Back-to-back earthquakes in Venezuela have killed nearly 1,500 people and left thousands injured.

Cars lined up early Tuesday as people dropped off supplies, with some traveling hundreds of miles to contribute.

Justo Piaero drove from Raleigh, North Carolina, making the two-day trip to be the first person in line.

As a Venezuelan, Piaero said seeing videos from his home country has been devastating, and he wanted to find a way to help.

“It’s a trip that I never like to do, but it’s something we have to do. We have to help the people in need, and this is total disaster in my country,” Piaero said.

The effort in Doral brought together volunteers and donors who said they were moved to help in any way they could.

Rosalina Castro, a volunteer, said she felt she needed to do something after seeing the suffering.

“I’m heartbroken still I felt the need to come out and do something at least something so small is coming to move pallets and water,” Castro said.

Volunteers spent hours moving boxes and supplies through the South Florida heat, saying the work was powered by a desire to support people in need.

For donor Cristy Paulick, seeing the community come together was emotional.

“It’s heartbreaking, it breaks my heart, but I’m happy to see everybody coming together to do this it’s heartfelt and heartwarming as well,” Paulick said.

Organizers said the donations represent more than just supplies — they represent hope for people affected by the crisis.

Click here for more information on multiple drop-off locations across South Florida collecting goods and supplies for victims.

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According to arrest reports, officers identified the suspects as Terrance Beron Sills, 19, Jayden Cereus, 18, both of Fort Lauderdale, and Kevin Peeples, 18, of Miami.

Police said officers were on patrol around 11:30 p.m. Thursday after receiving a be-on-the lookout alert for a gray Honda Accord that had been linked to multiple smash-and-grab burglaries in Pinecrest and repeatedly detected by automated license plate reader cameras throughout the village.

According to the reports, an officer spotted the vehicle near Southwest 122nd Street and Southwest 67th Avenue.

Investigators said the driver was wearing a black ski mask over the lower half of his face before pulling it down. They also confirmed that the driver, Cereus, turned off the car’s headlights and began reversing after noticing a marked police vehicle.

Officers said they stopped the Honda and detained all three occupants without incident.

According to the reports, officers found three automotive window punch tools, multiple pairs of gloves and black ski masks in plain view inside the car. Police said the tools are commonly used to quickly shatter vehicle windows during burglaries.

After being advised of their Miranda rights, the three suspects gave conflicting explanations about why they were in Pinecrest, according to the reports.

Police said Peeples told investigators the group was “staying at a hotel far from here,” and were looking for an Airbnb to rent in Pinecrest, but officers later contacted the homeowner at the address on his phone, who said they were not expecting anyone and did not know the suspects.

According to the reports, Sills, who told officers the Honda belonged to him, admitted the window punch tools were his but claimed he kept them in case he locked his keys inside the car.

Police said Sills also stated the group had driven from Fort Lauderdale “to look for cars” before refusing to answer additional questions.

Investigators said Cereus told officers the group had been driving around Pinecrest for about 30 minutes but also claimed the hotel where they were staying was about an hour away.

They said based on the car’s connection to previous burglaries, repeated license plate reader alerts, the items recovered from the car and the suspects’ conflicting statements, officers arrested all three men.

Police have not disclosed how many valuables or how much property was stolen in the burglaries linked to the thefts.

Jail records show Sills, Cereus and Peeples each face one count of possession of burglary tools and one count of loitering or prowling.

As of Friday, all three suspects are being held on a $5,100 bond at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

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

The ruling from U.S. District Judge Joseph LaPlante found that the request to provide the state’s voter registration list did not comply with a section of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 pertaining to federal election records. His ruling, issued Monday, also found that the Justice Department failed to allege any violation under the Help America Vote Act of 2002, which established standards for states’ voting systems and voter registration lists.

That prevents "allowing the Attorney General unrestricted access to New Hampshire’s (voter list) to conduct a line-by-line audit to assess a ‘possible’ violation of a federal statute,” wrote LaPlante, an appointee of former President George W. Bush.

New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan, a Republican, welcomed the ruling.

“I am committed to protecting the private information of New Hampshire voters to the fullest extent required by law," he said in a statement.

The dismissal in New Hampshire brings to 10 the number of states where the Justice Department has lost similar cases. The department has sued to force release of detailed state voter data — which includes dates of birth, addresses, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers — in 30 states and the District of Columbia.

In addition to New Hampshire, judges have rejected those attempts in Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin. In Georgia, a judge dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit because it had been filed in the wrong city, prompting the government to refile elsewhere.

In explaining their push for the records, federal officials have said they need the voter data to ensure that states are complying with federal election laws related to maintaining voter registration lists, even though states already have detailed processes to do that. In the case out of Rhode Island, a Justice Department attorney acknowledged that the department was seeking unredacted voter roll information so it could be shared with the Department of Homeland Security to check citizenship status.

Democratic and some Republican officials have objected to the Justice Department requests for detailed voter data and said such a demand violates state and federal privacy laws.

At least 13 states have either provided or promised to provide their voter registration lists to the department, according to the Brennan Center for Justice and Associated Press reporting: Alaska, Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming.

“I have this file on my phone of Indian dishes or weird words.” Coffin says. “People come up to me and say, ‘You should say that!’ and I write it down.”

“The hardest thing,” adds Coffin, “is just to find the melody.”

It’s been 16 years since Coffin co-directed Illumination's “Despicable Me.” He has made three more movies in the franchise, directing “Despicable Me 2,” “Despicable Me 3” and “Minions.” But the Minions, like Coffin’s personal version of Frankenstein’s monster, have often remained a deviling, even mystifying force to him.

Coffin, a French Indonesian animator who lives in Paris, where Illumination productions are based, has struggled with both the dictates of Hollywood franchise-building and the strange narrative conundrums of movies based around a supervillain and gibberish-speaking henchmen.

“That’s why I kind of disappeared from the series,” Coffin said in a recent interview from Paris. “I mean, the first one was really good. A bad guy becoming a good guy after contact with three little girls, I could see it. The second one was a little bit more shady because it was like: That guy who’s no longer a bad guy falls in love and there’s a marriage at the end. That’s literally how Chris (Meledandri) pitched it to me. My French sensibility threw up a little bit.”

If you can’t tell, Coffin — the still-mischievous 59-year-old son of a French diplomat and an Indonesian novelist — is unusually candid about the franchise he helped create. Even movies that he directed, he’s highly critical of.

The previous “Minions” spinoff, 2022’s “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” Coffin won’t even talk about because, he says, “I don’t necessarily like it and it’s strange to me.” “Despicable Me 3,” the 2017 sequel was the last movie Coffin directed, but he says he didn't even want to make it. Afterward, Coffin told Meledandri, the Illumination chief executive, that he was done.

“I told him: I got to move on. I did my trilogy, my prequel — I’m good. I can help with the voices, no problem. But I want to move on,” Coffin says. “I worked on separate things, but I always get pulled back by the Minions.”

The Minions have a way of manipulating their bosses, Coffin included. After walking away from them, he's back for “Minions & Monsters,” the third standalone feature for the “Banana!”-shouting little guys.

“All the other ones I had doubts about. I was guided into a direction that I did not necessarily like or understand,” says Coffin of the previous sequels. “But the things were a huge success. I was humbled. OK, there has to be something I don’t understand.

“This one is horrible because I’m thinking I really like it,” Coffin says, laughing. “And I’m thinking, man, maybe I just killed the franchise.”

Making the Minions main characters

On the contrary, “Minions & Monsters,” which opens in theaters Wednesday, may be the best “Minions” movie yet. In it, the Minions turn filmmakers. Alongside Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, they try to make a monster movie in 1920s Hollywood.

The premise, suggested by Meledandri, was too enticing for Coffin to turn down. He even wanted to write the script, which he did with cowriter Brian Lynch. “Minions & Monsters” makes the yellow troublemakers something more than chaos-inducing sidekicks. They’re silent film stars who for the first time feel like actual protagonists.

“This movie has so much for people who were kids when they first encountered the Minions,” says Meledandri. “More than any previous Minion movie, it incorporates all of that wonderful silliness of the Minions but it's also a terrific story.”

Even after seven films and more than $5 billion in box office, the Minions are still revealing themselves to Coffin. They were, in the first place, a product of evolution. For “Despicable Me,” they were first designed like hulking thugs, then more like robots, then more like mole men. Coffin, Chris Renaud and art director Eric Guillon kept refining. Add in some goggles, overalls and names like Stuart and Kevin and, bingo: movie history.

How to speak Minionese

Yet given that the Minions are impossible to understood, except for a word or two, they make for tricky protagonists. Hand them over to a new boss, and you risk making the Minions second bananas again. At the same time, long sections of uninterrupted Minionese can grow tiresome without some human interpreter.

“If it’s too long and annoying to the ear, we just kill it,” Coffin says. “All of these movies, we do until we find the little formula.”

Even just writing for the Minions isn’t a clear process. Coffin, who voices all the Minions, is accustomed to improvising their dialogue back and forth. (For the first “Minions” movie, he'd begin his mornings with two hours alone with a microphone before commuting to the studio.) Putting pen to paper came less naturally.

“Brian didn’t know how to write them,” Coffin says. “He tried writing gibberish. I told him, ‘Don’t write gibberish. I don’t understand what they’re saying. Let’s write them in English.’ It took us a while to establish that dumb thing.”

Coffin can sound almost parental about the Minions. The characters he gave voice to aren’t just in the movies. They're like mascots for Illumination, generated billions in merchandising. Not every treatment nails their singular nature.

“I don’t want to criticize what the others have done with the Minions, but when someone else does something with the Minions, I feel that they’re considering them creatures,” Coffin says. “But they’re not creatures. They’re creatures with a spirit, with a personality.”

Even he’s still figuring them out. In writing “Minions & Monsters,” Coffin wanted to think about the origins of friendships. He began surveying people about how they met their best friends. Many of the replies inevitably went back to when someone was 8 or 10 years old.

“That made it very clear to us: The Minions are kids,” Coffins says. “I discovered that on this movie. It dawned on me. They’re irresponsible, they don’t listen, they make a mess, they don’t listen to authority. From that moment onward, it was very easy.”

The shooting happened near the McDonald’s at Stirling Road and the Davie Road Extension after deputies attempted to arrest the suspect, who authorities said was armed and fled from deputies.

Witnesses described hearing a rapid barrage of gunfire during the confrontation.

“They keep telling him to put his hands up – ‘Let me see your hands,’” witness Gregory Jackson said. “I guess the guy didn’t reply. Next thing I know, I hear almost 30 shots coming from the guns. I dropped my phone and ran.”

Jackson said he scrambled for cover as the shooting unfolded.

“Once I heard those gunshots, man, I went for cover,” he said. “I went to take cover up under my car, got skinned up in the process.”

On Tuesday, investigators returned to the scene, focusing their attention on the bushes and the fast food restaurant’s drive-thru as they searched for additional evidence.

“It was a crazy, horrific sight that I seen yesterday,” Jackson said. “I’ve never seen nothing like it.”

According to Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony, deputies initially encountered the suspect in the parking lot of a Wawa across the street while attempting to serve an active arrest warrant. He said the suspect ran from deputies while holding a gun.

Deputies pursued the man for roughly 100 feet before tackling him in an effort to take him into custody, Tony said.

According to the sheriff, the suspect was wanted for fleeing and eluding police and detectives believed DNA evidence may connect him to other crimes. He did not provide details about those investigations.

The sheriff also said investigators had intelligence indicating the suspect previously told others that if law enforcement attempted to arrest him, he intended to force a “suicide by police” confrontation.

It’s unclear whether the suspect fired his own gun during the confrontation.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting. Authorities have not yet released the suspect’s identity.

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The police scene was located outside A World of Discovery Academy, at 7025 Northwest Fourth Street in Plantation.

According to Plantation police, first responders arrived after receiving reports about a deceased child inside a vehicle.

Upon arrival, Plantation Fire Department crews located the vehicle and pronounced the boy dead at the scene, authorities said.

According to investigators, the boy’s father was told that his son was marked absent and had never been dropped off at the daycare.

Police say the father then opened the back of his SUV and discovered his son inside.

Leslie Novoa, the owner of A World of Discovery Academy, told Local 10’s Jeff Derderian that the boy comes from “a very loving family.”

“It’s a devastating situation for the family. I guess for the parents who have their kids come to this school -- when they came and saw all of this, the officers, that would be really, like, concerning,” Viviana Alarcon, who works nearby, said.

A mother whose children are also enrolled at the daycare, and who asked not to be identified, told Derderian that the boy and his family are in her prayers.

“I’m sorry and can’t imagine the loss. It’s devastating,” the mother said. “You never want to lose a child, and I know it’ll be hard to come to terms with that.”

Authorities have not confirmed any additional information, including the circumstances that led to the child’s death or whether anyone would be facing charges.

“I never heard anything bad about that school,” Alarcon said. “It honestly has a good reputation.”

His decision is perhaps the biggest domino that will fall during the NBA's offseason player movement window, alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo being traded by Milwaukee to Miami — one of James' former stops.

The Lakers released a statement Tuesday thanking James for his eight seasons with the club.

“LeBron James is one of the greatest athletes in history,” said Jeanie Buss, part of the Lakers’ ownership group. “We will always be thankful for his eight years with the Lakers, including the title he led us to in 2020 under the toughest imaginable circumstances, and the countless records he broke in purple and gold. We wish him all the best in the future, both on the court and off. He will always be a cherished part of the Lakers family.”

ESPN, citing James’ longtime agent and Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul, first reported James’ plans.

James can begin talking officially to new clubs after 6 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, when the league’s free agent period opens. He will not be able to sign with a new team until the league’s offseason moratorium is lifted on July 6.

A slew of options will be available to James on the open market, including Golden State. Longtime Warriors forward Draymond Green did not exercise his $27.6 million option for this coming season earlier this week in large part to allow his team flexibility to make other roster moves.

“Personally, I’m always willing to work with the team on whatever is best, especially at this point in my career,” Green said on the latest episode of his podcast, which was released Tuesday. “So my decision to opt out was for a few reasons. As you all know, I’ve always taken the approach of working with the organization. I’ve been in one place for 14 years. It’s more of a family to me than anything.”

It could be the move that convinces James to go to Golden State — a franchise he faced four times with Cleveland in the NBA Finals. He also has close relationships with Green, Stephen Curry and Warriors coach Steve Kerr.

James spent eight seasons with the Lakers, the longest he spent in one stint with one NBA team and led them to the 2020 NBA championship. He became the NBA’s all-time points leader while wearing a Lakers uniform and surpassed a slew of other records while in purple and gold.

He spent the first seven years of his career in Cleveland, then left for four years in Miami where he won the first two of his four championships. That was followed by another four-year stint with the Cavaliers, and in 2018 he joined the Lakers.

James is the NBA’s oldest active player; he turns 42 in December. He was the first player in league history to log 23 seasons; he’ll add at least one more to that this season. He also became the first player in the league to have a son as a teammate, with Bronny James playing alongside him with the Lakers.

The list of James’ accolades to this point are beyond comparison.

He’s a 22-time All-Star, a 21-time All-NBA selection, a four-time Most Valuable Player, a four-time NBA Finals MVP, a three-time All-Star Game MVP, and was part of the NBA’s 75th anniversary team. He’s coming off a season where he averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 7.2 assists per game, and for his career, he’s averaged 26.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 7.4 assists in more than 1,600 games.

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

Lauderhill Fire Rescue officials said the stabbing happened near a home in the 5300 block of Northwest 19th Street.

Authorities said a man in his mid-to-late 20s, who has not yet been identified, was pronounced dead at the scene. They said another man in his early 60s was transported to Broward Health Medical Center as a trauma alert.

Sky 10 flew over the scene just after 12:20 p.m., where officers were investigating.

No other details about the stabbing were immediately released.

Local 10 has reached out to the Lauderhill Police Department for more information.

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The Atlantic Fire, which began Sunday as a fire covering just a few hundred acres, rapidly expanded across the Everglades west of the Sawgrass Expressway near Atlantic Boulevard.

While the fire showed little visible activity Tuesday, officials stressed that it remains an active wildfire.

Aerial images from Sky 10 showed a large swath of charred landscape where the fire has burned through the Everglades.

The Florida Forest Service described current conditions as “low fire activity,” but warned that the blaze could become more active as temperatures rise throughout the day.

Firefighters remained at the scene Tuesday, closely monitoring the fire’s behavior as heat and drier conditions could cause flames to intensify and produce large plumes of smoke.

One of the biggest concerns earlier in the firefighting effort was the fire’s proximity to the Sawgrass Expressway. Crews conducted strategic prescribed burns, also known as back burns, to remove vegetation that could have fueled the fire’s spread toward the highway. Those efforts helped protect the roadway from the advancing flames.

Officials said moisture in the soil has helped limit fire activity, but that moisture is expected to evaporate as the day warms, increasing the potential for the fire to flare up again.

The Florida Forest Service said the Atlantic Fire is now 50% contained.

Investigators have also determined the fire was sparked by lightning.

El incendio Atlantic Fire, que comenzó el domingo como un fuego que cubría solo unos pocos cientos de acres, se expandió rápidamente por los Everglades al oeste de la Sawgrass Expressway cerca de Atlantic Boulevard.

Aunque el incendio mostró poca actividad visible el martes, las autoridades enfatizaron que sigue siendo un incendio forestal activo.

Imágenes aéreas de Sky 10 mostraron una gran franja de paisaje carbonizado donde el fuego ha quemado los Everglades.

El Servicio Forestal de Florida describió las condiciones actuales como “baja actividad de fuego”, pero advirtió que el incendio podría volverse más activo a medida que las temperaturas aumenten durante el día.

Los bomberos permanecieron en la escena el martes, monitoreando de cerca el comportamiento del fuego, ya que el calor y las condiciones más secas podrían hacer que las llamas se intensifiquen y produzcan grandes columnas de humo.

Una de las mayores preocupaciones al inicio del esfuerzo de extinción fue la proximidad del fuego a la Sawgrass Expressway. Las cuadrillas realizaron quemas controladas estratégicas, también conocidas como “back burns”, para eliminar vegetación que pudiera haber alimentado la propagación del fuego hacia la autopista. Esos esfuerzos ayudaron a proteger la vía de las llamas en avance.

Los funcionarios dijeron que la humedad en el suelo ha ayudado a limitar la actividad del fuego, pero se espera que esa humedad se evapore a medida que avanza el día, aumentando el potencial de que el incendio se reactive.

El Servicio Forestal de Florida dijo que el incendio Atlantic Fire ahora está 50% contenido.

Los investigadores también determinaron que el incendio fue provocado por un rayo.

El progresista Cepeda, quien ejercerá la oposición desde una banca en el Senado tras perder en el balotaje presidencial, explicó en una declaración a la prensa que la desobediencia “implica no reconocer la autoridad de alguien que no responde a la defensa de la soberanía nacional”.

Cepeda, aliado político del presidente saliente Gustavo Petro, instó a sus más de 12 millones de electores a que también entren en desobediencia en caso de que De la Espriella no ceda ante las condiciones, lo que implicaría que desconozcan “cualquier orden” dada por el presidente electo.

De la Espriella, de 47 años, nació en la capital de Colombia y en su edad adulta recibió la ciudadanía estadounidense. Según dijo en la campaña a The Associated Press también es miembro del Partido Republicano.

Los cuestionamientos sobre su doble nacionalidad han orbitado su campaña, tanto por las críticas de Cepeda y Petro, quienes cuestionan su lealtad a Colombia, como por un grupo de juristas que antes del balotaje advirtieron que sus obligaciones como presidente colombiano entrarían en “radical contradicción” con las adquiridas en Estados Unidos como ciudadano.

El abogado y empresario De la Espriella ha dicho que su compromiso es con Colombia y que la Constitución no impide tener otras nacionalidades, sino que exige haber nacido en Colombia y tener más de 30 años de edad para ejercer como presidente.

Cepeda también cuestionó el apoyo político que De la Espriella recibió del presidente estadounidense Donald Trump durante la campaña, al considerarlo una “abierta interferencia” al proceso electoral en Colombia.

A su juicio, De la Espriella no debería posesionarse como presidente hasta que renuncie a su ciudadanía estadounidense y aclare otros temas relacionados con Estados Unidos, a riesgo de que su posesión quede “viciada por ser ilegal e ilegítima”.

La sombra de Saab

Cepeda pidió que De la Espriella aclare si fue o es “colaborador o miembro de agencias de seguridad" de Estados Unidos, argumentando que en su ejercicio como abogado contribuyó a los acercamientos con las autoridades de ese país y Alex Saab, un aliado cercano del derrocado presidente venezolano Nicolás Maduro que enfrenta problemas con la justicia estadounidense.

De la Espriella dijo en campaña a la AP que lo dejó de representar hace aproximadamente siete años. Explicó entonces que sus "contactos con las fiscalías, con los agentes de la DEA, de la CIA, del FBI, siempre fue por los temas de Saab, pero para que él negociara, cosa que no quiso hacer".

Cepeda también pidió a De la Espriella que cese “toda persecución contra el presidente Petro y desistir de cualquier intento de extraditarlo”.

De la Espriella dijo a AP que estaría dispuesto a enviar en extradición a Petro en caso de que fuera requerido por Estados Unidos y avancen investigaciones en etapas iniciales que cursan en ese país.

En los últimos meses fiscales en Brooklyn y Manhattan han estado interrogando a narcotraficantes sobre sus vínculos con Petro y, en particular, sobre acusaciones de que representantes del presidente colombiano solicitaron sobornos para bloquear su extradición a Estados Unidos, según una persona con conocimiento de la investigación que no estaba autorizada a hablar sobre la investigación en curso y habló en marzo con AP bajo condición de anonimato.

It’s the latest legal case targeting an African country over a deal it signed with the Trump administration to accept deportees who aren’t its own citizens.

The lawsuit was filed at a regional court, the Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States. The coalition includes the Global Strategic Litigation Council, a network of lawyers and advocates.

It’s the first case ever brought under a 1979 regional treaty that guarantees free movement across West Africa.

The case represents 27 people among the at least 60 the U.S. has deported to Ghana since September 2025 as part of an agreement between the governments. Ghana agreed to take in deportees, hold them and arrange their onward removal, despite most of them having received orders of protection by U.S. judges against being deported to their home countries, according to a statement by the coalition.

According to Tuesday’s statement, most of the 27 people were flown from Ghana to their home countries within hours or days of arriving, despite telling Ghanaian authorities about their U.S. protections. Some described being shackled during the flight from the U.S. Once in Ghana, they said they were held under armed guard in military camps, hotels and airport holding cells, often in poor conditions.

The coalition accuses Ghana of violating non-refoulement, which is the international legal principle barring countries from sending people to places where they face persecution or torture.

A spokesperson for Ghana's government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Ghana is one of at least nine African nations to strike third-country deportation deals with the U.S.

Under the often-secret agreements, the Trump administration has deported thousands of people to nearly two dozen countries that are not their own, advocates say, as part of the U.S. crackdown on immigration. Immigration lawyers say the administration uses deportations to third countries as a legal loophole to indirectly force asylum-seekers back to their home countries.

Medical evaluations cited in the new lawsuit found signs of post-traumatic stress and severe depression in several of the 27 people involved.

The lawsuit asks the regional court to stop further transfers, force Ghana to release the deal’s terms, award damages and bar the country from making similar agreements in the future.

Earlier this month, rights lawyers filed a case against Equatorial Guinea, another African country that signed a deal with the U.S., before Africa’s top human rights body, accusing the country of forcing deportees from the U.S. back to their home countries in violation of their rights.

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Banchereau reported from Dakar, Senegal.

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Accused of killing her uncle, former Surfside Commission candidate Shannon Gallagher, 56, went before a judge while working to get her criminal charges dropped.

She’s accused of homicide in the death of 74-year-old Thomas Burke, who was found shot in the head in Fort Lauderdale back in March 2022.

Court documents show the victim signed a last will and testament just days before he died, leaving everything to Gallagher, who was his caretaker at the time.

Gallagher maintains her uncle’s death was by suicide.

Gallagher is a California licensed attorney, though not a criminal defense attorney, and is a well-known resident of Surfside.

She argued that Fort Lauderdale police investigators did not preserve the most important evidence in the case, which is home surveillance video showing her terminally-ill uncle’s final hours.

It’s unclear when the judge will rule on her request.

Acusada de matar a su tío, la ex candidata a la Comisión de Surfside, Shannon Gallagher, de 56 años, se presentó ante el juez mientras busca que se desestimen los cargos criminales en su contra.

Se le acusa de homicidio por la muerte de Thomas Burke, de 74 años, quien fue encontrado con un disparo en la cabeza en Fort Lauderdale en marzo de 2022.

Documentos judiciales muestran que la víctima firmó un testamento pocos días antes de morir, dejando todo a Gallagher, quien era su cuidadora en ese momento.

Gallagher sostiene que la muerte de su tío fue un suicidio.

Gallagher es una abogada con licencia en California, aunque no es abogada penalista, y es una residente conocida de Surfside.

Argumentó que los investigadores de la policía de Fort Lauderdale no preservaron la evidencia más importante del caso, que es el video de vigilancia del hogar que muestra las últimas horas de su tío enfermo terminal.

No está claro cuándo el juez emitirá una decisión sobre su solicitud.

The justices said Tuesday they will hear appeals challenging bans on the AR-15 and similar semiautomatic firearms in Connecticut and the Chicago area.

Similar laws are in place in about a dozen states, covering major cities like New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Congress allowed a national assault weapons ban to expire in 2004, but Democrats have supported renewing it in response to a series of mass shootings. States have also continued to pass their own laws, including recent measures in Virginia and Rhode Island.

It is the latest high-profile dispute over guns to reach the court since its conservative majority handed down a landmark ruling in 2022 that expanded Second Amendment rights and spawned challenges to firearm laws around the country.

Arguments are expected to be heard in the fall.

The Connecticut law was passed after a mass shooter used an AR-15 to kill 26 children and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012. The state says the guns are a preferred weapon of mass shooters, and they can be banned because they are similar to military-grade weapons.

“These laws are critical public safety measures, and they are consistent with the Second Amendment," said Janet Carter, managing director of Second Amendment litigation at the gun-control group Everytown Law.

Gun rights groups, on the other hand, argue it’s unconstitutional to ban semiautomatic rifles, which are legally owned by millions of Americans.

“The Second Amendment protects arms in common use for lawful purposes, and it’s hard to argue that a type of rifle that potentially outnumbers Ford F-150 trucks in America doesn’t meet that standard,” said Adam Kraut, executive director of the Second Amendment Foundation.

Four conservative justices on the nine-member court, enough to grant review of a case, had signaled that it was only a matter of time before the court took up the issue.

The ban in Cook County, Illinois, was first passed in 1993. Lower courts have upheld both laws.

“If the Second Amendment does not protect the most popular rifles in the country, it is hard to see how it protects any firearms at all,” aside from handguns kept in the home, the challengers wrote.

Attorneys for Cook County, on the other hand, say the measure does pass constitutional muster. "The trauma that assault weapon massacres have inflicted on the public at large has been staggering,” they wrote.

The Supreme Court backed Second Amendment rights in two cases this term, striking down gun carry restrictions in Hawaii and a broad federal ban on gun ownership by marijuana users. They've previously upheld some restrictions, including a law barring people under domestic-violence restraining orders from having guns.

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Healy Pack Senior GSD Sanctuary announced Tuesday that Nico has been released from Broward County Animal Care into the care of the sanctuary, its veterinary team and a dedicated foster family.

Officials said the transfer followed discussions between Broward County Animal Care, Healy Pack Senior GSD Sanctuary and the Miami Coalition Against Breed Specific Legislation.

According to the sanctuary, Nico will continue receiving comprehensive veterinary evaluations and treatment that began while he was in Broward County Animal Care’s custody.

“Today is a victory for the voiceless,” Sandy Vogel, board president of Healy Pack Senior GSD Sanctuary, said in a statement. “After a lifetime marked by neglect, suffering and cruelty, he deserves every opportunity to receive comfort, dignity and love.”

Vogel said the organization’s veterinary team and foster family will evaluate Nico’s condition and provide the care needed to determine the best path forward.

“We do not know what the future holds, but we do know this: Nico will never again be alone or without people fighting for him,” Vogel said.

Broward County Animal Care Director Doug Brightwell said the agency was pleased to reach an agreement that puts Nico in a specialized rescue environment.

“After careful review and productive discussions with Healy Pack Senior GSD Sanctuary, we are pleased to have reached a resolution that allows Nico to receive continued evaluation, veterinary care and placement in a specialized rescue environment,” Brightwell said in a statement.

Nico’s case drew widespread attention after Pembroke Pines police confirmed the arrest of 60-year-old Humberto Exposito on animal cruelty charges.

According to police, surveillance video showed Exposito throwing the elderly German shepherd several feet from the back of a box truck last Wednesday while making a delivery to a Sedano’s Supermarket in the 10300 block of Pines Boulevard.

Investigators said Exposito completed the delivery and left the dog behind without food, water or shelter.

A Broward County Animal Care spokesperson said Nico was malnourished, had matted fur and suffered from several serious medical conditions, including advanced hip dysplasia and cancer. The dog was also unable to walk when they found him.

Jail records show Exposito faces charges of aggravated animal cruelty, animal abandonment and confining an animal without sufficient air exchange.

He has since been released from jail after posting a $12,000 bond.

As a condition of his release, a judge ordered that he not own or possess any animals.

Donations for Nico’s care can be made by clicking here.

Healy Pack Senior GSD Sanctuary anunció el martes que Nico fue liberado de Broward County Animal Care y puesto bajo el cuidado del santuario, su equipo veterinario y una familia de acogida dedicada.

Las autoridades dijeron que la transferencia se realizó tras conversaciones entre Broward County Animal Care, Healy Pack Senior GSD Sanctuary y la Miami Coalition Against Breed Specific Legislation.

Según el santuario, Nico continuará recibiendo evaluaciones veterinarias integrales y tratamiento que comenzó mientras estaba bajo la custodia de Broward County Animal Care.

“Hoy es una victoria para los que no tienen voz”, dijo en un comunicado Sandy Vogel, presidenta de la junta directiva de Healy Pack Senior GSD Sanctuary. “Después de una vida marcada por la negligencia, el sufrimiento y la crueldad, merece cada oportunidad de recibir comodidad, dignidad y amor”.

Vogel dijo que el equipo veterinario de la organización y la familia de acogida evaluarán la condición de Nico y proporcionarán la atención necesaria para determinar el mejor camino a seguir.

“No sabemos qué depara el futuro, pero sí sabemos esto: Nico nunca volverá a estar solo ni sin personas que lo defiendan”, dijo Vogel.

El director de Broward County Animal Care, Doug Brightwell, dijo que la agencia estaba satisfecha de haber alcanzado un acuerdo que coloca a Nico en un entorno de rescate especializado.

“Después de una revisión cuidadosa y conversaciones productivas con Healy Pack Senior GSD Sanctuary, nos complace haber llegado a una resolución que permite que Nico reciba evaluación continua, atención veterinaria y colocación en un entorno de rescate especializado”, dijo Brightwell en un comunicado.

El caso de Nico atrajo amplia atención después de que la policía de Pembroke Pines confirmara el arresto de Humberto Exposito, de 60 años, por cargos de maltrato animal.

Según la policía, un video de vigilancia mostró a Exposito lanzando al pastor alemán anciano varios pies desde la parte trasera de un camión de caja mientras realizaba una entrega en un supermercado Sedano’s en el bloque 10300 de Pines Boulevard.

Los investigadores dijeron que Exposito completó la entrega y dejó al perro atrás sin comida, agua ni refugio.

Un portavoz de Broward County Animal Care dijo que Nico estaba desnutrido, tenía el pelaje enmarañado y sufría varias condiciones médicas graves, incluyendo displasia avanzada de cadera y cáncer. El perro tampoco podía caminar cuando lo encontraron.

Los registros de la cárcel muestran que Exposito enfrenta cargos de maltrato animal agravado, abandono de animal y confinamiento de un animal sin suficiente ventilación de aire.

Desde entonces ha sido liberado de la cárcel tras pagar una fianza de $12,000 USD.

Como condición de su liberación, un juez ordenó que no pueda tener ni poseer animales.

Las donaciones para el cuidado de Nico pueden realizarse haciendo clic aquí.

Varios caballos deambulaban sin supervisión por las afueras de la capital, Podgorica, sin refugio, agua ni comida. Con temperaturas que alcanzaban casi los 40 grados Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), los activistas expresaron temor por la salud de los animales.

“Esto está a solo 4 kilómetros (2,4 millas) del centro de la ciudad", expresó Marta Darmanovic, una activista de protección animal. "No está en medio de la nada”.

En toda Europa, el calor extremo ha batido récords de temperatura, ha sobrecargado los hospitales y ha dejado a la gente luchando por refrescarse. En Francia, las temperaturas de esta semana han sido más altas que las de la histórica ola de calor de 2003, a la que se atribuyeron 15.000 muertes, muchas de ellas de personas mayores.

Hungría rompió un récord nacional de calor que databa de 2007 cuando las temperaturas alcanzaron los 42 °C (107,6 °F) el martes, según cifras preliminares del Servicio Meteorológico Nacional.

En la capital de Montenegro, el área abierta donde se han reunido los caballos está cerca de un vertedero ilegal y de varios asentamientos improvisados. No estaba claro cómo llegaron allí los animales o si pertenecían a alguien.

“Es simplemente increíble que un país no tenga un refugio para animales grandes, para caballos confiscados, ganado confiscado, ganado extraviado y animales silvestres", declaró Darmanovic. "Montenegro ha legalizado de hecho el maltrato animal porque no ha proporcionado ni siquiera la infraestructura mínima necesaria para que se hagan cumplir las normas”.

La nación adriática de 620.000 habitantes intenta incorporarse a la Unión Europea para 2028. Los países candidatos a la UE deben contar con leyes que regulen el bienestar animal para poder ingresar.

Branko Kovacevic, jefe de la Administración de Inspección Municipal de Podgorica, indicó que las autoridades de la ciudad han establecido refugios para perros y gatos y que su organismo ahora intenta abordar el tema de los animales grandes dentro de las normas vigentes.

“Siguen apareciendo caballos y algunos otros animales domésticos abandonados", explicó Kovacevic. "En la medida en que la ley lo permita, nos ocuparemos del problema”.

Kovacevic argumentó que “lamentablemente, nadie es responsable” de proporcionar agua o comida a los animales.

Aunque Montenegro y el resto de los Balcanes están más acostumbrados al calor veraniego que países como Gran Bretaña o Francia, las autoridades han aconsejado a la población permanecer en interiores y beber mucha agua. Las temperaturas en la región están previstas a bajar más tarde el martes y el miércoles.

En la ciudad croata oriental de Osijek, a los animales del zoológico local les estaban sirviendo helado hecho de fruta y carne. Un empleado del zoológico contó a HRT que los monos eligen quedarse en interiores y descansar.

“Les gustan las sandías frías, los melones y las uvas", comentó el empleado, Zeljko Busljeta. "También reciben limonada y té frío”.

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

Scorching temperatures, especially combined with high humidity, pose risks particularly for children, older people and those with certain health conditions. Anyone can suffer from heat-related illness.

Climate change is also exacerbating heat waves and heat stress.

So here are some tips to stay safe:

When heat becomes dangerous

Dangers posed by hot weather depend on more than the temperature. The most detailed measurement is called the wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT), which includes temperature, humidity, cloud cover and wind. The heat index, which measures temperature and humidity, is less descriptive but easier to find on weather apps. Both explain why a shaded soccer field on a 90 degree F day (32 degree C) in arid Phoenix may be less risky than an exposed park on an 80 degree F (27 degree C) day in soupy Little Rock.

Just based on heat index, NOAA has a chart that calculates how dangerous prolonged exposure can be. For example, a day in which temperatures reach 96 degree F (36 degrees C) and 45% humidity would fall into the “danger” category for prolonged exposure or strenuous activity.

The WBGT threshold isn't exact, but recent research suggests that even some young, healthy people can't endure hours of exposure to high heat and humidity.

How to cool down

Overnight temperatures can be a particularly dangerous part of a heat wave, said Ashley Ward, director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub at Duke University.

“Your body needs a reprieve,” she said. “You don't get that overnight, we start the next day at a deficit.” Heat can worsen labor productivity and lead to more visits to the emergency room.

“When we have overnight temperatures that don't drop below 75 degrees" F (24 degrees C), she said, “you start to see some pretty extraordinary outcomes with respect to heat illness and heat stroke, and even mortality.”

Ward said air conditioning can help, but she acknowledged that not everyone has access.

If you can't afford to cool the whole house, Ward said, create a “cool corner" and sleep there, so your body is prepared to tackle the next day.

Evaporative or “swamp” coolers can help in dry heat, but they increase humidity and can make it more difficult to cool down. In humid places, just use a fan.

If you don't have air conditioning, find public places that do, including movie theaters, malls and libraries. Some communities set up cooling centers.

Depending on where you live, the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program can help you buy a window air conditioning unit, according to the National Council on Aging. Some local nonprofits and civic organizations can also help.

Know your rights if you work outside

Knowing what workplace protections you have is important. Some states have them, including Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Colorado, Minnesota and Maryland, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. Other states don't have any.

If your state has work rules, try to learn them — though there are still challenges to ensuring regulations are actually enforced, said Bharat Venkat, director of the University of California, Los Angeles Heat Lab.

He notes that sometimes shaded areas are too far away for workers to take breaks without losing wages, or that management can make it impossible for workers to advocate for themselves. “Most workers don’t actually have control over their time or control over where they work," Venkat said.

Within those constraints, finding ways to stay hydrated and lower your body temperature are important. You can do this by drinking lots of fluids, wetting clothing or putting cold water or a cold rag on your hands, feet, armpits and neck. A portable handheld fan or a cooling vest can also help.

If you're exercising, avoid the hottest times of day and bring more water than you think you need.

Knowing heat illness symptoms

Heat illness symptoms can vary by person, Venkat said. Medications or existing health conditions can also make it harder to regulate body temperature or notice you're getting too hot.

Early trouble signs include heavy sweating, muscle cramps and headache. That's when you stop what you're doing and cool yourself off, for example by splashing yourself with cold water or finding an air-conditioned space.

As heat exhaustion sets in, new symptoms arrive, including faster heart rate and dizziness. Next comes heat stroke, which can include confusion, slurred words and fainting. Ward said that's when to call 911.

“Don’t be embarrassed to call 911 or go to urgent care when you think you might have overdone it in the heat,” he said.

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Walling and Wells are former Associated Press reporters.

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

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But after sunset, Local 10 News documented something shoppers, employees and even the city’s mayor said they had no idea was happening.

Over several nights, Local 10 observed multiple people released from prison remaining overnight at or near the shopping center. Several individuals currently under Florida Department of Corrections supervision independently told Local 10 they are required to report to the area each evening and remain there overnight.

Some said they sleep in their vehicles. Others said they simply find a place to sit until morning.

The area offers no overnight restroom facilities, no shelter from the weather and no place to charge court-ordered electronic monitoring devices.

Local 10 approached numerous shoppers and employees. None agreed to be identified on camera. Several said they were surprised to learn what had been taking place after dark.

One shopper said public safety was the first concern that came to mind. Another said the public deserved to know what was happening.

Many of the individuals remaining overnight also declined interviews, saying they feared speaking publicly could affect their supervision. One man agreed to speak only if Local 10 concealed his identity.

Asked whether he was one of the people spending the night there, he replied, “Yes.”

When asked whether he had to remain there from 7 p.m. until 7 a.m., he answered, “Yeah. Twelve hours.”

He also said probation officers had conducted a compliance check at the shopping center earlier that day.

A second recently released offender, who is required to register as a sex offender, shared FDOC paperwork that he said was provided to him after his release from prison.

According to the offender, he did not have an approved place to live when he was released. He said he could not move in with relatives because residency restrictions prohibited him from living at that location.

He told Local 10 a probation officer gave him paperwork and instructed him where to report.

The Department document reviewed by Local 10 states the offender was “approved to reside” in the 2400 block of North Federal Highway.

The 2400 block of North Federal Highway is River Market.

The offender said he believed he was being sent to a shelter or halfway house. Instead, he said, he arrived at a shopping center.

Asked where he used the restroom during the night, he replied, “There wasn’t no bathroom.”

A family member told Local 10 that the family believed the state would provide some type of transitional housing. Instead, the family said they discovered the address on the paperwork corresponded to a shopping center, not a shelter or residential facility.

The family member said a probation officer told the offender to find a place behind one of the stores and remain there overnight. The family member also said questions about access to restrooms, shelter from rain and charging a court-ordered electronic monitoring device were never adequately answered.

The offender told Local 10 he would rather return to prison than spend another night there.

Local 10 also searched the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s public sex offender and predator registry.

That search identified approximately 180 transient registered sex offenders and sexual predators listing addresses between the 2400 and 2800 blocks of North Federal Highway and within approximately a 1-mile radius of River Market. The records span multiple years and identify numerous unrelated transient offenders reporting addresses along the same commercial corridor.

The FDOC declined Local 10’s request for an on-camera interview.

In a written statement, the Department said it “did not designate a business property as an offender’s residential address.”

The Department said offenders are responsible for identifying and reporting their residence to both the FDOC and the local sheriff’s office, while the Department verifies that a reported address complies with Florida law and local ordinances.

The Department also stated that offenders without traditional housing sometimes choose to stay in wooded areas, undeveloped land or other open spaces. Regarding the offender whose paperwork Local 10 reviewed, the Department said he “did not have a traditional housing structure” at the time of his release and has since relocated to what it described as a traditional residence.

Those statements differ from what Local 10 documented during its investigation.

Multiple individuals independently told Local 10 they were instructed to report to the River Market area and remain there overnight.

Local 10 also reviewed Department paperwork stating one offender was approved to reside in the 2400 block of North Federal Highway.

One individual also told Local 10 that probation officers had recently conducted a compliance check at the shopping center.

Because of those differences, Local 10 repeatedly asked the Department to explain how its written statement should be reconciled with the accounts provided by multiple individuals, the Department paperwork reviewed by Local 10, and the concentration of transient offenders reporting addresses along the same stretch of North Federal Highway.

Despite multiple follow-up requests seeking clarification before publication, the Department did not provide additional responses.

Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said he first learned about the situation only after Local 10 began asking questions.

“We’re absolutely surprised by this,” Trantalis said. “I just learned about this last week. This is the first time I’ve heard about it.”

The mayor said the situation was “not an appropriate solution” for people attempting to reintegrate into society after prison. He said the city manager immediately directed Fort Lauderdale police to begin looking into the matter.

After Local 10’s inquiries, the city of Fort Lauderdale said police are now in discussions with the FDOC regarding concerns raised by the investigation.

The city also said it is not aware of any circumstances in which the FDOC has directed offenders to reside in specific locations within Fort Lauderdale.

Local 10 also repeatedly contacted EDENS, the company that owns River Market, asking whether it knew individuals under FDOC supervision were reportedly spending nights on or around the property and whether anyone from the state had ever notified the company the property was being used in that manner.

After multiple emails and phone calls, a representative working with EDENS returned one of Local 10’s calls and asked about the investigation.

After Local 10 explained the reporting and outlined its questions, no additional response was provided before publication despite further follow-up attempts.

The investigation leaves several questions unanswered.

If offenders independently identify and report where they will live, as the Department states, how does the Department explain multiple individuals independently telling Local 10 they were instructed to report to the same commercial area each night?

How does the Department reconcile its written statement with Department paperwork stating one offender was approved to reside in the 2400 block of North Federal Highway?

And how did approximately 180 transient registered offenders and predators come to list addresses between the 2400 and 2800 blocks of North Federal Highway and within approximately a one-mile radius of River Market?

Those questions remain unanswered.

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According to two arrest reports from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, 25-year-old Josmanny Alexis Valdez was arrested Monday in connection with separate burglary investigations at Kendall Dodge, located at 13355 SW 137th Ave.

Authorities said the first investigation began after deputies responded to the dealership on May 15 following reports of multiple vehicle burglaries.

According to an arrest report, the dealership’s service manager discovered that infotainment systems had been stolen from Dodge Ram trucks parked in a fenced used-car lot where customers’ vehicles were being stored while awaiting service.

Investigators said Valdez and a second suspect, 25-year-old Celestino Ayala Jr., “cut an opening in the chain-link fence” before entering the lot and targeting Dodge Ram trucks from model years 2019 through 2026.

According to the report, the pair removed the infotainment systems from the unoccupied trucks and “cut the wiring harness” connecting the display screen to each vehicle, “leaving the vehicle permanently damaged.”

The report states that 18 Dodge Ram infotainment systems were stolen from vehicles belonging to 14 different victims. Investigators estimated each infotainment system was worth about $5,314, while the damage to each vehicle was approximately worth $1,087.

Detectives later searched Facebook Marketplace and found multiple Dodge Ram infotainment systems listed for sale, according to the report.

Investigators said the listings appeared on profiles under the names “Gio Valdez,” “Josmanny Valdes” and “Laylowjr Ayala,” all of which contained the same photographs.

The report states detectives were able to confirm that one of the systems advertised online had been stolen during one of the Kendall Dodge burglaries.

According to the report, detectives then conducted a “buy/bust operation” on May 28 after an undercover detective arranged to purchase two of the stolen infotainment systems for $500.

Investigators said surveillance teams watched as the suspects removed the systems from a blue Ford van before driving to Dolphin Mall to complete the transaction.

They said a subsequent search warrant executed on the van uncovered additional Dodge display screens and radio modules that were confirmed stolen from the dealership.

The arrest report also states that investigators gathered surveillance and other evidence showing the suspects “were in the area of the Dodge dealership throughout multiple dates.”

In the first case, Valdez faces five counts each of burglary of an occupied conveyance, grand theft of more than $3,000 while acting with others and criminal mischief causing more than $1,000 in damage, along with one count of burglary of an occupied structure, according to jail records.

A second arrest report filed in the investigation links Valdez to additional burglaries involving vehicles owned by Rocco’s Custom and Kendall Dodge.

According to that report, investigators again allege Valdez and Ayala entered the dealership’s fenced lot by cutting through the chain-link fence before removing infotainment systems from Dodge Ram trucks.

Detectives said the second case stemmed from the same broader investigation that included the Facebook Marketplace listings, undercover operation and recovery of stolen property.

In the second case, Valdez is facing two counts each of burglary of an unoccupied conveyance, grand theft of more than $3,000 while acting with others and criminal mischief, jail records show.

As of Tuesday, Valdez was being held on a $168,000 bond at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. Court records also show that several of his felony cases carry a Nebbia hold, meaning he must prove any money used to post bond came from a legitimate source before he can be released from custody.

Authorities said Ayala remains at large.

Anyone with information about the case or Ayala’s whereabouts is urged to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.

Durante el día, River Market es uno de los destinos comerciales más concurridos de Fort Lauderdale. Familias comen en restaurantes al aire libre. Clientes compran en Whole Foods, Sephora, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Lululemon y otros comercios a lo largo de North Federal Highway entre las avenidas Sunrise y Oakland Park.

Pero después del atardecer, Local 10 News documentó algo de lo que compradores, empleados e incluso el alcalde de la ciudad dijeron no tener conocimiento.

Durante varias noches, Local 10 observó a múltiples personas liberadas de prisión permaneciendo durante la noche en el centro comercial o sus alrededores. Varias personas actualmente bajo supervisión del Departamento de Correcciones de Florida dijeron de forma independiente a Local 10 que están obligadas a reportarse al área cada noche y permanecer allí hasta la mañana.

Algunos dijeron que duermen en sus vehículos. Otros dijeron que simplemente encuentran un lugar donde sentarse hasta el amanecer.

El área no ofrece instalaciones de baños durante la noche, ni refugio contra el clima, ni un lugar para cargar dispositivos de monitoreo electrónico ordenados por la corte.

Local 10 se acercó a numerosos compradores y empleados. Ninguno aceptó ser identificado en cámara. Varios dijeron que se sorprendieron al enterarse de lo que había estado ocurriendo después del anochecer.

Un comprador dijo que la seguridad pública fue la primera preocupación que le vino a la mente. Otro dijo que el público merecía saber lo que estaba ocurriendo.

Muchas de las personas que permanecen durante la noche también rechazaron entrevistas, diciendo que temían que hablar públicamente pudiera afectar su supervisión. Un hombre aceptó hablar solo si Local 10 ocultaba su identidad.

Al ser preguntado si era una de las personas que pasaban la noche allí, respondió: “Sí”.

Cuando se le preguntó si tenía que permanecer allí de 7 p.m. a 7 a.m., contestó: “Sí. Doce horas”.

También dijo que oficiales de libertad condicional habían realizado una verificación de cumplimiento en el centro comercial ese mismo día.

Un segundo delincuente recientemente liberado, quien está obligado a registrarse como delincuente sexual, compartió documentos del FDOC que dijo le fueron entregados tras su liberación de prisión.

Según el delincuente, no tenía un lugar aprobado para vivir cuando fue liberado. Dijo que no podía mudarse con familiares porque las restricciones de residencia le prohibían vivir en esa ubicación.

Le dijo a Local 10 que un oficial de libertad condicional le entregó documentos y le indicó dónde debía presentarse.

El documento del Departamento revisado por Local 10 establece que el delincuente estaba “aprobado para residir” en el bloque 2400 de North Federal Highway.

El bloque 2400 de North Federal Highway es River Market.

El delincuente dijo que creyó que lo estaban enviando a un refugio o casa de transición. En cambio, dijo, llegó a un centro comercial.

Al ser preguntado dónde usaba el baño durante la noche, respondió: “No había baño”.

Un familiar le dijo a Local 10 que la familia creía que el estado proporcionaría algún tipo de vivienda de transición. En cambio, la familia dijo que descubrieron que la dirección en los documentos correspondía a un centro comercial, no a un refugio ni a una instalación residencial.

El familiar dijo que un oficial de libertad condicional le dijo al delincuente que encontrara un lugar detrás de una de las tiendas y permaneciera allí durante la noche. El familiar también dijo que las preguntas sobre acceso a baños, refugio contra la lluvia y carga de un dispositivo de monitoreo electrónico ordenado por la corte nunca fueron respondidas de manera adecuada.

El delincuente le dijo a Local 10 que preferiría regresar a prisión antes que pasar otra noche allí.

Local 10 también buscó en el registro público de delincuentes sexuales y depredadores sexuales del Departamento de Cumplimiento de la Ley de Florida.

Esa búsqueda identificó aproximadamente 180 delincuentes sexuales registrados transitorios y depredadores sexuales que listan direcciones entre los bloques 2400 y 2800 de North Federal Highway y dentro de un radio aproximado de una milla de River Market. Los registros abarcan varios años e identifican a numerosos delincuentes transitorios no relacionados que reportan direcciones a lo largo del mismo corredor comercial.

El FDOC rechazó la solicitud de Local 10 de una entrevista en cámara.

En una declaración por escrito, el Departamento dijo que “no designó la propiedad de un negocio como la dirección residencial de un delincuente”.

El Departamento dijo que los delincuentes son responsables de identificar y reportar su residencia tanto al FDOC como a la oficina del sheriff local, mientras que el Departamento verifica que una dirección reportada cumpla con la ley de Florida y las ordenanzas locales.

El Departamento también indicó que los delincuentes sin vivienda tradicional a veces eligen permanecer en áreas boscosas, terrenos sin desarrollar u otros espacios abiertos. En cuanto al delincuente cuyos documentos revisó Local 10, el Departamento dijo que él “no tenía una estructura de vivienda tradicional” en el momento de su liberación y que desde entonces se ha mudado a lo que describió como una residencia tradicional.

Esas declaraciones difieren de lo que Local 10 documentó durante su investigación.

Varias personas dijeron de forma independiente a Local 10 que se les indicó que se presentaran en el área de River Market y permanecieran allí durante la noche.

Local 10 también revisó documentos del Departamento que establecían que un delincuente estaba aprobado para residir en el bloque 2400 de North Federal Highway.

Una persona también le dijo a Local 10 que oficiales de libertad condicional habían realizado recientemente una verificación de cumplimiento en el centro comercial.

Debido a esas diferencias, Local 10 solicitó repetidamente al Departamento que explicara cómo su declaración escrita debía reconciliarse con los relatos proporcionados por múltiples individuos, los documentos del Departamento revisados por Local 10 y la concentración de delincuentes transitorios que reportan direcciones a lo largo del mismo tramo de North Federal Highway.

A pesar de múltiples solicitudes de seguimiento para aclaración antes de la publicación, el Departamento no proporcionó respuestas adicionales.

El alcalde de Fort Lauderdale, Dean Trantalis, dijo que se enteró de la situación solo después de que Local 10 comenzó a hacer preguntas.

“Estamos absolutamente sorprendidos por esto”, dijo Trantalis. “Me enteré de esto la semana pasada. Es la primera vez que escucho sobre esto”.

El alcalde dijo que la situación no era “una solución apropiada” para personas que intentan reintegrarse a la sociedad después de la prisión. Dijo que el administrador de la ciudad ordenó de inmediato a la policía de Fort Lauderdale que comenzara a investigar el asunto.

Tras las consultas de Local 10, la ciudad de Fort Lauderdale dijo que la policía ahora está en conversaciones con el FDOC respecto a las preocupaciones planteadas por la investigación.

La ciudad también dijo que no tiene conocimiento de circunstancias en las que el FDOC haya ordenado a delincuentes residir en ubicaciones específicas dentro de Fort Lauderdale.

Local 10 también contactó repetidamente a EDENS, la empresa propietaria de River Market, preguntando si sabía que personas bajo supervisión del FDOC estaban supuestamente pasando la noche en o alrededor de la propiedad y si alguien del estado había notificado a la empresa que la propiedad estaba siendo utilizada de esa manera.

Después de múltiples correos electrónicos y llamadas telefónicas, un representante que trabaja con EDENS devolvió una de las llamadas de Local 10 y preguntó sobre la investigación.

Después de que Local 10 explicó el reportaje y planteó sus preguntas, no se proporcionó ninguna respuesta adicional antes de la publicación a pesar de nuevos intentos de seguimiento.

La investigación deja varias preguntas sin respuesta.

Si los delincuentes identifican y reportan de forma independiente dónde van a vivir, como afirma el Departamento, ¿cómo explica el Departamento que múltiples individuos hayan dicho de forma independiente a Local 10 que se les indicó presentarse en la misma área comercial cada noche?

¿Cómo concilia el Departamento su declaración escrita con los documentos del Departamento que establecen que un delincuente estaba aprobado para residir en el bloque 2400 de North Federal Highway?

¿Y cómo llegaron aproximadamente 180 delincuentes sexuales registrados transitorios y depredadores a listar direcciones entre los bloques 2400 y 2800 de North Federal Highway y dentro de un radio aproximado de una milla de River Market?

Esas preguntas siguen sin respuesta.

Lively's lawyers disclosed the amount, covering nearly $7.5 million in attorney’s fees from two law firms that represented her and about $500,000 in other expenses, in a court filing Tuesday.

Lively and Baldoni settled last month just before a trial was to start in federal court in Manhattan on Lively’s claims that he engineered an effort to damage her public reputation and credibility after she accused him of sexually harassing her while shooting the movie.

Baldoni, who directed the dark romantic drama and starred in it with Lively, denied her claims.

Lively received no money in the settlement, but a judge subsequently ruled that she is entitled to recover some legal costs she incurred after Baldoni filed a countersuit against her. The judge must still approve the amount she is seeking.

One of Lively’s lawyers, Michael Gottlieb, wrote in a court declaration that he charged her an average hourly rate of $2,187 — a discount from his usual $2,795 per hour. He said he billed 224 hours for work on her defense to Baldoni’s countersuit, totaling $457,000 in fees.

Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios LLC, “employed scorched-earth litigation tactics designed to drain Lively’s resources,” her lawyers wrote in their filing.

“They could have ended it (and offered to reimburse Lively) at any time. Having refused to do so, they should be ordered to reimburse Lively for all of the costs, attorney’s fees, and expenses they improperly forced her to incur,” they wrote.

A message seeking comment was left for Baldoni’s lawyer.

Lively, 38, sued Baldoni, 42, and Wayfarer Studios in December 2024, accusing them of conspiring with publicists to preemptively destroy her reputation after she privately accused him of sexual harassment on the “It Ends With Us" set.

Weeks later, Baldoni sued Lively, accusing her, her husband — “Deadpool” actor Ryan Reynolds — and their publicist of defamation and extortion.

Baldoni denied harassing her or orchestrating a smear campaign. He claimed the complaints about his behavior were made up by Lively as part of an effort to seize creative control of the movie.

Judge Lewis J. Liman threw out Baldoni’s countersuit last year and then dismissed Lively’s sexual harassment claims, saying she could not bring them because she was an independent contractor rather than an employee on the movie set.

In allowing Lively to recover legal costs, the judge cited a California law designed to protect survivors of sexual harassment and discrimination from retaliatory lawsuits meant to intimidate and silence victims.

Liman said the law requires that the plaintiff must pay the defendant’s legal fees and costs if a defamation claim made in response to a lawsuit is dismissed, even if the facts of the case have not been developed through the gathering of evidence.

Liman said an exception would be if Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios, could prove malice fueled Lively’s claims, but that they had produced no evidence to show that.

In their court filing, Lively's lawyers said $4.5 million should be paid to Gottlieb’s firm, Willkie Farr & Gallagher, and about $3 million should go to the firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP.

The judge rejected Lively's claims to triple any damages and pursue punitive damages as well under the California law, saying that they did not fall within “carefully crafted federal procedural rules designed to protect the rights of the parties.”

“It Ends With Us,” an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling 2016 novel about a relationship devolving into domestic violence, was released in August 2024 and exceeded box office expectations.

Lively appeared in the 2005 film “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” and the TV series “Gossip Girl” from 2007 to 2012 before starring in films including “The Town” and “The Shallows.”

Baldoni starred in the TV comedy “Jane the Virgin,” directed the 2019 film “Five Feet Apart” and wrote “Man Enough,” a book challenging traditional notions of masculinity.

Un incendio fue reportado a las 9:43 a.m. en una vivienda de un solo piso en el área de Northwest 67th Court y Second Street, según el teniente Pete Sanchez, de Miami Fire-Rescue.

Sky 10 sobrevoló la escena poco después de las 10:15 a.m. Aparentemente había daños por humo en una eficiencia ubicada en la parte trasera de la vivienda.

Sanchez confirmó que el incendio comenzó en el exterior y se extendió a la propiedad.

Dijo que los bomberos extinguieron rápidamente las llamas y revisaron la vivienda para verificar si aún había alguien en el interior.

“El incendio estuvo contenido principalmente en la pared exterior de la vivienda, pero parte del fuego se extendió al techo y al baño”, dijo Sanchez en un correo electrónico enviado a Local 10 News.

No se reportaron personas heridas, pero Sanchez indicó que una familia de cuatro personas, dos adultos y dos niños, fue desplazada.

La Cruz Roja Estadounidense les está brindando asistencia.

La policía de Miami confirmó que West Flagler Street fue cerrada temporalmente entre las avenidas 67 y 68 debido al incendio.

Sanchez dijo que la Unidad de Investigación de Incendios de Miami determinará el origen y la causa del incendio.

Eight other children were injured and being treated at a hospital, senior police official Faisal Kamran said, adding that the owner of the tutoring center and another person have been arrested.

Kamran said rescuers were searching through the rubble after receiving reports that more children could be trapped beneath the debris. He said the tutoring center was housed in an aging building and that the roof of an unfinished second floor apparently collapsed because of poor construction quality.

Building collapses are common in Pakistan, where construction standards are often poorly enforced. Many structures are built with substandard materials, and safety regulations are frequently ignored to reduce costs.

Witnesses said ambulances and rescue workers rushed to the scene after the roof collapsed. Residents also joined the search, using shovels and their bare hands to remove rubble in an effort to reach children trapped beneath the debris.

Hours later, as the bodies of the children were being handed over to their families, scenes of anguish unfolded outside hospitals and in the neighborhood on the outskirts of Lahore where the private tutoring center was located in a house. Parents wept over the loss of their children, while mothers and other female relatives cried and beat their chests in grief.

Most of the victims lived nearby, and funeral prayers were expected later Tuesday.

Grief was mixed with anger as residents demanded stern punishment for the owner of the tutoring center, blaming him for operating classes in what they described as an aging and unsafe building. Dozens of mourners were seen gathering outside the victims’ homes to offer condolences.

“We don’t know whose home to visit first to offer condolences for the loss of their children,” resident Zafar Iqbal said as he moved from one bereaved family’s home to another nearby street.

Lahore is the capital of Pakistan's most populous Punjab province, where many parents send their children to private tutoring centers in the afternoon and evening.

Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed grief over the collapse of the roof of an evening school building in Lahore. In separate statements, they offered condolences to the families of the victims, prayed for the speedy recovery of those injured, and said effective safety measures were needed to prevent similar tragedies.

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Associated Press writer K.M. Chaudhry in Lahore contributed to this story.

Leer en español

According to an arrest report from the Hialeah Police Department, the fraudulent purchases were reported to authorities Monday by the owner of Samurai Fireworks, located at 2122 W. 62^nd St.

Police said the owner told police that on June 2, the suspect, identified as Santiago Alejandro Prieto-Mendoza, of Miami, picked up multiple orders of fireworks that were later revealed to have been purchased with fraudulent credit cards.

The owner said the business was notified about the fraud by their payment processor after Prieto-Mendoza had already picked up the fireworks, worth a total of $2,277.60.

According to the report, Prieto-Mendoza returned to the business Monday after placing three new orders, which the payment processor also flagged as fraudulent.

Police said a store employee recognized Prieto-Mendoza as the person who picked up the previous packages on June 2 and immediately notified his supervisors that Prieto-Mendoza was trying to retrieve additional merchandise from the store.

Police were then called and Prieto-Mendoza was taken into custody on a charge of organized scheme to defraud.

According to the report, he made some kind of admission to detectives after his arrest, however his exact statement was redacted from the publicly released report.

As of Tuesday morning, Prieto-Mendoza was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $2,500 bond.

Según un informe de arresto del Departamento de Policía de Hialeah, las compras fraudulentas fueron reportadas a las autoridades el lunes por el propietario de Samurai Fireworks, ubicado en 2122 W. 62nd St.

La policía dijo que el propietario informó a la policía que el 2 de junio el sospechoso, identificado como Santiago Alejandro Prieto-Mendoza, de Miami, recogió múltiples pedidos de fuegos artificiales que luego se reveló que habían sido comprados con tarjetas de crédito fraudulentas.

El propietario dijo que el negocio fue notificado sobre el fraude por su procesador de pagos después de que Prieto-Mendoza ya había recogido los fuegos artificiales, con un valor total de $2,277.60 USD.

Según el informe, Prieto-Mendoza regresó al negocio el lunes después de realizar tres nuevos pedidos, los cuales también fueron señalados como fraudulentos por el procesador de pagos.

La policía dijo que un empleado de la tienda reconoció a Prieto-Mendoza como la persona que recogió los paquetes anteriores el 2 de junio e inmediatamente notificó a sus supervisores que Prieto-Mendoza estaba tratando de retirar mercancía adicional de la tienda.

Luego se llamó a la policía y Prieto-Mendoza fue puesto bajo custodia bajo un cargo de esquema organizado para defraudar.

Según el informe, hizo algún tipo de admisión a los detectives después de su arresto; sin embargo, su declaración exacta fue redactada del informe publicado.

As of Tuesday morning, Prieto-Mendoza estaba siendo retenido en el Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center con una fianza de $2,500 USD.

Las decenas de equipos internacionales y nacionales en toda Venezuela siguen centrados en la búsqueda de sobrevivientes, mientras el recuento oficial de muertos supera los 1.700 y se siguen sacando cuerpos de entre los escombros.

Pero ya se está desarrollando una crisis humanitaria entre los sobrevivientes. Agencias de las Naciones Unidas manifestaron preocupación por los efectos en la salud de miles de personas desplazadas que han dormido durante días a la intemperie o en refugios abarrotados e insalubres.

Funcionarios venezolanos afirman que más de 15.800 personas se han visto afectadas por los terremotos —una cifra que refleja el número oficial de desplazados—, señaló el martes la portavoz de la agencia de la ONU para los refugiados, Carlotta Wolf. Venezolanos que quedaron sin hogar de forma repentina están durmiendo en autos, parques y otros lugares sin que haya refugios de emergencia adecuados disponibles.

Wolf indicó que esa cifra seguirá aumentando. Muchas de las personas desplazadas en el estado más golpeado, La Guaira, están sufriendo una escasez generalizada de alimentos, agregó.

En una rueda de prensa en Ginebra, el portavoz de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS), Christian Lindmeier, dijo que los venezolanos desplazados se han vuelto cada vez más vulnerables a brotes de enfermedades prevenibles como el sarampión, dadas las bajas tasas de vacunación de la población, así como a enfermedades transmitidas por el agua como el dengue, la fiebre amarilla y la malaria, que ahora repuntan tras el desastre.

El sistema de salud venezolano, estresado por décadas de falta de inversión y años de crisis económica, está “ahora bajo una presión extrema, con instalaciones que operan más allá de su capacidad ante el aumento de los casos de traumatismos”, afirmó Lindmeier.

Según el gobierno, los sismos de la semana pasada dañaron o comprometieron de alguna forma 38 hospitales en todo el país. La OMS dijo que hasta ahora ha evaluado 21 de esas instalaciones, tres de las cuales ya no están operativas. Otras seis han sufrido daños y el resto ahora se está viendo sobrepasado por el aumento de casos de traumatismos.

Muchos médicos especialistas están desaparecidos entre las ruinas, incluidos funcionarios a cargo de la atención de maternidad en La Guaira, indicó la OMS, lo que agrava la presión.

Los “hallazgos revelan una prestación de servicios y un flujo de pacientes caóticos, marcados por el hacinamiento, el creciente retraso de cirugías ... y una ruptura de las medidas de bioseguridad”, dijo Lindmeier, y añadió que el caos ha provocado “el colapso de los servicios forenses y de morgue y un registro inadecuado de víctimas”.

El gobierno ha ofrecido actualizaciones diarias sobre las víctimas y el lunes reportó que el balance de muertos se situaba en 1.719 fallecidos y 5.000 heridos. Pero expertos sostienen que probablemente se trata de un subregistro significativo, ya que muchas más personas siguen desaparecidas y las esperanzas de encontrar sobrevivientes disminuyen con cada día que pasa.

Las autoridades no han ofrecido ningún conteo oficial de desaparecidos, y los daños del terremoto a las redes telefónicas y demás infraestructura complican incluso los esfuerzos informales para dimensionar el número de quienes aún permanecen enterrados bajo los escombros.

En una base de datos digital no gubernamental se reportó que más de 50.000 personas estaban desaparecidas, aunque no está claro cuántas de ellas han sido encontradas.

________

DeBre informó desde Buenos Aires, Argentina.

________

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

Según la BSO, un sospechoso que era buscado por los agentes fue visto cargando gasolina en la estación Wawa ubicada en el 6350 de Stirling Road.

Cuando las autoridades rodearon al sospechoso, informaron que se produjo un forcejeo entre él y los agentes del orden que se acercaban.

El sheriff de Broward, Gregory Tony, dijo que el sospechoso estaba armado y recibió la orden de entregar su arma, pero al no hacerlo, se produjo un intercambio de disparos.

Tony dijo que el sospechoso era buscado por huir para evadir a las autoridades e indicó que los agentes tenían evidencia de ADN que lo vinculaba con otros delitos, aunque no dio más detalles sobre esos presuntos crímenes.

Tampoco dijo si fue un agente de la BSO o el agente de la Policía de Plantation quien hirió de muerte al sospechoso.

Se espera que el Departamento de Cumplimiento de la Ley de Florida (FDLE) asuma la investigación, como es habitual en los casos de balaceras en las que participan agentes.

Entre ellos se encuentra Conch Heaven, en el noroeste de Miami-Dade, donde los inspectores reportaron cucarachas vivas, decenas de moscas y acumulación de una sustancia similar al moho dentro de una máquina de hielo.

También está The Villa Caribbean Shoppes, en Miami Gardens, que fue citado por una cucaracha viva, numerosas moscas y más de 100 moscas muertas dentro de un dispositivo de control de insectos.

Chong’s Chinese Restaurant, en Miami, donde los inspectores encontraron alimentos almacenados a temperaturas inadecuadas que fueron ordenados a desechar debido a problemas de refrigeración.

Beijing Garden, en Miami, donde los inspectores documentaron aguas residuales sin tratar que se devolvían hacia la cocina, una mosca muerta sobre alimentos y otros problemas de saneamiento.

P.F. Chang’s, en Fort Lauderdale, donde encontraron cucarachas vivas en la cocina.

Lona Cocina Tequileria, en Fort Lauderdale, donde los inspectores reportaron cucarachas vivas detrás y dentro de equipos de cocina.

Todos los restaurantes pudieron reabrir después de realizar la limpieza ordenada y aprobar una nueva inspección estatal.

**CONCH HEAVEN

11275 NW 27TH AVE.

NOROESTE DE MIAMI-DADE (WESTVIEW)

INSPECCIÓN BASADA EN UNA QUEJA

ORDEN DE CIERRE: 19 DE JUNIO

14 VIOLACIONES ENCONTRADAS

“Se detectó actividad de cucarachas, evidenciada por la presencia de cucarachas vivas. Se observaron cuatro cucarachas vivas debajo de la mesa de preparación en el área de la cocina. Se observaron dos cucarachas vivas en el piso junto al fregadero de tres compartimentos. Se observaron 12 cucarachas vivas debajo de una caja junto a un estante con ollas y sartenes limpias en el área de la cocina.”

“Se encontraron insectos voladores vivos de pequeño tamaño. Se observaron aproximadamente 20 moscas vivas en el área de almacenamiento seco junto al cuarto frío.”

“Acumulación de una sustancia negra/verde similar al moho en el interior de la máquina o depósito de hielo. Violación reincidente.”

“Techo, plafones o rejillas de ventilación sucios con acumulación de residuos de alimentos, grasa, polvo o una sustancia similar al moho. Se observó grasa en las rejillas del aire acondicionado.”

**THE VILLA CARIBBEAN SHOPPES

19501 NW 2ND AVE.

MIAMI GARDENS

ORDEN DE CIERRE: 24 DE JUNIO

22 VIOLACIONES ENCONTRADAS

TAMBIÉN FUE CERRADO EL 13 DE OCTUBRE DE 2025 (PROBLEMAS DE MOSCAS Y CUCARACHAS)

“Se detectó actividad de cucarachas, evidenciada por la presencia de una cucaracha viva. Se observó una cucaracha viva sobre un congelador vertical en el área de la cocina.”

“Acumulación de aves, insectos, roedores u otras plagas muertas o atrapadas en dispositivos de control. Se observaron más de 100 moscas muertas en un exterminador de insectos ubicado sobre un congelador vertical dentro del área de la cocina.”

“Se encontraron insectos voladores vivos de pequeño tamaño. Se observaron 11 moscas vivas en la pared y sobre la mesa de preparación donde se elaboran jugos. Se observaron 10 moscas vivas en el área de la cocina donde se preparaban cebollas, posándose sobre cajas de alimentos y una mesa. Se observaron 10 moscas vivas dentro de un recipiente donde se utilizaron limones para jugo, sobre una mesa en la cocina.”

“Dispositivo de control de insectos instalado sobre el área de preparación de alimentos. Se observó un exterminador de insectos sobre un congelador vertical.”

“Áreas del piso cubiertas con agua estancada. Se observó en el cuarto frío y en la cocina. Violación reincidente.”

**CHONG’S CHINESE RESTAURANT

1164 WEST FLAGLER ST.

MIAMI

ORDEN DE CIERRE: 23 DE JUNIO

25 VIOLACIONES ENCONTRADAS

“Cucarachas muertas en el establecimiento. Se observaron tres cucarachas muertas: una en el piso de la cocina y dos dentro de gabinetes de almacenamiento junto al área del baño. Violación reincidente.”

“Paredes sucias con acumulación de grasa, residuos de alimentos o polvo. Se observaron paredes con acumulación de grasa en toda el área de la cocina.”

“Se emitió una orden de suspensión de venta para alimentos que requieren control de tiempo y temperatura por abuso de temperatura. Se observaron empanadillas (44 °F - conservación en frío), brotes (58 °F - conservación en frío), camarones (73 °F - conservación en frío), brotes (68 °F - conservación en frío), huevos con cáscara (72 °F - conservación en frío), pollo (57 °F - conservación en frío), carne de res (63 °F - conservación en frío), carne de cerdo (58 °F - conservación en frío), fideos (55 °F - conservación en frío), camarones (55 °F - conservación en frío), repollo (62 °F - conservación en frío), pasta (56 °F - conservación en frío), camarones (57 °F - conservación en frío), brotes (59 °F - conservación en frío) y jamón (46 °F - conservación en frío). Todos los alimentos estaban almacenados en refrigeradores de la línea de cocción y en el cuarto frío. Según un empleado, los alimentos habían permanecido fuera de temperatura por más de cuatro horas.”

“Cantidad o capacidad inadecuada de unidades de refrigeración para mantener el control de tiempo y temperatura de los alimentos de forma segura. Se observó que los refrigeradores de la línea de cocción y el cuarto frío no funcionaban correctamente.”

**BEIJING GARDEN

832 WEST FLAGLER ST.

MIAMI

ORDEN DE CIERRE: 23 DE JUNIO

27 VIOLACIONES ENCONTRADAS

“Se emitió una orden de suspensión de venta debido a que los alimentos no estaban en condiciones aptas para el consumo. Se observó una mosca muerta sobre costillas de cerdo en el área de preparación.”

“Olores desagradables en el área del comedor.”

“Aguas residuales sin tratar se devolvían a través de los desagües del piso. Se observó debajo del fregadero de tres compartimentos en el área de la cocina.”

“Aguas residuales sin tratar sobre el piso del establecimiento. Se observó que el agua sucia no drenaba y había una gran cantidad de agua sucia acumulada en el piso.”

“Eliminación inadecuada de aguas residuales en los desagües del piso de la cocina y/o área de preparación de alimentos.”

“Techo, plafones o rejillas de ventilación sucios con acumulación de residuos de alimentos, grasa, polvo o una sustancia similar al moho. Se observaron plafones sucios en el comedor y en toda la cocina. Violación reincidente.”

“Superficie en contacto con alimentos sucia con residuos de alimentos, una sustancia similar al moho o baba. Se observaron estantes con residuos de alimentos y grasa en el área de la cocina. Violación reincidente.”

“Alimentos almacenados en el piso. Se observó un balde plástico con sal almacenado en el piso de la cocina. Violación reincidente.”

“Alimentos que requieren control de tiempo y temperatura para su seguridad, distintos de carne entera asada, mantenidos calientes a menos de 135 grados Fahrenheit. Se observó arroz (71 °F - conservación en caliente) en el área de preparación de la cocina. Según el operador, llevaba menos de una hora. Violación reincidente.”

**P.F. CHANG’S

THE GALLERIA

2418 EAST SUNRISE BLVD.

FORT LAUDERDALE

ORDEN DE CIERRE: 23 DE JUNIO

5 VIOLACIONES ENCONTRADAS

“Se detectó actividad de cucarachas, evidenciada por la presencia de cucarachas vivas. Se encontraron aproximadamente cinco cucarachas vivas debajo del lavavajillas en el área de lavado de platos y una cucaracha viva sobre una tubería de agua junto a la freidora en la línea de cocción. Esa cucaracha fue exterminada y el área fue limpiada y desinfectada.”

“Piso sucio o con acumulación de residuos. Debajo del lavavajillas y la estación del fregadero de tres compartimentos había acumulación de residuos de alimentos entre la pared y el equipo.”

“Superficie en contacto con alimentos sucia con residuos de alimentos, una sustancia similar al moho o baba. En el bar, la boquilla de la primera pistola dispensadora de refrescos estaba sucia.”

“Áreas del piso cubiertas con agua estancada. En la línea de cocción, debajo de la estación de wok y debajo del fregadero de tres compartimentos. El agua fue retirada.”

**LONA COCINA TEQUILERIA

WESTIN FORT LAUDERDALE BEACH RESORT

321 NORTH FORT LAUDERDALE BEACH BLVD.

FORT LAUDERDALE

ORDEN DE CIERRE: 22 DE JUNIO

4 VIOLACIONES ENCONTRADAS

“Se detectó actividad de cucarachas, evidenciada por la presencia de cucarachas vivas. Se encontraron tres cucarachas vivas detrás del horno doble apilado en la cocina de preparación. Se encontraron aproximadamente 15 cucarachas vivas dentro de un horno fuera de servicio que se utilizaba para almacenar toallas y bandejas adicionales en la línea de cocción.”

“Piso sucio o con acumulación de residuos de alimentos detrás de los equipos de cocina del área de preparación.”

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory has officially begun its cosmic survey, meant to capture swathes of the sky in more depth and detail. Perched on a Chilean mountaintop, the telescope will point its eye at the southern sky for the next 10 years, taking hundreds of images per night.

Researchers hope Rubin's observations will help them take a better census of the universe, mapping billions of stars in the Milky Way and billions more galaxies beyond it. It takes pictures quickly and will grab images of the same areas of sky multiple times, allowing scientists to glimpse fainter objects that previously eluded detection.

“We’re going to see large numbers of scientists across the world working with this data set, studying the universe in a way that they haven’t been able to before,” said Phil Marshall, the observatory's deputy director of operations.

Rubin released its first images last year, including colorful shots of the Trifid and Lagoon nebulas located thousands of light-years from Earth. A light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles (9.7 trillion kilometers).

Since then, researchers have tuned up the equipment so it's ready to take pictures at the depth and accuracy required for the decade-long survey. The images may help scientists discern how galaxies form and cluster over billions of years, and how the universe came to be.

Funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Energy, the observatory is named after astronomer Vera Rubin, who offered the first tantalizing evidence that a mysterious material called dark matter might be lurking in the universe. Researchers hope the effort may yield clues about dark matter as well as an equally puzzling force known as dark energy.

___

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.

Según dos informes de arresto de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade (MDSO), Josmanny Alexis Valdez, de 25 años, fue arrestado el lunes en relación con investigaciones separadas por robos en Kendall Dodge, ubicado en el 13355 de Southwest 137th Ave.

Las autoridades informaron que la primera investigación comenzó después de que agentes respondieran al concesionario el 15 de mayo tras recibir reportes de múltiples robos de vehículos.

Según un informe de arresto, el gerente de servicio del concesionario descubrió que habían robado sistemas de infoentretenimiento de camionetas Dodge Ram estacionadas en un lote cercado de vehículos usados donde se almacenaban automóviles de clientes mientras esperaban servicio.

Los investigadores dijeron que Valdez y un segundo sospechoso, Celestino Ayala Jr., de 25 años, “cortaron una abertura en la cerca de malla metálica” antes de ingresar al lote y seleccionar camionetas Dodge Ram de los modelos 2019 al 2026.

Según el informe, ambos retiraron los sistemas de infoentretenimiento de las camionetas desocupadas y “cortaron el arnés de cableado” que conecta la pantalla con cada vehículo, “dejando el vehículo con daños permanentes”.

El informe indica que fueron robados 18 sistemas de infoentretenimiento de camionetas Dodge Ram pertenecientes a 14 víctimas diferentes. Los investigadores estimaron que cada sistema tenía un valor aproximado de $5,314 USD, mientras que los daños a cada vehículo ascendían a unos $1,087 USD.

Posteriormente, los detectives revisaron Facebook Marketplace y encontraron varios sistemas de infoentretenimiento para Dodge Ram publicados a la venta, según el informe.

Los investigadores dijeron que los anuncios aparecían en perfiles con los nombres “Gio Valdez”, “Josmanny Valdes” y “Laylowjr Ayala”, todos con las mismas fotografías.

El informe señala que los detectives pudieron confirmar que uno de los sistemas anunciados en internet había sido robado durante uno de los robos en Kendall Dodge.

Según el informe, los detectives realizaron una “operación de compra y arresto” el 28 de mayo después de que un detective encubierto acordara comprar dos de los sistemas robados por $500 USD.

Los investigadores dijeron que equipos de vigilancia observaron cómo los sospechosos sacaban los sistemas de una camioneta Ford azul antes de conducir hasta Dolphin Mall para completar la transacción.

Indicaron que una orden de registro ejecutada posteriormente en la camioneta permitió encontrar pantallas y módulos de radio adicionales de Dodge que fueron confirmados como robados del concesionario.

El informe de arresto también señala que los investigadores reunieron videos de vigilancia y otras pruebas que demostraban que los sospechosos “estuvieron en el área del concesionario Dodge en múltiples fechas”.

En el primer caso, Valdez enfrenta cinco cargos por robo en vehículo ocupado, cinco cargos por hurto mayor de más de $3,000 USD actuando junto a otras personas y cinco cargos por daños criminales que superan los $1,000 USD, además de un cargo por robo en una estructura ocupada, según los registros de la cárcel.

Un segundo informe de arresto presentado en la investigación vincula a Valdez con robos adicionales de vehículos pertenecientes a Rocco’s Custom y Kendall Dodge.

Según ese informe, los investigadores nuevamente alegan que Valdez y Ayala ingresaron al lote cercado del concesionario tras cortar la cerca de malla metálica y luego retiraron sistemas de infoentretenimiento de camionetas Dodge Ram.

Los detectives dijeron que el segundo caso surgió de la misma investigación más amplia que incluyó las publicaciones en Facebook Marketplace, la operación encubierta y la recuperación de la propiedad robada.

En el segundo caso, Valdez enfrenta dos cargos por robo en vehículo desocupado, dos cargos por hurto mayor de más de $3,000 USD actuando junto a otras personas y dos cargos por daños criminales, según los registros de la cárcel.

Hasta el martes, Valdez permanecía detenido en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight con una fianza de $168,000 USD. Los registros judiciales también muestran que varios de sus casos por delitos graves tienen una retención Nebbia, lo que significa que deberá demostrar que el dinero utilizado para pagar la fianza proviene de una fuente legítima antes de poder ser liberado.

Las autoridades informaron que Ayala continúa prófugo.

Cualquier persona con información sobre el caso o el paradero de Ayala debe comunicarse con Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers al 305-471-8477.

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According to City of Miami Fire-Rescue Lt. Pete Sanchez, the fire was reported at 9:43 a.m. at a single-story home in the area of Northwest 67^th Court and Second Street.

Sky 10 was above the scene just after 10:15 a.m. It appeared that there was smoke damage to an efficiency in the rear of the home.

Sanchez confirmed that the fire started outside and extended to the property.

He said firefighters quickly extinguished the flames and searched the home for anyone who might have still been inside.

“The fire was mainly contained to the exterior wall of the home, but some fire extended into the ceiling and bathroom,” Sanchez said in an email to Local 10 News.

No injuries were reported, but Sanchez said a family of four -- two adults and two children -- have been displaced.

The American Red Cross is assisting them.

Miami police confirmed that West Flagler Street was temporarily shut down between 67^th and 68^th avenues due to the fire.

Sanchez said the Miami Fire Investigation Unit will determine the origin and cause of the fire.

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Among them were Conch Heaven in northwest Miami-Dade, where inspectors reported live roaches, dozens of flies and mold-like buildup inside an ice machine.

The Villa Caribbean Shoppes in Miami Gardens, cited for a live roach, numerous flies and more than 100 dead flies inside an insect control device.

Chong’s Chinese Restaurant in Miami, where inspectors found temperature-abused food that was ordered thrown away after refrigeration problems.

Beijing Garden in Miami, where inspectors documented raw sewage backing up into the kitchen, a dead fly on food and other sanitation issues.

P.F. Chang’s in Fort Lauderdale, where live roaches were found in the kitchen.

Lona Cocina Tequileria in Fort Lauderdale, where inspectors reported live roaches behind and inside kitchen equipment.

All of the restaurants were allowed to re-open following an ordered cleanup and a successful re-inspection by state inspectors.

**CONCH HEAVEN

11275 NW 27TH AVE

NW MIAMI-DADE (WESTVIEW)

INSPECTION BASED ON COMPLAINT

ORDERED SHUT 6/19

14 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found. Observed 4 live roaches under the preparation table in kitchen area. Observed 2 live roaches on the floor by triple sink. 12 live roaches under a box by shelf with clean pots and pans in kitchen area.”

“Live, small flying insects found observed approximately 20 live flies in dry storage area by walk in cooler.”

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

“Ceiling/ceiling tiles/vents soiled with accumulated food debris, grease, dust, or mold-like substance. Grease on A/C vents.”

**THE VILLA

CARIBBEAN SHOPPES

19501 NW 2ND AVE.

MIAMI GARDENS

ORDERED SHUT 6/24

22 VIOLATIONS FOUND

ALSO ORDERED SHUT 10/13/25 (FLY AND ROACH ISSUE)

“Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found. Observed 1 live roach on top of reach in freezer in kitchen area.”

“Accumulation of dead or trapped birds, insects, rodents, or other pests, in control devices. Observed 100+ dead flies in bug zapper on top of reach in freezer inside if kitchen area.”

“Live, small flying insects found. Observed 11 live flies on wall and prep table where juice are made. Observed 10 live flies in kitchen area where onions are being prepared, landing on cases of food and table. Observed 10 live flies inside of pot where limes were used for juice on table in kitchen area.”

“Insect control device installed over food preparation area. Observed zapper on top of reach in freezer.”

“Floor area(s) covered with standing water. Observed in walk in and kitchen. Repeat Violation.”

**CHONG’S CHINESE RESTAURANT

1164 WEST FLAGLER ST.

MIAMI

ORDERED SHUT 6/23

25 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Dead roaches on premises. Observed 3 dead roaches. One in the floor of the kitchen and 2 inside storage cabinets by the bathroom area. Repeat Violation.”

“Wall soiled with accumulated grease, food debris, and/or dust. Observed wall soiled with accumulated grease throughout the kitchen area.”

“Stop Sale issued on time/temperature control for safety food due to temperature abuse. Observed dumplings (44 F - Cold Holding); sprouts (58 F - Cold Holding) shrimp (73 F - Cold Holding); sprouts (68 F - Cold Holding); shell eggs (72 F - Cold Holding); chicken (57 F - Cold Holding); beef (63 F - Cold Holding); pork (58 F - Cold Holding); noodles (55 F - Cold Holding); shrimp (55 F - Cold Holding); cabbage (62 F - Cold Holding) pasta (56 F - Cold Holding); shrimp (57 F - Cold Holding); sprouts (59 F - Cold Holding); ham (46 F - Cold Holding) . All foods were stored inside reach in coolers at the cook line and inside the walk in cooler. As per employee foods have been out of temperature for more than 4 hours.”

“Inadequate number/capacity of cold holding units to maintain time/temperature control for safety food at proper temperatures. Observed both reach in coolers at the cook line and the walk in cooler are not working properly.”

**BEIJING GARDEN

832 WEST FLAGLER ST.

MIAMI

ORDERED SHUT 6/23

27 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Stop Sale issued due to food not being in a wholesome, sound condition. Observed a dead fly on pork ribs in preparation area.”

“Objectionable odors in dining area.”

“Sewage/wastewater backing up through floor drains. Observed under the 3 compartment sink/kitchen area.”

“Raw sewage on ground of establishment. Observed dirty water is not draining away and there is a huge amount of dirty water on the floor.”

“Improper sewage disposal at floor drains in kitchen and/or food preparation area.”

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

“Food-contact surface soiled with food debris, mold-like substance or slime. Observed shelves soiled with food debris and grease at kitchen area. Repeat Violation.”

“Food stored on floor. Observed plastic bucket with salt stored on the floor in the kitchen. Repeat Violation.”

“Time/temperature control for safety food, other than whole meat roast, hot held at less than 135 degrees Fahrenheit. Observed rice (71 F - Hot Holding) on preparation area in the kitchen. As per operator less than 1 hour. Repeat Violation.”

**P.F. CHANG’S

THE GALLERIA

2418 EAST SUNRISE BLVD.

FORT LAUDERDALE

ORDERED SHUT 6/23

5 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found. Approximately 5 live roaches found under the dish machine in the dish area 1 live roach found on a water line next to the fryer on the cook line. The one roach was exterminated and the area cleaned and sanitized.”

“Floor soiled/has accumulation of debris. Under the dishwasher/triple sink station table, food debris is built up between the wall and equipment.”

“Food-contact surface soiled with food debris, mold-like substance or slime. At the bar, the first soda gun nozzle was soiled.”

“Floor area(s) covered with standing water. At the cook line under the wok station and under the triple sink. The water was removed.”

**LONA COCINA TEQUILERIA

WESTIN FORT LAUDERDALE BEACH RESORT

321 NORTH FORT LAUDERDALE BEACH BLVD.

FORT LAUDERDALE

ORDERED SHUT 6/22

4 VIOLATIONS FOUND

“Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found. 3 live roaches found behind the double stacked oven in the prep kitchen. Approximately 15 live roaches found inside of a nonfunctioning oven used to store towels and extra pans on the cook line.”

“Floor soiled/has accumulation of food debris behind the prep area cooking equipment.”

The scores of international and domestic teams across Venezuela remain focused on the search for survivors, with the government death toll surpassing 1,700 and new bodies still being hauled out from the rubble.

But a humanitarian crisis is already unfolding among the living. United Nations agencies expressed concern about the health effects of thousands of displaced people sleeping for days in the open or in crowded, unsanitary shelters.

Venezuelan officials say that more than 15,800 people have been affected by the earthquakes — a figure that reflects the official number of displaced people, U.N. refugee agency spokesperson Carlotta Wolf said on Tuesday. Suddenly homeless Venezuelans are sleeping in cars, parks and elsewhere without adequate emergency shelter available.

Wolf said that number would continue to rise. Many of those displaced in the hardest-hit state of La Guaira are suffering from widespread food shortages, she said.

At a media briefing in Geneva on Tuesday, World Health Organization spokesperson Christian Lindmeier warned that displaced Venezuelans without access to toilets, showers, soap or much nourishing food have become increasingly vulnerable to the outbreak of preventable diseases like measles, given the population's low vaccination rates. Conditions are ripe for waterborne infections like dengue, yellow fever and malaria to spread.

The Venezuelan healthcare system, strained by decades of underinvestment and years of economic crisis is “under extreme pressure now, with facilities operating beyond the capacity of the surge of the trauma cases,” Lindmeier said.

According to the government, last week's earthquakes damaged or otherwise compromised 38 hospitals nationwide. WHO said it so far has evaluated 21 of those facilities, three of which are no longer operating. Another six have sustained damage and the rest are now buckling under the influx of injuries.

Many specialist doctors are missing in the ruins, including officials in charge of maternity care in La Guaira, WHO said, compounding the challenges to health care in a country that 8 million people, including many doctors and nurses, have fled in recent years.

“Findings reveal chaotic service delivery and patient flow, marked by overcrowding, growing surgical backlogs ... and a breakdown in biosafety measures,” Lindmeier said. He added that “the collapse of forensic and morgue services and inadequate casualty registration" has made it difficult to gauge the scope of the disaster.

Venezuela's government, which has long retained control over access to information, offers daily casualty updates. Jorge Rodríguez, the president of the National Assembly, announced Monday that the official toll stood at 1,719 people killed and 5,000 injured, and warned the public against sharing information that contradicted authorities.

Experts say the official toll is likely a significant undercount, as many more people remain missing and hopes for finding survivors diminish with each passing day.

NASA estimates that nearly 59,000 buildings have been damaged or destroyed by the earthquakes, which would put the number of people affected by the quakes in the hundreds of thousands. The U.N. children's agency, UNICEF, on Tuesday said 680,000 children are in need of humanitarian assistance nationwide.

Authorities have not offered an official count of missing people, leading many Venezuelans to turn to nongovernmental digital databases to report their loved ones as missing. One such registry listed at least 43,220 people as missing.

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DeBre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

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By a 6-3 vote, the court struck down Trump’s order. A bare majority of five justices, in an opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts, held that the long-settled understanding of the 14th Amendment, adopted after the Civil War, makes a citizen of anyone born in the country, with very limited exceptions,

“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights—to freely participate in our political community. The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land,’” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court, citing congressional debate over the amendment, “We keep that promise today.”

A sixth justice, Brett Kavanaugh, disagreed about the constitutional ruling, but pointed to a federal law that he said broadly conveys birthright citizenship.

Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas would have upheld Trump’s proposed restrictions.

“The Court today takes the extraordinary step of holding facially unconstitutional the President’s Order excluding from citizenship the children of foreign temporary visitors and illegal aliens,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in a 91-page dissent, more than three times as long as Roberts' opinion. “In doing so, the Court adds to the sad history of the Fourteenth Amendment, which was designed and understood to secure equal rights for the freed blacks but has instead been repurposed for political projects that the Reconstruction Congress did not support.”

The Republican president's restrictions had been blocked by several lower courts and had not taken effect anywhere in the U.S.

Trump said the decision was “too bad for our Country” and wrongly suggested that Congress could “easily” address it with legislation. The majority decision rests on constitutional grounds. It would take an amendment to overcome the decision.

During arguments in April, both conservative and liberal justices questioned the order’s legality in a momentous case that was magnified by Trump’s unprecedented attendance in the courtroom.

The case framed another test of Trump’s assertions of executive power that defy long-standing precedent for a court with a conservative majority and a robust view of presidential power that has largely ruled in his favor. In the notable exceptions when the court has not, Trump has responded with starkly personal criticisms of the justices.

The justices ruled on Trump’s appeal of a lower-court ruling from New Hampshire that struck down the citizenship restrictions.

The birthright citizenship order, which Trump signed on the first day of his second term, is part of his administration’s broad immigration crackdown.

Birthright citizenship was the first Trump immigration-related policy to reach the court for a final ruling. The justices previously struck down global tariffs Trump had imposed under an emergency powers law that had never been used that way.

Trump reacted furiously to the late February tariffs decision, saying he was ashamed of the justices who ruled against him and calling them unpatriotic.

He also seemed to recognize the court was likely to rule against him on birthright citizenship, too, using his Truth Social platform to criticize “dumb judges and justices” and wealthy pregnant women from China and elsewhere who come to the U.S. to give birth so their newborns will have American citizenship.

Trump’s order would have upended widely held views that the 14th Amendment confers citizenship on everyone born in the U.S., excluding only the children of foreign diplomats and those born to a foreign occupying force.

The amendment was intended to ensure that Black people, including former slaves, had citizenship, though the Citizenship Clause is written more broadly. “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside,” it reads.

In a series of decisions, lower courts have struck down Trump's executive order as illegal. The decisions have invoked the high court’s 1898 ruling in Wong Kim Ark, which held that the U.S.-born child of Chinese nationals was a citizen.

Roberts, joined by Justice Amy Coney Barrett and the three liberal justices, said the amendment's language, the historical context and the 1898 case make clear that children born to parents illegally or temporarily in the U.S. “are citizens at birth.”

But there was only a bare majority of five justices on the constitutional question.

Kavanaugh sided with the majority because of a federal law that makes those children citizens. But he joined the dissenters in finding that Trump's order does not violate the Constitution. His view would enable a future Congress to change the law to restrict birthright citizenship.

The Trump administration had argued that the common view of citizenship is wrong, asserting that children of noncitizens are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and therefore are not entitled to citizenship.

More than one-quarter of a million babies born in the U.S. each year would have been affected by the executive order, according to research by the Migration Policy Institute and Pennsylvania State University’s Population Research Institute.

While Trump has largely focused on illegal immigration in his rhetoric and actions, the birthright citizenship restrictions also would have applied to people who are legally in the United States, including students and applicants for green cards, or permanent resident status.

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Police say Pearce, 22, repeatedly resisted their orders before taking off, allegedly leading officers on a chase that ended when he crashed his vehicle.

Pearce was arrested in February following a domestic dispute with WNBA star Rickea Jackson, according to authorities.

He was charged with three felonies -- aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, fleeing and eluding police and resisting an officer with violence. A fourth charge of stalking was brought as a misdemeanor and an additional charge of aggravated battery of an officer was dropped.

According to Doral police, Jackson told authorities she attempted to drive away from Pearce on Feb. 7, and was driving toward the Doral police station to seek help when Pearce “intentionally collided into the rear of her vehicle with his SUV” before police arrived.

Pearce allegedly refused an initial order from police to “get on the floor,” according to details of the arrest in an affidavit. The police report said Pearce then drove away and hit a police officer’s left knee with his vehicle “intentionally in an attempt to evade arrest.”

According to police, Pearce wrecked his vehicle and then ran off before being apprehended following a “short struggle.”

Jackson, 24, is two years into her WNBA career. She has said she and Pearce began dating when they were at the University of Tennessee together.

Pearce was the No. 26 pick in the NFL draft last year. He had 10 1/2 sacks and his 45 quarterback pressures set a Falcons rookie record.

Pearce has since agreed to enter a six-month intervention program to avoid taking the case to trial.

La policía señala que Pearce desobedeció repetidamente sus órdenes antes de huir, lo que supuestamente desencadenó una persecución que terminó cuando estrelló su vehículo.

Pearce fue arrestado en febrero tras una disputa doméstica con la estrella de la WNBA Rickea Jackson, según las autoridades.

Fue acusado de tres delitos graves: agresión agravada con un arma mortal, huir para evadir a la Policía y resistirse con violencia a un agente. Un cuarto cargo, por acoso, fue presentado como delito menor y un cargo adicional por agresión agravada contra un agente fue retirado.

Según la Policía de Doral, Jackson dijo a las autoridades que intentó alejarse de Pearce el 7 de febrero y que conducía hacia la estación de Policía de Doral para buscar ayuda cuando Pearce “colisionó intencionalmente la parte trasera de su vehículo con su SUV” antes de que llegaran los agentes.

Según los detalles del arresto incluidos en una declaración jurada, Pearce presuntamente se negó a una orden inicial de la Policía para “tirarse al suelo”. El informe policial indica que luego huyó en su vehículo y golpeó intencionalmente la rodilla izquierda de un agente “en un intento de evadir el arresto”.

Según la Policía, Pearce chocó su vehículo y luego huyó a pie antes de ser detenido tras un “breve forcejeo”.

Jackson, de 24 años, cursa su segunda temporada en la WNBA. Ha dicho que ella y Pearce comenzaron a salir cuando ambos estudiaban en la Universidad de Tennessee.

Pearce fue la selección número 26 del Draft de la NFL el año pasado. Registró 10.5 capturas de mariscal de campo y sus 45 presiones al quarterback establecieron un récord para un novato de los Falcons.

Pearce ha aceptado desde entonces ingresar a un programa de intervención de seis meses para evitar que el caso llegue a juicio.

Prodded by a Republican-led lawsuit that includes Vice President JD Vance, the court's six conservative justices were again in the majority of the latest decision that upended congressionally enacted limits on raising and spending money to influence elections. The court’s 2010 Citizens United decision opened the door to unlimited independent spending in federal elections.

The limits on party spending stem from a desire to prevent large donors from skirting caps on individual contributions to a candidate by directing unlimited sums to the party, with the understanding that the money will be spent on behalf of the candidate.

The Supreme Court had previously upheld the limits, in 2001.

But Justice Brett Kavanaugh, writing for the court, said that decision was wrong and should be overruled. “In short, constitutional text, history and precedent establish that the political-party coordinated-expenditure limits violate the First Amendment,” Kavanaugh wrote.

Justice Elena Kagan's dissent for the three liberal justices said the court “ushers in untold harm” by enabling parties to funnel large contributions to individual candidates, far in excess of what donors can give those candidates directly.

The Republican committees for House and Senate candidates filed the lawsuit in Ohio in 2022, joined by Vance, then a senator from Ohio, and then-Rep. Steve Chabot.

After President Donald Trump took office for his second term, the Federal Election Commission dropped its defense of the law and joined with Republicans in urging that it be overturned.

Democrats had called on the court to uphold the law, even though there is wide agreement that the spending limits have hurt political parties in an era of unlimited spending by other organizations.

Last year, the coordinated party spending for Senate races ranged from $127,200 in several states with small populations to nearly $4 million in California, the most populous state. For House races, the limits were $127,200 in states with only one representative and $63,600 everywhere else.

Entrenched divisions between liberal and conservative justices over campaign finance restrictions were on display when the court heard arguments in December.

“Every time we interfere with the congressional design, we make matters worse,” said Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a dissenter in Citizens United and the court’s other campaign money cases.

By contrast, Justice Samuel Alito, a member of the Citizens United majority, described the decision as “much maligned, I think unfairly maligned.” The effect of the decision was to ”level the playing field,” Alito said, by expanding the right to spend freely that had previously belonged only to media companies.

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While the National Hurricane Center was maintaining 10% development odds as of Tuesday morning, most of our reliable forecast guidance – including Google’s DeepMind machine learning-based 1,000-member ensemble system – have dropped the chances of development entirely.

As we’ve discussed in previous newsletters, the low-pressure area is embedded within a front, which is also a natural zone for wind shear, an impediment for tropical development. Additionally, abundant dry air surrounding the low-pressure system isn’t allowing for sustained thunderstorm activity that might otherwise eat away at the nearby wind shear.

The development zone is straddling an area of warmer waters, but cooler waters lurking to its northeast are counteracting the warmer Gulf Stream waters to its west.

In general, the environment is not conducive to the low-pressure system fending off the hostile influence of the non-tropical air in the frontal zone, and overall conditions this week won’t support development.

The low-pressure system will get trapped under the high-pressure heat dome centered over the Ohio Valley this week, which will nudge it slowly back toward the southeastern U.S. and in the direction of coastal Georgia and South Carolina from late Thursday into Saturday.

At that point, however, the combination of increasing wind shear and very dry continental air will wash out the system, and it won’t pose any significant issues for the July 4^th holiday.

Elsewhere, the Atlantic should stay dormant for at least the first half of July.

The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose 0.6 point to 91.2 in June, a figure that is still below its year-ago reading of 95.2. Consumer attitudes worsened after the Iran war caused oil and gas prices to spike, accelerating inflation and causing Americans' inflation-adjusted incomes to decline. Before the pandemic, the index regularly topped 120.

The report suggests that consumer confidence is recovering only slowly from the hit caused by the Iran war. Even so, Americans have continued to spend despite their dour outlook, which has kept the economy growing even as inflation accelerated. Measures of consumer sentiment have been less predictive of how Americans actually shop since the pandemic.

“Consumer confidence inched up in June as falling oil prices in recent weeks provided some relief to consumer inflation fears,” Dana Peterson, the Conference Board's chief economists said in a statement. “Consumer appraisals of current business conditions were slightly more positive compared to last month. However, perceptions of the current labor market softened measurably."

Earlier this month, a government report showed that consumers stepped up their spending in May despite higher gas prices. Analysts expect the steady consumer outlays kept the economy growing at about a 2.5% annual rate in the April-June quarter.

Falling gas prices may also help boost Americans' outlook in the coming months. On average nationwide, gas prices spiked above $4.50 after the U.S.-Iran conflict began Feb. 28. They have since fallen back to $3.85 a gallon, according to AAA.

The survey also found that consumers had a dimmer view of hiring and the job market this month. The proportion of Americans who said jobs are “hard to get” rose to 22.5% from 19.8% the previous month, a noticeable increase.

But on Wednesday the government released a report showing that the number of open jobs remained at a solid 7.6 million in May, indicating that companies are showing more interest in recruiting workers.

The Labor Department will release its monthly jobs report for June on Thursday, and economists forecast it will show that employers added 100,000 jobs, a solid gain. The unemployment rate is expected to stay at a low 4.3%, according to data provider FactSet.

Aunque el Centro Nacional de Huracanes (NHC) mantenía una probabilidad de desarrollo del 10% hasta la mañana del martes, la mayoría de nuestros modelos de pronóstico confiables, incluido el sistema de conjunto de 1,000 miembros basado en aprendizaje automático de DeepMind de Google, han reducido por completo las probabilidades de desarrollo.

Como hemos explicado en boletines anteriores, el área de baja presión está incrustada dentro de un frente, que también es una zona natural de cizalladura del viento, un factor que dificulta el desarrollo tropical. Además, la abundante masa de aire seco que rodea al sistema de baja presión impide que se mantenga una actividad de tormentas eléctricas que, de otro modo, podría debilitar la cizalladura del viento cercana.

La zona con potencial de desarrollo se encuentra sobre un área de aguas más cálidas, pero las aguas más frías ubicadas al noreste están contrarrestando las aguas más cálidas de la Corriente del Golfo que se encuentran al oeste.

En términos generales, el ambiente no es favorable para que el sistema de baja presión pueda resistir la influencia adversa del aire no tropical presente en la zona frontal, y las condiciones durante esta semana no favorecerán su desarrollo.

El sistema de baja presión quedará atrapado bajo el domo de alta presión que provoca calor intenso y que está centrado sobre el valle de Ohio esta semana, lo que lo empujará lentamente de regreso hacia el sureste de Estados Unidos y en dirección a las costas de Georgia y Carolina del Sur entre finales del jueves y el sábado.

Para ese momento, sin embargo, la combinación de una cizalladura del viento cada vez mayor y aire continental muy seco debilitará el sistema, por lo que no representará problemas importantes para el feriado del 4 de julio.

En otras partes, el Atlántico debería permanecer inactivo al menos durante la primera mitad de julio.

Forecasters had expected employers to post just 7 million openings in May.

The job market is sturdy but not exactly booming. Layoffs rose in May, and the number of people quitting their jobs — a sign of confidence in their prospects — ticked up only slightly. That's according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Tuesday.

Employers are advertising openings, but they aren't actually doing much hiring. Gross hiring — before counting people who lost or quit their jobs — dipped to 5.17 million in May from 5.26 million in April. When the job market was booming from mid-2021 to mid-2023 after COVID-19 lockdowns, gross monthly hiring regularly topped 6 million.

“The hiring switch needs to fully turn on for the labor market to feel alive again,” ZipRecruiter economist Nicole Bachaud said in a commentary.

After the United States and Israel attacked Feb. 28, Iran retaliated by closing the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas passes. Energy prices soared, squeezing Americans already frustrated by the high cost of living.

But the American job market has chugged along, continuing to rebound from a miserable 2025. In the first five months of the year, U.S. employers have added an average of nearly 114,000 net jobs a month. That is up from just 9,700 a month in 2025, the weakest hiring outside a recession since 2002.

High interest rates and President Donald Trump's unpredictable economic policies discouraged employers from making hiring decisions last year. Trump's tax cuts and the fact that the United States is an energy producer have limited the economic damage from the war this year.

When the Labor Department releases its jobs report for June on Thursday, it is expected to show that companies, nonprofits and government agencies added another 100,000 jobs and that unemployment stayed at a low 4.3%.

Because of baby boomer retirements and Trump's immigration crackdown, fewer people are competing for work, and the United States doesn't need as many jobs as it used to keep the unemployment rate stable. Economists say the so-called "break-even'' rate of hiring could be as low as zero jobs a month, down from perhaps 150,000 a year or so ago.

La escena policial estaba ubicada frente a A World of Discovery Academy, en el 7025 de Northwest Fourth Street, en Plantation.

Según la policía, los primeros en responder llegaron tras recibir reportes de un niño fallecido dentro de un vehículo.

Al llegar, equipos del Departamento de Bomberos de Plantation localizaron el vehículo y declararon al niño sin vida, dijeron autoridades.

“Es una situación devastadora para la familia. Supongo que para los padres que traen a sus hijos a esta escuela, cuando llegaron y vieron todo esto, a los agentes, debió ser realmente preocupante”, dijo Viviana Alarcón, quien trabaja cerca del lugar.

Las autoridades no han confirmado información adicional, incluidas las circunstancias que llevaron a la muerte del menor ni si alguien enfrentará cargos.

“Nunca había escuchado nada malo sobre esa escuela”, dijo Alarcón. “La verdad es que tiene una buena reputación”.

The court’s six-justice conservative majority, which has repeatedly ruled against transgender Americans in the past year, ruled that state bans in Idaho and West Virginia don’t violate the Constitution. The court unanimously agreed that barring transgender girls and women also doesn't run afoul of the federal law known as Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in education.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the court that, “states may maintain women's and girls' sports for biological females" to address safety and competitive fairness concerns. “The Constitution and Title IX do not require an overhaul of women’s and girls’ sports throughout America."

More than two dozen other Republican-led states have adopted bans on female transgender athletes, and the decision seems certain to extend to them as well.

Left unresolved by the outcome are lawsuits challenging state laws and regulations in Connecticut, California and elsewhere that permit transgender athletes to compete consistent with their gender identity.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, saying from the bench that the majority opinion was wrong to reject an equal-protection claim from 16-year-old Becky Pepper-Jackson.

With the science still evolving, transgender students shouldn't automatically be shut out of team sports, she said. “We just simply do not know scientifically that transgender students pose dangers,” she said, reading from a dissent joined by her liberal colleagues.

Pepper-Jackson, a high school sophomore in Bridgeport, West Virginia, has been taking puberty-blocking medication, has publicly identified as a girl since age 8 and has been issued a West Virginia birth certificate recognizing her as female. She is the only transgender person who has sought to compete in girls sports in West Virginia.

Pepper-Jackson has progressed from a back-of-the-pack cross-country runner in middle school to statewide champion in the shot put. She beat the second-place finisher by two feet in last month's West Virginia championship meet.

In the Idaho case, Lindsay Hecox sued over the state’s first-in-the-nation ban for the chance to try out for the women’s track and cross-country teams at Boise State University in Idaho. She didn’t make either squad because “she was too slow,” her lawyer, Kathleen Hartnett, told the court during arguments in January, but she competed in club-level soccer and running.

Prominent women in sports have weighed in on both sides. Tennis champion Martina Navratilova, swimmers Summer Sanders and Donna de Varona and beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh Jennings are supporting the state bans. Soccer stars Megan Rapinoe and Becky Sauerbrunn and basketball players Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart back the transgender athletes.

Kavanaugh, who has coached girls' basketball, underlined the importance of women's sports and athletes' dedication. “No student-athlete on either side of the issue, whether a biological female or transgender, deserves to be ostracized or vilified,” he wrote.

In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled LGBTQ people are protected by a landmark federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in the workplace, finding that “sex plays an unmistakable role” in employers’ decisions to punish transgender people for traits and behavior they otherwise tolerate.

But last year, the six conservative justices on the nine-member court declined to apply the same sort of analysis when they upheld state bans on gender-affirming care for transgender minors.

The states supporting the prohibitions on transgender athletes argued there is no reason to extend the ruling barring workplace discrimination to Title IX.

Idaho’s law, state Solicitor General Alan Hurst said, is “necessary for fair competition because, where sports are concerned, men and women are obviously not the same.”

Republican President Donald Trump applauded Tuesday's decision, calling it a “BIG WIN” in a social-media post.

Lawyers for Pepper-Jackson argued that such distinctions generally make sense but that their client has none of those advantages because of the unique circumstances of her early transition. In Hecox’s case, her lawyers wanted the court to dismiss the case because she had forsworn trying to play on women’s teams.

NCAA president Charlie Baker told Congress in 2024 that he was aware of only 10 transgender athletes out of more than half a million students on college teams. But despite the small numbers, the issue has taken on outsize importance.

Baker’s NCAA and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committees banned transgender women from women’s sports after President Donald Trump, a Republican, signed an executive order aimed at barring their participation.

The public generally is supportive of the limits. An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted in October 2025 found that about 6 in 10 U.S. adults “strongly” or “somewhat” favored requiring transgender children and teenagers to compete only on sports teams that match the sex they were assigned at birth, not the gender they identify with, while about 2 in 10 were “strongly” or “somewhat” opposed and about one-quarter did not have an opinion.

About 2.1 million adults, or 0.8%, and 724,000 people ages 13 to 17, or 3.3%, identify as transgender in the U.S., according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.

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Follow the AP's coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

Hasta ahora los sismos de 7,2 y 7,5 de magnitud han dejado al menos 1.719 muertos y más de 5.000 heridos. Más de 50.000 personas son buscadas por sus familiares.

Aquí los últimos acontecimientos sobre Venezuela:

Rescatan con vida a niño de tres años

La presidenta interina Delcy Rodríguez informa que equipos de rescate provenientes de Jordania rescataron a un niño de 3 años que había permanecido atrapado bajo los escombros durante seis días en La Guaira.

Indica que más de 3.300 rescatistas han llegado a Venezuela, junto con 140 perros y 700.000 toneladas de ayuda humanitaria.

Rodríguez señala que más de 75.000 familias resultaron afectadas por los sismos.

Mandatarios del bloque Mercosur guardan un minuto de silencio

Los mandatarios y otros funcionarios presentes en la Cumbre de Mercosur que se desarrolla en la ciudad paraguaya de Luque guardaron un minuto de silencio por los más de 1.700 fallecidos y los miles de heridos y desaparecidos a causa de los sismos en Venezuela.

El homenaje respondió a un pedido del presidente de Brasil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, quien comenzó su discurso en el encuentro regional expresando su “solidaridad con el pueblo y el gobierno de Venezuela ante las pérdidas incalculables ocasionadas por los terremotos de la semana pasada”.

Otros asistentes a la cumbre son los presidentes de Paraguay, Santiago Peña; Uruguay, Yamandú Orsi; Bolivia, Rodrigo Paz; Chile, Jose Antonio Kast, y Ecuador, Daniel Noboa. El mandatario argentino Javier Milei no participa y está representando por su canciller.

Argentina, Brasil, Paraguay y Uruguay son miembros fundadores del Mercosur, mientras Bolivia es socio pleno desde 2024 y Chile y Ecuador son Estados asociados. Venezuela se encuentra suspendida desde 2017 en todos sus derechos y obligaciones como Estado parte del bloque.

Argentina prepara más ayuda

El vocero presidencial de Argentina, Adrián Ravier, informó que seis ciudadanos de su país han fallecido a causa de los sismos y ocho han sido reportados como desaparecidos. En tanto, otro nacional está hospitalizado.

Agregó en una rueda de prensa que el gobierno del presidente Javier Milei reforzará la asistencia a los venezolanos con el envío de un avión Hércules en el que viajarán 38 efectivos militares con agua, un generador eléctrico, equipo sanitario, tiendas, cocina de campaña, material de comunicaciones y dos perros de búsqueda con sus guías.

Ravier destacó las labores de Bart, un perro rescatista de la Armada Argentina que logró localizar a dos niños con vida atrapados bajo los escombros en el estado de La Guaira. Además el pastor Belga Malinois recuperó seis cuerpos.

Médico destaca ayuda de amas de casa

El doctor Ángel Ramírez declaró a la cadena de televisión estatal que el hospital donde trabaja se ha beneficiado de la ayuda de amas de casa que han llevado comida y de empresarios que han donado equipamiento.

“Sin ellos, no hubiéramos podido lograr nada”, afirmó Ramírez, quien trabaja en el Hospital Dr. Domingo Luciani de Caracas.

Comentó a Venezolana de Televisión que el hospital ha atendido a más de 250 pacientes y realizado más de 100 cirugías.

“Nadie está cobrando nada”, recalcó, enfatizando que toda la atención médica es gratuita.

Unicef envía ayuda humanitaria

Un cargamento de 47 toneladas métricas con suministros de salud, agua y educación procedente de las reservas de la Unión Europea llegará a Venezuela y se espera más ayuda en los próximos días, anuncia Unicef.

El cargamento incluye kits de emergencia para atención médica urgente, suministros para partos seguros, cuidado del recién nacido y prevención y tratamiento de enfermedades; suministros para la purificación y almacenamiento de agua y tiendas de campaña, entre otros elementos.

“Las familias de los estados afectados necesitan urgentemente agua potable y acceso a atención médica. Muchas duermen a la intemperie, temerosas de las réplicas. Estos suministros nos ayudarán a brindar a los niños y a las familias lo que más necesitan ahora: atención médica, agua potable y espacios seguros”, declaró Roberto Benes, director regional de Unicef para América Latina y el Caribe.

Unicef estima que 680.000 niños necesitan asistencia humanitaria en los estados afectados por los terremotos.

España eleva a 19 los fallecidos de ese país en los sismos

El ministro de Asuntos Exteriores de España eleva a 19 el número de españoles fallecidos en los terremotos, además de 131 desaparecidos y 12 localizados bajo los escombros. Asimismo, anuncia que un hospital de campaña de la Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo partirá el miércoles de Madrid con destino a Venezuela.

Leer en español

According to BSO, a suspect that deputies had been seeking was observed pumping gas at the Wawa, located at 6350 Stirling Road.

As authorities converged on the suspect, they said a fight broke out between him and the approaching law enforcement officers.

Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony said the suspect was armed and was told to give up his gun, but when that didn’t happen, it led to a shooting that killed the suspect.

Tony said the “suspect might have gotten a shot off,” prior to being killed, but that would be determined in the investigation.

Tony said the suspect was wanted for fleeing and eluding, and indicated that deputies had DNA evidence linking the suspect to additional crimes, although he didn’t release further details about those alleged crimes.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is expected to take over the investigation, as is customary with deputy-involved shootings.

Tuesday is a transition day into a wetter weather pattern. Expect a few inland thunderstorms developing this afternoon. Some storms in the Everglades may try to push back to the coast closer to sunset.

Thunderstorms on Wednesday will be more numerous and centered over more populated areas. It’s a return to our usual rainy season pattern that will last into the 4^th of July weekend. Fort Lauderdale has only picked up 1″ of rain so far in the month of June, which is more than 8″ below average. South Florida is slowly slipping back into a drought, so a return to thunderstorms is a beneficial weather pattern.

Protocols designed to protect tennis from doping are in the spotlight as players open up about their experiences navigating the system in the aftermath of a four-year ban handed to 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova — not for testing positive but for refusing to take a test.

Players are required to provide a 60-minute time slot each day to be available for testing, plus the International Tennis Integrity Agency says that if a doping control officer "locates and notifies a player outside of that hour, they must complete the test.”

Naturally, there's a need for communication between players and testers.

“I’m not going to lie, some of them can be pushy, make you feel like you’re doing something wrong,” Gauff, the No. 7 seed, said after her first-round victory at Wimbledon.

“One time she came outside my time slot. But the way she was speaking to me on the phone, it literally made me cry afterwards," the 22-year-old American said. "I found out I was in the right, and I didn’t have to do anything.”

Ahead of her first-round match Tuesday, Ajla Tomljanovic described her close calls.

“I’m very scared of the system because it feels broken," she said. "I’ve had a few experiences of my own where it was about technicalities and when I speak to people in charge they’re not helpful — I don’t want to say they don’t care — but they weren’t very helpful at all to explain things or just show some sort of compassion when I was nowhere near missing a test or testing positive.”

The Australian player said she was seeking help about how the app works.

“I was new to the whole system. And I was at two fails for a month and I knew if I get a third one accidentally I would be out for at least two, three years,” she said. “It’s in a way, I won’t say no fault of my own but it’s not to the degree of being banned and smearing your name. In that sense, I think there’s so much to improve on.”

Williams, who makes her Wimbledon return on Tuesday, said the testing system was “a big reason why I didn’t want to come back either, because it’s just so hard."

The Vondrousova case

The 27-year-old Czech player, who became Wimbledon’s first unseeded female champion when she beat Ons Jabeur in the 2023 final, refused to take a test in early December 2025 after a doping control officer rang her apartment's intercom at 8 p.m.

This month, following a hearing by an independent tribunal, Vondrousova received the maximum four-year ban for a first offense.

ITIA published a video explainer of the case, saying Vondrousova on the night in question challenged the timing of the test because it was outside her designated time slot.

The agency noted: “If a Doping Control Officer, or DCO, locates and notifies a player outside of that hour, they must complete the test.”

Vondrousova had described the tester as “aggressive” and said the frequent ringing of the intercom “triggered a state of distress," the ITIA video says.

The tribunal's June 22 decision confirmed that Vondrousova refused the test and that the evidence “provided no compelling justification for doing so.”

The ITIA added that under World Anti-Doping Agency rules, “test refusals can be sanctioned as severely as positive tests." One rationale is an athlete who is doping could simply refuse a test and seek a lighter punishment.

Last year, the ITIA said it conducted over 8,000 tests both in and out of competition “and received a handful of complaints. We take all feedback on board and encourage players to share their views with us.” Other organizations, such as the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, also conduct player testing.

On possible changes to the system, the ITIA noted that tennis follows WADA rules and processes, which "will be refreshed in 2027. As part of this process, WADA consults with athletes from across global sport.”

“We understand the system can seem challenging," the ITIA said, “but it is there to protect players, not to trip them up. If players are ever unsure about a test, have questions, or would like to provide feedback on their experience, we want to hear about it.”

Some players say a 4-year ban is harsh

Jessica Pegula, the No. 4 seed, said she didn't know the full details of Vondrousova's case but that “I feel, like, for Marketa.”

“For something like that, for four years, you’re ruining someone’s career over something that could have really just been a complete misunderstanding, and I just don’t think that’s fair. I think the sentencing is so harsh," Pegula said.

“I don’t quite understand the difference between that and then obviously what happened with (Jannik) Sinner and Iga (Swiatek),” she said. “They justified what the rules were and why it was the way it was.”

Top-ranked Sinner, the defending men's champion at Wimbledon, accepted a three-month ban in a settlement with WADA in early 2025 following his two positive doping tests from the prior year. WADA had challenged ITIA's decision not to suspend Sinner for what it judged was accidental contamination — entering his system through a massage — by a banned anabolic steroid.

Swiatek, Wimbledon's defending women's champion, accepted a one-month suspension in 2024 after testing positive for the banned substance trimetazidine, a heart medication. The ITIA accepted her explanation that the result was unintentional and caused by the contamination of a nonprescription medication, melatonin, that Swiatek was taking for issues with jet lag.

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

The decision announced over the weekend came as the outbreak of a type of Ebola with no approved treatment or vaccine continues to grow, with 1,307 people infected and 377 dead across three provinces in eastern Congo. It could be the worst Ebola outbreak yet.

Congo’s ministry of interior on Saturday said gatherings and demonstrations were forbidden in the provinces of Kinshasa, Tshopo, Haut-Uele and Bas-Uele as fears grow about the outbreak spilling into new areas. None of the provinces have any confirmed cases.

Separately, the mayor of ​Goma, eastern Congo’s largest city and now under the control of the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group, also banned public gatherings and demonstrations, including celebrations linked to sport events, on Monday. Congo is in its first World Cup in over half a century.

Congo’s political opposition has denounced the ban as unconstitutional. Prince Epenge, the spokesperson for the Lamuka coalition, has said the ban aims to prevent a planned demonstration in the capital, Kinshasa, early next month. The protest is against proposed constitutional changes that would allow Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi to run for a third term.

Civil society organizations also condemned the ban in a statement on Monday, citing freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.

In a televised address on Monday evening, Tshisekedi announced a $319 million response plan to the Ebola outbreak, and called on people to respect health guidelines, report suspected cases and not give in to misinformation. He did not directly address the bans.

“Ebola is neither a rumor nor a source of shame,” Tshisekedi said. “It is a health emergency that demands responsibility, solidarity, and truth.”

Health workers have reported some skepticism and attacks over Ebola from residents in the affected areas of Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu provinces.

Cases also have been confirmed in neighboring Uganda, as well as one in France in a doctor who returned from Congo.

The United Nations ​warned in a report on Tuesday that if the virus spreads into other neighboring countries including Rwanda and Angola, it could cost Africa up to $3.6 billion and result in 328,000 job losses.

More than a month into the outbreak, officials believe it continues to outpace response efforts and no one knows its true scale. They are yet to identify patient zero and struggle to trace contact cases.

The World Health Organization has warned that violence from rebels in eastern Congo is complicating the response to the outbreak. In Ituri, attacks by the Islamic State group-backed Allied Democratic Force have cut off access to many villages and forced people to flee their homes, adding to already overcrowded camps of people displaced by years of conflict.

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Pronczuk reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writer Janvier Barhahiga in Bukavu, Congo, contributed to this report.

A new AP-NORC poll shows Republicans and older, white adults are especially likely to say they fly the American flag, while younger Democrats and Black adults are more likely to say they don’t fly it, reflecting deeply divided views on what patriotism means.

And on this final day of a Supreme Court term centering on Trump’s expansive claims of presidential power, the justices have upheld the constitutionality of birthright citizenship, rejecting Trump's effort to deny the right to the children of noncitizen parents. Follow live updates on the rulings.

Here's the Latest:

Court will consider striking down assault weapons bans in Connecticut and the Chicago area

A Supreme Court that has expanded gun rights will consider whether bans on semiautomatic rifles, often called assault weapons, violate the Second Amendment.

The justices said Tuesday they will take up appeals asking the court to strike down bans on the AR-15 and similar semiautomatic firearms in the Chicago area and Connecticut.

Similar laws are in place in about a dozen states, covering major cities like New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Congress allowed a national assault weapons ban to expire in 2004, but Democrats have supported renewing it in response to a series of mass shootings and states have continued to pass their own laws.

The case is expected to be heard in the fall.

Republican Tom Kean Jr. said he was treated for depression during absence from Congress

New Jersey Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. revealed Tuesday that he spent months away from Congress being treated for depression.

“It is physical, it is emotional, and until you experience it yourself, it is difficult to fully understand how powerful this illness can be,” he said on the House floor.

Kean, whose battleground district includes Trump’s Bedminster golf club, missed more than 100 votes in Congress this year. His reappearance comes after he won an uncontested primary on June 2.

“Today I stand before you healthier, stronger and excited to return to the work that I love,” Kean said.

Kean’s office has said he’s still running for reelection against Democratic nominee Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot. Democrats have targeted the district as a prime pick-up opportunity.

▶ Read more

Supreme Court upholds birthright citizenship, rejecting Trump’s proposed limits

The Court ’s ruling released Tuesday upholds a broad conception of birthright citizenship, rejecting President Donald Trump’s executive order declaring that children born to people who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens.

The justices relied on a long-settled understanding of the 14th Amendment, adopted after the Civil War, and more recent federal laws in ruling that anyone born in the country, with very limited exceptions, is a citizen.

▶ Read more about Tuesday’s Supreme Court rulings

US job monthly openings hold at a surprising 7.6 million despite Iran war shock

May’s job openings were surprisingly strong in the data released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, showing American labor market resilience to the war’s economic shock. Forecasters had expected employers to post just 7 million openings in May.

Rebounding from a miserable 2025, U.S. employers have added nearly 114,000 net jobs a month on average this year, up from just 9,700 in 2025, the weakest outside a recession since 2002.

Because of baby boomer retirements and Trump’s immigration crackdown, fewer people are competing for work, and the United States doesn’t need as many jobs as it used to keep the unemployment rate stable. Economists say the so-called “break-even’’ rate of hiring could be as low as zero jobs a month, down from perhaps 150,000 a year or so ago.

▶ Read more

Supreme Court backs state laws banning transgender girls from sports

The Court ’s conservative majority added to its repeated rulings against transgender Americans by deciding that bans in Idaho and West Virginia don’t violate the Constitution or the federal law known as Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in education.

The ruling seems certain to extend to the dozens of other Republican-led states that have banned female transgender athletes. Left unresolved are lawsuits challenging state laws and regulations in Connecticut, California and elsewhere that permit transgender athletes to compete consistent with their gender identity.

About 2.1 million adults, or 0.8%, and 724,000 people ages 13 to 17, or 3.3%, identify as transgender in the U.S., according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.

▶ Read more about Tuesday’s Supreme Court rulings

US envoys arrive in Qatar for meetings on Iran, with tensions high over Hormuz

Trump’s special Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner plan meetings with mediators about the implementation of an initial deal to end the war in Iran, following more crossfire in the Persian Gulf.

They won’t directly negotiate with Iranian diplomats, instead using mediators as go-betweens, said Majed al-Ansari, a spokesman for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry.

Iran was also sending a delegation to Qatar, but has no plans to meet with the American side at any level, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said. His statement left open the possibility of messages being passed through the Qataris.

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Who flies the American flag for holidays — and who never flies one, according to an AP-NORC poll

American views of “Old Glory” are divided by politics, age and race, according to a new survey conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research ahead of the nation’s 250th birthday celebration.

Whether people see it as a unifying or divisive symbol tracks with other deep divisions among Americans, who see their country’s history and accomplishments very differently. About 7 in 10 Republicans and about 6 in 10 Americans ages 60 and older fly the flag at least during holidays. About 6 in 10 Democrats and independents, on the other hand, say they “never” fly the U.S. flag. That includes the vast majority, 75%, of Democrats under 45.

Only about 3 in 10 Black adults say they ever display the American flag, compared with about half of white and Hispanic adults.

The survey of 2,596 adults was conducted April 16-20.

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What the Supreme Court’s Cook ruling means for Federal Reserve independence

The Supreme Court on Monday said the Federal Reserve, unlike any other agency in Washington, has a measure of independence from the presidency and day-to-day politics. But the court didn’t define to what extent.

The case is the latest round in an unprecedented fight between the Fed and Trump. More political interference at the Fed could upend financial markets around the world, which closely follow its interest rate moves.

Trump has repeatedly demanded that the central bank cut its key interest rate to lower borrowing costs for homeowners, businesses, and even the government itself. Trump sought to fire a Fed governor, Lisa Cook, last August after accusing her of mortgage fraud — a charge she denies.

In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled that the president cannot fire the seven members of the Fed’s board of governors without a clear cause. The decision endorses the Fed’s independent structure even as the court eliminated such protections for leaders of other agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission, whom the president can fire at-will.

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Trump nominates acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling as permanent chief

Trump said Monday he will nominate Keith Sonderling to be the secretary of labor, elevating him from the agency’s acting director two months after Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned amid abuse-of-power allegations.

Sonderling, a lawyer who has held a variety of acting positions and leadership roles across Trump’s government, was previously the deputy labor secretary and a Republican member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

“Throughout his career, Keith has proven his dedication to delivering strong results for the Hardworking People of our Country, and I know he will do an incredible job in his new role,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post announcing Sonderling’s nomination.

Sonderling’s nomination is subject to Senate confirmation.

During Trump’s second term, in addition to his Labor Department post, Sonderling has been the acting director of U.S. Office of Government Ethics and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, one of several agencies Trump targeted for closure in an executive order last year.

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The Supreme Court it issue momentous rulings on Trump’s power

The Supreme Court is wrapping up a term that has focused on Trump’s expansive claims of presidential power.

Trump’s efforts to restrict birthright citizenship, fire the heads of most independent agencies at will and remove a sitting Federal Reserve governor are among the remaining eight cases the justices are expected to decide this week, beginning Monday.

The court also is weighing, in cases from West Virginia and Idaho, whether to uphold laws in roughly half the states that prohibit transgender girls and women from playing on their public school and college sports.

Two election-related cases remain, over state laws that allow a grace period for the receipt of mailed ballots, provided they are sent by Election Day, and limits on political party spending in support of candidates for Congress and president.

Also outstanding is a dispute over geofence warrants that collect the location history of cellphone users to find people near crime scenes. Critics say the practice is a fishing expedition that violates civil liberties.

▶ Read more

Foundation President Dame Louise Richardson said the awards, launched in 2005, have never been meant to be political. Earlier this month, the foundation changed its name from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to emphasize its nonprofit status and connection to famed industrialist Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish immigrant.

“We’re not articulating it in response to this moment,” Richardson told The Associated Press. “But it seems especially important at this moment that we celebrate immigrants and their contributions and also that we present a view of immigrants different from the ones so often portrayed in the media.”

The immigration debate continues at the highest levels of power, as President Donald Trump’s administration executes his agenda to increase immigration enforcement and reduce the numbers of legal immigrants and asylum seekers in the country. On the other side, Pope Leo XIV said, “Human dignity has no passport and does not lose its value when crossing a border,” as he visited a once-notorious epicenter of the European migration debate in Spain earlier this month.

Richardson — a naturalized American citizen, born in Ireland — said the entire issue has “become so fraught, especially with the movement against legal immigration and, in particular, the visas for highly skilled people.”

“That just strikes me as an act of self-harm on a national level,” she added, “because so many of these people are the engines of the economy.”

CEO Iman Abuzeid wants to inspire other immigrants

Honoree Dr. Iman Abuzeid, co-founder and CEO of the artificial intelligence-driven healthcare career platform Incredible Health, sees the award as recognition not just for her accomplishments, but for everyone who helped her along the way.

“And if my story makes it feel like it’s more possible for someone else, then that’s probably the part that I care about the most,” added the native of Sudan, who now lives in San Francisco.

Abuzeid said she specifically chose to emigrate to the United States after living in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and completing medical school in England.

“It is the best country for what I’m trying to do,” she said. “I think if you’re ambitious and you’re willing to work hard and you’ve got some skills, it is probably the best country in the world for you.”

Being an immigrant, Abuzeid said, has given her the drive to take on risk and bet on her own abilities. It has also influenced her to build Incredible Health in a way that balances the needs of employers looking to hire health care workers with the career needs of the workers, about 20% of whom are immigrants.

“I think being from Sudan does make me a little bit more attuned to topics like bias and diversity,” she said. “Because we’re operating a marketplace at scale, we can see these patterns in our data where workers of certain last names were seeing bias against them. … So when we removed that, we were able to improve that part of the marketplace.”

Conductor Cristian Măcelaru sees immigration as ‘opportunity’

Honoree Cristian Măcelaru, conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, said immigration offers both the immigrant and their new home country a chance to improve their lives.

“This is an opportunity we should hold dear,” the native of Romania said. “It really makes for a unique kind of country.”

It also creates a unique artistic point of view, said Măcelaru, who moved to Michigan to study music at Interlochen Arts Academy when he was 16.

“I’ve met so many incredible people that were supportive of my arrival to the United States and embracing of who I was,” he said. “But, at the same time, there is that nostalgia for what you’ve left behind that accompanies you on a daily basis. … The immigrant experience never leaves you.”

Măcelaru, who conducted the Orchestre National de France during the Paris Olympics opening ceremony viewed by more than a billion people in 2024, said culture becomes stronger when it appreciates the strengths of others.

“I think all of us actually love the cultures of different places,” said Măcelaru, who makes a point of diversifying the music presented by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. “It doesn’t matter where we are on the planet, you end up loving music that is from a different place. You end up loving food that is from a different country.”

Harvard's Gregory Nagy ‘awestruck’ by influx of new cultures

Honoree Gregory Nagy, Harvard University’s Francis Jones Professor of Classical Greek Literature and a professor of Comparative Literature, takes it a step further.

“To have an influx of new cultures and new ways of looking at things — that variety is the human fabric,” said the native of Hungary who emigrated with his family as a boy following World War II. They first went to Canada, and then to the United States when his father was invited to become a professor of classical piano at Indiana University. “I’m just awestruck by how important the melting pot is.”

Nagy, who prides himself on being “a friendly Midwesterner” after spending his formative years in Bloomington, Indiana, uses the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard’s thoughts on repetition — how a person changes an idea even if they only repeat it — to back up that belief.

But he also supports it with his ongoing teaching. Nagy’s class on “The Ancient Greek Hero,” which he has taught for more than 50 years and is currently the longest-running class at Harvard, continues to change with the times, while remaining true to its subject matter.

He has studied how “The Oath of the Ephebes,” from more than 2,400 years ago, connects the importance of environmentalism to being a good citizen. He says the ancient Greek idea of heroism is closer to modern comic book heroes than to the idealized, perfect versions many Americans hold dear.

That evolution is driven by young people, as reflected in the election of Péter Magyar as prime minister of Nagy’s beloved Hungary in April, the social changes that followed, and the new perspectives brought by immigration, Nagy said.

“I was very fortunate to become an immigrant,” he said. “And I was lucky enough to achieve puberty in Indiana, so that Americanizes you very well.”

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The team made the announcement on the X social media platform. Arnold had two years left on his four-year rookie contract, worth $14.3 million.

The team did not give a reason, but the announcement came the same day that a Florida judge set Arnold’s bail at $1 million. Prosecutors say the three victims, including a man who worked as a driver for Arnold, were robbed while being held at gunpoint in a Tampa apartment in February.

Prosecutors had wanted Arnold held without bond on the eight felony charges he faces. But Chief Circuit Court Judge Christopher Sabella granted bond to him.

The judge did not require Arnold to wear an ankle monitor because it would have prevented him from taking the field for games and training. The judge also said Arnold already has a “paparazzi monitor,” referring to the photographers who have been watching his movements.

“If he shows up on a beach in Tahiti, he’ll be on social media,” Sabella said at the end of the bond hearing in Tampa.

Sabella said that although the charges are serious — each could bring a life sentence if Arnold is convicted — prosecutors are “not there yet” in having a strong case for Arnold’s guilt.

The judge did order Arnold to remain at his home in Tallahassee except for when he’s playing, training and traveling with the Lions. He also said Arnold cannot have any contact with other people tied to the case and must surrender his passport within 48 hours.

Arnold, 23, was a first-round pick in the 2024 draft after playing at the University of Alabama. He had 31 tackles and an interception last season as part of the Lions’ defense.

According to prosecutors, the victims were abducted three days after cash and luxury items, including Rolex watches and Louis Vuitton bags, were reported stolen from Arnold at an Airbnb rental in the Tampa area. Prosecutors allege that six of Arnold’s associates actually carried out the crimes, holding, beating and pistol-whipping the victims, and that Arnold wasn’t there at the time.

None of Arnold’s co-defendants had bond set for them. Two female co-defendants have pleaded guilty and are cooperating with authorities. Their statements tie Arnold, who was not at the apartment, to the crimes, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors argue that Arnold is as responsible for the crimes as his co-defendants because he told his associates that he thought he knew who had stolen from him and said he wanted to confront them, setting events in motion.

“Our office remains committed to seeking justice for the three victims in the case who were beaten, robbed, and held against their will,” said Erin Maloney, a spokesperson for the state attorney’s office.

But Harvey Steinberg, an attorney for Arnold, argued in court Monday that prosecutors are “not even close” to showing that Arnold that he knew or directed what his associates would do.

Denise White, the CEO of EAG Sports Management, which represents Arnold, said before the Lions announced they were releasing Arnold that the judge’s ruling “confirms that there is very little evidence to even suggest any criminal involvement by Mr. Arnold.”

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This story was updated to correct that among the charges Arnold faces are four robbery-related counts, not four assault counts.

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The visit by Steve Witkoff, U.S. President Donald Trump’s special Mideast envoy, and Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, comes after a weekend of crossfire in the Persian Gulf over efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping traffic.

The envoys won’t be having direct negotiations with Iranian diplomats while in Qatar’s capital, Doha, said Majed al-Ansari, a spokesman for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry. Instead, mediators are working for the time being as go-betweens for the talks, which won’t include any high-level officials, he added.

The U.S. and Iran have held indirect negotiations before. However, the two previous rounds collapsed and preceded the 12-day war Israel launched against Iran in 2025 and this year's war, launched jointly by the U.S. and Iran on Feb. 28.

Iran is also sending a delegation to Qatar this week. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Tuesday that Iran has had no plans for a meeting with the American side at any level in the coming days.

“What will take place in Doha tomorrow is a discussion with the Qatari side about implementing parts of the memorandum of understanding, including the release of Iran’s blocked assets,” Baghaei told journalists at his own briefing.

It is possible the two sides could exchange messages through the Qatari mediators.

The U.S. and Iran agreed to an interim deal earlier this month that calls for Tehran to dilute its stockpile of enriched uranium. It also waives U.S.-backed oil sanctions on the country, calls for free traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and gives each side 60 days to hammer out broader agreements.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Monday that Qatar plans to release $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive negotiations, confirmed the release amount, saying it would be used to buy U.S. food products for the Iranian people.

A fifth of the world's oil was shipped through the Strait of Hormuz before the war began. Iran’s attacks and threats stopped cargo ships and tankers from moving through the strait, creating a global energy crisis.

The strait has long been considered an international waterway despite being in Iran and Oman’s territorial waters.

Both sides traded strikes amid efforts last week to open Oman’s territorial waters in the strait to both inbound and outbound ship traffic from the Persian Gulf. That raised concerns that negotiations to formally end the war could be disrupted.

Iran twice attacked vessels in the strait — including a tanker filled with Qatari crude — and drew retaliatory American airstrikes. Iran also launched drone and missile attacks targeting Bahrain and Kuwait on Sunday.

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AP reporter Josh Boak in Washington contributed.

The decision, in line with the longstanding judicial interpretation of the 14th Amendment, comes on the final day of a Supreme Court term that has centered on Trump’s expansive claims of presidential power — and largely ruled in his favor.

In its other Tuesday rulings, the court upheld laws in roughly half the states that prohibit transgender girls and women from playing on their public school and college sport teams and struck down limits on party spending in federal elections.

Here's the latest:

Justice Thomas says the majority misunderstands the 14th amendment

He insists the majority opinion perpetuates a misunderstanding and misapplication of the 14th amendment.

The citizenship clause and related Reconstruction statutes granted citizenship “to persons born and domiciled in the United States regardless of their race,” he wrote. But “neither guaranteed citizenship to persons who were not domiciled in the United States.”

He continued: “Blacks were entitled to citizenship because they were Americans. They had no other homeland, owed no allegiance to any foreign power, and were subject to no other authority.”

That highlights the argument over what it means to be “subject to the jurisdiction” of the U.S.

The majority holds that, with exceptions like foreign diplomats, being on U.S. soil makes a person subject to U.S. laws. Thomas and dissenters reason that no one who is separately subject to another foreign government should be considered “subject to the jurisdiction” of the U.S., at least when conferring citizenship.

Justice Jackson takes issue with Thomas in citizenship reasoning

Justice Clarence Thomas’ dissent in the birthright case argued the 14th amendment’s citizenship clause applied only to formerly enslaved people and not more broadly.

That prompted Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to pen a concurrence to Roberts’ majority opinion.

“Despite his longstanding endorsement of a ‘colorblind’ Constitution, Justice Thomas now surprisingly suggests that the Citizenship Clause was a race-conscious remedial measure, relating only to ‘freed slaves such as Dred Scott,’” she wrote, calling that a “narrow vision” of Reconstruction’s intended expansion of democracy.

“This alternative account pitches Black Americans against immigrants when the advocates who promoted the Fourteenth Amendment did no such thing,” Jackson wrote. “Freed Blacks fought for the shared humanity of all people.”

Jackson is the first Black woman to sit on the Supreme Court. Thomas is the second Black man, succeeding Thurgood Marshall, who argued the Brown v. Board case that struck down segregated schools.

Trump says Congress should end birthright citizenship and calls court ruling ‘too bad’

The president said the Supreme Court’s decision upholding that anyone born in the United States automatically becomes an American citizen was “too bad for our Country,” but that Congress could “easily” address it with legislation.

Trump declared that “No long and unwieldy Constitutional Amendment is necessary!”

But the Supreme Court’s ruling Tuesday makes it clear that it would be necessary to amend the Constitution. Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the opinion for the court, pointed to the Fourteenth Amendment in the Constitution in ruling that anyone born in the country, with very limited exceptions, is a citizen.

Justice Department reacts to the ruling on birthright citizenship

The Justice Department said in a statement that it’s “committed to tackling illegal birth tourism schemes by working diligently with U.S. Attorneys across the country to uphold the law.”

“Actors seeking to exploit loopholes to obtain automatic citizenship for their children pose a national security threat and will be brought to justice,” the department said in a post on X.

Dred Scott case featured in the justices’ birthright citizenship writings

U.S. Supreme Court justices have long distanced themselves from the pre-Civil War decision that declared Black people — enslaved and free — were not U.S. citizens.

The 1857 Dred Scott case was featured again Tuesday, being mentioned 48 times in 194 pages of the birthright citizenship opinion, concurrences and dissents.

Roberts’ majority opinion explained how U.S. birthright citizenship originates with English common law: Anyone born in the monarch’s realm was considered a “natural-born subject.”

The “odious” Scott case, Roberts said, deviated from that once-accepted understanding and “was met with shock.”

In response, he detailed, the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause restored common law understanding, with lawmakers making clear they were explicitly rebuking the Scott decision.

Yet, Roberts wrote, “the Government and the principal dissent propose a return to its core tenet,” that “for certain people, being born on American soil will not suffice to confer citizenship.”

Supreme Court denies report that Justice Samuel Alito is retiring

The Supreme Court’s public information office is denying a published report, since retracted, that the court announced Alito’s retirement Tuesday.

The unusual statement followed a story from NPR saying the court had announced that Alito was stepping down. NPR pulled the story a short time later. Chief Justice John Roberts announced the retirement of several court employees Tuesday, as he customarily does after the court’s final opinions are out. Alito was not among them.

Speculation had swirled about the justice’s future plans earlier this year, but Fox News and CBS reported this spring that he planned to remain on the bench.

NPR’s editor-in-chief released a statement saying the story had been incorrectly reported and that correspondent Nina Totenberg would appear on “All Things Considered” Tuesday afternoon to explain what had happened.

Court will consider striking down assault weapons bans in Connecticut and the Chicago-area

A Supreme Court that has expanded gun rights will consider whether bans on semiautomatic rifles, often called assault weapons, violate the Second Amendment.

The justices said Tuesday they will take up appeals asking the court to strike down bans on the AR-15 and similar semiautomatic firearms in the Chicago area and Connecticut.

Similar laws are in place in about a dozen states, covering major cities like New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Congress allowed a national assault weapons ban to expire in 2004, but Democrats have supported renewing it in response to a series of mass shootings and states have continued to pass their own laws.

The cases are the latest high-profile disputes over guns to reach the court since its conservative majority handed down a landmark ruling in 2022 that expanded Second Amendment rights and spawned challenges to firearm laws around the country.

The case is expected to be heard in the fall.

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More reactions to the Supreme Court’s decision on campaign spending

The conservative-leaning Institute for Free Speech hailed the decision as “a landmark victory for the First Amendment.”

“More than half the states have operated for years without restricting coordinated party expenditures, and there is no evidence of the corruption the federal government fears,” institute senior attorney Brett Nolan said. “The Court corrected a two-decade-old mistake.”

Meanwhile, Jacquelyn Lopez and Rachel Jacobs, partners in the Elias Law Group, which represents Democrats in voting rights cases and election contests, said the decision “needlessly” destroyed “a long-standing pillar” of federal campaign finance laws.

However, they also said Republicans have “pushed the boundaries” of the limits to help weak candidates. They said the Elias Law Group had anticipated the outcome for months.

“In the long run, Democratic campaigns will benefit from the level playing field this ruling provides,” they said. “Now, both parties are free to offer unlimited support to their candidates, not just the party willing to ignore the law to do so.”

From a descendant of the man at the center of the 1898 birthright citizenship ruling

Norman Wong, the great-grandson of Wong Kim Ark, the Chinese American cook at the center of the landmark 1898 Supreme Court decision establishing birthright citizenship, applauded Tuesday’s ruling.

“My great grandfather, Wong Kim Ark, never set out to become a symbol. He was one man, only a cook, and yet he stood up for what was right, and I believe that it has made a difference,” Wong said in a statement. “As a result, he stood up for the rights of all of us Americans — it just so happens that I am related to him. Today’s ruling shows that his victory remains as important now as it was in 1898.”

‘By the grace of God, the president does not manage to do everything he wants’

For a Mexican mother with six children born in the United States — ranging in age from 18 years to 18 months — the Supreme Court’s decision brought happiness.

“I am happy for our children,” the 38-year-old woman said in a telephone interview. “I am happy because they don’t face any risk like we do.”

The woman, who asked not to be identified for fear of being detained and deported, crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in 2007 in search of a better life. She has not applied for asylum or any other immigration status.

She works at a plant nursery in South Florida, where her children attend school.

The woman said one of her children called her as soon as he found out about the decision to share his joy with her.

“By the grace of God, the president does not manage to do everything he wants,” the mother said. “I was confident that, with God’s help, he would not succeed.”

Birthright citizenship survived racist eras, and now Trump, Global Refuge leader says

The head of Global Refuge said the Supreme Court averted a catastrophe with its 6-3 opinion upholding the 14th Amendment and rejecting the Trump administration’s attempt to overturn a Reconstruction era amendment.

“Birthright citizenship survived the Chinese Exclusion Act, Jim Crow, and today, it survived an executive order that would have essentially turned the maternity ward into a customs checkpoint,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, President and CEO of Global Refugee.

“The Justices rightly recognized that the U.S. Constitution is clear and unambiguous: if you are born in this country and subject to its jurisdiction, you are a citizen of this country,” she said. Vignarajah said a different outcome would have denied citizenship to more than 250,000 children born in the U.S. each year.

“This was a constitutional stress test.”

Trump says Republicans won ‘big’ on Supreme Court’s party spending ruling

The president applauded a Supreme Court ruling that struck down a federal election law and made it easier for major donors to avoid caps on individual contributions to candidates by going through the party.

“A BIG WIN FOR REPUBLICANS and, more importantly, The First Amendment!” Trump posted on social media.

House Speaker Mike Johnson ‘very disappointed’ over birthright citizenship ruling

The Republican leader’s news conference was interrupted by the ruling as reporters instantly sought a real-time reaction.

“Oh dear,” Johnson said as a reporter read out the decision.

Johnson said he believes it will subject the country to “serious challenges going forward and we’ll have to deal with that.”

Johnson, who has worked as a constitutional lawyer primarily on religious issues, said the 14th Amendment is being abused by people who are coming to the U.S. to have children in a “birthing tourism trend.” It’s not illegal but is a practice the Trump administration has tried to reduce.

Republican senator calls for constitutional amendment restricting birthright citizenship

Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri called the Supreme Court’s decision “wrong, dangerous, and disastrous for American sovereignty and the American people.” He denounced the decision’s majority, including “squish conservatives,” in a post on X.

Schmitt added that Congress may need to act to restrict birthright citizenship following the court’s ruling.

“I will be announcing a forthcoming constitutional amendment to restore the sacred bond between American citizens and their government,” Schmitt wrote.

He said the amendment “will ensure that citizenship once again reflects allegiance, permanence, and membership in the American nation.”

Nation’s largest Latino civil rights group touts victory in birthright citizenship case

“This decision confirms a truth that generations of Americans have lived by: a child born on this soil is a citizen of this nation,” Roman Palomares, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said in a statement. “The Court has made clear that no president can override the Constitution by decree.”

LULAC was one of the plaintiffs in the birthright citizenship case. The organization sued the Trump administration last year over the president’s executive order restricting birthright citizenship.

In transgender sports dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor says details matter

In her dissent on the West Virginia transgender athlete case, Sotomayor emphasized that Becky Pepper-Jackson, a 16-year-old high school sophomore, identified as a girl at a young age and started hormone therapy before going through puberty as a male.

That matters, Sotomayor said.

The justice did not argue that West Virginia could not set policies that set restrictions on transgender participation in girls’ sports to ensure safety and fairness. Such a policy, Sotomayor argued, could conceivably allow Pepper-Jackson to compete as she wishes. Meanwhile, the justice wrote, an absolute ban could violate the Constitution’s equal protection clause.

But the immediate issue, Sotomayor said, is that courts haven’t resolved the factual question of whether Pepper-Jackson’s circumstances put her on the same competitive level with other female athletes. Sotomayor said justices should have returned the case to lower courts to settle that question.

Opposing reactions to the Supreme Court’s trans athlete decision

West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey, a Republican, hailed Tuesday’s Supreme Court decision barring transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports, while the American Civil Liberties Union senior lawyer Joshua Block called it “heartbreaking.”

Morrisey said the decision “will be remembered as one of the most important victories for women’s athletics since the enactment of Title IX itself…We defended a simple principle most Americans instinctively understand: that women’s sports exist to provide women and girls a fair opportunity to compete and succeed.”

Block said: “The reality is that the equality of transgender women and girls takes nothing away from, and in fact promotes, the equality of all women and girls. We will continue to advance the fundamental principle that all young people deserve equal opportunity to thrive and succeed.”

The trans teenager at the center of the Supreme Court’s decision on sports

Becky Pepper-Jackson is at the center of Supreme Court decision upholding states’ ban on transgender athletes participating in girls’ and women’s sports.

The teenager from Bridgeport, West Virginia, is a state-qualifying track and field athlete who placed third in the 2025 discus competition.

Six years ago, at age 11, Pepper-Jackson challenged a then-new state law banning trans athletes from competing in female sports in middle school, high school and college.

Now, in high school, Pepper-Jackson is the only trans person who’s sought to compete in girls sports in West Virginia.

Tuesday’s ruling means Pepper-Jackson’s recently completed track season will be her last in the state.

Divides over political party spending have mostly split along partisan lines

After President Trump took office for his second term, the Federal Election Commission dropped its defense of the law limiting party spending and joined with Republicans in urging that it be overturned.

Democrats had called on the court to uphold the law, even though there’s wide agreement that the spending limits have hurt political parties in an era of unlimited spending by other organizations.

Entrenched divisions between liberal and conservative justices over campaign finance restrictions were on display when the court heard arguments in December.

“Every time we interfere with the congressional design, we make matters worse,” said Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a dissenter in Citizens United and the court’s other campaign money cases.

By contrast, Justice Samuel Alito, a member of the Citizens United majority, described the decision as “much maligned, I think unfairly maligned.” The effect of the decision was to ”level the playing field,” Alito said, by expanding the right to spend freely that had previously belonged only to media companies.

Group supporting tough restrictions on immigration says Supreme Court ruling is a mistake

“Birthright citizenship for children of illegal aliens will continue to be a ballooning negative consequence of the failure to enforce our immigration laws,” said Dale Wilcox, executive director and general counsel of the Federation for American Immigration Reform. “But that very fact makes it all the more urgent to step up enforcement to the maximum possible extent and end illegal immigration.”

Trump says Supreme Court ruling on transgender athletes is a ‘big win’

The president has made his opposition to transgender athletes a key feature of his speeches and he embraced the Supreme Court decision that states can ban the athletes from girls and women’s teams.

“BIG WIN,” Trump said on social media. “Wow! That takes that ridiculous situation off the table!!!”

Immigrant advocacy group welcomes birthright citizenship ruling

“The Justices rightly recognized that the U.S. Constitution is clear and unambiguous: if you are born in this country and subject to its jurisdiction, you are a citizen of this country,” Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, the head of Global Refuge, a nonprofit that works with immigrants, said in a statement. “Birthright citizenship survived the Chinese Exclusion Act, Jim Crow, and today, it survived an executive order that would have essentially turned the maternity ward into a customs checkpoint.”

Latino civil rights leaders praise birthright citizenship decision

“Today, the Supreme Court defended the soul of this country and the very definition of what it means to be an American,” Voto Latino President Maria Teresa Kumar said in a statement.

She added: “By reaffirming that every child born on American soil is a citizen, the court chose to embrace our multiracial and multicultural reality, rather than succumb to a political agenda rooted in the fear of it.”

Chief Justice Roberts’ majority opinion upholding birthright citizenship

“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community. The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land,’” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court, citing congressional debate over the amendment. “We keep that promise today.”

How colonial history helped shape birthright citizenship

Unlike much of the world, birthright citizenship is common across North, Central and South America. Many legal historians believe the roots of that geographic divide reach back more than 500 years, when European nations began sending settlers to their American colonies.

Europe’s aristocrat rulers wanted to encourage people to move to the colonies, but those colonists wanted their children — even if born overseas — to hold on to their European citizenship.

The practice remained in place as independence movements began to take shape and as independent nations began to emerge.

“By then, their legal traditions had already started to form,” said César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, a law professor at Ohio State University. “So by and large they continued some of the key legal practices of the colonial European governments that they had just severed ties with.”

NAACP president praises Supreme Court decision protecting birthright citizenship

“Trump’s attempted assault on the 14th Amendment was dealt a major blow today. This decision is a powerful affirmation of the Constitution and the enduring promise of equality it represents,” said NAACP President Derrick Johnson. “For over 150 years, the Fourteenth Amendment has guaranteed citizenship to everyone born in this country. Today, the court rightly rejected efforts to undermine that core protection and instead upheld a principle that is essential to our democracy.”

Birthright citizenship opinion is literally weighty, with a printed version that’s especially thick

Many of those pages are from the dissent penned by Justice Thomas and joined by Gorsuch. The majority opinion is 26 pages long, Thomas’s dissent runs to 91 pages.

Supreme Court upholds birthright citizenship, rejecting Trump’s proposed limits

In upholding a broad conception of birthright citizenship, the court rejected President Donald Trump’s executive order declaring that children born to people who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens.

The justices relied on a long-settled understanding of the 14th Amendment, adopted after the Civil War, and more recent federal laws in ruling that anyone born in the country, with very limited exceptions, is a citizen.

The Republican president’s restrictions had been blocked by several lower courts and had not taken effect anywhere in the U.S.

During arguments in April, both conservative and liberal justices questioned the order’s legality in a momentous case that was magnified by Trump’s unprecedented attendance in the courtroom.

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Advocates for LGBTQ+ youth condemn the transgender athletes ruling

“Today’s news has nothing to do with safety or fairness in sports,” Trevor Project CEO Jaymes Black said in a statement. “These rulings only serve to send a message to transgender and nonbinary young people that says, ‘you don’t belong.’”

Supreme Court strikes down limits on party spending in federal elections

The Supreme Court on Tuesday erased limits on how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates for Congress and president, striking down a federal election law that’s more than 50 years old.

Prodded by a Republican-led lawsuit that includes Vice President JD Vance, the court’s conservative justices were again in the majority of the latest decision that upended congressionally enacted limits on raising and spending money to influence elections. The court’s 2010 Citizens United decision opened the door to unlimited independent spending in federal elections.

The limits on party spending stem from a desire to prevent large donors from skirting caps on individual contributions to a candidate by directing unlimited sums to the party, with the understanding that the money will be spent on behalf of the candidate.

The Supreme Court had previously upheld the limits in 2001.

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One advocate for transgender rights says Tuesday’s ruling will resonate in areas beyond sports

“The Supreme Court gave cover to a campaign whose stated goal is to deny constitutional projections to trans people,” Imara Jones, CEO of TransLash Media, said in a statement. “The ultimate objective is to establish the cocktail of laws and systemic marginalization that will allow those in power to exclude larger and larger groups of Americans.”

From Justice Brett Kavanaugh on the transgender athletes ruling

“Sports are generally zero sum,” Kavanaugh said in the majority opinion. “Every biological male who makes the team takes a roster spot from a female athlete. Every biological male who earns playing time reduces the playing time of a female athlete. Every biological male who starts takes a starting position from a female athlete. Every biological male who wins a race takes the gold medal away from a female athlete.”

Supreme Court upholds state laws banning transgender girls and women from school athletic teams

The ruling is another setback for transgender people.

The court’s conservative majority, which has repeatedly ruled against transgender Americans in the past year, ruled that state bans in Idaho and West Virginia don’t violate the Constitution or the federal law known as Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in education.

More than two dozen other Republican-led states have adopted bans on female transgender athletes, and the decision seems certain to extend to them as well.

Left unresolved by the outcome are lawsuits challenging state laws and regulations in Connecticut, California and elsewhere that permit transgender athletes to compete consistent with their gender identity.

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Several courts have blocked the citizenship restrictions

The justices are weighing Trump’s appeal of a lower-court ruling from New Hampshire that struck down the citizenship restrictions, one of several courts that have blocked them.

Trump signed the birthright citizenship order on the first day of his second term, but the restrictions have not taken effect anywhere in the country.

Dueling views on birthright citizenship

In oral arguments, Sauer, the lawyer for Trump’s administration, said that birthright citizenship encourages illegal immigration and “rewards illegal aliens who not only violate the immigration laws but also jump in front of those who follow the rules.”

The practice “demeans the priceless and profound gift of American citizenship,” he told the court.

But the American Civil Liberties Union, which is challenging Trump’s order, sees it very differently.

“It’s one of the clearest statements of who we are as a country,” the ACLU said in a statement. “No matter who your parents are, if you’re born here, you belong here.”

Those brightly colored engagement tactics long ago jumped from smartphone games to everything from online shopping to sports betting and classrooms. So it should come as no surprise that many nutrition-tracking apps like MyFitnessPal and Noom also use gaming features to keep users coming back.

But as nutrition apps proliferate, some researchers are raising alarms that gamification features may do more harm than good for some people.

Isabella Anderberg, a psychologist researching digital dieting behavior at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, said calorie tracking can reinforce behaviors associated with body dysmorphia and disordered eating.

“We do know that not everyone’s going to experience harm from using the apps, but there are certainly factors that might increase risk,” Anderberg said. “Approach with caution.”

The case for nutrition tracking apps

Anderberg said there is certainly a place for the apps. Health professionals she interviewed during her research reported that apps can be especially helpful as meal-planning tools for people managing chronic conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. And physical activity apps remind people to move their bodies.

Many users report enjoying them, finding tactics like streak notifications to be motivating.

Angela Drury, an English professor in Woodstock, Georgia, began using MyFitnessPal more than 10 years ago to track protein, fat, carbohydrate and calorie intake when she started CrossFit. She has since cycled through several other apps, including Weight Watchers, Lose It and now Nourish, which is paid for by her insurance and includes blood work and weekly meetings with a dietitian.

Drury said the apps have helped her stay on track with fitness goals and have sometimes steered her away from high-calorie foods when she uploaded photos of meals she was considering eating. She feels a little boost when she gets a badge for continuing a streak for logging meals, but a notification that says she hasn’t entered lunch has the opposite effect.

“Then it felt like it was scolding me,” she said.

Be wary of what the app tells you

The way most apps work, users enter height, weight, age and other information and then set a goal. The app says how many calories or macronutrients are needed to reach that goal, using gamelike elements such as badges, streaks, rewards, points and notifications to encourage user engagement.

Many nutrition tracking apps are free but offer premium versions that users must pay for.

The Centers for Disease Control and others say that how many calories you need depends on factors including your age, sex and level of physical activity. The CDC provides a tool to calculate how many calories an individual needs.

Critics warn that food databases are often inaccurate, with estimated portion sizes and calorie counts that vary widely.

Courtney Simpson, a behavioral psychologist and director of eating disorders at the Evidence-Based Treatment Centers of Seattle, said some apps encourage people to set calorie goals that are far too low for any adult. That's not only unhealthy but can set people up for failure.

The gaming features keep people coming back to unrealistic goals, creating shame that may contribute to binge eating or other behaviors people are trying to change, Simpson said.

“It’s not that gamification itself is bad. It’s about what it is promoting,” she said. “Is that actually going to be beneficial?”

MyFitnessPal and Noom did not respond to several requests for comment.

Listen to your body

Anderberg said people who already believe that thinner is better are more likely to misuse the apps. Calorie and macronutrient tracking can then become obsessional, which creates more negative feelings when daily goals aren’t met.

She urged users to be skeptical of what the apps tell them to do and instead rely on their own intuition. If you feel the need to rest, nurse an injury or treat yourself to something delicious, do so.

“We are sort of losing that ability to read our body cues,” she said.

Simpson noted that focusing on weight as a measure of overall health, besides being inaccurate, makes it more likely to lose and regain weight. Such cycling is linked to worse health outcomes over time.

“If you really want lasting change, then you need to be doing behaviors that are feasible and sustainable for you over time,” she said.

Drury could see how the apps could be harmful for people predisposed to disordered eating, but she said the most important consideration for her is to set realistic goals and listen to your body.

“I’ve ultimately learned that you cannot starve yourself into being in the shape you want to be in,” she said.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Albert Stumm writes about wellness, food and travel. Find his work at https://www.albertstumm.com

The largest U.S. oil company and its consortium partner, QatarEnergy, consider the most likely option for getting the gas to market would be conveying it through a pipeline to existing processing facilities in Egypt where it can be liquefied for export, ExxonMobil's Vice President of Global Exploration John Ardill said.

Other options including building onshore facilities in Cyprus or a floating one in waters over the deposits are considered too costly at this point.

“Everything you’ve seen between the government of Cyprus and the government of Egypt gives us a lot of confidence that there’s good government to government coordination, the agreements in place to leverage that eastern Mediterranean energy hub concept,” Ardill said.

He was speaking after ExxonMobil and QatarEnergy signed a deal with Cyprus declaring the two deposits commercially viable.

The deposits — dubbed Glaucus and Pegasus — are located in Block 10 of Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and are estimated to hold together roughly 7 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Ardill said the consortium is looking to expand its presence off Cyprus, expressing interest in exploring an area, or block, on the southwestern corner of the EEZ that is adjacent to an area where it already holds drilling licenses.

The consortium will carry out additional drilling at the Pegasus deposit around the end of this year to collect more key data for its development, he added.

“So what we should tell ordinary people is we have been working very diligently together between government and investor to make these discoveries and we’re working very diligently to get the gas flowing for the people of Cyprus,” Ardill said.

Cyprus is trying to position itself as a new energy source for Europe and beyond following the initial discovery of natural gas off its southern shore in 2011.

Apart from ExxonMobil and QatarEnergy, two other consortiums hold exploration licenses in the Cypriot EEZ.

A consortium composed of Italy’s Eni and French TOTAL holds licenses for four blocks where two deposits hold an estimated 5.6 trillion cubic feet of gas combined, while a partnership between Chevron, Dutch Shell and Israeli NewMed is licensed for one bloc where the oldest discovery — Aphrodite — holds approximately 5.6 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Earlier this year, Eni’s Chief Operating Officer Guido Brusco said the company was close to making a final decision on developing the Cronos gas field that could deliver the hydrocarbon to European markets by late 2027 or early 2028.

But not every single rabbit was rehomed, so as you can imagine, the ones left behind have been rapidly reproducing ever since.

Now, everywhere you look in the Jenada Isle neighborhood, there are black bunnies, brown bunnies, white rabbits and even baby bunnies.

“I really like the bunnies,” said resident Trey Opp. “I mean, I don’t like that they’re free and roaming and there’s no one taking control and it’s going on and on, but I do think that they’re cute.”

Added resident David Brassil: “They breed like rabbits and they might just take over and start digging holes and ruining people’s yards and stuff like that, but they are really cute.”

While most people agree that the bunnies are adorable, the little bouncing critters can be a menace for homeowners.

“They are destroying our property,” said resident George Kvocka. “I mean, they are out causing damage to the property. You can see all the grass and the plants are being dug up, so it’s costly for neighbors to keep that up.”

Local 10 Animal Advocate Jacey Birch found holes all over the island while searching to see how many rabbits call the Wilton Manors neighborhood their home.

“I almost tripped earlier in one of their holes in my backyard, so I can see why they can be a frustration,” said resident Chad Parvus.

Local 10 News’ cameras captured at least a dozen holes over two different visits, while neighbors claim there could be up to 60.

Kvocka said he feeds the bunnies daily right out of his garage, but he called the Animal Advocate team for help, not knowing where else to turn.

The history behind the bunnies in the neighborhood goes back several years to when a breeder illegally dumped domestic rabbits in the area, and then those rabbits did exactly what rabbits do.

They reproduced.

Did you know a female rabbit can give birth to a new litter every month?

Three years ago, the city, a rabbit rescue and the residents all got together to help rehome the dumped animals along with the ones that were born there.

“They’re very difficult to keep under control and they breed like rabbits, so even if they were to pretty much get rid of most of them, as long as one or two of them stayed around, the problem would come back,” said Parvus.

Added Opp: “They took away a lot of the bunnies when they took them away back in 2023. They started reproducing; now there’s tons of babies everywhere.”

The problem is nobody really oversees the bunnies and every single time a baby is born on the island, it’s considered a feral animal.

And therein lies the problem.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said domesticated rabbits are under the jurisdiction of local governments, not the FWC.

Local 10 then reached out to the city, which said, “at this time, the city is not actively pursuing any actions related to the rabbits on the island.”

Finally, Local 10 News contacted Broward County Animal Control, which said, in part: “Our scope of services are limited to dogs and cats.”

“I see them under my deck in my backyard, I see them in neighbors’ yards. It’s just going to continue and continue until somebody does something about it,” said Opp.

Local 10 also reached out to several rabbit rescue groups, but none will accept feral rabbits living on the streets that are not domesticated.

It took place at Bayfront Park during the match between Brazil and Japan.

The Round of 32 knockout stage game was a great one.

It remained tied until the final moments, when Brazil pulled out a thrilling 2-1 victory.

Local 10 News’ Liane Morejon was there for all the fun, and her report can be seen at the top of this page.

“Hearts of Heroes” reunites the survivors of tragedy with the extraordinary men and women who saved their lives.

A life-saving rescue is more than meets the eye, according to disaster rescue expert Sheldon Yellen.

The show drives home the reality that a hero lives within all of us.

Germany should be getting used to disappointment, but it doesn’t make it any less painful for a traditional soccer heavyweight that had been tentatively hoping for a fifth World Cup title to restore lost pride.

Germany did manage to survive the group stage for the first time since winning the trophy in 2014, but it’s little consolation after Monday’s loss to unheralded Paraguay on penalties sent the team home after the first knockout game.

“We messed it up,” Joshua Kimmich told reporters after the match in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

It was a familiar feeling for the Germany captain who also struggled for explanations after the team’s group-stage exit at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

“As a child, when you watched the national team during tournaments, it was always semifinals, finals, or world champions. There was always lots of success. You grew up with that, cheering them on,” the 31-year-old Kimmich said Monday, when he apologized for the team failing to meet expectations.

“All of us who were on the pitch should feel that, rather than looking to blame someone else. We blew it,” Kimmich said in comments reported by dpa.

Coach under fire

Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann is in the firing line after some contentious calls — particularly after recalling veteran goalkeeper Manuel Neuer from international retirement just before the tournament after months of denials.

The 40-year-old Neuer failed to justify his inclusion at the expense of Hoffenheim’s Oliver Baumann, and was arguably at fault for Ecuador’s winning goal in the last group game.

“I gave it my all,” Neuer said.

Nagelsmann finally bowed to pressure and gave forward Deniz Undav his first start against Paraguay, but the move didn’t pay off as the Kurdish Yazidi player was unable to add to his three goals and two assists from his first two games as a substitute.

Nagelsmann was also criticized for not playing forward Nick Woltemade at all until he sent him on with extra time looming against Paraguay. Woltemade was among three players who missed in the penalty shootout.

False hope

Nagelsmann had raised expectations by saying Germany was aiming to win the title. Ultimately, his team failed to show any justification for such hopes.

Germany played four games at the World Cup, winning two against debutant Curaçao and Ivory Coast, before the losses to Ecuador and Paraguay.

While Paraguay’s win was joyously celebrated on the streets of its capital, Asunción, it was considered a major shock — few German fans knew any of the Paraguayan players before the match, and they were already looking forward to a likely Round of 16 meeting with France, which plays Sweden on Tuesday.

“You have to beat such a team,” Neuer said of Paraguay. “That’s a fact when you want to measure yourself against teams like France.”

Nagelsmann has vowed to stay on as coach, though he was also criticized for his prickly responses to questions after the game.

“I’m still convinced that he’s probably the right one to continue,” Germany team director Rudi Völler said. “It’s not only up to me.”

Serious talks ahead

Bernd Neuendorf, the president of the German soccer federation, said Tuesday he already met “at length” with Nagelsmann, Völler and sporting director Andreas Rettig, and they agreed “our performance at the World Cup fell short of our standards.”

“In the coming days, we will calmly look at the reasons why the team was unable to realize its potential and failed to meet both its own expectations and those of the German football community,” Neuendorf said. “After such a crushing blow, we cannot and do not wish to simply return to business as usual.”

Nagelsmann has a contract running through the European Championship in 2028.

Schadenfreude takes over

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz illustrated the disconnect between the German team’s hopes and reality better than most when he wrote on social media, “What a match, @DFB_Team! You thrilled our country with your commitment and team spirit at this World Cup. We’re proud of you.”

Merz was quickly mocked for his post on X, where many users asked which match he was referring to. The words “which match” began trending.

“I honestly don’t know which was worse. The match or this analysis,” FDP politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann wrote.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Nadiem Anwar Makarim was convicted of pushing his ministry to buy Google Chromebook laptops for schools during the COVID-19 pandemic as the American tech giant was considering an investment in Gojek's parent company. Makarim denied wrongdoing.

A panel of five judges at Jakarta’s Corruption Court ordered Makarim to repay 809 billion rupiah (about $45.2 million) — a figure prosecutors said represented the value to him of Google's investment in PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa — and imposed a fine of 1 billion rupiah (about $55,870). Prosectors said the purchasing decision also caused $125 million in state losses.

“The defendant, as a minister who should serve as a role model, abused his authority. His actions were deliberate, structured and systematic,” said presiding Judge Purwanto S. Abdullah, “As a high-ranking official, the defendant exacerbated the situation during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the education sector was already in crisis.”

The court didn't find that Makarim's push to buy Chromebooks actually influenced Google. Three former Google executives testified during the trial that Google’s investment in GoTo was unrelated to the Indonesian government’s decision.

Following the verdict Makarim, 41, criticized what he called an excessive punishment and said he would appeal because “there is not a single part of the accusation by the prosecution that has not been refuted, that has not been proven otherwise, no form of bribery, no conflict of interest, there is no state lost.”

Speaking to The Associated Press in a brief interview after the hearing, he said the policy to select the cheapest laptop based on an operating system that is free has saved at least 3.6 trillion rupiah (about $201 million).

“It’s very disappointing decision today and was shocking because the judges in their decision didn’t mention anything about enriching myself,” he said.

“So, I believe that this trial is about the picture of justice in Indonesia and about how every honest person who wants to serve their country are not save in this country,” Makarim added.

The 10-year sentence was far below the 18 years sought by the prosecution, which had told the court that Makarim had abused his position to influence policy decisions and corporate dealings.

The three-judge panel said they reduced the penalty because Makarim is still in his productive age and the sentence imposed should not deny the defendant the opportunity for rehabilitation and a return to contributing to society. They also ordered the time he has served since he was arrested in September to be deducted from the sentence.

Makarim was detained with two former education ministry officials and a former tech consultant who were sentenced up to four-and-half years in the case, while another staff member is wanted by authorities but remains at large.

The trial, which started in January, has drawn significant public attention, often attended by hundreds of motorcycle taxi drivers showing support for the man who helped create their industry.

The judges said Makarim’s decision to use ChromeOS and Chrome Education Upgrades — products licensed exclusively by Google — was driven by a conflict of interest, disregarding advice from the ministry’s legal bureau and policies that required to prioritizing domestic products.

“The defendant maintained the Chromebook policy by systematically removing officials who opposed it during his tenure as education and culture minister,” Abdullah said.

In a dissenting opinion, a member of the panel, Andi Saputra, argued that there was not enough evidence and Marakim should be acquitted.

Corum and her wife have made it a priority to teach financial lessons to their three children, using engaging activities to encourage their interest in topics like saving and budgeting.

“My goal is for them to have a healthy relationship with money and not have insecurities,” said Corum, an Austin, Texas-based cybersecurity professional.

Not everyone feels as confident. Money can be a difficult conversation, especially if parents don’t feel totally comfortable with the topic themselves. But Jennifer Seitz, director of education at Greenlight, a family personal finance app, said that's starting to change.

“This generation is really committed to doing better for their kids even though a majority of parents don’t feel equipped,” Seitz said.

There are more banking products available to help parents think about their children's financial futures, including debit cards for kids that can be used under parental supervision and apps that gamify money to make it approachable for kids.

Some people actually start learning while they are parenting, like Naseema McElroy, a nurse who became a money content creator. When McElroy's oldest daughter was a year old, she felt inspired to learn more about personal finance to pay off debt. As she learned more, she started to share her knowledge with friends and then a wider audience online.

“I started just from wanting to share the lessons that I was learning about money with my friends because I felt like we learn so late in life and then we all had daughters,” McElroy said.

Many parents want to start talking about finances with their children because they didn't have financial education growing up, Seitz said.

Here are some expert recommendations if you want to start talking about money with your kids:

Talk about money openly and often

Money conversations can feel uncomfortable, especially if your family didn’t encourage them. But if you want your children to engage with money in a healthy way, it’s best to talk about it, said Carrie Joy Grimes, a personal finance expert and founder of WorkMoney, a personal finance nonprofit.

“Have conversations about money in front of your kid to normalize it,” Grimes said.

In Corum’s family, the topic of money has become part of their daily lives.

“We talk about how we have a budget for the house, that everything that their mom and I bring into the house has an assignment, a job,” Corum said.

A great way to start is by talking about the cost of things, said Courtney Pettway, CEO and founder of KidVestors, a financial literacy platform for children. Pettway recommends asking questions like: What does this item cost? Why do you want this item? Is it a need or a want? And if they're getting an allowance, you could ask: How long would it take for you to save up for this item?

At the dinner table, while you’re at the grocery store, when you travel or shop for clothes, take day-to-day situations and turn them into money lessons.

Teach children how to make money decisions

A key aspect of personal finance is knowing how to make choices with money. This can be taught by giving kids small amounts of money and allowing them to choose how to spend it, Grimes said.

“I gave (my daughter) enough money that she could make choices with it. So she learned early on that she had enough she could save up for something, so she could say no to things and say yes to other things,” said Grimes. “Learning to say no, learning to hold money to yourself for long enough to get the thing you want, it’s a really hard skill.”

When giving children the opportunity to choose, it's crucial parents don't impart judgment on their decisions, said Bobbi Rebell, consumer finance expert at BadCredit.org, a personal finance website. Framing choices as personal preferences rather than right or wrong answers will build children's confidence in their decision-making process, she said.

Parents can find free financial literacy worksheets for children from Hands on Banking, a free financial education service by Wells Fargo.

Teach how to set financial goals

For many children, their first access to money is through an allowance. Whether it’s saving for a new video game or a bicycle, setting a goal for their money can be a good way to teach children the value of saving.

“Recognizing the progress, seeing how close they’re getting to the goal, visualizing the end goal, and then really celebrating when they achieve that goal can help them learn that when they can make small financial goals a reality,” Seitz said.

Tip jars can be an analog way to track progress, Pettway said. Encourage your child to add a portion of the money they receive to a “savings” jar, an “investing” jar and a “giving” jar. As children see their jars getting full, they begin to be motivated to continue adding money.

It can also be beneficial to make children active participants in future plans, recommended Lindsay Bryan-Podvin, financial therapist and founder of Mind Money Balance, a financial wellness service. If, for example, your child wants to go to an expensive sports summer camp, encourage them to save a portion of the cost from their allowance or summer job.

Allow them to make mistakes

It's inevitable that kids will make mistakes while learning about money. These can be approached as opportunities to learn important money lessons that will be useful for their future, Rebell says. However, it’s important that you let your children make the mistakes rather than solve issues for them.

“If you constantly bail them out, they’re not gonna learn to manage it,” Rebell said.

Bryan-Podvin also recommends that you avoid responding to mistakes in a negative way. Showing intense frustration or anger can hurt children's trust and make them feel like they cannot turn to their parents when they make normal mistakes.

“Help them learn how to manage their emotions, help them think about how they might do things differently,” she added.

Get creative

Money can often seem boring, so making it fun, engaging, and entertaining can be the key to keeping your children’s interest alive.

For example, when shopping for things like school supplies, Corum chooses an appropriate amount from her own budget for her daughter to decide which items she wants. However, when shopping for toys or other non-essential items, Corum gives her daughter a portion of her allowance or other extra money she might have from special chores.

Corum gave her children debit cards and uses a family personal finance app connected to the cards to distribute their allowances and monitor their spending. Her children have access to their debit cards through their own app portal where they can see their spending, save, invest and learn more about personal finance topics.

Apps like Acorns Early, Greenlight and BusyKid are among the most popular family personal finance apps.

——

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

Defending women's champion Iga Swiatek opened play on the main court — and had to come through a tough three-setter against Taylor Townsend — but the 44-year-old Williams was certainly the main attraction on Day 2. She's going up against an opponent less than half her age in the 20-year-old Joint.

After returning to play doubles at Queen's Club this month, Williams accepted wild cards to play in both the singles and doubles tournament — with her older sister Venus — at Wimbledon.

Her return has certainly created a buzz around the All England Club, which is without some of its usual star power after two-time men's champion Carlos Alcaraz and home favorite Emma Raducanu both withdrew with injuries.

Williams practiced for about 50 minutes a few hours before her match, with good friend Caroline Wozniacki — another former No. 1 — looking on.

“I’m very excited, it’s always good to have the GOAT back,” Wozniacki told The Associated Press. “She is fun to watch, not only as a friend but also as a tennis fan. Anytime you can have her back and playing, I think it’s exciting for the game.”

After the opening day featured wins for No. 1s Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka, along with Novak Djokovic, this year's French Open winner Alexander Zverev is also set to play on Centre Court on Tuesday.

Swiatek, who had her father and sister watching on in the Royal Box on Centre Court, struggled with her serve and committed nine double-faults before overcoming Townsend 6-1, 2-6, 6-3.

No. 2 Elena Rybakina also advanced, beating Lois Boisson 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

Fifth-seeded Alex de Minaur and No. 6 Taylor Fritz were among the early winners in the men's bracket. But No. 4 Ben Shelton, a quarterfinalist here last year, lost to 140th-ranked Finnish qualifier Otto Virtanen in five sets, going out 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (8), 6-2, 7-6 (9).

Fritz beat Dusan Lajovic of Serbia 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 on No. 1 Court, having originally been set to face Jack Draper on Centre Court before the British player withdrew with an injury.

Women's No. 6 Amanda Anisimova also advanced, along with former Wimbledon finalist Jasmine Paolini.

___

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

By viewing retirement savings as a five-stage life cycle, investors can minimize the IRS’ take and maximize what stays in their pocket.

1. The seedling stage: The working advantage

The most powerful tool in the tax code is time. If a child has earned income—perhaps from a family business or a summer job—they are eligible to jump-start their future immediately.

The Strategy: Parents should encourage their teens to find a job or even employ them on their own for legitimate work. In 2026, the standard deduction is $16,100. Most teens likely will earn less than that, so they’ll pay 0% in income tax. Furthermore, if they are working for a parent’s unincorporated business, they are typically exempt from Social Security and Medicare taxes until age 18.

The Benefit: The child can contribute up to the amount of their earned income or $7,500, whichever is less, into a Roth IRA. Because they are in a 0% bracket, the “cost” of the Roth is zero, but the reward is massive: decades of compounding where both the principal and the interest are tax-free forever.

2. The early career: Roth renaissance

When a young adult first enters the professional workforce, their tax bracket is usually at its lifetime low. This is the optimal time to prioritize Roth contributions over current tax deductions.

The Strategy: Early-career workers should contribute to a Roth IRA or a Roth 401(k). At a minimum, they should contribute enough to their company’s plan to capture the full employer match—that’s free money!

The Benefit: Paying a 10% or 12% tax rate now (which, for a married couple in 2026, covers taxable income up to $100,800) to secure tax-free withdrawals 40 years from now is a bargain. Investors are effectively “buying” a tax-free future while their “tax price” is at a discount.

3. The peak earnings years: pivot to deduction

As workers hit their 40s and 50s, they typically enter their highest-earning years. Now, the math flips. Their goal shifts from paying taxes now to deferring taxes while they are in a top-tier bracket.

The Strategy: Highly paid workers should shift their focus to traditional IRAs and deductible 401(k)s. In 2026, investors can defer up to $24,500 ($32,500 if over 50) into a 401(k). Every dollar contributed reduces their taxable income today at what is likely their highest marginal rate.

The Benefit: Earners are betting that their tax bracket in retirement—when they no longer have a salary—will be lower than it is today. They save 37 cents on the dollar now and aim to pay it back at a much lower rate down the road.

4. The ‘gap years’: The Roth conversion window

The period between retirement and the start of required minimum distributions, which now begin at age 73 for most, is the golden age of tax planning. Often, investors’ income drops significantly, putting them in an artificially low tax bracket.

The Strategy: Retirees should use this low-income window to enact Roth conversions and move money from their traditional IRA to their Roth IRA, paying the tax at today’s low rates.

The Benefit: This strategy “shrinks” the size of future forced RMDs and builds two distinct pools of capital: one taxable and one tax-free. This flexibility is retirees’ greatest defense against future tax law changes.

5. Late retirement: The legacy and distribution phase

In the final stage, the goal is to maintain the lowest possible average tax bracket while fulfilling charitable and familial goals.

The Strategy: Retirees should draw strategically between their two pools, using the traditional IRA for their taxable floor and the Roth for a spike in expenses (such as a new car or a big trip) to avoid being pushed into a higher bracket.

There’s also a charitable/legacy play retirees can use: Qualified charitable distributions satisfy RMDs tax-free once retirees hit age 70½.

The Benefit: For their heirs, retirees can leave their Roth IRA to their kids (giving them 10 years of tax-free growth) and leave the traditional IRA to charity, which pays zero tax on the distribution.

The bottom line

Retirement planning is a living life cycle. By matching your account type to your current tax reality, you aren’t just saving for the future, you’re outmaneuvering the IRS at every stage of the game.

______

This article was provided to The Associated Press by Morningstar. For more personal finance content, go to https://www.morningstar.com/personal-finance.

Sheryl Rowling, CPA, is an editorial director, financial adviser for Morningstar.

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The International Skating Union said Tuesday it was lifting a ban since February 2022 on skaters and officials from Russia and Belarus taking part in its events, though without their national symbols of flag and anthem.

Still, athletes could face issues getting entry visas from countries hosting ISU events.

In 2027, the world championships of figure skating is hosted by Finland and South Korea hosts in short track. China will host the next speed skating worlds.

The ISU cited the success of some skaters from Russia and Belarus qualifying for and competing at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics “without related incident.”

In figure skating in Milan, Russians Adeliia Petrosian and Petr Gumennik were cleared to compete with neutral status and both finished sixth in their individual events. Viktoriia Safonova of Belarus also competed with Individual Neutral Athlete status.

Guidance from the International Olympic Committee also was noted by the ISU. The IOC advised sports bodies on May 7 to readmit athletes from Belarus without vetting for neutral status.

Skaters approved with neutral status must not have “at any time since February 2022, actively and publicly supported that war,” the ISU said.

The governing body said the decision “does not affect the ISU’s continued condemnation of armed conflict, nor the ISU’s ongoing support for Ukrainian skaters.”

The exclusion of Russian and Belarus skaters since 2022 was, the ISU said, not a punishment for the war but a decision taken “exclusively in the interests of the safety of participants and the integrity of the competition.”

___

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

“I plead with you and ask you with all my heart: please turn back!” Leo wrote in a letter to the Rev. Davide Pagliarani, the superior of the Society of St. Pius X.

Leo issued the last-ditch appeal a day before the society plans to consecrate four new bishops at its seminary in Econe, Switzerland. Under church law, the consecrations constitute a schismatic act, or an intentional rupture of the unity of the Catholic Church, and incur automatic excommunication for the four bishops and the bishop administering the consecration.

Pagliarani responded by writing a formal letter to Leo asking him to take time before deciding any penalty.

“Far be it from us to separate ourselves from the Roman Church. We desire, on the contrary, to serve her by means that are extraordinary, as one would assist a mother in distress who requires particular help, even if such help is not understood by everyone,” Pagliarani wrote.

SSPX asks pope for more time

The ceremony poses the first major crisis for the American pope, who has stressed the need for church unity since the start of his pontificate. He has worked especially hard to heal tensions with traditionalist Catholics who prefer the old Latin Mass, that worsened in some ways during the Pope Francis pontificate.

The society was founded in opposition to the modernizing reforms of the 1960s Second Vatican Council. Among other things, the council revolutionized the Catholic Church’s relations with other religions and the laity, and allowed Mass to be celebrated in vernacular languages rather than Latin.

Its members celebrate the ancient Latin Mass and have accused the modern church of being rife with heresies and errors. The society insists that only the SSPX is upholding the true faith of Christ and has justified the consecrations, citing a “state of necessity” to minister to its faithful.

In response to the pope’s letter, Marc-André Mabillard, media manager for the society, expressed “great sadness to not be understood by our leader,” and added: “We are changing absolutely nothing in our plans.”

Asked by phone about the prospect of excommunication, Mabillard said: “We don’t fear it. It pains us immensely, but we believe that the good we seek is greater than the pain that will be inflicted upon us.”

Previous excommunications and outreach

In 1988, SSPX founder Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrated four bishops without papal consent. The Vatican promptly excommunicated Lefebvre and the four other bishops, and the group today still has no legal status in the church.

The Vatican in 2009 lifted those original excommunications as part of its outreach to try to bring the group back under its wing. But the Vatican has warned that a similar fate awaits the new bishops if Wednesday's consecrations go ahead.

In his letter, Leo repeated the Vatican's offer of dialogue and said that going through with the consecrations would be counterproductive for the SSPX faithful.

“I urge you to consider carefully the spiritual good of the faithful, because the schismatic act you are about to undertake would deprive them of the licit, and in some cases, even valid reception of the sacraments,” he wrote.

Despite the original 1988 schismatic act, the group has continued to grow and today poses a threat to the Holy See as a parallel, ultra-Catholic, pre-Vatican II church. The SSPX counts two bishops, 751 priests, 264 seminarians, 145 religious brothers, 88 oblates and 250 religious sisters representing 50 nationalities, according to SSPX statistics.

___

Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.

___

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.

Both are Black.

For Esters, the flag represents the opportunities that allowed the great-great-grandson of slaves to find success and flourish. Pistochini, 79, simply says the America identified by the flag is not the same country she saw growing up.

Americans' views of “Old Glory” are divided by politics, age and race, according to a new survey conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research ahead of the nation's 250th birthday celebration.

Republicans and older, white adults are especially likely to say they fly the American flag, while younger Democrats and Black adults are more likely to say they don't fly it. Views of the flag — and whether it's a unifying or divisive symbol — track with other deep divisions among Americans, who see their country's history and accomplishments very differently.

“A lot of Black Americans see the flag as a symbol of both inclusion and exclusion,” said Matthew Delmont, professor of American history at Dartmouth College. “Black Americans, more so than white Americans, also understand the flag can be used to justify a version of patriotism that is rooted in exclusion, with the flag being used to say ‘you don’t belong here.’”

The survey of 2,596 adults was conducted April 16-20. It suggests that older white Americans, especially Republicans, are more likely to see the flag as unifying.

About half of U.S. adults said they display the flag at home throughout most of the year, or during holidays. About 7 in 10 Republicans and about 6 in 10 Americans ages 60 and older fly the flag at least during holidays.

About 6 in 10 Democrats and independents, on the other hand, say they “never” fly the U.S. flag. That includes the vast majority, 75%, of Democrats under 45.

Opportunities worth fighting for

Esters, a 64-year-old retired clay sculptor for a Detroit automaker, flies three American flags at his Sherwood Forest home on the city’s west side.

“When these homes were built, Black men like me, my mother and my family ... we couldn’t even buy these homes,” he said. “To me, that’s one reason I fly the flag. We went through a lot to be able to own nice homes, and this is what we fought for.”

The other reason is Moriah Martin, Esters’ great-great-grandmother, who was born into slavery.

“I’m kind of living out her dreams — what I did for a living, having a business, having a nice home,” he said. “I think that’s the American way, but we got to fight for it and we, as Blacks, fought for it.”

He's in the minority among Black adults, according to the survey, which found that only about 3 in 10 Black adults say they ever display the American flag, compared with about half of white and Hispanic adults.

Pistochini says current divisions over political leanings and perspectives, and inequality of opportunities for the poor and people of color are not what she believes the flag should stand for. People confuse flying it with being patriotic, she added.

“Just because you fly a flag doesn't make you a patriot,” Pistochini said. “If there was patriotism, we would not have all this. We can't look at (what's going on) and say this is America.”

For country and freedom

Ben Gaskins, chair of political science at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, says the flag is an important symbol of patriotism for many Americans.

“It is those who are older people, who are white and people who are more conservative,” Gaskins said. “They take it as more central to their identity.”

Nancy Hansen, a 73-year-old retired Customs and Border Protection clerk in Culvertson, Montana, believes “you have to be for the country, no matter what” and that the flag means “freedom.”

“Freedom to live where we want to live, travel where we want to travel, raise our kids where we want to raise our kids,” said Hansen, who is white and identifies as Republican.

Each year around July 4, the American Legion posts flags outside businesses and homes in Culvertson, including Hansen’s home.

Linda and Greg Cunningham also equate the flag with freedom.

The white, conservative Pontiac, Michigan, couple are going all out this summer. The exterior of their home northwest of Detroit is awash in red, white and blue. The flag sits atop a flagpole just feet from their door.

“It's no political thing, at all," said Linda Cunningham, 63. “It's our freedom. I love the American flag. I love the whole concept of it. I love America. I know there’s so much going on in the world, right now, and I know everyone has their own views, and I'm just sad that politics have to be brought into the flag.”

Flag as a ‘painful reminder’

Of those who took the survey, 47% see the flag as a “more unifying” symbol. About 16% call it a “more divisive” icon, while 36% say it's neither divisive nor unifying.

Only 22% of Black adults see the flag as a unifying symbol, compared with 55% of white adults and 42% of Hispanic adults.

“It’s a painful symbol. It’s a reminder of what we could be and how it’s failed to live up to that for Black people, for Indigenous people and people of color,” said Allison Wiltz, a Black author and founder of Writers and Editors of Color.

Paul Walthour, 71, occasionally flies the flag outside his Minneapolis-area home on special occasions and some holidays. Walthour says that when he’s away from home and at his cabin, the flag goes up each morning and is taken down at the end of the day.

“This is antiquated, perhaps,” said Walthour, who is white and a retired advertising agency creative director. “I feel it’s a symbol that you’re proud to be an American.”

“Unfortunately, I kind of think it’s kind of a symbol of dividing more than uniting,” added Walthour, who identifies as a Democrat. “The people who fly it on the far right have one kind of feeling about it, and the people who fly it on the left have a different kind of feeling about it.”

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Williams is a member of AP's Race & Ethnicity team. Sanders and Parwani reported from Washington.

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The AP-NORC poll of 2,596 adults was conducted April 16-20 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.

Like other NATO countries, the U.K. is under pressure to increase defense spending to counter a more aggressive Russia and less reliable United States. But its Defense Investment Plan has been repeatedly delayed as military leaders and Treasury officials wrangled over the cost.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the plan reflects a world of conflicts transformed by technology and will keep Britain safe in “a more dangerous and volatile world."

“When the world is arming and aggression is rising, the best way to avoid war is to prepare for it," he said.

But the blueprint does not commit to spending 3% of U.K. GDP on defense by 2030, one of the factors that spurred John Healey to resign as U.K. defense secretary on June 11. Healey accused the government of underspending on the military at a time of “rising threats," citing a British intelligence assessment that Russia could attack a NATO member country by 2030.

In the House of Commons on Tuesday, Healey said that “with European security at stake,” Britain needs "to develop a clear, credible funding plan that will hit 3% and that will meet our NATO commitment of 3.5% by 2035."

Starmer said Healey’s successor, Defense Secretary Dan Jarvis, had worked to “sharpen and strengthen" the plan. Its 15 billion pounds in new spending is more than the 13.5 billion pounds ($18 billion) Healey was offered by the Treasury, but far less than the 28 billion pounds ($37 billion) that defense officials had called for.

UK faces pressure to hit NATO target

Under the plan, defense spending will hit 2.7% of GDP by 2029. Starmer said the 3% target will be reached “in the next Parliament,” a period that could extend to 2034. The U.K. remains committed to hitting NATO’s 3.5% target by 2035, though it's unclear how it will get there.

The government said the new funding will boost spending on defense to almost 300 billion pounds ($400 billion) over the next four years. Big-ticket items include 5 billion pounds ($6.6 billion) for drone technology, 8 billion pounds ($10.6 billion) to build new stealth fighter jets alongside Japan and Italy, and 11 billion pounds ($14.5 billion) to increase weapons stockpiles. The U.K. will also spend 64 billion pounds ($85 billion) modernizing its nuclear weapons.

Starmer said some road and energy projects would be scrapped to help pay for the military.

The U.K. military is seeking to reverse years of decline in the face of an increasingly assertive Russia, which invaded its neighbor Ukraine in 2022 and increasingly tests the defenses of European nations with overt and covert activity.

The U.K. has watched how drones have transformed war in Ukraine, which uses 200,000 of them a month to defend against Russian forces. Britain plans to invest billions in drone systems across all branches of the military. Instead of a planned fleet of new destroyers, the Royal Navy will get hybrid vessels that will act as command hubs for drones.

“The very nature of conflict is changing before our eyes,” Starmer said during a speech at a drone manufacturer near London. He said that, armed with cutting-edge technology, Ukrainian forces have destroyed Russia’s Black Sea fleet, “struck deep into Russian territory and stopped the advance of one of the biggest armies in the world.”

Critics say more money is needed

Britain and other NATO member nations have faced pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to increase military spending. Trump has long questioned the value of the military alliance and complained that the United States provides security to European countries that don’t pull their weight.

The resignations of Healey and junior Defense Minister Al Carns were among a series of blows that prompted Starmer to announce last week that he will resign. A NATO summit in Turkey on July 7 and 8 may be his final overseas trip as prime minister.

His replacement, likely the former Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, will be under pressure to stick to the commitments in the defense plan.

“It is a platform on which I know my successor will build," Starmer said.

Opposition Conservative Party defense spokesperson James Cartlidge said the plan was “too little, too late.”

And retired Gen. Richard Barrons, who helped lead a defense review in preparation for the investment plan, said “we have to find more money for defense sooner.”

“We’re not keeping up with our allies, we’re certainly not keeping up with our enemies, and we know that the U.S. is no longer going to come and save European security in the face of a Russian threat,” he told the BBC.

Hardest hit would be Asian economies that depend on crude oil, fuel and natural gas from the Persian Gulf, supplies that have been largely choked off by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to the risk of Iranian attack. And poorer countries where people spend more of their incomes on fuel and food would also be severely affected, the OECD said.

But the consequences of sharply higher energy prices and inflation would be felt around the world. Global growth would slump to levels not seen except for major setbacks like the COVID-19 pandemic and the global financial crisis and recession of the late 2000s. Under the OECD’s prolonged disruption scenario, global growth slows from 3.4% last year to 2.1% this year and 1.8% in 2027, potentially pushing some economies into or close to recession.

Under a different OECD scenario for a time-limited disruption, in which energy production and shipments from the Gulf start to return to pre-war levels in the middle of this year, growth would slow to 2.8% this year and rebound to 3.1% next year.

“The global economy entered 2026 with robust momentum, but the outlook has weakened significantly since the start of the conflict in the Middle East, with effects likely to be felt for some time,” OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann said. “The longer the disruptions last, the larger the economic and social costs become.”

Cormann warned that government spending aimed at relieving energy costs needed to be aimed at those most in need and temporary, to avoid running up excess government debt and preserving incentives to save energy.

Despite repeated outbreaks of violence, a declared ceasefire in the war between the US and Iran remains officially in place. The ongoing risk to shipping however means that traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has dwindled to a trickle, down more than 90% compared to before the war. That has disrupted about a fifth of the world’s supplies of crude oil and fuel products as well as of natural gas.

The OECD report follows a UN study warning that higher energy prices will impact almost billion people in poorer countries and small island states that depend on imported fuel, forcing tradeoffs between covering energy bills and investing in essential public services. More than 30% of people in those countries already live below the extreme poverty line, defined as living on $3 or less a day.

The OECD is an international intergovernmental organization and policy forum of 38 democracies with market-based economies, headquartered in Paris.

Bruised around his left eye and across much of his body, 46-year-old Serrano is recovering from the ordeal he endured with his son and mother Wednesday.

The three were buried beneath rubble and twisted steel when their eight-story apartment building collapsed in the city of Caraballeda in La Guaira, the state hardest hit by the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes.

“It is a miracle from God,” Serrano said as he recalled how, in total darkness, he clawed through debris with his bare hands before rescuing his 8-year-old son and 69-year-old mother with the help of two passersby.

The two earthquakes have killed more than 1,700 people and injured more than 5,000, according to the government. Hundreds of buildings collapsed or were damaged, primarily in La Guaira. Significant damage was also reported in the capital, Caracas, and in the states of Carabobo, Miranda, Aragua and Yaracuy.

La Guaira — known as Vargas until 2019 — is Venezuela’s second-smallest state but one of its most strategically important. About 30 kilometers (19 miles) north of Caracas, it is home to the country’s main international airport and second-largest seaport.

Its roughly 440,000 residents are largely low-income and depend on tourism, commerce and jobs tied to the airport and seaport.

Speaking from his brother's home in Caracas, Serrano recalled the terror he felt last week, his thoughts inevitably returning to Dec. 15, 1999, when he was jolted awake by the screams of their household employee, who had seen a nearby river overflow after days of heavy rain.

From his window, he watched the swollen river sweep away trees, massive boulders and vehicles with people trapped inside, banging on the windows and pleading for help.

Driven by instinct, Serrano fled his fourth-floor apartment with his mother, sister and nanny, climbing to the roof. From there, they watched floodwaters engulf the building’s lower floors as massive trees slammed into its columns, fearing it would collapse like others nearby.

Their fears eased at dawn as the rain stopped and the floodwaters began to recede. After waiting in vain for rescue, the family made their way through mud, rocks, debris and fallen trees to his grandparents’ home in a nearby neighborhood.

The 1999 floods and landslides known as the “Vargas Tragedy” killed 782 people, another 2,000 were reported missing and about 250,000 residents were affected, according to Ángel Rangel, who led rescue operations as director of Venezuela’s Civil Protection agency.

Still shaken by the devastation left by the earthquakes, Serrano believes La Guaira — bordered by the Caribbean Sea and the Ávila mountain range — is under a curse.

“It isn’t normal for such horrible things to happen in the same place,” he said.

Rangel, a disaster specialist, sees it differently. The engineer said the buildings that collapsed in La Guaira were built on terrain formed over centuries by sediment carried down from the surrounding mountains.

“That type of terrain is particularly risky for construction,” Rangel said, adding that building in such areas requires “strict adherence to seismic-resistant engineering standards” adopted after the powerful 1967 earthquake that struck Caracas.

Many of the buildings that collapsed in La Guaira were built in the 1970s, and it remains unclear whether they met those standards.

After losing his home and all his belongings, Serrano said he does not know what comes next. But one thing is certain: He will never live in La Guaira again.

“That’s twice now,” he said. “Sometimes I think if there’s a third time, it’s going to win the battle.”

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

Born in Lebanon to Palestinian refugees, Kabouli had never seen her parents’ homeland. But more than just making pretty designs, the threads in her needle were stitching a connection to her heritage.

It's known as “tatreez,” and Kabouli, 48, started doing the traditional form of Palestinian embroidery in her teens to make money. Besides an economic lifeline, tatreez has provided her with a bridge to the land her parents fled during the 1948 mass displacement that Palestinians call their Nakba, or catastrophe.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled or fled their homes in present day Israel during the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation. Israel refused their return.

Kabouli's work allows her to send a message of resilience, of survival.

“We’re still here,” she said. “All what has been happening in Gaza … and we’re still standing and we’ll not forget the cause.”

From refugee camps to stitching circles and from museum halls to online classes, many in the Palestinian diaspora communities worldwide engage with tatreez as far more than a decorative aesthetic.

They're finding in it a celebration of cultural heritage, a bridge to their homeland and dispersed communities and — with its myriad embroidered symbols — a visual language of storytelling. To many, refugees or not, it's become a symbol of Palestinian identity and pride, a vehicle for documenting history and a form of resistance.

With the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, some have also used it to raise funds for people there or stitched designs to focus attention on Palestinian suffering in the enclave.

“We had a lot of people who came and they’re like, ‘OK, we want to do a T-shirt with a Gaza chest or we want to do a scarf with the Gaza motif,’” said Ali Jaafar, general manager of Inaash Association, where Kabouli works. The Lebanese organization provides Palestinian women in refugee camps in Lebanon with much-needed income through tatreez, while also aiming to help preserve and promote the heritage. It sells embroidered fashion, home decor and art pieces, and showcases the art form in exhibitions and museums.

Protecting heritage and ‘struggling through culture’

Efforts to preserve and raise awareness about tatreez in Palestinian communities at home and abroad are part of a larger push to safeguard a heritage and connections to a history and a place that many fear are at risk of being erased.

“Palestinian tatreez is an identity and a document of our presence in every Palestinian village and town," said Maha Saca, founder and director of the Palestinian Heritage Center in Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, adding that old embroidered thobes, or dresses, show the presence of Palestinians in particular locations before the dispersal of many.

“The Palestinian woman has written the story of her village through motifs from her surrounding environment and her beliefs,” Saca said. “We’re struggling through culture and saying we have roots.”

The Palestinian embroidery art form was added in 2021 to UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

In New York, Lina Barkawi, whose small business teaches tatreez, said the “constant fight for liberation and having a Palestinian identity that’s recognized globally is really what has been driving a lot of this documentation.”

A generational practice and window into history

In Arabic, tatreez refers to embroidery in general as well as the specific Palestinian form, which is often a social practice taught through generations by grandmothers and mothers. Some seek formal training.

With motifs that Palestinian women had historically adopted from their surroundings, the old embroidered thobes can offer clues through stitched patterns, design and color about facets of a woman's personal story, her environment and regional identity, Saca said.

In the Palestinian context, such connections to time and place, including areas now in Israel, gain added importance as testament to what was, she said. “How do we have a Jaffa thobe if we hadn’t been in Jaffa?" she said. "We write history on our thobes.”

There's also an element of continuity. Saca said her grandmother’s embroidered wedding thobe bears the hallmarks of Bethlehem dresses, and that her own granddaughter’s baptism dress included embroideries copied from that dress.

Tatreez also can be political, both through preservation and creation.

“Just being able to have some of the dresses from pre-1948 is a political act,” Barkawi said.

There's also the making of the so-called “intifada thobe” that included embroidered political and Palestinian symbols, such as the flag. It's linked to the “first intifada,” or uprising, which erupted in 1987 against Israel’s occupation and was met with a fierce Israeli response.

Stitching, mourning and documenting

After the war in Gaza, which was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, fashion designer Hama Hinnawi expressed grief through tatreez work. Tatreez is usually colorful, she said. But that was no moment for color.

The result? Black embroidery on black fabric, a statement of mourning for the killings, destruction and displacement in Gaza. She's also experimented with turning some iconic scenes from the war into new embroidery motifs.

“We have a big responsibility on our shoulders to tell this story, not to be buried for the next generations … through tatreez, through art, through speaking.”

Born in Jordan to Palestinian parents, Hinnawi wanted to bring awareness to heritage through her fashion brand by marrying tatreez with contemporary fashion.

To her, tatreez simply means home. It’s “identity, pride, storytelling,” said Hinnawi, who shuttles between Chicago and Jordan.

She's provided embroidery work opportunities to Palestinian women in refugee camps in Jordan and talked in the U.S. about tatreez. Before the war, she also worked with women in Gaza.

Barkawi runs an online community of Palestinian and non-Palestinian embroiderers, some of whom have created designs sold to raise funds for Gaza families. One incorporates a “water and seeds” motif with an embroidered message to “Feed Gaza Now.”

Members in different countries recreated a tapestry that once hung in a bombed Gaza home, each stitching a part and mailing it to another.

Born in the U.S. to a Palestinian father and Panamanian mother, Barkawi said learning about tatreez deepened her Palestinian identity.

New dresses with woven stories

Embroidering her first thobe took two years. Barkawi incorporated motifs with personal meanings, such as palm trees that represent her name in Arabic. She added orchids, the national flower of Panama, for her mom.

Technically imperfect, it was the perfect dress for her Islamic marriage ceremony.

“I embedded my story as a Palestinian in the diaspora into this dress.”

In Lebanon, Kabouli, too, once dreamed of owning a tatreez piece for her wedding trousseau. She couldn’t afford one.

After their parents died, an older sister had turned to tatreez with Inaash to help support the large family. Kabouli learned from her.

Now a production supervisor at Inaash in Beirut, Kabouli sees her younger self in the women working in refugee camps in Lebanon, many in the south, which was hard hit by the latest Israel-Hezbollah war. The vibrancy of tatreez often contrasts with harsh living conditions in camps amid employment and other restrictions the refugees face. Contending with power cuts, women, eager to finish a piece and get paid, may work on rooftops to grasp the last ray of sunlight, Jaafar said.

Besides the income, Kabouli said doing tatreez can be grounding, almost meditative.

She has another yearning: to see her parents’ homeland. They came from an area in what’s now Israel.

For now, tatreez provides her with hope.

“I don’t feel like I am far away. I keep working on Palestinian heritage, following the cause,” she said. “It connects me to my homeland, especially since we’re deprived of it.”

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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.

Wednesday's match against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Santa Clara, California, marks the eighth time the U.S. has played in an elimination round in 12 World Cups. But only once, in 2002, have the Americans a won a match in the knockout rounds.

Because this year's tournament was expanded to 48 teams, the first knockout round includes 32, creating an extra round of elimination play.

Here's a look at the short and mostly unsuccessful U.S. record once the World Cup reaches the win-or-go-home stage.

Uruguay, 1930: Semifinals

The first World Cup was played with 13 teams and the U.S. advanced straight to the semifinals as winner of its group. That's where the Americans' tournament ended with a 6-1 loss to Argentina.

Italy, 1934: One and done

The second edition of the World Cup was the only tournament that did not use groups for the early matches. Instead, all 16 teams played a straight knockout format. The U.S. was immediately eliminated with a 7-1 loss to host and eventual champion Italy.

US, 1994: Round of 16

The U.S. didn't qualify for the World Cup from 1954 through 1986, was eliminated in the group stage in 1990 and then got an automatic bid as the host nation in '94. A 1-1 tie with Switzerland and shocking 2-1 victory over Colombia in the Rose Bowl in the group stage earned the Americans a match against Brazil in the knockout round.

Brazil was down to 10 men after a first-half red card: Leonardo threw an elbow that fractured American midfielder Tab Ramos' skull. The Brazilians still controlled the match and won 1-0 on the way to their fourth World Cup title.

South Korea-Japan, 2002: Quarterfinals

The best U.S. showing in the modern era of the tournament. An upset of European heavyweight Portugal and a draw with co-host South Korea sent the Americans to the knockout round against regional rival Mexico. Goals from Brian McBride and Landon Donovan led to a 2-0 victory.

The U.S. run ended in the next match with a tense 1-0 loss to eventual finalist Germany that was decided on Michael Ballack's goal in the 39th minute. Americans remember the match for an infamous no-call when a German player appeared to block a likely U.S. goal with his arm. There was no video review in use at the time.

South Africa, 2010: Round of 16

Donovan's frantic, last-minute goal against Algeria secured a dramatic 1-0 victory in the final group match that sent the U.S. to the next round.

Facing Ghana, the U.S. went down 1-0 after just five minutes. Donovan tied it on a penalty kick in the second half. Asamoah Gyan’s extra-time goal secured a 2-1 victory for Ghana that sent the U.S. home.

Brazil, 2014: Round of 16

The U.S. advanced out of the group stage with a 2-1 win over Ghana, a 2-2 draw with Portugal and a 1-0 loss to eventual champion Germany. Their tournament ended with a 2-1 loss to Belgium.

Qatar, 2022: Round of 16

The U.S. started group play with draws with Wales and England, and advanced with a 1-0 win over Iran on Christian Pulisic's goal. The Netherlands then made quick work of the U.S., winning 3-1.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

The S&P 500 rose 0.6%, though it's still heading for its first losing month following two fabulous ones. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 135 points, or 0.3%, as of noon Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.2% higher.

The main reason for this month’s weakness has been a fall to Earth for stocks in the artificial-intelligence industry. After soaring to tremendous heights in the frenzy around AI, such stocks have come under pressure because of worries that they shot too high. That’s a big deal for all investors because AI stocks have grown into some of Wall Street’s largest and most influential, pulling indexes behind them.

AI stocks were stronger Tuesday, with Nvidia rising 1.6% to trim its loss for the month. It was one of the strongest forces lifting the S&P 500.

Microsoft, which is investing heavily in AI, rose 0.7% to bring its loss for the month back below 18%. Oracle, though, fell 1.6% to bring its drop for June to nearly 36%. It's another company contending with concerns that big spending on AI may not yield enough productivity and profits to make it worth it.

Outside of AI, the economy seems to be rumbling along, even though U.S. households are still feeling sour about it. A report released in the morning said that U.S. employers were advertising many more job openings at the end of May than economists expected, the latest signal that the job market remains resilient.

But a second report said that confidence among U.S. consumers improved by less than economists expected. More Americans are saying it's hard to get a job, according to a survey by the Conference Board, even with data suggesting continued hiring.

Tuesday's relatively quiet trading came as companies close their books for the quarter running from April through June. Investors want to see strong growth in profits to justify the big gains stocks made early in the quarter. Despite June’s drop, the S&P 500 is still on track for its best quarter since six years ago, when stocks rocketed out of the crash caused by the COVID pandemic.

Concentrix tumbled 16.7% after the technology company reported profit and revenue for the latest quarter that were just shy of analysts’ expectations.

In the oil market, prices drifted as two U.S. envoys arrived in Qatar for talks with mediators about the implementation of an initial deal to end the war in Iran. The Americans will not be having direct negotiations with Iranian diplomats while in Doha.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, erased an early, modest rise and dipped 0.6% to $73.47. The hope is that an end to the war will restore full access to the Strait of Hormuz, allowing oil tankers to move more crude and lower its price.

Expensive oil has already sent inflation jumping around the world, which in turn has raised worries that the Federal Reserve and other central banks may have to raise interest rates. Higher rates would keep a lid on inflation, but they would also slow economic growth and hurt prices for investments.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.40% from 4.38% late Monday.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia.

Germany’s DAX returned 1.5%, and South Korea’s Kospi climbed 1% for two of the world's bigger gains.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.9% as the value of the Japanese yen dropped near its lowest level against the U.S. dollar in 40 years.

U.S. government bonds are paying much higher yields than their Japanese counterparts, and the possibility of rate hikes by the Fed is putting more pressure on the yen. Speculation is rising that Japan’s government may try to prop up the yen’s value, but Japan’s finance minister said only that the government was ready to “respond appropriately whenever necessary.”

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AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.

After 16 single direct-knockout matches, the winning teams will advance to the tournament’s Round of 16, which begins on the Fourth of July.

Here is the list of the teams that have advanced to the Round of 16:

1. Canada, the Group B runner-up, qualified after a 1-0 victory on June 28 against Canada. The team’s Round of 16 match is at 1 p.m. on July 4 against Morocco.
2. Brazil, the Group C winner, qualified after a 2-0 victory on June 29 against Japan. The team’s Round of 16 match is at 4 p.m. on July 5 at the New York/New Jersey Stadium.
3. Paraguay, the third in Group D, qualified after a 1-1 draw that ended with a 4-3 victory on penalties against Germany on June 29. The team’s Round of 16 match is at 5 p.m. at Philadelphia Stadium.
4. Morocco, the Group C runner-up, qualified after a 1-1 draw that ended with a 3-2 victory on penalties against the Netherlands on June 30. The team’s Round of 16 match is at 1 p.m. on July 4 against Canada.

TRACK PROGRESS

• Round of 16 qualifications
• Eliminations during Round of 32
• Round of 32 teams

TOURNAMENT’S SCHEDULE

Round of 32 knock-out matches

June 30

• Ivory Coast vs. Norway at 1 p.m. in Arlington, Texas.
• France vs. Sweden at 5 p.m. in New Jersey
• Mexico vs. Ecuador at 9 p.m. in Mexico City

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from noon to midnight at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

July 1

• England vs. DR Congo is at noon at the Atlanta Stadium.
• Belgium vs. Senegal is at 4 p.m. at the Seattle Stadium.
• United States vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina is at 8 p.m. at the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

July 2

• Spain vs. Austria at 3 p.m. at Los Angeles Stadium
• Portugal vs. Croatia at 7 p.m. at the Toronto Stadium
• Switzerland vs. Algeria at 11 p.m. at BC Place Vancouver.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

July 3

• Australia vs. Egypt is at 2 p.m. at the Dallas Stadium.
• Argentina vs. Cape Verde is at 6 p.m. at the Miami Stadium
• Colombia vs. Ghana is at 9:30 p.m. at the Kansas City Stadium

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 1 p.m to 9 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

Round of 16 begins

July 4: There are two matches at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.

• Canada vs. Morocco is at 1 p.m. at the NRG Stadium in Houston.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from noon to midnight at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

July 5: There are two matches at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens for the last day from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

July 6: There are two matches at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.

July 7: There are two matches at noon and 4 p.m.

Quarterfinals begin

July 9: There is a quarter-final match at 4 p.m.

July 10: There is a quarter-final match at 3 p.m.

July 11: There are two quarter-final matches at 5 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Sunrise watch party: The indoor Amerant Bank Arena is hosting a free watch party for ticket holders at 5 p.m. on July 11. Parking is free.

Semifinals begin

July 14: The fan festival is closed. There is a semi-final match at 3 p.m.

Miami Beach watch party: Doors open at 3 p.m. on July 14 at The Bandshell, at 7275 Collins Ave., for the semifinal match.

July 15: There is a semi-final match at 3 p.m.

Miami Beach watch party: Doors open at 3 p.m. on July 15 at The Bandshell, at 7275 Collins Ave., for the semifinal match.

Finals begin

July 18: The third-place play-off match is at 5 p.m.

Miami Beach watch party: Doors open at 3 p.m. on July 18 at The Sandbowl, behind The Bandshell, at 7275 Collins Ave., for the 5 p.m. bronze final.

Sunrise ride to stadium: The Amerant Bank Arena has free parking for FIFA World Cup ticket holders who ride Broward County’s free Express bus transportation to the Miami Stadium, also known as Hard Rock, in Miami Gardens.

July 19: The final match is at 3 p.m.

Miami Beach watch party: Doors open at 1 p.m. on July 19 at The Sandbowl, behind The Bandshell, at 7275 Collins Ave., for the 3 p.m. final.

Sunrise watch party: The indoor Amerant Bank Arena is hosting a free watch party for ticket holders for the final on July 19. Parking is free.

Depression, Kean said, “is physical, it is emotional, and until you experience it yourself, it is difficult to fully understand how powerful this illness can be.”

Kean’s reappearance came weeks after his victory in an uncontested primary on June 2 and months after he last cast his vote in the House. His speech ended the silence on his condition, yet left questions unanswered. Kean said he first entered the hospital due to health concerns and underwent testing, but offered no further details.

After the speech, Kean left the Capitol quickly without answering questions from reporters.

Kean last voted in the House on March 5. His absence had complicated matters for House Republican leaders, who have been struggling to pass bills with their threadbare majority.

Addressing his earlier statement that he expected to return to work in a matter of weeks, Kean said he believed that at the time and it was his doctors’ best estimate.

“But as the over 48 million of my fellow Americans being treated for this illness have come to discover there is no timeline for healing," Kean said.

“Today I stand before you healthier, stronger and excited to return to the work that I love."

A second-term lawmaker and scion of a New Jersey political family, Kean represents a battleground district that includes President Donald Trump’s Bedminster golf club.

What the House speaker says about Kean’s return

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., spoke before Kean's speech and predicted that people would respond with empathy to his disclosure. He said he encouraged Kean to “be transparent” when he addresses his colleagues — and the public — on his return.

“There’s no conspiracy involved in this, nothing scandalous at all,” Johnson said. “If it were me, I would have been more specific about that and I encouraged him to be.”

Johnson added that he thinks Kean would be “easily” reelected in November.

The mystery over Kean's absence had potential political implications, given the competitive district he represents and the Republican Party's narrow control of the House. His office has said he is still running for reelection and is set to face Democratic nominee Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot, in New Jersey's most high-profile contest in November.

Democrats have targeted the district as a prime pick-up opportunity, given that the seat has changed hands in the last two midterm elections. Kean won in 2022 by defeating Democrat Tom Malinowski, who had defeated Republican Leonard Lance in 2018.

Trump has endorsed Kean’s reelection, without mentioning his absence.

Kean comes from a long line of public servants, stretching 250 years to the country’s founding when one of his ancestors became New Jersey’s first leader since independence.

Kean's great-grandfather was a senator, his grandfather was a congressman and his father is the former two-term governor, Tom Kean Sr.

The World Cup’s daily group-stage matches ended on June 27 after 16 teams were eliminated.

The 48 qualifying teams started the tournament with matches within 12 groups of four on June 11.

As the tournament continues, the single direct-knockout matches to advance into the Round of 16 are set to end on July 3.

The list of 32

Here is the list of the teams in order of group-stage placement, points earned, and FIFA ranking:

1. Argentina (1) wins Group J with 9 points. The match is at 6 p.m. on July 3 against Cape Verde.
2. France (2) wins Group I with 9 points. The match is at 5 p.m. on June 30 against Sweden.
3. Mexico (14) wins Group A with 9 points. The match is at 9 p.m. on June 30 against Ecuador.
4. Spain (3) wins Group H with 7 points. The match is at 3 p.m. on July 2 against Austria.
5. England (4) wins Group L with 7 points. The match is at noon on July 1 against Congo.
6. Brazil (6) wins Group C with 7 points. The team advanced to Round of 16.
7. The Netherlands (8) wins Group F with 7 points. The team was eliminated on June 29.
8. Belgium (9) wins Group G with 7 points. The match is at 4 p.m. on July 1 against Senegal.
9. Colombia (11) wins Group K with 7 points. The match is at 9:30 p.m. on July 3 against Ghana.
10. Switzerland (17) wins Group B with 7 points. The match is at 11 p.m. on July 2 against Algeria.
11. Germany (10) wins Group E with 6 points. The team was eliminated on June 29.
12. United States (15) wins Group D with 6 points. The match is at 8 p.m. on July 1 against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
13. Morocco (7) is the Group C runner-up with 7 points. The team advanced to Round of 16.
14. Ivory Coast (30) is the Group E runner-up with 6 points. The match is at 1 p.m. on June 30 against Norway.
15. Norway (31) is the Group I runner-up with 6 points. The match is at 1 p.m. on June 30 against the Ivory Coast.
16. Portugal (5) is the Group K runner-up with 5 points. The match is at 7 p.m. on July 2 against Croatia.
17. Japan (18) is the Group F runner-up with 5 points. The team was eliminated on June 29.
18. Egypt (26) is the Group G runner-up with 5 points. The match is at 3 p.m. on July 3 against Australia.
19. Australia (27) is the Group D runner-up with 4 points. The match is at 3 p.m. on July 3 against Egypt.
20. Canada (32) is the Group B runner-up with 4 points. The team advanced to Round of 16.
21. South Africa (54) is the Group A runner-up with 4 points. The team was eliminated on June 28.
22. Cape Verde (64) is the Group H runner-up with 3 points. The match is at 6 p.m. on July 3 against Argentina.
23. Austria (22) is the Group J runner-up with 4 points. The match is at 7 p.m. on July 2 against Spain.
24. Croatia (11) is the Group L runner-up with 6 points. The match is at 7 p.m. on July 2 against Portugal.
25. Senegal (18) classifies after placing third in Group I with 4 points. The match is at 4 p.m. on July 1 against Belgium.
26. Algeria (29) classifies after placing third in Group J with 4 points and a minus two goal difference. Game day: July 2
27. Ecuador (32) classifies after placing third in Group E with 4 points. The match is at 9 p.m. on June 30 against Mexico.
28. Paraguay (37) classifies after placing third in Group D with 4 points and a minus two goal difference. The team advanced to Round of 16.
29. Sweden (38) classifies after placing third in Group F with 4 points. The match is at 5 p.m. on June 30 against France.
30. Congo (46) classifies after placing third in Group K with 4 points plus one goal difference. The match is at noon on July 1 against England.
31. Bosnia and Herzegovina (64) classifies after placing third in Group B with 4 points and a minus one goal difference. The match is at 8 p.m. on July 1 against the U.S.
32. Ghana (65) classifies after placing third in Group L with 4 points. The match is at 9:30 p.m. on July 3 against Colombia.

TRACK PROGRESS

• Round of 16 qualifications
• Eliminations during Round of 32

TOURNAMENT’S SCHEDULE

Round of 32 knock-out matches

June 30

• Ivory Coast vs. Norway at 1 p.m. in Arlington, Texas.
• France vs. Sweden at 5 p.m. in New Jersey
• Mexico vs. Ecuador at 9 p.m. in Mexico City

July 1

• England vs. DR Congo is at noon at the Atlanta Stadium.
• Belgium vs. Senegal is at 4 p.m. at the Seattle Stadium.
• United States vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina is at 8 p.m. at the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

July 2

• Spain vs. Austria at 3 p.m. at Los Angeles Stadium
• Portugal vs. Croatia at 7 p.m. at the Toronto Stadium
• Switzerland vs. Algeria at 11 p.m. at BC Place Vancouver.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

July 3:

• Australia vs. Egypt is at 2 p.m. at the Dallas Stadium.
• Argentina vs. Cape Verde is at 6 p.m. at the Miami Stadium
• Colombia vs. Ghana is at 9:30 p.m. at the Kansas City Stadium

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 1 p.m to 9 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

Round of 16 begins

July 4: There are two matches at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from noon to midnight at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

July 5: There are two matches at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens for the last day from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

July 6: There are two matches at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.

July 7: There are two matches at Noon and 4 p.m.

Quarterfinals begin

July 9: There is a quarter-final match at 4 p.m.

July 10: There is a quarter-final match at 3 p.m.

July 11: There are two quarter-final matches at 5 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Sunrise watch party: The indoor Amerant Bank Arena is hosting a free watch party for ticket holders at 5 p.m. on July 11. Parking is free.

Semifinals begin

July 14: The fan festival is closed. There is a semi-final match at 3 p.m.

Miami Beach watch party: Doors open at 3 p.m. on July 14 at The Bandshell, at 7275 Collins Ave., for the semifinal match.

July 15: There is a semi-final match at 3 p.m.

Miami Beach watch party: Doors open at 3 p.m. on July 15 at The Bandshell, at 7275 Collins Ave., for the semifinal match.

Finals begin

July 18: The third-place play-off match is at 5 p.m.

Miami Beach watch party: Doors open at 3 p.m. on July 18 at The Sandbowl, behind The Bandshell, at 7275 Collins Ave., for the 5 p.m. bronze final.

Sunrise ride to stadium: The Amerant Bank Arena has free parking for FIFA World Cup ticket holders who ride Broward County’s free Express bus transportation to the Miami Stadium, also known as Hard Rock, in Miami Gardens.

July 19: The final match is at 3 p.m.

Miami Beach watch party: Doors open at 1 p.m. on July 19 at The Sandbowl, behind The Bandshell, at 7275 Collins Ave., for the 3 p.m. final.

Sunrise watch party: The indoor Amerant Bank Arena is hosting a free watch party for ticket holders for the final on July 19. Parking is free.

It followed back-to-back rulings last week that barred his two sweeping executive orders seeking to change national election rules, more court rulings preventing his Department of Justice from obtaining detailed state voter data and his stalled attempts to get the Senate to pass the SAVE Act. That measure would eliminate nearly all absentee voting, require citizenship documents to register to vote and impose photo identification requirements nationwide right before the midterm elections.

“It’s been a mixed bag for Republicans,” said University of Notre Dame law professor Derek Muller. But the president, he added, “has come up mostly empty-handed.”

Trump's efforts have not been entirely fruitless. Republican-run states have satisfied his demands to redraw congressional district lines, efforts buoyed by the Supreme Court striking down a key section of the Voting Rights Act, and he has been directing his Department of Justice to investigate voting and election operations, which Democrats see as a possible prelude to their involvement in November.

All the activity around how the nation votes and runs its elections is a reflection of the Republican president's long fixation on his false claim that his 2020 election defeat was rigged. He has been so frustrated by the inability of the Senate to pass the SAVE Act that he has refused to sign a bipartisan housing bill.

He weighed in again Monday after the Supreme Court's decision in the mail ballot deadline case, saying on his social media account that he is trying to “save America from crooked elections.” Voting rights groups and Democrats see him abusing power and attempting to suppress legal voters to gain an advantage in the midterms, when control of Congress is at stake.

Regardless, Muller said Trump faces legal and political realities: The Constitution gives the states and Congress authority over elections while providing no such role for the president.

“That’s how federalism works,” Muller said.

Here’s a look at Trump’s efforts to reshape election rules and what options he might have left for the November midterms.

Focus on noncitizens and voter data has met roadblocks

The president has repeatedly said U.S. elections are riddled with fraud in part because of noncitizen voting. Research shows the problem to be rare, accounting for a minuscule percentage of fraud cases. Convictions are measured in the hundreds over periods in which tens of millions of ballots are cast.

Trump’s view resulted in a multiagency push to nationalize voter data and use federal resources to help states remove voters from the rolls. The Department of Justice has sought detailed voter files from multiple states, data that would include dates of birth and partial Social Security numbers. Democratic and some Republican secretaries of state balked, and federal lawsuits followed. The administration has lost every case so far.

Homeland Security citizenship check rejected in court

Trump's Department of Homeland Security, with help from the DOGE effort led by Elon Musk, revamped a government tool called SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements). The program has been a key pillar of his efforts to cull potentially ineligible voters from state rolls.

Last week, a federal judge blocked its use as a mass citizenship check.

The administration, according to its own news releases, had allowed local election administrators to search users by the thousands, using a wider range of metrics rather than DHS-issued identification numbers. At least 67 million registrations, primarily in Republican-controlled states, were analyzed. Tens of thousands were flagged as potential noncitizens or people who have died, but some voters were wrongly identified as ineligible.

U.S. District Court Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan ruled that Trump’s changes aggregated Americans’ sensitive personal data in a way that could result in voters being wrongly purged from the rolls.

“All in all, the federal government has knowingly trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote,” Sooknanan said in her order.

Executive orders used in place of legislation

As presidents before him, Trump signed executive orders when Congress would not enact his policy preferences.

Trump’s first order reflected his emphasis on noncitizens. Like the SAVE Act pending on Capitol Hill, it sought to require would-be voters to document their citizenship to be able to register to vote.

U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper put a temporary block on the order last year as she considered the case and last week made her decision permanent. The Constitution, Casper wrote, “does not grant the President any specific powers over elections.”

Trump issued a second order in March, as the SAVE Act’s rough path in Congress became obvious. He called for a national voter list using data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Social Security Administration. Further, the order would have empowered the U.S. Postal Service to determine who gets an absentee ballot and threatened local elections officials with prosecution.

Absentee voting is a staple of U.S. elections, but Trump describes the practice, incorrectly, as allowing fraud — even as he has used it himself. A 2025 report by the Brookings Institution found that mail voting fraud occurred in only 0.000043% of total mail ballots cast.

Democratic secretaries of state sued, and U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani made the same legal assessment as Casper. The provisions, she wrote last week, “unconstitutionally violate the separation of powers.”

The White House has indicated it will appeal.

Even Trump says the SAVE Act has long odds

Trump on Monday called the Senate logjam “crazy” and one of the holdouts, Republican Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, “Trump-deranged.”

It’s the latest legislative tussle that prompted Trump to demand Republicans scrap the filibuster, which requires most major legislation to get support from 60 of the 100 senators. But that likely wouldn’t matter in this case, with four of the Senate’s 53 Republicans declaring their opposition to the bill itself: Murkowski, Susan Collins of Maine, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

The president acknowledged Monday that the SAVE Act is “probably not going to happen.”

Trump still has options for the November elections

Both major parties have national operations to monitor elections, including legal teams ready to file challenges.

Despite the Republican National Committee losing the mail ballot case, Chairman Joe Gruters on Monday alluded to those efforts: “We are not going to be deterred by this decision, and the RNC will keep fighting to have elections end on Election Day,” he said.

Meanwhile, Trump has been developing a possible roadmap for more aggressive actions.

His U.S. attorney in Los Angeles said in June that he had opened multiple election fraud investigations, and he sent a prosecutor to the county's vote-tabulation center after California's June primary. Six months earlier, FBI agents executed a warrant and seized ballots and other records from the 2020 election in Georgia's Fulton County, which includes Atlanta.

Muller, the law professor, said local elections officials “already are having conversations about chain of custody disputes” for ballots as they are cast, collected, counted and stored.

He and UCLA law professor Rick Hasen noted that judicial warrants are required for the kinds of actions that happened in Fulton County. Muller predicted “the bar would be even higher” for any warrant the administration requests during a live election.

Hasen added that he's working to educate judges around the country on the importance of chain of custody for ballots.

“Republicans believe him when he says the election is rigged. And then when Republicans try to change voting rules to tighten things up, that causes Democrats to also think that the election system is being rigged,” Hasen said. “So, if what he’s trying to achieve is undermine voters’ confidence in the election process, he seems to have succeeded spectacularly.”

___

Associated Press writer Ali Swenson in New York contributed to this report.

"Well for a long time, before the civil rights movement, it meant to be more inclined toward states' rights and limited government," says Meacham, the National Constitution Center's Semiquincentennial Scholar. He then pauses, and asks to start over, recalling how President Franklin Delano Roosevelt evoked Jefferson as an “apostle of liberty” who would have supported the U.S. fighting the Nazis in World War II.

You could define it in so many ways. Historians may argue over the “greatness” of individual founders, but as the country's 250th anniversary approaches many agree that no one's life and work resonates like Jefferson's. He embodied the “very best and the very worst” of the United States, Meacham says.

And a great deal in between.

America’s birth is rooted in his most profound contradiction — the man who proclaimed that “all men are created equal” while being a slaveholder to the end of his life. But Jefferson advanced and explored both sides of so many issues and world views that have defined the country's path: agrarian self-sufficiency and worldly innovation, pluralism and separatism, limited government and dreams of an “empire of liberty.”

“There is no more malleable figure in early America than Jefferson,” says Andrew Burstein, a professor of history at Louisiana State University who has summed up Jefferson's legacy in a book he published a decade ago: “Democracy’s Muse: How Thomas Jefferson became an FDR Liberal, a Reagan Republican, and a Tea Party Fanatic, All the While Being Dead.”

“There have been times in American history when just about everyone would have considered themselves ‘Jeffersonian,’" says historian Peter S. Onuf, author of numerous works on Jefferson. “Yet even at those moments, he was a controversial figure.”

It's an argument without end

Jefferson's legacy is debated even in settings that owe their existence to him.

On the campus of the University of Virginia, the college he founded and regarded as a signature achievement, stands a memorial to thousands of enslaved people who lived and worked there.

At Monticello, the mountaintop estate and plantation outside of Charlottesville where Jefferson lived when not in public office, a banner near the entrance features the Declaration and the caption, “After all, our guy wrote it.” But once on the grounds, reminders of his enslavement of hundreds are found throughout, from its “Burial Ground for Enslaved People” that includes dozens of graves to an exhibit dedicated to Sally Hemings, the enslaved woman with whom Jefferson is widely believed to have had six children.

Monticello's director of historic interpretation and audience engagement, Brandon Dillard, cites the staff's mission “to tell unflinching stories of America’s complex origins and fitful progress toward the ideals Jefferson articulated in the Declaration of Independence."

Jefferson regarded Monticello as a refuge from the times, but the times inevitably find their way here. A guide on the gardens and grounds tour points out that a foldable plant Jefferson tried and failed to grow — the “Mimosa Pudica,” or “sensitive plant” — now thrives because of climate change. The visitors' center is LEED Gold-certified for green energy, Dillard says, and geothermal systems have been installed in other buildings for temperature control.

Monticello raises questions old and new about race. Virtually all of the guides are white, an issue Dillard notes is prevalent nationwide. A recent survey released by the American Association for State and Local History found that around just 10% of workers at museums, historic sites and historical societies were nonwhite and that many “Latino/a/x, and multiracial respondents reported higher rates of discrimination and harassment.” (Dillard declined to answer in detail the experience of guides of color at Monticello.)

There is a Jefferson for every occasion

Jefferson’s contradictions date back through much of American history; he was claimed by both sides of the Civil War and both sides of the civil rights movement.

Nineteenth-century Confederates and 20th-century segregationists cited his defense of states' rights, while Abraham Lincoln and civil rights leaders emphasized Jefferson as the author of the Declaration of Independence. In the space of a few months in 1963, he would be invoked in the inaugural speech of Alabama Gov. George Wallace as he vowed defiance of federal efforts to integrate the state’s schools and by the Rev. Martin Luther King as he delivered his “I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington.

Roosevelt enlisted Jefferson as an ideological ally for the New Deal (the Thomas Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C., began as a New Deal project) and a former New Dealer-turned conservative, President Ronald Reagan, held up Jefferson decades later as a foe of wasteful spending. Jefferson has been cited often by free-speech advocates for his crucial support for the Bill of Rights, while President Donald Trump has quoted Jefferson's 1807 lament that “Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper” as an implicit endorsement of his modern war against “fake news.”

Jefferson has also been placed on either side of today's divide over immigration. Ibram X. Kendi, author of “How to Be an Anti-Racist,” cites his well-documented belief in colonization for Black people as inspiration for contemporary scapegoating and xenophobia. Meanwhile, at a time when the Trump administration is aggressively trying to restrict immigration and even denaturalize some citizens, Monticello continues its decades-old July 4 naturalization ceremonies, with Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger scheduled as this year's keynote speaker.

“As new citizens share their personal stories every Fourth of July," Dillard says, “we are reminded that the values uplifted in that Declaration are values toward which people from all backgrounds aspire.”

Many Monticello visitors, many reasons to visit

Monticello attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. They come for many reasons.

Erin Porter is a Virginia native in her 40s who until recently had never been to Monticello and wanted to cross it off her bucket list, while Nathan Jaycox of Connecticut is a former nuclear engineer now seeking to absorb history for a class he hopes to teach. Duane Cromwell, a longtime resident of Vancouver, was here on a very personal mission.

Cromwell, 70, grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, where she was taught that slavery was “an economic necessity” and learned nothing about Jefferson's history of enslavement. In town last month for a family reunion, she arrived at Monticello anxious to get past the “whitewashed Southern version” and the myths of evil “yankees” and the victimized rebels who defied them.

“Did you (ever) notice kudzu growing up over trees and buildings while in the South? It is an invasive plant brought to the region to control erosion. Well, it is like racism. It is pervasive, part of the horizon, always there but soon you don’t notice it,” she says.

“Having said that, I do think that people do go along better, there is more interactions, relationships than when I was growing up. Everyone needs each other and in the South, there is a great sense of humor and friendliness that help people navigate the awkward moments.”

For Cromwell, Monticello was a chance to educate herself, to become a better person — and, like countless others before her, using Thomas Jefferson as a prism.

“Isn’t that what it’s all about?”

___

AP National Writer Hillel Italie frequently writes about American history.

The pull to return home to help is real. That isn't an option for Contreras at the moment, so on Monday night against Washington, he did what he could to show that what's happening back home isn't far from his mind.

Contreras unleashed a massive bat flip after ripping a 421-foot homer in what became a 6-3 Boston victory. He then broke down in tears in the dugout, the anguish that's been a constant since portions of his homeland were turned into rubble last week pouring out of him.

“Everything that’s going on in Venezuela, it’s not easy to hide,” Contreras told reporters after the game. "It’s not easy just to show up and play with everything that is going on in my country.”

The urge to do something, anything, to help is real. Contreras looked toward the Boston dugout and shouted “Venezuela” before making the trip around the bases following a three-run shot that marked his 18th homer of the season.

“I feel like I could be there helping people and I can’t do that,” Contreras said. “And the homer just represents something that I pray to God for it to happen, because that’s the only thing I can do for Venezuela right now physically. And that’s why I was emotional.”

The 34-year-old Contreras was born in Puerto Cabello, about three hours west of the capital of Caracas. He described frustration over reports of volunteers and aid packages having trouble getting through to those who need it.

“It sucks seeing so many bad things going on in Venezuela,” he said. “I don’t think we deserve all of this. We’re a good people. Good country. We are good people.”

Contreras' night on the field ended a bit early. First base umpire Nic Lentz ejected him in the second inning after Lentz ruled Contreras failed to check his swing on a Miles Mikolas pitch that ended up being a strikeout.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

After 16 single direct-knockout matches, the winning teams will advance to the tournament’s Round of 16, which begins on the Fourth of July.

Here is the list of the Round of 32 teams eliminated:

1. South Africa, the Group A runner-up with 4 points, was eliminated on June 28 after Canada won 1-0.
2. Japan, the Group F runner-up with 5 points, was eliminated on June 29 after Brazil won 2-1.
3. Germany, the Group E winner with 6 points, was eliminated on June 29 after a 1-1 draw ended with a 4-3 defeat on penalties against Paraguay.
4. The Netherlands, the Group F winner with 7 points, was eliminated on June 29 after a 1-1 draw ended with a 3-2 defeat on penalties against Morocco.

TRACK PROGRESS

• Round of 16 qualifications
• Eliminations during Round of 32
• Round of 32 teams

TOURNAMENT’S SCHEDULE

Round of 32 knock-out matches

June 30

• Ivory Coast vs. Norway at 1 p.m. in Arlington, Texas.
• France vs. Sweden at 5 p.m. in New Jersey
• Mexico vs. Ecuador at 9 p.m. in Mexico City

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from noon to midnight at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

July 1

• England vs. DR Congo is at noon at the Atlanta Stadium.
• Belgium vs. Senegal is at 4 p.m. at the Seattle Stadium.
• United States vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina is at 8 p.m. at the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

July 2

• Spain vs. Austria at 3 p.m. at Los Angeles Stadium
• Portugal vs. Croatia at 7 p.m. at the Toronto Stadium
• Switzerland vs. Algeria at 11 p.m. at BC Place Vancouver.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

July 3:

• Australia vs. Egypt is at 2 p.m. at the Dallas Stadium.
• Argentina vs. Cape Verde is at 6 p.m. at the Miami Stadium
• Colombia vs. Ghana is at 9:30 p.m. at the Kansas City Stadium

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from 1 p.m to 9 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

Round of 16 begins

July 4: There are two matches at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens from noon to midnight at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

July 5: There are two matches at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Miami watch parties: The fan festival opens for the last day from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. at Bayfront Park, at 301 Biscayne Boulevard.

July 6: There are two matches at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.

July 7: There are two matches at Noon and 4 p.m.

Quarterfinals begin

July 9: There is a quarter-final match at 4 p.m.

July 10: There is a quarter-final match at 3 p.m.

July 11: There are two quarter-final matches at 5 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Sunrise watch party: The indoor Amerant Bank Arena is hosting a free watch party for ticket holders at 5 p.m. on July 11. Parking is free.

Semifinals begin

July 14: The fan festival is closed. There is a semi-final match at 3 p.m.

Miami Beach watch party: Doors open at 3 p.m. on July 14 at The Bandshell, at 7275 Collins Ave., for the semifinal match.

July 15: There is a semi-final match at 3 p.m.

Miami Beach watch party: Doors open at 3 p.m. on July 15 at The Bandshell, at 7275 Collins Ave., for the semifinal match.

Finals begin

July 18: The third-place play-off match is at 5 p.m.

Miami Beach watch party: Doors open at 3 p.m. on July 18 at The Sandbowl, behind The Bandshell, at 7275 Collins Ave., for the 5 p.m. bronze final.

Sunrise ride to stadium: The Amerant Bank Arena has free parking for FIFA World Cup ticket holders who ride Broward County’s free Express bus transportation to the Miami Stadium, also known as Hard Rock, in Miami Gardens.

July 19: The final match is at 3 p.m.

Miami Beach watch party: Doors open at 1 p.m. on July 19 at The Sandbowl, behind The Bandshell, at 7275 Collins Ave., for the 3 p.m. final.

Sunrise watch party: The indoor Amerant Bank Arena is hosting a free watch party for ticket holders for the final on July 19. Parking is free.

Track group-stage

• Group A
• Group B
• Group C
• Group D
• Group E
• Group F
• Group G
• Group H
• Group I
• Group J
• Group K
• Group L

Pero no todo es perfecto en uno de los lagos más conocidos del sur de Asia. La contaminación que proviene de edificios locales, las especies de plantas invasoras que amenazan la biodiversidad, y la disminución del nivel del agua —en parte debida al calor provocado por el cambio climático—, ponen en peligro la existencia a largo plazo del lago Dal y de cientos de otros lagos de la Cachemira controlada por India.

Se requiere de un esfuerzo constante por parte de los trabajadores empleados por el gobierno local para mantener a raya la maleza del lago Dal —y deben tomar precauciones para evitar la irritación de la piel causada por el agua contaminada—. No obstante, la situación podría ser peor para el lago, ubicado en Srinagar, la ciudad más poblada de Cachemira: es uno de los pocos lagos de la región que recibe trabajos de restauración continuos.

“Nos da miedo tocar el agua con las manos desnudas. Si necesitamos limpiar algo a mano, usamos guantes, porque sin ellos, nuestras manos rápidamente desarrollan alergias”, dijo en una tarde reciente Ghulam Rasool, un eliminador de maleza empleado por el gobierno local.

Rasool agregó que a veces parece imposible mantener el lago limpio. “Las aguas residuales desembocan directamente en el lago, y los arroyos que bajan de las montañas arrastran desechos como pañales y otro tipo de basura”, expuso.

La combinación de los cambios provocados por el clima, la contaminación y la urbanización descontrolada acelera el declive de los lagos indios, con consecuencias que se extienden desde los frágiles ecosistemas hasta las comunidades pesqueras y la economía turística.

Un informe del gobierno indio del año pasado encontró que, de los 697 lagos naturales de la región, 315 han desaparecido y 203 se han reducido desde 1967. Cientos de lagos registrados en décadas anteriores se han convertido en marismas poco profundas, humedales estacionales o, en algunos casos, han sido reemplazados por tierras de cultivo y otros desarrollos urbanísticos.

Viviendas y granjas invaden los lagos

En Cachemira, los lagos siempre han sido centros de actividad, incluidos los famosos mercados flotantes del lago Dal, donde los lugareños venden de todo: desde verduras hasta recuerdos. No obstante, a lo largo de las últimas décadas, la extensión de los lagos se ha reducido debido a las inconstancia de las lluvias, el aumento de sedimentos provenientes de los ríos y la invasión de tierras para cultivo y viviendas. Pequeñas islas para la agricultura o largos puentes de madera que conducen a viviendas ilegales se han convertido en una imagen cada vez más común.

En una vista aérea del lago Dal se aprecia claramente cómo las tierras de cultivo y las viviendas invaden lo que antes era terreno lacustre. El ganado pasta libremente en tierras de cultivo recién formadas a pesar de que los pescadores tradicionales intentan obtener su cuota diaria en las cercanías.

Las aguas residuales sin tratar que desembocan en los lagos provocan el crecimiento de la maleza que se alimenta del nitrógeno, el fósforo y otros nutrientes presentes en los desechos. Plásticos y otro tipo de basura ensucian el lago. Decenas de personas se dedican a eliminar la maleza del lago Dal diariamente, y es posible observar pequeños montículos de maleza removida en varios puntos del cuerpo de agua.

También se utilizan excavadoras y otra maquinaria pesada para retirar maleza y basura del lago.

Si bien reconocen que se necesitan más fondos y trabajo, los funcionarios del gobierno local dijeron que hacen su mejor esfuerzo. La autoridad gubernamental encargada del lago, creada en 1997, incluye ingenieros civiles, científicos, funcionarios forestales y agentes de la policía local.

Aunque más del 75% de la población de Srinagar está conectada a sistemas de tratamiento de aguas residuales, las aguas residuales de las viviendas no conectadas contribuyen significativamente a la contaminación del lago, explicó Muzamil Ahmad Rafiqui, ingeniero superintendente de la Autoridad de Conservación y Gestión de Lagos de Cachemira.

El cambio climático agrava el desgaste de los lagos

Algunos de los años más cálidos del mundo han provocado que la región del Himalaya se caliente más rápido que el promedio mundial. El deshielo temprano, la disminución de las nevadas y las lluvias más intensas alteran el ritmo y el volumen del agua que alimenta a los ríos y a los lagos.

Sher Muhammad, glaciólogo del Centro Internacional para el Desarrollo Integrado de las Montañas, con sede en Katmandú, destacó que los patrones cambiantes e impredecibles implican que los lagos ahora enfrentan periodos de afluencia repentina seguidos de una presión prolongada durante los meses más secos.

El deshielo de los glaciares de la región también ha incrementado la cantidad de sedimentos que llegan a los lagos río abajo. Si bien el deshielo puede generar un aumento inicial en el caudal, con el tiempo reducirá la reserva natural del agua que sustenta a los ríos y lagos durante los períodos secos, manifestaron los expertos.

El cambio climático ha sido devastador para Cachemira, dijo Irfan Rashid, científico ambiental de la Universidad de Cachemira, en Srinagar.

“Ha afectado a cada sector de nuestra economía”, subrayó. Rashid añadió que la capacidad de generación de energía hidroeléctrica, el turismo y las valiosas plantaciones de manzanas y azafrán se han visto golpeados por el clima extremo e impredecible de los últimos años.

Las comunidades pesqueras son las más afectadas

Los pescadores del lago Wular, a unos 65 kilómetros (40 millas) al noroeste de Srinagar, expusieron que el lago se ha vuelto menos profundo y su superficie está fragmentada por nuevas zonas de vegetación. Parte de su cuenca hidrográfica ha sido invadida por plantaciones de árboles. La navegación se ha vuelto más difícil y quedan menos peces.

Abdul Rasheed, un pescador de 45 años, dijo que solía ganar alrededor de 1.000 rupias (11 dólares) al día. Ahora sólo gana entre 100 y 200 rupias (entre 1 y 2 dólares) por toda una noche de pesca.

“Ha habido muchos cambios desde mi infancia”, agregó Rasheed.

Como ocurre con muchos otros lagos en Cachemira, el desarrollo agrícola y residencial ha invadido el lago, mientras que las aguas residuales sin tratar y la escorrentía agrícola han deteriorado la calidad de su agua. De hecho, en varias zonas, la superficie es una sustancia verdosa y viscosa. El estudio detallado más reciente del lago Wular, realizado por el grupo conservacionista Wetlands International (Humedales Internacional), en 2007, reveló que el lago se había reducido un 45% durante el siglo anterior. El informe también destacó que la degradación del lago aumenta el riesgo de inundaciones en el valle de Cachemira, ya que tradicionalmente era la principal barrera contra los desbordamientos del río Jhelum.

Muchos pescadores del lago Wular dijeron no creer que las generaciones futuras podrán vivir de la pesca.

Bashir Ahmed, de 55 años, quien ha pescado en el lago desde hace décadas, comentó que antes un joven sin experiencia podía regresar a casa con 4 kilogramos (9 libras) de pescado.

“Ahora, incluso un pescador experto regresa a casa con no más de un kilogramo (2,2 libras)”, agregó.

___

Arasu informó desde Bangalore, India, y está en X como @sibi123. Dar Yasin está en Instagram como @daryasinap

___

La cobertura climática y medioambiental de The Associated Press recibe el apoyo de varias fundaciones privadas. Vea más sobre la iniciativa climática de la AP aquí. La AP es la única responsable de todo el contenido. Encuentre los estándares de la AP para trabajar con organizaciones filantrópicas, una lista de patrocinadores y las áreas de cobertura financiadas en AP.org.

With the shootout tied at 2-all after four rounds, Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou made a strong save of Crysencio Summerville's attempt, batting it away with his left hand. Saibari then sent the winner into the low left corner as goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen went the other direction. The midfielder tore off his shirt and screamed with joy as he was mobbed by teammates.

Earlier in the shootout with Morocco trailing 1-0, Verbruggen appeared to have stopped an attempt by Soufiane Rahimi, but the goalkeeper couldn’t secure the ball and deflected it over the line with the back of his leg.

“We know when we do everything on the pitch, it’s God that gives something back to us as well,” Morocco head coach Mohamed Ouahbi said. “We give all the energy that we have on the field. Rahimi’s goal could have not been a goal, but it went in thankfully.”

The Netherlands had reached at least the Round of 16 in 11 previous World Cups, including a quarterfinal appearance four years ago in Qatar, when Morocco made a breakthrough run to become the first team from Africa to reach the semifinals. In this year's expanded tournament, 32 teams reached the knockout stage for the first time.

Morocco moves on to face co-host Canada in the Round of 16 on Saturday in Houston. The Atlas Lions previously beat Canada 2-1 in the group stage of the 2022 World Cup.

Morocco was on the front-foot for major stretches of the game Monday. The Netherlands instead focused on counterattacking.

“I think Morocco has gained everybody’s respect now,” said Ouahbi, who took over as head coach in March. “I saw (the Netherlands’ style of play) as a form of respect.”

Cody Gakpo scored in the 72nd minute for Netherlands. After the goal, which was assisted by Summerville, the Dutch bench ran onto the field to embrace the 27-year-old Gakpo, who broke down in tears. Gakpo and his partner, Noa van der Bij, recently announced that they lost their unborn child.

Morocco’s Issa Diop tied it in the 91st. Chemsdine Talbi sent a looping cross into the box from about 28 yards out on the left side and connected with Diop for a clean header that Verbruggen had no chance to stop.

Neither team had a strong scoring opportunity in 30 minutes of extra time at Estadio BBVA.

In the second half of extra time, Netherlands head coach Ronald Koeman used one of his substitutions to bring on Justin Kluivert. Kluivert was one of three Dutch players to miss his penalty.

“The last substitution I made was to bring in Justin (Kluivert) because he’s one of the best at penalty shootouts,” Koeman said. “But he missed his penalty and that’s even more bitter for him and for us.”

It was the third consecutive time the Netherlands has been eliminated from the World Cup in a penalty shootout.

It was the second game of this tournament to conclude with a shootout. Paraguay beat Germany on penalties earlier Monday.

The teams entered with the highest combined ranking of any Round of 32 match. Morocco was sixth in the world and the Netherlands was seventh.

“We need to be telling ourselves that no one can stop us,” Ouahbi said. “Nobody is unbeatable. If we get things wrong, we’ll go home.”

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Ethan Wilcox is a student in the University of Georgia’s Carmical Sports Media Institute.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Según BSO, un sospechoso que los agentes buscaban fue observado cargando gasolina en la estación Wawa ubicada en 6350 Stirling Road la noche del lunes.

Cuando las autoridades se acercaron al sospechoso, indicaron que se desató un forcejeo entre él y los oficiales que se aproximaban.

El alguacil de Broward, Gregory Tony, dijo que el sospechoso estaba armado y se le ordenó entregar su arma, pero al no hacerlo, se produjo un intercambio de disparos.

Tony señaló que el sospechoso era buscado por huir y evadir a las autoridades, e indicó que los agentes contaban con evidencia de ADN que lo vinculaba a delitos adicionales, aunque no dio más detalles al respecto.

Tampoco precisó si fue un agente del alguacil o el oficial de Plantation quien disparó fatalmente contra el sospechoso.

Se espera que el Departamento de Policía de la Florida (FDLE) asuma la investigación, como es habitual en los casos de tiroteos con participación de agentes del orden.

Yet instead of feeling amplified pressure under the raised expectations created by their strong group round and a groundswell of national support, these Americans appeared to be energized by the opportunity to make history as they broke camp Monday at their training base in Orange County.

“Would it be weird if I told you I don’t really feel too much pressure at this minute?” Ream said with a grin.

“I think we felt more pressure for that first game against Paraguay than anything, and that’s coming from ourselves, not from anything on the outside,” Ream added, referring to the Americans’ impressive 4-1 win in their World Cup opener on June 12. ”We just have to put in a performance the way we have in the group stage, and then we see where that takes us.”

The U.S. faces Bosnia-Herzegovina in the round of 32 in Santa Clara, California, on Wednesday night. The Americans are significantly favored — which is sort of an achievement in itself, given that this team has won exactly one knockout-round match in its entire World Cup history.

But these Americans are on the international stage with more optimism and likely more talent than nearly all previous editions of this team. Whether that translates into a deep run is still to be decided, but the Americans’ confidence and excitement is undeniable.

“The game is going to be about us and what we’re prepared to do, and what we have to do to advance,” U.S. striker Folarin Balogun said. “It’s crunch time. This is the business end, and this is the stage where, in my opinion, the big players step forward and the big players carry the pressure and make things happen.”

Although the Americans reached the semifinals at the inaugural World Cup in 1930 by winning their group, their only knockout victory came at the 2002 tournament when they beat Mexico in the round of 16.

Tim Ream says the US team felt more pressure at the last World Cup in Qatar

The 38-year-old Ream believes the Americans felt more pressure four years ago in Qatar, when they muddled through group play before getting blasted 3-1 by the Netherlands in the first knockout round.

Those Americans weren’t led by accomplished Argentine coach Mauricio Pochettino, who has made strong tactical advancements and clearly instilled many of his players with a new kind of confidence after previous U.S. cycles were spent under more parochial coaching.

They also didn’t have Balogun, the elite goal-scorer who made a major impact on the Americans’ victories over Paraguay and Australia by a combined 6-1, clinching their group in style and rendering their third match meaningless.

Folarin Balogun taking in American culture during the World Cup

Balogun’s impact is undeniable on the field, but the Brooklyn-born, London-raised forward is also a focal point away from the field. This World Cup cycle has been his first significant exposure to U.S. culture, and that’s an endless source of amusement and insight for his teammates.

“He says America is a simulation quite often,” defender Mark McKenzie said with a laugh. “We’ll be driving down the road and he’ll see something and be like, ‘What is that? Why is an individual dressed like that, or why are they throwing a sign up in the air on the corner? What is Bojangles?’ It’s stuff like that, where he’s like, ‘Bro! America! What is going on?’”

Many of the top Americans now play their club soccer internationally — another obvious factor in this team’s improved competitiveness in this World Cup. Defender Chris Richards, an Alabama native who plays in London for Crystal Palace, says his team is more mature and more tested than most previous editions of the U.S. roster because of its experience at all levels of the sport.

And count Richards among those who find Balogun’s culture shock to be a hilarious distraction during the down time on international breaks and this World Cup cycle.

“I think (Balogun) still has this notion that he says Americans aren’t real,” Richards said. “There’s some stuff that we do that doesn’t fly back in London. It’s a lot to learn and especially when you’re only here for a few weeks at a time. It’s been cool (for Balogun) being able to see different pockets of America.”

Cristian Roldan and Auston Trusty do modified training ahead of round of 32

NOTES: Injured players Cristian Roldan (quadriceps strain) and Auston Trusty (ankle) did modified training while their teammates went through a full workout Monday, but McKenzie (foot irritation) remained sidelined for a second straight day. Roldan hasn’t played at this World Cup, while Trusty scored in the Americans’ 3-2 loss to Turkey before he rolled his ankle late in the match. Roldan was on the field doing drills for the second straight day. McKenzie is getting treatment away from practice. None of the three injured Americans was expected to play a major role in the knockout rounds.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

U.S. Senator Ashley Moody (R-Florida) introduced the Servicemember Residence Protection Act. The legislation would ensure state and local protections for those illegally living on a property, often referred to as “squatters rights” would not apply if the property was owned by a member of the armed forces.

Legal protections for squatters, those who occupy a property without the owner’s permission, vary greatly from state to state. However, property owners can be dragged through lengthy and expensive legal fights before an eviction can be secured.

In recent years, state lawmakers in Florida have taken steps to crackdown on squatting. In an interview with Local 10, Moody said the Senate bill would go further to ensure the homes of service men and women are protected when they are deployed.

“This would protect our servicemen and women across the nation, no matter where their home is,” Moody said. “And make sure that when they return from service or another duty station would never count towards any time that would establish any sort of squatters rights.”

In recent years, there have been several documented cases of squatters illegally moving onto the property of service members during deployment. In 2025, 11 people were arrested for allegedly squatting on a property in Polk County that belonged to a member of the U.S. Airforce. According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, the squatters allegedly caused damage to the home, sold the homeowner’s belongings, and used drugs on the property.

A version of the bill passed the House last year.

The 23-year-old New England Patriots player — who made NFL history on Feb. 8 as the first Venezuelan-born player to make it to a Super Bowl — didn’t just hand over money and donations.

“We physically can’t be there right now ... which sucks ... but we are still helping out in any way that we can. That’s why we are here helping out,” he said while volunteering at GEM’s warehouse in Doral.

The former University of Miami standout, known as “Automatic Andy,” and his wife, Stephanie Borregales, a Florida State University graduate, wore the GEM neon green vest with pride.

“I have my sister over there,” the NFL football kicker said. “Thank God, she is OK, but a lot of families aren’t.”

There was urgency after a 4.6-magnitude aftershock struck on Monday amid the devastation of Wednesday’s 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes in the Venezuelan state of La Guaira.

“Not many people have a shelter to go back to or a home to go back to because it’s all rubble,” Andy Borregales said.

As the death toll continued to increase, the United Nations estimated on Monday that there were some 680,000 children among the 1.8 million Venezuelans who need assistance after the quakes.

There are other Venezuelan professional athletes in pain in the U.S. MLB catcher William Contreras, who was born in Puerto Cabello and plays for the Milwaukee Brewers, was in tears after a victory on Friday and apologized for not being able to join the search and rescue effort.

Andy Borregales, who graduated from Champagnat Catholic School in Hialeah in 2021, felt the same pain, but as a Venezuelan American from South Florida, he had a massive effort to join.

Moving boxes at the warehouse, at 1850 NW 84th Ave, was helping Andy Borregales, who also played football as a student at Booker T. Washington High School in Miami’s Overtown and Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory School in Hollywood.

“It’s really just amazing to see just everyone come together,” said Stephanie Borregales, a Cuban American who wed the NFL player last year in Boca Raton and who believes in the healing power of giving.

GEM also has a warehouse in Valencia, Venezuela, where the distribution effort begins. GEM is not accepting clothes or linens, but the list of items they are accepting includes tents, inflatable mattresses, nonperishable food, hygiene products, batteries, diapers, and emergency kits.

“If all you can donate is a box of soap. That is enough,” Andy Borregales said. “Do what you can.”

For more information about how to become a GEM volunteer, visit this page.

Related list: Drop-off locations in South Florida

More HELPING VENEZUELA coverage

• Physicians in Miami-Dade collect donations of medical supplies near Doral
• Meet Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Capt. German Leal

• Pembroke Pines police officers announce collection drive
• Airbnb partners with nonprofit CADENA for emergency housing
• Hogar Bambi aims to protect vulnerable children

• Grey Bull Rescue Foundation team arrives at Caracas
• Officials close La Guaira, require volunteers to register in Caracas
• Amazon donates to Airlink to help charities with logistics

• Miami search-and-rescue team prepares to deploy
• Centro Comunitario AFE hosts collection drive in Miami-Dade
• Weston-based charity partners with local pharmacy

• Veteran-led Project DYNAMO delivers 20,000 pounds of aid in 1st 48 hours
• Altruism at El Arepazo feeds Global Empowerment Mission’s team effort
• Salvadoran rescuers work to free 15-year-old survivor in Caraballeda

• Food For The Poor packs disaster relief kits with ‘hopeful’ hand-written notes
• U.S. Southern Command focuses on airport damage
• State Department deploys Miami-Dade search-and-rescue team

• Miami Beach opens 4 new aid drop-off locations
• Miramar to keep 6 aid drop-off locations open 24/7
• Miami-Dade’s tax collector opens 11 drop-off locations
• Doral opens 4 aid drop-off locations

• Aid drop-off location opens in Homestead
• Starlink offers free service through July 25, but a kit is $470
• International Medical Corps deploys staff, needs donations
• Save The Children asks for emergency fund donations

• Samaritan’s Purse focuses on ‘emergency field hospital’
• Red Cross asks for Disaster Response Emergency Fund donations
• UN asks for donations for ‘underfunded’ program for kids

• World Vision asks for ‘disaster relief fund’ donations
• World Central Kitchen asks for donations for fresh meals
• United Way Miami launches ‘Operation Helping Hands’

In northern Venezuela’s state of La Guaira, there was also applause after search-and-rescue teams pulled someone out alive from the rubble five days after the 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes.

The displaced from Caracas to Catia La Mar, Macuto, and Caraballeda were in fear after a 4.6-magnitude aftershock on Monday morning. In Doral, the GEM team had them in mind with every victory.

“GEM will be the distribution center and coordinator throughout Venezuela,” said Michael Kesti, a lobbyist with the Government Relations Group who leads GEM’s government relations efforts.

Michael Capponi, a former nightlife entrepreneur who founded GEM to send aid to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, shared updates from a warehouse in Valencia, the third-largest city in Venezuela.

From the cars at a drop-off drive-thru area outside the GEM warehouse, at 1850 NW 84th Ave., in Doral, to the sorting and packing areas inside, groups of GEM donors and volunteers kept the aid flowing.

“All of these supplies are getting directly to families in Venezuela without any interference of the Venezuelan government,” said Doral Mayor Christi Fraga, who partnered with GEM to run drop-off locations that feed the warehouse in Doral.

The U.S. State Department and the U.S. Southern Command were working with the administration of Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s acting president since Jan. 5, to keep the aid from the U.S. flowing.

“It’s really that leadership role in coordinating flights with the humanitarian supplies, making sure they can get in, they can get unloaded, and on the ground,” said Mignon Houston, a spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department.

The USS Fort Lauderdale was delivering aid in La Guaira. NASA released a map showing a satellite view of the estimated 58,870 buildings that the earthquakes either damaged or destroyed. Rescue teams were still asking for silence as they searched.

“With every hour that passes, we feel our hopes fading. Many tell us that we’re searching in places where there are no longer any possibilities of finding people alive. However, many Venezuelans have asked us not to give up, and we haven’t,” Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele wrote in a statement on Monday night.

Gianluca Rampolla, a United Nations coordinator, reported the UN had agreed to procure 10,000 body bags for the Venezuelan government.

“I have my sister over there,” said NFL star Andrés Borregales, a GEM volunteer in Doral. “Thank God, she is OK, but a lot of families aren’t.”

To keep the community effort going in South Florida, Borregales had a message for anyone who hasn’t been able to help: “If all you can donate is a box of soap, that is enough. Do what you can.”

The Trump administration committed $300 million in aid to Venezuela. The Miami Marlins announced a $100,000 donation to GEM on Monday.

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniela Levine Cava, who has volunteered at GEM in Doral, released a statement on Monday to thank LATAM Airlines and GEM after she and Kesti witnessed the departure of a cargo plane.

“Tonight, I was at Miami International Airport as one of the first major humanitarian aid shipments departed for Venezuela,” Levine Cava said in a statement. “Our community has shown extraordinary generosity and humanity in response to this tragedy.”

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize-winner, released a video on Monday saying that she was in Panama City working on her return to Venezuela. “I ​am willing to do whatever it takes, speak to whoever I ​need to ⁠speak to, in order to coordinate and serve our people,” Machado said in Spanish. “I am ready and close to Venezuela, and I will do what needs to be done so we meet up there.”

Helpful list: Aid drop-off locations in South Florida

• NFL star joins Global Empowerment Mission’s team; his message to South Floridians, ‘Do what you can’
• More than 100 Venezuelans who were deported from the US hours before the earthquakes are missing

More HELPING VENEZUELA coverage

• Food for the Poor welcomes investments in reconstruction
• Physicians in Miami-Dade collect donations of medical supplies near Doral
• Meet Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Capt. German Leal

• Pembroke Pines police officers announce collection drive
• Airbnb partners with nonprofit CADENA for emergency housing
• Hogar Bambi aims to protect vulnerable children

• Grey Bull Rescue Foundation team arrives at Caracas
• Officials close La Guaira, require volunteers to register in Caracas
• Amazon donates to Airlink to help charities with logistics

• Miami search-and-rescue team prepares to deploy
• Centro Comunitario AFE hosts collection drive in Miami-Dade
• Weston-based charity partners with local pharmacy

• Veteran-led Project DYNAMO delivers 20,000 pounds of aid in 1st 48 hours
• Altruism at El Arepazo feeds Global Empowerment Mission’s team effort
• Salvadoran rescuers work to free 15-year-old survivor in Caraballeda

• Food For The Poor packs disaster relief kits with ‘hopeful’ hand-written notes
• U.S. Southern Command focuses on airport damage
• State Department deploys Miami-Dade search-and-rescue team

• Miami Beach opens 4 new aid drop-off locations
• Miramar to keep 6 aid drop-off locations open 24/7
• Miami-Dade’s tax collector opens 11 drop-off locations
• Doral opens 4 aid drop-off locations

• Aid drop-off location opens in Homestead
• Starlink offers free service through July 25, but a kit is $470
• International Medical Corps deploys staff, needs donations
• Save The Children asks for emergency fund donations

• Samaritan’s Purse focuses on ‘emergency field hospital’
• Red Cross asks for Disaster Response Emergency Fund donations
• UN asks for donations for ‘underfunded’ program for kids

• World Vision asks for ‘disaster relief fund’ donations
• World Central Kitchen asks for donations for fresh meals
• United Way Miami launches ‘Operation Helping Hands’

A search was underway for a suspect who fled on foot after the blast late Monday, Prosecutor Stéphane Thibault said, adding that the motive was unclear.

Media reports identified Ukrainian construction tycoon Vadym Yermolaiev as being among the injured. He has said he renounced his Ukrainian citizenship nearly a decade ago, and he was targeted by Ukrainian sanctions in 2023 for ties to Russia. A woman and a child were also hurt.

“It appears that the family was specifically targeted,” said Christophe Mirmand, the minister of state for Monaco. He said the suspect “had walked around the area several times while waiting for the victims,” according to surveillance footage.

It was not clear why the family was targeted or by whom.

Russia has a long history of targeting its enemies abroad, and Western intelligence officials have recently said that a campaign of targeted killings has ramped up since President Vladimir Putin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine is also believed to have carried out attacks and targeted killings of Russian figures in the course of the war, although those attacks have largely been confined to Ukrainian or Russian territory.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said its embassy in France, which is also responsible for Monaco, was in touch with local authorities. Ukrainian diplomats were at the scene providing assistance, it said.

Attack shocks glamorous Monaco

The attack shocked the country on the Mediterranean coast, one of the world’s smallest sovereign states known for its high concentration of wealthy residents. Monaco’s Prince Albert II described it as “an odious act” and said all public services were mobilized to ensure security.

Monaco police opened an attempted murder investigation into the attack, but they did not describe it as a terrorism investigation, Thibault told reporters.

The family members are “regular” residents of Monaco, and authorities did not yet know whether they had been threatened in the past, Mirmand said.

The blast occurred around 9 p.m. Monday at the entrance of a residence near the French border.

The woman who was wounded was in life-threatening condition, Thibault said. He did not provide the identities of the people who were hurt.

The woman was being treated at a hospital in Nice, Mirmand told French news broadcaster LCI. Her partner and the 13-year-old child suffered less severe injuries but were still hospitalized Tuesday, he added.

The suspect got away via steps to a small street to the neighboring French town of Beausoleil, according to surveillance footage.

In a picture captured by surveillance cameras and published by French media, the suspect could be seen in a street wearing a black jacket, light-colored pants, white shoes and a black bucket hat that partly concealed his face.

The three people were “apparently returning home peacefully,” Mirmand said, citing surveillance footage. “They were caught in the explosion as they crossed the threshold of their apartment building."

Ukrainian tycoon is a well-known real estate developer

Yermolaiev, a Ukrainian-born businessman originally from the city of Dnipro, built his fortune through the Alef Group, a diversified business that includes commercial real estate, manufacturing and agriculture. He became one of the country’s best-known property developers, leading projects that reshaped parts of Dnipro’s city center. He has regularly appeared in rankings of Ukraine’s wealthiest entrepreneurs.

In an interview with Forbes Ukraine, Yermolaiev said he renounced his Ukrainian citizenship and became a Cypriot citizen in 2017.

In December 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy imposed sanctions on Yermolaiev as part of a broader package targeting individuals and companies Kyiv said had business links to Russia or Russian-occupied territories.

The Cyprus Registrar of Companies lists a man called Vadym Iermolaiev as the director of Vespano Ltd., a company in the Cypriot city of Limassol first registered in January 2019. Cyprus’ Interior Ministry told The Associated Press it could not provide information about the man’s citizenship status due to confidentiality rules.

A coastal playground for the rich and famous, Monaco is renowned as much for its tax-friendly incentives and Formula 1 Grand Prix as its glamorous royal family. The small principality is widely regarded as one of the safest places in the world, in part because of its network of thousands of surveillance cameras covering most public spaces.

Monaco’s population of 38,000 is multinational, with only a fifth of the population actually citizens of the principality.

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Associated Press journalists Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine; Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia, Cyprus; and Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, contributed to this report.

But all is not perfect in one of South Asia’s best-known lakes. Pollution from local buildings, invasive plant species that threaten biodiversity and declining water levels, in part due to climate-driven heat, are threatening the long-term existence of Dal Lake and hundreds of other lakes in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

It takes constant effort by workers employed by the local government to keep Dal Lake's weeds at bay, and they must take precautions to avoid skin irritation from the polluted water. Yet it could be worse for the lake, which is located in Kashmir's most populous city, Srinagar. It's one of the few lakes in the region to receive sustained restoration work.

“We are afraid to touch the water with bare hands. Whenever we need to clean something by hand, we wear gloves, because without them our hands quickly develop allergies,” Ghulam Rasool, a weed cleaner employed by the local government, said on a recent afternoon.

Rasool said that sometimes it feels impossible to keep the lake clean.

“Sewage drains flow directly into the lake, and water streams coming from the mountains are bringing waste such as diapers and other garbage,” he said.

A combination of climate-driven changes, pollution and unplanned development is accelerating a decline in Indian lakes, with consequences rippling from fragile ecosystems to fishing communities and the tourism economy.

An Indian government report last year found that of the region’s 697 natural lakes, 315 have disappeared and 203 have shrunk since 1967. Hundreds recorded in earlier decades have been reduced to shallow marshes, seasonal wetlands or, in some cases, replaced by farmland and other development.

Homes and farms encroach upon lakes

Lakes in Kashmir have always been centers of activity, including Dal Lake’s famous floating markets where locals sell everything from vegetables to souvenirs. However, recent decades have seen the lakes’ boundaries shrink due to unpredictable rainfall, increased sediment from rivers and encroachment by farmland and houses. Small islands of farmland or long wooden bridges leading to illegal homes are becoming an increasingly common sight.

Farmland and homes creeping into what was once lake land is apparent in an aerial view of Dal Lake. Cattle graze freely on newly formed farmland even as the traditional fishers try to make their daily quota nearby.

Untreated sewage flowing into the lakes results in the growth of weeds, which feed off nitrogen, phosphorous and other nutrients in the waste. Plastics and other garbage dirty the lake. Dozens of weed cleaners try to clear Dal Lake every day, and small mounds of cleared weeds can be seen at various spots across the lake. Excavators and other heavy machinery are also used to pull weeds and garbage from the lake.

While acknowledging that more funds and work are needed, local government officials said they are trying their best. A government-run lake authority started in 1997 includes civil engineers, scientists, forest officials and local police officials.

While more than 75% of Srinagar’s population is connected to sewage treatment systems, sewage from the unconnected houses is a major contributor to lake pollution, said Muzamil Ahmad Rafiqui, superintending engineer for Kashmir’s Lake Conservation and Management Authority.

Climate change worsens lake depletion

Some of the world’s warmest years have meant that the Himalayan region is warming faster than the global average. Earlier snowmelt, reduced snowfall and more intense rainfall events are disrupting the timing and volume of water that feeds rivers and lakes.

Sher Muhammad, a glaciologist with the Kathmandu-headquartered International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, said the shifting, unpredictable patterns mean lakes now face periods of sudden inflow followed by prolonged stress during drier months.

The melting of the region's glaciers has also increased the amount of sediment carried downstream into the lakes. While the melting of glaciers can spur an initial boost in water flow, over time it will reduce the natural water storage that sustains rivers and lakes during dry periods, experts said.

Climate change has been devastating for Kashmir, said Irfan Rashid, an environmental scientist at the Srinagar-based University of Kashmir. “It has impacted every sector of our economy,” he said. Rashid said hydropower-generating capacity, tourism and highly valued apple and saffron farms have all been hit by erratic, extreme weather in recent years.

Fishing communities feel the brunt

Fishers at Wular Lake, about 65 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of Srinagar, said the lake has become shallower, its surface fragmented by new patches of vegetation. Parts of its catchment area have been taken over by tree plantations. Navigation has become harder, and fewer fish remain.

Abdul Rasheed, a 45-year-old fisherman, said he used to earn around 1,000 rupees ($11) a day. Now it's only 100 to 200 rupees ($1 to $2) for an entire night of fishing.

“There are a lot of changes since my childhood,” said Rasheed.

As is the case with many other lakes in Kashmir, agricultural and residential development has encroached on the lake, while untreated sewage and farm runoff have hurt its water quality. Indeed, the surface in several areas is a green gunk. The most recent detailed study of Wular Lake, conducted by the conservation group Wetlands International in 2007, found that the lake had shrunk by 45% over the preceding century. The report also emphasized that the degradation of the lake increases flood risks in the Kashmir valley because it was traditionally the biggest buffer for overflows from the Jhelum River.

Many fishers at Wular Lake said they don't believe future generations will be able to live off fishing.

Bashir Ahmed, a 55-year-old who has fished in the lake for decades, said in the past a young person with no fishing experience could return home with 4 kilograms (nearly 9 pounds) of fish.

“Now even a skilled fisherman comes home with no more than 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds),” he said.

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Arasu reported from Bengaluru, India, and can be followed on X at @sibi123. Follow Dar Yasin on Instagram at @daryasinap

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

The world’s most popular sporting event is being played in North America, so U.S. audiences can see the games live while the sun is out or in the early evening. The U.S. also has a team that may be its most talented in history.

And then the U.S. went out and won its first two matches to capture its group.

“I think it has exceeded our expectations,” said Mark Bickerdike, Caesars Sportsbook’s head of soccer trading, said of the money being bet.

DraftKings Sportsbook director Johnny Avello said the wagering on the 48-team World Cup, which opened the knockout stage on Sunday, is putting itself in the same company as the always popular NCAA Tournament in college basketball.

“It could be the biggest event of the year when it’s all said and done,” Avello said. “March Madness takes place over the course of three weeks, and it rakes quite a bit of money. This is getting there.

“It blows the Super Bowl away. One game, one day. This thing here is way bigger than that.”

Christian Cipollini, BetMGM Sportsbook’s trading manager, said the enormous interest in the U.S. team has only grown. The Americans open the single-elimination phase of the tournament on Wednesday night against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Santa Clara, California.

“I expect that to be BetMGM’s most bet-on soccer game of all time,” Cipollini said. “In this World Cup, all three of our most bet-on games have been the three USA games. This game is leading up to be a perfect storm where the USA looks very good. There’s a lot of hype around the team.”

France and Argentina on a collision course?

The three sportsbooks list Kylian Mbappé-led France as the favorite to win it all, with Lionel Messi and defending champion Argentina not far behind. They are on opposite sides of the bracket, so if they face each other, it would be in the final, a rematch of four years ago.

At BetMGM, 15.3% of tickets have been on France, the most of any country, and it has received 20.4% of the money. That is slightly below Spain, which has taken in 20.5% of the handle, much if not most of it before the tournament.

Longtime handicapper Bruce Marshall cautioned against assuming France and Argentina would meet in the final.

“I could see seven or eight teams winning this thing,” Marshall said. “So any favorite at this stage, I don’t know that there’s great value there.”

Bettors look for long shots

Americans like a good underdog story, and wagers are coming in on some teams with exceptionally long odds.

“Bettors like to take a shot for a small amount of money and put it on those teams,” Avello said. “Of course, that risk is high for us because it doesn’t take much. A $5 bet on Congo, it’s $5,000 (in a payout). You take quite a few of those and the liability gets up pretty high on them.”

Marshall said it would make sense to take a look at Colombia (33-1 at BetMGM) or Switzerland (66-1) as teams with great value.

“Colombia looks really dangerous, and they’re getting a lot of support,” Marshall said. “They played their first couple of games in Mexico, which were like home games for them.

“The one nobody’s talking about is Switzerland, and they’re one of these teams that remind me a of a club side. I say that in positive terms because they’re very familiar with one another. A lot of these World Cup teams are sort of thrown together and haven’t played much with each other. Switzerland’s got guys who’ve played, 80, 100 games together.”

Sportsbooks aren’t necessarily hoping for a US win

Should the Americans pull off the nearly unthinkable and win the World Cup, the sportsbooks would be feeling financial pain.

The U.S. has gone from a 50-1 long shot to 25-1 at BetMGM, and the Americans are 30-1 at Caesars and 33-1 at DraftKings.

“If the U.S. would’ve limped into the knockout round, our liability probably wouldn’t be as high as it is,” Cipollini said. “But the fact that they’ve looked good, there’s a lot of people that are, ‘They do have a chance.’ It’s on home soil. It’s easy to talk yourself into something we all kind of want to happen.”

‘The Simpsons’ drives some betting

A 1997 episode of “The Simpsons” featuring a match between Mexico and Portugal is causing some fans to believe the long-running TV show forecast that meeting in this year’s World Cup.

That’s not the case. Neither the World Cup nor the year 2026 were mentioned.

But those details apparently doesn’t matter to some bettors, causing a notable uptick in wagering on that matchup taking place.

“We have got a liability on that,” Bickerdike said.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Sonderling, a lawyer who has held a variety of acting positions and leadership roles across Trump's government, was previously the deputy labor secretary and a Republican member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

“Throughout his career, Keith has proven his dedication to delivering strong results for the Hardworking People of our Country, and I know he will do an incredible job in his new role,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post announcing Sonderling's nomination.

Sonderling's nomination is subject to Senate confirmation.

During Trump's second term, in addition to his Labor Department post, Sonderling has been the acting director of U.S. Office of Government Ethics and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, one of several agencies Trump targeted for closure in an executive order last year.

At the library agency, Sonderling placed many agency staff members on administrative leave, sent termination notices to most of them, began canceling grants and contracts and fired all members of the National Museum and Library Services Board. Those actions were later blocked by a judge, and the case remains on appeal.

Chavez-DeRemer resigned in April following reports that she was under a series of investigations.

A New York Times report revealed that the Labor Department’s inspector general was reviewing material showing Chavez-DeRemer and her top aides and family members routinely sent personal messages and requests to young staff members.

She also faced allegations that she drank alcohol on the job and that she tasked aides to plan official trips for primarily personal reasons.

Chavez De-Remer has denied wrongdoing.

A deportation flight from Miami arrived in Venezuela hours before Wednesday’s earthquakes. On board were 146 Venezuelans, including 19 women and seven children, according to ICE Flight Monitor, an initiative of Human Rights First, which tracks deportation flights. They were transported to a hotel in La Guaira.

Lisbeth Portillo, 58, said she escaped the rubble from the hotel with about 20 other deportees who walked the streets looking for help. They saw people running, some naked and others barefoot as they emerged from the rubble of the building in La Guaira, one of the areas that was hardest hit in Wednesday’s 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes.

“We walked about five kilometers, and I cried and cried … there was no communication,” Portillo said in a phone interview from her home in Maracaibo, Venezuela.

They reached a National Guard building, where they had a chance to call relatives.

“I was born again; God gave me a second chance,” said Portillo. “I am traumatized,” she said after a pause, weeping.

The Venezuelan government says more than 1,700 people were killed.

They survived the earthquake the same day that were deported from the U.S.

Portillo was caught up in the Trump administration’s drive for mass deportations. In May, ICE Flight Monitor tracked 288 deportation flights to 38 countries, including Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chile and the Ivory Coast.

The U.S. ran 12 deportation flights to Venezuela in May, operating three days a week, according to ICE Flight Monitor. Deportation flights to Venezuela resumed in February 2025 after a 13-month pause.

Portillo said the government took them to the Hotel Santuario La Llanada, where they underwent medical exams and got identification documents. They were told they would go home the next day.

Portillo was staying in a second floor room with 16 other women. She stepped onto a balcony to look at the sea and saw that the sky was black; it was very hot. She returned to the room, laid on a bed, and began to feel herself being shaken.

“I started hearing ‘papa, papa papapa,’, and I saw the women next to me start to fall,” she said, describing the sounds from the earthquake. “They were all screaming for help.”

And almost immediately, the second earthquake.

“I fall and end up buried and covered by a beam, but the shaking shifted everything where I was buried and I was able to get out,” said Portillo, who has bruises all over her body.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to a request for information from the AP.

A video from the Venezuelan government posted on social media showed images of the deportees being received by Venezuelan authorities upon their arrival at the Caracas airport on Wednesday.

Jenny Rodriguez, 24, told the Telemundo network that she was on the flight and taken to the hotel.

“I was trapped under the rubble. A colleague who had been on the same flight came by; I managed to free my hand from the debris, grabbed him by the trousers, and begged for help”, she said. “Thanks to God — and to him — I was able to get out of there.”

Liliana Rojas told Telemundo that she has been trying to locate her 33-year-old partner. The detention center where he was held in El Paso, Texas, says only told that he was deported.

“No one is giving an answer about anything,” Rojas said.

Woman says she feels ‘born again’ after surviving

Portillo, who crossed the U.S. border with Mexico in November 2021 and said had an pending asylum claim, couldn’t remember her children’s phone number. She called her husband in the United States.

“I said to him, ‘Cesar, I’m alive. Help me.’ And my husband kept saying, ‘It can’t be,’” she said. “‘I’m alive, I made it out of the rubble, I’m alive,’ I told him.”

Her husband called their children, who picked her up and were able to reunite with their mother the following night.

“I was born that day; on the 24th, I was born again,” said Portillo, who lived in South Florida for more than four years.

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This version corrects the headline to say the hotel was in La Guaira.

La gobernadora demócrata Michelle Lujan Grisham prometió llevar su indignación “directamente a la Casa Blanca y al Congreso” para pedir garantías de que la DEA ya no utiliza esa arriesgada estrategia policial en Nuevo México y de que no se replica en otros lugares. Las sobredosis se han disparado en Nuevo México, aun cuando las muertes por fentanilo disminuyeron en otros estados.

“Se trata de un fracaso asombroso del gobierno federal”, declaró la gobernadora ante periodistas en una conferencia de prensa en la oficina del médico forense estatal en Albuquerque, sumándose a un grupo de agentes del orden y funcionarios estatales y locales que exigían respuestas. “Es repugnante y despreciable”.

Hasta el momento, ni la Casa Blanca ni la DEA han respondido a solicitudes de comentarios.

Las declaraciones de Lujan Grisham se produjeron una semana después de que The Associated Press informara que agentes de la DEA monitorearon repetidamente —pero no incautaron— cargamentos de fentanilo como parte de un esfuerzo por construir casos penales más grandes entre 2023 y 2025.

Agentes actuales y anteriores de la DEA, entre ellos, el denunciante David Howell, dijeron a la AP que la estrategia equivalía a hacer una apuesta con la seguridad pública y que podría haber violado normas del Departamento de Justicia de Estados Unidos destinadas a proteger a la población.

Inicialmente, la DEA negó las acusaciones de Howell en un comunicado enviado a la AP. Pero más tarde, la agencia pidió al organismo de supervisión independiente del Departamento de Justicia que realizara su propia investigación.

El fentanilo no fue incautado en medio de la epidemia de drogas más mortífera en la historia de Estados Unidos y mientras la DEA encabezaba una campaña de concientización pública —“One Pill Can Kill” (“Una pastilla puede matar”)— donde enfatizaba que incluso unos pocos miligramos de la sustancia pueden ser letales.

Nuevo México respondió con rapidez a las revelaciones. La semana pasada, el fiscal general del estado anunció una investigación penal para determinar si algún funcionario federal violó la ley estatal al exponer deliberadamente a residentes de Nuevo México al opioide sintético.

“Vamos a proteger al resto de Estados Unidos de este tipo de esfuerzo sucio de ‘necesito un gran caso’, sin importar las consecuencias”, manifestó Lujan Grisham. “Estamos furiosos porque es inmoral”.

El alcalde de Albuquerque, Tim Keller, señaló que el fentanilo representa el “desafío número 1” de su ciudad, ya que impulsa el crimen y que más personas vivan en la calle, además de tensionar los recursos de atención médica.

“Usarnos en algún tipo de experimento desinformado e indisciplinado que literalmente está matando a nuestra gente —eso es lo que es”, expresó. “Esto debería indignar a todos y cada uno de los habitantes de Nuevo México”.

La semana pasada, el presidente Donald Trump compartió un enlace en su página de Truth Social a un artículo que atribuía el escándalo al “Departamento de Justicia dirigido por Biden”. En una declaración a la AP la semana pasada, el Departamento de Justicia dijo de manera similar que “la presunta conducta ocurrió bajo las desastrosas políticas de fronteras abiertas del gobierno de Biden”.

Howell se presentó por primera vez durante el gobierno de Biden en 2023 —y fue marginado por hacerlo—, pero siguió alertando sobre cargamentos de fentanilo no incautados en fechas tan recientes como el año pasado, y el mayor que documentó ocurrió dos meses después del inicio del segundo mandato de Trump: un cargamento de 1,8 millones de pastillas del que la DEA se enteró pero que no interceptó en marzo de 2025.

Lujan Grisham ha criticado a ambos gobiernos por no hacer lo suficiente para frenar la ola de fentanilo en Nuevo México, y mencionó la muerte el año pasado de una niña de 15 meses que, según se informó, tragó parte de las drogas de su madre en Española, un pueblo devastado por la pobreza persistente y la adicción.

No se sabe si alguna sobredosis mortal en el estado puede atribuirse directamente a la estrategia de la DEA. Mientras las muertes por sobredosis a nivel nacional cayeron 14% el año pasado, datos del gobierno muestran que Nuevo México registró un aumento de 21%.

“Alguien debe pagar por el daño al estado, por los riesgos para la seguridad pública que serán compartidos por todos aquí durante una década o más, y pagar para tratar de corregir los errores y recomponer la vida de las personas”, afirmó.

Lujan Grisham, quien dejará el cargo al final del año tras dos mandatos como gobernadora, dijo que la peor parte de ser una líder electa es tener que enfrentar a las víctimas de lo que calificó como una devastación y una pérdida “sin sentido”.

“No hay palabras que puedan quitar ese dolor”, expresó, y añadió que sus experiencias no pueden ser desestimadas por la política de siempre. “Todo lo que podamos hacer para evitar la próxima pérdida para la próxima familia, es el trabajo que todos hacemos colectivamente”.

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Mustian y Goodman informaron desde Miami.

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

The U.S. Education Department issued a revised rule on Monday designed to follow the judge's order from last week, officials told The Associated Press. Agency officials called it a temporary change while they fight in court to keep the original rule, which defined medicine, law and other fields as “professional programs” but excluded fields such as nursing.

The department disagrees with the judge's order but will comply, even as officials plan to prevail in the case over which degrees are defined as “professional,” Undersecretary Nicholas Kent said in a statement. “We will continue to make the case that the definition is both lawful and appropriate,” he said.

The change represents a short-term win for groups that sued to stop the rule. Eight groups challenged the department's definition in court, representing nurse practitioners, therapists, speech language pathologists and more.

But in strictly applying the judge's order, the department is now striking some degrees from the list of professional programs, meaning those students will face lower loan limits. Theology studies programs are among the biggest to shift from professional to non-professional degrees in the shuffle, subjecting theology students to a lower student loan limit. The master of divinity degree — a common degree for pastors and ministers — remains on the professional list, with a more generous student loan limit.

The new rule, which takes effect Wednesday, comes from a student loan overhaul passed in President Donald Trump's tax bill last year. Programs designated as professional degrees face federal loan caps of $200,000, while other graduate programs are capped at $100,000.

Previously, graduate students had been able to take out federal loans up to the full cost of their degree. Trump officials pushed for new loan caps to rein in student debt and lower tuition prices that they said had grown out of control.

The groups that brought the lawsuit said the rule would require students to forgo their studies or take out riskier private loans. Although many graduate nursing degrees fall within the lower loan limits, some can cost more than $100,000, including in high-demand fields like nurse anesthesia.

In a notification to universities on Monday, the Education Department said it's confident the Trump administration's initial rule will ultimately be upheld in court. The amended rule is expected to remain in effect during the judge's preliminary stay, but the department warned that it “may change as litigation in the case proceeds.”

The original rule included about a dozen programs that were deemed professional, which Trump officials had said was not a judgment on their importance but part of a technical definition dating to the 1960s. Along with law and medicine, that list also included theology, pharmacy, veterinary medicine, clinical psychology and more.

The temporary rule expands that list to 29 specific degree programs, including master of science in nursing, doctor of nursing practice, and doctor of nurse anesthesia practice. Others newly added to the professional list include degrees for physical therapy, athletic training, speech-language pathology, physician associates and anesthesiologist assistants.

The department's communication listed about 25 programs that are now considered non-professional degrees. Along with theology, that list now includes applied psychology, pharmaceutical sciences and others. (The doctor of pharmacy degree remains professional.)

Last week's court ruling blocked parts of the Education Department's definition that were added in a federal rulemaking process. U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington called it a “misguided” interpretation that strayed from a longstanding definition created by Congress.

The department's definition laid out several criteria used to weigh if degrees count as professional programs. It said those degrees generally take six years to complete and require licenses to begin practicing, among other requirements.

It also said professional degrees cannot lead to employment that must be "be supervised by another professional" with “more education, training, and qualifications.”

A separate lawsuit filed by a coalition of Democratic-led states challenging the loan caps is still pending.

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Associated Press Writer Heather Hollingsworth contributed to this report from Kansas City.

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

Tuesday offers sunshine and scattered clouds with the possibility of late-afternoon storms, particularly inland. Temperatures will make a run for the low and mid-90s. Factor in the humidity and it will feel like the triple digits.

Announcing the plan on Monday, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders cited an urgent need to combat a “chronic disease epidemic” in America, including high rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

On one floor of the state’s Department of Human Services, “our state has been approving food stamp purchases for soft drinks and candy, while on another floor, our state’s Medicaid program is paying to treat the chronic diseases those products can help create,” she said.

Food stamps is an older name for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The federally funded and state-run program provides a monthly stipend for low-income families to buy groceries. It is used by nearly 42 million Americans, or about one in eight.

In a news release, the Arkansas governor's office cited Stanford University research that found restricting the purchase of sugary drinks with food stamps could reduce rates of obesity and type-2 diabetes. However, overall research remains mixed about whether restricting SNAP purchases improves diet quality and health.

Debates over SNAP benefits are common

Lawmakers at the state and federal level have long debated which foods should be eligible for purchase with SNAP. Currently, benefits cannot be used to buy hot prepared foods, but a bipartisan group of U.S. senators has introduced a bill that would allow SNAP to be used to buy rotisserie chicken from the grocery store.

Arkansas is one of 23 states to receive a waiver allowing it to restrict the purchase of some sugary foods and drinks. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins have pushed for the ban as part of the “Make America Healthy Again” campaign.

While the goals of the state restrictions are similar, the exact rules vary. Some states want to ban the purchase of both sugary drinks and candy using SNAP and others want to prohibit only the purchase of sugary beverages.

The USDA acted illegally in approving waivers, judge finds

Last week, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington vacated USDA approval of the pilot projects that allowed new SNAP restrictions in Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee and West Virginia.

The judge said the ruling was not a reflection on the merits of the program, but said the projects were not permitted under the statute the USDA was citing. The agency also failed to follow its own regulations for implementing a pilot project, she ruled.

The Arkansas program is being implemented under the same regulations as the programs that were vacated. David Super, a law professor at Georgetown University, said that after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year, federal district courts generally no longer issue nationwide injunctions. Still, Arkansas’ decision to go forward with the program is “putting that to the extreme test.”

Sanders noted the ruling in her announcement on Monday but said, "Arkansas is moving full speed ahead, because we won’t wait around while our people get less and less healthy and we spend more and more taxpayer dollars trying to fix the problem.”

Grocery stores are responsible for enforcing the SNAP restrictions

Steve Goode, executive director of the Arkansas Grocers and Retail Merchants Association, said that he “wouldn’t want to guess” at how prepared the state’s businesses are to implement the benefits changes this week.

“SNAP benefits in retail have been the same for years,” he said, noting that this is going to be a “big change.”

“Some of our members that have stores in other states have done this already and the results have been OK,” he said. Arkansas has helped by hiring a third-party vendor to create a list of banned items for the stores to reference, which hasn’t been the case in some other states.

Meanwhile, the state has also created an app for SNAP beneficiaries to use that will help them determine which items are eligible for purchase and which aren’t.

He made his first start a memorable one.

Canale scored on the first sudden-death penalty kick, Orlando Gill made two key saves in the shootout, and Paraguay beat Germany 4-3 on penalties Monday to earn the biggest upset of the 2026 World Cup.

It was a major triumph for the landlocked South American country of 7 million people that's surrounded by soccer giants like Argentina and Brazil. And it was the latest surprising exit by Germany, a four-time champion that has struggled at the World Cup since it last lifted the trophy in 2014.

“I think we deserved one more game and to be honest, considering everything that was said, everything we went through,” Canale said. “What I want to highlight from our team is how united we are. ... Today was a game we really needed to show our true colors.”

Paraguayans celebrated in the streets of the capital, Asunción, screaming, jumping and hugging when the match ended. Some cried and dropped to their knees in disbelief, with the familiar beat of the team’s song “Soy Albirrojo” reverberating through the crowd.

Paraguay became the first team to defeat Germany in a penalty shootout at the World Cup. The Germans missed three of six penalty tries, the last by Jonathan Tah, who blasted his attempt high over the crossbar in the first sudden-death round, setting up Canale for the winner. Tah's miss followed a save by German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer of Fabian Balbuena's attempt that would have won it for Paraguay.

Tah also thought he had the go-ahead goal in extra time. He headed in a corner kick by Nathaniel Brown in the 102nd minute, but officials concluded after a video review that Waldemar Anton has pushed Gill to the ground before the shot and the goal was disallowed.

The Round of 32 match ended 1-1 after extra time. Paraguay took the lead when Julio Enciso scored on a header late in the first half, but Kai Havertz equalized in the 52nd minute for Germany.

“We had to analyze every player, every detail. Thanks to that I was able to only miss two penalties,” Gill said. “This is for all the people of Paraguay.”

Paraguay, which entered the match ranked 41st by FIFA, became the deepest betting long shot to win a match in this World Cup. Germany came in as the 10th-ranked team in the world.

The Paraguayans will face the winner of Tuesday’s match between France and Sweden in the Round of 16 on Saturday in Philadelphia. A win on the 250th anniversary of the United States' founding would send Paraguay back to Foxborough for the quarterfinals on July 9.

Germany had won six of seven penalty shootouts in major tournaments, including six straight since losing to Czechoslovakia in the 1976 European Championship final.

“It’s not enough for German football,” coach Julian Nagelsmann said.

In the only previous World Cup match between the teams, Germany beat Paraguay 1-0 in the round of 16 at the 2002 tournament. Nearly a quarter-century later, Paraguay got its revenge.

Paraguay had appeared in five previous knockout games but failed to score in each. It had advanced only once, winning on penalty kicks against Japan in the round of 16 at the 2010 tournament in South Africa. It fell that year to eventual champion Spain in the quarterfinals.

Monday was Germany’s first knockout game since the 2014 final in Brazil, when the Germans beat Argentina 1-0. The Germans were eliminated in the group stage at the last two tournaments.

“We had very big plans for this World Cup. It’s very difficult to disappoint again,” Havertz said. “It was difficult to create chances and keep the pace.”

Paraguay broke the early stalemate in the 42nd minute Monday with some perfect ball movement to set up Enciso.

Miguel Almiron split Germany’s Aleksandar Pavlovic and Nathaniel Brown with a left-footed pass to Matias Galarza. Galarza sent a cross to Enciso, who was unmarked by Germany’s defenders and easily headed it past Neuer.

In the second half, Havertz took a cross from Florian Wirtz, which he got just enough head on to redirect it past Gill.

Germany, whose 10 goals in the group stage was tied for the most of any team, struggled to find a way through Paraguay’s 4-5-1 setup. The Germans had 78% of the possession in the first half.

Paraguay was without defender Omar Alderete, who left with an injury in the second half of its 0-0 draw against Australia. Canale started in his place.

Paraguay opened the World Cup with a 4-1 loss to the United States, then beat Turkey 1-0 while playing the entire second half with 10 men. A scoreless draw against Australia was good enough for Paraguay to reach the knockout stage as the third-place finisher from Group D.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here