Lesmar Roberto Cruzata Vidal, 32, of Hialeah, was arrested on a charge of aggravated battery with a weapon with prejudice, according to an arrest report.

Police said the attack happened shortly before 1:30 a.m. at a home in the 16800 block of Northeast Fourth Court that police said was operating as a hostel.

According to the report, responding officers arrived at the scene to find Cruzata Vidal and the victim standing outside the home.

The victim told police he had been living at the hostel for about six months and had returned roughly 10 to 15 minutes before the confrontation. He said he was leaving to walk to a nearby liquor store when he saw Cruzata Vidal loitering in the parking lot.

According to the arrest report, the victim said Cruzata Vidal called out “Yo, n****, yo n****,“ without provocation.

The victim asked whether Cruzata Vidal was speaking to him, and Cruzata Vidal confirmed that he was, the report stated.

According to the report, an argument followed and Cruzata Vidal allegedly struck the victim in the face with a glass beer bottle.

Police said the victim suffered a severe, deep laceration to his right cheek.

The victim told investigators he pushed Cruzata Vidal away and ran inside the home, where he asked other residents to call 911.

He then went into a bathroom to clean his face, according to the report.

Police said Cruzata Vidal followed the victim into the bathroom and struck him in the face approximately 10 times with a metal water bottle.

The second attack left the victim with a large abrasion in the center of his forehead that broke the skin, along with visible swelling, according to investigators.

Officers said they found a trail of blood leading to the bathroom where the victim said the second attack occurred.

Multiple witnesses declined to identify themselves or provide written statements but told officers that Cruzata Vidal was the primary aggressor, according to the report.

Police said Cruzata Vidal told officers he had never met the victim and claimed the victim approached and struck him without provocation.

Police described Cruzata Vidal as “extremely confrontational and inebriated” and said officers were unable to obtain a consistent account from him. Officers also noticed a laceration on his left hand, the report noted.

Cruzata Vidal was taken to Jackson West Medical Center for medical clearance before being transported to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

Police collected the broken glass bottle and metal water bottle as evidence.

According to the arrest report, the aggravated battery charge includes a prejudice enhancement because of the racial slurs police said Cruzata Vidal used before the attack.

As of Thursday afternoon, Cruzata Vidal remained held at TGK. Online jail records listed his bond as “to be set.”

La policía dijo que el ataque mortal fue reportado en la cuadra 6200 de Southwest 64th Court. Hasta el momento, no han divulgado información sobre el perro.

Indicaron que se pide a residentes y visitantes del área de South Miami que mantengan a niños y mascotas alejados de canales, vías fluviales, estanques y otras áreas donde pueda haber un cocodrilo.

La policía también advirtió al público que no se acerque, alimente, acose ni intente capturar a un cocodrilo que se encuentre cerca.

Los cocodrilos están protegidos por las leyes de Florida y federales.

Cualquier persona que vea al animal debe mantener una distancia segura y reportar el avistamiento a las autoridades de vida silvestre correspondientes, dijo la policía.

La policía también pidió a los residentes que compartan la advertencia con sus vecinos, particularmente con aquellos que tienen mascotas y viven o caminan por el área.

Los residentes o visitantes que tengan inquietudes sobre un cocodrilo en su área pueden comunicarse con la Comisión de Conservación de Pesca y Vida Silvestre de Florida al 866-392-4286.

The Republican president signed an executive order in the Oval Office that updated the lake's name for the U.S. geographic naming service. Trump cannot force Canada to follow his preferred naming convention, however.

The move is reminiscent of his move last year to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America”

His agent, Kevin Motley, said Cullen died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles. “His family asks that you honor his remarkable legacy by serving your communities and leading others with compassion, integrity, and loyalty and always remember 'be strong enough to be gentle,'" said a family statement.

Cullen's career spanned from being an announcer at the groundbreaking late-1960s comedy and variety series “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” to “The Smurfs” and multiple G.I. Joe iterations, but he struck a nerve as Optimus Prime.

While the original cartoon ran just a few years, it left an indelible mark on pop culture, with a toy line, spinoff cartoon series and comics produced over the next two decades. That culminated in the launch of a multibillion-dollar, live-action film franchise in 2007 by Michael Bay.

Before his audition, Cullen only knew that he would be reading for the part of a truck, though giving voice to a vehicle didn’t seem that crazy. “You’re always auditioning for something in animation that’s a little off of the norm,” Cullen told the AP in 2019.

When Cullen read about the heroic Autobot leader that turned into a red cabover semitrailer, he thought about his older brother, who had served as a U.S. Marine in the Vietnam War.

“He was my hero, and he certainly was the mainstay behind the character,” Cullen said. “I just did an impression of Larry, and he’s still alive in my mind today because every time I do Prime, there’s my brother Larry.”

Cullen’s authoritative baritone as Optimus Prime also appeared in 2009's “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” through “Dark of the Moon,” “Age of Extinction,” “The Last Knight,” “Bumblebee” and "Rise of the Beasts” in 2023.

His thoughtful, almost operatic lines would be quoted for decades by kids and adults alike: “I am Optimus Prime, and I send this message to any surviving Autobots taking refuge among the stars: We are here. We are waiting,” he said in the first movie. In another, he intoned: “Fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our choosing.”

Other highlights from Cullen's prolific career include voicing Eeyore across various “Winnie-the-Pooh” projects, including Disney’s “The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” TV series that aired from 1988-91, as well as voicing the villainous KARR opposite KITT in the 1980s NBC series “Knight Rider,” and lending his pipes to King Kong in the Jeff Bridges-led “King Kong” remake in 1976.

Cullen would attend conventions around the country to meet with fans from multiple generations, often getting teary. He said parents sometimes got more excited than their children meeting him.

“I expect that I will run into a father with his son, and the father will more than likely get choked up,” Cullen said before MegaCon Orlando in 2019. “And then I get choked up, and then the kid is saying ‘What are these two grown men getting choked up about?’”

Cullen is survived by his four children, Angus, Claire, Pilar and Clay.

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The owner told Local 10’s Hannah Yechivi that he let his three dogs outside around 8 a.m., as he does each morning, when the crocodile entered the property and attacked Kygo, the larger dog.

The owner said he spent about 10 minutes trying to fend off the crocodile and save his dog. The crocodile ultimately killed Kygo and dragged him toward a nearby pond, he said.

The owner, who described Kygo as a family member, was able to photograph the crocodile shortly after the attack.

South Miami police detectives and a sergeant were investigating at the scene Thursday to determine how the crocodile entered the property.

The owner told Yechivi that he was familiar with crocodiles in the area because he regularly kayaks nearby, but he never expected one to enter his backyard and attack his dog.

Police said residents and visitors in the South Miami area are urged to keep children and pets away from canals, waterways, ponds and other areas where a crocodile may be present.

They also warned the public not to approach, feed, harass or attempt to capture a nearby crocodile.

Crocodiles are protected under Florida and federal law.

Anyone who spots the animal should maintain a safe distance and report the sighting to the appropriate wildlife authorities, police said.

Police also urged residents to share the warning with neighbors, particularly those who have pets and live or walk in the area.

Residents or visitors with concerns about a crocodile in their area can contact the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission at 866-392-4286.

Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Kareem Johnson at 12:20 a.m. on Thursday in the Gladeview-West Little River area, according to a deputy’s arrest report.

Johnson, of Fort Lauderdale, “failed to stop at a red light and struck the side of the victim’s vehicle” on May 9 in the Brownsville neighborhood, according to deputies.

MDSO deputies and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue personnel responded to the crash shortly after 9 p.m. on May 9 at Northwest 22 Avenue and 50th Street. MDFR personnel pronounced a man dead.

Prosecutors filed the felony case against Johnson on July 30, and a judge issued a warrant for his arrest, according to Miami-Dade County court records.

Miami-Dade corrections booked Johnson shortly after 3:10 p.m. on Thursday at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, according to inmate records.

Johnson faced charges of vehicular homicide and DUI manslaughter. He was denied bond. Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Lody Jean was set to preside over the case.

Allen Matis’ attorney appeared before Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mindy Glazer for a second bond hearing and asked that Matis be released on house arrest while he awaits trial. Glazer instead ordered that Matis remain jailed.

According to an arrest report from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, the crash happened around 7:30 p.m. June 24 in the 2900 block of Southwest 57th Avenue, in the unincorporated Coral Terrace area.

Investigators say Matis, of Coral Gables, was driving a Cadillac Lyriq on Palermo Avenue when he ran a stop sign and slammed into the home.

The impact sent the SUV through the wall, striking Henri Bezy, who was sleeping in his bed. Bezy became trapped underneath the vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the report.

A deputy who responded to the crash reported seeing Matis behind the wheel and observing signs of impairment, authorities said.

According to his arrest report, toxicology results from blood samples taken several hours after the crash showed Matis had a blood alcohol concentration ranging from 0.245% to 0.29%, more than three times the legal limit.

Investigators said they also obtained vehicle data showing Matis accelerated to 43 mph and did not apply the brakes during the seconds leading up to the crash.

Prosecutors argued Thursday that Matis should remain in custody.

“The fact that the defendant volunteered that he had been at the Ritz Carlton prior to this crash is that he got so drunk at that location that he must have driven right past his own home,” a prosecutor said during the hearing.

Matis’ defense attorney declined to comment when approached by Local 10’s Gabrielle Arzola after Thursday’s hearing.

A judge is expected to review the case again at 9 a.m. Friday to determine whether Matis will remain jailed or be released on house arrest while the case proceeds.

In a letter to ICE's acting director Thursday, Cortez Masto and 15 of her colleagues in the Democratic caucus questioned ICE's need to spend up to $20 million to buy the devices, as well as the agency's ability to use them appropriately.

“The blatant and tragic misuse of force in Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis, Houston, Maine, and other locations around the country raises significant skepticism about the agency’s professional capability to safely deploy a new tool that could be used to harm Americans without cause,” the letter said.

In addition to Cortez Masto, the letter was signed by Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine and 14 other Democrats, who are in the minority in the Republican-controlled Senate. They are the latest to express opposition to the plan, which became public this month when ICE published a notice outlining plans to purchase thousands of “conductive distraction and de-escalation devices” for officers and investigators.

The devices are normal patrol gloves until an officer presses a button to activate the electrical mode. They must be applied directly to someone’s skin to produce a shock that causes pain, which is promoted as a way to gain compliance from people who are resisting. They have been used by some local jails and police departments in recent years.

Cortez Masto and the other senators said the device “presents substantial risks if deployed during civil arrests — even more so if it is deployed without clear limits, appropriate training, and comprehensive oversight.” They said that if ICE moves forward with the plan, it must make public details about how officers will be trained and how the use of the gloves will be documented and reviewed internally to avoid misuse.

White House border czar Tom Homan has argued that the gloves could be another way to gain compliance without resorting to the use of deadly force and could be particularly effective in detention settings. He has said that it will be months before they are deployed because the agency is working out training and policy details.

Federal prosecutors say the gang known as “Los Baja Deo” for years trafficked fentanyl, cocaine and other illegal drugs from the west coast city of Mayagüez, generating nearly $50 million in proceeds. The group is also responsible for shootings, killings, kidnappings and assaults and the distribution of at least 340 kilograms of fentanyl or fentanyl-laced narcotics, Blanche said.

"Our Homeland Security Task Forces around the country are unified and they’re unified to end the presence of criminal cartels, foreign gangs and transnational criminal organizations around the United States,” the newly confirmed attorney general told reporters from the U.S. attorney's office in San Juan.

Blanche's presence in the U.S. Caribbean territory for the announcement underscores the Trump administration's efforts to put a spotlight on its work tackling cartels and gangs that fuel drug trafficking and violence in communities across the U.S. The Trump administration has dramatically reshaped the Justice Department to make tackling illegal immigration and violent crime a top priority.

“These 81 violent gang members will now face justice and so will any other that try to take their place,” said Héctor Ramírez-Carbó, the acting U.S. attorney for Puerto Rico. “Today, the families of Mayagüez can peacefully enjoy what their communities have to offer without fear of harm.”

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A Van Cleef & Arpels necklace, two Louis Vuitton bracelets valued at nearly $150,000, and a gold bracelet valued at $95,650, were among the pieces that Izquierdo stole while working as the family’s housekeeper, according to a police officer’s arrest report.

“She had pawned multiple items consistent with property reported missing by the victim,” a West Miami police officer wrote, according to the report.

Police officers recently searched Izquierdo’s apartment in Hialeah and found “multiple items that had previously been reported missing from the victim’s residence,” according to police.

The property was in Izquierdo’s “bedroom and closet and was recovered as part of the investigation,” a police officer wrote, according to the arrest report.

The victims reported that Izquierdo also took a 24-karat gold knot chain, Cartier bracelets, two Cuban link chains, a custom-made bracelet with a diamond, according to the police report.

The list also included a nail necklace by Cartier, a Capricorn pendant, a pair of white gold diamond earrings, and a gold diamond necklace.

Court records show Miami police officers arrested Izquierdo on Nov. 21 and accused her of first-degree misdemeanor petit theft at a Target in the Flagami neighborhood. Miami-Dade prosecutors dropped the case.

Shortly before 9 a.m. on Aug. 20, Hialeah and West Miami police officers detained Izquierdo at her apartment, according to a police report.

Corrections booked Izquierdo shortly after 12:40 a.m. on Friday at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, according to Miami-Dade inmate records.

Izquierdo faced charges of burglary of an occupied dwelling and first-degree grand theft, according to Miami-Dade court records. A judge ordered her to stay away from the family in West Miami. Her bond was $20,000.

Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Tanya Brinkley was set to preside over the case.

Local 10 News Assignment Editor Mercedes Cevallos contributed to this report.

Un collar Van Cleef & Arpels, dos brazaletes Louis Vuitton valorados en casi $150,000 USD y un brazalete de oro valorado en $95,650 USD estaban entre las piezas que Izquierdo robó mientras trabajaba como empleada doméstica de la familia, según el informe de arresto de un agente de policía.

“Había empeñado varios artículos que coincidían con propiedades reportadas como desaparecidas por la víctima”, escribió un agente de la policía de West Miami, según el informe.

Agentes de policía registraron recientemente el apartamento de Izquierdo en Hialeah y encontraron “varios artículos que habían sido reportados previamente como desaparecidos de la residencia de la víctima”, según la policía.

Las pertenencias estaban en el “dormitorio y armario de Izquierdo y fueron recuperadas como parte de la investigación”, escribió un agente de policía, según el informe de arresto.

Las víctimas reportaron que Izquierdo también se llevó una cadena de nudo de oro de 24 quilates, brazaletes Cartier, dos cadenas de eslabones cubanos y un brazalete hecho a la medida con un diamante, según el informe policial.

La lista también incluía un collar de clavo de Cartier, un colgante de Capricornio, un par de aretes de diamantes y oro blanco y un collar de oro con diamantes.

Los registros judiciales muestran que agentes de la policía de Miami arrestaron a Izquierdo el 21 de noviembre y la acusaron de robo menor de primer grado, un delito menor, en un Target del vecindario de Flagami. Los fiscales de Miami-Dade retiraron el caso.

Poco antes de las 9 a.m. del 20 de agosto, agentes de las policías de Hialeah y West Miami detuvieron a Izquierdo en su apartamento, según un informe policial.

El Departamento de Correcciones ingresó a Izquierdo poco después de las 12:40 a.m. del viernes en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight, según los registros de reclusos de Miami-Dade.

Izquierdo enfrentaba cargos de robo en una vivienda ocupada y robo mayor en primer grado, según los registros judiciales de Miami-Dade. Un juez le ordenó mantenerse alejada de la familia de West Miami. Su fianza fue fijada en $20,000 USD.

La jueza de circuito del condado Miami-Dade Tanya Brinkley estaba asignada para presidir el caso.

La editora de asignaciones de Local 10 News Mercedes Cevallos contribuyó a este reporte.

Along with some interesting opening-round matches, the draws for men's and women's singles Thursday delivered one what-could-have-been possibility: Had Serena Williams decided to play, there could have been a Williams sisters showdown in Round 1.

When Venus Williams was given a wild card into the event at 46, the U.S. Tennis Association initially held one spot, which surely would have gone to Serena if the six-time U.S. Open champion wanted to play after returning to tennis for the first time since 2022. When the 44-year-old decided to only compete in doubles, the USTA awarded that last wild card over the weekend to American Sofia Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion.

On Thursday, Venus Williams and Kenin were randomly drawn to face each other.

Main draw play at the final Grand Slam tournament of the season begins Sunday.

Alcaraz is the No. 2 seed and will face Roman Safiullin. It will be Alcaraz's first singles match since April, after the two-time U.S. Open champion was forced to miss the French Open and Wimbledon because of a right wrist injury.

The Spaniard returned to play with Serena Williams in the mixed doubles tournament and looked rusty. He may have to be sharper against Safiullin, who reached the fourth round at Wimbledon, upsetting Andrey Rublev and Joao Fonseca along the way before falling to 24-time Grand Slam singles champion Novak Djokovic in four sets.

Safiullin also upset Alcaraz, ranked No. 2 at the time, in the ATP Masters 1000 in Paris in 2023. Alcaraz avenged that loss the following year at the Paris Olympics in their lone other meeting.

Alexander Zverev, the French Open champion who became the No. 1 seed in New York when Jannik Sinner pulled out with a knee injury, will open against Italian Lorenzo Sonego.

Two-time defending women's champion Aryna Sabalenka opens against Camila Osorio. The top-ranked Sabalenka, who has struggled during the North American hard-court season, could face Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova, the No. 6 seed, in the quarterfinals.

The other potential women's quarterfinals: No. 2 Elena Rybakina vs. No. 8 Iga Swiatek, No. 3 Jessica Pegula vs. No. 7 Karolina Muchova, and No. 4 Coco Gauff vs. No. 5 Mirra Andreeva, the French Open champion.

Pegula, who opens against Elena-Gabriela Ruse, would play the Williams-Kenin winner in the second round.

The potential men's quarters: No. 1 Zverev vs. No. 6 Alex de Minaur, No. 2 Alcaraz vs. No. 8 Ben Shelton, No. 3 Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. No. 5 Flavio Cobolli, and No. 4 Djokovic vs. No. 7 Daniil Medvedev.

No. 10 seed Arthur Fils, coming off the title in the Cincinnati Open, faces two-time Grand Slam finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas, who was once ranked No. 3, in the first round. Stan Wawrinka, the 2016 U.S. Open champion who received a wild card to play in his final Grand Slam tournament before retiring, faces Matteo Berrettini, the 2021 Wimbledon runner-up, to open a second straight major tournament. Berrettini won in four sets — all tiebreakers — at the All England Club.

Rublev, the No. 23 seed, faces 2014 U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic. No. 13 Lorenzo Musetti, who reached the quarterfinals in New York last year, opens against Britain's Arthur Fery, who lost to Zverev in the Wimbledon semifinals.

Some first-round matches won't be determined until the conclusion of the qualifying tournaments, which were scheduled to finish Thursday. Potential women's contenders such as No. 11 Marta Kostyuk and No. 17 Alex Eala were among those waiting to see who they would face in their openers.

___

See AP’s full tennis coverage here

Los registros muestran que la casa, ubicada en Valencia Avenue, pertenecía a Henry Parra, de 55 años, y Adam Hlavaty, de 42, quienes murieron en el accidente del miércoles pasado junto con otras cinco personas, incluidas otras con vínculos con el sur de Florida, en el condado Samburu, en el norte de Kenia.

La policía de Coral Gables dijo que el robo ocurrió en algún momento entre el jueves y el sábado, después del accidente.

Identificaron a los sospechosos del robo como Geybert Alexander Garcia, de 40 años, y Melany Perdomo, de 24, quienes viven juntos cerca del área no incorporada de Palm Springs North, en el noroeste de Miami-Dade.

Según los investigadores, la pareja “saqueó la residencia y se llevó numerosos artículos pertenecientes a los fallecidos, como documentos personales y comerciales, joyas, aparatos electrónicos y obras de arte”.

También robaron el Land Rover 2023 y el Porsche Taycan 2020 de la pareja, según un reporte de arresto. El reporte menciona el accidente, pero no indica si los investigadores creen que Garcia y Perdomo se enteraron de la muerte de la pareja antes del robo ni cómo lo habrían hecho.

La policía dijo que la empleada doméstica de Parra y Hlavaty descubrió el robo el domingo.

Las autoridades dijeron que una señal emitida por la MacBook robada de la pareja, junto con la ubicación del Range Rover robado, situó los artículos sustraídos en la casa de Garcia y Perdomo, en la cuadra 8300 de Northwest 195th Terrace.

Según el reporte, después de confirmar que los vehículos estaban estacionados afuera de la casa, la policía de Coral Gables y agentes de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade ejecutaron allí una orden de registro el martes.

Los investigadores dijeron que Garcia se escondió en un clóset mientras los agentes encontraron a Perdomo en un dormitorio del piso superior.

Durante el registro, “los agentes localizaron e identificaron numerosos documentos robados” pertenecientes a la pareja, así como el control de la llave del Range Rover, según el reporte de arresto.

“Además, varias obras de arte valiosas fueron recuperadas del interior de la residencia, incluida una escultura de arte perteneciente a las víctimas y valorada en más de aproximadamente $500,000 USD”, señala el reporte. “Los agentes también localizaron varios artículos e instrumentos compatibles con la producción y/o alteración de documentos de identificación fraudulentos e información de identificación personal”.

Además, los investigadores dijeron que encontraron una Ford F-250 con un VIN alterado que resultó haber sido robada en el condado Indian River.

Los registros de la cárcel muestran que Garcia y Perdomo fueron arrestados cada uno por múltiples cargos de delitos graves, incluidos robo y robo mayor de vehículo.

En corte el miércoles, el abogado de Garcia, Paul Basile, presentó un documento al tribunal indicando que había sido firmado y notarizado y que otorgaba a Garcia “permiso para tener posesión de esos vehículos y entrar a la propiedad”.

Sin embargo, Lauren Bailey, amiga de la familia de las víctimas, también estaba en corte y dijo que eso no puede ser cierto.

“No hay manera de que ellos pudieran haber firmado ese documento”, dijo Bailey. “En primer lugar, no estaban en el país. En segundo lugar, nunca habrían hecho algo así. Tenían a otras personas. Tienen una empleada doméstica que va a la casa todos los días. No habría necesidad de hacer algo así”.

Continuó: “La casa fue dañada; entraron por la fuerza. La puerta fue destruida. Arrancaron la cámara, y le hemos entregado al fiscal las fotos de eso. Su familia vino desde Indiana y llegó a una casa en la que habían entrado por la fuerza y de la que habían robado sus pertenencias, y no se sienten cómodos si dejan ir a esta persona”.

La fiscal Nessa Eth preguntó al detective del Departamento de Policía de Coral Gables, Wilfredo Diaz, si creía que los documentos eran legítimos.

“No”, testificó Diaz. “Creo que es un documento fraudulento”.

La jueza de Miami-Dade Mindy Glazer también pareció mostrarse escéptica sobre la validez del documento, especialmente considerando que Garcia tiene antecedentes de arrestos en el condado, y ordenó que tanto él como Perdomo permanecieran detenidos sin derecho a fianza.

Perdomo, a pesar de que su reporte de arresto indica que nació en Florida, también quedó detenida bajo una retención migratoria, según muestran los registros de la cárcel.

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Deputies said the 22-year-old twins, Ernest Germain Flowers and Evan Germain Flowers, committed the attacks while out on bond for attempted murder in connection with a 2022 shooting in a Dadeland Mall parking garage, when they were 18.

According to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to Naranja Lakes Park, located at 14401 SW 272nd St., at around 4:30 p.m. on Aug. 18 after a reported shooting with paintball pellets and found a woman “who sustained multiple considerable injuries to her leg, which required treatment by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.”

While responding, they said they received another call about a man shot with paintball pellets while sitting on a bus bench at Southwest 264th Street and South Dixie Highway.

Both reported seeing the suspects pull up to them in a silver SUV and open fire, deputies said.

Investigators said surveillance footage and “investigative means” allowed them to track down “a license plate for the involved vehicle, possible residence and persons of interest.”

Police said the woman was able to identify Ernest Flowers as the shooter after picking him out of a photo lineup.

Authorities said they found the brothers on Wednesday and took them into custody on charges of felony battery, misdemeanor battery and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

They said the two are suspected in multiple other “similar incidents.”

Both men were being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center after being given bonds of $12,001. However, they’ll remain held after being ordered to face a division judge, records show.

Los agentes dijeron que los gemelos de 22 años, Ernest Germain Flowers y Evan Germain Flowers, cometieron los ataques mientras se encontraban en libertad bajo fianza por intento de asesinato en relación con una balacera ocurrida en 2022 en un estacionamiento de Dadeland Mall, cuando tenían 18 años.

Según la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade, los agentes respondieron alrededor de las 4:30 p.m. del 18 de agosto a Naranja Lakes Park, ubicado en 14401 SW 272nd St., tras el reporte de disparos con balas de pintura y encontraron a una mujer “que sufrió múltiples lesiones considerables en la pierna, que requirieron tratamiento por parte de Miami-Dade Fire Rescue”.

Mientras respondían, dijeron que recibieron otra llamada sobre un hombre al que dispararon con balas de pintura mientras estaba sentado en una parada de autobús en Southwest 264th Street y South Dixie Highway.

Ambas víctimas reportaron haber visto a los sospechosos acercarse en una SUV plateada y abrir fuego, dijeron los agentes.

Los investigadores dijeron que imágenes de vigilancia y “medios de investigación” les permitieron localizar “una placa del vehículo involucrado, una posible residencia y personas de interés”.

La policía dijo que la mujer pudo identificar a Ernest Flowers como el tirador después de seleccionarlo en una rueda de reconocimiento fotográfica.

Las autoridades dijeron que encontraron a los hermanos el miércoles y los detuvieron por cargos de agresión grave, agresión menor y asalto agravado con un arma mortal.

Dijeron que ambos son sospechosos de múltiples “incidentes similares”.

Ambos hombres permanecían detenidos en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight después de que se les fijaran fianzas de $12,001 USD. Sin embargo, permanecerán detenidos después de que se ordenara que comparezcan ante un juez de división, según muestran los registros.

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Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies said the investigation began July 22, 2022, after the victim reported that valuable jewelry had gone missing from her Palmetto Bay home.

The victim told investigators that Yuliedy Diaz, of South Miami Heights, had worked for her full time as a cleaning woman for 12 years, according to deputies.

Over the course of several years, the victim said she noticed jewelry and watches disappearing, including Cartier and Rolex watches, necklaces, gold bracelets and earrings, according to an arrest report. Deputies said the items were estimated to be worth about $36,437.

Investigators said they used LeadsOnline, a database that tracks pawn transactions nationwide, and determined Diaz had pawned 73 items between July 2018 and June 9, 2025.

They said the victim later identified 32 of those items as her property.

The report details multiple transactions at pawnshops, including the pawning of Cartier and Rolex watches, gold jewelry, rings, earrings and bracelets.

Deputies said on March 18, 2022, Diaz pawned an Oyster Rolex watch. They said she later repurchased that same watch on April 29, 2022.

Investigators said Diaz provided pawnshops with her driver’s license, home address, phone number and place of employment each time she pawned the jewelry.

On Aug. 10, the victim identified Diaz from a photograph, according to the report. She also recognized the jewelry shown in photographs of the pawned items as her own, deputies said.

The following day, investigators showed the victim records for all 73 items Diaz allegedly pawned. After reviewing them, the victim identified 32 items as belonging to her, the report states.

Deputies said Diaz was apprehended on Wednesday morning and taken to the MDSO’s Palmetto Bay Policing Unit for questioning.

According to the report, Diaz waived her Miranda rights and agreed to an interview with investigators.

Investigators said she admitted to previously working for the victim and “admitted to stealing and pawning all 73 of the victim’s jewelry after being shown several photographs and pawnshop records.”

The report states Diaz also wrote a statement apologizing to the victim.

When investigators asked whether she still had any of the victim’s jewelry, Diaz said she was “not sure,” according to the report.

Investigators said they obtained written consent to search Diaz’s bedroom at her home. They said the search turned up three Fossil watches, a Gevril watch and a necklace that Diaz said belonged to the victim.

Diaz turned the items over to investigators to be returned to the victim, the report states.

Jail records show Diaz is facing 10 counts of dealing in stolen property, along with one count each of grand theft between $20,000 and $100,000 and pawnbroker false verification/altered identification involving 300 or more items.

As of Thursday morning, she was being held on a $20,000 bond at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

Agentes de la Oficina del Sheriff de Miami-Dade dijeron que la investigación comenzó el 22 de julio de 2022, después de que la víctima reportara la desaparición de joyas valiosas de su casa en Palmetto Bay.

La víctima dijo a los investigadores que Yuliedy Diaz, de South Miami Heights, había trabajado para ella a tiempo completo como empleada de limpieza durante 12 años, según los agentes.

A lo largo de varios años, la víctima dijo que notó la desaparición de joyas y relojes, incluidos relojes Cartier y Rolex, collares, brazaletes de oro y aretes, según un informe de arresto. Los agentes dijeron que se estimaba que los artículos tenían un valor aproximado de $36,437 USD.

Los investigadores dijeron que utilizaron LeadsOnline, una base de datos que rastrea transacciones de casas de empeño en todo el país, y determinaron que Diaz había empeñado 73 artículos entre julio de 2018 y el 9 de junio de 2025.

Dijeron que posteriormente la víctima identificó 32 de esos artículos como de su propiedad.

El informe detalla múltiples transacciones en casas de empeño, incluido el empeño de relojes Cartier y Rolex, joyas de oro, anillos, aretes y brazaletes.

Los agentes dijeron que el 18 de marzo de 2022, Diaz empeñó un reloj Oyster Rolex. Dijeron que posteriormente volvió a comprar ese mismo reloj el 29 de abril de 2022.

Los investigadores dijeron que Diaz proporcionó a las casas de empeño su licencia de conducir, dirección de su casa, número de teléfono y lugar de empleo cada vez que empeñaba las joyas.

El 10 de agosto, la víctima identificó a Diaz mediante una fotografía, según el informe. También reconoció como suyas las joyas que aparecían en fotografías de los artículos empeñados, dijeron los agentes.

Al día siguiente, los investigadores mostraron a la víctima los registros de los 73 artículos que presuntamente Diaz había empeñado. Después de revisarlos, la víctima identificó 32 artículos como de su propiedad, señala el informe.

Los agentes dijeron que Diaz fue detenida la mañana del miércoles y trasladada a la Unidad Policial de Palmetto Bay de MDSO para ser interrogada.

Según el informe, Diaz renunció a sus derechos Miranda y aceptó ser entrevistada por los investigadores.

Los investigadores dijeron que admitió haber trabajado anteriormente para la víctima y “admitió haber robado y empeñado las 73 joyas de la víctima después de que le mostraran varias fotografías y registros de casas de empeño”.

El informe señala que Diaz también escribió una declaración disculpándose con la víctima.

Cuando los investigadores le preguntaron si todavía tenía alguna de las joyas de la víctima, Diaz dijo que “no estaba segura”, según el informe.

Los investigadores dijeron que obtuvieron consentimiento por escrito para registrar el dormitorio de Diaz en su casa. Dijeron que durante el registro encontraron tres relojes Fossil, un reloj Gevril y un collar que Diaz dijo que pertenecían a la víctima.

Diaz entregó los artículos a los investigadores para que fueran devueltos a la víctima, señala el informe.

Los registros de la cárcel muestran que Diaz enfrenta 10 cargos de tráfico de propiedad robada, además de un cargo de robo mayor de entre $20,000 USD y $100,000 USD y un cargo de verificación falsa ante una casa de empeño/identificación alterada que involucra 300 o más artículos.

Hasta la mañana del jueves, permanecía detenida con una fianza de $20,000 USD en el Centro Correccional Turner Guilford Knight.

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Records show the home, along Valencia Avenue, belonged to Henry Parra, 55, and Adam Hlavaty, 42, who were killed in last Wednesday’s crash along with five other people ― including others with South Florida ties ― in northern Kenya’s Samburu County.

Coral Gables police said the burglary happened sometime between Thursday and Saturday, after the crash.

They identified the burglary suspects as Geybert Alexander Garcia, 40, and Melany Perdomo, 24, who live together near the unincorporated Palm Springs North area of northwest Miami-Dade.

According to investigators, the pair “ransacked the residence and removed numerous items belonging to the decedent such as personal and business documents, jewelry, electronics, and artwork.”

They also stole the couple’s 2023 Land Rover and 2020 Porsche Taycan, an arrest report states. The report mentions the crash, but doesn’t state whether or how investigators believe that Garcia and Perdomo became aware of the couple’s deaths before the burglary.

Police said Parra and Hlavaty’s housekeeper discovered the heist on Sunday.

Authorities said a ping from the couple’s stolen MacBook, along with vehicle location from the stolen Range Rover, placed the stolen items at Garcia and Perdomo’s home in the 8300 block of Northwest 195th Terrace.

According to the report, after confirming the cars were parked outside of the home, Coral Gables police and Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies executed a search warrant there on Tuesday.

Investigators said Garcia hid in a closet while officers found Perdomo in an upstairs bedroom.

During the search, “officers located and identified numerous stolen documents” belonging to the couple, as well as the key fob to the Range Rover, the arrest report states.

“Additionally, several valuable pieces of artwork were recovered from inside the residence, including an art sculpture belonging to the victims and valued in excess of approximately $500,000,” it states. “Officers also located several items and instruments consistent with the production and/or alteration of fraudulent identification documents and personal identifying information.”

Additionally, investigators said they found a Ford F-250 with an altered VIN that turned out to be stolen out of Indian River County.

Jail records show Garcia and Perdomo were each arrested on multiple felony charges, including burglary and grand theft auto.

In court on Wednesday, Garcia’s attorney, Paul Basile, presented a document to the court stating that it had been signed and notarized and that granted Garcia “permission to have possession of those vehicles and to enter the premises.”

Lauren Bailey, a family friend of the victims, was also in court however, and said that can’t be true.

“There is no way that they could possibly have signed that document,” Bailey said. “They were not in the country, first of all. Secondly, they would have never done so. They had other people. They have a live-in maid that comes to the house every day. There would be no need to do such a thing.”

She continued, “The house was damaged; it was broken into. The door was destroyed. They ripped off the camera, which we’ve given the prosecutor the photos of that. His family came from Indiana and came home to a house that had been broken into and their things stolen, and they don’t feel comfortable if you let this person go.”

Prosecutor Nessa Eth asked Coral Gables Police Department Detective Wilfredo Diaz whether he believed the paperwork was legitimate.

“No,” Diaz testified. “I believe it is a fraudulent document.”

Miami-Dade Judge Mindy Glazer also appeared to be skeptical about the document’s validity, especially considering that Garcia has a history of arrests in the county, and ordered that both he and Perdomo be held without bond.

Perdomo, despite being listed in her arrest report as being born in Florida, was also detained on an immigration hold, jail records show.

On Thursday, a judge set an arraignment date of Sept. 28 for both suspects.

Thursday noon report:

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Online jail records show Tanyla Christyanna Gamble, 25, faces charges of battery/dating violence and battery causing bodily harm.

According to an arrest report, officers were called to Fire Station 107, located at 11811 Miramar Parkway, at about 11:40 p.m. Wednesday regarding a physical altercation between two firefighters who had previously been involved in a romantic relationship for about two years before breaking up about a month ago.

Police said Gamble entered the victim’s room at the fire station and initiated an argument, which escalated into a physical altercation.

According to the report, Gamble repeatedly punched the victim, including once in the back of the head, which caused a visible bump.

Police said Gamble did not sustain any physical injuries during the incident.

The victim provided a sworn statement to detectives, detailing what occurred, but Gamble declined to provide a statement, according to the report.

A spokesperson for Miramar Fire Rescue released a statement to Local 10 News Thursday, saying Gamble has been placed on administrative leave.

“Miramar Fire Rescue is aware of the arrest of one of our employees,” the statement read. “The Department takes matters involving the conduct of its personnel seriously. The allegations are currently being handled by the appropriate law enforcement agency and remain part of an ongoing investigation. Miramar Fire Rescue is cooperating as appropriate and will also address this matter in accordance with City and Department policies and applicable personnel procedures.

“To protect the integrity of the ongoing investigation and the rights of everyone involved, the Department will not comment on the specific circumstances of the case at this time.

“Currently the individual in question is on administrative leave until the conclusion and outcome of all investigations.”

As of Thursday afternoon, Gamble was being held at the Broward County Main Jail. She was expected to appear in bond court sometime Thursday.

Los registros de la cárcel en línea muestran que Tanyla Christyanna Gamble, de 25 años, enfrenta cargos de agresión relacionada con violencia en el noviazgo y agresión que causa lesiones corporales.

Un portavoz de Miramar Fire Rescue emitió un comunicado a Local 10 News el jueves, confirmando que Gamble es bombera y paramédica del departamento.

“Miramar Fire Rescue está al tanto del arresto de una de nuestras empleadas”, decía el comunicado. “El Departamento toma con seriedad los asuntos relacionados con la conducta de su personal. Las acusaciones están siendo manejadas actualmente por la agencia policial correspondiente y siguen siendo parte de una investigación en curso. Miramar Fire Rescue está cooperando según corresponda y también abordará este asunto de acuerdo con las políticas de la Ciudad y del Departamento y los procedimientos de personal aplicables.

“Para proteger la integridad de la investigación en curso y los derechos de todas las personas involucradas, el Departamento no hará comentarios sobre las circunstancias específicas del caso en este momento.

“Actualmente, la persona en cuestión se encuentra de licencia administrativa hasta la conclusión y el resultado de todas las investigaciones”.

Local 10 News ha solicitado una copia del informe de arresto de Gamble.

Hasta la tarde del jueves, Gamble permanecía detenida en la cárcel principal del condado Broward. Se esperaba que compareciera ante un tribunal de fianzas en algún momento del jueves.

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The 24-year-old, booked into the Broward Main Jail in Fort Lauderdale, is the sixth member of her family to be arrested ― and the fifth to be directly implicated ― in connection with what police said was years of torture of her cousin, who was 15 when the first arrests were made in October 2023.

Those arrests, of guardians Latricia Elizabeth Crawley and Benjamin Deztuan Lockett, came after the teenager reported the abuse to an online instructor, who then informed Margate police, authorities said.

Authorities said Crawley, 49, and Lockett, 46, the girl’s aunt and uncle respectively, subjected her to various forms of torture in a home in the 200 block of Northwest 79th Terrace, including beatings, oiling the girl’s knees and forcing her to kneel on rice, binding her with rope, throwing boiling water on her and pouring cold water on her while she slept, “just to see her wake up.”

Amended charging documents also state that Crawley inserted thumbtacks through the girl’s fingernails, used a stapler gun on her back, pepper-sprayed her face and rubbed a “mixture of Epsom salt and conditioner” in the girl’s eyes.

The girl, police said, was caged in two different closets and was forced to urinate and defecate in a bucket.

Officers said when they found her, she showed multiple signs of malnutrition and starvation.

Other arrests followed, including the girl’s sister, Shankyria Clayton, and another cousin, Treaunshae Gibbons.

Clayton, 23, is accused of being aware of the abuse and not reporting it — and joining her aunt, uncle and cousin in caging and starving her sister.

Gibbons, 32, is accused of being aware of the abuse and not reporting it ― despite working for a child abuse nonprofit at the time. Police said she used her knowledge of the system to help Crawley deal with investigators, acting as a “middleman.”

Police said the girl was also living with a relative who was a sex offender. Horace Crawley, then 74, was arrested in November 2023 on two counts pertaining to failing to re-register. He has never been implicated in the abuse, however.

Broward court records show he pleaded no contest on the registry-related charges and received probation.

Graham is now the latest arrest in the case.

According to court proceedings, she was aware police were looking for her and turned herself in on Wednesday.

Authorities said one of the closets the victim was caged in was in Graham’s room while she was living with the family and Graham, tasked at times with watching the victim, would only let her out of the closet to defecate.

She is now facing charges of aggravated child abuse, child neglect and failing to report child abuse.

In court on Thursday, a judge ordered Graham held without bond.

A hearing in the case for the other relatives is scheduled for Sept. 14 and it’s believed that Graham will be part of that as well.

La mujer de 24 años, ingresada en la cárcel principal de Broward en Fort Lauderdale, es el sexto miembro de su familia en ser arrestado, y el quinto implicado directamente, en relación con lo que la policía dijo que fueron años de tortura contra su prima, quien tenía 15 años cuando se realizaron los primeros arrestos en octubre de 2023.

Esos arrestos, de los tutores Latricia Elizabeth Crawley y Benjamin Deztuan Lockett, se produjeron después de que la adolescente denunciara el abuso a un instructor en línea, quien luego informó a la policía de Margate, dijeron las autoridades.

Las autoridades dijeron que Crawley, de 49 años, y Lockett, de 46, tía y tío de la adolescente, respectivamente, la sometieron a diversas formas de tortura en una vivienda ubicada en la cuadra 200 de Northwest 79th Terrace, entre ellas golpearla, ponerle aceite en las rodillas y obligarla a arrodillarse sobre arroz, atarla con una cuerda, arrojarle agua hirviendo y echarle agua fría mientras dormía, “solo para verla despertar”.

Documentos de acusación modificados también indican que Crawley insertó tachuelas debajo de las uñas de la adolescente, utilizó una pistola de grapas en su espalda, le roció gas pimienta en el rostro y le frotó una “mezcla de sal de Epsom y acondicionador” en los ojos.

La adolescente, según la policía, fue encerrada en dos armarios diferentes y obligada a orinar y defecar en un balde.

Los agentes dijeron que cuando la encontraron, presentaba múltiples señales de desnutrición e inanición.

Posteriormente se produjeron otros arrestos, entre ellos el de la hermana de la adolescente, Shankyria Clayton, y otra prima, Treaunshae Gibbons.

Clayton, de 23 años, está acusada de estar al tanto del abuso y no denunciarlo, además de participar junto con su tía, tío y prima en encerrar y privar de alimentos a su hermana.

Gibbons, de 32 años, está acusada de estar al tanto del abuso y no denunciarlo, a pesar de que en ese momento trabajaba para una organización sin fines de lucro dedicada a combatir el abuso infantil. La policía dijo que utilizó su conocimiento del sistema para ayudar a Crawley a lidiar con los investigadores, actuando como “intermediaria”.

La policía dijo que la adolescente también vivía con un familiar que era un delincuente sexual. Horace Crawley, quien entonces tenía 74 años, fue arrestado en noviembre de 2023 por dos cargos relacionados con no volver a registrarse. Sin embargo, nunca ha sido implicado en el abuso.

Los registros judiciales de Broward muestran que no refutó los cargos relacionados con el registro y recibió libertad condicional.

Graham es ahora la persona más reciente arrestada en el caso.

Según los procedimientos judiciales, ella sabía que la policía la estaba buscando y se entregó el miércoles.

Las autoridades dijeron que uno de los armarios donde la víctima permanecía encerrada estaba en la habitación de Graham mientras ella vivía con la familia y que Graham, quien en ocasiones tenía la tarea de vigilar a la víctima, solo la dejaba salir del armario para defecar.

Ahora enfrenta cargos de abuso infantil agravado, negligencia infantil y no denunciar abuso infantil.

En el tribunal el jueves, un juez ordenó que Graham permaneciera detenida sin derecho a fianza.

Una audiencia en el caso de los otros familiares está programada para el 14 de septiembre y se cree que Graham también formará parte de ella.

Stacey Humphreys, 53, was convicted of malice murder in the 2003 killings of 33-year-old Cyndi Williams and 21-year-old Lori Brown. He is set to receive a lethal injection at the state prison near Jackson at 7 p.m. on Sept. 16, according to the Department of Corrections.

Humphreys would be the first person executed in Georgia this year. The death penalty in the state has largely been tied up in litigation over an agreement related to the coronavirus pandemic that defense lawyers contend temporarily shields many death row residents from execution. The last execution in the state was in March 2024.

Humphreys was previously scheduled to die last December, but the execution was halted after his lawyers filed a petition asking a judge to order two members of the State Board of Pardons and Paroles to recuse themselves from hearing his clemency petition. Humphreys' lawyers argued that the two parole board members had conflicts of interest because they had played roles during his trial.

Kimberly McCoy, one of the board members, was a victim advocate with the Cobb County district attorney’s office at the time of Humphreys’ trial and was assigned to work with the victims in the case. The other, Wayne Bennett, was the sheriff in Glynn County, where the trial was moved because of pretrial publicity, and Humphreys’ lawyers argued he oversaw security for the jurors and Humphreys himself during the case.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney put the execution on hold while he considered the case. He ruled in March that McCoy must recuse herself because of a “material conflict of interest,” but found that Bennett had very little recollection of the trial and did not have a conflict.

McBurney also denied a request from Humphreys' lawyers to order the governor to appoint a substitute member of the parole board so that their client's case can be heard by a full five-member board and to order the board to stay his clemency hearing until that has happened. McBurney found that was up to the governor and the board but wrote that they “will no doubt be guided by the finality of the death penalty and the firm tradition of (if not the right to) a five-member deliberative panel in determining how to best proceed” with his case.

Humphreys' lawyers appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case. They subsequently filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, which remains pending.

Humphreys' lawyers said a replacement for McCoy should be appointed for his clemency hearing and urged the parole board to put the execution on hold until that happens.

“There should be no shortcuts when imposing the ultimate punishment,” they said in an emailed statement.

Humphreys entered a sales office in a model home for a new subdivision in Powder Springs, a suburb about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of Atlanta, around midday on Nov. 3, 2003. The two women worked there as real estate agents, and evidence presented at trial showed that Humphreys forced them to strip naked and give him their bank PINs before fatally shooting them.

Humphreys took the women’s driver’s licenses and bank and credit cards, and withdrew more than $3,000 from their accounts, according to court filings. He told police after his arrest that he had recently taken out some high-interest payday loans and needed money for a payment on his truck.

Humphreys was on parole for a 1993 felony theft conviction at the time and had been released from prison 13 months earlier.

Witnesses told police they saw a man fitting Humphreys’ description at the sales office and a vehicle in the parking lot that matched his black Dodge Durango. Police zeroed in on Humphreys and tried to question him at his Dunwoody home days later. He fled and was arrested in Wisconsin after leading police on a high-speed chase.

He told investigators he didn’t remember his actions at the time of the killings, but when asked why he fled, he said, “I know I did it. I know it just as well as I know my own name,” according to court filings.

Police found a Ruger handgun that matched the 9 mm bullets used to kill the women in the console of the rented Jeep Humphreys used to flee. Blood on the gun matched Williams’ DNA, and blood in Humphreys’ truck matched Brown’s DNA, according to court documents.

The U.S. defense official said the most concerning shortfall involves Patriot missile interceptors, which can shoot down Russia’s high-speed ballistic missiles. The NATO official confirmed the low inventories of Patriots among American and NATO forces in Europe. Both spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters.

In the event of a Russian ballistic missile assault on, for example, a military headquarters or power plant, NATO could be in a similar position to Patriot-starved Ukraine and be forced “to take punch after punch in the mouth,” the U.S. defense official said.

In Europe, the American military “definitely” does not have enough Patriots to stop any possible sustained ballistic missile attack and would have “very limited” capability to defend against a single ballistic missile strike or a stray Russian missile that goes off course, the U.S. official said.

It illustrates the cascading fallout from Trump’s decision to launch a war against Iran, a conflict that reaches the six-month mark on Friday. U.S. missile stocks in Europe have been moved to the Middle East, where U.S. and Gulf allies have fired off significant numbers of interceptors, including Patriots, to thwart Iran’s drones and missiles. Some of those attacks have killed and wounded American troops.

Though a Russian ballistic missile attack against NATO countries is not imminently expected, CIA Director John Ratcliffe went to Moscow this week to warn Russia not to attack, The Wall Street Journal reported. Trump played down the significance of the rare and secretive trip, saying it was “sort of semi-routine.”

European and NATO officials say Russia could be in a position to attack countries in the alliance by 2030. Patriot stockpiles are projected to rebound by then. In the meantime, Russia’s war in Ukraine could hinder its ability to carry out any missile attack on Europe as it would be a challenge for Moscow to fight an air war on two fronts.

US Patriot transfers to Ukraine played a role in the drawdown, but the Iran war wasn't expected

The Patriot missile shortage is most acutely felt in Ukraine, where officials are begging for more air defense support and where previous U.S. transfers also have drawn down some supply. Kyiv says only U.S.-made Patriots can stop Russia’s advanced ballistic missiles, which increasingly are getting through Ukrainian defenses, including as part of a barrage overnight into Thursday.

The U.S. supplied hundreds of Patriot missiles to Ukraine over the course of the 4 1/2-year-long conflict, but the Iran war was the tipping point for shrinking inventories, said Ed Arnold, senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a military think tank in London.

The supply to Ukraine was planned for and reasonably measured, he said, whereas stocks in the Middle East have been unexpectedly and quickly drained, exposing supply chain constraints.

The U.S. military in Europe also is grappling with critical shortages of the Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, a medium-range ballistic missile designed to strike behind enemy lines, the two officials said. But the overall munitions picture in Europe is less dire than on air defenses alone because some European militaries have their own offensive missiles, such as the Taurus and Storm Shadow, which are both long-range air-launched bunker-busting missiles.

U.S. Army Col. Martin O’Donnell, a senior NATO military spokesperson, said it is “simply not the case” that the number of Patriot missiles in Europe is beyond critical.

NATO, he said, is able to “block punches” and has enough air defense munitions available to defend itself as well as to donate to Ukraine.

Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement Thursday that claims of U.S. munition shortages “are false.”

“We have everything required to strike at the time and place of the President’s choosing," Parnell said. "Across multiple combatant commands, we have already executed successful operations while maintaining a deep, ready arsenal to defend our people and our interests.”

Europe has few alternatives while stocks are low

The dearth of Patriot interceptors in Europe would leave few alternatives for shooting down Russia’s more advanced ballistic missiles, which can be combined with swarms of inexpensive drones to overwhelm defenses, experts say.

Ukraine and some allies already use systems that can destroy slower-moving drones without expensive missiles. But ballistic missiles are a challenge because they dive steeply toward targets at more than five times the speed of sound, leaving little time to stop them.

The Patriot system tracks the missile, predicts its path and launches within minutes, all while carrying out complex calculations to ensure the interceptor finds its target. One Patriot battery can only cover a limited area: for example, a small military base but not a whole city.

One alternative could be France and Italy’s SAMP/T NG air defense system. France has promised to speed up the delivery of the system — the upgraded version of the current SAMP/T — to Ukraine, which the manufacturer says is better able to counter ballistics.

The new iteration, however, has not yet been battle tested and the current version of the SAMP/T has a smaller range than the Patriot.

While U.S. and European militaries have warships that can serve as mobile air defense, they may be too far from a target to protect it and could risk getting sunk.

Patriot stocks have plunged during the Iran war

Ukraine has received Patriots from American and European stockpiles since Russia's 2022 invasion, with the U.S. providing about 600 of the interceptors during the Biden administration, said Mark Cancian, a retired Marine colonel who is now senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

But the greatest expenditure has been during the Iran conflict, which has used up 65% of U.S. Patriots, amounting to roughly 1,500 of the nation's 2,330 interceptors, CSIS says. About 600 missiles, including those destined for Europe, should be made this year, with a production goal of 2,000 Patriot missiles a year set for 2030, Cancian said.

NATO says Europe’s first Patriot missile production facility is expected to open in Germany in September, with deliveries possibly beginning early next year. The first deliveries should go to countries that have already placed orders, including Germany, the Netherlands, Romania and Spain, the U.S. defense official said.

But for now, that means some countries, such as Germany, have bought expensive Patriot systems but are in the “ridiculous” position of not having any ammunition to fire from them, said Arnold of the London think tank.

Germany's defense ministry said it does not comment on stockpiles.

Russia also has limitations

Moscow likely cannot carry out a sustained air assault on a NATO target while it launches almost nightly attacks on Ukraine, Arnold said.

Ukraine's recent strikes into Russia also have exposed weaknesses in Russia's air defenses, which could prompt Putin to think twice about provoking a retaliatory attack.

“The uncomfortable truth is possibly the best air defense that we have is Russian constraints,” Arnold said.

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Burrows reported from London. Associated Press writer Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report.

Instead, an act supporting the estelada organized by a local group was expected to take place at Camp Nou stadium, with some 10,000 flags given to fans.

Barcelona has eight World Cup champions in its squad, the most of any club, and it planned a tribute to them before its Spanish league home opener against Athletic Bilbao.

Other Spanish clubs, in partnership with the Spanish soccer federation, had honored their own World Cup champions in tributes that included the displaying of the World Cup trophy and the presence of Spain coach Luis de la Fuente.

Barcelona said it didn't intend to go ahead with the tribute after one of its fans had an estelada flag taken away from him by police before the team's game at Elche last weekend. The young fan confronted the officers, who hit him with batons before detaining him.

The Catalan club said it regretted the confiscation of the flags from its fans, saying the estelada "is a legally endorsed symbol and its display constitutes a legitimate exercise of freedom of expression." It said “it cannot in itself be considered an incitement to hatred or violence.”

Barcelona said it considered the “procedure used to detain one of our fans was disproportionate and that the use of force lacked the necessary justification and appropriateness.”

The incident quickly escalated to the political sphere, with local politicians expressing their opinions.

A Catalan organization was planning to hand out 10,000 estelada flags outside the Camp Nou before Thursday's game. Barcelona club president Joan Laporta highlighted the peaceful “act of exaltation of the estelada,” which he said represented the Catalans' right to freedom of expression. Barcelona was not directly organizing the event.

Laporta said it was not “the most appropriate moment” to offer the tribute to the Spain players, adding that “soccer must unite, not generate confrontations.”

Laporta said the Spanish soccer federation understood the club's position.

The eight Barcelona players who helped Spain win its second World Cup trophy last month are Joan García, Eric García, Pedri, Pau Cubarsí, Gavi, Rodri, Dani Olmo and Lamine Yamal.

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See AP’s full soccer coverage here

The Ebola outbreak centered in the eastern Ituri province is the fastest-growing in the disease's history and remains out of control with 5,713 confirmed cases, including 2,744 deaths, according to Congolese health authorities.

Schools are set to reopen across Congo on Sept. 1, but some teachers and parents in Ituri are urging authorities to delay the return, saying the Ebola outbreak still poses too great a risk to children.

Children aged 4 and below have the highest case-fatality rate of any age group in the outbreak, at 60%, according to available health data.

“We want to resume classes, but not at the cost of our lives,” Fazila Rebecca, a teacher in Ituri's capital of Bunia, told The Associated Press. “As long as the disease is circulating and protective measures remain inadequate, returning to the classroom means taking a risk we cannot ignore.”

The local Ituri teachers union met Tuesday in Bunia, urging authorities to assess the outbreak before deciding whether to reopen schools.

“We are not opposed to the resumption of classes, but we believe that the health and safety of teachers and students must be a priority,” said Budju Lobo Isaac, a teachers’ union representative.

Authorities in Ituri did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The outbreak in eastern Congo is spreading under extremely difficult conditions, fueled by insecurity, displacement, a health workers' strike and intense population movements. The World Health Organization has said it remains out of control and is on track to surpass the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak, the deadliest on record, which killed more than 11,000 people.

Although the current outbreak was declared in mid-May, officials believe it had been spreading since February. It has spread from three health zones to nearly 60, with most cases and deaths occurring outside the network of monitored contacts and within communities.

A key challenge in fighting the outbreak is that the rare Bundibugyo virus that is causing it has no approved vaccines or treatments, although clinical trials of potential vaccines and treatments have begun in the region.

Efforts to bring the outbreak under control — from limited public gatherings to social distancing and airport closures — have disrupted life in the six affected provinces, particularly Ituri, which has been ravaged by rebel violence.

The government has introduced measures, including installing health and sanitary equipment at some locations, but advocacy groups say more needs to be done to build trust within the community.

“Beyond the practical challenges, community acceptance remains critical,” said Greg Ramm, director for Save the Children in Congo. “The immediate priority is to ensure that every school, teacher and family has the information and resources they need to make the start of the school year as safe as possible for children.”

Espérance Dz’venga was shopping for school supplies Wednesday at Bunia's central market. She said she wants her children in school, but worries about their safety.

“As a parent, I want to see my children in school, but — like many other parents — what I want most is for them to come home healthy,” she said. “We are afraid that our children might be exposed at school and then bring the illness home.”

___ For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

According to the National Hurricane Center, Dolly formed over the central tropical Atlantic. Forecasters advised people in the Leeward Islands to monitor its progress.

Dolly was moving west at 24 mph with maximum sustained winds of 40 mph.

While Dolly formed just two days after the death of country music icon Dolly Parton, the naming of the storm is pure coincidence, forecasters say.

Storm systems are named by procedures set by the World Meteorological Organization, and the lists of names are reused every six years. For the Atlantic region, the lists are alphabetical and alternate male and female names.

This season started with Tropical Storm Arthur coming ashore on the U.S. Gulf Coast in June, and Tropical Storm Bertha dumped rain in Louisiana and Texas in July. Tropical Storm Cristobal formed and quickly dissipated in the Atlantic earlier in August.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has forecast a below-average Atlantic hurricane season due to El Nino. It forecast eight to 14 named storms, with three to six of them reaching hurricane strength and one to three of those intensifying to major hurricanes.

The NHC and other weather agencies name storms to easily communicate warnings about them to people and to avoid confusion. The WMO says names are chosen to be short, easy to pronounce and familiar to the regions of the world where the storm names are used. It meets regularly to evaluate potential names, and some names are retired for reasons of sensitivity, particularly for deadly or destructive storms.

One name from the 2025 season was retired, Melissa, which was a Category 5 hurricane that brought devastation to the Caribbean.

La Agencia Meteorológica de Japón emitió la alerta de nivel 5 por lluvias intensas para partes de las prefecturas de Ishikawa y Toyama, e instó a los residentes de las zonas afectadas a tomar medidas de precaución ante posibles inundaciones y deslizamientos de tierra.

La lluvia amainó más tarde el jueves y la agencia rebajó la alerta por lluvias intensas a un nivel medio, pero advirtió a la población sobre la posibilidad de que se registren más lluvias y deslizamientos de tierra hasta la mañana del viernes.

La agencia pronosticó hasta 20 centímetros (7,8 pulgadas) de lluvia en las zonas de Kaga y Noto hasta la mañana del viernes. Las dos prefecturas recomendaron a más de 380.000 personas que se refugiaran en lugares más seguros.

Imágenes de la televisión pública NHK mostraron a varios residentes varados en la ciudad de Himi, en la prefectura de Toyama, siendo rescatados en una embarcación neumática por trabajadores de auxilio que avanzaban a pie por aguas que les llegaban a la altura de las rodillas. Varios vehículos que se habían detenido en calles inundadas fueron abandonados.

En la vecina prefectura de Ishikawa, al oeste de Toyama, 270 viviendas en tres municipios quedaron aisladas debido a las inundaciones, aunque las autoridades señalaron que no había reportes de heridos entre los residentes varados. Las fuertes lluvias también provocaron deslizamientos de tierra y el cierre de carreteras en Ishikawa.

El secretario jefe del gabinete, Minoru Kihara, indicó que varios ríos se desbordaron en las dos prefecturas, inundando muchas viviendas, sin que se informara de heridos.

El temporal provocó cortes de electricidad en más de 1.000 hogares en Toyama e Ishikawa, según la compañía Hokuriku Electric Power Co.

Las fuertes lluvias y las inundaciones generalizadas a principios de este mes en la prefectura de Chiba, al este de Tokio, dejaron 13 muertos.

___

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

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According to shelter officials, Smoke came to BCAC as a stray and is considered a long-term dog, meaning he has been there for more than 100 days. Broward County Animal Care currently has more than 20 long-term dogs in need of adoption.

Staff describe Smoke as a moderately energized, treat-motivated dog who loves attention and cuddling. He weighs about 45 to 50 pounds, is potty trained and has finished teething.

Shelter officials say long stays can be stressful and boring for dogs, so they provide regular walks, time outside and mental stimulation.

For more information about Smoke and other dogs available for adoption, visit petadoptions.broward.org.

Según funcionarios del refugio, Smoke llegó a BCAC como perro callejero y es considerado un perro de larga estadía, lo que significa que ha permanecido allí durante más de 100 días. Broward County Animal Care tiene actualmente más de 20 perros de larga estadía que necesitan ser adoptados.

El personal describe a Smoke como un perro de energía moderada, motivado por las golosinas, al que le encanta recibir atención y acurrucarse. Pesa entre 45 y 50 libras, está entrenado para hacer sus necesidades y ya terminó la etapa de dentición.

Funcionarios del refugio dicen que las estadías prolongadas pueden ser estresantes y aburridas para los perros, por lo que les proporcionan paseos regulares, tiempo al aire libre y estimulación mental.

Para obtener más información sobre Smoke y otros perros disponibles para adopción, visite petadoptions.broward.org.

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The allegations were presented Tuesday by attorney David Winker, who is representing community activist Bonnie Bolton in her effort to preserve the Garden of Our Lord.

“We can’t have people coming in and just manufacturing support for these projects,” Winker said.

Bolton called the allegations “massive corruption” that she believes tainted the process surrounding the preservation fight.

The issue began with observations made by Coral Gables resident Omar Packard, who said he became suspicious after watching people speak in favor of the development project.

“We started noticing these people that they seemed to need to look at their cellphone to recite their addresses,” Packard said.

Packard said he began writing down the addresses provided during public comment and checking them.

“I found a lot of them didn’t even exist or were commercial buildings,” he said.

He then began visiting some of the addresses in person.

According to Packard, the people he spoke with said the speakers did not live there.

“They came here, they took these addresses, they misrepresented themselves, and they stole our voices,” Packard said.

Packard shared his findings with Bolton, who then provided them to Winker.

Winker presented the allegations to commissioners and requested that the vote on the development project be deferred.

“Every single address that we checked was fraudulent,” Winker told the commission.

Winker said he believes the allegations should be investigated by law enforcement.

“You can’t take an oath and say something that’s false,” he said. “That’s a crime.”

He later added, “I think that law enforcement really needs to take a hard look at this. Who are these people?”

Despite the request for a delay, commissioners moved forward with the development item, approving it in a 3-1 vote.

Commissioner Melissa Castro voted against the project and said the allegations raised serious questions about the integrity of the process.

“As soon as I saw this presentation, I was floored,” Castro said.

Castro said she already had concerns about the project itself, arguing that it does not fit with the surrounding neighborhood and is out of character with the historic area.

But she said the allegations of false testimony gave her another reason to oppose moving forward with the vote.

“I don’t believe that vote should have taken place that day,” Castro said. “I believe that really messed with the integrity of the record.”

“If there was false testimony, what else was false?” she added. “Now it’s questionable.”

The commission also unanimously approved a motion by Mayor Vince Lago, seconded by Castro, calling for the allegations to be referred to the appropriate authorities.

“If people showed up here and lied to the commission saying they are residents of the City Beautiful, I want to make sure that goes to the necessary authorities,” Lago said during the meeting.

Castro said she wants to know who may have been behind the alleged misrepresentations.

“When you have fictitious people, or impersonating people that live in the area, it’s a huge deal,” she said.

She added that if the investigation does not involve the appropriate agencies, she plans to continue pursuing the issue herself.

“It hinders democracy,” Castro said.

A spokesperson for the developer connected to the agenda item said in a statement that the company was surprised by the allegations.

“We were surprised and deeply disappointed by the actions alleged by Mr. Winker,” the statement read in part. “They do not reflect who we are or how we operate.”

A spokesperson for the City of Coral Gables told Local 10 that police will investigate some of the claims raised during the commission meeting.

Winker said the issue goes beyond one development project.

“I think that it’s so fundamental to our democracy,” he said. “We can’t have people just coming in and lying in official proceedings.”

Read the full statement from the developer below:

“We were surprised and deeply disappointed by the actions alleged by Mr. Winker. They do not reflect who we are or how we operate.

“For 40 years, Fifield has built its reputation on trust and true partnership with the communities we serve. This project is no exception.

“At the heart of it is a promise to Crystal Academy and its students: a permanent, rent-free home for the next 99 years. We remain fully committed to fulfilling it, and to full transparency with the City Commission and the Coral Gables community as this process moves forward.”

Fifield spokesperson

City of Coral Gables official statement:

“To clarify, the City Commission did not vote to open a criminal investigation by the Coral Gables Police Department. The Commission requested that the Police Department investigate the claims of one of the parties and refer any appropriate allegations regarding the speakers’ addresses to the appropriate authorities for review. The Coral Gables Police Department will investigate some of the claims that were raised.

“Because the matter is being referred for review, the city cannot speculate as to whether a law may have been violated or characterize the allegations as fraud, perjury or another potential offense. Those are matters for the appropriate authorities to determine.

“The Commission separately approved the various related items by a 3-1 vote. Commissioner Ariel Fernandez did not attend the meeting.

“The Commission’s land-use decision was based on the competent substantial evidence in the record; therefore, the referral of the separate allegations does not prevent the items from moving forward.”

City of Coral Gables

To see Winker’s full presentation to the city commission, click here.

Las acusaciones fueron presentadas el martes por el abogado David Winker, quien representa a la activista comunitaria Bonnie Bolton en su esfuerzo por preservar el Garden of Our Lord.

“No podemos permitir que la gente venga y simplemente fabrique apoyo para estos proyectos”, dijo Winker.

Bolton calificó las acusaciones de “corrupción masiva” que, según cree, contaminó el proceso relacionado con la lucha por la preservación.

El asunto comenzó con observaciones hechas por Omar Packard, residente de Coral Gables, quien dijo que comenzó a sospechar después de ver a personas hablar a favor del proyecto de desarrollo.

“Comenzamos a notar que estas personas parecían necesitar mirar sus teléfonos celulares para recitar sus direcciones”, dijo Packard.

Packard dijo que comenzó a anotar las direcciones proporcionadas durante los comentarios públicos y a verificarlas.

“Descubrí que muchas de ellas ni siquiera existían o eran edificios comerciales”, dijo.

Luego comenzó a visitar personalmente algunas de las direcciones.

Según Packard, las personas con las que habló dijeron que quienes intervinieron en la reunión no vivían allí.

“Vinieron aquí, tomaron estas direcciones, se presentaron falsamente y nos robaron nuestras voces”, dijo Packard.

Packard compartió sus hallazgos con Bolton, quien luego se los proporcionó a Winker.

Winker presentó las acusaciones a los comisionados y solicitó que se aplazara la votación sobre el proyecto de desarrollo.

“Cada una de las direcciones que verificamos era fraudulenta”, dijo Winker a la comisión.

Winker dijo que cree que las acusaciones deben ser investigadas por las autoridades.

“No se puede prestar juramento y decir algo que es falso”, dijo. “Eso es un delito”.

Más tarde agregó: “Creo que las autoridades realmente necesitan examinar esto detenidamente. ¿Quiénes son estas personas?”

A pesar de la solicitud de aplazamiento, los comisionados siguieron adelante con el proyecto de desarrollo y lo aprobaron con una votación de 3-1.

La comisionada Melissa Castro votó en contra del proyecto y dijo que las acusaciones plantearon serias dudas sobre la integridad del proceso.

“En cuanto vi esta presentación, quedé atónita”, dijo Castro.

Castro dijo que ya tenía inquietudes sobre el proyecto en sí, argumentando que no encaja con el vecindario circundante y no está en consonancia con el carácter de la zona histórica.

Pero dijo que las acusaciones de falso testimonio le dieron otra razón para oponerse a seguir adelante con la votación.

“No creo que esa votación debió realizarse ese día”, dijo Castro. “Creo que realmente afectó la integridad del registro”.

“Si hubo falso testimonio, ¿qué más fue falso?”, agregó. “Ahora es cuestionable”.

La comisión también aprobó por unanimidad una moción del alcalde Vince Lago, secundada por Castro, para que las acusaciones fueran remitidas a las autoridades correspondientes.

“Si personas se presentaron aquí y mintieron a la comisión diciendo que son residentes de la Ciudad Bella, quiero asegurarme de que esto llegue a las autoridades correspondientes”, dijo Lago durante la reunión.

Castro dijo que quiere saber quién pudo haber estado detrás de las presuntas tergiversaciones.

“Cuando hay personas ficticias, o personas que se hacen pasar por gente que vive en el área, es algo muy serio”, dijo.

Agregó que si la investigación no involucra a las agencias correspondientes, planea continuar investigando el asunto por su cuenta.

“Obstaculiza la democracia”, dijo Castro.

Un portavoz del desarrollador relacionado con el punto de la agenda dijo en un comunicado que la compañía estaba sorprendida por las acusaciones.

“Nos sorprendieron y decepcionaron profundamente las acciones denunciadas por el señor Winker”, decía en parte el comunicado. “No reflejan quiénes somos ni cómo operamos”.

Un portavoz de la ciudad de Coral Gables dijo a Local 10 que la policía investigará algunas de las acusaciones planteadas durante la reunión de la comisión.

Winker dijo que el asunto va más allá de un solo proyecto de desarrollo.

“Creo que es algo fundamental para nuestra democracia”, dijo. “No podemos permitir que la gente simplemente venga y mienta en procedimientos oficiales”.

Lea a continuación el comunicado completo del desarrollador:

“Nos sorprendieron y decepcionaron profundamente las acciones denunciadas por el señor Winker. No reflejan quiénes somos ni cómo operamos.

“Durante 40 años, Fifield ha construido su reputación sobre la confianza y una verdadera colaboración con las comunidades a las que servimos. Este proyecto no es la excepción.

“En el centro de este proyecto hay una promesa a Crystal Academy y sus estudiantes: un hogar permanente y sin pago de alquiler durante los próximos 99 años. Seguimos plenamente comprometidos a cumplirla y a mantener una total transparencia con la Comisión de la Ciudad y la comunidad de Coral Gables a medida que avanza este proceso”.

Portavoz de Fifield

Comunicado oficial de la ciudad de Coral Gables:

“Para aclarar, la Comisión de la Ciudad no votó para abrir una investigación penal por parte del Departamento de Policía de Coral Gables. La Comisión solicitó que el Departamento de Policía investigue las denuncias de una de las partes y remita cualquier acusación pertinente relacionada con las direcciones de los oradores a las autoridades correspondientes para su revisión. El Departamento de Policía de Coral Gables investigará algunas de las denuncias planteadas.

“Debido a que el asunto será remitido para su revisión, la ciudad no puede especular sobre si se pudo haber violado alguna ley ni caracterizar las acusaciones como fraude, perjurio u otro posible delito. Esos son asuntos que corresponde determinar a las autoridades pertinentes.

“Por separado, la Comisión aprobó los diversos puntos relacionados con una votación de 3-1. El comisionado Ariel Fernandez no asistió a la reunión.

“La decisión de la Comisión sobre el uso de terrenos se basó en evidencia sustancial y competente que consta en el expediente; por lo tanto, la remisión de las acusaciones por separado no impide que los puntos sigan adelante”.

Ciudad de Coral Gables

Para ver la presentación completa de Winker ante la comisión de la ciudad, haga clic aquí.

A decision by the United Arab Emirates to suspend trade relations with Iran last week kick-started the White House’s latest attempt to isolate Tehran into submission. Iran entered the war with its foreign commerce concentrated among a relatively small group of countries, leaving it with fewer places to turn now.

The success of the U.S. strategy will largely hinge on China, the main buyer of Iranian oil and its top trading partner. Russia, a fellow target of sweeping U.S.-led sanctions, has a military conflict and economic crisis of its own and probably can’t offer longtime ally Iran much hard financial support.

Regional partners like Turkey, Pakistan and Iraq maintain important relationships with both Iran and the U.S., giving them reason to avoid exposure to the secondary sanctions that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said awaited nations that did not cut economic ties with Iran.

“Those who stand with the United States will reap the rewards of our partnership,” Bessent said Monday while outlining the plan he called “Operation Economic Outcast.” “Those who tether themselves to the Iranian regime should expect to share in the isolation.”

The Emirates will be hard for Iran to replace as a conduit for foreign goods and payments

Despite Western sanctions, Iran in 2024 exchanged $125 billion worth of goods globally, according to Trade Data Monitor, a private firm. Iran is not a member of the World Trade Organization.

The bulk of its declared international trade, though, was with a handful of partners. The UAE, China and Turkey supplied nearly three-quarters of Iran’s merchandise imports. Four countries — China, Iraq, the UAE and Turkey — accounted for more than two-thirds of its non-oil exports.

On the supply side, the UAE held outsized importance. It was Iran's biggest source of imported items and a gateway to financial channels that helped Iranian businesses make and receive international payments. Both roles kept Iran connected to the global economy.

As a re-export hub, the UAE processed shipments from foreign suppliers reluctant to deal directly with Iranian customers.

“From Iran’s perspective, the UAE can be replaced, but the Iranians are openly saying it’s not going to happen overnight,” said Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington.

China has deep economic ties to Iran but depends less on the relationship

Beijing has economic interests in the Persian Gulf beyond Iran, and so far has avoided getting drawn into the conflict the U.S. and Israel initiated. China buys the overwhelming majority of Iran’s crude through opaque trading networks that bypass sanctions.

Its manufacturing clout and stranglehold on critical mineral supplies nonetheless give Beijing more room than Iran's other partners to resist U.S. pressure, said David Lubin, a senior research fellow at Chatham House. Aggressive action against major Chinese banks and businesses could revive trade tensions as Chinese leader Xi Jinping prepares to meet with President Donald Trump in Washington next month.

“I don’t see China playing ball by any means,” Lubin said.

China is both Iran's largest reported export market and a supplier of essential parts and products, according to WTO and U.N. data.

During the Obama administration, Beijing did agree to reduce energy imports from Iran, said Atlantic Council fellow Daniel Fried, a former U.S. ambassador to Poland.

“We will want the Chinese to go a lot farther than they have gone in the past,” Fried said. “But it’s a lot harder now.”

China has experience helping an ally survive sanctions: it has long been North Korea’s economic lifeline and main diplomatic backer. Experts say China has avoided fully enforcing U.N. sanctions on North Korea and sent clandestine aid to help its impoverished neighbor stay afloat.

Expanding bilateral trade would create problems for Iran's neighbors

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, who has been his country's lead negotiator over the past six months, was in Iraq the day of the UAE's trade suspension. A purpose of his visit, he said, was “speeding up efforts to expand joint cooperation among all countries in the region, without foreign interference.”

The U.S. dollar's preeminence in international trade and finance, however, means none of Iran's trading partners would antagonize Washington lightly, Vatanka said. “We’re still at a point where if the U.S. wants to hurt you, it will matter,” he said.

Underscoring potential consequences, Turkey settled a yearslong U.S. dispute in July over the role of a state-owned bank in helping Iran evade sanctions through an oil-for-gold scheme. Trump also moved to lift sanctions on its fellow NATO member stemming from Turkey's purchase of a sophisticated Russian missile system.

“I really don’t think Turkey would like to become the next country helping Iran to evade sanctions right now,” said Riccardo Gasco, an analyst at the IstanPol think tank in Istanbul.

Iran is a vital import source for Iraq and retains influence there through allied political factions and armed groups. Baghdad has sought closer economic and security ties with Washington. Since it invaded Iraq in 2003, the U.S. has significant control over the nation's foreign currency reserves because they are housed in the Federal Reserve Bank in New York.

Oman, a frequent intermediary between Washington and Tehran, has found its balancing act suddenly precarious. Trump threatened Oman last week over its ongoing negotiations with Iran on the future management of the Strait of Hormuz.

One easy route for goods slipping past sanctions on Iran would be ports like Gwadar near the Persian Gulf in Pakistan, said Peter Harrell, a visiting scholar at Georgetown University.

“Ship an intermodal container of drone parts to one of the ports in western Pakistan and unload it onto a truck and have it driven across the border into Iran,” he said.

While Pakistan, a key ally and economic partner of China in the region, wants to increase trade with Iran, it faces competing pressures. It is serving as a key mediator between Tehran and Washington and has deep security ties with Saudi Arabia, Iran’s longtime regional rival.

Caspian Sea trade route alternatives unlikely to grow quickly

With the Strait of Hormuz mostly blocked and Russia's war with Ukraine endangering ships on the Black Sea, Iran has sought to develop a “road of life” on the Caspian Sea, said Nikita Smagin, an independent analyst and a former Russian state news agency correspondent in Tehran.

Russia reportedly sent drones to Iran this year, repaying Tehran's favor after Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It also rerouted exports to Iran via Caspian Sea ports like Astrakhan. Agricultural products make up 80% of Russia and Iran's reported trade.

“Both economies are exporting natural resources and have little to offer each other,” Smagin said.

The other countries that border the Caspian — Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan — probably won’t rush to join in, said Umud Shokri, a fellow at George Mason University.

Yet Russia and Iran are already in an “axis of the sanctioned,” said Mark Galeotti, executive director of the Mayak Intelligence firm. For decades the pair have collaborated to thwart trade restrictions, and increasing bilateral trade in both “strategic goods” and contraband like military technology, microchips and Gucci handbags could be a next step.

“Pomegranates and tomatoes only go so far,” he said.

___

McNeil reported from Brussels. Associated Press writers Amir Vahdat in Tehran and Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed to this report.

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Early Thursday, the National Hurricane Center upped development odds to 90% that 96L will become the Atlantic hurricane season’s next system.

The missing piece of information to give 96L the upgrade is whether its circulation is closed off, something not easily gleaned from traditional nighttime satellite. Daytime satellite should help in this determination, along with satellite wind estimates that arrive from occasional passes of certain polar-orbiting satellites.

Whether 96L becomes Tropical Depression Four or Tropical Storm Dolly, it looks to have a short shelf life thanks to a wall of wind shear it will run into this weekend as it approaches the easternmost Caribbean islands, something we’ve covered extensively in newsletters this week.

This ribbon of wind shear – anchored across the Caribbean and into the Atlantic’s Main Development Region – has been a thorn in the side of wannabe storms all season and is courtesy of the historic Super El Niño that’s developed over the eastern equatorial Pacific.

Intensity models show the most likely outcome, which is at most a weak and short-lived tropical storm.

Though 96L or what develops from it will move near or over parts of the Lesser Antilles starting this weekend followed by Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti for early next week, it won’t pose a serious widespread wind or heavy rain threat.

Re-development next week unlikely

The big question earlier this week was whether 96L would survive the shear zone and try to stage a second act over the southwestern Atlantic for the middle part of next week. That question appears to have a decided answer today.

The one-two combo of high shear and interaction with the Caribbean islands early next week should keep 96L sufficiently disorganized and weak that it won’t be able to recover on the other side. The already low odds of a comeback have continued to trend lower and that scenario is off the table for now.

So it appears this year’s Super El Niño will claim another victim with 96L, extending the Atlantic’s hurricane drought into September and ensuring any storm contenders have an uphill climb as we approach the traditional peak of the hurricane season.

A primeras horas del jueves, el Centro Nacional de Huracanes aumentó a 90% las probabilidades de desarrollo de 96L y de que se convierta en el próximo sistema de la temporada de huracanes del Atlántico.

La información que falta para elevar la categoría de 96L es determinar si su circulación está cerrada, algo que no se puede discernir fácilmente con las imágenes satelitales nocturnas tradicionales. Las imágenes satelitales diurnas deberían ayudar a determinarlo, junto con las estimaciones de vientos por satélite que llegan durante los pases ocasionales de ciertos satélites de órbita polar.

Ya sea que 96L se convierta en la Depresión Tropical Cuatro o en la Tormenta Tropical Dolly, parece que tendrá una corta duración debido a un muro de cizalladura del viento que encontrará este fin de semana mientras se acerca a las islas más orientales del Caribe, algo que hemos cubierto ampliamente en los boletines de esta semana.

Esta franja de cizalladura del viento, establecida sobre el Caribe y extendiéndose hacia la Región Principal de Desarrollo del Atlántico, ha sido un obstáculo para las tormentas que han intentado formarse durante toda la temporada y es consecuencia del histórico súper El Niño que se ha desarrollado sobre el Pacífico ecuatorial oriental.

Los modelos de intensidad muestran el resultado más probable, que sería, como máximo, una tormenta tropical débil y de corta duración.

Aunque 96L o lo que se desarrolle a partir de este sistema pasará cerca o sobre partes de las Antillas Menores a partir de este fin de semana, seguido por Puerto Rico, las Islas Vírgenes, República Dominicana y Haití a principios de la próxima semana, no representará una amenaza seria y generalizada de fuertes vientos o lluvias intensas.

Es poco probable que vuelva a desarrollarse la próxima semana

La gran pregunta a principios de esta semana era si 96L sobreviviría a la zona de cizalladura e intentaría una segunda etapa sobre el Atlántico suroccidental a mediados de la próxima semana. Esa pregunta parece tener hoy una respuesta definitiva.

La combinación de la fuerte cizalladura y la interacción con las islas del Caribe a principios de la próxima semana debería mantener a 96L lo suficientemente desorganizado y débil como para que no pueda recuperarse al otro lado. Las ya bajas probabilidades de que resurja han continuado disminuyendo y ese escenario queda descartado por ahora.

Así que parece que el súper El Niño de este año se cobrará otra víctima con 96L, prolongando hasta septiembre la sequía de huracanes en el Atlántico y asegurando que cualquier sistema con potencial de convertirse en tormenta enfrente un camino cuesta arriba a medida que nos acercamos al pico tradicional de la temporada de huracanes.

La policía dijo que Eli Brown fue visto por última vez el miércoles alrededor de las 4:30 p.m. cerca de la intersección de Northwest 38th Street y 115th Avenue.

Indicaron que mide aproximadamente 5 pies y 6 pulgadas de estatura y pesa alrededor de 170 libras.

Según los investigadores, Eli fue visto por última vez vistiendo una camisa negra de manga larga y pantalones deportivos negros. Dijeron que salió del área en una bicicleta eléctrica negra y blanca.

Se pide a cualquier persona que vea a Eli o tenga información sobre su paradero que llame al Departamento de Policía de Coral Springs al 954-344-1800.

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Police said Eli Brown was last seen Wednesday at about 4:30 p.m. near the intersection of Northwest 38th Street and 115th Avenue.

They said he is approximately 5 feet, 6 inches tall and weighs about 170 pounds.

According to investigators, Eli was last seen wearing a long-sleeve black shirt and black sweatpants. They said he left the area on a black and white e-bike.

Anyone who sees Eli or has information about his whereabouts is urged to call the Coral Springs Police Department at 954-344-1800.

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Her presence is felt throughout Music City, where people are mourning the loss of a country music icon they say gave so much to the world.

“I thought she was going to live forever,” said Joann Kirkman.

“Now she’s up in heaven with God’s angels singing to us all and it’s true, we will always love her,” said Emily Tansill.

Flowers and messages from fans surround Parton’s star outside the Country Music Hall of Fame.

A few blocks away sits her latest project, the Songteller Hotel. It’s not yet open, but fans have still built a memorial.

“The kind of person she is, it’s so rare that people want to do such good in this world like Dolly does,” said Mandy Madson.

Outside her home is a mountain of flowers and tributes as a nonstop stream of people take a moment to pay their respects.

“She was just a global treasure that everybody loved and I don’t think anyone disagreed on,” said Garrett Webb.

In East Tennessee, Dollywood opened the day after her passing, with the theme park saying the show must go on as Dolly would have wanted.

The show also went on at the Grand Ole Opry, where Parton made her debut at just 13 years old when it was still at the Ryman.

One fan reminisced about the times her church choir sang with Parton.

“Our choir backed up Dolly twice on the Country Music Awards in 1989 and then in 1990 on the Dove Awards,” the fan said.

Parton’s bright smile is painted on the sides of buildings all over Music City.

Across the river in East Nashville is another mural where fans have left notes and flowers to remember a woman who gave so much to the world.

And she still has more to give. There’s a secret song locked away in Dollywood that won’t be released until 2045. Parton has said it’s a really good song.

Su presencia se siente en toda la Ciudad de la Música, donde la gente lamenta la pérdida de un ícono de la música country que, según dicen, dio tanto al mundo.

“Pensé que iba a vivir para siempre”, dijo Joann Kirkman.

“Ahora está en el cielo con los ángeles de Dios cantándonos a todos y es cierto, siempre la amaremos”, dijo Emily Tansill.

Flores y mensajes de fanáticos rodean la estrella de Parton afuera del Salón de la Fama de la Música Country.

A unas cuadras de distancia se encuentra su proyecto más reciente, el Songteller Hotel. Todavía no está abierto, pero los fanáticos ya han creado un memorial.

“El tipo de persona que es, es muy raro que la gente quiera hacer tanto bien en este mundo como lo hace Dolly”, dijo Mandy Madson.

Afuera de su casa hay una montaña de flores y homenajes mientras un flujo constante de personas se toma un momento para presentar sus respetos.

“Era simplemente un tesoro mundial que todos amaban y creo que nadie estaba en desacuerdo con eso”, dijo Garrett Webb.

En el este de Tennessee, Dollywood abrió el día después de su fallecimiento, y el parque temático dijo que el espectáculo debe continuar como Dolly hubiera querido.

El espectáculo también continuó en el Grand Ole Opry, donde Parton hizo su debut con apenas 13 años cuando todavía estaba en el Ryman.

Una fanática recordó las ocasiones en que el coro de su iglesia cantó con Parton.

“Nuestro coro acompañó a Dolly dos veces, en los Country Music Awards en 1989 y luego en 1990 en los Dove Awards”, dijo la fanática.

La brillante sonrisa de Parton está pintada en los costados de edificios por toda la Ciudad de la Música.

Al otro lado del río, en East Nashville, hay otro mural donde los fanáticos han dejado notas y flores para recordar a una mujer que dio tanto al mundo.

Y todavía tiene más para dar. Hay una canción secreta guardada en Dollywood que no será lanzada hasta 2045. Parton ha dicho que es una canción realmente buena.

The storm was about 1,555 miles (2,500 kilometers) east of the Leeward Islands and had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (64 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said. Dolly was moving west.

The storm and its name had no connection to Dolly Parton’s death Tuesday.

Storm systems are named by procedures set by the World Meteorological Organization, and the lists of names are reused every six years. For the Atlantic region, the lists are alphabetical and alternate male and female names.

Dolly was the fourth named storm for the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season.

There were no coastal watches or warnings in effect, but the center said the Leeward Islands could get heavy rain Saturday and Sunday. The Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Hispaniola could see heavy rain Sunday and Monday.

Little change in strength is forecast during the coming days, the center said, but flash flooding could occur.

The Atlantic hurricane season started with Tropical Storm Arthur coming ashore on the U.S. Gulf Coast in June, and Tropical Storm Bertha dumped rain in Louisiana and Texas in July. Tropical Storm Cristobal formed and quickly dissipated in the Atlantic earlier in August.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has forecast a below-average Atlantic hurricane season due to El Nino. It forecast eight to 14 named storms, with three to six of them reaching hurricane strength and one to three of those intensifying to major hurricanes.

The NHC and other weather agencies name storms to easily communicate warnings about them to people and to avoid confusion. The WMO says names are chosen to be short, easy to pronounce and familiar to the regions of the world where the storm names are used. It meets regularly to evaluate potential names, and some names are retired for reasons of sensitivity, particularly for deadly or destructive storms.

One name from the 2025 season was retired, Melissa, which was a Category 5 hurricane that brought devastation to the Caribbean.

Williams, de 27 años, se encontraba allí como recluso después de que la policía de Miramar lo acusara de atacar a su prometida en el apartamento de ambos en Southwest 45th Court, cerca de Red Road.

No tuvo nada que decir cuando Local 10 News le preguntó sobre los cargos.

Según un informe de arresto, un amigo llevó a la víctima al apartamento. Ella dijo a la policía que Williams se molestó cuando llegó a casa, la insultó y la golpeó, provocando que cayera por las escaleras.

El informe de arresto continúa diciendo que Williams se colocó encima de ella y le dio un puñetazo en el rostro, y cuando la víctima se volteó para protegerse la cara, él la golpeó en la parte posterior de la cabeza y le jaló el cabello.

La policía dijo que la víctima contó a los agentes que Williams colocó su mano derecha debajo de su cuello y apretó, luego la levantó del suelo por el cuello.

Según el informe, la víctima se defendió y dijo a la policía que Williams amenazó con matarla, por lo que metió la mano en su bolso para sacar su arma.

Ambos forcejearon por el arma antes de que Williams se la arrebatara y huyera, dijeron las autoridades.

Un juez le ordenó a Williams “no tener armas de fuego ni municiones” y no regresar “a ningún lugar donde la víctima viva, trabaje o frecuente”.

Fue arrestado el lunes y compareció el martes ante un juez del tribunal de fianzas.

Williams se encuentra de licencia sin sueldo desde su arresto.

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Williams, 27, was there as an inmate after Miramar police accused him of attacking his fiancee at their apartment along Southwest 45th Court, near Red Road.

He had nothing to say as Local 10 News asked him about the charges.

According to an arrest report, the victim was dropped off to their apartment by a male friend. She told police Williams was upset once she got home, called her names and hit her, causing her to fall down the stairs.

The arrest report goes on to say that Williams was on top of her and punched her in the face and as the victim turned over to protect her face, he punched the back of her head and pulled her hair.

Police said the victim told officers that Williams put his right hand under her neck and tightened his grasp, then lifted her off of the ground by her neck.

According to the report, the victim fought back, telling police Williams threatened to kill her and she reached into her purse for her gun.

They struggled for the weapon before Williams snatched it from her and took off, authorities said.

A judge ordered him to have “no firearms, weapons, or ammunition” and to not return “to any place the victim lives, works, or frequents.”

He was arrested on Monday and faced a bond court judge on Tuesday.

Williams has been on unpaid leave since his arrest.

UEFA filed documents in a Manhattan court requesting discovery of potential evidence from the New York investment fund, Thrive Capital Management, founded by Joshua Kushner.

UEFA also filed a request in a southern Florida district for authorization of discovery “in a foreign proceeding” against FIFA itself, which has offices in the Miami suburb of Coral Gables.

Thrive and Kushner were to be the anchor investors intending to pay FIFA $4.2 billion for a 20% stake in a subsidiary that would run the soccer body’s commercial events, including the World Cup.

“UEFA and its counsel are contemplating a Swiss criminal proceeding against Infantino and possibly other FIFA officials for criminal mismanagement under Article 158 of the Swiss Criminal Code,” UEFA’s lawyers state in a 56-page document seen by The Associated Press.

The document suggests the $4.2 billion figure could be a “fraudulently off-market price promoted by Infantino for his own benefit.”

FIFA is expected to have about $5 billion in cash reserves after the World Cup in North America boosted its revenue to a record $15 billion over the 2023-26 commercial cycle.

Infantino dropped the sell-off plan on Aug. 1 after a furious backlash by global soccer leaders, including UEFA.

UEFA had warned against destroying potential evidence

UEFA first threatened to take legal action on Aug. 3 when it warned FIFA against destroying or hiding any "relevant materials” related to the plan. Thursday's legal move was revealed to its member federations in Monaco just two hours before the Champions League draw began.

“Infantino claimed that the plan would ‘unleash the commercial potential and opportunity that FIFA has,’” UEFA lawyers told the courts. “In truth, it was a vehicle for Infantino and that small circle to acquire a permanent stake in and otherwise profit from FIFA’s most valuable assets to the detriment of FIFA, its members, and other parties within the football family.

“Under the terms Infantino announced, those investors stood to acquire a permanent financial interest in FIFA’s commercial arm for $4.2 billion, implying an absurdly low enterprise value of only approximately $20 billion, a figure that was neither the product of an open, competitive auction, nor tested by any independent valuer.”

Thrive declined to comment. FIFA was approached for comment.

Swiss prosecutors' poor results in FIFA trials

It was unclear if UEFA would send a potential criminal complaint to the Swiss federal prosecution office in Bern or to local prosecutors in FIFA's home city Zurich.

The Swiss attorney general's office has a poor record in recent years prosecuting cases of alleged corruption linked to FIFA and soccer officials.

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, former UEFA president Michel Platini and the influential Qatari president of Champions League title holder Paris Saint-Germain, Nasser al-Khelaïfi, all were acquitted twice at trials in Switzerland.

___

See AP’s full soccer coverage here

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According to Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue officials, the crash was reported just after 7 a.m. in the 3800 block of West Oakland Park Boulevard.

First responders said the bus and another vehicle collided.

Seven people who were involved in the crash were evaluated at the scene before being transported to local hospitals for further treatment.

Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies said the people injured included the driver of the vehicle, five bus passengers and a man who was retrieving his bicycle from the front of the bus.

First responders said all injuries were believed to be non-life-threatening.

The circumstances leading up to the crash remain under investigation.

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Head to the beach and look to the east-southeast to see the moon rise and the beginning of the eclipse at 9:24 p.m. Then track the moon and the eclipse as it moves west overnight, peaking at 12:12 a.m.

The eclipse ends at 3:01 a.m.

Even though the moon will take on a reddish tint, you don’t need to take any safety precautions when viewing -- just sit back and enjoy as the Earth passes in between the sun and moon for a few hours.

Weather should be good for viewing, although it might be a little cloudy at the beginning.

Diríjase a la playa y mire hacia el este-sureste para ver salir la luna y el comienzo del eclipse a las 9:24 p.m. Luego siga la luna y el eclipse mientras se desplazan hacia el oeste durante la noche, alcanzando su punto máximo a las 12:12 a.m.

El eclipse termina a las 3:01 a.m.

Aunque la luna adquirirá un tono rojizo, no es necesario tomar ninguna precaución de seguridad para observarlo, simplemente siéntese y disfrute mientras la Tierra pasa entre el Sol y la Luna durante unas horas.

El clima debería ser favorable para observarlo, aunque podría estar un poco nublado al principio.

Según funcionarios de Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue, el accidente fue reportado poco después de las 7 a.m. en la cuadra 3800 de West Oakland Park Boulevard.

Los socorristas dijeron que el autobús y otro vehículo chocaron.

Seis personas involucradas en el accidente fueron evaluadas en el lugar antes de ser transportadas a hospitales locales para recibir tratamiento adicional, dijeron funcionarios de BSFR.

Indicaron que se creía que ninguna de las lesiones ponía en peligro la vida.

Las circunstancias que llevaron al accidente siguen bajo investigación.

Los científicos aún están reuniendo información a partir de datos satelitales y a nivel del terreno para determinar con exactitud qué ocurrió y qué causó la inundación.

El Servicio Geológico de Estados Unidos informó de un colapso glaciar de magnitud 5,2 que envió escombros río abajo con un impacto catastrófico en las comunidades. Señaló que su determinación se basó en datos de estaciones sísmicas cercanas, ondas sísmicas de período largo e imágenes satelitales.

“Realmente se ha desprendido una parte baja de un glaciar", declaró Jakob Steiner, geocientífico de la Universidad de Graz, en Austria, que actualmente está radicado en Bangladesh. "Si miras las imágenes, es como si alguien hubiera cortado con un cuchillo enorme toda la parte inferior y se hubiera caído”.

Steiner explicó que una masa de hielo glaciar cayéndose desde gran altura podría sentirse como una bomba, lo que habría derivado en el caos posterior.

Los científicos indicaron que es demasiado pronto para establecer una conexión directa entre el calentamiento global y la catástrofe. Sin embargo, señalaron que, a medida que aumenta la temperatura de la Tierra por actividades humanas como la quema de petróleo, gas y carbón, crecen las probabilidades de desastres de este tipo, especialmente en las montañas del Himalaya, que se están calentando considerablemente más rápido que muchas otras partes del mundo.

“Tenemos que ser cautelosos y no establecer una conexión todavía. Sin embargo, el aumento de las temperaturas está cambiando la región del Hindu Kush Himalaya y derritiendo los glaciares”, explicó Saswat Sanyal, especialista en reducción del riesgo de desastres del grupo de investigación climática International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, con sede en Katmandú.

Cientos de personas han perdido sus hogares en toda la región del Himalaya, y las autoridades informaron de daños a gran escala en infraestructura crítica, incluidas represas hidroeléctricas, carreteras, edificios y puentes en la región.

Aumento repentino del nivel del agua no dio oportunidad de escapar

Los niveles de los ríos en toda la región subieron hasta 9 metros en 30 minutos como resultado de la crecida provocada por el desprendimiento glaciar aguas arriba, indicaron expertos del grupo de investigación climática con sede en Katmandú.

“Fue un aumento enorme, una crecida enorme de agua que ocurrió de repente”, indicó Sanyal.

La evidencia preliminar sugiere que un gran volumen de hielo y roca pudo haberse precipitado en el Lhende Khola, un afluente del río Bhote Koshi. Los investigadores señalaron que el colapso pudo haber desplazado agua y arrastrado sedimentos sueltos y rocas, produciendo una potente crecida río abajo. También están examinando si los escombros represaron temporalmente el río antes de que el agua embalsada rompiera el bloqueo, lo que habría magnificado la inundación.

Steiner indicó que la zona tiene un historial de peligros montañosos destructivos. Inundaciones originadas en un lago glaciar golpearon el mismo valle en 2025, mientras que una avalancha de hielo y roca ocurrió en otra parte del área en 2024. La región más amplia de Langtang también fue afectada por avalanchas devastadoras durante el terremoto de Nepal de 2015.

El cambio climático aumenta los riesgos en el Himalaya

El Hindu Kush Himalaya se está calentando rápidamente, lo que impulsa cambios importantes en los glaciares, la cobertura de nieve, el permafrost y las laderas montañosas, según científicos del clima.

Las montañas contienen el mayor volumen de nieve y hielo fuera de las regiones polares. Más de 63.000 glaciares en el área alimentan al menos 10 grandes sistemas fluviales asiáticos y sostienen la seguridad alimentaria, hídrica, energética y de medios de sustento de miles de millones de personas.

Sin embargo, alrededor del 78% del área glaciar, ubicada entre 4.500 y 6.000 metros sobre el nivel del mar, está altamente expuesta al calentamiento.

“Lo que pasó ayer es, por desgracia, la nueva normalidad. A partir de aquí va a empeorar”, señaló Steiner.

La última década fue el período de varios años más caluroso a nivel mundial desde que comenzaron los registros, y 2024 fue el año más cálido jamás registrado. Informes de las Naciones Unidas han determinado que, entre 2000 y 2019, los glaciares perdieron 267 gigatoneladas de hielo por año, aproximadamente equivalente a la masa de 46.500 Grandes Pirámides de Guiza.

Debido al calentamiento, expertos proyectan la pérdida de hasta el 50% de todos los glaciares —excluidos los de Groenlandia y la Antártida— para 2100, incluso si el calentamiento global puede limitarse a 1,5 grados Celsius (2,7 grados Fahrenheit).

Las políticas globales actuales ponen a la Tierra en una trayectoria de calentamiento de alrededor de 2,8 grados Celsius (5 grados Fahrenheit) por encima de los niveles preindustriales para finales de siglo.

Investigaciones del grupo con sede en Katmandú han encontrado que los glaciares en estas montañas se están derritiendo a un ritmo acelerado, con tasas de pérdida de hielo que se han duplicado desde 2000.

El derretimiento de los glaciares puede alimentar y agrandar los lagos glaciares, aumentando el potencial de inundaciones repentinas.

A medida que los glaciares retroceden, la roca de montaña que antes estaba aislada y sostenida por el hielo queda expuesta a temperaturas más cálidas, a la lluvia y a ciclos repetidos de congelación y deshielo. El permafrost —suelo que ha permanecido congelado durante años— también puede descongelarse, debilitando paredes rocosas y laderas.

“Aumentan las probabilidades de que el material empiece a desplazarse montaña abajo”, apuntó Steiner.

Sanyal dijo que ese podría ser el tipo de peligro en cascada detrás de lo ocurrido en Nepal: una avalancha o colapso glaciar que se convierte en un flujo de escombros, bloqueo del río e inundación repentina y devastadora.

El rápido crecimiento y la falta de alertas agravan el desastre

Steiner señaló que alrededor del 10% de la producción eléctrica de Nepal estaba ubicada en el valle afectado. Añadió que las pérdidas repetidas plantean interrogantes sobre si se ha hecho lo suficiente para instalar sistemas de alerta tanto para residentes como para visitantes tras inundaciones y avalanchas anteriores.

El paisaje ha sido durante mucho tiempo un atractivo para los turistas, con más de un millón de personas que visitan el país cada año en los últimos años.

Los científicos afirman que sistemas de alerta temprana más sólidos, un mejor monitoreo y un intercambio transfronterizo de información más rápido serán cada vez más importantes a medida que suban las temperaturas y los paisajes montañosos se vuelvan menos estables.

Pero monitorear miles de glaciares, laderas empinadas y valles fluviales a lo largo del arco del Himalaya es extremadamente difícil.

Y cuando comienzan los desastres en cascada, puede haber solo minutos para actuar.

“No tenemos horas. A veces tenemos unos pocos minutos para realmente prepararnos”, sostuvo Sanyal.

Steiner aseguró que ya se ha alcanzado una “línea roja” en la que algunas regiones de Nepal son simplemente demasiado riesgosas para vivir.

“Esperábamos que desastres similares anteriores fueran una llamada de atención para los gobiernos de la región del Himalaya, pero es un poco frustrante que los daños nunca parezcan ser lo suficientemente horribles”, aseveró Steiner.

“No soy muy optimista en que a partir de mañana haya soluciones claras", agregó. "Sabemos lo que hay que hacer, pero varios actores necesitan coordinarse y hacer que las cosas sucedan”.

__________________________________

Puede seguir a Arasu en X en @sibi123. Puede contactarlo en sarasu@ap.org.

_________________________________

La cobertura climática y ambiental de The Associated Press recibe apoyo financiero de múltiples fundaciones privadas. La AP es la única responsable de todo el contenido. Encuentra los estándares de la AP para trabajar con organizaciones filantrópicas, una lista de las fundaciones y las áreas de cobertura que financian en AP.org.

_________________________________

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

There will be plenty of dry time in between, but storms could interrupt any outdoor plans at times. Some could be strong with frequent lightning, brief heavy rain, gusty winds, and even some small hail. High temperatures will be in the low 90s with a heat index between 100-105 degrees, which is just below heat advisory criteria.

This pattern will last into the weekend with rounds of showers and thunderstorms. This is a welcomed sight considering the severe to extreme drought that is ongoing.

U.S. voters will soon get their say. The Iran war has undermined Trump’s campaign pledge to steer clear of foreign conflicts and challenges Republicans clinging to narrow majorities in Congress. About two-thirds of U.S. adults say the war with Iran has not been worth fighting, according to a July poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Here’s the Latest:

Democratic senator who questioned Kennedy on Samoa reacts to AP’s reporting

AP’s latest findings about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ’s trip to Samoa show his platform “is built on lies and grifts that leave a trail of dead children in their wake,” said Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees Kennedy’s health department.

The AP reported earlier Thursday that new documents refute Kennedy’s account that his 2019 visit, before a deadly measles outbreak, had “nothing to do with vaccines.”

Responding to the reporting, Wyden said he plans to press Republicans to refer Kennedy to the Justice Department for criminal investigation for lying to Congress.

If Democrats take the Senate majority in this fall’s elections, he added, his committee will prioritize holding Kennedy accountable.

“There are consequences for lying to Congress,” he said.

Group of Democratic senators calls on ICE to cancel plan for shock gloves

A group of U.S. senators led by Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada is urging Immigration and Customs Enforcement to cancel its plan to outfit officers with gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks.

In a letter to ICE’s acting director, Cortez Masto and 15 of her colleagues in the Democratic caucus questioned ICE’s need to spend up to $20 million on the devices and the agency’s ability to use them appropriately.

“The blatant and tragic misuse of force in Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis, Houston, Maine, and other locations around the country raises significant skepticism about the agency’s professional capability to safely deploy a new tool that could be used to harm Americans without cause,” the letter said.

Zelenskyy’s direct plea helped unlock Russia sanctions in the Senate. What’s next is uncertain

A Russian sanctions package in Congress represents the most ambitious effort to support Ukraine since Trump returned to the White House. The Senate approved it after a personal plea from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who told lawmakers after Lindsey Graham’s funeral last month that his country needs the sanctions as a morale booster.

The bill Graham promoted would deprive President Vladimir Putin of oil and gas revenue fueling the war machine. But House approval is uncertain. House Speaker Mike Johnson faces resistance from some Republicans. And many Democrats supportive of Ukraine warn it would hand Trump too much tariff authority.

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The shortage illustrates cascading fallout from Trump’s unexpected war against Iran

U.S. missile stocks in Europe have been moved to the Middle East, where U.S. and Gulf allies have fired off significant numbers of interceptors, including Patriots, to thwart Iran’s drones and missiles. Some of those attacks have killed and wounded American troops.

Though a Russian ballistic missile attack against NATO countries is not imminently expected, CIA Director John Ratcliffe went to Moscow this week to warn Russia not to attack, The Wall Street Journal reported. Trump played down the significance of the rare and secretive trip, saying it was “sort of semi-routine.”

European and NATO officials say Russia could be in a position to attack countries in the alliance by 2030. Patriot stockpiles are projected to rebound by then. In the meantime, Russia’s war in Ukraine could hinder its ability to carry out any missile attack on Europe as it would be a challenge for Moscow to fight an air war on two fronts.

US faces critical shortage of Patriot missiles in Europe, officials tell AP

The shortage of advanced missile interceptors is largely driven by Trump’s war with Iran, a U.S. defense official in Europe and a NATO official told The Associated Press, raising concerns about vulnerabilities in NATO countries to a potential Russian attack.

The U.S. defense official said the most concerning shortfall involves Patriot missile interceptors, which can shoot down Russia’s high-speed ballistic missiles. The NATO official confirmed the low inventories of Patriots among American and NATO forces in Europe. Both spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters.

In the event of a Russian ballistic missile assault on, for example, a military headquarters or power plant, NATO could be in a similar position to Patriot-starved Ukraine and be forced “to take punch after punch in the mouth,” the U.S. defense official said.

In Europe, the American military “definitely” does not have enough Patriots to stop any possible sustained ballistic missile attack and would have “very limited” capability to defend against a single ballistic missile strike or a stray Russian missile that goes off course, the U.S. official said.

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Michigan Democrats want to fight Trump. First they have to stop fighting each other

When Democrats gathered this week in a West Michigan congressional district they’re trying to flip blue, they wanted to talk about the cost of living under President Donald Trump. But it didn’t take long for the conversation to turn to a controversy dividing their party.

One attendee chided U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten for failing to support Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed.

“Your inflammatory rhetoric has nothing to do with creating a better economic future for the people of West Michigan, and everything to do with protecting the pipeline of our tax dollars to Israel,” the woman said.

The exchange captured a problem confronting Democrats as they head toward November. Party leaders believe concerns about the economy have given them an opening to win control of Congress, but internal divisions are making it harder to keep the focus there.

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New sanctions and a trade embargo leave Iran with few places to turn

Iran’s economy, already strained by high inflation, years of Western sanctions and a war that has sharply reduced oil revenue, is poised for more instability as the Trump administration tries to coerce other countries into ending all financial dealings with the Islamic Republic.

A decision by the United Arab Emirates to suspend trade relations with Iran last week kick-started the White House’s latest attempt to isolate Tehran into submission. Iran entered the war with its foreign commerce concentrated among a relatively small group of countries, leaving it with fewer places to turn now.

The success of the U.S. strategy will largely hinge on China, the main buyer of Iranian oil and its top trading partner. Russia, a fellow target of sweeping U.S.-led sanctions, has a military conflict and economic crisis of its own and probably can’t offer longtime ally Iran much hard financial support.

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Canada is bolstering its defense industry as US relations fray

The Canadian government is investing an additional $60 billion over the next five years to reduce its dependence on American suppliers, a shift due to Trump’s pressure to contribute more to NATO as well as strained trade relations with Washington.

Canada aims to boost domestic defense capabilities and create jobs while developing innovative technologies for military and civilian use, like drones and robotics. Clothing maker Wuxly, known for luxury parkas, is joining in, making high-tech military gear.

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s vow to strengthen Canadian economic self-sufficiency is a boon for Canadian startups and established companies, as well as firms in Europe.

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UEFA has also gone to court in Florida against FIFA

UEFA also filed a request in a southern Florida district for authorization of discovery “in a foreign proceeding” against FIFA itself, which has offices in the Miami suburb of Coral Gables.

Thrive and Kushner were to be the anchor investors intending to pay FIFA $4.2 billion for a 20% stake in a subsidiary that would run the soccer body’s commercial events, including the World Cup.

A 56-page UEFA document seen by The Associated Press suggests the $4.2 billion could have been a “fraudulently off-market price promoted by Infantino for his own benefit.”

Infantino dropped the sell-off plan on Aug. 1 after a furious backlash by global soccer leaders, including UEFA.

▶ Read more

Europe’s soccer body seeks evidence from Kushner fund for criminal complaint against FIFA’s Infantino

UEFA is preparing a criminal complaint against FIFA President Gianni Infantino in Swiss courts for possible financial mismanagement over his failed plan to sell future World Cup profits to private investors.

UEFA said Thursday it filed documents in a Manhattan court requesting discovery of potential evidence from the New York investment fund, Thrive Capital Management, founded by Joshua Kushner, the younger brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Iran thanks China as it dismisses Trump’s D-Day sanctions threat

Iran’s top negotiator and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf is thanking China for rejecting the U.S. “economic D-Day” policies against Iran.

“We welcome China’s principled statement rejecting illegal sanctions against Iran,” Qalibaf posted on social media Wednesday.

Earlier this week, Tehran had warned that it would respond harshly to expanded U.S. sanctions, including measures against countries it sees as cooperating with Washington. Iran has repeatedly targeted Bahrain and other Gulf countries with missiles and drones since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28.

Another tanker is reported struck in the Strait of Hormuz

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Organization said Thursday that it had received a report of an oil tanker hit in the Strait of Hormuz.

The monitoring agency, run by the British military, said that local authorities reported that the vessel was hit by an unknown projectile on Tuesday in the waters between Oman and Iran, causing it to catch fire.

The crew was reported to be safe and there have been no reports of environmental damage, the UKMTO said.

Canadian official says US has dropped objections to Canada’s cultural programs

The message from Canadian Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc suggests that by dropping objections to Canada ’s efforts to promote French language and Canadian culture, the U.S. side has created some room for compromise in the trade standoff.

LeBlanc wrote on X Thursday that the measures “will not be subject to future U.S. trade actions,” and that he looks forward to “constructive U.S. clarifications’’ that could “create the possibility of a mutually beneficial trade agreement.’’

Speaking to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Wednesday, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the U.S. has had some “questions’’ about whether the cultural programs put U.S. companies at a disadvantage, but said the U.S. “recognizes the importance and sensitivity of the French language’’ to Canada. “There is no way we would let a good deal go by for something like this,” Greer added.

Qatari leader went to Tehran seeking an off-ramp from the war

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani was in Tehran on Thursday trying diplomacy to resolve the Iran war.

Qatar’s foreign ministry said in a post on X that Al Thani and Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi discussed “the efforts being made to reduce escalation,” as well as a proposed plan between Iran and Oman to allow ships safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz and clear the vital commercial waterway of dangerous mines.

Al Thani’s office said the prime minister emphasized the “necessity of respecting the sovereignty of neighboring countries and the freedom of navigation” on the strait.

Al Thani also met Thursday with Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf to review efforts to reduce escalation and resume dialogue, the Qatari government said.

New documents refuting RFK Jr testimony were obtained through an open records lawsuit

The letters featured in the AP’s Thursday story about Kennedy’s 2019 trip to Samoa had been included in emails in State Department records.

The department released them to the AP and The Guardian as the result of an open records lawsuit brought with the aid of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. The letters, shared recently, were among hundreds of pages of documents released over a period of months.

Based on other emails released as part of the lawsuit, the AP and the Guardian reported in February that officials with the State Department and UNICEF privately discussed that the trip was about vaccines.

HHS responds to AP report on Kennedy’s letter about measles vaccine

The Department of Health and Human Services said in response to questions from the AP that the Samoa visit “was unrelated to vaccines.”

“Any claim or insinuation based on these letters that Secretary Kennedy lied under oath or to Congress is not only false but outright defamatory,” the department said in a written statement.

Kennedy was not under oath during his confirmation hearing. Knowingly giving material false testimony to Congress is a crime that carries a possible prison sentence regardless of whether a person is under oath, though it is rarely prosecuted.

HHS did not make Kennedy available for an interview. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. The Samoan prime minister’s office and the former prime minister who corresponded with Kennedy did not respond to requests for comment. Neither did Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine nonprofit Kennedy led.

AP exclusive: RFK Jr. said a Samoa trip had nothing to do with vaccines. New documents refute that

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. repeatedly told lawmakers who held the key to his confirmation last year that his 2019 visit to Samoa before a deadly measles outbreak had “ nothing to do with vaccines.” New documents obtained by The Associated Press and The Guardian refute that testimony.

Kennedy, then a prominent anti-vaccine activist, preceded the visit with a letter to the Samoan prime minister requesting to study the Pacific island nation’s measles, mumps and rubella vaccines after the deaths of two children who had received them. In the letter, he used the words vaccine or vaccination eight times.

The letter raises questions about how truthful Kennedy was in testimony before Congress. During an arduous confirmation process where he needed the support of some skeptical Republican lawmakers to advance, Kennedy also pledged to maintain vaccine policies that, once in office, he moved to change.

▶ Read more, including the letters from Kennedy and Samoa’s prime minister

Outgoing White House press secretary talks Texas and her replacement

Karoline Leavitt says there’s “no shortage of applications” to replace her.

“I’ve given my advice to the president on what he should look for, and I’ll continue to do that until he makes a decision,” she told “Fox and Friends” on Thursday that the pick needs to be someone Trump “trusts fully.”

In what Fox hosts billed as her last official interview as press secretary, Leavitt teased a trip Trump is taking to Houston Thursday evening to attend a Republican National Committee fundraiser in support of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Senate campaign. Trump will visit NASA’s Johnson Space Center on Friday.

White House says some Americans have been rescued from flooding in Nepal

The U.S. has rescued a handful of Americans in the wake of devastating flooding in Nepal, outgoing White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an interview on “Fox and Friends” on Thursday morning.

Leavitt said the U.S. has offered its help to local authorities and will prioritize Americans in its response. “We’re focused on rescuing every American that we possibly can,” she said.

Rescue teams searched Thursday for hundreds of missing people along the Nepal-China border, where the collapse of a glacier sent a catastrophic and deadly torrent of water and mud several stories high sweeping through communities.

Videos of the disaster showed people running before the floodwaters swallowed them up. At least 353 people were killed, police said, and more than 1,300 are missing. Melting glaciers have become more common because of human-caused climate change.

The number of Americans applying for jobless aid slips to 203,000 as layoffs remain low

The Labor Department numbers released Thursday show layoffs are rare and most Americans enjoy job security, but that doesn’t point to a great job market for workers.

Scarred by the worker shortages that followed the COVID-19 pandemic, companies are reluctant to let go of staff. But they aren’t hiring much either. So times are tough for Americans seeking to break into the job market as well as people who lost their jobs and are looking for new work. Economists describe a “no hire, no fire″ job market.

So far this year, employers — companies, nonprofits and government agencies — have added an average 61,000 jobs a month. It’s better than the 9,700 they averaged last year as high interest rates and Trump’s erratic trade policies discouraged companies from hiring. But it’s well below historic hiring patterns.

ICE officer charged in Minneapolis shooting is released from Texas jail

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer charged with shooting a man and lying about it during the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis was released from a Texas jail Thursday, after a judge refused to order his return to Minnesota.

Christian Castro was released from a detention center in Brownsville, Cameron County Sheriff Manuel Trevino said in an email.

A day earlier, U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. wrote in an order that said he couldn’t prevent a county sheriff from releasing Castro or order Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to sign his extradition warrant.

Castro is charged in Minnesota with assault and falsely reporting a crime in the Jan. 14 shooting of 24-year-old Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis.

Minnesota officials believe Castro could flee to Mexico.

New Fed chair Kevin Warsh under pressure to clarify views on inflation, interest rates

New Federal Reserve chair Kevin Warsh has brought sharp change in how the central bank communicates by saying much less than his predecessors about the economy and inflation.

But so far, many economists and Wall Street investors haven’t been thrilled with that approach.

On Friday, Warsh has a high-stakes opportunity to address those concerns and underscore his inflation-fighting bona fides when he gives his speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, during the Fed’s annual economic symposium.

What many economists and Wall Street analysts are hoping for is a clear signal on how he thinks the Fed should handle the stubbornly elevated inflation that has caused pervasive gloom among many consumers. At his last press conference, he sowed confusion by ducking repeated questions on whether the Fed would hike its benchmark interest rate if inflation stays high.

▶ Read more

“For every ransom that is paid for a kidnapping incident, you are simply birthing another kidnapping incident,” Kehinde Giwa, a security analyst at SBM Intelligence, told The Associated Press.

SBM Intelligence said in a report on Wednesday that 7.78 billion naira ($5.8 million) was paid in ransom for releasing people who had been kidnapped between July 2025 and June 2026. The group said that 7,825 people were kidnapped in that time, a 66% increase from the previous year.

Abductions are common in Nigeria, where militant groups target schoolchildren and other civilians to put pressure on the government and extract ransoms.

Last week, dozens of people were kidnapped from a mosque in a spate of abductions at several villages in Nigeria's north-central Niger state.

Armed groups, known as bandits in Nigeria, regularly carry out raids and kidnappings for ransom in the northwest and north-central parts of the country. Authorities have said the bandit groups include mostly former herders who took up arms against farming communities, after clashes between them over increasingly strained resources.

There is also an insurgency by Islamic militants in the country’s northeast that has lasted more than a decade.

“Nigeria is not winning the war,” said Giwa, from SBM Intelligence. “There are close to 21 kidnapping incidents that happen on a daily basis.”

Abba Bukar, a resident of Maiduguri, in the northeastern state Borno, said Thursday that he was abducted in June close to a university and spent around four weeks in captivity.

“My father paid around 2 million naira (about $1,500). He had to sell my house and belongings and borrow money,” Bukar said, adding that the family is still struggling to recover economically from the ordeal.

The United States and Nigeria recently formed a military partnership to tackle the West African country's multifaceted security crisis.

The U.S. in February sent troops to Nigeria to help advise its military, and in March, the U.S. also deployed drones there after Trump’s allegations about Christians being targeted in Africa's most populous country.

U.N. court officials said that Mladic died in a hospital in The Hague, Netherlands. A family member of Mladic, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, confirmed the reports for the AP and said Mladic’s son, Darko Mladic, was on the way to The Hague.

The U.N. tribunal for war crimes committed during the wars in Yugoslavia in the 1990s sentenced Mladic to life in prison in 2017 in what was considered a key step toward bringing justice to the victims. He had been in custody since 2011 after many years on the run.

The ruthless, blue-eyed former communist officer-turned nationalist warlord was one of the most notorious figures of the conflict that left more than 100,000 people dead and over 1 million homeless. He commanded his troops to “scorch the brains” of the Bosnian Muslims and boasted of being a “Serbian God.”

When the ethnic war in Bosnia started in 1992, Mladic became the commander of the Bosnian Serb troops and took control of large swaths of the country to form a Serb mini-state.

Serbs under Mladic’s control laid siege to the capital, Sarajevo, and other cities and villages, established concentration camps for detained non-Serb civilians and enemy soldiers, and systematically killed prisoners.

In Sarajevo, Serb troops kept the city isolated while killing civilians with snipers. In 1995, Mladic’s troops slaughtered more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica — the only post-World War II case of genocide in Europe.

But Mladic himself and his admirers among the Serbs have never repented. He was seen by many as a patriot fighting for the first pan-Serbian state. Defiant, Mladic acted bullishly during his trial and yelled at the judges when sentenced to life in prison.

Munira Subasic, from the Mothers of Srebrenica group, said she had mixed feelings about Mladic’s death and deplored that Mladic’s crimes are still being denied among many Bosnian Serbs.

“Today, a major war criminal died, the criminal of the Balkans,” Subasic said. But while mothers of victims “are still carrying the pain in our souls" 31 years later, “we are still listening to denials, we are still listening to how Ratko Mladic was a hero for the Serbs,” she said.

“I am sorry that he died and that he did not suffer for a little while longer, that he didn’t wait for more and dream about the eyes of our children,” she said.

Residents of Pale, a Bosnian Serb stronghold just outside of Sarajevo, mourned Mladic.

“He was murdered there, in those dungeons,” said Janko Seslija, a former Bosnian Serb soldier. “I feel sorry for Gen. Mladic, he was an honorable man, honorable soldier and commander.”

Mladic was born March 12, 1942, in the tiny Bosnian village of Bozinovici, in the hills 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Sarajevo. Like other protagonists in the Yugoslav conflict, he imbibed nationalism from his family’s fate in World War II — his own father was killed by Croats.

A communist-era officer, Mladic sided with the Serbs as Yugoslavia disintegrated in the war. Mladic first led a Serb insurgency in Croatia before taking over the Bosnian Serb army that was backed by Serbia and then-President Slobodan Milosevic, who also died in the custody of the Hague court in 2006 while on trial for genocide.

Mladic was known for his obsession with his nation’s history. He saw Bosnia’s war as a chance for revenge against the onetime 500-year-long Ottoman occupation of Serbia. He often referred to Bosnia’s Muslims as Turks and boasted of revenge when his troops overran the protected U.N. enclave of Srebrenica in 1995.

Carried away by Serb dominance in firepower and international ignorance, Mladic was convinced of his final victory.

“The time has come ... for revenge against Turks in these regions,” Mladic said after taking over Srebrenica.

A U.N. “safe haven” for Muslims, Srebrenica ended up overrun by Serbs who separated the men and boys, forced them to strip, killed them and bulldozed their bodies into mass graves in a brutal rampage that lasted for over a week.

The Srebrenica survivors said one image forever will be imprinted in their minds: Mladic handing out candy to Muslim children who had been rounded up on the town’s square and reassuring them that everything would be all right — even patting one child on the head.

Convinced of the power of his army, he used to tell his soldiers: “When I give you guarantees, it’s as if they are given by God.” To clear the way for his helicopter to land, he would tell air traffic controllers: “Here speaks Ratko Mladic — The Serbian God.”

Sarajevans still remember his commands to the Serb gunmen pounding the Bosnian capital in early 1992. He issued his orders through a military radio system, not bothering to scramble the signal, which was picked up and taped by the Sarajevo police.

“Turn toward Velesici, there are no Serbs there,” Sarajevans could hear Mladic ordering his artillery to pound the Sarajevo suburb.

“Scorch their brains,” he told his gunmen.

Faced with the U.N. tribunal’s genocide indictment, Mladic in 1996 began his fugitive years in Han Pijesak, a military compound in eastern Bosnia built for former Yugoslav communist leader Josip Broz Tito and designed to withstand a nuclear attack.

With his wife, Bosa, Mladic settled down to imposed domesticity, passing the time caring for bees and goats. His 23 goats reputedly bore the names of foreign dignitaries he despised, such as Madeleine Albright, the former U.S. secretary of state.

Surrounded by security guards, he occasionally ventured out of the dense pine forest to mark events such as the anniversary of the Bosnian Serb army and St. Vitus Day, a religious festival marking the 1389 Serb defeat by the Turks at Kosovo.

When in the late 1990s his trail grew too hot in Bosnia, Mladic moved with family into a suburban villa in the Serbian capital, Belgrade.

In Belgrade, he was seen attending his son’s wedding. He showed up at soccer games, dined in plush restaurants and frequented elite cafes, refusing to give interviews and smiling quizzically when photographed.

When Milosevic was ousted from power in October 2000, and Yugoslavia’s new pro-democracy authorities signaled they might hand Mladic over to the tribunal, tabloids reported that he had left Belgrade for Bosnia.

But true to his style, Mladic countered those rumors and others that said he was terminally ill in Belgrade. Before going underground in 2002, he was repeatedly seen in public, sometimes with his guards and sometimes alone, driving a boxy Yugo car on the streets of the capital.

He completely disappeared from public view in 2008 and was finally arrested in May 2011 in a village near Belgrade where he was hiding in a relative’s modest house.

In court in The Hague, a frail-looking old man was far from an image of Mladic from the war days. But his unrepentant nature and defiance were intact.

“Everything you said is pure lies. Shame on you!” he yelled at the U.N. judges when they handed down the conviction.

Already in poor health upon arrest in 2011, Mladic is believed to have suffered multiple strokes during his years on the run and was hospitalized on several occasions while in custody.

Elizabeth Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch, said Mladic’s death was “a reminder of the ongoing need for justice, truth, and reparations in the Western Balkans.”

“Full accountability for such terrible crimes, in Bosnia and elsewhere, demands commitment by governments to justice, even decades after the events themselves,” she said in a statement.

While both sides agree she killed her children, Clancy’s defense team argued she suffered from postpartum psychosis, with defense attorney Kevin Reddington stating that “ lousy medical care ” exacerbated her condition. Prosecutors at the Plymouth County District Attorney’s office argued she intentionally planned the killings and that the nation’s healthcare system is “ not on trial here.”

Postpartum psychosis is estimated to afflict 1 to 2 per 1,000 women after delivery. Experts at the Cleveland Clinic describe it as a mental health emergency affecting someone’s sense of reality. It can happen to anyone after giving birth, but the chances are higher for people with certain mental health conditions. Though most people with postpartum psychosis don’t harm their children, mothers with severe cases may try to do so, and also may try to harm themselves.

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Editor’s Note: If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org.

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Here's the latest:

Judge describes the difficulty of murder trials

After jurors left the courtroom, Sullivan commended the prosecution and defense for their efforts.

“Unless you’ve tried a difficult murder like this one, you may not be aware how difficult and tough it is to try a case like this,” he said. “It’s emotionally taxing. It’s intellectually challenging. It’s physically exhausting.”

Jury begins deliberations

The jury has started to deliberate in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, a mother accused of strangling her three young children in a case that has drawn attention to postpartum mental health. Clancy has pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility. Her lawyers have argued she was experiencing postpartum psychosis when she killed Cora, Dawson and Callan Clancy at the family’s home in coastal Duxbury, Massachusetts, in January 2023. The rare mental illness is linked to the stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes that follow childbirth. Prosecutors say Clancy planned the killings and understood her actions were wrong. Jurors must decide whether she was criminally responsible and, if so, exactly what crimes she committed.

Judge appoints a foreperson before deliberations begin

Before the jury left the courtroom, Sullivan appointed one of the jurors, identified only as No. 257, as foreperson.

He told them a deliberation is not an easy task, and to respect each other’s opinions.

Judge explains ‘proof beyond a reasonable doubt’ to the jury

Sullivan has told jurors that Clancy retains the presumption of innocence unless they find her guilty.

“Proof beyond a reasonable doubt does not mean proof beyond all possible doubt, for everything in the lives of human beings is open to some possible or imaginary doubt,” the judge says.

“The charge is proved beyond a reasonable doubt if, after you’ve compared and considered all of the evidence, you have in your minds an abiding conviction to a moral certainty that the charge is true.”

Closing arguments end, jury hears more instructions

Sprague has ended her closing argument describing how horrific and cruel the killings were.

“She left them discarded on the basement floor like broken toys because she was done playing the game,” Sprague says. “You know to a moral certainty she is guilty.”

The judge is now giving the jury more instructions ahead of the start of deliberations.

State provides its theory for why Clancy killed her children

Sprague confronts one of the central questions in the case: Why would a mother who loved her children kill them?

“She was depressed. She was exhausted. She was done. She didn’t want to try anymore. She felt damaged,” Sprague says. “But those kids, those kids were her protective factor. Those kids were keeping her from ending her misery.”

And so, Sprague says, Clancy “had to remove the protective factor.”

Sprague adds Clancy had other options, including moving to her mother’s for more support or killing herself and leaving the kids alive.

“It was a choice to take them with her. It was a horrible choice,” the prosecutor says. “It is a choice that we don’t want to think about that a mother could make, because that doesn’t make us feel safe or comfortable in this world. But it’s a choice she made.”

Prosecutor says evidence shows Clancy planned the killings

Sprague alleges Clancy sent her then-husband to get some take-out food at a local restaurant to give her time to kill the children. She even checked a map to see how long it would take him to collect the food and return home.

“What she needed to know was how long specifically on that night it would take to get there,” Sprague says, “because she knew she would have a limited amount of time to do what she wanted to do. And what she had decided to do was to kill the children and then kill herself.”

When Clancy saw she would need more time than the restaurant trip would take, she asked her then-husband to also pick up medication at a local pharmacy, Sprague says.

“She’s adding to this errand and she has to make sure she’s not interrupted,” Sprague says.

State says Clancy lied to mental health providers about her dark thoughts

Sprague says Clancy’s decision not to tell her mental health providers about thoughts she had in December 2022 of harming her children shows she understood those thoughts were wrong.

Clancy disclosed the thoughts to her then-husband and to her mother, but not to her doctors, Sprague says.

Clancy feared her children could be taken away if she told a mandated reporter, Sprague says.

“That’s a rational thought,” Sprague says. “It also shows you that she knew it was a bad thought, a wrong thought.”

“Not only is she hiding it. She is lying about it.”

Prosecution questions Clancy’s adherence to treatment

Prosecutor Jennifer Sprague acknowledges that Clancy sought help for her mental health struggles, but argued that she did not always take medications as prescribed or give her providers complete and accurate information.

“She wanted to get better, but she wanted to get better on her own terms,” Sprague says. “And as a nurse, she knew that’s not the right way to approach it.”

Sprague rejects the defense’s argument that Clancy did not receive the care she needed, saying her providers were working with the information Clancy gave them.

“This doesn’t mean that she wasn’t struggling, that she wasn’t dealing with these mental health issues,” Sprague says. “She had depression.”

But, she adds: “They were doing the best they could with her level of cooperation and compliance with the plan.”

Prosecutor begins her closing argument

Prosecutor Jennifer Sprague says the case isn’t about the “mental health system or how it treats women.”

“That’s a distraction to get you angry and passionate about an important issue, but an issue that’s not on trial here,” she says.

The case, Sprague says, is about whether Clancy could recognize what was wrong with her actions and conform her actions to the law. In Clancy’s case, she had more support and resources than most have when navigating the American health care system.

“This wasn’t a woman suffering from a lack of care, a lack of resources,” she says. “She had an abundance of health, an abundance of care. She had all of that and more.”

Clancy wrote about her ‘horrible, intrusive thoughts’

Before Reddington concluded his closing argument, he held up a posterboard with some of Clancy’s desperate writings as her mental health deteriorated.

He says she was in “the depths of the despair” before the killings.

She wrote that he was having “horrible, intrusive thoughts” that prompted her to seek treatment.

At one point, her writings became like gibberish, he says.

“There’s nothing other than little chicken scratches because her mind was gone,” Reddington said.

Reddington describes Clancy attempt to research support for postpartum depression, called a suicide hotline, visited multiple providers and was voluntarily admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

“My God, what does she have to do? She was reaching out for help and she wasn’t getting it,” he says.

Lawyer talks of Clancy’s deterioration during mental health treatment

Reddington has told the jury that Clancy ’lived for her kids” but after she starting seeing a doctor, “it was not a wonderful life anymore.”

“You have the medical records. You heard the testimony. You know her concerns. You know her fears,” Reddington said. “Does this sound like a young lady that didn’t care and wanted to score more drugs off somebody? That’s another repulsive allegation.”

Reddington holds up a posterboard with some of Clancy’s desperate writings as her mental health deteriorated.

He says she was in “the depths of the despair” before the killings.

Reddington talks of Clancy’s devotion to her children

The defense attorney holds up a small “wish box” that Lindsay Clancy and her then-husband, Patrick, bought on their honeymoon in Hawaii, before they had children.

Over the years, the couple filled the box with slips of paper recording their hopes for the future. Some were dated 2017, 2018 and 2020.

“They reference her wishes to have healthy kids, her wishes for her kids to be successful, her wishes to have a good birth the second time around,” Reddington says.

The box offers a glimpse of the life the couple had imagined for their family years before Clancy killed their three children, he says.

Defense lawyer criticizes prosecution’s case

Reddington is reminding jurors of what he told them at the beginning of the trial.

“In my opening statement, I told you, I said, ‘Watch the evidence, watch the manipulation,’ because that’s what this case was built upon originally and how it developed as the case progressed until it’s in front of you,” he says.

Reddington says the prosecution has tried to paint Clancy’s suicide attempt as less serious than it was.

“She made a very, very significant suicide effort,” he says. “They were arguing that it was a fake suicide. Dinky little cuts. No bleeding … You know that’s not what happened.”

Closing arguments begin with Reddington for the defense

Reddington is up first.

He thanks the jury for their service during the monthlong trial, through tough and gut-wrenching testimony.

“Sadly, juries carry this burden with them for years,” Reddington says.

He names all three children.

“They are the victims in this case,” Reddington says.

Clancy listens to the jury instructions

Lindsay Clancy stares straight ahead as the judge goes over the instructions.

At one point, she dabs her eyes with a tissue.

Jurors hear instructions on law before closing arguments

Judge William Sullivan printed out a copy of the instructions for the panel.

He reminded jurors that Clancy is innocent until proven guilty, and went over the elements of the charges.

He said a defendant is not criminally responsible for their conduct if they have a mental diseases or defect.

Sullivan tells the jury that they will consider three counts of murder in the first degree for each of the children but can consider murder in the second degree.

“If you find the defendant guilty of murder you shall decide the degree of murder,” he told the jury.

The judge says a defendant may form the required intent needed to prove a murder charge and act with premeditation even if she suffered from a mental impairment or consumed prescription.

The courtroom is full

The doors of the courtroom have opened and about 90 people have shuffled inside.

The Plymouth County District Attorney’s office has several people in the front row, including District Attorney Timothy Cruz.

Clancy’s defense attorney, Kevin Reddington, is pacing back and forth and Clancy has yet to arrive.

Clancy’s parents Mike and Paula Musgrove are in the front, sitting alongside members of Reddington’s defense team. Neither Patrick Clancy nor his family are here.

The courtroom is filled.

Clancy lawyer says the trial has raised awareness about postpartum psychosis

“A month ago, five weeks ago, I didn’t know anything about this, and it’s just been quite a very, very scary eye-opener for me,” defense attorney Kevin Reddington told The Associated Press before proceedings began Thursday.

“I do hope that it has opened a discussion and people realize how serious this is. The mother’s postpartum depression, postpartum psychosis, the babies, the statistics, it’s just horrifying,” Reddington says. “And you cannot just deal with human beings in that type of distress on a telemedical Zoom call and throw pills at them.”

Asked how Clancy has been coping during the trial, Reddington said “not well,” describing her as scared and sad.

Reddington declined to offer a preview of his closing argument, saying he had nothing written down and would decide what to say when he got to the courtroom.

Clancy supporters are in the crowd outside the courthouse

Many are dressed in pink and calling attention to women’s mental health issues.

“I feel that mental health is at the cornerstone of this, but so is community, family — and we need to believe women,” said Marta Quijano. “And we need to support people and help people when they ask for help. And as a physician myself, I’ve been on both sides of this coin when women are dismissed for our concerns, and it’s not fair.”

Lyn Feeney said women suffering in their mental health, especially new mothers, need support from a variety of people.

“The more children you have, the harder it gets,” she said. “So I feel like women just need support from mental health professionals, physicians, family and the justice system.”

People are lining up outside courthouse

About 75 people were waiting around 7:30 a.m. ET to get into the Plymouth County court building, including journalists and other members of the public.

Several media outlets have set up canopies on a nearby grassy area. A handful of people wearing pink in support were also in line.

Signs and treatment for postpartum psychosis

Postpartum psychosis usually happens within several days of giving birth but can occur up to six weeks afterwards.

Symptoms may include hallucinations, delusions, paranoia or other behavior changes.

A woman may also have mood changes, such as mania or depression, disorganized thinking or behavior, insomnia, irritability or agitation.

Mothers with the condition need inpatient mental healthcare, which can include involuntary hospitalization. Treatments include medications or electroconvulsive therapy, a procedure done under anesthesia in which small electric currents pass through the brain, intentionally causing a brief seizure.

Experts say getting help early increases the odds of a good outcome.

What to know about postpartum psychosis

Postpartum psychosis is estimated to afflict only 1 to 2 per 1,000 women after delivery. Experts at the Cleveland Clinic describe it as a mental health emergency affecting someone’s sense of reality.

It can happen to anyone after giving birth, but the chances are higher for people with certain mental health conditions. In a journal article on the subject in 2023, researchers at the Medical University of Lublin in Poland said about half of people with postpartum psychosis have a previous history of psychiatric problems and the most common risk factor associated with the condition is bipolar affective disorder, which causes extreme mood swings.

Though most people with postpartum psychosis don’t harm their children, mothers with severe cases may try to do so, and also may try to harm themselves.

Experts say it’s important to seek immediate help if you or your partner or family member show signs of postpartum psychosis.

The number of people filing for U.S. unemployment benefits fell last week, remaining at historic lows as layoffs are rare and most Americans enjoy job security.

Jobless claims slipped to 203,000 last week from a revised 207,000 the week before, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week ups and downs, ticked up slightly to 205,500.

Claims for jobless benefits are a proxy for layoffs, and economists watch them because they can provide early clues of where the job market is headed. For the past year, claims have mostly been at a historically low range of around 200,000 to 230,000 a week.

The U.S. economy and job market have proved resilient in the face of high gasoline prices caused by the fighting with Iran. The U.S. unemployment rate is low at 4.1%. That is partly because President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and the ongoing retirement of baby boomers mean that fewer people are competing for jobs: More than 1.3 million people have dropped out of the U.S. labor force over the past year.

Companies, scarred by the surprise worker shortages that followed the end of COVID-19 lockdowns, are reluctant to let go of staff. But they aren’t hiring much either. So times are tough for Americans seeking to break into the job market and those who lost their jobs and are looking for new work. Economists describe a “no hire, no fire″ job market.

So far this year, employers — companies, nonprofits and government agencies — have added an average 61,000 jobs a month. That is an improvement on the 9,700 they averaged last year — the weakest hiring outside a recession since 2002 — when the lingering effects of high interest rates and Trump’s erratic trade policies discouraged companies from hiring.

When the Labor Department puts out the August jobs report next week, it’s expected to show that employers added another 65,000 jobs, according to a survey of forecasters by the data firm FactSet.

Hiring this year remains well below the 166,00 monthly jobs created, on average, in 2023 and 2024, let alone the 491,000 a month recorded during the 2021-2022 hiring boom that followed pandemic lockdowns.

Christian Castro was released at the break of dawn from a detention center in Brownsville. He motioned his hand toward a few camera operators and a reporter crowding around him and quickly got into an SUV that drove off.

A day earlier, U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. wrote in an order that said he couldn't prevent a county sheriff from releasing Castro or order Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to sign his extradition warrant.

Castro is charged in Minnesota with assault and falsely reporting a crime in the Jan. 14 shooting of 24-year-old Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis.

Castro is accused of firing gun through door of home

Castro is accused of firing a gun through the front door of a Minneapolis home, shooting Sosa-Celis in the leg. Prosecutors say Castro also falsely accused Sosa-Celis and another man of attacking an ICE officer with a broom handle and a snow shovel.

After a Minnesota judge issued a nationwide warrant for Castro's arrest in May, authorities, including Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, arrested Castro in Cameron County on May 29. Minnesota authorities have sought his extradition since his arrest, but he remained in custody in Brownsville, a city bordering Mexico.

Under Texas law and barring extradition, Castro had to be released after 90 days of detention, which was Thursday.

Minnesota officials believe Castro could flee to Mexico.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a request for a temporary restraining order last week seeking to block Castro’s release or to order his return to Minnesota.

Abbott waiting for internal state investigation about Castro

Texas attorneys on Tuesday argued the judge could not rule on a decision that’s still pending. Abbott has not denied the extradition. Instead he is waiting for the outcome of an internal state investigation considering whether Castro was legally a “fugitive” under the Extradition Clause, the lawyers said.

The judge wrote in Wednesday’s order that the court couldn't yet step in.

“The Court concludes that it lacks subject matter jurisdiction because the case is not ripe for adjudication,” the order read. “Minnesota cannot premise its causes of action on the allegation that Governor Abbott may violate those authorities in the future; it must prove that a violation has already occurred.”

The judge said in his order that the extradition laws do not outline how long the Texas governor can take to make that decision.

Abbott said last week he would not respond to the extradition request, citing the ongoing investigation into fraud in government social service programs in Minnesota, which President Donald Trump used to justify his immigration crackdown there.

Abbott directs ‘bad lawyers’ comment at Minnesota attorney general

After the judge's decision, Ellison posted online that the Texas governor had an obligation to extradite Castro. And by refusing to extradite him, “Greg Abbott is turning Texas into a sanctuary state for violent criminals.”

Abbott responded to Ellison.

“You guys are such bad lawyers. You showed up unprepared, uninformed & unpersuasive,” Abbott wrote online. “You don’t know the law & it showed.”

The Texas governor accused Minnesota of refusing to enforce immigration laws and threatened to send immigrants in the future to their state as he did with New York City, when thousands were released into Texas under President Joe Biden's administration.

A message seeking reaction from Ellison was sent to his office Thursday.

Minnesota officials say Castro could flee the country, citing calls he made from jail to a woman in Mexico, talking “about marrying her and buying a house in Mexico when he is released,” according to the lawsuit.

The judge conceded that Castro could flee the country but added that “the threat of injury by itself does not create an issue ripe for adjudication.”

___

Valerie Gonzalez reported from McAllen, Texas. Associated Press writer Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed to this story.

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A criminal complaint filed earlier in August reveals a $20 million criminal enterprise operating in South Florida.

The 29-page complaint says the FBI began investigating “money mule networks” last year.

Federal agents identified a group called the Honeybun Boyz.

The complaint describes the group as a major metropolitan criminal enterprise made up of financial fraudsters who flaunt $100,000 bankrolls tied to account takeovers that target vulnerable victims.

The term “honeybun” in certain circles means $100,000, a term also used by music artists like Pop Smoke.

The three-tiered network is made up of controllers, the bosses, handlers and mules who move the money.

Federal agents identified as many as 30 victims in South Florida, many of them elderly, including a widow who was convinced to withdraw $95,000 in cash.

The report says businesses were defrauded too. One victim was told the bank had a security breach.

Through a phishing link, fraudsters allegedly obtained the victim’s login information for an American business bank account, and a fraudulent wire transfer for $82,000 was initiated, according to investigators.

They said the fraudsters used phishing links, fake bank phone calls and stolen banking information to get the cash.

A complaint obtained by Local 10 News on Wednesday lists luxury purchases the suspects allegedly made in April, with thousands spent on high-end goods at Balenciaga, Louis Vuitton and a high-end Miami watch store.

Two of the suspects are accused of using the money to purchase a home in Miami Lakes worth close to $1 million.

Twelve defendants are listed in the complaint. They face charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The report says Honeybun Boyz groups have also been identified in other major cities, including Los Angeles, Atlanta and New York.

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The proposed deal called for five years of probation with no jail time in exchange for a guilty plea. But the judge denied the deal after the victim said five years of probation was not enough.

According to police, a Miami Southridge Senior High School student told investigators Infante made inappropriate comments to her, including, “If I was only 30 years younger... You’re so beautiful... I’ve been thinking about you... I can’t wait to be with you.”

He is accused of hitting on the student, inappropriately touching her and allegedly kissing her chest. The teen told police she felt afraid.

Infante was charged with four counts of battery and one count of offenses against students by authority figures.

The case will continue. There will either be a new plea deal or a trial.

“We are going to eliminate police checkpoints in the cities,” Interim President Delcy Rodriguez said in Spanish.

“What we hope is that it is carried out,” Diego Casanova, with the Committee for Political Prisoners, said in Spanish.

Casanova said he hopes the change is implemented, but he is skeptical.

His brother, Jose Gregorio Perez, was arrested at a checkpoint in 2024 and was only freed in January of last year. Casanova has continued to lead protests calling for the release of all political prisoners.

Casanova said removing the roadblocks would “prevent further police abuses,” adding that these checkpoints have been used as points for extortion and places of repression.

Javier Tarazona with Fundaredes monitors human rights in Venezuela. He spent nearly five years in jail and said he welcomes the announcement, but wants to see how it plays out.

Tarazona said he wants to see it as “the starting point for a process of reconciliation.”

He is now calling for a new amnesty law to free those still jailed and considered political prisoners.

An original amnesty law was passed in January, shortly after the U.S. captured Nicolas Maduro, but human rights groups maintain that around 400 political prisoners remain. The Venezuelan government denies that it holds any political prisoners.

The handyman and father of a U.S. Navy sailor was released from ICE custody after being arrested over the weekend by U.S. Border Patrol agents.

“I can’t say nothing bad, because I say thank you for giving me freedom to come back to my home,” Aviles said.

Federal authorities told Local 10 News that Aviles entered the United States illegally from Nicaragua nearly 20 years ago and that his son’s military service has no bearing on his status.

Aviles was asked Wednesday about his arrival those years back, but he declined to give details.

“I got very scared,” he said. “I don’t want to remember that situation.”

His arrest came in the midst of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

Border Patrol agents, as well as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, are targeting convicted criminals in operations around South Florida.

But federal authorities are also arresting those without legal immigration status, who are subject to deportation in the eyes of the government.

Aviles’ case garnered national attention after his son Josh, who is in his ninth month onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, made an outcry on social media.

Aviles says he has pending paperwork, and the process doesn’t deter him.

“I’m waiting for everything,” he said. “I believe in this country. I believe that everything is good. It’s good. I believe in the people of the United States too. I have a lot of friends I say thank you (to) for taking care of my family.”

Following the global star’s passing, members of South Florida’s LGBTQ community are both mourning her and looking back to honor her incredible career.

“I am not gay, but if I were I would be the first one running out of the closet,” Parton said.

While Parton may have steered away from politics and controversy, she always spoke up for her queer fans, telling the Hollywood Reporter in 2023, “I have some of everybody in my own immediate family and in my circle of employees. I’ve got transgender people. I’ve got gays. I’ve got lesbians.”

That’s why for people like Marcy Miller, the loss is so painful.

“Because she represents hope and love and joy and the sparkle that’s missing a lot,” said Miller.

Miller’s home is filled with Dolly Parton gear, honoring the sparkly country music star as a tribute to a legacy of love and inclusion.

“She can be Christian and still stand for the trans community, the LGBT community,” said Miller.

A meeting of the Chama cha Mapinduzi, or CCM, party decided to punish Emmanuel Nchimbi for indiscipline, and it nominated Energy Minister Deogratius Ndejembi to become President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s deputy, CCM Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro told reporters late Wednesday.

The maneuver is believed to be part of the ongoing fallout from Hassan’s contentious election in October, when the security forces were deployed to put down riots over the disqualification of the president’s main rivals. The internet was shut down for days, a move that Hassan later apologized for and promised would never happen again.

Hassan's main rival, Tundu Lissu, is jailed over treason charges he says are politically motivated.

Nchimbi said that his resignation would take effect Sept. 4 and that he would remain “a good citizen” of his country. His decision has shocked many in a country where stability is prized under the one-party rule of CCM. Some analysts say he disagreed with Hassan over governance and other issues stemming from the government’s brutal crackdown on protests during and after the Oct. 29 election.

A postelection inquiry showed 518 people were killed in the violence. The leader of the commission that investigated the violence, Mohamed Chande Othman, said during the release of his report in April that the number of deaths was likely higher, because some families buried their loved ones without taking their bodies to morgues. He recommended an investigation into the use of firearms, as some of the witnesses told the commission that their loved ones were shot while sitting inside their houses.

A version of CCM has ruled Tanzania since independence from Britain in 1961. CCM is fused with the state, effectively in charge of the security apparatus and structured in such a way that new leaders emerge every five or 10 years.

Hassan herself was able to rise to the presidency as vice president in 2021 without incident when her predecessor, John Pombe Magufuli, died suddenly after the start of his second term.

The orderly transition sustained Tanzania’s reputation as an oasis of political stability and relative peace, a major reason for CCM’s considerable support, especially among rural voters.

___ Rodney Muhumuza reported from Kampala, Uganda. An Associated Press reporter in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, who can't be named because of security concerns, also contributed reporting.

Kennedy, then a prominent anti-vaccine activist, preceded the visit with a letter to the Samoan prime minister requesting to study the Pacific island nation’s measles, mumps and rubella vaccines after the deaths of two children who had received them. In the letter, he used the words vaccine or vaccination eight times.

The letter raises questions about how truthful Kennedy was in testimony before Congress. During an arduous confirmation process where he needed the support of some skeptical Republican lawmakers to advance, Kennedy also pledged to maintain vaccine policies that, once in office, he moved to change.

“I am writing this letter to you in the hope that we might be helpful to the people of your great nation,” Kennedy wrote, adding that he believed the deaths of the two children could have resulted from manufacturing issues.

“I would propose my team conduct detailed health informatics assessment in Samoa of what happened with your MMR vaccines,” he continued.

The Department of Health and Human Services said in response to questions from the AP that the Samoa visit “was unrelated to vaccines.”

“Any claim or insinuation based on these letters that Secretary Kennedy lied under oath or to Congress is not only false but outright defamatory,” the department said in a statement. Kennedy was not under oath during his confirmation hearing. Knowingly giving material false testimony to Congress is a crime that carries a possible prison sentence regardless of whether a person is under oath, though it is rarely prosecuted.

HHS did not make Kennedy available for an interview. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. The Samoan prime minister’s office and the former prime minister who corresponded with Kennedy did not respond to requests for comment.

Kennedy’s Samoa visit has become one of the most contentious events in his career. At the time, he was leading a nonprofit known for its anti-vaccine activism. Critics said the visit fueled anti-vaccine sentiment in Samoa, which later experienced the measles outbreak that killed 83 people, mostly children under 5.

Attorneys said lawmakers could use Kennedy’s statements as grounds for hearings, an impeachment inquiry or creating other obstacles for him. But such action is unlikely under the current Republican-led Congress, which is aligned with President Donald Trump's administration.

Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said if Democrats retake the Senate in the November elections, the committee will hold Kennedy accountable "for endangering American families."

“There are consequences for lying to Congress,” he said.

Under repeated questioning, Kennedy insisted vaccines weren’t the reason for the trip

At the start of Trump’s second term, Kennedy — a leader in the anti-vaccine movement before entering politics — faced an uphill battle as he sought to become the nation’s health secretary. Lawmakers from both parties had criticized his anti-vaccine rhetoric, and in confirmation hearings, he tried to assure them that he supported childhood vaccination.

The Samoa trip also came under scrutiny.

Kennedy told the senators that his Samoa visit didn't influence people’s decisions on whether to vaccinate.

Several times, he flatly denied that his reason for the trip had anything to do with vaccines.

When it came up during Wyden's questioning, Kennedy replied: “I went there, nothing to do with vaccines. I went there to introduce a medical informatics system that would digitalize records in Samoa and make health delivery much more efficient.”

The following day, when Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., asked, Kennedy said: “My purpose in going down there had nothing to do with vaccines.”

Upon further questioning, Kennedy again denied it had anything to do with vaccines before adding: “My purpose in the trip was not to — I ended up having conversations with people, some of whom I never intended to meet.”

In the end, Kennedy won crucial support from Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana physician who leads the Senate health committee and strongly advocates vaccination. The Senate confirmed Kennedy on a 52-48 vote.

Cassidy said he voted to confirm Kennedy because he received commitments that Kennedy would not change certain vaccine policies and guidance. For example, Cassidy said when announcing his vote, Kennedy pledged to maintain a federal vaccine advisory committee “without changes.” Once in office, Kennedy ousted all 17 members of the committee and named his own advisers.

Cassidy has acknowledged his trust in Kennedy was broken.

“The commitments that were made to me have been violated,” Cassidy said on CBS's “Face the Nation” in June.

Letters show Kennedy wanted to study Samoa’s use of MMR vaccine

Kennedy for years was chair and chief legal counsel of Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit group known for its anti-vaccine activism. The group turned its attention to Samoa in July 2018, when two young children died after receiving a tainted MMR vaccine that had been improperly prepared. The two nurses involved were criminally charged the month after the children died. The nurses ultimately pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

The Samoan government halted all vaccinations for 10 months, until April 2019. Vaccination rates plummeted.

During that time, CHD started contacting the Samoan government, according to emails previously obtained by the AP and the Guardian as the result of a lawsuit against the State Department brought with the aid of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

In the newly obtained letter from Kennedy, also revealed through the lawsuit and dated Jan. 20, 2019, he addressed then-Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi and described his desire to study Samoa’s use of the MMR vaccine.

Kennedy speculated that the deaths in Samoa may have been caused by issues with different vaccine lots. Writing on CHD letterhead, he said his team wanted to evaluate whether that was the case through a “detailed health informatics assessment.”

He expressed his belief that it was difficult and time-consuming in most of the world to investigate “adverse health events associated with vaccines” and said health information systems are rarely designed to quickly study links “between diagnoses and specific vaccination events.”

The letter did not specifically discuss anti-vaccine activism.

The prime minister responded a month later, saying Samoa could benefit from CHD’s assessment of MMR vaccines.

“It is certainly beneficial for Samoa to have the benefit of your Team’s independent health assessment of our MMR Vaccines and I would welcome with much anticipation your Team’s proposed visit to our islands,” he wrote.

CHD did not respond to a request for comment.

Kennedy, his wife, actor Cheryl Hines, and Michael Graven, a CHD colleague, took their trip to Samoa in May and June of that year. By then, vaccinations had resumed and Samoa’s top health official had announced that human error, not a vaccine issue, was responsible for the children's deaths.

While in Samoa, Kennedy met with anti-vaccine activists, including one who helped arrange the trip with a U.S. Embassy employee, the AP and the Guardian previously reported.

Months later, with vaccination rates still dangerously low, measles broke out, sickening thousands.

Public health experts have said their efforts to address the outbreak were hampered by anti-vaccine activists, some of whom they claim were emboldened by Kennedy’s visit.

The AP and the Guardian previously reported that State Department and UNICEF officials privately discussed that the trip was about vaccines.

Parents, families, coaches and high school athletes are invited to submit their favorite sports photos to Local10.com as part of Local 10’s High School Spotlight.

Whether it’s a game-winning touchdown, a big save on the soccer field, a volleyball celebration, a cheerleading routine, a cross-country finish or a memorable moment with teammates, we want to see it.

High School Spotlight is a chance to showcase the athletes representing schools and communities across Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties.

Photos don’t have to capture a championship moment, either. From first games and senior nights to team traditions and celebrations with coaches, some of the best memories happen away from the scoreboard.

When submitting a photo, be sure to include information about the athlete, team and school so we know who we’re cheering for.

Your photo could be featured on air as part of Local 10’s High School Spotlight coverage.

So, parents, get those cameras ready. And student-athletes, send us your best shots from the season.

The 31-year-old Columbian-born entertainer, whose real name is Andres Felipe Valencia Barrientos, was convicted by a District Court of Western Australia jury last month of assaulting a woman in a Perth hotel room in September 2024.

The jury acquitted him on three counts of raping her. But prosecutors said last week they would retry him on another three rape charges on which jurors could not agree.

Barrientos returned Thursday to the court, where Judge Linda Black agreed to change his bail conditions so he can return to London while he waits for his second trial.

Black said although the retrial would be expedited and likely happen in 2027, there could be a delay.

“It seems to me it is appropriate to return to his home country until he is needed for his retrial,” Black said.

The revised bail conditions include that Barrientos return to Britain by Aug. 31 and stay there until he flies back to Perth for the trial. He will be required to return to Australia 10 days before his retrial and must surrender his passport within 24 hours of returning.

Barrientos is not allowed to contact the alleged victim or a key prosecution witness, who both cannot be named. Barrientos also cannot publicly comment on the case in any way.

He will be sentenced on his two convictions for assault occasioning bodily harm after the second jury reach their verdicts on the outstanding rape charges. The assault convictions each carry a potential maximum sentence of five years in prison. Rape convictions would each carry a potential maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

Barrientos was touring Australia and had already performed in Sydney and Melbourne before he encountered his alleged victim in Perth. Prosecutors alleged the woman initially agreed to have sex but withdrew her consent because she feared for her safety. He was arrested several days later in the east coast city of Brisbane, where the tour was to end.

Barrientos has been free on bail since he was charged and was allowed to return to Britain for several months before his first trial.

Scientists are still piecing together information from satellite and ground-level data to figure out exactly what happened to cause the flood, which killed at least 353 people and left more than 1,300 missing, including foreigners and pilgrims.

The U.S. Geological Survey on Wednesday reported a magnitude 5.2 glacier collapse that sent debris flowing downstream with catastrophic impact on communities. It said its determination was based on data from nearby seismic stations, long period seismic waves and satellite imagery.

“A lower part of a glacier has really come off,” said Jakob Steiner, a geoscientist at the University of Graz in Austria who is currently based in Bangladesh. “If you look at the imagery it’s like someone cut with a huge knife through the whole lower part and it fell off.”

Steiner said a mass of glacial ice dropping from a great height could have felt like a bomb exploding, resulting in the chaos that followed.

Scientists said it is too early to draw a direct connection between global warming and Wednesday’s catastrophe. However, they said that as Earth’s temperature rises because of human activities such as burning oil, gas and coal, the chances of such disasters increase, especially in the Himalayan mountains, which are warming considerably faster than many other parts of the world.

“We have to be cautious and not draw a connection yet. However, rising temperatures are changing the Hindu Kush Himalaya region and melting glaciers,” said Saswat Sanyal, a disaster risk reduction specialist at the Kathmandu-based climate research group International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development.

Hundreds have lost their homes across the Himalayan region, and officials reported large-scale damage to critical infrastructure, including hydropower dams, roads, buildings and bridges in the region.

Sudden rise in water levels gave no chance to escape

Water levels in rivers across the flood-affected region rose by as much as 9 meters (29.5 feet) in 30 minutes as a result of the surge from the glacial detachment upstream, researchers at the Kathmandu-based climate research group said.

“It was a huge rise, a huge surge of water that happened suddenly,” said Sanyal.

Preliminary evidence suggests a large volume of ice and rock may have plunged into the Lhende Khola, a tributary of the Bhote Koshi River. Researchers said the collapse could have displaced water and picked up loose sediment and boulders, producing a powerful surge downstream. Researchers are also examining whether debris temporarily dammed the river before the impounded water burst through, magnifying the flood.

Steiner said the area has a history of destructive mountain hazards. Floods originating from a glacial lake struck the same valley in 2025, while an ice and rock avalanche occurred elsewhere in the area in 2024. The broader Langtang region was also hit by devastating avalanches during Nepal’s 2015 earthquake.

Climate change increasing risks in the Himalayas

The Hindu Kush Himalaya is warming rapidly, driving major changes in glaciers, snow cover, permafrost and mountain slopes, according to climate scientists.

The mountains contain the largest volume of snow and ice outside the polar regions. More than 63,000 glaciers in the area feed at least 10 major Asian river systems and support the food, water, energy and livelihood security of billions of people.

However, around 78% of the glacier area, located between 4,500 and 6,000 meters above sea level, is highly exposed to warming.

“What happened yesterday is unfortunately the new normal. It’s going to get worse from here onwards,” Steiner said.

The last decade was the hottest multi-year period globally since records began, and 2024 was the warmest year ever recorded. United Nations reports have found that between 2000 and 2019, glaciers lost 267 gigatons of ice per year, roughly equivalent to the mass of 46,500 Great Pyramids of Giza.

In a warming world, the reports project the loss of up to 50% of all glaciers — excluding those in Greenland and Antarctica — by 2100, even if global warming can be limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit.)

Current global policies put Earth on a trajectory to warm by about 2.8 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels by the end of the century.

Research by the Kathmandu-based group has found that glaciers across these mountains are melting at an accelerating rate, with ice-loss rates doubling since 2000.

Melting glaciers can feed and enlarge glacial lakes, increasing the potential for sudden floods.

As glaciers retreat, mountain rock that was previously insulated and supported by ice becomes exposed to warmer temperatures, rain and repeated freezing and thawing. Permafrost — ground that has remained frozen for years — can also thaw, weakening rock faces and slopes.

“The chances that material starts to move down from mountains increase,” Steiner said.

Sanyal said that may be the kind of cascading hazard behind what happened Wednesday in Nepal: An avalanche or glacier collapse that turns into a debris flow, river blockage and devastating flash flood.

Fast growth and lack of warnings compound disaster

Steiner said about 10% of Nepal’s power production was located in the valley affected by the latest disaster. He said the repeated losses raise questions about whether enough has been done to install warning systems for residents and visitors alike after previous floods and avalanches.

The country's landscape has long been a draw for tourists, with more than a million people visiting the country annually in recent years.

Scientists say stronger early warning systems, better monitoring and faster cross-border information sharing will be increasingly important as temperatures rise and mountain landscapes become less stable.

But monitoring thousands of glaciers, steep slopes and river valleys across the Himalayan arc is extremely difficult.

And when cascading disasters begin, there may be only minutes to act.

“We don’t have hours,” Sanyal said. “We have sometimes a few minutes to actually prepare.”

Steiner said a “red line” has already been reached where some regions of Nepal are just too risky to live in now.

“We expected previous similar disasters to be a wake-up call for governments in the Himalayan region, but it’s a bit frustrating that the damages never seem to be horrible enough,” Steiner said.

“I’m not super optimistic that from tomorrow onwards there will be clear solutions,” he added. “We know what can be done, but various stakeholders need to coordinate and make things happen.”

___

Arasu can be followed on X at @sibi123. Reach him at sarasu@ap.org.

___

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 violent assault in April on a nun walking in her habit in Jerusalem’s Old City sent shock waves across Israel and its many Christian communities.

Clergy and advocates say verbal abuse and spitting have grown increasingly common in the densely packed historic heart of Jerusalem. There, Christians, Jews and Muslims daily cross paths, mostly uneventfully, as they visit some of the holiest sites of Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

But the violent beating of the nun was seen as a rare and worrisome escalation in the volatile environment that people of all faiths have been experiencing in nearly three years of war.

On Wednesday, a judge ruled that there was evidence that a Jewish man from a settlement in the occupied West Bank committed the actions he was charged with, but he was entitled to an insanity defense after the district psychiatrist found he was psychotic at the time of the attack.

The director of The French Biblical and Archeological School of Jerusalem, where the nun is a researcher, told The Associated Press that he hoped the psychiatric hospitalization would be carried out in full “so that public safety can be assured, our colleague can recover psychologically, and people can live in and visit Jerusalem without fear, regardless of their belonging to any community.”

But Friar Olivier Poquillon added he regretted the decision not to impose a criminal penalty.

“At the moment of the incident, his judgment was nevertheless sufficient for him to deliberately choose a Catholic nun as his victim from among all the people present,” he said.

Yisca Harani, who founded the organization Religious Freedom Data Center to track harassment of Christians, said even mentally unstable people can be influenced to act by the prevailing discourse around them.

“He is still someone who is the product of either the ignorance or the incitement that is around him,” she said. “Even if he is mentally unstable, he was fed with all that anti-Christian material that is around us now.”

Harani’s organization has tracked a near-tripling of incidents in Jerusalem from four years ago to the last three months recorded — about one a day now — virtually all by Jewish religious nationalists.

Their hostility to Christians is grounded in the history of persecution of Jews in Christian-majority European countries, in faith practices they see as idol-worshipping, and in seeing their presence as an affront near areas historically sacred to Jews, like the Western Wall, experts say.

Ambassador George Deek, Israel's new special envoy to the Christian world, said that earlier this month, Israeli police appointed an English-speaking officer to be a first point of contact for Christians in case of incidents, “so there will be a rapid response.”

“We are going to come up with practical solutions to how we can minimize or stop, if possible, the phenomenon,” Deek said. “We take these issues very seriously.”

___

Associated Press journalist Koral Saeed contributed from Herzliya, Israel.

___

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.

That is not his plan this year.

The 33-year-old restaurant server in this eastern Pennsylvania town that once housed one of the world's largest steelmakers is eager to vote for any Democrat he can in November. As the war with Iran that Trump initially said would last weeks surpasses six months on Friday, Gibbons is feeling the fallout every time he fills his tank at nearly $1 per gallon more than last year.

“The price of gas affects the price of everything and the price of everything's up and my pay hasn't gone up,” he said. “I'm doing blue no matter who this time.”

The Iran war has reshaped the rapidly approaching midterm elections, undermining Trump's campaign pledge to steer clear of foreign conflicts and challenging Republicans who would rather focus on their tax cuts as they cling to narrow majorities in Congress.

While the president's supporters are undeterred, the war's unpopularity and economic ripple effects could tilt the scales in tightly contested U.S. House districts like the one in Bethlehem, where Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie is one of this year's most vulnerable incumbents.

Midterm elections are always difficult for the party in power in Washington. But interviews with voters around the country show how a war that Trump expected to end with a swift victory could undermine the final years of his presidency.

Many US adults say the war has not been worth fighting

About two-thirds of U.S. adults say the war with Iran has not been worth fighting, according to a July poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That includes the vast majority of Democrats and independents, as well as more than one-third of Republicans.

Although Trump has long criticized Iran's leadership, he did little to prepare Americans or allies for such a lengthy conflict. Republican President George W. Bush, for instance, spent more than a year making a case for launching a war in Iraq through speeches and attempts to build an international coalition. Trump did none of that.

Trump has refused to acknowledge the war's cost, saying this month he would “never apologize” for higher prices stemming from it and insisting he did “the right thing" to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. His administration announced new sanctions this week in an attempt to further isolate Tehran.

In Congress, Republicans have shifted from initially cheerleading Trump's moves in Iran to expressing concern about the toll of the war. But the party has largely unified to block measures that would curb Trump's war powers and leaders have shown no interest in cutting off money for the war, preferring to portray Democrats as extremists who cannot be trusted to govern.

Democrats who were blamed just two years ago for presiding over high prices see an opportunity to turn the issue back on their opponents. As part of his comeback U.S. Senate bid in Ohio, Sherrod Brown released an ad this week filmed at a gas station as he said “the cost of gas is out of control and we're the ones paying for it.”

Speaking to a group of older adults recently in a Republican-dominated swath of western Maryland, Democratic U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks blamed higher prices on the war. Heading into November, she encouraged fellow Democrats to stay focused on the war's impact and what it says about Trump's leadership.

“We ought to be saying what is obvious, which is our country is heading in the wrong direction,” she said in an interview.

That resonates with voters such as Brandon Bane, a fast-food worker in Bakersfield, California, where Republican Rep. David Valadao is also in a competitive congressional race. Bane, who described himself as a political independent, said he often has to balance paying rent and groceries, noting high gas prices have only added to the challenge.

“It hasn’t been worth it at all,” he said of the war, adding that he plans to vote for Valadao’s challenger, Democrat Randy Villegas.

Melissa Wegman, a Democratic retiree who is also from Bakersfield, said she was shocked when the pump recently whirled to $128 to fill the tank on her SUV.

“I have to manage a budget," she said.

Some voters are sticking with Republicans

But there is a risk, too, that the war does not provide Democrats with the political boost they are expecting.

While there is plenty of frustration about prices, there are also voters willing to make adjustments without blaming Republicans. Many remain aligned with Trump and are not interested in seeing Democrats return to power.

North Carolina is a top pickup opportunity for Democrats hoping to flip a U.S. Senate seat. But at the State Farmers Market in Raleigh, North Carolina, Lucienda Lowe of Sugarloaf Orchards said her faith in Trump is solid.

“There has to be a reason why they’re over there,” she said. “They wouldn’t be over there doing that if there wasn’t something more going on than what we’re seeing.”

She has not raised her prices on apples even as fuel and fertilizer costs soar. Her family has been farming since 1846 so she feels resilient to weather the next rough patch and tells others to do the same.

“Suck it up, buttercup," she said.

Similarly in Iowa, where Democrats are bullish on their prospects of flipping everything from a U.S. Senate seat and the governor's mansion to several U.S. House races, Larry Cole said higher gas prices as a result of the war are just the “nature of the beast.”

The 66-year-old Republican service manager from Perry, Iowa, said he will back Republicans in this midterm elections and does not want to see Democrats gain control in either chamber. He said Trump has taken action that other presidents were not willing to do to keep Iran in check.

Trump “hit them where they need to be hit,” Cole said.

Mark Duffy, 65, of Scottsdale, Arizona, said he did not expect the Iran war to go on as long as it has, but it has not had material effects on his life.

“I didn’t think it would go this long,” said Duffy, who retired a year ago from his career selling electronic components. “I don’t think anybody did, but now the next wave is the economic sanctions, so we’ll see if that works and maybe that is a way for other people to join.”

For others, the war has only reinforced a sense that neither political party is responsive to the needs of voters.

As he left a tattoo parlor in Ashland, Virginia, 26-year-old Evan Mise said he feels the increase in gas prices and worries about whether his mom will be able to retire or whether he will someday be able to.

But he had not decided whether to support Democrats or Republicans in November.

“I feel like our government is pretty corrupt through and through," he said. “It’s kind of just a sit-back-and-watch thing. And I think my generation especially feels helpless."

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Sloan reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Allen G. Breed in Raleigh, N.C., Michael R. Blood in Bakersfield, Calif., Sarah Rankin in Ashland, Va., Jonathan J. Cooper in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.

• Local artists continue to remember Dolly Parton, who passed away Tuesday at the age of 80
• Burglars ransack home of Gables couple killed in Kenya chopper crash
• Hundreds missing as floods caused by a glacial collapse devastate parts of the Nepal-China border

You can watch a live feed of our news broadcast at Local10.com/Live.

Ukraine is desperately short of U.S.-made Patriot air defense missiles that can counter Russia’s ballistic missiles, and Moscow’s fast-flying jet-powered drones have brought another challenge since the Russian military's full-scale invasion began 4½ years ago.

Ukrainian officials say Russia builds up missile stocks and launches major attacks every few days, hoping to exhaust Ukrainian defenses through the sheer weight of numbers. In response, Ukraine has hit high-profile targets on Russian soil as the countries inflict mutual destruction.

Russia says attack targeted war-related facilities

The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces carried out a “massive” strike on targets in nine Ukrainian cities that began after nightfall on Wednesday. It described the targets as military-related, including industrial facilities, oil refineries, logistics hubs and port infrastructure.

Civilian areas, including apartment buildings, suffered damage. The barrage killed a 78-year-old woman in the southern Zaporizhzhia region and another person in the northern Kharkiv region, with at least 14 people reported wounded elsewhere, Ukrainian officials said.

“Russia continues to invest in missiles and in expanding its war, and that means more countermeasures are needed,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media, noting promises earlier this week by European countries to provide more air defense assistance.

“It is important that these (measures) are also supplemented by additional ballistic missile defense packages” through European purchases of weapons from the United States, he said.

Though the Russian Defense Ministry insisted only war-related targets were attacked, Russia appears determined to hurt Ukrainian businesses and dent the country's economy through attacks on private enterprise after Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes caused financial difficulties for Moscow.

Russian drones hit three major distribution centers, destroying depots belonging to a toy store chain and a confectionery company, and damaging another run by an electronics retailer, the companies said.

In addition, Moscow continued its efforts to wreck the Ukrainian power grid before the freezing winter months.

Four powerful glide bombs destroyed generating equipment at the southern Kherson region’s combined heat and power plant, forcing it to shut down, its operator Naftogaz said.

Zelenskyy expected on official visit to neighboring Moldova

Zelenskyy was due to visit neighboring Moldova on Thursday to mark its national day commemorating its 1991 declaration of independence from the Soviet Union. Ukraine announced its independence the same year.

Russia’s neighbors in Eastern Europe are concerned its invasion of Ukraine could trigger a wider conflict, and drones flying into its airspace have fueled jitters.

Moldova’s Ministry of Defense said Thursday that five drones breached its airspace overnight, but it didn’t specify who fired them.

Ukraine’s air force said defenses shot down or suppressed seven Russian ballistic missiles, though it didn’t say how they achieved that.

Four districts of Kyiv were hit during the night, damaging residential buildings, a school and a medical facility, though no casualties were reported, city police said.

Russian forces struck industrial facilities as well as energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s central Poltava region, said Vitalii Diakivnych, head of the Poltava regional military administration.

The southern Odesa region also came under a major Russian attack lasting more than seven hours, according to Oleh Kiper, head of the Odesa regional military administration.

The barrage damaged a 16-story residential building and two educational facilities as well as a grain elevator, he said. Odesa is a key port for Ukraine’s vital exports of grain and other agricultural products.

Some trains were delayed by more than 17 hours following the attack, according to Ukrainian state rail company Ukrzaliznysia.

Ukraine takes aim at another Russian online retailer

Ukraine has also fired hundreds of long-range drones almost nightly at targets in Russia.

Ukraine’s General Staff said that plane-launched missiles hit Russia’s main and backup command posts near the eastern city of Donetsk, where Ukrainian defenders are under pressure from a Russian push.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday that its air defenses shot down 267 Ukrainian drones over 14 Russian regions, the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.

After razing huge warehouses in recent months belonging to Wildberries, Russia’s biggest online retailer, Ukrainian drones are now taking aim at Ozon, the country's second-largest e-commerce company.

Ozon initially said that its logistics facilities in the cities of Orenburg and Ufa were attacked, but neither of the premises caught fire. A later alteration to the company statement said that only the Ufa site was attacked, while the Orenburg facility was evacuated because of an alert, but resumed normal operations.

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

Elsewhere in the Middle East, Israel continued its attacks on Gaza and Lebanon even as the country's strikes on Gaza drew a sharp rebuke from the top diplomat overseeing the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in the territory.

Here’s a look at the latest developments in the Iran war and the wider Middle East. Full coverage can be found here.

Diplomatic efforts by Qatar and Pakistan

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani was in Tehran on Thursday as part of Qatar's efforts to resolve the conflict between the United States and Iran.

Qatar’s foreign ministry said in a post on X that Al Thani's meeting with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi included talks on “the efforts being made to reduce escalation,” as well as a proposed plan between Iran and Oman to allow ships safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz and clear the vital commercial waterway of dangerous mines.

Al Thani’s office said the prime minister emphasized the “necessity of respecting the sovereignty of neighboring countries and the freedom of navigation” on the strait. He also met Thursday with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian and its parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf.

Pakistan said Thursday that it was also continuing diplomatic efforts to help resolve the crisis. Field Marshal Asim Munir visited Tehran recently with the aim of reviving the June memorandum of understanding to reopen the strait, the country’s foreign ministry said.

U.S. President Donald Trump told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that he has “no time schedule” to wrap up the conflict that will reach the six-month mark on Friday.

Oil tanker attacked in Strait of Hormuz

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Organization said Thursday that it had received a report of an oil tanker hit in the Strait of Hormuz.

The monitoring agency, run by the British military, said that local authorities reported that the vessel was hit by an unknown projectile on Tuesday in the waters between Oman and Iran, causing it to catch fire.

The crew was reported to be safe and there have been no reports of environmental damage, the UKMTO said.

Oil continues to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, albeit well below prewar levels, shipping analysts say.

Ship traffic through the vital waterway increased last week compared to the prior week, with the number of oil and gas carriers up 50%, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence.

The U.S. government has claimed that up to 9 million barrels a day are flowing through the strait “over short time periods,” but commodities analysts at ING bank cautioned that the figure “seems aggressive.”

Other ship-tracking estimates suggest it’s closer to 2 to 6 million barrels per day, ING said. Before the war, some 15 million barrels per day passed the strait.

Iran’s foreign ministry criticizes US sanctions

Esmail Baghaei, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, wrote late Wednesday in a social media post that the U.S. had made a coalition with Bahrain, calling it a country with “virtually no meaningful economic exchange with Iran.”

In another social media post on Wednesday, Iran’s top negotiator and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf thanked China for rejecting the U.S. “economic D-Day” policies against Iran.

Earlier this week, Tehran had warned that it would respond harshly to expanded U.S. sanctions, including measures against countries it sees as cooperating with Washington.

Israeli strikes kill 4 in Gaza

Four people died and several others were wounded Thursday during Israeli strikes on Gaza, local health officials said.

Three of the victims died in separate strikes in Gaza City, officials at Shifa hospital said. The fourth person died and others were wounded in a strike on a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza, officials at Nasser hospital said.

Israel's military said the four strikes targeted Hamas militants.

Nickolay Mladenov, head of Trump’s Board of Peace, admonished Israel during a United Nations gathering over Israel's continued attacks on Wednesday.

Israel’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Noa Furman, told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday that Israel is committed to Trump’s peace plan, but that Hamas’ “disarmament must come first."

Dutch diplomats removed from Gaza ceasefire efforts

Israel's foreign ministry is removing two Dutch diplomats from the Gaza ceasefire coordination center, the Dutch foreign ministry said in a statement.

Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said that the decision was in response to “a series of anti-Israel measures taken by the Dutch government,” including next month's implementation of a ban on the trade of Israeli products from the occupied West Bank and other areas.

Tom Berendsen, the foreign minister of the Netherlands, told The Associated Press in an email that he felt the removal of the diplomats was “unnecessary” but that his country stood by its decision “to ban products from illegal settlements.”

Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon kill 1 woman

The strikes on southern Lebanon on Thursday afternoon came after Israel blamed the militant Hezbollah group for firing two explosive drones.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said an airstrike on the village of Arab Salim killed one woman and wounded six, including a child, inside a home.

The Israeli military said Hezbollah had fired two explosive drones at Israeli troops near the southern city of Nabatiyeh earlier Thursday, though the drones did not inflict any casualties among troops before one was shot down.

Pakistan and Kuwait reach military deal

Pakistan military announced Thursday that it has agreed to assist Kuwait’s military with training, capacity building and border management.

The Pakistani armed forces said the deal was signed by Kuwait’s defense minister during a visit to the garrison city of Rawalpindi focused on bilateral defense relations and security cooperation.

Gulf states, long reliant on American protection, have been considering alternative security arrangements in the wake of the war between Iran and the U.S. In early August, Saudi Arabia signed a mutual defense pact with Pakistan and Turkey.

Here’s what to know about the mountain and its centuries-old role as a pilgrimage site.

A sacred mountain for several religious traditions

Mount Kailash is a Himalayan peak in southwestern Tibet, near China’s borders with Nepal and India. It rises more than 6,400 meters (21,000 feet) above sea level and lies close to Lake Manasarovar. Both have long been part of Sanskrit religious and literary traditions.

Mount Kailash holds sacred significance for Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and the Tibetan Bon tradition. Each associates the mountain with different beliefs and sacred histories.

According to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, the mountain is considered the home of Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction, and Parvati, a Hindu goddess associated with marriage, fertility and motherhood.

Followers of the Tibetan Bon tradition regard it as a seat of spiritual power and associate the region with Tonpa Shenrab, the tradition’s founder.

Geographer Emily Yeh, a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, who has conducted research in Tibet, wrote in 2017 that Kailash is associated with the mythical Mount Meru, considered the center of the world in Hindu and Buddhist cosmology.

The surrounding landscape also figures in local legends and Himalayan traditions. “Shared Sacred Landscapes,” a book published by ICIMOD in 2017, gathers some of them.

One story tells of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, who visits villagers longing to make the pilgrimage to Mount Kailash. Nanak teaches them that the true pilgrimage is a spiritual journey within themselves.

Pilgrims travel to Kailash for a journey of purification

India’s government operates an official Kailash Manasarovar pilgrimage from June through August or September each year, with routes through the states of Uttarakhand and Sikkim. Private operators also organize pilgrimages through Nepal.

Pilgrims traditionally walk around Mount Kailash rather than climb it, completing a roughly 33-mile (53-kilometer) circuit around the mountain.

The journey around the peak is believed to cleanse pilgrims of their sins and can take about three days to complete. Hindus and Buddhists traditionally circle the mountain clockwise, while followers of Bon travel counterclockwise.

At nearby Lake Manasarovar, some Hindu pilgrims bathe in its waters as a ritual of spiritual purification.

Yeh wrote that Tibetan pilgrims stop at monasteries and other sacred sites along the route, touching prayer beads or their foreheads to features believed to bear sacred imprints. Other rituals are meant to test a pilgrim’s merit, sin or fortune.

Pilgrims among hundreds missing after floods

The disaster has left at least 165 dead and 826 people missing in Nepal, and three dead and 558 missing in Tibet, authorities said. Hundreds of those missing were foreigners.

Nepal’s tourism board said 179 of those missing were from India. Officials said most were on pilgrimage to Mount Kailash. Also missing were 65 from the United States, 35 from Australia, 33 from Britain and 25 from Canada.

Indian spiritual guru Jaggi Vasudev, also known as Sadhguru, said in a post on X that 77 people returning from the mountain with groups organized by his Isha Foundation were at an immigration center in Gyirong, Tibet, when the floods struck.

The floods followed a glacier collapse that sent debris rushing downstream through communities on both sides of the border. Similar flash floods have struck the region as warming temperatures increasingly destabilize Himalayan ice.

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

The number of missing from Wednesday's disaster may vary across agencies because of differences in how they collected data, when it was reported and how it was verified, as well as gaps in coordination between those assembling data and those conducting rescue efforts in the affected area.

A look at how multiple countries have been affected:

Nepal

Nepal’s disaster management authority said the death toll has risen to 359, with 910 people, including 517 foreign nationals, still missing. The authority added that 50 foreigners have been rescued by air so far.

Local reports cited the National Emergency Operation Center as saying Thursday the missing included 113 Nepali tourists, 85 security personnel from the army and police as well as 161 residents from the Rasuwa district and one from the Nuwakot district.

China

State media reported at least three people died and 558 were missing in Gyirong County, Tibet. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported that 260 of the 558 missing people were foreigners. In addition, nearly 100 Chinese citizens were missing on the Nepal side, China’s foreign ministry said.

India

India's External Affairs Ministry said 288 Indian nationals remain uncontactable. They included 73 people who were working on a power project. Nepal officials have said many Indian tourists were on pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in Tibet, a sacred site for Hindus.

United States

The U.S. State Department said 90 Americans were unaccounted for in China and Nepal. It said it was not aware of any U.S. deaths. Three Americans have been rescued.

Malaysia

The board said 51 Malaysians were missing.

Ukraine

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said that 55 Ukrainians are missing. The number includes two tourist groups of 47 and seven people, in addition to one Ukrainian woman traveling with a foreign tour group, the ministry said.

Australia

The board said 35 Australians were missing.

Britain

The board said 33 of the missing were from Britain.

Canada

Nepal's tourism board said 25 of the missing were from Canada.

South Korea

South Korean government officials said nine citizens working on building a hydropower plant in Nepal were missing.

Singapore

Eight Singaporeans were missing, according to Nepal tourism board.

Germany

Nepal's tourism board said eight tourists from Germany were missing.

Russia

The Russian Embassy in Nepal said eight of its citizens were missing.

South Africa

The board said six South Africans were missing.

Latvia

The board said six tourists from Latvia were missing.

Japan

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi expressed worry about five Japanese nationals whom local media reported were missing.

New Zealand

Five people from New Zealand were missing, said Nepal's tourism board.

France

The board said four French citizens were missing.

Belgium

The board said three from Belgium were missing.

Spain

The board said three visitors from Spain were missing.

Others

The board said two people each from Italy, Kazakhstan, Portugal, Ireland and Netherlands were missing. It said 10 others — one each from Belarus, Finland, Hungary, Israel, Lithuania, Philippines, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Serbia and Sweden — were also missing.

Wang Yi met with U.S. ambassador to China David Perdue on Wednesday and called on both sides to “focus on the positive agenda, properly manage differences, remove interference and overcome obstacles to high-level exchanges between the two countries,” Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported Thursday.

China-U.S. relations “still face various risks and challenges,” he acknowledged in a statement released by CCTV.

Trump and Xi met in May in Beijing and pledged to keep the relationship stable and maintain the fragile trade truce. Trump invited Xi to meet Sept. 24 in the U.S., but the exact date of the Chinese leader's visit has not been confirmed.

Since then, however, the U.S. and China have continued to take targeted economic action against each other, including the U.S. banning imports of new Chinese-made humanoid robots and China banning American entities engaging in trade and other activities in China.

Also on Thursday, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lin Jian said at a regular press conference that China and the U.S. were maintaining communication about the two leaders' upcoming meeting “within the year.”

China-U.S. tensions had been elevated since Trump's return to the White House last year, with the U.S. at one point saying tariffs on China would be up to 145%, although the tariff levels came down substantially later. Tensions have eased in recent months and several agreements were made during the leaders' May meeting, including the setting up of boards of trade and investment between the two countries.

However, the Trump administration has recently been deliberating new tariffs of 7.5% on China as a result of an ongoing U.S. probe against 16 economies on excess industrial capacity and production. An official decision has not yet been finalized or made public. The U.S. also said last month that it was imposing a 12.5% tariff on China as a result of a U.S. probe on forced labor against 60 economies.

In response to the potential 7.5% new tariffs by the U.S., China's Ministry of Commerce on Thursday told reporters that China “firmly opposes” the U.S. probe on excess capacity, adding that the U.S. was “politicizing economic and trade issues.”

Beijing will continue to closely monitor developments and “reserves the right to take all necessary measures” if needed, the Commerce Ministry added.

Last month, China also hit back against Western criticism of overcapacity in a report titled “China’s Position on the So-called Excess Capacity Issue,” saying China never sought a large trade surplus.

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AP writer Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

It was an abandoned church, in rural Tennessee where she grew up, that had become known as a haven for sex, drugs and violence. Rather than see the used condoms on the floor, the out-of-tune piano left behind or the explicit drawings on the walls as a hindrance to her religious encounter, Parton spoke fondly of the setting where she went to pray as a young girl.

“I would sing hymns to God for a while and look at dirty pictures for a while and pray for a while, and one day as I prayed in earnest, I broke through some sort of spirit wall and found God,” she wrote.

“Here in one place was God, music and sex.”

The country music icon was known for blurring the line between Sunday morning and Saturday night, a window into her theology that captivated people across political and denominational lines.

As news broke this week that the 80-year-old country music icon died of cancer, social media was flooded with quotes and interview clips of Parton proclaiming her Christian faith, something she wore on her sleeve even when her relationship to church was complicated.

But for many Christian members of the LGBTQ+ community who struggled to reconcile their sexuality and gender identity with the intolerant beliefs they were taught, Parton’s public support helped them keep their faith in some cases, and transformed their understanding of how God sees them in others.

“Her approach to solidarity was inspiring for me as a young, queer Christian girl realizing I was gay,” said Ciarra Jones, a 32-year-old workplace consultant from Oakland, California. “For queer Christians, experiencing another queer Christian — or another queer-affirming person that is Christian — is important to your journey. Dolly, for me, was one of those lights.”

Parton was a trailblazer in LGBTQ+ acceptance

Long before same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide, Parton made acceptance a recurring theme of both her music and public persona, which has contributed to long-running support from the LGBTQ+ community.

“I got a huge gay following and some really macho-looking women,” Parton told Andy Warhol for a 1984 cover story for Interview Magazine.

When Warhol told her she would make a great preacher, Parton responded: “What do you mean? I am a great preacher.”

American Christianity spans the theological spectrum on sexuality and gender identity, with some remaining firmly committed to a conservative view. As society has shifted, so have some Christians' beliefs on things like same-sex marriage, though there is a widening partisan divide on certain issues, particularly regarding transgender people.

Parton, whose grandfather was a Pentecostal preacher, said her support for LGBTQ+ people was rooted in her Christian faith. “We are all God’s children,” she told Larry King in 2016. But she also did not try to convince others of her beliefs, sometimes to the frustration of fans who thought she ought to be more vocal.

“Some are preachers, some are gay / Some are addicts, drunks and strays / But not a one is turned away / When it’s family,” Parton sings on the song, “Family,” from her 1991 album “Eagle When She Flies.”

“I don’t condemn nor condone anything,” Parton once told The Associated Press regarding the song. “I just love and accept people where they are for who they are.”

Some queer people who were raised in religiously conservative homes push back against the notion that Parton was not political enough.

“It’s very, very hard to grow up and know who you are and have that be described as deviant and to be afraid that what you are is totally wrong,” said Duncan Teater, a film student at the University of Southern California, as his voice broke.

Teater, who is gay and grew up in Kentucky, was raised as a conservative Christian and has a complicated relationship to the faith as an adult. But, he said, Parton’s support was meaningful and he appreciated how she thinks about religiosity.

“For someone with the credibility and respect that Dolly Parton had, to be confident about the worth of every human being and to say that out loud and without hesitation and in such simple and loving words was a pretty radical act and a pretty political act,” he said.

Parton was vocal about faith in unexpected places

Parton’s faith, and her relationship with the gay community, spread beyond her music and interviews.

On the website for Dollywood, the East Tennessee theme park Parton opened decades ago after seeing families like hers unable to afford to go to Disneyland, there is a mission and values statement, which includes a commitment to live them out “in a manner consistent with Christian values and ethics.”

The park has a chaplain and a chapel — the Robert F. Thomas Chapel, named after the doctor who delivered Parton — that hosts weekly Sunday services.

Patrick Burrows, a 38-year-old scholar of theology and ethics, grew up going to Dollywood and has been more than 100 times.

“Any time there was a church outing in the Southern Baptist church that I grew up in or a day off from school or needing a mental health break in high school,” said Burrows, who grew up outside of Asheville, North Carolina.

The theme park was so formative for him that he wrote a chapter about it in his dissertation while studying theology at Harvard Divinity School.

“You should not see gay and lesbian couples standing next to people with ‘Jesus saved me from my sin’ shirts. And yet you see it” in what Burrows refers to as the “Dollyverse."

"Dolly created this space for people who are very different from one another to be different from another,” he said.

Burrows recalled writing dozens of pages before one line sparked an epiphany, prompting him to rewrite his entire thesis chapter: “Though I only know it in retrospect, Dolly Parton, through Dollywood, taught me how to be gay and how to be a Christian.”

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

The government is facing pressure from grieving families and the public who are seeking answers about the cause of the fire and the safety measures at a major health facility.

The scene at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad was somber as doctors, staff, patients and relatives gathered to mourn the newborns. Access was restricted to the third-floor area where the fire occurred.

During the vigil, members of civil society groups sat on the hospital floor beside rows of flickering candles, their grief and anger reflected in brightly colored, handwritten placards. “Investigators, no more graves for our babies,” one read. A woman fought back tears as some participants chanted, “We want justice,” and demanded accountability. The police did not intervene, and the demonstrators later dispersed peacefully.

The fire early on Wednesday at the hospital was confined to a third-floor nursery and did not affect the rest of the building. Hospital officials said the blaze spread so quickly that two doctors, two nurses and other staff present were able to rescue only one baby from among the 15 in the nursery.

Witnesses, including relatives of other patients, said they saw the family of the only baby to survive the fire leave the hospital with him after the blaze broke out.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has appointed an investigating committee, led by retired federal secretary Shahid Khan. It is expected to take statements from hospital staff, witnesses and families. The committee is also expected to make urgent recommendations to Sharif within 48 hours and deliver a comprehensive report within five days.

Hospital and district officials initially said an exploding air-conditioning unit caused the fire. In its preliminary report, however, the hospital said a blast involving a nebulizer sparked the blaze, which spread within minutes because of the high concentration of oxygen in the nursery. The committee has not reached its own conclusion and will independently determine the cause, the city administration said.

Officials said authorities handed over the bodies of all 14 newborns to their families for burial Wednesday night. Witnesses saw the families leaving the hospital with them in ambulances which were arranged by the government.

The Pakistani Taliban, a militant group also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, expressed grief over the newborns’ deaths and offered condolences to their families. The group has been behind numerous deadly attacks on security forces and civilians across the country in recent years.

The deaths prompted authorities to order broader reviews of fire-safety measures and firefighting equipment at hospitals. In Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, the government instructed the Health Department to immediately review fire-safety systems and emergency-response facilities, according to a government statement.

Sharif dismissed Health Secretary Aslam Ghauri, the Health Ministry’s highest-ranking civil servant, after the fire. Grieving parents and members of civil society have demanded answers about how the fire began and whether the nursery had adequate firefighting equipment.

The U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF, said it was saddened by the deaths and called for an urgent review and strengthening of fire-prevention and safety standards at health facilities.

The fire was among Pakistan’s deadliest recent tragedies involving children. In June, 14 schoolchildren were killed when the roof of a tutoring center under construction collapsed in the eastern city of Lahore.

The S&P 500 added 0.6% and pulled closer to its all-time high set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 187 points, or 0.4%, as of 11:30 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.2% higher.

Nvidia was the strongest force pulling the market higher, even though more stocks fell within the S&P 500 than rose. The chip giant climbed 7.5% after once again delivering much stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. More importantly for Wall Street, it also gave forecasts for upcoming revenue growth that topped analysts’ estimates, suggesting demand remains strong for chips to power artificial-intelligence projects.

“AI has reached its inflection point,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said. “It’s doing useful work. Its tokens are productive and profitable.”

That helped calm some of the worries that have built around AI stocks generally, which have been under pressure recently. After rocketing higher for years in the frenzy around AI, stocks in the industry are confronting skepticism that they shot too high and that booming demand for AI chips may fade if the AI revolution does not produce as much profit as promised.

Another big tech company, Salesforce, jumped 20.2% after it said that AI helped it deliver one of its best quarters in history. It reported stronger profit than analysts expected, and CEO Marc Benioff said it’s “seeing incredible demand for our AI and data products” and that it’s “turning AI into customer success at unprecedented scale.”

Salesforce, which helps companies manage their customers’ data, also raised its forecast for revenue over the full year and announced an expanded partnership to pair Anthropic's Claude chatbot with its platform. It’s notable because Salesforce’s stock struggled earlier on worries that competitors powered by AI could ultimately steal away customers from Salesforce and other software companies. Salesforce's stock is potentially heading for its best day in six years.

Elsewhere, though, trends were more mixed across big U.S. companies.

HP fell 5.8% even though it topped analysts’ expectations for profit and spring in the latest quarter. Analysts pointed to worries about its sales of personal computers, as well as how higher prices for computer memory and other commodities are pressuring its profit margins.

Best Buy and some other retailers sank amid continued worries that U.S. shoppers could be stretched because of high inflation and discouragement about the economy. Best Buy fell 4.4% even though it topped analysts’ expectations for both profit and revenue in the latest quarter.

One potential winner from high inflation could be dollar stores, which could see higher-income households become new customers as they look for less expensive places to shop.

Dollar General rose 6.3% after reporting a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. But rival Dollar Tree sank 3.1% despite blowing past profit expectations. More attention may have been on its forecasted range for an important underlying measure of revenue, whose midpoint fell short of analysts’ expectations.

In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady following a report suggesting the U.S. job market remains solid. Fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, an indication that layoffs could be remaining low.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury remained at 4.66%, where it was late Wednesday.

Yields have been largely climbing through the summer on worries about high inflation, the U.S. government’s gargantuan and growing debt and other factors. They got so high that the U.S. Treasury Department made a surprise announcement last week to intervene in the bond market, though analysts say its effect could be limited.

The next big event for the bond market will be a speech coming Friday from the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh. He has been adamant about giving financial markets fewer clues about what the Fed will do in the future with interest rates to control inflation. But the pressure is on him to give clearer guidance.

One wild card for inflation recently has been oil prices, which have been swinging with uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow oil tankers to freely exit the Persian Gulf again. The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, rose 0.3% Thursday to $87.23.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe and Asia. Stocks jumped 1.5% in Seoul and 1.1% in Shanghai but fell 1.7% in Paris.

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AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Michelle Chapman contributed to this report.

One attendee chided U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten for failing to support Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed.

“Your inflammatory rhetoric has nothing to do with creating a better economic future for the people of West Michigan, and everything to do with protecting the pipeline of our tax dollars to Israel,” the woman said.

The exchange captured a problem confronting Democrats as they head toward November. Party leaders believe concerns about the economy have given them an opening to win control of Congress, but internal divisions are making it harder to keep the focus there.

Nowhere is that tension more pronounced than Michigan, where Democrats are trying to regroup after a bruising Senate primary that El-Sayed won over U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens earlier this month. Disputes over Israel, antisemitism and El-Sayed’s association with controversial online commentator Hasan Piker have complicated the party’s effort to turn its attention to Republican Mike Rogers.

With the election fast approaching, Scholten and some other Democrats have withheld their support for El-Sayed for now.

“I think it’s up to the top of the ticket to unify the top of the ticket,” Scholten said Tuesday.

Democratic divisions haven’t disappeared

El-Sayed, who would be the country's first Muslim senator, has denounced antisemitism while fiercely criticizing Israel for its military operations in Gaza.

Some members of his party have balked at his rhetoric.

Michigan state Rep. Jeremy Moss, the Democratic nominee for a House seat outside Detroit, has also withheld his support. In an interview with The Atlantic’s David Frum released Wednesday, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who is Jewish, said El-Sayed should not “make excuses” for domestic terrorism.

She was referencing a video statement he put out in March following an attack on Temple Israel synagogue outside Detroit when he said “hurt people hurt people.”

Some Democrats outside Michigan have gone further in criticizing El-Sayed.

“There’s no way I’m ever coming out for El-Sayed, right now,” New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer said on CNN, adding that El-Sayed has “refused to back off his views towards Jewish Americans.”

El-Sayed’s appearances on the campaign trail with Piker have become a particular flashpoint in the disagreement. Piker is a popular streamer with a history of controversial remarks that include saying America “deserved 9/11.”

Piker recently became embroiled in controversy again when he argued against the idea that opposing Israel is antisemitic. American Jews are not uniformly supportive of Israel, he said, but many “Jewish institutions” are “teaching people the idea that Jews are monolithic” and “it's a very dangerous mode of propaganda.”

“If Jews in America keep putting this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone is going to come around and take action, not against the state of Israel mind you, but against American Jews,” he said.

The backlash was swift among Democrats, with critics saying Piker was suggesting that American Jews who support Israel were inviting violence.

"Hasan Piker’s dangerous and hateful language targeting Jewish Americans has no place in our civic discourse," Sen. Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, wrote on social media. “Suggesting that Jewish Americans bear responsibility for hatred or violence directed against them is wrong, dangerous, and antisemitic.”

Piker rejected that interpretation in a phone interview, saying he was warning that associating American Jews broadly with Israel’s actions could fuel antisemitism, much as Muslims in the United States have been associated with Islamic terrorist groups.

He said he was never particularly close with El-Sayed’s campaign — despite appearing with him at various events during the primary — and said that he did not want the race to become a conversation about him. He said he did not regret the remarks, however.

“I’m just a platform, I’m just a megaphone for people’s anger and frustration,” Piker said. “Even if I was going to go away tomorrow, I don’t think this problem would go away for our politicians.”

While El-Sayed has put some distance between himself and Piker amid the controversies, he has refused to cut ties completely. In a statement, he said “nobody speaks for this campaign besides me and my campaign spokesperson.”

Republicans see an opportunity in the continued dispute.

“It’s great,” said Republican strategist Jason Roe. “You can tell these Democrats are not going to distance themselves. Piker is to Democrats what Trump is to Republicans. You embrace him, it’s not helpful, and distance is also not helpful.”

Democrats try to turn toward November

Democrats who have rallied behind El-Sayed are increasingly eager to move beyond the fight.

“I am done. So don’t any reporter ask me again about Hasan Piker. It’s not what November is about,” Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell said Wednesday. “I don’t agree with Hasan Piker on a lot of stuff.”

She appeared alongside El-Sayed and U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland at a campaign event in Ann Arbor on Wednesday. The day prior, El-Sayed stood beside Eli Savit, the Democratic nominee for attorney general, and Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II, the party’s nominee for secretary of state, at a press conference.

Democrats who have backed El-Sayed argue that the party is largely unified and that the remaining disagreements are a natural part of moving beyond a contentious primary. Raskin, who is Jewish, described it as a “process that we go through” after the primary.

“The Democratic Party is a big, sometimes an unruly family, but we’re all going to be together in the end,” Raskin said.

Michigan Democrats from across the state are expected to gather this weekend for a convention in Lansing to finalize the party's November ticket. Ahead of the convention, all the party's nominees and party chair, Curtis Hertel, sent a letter saying that “disruptive behavior or harassment of any kind will not be tolerated."

“This convention is our moment to celebrate our candidates,” the letter read.

El-Sayed at Wednesday's event in Ann Arbor expressed frustration with the continued focus on Piker.

“You would think if you turn on any media that this whole campaign is about a streamer in California,” El-Sayed said at the Ann Arbor event. He added that he’s “less interested in going to the sort of tabloid version of our politics where we cover this like, who’s in, who’s out, who’s up, who’s down, who’s talking to who?”

But El-Sayed acknowledged that some Democrats have yet to put the primary behind them.

“There are a few people who are still nursing wounds or grievances from the primary,” El-Sayed said. “I get it. Losing is hard.”

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Associated Press reporter Jesse Bedayn contributed to this report.

A June memorandum of understanding was designed to pave the way to end the war but has fallen by the wayside. U.S. stockpiles of key weapons have diminished and the Republican administration has pivoted to pressuring Iran economically rather than conducting more strikes.

“No negotiations are happening right now, and this will continue until the president feels that maybe they come to the table in a meaningful way,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told “Fox & Friends” on Thursday.

As the shape of the war has morphed over the past half year, so, too, have the goals.

One of the prime goals now — reopening the Strait of Hormuz — was not one of Trump's original objectives. The waterway, which had been a vital shipping lane through which about 20% of the world's oil passed, was open and free to all.

Iran seized on it as a chokepoint for the global economy. The strait has been largely closed since the war started, driving up prices for fuel and fertilizer needed for farms and creating economic and political pressure in the U.S.

The U.S. has had tactical success with its goals to degrade Iran's military capabilities. But some of the other key objectives Trump laid out at the start of the conflict remain unfulfilled and others have shifted.

Here is a look at the objectives and what we know about where they stand:

Stop Iran from having a nuclear weapon

In June 2025, Trump declared that the U.S. had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program. But when the war started, his aides justified the strikes by warning that Iran had been just weeks away from developing a bomb.

One of the most pressing questions has been what will be done with a stockpile of about 970 pounds (440 kilograms) of enriched uranium that Tehran could potentially use for a weapon. The material is believed to be buried under three sites bombed by the U.S. and Israel last year. Trump said in a May 29 social media post that it would be retrieved by the U.S. “in close coordination and conjunction with the Islamic Republic of Iran, plus the International Atomic Energy Agency, and DESTROYED.”

Iran has not said whether it would consent. Without permission from Iran, experts have said seizing it would be a dangerous mission requiring a sizable deployment of U.S. troops into the country.

Officials said that Tehran reaffirmed in the June memorandum of understanding that it would not procure or develop nuclear weapons. The deal called for Iran to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. But many other details about Iran's program were left for future negotiations, and it's unclear how much progress, if any, was made before talks quickly fell off.

Reopen the Strait of Hormuz

Trump has said that a proposed deal with Iran would include the reopening of the strait and the U.S. ending its blockade of Tehran’s ports, but at other times he has suggested the international waterway would somehow become American territory and indicated the U.S. could impose a toll on passing ships.

Trump also has repeatedly said that the strait is open, including during an interview on Wednesday on conservative commentator Glenn Beck’s radio show.

“It’s a functioning strait. Yes, every once in a while, there’ll be a drone or a rocket or something shot, but it is a very functioning strait,” Trump said.

Destroy Iran's ability to fire missiles

One of the prime objectives laid out by the administration was to “destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground."

Trump said in late March that Iran's missiles “are mostly decimated" and that 90% of their missiles and launchers were knocked out.

By mid-May, that shifted to a more conservative estimate, with the president saying that 82% of Iran's missiles were gone.

Iran has shown its ability to still launch attacks in the region, including drone strikes on ships sailing through the strait.

As recently as July, the U.S. military still had Iranian military targets to strike, with its Central Command announcing it was striking “Iranian military command centers, air defense and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and communications networks.”

Destroy Iran's defense industrial base

Early in the war, the president and his administration sometimes listed this as a standalone objective. Other times, it has fallen off their list.

U.S. Central Command has said its targets for strikes in Iran have included weapons production and missile and drone manufacturing facilities.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers in early June that Iran has had “massive destruction” of its defense industrial base and “80 to 90% of attrition. It will take years for them to rebuild it.”

Eliminate Iran's navy and air force

The U.S. and Israel quickly established air superiority in the skies above Iran, where they flew largely unchallenged.

Rubio told lawmakers that Iran still has drone capabilities, but it lacks the ability to use swarms of drones to attack targets, as it did at the start of the war. He also said Iran does not have a navy anymore, and relies on small craft outfitted with machine guns that harass ships and sometimes drop mines in the water.

Trump on Wednesday said that Iran's navy and air force are “totally gone."

Protect America's Middle Eastern allies

Trump, in a March social media post, added another objective for the U.S.: “Protecting, at the highest level, our Middle Eastern Allies, including Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, and others."

The U.S. maintains thousands of troops on bases and other installations in the region, but Trump has been unclear on how far he would be willing to go to protect Middle East allies from threats in the long term. In June, when the U.S. said Iran fired missiles at Kuwait and Bahrain, the U.S. launched strikes on Iran in response.

But one ally — Oman — has notably not been feeling the warmth of Trump's offer of protection, and instead has grappled with Trump's wrath over the deal it was negotiating with Iran over the Strait of Hormuz. In mid-August, he threatened in an interview that the U.S. would bomb Oman if it “gets in the way," using an expletive for emphasis.

Cut off support for Iranian proxy groups

In March, Trump and his administration repeatedly said degrading Iran's proxy terrorist networks was a key goal.

As time has gone on, administration officials have offered fewer updates about this objective, which the president described as ensuring that “the region’s terrorist proxies can no longer destabilize the region or the world and attack our forces” and “ensuring that the Iranian regime cannot continue to arm, fund, and direct terrorist armies outside of their borders.”

Early on, the U.S. struck Iranian-aligned militia groups in Iraq. But the biggest focus has been Israel's war in Lebanon against Hezbollah, which Iran backs. Iran has insisted that the fighting in Lebanon must be stopped as part of any deal with the U.S. Israel and the Lebanese government announced a deal, which was mediated by the U.S., for Israeli forces to leave southern Lebanon in exchange for Hezbollah's disarmament — something an administration official described as a “huge step,” speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to address the issue on the record. But the militant group has refused direct talks and its leader has said it will not disarm.

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Associated Press writer Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report.

Besides the money, which will be paid out over a decade, Meta has agreed to strengthen its age estimates to keep kids under 13 off its platforms and teens in age-appropriate accounts, enact a hard limit of two hours a day for users under 18, block kids from the apps from midnight to 6 a.m., and hide “like” counts, among other changes.

Meta said the new safeguards will only apply in the United States, with most in place for 10 years.

While acknowledging the changes go further than Meta has ever gone when it comes to child safety, critics and children's advocates cautioned it will not solve its myriad problems overnight.

Arturo Béjar, a former Meta engineering director, said the settlement is a “significant milestone,” but parents should not see Instagram as suddenly safe for children.

“The agreement has a big problem in that it allows Meta to define harm,” Béjar said in an interview Wednesday. "It’s one thing to say, ‘Yeah, you only get like two hours of alcohol or two hours of cigarettes a day,’ but it’s still as bad for you because of what’s getting delivered.”

Béjar, the first witness to testify during the federal trial cut short by the settlement, would like to see Meta address the effect of content recommendations to teens, which he says can prove addictive. While teens might put their phone down when they hit the two-hour limit, they can be distressed about it because the way the platform is designed leaves them craving more.

Meta said people over 18 also can adopt versions of the new controls individually, such as daily time-limit reminders, but there will not be an option for them to opt into the overall settings for what teens experience on the platform.

Stronger age checks

To protect kids, first Meta has to know who they are. While the company has already been using artificial intelligence to determine if kids are lying about their age — either to sign up if they are under 13, which is not allowed, or to use adult accounts when they are 13 to 17 — it did not always work.

Under the proposed settlement, Meta agreed to strengthen its technology to check kids’ ages, using its own as well as third-party tools, with regular outside audits on how well it is working. The agreement also includes specific goals around false positive rates — that is, minors who are identified as over 18. And if a user is identified as under 13 and kicked off the platforms, Meta will check the ages of their friends, too.

“The age assurance section is reasonably good because it has measurement, has independent testing, has goals,” Béjar said. “Because I think Meta should be measured on effectiveness, not effort.”

Meta requires users to be at least 13 years old to create an account, in line with federal child privacy law.

In his testimony last week, Béjar said Meta took a “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach on kids under 13 on its platforms.

“Meta has one of the most sophisticated infrastructures in the world to detect fake accounts,” he said. But despite that, he added, there were “no goals, no metrics” to detect and check kids’ ages who were suspected to be under 13.

Some safety features will be on by default

Critics have faulted Meta over many of its safety features that users have to manually turn on, or opt into themselves.

Of the host of safeguards listed in the settlement, many are on as a default. This includes the two-hour time limit, which can only be turned off with a parent’s permission, as well as the night mode that blocks use between midnight and 6 a.m.

Still, under the agreement other features, such as turning off video autoplay or showing posts in chronological order rather than having algorithms decide what to show kids scrolling through their feeds, will be opt-in.

Josh Golin, executive director of online safety nonprofit Fairplay, said the deal appeared to be too focused on offering tools to parents rather than restricting harmful features altogether.

“We are disappointed that the settlement does not turn off by default recommendation algorithms that connect kids to predators and send young people down dangerous rabbit holes,” Golin said.

Questions around default settings came up at the trial earlier this week when a lawyer for the states suing Meta pressed Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, on the low adoption rate among teens for the “take a break” feature, which prompts users to step away if they have been scrolling a while.

Very few teens used the feature when Instagram first introduced it, but since launching separate teen accounts in 2024, Meta has made it the default setting for teenage users. Still, if a teen didn't want to take a break, they could simply swipe away the notification.

It may take time to see the results

Some researchers have found that many past protections Meta has rolled out are ineffective or don’t work as advertised.

“It is a little premature, unfortunately, to tell if exactly all the changes we want to see are going to happen,” said Yaël Eisenstat, director of policy and impact for the Cybersafety Research Center, which recently audited dozens of safety tools offered by both Meta and other social media companies and said most fell short.

Still, Eisenstat said, Wednesday’s settlement is monumental in showing that alternative approaches are possible.

For years, Meta “decided to go against the advice of some of their own internal employees and continue to ignore the fact that these design features were unsafe in search of profit,” said Eisenstat, who also previously worked at Meta, then Facebook, before leaving the company in 2019. The measures outlined Wednesday at the very least show that there are technically-feasible options that can make the platform safer, she said — something whistleblowers and others have already “been saying very loudly.”

Like others, Eisenstat stressed that there was a lot of work left to be done — and that it will require a combination of technical solutions, market forces and government regulation.

“There’s no singular silver bullet for fixing all of this,” she said. “I’m just glad that at least we are catching up a little bit now.”

The settlement, which also includes the District of Columbia and U.S. territories, must still be approved by a judge.

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Grantham-Philips reported from Chicago.

Simon & Schuster will on Thursday publish Arday’s memoir “Great and Unfortunate Things,” which tells the story of how an autistic boy who was non-verbal as a child and illiterate until his late teens grew up to be the youngest Black professor in the history of Cambridge University.

The book’s release comes less than two weeks after Arday, 41, was found dead at his apartment in London following relentless media coverage about allegations that his academic work was bolstered by plagiarism and that he exaggerated his athletic and fundraising achievements. The memoir was published earlier this month in the U.S.

Simon & Schuster said it decided to publish the book in accordance with his family’s wishes. The publisher said it would have no further comment about the book at this time.

“To the very end, Jason was clear that he wanted his memoir to be published, and it is only right that we honor his wishes,” the family said in a statement released by Simon & Schuster.

“There has been so much that has been written and said about our beloved brother, son, father, partner and uncle, mostly by people who don’t know the truth of what he experienced, and we experienced as a family, or what an extraordinary person he was.”

Arday’s death on Aug. 14 has sparked recriminations over who was responsible.

Cambridge has been criticized for elevating Arday too quickly in a rush to promote diversity, despite red flags about his qualifications. The news media has been targeted for driving the professor to despair with a barrage of coverage that his supporters say was out of proportion to what a white scholar charged with similar mistakes would have faced.

Scrutiny of the memoir increased following the controversy, with British newspapers noting that some of the running and fundraising accomplishments he previously touted had been left out of the book. For example, an advance copy of the book doesn’t mention his claim that he once ran 600 miles in six days to raise money for charity.

In an interview with the Times of London that was published July 31, Arday acknowledged that he had made mistakes, which he attributed to his autism and a lack of oversight early in his career. But he rejected accusations that he was “a liar and a fantasist and an academic fraud,” saying they were motivated by “racism and ableism.”

Arday, a sociologist, first rose to prominence when Cambridge announced his appointment in 2023, saying he was a “respected scholar” whose work focused on increasing the number of people from minority ethnic backgrounds who pursued higher education.

Questions about his academic qualifications began attracting public attention in mid-July after British newspapers picked up plagiarism allegations published by a white researcher who has been critical of “diversity, equity and inclusion programs.”

Cambridge initially stood by Arday, saying the plagiarism allegations had been investigated and determined to be unfounded. But on Aug. 5, the university announced that it had opened an investigation into Arday’s appointment after receiving “new information” about his qualifications and honorary appointments.

News coverage of Arday’s story didn’t stop, and he died nine days later.

“We are happy to allow the book to speak for itself and won’t comment further on its content,” the family said in their statement. “The family is still in shock and we are grieving. We call upon the media to give the family the space it needs to come to terms with this terrible loss.”

It can be a challenge for parents to figure out how to help children stay focused when using these devices. That can be especially complicated with school-managed devices, where parents may have limited control over settings and restrictions.

Helpful options can include using built-in tools and settings on devices, creating routines and introducing time-management techniques.

Here are some tips for parents to help children stay on task.

School-issued devices vs. personal devices

The strategies parents choose may depend on whether their children are working on their own devices or ones issued and managed by schools.

Parents have more control over personal tablets or computers, and are able to restrict pop-up notifications from programs, block websites or remove apps entirely. But school-issued devices often come with preloaded software and apps, and schools might manage those devices' settings.

Parents can talk with school administrators about what controls and restrictions are already in place and what options may be available to families concerned about screen time. Parents can also ask whether assignments or homework can be completed on paper. But reducing students’ use of technology entirely can also involve tradeoffs, particularly when some tools offer individualized instruction or help students develop technology skills increasingly expected in the workforce.

In some cases, schools are giving parents additional tools to monitor and manage devices outside of school hours. Battle Ground Public Schools in Washington, for example, introduced overnight login restrictions last year for elementary and middle school students on school-issued Chromebooks, while also allowing exemptions for some families. The restrictions were put in place as a result of parent concerns about device usage late at night and possible interruptions to sleep.

Make devices less distracting

Students can be distracted by notifications that pop up from apps, messages and other services. One simple way to quiet those interruptions is to put up a digital Do Not Disturb sign.

Apple devices, including MacBooks, have focus modes that let users silence some or all notifications, calls and texts. Do Not Disturb is one of the preset modes, and users can also set up their own. On Android devices, a standalone Do Not Disturb feature does the same thing while a separate focus mode, available through Digital Wellbeing in settings, can pause selected apps and gray out their icons so they are harder to open.

Parents can also use built-in controls on Apple and Android devices to regulate screen time, either on their own phone or on a child’s linked device. Depending on the device and how it is set up, parents can restrict access to categories of apps, such as games or entertainment, or set a daily time limit for an individual app.

Google users can use Family Link to manage settings and screen-time limits on a child’s Android device or Chromebook. Apple users can manage these controls for a child’s iPhone, iPad or Mac through Family Sharing.

Keep in mind that screen-time limits aren’t foolproof. Depending on the device and settings, children may be able to request additional time or override some restrictions.

If a setting is unavailable, parents may need to check the school’s device policy or ask the school or district’s technology department what controls are available.

There’s also a decidedly low-tech solution to a distracting app: Delete it. If a particular app is consistently pulling a child away from schoolwork, removing it from the device eliminates the temptation to open it in the first place.

Help kids manage their attention

Device settings can remove some distractions, but experts say parents should also help children learn how to manage their own attention and technology use.

“Everybody has individual rhythms of attention,” said Gloria Mark, professor emerita at the University of California, Irvine, and author of “Attention Span.”

Experts recommend paying attention to when students are most alert, and scheduling work that requires the most concentration during those periods. Those rhythms can vary throughout the day and depend partly on whether someone naturally functions better earlier or later in the day. A quiet or dedicated workspace can also help, as can avoiding multiple devices at once, such as texting while reading or switching to another screen during homework.

To learn and retain information, Mark said, students need to actively engage with material and avoid frequent distractions: “So quick attention shifts are not conducive for learning and retaining information.”

“When people become more conscious of what they’re doing, they can also become more intentional. And when you’re more intentional, you can form a plan,” she said, adding that setting goals and rewarding accomplishment helps people focus on their tasks.

Children should also start homework as early as possible after taking time to decompress from the school day, experts say. Waiting until late at night can interfere with sleep.

The goal isn’t necessarily to eliminate every distraction or monitor every move, Mark said. Parents can instead help children understand when and how they focus best and develop strategies for staying with one task. They don’t need to “helicopter” their children, she said, but should help them understand the importance of focusing and staying with one thing.

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AP Business Writer Kelvin Chan contributed to this report from London.

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Half the Senate gathered for the closed-door meeting. Senators set their mobile phones down and focused their attention. Along with representatives from the House, they listened as Zelenskyy fielded questions about his country's strategy in the long war against Russia.

Zelenskyy told them how Ukraine was repelling the Russian invasion, taking the fight to Moscow, but in need of U.S. help with Patriot interceptor missiles and licensing agreements, expanded access to Elon Musk's Starlink internet — and most immediately ahead of a Senate vote that July night — a punishing Russia sanctions package to deprive President Vladimir Putin of the oil and gas revenue fueling the war machine.

“He said, ‘We need this legislation,’” recalled Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in an interview. “Both the troops and the Ukrainian people need this for morale.”

“You could feel palpably in the room a sense that — Zelenskyy’s confidence of their ability to hold and to persevere,” said Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, a former Democratic leader. “There was a sense in the room that, look, we can be successful.”

The massive Russian sanctions package from the late Sen. Graham represented the most ambitious effort to support Ukraine since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. After two years of legislative inaction, it would be one of the few moves from Congress since lawmakers sent supplemental aid funding to Ukraine in 2024.

The Senate advanced the sanctions bill that night, with Zelenskyy taking a rare seat in the chamber to watch the proceedings — senators waving and flashing a thumbs-up as they cast votes. Days later, it sailed to passage, on a vote of 86-11, sending the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia Act to the House.

But next steps are highly uncertain. House Speaker Mike Johnson helms a Republican majority reluctant to tangle itself in U.S. affairs overseas. And many Democrats supportive of Ukraine warn the bill would hand Trump too much tariff authority with no real checks from Congress.

Daniel Balson, of the pro-democracy advocacy group Razom for Ukraine, is pressing Congress not to lose momentum.

“It’s important not to underestimate symbolically what this would mean,” Balson said. “It would show Ukrainians that, hiccups and all, there is still an international alliance that stands behind Ukraine’s fight.”

Zelenskyy was welcomed, but at times has been turned away

It wasn’t the first time Zelenskyy arrived to a hero’s welcome in Washington, and may not be the last.

But in between there have been moments of grave uncertainty in what has become a long war, longer than World War I.

Zelenskyy first appeared on a private video call with lawmakers in March 2022, days after the start of the war, when he urged the U.S. to send planes to help Ukraine defend its skies from the Russian bombardment. That winter, Zelenskyy delivered a dramatic Christmas-time address to Congress, giving thanks to “every American” in a speech evocative of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's own visit during World War II.

But Congress abandoned another round of Ukraine funds in 2023 as Republicans aligned themselves with Trump, who was on track as the Republican Party's front-runner to retake the White House.

And once Trump returned to power in 2025, action on Ukraine aid ground to a halt. Trump berated Zelenskyy during a high-profile Oval Office meeting, deriding Zelenskyy’s “hatred” for Putin as a roadblock to peace.

“This has largely hinged on President Trump,” said Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, a former Air Force brigadier general, who explained that more Republicans would publicly stand with Ukraine if Trump gave the nod.

Still, Zelenskyy kept Congress close, meeting with lawmakers abroad and returning to the U.S. Capitol as he did after Graham's funeral in Washington on July 28.

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said Zelenskyy has endured a “kind of a baptism by fire since he’s been president in the middle of war, trying to manage confusing messages coming out of Washington.”

Next steps for the bill are uncertain, despite Graham's efforts

It took Graham essentially a full year to bring Trump on board with the Russia sanctions package, and when he did he immediately shared the news with Senate colleagues last month at the NATO summit in Turkey. Graham, who then flew on to Kyiv, died days later back in Washington, likely of a torn aorta.

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, who had partnered with Graham during the lengthy process, said Graham told him that winning Trump's approval was a “BFD,” slang for a really big deal.

At its core, the bill seeks to deprive Moscow of oil and gas revenues by pressuring China, India and other customers not to buy Russian energy. It would allow Trump to impose sweeping tariffs up to 100% on goods from those countries entering the U.S.

Liberal Democrats have misgivings — not with Zelenskyy or Ukraine — but with the bill's tariff powers, which they worry Trump will deploy in ways Congress cannot control.

Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, have raised objections to the bill. More than 30 senators had supported a failed amendment to limit Trump's tariff powers.

“This is not so much a sanctions bill as it is a massive backdoor authority for President Trump to impose more tariffs, including on our European allies, that hurt American families," Meeks said in a statement.

Hoyer, who partnered with Meeks on a separate Ukraine security act that cleared the House earlier this year over Johnson’s objections, is imploring his colleagues not to let this moment pass. He believes Congress and the courts will keep the president in check.

“You know there was so much negative vibes that we were sending,” Hoyer said. “We’ve got to send a letter to these courageous Ukrainians that we’re with them.”

So it was a shock when she found out in 2024 that she had been enrolled in hospice, a specialized end-of-life care usually provided to people with six months or less to live. A Medicare worker told her the system said she had heart failure.

Henry was a victim of rampant fraud in the hospice industry, a problem that's been especially extreme in California, where scammers have taken advantage of historically weak government oversight. Fraudsters have created fake hospices and tricked people into enrolling, or stolen people's identities to bill Medicare for hospice services.

California's been a focus of the Trump administration's crackdown on fraud in federally-funded health programs, with more than 1,000 California hospices removed from Medicare since early 2025. Federal officials estimate LA County alone accounts for an estimated $3.5 billion in fraudulent hospice claims.

The state says it's doing its part to tackle the issue. California has revoked nearly 500 licenses since putting a moratorium on new hospices in 2021 and in June adopted long-awaited emergency regulations that set more stringent criteria for approving new licenses.

Since hospice is a form of palliative care meant for terminally ill patients, once someone enrolls in it, Medicare will not pay for additional medical treatment outside of it, leaving vulnerable seniors to miss out on appointments and be denied crucial care. Meanwhile, millions of taxpayer dollars are being funneled to fraudsters every year, and those who truly need hospice care might not get it if they enroll with a fraudulent hospice operator.

Advocates say they don’t have a clear estimate of how many people like Henry have been unwittingly caught up in fraud, but urge state and federal cooperation.

Hospice fraud has been a major problem in California

In 2026, the state had about 2,100 hospice organizations, down from 2,800 four years prior. New York, which has far more stringent rules for registering a hospice, has just 39, according to its state health department.

A 2022 state audit found rampant fraud and abuse in the system, particularly in LA County. It found dozens of hospice agencies were often clustered in the same building as well as a rapid increase in the number of hospices being established and abnormally high rates of patients being discharged. Hospice is often provided at patients’ homes, meaning one registered hospice can serve patients in numerous locations.

In April, federal prosecutors made arrests in five cases involving hospice fraud in the LA area. A week later, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said 21 people were arrested for a multimillion scheme to use stolen identities to charge for hospice services. His office has filed more than 100 hospice-related criminal cases and secured over 50 hospice-related convictions since 2021.

“This is a California problem,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said at a press conference announcing the federal arrests in April. “I call California the kingdom of fraud, and Gavin Newsom reigns over this kingdom here.”

Critics have accused the Trump administration of basing its fraud-busting efforts on politics, with the harshest penalties placed on states run by Democrats. Those efforts have at times contained errors. In April, the administration acknowledged to The Associated Press it made a significant error in figures it used to help justify a fraud probe in New York.

“This isn’t a political game for us. This is about protecting taxpayer dollars, protecting programs sick and vulnerable Californians rely on, and protecting our state,” Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement a few days later.

Woman spent months proving she was victim of fraud

Fraud might begin with a robocall, or a knock on the door asking someone to sign a form giving away their personal information and Medicare number. They might offer gift cards and vitamin supplements, or even weekly cash deliveries in exchange for signing up for hospice.

Henry believes her Medicare number was stolen after a healthcare payment portal that services insurances was hit by a cyberattack.

She found out about her hospice enrollment in September 2024 after her doctor billed Medicare for an allergy test and was denied. Soon, other claims were being returned unpaid.

For months, she made dozens of calls and wrote emails to Medicare. Her doctor wrote a letter stating that she was in good health.

She was allegedly enrolled at Fortuna Hospice Inc., which did not pick up the phone or return her messages. At one point, Henry drove to the listed address and found only a seemingly empty office building. She spoke with FBI investigators, the state health and human services agency, and a nonprofit advocacy group for Medicare patients.

“I delayed physical appointments and my colonoscopy and all this stuff because I knew that we were going to fight about this and it wasn’t going to get paid,” she said.

Eight months later, Medicare recognized that she was a victim of fraud. One year after she lodged her complaint, she finally began seeing doctors again.

Federal government increases oversight

Some of the enhanced oversight began under the Biden administration, when the federal government said it would place newly Medicare-enrolled hospices in California, Arizona, Nevada and Texas under a period of enhanced oversight. The agency added Georgia and Ohio in December 2025, and CMS announced in May a nationwide six-month moratorium on all new Medicare enrollments by providers of hospice and home care.

The Trump administration's fraud crackdown has invited criticism for its focus on providers with immigrant backgrounds. In January, Dr. Mehmet Oz of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services blasted rampant fraud in Los Angeles County while standing outside an Armenian bakery and alleging the “Russian Armenian mafia” was behind the scams. That prompted a civil rights complaint by Newsom. An investigation into daycare fraud in Minnesota centered on facilities run by immigrants from Somalia.

Beyond hospice, the Trump administration has deferred more than $2 billion in Medicaid payments to the state because of “suspected fraud and noncompliance.” Medicaid is the government-funded healthcare program for low-income people. State officials say the federal government hasn't provided details about why they suspect fraud.

In June, the Justice Department announced criminal charges against fraudsters responsible for $6.5 billion in false claims submitted to Medicare, Medicaid, and other healthcare programs across the country.

Sheila Clark, CEO of the California Hospice and Palliative Care Association, testified at an April congressional hearing about a woman who couldn’t get her cataract surgery approved by Medicare because she was falsely enrolled in hospice.

The woman fell while trying to go to the bathroom at night because she couldn’t see and broke her hip.

“She died two months later in a skilled nursing facility. That did not need to happen,” Clark said. “These scammers here are going to do whatever they have to do to try and survive, and we need to work at the state level and the federal level to make sure that we are going to clean house.”

The brothers have remained in a federal detention center in Miami since they were arrested July 18 on rape and sex trafficking charges from the U.K. Their attorneys have argued that their high profile and active social media presence make it nearly impossible for them to flee.

The Tates have become among the world’s most polarizing internet personalities by promoting wealth, male dominance and misogyny through their social media empire.

Defense lawyers said the brothers have followed court rules

On his way into court Thursday, defense attorney Joseph McBride told reporters he hasn’t heard of a case where U.S. Magistrate Lauren Louis has allowed someone out on bail while awaiting an extradition hearing. But while the odds aren’t in their favor, McBride felt like the truth was.

“They have never run away from the law. They have leaned into the court process everywhere they go. They are innocent men. They are free men. They are good men,” McBride said.

No date for an extradition hearing has been set. The U.K. has until mid-September to provide evidence to the State Department.

Prosecutors say Tates claim to have multiple passports and plenty of money

Federal prosecutors want to keep the brothers in custody, citing the strong presumption against bail in international extradition cases. The Tates’ claims of having multiple passports and access to wealth and influence in numerous countries demonstrate a heightened risk of flight that no amount of bond could overcome.

The brothers were wearing tan prison clothes and shackled for Thursday’s hearing.

Their lawyers spent more than an hour mostly repeating arguments from court filings that the U.K.’s request was out of line because their criminal case in Romania is going first. Romanian officials have let them remain free until the proceedings conclude and they have not tried to flee and are complying with all court restrictions.

The judge reminded defense attorneys she has to follow U.S. laws.

Attorneys for the Tates also said they largely exaggerated their claims of wealth to boost their social media personas, their claims of multiple passports were satirical and a “$50-million-dollar superyacht” featured in one of the brothers' videos does not actually belong to them. The expensive luxury cars, including a $2.1 million Aston Martin, that were featured in other videos were rented, the defense says.

The brothers have long claimed that their violent and misogynistic statements have been taken out of context or were intended as jokes.

“That is not the real Andrew Tate, the person Andrew Tate," said his lawyer Howard Srebnick, who in court Thursday compared Tate on social media to Sacha Baron Cohen's confrontational Ali G character.

Brothers became controversial social media stars

The former professional kickboxers, who have dual U.S. and U.K. citizenship, have millions of social media followers and are vocal supporters of President Donald Trump. The White House has said the brothers shouldn’t expect any help from the president.

Andrew Tate, 39, became famous a decade ago when he was a contestant on the U.K. reality television show “Big Brother.” He was ejected from the show when a video appeared to show him assaulting a woman.

He has amassed over 10 million followers on X but has been banned from other platforms, including YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, for violating hate speech guidelines. He has made widely condemned comments, such as saying women who are sexually assaulted should bear some responsibility for the attacks and sharing graphic descriptions of how he might attack women.

Tristan Tate, 38, has worked with his brother on multiple businesses, including the production of online webcam pornography.

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Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.

Thousands of pilgrims gathered late Wednesday and Thursday at the Church of St. Fanourios, 10 kilometers (6 miles) northwest of Athens, with their baked offerings. They were seeking solace for different forms of loss: misplaced keys, an estranged partner, courage still needed to face an ordeal, and more.

Priests blessed the cakes of supplicants, who then shared them with their fellow churchgoers for the feast of St. Fanourios, which culminates on Thursday.

The saint of lost-and-found

Among those arriving was Maria Chanioti, 66. She has attended services dedicated to the patron saint of lost-and-found since her youth.

“People go to him for help with pain in their hearts. But St. Fanourios is generous. He helps people,” Chanioti said in her godparents' kitchen a few blocks from the Church of St. Fanourios, while she beat the cake's ingredients with a whisk.

She prepared her cake as her family always has: with fresh-squeezed orange juice and a pinch of nutmeg, in front of an icon of the saint and a simple vigil candle.

Wishes conveyed to Fanourios go beyond mere custom: Each year’s petition is held in earnest and usually not shared even with loved ones.

Chanioti said her friends in the past have asked for a grandchild or for young relatives to finish school with good grades. Loss is understood broadly, including things lacking from one's life.

“The important things in life are love, understanding, to have optimism and to be free of sadness,” she said. “That’s more important than money.”

Orthodox saints are regarded as spiritual companions – models of bravery and faith who channel prayer and provide protection. Saint Nicholas traditionally watches over sailors and fishermen; worshippers offer prayers to Saint Paraskevi for eye ailments.

Fanourios (pronounced fa‑NOO‑ree‑os) is known as “The Revealer." He is also the patron saint of the main town in Rhodes, the Greek island where an icon depicting his suffering as a Christian martyr was discovered more than 500 years ago. Celebrations honoring him are held mostly in Greece and Cyprus.

A cake fit for a saint

Every Greek family may have its own recipe for the cake – called Fanouropita – and priests bless all versions. But the Church of St. Fanourios offers some culinary counsel:

1. 4 cups self-rising flour or equivalent.

2. 1 tsp. cinnamon.

3. 1 cup vegetable oil.

4. 1 cup, plus 2 tbsp sugar.

5. 12 tbsp. orange juice

6. 1/2 cup water.

7. Add lemon zest to taste.

8. 1/2 cup golden raisins, plus 1/2 cup black raisins.

9. 1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts.

10. Mix the flour and cinnamon together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the oil, sugar, orange juice, water and lemon zest for a few minutes. Add the flour mix, raisins and walnuts to the liquid mixture and stir well. Grease a 12½ inch wide baking tin with oil and dust lightly with flour, shaking off any excess. 11. Pour the batter into a pan and bake at 170-180 Celsius (about 350 Fahrenheit) for 45 minutes. Once cooled, dust with powdered sugar if preferred and slice into squares. The cake is best enjoyed after 24 hours.

Faith built on ‘moments of revelation’

Father Nikolaos Vlavianos greeted parishioners and blessed their cakes at the Church of St. Fanourios on Wednesday night, where thousands gathered around outdoor tables set up for the ceremony and attended a church fair where vendors sold toys, clothes and grilled meat.

Most keep their wishes private, though Father Nikolaos has heard everything from illness and bankruptcy to parking woes and soccer slumps. He says that confronting loss in the church gives worshippers moral clarity and steadfast faith.

“If someone prayed to win the lottery, that would have no spiritual benefit and would not go anywhere,” he said.

“Moments of revelation – everyday ones and extraordinary ones – are often rationalized or dismissed as coincidence. But they still speak to us. The real question is: What experience will we have? How open and receptive are we to living a miracle, to seizing an opportunity to come a little closer to Christ."

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Associated Press videojournalist Lefteris Pitarakis contributed to this report.

Clancy has pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility, with her lawyers arguing she was experiencing postpartum psychosis when she killed Cora, Dawson and Callan Clancy at the family’s home in coastal Duxbury, Massachusetts, in January 2023. The rare mental illness is linked to the stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes that follow childbirth.

Prosecutors say Clancy planned the killings and understood her actions were wrong. Jurors must decide whether she was criminally responsible and, if so, exactly what crimes she committed.

Clancy’s mental state is at the center of the closely watched trial that has drawn attention to maternal mental health after childbirth. The debate has stirred deep divisions among the public over whether she should be held criminally responsible.

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

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During closing arguments Thursday, a prosecutor told jurors that Clancy was exhausted and depressed when she killed her three children but knew it was wrong.

“It was a choice to take them with her. It was a horrible choice. It is a choice that we don’t want to think about that a mother could make, because that doesn’t make us feel safe or comfortable in this world,” said prosecutor Jennifer Sprague. “But it’s a choice she made.”

Clancy's attorney argued that she was in a deep psychosis when she killed her children, telling jurors that she had been a loving mother before her mental health spiraled.

“Because of the damned medicine and the lousy medical care that she got,” attorney Kevin Reddington said, referencing the mental health providers she saw and drugs prescribed in the months before the January 2023 killings.

Sprague said the case isn’t about the nation's mental healthcare system or how it treats women. “That’s a distraction to get you angry and passionate about an important issue, but an issue that’s not on trial here,” she said.

Clancy did not testify during the trial, now in its fifth week. During closing arguments, she dabbed her eyes with a tissue and, at one point, put a hand to her forehead as the prosecution described how she killed her children.

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

During more than four weeks of testimony, jurors heard opposing views from medical experts about Clancy’s mental state after the birth of her third child and her culpability.

Both Clancy’s mother and sister testified that she became anxious, paranoid and suicidal.

Clancy, now 36, had sought treatment from multiple providers in the months before the killings and even checked herself into a psychiatric hospital. Less than three weeks after being discharged from that hospital, Clancy strangled Cora, Dawson and Callan Clancy, ages 5, 3 and 8 months, with exercise bands in the basement of their home south of Boston. She then jumped from a second-floor window and remains paralyzed from the waist down.

During closing arguments, Sprague argued that Clancy’s decision not to tell her mental health providers about thoughts she had in December 2022 of harming her children showed that she understood those thoughts were wrong.

The prosecutor acknowledged that Clancy sought help for her mental health struggles, but said she did not always take medications as prescribed or give her providers complete and accurate information.

Reddington said the prosecution tried to paint Clancy’s attempt to take her life after killing her children as “a fake suicide.”

“You know that is not what happened,” he said.

Reddington held up a copy of the book “Good Moms have Scary Thoughts” that investigators found at the Clancy house. He said prosecutors tried to use it as evidence against Clancy but that it was a mental healthcare provider who gave it to her.

“This woman lived for her kids,” he said.

He showed jurors a small “wish box” that Clancy and then-husband Patrick bought on their honeymoon. Over the years, the couple filled the box with slips of paper wishing to have healthy, successful kids, Reddington said as Lindsay Clancy wiped away tears.

Reddington told the jury that after Clancy started seeing a psychiatrist that “it was not a wonderful life anymore.”

“You heard the testimony. You know her concerns. You know her fears,” he said.

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Willingham reported from Boston.

The Boeing 737-800 operated by Jeju Air skidded off the runaway at Muan International Airport in southern South Korea after its landing gear failed to deploy, slamming into a concrete structure and bursting into flames.

Authorities have found traces of bird strike in the plane’s engines and the plane’s two black boxes stopped recording about four minutes before the crash. Many experts say the concrete structure, which housed a set of antennas called a localizer that guides aircraft during landings, must be blamed for the crash as well, as they should have been built with more easily breakable materials.

Police said Thursday the seven officials were involved in the production of media statements that stated the localizers were installed in accordance with relevant domestic and international regulations, though that was not true.

Police said they referred the cases to prosecutors, asking for the seven officials to be indicted on a criminal charge of falsifying official documents. The penalty upon conviction could be up to seven years in prison. The Transport Ministry said it had no comment on the police announcement.

Police said they were investigating nearly 70 other people, including those involved in installation of the localizers or operations of the Muan airport.

The crash was South Korea's deadliest aviation disaster since 1997. But no exact, formal cause of the crash has been announced and no one has been legally prosecuted yet.

Last year, the Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board had planned to announce initial investigation results showing both of the plane's engines sustained bird strikes and the pilots turned off the less-damaged one just before the crash-landing. The initial finding, which implied human errors, drew vehement protests from bereaved families and fellow pilots who accused authorities of trying to shift responsibility to the dead pilots. The investigation board later canceled the announcement.

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According to an arrest report from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, the crash happened at around 7:30 p.m. on June 24 at a home in the 2900 block of Southwest 57th Avenue, in the unincorporated Coral Terrace area.

The MDSO report states that Allen Matis, 67, of Coral Gables, was driving a Cadillac Lyriq on Palermo Avenue when he ran a stop sign and slammed the SUV into the home, crashing through the wall and hitting Henri Bezy as he slept inside.

Bezy “became trapped underneath (the) vehicle” and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews pronounced him dead at the scene, the report states.

According to the report, a deputy saw Matis behind the wheel and “observed signs of impairment.” It states that toxicology results taken from blood samples hours after the crash showed Matis’ blood alcohol content ranging from 0.245% to 0.29%, more than three times the legal limit.

Deputies said they later obtained vehicle data showing that Matis accelerated to 43 mph and never hit the brakes “during the seconds leading up to the crash.”

Matis was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on charges of DUI manslaughter and reckless vehicular homicide. His bond was listed as “to be set” as of Wednesday afternoon.

Matis will see another judge on Thursday in order to see if he should be released on house arrest.

Like the beloved children’s book “The Little Engine That Could,” Parton created the Imagination Library to inspire kids to learn, dream and achieve.

In 2026, the nonprofit sends books to children around the world. Two of those children are right here in South Florida.

Lauren Dieppa enjoys reading with her two little ones, Max and Ava. They have each received a book every month from the Imagination Library since they were newborns.

“Every time we get a book in the mail that night they’re reading it,” Dieppa said.

Parton founded the Imagination Library in 1995 as a tribute to her father. It began in her home county of East Tennessee before expanding to several states and eventually other countries.

The program has thousands of community partners that help bring it to their own cities. The city of Miami Lakes is one of them.

“We started partnering with the Imagination Library since 2004,” said Clarissell De Cardenas, communications and community affairs director for the city of Miami Lakes.

Here’s how it works: Parents register their child on the Dolly Parton Imagination Library website. The town covers the cost of the book and the mailing.

“The parent registers their child on the Dolly Parton Imagination Library website,” De Cardenas said.

“The town covers the cost of the book and the mailing.”

The Imagination Library selects the books, making sure they are age-appropriate, and handles mailing them directly to the children’s homes.

It’s a partnership that delivers plenty of benefits while helping ensure Parton’s dream and legacy as the “Book Lady” will continue to empower generations to come.

Peters and Munetaka Murakami are also the only rookies in club history to hit home runs in five consecutive games in the same season.

Peters connected on a two-run drive in the fifth inning that put the White Sox ahead of the Texas Rangers 6-2. The 26-year-old Canadian now has 12 homers on the season.

The streak matches the longest by a rookie, accomplished 13 times before — including by teammate Murakami this year. Ron Kittle in 1983 was the only other White Sox rookie to do so, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Eight times previously the White Sox have had a player hit homers in five straight.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Kusama died Aug. 14 at a hospital in Tokyo, Yayoi Kusama Studio said, without specifying the cause of death.

“She continued to paint until her final days, never setting aside her brush, and continued exploration of forever love and eternal soul,” the studio's statement said. “We will carry forward Kusama’s wishes and, through art, continue to bring hope and strength for the future to people around the world.”

Kusama, one of Japan’s most respected contemporary artists, was widely exhibited around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Museum Ludwig in Germany.

Repetitive motifs were her trademark, in various shapes, resembling netting, swirls or worms, but most often dots, dancing proudly on her canvases, or as sparkling balls or dots of light in her installations, in all their vibrant psychedelic glory.

“Polka dots are fabulous,” Kusama said in a 2012 interview with The Associated Press, appearing in her signature orange bob wig and polka dot attire.

“I want to create a thousand paintings, maybe two thousand paintings, as many as I can draw,” she said in her childlike but matter-of-fact tone. “I will keep painting until I die.”

Pursuing her vision of art over a lifetime

Kusama insisted she drew the way she saw the world: covered with spots, part of the hallucinations she said she had from childhood. She was in and out of psychiatric institution for decades, although her sickness did not hold her back as she was one of the first Japanese women to go to New York to pursue her art, in 1957.

Although soft-spoken and shy in her mannerisms, Kusama was always unabashedly bold in the assertion of her dotty vision, not only in sticking to the style for decades but also in making it accessible to the masses.

In her later years, as the times caught up with her art, she enjoyed fame. She signed on with fashion brands like Louis Vuitton as well as other licensed products like teacups, T-shirts and key chains with her illustrations, including replicas of her likeness that were used in show windows and other marketing.

In 2008, Christie’s auctioned her work for $5.8 million. In 2016, she won the most prestigious award Japan gives its artists, the Order of Culture.

Upon receiving the award, she told reporters she was more determined than ever to pursue her art, stressing that the sincerity and devotion she had demonstrated in her personal life were crucial parts of her artistic legacy.

“I feel there is little left in my life, but I am now still fighting to the death for my art,” she said. “I am giving all I have so that many people will continue to be interested in my art, even after I am dead.”

Categories were not enough to represent her art

Kusama was called pop, avant-garde, feminist, just to name some of the categories thrown at her, most of which Kusama brushed off as not quite representative of her art.

She was born in a middle-class family but felt misunderstood, as her parents wanted her to simply get married. They wanted to buy her kimono, not paints and brushes. She knew she had to get away. She chose America.

When she arrived in New York, the fad was “action painting,” characterized by dribbles, swooshes and smears, not dots. She suffered years of poverty and obscurity. But she kept painting dots.

She put circles of paper on people’s bodies, and once a horse, in “happening” anti-war performances in the late 1960s, which got some people arrested for obscenity but helped get media attention for her art. While in New York, she befriended artists like Andy Warhol, Georgia O’Keeffe and Joseph Cornell, who praised her innovative style.

Over the years, Kusama made quirky but stunningly celebratory works like “Macaroni Girl,” a female figure plastered with macaroni, which expresses the fear of food; “The Visionary Flowers,” giant sculptures of twisting tulips, and “Mirrored Corridor,” a room with mirrors that delivers an illusion of a field of phallic protrusions speckled with dots.

Kusama, who has also made films and published several novels, said she wasn’t sure where she got her ideas. She just picked up her brush and started drawing. The process was so mysterious sometimes she surprised herself, she told AP.

“I think, ‘Oh, I drew that? I was thinking that,’” she said.

But she appeared happy to have her art be the focus of media attention and praise, reading one of her poems to a reporter or tackling her artworks with gusto for photos.

But she was also a charmingly disarming mix of vulnerability and defiance, at one moment declaring herself “an artistic revolutionary,” and then the next, mumbling: “I am so afraid, all the time, of everything.”

Fans around the world share messages of loss

The news of her death was met with an outpouring of sadness from around the world, including museums that had exhibited her works.

Fans and artists alike praised her courageous persistence in vowing to continue creating art that, she said, will be recognized thousands of years after her death.

Messages recognizing her death were sent from people throughout Japan including Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike and Yoshitomo Nara, a younger Japanese artist who has exhibited widely abroad.

“RIP Kusama-sensei,” Nara wrote on his X account, respectfully calling her a teacher in Japanese.

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Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report.

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

Esa apuesta se articula ahora bajo la nueva “Marca País” y con el lema “Anfitrión del Mundo”, que integra bajo una misma visión cinco aspectos: inversión, exportaciones, turismo, logística y sostenibilidad. El miércoles fue presentada en un acto por el gobierno panameño.

El vicecanciller Carlos Arturo Hoyos reconoció que Panamá ha enfrentado retos en materia de reputación, aunque considera que la percepción internacional ha evolucionado.

“Es innegable que nosotros hemos tenido retos reputacionales importantes”, señaló, en alusión a los esfuerzos del gobierno para sacar al país de las listas grises en materia financiera. Sin embargo, aseguró el vicecanciller que en sus misiones oficiales ha encontrado que “la visión y la opinión que yo encuentro de Panamá afuera es excepcional”.

Hoyos agregó a The Associated Press que mejorar la reputación del país ha sido uno de los objetivos del actual gobierno y que se han logrado avances.

La ministra de Turismo, Gloria De León, planteó que contar con una identidad común permitirá al país controlar mejor la narrativa con la que se presenta internacionalmente. “Cuando un país no define quién es, otros lo definen por él”, sostuvo a la AP durante el lanzamiento de la iniciativa en en centro de conveciones en Ciudad de Panamá.

En materia turística, De León señaló que el objetivo es que esa identidad se mantenga de forma consistente para fortalecer el reconocimiento de Panamá frente a otros destinos. A su juicio, una de las diferencias que ha observado frente a países vecinos es precisamente la “continuidad en su comunicación”.

La expectativa, explicó, es que esa permanencia contribuya a posicionar al país para “atraer más turistas, más visitantes y más inversiones”.

Los promotores dijeron que la Marca País se construye sobre cuatro atributos: generosidad, conexión, diversidad y confianza, y parte de la idea de Panamá como punto de encuentro de personas, culturas y negocios.

El presidente José Raúl Mulino destacó el desafío de sostener esa estrategia: “Ahora tenemos la responsabilidad de darle a esta marca el tiempo, la consistencia y la continuidad que necesita para crecer, posicionarse y que se reconozca en el mundo”.

Just weeks after Miami-Dade unveiled its zero waste master plan, Broward has approved a master plan of its own.

After 10 years of planning and pitching, the Broward Solid Waste Authority finally has something to celebrate.

Its solid waste master plan has won approval from a supermajority of cities and is moving forward, with the potential to reshape recycling and waste reduction across the county.

“We were able to reach the 80% threshold,” said Mike Ryan, chair of the Solid Waste Authority governing board. “We need to reduce, reuse and recycle. And it’s not just for the environment, landfill. It’s good economics.”

The Solid Waste Authority was formed in 2023 but had been meeting and strategizing for the past 10 years, trying to get to this exact point: a standardized approach to recycling and composting with an ambitious goal of diverting at least 60% of its waste from landfills in a way cities can afford.

“Right now, this is not economically viable, where every city’s been on their own,” Ryan said.

“We’re generating 5 million tons of trash a year. Much of that has value and can be extracted. Much of that should not be going to the landfill or waste of energy. And so that’s our job now, to break these waste streams up and create long-term contracts to achieve our goals,” Ryan said.

So now the hard work really begins, securing and reviewing proposals in the next few months that can be enacted countywide at the best price.

“This is a pretty aggressive timeline, but we hope by the end of 2027 that we will be able to have created a system that will last for the next 25 to 40 years,” Ryan said.

“Many cities stopped recycling because it just didn’t feel that it was being done or could be done. And that’s costing them more in the long run. So for us, how we look at this is not just about what is it going to cost. It’s also, what did we ultimately save?” Ryan said.

Another cornerstone of the master plan is education. The Solid Waste Authority is working with the county on a K-12 curriculum aimed at teaching students better waste reduction habits from an early age.

“We are going to start in our schools so that when we are educating our students they will be bringing the message home and then that message will get out in a broader, have a broader outreach,” said Maura Bulman, a Broward County School Board member.

The long-term goal is to have active recycling and composting in every county school, like here at Driftwood Middle School in Hollywood.

“The recycle team, what we do is we try to recycle so it reduces the trash in the landfills, lowers pollution, lowers greenhouse gases, and we just try to make the environment safer for our life and encourage others to do the same,” said Tanner, a member of the Driftwood Middle School recycle team.

“Broward is just one teensy tiny part of what makes up everything that gets polluted. So if we help and other people see us helping, they should help too,” said Emory, another member of the Driftwood Middle School recycle team.

Linda Gancitano, a Driftwood Middle School happiness studies teacher, said the students can help spread the message at home.

“The kids can recycle, they can educate, they can bring it home, now they can start. It just has a ripple effect of going home. Educate them here, let them take it home, right? And then we’re going to see the impact all the way across the district,” Gancitano said.

The School Board understands just how critical it is for the county to get this right and the integral role schools will play in making the new master plan a success.

“This is the most important thing we can be doing,” Bulman said. “To have our students and the young people engaged and having the buy-in now and understanding how important it is for their future is amazing for us.”

For the county, the school partnership is essential because ultimately, making this master plan work will take all of Broward working together.

“This has been an entire team effort, and it’s a model of what we can do as cities when we work together with the county and industry and environmentalists to achieve the goals that we have to achieve,” Ryan said.

The Solid Waste Authority has an aggressive timeline, hoping to have a countywide standardized system in action by the end of 2027 that they hope will last for the next 25 to 40 years.

Videos of the disaster showed people running before the floodwaters swallowed them up and washed out buildings and bridges. More than 360 people were killed, police said, and more than 1,400 were missing, including scores of foreigners and pilgrims. Hundreds of others have been displaced across the Himalayan region.

The steep slopes and lush valleys below the Himalayan mountain range — home to many of the world’s highest peaks and remaining glaciers — are especially vulnerable to flooding and landslides. Melting glaciers have become more common because of human-caused climate change.

Images showed what appeared to be the second floors of buildings in Nepal’s hard-hit Nuwakot district slathered in mud after the torrent rushed by. Riverbanks and village streets were covered in mud. Debris hung from tree branches and wires. Vehicles were buried, and some stunned survivors were caked in mud.

Before-and-after images aired by state broadcaster China Central Television showed a multistory building and more than a dozen vehicles covered in mud. A two-lane road running along a river in a valley in Tibet's Shigatse prefecture was completely buried. Aerial footage also showed that a lake had formed and expanded on the China-Nepal border.

Nirajan Paudyal, a journalist based in Nepal's capital of Kathmandu, worried for his parents and other relatives in the district's village of Soley.

“I fear there won’t be any update,” Paudyal said.

Helicopters deployed for rescue because of damaged roads

The disaster has left at least 910 people missing in Nepal. Authorities in Tibet, an autonomous region of China, reported at least three dead and 558 missing.

Nepalese officials said that dozens of bridges were destroyed and nearly 40 kilometers (25 miles) of roads were damaged, complicating search efforts.

The Nepalese army has rescued more than 100 people by helicopter, army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Raja Ram Basnet said. Army teams also evacuated people trapped inside facilities linked to the Trishuli hydropower project, he added.

Dozens of injured people were transported to Kathmandu for medical care.

Rescuers found bodies in Chitwan district hundreds of kilometers (miles) downstream from the hardest-hit areas.

Bishal Kumar Bhandari, chairman of the Nepal Red Cross Society, said the agency has shifted its focus from rescue to large-scale relief operations in the flood-hit districts. He said that around 1,200 people were displaced from at least three villages.

In Tibet, a gushing mudslide that struck Wednesday near the land border crossing of Gyirong Port engulfed a multistory port building and left mud in the surrounding areas that was more than 1½ meters (5 feet) deep on average, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported. Roads leading to the crossing were all damaged, while secondary collapses or landslides might occur as rain continued in the area, it added.

China's premier, Li Qiang, arrived Thursday in Gyirong to direct rescue efforts, alongside 500 military and paramilitary personnel. Military helicopters circled overhead, searching for survivors, assessing the disaster and mapping out possible rescue and evacuation routes.

Chinese authorities also warned that the newly formed lake at the confluence of the Tsogyal and the Purupqiangzangbu rivers is overflowing and may burst.

The United Nations' humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, announced Thursday on X that he ordered the release of $2 million from the U.N.'s Central Emergency Response Fund to help with medical care, shelter and water. He called the floods “horrifying.”

“We pledge to support national efforts to deliver emergency aid and support,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters.

More than 1,300 are missing, including hundreds of foreigners

Many people in the disaster zone waited to hear whether their loved ones were alive.

Shova Shrestha, 33, has spent more than a day seeking word of her husband, Rajan Shrestha. She said his phone rang when she first called after the floods, but it later became unreachable. Since then, she has watched every helicopter that landed in Bidur, the capital of Nuwakot district, hoping he might be among the survivors.

“I keep looking at each helicopter, hoping he will step out of it,” Shova said.

Among the missing are 517 foreigners, according to Nepal’s tourism board.

They include 178 people from India, more than 60 from the U.S. and people from 30 other countries, including Ukraine, the U.K., South Africa and Japan, the board said.

Many of the missing may have been on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in Tibet, a sacred site for Hindus, Buddhists and others.

Seventy-seven people from one pilgrimage group were caught in the floods at the immigration office at the border, according to a post on X from Indian spiritual guru Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev.

A visibly emotional Sadhguru said in a video that the group included 22 Americans and others from various countries. He said that there was no official information on their whereabouts.

The U.S. State Department said 90 Americans are unaccounted for in China and Nepal after the flood. The department said it was unaware of any U.S. deaths and that three Americans had been rescued.

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs said Thursday that 288 of the country's people, including some workers on a power project, were missing.

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lin Jian said that nearly 100 Chinese citizens were missing in Nepal. According to preliminary information, 260 of those missing in Tibet were foreigners, he said.

A glacier collapse may have caused floods

The U.S. Geological Survey first reported a magnitude 4.4 earthquake early Wednesday, about 65 kilometers (40 miles) north of Kathmandu, near the border.

The agency later updated its analysis to say the seismic event was instead a magnitude 5.2 glacier collapse that sent debris flowing downstream.

Climate experts at the Kathmandu-based International Center for Integrated Mountain Development said an avalanche from a glacier likely caused Wednesday’s flash flood.

In an emailed statement, they said water levels at one point on the Trishuli River rose by as much as 9 meters (27 feet) in half an hour.

The increasingly unstable Himalayan ice system threatens communities, infrastructure and water supplies across one of the world’s most densely populated regions.

The region saw similar flash floods in August 2025, when a glacial lake in Tibet overflowed because of high temperatures. Nine people were killed, and critical infrastructure, including a bridge connecting Nepal and China, was damaged.

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Kafle reported from Kathmandu, Nepal. Associated Press journalists Upendra Mansingh in Nuwakot District, Nepal; Kanis Leung in Hong Kong; Aijaz Hussain in Srinagar, India; Rod McGuirk in Melbourne, Australia; Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Ali Swenson and Edith Lederer in New York; Matthew Lee in Washington; and Charlotte Graham-McLay in Wellington, New Zealand, contributed to this report.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the team had not confirmed the agreement. ESPN reported that Kuminga's contract includes a player option for the second season, which would give the seventh overall pick from the 2021 draft an opportunity to hit the free agent market in a year.

Kuminga will fill an obvious need in the frontcourt for the Timberwolves, who traded Julius Randle and Naz Reid as part of their offseason acquisition of point guard LaMelo Ball.

Kuminga, who will turn 24 on Oct. 6, averaged a career-best 16.1 points during the 2023-24 season for the Golden State Warriors, who drafted the Congo native but never found the right fit for him before ultimately trading him to the Atlanta Hawks in February. Kuminga fell out of favor with Warriors coach Steve Kerr and out of the rotation last season, making his departure an inevitability. He played in only seven of his last 38 games with the Warriors.

He'll have a fresh start with the hungry Timberwolves, who'll have the challenge of finding enough shots for Kuminga and fellow forward Jaden McDaniels in a lineup that will revolve around Ball and superstar Anthony Edwards. In 278 NBA games, Kuminga has averaged 12.5 points and 22.1 minutes. He's a 50.2% shooter from the floor.

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See AP’s full NBA coverage here

En un mensaje grabado difundido al país, el gobernante admitió que Fernando Cerimedo, ex asesor del presidente argentino Javier Milei, trabajó en su campaña por la segunda vuelta que ganó y al inicio de su gobierno como “estratega de orden internacional”, pero que su presencia o la constancia en Bolivia “no era la que necesitábamos para poder trabajar y tener un sólido formato de trabajo. Por eso nunca hubo un contrato” o relación directa.

“Jamás tuvo la autorización de representar a este boliviano, a la Presidencia, al gobierno o a mi familia”, aseguró Paz, quien enfrentó críticas y pedidos para que explicase la relación del asesor argentino con su administración, en medio de una fuerte crisis económica en el país.

Un juez envió el viernes a Cerimedo a prisión preventiva por 180 días en Santa Cruz por el caso de presunto feminicidio en grado de tentativa contra su expareja Nadia Beller, quien fue atacada a tiros por personas vestidas de repartidores afuera de un hotel en esa región oriental boliviana. La mujer sobrevivió al ataque y culpó a Cerimedo, al tiempo en que denunció presuntos casos de corrupción en los que implicó al estratega y a la familia de Paz.

La Fiscalía boliviana abrió investigaciones adicionales por un posible caso de enriquecimiento ilícito contra el argentino al encontrar más de 40.000 dólares en moneda local y tarjetas de presentación.

Tras defender a su familia, el presidente señaló en su mensaje que “no puede ser que generando escándalos quieran dañar nuestra forma de convivencia y de comportamiento; por eso soy el primero en defender en nuestra democracia la transparencia de los procesos de investigación no sobre escándalos sino sobre pruebas”.

Beller es una abogada que militó en el izquierdista Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS), el partido que gobernó Bolivia durante casi 20 años, aunque posteriormente algunos sectores la relacionaron con la oposición regional en Santa Cruz. Ella ha sido declarada recién testigo protegida después que fue convocada a ampliar sus declaraciones en el caso por supuesto enriquecimiento ilícito contra el estratega argentino.

But name, image and likeness has changed the landscape of college football, bringing more teams into the mix.

And the odds reflect that.

Seven teams are, depending on the sportsbook, 11-1 odds or greater to win the national title when it's played Jan. 25 in Las Vegas.

No. 1 Ohio State, No. 4 Notre Dame and No. 5 Texas are each +650 or better to win it all at the major sportsbooks, with No. 6 Indiana, No. 2 Oregon and No. 3 Georgia not far behind. No. 7 Miami is 10-1 at DraftKings Sportsbook and Caesars Sportsbook and 11-1 at BetMGM Sportsbook.

“I think it was kind of evident even last year where it was more parity,” said Joey Feazel, Caesars' head of football. “I don't think going in that everybody thought Miami and Indiana were going to be playing for the national championship, and that's spilled over into this season as well, where it's a little bit more wide open.”

Sportsbooks have to keep up on player movement thanks to the transfer portal, which can seriously affect odds. There also have been a handful of court cases that have determined if some players are eligible to play and others are not.

“It's harder in this offseason,” BetMGM sports trader Seamus Magee said. “If you're up to date on the news faster than — forget just us — anywhere else on the market, you can find a really good number before the season. But then a lot of variance comes into play."

Easier path for the Irish

One reason Notre Dame is +650 at BetMGM and 6-1 at DraftKings and Caesars is because the independent doesn't have the gauntlet of a schedule Big Ten and Southeastern Conference schools tend to face.

The Fighting Irish don't play a ranked team until they visit No. 14 BYU on Oct. 17. No. 7 Miami on Nov. 7 and No. 19 SMU on Nov. 21, both at home, are the other ranked opponents.

Johnny Avello, director of race and sports for DraftKings, pushed back some on the notion Notre Dame has an easy path, pointing out the Irish two years ago lost to Northern Illinois.

“Their path's not bad,” Avello said. “If you're in the SEC, certainly you've got a tough game almost each and every week. You're in the Big Ten, you've got a tough game each and every week. Being an independent, they have a schedule with a couple of decent teams. They should win at least 10 this year.”

Longhorns and Ducks in similar situations

If Ohio State or Notre Dame don't win the national championship, Texas is the team most likely to capture the title, if the odds are to be believed. The Longhorns are +650 at three major sportsbooks.

Oregon is close behind at +750 at DraftKings and Caesars and 8-1 at BetMGM.

Both programs have been among the nation's best, but haven't been able to close the deal in recent seasons.

Magee, however, said a credible case can be made this season is different, saying both rosters are championship level. Bettors agree.

“I think they're No. 3 and 4 in most-bet teams to win the title,” Magee said. “I don't think a lot of bettors are looking at what's happened in the past at these schools.”

Is there another Hoosiers team out there?

Gamblers often like to look for big payoffs in futures bets, and Avello said a good amount of money has come in on Oklahoma State (400-1), Kentucky (450-1) and UCLA (750-1), the hope being they will be the next Indiana.

The Hoosiers were 100-1 at one point last season winning the title.

“We all overlooked them,” Avello said. “They had better players than we thought. You’re not going to get a team like an Illinois or a Kansas State to win it all ... because you’ve got to have the horses to get it done. The playoff, it’s not a one-game affair. Once you make it, you have to win (three or) four games and that’s not easy.”

Carr and Manning favorites for the Heisman

Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr is slightly favored over Texas QB Arch Manning to win the Heisman Trophy.

Bettors might remember last season, however, when then-Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza seemed to come out of nowhere to win the Heisman, defying preseason odds where he was as high as 60-1.

“We'll see a lot of action those first couple of weeks as that market starts to shape up and you start to see one candidate start to pull away a little bit more,” Feazel said. “Right now, 7-1 being the favorite, that's still pretty high until the first couple of weeks where we'll start to see a 3- or 4-1.”

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Now they look like a million bucks.

Muchova and Mensik won the title Wednesday night in their first time playing together, beating Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli 6-3, 1-6 (10-6).

The Czech duo, wearing the same pink tops and maroon bottoms they settled on Monday, pulled out match tiebreakers in both matches on the second night of the two-day event, fueled by Mensik's powerful serve combined with some good hands near the net. He put away the final with an ace to earn $1 million for him and Muchova to share.

“I think at the end, really the matching outfit made the difference for us,” Muchova said.

They were a point from losing in the semifinals, erasing two match points and running off the final four to edge Mirra Andreeva and Andrey Rublev 5-4 (6), 3-5 (11-9).

Quite a performance, considering Mensik said he had never played in a mixed doubles event.

“My first mixed doubles, 100% win rate,” he said.

Bencic and Cobolli rallied to end the run of spouses Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils in the first semifinal with a 4-5 (7), 4-1 (10-5) victory.

They appeared headed toward a matchup with Andreeva and Rublev, who were smiling and pumping their fists after opening the lead in the match tiebreaker. Muchova flung her racket to the court in disgust after missing a volley that gave the Russians a 7-5 lead.

But the Wimbledon women’s runner-up never lost belief, thanks in part to her hard-serving partner, who will turn 21 next week.

When Mensik first asked Muchova to play, she told him to improve his ranking. When the U.S. Open mixed doubles tournament was revamped last year, the ability to directly qualify was based on the combined singles rankings of the two players.

Mensik then did his part by reaching the semifinals of the French Open.

“I put a little pressure on him, but in a fun way. It worked,” Muchova said. “I’m happy we managed and we got in, that we are here now.”

The final was the only match of the tournament that resembled a regular match, with standard sets to six games and a tiebreaker at 6-all. Through the first three rounds, sets were to four games, with a tiebreaker at 4-all.

Bencic and Cobolli knocked Serena Williams and Carlos Alcaraz out of the tournament Tuesday in the quarterfinals.

Then they dropped a set for the first time in the tournament in the semis, but began to dominate midway through the second set, winning the final 11 points to force the match tiebreaker. But they couldn't win their second one in the final.

“This year is already the second final. I never expected in my life to play a Grand Slam,” said Cobolli, this year's French Open runner-up. “This is mixed but still something that you never forget.”

It was the second year of the new format in mixed doubles, with the event shortened and moved to the week before the singles main draw begins, with the U.S. Tennis Association hoping that would get top singles players to compete.

Plenty of top names did compete but much of the star power, including Williams and Alcaraz, went out early. Aryna Sabalenka and Novak Djokovic lost their opening match, as did Alex Eala and Felix Auger-Aliassime, and Jessica Pegula and Taylor Fritz.

That could explain a good number of empty seats in Ashe, particularly after both semifinals went the distance and pushed the start of the final back toward nearly 11 p.m. EDT.

None of the teams featuring doubles specialists survived to the final four, leaving an opening for some players still seeking Grand Slam glory such as Rublev, who has fallen 10 times in major quarterfinals.

Svitolina and Monfils, who have both reached the U.S. Open singles semifinals, accepted a wild card to team up for the first time. Married since 2021, they were trying to win a championship in the final appearance in a Grand Slam tournament for Monfils, who will turn 40 on Sept. 1, before he retires.

They pulled out a back-and-forth tiebreaker in the first set in which they blew a 4-0 lead, then erased two set points. They went ahead 8-7 when Bencic tried to hit a cross-court backhand but nailed Cobolli, who had strayed into the middle. Cobolli then double-faulted to lose the set.

Bencic and Cobolli recovered, but then had a poor start to the final after a long break between matches. The Czechs pounced quickly, then finished well late.

Their biggest challenge may have been the outfit selection. Mensik apparently wasn't familiar with the word maroon.

Now he knows and loves it.

“My favorite color right now is pink and maroon, that’s for sure,” he said.

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See AP’s full tennis coverage here

The trial is scheduled to begin June 5, 2028, 18 months later than the January 2027 start that prosecutors had requested. The additional time is needed to resolve pretrial disputes, including disagreements about what evidence can be presented at trial, Air Force Lt. Col. Michael A. Schrama wrote in his ruling.

The U.S. military and successive administrations have struggled for more than two decades to bring to justice the man charged with planning one of the deadliest attacks ever on the United States.

The 2028 trial depends on the case meeting deadlines and milestones along the way and it could again be delayed. A trial was previously scheduled in 2021 but later canceled.

Mohammed is accused of developing and directing the plot to crash hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Another of the hijacked planes flew into a field in Pennsylvania. He faces trial alongside three alleged accomplices: Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa al-Hawsawi.

They are among the last of the detainees held at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

A federal appeals court last year threw out an agreement that would have allowed Mohammed to plead guilty in a deal sparing him the risk of execution for al-Qaida’s 2001 attacks.

That deal stipulated life sentences without parole for Mohammed and two of his co-defendants. It also would have obligated the men to answer any lingering questions that families of the victims have about the attacks. But after negotiating the deal for two years, former President Joe Biden's administration repudiated it.