According to Hollywood Fire Rescue, the incident happened near Charleston Street.

Officials said a lifeguard performed CPR on the man after he was pulled from the water.

He was then transported to a hospital for further treatment.

A witness told Local 10 News the victim was floating in the water.

“He was not breathing on his own,” the witness said. “He didn’t have a pulse for a couple minutes. Thankfully, with the help of the wonderful lifeguards and ALS team that came within a minute and a half, they ran through the procedure, got his heart started, got him breathing on his own, cleared his mouth of water and salt. Within five minutes, they got control of his breathing and saved his life. It was phenomenal to watch.”

No other information has been released.

The shooting was reported at about 1:30 a.m. on Sunday outside the Five Stars Banquet Hall in Sunrise. A suspect, identified as Francisco Sanchez, was arrested, according to the Sunrise Police Department.

Witnesses said about 150 guests were celebrating inside the banquet hall at 6072 W. Oakland Park Blvd. when a person who was using a wheelchair was shot outside.

Eril Jerome, who was celebrating his father-in-law’s birthday with family at the banquet hall, said they heard about four shots fired.

For a while, Jerome and other party guests couldn’t leave because their cars were parked within the crime scene.

The shopping plaza has since reopened.

The victim’s identity has not yet been released.

Location

According to Homestead police, the stabbing was reported shortly after 3:30 p.m. in the 1200 block of Southwest Fourth Street.

Police said the victim was airlifted to Jackson South Medical Center for treatment to multiple lacerations.

According to authorities, the suspect, Artemio Salas, provided a “full confession.”

He was arrested on a felony battery charge.

As of Monday morning, Salas was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. Online jail records listed his bond as “to be set.”

Local 10 News has requested a copy of Salas’ arrest report.

Wearing formal office wear, reading glasses and leather shoes, the 68-year-old leader said he did the impromptu workout to ease any worry about his health at a time when people were already beset with problems sparked by the war in the Middle East.

“I challenge anyone who are saying that I am sick, that they come and exercise with me,” Marcos told reporters. “You come to the gym with me. Let’s see who can lift the weights better.”

“Those people who tell you that I’m sick, that I’m paralyzed, they’re all liars,” Marcos said.

Rumors about the president’s deteriorating health and even death have swirled on social media after he briefly vanished from public view in January then later acknowledged in a video message that he was taken to a hospital for an abdominal ailment that he ascribed to stress and age.

Marcos then laughed off rumors of his demise and said he had been diagnosed with diverticulitis. The condition involves inflammation of small pouches in the digestive tract, usually in the colon, that causes pain, fever, nausea or constipation.

His last hospital checkup a couple of months ago showed he had been cured of that ailment, Marcos said, and added that he was back on normal diet and was regularly exercising.

When asked if he was taking any maintenance medicine, Marcos said he was taking medication for gout and for high blood pressure.

Since taking office in mid-2022, Marcos has grappled with multiple complex problems and political dilemmas.

Those include an increasingly hostile territorial dispute with Beijing in the South China Sea, devastating earthquakes, typhoons and flooding, economic difficulties, tumultuous relations with his vice president and a corruption scandal involving powerful legislators and allies that has sparked public outrage.

It was a leap of faith, however, that led her to make a change.

Passariello spent years behind the scenes helping build her family’s La Leggenda Pizzeria in Miami Beach.

Passariello and her husband, Giovanni, of more than 30 years, have always been side-by-side.

For years, Giovanni was in the spotlight, winning several awards around the world.

When he decided to step away from competing, it was Passariello’s turn to shine.

She entered a major competition in Las Vegas, competing against top pizza makers from around the world.

In stunning fashion, Passariello won.

“I wanted to validate our shared work and see what those 30 years of working side-by-side with him had truly amounted to. And, quite unexpectedly, I won. I won a very prestigious championship,” Passariello told Local 10’s Alexis Frazier.

Loredana told Frazier that she hopes to keep inspiring girls and women to try something new.

You can get your own taste of their pies on South Beach. Click here for more information.

Harry Truman refused to lend his name to any business, even in retirement. Richard Nixon so feared a brother might profit off their ties, he had his phone tapped. And George W. Bush dumped his individual stock holdings before taking office.

President Donald Trump is taking a different approach.

The family real estate business is undergoing the fastest overseas expansion since its founding a century ago, each deal potentially shaping everything from tariffs to military aid.

Led by Eric, and his brother, Donald Jr., the family business has expanded into cryptocurrencies with ventures that brought in billions of dollars but raised questions about whether some big investors received favorable treatment in return.

The brothers have also joined or invested in a number of companies that aim to do business with the government their father runs. Last month, they struck a deal giving them stakes worth millions in an armed drone maker seeking contracts with the Pentagon and with Gulf states under attack by Iran and dependent on the U.S. military led by their father.

The White House and the Trump Organization deny there are any ethical problems. Asked about the issue at a recent crypto conference, Donald Jr. said, “Frankly, it’s gotten old.”

The problem of conflicts of interest goes back a decade to when Trump first ran for office, but some government ethics experts and historians argue it’s more pressing than ever as conflicts pile up in his second term that they consider unprecedented, blatant and dangerous to democracy.

“I don’t think there’s any line right now between policy decisions and political calculations and the interest of the Trump family,” said Julian Zelizer, a presidential historian at Princeton University.

Deal-making spree abroad

In Trump’s first term, the Trump Organization did zero deals in foreign countries. In a little over a year into his second term it did eight, all ostensibly complying with the Trump Organization’s self-imposed rule not to do business directly with foreign governments.

But governments in authoritarian and one-party states rarely take a hands-off approach — especially when the business belongs to a sitting president.

In Qatar, a Trump golf club and villa project is being developed in part by a company owned by the Qatari government. In Vietnam, where The New York Times reported the government pushed farmers off their land to make way for a Trump resort, the country’s deputy prime minister signed off on the deal at a ceremony. And in Saudi Arabia, a planned “Trump Plaza” resort on the Red Sea is being built by a Saudi real estate developer close to the ruling family.

Whether the deals played any role in changing U.S. policies in ways these countries sought is nearly impossible to know but the countries did get what they wanted – access to advanced U.S. technology for Qatar, tariff relief for Vietnam and fighter jets for Saudi Arabia.

And the Trump Organization got something too: Tens of millions in fees.

Asked about those projects, the Trump Organization said it has done no deals with governments so far, noting that the Saudi company was private and has said it is “collaborating” with the Qatari business and had not struck a “partnership” with it that would have broken its self-imposed rules.

The UAE, crypto and Binance

Another deal raising conflicts of interest questions first came to light in a Wall Street Journal article in January — a year after it was struck.

Days before the inauguration, the Trump family sold nearly half of its World Liberty Financial crypto business to a UAE government-linked company run by a member of the UAE royal family for $500 million.

A second UAE entity, a government fund, invested in the offshore cryptocurrency exchange Binance using $2 billion worth of a digital currency called a stablecoin issued by World Liberty. That allowed the Trump company that received the dollars to put it in safe investments such as bonds or money market funds and keep the tens of millions of dollars in interest for itself.

Shortly after, the Trump administration reversed a Biden-era restriction and granted the UAE access to advanced U.S. chips. Binance’s founder, Changpeng Zhao, later got a pardon from Trump, despite having pleaded guilty to failing to stop criminals from using his platform to move money connected to child sex abuse, drug trafficking and terrorism.

A lawyer for Zhao denied any connection between the Binance’s business with the Trump family and the pardon.

“Any claim of a quid pro quo by Binance or CZ, or preferential financial treatment by Binance, is a clear misstatement of the public record,” said Teresa Goody Guillen in a email to the AP, referring to Zhao by his initials.

Asked about the pardon, the White House said federal authorities had unfairly punished Zhao in what it called “The Biden Administration’s war on crypto.”

World Liberty dismissed the notion of a conflict, saying the UAE deal had no connection to the president’s chips policy.

Crypto billions

World Liberty has also provided a separate income stream to a new Trump limited liability corporation through sales of “governance tokens” that give owners certain voting rights in its business, though not equity stakes, raising $2 billion last year. That translates into hundreds of millions of dollars for the Trumps through their World Liberty ownership stake and a separate side deal allowing them a cut of these sales.

One big token investor was Justin Sun, a cryptocurrency billionaire who as a foreign citizen would be banned under U.S. law from making political donations to U.S. politicians. Between Trump’s election and inauguration, Sun spent $75 million on the tokens.

In February last year, a federal lawsuit charging Sun with duping investors was paused before being settled last month for a $10 million fine.

Then there are the souvenir-type “meme” coins stamped with Trump’s face that went on sale days before he took the oath of office last year.

Over the next four months, the coins generated $320 million, mostly going to Trump-related entities, according to blockchain tracker Chainalysis. That is more than double the money collected in four years running his Washington D.C. hotel in Trump’s first term.

Unlike the lobbyists or campaign donors trying to influence Trump, the coin buyers can buy anonymously. One who chose to make his purchase public was Sun, who spent $200 million on the coins and got access to Trump at a gala party he held for the biggest buyers.

Another family cryptocurrency business, American Bitcoin went public in September, giving Donald Jr. and Eric about $1 billion in paper wealth at that time. Months earlier, their father announced a new national bitcoin reserve, sending the price for the cryptocurrency soaring to a record.

The Trump businesses aren’t completely immune to crypto’s notorious volatility. The value of bitcoin and other digital tokens have since plunged and rattled investors. Both American Bitcoin stock and the value of Trump’s souvenir meme coins have collapsed 90% from their highs.

Last month, Trump announced he would hold another dinner with new top holders of his meme coins, giving the coin a boost before it fell back again.

“Whatever constraints there were in the first term appear to have completely disappeared,” says Columbia University historian Timothy Naftali. “Do you want future presidents to be open to the highest bidder?”

Trump thinks people don’t care

Asked to comment for this story, the White House said Trump acts in an “ethically-sound manner” and that any suggestion to the contrary is either “ill-informed or malicious.” It reiterated that his assets are in a trust managed by his children and stated he has “no involvement” in family business deals.

“There are no conflicts of interest,” said spokesperson Anna Kelly.

In a separate statement, the Trump Organization said it is “fully compliant with all applicable ethics and conflicts of interest laws” and added, “The implication that politics has enriched the Trump family is unfounded.”

Trump in January told The New York Times that when it comes to potential conflicts of interest, “I found out that nobody cared, and I’m allowed to,” alluding to an exemption the president gets from the federal statute banning federal officials from holding financial interests in businesses impacted by public policy they help shape.

It’s not clear he’s wrong about American attitudes, though they appear to be changing even among Republicans. In a Pew Research Center poll in January, 42% of those voters said they were confident that Trump acts ethically in office, down from 55% at the start of his second term a year ago.

Change of fortune

Forbes estimates Trump’s net worth is now $6.3 billion, soaring 60% from before he returned to office, a striking development given how much the Trump Organization struggled before.

The Trump International Hotel in D.C. never turned a profit before being sold. Two Trump hotel chains catering to middle class travelers in his first term shut down for lack of demand. Condominium buildings stripped the Trump name off their facades after discovering that instead of attracting buyers, it was repelling them.

No new U.S. condominiums are putting the Trump name above their entrances in his second term, but his name is prized in Washington where people have business before the federal government.

Donald Jr., Trump’s oldest son, opened a private club in the Georgetown section of Washington that is charging initiation fees as high as $500,000 for founding members.

One of the few clubs with comparable fees, the Yellowstone Club in Montana, offers access to multiple resorts, 50 ski trails and more than a dozen restaurants across a members-only area the size of Manhattan.

Donald Jr.’s club is in the basement of a building but offers something else — proximity to power.

The club’s name is “Executive Branch.”

Bibles, guitars and sneakers

Other presidents and their families have done things in pursuit of profit that stained that high office.

Hunter Biden got paid as a director of a Ukrainian gas company while his father was vice president. The Clinton Foundation got foreign donations, though after Bill Clinton had left office. And Jimmy Carter’s brother Billy cashed in on the family name by selling beer.

In Trump’s case, the president himself is hawking goods, including $59.99 “God Bless the USA” Bibles, $399 sneakers stamped “Never Surrender” and electric guitars priced up to $11,500 — shipping not included — for a model autographed by the president.

New year, new profits

In the first months of Trump’s second year back in the White House, the momentum hasn’t let up.

In January, the Trump Organization announced its third deal involving Saudi Arabia in less than a year, this time a “collaboration” with a company more directly tied to the government because it is owned by the country’s sovereign wealth fund chaired by its crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. Asked by the AP whether the project outside Riyadh for Trump mansions, a hotel and golf course violated the company’s pledge not to strike deals with foreign governments, the Trump Organization said it doesn’t “conduct business with any government entity” but didn’t address the project specifically.

Meanwhile, as the two oldest brothers’ new drone company seeks Pentagon contracts, other government contractors in which one or both have gotten ownership stakes this past year are taking in tens of millions of dollars of new taxpayer money. That includes a rocket motor maker, an AI chip supplier and a data analytics company, according to government contracting records.

Asked about potential conflicts after the drone deal was announced, Eric said, “I am incredibly proud to invest in companies I believe in.” A spokesman for Donald Jr. said he doesn’t “interface” with the government on companies in his portfolio, adding that “the idea that he should cease living his life and making a living to provide for his five kids just because his dad is president, is quite frankly, a laughable and ridiculous standard.”

A new investment firm that the brothers joined as advisers last year has raised $345 million in an initial public offering to buy stakes in U.S. companies designed to help their father revive America’s manufacturing base. After the AP asked Trump’s chief business lawyer about language in a regulatory filing stating the firm would target companies seeking federal grants, tax credits and government contracts, he filed a new document with that language removed.

Zelizer, the Princeton historian, says he expects future presidents will show more restraint in enriching themselves, but worries about the message Trump is sending.

“He has shown politically there is no price to be paid to making money,” he said. “You know you can go there.”

According to Officer Mike Vega, the police department received a ShotSpotter alert near the main stage of the event on Northeast 62^nd Street off Second Avenue shortly before 11:30 p.m.

He said three people who had been shot were located. Each was transported by Miami Fire Rescue to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center.

According to authorities, one victim died at the hospital and the two others are stable.

No other details about the shooting were immediately released by police.

Watch Local 10 News or refresh this page for updates.

The violence, including a deadly attack at a Hanukkah celebration in Australia, continued a spike that began following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack and Israel’s subsequent war in Gaza, the report’s authors said.

“The data raise concern that a high level of antisemitic incidents is becoming a normalized reality,” said Uriya Shavit, the report's chief editor.

Deadly antisemitic attacks were recorded on three continents. Fifteen people were killed at the holiday event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach in December. There were additional deaths in two antisemitic attacks in the U.S. in Washington, D.C., and Colorado; and in Britain, two people were killed at a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

Each year, Tel Aviv University’s Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry and the Irwin Cotler Institute for Democracy, Human Rights and Justice releases the report about antisemitism ahead of Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The day marks a national memorial for the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust, which begins Monday evening.

The new report also tracked an increase in antisemitic attacks that resulted in physical harm, including beatings and stone throwing.

It found that 2025 was the deadliest year for antisemitic attacks since 1994, when the bombing of a Jewish community center in Argentina killed 85 people and wounded more than 300. An Argentine court has blamed Iran and its Hezbollah proxy for the attack.

According to the report, there was a moderate increase in the overall number of antisemitic incidents last year compared with 2024, but that total represents a huge jump from 2022, before the war in Gaza. The report tracks incidents that range from physical attacks and vandalism to verbal threats and harassment on social media.

“The peak in the number of incidents was recorded in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack, after which we began to see a downward trend — but unfortunately, that trend did not continue in 2025,” Shavit said.

In the United Kingdom, there were 3,700 antisemitic incidents in 2025, up from 3,556 in 2024. In Canada, the number of incidents grew from 6,219 in 2024 to 6,800 in 2025, a number more than three times higher than in 2022.

The report found that even after the Gaza ceasefire took effect last October, antisemitic incidents continued to rise from the same period during the previous year. In Australia, there were 588 antisemitic incidents between October and December 2025, up from 492 during the same period in 2024. There were a total of 472 antisemitic incidents across Australia during all of 2022.

Most physical attacks were carried out by people acting on their own, which is why it is so difficult to try to prevent them, according to Carl Yonker, the study’s director of research. He noted that most attacks were carried out by extremist white Christians devoted to white supremacy or radical Muslims, and often the attackers were unemployed and struggling financially.

The statistics are based on reports from police, national authorities and local Jewish communities.

In his campaign, Magyar pledged to end Hungary’s drift toward Russia and restore its ties with European allies. He promised voters that after 16 years of autocratic governance and the erosion of the rule of law under Orbán, he will root out corruption and create a “peaceful, functioning and humane” Hungary.

But what those changes will look like remains to be seen. During his long time in office, Orbán ruled with the power of a two-thirds parliamentary majority, allowing him to pass a new constitution, rewrite the electoral system and reshape the judiciary.

Magyar’s Tisza party secured exactly such a mandate Sunday when it won 138 of parliament’s 199 seats, giving it broad authority to undo much of the legislation that allowed Orbán to stack the courts, manipulate the electoral system, crack down on press freedom and discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community.

Still, there are potential pitfalls that could stand in the way of the radical changes many Hungarians had hoped for.

Historic win

Magyar’s victory was met with jubilation on the streets of Budapest late Sunday with tens of thousands, many of them young people, celebrating what they view as a ray of hope that Orbán’s loss will make Hungary freer, happier and firmly rooted within the fold of European democracies.

On streets and avenues across the capital, drivers blared car horns and cranked up anti-government songs while people marching in the streets chanted and screamed.

During the celebrations, Adrien Rixer said he’d come back to Hungary from his home in London “because I really wanted to make my vote count, and I’m over the moon.”

“Finally I can say that I’m a proud Hungarian, finally after 16 years,” he said.

Many Hungarians, and others across Europe who were closely watching the election, had feared that a simple majority for Tisza would have been inadequate to truly transform Orbán’s system.

Yet others remain uncertain about what the authority of a two-thirds majority will bring, with some uneasy about taking such a mandate from Orbán and delivering it to his opponent.

“Its hard to see that with two-thirds that it's going to be a fair government, but we will see,” said reveller Dániel Kovács. “Lets hope that it’s going to be a promising four years.”

The election win for Magyar and Tisza was without precedent in Hungary's post-Communist history: They received more votes and more parliamentary seats than any party ever had before.

Bulcsú Hunyadi, an analyst with the Budapest-based think tank Political Capital, said that while Tisza's constitutional majority gives it broad powers to roll back many of Orbán's policies, Hungary's key institutions are “led by people who are cemented in their position for many years.”

As part of his broader effort to consolidate control over Hungary’s democratic system, Orbán installed loyal allies at the helm of key institutions, from the media authority to the public prosecutor’s office and the Constitutional Court.

In several cases, mandates were extended or new appointments pushed through before existing terms had expired — moves that effectively kept loyal leadership locked in place for years, well beyond any potential change in government.

In his victory speech on Sunday, Magyar called for such officials — including Hungary's president — to step down of their own accord. Beyond that, Hunyadi said, “they don’t really have any other tools to remove these people.”

Pressure from the EU

Magyar accuses Orbán and his government of mismanaging Hungary’s economy and social services, and overseeing unchecked corruption he says has led to the accumulation of extreme wealth within a small circle of well-connected insiders while leaving ordinary Hungarians behind.

He’s vowed to hold such abuses to account, and plans to create an Office for the Recovery and Protection of National Assets to reclaim what he says are Orbán’s allies' ill-gotten gains.

Magyar campaigned heavily on a promise to bring home billions of euros in European Union funding that has been frozen to Hungary over corruption and rule-of-law concerns under Orbán. He’s also pledged to introduce the euro to Hungary by 2030 — something Orbán’s government long resisted.

Hunyadi, the analyst, said Magyar's government will be under “tight pressure” by the EU to quickly carry out reforms in order to get access to those frozen funds that are badly needed by Hungary's faltering economy.

“There are deadlines in terms of unfreezing the funds. They will have to deliver certain laws and reforms by August this year, which is only a few months away,” he said.

Tisza's win raised hopes across the EU that a new government in Budapest would reverse Orbán's antagonistic approach to Ukraine and his obstruction of efforts to assist the war-ravaged country as it defends against Russia's full-scale invasion.

Orbán has used his veto power in the EU to stymie sanctions on Russia and block crucial funding to Kyiv. He's also vowed never to allow talks on Ukraine joining the EU to resume.

In a statement on Monday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Orbán's election campaign, “which unfortunately was marked by manipulative rhetoric about Ukraine, is now behind us.”

“We expect that ... the election results will also contribute to a normalization of political relations,” Sybiha said.

The shooting occurred in Hangu, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, shortly after Pakistan launched its second nationwide anti-polio campaign of the year, according to local police official Mahmood Alam.

No group immediately claimed responsibility, but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban and local militant groups, which often carry out similar attacks in the region and elsewhere. Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan remain the only countries where polio has not been eradicated, according to the World Health Organization.

First lady Aseefa Bhutto Zardari urged families to ensure their children are vaccinated during the weeklong drive, which aims to reach more than 45 million children under 5 across all provinces and regions. She said the campaign will be conducted in coordination with Afghanistan, reflecting a shared commitment to interrupt cross-border transmission and close remaining gaps.

Aseefa is the daughter of President Asif Ali Zardari and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was killed in a 2007 gun and bomb attack by militants, and who had personally overseen initiatives aimed at eliminating polio during her tenure. In a statement, she said “Pakistan stands at a crucial moment in the fight against polio.” She said while the country is closer than ever to eradication, “the final stretch remains the most challenging.”

Highlighting recent gains, she said 31 polio cases were reported nationwide in 2025, while only one case has so far been recorded so far this year, but warned against complacency.

While Pakistan primarily uses door-to-door vaccination teams to reach children at their homes, Afghanistan generally relies on fixed vaccination sites and health facilities, where parents are asked to bring their children for immunization.

In Kabul, Sharafat Zaman, spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Health, said the first national polio vaccination campaign of the year has begun in Afghanistan in coordination with international partners, aiming to vaccinate around 12.6 million children under the age of 5 across the country. He said the campaign has been delayed in some areas due to cold weather.

Zaman urged parents, religious scholars and community leaders to ensure maximum participation in the campaign, stressing that polio can only be prevented through vaccination.

Pakistan’s polio eradication program has been running anti-polio campaigns for years, though health workers and the police assigned to protect them are often targeted by militants who falsely claim the vaccination campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.

Authorities have deployed thousands of police officers to protect workers following intelligence warnings of possible attacks. More than 200 polio workers and the police assigned to guard them have been killed in Pakistan since the 1990s, according to officials.

___

Afghan reported from Kabul. Riaz Khan and Rasool Dawar contributed to this story from Peshawar, Pakistan.

Leo XIV's comments came as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz appeared to have come to a halt, an intelligence firm said, and oil prices resumed their climb after Trump announced on social media that the United States would blockade the waterway.

U.S. Central Command later said the blockade would involve all vessels entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, and that it would still allow ships traveling between non-Iranian ports to transit the strait, a step down from the president’s earlier threat to blockade the entire strait.

Trump confirmed the timing and some details of the CENTCOM statement in a post on his social media site early Monday.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said the strait remained under Iran’s “full control” and was open for non-military vessels, but military ones would get a “forceful response,” two semiofficial Iranian news agencies reported.

The moves came after marathon U.S.-Iran ceasefire talks in Pakistan ended without an agreement, setting the stage for a showdown. Iranian parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, who led Iran’s side in the talks, addressed Trump in a statement on his return to Iran: “If you fight, we will fight.”

The war, which is entering its seventh week, has killed thousands of people and shaken global markets.

Here is the latest:

Iran’s Quds Force chief says U.S. will leave Mideast empty-handed

The U.S. will leave the Middle East without any achievements, Iranian media reported on Monday citing Brig. Gen. Esmail Qaani, commander of the powerful elite Quds Force.

He noted that the U.S. and Israel should remember how they left Yemen likewise empty-handed in a prior campaign, according to the Tasnim and Mehr semiofficial news agencies.

Qaani suggested that the Iranian-backed Houthis rebels could close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait as they did between 2023 and 2025. The attacks in Bab el-Mandeb prompted the U.S. to launch an air campaign against the Houthis. The rebels stopped attacking ships in the Red Sea after a deal with the Trump administration.

EU chief says bloc’s fuel bill is over $25B higher due to Iran war

The European Union’s fuel bill has risen by more than $25 billion since the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran and is likely to mount,

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Monday.

“Our bill for fossil fuel imports has increased by over 22 billion euros – 44 days, 22 billion euros,” she said, noting that “the disruption of energy supplies will continue for some time to come.”

Von der Leyen recommended to EU governments that they start coordinating the way they use their oil stocks and store natural gas to avoid putting pressure on the market. She proposed to ease restrictions on state aid rules while the crisis lasts to help protect vulnerable consumers and sectors from high energy prices.

Trump is ‘bluffing’ over Hormuz threat, Iranian security official says

A U.S. threat to block the Strait of Hormuz is “more bluffing than reality,” according to Ebrahim Rezaei, a spokesperson for the Iranian parliament’s National Security Commission.

Rezaei warned that Tehran was prepared to respond if the situation escalates militarily.

“It will make the current situation (Trump) is in more complicated and will further agitate the market he is angry about, and we may also reveal other cards that we have not used in the game,” Rezaei said in a post on X.

Netanyahu spoke with Vance after Pakistan talks ended

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that he has spoken with U.S. Vice President JD Vance about the negotiations in Pakistan.

Netanyahu said the pair spoke Sunday while Vance was on the plane returning from the negotiations in Islamabad.

Israel supports President Donald Trump’s “strong stance to impose a naval blockade on Iran,” Netanyahu said, adding that Israel backs the U.S. position that Iran must remove all of its enriched nuclear material and must refrain from any enrichment within Iran for several decades.

Maritime expert previews potential conflict in Strait of Hormuz

The coming days could be a stress test for the Strait of Hormuz and for the rules that are supposed to govern it, according to Sal Mercogliano, a maritime historian at Campbell University.

It remains unclear, he added, how the U.S. would track, intercept and board vessels moving from Iranian ports through the strait.

Any U.S. or Iranian attempt to choke off the waterway would run counter to the principle of freedom of navigation, said Mercogliano, who has testified before the U.S. Senate on commercial shipping and written for the U.S. Naval Institute.

“We are challenging the concept of freedom of the seas,” Mercogliano said on his “What’s Going on With Shipping?” podcast, which has more than 600,000 followers on YouTube.

Russia warns blockade of Strait of Hormuz will rattle global markets

Russia said Monday that a U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz will likely hurt global markets.

Asked to comment on the U.S. announcement of a blockade on Iran’s ports and coastline, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Most likely, such actions will continue to negatively impact international markets, this can be assumed with a high degree of certainty.”

Peskov told reporters: “Many details remain unclear and incomprehensible, so I would refrain from making any substantive comments at this time.”

Iran and Saudi Arabia discuss Islamabad talks

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has spoken by phone with his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Iranian semiofficial media reported.

The ministers discussed the talks between the U.S. and Iran in Pakistan which failed to achieve a deal, Mehr News agency said, without elaborating further.

Israel strike on Hamas-run security point in Gaza kills 3

An Israeli airstrike killed at least three Palestinians in central Gaza Strip early Monday, hospital authorities said.

The strike hit a Hamas-manned security point just after midnight in the eastern part of Deir al-Balah city, in central Gaza, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital which received the dead men. One Palestinian was also wounded in the strike.

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

The deaths were the latest among Palestinians in the coastal enclave since an October fragile ceasefire deal attempted to halt a more than two-year war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. While the heaviest fighting has subsided, the shaky ceasefire has seen almost daily Israeli fire.

US-Iran ceasefire could be extended, Turkey says

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has said the U.S.-Iran ceasefire could be extended for 45 to 60 days to allow the negotiations to continue.

Fidan, whose country has supported mediations efforts, said the U.S. and Iranian delegations presented initial “maximalist” positions during the talks in Pakistan, adding that Iran is expected to review U.S. proposals and respond.

“If the parties make good progress, an additional ceasefire could be introduced — lasting 45 to 60 days — so that negotiations can continue,” he said in an interview with state-run Anadolu Agency. He cautioned however, that Israel remains “a factor” that could disrupt the negotiations. The nuclear issue could also become a sticking point, he said.

“If the nuclear matter turns into an all‑or‑nothing situation, especially regarding enrichment, we could face a serious obstacle,” Fidan said. “But hopefully, with the support of mediators and other countries, we will try to overcome this as well.”

Union sounds alarm over crews stuck in Strait of Hormuz

A labor union said Monday that thousands of crew members stuck on vessels in and around the Strait of Hormuz are running short on basics and growing increasingly desperate.

Milind Kandalgaonkar, general secretary of the National Union of Seafarers of India, said that nearly 20,000 Indian crew members were stranded in the region.

“Many of these seafarers are reportedly facing acute shortages of food, potable water, and essential medical supplies,” he wrote in a letter to India’s national shipping board. He urged authorities to ensure supplies can reach the vessels, protect seafarers’ welfare and prepare evacuation plans if needed.

Tanker owners say the ceasefire has done little to ease conditions for mariners in the strait, where crews report dwindling food and fresh water.

Israel’s military says ground operations in southern Lebanon extended

Israel’s military said Monday said its troops have surrounded what they say is Hezbollah military infrastructure and have started ground operations

in the strategic southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil and its surrounding areas, killing over 100 Hezbollah fighters.

Hezbollah did not immediately publicly announce anyone killed among their ranks, and Israel did not immediately acknowledge any fatalities among their forces. Hezbollah has not commented on the developments.

On Sunday Hezbollah claimed at least five attacks on Israeli troops in the town and its outskirts with rockets, artillery, and exploding drones. According to the group’s statements, the Israeli troops were positioned near a school, a hospital, and juncture that surrounds the heart of Bint Jbeil. The Israeli military said it attacked Hezbollah forces.

The town overlooks the UN-mandated Blue Line that divides Israel and Lebanon, just over 2 miles away, making it a strategic point for the Iran-backed group.

Germany’s Merz says U.S.-Iran peace talks in Pakistan were not well prepared

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has criticized the peace talks between the U.S. and Iran in Pakistan last week as not well prepared.

“I was not surprised by the decision to break off the talks in Islamabad,” he told reporters in Berlin on Monday.

“From the very beginning, I didn’t get the impression that they were really well prepared,” the chancellor said without further elaborating who exactly he was referring to with this criticism.

US blockade of Iran could trigger Houthi disruption of Bab el-Mandeb - analyst

The U.S. blockade of Iranian ports could prompt the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen to disrupt transit through Bab el-Mandeb Strait, an analyst has warned.

“If the U.S. moves to impose a blockade on Iranian ports and Iran starts feeling the pain, the Houthis are very likely to escalate in the Bab el-Mandeb,” said Ahmed Nagi, a senior analyst for Yemen at the International Crisis Group think-tank.

The closure of Bab el-Mandeb would add “another layer” of pressure on the global shipping industry, he said.

Lebanese Red Cross offices in Tyre hit by drone

The offices of the Lebanese Red Cross in Tyre were hit by a drone strike on Monday, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported.

The strike in the southern coastal city killed a wounded person being transported and damaged Red Cross vehicles. The Israeli military did not immediately reply to inquires from The Associated Press.

The funeral was being held on Monday for a Lebanese Red Cross volunteer killed on Sunday in an Israeli strike that hit his team while on a mission in Beit Yahoun.

The Lebanese Red Cross operates in war-torn southern Lebanon in coordination with the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, UNIFIL, and the Lebanese military.

Japan’s Takaichi praises Pakistan’s mediation effort

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi held telephone talks Monday with her Pakistani counterpart, Shehbaz Sharif, during which she expressed support for his mediation efforts for hosting U.S.-Iran talks in Islamabad.

Takaichi said she reiterated Japan’s position that what is most important is to promptly reach a final agreement and to de-escalate the situation through talks to ensure safe passages through the Strait of Hormuz.

Sharif said Pakistan hopes to cooperate with Japan in the effort, Takaichi said.

France, U.K. to convene talks on Hormuz navigation mission

France and the U.K. will organize a conference with partners ready to contribute to a peaceful multinational mission to help restore navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, President Emmanuel Macron said.

In a post on X, Macron stressed “the need to restore free and unimpeded navigation through the Strait of Hormuz as quickly as possible.” He called for a “peaceful multinational mission,” adding: “This strictly defensive mission, separate from the warring parties to the conflict, is intended to be deployed as soon as circumstances permit.”

France and the U.K. have in recent years been working to set up an operation that would allow ships to cross the Strait of Hormuz once the fighting ends.

Germany will reduce energy tax for diesel and gas for 2 months

The roughly 17-cent (20 U.S. cent) per-liter reduction is intended to help cushion the impact of high energy prices linked to the Iran war.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Monday the measure “will very quickly improve the situation for drivers and businesses across the country, and especially for those who spend a great deal of time on the road, primarily for work-related reasons.”

Starmer says Britain doesn’t support Trump’s Iran blockade

Prime Minister Keir Starmer says Britain will not be part of a U.S. blockade of Iranian ports in response to the closing of the Strait of Hormuz. Starmer told BBC radio on Monday that “we’re not supporting the blockade” and “we’re not getting dragged into the war.”

He said U.K. efforts remain focused on reopening the key shipping route, whose closure has sent prices for oil and other commodities soaring.

Starmer spoke after U.S. President Donald Trump said Britain would send minesweepers to the strait.

Britain says it might help with mine-clearing in the waterway, but only after the fighting stops. Starmer said all Britain’s military capability is focused on getting the strait “fully open.” The U.K. is working with dozens of other countries on plans to restore security to shipping through the key oil route after the conflict.

Japan urges de-escalation

Japan has expressed support for the U.S.-Iran talks held in Pakistan over the weekend and that it continues to closely watch further development in hopes of an early de-escalation.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told reporters Monday that his government believes that the most important thing is actually to achieve de-escalation, including ensuring the safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

“We hope a final agreement will be reached swiftly through diplomatic efforts,” Kihara said.

Kihara, asked if Japan is considering sending Japanese warships to join minesweeping effort in the key waterway, said nothing has been decided.

ASEAN urges more peace negotiations, open Strait of Hormuz

Southeast Asian countries urged the United States and Iran Monday to keep going with peace negotiations, enforce a ceasefire and restore the safe passage of ships, seafarers and aircraft in the Strait of Hormuz.

The foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations made the urgent plea as they held an emergency video conference, the second in recent weeks, to assess the impact of the war in the Middle East, including soaring fuel prices, and how they could cooperate in the face of global crises.

The 11-nation bloc reminded “the obligations of all states to resolve their differences through peaceful means, to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations, to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure in armed conflicts.”

It called “for the full and effective implementation of the ceasefire, aimed at preventing further suffering and loss of lives, ensuring maritime security and freedom of navigation and overflight.”

Iran says no port in gulf region will be safe if its ports threatened

Iran threatened ports in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman after the U.S. announced a blockade on Iran’s ports and coastline.

“Security in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman is either for everyone or for NO ONE,” according to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, IRIB. “NO PORT in the region will be safe,” the Iranian military said.

Oil prices start climbing, Asian shares drop

Oil prices started climbing and Asian markets mostly declined Monday as the U.S. military prepared to blockade ships bound for or coming from Iranian ports and transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

On Monday, benchmark U.S. crude jumped $6.71 or nearly 7% to $103.28 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose $6.20, or 6.5%, to $101.40 a barrel.

Oil prices have been rising as shipping through the strait has essentially stalled since late February. Brent crude oil, the international standard, has gone from roughly $70 per barrel before the war in late February to more than $119 at times.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.7% to finish at 56,502.77. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.4% to 8,926.00. South Korea’s Kospi dipped 0.9% to 5,808.62. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 1.1% to 25,613.85, while the Shanghai Composite was little changed, inching up less than 0.1% to 3,988.56.

Iraqi oil exports plummet

Iraq’s oil exports plunged in March to 18.6 million barrels, down from 99.87 million in February due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, according to official figures released Monday.

The state-run Organization for Marketing of Oil said revenues also have fallen to just $1.95 billion, down from over $6.81 billion.

The figures showed that exports from the Kurdistan Region through Turkey’s Ceyhan port also dropped to 1.27 million barrels, down from 5.55 million barrels in February.

A representative for Spears said in an email to The Associated Press on Sunday that the 44-year-old pop superstar had voluntarily checked herself into the facility.

On March 5, California Highway Patrol officers received a report that a BMW was driving fast and erratically on U.S. 101 in Ventura County near the Los Angeles County line, the CHP said.

Spears, who lives in the area, took a series of field sobriety tests and was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of a combination of alcohol and drugs, authorities said. She was taken to a county jail and released several hours later.

Investigators turned over the case on March 23 to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office, which plans to make a decision on charges against Spears before a scheduled May 4 court date.

A representative at the time called Spears' actions “completely inexcusable” and said it would ideally be “the first step in long overdue change that needs to occur in Britney’s life.”

Spears has mostly set aside her music career. She has not toured in nearly eight years and has not put out an album in nearly a decade.

In 2021, she regained control of her life decisions and finances when a court-ordered conservatorship was dissolved after nearly 14 years. Two years later, she released a bestselling memoir, “The Woman in Me.”

The diesel-powered bus can accommodate around 60 travelers and their vehicles, making enough trips to transport more than 2,000 people per day. It features a front seating section, but half its metallic frame is an open bay for cargo. Riders enter via a specialized ramp and stay with their vehicles for the duration of the trip, holding onto wall-mounted grab bars for balance. Bicycles, motorcycles and scooters are not allowed in the tunnel.

While the Ciclobús is not new, it has never been as popular — and essential — as Cuba navigates its most severe energy crisis in decades.

The energy blockade imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump in January has forced the country to ration gasoline to only 20 liters (5 gallons) per vehicle through a cumbersome appointment process that can take weeks, or even months, halting public transportation. These days, the streets of Havana are almost empty of cars but teeming with thousands of bicycles and small electric motorcycles that have become the only way to get around.

“My husband owns a bicycle, so I'm riding as his companion,” said Ingrid Quintana, a resident of East Havana, who works in the old part of Havana, while waiting for the tunnel bus. “It’s an option we have, because there’s no public transportation and we can’t afford to pay for a private taxi, so we ride the Ciclobús."

The Ciclobús is the shortest public transportation route on the island, covering 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) in about 15 minutes.

After boarding near the Havana Bay Tunnel in Old Havana, passengers endure a rattling journey through the darkness of the underwater passage. They emerge in eastern Havana, a sprawling residential zone where hundreds of thousands reside. By contrast, the alternative land route must skirt the massive bay, a 16-kilometer (10-mile) trek through sparsely populated and poorly paved industrial port areas.

The fare for boarding ranges from 2 to 5 Cuban pesos (a tiny fraction of a U.S. dollar on the informal market) depending on whether you are transporting a bicycle or a motorcycle.

In comparison, a ride in a shared taxi from the eastern neighborhoods — passing through the tunnel — costs 1,000 Cuban pesos (about $2). A Cuban worker can earn a monthly salary of 7,000 Cuban pesos (about $14).

Owned by Havana’s state-run transport company, the Ciclobús emerged in the 1990s during the so-called “Special Period,” the crisis triggered by the collapse of the Soviet Union that left the island isolated, prompting then-President Fidel Castro to distribute Chinese-made bicycles among the population.

Over time, the service lost some of its appeal as residents turned to regular buses or shared taxis. But it is now seeing a resurgence as fuel shortages force more Cubans to rely on bicycles, electric tricycles, scooters and motorcycles for their daily commutes.

“Most jobs are on the other side, in the city, and that’s why we have to ride it to get across,” said 32-year-old gym teacher Bárbaro Cabral, gripping his bicycle tightly as the Ciclobús began to fill with passengers.

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Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Leo’s arrival in Algiers kicked off an intense, 11-day tour of four African nations — Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea — that will bring history’s first U.S.-born pope deep into the growing heart of the Catholic Church.

Leo is coming to Algeria to promote Christian-Muslim coexistence at a time of global conflict and to honor the locally born inspiration of his religious spirituality, St. Augustine.

The trip got underway, however, against the backdrop of a growing feud between the Chicago-born Leo and Trump, over the war. Trump overnight said he didn’t think Leo was doing a good job as pope and suggested he should “stop catering to the Radical Left.”

Leo responded on the plane en route to Algeria, saying the Vatican’s appeals for peace and reconciliation are rooted in the Gospel, and that he didn’t fear the Trump administration.

In his first remarks in a rainy Algiers, Leo visited the monument to the martyrs of Algeria's violent struggle for independence from France, obtained in 1962. Hundreds of thousands died in the revolution, during which French forces tortured detainees, disappeared suspects and devastated villages as part of a counterinsurgency strategy to maintain their grip on power.

Speaking in English to a crowd of several thousand people at the monument, Leo said, “God desires peace for every nation: a peace that is not merely an absence of conflict, but one that is an expression of justice and dignity.”

“I know how difficult it is to forgive. However, as conflicts continue to multiply throughout the world, we cannot add resentment upon resentment, generation after generation,” he said. “In the end, justice will always triumph over injustice, just as violence, despite all appearances, will never have the last word.”

Later Monday, Leo was to address Algerian authorities and visit the city’s Great Mosque. He was finishing the day with a gathering at the Our Lady of Africa basilica, and then prayers at a nearby monument for migrants killed in shipwrecks trying to reach Europe.

The official motto of the Algeria trip is Leo’s opening line wherever he goes — “Peace be with you” — and the Vatican says a general message of peace and Christian-Muslim coexistence would be the major theme.

In Algeria, a tiny Catholic community of around 9,000 people made up mostly of foreigners exists alongside the Sunni Muslim majority of about 47 million, according to Vatican statistics.

The archbishop of Algiers, French Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco, said on any given day, nine out of 10 people who visit the basilica are Muslim.

“It’s wonderful to be able to show that we can be brothers and sisters together, building a society despite our different religions,” Vesco told The Associated Press on the eve of Leo’s arrival. “And that is what our church has been doing since this country gained independence.”

The United States, though, has placed Algeria on its special watch list for “having engaged in or tolerated severe violations of religious freedom.” The Algerian constitution recognizes “religions other than Islam” and allows individuals to practice their faith if they respect public order and rules.

But proselytizing to Muslims by non-Muslims is a crime, and some other Christian denominations have faced persecution from Algerian authorities, who have closed their churches.

“I imagine it’s a good thing that a pope is visiting Algeria,” said Selma Dénane, a student who lives in Annaba down the coast from Algiers. “But what will it change afterward? Will Christians be able to say, ‘I am a Christian’ without fear or stigmatization?’”

A violent past of martyrs

Three decades after declaring independence from France, Algeria fought a brutal civil war in the 1990s that is known locally as the “black decade,” when some 250,000 people were killed as the army fought an Islamist insurgency.

Among those killed were 19 Catholics, including seven Trappist monks from the Tibhirine monastery south of Algiers, who were kidnapped and killed in 1996 by Islamic fighters. Also among the 19 were two nuns from Leo’s Augustinian religious family.

On his first day in Algeria, Leo was paying homage to the 19 martyrs and was visiting the remaining Augustinian nuns who run a social services project out of the Algiers basilica that helps people of all faiths.

“They gave their lives for God, for Jesus, for the church, for the Algerian people because they didn’t want to leave the country, even in the difficult moments,” said Sister Lourdes Miguelez.

All 19 were beatified in 2018 as martyrs for the faith in what was then the first such beatification ceremony in the Muslim world.

Vesco, the Algiers archbishop, likes to remind audiences that Leo was elected on May 8, the Catholic feast day of the 19 martyrs. Immediately after Leo’s election, Vesco invited him to visit.

Leo has another connection to the Trappist monks: He has made a mantra out of one of the sayings of the martyred prior of the Tibherine monastery, Christian de Chergé, who spoke of an “unarmed and disarming peace.” Leo has cited the line starting from the night of his election.

A personal and pastoral visit

For Leo, the visit to Algeria is pastoral but also deeply personal. His Augustinian religious order was inspired by the teachings of St. Augustine of Hippo, the fifth-century theological and philosophical titan of the early Christian church who was born in what is today Algeria and spent all but five years of his life there.

On Tuesday, Leo will visit Annaba, the modern-day Hippo where St. Augustine was bishop for three decades, and will literally walk in the footsteps of the saint.

From his first public words as pope, Leo proclaimed himself a “son of St. Augustine,” and he has made that clear in his first year, repeatedly citing the church father in his speeches and homilies.

“I don’t know if I have seen a statement, a homily, an apostolic letter or exhortation that doesn’t reference Augustine,” said Paul Camacho, associate director of the Augustinian Institute at Villanova University, Leo’s Augustinian-run alma mater outside Philadelphia.

“The shadow that he casts on Western thought, not just the Roman Catholic Church but on Western thought more broadly, is very, very long indeed,” he said.

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Ouali and Santalucia reported from Algiers, Algeria.

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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 high cost of fuel, equipment, and fertilizer — compounded by the Iran war — and also tariffs, perceived “price gouging” by suppliers, and low soybean prices driven by a global supply glut. All of it weighs on Bartek, who is chairman of the Nebraska Soybean Association.

“Our biggest struggles are our inputs, be it fertilizer, seed, chemical, parts,” Bartek said. “There has been so much drastic markup in all of these. And I just kind of feel like the farmer’s kind of painted in the corner.”

Bartek’s concerns are shared by many Midwest soybean producers. Costs, such as equipment, have crept up over time while soybean prices have stayed low. Tariffs levied by the Trump administration last year and the resulting monthslong trade war with China only made things worse, they say. Then the Iran war bottled up shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, restricting global fertilizer supplies and sending fertilizer prices sky high. A ceasefire deal announced April 7 raised hope that bottlenecks in the strait would abate, but the future of the agreement was uncertain.

“A lot of producers are pretty nervous going into this year,” said Justin Sherlock, a soybean farmer and president of the North Dakota Soybean Growers Association. “It looks like we’re going to have another year of negative returns.”

Years of rising costs, low soybean prices

Soybeans, which are used for livestock feed, food and biofuels, are among the top U.S. agricultural exports. That hasn’t always been the case. Before the 1960s soybeans weren’t a major crop in the U.S, according to Chad Hart, an agricultural economist at Iowa State University. It wasn’t until the 1990s that soybean production accelerated due to international demand — primarily from China — and soybeans and corn are now dominant in U.S. agriculture.

But U.S. soybean farmers, who typically also grow corn, have been facing financial issues for years even before the onset of the Iran war. Soybean prices have been persistently low in recent years. The global market has been awash in soybeans, driven in part by Brazil, which surpassed the U.S. as the world’s largest soybean producer years ago.

“If we look at global soybean production over the past several years, it continues to set record, after record, after record,” Hart said. “There’s been just large supplies globally, and that has led to depressed prices.”

Meanwhile, Midwest soybean farmers’ costs have risen. Overall farm production expenses, including seed and pesticide, have increased over time, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Operating costs for soybean production have stayed elevated since 2020 and are projected to increase again in 2026, according to the agency.

The cost of land also is a major issue for farmers, experts say. Midwest crop land values have increased. And most regional farmers rent some of their land, according to Joana Colussi, research assistant professor in the department of agricultural economics at Purdue University.

Bartek, who rents three-quarters of his land, said landowners are increasing rents, causing further financial strain.

“There’s a lot of what I call absentee landowners that have absolutely no idea what goes on on the farm,” he said. “All they know is their taxes went up and you get to make up the difference, some way, somehow.”

“They’re very concerned about negative margins driven by low prices and high cost,” said Paul Mitchell, a professor of agricultural and applied economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, of farmers. “There’s just a liquidity cash crunch for a lot of them and they’re just trying to figure out how to deal with everything.”

The number of farms in the U.S. has shrunk over time and consolidation in farming is a long-term trend, though farmers’ financial pressures wrought by high input costs and low commodity prices have contributed, Hart said. Larger farms tend to be more competitive and depend on large, expensive machinery.

“The financial reserves need(ed) on a farm are much greater than they used to be,” Hart said. “We’re a bit more sensitive to the financial conditions these days because so much capital is being utilized within the farm business.”

Tariffs, trade war have lasting impacts

Market forces aren’t the only issue weighing on farmers. Sweeping tariffs levied by President Donald Trump in April 2025 exacerbated a trade war with China, the top buyer of U.S. soybeans. China responded with retaliatory tariffs and effectively boycotted U.S. soybeans, cutting off a major export market for Midwest farmers and driving the price of soybeans even lower.

“When that was announced and soybean prices basically collapsed, if you could afford to hold on to your beans and wait for better times, you were OK,” said Mike Cerny, a soybean, and winter wheat corn farmer in Sharon, Wisconsin. “If you had a mortgage due or payments due or cash flow needs and you had to sell at that point, you were taking it pretty rough.”

The U.S. and China eventually reached a deal in late 2025. Beijing committed to buying 12 million metric tons of soybeans by January and at least 25 million metric tons annually for the next three years. China has since met its initial soybean purchase goal and the Trump administration also rolled out a $12 billion temporary aid package in December to boost farmers affected by the trade war.

But the damage is already done, experts and farmers say. While China’s renewed purchases and the federal payments are helping, it’s not enough to recover farmers’ losses. Even after federal assistance, farmers still lost almost $75 per harvested acre of soybeans in the 2025 crop, according to the American Soybean Association. And the trade war further pushed China toward competing soybean exporters, such as Brazil — accelerating a trend of declining U.S. soybean exports to China.

“When China decided to stop purchasing, we couldn’t find enough other markets to replace those sales,” Hart said. “We’re still feeling the impacts today. When you look at where soybean exports are today versus where we would normally expect them to be, we’re still running anywhere from 15% to 20% behind normal.”

Joseph Glauber, former chief economist at the Department of Agriculture between 2008 and 2014, said global competitors to U.S. soybean farmers gained from the trade war.

“When China has put on tariffs against the U.S. they’ve tended to buy then from Brazil or Argentina, largely Brazil,” Glauber added. “We’re not nearly as dominant in the world as we used to be in terms of the global export market for soybeans.”

Iran war drove up fuel, fertilizer costs

After the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, a severe slowdown in shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz sent the price of oil soaring. The shipping disruption also largely stopped the export of nitrogen fertilizers manufactured in the Persian Gulf and limited access to key fertilizer ingredients. The price of urea, the most widely traded nitrogen fertilizer, skyrocketed.

Soybeans don’t require nitrogen fertilizer, but it’s vital for corn and most soybean farmers also grow corn. About half the global supply of urea comes from the Middle East, and Qatar and Saudi Arabia are two of the top sources of U.S. fertilizer imports, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.

The U.S. and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire last week that included reopening the strait of Hormuz, but traffic remained slowed amid disagreements over Israeli attacks in Lebanon, and the price of urea remains elevated.

Many Midwest farmers bought their fertilizer well in advance of the spring planting season. But some farmers who didn’t buy early face elevated prices. Dave Walton, a corn, soybean, and hay farmer in Iowa and vice president of the American Soybean Association, said in March that some of his neighbors didn’t have cash on hand last fall to buy fertilizer and were struggling to budget for fertilizer due to high prices.

The war also caused gasoline and diesel prices to surge, causing further headaches for farmers. Oil prices dropped following the ceasefire announcement, but the war and the closure of the strait will have lasting impacts on farmers, said Seth Goldstein, a senior equity analyst at Morningstar, an investment research company. Facilities in the Middle East that are critical for exporting chemicals, oil and other commodities were damaged or destroyed during the war and it will take time for supply chains to recover, he said.

“Facilities have been hit, like liquid natural gas plants,” Goldstein added. “You are also looking at a big supply crunch in commodity chemicals, which are the inputs for crop chemicals.”

“We burn a lot of diesel fuel,” said Chris Gould, a corn and soybean farmer in Maple Park, Illinois. “It’s hard to say if I’m gonna come out ahead or behind on this whole deal. But I suspect I’m going to come out behind.”

Concerns about the future

Farmers’ financial problems are showing up in some measures. Farm bankruptcies, while still relatively low, continued to climb in 2025, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. In a survey of 400 farmers conducted by researchers at the Purdue Center for Commercial Agriculture in late March, almost half said their farm operation is financially worse off than it was a year ago.

Goldstein, the Morningstar analyst, said farmers’ high costs and low revenues contributed to the spike in bankruptcies between 2024 and 2025. If costs rise faster than crop prices going forward, he added, that “would strain farmers again and likely lead to more bankruptcies.”

After 43 years of farming, Bartek said the smell of fresh dirt still gets him excited for spring planting. But he’s also heard of farmer suicides, bankruptcies and “retirement sales” where farmers are forced to auction off their operations due to financial problems. Bartek compares farmers to gamblers who put “millions of dollars in the dirt” hoping for returns.

At times, Bartek doubts his own decision to go into farming. He’s also worried about his son, who purchased a farm a few years ago.

Bartek wonders: “Did I do the right thing helping him get into farming?”

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Kelety reported from Phoenix.

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This story is a collaboration between Lee Enterprises and The Associated Press.

Swalwell’s decision to suspend his campaign Sunday followed allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman twice, including when she worked for him, that were published Friday in the San Francisco Chronicle and later by CNN. While pulling out of the race he remained defiant in a post on the social platform X, saying, “I will fight the serious, false allegations that have been made — but that’s my fight, not a campaign’s.”

For rival candidates in a wide-open race, the key issue is where Swalwell’s supporters will go. He was among the most prominent Democrats in the contest, with mail ballots scheduled to go to voters in early May in advance of the June 2 primary election.

Katie Porter, one of the leading Democrats, posted a line from a San Francisco Chronicle column on X, "Democrats can pull victory from the jaws of defeat by coalescing around Porter.” Billionaire hedge fund manager-turned-liberal activist Tom Steyer said he secured the support of Rep. Jared Huffman, a Democrat from the San Francisco Bay Area.

With seven established Democrats and two leading Republicans on a primary ballot with more than 50 candidates, the race remains fluid. While Swalwell has suspended his campaign, his name cannot be removed from the ballot.

“Nobody has really caught fire,” said Democratic consultant Andrew Acosta, who is not involved in the campaign. Swalwell's supporters “will scatter out to other candidates.”

Many voters remain distant from governor's race

Swalwell is perhaps best known nationally as a House manager in President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial during his first term in early 2021. But in a media environment dominated by Trump, the race remains distant from many California voters.

After the publicity about sexual misconduct allegations, “I think there are probably more people who know who Eric Swalwell is than can articulate a Tom Steyer position paper,” Acosta added.

Swalwell was considered a leading contender along with fellow Democrats Steyer and Porter and two Republicans, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and conservative commentator Steve Hilton.

The 48-hour period marked a rapid reversal for a candidate who appeared to be gaining momentum in the packed field to replace outgoing Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is barred by law from seeking a third term.

Though Swalwell has denied the allegations, he has appeared to reference infidelity in multiple statements.

“To my family, staff, friends, and supporters, I am deeply sorry for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past,” he wrote. That followed a video post on Friday where he apologized to his wife.

Swalwell’s exit shakes up campaign

The accusations reordered a wide-open gubernatorial race that had Democrats fretting the party’s large number of candidates could lead to them getting shut out of the general election in November. That’s because California has a top-two primary system in which two candidates advance to the general election, regardless of party.

Swalwell had become a clear target for his Democratic rivals as he began to lock up institutional support. Some had seized on rumors of sexual misconduct that circulated on social media for weeks before the Chronicle’s report.

The San Francisco Chronicle spoke to a woman who alleged Swalwell sexually assaulted her in 2019, when she worked for him, and again in 2024. The woman said she did not go to police at the time of the assaults because she was afraid she would not be believed. In both cases the woman said she was too intoxicated to consent to sex. CNN reported on allegations that appeared to come from the same woman, and spoke to several other women who accused Swalwell of other sexual misconduct.

Neither outlet named the woman, and The Associated Press has not been able to independently verify her account and identity. Her lawyer declined to comment.

The alleged 2024 incident occurred in New York, and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said it’s investigating. That office urged anyone with knowledge to contact its special victims division.

House colleagues call for Swalwell to resign

As Swalwell’s campaign flailed over the weekend, fellow California Reps. Jared Huffman, Ro Khanna and Sam Liccardo said Swalwell should resign, as did Reps. Teresa Leger Fernández of New Mexico and Pramila Jayapal of Washington state.

“This is not a partisan issue,” Jayapal said Sunday. “This cuts across party lines. And it is depravity of the way that women have been treated.”

Some representatives said they would support the rare step of expelling him from the U.S. House should he refuse to step aside.

It all added to the mounting political pressure on Swalwell, which began with allies like Sen. Adam Schiff and Rep. Jimmy Gomez cutting their support. Gomez had helped run Swalwell’s campaign and said he was immediately ending his role.

With the House returning to session Tuesday, the question of whether to expel Swalwell could come to a head quickly. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., said Saturday that she would be filing a motion to start the process.

Expulsion votes in the House are rare and require a two-thirds majority, but there is recent precedent for taking the step. Republican George Santos of New York in 2023 became just the sixth member in House history to be ousted by colleagues for his conduct.

Huffman, Jayapal and Leger Fernández said they would vote to expel Swalwell from the House, though they said they also support expelling Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, who admitted to an affair with a former staff member who later died by suicide.

Swalwell, who is originally from Iowa, was elected in 2012 and represents a House district east of San Francisco. He launched a presidential run in April 2019 but shuttered it a few months later after failing to catch on with voters.

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Associated Press writer Ben Finley in Washington contributed to this report.

New Gallup polling finds that while more employees are using AI frequently in their work, there’s been an uptick in alarm that new technologies will replace their jobs. Many workers who are not using AI say they prefer to work without it, have ethical oppositions to the technology or worry about data privacy.

The poll, conducted in February, points to a divergence in how AI is reshaping American workplaces. Some find it to be a gamechanger for productivity and efficiency, while others are concerned about its potentially negative impacts.

Social worker Scott Segal said he regularly uses AI to find information that will help connect his elderly and vulnerable patients to health care resources in northern Virginia. While he knows that the human connection and care he brings to that work is important, he also believes that AI could soon replace him.

“I’m planning ahead,” said Segal, 53. “I think everyone who works in a replaceable field or trade should be planning ahead.”

Most workers using AI report productivity boosts

Roughly 3 in 10 employees are frequent users of AI in their jobs, meaning they use it daily or a few times a week. About 2 in 10 are infrequent users, using AI tools at work a few times a month or a few times a year.

The Gallup poll found that about 4 in 10 workers say their organization has adopted AI tools or technology to improve organizational practices. About two-thirds of those workers say AI has had an “extremely” or “somewhat” positive impact on their individual productivity and efficiency at work.

Workers using AI in management roles are more likely to say the technology has been at least “somewhat" positive for their productivity, compared with individual contributors. About 7 in 10 leaders using AI at least a few times a year say AI has made them more efficient at work, compared with just over half of individual contributors.

Labor and employment attorney Elizabeth Bloch of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, said she uses ChatGPT to help “draft letters or emails in a diplomatic way because it’s a very adversarial profession and sometimes you get heated.”

AI tools appear to have a greater benefit for workers in managerial, health care and technology roles than in service jobs. About 6 in 10 employees in those fields who are using AI say it's boosted their productivity at least “somewhat,” compared with 45% of those using it in service jobs.

Why some employees don’t use AI

Even when companies make AI tools available, there’s no guarantee employees will adopt them. About half of U.S. employees use AI only once a year or not at all, according to the Gallup study.

Bloch said she's tried using AI for legal research but finds it is prone to hallucinations, or making up false information, even when using AI tools custom-built for legal work. She's worried other lawyers who were already bad at finding and citing relevant case law are “going to be bad at using AI, because you’re not using the right prompts," leading judges to sanction them for false citations.

Among workers who have AI tools available at their company and don’t use them, 46% say it’s because they prefer to keep doing their work the way they do it now. About 4 in 10 non-users who have AI available to them report that they are ethically opposed to AI, are concerned about data privacy or don’t believe AI can be helpful for the work they do.

About one-quarter of these non-users who have AI tools available say they have used AI at work and don’t find it helpful, while about 2 in 10 say they do not feel prepared to use AI effectively.

Thuy Pisone, a contract administrator in Maryland for a company that works with the federal government, said she uses AI weekly for mundane tasks but has avoided it for things she already can do just fine.

“I have heard from my colleagues that we could use AI to put together our PowerPoint slides,” Pisone said. “I’m a little biased in that, well, I could put my own PowerPoints together. I don’t need help because it took me time to hone up my skill.”

More workers are concerned about new technology taking jobs

While this was less of a reason for forgoing AI at work, the poll also found U.S. workers are increasingly concerned about being driven out of a job by new technologies.

About 2 in 10 — 18% — of U.S. workers say it is “very” or “somewhat” likely that their current job will be eliminated within the next five years because of new technology, automation, robots or AI. That’s up from 15% in 2025. People working at companies that have adopted AI are even more likely to be concerned that their job will be eliminated: 23% call this at least “somewhat” likely in the next few years.

A Fox News poll conducted in March found that about 6 in 10 registered voters believe AI will eliminate more jobs than it creates over the next five years. Only about 1 in 10 expect it will create more positions, and about one-third say it’s too soon to say. About 7 in 10 employed voters say they are “not very” or “not at all” concerned their current job could be eliminated by AI.

Segal, the social worker in Virginia, said his alternative plan if AI replaces him is to start a new “health care chaperone service” that physically escorts patients from one appointment to another, especially when they've been sedated and don't have family or others to pick them up.

“I don’t think that’s something that will be replaced for another maybe 10 or 15 years, until robots are embodied with AI," Segal said. “I do believe that AI is going to displace most people’s employment functions and I question what people will do for livelihood at that point.”

In the meantime, he's been asking AI chatbots to help him strategize on saving for his retirement.

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Gallup’s quarterly workforce surveys were conducted with a random sample of adults age 18 and older who work full time and part time for organizations in the United States and are members of Gallup’s probability-based Gallup Panel. The most recent survey of 23,717 employed U.S. adults was conducted Feb. 4-19, 2026. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 0.9 percentage points.

That's because President Donald Trump and many U.S. conservatives have long embraced Orbán, who has become an icon among the global right for his anti-immigrant stance. The American president's agenda has striking parallels with the way the Hungarian leader used the levers of government to tilt the media, judiciary and electoral system to keep his party in power for 16 years.

Trump supported Orbán’s reelection bid and even dispatched Vice President JD Vance to Budapest last week — in the midst of the Iran war — to stump for the incumbent.

Orbán's loss was a reminder of how the war has diminished Trump's ability to help allied politicians overseas, as well as of the limited ability of leaders to use their power to tilt voting in their direction in an age of worldwide discontent over incumbents of all ideological stripes.

“Oppositions can win despite a tilted playing field,” said Steven Levitsky, a politics professor at Harvard and coauthor of the book “How Democracies Die.” “Democracies are facing many challenges in many parts of the world, but so are autocracies.”

Orbán’s defeat has immediate global implications because he was the European leader closest to Russian President Vladimir Putin and had blocked European Union aid to Ukraine, which is defending itself after Russian's 2022 invasion.

His fall was celebrated on Sunday by both Democrats and Republicans, some of whom criticized their own administration for such overt support for the Hungarian leader.

“Don’t fiddle-paddle in other democracies’ elections,” Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska said on the social media site X.

“The freedom-loving people of Hungary have voted decisively in favor of democracy and the rule of law,” posted Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi.

Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, is part of the wing of the American right that embraced Orbán. The Conservative Political Action Conference, which Schlapp's group hosts, held its first European session in Budapest and has made Hungary a regular destination.

Orban was a featured speaker at the group's conference in Dallas in 2022.

Schlapp said there's an easy explanation for Orbán's loss.

“Eventually, democracies just want change,” he said. “In democracies, you don't have kings, and the people in the end speak.”

"The people of Hungary were saying, 'We're having a difficult time with inflation, the economy and the war. Let's try the new guy,'” Schlapp said, noting that he backs Trump's Iran war but the turmoil it's created, especially in European energy markets, hurt Orbán.

Diana Sosoaca, a far-right member of the European Parliament from Romania, on Sunday called Vance's Hungarian visit “a big mistake” given widespread revulsion at the Iran war on the continent.

“You invite a representative of the United States of America, who created the big disorder in this world?” Sosoaca said in an interview posted by the Kremlin-controlled network RT, formerly known as Russia Today. “It was the biggest mistake he could do before the elections.”

How Orbán consolidated power

An anti-communist activist in his youth, Orbán was initially elected prime minister in 1998 but took a turn to the right after being voted out in 2002. Upon returning to office in 2010, Orbán and his Fidesz party implemented a legal framework to consolidate authority that he and his allies developed while he was out of power.

Orbán embraced what he dubbed “illiberal democracy,” building a barrier on Hungary's southern border to block migrants from Africa and Asia who were moving northward through Europe. He and his party stifled LGBTQ+ rights, cracked down on freedom of the press and undermined judicial independence.

Orbán cemented his power when his Fidesz party won enough seats in Parliament during the 2010 global recession to rewrite the country's constitution. They restructured the judiciary to funnel appointments to the bench through party loyalists, redrew legislative districts to make it much harder for Fidesz members to lose elections and helped push Hungary's media companies to be sold to tycoons allied with Orban.

The European Union has declared Hungary an “electoral autocracy.”

Orbán backers have scoffed at suggestions that the Hungarian leader is an enemy of democracy, and on Sunday he quickly conceded his loss. Democrats have worried that Trump will try to use his own executive power to tilt November's midterm elections or the 2028 presidential vote to his party, much as Trump tried to use his official powers to overturn Democrat Joe Biden's win in the 2020 presidential election.

“Most importantly for American voters, even a guy who rigs the system can be defeated when the people unite and turn out against him,” said Ian Bassin of Protect Democracy, a nonpartisan group that says it combats authoritarianism.

Democrats weigh in

Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California took the opportunity to jab at Vance: “Your ally Orban conceded. In 2028, will you @JDVance follow suit if you lose?” he posted on X.

Levitsky said defenders of democracy shouldn’t take too much comfort from Orbán’s loss, noting that in some ways Trump has been more oppressive. He cited Trump’s use of the Justice Department to investigate political opponents and the shooting deaths of protesters by immigration officers -- steps that Orban’s government never took, Levitsky said.

But Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, said he sees parallels between Trump's and Orban’s political projects, as well as the potential fate of their parties at the polls.

“He was essentially doing what Donald Trump is trying to do here in the United States,” Van Hollen said of Orban. “My read of the election is that the people of Hungary rejected that, just like people in the United States are rejecting that here at home.”

Trump made no public comments Sunday about the election results in Hungary.

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Riccardi reported from Denver.

“Security in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman is either for everyone or for NO ONE,” the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting reported Monday. “NO PORT in the region will be safe,” according to a statement from the Iranian military and the Revolutionary Guards.

U.S. Central Command announced that from 10 a.m. EDT, or 6:30 p.m. in Iran, the blockade would be enforced “against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas.” It said that would include all of Iran's ports on the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. CENTCOM said it would still allow ships traveling between non-Iranian ports to transit the Strait of Hormuz, a step down from Trump's earlier threat to blockade the vital waterway, where 20% of global oil transited before fighting began.

The announcement halted the limited ship traffic that resumed in the strait since the ceasefire, according to a report from Lloyd’s List intelligence. Marine trackers say over 40 commercial ships have crossed since the start of the ceasefire, down from roughly 100 to 135 vessel passages per day before the war.

The blockade threat came after marathon U.S.-Iran ceasefire talks in Pakistan ended without an agreement on Saturday. U.S. Vice President JD Vance said the talks stalled after Iran refused to accept American terms to refrain from developing a nuclear weapon. Iran has demanded compensation for damage caused by U.S.-Israeli strikes that launched the war on Feb. 28, and the release of Iran’s frozen assets.

Later Sunday, Trump extended his feud over the war with Pope Leo XIV, lashing out in a Truth Social post that called the Catholic leader “terrible on foreign policy” after Leo denounced the war and demanded that political leaders stop and negotiate peace. The pontiff pushed back Monday, telling reporters that the Vatican’s appeals for peace and reconciliation are rooted in the Gospel, and that he doesn’t fear the Trump administration.

The blockade could have far-reaching effects

The blockade is likely intended to pile pressure on Iran, which has exported millions of barrels of oil since the war began, much of it likely carried by so-called “dark” transits that evade Western government sanctions and oversight.

The price of U.S. crude rose 8% to $104.24 a barrel following the blockade announcement, and Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 7% to $102.29. Brent crude cost roughly $70 per barrel before the war in late February.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed support Monday for Trump's “strong stance to impose a naval blockade on Iran.”

Prime Minister Keir Starmer told BBC radio Monday that Britain will not be part of a U.S. blockade of Iranian ports in response to the closing of the Strait of Hormuz and that Britain is “not getting dragged into the war.”

Iran says ‘if you fight, we will fight'

A chorus of top-ranking Iranian officials threatened retaliation. Mohsen Rezaei, a military adviser and a former Revolutionary Guard Commander, wrote on X that the country’s armed forces had “major untouched levers” to counter a Hormuz blockade.

Iranian parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, who led Iran’s side in the talks, addressed Trump in a statement on his return to Iran: “If you fight, we will fight.”

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard later said the strait remained under Iran’s “full control” and was open for non-military vessels, but military ones would get a “forceful response,” two semiofficial Iranian news agencies reported.

During the 21-hour talks this weekend in Pakistan, the U.S. military said two destroyers had transited the strait ahead of mine-clearing work, a first since the war began. Iran denied it.

No word on what happens after ceasefire expires

Vance, who led the U.S. side in the talks in Pakistan, said Washington would need "an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon."

Iranian negotiators could not agree to all U.S. “red lines,” said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to describe positions on the record. Those red lines included Iran never obtaining a nuclear weapon, ending uranium enrichment, dismantling major enrichment facilities and allowing retrieval of its highly enriched uranium, along with opening the Strait of Hormuz and ending funding for Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthi rebels.

Iranian officials said talks fell apart over two or three key issues, blaming what they called U.S. overreach. Qalibaf, who noted progress in negotiations, said it was time for the United States “to decide whether it can gain our trust or not.”

Neither Iran nor the U.S. indicated what will happen after the ceasefire expires on April 22.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said his country will try to facilitate a new dialogue in the coming days. Iran said it was open to continuing dialogue, state-run IRNA news agency reported.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, whose country has supported mediations efforts, suggested that if there is progress in dialogue the ceasefire could be extended for 45 to 60 days to allow for more negotiations.

Iran’s nuclear program is a key sticking point

Iran’s nuclear program was at the center of tensions long before the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28. The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, 2,055 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states, and damaged infrastructure in half a dozen countries.

Tehran has long denied seeking nuclear weapons but insists on its right to a civilian nuclear program. The landmark 2015 nuclear deal, which Trump later pulled the U.S. out of, took well over a year of negotiations. Experts say Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium, though not weapons-grade, is only a short technical step away.

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Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank, Boak from Miami and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers E. Eduardo Castillo in Beijing; Collin Binkley and Ben Finley in Washington; Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut; Brian Melley in London; Ghaya Ben MBarek in Tunis; Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City and Julia Frankel and Mae Anderson in New York contributed to this report.

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This story corrects the local time in Tehran for the start of U.S. blockade.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced the planned blockade after U.S.-Iran ceasefire talks in Pakistan ended without an agreement, and the U.S. military said the blockade involving all Iranian ports would begin Monday at 10 a.m. EDT, or 5:30 p.m. in Iran.

Oil prices have been rising as shipping through the strait has essentially stalled since late February. Brent crude oil, the international standard, has gone from roughly $70 per barrel before the war in late February to more than $119 at times.

On Monday, benchmark U.S. crude jumped $7.12 or 7.4% to $103.69 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose $7.04 or 7.4% to $102.24 a barrel.

France's CAC 40 dropped 1.0% to 8,174.44 in early trading, while the German DAX lost 1.0% to 23,568.65. Britain's FTSE 100 slipped 0.4% to 10,561.47. U.S. shares were set to drift lower with Dow futures down 0.5% at 47,911.00. S&P 500 futures fell 0.6% to 6,815.50.

In Asia, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.7% to finish at 56,502.77. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.4% to 8,926.00. South Korea's Kospi dipped 0.9% to 5,808.62. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.9% to 25,660.85, while the Shanghai Composite was little changed, inching up less than 0.1% to 3,988.56.

Analysts said global trading was expected to remain turbulent for some time.

“The outcome of the talks was not really what people were hoping for, that’s for certain," Neil Newman, Managing Director, Head of Strategy at Astris Advisory Japan, said in Hong Kong.

“As we stand here at the moment, it doesn’t look very nice. Certainly, the oil prices are a big concern.”

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar gained to 159.65 Japanese yen from 159.25 yen. The euro cost $1.1696, down from $1.1729.

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Associated Press journalist Mayuko Ono contributed to this report.

Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama

On April 6, 2024, 26-year-old Onyxia Delinois was jogging ahead of a running group near Miramar Parkway and Southwest 184th Avenue when she was hit by a driver who never stopped.

The crash left her with a critical head injury, and she required around-the-clock care.

Her husband, Roosevelt Delinois, who was her primary caretaker, is urging anyone who may have seen anything to come forward so his wife can have justice.

Police continue to investigate but do not have a vehicle description. There is a $15,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest.

According to investigators, the incident happened around 5:12 p.m. near the 4100 block of Northwest 21st Avenue.

The victim told investigators a man dressed in all black placed his hand over the boy’s mouth and grabbed him. The man then walked with the child, but the boy was able to escape.

Detectives said the suspect was last seen riding a purple bike.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Special Victims Unit Detective Eric Wilson at 954-321-4460 or submit a tip through the SaferWatch app.

Anonymous tips can be submitted to Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS (8477) for a possible cash reward.

Some continue to feel the effects.

On April 12, 2023, an unprecedented 26 inches of rain fell in just five hours, causing widespread damage. One woman down the street said her home is still under construction from the water damage.

The City of Fort Lauderdale has since launched a massive stormwater improvement project dubbed Fortify Fort Lauderdale. Crews have installed thousands of feet of pipes underground in vulnerable communities.

The city invested about $14.5 million in the Edgewood neighborhood alone to reduce flooding and improve drainage. A neighbor showed a new storm drain placed in his front yard.

On Southwest 32nd Street, many families have recovered, but they still get nervous every time it rains hard.

“I know my grandmother gets very, very on edge about it,” said Matt Anderson. “I’m a little bit more relaxed. I have generators, pumps for the water. I’m prepared for it in case it happens again.”

“Yes, that was horrific,” said Sharon Dolan. “When it rains, that was the first and only time I’ve gotten PTSD.”

“I think there needs to be a lot more work with drainage, a lot more work,” Dolan added.

In total, Fortify Fort Lauderdale has targeted more than 25 neighborhoods, costing around $1.6 billion.

Según Hollywood Fire Rescue, el incidente ocurrió cerca de Charleston Street.

Las autoridades dijeron que un salvavidas realizó RCP al hombre después de sacarlo del agua.

Posteriormente fue transportado a un hospital para recibir tratamiento adicional.

No se ha divulgado ninguna otra información.

Antetokounmpo, a two-time MVP who led Milwaukee to its first title in a half century in 2021, said after Sunday's season-ending loss to Philadelphia that he learned that he had no control over his playing status as the Bucks limped to the finish.

Antetokounmpo was the subject of trade speculation as the deadline approached, but he wasn’t dealt. He since has been in a dispute with team management over his injury status.

The 31-year-old Antetokounmpo hasn’t played since landing awkwardly after a dunk on March 15. Antetokounmpo said in the closing weeks of the season that he was healthy and wanted to play, but the Bucks continued to rule him out with a left knee hyperextension and bone bruise.

Antetokounmpo did not play Sunday at Philadelphia in what was also likely the final game of Hall of Fame coach Doc Rivers' career.

“Being cleared to play, I don’t understand. I’ve never in my life denied participation in practice,” Antetokounmpo said. “Whoever came up with that is disrespectful towards what I’ve done for this team and the way I carry myself.

“I did what I was supposed to do. I wasn’t able to come on the court now. Who has that say? It comes from above. I thought I had control. OK, if I’m healthy, I’m going to play. This just shows me that not just me, players in general, don’t have no control. No, I didn’t feel like I had control.”

Antetokounmpo had participated in recent pregame warmups, showing no sign of injury.

“It was draining for me, for sure,” Antetokounmpo said. “If it was draining for me, it was definitely draining for me and the organization.”

Antetokounmpo said he planned to put his phone on “do not disturb” and try to avoid the distractions that plagued the end of his season.

The Bucks could look to trade Antetokounmpo in the offseason, or he could sign a four-year, $275 million extension in October.

Antetokounmpo said he had yet to be formally offered the extension — no surprise given that it could not be finalized for months.

“That’s too far away. It’s something I have to sit down with my family and see what’s best for me, what’s best for my family,” Antetokounmpo said. “Money doesn’t mean nothing do me. Zero. Absolutely zero. What means something to me, it’s winning.”

The Bucks put Rivers' job in jeopardy with a dismal 32-50 season that ended the Bucks’ streak of nine straight playoff berths.

Rivers had said he has a “great relationship” with Antetokounmpo and that he often talks to the superstar about what to work on and what to add to his game.

“I just want to see it end well for him and for the franchise. I think they both deserve it,” Rivers said. “Giannis is a fantastic person. I’ve been lucky to coach a lot of stars, and he’s right at the top as far as good people. I want good people to be taken care of.”

The Bucks reached the East finals during Antetokounmpo's first MVP season in 2019 — ending an 18-year stretch without a playoff series win. They won the title two years later. But they haven't won a playoff series since 2022.

“We’re the furthest away we’ve been,” Antetokounmpo said. “I didn’t think we were going to be in this position last year, so I don’t know what position we will be in next year.”

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

The problems prompted electoral authorities to allow more than 52,000 residents of Peru’s capital, Lima, to vote on Monday. The extension, announced after vote counting began Sunday evening, also covers Peruvians registered to vote in Orlando, Florida, and Paterson, New Jersey.

Authorities initially reported 63,300 people could vote Monday but later revised down the figure.

Voting is mandatory for Peruvians from the ages of 18 to 70. Failure to do so comes with a fine of up to $32.

A former minister, a comedian and a political heiress are among 35 candidates vying to become Peru’s ninth president in just 10 years.

The election comes amid a surge in violent crime and corruption that has fueled widespread discontent among voters, who largely view candidates as dishonest and unprepared for the presidency. Many of the contenders have responded to the crime concerns with wide-ranging proposals, including building megaprisons, restricting food for prisoners and reinstating the death penalty for serious crimes.

Nurse Heidy Justiniano had not decided who to vote for while already in line outside a public school in Lima.

“There’s so much crime, so many robberies on every corner; a bus driver was killed. What matters most to us right now is safety, the lives of every person,” Justiniano, 33, said. “Politicians don’t always keep their promises. This time, we have to choose our president wisely so that he can improve Peru.”

More than 27 million people are registered to vote. Of those, about 1.2 million cast ballots abroad, mainly in the United States and Argentina.

A presidential candidate needs more than 50% of votes to win outright. However, a runoff in June is virtually assured given the deeply divided electorate and the pool of candidates, the largest in the Andean country’s history.

Voters are also being asked to choose the members of a bicameral Congress for the first time in more than 30 years, following recent legislative reforms that concentrate significant power in the new upper chamber.

Swire Properties, a real estate developer, worked with BG Group personnel and Miami police officers to close the Brickell Key Bridge, which connects the man-made, triangular-shaped island to Brickell.

The bridge will reopen at 1:30 p.m. The deadline for residents to leave Brickell Key was 7 a.m. The BG Group personnel asked residents to keep windows closed and turn off their air conditioning units during the implosion.

“We are very grateful for the city of Miami and all of their assistance, the building department, the fire department, the police department, there was such close coordination again 2 years in the making that went off in 20 seconds,” said Jessica Chen, a member of the developer team.

Emergency vehicles were staged at 6:30 a.m. near 500 Brickell Key Drive. The vibration monitors were installed at 6 a.m.

The final setup of barricades and signage to secure the “exclusion zone” on both land and water was at 4 a.m.

The implosion will make way for the two-story The Residences at Mandarin Oriental that Swire Properties expects to complete in 2030.

Rubble remains where hotel once stood

Crowd gets last pictures of building

Location

The event gives a taste of Caribbean carnival celebrations through dance, music genres like kompa, reggae, soca and Afrobeats, along with food.

The street festival draws people from Caribbean nations to Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood. Northeast Second Avenue is shut down from Northeast 54th Street to Northeast 62nd Street for the event.

Hosting again this year is Supa Cindy, who spoke ahead of the festivities.

“It’s our celebration. We do so much. All the Caribbean just unite together in Little Haiti, and so the Zoes, the Haitians, but it’s all about the Caribbean in general,” she said.

At some point, the floats are expected to reach the stage area, where the celebration will continue into the night.

Knox is taking on “Wheels of Grit,” a 2,000-mile cycling journey up the East Coast.

“They’re incredible people who have done amazing things for their country,” Knox said.

“I kind of just get in the mindset of this is all I have to do today, this is it, so just think about it one minute at a time,” she added.

A few years ago, Knox, who lives in Washington, D.C., suffered a serious accident on her bicycle. Spending months in the hospital, she saw the challenges disabled veterans face up close.

She’s a Coast Guard veteran herself.

“I just felt inspired by the people I met and their determination to embrace life and do the best with what they’ve got now,” Knox said.

Her sendoff was in Key West on Thursday alongside two American Legion posts.

By Saturday, she made it to downtown Miami. On Sunday, she reached Fort Lauderdale.

“Part of my journey is to hit American Legions and VFW posts at the end of every ride each day,” she said.

The goal is to finish the journey in southern Maine.

She expects the trip to take 42 days, riding more than 60 miles a day.

No matter the distance or how long it takes, Knox hopes this helps people believe they can go after their goals.

“I really hope to inspire people who watch this stuff to think about something that feels impossible to them,” she said.

She has already raised more than $8,000 for the Wounded Warrior Project and another $2,000 for Achilles International, which helps people with disabilities.

For more information on her journey, visit her Instagram page.

The attacks on Saturday bring the number of people who have been killed in boat strikes by the U.S. military to at least 168 since the Trump administration began targeting those it calls “narcoterrorists” in early September.

As with most of the military’s statements on the dozens of strikes in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean Sea, U.S. Southern Command said it targeted the alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes. The military did not provide evidence that the vessel was ferrying drugs. Videos posted on X showed small boats moving across the water before they each were engulfed in a bright explosion.

U.S. Southern Command stated on X that it notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate the search-and-rescue system for the survivor. The Coast Guard confirmed it was coordinating the search and said updates would be provided when available.

President Donald Trump has said the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and fatal overdoses claiming American lives. But his administration has offered little evidence to support its claims of killing “narcoterrorists.”

Critics have questioned the overall legality of the boat strikes as well as their effectiveness, in part because the fentanyl behind many fatal overdoses is typically trafficked to the U.S. over land from Mexico, where it is produced with chemicals imported from China and India.

The boat strikes have continued in Latin America even as the U.S. military has focused on operations in the Middle East, where the U.S. was engaged in a war with Iran for several weeks.

Trump on Sunday said the U.S. Navy would begin a blockade of ships entering or leaving the Strait of Hormuz, after U.S.-Iran ceasefire talks in Pakistan ended without an agreement. Trump wants to weaken Iran’s key leverage in the war after demanding that it reopen the crucial waterway through which 20% of global oil normally passes. U.S. Central Command said the blockade would involve Iranian ports.

Flagg winced as he left the court favoring his left ankle in the second quarter, and the Mavs soon said he wouldn't return. The 19-year-old is in a tight race with former Duke teammate Kon Knueppel for Rookie of the Year.

It wasn't immediately clear how Flagg was injured. He had 10 points and four rebounds in 10 minutes before leaving the game. He will finish the season averaging 21.0 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.5 assists in 70 games.

The Mavericks have been out of the playoff race for weeks in a season that started with high expectations but crumbled with Anthony Davis' continuing injury issues and eventual trade to Washington. Davis' absence led to the team keeping Kyrie Irving sidelined the entire season after the star guard tore the ACL in his left knee in March 2025.

Despite the steady slide in the standings, Flagg kept making history, capped by a 96-point outburst in two games over the second-to-last weekend, including the 51 against Orlando that made him the first NBA teenager to score at least 50 in a game. He broke his own record of 49 for a teenager.

Flagg led Duke to the Final Four a year ago as just the fourth freshman to be named The Associated Press men's basketball player of the year.

The accolades kept rolling in after the Mavs converted just a 1.8% chance to win the lottery and won the rights to draft him.

Flagg and Michael Jordan are the only two rookies to record multiple games of at least 45 points since the NBA-ABA merger in 1976-77.

Flagg was playing against LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers earlier this month when he scored 45 points and passed the 41-year-old for the most 40-point games by a teenager with his fourth.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba

First up: an elimination game in Charlotte. The ninth-place Hornets will take on the 10th-place Miami Heat on Tuesday night (7:30 p.m. Eastern) in a win-or-go-home game to open the play-in tournament.

The rest of the play-in schedule:

— West No. 7 Phoenix meets West No. 8 Portland on Tuesday (10 p.m. Eastern), with the winner moving on to face Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs in Round 1.

— East No. 7 Philadelphia plays host to East No. 8 Orlando on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. Eastern), with the winner of that game set to meet the Boston Celtics in Round 1.

— The Los Angeles Clippers, No. 9 in the West, play host to No. 10 Golden State on Wednesday (10 p.m. Eastern) in an elimination game. The winner will play the Suns-Trail Blazers loser on Friday for the right to meet No. 1 Oklahoma City in Round 1.

— Also Friday, the Hornets-Heat winner will visit the 76ers-Magic loser to decide which team advances to face No. 1 Detroit in Round 1.

“Our group understands what wins and loses for us,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “And that’s the most important thing.”

Rest of Round 1 schedule

The top two seeds in each conference — Detroit, Boston, Oklahoma City and San Antonio — will wait until either Tuesday or Friday to find out their Round 1 opponents.

Some teams already know. The 3-vs.-6 and 4-vs.-5 Round 1 matchups are set.

In the East, No. 3 New York will play No. 6 Atlanta, and No. 4 Cleveland takes on No. 5 Toronto. In the West, No. 3 Denver will play No. 6 Minnesota — the third time in four years those teams have met in the postseason — while the fourth-seeded Los Angeles Lakers will face No. 5 Houston.

How Sunday went down

Inside the Heat locker room on Sunday night, everybody's eyes were on a giant television set showing the end of the Orlando-Boston game.

With good reason. It decided a whole lot in the East.

The Celtics beat the Magic, which dropped Orlando into the No. 8 spot for the play-in. It also ensured the Miami-Charlotte game would be played Tuesday, since Philadelphia cannot host basketball games Monday or Tuesday because of arena scheduling conflicts with the NHL’s Flyers.

“This one is done,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said after the loss in Boston. “You've got to make sure you focus your time and your attention and your energy all on the Philadelphia 76ers right now.”

Portland beat Sacramento to earn the No. 8 spot in the West going into the play-in, and therefore will have two chances to win one game and earn a playoff berth. The Clippers beat Golden State in their finale, and now those teams will play again in Inglewood, California, on Wednesday in an elimination game.

“Each team knows the other pretty well, just from playing against them a lot over the years,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.

Denver — which ended the regular season on a 12-game winning streak — topped San Antonio to lock up the No. 3 seed. The Lakers beat Utah, and that result means LeBron James will be taking on Kevin Durant in their first postseason meeting since the 2018 NBA Finals.

Points record falls

More points were scored this season than in any other in NBA history, with the previous record of 282,127 points getting passed Sunday evening — with about seven games left to be played on the schedule.

The final total for the season: 284,395 points.

It wasn't a record for points per game; that mark of 118.8 points per team, per game, has stood since 1961-62. This season's pace of 115.6 points per team was sixth-best in NBA history.

Jokic plays, will be award eligible

Denver's Nikola Jokic appeared in the Nuggets' game against San Antonio on Sunday night, which pushed his total to 65 games for the season — and therefore got him eligibility on the NBA's award ballots that will be sent out later this week.

Jokic was second in last year’s MVP balloting behind only Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, That made Jokic just the third player in NBA history with a top-two finish in five or more consecutive seasons, joining Bill Russell and Larry Bird.

Jokic won MVP in 2021, 2023 and 2024, plus was second in 2022 and again last year.

Russell and Bird, a pair of Boston Celtics greats, each were first or second in the balloting in six consecutive seasons.

Stat notes

The league's statistical champions have been known for some time, but now they're officially official.

The Lakers' Luka Doncic (33.5 points per game) won the scoring title, while Jokic won both the rebounding (12.9 per game) and assist (10.7 per game) titles to complete another season in which he averaged a triple-double.

Other stat items of note:

— The league finished with 96 games decided by 30 points or more, 16 more than the previous record (set last season).

— The average margin of victory this season was 13.3 points, another record (previous was 12.7, set last season).

— This one is wild. Last season in the NBA, teams listed as favorites by BetMGM Sportsbook went 853-377. This season, they went ... 853-377.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba

“To put my message on the same plane as what the president has attempted to do here, I think is not understanding what the message of the Gospel is,” Leo told The Associated Press aboard the papal plane en route to Algeria. “And I’m sorry to hear that but I will continue on what I believe is the mission of the church in the world today.”

History’s first U.S.-born pope stressed that he was not making a direct attack against Trump or anyone else with his general appeal for peace and criticisms of the “delusion of omnipotence” that is fueling the Iran war and other conflicts around the world.

“I will not enter into debate. The things that I say are certainly not meant as attacks on anyone. The message of the Gospel is very clear: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers,’” Leo said.

“I will not shy away from announcing the message of the Gospel and inviting all people to look for ways of building bridges of peace and reconciliation, and looking for ways to avoid war any time that’s possible.”

Speaking to other reporters, he added: “I’m not afraid of the Trump administration or of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel, which is what the Church works for.''

“We are not politicians. We do not look at foreign policy from the same perspective that he may have,'' the pope said, adding, ”I will continue to speak out strongly against war, seeking to promote peace, promoting dialogue and multilateralism among states to find solutions to problems.

"Too many people are suffering today, too many innocent people have been killed, and I believe someone must stand up and say that there is a better way,'' he said.

Trump says Leo is not ‘doing a very good job’

Trump delivered an extraordinary broadside against Leo on Sunday night, saying he didn't think the U.S.-born global leader of the Catholic Church is “doing a very good job” and that “he's a very liberal person," while also suggesting the pontiff should “stop catering to the Radical Left.”

Flying back to Washington from Florida, Trump used a lengthy social media post to sharply criticize Leo, then kept it up after deplaning, in comments on the tarmac to reporters.

“I’m not a fan of Pope Leo,” he said.

Trump's comments came after Leo suggested over the weekend that a “delusion of omnipotence” is fueling the U.S.-Israel war in Iran. While it’s not unusual for popes and presidents to be at cross purposes, it’s exceedingly rare for the pope to directly criticize a U.S. leader — and Trump’s stinging response is equally uncommon, if not more so.

“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” the president wrote in his post, adding, “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon."

Italian politicians across the spectrum showed their solidarity with Leo. Premier Giorgia Meloni sent a message of support for his peace mission while the leader of the main opposition party, Elly Schlein, was more direct, calling Trump’s attacks “extremely serious.”

Trump repeated that sentiment in comments to reporters, saying, “We don’t like a pope who says it’s OK to have a nuclear weapon.”

Later, Trump posted a picture suggesting he had saint-like powers akin to those of Jesus Christ. Wearing a biblical-style robe, Trump is seen laying hands on a bedridden man as light emanates from his fingers, while a soldier, a nurse, a praying woman and a bearded man in a baseball cap all look on admiringly. The sky above is filled with eagles, an American flag and vaporous images.

Leo's opposition to war irked Trump

All of that came after Leo presided over an evening prayer service in St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday, the same day the United States and Iran began face-to-face negotiations in Pakistan during a fragile ceasefire, with Vice President JD Vance leading the U.S. delegation. Vance is Catholic and recently released a book about his faith.

During his evening prayer service, the pope didn’t mention the United States or Trump by name, but his tone and message appeared directed at Trump and U.S. officials, who have boasted of U.S. military superiority and justified the war in religious terms.

Leo, who is on an 11-day trip to Africa starting Monday — has previously said that God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.” He's also referenced an Old Testament passage from Isaiah, saying that “even though you make many prayers, I will not listen — your hands are full of blood.”

Before the ceasefire, when Trump warned of mass strikes against Iranian power plants and other infrastructure and that “an entire civilization will die tonight,” Leo described such sentiments as “truly unacceptable.”

In his social media post on Sunday night, however, Trump went far beyond the war in Iran in criticizing Leo.

The president wrote, “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States.” That was a reference to the Trump administration having ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January.

“I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do,” Trump added, referencing his 2024 election victory.

He also suggested in the post that Leo only got his position “because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump.”

“If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican,” Trump wrote, adding, “Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician. It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church!”

In his subsequent comments to reporters, Trump remained highly critical, saying of Leo, “I don’t think he’s doing a very good job. He likes crime I guess” and adding, “He’s a very liberal person.”

Bishops say the pope is not a politician

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a statement saying he was “disheartened” by Trump's comments.

“Pope Leo is not his rival; nor is the Pope a politician. He is the Vicar of Christ who speaks from the truth of the Gospel and for the care of souls,” Coakley said.

The Italian Bishops' Conference expressed regret over Trump's words, and underlined that the pope "is not a political counterpart, but the successor of Peter, called to serve the Gospel, truth and peace.''

In the 2024 election, Trump won 55% of Catholic voters, according to AP VoteCast, an extensive survey of the electorate. But Trump's administration also has close ties to conservative evangelical Protestant leaders and has claimed heavenly endorsement for the war on Iran.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth urged Americans to pray for victory “in the name of Jesus Christ.” And, when Trump was asked whether he thought God approved of the war, he said, “I do, because God is good — because God is good and God wants to see people taken care of.”

——

Winfield reported from aboard the papal plane.

Temperatures will reach the lower 80s all the while staying mostly dry.Plan for mostly dry conditions all week long. The lack of rainfall could intensify drought conditions across our region.

In front of a crowd just days after reaching an early milestone of his first term, Mamdani said he took office promising “that City Hall would hold a singular purpose, to make this city belong to more of its people than it did the day before.”

“For 102 days, we have endeavored to do exactly that,” he said.

After highlighting the early accomplishments of his administration, he then turned to a few new plans.

The first, he said, would be to inch toward one of his major campaign promises: opening a slate of city-run grocery stores. The initial store, he said, would open next year, with the remaining shops — eventually one in each of the city's five boroughs — opening by the end of his four-year term.

“At our stores, eggs will be cheaper. Bread will be cheaper. Grocery shopping will no longer be an unsolvable equation,” said Mamdani, a Democrat.

In addition, the mayor announced plans to expand the city's covered trash bin program — “Say goodbye to black bags and say hello to the bins,” he said, vowing to spread the initiative citywide by the end of 2031.

And he reiterated his campaign promise to make buses faster and free of cost, saying he would move to speed up bus services along some routes. It remains unclear how he would make good on eliminating bus fares.

“Tonight, we're delivering the fast, and we're excited to keep working with Albany to deliver the free,” he said, referencing the governor and the state Legislature, which hold considerable sway over parts of his agenda.

Before Mamdani spoke, the crowd heard from a city transportation department staffer to hear about Mamdani’s pothole filling blitz; a tenant organizer who praised the mayor’s focus on renters; and a mother who boosted his push to expand child care programs in the city.

“No longer will city government be afraid of its own shadow,” Mamdani told the crowd shortly after taking the stage. “If anyone should be afraid it is those who take advantage of working people.”

Mamdani, 34, took office in January after a campaign centered on making New York City a more affordable place to live, centering his agenda on refocusing the vast power of government toward helping the city's struggling working class.

It wasn't quite enough.

Scheffler shot a 4-under 68 on Sunday at Augusta National and finished one stroke behind winner Rory McIlroy. Now McIlroy and Scheffler are even with two Masters titles each. Scheffler was trying to pull off what would have been an unprecedented comeback from 12 strokes down after 36 holes.

“I always felt like I was a couple shots out of it, but I was ahead of those guys (on the course), so I felt like if I could make a few birdies and post a score I’d be in a good spot,” Scheffler said. “Just wasn’t able to make enough birdies on the back.”

Scheffler shot a 65 on Saturday to pull within four, and he was in the mix during the final round, becoming the first player since World War II to play the last two rounds of the Masters without a bogey.

What he needed, however, was at least one more birdie. After making one on No. 1 and another on No. 3, a streak of 11 straight pars stalled his progress at a time when he was very much within striking distance.

On the par-5 15th, his tee shot went to the right into the trees, and his second shot caromed off one of them, leaving him still 189 yards out. He had a gap between two tree trunks but needed to clear water to reach the green.

He somehow pulled that off and rolled in the putt for a birdie to move to 10 under. Problem was, at around the same moment, McIlroy birdied No. 13 to go to 13 under. Then Scheffler answered with a birdie on the par-3 16th to pull within two.

And that's where it stayed until the 18th, when McIlroy's bogey was enough to win him the tournament.

Scheffler's last good chance to apply pressure on McIlroy came when he stood over an 18-foot putt for birdie on No. 17. It was a similar putt to the one Jack Nicklaus made on his way to a sixth Masters title 40 years ago.

For Scheffler, the putt stayed just to the left of the hole.

“The putt I hit on 17 I really thought I made,” he said. “The shot into 18 I hit it exactly how I wanted to. I think we just lost the wind, and it got right up to the edge and came all the way back down. Would’ve been nice to give myself an opportunity there on 18, but I always talk about how I try to be focused on controlling the things that I can control and yesterday and today was some of the best that I’ve felt like I’ve been mentally all year.”

There were other missed opportunities. The par-4 seventh was yielding birdies left and right — and even a couple of eagles — on Sunday. But after an errant tee shot, Scheffler's approach missed the green to the left.

He went over the green from 95 yards on the par-5 eighth, costing himself another good birdie chance.

Scheffler's son Remy was born late last month, and he hadn't played since The Players Championship in the middle of March. This was his first top-five finish since Pebble Beach in mid-February.

Scheffler has won four major titles and now has three runner-up finishes. He tied for second at the 2022 U.S. Open and 2023 PGA Championship. This time he ended up alone in second, proving to be the biggest threat to McIlroy on a crowded leaderboard.

Scheffler and McIlroy have won four of the last five majors, with McIlroy winning the 2025 and 2026 Masters and Scheffler taking the PGA Championship and British Open last year. They are ranked 1-2 in the world, making this the first major since the 2002 U.S. Open (Tiger Woods over Phil Mickelson) in which the top two players in the ranking were the top two finishers in some order.

Scheffler ultimately put himself in too big of a hole when he shot 70 in the first round and 74 in the second. And he didn't take advantage of the two par 5s on the back nine — Nos. 13 and 15. His remarkable up-and-down on the 15th hole Sunday was his only birdie on either of those holes, and he bogeyed both Friday.

McIlroy, meanwhile, played those holes in 6 under over the four days. And he had the fortitude to win Sunday after he lost a six-stroke lead Saturday.

“I’ve competed against him for a long time, and you don’t win the amount of tournaments that he’s won out here without being pretty resilient,” Scheffler said. “Having a six-shot lead at Augusta is never easy, and losing that is obviously something difficult. But at the end of the day when you tee it up here on Sunday, he’s tied for the lead to start the day and had a solid round and did what he needed to do.”

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Jokic had 23 points, eight rebounds, two assists and a blocked shot while playing 18 minutes, 15 seconds in the first half of Denver's regular-season finale.

“I think he embraced it because how hard those guys were playing with him,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said. “There is a respect value there when he sees guys playing for opportunities. A guy like him who has done everything in this game, I think he respects that. I heard the ‘overrated’ (chant by Spurs fans). I don’t know about the overrated thing. He was on pace for 46 and 16, but anyway, it seemed like he had a good time out there.”

The NBA requires players to participate in 65 games to be eligible for MVP, All-NBA and Defensive Player of the Year honors. The NBA allows two exemptions of 15 to 19:59 minutes played to count as an official game. Jokic had one exemption remaining.

Jokic was listed as questionable with an injured right wrist, but entered the finale having played in 64 games.

Jokic did not speak to reporters after the game, exiting the locker room after grabbing his belongings.

Denver secured the No. 3 seed and will host Minnesota at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in the opening round of the playoffs.

The Nuggets set a franchise record with their 26th road victory and did so while executing their game plan for Jokic.

“Yeah, he’ll play the first half,” Adelman said before tipoff. “Then we’ll reconvene at halftime and see where he’s at, where the game’s at. It’s what the rules provide. So we’ll follow the rules.”

Jokic, who won MVP in 2021, 2022 and 2024, has been named to the All-NBA Team in seven of his 11 seasons.

Spurs All-Star Victor Wembanyama sat out after reaching eligibility in his previous game.

Wembanyama qualified for award eligibility by playing in his 65th game Friday, in San Antonio's 139-120 victory over Dallas.

Wembanyama competed in 64 regular-season games in addition to the NBA Cup Final, which does not count toward regular-season record or statistics, but does qualify as a game played.

Wembanyama suffered a left rib contusion and missed the second half of Monday's 115-102 victory against the Philadelphia 76ers. He returned Friday to post 40 points and 13 rebounds in 26:13 minutes against Dallas.

He was listed as questionable due to injury management and was ruled out after the Spurs' afternoon walkthrough.

“Yeah, he’s doing well, but just a little sore and felt it was the appropriate decision,” San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson said. “He was probably, to be honest, the closest call of the group, but just right in that kind of in between.”

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA

He finished in a four-way tie for third.

The popular 45-year-old Englishman, who lost a playoff to Rory McIlroy last year, ended up two shots behind him on Sunday. For a brief moment, it was Rose with a two-shot lead in the final round at Augusta National, until a series of mistakes through Amen Corner and a couple of birdies by the defending champ through the same stretch of holes dealt Rose another dose of disappointment.

Two-time champion Scottie Scheffler made a late charge to finish second at 11 under, and Rose was another shot back, along with Tyrrell Hatton, Russell Henley and Cameron Young, who played in the final group with McIlroy but never got anything going.

“Just a chance that got away,” Rose lamented afterward.

He's had a lot of them on the picturesque grounds of Augusta National.

Rose has finished second three times, including another playoff loss to Sergio Garcia. The only players to be runner-up more often in the Masters are Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan and Tom Weiskopf — and Nicklaus and Hogan each won more than one green jacket.

“I feel like with a sudden-death loss,” Rose said, “you kind of know you got to the house. You've done everything it took to win. Then it comes down to a flick of a coin at times. Whereas today I felt like, yeah, there was an opportunity to do better.”

Rose began the day three shots back of McIlroy and Young, but by the time he made the turn, he had reached 12 under and was back in contention. McIlroy and Young had started to falter, and Scheffler had yet to make his move, and that left Rose in the middle of the fairway at the long, par-4 11th with a two-shot lead in the final round of the Masters.

He proceeded to hang his approach shot so far right that it ended up wide of the greenside bunker, the first ominous sign of trouble. Rose followed with a good pitch, but he missed the 15-footer for par and his lead was trimmed in half.

Then, at the par-3 12th — perhaps the most famous par 3 in the world — Rose flew the green from 155 yards. His ball came to rest on a slight downhill lie, and he left the ensuing chip short of the green, leading to a second consecutive bogey.

“You get on the 12th tee, you've got to be 100 percent in the moment,” Rose said. “Landed two yards too far and kind of put me in a funny spot where I had a pine cone right next to my ball that I wanted to move. It kind of made me try to chip that a bit of a different way, because I kind of had to use the toe of the club and hit a bit of a hook-chip.”

Yet it may have been the final hole of Amen Corner that Rose will regret most. He gave himself a 40-footer for eagle at the par-5 13th, which would have pulled him alongside McIlroy at 12 under. Instead of making it, a three-putt par further zapped his momentum.

Rose did get up-and-down for birdie at the par-5 15th, but he missed a 3-footer at 17, and his chances of winning were over.

“I was by no means free and clear, and was nowhere kind of close to having the job done, but I was right in position,” Rose said. “I was really in control. First 10 holes I felt like I was — yeah, I was. And the mentality was to run through the finish line, not just try and get it done. I was playing great, but just momentum shifted for me around the Amen Corner.”

The majors have caused Rose plenty of heartache over the years. He was second at the British Open in 2024, and third at the PGA Championship earlier in his career. The three runner-up finishes in the Masters have put his name on the large, silver trophy depicting the Augusta National clubhouse, but not in the column that belongs to the winners.

His only major title remains the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion.

Rose isn't giving up, though. Far from it.

“I’ve really kind of re-kicked on and re-energized my career and myself, and have a lot of belief in myself that there is a lot of runway ahead,” he said. “These are the tournaments I focus on. These are the tournaments why I practice. These are the tournaments that get me going that sort of extra mile to sort of have to show up and keep being in these great arenas.”

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

La Defensoría del Pueblo advirtió sobre las muestras de violencia política y pidió garantías para todos los aspirantes en la contienda presidencial.

Colombia asistirá a las urnas el 31 de mayo para elegir al sucesor del presidente Gustavo Petro, el primer mandatario de izquierda en la historia del país.

El expresidente Álvaro Uribe, líder del opositor Centro Democrático, dio a conocer la amenaza contra su candidata, la senadora Valencia, con una publicación en la red social X, donde hizo un llamado para “cuidar a Paloma”. Adjuntó una imagen que circula en redes sociales de una corona fúnebre adornada con una imagen de Valencia y el mensaje “descansa en paz”.

La candidata también condenó los actos de vandalismo contra la sede de su partido en Bucaramanga durante la jornada.

Horas más tarde comenzó a circular en redes sociales la misma imagen amenazante, ahora con la fotografía del candidato derechista Abelardo de la Espriella, del movimiento Defensores de la Patria., desatando el rechazo de varios sectores.

“Quien amenaza a un candidato, amenaza a la democracia y a Colombia. No lo toleraremos”, escribió el ministro de Defensa, Pedro Sánchez, en X y aseguró que se ha desplegado a la Fuerza Pública para “proteger a todos los candidatos, sin distinción alguna”.

Sánchez ofreció una recompensa económica por información que permita evitar cualquier atentado contra los aspirantes presidenciales.

En tanto, la defensora del Pueblo, Iris Marín, rechazó en redes sociales “las amenazas y hostigamientos contra la candidata” Valencia y aplaudió el pronunciamiento del gobierno y otros sectores que permitirían que se realice un proceso electoral “libre y en paz”.

La Defensoría del Pueblo había emitido un comunicado previo en el que solicitaba a la Fiscalía iniciar una investigación expedita de los hechos para determinar responsabilidades y establecer “los riesgos contra la vida y la integridad de la candidata”.

Iván Cepeda, candidato del oficialista Pacto Histórico que llevó a Petro a la presidencia, se sumó a la condena de “cualquier forma de agresión o violencia política contra mis adversarios”. De la Espriella también se solidarizó con Valencia.

La escena política de Colombia quedó sacudida el año pasado cuando el legislador y precandidato Miguel Uribe Turbay fue asesinado en un acto político que, de acuerdo con la Fiscalía, fue ordenado por disidencias de las extintas Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC). Uribe Turbay pertenecía al mismo partido de Valencia.

Los candidatos para el Congreso María Bolívar Maury y Mauricio Martínez denunciaron el mes pasado ataques frustrados en su contra, los cuales fueron confirmados por las autoridades. Además, la senadora indígena Aida Quilcué fue localizada con vida en febrero pasado luego de haber sido secuestrada en un país que lidia con la violencia y el asedio de grupos armados.

The Swift Beef Co. plant in Greeley, Colorado, will immediately return to normal operations after weeks of uncertainty, JBS USA said in a statement.

The agreement comes after thousands of workers at the meat processing plant led a three-week strike with the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 Union in a bid for higher wages and better health care. The strike ended April 4 after JBS USA agreed to resume negotiations.

Workers and JBS USA agreed to wage increases over the next two years and a $750 one-time bonus. The tentative agreement represents a contract with “all gains, countless improvements, and not a single concession," the union said.

The contract requires the company to pay for personal protective equipment and defends workers against increases in health care costs, according to the union.

Local union president Kim Cordova said workers picketed through extreme weather “because they knew their worth and refused to be disrespected. Today, that sacrifice has been rewarded.”

“This is what union power looks like,” Cordova said in the statement.

The union did not immediately respond to The Associated Press’ requests for further details.

JBS USA said it is pleased an agreement has been reached, but expressed disappointment that union leadership chose to eliminate pension benefits that were negotiated last year. The company said the pension was designed to strengthen long-term retirement security and argued the union chose to shift those dollars into short-term wage increases rather than into the long-term financial future of workers.

The union will also withdraw seven alleged unfair labor practice charges, according to JBS USA.

“With the agreement now finalized, JBS USA looks forward to restoring stability, supporting its workforce, and continuing to invest in the Greeley facility for the future,” the company said in its statement.

The strike at Greeley was the first strike at a U.S. slaughterhouse since workers walked out at a Hormel plant in Minnesota in 1985. That strike lasted more than a year and was marked by violent confrontations between police and protesters.

JBS is the world’s largest meatpacking company with a market capitalization of $17 billion. It is the top employer in Greeley, a city 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Denver with a population of about 114,000 people.

From the opening faceoff to the celebratory post-game skate in which he waved gratefully to the adoring fans, Ovechkin enjoyed one heck of a day, Best of all, the Capitals won Sunday to remain in the playoff hunt.

Playing in front of an appreciative sellout crowd, the Capitals beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-0. Ovechkin will wait until the offseason to decide whether to retire or return for a 22nd NHL season, but the fans weighed in early in the game by chanting, “One more year!”

Afterward, surrounded by his two young sons, Ovechkin had this response to that request: “I'll think about it,” he said with a wry smile.

Ovechkin turns 41 in September, but the league's all-time leading goal scorer with 929 isn't exactly limping to the end of his brilliant career. He leads the Capitals with 32 goals and 63 points, and he received an assist on the empty-net goal that clinched Sunday's pivotal win.

“It's a big moment for us right now,” he said. “Everybody was dialed in.”

The Capitals must win their regular-season finale in Columbus on Tuesday night and hope Philadelphia fails to win either of its remaining two games. No matter how it plays out, and regardless of whether he decides to come back or not, Ovechkin will always have this day to savor.

“I'll remember this moment, the atmosphere that was tonight,” he said.

It was no ordinary afternoon, and the Capitals knew it.

“You could tell, the game felt different and the night felt different,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. “A lot of great moments.”

It was an unusual game right from the start, when Ovechkin joined Pittsburgh great Sidney Crosby at center ice for the opening faceoff.

“The opening draw, I got a kick out of that,” Carbery said, before adding,. “I just caught myself watching in certain moments, taking it all in.”

It was the 100th meeting between Crosby and Ovechkin. Crosby and the Penguins have won more times than not, but Ovi has certainly made an impression on Sid the Kid.

“He came in with such high expectations, and he passed them,” Crosby said. “To be the greatest goal scorer of all time and to do what he's done, its impressive.”

Carbery hopes that Ovechkin will add to his lofty goal total in 2026-27, but regardless, the coach is thankful to have been associated with The Great 8.

“If it is the end of his career, I smile thinking of those moments because been blessed to be his coach when he broke the all-time goals record and I was the coach that was with him at the end,” Carbery said. “I don't take that for granted one minute.”

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

From Madrid to Helsinki, many hope that Magyar's win will help unshackle the 27-nation European Union as it faces hybrid warfare attacks from Moscow, an antagonistic Washington and Beijing's economic pressure. EU leaders had been increasingly frustrated with Orbán over his takeover of democratic institutions and vetoing of strategic action like a 90-billion-euro loan for Ukraine.

It remains to be seen whether those hopes will be fulfilled. Magyar avoided talking about Ukraine or divisive issues like LGTBQ rights on the campaign trail, and was previously a long-time conservative insider in Orban's party. He told The Associated Press that he would work more closely with the EU and the 32-nation NATO mililtary alliance that was forged to thwart aggression from Moscow.

“All Hungarians know that this is a shared victory. Our homeland made up its mind. It wants to live again. It wants to be a European country,” Magyar said during his victory speech on Sunday.

Olga Oliker, the director of European Security at the International Crisis Group, said that "where Orban slowed actions and blocked consensus, Magyar, as he defines Hungary’s relationships with its European allies, to say nothing of those with Ukraine, Russia and the United States, can help shape the future of Europe.”

Unlocking EU funds for Ukraine

After Magyar takes his oath of office in May, the Hungarian prime minister could potentially lift Hungary's veto and enable the European Commission to provide Ukraine with the 90-billion-euro loan that Orbán had agreed to in December and then backtracked on, enraging his fellow leaders.

EU diplomats will discuss Wednesday how best to fast-track the funds to Kyiv, said a Cypriot official speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to be named. Cyprus currently holds the rotating EU presidency.

Hungary borders Ukraine, and the pro-Russian Orbán had long demonized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. While congratulating Magyar on X, Zelenskyy said that “we are ready for meetings and joint constructive work for the benefit of both nations, as well as for the sake of Europe’s peace, security, and stability.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Russia respects the outcome of the Hungarian vote and expects to maintain contacts with the country’s new leadership.

He said that “as for what action Hungary’s new leadership will take, we probably need to be patient and see what happens.”

European institutions hope their Orban problem is over

The prospect of a nimbler, faster-acting Europe drove widespread praise for Magyar from several European leaders. EU negotiators had to increasingly find workarounds when Orban blocked policy decisions. He also held up Sweden's accession to NATO.

Magyar said he received calls on Sunday night — before he even took the stage to announce his victory — from French President Emmanuel Macron, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who was frequently vilified by Orbán during his campaign.

“A country returns to its European path. The Union grows stronger,” von der Leyen said.

“Today Europe wins and European values win,” said Spain’s left-wing Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in a post on X on Sunday night. Poland’s center-right Prime Minister Donald Tusk exclaimed on social media: “Back together! Glorious victory, dear friends!”

A setback for Europe's populist right

Orbán's defeat has reverberated across the world, including to the United States where President Donald Trump supported Orbán’s reelection bid and even dispatched Vice President JD Vance to Budapest last week — in the midst of the Iran war — to stump for the incumbent.

Magyar's victory might signal a shift in European politics that has been dominated by a far-right shift over the past decade. Magyar comes from a right-wing background but distanced himself from Orban’s leadership.

With nationalist parties making headways in Germany and France, the electoral earthquake in Hungary shows that “Hungarians are sending a signal to the world” said German lawmaker Daniel Freund.

“The icon of illiberal anti-European forces has now failed — brought down by a disastrous economy, corruption, and his own unfair electoral system,” he said.

Orbán's populist allies in the EU, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, congratulated Magyar while praising the ousted strongman. But Fico also brought up the Druzhba pipeline, shuttered since an attack in Ukraine — an issue Orbán campaigned on and one exacerbated by rising energy prices over the Iran war. Magyar has criticized Orbán’s government for failing to diversify its energy mix, and advocated for reaching new agreements and constructing new infrastructure to bring oil and gas from other sources into landlocked Hungary. Both Babiš and Fico pledged to work with Hungary's next leader.

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Associated Press writers Jill Lawless in London, Karel Janicek in Prague, Dusan Stojanovic in Belgrade and Derek Gatopoulos in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report.

The win came in the 131st Cup start for the grandson of NASCAR Hall of Fame team owner and former Super Bowl-winning coach Joe Gibbs.

Ty Gibbs also is the son of the late Coy Gibbs, who also helped run his father’s team before unexpectedly dying in his sleep on Nov. 6, 2022 – the day after his son won the championship in NASCAR’s second-highest division.

Ty Gibbs, 23, moved to the Cup series the next year and had multiple near-misses (runner-up finishes at Darlington in 2024 and Chicago last year) before reaching victory lane in his fourth season.

“This is one of my best experiences” Joe Gibbs said. “When I think about Coy, he brought Ty up the entire time. I know he’s probably watching.”

Ty Gibbs interrupted his grandfather’s postrace interview in the pits with a hug.

“This is the man right here,” said Ty, whose mother, Heather, also is a co-owner of JGR. “I’ve never seen somebody work so hard in my life, him and my mom. I come to the shop at 6 a.m. or 7 p.m., and there’s nobody there, but they are always there. They work their (butts) off. He’s a great role model. I wouldn’t be here unless it was for him.”

Gibbs led the final 25 laps at Bristol, inheriting first place under caution on a strategy gamble by staying on track in his No. 54 Toyota while Ryan Blaney pitted from the lead along with Kyle Larson, who led a race-high 284 of 505 laps.

Blaney and Larson both restarted outside the top five, and Gibbs was cruising toward a win before the yellow flew again on the 498th lap to set up the first overtime restart at Bristol in 11 years.

Despite Blaney and Larson having tires that were nearly 100 laps fresher, Gibbs fended off the star drivers on a two-lap shootout to the checkered flag.

“Honestly, I didn’t really know or care if I was going to win or not,” Gibbs said. “I thought the race was awesome. I really appreciate always racing Ryan Blaney and Kyle, too. Those guys always run me really well.”

Blaney, the 2023 Cup champion who started from the pole position, finished second after leading 190 laps in the No. 12 Ford.

“Yeah, great battle for sure,” he said. “ I fought a lot of different cars. Gave it my best shot on the last restart. Was close but just couldn’t get it done.”

Larson, the defending Cup Series champion who won the first two stages, finished third and remained winless in the past 32 races with his No. 5 Chevrolet.

The Toyotas of Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe rounded out the top five.

“Super happy for Ty,” Briscoe said of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate. “It’s been a long time coming. To do it the way he did it, on old tires, to beat the two guys that dominated all day long, that was impressive. Just super happy for him and the whole family.”

Gibbs became the sixth NASCAR driver to earn his first Cup victory at Bristol, joining Dale Earnhardt (1979), Rusty Wallace (1986), Ernie Irvan (1990), Elliott Sadler (2001) and Kurt Busch (2002).

“It’s awesome to be with great people,” the younger Gibbs said. “To be in this position is great. I’d love for my father to have seen this. I know he knew it was going to happen and expected it as well. Yeah, it was a great day for us. This is our family, so it’s just such a great deal.”

Hendrick woes

While Larson excelled at the front, two of his Hendrick Motorsports teammates were struggling mightily.

William Byron started from the rear because of unapproved adjustments to his No. 24 Chevrolet, which had steering problems in practice and qualifying Saturday. Byron, who has led at every active track but Bristol, was off the pace from the start and finished five laps down.

Returning frommissing four races because of vertigo, Alex Bowman started 27th and finished last after being involved in a multicar crash started by Shane van Gisbergen.

“I was fine, just a frustrating day,” Bowman said. “Thought we were OK in practice and then obviously qualified bad and then just really struggled with the handling today. Bummer. Hate that we didn’t get a chance to work on it and make it better and finish the race, but it’s kind of outside our control. When you run that bad, stuff can happen, and it happened to us.”

Up next

The NASCAR Cup Series will race April 19 at Kansas Speedway, the first of three consecutive tracks 1.5 miles and longer. Hendrick Motorsports has won three of the past four races at Kansas with Kyle Larsonand Chase Elliott winning last year at the oval in Kansas City, Kansas.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

The Boston Athletic Association said on Sunday that Hall's family confirmed his death after a long illness.

In 1975, Hall convinced Boston Marathon organizers to let him into the race and was promised a finishers’ certificate like the one the runners got if he completed the 26.2-mile distance in under 3 hours. (In 1970, Vietnam War veteran Eugene Roberts, who had lost both of his legs in the war, needed more than six hours to finish.)

Hall crossed the line in 2:58.

“It had nothing to do with, per se, the marathon, but it was about the inclusion,” Hall said last year, when he served as the grand marshal in Boston on the 50th anniversary of his pioneering ride. “It was that I was bringing people along.”

Hall returned to the Boston race in 1977, when it was designated as the site for the National Wheelchair Championship, and prevailed in a field of seven. As they crested Heartbreak Hill, eventual men's winner Bill Rodgers and fifth-place finisher Tom Fleming slowed to encourage him.

“The interaction was a sign that we were fully accepted as athletes,” Hall said.

Hall, who lost the use of both legs from childhood polio, sued in 1978 to have wheelchair racers admitted into the New York Marathon, a fight that wasn’t settled until the race created men’s and women’s wheelchair divisions in 2000.

“Bob Hall is an incredible man,” five-time Boston winner and eight-time Paralympic gold medalist Tatyana McFadden said last year. “I’m so thankful for him. And I think we all are, as wheelchair racers, because he really paved the way.”

Hall finished in the top three in Boston three other times, and remained active with the race. More than 1,900 wheelchair racers have followed him from Hopkinton to Boston; this year’s race on April 20 will include 50 more, along with 50 others in eight para divisions competing for more than $300,000 in prize money.

The BAA said that Hall taught “how we can continue to ensure athletes of all abilities have competitive opportunities on the highest stage here in Boston.”

“Bob designed innovative wheelchair equipment, raced with courage, and was proud to be a two-time Boston Marathon champion,” the BAA said. “He helped lead a technological change, transforming simple wheelchairs into racing chairs built for peak athletic performance. Bob’s influence and effort five decades ago led to the global circuit of wheelchair racing today.”

Many of the competitors — including McFadden and seven-time Boston winner Marcel Hug — learned to race in chairs built by Hall.

“Because of him crossing that finish line, we’re able to race today. And it’s evolved so much since then,” McFadden said last year. “It was him. It was him being brave and saying, ‘I’m going to go out and do this because I believe that we should be able to race Boston Marathon just like everyone else.’ So he had the courage to do that.”

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AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports

The price of U.S. crude oil rose 8% to $104.24 a barrel and Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 7% to $102.29.

Brent crude has swung dramatically during the Iran war, rising from roughly $70 per barrel before the war in late February to more than $119 at times. On Friday, ahead of the peace talks, Brent for June delivery fell 0.8% to $95.20 per barrel.

Iran has been effectively controlling the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for global oil shipping.

U.S. Central Command said the blockade would be “enforced impartially against vessels of all nations” entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman.

It said it would still allow ships traveling between non-Iranian ports to transit the Strait of Hormuz.

Around a fifth of the world’s traded oil typically flows through the Strait of Hormuz every day. Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Iran are all major exporters.

Traffic in the Strait has been limited even in the days since the ceasefire. Marine trackers say over 40 commercial ships have crossed since the start of the ceasefire.

Claudio Galimberti, chief economist of Rystad Energy, said the blockade will raise prices but might move the needle on talks.

“It means the oil markets will be even tighter than before,” he said. “However, I think this is a negotiation tactic, which eventually resolves into a full opening of Hormuz. So, more pain now, but more gain later.”

However, Jim Krane, Energy Research Fellow at Rice University, said the blockade might be effective as a long-term strategy to impose pain on the Iranian economy, but it isn't a good short-term negotiating tactic when the oil market is already under strain.

“If the deficit to the oil market takes another jump it is going to impose pain on every person on Earth that’s subject to market oil prices,” he said.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because no formal announcement about Rivers' decision has been made.

There has been some discussion about whether Rivers will stay with the organization in some capacity. Those talks are ongoing, the person said.

ESPN first reported that Rivers won't be back as Milwaukee's coach next season.

The news caps a tumultuous season in which Rivers was selected to the Hall of Fame while leading a Bucks team that was among the most disappointing in the NBA. The Bucks went 32-50 amid a series of injuries, snapping a string of nine straight playoff appearances.

The 64-year-old Rivers had left little doubt about his future plans as the season wound down. He said after a 126-106 loss at Philadelphia on Sunday that “I think you guys pretty much know” his intentions and that an announcement was expected soon.

“I have seven grandkids now and they’re all 8 years and under,” Rivers had said about his future before an April 7 loss at Brooklyn. “And it kills me every time I miss grandparents’ day with each one of them in school. And it’s probably time to go see them more. So, I’ll let you figure out the rest.”

Rivers went 97-103 in 2 1/2 seasons with the Bucks. He owns a 1,194-866 overall record and overtook George Karl for sixth place on the career wins list among NBA coaches earlier this season.

Only Gregg Popovich, Don Nelson, Lenny Wilkens, Jerry Sloan and Pat Riley have more coaching wins than Rivers.

Bucks' unsettled future

Rivers’ exit comes amid all sorts of speculation regarding two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, who led Milwaukee to its first title in half a century in 2021 and has set Bucks career records in virtually every major statistical category.

Antetokounmpo’s status dominated league discussions as the trade deadline approached, but he wasn’t dealt. He since has been in a disagreement with team management over his injury status.

The last game Antetokounmpo played this season was on March 15. Antetokounmpo said in the closing weeks of the season that he was healthy and wanted to play, as the Bucks continued to rule him out due to a left knee hyperextension and bone bruise. The NBA is investigating the matter.

Antetokounmpo had two extended absences due to right calf strains and ended up playing in just 36 games. Kevin Porter Jr., the Bucks’ second-leading scorer, appeared in just 38 games.

“It’s hard,” Rivers said Sunday. “I don’t remember guys being out like this, but it makes sense. I haven’t had a lot of this. It’s no fun. Losing, I don’t give a crap what the reasons are, I’m just too competitive. It’s just no fun not winning. It just isn’t.”

Injuries hindered Rivers' tenure

Rivers took over the Bucks midway through the 2023-24 season after the firing of first-year head coach Adrian Griffin. Although the Bucks had gone 30-13 under Griffin, they’d posted some uncomfortably close wins over inferior teams and team officials believed a more experienced coach was needed to guide a roster that now featured seven-time all-NBA guard Damian Lillard, as well as Antetokounmpo.

This move also represented a homecoming of sorts for Rivers, who played at Marquette before his 13-year NBA playing career. His No. 31 college jersey hangs from the rafters at Fiserv Forum, the arena that serves as the site for Bucks and Marquette home games.

But the Bucks backslid during Rivers’ tenure as they continually dealt with injuries to key players.

Milwaukee finished 17-19 under Rivers during that 2023-24 season, entered the postseason as the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference and lost to Indiana 4-2 in the opening round, with Antetokounmpo missing the entire series due to a calf strain.

Last season, three-time All-Star wing Khris Middleton didn’t start playing until early December after recovering from offseason surgery to each of his ankles, and he got sent to Washington at the trade deadline. Lillard missed Milwaukee’s final 14 regular-season games due to deep vein thrombosis in his right calf, returned for Game 2 of the Bucks’ first-round playoff series loss to Indiana but tore his Achilles tendon two games later.

With an injured Lillard unable to play this season, the Bucks waived him and agreed to pay his remaining salary over the next five seasons. That opened up cap space for the Bucks to sign former Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner.

The roster overhaul didn’t work out.

“I personally have enjoyed the challenge,” Rivers said after Sunday’s game. “It didn’t go the way I wanted it to go, obviously. I always say I could do a better job. We could have had better health. We could have had all kinds of things. But I’m not a big guy in looking back. All you can do is look forward.”

Rivers won a title with Boston in 2008 and led the Celtics to Game 7 of the NBA Finals two years later, but he hasn’t advanced a team beyond the regional semifinals since. He owns a career playoff record of 114-112.

This marks the first full season in which Rivers has coached and posted a losing record since 2006-07, when he went 24-58 with Boston.

Rivers came to Milwaukee after head coaching stints with the Orlando Magic, Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Clippers and Philadelphia 76ers. He was working as a broadcaster for ESPN and ABC before the Bucks hired him.

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AP Pro Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds in Miami and AP Sports Writer Dan Gelston in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

The decision by the Pacific Fishery Management Council to allow limited commercial and recreational salmon fishing off the coast is a win for the state's salmon fishing industry, which has grappled with years of season closures due to dwindling fish stocks. The council, which manages fisheries off the West Coast, barred commercial salmon fishing off California for the past three years. It voted last year to allow some recreational fishing for the first time since 2022.

The council is an advisory group to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, which makes the final decision but historically has followed the council’s rulings. The secretary’s decision will be posted in the Federal Register within days.

“It is great news for everyone — for the fishermen, for seafood lovers and the environment because it means that salmon populations are back to a much healthier state,” California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot said ahead of the decision.

The federal council has said forecasts for Chinook and coho salmon off the West Coast look promising this year, though the season will open with some restrictions.

Recreational fishing along a stretch of the coast spanning about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of San Francisco to the Mexican border already began this month, according to the Golden State Salmon Association. Sportfishing to the north, including in waters off San Francisco, will begin in June. Commercial fishing along the coast will begin in May.

The council voted to limit commercial fishing to only a few days and set quotas for the number of salmon that can be caught.

Biologists say the Chinook salmon population declined dramatically after years of drought, disrupting the fish's migration upstream to lay their eggs. Many in the fishing industry say rules from the first Trump administration also allowed more water to be diverted from the Sacramento River Basin to agriculture. That caused even more harm by increasing river temperatures and dropping water levels when baby salmon were trying to make it from their spawning beds to the ocean.

But recent wet winters have brought in more cold water, which the fish need to spawn.

Salmon populations have also bounced back in areas where they were long absent due to river restoration efforts, Crowfoot said.

After four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River were removed in 2024, salmon returned to spawn in waters along the Oregon-California border where they hadn't for decades. The state has since removed barriers that prevented the passage of salmon in other waterways, including on Alameda Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area, Crowfoot said.

Much of the salmon caught in the ocean originate in California’s Klamath and Sacramento rivers. After hatching in freshwater, they spend three years on average maturing in the Pacific, where many are caught by commercial fishermen, before migrating back to their spawning grounds, where conditions are more ideal to give birth. After laying eggs, they die.

Preserving a healthy salmon population is crucial for the environment and the state's economy, Crowfoot said.

“Salmon are an iconic species in California and critically important to our tribal communities and our fishing sector,” he said.

Vance Staplin, executive director of the Golden State Salmon Association, largely blamed state and federal water management policies for low salmon stocks in recent years. The fishing season closures had a large impact on the state’s fishermen, bait shops and companies that make fishing equipment, he said.

“People don’t understand how big of an industry salmon is to California,” he said.

To reach the postseason, the Capitals must defeat Columbus in the season finale Tuesday night and hope Philadelphia fails to win either of its last two games.

The 40-year-old Ovechkin intends to wait until the offseason to decide whether to retire or return for a 22nd season. The all-time NHL leader in goals with 929, Ovechkin has played in every game this season and leads the Capitals in goals (32) and points (63).

The spirited, sellout crowd saluted Ovechkin during the game with chants of “One more year!” and “Ovi! Ovi! Ovi!”

Ovechkin helped seal the victory by picking up an assist on an empty-net goal by Connor McMichael, who scored earlier in the third period.

Pittsburgh last week clinched a postseason berth and home-ice advantage in the opening round. But the rivalry between these teams runs deep, and the Penguins tried hard to throw a wet blanket on the Capitals' playoff hopes and Ovechkin's big day.

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was back on the ice after he and several teammates received a day off Saturday when Washington won in Pittsburgh 6-3. This was the 100th — and perhaps final — matchup between Ovechkin and Crosby, two of the game's biggest names.

To mark the occasion, the two stars lined up at center ice for the opening faceoff. It was only the 175th career faceoff for Ovechkin, counting playoffs, compared to No. 32,131 for Crosby.

The game was scoreless until Trevor van Riemsdyk jammed the puck under Pittsburgh goalie Stuart Skinner's right leg at 12:22 of the second period.

That was enough offense for Thompson, who notched his fourth shutout of the season.

Up next

Penguins: Close the regular season at St. Louis on Tuesday night.

Capitals: At Columbus on Tuesday night.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

The teacher’s case was assigned to the Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s Sexual Crimes and Child Abuse unit, according to court records.

Infante, 53, was on house arrest after a judge ordered him to stay away from all schools and from a teenage girl, according to court records.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools released a statement about the case on Sunday, reporting that the Miami-Dade Schools Police Department investigated him.

M-DCPS also reported that the school district had initiated employment termination proceedings against Infante, of Homestead.

Miami Southridge Senior High School, at 19355 SW 114 Ave., in the South Miami Heights area, listed Infante on the faculty directory as a Fine Arts teacher.

M-DSPD officers arrested Infante on Friday, and he appeared before Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Michael G. Barket on Saturday in bond court.

The prosecution requested a total lockdown on house arrest, and the defense asked for leniency. Barket sided with the prosecution and addressed the defense: “If the court doesn’t protect our most vulnerable, who will?”

Infante faced five charges: Four counts of battery and one count of offenses against students by authority figures. Barket set Infante’s bond at $14,000 and ordered the total lockdown.

“This type of behavior will not be tolerated as it runs contrary to the professional conduct we expect from all employees,” a M-DCPS spokesperson wrote without providing specifics.

Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Zachary James was set to preside over the case.

Local 10 News Assignment Editors Sofia Mendez and Mariana Ortiz contributed to this report.

Watch bond court hearing

Read M-DCPS complete statement:

Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) is disturbed by the allegations made against this individual.

Upon learning about this suspected behavior, Miami-Dade Schools Police immediately began their investigation and subsequently made an arrest.

This type of behavior will not be tolerated as it runs contrary to the professional conduct we expect from all employees.

The District has initiated employment termination proceedings and will ensure the individual is precluded from seeking future employment with M-DCPS.

Location

“I will fight the serious, false allegations that have been made — but that’s my fight, not a campaign’s,” Swalwell said in a social media post.

Democrats quickly abandoned him after allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman twice, including when she worked for him, were published Friday in the San Francisco Chronicle and later by CNN. The reports came as Swalwell began to emerge as a leader contender in the crowded race.

His exit from the race comes less than a month before ballots go out in advance of the June 2 primary and as Democrats have been engaged in a messy primary campaign. Swalwell's Democratic rivals were among those who swiftly urged him to exit the race, but his support also cratered among allies in Congress and labor unions who had endorsed him.

Some Democrats also urged Swalwell to resign his seat in Congress, but he made no mention of that Sunday.

The 48-hour period marked a rapid reversal for a candidate who appeared to be gaining momentum in the packed field to replace Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who can’t seek a third term.

Though Swalwell has denied the allegations, he has seemingly referenced infidelity in multiple statements.

“To my family, staff, friends, and supporters, I am deeply sorry for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past,” he wrote. That followed a video post on Friday where he apologized to his wife.

Swalwell's exit shakes up campaign

The accusations reordered a wide-open gubernatorial race that had Democrats fretting the party’s large number of candidates could lead to them getting shut out of the general election in November. That’s because California has a top-two primary system in which two candidates advance regardless of party.

Swalwell had become a clear target for his Democratic rivals as he began to lock up institutional support. Some had seized on rumors of sexual misconduct that circulated on social media for weeks before the Chronicle's report.

His departure from the race will leave his rivals scrambling to win over his supporters and donors. Other prominent Democrats in the race include billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer and former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter. The major Republican contenders are former Fox News host Steve Hilton, who has Trump’s backing, and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco.

The San Francisco Chronicle spoke to a woman who alleged Swalwell sexually assaulted her in 2019, when she worked for him, and again in 2024. The woman said she did not go to police at the time of the assaults because she was afraid she would not be believed. In both cases the woman said she was too intoxicated to consent to sex. CNN reported on allegations that appeared to come from the same woman, and spoke to several other women who accused Swalwell of other sexual misconduct.

Neither outlet named the woman, and The Associated Press has not been able to independently verify her account and identity. Her lawyer declined to comment.

The alleged 2024 incident occurred in New York, and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said it's investigating. That office urged anyone with knowledge to contact its special victims division.

House colleagues call for Swalwell to resign

As Swalwell's campaign flailed over the weekend, fellow California Reps. Jared Huffman, Ro Khanna and Sam Liccardo said Swalwell should resign, as did Reps. Teresa Leger Fernández of New Mexico and Pramila Jayapal of Washington state.

“This is not a partisan issue,” Jayapal said Sunday. “This cuts across party lines. And it is depravity of the way that women have been treated.”

Some representative said they would support the rare step of expelling him should he refuse to step aside.

It all added to the mounting political pressure on Swalwell, which began with allies like Sen. Adam Schiff and Rep. Jimmy Gomez cutting their support. Gomez had helped run Swalwell’s campaign and said he was immediately ending his role.

With the House returning to session Tuesday, the question of whether to expel Swalwell could come to a head quickly. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., said Saturday that she would be filing a motion to start the process.

Expulsion votes in the House are rare and require a two-thirds majority, but there is recent precedent for taking the step. Republican George Santos of New York in 2023 became just the sixth member in House history to be ousted by colleagues for his conduct.

Huffman, Jayapal and Leger Fernández said they would vote to expel Swalwell from the House, though they said they also support expelling Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, who admitted to an affair with a former staff member who later died by suicide.

Swalwell, who is originally from Iowa, was elected in 2012 and represents a House district east of San Francisco. He launched a presidential run in April 2019 but shuttered it a few months later after failing to catch on with voters. He is perhaps best known nationally as a House manager in President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial during his first term in early 2021.

__

Associated Press journalists Sophie Austin in Sacramento, Calif., and Michael R. Blood in Los Angeles contributed to this report. Finley reported from Washington.

New Musical: “Paddington The Musical”

New Play: “Punch”

New Entertainment or Comedy: “Oh, Mary!”

Family Show: “The Boy at the Back of the Class”

Revival: “All My Sons”

Musical Revival: “Into The Woods”

Actress-Play: Rosamund Pike, “Inter Alia”

Actor-Play: Jack Holden, “Kenrex”

Actress-Musical: Rachel Zegler, “Evita”

Actor-Musical: James Hameed and Arti Shah, “Paddington The Musical”

Supporting Actor-Play: Paapa Essiedu, “All My Sons”

Supporting Actress-Play: Julie Hesmondhalgh, “Punch”

Supporting Actress-Musical: Victoria Hamilton-Barritt, “Paddington The Musical”

Supporting Actor-Musical: Tom Edden, “Paddington The Musical”

Director: Luke Sheppard, “Paddington the Musical”

Outstanding Musical Contribution: Chris Fenwick and Sean Hayes, “Goodnight Oscar”

Theater Choreography: “Evita”

New Opera Production: “Dead Man Walking”

New Dance Production: “Into the Hairy”

Set Design: “Paddington The Musical”

Lighting Design: “Into The Woods”

Sound Design: “Kenrex”

Costume Design: “Paddington The Musical”

Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theater: “The Glass Menagerie” at the Yard Theatre

Special Award: Elaine Paige

The primary elections are on Aug. 18, and the Florida gubernatorial election is on Nov. 3.

Watch the TWISF episode

The primary election is on Aug. 18, and the Florida general election is on Nov. 3.

Watch the TWISF episode

There were allegations that $10 million from a $67 million Medicaid settlement with Centene Corporation were improperly diverted to the Hope Florida Foundation, a charity associated with Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis.

“I don’t think anybody cares about this topic any more than the liberal media,” Uthmeier said during a news conference.

Michael Barfield, the executive director of the Florida Center for Government Accountability, strongly disagreed.

“We think this is the most consequential issue in Florida for decades, in terms of the missing $10 million and how it was spent for political purposes,” Barfield told Local 10 News This Week In South Florida’s Glenna Milberg on Sunday.

Barfield said “sourced material” showed there was a grand jury investigation as the nonprofit organization’s investigators were “dancing in the dark” amid the alleged secrecy.

“The attorney general and the governor refuse to answer the question about whether they are attempting to block it,” Barfield told Milberg. “I would also point out that when we moved to intervene into the proceedings that have been sealed, if there were no proceedings, I doubt the judge would have allowed us to intervene in nonexistent proceedings.”

There were questions about the $10 million directed to political committees that opposed a 2024 recreational marijuana amendment.

Uthmeier served as Gov. Ron DeSantis’ chief of staff before he replaced Ashley Moody, who replaced Marco Rubio as U.S. senator.

The Florida attorney general post will be up for election on Nov. 3.

Uthmeier has been campaigning to run in the Republican primary election on Aug. 18 to run against Steven Leskovich, a longtime attorney.

Watch the TWISF episode

The 51-year-old rapper from Los Angeles was at the Tortuga Music Festival in Fort Lauderdale Beach to perform the music inspired by the 2022 law enforcement raid at his home in Ohio.

“If you look through the lens of positivity, when they kicked down my door, money kicked down my door, fame kicked down my door,” Foreman told Milberg. “It was a blessing in disguise. These were the cards I was dealt, and I played them the best I could.”

Foreman accused Adams County Sheriff’s Office deputies of taking $400 while raiding his home with a search warrant based on an informant’s lies, while his wife and kids, aged 10 and 12, were home.

“They chose not to be humane. They chose to be unapologetic, arrogant, mean,” said Foreman, best known for his hits “Because I Got High” and “Crazy Rap (Colt 45 and 2 Zig-Zags).”

The ACSO deputies did not report finding evidence of a crime, and Foreman used his surveillance videos of the raid for his comedic music release of “Lemon Pound Cake” in 2023.

“Sometimes for humorous purposes I will exaggerate, but it’s based on a true story ... it’s entertainment ... I’m singing. I’ve gotta make this song marketable for a person who doesn’t care about my story,” Foreman told Milberg.

The album’s 14 songs satirizing the raid included “The Police Raid,” “Why You Disconnecting My Video Camera” and “Will You Help Me Repair My Door.”

A group of seven deputies sued Foreman for defamation and invasion of privacy, accusing him of hurting their reputations through the unauthorized use of their likenesses and demanding $3.9 million in damages.

After a three-day trial, the jury sided with Foreman, who wore a U.S. flag-patterned suit to court and quickly went viral. As of Sunday, the video of “Lemon Pound Cake” had nearly 9 million views on YouTube.

“I am going to start my own line of lemon pound cakes, I’ve got the Freedom of Speech, God Bless America clothing line coming ... I have a new album that’s called ‘Freedom of Speech.’ It’s available right now ... The sky is the limit, ” Foreman told Milberg.

Watch the TWISF episode

Investigators do not believe the attack at about 9 p.m. Saturday was random, according to a press release issued Sunday from the Union County Prosecutor’s Office. No arrests have been made, but the office said “there is no immediate ongoing threat to the general public.”

The injuries are not believed to be life-threatening, the release said.

A ride share driver told WABC that he heard more than seven shots from close range as he approached the restaurant.

The Homicide Task Force at the county prosecutor’s office is investigating.

A person familiar with the decision said Sunday that Christie will return next season for the second year of a contract that also has a team option for 2027-28. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the team hadn't announced the decision, which The Athletic was first to report.

Christie was initially hired on an interim basis after Mike Brown was fired early in the 2024-25 season. Sacramento went 27-24 the rest of the season before getting knocked out in the play-in tournament.

The Kings hired Scott Perry as general manager after last season and made the decision to retain Christie. This season didn't go nearly as well, with injuries to key veterans like Domantas Sabonis, Zach LaVine, Keegan Murray and DeAndre Hunter derailing the campaign almost from the start.

Sacramento had a league-worst 12-46 record in mid-February following a 16-game losing streak. The team showed some life late in the season, going 10-14 the rest of the way to harm their position in the draft lottery. The Kings finished tied with Utah for the fourth-worst record in the league and have a 45.2% chance of picking in the top four of the draft in June.

The 60 losses for Sacramento are the second-most in franchise history, behind the 65 the team had in 2008-09. The Kings have gotten solid contributions from rookies Nique Clifford, Maxime Raynaud and Dylan Cardwell, but are hoping for good fortune in the lottery to find a player to build around after the team traded away star De'Aaron Fox last season.

The Kings have made the playoffs just once in the past 20 seasons, losing in the first round to Golden State in 2023 in Brown’s first season as coach.

Sacramento has the fourth-worst record in the NBA since Vivek Ranadive took over as owner in 2013. The team has had five lead executives and nine head coaches — including interims — in that span.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba

“Live music nourishes your soul and makes you feel truly alive,” says Chris Bro, host of the “Next” radio show in Maryland and a longtime fan of music festivals.

Making the most of the experience also means planning ahead for potential hazards like heat, dehydration and more, say regular festivalgoers and the medical pros who care for them.

The good news is music festivals are safer than ever, thanks to increased focus on on-site medical staff and equipment, says Matt Friedman, national medical director at CrowdRx, which provides medical care at over 20 major music festivals around the country each year.

Different festivals, different risks

Different types of festivals tend to have different types of medical emergencies, Friedman says. Much depends on the type of music, the length of the festival and the heat.

"Jazz music festivals tend have a low medical-usage rate, whereas a heavy metal event will have more blunt traumas from mosh pits and alcohol-related incidents,” he says.

Electronic dance music festivals tend to have friendly crowds, some of whom "occasionally overindulge or make poor decisions regarding stimulant drugs,” Friedman says. Classical music festivals, meanwhile, tend to have more cardiac events, given the older average age of attendees.

“You want to have fun, but it’s really important to stay aware,” says Armelle Gloaguen, a musician who attended classic festivals like Clearwater, founded by Pete Seeger, and Woodstock ’94.

“Be there for the music, not the drugs and alcohol, if you want to remember any of it. Don’t accept food or drinks from strangers, and be aware of your limits,” advises Gloaguen, who owns “Armelle for Kids,” which seeks to bridge cultures through music.

Know the rules, and download the app

Festivals' rules vary, so before you head out, check the parking situation and the list of what you can bring.

For instance, Coachella, the annual festival in Indio, California, doesn’t allow chairs, outside food or umbrellas. At Tanglewood, in western Massachusetts, attendees are welcome to bring chairs and picnics, and umbrellas are fine; they just can’t be over 6 feet across.

Download a festival's app and bring a portable phone charger.

Once there, scope out the terrain. Keep an eye out for the nearest cooling station and medical tent as you figure out where to sit.

Handling the heat

“First and foremost, we see a lot of heat-related illnesses, since temperatures in the desert can get pretty high and rise quickly,” says Julie Puzzo, assistant medical director of the emergency department at JFK Memorial Hospital, near Coachella.

“We see everything from heat cramps to heat stroke, which can be life threatening,” she says.

Hydrate consistently with electrolyte-containing beverages, she says.

Wear layers, a hat and other protective clothing, and avoid excessive alcohol. Opt for non-aerosol sunscreen, since many festival venues ban aerosol sprays.

Festivals where heat is an issue are sometimes equipped with mobile cold-water immersion tanks to cool people down quickly, Friedman says.

At multiday festivals, malnutrition can also be an issue, he says. “People are running on adrenaline for the first two days, but by day three they realize they are dehydrated and exhausted and haven’t eaten nutritious food since they arrived, and this exacerbates any other conditions they might have.”

His top safety tip: Stick with your friends so you can watch out for one another.

Leave sandals, heels and flip-flops at home

Both doctors urge attendees to wear comfortable, closed-toe shoes, since attending a festival can involve more walking that you might expect. And it’s easy to happen upon small stones or other sharp objects on the grounds.

“Trips and falls are common, and we see a lot of sprains and foot contusions,” says Friedman.

Glasses, ear plugs, maybe an inhaler

For anyone susceptible to respiratory problems, it’s a good idea to bring a backup inhaler, since dust-filled wind gusts can exacerbate breathing issues, Puzzo says.

Eye problems like corneal abrasions are not uncommon at festivals, says Friedman, who recommends bringing large sunglasses or even goggles if it’s likely to be dusty.

Outdoor venues can get buggy, too, so consider insect repellent.

Protect your ears by not standing too close to speakers, and bring earplugs, says Greta Stamper, an audiologist at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida.

“It is also helpful to take listening pauses during festivals to allow your ears an opportunity to take a break. Having some quieter moments during the day can help your ears recover,” she says.

If you notice that your hearing is muffled or your ears start ringing, your ears are telling you it's too loud, Stamper says.

And if you’re coming with kids, give them added protection with over-the-ear headphones, not just earplugs, Friedman says.

Pace yourself

“Musical festivals are a marathon, not a sprint, so be sensible and take care of yourself,” Friedman says.

As you kick back with friends, it’s easy to have a few drinks too many as the day wears on. Puzzo warns that drugs acquired at some big events might not contain what people think they do. This can be dangerous in any case, and is even more so if combined with extreme heat and alcohol.

Embrace the moment

Don't forget, though, to find joy in the music and the scene.

Enjoy the unexpected, and making connections.

“If you want to talk to your favorite musician, the most meaningful thing you can do is to thank them and talk about a specific song you love and why,” says Gloaguen.

Garner's family issued a statement Sunday saying Garner died Saturday after a two-plus-year battle with pancreatic cancer.

“Phil never lost his signature spark of life,” Garner's son, Ty, said in a statement. “He was so well known for his love for baseball, which was with him until the end.”

Nicknamed “Scrap Iron” for his blue-collar approach to the game, Garner had a 16-year playing career with the Oakland Athletics (1973-76), Pittsburgh Pirates (1977-81), Astros (1981-87), Los Angeles Dodgers (1987) and San Francisco Giants (1988).

He played 150 games and had an .800 OPS for Pittsburgh during the Pirates’ 1979 World Series championship season. He batted .417 in the NL Championship Series sweep of Cincinnati and hit .500 (12 for 24) in the World Series as the Pirates rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat Baltimore.

Garner made All-Star teams with Oakland in 1976 and with Pittsburgh in 1980 and 1981.

“Phil Garner was a fierce competitor, a respected leader, and a cherished part of the Pirates family,” Pirates chairman Bob Nutting said in a statement. “His contributions to the 1979 World Series championship team will forever be part of Pirates history. We always appreciated welcoming Phil back to Pittsburgh, and it was evident how deeply this city, this team, his teammates, and our fans meant to him.

“He will be remembered not only for the grit, passion, and heart he brought to the game, but also for the way he carried himself as a devoted family man and respected member of the baseball community.”

Garner hit .260 with 109 homers, 738 RBIs and 225 steals in 1,860 regular-season games while being versatile enough to make more than 700 starts at both second base and third base.

Garner managed in the majors for 15 years, compiling a 985-1,054 record with Milwaukee (1992-99), Detroit (2000-02) and Houston (2004-07).

“When I got back into managing, he was the first person that I met in Houston and has introduced me to so many of my close friends,” said Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, who dedicated an 8-2 win over Miami to Garner and his family on Sunday. “When I got the job in Detroit, he reached out and talked to me about the city of Detroit and the fan base. Even though his time here didn’t go great, he was a big advocate for Detroit.”

Garner held the Brewers record for managerial wins until Craig Counsell surpassed him in 2022.

“He was a very highly respected and beloved individual who was known for his caring nature, wisdom and sense of humor," the Brewers said in a statement.

Garner took over the Astros midway through the 2004 season after the firing of Jimy Williams and led them to a 48-26 record the rest of the way. They finished 92-70, beat Atlanta in the NL Division Series and wasted a 3-2 lead over St. Louis in the NL Championship Series.

Garner got the Astros to the World Series the following year. They bounced back from a 15-30 start to finish 89-73 and beat Atlanta in the NLDS and St. Louis in the NLCS before the Chicago White Sox swept them.

“Phil Garner’s contributions to the Houston Astros, the city of Houston and to the game of baseball will not be forgotten," Astros owner and chairman Jim Crane said in a statement.

Garner was a Tennessee native who starred at the University of Tennessee, which retired his No. 18 in 2009.

“I genuinely appreciated Garner as a manager!!” former Tiger Brandon Inge wrote in a text message. “He really taught us how to play with a chip on our shoulders and not to back down to anyone or anything, no matter the circumstance!!! Thinking of his family, he’ll be missed!”

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

Infante, de 53 años y residente de Homestead, se encontraba bajo arresto domiciliario después de que un juez le ordenara mantenerse alejado de todas las escuelas y de la menor, según registros judiciales.

Las Escuelas Públicas del Condado de Miami-Dade (M-DCPS) emitieron un comunicado sobre el caso el domingo, informando que el Departamento de Policía Escolar de Miami-Dade lo había investigado.

M-DCPS también informó que el distrito escolar había iniciado los trámites para terminar el contrato de empleo de Infante.

La Miami Southridge Senior High School, ubicada en el 19355 de SW 114 Ave., en el área de South Miami Heights, tenía a Infante en su directorio de personal como maestro de Bellas Artes.

Agentes del M-DSPD arrestaron a Infante el viernes, y compareció ante el tribunal de fianzas el sábado, según registros judiciales.

Infante enfrentó cinco cargos: cuatro por agresión sexual y uno por delitos contra estudiantes cometidos por figuras de autoridad. Su fianza fue de $14,000.

“Este tipo de comportamiento no será tolerado, ya que va en contra de la conducta profesional que esperamos de todos nuestros empleados”, escribió un portavoz de M-DCPS sin ofrecer detalles específicos.

El juez del Circuito de Miami-Dade, Zachary James, estaba programado para presidir el caso.

Los editores de asignaciones de Local 10 News, Sofia Méndez y Mariana Ortiz, contribuyeron a este informe.

Comunicado completo de M-DCPS:

Las Escuelas Públicas del Condado de Miami-Dade (M-DCPS) están perturbadas por las acusaciones formuladas contra este individuo.

Al tener conocimiento de este presunto comportamiento, la Policía Escolar de Miami-Dade inició de inmediato su investigación y procedió a realizar el arresto.

Este tipo de comportamiento no será tolerado, ya que va en contra de la conducta profesional que esperamos de todos nuestros empleados.

El distrito ha iniciado los trámites de terminación de empleo y garantizará que el individuo no pueda buscar empleo futuro en M-DCPS.

“The result is amazing,” Sinner said. “Getting back to No. 1 means a lot for me.”

Four-time Grand Slam champion Sinner met seven-time major winner Alcaraz in their ninth final in what is often called the “Sincaraz” rivalry.

Sinner trimmed Alcaraz’s head-to-head lead to 10-7 in clinching his 27th career title overall and his first Masters title on clay. The 24-year-old Italian will return to No. 1 in the ATP rankings on Monday.

Sinner rallied from 3-1 down in the second set amid blustery conditions at the Monte Carlo Country Club and served out the match, clinching it on his first match point when Alcaraz returned a forehand long.

“It was a bit windy, a bit breezy. Different conditions from what the tournament has brought," Sinner said. "I am very happy to win a big title on this surface, I haven’t done it before and it means a lot to me.”

Alcaraz had won his last 17 matches on clay but struggled Sunday with 45 unforced errors.

However, he praised Sinner.

“It is impressive what you are achieving right now,” Alcaraz said. "Congratulations for everything.”

Sinner dropped to his knees after Alcaraz's shot landed out and then jogged over to celebrate with his box.

“I felt a bit tired, so I tried to keep the right mentality,” Sinner said. "Having this trophy means a lot to me.”

It was Sinner's third title of the year after sweeping Indian Wells and Miami — also winning those finals in straight sets — to become only the fourth man to reach the final at the first three Masters of the season. Sinner joined tennis great Novak Djokovic (in 2015) as the only one to win the first three Masters tournaments.

Alcaraz’s two titles this year include the Australian Open, where the 22-year-old Spaniard became the youngest man to win all four tennis majors.

He produced a stunning comeback to beat Sinner in last year's French Open final, then lost the Wimbledon final to Sinner before beating him again in the U.S. Open final. ___

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Los agentes de policía describieron a dos de los tres heridos como sospechosos del tiroteo, registrado a las 10:30 p.m. afuera del Checkers ubicado en el 2645 de NW 183 St., en Miami Gardens.

La tercera persona herida llegó por su cuenta a un hospital cercano después de que los agentes respondieran a la alerta de ShotSpotter, según la policía.

Rory McIlroy becomes 4th player to repeat at Masters

McIlroy is just the fourth player to win back-to-back Masters.

Tiger Woods (2001-02), Jack Nicklaus (1965-66) and Nick Faldo (1989-90) are the other repeat champions.

After a slow start, McIlroy played the final 12 holes in 3-under par to finish with a one-stroke victory over Scottie Scheffler to earn his second green jacket and a $4.5 million prize.

After surrendering all of his six-shot 36-hole lead on Saturday, McIlroy started the final round by playing the first six holes in 3 over. He turned things around on the seventh hole when he hit his iron to 7 feet.

McIlroy was strong until the 18th hole, when his tee shot found the woods. He managed to make bogey to seal the win.

Rory McIlroy closing in on back-to-back Masters wins

McIlroy is at 13 under and holds a two-shot lead over Scheffler and Rose with two holes left to play.

Rory McIlroy back in the lead at the Masters

The pressure of the Masters might be starting to get to Rose.

He missed the green on No. 12 after his chip shot failed to reach the putting surface. It resulted in his second straight bogey, allowing McIlroy to regain the lead.

McIlroy is at 11 under while Rose dropped into a second-place tie with Tyrrell Hatton, Russell Henley and Cameron Young at 10 under.

Rory McIlroy misses opportunity to tie Justin Rose

McIlroy missed a makeable put on the ninth hole that would have tied him with Rose at 12 under.

He remains one back of the lead heading into the 10th.

Justin Rose has taken sole possession of the lead at the Masters

The Masters leaderboard is changing at breakneck speed — and we’re not even to the back nine.

Rose made birdie at the eighth hole and now has sole possession of the lead after Young made bogey at the seventh.

Rose lost in a playoff to McIlroy last year.

Does winning the Players Championship = winning the Masters?

Cameron Young holds a two-shot lead at the Masters after five holes as he seeks to become the third straight player to follow up a win at the Players Championship with a victory at Augusta National.

Scottie Scheffler won both tournaments in 2024 and Rory McIlroy matched that feat last year.

Young’s best finish at the Masters came in 2023 when he finished tied for seventh.

McIlroy breaks down, Young takes 2-shot lead at Masters

Young has taken sole possession of the lead at the Masters after McIlroy double-bogeyed the fourth hole. Young is at 12 under and leads by two.

Rory McIlroy moves back into a tie for 1st at Masters

McIlroy isn’t going to let Young run away with a green jacket.

The defending Masters champion birdied the par-5 third hole to reach 12 under on Sunday, while Young had to make a nervy 6-footer to save par on the same hole and remain tied with the Northern Irishman after briefly taking a one-shot lead.

They have a three-shot cushion on Scheffler, who has birdied two of his first six holes to reach 9 under. The world No. 1 is trying to become the first player since Danny Willett in 2016 to come from outside the final group and win the Masters.

▶ Here’s the leaderboard

Leaders tee off at the final round of the Masters

McIlroy and Young have teed off at the Masters, which means everyone is out on the course for the final round.

McIlroy blew a record 36-hole lead of six shots on Saturday with a round of 73, which allowed Young to pull into a tie with him at 11 under following his 65 — tied for the low round of the tournament. They had a one-shot lead over Sam Burns, though Scottie Scheffler and a host of other big names were ready to give chase.

Scheffler began the day at 7 under and promptly birdied the difficult par-4 first hole to start his round in style.

Scottie Scheffler begins hunt for a 3rd green jacket

The world’s No. 1 made up a lot of ground on Saturday, when his second-round 65 matched co-leader Young for the best of the day. It left Scheffler at 7 under for the tournament, four shots behind Young and McIlroy.

This would be the first time Scheffler has come from behind at Augusta National to win on Sunday. In 2022, he had a three-shot lead after the third round and won by the same margin. Two years ago, he led by one going into Sunday and won by four.

There’s reason to believe that Scheffler can make up the ground, though.

Through the first three rounds, the four-time major champion ranks first from tee-to-green and first in ballstriking. So, why isn’t he in the lead? Scheffler is nearly last in putting. If he can get a few to drop, watch out.

▶ Here’s the leaderboard

Leaders’ tee times for the final round of the Masters

Rory McIlroy lost a six-shot lead during the third round of the Masters, so it makes sense that anyone within six shots of the lead has at least a shot at the green jacket.

Those at 5 under were scheduled to go off shortly after 1 p.m. EDT, beginning with Ben Griffin and Jake Knapp. They were followed at 1:30 p.m. by Collin Morikawa (-5) and Patrick Reed (-6), with Patrick Cantlay (-6) and Russell Henley (-6) going off at 1:41 p.m.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Haotong Li, both at 7 under, were paired together at 1:52 p.m.

Justin Rose, who lost in a playoff to McIlroy last year, was at 8 under along with Jason Day. They were due off at 2:03 p.m. Sam Burns (-10) and Shane Lowry (-9) were in the penultimate group at 2:14 p.m. before McIlroy and Cameron Young strike their opening tee shots at 2:25 p.m. on Tea Olive, the 445-yard par-4 first hole at Augusta National.

Sergio didn’t need that driver anyway

Sergio Garcia, the 2017 Masters champion, will be playing the remainder of the final round without his driver after snapping off the head of it following an angry outburst on the second tee box. After sending his tee shot into a bunker, Garcia took a swipe at a table with a green cooler on it and severed the head of the driver. It was left briefly dangling from the shaft before Garcia grabbed it and ripped it off completely. Geoff Yang, the chairman of the Masters competitions committee, met up with Garcia on the fourth tee box and issued him a code of conduct warning, according to club officials.

Setting up Sunday at the Masters

The forecast for the final round of the Masters is much like it has been all week at Augusta National: hot, dry and sunny.

That’s good news for the thousands of patrons. But it could be bad news for those trying to navigate 18 holes. The weather has been such that club officials can set up the course just about anyway they want. They seemed to give players a reprieve with easier hole locations and softer conditions on Friday and Saturday, but chances are they will want it difficult on Sunday.

That means hard, fast greens that reject wayward approach shots into difficult pin placements.

“When greens are firm and targets are tight, even a light wind can add another layer of difficulty,” said John Feerick, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather. “Players who manage launch, spin and landing spot most effectively may have the clearest edge.”

Masters’ gnomes coming to an end?

The Masters gnome has grown increasingly popular — and valuable — over the last 10 years. But this year’s gnome has become especially sought after on re-sale markets amid speculation this will be the final year they’ll be produced.

Masters chairman Fred Ridley has neither confirmed nor denied the rumors.

The 13 1/2-inch gnome features the traditional old man with a white beard dressed in golf attire and holding an umbrella and Masters-themed cup. It is only available for purchase at Augusta National (not online) and is selling for $59.50.

However, some are taking the gnome home and using it to help pay for their Masters expenses. The gnome is commanding more than $600 on eBay and Marketplace. With only 1,000 gnomes available per day and regularly selling out within an hour, fans are lining up early in the morning to get one.

___

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

They’re not the only perennial contender to miss the playoffs, either, with the Buffalo Sabres among the roughly half dozen newcomers in the 16-team field. The Pittsburgh Penguins are back in the dance, too.

The Colorado Avalanche have been dominant since October and go in as the favorite after clinching the best regular-season record in the NHL. That has rarely been an indicator of who hoists the Cup at the end of four rounds, and it’s anyone’s guess who comes out of the Eastern Conference, as well as the West.

“Every team in the playoffs can win,” Dallas Stars defenseman Tyler Myers said. “Every series is a tough series. That’s what’s so amazing about the NHL playoffs: It brings out the best in everybody, in every team, and it creates an unbelievable battle no matter who’s playing.”

New blood in the NHL playoffs

Buffalo ended the longest postseason drought in league history at 14 seasons and did so after losing 18 of its first 29 games.

“It’s something that we strived for from Day One,” said Lindy Ruff, who is among the favorites to be coach of the year. “You’ve got to feel good about getting there. It’s hard. We’re in a division that’s been extremely hard to get there. You’ve got to look back and say that we did a lot of good things to get to this point.”

The Sabres also look as if they can do some damage in the wide-open East without Florida. They've been the best team since the Olympic break.

Also hot down the stretch was Pittsburgh, which qualified for the first time since 2022 in new coach Dan Muse's first season. The Penguins were 6-1 long shots on BetMGM Sportsbook in October to make it, but now the trio of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang gets another chance.

“A lot of people doubted us and I guess counted us out, and it just put fuel on the fire for us,” said defenseman Ryan Shea, who's set to make his NHL playoff debut at 29. “I’ve been in the playoffs in the AHL, which was fun, but this is the best league in the world.”

The Utah Mammoth made it in the franchise's second season in Salt Lake City. The Anaheim Ducks are also back with a young core coached by three-time Cup-champion Joel Quenneville.

The Central Division path is the toughest

Colorado is justifiably the best bet to win it all. Nathan MacKinnon could be the MVP, Cale Makar the top defenseman, and the reacquisition of Nazem Kadri at the trade deadline gives the Avalanche the depth to envision another parade in Denver this summer, four years since the previous one.

To do so, they'll have to go through either Dallas or the Minnesota Wild in the second round just to reach the West final.

“Confident for sure: Believe in this group. I know we have what it takes,” captain Gabriel Landeskog said. "It’s going to be a long, tough road and mentally, physically grinding. I think we’re ready for it.”

Stars versus Wild opens the playoffs with a bang, pitting two of the top seven teams in the league in a best-of-seven series that ensures one of them will be golfing by mid-May. It's the result of a division-focused format that Commissioner Gary Bettman has said leads to the best first round in sports.

"That makes for great matchups," Bettman said. “If you’re a fan of the game and you’re looking for excitement, you’re looking to be entertained, you’re looking for intriguing stories, this format does it.”

From going for gold to chasing the silver chalice

Several players who won gold with the U.S. at the Olympics have the chance to add a Stanley Cup ring to their trophy case for the year.

Colorado's Brock Nelson scored 30 goals after being a difference-maker in Milan. Carolina's Jaccob Slavin, Buffalo's Tage Thompson, Tampa Bay's Jake Guentzel, Minnesota's Matt Boldy, Quinn Hughes and Brock Faber, Ottawa's Brady Tkachuk and Jake Sanderson are all in the running, as are two goaltenders: Boston's Jeremy Swayman and Dallas' Jake Oettinger.

The same goes for some Canadian stars who see their silver medals as a symbol of losing and get an opportunity to make up for it. That includes Edmonton's Connor McDavid following two consecutive losses in the final, and Crosby after an injury kept him from playing in the gold medal game and is chasing a fourth NHL title.

"That’s the best time of year," Crosby said. “That’s why you play.”

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AP Sports Writer Pat Graham in Denver contributed to this report.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

El tiroteo ocurrió alrededor de la 1:30 a.m. del domingo afuera del Five Stars Banquet Hall en Sunrise. Un sospechoso fue arrestado, según el Departamento de Policía de Sunrise.

Testigos dijeron que alrededor de 150 invitados celebraban adentro del salón de banquetes en el 6072 de West Oakland Park Boulevard cuando una persona que usaba silla de ruedas fue baleada afuera.

Eril Jerome, quien celebraba el cumpleaños de su suegro con familiares en el salón, dijo que escucharon aproximadamente cuatro disparos.

Por un tiempo, Jerome y otros invitados no pudieron salir porque sus autos estaban estacionados dentro de la escena del crimen. La plaza comercial reabrió posteriormente.

Esta es una historia en desarrollo.

Swire Properties, una empresa desarrolladora de bienes raíces, trabajó junto con personal de BG Group y agentes de la policía de Miami para cerrar el puente de Brickell Key, que conecta la isla artificial de forma triangular con Brickell.

El puente reabrirá a la 1:30 p.m. El plazo para que los residentes abandonaran Brickell Key era las 7 a.m. El personal de BG Group pidió a los residentes mantener las ventanas cerradas y apagar los aires acondicionados durante la implosión.

Los vehículos de emergencia estuvieron apostados desde las 6:30 a.m. cerca de 500 Brickell Key Drive. Los monitores de vibración fueron instalados a las 6 a.m.

La instalación final de barricadas y señalización para asegurar la “zona de exclusión” en tierra y agua fue a las 4 a.m.

La implosión abrirá paso a The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, un desarrollo de dos torres que Swire Properties espera completar en 2030.

Jackson was the No. 4 pick in the 2024 WNBA draft and averaged 14.7 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists last season.

“It’s thrilling to acquire one of the great young talents in this league in Jackson,” Sky general manager Jeff Pagliocca said. “Rickea is only going to continue to ascend, and the organization is excited to witness that growth firsthand.”

It was a difficult offseason for Jackson when her ex-boyfriend, Atlanta Falcons player James Pearce, was arrested and charged in a domestic dispute incident in February.

The Sky had given Atkins the franchise tag earlier this week. Chicago originally acquired her last February and she averaged 13.1 points in 34 games last season.

“Ariel is a proven winner and one of the most respected two-way guards in this league,” Sparks GM Raegan Pebley said. “She’s a champion, an elite defender and someone who understands what it takes to win in big moments. Her professionalism, competitiveness and versatility make her a perfect fit for our franchise and a key piece in our pursuit of a championship.”

It's been a busy week for the Sky. The team signed Skylar Diggins on Saturday, the first day a team could officially add free agents. Chicago also brought back forward Azura Stevens, who helped the franchise win a title in 2021.

The Sky re-signed center Elizabeth Williams, who has been with the team since 2023. She averaged 8.5 points and 5.2 rebounds last season, appearing in 43 games with 15 starts.

Chicago also re-signed guard Courtney Vandersloot to a multiyear deal. Vandersloot tore her ACL last year in June.

Chicago traded Angel Reese on Monday to Atlanta, moving on from the talented young star.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

Amnesty International cited survivors as saying that at least 100 people were killed in the airstrike on Saturday on a village in Yobe state, near the border with Borno state, which is the epicenter of the jihadi insurgency that has ravaged the region for over a decade.

“We have their pictures and they include children,” Isa Sanusi, Amnesty International's Nigeria director, told The Associated Press, referring to the casualties.

“We are in touch with people that are there, we spoke with the hospital,” he said. “We spoke with the person in charge of casualties, and we spoke with the victims.”

A worker at the Geidam General hospital, in Yobe, said at least 23 people injured in the incident were receiving treatment. The worker spoke anonymously as he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Such misfires are common in Nigeria, where the military often conducts air raids to battle armed groups who control vast forest enclaves. At least 500 civilians have died since 2017 in such misfires, according to an AP tally of reported deaths. Security analysts point to loopholes in intelligence gathering as well as insufficient coordination between ground troops, air assets and stakeholders.

The large, remote market located near the Borno-Yobe border is known to be often used by Boko Haram jihadis to buy food supplies.

Abdulmumin Bulama, a member of a civilian security group working with the Nigerian military in the northeast, said there was intelligence that Boko Haram terrorists had gathered very close to the market and were planning an attack on nearby communities.

“The intel was shared and the Air Force jet acted based on the credible information,” Bulama said.

The Yobe State Government confirmed in a statement that a Nigerian military strike was targeting a stronghold of the Boko Haram jihadi group in the area and that “some people … who went to the Jilli weekly market were affected.”

The Yobe State Emergency Management Agency also acknowledged that an incident had occurred resulting in “casualties affecting some marketers” and said it had dispatched response teams to the area.

Nigeria's military issued a statement saying it conducted a successful strike on a “terrorist enclave and logistics hub” belonging to jihadis in the area, killing scores of them as they rode on motorcycles. It did not provide any detail about a possible misfire, but noted that motorcycles remain prohibited in conflict hot spots and “any such movements in restricted areas are therefore treated with the utmost seriousness.”

Amnesty International has called for an independent investigation into the incident, adding that the military is “fond of” labeling civilian casualties as bandits

Nigeria, which is Africa’s most populous country, is battling a complex security crisis, especially in the north, where there is a decade-long insurgency and several armed groups that kidnap for ransom.

Among the most prominent Islamic militant groups are Boko Haram and its breakaway faction, which is affiliated with the Islamic State group and known as Islamic State West Africa Province. There is also the IS-linked Lakurawa group operating in communities in the northwestern part of the country that borders Niger Republic.

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Shibayan reported from Abuja, Nigeria.

Speaking in an interview on NBC News’ Meet the Press program, the president said an invasion of Cuba would be costly and affect regional security. But should it happen, Díaz-Canel said, Cubans would defend themselves.

“If the time comes, I don’t think there would be any justification for the United States to launch a military aggression against Cuba, or for the U.S. to undertake a surgical operation or the kidnapping of a president,” Díaz-Canel said, speaking through a translator.

He added: “If that happens, there will be fighting, and there will be a struggle, and we will defend ourselves, and if we need to die, we’ll die, because as our national anthem says, ‘Dying for the homeland is to live'.”

His comments come as tensions between Cuba and the U.S. remain high despite both sides acknowledging talks, although no details have been shared.

Díaz-Canel has accused the U.S. government of implementing a “hostile policy” against Cuba and said it has “no moral to demand anything from Cuba.” He noted that Cuba is interested in engaging in dialogue and discussing any topic without conditions, “not demanding changes from our political system as we are not demanding change from the American system, about which we have a number of doubts.”

Cuba blames a U.S. energy blockade for its deepening woes, with a lack of petroleum affecting the island’s health system, public transportation and the production of goods and services.

Cuba produces only 40% of the fuel it consumes, and it stopped receiving key oil shipments from Venezuela after the U.S. military attacked the South American country in early January, seized President Nicolás Maduro and took him to New York to face drug trafficking charges. Then, with cooperation from ruling party leaders, the Trump administration began implementing a phased plan to end Venezuela’s entrenched crisis.

The arrival of a Russian tanker carrying 730,000 barrels of crude oil in Cuba in March marked the island’s first oil shipment in three months. Russia has promised to send a second tanker.

Despite threatening tariffs in January on countries that sell or provide oil to Cuba, the Trump administration allowed the tanker to proceed.

“Cuba’s finished,” President Donald Trump said at the time. “They have a bad regime. They have very bad and corrupt leadership and whether or not they get a boat of oil, it’s not going to matter.”

Díaz-Canel said his government takes Trump’s words as a warning.

“You hear that Cuba is next, that Cuba is going to be next, that there are, there’s a way out, that they’re going to take over Cuba,” he said. “So, from the position of responsibility within the leadership of the country, that is a warning. And we need to responsibly protect our people, protect our project and protect our country.”

Williams averaged a career-high 11.6 points and 4.2 assists and led the WNBA in steals with 2.3 per game for Seattle last season. That effort earned the 29-year-old an All-Star appearance for the first time in her career. She also was a member of the league's All-Defensive First Team.

“For a player of Gabby’s caliber to choose us in just our second year ... means everything,” Valkyries general manager Ohemaa Nyanin said in a statement. “She is world-class. One of the best defenders in the world, a WNBA All-Star, and someone who makes everyone around her better.”

The Valkyries had a stellar season in their first year, making the playoffs — the first time an expansion team had done that. Williams was drafted fourth by Chicago in 2018 and traded to Los Angeles in 2021. She didn't play any games for the Sparks before being traded to Seattle in 2022.

Thomas was a finalist for MVP last season and All-WNBA and All-Defensive first team. She helped the Mercury reach the WNBA Finals.

"Alyssa is a generational player, natural leader and one of the fiercest competitors our sport has seen, and we’re excited to have her back in Phoenix,” Mercury general manager Nick U’Ren said. “Her ability to control the game on both ends and elevate her teammates helped fuel our run to the Finals last season.”

Phoenix also re-signed All-Star wings Kahleah Copper and DeWanna Bonner. The pair was instrumental in getting the Mercury to the WNBA Finals along with Thomas. The team also re-signed veteran guard Sami Whitcomb.

Other moves on Sunday included Sophie Cunningham and Damiris Dantas re-signing with the Indiana Fever. Cunningham averaged 8.6 points and 3.5 rebounds in 30 games before suffering a season-ending MCL tear in her right knee in August. Dantas originally signed with the Fever ahead of the 2024 season and has since played in 58 games for Indiana, averaging 4.6 points and 2.3 rebounds per game, and was a part of the 2025 Commissioner’s Cup championship team.

The pair join Kelsey Mitchell and Lexie Hull, who announced on Saturday they were returning to the team. Indiana also added Monique Billings in the first day of free agency.

The Toronto Tempo added forward Isabelle Harrison, whom Sandy Brondello coached in New York before making the move to Canada.

Minnesota Lynx

The Lynx re-signed five-time All-Star Kayla McBride to a two-year deal at a lower max salary, her agent, Ticha Penicheiro, told The Associated Press. Courtney Williams, a two-time All-Star, also is coming back to the Lynx. Minnesota also added two-time All-Star Natasha Howard, who played with Indiana last season. Howard helped Minnesota win a title in 2017.

Chicago Sky

The Sky added guard DiJonai Carrington to their roster as well as officially re-signing Courtney Vandersloot. The Sky acquired Rickea Jackson for Ariel Atkins in a trade with Los Angeles.

Connecticut Sun

The Sun added guard Kennedy Burke and re-signed forward Olivia Nelson-Ododa to a two-year deal. Burke appeared in 36 games for the Liberty, making nine starts and averaging 8.1 points and 2.4 rebounds.

Seattle Storm

The Storm re-signed forward Ezi Magbegor, who had 96 blocks last season to go along with 8.0 points and 6.2 rebounds. She shot 49.3% from the field. Seattle also re-signed wing Katie Lou Samuelson, who missed all of last season after tearing her ACL in training camp. The Storm also added free agent Stefanie Dolson, signing the veteran center as well as guard Jade Melbourne.

Las Vegas Aces

The Aces re-signed three members of their core group, with Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young and Cheyenne Parker-Tyus all agreeing to deals with the defending champions.

Washington Mystics

The Mystics added forward Michaela Onyenwere to a multiyear deal. She averaged 6.9 points and 2.4 rebounds in her career, last playing with Chicago. Onyenwere was an assistant coach at her alma mater UCLA this past winter and helped the Bruins win their first national championship.

Portland Fire

The expansion Fire added center Megan Gustafson, who was with Las Vegas last season when the Aces won the WNBA championship.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

Pep Guardiola's team moved to within six points of leader Arsenal ahead of next weekend's top of the table clash between the two teams. City also has a game in hand.

Nico O'Reilly, Marc Guehi and Jeremy Doku all scored in a blistering second-half performance at Stamford Bridge as City took full advantage of Arsenal's shock defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday.

“We know that we still have everything in our hands,” Doku said.

Tottenham's survival fight took another blow after a 1-0 loss to Sunderland left it rooted in the relegation zone.

In coach Roberto De Zerbi's first game in charge, Spurs fell to a 16th league loss of the season. Its 14-game winless run in the league dates back to Jan. 1.

Nordi Mukiele's deflected shot sealed the game at the Stadium of Light and plunged Tottenham’s campaign deeper into crisis.

Tottenham is two points adrift of safety with six games to go. Its plight wasn't helped by relegation-fighting Nottingham Forest drawing 1-1 with Aston Villa.

Crystal Palace came back from 1-0 down to beat Newcastle 2-1 at Selhurst Park.

City's title charge gathers pace

While Arsenal's form has hit a slump at the worst possible time, City made it three statement wins in a row after rolling over Chelsea.

Victory followed triumph against Arsenal in the English League Cup final and the 4-0 rout of Liverpool in the FA Cup last week.

While those three results all came in different competitions, City's charge has an ominous feel about it after twice chasing down Arsenal's lead to win the title in 2023 and '24.

Second-placed City has the chance to cut the gap at the top to three points with victory against Arsenal at the Etihad. Guardiola called for respect for Arsenal when looking ahead to that title showdown.

“They have been the best team in this country, in Europe, so far. Beating Arsenal once is so difficult, imagine beating them twice in a few weeks," Guardiola said. “I would like to say to my fans — respect Arsenal a lot, they are an extraordinary team. Come to join us from minute one because the players will do the maximum.”

Rayan Cherki was the inspiration at Stamford Bridge — setting up goals for O'Reilly six minutes after halftime and Guehi in the 57th.

Doku rounded off the win in the 68th.

The result didn't help Chelsea's bid to qualify for the Champions League, leaving it four points behind fifth-placed Liverpool.

Liam Rosenior's team has won just one of its last seven league games.

Spurs' crisis deepens

The numbers just keep on getting worse for Tottenham.

Now on its third coach of the season, it’s more than three months since its last league win and just one point from a possible 24. This was a seventh defeat in eight games.

If the hope was that De Zerbi would provide an immediate bounce in form after replacing Igor Tudor, it didn't come in a typically toothless display at Sunderland.

While the new coach could point to bad luck, given the nature of Mukiele's 61st-minute winner, which took a wicked deflection off Micky van de Ven, his team rarely looked like finding a way back into the match — even during 11 minutes of added time at the end.

An injury to Cristian Romero made a bad day worse for Spurs, which next faces Brighton, one of De Zerbi's former clubs.

Forest moved three points clear of Spurs after a draw at the City Ground. Neco Williams' long-range shot leveled the game after a Murillo own-goal gave Villa the lead.

Mateta double for Palace

Jean-Philippe Mateta saw a January move to AC Milan fall through on deadline day and is now having a big say in Palace's bid to end the season on a high.

The France forward scored in Thursday's Conference League win against Fiorentina and hit a double as Palace came back against Newcastle.

Two late goals turned the game at Selhurst Park after William Osula had given Newcastle a halftime lead.

Mateta leveled in the 80th and then fired a winner from the penalty spot in the fourth minute of added time.

Palace leapfrogged Newcastle on goal difference to move up to 13th.

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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

The Universal and Illumination sequel added $69 million from 4,284 theaters in the U.S. and Canada, according to studio estimates Sunday. That brings its running domestic total to $308.1 million and its global total to $629 million.

That's a 48% drop from the film's first weekend in theaters, a fairly modest decline for a blockbuster. But the chasm between this movie and the first continues to grow. By its second weekend in 2023, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” — which was much better reviewed than its follow-up — had earned over $353 million domestically. Still, the sequel is an unabashed hit by any measure, having cost only $110 million to produce.

Paul Dergarabedian, the head of marketplace trends for Comscore, said “it’s a very respectable” hold.

“For the film to already be over $300 million is just astonishing,” Dergarabedian said, noting that the majority of tickets were likely sold at lower prices for children. “To get to these box office milestones is all the more impressive.”

The movie is also helping power up box office momentum before the summer movie season begins in May.

The weekend’s big new opener was also a Universal release: The travelogue romantic comedy “You, Me & Tuscany,” starring Halle Bailey and Regé-Jean Page of “Bridgerton” fame. It debuted in fourth place with an estimated $8 million from 3,151 screens against a reported production budget of $18 million. Women made up an overwhelming 80% of the audience.

Directed by Kat Coiro, the movie arrived in theaters with mixed to positive reviews. According to a review by The Associated Press, it’s “a movie as frothy and insubstantial as the foam on a nice cappuccino.” It currently holds a 68% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Audiences seemed to enjoy it a bit more. According to PostTrak exit polls, 77% of ticket buyers said they would “definitely recommend” it to friends. It also got an A- on CinemaScore.

Jim Orr, Universal’s head of domestic distribution, said the audience reaction scores, “point to a very nice run at the box office.”

Second place at the box office this week went to Amazon MGM Studios’ “Project Hail Mary,” which is still drawing double-digit ticket sales in its fourth weekend. It added an estimated $24.6 million from Friday to Sunday, bringing its domestic total to $256.7 million. Worldwide, it has earned $510.6 million.

“The Drama” took third place in its second weekend, with $8.7 million. The buzzy A24 movie about an engaged couple played by Robert Pattinson and Zendaya fell only 38%, bringing its domestic total to $30.8 million and its worldwide total to $65 million.

Disney and Pixar's “Hoppers” rounded out the top five in its sixth weekend with $4.1 million. The animated movie has made $354.4 million globally to date.

Another bright spot was the Japanese video game adaptation “Exit 8," which made $1.4 million from only 490 theaters and landed in seventh place. Directed by Genki Kawamura, the Neon-distributed film is sitting at 95% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Top 10 movies by domestic box office

With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:

1. “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” $69 million.

2. “Project Hail Mary,” $24.6 million.

3. “The Drama,” $8.7 million.

4. “You, Me & Tuscany,” $8 million.

5. “Hoppers,” $4.1 million.

6. “Faces of Death,” $1.7 million.

7. “Exit 8,” $1.4 million.

8. “A Great Awakening,” $1.3 million.

9. “Reminders of Him,” $1 million.

10. “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come,” $867,000.

With NASA’s lunar comeback a galactic-sized smash thanks to Artemis II, the world is wondering: What’s next? And how do you top that?

“To people all around the world who look up and dream about what is possible, the long wait is over,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said as he introduced Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen at Saturday’s jubilant homecoming celebration.

Now that the first lunar travelers in more than a half-century are safely back in Houston with their families, NASA has Artemis III in its sights.

“The next mission’s right around the corner,” entry flight director Rick Henfling observed following the crew’s Pacific splashdown on Friday.

In a mission recently added to the docket for next year, Artemis III’s yet-to-be -named astronauts will practice docking their Orion capsule with a lunar lander or two in orbit around Earth. Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin are racing to have their company’s lander ready first.

Musk’s Starship and Bezos’ Blue Moon are vying for the all-important Artemis IV moon landing in 2028. Two astronauts will aim for the south polar region, the preferred location for Isaacman’s envisioned $20 billion to $30 billion moon base. Vast amounts of ice are almost certainly hidden in permanently shadowed craters there — ice that could provide water and rocket fuel.

The docking mechanism for Artemis III’s close-to-home trial run is already at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. The latest model Starship is close to launching on a test flight from South Texas, and a scaled-down version of Blue Moon will attempt a lunar landing later this year.

NASA promises to announce the Artemis III crew “soon.” Like 1969’s Apollo 9, Artemis III aims to reduce risk for the moon landings that follow.

Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart loved flying the lunar module in low-Earth orbit — “a test pilot’s dream.” But there’s no question, he noted, that “the real astronauts” at least in the public’s mind were the ones who walked on the moon.

Wiseman and his crew put their passion and feelings on full display as they flew around the moon and back, choking up over lost loved ones as well as those left behind on Earth.

During the their nearly 10-day journey, they tearfully requested that a fresh, bright lunar crater be named after Wiseman’s late wife, Carroll, who died of cancer in 2020. They also openly shared their love for one another and Planet Earth, an exquisite yet delicate oasis in the black void that they said needs better care.

Artemis II included the first woman, the first person of color and the first non-U.S. citizen to fly to the moon.

“Wonderful communicators, almost poets,” Isaacman said from the recovery ship while awaiting their return.

Apollo’s manly, all-business moon crews of the 1960s and 1970s certainly did not do group hugs.

For those old enough to remember Apollo, Artemis — Apollo’s twin sister in Greek mythology — couldn’t come fast enough.

Author Andy Chaikin said he felt like Rip Van Winkle awakening from a nearly 54-year nap. His 1994 biography “A Man on the Moon” led to the HBO miniseries “From the Earth to the Moon.”

“It’s amazing how far we’ve come and how different this experience is from back then,” Chaikin said from Johnson Space Center late last week.

The hardest part, according to NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya, is becoming so close to the crews and their families and then blasting them to the moon. He anxiously monitored Friday’s reentry alongside the astronauts’ spouses and children.

“You know what’s at stake,” Kshatriya confided afterward. “It’s going to take risk to explore, but you have to make sure you find the right line between being paralyzed by it and being able to manage it.”

Calling it “mission complete” only after being reunited with his two daughters, Wiseman issued a rallying cry to the rows of blue-flight-suited astronauts at Saturday’s celebration.

“It is time to go and be ready,” he said, pointing at them, “because it takes courage. It takes determination, and you all are freaking going and we are going to be standing there supporting you every single step of the way in every possible way possible.”

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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.

The tour includes the U.S. Air Force Reserve Command WC-130J “Hurricane Hunter” aircraft and a chance to meet the brave men and women who fly it, and members of the National Hurricane Center and National Weather Service staff.

NHC director Michael Brennan, NHC warning coordination meteorologist Robbie Berg, NOAA Weather Prediction Center meteorologist Jose Alamo, and NHC meteorologist Sandy Delgado are expected to be in attendance.

NOAA’s Aircraft Operations Center flight director Kerri Englert, and NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations aircraft acquisition deputy director LCDR David Keith are also involved in the tour.

The public tours are from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Florida Keys Marathon International Airport at 9400 Overseas Highway in Marathon.

The next stops are on Wednesday at the Juan Manuel Gálvez International Airport in Roatan, Honduras; on Thursday at the Philip S.W. Goldson International Airport in Belize City, Belize; and on Friday at the Fernando Luis Ribas Dominicci Airport in Isla Grande, Puerto Rico.

There will be more stops on May 4 in Sarasota, Fla.; on May 5 in Mobile, Ala.; and on May 6 at Lake Charles, La. The hurricane season begins June 1.

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The fiery Garcia then created a lighter moment on the same hole when he carried fellow Spaniard Jon Rahm's clubs for a bit.

The Garcia-Rahm group, which paired two countrymen and former champions both on LIV Golf, was always going to create some buzz, even with both out of contention. Then, Garcia quickly brought the drama up another notch.

The 2017 Masters champ looked frustrated on his follow-through when his first shot of the day went well to the right, leading to an opening bogey. Garcia hit another drive headed to the bunker on the par-5 second and lost his temper.

He slammed his club into the turf twice, then took a swipe at a table with a green cooler on it. That left the head of his driver dangling from the shaft, and Garcia reached over and yanked it off completely.

According to club officials, Geoff Yang in his role as chairman of the competitions committee spoke to Garcia on the fourth tee and issued the code-of-conduct warning.

Garcia declined to discuss what was said, saying: “I'm not going to tell you.”

The PGA Tour has been developing a code-of-conduct policy for competition, and the Masters is the first to use it, according to a person involved in the process. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity out of respect to Augusta National running the tournament.

The PGA Championship also plans to use the policy, and likely the other two majors. The person said the second violation would be a two-shot penalty, and the third violation leads to disqualification.

“Just obviously not super proud of it,” Garcia said, “but sometimes it happens.”

Garcia was disqualified in 2019 at the Saudi International for damaging greens in frustration. His antics over the years include angrily kicking off his shoe when he slipped during a tee shot at the World Match Play in 2001, and the shoe nearly struck an official.

He also spit into a cup during a World Golf Championship at Doral after three-putting.

Garcia played the rest of the final round at Augusta National without a driver and appeared to have calmed down.

“It makes it very easy,” he said. “I just have to hit 3-wood all the time. I didn’t have to choose another club.”

Shortly after damaging the tee box on No. 2, the situation turned comical when Garcia started carrying Rahm's bag while Rahm's caddie was raking the bunker. The crowd applauded when Rahm took the bag from Garcia and started carrying it himself as Rahm's caddie Adam Hayes hustled to catch up to the players.

“There was nothing,” Garcia said. “Adam stopped to rake my bunker, and Benji (Thompson), my caddie, was carrying both bags, so I told him, ‘Just put it down, I’ll get it so you can go and get a yardage.’ Just as simple as that.”

Garcia did manage to make par on No. 2 before bogeying the third and fourth holes. He wound up shooting 75.

“If you don’t hit good shots,” he said, “you’re not going to score well here. It’s very simple.”

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AP Golf Writer Doug Ferguson and AP Sports Writer Dave Skretta contributed to this report.

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Police officers described two of the three injured as suspects of the shooting at 10:30 p.m. outside of Checkers at 2645 NW 183 St., in Miami Gardens.

The third person wounded showed up at a nearby hospital after police officers responded to the ShotSpotter alert, according to police.

Location

High pressure near the Carolinas will flex its muscles again, kicking up strong east to northeast winds along the beaches, so the rip current risk remains dangerously high, and a small craft advisory remains in effect for the boaters.

Otherwise, the weather looks great for all outdoor activities today, and it looks like an extended period of dry, sunny weather is settling in through at least the next 5 days.

Highs in the lower 80s today will climb into the middle 80s later this week.

One man, Malcolm Wright, was beaten to death in front of his family in 1949. His offense? “Hogging the road.” Further research revealed that his mule-drawn wagon was, to his killers, moving too slowly.

The panels are among thousands of exhibits and artifacts inside the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and the adjoining Museum of Mississippi History. Called the Two Mississippi Museums, the massive complex in sight of the state Capitol is a central part of the state’s America 250 celebration.

“That’s just the people that we know about," Kiama Johnson, who was visiting from Monroe, Louisiana, said of the victim panels as she sat beyond the display and fought back tears. "Just imagine the ones that we don’t. Imagine the ones that’s never going to be written in history books.”

Mississippi’s warts-and-all approach to reflecting its history as part of the state’s official commemoration of the nation’s 250th anniversary is a stark contrast with what has taken place at the national level since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.

Easing the discomfort of a sometimes brutal American history has been a central theme of Trump’s administration. He signed an executive order his first day back in office eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the federal government. That, along with a March 2025 executive order, ” Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” have led to signs being changed at federal parks, exhibits being altered or in some cases removed, and military bases being renamed.

Part of the Republican administration's preparations to celebrate the 250th anniversary have included putting pressure on federal institutions, including the Smithsonian, to tell a version of history that is less focused on discrimination and episodes of racial violence.

In Mississippi, a temporary exhibit created specifically for the commemoration — Mississippi Made -- fills a space that is routinely changed to entice visitors to return. But it is housed in a space where achievement is intertwined with the state’s dark past involving Native Americans, enslaved people and the Civil Rights era.

Nan Prince, director of collections for the Mississippi Department of Archives & History, said the instructions were simple from scholars, politicians, staff members, and civic and civil rights groups when the museums were being conceived and built.

“Don’t brush over anything, don’t whitewash anything," she said. "Just tell the absolute truth.”

‘We weren’t going to hide anything'

Jackson Mayor John Horhn was a state senator when he began pushing for the Civil Rights Museum in 1999. His efforts finally got a boost when Haley Barbour, a former Republican National Committee chairman, became governor.

Plans for the museum eventually were combined with a parallel effort to move the state history museum from the Capitol grounds, with the complex opening in 2017.

The approach to creating a state history museum was the same — tell the full story, beginning with how Native Americans were removed from the land.

“We said at the beginning we weren’t going to hide anything," Barbour said in an interview, noting that he grew up in an era of segregation. "We weren’t gonna try to justify what was done. That’s what the people wanted — to say, ‘Look, we’re not proud of this, but we’re not going to deny it.’”

Other states have made sure to highlight their diversity in their presentations for the 250th anniversary. The America 250 description for neighboring Alabama includes milestones in the Civil Rights Movement.

Mississippi takes its history head-on. Its “America 250 MS” platform says the state’s history mirrors the American story, with the removal of Native Americans making way for slavery and slavery leading to the Civil War, followed by Reconstruction and the Jim Crow era.

Horhn praised the willingness of Mississippi leaders to use the museums to tell the state's full story.

“We still have issues, we still have a lot of challenges," he said. "But it’s a demonstration that progress has been made.”

‘It just made me want to weep’

The History Museum opens into a gallery that explores Mississippi’s first people, the Native Americans. The entrance is dominated by a 500-year-old canoe, a vivid reminder that Native Americans were here thousands of years before settlers arrived and forced them out, taking the land to begin growing cotton, which was tended by enslaved people.

Across the lobby sits the Civil Rights Museum. The first audio exhibit is abrupt: “We don’t serve your kind,” a menacing voice tells visitors, triggered when they cross the museum threshold.

It is one of several phrases once commonplace in the nation’s segregated past that bombard visitors at the opening to the gallery.

The museum also does not shy away from presenting one of the state's most infamous racial killings, that of Emmett Till. The 14-year-old was kidnapped, tortured and killed in 1955 after being accused of whistling at a white woman in a rural Mississippi grocery store.

Till’s murder was a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement. Thousands came to his funeral in Chicago, and his mother, Mamie Till Mobley, insisted on an open casket so the country could see the gruesome state of her son’s body.

At the end of the narrative, by Oprah Winfrey, visitors can see the .45-caliber pistol used to kill the teenager.

Lindsay Ward, 49, cried in the lobby after touring the Civil Rights Museum. Raised in what she described as a sheltered world in Salt Lake City, she said she had not had any exposure to the topics she encountered during her visit — "this heaviness," as she put it.

Ward, now living in Denver, said she was troubled by how recent some events were.

“We’re not talking about hundreds and hundreds of years ago. We’re talking 60 years. It just made me want to weep," she said. "It doesn’t feel great, but it’s important we understand what happened in the past.”

Connor Lynch, a history teacher and social justice advocate from Chicago, said deciding how history will be told has always been a struggle.

“All we have is human narrative” and that comes with bias, he said. "I do believe that no matter what sort of erasure the country might be doing, we know the stories. We know the truth."

‘A very difficult history,’ on full display

For the America 250 celebration, the museums created ”Mississippi Made," which highlights the state's products and achievements.

There is the common household cleaner Pine-Sol, a Nissan Frontier and a Toyota Corolla, a section citing the state's involvement in the U.S. space program and medical advances such as the first human lung transplant.

There is something else — a display by renowned Mississippi quilter Hystercine Rankin. It is a quilt telling the story of her father being killed in 1939.

Jessica Walzer, the exhibit curator, said she included it because it is one of the few story quilts in the museums’ collection and because it tells part of Mississippi's history.

“I think it’s important to have something kind of striking like that to kind of remind us that Mississippi also has this very difficult history that a lot of people have been through,” she said.

Prince, the state director of collections, said such truth had long been denied. Visitors to antebellum homes, for instance, heard about the families who lived there, but “they would never once tell you about the people that lived behind the house or the people that built the house or the people that worked the fields,” she said.

“For so long," she said, "we just tried to gloss over that because it was uncomfortable.”

She couldn't hear what her dance partner was saying from across the studio. She was late for her entrances because the music sounded too soft.

Without telling anyone, she finally made an appointment to get her hearing checked.

Mearns learned that she had hearing loss. After years of isolation, she got the tools to make sense of a world that had gotten muffled.

Now, she's one of the first dancers with the New York City Ballet to wear hearing aids during performances.

“I feel like it's a whole new chapter of my life,” Mearns, 40, said in an interview with the AP.

While hearing loss is common in older adults, it can happen at any age and can be caused by things like nerve damage, infection or head trauma. For Mearns, it may have been a blend of factors including genetics, medical conditions and exposure to loud noise.

Signs and symptoms of hearing loss

According to the National Institutes of Health, less than a fifth of American adults aged 20 to 69 who could benefit from wearing hearing aids have ever used them. That's due to lack of access, shame or embarrassment and just not knowing the symptoms.

“Hearing loss is often not detected by the person because what they can't hear, they don't know,” said Dr. Anil Lalwani, a hearing expert with Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

Still, “there are a lot of symptoms of hearing loss that are not hearing less,” said Dr. Maura Cosetti with Mount Sinai’s New York Eye and Ear Infirmary.

One thing to look out for is saying “what” more often, and not being able to hear friends and family in noisy settings like restaurants. Other symptoms include ringing, a sensation like something is stuck in the ears or conversations sounding muffled.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mearns couldn't hear conversations when people were wearing masks.

“I realized that I was reading everybody’s lips to understand what they were saying,” she said.

If experiencing hearing loss, you have options

Experts say to let a doctor know if you think you may be experiencing symptoms of hearing loss. They can help you connect with an audiologist or an ear, nose and throat specialist to get a hearing test.

Cosetti with Mount Sinai said the Mimi Hearing Test app can be useful resource to get a sense of your hearing. Seeing a professional is the best way to figure out what's actually going on — like whether your ears are just plugged up with wax or fluid.

Hearing aids fine-tune the sound signal that enters the brain, enhancing speech while lowering background noise. They can be expensive, but many are now available over the counter. Some Apple AirPods also can be used as hearing aids.

For more severe forms of hearing loss, doctors may recommend a device called a cochlear implant, which converts sounds into electrical signals that are sent to the brain. These include a surgically inserted component and can take months to get used to.

Hearing aids are an adjustment, but can be worth it

Mearns initially felt embarrassed to step into the booth for her hearing test, knowing she wouldn't be able to hear all the words. Her audiologist, Marta Gielarowiec, helped her understand what she was missing and guided her to appropriate hearing aids.

“It's definitely not a one size fits all. There is a lot of adjustment, tuning and calibration involved,” said Gielarowiec, who runs a practice in New York. “Overall, the goal is to maximize the hearing that’s left.”

Addressing hearing loss can help boost mental health, improve communication and slow cognitive decline for people at high risk of dementia.

When Mearns walked out of her audiologist's office wearing her aids for the first time, she felt overwhelmed. She could hear the pattering of shoes on the ground, the chirping of birds across the street and the billowing of a flag a block behind her. Returning to her dressing room, she cried.

She can now hear the full might of the orchestra when she performs — and take phone calls in her ears.

The life she was living before, she said, was exhausting. At the end of every day she was spent from the strain of asking people to repeat themselves and missing out on conversations and the punch lines of jokes.

“I don’t want people to feel what I felt, where I was embarrassed and I was quiet about it,” she said. “Because now that I’m on the other side, I’m so happy.”

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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.

U.S. officials said the talks collapsed over what they described as Iran’s refusal to commit to abandoning its nuclear program. Iranian officials blamed the U.S. for failing to reach a deal, without specifying the sticking points.

The failure of the high-stakes talks in Pakistan after 21 hours casts doubt over the future of a fragile two-week ceasefire, due to expire on April 22.

While the fragile ceasefire seems to hold, the war is not over and uncertainty remains on the streets of Tehran where some residents were reluctant to speak to the media.

Iranians have been living in digital blackout for over a month after the internet was blocked shortly after the war started on Feb. 28. Since then, the population has been relying on state-controlled media, with a limited number of people having access to overseas satellite TV channels for access to information.

Standing outside a newsstand in the capital, Tehran, Farhad Simia told The Associated Press he had hoped for successful negotiations and an end to the fighting, but stood with Iran despite the failure of the talks.

“I’m against war. I think negotiation is the better path,” Simia, 43, said. He blamed “inappropriate demands” by the U.S. for the failure to reach a deal.

Mehdi Hosseini, also 43, agreed: “Considering the advantage Iran seemed to have on the battlefield, there was a real concern that we might lose all those gains in the negotiations.

“Whether the talks succeed or not is one matter, but the fact that the Iranian negotiating team managed to preserve what it achieved in the war, while refusing to back down and surrender, gives reason for hope.”

The streets of Tehran were lined up with large Iranian flags and giant billboards glorifying the country's leaders and military achievements. One large illustration depicted Iranian men in uniform lifting a fishing net out of the sea with a catch of miniature-sized U.S. military aircraft and warships. “The Strait Remains Closed,” the billboard read.

Hamid Haghi, 55, said “America's overreach” was the reason for the talks' failure. The U.S. wants “to come to the Strait of Hormuz, which is a legacy from our fathers,” he said. “We can oversee (it) ourselves.”

Like many Iranians, 60-year-old Mohammad Bagher believes Iran should continue to stand strong against the U.S. in what he sees as a war of their own making.

“We are a nation of dialogue and negotiation as long as our interests are respected. We have never sought war,” he said. “We will stand firm to the end, we are ready to sacrifice our lives, and will not give them one inch of our land.”

Since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28, it has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, 2,020 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states, and caused lasting damage to infrastructure in half a dozen Middle Eastern countries.

Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz has largely cut off the Persian Gulf and its oil and gas exports from the global economy, sending energy prices soaring.

Martin said the package amounting to 505 million euros ($592 million) will ease some of the cost of living pressures that have grown since the U.S.-Israel war on Iran led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital channel for the world's oil. The relief measure, which needs parliamentary approval, would come on top of a 250 million euro tax break approved nearly three weeks ago.

It was not immediately clear if the proposal will quell the uprisings, though protests diminished Sunday amid a police crackdown.

Over six days the actions caused chaos as blockades at Ireland’s refinery, a major port and several vital depots prevented tanker trucks from delivering fuel to service stations and many gas pumps ran dry. Slow-moving convoys of vehicles also caused traffic jams on major highways.

Martin said Ireland had been on the brink of having oil tankers redirected to other countries and its refinery shut down.

“It made absolutely no sense what was going on,” he said. “Higher fuel scarcity and higher fuel prices would actually have been the inevitable outcome of these blockades.”

Police had warned of arrests and began breaking up protests Saturday, using pepper spray to help clear people from the Whitegate refinery in County Cork and vowing to remove others who were endangering critical infrastructure and public safety because gas shortages could prevent response by emergency services.

Officers ordered trucks and tractors blocking O’Connell Street, the main thoroughfare in the capital of Dublin, to clear out early Sunday. On the other side of the country, police clashed with demonstrators to reopen the Galway docks after a military vehicle was used to knock down a makeshift barrier.

Protesters at a fuel depot in County Limerick voted to end their action Sunday and demonstrators at Rosslare Europort in Wexford agreed to begin letting trucks leave the port that is jammed with cargo that couldn’t be moved.

“It’s just a pity that we had to escalate a protest to this level to bring our government to the table to get fairness for every working person around this country,” Neilus O’Connor, an agricultural contractor, told national broadcaster RTE, outside the Foynes depot.

Protests began Tuesday and grew as word spread on social media, with truckers, farmers, and taxi and bus operators taking part and calling for help — such as price caps or tax cuts — to bring down fuel costs they say will drive people out of business.

Government officials, who had already introduced measures to ease the burden of price rises a few weeks ago, were baffled over the rationale behind the protests because the global price spike is due to the Middle East conflict that restricted oil exports.

More than a third of gas pumps had run dry by Saturday, but the reopening of the refinery and removal of roadblocks at fuel depots was expected to begin reversing the shortage, though it could take up to 10 days to fully recover, Fuels for Ireland chief executive Kevin McPartlan said.

The rare Sunday Cabinet meeting to finalize the relief measures came as the coalition government faces new political pressures from rivals critical of their handling of the crisis.

Sinn Fein, the largest opposition party, said it would call for a no-confidence vote in the coalition government. Holly Cairns of the Social Democrats said her party would support the vote.

“They have lost the confidence of the public," Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said. "It is clear that they still are not listening and do not accept the scale of this fuel and cost-of-living crisis.”

Unos 27 millones de ciudadanos estaban llamados a las urnas para elegir mandatario, dos vicepresidentes, los 130 miembros de la Cámara de Diputados y los 60 del Senado en el regreso a la bicameralidad luego de 30 años.

La elección transcurrió con problemas logísticos ya que varios centros de votación abrieron sus puertas con retraso porque no había llegado el material electoral, lo que generó malestar entre las personas que hacían largas filas para entrar.

Debido a ello, las autoridades electorales ampliaron una hora más el horario de votación, hasta las 18 hora local, luego de reconocer problemas en la distribución de la papeletas con los nombres de los candidatos.

El presidente interino de Perú José María Balcázar dijo a la radio local RPP que los comicios se desarrollaron con tranquilidad a excepción de las personas que no pudieron sufragar y adjudicó la responsabilidad a la Oficina Nacional de Procesos Electorales, organizadora de los comicios y autónoma del Poder Ejecutivo, porque, según sostuvo, contrató a una empresa para el traslado del material electoral.

“Es una cosa inaudita y estamos exigiendo un proceso disciplinario investigativo...El derecho constitucional se ha visto perjudicado”, afirmó el mandatario, quien aseguró que "en lo que se refiere a la forma en que debe hacerse la votación (el lunes) está garantizada por las fuerzas armadas”.

El contratiempo impidió que 52.251 ciudadanos pudieran sufragar en Lima, con lo que el tribunal electoral peruano ordenó el domingo por la noche que el lunes lo hagan y que se disponga la misma medida para los que peruanos que se vieron imposibilitados de depositar sus votos en Estados Unidos, cuyo número no fue especificado.

En un comunicado las autoridades señalaron que las mesas de votación estarán abiertas desde las 7 horas hasta las 18 horas en 13 colegios públicos de los distritos capitalinos de San Juan de Miraflores, Lurín y Pachacámac.

También habrá mesas electorales disponibles en Orlando, Florida, y Paterson, Nueva Jersey, donde viven comunidades peruanas.

Diversos aspirantes a la presidencia —entre ellos la derechista Keiko Fujimori, de Fuerza Popular— criticaron a Piero Corvetto, el jefe de la organización de los comicios.

Es difícil establecer con qué velocidad se llevará a cabo el conteo de votos; cerca de las 23.00 horas poco más del 23% de las actas electorales habían sido escrutadas.

Candidatos sin alta intención de voto

Según sondeos privados previos, ninguno de los postulantes lleó con alta intención de voto a estas elecciones en las que el sufragio era obligatorio.

En un contexto de incertidumbre, varias encuestas indicaron que Fujimori —hija del fallecido expresidente Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000)— encabezaba la intención de voto con 15%. La dirigente política promete combatir la delincuencia con las Fuerzas Armadas y construir nuevas cárceles. Sin embargo, la suma del voto nulo, en blanco e indeciso lideraba las proyecciones.

Detrás de Fujimori se ubicaban cinco postulantes separados por pocos puntos porcentuales entre sí. Entre ellos están dos exalcaldes de Lima: Ricardo Belmont (1989-1995) del Partido Cívico Obras, un nacionalista que asegura que renegociará los contratos de explotación de recursos naturales, y Rafael López-Aliaga (2021-2025), de Renovación Popular, un millonario que promete créditos a los pequeños empresarios a través del banco estatal.

Para ganar en primera vuelta un candidato a presidente debe obtener el 50% más uno de los votos válidos. Si ningún postulante consigue esa cantidad de sufragios, el 7 de junio se realizará una segunda vuelta entre los dos más votados.

La inseguridad, mayor preocupación

Perú atraviesa una crisis política que ha provocado el desfile de ocho presidentes y tres Congresos en una década y un incremento de la delincuencia que los ciudadanos identifican como su mayor preocupación.

Los electores se quejan además del aumento del costo de vida y de la persistente corrupción.

La enfermera Heidy Justiniano, de 33 años y madre de una niña, dudaba a quién votar el domingo por la mañana frente a la escuela pública Santa Rosa de Lima.

“Mucha delincuencia, mucho asalto en cada esquina; a un chofer (de un medio de transporte) lo mataron; lo que ahorita más nos importa es la seguridad, la vida de cada persona”, dijo Justiniano a The Associated Press.

En el último quinquenio las denuncias por extorsión —un delito que ha provocado protestas y paralizaciones frecuentes del transporte público— se han quintuplicado, mientras que los asesinatos se han duplicado, de acuerdo con datos oficiales. El costo de la criminalidad consume 1,7% del PBI, el equivalente a unos 5.000 millones de dólares anuales, lo que actúa como un impuesto que asfixia el consumo y la inversión privada, según cálculos del Ministerio de Economía.

On a recent morning, Alexandre Joseph, 35, fretted about his family’s future in a loud voice, attracting the attention of passersby in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital.

“The government raised the prices of gasoline, diesel and kerosene, hitting my family. I now am unable to feed my two children on the salary I have,” he said.

The conflict in Iran has caused oil prices in Haiti to surge, disrupting critical supply chains, doubling transportation costs and forcing millions of undernourished people to cut back on already scarce meals.

Haiti, the most impoverished country in the Western Hemisphere, has been hit the hardest by rising oil prices that experts warn will deepen a spiraling humanitarian crisis.

‘One of the most fragile countries in the world’

On April 2, Haiti’s government announced a 37% increase in the cost of diesel and a 29% increase in the cost of gasoline.

“The consequences are huge,” said Erwan Rumen, deputy country director for the United Nations World Food Program in Haiti. “It’s one of the most fragile countries in the world.”

Almost half of Haiti’s nearly 12 million inhabitants already face high levels of acute food insecurity. In recent months, Rumen noted, about 200,000 people dropped from the emergency phase to the acute one, a significant milestone.

“What is a bit frightening is to see that so many efforts could be basically wiped out by things that are completely out of our control,” he said. “This part of the population is extremely fragile. They’re on the verge of collapsing completely.”

Gang violence has exacerbated hunger, with armed men controlling key roads and disrupting the transportation of goods. An increase in food prices will only worsen hunger in a country where gangs easily recruit children whose families need food and money.

Emmline Toussaint, main coordinator of Mary’s Meals’ BND school-feeding program in Haiti, said that gas stations in some regions are selling fuel 25% to 30% higher than even what the government stipulated because of gang violence and difficulties with trucks trying to access certain areas.

She said the U.S.-based nonprofit is forced to use boats and take longer and multiple roads to feed the 196,000 children they serve across Haiti to avoid armed groups.

“The humanitarian crisis that we’re facing right now is at its worst,” she said. “So far, we are doing our best not to step back. Now, more than ever, the kids need us. … Most of them, it’s the only meal they receive.”

‘Everything will go up’

Fedline Jean-Pierre, a soft-spoken mother of a 7-year-old boy, sat under the shade of a tattered beach umbrella as she mulled increasing the prices of carrots, tomatoes and other produce she sells at an outdoor market in Port-au-Prince.

“People are not buying now because they don’t have money,” she said, noting she likely won’t have a choice but to increase prices to survive. “I have a child to feed.”

The 35-year-old mother said she and her son have lived for two years in a cramped and unsanitary shelter, among the record 1.4 million Haitians displaced by gang violence in recent years.

“The government doesn’t do anything for me,” she said. “Gas is up now, meaning everything will go up.”

Street vendor Maxime Poulard buys charcoal from suppliers to resell at a higher price. Occasionally he sells two bags of charcoal a day, but he thinks he soon will only be able to afford to buy half a bag to resell.

“Traveling is expensive; eating is expensive; everything is expensive,” he said. “I’m not sure if I will be able to hold on much more.”

Nearly 40% of Haitians are surviving on less than $2.15 a day, according to the World Bank. Meanwhile, Haiti’s economy contracted for the seventh consecutive year, with inflation reaching 32% at the end of fiscal year 2025.

Joseph, the factory worker, said he plans to sell soft drinks at night out of his home to try and earn more money, but even then, that won’t be enough: “We’re also going to reduce the way we normally eat.”

‘Impossible tradeoffs’

On April 6, Haitians dragged burning tires and other debris to block streets and protest the increase in fuel prices in Port-au-Prince, of which an estimated 90% is controlled by gangs.

Local media reported gunfire as some Haitians forced the drivers of small colorful buses known as tap-taps to disembark their passengers.

Marc Jean-Louis, a 29-year-old tap-tap driver, said passengers are increasingly bartering fares, but he can’t afford to offer discounts.

“All the money is going toward gas,” he said as he called on the government to reduced prices “so that everyone can breathe.”

Haitians fear more violence as the country’s poverty and hunger deepens.

Rumen, with the U.N.’s World Food Program, said they’ve been unable to reach 60,000 people in Haiti’s central region who are awaiting aid. A powerful gang recently attacked the area, killing more than 70 people, according to the U.N.

“We’re going to have more needs and less resources,” he warned.

Allen Joseph, program manager for Mercy Corps in Haiti, said rising oil prices are crushing the country’s fragile economy: “The families already spending most of their income on food will face impossible tradeoffs.”

He warned the increase will affect access to basic services, including potable water.

“This is not an abstract inflation,” he warned. “It will directly impact survival.”

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Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Neighbors are preparing for street closures and a cloud of dust as crews get ready for the controlled implosion.

“It’s never easy saying goodbye to an old friend,” said Michael Ragan, who lives nearby. “The Mandarin Oriental has been a significant part of Brickell Key. They’ve always treated us really well here.”

After 26 years, engineers will implode the hotel to make way for a larger redevelopment project.

Residents say they’ve been kept informed ahead of time.

“They’ve been pretty organized,” said Alex Boulder. “The bridge has been cleaned and everything. They gave us a lot of notice.”

On Saturday, people gathered to take photos of the waterfront property one last time, capturing what many call an iconic part of the Miami skyline.

Officials say the implosion will last about 20 seconds, with the building collapsing inward.

No evacuations are required, but those in the immediate area are being asked to stay indoors, keep windows shut and turn off air conditioning units during the demolition.

Few residents expressed concern. Police and fire crews will be on standby in case of emergencies.

Miami Police Department said the entrance to Brickell Key will be closed from 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Sunday.

The controlled implosion is scheduled for 8:30 a.m.

The legendary singer across genres died Sunday of multiple organ failure at Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai, Pratit Samdani, a physician at the hospital said. Her son, Anand Bhosle, told reporters that her last rites will be performed Monday.

Asha was admitted at the hospital on late Saturday with a chest infection and exhaustion, her granddaughter Zanai Bhosle said in a social media post.

Asha’s timeless voice resonated across a film-obsessed India for nearly eight decades, recorded on about 12,000 songs. She boldly embraced cabaret and Western-influenced melodies to forge a distinct musical identity that stood uniquely apart from her sister, Lata Mangeshkar, herself a legendary voice revered as the “Melody Queen.”

Asha’s death was widely condoled.

“I am deeply saddened” by her passing, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a social media post.

“Her unique musical journey spanning decades has enriched our cultural heritage and touched the hearts of countless people around the world,” Modi said. “From soulful melodies to spirited compositions, her voice carried a timeless brilliance.”

Born on Sept. 8, 1933, Asha Bhosle was initiated into music by her father Dinanath Mangeshkar, who was also a trained singer. All her four siblings became accomplished singers and musicians.

Asha's first marriage, in 1949, ended in separation in 1960. Her second marriage was to iconic music composer R.D. Burman in 1980. She is survived by a son and grandchildren.

Demise ran the 42.195 kilometers (26.2 miles) through the French capital in a personal-best time of 2 hours, 18 minutes and 34 seconds, shaving more than a minute off the previous women’s fastest time in Paris.

The 30-year-old Demise reached the finish on Avenue Foch opposite the Arc de Triomphe ahead of compatriot Misgane Alemayehu (2:19:08) and Kenya’s Magdalyne Masai (2:19:17).

The Ethiopian-born Crippa finished in 2:05:18, five seconds ahead of Bayelign Teshager of Ethiopia and 10 ahead of Sila Kiptoo of Ethiopia.

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AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday declared a 32-hour ceasefire over the Easter weekend, ordering Russian forces to halt hostilities from 4 p.m. on Saturday until the end of Sunday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised to abide by the ceasefire, but warned there would be a swift military response to any violations.

The General Staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said in a statement Sunday that it had recorded 2,299 ceasefire violations by 7 a.m., including assaults, shelling and small drone launches. It said that the use of long-range drones, missiles or guided bombs had not been reported.

A Ukrainian military officer told The Associated Press on Saturday that Russian forces had continued to attack their positions.

Russia’s Defense Ministry also said Sunday it had recorded 1,971 ceasefire violations by Ukrainian forces, including drone strikes. The head of Russia's Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said Sunday that rescuers uncovered the bodies of two civilians who were killed in a Ukrainian attack on Saturday afternoon.

Ceasefire skepticism

Outside Kyiv, thousands gathered at an open-air national heritage park to celebrate Easter despite skepticism that a truce would hold.

Worshippers clustered outside wooden churches to take part in the annual blessing of baskets for the holiday table. Families carried dyed eggs and paska cakes baked the night before, while many women wore colorful scarves. Some waited for the blessing as others picnicked on the grass.

Irena Bulhakova expressed her doubts over prospects for peace, especially as previous attempts to secure ceasefires have had little or no impact. “Every time a ceasefire is announced for a holiday, the shelling continues regardless,” she said.

But she still reflected on the holiday’s meaning: “Good triumphs over darkness, and we hope for that very much.”

Father Roman, a Ukrainian army chaplain who led the blessing ceremonies, described Easter as a moment of faith shared by Ukrainians in their identity and future.

“We are defending our borders. We are defending our identity,” he said. “We are a free people who live on this territory. We have faith, deep traditions and historical heritage. It’s all about the identity of Ukrainians.”

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his wife Olena spent Sunday visiting children who has lost parents fighting in the war.

“They greeted us with smiles that are priceless. We must do everything so that the children of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for Ukraine never lose faith in the world,” Zelenskyy wrote in an online post.

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

Donaldson died in the state's capital, Hobart, a royal statement said, without giving further details. It said that his health had been declining over the past few years, and that the queen last visited him at the end of March.

John Dalgleish Donaldson, born in Scotland on Sept. 5, 1941, was a professor of applied mathematics.

Mary became Denmark's queen in January 2024 after two decades as crown princess when her husband became the Scandinavian country's monarch. He was proclaimed King Frederik X following the abdication of his mother, Queen Margrethe II.

Frederik and Mary met during the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. They married in 2004.

Sunday's statement quoted Mary as saying that “my heart is heavy.”

“But I know that when the grief settles, the memories will brighten my day, and what will remain strongest is love and gratitude for everything he gave me and taught me,” she added.

Mary's mother, Henrietta Clark Donaldson, died in 1997. Her father married Susan Moody in 2001.

The statement said the family will hold a private memorial service for Donaldson “at a later date.”

Alexandre Joseph, de 35 años, se angustió en voz alta por el futuro de su familia una mañana reciente, atrayendo la atención de transeúntes en Puerto Príncipe, la capital de Haití.

“El gobierno subió los precios de la gasolina, el diésel y el queroseno, afectando a mi familia. Ahora no puedo alimentar a mis dos hijos con el salario que tengo”, manifestó.

El conflicto en Irán ha provocado que los precios del petróleo se disparen en Haití, alterando cadenas de suministro críticas, duplicando los costos de transporte y obligando a millones de personas desnutridas a recortar comidas ya de por sí escasas.

Haití, el país más empobrecido del hemisferio occidental, ha sido el más golpeado por el aumento de los precios del petróleo, que según advierten expertos agravará una crisis humanitaria creciente.

"Uno de los países más frágiles del mundo"

El gobierno de Haití anunció el 2 de abril un aumento del 37% en el costo del diésel y del 29% en el costo de la gasolina.

“Las consecuencias son enormes”, afirmó Erwan Rumen, subdirector de país del Programa Mundial de Alimentos de las Naciones Unidas en Haití. “Es uno de los países más frágiles del mundo”.

Casi la mitad de los cerca de 12 millones de habitantes de Haití ya enfrenta altos niveles de inseguridad alimentaria aguda. En los últimos meses, señaló Rumen, unas 200.000 personas pasaron de la fase de emergencia a la fase aguda, un hito significativo.

“Lo que da un poco de miedo es ver que tantos esfuerzos podrían, básicamente, quedar borrados por cosas que están completamente fuera de nuestro control”, expresó. “Esta parte de la población es extremadamente frágil. Está al borde de colapsar por completo”.

La violencia de las pandillas ha agravado el hambre, ya que hombres armados controlan carreteras clave y alteran el transporte de mercancías. Un aumento en los precios de los alimentos sólo empeorará el hambre en un país donde las pandillas reclutan con facilidad a niños cuyas familias necesitan comida y dinero.

Emmline Toussaint, coordinadora principal del programa de alimentación escolar BND de Mary’s Meals en Haití, dijo que las gasolineras en algunas regiones están vendiendo combustible incluso entre un 25% y un 30% por encima de lo que estipuló el gobierno debido a la violencia de las pandillas y a las dificultades de los camiones para acceder a ciertas zonas.

Indicó que la organización sin fines de lucro con sede en Estados Unidos se ve obligada a usar embarcaciones y a tomar rutas más largas y múltiples caminos para alimentar a los 196.000 niños a los que atienden en todo Haití, con el fin de evitar a los grupos armados.

“La crisis humanitaria que estamos enfrentando ahora mismo está en su peor momento”, sostuvo. “Hasta ahora, estamos haciendo todo lo posible por no retroceder. Ahora, más que nunca, los niños nos necesitan. … Para la mayoría de ellos, es la única comida que reciben”.

"Todo va a subir"

Fedline Jean-Pierre, un mujer amable con un hijo de 7 años, se sentó a la sombra de una sombrilla de playa raída mientras consideraba aumentar los precios de las zanahorias, los tomates y otros productos que vende en un mercado al aire libre en Puerto Príncipe.

“Ahora la gente no compra porque no tiene dinero”, comentó, y señaló que probablemente no tendrá otra opción que subir los precios para sobrevivir. “Tengo un hijo al que alimentar”.

La mujer, de 35 años, contó que ella y su hijo han vivido durante dos años en un refugio estrecho e insalubre, dentro de la cifra récord de 1,4 millones de haitianos desplazados por la violencia de las pandillas en los últimos años.

“El gobierno no hace nada por mí”, afirmó. “Ahora subió la gasolina, lo que significa que todo va a subir”.

El vendedor ambulante Maxime Poulard compra carbón a proveedores para revenderlo a un precio más alto. En ocasiones vende dos sacos de carbón al día, pero cree que pronto solo podrá permitirse comprar medio saco para revender.

“Viajar es caro; comer es caro; todo es caro”, dijo. “No estoy seguro de que pueda aguantar mucho más”.

Casi el 40% de los haitianos sobrevive con menos de 2,15 dólares al día, según el Banco Mundial. Mientras tanto, la economía de Haití se contrajo por séptimo año consecutivo, con una inflación que alcanzó el 32% al final del año fiscal 2025.

Joseph, el obrero de fábrica, dijo que planea vender refrescos por la noche desde su casa para intentar ganar más dinero, pero aun así no será suficiente: “También vamos a reducir la forma en que normalmente comemos”.

"Decisiones imposibles"

El 6 de abril, los haitianos arrastraron neumáticos en llamas y otros escombros para bloquear calles y protestar por el aumento de los precios del combustible en Puerto Príncipe, donde se estima que las pandillas controlan el 90% de la ciudad.

Medios locales informaron de disparos mientras algunos haitianos obligaban a los conductores de pequeños autobuses coloridos conocidos como tap-taps a bajar a sus pasajeros.

Marc Jean-Louis, un conductor de tap-tap de 29 años, dijo que los pasajeros están regateando cada vez más las tarifas, pero él no puede permitirse ofrecer descuentos.

“Todo el dinero se va en gasolina”, dijo, al tiempo que pidió al gobierno que reduzca los precios “para que todos puedan respirar”.

Los haitianos temen más violencia a medida que se profundizan la pobreza y el hambre en el país.

Rumen, del Programa Mundial de Alimentos de la ONU, dijo que no han podido llegar a 60.000 personas en la región central de Haití que están esperando ayuda. Una poderosa pandilla atacó recientemente la zona y mató a más de 70 personas, según la ONU.

“Vamos a tener más necesidades y menos recursos”, advirtió.

Allen Joseph, gerente de programas de Mercy Corps en Haití, dijo que el aumento de los precios del petróleo está aplastando la frágil economía del país: “Las familias que ya gastan la mayor parte de sus ingresos en alimentos se enfrentarán a decisiones imposibles”.

Advirtió que el aumento afectará el acceso a servicios básicos, incluido el agua potable.

“Esta no es una inflación abstracta”, alertó. “Impactará directamente en la supervivencia”.

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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.

Romuald Wadagni, the 49-year-old finance minister and governing coalition standard-bearer, is considered Talon’s anointed successor for the seven-year term. Wadagni is being challenged by Paul Hounkpè, the sole opposition candidate.

Nearly 8 million are registered to vote across more than 17,000 polling stations in the West African nation. Benin had over 15 million people in 2024, and like many sub-Saharan African countries, its population is overwhelmingly young.

Vote counting began Sunday afternoon after the polls closed, with results expected within 48 hours.

Turnout has been low in recent years, and polling stations in Cotonou, the largest city, were sparsely attended throughout the morning. The city was quiet as the election began, with public demonstrations banned on election day, but stores and streets remain open.

Analysts widely expect Wadagni to win after a parliamentary election in January, during which the opposition failed to cross the 20% threshold required to win seats, leaving Talon’s two allied parties in control of all 109 seats in the National Assembly.

Hounkpè said that he would accept the result depending on the transparency and fairness of the electoral process. “As for transparency and fairness, it is normal that, if it is done properly, we will accept the results,” he said after the polls had closed.

Renaud Agbodjo, leader of the Democrats, was barred from competing after failing to secure a sufficient number of parliamentary endorsements — a threshold critics say was engineered to keep rivals out.

Wadagni has touted the country's economic growth during his decade as finance minister as his key strength. Benin’s economy grew 7% last year, making it one of West Africa’s steadiest performers.

“Ten years at the Finance Ministry have given him something rare in African politics: a quantified record — verifiable and difficult to dismantle in a serious debate,” said Fiacre Vidjingninou, political analyst at the Lagos-based Béhanzin Institute.

Talon said Sunday he was “leaving office with the feeling of having given my best, of having led the country to take some steps forward in all areas.” He added: “Whatever the outcome of the vote, Benin has reached a milestone in its history.”

While Benin has historically been among the most stable democracies in Africa, opposition leaders and human rights organizations have accused Talon of using the justice system as a tool to sideline his political opponents.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have denounced a sustained crackdown on dissent under Talon, citing arbitrary detentions, tighter restrictions on public demonstrations, and mounting pressure on independent media outlets.

Protests over the rising cost of living sprang up in recent years, but the government and security forces clamped down on any dissent.

Beverly Ochieng, an analyst at the Control Risks Group consulting firm, told The Associated Press that, in the event of a Wadagni victory, the new government will likely continue Talon's policies aimed at positioning Benin as a stable investment environment, while facing a largely constrained opposition.

“Wadagni may want to avert a crisis in confidence by first consolidating power then engaging in dialogue with opponents to demonstrate goodwill,” Ochieng said.

In December, a group of military officers attempted to topple Talon’s government in a failed coup, the latest in a series of recent military takeover attempts across Africa. Most attempted coups follow a similar pattern of disputed elections, constitutional upheaval, security crises, and youth discontent.

Among the coup leaders’ key complaints was the deterioration of security in northern Benin.

For years, Benin has faced spillover violence in its north from neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger in their battle against the al-Qaida-affiliated extremist group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, or JNIM.

The tri-border area has long been a hotbed for extremist violence, a trend worsened by the lack of security cooperation with Niger and Burkina Faso, both now led by military juntas.

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McMakin Contributed from Dakar

The Taiwan Work Office under China’s Communist Party issued a statement saying it would explore setting up a longstanding communication mechanism between the Communist Party and Taiwan’s Kuomingtang Party. It said it will facilitate the import of Taiwan’s aquaculture products that it had previously banned.

Cheng Li-wun, the head of the Kuomingtang, and China’s President Xi Jinping held a high-profile meeting Friday during which they called for peace, without offering specifics. China claims the island as part of its territory and hasn't ruled out the use of force to annex it.

Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, which oversees the relationship with China, said the measures that were announced, such as promoting a communication mechanism, were “political transactions" between the two parties that circumvented the government of Taiwan.

“The government’s position is clear: to ensure the interests of the nation and its people, all Cross-Strait affairs involving public power must be negotiated by both governments on an equal and dignified basis to be effective and truly protect the rights and well-being of the people,” the Mainland Affairs Council said in response to the Chinese announcement.

Relations between China and Taiwan, which remain split since 1949, have been tense since the election of pro-independence President Tsai Ing-wen from the Democratic Progressive Party in 2016. Beijing cut off most of its official dialogue with Taiwan's government, and has started sending warships and fighter jets closer toward the island on a daily basis.

In the statement, China said it plans to resume direct flights between Taiwan and mainland cities like Xi'an or Urumqi, although it remained unclear how the measures will be implemented without the approval of the Taiwanese government.

China banned its citizens from individual trips to Taiwan in 2019. Taiwan's rules now require Chinese visitors to hold a valid resident visa from another country, like the U.S. or the European Union, to apply for a visitor visa.

China also said it would work toward construction of a bridge that would connect the mainland to Matsu and Kinmen, Taiwanese islands that are closer geographically to China. The project is a longstanding proposal that Beijing has previously announced.

China banned the import of Taiwanese pineapples in 2021, and since then has extended it to other fruits and products including the grouper fish, squid and tuna.

After the initial ban on grouper, Taiwan’s Ministry of Agriculture said it approached China about making adjustments to ensure it met import requirements. China replied with a limited list of individual companies that were allowed to sell to China, but without explanation.

U.S. Central Command announced the blockade would involve all Iranian ports, beginning on Monday at 10 a.m. EDT, or 5:30 p.m. in Iran, to be “enforced impartially against vessels of all nations.”

However, CENTCOM said it would still allow ships traveling between non-Iranian ports to transit the strait. Its announcement was a step down from the president’s earlier threat to blockade the entire strait, and allows traffic to flow in the crucial waterway as long as it avoids Iranian ports.

Trump wants to weaken Iran’s key leverage in the war after demanding that it reopen the strait to global traffic on the waterway where 20% of global oil transited before fighting began.

That traffic has been limited even in the days since the ceasefire. Marine trackers say over 40 commercial ships have crossed since the start of the ceasefire.

A U.S. blockade could further rattle global energy markets.

Oil prices rose in early market trading after the blockade announcement. The price of U.S. crude rose 8% to $104.24 a barrel, and Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 7% to $102.29. Brent crude cost roughly $70 per barrel before the war in late February.

Later Sunday, Trump extended his feud over the war with Pope Leo XIV, lashing out in a TruthSocial post that called the Catholic leader “terrible on foreign policy.” The extraordinary broadside came after Leo denounced the war and demanded that political leaders stop and negotiate peace.

Iran says ‘if you fight, we will fight’

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard later said the strait remained under Iran’s “full control” and was open for non-military vessels, but military ones would get a “forceful response,” two semi-official Iranian news agencies reported.

During the 21-hour talks this weekend in Pakistan, the U.S. military said two destroyers had transited the strait ahead of mine-clearing work, a first since the war began. Iran denied it.

Trump’s plan to use the Navy to block the strait is unrealistic and he will have to concede on some issues with Iran, said Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer in security studies at Kings College London. “There isn’t any tool in the toolbox in terms of the military lever that he could use to get his way,” Krieg said.

Trump said Tehran’s nuclear ambitions were at the core of the talks' failure. In comments to Fox News, he again threatened to strike civilian infrastructure.

Iranian parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, who led Iran’s side in the talks, addressed Trump in a new statement on his return to Iran: “If you fight, we will fight.”

No word on what happens after ceasefire expires

The face-to-face talks that ended early Sunday were the highest-level negotiations between the longtime rivals since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Neither indicated what will happen after the ceasefire expires on April 22.

“We need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon,” said Vice President JD Vance, leading the U.S. side.

Iranian negotiators could not agree to all U.S. “red lines,” said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to describe positions on the record. These included Iran never obtaining a nuclear weapon, ending uranium enrichment, dismantling major enrichment facilities and allowing retrieval of its highly enriched uranium, along with opening the Strait of Hormuz and ending funding for Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthi rebels.

Iranian officials said talks fell apart over two or three key issues, blaming what they called U.S. overreach. Qalibaf, who noted progress in negotiations, said it was time for the United States “to decide whether it can gain our trust or not.”

Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said his country will try to facilitate a new dialogue in the coming days. Iran said it was open to continuing dialogue, state-run IRNA news agency reported.

The European Union urged further diplomatic efforts. The foreign minister of Oman, located on the Strait of Hormuz's southern coast, called for parties to “make painful concessions." The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin “emphasized his readiness” to help bring about a diplomatic settlement in a call with Iran's president.

Iran's nuclear program is a key sticking point

Iran’s nuclear program was at the center of tensions long before the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28. The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, 2,055 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states, and damaged infrastructure in half a dozen countries.

Tehran has long denied seeking nuclear weapons but insists on its right to a civilian nuclear program. The landmark 2015 nuclear deal, which Trump later pulled the U.S. out of, took well over a year of negotiations. Experts say Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium, though not weapons-grade, is only a short technical step away.

An Iranian diplomatic official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of closed-door talks, denied that negotiations had failed over Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Inside Iran, there was new exhaustion and anger after months of unrest that began with nationwide protests against economic issues and then political ones, followed by weeks of sheltering from U.S. and Israeli bombardment.

“We have never sought war. But if they try to win what they failed to win on the battlefield through talks, that’s absolutely unacceptable,” Mohammad Bagher Karami said in Tehran.

Elsewhere in the region, airstrikes calmed over the past day except in Lebanon.

More questions as Israel presses ahead in Lebanon

Iran’s 10-point proposal for the talks called for a halt to Israeli strikes on the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel has said the ceasefire did not apply there, but Iran and Pakistan said it did.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited parts of southern Lebanon under Israeli control on Sunday, for the first time since the current fighting. Attacks on southern Lebanon have intensified alongside the ground invasion renewed after Hezbollah launched rockets toward Israel in the war’s opening days.

Negotiations between Israel and Lebanon are expected to begin Tuesday in Washington after Israel’s surprise announcement authorizing talks despite their lack of official relations. Israel wants Lebanon to assume responsibility for disarming Hezbollah, but the militant group has survived efforts to curb its strength for decades.

The day the Iran ceasefire deal was announced, Israel pounded Beirut with airstrikes, killing more than 300 people, according to the Health Ministry.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported six people were killed Sunday in Maaroub village near the coastal city of Tyre.

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Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank, Boak from Miami and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers E. Eduardo Castillo in Beijing; Collin Binkley and Ben Finley in Washington; Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut; Brian Melley in London; Ghaya Ben MBarek in Tunis; Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City and Mae Anderson in New York contributed to this report.

The prizes celebrating achievements in theater, opera and dance are Britain’s equivalent of Broadway’s Tony Awards.

Based on Michael Bond’s stories about a duffel-coated bear seeking a new home in London, “Paddington The Musical” was written by playwright Jessica Swale and songwriter Tom Fletcher of the band McFly.

Bond’s books have been much-loved since the 1950s¸and in recent years Paddington has become a British icon through three successful movies and an on-screen appearance with Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, just weeks before her death.

The musical has proved a major success since it opened in November, with audiences embracing the cuddly central character, brought to life through a blend of live acting and puppetry.

Its Olivier wins included a joint best actor in a musical award for James Hameed and Arti Shah, who together play the role. Hameed provides the voice and remote puppetry, while Shah — the first woman to win a best-actor Olivier — inhabits the bear costume onstage.

Hameed urged people to embrace the Paddington stories' message of welcoming immigrants and strangers. “Paddington reminds us to be welcoming, inquisitive and most importantly, kind,” he said.

Cast members Tom Edden and Victoria Hamilton-Barritt won the supporting performer prizes, and the show also took trophies for director Luke Sheppard and for both set and costume design.

Sheppard hinted that this “love letter to London” could one day be Broadway-bound. “It would be a dream for Paddington to pack his suitcase and visit some other cities around the world,” the director said backstage. “So watch this space.”

‘Exhilarating risk’

Rachel Zegler was named best actress in a musical for her starring role in “Evita.” Playing Argentine first lady Eva Peron, Zegler performed the song “Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina” on an exterior balcony, attracting large crowds to the street every night while theatergoers inside watched on screens.

A much-praised production of Stephen Sondheim’s twisted fairy tale journey “Into the Woods” won the prize for best musical revival, and a second award for lighting.

In the nonmusical categories, Rosamund Pike was named best actress for playing a judge forced to question the justice system and her own ethics in “Inter Alia.” She said doing the one-woman show, her first stage play in 14 years, was an “exhilarating risk.”

Jack Holden took the best actor prize for playing multiple roles in small-town murder mystery “Kenrex.”

“All My Sons” was named best revival, with Paapa Essiedu winning the best supporting actor trophy for Arthur Miller’s classic drama.

Julie Hesmondhalgh took home the best supporting actress prize for “Punch.” The true-life crime and redemption story, which had a Broadway run last year, was also named best new play

Playwright James Graham said it had been “one of the honors of my life” to dramatize the story of Jacob Dunne, who killed another man with a single punch in a fight but went on to reconciliation with the victim’s family. Graham was joined onstage by Dunne and the victim’s mother, Joan Scourfield.

Two significant anniversaries

The Olivier Awards were founded in 1976 and named after the late actor-director Laurence Olivier. The winners are chosen by voting groups of stage professionals and theatergoers.

“Ted Lasso” star Nick Mohammed hosted the 50th anniversary edition of the awards at a star-studded ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall, where Ian McKellen, Helen Mirren, Vanessa Williams and Andrew Lloyd Webber were among the trophy presenters.

The ceremony included performances from nominated musicals and numbers marking two significant anniversaries: 40 years of Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera,” and 20 years of “Wicked” in the West End.

Elaine Paige, star of hit musicals including “Cats,” “Evita,” “Sunset Boulevard” and “Piaf,” received this year’s Special Award.

The upbeat ceremony reflected the mood of London theater, which is celebrating a strong post-pandemic return. The Society of London Theatre, an industry umbrella group, says ticket sales have surpassed the levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic. Shows in the West End — the collective name for London’s theaterland — attracted 17.6 million visitors in 2025, 3 million more than Broadway.

But there are concerns about rising ticket prices and soaring production budgets, fueled by higher costs for labor, materials and energy.

“Theaters are busier than ever, but many are operating with far less financial headroom,” the society said in a report published last month.

That didn't make Sunday at Augusta National any easier.

McIlroy coughed up a six-shot lead in the third round. He fell two shots behind two players, Cameron Young and Justin Rose, in an electric final round. And then he delivered two big birdies around Amen Corner to join more elite company.

A year ago, his playoff victory over Rose made McIlroy only the sixth player with the career Grand Slam. With another green jacket, McIlroy joined Tiger Woods, Nick Faldo and Jack Nicklaus as the only repeat winners of the Masters.

“I thought it was so difficult to win last year because of trying to win the Masters and the Grand Slam, and then this year I realized it’s just really difficult to win the Masters,” McIlroy said after holding on for a one-shot victory over Scottie Scheffler. “Just incredible.”

As usual, he kept everyone on edge until the very end.

His wedge barely cleared the false front of the par-5 15th, a shot that could have been disastrous. His putt from behind the 16th green made a sharp turn down the slope to inches away save par. He saved par with a tough chip on the 17th. Staked to a two-shot lead, his tee shot on the 18th wound up closer to the 10th fairway.

“I’d say walking off the 18th tee not knowing where my ball was, that was the moment of greatest stress,” McIlroy said.

He drilled 8-iron around the trees into a bunker, blasted out to 12 feet and took two putts for bogey and a 1-under 71. He thrust both arms in the air and made good on a promise.

“My parting message last year was I can't wait to come back and put the jacket on myself,” McIlroy said at the trophy presentation. “I wasn't quite correct.”

For the first time since Woods won back-to-back in 2002, it was left to the Augusta National chairman — Hootie Johnson for Woods, Fred Ridley for McIlroy — to do the honors. “It still fits,” McIlroy said.

Better than ever.

He now has six majors, tied with Faldo, Lee Trevino and Phil Mickelson. And that sense of freedom he brought back to Augusta National as a champion carried him to the finish line.

McIlroy seized control for good with a bold shot over Rae’s Creek to 7 feet for birdie on the par-3 12th. Then he blistered a 350-yard drive on the par-5 13th — he had been in the trees the previous three rounds — that set up another birdie to move three shots ahead.

He finished at 12-under 276.

President Donald Trump congratulated McIlroy on social media as he flew back to Washington from Florida.

“With each year, Rory is becoming more and more a LEGEND!” Trump wrote. McIlroy’s next tournament is likely to be the Cadillac Championship in two weeks at Trump Doral outside Miami.

It was more heartache for Rose, and frustration for the others who had a chance.

Rose had a two-shot lead that evaporated around Amen Corner with two bogeys and a three-putt par. He had to settle for a third close call at the Masters.

Young lost his two-shot lead much earlier with a long three-putt bogey on the par-3 sixth and taking bogey on the next hole when he hit wedge from the fairway into a bunker. One shot behind going to the back nine, Young closed with nine straight pars.

“There is no negative to take away other than obviously I would’ve loved a different result,” Young said. “I pretty much had a birdie chance on every hole and didn’t make any. That’s how it goes sometimes.”

As for Scheffler, the world's No. 1 player was in position to shatter the Masters record with the largest 36-hole comeback in history. He was 12 behind going into the weekend. He was two shots behind as he approached the turn. But he ran off 11 straight pars, and that wasn't going to cut it during a final round with accessible pins to create excitement.

Scheffler had to settle for his third runner-up finish in the majors to go along with four titles. His 65-68 weekend made him the first player since 1942 to go bogey-free on the weekend at Augusta.

“I put up a good fight in order to give myself a chance,” Scheffler said.

Rose, at age 45 trying to become the second-oldest Masters champion behind Jack Nicklaus (46) in 1986, made a most improbable birdie with a shot out of the trees to a foot on the seventh. That was the start of three straight birdies to close out the front nine and give him the lead.

But his approach to the 11th was well to the right and he failed to save par. His tee shot on the 12th was long, and his delicate chip didn't reach the green, leading to another bogey. And his 30-foot eagle putt on the par-5 13th ran 8 feet by the hole and he missed the birdie putt.

“Chance that got away,” Rose said. “I was by no means free and clear and was nowhere kind of close to having the job done, but I was right in position. ... I was playing great, but just momentum shifted for me around the Amen Corner.”

That's where McIlroy thrived. No shot at Augusta is more terrifying that the par-3 12th with the deceptive, swirling wind. McIlroy said he thought back to a practice round at his first Masters in 2009 when Tom Watson told him to wait for the right wind and hit.

His three-quarter 9-iron aimed at the middle bunker drifted more to the right that he imagined, but it turned out perfect, closer than anyone all day.

“That was a really good golf shot at the right time,” he said. “Huge shot in the tournament.”

Once tormented by his chase for the green jacket, McIlroy is now a two-time winner whose love for the Masters only deepens.

He was so ecstatic a year ago that he asked the media when it was over, “What are we going to talk about next year?” Now the topic is easy. No one has ever won three in a row.

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf