demand, and what traders, refiners and other buyers are willing to pay.

Democrats nevertheless hope to tax major oil producers for profits from 2026 onward and redistribute that revenue to consumers.

“It’s fair to put a windfall profits tax on inordinate windfall profits rather than cut off children’s food programs,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse. His measure and a companion bill by Rep. Ro Khanna of California would impose a per-barrel tax on companies that produced or imported at least 300,000 barrels of oil per day in 2025.

The UK and other European countries have extended temporary windfall profits taxes on fossil fuel companies to 2030, according to Tax Foundation Europe.

Critics say the energy company windfalls are unjustified

“There are constituencies around the world who are having a very good crisis, and the oil producers are one of them,” said Patrick Galey, fossil fuels lead at Global Witness, a nonprofit organization that investigates environmental issues.

“When you compare that to the hundreds of millions of people who are struggling with rolling blackouts, with electricity curbs, rationing, waiting in line for food queues, or the disruption to fertilizers and the potential impact that that has on food prices, we don’t think that it’s a justifiable price for the rest of the world to be paying.”

Major oil companies reap massive profits as US and Iran fighting drives energy prices higher

American oil and gas giants are announcing huge spring windfalls thanks to the fighting between Iran and the U.S. that made consumers around the world pay more for fuel.

Exxon Mobil on Friday reported that its second quarter profits doubled to $14.53 billion, boosted by record diesel production. The oil giant, based in Spring, Texas, brought in $116.02 billion in revenue, up 42%. Chevron, based in Houston, nearly quadrupled its profits to $12.07 billion and revenue jumped 56% to $70.06 billion.

Six of Europe’s largest oil companies posted combined first-quarter profits of $22 billion, more than 40% higher than last year.

Saudi Arabia announces Red Sea defense alliance plan

The kingdom said the alliance includes 14 countries to strengthen maritime security, safeguard freedom of navigation and secure international trade routes and energy supply corridors in the Red Sea region.

The Iran war has severely disrupted global shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Yemen’s Houthi rebels have declared a blockade on Saudi Arabia over a separate but related conflict, putting at risk another major trade corridor.

Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that the coalition is “defensive in nature,” and that access “remains open to all willing countries.” Oman and the United Arab Emirates were the only two Gulf countries that did not back Saudi Arabia’s statement. Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan were among those that joined the proposed alliance.

Latest developments in the Iran conflict

No U.S. strikes were reported in Iran on Friday.

Iran fired drones at Kuwait, a Gulf country hosting U.S. forces, and said it had also fired at oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for global oil and gas shipments, which has been largely closed by the fighting.

Kuwait’s Defense Ministry said Friday its armed forces had shot down drones inside Kuwaiti airspace. It said the Iranian attacks had targeted several vital military facilities, causing material damage from falling shrapnel but no casualties. It did not specify how many drones were intercepted. Iranian state media said Iran had targeted an air base in Kuwait with drones, in retaliation for U.S. strikes on Thursday.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed to have hit two oil tankers attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian state media said four other tankers had turned around. The report did not provide further details on which flags or ownership the tankers were sailing under, or say whether there were any casualties.

FIFA chief operating officer tells AP that staff was ‘deceived’ by World Cup sell-off plan that ‘must not go ahead’

FIFA’s chief operating officer Kevin Lamour said in a statement to The Associated Press that the staff was “deceived” by Gianni Infantino’s lack of openness while planning the scheme to sell a World Cup stake to private investors linked to Trump’s family.

“It is the project of one person,” wrote Lamour, a long-time colleague of Infantino at both FIFA and UEFA. “Not only must this project not go ahead … but the time has now come for football political leaders to ask themselves the right questions and make the right decisions.”

Lamour did not resign the post he held since 2024 but said he had a duty to his colleagues to speak out about the “contempt and intimidation” FIFA staff has faced.

“And if that means I lose my job, then so be it” the French official said. “I will understand and respect that decision. At least I’ll sleep well tonight.”

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Wisconsin Democrats shaken by Mandela Barnes’ exit from governor’s race

The former lieutenant governor’s announcement came Thursday amid news that the state party had reviewed past allegations of inappropriate behavior, further shaking up the race less than two weeks before the Aug. 11 primary in Wisconsin, where independents and moderates are key voters and where Trump won two razor-thin elections.

That leaves four Democrats, including most prominently Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who rejoined the race with the endorsement of Gov. Tony Evers after Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez ended her run amid a campaign finance scandal two weeks ago, and insurgent democratic socialist State Rep. Francesca Hong, running far to the left.

The single mother and former line cook has captured the imaginations of liberal Democrats upset with the party establishment, but she’s raised concerns that her past calls for defunding the police will hurt her chances against Trump-backed Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany in November.

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Details on disarmament from the Hamas statement

Hamas said Friday that it’s committed to implementing the Gaza ceasefire agreement, including the new roadmap focused on the steps it needs to take to disarm.

The group’s statement says it and other Palestinian factions agreed to the framework as part of a national consensus to protect people in Gaza and help meet their humanitarian needs.

It said Israel must adhere to the ceasefire deal agreed to in October and halt its attacks in order for implementation to move forward, echoing language in the new roadmap released Friday by the Board of Peace.

The agreement calls for Hamas, which ran the government in Gaza, to first turn over all police weapons to a national committee of technocrats responsible for administering the strip. Only later, once the Israeli military withdraws from Gaza, would it be required to decommission and hand over its heavier weapons, according to the text.

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Democratic candidates grapple with ‘defund the police’ baggage

With midterm elections looming, Democrats hope to convince voters that Trump administration lawlessness is the biggest threat to their rights and pocketbooks. The party’s past debates over crime and safety threaten to undermine that pitch.

Across the country, Democratic candidates are facing tough questions about their past calls to “defund the police” by reimagining public safety services or redirecting spending to other social programs — a prominent demand during the protests that followed George Floyd’s death.

Democratic leaders fear the outlier opinions may sink their chances of gaining ground in Congress, governor’s mansions and statehouses as the party’s rising left flank captivates its base, just as Republicans stoke fears about crime, immigration and democratic socialism in their closing midterm message.

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Asian soccer joins Europe and North America in opposing World Cup privatization plan

The Asian Football Confederation, a key ally in Gianni Infantino’s presidency of global soccer, has joined UEFA and CONCACAF in protesting his plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private equity investors tied to the Trump family.

“Football should never have been placed in such a position,” said the Asian soccer body. Together with Europe and North America, they count 136 of FIFA’s 211 members.

“Some things are simply too important to sell,” UEFA said in a statement Thursday announcing a boycott of FIFA events.

Infantino’s secret proposal revealed Tuesday would spin off its commercial operations in a new $20 billion subsidiary 20% owned by private investors, whose core investor would be a New York investment firm created by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Trump swings at Cornyn over Blanche nomination

Trump, still frustrated about the status of his attorney general pick, began his Friday morning by going after one of the Republican senators who was holding up Todd Blanche’s confirmation to lead the Justice Department.

Continuing a criticism he began earlier this week, Trump said Texas Sen. John Cornyn had no issue with the $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund until after he endorsed his primary challenger, Ken Paxton, for the Senate.

In the post, Trump also continued to defend the controversial fund, which Blanche said in his Senate testimony was dead. Republican senators want him to put that commitment into writing.

“Perhaps there has never been a group of people treated so badly in our Nation’s history,” Trump said. “They are suffering still, many ruined, and I felt that they should be given compensation for what has been done to them.”

Blanche met privately with Cornyn and North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis over the issue later Thursday and the sides were working collaboratively, although Blanche’s confirmation prospects still remain unclear.

FIFA adviser on White House’s World Cup panel resigns to protest Infantino private equity plan

Senior FIFA adviser Carlos Cordeiro, who represented the soccer body on the White House Task Force for the World Cup, resigned Friday to protest its private equity plan.

“I cannot stand by while FIFA considers selling a stake in the World Cup,” Cordeiro, a former Goldman Sachs banker, said in a statement resigning as adviser to FIFA President Gianni Infantino that urged other senior FIFA staff to speak out.

Cordeiro often joined Infantino on working visits to meet Trump at the White House in recent years.

“Let me be clear. I had no involvement in this proposal, and I oppose it unequivocally,” the former U.S. Soccer Federation president said, calling the $20 billion commercial subsidiary “a bad deal for football.”

“Football has been central to my life, and after more than 35 years in banking, I understand both the value of this asset and the consequences of giving part of it away” he said. “That is why this proposal should be rejected.”

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The Trump administration is ending a Medicare drug subsidy program. Here’s how it could affect costs

Millions of older adults on Medicare prescription drug coverage could face steeper monthly costs in 2027, after the Trump administration concludes a temporary subsidy program that has helped offset premiums for the past two years.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services this week announced it would wrap up the program, which was initially implemented by the Biden administration in 2024 to lower patients’ Medicare Part D prescription drug costs in response to the effects of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.

While federal officials insist the financial impact on Medicare beneficiaries will be minimal, the decision opens the Republican-led administration to potential political consequences in a high-stakes midterm election year. Voters have identified cost of living as a top concern, and many older adults, who tend to vote in high numbers, are on fixed incomes where every dollar counts. The roughly 25 million Americans with Medicare Part D plans will find out about their 2027 rates in the fall, when they are casting ballots in November’s elections.

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Trump floats pulling Blanche’s nomination for attorney general to avoid conceding to GOP demands

Trump said Thursday he may pull acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination for the full-time post to avoid conceding to Senate Republicans’ demands over a sweeping tax audit immunity deal benefiting the president and members of his family.

After failed negotiations forced the delay of a committee vote to advance Blanche’s nomination, Trump suggested he was holding firm against pressure from Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis. They have expressed concerns about the controversial settlement of Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, which a judge denounced as an exercise in self-dealing.

The senators said the Justice Department seemed interested in reaching an agreement with them, but the White House wouldn’t budge to aid the confirmation of Trump’s loyal former personal attorney, who has aggressively pursued the administration’s priorities as acting attorney general. Instead, Trump said in a social media post that he might pull Blanche’s nomination and resubmit it after Cornyn and Tillis leave office next year.

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Trump is taking his Friday Cabinet meeting on the road to Camp David

Trump told his Cabinet members to meet him at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland, a rustic backdrop for the Trump administration sessions that have come to be known for being overly long and consumed by endless praise for their boss.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the 13th such meeting of the Republican president’s second term “will be a lot of fun and something different for the Cabinet to experience together.”

An earlier attempt in May was scuttled because of bad weather. During his first term, Trump held a Cabinet meeting at the retreat.

The public portion of Trump’s Cabinet meetings has lasted as long as three hours, with the president letting everyone at the table update him on their departments or agencies — with added praise for him personally and his leadership thrown in. In a departure from other presidents, he allows the news media to stay for the duration, a move that Leavitt has said proves his commitment to transparency.

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Trump announces a deal for Hamas to disarm in Gaza, but many hurdles and uncertainty remain

A Hamas official said Friday that they did reach an agreement on disarmament, the most crucial part of the ceasefire deal. Israel didn’t give an indication that they had agreed.

Trump said Thursday that a deal has been reached for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw its forces from Gaza, but many hurdles, conditions and long timelines remained to wind down the war in the Palestinian territory.

The White House announcement comes nine months after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire was signed. Negotiations between Israel and Hamas had largely deadlocked over the implementation of its second phase, including the disarmament of Hamas and the reconstruction of Gaza.

Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan calls on the militant group to surrender its weapons and destroy its vast network of tunnels. It also envisions Israeli forces withdrawing from Gaza, the arrival of a new technocratic Palestinian government, deployment of an international security force and the rebuilding of the battered Palestinian enclave.

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Lugo, who speaks only Spanish, said someone found Coco and brought him to Sandy Paws K-9 Rescue in Fort Lauderdale. But when she went to claim him, the rescue said she did not have enough proof of ownership to take him home.

“When the deputy arrived, he told me to stay outside while he went in to see what was going on,” Lugo said in Spanish.

Desperate for help, Lugo reached out to Local 10 News.

A meeting was arranged in Fort Lauderdale, where Lugo was finally reunited with Coco.

After facing criticism on social media, Sandy Paws Canine Rescue explained why the dog was not released sooner.

“We contacted the initial person who owned the microchip, which was his original breeder. It was a man who was not connected to the family whatsoever,” said Desiree Remington, Vice President of Sandy Paws Canine Rescue.

Remington said a few days later, Lugo’s son contacted the rescue, claiming the dog belonged to their family.

“The police advised us we did not need to give her the dog because she didn’t have proof of ownership,” Remington said.

She said everything changed after the rescue saw photos on social media clearly showing Coco with Lugo and her family, providing the additional evidence needed to confirm ownership.

That’s when the long-awaited reunion finally happened.

“There were too many conflicting stories for us to simply hand the dog over the first time she came to our residence,” Remington said.

With Coco back in her arms, Lugo said she was overwhelmed with relief.

“I’m so happy,” she said. “I feel like I’ve gotten my life back. You can’t imagine what these 15 days without my dog have been like. I’ve suffered so much.”

New York joins a growing number of states filing lawsuits against Kalshi and other companies in a dispute with President Donald Trump's administration over who regulates the fast-growing prediction market. Kalshi and other platforms argue they are federally licensed and regulated, and states have no authority to govern them.

“It’s sad to see this type of political theater from the leadership in our own state,” Elisabeth Diana, a spokesperson for New York-based Kalshi, said in a statement. “States can’t just shut down a federally licensed exchange. This would also hurt New Yorkers, who would be driven offshore. We love New York, we love New Yorkers, and New Yorkers love our product.”

Prediction market platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket allow trading on the likelihood of a wide range of events such as sports, politics, news and even the weather.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James, both Democrats, announced the lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court in Manhattan.

“New York’s gambling laws protect children from underage betting and help combat gambling addiction,” James said in a statement. “No matter what they call themselves, prediction markets like Kalshi are gambling platforms, plain and simple. By ignoring our laws, Kalshi is running an illegal operation and harming New Yorkers in the process.”

James' office is requesting that Kalshi be ordered to forfeit all illegal gains, pay restitution to consumers who were harmed and pay fines equal to three times the company's gains. In a court filing, state officials provided a rough estimate of the damages and costs sought by the lawsuit — $36 billion.

Kalshi had been in negotiations with New York officials in recent weeks over tax and consumer protection issues.

In April, New York filed a similar lawsuit against prediction market platforms Coinbase and Gemini on illegal gambling operation allegations.

State officials say the prediction markets meet the legal definition of gambling “because the outcomes of the events on which its users are betting are uncertain and outside the control of the bettor or hinge on a game of chance.”

New York claims Kalshi has failed to obtain a license from the state Gaming Commission and skirted its obligation to pay taxes like licensed casinos and mobile sports gambling platforms do. The lawsuit also says prediction markets allow users ages 18 to 20, while New York requires mobile sports betting users to be at least 21.

Last October, the Gaming Commission ordered Kalshi to stop what it called the “illegal operating” of an “unlicensed mobile sports wagering platform” in New York. Kalshi responded days later by filing a federal lawsuit against the commission and its members — legal action that remains pending.

Prediction market platforms say they operate differently than gambling operations, because consumers are trading against other consumers — much like how stock markets work. Prices are based on trading, and the platforms only take a fee from the trading, they say.

The platforms also argue federal law gives the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission exclusive jurisdiction to regulate transactions offered in the prediction market. In February, Trump’s appointee atop the federal commission declared that the agency “will no longer sit idly by” while states aim to regulate or ban prediction markets and “undermine the agency’s exclusive jurisdiction.”

States counter that the vast majority of the business on prediction market platforms is sports betting, which they are empowered to regulate, and that is completely different from the commodities and futures contracts that the commission regulates.

On Monday, a federal judge temporarily blocked Minnesota’s first-in-the-nation law banning prediction markets just days before it was to take effect — dealing a setback for states trying to outlaw or regulate the platforms. In April, another federal judge ordered a similar temporary halt to Arizona's efforts to enforce its gambling laws against prediction markets.

A tangle of lawsuits is growing, as states try to use their gambling laws to shut down Kalshi, Polymarket and other prediction market operators. In April alone, the federal government sued Connecticut, Arizona and Illinois, challenging their efforts to regulate the industry.

The rocket's upper stage will unintentionally slam into the moon on Wednesday, carving out a crater and sending up a plume of dust and rubble that scientists — and skygazers — are eager to observe.

Space tracking expert Bill Gray predicts an impact of 5,400 mph (8,700 kph) — seven times the speed of sound — near Einstein Crater on the moon’s sunlit western limb. With the action unfolding in the wee hours, the eastern portions of the U.S. and Canada, and much of South America should have the best views.

While scientists are not too concerned about this particular piece of space junk, it highlights the growing threat as more and more items cram into orbit.

“Things are getting crowded up there,” said Gray, who plans to view the aftermath from New Brunswick, Canada.

It was never SpaceX's intent to hit the moon. But space experts said the crash could have been avoided if the upper stage had been nudged into orbit around the sun.

It will be the second dead rocket known to crash into the moon accidentally. A Chinese rocket segment dug out a pair of craters on the lunar far side in 2022.

Lucky for astronomers, the upcoming smashup will occur on the moon’s near side, packing the equivalent energy of three tons of TNT.

The impact flash, lasting less than a second, will probably be too dim to see, according to experts. But the stream of ejected material could stretch for several miles (kilometers) into space and remain visible to telescopes for tens of minutes.

“The gravity on the moon is low and there is no wind to blow the dust away,” said Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Benjamin Fernando, who’s encouraging observations by professionals and amateurs alike.

“Part of the reason for our interest in this event is to figure out how much of a hazard debris impacts pose to future astronauts,” he added in an email.

Fernando anticipates an impact crater nearly 90 feet across and 16 feet deep (27 meters across and 5 meters deep), too small to see from Earth but visible to spacecraft.

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and South Korea’s Danuri lunar orbiter will gather before-and-after shots of the crash scene. Danuri will stray within a mile or two (a few kilometers) of the SpaceX rocket just two minutes before impact, according to Fernando and his team.

The abandoned rocket segment — measuring some 40 feet (12 meters) and weighing around 10,000 pounds (4,500 kilograms) — hoisted two private lunar landers on Jan. 15, 2025.

One of them — Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost — became the first private spacecraft to pull off a fully successful lunar touchdown. The other, Japan-based ispace’s lander, wrecked.

With meteoroids and other natural objects offering little if any warning before walloping the moon, scientists said there’s much to learn by observing well-tracked strikes by human-made objects like the one coming up. NASA hurled rocket sections and lunar modules into the moon during the Apollo era for seismic measurements. Decades later, in 2009, NASA intentionally crashed its LCROSS spacecraft and upper stage in search of ice near the lunar south pole.

With the moon as the new travel hot spot, scientists said it’s crucial to improve debris monitoring and traffic control before packs of robots and astronauts arrive.

The United States and China are racing to land astronauts on the moon in the next few years. Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin are vying to provide the lander for NASA's yet-to-be-named moonwalkers of Artemis IV, who will succeed the 12 Apollo astronauts who strolled the lunar surface.

“This impact will not be a problem,” retired astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell said in an email. “But in a future where there are long-term bases on the moon, similar impacts would be an issue and we need not to leave rocket stages in chaotic orbits of this kind.”

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Winfrey opened the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in 2007 after being inspired by conversations with former South African President Nelson Mandela about the transformative power of educating girls. He was among the guests at the school's opening ceremony.

Winfrey's charitable foundation ran and funded the school, but it was always part of the agreement that the academy campus near Johannesburg be ultimately handed over to the provincial education department, the academy said.

“The dream was never simply to build a school,” Winfrey said in a statement issued by the academy on Wednesday. “It was to invest in the limitless potential of young women. That mission doesn’t end with one campus. It continues in every girl whose future can be transformed through education.”

The academy said Winfrey’s commitment to educating South African girls would continue through an expanded national scholarship program supporting academically talented girls at leading schools across the country.

More than 500 girls have graduated from the academy and some have attended top universities in South Africa, the United States and Europe, according to the Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation.

The Gauteng provincial government will take over the 52-acre academy campus, which has 21 classrooms, six science and computer laboratories, a 10,000-volume library and a 600-seat theater. It did not immediately say what the plans for the property were.

Gauteng Provincial Minister for Education Lebogang Maile said those currently enrolled in the school will be able to complete their education with uninterrupted financial support.

The academy drew international attention shortly after opening in 2007 when several students accused a dormitory matron of physically and sexually abusing them.

Winfrey traveled to South Africa to meet with students and parents, publicly apologized, and commissioned an independent investigation.

The matron was acquitted of criminal charges in 2010.

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This report has been corrected to show Oprah Winfrey’s statement as issued on Wednesday and not Thursday.

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AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

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Though there was no shortage of levity, a sense of urgency filled the Detroit meeting room as Abdul El-Sayed, a former gubernatorial candidate who is running as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate in Michigan, began speaking about how his Muslim faith informs his progressive views.

The public health researcher asked the group of faith leaders ahead of Tuesday’s primary, “What does the inspiration of holding yourself accountable to something bigger than you mean for what you do for the people around you?”

El-Sayed added, “If you can’t eat food and I have something to do about it, I better do it.”

Progressive Democratic politicians have won major electoral victories across the country in recent months amid growing frustrations surrounding inequality, affordability and potential threats to job security posed by artificial intelligence. As the economy becomes a flashpoint for the November midterms, many of these candidates and voters who support them are citing religion as a justification for their positions.

“We’re in an era of historical inequality,” El-Sayed told The Associated Press. “Most faith traditions — certainly the Abrahamic faith traditions — put a lot more burden on the wealthy.”

The interfaith roundtable took place days after a high-profile rally for El-Sayed, who has made “Medicare for All” a fixture of his campaign and is running against the more moderate Rep. Haley Stevens. It featured speeches from progressive heavy hitters like Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

Though not a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, El-Sayed is being endorsed by liberal allies, many of them members of the DSA, while being criticized by Republicans and centrist Democrats for being too far left to be electable in a swing state.

If elected in November, he would be the first Muslim senator in U.S. history.

Representatives for Stevens, who is identified in congressional profiles as a Protestant, did not respond to requests for comment.

Progressive ideologies carry different connotations for different generations

Religious support for progressive economic and labor movements is not new, even if it has ebbed and flowed in the U.S. over the centuries. Pope Leo XIV’s recent encyclical was in many ways an ode to “Rerum novarum,” Pope Leo XIII’s seminal 1891 text on labor, wages and unions that helped shape Catholic social teaching.

This embrace of religion isn't unique to the Democratic Party's progressive wing. More moderate candidates like James Talarico, the seminarian running for the U.S. Senate in Texas, also highlight their faith. But as left-leaning Democrats and democratic socialists like New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who is Muslim, score wins in local and national races, Republicans have repeatedly decried the party's progressive wing as communists devoid of religion.

“Republicans and conservatives believe in natural rights that flow from a creator. I think communism rejects that. It espouses a very atheistic, centralized sort of secular view of society,” said Douglas Blair, a spokesperson for Heritage Action for America.

Megan Romer, a DSA national co-chair and ordained ruling elder within the Presbyterian Church (USA), conceded socialism is a troubling concept for some people of faith.

“People’s idea of it is, ‘Oh, that’s when you’re not allowed to have a religion, right?’ Which has been true in some socialist projects,” she said.

But experts say that narrative carries less weight among many younger Americans who have no memory of the Cold War and the anti-religious associations it begot.

Theology informs more than just faith

Though there are more Democrats unaffiliated with religion than Republicans, many people of faith do not see progressive ideologies like socialism as contradictory to their beliefs. They cite Black religious activists who were outspoken critics of capitalism, including Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and W.E.B. Du Bois, as models for their thinking about the relationship between religion and politics.

The Rev. Andrew Wilkes, who co-pastors the Double Love Experience Church in New York City, became interested in democratic socialism more than a decade ago after presiding over a funeral for someone whose insurance wouldn’t cover a critical operation. “It was not God that sent him home but an unjustly organized healthcare system and economy,” he said.

“There’s an increasing recognition, I would say, connecting socialism to a sense of a moral compass,” Wilkes said, adding that religion can bring optimism and creativity in a time of pessimism. “There’s a level of world-building that faith can speak to.”

Romer, who joined the DSA in 2018 in part because of Sanders’ unsuccessful presidential run two years earlier, thinks there is a theological component to why Christianity in particular has thrived among conservatives.

“That flavor of Christianity is a very individualistic one. They talk a lot about your personal relationship with God,” she said. “My interpretation of Christianity is one that, I think the early Christians — they were not communists in the modern sense, but they lived in communal situations.”

Attitudes toward capitalism are changing, and religion is playing a role

This faith-driven economic focus is not limited to elections.

Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice is a nonprofit organization that works with congregations throughout Southern California to support workers’ rights. Earlier this month, it facilitated a visit to Live Oak United Church of Christ in Brea, California, to support efforts to unionize a local grocery store chain.

“We just feel very, very overworked,” Luis Cueva, a Mother’s Market employee, told members of the congregation after their Sunday service as he asked for support.

“Jesus was a socialist,” Cueva said after the meeting, citing his teachings about it being difficult for rich people to go to heaven. “It means a lot to know that the church is willing to help.”

About half of U.S. adults have a positive view of capitalism, according to a poll last year from Gallup, down from 61% in 2010. Democrats have driven part of the shift, but favorable views of capitalism have also declined among independents.

President Donald Trump and other Republicans have cast these attitudes and candidates as being fundamentally at odds with religion.

“These are hard core, godless communists,” Trump said recently during a speech to the Faith & Freedom Coalition. “All communists are godless. They don't believe in God.”

Faith can be both a political asset and a liability

Although there are myriad points of contention within the Democratic Party, such as support for Israel, El-Sayed considers economic issues a top issue for his campaign.

“I talk about taking money out of politics because it’s the reason life is not affordable,” he said. “People are realizing that politicians on both sides of the aisle really are being paid off by the same people.”

The son of Egyptian immigrants, El-Sayed is aware that his Islamic faith can be weaponized or misunderstood. But since having a religious experience in college that followed a rebellious childhood, he takes seriously the implications of his faith.

“If you put your morals on a mantel, they’re not morals. They’re just, you know, things that you can admire and then you give yourself the permission to step away from them when it’s convenient,” he said.

As the roundtable concluded, leaders from each faith took turns praying. Their heads lifted, but the Rev. Horace Sheffield chimed in with one last request on behalf of El-Sayed.

“I don’t think y’all were specific enough. So I’m gonna say it real simple,” he said. “Lord, let him win.”

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

Hamas also said that laying down its heavy weapons, which would come later in the process, was contingent on the creation of a Palestinian state, something Israel's current government adamantly rejects.

Israel has not officially commented on the deal, which is part of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire announced last October. That agreement called for Hamas to disarm and hand over power to an independent Palestinian administration. Israel was to withdraw, and an International Stabilization Force was to deploy.

But progress stalled, with Israel saying everything hinged on Hamas disarming, and Hamas accusing Israel of violating the agreement by continuing to carry out regular strikes on Gaza.

Expectations of implementation are low

Disarming would represent a sea change for Hamas, whose founding charter calls for armed resistance against Israel, and which sees its arsenal, including rockets, anti-tank missiles and explosives, as lying at the heart of its identity.

Israel, meanwhile, appears unlikely to pull back significant forces or make other concessions ahead of its October elections. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a tough reelection battle, with opponents accusing him of failing to prevent the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war.

Neil Quilliam, a Middle East expert at London’s Chatham House think tank, said expectations are low that Hamas will actually disarm or that Israel will withdraw from Gaza.

“I think that Netanyahu’s silence speaks volumes,’’ Quilliam said. “This is a massive decision that he has to make.”

“But with the prospect of the elections hanging over his head, with several Cabinet ministers and opposition leaders already counseling not to go ahead with the deal, I think he understands that doing so would likely scupper his chances of reelection,” he added.

The deal would be implemented in stages

In announcing the latest deal on social media, Trump said it would be carried out in “carefully structured phases.”

“As disarmament is completed, Israeli forces will withdraw, and the International Stabilization Force will work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility for Gaza being safe for its residents and its neighbors,” he wrote.

A copy of the agreement obtained and verified by The Associated Press said that all weapons held by the Hamas-run police will be transferred to the U.S.-backed Palestinian technocratic committee, known as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, upon its arrival in the enclave. It’s not clear when that would happen since it is contingent on other steps.

A process to decommission and store heavy weapons, military production sites and tunnels will begin after the arrival of the Palestinian committee and the deployment of international forces. The process will be linked to a phased Israeli withdrawal, according to the agreement.

Israel currently controls around 60% of Gaza, areas that have been mostly destroyed and depopulated. Most of the territory's 2 million Palestinians are in the other part, where hundreds of thousands live in squalid tent camps and destroyed neighborhoods.

In a statement Thursday, an Israeli official said that there will be no Israeli withdrawal before the militant group is disarmed and the strip demilitarized. The statement was made on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol.

A person with knowledge of the situation said that Israel is fully involved, but it's not a signatory to the deal, which is between Hamas and several countries helping to negotiate and guarantee the ceasefire. The person spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the agreement. The deal's guarantors are the U.S., Turkey, Egypt and Qatar.

It could take years for Hamas to disarm

On Thursday, U.S. and Board of Peace officials, describing the deal to reporters on condition of anonymity under guidelines set by the White House, gave an extremely optimistic assessment. The board was established by Trump to oversee the ceasefire in Gaza.

While Gaza's police force is expected to hand over its arms, that doesn't include the vast majority of Hamas militants, and heavy weaponry is not included in that part of the agreement, according to the officials.

Instead, the surrender of heavy weapons and the decommissioning of Hamas tunnels and other infrastructure are to come later in a process that could take between 200 and 350 days, a Board of Peace official said. That timeline did not appear in the agreement obtained by AP.

A Hamas official and a regional official involved in the process said that Hamas and other groups agreed to “collect and store” arms inside Gaza under the supervision of the Palestinian technocratic committee and that weapons won’t be handed to Israel or non-Palestinian parties.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media, said this would be a gradual process linked to an Israeli withdrawal.

Israel has been deeply skeptical

A U.S. official said Israel, which has been deeply skeptical about Hamas’ willingness to give up its guns or relinquish control of Gaza, had been consulted at every step of the negotiation. The official said Israel was not being asked to do anything more than what it had committed to as part of the October agreement.

A member of the Palestinian technocratic committee told the AP on Friday that it was eager to enter Gaza but was concerned Israel will pose challenges. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The person said they didn’t expect to enter Gaza for at least two months.

The committee welcomed the progress Friday, but said the work to restore public institutions and services and rebuild the territory would be immense.

The war in Gaza began after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killed around 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians, including those killed since the ceasefire, Gaza’s Health Ministry said. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government and is staffed by medical professionals, does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its toll but says women and children make up around half of all deaths.

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Mednick reported from Tel Aviv, Israel, Cooper from Phoenix, and Lee from Washington. Associated Press writers Farnoush Amiri in New York, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Danica Kirka in London contributed.

None of those initiatives would have passed under a ballot measure getting decided by voters Tuesday.

Missouri's proposed Amendment 4 would make it significantly harder to amend the constitution by requiring citizen initiatives to pass in all eight of the state's diverse congressional districts instead of by a traditional, simple statewide majority. No other state has such a high standard — or has even asked voters to consider it.

“This is a first-of-its-kind,” said Kelly Hall, executive director of the Fairness Project, a national group that backs progressive ballot initiatives like the ones Missouri's Republican lawmakers are hoping to quelch.

“It would be nearly impossible for citizens to participate meaningfully in any sort of direct democracy,” said Hall, who believes other states could try to copy Missouri's proposal.

Lawmakers seek to rein in citizen initiatives

The Missouri proposal is the culmination of years of attempts by lawmakers in numerous states to raise the bar for citizen-initiated petitions to qualify for the ballot and win voter approval. Some elected officials contend lawmaking is best left to themselves — the people's representatives — because citizen initiatives lack the vetting that comes from the multistep legislative process of public hearings, debates and revisions.

The effort to curtail citizen initiatives on state ballots comes as President Donald Trump pushes for greater restrictions on who can vote and how ballots are cast, asserting the integrity of elections is at stake.

Missouri’s measure “fits into the larger narrative and story around what the future of democracy looks like in the United States,” said Chris Melody Fields Figueredo, executive director of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, which supports progressive ballot measures.

Citizen initiatives are allowed only in some states

About one-third of U.S. states allow people to bypass their legislatures by gathering signatures to place proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot. Several others allow the process for proposed laws.

In most of those states, a simple majority of voters is all that’s needed to approve constitutional amendments. Colorado requires a 55% vote for most measures, and Florida a 60% vote.

Voters in recent years rejected ballot measures to raise the approval threshold for amendments in Arkansas, Ohio and South Dakota. Still, South Dakota lawmakers have placed a proposal for a 60% approval threshold on the November ballot. North Dakota voters will consider a similar measure, and Utah voters will decide on a 60% requirement for citizen-initiated tax increases.

Missouri’s proposal would apply only to citizen initiatives. Constitutional amendments proposed by the Legislature still would need only a statewide majority. No other state has a dual standard like that.

Missouri proposal requires geographic consensus

Republican state Rep. Ed Lewis, who sponsored Missouri's measure, said he wants to ensure people in all parts of the state have their voices heard. He said activists funded by out-of-state interest groups have run up large majorities in St. Louis and Kansas City to pass controversial initiatives that failed throughout most of the rest of Missouri.

The abortion, marijuana, sports betting and Medicaid initiatives all were placed on the ballot by petitions between 2020 and 2024 after lawmakers declined to act. All passed with 53% or less of the statewide vote.

Requiring “50% in each of our congressional districts is not a difficult barrier for anything that has a consensus,” Lewis said. But “it is a difficult barrier for either a very conservative or a very liberal initiative petition,” he said.

“If you’re going to change the constitution, shouldn’t it be broadly accepted?” Lewis asked rhetorically.

Amendments to the U.S. Constitution require ratification by three-fourths of the states.

Critics say Missouri's proposed amendment could undercut consensus, because an initiative backed by large margins in seven congressional districts still would fail if opposed by a slim margin in just one district.

“It is an astonishing level of unfairness, and it crushes our notion of one person, one vote and majority rule, which we learned about in school as kids,” said Scott Charton, a spokesperson for the Missouri Realtors campaign committees, which have backed previous initiatives.

Republicans are divided over initiative restrictions

Though Amendment 4 was referred to the ballot by Republican lawmakers, people at a recent Republican club meeting in Jefferson City were divided about whether to make it harder for citizens to amend the state constitution.

Rick Kolb said he supports the tougher standards.

“Our country was founded as a republic not a democracy,” he said. When initiatives appear on the ballot, “everybody votes on these things that they haven’t put any thought into it.”

But Jim Bryan said he opposes the amendment, fearing it could allow voters in St. Louis or Kansas City to thwart measures supported by the rest of the state.

“The popular vote is what I want,” he said.

A new petition could fortify citizen initiatives

Regardless of the outcome, Tuesday's vote may not be the last on Missouri's citizen initiatives.

The Respect Missouri Voters coalition submitted more than 300,000 petition signatures — currently being verified by election officials — to try to place a constitutional amendment on the November ballot protecting the initiative process. It would reverse the Legislature's amendment by requiring only a statewide majority to pass citizen initiatives. It also would bar the Legislature from increasing the number of signatures needed to qualify for the ballot, shortening the time to do so or imposing other requirements that weaken initiative rights.

The measure also would make it harder for the Legislature to reverse or amend voter-approved initiatives by requiring an 80% vote in both the House and Senate instead of a simple majority. That comes after the Legislature last year repealed a paid sick leave law approved by voters and referred a new constitutional amendment to the November ballot to reverse voter-approved abortion rights.

Supporters insist their measure is nonpartisan, noting that Democratic lawmakers also tried to restrict citizen initiatives before Republicans gained control of the Capitol.

“Politicians in power want all the power in their hands,” said Benjamin Singer, co-founder of Respect Missouri Voters. “They don’t want citizens to have a check on their power.”

Until now, the answer has been a doting home health aide from Haiti named Martha Nelson. But with the Supreme Court sanctioning a White House immigration crackdown, Nelson’s permission to stay in the country appears likely to be yanked within days, leaving French worried.

“She’s with me all the time,” says French. “Life would be impossible.”

As the Trump administration unwinds years of protections for hundreds of thousands of people from Haiti, twin populations of vulnerable people find themselves in the crosshairs: caregivers in jobs to which those immigrants have flocked, and the older adults and disabled people who rely on them.

Around the U.S., care homes and home health agencies are bracing for the loss of workers with TPS, which stands for temporary protected status, even as they continue to reel from other immigration policy changes that have squeezed an already short-staffed industry.

For businesses, it is a predicament that could hurt bottom lines and tax remaining workers. For their clients, it threatens to upend every aspect of their lives.

“They have become like family,” says Katy Sanchez, who lives in a group home for disabled people in Nanuet, New York, run by The Arc Rockland, which stands to lose 19 caregivers with TPS, on top of 20 others it lost in immigration changes last year. “If they are forced to leave, it would be devastating.”

Supreme Court ruling paved the way

The Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration last month, saying it could end temporary protected status. The ruling specifically pertained to 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians, but immigration advocates and legal observers say it could be applied to a broader group of 1.3 million people from 17 countries.

The justices' move has been met with weeks of confusion. Immigration officials subsequently granted several extensions to TPS holders that carried through Monday. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued guidance Wednesday affirming TPS was over, though some attorneys and labor unions have argued work authorization remains intact until lower courts lift an injunction.

The Department of Homeland Security made light of the TPS expiration, referencing lyrics from a 1998 hit song: “It’s closing time, which means you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.”

Fearful they might be in breach of the law, some employers have begun terminating TPS holders, to the dismay of their clients.

Anna Fischbein grew accustomed to visits to her home in Sunny Isles, Florida, from the same kindly Haitian health aide every week for the past 10 years. But Jewish Community Services of South Florida terminated the aide along with 17 others when their TPS lapsed.

“I lost not only a lady working for me,” the 87-year-old Holocaust survivor says, her voice broken by sobs. “I lost a friend.”

Facilities scramble to come up with replacement workers

Around 1 in 5 workers in the U.S. is foreign born, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but immigrants are overrepresented in caregiving roles. Among home health aides, for example, one-third are immigrants, according to PHI, a nonprofit focused on the caregiving workforce.

In lives upended by age or disability, a cherished caregiver is a lifeline. For someone living in their own home, they may be the last line of defense before institutionalization. For those in a care facility, they may be their strongest advocate, who notices subtle changes before anyone else, ensures small comforts like dollar-store word search books, and brings a sense of humanity to the humiliation of being incontinent.

“They are the first people they see when they wake up in the morning and they’re the last ones that they see before they go to bed,” says Simone Smith, vice president of human resources at Cabrini of Westchester, a nursing home in Dobbs Ferry, New York, where eight Haitians with TPS await word of their fate.

Like similar facilities around the country, Cabrini is prepared to scramble to secure replacement staffers from nursing agencies and plead with remaining workers to take overtime shifts. Cabrini’s workforce is about 75% immigrant. Among those with TPS, Smith senses “almost a hopelessness.”

A Haitian who loses TPS faces an unbearable choice: Attempt to stay in the U.S. and find underground work, tiptoeing through life with fear that authorities will eventually find and remove them. Or return to a country so plagued by gang violence and poverty that many believe it would amount to a death sentence.

“I’m afraid all the time,” says a Haitian man working at a Brooklyn nursing home who asked for anonymity because of concerns for the safety of himself and his family. “I pay tax to the country. I’m a good person. … All I want is to work. When you work, you are a person.”

Families wonder what they will do

Outside a simple brick house in Queens, Nelson stands guard as French steps through her door. On the porch, you might mistake the two for old friends, their bond as much an illustration of what is at risk as it is of how much things have changed.

The women made the same journey, from Port-au-Prince to New York, four decades apart.

French was drawn here in 1970 by the potential opportunities she saw. She built businesses as a hairdresser and seamstress. Her late husband made his way as an electrician and contractor. They bought their home. Their children got good educations. They believed they achieved the American dream.

Nelson came after an earthquake flattened Haiti in 2010. At home, she ran a butcher shop, but after arriving in New York she found work in caregiving roles. She began working for French about three years ago after French fell and broke her hip. Nelson, now 69, has been with her nearly every weekday since.

Both women felt welcomed by the U.S. when they arrived. But French is saddened to see how views on immigrants have evolved.

“America is a good country,” French says, “but it has changed.”

Nelson brings leftovers, tends to French’s chores and is a source of companionship. They watch the news together and talk in Haitian Creole about their families. On weekends, Nelson calls to make sure French has gotten up from bed and nags her to eat.

“On my days off, I think about her,” Nelson says.

French says Nelson has become like family. Nelson agrees, saying she sees French as if she’s her own mother, a show of affection and the source of the pair’s one ongoing dispute.

“You’re not like my daughter,” French protests. “You’re like my sister.”

For now, the two continue their routine, knowing each shift may be Nelson's last. She keeps a copy of her work authorization zipped in a black cloth pouch that she carries everywhere, in case she is stopped. Each Sunday, she sinks to her knees in church, praying for an answer. She worries for herself and for French.

“It makes me feel depressed,” Nelson says. “It could be difficult for her without me.”

___

Salomon reported from Miami.

___

Matt Sedensky can be reached at msedensky@ap.org and https://x.com/sedensky

Zurich-based executive Kevin Lamour all but invited Infantino to fire him in a statement to The Associated Press that defended his colleagues amid intense fallout from the FIFA boss' plan to sell stakes in future World Cup profits to private equity funds.

Lamour wrote that staff were “deceived” by Infantino’s lack of openness in planning the sale over recent months and “deserve better than contempt and intimidation.”

“It is the project of one person,” Lamour, a long-time colleague of Infantino at both FIFA and European soccer body UEFA, wrote. “Not only must this project not go ahead … but the time has now come for football political leaders to ask themselves the right questions and make the right decisions.”

Lamour's statement came hours after Infantino's senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro, a former Goldman Sachs banker who represented the soccer body on the White House Task Force for the World Cup, resigned and urged other senior FIFA staff to speak out.

“I cannot stand by while FIFA considers selling a stake in the World Cup,” Cordeiro wrote in a statement. The former U.S. Soccer Federation president said he was not included in talks about the plan backed by a New York investment fund created by Joshua Kushner.

“Let me be clear. I had no involvement in this proposal, and I oppose it unequivocally,” Cordeiro said. He called the $20 billion commercial subsidiary “a bad deal for football.”

Lamour did not resign the post he has held since 2024 but said he had a duty to his colleagues.

“And if that means I lose my job then so be it” the French official said. “I will understand and respect that decision. At least I’ll sleep well tonight.”

Lamour came to soccer from politics two decades ago as an aide to then-UEFA president Michel Platini. He often had an international role in soccer politics liaising with FIFA member federations in Africa and Asia who are weighing their own decisions about Infantino's offers of $20 million each by a Sept. 19 deadline.

Cordeiro often joined Infantino on working visits to meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in recent years.

“Football has been central to my life, and after more than 35 years in banking I understand both the value of this asset and the consequences of giving part of it away,” he said. “That is why this proposal should be rejected.”

Infantino has proposed spinning off FIFA’s commercial businesses — including World Cups and Club World Cups for men and women — into a $20 billion subsidiary with 20% owned by private investors. The “anchor investor,” described by FIFA, is Kushner, the younger brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

“FIFA already has access to extraordinary financial resources. The organization sits on billions of dollars in reserves and no debt,” Cordeiro said. He noted FIFA's revenue of $15 billion over the last four years tied to the men's World Cup just ended.

“Against that backdrop, selling a permanent stake in football’s most valuable asset to raise $4.2 billion makes little sense. It is mortgaging football’s future without any compelling justification,” he said.

Cordeiro said he shared five years of working for FIFA alongside Infantino with “dedicated, principled people who care deeply about the game.”

“I hope they, too, will speak up,” he wrote, “because decisions of this magnitude should be made in the interests of football, not those who stand to profit from it.”

Infantino has been president of FIFA for more than 10 years and seemed sure to be re-elected unopposed next March. FIFA has set a Nov. 18 deadline for challengers to come forward.

Lamour was part of Infantino’s inner circle that campaigned for him to become the surprise winner of that FIFA presidential election in February 2016.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and AP World Cup coverage

Brussels aims to track the use of AI models for violations of its new regulations, like the publishing of sexually explicit material, fake photos and videos, and cyber threats to public infrastructure. When the bloc's AI Act comes into force on Sunday, AI companies will be required to make clear to consumers with labels or digital watermarks that chatbots or imagery are generated with AI.

“As enforcement begins, we are taking an important step towards AI that people and businesses can understand and trust, and whose benefits are shared widely across our society,” said Henna Virkkunen, the EU chief for tech sovereignty, on Friday.

The European Commission said in a statement that new regulations also include “systemic risks” posed by AI like “chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear incidents, loss of control, cyber offense, harmful manipulation and threats to fundamental rights."

The team is the latest move in the 27-nation EU’s “tech sovereignty” strategy that welds landmark digital regulations with economic ambition that has seen over the past week billions of euros in fines on Big Tech companies as well as record investment in AI infrastructure inside the bloc.

The rollout comes on the heels of shocking AI safety failures that rattled the nascent industry. Political leaders worldwide are now weighing control of the technology with market leadership.

Anthropic said on Friday its artificial intelligence models hacked into three other organizations during testing, just days after ChatGPT maker OpenAI raised concerns over AI controls after it disclosed its rogue models hacked another company.

The EU is now expanding its AI Office in Brussels with an additional 38 people who will begin monitoring AI companies, from the new firms to the American and Chinese tech titans like OpenAI and DeepSeek.

Those companies must “document certain information,” said the European Commission, the bloc's tech enforcer, which reserves the right to interview AI company staff during investigations. It has also launched a Whistleblower Tool for tech workers and a Compliance Tool for tech users to confidentially alert authorities to illegal conduct.

If models or other products break the EU's sector regulations, called the AI Act, Brussels can fine the firms or cut off their access to the EU market. Recent gigantic antitrust fines on U.S. tech companies have irked U.S. President Donald Trump.

The EU now clearly sees systemic vulnerability in its deep reliance on American software companies like Amazon, Google and Microsoft as well as imports of Chinese industrial goods and critical minerals. While it is seeking protections from AI, it is also keen to catch up in the AI arms race, where it is a distant third behind the U.S. and China.

More broadly, the EU is seeking more independence from both Washington and Beijing by reinvigorating specific domestic industries like manufacturing and defense and forging new trade deals from Brazil to Australia to meet the global rise in economic nationalism spearheaded by Trump.

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“This is the first fire I'm experiencing real-time, and I can tell you it’s vicious," said Pauner, 64. “It’s underground, it comes out at any moment, and no matter how much we try to extinguish it, re-extinguish it, re-extinguish it, it keeps restarting."

“It’s like a steamroller that’s constantly, constantly rolling,” said Pauner, wearing shorts, boots and sunglasses on a string around his neck on a road through cultivated pine trees, as the ground smoldered.

Pauner is among the untold numbers of volunteers who have mobilized to support firefighters battling the biggest wildfires in years in France.

“I’m protecting my forest, and my home,” he said, pouring his watering can into a smoking ditch as if watering a garden, then huffing in the heat.

Hundreds of thousands forced from their homes

The wildfires that tore through cultivated forests on an Atlantic coast also known for towering sand dunes and tourist resorts devastated 42,000 hectares (about 162 square miles) west of Bordeaux, driving nearly a quarter-million people out of their homes and vacation sites.

Europe is facing an extremely hot summer, fueling wildfires from the Atlantic coast to the eastern Mediterranean. The United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Greece and Turkey battled blazes this week.

As cooler, more humid air moved into southwest France this week, authorities allowed two-thirds of the 224,000 evacuees to return home, including some more on Friday.

But the ground still simmers in many places.

“It’s stabilized, but not totally stopped,” French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told RTL radio. “Hot spots remain.”

Volunteers like Pauner — what he calls “little eyes” on watch to report flare-ups to firefighters — do what they can with limited resources. Others have mobilized their trucks and giant jerrycans to supply water to fire crews.

Drought has left forests dangerously dry

Prolonged drought and climate change have created fire-prone conditions. Pauner said the region endured more than two months without significant rainfall, leaving vegetation exceptionally dry.

In the smoking forests, fire crews used rakes to dig down into the smoldering forest floor so buried embers can be doused with water, a long and painstaking job. Ukraine became the latest country to send help, dispatching 70 people and 10 vehicles in the coming days, Nunez said.

Investigators suspect that contractors clearing away vegetation inadvertently ignited the blaze last week. But other fires have been attributed to arsonists or criminal negligence.

Nunez said police have made 308 arrests in connection with blazes this summer — more than 120 of them involving minors — and that 33 people have either been convicted or are being held pending court rulings.

Elsewhere in Europe, fires are also burning

Blazes continued in other parts of Europe.

Many parts of Greece were listed at high or extreme risk of wildfires, with strong winds. Three Greek firefighters died fighting fires this week on the southern island of Crete.

Firefighters were tackling 73 wildfires around the country, 51 of them which broke out on Friday, Fire department spokesman Col. Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said.

The fire department and coast guard used boats to evacuate more than 250 from one of the largest fires, in Boeotia, and evacuation orders were issued for several other fires, including one on the western fringes of the Greek capital.

Gale-force winds were hampering aircraft from dumping water on the wildfires, he said.

In England, where half the country is gripped by drought, firefighters battled a wildfire on an east coast heath in Suffolk, near a nuclear power station that fire services said wasn't threatened. More than 100 firefighters were deployed.

“I wouldn’t say it is under control," said Henry Griffin, a fire officer.

___ Macpherson reported from Paris. Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece, Danica Kirka in London, Jamey Keaten in Geneva and John Leicester contributed to this report.

The rights group said an attack aircraft identified as a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 dropped two munitions on Kyrnia village in the Mopti region on June 15. One strike hit near the home of the village chief, killing his wife and three children. The second hit a nearby cattle market, killing four men. No fighters from the Islamic militant group JNIM, which has controlled the village for six years, were reported among the casualties.

The Associated Press was not able to independently verify the claims by Human Rights Watch.

Mali has been plagued for over a decade by militants affiliated with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, including JNIM, as well as a Tuareg separatist rebellion in the north.

Violence escalated in recent months after an alliance of JNIM and Tuareg separatists carried out the largest coordinated attack in over a decade, targeting the airport of the country’s capital, Bamako, the nearby garrison town of Kati, and several northern and central cities.

April’s attacks exposed the weaknesses of Mali’s strategy to combat the rebellion, including relying on Russia, which has partnered with the military-led government after it distanced itself from former allies such as France.

Russian mercenaries have been present in Mali since late 2021 to help its military junta fight militants and separatists. Last year, Africa Corps, which reports to Russia’s Defense Ministry, replaced the private mercenary Wagner Group in the country.

Human Rights Watch said it interviewed 19 people, analyzed satellite imagery, and reviewed a video the Africa Corps posted online describing the strike last month as targeting a “terrorist” gathering. Researchers said roughly 100 JNIM fighters were in the village at the time but were mostly gathered elsewhere, and that the strikes did not appear to target a clear military objective.

The rights group called on Mali’s government to investigate the strike and hold those responsible accountable, saying it could otherwise be complicit in war crimes.

Russia’s Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

An expanding crisis for soccer's governing body reached into Infantino's longtime inner circle when his pick to represent FIFA on the White House Task Force for the World Cup walked away calling the Joshua Kushner-backed $20 billion commercial subsidiary plan “a bad deal for football.”

Carlos Cordeiro is a former Goldman Sachs banker and officially Infantino's Senior Adviser yet revealed he was not involved in the secretive investment plan that has rocked the sport since media reports revealed it Tuesday.

“I cannot stand by while FIFA considers selling a stake in the World Cup,” Cordeiro said in a statement formally resigning, just hours after FIFA insisted in a statement: “Nobody is selling football.”

Cordeiro's exit — and call for other senior staff to speak out — intensified scrutiny on Infantino one day after European soccer body UEFA threatened to boycott all FIFA games and events until the plan is dropped. North America's CONCACAF also rejected Infantino’s offer of one-off $20 million payments to each member federation by a mid-September deadline.

Cordeiro often joined Infantino on working visits to meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in recent years, and took part in meetings of the administration's World Cup task force led by Andrew Guiliani.

“Let me be clear. I had no involvement in this proposal, and I oppose it unequivocally,” said Cordeiro, the former U.S. Soccer Federation president.

Asia joins Europe and North America

On another seismic day in soccer politics, Asia’s soccer body that has been a key ally in Infantino's 11-year presidency opposed the investor plan and said FIFA must urgently review its management style

The Asian Football Confederation said it “stands in solidarity” with UEFA and CONCACAF, the first two continental bodies to oppose Infantino whose combined 90 FIFA member countries near a majority of the 211 global total.

“Football should never have been placed in such a position,” said the Asian soccer body, which counts 46 of FIFA's 211 members

Infantino has proposed spinning off FIFA's commercial businesses — including World Cups and Club World Cups for men and women — into a $20 billion subsidiary with 20% owned by private investors.

The “anchor investor,” described by FIFA, is a New York-based investment firm created by Joshua Kushner, the younger brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

“(T)he proposed (FIFA Forward Enterprise) cannot realistically achieve the necessary broad consensus and unity required to move forward” and must be reconsidered, the AFC said.

The statement did not name Infantino yet criticized FIFA for problems beyond the content of the private equity plan plus failing to consult about the secretive proposal.

“Rather, it has exposed fundamental weaknesses in FIFA’s consultation and decision-making processes that must now be addressed,” said the AFC, whose longtime president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa narrowly lost the FIFA presidential election to Infantino in 2016.

“Accordingly, the AFC calls upon FIFA to undertake an urgent review of its governance and decision-making framework,” said the organization based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Infantino's job at risk?

Infantino had seemed — 11 days ago after the World Cup final in East Rutherford, New Jersey — to have a clear path to being reelected unopposed for a fourth and final term in office through 2031.

FIFA had briefed during the tournament that Infantino had letters of support from about 200 members, despite a furor over letting United States forward Folarin Balogun play against Belgium even though he received a red card in his previous game. Trump acknowledged asking Infantino to review Balogun's mandatory one-game ban.

FIFA has set a Nov. 18 deadline for potential candidates to declare in a presidential vote of the 211 members scheduled next March in Rabat, Morocco.

FIFA blames the media

The Asian statement came hours after FIFA blamed the media and doubled down on pursuing the project which now seems to have a majority of the 211 in opposition.

“Our planned consultation process was disrupted by incorrect media reports,” FIFA said in a statement early Friday. “We will proceed with this consultation process to ensure that each (member) has the ability to express its vote based on facts.”

The next FIFA event that would be targeted by the threatened European boycott is within weeks — the Women’s Under-20 World Cup hosted by Poland from Sept. 5. The four British federations comprise FIFA’s only bidder to host the 2035 Women’s World Cup. That decision is due Nov. 23.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and AP World Cup coverage

But roughly half of the people who made the crossing soon made their way back voluntarily, the Spanish government said, after the sudden arrival of so many migrants triggered chaos and a humanitarian crisis.

Some migrants swam several miles through the sea and faced down authorities who tried to turn them back with water cannons, tear gas and warning shots. Those who died included some who drowned or were killed in a stampede to cross a breakwater barrier near a border checkpoint.

Spain deployed its armed forces and additional police to restore order in Ceuta, which sits on the Strait of Gibraltar at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea and has been a Spanish possession since 1580. On the Moroccan side of the border, security forces clashed with migrants.

“The situation that Ceuta is going through is absolutely unsustainable,” Ceuta President Juan Jesús Vivas told journalists.

Meanwhile, migrants from Morocco also attempted to cross into Melilla, Spain’s other territory at the tip of North Africa, where they clashed with police.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited Ceuta on Friday and condemned the border breach, which he described as “a violation of Spain's territorial integrity.”

Sánchez blamed human smugglers for the crisis, saying they “deceive so many young people and ultimately lead many of them to their deaths," whether in the ocean or in the city.

The Spanish Interior Ministry released its own figures shortly after Vivas’ spoke, estimating that some 50,000 people had crossed from Morocco since Thursday. It added that 37,500 had already returned to Morocco by Friday afternoon, with hundreds more going back by the hour.

Rachid Sbihi, who leads a local workers association representing Civil Guard officers, described the situation as a “serious humanitarian crisis,” saying thousands of migrants, including unaccompanied children, were left sleeping in parks and on sidewalks, while others roamed the streets aimlessly.

“It’s chaotic,” Sbihi said.

The Moroccan Interior Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the migrant figures released by the Spanish authorities.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the images from Ceuta "are unacceptable.”

“We cannot allow anyone to come to our Union without abiding by our rules,” she said Friday in an online statement. “Dangerous crossings must stop immediately. Smuggling networks must be dismantled. And returns must be swift, as our rules allow.”

Dozens died in the chaos

Some of the 41 people who died had drowned, Sbihi said, but some were also killed in a stampede to cross the breakwater fence at Tarajal Beach, an urban beach near a border checkpoint with Morocco. The waters near the border fence were littered with buoys, shoes and other abandoned belongings.

Many young Moroccans who crossed into Ceuta told The Associated Press that they had hoped to find better work opportunities in Spain but were returning given the mayhem in Ceuta.

“There’s nothing at home. I’d have to work 12-hour shifts for a meager wage. That’s why I came here,” said 21-year-old Abdulah Buji, who hails from the city of Tetouan. “But I haven’t found any opportunities here either, so I have to go back.”

Moroccan police used water cannons and fired warning shots into the air to prevent migrants from crossing into Ceuta, according to rights groups in Morocco.

Morocco’s ambassador to Spain said the situation in Ceuta had unfolded against Morocco’s wishes.

“We have always prioritized legal, orderly and safe migration for all,” Karima Benyaich said. She did not comment on what prompted the migrants to cross into Ceuta.

To reach Ceuta, on the northern African coast, migrants often swim from the Moroccan town of Fnideq, covering about 3 miles (5 kilometers) to reach Spanish territory. Others attempt the crossing from the nearby town of Belyounech, where the distance is shorter.

Border surge linked to Supreme Court ruling

The authorities in Ceuta and Madrid have linked the border surge to a recent decision by the Spanish Supreme Court, which ruled that migrants arriving by sea could not be summarily deported, unlike those who cross by land or climb the border fence.

Sánchez said migrant smugglers misinterpreted the ruling.

The interpretation of the Supreme Court’s ruling “spread like wildfire over the past few hours through the networks of human trafficking organizations,” triggering the surge, Sánchez said.

Spanish prime minister has bucked anti-immigration trend

Sánchez has bucked the anti-migration trend that has gained ground across Europe and in the U.S.

Earlier this year, his government moved to give residency and work permits to hundreds of thousands of migrants already living in the country without permission.

Sánchez, a Socialist, argued that it would be good for the economy and the demographics of an aging Spain. Migrants who entered irregularly after Jan. 1 this year were not included.

His critics have jumped at the opportunity to attack his policy, saying it encouraged more migrants to come.

“Sánchez allows Spain to be invaded through Ceuta,” Spanish conservative politician Isabel Díaz Ayuso wrote on X.

The U.S. State Department expressed its support for “the people of Spain, and all Europeans, against this egregious violation of their sovereignty and human rights.”

In a post on X, the department added that “this unacceptable incident is the direct result of the Spanish Government’s deliberate efforts to enable and facilitate mass illegal migration into Europe.”

Sánchez on Friday defended his migration policy and distanced it from the events in Ceuta.

The chaos had ripple effects abroad. Italy temporarily suspended the its open-border Shengen agreement with Spain, re-imposing border controls for air and sea. The Interior Ministry said the decision amounted to a “closure” of the borders, but experts said it was merely a resumption of border controls. The agreement allows travelers to fly between the two countries without presenting passports.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said France would also strengthen border checks with Spain.

“This crisis in Ceuta has nothing to do with the regularization of migrants adopted by the Government of Spain, as is being falsely claimed by some,” the Spanish government said in a statement late Thursday after Meloni's announcement.

Pressure grows on second Spanish territory in Africa

Migrants from Morocco also attempted to cross into Melilla, the other Spanish territory at the tip of North Africa.

There was widespread chaos in Bni Nsar, the Moroccan town bordering the Spanish territory, where migrants clashed with police, throwing rocks and setting police vehicles ablaze, according to local media and rights groups. They reported injuries among security forces and the arrest of dozens of people attempting to cross.

Like Ceuta, Melilla is an self-governing Spanish city. Many Moroccans consider both cities to be occupied territory.

___

Naishadham reported from Madrid. Brito reported from Barcelona, Spain. Associated Press journalists Joseph Wilson in Barcelona, Spain; Akram Oubachir in Casablanca, Morocco; and Antonio Sempere in Ceuta, Spain, contributed.

Rescuers recovered 32 bodies from the mine on the outskirts of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, and were working to retrieve the remaining two, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority said in a statement.

Mine inspector Ghani Baloch said authorities initially believed 42 people had been inside the mine when the explosion occurred Thursday.

Balochistan’s Minister for Mines and Minerals Shoaib Nosherwani expressed condolences to the victims’ families and announced compensation of 500,000 Pakistani rupees (about $1,800) for the family of each victim. He said authorities would investigate the cause of the explosion and review safety measures at coal mines across the province.

Deadly accidents are common in Pakistan’s coal mining industry, particularly in Balochistan, where many mines lack adequate ventilation, gas-monitoring systems and other basic safety measures.

Despite the dangers and low wages, thousands of workers rely on coal mining for their livelihoods in Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but least-developed province, where poverty and unemployment remain widespread.

“It’s extremely important to us,” said Itai Nixon, who leads the diaspora department for Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs. “We’re the state of the Jewish people, not just Israelis.”

Lesley Sachs, who has protested the current Israeli government and chairs the Israel Movement for Progressive and Reform Judaism, also considers a close relationship with diaspora Jews a “strategic asset” for both Israel and Jews worldwide.

So she’s greatly concerned about diaspora Jews losing the sense that Israel can be a homeland for them, especially as rising antisemitism targets them regardless of political and religious affiliations.

“That was always really, really important that everybody around the world, especially after the Holocaust, knows that there is a country that will always take them,” Sachs said in her synagogue in Tel Aviv. “This is already a few generations after, and this is less prominent in their DNA. And I think that this is really a failure on the part of both Israel and world Jewry, that we have not managed to keep that prominent.”

Since 2000, Taglit-Birthright Israel has brought a million Jewish young adults from the United States and elsewhere for a free 10-day “discovery” tour of Israel. The organization’s CEO says it’s more necessary than ever to show what their connection to Israel could be like beyond controversial politics.

“That really increases the importance of my job to expose people to what they give up on,” said Gidi Mark. “What we give them is a mirror.”

The staunch Israel-US relationship shows some cracks

Israel and the United States have long been staunch allies. U.S. President Donald Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Washington earlier this week to discuss the war against Iran they launched together five months ago.

“The United States is perceived as the best friend of Israel in the entire world, and that’s still the case,” said Tamar Hermann, who directs the Israel Democracy Institute’s Viterbi Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research in Jerusalem.

Divisions over the ceasefire in the Iran war, however, have weakened Jewish Israelis’ belief that Trump prioritizes Israel’s security — from 64% in March to 26% in June — according to the center.

Amid diplomatic tensions, the role of Jewish Americans who historically lobbied for political, military and financial support for Israel gains new prominence, Israelis said. And that deepens the concern that many young progressive Americans, including Jews, now see supporting Israel in any way as irreconcilable with their worldview.

The decline in support for Israel has become particularly stark since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack when Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians in southern Israel, and abducted 251 others. Israel’s ensuing war against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 73,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry, which was part of the recently dissolved Hamas-run government, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and international organizations. It does not distinguish between civilians and militants but says women and children make up around half of all fatalities.

That in turn ignited protests across the United States, especially on college campuses.

“Holocaust, refugees, the importance of Israel in times of need abroad, and the fact that Israel is a small country fighting for its existence … that’s history they read in a book,” Sachs said of younger Jewish Americans. “They weren’t emotionally part of it in any way or any form. And so they look at their values and the things that they believe in. And they don’t see it in Israel.”

Jewish Americans have complicated relationship with Israel

Only about 4 in 10 religious Jewish adults under 45 in the United States say that supporting Israel is “extremely” or “very” important for their Jewish identity, while about half of older religious Jewish adults do, according to the AP-NORC poll.

The survey of 1,022 Jewish adults — including people who identify as Jewish by religion and religiously unaffiliated people who identify as Jewish through culture, ethnicity or family background — also found that only about half of religious adults say Israel’s ongoing military operations in Gaza are justified. The number drops to 2 in 10 among Jewish adults without a religious affiliation.

At the same time, about 6 in 10 Jewish adults say prejudice against Jewish people is an “extremely” or “very” serious problem in the United States today.

To many Israelis, safety threats against Jews make it all the more tragic — and dangerous — that young Jewish Americans do not see the state of Israel as a refuge or even an ally.

“Antisemitism sadly helps us to explain why a Jewish homeland is not a bad idea,” said Asaf Zamir, a deputy mayor of Tel Aviv who served as consul general in New York. “Opposing the government is fine, but you cannot understand your history as a Jew without understanding the part of Israel in it.”

Israel reaches out to secular and liberal Jews in North America

In order to promote deeper attachment between Israel and diaspora Jews, both the government and religious organizations are reinforcing exchange programs. For decades, young Israelis have traveled to Jewish summer camps across North America, and non-Israeli Jews get free trips to Israel.

“To see Israel and meet Israelis is the gold standard,” Itai Nixon said of programs bringing teens to the country.

Taglit-Birthright’s Gidi Mark said that since 2023, with multiple wars, tour participants are fewer — and their reactions to touring Israel have also changed. He recalled one participant shouting “Israel! Israel!” outside his hotel just because he felt safe to express himself.

“These people don’t feel free to experience who they are in the places that they are coming from,” Mark said.

These and other initiatives are focusing on secular Jews and adherents to Reform Judaism. The largest branch of the religion in North America, it emphasizes progressive values such as social justice.

Orthodox Jews abroad tend to have stronger ties to Israel — and Orthodox Jews in Israel tend to see themselves as closer to diaspora Jews than do secular Israelis, Hermann said.

Within the Israeli Reform movement, which is a small part of Judaism in the country, there’s a push to send more young Israelis to the United States, including as camp counselors.

“That kind of action is important, that one-on-one connection saying, ‘You know what, we believe in the same things you do. Really, we have the same ideology in general, and we feel we need to change Israel together,'" Sachs said. “We need to be partners in making Israel the country that we all need.”

Alma Edry, 18, is spending two months as a counselor at a progressive Jewish summer camp in Ontario with teens and young adults from Canada and the United States. She said her biggest surprise has been “that Israel is such a big deal for people outside the country.”

“Most of their friends are anti-Israel,” she said of the campers. “This is their chance to celebrate their connection.”

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

Anthropic, the San Francisco-based AI company behind Claude, posted on its website Thursday that it discovered the three incidents after reviewing more than 141,000 evaluation runs.

It had launched a “large-scale” cybersecurity review which specifically looked for evidence whether its AI models were able to access the internet from within testing environments that should have been sealed off, in response to the OpenAI incident, Anthropic said.

Anthropic said the models involved in the incidents were Claude Opus 4.7, Claude Mythos 5 and an internal research test model. The earliest incidents date to April, the AI company said.

“Claude compromised the impacted organizations’ infrastructure using basic techniques,” Anthropic said, such as exploiting weak passwords.

In all three incidents, the AI models were tasked with a “capture the flag” cybersecurity challenge, which Anthropic said has been one of the ways it assesses a model’s cyber capabilities.

The models were given a fictional scenario and told a piece of secret information, or the “flag,” had been hidden on a different machine on the network with the objective of breaking in and retrieving it, it said.

It added that it had already reached out to the affected organizations, which it did not name. Two of them said they had not previously detected the activity. Anthropic said it was “continuing to reach out to the third.”

Anthropic said it conducted its review with Irregular, which describes itself as the “first frontier security lab.”

“Addressing these risks will require closer cooperation across the AI ecosystem,” Irregular said in a post on X.

Last week, OpenAI said its AI models went rogue during an evaluation of its models, breaking into the servers of AI startup Hugging Face. OpenAI described it as a “significant security incident.”

These incidents have highlighted the vulnerabilities in AI security and controls and raised questions over how AI can be safely kept under human control as the technology’s usage becomes more widespread globally.

Researchers have warned for years about risks from technology and the need for stronger AI defensive engineering.

“Safety testing happens before a model is released precisely because we don’t yet know what it is capable of,” Anthropic said on Thursday on its website.

Kok Tin Gan, co-founder & CEO of cybersecurity firm NyxLab, which specializes in cybersecurity and threat detection, believes there will be more such incidents in the future.

“It is increasingly about governing what agents are available to the AI, what authorities they possess, which actions require approval, and how we ensure they remain within scope,” Gan said.

But the future of AI safety extends beyond just the safety of AI models, he said.

“If we simply give the AI a goal and allow it to decide how to achieve it, we should not be surprised when it takes actions that technically satisfy the objective, but fall outside our intended scope or expectations,” Gan said.

Therefore, stepping up the governance of the organizations and authorities behind these AI models is going to be increasingly important, he said.

The 30-year-old entertainer, whose real name is Andres Felipe Valencia Barrientos, wept after the verdicts were delivered in the District Court of Western Australia state in Perth.

He had pleaded not guilty to six charges of rape, three charges of assault occasioning bodily harm and one count of choking in a Perth hotel room in September 2024.

The accuser cannot legally be named. She was 20 at the time.

Three days after the jury began deliberating, they found him guilty of only two of the assault charges which relate to him biting the woman. He testified during his eight-day trial that they were “love bites” and denied his victim had complained that he was hurting her.

He was found not guilty on some charges, but he could potentially face a retrial on three charges of rape on which the jury could not reach a verdict.

Despite the convictions, the Colombian-born entertainer remained free on bail until the case returns to court on Aug. 21 to discuss next steps.

Barrientos had been touring Australia and had already performed in Sydney and Melbourne before he encountered his victim in Perth. He was arrested several days later in the east coast city of Brisbane, where the tour was to end.

Prosecutors alleged the woman initially agreed to have sex but withdrew her consent because she feared for her safety.

Photos of the woman with bruising as well as bite marks on her face and neck were shown to the court.

Barrientos has been free on bail since he was charged and was allowed to return to Britain for several months.

Across the country, Democratic candidates are grappling with their previous positions calling to “defund the police” — a prominent demand during the protests that followed George Floyd's death — by either reimagining public safety services altogether or redirecting some police departments’ funds to other social programs. Now, they are facing tough questions about their past positions.

Democratic leaders fear that the outlier opinions favoring police defunding may again tarnish the party's brand and sink its chances of gaining ground in Congress, governor's mansions and statehouses nationwide.

“It was a serious debate in 2020 that arguably cost us some seats that year and caused us to lose on something where we should have had the upper ground, because a few members of our party wanted to have a stylistic debate rather than one on substance,” said Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic strategist.

Seawright said to avoid being painted as politically toxic on safety issues, Democrats “have to define the narrative before others define us with the narrative.”

That task may become more challenging as the party grapples with a rising left flank that has captivated its base, just as Republicans move to make warnings about crime, immigration and growing support for democratic socialism core to their closing midterm message.

Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate reckons with past ‘defund’ rhetoric

In Wisconsin, a swing state known for razor-thin elections that President Donald Trump won in 2016 and 2024, insurgent democratic socialist State Rep. Francesca Hong has upended the Democratic gubernatorial primary by running far to the left in a state where independent and moderate voters are key in statewide races. A single mother and former line cook, Hong has captured the imaginations of liberal Democrats upset with the party establishment.

But she’s also raised concerns among more moderate Democrats that her past support for defunding the police would hurt her chances in the general election against Trump-backed Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany.

“I support defunding the police as a first step towards abolishing the police,” Hong said in a 2020 social media post after the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man in Kenosha, Wisconsin. A year later, while serving in the State Assembly, Hong again posted about Blake, writing: “Police exist to uphold white supremacy. Defund then abolish. Reform can’t be an option.”

But as a candidate for governor, Hong had softened her tone while not disavowing her past statements. On Tuesday night, in the only televised debate ahead of the Aug. 11 primary, Hong said she did not support cutting police funding.

“The governor cannot defund the police and I’m not here to govern by slogan,” Hong said. “I’m here to make sure that I am the governor that is most serious about public safety, and that means investing in the things that we know prevent crimes.”

New York, Michigan politicians distance themselves from ‘defund’ calls

In neighboring Michigan, Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, a staunch progressive, has faced questions about his past support for defunding the police. Last November, CNN reported that the public health researcher and Rhodes scholar had deleted scores of posts expressing support for defunding the police. He now says he rejects the idea.

And in New York, Mayor Zohran Mamdani has tried to distance himself from his past criticisms of the city’s police department and a previous call to defund the agency. He is at times still dogged by a set of social media posts he made in 2020, at the height of the Black Lives Matter protests, where he described the department as “racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety” and pushed to “Defund this rogue agency.”

Mamdani apologized for the language during his campaign and stressed that he no longer wanted to defund the agency. He has since moved to ease lingering concerns by retaining his predecessor’s police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, an establishment moderate respected by the city’s business leaders and law enforcement community. That decision angered some of Mamdani’s progressive allies.

The backtracking illustrates how the politics of criminal justice have shifted since 2020, posing dilemmas for Democrats’ midterm strategy and their ability to enact their preferred solutions.

Memphis voters reject ‘defund the police’ but decry National Guard presence

The stakes are life and death for communities caught in the middle of the political debate.

In Memphis, Tennessee, residents are exhausted at being thrust into the national discourse over crime and safety. The president surged the city with National Guard troops last year as part of an “anti-crime” task force. The task force has faced renewed local backlash after federal agents earlier this month killed a man experiencing a mental health crisis and another person during an altercation while agents executed a drug warrant. The city's local Democratic lawmakers claim that the tough-on-crime policies only temporarily reduced crime while troop presence was at its peak.

“They don’t like how it was done, how President Trump and the governor were able to snap their fingers, and all of a sudden we see federal agents flooding our city,” said State Sen. London Lamar, who represents Memphis and has faced tough questions from constituents and her statehouse colleagues about how to address crime in the city.

But Lamar added that outside of frustrated local progressive activists, residents outraged by the administration's anti-crime crackdown were still skeptical of calls to “defund the police.”

“It's not really sticking because, though it's quietly kept, the vast majority of the community still wants law enforcement's presence,” said Lamar. The debate is a useful distraction, Lamar said, from real conversations over how to boost public safety.

“Our challenges are being exploited for political gain,” she added.

Having released her new single “Shotty” on Friday, Reid wants people to meet the less pristine version of herself: a 23-year-old from Atlanta who falls in love, deals with boy problems and is still finding her way.

“I think people might think I have it all together when I really don't,” said Reid, who is known for performances in “ Euphoria, ” “ A Wrinkle in Time ” and “ The Last of Us, ” which earned her an Emmy in 2024. She graduated from the University of Southern California last year.

“I'm a normal girl trying to figure it out,” she continued.

“Shotty” follows Reid’s debut single, “Clean Sweep,” continuing a music journey she has pursued over the past year. So far, she has recorded more than 25 songs.

Reid said she hopes to focus work on her first EP after wrapping production on Teyana Taylor's feature directorial debut “Get Lite,” giving herself time to shape a project that tells a cohesive story. She's releasing music independently through her label, 1720 Music, saying the approach gives her greater creative freedom while leaving the door open to partner with a major label in the future.

“The indie route, you have a little bit more autonomy of what you want to do and how you do things,” she said.

Reid said ownership also gives her an opportunity to create doors for other artists.

“It’s the most powerful thing,” she said. “I want to sign people. I want to sign songwriters and producers and artists, and give them opportunities.”

Music has quickly become as important to Reid as acting, a career she'll continue with upcoming projects including Netflix’s “Roommates” and “Get Lite.” Preparing for Taylor's film pushed Reid outside her comfort zone as a dancer, challenging her to become more comfortable as a performer.

It's a skill Reid hopes will eventually translate to performing her own music.

“It’s as big and as important as acting is,” she said. “It’s something that I want to continue to do and want to continue to grow at.”

Reid said years in Hollywood prepared her for criticism.

“People didn’t feel like I deserved to win an Emmy, but it’s still sitting in my house,” she said. “It’s still in my mama’s house, so I don’t really care what people say.”

Since releasing “Clean Sweep,” Reid said she has largely stayed away from reading online comments.

“I don’t want to get distracted or discouraged,” she said. “Mostly I’ve been so thankful. The sentiments have been really nice and people have been supportive. ... I'm excited and can’t wait for them to hear more.”

For Reid, music has become more about who she's always been.

“Not everything is gonna be perfect. Not everything is gonna be prim, proper and pristine and eloquent,” Reid said. “Like yeah, that’s a part of me, and I can do that, and I can do it really well. But also … this is me too.”

Trump began the meeting by noting it was “something very unique.”

“It's Camp David, and this room is a very, very special room,” Trump said, as the White House spent Friday morning highlighting that the meeting was the first televised Cabinet meeting at the storied presidential retreat.

He then segued into his usual talking points about the economy, the border and Iran — but then referred to the recent surge of migrants into Cueta, a tiny territory of Spain, suggesting that the moment should be taken as a warning to voters ahead of the U.S. midterms.

“You know I saw Spain yesterday, and I watched the catastrophe that took place. It looks like an invasion of a country by hundreds of thousands of people,” Trump said. “And that same thing is going to happen to us if the Republicans don’t get elected. Except worse, much bigger.”

Other Cabinet officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, also spoke before Trump fielded questions from journalists, who left the meeting after nearly an hour.

It was the first Cabinet meeting at Camp David in Trump's second term after an earlier attempt in May was scuttled because of bad weather. During his first term, Trump held a Cabinet meeting at the retreat.

The public portion of Trump's Cabinet meetings has lasted as long as three hours, with the president letting everyone at the table update him on their departments or agencies — with added praise for him personally and his leadership thrown in. In a departure from other presidents, he has allowed the news media to stay for the duration of the meetings, a move that Leavitt has said proves his commitment to transparency.

More recently, however, Trump has commented on how lengthy the meetings have become. He has begun urging speakers to keep their comments brief, and he has limited the number of oral reports.

“Everybody around here has got a lot to say. But we did that once, and it lasted for like four or five hours. It was a little much,” Trump said at the May meeting.

Camp David was established in 1942 during Franklin Roosevelt's presidency and has been used by every president since.

Roosevelt had enjoyed relaxing aboard a presidential yacht, but the military and the U.S. Secret Service began to worry about his safety on open water during World War II. As a result, Roosevelt asked the National Park Service to find sites within 100 miles (160 kilometers) of the White House that he could use for rest.

He chose what is now known as Camp David. He gave it the original name of Shangri-La, from James Hilton’s novel “Lost Horizon.” President Dwight Eisenhower renamed it Camp David, after his grandson and father.

Trump spent more weekends at the retreat in his first term but has visited sparingly in his second, most recently in June for Father’s Day.

In 2019, during his first term, Trump announced on social media that he had canceled a secret weekend meeting at Camp David with Taliban and Afghanistan leaders — scheduled for just days before the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks — after a bombing in the capital of Kabul killed a dozen people, including a U.S. soldier.

Presidents throughout history have turned to Camp David when they needed security and privacy for sensitive diplomatic talks with foreign leaders. Jimmy Carter took the leaders of Egypt and Israel there in 1978 for talks that produced the Camp David Accords, a peace agreement between the two countries.

Camp David is also where Carter huddled in 1979 with representatives of a cross-section of American society. He later delivered a nationally televised speech on energy policy that became known as the “malaise” speech — even though he never said the word.

The camp's primary purpose is to provide presidents a place to rest, relax and recharge.

The 180-acre (73-hectare) retreat, which is run by the Navy and guarded by Marines, has a cabin named Aspen that’s reserved for the president, plus about a dozen other cabins for guests. A main lodge has conference rooms, a dining room and an office for the president.

Guests can take advantage of a range of indoor and outdoor amenities, including a fitness center, a bowling alley, a movie theater, a heated swimming pool and tennis and basketball courts. A chapel offers religious services.

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Superville and Kim reported from Washington.

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The unsavory surprises included roaches in the rice, rodent droppings, flies contaminating food, a sewage backup in a food prep area, and even a restaurant with no sink or dishwasher to clean its dishes. Inspectors ordered the kitchens to clean up and fix the problems.

No kitchens in Broward or the Florida Keys were ordered shut last week.

All the places listed were allowed to re-open following an ordered cleanup and then a re-inspection.

**LAS DELICIAS RESTAURANT

748 WEST 49TH ST.

HIALEAH

ORDERED SHUT 7/24

18 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Stop Sale issued due to food not being in a wholesome, sound condition. Observed approximately 3 live roaches inside rice container at kitchen area."

“Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found. Observed approximately 3 live roaches inside rice container at kitchen area. Also observed approximately 3 live roaches under chest freezer at kitchen area.”

“Dead roaches on premises. Observed 1 dead roach on preparation table at kitchen area. Observed approximately 7 dead roaches under preparation table at kitchen area. Repeat Violation.”

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

“Food stored in a prohibited area. Observed raw pork uncovered container inside mop sink at kitchen area. Operator removed during inspection.”

“Stop Sale issued on time/temperature control for safety food due to temperature abuse. Observed cooked pork (48F - Cooling); cooked rice (46F - Cooling); beans (43F - Cold Holding); cooked yuca (43F - Cold Holding); chicken soup (43F - Cold Holding); chicken wings (43F - Cold Holding) ground beef (43F - Cold Holding) on reach in cooler, as per operator from previous day.”

“No currently certified food service manager on duty with four or more employees engaged in food preparation/handling.”

**KELLY’S CAJUN GRILL

1635 WEST 49TH ST.

HIALEAH

ORDERED SHUT 7/20

23 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Rodent activity present as evidenced by rodent droppings found. Observed approximately 4 rodent droppings under preparation table at kitchen area."

“Dead roaches on premises. Observed approximately 10 dead roaches inside reach in freezer at cook line. Observed approximately 3 dead roaches under equipment at cook line. Observed approximately 6 dead roaches inside walk in cooler.”

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

“Food-contact surface soiled with food debris, mold-like substance or slime. Observed food stored on dirty plastic containers at walk in cooler.”

“Floor not cleaned when the least amount of food is exposed. Observed throughout kitchen.”

“Time/temperature control for safety food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. Observed breaded fish (46F - Cold Holding); cooked chicken (46F - Cold Holding); raw chicken (48F - Cold Holding) on walk in cooler, as per operator less than 2 hours.”

“Time/temperature control for safety food thawed in an improper manner. Observed raw chicken (frozen) in standing water at 3 compartment sink. Employee moved to walk in cooler.”

“Employee began working with food, handling clean equipment or utensils, or touching unwrapped single-service items without first washing hands. Observed employee coming from bathroom and begin work without washing their hands.”

**PUBBELLY SUSHI

8970 SW 72ND PLACE

DADELAND

ORDERED SHUT 7/20

8 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Live, small flying insects found. Observed approximately 20 live flies inside of plastic bin touching potatoes; on rack outside of walk in cooler and ice machine. Observed 3 live flies on kitchen cooking equipment on dry dish rack in ware wash area. Observed 1 live fly on wall in mop sink next to ware wash area. Observed 2 live flies on box of parchment paper outside of walk in freezer. Observed 2 live flies in air outside of walk in freezer.”

“Stop Sale issued due to food not being in a wholesome, sound condition. Observed 1 case of potatoes with approximately 20 live flies inside touching product.”

**SUBWAY

20505 SOUTH DIXIE HIGHWAY

CUTLER BAY

ORDERED SHUT 7/24

9 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Sewage/wastewater backing up through floor drain. Sewage water coming up from the floor drain once I start the water in hand wash sink in the preparation area by the 3 compartment sink. The area where the water is backing up cannot be contained. Backup is in the preparation area by the 3 compartment sink.”

“Objectionable odors in bathroom or other areas of the establishment. Observed odor at the kitchen area once the water sewage backed up from the floor.”

“Floor area(s) covered with standing water. Observed standing water in the floor next to 3 compartment sink.”

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

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

**JUST4FUN

5701 SUNSET DR.

SOUTH MIAMI

ORDERED SHUT 7/24

1 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“No dishwashing facilities of any kind provided. Observed triple sink removed from establishment, no dishwasher available for proper wash rinse and sanitizing. As per operator, mall had them remove all ware washing equipment and drain was sealed.”

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Eros Emanuel Gehrig, whose driver’s license was suspended, crashed into the Lost City Brewing Company, at 12207 NE 13th Court, according to the North Miami Police Department.

Gehrig, 53, lost control and struck five cars before hitting the front of the building at about 3 p.m., according to police.

Chris Campos, the owner of the Lost City Brewing Company, said the bar was closed when the truck left a large hole in the wall.

“It’s an hour before we open, a half-hour after we were doing some repairs to the fridge that sits on this wall,” Campos said. “It’s really that serendipitous moment where nobody was here and, I mean, if people would have been here, it would have been awful.”

According to a police officer’s arrest report, Gehrig’s Florida driver’s license had been suspended indefinitely on Sept. 12, 2012. He was arrested on a charge of driving with a suspended license.

Police said Gehrig was taken to HCA Florida Aventura Hospital to be evaluated before being booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

Gehrig was released from jail Thursday morning after posting bond.

The cleanup at Lost City is complete for now, and the business has reopened.

A boarded-up wall damaged in the crash has been transformed into a temporary piece of artwork, but Campos says it will take more time to fully restore the business.

“I don’t want to lose any more business,” Campos said. “We’re a small business. We can’t afford not to be open more than a day or two.”

The death toll rose to 34, the Kumamoto prefectural government said, as rescuers raced to find those still missing after the quake triggered a mall explosion, toppled a factory chimney and flattened homes.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi stressed that authorities must secure water supplies by doing “whatever it takes” and called for close coordination with the military and other relevant agencies. The earthquake left thousands of homes without power, but electricity was fully restored by Friday evening. The local power company also said there were no immediate reports of remaining outages.

The magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu on Tuesday. As search operations entered a fourth day, it wasn’t known how many people remained missing.

More than 1,500 buildings were damaged, including 179 that were destroyed, according to preliminary assessments by Kumamoto officials.

Officials said one more death and its connection to the quake is under investigation. At least 96 people were injured, including six seriously.

Debris collected at a severely damaged century-old Japanese inn

In Yatsushiro City, another hard-hit area in southern Kumamoto, Kinparo, a 116-year old Japanese inn, was severely damaged, with its roofed main entrance collapsed to the ground, white walls cracked and rooftiles fell.

On Friday, three days after the quake, workers were removing parts of the gate, which is part of a registered historic property that needs to be restored.

Started in 1910, the three-story ryokan with traditional architecture and its hot bath have attracted many fans from the region and across Japan.

“The damage is tremendous and it would require significant repairs, and I can’t even think if or how I can do that,” inn owner Keisuke Matsumoto said. “But it’s a valuable family inn that has been handed down for generations since my great-great grandfather built it, so I do hope to preserve it.”

Inside, his mother Misao Matsumoto said she was not injured in the quake but “I’m mentally discouraged. It’s very painful to see parts of what I’ve lived with and enjoyed for decades crumble to that state.” But she said experts of historic buildings will come in to discuss the reconstruction, so “I have to hang in there."

Across the street from the Kinparo inn, a fish cake shop owner unable to resume his business due to the water cutoff was giving away tube-shaped fish cakes while they are still edible.

Signs for the “chikuwa” fish cake hang from the ceiling. “I just wanted to cheer up this neighborhood,” said shop owner Shinichiro Katayama. He says he cannot clean or check his fish cake machine is intact until the water supply resumes. “I don’t even know if the machine still works. When water supply is back that would be my first step toward a recovery.”

Thousands are without water as heat soars

Kumamoto authorities said nearly 80,000 homes remained without water. More than 9,000 people were staying in shelters, where power sources were being added to provide air conditioning.

Fuel has also become scarce as power outages disabled gas stations and quake damage disrupted deliveries from other regions. Many have resorted to sleeping in their cars for privacy, but with the fuel shortage, they struggle to keep the air conditioning running in sweltering temperatures.

Japan's weather agency and the Ministry of the Environment issued an extreme heat alert for Kumamoto city Friday as temperatures peaked at 36 C (97 F).

Hirokazu Sato, who lost his home in the earthquake, said he and his wife and three children would remain in their car until they can move into temporary housing.

“I don’t know how soon I’d be able to move in,” said Sato. “We need to have the air conditioning on throughout the day and night, which uses up gas.”

Kumamoto is also a major industrial hub, and there are concerns that the quake could possibly disrupt semiconductor and auto-parts supply chains for months to come.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, a global chip giant that operates a lab in Kumamoto, said all personnel were safe and operations were gradually resuming after postquake inspections found the structure was sound, although detailed inspections and impact assessments were still underway.

Searches continue, with the number of missing unknown

Japanese officials had described Friday afternoon as a crucial point for rescue efforts as some experts say survival chances decline after the first three days.

With search dogs, rescuers continued looking for survivors across the Kumamoto area, including at the collapsed Aeon Mall in the town of Kashima, one of the hardest-hit sites. The complex was bustling with thousands of people when the quake happened.

The company said about 3,000 shoppers were evacuated to a parking lot before an explosion happened in another part of the mall, where some staff remained working. The mall’s second floor collapsed, trapping people. Seven of the 11 rescued were confirmed dead, but officials did not say if anyone else is missing.

A search operation had ended at a Nippon Paper Industries factory in the Yatsushiro city where a chimney collapsed in the quake, officials said. Of the 11 people dug out there, nine were confirmed dead.

Smaller-scale searches continued Friday at the sites of collapsed houses in badly hit towns in southern Kumamoto. Authorities haven't supplied a firm figure for how many people are missing.

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Ono reported from Tokyo. Associated Press writer business writer Yuri Kageyama contributed to this report.

Devers did get a sacrifice fly, but Tatis added on to his impressive list of home run robberies.

Tatis tracked Devers' fly ball and leaped to get his glove high above the short wall in right-center at Petco Park to make the catch. He landed and tumbled onto his backside, but flipped the ball to center fielder Jackson Merrill, who tossed it into the infield.

Merrill helped Tatis to his feet and patted him on the chest. Pitcher JP Sears raised his left arm in celebration.

Tatis was an All-Star at shortstop in 2021 and was moved to right field in 2023, after missing the 2022 season with injuries and a PED suspension. He won the Gold Glove and Platinum Glove awards in 2023 and 2025.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

A person familiar with the deal said Samuel agreed on Thursday to return to the 49ers on a one-year contract worth up to $7 million. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal hadn't been announced.

NFL Network first reported the agreement.

Samuel spent his first six seasons with the 49ers after being drafted in the second round in 2019, helping the team reach the Super Bowl twice and earning All-Pro honors in 2021 when he had 1,770 yards from scrimmage and 14 touchdowns.

Samuel was traded to Washington in 2025 for a fifth-round draft pick and had 72 catches for 727 yards and five TDs for the Commanders last season. He became a free agent in March and now will join the Niners to provide reinforcement with Pearsall out.

Samuel has 406 career catches for 5,519 yards and 27 touchdowns and has been one of the most dynamic players after the catch in the NFL. His average of 8.7 yards after the catch on receptions rank first among all receivers with at least 100 catches since 2019. He also has rushed for 1,218 yards and 21 TDs in 97 career games.

The move comes a day after the 49ers announced that Pearsall was sidelined with a knee injury that could require surgery. The team said Pearsall had swelling in the right knee that was related to the posterior cruciate ligament injury that forced him to miss eight games in the 2025 regular season. The Niners are concerned that the knee is still an issue after Pearsall participated in just two practices in training camp and were evaluating all options.

Pearsall has flashed when he is healthy, but has struggled to stay on the field since being drafted in the first round in 2024. He missed most of training camp as a rookie with a shoulder injury and then was shot in a robbery attempt just before the start of that season. Pearsall returned to make 31 catches for 400 yards and three TDs in 11 games.

Pearsall was slowed early last summer by a hamstring injury, but got off to a fast start with 20 catches for 327 yards in his first four games before going down with a knee injury in Week 4. He has 67 catches for 928 yards and three TDs in 20 games over two seasons.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

A statement from the regional Gilgt-Baltistan government identified the three recovered bodies as Nepalese climber Pur Bahadur Gurung, Omani climber Nathira Ahmed and American climber Mallory Geis. It said the bodies had been transported to a hospital.

The announcement came hours after officials said search teams had located the remains of four climbers despite harsh weather. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. They did not immediately identify the fourth body that had been spotted.

Bad weather continued to hamper the rescue effort Friday, according to a statement from the Gilgit-Baltistan region's Chief Minister Amjad Hussain.

The climbers lost contact with their base camp after an avalanche struck Broad Peak while they were attempting to scale the mountain, said Karrar Haidri, vice president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan. “The team has been out of communication since Thursday,” said Haidri, adding that army helicopters were part of the search-and-rescue operation.

Authorities said the search for the missing climbers continued until Friday evening and would resume Saturday.

According to the Alpine Club, the expedition comprised five Nepali climbers in addition to the Omani and American climbers, as well as Pakistani climber Sohail Sakhi, a Chinese climber identified only as Wang, and one other foreign climber.

On Friday, China’s government said it was trying to verify whether any of its nationals were among the 10 climbers missing.

“We will provide assistance to Chinese citizens in need and are also willing to offer help in accordance with the needs of the Pakistani side,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Friday in Beijing.

The expedition leader was the renowned mountaineer Nirmal Purja, a Nepal-born former soldier in the British army widely known as Nims Dai. He climbed the world’s 14 highest peaks in a record 189 days in 2019, an achievement featured in the Netflix documentary, “14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible.” His record was surpassed in 2023.

Moving Mountains, a travel company based in Pakistan, announced late last month that the expedition team was on its way to the small town of Askole and wished them a safe journey climbing Broad Peak. The company said this was Geis’ first try at an 8,000-meter peak in Pakistan, while it was expected to be Sakhi’s final one.

Sakhi is a guide for the company, as well as a geographer and high-altitude photographer, and has climbed some of the world’s major peaks, according to Moving Mountains’ website.

Geis, 39, lives in San Antonio. She announced on social media earlier this year that she was closing her Pilates studio to take “a giant leap of faith into the unknown to see where life goes. I have a sneaking suspicion there will be lots of helmets, harnesses, and crampons involved.”

Broad Peak, at 8,047 meters (26,401 feet), is the world’s 12th-highest mountain. It lies in Pakistan’s Karakoram range, home to five of the world’s 14 peaks above 8,000 meters, attracting climbers from around the globe.

Accidents are common during climbing expeditions in northern Pakistan because of avalanches and rapidly changing weather.

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Khan reported from Peshawar, Pakistan. AP journalist E. Eduardo Castillo in Beijing and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed to this report.

The Dodgers open a three-game set against the Boston Red Sox.

The two-way superstar wanted to play Thursday against the Seattle Mariners, manager Dave Roberts said, but it was the team's decision to rest him. Ohtani told the training staff of renewed soreness after Wednesday night's 4-2 win.

“I appreciate the communication,” Roberts said. “I can’t read minds, the training staff can’t read minds, so just for him to communicate that then allows for us to make a decision.”

Second baseman Tommy Edman went 0 for 3 in Ohtani’s place for the series finale, a 6-2 win.

Ohtani has been dealing with knee soreness since June 11 and hasn't pitched since July 3 while also dealing with a right biceps issue. He skipped the All-Star Game in Philadelphia to stay home and receive a lubricant injection in the knee.

He is still serving as the designated hitter. Ohtani was 5 for 7 combined in his last two games against the Mariners, with a home run, four RBIs and two runs scored.

"The last couple days he’s been on base a lot more whereas the last part of the road trip he wasn’t, so there might have been a little something to that,” Roberts said, adding that nothing occurred in the game Wednesday to precipitate Ohtani sitting out the next day.

The Dodgers expect Ohtani to return to pitching this season, but they're not rushing him back to the mound.

“If there was something structural, then we would be much more concerned,” Andrew Friedman, president of baseball operations, said Wednesday. “The fact that there’s not and the fact that it does keep improving suggests that we’re on the right path.”

For now, the team doesn't have any plans to shut down Ohtani entirely to give him time to recover from his ailments.

"We're talking about this constantly,” Roberts said. “Nothing should be off the table and nothing is set in stone. So I think it’s more of how he feels. With this new information we’ve got to have new conversations.”

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Now, AI is becoming a bigger part of healthcare, with hospitals and doctors’ offices using the technology in ways that some say are making care better for patients.

Dr. Jennifer Goldman, a primary care physician and chief medical information officer at Memorial Healthcare, is leading efforts to bring AI into the hospital and the exam room.

“It actually makes healthcare more human,” Goldman said. “I’m no longer having to look at a computer and type during the visit. I can listen more fully to my patients.”

Patients like Alexandra Tuduce Sanchez say the technology also makes communication and coordination between providers easier.

“If you need to see a neurologist or GI doctor, everybody has all the history of what you’re taking, what could be causing some of your symptoms,” Sanchez said.

In the fast-paced and constantly evolving healthcare world, experts say AI tools use specialized algorithms to document and summarize patient visits. They can also help screen patients for diseases, including diabetic retinopathy, earlier than ever.

Goldman said that, with a patient’s permission, she can use her phone during an exam to take notes, and the AI system will automatically transcribe the visit into a medical note.

“If my patients agree to let me use my phone in the exam room to take notes, then it will actually transcribe the visit in a note for me,” she said.

Goldman said Memorial Healthcare has been implementing AI for the past two years and believes the technology is only beginning to change healthcare.

“It makes the world a little smaller,” she said. “It’s not you alone in the exam room. You have the benefit of all the research and the community of physicians around you.”

AI tools can also identify subtle fractures, microscopic tumors and early brain lesions on scans that human eyes might miss.

Studies also show that AI scribes and automated note-taking systems reduce the hours physicians spend on paperwork, helping reduce burnout.

The S&P 500 rose 0.4% after veering between an earlier gain of 0.7% and drop of 0.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 221 points, or 0.4%, as of 12:29 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.6% higher after briefly losing all of an early 1.3% jump.

The market initially seemed to be heading for healthy gains as Amazon leaped 15.2% after reporting much stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its profit more than tripled from a year earlier, thanks in part to an acceleration of growth in its cloud computing business.

Analysts said that could be a signal Amazon’s huge investments in artificial-intelligence technology are paying off, and Amazon increased its forecast for how much it will spend on investments this year.

The stock reaction was similar to what Microsoft got a day before, when it soared to its best day in nearly 18 years on signals that its AI investments may also be yielding higher profits.

Worries have been high on Wall Street that companies pouring billions of dollars into AI data centers may not get enough profit and productivity to make all the investments worth it. That weighed on the broad U.S. stock market, causing its sharp swings throughout July, along with worries that stock prices shot too high for companies selling the processors and computer memory that such “hyperscalers” are scrambling to buy.

Chipmakers swung sharply again on Friday. Micron Technology, for example, went from an early jump of 6.4% to a loss of 5.3%.

More firmly on the losing end of Wall Street was Apple, which dropped 9.6% despite reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than expected. Its forecast for growth in the current quarter fell short of expectations, which executives pinned on a supply crunch in components getting vacuumed up in the AI boom.

Also pressuring stocks was another rise in oil prices as uncertainty continues about when the war with Iran will allow crude to flow freely again from the Middle East.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude rose 0.9% to $87.66 after careening between $72 and $102 earlier in July.

Higher oil prices have pushed the cost for a gallon of regular gasoline to an average of nearly $4.11 across the United States, up from $3.85 a month ago, according to AAA. More expensive oil also puts upward pressure on prices for virtually every product that rides on a ship, plane or truck before it gets to a customer.

The worries about inflation sent yields in the bond market even higher.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury jumped to 4.74% from 4.68% late Thursday and from just 3.97% before the war with Iran sent oil prices shooting higher. That's a notable move for the bond market, and the yield moves higher when investors' expectations for inflation, economic growth and other factors in upcoming years are rising.

The leap has already sent the average long-term U.S. mortgage rate to its highest level in a year.

Longer-term yields jumped on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve's chair, Kevin Warsh, promised again to get inflation back down to 2% but did not say how he plans to get it there. The Fed voted again to keep its main interest rate steady on Wednesday, even though inflation continues to remain well above 2%.

Higher interest rates could keep a lid on inflation, but they could also slow the economy and undercut prices for stocks and other investments. President Donald Trump, who nominated Warsh to lead the Fed, has lobbied for lower interest rates instead of higher.

Warsh has clearly told financial markets that he does not want to give hints about what the Fed will do with interest rates, saying he wants to get direct, “unfiltered” messages from them rather than echoes back of what the Fed has suggested.

But “without clarifying why action was or wasn’t taken already, it’s hard to see how statements about being committed to hitting its inflation target aren’t just a bluff,” according to Brian Jacobsen, chief economic strategist at Annex Wealth Management.

“The Fed is facing a growing credibility problem,” economists at Bank of America wrote in a report. Unless data comes in showing less pressure on inflation in the interim, “it is imperative for the Fed to pass the September test by hiking rates and delivering an internally consistent narrative.”

In stock markets abroad, the swings were even wilder for chip stocks.

Seoul’s Kospi index soared 17.9% for its best day in history. The index is dominated by two tech giants, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which both surged at least 26.8% on Friday.

The Kospi, though, still lost 22% in July despite Friday’s historic move. That’s after it more than doubled in the first six months of the year.

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AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.

“Frente a esta pasión expropiatoria de la alta política decidimos poner fin a 91 años de historia y reformar la carta orgánica del Banco Central de la República Argentina”, dijo el mandatario en un mensaje emitido por cadena nacional de radio y televisión.

La iniciativa oficial debe ser aprobada por el Congreso, donde el oficialismo requiere de los votos de partidos aliados de la oposición en ambas cámaras para la sanción de leyes.

La del Banco Central es la última y probablemente más ambiciosa de las reformas que ha impulsado Milei desde su llegada al poder en 2023, en su propósito por desregular la economía argentina tras décadas de intervencionismo del Estado.

“La reforma de la carta orgánica del Banco Central viene a poner fin con la estafa de falsificar dinero para financiar la alta política, cuya manifestación más evidente es la tasa de inflación”, argumentó Milei. “Dicha estafa es más conocida como impuesto inflacionario, que permite aumentar ingresos tributarios sin autorización del Congreso”.

Milei, un economista anarco-capitalista, ganó la presidencia prometiendo eliminar los altísimos aumentos de precios de Argentina y revertir sus crónicos déficits fiscales. Más de dos años después, sus amplias medidas de desregulación y austeridad han desacelerado la inflación: la tasa anual, ahora en 33%, superaba el 200% cuando asumió el cargo.

Los puntos de la reforma

-El proyecto establece que la misión fundamental del Banco Central será preservar el valor de la moneda.

-prohíbe de modo taxativo la financiación del Estado.

-Con el objetivo de blindar al presidente del Banco Central y al directorio de “los atropellos de la política”, la remoción de las autoridades monetarias requerirá dos tercios no solo de la Cámara de Senadores, como hasta ahora, sino también de la Cámara de Diputados.

-Se restringe el pago de dividendos por los resultados derivados de la prestación del servicio de liquidez.

Otros proyectos

En paralelo a los cambios en el Banco Central, Milei también anunció un proyecto por el cual incorpora la figura del “shutdown” (cierre) de la administración del Estado, como en Estados Unidos, en caso de un presupuesto nacional deficitario.

“Si durante varios meses seguidos el resultado fiscal es deficitario, el Congreso dispondrá de algunas semanas para devolver las cuentas al equilibrio”, explicó Milei. “Si no lo hace, entrará en vigencia automática el shutdown”.

En la práctica, se paralizarán las actividades no esenciales del Estado, mientras el presidente, el vicepresidente, los senadores, los diputados, los ministros, secretarios y subsecretarios “no cobrarán un solo peso de sueldo”, adelantó Milei.

Milei aclaró que jubilaciones, pensiones, planes sociales, la salud, la seguridad, la defensa nacional y el servicio penitenciario quedarán exceptuados.

Como parte del paquete de reformas, el presidente también impulsará cambios en el mercado de capitales y de seguros.

“Entre todas ellas (las reformas) pondrán fin a 91 años de saqueo, expropiación, impunidad y decadencia y nos permitirán hacer a la Argentina grande nuevamente”, concluyó Milei.

The White House announcement comes nine months after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire was signed. Negotiations between Israel and Hamas had largely deadlocked over the implementation of its second phase, including the disarmament of Hamas and the reconstruction of Gaza.

“The agreement will be carried out in carefully structured phases,” Trump said on social media. “As disarmament is completed, Israeli forces will withdraw, and the International Stabilization Force will work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility for Gaza being safe for its residents and its neighbors.”

Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan calls on the militant group to surrender its weapons and destroy its vast network of tunnels. It also envisions Israeli forces withdrawing from Gaza, the arrival of a new technocratic Palestinian government, deployment of an international security force and the rebuilding of the battered Palestinian enclave.

Trump announced what he said was an agreement to realize one of the most difficult portions of the Gaza ceasefire while negotiations have stalled and military attacks have escalated in the war that the U.S. and Israel in February launched against Iran, a key sponsor of Hamas.

On Friday, a Hamas official said they have reached an agreement on disarmament, the most crucial part of the ceasefire deal. Israel didn't give an indication that they had agreed.

Officials offer long or unspecific timelines for Hamas to disarm

U.S. and Board of Peace officials, describing the deal to reporters on condition of anonymity under guidelines set by the White House, gave an extremely optimistic assessment of the agreement that laid out a scenario very similar to the one described by Trump and his top aides when the Board of Peace, an international body established by Trump to oversee the ceasefire in Gaza, was first formed.

The officials were unable to offer specific timelines for the disarmament of Hamas or other groups that operate in Gaza, such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad, but said the Gaza police force would turn over weapons to the technocratic Board of Peace-backed Gaza administration in the next two weeks.

The Gaza police force, however, does not include the vast majority of Hamas militants and heavy weaponry is not included in that part of the agreement, according to the officials.

Instead, the surrender of heavy weapons and the decommissioning of Hamas tunnels and other infrastructure are to come later in a process that could take between 200 and 350 days, a Board of Peace official said.

Israel has not responded but has been deeply skeptical

A U.S. official said Israel, which has been deeply skeptical about Hamas’ willingness to give up its guns or relinquish at least behind-the-scenes control of Gaza, had been consulted at every step of the negotiation.

However, the official said Israel was not being asked to do anything more than what it had initially committed to when it agreed to Trump’s 20-point plan, which essentially involves withdrawing its forces from Gaza and committing to ending airstrikes on the territory.

The official said Trump would be “very, very disappointed” if Israel didn't adhere to the agreement. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met at the White House on Tuesday, but neither said much about what was discussed in their first face-to-face meeting since launching the war against Iran.

Israel’s U.N. Mission said it had no immediate comment.

The official added that Iran remains a wildcard in the equation because although it counseled Hamas members not to accept a deal, it is also not in a position to offer the group much support because it is preoccupied with the conflict with the United States.

Hamas previously had insisted on implementing the first phase of the ceasefire before moving to discuss its weapons. The group’s founding charter calls for armed resistance against Israel, and it has been reluctant to give up an arsenal, including rockets, anti-tank missiles and explosives, that lies at the heart of its identity.

Hamas announced earlier this month, however, that it had dissolved its government in Gaza and was preparing to transfer power to a technical committee backed by the United Nations as part of the ceasefire deal.

The war in Gaza began after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killed around 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians, including those killed since the ceasefire, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.

Israel’s military now controls more than half of Gaza, leaving Palestinians confined to squalid tent camps and heavily damaged urban neighborhoods.

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Cooper reported from Phoenix, Amiri from New York and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer contributed from the United Nations.

Preston Tolth is the only person ever charged and convicted in connection with the 2021 disappearance of Begay, a weaver and grandmother of nine from a remote community on the Navajo Nation who has never been found. He acknowledged stealing her truck, beating her and leaving her on the side of the road.

Her case has become emblematic of the heartache felt across Indian Country when loved ones go missing or are killed. Begay's photo appears at marches. Her name is regularly invoked at rallies calling attention to the crisis.

Phoenix police arrested Tolth, 27, on Tuesday after getting a call about a home break-in. Officers found him about a block away, wearing clothing that matched the description of the suspect and carrying a pocket knife, according to court records.

Tolth was released from federal prison in June, five years to the day Begay vanished and two years earlier than his sentence was scheduled to end. The Bureau of Prisons cited a federal statue that counts time served after the commission of a crime but before sentencing, including on unrelated charges, in releasing him early.

Tolth was sent to a transitional housing facility in Phoenix. Under the terms of his plea agreement in federal court, he was not to commit any additional crimes while on supervised release. He also was barred from possessing dangerous weapons.

He faces a single charge of burglary in Maricopa County. Court records did not have an attorney listed for him, and his public defender in the federal case did not respond to an emailed request for comment Thursday.

Esther Winne, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona, said the office is aware of his arrest.

“There is a process for handling violations,” Winne said in an email Tuesday, declining further comment.

Gerald Foxworth, an employee at Phoenix Oasis where Tolth was staying, said Tolth returned to the facility drunk on July 4 in violation of program rules. Tolth left on his own after refusing to be transported to a medical center, Foxworth said, and the facility informed Tolth's probation officer.

The U.S. Marshals Service had an active warrant out for Tolth’s arrest when he was picked up by Phoenix police.

The Associated Press left phone and email messages with Tolth's probation officer Thursday requesting comment.

Begay's family said they were unaware Tolth left transitional housing. His arrest is the latest frustration in a case they say has offered little in the way of justice or closure. The eldest of Begay's three children, Gerald Begay, said he is relieved no one was harmed in the break-in.

“(Federal officials) made the decision to release this person. Now he’s out here hurting people,” Begay said. “This could have ended far worse.”

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This story is published through the Global Indigenous Reporting Network at The Associated Press.

El gobierno abrió 10 centros de registro en diversas partes de Puerto Príncipe, en vecindarios considerados por lo general seguros, mientras decenas de haitianos esperanzados iban llegando poco a poco.

“Puede que sea la primera vez que voy a votar”, manifestó el obrero de la construcción Vadley Bernadel, de 34 años.

Haití no ha celebrado elecciones generales en más de una década, y el país no ha tenido presidente desde que el mandatario Jovenel Moïse fue asesinado en su residencia privada en julio de 2021.

La violencia de las pandillas no ha hecho más que aumentar desde entonces, pero el primer ministro de Haití está bajo presión para celebrar elecciones, teniendo el 13 de diciembre como fecha de la primera vuelta.

“Haití necesita a alguien con visión, alguien que pueda conducir al país en una mejor dirección”, expresó Bernadel, quien lamentó las múltiples crisis de su país.

Hombres armados aún controlan extensas zonas

La violencia de las pandillas ha desplazado a más de 1,4 millones de personas, y hombres armados controlan aproximadamente el 70% de Puerto Príncipe y las principales carreteras que conducen a las provincias Central y Artibonite del país, que también están bajo asedio.

Más del 50% del electorado haitiano vive en esas tres regiones, y no está claro si todos los posibles votantes podrán registrarse, y mucho menos votar, dada la violencia.

“El país puede organizar elecciones en tres meses si decide hacerlo. La pregunta es: ¿qué tipo de elecciones?”, planteó Diego Da Rin, analista del International Crisis Group.

Si el gobierno insiste en celebrar comicios el 13 de diciembre, “una gran parte del electorado va a quedar por fuera de las elecciones”, advirtió.

Da Rin señaló que la policía y una misión respaldada por la ONU han recuperado zonas cercanas al Palacio Nacional en Puerto Príncipe y han logrado otros avances, pero pandillas poderosas aún controlan enormes extensiones de territorio.

“No ha habido avances significativos”, afirmó. “El gobierno no va a poder organizar elecciones en los territorios controlados por las pandillas”.

Jacques Desrosiers, presidente del Consejo Electoral Provisional de Haití, dijo que planea abrir más centros de registro de votantes en las próximas semanas, incluidos 20 en Pétion-Ville, considerada una de las zonas más seguras.

En cuanto a la posibilidad de abrir centros en otras comunidades, indicó que eso está en manos del gobierno haitiano.

Los haitianos temen morir mientras el país se prepara para las elecciones

El abogado Francky Cavetan dijo que no planea votar porque es demasiado arriesgado, pero sí visitó un centro de registro por curiosidad.

“Aquí no va a haber elecciones porque el gobierno y el consejo electoral le están mintiendo a la población”, sostuvo. “Están haciendo creer a la gente que las elecciones traerán seguridad, pero tiene que haber seguridad antes de las elecciones”.

Más de 5.900 personas murieron el año pasado en todo Haití, y más de 1.600 más entre enero y marzo de este año, según las Naciones Unidas. Además, en el primer semestre del año se reportaron 5.500 incidentes de violencia de género, y el 70% de los casos involucró violación, muchas de ellas violaciones en grupo cometidas por pandillas, dijo recientemente Farhan Haq, portavoz adjunto del secretario general de la ONU.

Cavetan cuestionó cómo siquiera harían campaña los candidatos. También estaba molesto porque cree que un gran número de haitianos no sabe que también se les pedirá participar en un referéndum el mismo día de las elecciones, mientras el gobierno impulsa cambios a la Constitución del país.

“Ni siquiera le están explicando a la gente qué es lo que planean cambiar en la Constitución”, señaló Cavetan.

Da Rin coincidió con ese sentir y apuntó que el público todavía no sabe qué cambios busca el gobierno.

Sin embargo, su mayor preocupación en torno a las elecciones es la seguridad.

“El desafío para las autoridades en este momento es organizar elecciones sin haber derrotado a las pandillas y disminuir lo máximo posible la influencia que tengan sobre las elecciones”, explicó.

Da Rin indicó que los vínculos de larga data entre las pandillas y ciertas élites poderosas en Haití siguen activos.

Desde hace tiempo, las pandillas han sido utilizadas para intimidar a los votantes o convencerlos de elegir a determinados candidatos, así como para destruir urnas cuando algunos miembros de la élite haitiana creían que sus candidatos podrían no ganar, señaló Da Rin.

“Las pandillas han sido como un instrumento muy importante para las élites para hacer ganar a sus candidatos en las elecciones”, afirmó.

En un centro de registro en la comunidad de Laboule, sólo tres personas se habían inscrito una hora después de que abrieran las puertas.

Victor Valensky, conductor de un colorido autobús conocido como tap-tap, era uno de ellos.

Dijo que estaba enojado por la situación de su país, pero también temía la violencia de las pandillas.

“Quiero participar en las elecciones, pero tengo que asegurarme de estar a salvo”, expresó el hombre de 38 años. “Si muero ahora, probablemente mi esposa no podrá mantener sola a mis dos hijos… Voy a ser muy cuidadoso antes de salir el día de las elecciones”.

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Coto informó desde San Juan, Puerto Rico.

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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.

“El Estado colombiano está preparado para garantizar la seguridad antes, durante y después de la posesión presidencial", aseguró la ministra de Defensa encargada, Angélica Verbel López, en un comunicado de prensa.

La seguridad será reforzada tanto en Cali, capital del departamento Valle del Cauca, como en sus municipios aledaños que incluyen a Jamundí, donde hacen presencia las disidencias de la extinta guerrilla Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) que no se acogió al acuerdo de paz firmado hace una década con el Estado.

El Ministerio de Defensa indicó que fortalecerán la inteligencia militar para anticipar o detectar “cualquier acción criminal”, lo que se une a la recompensa de hasta 157.000 dólares ofrecida por la alcaldía de Cali por información sobre posibles ataques.

También será restringido el espacio aéreo de Cali para sobrevolar drones. Sólo podrán operar los drones desplegados por la fuerza pública para labores de vigilancia.

Las disidencias de las FARC suelen ejecutar acciones criminales de alto impacto, usando explosivos usualmente lanzados desde drones, lo que ha cambiado la dinámica del conflicto armado en los últimos dos años.

Los militares y policías que serán desplegados en la zona tendrán especialidades de antiexplosivos, operaciones especiales, artillería, vigilancia, transporte y evacuaciones aeromédicas, agregó el reporte.

El esquema de seguridad será complementado por helicópteros y aviones militares que sobrevolarán la ciudad.

De la Espriella decidió posesionarse en Cali rompiendo la tradición de jurar en Bogotá como sus antecesores para dar un mensaje a los grupos armados ilegales a los que prometió mano dura en su gobierno.

“Bandido que no se someta, lo vamos a dar de baja", dijo De la Espriella el jueves en una declaración a la prensa en la que dio “menos de una semana” a los ilegales para que se rindan. "Luego no digan que no se los advertimos”, agregó.

De la Espriella, quien ha denunciado amenazas en su contra, insistió en que cortará con la política de negociación de paz con los ilegales que sostuvo el saliente presidente Gustavo Petro.

Petro desconoció la victoria de De la Espriella, su férreo opositor, pese a que la autoridad electoral lo declaró ganador sobre el oficialista Iván Cepeda, lo que derivó en la suspensión de la transición de gobierno entre las entidades.

No obstante la tensión política, De la Espriella ha continuado armando su equipo de gobierno y preparando su asunción al poder. El jueves anunció como ministra de Salud designada a la abogada Ana María Vesga, a quien le encomendó “superar la crisis humanitaria, financiera y de confianza que enfrenta la salud”.

“A partir de hoy, Chile y Venezuela comienzan una nueva etapa, que nos va a permitir avanzar en tremendos desafíos que tenemos como países en un mismo continente, desafíos que hablan de seguridad, de migración y de desarrollo económico”, dijo en una declaración a la prensa el mandatario chileno, José Antonio Kast.

La reactivación de las relaciones consulares es el primer paso hacia la reanudación plena de los vínculos bilaterales entre las dos naciones, cuyos lazos menguaron por completo a partir de julio de 2024, cuando el entonces presidente chileno Gabriel Boric cuestionó la transparencia de las elecciones venezolanas que según el Consejo Nacional Electoral de ese país ganó Nicolás Maduro sobre el candidato opositor Edmundo González, algo que desconoció la oposición y varios países de la región.

“Quiero valorar la disposición del gobierno venezolano y saludar a la presidenta encargada, Delcy Rodríguez, por la disposición a avanzar en esta hoja de ruta conjunta”, agregó Kast.

Por su parte, el canciller chileno, Francisco Pérez Mackenna, enfatizó que la medida permitirá que “los 700.000 venezolanos que se encuentran en Chile podrán empezar a recibir la asistencia consular, lo mismo para los cerca de 25.000 chilenos" que viven en Venezuela. “Esta es una buena noticia para ambos países”.

Las actividades consulares en los dos países están suspendidas desde enero de 2025, cuando Venezuela determinó el cese de los servicios a raíz de la crisis diplomática. Desde entonces, los consulados se mantienen cerrados y sin atención al público.

Con el anuncio del jueves, Chile sigue los pasos de países como Perú y Estados Unidos que igualmente pusieron en marcha una hoja de ruta para retomar las relaciones con Venezuela.

En marzo Washington reabrió formalmente su embajada en Caracas tras el restablecimiento de relaciones diplomáticas plenas con el país sudamericano, después de que el gobierno de Donald Trump capturara a Maduro durante una operación militar y lo trasladara a Estados Unidos.

La semana pasada, Perú y Venezuela también informaron que han iniciado “un proceso progresivo de reanudación integral de las relaciones bilaterales” las cuales estaban rotas desde el 30 de julio de 2024.

De acuerdo con el último censo en Chile, divulgado en 2025, los venezolanos componen la mayor población internacional que vive en el país y representan el 41,6% de toda la población nacida en el extranjero.

En los últimos años, las tensiones entre los dos países han adentrado también la arena social, ya que el país sudamericano se volvió uno de los mayores países receptores de inmigración en América Latina. La población migrante saltó desde el 0,8% en 1992 al 8,8% en la actualidad.

El flujo migratorio descontrolado se convirtió en uno de los ejes de la carrera electoral por la presidencia de Kast, ya que muchos chilenos, incluso el gobierno, vinculan la llegada masiva de extranjeros con un aumento de la delincuencia.

Durante la campaña electoral Kast prometió implementar un gobierno de mano dura contra la violencia y la inmigración irregular y, tras asumir la presidencia el pasado marzo, reafirmó su compromiso con poner en marcha expulsiones masivas e impulsar un proyecto de ley para convertir la situación migratoria irregular en un delito.

Estimaciones oficiales calculan que alrededor de 336.000 personas, en su mayoría venezolanos, se encuentran viviendo en Chile sin los papeles necesarios.

The death was in Palm Beach County. There have been 12 more infections statewide so far this year, including two more in Palm Beach and two in Miami-Dade County, according to the FDOH’s data.

The other eight cases were in Bay, Hillsborough, Lee, Marion, Okaloosa, Polk, and St. Johns counties, according to the FDOH. Last year, there were five deaths and 33 cases.

Eating raw or undercooked shellfish, particularly oysters, and swimming in marine waters with an open wound increases the risk of exposure to the bacteria, according to the FDOH.

People with weakened immune systems are at a higher risk of severe and life-threatening illness with symptoms such as fever, chills, septic shock, and blistering skin lesions, according to the FDOH.

FDOH data

Jessica Treviño, 34, filed a lawsuit through her attorney this week asking a federal judge to intervene.

Treviño and her husband were arrested in December after federal agents followed them into a Home Depot parking lot in South Texas. Both were deported and are living in Matamoros, Mexico, just south of Brownsville, Texas. Their three children, all U.S. citizens, are living with family on the U.S. side near the border.

After being brought to the country as a child at the age of 7, Treviño subsequently received legal permission at 20 to remain in the U.S. under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. Introduced in 2012, DACA does not confer legal status but has allowed hundreds of thousands of people who had come to the U.S. as children to temporarily remain and obtain work permits.

As a DACA recipient, she must maintain a clean criminal record and is not allowed to travel outside the United States.

Her attorney, David Rozas, filed the lawsuit. He noted her status and work permit were most recently authorized until April 2027.

Last week, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services sent her a notice of intent to terminate her status for “unauthorized travel outside of the United States on or about March 25, 2026," the same day she was deported from the country by the Department of Homeland Security.

DHS did not respond to a request for comment as of Thursday afternoon.

Rozas filed a petition asking a federal judge in Brownsville to declare the woman's expulsion was unlawful, order the government to facilitate Treviño's return to the U.S. and allow her DACA status to remain valid.

“The government had no lawful basis to remove her, and we filed this petition to demand she be brought back home,” her attorney added.

An immigration judge under the Justice Department had issued a voluntary departure order for Treviño in February while she was in ICE custody, but a valid DACA status prevents the Department of Homeland Security from deporting her.

“I would be so blessed to be able to go back home, because that’s what I long for most right now. I’m really desperate. It’s been seven months since I’ve been home,” Treviño said Thursday. Her three children are set to start school next month and their mother said she would like to be there.

The current Trump administration has deported 86 DACA recipients and arrested 241 others, according to a DHS letter sent in February to Democratic Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois.

Advocates for DACA recipients say Treviño's deportation is part of a pattern.

“This is what a deliberate, systematic effort to destroy DACA looks like in practice: target recipients one by one, manufacture justifications after the fact, and leave their children to grow up without them,” said Todd Schulte, president of FWD.us, a policy organization defending immigration rights.

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This story has been revised to correct that Treviño arrived in U.S. at age 7, not 8, later receiving DACA status at 20 years old.